Anarion

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giri cocks her head as she stands from the fight with Hanaha, moving in front of Azazuka to protect the girl with her bulk. But the mud spirit isn't coming to fight, it's simply leaving with the demon maid and one of the N'yari.

Ah and there's the scribe pulling her tricks out to race after it. Giri grins. A horse summoning. What an excellent use for the fan!

She didn't feel the same urgency here, but they did need to follow the thing, preferably with a bit more knowledge in hand. She only has a small sigh as she considers. "Do you have a shaman among you? Tell me everything about this camp and this glade. I'm going to have to narrow down why that thing is here. We'll need to follow it too. You, and you..." Giri gestures at Hanaha and one of the other burliest N'yari "come on, I'm your shaman now until we sort this out, follow that thing and keep my guest safe. If we're lucky, maybe we can even finally take care of that damn Rakshasa."

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Solarel

The rust-colored Zaldarian mechanic hefts a Terenian-designed combat drone that she had been tinkering with as she walks over to you. Her movements are slow and careful and you can see that she’s conserving energy as she moves, indicating her advanced age. She drops the drone delicately as she reaches you, almost opens her mouth, then begins signing just a little too fast, like she’s awkwardly trying to get through what she wants to say and putting all her focus on it.

It’s an honor to be part of your household, Walker of the Mountain, I think. I mean, are we part of your household officially? I just meant, I’m Lareth, one of your engineers and a nanobot specialist. You used to pilot the Aeteline, the spirits still speak of you, even on Zathar and I never thought I’d meet the Walker of the Mountain because you were banished and even though I was called to venture into Terenian lands the odds seemed so incredibly slim given my time left.

You can see even through her rust coloration that Lareth’s embarrassed by how she holds herself and it gives you the impression that she developed a maternal crush on you from afar. Perhaps she even imagined you as though you were one of her children and she needed to look out for you. She must have been devastated when she received the news of your banishment.

She hesitates after her speedy signing, bending over the drone and trying to fiddle with it again. It hums when she does, to what appears to be her consternation.

I’m sorry to bother you, she signs more slowly, shifting into business. It’s just, the rifle has been no problem, that’s just a matter of directing the existing power output. But the drones, the Kathresis is fighting us. It works here, and I can configure it with nanobot activation, but the Kathresis doesn’t seem to want to interface with them. It’s almost like they’re rivals. I can’t work as long shifts as I used to either and I can’t seem to reach a proper communion with it to get past this. Do you have any wisdom you can offer me?

***

Isabelle

“Oh”

There’s a moment where the world is perfectly still. A single sound escapes Asil’s mouth as the words sink in. She does not move, you do not move, the fern does not move. The door, shut, blocks out all sound and the air is silent.

Then it shatters and Asil is suddenly standing, pressing you against the door with a technique and strength that belies her thin frame. Her hand is against your collar and she pulls roughly as she brings your head down to hers.

The kiss is fire. Her teeth sink into your lip, and her tongue presses against yours, taking dominance. She steals the words from your mouth, the breath from your lungs as she presses. You can taste blood as she bites harder, and the warmth of her tongue as she follows and everything inside you is heat and salt burning like a supernova.

She continues it long enough to make you beg to be allowed to gasp, to make you think that she wants to devour you whole. And then, finally, she lets up from that and jabs an elbow into your solar plexus.

“Okay Lozano” she says, deliberately, taking the time where you can’t speak or recover. “This is no pedestal. This is what no fucking pedestal looks like. This is how I want it. I better not have fucking got this wrong because if you say this isn’t how you want it, I will fucking die right here.”

***

Mirror and Jade

Outside of the idol, the cult is scrambling. Thrusters are firing and they’re detaching repair equipment and opening the Hangar bay as fast as they can manage. The sound of Hybrasilians hissing and screeching intersperses with running, but they manage the trick.

Flying Jade’s idol is unlike the Nine Drive System, but also unlike a typical Hybrasilian mecha in some ways. It’s far more solid and singular than the nine drive system, a complete body (currently absent an arm) for a goddess. Further, it has been modified over time to map closely to Jade’s form, to allow for her projected world and her physical world to align as much as possible. Because she is a goddess (and has had a planet’s worth of databanks to consider what that means) the proportions are not quite those of a typical Hybrasilian. Too tall, the arms too broad. These are small things, probably ones that Dolly never noticed since her piloting was as a high priestess worshiping for her projected goddess and the mecha simply aligned with that. But for someone closely observing all the details of the idol’s movement, considering its weight and balance and center of mass, these small things are noticeable.

Even so, it represents the latest in technology coming out of Hybrasil. The crystal fire drive is powerful, the idol is fast and strong, its shields and its armor sturdy. Being in repairs, it has only a small energy blade and small guns that are built into the body, nothing big that would be held separately with two hands or require its own mount that wasn’t fastened on. But that just gives more energy for maneuvering, an abundance of riches.

You have a moment, both of you, to savor this experience as you clear the Hangar and pass by the planets of Akar towards the faint signal of Dolly. Then, there will be pirates to fight.

***

Dolly

Valynia’s touch is soft, her paw tickling your ear as she runs a gentle caress down the side, along your head, and over the soft neck fur.

