Episode 75
Pressing firmly upon the confirmation button on her tablet's display, Aristespha wrestles a grimace upon her ivory face and draws an uncertain breath. She lets the device slide through her hands down upon the tabletop and slouches back into her chair, releases an apprehensive sigh. "Gods help us..."
Sebastian's ghostly figure briefly grits his teeth and presents an assuring smile to Aristespha. "Dear, it's going to be okay. We've done all we can on our end."
Fighting the nagging doubt creeping upon his translucent face, Sebastian's smirk weakens, and he trails off. "Just hope that other people believe our intentions were good..."
Bach slowly pushes a pile of paperwork off to the side and rests his forehead down upon the table, groaning out his frustrations. "I swear... These laws are designed to allow people to get away before anyone can even file the paperwork to go after them."
Wrapping his arms around the sides of his head, he lifts his face up and props his chin upon his folded forearms with a slight frown. "I mean... Yeah, I totally understand you don't want people running around doing off the wall vigilante shit. But... How the fuck are you supposed to go after obvious problems when you see them?"
Walking over from the couch, Sotalia slowly passes on by the tabletop and pauses a moment. She grants a commiserating smile to Aristespha, Bach, and Sebastian, scooping up the last bit of cereal from the bowl in her hands. "Simply put..."
She furrows her brow and grumbles. "You don't."
Shaking her head with a smirk, she sighs and rolls her golden eyes. "From my experience, the only things that are legally safe for adventurers to do are from the guild. Everything else is a fucking legal minefield."
Aristespha gradually nods, combing out a length of her long, silvery blue hair, and occupies her hands with idle braiding. "With any kind of disturbance, the local police will investigate and consult the guild further. Then, if anything that seems like a violation... They will explore further."
Closing her violet eyes, she exhales out her nerves, twisting her mouth. "And, given how well they received us at the station... I am quite certain they WILL be delving for ANY reason to question our uses of first response law and circumstantial procedures."
Sebastian grins warmly to Aristespha and gazes lovingly at her. "I think you did a good job filling everything out. Hopefully, they'll be too busy trying to find Noxian to really dig too deeply into what flushed him out."
Glancing off to the side, he twists a frown. "I would hope he'd be the bigger priority."
Nodding her head, Sotalia struts off into the kitchen area, snorting. "Gods, I'd hope that'd be a priority for them. Then again, given that officer writing a ticket for a fucking taillight... I'm not so certain."
An annoyed grumble escapes Cideeda, drifting over to the table from the couch. She aims the television remote and flips through another barrage of channels. Aristespha bites her lower lip uncomfortably and squirms out the unease throughout her body. "I have tried my very best to fill everything out that I can, as properly as possible, so that casual reading will paint a... LEGAL picture of what happened."
She grits her teeth briefly, wincing with the breath in, and slumps her shoulders on the exhale. "But, if anyone observant sits down and examines it thoroughly... They are going to discover all the omissions and sparse information surrounding our activities. So, I do NOT know what will happen at this point."
Finishing up the small braid, she gradually combs out her hair with her fingers and shakes her head, sighing. "I just fear what the repercussions will be. It would be one thing if we had apprehended Noxian. Much would be easily overlooked with that kind of result. Without him in custody, we are the only ones left to focus upon."
She stares distantly out on the tabletop, shrinks in her chair slightly, and frowns sadly, contending with a swell of worry from within. "Depending on who gets involved with Grand Library and pushes the most, they might use this incident to pull the funding on our efforts for chasing after Noxian and redirect it to some other team. The guild could see fit to put violations on our adventuring licenses and restrict what jobs we can do. And... that is not even considering what the local authorities would do..."
Propping her arms upon the table by the elbows, Aristespha sinks her face into her hands and exhales deeply with a slow shake of her head. Dretphi places a mug of freshly brewed coffee in front of Aristespha, her long, pointy ears perking slightly. Peeking out, Aristespha lowers her hands around the cup and smiles appreciatively at Dretphi. "Thank you."
Bach furrows his brow, humming to himself, and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, I mean, if it comes to that... I guess we'll just have to go underground, or something, when it comes to going after Noxian."
He lifts his head up, dons a bold smile, and encouragingly states, gazing at Aristespha and Sebastian. "I ain't stopping at this point. So, I'll help make it work one way or another. It wouldn't be the first time I've done some... less than official deals."
Sebastian smirks towards his brother, nods thankfully, and ethereally sighs. "Thanks, bro. Let's hope for the best, for now."
Aristespha smiles at Bach with a hint of relief easing some of the discomfort turning underneath the surface. Seconds later, Sotalia pauses in thought in front of the fridge and eyes Bach through the bar opening, lifting an incredulous eyebrow. "Okay, okay... What kind of underhanded dealings could YOU have possibly done?"
