I'm gonna wreck it!

Task 11: Intro & Connections

Name: Ralph Wreczycki Age: 33 Gender: Cis man (he/him) Occupation: Demolitions Expert at Fix-It-Felix’s Construction & Repairs Co. Sexuality: Bisexual Birthplace: Redwood Hollow Redwood Hollow Residency: Lifelong resident

FULL BIO | MUSINGS | HEADCANONS | ALL MUSES

-

“Oh it’s Sunny, definitely.” Adam said with a grin. “Your date is a man, my man. And his name is Sunny.” Sunny Philadelphia, he was a con man, so he was pretty much a businessman and sun = warm weather. “Yeah I’m quite certain that’s your guy.”

--

Ralph’s eyes narrowed slightly when Adam called it a date. Yeah, this was a Valentine’s thing, but he thought it was more of a “meet and get to know” kind of thing. That’s why there were options for “friends” or “good time” or whatever. This wasn’t actually a date...was it?

“Okay...” He said, carefully. “Yeah. A guy named Sunny. I guess that makes sense. Uhm-- thanks, man. I guess I’ll go find him? Best of luck with yours,” he said, pointedly not offering to help with Adam’s clues. If he couldn’t figure out his own, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to figure out anyone else’s. More than anything, he just wanted to get this over with. Giving an awkward little wave, he turned before disappearing back in the crowd.

Ralph was in the middle of a match, his fingers twitching with determination across the controller as he took shot after shot. He wasn’t wearing the headset for once, wanting to concentrate fully on the game without the heated contention of children calling him names. Soon enough, it was down to 1v1 and Ralph was on his opponent’s trail, ready to deal the final blow. The pixelated head of his opponent was right in his cross hairs when--

BAM!

A crash outside caused him to jolt. By the time he looked back at the screen it was too late--he’d been killed and the opposing team had won. “Nooo!” He groaned, throwing the controller down. With a huff, he pushed himself up from his chair and stormed out the door of his trailer, determined to figure out the source of the noise. His immediate thought was to look towards the dump.

“Hello??”

mount olympus was the place to be at the weekends, to be fair, it was the place to be every evening but weekends especially. at the bar with a load of people, merida was chatting away to everyone willing to have a conversation at this point. 

“yeah, i know what you mean. who knows what’s been going on around here, for a small town it’s always filled with life. oh! hang on…” she paused, turning to the bar, ordering another drink and turning back to who she was talking to “where were we?” 

@happieststarters​

--

By the time Merida turned back, the person who she had been talking to had absconded from their seat, seemingly going to greet a friend who had just entered the bar. The empty stool revealed the person who was sitting on the other side of them, a burly man with a beer bottle in his hand.

“Oof. Looks like your conversation wasn’t that interesting. Or maybe they just couldn’t understand your accent,” he commented, taking a big sip of his drink. Ralph had long given up trying to make nice with Merida, who was the bane of existence every time he had a job that required him to take down a tree. It probably wasn’t a good idea to poke the bear, but he was far too many drinks in to care.

:*:･ﾟ☆

Suddenly the vibe between them was frantic! The sirens may as well have been wailing, the choppers going at top speed and the spotlight shining on him. Admittedly, she let herself get caught up the drama of it and you know what? It was kinda fun. Stasia couldn’t remember the last time she’d had just, like, silly fun. “You should, they’re probably already on the way. I mean, a place like this? The security cameras… The sensors! Ohmygod, what are you gonna do?”

She was planning on conceding then when the compliment landed which was totally distracting. Not her fault. And then, of course, Stasia would never admit that she didn’t know the Labouff estate like the back of her hand. “Um, yes. Yes, I can do! Totally. I mean, basically made the walls myself,” she said matter-of-factly. She paused then, looking him dead in the eye and hoping very much he wouldn’t recognise her from that disaster date run-in, “Come with me if you want to live.”

From there, it was all bullshit and bluster. She walked-slash-half jogged in various directions with unwarranted confidence when she pushed open the door to— The pantry. That would do. The door clicked shut behind them when she finally stopped. Stasia turned to look at him— “Okay, can I tell you something?”

--

Ralph’s energy was being turned up to an 11 and he was pretty sure at this point that he was going to die. Cameras? Sensors?? These people were definitely going to arrest him and he was going to rot in jail for decades, all because he wanted to be a good guest and make a cake. “I-I don’t know!” He cried, throwing his hands down in frustration. This is what he got for trying to do something nice--for trying to be social--for trying, at all! He should’ve just stayed in his crappy little trailer and played his crappy little video games until the crappy little new year happened.

