Working Towards Reconciliation

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 12, Post Number 276

-The outskirts of Motor City, on board the Albatross, 8:13 A.M.-

Dressed in a black tube top and a pair of khaki short shorts she had recently bought during a trip to Capital Crocus Mall plus white and silver tennis shoes for footwear, Leona was sitting at "her" table in the galley on board the Albatross. She was on her fourth cup of coffee this morning and still felt like garbage. She had not been able to sleep very much last night... she got a total of three hours of uninterrupted sleep in her room at Silver Wolf Guild Hall before boarding the Albatross and setting course for the outskirts of Motor City. Coleridge did the flying, of course.

Now the Wizard Saint was sitting in the galley and trying to work up the courage to go request an audience with Dr. Reid to explain what she had meant a few days ago. However, Leona was not sure that that gesture would be worth the effort because of how long it had been between the incident and now. She had likely destroyed that relationship and was painfully aware of that possibility.

Dr. Reid was not the only person on Leona's mind. She thought about her younger self and what the latter had said about deserving to be alone and was agreeing with that claim. Leona had an uncanny ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time and hurt people whether she meant to or not and Dr. Reid was the latest victim of the Wizard Saint's atrocious social skills. Leona regretted that she had not explained herself to the doctor, but it was too late for regrets now because the damage had been done.

Speaking of regrets, Leona had a list of them a mile long and could not stop thinking about them. She regretted how she had treated the doctor during their last meeting. She regretted what she had done during the battle with Medeia over Hargeon Town. She regretted how she had kept Masha at arm's length for so long. She regretted how during their last meeting at the Sommarsun Weeks event in Rose Garden she had told Samira that the latter should have participated in the war between Pergrande and Bellum from the start.

Leona set her nearly empty coffee mug down and stared at the wall in front of her.

She wished that she could take all of those mistakes back and make things right, but that was impossible. She had undoubtedly hurt her relationship with those individuals and she would have to live with that. Leona picked up her mug and as she began to lift it her mind began to wander towards Medeia's "advice" to let go of her regrets and clenched her teeth without realizing it. She did not know she had done that until she went to drink and she felt coffee running down her lips and onto the table. Realizing what had happened, the Wizard Saint jumped up from the table and hurried to get some paper towels with which to clean up the mess.

Thinking of Medeia and their time together quickly put the Wizard Saint in an angry mood. Leona hated every moment of that encounter and the more she thought about it the more her anger grew. She had been played like a kazoo the entire time and her anger began to mingle with embarrassment as she recalled the physical contact Medeia had used as a tool to get her to talk. Leona involuntarily shuddered when she remembered how Medeia hugging her from behind made her feel and her embarrassment momentarily overpowered her anger.

She silently trotted over to the table to clean up the coffee spill and did so in silence while trying to put that subject out of her mind. As soon as she cleaned this mess up she was either going to exit the Albatross and go to Dr. Reid's home to request an audience or give up on the errand and go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall to do paperwork. She was not sure what she would do, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

-Inside the cockpit, 8:25 A.M.-

Having decided to give up on the errand as a lost cause and go back to the guild hall to do some real work, Leona was sitting in the pilot's seat. She had fastened the safety harness and was about to begin the automated takeoff sequence when she spotted a flash of blonde hair paired with pink approaching her while making motions above their head. Leona blinked as the figure came closer and she began to recognize them as Dr. Reid waving her arms. Not wanting to hit the doctor with the jet wash that would happen when the Albatross went into VTOL Mode for takeoff, Leona canceled the takeoff sequence and powered off the aircraft, then unfastened the safety harness, climbed out of the pilot's seat, and made her way to the cargo bay to disembark and meet the doctor.

-Outside the Albatross, 8:27 A.M.-

Leona had just cleared the cargo ramp when Dr. Reid hurried up to her and stopped an arm's length away.

"Hey Leona! It looks like I caught you in time!" She cheerfully greeted the Wizard Saint. Moments later her eyes moved up and down as she examined Leona's outfit.

