Flight 2182 (New York to Paris) had been a fairly uneventful one. Tris and Aleksei had boarded together, and had taken their seats in first class with high spirits. Indeed, the only downer appeared to be the flights limited selection of alcoholic beverages. After a short period of conversing, the eight hour trip began to drag and both companions fell into the blissfull state of unconciousness known as sleep.


Aleksei's eyes blinked open as he was awakened by the sudden jarring of the plane hitting an air pocket. He spent a few seconds trying to get his bearings, and noticing that Tris was still asleep he was careful to be quiet.

Doing his best to stretch his cramped legs, Aleksei started to grab his phone to check the time but was cut off by an announcement from the pilot informing the passengers of the planes descent. Taking a few seconds to situate himself and ensure that his belongings were in order for a speedy departure, Aleksei then turned his attention to Tris. She seemed to be sleeping better than he had; and while he hated to wake her, waiting for the landing was not a good option either. Nothing was worse than waking up to the jarring impact of wheels touching down on terra firma.

Placing one hand gently on Tris' shoulder, Aleksei spoke quietly into her ear. "Tris. It's time to land Tris." She stirred slightly, but Aleksei couldn't tell if she was awake or not. Where was a bucket of water when you needed one?

Tris loved sleep.

She especially loved this particular state of being when she was on any mode of transportation with a long journey ahead where she didn't have to concentrate- buses, plains, trains, boats, cars or whatever.

Sleep provided a sometimes invigorating, more often than not interesting dreamland type of escape from needless hours otherwise spent in tedious tasks such as watching in flight movies or spying on your fellow travelers.

However the side effect of this potential skill, while very useful in itself, was the fact that Tris's trained body could probably sleep through a hurricane.
Seriously- if she's been Dorothy, she wouldn't have even of known about Oz till she looked out the window.

And so it was that the arm gently shaking Tris, and the voice currently whispering her name wasn't working very well to the purpose of waking Tris up.
Half awake was the best the slightly bleary eyed girl could do right now.
"Mmmmmmmm?"
She murmured sleepily, as she forced her heavy lids to open a crack so she could peer at the offending limb that was trying to rouse her.
"Oh man.... I dont think that sandman dude wants to let me go today, dont'e suppose you have a caffeine IV on ya?"
She was heard to utter- at least this sentence was coherent.
But still, Tris's body shifted restlessly, relentlessly opposing the waking up process, trying to half curl up against the seat to get into a more comfortable position.

Aleksei shook his head as Tris mumbled a couple of words and then went back to sleep. Some had made sense, some hadn't but she clearly wasn't waking up that easy. Now she left him with two choices. Either he could actually shake her hard to wake her up, or he could leave her to the mercy of the pilots landing.

With an inward shrug he went back to looking out the window. Slowly the misty cloud barrier was breached, and the city below came into view. It wasn't anything new to Aleksei, having flown to this airport several times. Still, there was something mesmerizing about watching the scenery creep closer during a plane landing that never fully went away. After circling the airport once, the pilot began taking them down for the final approach.

With great ease the pilot brought the plane gently towards the runway. His approach was perfectly level, and the ride was smooth as could be. Then, about ten feet above the runway the plane shifted and dropped like a ton of bricks, bouncing off the runway with a great jolt.

The sudden change in cabin pressure and the plane trying to imitate a basketball had the same effect on Tris as two blaring alarm clocks, one cold shower, and one shot of espresso coffee (the good stuff). The effect of course being, Tris woke up- with a vengeance.

The tousled, auburn haired figure gasped and jerked up in her seat like she'd just been electrocuted, her hands gripping the seats arms like vices, as her still blurry eyes squinting in the light as she tried to figure out where she was and what was going on over the shot of adrenaline she'd just been pumped with..

When said eyes had cleared and brain starting to tick over again, Tris's twinkling brown gaze sought out her partner in crime (literally) and smacked his chest with her hand.
"Jerk,"
She teased, leaning into his space so she could see out the window too and see the busy airport from the slowly slowing plane.
"We're here already- why didn't you wake me up?"

