"Right," the doctor said, nodding. "Good to meet you two." Poppy and Francis left the room, and the instant they did, Poppy laughed, evidently having held it in during the meeting. "What do you think those people would say if they knew that you were up all night making pillow forts?"
"What would those people say if they knew you spent the night in my room?" he shot back, a grin on his face.
She nudged him playfully. "I was not acting like a businessman who knew what he was doing," she responded. "They don't expect professionalism from me."
"Mmm," she murmured thoughtfully, crossing her arms as they walked down the hall. "If I'm completely honest, I've never been quite certain what our missions have been even with your help. They seem much too...troublesome," she said sarcastically.
Her laughter was light and easy. "No, I suppose you didn't," she replied. She paused for a second, and then her eyes lit up as an idea struck her. "Hey, have you been up to the observatory, yet?"
"Oh my God, it is so cool. It's this room that protrudes out of the side of the ship, I guess, but it's made of glass, so it feels like you're standing in midair. You want to go see?" Even the prospect of going to the room seemed to fill Poppy with excitement, and she looked at him expectantly.
She grinned triumphantly. "Good! I was almost certain you were going to say no." She turned a different corner that led to a metal spiral staircase that opened to the next floor. Poppy took the steps two at a time and waited at the top for him.
"Francis, it's so cool. Apparently, these ships are equipped to go underwater too, and I'm just... Ach. I can't really explain it. You just have to see." She pushed open a door that seemingly led straight out into the sky. The plane was moving quickly, and the room was soaring through the air, becoming enveloped in the clouds for an instant before sailing through them. The entire room was glass, and if one were to look down at their feet, they would see the ground thousands of miles below them. Poppy stepped out into the room and turned to look at him with an excited grin. "Isn't it amazing?"
Francis walked out into the room, his eyes widening a bit, but he didn't let his expression change by much. "It's- It's something, that's for sure."
She pointed out on the horizon. The ship was just barely above the clouds, and there was nothing but blue sky ahead of them. "You do not seem nearly as excited about this as you should be," Poppy said. "We're standing in the sky!" She pointed to the ground. "That's where people like you and me spend their entire life, and we're above it all!"
He raised an eyebrow, putting thought into her words. Walking over to a wall, his back facing her, he stared out into the distance. "It's nice."
Poppy sighed, half in frustration and half in amusement. "We are standing where no human was ever intended to go, and all you can say is that it's nice? Tsk tsk. What would your writing teachers say?" She sat on the floor, her back leaning against the glass wall.
"Sure I have," she said, pulling her legs to her chest. "But I've never been in a room where the only thing separating me from hurtling to my death is a few inches of glass."
"You have a point there, but it's easier to just not think about that," he said, sitting against the wall opposite of her.
