Chapter Two :: Aegean's First

[Gemma Ridean]

When Gemma swung open the door to the cockpit, the first thing she noticed was Jax sitting at the controls....with his stubborn glare of resentment directed towards.......Zacke..? Who was sitting in the co-pilot..?

She quickly put two and two together and sighed.

Typical.

"I just wanted to remind you guys that you have ten people downstairs waiting for this airship to take off. Don't forget that we have a greater priority than your little battle of testosterone. So settle this. Now."

She crossed her arms. "I'm waiting."

[Jax Ridean]

He was backed into a corner. There was no getting around.

"I'm waiting."

It was frustrating as hell, but he knew that Zacke wasn't the kind of guy to back down. Neither was he, but for the sake of the mission, someone had to do it.

...Shit....not me....

He exhaled sharply and clenched his hands into a fist..

Fuckin hell...it's me..

"Ok..." he muttered, sitting up straight in his seat. He turned his head and locked his stare onto Zacke. "I let you co-pilot. But--" he raised his finger, "We handle things my way. If I give you an order, you follow it. Ok? You keep your hands off the controls unless I give you permission to. Are we clear?"

[ani]

AHAHA DEO XD
-----------------------------------

Vanesse

Vanesse's face was as bright as Jaime's when they approached Jax and Reese. Jaime's cheerfulness was in full-force as usual and it didn't matter who catches the brightness. It was like filling the room with positive energy---even the gloomy guy in front of them.

/Filling the room with happiness? Aren't you interpreting something wrong here?/

"I'm not your 'leader,' but yeah, whatever." Reese optimistically replied. "Go ask Stella if she minds stepping over here for a minute. The four of us need to talk."

She figured she would just match Jaime's coolness.

"AYE AYE SIR!!" Vanesse saluted Reese and turned around to look for Stella. Spotting her, she hollered in her spot.

"MS. STELLA!! YOOHOO!! REESE WANTS YOU TO COME HERE AND JOIN US!!" She waved at Stella. "HE'S CONDUCTING A GROUP MEETING!"

----------------------------------------

Hadrian

The silent atmosphere in the lower sub-level was defeaning now that the excitement he had over the cannon earlier had long been dissipated. Sitting on the seat of the Tertiary cannon, Hadrian's breathing was even, his eyes were closed. He was asleep as a log.


--------------------------------

Stardust

Stardust sat in the open area of the observation deck. Sitting near the entrance, she stared at the sky waiting above them. She would go in once the airship lifted.

/You Better go in./ Diwata threatened.

Atleast right now, it was peaceful. Just how she liked it.

[raydensharpola]

Rayden opened his mouth to form a witty reply for Stella when a burst of noise from across the room interrupted him.

Van was calling for Stella to join her, Reese and Jaime for a group meeting. He raised an eyebrow. The two Opps girls stood out clearly amongst the rest with that blinding effervescence. It might not be such a good thing this early in the morning especially for people with less tolerance for such...stimulants would be a polite way to put it, first thing in the morning.

"Well looks like you're wanted." Rayden smirked at Stella. "It's a great loss for me but I guess I could sacrifice my happiness for the good of the mission." He placed a hand on his heart melodramatically and turned his mouth down in as deep a frown as he could. "I shall miss your...heavenly presence."

[Zacke]

"Okay, okay, yeah." Zacke replied to Jax compliantly. "You make the calls and I follow orders, got it. I won't touch anything." He looked away and rolled his eyes. Paranoid much?

He suddenly remembered the female presence amidst them, and swiveled his chair around to face her.

"Gemma," He said the name with a smile. "Hey, we're on the same team, right? Sweet. It's gonna be cool working with someone who's at least halfway sane." And nice and cute. He glanced at Jax. "Err," His gaze came back to Gemma. "Wait... Ridean, Ridean... I guess I should probably already know this, but are you guys related?"

[Jax Ridean]

Jax scowled, seeing how Zacke so flippantly accepted his proposal, and instead turned his towards Gemma. And he especially did not like the way Gemma was reacting so...positively..to that attention..why was she flushing like that..? He wasn't feeling too thrilled..

Not one single bit.

"Wait... Ridean, Ridean... I guess I should probably already know this, but are you guys related?"

"Yeah." he said hotly. "I'm her brother."

[Zacke]

'I'm her brother.'

By the sound of his voice, Jax didn't seem to be too happy about answering that question. Zacke glanced over at the disgruntled pilot. "Oh." His voice lilted slightly, as if he meant it to be a positive kind of 'oh,' but it didn't quite come out that way. "Cool."