She’s finished with her work, she’s sent the stack of marked manifests out with one of the station crew, and now she’s alone with you, enjoying a different sort of torture.

“Thank you for being soooo well-behaved while I got some things done, little priestess~” She barely speaks above a whisper as that terrible, taunting hand moves to the back of your neck and gently caresses the fur, brushing against your hair as it presses. There’s no claws this time, no pain. Just gentle pressure as she massages you, down and to the sides to each shoulder, and then back up to once again caress the side of your head and gently over each soft triangle with the most delicate, slow care.

And here you are, tied up, unable to do anything but shudder and make soft moans.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Jade and Mirror

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.

***

Dolly

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.

***

Isabelle

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.

***

Solarel

You are insane, signs the priestess Hethar, her hands lit red by the star Akar. 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…she stumbles here before deciding on the signs for “word challenge” for the Terenian lawsuit you had prepared for Ivy. 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.

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. It is quite beautiful, she signs.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Solarel

Priestess Hethar misses a step as she accompanies you. You can see she almost exclaims out loud in front of the Terenians before putting a hand to her face. She hitches up her robes and hustles to catch up with you.

Truly?! I…truth be told that was only a guess because of the focus you requested but I didn’t really believe…you’d betray the empress, your service, your knighthood, surrender perhaps the greatest god the Zaldarians have ever seen for love?!

She shakes her head as if to clear it, cocking her head like an owl as she considers you. You know, she signs rapidly, trying to recover from her shock. The most popular version of the story on Zathar is that the empress sent you on a secret mission to infiltrate alien societies, your banishment was a cover so they’d accept you, and when you win the tournament everyone believes that you’ll make a spectacular show of donating your prize to the empress to request what she wishes. They’ll never believe me if I tell them the truth.

***

Isabelle

You’ll definitely want to check on Emberlight later. Novasurge is a strong mecha though, and nothing to sneer at. Your setup is a heavy one. The rifle is too-handed, autocannons need to take up the shoulder mounts, so you need to mount the missiles on the back of novasurge. Adding on point defense and shielding as well means that you’ve filled up pretty much every hard spot with no excess power to spare.

There’s an art to fighting heavy, especially at range. If you do it poorly, you’re setting yourself up to be exploited. A faster, lighter opponent can outrange, outlast, or outmaneuver you, bringing their weapons to bear at ideal range while frustrating whatever you’re trying to do. But some of the best pilots prefer this kind of setup (Marcina Villajero, the previous champion, is particularly known as a master of this fighting style, though Adriana does not favor it).

The key is to get into the right flow state in combination with near-perfect knowledge of your capabilities and your own body. You have to know exactly how much you can take. When to direct power to the deflectors or the drive system and when to simply lean into the hit so that you can line up a perfect shot of your own.

You’re really getting into it and the Lozano pilots have stepped up to fighting you 2v1 when the jarring explosion of a missile going off near you sends Asil’s little message pod rolling out of your jacket.

In front of you a small hologram appears, and since you’re actively in mecha with no reason to have turned off your comms before now, her speech is broadcast to everyone listening or watching the match.

Message: “Isabelle Lozano. Why did you sponsor me? Was it just for the drones? They’re good, but not great. I thought…when we met it seemed like you saw something in me that you cared about. I certainly did in you, unattainable as you are. Maybe I’m just an idiot, huh?” *the small hologram stops and shakes its head. “I could have just sent you a mesh, let you directly experience how I feel, but that lacks a certain something. It’s why I got into doing this, our tech has such blindspots. But, I have my own blindspots and maybe you do too. If I’m…if I’m wrong, come see me. Come to me, find the time, tell me you want me to be here. Otherwise, well..” She speaks suddenly more coldly, as if finally coming to a conclusion: “If it’s just the tech you’re after then I’m grateful for the sponsorship but go fuck yourself for leading me on. I’ll be gone the second I find a higher bidder.”

***

Dolly

“Aw, poor thing” comes Valynia’s voice, blurred through the tears welling in your eyes from the pain. You just need to breath and drink some water, but you can’t get up because who knows what the pirates would do. Sitting here and being brave is the greatest challenge you’ve ever faced.

Which does not prepare you at all for the sudden ambush of Valynia coming up behind you and licking your face. Her tongue is rough and hot as she comes up the cheek, and she ends with a nip on your lip, the spice of the soup mixing with the salt of blood for a whole new round of spice.

“You missed a spot” she says, the grin audible through her voice even though you can’t turn around. You absolutely must not turn around suddenly. Or yell. Or jump up and give her a reason to further restrain her “escaping” prisoner. How are you going to seduce this dastardly pirate captain for Jade if you’re not only reduced to muffled moaning but you’re also so restrained that you have to be carried around the station helplessly?

***

Jade and Mirror

There’s the soft sound of scurrying paws from the cult. None of them have the temerity to disobey Jade’s wishes as to how Mirror should be presented to her. None of them would dare interfere with the goddess. But they absolutely, absolutely want to have the best view of what’s going on. And that means that a whole group of them are shifting positions in the elevated walkways, trying to keep up with the angles as Mirror had jumped and climbed, looking for the best view as she slashes the memory weave for her own bindings, and then making haste to keep up as she slides down and strips the goddess of her ceremonial wraps. There’s a swiftly hushed gasp from someone in the gallery.

