[b]Valynia Bander, Once Huntress, whose star name is Gifted of Oaxacala[/b]

Today has been a good day.

Your heart beats in your chest. The jaguar priestess was so full of life. The way you feel together, you could feel the thump of her racing heart and the heat of her breath upon your face. It made your own heart race, your tail flick. It made you want to hold her close to you, to watch that whole body tense and relax as you drew your fangs along the neck, just enough to draw a drop of blood but no deeper, the scent intoxicating. 

And yet, the goddess before you has threatened to crush the very stars that bless you, and you have come unprepared for such a threat. Your parents taught you to respect the gods, and though you have flown far from home and seen many suns, you have never lost that respect. The goddess of the hunt has blessed your eyes and your arms, but she is not here now to protect you and when Erys suggested this little visit, nobody thought to bring wardings.

Truth be told, the majority guess had been that they’d simply swagger in, ask the goddess her blessing, intimidate the engineering staff a little, and walk out with a good sense of the chassis and how easily the staff would be to manipulate later. Jumping up to the causeway when you caught sight of the priestess had been an impulse play. But you can’t say you regret it.

As you pad down the stairs, the taste of her hand lingers in your mouth, and in your ears echo the last words she spoke to you: [i]I know her[/i]. Those were intimate words, words of a priestess most favored of her unique goddess. You’d take her symbolism, give it to Erys for her next match, see if they couldn’t bend that goddess in knots. If you all also sought the goddess of the hunt’s blessing of protection, then this lesser goddess wouldn’t be able to interfere spiritually either, only her body would be a threat in the ensuing combat. 

Your tail flicks with the thought of it. Yes, let her rail and cry. But for all her threats she was a new goddess, lesser than the great pantheon of Hybrasil, and even they had at times been bound. The Red Band loved the story of when the goddess Macheka blessed her champion with a unique spiritual rope to surprise and bind her rival Caloa. Caloa had spent thirty nights and seven bound by the mortal before she had prostrated herself and bargained for her freedom, offering exaltation among the gods to the girl, now the goddess Irtana. 

Now though, you have the unenviable task of convincing all your sisters to prostrate themselves. Perhaps if the goddess commanded it directly, they would all obey quickly enough, but this intercession is one only you heard. 

You start with Erys of course, pulling her aside out of earshot in the hangar door, leaving the other four so they know you’re not leaving and explaining what was asked. Erys laughs of course, tells you not to be so superstitious, but you can see her eyes dart side to side as her instincts look for a safe place to leap to at the thought, and all it takes is you pointing out that this will give the whole Band good reason to seek “compensation” later and she’s in. She manhandles the rest for you as you return to the hangar space, and you all prostrate yourselves to the goddess, heads down, butts up, on your knees before her. 

She’ll never see that you can’t quite keep the wicked grin off your face at all the fun you’re going to have with her priestess once you’ve got her. It will be you, of course. Erys may have the next match, but that means you’re free to lead the kidnapping afterwards.

Yes, today has been a good day indeed. 

***

[b]Mirror[/b]

There’s something about the tone and the smoothness as you bring her in that really gets Matty’s buy-in. Maybe she wants to buy in too, likes the fantasy and imagining the world as full of scary but also adventurous and exciting things. Either way, she meeps when you suggest the pirates, then blushes and comes in quickly and contritely, barely managing a squeaked hello. Her hand closes on the drink mechanically, and she takes a sip to help gather herself without even thinking about it.

Then she’s set up to give an introduction to Slate. She thinks for a moment, then bless her heart, offers a curtsy even though she’s in an engineering suit and holding a drink in one hand. “Um…h-hi. My name is Mattara Swimmer, Eight Cigni, but you can call me Matty. I work at Trosta’s armory on Akar II. I learned engineering back on Hybrasil, but I…um, never quite fit in there and I wanted to see more of the world, so when I heard they were recruiting Hybrasilian engineers here I thought it would be nice. And um I met…(she blushes here, remembering sitting with Mirror and being petted) Mirror earlier when she was visiting Trosta’s where I work, which um, I already said. She invited me here after I was done and also, um, since I was visiting anyway, Trosta sent me with some blueprint ideas for what she came up with. It’s pretty neat, I think. I helped!” 

She grins, stopping there for a moment. She isn’t sure if she should just launch into the work stuff and is kind of hoping Slate will do a little self-intro in response of some kind. Maybe Mirror too for that matter, there wasn’t a lot of time before. She glances over, then covers the awkward silence by taking another long sip of her drink. She honestly seems like she’d be comfier sharing her thoughts from your lap, Mirror, but she’d also die of embarrassment at even the thought of suggesting it with your colleague present. 

***

[b]Solarel and Isabelle[/b]

Annika and Crescent bound their way up the floors after you. Crescent leaps on all fours and Annika bounds with great jumps that belie the strength of her thin frame compared to Solarel. You’re in the upper levels of the facility now, great holes gouged in the floors and all nearby nanobots too busy responding to Isabelle’s defense to engage in any repairs of the materials, leading the whole thing to look like a giant sheet of paper that someone punched a hole through the middle of. Bits of supercooled metal and rock are already scattered about from the ascent and initial defense. 

The two watchers are barely gnats though, and they clearly don’t plan to intervene. They’re here to gather data and are enjoying themselves immensely.