Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lance tapped the pen impatiently against the desk as the hunters filtered in one by one. "Normally I'd congratulate all of you on reaching the end of your trainee status," the Mist assistant began as soon as enough trainees were present, "But this time something's been picked up on the long range scanners. A sweep of Hunters has already gone through and taken care of the bulk of the work, but there's enough left to get your guys' feet wet. Charlotte?"

The Moon division assistant shuffled uncomfortably in her seat as attention was placed on her. "U-um," she began, "T-this is going to be a rescue mission. T-The, um, town's been overrun with zombies and we've detected a few civilians left..."

Lance took over again. "Normally we'd leave them. Deus Ex doesn't have resources to spare, however there's something odd about this hoard. It shouldn't be too dangerous for you guys -- they're just the standard shamblers. You know, Night of the Living Dead? The classic zombie that just shuffles forward moaning about brains? It's a giant gathering of those guys. Normally when something like this happens, there's something nearby that's the cause. The hunters weren't able to find the source, but since there's some civilians left..." He shrugged. "The easiest way to take care of a large hoard like that is to bomb them and pin the blame on an out of control wildfire. Can't exactly do that with civilians, yeah?"

"Your mission is to locate the survivors and escort them to the extraction site." Lance continued as Charlotte handed out maps of the town. "The extraction site is outlined in red. Get them there in one piece and make sure they don't get bitten. Fear infected wounds on a human are never a good thing."

Tuck listened very intently to everything that Lance and Charlotte said, glancing down at the map in his hands once he'd received one from the Moon assistant. There was no denying the fact that Tuck felt immensely confident about this extraction. Evan was here, Heidi, too... Peyton was given a fleeting glance. He knew for a fact that she was skilled, but Tuck hadn't forgotten her little 'Evan is a diving board' shenanigan after the cruise had gone really south. He didn't trust her, and wouldn't until Evan said that she was worth trusting.

Whatever. He'd been laying low prior to the tournament, and amazingly enough he'd been able to avoid island drama because of it. It was something he completely intended to continue, and so clearing his throat, Tuck gave Lance all of his attention.

He was so ******** ready for this promotion.

Charlotte drew a picture of a zombie to make sure Peyton understood how serious zombies were, it was a pretty beautiful looking zombie with long flowing hair and sparkling eyelashes.

Peyton looked down at the drawing, up at the division assistant, then side long towards the others. With out a word she held the picture up for Heidi, letting her attention drift up to Lance as he explained zombies a little more fully and the risks attached with being bitten.

Don't get bitten. Sounded simple enough.

When they were being herded out the door she took her map back, folding it up and sliding it into the back pocket of her shorts.

She didn't have a whole lot to say. No questions that hadn't already been asked or answered, so she fell into line with the others and followed along to the lighthouse without so much as a peep.

She did, however, offer Heidi a very bright smile should the other girl happen to look in her direction.

Tuck might've muttered something under his breath that sounded something like Evan is a p***y as he gave Heidi's hand a squeeze, but he was all smiles at Charlotte and Lance. He didn't have any questions in particular, and surprisingly enough he didn't have momma-bird syndrome. This was a promotion, and he knew Heidi could handle it.

Momma-bird syndrome would kick in if things got hairy - and things always got hairy.

"We gonna be looking for the source of the zombies while we're there, sir?" The question was directed at Lance, of course, and Charlotte was given a very small, polite, oh honey you are precious smile.

Evan just kind of stared, dumbfounded, at the single word of text lighting up the screen of his cell phone. He didn't know who it was from and, without context, it didn't make any sense. Maybe it had been a mistake on the sender's part. Maybe they would realize it themselves and he could unpack his s**t and go to--oh, nope, there was another one, giving him a where to go with the who.

He dutifully hauled himself down to the lighthouse and was bemused to find no one but the Moon assist waiting for him. While Evan tried to be at least friendly with most people on the island, he had never met this girl before--that he could remember, anyway, and it was sad to think that that was an actual factor. "Ma'am," he said, nodding respectfully. "Got your texts. I'm afraid I don't--" understand was what he had been going to say until he caught sight of the trio making their way towards the portal.

Friends, he thought, smiling and shaking his head. Tuck and Heidi and--well. Mostly friends, anyway. He pointedly ignored Peyton, instead turning his grin on the pair of Moons. "Aw, c'mon, you haven't even left yet and you already need backup?" Evan asked lightly.

Upon Evan's arrival, Tuck reached out with a big hand and clapped the other man on the back in a sort of greeting. A manly greeting. While Evan had a way of really working him up sometimes, pissing him off - there really wasn't another man on the island Tuck trusted more to have his back when things got rough.

It was a huge relief to see the big blonde sun. A huge relief.

"Glad you decided to show up," Tuck joked, noticing the way Peyton was given no real greeting or even recognition. "I think we're just about ready to get this show on the road."