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Madison brushed her bangs out of her face for what felt like the dozenth time; the humidity did stupid things to her hair, and this bugged her more than it really should.

... Though the boxes of explosives being heaved around were rather unnerving, too.

... As was Robert with his shirt off, but for entirely different reasons.

Fortunately or unfortunately for Dillon, the mist trainee had yet to experience the terror and constant state of : oh s**t. that was Caelius. Which meant that the appropriately timed and well in advance message was received with the same amount of gratitude a normal person would have when told he had a dentist appointment the next day. Or something like that.

He did however, appreciate the fact that he was informed much earlier, which gave him enough time to pack his bag with the necessary equipment he would need. Most of it. The mist trainee would arrive on time, and was more keen on observing his surroundings than mingling with the other trainees. Dillon stared at the scene involving a shirtless and gorilla like Robert from the corner of his eye.

... Yep.

From what he had seen thus far, the death division leader did seem like the saner type, unlike the leaders of the sun division. Someone who could sit down and deal with a fortress of paperwork struck him as someone decent.

Just how long into this mission would it take to prove him wrong?

Caelius was warning them a day in advance and for a reasonable time of day? When he received the text, Jordan briefly contemplated heading down to the labs and asking if anyone had used a Fear-detection thermometer on the man recently. Somebody had to have, though, he supposed; instead of asking stupid questions, he made sure his mission pack was ready and alarm set with enough time for breakfast. That in itself was pretty amazing. Enough warning beforehand that he could have his coffee - madness!

He hadn't expected the heat and humidity on the other side of the portal, and he grimaced as he stepped out onto the other side. Worse than the Florida mission. There was a good-sized group of trainees here already, plus two senior hunters - one of whom was Sandy, and Jordan looked away, feeling guilty all over again.

He stepped to one side and took a moment to shuck off his coat and tie it around his waist. God, this heat was disgusting.

Clerise laughed. "That's the ******** truth. I hate the heat. Give me snow any day of the week~"

She just leered at the girl when chests were mentioned.

There may have been lip wetting involved. Just to mess with her.

"Fine. Do you want to like...put your hair back or something? You look like ...I dunno, ********, cousin it on a bad day." She waved a hand at Sasha's hair. "You sure do have a lot of it.

Sasha couldn't help it. She just.. when Clerise wet her lips, Sasha ... well.



After blinking a million times, Sasha offered Clerise a weak smile. She'd braided her hair just that morning, but it was getting a little out of control by this point. Sleeping on the ground outside of the portal had left half of her thick black hair unwound and tangled with a twig here and there while the humidity was bringing out the frizz-factor.

Lifting up a hand to brush back her hair from her face, Sasha exhaled mournfully.

"I should cut it," she lamented quietly, undoing the band that kept the mass relatively together. "You can fix it if you want. I was just going to wind it up. It's so hot out. I'm getting all... all... sticky."

Oh, that was hilarious. "That would be such a shame. I kept mine short because getting caught by the hair on a trapeze bar would be...you know. A messy decapitation!" She sounded awfully cheerful about those prospects. She motioned for Sasha to turn around so she could fix the poor, frizzy ...mess.

Hair was one thing she could do. Smoothing it out as best as she could, Clerise chose to plait it in a french braid, to get it shorter. It was still a LOT of hair to work through, but it would probably help.

A little, anyway. "Yes, that is a thing that happens in the heat, girly. Hold still."

"Holding up? More like being held up - seriously, put me down! It's way too hot for this s**t!" Madison laughed, whacking Robert on the back again. "Sheesh, I missed you too, you dork."

"You, too," she added, turning enough to point at Jordan with her free hand.

When Sandy started speaking, Madison quieted, taking the opportunity to slip free, though she stayed near Jordan and Robert. "Hm. Lots of gear, this time... I brought my bandages too, Boss," she added, nodding at Jordan. She looked thoughtfully at the extras they were expected to bring along.

"Yeah, I've missed you." Jordan smiled at Maddie, pleased to see her again. Possibly not the best time and place for reunions, but he'd track her down after the mission and find out what she'd been off doing.

He needed to pick up the equipment that Sandy had lid out on the table. First, however ... "Robert, put your shirt back on, bro."