Chapter 2: What Lies Beneath

[ST]

Having been assigned a default pilot by Xu, the SeeDs made it to the airship and were taken right at the base of Shumi Village. The chilling gust of the wind welcomed them as they hopped out of the airship. Before them was the humongous dome-like structure that housed the main elevator--the same elevator that would lead them to Shumi paradise.

"Make a distress signal in case you got the Ruby. I'll take that as my cue to pick you!" the cute lady-pilot announced via speaker before firing up the engines and taking off, leaving the SeeDs in the snowfields.

And there they were standing as the snow kept falling.

[Blaze Sanaku]

Blaze could feel the snow seeping through her jeans and shoes and the wind was whipping violently in her face. Her nose was dripping uncontrollably and the fact that it was becoming dark wasn't helping all that much.

Blaze sniffed and pulled the furry hood of the snow jacket she was wearing over her head. She hated the cold; she detested it. She had half a mind to light herself a firaga, but she didn't want to attract any stupid bug bites or snow lions.

"Let's GO," Blaze yelled over the howling of the wind.

[Jun Kuroki]

Jun wrapped the coat around herself. She had the sense enough to bring warm clothing this time, after almost becoming a Junsicle during the trek to Esthar while retrieving the Emerald.


"Cmon let's get this done and over with." Jun said with chattering teeth. Even with the coat her face was still exposed. Her nose and ears felt like they were dropping off at the word go.

"You never know if Dotna's gonna pop up and try to steal it from us."

[Polaris Lyn]

Polaris smiled cheerily at Jun's words as she stretched her arms above the sky. "Yeah, those DotNA kids can be crazy bastards," she remarked off-handedly, scratching the back of her neck. She had a knitted wool shawl draped around her shoulders, versatile enough to be used as a rather long scarf if folded lengthwise, and in Polaris' opinion, very warm. Then again, she was a born and raised Estharian, so snow to her felt normal.

She glanced around, saw her teammates bundled up in thick jackets. They looked ten pounds heavier. She stifled a laugh, pulled the shawl up to cover her hair, and shouted, "Has anyone noticed we're still standing around like idiots? Let's move out!"

And she started walking.

[ST]

seeDs
Eventually everyone trudges to the entrance of the enormous dome and goes through the entrance doors to reach the elevator. Once the doors shut behind you, you feel a great deal warmer.

There's not much going on around the elevator, just a few tourists lounging around and a bunch of shumi crowded around a draw point.


Opps

A large group of people enter that you know are the seeDs Arland was talking about. Although you have your GFs, magic and weapons back, the thought of ambushing seeDs still makes you queasy.

Although Arland's orders were to ambush the seeDs once they were in sight, the three of you put your heads together and made a plan. Ambushing the seeDs now would lead to utter chaos and you know that failing this mission would be fatal.

[stardust]

Stardust brushed the snowflakes off Reese's jacket, sliding it off her arms to wrap it around her waist. She looked around the dome. There were a lot of people and Shumis around.

/Don't you just love the sound of a busy place./ Diwata cooed.

Yeah yeah... Stardust replied boredly and walked further inside. The main elevator was in sight.

Not missing any step, she remembered something and glanced back at her teammates. "Who has the scroll?" the pinkhead asked. She certainly wasn't carrying it.

[vanesse]

Standing near the draw point with the Shumis, Vanesse Yanagi put on a cap and discreetly slid her eyes to a group of young men and women walking straight into the elevator. She couldn't be mistaken. By those stature and presence, they were definitely SeeDs.

She swung her gaze to the other side to where Deo and Jaime were. Maybe one of them had a better idea of what to do next.

[waterlily43]

"It's with me." Jun replied quietly to Stardust's question, touching her inventory bag for assurance. The protruding corner of the box holding the all-important scroll pressed against her hand, sending a comforting message that it was still safe inside the bag. "And shh... don't mention too much about it. We don't want to attract too much attention to ourselves."


Rayden let out a soft snort.

"As if a large group of people walking into a village filled with Shumis won't attract attention." He retorted, which earned him a swift but sharp elbow in the ribs.

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

Jaime caught Van's glance at her. It looked like they shared the same conclusion that the large group of people were the SeeDs they were after.

"Follow them?" Jaime mouthed, before shifting her glance to the group of people, then back at Van and Deo again.

[Polaris Lyn]

Polaris pulled her shawl off her head and shook out her dark hair, pulling the shawl off her slender shoulders and shaking the snow from it. As she folded it, she glanced around the small dome. Her eyes took in every single person in the vicinity, her frown deepening when her gaze landed on a trio that gave off an odd vibe. Polaris had the feeling they weren't just sightseeing. They might be DotNA.

Frowning, she shifted her stance closer to Blaze and nudged her friend's elbow, her low voice a whisper.

"Trio at five o'clock. I don't think they're tourists. Just keep an eye out."

[miyavi]

"As if a large group of people walking into a village filled with Shumis won't attract attention." The blonde kid, Rayden, let out a sharp "ow!" after his comment, most likely jabbed by the short-haired brunette with the delicate features. Sho smiled, half to himself, and proceeding to dust snow off his shoulders. He eyed his team.

The chick with the curly hair was tougher than she looked, Sho decided as he watched her shrug off her thin shawl as if she was glad to be rid of it. It was friggin' snowing in the damn continent, and she was walking around in a spaghetti-strapped lace bustier. The woman had to be made of steel.

