[center][h2]Always meet your heroes.[/h2][/center] [center][b]I[/b][/center] Smoke welled up under the chariot’s hot pink hood and leaked out via the many cracks and dents along the metal surface. The smoke itself was either black or yellow, and seemed to be building up faster and faster. From inside the cockpit, Mozmoz sighed and let herself sink into her fancy synthetic leather driver’s seat which was, of course, much too big for her. She removed the soaked sweatband off her forehead and swept her matted hair back, then blew her nose into a tissue, furrowing her brow as she saw hints of blood in the mucus. “Qui, I really don’t thin-” Mozmoz froze as she turned to look at her partner, who looked as fresh as ever and was currently dabbing some kind of random cosmetic powder on her cheeks. “Shut the hell up! You’re doing your makeup at a time like this! Did you even share the engine burden with me at all?” Quiqui giggled and shrugged. “Nuh-uh. You really expect me to show up to tonight’s dance with a bloody nose and demon eyes? No thanks!” Mozmoz huffed. “It’s cause of that ‘Sun-Downie’ guy I guess? Sounds like your type.” “Sun-[i]Downer[/i]. And duh, he’s a silver fox. Or I guess a silver bull? I definitely have the height thing down unlike you, shorty.” “Says the airhead.” Mozmoz pursed her lips. “Says the tomboy.” Quiqui smirked. “Men like tomboys.” “Not when they refuse to wear eyeliner, no.” “The hell does eyeliner have to do with anything?! It’s all a rip off anyway, that Beneavolence stuff.” “Try it before you talk smack, Mozzy!” Quiqui offered a small oval-shaped object to Mozmoz, almost as if she’d had it ready for that exact moment. “Eh…” Quiqui groaned and pushed the object into Mozmoz’s hand, then kicked open her cockpit and jumped out. She was careful to avoid any of the more dangerous parts of the chariot, and walked all the way over to one of the detached wheels, a whole couple dozen paces away from the vehicle and right on the edge of the public Internodal 1. Once sat down, she pulled out a small white cylinder out of her pocket and lit the tip on fire with a lighter, then took a deep drag. A few minutes after that, Mozmoz jumped out of her side of the cockpit and walked up to Quiqui’s side before plopping down on the grass. “So… How do you use this stuff?” Quiqui nearly snorted as she turned to look at Mozmoz’s face, with scribbles of black paint all over her eyelids, making her look more like a raccoon than a sexy ratkin. “Yeah yeah, laugh at the poor little tomboy.” Mozmoz rolled her eyes. Quiqui was silent, uncharacteristically so. Then she heard it, the rhythmic thumping of a hundred sets of plated boots. The distant clanging of metal plates, and the telltale glint of reflected light washing over the hill to the South, in the direction of the 16th region. Dotting the horizon, the strange army came to a halt and then it happened. A massive gust of wind came howling over the hills, slapping Mozmoz and Quiqui in the face with a stiff gust. A glittering dragon spilled into view soon after, its titanic wings blasting spiralling torrents with each beat deep in the reddened atmosphere. The creature circled above, blotting out the sun. And then, gracefully, the dragon descended and landed in the middle of the wide road (engulfing it entirely) with one last mighty flap of its glittering wings. That last flap, of course, knocked the beauty pair off their seats and onto their backs, sinking into the calf-high grass. “W-What in the flying…!” Benea’s head popped over the side of the dragon’s neck, a gentle smile on her face and a bubbling glass of something-something in her hand. “Hello there, dears, do you know where I can find the people in charge of this region?” Mozmoz raised an eyebrow and struggled her way up to a sitting position, then raised the other eyebrow as soon as she saw Quiqui’s wide eyes, trembling brow and gawping mouth. “Oh. My. Bloom.” The tall mousekin said slowly, lifting her hands to cover her mouth. “What? What? Don’t tell me this is real? For real?” Mozmoz bit the tip of her tongue as she took in the sight of the dragon and the woman on top. “Hey!” She shouted, “You look lik-” Quiqui quickly lunged at Mozmoz, shutting her up by sticking pretty much her whole hand in her mouth. “A-Ah, uh! Oh Bloom. Y-You’re the main model for the Beneavolence brand, aren’t you? I saw you on the posters last month! I sent you so many letters, and so