Log:Icelantic Holiday, Scene 1

Icelantic Holiday 2014/04/04 	 Anthony Quinn|Anthony Rift Cecila Sukeban Ten Titan Jennifer

1

Undermoon Embassy
Atop the rocky cliff near the end of the bridge stands the tiny "fairy tale" castle that serves as the Undermoon embassy. It's no larger than a large house, and its great front gate (with drawbridge to cross a decorative moat) is only the size of a normal door. Its slender towers are topped with graceful spires from which fly pennants of many colours and designs, but chiefly of purple and silver. Over the main gate hangs a rectangular flag of the same colour.

That's the outside. As soon as one passes through the gate it's another story - the castle is vast, the walls tall, the spires tower above the courtyard! Various buildings of the same graceful architectural style are found among the gardens of exotic flora, and the place is busy with staff, both human and fae.

Sales Pitch
While not officially a member Anthony none the less shows up for the meeting, once again arriving by car which is left in the parking lot outside.

Ghost has sent messages to all members of the team, and to Anthony and Ten, saying the Princess has asked that all who are available please gather in the team quarters.

A few minutes before the time the meeting is scheduled for, Jennifer arrives at the Embassy from Undermoon and goes to the PG building. Where she knocks on the door.

Ten is somewhat surprised to have received the message, having had few dealings with the Guard, but comes to the meeting. She almost just swings down into the courtyard, then remembers her staff will probably have trouble with that. So she enters via the main gate and checks her staff.

Jennifer knocks on the door to the PG building, a little louder this time.

Cecila made sure she had plenty of time to get here early and set up her room. Naturally she tried to see if the fae could generate something that completely removes all light from inside her room and regardless if it was possible or not set up her room. She's coming out of it as the clock she set up chimes letting her know it's time to go.

Sukeban wanders up to the PG building as well, and observes Jennifer knocking on the door. "Uh... can I help ya?"

Anthony smiles to Ten and gives a nod as he sees her arriving at the gate. He himself has nothing to check in at present but still has to deal with the gatekeeper. "Ten," he says as the two of them begin to walk to the meeting room, "How have you been doing?"

Jennifer turns to Sukeban. "Yep. You sure can. Lorelei was kind enough to ask the team to gather here so I could speak to them. But nobody is answering the door.

Ten smiles back to Anthony. "Hey. I've been good - kind of busy, but good. You?"

Titan was already in the building, but in a study. He heads down toward the meeting room, and upon hearing knocking at the door, he heads over and opens it. "Hello?"

Rift arrives in her armor. Some might have noticed that she just appears outside the embassy in a flash of red. She has her helmet in full enviromental mode. She doesn't have that much problem getting in as they are expecting her, but she gets there just about the time that Titan is opening the door for the others. She just sort of waits behind everyone and will follow them in.

Sukeban shrugs, "Maybe we're not here yet."

Jennifer chuckles as the door is opened just as she finishes speaking to Sukeban. "Hi, Titan. I said we'd probably be seeing each other sooner than you expected. Can I come in?"

Titan chuckles and lets folks in, "Sure, come on in."

[To Anthony] Ten says, "You've been called here too, huh? Any idea what it's about?"

Anthony smiles. "No complaints," he says. "I'm probably spending more time working on the station than I really should but that's my own stupid fault, so I can't really blame anyone or anything for that." He gives a nod to Titan and Jennifer as he and Ten arrive at the building.

Ten also greets Titan and Jennifer on arrival.

Jennifer enters and exchanges greetings with everyone she knows. "I'll park myself on a seat in the corner until everyone is here and you've had a chance to catch up with each other's news." she says

Rift slips on in and then moves to where they are supposed to gather. She hasn't been here much yet.

"I've got a couple of ideas about what the meeting is for," Anthony says to Ten, "but I can't really be sure. I'm sure it will all be explained."

Ten nods to Anthony, and enters the building too, pausing and looking about.