Panic was at the peak of almost taking him over entirely when the girl agreed to give him help. With their eyes locked, his breath hitched in his throat as she demanded he come with her. He nodded frantically, ready to follow her to the ends of the Earth and back. He’d hang on her every word, he’d fight for her, he’d die for her. It was probably the adrenaline talking but it truly was the end of the world and she was the only hand reaching out for help as he drowned.

He followed at her heels, not even noticing that she was going in completely bullshit directions. She was throwing them off their trail, a brilliant move, really. He squeezed into the pantry with her. At the very least, a rich family like this had a big walk in pantry, so they weren’t totally squished as the door closed behind them. Still, they were extremely close, his panting loud and hot against her. They made eye contact again and he stopped dead, completely enraptured. “Y-yeah?”

~

Sadly for Ralph, Alice had a terrible inability to shut up when a conversation should have found its natural conclusion. But they were here to socialize, so their sister had said when singing them up, and that meant making conversation. They were naturally curious about everyone’s clues too, to be fair.

When it was obvious that their statement had confused Ralph, Alice’s brow raised too. “Well, maybe Dorothy isn’t a man, but friends of Dorothy usually are. Or at least that’s how it went in the olden days.” Alice hesitated for a moment, wondering how much they should really say about where it came from. If he didn’t know, then it wasn’t really their place to out Ralph secret partner any further. “Just… keep an open mind, I suppose? I could be anybody, really, which I know doesn’t help but I guess that’s all… part of the game.”

--

“Well yeah, but I thought maybe I could ask Dorothy herself if she knew who this person was--guy or girl,” he clarified, suddenly wondering if he was the one who wasn’t making sense. If one thing was to be abundantly clear to Alice, it’s that he had no idea that Dorothy was not a real person and that “Friends with Dorothy” had another connotation.

Well, it seemed like this kid didn’t know who Dorothy was. There goes that lead. He sighed and tapped his card against his fist, looking back into the crowd. “So...now what?” He asked. It was probably silly to ask this to a kid who was not their partner and just try again with someone else. But he was suddenly feeling very self conscious and had no idea how to approach the next person. So for now, he was sticking with them.

-

“Sorry the only thing that comes to mind is that your partner is some sort of cheese?” Popular in Philadelphia? Talk about hard clues. “What’s the second and third clue you have - perhaps that can give me some more human option insights.”

--

Ralph looked to the man--Adam Legrand. The Enchanted Cafe was one of Felix’s best construction jobs, which he knew because he’d never shut up about it. Still, if anyone was going to know someone around town, it was him. He looked down and read the card word for word. “”I consider myself business savvy” and “I prefer warmer weather”. Does that mean anything to you?”

.

As awkward as Sunny thought the situation was, it appeared that the man had no knowledge of his embarrassment. Well, that was sort of a relief. He forced a soft chuckle and nodded a bit. “Yes, yes. I s’ppose in retrospect not everyone might get that clue if they haven’t seen the show.” 

Looking over the card in his own hand once more, Sunny rose his brows. “Well, that depends, I guess. How do you feel about video games?” Surely this had to be the right man, right? If not, he was going to be even more embarrassed, if that were at all possible.

--

Ralph continued to nod to himself, still basking in the glory of all the pieces coming together. It was rare for him, after all. When Sunny asked his question, he looked up and a spark lit in his eyes. “Yeah, I do! Highscore, right? I mean-- I’m Ralph, but my codename was Highscore.” He clarified.

“Honestly, I had no idea what to put for these. It’s like in school when they ask you to list a fun fact about yourself? I’m always so bad at those,” he explained as he folded up the card, clearly not needing it anymore. “That’s why I made the last one about being big. Thought that would make it easiest to figure out.” As the conversation petered off, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. “So I guess we should go get our activity next, right? Is that how this works?”

~

Alice obviously knew that the clue wasn’t their clue, and thus, with their excellent powers of deduction, concluded that this obviously wasn’t their partner. They had never been to Philadelphia, had only seen one episode of the Fresh Prince, and cheese steaks sounded wholly unappealing, even if they had suggested them. “Maybe you can grab one on the way to your activity,” Alice suggested.

At Ralph’s question, Alice’s brow raised. They were two questions Alice could answer, if they thought about them, but they worried that might lead to the wrong path. “Well, it depends…” they muttered, thinking how best to answer. “I-I don’t know any Dorothy’s, except for the Dorothy in the stories, but she isn’t real, of course. And, well… the phrase can’t really apply to me. Or it would, if I was a man, but I’m not a man. But your Dorothy might be…”

--

“Maybe...” Ralph responded, suddenly feeling very hungry. Did anywhere even serve good cheesesteak around here? Maybe just a sandwich would do. Or anything, really. Honestly, it wasn’t too late to ditch this and just go grab a bite for himself. It would probably be wholly less humiliating.

