AlteredTundra

Word association Game!

Cabin

Rangers

And there's my Ross post!

Rangers

_{LOCATION — Command Center
INTERACTION — Charlie ^@OGSG; Vallory ^{@Zoey Boey}}

---

Truth be told, Ross hadn’t slept at all last night. His mind kept him awake. He drifted off a couple of times, but he didn’t get anything close that would be even remotely considered actual sleep. He just kept thinking about the terror that was yesterday and what happened at the Angel Grove Youth Center.

The monsters. The panic they caused. The destruction that was a result of their attack on the center.

And Gracie.

“Gracie…”

That’s what kept Ross up all night. After he left the command center and finally came home, after his family went through so much because of his brother’s accident and the darkening rain cloud it put over the Takahashi family, he felt mixed emotions when his mother embraced him as soon as he walked through those doors. He had never known his mother to hug him so tightly, to allow her feelings to be felt so clearly as he did yesterday.

He remembered when he told her he was okay that there was something she didn’t say at the time, but he knew after that hug. She was more worried for him than words could express.

And as he lay in his bed, looking up at his ceiling, he wondered how afraid Gracie and her family were right now? Were they harmed in any way? He wasn’t sure if that basilisk monster had a heart. Did their kind even have hearts? Or were they just soulless husks who wanted nothing more than to cause destruction anywhere they went.

He was angry.

Ross was angry at those monsters for ruining what was supposed to be an amazing day for Angel Grove. Angry at himself for being powerless to stop them, but most of all angry at himself for failing. He wasn’t strong enough and wasn’t fast enough to stop Gracie from being taken.

“That won’t happen again.” He promised himself as he sat up

Just as he did, however, his phone vibrated on his nightstand. For a moment, he had a delayed reaction to it, which was no doubt happening because of his lingering dread about his failures yesterday. But it wasn’t just that. He saw a photo of his older brother, Yamato, who had gone by Matt to avoid any confusion with anyone outside of the family. It hadn’t donned on him until maybe just now as he still was looking at the framed photo of Matt, the last photo that was taken of him before his accident, just how close he came himself to making his parents sonless.

And that feeling carried him into a few minutes spent just sitting there. The alert from his phone kept going off, vibrating every ten seconds but he ignored it for some time. He just sat there, thinking and sulking. Ross didn’t like that he did that sometimes. Usually it was when he was frustrated and needed to get out his dramatic irritations about a particular situation or sometimes a person. But this was so different. It was more personal.

As he got up, he grabbed his phone. Ross was still in his dark brown and green shirt outfit from yesterday (minus the black slacks he wore). He saw the text he received about ten minutes ago was from Charlie. It was a group text, from the looks of it.

"Morning guys. Meet up at the Command Center Training Facility today at 9AM. Might wanna eat before you get here unless you want just some donuts and orange juice from two days ago, ha."

With everything that was on his mind and that had gone down at the youth center yesterday, it had nearly slipped Ross’ mind. That green gem...stone chose him, apparently. It was a lot to take in. First and foremost, Ross still couldn’t believe he was going to be a ranger. That carried its own fair share of pressure, but growing up the way he did, Ross’ life never had a shortage of hills to climb. From learning troubles to general tendencies that made day-to-day life difficult for him, Ross overcame them all by putting his all into it.

But that wasn’t the only thing. He had a personal responsibility to not only himself, but everyone who was at the center. Or who knew someone at the center. Gracie, her parents, his family, friends -- everyone was going to count on him and no matter what, he’d do it.

As he glanced at the time, Ross had a little over two hours before he had to be at the Training Facility. “Two hours? Well, I usually need twice that amount to get properly ready, but I can do it.” Ross frequently talked himself up to help himself focus. It was one of the things that his therapist helped him with. Focusing on one thing and everything else will fall in line.

So he showered. And washed his hair before and after.

