Just like many before it, another airship entered the port of the small outlaw town of Aersummit. This town was divided up into two areas. First there was the area on top of the sky island, about a kilometre in length and half a kilometre in width. Small houses made of wood, scrap metal and rope littered the area, creating a maze of alleys and small open areas where people met. Both ends of the island were instead occupied by larger buildings made of mostly stone and some metal. These were the most important areas as this was where trade happened. A hotel, some shops, a tavern or two, and of course the docks were found in these areas. Bounty hunters, scavengers and traders met up here to do their business. And then there was the literal underbelly. A few spots had wooden walkways going down to below the surface of the sky island. There, houses were build against and into the cliffs. Most people stayed away from this area. And it wasn't because there was nothing but the clouds below them. This was the area where the true outlaws were found. Thieves, pirates, treasure hunters, slavers, and traders that operated in the black market.

The airship that had just arrived looked rather old. It still seemed to work just fine, but it had certainly been in use for more than one generation. Most people would have probably tried to buy a new ship by now, but not the owner of this ship. After it's mooring lines had been secured by the dock workers, out stepped a younger looking man with a bright smile on his lips. A moment later a small Fennec Fox ran out as well, before quickly jumping onto the man's back and moving kind of curl around his neck. The man approached one of the dock's managers that was waiting for him at the bottom of his boarding plank. Still with the same bright smile he greeted the worker before the worker could even ask for his name. "Good afternoon sir! Jacob Welsh's the name. And this little guy is Peanut." The manager raised a brow, but only nodded in response. After writing down Jacob's name the manager finally spoke. "Welcome to Aersummit, Jacob. State your business and intended length of stay please." "Mhh..." Jacob muttered as he thought. "Well, I plan to find some work to do, and I'll probably stay until tomorrow morning, though it depends on if I can indeed find work." The manager nodded. "Very well, it's 75 dollars for the first day, and 100 dollars for each extra day." Jacob didn't even wait for the man to explain. He already reached into his pocket and took out a 50, 20 and 5 dollar bill and handed it to the man. The manager nodded, taking the money. "I see you've been here before." Jacob nodded in return. "I'm a regular, actually. But I'm used to no one remembering my face at the docks. Anyway, time's short so I'm off to find work!" The manager nodded disinterestedly as he put the money away, turning his attention back to his work again.

Jacob knew this town like the back of his pocket. It was his main base of operations outside of his airship, you could say. So he had no problem finding the tavern closest to where he was. His plan was to stay in the upper area for now since if possible he wanted to keep his work legal. But he still needed to bring food to his and his pet's plate, so if things didn't work out he would head to the lower area in the evening.

Soon he found himself stepping into a building; The trumpet bar. Apparently the name came from the previous owner's love for playing the trumpet. Though that man had passed away a few years ago. "Powell! Pour me a Brutal black will ya~" Jacob spoke as he sat down at the bar. It was basically just a strong dark beer. People in this place just liked giving drinks though sounding names to make themselves look though when ordering. "Jacob, ya sly bastard! Came to make trouble again have ya?" The barkeep replied, moving to pour the man his drink. "Hey, I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble looks for me!" Both laughed heartily. Jacob was a regular at this place. And while it was indeed true that he tended to get himself into trouble, for Powell it was just a way of greeting a friend.

So… she had a destination, she had an object and she had a buyer but… she had no way to get there… A long sigh left the young girl with short blue hair as she munched away on a cracker in her hotel room. Damn, she had some high hopes in thinking she might not have to split any of this income from the job. However, it looked like that was not going to be the case.

Blinking her violet colored eyes, she stood from her bed and preceded her complete her steps to leave. A quick shower, teeth brushed and hair combed, dressed and packets into her duffle bag, the girl exited the room and proceeded towards the lobby.

Checking out of the hotel was bitter sweet. She did hate the idea of having to leave the comfortable room that had been her home for the past couple of weeks. But at the same time, she’s thankful not to be spending money on a room anymore. This was Rei Carpenter and she was a little more than your average traveler.

In fact the woman carrying the duffle bag over her shoulder was really one of the last members of the LeFontaine Family. The LeFontaine family was gentleman thieves in their own right. Stealing from those who can afford to have things ‘go missing’ and using that money to support themselves and sometimes others was part of her family’s code; however, they did have a bad habit of not including everyone in on their ideas and… some people didn’t take too kindly to that. That Seth guy hated her because he got caught, which was not her fault, and now seeks vengeance against her for his time in prison. And that was her last time working with an ‘upstanding citizen’. And now you know why she’s at Aersummit.

