Rescue the Slaves, Defeat the Slavers, Kill a Demon... Anything Else? (Juliet, Icarus)

A single phone call had been all she and Icarus needed to communicate. Their plan was simple. Meet at the central fountain in Rose Garden at nine in the morning on Thursday- they had gone to the passport agency just the day before, so with any luck, Icarus would either already have his documents or have received them that evening. Service in Fiore when it came to government dealings was surprisingly fast at times, indisputably so, in her experience. Even if it was certainly backed up in other areas. Juliet had explained over the phone that after re-adjourning in Rose Garden, she would be able to teleport the two of them to the border between Minstrel and Desierto. It was possible to simply travel directly into Desierto itself, but if they were found within the nation and questioned by the authorities, there would be no evidence of their arrival. Minstrel was far more friendly to Fiorans, meaning that the government never questioned mages unless they had reason to be suspicious. Icarus had mentioned something about being able to fly on his own, and if that was the case, he was free to travel on his own. However, teleportation was far quicker in her opinion, and they could go straight into crossing over the border.

For now, Juliet enjoyed her morning. Preparing all of her important belongings for travel was a minor task and only took a half of an hour at most. During the remainder of the time, she herself got ready for the trip and straightened up her apartment a little bit. Waking up every morning early was both a benefit and a curse at times. While sleeping in was not an option for her, always having plenty of time to start off her day enabled to more easily organize her life and maintain any order she put work into establishing. "Another murder?" Juliet picked up her iLac and scrolled through her news feed, eyes intent. Over the course of the past week, she had been keeping updated on a series of assassinations that had taken place on the northeastern side of Clover Town. While it was presumably the same person committing each of the crimes, perhaps someone had hired different attackers to target their enemies all from the same area. Either way, Juliet intended to venture over there just as soon as she resolved this business in Desierto with Icarus. Browsing the web for a little bit longer, Juliet checked the clock and stood up. Though she would be several minutes early, it was prudent to head out early.

The mage walked at a decently brisk pace, heading for the central fountain of Rose Garden. It was impossible to miss; the triple layered spouts were gorgeous and sent thin showers of water down that caught the light and cast rainbows over the nearby cement. Temptingly, Juliet eyed the bench around the fountain. She could sit, but she chose to stand next to the land mark instead, scanning the area for Icarus. He did have a fairly distinct... impression. Either way, she also could try to sense him magically, what with him being a mage and all. Keeping her senses alert, she waited patiently. It was still a decent ways off from nine, anyway.

Juliet caught the movement of sandy blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. Allowing her eyes to fully rest upon it, she caught sight of Icarus. Smiling slightly, the mage waved him over, though he was already headed towards her. His choice of attire was less casual than yesterday's and he wore a jacket over the shirt. Perhaps it was to cover the holes he had in his clothing. As he approached, though, she saw that there were also holes in the back here. "Good morning," Juliet responded politely, if a bit distractedly.

She had taken in his presence and immediately returned to considering their next course of action. However, her thoughts were disturbed by the sudden shifting of colors in her peripheral vision. Icarus was stretching, and along with his limbs, wings were unfurling. The girl looked away. Unsure if it was rude to stare, she chose to pretend he didn't exist for that moment. In addition, her ally seemed to be doing something with the fountain. Juliet decided she would rather not know what was happening, but since it was rude to go on her phone this early in the conversation, she waited patiently for him to finish with his antics.

"Yes, let's go," she told him when he questioned if she was ready or not. Perhaps questioning was a strong word. Icarus seemed to only be asking offhandedly, without any kind of assumption in his voice. Juliet offered her arm to him out of decency, in case he wanted to choose when she teleported. If he did grab it, she would travel the both of them to the border of Minstrel and Desierto in a split second. If he chose not to do so, she had no qualms about simply sending just herself at first or pulling him along without physical contact if he indicated that was preferable.

Once they arrived, she took a moment to survey her surroundings. It was just an ordinary border check point, with a few guards milling about. The majority of people seemed to be arriving from Desierto and attempting to cross into Minstrel, but there were several lines for entry into the desert nation as well. Juliet gestured to the nearest one. "Shall we?" She asked, though it was mostly rhetorical. The mage was already headed towards where she had indicated.

As the shortest line, it would not be long before she reached the front and presented her passport to the official. Waving her through, she heard him mutter something about guild mages, to which she restrained herself from a deep sigh. Although Juliet was currently guildless, she received many comments about being in a guild, which just went to show how judgmental some people were. Now on the other side of the border, at least officially, Juliet waited or Icarus. For travelers such as themselves, crossing processes were surprisingly straightforward. Fiore had prior agreements when it came to their mages.

