[Open/mingle] Alexa Play The Completionist's Theme Song

[strawberryredgrave]

Who: The Heroes of Light
When: Post-time loops
Where: Myste Aura, particularly the hot springs
What: Mingling! Celebrating both a job well done and 100% completion of the game
Warnings/Notes: Hot spring antics, hot wing antics, potentially washtubs





Everyone knows the Heroes of Light by now. They took the world by storm over the last few days (over and over and over the last few days) and with the calamity averted and Bahamut fended off? They needed a vacation. One on a brand new day would be great; the past few became a little too predictable for anyone's taste. The solution? Celebrate a brand new day at a place they're sure to be welcomed and are least likely to be thrown out. A job well done is well and good as a hero's reward, but a person's got bills to pay and feet to get off of now and then, so the ultimate destination place was an obvious one: the Myste Aura hot springs.

The invitation's an open one and Dante's one of the first to arrive, primarily to get the cooking all set up. There's a lot of it to be done, but given the zora's amused smirk through it all, he's having a good time. It's as much for him as it is everyone else. He could only bring enough for cooking and serving, so no vacation gear here! Gotta bring your own or pick some up on the way over. Either way, it's a stress free time that everyone really needed. Oh...and the invitation insists that the heroes bring along their Calm Deity Masks for an unmentioned reason...


THE HOT SPRINGS

Without a doubt, the main attraction of this trip. The hot springs are world renowned for a reason! Take a dip into the waters and see for yourself. The bubbling warmth of the natural waters are more than enough to let weary heroes and travelers alike unwind and let their troubles melt away for a little while. Some people have actually fallen asleep while settled in these, so be careful to keep your head above water!

Waterside refreshments are also available, particularly beverages. Remember: no underage drinking!


FOOD STANDS

There is. A lot of food. Including the shawarma Dante promised! He's got a few volunteers willing to help keep things clean and organized, but a majority of it is self serve with various kinds of cuisine for all kinds of tastes! As thanks for all the shenanigans Bass puts up with, there's a separate food table for moogles and dishes incorporating kupo nuts. Appetizers, entrees, desserts, it's all here. Dante himself is manning the shawarma station and offering anyone who asks a good, hearty slice of cooked Ochu meat. Trust him, guys; it's so good, it doesn't even need a sauce.


LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

The nice thing about being this close to Myste Aura is that the Bard's Guild is nearby. Once word got around that the Heroes of Light were gonna take a vacation in their neck of the woods, a few enthusiastic volunteers were more than ready to perform as a show of thanks for all they've done. Enjoy the concert of songs, some classics, some composed in honor of the heroes themselves. Naturally, there's little to stop anyone who wants to hop on stage and perform themselves. Hell, the bards would be proud to perform alongside a hero of light! Just don't mind the spotlight you'd be under.


COLLECTIBLES

So remember the whole thing about bringing your Calm Deity Masks? Surprise! Everyone who approaches the table of bagged goodies wearing their masks receives one! Each bag has a collection of goodies inside, from toy crystals to even figurines of the heroes themselves! Were you lucky enough to get yourself or your friends? Nothing's stopping you from trading until you get the one(s) you want!

Along with each bag is a free t-shirt. They have several different sizes just in case and all of them bear a familiar logo as a reminder of the great deed the heroes accomplished.


Wildcard

We're all kicking back and relaxing, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. Have fun, go nuts and remember to clean up after yourself.

(Make toplevels! Relax! Have fun~))

Comments

The Hot Wing Contest!

[strawberryredgrave]

(The contest is ready to begin! An announcement is made and the competitors are requested at the seating table (several tables lined together to make sure everyone can sit in a line.) Crowds are set to watch from the other side of the table, a fair distance away while Dante takes center stage to preface the competition.)

Hey! Before we get started, I'd like to give some thanks to the Magitek Knight guild for the wind up prizes of the competition and the Heroes of Light figurines we've all been clamoring for. Especially love carrying a little me around. Cute, isn't he?

(Holding up the Dante figurine for everyone to see.)

And another thanks to the Bard guild for coming out here and playing their hearts out. They're the smart ones for setting up stage all the way over there 'cause they're not gonna smell the wings from over there. So without further ado, Dante Must Fry presents: the Megaflare sauce.

(Several volunteers approach to deliver each contestant a sizable plate of chicken wings. There's...a lot of them per. Some of the volunteers are already teary-eyed just from the smell of the sauce.)

