2021-02-15 - Sugar Rush: Flaptastrophe Redeux (35% more flap!)

Kailey was having a perfectly nice afternoon out with Maya. They'd gone to Vyv's patisserie for real croissants. With every intent to go see a movie and get sick on popcorn and candy. Instead it was one of those days. Where you open a door and step through it onto the race track of Sugarland. Kailey stops and almost drops her croissant as she stares at Cloud City and all that spreads beyond. "Awww fuck," She turns to look over her shoulder and see if Maya is still with her. There is only minor relief followed by worry when she finds her there. "Uhhhh...you any good at driving?" She asks with a lick of her lips and takes a couple steps towards a giant chocolate swan that could seat two. "Should we ride together? Can we?" She looks around for the referee or whatever constitutes the rules person in this Dream. "Oi! Can we partner up?" She shouts across the track.

"Driving?" Maya looks back at Kailey as the world shifts around them and bites her lip. "I mean, I got you back home okay that one time, right? Other than that I don't really drive... much," Maya admits with a bit of worry in her expression. She looks back to Kailey and gives a bit of a nod before she smooths her hands over her shirt. A nervous habit. "Riding doubles might be good. I guess we'll need to postpone the rest of our night out..." she sounds all at once disappointed and apprehensive, following Kailey over to the swan. "What even -is- all this?"

Devlin was of all things, just putting his gear from drill away. So no weird things showing up unless you count what he's wearing as he has the old days on his thoughts. He fades in walking out to the starting point dressed in tiger stripe camouflage flight suit and sporting a helmet decorated with a grinning Devil holding up a shield sporting a 504 and a scroll beneath that reads --Devils in Baggy Pants--. The one he walks to seems to have a huge Eider Duck perched on the front of his maroon colored gonadal and harnessed to it. And of course there is an oval on both sides of the gonadal with the number 504 within. "Oh man.. racing again?.. flying?" He spots the duck, "Yeah.. figures, duck on the brain as I am smoking one on the balcony. Hope I get back in time." He then walks around the duck and gonadal to inspect things. He discovered that yes.. he has pieces of bread in a pocket that he feeds to the duck. "Well, hope we can work this together. Please bare with me, friend.. not something I have done before."

Rekani honestly didn't know where he had been... No one is surprised....

Standing there, the larger than life Latino's mouth slowly opens, a blank look on his face, exhaling a long billow of smoke as if he had just taken a hit from his vape. Dressed to race in a BMW racing jacket, as was his claim, he was already standing in front of a waffle-cone basket, but the two birds that were flapping gently above it, holding it by wire, looked strange. They seemed to be made of formed chocolate and caramel, with angular lines that looked like birds, but also almost tribal art.

"Aw, fuckin' bet!" Rekani breaks into a wide grin, recognizing Taino art, then looks around, "The fuck we doin, tho?"

It's been a while since the last time Vyv found himself yanked into one of these Dreams. It's been-- well, not quite a year, since Valentine theme or not the last was actually late in March, but as has been established: the Veil has no real sense of time. He does, though. Also a strong memory of the week after that last one ended, when he couldn't taste sweet. This is a problem for a pastry chef. That's what flickers across his expression fifth, right after startlement that the door he just walked through has not let out where he expected, annoyance that it's another damn Dream, a slight brightening at the prospect of one of those races, and mild disappointment that his chocolate car isn't here. It's a cornucopia of subtle facial expressions, culminating in a sigh as he looks down at himself. Brown trousers, a bomber jacket, and a long scarf, accessorized with a pair of goggles on his head. No, not what he was wearing a minute ago, but precisely what he expected now.

Looking up and around, he takes in the others, and-- yes, birds again. In fact... "Hello again, Percival," he greets the ridiculously large albino peacock approaching him. "Pleased to see you made it out all right." Chocolate lava must have been hell on all those pure-white feathers. And also the ones in the tail, which are essentially what would happen if one took a normal peacock tail, turned the eye-shape into hearts, and adjusted all those metallic feathers from the brown-green-blue area to the silver-pink-red one. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This time, there's a silver and white thing almost like a palanquin strapped to the bird's back. Fancier than last time's saddle, as though that had been the problem. Vyv gives a slight sigh, inclines his head to the bird once, and climbs up into it, taking the reins.

"It's a race," he answers the questions of the world at large, "Again. Last time it was a flying one didn't end ideally for anyone, incidentally."

Lilith was sitting in the back office at work, distracted instead of actually working. She's been a bit lost in her own thoughts a lot since a Valentine Dream, but the holiday isn't quite done with her yet, now is it? While she's sitting in that chair, she gets the strange sensation of falling through the floor and landing in a pretty white sugar-glittered basket. It has a built in seat and and is laden with multiple colorful ribbons of silken pink spun sugar dangling at the sides.