Cecila makes her way down the hall to the meeting room where everyone is "Soooo... did everyone miss me?" she asks

Titan waits for everyone to walk inside before he closes the door. He then heads into the meeting room, and takes a seat.

Sukeban sits down, "Yeah yeah, missed you lots. So what's this about?"

Ten doesn't sit, perhaps because she feels a bit out of place, but rather leans against a wall.

Jennifer stands and moves to the middle of the common room. "Thank you all for coming. Lorelei was kind enough to ask you all here to listen to my request. A year ago the Princess Guard team watched over a group of children on a skiing holiday. And you did it with impressive discretion. So impressive, in fact, that the Powers That Be, in this case the British Govenment, has asked me if I would ask you if you will do the same on this year's school outing."

Anthony gives a quick chuckle. "The same school?" he asks.

Sukeban throws back her head and sighs, "Babysittin' again!? Is it that same brats this time?"

Jennifer nods to Anthony, "Yes, Anthony." And to Sukeban she also nods, "Yes, the same children."

Ten smiles. "Well at least we got some skiing in! More like a working vacation."

Sukeban gives an exasperated sigh. "Fine, whatver."

Cecila grins a bit and thinks about that "Oh so vacation and we get to boss around some brats... sounds like a fun weekend to me"

Titan's expression is...hard to read. He just nods, "Ah. So...has anything changed from last year that we need to know about?"

Anthony says to Sukeban, "Well, it's not like we will have to pretend to just be regular chaperones this time around," he says, "at least not to the kids." He turns to Jennifer. "Will it be the same location as last year with plenty of uninvolved people about?"

Rift cocks her head to the side a little, her expression not visible due to the helmet, "I think I am left out a bit due to not being part of the team last year." she says and shakes her head a bit.

[To Rift] Ten says, "Hey, I've never been part of the team."

Titan looks to Rift, "I'm sure we'll get a full briefing. Don't worry about it."

"Hopefully it will just be another vacation for you." Jennifer says. "You handled the two incidents that occurred, the drunk coach driver and the boy on top of a ski lift tower, without having to reveal your meta abilities." She smiles, "Everyone was careful not to ask how he got up there in the first place. However because of your skill in dealing with those two events the children never even realised there was any protective presence on hand. Which is exactly what we wanted." She belatedly hears Anthony's comment, "Err... what do you mean, Anthony?"

"Schools don't always make their trips to the same place every year," Anthony says. "Is it going to be the same Chalet as last year or are the kids going scuba diving in the Bahamas this year or something? Also, I'm assuming that it is a similar situation to last year, that no matter where they are going there will be plenty of regular people about who don't know about the nature of the kids, but assumptions can be a dangerous thing."

Titan tilts his head, realizing that's likely not what Jennifer was keying on. He keeps quiet, though.

Jennifer is still curious about Anthony's comment, but presses on anyway. "No, it's not to the same place. This year they're heading off on an adventure holiday to Iceland. And there will be regular people around who don't know the nature of the children. One of the primary objectives of these trips is to give the children practice in fitting in normal society."

Sukeban says, "So other than the kids bein' troublemakers, do we know of any outside problems?"

Ten says, "So that's why they want us to be chaperones. Who could be more normal than us?"

Ten grins.

Jennifer shakes her head. "No, we don't, Sukeban. It's not so last minute this year, so we've had time to prepare briefing sheets on each of the children, complete sets of false identity papers for those who need them. You'll have access to the holographic disguises. And the Icelantic authorities have been notified."

Jennifer says, "There will be three school parties for a total of seventeen children between seven and twelve years of age, and twenty adults, on the adventure holiday our particular school party will be going on. The other school parties are not from Lord Markham's school and as far as is known none of the other children or adults are talented."

Jennifer says, "We, that is the British Government, have bought sufficient adult places to have you all join as normal tourists. Just as last year, when the school party went on a skiing holiday, the children are not supposed to use any of their powers. And we request that you also refrain from overt use of meta abilities unless necessary. We want them to just fit in and have a good time without any reminders that they are different than any other group of school kids. In addition to the children having an enjoyable time one of the primary aims is to teach the children to fit into normal society."

