Topher looked down at his lap, not registering the bouncing or rattling of the car, even it's jerky movements went unnoticed. In his mind floated the imagine of a beautiful, slender woman with amber hair and brown eyes. Her lips weren't too plump, and weren't too thin - Just enough for them to gave a graceful, bodied smile when the corners turned upwards. Her voice was gentle and sweet, and he imagined her sitting next to him. Slowly, a thin fingered hand rested upon the top of his hand, and graceful digits curled around it. It was a wonderfully blissful touch, and it reminded him of the paradise he had. At that moment, a voice abruptly snapped him from his daydreams.

"Daddy!" Sapphire blue eyes snapped wide open in realization. Slowly, he turned his head and glanced at his hand, which was holding another's - But this one was small, fragile, and soft with youth. His eyes went up to rest upon the face of a confused girl. His daughter, Rosalina, was just five now. "Daddy!" she called again, almost frantically. Topher's thin lips twitched upwards into a weak smile.

"Daddy can hear you, Rosa." he told her in a very soft, gentle tone of voice. As she lightly squeezed his daughter's hand, he realized that her hand was warm, and that his was practically corporeal. Slowly, he let his hand relax completely, hoping that it would allow more blood to flow into his hand and warm it. Rosalina's hand shot up and pointed to the cruise liner.

"Look at that big boat, daddy!" She said, yanking her hand away from him and placing them both against the window. She turned herself in her seat, curling one hand into a fist with one finger extended and stabbing at the window with it. "Are you gonna be on that boat, Daddy?"

"Yup," he said, agreeing to see the delight on his little daughter's face. As expected, her face lit up with excitement and she bounced in her seat, clapping her hands together gleefully. The sudden stop of the car pressed the seatbeat into his chest and he choked in surprise.

"Alright, this is your stop, Chris." a voice fron the front seat said. Two faces then looked back, moving to glance at him over the shoulders of their chairs. A middle aged woman with a heart shaped face and bright green eyes smiled at him gently, brown curls framing her face. The other was a slightly older man with a very gaunt face and dark brown eyes, black hair brushed neatly. "Alright, we're gonna let you board. We'd walk you, but-" Topher slowly raised his hand and shook his head.

"I understand, she has to make it to her swimming classes after all." he said, looking over towards Rosalina. She was a strong, brave girl - Like her mother. There was a sharp throb of grief that went through him again and he stiffened. Rosalina then looked over with a wide grin.

"You'll be back soon, right daddy?" she squeaked, keeping her smile. Topher managed a world-weary grin, the grief shrinking and pressing itself into the back of his mind. "I know you're gonna be gone for a really, really, really, really, really, reeeaally long time... I'm gonna miss you, Daddy. But i promise i'm gonna have fun with grammy and grampy until you get back!" Topher reached over and patted her head again, grin growing a bit. He was luck to have a daughter like Rosalina. She was very smart, extremely well spoken for her age, and was very hopeful. "And don't worry daddy, when you come back, mama is gonna come back too." His grin faltered. Like most children, she was also extremely naive. She was under the impression that Celestina was gone but would be coming back. He also knew that when she went to bed, sometimes she would cry, and talk about her mother.

After a brief good bye with his parents in law and his wonderful daughter, he watched the aged car sputter and jerk away. The moment they were out of his sight, his world became hazy and blurred. He walked past the crowd, every bump his luggage hit went unnnoticed, the grating sound of him shuffling and dragging his feet never reached his ears, and the sunlight seem to stop before it reached his dull, grey eyes. Hello, ma'm. Cabin 365. Ramps. Stairs. Halls. Door. His world only seemed to focus when he opened the door to his cabin. In that moment, he shrank. Celestina would have loved the view. He placed his luggage against the wall. There were two chairs outside, but only one of him - Celestina. The bed was too big for just him - Celestina. There was a couch there for two people - Celestina. After cosing the door, he slipped his jacket off and sank into the bed, sitting on the edge with his shoulder slumped. He rested his elbows on his knees and placed one hand over his eyes, trying to make the sounds of his weeping as quiet as possible. They signed him up for his cruise to make him forget about Celestina, but so far - She's all he could think about since the moment he stepped on the boat. He could only hope these two weeks wore on and he did manage to maybe do what they wished and be happy for a while - Celestina would want him to be.

