Adventure! Part Two [Castle, Elrick, Lillian]

[Oathkeeper Emi]

August 17, 2011
--

It had taken them most of the day to get there, and by the time Emi exited the gummi ship, the sun was beginning to set. "Changed my outfit for no good reason, now,[/color]" she grumbled as she tried to pull the wrinkles out of her new/used khaki shorts. "I was expecting triple digits out here. I'm kinda disappointed.[/color]"

She was eager to start the treasure hunt, but couldn't help but drag her feet. The night before she had gotten so excited that she couldn't have possibly slept and spent the whole night drawing up plans for the trip. It was possible the others were just as tired. Maybe the treasure could wait until tomorrow.

Yawning and stretching, she said "Let's go find Elrick. He's gotta be around here somewhere.[/color]"

[Castle]

Castle followed her out of the gummi ship and looked around. His attention was caught immediately by the sunset, which looked pretty great over the desert landscape. Like Emi, he was surprised by how not-hot it was.

"Maybe it'll get hotter once the sun's up again," he said.

The pale wall of the nearby city was dyed orange at this time of day. The shadows, by contrast, were a very dark blue, and theirs were stretched out over the sand. Castle scanned the area for Elrick's ship. It couldn't be that hard to spot in a place this barren, right?

[Fate]

"When I said I'd go to hell and back with you,"
--

Lillian started to say, adjusting the sunglasses on her face as her and Elrick left the ship, "I didn't mean that we literally had to go back to hell. Damn you." Heck, she barely even needed the sunglasses anymore because the sun was setting, but she didn't bother with taking them off. Thankfully, that also meant that it wasn't so freaking hot like when they came here the first time. She had changed her attire back to her Libertas tank top with a pair of white shorts, guns holstered there, and a pair of sneakers for this little adventure, a treasure hunt of all things.

When Elrick came back to the Gummi ship and said that he was going with Emi and Castle on a treasure hunt, she decided it was about time to get off her lazy butt and do something. They had enough vacation time in between going to Eurydice and now, and she was bored. That was really the only reason she agreed to come back to Agrabah, even though it was a desert. It wasn't as if they were going to get shot at or hunted down or captured like Eurydice.

Better find Emi and Castle though-- they had to be around here somewhere. "Lead the way Captain," she said.

[Lagunamov]

Shirtless scene is gonna be short today, it seems.

Thank God the sun was setting, or the high temperature may have managed to kill someone. Elrick had already prepared to get burned to death, leaving his coat back at the ship, but keeping his sleeveless shirt tied on his belt. Of course, now that it was actually getting cooler, something that from his last trip here seemed impossible, he was putting it on, but leaving the front open down to his collarbone.

"Oh, boo-hoo. You knew very well where I was coming. You want out of hell? Marry the Devil himself," he answered as he started walking through the sand, wondering what the hell he had just said. "Ok, that metaphor ended in a different place than it started, but the point stands." What point that was, however, was still up in the air for someone to figure out. Elrick looked around, not really seeing anybody close, so he decided to go for the lowest common denominator. "Lets just go to the city gates and wait there. You know, right next to where you crashed last time," he smirked as he said that, slowly leading the way.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

You didn't mention anything about her.
--

It didn't take long to make it to the city gates, and when they had, Emi and Castle found exactly what they were looking for. And, it looked Elrick had brought a familiar friend.

"Oh, it's you... Leslie, or whatever,[/color]" Emi said as they walked up. She frowned. An extra person meant they had to split the treasure four ways. She glared at Elrick. "What the hell, man?[/color]" she yelled, gesturing towards Lillian. "No offense or anything.[/color]"

She sighed, and started running her fingers through her hair in a frustrated manner. Maybe it will be okay. There's no reason to be angry right now, she thought. She just needed to calm down, but it was always little stupid stuff that upset her. You are just being selfish and retarded, so shut up.

In the end, she forced a stiff smile at Lillian. "Welcome aboard, I guess.[/color]"

[Castle]

Caste grinned when he saw Lillian, but before he could greet her Emi reacted less happily. What was her problem? Sure Elrick hadn't mentioned bringing anyone else along, but it wasn't like they didn't know Lillian already.

"Long time no see," he said to her after Emi forced out a more friendly greeting. "How've you been?"

[Fate]

Well uh... okay.
--

Lillian raised an eyebrow to what Elrick said. Weird metaphor, and she wasn't exactly sure what the point of it was. All right, so normal Elrick pulling something out of his ass behavior. She shook her head to this as the two of them walked through some of the desert. And of course, he had to bring up the crash too on this little adventure. He just had to do that. With an incredible amount of maturity, she stuck her tongue out at him in reply, and then grinned. Yep, completely mature.

When they got to the city gates, or around there, they found Emi and Castle. The last time Lillian saw these two, Emi was drunk and pissed off. It seemed the latter part stuck with her when she greeted the pair of them, if you call that a greeting-- how the hell did she get Leslie out of... never mind. She didn't even have time to correct that since Emi now turned onto Elrick and yelled at him. All Lillian could really do was just make a confused face and shrug. What the hell did she do now?

Well, Castle as at least nicer. Thank goodness for Castle making her feel at least a little less awkward. "Uh, I've been all right. Can't complain," she answered shortly, "Nice to see you guys too..." That really didn't help did it. Oh well, she tried.

[Lagunamov]

One of these days, a woman is going to kill me. As soon as an inner monologue is spoken out loud, I'm dead.

It didn't take long for Emi and Castle to find them, and... of course, Elrick was getting chewed out. Never mind that, as far as he had previously known, the two girls were enough of acquaintances for them to get along, but now, either the extra pair of ovaries bothered Emi, or there was something else in the background that was going over Elrick's head.