The situation had now become slightly awkward, to say the least. The hostility coming from Jax hadn't really bothered him before, but now that he knew this guy was Gemma's brother... Great. Needless to say, it wasn't long before his attention returned to Gemma. And it was at that point he noticed the rosy flush crawling up her neck and into her cheeks. He grinned in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry. I guess it's my fault we haven't lifted off yet -- you know, with the little battle of testosterone and all." He winked. "We won't keep you waiting much longer."

With that said, he swiveled around in his chair and planted his hands down on the edge of the console. "Ready for takeoff, Cap-i-tan." He said to Jax in his own special obnoxious way.

[waterlily43]

Jun gritted her teeth. She had found her bag of gas masks. There was no putting off what she had to do next. And since they were on the same team she couldn't keep avoiding the vicinity he was in.

Putting on her serious "mission" face she strode purposefully towards where Lawric and Deo were standing---or rather where Lawric had been standing moments ago. He had shifted from his position while her back was turned, which meant she had been stalling for nothing. She stopped in front of Deo resting her glance on his face. He didn't look too happy to see her.

"Diego...I have to a question to ask you." She paused, glancing at him in concern. His eye seemed to be twitching slightly. "This concerns the our evacuation plan later. Do you have the means to create fifty stink bombs at short notice? If not you can mix them up with other bombs that could create diversions, anything that you can think of." She peered even more closely at him. Now this was interesting. A vein was twitching in his forehead as well. She hoped it would not interfere with his performance. "Are you alright? You shouldn't keep your face in a frown for too long. You'll get premature wrinkles that way. And it'd be more efficient to smile as you work only twenty two muscles when you smile and thirty seven to frown."

[Stella]

"Oh gag me" Stella said as she playfully slapped Rayden on the shoulder with a roll of her eyes. Heavenly presence indeed. She snorted and shook her head.

"Well my adoring fans" she said with exaggerated sarcasm to him, "need me so I better go. But if I don't get to say it before we land... be safe" Stella smiled at him and placed a quick kiss on his cheek before spinning away and heading over to where Reese, Van and Jamie were waiting.

The two girls were so happy they looked like they just got done eating a load of cookies. Reese on the other hand looked impassive almost as if he was made of stone. She smirked to herself guessing just what he might have been feeling on the inside. It was way too early in the morning to be dealing with a double shot of exuberance.

"Thanks for that lovely call out across the entire ship, remind me to look you up the next time I need someone with impressive lung power" Stella said to Van giving her a grin the teasing evident in her voice. Her eyes turned to Reese and she raised an eyebrow.

"Whats up?" she asked her tone turning a bit more serious.

[Reese]

/These two are hurting my ears!/ Perish grunted uncomfortably.

For once, Reese agreed with his feline Guardian. Lewis and Yanagi were certainly a cheerful force to contend with. He originally agreed with Leonhart's decision to place them on this team, thinking their curative abilities made them good candidates for the lab. He now stood in doubt of that reasoning. Curaga spells or no, he wasn't sure these girls were capable of handling the type of force they would be met with down there.

His gaze leveled on Stella as she approached. Like it or not, he was probably going to end up depending heavily on her for combat support. She seemed capable enough, but when their conversation from the night before came to mind again and he remembered her claustrophobia, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive about her, too.

Oh well, he resigned. It's not as if they have no reason to doubt me.

"Just wanted to work out some type of simple group strategy, so we're all on the same page." he answered Stella. He looked at the other two girls. "By the way; I'm not your guys' leader, so you don't have to take me for that. I'm just an experienced guide."

He crossed his arms. "So for starters -- Yanagi," his eyes met hers. "Leonhart neglected to mention this to you, so I will. We are going to be navigating corridors and rooms. There will be walls everywhere and roof always above us. Your boomerangs will be basically useless. I think it would be most beneficial to the team if you focus on your stock of curative magic and try to watch out for us, take care of injuries. If you strongly disagree with that strategy, fine -- like I said, I'm not your leader. It's something to think about, though."

He looked away from her and turned to Jaime. "I was told you equip Curaga as well. Since you will be able to use your weapon, you should preserve your magic. If we happen to come across any hostages, they will most likely be mutilated somehow, either by experimentation or torture. As long as you haven't exhausted your stock, you should be able to help them."

Finally, his attention came to Stella. "Anything I could say to you now, I guess I already said last night. Just bring plenty of ammunition. You'll need it."