Crossing his arms, Bach glances over to Sotalia, summoning up some confidence with a defensive tint. "Nothing big. Or terrible. But, I may have sold information and a few scrolls that MAY or MAY NOT have defeated certain devices' security measures."
Sebastian narrows his gaze at Bach and cocks his head to the side, snorting. "What? Selling scrolls to get free stuff from vending machines? Yeah, that was a good racket back in school."
Averting his stare off to the side, he frowns. "Until they put new ones in."
Bach grimaces through an uncomfortable memory, darting his eyes around, and mutters through his embarrassment. "Ah, um... Well... More like... Slot machines."
Cideeda's furry ears flick over towards the conversation, and the rest of the team's collective curiosity settles squarely upon Bach. Moments later, Bach sighs, dropping his head briefly, and meets the expectant gazes around him. "OKAY. Long story short. I ran into some guy at a bar. Got to talking about tricks I've done with magic and machines... And, he mentioned he had some old, antique slot machine in his garage."
He rolls his blue eyes at himself and grimaces. "SO, I had nothing better to do. I swung by his place on the way back from the bar. We goofed around with it, and I figured out a way to manipulate the results with that model."
Blinking her emerald green eyes in thought, Cideeda searches her mind between ear flicks, pondering quietly to herself. Bach contorts his face uncomfortably at the past, rubbing his temples. "The guy got REALLY INTERESTED in that trick and offered me some money if I could encode the trick into a scroll. WELL... Rent was due and the fridge was empty... So, I did."
He twists his mouth, gritting his teeth, and draws in a long breath, contending with his unease. "What I DIDN'T KNOW is that the guy knew some... People. They knew of a place that was still using that ancient model. So, they copied that scroll and used it."
Widening her emerald green eyes with recognition, Cideeda sits up on the couch and stares at Bach from across the room, tilting her head to the side. "WAIT... I remember hearing something like this. Wasn't one guy found in-"
Shuddering, Bach frowns with prominent disgust. "Ten pieces across SIX COUNTIES. YEAH! After THAT, I kept to bar game scrolls. Gods... So glad I moved soon after that."
In a mix of disbelief and fascination, Cideeda crosses her arms, narrowing her full attention upon Bach. "Oh. My. Gods... Now, it makes so much sense. I read about that whole incident and wondered how they got such specific scrolls that didn't trip normal magical detection security measures."
Pulling a sly smirk across her light tan face, Sotalia lifts an inquisitive eyebrow at Bach and presents a curious tone. "So. Bach. What if-"
Bach snaps his stare right at Sotalia and clearly pronounces. "NO."
Bach opens the door leading into the garage, steps down the stairs, and pauses a moment. Shifting his attention from his sidecar motorcycle, he notices the glow of bright afternoon sun radiating in from the open garage door. He allows his blue eyes to adjust to the light and narrows a curious gaze at the humvee in the driveway. Cocking his head to the side, he focuses upon the open hood of the engine compartment and spots Cideeda's legs hanging out upon the side fender. He wanders over to the mechanical ratchet noises clicking out and grumbles of Cideeda physically straining. Arriving at the side of the humvee, Bach watches Cideeda's hand rise up from another part of the engine area and grip tightly onto part of the frame. With slight shifts of her body, Cideeda secures her backwards flexed self down into the accessible space around the engine of the military vehicle, underneath the powerplant, and tightens her ankles, hooking under the lip of the fender wheel well. Bach puzzles at the scene, leans over the front corner of the vehicle, and glances down inside with a perplexed tone. "Okay. So, there has got to be a better way to do whatever you are doing."
Cideeda's long, fluffy tail flicks sharply a few times, settling into a slow wag, and she snorts with a light chuckle from the engine compartment. "MAYBE. But, for what I need to do, this is actually a lot faster."
Narrowing his gaze, he searches through the maze of pipes, electrical lines, and supporting components around the central cylindrical powerplant. "Really? I mean, because I doubt the service manual has anything requiring the technician be capable of quite literally bending over backwards and slipping inside narrow spaces within the engine area."
Cideeda finishes a series of tightening cranks of a ratchet driver, and her emerald green eyes peek through a narrow passageway between the mesh of engine area machinery. She perks a confident eyebrow. "True. To be fair, there were originally huge, ancient battery packs blocking the way on either side. But, those got replaced with new underside packs when we first fixed this thing up."
Searching for a good view of Cideeda's next target, Bach twists his mouth a bit unconvinced and scratches his head. "Yeah. But, still, can't you just go from underneath the thing? I mean, that has to be the way the designers originally intended for it to be fixed."
Wagging her tail in sync with the flexes of her body, Cideeda sighs and audibly rolls her eyes with a laugh. "Intended, yes. Practical, NO. The correct method is to go from underneath... Which requires jacking the vehicle up a meter, unbolting thirty large bolts, getting two or three people to lower the underside armor plate, and THEN you can do what you need to do."