Josh drummed his fingers on the armrest of the backseat of the taxi, gazing at the landmarks passing by. It's been about two weeks since he had won the lottery, and he had already blown through just about half of his wealth. He glanced down at his three thousand dollar outfit, straightening his collar. After about ten more minutes, the taxi pulled into a large parking lot, with people storming about on the opposite side. Josh raised his eyebrow, an over confident expression plastered on his face as both, him and the driver got out of the car. The driver was a little, chubby man with a thick mustache and balding black hair. He made his way to the back of the car, opening the trunk and pulling out all three of Josh's bags. The driver then held out the bags and guitar case for Josh to take and in response, Joshed laughed and began walking towards the ship, knowing the driver would follow him.

The ship was really as sight to behold. It was enormous; Josh could only be reminded of the Titanic. Then again, that was about the only other ship he knew of. He checked his watch, seeing it was just after noon. The ship wasn't scheduled to depart until four o'clock, but he wanted to get settled in for a while and check out the ladies before heading towards the pool. After looking around at all the unfamiliar faces in the exceptionally large crowd, Josh began making his way through them. Bumping into a handful of people, he finally approached the man who would take his ticket.

The man looked Josh up and down before speaking. "First class?" Smirking, Josh nodded. The man returned with a smile before punching his ticket and giving him a card key. "Room 606." Josh turned to see a smaller crowd of impatient people, the taxi driver being one of them. Josh motioned for him to come to approach him and give him the bags. The driver set the bags on the ground, looking up at Josh expectantly. Taking his time, Josh reached for his wallet and pulled out three hundred dollar bills, a two hundred and seventy dollar tip, handing it to the driver. Josh laughed at the driver's astonished expression and told him to buy himself something nice. After dismissing the man, Josh heaved up his heavy belongings with effort as he made his journey to the second floor of the ship.

Upon entering his room, he found it to be quite large. Larger than even he had expected. Throwing the bags on the bed, he took a deep breath and made his way to the window, eyeing one of the swimming pools with interest. But, he decided he'd wait for more people to come and enjoy the pool with him. And by more people, he means more women. Turning and flopping on the bed between his bags, Josh reached for his guitar case and pulled it out. Thinking there probably wasn't anyone in the rooms next to him, he took his amp out of one of his bags as well and hooked the two up. Not that he would care, anyways. He then began playing a song that really hit close to home. The volume of the amp, however, was its maximum.

“Aye aye M’am” Ribbon said sarcastically to her boss while giving the older woman a mock salute. And for her follow up act she seemed to rip off her apron and hightail it out of the dining room in mere seconds. Ribbon had just spent the whole morning preparing for the guests who would be boarding the Star Liner shortly. She had been wiping down tables, polishing silverware, doing dishes and practicing her winning smile all morning under the watchful eye of her ever-present, perfectionist boss, Sherrie. It didn’t help that all Sherrie seemed to do this morning was make sure Ribbon didn’t sneak off during the flurry of movement on the ship.

Eventually Ribbon had been reluctantly given the rest of the afternoon off; free to use at her own leisure. Of course she would be required to return at dinnertime. While Ribbon was happy to be out of the evil clutches of Sherrie, she was also now left with nothing to do. All of her mates that she had made among the staff would be busy preparing for the new passengers. As she pondered what to do in her free time she found herself on one of the upper decks of the Liner. Looking down she found she was able to see all of the guests entering the ship from her vantage point.

Ribbon smiled to herself and ignoring the fairly obvious sign telling people not to sit on the railing she swung her legs over the railing and did exactly that. She pulled a lollypop out of her pocket and slowly unwrapping it, she dropped the wrapper down into the crowd of people who were in the process of boarding. Popping the lolly into her mouth Ribbon wondered what kind of people these passengers would be; would any of them be interesting?

Ribbon began humming to herself as she kicked her legs around for a moment before she realized what she was doing and immediately stopped. She was humming to herself and watching people from up high; that was creepy. So swinging her legs back around she hopped off the railing and went off in hopes of something fun happening elsewhere. She decided on heading to the pool, that way she could catch some natural sun light and also hopefully someone she liked would be working the poolside shift. Fingers crossed on that last part though.

