Magnus: "It can't be that important, whatever it is, right? I am just a little bit confused… It's only been six minutes." He spoke through the loudspeaker.
Sheng-Ri looked up at the speakerphone, as did most of the crew.
"KETH'RAAL JUST BECAME AN ACTUAL CONTENDER!" She raised her collected voice higher, clearly annoyed, a disgusted, annoyed look on her face. She then poked around with her tongue in her mouth.
The crew kept chatting during the discussion; everybody and their mother had their own thoughts in the back of their minds.
Stanley: "So, who here actually likes Keth'raal? A lot of haters here, man…" He spoke up right after Sheng-Ri's comment, putting the group's undivided attention on himself for the first time. He raised his right arm slightly and tried not to stare anyone down awkwardly.
Some people erupted at the words of Stanley. Mainly Johnny. Others had their own little discussion by themselves. Speaking mainly of Tallurre and Aurora, who walked back near their seats.
Johnny: "I hope NO ONE. I MEAN NO ONE here supports her passionately. A WAR-torn, TRAUMATISED leader should ABSOLUTELY not speak for the entire empire if all she knows is hate. WHAT about the REST of us?" He raised his voice back at Stanley expressively, his face moving in many emotional phases, consisting of built-up hate, confusion and disgust. Then he turned to the only Nullari in the plane and tilted his head down while mainly focusing deep at his forehead.
Oblivion: "…"
Johnny: "I just want to hear why. This is actually one of the few rare moments I get to hear from our "POWERHOUSE!" of the group." He seemed to be in a frenzied, loud state at the idea of a new era under Keth'raal. His arms were waving while they were in front of Oblivion himself. Up and down.
Oblivion: "…"
Oblivion never spoke a word towards Johnny in that moment, but his face said more than a hundred words. He stood with a firm stance, flexing his suit creases at the joints, and crossing his arms tightly. His own face? He seemed to be gritting his teeth, his well-developed facial structure slanting outwards. The muscles around his jaw flexed visibly as he stared at Johnny. His eyes and eyebrows were squinted so hard they tilted at a curved slope, looking as if the one in front could feel the tension as well. He exhaled a few times and took a couple of deep breaths.
Jordan: "Big man, don't answer that. Whole lotta rage bait coming from him. You know that as well, don't you?" He commented while still mildly texting on his phone, switching postures to now leaning back in his chair and sitting like he normally should.
Johnny: "Just don't take it personally, Big O. I'm unsettled. kinda writhing with annoyance. By god. Tsk." His little steam blew off, and he saw the after effect on it on the towering man. Johnny himself tried to play it off nonchalantly, like he was still acting like before, as nothing changed on the outside. Then, for no good reason, he poked him with his pinky finger on his right hand before turning and fixing up his hat.
Oblivion took another breath. A loud one. Moving his chest up and down.
Sheng-Ri: "Johnny."
'What?" He said back, turning to her. A bit aggravated.
"Be careful. Just look at him if you could tell." She said it mildly, but it carried real weight. Johnny took it as a lecture, like she couldn't tell what Johnny was trying to do.
Johnny: "Yeah, yeah. Fuck off too, pirate." He waved at her while turning back around to walk to Lori, who joined in with Tallurre and Aurora's chat.
Sheng-Ri, frankly, looked mild again. Slightly grimaced, but mild.
The only people who weren't in some chat a minute later were Stanley, Sheng-Ri and Jordan. Sheng-Ri just stood like a mannequin. Awkwardly. Hands right next to her legs and flat on the side of her thighs while her feet were nearly next to each other.
Stanley sat back down in his chair, chin propped up by his hand, his arm on his leg. Looking at her and the crowd.
{Man. She looked really good when I saw her for the first time. Is she always this bored? No, I really want to make her look happy and smile better, but all she's doing is looking up at the ceiling with sunglasses on. Standing like that. Like what? Jordan over there seems to be fine anyway. I do want to talk to him; it's a bit too much for me at the moment, even if he's a casual dude.}
He then stood up and started to walk towards Sheng-Ri herself.
The moment he got there, he stood close to her, lined up by the side of her right arm and looked directly up at the same spot as her. He tucked his hands away in his pockets and joined in. Two mannequins now.
She briefly turned her eyes to look at him, copying the same deadpan look that she was doing, in a more easily noticeable version of it. Then looked back at the spot.
Back again, looking at him.
Then back to staring at the roof.
Stanley himself noticed her little side eyes and did one back, without knowing if she saw that.
While the rest chat about politics and other stuff, these two stand comfortably.
Sheng-Ri: "Hey."
A pause. Silence.
Stanley: "What's even to look at there?"