many gifts! I love the moisturiser lotion that just came out last season, you know!” Mozmoz tried to speak, but all her words came out muffled and all her struggling was ineffective against Quiqui’s death grip. Benea couldn’t stifle her laughter and let out a snorting cackle from atop her dragon. “That’s just adorable, dear, do you want me to sign your…” A pause as she looked Quiqui over. “Well whatever, I suppose.” Quiqui beamed, a high-pitched squee escaping her throat as she jumped up and ran back to the chariot, releasing Mozmoz in the process, who coughed and spat a few times before looking up at Benea’s barely visible face, seeing the ‘supermodel’ sip on her drink through a rather brightly coloured blue-yellow stripped straw. “What kinda supermodel doesn’t wear her own makeup brand? You really from the Snowlands? Whatever, you or your army can do anything to us, we’re officially recognised racers.” The short mouse girl declared with a huff and crossed arms. “Can’t fix perfection I’m afraid, dear,” Benea called back before taking another sip. In the background, one could barely hear Quiqui squeal in excitement at hearing the famous line. The squeal grew louder as the tall mouse lady came trampling back with a huge rucksack held in between her arms, which she dropped onto the ground and opened to pick out a single framed drawing. “P-Please sign my Beneavolent Portrait please!” Benea gave Quiqui the sort of smile a parent might give a toddler. “Of course, dear.” She turned to look behind her and shouted. “Jermane! Sign this sweet thing’s picture!” A baritone roar came from behind the scales of the dragon. “At once, ma’am!” With a loud grunt, a castle of a man came falling from the dragon. He landed on the road with a bang and rammed a sword bigger than both Mozmoz and Quiqui combined into the ground. Marching over he shoved a massive hand under his plated armor and yanked out a pen. “Picture, please, miss.” The giant rumbled. Both women stared at the man slack-jawed. Even Quiqui, being the tallest woman to ever be born in the Ratcaves, was a full head shorter than Jermane, and Mozmoz, well… After a minute, Quiqui quietly offered the drawing to him, the only sound that resonated throughout the area being the squeakiness of the pen. Then, after all was done and Jermane turned to leave, Mozmoz cleared her throat. “Hey, you’re uh. That guy that’s on the powerwasher posters in New Dama, right? Shirtless?” “Are you flirting with gentle Jermane, here?” Benea called out from the dragon, almost teasing as the giant of a man yanked his weapon free from the earth. “O-Obviously not! I’m just saying! There’s a dance tonight at, uh…” Mozmoz trailed off. Quiqui intervened, “The Vulpes’ Estate! I’m sure they’d love to have you there. I can bring you Benea, and Mozmoz can bring Jermarvelous! There’ll be drinks and food and a mixed hot spring.” Benea perked up. “Oo! Jermane, a hot spring!” “We have the army, my Queen, and the triggering event.” Scrunching her nose, Benea answered, “true. I’m sorry lovelies but we really do need to be getting to the node and your government as soon as possible, you know, before the world ends.” “Node? Wait, you’re a God?” Mozmoz asked in surprise. “You look too… Capable. Plus I haven’t seen any god since Eleanna got put behind bars. I thought they were all dead.” “Don’t be rude, Mozz!” Hissed Quiqui as she elbowed her best friend in the shoulder. “Uhm, anyway, yeah just follow this road north-north-east and you’ll get to New Dama. Might have to ask little Orbita for permission to take it over, though…” “Thank you, dear,” Benea smiled down at the pair. “And don’t you two worry, your favorite Benea will up and fix the tear in the sky and see us all safe and sound.” With little else, the dragon rocketed up to the sky with a subsonic blast of air and dirt. Long after the dragon had flown over the horizon and as the regular footmen were marching past, Quiqui pat Mozmoz on the shoulder and grinned. “So Tomboy Mozz has a thing for Massive Manly Men? I thought you were into girls for a while there.” Mozmoz zipped up her jumpsuit and pulled up her collar to cover her face. “Shaddup.” [hider=Summary] Beauty Pair engages in banter after they crash during practice. Benean entourage arrives on their way to claim node 10. Funny stuff happens, Mozmoz is revealed to be Jermanesexual. OH ALSO BENEA CLAIMED THE 16th NODE [/hider] [hider=Might] Nothing used [/hider]