Her hand slips down momentarily and rises back out through another clear corridor, clawing onto a new spot for support. "If I was going to completely overhaul the power distribution module, rework the turbine exhaust thermal converters, or finally change out this old hydraulic fluid reservoir... Yeah, I'll go through the few extra hours of work, since I'll already be investing quite a few hours, anyway."
Rapping her sharp finger tips upon the metal structure of the humvee, she sighs with a dismissive hint. "But. I'm just tightening a few bolts that might need it. So, I really don't want to do a full tear down."
Bach thinks about the logistics a moment, slowly nodding in agreement, and shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah... Fair point. Still, it seems like it would be easy to get tools stuck down there, much less yourself."
With an annoyed tone, Cideeda groans out past stale frustrations, and her tail sharply flicks out her irritation. "No shit. Gods. There's actually no easy side access to get to anything you've dropped in. Not even a removable access panel in the wheel well. The only reason I figured out I could fit under here was because I was SO angry at losing three wrenches down here when we were broken down on the side of the road."
Flexing her body down further into the underside of the engine area, Cideeda stretches out, straining to reach a distant bolt in a crowded section of components. "Why anyone would engineer a pit of fucking despair in any vehicle is beyond me. Anyway... I just got to check this one bolt, and I'm done."
She reaches out to the furthest limit her body allows, slips the end of her socket wrench onto the awkward bolt, and rotates the handle a few ratcheting clicks, pulling it back. Tense moments of applying force later, she gives a final tug and slips the wrench off. "Still good there. Time to back out of here."
Putting the socket wrench back in her shorts pocket, Cideeda secures her grip below and releases her hold above. Weaving through the clearance beneath, she tentatively grips upon an engine support and reverses direction underneath. Applying her weight onto the new hand hold, her fingers tighten upon a spattering of hydraulic fluid, promptly slipping free. She yelps and hisses in surprise. Scrambling for a new hand hold, she slides down further into the engine area, flopping upon the bottom plating floor. "AH! FUCK!"
Her ankles slip free of the wheel well lip, her tail puffs out, and her legs find partial purchase, hooking against the hood and bodywork. Bach swiftly side steps in front of the flailing fvalian and reaches quickly down with both hands, grasping the panicked Cideeda firmly around her waist. "Hey! Don't worry, I got you!"
Seconds later with a few tail twitches, Cideeda promptly wraps her legs around Bach, crossing them behind his back, and tightens her hold. The sudden force from Cideeda presses Bach firmly against the side fender, and he blinks absolutely dumbfounded. Cideeda pulls herself out of the vehicle and up close to Bach. Squirming around, she aligns herself, sliding Bach over. She grips onto each of Bach's forearms with a hand each and contorts herself, gradually slipping her head clear of the last obstruction. With a final flex and twist of her body, she rights herself to a seat upon the top of the side fender, ending up face to face with Bach. Bach widens his blue eyes, and Cideeda blinks her emerald green eyes. Both gaze at each other across the mere centimeters between their noses in silence.
Hints of red coloring his cheeks, Bach awkwardly stumbles upon his words, fumbling to maintain a nonchalant exterior. "Uh... um... You okay?"
With a perk of her furry ears, Cideeda smirks slightly and calmly replies. "Oh. Yes. Just freaked out a little bit there. If you slide down in there too far, it's a real pain in the ass to get out on your own."
She glances down and notices the tight wrap of her legs around Bach. Springing her eyes open, she relaxes her hold completely. "It can get a little scary, too. So, I REALLY wanted to avoid that."
Averting his gaze in breaks of direct eye contact with Cideeda, Bach nervously states, the slight blush spreading out on his face. "Oh, yeah..."
Situational awareness finally reminds him of Cideeda's waist in his hands, and he quickly releases his grasp. "I could imagine. I mean, I'm not exactly claustrophobic, but that'd be a bit much for me."
Cideeda briefly, gently squeezes Bach's forearms with her claw tips, sliding her hands off, and resettles upon her seat on the fender. Moments of awkward silence later, she glances behind her and narrows a stare at a particular spot in the engine area. "Damn hydraulic oil. Never had a spot show up there before."
Cracking a nervous smile, he shrugs his shoulders. "Well... I mean, I guess it was the first time this thing has been flipped over?"
Rolling her eyes at herself, Cideeda returns her gaze towards Bach with a humored smirk. "Yeah. And speaking of that reservoir I've been meaning to replace."
Struggling to maintain his composure under the close attention, Bach glances over to a few small dents on the bodywork off to the side. "So... Uh... How do you normally take care of dents like that?"
Cideeda turns her attention to the blemishes upon the metal exterior of the vehicle and sighs with a frustrated curl to her mouth. "A lot of hammering and being completely unsatisfied with the results. It's an ugly cycle of disappointment really."
With a humble chuckle, Bach smiles and motions over to the dents. "Well, I think I could probably work some of those out easily enough."
