Mosaic walks among the Silver Divers with the calm and serenity of the divine. She wears her battered suit and whip burns like a King's robes, and the braids in her hair that have fallen loose cascade around her shoulders in a blue-black waterfall that amplifies her mystique until she is all that anyone can look at. The [i]Slitted[/i] does not exist. She does not smile. She does not scowl. Her hand descends, and crowds part in curtains before her.

"We have done our waiting. Take the ship," her voice is softer than the sky after a thunderstorm. Her eyes glint with the power of Command, "Get the villagers inside, every last one of them. Storm the corridors, find our abusers and... instruct them in the error of their ways. The Crystal Knight could blast us into dust and gardens without even straining her tail, but once this colossus is ours her crystal wonders are useless. She will not destroy it. She will send an army to take it instead, but we will make it a fortress while she frets."

She allows a flicker of mirth to pass across her face. Her tail twitches as she chuckles at some ancient joke that just floated into her memories.

"You did not fail at Beri. You simply adjusted your plans when you realized how much you wanted an alliance. Prove it now and this will be just the first payment I'll give you."

She watches the Ceronians perk up as a single organism, chains shattering in one burst with the force of a smith's hammer on a new molten creation. Cloaks all cast off in a burst of rifle fire, and ear after pair of ears all lift up in anticipation and apparent delight. Mosaic's sigh of contentment hisses with steam that she blows away with the flair of a cigarette.

This is the solution to the riddle of weakness. It was desire pitted against desire, wasn't it? The Crystal Knight could surely butcher them all if she only came down to do the work herself. She could even just summon up the courage of Quajl to pull the trigger on her terrifying cannons and nothing would survive. But she is afraid. If not of the enemies she has down here, then of the ones she has up there. Ones too far away for Mosaic to see. Ones that fall as red stars onto her head. Ones that are, probably, exactly the same as her.

It wouldn't last. She could smell it from all the way down here; fear would eventually flip around to desperation, or embarrassment to courage, and Mosaic would have to test whatever shred of divinity she was blessed with against the raw power of an Administrator species, and an exalted one at that. That victory was surely impossible. But here she is strong. Here the Crystal Knight is weak. And with enough pressure applied here and now, by the time that wasn't true anymore it'd be too late for it to matter.

"Not you. You stay with me."

She flags down a few of the Silver Divers: Plundering Fang and her raiders that had been brave enough to attempt to capture Mosaic all by themselves, as well as Taurus. The ones she washed clean, and the one she ran through with a blade that does not kill. She gathers them in a circle around her, and shivers with relief when she notices that Ember's scent leads toward the still-dripping ship and not to here.

"I have a much more difficult job for you, or however many of you have the balls to take it. If that's too much then," she sneers and nods her head at the ship, "There you go. Go be safe like the others. But if you're cool, then look up there. See that red star? That's Zeus' promise. Our job is to earn it. We're going to fight down here and keep the Crystal Knight's eye on us, so that she doesn't see it coming. Well. [i]You're[/i] going to do that. [i]I'm[/i] going to use the time you buy to prove to everyone how much Beri is really worth. Sound like fun? If you don't die you'll have a story to tell your kids someday, I'll promise you that much."

She grins, wicked fangs glistening in her mouth. Her blood feels like it's going to tear her in half from raw pressure while her traitorous heart floods it from ears to toes in a raging torrent. Her golden eye flickers with manic energy as she waits to see if these chosen few are as dumb as she hopes they are. 

Just as dumb as she is.