Molly pulled up in her limo looking around she saw a crowed entering the boat. She turned back to the limo driver and paid him she looked back and grabbed her suit cases and began to walk towards the boat when she saw the paparazzi. "Oh Hey boys." Soon she was covered in flashing lights and people yelling her name. "All right that's enough for now see you boys when I get back." She walked threw the crowed skipping people. "Hi I have a ticket here for myself." The boy smiled and let her in. She was amazed at the boat. There was a large table in the middle of the lobby. She was so happy to not deal with those pesky phone calls or having to go to work every day. These are going to be the most fun weeks she has had in a while. She gave her bags to a bell-hop "Take this to my room I'll be up there shortly I would like to look around."

Molly loved the sea the first thing she did was run to the front of the boat and look down at the water. Even though they still were docked it was still amazing to her. Then like any other girl she ran to the gift shop. She loved all of the little trinkets. There even was a captains sword. It was a sword that the first captain of this boat used. Of cores she almost brought the store out. She had three bags full of things and a the sword on her back. She was happier than a kitten with a ball of yarn. She skipped towards the pool. It was giant. She just stared at it. And walked around it. "How pretty." She than proceeded to go to her room.

She had the room that she asked for. She could see over the rest of the boat and into the see. She felt like she was the watch out girl. She danced around a bit and looked around her room. It was decorated like a boat with life vests on the walls and pictures of boats there was one that was weird. It was a boat with people jumping off and a weird creature was throwing someone off. But what ever Molly never understood art. She knew that there was a model aboard but where was she oh well another mystery to be solved later.

Ava Lanchester

Ava stared up at the ship, which had been compared to the Titanic for it luxury, with a mixture of excitement and apprehension, here she was, a small town girl from Jefferson, stood at the crew gangway for the most magnificent ship which had been built in years and in all honesty it was a little daunting. The blonde was setting out for the adventure of a lifetime, she would spend months at sea, exploring parts of the world she had previously only dreamed about and to top it all off she got to sing every night, it truly was a dream come true. Picking up her suitcases, Ava took one deep breath and preceded her way up the gangway and stepped inside, marvelling at the décor through wide eyes, she failed to recall such a wonderful sight “Name Miss?” A man’s voice caught her attention.

“Ava Lanchester” she smiled warmly, waiting patiently as the man scanned his list of names.

“Ah yes, you’re in cabin 23B” he returned her smile.

Nodding her thanks, the blonde was about to pick up her bags when a porter hurried over “let me help you with them Miss” he spoke quickly, picking up her suitcases and loaded them onto a trolley.

As Ava walked to her room, she was slightly taken back at the beauty of the ship, it looked like there had been no expense spared in the décor and as she studied the map, given to her in the welcome pack she was surprised to see how much there was to do onboard; it was like a floating city! They soon arrived at her cabin and after tipping the porter, Ava carried her bags inside, shutting the door behind her. Dumping her bags to the side of the room, Ava admired the large double bed in the centre of the room. Biting her lip she did her best to resist the temptation to jump on the lush bed but failed miserably, with a squeal of delight, she dived onto the bed. It seemed surreal that she was actually there, staring up at the ceiling she shook her head in disbelief, chewing on her thumb before giggling again.

Sitting up the blonde beauty stared at her bags in the corner of the room, contemplating on whether she would, un pack now or explore the ship, needless to say she decided to explore. Pushing herself of the bed she wondered over to the full length mirror and adjusted her outfit, once satisfied with her appearance, she stuffed her room key into her back bag, and left the room.

Map in hand Ava, finally made her way up into the main lobby, where she saw the throngs of tourists all milling around, trying to find their rooms, smiling at a few in passing, she pushed her way through the crowds towards the staircase that would lead her towards the lounge, figuring she would be spending a lot of time there, Ava had decided it would be could if she could familiarise herself with the route, finding the room she would be singing in, she eagerly walked inside and was immediately left breathless.

