I want to apologize in advance if it takes forever for me to update this or any of my stories. I've been going through some terrible stuff at the moment and it's hard to find my creativity. I'm trying my best to continue updating though.
Anyway, in this chapter, we'll be seeing everyone's room assignments and their reactions to who their room mates are. That should be fun. Hopefully, I'll also be introducing some of the other passengers as well. I've never been on a cruise ship before, so I have no idea if anything I do is accurate. Oh well.
Chapter Two – Open Seas
Cruise Ship August 1 – 1pm
Phoenix watched the shore get smaller and smaller before turning to his friends. They were all standing near the railings, also watching the ship pull away from the shore, except for Apollo, who was standing several feet away with his arms folded and looking uncomfortable.
"So, what do we do first?" Phoenix wondered.
"I think we find out our room assignments," Athena said thoughtfully. "Are we supposed to go somewhere to find out or something?" Phoenix looked at her, confused.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "You should already have your room assignment." Apollo, Athena, Maya and Juniper stared at him with blank looks on their faces. Phoenix stared back at them for a moment. "Oh, that's right!" he suddenly recalled. "The sign-up sheet for room assignments was at the prosecutor's office, so I went ahead and put your guys' names down for you. You're welcome."
"You gave us random room assignments without telling us?" Apollo growled.
"Well, I was going to tell you, but then I forgot," Phoenix replied, shrugging. Apollo rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Anyway, here's your room keys." Then he passed out envelopes with their names on them, completely ignoring the dirty looks his friends were giving him. "The keys should have your room number on them, and what floor we're on."
"They're called 'decks,' Mr. Wright," Athena corrected.
"Well, at least we get to share a room with each other, Thena," Juniper noted when they looked at their keys.
"Oh! I'm in a room with you two!" Maya said excitedly, throwing an arm over Athena and Juniper's shoulders. "This will be so much fun! We can talk about our favorite foods and boys and boys we like! It's gonna be great!"
Athena and Juniper's faces turned a brilliant shade of red as they both hurriedly muttered under their breaths that they definitely didn't have a crush on anyone.
"Daddy and I are sharing a room with Uncle Edgeworth," Trucy said, not noticing her friends' discomfort. Athena muttered something angrily under her breath but didn't comment.
"Come on, Thena," Juniper said helpfully. "Let's go find our room. I'll bet it's lovely." Athena brightened at that.
"Great idea!" she said before turning and seizing Apollo, who had started to wander off in the opposite direction, by the arm. "Come on, Apollo!" Then she pulled him away before he could protest, leaving Juniper to hurry after them.
"Should we tell them that they left their luggage here?" Trucy asked, looking at where they had piled their suitcases.
"Eh, they'll figure it out eventually," Phoenix replied with a shrug.
The inside of the ship was just as grand as the outside. The hallways leading to the rooms were more akin to a hotel than a ship, it seemed. The walls were white and the rugs were different colors to indicate different sections of the ship. The prosecutors and defense attorneys had rooms in the A section of the ship, which was definitely first class.
Athena, Apollo and Juniper quickly got lost trying to find their rooms, but it did give them the chance to explore the ship for a bit. They passed several dining halls and a ballroom, a fitness room, a hall that led to the indoor swimming pool, a gift shop and a café in their attempts to find their rooms.
"This ship apparently has an outdoor swimming pool too," Athena noted as they passed the sign directing them towards the pool. "It's a good thing we packed our bathing suits, huh Junie?" Juniper glanced at her.
"I guess," she muttered uncertainly. "We left all our luggage with the others, though."
Athena paused and glanced back the way they came. "Oh yeah," she mumbled. "Well, hopefully Maya or Trucy will be nice enough to bring those to us."
Beside her, Apollo rolled his eyes.
"It would have been nice if there was a map or something," he pointed out, glancing around.
"I would have thought that the A section would be the easiest to find," Athena agreed.
It didn't take much longer after that for them to finally find the A section. The section had pure white walls and purple carpeting down the halls. Athena and Juniper looked around in amazement at the decorations as they made their way down the hall.
