Touch of Crate

[LYourLocalAutist]

On a frigid but clear-skied late afternoon, a beautiful purring noise pulled into the parking lot of the darling of downtown Vegas. In it were contained three markedly small women of the cheerleader genus, and one secret Andre the Giant clone. They'd come to chew bubblegum and play board games, and they were all out of bubblegum.

[Sylvie Rattray-Aubert continued from any colour the customer wants, as long as it's any colour the customer wants]

"...But that's enough about that- we're here!"

Sylvie chirped, marking the end of the totally real and totally interesting topic of discussion that had totally been happening during the car ride. It had been a very eventful one, between said discussion, that on meeting Lucie and the simple presence of Claude, though the last one likely only went into effect for Sylvie herself. The presence of friends helped temper her stupid feelings— when they weren't actively encouraging them, that is. Which was, coincidentally, how they'd managed to get Claude to tag along, tainting the sanctity of the girl's trip with the boycrush's presence, a crime surely punishable by being drawn and quartered. Sylvie lamented her lack of rope and horses for a moment before hopping out of the Mustang as it was parked.

She firstly looked upon the sight of the all-crate holy land with a smile. The distinct smell of street food and the distinct smell of thrift shop clothing wafted through the air. Not a tourist in sight. Harmony. And uncramped by the general populace today, it seemed. They'd have an easy time getting to Connect Pour, which she had to remind herself not to abbreviate. There, fun times would be had by all despite that man's presence and the impact it had on her psyche, she hoped. Her hands went back to fiddling with her bow as she waited for the rest of the group to present themselves, though they were a flat three-four feet away from her already.

[Fiori]

The next person to exit the vehicle - vaulting themselves out of the convertible with relative ease - was none other than...

((Marcy Valerio continued from any colour the customer wants, as long as it's any colour the customer wants))

It had been an... Interesting journey, no doubt. She spent a fair chunk of it looking flabbergasted after picking up Claude, left in a state of shock after meeting his big sister. Quite literally as it turned out, she was HUGE! Must've been pushing seven feet! Sure there were a fair few girls on the tall side at Red Rock - eat your fucking heart out, Heather - but damn, that reveal caught her off guard.

It took the car coming to a sudden stop to break Marcy out of her stupor, when a careless biker cut them off right as they were passing through a crossroad. Unsurprisingly, she wasn't too happy about that, nor was she shy about letting everyone know about it.

"HEY! RED LIGHT, ASSHOLE!"

Aside from that little incident, the rest of the journey was a delight, with Marcy quickly returning to her usual chatty self by the time they arrived at Crateful Dead.

She stood there besides Sylvie, hands rummaging through her hoody's deep pockets. At the risk of undermining the previous post, Marcy DID in fact have bubblegum on her. She never left the house without it, and would definitely need some if they were going to be playing board games. When it came to non-physical activities, she found it impossible to focus without chewing on something. It's why she found it criminal that you weren't allowed gum during exams, a ruling that resulted in countless gnawed pencils and pen lids.

Gum in hand, she quickly popped one in her mouth before silently offering her friends a piece, idly chewing away as she waited for everyone to gather themselves. "Sooo, straight to the cafe, or do we wanna browse a lil first?"

[Magnum 0pus]

The next person to get out of the convertible did so by gently opening the car door and stepping out. He then walked around the vehicle and stood beside Sylvie with his hands buried in the pockets of his jacket.

(Claude O'Neil Porter continued from any colour the customer wants, as long as it's any colour the customer wants

Every time Claude caught a glance of Marcy's confounded expression, he couldn't help but chuckle. No matter how many times he's seen the reactions of people when they met his sister in person for the first time, it never got old.

A hint of curiosity was present on the giants face as he ahead at Crateful; it had been some time since Claude had last been to this wondrous place. In all honesty, the young man only ever saw it's charm because of Connect Pour and the mostly mediocre street food that was sold. With the lack of pesky tourists, not like he ever really saw or had any issue with tourists in general, Claude would be able to at least enjoy some fun board game times with his friends.

Now that the gentle giant thought about it, he had no idea just how his friends were like with board games. For all he knew, Sylvie could very well be the type that goes from an easily flustered little bunny rabbit to a kaiju filled with rage and anger that leaves chaos and destruction in her wake when she rages while Marcy could very well not rage at all and be as chill as a caterpillar, and Clarissa...