The room was extremely big, the floors carpeted and the walls oak stained, with the plush arm chairs and sofas, it reminded her of a time gone by with its elegant decor. To the left she noticed the bar but what captured her entire focus was the large stage in the center of the room, that's where she would stand every evening and entertain the guests with her voice. Stepping up Ava ran her hand over the grand piano, her mind already racing at what songs she could incorporate her piano skills into and she knew in that instant that taking this job had definitely been the best thing to ever happen to her.

Wade had actually been mulling around the docks since the early hours of dawn, every once and awhile he would approach the ship and strike up conversations with various deck hands and dock workers. Wade Jackell was essentially laying down the ground work for some of the scams which would ultimately get him aboard the immense boat.

As more and more passengers, well-wishers, various limo services and such began to overflow Wade made his way to the main gate. His morning activities had gotten him to a point where he was about to successfully board the ship without so much as a reservation-His ticket to ride, so to speak, was the success of his cons.

The final preparation that needed to be attended to was securing a room for himself, luckily he had become a quick buddy of the cabin steward, with the promise of a half pound of Wacky Weed-Something which Wade was totally incapable of producing, though the steward had no way of knowing this.

Wade had seen many limos pull up to the ship, he just figured it was some sort of psychological thing, when your going to take a sea voyage on such a luxurious ship you want to show up in style-He concluded.

For the most part it wasn't a big deal to Wade, with the exception of two limos in particular, the passengers of which seemed to possess some sort of notoriety. Frankly, Wade hadn't seen a television in some years, except those few that he would walk by in the window of some apartment store as he was passing through a town.

On the road you just don't have the opportunity to keep up with fashions and trends of celebrity. All he knew was that they were blond and hot, that was enough for him, though for very different reasons then one might think. The other two individuals which Wade had noticed were two men, one of them was younger then the other.

The older of the two seemed familiar to Wade, but not in the sense of a personal knowledge of ones existence, Wade simply knew a cop when he saw one-Having dealt with his fair share. The other person was perhaps even younger them himself, much of this individuals youth and attitude was shown by the way in which he maneuvered through the crowd. The other guy sort of barreled his way through the mass of onlookers and boarding passengers.

Wade was standing by the main entrance as he waited for his 'steward' friend to show and inform him that he had found Wade some new digs. Wade just happened to cast a quick gaze upward, only to find some crazy chick with her legs dangling over the railing of the top-most deck. It seemed a strange and stupid thing for someone to do, to test fate like that.

Now looking into the ship Wade caught sight of his new best friend, who was making hand signals for Wade to come aboard. After pushing his way past the little guy with his list of passenger names-His new good buddy Bill-He was shown to his newly acquired room, which was small but functional enough.

Sunny sat there in the car watching all the trees zoom past.She looked at her friend Riely who gave her the ticket a month back,then turned her head back to the window and then listened to her IPod.She stayed quiet knowing that her friend was a little upset.Sunny moved uncomfortably in the gray/black booty shorts and tied up country shirt.She didn't like these clothes,but she didn't have any since she lived on the street,so she borrowed most of Riley's clothes.She figited with the knot of the shirt above her pierced belly button,sighed and took out her headphones."What's wrong Litttle Miss thing?"Riley asked."None of this is mine....Nevermind you..you won't understand."Her friend rolled her eyes and sighed."You're right I won't"

A hour later the finally reached the dock.Sunny's mouth dropped and let a few tears stream down her face."Thankyou so much!"She hugged Riley and smiled."No problem,now let's get you settled in."They both jumped out of the car and got the two luggage bags from the back of the car and made their way towards the boat.

They pushed their way past a bunch of crowds and finally got up to the lady who took the tickets."You're first class?" She asked questionably,looking her up and down.Sunny nodded as her face got red."Yes,Is there a problem miss?" Riley spoke up and gave the lady Sunny's ticket.The women shook her head."No,Your cabin Is number 608."Riley and sunny both smiled.The blonde quickly gave sunny her bags and hugged her."Have fun" Sun smiled again"I will." She then boarded the ship and hurried to her cabin.All she could hear when she went down the hall was a guitar playing loudly,which ticked her off.She then entered the big room and sat her bags down trying to relax in the big room.Sun then got really annoyed by the guitar playing and walked down the hall,searching for which room it was coming from.As soon as she was positive she knew which room it was coming from,606, she knocked on the door loudly waiting for someone to open it.
((it was quick...sorry lol my iPad is about to die.))

