Welcome to Gaia! ::

Odette smiled again at the boy. Introducing herself seemed to do the trick to calm him down. "I'm Odette Cygnet. It's a pleasure to meet you, Styke," She said, turning to look around for his teammates. She was certain the boy wouldn't be exploring alone.

She stood immediately when she saw Milieu, rushing over to hug the tealblood. She wrapped her arms tightly around the tealblood. "Milieu, I'm so glad you're here," She sighed and nuzzled into the tealblood's shoulder. Her familiar smell filled Odette with warmth, tightening her hug. "I've missed you so much. I was worried that you might not show," Odette pulled away and looked up at Milieu, a genuine smile in her eyes.

A hug. A tight hug. Warmth washed over Milieu as she was held. It felt so nice to be held and to hear what Odette was saying. She had been worried. Choking back a sob, she squeezed back the red blood as her shoulders shook. Maybe I wasn't right...

That genuine smile elicited a similar one in Milieu, who beamed back at the ballerina broadly. Taking Odette's hand, she nodded and wiped her eyes, just glad that the warmth, the hug, and the smile were meant.

As your team wanders through the vast tunnel system surrounding the Pheonix Initiative's base, you're surprised to stumble upon Errade, clutching a small sack. "Can I help you?" She asks stiffly, stopping to address your stares.

What will you ask?

A. What are you doing in the tunnels?

B. What does the Head of Intelligence do?

C. Heard rumors that you fought a lot with Qinlon and Zhuque. Why?

TROUBLE
Team Members: Kursha Vidari, Byakko Mawiya, Rasali Panaka
Your Roll: None
Current Stamina: 0

“You can.” Kursha grinned. He placed a hand on his hip.“I heard something about you fighting with Zhuwhatsit and...” He trailed off, noticing the sharp look Byakko was sending him. “Zhuque and Qinlon,” he corrected. “What was the deal?”

TROUBLE
Team Members: Kursha, Byakko, and Rasali
Your Roll: -
Current Stamina: 2 - 1 = 1


Byakko was indeed shooting visual daggers at Kursha as he questioned Errade, the head of the Initiative's Intelligence Department. It wasn't his questioning that prompted the glare, or the fact he was trying to interrogate one of the rebellion's highest ranking, but rather the mention of her predecessors. She specifically twitched at the reference of her guardian, but otherwise remained collected. Kursha was just doing his job, yes, what she herself had asked of him. Still... as Kursha's eyes met her own, correcting himself without prompt, she couldn't help but feel like his verbal slip up was intentional.

Errade's response didn't surprise the mutant. The orangeblood had never been the warmest of trolls, although she did try to make herself approachable to the members of the Initiative. Akko silently thanked the gogs for the adult's curt response while simultaneously cursing it; she wasn't sure she was ready to hear gossip about Trolldad's relationship drama or why Errade would speak poorly of him, but she also realized the relevance to their investigation. When Akko thought back about it herself, she realized how little she actually knew about Trolldad's life outside of his time with her...

Wait.

Where was Rasali?

TEAM NAME
Team Members: Zeffer, Aprife, Tete-ke on me
Your Roll: 5
Current Stamina: 2/2 (3 extra)-1 = 1/2 (3 extra)

It had seemed like a good idea at first, to suggest going out to Chittentown again. Zeffer considered their previous trip there a success, and while the base was interesting enough, the blueblood could feel himself going just a bit stir crazy. There were people to talk to in town, and while he was trying to take the investigation seriously, who could fault him for feeling just a little bored? Those sentiments had melted away nearly an hour ago however, because on the way out of the tunnels, he'd managed to get the trio pretty turned around.

"Well ********. I thought this was the way." He had to laugh at himself. It was all he could do, and instead he held onto the hope that they'd see or hear something useful in the mean time. Whistling clumsily for a second, he regarded his teammates. There was still a little tension in the air, no doubt from their previous argument, and Tete was more quiet than he'd ever seen. "So, uhh...how you guys doin' tonight?" He asked, and tried not to smile too much. Aprife had more or less filled him in on the details by then, and it had taken a lot of effort to lay off teasing the greenblood the way he usually did.