"...Do I need to let you get dressed before we continue talking?" Dr. Reid offered to let Leona put on some clothes before they resumed speaking. The Wizard Saint opened her mouth to make a sarcastic remark about the doctor's attire, which was far from professional. Remembering what the reason for this trip was, Leona thought better of it and changed her remark to a less biting one.

"I'll dress up in a few minutes, thanks." Leona replied dryly. Perhaps sensing that Leona was in no mood for nonsense, the doctor let the subject drop.

"Anyway, I'd like to invite you to my lab. We need to talk. About the other day." Dr. Reid stated the purpose of her looking for Leona.

"Yes we do." Leona laconically agreed.

[Post Word Count: 1,026]
[Leona's Word Count: 1,026/11,000]

-Dr. Reid's Laboratory, the mini-kitchen, 9:33 A.M.-

The two blondes had traveled to the doctor's home and were now standing in the mini-kitchen, where both of them had a mug of Motor City Nitro in hand and were sipping from it. Leona was not sure if drinking more coffee behind the four cups of coffee she had had on board the Albatross was a good idea, but right now she was not terribly concerned about that. She was more concerned with what her hostess wanted out of her.

Dressed in the same black tube top she was wearing earlier but having changed into a pair of khaki cargo pants so that she was slightly better-dressed for her conversation with the doctor, Leona had also added her olive green jacket over the tube top but wore the jacket open. Dr. Reid seemed much more comfortable with the Wizard Saint's attire, probably because the latter was no longer wearing short shorts.

"You said the other day that you had an experience that changed your outlook on life." Dr. Reid started off. Leona made eye contact with the doctor.

"Yes. Yes I did." Leona confirmed without going into detail because she needed to come up with a way to explain what that experience was. While she wanted to be honest with the doctor, she also did not want to say "I lost a battle to the Warlord Of Lust and got tied up" because the Wizard Saint did not want to go around advertising that fact. It was something that she would rather not discuss if she could help it.

"And what was that experience?" Dr. Reid asked. Leona's eyes narrowed before she realized what she was doing and they soon returned to normal when she had the realization, but the damage had already been done. Dr. Reid had reacted with a measure of fear at the sight of the green-eyed Wizard Saint focusing her attention on the former for the wrong reasons.

"I can't give details, but it was life-changing." Leona replied in a half-truth that was not elaborated upon because the mage wanted to save face. The other blonde, eager to avoid a clash with the powerful mage standing before her, quickly nodded in agreement several times. Leona felt a surge of guilt over accidentally intimidating the doctor, but the word choice used to ask the question made the conversation sound like the start of an interrogation and the Wizard Saint had momentarily flashed back to the beginning of her time with Medeia.

"OK, so why did you have resentment against me to begin with?" Dr. Reid asked another challenging question of the Wizard Saint. Doing her best to keep her facial features in check this time, Leona thought of an answer to that question. When she had one she took a sip of Motor City Nitro before speaking.

"I resented you because you shot down my inquiry about learning robotics so quickly that it came across as an insult. It was like you thought I was too dumb to learn the skills of that trade." Leona made a frank admission. The other blonde was taken aback by the blunt response to her question and she took a sip of coffee before speaking any further.

"I see." She commented like she had the other day. Leona wondered if that was a prelude to her being quietly shown the door again, but she kept quiet and let the other blonde have uninterrupted time to think. In the meantime the Wizard Saint drank more coffee and waited in silence for her hostess to speak.

"I admit that I might have been a little too quick to shut the discussion down, but my point remains. It'd take you a very long time to learn everything and I doubt that you'd have that kind of time considering that you're a Wizard Saint and a Guild Mistress." Dr. Reid gave a sort-of apology for the quickness with which she had cut off Leona's inquiry but stood firm on the point that learning robotics would take more time than the busy Wizard Saint had. Leona decided to let it slide in favor of keeping the conversation going in a civil direction.

