The first thought that occurred to Maya as her weight was decupled and the ship beneath her began to creak and groan was that a rogue alchemist was attacking.  The Bloodlines had seemed calm enough (by their standards) a moment ago, and the Asylums were supposed to be [i]protecting[/i] the boat.  But it only took her a moment to trace the alchemic drive, and it was coming from them.  From the little girl, of all people.  That, and it was much too strong to be any old asylum.

It appeared that her partner had managed to piss off a Chrono.  Wouldn't be the first time... but as she turned to him, she found him looking back at her, grinning.  Not only that, but he was standing entirely straight against the gravity.  She'd been almost knocked over by the initial push, and had to lean on the railing for support, but Dancer hadn't so much as flinched.  There was no way he could have resisted it so well unless he was ready for it.

The truth dawned on her.  [color=b536da]"You,"[/color] she said, her voice utterly deadpan, [color=b536da]"you did this on purpose."[/color]

Dancer rolled his eyes.  [color=929292]"Right, it's [i]my[/i] fault that a fucking Chrono can't handle having her feathers ruffled.  That girl needs a smacked bottom."[/color]

Song was giving him a death stare, now.  [color=b536da]"Doesn't matter.  If the Bloodlines get killed, that's a mission failure.  We had a streak going, and you may well have ruined it."[/color]

[color=929292]"Pffft.  As if AMRO would stick that little bitch on something as sensitive as this without a way of controlling her.  She'll have a handler, or a fucking microchip or some shit."[/color]  As if to confirm his words, a strangely dressed man moved towards the Chrono, apparently speaking.  [color=929292]"See?  Kids are so damn easy to manipulate.  Watch, I'll piss her off again!"[/color]  He raised his hands to his mouth once more.

Then stopped, as he caught a gleam of metal out the corner of his eye, and realized that Maya had pulled a knife on him.  A very sharp knife, pointed at a very sensitive location.  His hands slowly dropped to his sides.  [color=929292]"Coward."[/color]

Maya cocked her head to one side.  [color=b536da]"Shall I put you on a leash again?  Or can we do this the easy way?"[/color]

[color=929292]"Fuck tha-"[/color] There was a popping noise, and one of Dancer's knees buckled.  He caught himself before he fell, one arm slamming against the railing as he struggled to hold himself up.  His knee joint had been dislocated by the weight, and the pain showed on his face.  [color=929292]"...fine."[/color]  He scowled at her.  [color=929292]"But you owe me for this.  I keep quiet for this thing, and you get AMRO to give me a damn rocket launcher."[/color]

She sighed inwardly.  Then nodded.  [color=b536da]"You do your best, I'll do mine."[/color]

The gravity lifted, and the deck swayed as the cruise ship bobbed back up to its original position.  Song stood at attention as the other Asylums boarded, while Dancer took the opportunity to sit down and wrench his knee back into position.  It'd need proper medical attention later, but for now his alchemy would keep him upright- and more importantly, while he was concentrating on it he was less likely to mouth off.

Everyone appeared to be taking the whole gravity-crush incident rather well, and the Chrono's partner put on a good show of reigning them in.  Song re-established her connection with her sigils, letting images from around the ship flood into her eyes once more.  They'd come close to chaos, but it appeared that the majority here were sane enough to keep things from devolving into a war for now.

Dancer tapped her on the shoulder.  She blinked, and looked in front of her to find that the Chrono's partner was standing before them.  A warning rang out, echoing in her mind as if it had been planted there.  She clapped her hands together.  [color=b536da]"Yes Sir!"[/color]  Then gave a swift, sharp bow of her head.  [color=b536da]"Of course, Sir!"[/color]

The motions were exaggerated, meant to draw the man's eyes away from her partner while performing a subtle Motem cast, creating illusions over Dancer's hands and mouth.  This was to conceal the fact that he was flipping Angel the bird, while mouthing the words 'fuck you.'  Fortunately, Song could cast very quickly, and the gestures were masked entirely.  To anyone looking, it would appear that Jim was standing with his hands at his sides and his mouth tight shut.

She looked over at him, taking pains to conceal all mental and physical signs of her annoyance. [color=b536da]"Come on.  We should rendezvous with the other Asylums, get some idea of who we're working with."[/color]

Dancer nodded, and fell in line with her as she headed roughly towards the other Asylums, taking care to steer well away from the Chrono.  A mental message crossed the link between them, one of the rare times Jim didn't open his mouth.  [color=929292][i]You should stick a mirage on that guy.  Make his nose look like a-[/i][/color]

[color=b536da][i]NO![/i][/color]