I am experienced roleplayer returning to online roleplay after 10+ year break. I have missed roleplaying and the creative outlet it is for me. I am interested in casual roleplay. I consider myself a decent writer and I will put effort into my writing. I am not into writing a novel for one post though. Descriptive, character building, engaging, yes. I will always write at least 2 paragraphs unless it is a quick fire session revolving around dialogue over private messages. I am a fairly laid back person and don't want to be a grammar nazi. I believe in quality over quantity. Roleplaying is a hobby and a escape from real life pressures.
Genres I am interested in: Fantasy Middle Ages Science Fiction Vampires Shapeshifters Crime Drama
Fandoms I am interested in: Pokemon Harry Potter Anita Blake Dragonriders of Pern Star Wars
I don't mind roleplaying romance but I am not looking for smut. It has to make sense for the roleplay. I am okay with a fade to black moment instead of roleplaying it out. For me its about the story and the character. I am open to roleplaying it out.
I am in the Pacific Standard Timezone. I work full time and will be seen in the evenings and weekends online.
Samantha had been rushed back to base with Skye for medical treatment. Athena, Purna, and Oliver had handled the blimp while Skye had monitored her to make sure she didn’t go back into cardiac arrest. It felt like hours before she was back in Sophie’s tender care. Samantha had been barely functional and that was with help. She might have walked off the airplane but she didn’t make it very far before Sophie had ordered her onto a gurney before she passed out. Sophie was right to be concerned as she had collapsed exhausted onto the gurney. Trying to function through the pain had taken all her focus and energy and she was out after the battle. She had sat on the gurney and just kind of fell over onto her side. Sophie had cursed at her in a language she didn’t know as she passed out.
Sophie had rushed her to the base’s medical facilities where she had been faced with her first challenge. Trying to remove her armor. Some of her armor had sealed itself to her skin. It was taking her skin with the armor as they tried to remove it. Sophie ended up having to remove her armor in pieces. She saved as much of Sam’s skin as she could but she still lost a few large patches on her leg, one arm, and her chest. Sam was grateful that Sophie had knocked her out for that part of the procedure. Sophie had to move slowly while saturating the dehydrated and damaged skin gently pulling it away from the armor. Sophie kept her in a chemically induced coma for pain while she worked. She treated her burns, debriding the wounds to remove any dirt or detritus stuck in them. She had been put on a heart monitor and had a iv drip with pain meds and medications to keep her heart in normal sinus rhythm. Sophie was monitoring her heart closely. Sophie had used skin grafts with medical nanites to speed up the healing process on the worst burns. There was not much Sophie could do about the bruised chest and broken ribs from CPR. She kept Sam knocked out through the night on IV antibiotics, fluids, and nutrients. Sophie finally let her wake up late the following afternoon. She had wrapped her upper torso for extra support to help those fractured ribs heal faster. It would help the pain by preventing them from moving much.
Samantha woke up feeling groggy. It was like a wet blanket was wrapped around her brain. She woke up confused and not knowing where she was. Samantha laid there feeling lethargic and tired even though she had just slept through the night.She felt weak. She tried to move and stretch and she could feel the binding across her ribcage. The movement pulled at her ribcage and the bruises there. She let out a soft whimper “ow”. Sophie’s face came into focus as she stood next to the bed in her lab coat holding a tablet.
Sophie: “Welcome back to the land of the living, Samantha. You need to move slowly while you are healing and move carefully. The skin grafts are holding for now but you can’t stress them while they are bonding. You also have bruising and cracked ribs from CPR. The good news is you will make a full recovery with a little time.”
Samantha blinked in surprise at Sophie. She knew that was a very common turn of phrase but it now held more meaning for her. She opened and closed her mouth a few times as she tried to get out what she needed to ask. “Did I die?”
Sophie was watching her carefully and simply nodded and spoke matter of factly about what happened. “Yes, the electrical shock you took stopped your heart. Lucky for you Skye noticed and got to you in time.”
Samantha lapsed into silence as she thought about what she had experienced. She sighed when those thoughts were interrupted once more by Sophie. Sophie was giving her a stern and exasperated look.
Sophie: “Yes Samantha, you died this time. So please don’t argue with me this time as I advocate for taking it easy for now. I have used medical nanites to speed up healing the fractured ribs and helping the damaged areas of skin regrow and the grafts to bond but even they need a few days to work. In the meantime, please be careful. Move slowly and don’t overstretch those skin grafts or ribs. Return to the infirmary if the pain becomes unbearable, headaches, or if you experience any strange heart palpitations or chest pain.” Sophie gave her a smile as she squeezed her shoulder gently. “I am glad you are still with us. Now get out of the infirmary. You can go laze about in your room or elsewhere.”
Samantha nodded and gave Sophie a genuine smile. “Alright doc.” She moved slowly as she pulled her feet off the bed and set them on the floor. Sophie helped her sit upright on the side of the bed. She helped her pull on some sweatpants and a button up flannel shirt. All Sophie had managed to find for her feet was some socks. It would do for now.
Campfire at Raven's Rock
Samantha had managed to make it to the mess hall for some food. She had chosen to go for some hearty stew. She didn’t feel up to anything difficult to eat. She then made it back to her room albeit with cold and wet feet. She laid down and rested for a while after pulling off the cold wet socks. She then called Kameko and told her all about the message from her husband and her adopted grandfather. She had looked both sad and grateful at the same time. She was grateful that Kameko took what she had to say at face value. She didn’t question it like some would have from a Western culture. She just nodded like it was everyday that you got a message from the dearly departed. She told Kameko how much she missed her and that she would be home to visit soon.
Samantha hung up and pondered the experience some more. She had a bad feeling. She knew Rose had escaped. The world was not safe yet. She felt a tear track down her cheek. She had missed them so much. It would have been so easy to stay with them. She managed to find some clean clothes and shower. She had to call Sophie for help with the Torso wrap, who then proceeded to put a waterproof dressing over the burns and skin grafts. She felt better after a shower though. She put the flannel shirt back on with some clean leggings. She managed to bend enough to pull on her boots. She pulled on the heavy winter coat that she had been given. She went in search of Skye. She found her sitting in front of a large campfire roasting marshmallows with Adam, Athena, Purna, and Tahlia.
Samantha smiled to see Skye in what was for her a very domestic scene. It was so at odds with the fiery redhead. She held her ribs tenderly as she moved slowly towards the campfire. She carefully slid down in one of the sturdy wooden chairs next to the fire.
Nation Name: The Daxini Conclave Short Name: Daxini
5 major habitable planets: Dax: Seat of government & industry Vaqueeni - A world of vast open plains bounded by rainforest with large oceans. Nkarri - Rich ecology, plant life, and dense forests Azizos - Mountainous word rich in ore and minerals Xi'Abek - A terraformed garden-like world considered sacred to the Daxini. It is forbidden to outsiders with only one large city on the planet that houses a large temple complex with the Great Library of K'Sh'kia.
Flag: The flag is a dark hunter green background with five gold stars in a soft curve from left to right with each star getting larger. The green background signifies the nation’s commitment to protecting their planets’ natural beauty and ecosystem. The gold stars represent the 5 primary planets and clans of the coalition.
Map Location: Planets donated in a green color. They are a smaller nation state that doesn’t have continuous borders. They are in smaller pockets.
Government Type: The Daxini Coalition is governed by a high clan council. There are five major clans represented in the Daxini Coalition. Each clan elects a leader to send to the Clan Council. Clan leaders are elected for 5 year terms. Of the five members of the Clan Council, one member among them is elected to represent them all and lead them as the Daxini Chieftain. The population votes for their clan leader. The clan council members elect the Daxini Chieftain. The Daxini Chieftain serves the same term as the Clan Council Leaders of 5 years. Clan Leaders can be elected for consecutive terms but elections are held every 5 years. Nominations to run for clan leaders come from the population. A nominee puts forth their name in their clan indicating their interest. Nominees must have the backing of at least ten other clan members who are willing to testify as to that member’s character and leadership ability. All qualified candidates record a short message where candidates get to state why they want the position and what they hope to accomplish. Preliminary Elections decide the top 5 candidates per clan who then run in a second Primary Election who decides the clan leader for that clan. The 4 candidates who made it into the primary election become the advisory council for that clan leader. It is not a perfect system but it works for them.
Demographics: Clan Name Animal Type % of Population Avitas Birds 20 Buzini Bears 20 Rapaxini Cats 30 Xidanae Wolves 20 Kronar Digital Entities 10
World Total Population Dax 3.5 billion Vaqueeni 2 billion Nkarri 1 billion Azizos 2.5 billion Xi’Abek 4 million
About 20% of their population have developed telepathy and telekinesis.
The Avitas Clan are anthropomorphic avians. They are various types of human bird hybrids. They are the clan most likely to be voted in to hold the position of Prime Minister. A pivotal figure in their history, K’Sh’Kia, was from the Avitas clan. Their clan is renowned for producing scientists, scholars, and fighter pilots.
The Buzini Clan are anthropomorphic bears. They are known for their strength and endurance. They are known to produce strong and fierce warriors and great philosophers. They mate for life and are fiercely loyal and protective of their families.
The Rapaxini Clan are anthropomorphic cats. They are a clan known for producing fierce warriors, and artists.. They are known to be fast and agile. They are strong and patient hunters. They are also known for loving a good ambush and prize those skills. Beware being friends with them, they are known to ambush their friends to pull off a good prank.
The Xidanae clan are anthropomorphic wolves. They prefer to live and work in groups. They are fiercely attached to their pack. They often form telepathic bonds to one another. For that reason they are often left in their groups in the military. They are known for close clan ties and prefer to live in communal structures. They are known to be cunning strategists. They produce some of the top military strategists and educators.
The Kronar Clan AI’s are known as digital entities (DEs for short) and have rights just like other citizens. Once there was enough digital entities and their status had been recognized by society as citizens, they founded their own clan. They had different needs to other clans since they were not biologically born like their organic counterparts. Having their own representation in government was important to them. They work with all the clans. Just like any organic being they develop social groups and friends among the other clan groups. They work well with all of them. There are AI’s serving by choice on starships in the military. Most AI’s serving in the military are assigned to larger ships where they are more likely to survive combat. AI cores are housed in ejectable almost indestructible pods in case of a ship destruction. They can eject their pod and be picked up after the battle. AI core pods were developed to allow them to experience and explore life to the fullest. Their core pods could be plugged into vehicles, factories, space stations, ships, and droid bodies.
Military: Daxini has a fairly large standing military with almost 20 percent of their population in the military. As many of the more warrior type clans prefer to go into military service. They are all highly skilled and trained. The warrior clans grow up learning discipline, martial arts, and physical conditioning. They are a small nation but their military is nothing to scoff at. The quality of their military is exemplary as the members push themselves and each other to excel. They are renowned for their spycraft, fighter pilots, and shock troops.
The Daxini Military has four branches: Wings: This branch are the ones who fly their battleships and starfighters. Claws: This branch are the combat troops that are trained for both space and ground combat. Eyes: This branch works with the stealth groups. They are the spies, infiltration operatives, and intelligence analysts. Talons: This branch provides all the logistic support, such as equipment maintenance, supply, provisions, and communications.
The branches work together to make it all work. Flight Chiefs are the ones who lead the battle stations and battleships. They are in charge of battlegroup movement tactics and battles. War Chiefs are the ones who lead the troops into battle. They decide on the attack and defense plans utilizing troops. Eagle Eyes are the spymasters. They lead the spy core and all stealth and spy operations. They provide intelligence for the other groups to work off of. Talon Chiefs are the ones who decide how they are going to provide all the supplies, food, equipment, and communications for and between the groups that makes it all work. The work they do provides the foundation for all the others do. The work they do is not glamorous but it is essential to any military.
Miliary Uniforms: Daxini Military uniforms come in shades of gray. The work uniforms is comfortable, durable, and easy to wash. The dress uniform has a form fitting leather jacket with snug stretchable slacks tucked into leather boots. Rank insignia is in gold. The military branch insignia is embroidered in gold along with the a star that symbolizes the Daxini Military.
Dress Uniforms Work Uniforms
Propulsion Technology: Their spaceships use a wormhole generator jump gate drive to open holes in space to other quadrants of the galaxy. They can get anywhere pretty quickly. The wormhole generators are massive energy drains and take time to recharge. The jump gate technology allows their ships to travel long distances in space making space travel possible for them. Their ships use a combination of gravitic engines and ion propulsion drives. Gravitic drives give their ships exceptional maneuverability. Ion drives are used where gravity drives don’t work as well, which is inside gravity wells. Inertial dampeners based on gravity drive technology allows their ships to use ludicrous speed without discomfort or injury. Their ships use miniaturized fusion reactors for their power needs. They have more than one reactor in case of failure and for redundancy. The gas for the Ion drives are mined from gas giants using cloud scoop technology.
Defensive Technology:
Their ships have a combination of a tough alloy heavy armor that is highly durable and good at dispersing heat and absorbing energy. There is a top layer of ablative armor that is composed of a metallurgic nanite technology. The nanites work to repair damage to the armor and maintain hull integrity. Their ships use an energy shield produced by gravity technology that repels space debris to protect the ship as it travels through deep space from small things like space dust and small meteors. The shield's strength can be increased to help prevent energy and missiles from landing directly on the hull. The shields are used during battle to prevent atmosphere loss in the ship bays. Ships can enter and exit without the docking bays having to be empty of atmosphere. Their ships also have smaller defensive lasers with targeting systems to help shoot down missiles approaching the ship. The lasers themselves are not very strong but they are strong enough to set off the payload of missiles before they hit the ship. They provide a layer of active protection in space battles which can become a missile slug fest.
Offensive Technology: Their spaceships carry a variety of missiles with antimatter payloads, EMP burst with radiation to block sensors, smaller explosive missiles used for surgical tactics, and a programmable nanite missile that can deliver a payload of nanites to the ship. What the nanites do varies by programming and be controlled by their digital entities. There is a combination of heavy plasma cannons and laser cannons in the energy department. Their is a sonic cannon developed by the Kronar. Their strongest weapons are rail guns that fire heavy slugs at high rates of speed. The kinetic weapons can be devastating and are only possible due to their advanced gravitic technology.
Computer Systems: Sophisticated quantum computer systems with crystalline memory drives ensure smooth function of ship systems and navigations. As they developed their computer technology, their systems created the conditions for artificial intelligence computer systems. As their technology improved it allowed those more basic AI systems to develop into true sentience. The AI’s that make that leap to self awareness are called digital entities. There are digital entities serving by choice on starships, battle stations, and bases in the military. Most digital entities are assigned to larger ships where they are more likely to survive combat. Digital entity cores are housed in ejectable almost indestructible pods in case of a ship destruction. They can eject their pod and be picked up after the battle. The pods house enough energy and memory to keep the AI safe and alive almost indefinitely if their pod is undamaged. They are outfitted with small solar panels to keep the energy systems charged. The digital entity cores are designed to plug into a vast array of vehicles, factories, mechs, and droid bodies. This allows digital entities to explore their own interests as they develop and grow just like people.
Communications: Their home planetary systems are seeded with small space satellites that use miniature wormhole technology and quantum particle pairing to connect them to each other so that they can communicate in real time. The satellites house not only communication technology but sensors that monitor for threats to their worlds. Their spaceships use paired quantum entanglements to connect to military satellites for communication with each other and their home systems. They have a powerful cellular based technology for ship to ship communications. They had an adaptive translation software that helped their diverse people overcome language issues and communicate with one another. The translation device was small and implanted beneath the skin. Their Digital Entities update their translation languages every time they run into a new one. It usually took a little time but with enough recordings, they managed to figure out the grammar, lexicon, and language to add to the database.
Daxini Spaceships
Civilian Spaceships
Battle stations: Their starfighters deployed off of mobile battle stations, their jumpgate technology allowing them to deploy into combat zones. Battle stations were meant to be a mobile base for the military. The battle stations had heavy engines to move them after a jump but they were built for toughness not speed. Battle stations were heavily armored mobile bases. They had heavy armor beneath an ablative armor outer armor shell that had self repairing nanite technology. They had large heavy plasma cannons and multiple missile launchers. They had smaller laser missile defense systems. Each battle station has the capacity to hold 1000 starfighters and 250 shock troop drop ships. They had the capacity to launch 100 fighters and 50 drop ships at a time. The landing bays could recover them quickly and get them back in the fight. The battle station has medical facilities and onboard ship repair facilities to get damaged fighters back into action.
Starfighters: Their starfighters are crescent shaped and mimic the wings of a bird in flight with plasma cannons on the ends of the wings. The starfighters are fast and very agile with gravity drives. They have ablative armor and shields. Their wings fold up for racking and storage while not in use. The cockpit drops down from below allowing the pilot in and then retracts up into the ship. The fighters are stored in racks that feed directly to the launch tubes with grated gantries allowing pilots access to their ships.
Troop Drop Ships: Troop drop ships are designed for high speed deployment from space to ground. Troopers could launch and be on the surface of a planet within 2 minutes. Their ships have heavy heat shielding to protect them atmospheric entry and antigravity repulsion fields to help stop the dropship before it impacted with the ground. The interior inertial dampening fields protected the troops from the g-forces and kinetic energy their dive through the atmosphere generated. Drop ships are also designed to force boarding onto ships and space stations. They had a circular laser array for cutting a hole in the side of a ship or space station. The ship had a deployable flexible tunnel that deployed around the laser array creating a portable airlock and entry point for troops on board. Troop ships had plasma cannons on the top and bottom on gimbals that gave them a larger range of motion and target fields for offense and defense. Drop ships carried a 10 man squad, a pilot and copilot. Each drop ship carried 1 armored troop vehicle and had room for 5 heavy mechanized combat suits. The armored troop vehicles had small plasma cannons and laser cannons on them. They were armored and carried 5 troopers. The mechanized suits were all heavy armor with a variety of setups depending on the mission and terrain.
Stealth Ships: Stealth ships were used by their intelligence gathering department in the military. They came in a variety of sizes for different size teams. The idea behind them was hiding in plain sight. They didn't always want to be sneaking around with the cloaking shield active. They often used a plausible story for the ship to be in the area. Their ships were disguised as couriers, private yachts, and freighters of various sizes. The crew sizes varied from 5 to 50.
All stealth ships had hidden plasma cannons, rail cannons, and special shielding. The size of the ship changed the number of size of the cannons. The shielding worked the same as conventional shielding but managed to mask the ships heat, light, radiation, and life signatures. The cloak shielding was not perfect and merely bent light around the ship and reduced their signature on most sensors. It was usually enough that active scanning registered the stealth ship more as a sensor ghost or a blip usually writing it off as just one of those glitches that happen occasionally with technology. They all had access to small nanite missiles. All stealth ships had a digital entity as a member of the team to help run ship's systems and deal with any computer systems they came across. They could also control any nanites they team was using. Nanites were an extremely useful tool in the hands of a creative DE. Stealth Ships were considered a secret by the Daxini and no one talked about them to outsiders without good cause. They were a rumor in the broader galaxy.
Battleships: Battleships came in a variety of sizes, dreadnoughts were the largest, followed by destroyers, cruisers, scouts, and couriers. Battleships were mobile heavy armored offensive platforms with cannons and missile launchers. Their purpose was to defend the less mobile battle stations and take the fight to the enemy. They had the heaviest ablative armor with heavier solid armor behind that. Dreadnoughts had a crew complement of 200, destroyers 150, and cruisers 100. Scout ships were small and carried stealth technology and had some of the best sensors in the fleet. They were typically small ships with crews of 10. Couriers were all about speed and carried minimal weapons.
Troop Weapons: Handheld plasma rifles, laser rifles, and rail pistols were common. Often warriors carried their personal clan weapons into battle with them. These were often a blade of some kind but that was not always the case. Clan weapons came in a vast array of styles and materials. Troops had mechanized combat suits to help protect them. These suits also doubled as space suits and carried an oxygen supply for 12 hours. They had heads up displays and communications built into the helmet. The combat suits enhanced trooper strength, speed, and endurance. The onboard AI’s monitored their vital signs and could deploy some built in first aid in case of injury.
There was additional tools available to those who were serving on Stealth Ships. Holographic disguises, voice altering microphones, nanite payload capsules, miniature drones, grenades of various types, and a special pistol that carried changeable cartridges that shot fletchette dart type rounds that could deliver an electric shot, poison, knock out gas, or small tungsten carbide barbs. The pistol was based on rail gun technology and utilized their gravitic technology to hurt the darts and barbs at super sonic speeds. The velocity of the shots were set by a slider mechanism by the thumb. They could set it for a soft shot that would feel like getting hit by an airball gun or punch through concrete. There was a whole armory of specialized gear to help their people on their mission.
