For reasons that she would struggle to articulate for some time, Isabelle found herself leaning forward to place a hand over Asil's.

"I have no doubt you could." she says, meaning every word. "Zaldarian nanotech is a great frontier yet to be cracked, and it can do much more than just fashion. You could be the one to make that happen."

After a moment, her brain catches up with her and she withdraws the hand, sitting back into the chair. Raising the champaigne flute between them like a shield.

"And don't worry about buyers remorse." she continues, casting a glance to where the next fashion lines are being displayed and taking the time to compose her next words.

"The galaxy needs more visionaries. People who can not only come up with new ideas, but see them through. Take a look at these dresses, for example. Ms Serpaws is an artist and her line is a statement - no, an [i]assertion[/i] - of individuality, of respect for people being who they are - helping them to stand proud when others would try to hide them away. And while I don't know about the practicality of dresses that take years to make, Linterna doesn't have a manifesto anything like that."

"Linterna also doesn't have a parallel NM-integrated command array. And while I can't claim to be an artist, I [i]can[/i] tell the difference between good engineering and a basic interface with special effects. I agree with you: One idea has potential, the other is a gimmick."

"I asked about what brought you here because I want to know more about the woman I will be sponsoring and how best to employ you. And I [i]will[/i] be sponsoring you, to be clear. The only question in my mind is whether you want to focus solely on the fashion side of things with Madame Toldeo, combining your tech with the neural imaging of Prime Couture's, or if you would be open to work on the engineering and Zaldarian angle with me and my mech staff."

"So tell me - what would you rather do with those ideas of yours?"