People say that cats are always smiling. Silly, stupid, insufferably smug, the corners of their mouths are just permanently turned upward in a way that makes it seem like they know a secret that they are refusing to tell or that the look of confusion on another person's face is just so funny to them that the smirk is glued onto their face forever. Bastards. 

People say that cats are always frowning. Glum and glowering, nothing ever makes them happy. And the way their eyes narrow after they've been around company for a while is the most insulting thing of all. Such an antisocial lot that loves nothing, cares for nothing, and in fact are incapable of either. The merest thought of sharing a dance with someone respectable feels insulting to them. Bastards.

People say that cats are always begging. Pleading, prodding, pathetic. They want what others have and all they see when they walk into a room is credit chits on legs. Their large eyes are the work of a race of con artists and tricksters, creatures who expect it easy all the time and know the fastest route to plenty is what those around them have already earned. Those eyes of theirs may be large, but they are [i]empty[/i]. Soulless. Disgusting. 

People say that cats are aloof, that they are snide, that they are condescending and conniving. 

Mira Fisher is a cat.

Her face is borderline unreadable, whatever angle it is viewed from. Is that the hint of a smirk she tosses at Marcina Villajero? Does it stay on her face after? Or is she coldly dissecting the entire room with an expression like pure ice? Is she looking for something, or does her sudden obligation to wrap her fingers around a Terenian's wrist and waist and lead her around a dance floor fill her with some manner of revulsion.

Is she simply sad? Is something weighing on her mind that's crushing every other thought and emotion out of her all the time? Is she hungry? Is she sick? Is she happy? [i]Why[/i] don't her eyes stop running? What is she thinking when she half closes them? Why does her breathing feel so rapid? Is that her heartbeat? Doesn't she know it's rude to show fang at a party?

"Isabelle Lozano," she's still saying it with a strange accent, but her voice is supremely calm for somebody whose face might be registering every strong emotion in the known galaxy at once on it, "For a very long time I have wondered about you."

She leads on the dance floor. Any attempt to take control of the rhythm of the dance is met with a strange, shadowy melting of form, as if she suddenly stopped having bones and then started again right after the balance of the moment had shifted out of control. Sometimes she plants her feet and turns out to be stronger than steel, and steadier than a mountain. No, she leads. She is respectful with her hands and gentle with her guidance, but she is following a beat inside of he one the music is playing and will not allow anyone or anything to drag her back to the main melody. Easier by far to follow along willingly. Possibly even fun. 

"What kind of person you are, what you like and what you dislike, how you compare to me. If you are a threat, and how I might kill or defeat you if you became a threat to me and mine. The price of being a famous name, Miss Thirteen Citallic. Your pathway leads you to a lot of criticism and an endless parade of strangers telling you who you are and what is the matter with you."

In this moment, the grin on her face is unmistakable. So [i]that's[/i] what it looks like. 

"And so I have come as well. Initially I thought I might sabotage your machine. Or I thought I might have someone break your legs before we could have a match. But I do not see the necessity any longer. You are... how do I put this? So you will understand? I perceive that you are a dreamer. There are things that you love, perhaps, places you would like to be, a person you would like to be with. There are things in life you would like to accomplish, before the path written in your name hits an end and you are pulled back into the universe to make more stars. In short you have dreams. Plenty of them I'm sure, and pretty enough. I will not insult them by trying to name them."

One two three and one two three and one two three four five two three, she sways not with the music but inside of it. Many of her footfalls and her slow and quiet twirls are outside of the main beat, but they match again, over and over at different points of the song that to anybody paying attention can't feel like anything but intentional. She must really love to dance if she's dug into it this deeply.

"But," she sighs, "You have no wish. There is not a single thing you would or could ask another for. Do not deny this. If I ask you why you risk yourself in this tournament, you will tell me some ridiculous story about how winning will make you the Queen of your Consortium. Absurd. Without defeating the current Queen? Without besting her in any way? Whoever's plan you might be following they are even more of a child than you are. I perceive that you are here for no reason. None at all that may be granted by the powers that dwell here.

"That is why your matches have no spark. Your technical ability is unchartable, I think it goes, but your fights are lazy and boring. You move from an assumption of superiority and so dismiss your opponents out of hand before you've met them. That is why you are caught off guard so frequently. It is why your Queen is lecturing you, like I am, instead of praising your record."

She squeezes a little bit harder, pulls a little more insistently to continue the dance where she seems to be thinking it will try to end. She cuts off the first retort by standing on her tiptoes and touching her forehead and the flower crown resting on it to Isabelle's lips. Hold two three and [i]one[/i] two three and go two three four five. She shrugs.

"I am not here to insult you. I am not. I am simply stating that you have dreams but no wish. I find this superior to a wish with no dreams: it is an important distinction that you should remember. And so I am no longer interested in defeating you. In fact, I have come to offer you my wish instead. Ah, look at me! So transactional just now, just like in your animes! This is very fun, may we continue the dance? There is a lot that I can teach you in a. Very. Short. Time."