TEAM NAME
Team Members: Zeffer, Aprife, Tetruffle
Your Roll: 3
Current Stamina: 2/2 (3 extra)-1 = 1/2 (3 extra)

Being lost did however bother Muerte to some extent, though his pride kept him quiet and outwardly calm. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic to be back down in the tunnels again, not after the incident that occurred the previous night but... also because it was suffocating to be down here. He didn't like how narrow the tunnels were, how humid and heavy the air was to breathe. His boots threatened to slip on the grime and dust collected on the stone floor.

He would have been perfectly content to remain without conversation. Lately, Aprife and Zeffer had been taking it upon themselves to keep up the idle chatter, and thankfully had left him out of the majority of it save for the occasions he decided to stop brooding and speak up. He had incidentally stopped brooding since the prior nights; rather he just looked a little tired and somewhat pensive. The sooner they could find their way out of this damnable maze, the better.

When Zeffer spoke up, it caught him by slight surprise, the echoing voice making his head snap up from the ground in a sort of half-jump. He had wondered if the yellowblood had filled his cohort in on the lasting events. Whether he did or not didn't really matter in the end, but he still found himself annoyed. He wasn't in the mood to talk, especially not about that.

He would have been fine letting Aprife answer the question for the both of them, but of course caught the slight inflection at the end, obviously meant for him; some sort of affirmation. Even he had to admit that things were going better, smoother. There was still a bit of awkward tension between the two, but it had begun the slow process of dissolving. It would remain as such so long as the two could put aside their differences for now, Muerte was certain.

Still, despite his reservations, he supposed the duo wasn't too awful.

Well.

Zeffer was still insufferable at times, but even he had calmed down in the aftermath of this week. Aprife was a bit harder to read for the greenblood, but he was at least quiet and calculative when he needed to be. Traits Muerte could at least appreciate. His mind wandered back to the minor scuffle... it disgusted him to think that perhaps he was wrong, but he at least believed there was still truth to some of his words. He still had no desire for the cause, and his work now was merely some mutilated form of guilt, some sort of halfhearted apology because the doctor himself was far too vain to say so out loud. He was merely fulfilling his obligations, now.

Besides, taking his frustrations out on whoever the rouge rebels turned out to be sounded very appealing at the moment, especially given the work he was starting to put in.

He found himself looking at the ground again, trying to step over the shadows on the floor until he realized they were connected to his body, always there. Focus Perist. Looking up at the rest of his group, he only offered an indifferent shrug, "I suppose," he said, rather loud and rather nonchalant, "That things are just fine."

TEAM NAME
Team Members: Zeffer, Aprife, ToTeTi
Your Roll: 6 it's all dark n s**t
Current Stamina: 1/2 (3 extra)-1= 0/2 (3 extra)

Playful eyes said 'nice save' when the blueblood caught himself, tucking the nickname away for another time. It was obvious their companion preferred Muerte to any cry of 'Teteeeeee' Aprife had ever heard. Even if he thought the shortened version was fun, cute even, it was better to try and keep things civil for now, keep them from tipping into bad territory again. If only for the remainder of their investigation. Or hell, if only for the remainder of this trip through the tunnels, because the dimly lit, ever narrowing corridors weren't exactly idea for diffusing tense situations.

"I'm sure you would've done just fine," The yellowblood considered the ceiling for a moment. He was lucky he didn't trip, but maybe sweeps of walking around with untied shoes had seasoned him against most treacherous of footfalls. "If you didn't have us you'd probably have Akko, at least. She's pretty smart." Ah, Byakko. The fact that she was alive had still been rattling around in his think pan, even if it had taken a temporary backseat to the important task they'd been assigned. Alive, among many other things. There he went smiling again, not that it was difficult to earn such an expression from him.

Then again, as smart as he or Muerte or Akko might be, that didn't mean Zeffer was inept. It was true, his fortes lay elsewhere, but as he spoke up with yet another lead, it only bolstered the fact that he'd put in plenty of legwork, just like the rest of them. He'd helped just as much.

"Ha, I guess that's too bad for Muerte, though. There's one invasive surgery he'll never get to perform."