Recovering from the momentary shock of being hit by somebody he assumed was still sleeping, Aleksei turned his head to glance at Tris. "Oh, I definately tried to wake you up. Quite honestly, I'm not sure how a person would manage to wake you up if there wasn't a giant airplane around to drop like a sack of potatoes. A fire alarm? Whistle? The bat signal?" He smiled, but turned his attention back outside to watch the scenery. The scenery that had, by this point, trickled down to a view of the gate they were taxiing towards.

"Pretty day..." He mumbled absentmindedly before looking back at Tris. "So, assuming that they've managed not to botch the luggage transfer again we should be out and about in the city before too long. Although we probably should drop our bags off first. We..." He was abruptly cut off by the captain giving his final announcement.

"Enjoy your stay yeah yeah yeah... that man talks entirely too much."

Tris's teasing accusation was deflected by irrefutable logic- but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Oh, I definitely tried to wake you up. Quite honestly, I'm not sure how a person would manage to wake you up if there wasn't a giant airplane around to drop like a sack of potatoes. A fire alarm? Whistle? The bat signal?"

"Oh harrrr."
Tris managed to keep her lips from twitching into a smile. Her voice all sarcastic and pouty.

The
"Pretty day..."
Muttered comment didn't seem to be directed at Tris, so she didn't answer. The rest of the conversation however was directed her way.
"So, assuming that they've managed not to botch the luggage transfer again we should be out and about in the city before too long. Although we probably should drop our bags off first. We..."
Aleksei was cut off by the cutting, PA amplified voice of the captain.

"Enjoy your stay yeah yeah yeah... that man talks entirely too much."

Tris laughed at that, and couldn't help remarking slyly;
"You certainly travel well, dont you Mister Grouch."

And then once they'd collected all hand luggage and shuffled off the plane, walking down long corridors to find the luggage terminal another conversation was started.

There were too many people around waiting for their own baggage to speak plainly, but Tris the actress was up to the challenge.
Linking arms with Aleksei, for all the world like they were a couple looking to see the Paris sights like so many around them;
"So darling, do we really have to stay at that B&B you booked?"
Tris asked plaintively, pouty-ness employed again.
"A luxury spa resort would be so much more relaxing after collecting that ...thing we were sent to collect."
And then a winning smile was sent Aleksei's way to show she was joking. Unfortunately she knew that planning a heist of one of the most fabulous painting in the world needed one to be a little more on their game than thinking about what to get next- a seaweed scrub or a salt exfoliating mask.
But still, she was 5 star hotel skyscraper girl then the B&B kind.

"A luxury spa resort would be so much more relaxing after collecting that ...thing we were sent to collect."

"Why yes dear, we do indeed." Aleksei gave her an admonishing look. "After all, we must be nearby to the business we have to attend."

Giving his voice a softer tone he added, "Besides, the b and b will have better food, better service, and less annoying people hanging about."

After he was finished speaking, Alekseis mind drifted and he became lost watching the endless sea of bags travelling past. He waited patiently for the bags to come around... and waited... and waited... and eventually the stream of bags ended. With a sigh of frustration Aleksei gave a slight smile to Tris. "I'll be just a moment."

He walked over to the nearby help desk and gave them a very nice smile, before launching into an angry tirade.

"Ty bagaž najdi, a to pažaleješ’! Кому из вас надо дать на лапу?" When their response wasn't quick enough, Aleksei began motioning towards the luggage rack and continuing to yell at them in Russian. When they still stood around like a bunch of deer caught in the headlights of a truck, Aleksei switched to French and began explaining facts that should have already been obvious. After a few minutes of yelling, bargaining, and negotiation, Aleksei returned to Tris. With a look of reluctant frustration he spoke apologetically.

