Episode 123

A pair of green eyes sluggishly open, and an infant bundled in a blanket awakens. His gaze wandering, he wiggles within the wrap of soft, brightly colored fabric. Seconds later, sparks of curiosity shape the expression on his tan and light gray face. In a lull of the surrounding conversation, the infant squirms for freedom from his blanket swaddling. Shadeesa gazes down at the baby securely in her arms and smiles lovingly with a bow of her head closer. "Good morning, sleepy."

The infant's face squints with recognition, and he calms quickly with a stare upwards. Shadeesa gently combs the blonde locks of hair slipping out from a warm knit cap and feels a faint pair of bumps near the sides of his forehead. She blinks her similarly colored green on black eyes and grins happily. "I'm beginning to think Cassidy's horns might come in a little early."

Across the small table, Kaleb lifts himself up in his chair, craning his view around leftover breakfast, and smiles proudly at Cassidy. "Before he teethes? Don't emin horns come in around then?"

Shadeesa gently rocks Cassidy and glances around the small dining area near the kitchen. "Usually. They can come in sooner. His horn beds are developing nicely, but the skin hasn't thickened yet."

Spotting a filled baby bottle, she frees a hand and motions towards it. "Could you get that for me?"

Kaleb follows the signal, nods at Shadeesa, and stands up from the table. Picking up the glass bottle, he inspects the milk inside and touches the outside to his wrist. "Feels a little on the cool side."

Securing Cassidy in her arms, Shadeesa rises up from her chair, nods her head towards the seat, and smirks at Kaleb. "I'll warm it back up. Why don't you feed him?"

Kaleb steps over, placing the bottle on the table top, and sits down. He reaches out at the ready, and Shadeesa carefully lays the bundled baby into his awaiting arms. Supporting the infant's weight and heavy head, Kaleb smiles proudly at Cassidy and sways with gentle rocks. "How's my little boy today?"

Cassidy watches the suntanned face of his father and calms at his voice. Shadeesa blinks her eyes to an illuminated green and swiftly gestures out an incantation. Plucking the bottle off the table, she methodically swirls the contents inside, holding the container over the palm of her other hand. Faint translucent flows of energy wrap around the glass, and Shadeesa directs her full concentration upon the task. Kaleb glances back down at Cassidy and watches the brief moments of curiosity guide his short attention span. Shaking his head with a humored smirk, Kaleb chuckles softly. "Yeah, there's all kinds of things around. Just starting to see them, huh?"

Faint puffing of air resonates into the area from a fogging window. Lagi's bright green eyes dart between the Shadeesa and Kaleb. His longing gaze settles upon the infant face peering out from the bundle in Kaleb's arms. A pining slips in from the other side of the glass and softly resonates in the space. Kaleb notices Cassidy's attempt to tilt his head towards the noise and smirks. "Yeah. There's also a really big dragon that wants to see his little brother."

Infiltrating the peaceful moment, squirms of irritation and discomfort taint the calm upon Cassidy's round face. Kaleb furrows his brow, glances over towards Shadeesa, and chuckles uneasily, wrestling a smirk. "So, how's that bottle coming? I think he's realizing he's hungry."

Shadeesa narrows an inquisitive stare at the settling contents in the glass container with a small nipple on top. She swiftly turns the inside of her wrist up,and sprinkles a few drops of milk upon it. Blinking in thought, she nods to herself, pivoting around, and presents the baby bottle to Kaleb. Quickly taking it in hand, Kaleb readies it and holds the end near Cassidy. Driven by an instinct, Cassidy latches on. Cassidy feeds happily, his calm returning in full and signs of irritation subsiding, for now. Kaleb eases out a sigh of relief and relaxes slightly in the chair. "Whew... Just in time."

Cracking a smug smirk, Shadeesa rests her hands on her hips, blinking the magical glow away from her eyes, and shrugs her shoulders simply. "Gods... We might actually figure this whole parenting thing out yet."

Kaleb furrows his brow, playfully incredulous, and twists the humored grimaces on his face. "Don't say THAT too loud. No need to tempt Fate... Fate might be listening."

Picking up a plate of breakfast leftovers, Shadeesa pivots around and walks towards the kitchen sink. Setting the dish off to the side, she momentarily stares at the dragon pressing his blue black scaled, bony plated face against the window over the sink. She shakes her head with an amused smile and lifts up the window sash, prying the stiff frame from the sill. With the dragon carefully pressing a nose in the window frame, Shadeesa pets Lagi on his head. "Thank you for waiting patiently and not constantly tapping on the glass."

Lagi purrs and chitters, trying to awkwardly fit his head further through the confining window. Trying to angle his gaze within the tight space, he catches glimpses of Cassidy in Kaleb's arms. Shadeesa sighs with a loving smile and scratches underneath the dragon's chin. "Your little brother is doing just fine. He's eating right now."