Once Mirror is in, they’ll all make yet another rush to make sure the hangar is prepped for launch, as best they can for a one-armed goddess.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Solarel

Priestess Hethar signs back to you. Of course. As the chosen pilot of the Kathresis, you may direct its purpose. Nor will it come to any harm from the Terenians. They are instructed to obey the directions of my acolytes under significant penalty from their own leaders. The inhabitants of Styx have shown themselves to be independent of the greater Terenian forces and they did not lend any material aid to the war effort. As such, we have an agreement.

She offers you a slight bow, barely more than a head nod out of respect. It would, of course, be your choice as head of household whether to accept the Terenians into the household itself or if they should continue to be treated as outsiders.

She walks with you through the hangar then, not saying anything. It appears that she is considering how to propose something to you very carefully. There are many…speculations in the Zaldarian worlds about why you left the service of the empress. Is the Mira of the Fisher Clans the…reason for this choice?

***

Dolly

The smile of delight on Valynia’s face is so sincere. “Ah, that’s what you wanted huh? You’re such a loyal little thing, and I like that in girls I take~” She nuzzles you, cheek against your face, and then pulls you up with her strong hand to nestle you against her chest.

“Since you’re being good now, I think it’s time to claim you properly and show you around the rest of the station. Couldn’t have that before if you were going to bolt the first chance you got, or try and tackle some unsuspecting Bander.” She laughs like that was the funniest thing she could picture, the laughter rumbling through her body. Rested against her like that, you can feel that rumble penetrate through yours too.

But that’s interrupted by a sudden sharp burning sensation that makes you yelp! If you look at your exposed right shoulder, above it Valynia has a small laser in her hand and she’s burned off some of your hair. It’s a little hard to see with your bound form perched against her, but it looks like she’s burned the symbol for a caught hare into your shoulder. If you get the chance to look more closely, you’ll see it’s a stylized character for the precise moment that the hare is taken by the huntress’ teeth. This must be Valynia’s personal symbol.

Then she takes you out of your cell, still bound and gagged, and into the station mess. The mess isn’t particularly large. This is just a research station after all. It seats twenty, tightly. There’s some automation for the food, but also a Hybrasilian chef working in the kitchen adding spices to the pots set to automated cook times to make sure that there’s some good flavor. The mess itself has ten people, two Terenians (one the Terenian you came with) and eight Hybrasilians. Now adding you and Valynia. If you were looking into this Red Band, you’d find this interesting, since they had started as a strictly Hybrasilian pirate organization robbing shipping within your own sector of the galaxy, but had obviously expanded out to recruiting Terenians.

And then everything is a bit of a whirlwind. Valynia sits you on a chair and poses proudly next to you like she’s caught a prize fish and strung it up for a photograph. Suddenly, all ten people in the mess, especially the Hybrasilians, are all over you. Inspecting, pinching, pressing, rubbing. You’re the new prize, Dolly and everybody wants to make sure that they get to have a little fun with it. Someone, hard to say who in the pile, even slaps your butt hard enough to elicit a mrowl through your gag.

Eventually, when they’re all done, Valynia will untie one arm and the gag just enough to let you eat what is probably the spiciest meat stew you’ve ever had in your life.

Going to take advantage of this tiny speck of freedom?

Jade

The sensations from Dolly start to get a little overwhelming. Like she’s being touched all at once in more places even than you can manage. But of course you have to let that go because Mirror’s right in front of you climbing up your idol in what is absolutely malicious compliance with the dictates of a goddess and you’ve got a lot to say to her, don’t you~?

Mirror

You can tell, even with the limited data you have, that the goddess is distracted by something going on elsewhere. It might be her little priestess or someone else if anybody besides you right now and her glove have this sort of memory weave. But it’s obvious despite any efforts she makes to hide it that some external source is making it hard for her to give you a hundred percent of her focus.

***

Isabelle

Quar doesn’t keep you. She appears to be enjoying herself, but you are her captor and she is focused on teaching you communication. If you want to stay, you’ll need to come up with the excuse. You don’t, she doesn’t, and so you’re off.

It’s interesting that you’re carrying Asil’s message around with you though.

First off is mecha practice. You have the option of customizing the novasurge today. You don’t know your next opponent, so there isn’t a recommended setup specifically to counter them yet, but you can make some decisions about armament preferences. Do you want to focus on ranged or melee combat? Heavy or light, long or short, rapid fire or precision? Do you want a missile loadout, or would you prefer that physical equipment focus on a shield, a heavier weapon, or extra defensive generators?

Whatever you choose, you’re going to be thrown into the Novasurge and required to practice against some hapless pilots in your house’s employ. What do you want to practice? And are you carrying Asil’s message even into the cockpit of the Novasurge?

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Dolly

Valynia listens to those muffled angry mewls. It makes her stop her playful claw work and kneel down next to you. “Mmm, you’re a loyal priestess, aren’t you? Trying to valiantly fight me off. Hitting me with that purse of yours even though you knew it was pointless, just to show me how tough and strong you are, isn’t that right?”

