nine; brain damage n' shit

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Early in the morning, John B pounds on the spare room's door shouting, "Dead calm! Let! Jj! Let's get moving!" Lettie rolls her eyes as soon as they were open. Jj turns to her, placing a sweet kiss on her lips and bidding her good morning before getting up to get dressed. Lettie does the same, putting on her shorts from yesterday as well as one of Jj's old marina hoodies (Mainly to cover a series of hickies Jj had left on her collarbone the night before). Lettie throws her dark hair in a messy bun, not wanting to deal with it, before meeting her friends outside.

Somehow Pope had managed to convince his dad to let them use his boat. The ride out to the merchant site isn't long, but that's because Lettie threw on a playlist called earliest of mornings & chillest of vibes and fallen back asleep in the chair beside Jj's, who is steering the boat as they embark into deeper waters. The wind whipping around the vessel, along with the slight rocking had knocked the french girl right out.

She doesn't know how long she's actually asleep for, but Kiara wakes her up asking for help securing the drone's tether. Lettie yawns and stretches her arms over he head, eliciting a weird groan from her throat as she does so.

Jj smiles over at her as she rises to her feet, "C'mere," He says, Lettie listens, walking up to him. Turning his head, Jj plants a firm kiss on her lips, only to pull away and say, "Get to work, sleepy."

Lettie furrows her brows at the boy, who is still smirking, "Tais-toi, c'est de ta faute, (Shut up, this is your fault)," She grumbles, turning off the music. Jj hums in response to ask what she had said. The brunette just shoots him a fake smile and a thumbs up, not in the mood to translate herself. She exits the small bridge and heads over to Kiara.

Once the two girls get the long, yellow, tether secured, John B calls out to the blond behind the wheel, "Alright, Jj! Pin it here!"

"Roger that!" He responds, "X marks the spot!"

John B picks up the drone, "Alright ladies and gentlemen," His eyes, covered by sunglasses lift to Lettie and Kiara, "To going full kook!" Lettie steps behind her friend as the drone is placed in the water. The brunette takes the tether from John B, slowly feeding line to allow the drone to go further.

A few seconds pass and John B calls out, "Alright Jj, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest!" Jj repeats the directions back to him.

Just after this, the first hundred foot marker on the tether slides past Lettie's hands. Kiara calls out, "One hundred feet!" While marking the 'one' down with a tally on the boat's rail. Lettie repeats the french version of the number in her own mind.

Suddenly, Pope gasps loudly and Lettie's attention, much like everyone else's, focuses on him. John B says 'what' about thirty times while he scrambles to look at the monitor. Pope looks at him shyly, "It was nothing," He says, "Sorry, I thought-"

Lettie mumbles a crude french curse word under her breath as Jj calls over his shoulder, "Don't do that to me, man."

Another brief pause, and Pope is talking again. Lettie wishes she had brought coffee with her, "And to quote the hobbit, 'Down, down, to Goblin town. Down, down, you go my lad."

"Ravissant petit nerd, (Delightful little nerd)," Lettie mutters.

As the minutes go by, and Lettie feeds more tether into the dark waters below, the more the wind picks up around them. Another marker goes by and Kiara calls out, "Four hundred feet!" While marking the number down. Thunder rumbles from above and Lettie is suddenly hyper-aware of the sky darkening above them. Lettie's eyes fix back onto the water and she realizes what the increasing weather had done.

"La marée tourne!" Lettie calls out, Kiara gives her a questioning look and Lettie remembers that she's tiredly speaking French again, "Sorry. I said the tide's turning!"

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