Meta Runner (RP)

{ @Checkmate }

Theo jumped up from a sitting position and pranced in front of Tari excitedly. "Awesome; let's do it! Kinda like Battle Mode, but with no fighting! You wanna hide first, or count first? I can do whatever!"

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Paige couldn't take them both on by herself-- not when they were spread out like this. She fought as hard as she could... but Evelyn's attacks from behind were what finally did her in.

The Tascorp fans roared, and the Alphamax fans were sighing. Belle stood up from her monitor and waved to the spectators, a laid-back grin on her face. She sauntered over to the losing team and folded her arms.

"Come to gloat?" Paige scoffed, rubbing her hand. It was cramping after all that nonsense.

"Nah, that's pretty pointless... you seem to be doing a good enough job beating yourself up as it is."

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Tari shook her head "you can go first! I don't mind . " she said with a smile. To be honest she was wanting to see how well he can hide, he could blend in to a lot of areas.

_____
Unlike Belle "BUT I HAVE~ But mainly to wimp over there, you just got lucky " she glared with warning and a smirk. Looking over at the now sobbing boy she stuck her tongue out and drug down an cheek. He was hardly someone to worry about!

- @Checkmate -

"Okay! Start counting... nnnnnow! Theo darted off, small bare feet kicking up sprays of sand. He figured the best place to hide would be...

Yes, that was perfect!

People didn't call him Coconut Boy for nothing.

He shimmied up the nearest palm tree and hid himself among the leaves, waiting for Tari to find him.

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"Hey, give it a rest, you weeaboo!" Paige scoffed, gesturing to her seemingly anime-inspired outfit. "He's had it hard enough as is! You think it's easy living in some stuffy company's shadow?!"

"Bold words for someone who's best friend works for said stuffy company," Belle huffed antagonistically.

{ @cmdR_Paige
" Nine....TEN! ready or not I'm gonna get ya!" she said as she opened her eyes. Wow...uh... That was rather quick! Ok..now if she were him..where would she hide? Humming to herself she walked over to some bushes, he could also easily hide there. "Theo? " she called as she stuck her head in the bush.

_______

Evelyn scoffed right back and stomped , her cheeks red. She's NOT a weeb! She just liked to dress like this. Though she smirked at belle . Nose up " well..uh.. I... " she couldn't think of anything else. She didn't know Paige well enough! " whatever . I think your jealous of our victory , besides . Not my fault I'm fashionable " she smiled.

- @Checkmate -

Theo snickered to himself; he could hear Tari close by. He tried to keep it down-- he didn't want to alert her of his presence!

Paige's face fell into a stony glare, and she folded her arms. She shook her head and turned to her pink-haired teammate. "You know, man... I never got your name. Folks 'round here call me the Commander, but you already knew my real name, so..."

Belle turned to leave, but didn't get far before a swarm of fans stopped her in her tracks.

Nope...no Theo in there. Wait- she heard what she swore sounded like a faint giggle? Maybe it was her ears messing with her. She walked around a few times and stumbled on some coconut trees, cartoonishly a red exclamation point appeared above her head. Idea! One of these might not look like the other- like a game of I spy. With that she stood where she was and studied the tree tops for long a while.

_____
( I feel like he'd be a Gus or a Lucas )
"Wimpu! But real names Gus " he somewhat smiled. Commander?? He shivered at that, that was..kinda intimidating.

Evelyn followed with crossed arms. Huh?! ERGH! She loved the fans but they were blocking their way! Baring her teeth she shoved herself in between " OI! now I know were amazing! But there's a thing called SPACE! NOW BACK OFF OR ELSE-" She half shouted. "But if you want autographs do so calmly . I wouldn't want to have to get security involved now do I?" she said in a sweet tone. Hopefully the people understood her.

- @Checkmate -

Huh... Tari had gone quiet. Had she walked away? Or maybe she was trying to sneak up on him... he kept quiet and still, just in case.

"Nice to meet you!" Paige smiled. "Although it was rather rude of me not to ask until now, I'll admit." Maybe it was the glasses, but he reminded her of Skye... just a little bit.

"OI! Watch the hands, you creeps!" Belle snarled, shoving her way out of the throng. Scrapes like these made her want to show less skin at her matches. But then again... she looked great in this outfit, so why the heck should she stop? "I hope Tari isn't getting into trouble..."

Hmm. Sus....the leaves on this one coconut didn't match - maybe.." odd... I didn't think coconuts had hair -" she commented. Maybe that'll stir a reaction..hopefully. C'mon fall for the trick.

______

Evelyn had it, she could beat belle at anger any day!..maybe. She definitely beat her at insanity ! "THATS IT! Ill have you all arrested if you take one step further! Or ill get Lucks on the phone! He will be far worse than the cops! " she yelled. Then directed her attention to belle " highly doubt it " the girl didn't have the guts...well much anyways.