With the guiding press of Shadeesa's finger on his snout, Lagi pulls his head back clear of the airspace above the sink. He softly chirps, clicks, and snorts. Shadeesa ponders a moment and perks up her eyebrow. "Maybe. Can you use your words to ask?"

Narrowing his bright green eyes in thought, Lagi focuses and contorts his mouth in slow, purposeful motions with a rough, strained voice. "Can... brother... come... out-side?"

Shadeesa smiles happily, leaning over the sink, and scratches the sides of Lagi's face between armor plates, nodding. "Yes, of course. But, he can only be out for a little while right now with me or daddy."

She gazes into Lagi's eyes and calmly explains. "He's very little right now. Smaller than Varan. You know how careful you have to be to play with Varan."

Lagi nods with a hint of disappointment. Shadeesa cracks a sly smirk, leaning close, and calmly explains. "We have to be careful until Cassidy is older. But, if you clean up your room and make it nice, I'll carry him out and you can show him your room."

The large dragon perks up with a hopeful smile curling at the edge of his large mouth. Shadeesa focuses a parental stare upon Lagi. "Can you do that?"

Lagi nods his head eagerly and trailing purr. "Yes!"

Shadeesa smiles satisfied and picks up a nearby plate. "Good. But first, help me clean some plates."

A few sniffs later, Lagi opens his maw and waits in anticipation. Shadeesa flicks and shakes off leftovers from the dish into the dragon's mouth. Kaleb keeps the bottle at the best angle for Cassidy, and Shadeesa clears the table. Between deposits of breakfast remnants, Lagi happily munches down the bits of the meal and purrs his delight. Finishing swallowing the remaining bits, Lagi departs with a happy sway in his walk. Shadeesa glances over from rinsing dishware in the sink and furrows her brow. "Oh, any new jobs on the guild today?"

Kaleb blinks back to attention from gazing at his son, and cocks his head to the side. "Yeah, actually. Strangely, there's A LOT of aerial photography jobs lately."

Hints of relief slips into Shadeesa's tone, and she smiles over at Kaleb. "Well that's good! If you can load up on those, it'll make it easier this winter."

She narrows her stare out into the distance through the window. "Gods, I can almost plan out who is going to call when about what animals. It's going to be so busy."

Tilting the bottle up a little more, Kaleb nods his head in agreement and groans out his frustrations. "Yeah. The less time I spend up in the air freezing my butt off the better. The heated gear can only do so much against the wind."

He grits his teeth briefly and twists out stale discomfort on his sun tanned face. "And, I REALLY don't want to have to chisel ice to get free from the saddle again."

Shadeesa fights against an ill humored smirk sneaking out on her light gray face, white freckled face. Narrowing his gaze over at Shadeesa, Kaleb furrows his brow and frowns faintly. "Don't you laugh. It could have been a lot worse if my bladder didn't hold out."

Rolling her green on black eyes, Shadeesa glances over, pausing a moment, and opens up the dishwasher door. "WELL... I distinctly remember offering to get you a urinal jar."

Narrowing his stare, Kaleb tugs at the corner of his mouth with a sarcastic tone. "Oh. Yeah. As if that was even going to be possible with the wind chill on that day."

He glances down at Cassidy and inspects the level of milk in the baby bottle. "Wow, he's going through this pretty fast. He's definitely not picky about the bottle."

Shadeesa steps over, kneels down, and pats her baby's head. "He is a growing boy."

She stands back up, stretching out her lower back, and adjusts her shirt around the chest. "I'm going to need to stock up on milk so you can handle feeding him when I'm out on calls."

Gazing at his son, Kaleb nods and glances up at Shadeesa. "Yeah, I'll be hitting the job board pretty hard these next few weeks. Though... It's weird. There have been a lot of posts that are almost duplicates of each other. At least it looks like it."

Blinking in thought a moment, Shadeesa tilts her head to the side. "Huh? So, are people wanting pictures from locations in the same region?"

Quirking his brow, Kaleb twists his mouth uncertainly and cocks his head to the side. "Well... Yeah... I guess. There's a few from different sources that have coordinates that only differ by a few kilometers. I'll have to check again, but I swear I saw three separate postings that had almost the same exact location listed."

Furrowing her confused brow, Shadeesa puzzles to herself and crosses her arms, searching her mind. She bites her lower lip indecisively and tilts her head of dark green hair with a shrug of her shoulders. "So, fly over once and take three sets of pictures from slightly different angles?"

With a sly grin, Kaleb snorts humored and averts his eyes guiltily. "Well, I mean... Yeah. That's what I was thinking, too. It accomplishes the same goal in the end."

Shadeesa taps her long, black nailed finger against her chin and ponders out loud. "Still... I wonder what could so many people be looking for that would lead them all to requesting pictures from roughly the same locations?"