Silence again. She turns her head slightly, so Stanley can ever so slightly see both of her eyes, though the one he mostly sees is covered up.
"I don't really know. I'll be honest." She sighed and looked back up, not trying to look at him after finishing her sentence.
{Ok, so she's really bored, or she wants someone to talk to her. I mean, I spontaneously came up here. I got the shit down for this.}
He then rubbed the back of his neck, feeling like he needed something extra to do to get more attention from the tall woman's undisturbed face.
Stanley: "Well, you care if I—" He got cut off by the clomping of multi-layered, steel-coated shoes.
Magnus entered the room, booming.
{W-what now? Oh, come on, Grandpa. This old man. fucking piece of fat bacon.}
Magnus: "I'll be right at the entrance of the vehicle now! IN YOUR SEATS, PLEASE!" He shouted with all his might with a swing of his arm before turning, and the engine started to vibrate more. Oblivion noticed this and looked down at the floor and walls before anyone else.
Sheng-Ri: "Talk later. Thanks, I guess." She nodded upward at him; her body language was saying to him that she acknowledged him. She treated him like a nice person, not an inanimate object.
Stanley: "You too." A weird but short conversation between the two of them. He nodded back and gave a faint grin. Something worth taking a good look at when it comes from a Surane individual.
In which, for a brief few milliseconds, she stopped moving to look at him, and the corners of his mouth rose at the sight of her. Must've been Stanley's imagination, but she did a brief one back at her to his surprise.
She then walked back to her seat. So did he, and everyone else needed to. He sadly was the second-to-last person to sit down, which slightly ticked him off, but then he put his mind back on Sheng-Ri.
Daryl: "Attention, Broken Halo. Pilot Carter at your service. Heh heh." He blasted it through the intercom as Magnus walked back.
A groan or two came out. Some seemed rather mockingly annoyed at Daryl.
Jordan: "This shit again?" Genuine annoyance came out of the mouth of the man who finally put down his phone, just to tinker with the TV on the wall of the shuttle. Not the back seat of someone's chair, since he was in the front seat.
Daryl: "If you all would get your seatbelts fastened, AKA the dreadhead and the "Stay emotionless" Suran, we can finally get to lift-off, and drop Magnus off and set a course for the stars!" He said triumphantly.
{I-is this a shuttle pilot affect? What the fuck are these sentences being shot out of his mouth? But more importantly, the fuck does he mean by "Stay emotionless"? I AM A SURAN. I LOOK LIKE THIS. BLANK AND DEADPAN. I CAN'T CHANGE IT. EVEN IF HE SUGGESTS I CAN. }
Even more ticked off, Stanley bluntly buckled his seatbelt and immediately started tinkering with the TV like the rest were doing, plugging in wired earbuds that the TV connected to his ears.
Minutes passed as the Shuttle's engine shook and vibrated more, and the members calmed down and waited for Daryl to start moving the shuttle.
And so, the shuttle shook harder and harder, while Stanley was picking and choosing movies, and a slight jerk of his head backwards signalled that it was time to move.
He leaned back and put his body on the cushions and sank heavily into the brown couches.
The shuttle was now moving forward properly. Meters and meters turned into tens of meters, and then a tilt was felt by Stanley. Finally off the ground and moving upwards.
Suddenly. Footsteps thundered through the tunnel behind them.
Magnus ran through the tunnel at a fast speed. He slammed his hand on the wall in front and seemed a bit anxious. Was it his anomaly at work again, or some other thing that required him?
Magnus: "TALLURRE UFUSHIMI!" He shouted at a loud volume, but still maintaining good composure.
Tallurre himself stood up.
"Yes?" He said politely.
Magnus: "Expect a call from me later in the week, as we discussed. Except I think I need you to come to Leeash anonymously and secretly." He said loudly towards him. Tallurre himself had a unique series of calm but distinct expressions when hearing him speak, changing from fully composed and prepared with a dead straight face to a slightly more curious face with his eyebrows raised a slight bit higher.
Tallurre: "Aigh, Mr Turner," he said loudly and formally.
Then he proceeded to sit back down as Magnus rushed back through the tunnel with big steps.
Just a minute later, as the shuttle tipped higher…
Daryl: "ATTENTION all Broken Halo members, Heh. Destination is SET for Fierfam-D. Please be seated during lift-off and keep your seatbelts on. Heh." He said in a flashy, mocking tone, like a stereotypical pilot speaking, but keeping his own personal tone still there.
Stanley then curled his right hand into a fist and put the side of that fist onto his forehead, mimicking frustration, since his face can't prove he is.
Stanley: "ouuughh."