"OK, that's fair." Leona conceded that the reason for refusal was a valid one. Like she had said the other day the resentment was gone, but that was mainly because she had gotten the knowledge she wanted from another source. Now that she did not have to rely on Dr. Reid for that the Wizard Saint could afford to let the resentment towards her go.

"I'm willing to bet that another reason you resented me was the belief that stopping you from learning robotics meant I'd be stopping a potential competitor before they got started." Dr. Reid made a guess on another reason for Leona's resentment towards her.

"Yes." Leona confirmed that the doctor's guess was accurate. Dr. Reid took a breath.

"Well then..." She commented before quickly taking a swig of her drink in a gesture meant to buy time to think. Leona allowed it since she frequently employed the same tactic herself.

[Post Word Count: 858]
[Total Word Count: 1,884/11,000]

After the doctor took a drink of her coffee almost a minute passed before the conversation resumed.

"I'm sorry if what I said and how I said it caused you to resent me." Dr. Reid sort-of apologized if Leona took offense to the former's words and tone. The Wizard Saint did not think it was an actual apology, but she had no room to talk after what she had said a few days ago. She probably had it coming after not explaining herself to the doctor back then.

"It's not your fault, doctor. It's mine. It's my fault for feeling that way even though you were only trying to let me down gently by saying it how you did." Leona assured the other blonde that the resentment was the Wizard Saint's fault. She could have handled it more maturely than how she had ended up handling it. Instead of coming out and telling the doctor how she felt at the time she began to feel resentment she had let it build up until this point, thus blindsiding the doctor when the truth finally came out.

"You should have told me this sooner." Dr. Reid informed the Wizard Saint in a dry and unsympathetic voice. Feeling more than a little frustrated with how her hostess had reacted, Leona tried to keep her temper in check.

"I didn't know how to bring it up without looking like a spoiled child who was throwing a tantrum because they were told no." Leona blurted out in her defense before she had thought her words all the way through. She was getting the uncomfortable feeling that Dr. Reid was going to interrogate her like Medeia had done.

"Why didn't you tell me you didn't like my response to your request?" Dr. Reid asked pointedly without acknowledging what she had just been told. Leona, pushed on the back foot again, struggled to come up with a response that was not blurted out.

"Like I told you earlier, you had a good reason for turning me down. I also didn't want to look like a spoiled child." Leona calmly reiterated the points she had made earlier in an effort to get through to her hostess. Again the doctor remained unmoved.

"You got caught and now you're trying to explain it away in the hopes that you'll stumble on the right words that'll make me forgive you." The doctor let Leona know exactly how she felt about the Wizard Saint. Leona, taken aback by the doctor's aggressive tone and unable to find any words to explain how she was feeling, just kept quiet and let her hostess speak.

"Well, my forgiveness isn't that easy to earn, Leona. You'll have to do more than say the right words in the right sequence for me to forgive you." The doctor continued to rip into Leona. The Wizard Saint, feeling like she was back in Medeia's clutches and being subjected to an interrogation without being able to defend herself out of fear of suffering humiliating punishments if she said something the interrogator did not like, felt a sudden surge of anger. She was tired of being verbally beaten down without being able to say anything in return... she was going to stand up for herself. She made eye contact with the doctor.

"I'm not going to beg you for anything, Doctor." Leona stated plainly. The doctor's expression looked shaken as if the latter had realized that getting aggressive with a Wizard Saint was a bad idea. In a way it had been a bad idea, but Leona was going to use her words to communicate with the doctor, not her fists or her spells.

"I was wrong to resent you. I admit that. But I resented your refusal because I respected you and wanted to be like you." Leona told her hostess in an even tone of voice despite the adrenaline flowing through her body.

"I'm not very smart. I don't have much formal education and I barely know how to use my iLac to call anyone or send text messages. But you're a smart person... you designed the Atlas by yourself and made it a reality. It's an amazing piece of technology if you ask me. I looked up to you because you're so smart and so approachable." Leona confessed that she was not the smartest person alive and confessed that she looked up to the doctor because the latter was easy to approach despite her intelligence. That confession made the other blonde visibly recoil as if she had been punched in the stomach.

