HereComesTheSnow

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Crimmy@Write@Plank Sinatra

Welcome back to Mother Base, Boss!

"Not too long, no." I managed to respond, picking my head up off my left shoulder with a herculean effort to meet our final tripfellow's impassive, cool gaze. "We pretty much just got in ourselves."

And speaking of Gratia being behind all of us, which I had good reason to remember the cause of—

"Sorry, about earlier." I said, even going far enough to incline my head in supplication. "Leaving you behind like that was unfair of me."

I couldn't incline my head too hard, though, because as much as I would have liked to show my apology through body language, I had to respect Beryl's personal space.

A full bow would be out of the question. First off, I was sitting, and second off, she was, again, right there next to me. Faceplanting straight into her thighs is something that nothing worth the risk/reward ratio could happen afterwards.

Even thinking about it makes me feel like I've done terribly wrong, even though it was purely from a hypothetical standpoint!

Beryl is pure! I understand, seriously!

I really do get it, okay?!

I am a man of discipline.

D i s c i p l i n e.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Write

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, "Hey."

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.

"Got here fast." I noted idly, in reference to the cab.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

The siren song of omakes is a bitch sometimes

Gotta expand that universe boy

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Silvan Haven@Write

I should have remembered that yes, of course I could stuff everything into a backpack. Mine was fairly robust as far as they went, and that was without mentioning that I was in all respects a master of packing light, and packing tight.

When you're hauling a week's worth of supplies up a mountain to train at altitude at your local shrine, you quickly learn how to fill space efficiently, is all I'm saying. Granted, I doubt it's cosmopolitan of me to assume everyone has a local shrine.

Or even a local mountain...

"Shirts!"

Check!

"Shorts!"

Check!

"Underwear!"

Check!

I ran through the list as I swiftly folded, shoved, and shoved some more, marking each item of importance off as they entered my lone carry-on. Also, here's a tip on that subject— you can never check your zipper's integrity too often. Every time I got something in there, I made more than sure the bag would hold itself together.

One of the dumber ways to look is "that guy whose backpack exploded when he turned too fast", you know.

In went Laptop-Chan, DS-chan, and all relevant charging cords. I probably wasn't going to end up using them, but you never knew when you'd hit a dull patch.

Even on a cruise. Take no chances!

I threw my head to the side, checking my scroll as it charged. 98%, ten minutes since we'd recieved the tickets.

Good enough. In the cord went. Flip flops and trunks were up next, followed swiftly by a spare pair of socks.

Anything else?

...

Eh, maybe a tanktop. The Sleipnir might have... I dunno, a gym or something?

They made for good loungewear. If you want to judge me, judge me.

"Should be everything."

I ran through one last check, and then ran much more swiftly out the door.

Five minutes later, I streaked into the courtyard, practically skidding to a halt with my ticket very firmly in hand.

"Ready!"

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

help im freakin out

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

<Snipped quote by HereComesTheSnow>

well my daddy taught me things too

like how to make it even crunchier by putting it between some buns

@Plank Sinatra

will you show me?

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

my daddy taught me not be ashamed of our bacon strips

especially since they're so crispy and all

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Who would self insert as Luke anyway he's a dinkus if you wanna be like somebody be benji

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Nah Luke is tailor made to prey upon my own inadequacy issues and desire to be a good person also he's becoming a meme and I have to ride that wave

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

i mean I know a few people who would self-insert into Ben if they could