[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AURYvQVf-JI][u]O N E   W E E K   T O   D I S C O V E R Y[/u][/url][/center]
This was a disaster. Edward's heart sank with every compounding piece of disarray. What had originally been meant to placate Constance had instead enraged her, and then Luna, bless her soul, had gone in and savaged the woman's pride further, and then some other woman had popped in and [i]witnessed[/i] it occurring, which Edward sensed was as bad or worse than actually receiving it, to someone like Constance.

He opened his mouth to stop her from leaving, but it was too late: she'd already gone in a stone-cold fury. Great. Just great. In an effort to bring them all slightly closer together, he had blasted them apart. Why, oh why did Constance have to be such a great big lug? Lost in herself, all the time.

His pen tapped at the notebook in his lap with a quiet, consistent intensity. "Hello, Myra," he mumbled, staring off in the direction of the departed businesswoman. "It's nice to meet you, I'm just...sorry we couldn't have met at a better time." He finally broke off from staring to focus on the newcomer's face. 

He glanced away almost immediately--it was an instinct when speaking to an attractive woman for the first time. If he had met Constance or Luna under similar, more relaxed circumstances, he likely would had the same reaction, but given that they had just left home and almost immediately had to fight a massive fire, he felt they had moved past that awkward, introductory phase.

"I'm Edward Samick," he continued, holding out a hand. "Reporter for the Winged Gazette in Edgenook. Or at least, that's what I left the U.I. as. Now..." he trailed off, glancing over to Luna. "That's Luna. She's a nurse. Damned good one, too. And you, ah, met Constance. I guess she would call herself our fearless leader, wouldn't she? Still not sure how to interact with her. Maybe you'll have better luck than either of us."

His urge to ask questions bubbled again to the surface unbidden. "Not to be rude or anything, but if you're an engineer assigned to the bird, why are you suddenly being put with us?"

Something clicked in his mind then. "More importantly, if you're 'joining ranks' with us, what the hell does that mean? It's not like we're an elite exploration team or anythi--" Well, that was partially true: they weren't elite by any stretch of the imagination, but so far they had been the ones to explore the furthest. "Just a little confused, is all."

He unconsciously picked up the cube he'd set down to write, flicking it on and off once more in an almost nervous habit. By his estimate, they were traveling in the right direction still: the map seemed to track their immediate location, and they had been consistently moving right toward the large landmass for a while. They would probably be there in, give or take...seven days, given their current speed.

Of course, Edward was going to hound Conway with all his might to be allowed to take the bird and get there sooner. He really, really wanted to know what the hell was out there. God, it was eating him alive, even more so than this Constance business.