Welcome to Gaia! ::

As soon as her feet touched the tile, it shifted under her. And like the novice she was, Aria looked down.

She completely missed the swinging log until it hit her, catching her in her chest and sending her flying back towards the entrance. She hit the wall with a crash and slid down, wheezing.

"H-holy crap," she gasped, breathless. "I'm just... going to lie here for a second. Okay? Okay." She closed her eyes and winced, breathless and on her back in front of Edmund.

"Miss Velda, you wouldn't happen to have my taken my weapons, would you?"

He had just complimented her...but now he was talking about weapons? For some reason this left Velda feeling slightly frustrated with the trainee, and she was audibly disgruntled when she responded, "Princesses don't need weapons, Cael."

Edmund and Aria would likely be up there at any moment, as the girl seemed very capable, and Edmund would surely help her out if they hit any snags.

Aria watched Edmund's back carefully, trying to step where he stepped. Then she caught up with him. She was close -- so close. All she had to do was take a step and --

She felt the tile slide under her foot. This time, Aria's training kicked in and she jumped forward, using her hands to press down on another tile and flip herself over the rest of the board to safety. She managed to land on her feet, taking a moment to toss her hair over her shoulders while grinning triumphantly towards Edmund. It didn't matter that she was trying to kick him earlier: she did it. She finally performed a ******** flip.

"Well? You coming?" She asked him innocently, crossing her arms across her chest. The movement made her wince, forcing her to drop her arms and rest one on her hip. Minus 25 cool points, Aria.

The loud jangling over the headset reconfirmed that Caelius thought otherwise regarding his current status. He was currently attempting to coil them around each other to see if they would strain and break - no luck so far. Goddamnit Velda, did she really have to take all his weapons-

- A thought suddenly occurred to him followed by another thought. He mentally groaned. How far was he willing to go to sacrifice his freedom?

"Miss Velda, I just remembered that I left a present for you from my last mission. It's sitting in my room and it'll, uh, it'll melt if we let it sit too long. Maybe its a good idea if I you know, go back to get it for you?"

The trick to this game was to not let too much desperation slide into his voice. Just to make sure this was his only absolute last resort, he twisted the chains as hard as he could, they groaned slightly - just a little more -

- Ten seconds later absolutely exhausted, Caelius just resorted to sitting on the stone 'ground', looking extremely put out.

Aria gaped. Then she slammed back into reality as realization hit her, inspiring her to look away as her cheeks burned. No. Just. No. Fail, Aria, fail. Getting attention was the last thing she wanted to do, both as a trainee and as a Mist. Moreso as a trainee, she was learning. She was supposed to be all about stealth, all about not being noticed and here -- here --

Her brain stuttered to a stop as she stared blankly as Edmund dodged the traps. He made it look... easy. She dropped her gaze and turned, giving him a brief nod as she turned. She muttered a reply, still too flustered to give a straight answer.

She recovered as they climbed the ladder then the stairs to the top of the tower, regaining her composure. She was a Mist. Mist. Mistmistmistmistmist COME ON!

...she still felt uncomfortable with the other hunter behind her. It was -- no. Stop. Focus. She was almost done, wasn't she? And once she was done, she could get out of here. Go back to being watched closely, yes, but it was familiar. Comfortable.

The trapdoor felt good to kick up, even if she failed to kick it up all the way. She reached out with her hands and shoved it open, emerging onto the roof and stepping aside for Edmund. Aria paused as she caught sight of Caelius, arching one eyebrow at the sight. He looked... Depressed? Defeated? She wanted to pat him on the head, refraining from doing so after catching sight of his coat. Sun hunter. Oh boy.

"...Island divisions are so weird," Aria muttered, approaching Caelius and staring at the cuff. Let's see, which pocket did she keep her lockpick in again...?

It would be a terrible lie to say that Edmund didn't enjoy the view following Aria up, but the scene that greeted him was even better. Liam's boy, shackled at the top, getting hit by a very familiar piece of shimmery pink satin, and wearing a hangdog expression. Oh Velda...finally taking some initiative with her little crush.

Smiling, the Life hunter greeted the boy with a reassuring, "You know she made that dress herself. By hand." His voice was slightly strained and his shoulders shook ever so slightly as he proceeded to...not bother trying to unlock Caelius at all.

The Sun trainee was, for a small portion, rather mortified. Velda had spent a long time making that dress by hand, oh god, maybe he should just stay in this tower forever. Like a princess.

That is, until he caught that look on Velda's lackey, the slight shake of his shoulders, the fact that that b*****d pretty much ignored him entirely, "Wait a second, did you set me up?"

This thought was once again interrupted by this Aria trainee patting him on the head like a puppy what was even going on. He glowered at the two of them, breaking eye contact just enough to nervously glance at the ticking shackles oh god Velda why before glancing back, tapping the headset with his free hand. "My rescuers are here, is there a portal to use to exit?"