Jennifer says, "The adventure holiday is being run by a company called Arctic Adventures. The compnay has been operating such tours for over fifty years and has an excellent safety record. Accommodation will be in the Hotel Bjork, a three star hotel in Reykjavik, adults having either single or double rooms, and each school party bunking together in its own room."

Anthony nods to Jennifer. "And this year the children will have some idea as to the nature of their chaperones so we don't need to worry about concealing that fact from them, correct?" he asks, amending after a moment, "Just the bystanders."

Sukeban laughs, "Eh, I guess I'll just enjoy myself, I'm probably the closest to a normal person here, so I'll try to be a good role model for the kids."

Jennifer says, "Anthony, according to the reports I've read about the trip last year, and the essays the children wrote, what I did on my school trip, there was no indication your presence was noted by them. I'm getting the feeling I'm missing something here.""

Ten thinks. o O (Oops)

Titan nods and takes a deep breath. "The students found out. They went to investigate something in the mountains. We followed them. Our cover was blown. And it was kept out of all official reports."

Titan says, "However...the students did stumble into something that required our intervention."

Anthony chuckles a little and arches an eyebrow. "And in any of those reports was there any indication that they helped to thwart an alien invasion?" he asks. "Just because they did not choose to put down something doesn't mean that it didn't happen, and given what I understand normal school life to be I would think it highly unlikely that even the students who were uninvolved don't know what happened."

Rift just sits there listening curiously.

Jennifer laughs, "Why does that not surprise me. I don't know if they find trouble or trouble finds them. Okay, it never made it into any official reports? Let's keep it that way."

Anthony looks to Titan. "I had no idea that you had not passed on what happened during the trip," he says.

Ten says, "Well, they shouldn't be able to find trouble in Iceland should they? I mean, does anything happen in Iceland? Apart from volcanos."

Anthony chuckles again. "Yeah," he says, "What could go wrong with volcanoes?"

Cecila nods some and shrugs "Human sacrifice by demonic entities... Dont they usually prefer fire, brimstone and lava?" she half-jokes

Jennifer shakes her head and chuckles again, "Would you like to see the briefing sheets on the children you'll be watching over?"

"Or, you know, Norse deities. Or trolls. Or mole people from Jules Verne's center of the Earth..." Anthony adds, ticking these things off with his fingers.

Ten says, "Ok, ok...."

Titan smiles to Anthony, "No worries. I didn't get a chance to give you the 'cut' sign the first time you mentioned it here."

Jennifer hands out copies of the briefing sheets to everyone.

Anne Maria Phillips and Maria Anne Phillips - a pair of identical red-headed girls about nine - they are the daughters of the British Minister of Defense (this is a position in the British Govenment roughly equal to that of the Secretary of Defense) - they can fly, are strong, and very tough.

Graham Sparks - a cheerful boy about nine with unruly blonde hair sticking out in all directions - the son of Edwin Sparks aka Electron, a British superhero. - Graham can fly, create lightning bolts and is a skilled computer hacker.

Peter Thornson - a studious slim boy about eleven wearing glasses with light brown hair - he is the son of Alistair Thornson aka Illusionist, a British mentalist superhero - Peter is a mentalist with some limited telekinetic abilities as well.

Mark and Patrica Steel - a dark brown haired brother and sister of about nine with a strong family resemblance between them - they are two of the many adopted children of Col Jessica Steel, a British hero and owner of Steel's Gym in Colonial Bay - they are wolfguard children, fourth generation, taken from wolfguard earlier than the Twins generation was so they don't have the same degree of combat training, however being fourth generation they are stronger and faster than the Markham Twins were at a comparable age.

"I thought trolls only lived under bridges?" Cecila asks curiously "Uhh sure, you got an audio version?" she asks

Ten reads the briefing sheet.

Anthony accepts the sheets and begins to flip through them. "I mean the kids discovered extra dimensional aliens in the Alps," he mutters sotto voce as he scans the writing. "Not like that is even within the standard cliches one would be watching out for."