Placing her free hand on her brown jean covered hip, her gaze scanned across the land. Okay, now I have to find another transportation… She thought, however a cringe moved through her body; she would have to fly to the next job and flying was something she dreaded. Taking a spot on a bench she dug through her bag until she found a pre-designed flyer, one of her many; that specifically asked for a pilot, boy it’s been a while since she used this one. As much as she dreaded the idea of using this form of transportation she didn’t have a choice.

Heading to the location bar, “The Trumpet Bar” She ventured inside went straight to the bulletin board. Pinning the job flyer up, she turned and walked to the bar, sitting a few spots down from Jacob and ordering herself a scotch on the rocks.

The sign read as follows –
SEEKING CAPTAIN.
Looking for be flown to and from a destination.
Cost is up for discussion; a percentage of the cut can be offered in place of standard payment but ya don’t get both.
Must have able-bodied ship with a guest room, cargo bay, and be okay with some rough things.

Order a “Rocky Mountain Beer” and the bartender will point you to me.

Jacob noticed a rather peculiar woman walking in. She wasn't usually the type to come to a bar like this. And though he wasn't nearly always there, he certainly didn't recognize her. And so didn't Powell from the looks of it. Though what piqued his interest was whe nshe posted a note on the bulletin board. This bar was on the surface of the island, so no one would be stupid enough to post blatantly illegal jobs here. And the ones that were only just posted had a far higher chance to be good, or at least decent. So Jacob was quick to get up, beer still in hand, and walk over to the newly posted note.

"Captain needed...needs transport...percentage of the cut huh?" Jacob mumbled softly to himself. The man thought deeply for a few moments before turning to his furry pet. "What do you think Peanut?" The Fennec Fox chirped in response. Which was somehow enough to convince him. "All right~" He spoke, taking the notice off of the board and walking back over to the bar. As he took a large swig he sat down right next to the woman whom had just posted the note and glanced at her.

"Do give me an indication of how much I can earn with this. If I like what I hear you might have a captain for your job right away." He flashed a bright smile, though still didn't turn all the way towards the woman. Of course Jacob wanted to know at least a bit more about this job than just what was on the note. After all, there were still people who tried to sneak in dirty jobs along with the legal and grey area jobs in this place.

It felt like ages until Rei’s drink arrived. A long sigh left her when the sweet elixir of alcohol ran down her throat after a long drink. Work didn’t sound fun but she needed to rebuild her funds as she could. Now if only she could find a captain. The last guy she worked with was nice… enough, but careless. He didn’t stay put like she told him to and refused to listen to her instructions and nearly got both of them caught. Luckily, Rei was much more experienced in dealing with stupid choices than she’d like to admit and was able to get them out of the situation he got them in (not that he’d ever take responsibility for it). Now he blames her for the damage to her ship and it is all ‘you owe me this’ and ‘you need to pay me for that’; hence her need for a new captain. And the sooner the better before the asshole finds her.

A body sat in the chair next to her, her gaze moved downwards to see that he had the flyer in his hand. Boy that was fast, luck must be on her side. Thinking that thought she gently knocked on the wood on the bar. She wasn’t superstitious but she knew better to press any luck that turned its way to her. “Standard pay is 10,000. You fly, park and wait for me to come back, not even a day, than return me here. Simple as that.” She said with a nod as she brought scotch to her lips and took another drink. This time she hissed a bit at cup as the ice had hit her lips and caused a chill through her body.

Placing the glass down, “5,000 when we get there; the rest when you get me back. It’s a day’s flight to and from. I’m willing to supply food and some utilities. Unless you take the percentage of the cut of the job; that percentage is 25% but the payout might be less than what I can offer for a standard pay which is not my fault.” She turned in the chair to face him, one long jean covered leg crossed over the other as she leaned her side against the bar and propped her chin in her hand as she watched him. “You get one or the other, not both. What’s your answer? If it’s a no to either option please put my flyer back up.” She said giving him a tender smile. Any help was better than the asshole from before and she had no reason to be rude to him.

