[Liberation] [Mission] [Closed]

Her footsteps were brisk and hurried, as though she were in some kind of rush. They caused ripples in the puddles below, disturbing the peaceful slumber of the water. The rain was falling harder, harder, and harder. One hand had grabbed a stray book from the ground, desperately trying to at least cover the top of her head in a fruitless effort. Why the hell was she running again? There was no reason to. Anyone could've told her that the hotel was only a bit further and she would've gone the other way regardless. But this time, she knew where she was going and what she was doing, so there shouldn't have been any need to rush. This rain was way too sticky - she needed to shower.

It was aimless wandering for perhaps an hour or so. By the time she made it back, it had to be around past midnight. Her pride made her refuse to ask for directions or look for a map. Passing by the same landmarks over and over again before finally figuring out where she was going. Vietnam might've been a third-world country and small, to say the least, but its cities were no laughing matter. They were rather big with way too many of the same looking alleyways and everyone looked more similar than she would've liked. Visiting another country for the first time meant having to get used to everything and blending all the features into one jumbled mess. Ugh, did she pass by this lounge already? Which elevator was it again? What was their room number?

Tabitha fumbled with the keys, her hands felt clammy and the wrinkles were showing. She was completely soaked that it was a surprise that they let her into the hotel in this condition. Everyone inside their room was already asleep, probably exhausted from the trip they were stuck with. That meant the shower was free. Better that it was - she didn't want to fight with them to see who got to go in first. Plucking a fresh set of sleepwear from her luggage, she went into the showers. The door was unlocked. Nobody was there. Good, good. Would've been pretty bad if anyone was.

The water heated itself to scalding temperatures, steam filling the small bathroom and attacking every surface of glass that it possibly could. Slipping off drenched clothes that clung onto her skin, she jumped into the showers. It was invitingly warm and cozy, much better than the hot and sticky rain from outside that was polluted by the dirtiness of the environment around it, she felt like melting, just for a little bit. Her sense of time was lost and by the time she came out, it was a good thirty minutes later. Hopefully nobody was awake. She didn't want to explain herself in the slightest. Not to these guys. There was no point in interacting with them more than necessary.

She plopped onto her bed and fell asleep around 2:16 AM.

Morning came much more quickly than one would've expected. Maybe those guys were still suffering from jet lag or something along those lines, but Tabitha was up and about around five hours after she had slept. Not like she didn't want to sleep any longer, but she was too used to being an early-riser. Not too much sleep was necessary though she would head to bed maybe an hour or so before Jules and the others. Granted, those three stayed up doing who knows what the hell they were doing. She was slightly satisfied they never tried to wake her up but at the same time, slightly disappointed they didn't. They were always doing something and staying up at rather obscure hours, so nobody was up and about in the morning for breakfast. That was the only reason she bothered having to cook for them. That, and the mess they brought with hangovers.

It was, somehow, the same over here. There weren't too many ingredients provided by the hotel, so the best she could do were omelets. Simple enough that it wouldn't take forever to complete, but still rather filling. Whoever wanted breakfast might as well hurry up. Who knew when that stupid translator would be here and rushing them out to get this mission done?

Someone was stirring in the main room. Footsteps resonating against every wall and it was sounding more and more like a drum and was... was that a whistle? The shrilling noise that buzzed endlessly like a pesky fly that was too close to your ear, except this had to be much much louder and just as annoying. Ughh, someone make it stop. Tabitha quickly turned off the stove, the fire shutting itself down before she walked towards the source of the sound. And good gods, it was that Vietnamese girl, sitting there and spinning a whistle within her fingers.

"Hallo~ Rise and shine, everyone." An electrifying smile had stretched her lips wide. "Busy day today, after all."

Her wrist had a rather peculiar-looking bracelet on it.

The rest of the night was pretty relaxing, and Pepper was surprised that she got any sleep at all. Hearing an extremely annoying high pitched sound coming from down downstairs, the girl got up with a jolt up, though she would've rather slept in longer. Pepper got ready in a timely manner, throwing on some clothes, brushing her teeth, and putting her hair in its usual ponytail. Making her way downstairs, Pepper was glad that she woke up when she did, or she might have been the last one to be ready. Giving a yawn, she walked over to the kitchen counter, glad to sit down. "Smells good," she said softly, though she was somewhat mad at the translator for waking them up like that.

