Altitude: Islands in the Sky

[Seto_Sora]

OOC: Hey guys, I'm so sorry I haven't posted. Life has hit me hard just recently and this last blow has left me to realize I can't devote as much time to this RP as I really want to. Please do with my characters as you like, kill them, use them take them over. I'm sorry about the inconvenience. God bless.

[Nami]

OOC: D: Oh no!! That's awful. I'm sorry you have to leave. You are the main bad guy!! D: I hope things get better dude.

[Atria35]

OOC: really sorry to hear that! Hope things get better soon!

[Diamond Dragon]

ooc: I'm so sorry Seyo! I hope things get better for you soon!

[acgifford]

OOC:you will be very missed. I will pray for you buddy.

[Darth_Kirby]

OOC: Yeah, I get ya. Murphy's law and all. I'll keep you in prayer Seto!

[Mister]

OOC: sorry to hear about that Seyo. thank you for what you've done so far!

Juliana Stared with hatred in her hollow eyes at the man who had grabbed her, she lashed out with her foot, driving it into his stomach. she stuggled hopelessly against his powerful hold, trying to get free and complete her mission.

[Diamond Dragon]

Denkou was again shocked out of her thoughts when the little girl screamed, "Die Daddy!" and was about to drive a knife to his heart. Then another man stopped her just in time. But the girl was still struggling and kicked him in the stomach. Before Denkou even knew what she was doing, she had thrown the metal bar she had at the girl. The end of it conked the girl on the head. Denkou slumped to the floor, since she had that bar for support for her injured heel.

[Darth_Kirby]

Denkou was again shocked out of her thoughts when the little girl screamed, "Die Daddy!" and was about to drive a knife to his heart. Then another man stopped her just in time. But the girl was still struggling and kicked him in the stomach. Before Denkou even knew what she was doing, she had thrown the metal bar she had at the girl. The end of it conked the girl on the head. Denkou slumped to the floor, since she had that bar for support for her injured heel.

"Uff!"

The girl kicked him!

"Fiesty little brat!" Ulairez thought to himself.

Then one of the other passengers trew a metal bar at the girl's head with amazing accuracy knocking her out cold. Miss Little Assassin slumped to the floor limp. Maiz quickly disarmed the girl.

"Nice shot!" Maiz said to the female passenger, that had different colored eyes.

Then Maiz finally realized his situation and where he was again. He looked over at the captain to see him about to pull his hair out in frustration due to all the chaos. He also noticed that he had dropped his wad of drachmae on the ground.

"Uh... heh... Ulairez Maiz, nice to meet you. Uh... would 700 drachmae earn me a fare on this crazy plane." Ulairez said somewhat nervously but comically as well, extending his non-bloodied hand...

[Davidizer13]

OOC: @Seto: I'll be praying! Real life > pretendy funtime games; when things get better, feel free to jump back in whenever you want.

Raven saw her cue - she sat down on top of the crazed girl who had the knife. She reached for the bloodied blade, but Maiz grabbed it before she could. Compared to the swords on her belt, it wasn't worth the trouble, but you never know... She gave a look to Denkou; could she snap and start stabbing everyone in sight, too? She probably would.

"Seven hundred drachmae..." pondered Truce, eying the girl on the floor. Just then, the plane kicked forward. The engines' buzz grew louder; they were on the move. "Well, it's too late to kick you off now! You wouldn't mind going to Ikura, would you? No, of course you would, you don't exactly have a choice anymore. We have to lay low for a bit, surely you understand. We just had a run-in with some rather unpleasant characters with guns, as you probably saw... Rather hazardous to our health." His eye caught a drop of blood from Maiz's wounded hand as it slid down and fell to the ground.

"Well, on to our next guest. You, with the swords. As much as that doctor helped us out, I doubt he would want us to take his daughter, too... We'd turn around and drop you back off, save for our friends waiting for us out there, so we'll just have to hope that our doctor friend doesn't mind his little girl getting kidnapped for a couple days."

There was a devastating crunch that reverberated through the plane, nearly knocking him off his feet. "Oh, for- What was that?" Right after he spoke, he remembered the wreck on the runway, balled his hands into fists, and grit his teeth, making little whimpering noises.