And then he got dressed. Going there, Ross was going to dress to impress. On his back, he put on a long-sleeve, button-up shirt and a pair of beige slacks with dark brown dress shoes. This was Ross, after all. If anyone even caught a glimpse of his personality and style, they knew they shouldn’t have expected anything else. But he also knew that this wasn’t training gear, so he would go prepared. In a green duffle bag, he had a better outfit of sweats and an oversized shirt, plus any energy boosters and two eco-friendly water bottles because you had to stay hydrated, especially if you were going to become a Ranger.

After he was all set, Ross took the time to make himself a full breakfast. For him, that meant a sub-traditional Japanese breakfast, which really meant omurice with extra gravy, toast, and green tea. He also had an apple that was sliced into square sticks and sliced. He liked how the tartness of the green apple paired with the beef gravy.

And then Ross was out the door, telling his mom that he was going to head to the gym for a morning work out. There was a delay in time because he had to reassure her he wasn’t going to the center. Even though he wished he could, right now it was a crime scene. He assured his mother for nearly ten minutes that he was just going to the gym for a few hours.

Again, lying to her made him sick to his stomach, but he knew it was the kind of lie people told that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She...could be in danger if she knew where he was going. That’s why he had to keep this from her. Something like this was meant to be kept a secret, or at least until he understood more what this was going to be.

Once he was sure she wouldn’t worry, Ross hopped into his Ford Focus. Within ten minutes, he had made it to the command center. He parked relatively close to the entrance they had used last time and as he walked, Ross found himself not feeling the same as he did last time. Last time, he was in awe and had become distracted by...everything. By the fact that the rangers were back. By the fact that he was chosen.

But once they had arrived at where he figured their main main base of operations were, he asked a bunch of questions. He always felt his mind was ever-curious, but whenever he was flustered like he was yesterday, Ross didn’t act like he usually did.

Today was different.

Ross knew, on some level, what to expect. He was chosen by a green crystal. He had come prepared with a change of clothes that were better suited for it. When he arrived, he made sure to use an empty room to change into his sweats and shirt and his sneakers were perfectly tight on his feet. And he watched Charlie grab a suitcase. Inside was revealed to be a couple of watch-like devices.

“What are those?” Ross asked.

He spoke instinctively and thought he was done being in awe. Apparently he was wrong.

Then Charlie explained, elaborating further on what was mentioned yesterday. The Morphing Grid was some kind of different dimension or something like that. Charlie explained it well and as simplistic as she could, Ross had no doubt about that. It felt like this was something out of the Twilight Zone or something. He wasn’t an idiot and certainly could understand complicated situations.

Hell, he has followed the Kingdom Hearts games without needing his hand held through it. And that was the most convoluted, amazing mess he has ever experienced.

But this? Ross had to take a minute to process it.

As she explained how the power could be overwhelming, Ross would only listen, looking over to Vallory with a worried expression on his face. Doubts started to creep in. Even though he had told himself earlier that he was ready, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe…

But then Charlie said something about them.

“Y-yeah, that’s right! I also exercise as much as I can.” Ross was a nutrition freak, really. His body was a temple and only supplements that went into it were ones that helped with energy and protein.

Something about her knowing that made Ross feel...well, it honestly put any doubts he had to rest. He smiled at Vallory with an invigorated confidence. “Are you as ready for this as I am?” He asked her.

Rangers

@OGSG Oh shit man D: I was wondering why you haven't logged in a few days. What kind of problems is it giving you? Usually if it's something that Discord Support can help you with, they'll try and fix it aptly.

Digimon Maze Mansion

@tobiax Ohhh okay! So like your Pixiemon and Wizardmons of the digimon database? Kinda in that realm so to speak?

Digimon Maze Mansion

@tobiax Oh, that makes sense! Okay cool. I just needed a little more clarification about it. And sadly, I'm not all that familiar with the extra Digimon media that isn't the anime. Nevertheless, I'll look into it. Though, I think I'll switch joker to social butterfly. Kind of got an idea for a character who might best fit that type. Though, I'm curious about the bizarre digimon. What would be the most obvious example of that one? What would qualify a digimon for "bizarre", anyway?