Erica watched the scenery fly past as she sat idly in the passenger's seat. Her chocolate brown eyes simply stared at the people and buildings - Not watching, not observing, not glaring, not glancing, just staring. Reaching up with one hand, she ran her finger along the long scar on her forehead as well as the one across her lip. These scars were to blame for everything - Why she lost her last job, why people avoided her, why her own children fled in terror. Her smiled curled down into a frown and her eyebrows slanted and knit together into a look of annoyance or anger. These scars made her ugly.

"Erica? Honey?" she blinked out of her little trance and turned to her husband. No- Ex-Husband. She would have to grow used to that. "Are you okay?" he asked, his tone very caring and concerned. He knew well that she hadn't been the same after she returned - I mean, who was after something like that? - and constantly worried about her. Her face was more blank, her smiles were wore fake, her eyes were more serious, and her movements were forced. It seemed like everything about her became less and less sincere. Erica offered her hus- Ex-Husband a half plastic smile.

"Yes, i'm fine. Don't worry. I'm just a bit anxious, you know." she said, breathing on the window and drawing an X in the condensation. "This is my first assignment since i came back. I don't want to mess this up, and i don't know if i'm as good as i used to be." she shrugged. "But i'm sure everything is gonna be fine." she assured him. reaching over and lightly massaging his shoulder. As he parked, he turned - Blue eyes sparkling with life and blond hair almost glowing in the sunlight. She met his sapphire eyes with her own dirt brown ones, her twisting oak locks framing her face. "This is my stop, sweetie." Leaning over the gap between them, she pressed her lips to his and they shared a brief moment. "I'll be back soon, dear."

"Alright, remember - Your phone can call me anywhere." She nodded and he smiled. "Call me if you need anything, or just wanna talk, or talk to the boys." he grinned. Erica rolled her eyes and sighed, smiling lightly.

"They're so young, i don't think they'll say a word."

"Nope, but they can squeal or scream."

Making a face at him, she reached over and lightly pushed him before smiling softly and chuckling. She opened the car door and slid out, walking to the trunk to get her bags. The moment she got her things and stepped onto the curb, she heard the car drive away into the distance. With a sigh, she moved forward and weaved between people to board the ship. Once she boarded the cruise liner, she was bound for Suite 647. She was quick to walk there, wanting to relax as quickly as possible work on an article from her last, freelance, self-assignment. Sure, her husband was quite the breadwinner - But he wanted to contribute. The money she made could made bills and the money he made could take care of bills she couldn't cover and would be spent for groceries and other things as well as simply spending money.

Pushing the door to her small suite open, she smiled, raising her head. She hadn't even noticed it, but she had kept her head down the whole time and avoided eye contact with everyone - It was habit now that she had her scars. The Journalist crossed the door and went into the bedroom, setting her luggage in the cabinet they had. Slipping off her Louis Vuitton high heels, she sat on the bed before swinging her legs over and lying down. She breathed a heavy sigh and reached down, smoothing the skirt of her outfit a bit before relaxing. This was going to be a relaxing trip, she assured herself of it. She would be relaxed and ready for her first assignment, and she wouldn't let anything get in the way of her comeback.

Detective Tony Winters thought of his family as he approached the ship, having hugged his children and wife goodbye, leaving them to return home to her parents. He loved them all . . . which is why he was ashamed to be grateful for this trip, while equally dreading his purpose here. Even if he was going to Italy only to smuggle back newly designed drugs ready for the hot street market, the time alone would be nice. His family believed he won the money for his ticket at a casino. To cover his ass Tony had reported a hefty sum to the IRS as earnings to be taxed. If a man covered his tracks, his chances of getting away were increased.

He passed through all the inspections and boarded the ship, glancing around at all the other passengers, many of them happy families or couples. None of them deal with the kind of shit Winters did on a daily basis. Regardless, the cynic in him kept an eye out for shady characters. With all the crazies these days it was up in the air who would crack next. Hell, Tony almost went down that path himself; the barrel of his service weapon cold against the roof of his mouth a few years ago. Those thoughts were scratched out in his mind as striking women caught his eye, reminding him how long it had been since he had sex with his wife. A slow death to cancer was a bit of a turn off at times, making cheating an act the detective was familiar with.

