Here be Dragons (Monster Hunt, Arc/Lani)

Aurora made an attempt to give Glyn a kiss, failed, and instead kissed her fingers before tapping them against his cheek.

Rogue continued to look at her lovingly, though with increasingly droopy eyes. Despite the fact that he'd slept for a good portion of the plane ride, he seemed still somehow tired. Perhaps that was why he usually favored driving, that doing otherwise just made traveling tiresome for him.

Glyn, while turning his head to do his best to show her the grin she put on his face to the fullest, reached a hand back towards her despite the awkward angle; wiggling his fingers, he hoped that she'd see and take it. 

Once again, Candy was happy to be his pillow, though now that she was actively doing something that was putting him to sleep maybe she'd continue after he did so without joining him. Totally not because she was starting to really enjoy the whole hair playing thing. Not at all.

She did so happily, almost eagerly, bouncing in place to reach out and do so. Even after all these years, she hadn't entirely grown up. Where would the fun in that be?

Rogue only snuggled up to her more and more the longer things continued, and he was far beyond past out before they even took the first exit. It wasn't that the drive was terribly long, but there weren't a great many airports with direct flights from Death City.

At a certain point, when Rogue had been lulled entirely to dreamland, Candy was stuck on playing as she had been or gently stroking his head in a comforting manner. In the end, she picked alternating between the two, true to her nature.

Glyndwr, for one, loved the fact that she was happy and energetic as she always was. It's what he had fallen in love with in the first place, though he knew that even if she changed his love for her never would.

ooc: Look at you, making them all sappy

IC:
In time, they eventually reached a rather nice hotel. It wasn't by any means a luxurious one, but it was a far cry from running the risk of infestations or broken faucets. Hell, it even had a list of amenities --- to include a spa, should anyone wish to take advantage of it. Aurora, gently, was one of the first ones out of the car, detaching herself and moving aside so that the trio in the back of the vehicle to exit. Before she could reach them, the driver was already unloading their belongings onto a hotel cart, taking special care of the bundle of blades, though he seemed mostly to be trying to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

Glyndwr was out soon after Aurora, and he was rather quick to follow the driver. He took the blades from him, giving him a bit of a smile and nod as he slung them across his shoulder. He couldn't quite help it before, but he preferred to handle them himself. They were his weapons, and made by himself no less, so there was that factor as well. 

Candy, despite her intentions, did end up falling asleep. It was typical, really. She did wake when the car stopped, and gently shook her assassin awake as well.

Her efforts were met with loud protests, grumbles and whines that ended in a half-asleep assassin unbuckling his belt after several times and shuffling from the vehicle not unlike a zombie. By this point, it seemed that the rest of the girls had grabbed at least their handbags, opting to leave their suitcases on the cart. Aurora had snuck inside to see about their rooms, only to find that they'd not only already been booked, but checked in as well. She looked quizzically through the doorway to the driver, who was doing a once-over of the entire of the vehicle, seeming to make sure that no one left anything --- this much she guessed when he handed Kira her headphones, which had gotten shoved into the seat cushions. Had he checked them in when he'd known they had landed safely? Still questioning their mysterious benefactor, she took a tally of their rooms and found that they actually appeared to have one extra. She brought this up to the man, who worked with her to reduce the room count at least down to four, before handing her the keys and passing along the directions.

Before Rogue managed to get out from the opposite side, Candy had opened the door to her own and climbed out that way, since it was faster. She hadn't yet seen what sort of hotel it was that they were booked into, but the surprise as ever would be taken in stride.

Glyndwr, soon after retrieving his weapons, joined Aurora. He really was fully convinced that something was going on that really should have been but he couldn't do anything about it. Besides, being well rested before a mission was the way to go, so unless someone was going to suddenly spring a check for it all on them he had no reason to complain.

Whatever it was, Aurora was confident enough that, one way or another, she'd find out eventually what was going on. After all, Zoe and Rogue both were present for this mission, and that was besides having Savannah as one of her own contacts. For now, they had a mission to complete.

First thing's first, there was the question of handing out room keys and getting the rather sizeable amount of stuff they had altogether sorted out. Then, as he heard Candy mention on the plane, he had to let everyone know what their targets wouldn't much like happening. Then, thinking of it, there was also the bits of research they should probably do to close up any gaps in the intel. Man, missions were a lot.


The first of the sleepyheads arrived as Glyn was thinking all of that, though you really wouldn't be able to tell by the colourful one's demeanour that she had just been asleep.

Rogue managed to zombie shuffle enough to start pushing the cart towards the elevator, following an exasperated Zoe's instructions to head for the rooms. Apparently, Kira and Siofra had opted for the stairs and had left without them, leaving Aurora looking between Glyn and Candy in confusion.