"I wanted to make something amazing like the Atlas." Leona said before going quiet to give the doctor a chance to respond to everything that had been said up to this point.

[Post Word Count: 796]
[Total Word Count: 2,680/11,000]

Dr. Reid, who was still off-balance from Leona's words, had to take a bit to finally find her tongue again. When she spoke her tone lacked the flat quality it had had earlier.

"I didn't know you felt that way about me, Leona." Dr. Reid stated in audible surprise.

"I did. I wanted to be able to create something like you, but you were right to have reservations in teaching me. Your reasons were good ones, but I couldn't express that properly." Leona replied in a voice laced with undertones of regret for how she had expressed herself.

It seemed like Leona had finally gotten through to the doctor, but that victory did not feel like much of a win for the Wizard Saint. It felt like Leona had only gotten somewhere because she had pushed around someone who was not a mage and had little chance of defending themselves should she decide that words were not enough to make her point. Whether that was true or not the Silver Wolf mage was not happy with herself for behaving as she did.

As a Wizard Saint and as someone who had been shoved around by others when she was younger she was not supposed to treat other people like that.

"I stand by my refusal, but now I see why you were hurt so badly by it." Dr. Reid stuck to her guns but was now using a much more sympathetic tone in her voice.

"You were right to refuse to teach me. You were only trying to consider my responsibilities when you refused." Leona reiterated her earlier point. The doctor's facial expression changed from surprised to a calmer, happier one.

"I regret that things had to get to this point for us to actually talk, but I'm glad that you were honest with me about everything." Dr. Reid commented. Leona felt another surge of guilt as her anger faded.

"I regret that too." Leona replied. She had probably damaged the relationship beyond repair and the doctor was being nice to try and ease the Wizard Saint's conscience. Whether the relationship was truly over or not Leona had another regret to add to her list.

After that exchange the pair had run out of things to say and an awkward silence filled the mini-kitchen. Each blonde was hoping that the other would say something to get the conversation going again, but neither of them had anything to say. Leona decided that it might be best to give Dr. Reid some space after the emotionally charged conversation they had just finished.

"I'll get going now, Doctor. Thanks for the invitation and the coffee. I'll see myself out." Leona excused herself. She walked away and set her mug down on the counter before turning to leave. She had walked to the front door of the doctor's house and was about to touch the doorknob with her right hand when she heard running.

"Wait!" Dr. Reid called out. Leona lowered her right hand and faced her hostess. Dr. Reid stopped an arm's length away and faced the Wizard Saint.

"I want you to come back in a few days, Leona. I want to talk to you again about something. Next time the conversation will be much more upbeat." She said to Leona, hinting that the two still had a professional relationship.

"All right. I will. Send me a message and I'll be here." Leona accepted the invitation. Dr. Reid smiled.

"See you later, Leona!" She cheerfully bade Leona goodbye. The Wizard Saint waved goodbye with her right hand before opening the door and walking out, then shutting it behind her.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 3:35 P.M.-

Leona had returned to Silver Wolf Guild Hall roughly an hour ago and was now in her room, where she was picking an outfit to wear in the office. After a few minutes of deciding what to wear she had changed into a long-sleeved blue turtleneck shirt and white capri pants. Now that she was dressed more appropriately for the office she was ready to do the paperwork that was likely waiting on her desk.

-Leona's Room, 3:33 A.M.-

There had been a lot of work to do. She had finished seven stacks of paperwork by 11 P.M. and was about to leave when four additional stacks were placed on her desk before she could even get out of her chair. Being the dutiful Guild Mistress that she was, Leona sat back down to handle those too. Now that her work was finished she could try to sleep for awhile before getting up and returning to her office.

