"Explain to me again why we don't want to pose as students?"

Bella stares with longing at the photograph of the Portuguese university students. Their robes looked wispy and insubstantial, but the way they hung off of these people's awkward bodies was alluring to her. Ethereal. That was the word she wanted to use. What was wrong with wanting to finally wear something pretty? Omn spins its outer ring in response. The orange glow gave off the impression of a delighted chuckle.

"As a reminder, your primary interest in this species is anthropological?"

"If that's what you wanna call it. I'm just trying to figure out what they're like from someone that isn't one of the three wise assholes floating up above them."

"And I applaud your curiosity, Lady Mosaic. The foundation of any great administration is a firm grasp of the facts!"

Bella winces and squeezes her arm, but says nothing. The folio of reconnaissance photos drops onto the table in front of her as she watches the pulsing light at the core of her former (and current) advisor. Just how the fuck did it get here to begin with? It hadn't made the crossing with anybody.

But then... no. Maybe that was the wrong way to think about the Underworld to begin with. She scowls in thought as Omn continues its lecture.

"Since focused study is your intention, my recommendation is to look for a solution that will allow for the longest possible period of untainted observation time."

"Untainted? The fuck does that mean?"

"You needn't worry yourself Lady, it is a very simple principle to follow. To begin with while there is little we can definitively say for ourselves about this new society, we [i]do[/i] know with absolute certainty they are a civilization in crisis after contact with multiple Imperial-grade factions. Their society is grappling with questions of biomantic ascension while under explicit threat from a Knight of the Endless Azure Skies and attempted assimilation into a Ceronian squadron. If you do not take steps to hide your own nature as a being on par with these threats, their only logical conclusion will be that you are a third, equal threat."

Bella yawns and fusses with her hair for a moment before answering. She briefly opens the folder to look at all of NBX's example pictures again, but slams it shut after only half a glance.

"You're saying that even if I convince them I don't have an agenda it still won't give me what I want?"

Omn briefly contracts its rings so tightly that its core becomes obscured by the thrumming metal, and then expands to almost the entire room so that Bella's nose is only a centimeter or two away from the outermost portion.

"Correct," it hums with pride, "That is the issue you wish to avoid! Remember, high level portions of this civilization have already come to the conclusion that their 'visitors' are deities or reincarnations of their important historical figures. You might be able to make them friendly, but you will never gain access to unfettered truth that way. It will become their mission to leave you with a favorable impression, and will block your access to the working citizenry."

"Sure, whatever. And what the fuck does this have to do with not posing as students again?"

"Oh that is simply a question of sustainability, Lady Mosaic. While I do not doubt the Service's information gathering acumen, they have offered you a 'bird's eye' view of the situation. You can reasonably assume that some of your conclusions about your observation targets will be incorrect ahead of time."

"So what, you doubt my acting skills? Fuck you, I fooled Dany for years. I can pull this off!"

"I am merely suggesting," says Omn through a curious rotation, shifting from a cardinal axis to an ordinal one, "That playing the role of an outsider will allow you to ask more impertinent questions for longer without arousing suspicion than a role that requires you to have insider knowledge of a society you have only just discovered. And besides that."

"...What?" Bella sniffs the air in suspicion.

"While no one could argue that you are not in the flower of your youth I question the ability of a woman of your, ah, pedigree to pass for a student. I fear you are more likely to come across as an erotic holonovel interpretation of the role and though I for one--"

"What." Bella's eyes are slits. Her claws quiver as they lift into the air, "The fuck. Is this? You piece of shit, if this is your idea of a joke I'm gonna carve you into pieces right fucking now and use you as a wine rack. You want that? How's that for funny, you misshapen eyeball wannabe fuck?"

But Omn is not built to respond to threats. It merely changes its oscillation patterns again in the mechanical equivalent of a proud parent ruffling a child's hair.

"Voice inflection recognition confirmed. Welcome back, Praetor Bella. It is an honor to serve you once again. Shall I prepare a list of mission appropriate disguises for your perusal?"

It feels like being punched in the stomach. There is no air inside her lungs. Anger and embarrassment lay forgotten at her feet as Bella folds down into her seat again, sitting there with her elbows pressed into her knees and her head thrust into her hands. She stares at the floor, but the shadows pulsate there in wild dances lit by a soft orange glow.

"...Yeah,"she breathes, "Go ahead and. Yeah."

********

Even now, Bella could not explain why she felt compelled to travel among the Portuguese and learn anything at all. It made no sense, when the most important goal of all was to keep the Plousios' visible involvement to a minimum. Anything that made their course more traceable was a potential disaster, and it was [i]supposed[/i] to be her job to stay focused on that.

But here she was, pulling a hood stitched together by her Hermetic team over her head and arranging a truly gaudy amount of jewelry across her person. Her outfit was really more gold and non-precious but still eye catching stones than it was fabric, both by volume and by coverage. Tight fitting pants helped restrict her movement a little while the baggy top obscured her form and its potential power, at least where it wasn't pinched back around her arms or neck or waist by band after band after band of gold or strapped together by obnoxious leather belts. 

The whole point was to look tacky. She hated how much sense Omn made when it explained it. From out of town but still in system; enough to excuse most culture clashes she or Dyssia or Taurus would become a part of but still on the level of the Portuguese so that nobody would connect them to the Skies or to the Daughters of Ceron or to... well. Nobody was going to connect her to the place she was actually from even if she shouted it in their faces. But still. And even so. 

Stupid. That's what this was. Just stupid. This is the kind of idle curiosity she was always screaming at Dany about, and now she'd proven she was never any better about it in the first place. What did she hope to get out of this? 

The actual name of these people, for one thing. But maybe she had no real reason at all. The place she came from had been dead before she was even born. It might've been stupid and selfish, but was it wrong of her to want to go and see somewhere in the middle of dying, too?