He cleared his throat.

"I should warn you three about the lab. I don't know how familiar any of you are with DotNA experimentation. I'm assuming you don't know much about it... ?" At this point, he was more or less speaking to the Opps girls. "They have some pretty gruesome things going on down there. If your mind isn't in the right place, it's probably going to really upset you to see. So, yeah... be wary."

He shrugged and glanced between them. "Is there anything we should address now, while we have the chance? If not, I guess I've said all I wanted to."

[junkuroki]

Jaime shrugged at the "warning" Reese seemed to be giving Van and herself.

"I used to be a Cadet in Garden. I'm not as 'Teehee the world is a perfect place' as I may look right now. But I guess that remains to be seen, not heard." She grinned at Reese. "You don't have to worry about us. I doubt anything can be as gruesome as what we went through during the time Adel warped Garden into some kind of pulsating thing. Amirite Stella?"

[Stella]

Stella raised an eyebrow. She preferred not to think of when the Garden had been a mass of pulsating flesh and gore. That had been a particularly rough mission for her and she didn't like reliving the memories.

"While yes that was really bad and I commend you for making it through it in tact" she reached out and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder giving it a reassuring squeeze, "it doesn't make the mission ahead of us any less dangerous. You should give it your full consideration and expect it to be just as dangerous as the last mission"

"As for me I had some ammo refined as soon as my vacation was interrupted by overhead missiles. I'm as prepared as I'm going to be for this mission" She said giving Reese a short nod.

[Reese]

Fleshy Garden probably wouldn't have the same effect a mutilated, suffering, and alive human being experiment will.

Reese couldn't help his lingering annoyed stare on the two Opps girls -- especially the blonde. The way she shrugged off his advice made her look like even more of a fool than she had already managed. She was letting it go in one ear and out the other. Even if she felt she was prepared, she should at least make more of an effort to take him -- the only person who had even been down there -- seriously. He wasn't being heard. At all. It was just worsening his already pissy mood.

Oh well. he thought. He tried.

"I'm as prepared as I'm going to be for this mission."

His gaze shifted to Stella. "I figured as much." It was a mumble. He glanced at the Opps girls once again. "I'll be down in sub-level two. If any of you have any questions for me, come find me." He offered Stella a barely perceptible nod before turning away from the three girls and making his way toward the descending staircase at the back of the inner deck.

[Diego Stanton]

"Diego...I have to a question to ask you."

"whu?" Deo looked up at Jun's towering face. She was hovering over him, arms on her hips as if she was ready to begin a very long, monotonous lecture.

"This concerns the our evacuation plan later. Do you have the means to create fifty stink bombs at short notice? If not you can mix them up with other bombs that could create diversions, anything that you can think of."

"Fifty?? What, like now?" Deo's head was swimming from all this 'mission' talk. He rubbed his eyes and stared harder at Jun but the longer he stared the more she seemed to be... transforming. Her black hair was getting blonder, her lips were turning redder and her breasts were growing larger.. no wait, they were shrinking again.... nope, they were definitely getting larger. "Signe?" he asked.

"Are you alright? You shouldn't keep your face in a frown for too long. You'll get premature wrinkles that way. And it'd be more efficient to smile as you work only twenty two muscles when you smile and thirty seven to frown." Signe nagged incessantly.

"nono.. I told you, today was my day in." Deo rubbed his cheek, "Ask Lawric... Lawric is stinky.. right, Law?" Deo turned to his friend sitting next to him and gave him a drunken smile.

[Gemma Ridean]

I'm sorry. I guess it's my fault we haven't lifted off yet -- you know, with the little battle of testosterone and all." Zacke cheekily winked. "We won't keep you waiting much longer."

Trying to maintain her authoritative tone while attempting to lose the smile on her face, Gemma couldn't help but laugh on the inside as Zacke, once again, easily dismissed the over-inflated, pompous demands of her brother with another casual retort.

"Ready for takeoff, Cap-i-tan."

There was a certain look of disgust that was now appearing on Jax's face. She would have laughed, but knew better than to further injure his already slightly battered pride.

"Well now that that's settled..." she announced, breaking the silence. "I'm going to head back to inform the others. I presumed you two will sort things out...for the rest of our sake's at least.." she muttered. But with nothing else to say, she slowly began to back her way out of the room. Reaching the door, she fumbled for a moment with the handle, before pushing the door open.

Slamming it shut behind her, she paused for a beat, before resting her head against the back wall.

That was weird..