Digimon Maze Mansion

So I might have an interest in the joker role and uncertain about the digimon one, but I have a question about their forms: is this set in a world where Digimon don't have one predetermined path and they can go different routes or are these simply options for us to consider before we're asked to choose one? Or is there going to be something in the roleplay that might make one path unavailable?

Just curious about that and how it'll effect our choices (if at all).

Eye wants to write // Craving Digimon

_Bump!

♔ ♕ 𝐇𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞

^{The following is a flashback set before the current skip}
_{a @metanoia & @smarty0114 collab}
^{Location: 155 Cafe}

---

---

“What the fuck is with that thing anyways? Is that like, real? Like do people actually care about what we do?”

Andre found himself smiling, looking up at Charlie after a moment of glancing down as he set his backpack on the floor. It was leaning against his ankle. As he was looking at Charlie, he remembered he saw that the person responsible, this Miss Fortune, which Andre doubted was her actual name, he was still pretty irate that everyone on that board was given a single label. He couldn’t free himself of this anger because he really hated that, probably more than he was about being labled The Sloth.

“I would say no, but this -- what she call herself? Miss Fortune?” He laughed in a low tone, “I guess they -- I’m using the royal ‘They’, by the way -- think we’re all so fascinating that we, apparently, are so interesting. I mean, I’m not saying we are boring but I don’t think we’ve done anything to be the focus of someone’s little J. Jonah Jameson ripoff of trying to make us look like bad people or something.” He allowed himself to take in a breath. “Like how does me being me deserve to be labeled a Sloth? I mean with my roommate, it’s difficult to get any sleep anyways.”

Charlie let out a sigh, and shook her head. “I’d rather be the Sloth than the Brat.” The unflattering nickname was still chief amongst Charlie’s thoughts, but it did bring her some comfort to hear Andre bemoan his own label. It was a small, but much needed, reminder that this was not normal. This was some fucked up game, and she didn’t have to play if she didn’t want to. “Hey, maybe if you fix my hunk of junk laptop, I can get her to give you a new one?” Charlie said, lips curling up into a smile.

Without another word, she leaned over and pulled out her relic of a laptop, a thick gray brick that could’ve passed as an antique from the Apollo missions, and set it on the table, sliding it over towards Andre. The beast, which Charlie had affectionately named Bertha, had been with her through most of her education, and despite many close calls, always seemed to come back from the edge of certain death. “Soooo, I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she’s decided that she no longer wants to turn on, and I really need her to turn on so, please Doctor, save her for me?”

Andre smiled, laughing at her last comment as he took Charlie’s computer. “I doubt one simple act will change her mind, but let me see, anyway.” He set it to his left, opening it up. As he tried to boot it up, what she said rang true. He couldn’t even get it to boot up after he tried a few tricks. After about a minute of trying most of the immediate solutions he thought would work, he turned to Charlie. “Any chance you spilled any liquid on it? Because unless some liquid of some kind got into the motherboard, we’re probably looking at an internal power issue. In that case, I could try and work on it today, but I don’t know..” He looked down at the laptop, something of a frown on his face.

Charlie winced. “There may have possibly been an accident of sorts… wherein some chicken flavored ramen water found it’s way into Bertha’s vicinity. So, yeah, what I’m saying is that there’s a chance.” That one had admittedly been Charlie’s fault, but hey, a girl can’t help being uncoordinated. Clumsiness was a curse from which she would never be freed. “Is that bad? I feel like the look you’re giving me means that’s bad?”

“Well, it is bad, but for more than just the fact you spilled something on it. That itself will take some time trying to repair. But..” He paused dramatically (unintentionally, of course), looking at Charlie, hiding a smile behind a neutral expression. “How are you going to choose chicken over beef? Everyone knows beef is the superior flavor!”