Sho pulled off the fur-lined hood of his snow jacket, pleasantly warm under the many layers he wore. Wife beater, baseball shirt, his normal hoodie, and then the heavy snow jacket. His eyes were hidden behind his tinted sunglasses, but he pushed them down his nose to take a better look at his lace-clad teammate. She was looking around with an intense expression, a frown deepening on her pretty features when he eyes landed on a small group of people in one corner of the area. Sho followed her gaze and studied the trio, two women, one man, curious as to why they deserved such a scowl. Maybe Curly Fries knew something he didn't?

Sho unzipped his jacket. <They could be DotNA,> he told himself reasonably. And he smirked ferally.

If they were DotNA, chances are there would be a fight. And Sho hadn't had a workout in a full four hours. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. A fight was coming. He could practically smell it.

[glow=green,1,000]It figures I'd get stuck with the violent master.[/glow]

[Blaze Sanaku]

Blaze looked towards the people Polaris was talking about. It was just a blonde girl and a brunette that looked no older than she, and a guy who kept yawning. She noticed that they were discreetly trying to avert their eyes from the seeDs, but other than that she didn't take a second glance at them.

Then Blaze looked back at the people on her team and saw that they had multicolored hair and a trillion piercings.

"Who blames them for staring?" Blaze said to Polaris with a shrug of her shoulders. She walked past the Shumis up to the elevator and pressed the button.

"What they heck are you guarding there?" She asked the Shumis while she was waiting for the elevator.

"Ultima spells 5000 gils each," a Shumi answered.

"Screw that," Blaze said in an unenthused tone. She leaned against a pillar, waiting for the elevator to open.

[Diego Stanton]

Deo yawned for the fifteenth time that hour and slumped against a pillar.

When are they going to get here? It was getting kind of late and he was hungry. Then the main doors opened and a bunch of 'you don't wanna mess with me' kind of people came bustling in.

That them? That can't be them. Deo always imagined seeDs as stealthy ninja types of people who wore suits all the time and held briefcases and could kill just from piercing stares. Instead they looked like they could be part of the Opps since they were jabbing and whispering at each other. They just looked like anyone that could be walking down the street.

Deo had to admit though, the one who pressed the elevator button and the one with pink hair looked like they could kick his ass.

"follow them?" he saw Jamie mouth when the seeDs weren't looking in her direction. Deo winked back at her which is what he usually did on missions to say, "okay." But he suddenly realized with dread that the curly haired brunette was looking in his direction. He hoped she didn't think he was winking at her.

[Polaris Lyn]

Polaris sighed and wrapping her folded shawl around her neck like a scarf, frowning after Blaze, who had pushed the button for the elevator and was waiting for it rather impatiently, yet silently. Polaris cast another look back at the trio of her suspicions. The guy was winking at one of the girls. Polaris arched an aristocratic eyebrow and glanced back at the men of her team, Rayden and Gone in particular.

<It's like wherever this team goes, there's a wannabe playboy hanging around...>

"Blaze, you thickhead," Polaris muttered, crossing her arms in a stance that people now called 'The Commander'. It involved crossed arms, weight placed on only one leg, and a slight turn of the head. "Just because three of our teammates have haircolors bright enough to guide a lost oceanliner in the dead of night and enough jewelry to be human stars doesn't excuse those staring people from being suspicious."

The elevator arrived with a ding! Polaris frowned slightly at Blaze and then turned away, casting a final, discreet glance around the Shumi Dome. <Whatever happened to her at least being open to my observations?>

[ST]

Bun >_< Jaime, Vanesse, and Deo are scattered. So they're not really in a group. Sorry for the confusion, but I mentioned their current places in the Opps thread, you prolly didn't see. ^^ And since there are a lot of tourists in the area, I'm sure those three aren't the only one that're staring at the SeeDs.
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A minute after Blaze's call, the elevator's shutter separated, exposing a spacious round area inside the elevator. There was a circular red wool sofa in the middle. As all of you proceeded inside, a little girl in a velvet coat tried to race past all of you.

"Haha! I beat you all!" she said, sticking her tongue at the SeeDs as she plopped on the cushy sofa.

"Samara!!" Her mother hollered as she came behind your group. She stopped at the sight of you, her worried face paling into a slight frown.

"Mom! Come on, we beat them!! We can sit here!" the child announced with excitement. You all stepped inside, as if gathering around the sofa where the brat sat. You couldn't help but react inwardly at the scene.

"Hey, what's ha--" The girl's father came up beside her mother. They exchanged glances before looking inside the elevator where their child was.

"Samara, the elevator isn't strong enough to hold all our weights down. We'll take the next ride," the mother said firmly.

"But mom~!"

"Samara." The mother placed her hands on her waist. "Oh, what the heck Sally," the father said, turning to smile at his wife. He stepped inside the elevator and paused to listen to any buzz that would indicate the limit weight.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

There were no buzz or anything at all.

"Actually," Hadrian said for the first time, standing opposite of the couple on the entrance of the elevator. This whole mother and child scenario was getting to him. What is up with the mother anyway?

"Ancient this elevator might be, it's pretty strong. The climbers, you know those electric vehicle that pulls this thing up and down? They're powered both by solar energy and magic." He placed a hand on his pocket. "So obviously...it's strong enough to hold a ton of load. You, your wife, even your chocobo can come inside and it won’t be a problem.”