"Hey, she kinda saved my skin some weeks ago. What was I supposed to say, 'no, you must remain stuck on this ship?'" he scratched the back of his head, looking around. It then hit him what the issue may be. Duh, that's why they had come here in the first place. So, he leaned in closer to Emi. "If it's the fourth cut of the treasure, she can have half of mine. I don't really care for money anyway, I'm just bored," he whispered into her ear, before standing straight again and taking a few steps around. "So, shall we get cracking? Where's the map?" he said smiling, rubbing his hands together.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

Now that that is out of the way.
--

Emi's worries about the money were put to rest, so she calmed down a little bit and stopped sub-consciously glaring at the other woman in the group.

"Erm, well...[/color]" she started to say, but then reached behind and pulled the map out of her back pocket. She handed it over to Elrick and continued speaking. "I was... kind of hoping we could start this whole treasure hunt thing tomorrow. I don't know about you guys but I'm thinking it would be better to start with a clean slate in the morning when we're all rested and ready.[/color]"

Not to mention, I'm dead on my feet and can barely keep my eyes open, much less traipse around in the desert looking for gold that may or may not be there.

"How about we meet back here in the morning and go from there?[/color]"

[Castle]

Castle watched suspiciously as Elrick whispered something in Emi's ear. He couldn't hear what he said, but whatever it was, it seemed to make Emi less uncomfortable with Lillian. It must have been something decent, then. Small enough to be shrugged off.

"Yeah, really. She barely slept at all last night," he said, jerking a thumb at Emi. "Getting dragged around tired for this doesn't seem like much fun."

For any of us, he added silently. He'd hate to have to deal with a tired and cranky Emi throughout this whole expedition.

[Fate]

If this is going to become a regular thing, I'm buying you a new couch.
--

Did she even want to know what Elrick was whispering in Emi's ear right now? Whatever it was, it seemed to calm Emi back down, so it probably wasn't anything horrible. She wasn't going to worry about it. Could they get moving now that whatever that was had been taken care of? Nope. It looked like they were going to stay overnight in Agrabah and get some sleep, starting the treasure hunt tomorrow. Lillian didn't begrudge Emi for that, and it was probably a good idea.

"Probably a good idea," she replied, "All right, see you in the A.M. Don't sleep too long though-- we want to do most of our traveling when the sun isn't too high." At least she did-- she liked not being burned. But hey, she wasn't the boss. She started walking back to the ship, listening for the smart-ass comment that she knew Elrick was probably going to say, and went to crash on his couch. How many times had she slept here? Too many to count. He needed a better couch though-- damn thing was hard.

[Lagunamov]

ASDFGHJKLÑWOMEN!

While he couldn't argue with Emi's logic, Elrick still drew an annoyed face at her suggestion. "... And you couldn't call me on the radio to suggest that before, could you?" he snarked, annoyed mostly at the prospect of having to stay overnight. Sure, the night was cool, which was why he thought it may have been a better idea to do the treasure hunt now, when they wouldn't get burned to death if they happened to spend too much time out in the open. But, whatever.

Like that, he watched as Lillian walked back to his ship, in all likelihood calling it a night already. Before they had even discussed which kind of arrangements would be better for that night. "So, where you guys gonna go back to your own ship, or were you thinking of checking in a hotel for the night?" he asked, almost disregarding that Lillian was back at his ship. He'd just go pick her up if the answer was favorable towards the hotel option. He certainly didn't mind sleeping somewhere other than inside a ship. Or carrier.

[Oathkeeper Emi]

I can explain.
--

"I uh.... I don't know how to use the radio, actually. If the ship even has one, [/color]" Emi told him, wilting a little.

She shrugged, and answered his other question. "I don't know. The whole reason we're here is that we have no money. We couldn't pay for an inn at home so I don't know about here,[/color]" she explained. She took a minute to look around. "If that's even a possibility in this place. Maybe we should just head back to the ship, Castle...[/color]"

She had a greedy streak but wasn't about to ask anyone to pay their way into a place to stay for the night. That was like accepting charity, which she hated. She even hated taking food from Melina. Of course, that brought up the question of where she had found her new clothes. That would stay her little secret, possibly because she was too proud to admit to having to accept help.

Of course, if the offer was made, she might take them up on it. The ship was so tiny, it would be hard for both her and Castle to sleep there.

[Castle]

"Yeah," Castle agreed, scratching the back of his neck. "We're pretty much really broke, and it's not like we've never slept in the ship before."

He wouldn't mind it. After using it as a tiny, portable house for weeks on end while they were traveling around the worlds, he had eventually gotten used to it. A real bed was still preferable, of course, but one more night in the ship wouldn't kill him.

"Well, we'll see you here tomorrow," he said to Elrick, since Lillian was already walking away.

[Lagunamov]

... I'm such an idiot at times, aren't I?

Elrick shrugged at the confirmation of going back to the ships. "Oh well, I had enough for one night for all four. I doubt this dump would be expensive, but, suit yourselves," he commented, turning away and walking back to his ship. He was already removing his shirt as he walked, throwing it towards the pilot's chair as soon as he entered the ship. He noticed Lillian already crashing on the couch in the main area/cockpit, to which he barely paid attention.

"Searching in the morning is gonna be a pain..." he complained as he removed his boots, turning them upside down to let the sand he had accumulated fall out of it. "The sun is gonna be up to the point where we'll burn before we notice, and it's going to be a nightma..." something suddenly clicked in Elrick's head, right as he was about to take off his pants. Despite Lil being only some feet away, view obstructed by the back of the couch. "... You don't suppose she just said that to screw us over, do you?" he asked, almost certain of what the answer was already, hastily putting back on everything he had thrown around the room.