Leona took off her socks and shoes before changing back into her black tube top. After changing her shirt she walked over to her large wardrobe, where she pulled out a pair of blue jean short shorts to put on. Leona put them on and put her white capri pants on the back of her chair with the long-sleeved blue turtleneck shirt she had just taken off and the khaki cargo pants she had worn to Motor City. She was about to go sit down on the edge of her bed when a white envelope was slipped under her door.

The curious Leona walked over to it and picked it up. She carefully opened it with her finger and found a message from Eleanor Crouch inside. Curious as to what the freelance archaeologist might need, Leona began to read the message.

[Post Word Count: 914]
[Total Word Count: 3,594/11,000]

It was a brief message that informed Leona that the freelance archaeologist would need her help with another expedition to the Forgotten Deserts at a time that was "to be determined" because she was having to put everything together. Since there was no date set in stone yet the Wizard Saint would have to keep an eye out for messages with further details as those details were confirmed. Leona lowered the message from Eleanor Crouch and walked over to her desk, then set the paper on top of it while feeling a little deflated.

It had taken Leona longer to open the envelope the letter was in than it took her to actually read it. She could not help but to feel a little disappointed that the expedition was not going to be within the next few days or within the next week, but it could not be helped. She was going to trust Eleanor to take care of all of the details while she took care of the business that might come up before the expedition. Leona was fairly sure that there would be plenty to occupy her time between now and the freelance archaeologist's next letter telling the former that it was time to go to the Forgotten Deserts.

For now she needed to sleep, so she walked over to her bed, sat on the edge, then rolled over onto her side so that she faced the room door. Within minutes Leona was asleep.

-Leona's Room, 12:13 P.M.-

Leona woke up and actually felt decent for once: she had managed to stay asleep the entire time without tossing and turning or waking up and staring at the ceiling. She sat up, swung her feet over the edge of the bed, and planted her feet on the floor before standing up. Leona walked over to her desk chair to change into something more decent before she went to the office and once she was changed into the outfit she had worn yesterday she walked out of the room to go to the guild cafe and get some coffee before getting to work.

-Leona's Room, 11:29 P.M.-

Today had been a decent day at the office because while it had been busy there had not been a whole lot of work dumped onto Leona at once. Instead it had been a steady flow of papers that was manageable and that was not something that happened every day. Leona was not going to complain, though... she would gladly take any day where mountains of papers were not waiting on her attention.

Now she was back in her room and had changed back into the casual outfit she had worn for the past two days to sleep in. Tomorrow Leona would go to Capital Crocus Mall and look for a one-piece swimsuit or two to take with her on her next trip to Lion's Island. Once that was done she would look for jackets in different colors so that she did not have to always wear her olive green one whenever she wanted to cover up a tank top, tube top, or crop top. Leona had found a white jacket she had worn on Lion's Island, but she wanted to see if there were a few more color options she could add to her wardrobe.

-The next day, Leona's Room, 11:45 P.M.-

Leona had intended to go to the mall today, but the moment her feet hit the floor at 10:00 A.M. yesterday she was summoned to the office by a guild staff member, who showed her a desk loaded down with papers that required her attention. She had taken a moment to change into her blue long-sleeved turtleneck t-shirt and white capri pants before heading to the office to do her work. Now Leona was back in her room and feeling more than a little tired from spending virtually all day in the office, but she had finished all of the paperwork. Tomorrow she was going to go to the mall to look for a few articles of clothing and maybe get a meal from somewhere besides the guild hall cafe... not that she had any issue with the quality of the fare served here.

Leona hoped that she would not be confronted with another desk covered with stacks of paper when she woke up tomorrow. If there was a lot of work to do was she would do it and postpone her plans again, perhaps until next week if need be. If there were only a few stacks of paper she would handle them before going to the mall. If Leona's desk had nothing on it she would hurry back to her room, change into some decent clothing, and quickly board the Albatross before the situation changed and she had to do administrative work after all.