[Darth_Kirby]

Raven saw her cue - she sat down on top of the crazed girl who had the knife. She reached for the bloodied blade, but Maiz grabbed it before she could. Compared to the swords on her belt, it wasn't worth the trouble, but you never know... She gave a look to Denkou]that?[/I]" Right after he spoke, he remembered the wreck on the runway, balled his hands into fists, and grit his teeth, making little whimpering noises.

"Well that explains the frayed nerves of everyone here." Ulairez thought to himself.

The captain had just admitted that the crew of this plane was directly involved in the shootings, but at least Maiz had gotten lucky with the departure timing, not to mention the little girl incident. A young woman was sitting on the psychotic little assassin now. She was pretty cute, but looked more than annoyed at the girl who had made the pitch of the day to knock out the assassin girl.

"I wonder what their deal with each other is?"

Maiz figured whatever it was that he shouldn't get involved in it. The captain asked if Maiz minded going to Ikura. It didn't matter to Maiz. As long as it was somewhere new to him. The captain turned his attention to the other passangers for a bit until the plane hit what was probably the earlier plane wreck. The captain was about to blow a gaskit, probably thinking of the repairs that he was going to have to make. That gave Ulairez an idea.

"If you don't mind sir, I'll pay you 3,000 drachmae if you let me stay on the plane for several trips."

That got the man's attention. Seeing as this plane would likely be pursued they'd probably move about more than a normal cargo plane. That would give him more places to see in a shorter period of time, not to mention make the trips a whole lot cheaper. Ulairez smiled at the man's facial reactions. He was obiviously calculating the profit and the costs involved...

[acgifford]

-Adele-

Adele continued to pray to God for strength. After she had finished, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She somehow felt better and more calm after her prayers. Taking yet another deep breath for good measures she then slumped back in the passenger seat relaxing moment. When the last time she relaxed was she did not know. She almost felt guilty for stealing this moment as everything went on around her, but she figured she deserved it. She closed her eyes slowly and started to collect her thoughts. What had happened exactly? She thought hard. Her mind kept comming back to JP's face. Who is he? I know him. I know I do.... she thought and sighed. As she searched her memories a young boy's smiling face popped up in her mind. The name Juan sounded off in her brain sounding as distant as she felt at the moment. The boy had black wavy hair and kind brown eyes that seemed to warm her as she looked into them. His skin looked tanned and he was smiling at her. It was then she remembered who he was. Juan Romesco. He was her childhood friend when she still lived at home. Before everything in her life became busy. Juan was the grandson of her nanny.

Adele's thoughts then returned to JP. His face. It looked like Juan's only older. Could it be? Juan is JP? Juan did like to be called JP when they were kids. Could it be him? Her eyes widened and her stomach did a backflip. "Juan..."she whispered. She starred into space a moment letting the thought sink in. "It is him." she said trying to contain herself. "It's Juan."
With that she quickly got up and headed back to the cargo bay. Just then, the plane lurched foward throwing Adele off balance. She caught herself on the back of a passsenger seat. "What was that?!" she said in surprise. It was then she noticed the commotion in the cargo bay. As she entered she could see that the captain had his fists clenched and was whimpering in anger. As her eyes scanned the room, she saw Juan sitting on a crate with Raven not to far off sitting atop Juliana. Adele's heart skipped a few beats when she saw Juan. She really wanted to go to him, but realized that now would not be a good time at all.

Ulairez's hand was bleeding and he was offering the captain a pile of money. Adele chewed her lip. She could feel the tension in the atmosphere. She decided to go to the captain. She quietly appproached him and layed her hand lightly on his shoulder trying too calm him.

[Mister]

Price entered the specified location under the shadows of the trees. it was a bright night with the moon in full glory, but the trees cast tormented shadows over the entrance to the building he now stood in. there was no sound but that of the wind, even the sounds of the Taimat speeding down the runway were not heard here.

After a moment Price stepped farther into the old rundown warehouse, once outfitted for an office after being refurbished and modified... something was familiar about this place... something ominous. as Price rounded a slightly charred and decaying pile of office chairs and desks, a light switched on, revealing a man sitting in the center of the room. the light was behind him and kept his face and body as a shadwy silhoute.