Jacob raised a brow. At the very least this woman had done similar things in the past considering how she seemed experienced in dealing with possible employees. Which could certainly make the next part a bit of fun. "25% huh? That's too little. I don't mind taking risks from time to time, but I want 40%. Also I want a bit more details than just 'drop me off and pick me up again'." The man paused and took a long swig from his mug, glancing at the woman to see her reaction to his intentionally high demand for compensation.

Once he had swallowed he spoke more softly, not wanting the people around them to hear what he had to say next. "Also I reserve the right to quit the job at any time if it turns out whatever you plan on doing is blatantly illegal. I don't want to be banned from places like this." Law enforcement wasn't really a thing. They had a better system now. If you broke the rules, you'd get banned from one or even several islands. Which made it very hard to get by in the future. Most people wanted to avoid a fate like that, including him. Though with any law system there were grey areas of course. And those areas he didn't mind stepping in to if the job was profitable enough. And this one did sound like it could be just that.

His statement that the amount was too little caused her head to jerk back in surprise; he wanted 40% and he looked serious about it. A small giggle left her as she slid her hand over and took the flyer from hi, in him a nonchalant manner. “Listen, you may be cute and all but you’re not cute enough for 40%. I reserve even 35% of my take for those who have helped me on more than one occasion.” She said with a nod as she flattened out the ad. “No hard feelings cutie but if we haven’t worked together before so I can’t take that high of a risk. You treat me good this go around and I’ll take care of you next time, and believe me there will be a next time.”

Rising to her feet she gave a stretch to the air. “And you can up and leave if you want. But you’d be stupid to do so if you are asking for a percentage of the sale. Can’t give you the money if you don’t stick around.” Her arms fell to her side as she tilted her head to one side than to the other, loud cracking noises echoed as she did so. “So cutie tell me. You in for 25%, or 10,000 with a split payment; or should I put the ad back up?”

"Woa woa there...what's the rush? Haven't you ever heard of bartering?" Jacob replied, frowning a little in annoyance. He looked the woman over with a serious look in his eyes before asking a new question. "At least tell me this, what are the chances of the cut being more than the 10,000? 50 percent? Less? More?" One of his ship's propellers had been having trouble starting for a week now and needed repairs. Plus he needed a new supply of lubricant to keep everything running smoothly. Add the regular supplies to that and he would need around 7000 dollars. He was also saving up for a chainblade. Basically a chainsaw in the form of a blade. They were highly advanced tech and very expensive, but also just about the strongest melee weapon you could get. As they could cut through even iron. Only steel was a match for it.

"Like I said I don't mind taking risks, but if I'm taking this job I want at least a decent chance at getting a nice pay-out." He took another swig from his beer before turning his gaze back to the woman. "Also, some advice. If you insist on staying vague on the details, yet won't budge on the price at all you won't find many people who are willing to work with you in this town." Even he probably wouldn't have gone for this job if he didn't need the cash to repair his ship. As, as great as the 10,000 sounded, his gut told him that there was more to this than a simple drop off and pick up of a woman.

He stopped her from putting the sign back up and that made her grin. Putting the paper back down on the counter she sat back down at her seat and picked up her drink. A large grin moved across her face when he asked what the chances were of receiving more than 10,000 from the job. Pointing a finger at him that was holding her glass, she brought it to her lips. “I like you.” She said in a straight forward grinning manner as she downed the last bit of her scotch and hissed at it. “Aaaahhhh, that’s good stuff.”

Her gaze flipped back to him and she sat down her glass before getting to her feet again and grabbing her bag. As she shoved the flyer into her bag.“Oh about a 95% chance. The 5% varying on whether you leave me behind or not.” She said with a giggle to her voice as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “35%, I stalk the ship with food; you take a second job it’s 45% and if we work well together a 50-50 split on any other jobs moving forward. The less I have to bounce around from person to person the easier it is on me.” She extended her hand out to him with a grin on her face. “Deal?”

Jacob's eyes widened at the woman's sudden turn around. A moment later he let his head droop a little and sighed. Either this woman was far better than him at manipulating the other party when making a deal, or it was just luck and she easily changed her mind. Either way, he had clearly been outplayed. Nonetheless, the proposal she made was still a rather good one. Such a high chance to get a very good pay-out was rare. Once again he wondered just how dangerous or dubious this job would be if it paid that much. But the fact remained that he needed the money. Or he wouldn't be flying at all any more in a few months at most.