"The bastards lost the luggage." He shook his head. "Failing to get it back, I made sure the plane tickets were free, the b and b is free and they're supposed to have it here by the day after tomorrow." With another sigh he motioned out the nearby doors where a cab happened to be waiting. "Lets just get out of here before I do something I'll regret."

(OOC: Russian roughly translates to "Find that piece of luggage or you will be sorry." And asking which one of them gets the bribe (to find the luggage))

"Why yes dear, we do indeed." Aleksei gave her an admonishing look. "After all, we must be nearby to the business we have to attend."
Giving his voice a softer tone he added, "Besides, the b and b will have better food, better service, and less annoying people hanging about."

Aleksei''s reply was swift and undeniably logical.
Tris sighed and pouted, chewing her bottom lip in that teasingly cute way she had, but she couldn't help it- she knew Aleksei was right, she just hated being beaten in an argument with logic, twas undignified and unfair to use such a device.
She sighed with amusing ill humor.
Oh well.

The conversation dwindled and left both of them seeped in their own thoughts as they waited with everyone else for their bags to arrive.
They waited...
and waited...
and waited....
and no bags for them came.

Aleksei sigh hissed of the frustration Tris felt, as he said;
"I'll be just a moment."

Tris viewed from afar the irate triad of the scary sounding Russian- she was impressed, all those threat laden tones and thats all he need. Tris knew she would have been very tempted to blow something up....still was actually.

He returned with news of both the good and the bad.

"The bastards lost the luggage. Failing to get it back, I made sure the plane tickets were free, the b and b is free and they're supposed to have it here by the day after tomorrow. Lets just get out of here before I do something I'll regret."

While Tris had teased Aleksei before about being a tired travel grouch while she had such an easy going temperament (obviously this was a gross over statement), her temperment morphed into one that much better resembled the firey haired explosive expert as the news was heard.
And yes, while Tris did indeed recognize and appreciate what Aleksei had done and tried to do, it still stood that something had gone wrong and he was the reason she was there in the first place, ergo- Aleksei was at fault.
So she couldn't help snapping a little (it went with the hair...and powers alright), her annoyance spilling out in her gritted words;
"We don't need our tickets refunded. We work for a man with more money than God. What we need is my clothes."
She points an admonishing finger at him;
"You owe me shopping!"
she snapped.
And with that she turned and stalked away from him out to the cab pick up rink.
Aleksei was right behind her however, and though seemingly calm and patient with her temper tantrum ways was heard to mutter;
"Lets just get out of here before I do something I'll regret."
Getting into a cab was too simple with no baggage to load, and when they were about to get inside the vehicle, Tris, weighing in favor of conversation over annoyance at the mis placement of her beloved things for a moment murmured;
"You know....... I could do something from here.....no regrets....nothing to lead back to us......yes/no?"
Yes she had no extra clothes and was annoyed at the source of that discomfort, yet Tris still recognized Aleksei as leader of this mission, and he had tones more experience at this sort of thing than her, and so she did the polite thing of asking before she did something destructive.

Aleksei was slightly taken aback when Tris asked him if she could blow something up. She hadn't said it in those words... but he was pretty sure she was talking about damage of the serious type. "No." He said simply. Then, seeing the look on her face he decided to add "Theres no reason, really. Besides, there is no reason to cause the feds to be on guard any more than usual." Without waiting to see Tris' reaction Aleksei got into the cab. The ride was fairly long, but uneventful and quiet. The two partners having come to an uneasy truce that only a forced stay in a confined space can cause.

"Kak vnimatel’na vy vodite mašinu! Ni adnu jamu ne prapustili..."
Aleksei grumbled at the driver as soon as they arrived, having decided to fire off one more round of frustration before they got to the bed and breakfast. Then, after little effort (since there was little baggage) the pair finally made it to the long-awaited destination. Without even stopping to look at the front of the building, Aleksei charged inside intent on getting checked in as soon as possible in an attempt to at least get something accomplished for the day.


(russian translates roughly to "How careful your driving is! You did not miss out one single pothole...")