Cassidy slows his feeding, hints of drowsiness sneaking in. Kaleb eases the bottle away and sets it down on the table. Gently tilting Cassidy up, Kaleb smiles brightly at Cassidy's wandering gaze. Shadeesa pulls over the nearby chair from the other side of the table, bringing it close to Kaleb, and sits down. She lovingly smiles at her infant and plays with the bits of blonde hair on his head. "Honestly, as long as the payment clears to our account..."

She gazes over at Kaleb with a sly, entrepreneurial grin. "I kind of don't care."

Kaleb nods and smirks with a chuckle. "Exactly. Plus, I think some of these source IDs are government ones. So, I really shouldn't be surprised there's some redundancy happening."

Shadeesa rolls her eyes, brushes back her dark green hair over her upward swept horns, and shakes her head. "Oh. Well. That actually makes sense. Gods forbid they save money and collaborate on sourcing information together. No, each division wants their own copy."

Kaleb cracks a grin. "I'm not complaining."

Shadeesa smiles slyly with a giggle. "Oh. Me neither."

---

Isaac gazes across the common room of the Ark Inn towards the mounted television screen. He watches the news anchors recite through a scripted discussion on the latest political conjecture. A minute later, the display shows a flashy transition into a segment of local events. Narrowing his eyes, Isaac focuses on the screen, video clips of GAA checkpoints playing. A neatly dressed woman in a GAA uniform sits at a desk opposite of a fvalian woman news anchor. Drawing in a long breath, the newscaster sneaks a peek at her notes on the counter and addresses the GAA officer. "Thank you for taking time to talk with us, Major Lancaster. To get to the point, what prompted these recent GAA checkpoints along the major highways near the Lands Between area?"

With a simple, confirming nod, Lancaster maintains her neutral, stoic exterior towards the cameras and explains calmly, her tone concise. "We have reasonable suspicions that certain individuals may be traveling along these routes and smuggling contraband into GAA territories."

The fvalian anchor perks her eyebrow, narrowing her blue eyes, and tilts her head to the side, her furry ears twitching faintly. "Would this be related to the disturbance we reported on, around the Train station in the area?"

Lancaster straightens her posture slightly, meeting the inquisitive gaze from across the table, and focuses her stare. "Yes and no. While that incident may or may not have been caused by one of these individuals, this is ultimately part of an ongoing investigation. It was determined that recent developments prompted a more assertive approach to handling the investigation. We hope that these efforts will stymie any illicit transportation and aid our cooperative efforts with local law enforcement."

Contending with the bubbling unease on his face, Isaac draws in a long breath through his nose and slips out a barely audible groan. He glances down at his nearly finished plate of breakfast and eyes his mug of coffee. Picking up the beverage, he slowly slips the last remnants of the brew and frowns at the brown stained ceramic bottom. Setting the mug back down, a middle aged man with a well trimmed beard steps up next to Isaac's table. He presents a coffee carafe and perks his eyebrow curiously. "More coffee?"

Isaac sniffs the air, the aroma leading his gaze towards wisps of steam escaping the spout. He slides his cup to the side and motions towards the container with an appreciative smile. "Of course. Thank you, Johnathan."

Johnathan fills the mug to a comfortable level. Finishing up the pour, he glances over at the television screen and furrows his brow interested. "What are they saying today?"

Sliding the mug back in front of him, Isaac eyes the packets of sweeteners in a tray in the middle of the table and mulls over the selection of tiny creamer cups. "They state they are simply ramping up some investigation about contraband cargo being trafficked."

He glances up towards Johnathan, cracking an amused smirk. "I'm not exactly inclined to believe them, if I am being honest."

Nodding his head slowly, Johnathan snorts into a smile. "Well. They're not lying..."

Isaac cocks his head to the side, and Johnathan cracks a sly grin, chuckling. "BUT, it's a Train station. They're ALWAYS looking for contraband cargo coming out from it. They just use that as a cover for what they really are doing around there."

Isaac smirks, intrigue directing his focus upon Johnathan. "Interesting. What do you think the GAA is really doing out there?"

Without much pause for a thought, Johnathan glances down at Isaac and plainly states. "Manhunt."

Johnathan shifts his stare towards the television screen, and Isaac fights against an uncomfortable squirm of his body in his seat. Listening to bits of the interview playing out from the display across the room, Johnathan cocks his head and ponders out loud. "The way they are reacting... They're trying to play it cool and not cause a bit of a stir. So, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If whoever they were after was an immediate threat, they wouldn't bother with this checkpoint stuff or a cover story."

Isaac blinks his gray eyes, turns his body slightly in his seat, and tilts his head of wispy white hair up. Studying Johnathan's demeanor, he lifts up an intrigued eyebrow and inquires genuinely. "You seem very perspective and confident about your assessment. I guess you have experience with the GAA?"

Johnathan cracks an amused smirk and rolls his light brown eyes. "In a way. I worked as a pilot for the Train for quite some time. The Train and the GAA have a..."

He briefly grits his teeth and hisses out a sigh. "I guess a... COMPLICATED relationship. I think that's a nice way of putting it. Maybe the nicest I can manage."

