I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MONKEY-FIGHTING SNAKES...

[longlivesealand]

WHO: Siri and Princess Patience~
WHEN: January 22nd, 02:11 AM~
WHERE: A plane, somewhere over in the sky~
WHAT: Siri and Patience's trip back from Chicago turns deadly thanks to some unwelcome passengers.

Comments

AWESOME

[talks_to_nisse]

Siri didn't want to split up from Patience, but at the same time she did not want her around a man with a gun who may or may not be the air marshal. He didn't look like one, and Siri was fairly certain that sleeping during the flight was frowned upon. On the other hand, Siri could not think of anyone else who would so brazenly wear a gun with today's heightened security.

Deciding, she placed her hand on Patience's shoulder. "I want you to run down to the end of the cabin and look for anyone who looks like they'd be an air marshal. Come right back if you don't see anyone." Giving her niece a nudge, Siri turned back to the prone man.

The hand she reached out to shake him with was quickly grabbed in a firm, tight grip. This man did not look pleased to be interrupted. Refusing to be intimidated, Siri explained, "There was an...incident in the economy cabin. At least two people were bit by snakes, and at least one is dead. I was just wondering if you were the air marshal." Wiggling her hand in his grasp, she added, "Can you let go of me, now?"

[longlivesealand]

Patience didn't like it, but she knew she had do it. Nodding, she let go of Siri's sleeve, took another look at the man, and hurried toward the end of the cabin. As she ran down the aisle, some passengers stirred to her footsteps. She muttered soft apologies as she jogged, her mind bothered by the visible lack of flight attendants and abandoned food cart next to the lavatory.

Behind the lavatory was the storage, where Patience could see pots of coffee and hot water, and the stiff leg of a woman. It didn't take long for her to realize that the leg belonged to a flight attendant, and said attendant was not moving.

"E-excuse me?" she still asked. "Miss? Ma'am? We need help... There has been a terrible--- Oh dear..."

The snake bite on the attendant's neck was visible from where Patience stood. And if she looked to her left, she would have seen a snake tail wiggling between two cartons of apple juice. She covered her mouth but couldn't stop the scream from coming out. Before she knew it, she was running back to Siri. When she was next to Siri again, she was on the ground after having tripped over her feet.

"Oh, Siri. I couldn't find the-the... p-person. But the... lady, she... she is... the lady..."

Aha sorry this took so long

[talks_to_nisse]

Finally releasing her, the man demanded Siri explain exactly what she meant. After she gave him a brief, detailed summation of what happened, he shook his head. "I'm sure it's just a fluke, or the start of mass hysteria," he told her. She noticed, though, that he nudged the man next to him awake. "Go back to your seat," he advised her. "You're not allowed in this cabin."

Siri was about to fight him on the dismissal when Patience came running back. Kneeling down next to her prone figure, Siri tried to make out her niece's message through her stammering.

"The lady? The...flight attendant?" she repeated. "What's wrong..." Oh. The flight attendant was probably...right.

Taking Patience into her arms, Siri tried to calm the girl down. "I'm sorry, Patience, you shouldn't have had to see that. But I need you to calm down. We won't be able to do anything if we panic."

Glaring up at the man, Siri turned her ire on him. "Do you believe me now? This clearly isn't just hysteria. There is no way a woman in your compartment would have caught wind of it yet. And they are in your compartment. So get up, Mr. Air Marshal or G-Man or whoever you are that lets you carry a weapon on a plane, and help us out."

\o/;;

[longlivesealand]

The man did get up. He set his glare on Siri and reached to adjust his jacket so his gun remained hidden. For now. He rudely pushed Siri out of his way and strutted down the aisle, as if he was John Wayne in a cowboy western. He stopped a way down and whispered to another man seated. Both men turned their heads and looked back at Siri's direction for a brief moment before they turned back and continued to chat.

"Siri." Patience's voice broke the tense silence. Her hand, trembling, reached to lock with Siri's. Her voice was already breaking. "Are they going to land the plane? They must, mustn't they? They can't let people be on the plane if there is a danger, yes?"

Then her lips quivered, but she did not cry. She tried to act brave and swallowed her fear. Mama had taught her to be a strong girl, and she mustn't cry.

"We'll be all right, won't we, Siri?"

NEVØ!

[talks_to_nisse]

"I..." Siri trailed off as the man went off down the aisle. "I don't know. If they don't realize the problem, or if the ground traffic control doesn't clear a runway in time...we might have to push on through to our original destination." That was assuming the pilots survived this trip, though seeing as the plane was still in the air, Siri assumed they were still, at this moment, alive. No need to mention the possibility it might be otherwise until it became a probably. "You'll be fine," Siri promised. She would make sure of it.

"This will hopefully be the only time I have to say this," Siri told Patience, "but the best thing to do is probably to follow the man with the gun. He might be an ass, but it's best to get in a group with someone trained to handle...unfortunate changes in plans."

Ushering her niece along after them, Siri almost crashed into Patience as she stopped short, snake suddenly impeding their path. Without thought, Siri pushed Patience to the side and sketched kenaz, a move born of muscle memory from expending teenage frustration, and willed fire into the snake. Writhing, the snake managed to hang on to life for a few moments before bursting.

Siri spared a moment to curse the fact that she just revealed what she could do, but she squashed it immediately. It wasn't useful. Voice hardening, she repeated, "You'll be fine."

Looking up at the two men, Siri asked, "This enough proof for you to act?"