"hello Price, it's been a long time. i wonder why you don't contact me more often?" the man's voice was low and smooth, a politician's voice. it was the voice of authority and power, a vocie that demanded respect and admiration. Price grabbed a less charred and decayed chair and sat down accross from the man. "Serigi Foxhound, it truely has been a long time. i try not to affiliate myself with Vipers. though my enemies know me to be warmonger, the populace do not."

Serigi chuckled and asked, "anyway, how is the hunt for romesco going? weren't you two very close long ago? romours have it that you two were..... fmaily?" Price's eyes narrowed, rage boiled up within him. "i don't see how that's any of your business Politician," his voice was low, cold, and controlled, "the Romesco matter is my problem alone, stay out of it."

Serigi Foxhound narrowed his eyes even though he knew the shadows hid his face. He was not used to being told off, but he knew better than to actually react. "As you wish, friend," his words were slow, and sarcastic, "the shipment of fighter planes and parachutes you ordered from your production plant are ready and waiting on your airfield. my men have secured it safely."

Price nodded slowly and replied, "thank you very much, friend, you will recieve my backing in the next election." Price stood then and walked fromt he building and back to his car. still seated inside the old warehouse Serigi chuckled to himself, it was like leading a blind man through the darkness while he had night vision. no one knew where Serigi was headed, not even the ones he was leading.

[Diamond Dragon]

Raven saw her cue - she sat down on top of the crazed girl who had the knife. She reached for the bloodied blade, but Maiz grabbed it before she could. Compared to the swords on her belt, it wasn't worth the trouble, but you never know... She gave a look to Denkou]that?[/I]" Right after he spoke, he remembered the wreck on the runway, balled his hands into fists, and grit his teeth, making little whimpering noises.

Denkou looked up when the captain starting speaking to her. He thinks I'm that docter's daughter! She realized. She balled her ands into fists. "I'm NOT the docter's daughter." she growled. Then suddenly the plane pitched, and Denkou was knocked head over heels to the other wall, and her injured heel banged into it. She cried out in pain as the wound started to bleed again through her shoe.

[Nami]

There was too much noise in the engine-room for either of the mechanics to hear what was going on in the rest of the plane. Isabella darted from spot to spot like a bee in a hive. She was nursing a bruised head while putting everything right with the engine.

"What happened anyway?" Gabriel shouted as a burst of steam spewed at him angrily. He jumped back and turned a valve. He raced to the other side and flicked a switch turning a wheel and steadying the pressure.

"Oh, I forgot to tell the Captain about something that happened when we crashed." Isabella hollered. Only, Gabriel didn't heart most of that. What he heard was;

"Oh... got... tell.. tain... about...thing...hap...whe...crash..."

Gabriel blinked several times, trying to make sense of his sisters words, "what?" he shouted.

"What?!" She screamed.

"Never mind." Gabriel flapped this gloved hand and they both got back to maintaining the engine. As soon as they got it steadied, he would ask her again. It wouldn't take long now...

[Mister]

OOC: time for char number 6 on my roster to appear!


Asusa Wintera Sat silently in the cockpit of her small glider plane. the air outside rushed by as she was towed through the air by a larger plane. they had made their decent to Bristol with ease, only to find the Taimat already taking off ahead of them.

Asusa's frustration and apprehension almost overwhelmed her. but instead of giving in to her longing for Romesco and the thurst to see Price's head on a pike, she reverted into a series of calming routines. the larger plane finished it's landing smoothly and began to refuel, while the Taimat drew ever farther away.

[Davidizer13]

Truce took Adele's hand, and slowly placed it back at her side, giving her a sidelong glance before stepping over to support Denkou where she had fallen. "If you're not their child," he said to Denkou quietly, with an urgent edge to his voice, "then where did you come from? I don't want to have another psychopath with guns chasing us around because right now, it looks like we kidnapped someone's little girl."

[Diamond Dragon]

"I'm not ANYONE'S little girl." Denkou answered, gritting her teeth from the pain. "Not anymore...I just got on this ship because I thought it could get me out out of the stinking place I was in." she muttered.

[Darth_Kirby]

Truce took Adele's hand, and slowly placed it back at her side, giving her a sidelong glance before stepping over to support Denkou where she had fallen. "If you're not their child," he said to Denkou quietly, with an urgent edge to his voice, "then where did you come from? I don't want to have another psychopath with guns chasing us around because right now, it looks like we kidnapped someone's little girl."