Isaac glances around the common room of the inn and gazes at Johnathan expectantly. "So... I have to ask, how do you go from Train pilot to co-ownership of an inn?"

Shrugging off a bit of old embarrassment, Johnathan chuckles and shakes his head of graying dark brown hair. "Oh... It was Katherine's idea. When she gave up being a cycle guard for the land trains, she wanted to start a business that would let her work and raise the kids easily."

Isaac blinks in surprise, glances over at Katherine behind the front desk working on paperwork, and puzzles at Johnathan. "Interesting... I would have never guessed."

With a pleased smile, Johnathan nods and laughs lightly. "Good. She'll be very happy to hear that."

He shifts his gaze back towards the television and listens for a few more moments. Isaac glances between the program on the screen and Johnathan and pries further. "So, any predictions on what they'll do next?"

Contorting his face in thought, Johnathan hums and ponders out loud. "They'll probably expand the search and try to get checkpoints set up further out. At least until they think their target is no longer in the area. Though, they're probably already got informants further out looking for anything suspicious. All this right now is probably stalling..."

He rolls his eyes off to the side. "Until they get a clue."

The men watch the broadcast until the interview ends. The segment changes into a fanciful swipe to animated graphics. Isaac slips his coffee and narrows his distant stare out the windows along the common room walls. Searching his mind, he blinks at an idea and turns his gaze towards Johnathan. "I have to ask, especially given your experience, are there any used car places you'd recommend in town?"

Pausing a moment, Johnathan tilts his head to the side, shrugs his shoulders indecisively. "That all depends on what you are looking to buy. I only ever drove short run super haulers."

Isaac twists his mouth indecisively and mulls over the options. "Well. I'm actually open to anything that'll keep me from having to walk. But... If I'm telling the truth..."

He perks up his brow and grins slyly. "I have been thinking about a motorcycle."

Johnathan dons a confident smile and holds up a finger, pivoting around slowly. "Give me a moment."

He waits a moment, watching Katherine stretching and brushing back her longer brown hair, and calls out. "Katherine?"

Katherine perks up and smiles back at Johnathan. "Yes?"

Johnathan motions towards an awaiting Isaac and cracks a sly smirk. "Isaac is interested in buying a motorcycle from around here. Do you think you could help him?"

An eager, nearly forgotten glint lights up Katherine's dark green eyes, and she smiles brightly. "Yes. Of course. I'll be right over."

---

Captain Hackle's voice sounds out from Aristespha's aetherphone upon the tabletop. "So, that's the latest I have on Isaac Huxley at the moment. We are presently trying to locate him."

Souring moods drive down uneasy frowns and grimaces upon team members around the dining table. Hackle's sigh filters in from the other side of the call, and he presents a calm, explanatory tone. "Unfortunately, we are limited in how aggressive we can search for him, since powers higher than me have severely limited how obvious we can be in such matters."

Sotalia narrows her golden eyes, crossing her arms tightly, and straightens her posture with an unamused frown. She wrestles against her commentary within her mouth, keeping it within containment. A faint, irritated growl slips out from Dretphi. Sebastian's ethereal form glances between the emerging upset, and he stares back down at the aetherphone. "Well, I guess, you can only do what you can. So... What are you all doing right now to figure out where he's going?"

Seconds of silence from the phone later, Hackle plainly explains. "While we are not allowed to bring the public's attention back upon him, information has been sent to different field offices. We are in the process of updating other organizations that have previous knowledge of him. It is our hope that'll renew their awareness and assist their own efforts."

With a brief hem, his cadence slows with an intrigued tone. "Hopefully... We'll get new leads to follow up on. But, the prominent question that has been on my mind is..."

An audible exhale rises out of the aetherphone from Hackle. "Why the sudden change? The reports we were getting from our scouts seemed to indicate he was intent on staying in the northern regions."

Perking her furry ears, Cideeda drums her claw tipped fingers upon the wooden tabletop and rests her chin upon her propped palm. Her emerald green eyes dart over, staring at the aetherphone, and she twists a suspicious smirk on her light brown face. "Yeah. That is strange. Any idea from your side of things on what could be his reason?"

Hackle pauses a moment and faintly breathes out traces of frustration. "Unfortunately, what I have at the moment is just conjecture and theories from limited information. Most are equally plausible and impossible to make even an educated guess from."

His voice sounds out from the aetherphone, a hint of intrigue infiltrating. "If you all have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate hearing them. Anything would be useful insight at this point. Since you all have had the most direct experience with Isaac, I will take any wisdom you can provide."

The team exchange contemplative glances and pondering gazes. Moments of idle thought later, Bach's blue eyes spring wide open. Holding up a finger, he checks around at the table at the team. "The convention center incident... I bet that might have gotten his attention. That was something pretty big to happen around here."

Sebastian nods in agreement and crosses his arms, hovering near Aristespha. "Yeah, bro. THAT certainly made the news and got a lot of attention. Probably picked up on it even out there in the north."