Once it was obvious that the two weren’t partners, Ralph was sure this kid was just going to say “no” and move on. What they did say, however, had him furrowing his brow in deep confusion. He blinked a few times in an desperate attempt to string the words together into something coherent. “I-- huh?? What are you talking about? Dorothy’s a man??”

. 

Oh this was painful. Why didn’t he just come out with it? Now it was awkward, him still standing there while the poor guy was wracking his brain over this mystery. As outgoing and charismatic as Sunny thought he was, he supposed that was only in the business sense, and not generally speaking. 

Frustrated, though with himself, not the man, Sunny let out a breath. “Forget the Dorothy comment,” he said, shaking his head. Why was this so difficult? After a moment of him trying to come up with some sort of clever response or way to get around this, he finally gave up. “Sunny. My name is Sunny. That’s…. me,” he finally confessed.

--

Anyone looking at Ralph could see the gears--dusty as they were--turning in his head. At this point, he was going to be angry with himself if he didn’t figure it out. When the answer finally came, however, it took a moment for it all to click. His eyes lit up with understanding. “Oooooh! I get it now, cuz your name’s Sunny! With the show, and the warm weather...” He said, as if that wasn’t already obvious.

What a relief. Sure, he didn’t exactly solve the mystery by himself, but he felt so much better knowing he had found his partner and didn’t have to continue this awkward charade of asking people. He looked pretty pleased with himself, until something occurred to him, “Wait-- does this mean you have my clues then?”

.

Sunny was dying internally, embarrassed already by his feeble attempt to make a witty clue during this madness. He should have just been straight forward and boring, but no. He just had to get creative with it… Swallowing his nerves, Sunny scratched at the back of his head and gave a shrug. “Sure, sure… or, you know… There’s that other show. Always Sunny, in Philadelphia…” 

This was going terribly. How could he save this situation? Should he walk away? Should he just admit that it was him? No, no. Walking away was definitely the better solution. However, as he started to turn the other direction, he hesitated. “You know, I’m not quite sure that there are any Dorothy’s in town, actually. It was probably more of a… figurative comment.”

--

Ralph looked up, only now just realizing that guy was still there. Blinking a few times at his comment, he nodded. “Oh, right, right...I never watched that show. So I guess I won’t get the clue...unless like sunny? Like the sun? Warm weather? Agh...” His brain was hurting. It was his turn to rub his neck, feeling no closer than he did before.

But maybe this guy knew. He’d seen the show after all. When he turned to look at him again, it seemed like he might be leaving? Then he made another comment that confused him even more. His brow furrowed and he tilted his head a little. “What d’you mean?”

. 

Valentine’s day was not one of Sunny’s favorite holidays. In fact, he tried to avoid it most years, personally, but it was a great business opportunity. This year, however, he was going out on a limb completely. Normally, he would run away from love at any cost, of any kind, but for whatever reason, he decided to throw himself smack dab in the middle of it. And, instantly regretted it when he heard someone referencing the clues he gave. 

His eyes shot open a bit, turning the other direction to gain composure. He shot his gaze down quickly at his own card before clearing his throat. “Could they perhaps have been referencing a certain TV show?”

--

Ralph was surprised that anyone answered him at all, but he supposed he should be grateful that he wasn’t left hanging. He looked over at the man who had responded to his call, glancing him up and down before looking back down to his card.  His eyes narrowed as he considered the proposal, trying to think of a TV show that has to do with Philadelphia.

“...The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?” He threw out, the only thing he could think of. Wait, did that show take place in Philly or is it just in the theme song? And what did that have to do with the clues? “Is it because they look like Will Smith?” His eyes scanned over the crowd. “I guess Lucius kind of does, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like warm weather. Wait, was his wife’s name Dorothy? Oh, but they are definitely not friends.” At this point he was just talking to himself.

~

Alice hadn’t even begun trying to figure out who their clues belonged to, still pre-occupied with trying to solidify their guesses as to the other fifty-four candidates on the board. They reckoned someone would find them sooner or later. They weren’t much a fan of riddles either but had to suppose that playing the game as intended must have some kind of benefit.

While Alice wasn’t completely phased by any of the nonsense (their sister had signed them up for “socialising”) it seemed that others weren’t so unfazed. “I have yet to see an orange monster roaming the tent,” Alice replied thoughtfully. “Though I haven’t checked in any closets or under any beds. Perhaps your partner is a cheese steak?”

--

Well, he threw out the bait and someone took it. Hopefully this would be over sooner rather than later. Their comments had him huffing and shaking his head. “A cheese steak actually sounds really good right about now,” he commented, wondering how many food related activities there were on the wheel or whatever. Either way, he wouldn’t be getting anything unless he figured out this stupid puzzle.