Mikaela jerked awake at the sound of the whistle. Her hair was everywhere and a clump was stuck to the side of her face. She rubbed her eyes, got out of bed, and followed the smell of food to the kitchen. "What the hell?" she yawned. Noticing the food, she smiled groggily. "The food smells great. Did you cook it?" she said to Tabitha. She looked at Pepper and the perky translator. God she was too peppy for her own good. It seemed a little off to her, especially since it seemed they were surrounded by homelessness and poverty. But at the moment she was still too tired to care. She tried to smooth her hair down as best she could and looked down, finally waking up enough to check if she was decent enough. She had a large t-shirt and some comfortable athletic shorts on, so she figured she was looked alright.

Kaya didn't remember falling asleep. She did not remember how she spent the night after the call to Loic, and before she knew it, she found herself having teleported to the kitchen. A dreary yawn came from her mouth, and she absentmindedly chewed on her sleeve, the sleeve of a sweater she wore the previous day, the same sweater that had gotten soaked in the rain and dried over the night as she lay in her bed. She felt awful. It felt like the entirety of Vietnam's humid air had attacked her in the night, had slipped under her skin and made her 70 percent more water than the 70 percent she was already. "Thank you," came her breathy glum, a hum not too far from a whisper, and even though she was tired, her eyes were like a cat's as they flitted to Tabitha's. A soft, tired, awfully dull brown. She took a plate gingerly, fingers clasping from beneath the oversized sweater sleeve, grasping the ceramic plate cautiously. And sure enough, in her taking it elsewhere, the plate slipped and fell. It shattered into a million darting shards, the food in a heap across the floor.

What could she say? She wasn't too hungry anyway. She stared at it for a minute, saying nothing, possibly having not processed the severity of it all. "I apologize, Miss Tabitha," came her tiny drear, and she crouched to gather the shards in her hands. It was on one particular one that she cut her finger, and hot blood made a line across the tip. No sooner did she begin to clean that she examined the streak of blood. How was the human body so hot? The finger began pulsing red at the wound. Kaya sucked on it and continued her work, going piece by piece, now more lightly than before; her hands would sometimes hover over shards inspectively, as if seeing it from all sides before picking it up.

It was the shrill noise that woke the necromancer up and not the smell of food. Surprisingly as she opened her eyes she saw the soul of the dog she had summoned the night before, it was surprising to her that she managed to sustain it here over night while most of her functions disappeared over night. A small smile formed on Destiny's face as she saw the dog. Carefully pushing the small dog out of the way and hoping up off her bed to go change, casually ignoring the noise til it stopped.

Once she was dressed she let the form of the dog vanish, not wanting to freak out the others during the morning time. Slowly she made her ways down the stairs towards the others. "Morning." She said to all of them, not really commenting on the food like the rest. She didn't like to eat after just waking up. It would make her feel sick. So she would ignore it for now.

Everyone woke up rather quickly and almost at the same time as one another as well. It was kind of creepy, if she had to say so herself. Tabitha narrowed her gaze when turning to the translator. Why the hell did she have the whistle with her? How did she even get into their hotel room? There were only three spare keys. Then again, for all she knew, the Vietnamese girl managed to snag another one since she was acquainted with them. The privilege she got for helping them out with this mission of some sort. Probably managed to make quite a bit of money in this place; being able to speak two languages fluently was a remarkable skill, Tabitha would give her that much. But that didn't make her any less annoying. Ha Noi was part of the heart of Vietnam. It was not a wonder that so few people spoke English in this part, despite being a popular tourist place.

That's what she was pretty sure of, at least.

But that didn't really matter right now. Not that it would ever matter. This was the first and last time she planned to come to this country anyway. Seeing all of the orphans and impoverished people sitting around on the streets outside in the rain made her sick to the stomach, in the way that she could sometimes feel the bile rising up her throat and threatening to spill. It hit too close to home for her, wherever home was. She didn't even know if it counted anymore, after receiving a send-off like that. What she did last night didn't help matters either. That was stupid of her. Very, very stupid. What a dumb weak spot she had.