[Post Word Count: 806]
[Total Word Count: 4,400/11,000]

-The next day, Leona's Room, 11:22 A.M.-

Leona had woken up at 8:02 A.M. to see whether or not she had any administrative work to do. She had four stacks of papers to do, so she stuck to the plan she had made last night and took care of her responsibility to the guild before leaving the office and heading back to her room to change into more casual clothing for a trip to Capital Crocus Mall. Leona had chosen to wear an open white jacket over a blue tank top and white pleated skirt with black bike shorts on underneath it. She chose to wear her white and silver tennis shoes to complete the look.

Once she was satisfied with her look Leona grabbed enough Jewels to give her some purchasing power, placed them in a pouch she could carry in her jacket pocket, and left her room to head for the Albatross.

-Capital Crocus Mall, 2:50 P.M.-

After landing the Albatross in a large clearing on the outskirts of Capital Crocus and making her way to the mall Leona was now standing inside the entrance hall facing the food court. The Wizard Saint saw that the lines in the food court were so long that they snaked into the entrance hall, leading her to wonder if she should have chosen another day to visit the mall. She assessed the situation and slowly walked towards the lines before making a decision.

Getting a meal here was out of the question, but she could still go shopping for clothing.

With that having been decided, Leona moved to the right of the nearest line of people and somehow squeezed by them, then entered the mall proper. Her first destination was Earthland Eagle, where she was going to look for jackets and maybe a one-piece bathing suit or two.

-Inside Earthland Eagle, 2:53 P.M.-

Leona stood inside the entrance to the clothing store and looked around the crowded place. Judging from the signs placed in signholders on top of clothing racks and hanging on the ceiling there was a big sale today and that sale had brought in a lot of shoppers, all of them young women around Leona's age. The racks of clothing were beginning to look a little bare, so she had better hurry if she wanted to have a chance of getting anything. Leona looked to the right and saw the racks of jackets that were in the same style as the one she was wearing.

She slowly and patiently made her way to the rack and examined what was left, which were jackets colored olive green, black, green, and blue. Leona already had a white jacket and an olive green jacket, so she left those on the hanger in favor of the other colors. Out of those colors only the green and blue ones appealed to her, so Leona focused her attention on them and picked the green one off of the rack. She turned to her right and examined the tag to find that it was one size too small for her.

Leona turned and placed the green jacket back on the rack. She reached for the blue one only to have someone else grab it first and walk away with their prize before her hand could touch the garment. The Wizard Saint took a quiet breath and supposed that the early bird got the worm. She looked to the left in search of another rack to browse and saw that the entire rack had been picked over, leaving only pink jackets that she had no interest in.

With the search for that garment a failure Leona turned and looked for bathing suits. On the left wall was a rack of bathing suits, so she began to slowly and carefully navigate the crowded store until she reached the rack. Once there she looked over what was available and frowned... everything was either a black bikini or a white one. Leona already had one of those, so she turned away from the bathing suits and looked for anything else that might interest her.

Leona looked along the left side and saw nothing of interest except for tube tops and crop tops in colors she already had, so she decided to leave the store and go to the second floor to pay a visit to The Modern Woman. Maybe she could find a jacket there.

-The second floor, The Modern Woman, 3:19 P.M.-

It had been a struggle to climb the stairs because the stairwell was packed with shoppers moving between floors. It was packed so tightly that on more than one occasion Leona's arms had been pinned to her sides and her backside brushed against by someone's shopping bag. Now she was inside the store and was able to move freely again because The Modern Woman was not nearly as crowded as Earthland Eagle was. The store was not having a sale, so it still had plenty of clothing to choose from.

Leona looked for the jackets and found them hanging on a rack on the left side of the store. She walked towards the rack, stopped in front of it, and began to look over her options.

