Hail Storm Pt. I

1. Checking In
The four teenagers walking the streets of Vale were walking so in sync, they were aligned like a group of baby ducks following a mother...or in this case, the brunette holding a holographic map in one hand, and her suitcase in the other. The others were walking carefree and excited with their own luggage, bearing no such experience in the foreign land of Vytal.

“Oi.” The second member of their team and the olive-tone female behind the first took the time to both ask for a note of attention, tap her shoulder, and clear her throat—none of which were very effective. A roll of her eyes indicated she had put up with enough ignorance for one day, and spoke up, preferably out of turn. “Saige, you figured out where we’re supposed to go yet?”

The brunette looked up from the spot she had pinpointed on the map and turned her head back to the redhead behind her. “Yes, Tara,” Saige hissed, “though I figured it’d be lovely to take a stroll in circles on the way there.” Behind Tara, a boy with black hair poked his head out to get a look at the ongoing conversation, and could tell that they were on the brink of a fight.

He opened his mouth to speak. “There’s no need to get snarky with her.”

“Well, how else was I supposed to shut her up?” ...Yeah, something was off that day. Saige seemed a little more irate than usual, which, in all honesty, was just what Tara expected from their leader. She’d been up the last night and a half trying to organize their travel, with the plane tickets, luggage, and directions for when they arrived in Vytal. She was never so tired, not even when their Initiation was over.

Tara breathed a sigh and put two fingers down the collar of her partner’s tunic, yanking her to a stop where they stood...which was right in front of a crosswalk clearly occupied with passing cars. “Look, I get it,” she breathed, spinning Saige around to face her and her teammates. “You want to get this overwith. But it’s not like we’re gonna find this...‘Whinter’ if you’re dead-beat and wandering the streets without a wink of sleep in over two days.”

Saige’s face lowered into a mild grimace, dark circles under her eyes. “Thirty-six hours. What’s your point?”

The boy stepped up next to the redhead and added to the argument, whether the girls wanted him to or not. Though, he had a point. “The point is, we need to stop for the day. Take a break, relax, kick up your feet and eat, for Grimm’s sake! We’re half-way across the world, and all you wanna do is find some woman we barely know? Seriously?”

“...Yes.”

“No.” Tara lightly patted her palm against her friend’s cheek as if to say “Wake up!” before stepping back a foot or two. “We’re taking the vacation we asked for.”

Saige had no idea what to do, but take a deep breath, and let a second or two tick by before she was forced to give in. “...Fine,” she huffed. “I’m gonna go find a hotel to check into. I’ll call when I find one.” With that, she turned on her heels and back to the crosswalk, just as the light turned green. Her footsteps were heavier than normal, another exhibit of her exhaustion, but it was only a matter of time before she found a comfy hotel bed to crash on.

Her teammates watched on, exchanged smiles and hopeless head shakes before turning to their fourth member—finding her eating a snow cone without their noticing. Plus, her licking noises were unbelievably loud. After a second, Macy looked up from her treat and blinked.

“...So does this mean we can go sightseeing now?”

2. Spark
Hopeless children, Saige thought to herself, one hand rubbing her forehead as she glanced once more at her holographic device, analyzing the grid for a hotel nearby. ''They think we’re here to take a vacation, and yet, I still have to keep my promise to Professor Wolfgang. How perfect-'' Her thoughts were cut short when her body was slammed into by something else, preferably another person, and she stumbled back, dropping her gear to the sidewalk. Just wonderful...

“Here, let me get that for you.” A black-gloved hand she didn’t recognize bent down and got it before she could, raising up to her. Saige blinked and looked up at the kind gent...only to realize it wasn’t a gent.

“Uhm... Thank you.” she muttered, taking it back and pulling up the map once more.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes I-...” Oh, who was she kidding. The team leader had only been in Vytal for a few hours, and here she was practically lost in the metropolis. “...No, actually. I’m a little lost.”

“You don’t say.” The new acquaintance let loose a smirk and placed a hand on her hip, twirling a lock of her striking purple hair with one finger. “Where’re you headed?”

“Anywhere my team and I can eat and sleep.”

“Easy enough. Here, lemme see.” She took the map back and started tapping her fingers in all four corners, recalculating their placement, the cardinal directions, et cetera. Saige watched in curiosity, following her violet eyes as they moved across the screen. When they looked up at her, she was startled, and slightly recoiled. The smirk seemed to spread further. “Got it.” She then pointed to the map as a little icon of a lodge popped up, only a block from where they stood.

“Thank you...” she said unsurely, nodding her head with some form of content. “I think I’d be lost without your direction.”

“Aw, stop~.” the violet-haired girl playfully nudged a fist at her tattooed shoulder, then grabbed her arm and started to pull her back in the direction of the hotel. “Come on. I’ll show you around.” ...Well, that was new. Saige didn’t plan on an escort whatsoever, but here a stranger about her age was offering to show her the way to her destination.

“That’s very generous of you. I’m Saige, by the way.”

“Idina. Pleasured to meet you.”

3. Sightseeing
Working on it.