Chapter 2: What Lies Beneath

[gone]

When one has to be squished like too many sardines into an elevator, one can only hope to squished next to a sexy woman.

Gone had actually been hoping to be squished next to Blaze or Stardust so he could pull their hair and act all innocent about it. Alas, that sadly wasn't be. But he did get the next best thing.

Five feet six inches of busty brunette, squished sinfully close to him. She smelt far better than any of his female companions did, she knew about the wonder that is perfume. Spicy, sultry perfume that made a male thing naughty, naughty things involving a whole lot less clothes than they were wearing now. Gone grinned, she probably knew all about the joy that is silk underwear too.

At her apologetic smile, Gone just smiled lopsidedly at her in a cheerful way. Giving no hint to his inner leer. He was good at that. Polaris hadn't even noticed he was checking out her ass earlier because of it. That made him giggle in his head and practically bounce on the balls of his feet. He controlled himself though, barely.

"So, I love your outfit." He chirped cheerily. "It would look amazing crumpled on my floor."

[ST]

LMAO XD
***********************

Gone

The lady raised an eyebrow, casting off a smile identical to yours. "You sure have a strong sense of humor..." she replied fondly though something was wrong with her voice. Her pitch seemed too low to pass for a female. She sounded like a...man. That was when you realize that her gender might be controversial. "I like that in a man." Her sexy smile sharpened. That was when the elevator came to a stop and the shutter flew open.

"I'm Georgia," she said, taking your hand and shaking it as the people inside the elevator slowly filed out.

[stardust]

***
Stardust roughly squeezed through the throng of tourists rather quickly just to get herself out of that mosh pit, and away from that creepy old guy.

Once she made it out, she turned around and kept an eye on her teammates. "Hurry up you turtles!!" she spat.

/Bipolar.../ Diwata mumbled.

Shut up!

[miyavi]

"Hurry up you turtles!!"

Sho scowled at her as he walked out, waving to the girl he happened to be pressed next to in the elevator as he walked ahead of her. "You're one of those bipolar chicks, aren't you?" he asked Stardust, frowning.

[ST]

The tropical temperature that greets you in Shumi Village is a sharp contrast to the snow and wind outside.

"Are you looking for a gift shop?" the shumi asks the seeDs when you step out of the elevator. When one of you tells him what you're really looking for, the Shumi shakes his head in apology.

"I'm sorry, the elder cannot perform the ritual right now. He is busy speaking with Governor Arland of Timber about what will happen to our home. Why don't you buy something at the gift shop while you wait?" the Shumi smiles in an 'I want your money' type of way. When none of you budge, he speaks again.

"Of course, you could always try to interrupt them if you want to. The Elder's hut is over there," he points.

[Diego Stanton]

The elevator dinged as it opened on the top floor again and a stream of people came out.

"Come on," Deo said to Jamie and they both went inside. It was much less crowded than the last group and Deo and Jamie easily got to the middle couch. Deo carefully worded what he was going to say next. Anyone could be listening.

"You know... you're right," he slumped back on the red couch and put both his hands behind his head, "We let them go in, do the dirty work, get what we need and we'll steal it from them when they come back out. Arland's happy, we're happy. We can go home and you can prepare us a five course meal."

He paused for a moment. "What if they fail, though? Who knows what's underground. We should probably follow them. But how are we gonna sneak in?" He heaved a sigh, "All i wanted was an extra hour of sleep this morning."

[Polaris Lyn]

That was obviously the answer that they wanted. Polaris wound her scarf around her neck one final time to keep it from dragging upon the ground and headed in the direction of the Elder Shumi's hut, then turned around and glanced at her team questioningly.

"So what, do we barge in, guns or claws or funky spirit arrows blazing? Or should we knock nicely, then barge? I'm up for suggestions."

[stardust]

Stardust's gaze trail to where the Shumi was pointing. The Shumi Elder's hut was hard to miss. It was the only eye-catching hut in the midst of the mediocre ones, and it was also right in the middle of the lush forest-esque village.

"So what, do we barge in, guns or claws or funky spirit arrows blazing? Or should we knock nicely, then barge? I'm up for suggestions." Polaris said and Stardust wrinkled her forehead.

"That would just be awkward," she contradicted. "Barge in and tell the Elder that we need him to do a ritual--right in front of a politician." The chatters of the people around was getting louder. Stardust realized that they really shouldn't announce to the world that they were SeeDs. She tried to control her tone. "If I know, there may be medias all around that governor, and then what?" She decreased her volume. "DotNA will have a fair knowledge that we're already AFTER the Ruby and track us here."