"I'm not ANYONE'S little girl." Denkou answered, gritting her teeth from the pain. "Not anymore...I just got on this ship because I thought it could get me out out of the stinking place I was in." she muttered.

"Whoa... he looks totally fried from this."

The captain had ignored Ulairez's offer of cash for the moment to talk to the girl that had KO'd the little assassin. Apartly she was a stoway of sorts. The captain was probably more concerned with not having more passengers trying to kill each other than with money right now. Maiz couldn't blame him though. The pretty girl had come back now and she didn't look as dazed as she had before, but she still looked a little flustered by everything going on here.

"Boy... I sure chose one circus of a plane to get on," Maiz thought, and he let things play out.

[Mister]

Juliana

Juliana's eyes suddenly flashed open. someone was atop her and romesco was out of reach. the knife was taken from her, and her head was bleeding slightly from a blow she had recieved. remaining calm the beast inside raged until she couldn't handle it anymore, she began to thrash around under the body atop her, and screamed, "let me! go! Papa Price will be mad if i don't kill that Wretch Romesco! let me kill him! let me make Papa Price HAPPY! EERRAAGGG!!!!!"

[MomentOfInertia]

OoC: I'm sorry I haven't posted for 2 weeks -Geez! two weeks, has it been that long?- ..... so this is going back a ways and I'm summarizing a bit. There is a lot here and I'm trying to cover it quickly so please excuse me if the its not all that polished.

Thoughts in quoted italics: "think, think."

IC:
-Gavin-

I handed the kid off to Adele, who started talking to her, the girl said her name was Juliana. Adele tensed up, I followed her gaze back towards the ramp, there was that guy who'd been loitering around coming up, he looked like he had his hands up, but I wasn't taking any chances. I stepped across the fuselage from Adele and the girl and set my hand on one of my revolvers.

The guy asked; "Um... I want to buy a ticket for a fare on the plane and I heard your captain say we're leaving soon... uh... is 500 drachmae good enough?"

"Oh, great a customer. Now. eh, he might actually be legit, I'll let Adele deal with him."

Juliana cried "DADDY" and ran to the biker guy and hugged him, he looked kind of confused about this.

Adele told the customer to talk to the Captain, cautioned him that this wasn't a pleasure cruse and went forward. He said "Well if you don't mind. I'm going to go over and see if your captain is willing to take on an extra body," and started to follow. Then the Captain came in, paused, and told all the new people to stand against one wall(conveniently the wall opposite the on I was standing by. that could have been awkward).

The customer started towards the wall, reaching for Juliana as he passed...
"Die Daddy!" she yelled, pulling a knife on "Daddy." It looked like she was trying to kill him.
The customer blocked her knife with one arm grabbing her are with the other, he said;"You're clearly not his daughter." She kicked him.

The girl who had been leaning against the wall -She had a pair of swords, (katanas I think), and one eye was blood red. I think she came in with the twins- threw a pipe at Juliana, it hit and knocked Juliana out cold. both girls slumped towards the floor. I guess Red had been leaning on that pipe.

The customer disarmed Juliana as she fell, complemented Red, and tuned back to the Captain; "Uh... heh... Ulairez Maiz, nice to meet you. Uh... would 700 drachmae earn me a fare on this crazy plane." The Captain considered, Raven came in and sat on Juliana while glaring at red. The plane shuddered as Felix and the twins finally got us moving. The Captain told Maiz it was to late to git rid of him so he could come along, and then tuned to red and told her he was very sorry for kidnapping her and he hoped her father, the doctor wouldn't mind too much.
Red responded, forcefully that she was NOT the doctor's daughter.

*CRA-THUD-SH*
We must have hit that burnt out wreck of the plane that had crashed, it sounded like we hit something heavy dead center,good move on Felix's part the armor would take the hit easy and the gear would get away mostly undamaged. The Captain cringed, he looked like he was feeling every scratch in the paint, every ding on the hull, and it felt like it was going to be expensive.

Maiz piped up; "If you don't mind sir, I'll pay you 3,000 drachmae if you let me stay on the plane for several trips."

Adele came back in and put her hand on the Captain's shoulder, he took it gave it back to her along with a glance; and helped Red back too her feet, she winced and the Captain started quietly talking with her.