So before we begin, let's lay down the rules. Number one: You don't necessarily have to clear your plate to win. Last one standing wins by default. Second, use of asterisk abilities is allowed, but be responsible; I see anyone Time Slipping to before the contest began and you're disqualified. Save it for afterwards, yeah? Lastly, if it gets to be too much for you, we got fresh milk to wash off the spice; just know that drinking any mid-contest means you forfeit. At the sound of the whistle, you all get started.

(Dante steps out of the way, holding one arm up with another holding a whistle in his mouth. He pauses for a moment, lets the competitors get psyched up. Once his hand comes down and the whistle blows, the contest is officially underway!)

((The contest will be spread out to four "rounds" which will each have their own toplevel. It's all the same interval of time, but will mark the shift in positions as the contest goes on. Everyone's positions will be RNG'd and be posted semi-regularly, but you're all free to play out how your characters are doing each round!))

Round 1

[strawberryredgrave]

(The contest begins and all of you start digging into your heaping plate of wings as best as you can! Despite the strong smell of the Megaflare sauce, it doesn't instantaneously set your mouth on fire. There's actually a nice sweet and smoky flavor to it that takes like there was actual effort put into the sauce. The heat is there, without a doubt, but at first it seems...subtle. Suspiciously so. Maybe you don't mind it at first. Hey, if this is what it is, then maybe eating small portions of these regularly wouldn't be so bad!

But things start heating up after that. It might occur to you that Bahamut's signature attack took time to charge up. Appropriately, Megaflare sauce isn't so bad at first, but the more you eat it, the hotter it gets. This might make the later parts of the contest difficult....)

((The current rankings are as followed:

1. Pidge
2. Red
3. Kanji
4. Castor
5. Serge
6. Papyrus
7. Ren
8. Undyne
9. Sasami
10. Asriel
11. Frisk
12. Okuyasu
13. Bowser))

[mech_and_mutt]

[Unfortunately for Red, he didn't have the most burn-resistant of palates. And while his appetite for meat may have been almost bottomless...]

Uwaa-aa-aah--!!

[...his resilience to Dante's infernal sauce was another story. He kept himself busy by clearing the meat off the bone once he made his way through the skin, but he was already pink in the cheeks and starting to sweat. All in all? Nnnot the image of a hot wing champion right now.

Still, his inner carnivore guided him to some decent progress in spite of it. Hand trembling, he puts down another bone into a neat pile beside him. No point letting those go to waste, right?]

a-another one down...!

[righthandstand]

[Okuyasu can eat fifty wings, easy! He's a growing boy who wants some good, good chicken sauce. He grabs one wing, rips off the meat, and continues with the next. The sauce is deep. It's rich like a thick soup spread over fresh barbeque. The meat is soft and easy on the throat. He can--]

Augh! [The mild heat is already too much for him, but it's good...no, he has to win this. He grabs another wing.

The Megaflare hits him full force. Okuyasu is literally knocked to the floor.]

[waningsigns]

[Frisk absolutely underestimated the power of the sauce. I've eaten literal actual garbage before, they think, staring down their plate. This is actually pretty tasty, they continue, scarfing down as many wings as they can fit in their mouth at a time, spitting out the bones as they go.]

[Then they start to get a niggling feeling that something's about to go horribly wrong. It takes a moment for them to place it as their Prescience, which doesn't make sense, they're not in a fight or anything so—]

[And then the heat hits.]

[They're still on their feet, at least, but it's impossible to miss the loud wheeze they let out at that moment. They might be dying. It sure feels like it.]

[bladeofconquest]

"GO SERGE! YOU CAN DO IT!" Corrin yells from the crowd, while waving a hastily-assembled "GO SERGE GO" sign above her head. Sorry everyone else competing, she can only back one horse in this race and she's made her choice. "CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!"

Round 2

[strawberryredgrave]

(By now, the contestants are all away of what the Megaflare sauce can do and know that it's only going to get harder from here on out. Fortunately, that means the surprise as likely warn off by now, letting you keep your head in the game and work through that seemingly endless plate of wings. There is a bottom to the pile, right? There's gotta be. Otherwise, it's...great that Dante specified the winner could just be the last one standing...)