...Honestly, Claude had no idea on how she was with board games, so it was anyone's guess at this point.

Speaking of Clarissa, he looked over at her to see if she also still had a look of shock on her face like Marcy had the whole ride here.

[Cicada]

Top rolling up. Parking gear, parking break, ignition killed. Clarissa's eyes idle, comfortably empty.

She glanced at Claude, as sudden as she was suddenly aware that he'd glanced her way. Lips briefly parted in an unspoken question. It stayed unspoken as she decided it was probably just his eyes wandering. It usually was, at least as far as she was aware. She nodded and smiled LED bright- thanks for being gentle with the doors.

[Clarissa Shoemaker, Pregame Thread 2]

She had always wondered where Sylvie got all the funny stories she told when riding shotgun- now she knew. Like, she'd always been skeptical that debate was that wild and exciting, but it turned out Sylvie also had a very funny and very very tall benefactor. Apparently all French people in existence were in cahoots?? Clarissa had actually really liked meeting Lucie. Maybe she'd end up an in-law when Claude and Sylvie were joined in holy matrimony? Maybe that was how that worked, who knew.

"Uh..." Marcy asked a question and Clarissa.exe continued to slowly reboot. Behind the wheel Clarissa existed in a different reality from the one that talked to people and tried to puzzle out WTF people were talking about.

"Do we want to eat at Connect or somewhere else?" Clarissa's phone was now in her jeans left pocket where it was easy to find, as opposed to in her car where it was harder to find and always playing her playlists no matter how many times she took Spotify out behind the shed. She scrolled the bar-board-game-establishment-thingys menu. "It's like a lot of sweet food they have. Waffles and crepes, kinda fun." Up down up down went her thumb. "Happy hour's like, right now. If we want drinks."

She could taste first sip of each of the names on the drinks menu. Craft beers, cocktails- and they were, indeed, overpriced.

"Oh and while I remember, since Sylvie brought up that one story about Mrs. Harper. Were any of you guys gonna do like what Elisa did last year and come back to assistant coach for a year?" A pause. "Asking Claude too, I guess," Clarissa giggled.

[LYourLocalAutist]

The gang was all here! As... if it hadn't been when it was localized within Clarissa's Mustang! And the fun was already starting, localized entirely within the conversations taking place during the short commute from their parking space to Crateful itself. All the non-Frenchies here had seemed to recover from having been in the presence of the force of nature that was Lucie O'Neil Porter. She was perfectly understanding of their reactions but still had to keep herself from bursting into chuckles along the ride to Crateful.

During said commute to Crateful, Sylvie mostly listened and replied to the questions her girls were posing. She'd talked enough on the car ride itself and wanted to soothe her ears for a moment with the sound of her besties yapping about literally anything. Socialization with people she genuinely liked was a balm. A small, casual smile rested on her lips the entire time. Of course, she took time to answer questions as well, starting with Marcy's.

"Mmm, I could do with some new stockings... wonder if any of the thrifts have some Uniqlo."

Lord knew she needed something for her poor legs. Skirt and inefficient heater leggings didn't do much in terms of insulation, and she had to focus a bit harder to keep the rest of her body from shivering by extension to the cold that bit her there. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, her thoughts equally turned to any plushes she could acquire from Crateful's myriad stores, thoughts she quickly sought to suppress, returning to how to deal with the cold. She had to ease herself by thinking of all the warm food and drink they'd serve at the café. Clarissa bringing it up certainly helped. She slid out of the topic of fashion and into the topic of food with marked ease.

"Ahh, there, please. I could kill for a warm crêpe and some hot chocolate..."

Hot and sweet was a match made in heaven, and was always there for Sylvie when she needed a bit of a boost from frigid weather of any kind. It was always typically the best-looking food in any café establishment. She liked when food was cute to look at before being rent to mush in her mouth.

Suddenly, the third topic change occurred—from Clarissa again. This one called back to a story Sylvie had told during the drive about the cheer coach, one that was totally intriguing, I promise. Clarissa posed a question that Sylvie immediately knew the answer to, which saddened her slightly. Not that she'd let the girls know. Instead, she produced a small and genuine chuckle at the thought of Claude as an assistant cheer coach, then sighed before answering her question.

"Ah, no way. I'm getting my SATs done and then it's off to Stanford for me."

She returned to smiling, and though she tried to hide it, this one would seem a little more weary to anyone who paid close attention.