[b]Jade and Mirror[/b]

Jade is not the idol. The idol is not Jade. Mirror is not the idol, the idol is not Mirror. In the heart of the idol sleeps fire. But Little Sister Fire sleeps no longer.

The edges of the ring do not flicker but flare to life. The torches roar with white fire and a thousand colorful butterflies take off from their hidden perches within bushes at the edge of the ring. A blue one flutters past your nose, Mirror. They sparkle with light as they rise to the sky and become the stars and still the torches burn brighter. Jade did not do this.

Little Sister Fire has no voice save to roar, but you can feel the urging within her. Both of you, Mirror and Jade. The urge to step from this birth, to run, to soar. Every Hybrasilian mecha has a heart that yearns for a pilot, for movement and soaring and the free expanse of the stars. But Mirror did not do this.

Indeed, all Hybrasilian mechas are built with subroutines that cause power to flow to operational functions when the pilot and the mecha AI are interlinked. A convenience, a failsafe, a critical tool for rapid response. Mirror did not do this by growing herself to fit her cockpit. Jade did not do this with her vision. But together, you did this. Little Sister Fire always did like to light the way for lovers. 

***

[b]Dolly[/b]

It is very difficult to catch your breath, even a quarter hour later. You find yourself strung up, smelling heavily of the musk of many pirates pressing against you, thoroughly and repeatedly gagged, your arms behind your head and tied together, your legs tied together, your back pulled tight by the rope wrapped in a brace all around you. 

In front of you, Valynia is taking a break to get some desk work done. It’s clear by now that she’s the huntress of her group in a literal sense. Erys is the strong one, the loudest most of the time. But Valynia, before you, is putting in the work of stalking prey in the modern sense. She’s got a huge stack of ship manifolds. Name, ship type and size, company, cargo, dock number, destination and jump route. She’s carefully digging through them, a small datapad on her right as she makes notes with a stylus. To a pirate, this might as well be a stack of gold or a tome of prophecy. It’s a mystery how she could have these, but now she is carefully reviewing them to select targets. Never too many from one source, never too many at one point. Flip, flip, flip. She licks her stylus absent-mindely as she makes her notes, an old school habit that you yourself might have done.

She’s ignoring you because you can barely manage a muffled squeak. You’re just a cute jaguar decoration for her room.  

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

When you enter the small room, Asil is already there. The estate was obviously not prepared for a sudden change in your schedule and your mother had other plans for the larger conference rooms, all of which were booked. What you’ve got instead is what was supposed to be a solo focus room turned into a two-person meeting room. There’s a small table, round white top, barely large enough to hold the two cups of coffee someone brought in for you without making the saucers look like they’re about to tip off the table. The walls are slightly off-white, perfect for a no-distractions call or a no-distractions reading session. There’s a little fern in the back right corner with three fronds so that one is against each wall and the middle one keeps trying to tickle whoever sits near it. There are two low stools, they do not qualify as chairs.

Asil has already taken one, the one that isn’t fern-kissed. She’s also already holding her coffee. She takes a sip when you walk in to cover the cringe on her face. There’s a contract on the floor beside the table, the sponsorship paperwork which someone dutifully got for you based on the meeting title. They obviously gave up trying to find somewhere to put it though. 

“Alright, what the fuck is all this?!” She asks as soon as you shut the door.

***

[b]Solarel[/b]

[i]You are insane[/i], signs the priestess Hethar, her hands lit red by the star Akar. [i]Admirably insane, one might say. Committed zealously to the ideals of Zaldar if not the society of Zaldar. I did not believe the Terenian when she said that you had prepared a[/i]…she stumbles here before deciding on the signs for “word challenge” for the Terenian lawsuit you had prepared for Ivy. [i]But then, I am here, so I am also insane. Zathar is ignored and seeks other sources of wealth beyond the sight of the Empress and so we are all insane. You find yourself in good company, and the gods have blessed your efforts. I have had my fill of not believing for today. The Kathresis will be prepared precisely as you have specified.[/i] 

She pauses and stares out from the balcony in silence for a moment as the sun dips into twilight and the reds turn to purples. [i]It is quite beautiful[/i], she signs.