What? Lilith looks around at where she is and makes a noise in her throat a little like 'oh'. After sitting a little longer, she looks around at those nearby and makes another 'oh' noise. Then she starts to look for Byron and realizes she's just sitting in a sugar-ribboned basket, no motors, the others were races, so why...

Suddenly, a flock of pink and white birds that look like hybrids of conversational candy hearts and doves swoop in mass down to where she is and automatically, she coils up and covers her head with a little shriek before they get stuck in her hair. It's reflex, okay.

But what really happens is... every single one of those sugar ribbons on the basket is picked up by a bird and she starts to hover in her now-guided race basket.

"... oh. Hi."

From the distance, Diana comes walking toward all the racing birbs, and she looks much the same as ever-- same high-waisted pants with a peek of leggings around the ankles (this time the leggings printed with wheels), and yes, an ugly Christmas sweater. This time, it's race-themed, though: https://misracing.com/site-assets/2019/07/61BHKuHOdrL._UX385_.jpg She frowns as she looks around curiously, and then gets a wickedly pleased look on her face as she spots a ginormous raven, replete with saddle. She heads over to it, so small up against it, and tilts her head. "Now... how am I supposed to get up there?" she mumbles to herself... at which point, the raven ducks down, catching her in its beak-- much to her surprise and delight-- and flinging her onto its back. She looks positively giddy about it, and adjusts her position in the saddle to something she hopes approximates correctness. It's then that she hears Vyv's voice, and waves excitedly in his direction. "I'm terrible at races in video games!" she says cheerily.

Valentine's Day has become one of the darkest holidays. Especially Gray Harbor Valentine's Day. Or that's what Byron would tell you if you asked him. Yesterday was a bitch and something that he was mentally and emotionally recovering from. Emotional crisis doesn't prevent you from needing to head into the office for a few hours, so he's out on the road, making his way down the stretch of road from Elm, heading down to the floating casino. In fact, it's when he's on the road bridging the Grand Olympic Casino to land that he drifts from the real world to....

Whatever the hell world that he often gets pulled into for who knows what reason. You know, the one where he's in a race. Instead of his expensive Rolls, he's sitting on a light-weight gondola with some sort of rocketry attached to the bottom, moreso to keep it upright and in hover more than to lend it speed. Pulling the chariot, like some sort of sleigh, are a a tower of falcons. All of them were wearing goggles. At least two of them had scarves wrapped around their bird necks. In fact, they nearly mirror Byron now. He wasn't wearing goggles while in the real world, but he was wearing them here. They sat atop his head. And there is a scarf around his neck. He's also wearing leather gloves, but he was doing so before shennanigans began. Like usual, he's wearing a suit. He tends to be caught in one during moments like this.

It takes a moment for him to realize the shift in reality, but as whacky as this place is, it doesn't take long. "This again.." He murmurs beneath his bread, half-turning to regard the other racers, many of them he was familiar with because of these races. He catches sight of Lilith just as he lowers his goggles.

One moment, she was sitting at the table eating a plate of chili cheese fries because. Because they're fucking good, okay? And it's her day off! Don't judge! The next moment she's sitting in a row boat made from something she isn't even sure of just yet, but man, it looks realistic. Except, there is a small army of sea gulls each holding ropes in their feet, ready to lift the boat off the ground, screaming, 'mine? Mine? Mine?' Nicole's hair is tied up in a ponytail and she is wearing a white cropped t-shirt with a unicorn and rainbow on it faded to near invisibility and pink sweat pants, but the moment she realizes where she is, and that she's entered the dream again, her outfit changes to one that Amelia Earhart would be proud to wear... if she was into black Dom looking leather. No goggles or hat though. The dream didn't erase the spot of cheese at the corner of her mouth though, or the chili grease she is now licking from her fingers.

"Well, oh fuck. We're late."

"Mine? Mine? Mine?"

"Shut up."

Kailey notes the others change in attire and looks down at herself, only now aware of the shifts from tee and jeans to a purple jumpsuit with numerous pockets, most of them full of candy. From one she pulls a lollipop, which is promptly popped in her mouth. "Last time my bird just decided it was gonna fly, fly, away and fuck this racing shit," She tells Maya as she reaches out to gently stroke the chocolate swan. "Hey tasty, wanna let us up?" She asks sweetly of the darkest chocolate of swans. With a perfect neck and a little lace and satin bowtie around it's neck.

Then Skates has to go and bellow into her megaphone. At first Kailey tries scolding the swan like it was Morganna who just threw her peas on the floor. The honking was loud and she quickly shooed at Maya to get into the large saddle as she scurried up. Better to do before the thing got too upset. "Ssshhhhhh, there there, it's cool. It's just another noisy bird. You're bigger and sweeter, remember?" She tells the confectionary conveyance.

