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[@Silvan Haven][@Write][/center]

Just as I had settled into my waiting position of "hands on my knees and gulping in air to recharge from the deadest of sprints", I looked up at the sound of rapid footfalls approaching me. In came Beryl, all exuberance and excitement as she greeted me with an ear-to-ear grin and an eager wave.

All in all, it was pretty damn cute. I couldn't help but raise myself back up and wave in response, smiling as well and tossing out a quick, [b]"Hey."[/b]

I might be making a bit of a selfish assumption here, but something told me that she was more than happy to not go to the pool tonight if it meant a shot at going out at sea.

Even better, being a luxury cruise, I was willing to put all of my earnings from the hellish mission that I'd just finished on it having a pool onboard, possibly even more extravagant than the one we had here.

Two swimming opportunities for the price of one, Beryl! Aren't you glad I succumbed to peer pressure under a deadline?

...

There was more than a few things wrong with that thought. 

Before I could inevitably voice something from that train of logic and shove my foot squarely into my mouth, however, I was saved by Bianca returning from further ahead and beckoning us to get our stuff in the trunk of the town car while we waited for Gratia to arrive.

I really did need to apologize to her once we were all in for the ride. Leaving the stony Mistralian in the dust like that was a mean move on its own, even without having my using of Vega Venetia as a scapegoat to do so on top of it.

The mental wearout from Brewing Storm must have been even worse than I had thought, if I was being this careless and crass to people who hadn't done any real wrong to me. I knew it was a selfish demand, but all I asked was that my poor body, or rather, poor brain put up with just a few more minutes of being up, active and moving.

Once we were in the car, I could relax again for a while.

And given that Bianca was more than happy to quite literally lift the backpack off my shoulders, assumedly with some sort of telekinetic semblance, I wouldn't even have to do much hard work about it.

Gratefully, I opened the driver's side door and slid, or more accurately slumped into the cushy leather of the seat.

Much better than a gunship's, as far as vehicles I'd sat in went.

[b]"Got here fast."[/b] I noted idly, in reference to the cab.