Los Paraísos: Bus Stop
“Yes!!” Estelle dramatically twirled around, a beaming smile and giant thumbs upped directed back to her friends. “Water park! Water park! We are going to go to a water park!!!”
“Yes, yes…” Marcus laughed, trying to calm his overeager and enthusiastic friends down somewhat. But that was an impossible task. After everything the Pride had been through, the harsh trials and the difficult challenges, being able to relax at a place like this… even if they were on a mission at the same time too… it was impossible not to be excited. And once one of them started, that excitement quickly became infectious to the point where it wouldn’t stop. Even the calm and composed Marcus couldn’t feign enjoying the upcoming trip. Even so…
“But only after we meet our companions at the Flying Albatross. And after that, I think we should find our hotel first, so we can drop our belongings off there first. And then after tha-”
“WATER PARK.” Estelle’s face was all the way up in Marcus’, her eyes wide and lit with fiery determination. If anything… she looked scary.
“Y-y-yes. Water park!” Marcus quickly nodded, hoping to avoid the terrible consequences of Estelle’s excitement. “We also need to find Don. He should be here somewhere… but this is a big place, so that might take a while an-”
“Water park! Water park!”
Marcus’ advice was drowned out by the chorus of cheers from Estelle, Trixie and Lisette, the trio of girls linking arms and skipping forwards together, Kapi bouncing up and down as they marched to the bus stop.
They didn’t have to wait long for their transportation to arrive. Puttering nearer and nearer from the gates of Los Paraísos were a trio of three buses: mechanical transportation machines powered by a number of wind magispheres that helped push the automobile off and hover along the ground. They moved at a fair speed, crossing the distance between the docks and the resort itself in short time, coming to a neat, and gentle stop at the bus stop to pick up the island’s new passengers.
“Come along, come along!” Cried the driver and porter of each bus as they stepped out, helping to usher the travellers on and carrying their baggage to their designated holding points. “Not much longer now folks until we’re there! Please take a seat, and enjoy yourselves… at Los Paraísos!!”
And so it was they quickly filed on, their belongings stored in the rear compartments of the buses as they all sat down on the plush seats. The buses roared to life again, lifting up from the ground and swaying side to side as they did, before fully coming to life and beginning to move forwards, forwards and into Los Paraísos.
The sudden motion did not help Selan’s constitution. It was like being back on the boat again… she could only pray it wouldn’t last long…
A tour was given by the porter as they plodded on down the strip, introducing a variety of attractions lying all around them. Far too many, and far too quickly for any of the Pride to properly remember, their heads snapping left and right, up and down, taking in all of the sights, sounds and smells, but it was nothing more then sensory overload.
Fast-food vendors lined the streets provided a menagerie of delicious smells to help intoxicate and salivate the Pride’s taste buds. The streets were lined with crowds of people, all moving to and fro, either dressed extremely extravagantly or in very loose clothing, the best to help in their efforts to enjoy the climate. Beautiful young men and women lined the streets, handing out leaflets and advertising their place of employment’s attractions in a hope to encourage as many tourists as possible to shop there – be it the restaurants, souvenirs shops, hotels or a hundred other different specialty venues. The hotels themselves towered high, high into the sky – might monoliths leaning over themed providing an endless spectacle of lights. Screams of excitement and rollicking machinery could be heard from the rollercoaster housed theme park in one section of the resort. The Pride passed a giant concert stage, with one band in the process of playing a concert – the music being broadcast over speakers positioned everywhere throughout the island. Before them, at the far end of the strip, halfway up the resort’s tallest hotel was an impossibly big screen… a big screen showing moving pictures!!
“Wooooooooooah…” Were the only words that could escape Estelle’s lips. She had never seen anything like this before, and wondered if, after this holiday, whether she ever would again.
“And here’s our stop!” The porter said, he and the bus driver quickly scrambling off and unloading their passengers and their belongings, so that they could repeat the drive again back to the docks for the next endless stream of holiday goers to arrive. “We hope you all enjoy Los Paraísos!! We hope you have a good day!!”
A plume of dust was kicked up from where the bus sped off, with the collection of ten guilders, plus capybara, left standing with their gear on the sidewalk besides the road.
“Did… anyone catch if that guy mentioned that Alba-whatsit?” Estelle asked, shaking looking everywhere for any sign of the establishment.
Los Paraísos: The Flying Albatross
Thunderhawk’s empty glass hit the bar stand, the ice resting inside clinking about. Thunderhawk didn’t even turn to look at his visitor or raise his head, instead just staring at the empty glass and taking a heavy sigh.
”How many times have I told you? The name’s not ‘Chirps’. It’s Thunderhawk.” The Ranger replied, massaging his aggravated temples. He would have thought a name like that would have been easy to remember, but for some reason people always forgot. And for some bizarre, inexplicable reason, he was always saddled with extremely annoying people who taxed his patience. People like her.
He took another deep breath, trying to compose himself. Like it or not, he had to work with Aria… and so he needed to be polite. Even if that was a mission in and of itself.
Finally, he raised his head. His intention was to check the clock and see what time it was, to check if the Guilders they were to meant to meet were running late, but doing so first meant seeing Aria fully, and so his gaze stopped. Thunderhawk looked down at her, one eyebrow arching in the air.
“Nice dress. Aiming to impress?” The stocky ranger asked. In comparison to Aria’s glamorous outfit and accessories, Thunder hawk was dressed in his usual Guilder ensemble – orange top and brown cargo pants, a red scarf wrapped around his neck even in this heat and a white bandana pushing up his messy blonde hair. Hanging from his waist was a satchel filled with javelins and his short sword. “You thinking of hoping to find a boyfriend or something?"
Thunderhawk turned away, staring at his glass again and swirling the melting ice from side to side. Usually he might have been more enamoured by Aria and her beauty… using his tried and true charms to woo her as he had done a hundred women before. But with Aria he felt little compulsion to. Amongst other reasons, her personality was an instant wall blocking any desire to. Getting to know her over the last week alone was enough to convince him he did not, and would never ever want to get involved with her. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to make him drunk enough to want to. She reminded him of a few other women he tried very hard to forget… and yet just his luck, he was stuck working alongside her, in a place like this.
This mission could very well be the death of him.
“You seen…” Thunderhawk paused, doing his very best to remember their other companion’s name. “…Xandra around? I would have thought you two would have came in together…”
