Nexus City

The woman watched both volunteers climb the rope with as much amusement as she did the first. She had some very nimble participants this time around! She wondered if they were just as good in the field. In a few minutes, she would find out.

"We try," she told the overenthusiastic young man. The sides of her eyes crinkled just a tad. "Glad we could deliver."

To the cyborg, she raised her brows. "Thanks. If you do a good job you might get one of your own."

Once everyone was seated, the dramatic, stoic blonde crossed her arms and began the briefing. The cabin doors closed, and weight bore down on them as the hovercraft ascended.

She pointed to each of them in turn, first, to the woman sat in the back dressed in a cloak. "Arturia." Then to the pea-green leaper with bubblegum in his hair. "Finn." And last, to the most casual of the three, but certainly not the most normal. "Natalie."

The woman then put a hand to her chest. "I'm Tatiana Vang and I'll be leading this mission. Initially, I had several for you to choose from, but your skillsets favor this the most and we're running out of time. We will be visiting the planet Maveda, to a forest called The Copper Thicket. There are several communities of trolls in the area and a lot more loners. They tend to stick to their corners until something goes wrong and- surprise- something's going wrong. One called a Tosserlad has been acting strangely and breaching territorial boundaries recklessly. Trolls are stupid, but they're still animals governed by their own rules. We've got to stop it and find out why it's acting up before it also destroys the villages littered around the area."

From the thick-banded watch on her wrist, she displayed holographic visuals as she spoke. First, of the planet, then of the dense thicket that they would soon reach, then of the Tosserlad, a huge, gangly creature with a massive nose, hair so matted it looked like clumps of moss. The top of its head skimmed the canopy, more than a hundred feet up in the air.

"Questions? Concerns?"
 
Finn waved to the woman at the back with an amiable smile, slinging his backpack and the pair of polearms strapped beside it off of his back before flopping down into a seat. He listened to Tatana raptly, nodding along - his eyes widened a little at the mention of another planet, but he tried his best not to be too obviously impressed.

There was a slight hesitation after her explanation before he spoke up. "By stop, do you mean..?" he made a vague stabbing motion before gesturing to his weapons. "Or is this more of an er, 'gentle hand' type mission? Ever since this once incident with an apparently-very-sacred chimera, I've learned to check in advance. Turns out people are mad when you kill their 'god', even if it's eating their kids."

The young half-orc pulled a face like he was still a little sour over that anecdote, running an irritable hand through his hair. Or trying to, before it got stuck in the bubblegum and he had to pull it free with a wince. "Also, does anyone have any cleaning magic? Or anything..? I've made mistakes. Oh!" he blinked, taken aback with himself. "Nice to meet everyone, by the way! Sorry, uh, got carried away. Like she said, I'm Finn - Finn Harken. Professional slab of muscle, wielder of big sticks, at your service!"
 
Nat listened silent, just as interested in her new working partners as the mission Tatana laid before them. Finn was an interesting creature. For someone with such a seemingly simple nature, his questions were pointed, direct, and exactly the sort of thing you wanted to sort out before setting foot on destination ground. Maybe there was more to him than bumbling idiot after all, Nat thought before Finn proceeding to get his hand stuck in bubblegum-clumped hair for a moment. Nope, idiot, she reminded herself.

"Nat V," she offered back. "Hope they're going to give you one hell of a big stick if you're going to get that thing's attention," she remarked with a flicking gesture back to the holographic image of the one called Tosserlad.

"Say we end up having to play rough with Tosserhead or whatever you call him. What's the family dynamic here? Are we going to end with a united troll army charging through the trees? Can't say I like the sound of that."
 
Arturia remained silent through the introductions, and merely glanced at each of the other party members as they were introduced. First one, she was slowly taking for a big, bumbling moron, and put him in the category of 'likely to die or be bouncy'.

The second, Nat, she placed in the 'sarcastic but might be full of surprises', with the surprises being sarcastic in her head.

But the last bit seemed to irk Arturia. "So what if we do end up with a united troll army?" Her accent was very thick and heavy, the burr in her voice coming off a bit harsher because of it. "If the job says do this, ya do this an' no ask questions. Why the 'ell did you sign up for the job if ya dinno know the potential risks?" The white haired elf groused.
 
“I’ve got my reasons,” Nat fired back with an icy glare. This one was going to be fun, she told herself. “And knowing the parameters of the job,” she explained, drawing a box in the air with her fingers, “is what I would consider a valid question. Doubt the difference between taking care of a troublemaker and committing genocide is something our employers want us to gloss over.”

Nat turned back to Tatana, waiting for further instructions. What a team.
 
Astoria was walking through Nexus City with Kaster at her side. If either were uneasy, they showed no signs of it.
Astoria's hood was up. She didn't like people knowing what she looked like before they knew who she was. Her arms were crossed under her cloak, and her hands were set cautiously close to pockets sewn in that held knives. Astoria avoided people's gazes, keeping her head down and and watching people suspiciously.
Kaster, however, was looking up at all of the buildings and people in awe. Whenever he came here, he was struck again with the beauty of it all.
Astoria rolled her eyes. "Enjoying yourself?" She teased.
Kaster rolled his eyes back. "Just because you hate everyone and everything doesn't mean I have to."
"I know that," Astoria said. "Just remember, we're here to get some money, not to have fun."
"Okay, okay," Kaster smiled.
 
Beikelan walked through the streets of Nexus city, Hands in his pockets. Every so often he would look up at the buildings and admire them as he walked, before somebody glared at him of course. He was new here and he hated it. Many of the people he had met did not accept newcomers, so he tried to ignore their stares, failing miserably to do so. Somebody glared at him again and he snapped, "What?" He asked them,
"What do you want?" They put their heads down, embarrassed, and ran off.
"Idiots." He muttered under his breath.
 
Blindfold was overwhelmed. So many futures, so many different pasts, all intertwined. He kneeled, put his hands over his head, trying to block the twisted, overwhelming sight. People asked if he was okay, had asked if he was okay, will ask? It was confusing, seeing all times without discrimination. He curled up into a ball, unable to cope with the sheer amount of input that assailed his mind.
 
He saw the wry man, curled up into a ball, looking like he was about to cry. He almost wanted to sneer. Before he thought about the situation, and walked towards the young man, reaching out a hand to help pick him up.
 
The stranger snapped him back to the world.
"...Thanks. You... will help me? helped me? What is it for you?"
 
Beikelan was confused at the strange man.
"Why would I need anything? I'm helping you because I want to." He told the man, helping him up.
 
Blindfold was confused. "No, I was asking... never mind. Thanks, whenever you are. Thanks for deciding to help. I can focus now. What's your name?"
 
Beikelan offered a gentle smile to the man.
"Im Beikelan, its a strange name I know, heh." He told him, then,
"What's yours?" He asked.
 
"Nice name." He told the strange man, now known as Blindfold.
"You going anywhere anytime soon? Cause, I know I am." He asked the man.
 
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