Jennifer says, "Here, Cecila, borrow my PDA. It has a text to speech utility."

Cecila nods some "Thanks" she plugs earphones into the jack so it doesnt disrupt the entire room while keeping one ear free to hear chatter as people talk about the kids they'll be looking after

Jennifer says, "Their grade teacher Mr Kirk will be travelling with them. Talking of travelling arrangements, we have TransMat tickets from Colonial Bay City to London, and then a flight from Heathrow airport to Iceland. The children will be on the same flight."

Sukeban says, "Let's get goin' then."

Ten says, "Meta children on a plane? What could possibly go wrong?"

Rift cocks her head to the side for a moment. "If I go it might be best for me to then meet in London. I am not sure exactly how using TransMat would work for me."

Cecila asks the obvious question "Sooo... when is this trip anyways?"

Jennifer says, "Next weekend, Cecila. (we'll time shift to do it now) The Arctic Holiday company guides for the trip are Haraldur Sveinsson and Porour Hannesson, both Incelanders, and Patrica Writmann an Australian. We've carried out background checks on them and they all come out clean."

Jennifer nods to Rift, "That will be fine, Rift."

"And what are the planned activities that they will be taking part in?" Anthony asks.

Anthony suddenly burst out laughing at some random thought.

Titan is still looking at the writeups, and looks up at Anthony, "What is it?"

Quinn smiles and says, "So we will all be playing headmaster to a group of children who attend a private English school for children born with unusual abilities?" He grins widely and says, "Will this make us Snapes on a plane?"

Ten winces.

Sukeban says, "Huh?"

Titan chuckles quietly, actually getting the old movie references. "Old movie buff?"

"I like to think of it as retro-pop," Quinn says to Titan.

Jennifer shakes her head, not getting Anthony's joke. "Did I forget to mention the activites? Okay. It's a four day holiday, Friday to Monday inclusive. The first day will be a guided tour of Reykjavik, starting in the famed market square and taking in a number of museums and art galleries. Lunch at the Carlasjor Restaurant. Then on the second day it will be ice walking on Hofsjokull glacier which is the third largest in Iceland. That night the group will travel by jeep to the summit of Snaellsjokull mountain for viewing the Northern Lights. The morning of the third day is a free period, I'd expect the children will sleep in after the long night the day before. In the afternoon, snorkeling and scuba diving in the geothermally heated lake of porisvatn. Then on the final day, spelunking in the lava caves of Surtshellir in Borgarfjordur valley, thats about an hour and half from Reykjavik city."

Sukeban mutters to herself, "Great. A whole country of tongue twisters for Japanese people."

"See," Anthony says brightly to Ten. "Once the dangers of the museum are out of the way what could possibly go wrong?"

Jennifer asks, "Are there any questions?"

Titan shakes his head, "Not from me, at least."

Ten says, "Not that I can think of."

Anthony shakes his head. "Nope. I'm good," he says.

Cecila shakes her head "Not really looking forward to that plane ride but I guess I'm good"

Jennifer says, "Then I guess, if nobody else has any questions for me, the question I have for you is, are you willing to do it?"

Ten says, "Sure. I could do with a bit of a break...."

Titan scratches his neck idly, thinking about it for a moment. "Mm...alright. Yeah, I'm willing to go."

Sukeban says, "Sure, whatever."

Anthony doesn't really seem to need any time to think about it. "Oh sure," he says. "Should be fun."

Cecila smirks "I'll go... most of the stuff in the second half sounds like it would be fun"

Jennifer says, "Thank you." She puts a briefcase down on a table, "You'll find holographic disguise units in here along with false identity documents. Hopefully you'll just be able to enjoy a great adventure holiday on the British Government."

Anthony nods as he picks up his packet of documents. "Same identities as last time?" he asks, "At least for those of us who went last year."

Titan takes a look at his assigned identity as well, in hopes of actually getting into character.

Jennifer says, "Yes, Anthony. We didn't realise the children had any knowledge of your presence there, so we just re-used the identities."