The man took her hand and shook it lightly, giving a bright smile. "Sure, deal. You look like you're in a hurry though. And I'd rather go tomorrow morning. If time is of the essence we can go right now, but the better rested I am, the less chance at mistakes later on." If they left now they most likely would have to fly through the night. And while he could do that just fine, come morning the problems would start. Sleep deprivation could be a dangerous thing.

He drank the last of his beer, putting down the mug as he looked at her once more, this time a mischievous glint in his eyes. "If you need a room I wouldn't mind sharing one. Would save on the costs and all that." He never slept in his ship while it was docked. Too much noise from the workers. Plus she was definitely above average in looks. Maybe even quite pretty. Though he would have to put his valuables in a safe spot while sleeping. There was no sense in completely trusting someone he'd just met after all.

The deal was set and the handshake was achieved. Alright! She could get a move on… that was until the words of waiting until tomorrow left his lips. Her mouth dropped into a frown, she didn’t want to stay on the planet one more day. Instead she would rather move on and get to the job. It was already a day’s flight from where they were and going through the night would give her the ability to sleep while they were flying and wake up when they got there. Instead, he wants to wait…

She pulled her hand back and picked up her backpack. “Alright,” She didn’t like the idea staying the night at the town once again but she didn’t have much of a choice if her pilot backed out she was screwed. As she put her bag back on her back he mentioned something about them sharing a room and her blue eyes shot to him, a navy eyebrow raising slightly as she pondered the thought. He was a good looking man, there was no doubting that. And… she was kinda low on funds. “Alright handsome,” She placed her hand along the bar top and leaned to him, nearly nose to nose. “Let’s see just how good you are.” With that she leaned back and started towards the door with a little ‘come here’ wave of her finger.

She led her captain to one of the higher end hotels and just before going inside, she snatched his hand in his and gave him a bright smile, “Come on!” With that she pulled him into the building with a sense of excitement and pizazz in her step. Pulling him to the counter she hooked her arm in with his and grabbed onto his sleeve giggling like a young school girl. “One stop isn’t going to hurt before we get there.” Her voice was bright and cheery, her eyes sparkled as she rested her head against his shoulder before turning her attention to the girl behind the counter.

“We’re on our honeymoon!” The young girl behind the desk squealed with delight. “But…” Rei’s face dropped into a frown, “We only have enough for a basic room… but!” Her face turned a frown into a happy one as she turned her gaze up to him, eyes sparkling and grinning from ear to ear. “As long as I’m with you honey, I don’t care where we are!”

The girl behind the counter, as giddy as Rei made herself frowned at the statement before typing something into the computer and sliding them a key. “Here, I can’t let this be a stop not worth remembering.” The girl responded brightly giving them directions towards the room. “Congratulations on your wedding!” The woman called to them as Rei pulled him away from the desk spinning the key on her finger.

Looking over her shoulder she gave the woman a bright smile and a wave of thanks as they went to the direction of the room. Once inside on the third floor in the corner, she let go of him and tossed him one of the two keys. “Boom. Bigger room, less price.” Looking around she grinned at her accomplishments, venturing form the sitting room she looked into the bedroom area, one large king bed awaited them with an attached bathroom. Peaking her head into the bathroom she grinned. “And a large bathtub! Awesome!!” Excitement filled her voice as she went to the bed and sat on it crossing her legs.

Pulling her backpack on her back, she pulled out a couple contains, a book and a few pages of paper with writing on it and opened the book while clicking a pen into action. She had to take some notes now. “What kind of ship do you fly?”

Jacob was a little dumbfounded at first. Usually that little 'pick up line' of his, if you could even call it that, didn't work. He stared at her for a few second before realizing that she had indeed accepted his offer of staying in the same room for the night. His look of confusion quickly turned into an excited grin as he hopped from his bar stool and followed the woman. "So ah, where are we going? There's plenty of rooms in the inn we just left." He asked. Though instead of an answer all he got was a playful wink before she led him further down the street.

They stopped right in front of the most expensive hotel this island had. And without any hesitation Rei stepped inside. The man thought of protesting, as at least he didn't even have close to the funds to afford this place. But he decided to remain quiet for the moment and see where this was going. If worse came to worse he could just refuse and go back to the inn they had come from. As soon as they reached the counter though that hesitation quickly left his mind, as now he was getting what she was planning. With the best disappointed and sad expression he could muster he sighed and looked at her. "I'm sorry honey~ But I'll be making more money soon! So next time definitely..."