As Rekani's birds start to freak and fly all over, the big man was suddenly leaping in to try to calm them, "Nah! Nah! Dawg, keep it together, we got this! Nothin' to worry about!" This of course means nothing to these birds and they continue to freak until Rekani gets frustrated and starts swearing and carrying on in Spanish. Both birds seem to round on him, cocking their heads. Rekani seems taken aback. "Tu hablas español?!" 'You speak Spanish?' The birds squawk at him in answer. He asks them another question,"Por qué no lo dijiste?" 'Why didn't you say so?' The birds squawk back again as Rekani utters a cackle and climbs in his wafflecone gondola.

Once Devlin hops into his gondola, the Duck starts flapping and the sudden movement catches Devlin off guard as he slams into the back. "Hey now.. " Devlin exclaims, "Come on.. give me a break... we're a team." The duck seems to laugh a little and smirks at Devlin over his shoulder before he gets into flying. Devlin manages to catch the reigns before his Duck gets going to fast and steers the bird flying onto the course, "Yeah!! that's the way to do it. You fly.. I'll keep things steady and an open eye."

Lilith may be a lot of things, but she's still a girl who was a very little, excitable girl once upon a time. Therefore, when the candy-heart-doves start spelling messages overhead, she looks positively giddy in an unwilling kind of distracted way for a moment, just watching. It changes her demeanor from 'oh' then 'oh shit' into 'oh, I got this' like a progression on her doll-like features. She might as well be Cinderella with her own fantasy flock of helper birds now, she kind of likes the idea of that. Except there's no way to steer them that she can tell, at least not immediately.

When she lurches, she catches sight of Byron in his 'ride' too and tries to wave and call his way, but the quick motion of the birds en masse taking off stops her short from saying a damn thing. Then suddenly she accuses the birds, "Why didn't you spell me how to steer? We can't win this thing with love, get mad! But not at me. Them! Actually, you know what, just go. Giddyup!" There's snap-to-command that's a bit uncanny to pop out of her with imperiousness like that all of a sudden, but birds are birds man, not men with kinks. They're going! That's enough for them!

She should probably figure out some steer tactics that work better before obstacles happen.

If anything, this event was taking Byron's mind away from the other things he could be thinking about. And this was only a minor annoyance. Not that there wasn't a real chance of injury in these particular Dreams, he knows that first hand, but it was so ridiculous that all he wants to do is get this over with. And possibly win.

The start is sounded before he notices Lilith trying to wave at him, having to handle several birds of his own. With his hands on the reins, he whips both lightly in his tight grip, urging the flying falcons to take off in unison with those little scarves flapping behind those that are wearing one. The entrepreneur takes this all quite seriously, urging the birds to give it they got. Whatever is said, it seems to be working as the eyrie of falcons take off at full speed, soaring like missles through the sky.

It was a bit of a strange thing, clothing changed, she didn't even really notice until she looked back at Kailey. The veil truly is a strange place. She reaches out to the birb, trying to make sure she can calm it down, after all just think calming thoughts and let them all feel it. That's how it works, or at least how she was told... Maya takes a breath. "Okay you big dumb bird, you'll help us take this race won't you?" Maya even smiles, even though a little bit of her nerves start to take her, it doesn't seem to impact them birb all that much! They mount and then the bird takes off and begins flying the course. "Okay shit this is kinda weird..." Maya says.

Vyv is not the only one who remembers that last race. Percival does, too. As the chef settles into his box, a pair of goggles and scarf phase into being for the bird, as though the Veil were deciding they ought to match better, and the pair of them look very race-ready right up until the tiny woman yells. Instead of flapping his massive wings, the peacock goes absolutely stock-still and gives a tiny terrified squawk, eyes wide behind the glass as though he's suddenly seeing masses of melted chocolate rise up like a tsunami around him again. The reins do nothing.

"Percival!" Vyv snaps, at the lack of movement, and glares ahead at the bird, giving the reins another go. It takes a moment before he catches the slight shiver in the form carrying him and comes to what turns out to be about the right conclusion. "You can do this," he informs the bird firmly, but without the snappishness now, "Remember how well we were doing last time? It's a new track, mm? Let's go prove what we can do, shall we? Go on, onward!" The bird glances back at him, and the box shifts a little as though shoulders were being squared, though it may be more that wings are being extended. And he's off!

A bit behind where Vyv would like them to be, granted. But still: they're off.

As Rekani gets in the "driver's seat" and starts to get his bearings, shouting orders in Spanish at the two birds, it starts to go ok. They weren't the smartest birds, truth be told, but yaknow, the pet reflects the owner? There seemed to be more ridiculous tittering badgering than any real understanding, the birds occasionally craning their heads to squawk angrily back at their rider. He wasn't an easy carry, afterall. Reins in hand, he tries his best to whip them faster. "Ándele! Ándele!" He takes a moment to dig in his pocket, coming up with a cellphone after a second, dialing something and tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder, trying to drive at the same time. He could be heard shouting, "Yeah, I said call Cheddar! Fuck, man! And hurry the fuck up!"