She tilts your chin upwards and back down so that you nod for her while she keeps thinking. “But you know, I don’t need to stand in the way of you and your goddess. She’s welcome here too! The Red Band would be so happy to have that beautiful idol of hers. We’d bring her offerings every day. Especially if she were to, say, help earn them.”

She grins, a wide mischievous grin. “How does that sound, little priestess? I take you and mark you as mine, and then, if you’re behaved, I’ll let you call your goddess here to come join us and we can start up her cult right here. Then when the Red Band have our own planet, we can set aside a whole city for the worship of Smokeless Jade Fires and you can be her high priestess, bound at my side while I rule the province for both of us.”

Then she actually looks at you. No nodding your head for this one, though her palm presses just a little into your chin, pushing against the stuffing in your mouth. Valynia Bander is many things, but a small dreamer she is not. She thinks bigger than Erys Bander, maybe as big as Jacinta Niares herself, and she actually wants you to like this. You can see it in her eyes.

At the same time, you finally, finally feel something from Jade, but it’s muddled, maybe by the distance. Or…or maybe it’s muddled by what Valynia was saying. Maybe Jade’s interested in having her own cult city? Maybe Jade wants you to recruit Valynia for her and go along with this. That’s kind of what it feels like!

Jade

Dolly is distant and she’s…well she’s doing something, something with a close touch and a hand cupping the chin and it’s VERY DISTRACTING at the same time that your summoned pilot has arrived dressed to kill!

***

Mirror

The…engineering cult? The engineering cult has given you a respectful distance, likely at Jade’s request. They can hear her (and they have system monitoring going anyway, though the drape is hiding most of the damage from her last match). But they can’t hear you, you’re free to speak directly to the goddess with no interference.

***

Solarel

The priestess nods and bows before you and the Kathresis in a formal, low bow done without bending a knee. Her brown cloak and hood fall past her sides. She does not speak, but she raises one silver arm and sends a geist out that introduces herself to the Kathresis as Hethar Rasra, priestess of the forward Zatharian raiding hold under Halak Rasra. The geist requests information about the Kathresis, its nature, and its status.
Her name in this case does not necessarily indicate relation, but merely that she is adopted within the household. This would be the closest Zaldarian settlement to Styx.

As the geist begins to return information, she steps up before the Kathresis (and you, but she is looking up), lowers her hood to reveal an aged silver face, and makes a series of hand symbols offering a prayer to the Kathresis. She draws in turn the signs for small and dragon, then the signs for ice and death as she takes it in, absorbing information that it offers in response to her prayers.

She cannot have gained the full understanding that you hold from days of linked meditation, but at least a small piece of it has come to her and she has offered her prayers in return.

When she finishes, she gestures with one arm to both her crews to come forward. The three Zaldarians will approach the Kathresis and begin reviewing its body digitally for indications of damage, wear, or needed resources. As they direct, the Boatmen will begin assembling scaffolding, bringing in equipment and tools, and starting repairs and refurbishment as needed.

Finally, once they are all moving, she signs to you: I have been informed by these Terenians that you acquired a new god without a cult. I shall be directing its maintenance henceforth. Your bond with the god is acknowledged. This does not change your standing with the Zaldarian Empress, but the proper worship of this new god supersedes your banishment.

***

Isabelle

Oh, no, the tiredness is completely obvious. Once free, and despite her imprisonment, Quar offers you some of her food with an honestly caring look on her bronze birdlike face. She holds it up until you take at least a bite, so there’s really no choice on the matter.

She eats the remainder, fairly ravenously, then turns to you and begins signing. She tries to go slowly, like she is teaching a child. She points to herself, then signs, then points to herself again. The sign for her name most likely. She points to the food and signs. Then to her drink and signs. Food and water, or maybe the word for meal or something close enough. She does these repeatedly, prompting you to mimic her until you can do them smoothly.

Then she points between herself and you repeatedly and signs. She points to your mouth and prompts you to speak the words, and eventually you realize that she’s giving you the signs for teacher and student. Agreeing to the arrangement that you proposed upon your return.

This is slow-going, but valuable. The nanobots are helping your memory with these signs, assisting you in retaining and incorporating their meaning into lasting memory, but you have to figure them out by yourself one by one using mimicry and saying words out loud to make sure that you’ve understood correctly.
For a brief while, you can lose yourself in the flow of this. You’re learning a language and making connections between Quar and yourself, between your unique implants and your brain, between pieces of your own psyche. The Zaldarian sign language is rich and expressive, with gesture modification to express emotion (Quar is by and large calm at present and signing accordingly, but indicates to you excitement, fear/agitation, and anger). This makes sense coming from a species that, by and large, will not communicate with other species except through this medium.

Your time will be cut short though. You have lessons, you have mecha practice, you have technical studies, you have match video to review and a fairly substantial berating to receive.

But perhaps you don’t want any of that. What would it take for you to simply blow off your duties and stay here for the morning and afternoon, at least until word of your truancy reaches your mother and she comes looking for you?