- @Checkmate -

"Sneak attack!" Theo cried, tossing a full coconut down at Tari. He didn't aim very well, so it likely wouldn't hit her. He peeked out of the tree to check if she was still there.

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"Let's get moving," Belle sighed, signaling their driver to come pick them up. "Hopefully we can get outta this without losing pieces of clothing or anything like that."

-------------------

Skye was the only scientist left now... all the others had either finished, or had gone on break, leaving her all by herself. She stared into space, mind occupied with one thing-- rather, one person-- alone.

How can I make the rest of the day unforgettably awesome for her...? Maybe I can introduce her to Paige? No, that's silly; Paige lost to Tascorp in that match today... that would be way too awkward. What else could I do...? She seems really happy to be with Theo... I won't pull her out until she says so. That's what I'll do for now.

{ @cmdr_Paige )

She yelped, she didn't expect that! She flung herself to the left in a way to dodge, but this only led to her falling into the sand face first. Soon enough let out a few giggles "Theo you GOOF!" she laughed out only to roll on to her back. A few moments in and she was wheezing. "y-you know I found you right?.. "

____

Evelyn growled "is it so bad to fight with your fan base? " she sighed as she pinched her nose. She knew they were awesome! But c'mon people. The driver didn't take long to arrive,albeit they were just parked a block away.

- @Checkmate -

"Aww man!" Theo whined, but he laughed alongside her, joining her on the ground. "Okay! Your turn to hide; I'll count!" He covered his eyes the best he could (his hands were hardly large enough), and began counting to ten.

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"Well, I dunno if Lucks would take kindly to that. You know how he is... so desperate for attention..." Belle shrugged, waving to the crowds one last time before stepping into the Tascorp escort vehicle.

{ @cmdR_Paige )

Oop! With that she got up ran off. Think think think..hiding spot... Water! She can blend in can't she?.. Or what if she buried herself..nope. Not enough time. She spotted some rock formations which gave her an idea. Finding a perfect spot in between the rocks she did her best to hide herself.

____________

Yeah...true. She hated when belle was right some days. Not bothering to wave, she got in the car .

- @Checkmate -

"Nine... ten!" Theo opened his eyes and scanned the area, checking for any sign of Tari. Footprints didn't show up in this world, not even on the sand, so that was out of the question. He searched the trees first, assuming that Tari would take advantage of his genius strategy. Finding nether blue hide nor blue hair of his friend, he started looking elsewhere.
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Belle leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. Dang, her shoulder was sore... she hadn't thought it was that bad until now. Oh, well... guess I'll be setting aside some me time tonight. What's the worst that could happen? Tari's got Skye, Lucks is busy, and nobody needs me to train for anything, so... "Evelyn, just so you know, from the moment we leave this car to ten a.m. tomorrow, you will not disturb me." She was going to enjoy herself tonight... bask in the glow of her glorious-- well, maybe not glorious, the competition was rather weak-- but it was a victory nonetheless.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Tari smirked to herself, he wouldn't think of here! Then again..Theo didn't think tari would've found his spot. Uh oh..her nose itched. No! Don't sneeze..dont sneeze she covered her nose keep it in- c'mon... curse bodily functions some days!

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"Yeah sure...whatever..." she said with an eye roll and looked out the window. To be honest..she was wanting the competition to last longer. Ergh. Now back to boring Tascorp.

{ @Checkmate }

Theo suddenly had a stroke of genius-- he knew exactly how to find her! He cleared his throat, then called out in no particular direction:

"Hey, Tari! Look! A whole family of ducks! Golly, you should see the baby ones; they're so cute!"
________

Belle drummed her fingers on the windowsill, watching the surroundings pass. She opened her holographic Meta Runner arm display, checking to see if she had any new messages. She'd put the thing on silent, so it wouldn't disturb her during the competition. Hopefully Lucks hadn't tried to contact her.

{ @cmdR_Paige )

Ducks?! wait no...this could be a trick..but if it isn't...I'd miss them! Nonono- ergh... she took the chance anyways. Her head popped out from the boulders like the pop goes the weasel game. "ducks?!" she said. Maybe they were hiding. With that crawled out from her hiding spot.

_______

Aaand they were back. Even though the driver kinda ran a few red lights... Evelyn though pressed herself against the seat in slight fear. Since when did their driver decide to speed like that?! "LEARN HOW TO DRIVE!" she yelled.

- @Checkmate -

"Gotcha!" Theo yelled with a grin, pointing over at her. He wasn't aware that he'd basically cheated-- he was still learning the game, but he did feel a little bad that there weren't any real ducks-- Tari would be disappointed. "Wanna play again?"