Apparently, the fact that the dream stole her away from her gosh darn chili cheese fries makes Nicole a bit annoyed. She gives the seagulls a look that is the epitome of 'I am not in the mood for your BS (bird shit), so don't even think about it.'

With a sigh, she waves her hand down the track and says, "quit yer squawkin' and fly like there's a beach littered with cheese curls ahead." Curious, she then reaches for the edge of her rowboat, managing to take a tiny bit off, testing it in her hand. "Hmm. Fondant." Looking beneath the piece she took off reveals the make of the boat; very sturdy cement-like rice krispie treats molded into the shape.

Apparently, her sassy pants attitude works. The birds take off flying, lifting her and the boat by the ropes and heading down the track. Eyes open wide in a bit of surprise, Nicole murmurs, "well fuck. It worked?"

"Mine?"

Nicole rolls her eyes. "Well, at least they are flying forward...."

Diana doesn't even get a chance to grab the reins; her raven takes off in a random direction, which at first isn't even quite the right one. But Diana points to the racetrack, and the raven soars in that direction, not needing feedback from the reins at all. "There we go. Good bird. What a good bird," she says soothingly, and the squawks cheerily as it heads down the right direction now. For Diana's part, she looks absolutely thrilled, wind whipping her hair back and forth, and her hands stroking the bird's side. "There we go," she says just loudly enough for the bird to hear.

Was Rekani singing to himself? Yes, the Spanish DJ had begun singing to himself. Not only that, he seemed to be driver's-seat-dancing in his little gondola, the kind of shit you see people doing when they're really gettin' down on a song in their car with the windows rolled down. It seemed to be helping, because he was whipping those reins in perfect time, and his pair of tribal birds rock on down the raceway.

Kailey grips the basket and holds the reins, nodding to Maya. "Whatever you're doing is working," She says as she guides the goose forward. Slow and steady may or may not win the race, but it will keep them intact.

"All right sweetie you're doing great," Maya says patting at the swan's neck. She pauses and then says. "So we just gotta go along with this until they let us go? Guess it's better than the last time this happened," Maya observes, making those soothing sounds as she keeps trying to keep everything moving smoothly ahead. "We'll get you right fixed up in no time," Maya promises though maybe even she doesn't quite know what the hell shes saying, but hey it seems to be working so she's not complaining.

Devlin starts calling Cadence loud and clear as he gets a feel for this. He stands up in the Gondola, hooking his feet into the safety rail in the front of the -car-. "Cee One Thirty Rolling Down The Strip..." the cadence sung in time to the wing beats and encouraging the duck to greater speed as Devlin uses his feet and the reigns to shift the weight of the gondola car into positions more advantageous for the way the duck flies to pull more efficiently. The team surge a head to pass some and now trying to catch the leaders.

The gulls moved forward a good bit. So far so good! Maybe Nicole won't have to stand there at the end saying 'I flew all the way here, and boy, are my arms tired'.

"Okay, fine, you can squawk as long as we keep doing well." Nicole glances around her, seeing who else is there, finally. She smiles bright seeing Vyv and waves at him. "You can do it, pretty peacock!" She cheers his poor PTSD pretty peacock on. She waves over to everyone else too, then eyes focused ahead. "If we win, not only will there be imaginary cheese curls at the imaginary beach, but, imaginary popcorn too! Go Birbs Go!"

Lilith is tempted to grab the ribboning the birds have grabbed to fly her gondola-basket she's seated in, but suddenly, she's aware of how high she's hovering and decides trying to wrestle or spur them directionally by physical force might be a more dangerous task than just yelling at the creatures. They're mostly just kind of fluttering and going with excitement at first, but the woman tries to work them into full cooperative force after drawing in a huge breath and figuring out how to order candy birds around.

With her fingers on the side of her floating ride, she looks at the others leaving her in the dust and suddenly decides it's not okay. She has a whole bunch of goddamn birds and she's about to make them do what they're supposed to do, it's principle!

"Okay listen up, flying lovebuckets. We could float and zizag all day, but listen-- there's more of us than them, let's act like it, damnit! Right bird, work with left. Lead bird, squawk back commands, rear birds, flap those wings like someone's coming to cut them off! Fly!"

... it's so weird to say those things to birds.

These birds were doing quiet well from what Byron could tell. Most of the other contestants were somewhere behind him, though Devlin, a very familiar face in this racing circuit, was just in the next lane and seemingly doing fine himself. In truth, besides wanting to win one of these things, he's also thinking: Let's get this over with. He was a busy man, with things to do!

Perhaps due to wanting a quick finish, he projects ideas of urgency into his feathered friends.... only to get some lip, okay, it's more confusion, than lip, from them. "Are we really discussing this right now? Unless we're crossing that finish line I don't want to hear anything more about 401k." He then goes on to add, in the hopes of lifting the falcons' spirits, "Of course you'll adequate vet coverage. What do you think I am? A monster?"