[Spending one of my free GM strings to ask that question, answer truthfully.]

TSL: The Excess of Flowers

Giri gives Hanaha a hard thump, pushing her weight down on the N'yari. "None of that. I've won. Your sisters are going to respect that too, right? If they don't, it would mean they don't respect you and you'd help me get my friend Azazuka on her way, right? She's under my protection." Giri gives Hanaha another thump for good measure, pushing the catgirl's head into the dirt, mouth still open from sneering.

Hanaha was probably enjoying this, the N'yari always did like a challenge. But in this moment, she needed her victory to stick. There were too many people here, too much risk, and too much to be done to just lean back and enjoy a nice N'yari vacation. And among all those things, Giri had promised to keep Azazuka safe and that had to come first. And that meant focusing on this match, and Azazuka's safety. Besides, they way Azazuka was looking, it would be fine if a N'yari caught her up for a few minutes. Just as long as they could make their exit afterwards and not have to wait for the turning of a full season.

She glanced to the side, just once, briefly. Well, she just hoped that the rest of that remained safely. She'd have to trust the scribe and the maid, both. Maybe that would work out, it's certainly not what either of them would expect.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Solarel

Ivy tilts her head to think, towards the cybernetic side. This could just be a habit from her childhood, perhaps mimicking a pet. Or perhaps it’s a subconscious shift towards the digital side of herself, taking advantage of the powers of memory and categorization where an implant like hers most excels.

After a few moments, she nods, more to herself than to you. “This has been a most enlightening experience. Thank you for receiving me, Solarel. As a representative of the boatmen, please consider your request for forgiveness of your debt granted.” She makes a few notes on the lawsuit demand letter near the top, explaining their offer. No extra pay to you, but also no intent on their part to pursue any further engagements against you. If that’s acceptable, you can sign it as well and file the papers and it will conclude the matter as far as any TC court is concerned.

“Hmm, I think I can follow up in two days on this. Please do try and be around to receive us.”

In two days time, there will be an arrival at your hangar. A Zaldarian priestess will be presenting herself (or letting herself in if you’ve chosen to be absent), wearing formal robes indicating that she’s from an advance outpost associated with Zathar. Zathar, you would recall, is one of the direct jumps from Zaldaria, but the route goes through several more or less empty star systems before getting to anything other than Styx and the Boatmen have presented themselves as both non-threatening offensively and dangerous to prod too hard, so it has become something of a backwater compared to the routes leading towards the Cerulean Belt or Hybrasil. You might call it a neglected part of the empire. If the empress wished, she could pay it close attention, but neither of the last two has had such a wish, so they’ve mostly been left to themselves to pursue their own goals.

The priestess will be accompanied by two crews. One will be a small contingent of three Zaldarians, her personal retinue from the looks of them, sporting various shades of bronze and rust in their coloration. The other will be a larger crew of ten Styx Boatmen, most with various level of cyborg implants and accompanied by Ivy in an observational role.

How will you greet them, either upon their arrival or whenever you return to find them there?

***

Dolly

When you do get inside the shuttle, the Banders laugh and cheer. There are five of them. Erys is not present. But you’ve got Valynia, the Terenian, and three other Hybrasilians. Before you have any chance to “brain” anybody, you’re shoved roughly against the shuttle walls and then buckled in by Valynia. She then wraps a short corded rope around the belt latch a few times and knots it, to make tampering with it impossible without being very obvious.

“Thank you for being such a good girl for us, priestess.” She smiles and the others laugh. “I should thank you, too, for such a good fight. Erys has right of first refusal among our little band, but since she didn’t actually win her match, she got knocked out of the running and I got to pick you up. And I’m so very happy about that.”

She leans in close and gives your ear a nip with her sharp teeth. If you wanted, you could take a moment here, much as Angela did with you earlier. Swing the purse up, get in one solid hit. Of course, you’re also completely confident that she’ll punish you for it devastatingly afterwards. It might even reduce your odds of future escape if she takes away all your upper body mobility. But as a show of defiance, it’s absolutely possible.

However that part ends up going, you find yourself arriving in the pirate base after a short ride. There was no hyperjump, so this isn’t THE pirate base, but you can’t really tell where in the system you’re located since you couldn’t remark on the shuttle route while strapped inside. This makes sense if you think about it. Rumors are that the main station of the Red Band is inside the Alastar Nebula (In Hybrasilian, it’s called the River of Night), entirely out of reach of sensor scans unless somebody went into the right system and knew where to look.

Where you are is a small space station. It’s not hidden, exactly, just a bit off the main hyperlane entrance and exit routes. If you were to learn its name and look it up, you’d find that it’s simply registered as an observation station for solar sciences. A classic Hybrasilian activity, and one of several small private stations in a system that rapidly became populated in the last few years.

It does have some of those nice Red Band touches though. As you come out of the airlock, you find yourself greeted by a small jeering crowd, probably twenty or so, most of them Hybrasilian with a few more Terenians mixed in. No Zaldarians, the Red Band operates on the wrong side of the galaxy for them. The interior is luxurious. The shuttle bay isn’t large, but it’s got good equipment, the latest from Hybrasilian shipping, in fact. And once you’re pulled into the interior, there are real woven tapestries made of wool on some of the walls. Thefts most likely from Terenian shipping, the figures look generally Terenian and not Hybrasilian. Brazen to bring them all the way to this forward base, but then that’s entirely the point.

