Expedition to Autunno Keep [PLOT] Day 0 - The Journey to Autunno

Leonius had turned to look back at the window, but his fist clenched when he overheard Kirkka and Aoife talking about the nerve staple. His eyes drifted downward, however, when Melissa commented on it, though his helmet retained it's cold, stoic stare out the window.

Best to let things slide... for now.

He did, however, turn to look at Viola, smiling under the mask at her, his smile turning to a frown when he saw Aphelion... Viola was listening, and he wasn't sure he should bother her. He sort of wanted to snap Aphelion's neck. The "mutt" Dante had fought with seemed like a bad idea to deal with...

So he watched El Taladro, Nigrum, and Isabelle...

Looking around. Aoife comes up with a cunning plan. Using the MP she is listening to, she puts it on a song at random, and edits with the options for the sound. Subtly removing the headset enough so the song comes out of the speakers, but not out enough to be obvious it is removed. Completely straight faced, Aoife plays the music  somewhat loudly, the singer now sounding like Leo if he could formulate a sentence without pause.

Aphelion raised his head. He looked around. He glanced at Leo, then Viola, then Aoife, then back to Leo.

Making sure the staff weren't watching, he quickly caught a sip of vodka from his concealed flask and started writing at an alarming speed.

Very quickly the title of his next book was on top of the page:
"Beauty and the Brass 2: 50 Sheets of Steel"

The words just dripped down from the pen from the very first sentence of chapter 1.
"But it was not over, for she stayed up to get lucky, and he stayed up too."

As the airship's crew performs the final checks, and the hatches slid shut, a voice crackled in over the ship's PA system. "Final checks completed. We are beginning ascent. Our trip is expected to take a little over six hours, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

Leonius turned his gaze back to the docks as the airship started to rise and pull away, smiling under his helmet.

"You must have had a rough initiation then. I barely managed to fine my opponent before they ended it." He said to Isabelle.

Nigrum glanced to the back and noticed the hatch closing.

"Final checks completed. We are beginning ascent. Our trip is expected to take a little over six hours, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

Nigrum turned to look out the window as the ship pulled away from the school. A few days to relax will be pretty nice he thought looking down at the lake in front of the school. "Six hours huh, well I'm gonna rest then" he said to the group and walked over to his stuff.

He glanced around the airship, "Wonder why they picked the 9 of us" he muttered before plopping on the seat next to his bag. He stretched out across a few seats leaning on his backpack. He closed his eyes and began to relax so he could save his energy for exploring the ruins.

Still listening to her own music, Viola sits up and stretches as the airship starts to move, finally.

Took the rest of them long enough to get here... though maybe it was delayed to pack additional materials, who knows.

Looking around, she takes note of everyone that ended up on the expedition. Leo, Melissa, Kirkka, the luchador, that half-naked Faunus from initiation, crazy pink hair, the drunken horseman, and three people she hadn't even noticed around the school, let alone met. All three looked younger than her, which makes Viola instantly dismiss them as a threat.

Maybe they're more stable than Melissa or that pink haired bitch... as long as they don't get in my way, it doesn't matter though.


Where’d you go? Where’s your home?
How’d you end up all alone?
Can you hear me now?
There’s no light, there’s no sound.
Hard to breathe, when you’re underground.
Can you hear me now? Hear me now

Shifting one of the straps across her shoulder, she relaxes as she hears the duration. Leaving the music loud enough for all to hear, she drops the pretense of listening to different music and swaps back it back to normal. Settling down, she doesn't aim to sleep as she sings under her breath to the playlist, "We are Back in control, force them to surrender. Take what is ours, restore law and order.."

Ignoring Aoife's music for the moment, she hears the announcement being made and the doors closing. "Ah, finally!" She leans back into her chair, reclining it waaaaay more than you could on a crummy airplane! After a few more moments, she looks at Aoife. "Turn that down already. It's not working and its annoying. Didn't we just speak about not starting something on the flight?"

Yin gazes up from his book as the announcement chimes over the intercom. He noticed the others that had gotten on the ship, as well as the amount of music that was coming from some of their obnoxiously loud headphones. He sighed and reached into his bag, pulling out his own pair of headphones. He put them on his head and turned on This song.

He made sure to keep the volume at a lower level then his fellow students, but he guessed anyone near him could probably still hear it. He inwardly shrugged and went back to reading his book.

Snickering and doing as she is told, she puts her headset back in and lowers the volume so only she can hear it, turning to face the window. Aoife rests her head sideways and closes her eyes, letting thought become reality before her mind as she dozes.

Six hours...  What am I supposed to do for six hours?

Isabelle looked around to see that most of the other passengers were either listening to music, reading, or sleeping.  She hadn't thought of bringing along something to pass the time.  Pulling the blade sharpener out of her bag and drawing a single sword, she begun sharpening it.  At least it was something to do.

Leonius watched Isabelle sharpen her swords, sighing as his heavy footfalls made their way over to her. "Weapon upkeep... is very important... isn't it, little one?" He smiled under his mask at her.

Viola spots Leo heading over to speak to Isabelle, frowning slightly.

I wonder if he's avoiding me... and if so, why?