"Yes, good work! Keep going!" Vyv declares, doing a fairly decent job of sounding encouraging while slightly clenching his teeth. Forward is good. But they are... so slow. Everyone is passing them. Has he ever been this far back in the pack? He's fairly sure the answer is no. And he doesn't much like it! He leans forward as though it might somehow help. It does not.

Nicole's wave is caught, and oh yes there's Diana, he got distracted from greeting her by the start of the race. There is a definite ambivalence here: nice to see them, be nicer to see them in his rear view. Which he hasn't got on a bird but the point stands. Still, hand lifts in a wave back as he watches them flap swiftly on ahead. Dammit. "Percival! Think of a quick song and fly to it! Try Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger!" Song title or general instructions? You decide.

Diana's gigantimo raven keeps flapping along, and Diana starts up a patter, urging the bird faster. "You're really working hard, aren't you? I'm really proud of you, Nevermore. Can I call you Nevermore? I know it's really cliche, but it just has a certain ring to it, don't you think? Ooh, Vyv's catching up. That won't do. See if you can pull a LOT further ahead, won't you?" To be honest, it's not really getting the results she's hoping for, but she's grinning all the same, enjoying the ride for what it is. In fact, she starts carefully removing her arms and hands from the back of her raven, throwing them out high behind herself. "I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!" she cries out, and then nearly falls off. Thankfully, she catches herself just barely, and clings for dear life to the reins. Still, she ends up whispering to her birb, "That. Was. So. Cool." She's a little too rattled to wave back to Vyv, but she does turn around and give him a chin-up and a wide smile.

Kailey begins to tap her foot to a beat and bobs her head to some internal music. Then her foot starts stamping twice before she claps. She glances at Maya and encourages her to keep the beat for her. "This -is- a Dream. One of the...more amusing ones. Ready?" And then with the next set of beats she starts singing the Swan on.

Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin'
We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you

Fly bird, fly! Kailey has given it a beat and that beat seems to be working. With a honk on the next clap this Queen of chocolatey goodness surges ahead. All the while Kailey continues to sing, clap, and stomp.

Someone way back there in the pack sounded familiar, but it was really hard to place the voice given how far back in the pack he was. But also, that voice sounded like they had a good idea. Rekani's in-seat dancing redoubles, but instead of singing along, now he was beatboxing, his big cheeks working and vibrating as he provides his own racing soundtrack. It sounded familiar?

As the wafflecone and caramel birds near the next zone, something seems to be spooking them. There's some trades in Spanish between Rekani and birds, and he starts yelling at them, "No! Stop fucking eating! I swear to fuck!" They didn't really give a shit. Their beaks snap back and cut themselves loose. Rekani and his craft drop like a lofted stone, upending and seperating, sailing through the air with a comically high scream until the Latino slams into that seat (so convenient!). Honestly, the force of his weight gets the car started down the path. He struggles and rights himself, grabbing the frosted donut wheel and slamming on the praline brittle pedal.

He had grabbed his phone out as he was doing all this, yelling into it, "HEY YO CHEDDAR!! NOW!!"

Going into the hoops was easy, it's the navigating through the hoops that is hard for Devlin and his giant duck team mate. The pair speed through several as they both build up powdered sugar on their bodies. Devlin tries to keep singing cadence but the blasts of sugar make it difficult and then when his sun glasses need to be brushed off again, Diana cuts off their air lane hard, forcing an unexpected change that puts Devlin and his Ducky Bud.. off balance as they approach the next hoop from a bad angle.

Initially, her teamwork rallying and no-brokerage tone of command didn't work so well, but when Lilith re-approached the situation with more pointed instructions, the birds take to it and surge ahead. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm starts to putter out as she gets distracted by watching and looking around at where the others are while the candy lovebirds are driving. Her inattention impedes forward progress, but it gave her time to notice she's not doing so hot, despite that forward charge prior.

Suddenly, she's sulking about not getting cooler birds as the scenery changes around her.

Nicole probably should have kept her focus on her own birds and not the pretty peacock. Darn beauty and all its distractions!

The seagulls continue to pull the rowboat down the track, but there are now SLALOMS to contend with. "Oh shit! Uh.. steering.... Right! Go to the right!" Nicole scrambles for the oars to help steer the boat, hoping they are sturdy enough to do so.

However, all the waving, rubber-necking to look at more attractive birds, and moving seems to confuse the seagulls a bit. Two of them start trying to fly in the other direction, looking at Lilith's sugar ribbons. "Mine? Mine? Mine?" Another lands on the edge of the boat where Nicole pulled off some fondant and tries to start eating it. "No! Bad seagull! Shoo! Shoo! No... SHOE. If you don't get up there again you will get my shoe!" She manages to get through one hoop at least, but if she doesn't rally the gull troops together to work as a team once again, she is going to start losing the momentum she had going!