[Post Word Count: 870]
[Total Word Count: 5,270/11,000]

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 9:31 P.M.-

Leona had spent quite a bit more time at the mall than she had anticipated because of the crowds of shoppers. They were already dense when she had gotten there around 3:00 P.M., but their numbers had somehow increased between her arrival and her departure. Once she exited The Modern Woman at 4:39 P.M. she had to brave the crowds in the stairwell to get back to the first floor and that had been an ordeal in itself. It had taken her eleven minutes to descend from the second floor to the first and more than once the stairwell had gotten clogged because of crowds of shoppers going up bumping into other crowds going down and a traffic jam resulting.

After finally reaching the first floor Leona got out of the mall around 5:03 P.M. after wading through the masses of people trying to get into the food court area to access the stairs. It was a wonder her bag of Jewels had not been stolen due to the sizable crowds being a perfect hiding place for pickpockets, but she had emerged from the mall with the only loss of Jewels resulting from what she had spent on clothing inside The Modern Woman. Leona then walked through the equally busy city and made her way to the city outskirts, where the Albatross had been sitting and waiting for its owner's return.

Leona had emerged from the mall with a modest black one-piece bathing suit, four pairs of capri pants with cargo pockets, two more pairs of khaki short shorts, and a navy blue windbreaker for a more casual jacket that went with khaki pants or white capri pants. The Modern Woman did not have any sales going on, so she had to pay full price for each article of clothing, but it was worth it to add a little more variety to her wardrobe. It seemed irresponsible to be spending money on clothing when she needed to save for a specialized armor or production equipment for her robotics project, but the Wizard Saint wanted to have more options for casual outfits and to get what she wanted she would have to spend money.

Now Leona was going to save money for the day she got to speak to Mister Burke or Helena Burke and inquire if they had any production equipment she could buy. She would need to wash her new clothes tonight so that she could wear them soon. She would start doing that shortly.

-Leona's Room, 11:33 A.M.-

Leona woke up and sat on the edge of her bed before putting her feet on the floor. She had washed all of her new purchases last night before going to sleep and now they were ready to wear whenever she wanted them. She chose to sleep in her blue tank top and white skirt... wearing the skirt to sleep in might not have been the best idea, but she had other options, so it being unavailable for today was not a big loss. She stood up and faced her room door, where she noticed an envelope sitting on the floor. Leona walked over to the envelope, picked it up, and carefully opened it before pulling out the piece of paper within.

When Leona unfolded the paper and read it it turned out to be an invitation from Dr. Reid to pay a visit to her laboratory and discuss the topic that had been brought up a few days ago. Leona set the paper on her desk and walked over to her wardrobe to pick out an outfit for the trip to the laboratory.

-Motor City, Dr. Reid's Laboratory, 3:02 P.M.-

Dressed in a green tube top under an open olive green jacket with khaki cargo pants and white and silver tennis shoes with aviator sunglasses perched on her head, Leona had flown the Albatross to the outskirts of Motor City and landed it in a large clearing before proceeding to the doctor's home. Now she was standing in the mini-kitchen with her hostess and drinking a cup of Motor City Nitro. Dr. Reid took a glance at Leona and lowered her cup of coffee.

"You have a thing for tube tops, don't you?" Dr. Reid asked Leona about her attire. Leona's response was to look at the doctor, who hardly had room to talk considering what she was wearing. Dr. Reid was wearing a pink tube top and short black skirt with brown work boots.

"Oh, right. I'm wearing one too. I guess I don't have much room to say anything, huh?" The other blonde asked Leona. The Wizard Saint was a little amused by her hostess' realization.

"What was it you wanted to discuss with me, Doctor?" Leona opted to move on from the topic of clothing and give the doctor a way out of the awkward situation she had stumbled into. The doctor smiled at the Wizard Saint.

"I need your help with something, Leona." Dr. Reid told her. Leona lowered the cup of coffee in her hand and made eye contact again.

"I'm interested." Leona expressed interest in what her hostess had to say.

[Post Word Count: 866]
[Total Word Count: 6,136/11,000]

"Now that I think the Atlas has been finally fixed, I'd like to field test it soon. And you're gonna be the pilot." Dr. Reid informed Leona of what had been planned. Leona was definitely interested in doing that.

