daybreakacademy | [Open] The Great Sled Race

Entry tags:

jailbreak: original

[Open] The Great Sled Race

Who: Jailbreak and whoever wants to make terrible life-choices for a good grade.
What: Magical transportation.
When: Late January.
Where: On a hill just outside campus.
Warnings: Reckless sled-driving, Jailbreak.

I. young blood

So, remember like five months ago when somebody said "can we have class outside?" [Jailbreak does double-fingerguns and winks at her class, apparently totally unbothered by the fact that she's standing in actual snow and still wearing a sleeveless top.] You're welcome.

[She's the worst.]

But seriously, today we're out here for one reason and one reason only: to let you guys see what you're gonna be working with for your next project.

[She grins, and gestures to the row of wooden toboggans behind her.]

See, we're gonna be having a little competition. One week from now, you're all gonna meet up here on top of this hill, and race to the bottom. First one to the finish line wins. In that time, you're allowed to modify these sleds in whatever way you want- magic, science, magic science- go nuts.

Winner gets a prize. The prize is secret for reasons.

As for cheating... well, you oughtta know class policy by now.

[She winks.]

If you don't get caught, it didn't happen.

[May God have mercy on your frostbitten souls.]

II. here to start a riot

[It's the day of the race.]

[Maybe you're here to race. Maybe you're here to watch. Maybe you're just hoping to prevent this from inevitably becoming a complete and utter disaster.]

[Whatever the reason, you're here. Up at the top of the hill is a starting line, down at the bottom is the finish, both of them clearly marked. Next to the starting line on either side are a pair of wooden benches, for spectators.]

[Jail is leaning casually on a large golden trophy cup that's sitting on the end of the bench. The cup has a lid, which is moving slightly. She leans a little more of her weight on it and the lid settles back down with a muffled rustling noise.]

[It's probably fine.]

Who's ready to race?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Valvatorez heard about this competition that Jail set up, and decided to show support to the students and their creative chops by spectating. ...And perhaps jumping in if need arose with some kind of crazy, spectacular failure. Either way, it would likely be fun. And he was equally quick to eye the mysterious trophy and its equally mysterious contents.]

...I sincerely hope there's not a live wolverine in that trophy, Jailbreak.

There definitely isn't a live wolverine in this trophy.

[...You know, somehow that's actively more worrying.]

Oh, well! Then there's nothing to worry about, clearly!

[Is he being sarcastic? Or is he being genuine? ...Probably the latter, but it can be hard to tell.]

Zombie wolverines manage to be less aggressive than their livelier counterparts. It's quite a strange bit of trivia. ...But I wouldn't recommend keeping one as a pet.

Also not a zombie.

[There's a deep, hollow thunk noise from inside the trophy.]

Honestly, that makes a weird amount of sense? [A thought occurs to her.] What about honey badgers, they get better or worse if they're dead?

They're one of nature's biggest badasses, so what do you think?

[It's rhetorical, and he'll give the answer easily.]

Truth is: they're indistinguishable from life and undeath in terms of, as the documentaries say, and I quote: "Not giving a fuck."

[Jail nods solemnly.] Mood.

[The trophy is silent, possibly out of respect.]

Nevertheless, whatever surprise you have in store for the winner, I'm sure it will be quite delightful.

[For someone. Maybe not them.]

So, seeing as how you're running your own little miniature death race here, I'm almost surprised you didn't sell tickets. I take it the administration frowned upon that idea?

Everyone's got their own tastes- but I think it's pretty cool. [...Okay, so that was definitely a bad pun somehow. Even without the context, you can just tell she's being a shit.]

[She sighs heavily and rolls her eyes at the question.]

Yeah, they were all "blah blah not an official licensed school event" and I was like "uh, no duh it's not? What, did you think I was gonna give you guys a cut of the profits or something?" and it ended up being a whole thing. Some people got way too much time on their hands.

Yes, they do, but I suspect it might be one of those liability matters that is such a pain. While Professor Atchison might relish the idea of a challenging liability suit, I suspect the rest of the school's lawyers would not. ...Moreover, the earfuls you'd get from upset parents.

[Valvatorez sighed, glancing off into the distance.]

Thank Hades we're not operating in the US. Litigation there would bleed us dry in a matter of hours.