The room on his ticket was easy enough to find, after what felt like a few miles of walking. He put his bags up and turned around, to a young man in a white chef uniform standing stiffly in his doorway, one hand behind his back.

"Can I help you with something?"

The man stared at him, then back in the hall searching for anyone who may be in earshot.

"I'm Gio, part of the family, just stopping by and wishing you a warm welcome." The hand came from behind him, holding a bottle of expensive looking wine with an opener. "Extra stock, compliments of DeLuca." Tony took the bottle from him, grateful for it. Gio sat the bottle opener on the dresser near the door.

"I'm more of a liquor man Gio, but this will do." Gio didn't leave the room, continuing to stare at him. At least it was a semi-polite stare, the guy was still stiff as a board. A few more moments of silence prompted a response from Winters, "Can I help you at all?"

"I'm legit, I have no official part of any criminal activity up to this point with my family, they asked me to mule. I refused of course. My job is simple; to make sure you reboard the ship after we dock in Italy, possibly helping you offload the shit later as a favor to my uncle. Please, don't create a problem. If I have to call our guys in Italy to track you down, you will be found and I don't think the resulting actions will be pleasant." A smile crept to the edges of Tony's mouth.

"Look kid, I don't have the resources to go run off and start a new life. You don't need to worry, I'll make your little babysitting job easy. And thanks for the bottle, I suppose I'll be seeing you around?" Gio didn't answer, but he seemed to relax before he turned and left. Anthony shut the door after the chef exited, glad to give the kid peace of mind. Then he threw himself onto the plush bed, staring at the ceiling as he regretted every choice that led him to this ship. The detective was determined to get some enjoyment from the cruise, so he would drink and eat himself into oblivion. He hopped out of bed and retrieved the bottle opener.

Ribbon Murphy

Ribbon spent some time around the pool chatting to one of her good friends, Kayla who was working at the bar next to the pool. When is started to get too crowed and busy Ribbon gave a quick wave to her friend and left in search of somewhere more peaceful. She found herself near the lounge when she remembered being told they Liner was hiring a new singer. When Ribbon heard movement on the other side of the door to the lounge she knew it must be the singer and so, crossing her fingers behind her back and hoping it would be someone nice and around her age she opened up the door.

Ribbon noted the pretty blonde up on the stage. She had nice hair that was for sure and she looked a similar age to Ribbon. As for the nice thing though that would take some time. “Hey, I’m guessing your the new lounge singer?” Ribbon yelled out while making her way towards the stage. “I’m Ribbon, a little strange a know just go with it, I work on this Liner as a waitress.” She continued not giving the other blonde a chance to reply. “And don’t worry you’ll find your way around in no time at all, or at least I did.” Ribbon nodded towards the map the singer was holding.

Ribbon looked around the empty lounge for the first time since she had walked into the room. She didn’t really enter the room much, of course she knew it was here but she had never really had a reason to enter it. “So how long have you been singing for, I wish I could sing, or at least had some kind of remarkable talent.” Ribbon said addressing the singer again though not taking her eyes away from the piano she had spotted.

There was a positive side to not having any possessions, unpacking for instance-A snap! This was the first thought that popped into Wade's mind as he looked around the room, looking down for a quick glance at his well-worn backpack confirmed the idle notion, before tossing the 'bag' onto the bed.

The cloths which weren't more then dusty, unwashed rags spilled out upon the clean blue-checker patterned coverlet. "There......unpacked!"

After overcoming that extremely difficult task Wade made his way out the door, moving at a slightly accelerated pace toward the exit which would take Wade outside for one final look port-side before the Star Liner departed. It was getting close to cast-off time and so there were only a few small groups still standing on the docks. Wade could see the last remnants of relatives who had waived their final tear soaked goodbye's to their perspective loved ones-He could sympathize.

It was a moment of deep contemplation for Wade Jackell, desiring in his heart for one single person that might have wished him a happy and safe trip. "Toughen up man, big dudes don't get weepy." -Wades inner voice consoling him.

