[center][b][color=007FFF]Abel Fulgurate[/color][/b][/center]

An uncommon jitteriness grabbed hold on Abel's throat for a second when the door to the airship yawned open to admit team SASG inside.  For one of the few times in his life, he was leaving the comfort and company of other warriors behind and venturing out into the unknown with only a few comrades by his side.  For a young man conditioned as a sentry atop walls, entering the airship's belly screaming against his instincts, but Abel bit back his unease with a fortitude that surprised himself.  After all, even though he had only spent a week with Gren, Sapphire, and Shiro, he was pretty sure they had his back.  This embodied more than simple spirit, though.  Abel needed to believe that he and his friends had what it took.  When he had perused the details for the Shelter mission a few minutes ago, his mind had flashed with storybook visions of mad scientists, bristling with needles and sutures and belting out maniacal laughter.

It intrigued him more than in worried him, however; perhaps that was why the mission's ominous portent had only instilled him with a few seconds' worth of dread.  These weren't Grimm he'd be facing.  Today there would be no running in terror, no desperate fight for survival, and no gloomy resignation to an immutable fate.  No matter how hairy the ears of the mad doctors of the Shelter, they were just people, and people did not scare Abel.

Gren's search of the internet for any useful tidbits pertaining to the Shelter turned up the place's website pretty quickly.  While colorful in its cool hues of blue and green, its design exuded more of a sense of friendliness than of tacky vibrancy, and its content carried much the same outlook.  The Shelter had been established on its little island on the bay for forty years, ever since it had been made public knowledge that animals, like humans, had aura.  Nothing of particular interest jumped out at him, except that according to the 'guests' section, there weren't many pets staying anymore.  It did help kill time until Shiro arrived, however, and after Abel quit admiring to vista to join the team, the four got on the airship.  Abel, not sure whether or not Sapphire had been with them during Port's presentation, greeted her congenially before settling in.  

Of course, Shiro's mad antics cost the team some time, and earned them the ire of the main pilot—a Beacon senior and the only male member of Beacon's ace senior team, Fallow Mort.  Gren, wishing to avoid provoking Fallow further, was happy to anchor Shiro to the wall with his friction semblance.  In short order, the airship, containing a resolute mix of optimism and sobriety interrupted occasionally by the team's loose cannon, made its way to Tourmaline bay.

Sooner that might have been expected, the airship touched down near the docks.  Fallow, now pleased that some underclassmen had seen his flying skills, cheerfully announced that he'd be navigating SASG the rest of the way to the Shelter by boat.  “The buildin's expanded to every part of the island remotely flat,” he explained, “there's nowhere to land and lots of sharp rocks just waiting to break ankles if I had you jump.”

Fifteen minutes later, after another round of trying to secure Shiro's unrestrained enthusiasm into extremely restrained enthusiasm, the speedboat was off.  Despite Fallow's repeated assurance of the mission's easiness, he had seen fit to bring his own weapon, a strange device that blended together a shield, a scabbard, and a spinner launcher, complete with whip-sized ripcord.  As the boat approached the island upon which the Shelter loomed, it gave off more of an impression of a resort hotel than a state-of-the-art veterinary facility, with its pored beige walls and red-shingled roof.  Abel allowed the others to disembark first when the destination was reached, curtly nodding to Fallow before the senior sped away.  He turned back and regarded the Shelter with dull blue eyes.  The main entrance sat atop a shallow flight of stairs leading up the stony slope of the island, and the glare of white light shone within.  Considering the phrasing of the mission statement, it hadn't been an unreasonable expectation to think that they'd be encountering a dilapidated old house of horrors.  This seemed too perfect; Abel waited for somebody to say that the team needed to be on their guard as they approached.