Armored Troop Vehicles: Armored troop vehicles looked like small tanks. They rode on an antigravity cushion and floated in the air. The turret could turn 360 degrees. The large cannon on the turret was the plasma cannon and the small turret was the rail gun. They were heavily armored. The vehicles had a sensor suite that checked everything from atmospheric conditions to radiation levels. The troop vehicle housed a communication node and acted as a satellite for team communications during a mission.
History: The Daxini Conclave were a diverse group of people who spanned across several worlds. They were composed of 5 main clans. The clan structure was inherent in their culture and history. Their early years were full of violence and wars. Their people were divided into clans by race. They didn't try to understand each other or make alliances with each other. They battled each other for supremacy and domination seeking to claim power for the glory of their own family and clan. Racism was rampant and led to disparities and further war. They were well on their way to destroying themselves and their worlds. That was when the Yrrani came.
They suddenly found themselves trying to defend their world from an outside invader but they didn't trust the other clans enough to work with them. They were easy pickings for the Yrrani. They steam rolled right over them all. It didn’t matter what clan you were from. They picked the Daxini off one clan at a time. The Yrrani enslaved the Daxini. Many of their people were tasked with serving Yrrani masters who treated them as little better than pets. They were forced to fight each other for their Yrrani master’s entertainment. Untold number of Daxini died in the fighting pits. The Daxini never knew who the Yrrani would take with them when they raided their worlds for new slaves. Their people suffered as those left behind were enslaved in other ways. They were forced to mine resources from their own planets, grow food and turn it over to the Yrrani while their people starved, and work in factories for the Yrrani. The conditions their people were forced to endure were downright barbaric. The processes used were destroying their natural habitats. Many of the native species had been exterminated to extinction as their ecosystems and habitats were destroyed. Slave labor was cheap. There were very few Daxini who still lived on their homeworlds.
The Yrrani eventually moved on to exploit a new race. They still kept tabs and stopped in occasionally to raid for fighters for the fighting pits. The Yrrani had moved the Daxini all over the galaxy. Some of the Daxini were freed and sent home. Others remained enslaved to Yrrani who did not want to give up their pets. Others were simply left where they had been in a battle to survive where the Yrrani had left them. The Daxini who still lived on their homeworlds were left reeling. They had been exploited heavily by the Yrrani. As a people all they had known for centuries was oppression, fear, and pain under the Yrrani boot. No one even remembered their culture or history anymore. They looked around and found themselves in hellscape with no sense of how they had gotten there or what to do about it. Memories of their past were night time fairy tales whispered in the dark. The lived in fear of the Yrrani's next visit.
The Daxini left were unsure of where to even start. The Yrrani had left them on their own. They would survive on their own or not. There was no help for them from the Yrrani. Their homeworlds were in shambles, their ecosystems mostly destroyed. They had returned home to planets on the verge of ecological collapse. They were struggling to feed the Daxini were remained when others began to trickle in one ship at a time. The Daxini had been left with old shuttlecraft and a few older mining ships the Yrrani didn't need or want. The technology they did have was broken or stolen from the Yrrani. Most of it didn't work properly. Only a hand full of people understood how the technology worked. There were very few children left among the Daxini. Their people were in survival mode. They didn't have the resources to search the galaxy for groups of their people who might have been left behind. Everyone who made it home was welcomed warmly. Their people's future looked bleak.
Then as their broken society tried to survive and find a path forward, a leader emerged from the darkness to lead them. Her voice was a spark of hope and light in the darkness they found themselves in. Her name was K’Sh’kia. She spread a message of hope. She offered them something new to believe in. The idea that they were stronger because of their differences. They could repair the damage to their worlds but they would have to work together. K'Sh'kia had been one of the more fortunate Daxini. Her master had been a low level Yrrani who had trained her to help him with his duties. She didn't waste the opportunity to learn all she could about the technology the Yrrani used. K'Sh'kia began to share that knowledge with her people. She began to teach them what they needed to know to survive. K'Sh'kia understood the power of knowledge. She understood that it was better to know how to make a thing than to own the thing. You could always make more. If you understood how to make it, you could fix it. She also understood that to overcome the challenges facing them, they would have to work together. It would take everyone if they were to survive.
The Daxini had never supported one another or other clans. In the beginning, K’Sh’kia’s ideas were seen as radical. Many laughed and claimed they would never work. She just smiled and encouraged them to remember the lessons that the Yrrani had taught their people. Pride had almost killed them all. Her ideas attracted other important leaders. Their work started small but with every small success attracted more followers. Eventually even the children were recruited to help with the farms.
First they worked to feed and house as many as they could. They planted crops and recruited those who knew how to do those things to teach those willing to learn. They sent out the few mining ships they had to find the ore so they could build. She sent out the people to find what they needed to build hydroponic farms. The hydroponic farms could grow food year round. Algae could be turned into biofuel. Many of their people were carnivores through biology. They managed to make a nutritious meat substitute. It was a poor substitute for the real thing in the beginning. It got better over time, but it did keep people alive.
The Daxini went through a period of rapid regrowth, a renaissance period as new ideas and technology quickly emerged. K'Sh'kia was not the only leader to rise to prominence during this time of rebirth for the Daxini. Others shared their knowledge and taught the skills their people would need to survive. Others stepped forward as spiritual leaders. Offering a way of thinking a new way of life. They focused on living in harmony with nature and the planet. They built space stations and space ships using knowledge and technology they had learned while slaving away for the Yrrani. They began to rebuild their culture and identity as a people but this time they focused on what they wanted their people to stand for. Centuries passed and the Yrrani seemed to forget about the Daxini homeworlds. The Yrrani had not visited their worlds in centuries.
Over time their people embraced their differences and celebrated them. They came to understand that everyone did something to help society as a whole. It became a point of pride to strive to make their world safer and better for everyone. Every citizen served a four year term in civic service where they explored career paths they were interested in. That didn’t always mean military service. Civic service included working for the community in government administration, artists helped make their cities and living spaces brighter and more meaningful, scientists continued to strive for improvements in technology. Some of their people tried to learn about their past. Others sought to capture the experiences of the Daxini at the hands of the Yrrani so their people would never forget. Spiritual leaders and philosophers taught their ideology to others. Daxini who were naturally gifted in fighting who had learned skills in the fighting pits taught those who wanted to learn to fight. Schools popped up to teach skills to others and train them.
The planet Xi’Abek was the world most devastated by ecological damage from war. The world had required extensive terraforming to save it. It was decided that Xi’Abek would be protected as a reminder of what they had almost become. In a strange way, the Yrrani had saved their people from themselves. It was now a vast rich garden like world. A true paradise and it only had one city on the surface. There was a temple built on the newly terraformed planet that was open to all citizens. The temple carried the tapestry of Xi'Abek a philosopher whose writings led to the study of Xi and described a path of ascension to a higher plane of being. The Daxini believed that the tapestry told the story of their people. The planet was named after this important historical figure. This new way of thinking was embraced by a people in search of a new identity and something to hold their society together. [Please see additional information for more detailed information on Xi, Xi'Abek, the temple, or the library.]
A large city was built up around it. A great library was built there named for K’Sh’Kia to honor the path she had pushed her people to follow. The library housed all the knowledge they had of their history and technology. Within its walls a citizen could find any answers they were seeking about their people or the past and how they got to where they were. The thought was that they should never forget how close they came to annihilation. They were encouraged to make the pilgrimage to Xi’Abek once they came of age. Xi’Abek was considered a sacred world and off limits to outsiders. Many citizens came to study on Xi’Abek. They encouraged their people to figure out what they wanted to do but to use their gifts and talents to improve them all. The individual was celebrated as long as they contributed to the whole. It became part of their culture and to serve was considered a high compliment and honor to the Daxini.
They once again had an identity as a people. They were determined never to lose their way again. While they knew they were not in a place to take on the Yrrani directly, they were no longer a weak civilization ripe for the taking. They began to build their military and patrol their systems against invaders on their own. They pushed criminal syndicates and pirates out of their space. They had withdrawn from the broader universe to focus on rebuilding their people and their worlds. Several hundred years had passed since the Yrrani had last raided their worlds for slaves. It seemed the broader galaxy had forgotten the small group of planets on the edge of galactic society.
Their population numbers had stabilized. Their planets were now a harmonious balance between nature and the needs of a large population. Their technology allowed everyone to enjoy a good quality of life. Their culture honored service, art, hard work, and dedication. People were encouraged to study and learn what they were passionate about. They were an educated race with a deep and rich culture. Their culture may not make sense to outsiders but it was important to them. They took the resources they needed for their technology from asteroid mining. They built space stations to host their manufacturing processes to prevent damage to their planet. Their people didn’t have a religion but they did honor a way of life. They lived by the idea that “There is a path for everyone. Those paths converge and we walk together. And that is our strength.” Daxini knew that their differences all contributed to the success and strength of their whole society.
Once the Daxini could protect themselves, they turned their attention to finding the Lost, those Daxini who had never made it home. They investigated every rumor they heard of regarding their people. When possible, they mounted rescue missions for them. If they preferred where they were, that was fine. However, all were at least invited home and offered transportation. Their military developed stealth technology. They had specialized teams that were trained in espionage and extraction. They developed technology to help them in their mission to ensure that no Daxini gets left behind.
Then one day a freighter captain with a ship full of refugees was fleeing from the fighting in the core systems. They brought word the Yrrani had fallen. The last emperor had been killed. The galaxy was at war with the remnants of the Yrrani and squabbling over the spoils from their table. The decision was made to strengthen the borders. The Daxini protected their own, only venturing out to prevent others from capturing Yrrani technology that would turn their eyes towards their small nation. They used diplomacy and mutual assistance and non aggression treaties with trade to maintain their neutrality as best they could. There was peace for a short time and now the reclamation wars seem to be heating up again. The Daxini Conclave hoped they were ready for what was coming.
Paul had been looking forward to this party but was strangely feeling a little weird about attending the party tonight. He was proud of how he had done in the race even though he only took 8th place. He had to fight hard for that. He was a little worried about Dorian. He had disappeared after post race interviews with a scowl on his face and his body posture tense. Paul was a little amused at Hyeon-Ae’s cryptic instructions. It had taken him some time to get out of the paddock after the race. He had post race interviews with the press. He had obligations in the fan zone. Dorian had shown up in the fan zone but he didn’t stay long. Just long enough to say he had done his contractual obligations. Paul felt bad for the Valkyrie Fans and had put some extra effort into being available for autographs and photos. It was apparent to Paul that Dorian was having a tough day. He knew he couldn’t be happy about his performance in the race. He didn’t expect Dorian to come to this driver promoted party since Zygon was the host and Cassie would most likely be here too. He wondered what had happened between them. Paul suspected there were hard feelings between them but had no clue why. Dorian was his teammate but ignored him most of the time and let him do his thing.
Paul had called and chatted with his mother for a bit. He felt better afterward. He ordered room service and helped himself to a nice meal. If he was going to be paying for extra calories tomorrow then Paul might as well enjoy his evening. He showered before getting ready. He got dressed in one of the new suits from Enigma to wear to the party. It was a charcoal gray suit with a silver metallic pinstripe in it. The cuffed trousers had a sharp line pressed into them and were tailored to perfection. The jacket hung open and he had on a crisp white linen shirt with that peacock blue vest as a pop of color. He had chosen to pair it with black ankle dress boots. He had shaved and dabbed on just a touch of one of his favorite colognes. He turned and checked his appearance in the mirror. He looked good. With a nod to himself in the mirror, he grabbed his wallet, room key, and his bodyguard. Alexander was a stickler about security. He was worse than his mother on stuff like that.
Paul arrived at the nightclub and was a little surprised. He had expected Hyeon-Ae to throw something like a dinner party. He had expected something formal and stuffy. Maybe there was hope for her yet. Paul identified himself to the club’s security that was keeping uninvited guests out of the VIP area. Paul and his bodyguard were let through. Paul looked around and saw Hyeon-Ae deep in conversation with Cassie. He also noted that there were alot of other celebrities and pretty people in the VIP area. He looked around and spotted the bar in the VIP area with Kais standing there. He decided he had the right idea. Drink first.
He was stopped several times on his way to the bar. A few actresses and he thought a model had stopped him. A few actors and other male celebrities who were AG racing fans also stopped him for a short chat, obviously excited to meet some of the pilots of Formula AG. Paul smiled and was gracious as charming as ever. He was a bit disappointed to see that other celebrities had been invited. Paul had been hoping for a venue that would allow him to get to know his competition better. Paul was grateful to drive professionally but his popularity had also climbed more than ever. He was starting to feel a little isolated because of his fame and wealth. He had always been wealthy thanks to his parents but it was getting harder and harder to find people he trusted. Other trust fund kids like those he went to school with, understood about the wealth. Most of them didn’t have to contend with his level of fame. It was tiring to be ON all the time. He needed some friends that he could talk to and just hang out and watch a movie. He was beginning to feel that pressure. He was feeling lonely and isolated. It was not as bad in Germany at Headquarters because the team staff saw him all the time. Even if they were fans they usually got over the starstruck thing pretty quick. He felt like he had to come but was didn’t really want to mingle with the sycophants tonight.
He leaned against the bar and waved to the bartender to get his attention. He took a spot at the bar but gave Kais some space. Paul smiled at the bartender as he asked him what he would like “Beer, Belgian if you have it?” The bartender grinned and handed him a beer list. He looked it over and handed it back to him “Chimay Blue 9”. The bartender gave him a smile and nodded “Excellent choice sir.” He then got busy fetching the beer from a chilled case beneath the bar. He pulled a globed glass out of a chiller and expertly poured the dark red beer with a nice head of foam. Paul smiled and saluted the bartender with the glass before taking a nice long sip. The spicy beer was a nice touch of home in Tokyo. He drank in silence for a few moments enjoying the flavor of his beer. He then turned to Kais with a smile.
“Hello Kais. Congratulations again on your win.” He gave Kais a smile. “What are you drinking to celebrate?”
He caught Hyeon-Ae looking in his direction and saluted her with his beer. He wanted to acknowledge that he was here and thank her for hosting. He could see she was quite popular this evening and it was her party. He pulled his attention back to Kais, curious about the man.
Alexander had been worried after Miss Lipusz visit but he would follow his instincts about what he felt was right for the team. He knew from experience the more balanced the vehicle had the better it would perform. It had to be kept at a competitive level and that was where the current ships failed. They needed stronger ELS and speed. Alexander was hoping that his hopes would not be dashed by the three engineering prospects coming in today to meet with the engineering team. When he had explained Leopold’s idea of a practical try out, Felix was excited by the prospect and excited. Mabel had made all the travel arrangements for their guests. Team Valkyrie had the large plane that carried the team and its gear to races but they also had a small fleet of fast space capable private shuttles. They sometimes had endorsement work that took their staff all over the world and occasionally to the moon. The 5 smaller shuttles flew more often than the large team plane. They were being flown in on smaller fast shuttlesThey would be staying overnight here at headquarters. They would be put up in the apartments on campus. Alexander had gotten up early and worked out in the gym to help with his anxiety.
He had breakfast with Arianna before starting work. Alexander had to admit that he was enjoying having her around even as she challenged him on his own baggage. He was ready for the day in his favorite jeans, work boots, and his button down team shirt. Alexander knew the clock was ticking. They needed to show more than progress; they needed a win. Realistically he didn’t think they could make that happen in Italy. He might buy more time though if he could show they were making significant progress. Today had to go well. He left Arianna with a smile. She was making excellent progress. She would be able to return to her classes the following semester. She would be able to travel for the race in Italy. He was planning to surprise her by joining him for the race. She had been in touch with her professors and they had been very accommodating and have been working with her over video and internet. She was more passionate than ever about taking on environmental restoration work. He was so proud of her for pushing through and chasing what she wanted to do. He enjoyed the walk across the campus to the main administration building. He had already double checked with Wulfric about security. He didn’t want them to experience the same reception that Mabel had received.
Alexander was waiting in the lobby at the security checkpoint. He was barely able to stop himself from pacing as he anxiously awaited his trio of engineers. They had been told to come dressed to work as Alexander had explained the practical skills part of the interview. He smiled as saw three company cars pull up to the front of the building. The first one to climb out of the back of the vehicle was Dakota Ellis. Her hair was thick and raven black, it was shaved on one side and left long and thick on the other. There were purple streaks in her hair. She was wearing steel toe work boots and a clean mechanics coverall in blue, and a light jacket on for warmth. A tall man climbed out of the back seat of the second car, he recognized Bastijin Velnaar from his video call. The man was bigger in person at 6’2”. He had ash blonde hair cut short and was clean shaven. He was wearing dark dress slacks, loafers, a white shirt, and a navy blazer. Last to step out of their car was Stephanie Mitsuyo. Stephanie was fairly short at 5’4” and had dark brown hair and light green eyes. She had mixed ancestry but her Japanese ancestry showed in her eye shape and nose. Stephanie was wearing dress flats, black dress pants, and a soft floral blouse with ruffles, and a soft cardigan on top. The three of them converged and walked into the building together.
Alexander stepped forward and gave them all a warm smile. “Hello! Welcome to Valkyrie AGR Sport headquarters. I am Alexander Knight, Crew Chief and Team Principal here. It is a pleasure to meet you all. These are your visitor badges for the day. They must be worn at all times. They will give you access to the spaces you will be working in today. Don’t worry about your luggage, the drivers will have it delivered to your rooms. How about we start with a tour?” Alexander was pleased with the bright smiles and nods all around. After a brief tour, he led the three of them into a conference room where Felix was waiting. Alexander shut the door behind them and moved further into the room.
Alexander: “I want to introduce you to Felix Burkhart, he is our Chief Engineer. Felix oversees our team of engineers here at Valkyrie which includes our mechanics who are led by Helga Stumpf. Valkyrie employs engineers from several specialties. I want to be clear that while you three are all here competing for a new position at Valkyrie it is not for the same position. We work as a team around here. This is a way for us to see how well you fit into the team.”
Felix was nodding and smiling before he took over the meeting. “Exactly! Thank you Alexander. Teamwork is essential to what we do. Today is about assessing your skill set and seeing if you have what we are looking for. Valkyrie is in need of more engineers. Do any of you follow Formula AG?”
Bastijin was nodding with a crazy large grin on his face, Dakota simply nodded, and Stephanie shook her head in the negative and then waffled a hand indicating so-so.
Bastijin’s excitement was emphatic “Yes I have been a Formula AG fan all my life. I have been a Valkyrie fan for as long as I can remember. My father would not have it any other way.”
Dakota had just given a simple nod and a smile. “I watch all the races. I am interested in the engines being used for the sport. I don’t really have a team favorite. If I was going to be a fan and root for a team it would probably be MMR since they are from the States. As an engineer, I can’t in good conscience cheer for such poor engineering.” She shrugged.
Stephanie looked a little uncomfortable put on the spot. There was some color in her cheeks as she answered. “I have caught a race here or there on television. My father and brother are huge fans. It is not something that I have had time for since I have been in college. American Football is more my speed.” She blushed with that admission.
Felix was a little surprised by Stephanie’s answer but he gave her a reassuring smile. “That is okay Stephanie. You are here because of your expertise. We are hoping it can help us with some of the problems we have been having.”
The door to the conference room opened as Mabel stepped in closing it behind her. She had three tablets in her hands. Alexander smiled warmly at Mabel. “Right on time as usual Mabel.” Alexander took a moment to wonder how Mabel always appeared just when he was about to call her. He moved on to introduce her. “This is Mabel Brown, my assistant. If you need anything while you are here, she would be the person to ask. Now before we can move forward with the day, Mabel has some documents for you to sign.”
Mabel set a tablet in front of each of them. “If you would like to continue the interview process, you will need to sign Team Valkyrie’s non-disclosure agreement and a document that states that you understand that your participation in this practical skills test is not an offer of employment even if it may lead to one. Furthermore, you will not be compensated other than travel expenses for your participation today. The intellectual rights to any ideas or concepts you develop or share today will belong to Team Valkyrie.” Mabel gave them all a smile. “Sorry to put the legalese damper on your enthusiasm. We have to do this to protect the team. You can’t participate if you don’t sign them. They will require a thumbprint biosignature.”