Valynia and her crew will march you in, down a corridor, and into a more normal room with a fairly large bed (though this is not custom, just a large bunk built into the wall. Once you’re there and strapped to the bed (more securely if you were defiant earlier), they’ll leave you with Valynia.

“You know, this ended up more like the cheap novels than I originally planned. I think that’s your goddess’s fault, all that threatening to steal souls. People take that seriously you know, it took us forever to do up the [Fist of Dishai] for that fight, but Erys absolutely insisted. Still it worked, didn’t it? She was fool enough to give you an opening for a winning strike and you didn’t take it, which let her get the draw. And now your, mm, your goddess can’t manifest in the world for the moment and you’re here with me. It would be a shame if you missed your next match, too, perhaps forfeited out of the tournament and let the Red Band advance instead. But we really would like to expand you know, Jacinta thinks it will be a grand adventure to found her own little dictatorship. And I think you would look perfect displayed as my bride for all the guests, instead of for your silly little goddess.”

She’s playing with you, enjoying the time together. She runs claws delicately along your leg, your arm, your exposed neck and up around the head as she’s speaking, taking every advantage of having you at her mercy.

Jade

Diagnostic information first. You know it instantly, sensors are all online. The state of your idol is good but not great. The right arm, which was mangled by Dishai, has been detached for repairs. There’s also still surface scouring and burn marks, dirt, debris. But overall the rest of the chassis is intact and power systems have been restored. Your cult properly prioritized bringing your consciousness back into the idol ahead of physical repairs and cosmetics.

When you look for Dolly, you will find very quickly that she’s not on-planet. Your link travels at lightspeed, so it will take you several panicked minutes to first reach her and anything you send will likewise be significantly delayed in time. She’s in the system, but somewhere far away from you. If you ask the crew, they’ll tell you that she went shopping, but if you check your link, it will not line up with the known locations of Akar Prime or Akar II based on the current timestamp.

What do you do?

[Please give Mirror her next prompt]

***

Isabelle

Quar does not call you during the night. She does at breakfast though. At first, there doesn’t appear to be an obvious reason, she just seems like she wants to eat with you. Or maybe that is the reason? That she expected to eat with her captor and was uncomfortable when brought food alone and while still bound.

She’d clearly like you to unbind her hands, which might also allow her to sign to you. Of course, you do need to consider that if you completely free her, she might escape unless you take precautions. Or maybe you don’t? It’s so hard to tell with her. But at any rate she gestures with her chin that she’d like to eat together, so you’ve got to decide how to handle that.

If you can read Zaldarian faces at all, you might even notice that she looks a little concerned for you. Is it that obvious how tired you look?

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Dolly

You slip from the dressing room wearing your new shirt. It’s a little long, but tight, close enough for your purposes, it outlines your body nicely.

When you come out of the rooms from the back, you find yourself in a tall aisle. Clothes on clearance are stacked up on both sides almost to the ceiling, older outfits and loose sweaters in bins on high shelves above the main racks. It’s a very confined shopping space, which might make you a bit uncomfortable as a Hybrasilian. But you just have to go through here to get to the main area and then you can take the lift up to the headdresses and scarves section, which Jade would love and that isn’t sacrilegious, probably.

In front of you, though, is a heavy Terenian woman with long black hair who was pushing a big shopping cart. She’s clearly not paying attention, as she’s pushed it down the narrow aisle and parked it sideways, totally blocking the whole space. It’s full of bags of clothes of all sorts, just kind of tossed in there without folding any of them. She’s busy digging into a line of dresses and hasn’t even noticed you. It would be rude to just barrel through her stuff, so of course you have to stop and say something to her.

But as you open your mouth, you feel the sudden soft press of a wad of cloth pushed tight against your tongue. “Shhhh” comes the voice of Valynia Bander, the Leopard who had so suddenly tackled you before. She whispers it into your ear, so close that you can feel the hot breath from between her sharp teeth tickle your ear.

Next she pulls the gag tight around your mouth, and then over that she passes a wide soft scarf of deep red, then loops it over your face and then down around your neck and behind your back. “I’m buying you a gift, priestess.” She gestures to all your bags, now dropped and scattered by your side. “Some of which you like so much that you just can’t help wearing it out of the store.” The hand on your back pulls firmly, the scarf tightening, pressing the gag into the wadded cloth she’d stuffed in your mouth further until you feel it against your cheeks. “And in gratitude, you’re going to come visit where my sisters and I are staying. Doesn’t that sound fun?” A hand slips around your waist, holds you close so you can’t go anywhere as the Terenian woman comes and helps pick up your bags for you. She’s grinning a wicked grin at your predicament as they march you through the store and towards the exit.

Jade

Such is the nature of power. The goddesses laugh at the game that was well-played. Some gossip to each other as they walk past the apple tree on their way to and from the Dreadful Houses, some look upon you with pity. As she is departing from the Houses, Irtana leans in close and says, just for you, “I hope you have learned this lesson well. The lesson of cunning if you wish to challenge stone.”

