[b]Pink![/b]

The show starts on the runway.

The Station-Hopper Sunswallow is a glorious machine. Once it was a gorgeous racer, sky-stealing blue with decal flames painted along the engine block; retrofuturistic perfection, a personal rocket pod with which to explore the heavens. But under Pink's hands it has become something more.

The paint job has expanded relentlessly, growing like ivy. The flames now emerge from the mouth of a dragon as she is collared by a dark wizard with hands of starlight. A queen of ice sits upon a mountain throne and wears a golden ring set with a gem that is a globe. The bloody red sky swarms with vampire-like bats, descending upon an army in many colours. A unicorn raises rampant against the sky, white driving back the crimson, and a maiden aims her longbow at the distant sorcerer.

The door opens to light and steam, and Pink descends to glory. She is beautiful, a shining crystal dress catching the light that emerges from her joints bending bands of pink in kalideoscope patterns around her body with each motion. Diamond earrings, diamond eyebrow studs, diamond teardrops falling from laughing eyes. A golden torque like a half-sun shines across her breasts, shoulder-length gloves in gilt and cream, and a headdress that suggests mighty horns curls across her back. She is overdressed for an assistant, she must be stealing the show - but at the last moment the balance becomes clear. Rising up from her on ethereal winds are golden strings, attached to her neck, elbow, wrists. She moves easily, but as though lifted by the threads as a puppet. Bondi's right glove has golden strings dangling from it and through the alchemy of magic all of Pink's glory transfers to her. This beautiful creature is not an independent thing, it is an expression of the wizard's power, an animate puppet who dances on golden strings. A haptic feedback loop lets both parties feel the tugs on the opposing string connections - and its awkward, loud signal masks subtler communications.

Bondi and Pink, Prospero and Ariel, descend before the guards, followed by an animate and scuttling suitcase. Their attention too is on the guards, and the performance draws them in. Searching the suitcase is a game designed for them - open this pocket and a dozen roses bloom all at once. Open this one and there is a flash and blast of green smoke and a shape like a howling ghost escaping to the ceiling. Put your hand in this pocket and when it emerges it has somehow been replaced with a monkey's paw - until laughing, the glove comes off...

It's what trying to search a wizard [i]should [/i]be like. It's a flash of colour on a dour day. It's an invitation to the party. It has everyone laughing. When a guard opens the main part of the bag and sees inside Orange's face holding up a finger to her lips and going 'shhhh' it's just another part of the show. At that point the rhythm is so clear that the only thing to do is to nod in exaggerated respect and close that pocket back up. By that point it's not even the strangest thing they've found.

[Reassurance 1/2]

[b]Red![/b]

"Uh -" she can never correctly judge human structural tolerances. On the one hand, Sophie's a doctor so she knows - but then, her training data set was derived from an old woman who threatened to dislocate her hip if she stood up too fast. She hesitates, combining guesses about emotional state, injuries sustained, and the priority of the request. In another second the space collapses and she fetches an ice pack for Sophie - just in case.

"Um... hey," she said. "This kind of made me think, uh. I'm doing a lot of body work on myself these days," she held up a hand to show the scales. "And, like, in the moment it's really fun and everything, but I didn't really consider the doctor's point of view. Right? Is this kind of," she shifted her feet a little awkwardly, "transhuman. Body modification stuff. Putting you at risk?"

Everything up until now had seemed so [i]just[/i]. She'd gone from zero to outrage to infiltrating the supreme court with zero windup. But now she felt uncertain. All her concealed tools, her custom hardware, her unique design, her contingency plans - did they come at the cost of endangering some EMT?