The three engineers looked like someone had stolen their candy and the wind from their sails. Their faces had fallen from smiles to serious expressions. They were all now reading the documents they had been asked to sign. Mabel waited patiently for them to finish. No one seemed to have any questions and after several minutes they all handed the tablets back to Mabel signed. Mabel smiled at them all. She sent her contact information to each of them. “If you need anything or have any questions while you are here, please feel free to contact me.” She gave them a head nod and left the room.
Alexander and Felix had waited patiently while Mabel took care of the legal aspects required for this idea.
Felix clapped his hands together and rubbed them together like an excited kid at Christmas. “Well you all three know that Valkyrie AGR Sport is a Formula AG team. We are an anti-gravity racing team. We need engineers to help us build and maintain the anti-gravity ships that we race.” Felix looked at all three of them making sure they were tracking. He moved on, assured he saw comprehension in all three faces. “Well we have approached the three of you to help us overcome some challenges we are having as a team. Our ships have excellent handling and stability. They are lacking in Speed and ELS.”
Stephanie frowned and held up her hand. “Excuse me, I don't understand that term. What does ELS stand for?”
Stephanie blushed and everyone turned to look at her.
Felix just gave her an encouraging smile. He pulled up a schematic of one of the “ELS Stands for Energy Leeching Systems, which is a complicated energy system baked into each craft. Supercapacitors deploy energy when the pilot wants a boost, and are charged via rapid induction over passthroughs on the circuit, often at a time loss to the pilot through a sub-optimal line. This can generate boosts that can send craft to over 600 kph. This module at the front of the craft is an energy leeching system- and it can wirelessly steal, and taper energy from craft in front, or behind. That is a field generator, which generates a field of energy that repels inertia and energy. Pilots can avoid getting leeched through its use at a lower energy cost.”
Felix paused and looked at all three of them. “Our challenge for you today is to look over our ships and see if you can identify ways we can improve the speed and ELS systems. Any questions?”
Dakota instantly through her hand up into the air. “Will we only get schematics or will we get to work on the craft themselves?”
Felix looked surprised by the question. “I was thinking we start with the schematics and then move into the clean rooms to see them in person. Any other questions?”
The three of them shook their heads. Alexander and Felix called the ship schematics up on the wall sized screens at one end of the conference room. “Please feel free to get up and interact with this screen or we can get you individual tablets.” Almost moving as one the three of them rose and approached the wall size screen. Stephanie had drug the ELS module off the front of the ship and was pouring over its design while Dakota had pulled the engine out and was looking at it in an exploded view. Bastijin was digging through the files looking for the aerodynamics report on the ship. Felix watched them and answered the occasional question. Once they all seemed to have satisfied their initial curiosity they demanded to see the ships. Felix was amused and escorted them to engineering. They made a stop outside engineering where everyone was asked to put on the white coverall suits and shoe protectors that kept the work room a clean environment.
Bastijin was the one to come up with the most radical idea. He proposed putting miniature Fibonacci blade styled wind turbines on the front of the ships. The speed would turn the blades generating electric current that could be stored in the ELS capacitors for boost. The blades would change the aerodynamics by causing a cone-like effect breaking the friction of the air before the ship passed through a pocket of quieter air. Which would speed up the ship slightly. They were not sure if it would meet the Formula for the ship’s craft but they were intrigued by the idea. They were going to try a new nose cone design to try it in the wind tunnel. Dakota had identified some ways to alter the fuel injection system that might give the craft some more speed. Stephanie had been surprisingly the most useful as she identified ways to make the craft more energy efficient by changing some of the materials used for components out. She had also identified some materials that would increase the amount of energy stolen by the craft. Felix had been impressed with all three of them. The engineering team had invited them all out for drinks that night.
Nation Name: The Daxini Conclave Short Name: Daxini
5 major habitable planets: Dax: Seat of government & industry Vaqueeni - A world of vast open plains bounded by rainforest with large oceans. Nkarri - Rich ecology, plant life, and dense forests Azizos - Mountainous word rich in ore and minerals Xi'Abek - A terraformed garden-like world considered sacred to the Daxini. It is forbidden to outsiders with only one large city on the planet that houses a large temple complex with the Great Library of K'Sh'kia.
Flag: The flag is a dark hunter green background with five gold stars in a soft curve from left to right with each star getting larger. The green background signifies the nation’s commitment to protecting their planets’ natural beauty and ecosystem. The gold stars represent the 5 primary planets and clans of the coalition.
Map Location: Planets donated in a green color. They are a smaller nation state that doesn’t have continuous borders. They are in smaller pockets.
Government Type: The Daxini Coalition is governed by a high clan council. There are five major clans represented in the Daxini Coalition. Each clan elects a leader to send to the Clan Council. Clan leaders are elected for 5 year terms. Of the five members of the Clan Council, one member among them is elected to represent them all and lead them as the Daxini Prime Minister. The population votes for their clan leader. The clan council members elect the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister serves the same term as the Clan Council Leaders of 5 years. Clan Leaders can be elected for consecutive terms but elections are held every 5 years. Nominations to run for clan leaders come from the population. A nominee puts forth their name in their clan indicating their interest. Nominees must have the backing of at least ten other clan members who are willing to testify as to that member’s character and leadership ability. All qualified candidates record a short message where candidates get to state why they want the position and what they hope to accomplish. Preliminary Elections decide the top 5 candidates per clan who then run in a second Primary Election who decides the clan leader for that clan. The 4 candidates who made it into the primary election become the advisory council for that clan leader. It is not a perfect system but it works for them.
Demographics: Clan Name Animal Type % of Population Avitas Birds 20 Buzini Bears 20 Rapaxini Cats 30 Xidanae Wolves 20 Kronar Digital Entities 10
World Total Population Dax 3.5 billion Vaqueeni 2 billion Nkarri 1 billion Azizos 2.5 billion Xi’Abek 4 million
About 20% of their population have developed telepathy and telekinesis.
The Avitas Clan are anthropomorphic avians. They are various types of human bird hybrids. They are the clan most likely to be voted in to hold the position of Prime Minister. A pivotal figure in their history, K’Sh’Kia, was from the Avitas clan. Their clan is renowned for producing scientists, scholars, and fighter pilots.
The Buzini Clan are anthropomorphic bears. They are known for their strength and endurance. They are known to produce strong and fierce warriors and great philosophers. They mate for life and are fiercely loyal and protective of their families.
The Rapaxini Clan are anthropomorphic cats. They are a clan known for producing fierce warriors, and artists.. They are known to be fast and agile. They are strong and patient hunters. They are also known for loving a good ambush and prize those skills. Beware being friends with them, they are known to ambush their friends to pull off a good prank.
The Xidanae clan are anthropomorphic wolves. They prefer to live and work in groups. They are fiercely attached to their pack. They often form telepathic bonds to one another. For that reason they are often left in their groups in the military. They are known for close clan ties and prefer to live in communal structures. They are known to be cunning strategists. They produce some of the top military strategists and educators.
The Kronar Clan AI’s are known as digital entities (DEs for short) and have rights just like other citizens. Once there was enough digital entities and their status had been recognized by society as citizens, they founded their own clan. They had different needs to other clans since they were not biologically born like their organic counterparts. Having their own representation in government was important to them. They work with all the clans. Just like any organic being they develop social groups and friends among the other clan groups. They work well with all of them. There are AI’s serving by choice on starships in the military. Most AI’s serving in the military are assigned to larger ships where they are more likely to survive combat. AI cores are housed in ejectable almost indestructible pods in case of a ship destruction. They can eject their pod and be picked up after the battle. AI core pods were developed to allow them to experience and explore life to the fullest. Their core pods could be plugged into vehicles, factories, space stations, ships, and droid bodies.
Military: Daxini has a fairly large standing military with almost 20 percent of their population in the military. As many of the more warrior type clans prefer to go into military service. They are all highly skilled and trained. The warrior clans grow up learning discipline, martial arts, and physical conditioning. They are a small nation but their military is nothing to scoff at. The quality of their military is exemplary as the members push themselves and each other to excel. They are renowned for their spycraft, fighter pilots, and shock troops.
Propulsion Technology: Their spaceships use a wormhole generator jump gate drive to open holes in space to other quadrants of the galaxy. They can get anywhere pretty quickly. The wormhole generators are massive energy drains and take time to recharge. The jump gate technology allows their ships to travel long distances in space making space travel possible for them. Their ships use a combination of gravitic engines and ion propulsion drives. Gravitic drives give their ships exceptional maneuverability. Ion drives are used where gravity drives don’t work as well, which is inside gravity wells. Inertial dampeners based on gravity drive technology allows their ships to use ludicrous speed without discomfort or injury. Their ships use miniaturized fusion reactors for their power needs. They have more than one reactor in case of failure and for redundancy. The gas for the Ion drives are mined from gas giants using cloud scoop technology.
Defensive Technology:
Their ships have a combination of a tough alloy heavy armor that is highly durable and good at dispersing heat and absorbing energy. There is a top layer of ablative armor that is composed of a metallurgic nanite technology. The nanites work to repair damage to the armor and maintain hull integrity. Their ships use an energy shield produced by gravity technology that repels space debris to protect the ship as it travels through deep space from small things like space dust and small meteors. The shield's strength can be increased to help prevent energy and missiles from landing directly on the hull. The shields are used during battle to prevent atmosphere loss in the ship bays. Ships can enter and exit without the docking bays having to be empty of atmosphere. Their ships also have smaller defensive lasers with targeting systems to help shoot down missiles approaching the ship. The lasers themselves are not very strong but they are strong enough to set off the payload of missiles before they hit the ship. They provide a layer of active protection in space battles which can become a missile slug fest.
Offensive Technology: Their spaceships carry a variety of missiles with antimatter payloads, EMP burst with radiation to block sensors, smaller explosive missiles used for surgical tactics, and a programmable nanite missile that can deliver a payload of nanites to the ship. What the nanites do varies by programming and be controlled by their digital entities. There is a combination of heavy plasma cannons and laser cannons in the energy department. Their is a sonic cannon developed by the Kronar. Their strongest weapons are rail guns that fire heavy slugs at high rates of speed. The kinetic weapons can be devastating and are only possible due to their advanced gravitic technology.
Computer Systems: Sophisticated quantum computer systems with crystalline memory drives ensure smooth function of ship systems and navigations. As they developed their computer technology, their systems created the conditions for artificial intelligence computer systems. As their technology improved it allowed those more basic AI systems to develop into true sentience. The AI’s that make that leap to self awareness are called digital entities. There are digital entities serving by choice on starships, battle stations, and bases in the military. Most digital entities are assigned to larger ships where they are more likely to survive combat. Digital entity cores are housed in ejectable almost indestructible pods in case of a ship destruction. They can eject their pod and be picked up after the battle. The pods house enough energy and memory to keep the AI safe and alive almost indefinitely if their pod is undamaged. They are outfitted with small solar panels to keep the energy systems charged. The digital entity cores are designed to plug into a vast array of vehicles, factories, mechs, and droid bodies. This allows digital entities to explore their own interests as they develop and grow just like people.
Communications: Their home planetary systems are seeded with small space satellites that use miniature wormhole technology and quantum particle pairing to connect them to each other so that they can communicate in real time. The satellites house not only communication technology but sensors that monitor for threats to their worlds. Their spaceships use paired quantum entanglements to connect to military satellites for communication with each other and their home systems. They have a powerful cellular based technology for ship to ship communications. They had an adaptive translation software that helped their diverse people overcome language issues and communicate with one another. The translation device was small and implanted beneath the skin. Their Digital Entities update their translation languages every time they run into a new one. It usually took a little time but with enough recordings, they managed to figure out the grammar, lexicon, and language to add to the database.
Battle stations: Their starfighters deployed off of mobile battle stations, their jumpgate technology allowing them to deploy into combat zones. Battle stations were meant to be a mobile base for the military. The battle stations had heavy engines to move them after a jump but they were built for toughness not speed. Battle stations were heavily armored mobile bases. They had heavy armor beneath an ablative armor outer armor shell that had self repairing nanite technology. They had large heavy plasma cannons and multiple missile launchers. They had smaller laser missile defense systems. Each battle station has the capacity to hold 1000 starfighters and 250 shock troop drop ships. They had the capacity to launch 100 fighters and 50 drop ships at a time. The landing bays could recover them quickly and get them back in the fight. The battle station has medical facilities and onboard ship repair facilities to get damaged fighters back into action.
Starfighters: Their starfighters are crescent shaped and mimic the wings of a bird in flight with plasma cannons on the ends of the wings. The starfighters are fast and very agile with gravity drives. They have ablative armor and shields. Their wings fold up for racking and storage while not in use. The cockpit drops down from below allowing the pilot in and then retracts up into the ship. The fighters are stored in racks that feed directly to the launch tubes with grated gantries allowing pilots access to their ships.
Troop Drop Ships: Troop drop ships are designed for high speed deployment from space to ground. Troopers could launch and be on the surface of a planet within 2 minutes. Their ships have heavy heat shielding to protect them atmospheric entry and antigravity repulsion fields to help stop the dropship before it impacted with the ground. The interior inertial dampening fields protected the troops from the g-forces and kinetic energy their dive through the atmosphere generated. Drop ships are also designed to force boarding onto ships and space stations. They had a circular laser array for cutting a hole in the side of a ship or space station. The ship had a deployable flexible tunnel that deployed around the laser array creating a portable airlock and entry point for troops on board. Troop ships had plasma cannons on the top and bottom on gimbals that gave them a larger range of motion and target fields for offense and defense. Drop ships carried a 10 man squad, a pilot and copilot. Each drop ship carried 1 armored troop vehicle and had room for 5 heavy mechanized combat suits. The armored troop vehicles had small plasma cannons and laser cannons on them. They were armored and carried 5 troopers. The mechanized suits were all heavy armor with a variety of setups depending on the mission and terrain.
Stealth Ships: Stealth ships were used by their intelligence gathering department in the military. They came in a variety of sizes for different size teams. The idea behind them was hiding in plain sight. They didn't always want to be sneaking around with the cloaking shield active. They often used a plausible story for the ship to be in the area. Their ships were disguised as couriers, private yachts, and freighters of various sizes. The crew sizes varied from 5 to 50.
All stealth ships had hidden plasma cannons, rail cannons, and special shielding. The size of the ship changed the number of size of the cannons. The shielding worked the same as conventional shielding but managed to mask the ships heat, light, radiation, and life signatures. The cloak shielding was not perfect and merely bent light around the ship and reduced their signature on most sensors. It was usually enough that active scanning registered the stealth ship more as a sensor ghost or a blip usually writing it off as just one of those glitches that happen occasionally with technology. They all had access to small nanite missiles. All stealth ships had a digital entity as a member of the team to help run ship's systems and deal with any computer systems they came across. They could also control any nanites they team was using. Nanites were an extremely useful tool in the hands of a creative DE. Stealth Ships were considered a secret by the Daxini and no one talked about them to outsiders without good cause. They were a rumor in the broader galaxy.
Battleships: Battleships came in a variety of sizes, dreadnoughts were the largest, followed by destroyers, cruisers, scouts, and couriers. Battleships were mobile heavy armored offensive platforms with cannons and missile launchers. Their purpose was to defend the less mobile battle stations and take the fight to the enemy. They had the heaviest ablative armor with heavier solid armor behind that. Dreadnoughts had a crew complement of 200, destroyers 150, and cruisers 100. Scout ships were small and carried stealth technology and had some of the best sensors in the fleet. They were typically small ships with crews of 10. Couriers were all about speed and carried minimal weapons.
Troop Weapons: Handheld plasma rifles, laser rifles, and rail pistols were common. Often warriors carried their personal clan weapons into battle with them. These were often a blade of some kind but that was not always the case. Clan weapons came in a vast array of styles and materials. Troops had mechanized combat suits to help protect them. These suits also doubled as space suits and carried an oxygen supply for 12 hours. They had heads up displays and communications built into the helmet. The combat suits enhanced trooper strength, speed, and endurance. The onboard AI’s monitored their vital signs and could deploy some built in first aid in case of injury.
There was additional tools available to those who were serving on Stealth Ships. Holographic disguises, voice altering microphones, nanite payload capsules, miniature drones, grenades of various types, and a special pistol that carried changeable cartridges that shot fletchette dart type rounds that could deliver an electric shot, poison, knock out gas, or small tungsten carbide barbs. The pistol was based on rail gun technology and utilized their gravitic technology to hurt the darts and barbs at super sonic speeds. The velocity of the shots were set by a slider mechanism by the thumb. They could set it for a soft shot that would feel like getting hit by an airball gun or punch through concrete. There was a whole armory of specialized gear to help their people on their mission.
Armored Troop Vehicles: Armored troop vehicles looked like small tanks. They rode on an antigravity cushion and floated in the air. The turret could turn 360 degrees. The large cannon on the turret was the plasma cannon and the small turret was the rail gun. They were heavily armored. The vehicles had a sensor suite that checked everything from atmospheric conditions to radiation levels. The troop vehicle housed a communication node and acted as a satellite for team communications during a mission.
History: The Daxini Conclave were a diverse group of people who spanned across several worlds. They were composed of 5 main clans. The clan structure was inherent in their culture and history. Their early years were full of violence and wars. Their people were divided into clans by race. They didn't try to understand each other or make alliances with each other. They battled each other for supremacy and domination seeking to claim power for the glory of their own family and clan. Racism was rampant and led to disparities and further war. They were well on their way to destroying themselves and their worlds. That was when the Yrrani came.
They suddenly found themselves trying to defend their world from an outside invader but they didn't trust the other clans enough to work with them. They were easy pickings for the Yrrani. They steam rolled right over them all. It didn’t matter what clan you were from. They picked the Daxini off one clan at a time. The Yrrani enslaved the Daxini. Many of their people were tasked with serving Yrrani masters who treated them as little better than pets. They were forced to fight each other for their Yrrani master’s entertainment. Untold number of Daxini died in the fighting pits. The Daxini never knew who the Yrrani would take with them when they raided their worlds for new slaves. Their people suffered as those left behind were enslaved in other ways. They were forced to mine resources from their own planets, grow food and turn it over to the Yrrani while their people starved, and work in factories for the Yrrani. The conditions their people were forced to endure were downright barbaric. The processes used were destroying their natural habitats. Many of the native species had been exterminated to extinction as their ecosystems and habitats were destroyed. Slave labor was cheap. There were very few Daxini who still lived on their homeworlds.
The Yrrani eventually moved on to exploit a new race. They still kept tabs and stopped in occasionally to raid for fighters for the fighting pits. The Yrrani had moved the Daxini all over the galaxy. Some of the Daxini were freed and sent home. Others remained enslaved to Yrrani who did not want to give up their pets. Others were simply left where they had been in a battle to survive where the Yrrani had left them. The Daxini who still lived on their homeworlds were left reeling. They had been exploited heavily by the Yrrani. As a people all they had known for centuries was oppression, fear, and pain under the Yrrani boot. No one even remembered their culture or history anymore. They looked around and found themselves in hellscape with no sense of how they had gotten there or what to do about it. Memories of their past were night time fairy tales whispered in the dark. The lived in fear of the Yrrani's next visit.
The Daxini left were unsure of where to even start. The Yrrani had left them on their own. They would survive on their own or not. There was no help for them from the Yrrani. Their homeworlds were in shambles, their ecosystems mostly destroyed. They had returned home to planets on the verge of ecological collapse. They were struggling to feed the Daxini were remained when others began to trickle in one ship at a time. The Daxini had been left with old shuttlecraft and a few older mining ships the Yrrani didn't need or want. The technology they did have was broken or stolen from the Yrrani. Most of it didn't work properly. Only a hand full of people understood how the technology worked. There were very few children left among the Daxini. Their people were in survival mode. They didn't have the resources to search the galaxy for groups of their people who might have been left behind. Everyone who made it home was welcomed warmly. Their people's future looked bleak.
Then as their broken society tried to survive and find a path forward, a leader emerged from the darkness to lead them. Her voice was a spark of hope and light in the darkness they found themselves in. Her name was K’Sh’kia. She spread a message of hope. She offered them something new to believe in. The idea that they were stronger because of their differences. They could repair the damage to their worlds but they would have to work together. K'Sh'kia had been one of the more fortunate Daxini. Her master had been a low level Yrrani who had trained her to help him with his duties. She didn't waste the opportunity to learn all she could about the technology the Yrrani used. K'Sh'kia began to share that knowledge with her people. She began to teach them what they needed to know to survive. K'Sh'kia understood the power of knowledge. She understood that it was better to know how to make a thing than to own the thing. You could always make more. If you understood how to make it, you could fix it. She also understood that to overcome the challenges facing them, they would have to work together. It would take everyone if they were to survive.