Turning her music off, she takes out her book and starts reading, giving her the option of eavesdropping.

Isabelle smiled and nodded, continuing to sharpen the blade for a few moments before putting the sharpener down and looking up at Leo.

"I haven't seen you in a while.  What've you been up to lately?"

Leonius looked away, sighing. "... Not much... I would care to speak of..."

He glanced back at Viola, who switched to reading a book. He wondered if it was because she had gotten tired of her music already.

"... You stopped. I assume then... that you were maintaining... out of boredom?"

Chiu groaned as she heard the expected flight time. Six hours. Six hours locked in a flying box with seven other people. Most seemed to be minding their own business, which suited Chiu just fine, the few others however...Music girl seemed determined to make someone throw her out the window. And the giant, metal, robot...thing. How the heck was the ship supposed to lift off with that thing on board?

She had heard the stories of course. Of the giant half-man that roam the halls of Beacon. A victim of a terrible accident, forced to rely on a mechanical suit to survive.

"Some people just don't realize death is sometimes better." She said to herself, but perhaps louder than she had intended.

"So says the girl who can't even take her own advice." Ce's voice said. At least it sounded like Ce's. Somehow it seemed...off.

"I will." She answered. "Just not yet. I promised."

"Who?" Ce's voice scoffed. "Little miss orange? Do you really think your little friend's existence means you deserve to live now? That she erases what you did to me?"

"But I..." Chiu knew Ce was right she was to blame. But now...she wanted to hope, to believe, that it was just a horrible accident.

"Hope is meaningless. Belief is meaningless. You and I both know I died because of you. You killed me didn't you."

"It wasn't...I didn't..."

"DIDN'T YOU!!"

Eyes clenched shut. Palms squeezing her temples as if she was trying to crush her own skull. Chiu tried to fight back against the voice. Against the truth she felt down into her very core. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whispered over and over again.

So caught up in her own self-hate and despair she didn't here the quiet whisper. "Don't listen to him Xiao He. Don't listen."

Kirkka turns her head upon hearing some faint words from the girl she hadn't yet seen outside the initiation matches. She watches her for a while, confused as to what she is doing. She didn't appear to be talking to anyone. Kirkka looks toward Aoife and Melissa, smiling politely and nods once. "Excuse me a moment. I'll be right back." She rises from her seat, and begins walking toward the back, where there are no seats and plenty of windows for one's viewing pleasure. Passing the other students, she stands near a window, watching the skies, and pulling our her Scroll, manipulating it carefully, drawing up various things.

Isabelle sighed and picked up the sharpener again, continuing.

"Six hours is a long time.  I figured I might as well do it now so I don't have to worry about it later."

Upon hearing one of the other passengers speaking quietly to themselves, she looks around the ship.

Seeing the tall girl she ignored earlier practically crushing her own skull, Viola weighs her options.

Urgh... I could let someone else try to comfort her, which might be a better idea... or I can kind of listen to Leo and attempt to give myself faith in humanity.

After another thirty seconds or so of considering her options, she decides to at least try to be nice, and walks over to the girl, saying "Are you alright? Do you need someone to talk to, or maybe hug?"

Aphelion watched Kirkka as she walked away. Might as well go for it... he thought. He wrote down ''I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed.'' on a page of paper, then he wrapped the paper around one of his cider bottles and slid it down to Aoife.

Chiu brushed a hand against her eyes when she heard the other girl's voice. Her eyes felt swollen, but her hand came away dry. Good. She couldn't cry. Not here, not in front of all these unfamiliar people.

"I don't hug." She answered bitterly. "But I do need to get out of my own head, if you feel like talking to a crazy girl."

Leonius looked back at Chiu, raising a brow at her comment, only to stare in shock as Viola went to comfort her. Or... try to. That... I did not expect. That's strange. That's very, very strange.

Slowly, he looked back at Isabelle.

"If you... get bored... Perhaps you, Viola, and I... and perhaps another," he glanced at Chiu, "can watch... some movies... I can project... a screen and... speaker-like patterns..."

Hearing the sliding of the bottle, she opens her eyes and takes the paper. Reading over it, it takes her a few seconds to realise what he is on about.  Giving a weird look of shock at the paper, Aoife pulls out a pen and writes "NP" on the back, attaching it back to the bottle and sliding it back at him.

Laughing softly before replying, Viola says. "I'm pretty sure everyone on this ship is crazy in one way or another, you're no different. Any ideas of what we could talk about?"

Glancing around the ship for a second, she takes a seat next to her new... acquaintance and says. "Oh yeah. My name is Viola. "

Aphelion gave an audible sigh of relief. ''TY'' he wrote on the paper, before adding ''Keep it. -Aph'' and sliding it back to her.

Keeping the paper, she rolls her eyes and slides it the bottle back up once more, saying in a somewhat friendly manner, "I'll keep the paper. That's all."

"Chiu Fong Wong. Of team RAWR." She replied in greeting. Perhaps this Viola girl was right. Looking back at the few students she knew she realized they all had their own demons. Some had a legacy to up hold. Others were running from their past. They had all found a home at Beacon.

"It has a ring doesn't it." She mused. "The Beacon Home For Broken Children."