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Jordan smiled sheepishly. "Rep can be pretty abrasive, but he's not a complete a*****e," he said. His phone chirped, and he looked down at it and typed out a reply.

Rep picked up his usual mission kit, forever erring on the side of caution these days. After all, f there was one thing the island had taught him it was that there was no virtue in travelling light, weight wasn't even much of an issue any longer either, he had no excuse not to extend his pack mule instincts over to missions. He checked he had his usual shopping list of items in his backpack, minor rations, compass, rope, torches, flint and tinder, all manner of objects he'd read were helpful for survival in the books he'd been making himself trawl through. Inventory checked, he grabbed the usual runic bandages - charged of course - pulled on a shirt and his coat and followed Harrison out.

He just found himself dreading the entire trip to the meeting spot that this EM would set them against the same hallucinogenic fog he'd run into on the recent missions he'd gone on with Ophelia, Melvin and Rin. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of the stuff, it did things to his head, deeply unsettling things. The memory of his mother from that day still pursued him through nightmares, emaciated and twisted, reaching for him with long wicked claws.

Dread and nightmares were set aside as he spotted the familiar shock of blonde hair in the cafeteria. Jordan even got a warm smile of greeting as they approached, unfortunately it was sort lived - the instant he spotted Madison nearby it froze over into suspicion, everything about his open body language following suit, crossing his arms and looking her over critically, as if he was sizing up second-hand furniture for damage.

In an absolutely bitchy motion he looked from her to Jordan, and silently raised a single brow. His meaning was apparent, was she merely an incidental bystander or was she purporting to accompany them on their mission?



<always a bad thing.>>

Madison gave the two an easy smile, touched by Jordan's words. "Hey - nice to meet you," she said. "My weapon is Kouki," she added, tapping the beads around her right wrist. "Four swords, which is two too many at the very least, but what can you do."

Hey, Kouki complained.

She turned and retrieved the runic tablet from off the table behind her, then held it up so Harrison and Rep could see. "This is the mission - it's in some kind of ******** hellhole of FEAR and Insanity and radiation, I don't even know. And I'm pretty fast, but... not that fasts, and Deaths squish easier. So if you're willing, I'd really value your help..."

Rep just wasn't about to make life easy for anyone. He had his contrary moods and this was decidedly one of them. Most of the women in his life he tolerated had taken months of exposure and mental wrangling to become palatable to him, mostly through redefining them as male rather than female in some way. None of them had really been Jordan's friends. Being introduced to Madison as a phoenix went down as "part of a club you are not". He even took the introduction of Tracey as a slight, offended that his soul-name would just be handed flippantly off to a b***h who would never be able to understand it's significance.

He narrowed his eyes in hostility, flat out refusing to directly address the death huntress "Do we really ******** need a woman? We could do this mission and then I dunno, she could take credit for men doing the work, like most ******** bitches."

He turned his back. If Harrison and Jordan were going, he was going, that much was a fact, but it didn't mean he needed to be friendly.

Tracey in his thoughts sighed but said nothing.

Madison grinned back at Harrison. "Thanks." She liked him on sight, really; he had a reputation for being level-headed and even-tempered.

... Rep, on the other hand... well. Madison gave Rep's back a level gaze as he turned away. "That's not how I operate," she said, evenly. A part of her wanted to bristle and snap at him, but that wouldn't improve matters one bit, and would hurt Jordan to boot. She could keep things chill, at least on her end, for the sake of civility. And, given what she'd heard about him, was she really surprised?

Well. She could manage. "Sure - I actually should swing by and pick up my kit. I carry bandages and a trap gun, though I don't suppose I'll need the last one. Still, just in case there's anything catchable... Can I meet you guys at the lighthouse portal in ten, maybe?"

Rep didn't seem deterred by Jordan's look of dissapointment. Of course he'd be dissapointed, he'd been fooled by a woman after all.

He continued blotting Madison out completely and generally behaving like a petulant child. "Aye, lets ******** go Ace. Guess we can be prepared to do some babysitting."

Rep tossed his hair out of his face and pretended not to notice. "Whatever."

Harrison wasn't counting, but he'd used the extra time for another spotcheck: and why not. He wished, not for the last time, that he could get a hold of two jackets and let Rep outfit one with fur. As it was, he was stuck with B0nez regulating the freezing temperatures best he could.

"Ready on this end," Harrison said, "You got everything?"