[h2]Sapphire Rode - Mission Control ===> Airship[/h2]
Sapphire took another sip of her tea. She'd seen the slight shift Shiro's body had made in the other direction when she spoke. As though his first instinct on seeing her was to run in the other direction. It didn't really surprise her, it wasn't like anyone on her team was particularly fond of her company.

When Shiro asked about Abel Sapphire simply shrugged. When she'd gotten up this morning all three of her teammates were still fast asleep albeit only for another hour or so. After she'd showered, gone for a run and eaten breakfast Sapphire had returned to the dorm to find all three bunks empty. She'd just assumed Abel had been on his way to this location. Not finding him here Sapphire couldn't think were he might have gone. The best she could guess was that he was picking up some last minute supplies.

Seconds later Abel himself came running into the room stopping suddenly his breath coming in huge gasps. [i]Speak of the devil.[/i] Wherever he'd been clearly he'd had to rush to get over here. It was a little sloppier than Sapphire was accustomed to seeing from him but everyone had there off days. She just hoped that this would be the only misstep he made today. "Abel, nice of you to finally join us. I believe the airship is waiting to take us to Trawl." Sapphire boarded the airship and once the rest of Swansong were present the all clear was given for the ship to take off.

Once in the air Sapphire opened her bag and fished around in it. Finally finding what she was looking for Sapphire pulled out a bag with three sets of earplugs in them. One of them was high grad and electronic, meant block out all sound when it was turned on. The other two were of simpler make and generally just served to blanket noise. She pulled out the first pair and shoved it into her pocket then handed the other two to Abel and Shiro. She didn't have a pair for Gren given that when she'd bought these they had been intended just for her. Having two backups was a little excessive but a necessary precaution. Having three was simply redundant. It likely didn't matter though since Gren's helmet more than likely had some sort of sound dampening function. "These are for when we get within vocal range of the Siren. They are relatively weak Grimm but their song has an enticing effect that is more than dangerous. I can't say for sure those will protect you but they should at the very least help."

Sapphire glanced out the window at the terrain falling away below them. She liked heights. They made her feel alive and free, like all her problems were the size of the people far below her. Knowing however that her problems were a lot more present than that Sapphire turned back to her team. "They's something else. This mission takes place on the oceanside and we're fighting an aquatic Grimm so I feel there's something you should know. I'm Aquaphobic, I have a deep seated fear of swimming and drowning." Sapphire took a breath, she could look a horde of Grimm in the face and smile but talking about herself that was truly frightening to her. "There may come a time when I'll be incapacitated by this or unable to continue the mission with you, should that happen I'm putting Abel in charge." 

There were a number of reasons for this. Very few of them had to do with Abel himself. Shiro Sapphire knew full well did not have the presence of mind to direct an entire team. He was too affected by the emotions and opinions of those around him. He'd more than likely just end up doing whatever someone else told him to. Abel was Sapphire's partner and that counted for something but the real reason that Sapphire chose him over Gren was that she had very little trust for the boar faunus, he seemed to have a lack of concern for the safety of the rest of the team. At the end of their last mission she'd quite literally had blood dripping down her shoulders and still had to argue with him about finding Pops' secondary computer. 

Speaking of Pops the other thing that worried Sapphire was about the man himself. After speaking to Ozpin about the boy with the Embodiment tattoo Sapphire had contacted the Vale police department in the hopes of getting a one on one with Pops. The only problem was that the bear faunus was nowhere to be found. Apparently he'd vanished from his cell, the cameras had gone dead and he'd disappeared while one of the guards was on break and the others were in the middle of a shift change. A perfect disappearing act that the police were keeping quiet. Of course Sapphire didn't have any reason to assume that Gren was involved with this but every time she thought about it her mind just went back to those few minutes he'd talked the team into letting him spend alone with Pops and how adamant he'd been about the research not falling into the wrong hands. She had no proof even linking the two together but it still nagged at her. She didn't have much faith in Gren and certainly not enough to sign over her role as leader even temporarily.

Having given this announcement Sapphire looked back out the window waiting, or more accurately expecting someone to raise an objection to her choice.
[h3]Post 1600![/h3]