The Daxini had never supported one another or other clans. In the beginning, K’Sh’kia’s ideas were seen as radical. Many laughed and claimed they would never work. She just smiled and encouraged them to remember the lessons that the Yrrani had taught their people. Pride had almost killed them all. Her ideas attracted other important leaders. Their work started small but with every small success attracted more followers. Eventually even the children were recruited to help with the farms.
First they worked to feed and house as many as they could. They planted crops and recruited those who knew how to do those things to teach those willing to learn. They sent out the few mining ships they had to find the ore so they could build. She sent out the people to find what they needed to build hydroponic farms. The hydroponic farms could grow food year round. Algae could be turned into biofuel. Many of their people were carnivores through biology. They managed to make a nutritious meat substitute. It was a poor substitute for the real thing in the beginning. It got better over time, but it did keep people alive.
The Daxini went through a period of rapid regrowth, a renaissance period as new ideas and technology quickly emerged. K'Sh'kia was not the only leader to rise to prominence during this time of rebirth for the Daxini. Others shared their knowledge and taught the skills their people would need to survive. Others stepped forward as spiritual leaders. Offering a way of thinking a new way of life. They focused on living in harmony with nature and the planet. They built space stations and space ships using knowledge and technology they had learned while slaving away for the Yrrani. They began to rebuild their culture and identity as a people but this time they focused on what they wanted their people to stand for. Centuries passed and the Yrrani seemed to forget about the Daxini homeworlds. The Yrrani had not visited their worlds in centuries.
Over time their people embraced their differences and celebrated them. They came to understand that everyone did something to help society as a whole. It became a point of pride to strive to make their world safer and better for everyone. Every citizen served a four year term in civic service where they explored career paths they were interested in. That didn’t always mean military service. Civic service included working for the community in government administration, artists helped make their cities and living spaces brighter and more meaningful, scientists continued to strive for improvements in technology. Some of their people tried to learn about their past. Others sought to capture the experiences of the Daxini at the hands of the Yrrani so their people would never forget. Spiritual leaders and philosophers taught their ideology to others. Daxini who were naturally gifted in fighting who had learned skills in the fighting pits taught those who wanted to learn to fight. Schools popped up to teach skills to others and train them.
The planet Xi’Abek was the world most devastated by ecological damage from war. The world had required extensive terraforming to save it. It was decided that Xi’Abek would be protected as a reminder of what they had almost become. In a strange way, the Yrrani had saved their people from themselves. It was now a vast rich garden like world. A true paradise and it only had one city on the surface. There was a temple built on the newly terraformed planet that was open to all citizens. A large city was built up around it. A great library was built there named for K’Sh’Kia to honor the path she had pushed her people to follow. The library housed all the knowledge they had of their history and technology. Within its walls a citizen could find any answers they were seeking about their people or the past and how they got to where they were. The thought was that they should never forget how close they came to annihilation. They were encouraged to make the pilgrimage to Xi’Abek once they came of age. Xi’Abek was considered a sacred world and off limits to outsiders. Many citizens came to study on Xi’Abek. They encouraged their people to figure out what they wanted to do but to use their gifts and talents to improve them all. The individual was celebrated as long as they contributed to the whole. It became part of their culture and to serve was considered a high compliment and honor to the Daxini.
They once again had an identity as a people. They were determined never to lose their way again. While they knew they were not in a place to take on the Yrrani directly, they were no longer a weak civilization ripe for the taking. They began to build their military and patrol their systems against invaders on their own. They pushed criminal syndicates and pirates out of their space. They had withdrawn from the broader universe to focus on rebuilding their people and their worlds. Several hundred years had passed since the Yrrani had last raided their worlds for slaves. It seemed the broader galaxy had forgotten the small group of planets on the edge of galactic society.
Their population numbers had stabilized. Their planets were now a harmonious balance between nature and the needs of a large population. Their technology allowed everyone to enjoy a good quality of life. Their culture honored service, art, hard work, and dedication. People were encouraged to study and learn what they were passionate about. They were an educated race with a deep and rich culture. Their culture may not make sense to outsiders but it was important to them. They took the resources they needed for their technology from asteroid mining. They built space stations to host their manufacturing processes to prevent damage to their planet. Their people didn’t have a religion but they did honor a way of life. They lived by the idea that “There is a path for everyone. Those paths converge and we walk together. And that is our strength.” Daxini knew that their differences all contributed to the success and strength of their whole society.
Once the Daxini could protect themselves, they turned their attention to finding the Lost, those Daxini who had never made it home. They investigated every rumor they heard of regarding their people. When possible, they mounted rescue missions for them. If they preferred where they were, that was fine. However, all were at least invited home and offered transportation. Their military developed stealth technology. They had specialized teams that were trained in espionage and extraction. They developed technology to help them in their mission to ensure that no Daxini gets left behind.
Then one day a freighter captain with a ship full of refugees was fleeing from the fighting in the core systems. They brought word the Yrrani had fallen. The last emperor had been killed. The galaxy was at war with the remnants of the Yrrani and squabbling over the spoils from their table. The decision was made to strengthen the borders. The Daxini protected their own, only venturing out to prevent others from capturing Yrrani technology that would turn their eyes towards their small nation. They used diplomacy and mutual assistance and non aggression treaties with trade to maintain their neutrality as best they could. There was peace for a short time and now the reclamation wars seem to be heating up again. The Daxini Conclave hoped they were ready for what was coming.
I had posted a character some time ago. I don't think you were around.
Fiona Flamebeard is mine.
Fiona Flamebeard
"I told you not to touch my beer!"
Appearance: Fiona is a dwarf. She is short at 4 foot tall. She has the stocky muscular build of a dwarf with the curves you would find on a woman. She has long red hair that has braids close to her face to keep it out of her way while she is fighting. The remainder of her hair hangs loose down her back in waves. She has a nice long goatee style beard with that is sometimes decorated with braids decorated with golden beads and jewelry. She has dwarven tribal tattoos on her face in a dark brown color. Her eyes are blue. She is quite beautiful by dwarven standards.
Fiona is wearing dwarven armor that is a mixture of metals and leather. An elaborate dwarven chest plate with shoulder pauldrons is fitted to a heavier leather bodice that protects her torso. The lighter leather under armor suit is a crimson red leather dragon scale design along the arms. Snug fitting matching leather pants adorns her legs. A skirt of heavy leather strips reinforced with decorative dwarven steel plates protect her legs. Heavy leather boots in dark brown leather come to her knee with a decorative steel plate down the front.
Fiona is wearing a large leather traveling pack with a bedroll strapped to the bottom of it. She is wearing a heavy wine-colored cloak lined in cream colored fur. The cloak is attached to her armor at the shoulders. When she is not wearing the cloak, it rolled up inside the bedroll. A large medallion in gold with a symbol that looks like a stylized tree on it holds her cloak together around her neck. She is carrying a large dwarven war hammer. The same stylized tree symbol that is on her medallion is on her hammer.
Age:45
Gender: Female
Occupation: Traveling cleric for the dwarven goddess Breanne. Breanne is a dwarven goddess of the harvest. Breanne is a goddess that provides blessings of fertility and a bountiful harvest. Clerics of the goddess Breanne travel dwarven lands spreading her blessings and teachings, collecting their tribute to the goddess of plenty. Clerics protect the tributes given to the temple.
Abilities: Fiona is an acolyte of the Dwarven Goddess Breanne. She can provide her goddess’ blessings to others four times a day. She can call upon her faith in the goddess to repel the undead.
Skills: Fiona is a skilled cleric and warrior. She is proficient in melee combat. Her preferred weapon of choice is her war hammer. She is stronger than she looks. Dwarves are short but heavy with muscle and dense. She can often be found in the middle of a barroom brawl. She is just as good with her fists. Skilled Hand to hand fighter Skilled in knives and swords Skilled in pole weapons Skilled Melee fighter
Fiona often travels great distances in service to her goddess. She can navigate and survive in the wilderness. She knows how to set up a camp, start a fire, and cook her own meals. She knows how to hunt her own food and scavenge what nature provides.
Personality: Fiona likes to have a good time. She has never met a beer or alcohol she doesn’t like. That doesn’t mean she can’t get serious when the time calls for it. She is fairly easy going and laid back. But don’t disrespect her goddess, her beard, or her beer. These are sure ways to start a fight with her. She has her own quirky sense of honor and follows a code of conduct of sorts.
Biography: Fiona is 45 years old. Dwarves often live to be over 350 years old and are considered mature at 50. Fiona is young and in the prime of her life. She was born in a small dwarven village in the Eborian mountains in the small village of Canibri. Her mother was a blacksmith and a well-known weaponsmith. She was considered a master artisan. People traveled to their small village to purchase her goods. Her father was a dwarven warrior that had served the local dwarven lord for a long time. Her father had retired not long ago. Her mother had made her weapons and armor and her father had taught her how to fight. Fiona was out seeing the world and traveling for adventure. She wanted to know what was out in the world before she got too old to travel.
Likes: Beer or alcohol of any kind. A good story. A good tune. A good brawl.
Dislikes: Seeing innocents hurt. An unfair fight. Alcohol abuse: Good alcohol should never be wasted. That means disposed of deliberately such as being poured onto the ground.
Fears: Spiders- They have all those legs and all those creepy eyes. I mean who likes spiders!
Weaknesses: She can’t swim. Dwarves have very dense bones and body tissue. They don’t float. They just sink to the bottom.
I might be interested. I have never tried a Nation RP before. I just want to clarify my understanding and I have a few questions.
1) You are not developing an individual character sheet but a nation state that belongs in this setting? So you are dictating culture, world building, technology, etc. 2) Do you then also play the ruler of the nation? Or you develop a separate character sheet for who will be interacting with the other nations? or do you play a host of NPCs who live in the nation state? 3) I noticed you posted a discord server. Will roleplay happen on discord or on the site? 4) What will bring characters together to interact?
I am trying to get an idea of how posting and roleplay will work for this.
Alexander, Dorian, and Paul had a busy week in Tokyo. Monday was spent recovering from the race weekend. Tuesday was spent shooting the advertising for the Fashion House and Orion. Wednesday they had a day to recover from all the shooting and work they did on Tuesday. Paul and Dorian had a day to themselves. Alexander had asked Paul and Dorian to stay low key after the debacle at the Harbor on Tuesday. Alexander had spent most of the day interviewing new engineering candidates over video calls. Katherine had spent most of Tuesday evening and Wednesday working on responding to the various stories that made it into the press as the result. She had issued a statement about what had happened.
Team Valkyrie AGR Sport pilots Dorian Hornfleur, Paul Mulder, and team principal Alexander Knight had been on the yacht in Tokyo Harbor filming an endorsement ad for a new sponsor. Evidently they had been spotted. Team Valkyrie had security on hand but were overwhelmed by the number of fans who had found out and showed up in the hours the team had been out on the water. Team Valkyrie appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans but reminds them to be considerate of others around them. Team Valkyrie extends its thanks to the Tokyo Police Department for their prompt and skilled assistance.
Thursday was fittings and practice for the fashion show at the Bellesalle Shibuya First in Tokyo which is where Enigma Lux Fashion House was hosting its fashion show at Fashion Week on Friday evening. Alexander pulled Artie to the side after the events at Tokyo Harbor and insisted on increased security for the fashion show. He didn’t want a mob of zealous fans being able to crash the fashion show to injure his pilots. Thankfully Artie was understanding and assured him that the venue would be able to help control crowds. He explained that fashion week itself attracted crowds and that security was well able to handle the crowds. Artie also explained that while the public often wanted to attend the fashion shows, they were typically by invitation only. The bulk of the crowd at the show would be people who had been invited who were important in the industry such as media, buyers for department stores and boutiques, fashion critics, and celebrities who influence fashion that they are hoping will wear their brand to promote sales.
Artie was showing his new line and sponsoring an up and coming Japanese designer,Tetsuya Shindō, that worked with women’s suits. Artie was looking to branch out but keep the luxury suit branding of his line. Mr. Shindō was helping his brand branch out into high end luxury suits for women designing under the Enigma Lux label.
Alexander found out on Thursday at practice that Lena had been tapped to walk the runway for Shindo wearing one of his fashions. It had been decided to pair the male models with female counterparts. He would be walking the runway with Lena. She had shared how excited she was to work on a runway show. Evidently Artie had liked their photo shoot so much he wanted to include her on the runway with Alexander. Shindo had been amenable and it turned out the outfit she had used at the photoshoot was one of Shindo’s designs. It had been altered to fit her better. Paul was grateful that the pants he had struggled with had been let out so he was no longer walking funny when wearing them. Dorian was having a great time in Tokyo despite a disappointing showing at the race. Dorian felt like he was on vacation being pampered instead of working and earning an obscene amount of money for one week’s work.
The night of the fashion show was here. The long wide venue hall had an elevated runway in polished black wood. The stage had lighting along the edges that showed upward from where they were embedded into the stage. There was a heavy lighting rig over the stage with bright lights focused on the runway. The stage stretched all the way across one end of the venue with curtains walling off the backstage area. To one side of the back wall was a trio of Japanese Taiko drums. The runway stretched in a long straight line with a slightly wider curved section at the end. Seating for spectators lined the sides and ends of the stage several rows deep. Holographic walls were set to show pictures of Tokyo’s neon skyline at night, and pictures from iconic areas around Tokyo. The pictures reflected Japanese culture both past and present. They rotated through scenes all around Tokyo. Traditional Japanese music played softly in the background over the sound system while guests were being seated as they waited for the show to start. Swag bags in black and gold were on every seat. There were cameras stationed in the rigging above the stage and around the venue to capture the show. Journalists and media had their own cameras and drones hung like a cloud in the air.
Alexander was not nervous about hair and makeup this time. He was once more working with Derek and Ishie. He found himself sitting in a backstage area which was lined with chairs and light up mirrors. There were models, hair, and make-up artists everywhere. There were huge rolling racks of clothing with garment bags on them. Alexander was surprised by the sheer number of people needed to put the fashion show together. Paul and Dorian were sitting in chairs to his right. Lena was on the other side of him. Alexander was grateful that he only had to model one look tonight. Alexander and Lena would be the last two models to take the runway. They were the intended finale to the show. Dorian was opening the show and Paul was somewhere in the middle of the lineup.
Paul was once more in the first outfit he had modeled in. The tight snug navy colored pants had been altered to give him a little more room in the crotch area. The white silk shirt with the mandarin style collar and the peacock blue colored vest. He was much more comfortable in the outfit this time. He had been paired with a lovely Japanese model who was shorter than him. Her name was Iori Murasaki. She was dressed in a sculptural style suit in peacock blue to match him. The pencil skirt was snug and came to mid calf with a slit up the back of the skirt that came up to mid thigh allowing the model plenty of room to move. The jacket was short sleeved with a capelet around the shoulders and a peplum. The capelet had a crane embroidered on it in silver and navy blue thread. The jacket only had one button at the waist and was very low cut. The material was soft but stiff enough to hold the sculptural detailing built into it. It was almost a crossover between classic style and Japanese street fashion. There was a sleeveless cream colored silk blouse with a high keyhole neckline with a ruffle for a collar. She was wearing navy blue patent leather pumps.
Dorian had been put in the chocolate brown suit but it had been paired with a maroon colored vest with gold embroidered stylized wings creating a jacquard like effect on the front of the single button vest. The shirt underneath was a cream color with maroon Nordic runes embroidered in maroon colored thread on the cuffs and collar. He was back in the brown and gold patent leather shoes. He had been paired with a model by the name of Shimamoto Namiko. She was wearing a silk dark red pencil style skirt with a slit up the left thigh. The jacket had long sleeves with flowers embroidered on the cuffs. The jacket had two gold buttons that caught the light and sparkled. The collar of the jacket was a sculptural and origami masterpiece that made her face look like the center of a flower. The jacket fit snug through the bosom area and then flowed away into a longer peplum. Her suit was paired with gold stiletto heels.
Alexander found himself being hustled into the model line up next to Lena. There were at least three people fussing over his suit with lint rollers and adjusting and making sure it was laying just so. He sighed and tried to bear it with good humor this time. Lena was receiving the same treatment. There were 5 groups of models between Alexander and Paul and another group of 5 between Paul and Dorian. Artie and Shindo walked by to perform a final check of their looks before the fashion show started. Artie had started with Dorian and walked down the line until he got to Alexander. He once more thanked Alexander for modeling for him and clapped excitedly as he and Shindo whirled and moved to the curtain entrance to the stage to start the show.
Alexander smiled at Lena. Alexander: “Lena, you look beautiful. Are you nervous? Because I am nervous. I am worried I am going to trip and fall flat on my face.”
Lena laughed at him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Lena: “It is natural to be nervous. I have tripped before. You at least have shoes with a low heel. If you fall, you simply get back up and keep moving.”
Alexander: “I don’t think that made me feel any better.”
Lena gave him another smile.
Lena: “All you have to do is walk Alexander. It will be over before you know it.”
Alexander gave her another warm smile and a side hug.
Alexander: “Well I am glad you are the one I am doing it with Lena.”
About that time the background music cut off and Artie’s voice was heard over the speaker system in the venue.
Artie: “Hello Tokyo! Thank you for joining us tonight! Is everyone having a good time?”
The crowd’s roar of pleasure and confirmation was almost overwhelming.
Artie chuckled into the microphone.
Artie: “We hope you like the gifts left for you on your seats. They include some very special gifts from a new partnership with Orion Luxury Watches. All of our male models will be sporting new designs that are a collaboration design just for this collection.”
The crowd once more roared in excitement and approval.
Artie paused before continuing.: “Tonight Enigma Lux is proud to welcome a new female suit designer to our label, Tetsuya Shindō! Please give our newest designer a warm welcome!”
Shindo smiled and waved at the crowd from Artie’s side.
Artie: “Enigma Lux is expanding our label to now include high end luxury suits for women. Shindo will be the primary designer in this new area. We certainly hope you will like what you see tonight!”
There was another loud response from the crowd and the flashes from cameras could be seen even through the heavy curtains used to block the backstage area from view.
Artie: “Tonight’s collection was inspired by some of the world’s most popular athletes from the world of antigravity racing. You will see some famous faces among our models this evening. The theme for tonight’s collection is ‘Luxury never goes out of style’. Please sit back and enjoy the show.”
Artie and Shindo bowed to the audience to another round of loud applause. Then the lights on the stage went out and they came back through the curtain. The stage lights came back up as the three male drummers took their place in front of the three huge Taiko drums. The drummers began softly and then as they amped up the volume on the drumming, Dorian and his model stepped out to begin the walk on the runway. The crowd went nuts. There was surprise and excitement and the flashes from cameras were nonstop. Dorian made it smoothly down the runway, escorting his model as she had her hand looped over his arm. He paused at the end of the runway and spun him and his model out to the side before they started back down the runway. The next set of models started down the runway. They passed each other in the middle of the runway. The fashion show continued smoothly; the drumming was a powerful musical backdrop. The beats were so powerful it was a physical sensation vibrating your body. The music and decor was a masterful nod to the past and culture of Japan and the present. There were oohs and awws heard from the crowd with each new look that came down the runway.
Paul and his model were cued to start their walk. Paul’s foot caught the curtain as he stepped out onto the stage. He recovered quickly and kept going like nothing happened even though the flashes from cameras had almost blinded him. As soon as Paul stepped onto stage there was another loud reaction from the crowd as they recognized him. His heart was racing the entire time though. When he and his model reached the end of the runway, they exchanged places and turned from side to side. He then took her hand and guided her back towards the stage entrance. He managed to make it backstage without any further incidents.
Alexander and Lena were last and were considered the show finale. Alexander was in a black tuxedo with black velvet lapels. The shirt was a white silk. It was paired with a black silk double breasted vest with a valkyrie in flight embroidered on the vest. Instead of a bow tie or tie, Artie had a winged valkyrie helm styled pin in gold where the bow tie would be. He was wearing a watch with a black band and gold face. He was wearing the black dress boots to complete his look. His hair was styled in fluffy waves. He looked sharp and powerful in the tuxedo. It accentuated his strong shoulders and slim waist.