Pondering a moment, Cideeda presents a toothy grin to Bach and perks an intrigued eyebrow. "That's right... You should be able to easily fix those little dents. I'm going to have to take you up on that offer."
Shifting to another thought in her mind, she settles upon an appreciative smile, averting her slightly bashful expression momentarily, and focuses upon Bach. "By the way, I really love my birthday gift. Gods. I REALLY needed something that perfect to break me out of the funk."
Bach grins awkwardly, shrugging his shoulders casually, and presents a nonchalant tone. "Well. To be honest, it was a group effort. Dretphi carved most of the figurines and helped with fitting things together. Aristespha and Sotalia got the crystals just right. And, Sebastian kept you from learning about it and suggested where to hide everything. I just gave them the idea and helped with the details here and there..."
Tilting her head to the side, Cideeda grins warmly and perks her furry ears up, brushing back some stray hairs in her face. "It wouldn't have turned out so well if someone didn't know exactly what I'd like. So... Thank you, again."
She giggles brightly and stretches her posture out slowly. "I can't wait to fit a few of those crystals in my spare units. Surprise everyone at the game shop."
Furrowing his brow at Cideeda, Bach twists his mouth into a smirk and snorts humored. "Good gods. That's going to freak out a few immediately, and soon after get them ready to throw money for something similar."
An entrepreneurial smile graces Cideeda's light brown face, and she gazes up to Bach with a laugh. "Guess we need to keep a lookout for more of that crystal. Because, I'm keeping my gift. Also... I need to learn a few of your tricks when it comes to wiring them up."
Bach chuckles out some of his nervous energy, feeling the blush of pink forming in his cheeks, and glances over towards the garage. "Yeah, well... All in good time. Speaking of time, you think Dretphi's got dinner done yet?"
Turning her head of short, multicolored hair towards the house, Cideeda draws in a few sniffing breaths through her nose, mulling over the results. "Smells like she's getting close to done. It's probably still in the oven."
Her furry ears flick around, and she cocks her head to the side. "That, or she's turned off the vent fan. I can't hear it anymore. She might be closer to being ready."
Pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the kitchen door in the garage, Bach turns towards the ranch style house. "Okay. Yeah. I'm going to go check if she needs help on anything."
Granting a nod, Cideeda glances over to the engine area behind, sighing, and narrows her stare. "Yeah. I need to close this up and clean up, anyway."
She pauses a moment, grins toothily, and lifts a curious brow towards Bach. "Mind helping with adjusting a few miniatures after dinner?"
Pausing his first step, Bach glances back and nods with a smile. "Sure."
Widening her emerald green eyes briefly, Cideeda flicks her gaze down at her tail, sensing Bach slipping out from its loose coiling wrap around his upper legs. Bach departs into the garage, and Cideeda thinks a moment, flicking her tail around. Sorting through her thoughts, she bites her lower lip, curls her toes briefly, and raps her fingers upon the metal of the humvee, slowly wagging her long, fluffy tail. A hint of pink fills her cheeks, and she fidgets a little, her thoughtful smile warming.
Aristespha slowly plods through the hallway, searching through the confusion in her mind, and gradually nods to the other side of the aetherphone call. She stops her pacing, tilts her head slightly, and grimaces, bewildered. "No. That is very good to hear. Yes, I definitely appreciate all your efforts, and I am very happy the report satisfied your investigation."
Blinking uneasily, she contorts her face, internally puzzling deeper, and maintains a supportive vocal facade. "Of course. Happy to be of service. Do feel free to contact me if there is anything further you need."
She furrows her ivory brow, frowning between incredulous and confused. "Goodbye."
Removing the phone from her long pointed ear, she stares absolutely perplexed at the end of call screen and shifts her posture with her thoughts. She idly taps her socked foot softly upon the hardwood hallway floor and wipes the screen off on her loose shirt, resting her other hand on the waistband of her shorts. Tossing her long, silvery blue hair back, her violet eyes search aimlessly in her head, failing to find an explanation. Many futile seconds later, mumbles of exasperated evuukian roll out from Aristespha's mouth, and she frustratedly furrows brow. She walks back to the archway leading into the living room, stopping at the threshold. Rolling her shoulders, she fights back against the incredulous curl in her upper lip and hems out into the room at Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia. "Well. I just got off the phone with Amaranth Valley police..."
The mood in the room sharply drops, worry and dread surfacing upon everyone. Biting her lower lip briefly, Aristespha draws in a long breath and announces in disbelief, shaking her head. "We are no longer under investigation and completely cleared of any possible violations."
Silence hangs out for mere moments, and relief blasts it out of the room completely. Sotalia reclines back into the couch chair, stretching her arms out, and laughs out her anxieties. "Oh gods! You totally had me going there for a second. That's fucking amazing news! Free and clear!"