Oh, now THAT is more like it! There's enough of a shift in the speed -- and the air flowing back, and the sugar getting blown back along with it -- that Vyv actually pulls his goggles down into place, the corners of his lips curling upward a bit as he leans forward again. Still uselessly, it just feels about right. "...more than ever, hour after our work is never over..." he murmurs along in time to the pounding of Percival's wings, the bird catching sugar blown into his beak as he goes and picking the tempo up even a little further, enough that the movement through the next ring is a little close to reckless. But you gotta go fast if you want to catch up! (Or is that 'scream if you wanna go faster'? Well, we'll save that one for an emergency.) Both his and Percival's scarves float and flick in the airstream behind them as they go. It would look cooler if that didn't mean Vyv had to dodge getting the end of the bird's scarf to the face a couple times, but eh, it still looks pretty cool.

While it always felt good to move from one section to the next, Byron's been in these races long enough to know that treachery was ahead of them. "Keep your eyes ahead of you. Things are going to start getting rocky from here on out." The businessman is not wrong. Once where it was easy flying, these were not entirely friendly skies anymore. "The sooner we clear this place," He starts to say, before a brief pause, eventually tacking on, "The sooner we don't have to worry about..." Dark eyes look in the area around them now, "Being buried or what have you."

Once again, he tries to send out a very clear message to the avian: Losers don't get bonuses.

He then nods, pulling at one of the reins, especially as a bunch of others are already pulling far ahead of them. "Don't let them get away. And stay on course."

The music is doing it for this fancy and perfect swan. A good beat for it's chocolate wings to beat too. Is it any surprise the bird surges forward and has Kailey grabbing onto the reins tightly. There's even a little 'EEP' from her as they go. But she turns to grin at Maya and winks as she keeps singing.

Buddy, you're a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday
You got blood on your face, you big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
We will, we will rock you, sing it!
We will, we will rock you, yeah

As they swing up near to Diana, Kailey waves at the familiar face. Really most of the people here are at least passingly familiar. Then the track is getting tricky and she turns to focus on driving. And not getting sugar in her eyes. It is then she realizes she has flight goggles on her head and flicks those down. She looks pretty fly right now in her purple jumpsuit and goggles, purple hair flowing from her joint pigtails behind them.

Diana isn't doing too bad, all things considered. At least... she WAS, right up until her patter to the raven includes the following: "...good bird! So have you always been a racing-bird? Or did you maybe have a previous part-time job as a scarecrow or something?" The raven squawks indignantly, and starts to go off-course. CROW?! Diana and the raven cut right across Devlin's path as Diana cries, "Wait, wait! I didn't mean scareCROW, I meant scareRAVEN! ...NOT THAT I'M SAYING YOU'RE SCARY! I'M SAYING YOU'RE CAPABLE OF GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT IN ANY FIELD OF--" And then she gets a mouthful of sugar, cutting off her babbling. The raven had been getting ready to turn back, but the sugar to its beak changes its mind lickety split, and it gets back on course, aided by Diana's soothing petting. "Sorry," she whispers. And then adds, "...mm, tasty!" She opens her mouth again, because you can never have too much sugar! When she spots Kailey and Maya just beside her, she waves to to the two of them, nearly losing her seating again.

Maya can't really help herself, of course she sings along, how could she not? No self respecting guitarist wouldn't at least try to study Queen. It would be stranger if she didn't do something, and she's not about to leave her friend hanging! The other people that they pass, Maya recognizes in passing for the most part but she doesn't know any of them. Despite herself she laughs and grins back to Kailey, returning a rather sheepish wave and smile to Diana. She admires Kailey as they fly off into the distance, wind whipping Maya's hair back in a cascade of color.

Rekani was actually having some sort of trouble steering, and it takes him a second, jerking the wheel back and forth. That's when he realizes there's some sort of sound coming from it every time he turns. Was it... scratching? "Mother fu-" that's when he notices the console was actually alternating white and dark chocolate keys. His face screws up in the most mad-happy ear-to-ear grin anyone's ever seen. He proceeds to drop a fat beat at the same time he was driving. Again, he starts rocking that out in the driver's seat, shoulders lifting and dropping, head snapping back forth.

He briefly tosses a look over his shoulder, just in time to see his golem get swarmed. He whispers, "Cheddar, no..." then the tubby Latino's voice can be heard screaming, "I'll come back for yo..." He trails off, squinting, realizing the other familiars were just distracting him, "Oh, shit, he fine."

He keeps driving though, to honor Cheddar's sacrifice.