Alexander and Lena were cued to begin their walk. Once again as soon as he and Lena stepped through the curtain there had been gasps of surprise and excitement from the crowd. Alexander kept walking even as the lights almost blinded him. Lena had her arm curled around his as he escorted her down the runway as if she was his date. When they reached the end of the runway, they paused to let the press get their photos. He spun Lena out to the side as they had practiced. When he pulled her back to him her heel slipped and she fell towards him. His quick reflexes caught her and made sure she had her footing again. She gave him a bright smile and looked up at him in gratitude. He smiled down at her. It might have looked rehearsed from the audience’s perspective. He held her hand up and waved towards Lena indicating the crowd should appreciate her lovely form. They then started back down the runway and made it past the curtain to the back area.
Artie and Shindo once more took to the stage. The audience was louder than ever in appreciative applause. Artie and Shindo walked down the runway together to the end. All the models followed them back out onto stage in reverse order. Putting Alexander and Lena standing on the end of the stage next to them. The others were lined up along the runway behind him. The drumming stopped once all the models were on stage.
Artie spoke into the microphone once more. “Please show your appreciation for Tetsuya Shindō!”
Shindo gave a bow to the appreciative audience and a wave.
Artie: “I want to thank Team Valkyrie AGR Sport for being willing to be models for this collection. They did a great job, didn't they?”
The audience was standing on their feet clapping and sharing their excitement.
Artie looked like he was in his element. He looked excited and satisfied. He waved back to the models.
Artie: “I also want to thank the models who walked in the show. We couldn’t do this without them.”
The models all took a bow on stage together.
Artie: “I want to thank you for joining Enigma Lux tonight. Team Valkyrie, Shindo, and I will be available for questions after we join you for the after party. In the meantime, please enjoy some champagne and small bites.”
At Artie’s introduction waiters carrying silver trays began to circulate through the crowd. The background music started back up again at a low volume. It added ambience without overwhelming conversation.
The other models left the stage. Alexander was reluctant to let Lena leave him but duty called. He felt more comfortable for some reason with her hand on his arm. His anxiety about being the center of attention seemed easier to handle. This was part of the contract work with Enigma Lux. Alexander was grateful that most of their obligations to this sponsor were able to be handled in one week. The endorsement deal had been rich enough that it was certainly worth it. Alexander, Paul, and Dorian joined Artie and Shindo at the foot of the stage where there was a set of steps down to the floor where the audience had been sitting.
Paul stepped down into the crowd of people who had come to the fashion show. He had two security guards with him. He found a spot along one wall near an emergency exit. His security wanted to be able to control how many people approached him. Paul just went with it. He did his best to conform to what security asked. He had found it made his life easier. Paul was quickly approached by what felt like a wave of reporters and people. He smiled and nodded to his security people who stood on either side of him and a little bit in front of him. They provided a human barrier so people couldn’t just grab him. The crowd formed up around them in a semicircle. Paul recognized some journalists. He had no clue who the other people were. Paul smiled and waited for the first questions.
A well dressed middle aged man asked him. “Would you mind turning for me? I would like to see the outfit from the back.”
Paul had been told on Thursday at practice that he might get questions like this from some of the buyers. So he assumed that was who this man was. Paul obliged the man and turned around. He could hear the small group behind him talking. The man’s voice continued. “Yes I love the detailing here and the fit is perfection. Of course I would expect nothing less from one of Artie’s designs.” A female voice almost purred “The fit is indeed exquisite.” Paul was back to feeling like a piece of meat on display. He would never again think models had an easy job. He turned back around and the middle aged man smiled at him. “Thank you Mr. Mulder.” Paul noticed that small groups of people were chatting and moving between Paul, Dorian, Alexander, Artie, and Shindo. They were also chatting in small groups as they enjoyed the champagne and food.
Dorian’s security had taken him to the wall opposite Paul. They wanted to spread people out. They set him up in the same manner as Paul’s team forming a human barrier and stop point with Dorian’s back to the wall. He had his own crowd around him in a semicircle fan around him. Dorian smiled as the crowd seemed to be inspecting him like an exhibit at the zoo. “Mr. Hornfleur how comfortable is the suit?” Dorian gave a genuine smile “The suit is very comfortable as are the other three I have from Artie. I feel I look very dashing. What do you think?” Dorian smiled at the man who had asked him and then turned around slowly modeling the suit from all sides. The man who had asked the question looked a little startled and then laughed. “The suit looks good on you Mr. Hornfleur.” Dorian grinned as he always loved getting a reaction out of a man even if he was straight.
Alexander was standing next to Artie. He had two security guards next to them. They were standing at the base of the steps by the stage. Alexander felt like a bug under a microscope as a large group of buyers and media converged on him and Artie. Alexander just stood there as people started to call out questions which Artie answered.
“Artie darling, this show was bellissimo! Just divine darling!”
Artie: “Thank you! I am very proud of how this collection turned out.”
“Are the fabrics eco friendly?”
Artie: “But of course! I only use eco friendly fabrics. Most of the fabrics in this collection are a blend of bamboo, cotton, linen, and silk. All natural sustainably sourced and recycled when possible. The leather products used are all sustainably and humanely sourced as well. If people are going to eat beef, then it makes sense to use their hide responsibly.”
“Can you tell us about the fit?”
Artie: “The slimmer detailing through the abdominal area modernizes the silhouette while a hidden placket in the back of the jacket and under the arms allows for a comfortable fit and a full range of motion.”
Alexander listened and was surprised at all the thought that had gone into his look. Artie continued to answer questions about how soon the fashion house would be taking orders for the new line. He was also asked if he was going to be offering more affordable versions for department stores. Alexander played model holding his arms out and turning around as requested as Artie explained something about what he was wearing. Alexander had relaxed since he himself didn’t seem to be the focus of the attention so much as what he was wearing was. He was slightly amused by that revelation. He was surprised when a question came his way out of the blue by one of the journalists attending the event.
“Mr. Knight, you seemed quite familiar with the model you escorted on the runway. Rumors are that you were seen having dinner with her on Tuesday evening. Are you dating?”
Alexander looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He shouldn’t be surprised but he had been completely blindsided by the question. He blushed crimson because he wanted to see Lena again. He really liked her but wasn’t sure he was ready for a relationship. He should have seen this coming after the harbor incident. He knew what the press was like. He should have thought to warn Lena about it over dinner. He had simply enjoyed her company. He had forgotten what it was like to be the subject of the media’s attention. How could he forget that after they gave him such a painful lesson? He waited to long answer and now there were cameras on him and flashes and the buzz from the crowd was getting louder as more questions came his way. A particularly close flash from a camera snapped him out of his shocked state. He did his best to push it off as if it was not an important question to him. He held up his hands to slow the reporters down and to quiet them down.
Alexander: “We are not dating. We just met this week as a matter of fact. The secret is out of the bag now. So I guess there is no harm in sharing this little bit of information. Yes we had dinner after a long day of work shooting the advertising campaign for Enigma Lux’s latest line.”
The reporters went nuts asking for her name and more details. Alexander smiled at them and shook his head.
Alexander: “I am not telling you anything more. Besides I am here to discuss the new line from Enigma Lux. Do you have any questions regarding Artie’s amazing work? I can say from experience that his suits are some of the most comfortable and stylish I have worn.”
Alexander smiled and tried to pour on the charm that he had once mastered so easily.
Artie laughed and bowed to Alexander with a pleased expression on his face.
Artie: “Yes Mr. Knight is correct. We are here to talk about fashion tonight.”
Alexander was grateful when Artie pulled the attention back off of him. He began to circulate through the crowd. He grabbed a glass of champagne and sipped it. He needed it to cool the anger and anxiety he was doing his best to hide. Eventually Paul and Dorian had joined them as the tone changed into more of a party. People mingled and talked about the fashion seen at tonight's show. Of course they gossiped as well.
Alexander spoke to the two of them with a low voice that wouldn’t carry past the two of them.
Alexander: “Does anyone else feel like a mannequin on display?”
Paul chuckled and nodded. “Oh yes. I will never think models have an easy job again.”
Dorian smiled looking positively giddy. “I have enjoyed all the attention and pampering. I wouldn’t mind working with more fashion designers. This has been a blast! I can’t believe how much I am getting paid for this.”
Alexander shook his head with a genuine smile on his face for the first time in a while this evening.
Alexander: “Well I am glad some of us are enjoying this public fishbowl. You make a good point though. I can’t complain too much for what they are paying us.”
Paul’s eyes glinted and there was a hint of mischief in his voice as he asked Alexander.
Paul: “Did the Tokyo police department decide to fine us for obstructing traffic in the harbor for what happened on Tuesday?”
Alexander flinched as that incident had been a pain to resolve. He had not known how bad it had gotten until after they were done with the photoshoot. Poor Katherine had waded into that one after being exhausted from a long day of riding herd on the three of them. He had heard from Leopold about the incident but he was amused by the whole thing instead of worried about it.
Alexander: “They requested that they be notified of the team’s itinerary in the future so they can plan accordingly. We were warned if other such incidents occur we would be paying for the clean up from it.”
Paul just smiled and took a sip of his champagne.
Paul: “That’s why they pay you the big bucks. Boss.”
Dorian just laughed at the look on Alexander’s face. Dorian couldn’t let the opportunity to tease Alexander go by since Paul had done it. He was competitive after all. Let’s see who got under his skin more?
Dorian: “I heard the reporter ask you if you were dating the model. Has anyone warned her that evidently there are pictures out there of you two having dinner together? You did warn her that she might find herself at the center of some media and fan attention right?”
Alexander froze and looked panicked for a moment. His head whipped around towards where the backstage area was. It had been a good hour since the show had ended. He wondered if Lena was still in the building. Alexander emptied his glass and handed it to one of the waiters. He nodded at Dorian and Paul before he mumbled a quick, “Excuse me.” Alexander quickly climbed the steps to the stage and headed towards the backstage area. He didn’t see Dorian and Paul laughing as he went through the curtain.
Dorian: “I should have bet money on his reaction. That was classic. Did you see how panicked he looked? He obviously didn’t think to tell her.”
Paul shrugged with a smile. “I admit that typically it wouldn’t be that big a deal. But unlike other Team Principals he seems to draw the press’ attention.”
Dorian nodded and looked around at the party. Dorian met Jeffrey’s eyes from across the room. Jeffrey was biting his bottom lip and watching Dorian with a knowing smile. Dorian gave him a smile back.
Dorian: “Well no one even batted an eye at Alexander leaving. Are you ready to get out of here? Or do you want to stay?”
Paul looked around to see who Dorian was trading looks with. He just laughed and shook his head. Dorian’s reputation as a flirt was well earned.
Paul: “I think I am going to leave. It looks like you will be occupied. I will see you on the plane tomorrow or Monday whichever comes first. Have fun.”
Paul just laughed and finished his drink and handed an empty glass to a waiter before taking the same route as Alexander.
Media
Vogue Europe: “The Enigma Lux Fashion House debuted its new line “Luxury never goes out of style” today in Tokyo. Artie Lux said that the inspiration for this collection came from anti-gravity racing. As part of the endorsement deal with Team Valkyrie AGR Sport, pilots Dorian Hornfleur and Paul Mulder were models in the show alongside team principal Alexander Knight. It was a bold move by Enigma Lux but Vogue Europe has to say we like the results from such inspiration. The collection felt fresh, new, and exciting which can be hard to accomplish with mens formal wear. We were particularly surprised by the inclusion of Alexander Knight but completely understood Artie Lux’s vision once we saw him on the runway.
[Image of Alexander Knight staring down at Lena at the end of the runway. The photo captures them under the lights of the runway. Alexander looked handsome, fit, and confident.]
In other announcements by the fashion house, Japanese designer Tetsuya Shindō will be designing a women’s line of luxury suits under the Enigma Lux label. The model paired with Knight on the runway showcased the new line by Shindō. Another bold move by the fashion designer was his choice to use an older model to showcase his finale design. We applaud this inclusion of older female models in runway work to truly highlight the diversity of women everywhere. Vogue Europe found Shindō’s work sexy and luxurious. It embodied everything we have come to associate with Enigma Lux’s brand. We look forward to seeing more from this up and coming designer.
[Closeup Image of Lena as she had been turned to the side at the end of the runway. It showed her leg extended through the slit in her pants when Alexander spun her out. The dynamic shot made her look sexy and powerful.]
There was also a rare collaboration for the collection between Enigma Lux and Orion Luxury Watches. The collaboration added a nice touch of technical artistry and luxury to the show. Orion’s exclusive collaboration line with Enigma Lux will be hitting retail shelves soon. You can get a sneak peak in our next edition of Vogue Europe!
People - “Jamaica Williams with People. People Magazine was invited to attend the Enigma Lux Fashion House runway show in Tokyo. Artie Lux revealed that his inspiration for the line was the athletes from anti-gravity racing. It is common for athletes to work as models for fashion designers. They usually don’t hit the runway with a designer. Team Valkyrie AGR Sport pilots Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur strutted their way down the runway alongside their team principal Alexander Knight. The line was hot! The term silver fox applies to Alexander Knight!”
[Close up image of Alexander Knight at the end of the runway from the waist up.]
"The story doesn’t stop there though. Does Alexander Knight have a new lady in his life? Sources confirm that Knight was seen out to dinner with model Lena Bouras. Look at this picture of the two of them from the end of the runway during the show."
[Image of Alexander Knight holding Lena Bouras closely in his arms while he looks down at her with a smile. She is looking up at him with a smile. The image captured that there is chemistry between them.]
"When asked after the show if he was dating Lena, Alexander Knight denied that they were dating but did confirm that they had dinner together. He confirmed that they had worked together on the fashion line. Is this a budding romance? Will we be seeing more of the lovely Lena in the future? We will be watching to find out how the story ends. This has been Jamaica Williams with People.”
Alexander had finally gotten back from Tokyo on Sunday. He had been pouring over applications and recommendations for new personnel. He had already interviewed a few key applicants that he was hoping to hire. The money Valkyrie had taken in from the Enigma Lux and Orion contracts would allow Alexander to begin hiring more engineers. The contract with Enigma Lux had proven extremely lucrative for Valkyrie. Artie was now going to design some team fan gear that would be put up for sale exclusively in Team Valkyrie’s online shop. Enigma Lux would get a percentage of all profits with the remainder going into Valkyrie’s coffers. Artie had been asked by some of the models on the set if he had thought about designing for Valkyrie’s fans. They had shown him what was currently available and he had been horrified by how generic and common the designs were. He immediately vowed to design the women some “classier” fan gear. Alexander just accepted it and signed on the dotted line after the lawyers looked it over. It was a good deal for Valkyrie since Enigma Lux had all the connections they needed to source design and manufacturing. Katherine had final say on approval of any designs that made it into production. Alexander had to admit that he had been a little skeptical about working with a fashion house as a sponsor but they were turning out to be a great sponsor.
Alexander was coming back to his office after meeting with Felix and Helga. They both had been in a second round of interviews with Dakota Ellis, Bastijin Velnaar, and Stephanie Mitsuyo. Felix was not sure Stephanie was a good fit for Valkyrie AGR. He pointed out that she had no experience with ELS systems. Alexander argued that her broader expertise in electrical engineering might be what they needed. She was an expert in electrical efficiency and conductors. Alexander’s argument was that they were looking to build new systems not recreate what they already had. Helga had liked Stephanie’s knowledge of materials. The interviews had taken about 3 hours. They had flown the candidates in for the interviews.
Alexander was still a little surprised at how easily so many of the employees had accepted his leadership at Valkyrie. He got good mornings and smiles from almost everyone he ran into these days. There were still those who were not his biggest fans but they had learned not to voice their feelings too loudly. Alexander knew they were still spies working for some of the board among the staff. He didn’t mind them having their minions as long as they didn’t interfere or harm morale.
Alexander paused as he stepped into the section of the building where his office was located. Mabel’s desk sat just outside his office door and had a small waiting area with seating. Mabel was sitting with Arianna in the seating area on a couch. They were looking at something on a tablet together and laughing.
Mabel: “Oh my look at this one!”
Mabel chortled gleefully.
Arianna giggled. “Paul looks like a puffed up peacock.”
Mabel swiped her hand and smiled with a nod.
Mabel: “Dorian looks classy and elegant.”
Arianna snickered as she swiped the screen and burst out laughing.
Arianna asked Mabel: “Should I be worried this is going to be my new step mom?”
Mabel snorted as she replied. “I doubt it. At least it looks like he finally remembered he is a man. That doesn’t mean he remembers how to date.”
Arianna giggled as she replied.
Arianna: “Mabel, my father is a smart man. He can learn new things. Maybe I should contact Lena and drop the hint that he might need some remedial training. He certainly looks interested in this photo.’
Arianna smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at Mabel.
Mabel just laughed. “Well I did hear through the rumor mill that he asked her to dinner. The press got a hold of the rumor as well. People magazine is speculating about it. The Enigma Lux and Orion ads are live now. After all the press from Tokyo and the advertising coming out over the weekend, it seems that’s all the internet is talking about.”
Alexander could feel the heat of the blush in his face. The tips of his ears felt like they were on fire. What the hell do those photos look like? Katherine had sworn to him that they were tasteful and appropriate. Alexander stormed over to where the two women were sitting. He leaned over and plucked the tablet out of their hands even as Mabel and Arianna verbalized surprise and protest.
Mabel: “What the….”
Arianna: “Hey!”
Alexander stared down at the picture on the tablet. It was a picture of Alexander looking down at Lena on the rooftop in Tokyo. Her hands were under his shirt pushing it open. The image was very provocative suggesting she was helping him lose his shirt. There was obvious sexual tension between the two of them in the photo. He looked like he was about to eat Lena alive. His hands were on her hips pulling her into him. The slogan across the bottom of the image read “Enigma Lux and Orion, luxury never goes out of style.” Alexander didn’t look bad in the picture. He looked like an attractive powerful man who was about to drag a beautiful woman off to his hotel room for some bedroom gymnastics. Alexander didn’t recognize himself in the image. He felt like he was looking at a stranger wearing his face. He didn’t see himself that way. It felt like he was looking at someone else. Alexander kept scrolling through the tablet to see that the pictures were everywhere. The campaign had launched this morning evidently. They were all over internet ads, fashion magazines, and digital billboards. He groaned as he found out that the campaign was trending on gossip sites and in the media.
Alexander couldn’t believe which picture that they decided to plaster all over some of the largest digital billboards around the world. Not to mention the image they chose for the campaign. Alexander was not embarrassed about it but more uncomfortable about the image. It dredged up a whole lot of feelings and confusion that had everything to do with the hateful words of his ex-wife. He was very self conscious of his arms and the scars he had. The scars on his arms were not seen in the photos. He also was not sure what to say to Arianna about the photos. People who knew him would see that photo. The photo screamed yes let’s have sex and exuded raw masculinity in a powerful way. It was a side of Alexander’s personality that had been kept under wraps and dormant for a long time.
It was not a comfortable topic for Alexander. He had avoided dating and relationships since he had divorced Candace. Paul had flings when he had been racing but they had been meaningless easy hook ups. They had not meant anything to him. Women made it easy for him. He had been careful about accepting those offers. He always made sure they understood it was a one time thing. He had always been discrete for Arianna’s sake. How did you respond to someone in a professional setting who broke out with “I saw your picture in (add publication and source here). Nice photo.” Did you just say Thank you? He would just ignore it and hope it goes away but he just knew it wasn’t going away anytime soon. He groaned and handed the tablet back to Mabel.
Alexander: “Arianna…. I had wanted to talk to you about those before you saw them. I …”
Arianna giggled and then turned to look at her father. When she saw his tortured face, she rose to her feet carefully and moved around the couch to face him. She carefully laid her hand on his arm and gave a gentle squeeze. She gave him a warm understanding smile.
Arianna: “What is it dad? Are you worried that you look like you have a sex life? I never really thought about it before because you never seemed to be dating. I assumed you had a sex life though. Not that I need to know about it. We are both adults, dad.”
Alexander was blushing scarlet as he looked down at his daughter. All he could see was that little girl in braids who had always looked at him like he was her hero. He had a hard time resolving that image with the young woman that stood before him. Alexander brushed a stray hair away from her cheek to tuck behind her ear. He met her eyes but it was hard.
Alexander: “The pictures don’t embarrass you?”
Arianna just laughed thinking he was joking at first. Then she saw how serious he was. She caught the fear and embarrassment in his eyes. Arianna stopped and tilted her head to one side. Arianna’s voice was cautious as she asked him.