"Where did you have in mind?" Leona asked with sincere interest. The Albatross should be able to carry the Atlas in the cargo bay... as far as the Wizard Saint knew, anyway. The trip would be a field test for the Albatross' ability to haul heavy cargo over long distances.

"You see, I'm still working on that detail, Leona. I'm not sure what kind of environment I'd want to test it in, but it's definitely not going to the desert. The sand would be a pain to clean from the joints of the arms and legs and it'd likely clog the air intakes on the torso. If that happens there's a good chance that the suit will overheat." Dr. Reid gave a sort-of answer to the question and listed one place they would not be going. That "answer" did not help Leona very much, but that was as good as she was going to get right now, so she would have to accept it. The Wizard Saint decided to take what she had been given and focus on the positive, which was that she would finally get to do something interesting.

"All right then, Doctor. Let me know when you've sorted that out and I'll take you and the Atlas to wherever you need to go." Leona pledged her support for the venture. Dr. Reid smiled at the Silver Wolf mage before taking a drink of coffee.

"Thanks, Leona! You're a big help!" Dr. Reid thanked the blonde mage for the support. The doctor's tone had been a cheerful one and it seemed like the Wizard Saint and the doctor were starting on the path to reconciliation. It remained to be seen if the hatchet could be buried once and for all, but right now the two were in good spirits and Leona did not want to throw the good mood off. The two blondes drank coffee in amiable silence and when their mugs finally ran dry each got a refill of Motor City Nitro before the conversation picked up again.

"In the meantime, I have a smaller favor to ask." Dr. Reid stated. Leona lowered her mug away from her lips.

"What do you need me to do?" Leona asked the other blonde. The doctor's facial expression took a turn for the sheepish.

"I hate to ask something like this when you've got better things to do, but I'd like you to take me to Capital Crocus. I'd like to visit my friend Dr. Ravenholm for awhile." Dr. Reid requested a simple favor of transport to Capital Crocus. Leona made eye contact with her hostess.

"I don't mind doing that for you, Doctor. We'll set out for the Albatross whenever you're ready to go." Leona agreed to the small favor. Dr. Reid quickly drank her coffee, then set the empty mug down on the table to her right.

"I'll be ready to go in a few minutes, Leona. I just need to go put together an overnight bag because I plan on spending the night there." The doctor informed Leona before walking out of the room to go pack a bag. The Wizard Saint stayed where she was and faced the hallway the other blonde had hurried down.

"I'll be right here waiting for you." Leona called after her hostess. She then took another sip of coffee and looked at the wall ahead of her.

-On board the Albatross, 4:35 P.M.-

"All right, Dr. Reid. If you'd like to go to one of the Passenger's Quarters and stay there until takeoff I'll head to the cockpit and start the takeoff sequence." Leona said to her passenger before manually raising the cargo ramp. Dr. Reid nodded.

"Sure thing, Leona. I'll go there and crash on one of the beds... if you don't mind, that is." She replied. In her left hand was a small pink suitcase that was presumably full of clothing and other travel necessities.

"No problem, doctor. Both Passenger's Quarters have the same layout and amenities, so you can't go wrong with either one." Leona informed the doctor before taking the lead and heading deeper into the Albatross. Dr. Reid followed close behind the Wizard Saint and veered off to the right to enter the first Passenger's Quarters while Leona continued following the hallway until she reached the cockpit. Upon entering it she closed the door behind her and got into the pilot's seat, then put on the safety harness before beginning the automated takeoff sequence.

Leona activated VTOL Mode and waited for the Albatross to lift off the ground before raising the landing gear. Once it was raised she waited for the aircraft to gain a little more altitude before taking off VTOL Mode and taking manual control of the Albatross. For this trip Leona was going to do a manual flight instead of letting Coleridge do all the flying.

[Post Word Count: 852]
[Total Word Count: 6,988/11,000]