[center][sub]Collab with [@Amaranth][/sub][/center]

	As soon as the Captain's instructions were done with and the crew of the Demeter scattered about their duties the expedition members dispersed as well in groups of twos or threes, until only Lysandra and El remained standing on the deck. A few feet apart, staring awkwardly at each other.

	[i]By the Gods you look like Death warmed over![/i] El thought inspecting the Lady Lysandra from head to tow. [i]How many times do I have to tell you that the only thing you will find at the bottom of a bottle or a glass is foul breath.[/i] Elle scrutinized her fellow aristocrat for another moment. She could practically smell the hangover on Lysandra. Oh, there was no actual smell, but the signs were all there. El's features relaxed, becoming imperceptible for a fraction of a second, before a huge grin split her countenance. She pounced!

	"Well, well, what an auspicious happenstance, my ladyship Lysandra!" Elle attached herself on Lysandra's right arm and began tugging. "It would appear there's only the two of us left. Lucky me!" El knew perfectly well how independent Lysandra was and how she hated being forced to do anything against her will. So this little manhandling of Elle's... Well, womanhandling rather... Was probably the icing on the cake. But it was just how the two of them were. They weren't friends... exactly. Certainly not enemies. There was a healthy dose of rivalry, true. But calling them frienemies would amount to judging their relationship only skin deep.

	No! What the two of them were was far more complicated. One thing was clear though. The two of them loved pushing each other's buttons. Too much even. And, boy, did they know which buttons to push.

	So Elle made sure to push. Hard! She tugged Lys even closer to her and dragged her bellow deck to Elle's own cabin. Once inside, El shoved Lysandra to sit on the narrow cot and divested herself of her satchel and leather jacket.

	"So..." The Countess began, her face splitting grin still present. "What does the lady Brennenburg think of our little adventure so far?!" Elle dragged the single chair in the cabin in front of the bed and straddled it crossing her arms over the back. "Is the cloak and dagger to your liking, milady?" El knew Lysandra was the consummate adventurer and lived for the rush of adrenaline that accompanied each new journey. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and questioningly at the same time.

	Lysandra blearily listened to the Captain's briefing, but made no move to vacate the area as the rest of the crew and party dissipated throughout the ship. She would move in her own time. There was a long journey ahead of them, and the ship would keep going if she stood here for a few more minutes, half asleep with the beginnings of a piercing headache. Lys sensed someone else had not moved either, and Lys had a feeling she knew who it was. 

	Lys turned slowly, "Elle...." she croaked out before being pounced on like a mouse before a tomcat. She shook her arm uselessly as Elle tugged on it over and over while talking her ear off (as she was wont to do.) "Yesss... very auspicious- how do you do Lady Elle, so nice to see you again." Lysandra droned, her voice dripping with sarcasm like a poison, while also remaining surprisingly monotone. She stared at the wall as she spoke, her face a mask of stone, albeit translucent stone that betrayed a nasty hangover. She admired the other woman's, how shall we say, childlike energy. It was a wonder how she managed to remain so upbeat in boring, dull, dreary high society. 

	Suddenly the tugging turned to pulling and Lys realised Elle was scooting her along down the hall, presumably to a room instead of the hallway. They reached Elle's room and Lys half-fell-half-sat into a cot and looked over at the other woman. This felt like an interrogation. And only a half friendly one. 

	"I have not made up my mind. I had visitors last night. And I'm not talking about the alcohol either. I trust they visited you as well?" Her response was surprisingly candid. It even slightly surprised Lys. She supposed it was the hangover. in her current state, Lady von Brennenburg did not feel like using flowery language. Thinking too much right now made her temples throb in protest. At least her and Elle were on the same side this time.

	Concern cracked El's cheery expression. The hangover was one thing. But hearing that someone visited Lysandra made El's skin crawl. [i]So the bastards are targeting us because of the expedition after all.[/i] Elle ran unconsciously the tops of her nails over her lips lost in her thoughts. [i]The Baron is really on to something then! But what?! The Garden of Eden is mostly a myth. And not one that is connected to riches or the likes. Who would be so interested in an expedition to find its location as to put our group under surveillance?![/i] As the nail of El's index finger was running slowly, almost seductively over her lower lip, it suddenly stopped mid-motion. The Countess blinked once and was out of the trance state in an instant.