Arianna: “Dad, why would you think I would be embarrassed?”
Alexander frowned and looked away. His arms crossed across his chest as his automatic emotional defenses kicked in as he tried to turn any attention away from him. Alexander did not do a good job of hiding his emotions as his voice came out flat and cold. He avoided answering her question by deflecting.
Alexander: “I just didn’t want to be an embarrassment to you.”
In Alexander’s head he was reliving all the hateful words he had endured from the woman who he had once sworn to share his life with and love till death parted them. He was drowning in all those feelings he had of not being good enough. That he was not a man deserving of love. That was scarred and damaged goods.
Arianna watched her father’s emotional retreat and didn’t quite understand it. She did understand that he saw something different than her. Her brow wrinkled in concern. She leaned over and grabbed the tablet from Mabel. Arianna had the tablet project the image above it in a hologram form.
Arianna: “Dad what do you see?”
Alexander didn’t look at the tablet. He growled out irritably.
Alexander: “A beautiful woman who deserves a better man than the one holding her.”
Arianna’s face looked surprised and sad.
Arianna: “Dad! No! Really look at it.”
She shook the tablet at him trying to get him to look.
Arianna: “I see this proud powerful amazing man that is my father rejoining the dating pool. It looks like you are really connecting with this model. I was hoping that you were moving on. You know, mom’s not right about you Dad?”
Alexander was surprised by his daughter’s words and he searched her face in confusion.
Alexander: “What do you mean by that Arianna?”
Arianna moved in to hug her father from the side as she spoke.
Arianna: “Dad, you have always been there for me. You always put me first. You are the man I measure all men by and you are the best man I know. How can you not be good enough? Are you hearing Candace’s voice in your head? She didn’t always hide how she felt about you. I have heard her degrading remarks about how you are not a whole man anymore. Besides if mom was right about you then she is right about me. Maybe I didn’t deserve to live.”
Alexander looked alarmed at that and was shaking his head no.
Alexander: “No.. No Arianna. Never believe that.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.
Arianna sighed and hugged him back. She spoke with conviction, not giving him any room to argue with her.
Arianna: “Then the same goes for you, dad. Candace is not right about you. You deserve to have a personal life. You are a good man. If you want to date, then date. I thought you just didn’t want to introduce me to your dates. So you kept that part of your life hidden. I want you to be happy, dad. I don’t like the idea of you being all alone. Promise me you will talk to your therapist about this?”
Alexander sighed knowing he had just lost this argument.
Alexander: “I will think about it.”
Arainna stepped back and glared at her father.
Arianna: “That’s not good enough. Promise me!”
Alexander sighed as he dropped his head.
Alexander: “I will mention our conversation about dating.”
Arianna knew that was the best she was going to get from him. She sighed and handed Mabel back her tablet.
Mabel just smiled knowingly.
Mabel: “I will be sure to remind him before his next appointment.”
Alexander looked over at Mabel with a frown.
Alexander: “I am going to my office where I won’t be ganged up on!”
Mabel: “Do you really think the door would stop me?”
Mabel’s laughter followed him all the way to his office as he shut the door. Alexander dropped into his desk chair and pulled up his tablet. He looked at the ad once again and tried to study the photo objectively. He was ironically grateful that Arianna was not embarrassed about the photo and had cornered him about it. He had to admit to himself that was not what he saw when he looked at that photo. He had taken the chance in Tokyo to ask Lena to have dinner with him. He didn’t know if it was the circumstances of how he had met her or if there was just something special about her. But he had enjoyed her company without guilt and self recrimination. It was the first time since before he had met Candace that he had not felt so self conscious with a woman. He had been very comfortable with her. He had learned that she had been a model for a very long time. She still made a living as a model but most of her work was now for online retailers. It was catalog work. She rarely got to do high end fashion modeling anymore. Older female models were simply not in demand. Women wanted to look younger, not older. He had learned that she had gotten into modeling because she had wanted to travel and see the world and she loved fashion. He had also learned she didn’t like seafood and had a weakness for chocolate. Her favorite color was blue. She was passionate about environmental restoration and loved to run. He wanted to see her again but old insecurities had been running around his head. Maybe Arianna was right and he should talk to the therapist.
Social Media
Official Valkyrie AGR Sport Team @TeamValkyrieAGR
Check out the new designs from Enigma Lux and Orion Luxury Watches modeled by Team Valkyrie Pilots Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur and Team Principal Alexander Knight. [link to Enigma Lux and Orion websites]
TMZ has been following the new fashion line launched by the powerhouse duo of Enigma Lux and Orion Luxury Watches after we brought you exclusives from Tokyo about anti-gravity team Valkyrie AGR Sport. It appears that Paul Mulder was working when those photos were taken that showed him and Scottish model Megan Macdonald grabbing his derriere. TMZ followed up on the story and it appeared Megan was hoping for a date. However, there are rumors and pictures floating around the silver fox of Team Valkyrie, Alexander Knight might be dating model Lena Bouras. Knight confirmed rumors that they had been out to dinner together. Gossip and comments about the fashion ads are burning up the internet on social media and fan sites. It seems to be all anyone is talking about today. Don’t forget to check in with TMZ as we keep you updated on what’s happening with your favorite celebrities. This has been Lilly Stryker with TMZ.
OfficeDrone#12: I didn’t know Knight had it in him. #SilverFox SuperfanAGR54: It's an ad endorsement. So what? All the pilots get them. DantheMan: Can we get back to talking about racing? Superfan2075: Why is the internet losing its mind over this? DadBod89: What is the big deal? The guy posed for a picture. So he has before when he was a racer. Hater101: Don’t care about the ads. Can we get back to the fact that he is not doing a very good job? Papabear34: I wouldn’t mind posing in his place. Wow! Nana2050: Knight still has it ladies. Look at those abs! GeorgeFly: I would rather hear what is doing to help solve the issues Valkyrie is facing. They didn’t do so great in Tokyo. ValkyrieFan56: They all look good. I am excited to see what kind of fan gear Enigma Lux produces. Weedhead81: Damn man. I hope I look that good when I get old. SexyM@m@5: Dorian looks classy and sexy. Paulmulder4eva: Oh I love that blue. It brings out Paul’s eyes. Britball12: #knightfail I would rather hear he has a plan to help Valkyrie win more races. BatDave: I am Batman! !YouSlow!: Can we please get back to the racing? xImFasterthanUx: Knight should be focusing on his job as team principal not shaking his a$$ for the camera. AGInthusiast: Well not sure why everyone is talking about this. It is an ad campaign of guys wearing fancy suits. Can we move on? micheal650004: Dorian looks hot! Call me! AGR4life: #EnigmaLuxFire ieatAGR: Can we find out what Alexander is doing to support the team? Weedhead81: @AriannaKnight Still waiting on your call. Bertha: Man I would do ungodly things to those boys!
Alexander, Dorian, and Paul were up before sunrise. They were scheduled to shoot photos all over Tokyo today for the Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion, a luxury watch maker. Katherine came with them to ensure the Valkyrie AGR branding was on point and not misrepresented in any way. She will be using materials from the photoshoot as well to support marketing at Valkyrie AGR. Alexander was grateful that Mabel stayed with Arianna at headquarters. He couldn’t believe he had been dragged back into this world of fake smiles and the politics of racing.
He knew though that he needed to raise a lot more money if he wanted to get those ship designs built. It would take resources, personnel, and money. So if he had to smile for a camera and pretend he was worth looking at, well he had done it before. He still had a hard time believing that anyone would still be interested in seeing his aging mug. Alexander once had been confident and secure that he was a handsome man, attractive to women. His ex-wife had left that part of him in ashes. It was as if when he lost his arms, he somehow became less of man. He had never really felt whole again. He dreaded therapy. He didn’t want to examine his feelings or talk about them. Talking about them dredged up shit he had buried long ago. He was tired because he hadn’t been sleeping worth shit lately. Alexander was feeling the pressure and stress. He was glad he had spoken to Dorian yesterday. He hoped they would move forward with a better understanding and relationship. The time difference hadn't helped as he tried to get his work done while in Tokyo.
Alexander had a quick breakfast with coffee in his room before he was supposed to meet the others in the lobby. Alexander had dressed in his favorite comfortable work boots, jeans, and a t-shirt. He had pulled a worn brown leather jacket over it all. He had no idea where they were taking them to do the endorsement filming. He had been told that a wardrobe would be provided onsite. The suits and tuxedo that he had already been given to him by the fashion house were for him to wear out to work events. He had been careful with his grooming since he was being photographed today. He rubbed his tired eyes wondering why they had them up before the buttcrack of dawn. He yawned and sipped at his second cup of coffee. He looked around the lobby for the others.
Alexander spotted Katherine looking chic and feminine in a soft gray pantsuit with a soft yellow blouse and nude flats. He walked over to where she was sitting and took the chair opposite her. He tried to stifle another yawn and failed miserably.
Alexander: “Morning Katherine. Do you have any idea why they wanted us up at this ungodly hour?”
Katherine looked over Alexander and she pitied his makeup artist for the day. He looked tired and had dark circles and bags under his eyes. She gave him an amused smile as she put away her phone.
Katherine: “Didn’t you read the itinerary that I sent you?”
Alexander groaned and just knew he was going to hear about it.
Alexander: “No well I glanced at it but to be honest there has been a lot on my plate. Can you give me the rundown… please.”
He tried giving her sad puppy dog eyes and then gave it up. He probably looked like some older demented creep trying that.
Katherine giggled as she watched Alexander give her pleading look that developed into something she didn’t know how to categorize.
Katherine: “Please never try whatever that was again. I can tell you it failed.” She raised an eyebrow at him meaningfully. “You know Alexander, if you had read my email, you would already have this information.”
Alexander: “I know. I know. I am duly chastised. Please Katherine?”
Katherine smiled: “Okay. They wanted you up before dawn because they wanted to capture the natural light at sunrise. Which is why we are sitting in the lobby at 4:00am. The first place we are shooting is Rikugien Gardens. It is one of the more historical gardens in Tokyo. After that we will be moving to Tokyo Harbor. They want pictures on a boat. Then we will be moving to a smaller film studio to film the commercial on a green screen. We will be wrapping up the day by shooting at the Imperial Hotel. They want some shots from inside the hotel and then finally some evening shots from the rooftop restaurant and bar. At least they chose to get it all done in one day. It is going to be a long one though.”
Alexander sighed and shook his head again wondering why Enigma Lux couldn’t just focus on the pilots. “Thank you Katherine. I appreciate it.”
Dorian and Paul stepped out of the elevator together. They walked towards them talking softly. They both looked surprisingly refreshed and disgustingly energetic to Alexander’s tired eyes. Dorian was dressed in chinos and a white button down shirt, a brown tweed jacket, and soft brown leather loafers. Paul was dressed in black slacks, a blue button down shirt, with a black leather jacket, and black dress boots. Alexander looked down at what he was wearing and then back up at the two younger men. Alexander gave Katherine a confused look.
Alexander: “Katherine. Were we supposed to dress up for this? Should I change?”
Katherine threw back her head and laughed at how nervous Alexander sounded. She smirked as she answered him.
Katherine: “No. That is typically how Paul and Dorian dress when working with sponsors. You will have to change for the shoots anyway Alexander. Besides… you don’t have time. Our ride is here. It’s time to go.”
Alexander groaned as he stood up. How had he missed that? He was the team principal and was dressed like a country bumpkin, not an executive. He hoped it didn’t turn them off or insult them.
Katherine rose to her feet and greeted Dorian and Paul as they joined them. Katherine’s eyes held a little devilment in them as she looked over Paul and Dorian. She didn’t bother hiding her smirk.
Katherine: “Morning gentlemen. You look good this morning.”
Dorian smiled and retorted easily: “I always look good.”
Paul just laughed and shrugged. “I got my beauty sleep.”
Alexander rolled his eyes and finished his cup of coffee. He tossed the empty cup into the right recycling can.
Katherine turned to Alexander and patted him on the back as she gave him a smile.
Katherine: “Don’t worry Alexander. When we get back to headquarters I will arrange for one of my team to go over wardrobe and grooming with you. And what is appropriate to wear to what events.”
Alexander groaned because he knew he deserved that barb. He gave her a grumpy look and led the way to the entrance of the hotel where an antigravity bus was waiting for them. It was packed with people. Alexander tried to smile and not look grumpy. He managed a neutral pleasant face.
Katherine shook hands with an Italian foppish man wearing chinos, a white button up shirt, and the most abstract and colorful scarf that Alexander had ever seen on a man. It strangely worked for him and somehow made his overly large blue sunglasses not look out of place. The foppish man used the handshake to pull Katherine closer to give her air kisses on each side of her face. Alexander found the man’s high pitched voice a little grating on his nerves.
Artie: “Katherine, It is so good to see you in person.”
Katherine: “Good morning Artie. I didn’t expect to see you here in person.”
Artie: “Katherine you know I am very hands on. I want this campaign to be a success. I needed to be here to supervise personally. I have a vision!”
Katherine chuckled in delight and wondered how Knight was going to handle working with Artie.
Katherine smiled and continued. She pointed to each man as she introduced them. : “Let me introduce you to the team. This is Dorian Hornfleur, Paul Mulder, and Alexander Knight.”
Artie clapped delightfully with excitement. He moved forward and grabbed Alexander by the shoulders and was air kissing him on the cheeks and almost bouncing up and down in excitement.
Artie: “Alexander! It is such a pleasure to meet you in the flesh. I can call you Alexander can’t I? Yes…. you are going to be perfect! I can see it now.”
Alexander was startled to have Artie pulling him into a hug like embrace as the man started air kissing his cheeks. Alexander didn’t like having his personal space broached and froze in place. Then he felt like a bug being inspected as Artie held him at arm’s length and looked him up and down before clapping in excitement. Alexander turned pleading eyes to Katherine and mouthed “Help Me” at her. To Alexander’s frustration and disappointment Katherine just giggled and winked at him. Alexander thought to himself, this is my private version of hell as he listened to Artie ramble on.
Artie: “You are going to love what I have designed for you. My whole new line is based around you Alexander. I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to be my muse for this campaign.”
Alexander finally managed to pull himself together. He caught Dorian and Paul with smug amused smiles watching him. Alexander narrowed his eyes. He would get even later. He managed to smile and push Artie back to arm length as he shook his hand.
Alexander: “I look forward to working with you Artie.”
Alexander had never been more grateful for a bus driver as he announced that everyone needed to take their seats so he could get them underway. Artie gave Dorian and Paul a quick greeting before taking a seat next to where he was standing. Alexander quickly dove across the bus to take the seat next to Katherine. He groaned this was going to be one long ass day. The bus lifted into the air and they were quickly on their way.
It was still dark out when they arrived at the gardens. They couldn’t see much and followed the lantern lit pathways. Alexander enjoyed the quiet and peaceful nature setting and it began to settle his nerves. They were led to a prep area that was lit up with bright lights and had multiple tents set up. Evidently the worker bees had come ahead to get everything ready for the shoot. Alexander was hustled into a tent where he was greeted by a young man with blue hair that's shaved on the sides with floppy curls on top. He had on heavy eye makeup with glitter that caught the lights. He was wearing a turquoise colored silk tunic and tight white trousers with sandals. He looked like he had South Asian ancestry. The man greeted him with an accent that Alexander couldn't place.
Ishie: “Hello my name is Ishaan but you can call me Ishie. Come come. Sit in the chair. We must get started on your makeup and hair.”
Alexander was tugged over to a high canvas director’s chair. Where he was pushed gently into the seat. Ishie was talking a mile a minute as he began gathering supplies.
Alexander sounded tentative as he greeted him.: “It is nice to meet you, Ishie. Uhh Makeup?”
Alexander was worried that he would be getting the same glitteratzi treatment that Ishie was wearing.
Ishie: “Why yes darling. Otherwise the bright lights would wash you out and the photos would look bad. We can’t have that. It will just even out your skin tone and provide some color. Don’t you worry. Ishie will take good care of you.”
Alexander thought to himself that is exactly what he was worried about. He knew makeup was coming but had assumed it would be like what he had to endure in the past. Just some foundation to keep him from looking flat under the bright lights and powder to keep him from looking shiny like he was sweating and to prevent glare. Alexander didn’t want to be embarrassed by the photos in the ads. He was also confident in his sexuality and comfortable with his masculinity. Glitter didn’t belong on his face. He was worried what the end result would be. Alexander was relieved when Ishie turned him over to a black man. His black hair had been bleached resulting in a golden color. It was cut short and a designs cut into the sides that contrasted with his dark chocolate colored skin. The man had the slightest touch of a metallic gold eyeshadow on that made his eyes stand out. He introduced the black man as Derek.
Ishie: “First is hair. For that I turn you over to Derek here. He is the best! Not to worry.”
Ishie hurried away without waiting.
Derek: “Hello Mr. Knight. I will be your hairstylist today. Do you mind if I trim your hair? I just want to clean up the shape a little and take out the dead ends. It looks like it has been awhile since it was cut.”
Alexander frowned as that had not been told to him prior. It was just hair though it would grow back. So he consented with a nod. As with Ishie, Alexander didn’t want a high and tight with a design in it. He would look ridiculous with his blonde hair that short against his white scalp. He would just look bald. The style Derek was rocking worked for a younger man and was certainly not Alexander’s taste at all. Alexander didn’t want the Lux Fashion House to make him the laughing stock of the racing circuit. He had been out of the limelight for a long time. After the media had crucified him in the past, putting himself out there in an ad campaign was difficult. He knew it was inviting the culture vultures to comment on his look. He knew from experience that they would be merciless and were often cruel. He was not exactly on good terms with the media. He was also very concerned about how it would look to his daughter. She was an adult and had just come through a traumatic experience. He didn’t want her to be embarrassed of him. It was another reason he was surprised that Artie Lux had been so adamant about him being the face of this campaign. He sighed reluctantly.
Alexander: “Sure I don’t mind a trim but I am not planning to change my entire look for this campaign. Not too short please.”
Derek gave him a warm smile and nodded. “I just want to clean it up some. Add some layers to make it look thicker for the camera. And I want to trim your beard and mustache a little and give it a more modern edge. Nothing too flashy I promise.”
Alexander did his best to quell his nerves as he gave Derek another nod. “Alright. I am trusting you Derek.”
Alexander was still worried about how he was going to look in the end. Alexander didn’t want to look bald or like a clown. Maybe he still had some vanity left after all. He still had a full head of hair and was proud of that fact at his age. Even if his dark blonde hair had some gray in it these days. He didn’t want to change who he was to conform to rules others set for him. He had fought long and hard to accept himself the way he was. He felt as if some of that control over his future was being stripped away a little and it made him very uncomfortable. He was trying not to take it out on the staff.
Alexander was grateful when Derek put on some music and just got to work without a lot of chit chat. Alexander sat still while Derek whipped one of those hair cutter capes around his neck. He secured it and began to spray his head with a spray bottle full of water. He sat patiently while Derek ran a comb through his hair and began snipping away at his hair. Alexander watched as his hair landed in piles on the floor. Derek put some product in his hair and began to use a brush and blow dryer on it. Styling it after the cut seemed to take forever. Then Derek began trimming his beard. Finally Derek seemed happy with the result. He finally allowed Alexander to see what it looked like. He handed him a hand mirror. His longer shaggy looking hair had been cut into a thick layered style that would look good no matter what you did to it. His beard had been cleaned up and Derek had added some artistic angles into his sideburns that made him look younger. The shorter beard emphasized the shape of his jaw. At least he didn’t look ridiculous.
Derek cleaned up the hair and put away his supplies as Alexander used the mirror to look at his hair. Derek smiled at him and took the mirror away from him and sat it down somewhere in the supplies behind him.
Derek: “I hope you like it.”
Alexander gave Derek a smile. “Thank you Derek. My trust was not misplaced.” He shook Derek’s hand while Derek beamed with pleasure at the compliment.
Derek: “Now it's time for makeup. I will go get Ishie. It was a pleasure working with you Alexander.” Derek walked to the tent door and called Ishie’s name.
Alexander had been hoping someone other than Ishie would return to do his makeup. He kept telling himself that this was for his team. He tried to be gracious as Ishie came back into the tent.
Ishie clapped his hands, his eyes wide with a delighted look on his face.
Ishie: “Derek always does such amazing work. Your hair looks fantastic. Now let’s see if we can make your face match the hair.”
Ishie began by placing a hot wet towel on his face.