Cideeda's furry ears perk up, her long, fluffy tail wags with a light sway, and she flops back on the couch. "No kidding! Part of me really wants to ask if I can have my cameras back."
She glances off to the side and tightens her smile. "BUT, I think I'll cut and run while I'm ahead. Small price to pay for them to leave the issue alone."
Releasing a long sigh, Dretphi relaxes her shoulders and returns to preparing lunch. "Good news. Wonderful outcome."
Bach melts a bit into his stabilized energy lounge chair, exhaling out his worry. "One less thing to worry about... For now, at least."
Sebastian's ethereal form drifts over next to Aristespha. He studies her expression, body language, and grumbles of evuukian under her breath. Leaning close to her, he inquires further with concern in his tone. "Dear, you okay? You don't seem happy about this. Something wrong?"
Aristespha tugs at either corner of her mouth, groaning unsatisfied, and sighs annoyed. "Sebastian... There is NO WAY they properly read that report I wrote! Gods damn it... I know this is good for us..."
She narrows her violet eyes and furrows her ivory brow, a faint frown curling. "But... How did we get this result?! A few fines, further explanation on the reports for an ongoing investigation, or even a probationary period granted due to extenuating circumstances... THOSE results I can understand. Absolution?! NO. That does not happen."
She rubs her eyes into a pinch of the bridge of her nose, draws a long breath in, and calms herself down. "I am sorry. Something else is going on to have allowed THIS."
Straightening her posture, she combs her fingers through the hair and briefly grits her teeth. "It sounded like the officer was completely satisfied with the report. Actual satisfaction. Supportive, even! It's just- Gods, something else has to have happened, and I do NOT know what. Because nothing I did could have gotten this for us."
Sebastian crosses his arms, glances around, and frowns slightly. "Yeah. Thinking about it more... All that doesn't quite add up."
Alternating flicks of her furry ears, Cideeda thoughtfully scratches her chin with a claw tip and twists her mouth, internally sorting through the possibilities. "Maybe they confirmed it was Noxian and are just glad we ran into him first rather than any of their people. To be fair, they may not care much for us... BUT... I doubt they'd ignore the utility of someone else going after a problem they don't want to deal with."
Bach taps a finger on the arm of his chair, rocking his head side to side, and shrugs indecisively. "I mean... Something else may have happened, and made us look good in comparison?"
He pauses a moment in thought and frowns faintly. "Thinking about THAT... We might want to check the news just in case something worse has happened recently."
Suspicion and mystery drives the debate further. A familiar chime rings out from Aristespha's aetherphone, and she eyes the caller identification. A sly smirk cracks across her mouth, and she chuckles with a roll of her eyes. "Oh. Nevermind. Here is my answer now."
She quickly taps a few on screen buttons, holds the phone out in front of her, and announces with a satisfied grin. "Hello, Captain Hackle. It has been a while."
Captain Hackle's voice resonates out into the room through Aristespha's speakerphone, blatantly amused. "It indeed has, Aristespha. I do hope everyone is doing well after recent events."
A wry curl appears at the corner of Aristespha's mouth, and she lifts an intrigued eyebrow. "Which I am certain you have had some involvement in."
With a respectful chuckle, Captain Hackle sighs and elaborates. "A little. Just an appropriate, choice amount of intervention. Your report was masterfully done and made it very easy for my organization to..."
He hums thoughtfully and elaborates. "Explain away the vague points with the details that we could only provide."
A sly tinge colors his voice, and Captain Hackle continues. "I just simply informed the local department that for this particular long term GAA investigation to operate properly, we needed a certain team of experts to operate separately and independently. Keep up appearances, and maintain the expectations of our target. It was an unfortunate policy constraint that prevented us from involving the Amaranth Valley police department sooner and before this recent incident. But, it was thought we had to act before any great harm to the city was allowed to transpire. Certainly, through the efforts of our independent experts, a far greater disaster was averted."
The team collectively stares at the aetherphone, emotions rotating through appreciation, incredulity, and apprehension. Cideeda smirks wryly, lifting a suspicious eyebrow. "So... What is that explanation going to cost us?"
Presenting a thankful tone through the call, Captain Hackle calmly replies. "Nothing more. You've actually already done us a great favor recently with the containment of that nightmarish hell of a blob. Doing your due diligence and going well beyond the call of duty has saved many lives that will never know they were at risk."
He pauses a moment and emphasizes his appreciation. "I do want you all to know that your group handling all these hidden dangers has NOT gone unnoticed. So... Consider this bit of creative administrative outreach as our thanks for prior services rendered."
With another wave of relief washing over, Bach blinks a bit and narrows his stare towards the phone, contorting his face with a question. "By the way, uh, is IT still around?"
Captain Hackle grumbles out a bit of disappointment and verbally rolls his eyes. "Unfortunately so. IT has proven to be difficult to handle safely. We are very appreciative of the magical barrier you all left behind. Handling THAT monstrosity has been reassigned to a group with more appropriate equipment to enforce containment, with explicit orders to eliminate the entire hill from existence if it tries to escape."