Well, Glyndwr certainly didn't notice them. He shrugged, and turned around as the zombified Rogue passed them to help him push the card of luggage. At least to help speed things up a bit in this regard.

Candy kind of wanted to do so herself, but with two people she had to make do with just following next to Rogue instead.

Aurora was looking through the small packet she got from the front desk. It wasn't much, but it was certainly more than she expected for a hotel that was really just supposed to house them while they prepared for a hunt. Inside was the line of keycards, room numbers decorating the surfaces; a brochure that had mostly information on the spa and fitness centers, including an indoor, heated pool; and a brochure of the nearest tourist attractions. She pursued her lips, confused. When the elevator doors opened, they came almost face-to-face with their driver --- though that was perhaps not the best term. Really, he was just making it from heading up the stairs and was walking to a nearby room. He stopped briefly when he recognized them, waved, and made a vague gesture towards a room near the elevator. It was right across from the single room Aurora had planned for Zoe.

"I'll be there if you need me. Let me know if you need a lift anywhere. I'm yours until you head back to the City." With that, he left Aurora gawking, Zoe almost bristling and, well, the chakrams were still nowhere in sight, likely still messing around on the staircase.

Glyndwr had half a mind to call someone that might know that sorcerer's number, so he could ask the only person he knew was involved in getting the mission to him. Just to ask what the hell this was all about. Though, again, maybe not thinking about it and just enjoying the VIP treatment while it lasted would be for the best. He sighed, just giving the man an acknowledging nod.

Candy, as far as she was concerned, would be doing exactly that. She happily smiled at the man and nodded. "We'll be sure to let you know if we need to be anywhere, thank you!" she said excitedly.

Aurora gaped at her partner for a second, unable to form words and thus just gesturing widely at what the fuck was that?! Shaking her head, she patted her cheeks a couple of times to right her brain before turning helplessly to Glyn and then just sighing and moving to each of their rooms. Knowing that Zoe wouldn't settle in until everyone else had --- especially since her bag was on the bottom --- she went to one of the large rooms and slid the keycard in. Swinging the door in wide and putting the stopper in place, she handed the card to the far more awake Candace while Rogue tried to maneuver the cart through the door. This room was right next to Zoe's, so while it didn't have a door connecting the two rooms, she at least was as close as she could get, otherwise. It wouldn't have exactly surprised anyone if she'd tried to just barrel through the wall in the event of a disaster, anyway.

Candy just smiled at Aurora in response to her gesturing and also when she handed her the key-card. She pocketed the card almost immediately. Wouldn't do to lose it. Rather than let Rogue take everyone's stuff into the room, she squeezed past the cart and inside. Quickly extracting her and Rogue's stuff and leaving it there, she pushed past the cart once more to instead collect her sleepy boyfriend instead. 

At which point Glyn took control of the cart and looked to Aurora for guidance. She had the room numbers, after all.

She handed Zoe her card and the card for the girls that she was walking off to go retrieve before taking him to room across the hall from Rogue and Candace's. At least this saved them some time. Extracting her bag from the group, she took to setting stuff up at the desk in the corner, inevitably going to be researching if Glyn wouldn't let her go straight into town. Two bags were left on the cart, now, a smaller case that had to be Zoe's, especially by how plain and extraordinary it was, aside from the bright orange tag, and a much larger case decorated in stickers and paintings that the chakrams must be sharing. She went ahead and set them just inside the door to her room, studying a tag on the cart that read: "Just leave outside your room and staff will handle the rest!" With an unsure pout, she gestured to it for Glyn before moving to obey. The girls could swing by their room for their things, since Aurora had a feeling Zoe was going to be giving the younger girls a talking to about causing mischief.

Glyndwr collected his bag from the rest just before following Aurora into the room. He put his bag down somewhere it wouldn't be in the way, then set down his swords on the bed, sitting next to them. He had to check them, because no matter how sure he was that he bundled them together properly and safely, airport staff had a habit of mistreating other people's property.

While he set about his own task, she took to examining the hand-me-down laptop and tablet she'd been given by her friends over the years, connecting to the hotel wifi and putting through a search for the nearest library on one while investigating local news articles on the other. Zoe still had the folder, so she would have to wait for her to come back before she could fully go through things, but she already had a notebook set out that she was using to try to record approximations of numbers and locations.

As Aurora did her own thing in terms of research, Glyndwr unwrapped the bundle and slowly took each of the blades from their scabbards, checking slowly for any nicks or any other such signs of damage then flipping them again and doing so again on the other side. When he found nothing wrong, he would return the blade and place it back down on the bed to then check the next. It only took a short while, and he finished up by placing each of the unbound blades in their scabbards in the corner of the room where they were well out of the way.