[Jail snorts dismissively.] U. S. legal system's a game of chicken: whoever looks at the bills and flinches first loses. You get those hair-trigger lawsuits when you're dealing with rich fucks who can afford to run out the clock until the other guy goes bankrupt or gives up. If this were an actual trust fund baby private school, I'd be worried- but as it is, pretty much the only guys on the magical side of things who have that kinda liquid cash to toss around are the old blood mage families, and they're all too petty about "unworthy mundane laws" to take anything they actually give a fuck about to normal human court.

[She shrugs.]

[There are very wealthy vampires and lycanthrope clans, it's true- but those are typically the very old ones, as opposed to the younger crowd that still feels the need to attend school. As for daemons and fae... well. If you're matching wits with them, a lawsuit is likely the least of your problems.]

Daybreak's got the cash handy to settle outta court with anyone who actually needs the insurance payout, anyway. Half those "hot coffee" lawsuits are just trying to get the case on record so the insurance company coughs up like they're supposed to.

[It's easy to forget that Jailbreak's American, sometimes- inasmuch as she belongs to any country at all, these days. She's the girl from nowhere, no fixed address, and happy that way... but she grew up in the States, and she figures that gives her the right to bitch about it.]

[Besides, she likes to read the occasional legal text in her spare time. It's fun to take a pen and cross off everything she's gotten around to doing, and make note of exciting new ordinances to break when she has the time to get around to them.]

Edited 2020-01-30 18:59 (UTC)

[Valvatorez just scoffs, and waves his hand.]

Tear the whole thing down, if you ask me. Corrupt as it comes if the courts aren't actually interested in actual fairness. For all that you hear humans talk about "might makes right" being unacceptable, they just find clever ways to obfuscate it with money and bureaucracy instead of actual strength. That's one thing daemons have: you know exactly how things work with them.

[Val has opinions about this sort of thing, and for as traditionalist as he often may seem, he could still be radical in his own ways. He's a weird one for sure. ...He keeps quiet on the matter of insurance companies too, which is another thing he assuredly has opinions about thanks to...

Well, the less said about it the better, he figures. Enough people already know by this point already.]

Ah well, no need for me to prattle on about that. Not when there's plenty of good times to be had by watching the fruits of labor your students sowed.

Hey, I'm not gonna argue. [A low chuckle.] Criminal, remember? The law's that thing that happens to other people.

[No law for the ones who break it, and no law for the ones that make it... just the ones without the luck or power to avoid it. Yeah, she can see where he's coming from.]

Y'know, if you're in the mood for some extra action... they just told me I couldn't sell tickets. [She grins.] Nobody said I couldn't run a betting pool.

[ Rex wasn't entirely interested in a prize, but look. Every single Hero's quest has a race in it of some description. All of them. It just happens. He can't resist the call.

He'd carefully recorded Jail's exact words. Modify whatever way you want. First one to the finish line wins. He's caught between turning his toboggan into a teleporter or strapping on the rocket engine he built for a flying fortress that was not meant to be.

In the end, he chooses the latter. The engine is smaller than one might think, but still pretty big- bigger than Rex, which says something. He's had to make the thing about four times as long as it used to be just so his legs can fit on there. In the process, he added segmented front for steerage, giving it a snowmobile look. Anyone with an eye for runes will see he's loaded the thing for durability- his main concerned is that it'll get ripped to pieces by his own acceleration. Which is why he also plated every piece of wood with metal.

And is wearing his combat suit. In case the acceleration rips him to pieces. He's left the cape off it today, replacing it with a jacket and instead of the slightly creepy toe socks, actual boots. Still super tight and shows off his Ganondorf physique. ]

Hm. Should have made a teleporter.

[ He remarks to himself, just because he doubts every decision he makes. ]

[Jailbreak looks Rex's sled over, grinning approvingly. This either means that he's done a good job, or that he's done a very bad job and she's looking forward to see it go terribly wrong. It's kind of ambiguous.]

Won't know until you try, right? It'll just depend on what everyone else came up with.

[Privately, she suspects teleportation is likely to be less successful the more people try it- too many and they're all going to get in each others' way.]

[ Of course he's done a good job, he's Rex! The question is if he's made a good choice, because he's Rex! Either way he's just glad she's apparently happy with him, he likes it when she is. ]

Hm. I think I can make a tele-jammer before we start.

