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"No," Mimsy bitterly muttered, before he had even finished his sentence. The gear was all here, and the empty vials that she typically carried in her coat pocket were present, but confirming the safety of the remaining two Hunters close to her was of critical importance on her list of necessities.

"I will have to simply trust that Lucky will be safe until our return, due to the presumable absence of danger to his current location, but I do need to know that Shu is safe as well." With a look of thoughtful determination, she put on the goggles - over her glasses, because the point was to be able to see, obviously - and stood on her toes to search for her.

Nothing. Plenty of other faces, all meaningless, but not the one that she was looking for.

"Hm. I cannot see her from here, but I think that it is safe to assume that she would be following Caelius' orders, considering her specific type of affinity towards him." Which she still didn't entirely understand, but she couldn't fault her; she knew that it was not really possible to choose who to consider admirable above others. "So! I suppose that we should opt to scavenge, in an effort to increase our statistical probability of locating her."

While the suggestion was made with finding her in mind, they would not, however, be scavenging for Shu. By definition, that would mean that she had been abandoned or cast aside somewhere, which was certainly not the case - and never would be, she confidently believed.

Well, wasn't this just ******** fantastic? Finn really just could not think of a better way to spend his evening. No, sleeping in a comfortable bed was far too mundane and boring. Being hauled of bed at god knows what hour? So ******** amazing. Loved his job. Absolutely.

Finn took little time to get ready. If his training had at least taught him one thing, it was that he should always be prepared, and all it took was for him to throw on his clothes and his uniform over top and he was good to go, his pockets already filled with any necessities he thought he might require in an emergency.

And this had better be some kind of emergency.

Standing outside in the dark and starless night was unsettling enough. Finn wanted to get moving, wanted to know what all of this was about.

When they were ushered through the portal, however....

"Oh ******** me, no." He spat out the second they were through. Blinding white sunshine, sand, heat, the wind already whipping granules into his face....

He wrapped his scarf around his mouth and nose, and slipped the goggles on as soon as they were handed over, taking his eyepatch off and pocketing it in the process.

Instructions given by their oh so terrifying Death division leader, Finn fell out with the crowd.

Apparently it was time to actually do his job.

He didn't even bother looking for any of his so called friends. He still wasn't even remotely in the mood.

Waking up in the middle of the night to people yelling and ordering and general chaos was not unheard of. It didn’t happen all the time, but it had happened enough that Sherry hardly wasted time grumbling about it. Or trying to ask too many questions. Instead she spent her time making sure Jake was awake, and then set about grabbing her things before joining every one out in the dark of night.

Things seemed a bit strange, the air felt off, and the night seemed especially dark. It was almost too warm and gross to cling to Jake, so she settled for grasping at his shirt. She didn’t bother asking his opinion on things as they were herded along to the lighthouse. It was late, she was tired, and they’d gone through this before, more or less. Nothing good was waiting at their destination, it didn’t help to dwell on it. Rather, it helped to focus on making sure one had picked up all necessary supplies and stuff.

Scanner, headset, bandages, goggles. Sherry made sure to grab them all. She was glad she’d had the sense to grab her flask and put on her sturdiest boots, too. With so many hunters being present… She forced herself not to the think about it. Rather, she gave Jake a grim nod and stepped through the portal.

She had to blink a few times, an involuntary response to the light. Her first thought was, Desert. Always the desert. The strange landscape was new though. Holes in the ground, pillars, sand…. All familiar in a way, and totally new in others. Perhaps the familiar was the sun and the sense of dread creeping up on Sherry.

Her attention was taken by those handing out orders. First someone she didn’t know and then… Well. The Death lead was pleasant as ever. The warnings against screwing up were normal and to be expected, the words Class S mission were not. Yep. Things just kept getting better and better.

Once they were dismissed, Sherry gave Jake a look and put on her goggles. “Shall we?” She gestured to the different groups. “Scavenging?”

"Okay." She didn't exactly sound happy as she dragged Jake off to that they might get their orders.

Sherry was glad she'd not grabbed her warm clothes. Stupid deserts. Hot and sandy and bright and usually not very fun at all. "Let's hope this goes... not horribly bad. I'm still sleepy."

There were four hunters manning the tiny northwest coast outpost, and the message had come in late at night. They were all used to scrambling at a moment's notice, and so it hadn't taken too long. One out of four, the message said, the rest left to the original wendigo tracking mission. S-class mission.

b safe, Jordan's phone said, and he wasn't going to tell Harrison he'd volunteered.

Sand and heat and black glass, and maybe it was the Sahara and maybe it wasn't, and he was terrified and that was actually standard working conditions. It didn't have to show. He pulled his goggles down and rearranged his scarf loosely around his neck. The wind wasn't kicking the sand up enough to require a mask yet, but it was always a possibility.

Scanner, headset, daggers, mission kit, and they were as ready for this as they ever would be.