Dretphi draws in a long breath and releases a long sigh of relief. "That is reassuring."
In a comforting tone, Captain Hackle continues, proposing. "I agree. Now, on to business... I have a simple offer. With recent troubles at the Grand Library, Noxian has become a bit of a priority for a number of organizations, and we are authorized to use our resources to track him down. We want to follow up on this fresh trail with our resources, BUT we have a pressing matter that's preventing us from doing so. If you all can address it, I will devote my team to getting the best information on where Noxian has gone and relaying it to you."
Floating close to Aristespha's aetherphone, Sebastian eyes the device, a bit of suspicion plain on his translucent face, and inquiries further. "Can you provide any details about the pressing matter?"
Captain Hackle chuckles over the speakerphone and elaborates on the situation with a calm tone. "Of course. Simply put, there's been some strange phenomena happening, northwest of Amaranth Valley, in Ark. In a specific farming region, there have been reports of odd noises, steam eruptions, and thermal anomalies. We have checked with geologists, and they report nothing that should be causing anything like this. And, any historians we have asked haven't been able to turn up anything in that area. That unfortunately doesn't mean that much, to be honest."
Aristespha quirks a curious brow and glances over to Sotalia. "Maybe leftovers from the last maelstrom?"
Searching her mind with her golden eyes, Sotalia ponders out loud, idly playing with her fiery orange, wavy hair. "Maybe... But, hmm. Usually, strange things happen right after a maelstrom but not always. Also, I don't think Ark was directly in the path of the maelstrom?"
She rolls her eyes and eases out an annoyed groan. "Then again, that doesn't mean something wasn't launched that far from the storm. I've heard of stranger things happening."
Captain Hackle comments in a commiserating tone. "Yes. It's an odd series of events, and we haven't been able to find an easy explanation. Hence, why we were set on investigating it. But, given your group's track record in handling strange situations, I thought this might be a good trade. Standard contract through the guild with a proper payment upon completion. All I require is an investigation into the phenomena and identification of what may be the cause."
Sebastian's ghostly visage nods thoughtfully and turns to the group, addressing the team. "So, thoughts everyone?"
Grumbling with a reserved tone, Dretphi contorts her face with a bit of hesitation. "No known monstrosities. I will be fine. For now."
Sotalia glances over from checking her aetherphone and smirks. "It's probably just some stray maelstrom junk that finally activated for whatever reason. I'm good with going out there."
Cideeda shrugs her shoulders and stretches out her arms and back, smiling. "A job is a job. Sounds good to me."
Sebastian glances over to his brother, and Bach lifts a mockingly wary eyebrow, snorting. "Hey, I mean, this one doesn't involve thudkickers, so that's already a step in the right direction."
Exchanging a loving gaze with Sebastian, Aristespha directs her voice towards her phone. "I think that would be a group acceptance."
Hackle's voice brightens from the other side of the call. "Excellent. I'll have Sergeant Violet ready the bid into the guild system and send it over to your group in the next hour."
Sebastian dons a bold, proud grin, and nods towards the aetherphone. "Sounds like a plan to me. We'll see what we can find out for you. Be careful tracking down Noxian, he seemed REALLY motivated on getting away last we saw him."
With an appreciative tone, Hackle relays similar sentiment. "I will heed your advice, then. Please be careful yourselves. While I hope this is nothing more than late maelstrom leftovers, we all know anything can happen. I'd like ALL of you to continue your hunt for Noxian after I get you the info."
The morning sun creeps in through the sliding glass door into the living area of the ranch style house. Dretphi methodically checks down a list on a pad of paper, pencil marking the side of line items. Glancing up, she visually searches between a collection of boxes arranged on the living room floor and spots the relevant label upon one container. She directs her attention back to the list and scratches another check mark on the next line item.
Aristespha's voice faintly echoes from the hallway in between pacing, soft footsteps on the hardwood floors. With relief in her tone, she walks out with her aetherphone pressed to her ear and a smile on her face. "Thank you very much. I am so glad you have a room that will work for us. Have a nice day."
Tapping the end call button on her phone, she releases a long exhale and slouches her shoulders. "Gods almighty. That took some effort. Thankfully, I found a place with a large room that has enough beds for all of us and actual space to set up our equipment."
From the kitchen area, Sotalia glances over with a flask in each hand, perking an eyebrow curiously. "Really? Where did you find a place like that? Most hotels have gone to smaller rooms, so they can fit more into the space."
Aristespha slides her phone into her shorts pocket, shrugs, and gazes back, hinting at surprise. "It is actually a proper tavern still geared towards supporting adventuring groups in that traditional style."
