This Is Your Captain Crashing

Questionable Cultrual (In)Sensitivity

Izzy awoke with a jolt when the entire plane suddenly shuttered, the Psycho Hose Beast leaning off of her still sleeping boyfriend and stretching. As she looked around, she was surprised to see everyone else in Economy Class still asleep despite their main mode of transportation acting like it was gonna plummet out of the sky.

The redhead shook her head to not let that idea linger, and carefully tiptoed out of the room and into the dining room. As expected, no one else was there, which was both relieving and kind of anxiety inducing. Looking outside, she saw the skies were blue with partial clouds, which did make Izzy relax just the slightest.

Suddenly, an intern dashed by from where First Class was towards the Cargo Hold so fast Izzy had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't imagining things. That was so weird, the redhead cocking her head as she looked at where the intern ran off to.

"He caught you off guard too, huh?" A familiar voice asked. Izzy whipped her head around, twin braids nearly whipping herself in the face as she saw Merida standing in the doorway to the winner's section.

Izzy smiled as the princess sat down across from her. "Yeah. Sometimes it feels like the interns are just some entity that spawn in a lab to do Chris' dirty work..." She gave friend a questioning look. "Did the plane wake you up too?"

Merida shook her head. "No. I was already up when this thing decided to have a moment. As comfortable as those chairs are, they aren't good substitutes for beds. So treat that as a warning whenever you win."

The Psycho Hose Beast snorted. "I'll take your word for it." She looked out the window absentmindedly. "How's the team treating you?"

The princess groaned and slammed her face on the tabletop. "Horrible." Her voice was muffled by the wood, so she leaned back up with a sudden look of exhausted frustration on her face. "Heather is a bitch, the base definition of one. Courtney and Gwen are... fine. But they keep taking shots at Heather that they set her off. Cody is annoying, but harmless. And Sierra is a complete bloody loon."

"Sounds fun", Izzy said sarcastically. "Sorry you got stuck with probably the worst combo of people ever."

"Nah, it's fine. We have to put up with Majima and Flowey, so they're nothing." There was a pause. "At least right now. Later on... who knows?"

Izzy nodded. "It can get bad, I'll tell you that. Back with Island, during our break days, everyone stayed... mostly civil. But after the merge, it became a complete glare fest. Tension was high, and especially with the girls it felt like a fight was gonna break out from the slightest spark on the fuse. It was bad. Looking back... I was very much aware of it, but ignored it because it was fun watching them all squirm and bicker. As long as I was kept out."

"Dang..." Merida gave Izzy a smirk. "I can see Majima is rubbing off on you more."

The Psycho Hose Beast's smile fell a bit. "Yeah... but it's also made me think..." She looked outside again. "What would've happened if Caleb and the others found me after my first Island elimination and not during Action? How differently would things have played out?"

Merida put a reassuring hand on Izzy's. "Remember what The Doc said."

Izzy groaned. "I know, I know... 'Don't try and focus on the 'what ifs' and 'could've beens'... But I can't help it! It's just... Stuff like that is always on my mind."

"I feel ya', Iz..." Merida leaned back and crossed her arms. "But just remember what we have now. We are both crazy lucky to even know each other, so just focus on that."

The Psycho Hose Beast nodded silently, and reached over to snag one of the fruit in the bowl on the tabletop. She pulled out a banana and peeled it, swiftly taking a bite. As she chewed, both herself and Merida in a comfortable silence, she looked down at the fruit. In her mind, a memory began to play out, which brought a slight smile to her face.