The brief moment of emotional catharsis was suddenly interrupted by the sight of some particularly strange individuals standing behind the small crowd, they too were in their own little group-Standing by one of several black sedan's as they starred at the Star Liner and those boarded guests which remained on deck.



Wade didn't know what to make of these strange birds, they weren't waving to loved ones, not one of them was whipping their nose with a handkerchief-Having escorted their significant other to the boat . There were a few high profile guests that had boarded the cruise ship, none of these celebrities were of such importance as to have an entourage of mysterious black clad gentlemen assigned to their protection.

Of course Wade was aware of the cop, or at least the guy whom he had mistaken for a cop some hours ago, though he didn't know anything about the crooked detective and his equally crooked nosed 'associates'.

There sure as hell were no individuals of presidential importance, past or present, aboard the boat, and these guys were pretty clearly of that sort, which is to say......CIA, or perhaps some other government agency.

One of the 'Men in Black' was standing out in front of the others, clearly the head guy, though it seemed odd that it was he who approached the ship to board it.

Kylie Moore

The brunette sat in the back of the taxi, patiently waiting for her to arrive at her destination. Well, on the outside, at least. On the inside she was screaming like a child. She was finally getting to do what she had always wanted - travel. Soon she would be in Europe. And all it took was a bit of money she.. uhm.. borrowed from her parents.

The taxi stopped and Kylie handed the cab driver the cash, before getting out of the taxi. Or rather, stumbling out. Her converse shoe caught on the edge of the door frame, and she found herself almost landing head-first onto the pavement. She sighed, and quickly regained her footing, before pulling her suitcase from the car. The taxi driver gave an impatient sigh, to which Kylie glared at him through the blacked-out windows. She slammed the car door close, and watched it for a few seconds as it drove off.

Kylie turned around to face the ship, and the crowd about to board it. A sigh mingled with excitement and nerves escaped her lips, as she watched everyone pile on. There were so many people. To be honest, she didn't know how it could take all their weight.

Her hat threatened to escape in the slight wind, but Kylie quickly placed her left arm on her head to contain it, whilst her right hand pulled her suitcase along behind her. She glanced at a few people as she made her way through the crowd. Gosh, everyone looked so wealthy. There were people who looked like they had dressed up just to board the ship, whilst Kylie was wearing a baggy tee, beanie and jeans. Very attractive.

She boarded the boat, where she was greeted by a woman who handed her a room key and told her that her room number was, "Three-Seven-Two." She also gave Kylie some random sheets about the ship's journey and how it was made, but Kylie just stuffed them in her pocket without looking at them. She would dump them as soon as she reached her room. It was like the copyright on the back of books and CD's - always there, but no one really reads them.

She opened the door of her bedroom up, and a small gasp escaped her as she took in her surroundings. It was impressive. Much better than the room she had at home anyway - or rather, in her apartment. Well, then again, anything was better than that tiny thing.

She took the crumpled sheets out of her jeans pocket and dumped them in the bin, before placing her bag down on the large bed. She wasn't bothered to unpack now - she couldn't decide whether or not she wanted to explore the rest of the ship, or lie there forever.

She grinned up at the ceiling as she took it in. Italy. I mean, it was fucking Italy. She couldn't wait. As amazing as the ship itself was, the reason she was on teh boat wasn't the journey - it was the final destination.

ignore

Anthony was well on his way to being drunk before the cruise had even set off from port, so he corked the wine and set it to the side, running his fingers over his face in frustration. He decided to go out on one of the deck's to observe the last of the passengers boarding. Leaning against the cold rail, wind ruffling his hair, he watched everyone board. The detective looked to where his family had parked, the car long gone. While the trip itself would be a break from his family trappings, he was no idiot, his family was the only thing left that kept him human and sane.

What he feared the most on this trip was what could happen without his family around. It may be harder to justify living. He stared at the water down below, half-tempted to jump. The distance was nowhere near enough to kill him on impact, and Tony had no interest in drowning himself.

He waited against the guardrail, anxious to see when they would pull away from shore. Unless a passenger came directly to him, he became oblivious to his surroundings, letting the sound of the water fill his ears.