[b]Isabelle[/b] Crescent stops and gives you an absolute deadpan stare. She just cannot even get her head around this. Lilika finishes getting her own tea (lots of sugar), realizes that in fact Crescent is not going to say anything and tries to fill in, spilling into more of an explanation than she might even have intended. “Uh…yeah um, the Arena grants you a wish for yourself AND your faction if you win. If you come in with a new faction, you can wish them a free system. That’s within bounds, had to be as part of an agreement for the big factions to stop warring. You can ask for a system, sometimes even a couple connected systems. Like in the last one, there was a handover and access rights and all that complex stuff for the Cerulean Belt systems all in one go. They’ve all agreed to that being possible so that they don’t start blowing all their stuff up. So of course it’s full of pirates. So far nobody independent has won, it’s hard when the big players have customized equipment backed by a multi-system intergalactic faction. But we’re all gonna keep coming.” She and Crescent are both looking at you like, you should have known this. You’re part of a big TC house, intergalactic business, major connections, how did you not know this? Finally Crescent breaks her silence too. “How in goddess name do you not know who Solarel is?! The Walker of the Mountain, The Varangian, The Empress' Champion, The Hunter of Huntresses, The Exile, you know the crazy Zaldarian pilot that ran around in the strongest mecha anybody’s ever seen wreaking havoc on the other two factions until the wars stopped only to get banished when the new empress overthrew the old empress? THAT Solarel. I thought you people prided yourselves on your connections and your cosmopolitan values. Goddess, just, you do know how to pilot, right? You’re not just an idiot who’s got a secret AI doing it? Cuz that would really mess up our trials.” Crescent undoes your harness with a small key on the catchpad and then you’re free, still with your tea. They don’t seem to care much. Something beeps and Lilika opens the hatch. You could walk outside, and at least go take a look, but you shouldn’t because of what you’ll see at the hatch entrance. Before we get to the action though, the sky of Roius swirls with neon pink light blending with hints of yellow, the colors of the Cerulean Belt mixing with the unusual cloud systems to produce a spectacular show. It’s eye catching, breath-taking, and worth a glance even with everything else going on. Further down, two Zaldarians (one pulling another) and two lionesses (one carrying the other) are sprinting towards the ship and the lead Zaldarian is gesturing with her hand in the universal gesture of “get the fuck out of the way!” Behind them are several men with shotguns sprinting to catch up. We’re going to switch to Solarel’s perspective now, but the question is open to you as to what you do here and on the shuttle ride that’s about to happen. [b]Solarel[/b] she signs, and turns to head towards the shuttle with you following. The second lioness is looking kind of groggy and has some trouble standing up. She’s armored, but the shot looks like it punched the wind out of her. You realize that her companion has broken off combat and picked her up, carrying her the same way you’re going. There’s a sudden race as the boatmen chase you towards the shuttle, the sound of soft footsteps swishing through tall grass contrasting with the crack of their shotguns. Unfortunately for your luck, you eat a shot straight to your hip, which hurts like hell and makes you stumble, though it’s not nearly enough to bring down a robust Zaldarien. Annika grabs you by the arm and hauls, shoving you bodily into the shuttle, jumping in herself, the two lionesses piling in behind. You bowl over Isabelle Lozano, a TC pilot who had a notable match just recently that you definitely haven’t paid any attention to, sending the both of you sprawling on the ship deck. Annika gestures frantically, and a TC woman with a ponytail and…is that Crescent from the fashion show? Regardless, the two of them race to a console, punch the controls and the little shuttle lifts off to the sound of Boatmen bullets ricocheting off the entry ramp. The shuttle isn’t going far, you notice that the acceleration stops after only a brief few seconds, you’re probably not much above the height of a low mountain, still in atmosphere, they’re just going somewhere else on the planet. There is, now, a moment of both pain and calm. *** [b]Mirror[/b] The sound that greets you is the clang of hammer upon metal. It is not ruinously loud, but soft, round, and rhythmic. Ting, ting, ting, it goes. Not perfectly uniform, but focused and concentrated. It is an old sound, a sound of a working that machines had long since made obsolete as a matter of efficiency, but which never lost the satisfaction of its craft. Trosta’s arms and armor is not far from the port on Akar II, indeed one standing near the door can see much of the comings and goings of the gray spaceport, which is lower and smaller than the one on Akar Prime. You had just enough time on the way over to go through Mayze’s mail and see a few requests. They are notable. You have one from Adriana Teresio, the most powerful woman in TC. She wants a dress of red roses, something to really make