While Maya plays a solo that maybe has Kailey crushing a little hard on the blond, because she turns and gives her a wide-eyed look, her main focus is on the button that is on her saddle. Was that there before? It's labelled Call Familiar. It is also big and red and just begging to be pushed and so she does. And delight spreads across Kailey's face as she hears the languid voice on the other side. "Yeah, now we're talking! OOooooo! BARACUDA!" She sings along with the music as she tries to guide the swan into the area Uncat is chasing the Golem away from. Which may involve swerving into Lilith's lane, but we'll get there when we get there.

Correcting for the bad positioning, costs Devlin a lot of speed as he and his Ducky Bud barely make it through the next set of hoops with momentum. The Gondola swings a little wide as Devlin wrestles the reigns and Gondola back into control. Changing up from cadences and hoping to inspire his feathered friend, Devlin sings out,

"No Stop signs, speed limit...
Nobody's gonna slow me down..."

Nicole has lost all control of her seagulls. She let herself look around at the others in the race and wave at them, and look what that did.... Now she has birds trying to fly forward, some trying to fly backward towards sugar ropes on Lilith's thing (but due to the OBEDIENT burbs, they fail). One is trying to eat her boat and another is now resting at the prow, just squawking, "Mine?" repeatedly as it looks around. She's still inching forward, at least, so... might as well enjoy it. She is not oblivious to the music seeming to go on all around her now either, so, she thinks... maybe... maybe if she tries to inspire the birds.....

"Seagull, you fly across the horizon..." Oars in hand, she takes on a leisurely pose and begins to sing. "Into the misty morning sun. Nobody asked you where you are going... nobody knows where you're from... fly..." She hums a few bars, then sings in a whisper, "now you fly... fly through the sky... fly fly fly."

Lilith is behind and can't see much other than the fact that others are ahead still and she's... getting sulkier. Also she feels like a moron yelling commands and pep speeches at the birds, this is ridiculous. Again, she's tempted to grab and yank the sugar ribboning to shake the flock of Lovebirds into more action, but then there's plenty to stare at up ahead and she decides being a little behind maybe isn't going to be so bad. And is that music? Maybe her birds like music. Maybe she's just filling compelled to sing because fuck all knows what to do to avoid crashing or falling (or losing).

It works in the movies, doesn't it? She starts to sing Queen and yanks on the ribbons a little like she's trying to make the birds energetically dance in flight. And because it's obligatory for the moment, she chooses Don't Stop Me Now. She sends those little birds into a riot because THEY LOVE QUEEN or seem to. Or they like the other music. Lilith doesn't really care, this might work in her favor.

They're riotous with flight, but two of them break off in opposite directions to start trying to peck kisses on Nicole and Kailey/Maya's birds.

She can't sing out things she's speaking, but that doesn't matter, she has a song in her heart and a six string under her fingers, guitar and amplifier summoned up behind her and she belts out the lyrics with as much gusto as she can. Why? Who even knows at this point but it feels amazing to do. The ultimate rock show of her dreams.

"You lying so low in the weeds
I bet you gonna ambush me
You'd have me down, down, down on my knees
Now wouldn't you, Barracuda? Oooooooh!"

A grin is exchanged with Kailey as they sing and with her free hands takes the reins and guides the Swan while Maya belts her heart out, fingers slamming into an intense solo. If only she had a drummer...

There is... a troll on the track. Well, no, there is a massive muscular rodent on two legs. On the track. And there is a button in this bird-palanquin labeled 'emergency contact'. Well. A big threatening non-food-based creature with muscles on its muscles strikes Vyv as an emergency. (Frankly, so does a food-based one, it's just slightly more likely to be working as intended.) Plus, rodentia in foodland! No! The chef smacks the button as Percival dives through another loop.

It is not quite what he expected to hear in return, even if that IS a gratifying greeting. He actually takes half a moment to be pleased by it, ending about when the mention of trading comes up. "He's fine, and mine; I'm afraid he's irreplacable," he replies, entirely startled to discover that he is in fact singing that, not saying it, "My problem is: this track just got unrace-able. There seems to be a giant rat that's standing in my way. Not only is that hygiene bad, I've no time for delay. So send a health inspector in, or just a massive trap--" He breaks off as the nudibranch arrives, blinking once in surprise to see it, and again as it chivvies the mouse-monster aside, "--or yes, thank you, that ought to do -- now, Percy, through the gap!"

The peacock soars through the last loop at a speed that's almost uncomfortable, and does a barrel-roll that drops Vyv right out of his seat and through the air on a parachute that looks far too small to be working, but does seem to be -- he lands comfortably into the seat of his good ol' chocolate racecar with the two gold stars painted on one side near the back. He leans in toward its steering wheel with a sudden, fleeting flicker of an actual grin, gone as fast as it came and he can only hope as fast as the car will move when he hits that pedal.

These damned birds were failing him and Byron almost has a mind to send a spark of electricity behind them to help spur them forward, but he refrains. Only because he might actually hit them and then where would he be? "They're getting away!" He practically grumbles to the falcons, but rather than simply stating the fact, his words come out in song. Sure, he still sounds annoyed but melodically so.

