Lollipop Twister

Taking a dip into the Whirlpool

Another job came in, sliding across Anastasia's desk, courtesy of Alisha.  Looking at the paper for a moment, her eyes scanned the description of the job before nodding her head.  Another perfect job to take her apprentice, Julius, upon.  This time, however, Julius will not be taking the helm of Captain-for-a-day, but instead he will be the one doing the majority of the work this time.  Though, she still wants to see some form of leadership skill.  

Folding the paper up, she placed it into her shirt pocket, moving her hand over the squadron patch that she just recently obtained for a moment only to have Taliya burst in through the door.  "Another job for us, Cap'n!?" she shouted out with a flirtatious salute.  "Not this time, Taliya.  You have to stay at home this time around," she said as a response.  Puffing out her cheeks, Taliya stamped her foot upon the ground.  "How come?" she shouted out before Anastasia walked up to her and pinched her cheeks.  "Well, unless you know how to swim, then fine, you can come along," she said before flicking Taliya upon her forehead.

"Well, drats," Taliya lamented.  She had no real reason to swim in the past so she didn't take the time to do so.  Walking out into the barracks, where her room was as well, she shouted out.  "Julius, pack up your bags!  It's time to go!" she said before walking out into The Lair andd said to the artificial intelligence on-board the SS Myrmidon, cleverly named George.  "Start'er up, George," she said as the on-board computer responded with a series of beeps and boops as the engines fired up.  

Anastasia climbed the ramp onto the ship and stood upon the deck of the ship, hearing the whirring of the engines as it sprung to life.  This job had stated that children from Magnolia had went missing upon a boating trip.  Their last known location was the Whirlpool Sea; the complete opposite side of the country of Fiore.  A little grumble escaped Ana's lips, knowing how slow airships travel.  

Moving into the bridge, she started her pre-flight checks, testing the navigation equipment, the communication equipment, the radar, the bomb bay doors, the grappling arms, and several other things.  After a moment, the ship created a loud noise similar to an explosion.  

"Warning, warning.  Engine failure.  Warning, warning.  Engine failure," the artificial intelligence on-board the Myrmidon stated before Anastasia let out a loud roar in annoyance.  "You gotta be fucking kidding me!!!" she shouted out, tugging at her hair.  "Shut her down, George and enter maintenance mode.  I'm sure the mechanics will come around and begin repairing," she said before gritting her teeth.  "FUUUUCK!" she said stamping her foot.  

A thought then suddenly came to mind.  All wasn't lost.  Leaving the bridge and then returning to the docks, she remembered they recently acquired another ship from a raid through the Wakusei Portal.  This will be the new ship until the SS Myrmidon has been repaired and once the location of the Mary Celeste has been located.  Anastasia walked outside to look at the futuristic looking 'Mayflower'.  Approaching the ship, she boarded it and walked through the rather cramped spaces until she found her way to the bridge.  

She sat at the helmsman's chair and started to flip through switches, opening up the manual that came upon the ship, and started to slowly begin the pre-flight checks.  She slowly worked her way through the pre-flight checks before the ship completely turned on, being extremely quiet when compared to the SS Myrmidon.  However, she had to control this ship manually without being able to use an automated pilot.  With a grumble, she picked up the microphone, opened up a channel to the external speakers and spoke into it.  "Julius, Taliya!  Let's go!  We're using the Mayflower for this one!" she said.

Without hesitation, the door to the Mayflower's bridge swung open and Taliya shouted out.  "Yahooo!  I knew you'd add me!" she said.  With another groan, Anastasia stood up from the helmsman seat.  "Your job is to pilot this boat, understand?  Our destination is going to be the Whirlpool Sea.  Unlike George, there is no on-board autoflight or there is no on-board computer, so you're going to have to control it manually, understand?  That means no screwing off at the wheel."  

Taliya took the seat at the helmsman position and saluted Anastasia.  "Copy that, Cap'n!"

Notes

Words: 754 | @tagged | Word count: 1,495/14,000

ulla

drip drip drip away.

You're taking the helm again,
sailor!

As soon as Julius made his introduction upon taking his sweet time getting to the bridge, she tossed an envelope like a throwing card towards him.  "Within is a request for a job.  You will, once again, take the helm on this job.
 But unlike last time, you will lead everything; including the Myrmidon," Anastasia said as she stood up from the Captain's seat and displayed her hand, in a way, to show her that the seat is his.  Though, the seat is temporary,
he will be sitting in the Captain's seat for now.  "This should be our last job together, so don't screw it up, yeah?"
she said with a little grin across her face.  

Clearing her throat, she placed her hands upon her hips and tilted her head a bit.  "So, where do you need me to sit, 'Captain'?" she asked, willing to take any orders (involving the job anyway) that Julius will give.  This will be his test.  She had been grooming him to become an ace of the guild, which the guild sorely needed.   If he does well in this job, she will be upgrading him to becoming an ace.  Anastasia turned to look at Taliya, who was seated at the Helmsman position in the spacecraft Mayflower.  Due to the unfortunate engine failure in her personal ship, which she will deal with later, they were forced to step to the newly acquired space ship.  How the guild received this ship is a well-guarded secret.  

Taliya saluted and nodded at Anastasia before saluting and smiling at Julius.  "Aye, uh, 'Cap'n'!" Taliya stated.  "Where to?!" she shouted out in enthusiasm.   Anastasia turned to look back towards Julius with a comforting smile. "If you have any questions regarding decisions, feel free to ask.  It's something that just comes to you with a little bit of practice.  Don't worry though,
I make some awful decisions sometimes, too," she said as she rubbed the back of her head and laughed uncomfortably.  Oh boy, did she make some REALLY stupid mistakes in the past.  Thankfully, nobody in the guild was actually around to witness any of that; except for Nao,
of course.

[Job Information]
I hate being so busy.
You're also going to be leading the job as well, pushing the storyline forward.  You got this,
dude!