Cutting the Apexes Like a Bad Habbit (Private)

3 months. 3. Freaking. Months. That was how long it had been since Ryan had picked up a controller, all thanks to his arrival at Camp Half-Blood. 3 months. MONTHS! He could go a few weeks, but even in the heat of his Junior year at high school he had found some time to, say, put a few laps in or a round of "Conquest" or two in Battlefield. But 3 months without playing? By far that was some kind of personal record.

And upon finding out there was a game room that had a 360 hooked up in it, there wasn't much of a question in the mind of the Ares kid as to what he would be doing for the rest of the day. And once he found the time, Ryan made haste to that digital mirage in the uber-analog desert of the camp. Looking through what games there was for it, he saw a few titles that stuck out: Battlefield 3, Rock Band 3, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (2010), CoD Modern Warfare 2; but once he laid eyes on Forza Motorsport 4, he knew exactly what he was going to be doing: hot lapping the f**k out of every track and car that he could.

Once he got everything set up and ready to go, Ryan thought long and hard about what to do: go all-American and run a Boss 425 at Laguna Seca? Test out that German engineering with a BMW or Benz GT3 at the 'Ring? Run some pride of England at Silverstone? The options were endless. But he eventually came to the conclusion of running a JDM machine at Suzuka.

With that in mind, he went into "time trial" mode and looked around at what cars the other campers had made, seeing if any would fit his current needs. It took awhile, but he ran into a nice looking R3-classed R32 Skyline GTR*. After selcting that, he switched off the driving line and auto braking, and took the full layout of Suzuka, pounding out lap times like he had done all those months ago, all with quite the grin on his face.

(OOC: *The car itself looks like this in the front and this in the back (ok, it's more of a side shot that shows 3/4 of the rear, but you should be able to put an image in your head as to how it looks).)

Haley sighed, walking into the game room. She had expected the library to have been a quiet place earlier today, but, nope. Woops, sorry, yep, that definitely didn't happen. Walking in she would find a few other figures in the room, though none of which actually caught her attention except the one in front of the Xbox 360. And lo and behold, one of her favorite games of all time on the screen, Forza Motorsports 4. Haley could clearly see the guy that was playing was on a timed trial. Given the way that he handled the controls, he was an honest gamer. No auto-braking or driver assist needed. Straight up button mashing.

The though made the girl mentally smile as she shoved her hands into the pocket of her black hoodie. Without realizing it, she would see that the boy's time was up. "I-i would recommend the 2010 Audi TT RS Coupe next time. It's the h-highest in it's class and..." she quickly shut-up. Stuttering because she was nervous, rambling because she knew about the game. Yep, definitely a awesome combination.

The R32 was coming up upon the hairpin before the spoon (OOC: see map, it's about 2 or 3 corners ahead of the spoon) when Ryan suddenly heard a voice giving him advice. A female voice. Pausing and looking back, he made eye contact with the hoodie-clad girl who seemed to know what she was talking about. "You know what, I was actually planning on taking the Monte Carlo SS Stock Car to IMS and seeing just how quick I could throw it around the Brickyard after this, if you get what I mean. Well, that or heading to the garage and seeing if lowering the downforce would help improve my time in the essess."

Aaaand, eye contact for the second time today. Yep, she was definitely on a roll here. In all reality, all she wanted to do was find a game and play it by herself, in peace and quite. All in all, solitude was the word. Of perhaps she should just put in her ear-buds and crank up the volume on Flyleaf, trying to fade back into the shadows. But nope, there she stood and to her surprise, the guy actually responded. "Not to bad of taste in the car's selection there, if I may say... Of course I know what you mean." Ah, the Brickyard. Best track for seeing just how fast you could push a car. Pretty good for drifting, the long curves and all. There was something about pushing a car to it's max as it screamed for another gear that Haley had always liked, and Brickyard was indeed the place to do so. Then again, there was the really long straight aways, so that helped as well.

Ryan chuckled a bit at the girl's response, now sounding more confident than scared without the stuttering. "Good; That's good that you know." Since she seemed cool, he motioned towards the spot next to him on the couch and said "You feel like giving it a shot?"