Tilting her head of fiery orange, wavy hair to the side, Sotalia searches her mind with a thoughtful curl at the corner of mouth. "Maybe. The news only talked about the rampaging robots. I don't think much about that weird golem got out."

Hackle sighs from the other side of the call. "No. Thankfully not. That was a particularly challenging recovery operation."

Dretphi straightens her posture and darts her steely gray eyes around her mind, twisting her mouth. "It was an unusual occurrence. Strange events often indicate disturbances at undisturbed locations. When you do not find something in a spot, you move to another where something was found."

Flicking the tip of her long fluffy tail, Cideeda contemplates and grumbles, narrowing her emerald green eyes. "That makes sense. He's mixing it up... Trying to better his odds..."

With a suspicious twitch on her light brown face, she straightens up her back, narrowing a cautious glare upon the aetherphone, and quietly motions towards the rest of the team. "Do you know which direction Isaac left the Lands Between area?"

Hackle calmly states through the speakerphone. "Not at the moment. We are trying to eliminate possibilities and narrow down the most likely directions."

Cideeda relays a brighter tone in contrast to her frown. "Well, it's concerning that he might be near us. But... I don't think he'll be seeking us out any time soon."

Confusion leads puzzling gazes upon Cideeda from the rest of the team. Aristespha perks up her eyebrow, tosses back her long, silvery blue hair, and nods at Cideeda understandingly. Hackle chuckles lightly from the other side of the call. "I doubt he will. He has been very avoidant of conflict lately. So, I can only assume he's wanting to keep a low profile. Maybe that avoidance will work in your favor."

He draws in a breath and inquires from the other side of the call. "Have you made any progress in determining what Isaac is looking for and where it might be?"

Aristespha holds up her hand, signaling the rest of the team. Leaning gradually closer towards her aetherphone, she calmly explains. "We have made some progress based on what resources we have had access to. But, we hope to make more progress with the documents you have sent over. The best theory we have is that it seems to be a possible large source of power."

Sebastian quirks his brow, glances at Aristespha, and nods slowly. "Yeah, typical Dark Lord stuff. He's probably running a little low on power. It's kind of what he was doing before."

A distant hum sounds out from the aetherphone, and Hackle's voice resumes his inquiry. "Plausible. That could explain his hesitance for direct confrontation at the moment. I would not be surprised if he was conserving his power until he acquired a new source."

Pausing a moment, he dons a minutely more direct cadence. "If we knew where his goal was, we could definitely stop his plans."

Bach, Dretphi, and Sotalia exchange uncertain glances. Aristespha narrows her stare at the aetherphone and presents a reassuring tone. "We are trying to make progress in that regard. We are working on a plan to investigate possibilities nearby and hopefully eliminate them from our overall search."

Noticing the idle silence from the other side of the phone conversation, she grimaces and lifts an eyebrow towards the rest of the team. "We have been able to contact a few subject matter experts using my connections at the Grand Library. I believe they will be able to assist in determining the least likely locations, so we can better prioritize our future investigations."

Hopeful breath slips above the background noise resonating in from Hackle's side of the aetherphone call. "Very good. Any updated information you could provide us would be greatly appreciated. If you could give some locations to me, I'll see about arranging some exploration teams to assist your efforts. As much as I don't like brute force process of elimination, I think it is our only option until either of us receive more information."

Sebastian cocks his head to the side and drifts his visage lower to the ground. "We'll see what we can do for you Captain Hackle. Give us some time to verify what we have, and we'll get it out to you soon."

Hackle's tone lightens. "Excellent. Thank you for your assistance."

He addresses the team via the speakerphone. "Well, I wouldn't want to keep you for much longer. Both our teams have much to do from what it seems. Again, please keep me updated, and we will try to do the same."

Aristespha gradually nods, maintaining an appreciative tone. "Thank you, Captain Hackle."

A quick exchange of goodbyes later, Aristespha reaches towards the phone screen and taps the end call button, sliding the device closer in front of her. She presses through a few menus, confirms the end of the call, and pockets the aetherphone. Tense silence looms over the gathering around the dining table. Cideeda curls her upper lip into a snarl and grumbles out. "Gods, he was SO trying to get us to hand over information without knowing it."

Aristespha rolls her violet eyes and sighs. "Yes. I got that feeling after you pointed it out."

Bach clenches his jaw momentarily and tense his shoulders. "Shit. I hope mentioning the convention center thing wasn't a bad idea."

Tilting her head of platinum blonde braids, Dretphi smiles reassuringly at Bach. "No. Could work in our favor."

Sotalia chuckles to herself and grins at Bach. "They'll probably keep a team watching that old base. If Noxian doesn't show up, it keeps them busy. If he does, it'll keep them BOTH busy. And, we'll know where Noxian is."

She shrugs her shoulders and rolls her golden eyes with a smirk. "Works either way."