Across the hall, Rogue was stubbornly trying to get Candy to come cuddle with him, ignoring the fact that he knew she and Aurora usually were doing research at about this point. He wanted more sleep before they started working, even though they likely wouldn't be setting out until the next day.

Not too long after Glyn had finished up with his weapons, and in fact about the time that he was situating them in a corner, a knocking came at the door. Aurora got up instantly, opening the door and stepping out of the way so a rather annoyed Zoe, with Kira and Siofra in tow, could collect their things. She apologized for them quickly before saying that she'd be right back, and escorted the pair directly to the room on the opposite side of Candy and Rogue's, handing them the keycard before proceeding to her own room.

Candy was doing her best at trying to get at least a little research done on her phone instead of allowing Rogue to have his way, though in a way she wanted to relent and just let Aurora deal with it. She knew that was sort of bad, in a way, but... It was Rogue, and he wanted to cuddle!

Glyndwr, looking at the girls from a little ways behind Aurora, wondered somehow if Zoe ever felt overworked. He didn't know the girl very well, but anyone could see that she never seemed to relax.

When Zoe rejoined her and Candy hadn't said a word, she sent a text message to her with a question mark, asking if Rogue was holding her captive already. For her part, Zoe had sat herself on the floor near Aurora's desk, splaying out the contents of the folder and looking through them. She had a weighted, lavender-scented rice bag over her shoulders that seemed to have calmed herself down, and her pose was strikingly similar to Rogue's meditative one. Glancing up at Glyndwr, she held up one of the photos, a surprisingly well-captured one of one of the smaller dragons of the nest, offering it to him.

"It's wingless," she stated, casting him a curious gaze. It seemed that she'd moved smoothly on from one task to the next, now appearing more to be taking things in stride. Perhaps it was just the chakrams that rilled her up. "Research would suggest that they're drakes, but I don't know if you have more accurate information on them. That's all I've been able to find is 'wingless dragons are drakes. They're smaller and flightless.' That seems kinda duh to me."

Candy, receiving the message, soon had a reply drafted and sent back to explain the situation: "I have been captured partially of my own volition but have been allowed to keep contact with the outside world. Do not sent help. I'll look for stuff."

Glyndwr had returned to perch on the bed while they sorted out the chakrams. He had already had a look through the contents of the folder before the flight, so he was familiar with the picture that Zoe was holding up to him. He put his hand up to let her know she should keep it with the rest for now. "Mine's a proper dragon. I imagine the scales at their bellies are just as soft and that their soft bits are equally as painful if you hit them. The fact that they won't fly on ya' makes things easier in a way. Have to see if they can breathe, too. Will have to watch out. They won't have the wings to target, though. The membrane is generally pretty damn sensitive. Oh, as for the scales on top; I imagine a demon weapon won't have all that much issue, though it might take a few hits to get through properly." He sort of went on a rant.

On another note, this was another situation Glyndwr was glad he didn't have his brother's sense of smell. He imagined the bag would be pretty distracting for him... Although, perhaps not, since he worked in a cafe.

Aurora had to cover her mouth to keep from all-out laughing at the reply she'd received, shaking her head and sending back a thumbs up before emailing her the list of local libraries and newspaper headquarters she'd uncovered. They'd be more up Candace's alley, anyway, and boy did that girl know how to find something in them, once she had a scent. This done, she settled on digging through the articles themselves for any bits of information they hadn't received in the folder. There was a lot, but that was likely because the folder only contained fully verified accounts and more of an analytical take on matters, rather than any sort of "feelings" any of the locals got. Empathic to a fault, Aurora knew full and well not to disregard a gut instinct or strange feeling.

Zoe nodded, writing these things down before sifting through again, curious. "Do you know, would it be normal for a nest to have many different varieties? Accounts are vague, but..." The armor weapon paused for a moment to start sifting through papers again before straightening into perfect posture, reading aloud, "'Sources indicate that while many of these monsters appear wingless, there are possibly up to three that have wings. Accounts differ on whether this, or these, monsters have wings in addition to their legs or if the wings are attached...'" Her brow furrowed again, "I don't imagine there would be a power difference between a.... what was it?" She paused, closing her eyes and searching her brain before almost bouncing as she piped back up, "A... wyvern and a traditional dragon, but that could mean a lot of difference for fighting them. A grounded wyvern would be far less efficient than a grounded dragon." Though the last sentence wasn't quite phrased as a question, the varying upturn at the end of it indicated that she wasn't quite sure of the statement that she was making.