Against All Odds, Yes

Millia managed to kill time until the rest of the team woke. It was sundown.

"What did you all do in that last job that left you so tired?" she asked Eloxochitl.

The team leader took a seat near Millia in the common space. "We were sent to reclaim a grain stockpile. Pirates had driven out the locals and intended to make off with their reserve. Not necessarily a **** sentence for the locals, but still more than a headache. Anyway, the quantity of pirates was underreported and the three of us were sent in for a job that should have taken no fewer than six."

"But you made it back," Millia pointed out, trying to brighten Eloxochitl's mood. "So you must have won, right? That must feel good; prevailing against impossible odds."

The Quetzalcoatl gave a look as though she could not find it in herself to see the upside. "Well, as you can see, we all got banged up. And though we seemed to have sent the pirates packing, its hard to take it as a win when no one else does."

As she was speaking, Najma strolled in and joined them. Her bandages illustrated Eloxochitl's point on injuries. She set down a tray with four steaming mugs. "Carapace made ginger tea. If you don't want it, you can have him make something else."

Millia accepted one mug. "What did you mean by no one else calling it a win? Were the locals ungrateful?"

"No, the farmers were all pumping handshakes, and crushing hugs," Eloxochitl answered.

"It's the Adventurer Registry," Najma jumped in. "No matter what we do, we can't seem to climb in our ranks. They don't retroactively credit you for completing a job suited to a bigger team. And it doesn't help that we seem to be on a streak of bad luck." She took a sip from her mug.

"What she means is that what happened on this job wasn't so different from our prior ones," Eloxochitl elaborated. "The time before that, we were sent to retrieve an object of importance, and an independent mercenary team showed up at the same time. We ended up having to fight them for it. The time before that, we were salvaging a crashed satellite on an asteroid when a meteor shower hit."

"You should ask Helki about that day," Najma said with a mischievous smirk.

"And the time before that, we were sent to escort an old man who was being hunted by assassins."

"We did our job and protected him, only for the fossil to croak on the flight home," Najma said, throwing up her arms in defeat.

"Mm-hm," Eloxochitl hummed affirmation. "Heart attack."

"Sheesh," Millia shook her head. "You lot aren't kidding. You're cursed."

"Nope. We got checked after the fourth mission mishap," Najma denied. "The witches said we were clean."

"What's this about being clean?" Helki asked as she shuffled into the commons. She was in her pyjamas. Her hair was still wet from her shower, yet it was somehow messier than when Millia had last seen her. It hung all in her face, leaving only a bit of her mouth visible. She dropped heavily down onto one of the couches, apparently ready to sleep again already.

"Ah-ah-ah, no dozing off," Eloxochitl refused. "Now that we're all here it's suppertime."

"That's okay, I'll take mine here," the Lycanthrope half mumbled.

"Come on, we need you fresh. We have a mission after dinner."

Head lulled, Helki raised two hands in pleading frustration. "We literally... JUST got back from what was practically a double mission."

"We signed on for two jobs today, remember?" Najma reminded her.

"I could have sworn we agreed to cancel that second one when we were flying back," Helki said, still refusing to rise; as though there was still a chance she could just stay there and rest.

"You mean that flight that you slept though?" Najma chided. "Are you sure you didn't just dream that up?"

"I probably did. It sounds too good for us." Helki still was not showing any signs of intending to move.

Eloxochitl stepped over and gestured to Millia. "You take that leg and I'll take this one." Together, with some effort, they dragged Helki from her place by her ankles. It was slow going, but evidently she did not mind the disturbance. Her shirt did ride up though, showing off her abdomen. "Hey Helki, we'll be reaching the stairs soon. You had better get up before your head takes it like a washboard," the leader teased.

"Good," responded the Lycanthrope, undeterred. "I hear in **** you get to rest."