---(end recap)---

Juliana woke up, started squirming and screamed:"let me! go! Papa Price will be mad if i don't kill that Wretch Romesco! let me kill him! let me make Papa Price HAPPY! EERRAAGGG!!!!!"

Picking up the pipe Red had thrown, I squatted down in front of Juliana -if that was actually her name- and said; "'Pappa Price' huh? I guess that whole speal about running from him was a load of hooey then? You're an affuly deceptive little girl aren't ya?"
I glanced up at Raven and asked; "you want I should go get something to tie her down with?"


OoC: In case anybody is confused since Gavin hasn't heard her name he has been referring to Denkou as "Red" on account of her eye.

[Mister]

though there was a man speakign to her Juliana responded with only muttering over and over again, "must make Papa Price happy." her eyes were empty now, lifeless, soulless. she had become nothing more than a doll in the puppet master's hands, in this case, Price.

[Diamond Dragon]

Denkou stared at the little girl. Papa Price? That crazy man? she thought. "Well aren't you Daddy's perfect little girl." she said almost mockingly at the girl, then turned her head away in disgust. Trying to make a Dad that is never satisfied happy is useless. she thought bitterly.

[AtmosBreak]

Bewilderment was the only emotion showing on JP's face, no words to say, not enough strength to say anything. Although he was all patched up, he was still weak from the blood loss, his mind not able to function anywhere near 100%. Many times it would feel to him as if he continually slipped in and out of consciousness whilst remaining alert and awake. It was a strange feeling, mixed in with dizziness and what was going on around him, did not make for a good combination.

As the girl hugged him, JP became only more confused. He wasn't anyone's father, he was still a virgin, he never even had a girlfriend, the closest he ever had to having one was back when he was a kid, his closest childhood friend. He hadn't seen her for years, around 10 years he figured back when his grandmother was still alive and he was drifting ever apart from her. His first ever crush was her though as they grew older, JP felt as if he was getting pushed aside as she became busier and his grandmother stopped working as the nanny for her family. There were so many things he still never knew about or what happened though Juan just accepted them to the point where he felt she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, the first and only time he felt such teen angst before he met Isabella. JP always wondered how his childhood friend was doing but never did anything about it. He even remembered the nickname he had for her since they met and apparently he couldn't say her name properly. Adlina... The name rang in his mind like a bell over and over in his head.

Having a quick glance at the peculiar little girl, JP realized that he couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 when she was born, no way he would have been her father he reasoned in his mind. As he slowly opened his mouth to try to say something, he froze in shock as everything seemed to happen in an instant.

JP wasn't even sure if he saw everything correctly. As the little girl suddenly raised her hands back and screamed 'Die', the captain shouting various different orders and looking at everyone suspiciously, another man grabbed the girl and something else JP couldn't make out, someone else threw a metal bar and general chaos with the plane. Everything appeared and sounded blurred together as Juan just stared wide eyed at what was going on.

With everything dying down and people calming down, Juan remained silent, absorbing the chaos that just preceded whilst a surge of tiredness fell over him. Looking around with his face becoming increasingly tired, he watched as a woman put her hand on the captain's shoulder. He recognized the woman as the one from before the hurricane that just happened in the cargo hold though couldn't put a name to face. She just felt so familiar to him as the names "Adlina" and "Isabella" rang over and over in his mind. Taking one quick glance around with everything fading and blurring together, Juan slowly closed his eyes and succumbed to his tiredness. What was happening anymore he could not tell, a headache and dizziness rendering his mind able to conceive anymore thoughts as everything went black.

[Darth_Kirby]

though there was a man speakign to her Juliana responded with only muttering over and over again, "must make Papa Price happy." her eyes were empty now, lifeless, soulless. she had become nothing more than a doll in the puppet master's hands, in this case, Price.

Ulairez stared at the psycho girl as she screamed.

"Geez... What did they do to mess ya up that bad?" Maiz thought.

He knew people did it - manipulated others to be "perfect followers" by various means, sometimes brainwashing, but he had never seen it up close. He shivered a bit.

"Evil... Some people are just that twisted."

Then the crack comedian walked up to the psycho girl and confirmed that she had lied to get on board. He also suggested to the cute girl sitting on miss psycho to tie her up. Maiz agreed full heartedly. She'd slit all their throats given the chance. Maiz looked back at the man he saved - out cold. Maiz chuckled. Couldn't blame him. All this excitement on top of losing alot of blood had probably drained him completely. Then Maiz turned his attention back to the captain hoping that the captain would get back to him on his offer...