((The current rankings are as followed:

1. Serge
2. Sasami
3. Ren
4. Kanji
5. Castor
6. Okuyasu
7. Frisk
8. Bowser
9. Pidge
10. Undyne
11. Asriel
12. Red
13. Papyrus))

[koopacrusher]

Bowser coughs up what he was choking on to see... spaghetti in front of him? He looks around, wondering where it came from, before eating the spaghetti. He takes a few moments to recover, then gets back in the game. His once rapid pace of eating now goes to a moderate one after what just happened.

[timecrash]

Serge's strategy, against all reason, has worked. He's in the lead! And he's got people cheering for him!

He finishes his latest bowl, pumping his fist in the air. "YEAH! BRING IT! MORE WINGS! MEGAFLARE SAUCE AIN'T GOT SH-uh, CRAP!"

[bladeofconquest]

Speaking of the cheering, the sign is still being waved, and encouragement is still being shouted.

"YOU CAN WIN! YOU FEEL GREAT! YES, YES, YES!"

[mech_and_mutt]

[Okay. Carrying himself off of his fondness for meat was working at first. But after a while, it was difficult to divorce the meat from the sauce it was cooked in; and as that stack of bones grew beside him...]

Hnghh... hff...

[Red slammed his fist into the table, crunching clear through a bone he was HOPING he could bite down on to dull the sensation of spreading, sinking, sizzling, insidious heat. He had to slow down, even if it started hurting his pace. He had to answer his poor mouth and stomach's call to breathe. This was starting to feel less like food and more like he was eating attacks straight from--

...wait a minute.

He hastily fumbled through his pockets for his iMog slate, and- after a few swipes, switched his job to Sky Pirate. A deep breath. Another bite. Another blast of dragonfire against the inside of his mouth.

And as the •Adrenaline Rush kicked in, he was almost starting to like it.

Megaflare sauce, let's see what you've got.]

Round 3

[strawberryredgrave]

(Reaching the three quarters mark has proven to be a task in and of itself. Everyone deserves a pat on the back for making it this far! The home stretch is in sight and you only have to punish your stomach a little bit more before you can call yourself victor over the Megaflare sauce, if not the victor over the contest entirely.

The heat proves to be too much for some, as competitor Asriel rushes over to the milk to put an end to his suffering.

Asriel has forfeited)

((The current rankings are as follows:

1. Red
2. Ren
3. Papyrus
4. Kanji
5. Undyne
6. Serge
7. Bowser
8. Okuyasu
9. Sasami
10. Castor
11. Frisk
12. Pidge))

[mech_and_mutt]

[It hurts. He's not going to pretend it doesn't. His tastebuds are ablaze in rivers of lava, his stomach the roiling magmatic core. And even with adrenaline boost backing him up, all he can do to keep from crying out in seething pain is to stuff his mouth with as much meat as possible. But there's one thing that keeps him going in spite of it all.

It.

Is.

Delicious.

He's at the home stretch. He knows it. And once he got down to eating agonizingly-intense hot wings, there's just no stopping him.]

[exspeariment]

Undyne continued staying determined through the near-unbearable pain.

She would make it through this.

She proceeded to shovel 5 hot wings in her mouth at once.

[waningsigns]

[Oh wait there's the pain again, the sauce just needed to melt its way through their tongue. If Frisk didn't already feel like they were dying, they would absolutely feel it now.]

[Would it count as forfeiting if they took a moment to lie down on the floor and cry...?]

[masqueraid]

( wing after wing after wing gets shoved into ren's mouth, and it seems to be becoming increasingly apparent just how serious he took that mental pep-talk from a cat. the meat slides off the bone easy enough for him to keep going, barely tasting that scalding hotness that was building in the very bases of his taste buds... !

the sweat is zig-zagging steadily down his face, a new stream appearing after the last meaty bits went down... )

A winner is announced

[strawberryredgrave]

The sound of a whistle fills the air, signaling the end of the competition. It's over, you can finally take a deep breath and put down those burning hot wings. Dante has the volunteers handing the competitors milk before proceeding with the celebrations; he's pretty sure their priorities are on putting out the fires in their mouths. The zora's proudly rubbing his hands together with a wide grin.

"Let's make it real clear here: all of you win the Megaflare challenge. I didn't make it easy, but props to all of our competitors. Once you can all breathe regularly again, we've got our top three winners right here!" He holds up a card, waving it proudly.

"Third place winner is...Frisk! Gotta give it to 'em; they've been keeping a straight face the whole time and even I can't do that. They get a wind-up great eidolon of their choice." A moment of applause for them that he'll join in on.