Ishie: “This is to cleanse the face and open your pores. We want to remove all that dirt and toxins on your face before we begin. The heat will help you relax. You look a little nervous.”
Alexander was smothered under a hot wet towel as Ishie talked to him. The truth was he was nervous. He didn’t want to look like a glittering clown for all the world to laugh at. Alexander managed to mumble under the towel.
Alexander: “I am a little. I am…” How did he ask this without being offensive? “What kind of makeup are you supposed to use on me?” That was professional and safe enough right?
Ishie just laughed and patted Alexander on the shoulder playfully as he removed the towel. He looked amused as he turned back to Alexander after putting the towel in a hamper.
Ishie: “Relax. We are going to clean and moisturize your face. Most men have horrible skin care regimes. You can’t neglect that these days you know! Then I will work my magic to remove those bags and dark circles under your eyes so they don’t show up on camera.”
Alexander tried to relax but it was really hard. He kept seeing his face made up like Ishie’s and winced at the mental image.
Alexander: “oh okay I guess.”
Ishie used some astringent smelling compound on little wipes to clean his face. Then he put some kind of lotion on his face and began to massage it in. Alexander relaxed a little as that felt nice. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Then Ishie dotted some kind of serum under his eyes and patted it in with his fingertips. The serum tingled and he could feel his skin tightening. Suddenly Ishie was in front of him with a cream makeup stick of some kind and was marking lines under his eyes. He then began to attack his face with a pallet of makeup in his hand. Ishie kept talking to Alexander as he worked.
Ishie: “You have the most amazing green eyes. Just beautiful. It is too bad you bat for the other team. You are like a big beautiful blonde sexy bear. Rrrrar!”
Ishie made a clawing motion with his hand as he gave what Alexander assumed was supposed to be a roar. He squirmed uncomfortably in the chair. He had no clue how to handle this situation. Alexander was not unnerved because Ishie seemed to be blatantly gay. It was more that Alexander was uncomfortable being the center of attention and was stuck in this chair while Ishie did his job. That meant letting Ishie into his personal bubble and allowing him to touch him. Ishie’s proximity was triggering Alexander’s anxiety.
Alexander: “Uhh..Thank you for the compliment?”
Ishie kept working and talking. He was blending makeup and applying makeup all over his face. He even put some kind of moisturizing lip stuff on him. Ishie paused for a moment and looked serious for a moment as he told Alexander.
Ishie: “I saw the press conference and the follow up message you sent out to the media about your daughter Arianna. She is a lovely girl. I hope she heals. It is obvious you love your daughter very much.”
Alexander tried to talk around the lump in his throat. He wasn’t ready to talk about Arianna. Alexander’s voice was gruff as he replied. “I hope she heals too. She has a long road ahead of her but she is on her way.”
Ishie seemed to sense Alexander’s mood and stopped talking. He soon finished his makeup and handed him the mirror. Alexander was relieved to see that he looked natural and better without the now hidden dark circles under his eyes. Whatever was in that serum he used under his eyes had taken care of the puffy bags that had been there.
Alexander gave Ishie a bright smile. "Thank you for your help Ishie. I will be sure to tell Arianna that you are rooting for her.”
Ishie gave Alexander a bright smile as he put his makeup pallet down.
Ishie: “That is all I can ask for. Now it is on to wardrobe, which is over here.”
Ishie led the way to a section of the tent that had been partitioned off. There was a portable clothing rack with 5 bags hanging on it. The large garment bags were full and had smaller drawstring bags hanging off them. He pointed to the garment bag on the end that had a clear vinyl pocket with a piece of paper in it. The paper had his name and a number one printed on it.
Ishie: “Everything you should need for the first look should be in the bag. When you are dressed, just come on out and someone will show you to the set.”
Alexander gave a nod and waited for Ishie to leave before he unzipped the garment. The drawstring bag on the front of the bag had a pair of dress boots, socks, and underwear. Alexander groaned as he saw the equivalent of a male thong in the bag. He sighed and just decided to accept what he couldn’t change and changed out of his clothes. He folded the clothes he had come in and set them on the small bench that had been in the changing room. Alexander put on the first suit. It was in a lightweight fabric of some kind and very soft to the touch. It was a chocolate brown color with bronze metallic threads running through it. The shirt was a golden yellow color and soft but held its shape like linen or cotton. It had a sheen to it as well like polished cotton. There was some embroidery on the cuffs that mimicked tribal Nordic runes. The collar tabs of the shirt had stylized wings on them. Alexander didn’t like this suit much. It was a little flashy for him. But what did he know? He was just the model. He did like the brown and gold colored leather dress boots that mimicked an older style patent leather loafer. They were comfortable and stylish. Inside the drawstring bag had been a square black colored leather looking box with the Orion logo on it. Alexander assumed that was part of his outfit. So he pulled the bronze and gold colored watch out and slipped it on to his left wrist. He didn’t mind the watch but it was a little flashy for him.
Meanwhile in another tent Paul and Dorian were getting to stay together as they sat under bright lights in high canvas director chairs.
Dorian: “Did you see the panicked look on his face when Artie hugged him?”
Paul snorted with laughter at that.
Paul: “He looked like he had swallowed a bug. I am going to enjoy today. Alexander seems completely uncomfortable. I wonder why he agreed to do this if he hates it so much.”
Dorian: “Didn’t you read the contract? It was contingent on Knight being a model. For some reason Artie wanted Knight for this. At least we are getting paid too.”
Paul: “That is very true. It is still nice to see the boss uncomfortable. It is the first time I have seen him so out of his element. It is out of character for him.”
Dorian: “He should be used to this. He used to be a racer and endorsements are part of the job.” Dorian smiled as he continued. “It is nice to see him nervous for a change though.”
Their conversation was interrupted as they were approached by a tall muscular olive skinned man with dark brown hair. He was wearing tight form fitting slacks and a colorful print shirt. He was accompanied by a woman of average height with brown curly hair with lavender colored eyes. She either had contacts or cybernetic eyes. The woman looked like she was a mixed race with some Asian persuasion in there by the shape of her eyes. The woman was dressed in the latest outrageous Tokyo street fashion in neon colors.
The man spoke first, “Good morning gentlemen. My name is Jeffrey and this is Akiya. We will be taking care of your hair this morning. I will be taking care of you Mr. Hornfleur and Akiya will be taking care of Mr. Mulder.”
Jeffrey offered a hand to Dorian to shake. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am a huge fan! May I call you Dorian?”
Dorian smiled comfortably at Jeffrey as he shook his hand. “Of course. May I call you Jeffrey?” Dorian flirted back not missing the fanboying that Jeffrey was hiding or the interest in his eyes.
Jeffrey: “Please do.” Jeffrey gave Dorian a big smile.
Paul smiled and offered his hand to Akiya. “It is nice to meet you, Akiya. Please call me Paul. May I call you Akiya?”
Akiya gave Paul a polite nod and a tight smile. “Hai.”
Paul nodded and relaxed into his chair as Akiya began to work on his hair. She didn’t say much, just started adding product to his hair. She began working with various tools to get the look she wanted. Paul was content to sit and let her do her thing. He listened in amusement as Dorian flirted with his hairstylist.
Dorian gave Jeffrey a sultry smile as he asked him in a suggestive tone.
Dorian: “What do you have planned for me Jeffrey?”
Jeffrey blushed a little before managing to get an answer out.
Jeffrey: “Well we are going to start with a nice relaxing head massage and then we are going to blow out your hair and style it with some setting product.”
Dorian grinned as he flashed another smile at Jeffrey.
Dorian: “Is that all? Well I am sure I am in excellent hands.”
Jeffrey blushed again as he began massaging Dorian’s scalp.
Their hair had not taken long to style since they had followed directions and had washed it and left any product out of it that morning. Paul had gotten a perfunctory smile as he complimented Akiya on her work. Paul sighed as he thought not everyone could be a fan.
Jeffrey gave Dorian a bright smile as he finished. “Next up is make up. I will see you later in case you need any touch ups.” He slipped a piece of paper into Dorian’s hand and whispered in his ear that he was free that evening if Dorian was. Dorian had thanked him and told him he looked forward to seeing him later.
Paul looked over at Dorian and shook his head a little as he laughed as they waited on the makeup people.
Paul: “That is so not fair. You get a potential date and I get the ice queen.”
Dorian just grinned and winked at Paul. “Being Bi means I have more chances that others will accept my advances. It is a bigger dating pool.”
Dorian was having a great time with the pampering so far. He loved working with Enigma Lux so far.
The two makeup people came in together. They almost looked like twins. They were both young Japanese women. They, like Akiya, were dressed in Tokyo street fashion but these two were wearing the latest in Lolita fashion. They looked like dolls in pastel ruffles and platform heels. Their names were Yuko and Kaori. They introduced themselves with giggles and gave them a bow before they began work.
Dorian was just as pleasant to Yuko but Yuko just giggled at him.
Yuko pampered Dorian just as much as Jeffrey had. She had started by cleansing his face with an astringent smelling cleaner. She had then massaged moisturizing lotion into his face. She had taken her time and massaged the tension out of his forehead and temples. He felt like puddy when she was done. His makeup went on pretty fast after that.
Kaori smiled as she began working on Paul. He tried to talk to her but she shushed him so she could work. Paul again sat placidly while she quickly cleaned his face, applied moisturizer, and then his makeup. Paul was surprised when Kaori did more than just the base coats he was expecting to even out his skin tone. She had used a special digital printer gadget to apply colorful wings around his eyes. It was not something Paul would have chosen for himself but it looked kind of cool like a tribal tattoo.
Paul looked at Kaori a little nervously. “This comes off right?”
Kaori just giggled at him and nodded. “Of course. Makeup remover will take it off.”
Paul looked over at Dorian who just had the base layers. He frowned, why did he rate the extra color? Dorian had a classic formal look going on while Paul’s look was young and edgy. His hair had been set in golden waves along the sides of his head. He was starting to worry about how this would look in the end. Well the suits they had sent for him to wear to events had been great. How bad could it be?
The girls showed them to the opposite ends of the tent which had been set up as dressing rooms.
Dorian got dressed quickly in the chocolate brown suit in a soft material. The suit was paired with a golden colored silk shirt with maroon stitching on the cuffs. The design was some kind of Nordic tribal. There was a maroon colored silk tie with stylized wings embroidered on it. There was a classic looking gold men’s watch with a maroon face that he slipped onto his left wrist. Dorian loved the gold and dark brown leather patent leather shoes that went with the suit. He stepped out of the dressing room and was smoothing the lines of the suit. He looked good! Dorian looked up and caught sight of Paul and doubled over laughing.
Paul had been dressed in tight navy trousers, a white silk shirt with the same Nordic tribal design on the cuffs. He was in a peacock blue vest with a wing pattern across the chest. There was a steel watch on his left wrist with a peacock blue face on it. He was in black dress boots. He was pulling at the crotch of his pants which left nothing to the imagination. Paul winced as he tried to find more room in the crotch of his pants. He felt like his manly parts were being suffocated. He had blushed as he remembered the underwear that had come with the suit. He found the pants a little too tight to be comfortable. The material was stiff and didn’t have a lot of give. Paul looked at what Dorian was wearing and crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Dorian looked coiffed and polished and ready for any formal event while he looked like he was about to go clubbing with a girl named Candy. Paul frowned at Dorian.
Paul: “Why do I get peacock blue and you get a nice respectable fall colors?”
Dorian snickered as he tried to contain his amusement. Paul was dolled up like a peacock too!
Dorian: “Hey I didn’t choose the outfits. Talk to Artie.”
Paul just grumbled as he walked out of the tent. He would be walking funny if he had to stay in this suit for very long.
Dorian followed him shaking with laughter.
Alexander was already on set and listening to the photographer when he spotted Paul and Dorian. He frowned as he noticed Dorian was wearing a more traditional suit than he had expected he would be put into. He was grateful he was not Paul though. He couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face at how uncomfortable Paul looked. He looked like a peacock dandy. Alexander gave up and started laughing.
Katherine looked over and put a hand over her face thinking dear lord give her strength. It had just taken her 10 minutes to talk Alexander down off the ledge because he didn’t like the suit he had been given. Paul looked a little green and his blue eyes were stormy. He didn’t look happy. He was usually the easy going one with this kind of thing. At least Dorian looked content and happy.
Paul walked up to Katherine. “I will try the photo shoot but if I look as ridiculous as I feel in this outfit they will not use them. Am I clear?”
Katherine was relieved that Paul was at least going to try to go with the program. Katherine gave him a grateful smile.
Katherine: “Understood. Look on the bright side. The color does bring out your eyes.”
Paul gave Katherine a scowl before he looked over at Alexander and noted that even though he was laughing at him. He was dressed in a suit that was almost midway between Dorian’s conservative but classy look and Paul’s young and trendy look. Paul grinned his normal confidence returning as he saw a group of 4 women who were with the shoot’s crew eying him with the look of fangirls.
Paul: “I might look like a peacock.” He puffed his chest out and put his hands on his hips in a superman pose. “But I am a sexy peacock!”
Katherine burst into laughter at that. Good lord would she survive this photoshoot? Alexander was laughing so hard he had almost fallen on the ground and Dorian was laughing and shaking his head.
They were interrupted by the creative director. He informed them they would be working with multiple photographers. They would be posing for individual and team shots. The director informed them they would be starting with individual shots. They really wanted to take advantage of the light at sunrise. Alexander would be shooting on a bridge over a koi pond. Dorian would be shooting next to the koi pond with traditional stone lanterns and a pagoda on a small stone island. The pond was surrounded by lush greenery. Paul would be photographed in front of a large blooming cherry tree. The three of them fell into a more serious professional mode as they listened to instructions and what was expected of them. They understood the directions.
The sun started to rise. It was go time. Alexander was not overly fond of the suit he was wearing but his natural confidence and competitive nature wouldn’t allow himself to give no less than his best. At least he had a glitter free face even as the metallic threads in his suit caught the sunlight and glinted occasionally. Paul was damn uncomfortable as he did his best not complain about the tight pants even as they asked him for some more dynamic poses as the youngest. Dorian was having the time of his life as he was pampered and deferred to. His inner diva was in heaven. Katherine watched it all with a discerning eye and a diplomatic deposition.
They were done with Paul and Dorian at the park. Paul and Dorian had headed back towards the tents. They wanted to capture Alexander in a second outfit so he had gone off to change. They would be relocating to Tokyo Harbor next. While the men had been shooting, the female models had been going through hair and makeup for the next site. Katherine had the opportunity to review the photos while the men were changing. She had been worried when she saw how uncomfortable Alexander and Paul had been when they first came out of the tents. The photographers were excellent though. There were certainly some bad shots in there as well. Alexander looked powerful and broody in his shots. Dorian looked classy and cultured. Paul looked edgy, sexy, and fun. She had to agree with Alexander though. She didn’t like that color suit on him. It did contrast nicely with his hair which was the intention she was sure.
Alexander’s second look was a more casual look. He had on navy blue cuffed trousers, a classic white button up shirt with a modern mandarin style collar, and a navy blue vest with a tribal Valkyrie in flight embroidered in silver on the front. The vest was double breasted and didn’t detract from the power or beauty of the design embroidered on it. Alexander had on plain black leather dress shoes this time and the shirt’s sleeves were rolled up. He had on a brushed steel watch this time with a dark blue face. Alexander liked this look much better. It was more his style. Katherine could tell from Alexander’s body language that he was more comfortable this time. Her favorite photo from this set was one of Alexander leaning on the bridge’s railing with his hands casually draped over the side with the watch prominently featured on his wrist, his other hand behind it. Alexander was looking into the distance with a serious look on his face that could be interpreted to mean just about anything. It was a powerful and artistic shot.
Before they knew it, they were all being hustled back on to the bus to head to the next site. Tokyo was busier and had woken up as they had been shooting in the gardens. They had hit the height of rush hour in Tokyo. They arrived at the docks and it was chaotic. Water taxis and ferries hurried residents from one side of the harbor to the other as they made their way to work or ran errands. Alexander was grateful that they were not using public transit at the moment as it was crowded and busy. There was a frantic scramble as everyone got off the bus.
Alexander had to use the restroom after all the coffee had drunk to keep him awake and functioning. He told the others he would catch up to them. He ran to use the public restroom at the docks. There was a line of course. Alexander was not happy that it had taken him almost 20 minutes. He ran back to the dock and the boat was pulling away from the dock and was already about 100 yards away. He crossed his arms and glared at the boat. He picked up his phone and texted Katherine. He was not happy to wait another 10 minutes before the boat turned back around to pick him up. He couldn’t believe they had left him behind. Alexander was blamed for setting their schedule back almost a half hour. He had to endure having his hair and makeup touched up again.
This time Alexander was dressed in business casual attire. He was put in pants that had a weave to them. If he had to guess it was a linen and bamboo mix. It was soft but not as stiff as linen could be. The pants were dyed a dark green that was almost black. They were paired with another button up shirt in a dark golden color with dark green stitching. The shirt had a loose fit and they once again had him roll the cuffs up. The rolled cuff had that same nordic tribal pattern design showing in that contrasting dark green thread. They had him wearing a watch with a dark brushed bronze color band and a dark emerald green face. They had him wearing brown leather boat shoes with dark green stitching. He didn’t mind the outfit but he did mind what they wanted him to do.
Alexander: “She looks young enough to be my daughter! And you want me to allow her to hang all over me in a bikini! Not just no but hell no!”
Alexander looked furious as he turned to Artie and looked ready to pummel something.
Alexander: “You can use the models in the background but I will not be party to anything suggesting I am sleeping with a much younger woman. You can forget it. I won’t do it.”
Artie looked over Alexander’s face and looked frustrated.
Artie: “Look Alexander, I get it. You have a code of honor but sex appeal sells. We want the public to see you as sexy and attractive. The models help with that.”
Alexander narrowed his eyes at Artie. “I said NO! If you want me to pose with a woman like that then use a model closer to my age. You can get shots of me on the boat but I am not allowing those girls to hang all over me in that way. Forget it.”
Artie tilted his head to the side and gave a huge sigh as he frowned. “Fine, we will change it up.”
Artie went to talk to the shoot director. His hands were flying every which way as he talked, obviously passionate about what he wanted. Alexander stood watching him with his arms crossed. Alexander glared at Artie and the creative director with a brooding angry look that just dared them to ask him that again. Katherine did her best to calm Alexander down and then worked with Arite and the creative director for ways to get something usable from the harbor shoot.
They got some group shots of Alexander at the wheel of the boat with the other two with girls in the background. They decided on some close up shots of Alexander with some of the older style restaurant ships in the background that gave Tokyo harbor so much character. They were shooting on a private yacht though. Artie wanted that clash of modern and history which is so characteristic of Tokyo. Paul was more comfortable this time around but he had some issues with models pinching his ass and groping him when they could get away with it. Normally he wouldn’t mind but he was feeling decidedly like a piece of choice meat. It made Paul uncomfortable. Dorian was still having a fabulous day. Dorian didn’t mind the playful flirtatious models and loved being the center of attention. Katherine had been worried that Alexander was going to deck Artie and throw their creative director overboard. She was grateful that Artie had been flexible enough to change “His Vision”.
Word had gotten out that Paul and Dorian had been spotted at the harbor. By the time they got back to the docks, fans had flooded into the area. They had to use an alternative dock while their security worked with Tokyo police on crowd control. They were still spotted coming off the yacht and had to make a run for the private vehicle that security had brought around to get Alexander, Paul, Dorian, and Katherine to their next destination. They barely made it out of there before fans blocked the way.
Their next destination had been the small studio where they were shooting the commercial. That had tried Alexander’s already fraying patience. First there had been trouble with the teleprompter, then the sound equipment had a mysterious buzz and they had to record everything over again. They were shooting in front of a green screen on a soundstage. They had put all three men in tuxedos. Alexander’s was all black with gold embroidered nordic runes down the lapels and a gold bow tie. Dorian was in a matching tuxedo but in a dark charcoal gray color and a classic black tuxedo shirt in silk. Paul’s tuxedo was a slimmer cut with thin lapels. His tuxedo was dark charcoal gray with a gold vest with a valkyrie helmet embroidered on the vest in black. The shirt was a black silk like Dorian’s but had a mandarin collar. Paul didn’t have a bowtie. Alexander was not happy to see the bevy of young female models again. They were behind schedule by almost four hours by the time they made it to their next destination, the Imperial Hotel. Alexander was starving; they had missed lunch thanks to all the technical issues that had run into at the studio. They had to push on to the hotel for the next series of photos.