Sebastian eases out a reverberating sigh and shakes head. "Still... We have to be careful. I don't think they actually know that what we are looking for is an access point to the Abstract Prism. And, I don't think they have any better information about locations than we do."

Crossing his arms, he furrows his brow and hums ethereally. "I think we need to give them some locations to work on..."

He narrows a gaze out at the team around the table. "BUT... Maybe some of the outliers."

Contorting her face into an uneasy grimace, Cideeda huffs out her frustration and flicks back her furry ears. "Yeah. Can't give them all outliers, otherwise they might take that as a hint for where not to look."

Bach narrows his blue eyes and snorts with a wry smirk. "Yeah, no need to literally circle out our search area for them."

Cideeda points a claw tip over to Bach and nods with a toothy grin. "Exactly. Need to make it a little random to throw them off."

Shrugging her shoulders, Sotalia tosses back her hair, resettling in her seat, and groans. "I still don't like it. But... Even if they manage to check the right spot, that means Noxian will have to get through the GAA. That might slow him down long enough for us to get by."

Aristespha leans against the back of the chair at the dining table and combs her ivory fingers through her hair, exhaling. "Gods. I just hope we get an update from Mark soon."

Nodding in agreement, Bach draws a long breath in and slowly hisses out the frustration. "Yeah. That'd be nice. If we can just find it, disable it, and sneak away."

Sebastian smiles at Bach and shakes his head. "I hear you, bro. I keep hoping it'll be that simple."

Glancing off to the side, he remarks. "It probably won't be, but I keep hoping anyway."

A lull in conversation directs everyone to their own thoughts, and they ponder around the dining table.

---

The door to the front porch opens, and Chad steps through. Slowly closing the entry behind him, he releases a long sigh into an exhausted groan and shakes his head. Tilting her head up from her aetherphone, Tassilda perks her eyebrow and tilts her head of long raven black hair. "They certainly kept you forever."

Chad blinks back to awareness from staring out into the night through a window and pivots, facing Tassilda on the living room couch. "Oh, yeah... They had me do some long monologue about my thoughts and feelings for the future after the season end..."

He slides his gaze off to one side, leaning in that direction. "And, they wanted me to sell it in one way..."

Furrowing his brow, he shifts his attention to the other side, slumping his shoulders slightly. "THEN... They didn't like how it turned out, so I had to do it another way..."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he winces with a frustrated sigh. "Finally, they settled for some version I did five takes ago."

Modoran glances away from watching Deedri fumble with a folded up towel and cracks a smug smirk on his dusky bluish gray face. "They tried that crap with me. After the third take for my bit, I just sat and stared at them. Five minutes later, they got the hint."

He returns his attention back to Deedri and points at a stray corner of the mass of twisted fabric. "You might want to tuck that corner in..."

A hint of a growl slips out from Deedri, her furry, tufted ears flicking back. She furrows her brow and narrows her full concentration to each uncertain motion of her hands. A few attempts later, she huffs with an annoyed flick of her fluffy tail. Restraining a pout, she gazes her auburn eyes at Modoran and sighs with a tinge of frustration. "Do it again. Slowly."

Modoran nonchalantly reaches out with a loving smile, picks up the crumpled towel, and unfurls it with a flick. Using slow, methodical motions upon the coffee table, he rolls ends of the fabric up, folds them in a calculated order, and positions it. Grabbing another smaller towel nearby, he pleats up the cloth, places it upon the forming fabric figure, and splays out outer edges. A few quick adjustments later, he sits back on the couch and presents the towel swan with dramatic waving motion. Deedri crosses her arms, rolling her shoulders, and wrestles an irritated frown on her fair face. "I keep seeing it done. But, I just can't figure it out..."

Modoran rests his arm on Deedri's back and playfully pulls her close. "It's okay. I had to do it multiple times a day for YEARS. It takes a little practice."

Darting her auburn eyes over, she meets Modoran's dark blue and sighs. "I know."

She rolls her eyes and combs her clawed fingers through her long, multicolored hair, and mumbling. "I can put people back together, but I'm failing to fold a damn swan."

Upon another section of couch, Trakenthin glances up from his book and smirks reassuringly. "Not a bad trade off."

Modoran nods in agreement and rubs Deedri's shoulder. "I agree."

Tassilda finishes up typing up a message and taps send with a happy smile. Resting the aetherphone down, she pauses in thought and furrows her curiosity at Chad. "So, what did they write up for you to say about your future plans?"

Chad stands up from kneeling in admiration at the towel swan and scratches the back of his head, frowning. "Some grand plans about starting up some big team, and taking on all the big dangerous jobs. You know, all the stuff that gets the ratings."

He rests his hands on his side, shakes his head dismissively, and snorts. "Whatever. About the only thing I'm planning on doing before we form up again is take our ride back to my parents and hope to fix it up right. Gods, it feels like everything has tried to kill that thing in the last few months."

Tilting his head to the side, he quirks his brow at Tassilda. "So... What are your immediate plans?"