No, she practically screamed on the inside. You people can't leave me alone today. Unless you have my pizza, music or book, just leave me alone. But, he did hold the key -metephorically speaking- to one of her favorite games. "Uh.. sure," was all she could say, walking over and shyly sitting down next to him. "So.. like, how long would you say you've been playing? Forza, I mean?"

"Since I got it for Christmas the year it came out. I've only stopped playing it recently due to upgrading to PS4 and haven't played anything since I got here." Ryan passed the controller over to Haley's lap. "Your turn."

Haley quickly did the math in her head. So about four years. Not to shabby. In all reality, the girl had been raised on Xbox, why anyone would "upgrade" to Playstation, she honestly had no idea. However, she kept the opinion to herself. "Thanks," was all she responded as she picked up the controller. It fit almost naturally into her hands. Her map of choice would be Fujimi Kaido; The car, a Toyota AE86. In her opinion, the track was one of the bests, twist turns, ups and mainly downs. She decided to hit the continue button, allowing the race to load.

Ryan smiled at the girl's car and track preferences. A classic JDM drift machine at track designed perfectly for the downhill drifting set. "So, you're the resident drift queen? Or do you just like smashing the handbrake and forcing your car sideways?"

Haley allowed herself a small laugh. "Drifting is s-something that I must say is indeed in my uh.. skill set." Leaning forward, the girl would rest her elbows on her knees, controller positioned comfortably between them. A sound somewhat like a ding would come from the TV speakers, counting down from the number five. Seeing the word "go" on the screen, she would mash down the right trigger, allowing the pixelated car to lurch forward.

Ryan sat back and watched the screen, observing every action the girl made with the legendary Corolla.

The first part of the track or so was semi-straight, allowing for the gain of speed and slight drifts. Nothing more, nothing less, really. Haley continued to mash the triggers this way and that, controlling the thumb stick as well. The track started out going ever so slightly up hill, and the rest of the way was nothing but down. She kept the cars speed up, the tires squealing the vast majority of the time as she went to drift, the car screaming for another gear. Don't get the girl wrong, she was experienced with the game, but that didn't stop her from almost hitting the guard rails and running off of the track a few times. Finally finished, she would hold the controller out for Ryan to take back. "Well.... uh.. t-that was fun."

Ryan took the controller, but not without quipping "Personally, I would've chosen a downhill route there. It's more...I don't know, authenticity Japanese that way." As he returned to the menu, he looked over his options. Silverstone, Maple Valey, Indy, so on. But then it hit him; the Nürburgring's right-hand track: Circuit de La Sarthe, AKA LeMans. The ultimate speed test track, if you run old Mulsane. And then he got an idea. "How would you like to race me?"

The girl nodded her head."Uh.. sure thing. I mean.. I'm up for it." Haley was up for the challenge, maybe she would win, maybe she would lose. But oh well, it would be worth a shot, right?

A smile broke out on Ryan's face. Someone here was not only a fan of Forza, but also wiling to put it on the line in a race. "How's a drag race down Old Mulsane sound?"

Haley returned the smile, getting a controller of her own. "By all means, let's do this." She barely realized that she didn't stutter.

Ryan laughed and let out an excited "Then by the the will of the gods, let's tear up LeMans! WOO!" Minutes later, Ryan had set up a split screen local lobby, with an Audi Quattro (heavily modified, of course (OOC: Will bring pictures soon)) rated for the R3 class as his car of choice. He figured that the Quattro 4WD drivetrain would help with acceleration and handling on the two lane Mulsane Straight. "Alright, go choose your car Drift Queen."

Okay, so, he decided to go Audi. Mentally shrugging, Haley decided that she would as well. After all, she wanted to win fairly, not because the car did the work for her. Then again, that's why the girl had never used driver assist. She smiled when Ryan called her Drift Queen. Just another thing to add to her list of random nicknames. Anyways, the girl decided to go with the Audi R8 LMS. The speed was decent, but acceleration and breaking was nice, so, she figured why not. "Drift Queen huh? Ready when you are."

"Yeah, 'Drift Queen' sounded nicer than 'Emo Stutter Girl' in my head." the son of Ares quipped. "But if you would rather be called the latter, by all means don't hesitate to ask." Ryan hit the "Start Race" option and was looking at a loading screen three seconds later.