***

Solarel

Ivy takes the papers, looking less perturbed than you might have hoped. She comes in then, stepping past you to put the pile down on a table near the door so she can leaf through it properly, which she is of course permitted to do. She looks over the cover sheet, flips through a few sections, skips to near the back of the documents and reads the closing argument.

“An interesting argument” she says, looking up at you with that glowing blue eye and her regular Terenian brown one. There is the sound of amusement at the back of her throat. “Personally, I think the emotional distress line of argument is overplaying your hand though. The people of Styx aren’t going to be particularly sympathetic to that given how many of them have suffered at the hands of Zaldiarn raiders before this arena was established. We’ll chalk that one to differences between species though. And of course, the Boatmen are happy to forgive your debt, no need for months of blowhards shouting back and forth to sort that part out.

We had assumed, you see, that given your previous arrangements with us that you would have found yourself unable to secure a new mecha for competition, which was an obvious mistake on our part. Not mine, to be sure, I’ve read all about you and I had no doubt that you’d find a way into your match.” She laughs, a deep musical laugh, putting her cybernetic arm up to her mouth to suppress her chuckles.

“What a surprise though! I don’t think anyone has seen a Zaldarian mecha like the one you were piloting against the Antonius girl. The Kathresis, according to the registration information. Truly interesting. Which brings me to my proposition. You see, we can put this matter…” she gestures to the lawsuit “...behind us entirely, and you can secure additional support for any weapon retrofits that may be of interest to you. We’d simply like our technicians to be allowed to do the installation.”

Unspoken of course is that any installing technicians will also be able to get up close and personal to the Kathresis and will surely leave with pictures, schematics, and everything they can store in their memory, likely including cybernetic memory if Ivy is any indication. Still, this is a very good offer on her part. You’d have a crew, you’d have flexibility, and they’d be perfectly fine with any kind of trick or stratagem.

[The boatmen will spend their string here. What would it take for Solarel to agree to work with them and give them technical access to the Kathresis?]

***

Mirror

Matty scampers off with a squeak and a blush, heading for the cockpit. You don’t see, but Slate does, that she turns around before diving in and looks back at you. It’s not disapproving, or really any emotion. It’s just looking, taking in the situation, trying to gauge how you’re feeling. It’s a look that says that she knew how rough you were feeling, and that she’s still trying to get to know you better, and maybe that she’s a little worried. She only looks for a moment though and then she’s in and pulling readings for Trosta.

The rest of the crew gets to work as well, looking over the spots that were burnt or melted, the dings of the metal, any scouring near the tails from the repeated energy discharge. It absolutely wouldn’t do for one of the key components to give out during a match and they know it.

Once she’s surveyed that everything is in motion, Slate takes you to the breakroom. “Goddess, that was a hell of a shot. I know it’s probably eating you up inside in all sorts of ways and that’s fair. But at least take it from me, that looked godsdamn spectacular and I know, more than anybody, what kind of reflexes were needed to take it. Absolute hell of a shot, boss.”

She’s here if you want to talk about the ‘I told you sos’ and the ‘oh fines’ but she’s not going to push it. If you want some alone time, this might be a moment to just think about dresses without anything else pressing on you for now.

***

Isabelle

No sign of Asil. Not that this is top of your mind, but out of the whole receiving crew and entourage, she was missing. She hasn’t had time to do custom work on your new mecha either. But when you get to your own room, there’s a little circular projection drone, not much bigger than your fist, set on the bed for you to inspect.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. You have to situation Quar first, who is not talking at all. She’s definitely more reserved than Solarel as well. She barely tests her bonds, takes in her new room without moving an inch, just stony silence. Her hands are bound, so she can’t sign to you either, not that you’d know much of them without an AI assistant, so that’s something to work on as well. Still, she doesn’t seem unhappy if that makes sense. She’s in enemy hands, she’s surrendered, her room is nice and spacious, and she settles in to take a seat on the bed without saying much of anything. You can untie her if you want, the door can be programmed to lock from the outside. You could also just give her run of the space, have the external staff told to keep her within a perimeter though that really is starting to risk a breakout if she decides to stop being so docile.

You’re going to need to think about how to get her to teach you though, especially as she does not appear to consider this relationship to be one where you’ve become an insider. At least not yet. Maybe that’s something to ask her once you have sign-language help.

You also don’t have much time. Your post-match afternoon is free for rest or relaxation, but once you’re up the next morning, it’s back to the grueling schedule. Indeed, given how close this match was, in your mother’s view at any rate, the training schedule is about to get even heavier, not to mention that she insisted that this new thing with Quar not allow for any deviation from that training. Hope you weren’t too attached to sleep.

Huntresses of Hybrasil

Dolly

It felt like it took an eternity, and you were terrified the entire time of further damaging Jade’s idol, but with Silver Ripples assisting, you made it back to the hangar, parting ways with Erys Bander and her crew for who knows how long.