Stardust stood up straight and looked around. "Let's just wait till the Elder gets his free time. Go rent an Inn or something like that."

/Just because Zacke isn't here to act all leader-ish, doesn't mean you get to take over./ Diwata scolded. Stardust ignored her GF as usual. The fairy always had a problem with whatever she said anyway.

[vanesse]

Once Vanesse stepped out of the elevator, she continued walking past the SeeDs. Though she managed to act like she was just passing, she heard a bit of what the SeeDs came here to look for when they talked to the Shumi vendor. This confirms it. They ARE the SeeDs.

She walked a little further, then sat on a crowded place away from the SeeDs but had a clear view of them and the elevator. A means of communication with Deo and Jaime would be REALLY good right now. Once the elevator came down here, the first thing her teammates were bound to see are the SeeDs. She already knew that the Governor Arland was in the Elder's hut. Her team was really left on its own. Still, Able, Lawric, and Signe's life depended on this, she didn't have a choice.

/In this case, I advice you to just sit down and keep an eye on them./ Paridge told her. The SeeDs look like they were discussing something.

Vanesse yawned. Thanks. I will.... She wondered if Deo's laziness was contagious. These tourists passing by her back and forth reminded her of bedtime sheep.

[miyavi]

Sho stared at both Psychochick & Curly Fries, wondering just what exactly was going on. He'd lost track of things after he realized that he was, in fact, in the famed village of Shumi, the very same village that Laguna Loire <may he rest in peace> had written about in Timber Maniacs Issue 115, page 96, with an extra article on Moombas, and that section on Laguna's hair care products.

<Man, this is too awesome.>

"Let's just wait till the Elder gets his free time. Go rent an Inn or something like that." A familiarly bossy voice snapped him out of his reverie.

Sho stretched. "We rent an Inn??" he asked with a smirk in Psychochick's direction, raising an eyebrow. "We couldn't just rent a couple of rooms, you wanna just take over a building, don'tcha? Whaddaya know, you're bipolar and you're a control freak!"

[Jaime Lewis]

"Yeah I guess you're right. So we follow them in after they open the place, and rush to the Ruby before they do, grab it and dash out of here." Jaime paused, casting a worried look at Deo. "What I'm afraid of is... how are we supposed to scrape out of this alive? Look at the huge number of SeeDs man. The ratio's like three SeeDs to one of us...we gotta create a diversion cos a direct conflict means bad news for us. You think?"

[waterlily43]

"Hmm actually I beg to differ." Jun said. "That's a really..um...creative suggestion. At least we won't have to worry about anyone eavesdropping slash tailing on us. I've heard that the room walls are so flimsy that you could hear what they're doing in the next room. Uhh you know..." She averted her eyes quickly, embarrassed at the implication of what she'd said.

[miyavi]

Sho grinned at China Doll's words. "That's a great way to think about it..." <what was her name?? Aaargh, grah, I'll just ask her later...> He pondered for a moment. "How much would an Inn cost for a couple of days, anyway?"

<I hope they don't rent over 20 million gil. That's all I've got in my first account.>

He nodded. "Alright, I say we go and rent the Inn!!" He beamed beatifically around at his group. "I changed my mind; it's a great idea!"

[ST]

The seeDs decided to follow Stardust's plan and everyone headed inside the inn. Not wanting to lose them, Vanesse followed. The inside of the inn was crowded and stuffy because there were so many tourists trying to fight over the few remaining rooms.

"Only five rooms left!" The shumi at the desk called out, "Highest bidders gets them!"

---

Deo and Jamie
The elevator finally reached the bottom floor but when you walked out, there were no seeDs in sight. Vanesse was missing as well.

[stardust]

"I've heard that the room walls are so flimsy that you could hear what they're doing in the next room. Uhh you know..." Stardust remembered Jun's words and it made her forehead crease. She stepped inside the Inn with the others. The place looked busy with travelers moving in and out of the place. hoped to Hyne that they would never run into hormonally charged neighbors in the Inn.

/What you need to worry about is the potential of having an eavesdropper reside in the other room./ Diwata pointed out. Her GF had a point.

"Only five rooms left!" The shumi at the desk called out, "Highest bidders gets them!"

"I can't believe this," Stardust said, turning to look around the crowded place. The Shumi was actually doing an auction.

"5000 gils! AND keep the change!" a haughty chubby woman strode towards him and shoved the gils on the desk.

"Ohhh..." the Shumi's eyes stayed on the money.

Stardust grunted, annoyed. All they wanted was a place to wait.

"6000 gils bi0tch!" A tall skinny man with lots of baggage on his back ran up to the counter.

/Hey what are you doing?? People are taking your spot, hun!/