While she was waiting for Icarus to rejoin her, Juliet took a look around. Though she felt safe in this area, since it was so heavily warded and patrolled, it never hurt to get her bearings. Just as she had passed through with relative ease, her partner also managed to cross without an issue. He soon stood next to her, immediately reaching and retrieving his iLac. Unbothered, she waited silently for him to speak. From her vantage point, she could see that he had a map of some kind loaded on the screen. Presumably, he was considering their best route to take. When Icarus finally revealed where they needed to go, Juliet simply nodded at first. She was fine with setting off just on that; it seemed like the location in which they needed to head was quite straightforward.

"I see," Juliet answered lowly, her eyes darting across the device as he showed her the little locations one by one as he narrated their path. "I can teleport us, but flying may be superior in this case. I cannot promise the accuracy of my magic, given that I have not properly visited the location previously." While instantaneous travel would be far faster, it was not necessarily the best option. Icarus wanted to arrive a little ways off of the actual out post, to be able to approach. Juliet could not say with certainty that she would be able to move them so precisely with only a map or images to go off of. "Sounds like a plan," she agreed, before waiting for Icarus to make a move. Though she did not really know how flight worked, she was happy to go along with whatever he did, in this aspect. Should he decide that they were better off forgoing any type of magical travel, the mage was more than willing to... "hoof it" across the desert. "Any manner of arrival works, so long as we are undetected," she clarified. Most likely, her teleportation would not be the best course of action.

Being picked up abruptly was surprising and, if Juliet were to be completely honest, not at all comforting. Especially considering how high they soon flew, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive at her position. Sure, it was technically not uncomfortable... nor was it necessarily unsafe. But the mere status of being a cargo that could be dropped at any time at will gave Juliet a slight sense of anxiety. She was distracted, though, by Icarus' words. He complained about the heat, much to her amusement. Wouldn't it be less taxing to refrain from speaking for now and reserve that energy for other things? Humans weren't alligators, expending or absorbing heat from their mouths. Although, what with Icarus' wings, perhaps he was avian in some nature that allowed him to release heat in strange fashions. Juliet's musings distracted her through her companion's complaints, all of which she failed to respond to. It mostly seemed as though he wanted a rhetorical outlet anyway.

Finally, the two reached their destination: the outpost. Juliet was incredibly thankful to be placed back on her feet, although her concerns quickly switched from her own safety and well being to that of Icarus. He looked the worse for wear after their journey. "Perhaps a drink of water?" The mage suggested, simultaneously running all the spells she knew through her head in the consideration that maybe one could act as a type of refreshment or healing. Unfortunately, she didn't find much that had the potential to help the man, so she stayed silent. Nodding along absentmindedly as he reiterated their mission (infiltrate quietly and gather information) she considered the possibilities. "We'd best get started then," Juliet commented. It seemed as though their options were limited, after all.

From the looks of it, there were six or seven tents in total. Juliet did her best to sneak forwards, although it was difficult because of a few reasons. First of all, she wasn't really the slinky, subterfuge type. Second of all, there was all of this.... this sand that was utterly impossible to move smoothly through, leaving the mage to wade across in a clumsy fashion. And lastly, well, as Icarus had so brilliantly pointed out, they were completely in the open. There was no hope of not being spotted should someone look over in their direction and have a clear, unobstructed view. But the luck gods were undoubtedly also on their side, because for all the factors preventing a stealthy approach, it seemed like one would still be possible. Juliet creeped forwards until she was nearly touching the back of the tent closest to her. Through it, she could hear several things. Most importantly was the voices of the slavers.

"Calm the **** down dude, we're only here for a few more hours until the boss gives us the signal that the tourists are here." She heard the sound of something like a scuffle- at least, there was some kind of physical roughhousing going on, whether it was playful or genuine fighting she had no idea. Either way, that was at least a little bit of intel. Juliet would continue to listen in, making mental notes of everything she heard. This did confirm what they had previously been told by the job description, which was that innocent tourists and civilians might be involved due to scams. Apparently slavers might be found posing as tour guides or protective services to cross the desert. She glanced over at Icarus, wondering how he wanted to proceed. Normally she would try to gather as much information as possible. There was the issue of possible slaves being held in the tents, but for the most part, it seemed like there weren't any innocents around. One couldn't be positive about these things, though. It would be important to proceed with caution.