The next couple hours were tense. You’re not a mechanic and you knew to stay out of the way, but there wasn’t anywhere else to go, and what if Jade woke up while they were working on her idol, wouldn’t she want her Dolly right there? Best then to wait in the Hangar, stay nearby, never going further than the small engineer break room in Jade’s berth to get a drink of water before coming back to see how the work is going.

Finally though, Nine Forests comes out and puts a hand on your shoulder, as the other engineers make their way down from the mounts and scaffolding of the berth. “So, best we can tell what happened is that the intense power output through damaged systems overloaded the ship’s electrical circuits. Since Jade inhabits the mecha AI and every possible way for the AI to interface with you broke, the power shut down and you were stuck at the end. The Crystal Fire Core isn’t damaged, and neither are the storage cores for the mecha AI system though. So, take a breath. She’s still in there and we’ll fix all the damage and replace the circuits. She just can’t talk to us right now because every system that’s in that mecha to do it is burnt out. I think it will take at least a full day before we can get anything in here and connected, and she might need to come out carefully since the experience of full AI storage might be odd for her. Jade’s been pretty active since she first appeared, best I can remember.”

Sixes finishes clambering down from near the cockpit area and comes up to join you. “What she’s saying is take the day off. Go relax somewhere, nothing is going to happen here and you’re making everyone nervous. Here, actually. I got a discount promo thing for the big mall on Akar Prime. Go shopping, get yourself something nice, get some food over there. No reason to just stand around here making everyone nervous, you get me?”

She tosses you a little mesh clip. When you catch it, you see in one corner of your vision a promo for Staszk and Jessica’s emporium, special sale on new Hybrasilian fabrics. They must have sent this around to the engineering crews hoping to drum up some business.

It might be nice to take a day off and just enjoy yourself. Mother Hybrasil has provided her priestess more than enough to splurge, especially at a discount.

Jade

The court is lit with torch light that shines like starlight. The ball is brought forth by spirits of shadow and bone, and placed in your hands. You will find it firm and strong. What then is to be the game?

***

Mirror

Though there’s barely anything left of Heim’s mecha, he manages a last message from the wreckage. He’s not laughing but…
“Mira Fisher, Whispered Promise” he says, using your proper name for the first time. “Whatever you may think, this battle was everything I hoped for and more. I could not ask to exit the tournament any better way, nor for the Blast Wall’s final end to have been any grander. You will always be welcome in my hold.”

Then he signs off. He doesn’t ask you for a tow, though he could. Instead he appears content to wait in the arena until someone comes and gets him.

When you get back, you’re met by a ball of Matty who is positively quivering with excitement and wants to jump all over the Nine-Tails for examination. She has also been tasked with handing you your post-match drink and she looks extremely proud of herself for getting to do something so important, though it may also have been a cunning strategy on Slate’s part to make sure she didn’t literally bowl you over getting to the controls. Trosta is not present, but it looks like Matty has a datapad that’s probably full of notes in her other hand. Slate and the rest of the team are there as well, Slate looking slightly rueful at the energy that Matty’s putting out, and also calculatingly at your stance and expression as you exit the Nine Tails.

How are you coming out of this?

***

Isabelle

Almira considers all that, hand on her chin. This is a distinct improvement over her previous stance, which suggested she might strike you for idiocy given the proper privacy. She smooths her ruffled skirt and sighs. “A blatant post-fact justification if I’ve ever heard one. But a competent one. I give you credit for thinking on your feet, but next time plan it better. If you know you’ve been an impetuous fool, work on your presentation so that the first someone sees of you they already think you’re in command. The key, my daughter, is to never let them see you sweat.” and that’s about the most praise you’ll ever get from your mother. She turns to the mecha you’ve carried into your hangar.

“Get on with it then. And do educate your prisoner properly. I won’t accept you shirking your training simply because you’re the only one she’ll speak to, so either you’re going to educate her about the structure of our house or you’re going to make arrangements for her care that do not require speaking.

When the damaged Lightning Chaser is finally put down, Quar exits onto the walkway and goes down on one knee, head lowered in a knightly stance. She does not yet speak, whatever you may have just told your mother, and instead makes a sigh of subservience, which she knows indicates that this is still part of her original surrender and she expects to be bound as appropriate for a prisoner in your care and taken back to your house. You get the…gist of that roughly from the nanobots. It works less well outside the mecha, but you did bond with Quar so there’s something active there. At least enough to get that you’re supposed to bind her now.

***

Solarel

There are demands of you from many corners, but the Boatmen of Styx, having failed at both violence and typical communications channels have decided that their next tactic is going to be polite persistence.

Thus, once you’ve dropped off Angela and returned to your lonely Hangar berth, you’ll find yourself visited by a polite young woman wearing the boatmen colors and with a cybernetic right arm and right eye implant. She is at the entrance to your berth, pressing the panel to buzz you for permission to enter.

“Hello, my name is Ivy and I’m here to discuss a debt. This is a friendly call, I’m unarmed, but my instructions are to remain until I get some kind of answer. Could you let me in? I’m sure we can address this reasonably, especially after your last match result.” She smiles, her cybernetic eye glowing a cool blue that says she’s not afraid to look different from normal but also doesn’t want murder-bot red like in the dramas.