Pathetic or not, that was just a bit of who she was. Tabitha didn't know who she was, though. It was hard to tell what kind of person she was or what place she had in a world as giant as this one. Over billions of people that were supposedly unique and special in their own way, as if there wasn't some sort of replica out there across the seas or someone who acted the exact same way. Not to mention the accursed fact that, on an overpopulated globe, she was going to make an impact or something? Play her own part and role in all of this and that? Yeah, right. As they always say, there's always someone more fortunate or better than you and there's always someone much worse. Only the best make it out in this sort of society. There's no room for the mediocre. Survival of the fittest sounded rather accurate.

She didn't bother telling any of them good morning. Why bother? Hearing it once or twice was enough as is. Dark grey eyes focused on the translator for a few moments, as though waiting for her to say something. No way in hell was she going to get interrupted by someone who was so keen to getting on her nerves. "Don't flatter me. I'm not that great of a cook." Just because something smelled good didn't mean it tasted good as well. It was the same as someone judging a book by its cover. Aroma, appearance, whatever. They were all the same dumb thing when it came down to it. "I didn't make any for you." As if she could have it made for the translator in the first place. It was a lucky coincidence and even better that she didn't know she was coming.

"No worries, haha~" One hand cupped itself closed to her mouth, pulling up the scarf wrapped around her neck, the other waving in a dismissive gesture. "I ate before coming over here since---"

Glass filled the floor, a piercing shattering noise echoing across the walls. The translator winced for a few moments, and Tabitha felt her fingers pulling themselves in and out of a fist. This wasn't what she needed right now. An irritated 'tch' fell past her lips. Kaya was exactly like a child in more ways than one. Foreigner or not - she didn't know nor did she care -, that didn't give some 14 year old the excuse to mimic the behaviors of a 6 year old. She should've been more responsible than that. For a few moments, Tabitha had assumed that Kaya would be doing nothing, but then she had started to pick up the glass shards with her bare hands. Before she could even stop the smaller girl from collecting anymore, she had already cut herself.

That does it. Tabitha snatched Kaya's wrist to prevent her from doing anything. "Are you a fucking idiot? Who the hell collects broken glass like that?" Her grip tightened as she pulled Kaya up and onto her feet and redirected her to the restroom. She'd have to find the medicine cabinet later for some disinfectant and such. Bandages should be available somewhere. She didn't know how well-stocked and supplied this hotel was in the first place and she was not going to take the elevator all the way down to the lobby just to find something to apply to the wound. "You're going to get shards stuck between your skin if you try to do anymore."

Quickly, she turned on the faucet, cool water streaming down at the sink. "Wash it off. I'll go find some disinfectant." Tabitha couldn't care less about the fact that the omelet was wasted. It didn't even take that long to make and she could easily make another one later. Actually, scratch that, she wasn't hungry anymore. She'd just give Kaya her share. She was searching through one of the cabinets upstairs.

The translator let out a low whistle, glancing at the remaining three around the area and then towards the site of the incident. "Pretty sure there's a broom 'n pan in the closet right over there or a vacuum cleaner." Pretty sure. It wasn't like she knew this hotel at the back of her hand or anything.

"You guys need to hurry up a bit with eating and cleaning up." Her index finger lay on her cheek as she gave a thoughtful look to the ceiling, a small 'hmm' vibrating at her neck. "I kinda have to skiddle-daddle in a bit to help with preparations for a national holiday and wanted to run a few things by you guys."

Surprised from the sudden loud noise, Pepper gave a gasp and looked back to see what had happened, though she realized it was nothing more than a clumsy student, who also seemed to be a suck-up. Well, it's there problem now. Turning back to her food, she scarfed it down in a fast, yet quiet manner, not wanting to be the last person to finish. When she thought about the translator's personality vs Tabitha, they were polar opposites. Not that she cared, but it was kind of funny. "Well, I'm ready to go when ya'll are!" she said with a smile, bringing her place over to the sink.

Mikaela had just started munching on her food when Kaya had dropped her plate, startling the young Summer. She looked over at the shorter girl and shrugged, going back to eating. Accidents happened, no sense crying over spilled milk, which seemed to be what some of the others were doing. Although Tabitha, was right in getting after Kaya for picking up incorrectly, some patience was needed. There was no reason to just snap at the girl. But whatever, she reasoned, at least it's not her that's getting yelled it.

Looking up at the translator girl, she rolled her eyes. She was really starting to bug Mikaela. "I'll finish when I finish, you can chill." she said. The Summer got incredibly defensive when it came to her food. Nobody rushed her when it came to food. It was one of the few things that actually irritated the girl. However, she did speed up slightly with her food.

Kaya was surprised that Tabitha was so eager to help her. She went through Tabitha's pulling and pushing with no fight, watching her with a disconnected stare. She was insulting her. They were words Loic was wary of teaching her but words she heard a lot of. They popped up in movies, specifically gangster movies. She remembered watching Goodfellas twenty times while learning English, hearing the cut of the words and knowing they were bad before knowing they were bad. She remembered Kayla uttering them a few times under her breath and to her face, and she was so high up when she said them, like she was as tall as skyscrapers. Kaya loved them, those words. They were something she was saving for a rainy day, for when she wanted to be a skyscraper, and well, it was raining in Vietnam. "Hey, Tabitha," she said, smiling lightly, washing off her wound that had begun to cease bleeding. "Fuck you too." It sounded so earnest and soft it was like she was complimenting her. It felt great to say. She felt like the coolest person in Southeast Asia.

Destiny watched the whole endeavor, it was interesting. The girl who didn't seem like she cared about anything was the first one to step up and help the girl. The necromancer also watched as no one moved to clean up the mess, not even the translator. Destiny gave a off a sigh. It seemed it was left up to her. Walking over to the area where the the broom and dust pan were held she got them out, and walked over to the mess and began cleaning. This translator was annoying the white hair girl to.

"We will get done when we get done. I'm sure those preparations can wait a little longer." If there was one thing she knew about the business wold and getting ready for holidays preparations could wait a little longer. It annoyed her on how keen this translator was on not helping them. There was something about this girl that Destiny didn't trust, and as soon as she figured that out something was going to happen.

Trying to find one little spray tool to clean off a few wounds had proven much more difficult than need be, which in turn only brought an overwhelming amount of frustration and annoyance. If this had been a place she was familiar with, it wouldn't have been so stupidly hard to find the first aid and medicines cabinet - those always stayed put in one place in the obedient manner they were, lending assistance only to those who chose to reach out to it. She didn't want to waste anymore time than necessary for this. Honestly, how could someone be so absolutely careless and clumsy like that? Kaya didn't have the excuse of being physically crippled or being much more on the young side; hell, she probably wasn't all that accident prone. And she was only a year younger than Tabitha? How? None of it was adding up, the more she tried to think about the matter.

Forget it. It really didn't mean much to her anyway. This stupid act that Kaya was pulling was just badly timed. Any other circumstances outside of their current ones, and Tabitha would've been alright with it and not have given so much as a second thought. That alone allowed her thought processes click back into clarity. Right, Kaya wasn't some helpless kid who didn't know all that much about the world. She was fourteen - fifteen? Tabitha didn't bother remembering such a trivial fact when the translator asked them their ages - and decently experienced with the world by now to not be so awfully naive. Living a sheltered life was near impossible in this era, let alone in previous ones. Everything could be obtained at the click of a button, just like that. It was that easy. Instant gratification was stupid.

Once she found the spray bottle, Tabitha reached towards Kaya's hand as soon as it seemed like she had finished washing it, about to open her mouth to say something before the smaller girl beat her first. At first, it was like the cogs in her head had stopped spinning and refused to work, and she couldn't tell what the delicate phrase held by a thread was. But she knew them very well. Those two words. She used to toss them out there a lot, just for the hell of it, and she heard a lot of adults saying it too, as though it were the most epic of things to utter, without really knowing the meaning of it. That was her first mistake. Her second was using it in the presence of younger children, a habit that she couldn't seem to break. For what it was worth, Kaya seemed to be mimicking her - whether it was out of mockery or not, Tabitha couldn't tell, but she had repeated something that Tabitha had often repeated.

...

. . .

.  .  .

Her hand whipped up and promptly crashed onto Kaya's cheek with a loud smack, leaving a crisp and fresh welt blooming across her flesh. Gray eyes narrowed into a glare, and almost in a didactic method of speaking, Tabitha had to suppress herself from blowing up from anger. "Don't ever say that again." She was an awful example for someone to follow, that much she knew, and having someone like Kaya trying to mirror her words or actions was going too far. She didn't like it one teeny, tiny, microscopic bit. Without trying to give a warning, she pushed down on the disinfectant and left the froth to seep into the cracks of Kaya's skin. She didn't want to even know why she was so mad, but she was.

Turning heel to leave the room, Tabitha paused for a few moments, as though she were trying to decide something important. "Take my share of breakfast. It's on the counter top. I'm not hungry." Hastily, she added in another bit with an edge as sharp as a knife. "And don't fucking drop it."

Upon reaching the kitchen, she had found Destiny cleaning up the mess that Kaya had made while the others seemed to be finishing up their own meals. It annoyed her, seeing a perfectly good omelet go to waste because some little girl thought it would be a smart idea to lose her balance and let it slide to the ground. Pepper seemed to be done already, and the translator was reaching into her bags, pulling out multiple maps and news articles from within, each tied up in bundles with rubber bands. She didn't seem all too upset from whatever transpired in the room before, keeping her happy-go-lucky smile across her features.

"Tradition and holidays are very important around here. Nationalism is a big deal." Auburn bright eyes glanced over towards the white haired girl as the Vietnamese openly giggled with a half-attempt to smother it with the use of one hand. Her fingertips found themselves on her lips. "But I suppose Americans like you can't understand that."

Without skipping a beat, the translator continued, unraveling the various rolled up papers. A number of them had starred areas and here and there, there were some circles. The newspapers were annotated with a myriad of notes, ranging from underlines to circles to highlights and branching out to a few other things with personal comments here and there; they were written in English rather than of her native language.

"Ta-dah~"

She didn't wait for anyone to speak, continuing almost immediately after what would've been a welcomed silence. Tabitha only frowned and crossed her arms across her chest, slightly tempted to roll her eyes at the energetic nature that the translator portrayed. Were people normally like that around these parts? Everyone always went around boasting about how the Asians were so polite and respectful and quiet and blah. Must be a stereotype. "I did a tiny bit of research on my own last night and found quite a bit." She reached over, pointing to a far place with a large star on it. "That's the Hoàn Kiếm District over there, and it's where most of the newspapers were pointing to."

Many circles seemed to be located around the star. "Some people were saying there's been a bit of suspicious activity around Dinh Tien Hoang where the City Committee is." She stopped to allow whatever words she was speaking to sink in. "Most speak English over there, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem for you."

"The Opera House, National Museum, and Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre are good sites to search out too." With a deep breath, she finished up her small ramblings, grabbing a few of the newspaper articles with notes on them. "I've written up some things here and there about what some people have said regarding the incident that I thought you should know. Any questions so far? 'cuz we still have quite a bit to go over."

Pepper stayed in her spot on the comfy bar stool, waiting for everyone to finish breakfast. She watched as some girl picked up the broken glass, and park of her felt like she should've helped, but then again, it might have been awkward. Looking to the translator and then around the room, she wondered where Tabitha and Kaya were, until she heard what sounded like a hand against skin. Pepper, having thirteen brothers knew exactly what that sound was, for she'd smacked a few of her brothers just like that. She was extremely curious as to whom got the hand, but stayed quiet.

Turning back to the translator, she couldn't help but smile. This lady was so peppy and fun, it may not have brightened the other's moods, but it sure did lift her spirits a bit. Although, she had to admit, the Vietnamese woman talked a lot and really fast, some of what she said was hard to contemplate, for when she tried to think about one piece of info, the translator would start talking about a different topic. At least there was only one of her, or the whole group would be in big trouble.

Mikaela listened as the translator droned on and on while she finished her food. She had finished her omelette before the translator was done, so she sat there quietly. Upon finishing, Mikaela shook her head. "Nope. No questions from me." she said. What more could she possibly have to go over? It seemed like this translator never shut up. When were they actually going to get to do what they were sent here for? It's not like she wanted to stay here for days on end; she didn't like the poverty and homelessness that hung about the city.