[ Which is arguably better than a teleporter, if other people are using them. ]

Sure, you totally could. [Jail is... smiling. Hm.]

[See, that's the trouble about someone who's almost always in a pretty good mood: it's hard to tell whether she's just reasonably cheerful today, or up to something. Or, of course, just deliberately fucking with you to make you second-guess yourself.]

[It's probably fine.]

I'm ready!

[ This looks like a fairly ordinary sled, albeit somewhat haphazardly reinforced, but it has what looks like some kind of rocket tube on the back with a slot in it for Vivi's staff.

What is he planning? God only knows at this point. ]

[Listen. He's trying his best and Jail, for one, is delighted by the result.]

Good luck, kid! [Thumbs up from her. She'll probably intervene if it looks like anyone's about to die, it's fine.]

[ Vivi takes several attempts to get his staff properly aligned. He takes it in and out several times, like he's unsatisfied with the results, before it finally clicks into place.

Energy gathers around him for a moment, and then a giant explosion of fire spews out from the back of his makeshift engine, melting the snow and toasting anything behind him in a significant radius, and OFF HE GOES, INTO THE GREAT UNKNOWN, which happens to be leaping off the hill and technically, clearing the finishing line by a significant vertical margin.

Whether the yelling he's doing as he soars through the air is excited or fearful is up to interpretation. There's a thump as his fire peters out and he lands.

In a tree.

It's fine. ]

Edited 2020-01-30 02:12 (UTC)

[Jail observes the arc of his flight with mild interest, not seeming too concerned about the situation.]

[Vivi's a pretty sturdy kid and the tree seems like it cushioned his fall okay, it's probably fine.]

Hey, give us a thumbs-up or something if you're not dying, okay?

[ Vivi pokes his head out of the tree, snow dislodging from its leaves, and gives Jail a vigorous thumbs up.

It is a pretty tall tree, so even his loudest efforts are

somewhat affected by distance. ]

I'm okay! I don't know how I'm gonna get down, though!

Cool, just hold on there a sec. [Jail casually ambles over to the tree, approaches it, and proceeds to walk directly up the side of the trunk as though the law of gravity doesn't apply to her.]

[To be fair, laws aren't something she pays much attention to anyway.]

View's not bad from up here. Real scenic.

[Kohaku look left to Rex's sled, then right to Vivi's sled, then down at her own sled, and felt slightly inadequate. Her sled still looking more or less like a sled. The main difference was two sets of runes she'd worked for a long while on making.

The first would produce enough heat to melt the snow directly in front of her. The second would freeze it again real quick. If it worked right, it would turn the snow into a track of solid ice.

Steering was still something of a problem, but the course was more or less a straight shot, and she couldn't imagine that the rocket sleds were going to be any easier to steer than hers. She was also pretty confident that hers wouldn't explode, which she couldn't say the same about her competitors.]

Hey, not bad. [Jail is looking over Kohaku's setup with a practiced eye, nodding in professional approval.] Solid work, good use of the environment around you.

[Sometimes, "simple but effective" is better than "extra and potentially life-threatening". ...Admittedly, Jail herself frequently goes for the latter, but these are students, mastering this stuff enough that they can try riskier things later is what they're supposed to be here for. She's already learned the solid, reliable basics, she's allowed to do dumb bullshit if she wants.]

Edited 2020-01-27 05:09 (UTC)

This seemed less likely to kill me than a rocket engine would.

[She eyed the competition again.]

I guess they were more confident than me.

No one's gonna die doing this- they just might get horribly maimed, is all. [See, totally fine. Nothing to worry about at all.]

Probably gonna be easier to make it across the finished line if your ass ain't getting hauled off to the nurse's office to put your legs back on, though, so it's still a good call.

I never thought I'd be even this much of an engineer. If it works at all I'll be happy.

[Jail chuckles.] Wouldn't sell yourself short if I were you, kid. Most of engineering is just common sense and knowing how to read the blueprints.

[The class can teach her the latter. The former, honestly, she probably already has more of than her instructor.]

Edited 2020-01-30 20:34 (UTC)

[One week later, he's learned a shrink rune and carved it into his sled, which was already about smaller than everyone else's--hawk-sized. All he has to do is tap it with a foot, and the sled becomes even tinier! Now it's teaspoon-sized, and light enough for him to carry it down to the bottom of the hill in his claws.