an entrance. It’s simultaneously grand and boring, and her directions identify that and ask for some aspect to it that takes it beyond the typical theatrics of roses. There’s also one from Maelia Dala three Quetzl, one of the leading scientific minds of Hybrasil, looking for something with hibiscus flowers, not a lot of detail. It’s particularly interesting that she contacted you at all, she was supposed to be in the Ringed Nebula, which is a whopping ten jumps away from Akar without going through Zaldarian territory, making the shortest possible trip for her to get here twenty galactic standard days. Perhaps she left before the tournament even started. Or this could simply be a proxy stationed here ordering on her behalf with her name. A third is from a man you haven’t heard of from the Styx system. He signed his name Charon and the specifications ask for your judgment in flowers that complement eye and partial face cybernetics. He included a specific shade of red #ed2939 that he’d like you to match or complement. The last is, fan mail? It just says “I love your work and your style. I want to open people's eyes, I hope you’ll help someday. I’ll be in touch.” It’s signed with a picture of a chrysanthemum and nothing else, and it came from an account somebody actually named “anonymous” so that’s almost cute. Looking up from that contemplation to the sound of hammers reveals a hall built in an old style with modern materials. The Zaldarian nanobots construction on Akar II defaults to a slate gray, but barring the color, the hall looks like something a Hybrasilian bioengineer would have cultivated out of a great tree. The roof is low and slanted, with a small opening for smoke, and there are beams and columns creating a set of rafters holding the structure together. In the back there’s a door connecting to a private hangar, then there is an old-fashioned forge glowing with a gentle orange light and several very modern fabricators that glow with a faint white light of tiny crystal fire at their hearts. The center of the hall is set with metal workbenches set out with various tools, more tools hanging on the walls and in storage bins against the sides, and in front as you come in is a large bar and cashier’s register. But it’s all built out of light nanobot metallics in that slate gray color. It looks like someone’s perfect recreation of a model lodge and smithy. You’re initially greeted by the Hybrasilian who’s working the bar, who introduces herself as Mattara Swimmer, eight Cigni when she sees another Hybrasilian come in, and who quickly explains that she is in fact a Hybrasilian engineer who recently took a job here and is very excited to have you visiting, you’re their first Hybrasilian customer in fact! Trosta herself is working the forge in the back, her strong bronze arms the source of the rhythmic clanging of the mallet. Matty explains that Trosta uses her forge-working as a way to better her nanobot crafting, she apparently forges utensils to help direct the nanobots. It’s not one to one, it’s more about making something that functions as a guide and Matty seems to think there’s a spiritual component to the matter as well. She also offers you a drink, ginger beer on the house. *** [b]Jade and Dolly[/b] She’s yours. It’s an exultant feeling. Ksharta was easily impressed, there was never any doubt she’d be up for the hunt, the game, the service. That was the easy part. But there was doubt about how she’d feel, if she’d be nervous inside and try to hide it, if she’d wonder if this was really all okay, finish the night, get scared, and keep her distance. But now you don’t have to wonder. You can hear the purrs. Dolly can feel them where they’re holding hands, not through the mesh but the pure physicality of it, and so Jade can feel it too through the link. Ksharta likes to be touched like this. She wants to be touched like this more. She’ll hunt for you, but she could just as easily curl up with you tonight and just be touched and pet in all the right places for the rest of the evening. She’ll want more when it stops and she’ll come back for more. When she goes to her own bed and remembers, she’ll smile and she’ll shiver. She flushes as her own awareness of self comes back to her. The flush comes up from her neck and into her face, but she doesn’t know, doesn’t let go, doesn’t want it to stop. You know that feeling Dolly, that sense of mortification and pleasure mixed together. She does squirm, and her tail wags, and her legs get all twisted up together. She looks at you Dolly, to make sure it’s okay, and when she hears your noise, the one you can’t plausibly deny, she somehow blushes even harder and tries to hide her face with her one arm, but even still she’s leaning into Jade, into the touch and the embrace and she’s nothing but squeak and squirm and joy here in the booth. This really is everything isn’t it. The exultation of a new follower, the special treatment of Dolly. Angela’s arriving in Akar II as well, Jade will get a notice from the spaceport that she’s been tracking for the next shuttle and it’s a guarantee with Jade’s lure that she’ll come storming into Keoni’s tower looking for the two diners. You’ve got everything right where you want it. What’s the plan to ambush her? Or is there a plan in the face of these absolutely perfect kitty scritches?