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"Hey, if you get where you're going and you make it there alive, you're fine," Belle remarked, realizing the driver's tactics matched her own in a sense. She wasn't the most cautious of drivers... Lucks had called her reckless. She of course, had taken that as a compliment.

{ @cmdR_Paige }

Tari frowned at this but took it as payback. But she wanted to see REAL ducks. Fiddle sticks. " good job kid. And..from what happened yesterday , no not really.. We can continue tomorrow though! Uh..sorry.." she said as she hopped out from the rocks. Four hours stuck in a game kinda killed the fun for her.

__________

" yeah that would work in A CAR CHASE! We could've gotten hit 8 TIMES! " they even passed two semi s like that! No! Nope nope nope. She kicked the door open "if you do this again YOUR FIRED" she yelled at the driver who jolted.

{ @Checkmate }
(oh and btw, are Lucinia / Sofia open to be roleplayed? :3)

Theo's shoulders slumped and he looked at the ground, feeling a little saddened. "Okay... I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" He looked back up at her with a forced smile, trying not to look too upset.

__________

Belle tried not to snicker at the driver's reaction. She leaned over and told them, "Between you and me, I think you've been playing too much Dragon Kart." She entered the building behind Evelyn and drew a hand across her brow. Back home... woo-ha. She glanced around, looking for anyone else nearby.

Skye had taken a small break to get herself a glass of water-- she'd taken Tari's words to heart and figured it would be best for her to move around a bit. Exercise was hard to commit to in a world driven by video games.

{ @cmdR_Paige )

( yes they are uwu )

Tari gave a frown at this,poor guy. She walked up to him "it won't be long I promise. Just..I don't know sing a song or something ask skye to manifest a comic! Since she could make yoh smoothies I'm sure that's not out of bounds " comics were pretty entertaining anyways.

_____

Ok yeah maybe he had... With that the driver pulled into tascorps parking garage.

{ @Checkmate )

( ooh... consider at least Lucinia claimed - )

"Mmm... okay, that sounds good." Theo nodded. "I'll be ready to have more fun with you when you come back, okay?"

_____

"So, uh... how did everything go?" Skye asked timidly, appearing to shrink in Belle's shadow. She already knew that Tascorp had won, but she was honestly curious. She guessed Evelyn would be the most talktative on the subject.

{ @cmdR_Paige )
( lucinias all urs )

Tari nodded only to close her eyes and begin to hop out. But..she was..kinda stuck. Stuck in a dark space? Why?! "Hello?!" perhaps she was just stuck..A buffering of some sorts. She closed her eyes again ..she glitched A few times but didn't budge .

______

"Easy win. But it was too easy - " Evelyn sighed in slight disappointment as she passed skye. She liked to have more competition.

(alright then, here we goooo)
A glowing wave of violet sparks zipped by for a moment. What sounded like a whisper followed it, and for a moment it seemed as if Tari wasn't alone.

Someone else was there, and it wasn't Theo.

She was silent, barely visible in the cloud of magenta lights, but a closer inspection would likely result in her discovery.

-----------------

"Oh..." An easy win? It was worse than she thought... she had to make it up to Paige somehow...

"Yeah, I mean... Your friend was alright, but her partner was a total noob. Could definitely use some more work. She's got potential, but she'll never be as good as us. Not with that hunk o'junk to deal with." Belle gestured to her own Meta Runner arm, hoping Skye would get the picture.

Skye's face fell. She had limited tech and resources! She couldn't build Paige a Tascorp-worthy arm overnight! She kept from spouting off at Belle and only nodded.

- @Checkmate -

Her voice was faint and distorted-- only a few words could be heard. Tari... it's me... you... AI... server. The violet-haired apparition began to take on a humanlike appearance.

The left half of her body was charred and blackened, as if it had been set aflame. Her left arm was missing from the elbow down, and a metal mount of some kind was affixed to the end, as if she once had a Meta Runner arm, but it had been violently removed.

She reached out her right hand to Tari, lavender eyes appearing to hold years of information.

--------------------

Skye turned to leave, heading in the direction of the lab, but Belle grabbed her shoulder before she could take another step.

"Oi... been meaning to ask you about something."

Skye flinched. "Uh... a-about what?"

Belle waited until Evelyn was out of earshot-- didn't want to have too much drama going around.

"So... you and Tari. What were you two up to last night?"

Skye's face matched the hue of Belle's hair as soon as she heard the question. "We... we were just gaming together."

"All night long? Ain't good for your brain cells to do that."

"Not all night! We talked, too."

"So gaming and chilling, huh?"

"We had tea."

"That's lovely. Was that before or after you slept--!?"

"We only shared a room, I swear!"