Ten says, "You'd think they might be bright enough to notice we were the same people anyway...."

Anthony nods. "Well, even if they did it makes sense to reuse the identities," he says. "Trying to pretend like we hadn't met them the year before when they went on the same vacation trip seems kind of insulting to them. 'Oh, sure. Last year we had some people with meta abilities chaperoning you and didn't tell you, but this year we're just sending regular people. Really. You should believe us since you're just kids'.

Jennifer shrugs, "The ways of the British civil service are inscrutable, Ten."

Titan nods. "There's a mentalist among them. They'd have figured it out, in my opinion."

Cecila checks out whatever the ID assigned to her is on Jennifer's PDA assuming it's in the file there for her "You'd be surprised at what kids will remember... Sure they might not remember the formula for the area of a circle but they'll remember people they hung out with last year during a holiday because you know they want to remember that stuff."

Sukeban says, "No point hidin' it from the kids. They need to know they can come to us with any sort of problem. . . . What? I'm a Family Studies major, I actually know this stuff!"

Ten says, "Guess I'll be travelling as myself again."

Jennifer says, "Sukeban, last year you asked if your significant other could go as well. That's fine this year as well if you wish."

Quinn nods. "And mercifully we're actually informed of their abilities this time around," he says.

Sukeban shakes her head, "Nah. Vajra has other things she's got to do next week."

Jennifer nods. "Thank you again. I'll leave you to it. I'm going to be on Undermoon. Titan knows where to find me if anything comes up you need me for."

Titan nods, "If we need to get in touch with you, I can find you."

Heathrow Airport
The TransMat part of the journey is uneventful. As is the shuttle bus service to take you to Heathrow airport. In the airport there's the usual delays but only a few minutes after the supposed departure time the boarding call goes out for the flight to Iceland. It's not surprising that one of the children sees at least one of you, and there's grins and furtive waves coming in your direction. The centre of attention however is a colorfully dressed fae female taking the same flight.

Sukeban rolls her eyes. o O (Great. Fae are always trouble...)

Ten thinks. o O (Fae? Interesting. They're not that common even in Colonial Bay....)

Ten returns the furtive wave, but then turns her attention to observing the fae.

Boarding goes fairly smoothly except for the fae female. It seems she doesn't speak English, or any other earth language the airport staff are familiar with. She has a phrase book, but her accent makes her attempts to use the book virtually incomprehensible.

Ten wonders if she could be just another tourist!

Titan rubs his chin, considering the female Fae trying to board. . o O (And of course we're short someone who can speak the language. It'd be nice to have Ghost here.)

Boarding is getting delayed further as the fae female as the airport staff struggle to have any comprehensible communication with her.

Sukeban, unable to help, just tries to wait patiently, keeping an eye out to see if anyone is using the halt of the line to do something.

Ten thinks to keep an eye on the kids, in particular.

Titan blinks as he starts to be able to understand the language. "Huh." He heads over to help translate, to at least smooth things out.

Titan. o O (I guess that spell actually worked.) He says to the attendants, "I think I can help translate."

The staff look extremely relieved, "You understand her?" the boarding official says, "That's great. I'd be grateful for your help."

Titan nods, "No problem." He starts to translate back and forth for the two parties.

Cecila plays the role of tourist quite well as she just happened to be stuck near the back of the line since she wasn't too eager to get onboard the plane "Hey whats the hold up... don't she have her proper identification stuff?" she speaks up a bit irate at the airport staff "You think they'd have like translators or something standing by"

With Titan's help the boarding procedures are completed for the fae female. She turns to Titan after the boarding offical has been satisfied and opens the boarding gate. "I am indebted to you, Ableman. You have my gratitude. I had a translation spell but it failed at sunrise."

Boarding goes quickly now, with everyone eager to get on the aircraft and get flying. Well, maybe not everyone. Cecila is probably not that eager.