	Elle shook her head as she stood up from her chair. Since she was the first to board the Demeter she'd permitted herself the liberty to ask for a small pitcher of milk to be brought to her cabin. She took a glass from the single shelf and poured the milk in. After rummaging for a second in her satchel she produced a small vile filled with what looked like ash and a packet of crackers. El uncorked the vile and poured some of the ash in the milk, stirred it well, opened the packet of crackers and turned to Lysandra. She pointed a finger at her.

	"I've been told by reliable sources that a tussle between the sheets is the best cure for hangover, but unfortunately for you I'm not in [i]that[/i] charitable of a mood." Elle winked at Lys and handed her the glass of milk and crackers. "So the next best thing will have to do. Here, drink this first and then have some crackers. I doubt you'll be able to hold anything else down anyways." The Countess shook her head. "I don't know why you keep doing this to yourself when you damn well know you can't hold your liquor."

	Elle straddled back her chair, her eyes urging Lysandra to take her hangover medicine. "And, yes, when I got back home I was indeed informed that the estate was under surveillance. Though no one had the courage or the foolhardiness to approach me or my kin." For a moment El's eyes flashed with uncontained anger at the thought of people threatening her father and Preston Senior. "We managed to give the buggers the slip and I arrived here without further trouble." El sighed and looked out of the cabin window with a wistful expression on her face. "Makes you wonder what that old goat, the Baron, stumbled over." Elle shifted her gaze back at Lysandra, the concern from before now again evident on her face. "It doesn't look like you were physically threatened or anything at the very least." The Countess made it a point to run her gaze up and down over Lys' body. And since the woman made it a point to keep well in shape, a rather fine body it was! "Well, I can't be sure of that without a more detailed examination, of course." El cracked a grin. "So tell me. What did this visitor want?"

	Lysandra watched El take in what she had said about 'visitors'. Though she said nothing, and whirled around the small room, mixing together many seemingly bizarre ingredients into a glass of milk, Elle's expression told a different story. Finally Elle, handed the glass of milk and some crackers to Lys, who smiled gratefully. [i]"Danke."[/i] Lys responded in what almost passed for a cheerful voice. She sipped the strange concoction, hoping that it would indeed cure her hangover, regardless of the strange aftertaste. After nibbling on a cracker, Lysandra shrugged, "I like to drink." 

	Finally Elle stated what her expression had hinted at; she too had visitors, although apparently they had not been as forthright as they had with the Lady von Brennenburg. "Clearly someone powerful thinks it is important. And no, they did not threaten me physically. Apparently they had expected me to join them with no questions asked. Strange, yes?" Lysandra saw the other woman scanning her body. She never could tell whether Elle was going to attack her or kiss her. They both seemed equally likely given past encounters between the two. "They spoke of some great change and new empires and a united Deutschland." Lys continued, waving her hand around while describing these vague concepts, the haze of the previous night only increased by the hangover.

	Elle observed Lysandra as she nibbled on the crackers and sipped, even if a bit suspiciously, at the milk. Of course the impromptu breakfast would not magically cure the hangover, but it would at least maybe settle Lys' stomach and put her in a less foul mood. At lady Brennenburg's assertion that she liked to drink El shook her head and sighed a bit.

	"To each their own, I suppose." She stated and didn't comment further on the subject. "And so let me see if I've grasped the gist of your nightly visitation." Again The Countess' nails began caressing her lower lip as she was considering Lysandra's words. "They came to you and tried to appeal to your... what? Nationalistic spirit?! What on Earth could they believe is in the Congo that would allow them to do as they said?!" Elle knew of some societies in Germany that practiced occult beliefs and thought themselves as inheritors of ancient secrets and knowledge that would aid them in realizing their ideals of a pure Arian society. [i]Could it be that we are targets of such misguided individuals?[/i]

	El fixed Lysandra with a hard stare. "Well, one could assume that since you are here, you told them to sod off." The Countess leaned forward a bit. The chair squeaking plaintively underneath her weight. El knew Lysandra to be a true adventurer who lived for the journey and the thrill of it and hated failing in an endeavor. She also harbored a great respect for her father. Elle didn't think the lady Brennenburg would be swayed by nationalistic notions and promises of a united fatherland. Still... better safe than sorry, the Countess thought. "Make no mistake, though. Should you choose to betray me and this group of explorers and adventurers, I will never stop hunting you!"