They found Athena and Juniper's rooms first. The rooms, of course, were beautifully furbished and spacious. Three beds were in each corner of the room, along with three nightstands and an old-fashioned writing desk. There was a separate bathroom and even a small kitchen area off the main area. The three of them could do nothing but gape in awe at first.
"Dibs on that bed!" Athena cried, running over to one of the beds and jumping face first on to it.
"They're all the same," Apollo pointed out as Juniper laughed. Athena didn't respond, instead pretending to have fallen asleep as soon as she had touched the bed.
"You want me to help you find your room, Apollo?" Juniper asked, a slight blush spreading on her features. Apollo turned to look at her and her blush deepened.
"Yeah, sure," he replied, shrugging.
"I'll be right back, Thena!" Juniper called to their friend before following Apollo out the door. Athena muttered something incomprehensible into her pillow in response. "So, who are you hoping to share a room with?" Juniper asked as they made their way down the hall.
"Well, ideally, I would have preferred to have a room by myself," Apollo admitted. "Or at the very least Mr. Wright would have been nice enough to let us choose our own rooms." They stopped outside a room a few doors down and took a moment to make sure they got the right room number. "Honestly, I think I'll be fine," he continued, opening the door. "As long as I'm not stuck sharing a room with-"
"Hello, Mr. Justice," greeted the exact person he didn't want to share a room with.
"Oh, God damn it," Apollo hissed under his breath.
Klavier and Kristoph were sitting on beds on opposite sides of the room, and they both turned when Apollo and Juniper came in. Klavier appeared to have been half-way through undressing, as he had no shirt on, and he was hastily putting the belt back on his pants. He had pretty much fallen over when Kristoph had spoken, and Juniper blushed and hastily turned her head away, trying not to look.
"Herr Forehead!" Klavier greeted happily, coming over to them. "You're sharing a room with mein brother and me?"
"Unfortunately," Apollo muttered, trying to ignore the fact that Klavier had not thrown a shirt back on.
Kristoph sat cross-legged on one of the beds, casting everything with a slightly amused look, his rather small trunk resting on the bed beside him. Klavier's trunk was already open with several articles of clothing already tossed casually on his chosen bed. The clothes that Apollo and Juniper could see were somehow even more casual than the outfits Klavier usually wore. Kristoph, on the other hand, was still dressed in the same formal business attire that he wore when Apollo had first met him.
"Kristoph doesn't seem to be aware that when one is on vacation, one is expected to let loose and dress more casually and comfortably," Klavier sighed, glancing over at his brother. Kristoph glared back at him.
"I am perfectly comfortable in my suits, thank you very much," he snapped at him. "And put a shirt on, Klavier! You're scaring Mr. Justice's lady friend."
Apollo and Juniper's faces reddened as they both quickly muttered something under their breaths as Klavier rolled his eyes and made his way back over to his bed. He quickly tossed on one of his more casual shirts and turned to his brother.
"Happy now?" he asked.
"Why would you ask me that?" Kristoph wondered. "I'm never happy."
Klavier ignored him and strode back over to where Apollo and Juniper still stood in the doorway. He gave a gentle smile to Juniper.
"So, Fraulein Woods, have you found your room yet?" he asked her. Juniper nodded.
"I'm sharing a room with Thena and Mr. Wright's friend, Maya," she told him, trying to keep the shyness out of her voice.
"Lucky," Apollo muttered under his breath. He glanced over at Kristoph. "Wasn't there supposed to be a guard with you to make sure you don't do anything dangerous?"
Kristoph jerked his head towards one of the more concealed walls.
"He's over there in the corner," he replied nonchalantly. The guard poked his head around the corner and waved, a stern expression on his face before turning back to stare intensely at Kristoph, hand trained on a gun.
"I don't know how I'll be able to relax with a police man body guard standing in the corner of the room like that," Apollo muttered. Kristoph gave him another one of his creepy smiles.
"Oh, don't worry," he stated. "He won't be here for very long."
The policeman blinked at him.
"Wait, what?"
Edgeworth was waiting for Phoenix and Trucy outside of their room. Phoenix smiled when he saw him and hurried his step towards.