Furrowing her brow, she wrestles a bit of uncertainty. "The receptionist was trying to sell me on the theme, like I was a tourist. Then, she realized we were an actual adventuring team and entirely dropped trying to sell that point to me. Cut straight to business after that."
Pondering a moment, Sotalia briefly diverts her attention to swirling each flask of liquid in her hands, studying the slight color shift, and resumes her work. "Well. That might be a fun place to stay. Hope it's as nice as Goff's place was."
She rubs her long pointed ear gently, walking over to the couch, and settles down upon a cushion. "Admittedly, it is hard to beat a passion project like that. Regardless, it is a place to sleep that is not the humvee, and we are not going that far from civilization."
Dretphi finds a spot on the other side of the couch, relaxing into the seat, and drops off her pencil and paper pad on the coffee table. "Enough supplies for the mission. If we venture far from the city, we should stock up. As a precaution."
The kitchen door from the garage opens, and Cideeda steps through with a toothy grin on her face and announces happily. "Our ride is properly fixed up."
Rolling her emerald green eyes with a derisive undertone, she rests her hands on her hips, lowering her furry ears, and grumbles out. "And... The local authoritative assholes are satisfied with the repairs I've done to the taillight. Paid the court fees, too."
She walks over to the fridge, opens the door, and searches through the stock of drinks. "Gods. Fifty minute wait to settle something in less than five minutes. I even showed up right when the courthouse opened."
Taking a break from her alchemy preparation, Sotalia glances over to Cideeda, smirking amused. "Did you get your license updated?"
Cideeda pulls out a can of fruit juice, flashes an incredulous sneer at Sotalia, and snorts, shaking her head with a laugh. "You'd think I'd be back HERE now if I did THAT? I thought my wait was bad, until I realized the same people I saw in that line coming in were still standing in the same places when I was coming out."
Cracking open the pull top to the beverage, Cideeda grits her teeth, sighing reluctantly, and walks over to the dining table. "I think I'll do that when I literally and figuratively have nothing better to do with my life."
Smiling slyly, Sotalia stirs with a glass rod, swirling up a concoction of reagents in a glass beaker, and chuckles to herself. "I shall look forward to expanding my knowledge of fvalian insults in the future."
Hovering nearby, Sebastian studies printouts of the mission description and a labeled map on the dining table. Bach sorts through the lists of information in front of him and eases back into his chair. "I don't know, man. Something about this seems a bit off. I mean, the first reported incident happened a little over a week ago and more came in quickly after that."
Squinting at the map, Sebastian examines the highlighted points indicated and contemplatively contorts his face, hints of suspicion rising to the surface. "Yeah, bro. The weird part of it all is that the reports sound like people are discovering something that's already been going on and gotten worse, rather than a completely new thing."
Bach nods in agreement, flips through a few pages of report details, and cocks his head to the side. "Yeah, that makes some sense. Most of these locations are in big farms, too."
Sebastian lifts an inquisitive brow and motions toward the literature of the accounts. "Did anyone mention what crops are currently growing out there?"
Searching through the lines of text, Bach frowns slightly, tapping his finger down below a few phrases, and sighs. "Corn, sunflowers, and protellows."
Humming in thought, Sebastian twists his mouth slightly and grumbles. "Oh... Okay. So basically everything that's tall, leafy, and hides everything within it."
With a tight smile, Bach groans mildly frustrated. "Yep. Exactly. Stuff has probably been hiding for a while now. That probably explains why all the reports came in so quickly after each other. People checked the fields closely and finally started finding all the phenomena."
Cideeda flicks her furry ears, raps a hand of claw tips on the tabletop, and finishes taking a swig from her drink. "Yeah, I'm still wondering about the rumbling noises and ground shaking. What was the description again..."
She traces a claw down a printout of text, settling upon a line, and reads it. "Let's see... It sounded and felt like someone was blasting out a rock with dynamite."
Narrowing her emerald green eyes, she idly swirls her beverage and ponders out loud. "I'd have to hear it myself. But... A loud sound that shakes the ground? That makes me think something had to have blown up somewhere."
Sebastian crosses his arms, sorting through his thoughts, and narrows his stare upon the map. "Yeah. But, what exactly?"
Aristespha glances over from the couch, rests her head upon the back rest, and projects her voice towards the debate. "There are maelstrom anomalies that do explode given the right trigger. They typically do not last this long, and I have never heard of them waiting this long after a maelstrom to go off."
Mulling over the many possibilities, Sebastian relaxes his shoulders and frowns in temporary defeat, gazing over the team. "Well, I don't think we're solving it today. We'll just have to wait till we get there and see it for ourselves."
Sotalia's stomach growls quietly, and she blinks a moment, glancing over to the group. "Anyone hungry? It's getting close to lunch time."
A mischievous, toothy grin appears on Cideeda's light brown face, and she presents an innocent tone. "Fval Spice?"
Sebastian smirks amused and shakes his head. "You are wearing that place out."
