Junebug could not help but chuckle as various pundits began to dissect the footage, speculating wildly about their origins. In the space of a few minutes she saw Neil labeled as a commando, an assassin and a run away slave, apparently a misinterpretation of his tattoos. Similar speculation ran on about both of the women in the group, growing increasingly implausible as the level of excitement rose.

"Don't these people have anything better to do?" Junebug asked in exasperation. Taya climbed from the hot tub, flesh steaming in the climate controlled air as she grabbed a towel and began to dry herself off. Junebug slid to her feet and shucked the silk robe before dropping completely naked into the hot tub, the bubbles Taya had deployed on the surface providing her a modicum of concealment.

"Not really," Taya explained as she flopped onto the grotesquely large bed, and spread her arms and legs in a wide starshape.

"Dar'monad is the focus for a small empire, fifteen or twenty planetary systems, most of the wealth comes here, enough that the people out there dont really have to work. Dar'monadi social custom dictates that the more important a noble is the larger a household he is required to maintain. Even the smallest lordings have chefs, poets, and artisans of all sorts. Most of the time they arent required to actually do anything just sort of hang around and be an ornament to their masters." 

Sayeeda blinked at the explanation. Mercenary service didn't take you many places where there was enough wealth that people could expect to live without need of work. Places like that only had one person who could pay for intergalactic mercenaries and those people were already in power. She shook her head in wry bemusement. Neil looked slightly dissapointed and she glanced down at the tub.

"Hop in if you want we could fit a whole regiment," she invited, taking another sip of the cocktail and pushing the empty glass aside.

"I wonder why Ranald is so uptight, dosen't seem like a knife in the back sort of place."

[@POOHEAD189]