[b]Dolly[/b] It felt like it took an eternity, and you were terrified the entire time of further damaging Jade’s idol, but with Silver Ripples assisting, you made it back to the hangar, parting ways with Erys Bander and her crew for who knows how long. The next couple hours were tense. You’re not a mechanic and you knew to stay out of the way, but there wasn’t anywhere else to go, and what if Jade woke up while they were working on her idol, wouldn’t she want her Dolly right there? Best then to wait in the Hangar, stay nearby, never going further than the small engineer break room in Jade’s berth to get a drink of water before coming back to see how the work is going. Finally though, Nine Forests comes out and puts a hand on your shoulder, as the other engineers make their way down from the mounts and scaffolding of the berth. “So, best we can tell what happened is that the intense power output through damaged systems overloaded the ship’s electrical circuits. Since Jade inhabits the mecha AI and every possible way for the AI to interface with you broke, the power shut down and you were stuck at the end. The Crystal Fire Core isn’t damaged, and neither are the storage cores for the mecha AI system though. So, take a breath. She’s still in there and we’ll fix all the damage and replace the circuits. She just can’t talk to us right now because every system that’s in that mecha to do it is burnt out. I think it will take at least a full day before we can get anything in here and connected, and she might need to come out carefully since the experience of full AI storage might be odd for her. Jade’s been pretty active since she first appeared, best I can remember.” Sixes finishes clambering down from near the cockpit area and comes up to join you. “What she’s saying is take the day off. Go relax somewhere, nothing is going to happen here and you’re making everyone nervous. Here, actually. I got a discount promo thing for the big mall on Akar Prime. Go shopping, get yourself something nice, get some food over there. No reason to just stand around here making everyone nervous, you get me?” She tosses you a little mesh clip. When you catch it, you see in one corner of your vision a promo for Staszk and Jessica’s emporium, special sale on new Hybrasilian fabrics. They must have sent this around to the engineering crews hoping to drum up some business. It might be nice to take a day off and just enjoy yourself. Mother Hybrasil has provided her priestess more than enough to splurge, especially at a discount. [b]Jade[/b] [i]The court is lit with torch light that shines like starlight. The ball is brought forth by spirits of shadow and bone, and placed in your hands. You will find it firm and strong. What then is to be the game?[/i] *** [b]Mirror[/b] Though there’s barely anything left of Heim’s mecha, he manages a last message from the wreckage. He’s not laughing but… “Mira Fisher, Whispered Promise” he says, using your proper name for the first time. “Whatever you may think, this battle was everything I hoped for and more. I could not ask to exit the tournament any better way, nor for the Blast Wall’s final end to have been any grander. You will always be welcome in my hold.” Then he signs off. He doesn’t ask you for a tow, though he could. Instead he appears content to wait in the arena until someone comes and gets him. When you get back, you’re met by a ball of Matty who is positively quivering with excitement and wants to jump all over the Nine-Tails for examination. She has also been tasked with handing you your post-match drink and she looks extremely proud of herself for getting to do something so important, though it may also have been a cunning strategy on Slate’s part to make sure she didn’t literally bowl you over getting to the controls. Trosta is not present, but it looks like Matty has a datapad that’s probably full of notes in her other hand. Slate and the rest of the team are there as well, Slate looking slightly rueful at the energy that Matty’s putting out, and also calculatingly at your stance and expression as you exit the Nine Tails. How are you coming out of this? *** [b]Isabelle[/b] Almira considers all that, hand on her chin. This is a distinct improvement over her previous stance, which suggested she might strike you for idiocy given the proper privacy. She smooths her ruffled skirt and sighs. “A blatant post-fact justification if I’ve ever heard one. But a competent one. I give you credit for thinking on your feet, but next time plan it better. If you know you’ve been an impetuous fool, work on your presentation so that the first someone sees of you they already think you’re in command. The key, my daughter, is to never let them see you sweat.” and that’s about the most praise you’ll ever get from your mother. She turns to the mecha you’ve carried into your hangar. “Get on with it then. And do educate your prisoner properly. I won’t accept you shirking your training simply because you’re the only one she’ll speak to, so either you’re going to educate her about the structure of our house or you’re going to make arrangements for her care that do not require speaking. When the damaged Lightning Chaser is finally put down, Quar exits onto the walkway and goes down on one knee, head lowered in a knightly stance. She does not yet speak, whatever you may have just told your mother, and instead makes a sigh of subservience, which she knows indicates that this is still part of her original surrender and she expects to be bound as appropriate for a prisoner in your care and taken back to your house. You get the…gist of that roughly from the nanobots. It works less well outside the mecha, but you did bond with Quar so there’s something active there. At least enough to get that you’re supposed to bind her now. *** [b]Solarel[/b] There are demands of you from many corners, but the Boatmen of Styx, having failed at both violence and typical communications channels have decided that their next tactic is going to be polite persistence. Thus, once you’ve dropped off Angela and returned to your lonely Hangar berth, you’ll find yourself visited by a polite young woman wearing the boatmen colors and with a cybernetic right arm and right eye implant. She is at the entrance to your berth, pressing the panel to buzz you for permission to enter. “Hello, my name is Ivy and I’m here to discuss a debt. This is a friendly call, I’m unarmed, but my instructions are to remain until I get some kind of answer. Could you let me in? I’m sure we can address this reasonably, especially after your last match result.” She smiles, her cybernetic eye glowing a cool blue that says she’s not afraid to look different from normal but also doesn’t want murder-bot red like in the dramas.