Nevermind that he hears all sorts of raucous coming from the other participants, but he wants to sort this shit out right now. "What he hell is going on?" This too comes out in song, like he's on the broadway stage, though probably like he's in a Disney animated movie. "If you all don't hurry out of this section," He continues to sing in a low growl,"You can forget about that 401K~" If he had control over what he would sing, it probably would be Queen too.

Taking a cue from Diana herself, the raven opens its mouth as it flies, getting SO. MUCH. SUGAR. And Diana just pets its head as the two chug along at a steady pace, both occasionally opening their mouths for yet another swallowful of sugar. The raven's rider starts bopping her head to some unheard tune, right about when some of the raven's feathers on its back flutter away-- revealing a red button much like Vyv's. This button, however, doesn't advertise emergency assistance. Nope, this one just says, 'SICK TUNES.' Diana tilts her head curiously, looking about her like she's uncertain if this is a good idea. But in the end, satisfaction brought that cat back, and Diana presses the button. Rammstein's Du Hast comes out of the raven's mouth, slightly muffled when it swallows sugar. Thankfully Diana's not doing the leading tracks, but she is singing along. It's. Uh. Serviceable? Maybe. At a stretch.

Rekani reaches down, pulling the fader switch that also somehow worked as the hand brake, rounding a corner and cutting back. His beat changes, and now, hearing all the other songs, and driving and mixing, he was... Throwing. Shade. Back. A guitar line is synthesized, pumping out of gumdrop speakers, shaking along with a beat pounded by jawbreaker woofers. Trumpets join into the sound. Somewhere Rekani remembers the words, lookin over a shoulder at his sole pursuer, raising a hand to make that two fingered my-eyes-lookin-at-your-eyes-Vyv motion:

"Picture this: I'm a bag'a dicks, put me to your lips; I am sick, I will punch a baby bear- in his shit. Gimme lip, I will send you to the yard, get a stick, make a switch, I will end the conversation real quick..."

The Duck pulling Devlin's gondola finds a thermal for a quick boost of attitude that the team uses in a fast shallow dive to gain speed. Seems to be a new tune this time from the pair, "I like smoke and lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder!!" And as they reach the transition point to the car, Devlin releases the reigns and dives head first out of the gondola doing an Ausie style rappel to his waiting car... "Racin' with the wind!!" And with that he flips at the last moment to land in his seat, hitting the starter and slamming the gears rapidly in his new sugar racer that looks a lot like an old school McLaren M6A. Peppermint rims spinning till they seem to have turned pink as the licorice tires bite hard tearing up the track as they claim the traction they are due. "And the feelin' that I'm under..."

If the real thing don't do the trick, no
You better make up something quick
You gonna burn, burn, burn, burn, burn it to the wick
Oooo, barra-barracuda!!

Kailey joins Maya in scream-singing their hearts out as the swan just takes that morale boosting beat and lets it fill his chocolate wings. This swan? Yeah it is beating it's Heart out to win this thing for the two sirens screaming BARRACUDA from the back. They may have funny hearing for the next day, but it was worth it. When did her attired change from jumpsuit to 80s MTV music video? Coming singing in on a chocolate swan in ripped tee and fishnet is pretty on point for the era. They are neck and neck with Vyv and Kailey glances at the pastry chef and makes the classic Anime 'neener' face.

What a race! Nicole went from annoyed to be torn away from her snack in comfy clothes to singing to the seagulls as she leisurely rows along. Her current song of choice sung all calm and zen like, as if she imagines herself on some serene willow lined lake with pretty water lilies floating about. "Row... row... row your boat... gently down the track. Merrily merrily merrily merrily... oh, rhyming. Um... " She hums the first few bars then ends with, "I got a nice rack?" Her left shoulder lifts in a small shrug, then she keeps on keeping along, kind of in her own little dream within a dream.

At some point during her performance, Maya's attire changed to match that of the classic hard rock goddess, hair in a brilliant blonde halo, whipping in the breeze, fingers blazing over the strings as she holds her stance wide, legs spread far in a triumphant stance while she sings out the last of the iconic song as they finally catch up, neck and neck with Vyv. Of course Maya hardly notices. Race? What race? This is a ROCK CONCERT!

The others are at surge ahead and she's so last, she's not even in the same zone. After weighing whether or not to burn her birds to see what happens when she literally lights a fire under their tails, she decides she doesn't want to fall and die. She can't even see if Byron is quite winning to enjoy that, she's so far behind! So instead of keeping up the riotous upbeat Queen song when the birds begin to flag, she flops her arms into cross against her midsection and sits to sulk until the Dream kills her or kicks her out. She's also totally blaming the birds and singing...

Alllll by myself....

She has no clue why, but it's not like anyone is close enough to hear her whining through frustration via song.