[Nami]

Isabella booked out of the engine-room and flew into the cargo bay. "Captain, everything is alright in there sir." She glanced around at the mess of what had taken place. "What in the world?" She glanced at Raven sitting on a girl and arched a brow in question at Truce.

Shaking her head, she got back on the subject, "though sir, as soon as you are done here. I need to tell you something." Isabella hesitated and turned, nearly tripped over Juan's legs. "Agh." she froze. His eyes were shut.

"Passed out did'ja?" she muttered. Isabella turned her head and looked around for some help. "Hey, Adele, can you help? I want to take this rock-head to a bed so he can rest properly." She grabbed his arms and pulled him toward her, almost like she would throw him over her shoulder. Which wasn't a bad idea, if she wasn't hurting so badly she might have.

'What a strange person he is, first we find out he's the trouble and then all this other chaotic stuff happens...' she paused in her work and stared into his face. "Who are you?" she whispered. "To cause so much...trouble." Isabella sighed again. This was going to be a long trip.

[Mister]

Price stepped quickly into his car, closign the door after him with a thud. as the driver sped off, Price pulled out a two way radio. looking up only once he asked, "Did you plant the radio?" the driver only nodded his head, the motion barely visible in the darkness. Price opened the radio with a flip and dialed the number for the planted radio, he placed the reciever to his ear to hear it buzzing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juliana


Juliana froze when she felt the radio buzz under her. her heart nearly stopped, and though lifeless and empty her eyes dialated. she suddenly to cry silently as she whispered, "no....no...no...daddy? no....noooo please.... Juli is a good girl... Juli tried her best.... Juli is sorry!"

[Davidizer13]

Truce sighed, running his fingers through his hair. They were up in the air, he could tell - the wind hissed beneath them and through unseen holes in the skin. One more thing had gone right today. "So you're just a stowaway, then." he said to Denkou, with a weary finality in his voice. "Wonderful. I'll put you to work somewhere, maybe after I get some sleep." Speaking of sleep, that idiot Romesco had taken that moment to drift off. No matter. Truce would grill him double when the morning came.

"Now, about Mr. Island-hopper," Truce continued, pondering the stack of money in the man's hand, "your deal seems acceptable. However! you may be asked to help out from time to time with our, ah, excursions. If you don't, we might not have the money to buy enough fuel to get from place, and that would be a great tragedy indeed, finishing your vacation merrily desiccating on some life raft in the sea. You're a traveler, you understand, surely." It was a bit of a bluff, to get some free work out of the man, but it did have a grain of truth to it; money had been a bit short as of late, and that's why Truce had been pushing his luck with his trading partners. So far, it had worked, but today, he had been thinking, maybe he needed a break from the rougher crowds. Maybe everyone did. An idea came to mind...

He took a step to the side, checking into the front of the plane. "Nia, set a course for Ikura, 11th Ward airstrip. We're going to Monty's place, he'll help us lay low for a bit. Now, about that payment..." he said as he turned back to Maiz.

Meanwhile, the girl with the knife was on the floor babbling incoherently about something or other, trapped where she lay by a length of rope and Raven sitting on top of her. Raven only caught bits of it, between the crewmates expressing pity for her; something about the girl's father. There was that rather disturbing cult that had been pretty popular in Treyard a while back that said things like that, maybe she was trying to escape? How long ago was it that it was around? Time going back that far was a strange concept to her, as her muddled mind blended half-forgotten memories from ages ago with those of the day before.

A buzzer from beneath her broke through the confusion and pulled her back to the present. The girl had something on her that Raven hadn't seen yet; whatever it was, it made the poor fool grow quiet, but more panicked. Interesting

Locating the device, Raven pulled it from the girl's person. It was a tough, pale beige block, about the size of her forearm, with a protrusion at each end and a metal rod at one of the ends. It was made out of that hard stuff they called bakelite or celluloid or something like that, she couldn't remember. At its center was a telephone keypad, like on the ones you found on land, but with more buttons. One of the extra buttons was flickering, and the buzzing wasn't going away. In a moment of weakness, she pushed the button, not knowing what it would do, and she realized how stupid that was just a second too late. There was a hissing sound from one of its ends; Raven looked harder, and realized that it was a telephone! How it worked without wires or in the sky was beyond her, but it seemed to be working. Or maybe not - there was nobody talking to her. She just stared at the speaker, wondering if there was someone on the other end.

