Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-933831-20170116054242/@comment-24304510-20170118053049

Lanse Nanhai shivered slightly as the rear cargo door of the Bullhead screeched open, the blast of cold Atlesian air biting at his exposed wrists. Pulling the sleeves of the ragged pilot's jacket down his arms until they reached the end of his gloves proved a fruitless labor. The wind tugged the sleeves back up again, whirling up around the craft as it descended the last few feet to the frozen ground below. Lanse grimaced a bit, but held his tongue. He'd make sure to adjust his clothing once inside the outpost.

Marcus and Venerea descended the ramp first, weapons loaded but not raised. A few glances around the area seemed to satisfy the two young members of Team MLTV. Well, they're Nanhai Security proper now that Beacon's gone, Lanse mused to himself, nodding as Marcus gave a quick hand gesture signalling that the area was clear. Before heading down the ramp, he turned back to the pilot of the craft, handing her a quite large amount of Lien for the distance they had traveled. "Shouldn't be any longer than a fortnight. If I'm not here for the return trip, just drop these two off," he thrust a thumb at Marcus and Venerea, "and stay in contact. That should put you up at a nice inn in Atlas for that time."

The eyes of the woman in the pilot's seat grew wide at the sum of money that the kid in front of her had just forked over. She could live like the Queen of Vale for at least a month on that amount. The rounded tiger ears on her head twitched a bit as she accepted the lien with a smile. The transaction completed, Lanse shuffled over to the wall of the cargo bay, grabbing the RHIANNON backpack laden with the supplies he hoped he wouldn't need, with Gjallarthorn strapped to the side. Slinging the pack over his shoulder, he stepped briskly off the craft and onto the frozen earth of Solitas. His feet had barely touched the ground before Venerea piped up.

"We can hole up here with the Atlas soldiers while you search. We won't even use their supplies, we've got plenty. We can camp outside in our tents, an-"

"You know that I need you and Marcus back in Atlas. If Vale manages to get the CCT back up, I'll need you two to prepare things for our flight back to Mistral. Besides, if this ends up being a dead end, I only want to have wasted my own time, not the company's." Venerea opened her mouth to argue, but she was stopped before she even had a chance to speak by a stern glare from her stepbrother.

Clearing his throat, Marcus gave a small salute to Lanse. "In that case, be well. Since you'll be out of contact range for the next two weeks, you'll have to fend on your own. Give us the comfort of a bit of worry."

Lanse snorted, his breath making a small cloud of steam in the chilly air. "Who are you, my parents? That one year of combat school should do me just fine."

As the Bullhead lifted off into the sky, a small pang of loneliness darted into Lanse's chest. This was the first time since the Beacon Initiation that he would be alone. Gathering a deep breath, the bard shook his head to clear his thoughts, and turned on his heel, striding at at measured pace towards the perimeter of the outpost. The craft had landed quite a ways away, so as not to alarm the guard. Trudging through the snow would be much less bothersome than being shot out of the air, after all.