	For a moment Elle's face was harsh and cold mask, and in the next instance the ever-present grin reappeared and the spell was broken. "Wouldn't that be fun?!" She winked at Lysandra and once again entered her pondering mode. "We should probably reconvene with the others. See if they'd had similar experiences with nightly visits. Maybe we can piece together what these people want with us and what they expect us to find that is so important that can help them build a new and improved Deutschland." Elle once again fixed her gaze on her fellow aristocrat. "Feeling any better?" She rested her chin on her arms that she had crossed over the chair's back. "If you want you can take a nap. I promise I won't lay a hand on you." Elle paused, mischief written all over her face. "Maybe just a finger or two." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and chuckled.

	Lys took her time in imbibing the strange concoction as she listened to Elle summarise Lys's recollection of the night before. She had to admit, the Countess did get most of the events right, probably more so than Lys had remembered, seeing as the night was basically an alcohol-induced haze at this point. Maybe Elle knew Lysandra better than Lysandra knew Lysandra. At this point in their 'relationship' it would not surprise her. Lysandra gave an ambivalent shrug. "That is more or less what happened, yes. As for the object of their desire? I do not know. One would imagine it would have to be what the Baron showed us last night." 

	Lys took another cautious sip of the milk and a nibble of the crackers. "Mhm. I chased him out of my apartment promptly. Although what he said on his way out the door troubles me. He said we would see each other again very soon." Lys lowered her voice and sat up slightly as she spoke the last sentence, as if she feared he could be on the ship this very moment. After finishing, she lay back down and gave a coy smile. She found it highly amusing how Elle could switch from being so concerned about her to threatening to hunt her down forever and back again. "I would hope so. I'd show you the same courtesy, you know."

	"Hm, that doesn't sound good at all. We should proceed forward with extra caution, knowing that they promised you to show themselves again. And soon at that." Elle stood up from the chair, putting it back in front of the tiny desk that also doubled as a table. She smiled warmly at Lysandra who was stretching her body on the cot. "Take that nap now. I'll keep watch." The Countess pulled a notebook from her satchel. "I have some stuff to do anyways and I don't have a hangover to sleep off." El winked at Lys, sat in the chair and began scribbling her thoughts in the notebook.

	Lysandra nodded to her companion and set her drink and crackers down. "Do you think it would be wise to keep this to ourselves or share it with the others? One of them could be a traitor." She asked, almost rhetorically. Lysandra yawned as she stretched out. "Yes, I think a nap would suit me well," she agreed, "I trust you will not strangle me in my sleep?" Lys added with a wink as she folded her arms behind her head. She closed her eyes and let the soft scratching of Elle's pencil lull her into a much-needed rest.

	"Strangle, no. And since I already promised not to attack your virtue, sadly I'll just have to settle for watching over your beauty sleep." Elle threw over her shoulder quietly as Lysandra was nodding off. She continued scribbling in her notebook pondering Lys' suggestion. That one of them might be a traitor. [i]Is it really possible? I mean I can vouch for Al with certainty. I somehow would find it hard to swallow if Florence turned out to be a spy.[/i] Although who really knew. Spies ware like that. They were good at making people believe whatever they decided. Maybe instead of bringing what had happened to them to the group as a matter of consideration they could simply bait the others to reveal if they had similar visits by commenting on the cloak and dagger switcheroo of their meeting place.

	Elle put the notebook away and stood up, taking her satchel and jacket. She laid the jacket on the floor and the satchel on top and lay down. All in all, she'd slept in far worse conditions that this.