[acgifford]

-Adele-

The captain shrugged her hand off of his shoulder and gave her a sidelong glance. Adele felt her cheeks start to burn as she looked down at her hand. She was holding her own hand as if it somehow made her feel better.

Truce turned his attention to the young stowaway. The captain seemed a slight bit calmer now. Adele let out a small sigh at the captain's slight change in mood. She then glanced over at Juan again. Her heart pattered in a strange rhythm as she loked at him. What was it? What was she remembering? This emotion.

Adele's mind wondered blocking all the commotion out. Juan's young face appeared in her mind's eye again. He smiled brilliantly as he laughed and took her hand. "Come on Adlina!" he said as he towed her into the garden of the old house she once knew so well. She heard herself giggling as she followed him. Joy and love was her soul emotion.

Just then, she was jerked back to reality by the outburst of Juliana screaming something about her daddy. It was then that she realized she had been staring at Juan for a long time. She shot a glance in the girl's direction.

"Let me! go! Papa Price will be mad if i don't kill that Wretch Romesco! let me kill him! let me make Papa Price HAPPY! EERRAAGGG!!!!!" She screamed.

Adele's blood ran cold. Why did she want to kill Juan? She watched as the girl under Raven muttered to herself nervously. Adele felt a lump form in her throte. She took this to be some form of pity for the girl. Perhaps it was disgust. No both. she thought.

"Hey, Adele, can you help? I want to take this rock-head to a bed so he can rest properly." asked Isabella as she attempted to drag Juan to a resting place herself.

"Oh! Of course!" she said as she rushed to Izzy's aid. Adele hesitated a moment, but then grabbed his other arm and helped hoist him up further. She awaited Izzy's que to go. Adele felt very odd at this point.

Adele heard the captain still descussing things with Denoku and Ulairez. He then gave the command that Nia plot a course to Ikura. Why are we headed to an airstrip? she wondered. And who is Monty?

Just then she heard a ring. She turned her head every which way and noticed Raven retrieve something from the child's posession. Adele could not see what it was, but she put it to her ear.

[Darth_Kirby]

[quote="Davidizer13 (post: 1484024)"]Truce sighed, running his fingers through his hair. They were up in the air, he could tell - the wind hissed beneath them and through unseen holes in the skin. One more thing had gone right today. "So you're just a stowaway, then." he said to Denkou, with a weary finality in his voice. "Wonderful. I'll put you to work somewhere, maybe after I get some sleep." Speaking of sleep, that idiot Romesco had taken that moment to drift off. No matter. Truce would grill him double when the morning came.

"Now, about Mr. Island-hopper," Truce continued, pondering the stack of money in the man's hand, "your deal seems acceptable. However! you may be asked to help out from time to time with our, ah, excursions. If you don't, we might not have the money to buy enough fuel to get from place, and that would be a great tragedy indeed, finishing your vacation merrily desiccating on some life raft in the sea. You're a traveler, you understand, surely." It was a bit of a bluff, to get some free work out of the man, but it did have a grain of truth to it]

The captain finally looked his way after realizing the pipe thrower was a stowaway. He gave him a quick 'how this is going to be' speal then told one of his crew to plot a course for Ikura, 11th Ward airship.

"11th Ward, huh? You got some nice connections, don't you?" Maiz thought to himself.

The captain spoke up again, "Now, about that payment-"

"I don't mind helping out if it's only so often," Ulairez said, cutting the captain short, "BUT I only have one degree that might help you on the ship - mechanical engineering. I warn you though, I'm very rusty. I might be able to do an odd job or too if your ship engineer wants me to, but don't ask me to overhaul the engine or anything serious. Also, I only offered that amount because I realize that it will go a long ways to helping pay for any repairs that you might need to make. If gas money is absolutely necessary, then I'll pay for SOME of it after the second flight you give me. Lastly, I am a traveler, but I don't plan on traveling in style, so don't charge me any 'luxary' fees. I'm just looking for something you can say. But for now, your payment."

Maiz smirked and tossed the three one-thousand Drachmae wads into the captains hands...