Clearly Rei's little scheme had worked, as the woman gave her the key what would definitely be a far better room than just the 'basic' ones in this place. This time he didn't have to fake his emotions, as he was genuinely excited to get such an expensive room, and for the money of a basic one no less. It would still be pretty expensive, but if this job paid out it wouldn't matter anyway.

Once in the room Jacob's grin only widened. The room was better than anything he had ever stayed at. Plus it had a huge bath! Normally he was stuck with a simple shower. Rei was quick to get back to business though. "Ship? Oh, it's a standard steam powered ferry model, but rebuilt on the inside to accommodate three people at most. The rest is now reserved for cargo. There's also a large gattling gun on the deck in case of trouble."

Jacob decided to check out the bathroom as well, and decided that that would be his first order of business. As he was half expecting that they would have to leave this room again before he could enjoy such luxury. The bath was indeed quite large. In fact, it was built into the room and large enough to fit two people, or three if you tugged in your legs. With that he grinned again. "I'm gonna take a bath. There's room for two so feel free to join." Without hesitation he started undressing as he walked into the bathroom. First his vest and shirt, revealing a not super muscular, but still well toned upper body. Having to do all the work on a ship that normally required at least two people to operate would do that to the body. After that he disappeared behind the bathroom's door.

Okay so it was a standard steam powered ferry model. Rei jotted it down in her book as she scanned over some of the documents in front of her. She needed to plan this at the perfect time, in the perfect action and organize their getaway now knowing what kind of ship he actually had. Taking in a deep breath, she ran over the plan in her head and about half way through she heard his call. A single eye opened up as it flicked in the direction of her knew companion.

“Don’t use up all the hot water.” She called out as she turned her attention back to the papers in front of her. She had other things to worry about than crawling into the bath with a man. Right now, her life just got more intricate and required her full attention for her to be ready for tomorrow. Taking in a deep breathe she went over the layout of the location she was going to over and over again, ingraining it into her memory until she could barely see anymore.

Yawning after mentally exhausting herself, the navy haired girl climbed to her feet and stretched her arms over her head. Walking to the bathroom door after hearing rustling inside she gave it a firm knock. “I hate to break up your relaxing time but… nature calls and I highly recommend you not be present in the room while I take care of it.” When he finally exited she brought her bag in with her and began to shut the door but she did take half a moment to look him over… not bad. Shut

After spending some time in the bathroom unpacking her bathroom things she reached over and flushed the toilet before stripping out of her own clothing and running herself a steaming hot bath. Aaahhhh this felt nice.

After lounging for some time, the young girl called out through the closed door, “Jacob…” She called out as she splashed some of the water around. “Can I ask you a big favor…?” Her voice sounded pleading as she called out to him. “I… used the last bit of my toothpaste this morning and went straight to finding someone to fly without picking up another bottle. Can you please go get me one?”

Jacob ran a fairly warm bath while looking at what this bathroom had to offer. For one, He reached into his vest to take out a spall leather package. It contained some basic bathroom items. Then he checked inside the cabinet above the sink. It had some washcloths, some small towels, a small bottle of detergent to hand-wash your clothes

Once the bath was ready he turned his head towards the door, and let out a soft disappointed sigh. Maybe Rei really did mean to just sleep in the same bed. When she accepted he had hoped for maybe something more. But he wouldn't complain about it. If it wasn't meant to be it wasn't meant to be this evening.

Jacob had slowly started to relax, and thus forget about the time a little. So once Rei called he frowned a little. It felt like he hadn't been in the water all that long yet. But he couldn't argue with nature calling, so decided to get out right away. "Give me a few minutes to dry off." He called back, grabbing a towel from a small cabinet beside the bath.

A minute later the man exited again, though he had decided to only wrap a towel around his waist for the time being, holding his clothes over one arm. He wanted to wash them before putting them on again. However as he moved to the bed that idea quickly went out of the window. "But..." He muttered, though stopped himself. "Sure, since you're my employer I'll go, but I want to wash my clothes once I get back." It sucked that he had to put his dirty clothes on again. So he decided to take another short bath the next morning. He'd just have to wake up 15 minutes or so earlier.

After dressing himself Jacob went out. He first asked at the front desk, but they didn't have any for sale there. Instead he was directed to a small shop down the street that sold a bunch of hygiene supplies among other things. So off he went.