Tassilda cocks her head and searches her mind with her light blue on black eyes. "Going to stay with my father. I have some amends to make..."

A warm smile graces her gray, patterned face. "And big sister time to make up for."

She grimaces with a roll of her eyes and contemplates, fighting against a grimace. "Eventually, confront my mother... Maybe... Might postpone that conflict... For as long as possible."

Chad nods and cracks a sly smirk. "Just let us know, and we can form the team, um, strategically earlier than expected."

Tassilda nods appreciatively and shifts her attention towards Trakenthin. "So, what are you going to do during your break?"

Trakenthin blinks back to awareness away from his book, glances between the rest of the team, and shrugs his shoulders. "Read. Catch up on releases."

Curling a short, mischievous grin, Tassilda quips. "Recommended by Shayuri, of course."

A flush of red tints Trakenthin's dark bronze face, and twinges of embarrassment sneak out. A message alert chips out from Tassilda's aetherphone. Trakenthin narrows an inquisitive gaze and lifts an eyebrow at Tassilda. "What did Daedrican say?"

Tassilda blinks blankly, holds a tight smile on her faintly reddened face, and picks up her aetherphone. Chad shakes his head, turning towards Deedri. "Any big plans for you?"

Deedri perks her furry, tufted ears up, idly wags her tail, and ponders out loud. "Um... Just go home for a bit. I really haven't thought about much more than that. It'd just be nice to see my family and relax after everything that's happened. And..."

She grits her teeth briefly and gazes lovingly over at Modoran. "Maybe see how things go from there."

Modoran smiles nonchalantly, pulls Deedri close, and chuckles. "After some family business is taken care of, I am under strict orders to coordinate a week vacation at one of my family's resorts for all of us. Paid for, of course."

Tassilda and Trakenthin perk up at the announcement. Quietly away from the conversation, Veevi slinks down the stairwell and sneaks into the kitchen archway. Pulling away his glance towards Veevi, Chad bows slightly at Modoran. "Wow. Thank you. That's really generous."

Modoran shrugs with an easy-going smirk. "It's the off season for a few resorts. There are a lot of empty rooms that would just collect dust otherwise. Not a huge deal to make use of them."

Trakenthin nods appreciatively. "Generous still."

From the dining area through the other side of the archway, Veevi peeks her pink pupil eyes out from around the corner. Cautiously observing the conversation in the living room, she warily steps out and calmly walks back to the stairwell. With a canned drink in hand and a packaged snack in her other hand, she places her foot upon the first stair. Chad quirks his brow, craning his head back, and aims his voice. "Hey, Veevi."

Veevi's tail fur puffs out slightly, and she sheepishly waves at Chad. "Oh, hey. Um, sorry to interrupt. I was just getting something to tide me over."

With a pleasant smile, Chad nods and tilts his head to the side. "It's okay, you're not interrupting. We were actually talking about our future plans, and I'm curious what you were going to do."

Blinking blankly, Veevi sorts through her thoughts and twists a nervous smile. Chad chuckles and smirks reassuringly. "I mean what you are really going to do, not what they wrote for you to say."

Veevi sighs with relief and shakes her head. "Oh, good. Because after the fifth take of the third revision of the script, my mind blanked out, and I just used the teleprompter."

Blinking her light blue on black eyes, Tassilda winces and groans. "Gods. I wish I had thought of asking for THAT. I even remember seeing it nearby, too."

Furrowing her brow, Veevi sorts through her thoughts, contorting her tan face, and ponders out loud. "As for what I'm going to do... I don't know, really. So much has happened that... I kind of just want to do nothing for a while. I mean..."

She briefly grits her teeth and huffs. "I can't do that forever. But, just some time to figure out what to do next."

Biting her lower lip briefly, her fuzzy ears perk up, and she perks up. "Oh. I do know I'm going to school. That I'm sure of."

Deedri contends with her apprehension, crossing her arms, and quirks her brow. "What are you going to study?"

Veevi frowns slightly and sighs in honest, genuine uncertainty. "I haven't gotten that far yet. I just know that... I want to do something else."

Chad smiles encouragingly at Veevi with a nod. "You'll figure it out. Take a few general education courses, and see what draws you in."

Veevi nods at the idea. An elaborate ring sounds out from the pocket of Veevi's shorts. Tucking her packaged snack under her arm, she plucks her aetherphone out. She glances at the display of the device and groans, drooping her fuzzy ears. "I have got to take this. It's my lawyer."

Smiling graciously at the team, she waves and departs up the stairs. The sounds of a Veevi's phone conversation drift away upstairs. Deedri cocks her head to the side, tugging at the corner of her mouth. Furrowing her brow, she mumbles to herself. "She is different..."