“You’re wrong, but it’s really cute that you think you’re right,” Charlie said. “Chicken ramen is king. Trust me, Rich Boy, I think I know my ramen,” Charlie grinned, a devilish sort of smile that implied her new nickname was not completely undeserved.

And there it was. Andre was kind of surprised that it took her this long to mention, in some way, that he had that famous name. Though, he was a bit insulted that she used it as a front to claim he didn’t ride the struggle bus, too. “And I don’t?” He gave her a half-smile. “Sure, I may have grown up rich, but what I’m doing for you and your probably busted laptop -- no offense -- is my only source of income. And I know for a fact that beef is the god of the instant ramen flavors. So, clearly you’ve been misinformed. Might want to tell your stomach that.” If he were texting, this would be the part where he’d send a tongue-face emoji, but alas it would be weird if he did that in public.

Charlie bit back a retort she might’ve levied against someone with far fewer good intentions. Andre meant well, and she didn’t really know him well enough to lump him in with all the other spoiled rich kids who felt so hellbent on reminding her of her circumstances. Still though, she suspected that no matter what he said, his family wasn't about to leave him high and dry. Even if they were, she’d met people worse off. People whose family’s had nothing to withhold from them in the first place. “Oh I was just teasing. At least about the Rich Boy thing. I’m still right about the ramen.”

Andre was trying to learn how to not take it personally whenever someone mentioned his family’s wealth, especially when people who were his friends mentioned it. He knew it was all in good fun. Some part of him knew that it wasn’t meant ot be taken personally, yet sometimes he just can’t help it. Maybe it’s because he’s trying to prove them wrong. Maybe that’s why he opted to not use a single dime his folks put into his school account. He knew his mother didn’t want him to struggle financially, but he refused it. It’s why he set up a secondary account that had the earnings he made from fixing computers and tutoring.

But he had to stop thinking about that. And as he did, he looked at Charlie for a second, Andre just smiled. “Agree to disagree, Charlie. And don’t think I won’t fight you on it. Unlike your preference of ramen flavors, I’m no chicken.” He tried to tease back. Andre wasn’t the best at it, but he was getting there.

Charlie laughed. “Don’t ever change, Mossos.” She let out a final breath as her laughter slowed to a stop. “So I can pa-” Her next words were cut off by the sound of a voice, suddenly raising a few octaves. She turned, searching for the source of the sound, and found the male half of the Callaghan twins venturing into screaming territory with Kat. Charlie liked to think of herself as averse to gossip and scandal, and yet, the exchange managed to hold her attention. When Jamie finally let it drop (what it was didn’t seem obvious to her) she turned back to Dre, eyebrows raised. “Trust fund doesn’t cover therapy I guess.”

For a moment, Andre was confused. That was, however, he followed where Charlie’s gaze had been. That and his ears heard some bits and pieces. He couldn’t make it out completely, but seeing one of the Callahan siblings and Kat raising their voices made him feel immensely uncomfortable. He tried to hide as much of it as he could from Charlie, but with how she was centering her gaze on him, that was proving difficult to do. It just brought Andre back to when his own siblings would fight. Whether it was petty squabbles between Ariana and Ella or more intense ones between Dante and Romeo or even bigger screaming matches between his mother and Xander, it was really triggering for him and it showed on his face. Kat, of course, wasn’t Jaime’s sibling, but just the fact they were raising their voices was enough to bring him back to that.

“Yeah…” He mouthed in a barely-audible tone. He looked away from them and even partially away from Charlie.

If Charlie wanted to say more, she was cut off by the neverending flow of time. Her eyes caught on the luminous screen of her phone, and an expletive slipped out under her breath. “I have a class to get to, but uh, I’ll check in afterwards, yeah?” Without waiting for a response, Charlie hopped up, grabbing her bag and playfully mussing up Andre’s hair, before jetting out through the cafe doors.

Eye wants to write // Craving Digimon

Bump for another partner or two! :)