15 minutes later the man returned again. 2 dollars for a tube of toothpaste. And another 3 dollars for half a dozen pre-boiled eggs as snacks for Peanut. It was on the expensive side. Especially the eggs. But that was to be expected since this island had a lot of traffic going through it. Hoping he would get to wash his clothes right away the man was quick to head up the stairs and back to their room. After a quick knock he opened the door while starting to speak. "I'm back-"

There was no denying that Jacob was a good looking guy and Rei found herself thinking about him as she cleaned herself in the bath. Of course the first pilot she found was a good looking guy about her age. Sighing softly she continued to scrub herself down with the cloth. It had been a long time since she had been out with someone other than during a business transaction. She would be lying to herself is he tried to say that she didn’t enjoy her male companion, even if it was just for seeing his face.

“Hmmm…” Rei’s face pressed together in thought as she finished cleaning herself and dozed in the bath a little more. Opening her eyes she turned her gaze to the door as he shouted back to her that he would get the things she asked for. “Thank you darling.” She called out in a sweet and cheeky tone as she heard him leave.

Climbing from the bath, the navy hair colored girl ran the towel over her body and quickly dried her hair with the use of the hairdryer humming to herself. As she finished her cleaning process she emerged into the bedroom wrapped in the towel wrapped around her small form. “Whelp,” She said before slapping her hands together in a clapping form. “This will be great!” A smile moved across her face as she began.

Upon Jacob’s return the bedroom was lightly illuminated in a soft light of dimmer switch, upon the bed lay a form, the form of the female he had left in the room before, as soft sweet sound leaving her. Her breathing was soft and gentle. She looked relaxed and at peace as she lay on the bed but… nothing else could really be seen as there was a small problem…

The figure on the bed was like a giant human wrapped burrito in one of the large white fluffy blankets and from the hole at the end was the exposed face of Rei looking peaceful and relaxed as she slept inside her burrito. A fluffy bed, a warm blanket (don’t worry she left a fluffy one for him as well) a pillow to rest her head and all her belongings wrapped up in the blanket inside with her. She knew she’d sleep peacefully and safely as if he tried to unwrap the sleeping burrito she would wake up quickly.

Ah, what a lovely and happy looking burrito.

As soon as Jacob saw the scene before him he sighed. "I should have known." He thought. "Making me run errands while she comfortably stays in the room and tucks herself in." He decided to just take things for what they were, figuring it wasn't worth the effort to cause problems over this. After all, there was likely a hefty paycheck waiting for him at the end of all this. And if this kept up, he could just keep it at the one contract. With any luck it would be enough to pay for repairs for his ship, and to keep him going for a month or two.

After undressing, Jacob grabbed his pillow and stuffed his most important items, like his revolver and wallet, inside of it at the underside. The items that were too big, he put under the blankets. And once he himself got under them, he wrapped them around him as best as he could. At the very least he would wake up if anyone, like his current employer, tried to steal it.

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The next morning Jacob woke up as soon as the sunlight shined through the curtains. A quick look at the clock on the wall told him it was 7 am. Though he was laying in quite the different position by now. He had rolled onto his back and spread out his arms and legs a little, taking up about half the bed by now. Even though it was a very big bed. It was normal for him to wake up even earlier, being a ship's captain. But the bed was so comfortable that he had slept in a little.

With a slight groan he sat up and looked under his sheets. His grappling hook and personal logbook were still there. And a quick check under in his pillow revealed that his gun and pillow were still there as well. "At least she doesn't appear to be a common thief..." He thought to himself as he lazily swung his legs over the side. "Hey Rei, wake up. We've got to leave in about an hour if we want to make decent time." He spoke, figuring it'd wake her up at least. In truth they had about one and a half hours at most, but his experience was that employers tended to run a little late most of the time.

Another night in a bed, and a GOOD bed none-the-less! Rei’s body seemed to melt into the bed while her mind relaxed the world around her fizzling away into nothing that she didn’t even hear the man come back into the room.

Here’s the problem with sharing a room with Rei though… “Uugghh….” She muttered under her breathe as the morning rolled over facing towards her bedmate. “Please… don’t---don’t take the last strawberry.” Her voice was a soft gentle whine as she panicked in her dream. As he stirred she wiggled loose from her burrito confinement and reached out a soft pale arm and a small hand in her tank top and pajama bottoms. Her small hand found his shoulder and with a pull that shouldn’t have been as strong as it actually was, she pulled Jacob back down onto the bed and proceeded to latch herself onto him.