"Even with terrestrial languages there's not always a guarantee that there's a translator nearby," Anthony says to Cecilia. "With all the various dialects people speak there are some that are just not going to be commonly encountered, even at an airport. Add in all the languages for the fae and member species of the Guild, sure it makes sense they might not have a translator."

Titan nods and smiles to the Fae female. 'I'm glad I was able to help.'

The fae female asks Titan, "May I sit with you in the flying craft. I would enjoy being able to converse. I am Nienna Surion of House Argoleus.. My cousin is to marry someone from this world, so I want to find out more about this realm."

Cecila is eager to actually get there, not so eager for the transportation method though. That said her interaction with the airport staff is much smoother, aside from pulling out a membership card to some grocery store and handing that over when they asked for ID but all in all ready to go.

Ten remarks, "looks like Titan's made a friend."

The aircraft finally takes off, climbing to altitude and heading north. The kids are their usual slightly noisy cheerful selves, except for Peter who has his nose in a book again.

Sukeban sits in a row of seats with two of the children, glowering at them with full force of a former delinquent gang leader's menace. "Yo."

Titan nods to Nienna, "Of course. I think we can ask someone to swap seats." After doing so, he still tries to keep an eye on the kids, though he figures that there are enough metas on the plane to keep everything covered.

The Phillips twins aren't especially subdued by Sukeban's glowering. In fact they chat cheerfully with her about how much they're looking forwards to the holiday. Anne Maria leans in and whispers to Sukeban, "I hope we have something exciting to do this year, just like last year."

Ten is disappointed to have an aisle seat. so not so much of a view. She's in the same row as Peter.

Sukeban grumbles, "I hope ya little twerps stay out of trouble and let me have a nice relaxin' vacation this year."

Nienna tells Titan, "I am travelling to this Land of Ice. Have you been there before?"

Maria Anne giggles, "We didn't ask them to invade." she says, maybe a touch too loudly. Fortunately the noise of the aircraft makes overhearing her difficult.

Anthony lands himself a window seat overlooking the left wing. As the trip progresses he amuses himself with work on the schematics for a mineral detector on his tablet, attempting to split his attention between this task and occasionally keeping an eye on the children.

Titan shakes his head and says to Nienna, "No, I've never been there before. Though I've heard the name is a bit of a misnomer. Iceland is kind of...volcanic. And Greenland is kind of...well, icy. I don't know the reason the names were flipped."

Nienna smiles, "Names often come from history, history that is ancient even for the fae. And for you who have such short lives, although lives that burn so bright, such knowledge is surely lost amid the mists of time."

Titan smiles as he knows now that he hasn't been recognized, "We try to keep records for...future generations. I'm sure someone knows the origins of the names. It's just not my field of expertise. Oh...I should have introduced myself. My name is John Vasili."

The flight is, and remains, uneventful. The aircraft comes down to a landing in Iceland. For the adventure holiday people there are jeeps waiting to take them to the hotel to unpack and refresh before the tour of Reykjavik commenses.

As people leave the plane, Nienna leans in close to Titan, "Why do you conceal your features behind an illusion, Ableman? Not for cosmetic reasons, for your true features are fair. Still, it is your affair and I have no right to pry. I hope I might see you again during my stay here?"

Titan smiles slightly, and says quietly to Nienna, "I.. can't tell you why right now, I'm afraid. But I'll be able to let you know eventually. If not here before leaving, then perhaps in Undermoon."

Titan. o O (Okay...so she's Sighted. But she still hasn't recognized me, I guess. Though I'm referred to as 'Ableman' in Undermoon, so that's not guaranteed.)

Nienna nods and with a slight curtsy she makes her way to the exit. Meanwhile the adventure holiday guides are holding up signs and collecting people to take them by jeep to the hotel.

When Titan gets a moment alone, he tries to contact Ghost, regarding Nienna, to see if she can look up what the fae woman's background is.

Ghost gets a message back to Titan. 'Nienna Surion of House Argoleus is a cousin of Duke Vanatherion. She's a healer by craft and known to be adventurous in nature, to the point of it being a very minor scandal as far as the traditionists are concerned.'