"Second place goes to...Undyne! A real determined competitor if I've ever seen one! Eating five of 'em at once is hardcore, do she earned wind-up great eidolon." Another round of applause for Undyne.

"And first place proves sometimes, all you need to make it through is sheer force of will. The underdog's on top this time, so give it up for the winner of the Hot Wing Contest and the new owner of all five wind-up great eidolons...

...Pidge!"

((The final results are as followed:

1. Pidge
2. Undyne
3. Frisk
4. Red
5. Kanji
6. Bowser
7. Ren
8. Serge
9. Papyrus
10. Okuyasu
11. Sasami
12. Castor))

[mech_and_mutt]

phoogh-- koff koff--!!

[Knocked from first out of the top three by literally choking at the last second. How embarrassing...!

Still, nothing but an astonished-if-respectful stare to the top three. That wasn't easy-- they deserved all the praise they could get for enduring that hellfire.

Oh, right. Time to guzzle milk like a calcium-deficient skeleton. Give him a minute to soothe his tastebuds before he says something.]

[waningsigns]

[Frisk accepts their milk and swishes it around their mouth, trying their darnedest to get some feeling back in their mouth. Their face is blank as they process the fact that they apparently got third place, and then remains that way as they open their mouth to speak.]

"Thanks I think I died a little."

[It wouldn't be the first time, really.]

[Appropriately for their unhealthily death-filled life, they pick out the wind-up Phoenix. It's definitely because of the deep symbolism of their ability to come back from the dead and not just because they think it's pretty. No-sirree-bob.]

[timecrash]

This is a deep pain. And, it gets worse. Don't mind Serge, he's just going to be spending the rest of the night curled up with a jug of milk wondering why in the hell he'd started eating them as fast as he possibly could've done.

Mistakes. Mistakes had been made.

Closed to Marinette

[modelcivilian]

There was currently the Hot Wings contest going on, but Adrien's not one for spicy foods. It's entertaining to look in on, but he thinks he wants to go back to the hot springs. Still...

... there was something - someone he needed to talk to. Now with the loops over, the fights ended for now, that whole 'reveal' thing needed to be sorted. Like, what did they do now? Pretend it didn't happen? Continue being friends? ... Go on a date? He didn't really think it changed much between them, but Marinette might have a different opinion; he doesn't know. Back in Paris, she always insisted on secrets, but that was because Papillon was there.

But what about here?

Standing around the food stands, he tried not to think of the conversation going one way or the other - ultimately, he wanted them to still be partners even if it didn't mean being together-together. But... He looked around, wondering if he would see her, feeling anxious about the pending talk.

[doodlebuginette]

It was still a little hard to believe that they'd won. Perhaps because they'd spent so long repeating the same steps in an attempt to fix things, or maybe simply because this fight was a lot bigger than anything she'd had to think about back home.

Speaking of which... there was someone she needed to track down. As entertaining as it might have been to go watch the hot wings contest or just wander around seeing what she could see, there were more important things to think about.

She hadn't actually... spoken to Adrien since things had settled. Sure, she'd said hello in passing, but that was about it. Mostly because she was still trying to process... everything. And maybe she'd been hoping, just a little, that he'd come find her first.

But she was tired of waiting, so it was obviously time to go on the offensive. Fortunately, it wasn't all that hard to find him, and she made her way over to where the blonde was loitering near the food stands, Tikki and Mai in tow.

"H-hey!"

[modelcivilian]

There's a familiar voice... and just the person he was hoping to find.

"Hey to you."

He managed a smile though somewhat nervous, and trying not to think about Plagg and Blanc watching. Well, they were both here... they probably shouldn't put this off.

"So... I was hoping we could talk. Is now okay?"

[doodlebuginette]

"Hi."

And... she'd already said that.

Fortunately, she was saved from what was probably going to be the next couple of minutes worth of flailing and fumbling through what she wanted to say when he spoke up again.

Instead, he was met with nervous laughter.

"Mmm... yea. We need to."

Meanwhile, Tikki was doing her level best not to dissolve into laughter.

[modelcivilian]

Oh, well, she repeated herself. Good to know things hadn't changed that quickly.

Everything was still very much Marinette.

"Okay... okay uh..."

He looked around. Food stalls were not exactly private for this conversation. Hot springs? Uh probably not that either... Blanc knocked him on the head and Adrien, rubbing the spot, looked at the moogle only to following him pointing a paw outside. Oh, right... duh.

"... Let's go for a walk outside then?"