A single leg wrapped around his and her body scooted to him, an arm tucked away under her and her head went directly to his chest over his heart while her arm wrapped around his midsection holding onto him. “Fi--ve more minutes…” Her voice was distant and faint as she tightened her grip on him. “So--- warm… So--- cute… Smells--- like--- oil… Relaxing---” There was a small pause to her voice before she continued. “Why--- why so cute? Makes things---hard…”

Jacob was too surprised to even cry out as he was pulled back to the bed again. And before he knew it, Rei had already latched on to him like a baby chimp to a mother. He took a few seconds to let the current situation sink in, then shook his head slightly. "Really getting mixed signals here, Rei..." He spoke softly. Though more as a joke than being serious. As it was quite obvious that she was still mostly asleep. "Even so, we need to get going if you want to get there in time." To him it didn't matter all that much. But she wanted to be there quickly, from what he had gathered. So this was for her sake.

Deciding to go with a more drastic solution, Jacob twisted around a little in Rei's arms until he could reach one of her ears with his fingers. Then he pushed his index finger behind his thumb and flicked the woman's ear. "Time to wake up. Or at least let go of your improvised body pillow so I can go and get some coffee." He tried to play it cool, but this was one hell of an awkward situation for him. His employer was clinging to him like crazy, and she was refusing to wake up. How the hell did you deal with something like that?

Yeah… everything was going fine until something sharp hit her ear. “Ow…” She muttered as her eyes slowly flickered open. And… to her surprise…

“WHAT THE HELL?!” She sprang from the bed, flying off and back until she hit the wall clutching the blanket to her body. In her sleepy panic she stared at him with wide eyes, obviously getting the wrong idea real fast that he was the issue. Damnit, it wasn’t him… “Sorry,” Her response was quick as she got to her feet and grabbed her belongings before hurrying into the bathroom.

After doing a quick change into her daily clothes she checked her things. Okay so everything was still there; her eyebrows pressed together in surprise, she had expected something to be missing but… there wasn’t anything gone, in fact it was just as she left it the night before. Interesting….

Pulling open the bathroom door she gave an embarrassed smile. “Sorry about that…” With that she walked to the front door and pulled it open. “Shall we get some coffee before we leave?”

Jacob smirked and only watched as Rei panicked. Though he was mentally preparing for a torrent of verbal assault or something along those lines. As clearly her eyes were blaming him at first. Luckily that quickly changed, and moment later she disappeared into the bathroom. "Well, she's awake at least..." He muttered to himself, still smirking in amusement. After a few seconds the man decided he should get ready too. So he got up and started dressing himself.

When Rei came out again she was fully dressed. She once again apologized and quickly went to the door, apparently wanting to forget what had just happened as soon as possible. But he wasn't about to let her go with just that. "You sure you don't want to cuddle a little longer? What was it again that you muttered in your sleep...I smell of oil and that's relaxing, and I'm cute so that makes things hard?" He questioningly raised a brow at her as if to ask 'what was up with that, hm?' Of course he wasn't sure she was talking about him, but he could still tease her a little bit.

Then as if he hadn't even asked the question he got up from the bed and headed for the door as well. He wanted his cup of coffee, or he wouldn't be properly awake for another hour at least.

Rei’s face’s showed no signs of cooling down as he began to list of the things she said, or supposedly said, during her sleep. “Listen, keeping this up will get you the one thing every man has… a pissed off wife.” With that she shot him a big smile in an attempt to hide her embarrassment with a snarky look. “Now honey, let’s go.” Not giving him a chance to get up the upper-hand on her, she hurried her way out of the bedroom.

Despite her words, she led the way down to the breakfast and the two proceeded to eat, the expression still clear as day on her face that she was embarrassed. They split the payment for the room and left to the hotel before Rei led them into town. The town was bustling with people and filled with shop shouters yelling about their items. A smile moved across Rei’s face showing her straight white teeth as she pushed her way through the crowd, her coworker hot on her heels as she began to collect the things for their trip. And unlike a lot of other people now-a-days, the girl knew how to cook and enjoyed it.

They left the bazaar with a couple bags of food before heading towards the docking area. “Which one is yours?”