“You wouldn’t happen to be a Friend of Dorothy’s would you? Or do you know who Dorothy is? Maybe I can ask her,” he muttered, looking over the card again.

He supposed the idea was to go around and ask people, but that just made him feel dumb and awkward. So he just threw out a question to the crowd, desperate that someone would answer. “Does anyone know what “being popular in Philadelphia” means? Is my partner Gritty?”

~

“You’re obviously nose-blind too,” Tina countered smugly, noting his lack of confidence in her argument immediately. Maybe she wasn’t going to win the tools through brute force, but she was definitely winning the argument portion of the battle (which would have been ten times more fun if she wasn’t holding on for dear life).

Tina grunted as her grip loosened further, making a poor attempt at shunting herself up by sticking her boot against Ralph’s thigh. It did just enough for now but it wouldn’t do anything in the long run if she wanted to not land square on her ass.

“How is that fair?” she argued. “You’ll on purposely pick a tool that my–” Slipping! Slipping! She tried again with her other foot. “–my delicate hands can’t use!!”

--

Ralph’s face contorted in a scowl as she shot back another insult at him. How was she so good at this?! It made him reconsider his stance on just trying to shake her off or toss her away. Still, he was distracted when she put a foot on his thigh. “Hey-- stop that!” He ordered, attempting to jiggle his leg to get her off. It probably wasn’t the best move to attempt while holding an entire person aloft, and he felt himself starting to lose his own balance. They needed to end this.

“Tell you what? I’ll pick the tiniest tool so your pwecious little baby hands can handle them, how about that?” It seemed like their negotiations were moving in the completely wrong direction, but he couldn’t help it. She was absolutely infuriating!

.

Just by a general glance at him, the scavenger assumed he was a strong type of fella. She didn’t quite expect for him to pick her up so easily, as if she wasn’t dangling a heavy pair of boots and had a metal-and-plastic leg instead of one made out of flesh and blood. “No, I… I got it,” Bo said, with just a little bit of strain. “I’m tougher than I look, don’t worry ‘bout me.”

She unhooked the painting from the wall, grit her teeth and held the frame over her head. Turning around back at the guy over her shoulder, she figured that her partner in crime was entitled to at least something similar to an introduction. “My pleasure, by the way. Name’s Shirley.”

In the moment of distraction, her arms began to give in (it turned heavier after a while, after all, when her strength started to fail her) and a piece of chocolate frosting that was still on the front of the painted man’s suit grazed Bo’s forehead and nose. She blinked, and huffed, and briefly tried to lick it off with the tip of her tongue, but couldn’t quite reach. “Now, what’s a place where they’d never, ever look?”

--

There was definitely something off about the way her weight was distributed, he could feel it as soon as he picked her up. However, he also literally did not care in this moment when there were much more important things at stake. She reassured him that she’d be fine and while he was hesitant, he had little choice but to take her at face value. Holding her steady, he let her do the work.

He looked up at her as she introduced herself, keeping an eye on the painting she was holding. “Ralph,” he responded. While apart of him wanted to give a fake name in case he had to make a break for it, she was doing him a huge favor and seemed to be candid herself. It was the least he could do.

~

“So far, I highly doubt that,” Tina replied, giving the guy the once over (which, frankly, felt very weird from her hanging position and this height). Tina knew exactly which battles to pick to win, and she was absolutely certain she would win this one. The only person that truly terrified her was Ashley Quinlan. This was a walk in the park by comparison.

Verbally speaking, that is. Her fingers were losing grip fast, her elbows cramping and her palms starting to sweat in the blistering summer heat.

“And you get to keep it because you’re, what? Big and smelly? Is that it?” Oh God, her fingers were slipping. If she wriggled, she’d lose, but shiiiiiit, this wasn’t going well! (Maybe she could kick him? She might not win the toolbox in the end but maybe it would be more satisfying? NO TINA! Those tools are important!) “Two tools.”

--

“I’m not smelly!” He shouted back, though it did not have the confidence backing it that he wished it had. If he was smelly, it was only because it was glaringly hot out and he’d been running around chasing her! He didn’t say as much though, knowing he was digging himself a further grave.

Luckily for him, time was winning out. She was beginning to lose her grip and he was fairly certain he could eek out a victory if he just waited a bit longer. Still, he didn’t really want to see what she’d do if she was very desperate and honestly, he wanted this thing to end. They were wasting precious competition time, after all.

He glowered at her before finally acquiescing. “Two tools. But you only get to pick one. I pick the other one. Final offer.”