"Hey Miles," Phoenix greeted. "Have you been waiting long?"
"For you?" Edgeworth questioned. "Never. I was helping Franziska find her room. And making sure she didn't assault anyone along the way."
Phoenix put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but didn't say anything as Edgeworth unlocked the door to their room. Like the other first class rooms, this one was beautifully decorated and lavishing.
Before Edgeworth could move or speak, both of the Wrights were shouting "Bed!" and rushing at the two nearest beds. He stared in surprise as they jumped onto the beds, bouncing around like they were in a fun house. He let out a sigh and shook his head.
"You're too old to be bouncing around on beds like children, you know," he told Phoenix, striding over to the third bed with his luggage.
"You're too old," Phoenix shot back, refusing to cease in his bouncing. Edgeworth rolled his eyes, deciding that his argument that they were the same age would fall on deaf ears. Instead, the prosecutor began unpacking his suitcase, putting his clothes in a nearby wardrobe and ignoring the two bouncing people behind him.
"This is going to be so much fun," Trucy was raving. "I can't wait to see the entire ship and the places we'll go to! Do you think they have entertainment on the ship? Do you think they'll let me perform a trick or two?"
"Whoa, slow down there, Trucy," Phoenix said gently. "Let's just work on getting settled in for now, ok?" Trucy stopped bouncing and fell to sit down on the edge of the bed.
"Fine," she replied. "I hope the others found their rooms ok."
"I'm sure Athena and Juniper will be fine at least," Phoenix said. "They had Apollo with them, after all. It's Maya I'm worried about."
Edgeworth turned to him.
"You left Maya to try and find her room all by herself?" he wondered.
"No, we walked with her to her room, but we didn't actually see her walk into the room, so who knows where she ended up," Phoenix replied.
"Well, when you put it like that, it makes me think that maybe I should have stayed with Franziska a little bit longer to make sure she got along with her roommate," Edgeworth commented thoughtfully.
"Oh really? Whose her roommate?" Trucy wondered.
"Simon Blackquill," Edgeworth said simply.
"Oh dear."
"Indeed."
Twenty minutes later, Phoenix and Trucy left Edgeworth to relax by himself in their room to meet up with Maya, Athena, Apollo and Juniper to explore more of the ship. The group was eager to see everything that the ship offered.
Aside from the pool, the ship had multiple restaurants and a café, a couple of bars, including one that had karaoke and a buffet room. There were a few event halls and lounges, a fitness room and even a gift shop. And that was just on the inside of the ship. The outside decks had several chairs for lounging, an outdoor bar and tiki lounge, a small outdoor pool and a shuffleboard deck. There were also celebrities and rich folk strolling around everywhere.
"This ship is so big," Athena mused, looking around in wonder. "I just hope we can find our rooms again after this!"
"There have to be maps around here somewhere," Juniper replied. "Probably in the gift shop. Too bad I can't remember where that was now."
"By the way, we're supposed to all have dinner in one of the banquet halls tonight," Phoenix said to Athena and Apollo. "It's sort of like a kick-off for the retreat or something."
"Well, I guess the bar association has to do something to justify sending us all on a cruise," Apollo replied.
"I don't have to go, do I?" Maya said hopefully. Phoenix shrugged.
"You don't have to," he told her. "But you will be missing out on all of that great food they'll have…" Maya glared at him.
"Darn you, Nick," she grumbled. "You know food is my only weakness."
"Look on the bright side, Maya," Athena sighed. "You won't have to go to any of the other boring events that we have to."
Maya let out her own sigh and muttered an agreement. She was about to ask Phoenix about the locations the ship would be stopping at during the trip, but she was interrupted by a flashing light in their faces and someone shouting.
"Maya? Nicky? Is that y'all?" asked a familiar voice. A voice that Phoenix had not heard in a long time. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and stared in surprise at the smiling face in front of him.
"Lotta?" he gasped. "Lotta Hart?"
I'm going to end this chapter here so I can have something happen in the next chapter. I know not a lot happened in this chapter, but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer for this. Let me know what you guys think so far and I'll hopefully have the next chapter out faster. And hopefully more will happen next chapter as well.