Cideeda finishes her drink, tosses the can in a perfect arc to the garbage can in the kitchen, and slowly pulls the key fob for the humvee out of her shorts pocket. "Hey, I'll drive. Plus, you all have to see all the dents that AREN'T in the bodywork now."
Glancing over with a smile, she winks at Bach and walks towards the kitchen. "If all else fails, you have a future in metal working."
Bach blinks a moment and narrows his eyes with a smirk, sarcasm coloring his tone. "Oh, good. I'm so happy that my post-adventuring career options are growing."
Samantha excitedly twirls into a step forward, grinning in anticipation at Gerald. "I can't WAIT for the ratings tonight! Oh, THIS is going to be an amazing episode! Competition with the other team, family drama, and so much more!"
Glancing over from his aetherphone at Samantha, Gerald contorts his neutral, vague smile. "Yeah... I guess. It's not everyday that I get to almost witness a murder or two."
Staring over towards Gerald, Samantha crosses her arms, hints of defiance emerging. "OH. It'll be just fine. We've had far bigger actual fights on the show in previous seasons. But..."
She flashes a wicked grin. "Nothing like the build up to this one. I knew the fight was going to be a big draw... But the father and son falling out at the end... TOO. PERFECT."
Holding her ringing phone up, she reads off caller identification on the screen and smiles. "It's Howie! I bet he just viewed the raw episode and is calling us."
She swiftly places the phone on a nearby desk, taps an on-display button for the speakerphone, and cheerfully chimes out. "Hey, Howie! Did you watch the episode?"
Summoning up a modicum of enthusiasm, Howard's voice trickles through from the other side of the call, and he sighs. "Yes. It's going to do quite well. I think the ratings will be worth it..."
He grumbles with a darkening tone. "They BETTER be."
Samantha's joy deflates down to confusion, and she puzzles out loud towards the phone. "You don't sound all too thrilled there, Howie. What's wrong?"
Gerald lifts an intrigued eyebrow at the situation, prying into the conversation. "Yeah... Usually you and Samantha would be plotting your next move to take over the world by now. Something happen?"
A long, exaggerated groan rolls into the room from the speakerphone, and Howard grumbles out his frustrations. "Well... It turns out that NO ONE on the investigation team cared to inform me that one of Trakenthin's house mothers... IS A FUCKING LAWYER!"
Samantha and Gerald exchange wary glances and shift their focus upon the voice roaring out of Samantha's phone. Howard growls out his aggravations, complaints spewing forth. "Of all the gods damned things to NOT bring to my fucking attention! Not even a simple, OH, by the way one of his moms is a dragon of a lawyer. NO. I had to be on the phone ALL DAY with the legal department finding out how litigious and savage that woman is!"
Sucking in an audible breath on the other side of the call, he shudders in a mix of disdain and disgust. "It took EVERYTHING I had to get them to allow tonight's episode to even air. I had to basically promise them that we will still come out ahead if it aired and we had to eventually pay a gods damned settlement."
Dragging out a long exasperated sigh, he musters up his will, continuing the conversation. "So... To say the least... NO MORE drama pieces involving Trakenthin's family! UNDERSTOOD!?"
Samantha stares wide eyed at her aetherphone and gradually nods with an awkward, uncomfortable smile. "Yes, of course, Howie. That shouldn't be too difficult. And... Anyway we got the key pieces we need to make this episode. So... I'll focus on other aspects for the next one."
Calling out through the phone from the other side of the conversation with a commanding tone. "Gerald! Make sure she does so. ALSO, let the editing staff know to bury those clips with Trakenthin and Trenannin. Keep them from using them in even so much as background clips for intro and outros."
Gerald quickly nods, twisting his mouth into an uneasy agreement. "Uh. Yeah. You got it. I'll message them right now even."
With an apologetic tone, Samantha eyes her phone. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."
A long calming exhale later, Howard draws in an equally long breath and wanders around in thought out loud. "It's okay. No fault on you all. Really. It was my plan that backfired on me. So... That's fine. I'll be able to handle it well enough..."
He pauses a moment and states. "Now... There IS one thing you all can do for me."
Furrowing his brow, Gerald stares at the speakerphone warily. "And, what would THAT be?"
Howard hums in thought and grumbles out his frustration. "If you overhear ANYTHING about what the rest of Trakenthin's house does for a living... LET ME KNOW. He has his birth mother, three house mothers, and three house sisters. If there's ANYTHING I should be on the lookout for, I NEED to know so I don't get blindsided by another lawsuit... Or worse. Gods al-fucking-mighty I dread to think of what else they might try to get back at me."
Reiterating his sentiment, he emphasizes his intentions. "Seriously. If you even overhear enough to suspect that one of them is a current or retired black ops assassin, or someone who can get government permission to take someone out... FOR FUCK'S SAKE! LET. ME. KNOW!"