---

A gentle breeze blows out from the nearby woods and stirs up fallen leaves across the large parking lot. Isaac walks around the lot between different showcase cars and trucks. He inspects a few vehicles closer and wanders his gaze up to the blue skies above. The noon sun peeks out from behind a fluffy white cloud, and Isaac winces slightly. A heavy framed glass door clicks shut behind an emin man in a button down shirt and slacks. Flashing a reassuring grin, he holds up a set of keys on a ring. "Sorry for the wait, sir! As usual, the one time you need to find them, they hide themselves."

Isaac cracks an amused smirk with a nod. "That's usually how it goes from my experience, too."

The emin salesman motions Isaac to follow along and confidently leads the way in an aisle between lines of cars and trucks. "This way, sir."

The two men travel down the clean appearing vehicles. The sun lights up colorful fonts on the pricing placards resting upon front dashes. Isaac glances at a few condensed sales pitch blurbs and smirks at the questionably reassuring verbiage. At the end of the row, the emin salesman stops in front of something under a blue tarp. With a flourish and a deft, swift yank, he unveils a motorcycle. Donning an entrepreneurial grin, he motions towards the vehicle and guides attention towards its attributes. "After talking with our dear friend Katherine, I knew this exact motorcycle was for you. This here is a highly customized machine. Wonderfully cared for by its previous owner who traveled all over the west. Despite what it may have faced out there, it arrived in beautiful condition, shaped by its experiences to be the amazing vehicle it is today"

He waves his hand slowly out and points to the frame. "What started out life as a rugged, off-road machine slowly, through each of its adventures, grew into a long haul champion. The frame has been reinforced and tuned to be comfortable on the road just as well as the dirt."

Stepping closer to the machine, he pats on the hard case storage boxes on the rear sides with a rack on top. "Plenty of storage that's waterproof and likely bullet proof."

He kneels down and guides Isaac's examining stare along the length of the motorcycle. "Multi-terrain wheels powered by a powerful but fuel conscious bio diesel engine with a very generous tank. You'll be able to go everywhere you desire and keep the stops to a minimum."

Standing back up straight, he grants a small bow and motions Isaac towards the seat. "Have a seat. Get a feel for it. Let it talk to you."

Checking over the machine, Isaac walks up, throws a leg over, and sits down. Guiding a tail of his blue scarf over his shoulder, he places his hands on the handlebar grips, balances himself on the motorcycle, and ponders quietly to himself. Seconds pass, and Isaac feels the controls, inspecting the mechanisms closely. "Definitely feels like it has been cared for. Everything is in just about the right place."

The emin salesman grins brightly, sweeping back his yellow hair around his curled tipped horns, and winks his yellow on black eye. "As I said, it has been shaped by experience. The wisdom of the road has been baked into this number. Saves you the trouble of learning it all the hard way."

Isaac smirks, admiring the flat brown, tan, and dark gray patterned paint job, and furrows his brow. "So... How much do you want for it?"

The emin man searches his mind and evaluates Isaac with a long stare, explaining. "Well. It is a unique piece of specialized equipment. It is very hard to find such a machine that is so rugged and designed to handle the harshest roadways of the world in comfort."

Narrowing a contemplative gaze at the salesman, Isaac twists his mouth side to side. "Which also means it has been sitting around and woefully taking up useful space."

A sly smirk creases from the corner of the emin's mouth. "Indeed. Very true. So, I'll not only give you a generous friend of a friend discount, but a little extra for assisting me in clearing out my inventory."

The emin salesman pitches his high end price, and Isaac grants a slow nod. He rocks his head side to side and curls a countering smile. "Does that price include the lucrative, and exclusive, cash-today-in-your-hand discount?"

The emin's yellow on black eyes widen, and an eager, entrepreneurial grin emerges on his gray face. "Why, no. How perceptive you are, sir. I got the feeling I just might be dealing with someone special today. I think I could manage to be quite generous with that kind of discount. Spares me so much paperwork that costs my time, which is money."

He motions towards the glass wall and brown brick building in the middle of the lot and presents an expectant smile. "May I suggest we go inside and finalize everything in comfort and privacy?"

Nodding, Isaac rests the bike on its kickstand and stands up off the machine. He pauses a moment, holds out his hand, and lifts an eyebrow. "Certainly. But, one thing first."

The emin man smiles and shows the keys. "Of course. Start her up. And listen."

Isaac takes the keys in hand, puts a key in the ignition, and opens up the fuel cutoff. Twisting the ignition key to a marked notch, he holds down a button and watches a pulsating light on the controls. The light fades completely. Isaac releases the button and turns the switch all the way. The whine of the starter sounds out. A sputter of dark smoke from the exhaust shakes the machine. The motorcycle rumbles to life in a chorus of rumbling combustion and a hint of turbine whine. Isaac throttles up, and engine roars to health, muffled growl.

A minute later, Isaac turns the ignition off and flicks the fuel cut off. He waits for the machine to halt, and it combusts the last bits of fuel. Retrieving the key, he smirks confidently at the emin salesman. "That sounds like a prospective sale to me. Let's see what can be done."