Unbe District

Perhaps she was just trying to be defiant of Latonya, perhaps she was trying to prove to herself that she would not just be a pushover for her imposing team leader, or perhaps it was something else, but Millia voted for Najma's recommendation. Latonya booed Millia from within her head.

Eloxochitl rolled her eyes. "Unbe it is. I'll set the course." She walked off to the cockpit, underwhelming Millia's expectation of her disappointment.

With that matter settled, everyone parted ways. Millia made for her bunk, hoping to finally get out of her ruined armour. She locked the door behind her, and began stripping it off.

If we're in private now, I'm going to come on out. Okay? Latonya checked with her.

Yeah, no problem.

The ghost left Millia's form, and again she took note of how much less abrasive it was compared to when Latonya had been in control. "These are your adventurer digs?" Latonya remarked, looking around. "I'm so jealous. I wish I had a living space this nice when I was starting out. It's so spacious. You have your own washroom and everything!"

Millia nodded her agreement as she tossed the busted armour in a pile for later disposal. "It didn't look like your Xiong Commandos were lacking much of anything. Have they come a long way since you started adventuring?"

Latonya bounced her head modestly. "Sort of, but I started with the Adventurer Commission, same as you."

"No kidding?" The cow girl was down to her underwear and stepped into the shower. Latonya shamelessly peeked, only getting away with it because Millia was not looking. "What team did you start on?"

Latonya heard the water start up and she moved away, at least willing to afford the other woman that much privacy. "Team Zeal," she answered. "We weren't anything special. I stayed on for a few years, trained a few low-ranks, then joined up with the Commandos." As she spoke she drew the phantasmal claymore from her back and looked it over.

She was still learning her own set of rules as a ghost. Since dying she had been frustrated to no end by the repeated reminders that she seemingly could not affect the material world. Animate beings were as clouds for her - visible, but untouchable. Inanimate things were totally unresponsive. She could touch and feel those items, but even the most weightless of them were as immovable as planets.

But not her sword. Out of sentiment she had attempted to grasp it back on Sobrihiri and was surprised by its unique reaction. Instead of merely resisting her touch, the weapon had yielded a ghastly form of its own; as though it too had died and persisted like Latonya. Thus far, she understood that it behaved like this because it was an item on her person during her demise. Her clothes, armour, helmet - all the things she had had on her - had matched her spiritual state. These things she could properly interreact with as she had in life, providing some low level of comfort in this unfamiliar condition.

"Did anyone else from Team Zeal join the Commandos?" Millia's voice called over the spraying water.

"Not to my knowledge, no." Latonya continued to examine and play with her sword, touching it to surfaces in Millia's room to see if it could evoke any response. It didn't. "Though it has been long enough that someone very well could have joined my old team then swapped to the Commandos."

"You don't sound particularly interested," Millia remarked.

"That's because I'm not," Latonya smirked and flung herself on Millia's bunk. She was relieved to find that despite being incapable of affecting the bed with her weight, it still felt soft and pliant to her. Odd. "I know that some people build these deep connections with their teams, but I suppose that never really happened for me."

"Maybe that's why you left for the Commandos," Millia proposed. She stepped out of the shower using a bath towel to preserve her modesty.

"Maybe..." Hearing the cow girl's voice emerge, Latonya craned her neck to get another look.

"Hey! Mind your manners. I'm not decent," Millia rebuked.

"I can see that," the phantom smiled, letter her head drop back to the bed.

"Are all your Commandos as depraved as you?" The novice grabbed her clothes and retreated back to the washroom to change.

"Goodness, I hope not."

Millia slept the rest of the way to their destination. Though she had spent a good while resting after the exploit on Sobrihiri, she had felt tired once again.

Having taken over sometime after Eloxochitl, Carapace guided the Oscine toward Gisigantu, a terrestrial world that offered a healthy variety of hospitable biomes. Closer to the center of universal civilization, it was far more populous than Sobrihiri. One of the larger settlements there was named New Kollouic - a coastal megacity best known for being home to the Unbe District. Occupying nearly the entirety of the seaside touched by the city, it had a reputation as a place of leisure. Venues for live music, dining, marine recreation, and partying in general attracted people from even the most distant corners of the universe to come and celebrate life.

Most would probably regard one mission as too few to justify such a hedonistic holiday, but Millia had nearly been eaten and worked to ****, and the rest of the team had taken it straight off a previous mission. They had earned this.

Per Helki's invitation, the novice joined her in watching New Kollouic pass below as Carapace made the approach. It was early evening there, the sun low enough to be concealed by the horizon while still colouring one side of the sky. Clouds sat sparse and fluffy overhead. Skyscrapers big enough to occupy multiple city blocks reached higher than the Oscine flew. Mountains stood at the outskirts of the city. They looked like the rim of a bowl, containing the settlement from expanding beyond. Situated on one of the other two sides of the city was the shoreline. All along the bay, the city had expanded right up to the waterfront - and even past it in some places.

"See that? That's where we're headed." Hekli pointed to the section of New Kollouic that occupied most of the kilometres upon kilometres of beachfront. It was distinct in its layout. Whereas everywhere else in the city was unafraid to build as high as it could, this zone did not look as though is possessed a single structure that reached into double-digit floors. Promenades set the divide between the buildings and the beach itself. In the low light of the early evening, Millia could make out colourful lights shining against the buildings, giving the district an alluring aura. Check this out! it said. See how much fun we're having? You should join us! It was hard to see much from as high up as they were, but she spied boats on the water; light-flecked silhouettes against the rippling waves.

Carapace guided the Oscine on a shallow descent well beyond the boundaries of the city; far inland. There, an enormous port sat to accommodate air and spacecraft. After touchdown, everyone met up at the boarding ramp. Well, almost everyone.

"Where's Najma?" Eloxochitl asked, looking around. "She was the one that wanted to come here in the first place."

On cue, the cyborg rounded a bend in the corridor, dressed in beachwear and a massive grin. She wore a beach blouse and sarong over an icy-blue one-piece swimsuit that flaunted her chest and hips. Finishing the set was a pair of sandals, a wide-brim sun hat, and sunglasses despite it being dark out. Over one shoulder she carried a bag with spare clothes and other effects.

"It's beach time, beach time, beach time," she sang. She led the way out of the ship and toward the tram station without checking if anyone was following.

"Have a good time and stay safe," Carapace said, turning his back and returning to the ship.