Which he does, beating his wings and flying as fast as he can. Tada~!]

[Jail just. Wordlessly gives him a thumbs-up as he takes flight.]

[Honestly, she's surprised no one else saw this coming- the kid's got wings, you'd think at least one of the more competitive students would've tried to take him out of the competition somehow.]

Look! Look, Ms. Jailbreak! Desco improvised.

[And she certainly did.

Her toboggan is all loaded with magic runes that seem to be granting passive buffs to something. More specifically, to her Octorabbit, who the toboggan is strapped to. Several of its tentacles are planted firmly in the ground in a sort of pouncing stance and the two really big ones make it look like she's planning on slingshoting itself and her forward in a huge burst of speed.

At least she's got a seatbelt on. Somehow. And a helmet! Safety first and all that.]

Edited 2020-01-29 17:49 (UTC)

[Help, this is too cute.]

Fuck yeah, you did. [Jail is examining the Octorabbit Propulsion System (name pending), legitimately delighted by the creative approach to problem-solving on display.] Thinking outside the box, I love it. Now you just gotta make sure it works.

[After all, "crazy enough to work" only counts if you actually pull it off.]

Oooo. That's a good point. Do you think Desco has enough time to do a test run?

[She looks pretty ready for one, at any rate, as does Octy.]

[Jail glances briefly at her phone.] Eh, should be fine, we're not starting for another fifteen minutes.

You sure you wanna do it here, though? Might spoil any surprise advantage, if everyone else gets a good look at how it works ahead of time.

[Ah, fifteen minutes. A weird amount of time that is both a lot of time and very little. Desco purses her lips, thinking for a moment. On the one hand, Jail is right. Letting the other racers know what her plan is would lose cause her to lose her advantage. On the other, she doesn't have enough time to change spots and still compete in the race.

Luckily she has a fool-proof plan.]

EVERYONE LISTEN UP! DESCO IS GOING TO TEST RUN HER TOBOGGAN, SO CAN EVERYONE PLEASE TURN AROUND AND NOT LOOK? THANK YOU!

[Desco then turns to Jail, smiling at her and giving her a thumbs up.]

[Shit, that's so cute. Goddammit.]

Welp, you all heard the lady. [Jail shrugs and turns around, putting her back to Desco.]

[Sure, you can just keep watching, but you'll have to live with yourself knowing you disappointed this tiny adorable daemon child.]

[Desco smiles brightly at Miss Jailbreak turning around and looks around at everyone else. It seems like most if not all people are going along with her idea, which only makes her smile grow bigger. Sure it's possible they might just turn around once she's started, but that thought doesn't even cross her mind. Instead she readies herself as Octy's body tenses up like a spring wound to its tightest point.]

Okay, Octy! Let's do this!

[Octy's tentacles kick off the ground at the exact time the two big tendrils in the front let go. The end result is a massive burst of speed as Desco goes flying, practically ripping through the air and laughing all the way. The two of them almost make it across the finish line in one single jump. Unfortunately controlling the direction is a bit difficult, to the point that Desco and Octy end up spinning around for a bit, finishing the test run by sliding down the hill on their side, but at least the practice was a success.]

It worked, Miss Jailbreak!

[Though Jail probably can't see it from down the hill, there's a huge smile plastered all over Desco's face.]

[Jailbreak is still facing in the opposite direction, because she will voluntarily disappoint the small adorable daemon child when Hell freezes over and no sooner.]

Fuck yeah it did, that sounded awesome.

[Well, it didn't sound like a disastrous crash, anyway, and she can definitely identify those from sound alone.]

It was awesome!

[And up she goes, bounding up the hill. She does so quickly, but making sure to conserve as much magical energy as possible so she's not tired out when the race officially starts. Before long she's back at her starting position, swaying back and forth excitedly.]

You can turn around now, Miss Jailbreak. Desco wouldn't want you to miss the big race!

Sweet. [Jailbreak turns around with double-fingerguns and a wink, because honestly why do anything like a normal person when you can make it marginally more dramatic.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Open] The Great Sled Race

II

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

II

no subject

no subject

no subject

II

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

II

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

II

no subject

II

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject