Log:Icelantic Holiday, Scene 7

Icelantic Holiday 2014/05/01 	 Cecila Eve Paragon Pelana Sukeban Titan Anthony Quinn|Anthony Harlequin

7

In the Hotel
The hotel reception desk rings every room that has been booked for the Holiday Group at 8:30pm local time. The receptionist informs everyone that a meal is ready in the dining hall and the jeeps will be arriving at 9:30pm to pick everyone up for the trip to the mountain to view the Northern Lights.

Eve is somewhat suspicious to find that she did get some sleep. Which means that whatever the kids got up to they got away with it.

Anthony makes his way down to the dining hall with everyone else, being sure he can identify what each and every food item is before putting it onto his plate.

Titan heads down to the dining hall, having not slept during the day. He instead spent the middle of day watching sports from some of the UK networks that were available. Thankfully the kids didn't get into any trouble.

Eve is rather picky abut her food too. Nothng's likely to harm her, but that's not to say she'll be able to eat it.

Eve thinks. o O (I suppose I could just avoid eating entirely....)

Steven comes down to the dining hall with Leonid in tow. Now that the boy is dressed and looks like he has bathed, his skin is revealed to be rather pale.

Sukeban heads to the dining hall as well, pausing to ruffle the hair of Mark and Patricia

It seems like there's been some talking among the children. Because as they troop down in a group each of the children except for Peter tries to hug Anthony and Sukeban. Peter, sticking to his role as the oldest and most responsible of the group of children, offers handshakes instead.

Eve asks Anthony, "What have I missed?"

Anthony smiles and shakes Peter's hand. "Thank you, Peter," he says, "And also I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier but I thought what you did on the glacier was very impressive. You did everything a hero should do."

Cecila stretches a bit as she gets out of bed, dressed and down to grab some food before the jeeps get here. Hopefully there's some typical breakfast stuff like bacon and eggs but she'll try just about anything that at least smells good.

Sasha watches the hugging going on then looks down at Leonid. "Do you any idea what is going on?" he asks the child in Russian.

Peter beams with pride as he takes his seat at the table with the other children from Lord Markham's.

Pelana walks in the door of the hotel. She'd considered flying - or, hell, just walking, at her normal size - but she's not sure if her movies have opened up in Iceland, as yet, so her common sense wins out over her ego, for a change. Still, a tall red-scaled woman with wings and talons is probably not a very common sight here, even less so in that she's hardly dressed for the climate, still wearing the usual casual outfit of t-shirt and shorts she's used to in Colonial Bay. The cold doesn't bother her, so why change?

Leonid looks up at Steven, "No sir. But... they look happy."

Sukeban accepts the hugs, a bit awkwardly, showing her rarely seen adorable side.

Quinn heads over to Eve's table and takes a seat. "Mark and Patricia came to Suke and me a little earlier. We need to talk with the Colonel but it looks as though the two of us may be looking after them, at least for a bit. They feel a little..." He pauses to look for an appropriate phrase. "...alienated from their brothers and sisters?" he says, "That's probably not the right word, but they feel very crowded and they don't share the same interests as their siblings, so they asked if we would adopt them."

Eve says, "Adopt them? Wow."

Sasha guides Leonid over to a seat and gets him seated before taking his own seat.

Sukeban nods to Eve, "We said maybe, and defintely not as a couple."

Sasha looks over at Pelana as she enters, his eyes widening for a moment. A smile flits across his lips as he looks back down at the menu.

Titan had been expecting Pelana's arrival. Just not the manner of it. He blinks a couple of times, and heads out of the dining area to cut her off. He has his own holo-disguise on currently, which makes him look...not-like-himself. Rather average, actually. He walks up to her and extends his hand, "Hi. We spoke on the phone briefly. I'm Johnathan."

Quinn nods to Eve. "Well, right now we've agreed to talk to the Colonel and see about doing some test runs," he says. "Make sure it's what they really want. Make sure that we're compatible. Things like that. And of course the Colonel still has to agree to it all, but I think it would be good for them. I'm on reasonably good terms with the Baron so I can ask him for any information I might need and of course Jessica and Jennifer will also be able to assist us with their own experience and point of view."

"Additionally," Quinn says, "they said they want to remain at Lord Markham's, so it won't exactly be your more typical adoption situation."

Eve nods. "I guess that makes it a bit easier!"

Pelana accepts the handshake, using a grip that's fairly strong, but not quite trying for grinding bones together. "And everyone knows me, of course." She lowers her voice. "Look, I'll wear the disguise, but I had the idea that coming in 'normal' would be a good distraction, since you were so nice as to rent a hangar for me. People will wonder less if I have to wander around full-sizem and I have the disguise to lay low with, yeah?"

Waiters take orders and offer a selection of drinks. The entire holiday group is there, all three school parties and twenty adult tourists. One tourist with a walking cane and strapped up ankle.

"By the way," Quinn asks Eve and Sukeban, "do either of you recall who Peter's parents are? I'd like to talk with them later on and let them know how well he handled himself out there."

Titan nods slowly to Pelana, and says quietly, "I've been having to use a disguise myself. I'm trying to avoid paparazzi. We'll be heading on a trip this evening...I suggest you switch to the disguise before that. The kids shouldn't know we're with them...but they're smart enough to already know most of us from prior interactions."

Sukeban shakes her head, "We got briefed I think, but if a genius like you can't remember, there's no way an idiot like me would."

Eve says, a bit embarrassed, "I'm afraid I lost the list. I never did sort everyone out."

Quinn smiles. "No worries," he says. "I can look it up. I just can't remember off the top of my head."

Sasha murmurs as he looks at the menu. "Peter's father is Alistair Thornson."

Cecila orders whatever is closest to normal breakfast food (like pancakes, waffles or bacon and eggs) and orange juice. She manages to sit at the table with the others and kids. Thankfully for her most of the kids haven't bugged her too much unlike some of the other adults she's not gone breaking her cover too much though no doubt they probably suspect since you know why would a blind lady come along on what's effectively a sight seeing tour... "So any idea what we're doing today?" she asks

Pelana grins. "Yeah, but I think you've got a slightly easier time than me, I mean, YOU don't have to load up on No-Doz so you don't fall asleep on the plane. Anyway, I'm going to go drop off my bags and try this thing on, okay?"

The waiters return to food and conversation becomes a little muted as serious eating gets underway.

Leonid eats with controlled slowness, chewing each mouthful, remembering what Steven told him. His stomach is still getting used to eating more than a starvation diet.

Titan nods to Pelana, "I hardly sleep, to be honest. Yeah, go get your room. We leave in about an hour...so I'd be back down here in about forty-five minutes."

Sasha makes certain that Leonid drinks lots of milk. The man himself, however, only picks at his food and ends up giving most of his light meal to Leonid.

Sukeban eats with complete abandon, as usual.

Sasha does remark. "We are off to see the Northern Lights this evening, I believe."

Leonid tells Steven, "I've seen them many times here in Iceland. They are pretty."

Quinn asks Sasha, "Have you taken Leonid to see a doctor? I'm not real good with medical sciences and the like so I don't know that much about nutrition, but he might have some suggestions for things he should be eating or taking right now."

Eve says, "I'm really looking forward to it. I saw the aurora borealis once, but not at anything like this far north."

The meal is excellent. And for those with doubts about the local food, as it's a international tourist hotel there's a good selection of American and European dishes. Before you know it, the time is 9:30pm and the jeeps turn up at the hotel. Dead on time again. This adventure company really seems to be on the ball. Haraldur Sveinsson, the senior guide, explains the jeep journey will take a little under two and a half hours, the latter part of the drive on rough terrain.

Sasha shakes his head as he replies in English to Anthony. "No I have not, but Leonid is not the first abused and starved child I have come across. I will take him to a clinic when we return to the US though." He reaches out and ruffles Leonid's hair. "I will make certain the little wolf is cared for."

Leonid turns and smiles up at Steven as his hair is ruffled.

Eve does a head count on the kids.

The kids are all present.

Pelana comes down from her room, wearing the disguise. She's not sure how the techs managed it - perhaps they looked up her old mugshots - but the holographic disguise looks remarkably like her pre-dragony self, the way she looked in her early 20s. Taller, since it has to cover her, but otherwise a pretty, but fairly ordinary, Hispanic young woman. She's even had the presence of mind to at least put on a jacket to make some vague gesture towards the climate, although she takes care not to stand too close to anyone so her cloaked wings and tail don't trip up the illusion.

Titan has put on a jacket as well...at least to keep up the illusion that the weather might affect him in some way.

On the Way to the Summit
There are three extended wheelbase jeeps parked outside, each able to seat twelve in reasonable comfort.

Haraldur Sveinsson says, "If you are all ready, please board the jeeps and we'll get started."

Sukeban mounts up.

Quinn heads out and mounts up as well.

Titan waits for others to get into the vehicles before taking a seat wherever there happens to be room.

Paragon steps out of the hotel after having skipped the late meal to catch up on some sleep, then mounts up into one of the jeeps.

It turns out, of course, that with seven children, the Markham school party and Leonid, there is only room for five of the chaperones in that same jeep.

Eve, as usual, just looks like she's not dressed warmly enough. She does have the presence of mind to hug herself and pretend to be cold.

Cecila makes sure to get in the jeep with the kids. Mostly because she does not want to get separated from the group but partly because hey that's part of her job.

Sasha just takes a seat next to Leonid. He seems as reluctant to be parted from the boy as Leonid is from him

The children have a different idea. After a bit of shuffling, Mark tries to sit on Anthony's lap. Patrica on Sukeban's lap. Leonid sees what they have done and tries to get on Steve's lap. Making room if the lap sitting is allowed.

Eve volunteers for a different vehicle, not want to split the kids from Q and Sukeban.

Quinn shakes his head and smiles to Mark. "No, safety first," he says, putting the boy on the seat right next to him and buckling him in. "We're going to be driving around on icy roads and such. If we get into an accident you need to be better secured than sitting on my lap."

Sasha murmurs the same in Leonid's ear.

Mark nods. And Patrica ceases her effort and sits in the seat next to Sukeban.

Leonid does the same, sitting in the seat next to Steven.

The drive is quite long. Nearly two and a half hours. Markham's children may be metas. But after an hour or so they show they aren't immune from the "Are we there yet?" syndrome.

Sukeban is seriously not immune to the "are we there yet" syndrome.

Sasha smiles at Leonid as he joins in the chorus.

Are you kidding? After nearly a two years of being to cross the Atlantic in under half an hour (assuming he doesn't just take Transmat) Quinn himself strongly feels 'are we there yet'?

Eve watches the landscape go by. At least she doesn't get stiff on long journeys in vehicles.

The children's jeep is being driven by Patrica Writmann, the Australian female guide. At about the hour and a half mark she announces, "We'll be turning off the road now. I'm going to switch off the jeep's lights and drive with night vision goggles. This will allow your eyes to become adapted to the night sky. Please don't use any device that produces a light. It will not only ruin your night sight but also the night sight of everyone else who sees it."

Paragon sits patiently within the chorus, watching the passing scenery. 'Steve' tries to point out any wildlife they may see, and attempts to engage the kids in mindless travel games.

Sasha tries to tell a ghost story once the lights are out. It's not a bad one, but his pacing is just off enough that it is more silly than scary in the end.

The children listen to Steve's ghost story and giggle at the points they should be going "Ohhh!"

Pelana just holds tight. She's rather uncomfortable in the circumstances; she hasn't gotten as much sleep as she really ought, she's in close quarters, and in disguise. It's both exciting and nerve-wracking, a new experience for the usually overconfident woman.

Eve isn't tempted to use a light. She can see about as well at night as most people can in the day anyway.

Away from the city and roads there virtually no light pollution. With eyes adapted to the night light the sky is filled by a star-scape that is brighter, more colorful, and more numerous than ever seen by city and urban dwellers. The luminious band of the Milky Way is clearly visible.

Eve grins as she sees the stars better than she ever has.

The Summit of Snaellsjokull
Finally the jeep arrives at the summit of Snaellsjokull mountain where the other two jeeps are already parked. The word summit turns out to refer to a fairly gently rounded mountain top. No cliffs for anyone to fall off.

Sasha muses as he looks at the night sky, "What wonders are out there do you think, children? We know the Guild is out there but what else?"

Quinn does seem to take great delight in the star scape. For him it isn't as much of a new experience but it is still one in which he takes a great deal of enjoyment. Quae sursum volo videre and all of that.

Paragon gazes at the sky in awe, having never seen the sky without the light pollutions of the city. "Quite the reminder that we're just a pale blue dot..." she breathes at the sight. She points out the band of the Milky way. "That's what a galaxy looks like from the inside."

Sukeban gazes up at the sky, smiling in wonder despite herself, "Never saw a view like this back in Osaka."

Pelana looks up in awe as well; being a city girl, this isn't something she's seen too often.

Eve tries with difficulty to make at the familiar constellations among the vast mass of stars she can see, many beyond the vision of normal human eyes.

Haraldur Sveinsson points out a glowing traversing dot amid the stars. "That's the second International Space Station. It will go into the Earth's shadow in a couple of minutes."

Cecila is of course the only one who doesn't have to worry about light ruining any night vision. She smiles a bit and is glad when they're able to get off the jeeps and onto solid ground once more "Black holes?" she half-jokingly replies to Eve's question

Titan is quiet for most of the trip. He's reminded of time spent with Ghost as he looks up at the sky and its myriad wonders.

When the tourists first get to the summit there's no northern light visible. But within a few minutes the lights appear. Pale at first, outshone by the stars. Quickly growing in brightness as the minutes pass until they surpass the stars, vivid wavering bands of green, blue and cyan luminance.

"Black holes?" replies Quinn. "Try super massive black holes. Black holes with masses millions of times that of our sun."

Eve stares in wonder at the lights, forgetting for a time any 'baby-sitting' duty.

Leonid looks up at Steven, "I've never seen them like this. It's wonderful."

The children are silenced, looking up at the sky in wonder. All the children, all three of the school parties. Making by contrast obvious there's normally been the sound of kids' chattering throughout the holiday.

Sasha gently rests his hand on Leonid's shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.

Rather than launch into a discourse about black holes Quinn takes the opportunity to enjoy the aurora as well. "Kind of makes me wish I had brought my other suit," he says with a slight smile.

The guides unload canisters from the roofs of the Jeeps and serve up hot coffee, hot chocolate, and hot mulled mead to anyone who wants.

Paragon notices her breath forming in the air and opts for a hot mulled mead. "Ah, perfect, thank you," she says politely as she takes a cup.

Pelana keeps to the edges of the group, but, since this IS why she's here, she keeps an eye for wandering children, any that might be straying from the group.

Cecila is actually the only adult not being wowed by the northern lights and stars at the moment since you know lack of sight and finds a nice solid rock to sit on and relax. She uses her seismic sense to keep track of those part of the group to make sure noone gets lost.

Sasha murmurs softly to Leonid in Russian, "What do you see in them, my little wolf?"

Cecila tilts her head in the direction of the girls as she hears something and shrugs it off for the time being. She decides to ask for a cup of the mead when prompted by the guides, after all she's going to at least try it herself.

Leonid moves closer to Steve as he answers, "Freedom. They're up in the sky free to go anywhere they want."

Some time passes with the varying Northern Lights creating a spectacular light show in the sky. Then, with no warning, the ground shakes in an Earth tremor. Not severe enough to cause anyone to lose their footing on solid ground but noticable.

Eve says, "What's that? Volcanic activity?"

Sukeban says, "Huh... Maybe we should head back."

Titan tries some of the mead, since he won't be affected by it. He furrows his brow upon feeling the tremor. . o O (Could this be related to what happened on the glacier earlier?)

Paragon stares down at the ground, then glances about to see how the kids are reacting.

Sasha puts an arm around Leonid as the ground shakes. He murmurs in Russian, "If there is trouble, turn invisible and hold onto my hand, da?" He looks around at the surounding darkness.

Peter straightens up. He looks to be concentrating for a few seconds. Then he looks over at Anthony and smiles, giving a thumbs up signal.

Leonid tightens his hold on Steven's hand, "Da." he replies.

Anthony quirks an eyebrow and then smiles and gives a small nod to Peter.

Sukeban steps back from the group a bit, in case she has to get dangerous.

The guides confer and then Haraldur Sveinsson says, "We should return you to the hotel. If there's a more serious tremor the trail down from the summit could become impassable."

Pelana looks about, unsure about how she should react. I mean, Iceland's all... volcanic, right? Maybe this is perfectly normal, like earthquakes in California!

Cecila touches her hand to the ground as she tries to get a better feel for what's causing the shaking and ponders as she takes a sip of the mead she's got in her other hand and discretely asks one of the guides "There wouldn't happen to be an oil or gas drilling rig within a couple of miles of here would there?"

Haraldur Sveinsson tells Cecila, "No. Not in this area. It's stable but there are magma pockets underground all across this region."

Cecila nods some as she relays the details she found to the other chaperones via the communicators.

Quinn sighs and rubs his eyes for a moment. "What about geothermal boreholes?" he asks. "Are there any stations around for that?"

The guides start the jeeps and switch on their lights. After a bit of blinking it becomes obvious how much of the glory in the sky was due to there being no light pollution. The stars and northern lights look pale and wan now.

Eve blinks a bit, and starts herding kids back to the jeeps, or at least trying so to do.

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "Just a heads up but that wasn't a normal earthquake... It was caused by something near the surface quite a few miles away that I couldn't really pinpoint. Most of the time that means some sort of drilling rig in my experience but the guide ruled that out."

Sukeban keeps off at a bit of a remove, using her heat vision to keep track of everyone.

Haraldur Sveinsson answers Anthony's question, "No. Not in this area. It's too far away from any settlement to make the distribution cost worthwhile. That's why we bring you out here. No artifical lights anywhere nearby."

 Sukeban says, "With our luck, it'll be a a mole-man invasion."

 Titan says, "Cecila, could you triangulate where it might be coming from if you sense it from a second location?"

 "Also, would you be able to identify it if it was a geothermal energy production facility?" Quinn broadcasts. "They'll basically be pushing water down to superheated rock and then using the steam to drive turbines as it comes back up."

 Sasha says, "I hope it is not a monster trying to awake." His tone is mild and humorous."

Paragon waits until all the kids are loaded up into the jeeps by the chaparones. With the headlights dispelling the magic of the 'Dawn of the North', Paragon steps away from the jeeps for a moment and looks around the scenery and the ground with her infrared thermal vision to see if there's any volcanic activity.

Sasha settles Leonid into his seat and makes certain the boy is strapped in.

Sukeban mounts up last of all, keeping her gaze on her surroundings.

Paragon starts heading back to the jeep, loading in once the kids are on board.

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "I really dont know, usually I dont get these things that far away. I mean I know it was coming from the south direction somewhere. I guess if you wanted I could go wander off that way and see if it happens again. Any idea on how long until we end up rolling back to the hotel?"

 Titan says, "In theory the same amount of time it took to get here. Two and a half hours, or so."

 Sukeban says, "I hope everybody went before we left."

 Q says, "We're loading up now, but maybe if we had to wait while someone changed a flat tire or something that might give you a little more time."

Sasha turns in his seat to look south. He becomes rather still as he casts his gaze outwards.

Eve isn't very tired, having had a good sleep in the afternoon.

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "Think we should go explore that in the morning? Besides we dont want a flat in the event something actually does happen and a quick getaway is needed."

 Sasha says, "Yes, I am curious. But at least one of us shold remain with the children."

 Titan says, "I think it's worth checking out in the morning, yeah."

The jeeps move out in convoy, keeping in touch via radio as the guides drive back to the hotel. The trail has been damaged but not so bad that the jeeps can't get through. At the hotel the guides apologise for cutting short the trip but say that safety is their primary concern. There will be a free morning tomorrow, so the tourists can sleep in after the late night. It's after three in the morning by the time the hotel is reached.

 Bulldozer Cecila says, "I hope one of you got the GPS coordinates of where we are then because I have trouble sensing things in the vehicle"

Most people go straight to bed on arriving back at the hotel.

Sasha tucks Leonid into bed but remains in touch with then the rest of the Guard via communicator.

Sukeban talks to her fiancee by phone for an hour or so before going to bed.

Pelana heads to the airport to catch some sleep in her rented hangar.

Paragon goes to her room, places a vid-call to home to check on her ward, then catches some sleep.

Cecila is one of those ones that goes to bed pretty soon after getting to the hotel although she does make it a point to ask the twins how they liked the mead they tried before turning in.

Eve goes to bed despite not being very tired. Mostly because it's boring once other people have retired.

Titan only needs about an hour of sleep. After that, he gets up and tries to find a local hiking map to work from along with the coordinate for where the tour went last night.

The twins look a bit guilty, "You knew?" they ask, and then, "Thank you for not telling on us. It was kind of bitter. We didn't drink much of it." they tell Cecila.

Cecila smiles some and nods "Yeah, I mean what's the point of coming on vacation if you dont get to try new things right?" she admits to them "anyways good, yeah I would have let you know it wasnt too good of an idea if you went for seconds. Dont need any kids getting sick after all"

The night, what remains of it, passes without incident. There's not many people at breakfast. Most are sleeping in, including all the children.

Sasha stays up watching over Leonid. Well, he does nap for a few minutes but its enough for him.

Leonid has a nightmare. He tosses and turns, moaning in recollected fear. Then he murmurs "Steven..." in his sleep and settles down, the nightmare over and a smile coming to his sleeping face.

The Next Day
Paragon doesn't sleep in too late, but gets a decent night's rest. She heads to the dining area and orders a plate of all things meaty that are available.

Sukeban finds a place to go through some judo exercises to loosen up.

Sasha sits in a sitting area near the rooms reading a tome he takes out of his messenger bag. He says over the Guard communicator, "If anyone wants to go check out that anomaly, I will stay with the children."

 Titan says, "Sounds good. Thanks."

<Guard> Bulldozer Cecila says, "Right who wants to go?"

Titan finds Eve in the morning. "We're going to check out the source of that tremor, if you'd like to come along."

Cecila makes sure to chow down on breakfast early before they head out. No need going out on an empty stomach.

Pelana will wander back to the hotel in the morning, duplicating her 'show up dragony, put on the belt in her room' plan from the day before to show up for the investigation.

Eve says, "Sure, sounds like a plan."

Looking at the map it becomes obvious there are hundreds of square miles of area to check, most fairly rugged terrain.

Pelana volunteers, "I could do a fly-over. And at my size, I can cover a lot of ground on foot, too, but that's still a lot of territory."

Cecila says, "Well if you like to fly that'd make the most sense... I prefer to keep my feet on the ground. That's where I work best besides if we get another tremor like last night it might even be a case of being close enough to know where it is"

Titan nods. "Hopefully you'll be able to sense another tremor, Cecila. That will ideally narrow down the search area enough that a view from the sky will be more useful."

Cecila says, "I trust everyone charged their PDAs last night"

Pelana grins. "Well, I *am* of a vaguely dragonish disposition, y'know. I'll drop the disguise and if anyone asks, I'm just fulfilling my lifelong wish."

The group spend the free morning searching and checking the potential area for the earth tremor effect. But even with meta abilities and working hard they can only cover a fraction of the area. And nothing is found by the time they should be heading back to the hotel for the next adventure activity.

Eve sighs. "Well that was a waste of time..."

Pelana shrugs, donning her disguise again. "I dunno, I liked the exercise, at least. Don't get the chance to do that sort of thing, often."

Titan nods. "Well...it was worth a shot. We might get a chance later, too."

Paragon asks curiously, "What exactly were we looking for?"

The jeeps arrive after lunch to take the group off to the geothermally heated lake of Porisvatn where scuba diving and snorkeling is offered.

Pelana says back, "Anything that looked out of place, I'd figure. I mean, it's Iceland, isn't it? It's a relatively contained area, it's not exactly huge tracts of wilderness!"

Titan says, "Something was causing those tremors. We rescued a hiker who was trapped under falling ice due to one of the tremors. I'd just like to know what it is."

Eve says, "Lots of ice and volcanic rock and sheep. Not much looked out of place."

But the group has only just arrived at the lake, which is set in a valley and because of the heating beneath the ground has a mist drifting across the entire surface, when another earth tremor is felt.

This time the group is close enough that Cecila can pin-point the location of the effect. It's a dozen miles to the west.

Titan looks to Cecila after the tremor hits.