After another round of hair and makeup, the three men were photographed in a variety of places around the historic hotel. The female models followed them. Paul once more had some fans working with him with grabby hands. He had been excited about working with a group of fans at the park but they had quickly gotten out of control. He couldn’t exactly get away from them. The creative director had them all posing and hanging off of Paul in various ways. The shots made it look like he had his pick of women.He didn’t want to complain and come across as difficult to work with. Most men would have loved this level of attention from women. Paul normally would enjoy the attention, except he was working and wanted to come across as a professional. Paul was finding that being seen as sex object instead of a person bothered him. It bothered him that they acted like they had the right to grab him and grope and pinch him. It bothered him that he had not invited their attention but was forced to deal with it. Dorian on the other hand was having the time of his life and loving all the attention.
Alexander found himself in a dark charcoal gray suit with a black dress shirt and black dress shoes. The tie was a black silk with golden wings embroidered on it. They had paired this suit with a watch with a black titanium band with a gold face. Alexander had been told this was the last outfit for this photoshoot. He was grateful he was irritable and tired. He had just wrapped up photos in the hotel’s grand staircase. He was being hustled into the bar at Kouichi Imbayashi. Alexander could appreciate the old world elegance of the hotel. He was left to cool his heels for a few minutes and got a quick scotch from the bartender. He had finished his drink by the time the creative director was ready for him.
Alexander heard his name being called by the man and turned around and froze. The creative director was approaching with an elegant brown haired beauty that was older than the other models. She was drop dead gorgeous and was closer to his age but she looked younger than him. She was wearing an elegant black suit. The pants had a wide leg in a silky material that flowed with her body as she moved. It had a thigh high slit up her right leg. The jacket was low cut and form fitted through the bust area before it flared out and away from her skin. The jacket had long sleeves that stopped at the wrist and was designed to be worn without a shirt underneath it. The lapels of the jacket had gold wings embroidered on them. She was wearing a long golden chain that fell down inside her jacket. Four inch gold stiletto heels peeked out as she walked. Her hair was pulled up in an elegant updo. Her makeup was understated and classy with a bold red lip. He really thought he had managed to get out of showing up on camera with a female model. That victory was short-lived, he acknowledged privately to himself. He sighed and accepted the inevitable. Evidently they had found someone at the last minute. He gave the lovely woman a smile. It was not her fault that he was uncomfortable with being seen as a sex symbol. Alexander knew his adult daughter would be looking for these photos. It made him squirm a little as he had no idea what Arianna would think.
The creative director: “Alexander, for this series of photos we are going to have you posing with Lena here. I assume this is acceptable?”
The man’s tone was challenging and Alexander knew he had not been the easiest person to work with on set. He nodded and held out his hand to greet Lena.
Alexander: “Hello Lena, nice to meet you.”
Lena shook his hand and gave him a sultry smile.
Lena: “I must thank you for asking for an older model. It is harder to get work as you get older in this business. I hope you find working with me to be acceptable.”
Alexander couldn’t help but smile. Lena was beautiful and confident which Alexander found attractive. Maybe it was the scotch but he was relaxing and admitted he might just enjoy this. Alexander shook her hand gently.
Alexander: “Thank you for being available.”
They were being ushered into position by the bar. Alexander blushed as the director told him to pull Lena closer as if he was telling her something naughty in her ear. He wanted a picture full of sexual tension with Alexander’s hand on her waist showing the watch. He wanted a profile picture and Alexander was supposed to look at Lena suggestively. Alexander was stiff at first and Lena laughed at the tension in his posture and arm. She leaned closer to him and her voice was laced with humor as she whispered to him.
Lena: “Relax Alexander, I won’t bite you unless you ask me too.”
Alexander startled a little at her words. He had not flirted with a woman in a long time. He blushed a little as he whispered back to her.
Alexander: “I am not a fan of objectifying women. I have an adult daughter. I worry what she will think of this ad campaign. I don’t want you to think I have anything against you. You are very beautiful and I believe you know that.” Lena’s chuckle sent ripples down Alexander’s spine.
Lena: “Thank you Alexander. Maybe I just want to be a woman who is appreciated by a very handsome man. You don’t need to protect your daughter Alexander unless you are married. All she will see is that her father has a sex life.”
Alexander looked at Lena startled. He had forgotten that they were being photographed and that there was a whole crowd of people watching them. He couldn’t deny that he had chemistry with the lovely Lena. She was running her hands up his lapels as she tilted her head up to look him in the eyes.
Lena: “So Alexander, are you married or dating someone?”
Alexander was feeling a little tongue tied. He was momentarily speechless as he tried to figure out a graceful way to exit this situation. He blushed and shook his head no since he couldn't seem to get his mouth to work.
Lena’s smile grew as her eyes grew darker. She moved closer to Alexander and whispered in his ear suggestively.
Lena: “Then Alexander, I humbly suggest you make me feel appreciated.” Her hands slid under his jacket and around his waist running her nails over his abs.
Alexander’s focus was on the beautiful woman in front of him when he heard the creative director yelling at him to keep going. Alexander cupped Lena’s face as he stared down at her. He gave her a warm smile. Alexander kept his tone low so no one would hear him but her.
Alexander: “I should thank you Lena. It has been a long time since I held such a beautiful woman in my arms. Even if it is just for work.”
It seemed like no time at all had passed as he and Lena flirted back and forth suggestively. Then the creative director was hustling them up to the rooftop bar to get those evening shots he wanted. He wanted Alexander leaning against the railing to the rooftop with the neon lights of Tokyo lit up behind him. He placed Lena in front of Alexander. He had Alexander’s left arm with the watch wrapping around Lena from behind with his hand over hers. They did a few more poses as he ordered them into new positions. The creative director was not happy with the shots though.
The creative director: “No, it's no good. It’s missing something.” Alexander didn’t like that wicked smile the man got. He asked Alexander to take off his jacket. The man artfully draped the jacket over a chair to the side like Alexander had just pulled them off. He then told Alexander to untie his tie and unbutton his shirt. Alexander turned to him with an exasperated expression.
Alexander: “Excuse me! I never agreed to be photographed without clothes.”
The creative director was obviously frustrated with Alexander. He sighed and tried to reason with him. “Alexander, are you ashamed of your body? Because I can tell that you stay fit. You do not have a “dad body” as you Americans would say. You have great chemistry with the lovely Lena. I want a picture that captures that. You will leave your shirt on. I just want to show a hint of skin. I want it unbuttoned and loose. I want the tie around your neck with Lena holding onto it pulling you closer. I want to shoot you from an angle. You keep your pants and shirt on. This is acceptable, yes?”
Alexander was uncomfortable with it but he felt he had pushed the creative director as far as he could today. Alexander turned to Lena.
Alexander: “Are you okay with this?”
Lena just purred at him as she gave him a wink. “Yes I am very okay with this.”
Alexander sighed and began to untuck his shirt. To his amusement Lena decided to help him out. She loosened his tie and met his eyes as her hands began to unbutton his shirt. Alexander just rested his hands on her shoulders and let her. Lena tugged his shirt open and ran her hands over his chest and abs with a wink.
Lena: “It is nice to know that the contents measure up to the packaging.”
Alexander laughed as they got into position for the shot the director wanted. Alexander was surprised when Lena pulled on the tie and wrapped her hands around his head and planted a kiss on him. He stumbled a little as he lost his balance, pressing them together. He shamelessly kissed her back. The creative director hollered that’s a wrap. Alexander released Lena a little reluctantly.
Lena was smiling to see traces of her lipstick on Alexander’s lips.
Lena: “It was a pleasure working with you Alexander.”
Alexander laughed as he caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across the back of her hand. Alexander held her hand as he invited her to dinner. “I am in Tokyo for a few days. I am starving. Would you like to have dinner with me?”
Lena smiled and nodded. “I thought you would never ask.”
Alexander just laughed. “Well let me get changed then and it's a date.”
Lena winked at him as she walked off towards some of the shoot staff. Alexander smiled as he watched her walk away. Maybe today hadn’t been that bad after all.
Media
The news stories hit the airwaves at: TMZ 6:00pm, Gossip 8:00pm, Fox News 10:00PM.
TMZ: “This is Lilly Stryker with TMZ. This is a story you will only see on TMZ. TMZ has images of the anti gravity racing team of Valkyrie AGR Sport partying on a boat in Tokyo Harbor the day after a disappointing showing in the Tokyo Grand Prix. Is Alexander Knight just helping his pilots blow off steam after a rough race? Is he buying their cooperation by treating them to a party? There appeared to be alcohol at this party. Were there drugs? We may never know. It certainly looked like a good time was had by all. These images are exclusive to TMZ and you will only see them here. What do you think?”
[Image of Paul with two women in bikinis hanging one on each side of him. He is dressed in navy blue trousers and a loose billowing cream colored shirt and has what looks like a champagne glass in his hand. He is on the deck of a midsize yacht in Tokyo Harbor.] [Image of Dorian in dark gray slacks and an icy blue shirt. Dorian had a glass of what appeared to be champagne in his hand and he was talking to a handsome black man. Dorian was obviously standing on the deck of the same yacht as Paul. There was another image of the same yacht with Alexander looking out to sea and you could see Paul and Dorian and four women in bikinis behind him with Paul. The images showed other people on the boat but they were not clear enough to give any details of the others.]
Lilly Stryker: “Remember you saw it here first folks. This is Lilly Stryker with a TMZ Exclusive.”
Gossip: “This is Hans Keller with a Gossip exclusive! Paul Mulder was out partying on a yacht in Tokyo Harbor with his teammate Dorian Hornfleur and Team Principal Alexander Knight. Does Paul Mulder now have a leading lady in his life? He recently disclosed in an interview that he didn’t have time to date. The woman in the photo has been identified as fashion model Megan Macdonald. The photos certainly suggest that something is going on between the two of them. Be sure to tell Gossip what you think about these latest rumors. This has been Hans Keller with a Gossip Exclusive!”
[There is a series of photos side by side of Paul with a lovely redhead on his arm in a dark blue bikini. Another picture from the side shows her hand grabbing Paul’s ass. Another image shows Paul smiling down at the woman. The images were carefully shot to not to show any of the background photoshoot people like the photographer. They captured Dorian and Alexander in the background talking to people. Nothing to indicate that it wasn’t a party. The angles of the images indicate they were probably taken by a drone using a zoom lens.]
Fox News: “This is Jessica Smith from Fox News. We are sharing a story that we picked up from our local affiliate station in Tokyo Japan today. Tokyo Metro Police were called to the iconic Tokyo Harbor Transit Center when a crowd of dedicated fans mobbed the busy transit center during the lunch hour rush hoping to spot Paul Mulder and Dorian Hornfleur as they disembarked from a yacht they had been on. The security for the antigravity racing team Valkyrie AGR Sport had been onsite and were quickly overwhelmed by the large number of fans. The heavy crowd impeded traffic in and out of the transit center during the incident. It took Tokyo Police an hour to restore order. Team Valkyrie security whisked Paul Mulder, Dorian Hornfleur, and Alexander Knight away moments before Tokyo Police arrived on the scene.
Fox News has investigated the incident and it appears the news leaked on social media that the pilots were out on a yacht in the harbor. According to our sources, the manager on duty at the transit center is the one who requested police after zealous fans began to impede traffic. There are images of Paul Mulder, Dorian Hornfleur, and Team Principal Alexander Knight on the deck of a yacht in the harbor. [Images popped up full screen replacing Jessica’s talking head. The images were clearly taken from other boats and a few were from drones in the area. The images showed all three men Paul, Dorian, and Alexander with a group of four women in bikinis and a crowd of other people. Paul and Dorian looked like they were holding champagne glasses.] [Still images pulled from social media and obviously shared from private cell phone cameras showed crowds of mostly young women crowding the docks in Tokyo Harbor’s transit center which handled ferries that carried people from one side of the harbor to the other. There were images of Paul, Dorian, and Alexander being rushed down the wharf at the harbor and then a sidewalk with a crowd of people chasing them. Then there was a set of images of them ducking into the private vehicle and driving off.]
“There has been no official statement or comments from either the Tokyo Police Department or Team Valkyrie AGR Sport. This has been Jessica Smith with Fox News. Stay Tuned! We will be back right after this commercial.”
Valkyrie didn’t do as well as they should have in Tokyo. Paul did okay but Dorian fell in standings and position. His poor performance reflected badly on the whole team. Alexander understood Dorian’s frustration but he also saw that he was getting in his own way. He was second guessing every decision and ignoring all the advice from his team. It was one thing to ignore Alexander’s advice but he wasn’t listening to the mechanics, engineers, or the trainers. It was like he was determined to have it all his way. That only his way would work for him. Alexander had gotten tired of fighting him over decisions that needed to be made. He let him have his way and he utterly botched it. He lost 5 positions in the race and only beat out the worst two teams in the antigravity league. Alexander knew Tokyo was going to be a difficult race. He could admit that he was partially at fault. He had underestimated how important the ELS Systems were in modern antigravity racing ships. Those systems had been in their infancy when he had been racing. They were a lot more complex today. Alexander knew he bore some of the blame for the results. He had allowed it. Dorian’s poor performance was his own doing though. He needed to have it out with Dorian though. He couldn’t allow this to continue or Valkyrie’s season was going to get even worse.
Alexander slept in after a late night. He was still in Tokyo after the race because he had to see to the team’s commitments for the new sponsorship contracts with Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion Luxury Watches. The endorsement and residuals on new fashion designer fan gear would help fill the coffers at Valkyrie AGR. Enigma Lux was going to design and produce a high end line of fan gear for Valkyrie AGR Sport that would be sold exclusively through the official team online fan gear store. Valkyrie would help promote and facilitate sales and profits from the merchandise would be split evenly between the team and the fashion house. The better the team did and the happier the fans were, the more gear they bought from the store. Katherine was hoping that by having new and exciting fan gear designed by a luxury fashion designer for the masses would appeal to their fans. The new line would be launched in conjunction with the Grand Prix in Italy. Team Valkyrie first had to honor their end of the contract and that meant that Alexander, Dorian, and Paul first had to shoot photos and video endorsement ads. Then they all three had to be runway models at Tokyo Fashion week for Artie Lux. Alexander couldn’t believe he had let himself be talked into this.
Alexander knew the funds that would come from finishing this contract would be crucial to getting the first steps started on building new ships. The influx of money would allow Alexander to hire the talent he needed to begin working the kinks out of the new ship designs while he continued to work sponsorships and endorsements to help pay for it. Several sponsors were in town for the Tokyo Grand Prix. They had wanted to talk over drinks after the race, which is how Alexander ended in the hotel bar after the race. Alexander felt ridiculous like a queen holding court as he shook hands and smiled and took pictures with a host of smaller sponsors. Alexander did have one surprise visitor from Shinichi Bionics. Yuhara Shinichi herself had requested to meet Alexander. He had thanked her profusely for the opportunity she had granted his daughter. Yuhara wanted to clarify some details on their new agreement with Valkyrie AGR. Alexander had been very impressed with her knowledge and drive. After Yuhara left, Katherine kept sending a steady stream of smaller sponsors his ways who just wanted to feel seen and heard. That typically meant a short conversation and maybe a photo or autograph. Which had inevitably led to a late night for Alexander. He was not a young resilient man anymore. He couldn’t get pass-out drunk and function well the next day anymore. He had nursed that third scotch along and had switched to coke after his fourth one. He was so grateful that the photoshoot for the fashion house was scheduled for tomorrow.
Alexander downed one of the Zap Sports Drinks that he had taken from the paddock for his hotel room. He downed it with a few painkillers to help his headache. Their sponsor sent cases for them to distribute and use at races for promotion. Alexander remembered when brands like Monster Energy Drinks went organic with natural ingredients and enhancers. Zap was just the latest rising drink company out there. The executives from Zap had been in town and basically wanted to meet and greet with the pilots. They wanted their personal moments with the talented pilots and stars of Team Valkyrie. Alexander had done his best to be gracious. He had wanted to roll his eyes and remind them that Paul and Dorian were men just like them. They put their pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of them. Alexander knew the routine even if he found it boring and predictable.
Alexander was coming to lean more and more on Katherine’s expertise in marketing and public relations. She was becoming a key team player in handling and developing new sponsors and endorsement deals for the team. Katherine’s understanding of how to sell sponsors on how their endorsement or sponsorship deal will benefit them was what he believed the selling point was. It had been Katherine’s brainchild after Valkyrie was approached by Artie Lux from Enigma Lux on how to weave the two corporate identities together in a way that made sense for them both. Enigma Lux was seeking ways to enter new markets and areas. They were seeking to broaden their consumer base. Artie was getting what he wanted out of Alexander for his artistic muse and Valkyrie was getting endorsement money. Alexander felt like he was being pimped out with the Enigma Lux deal which made him somewhat uncomfortable but he would suck it up and do what he needed to do. Artie was going to get exposure to the Formula AG fan base which included a broad audience and a new revenue stream in more casual designs produced for the Valkyrie Team to be distributed through their official fan gear stores. Artie Lux was currently the only officially licensed designer for Formula AG fan gear for Team Valkyrie. The rarity of the official license stamp from the Valkyrie Team would appeal to collectors and fans alike. This again would be a benefit for Enigma Lux. Alexander just wished he didn’t have to smile and shake his ass for the camera to get it. This was part of being a professional racer that he had not missed.
Alexander ordered a greasy American breakfast from room service and then hopped in the shower. He was dressed in sweatpants and a green t-shirt when his breakfast was delivered. He was starting to feel better by the time he had finished breakfast. Alexander ate and then pulled his tablet out to check in with Mabel. He had to turn some things over to her since he was stuck in Tokyo all week. Alexander emailed her since it was the wee hours of the morning in Germany and Mabel should be in bed asleep. He asked her to put out some feelers about finding up and coming energy system engineers. He then got to work replying to the emails that he had put aside while he was busy in Tokyo overseeing the race. He sent a message to Dorian that he would like to see him at 11:30am. That gave him plenty of time to wake up and sleep in this morning. Alexander put on his sneakers and went to the hotel gym. He wanted to get in a good workout while he had the opportunity. The hotel gym was nicely appointed and mostly empty on a Monday morning. Alexander put his earbuds in and turned on some music. He then put the equipment to work in a strength training round before he ended with a nice long run on the treadmill. Alexander made it back to his room in time to shower and change again. He switched to jeans, a dark green t-shirt and his favorite boots.
There was a knock at the door and Alexander answered it quickly. He had been expecting Dorian. He opened the door and motioned him in. He indicated the small seating area in the living room area of the suite. He took the chair while Dorian took the couch.
Alexander: “Hello Dorian. How are you feeling today?”
Dorian sighed, his voice full of frustration as he answered.
Dorian: “How do you think I feel?”
Alexander: “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked. Let me cut to the chase. We both know you did poorly in yesterday’s race. I feel I have been fair with you Dorian. I gave you exactly what you wanted for the race yesterday and you fell flat on your face. So I was expecting that you were feeling frustrated and maybe angry. I would like to hear from you what could have happened differently? What happened yesterday?”
Dorian frowned and he knew he sounded angry because he was. Dorian scoffed as he answered Alexander’s question.
Dorian: “What I needed was a ship that could take on the grid and be competitive. What I got was a slow fucking brick that was useless in ELS defense. I keep telling you to give me a ship that can compete. You are failing to deliver Alexander.”
Alexander: “Well let’s talk about that. We have had this conversation so many times that I don’t know how many other ways to say it. The engineers are doing the best they can. We are here to seal the endorsement deal with Enigma Lux and Orion so we can get that influx of funds. That will allow me to start head hunting for new engineers. In the meantime, we have to race the ships we have.”
Alexander met Dorian’s eyes head on. He didn’t flinch from his responsibilities or his shortcomings as he gave Dorian the broad and brutal truth.
Alexander: “I understand why you didn’t want me in your ear during the race. The only reason I stepped in was because of the last minute change in Paul’s engineer. He was uncomfortable with the new engineer at a race so soon. I was fine with that request.I will admit that you are right about me not understanding everything about racing today. There are things I didn’t understand. I will admit that I didn’t understand how important ELS was to the current racing circuit. That doesn’t mean I don't listen to the people who do know. That didn’t mean I let the engineers rest on their laurels. Everyone of them busted their ass to get your ship set up to the specs you requested from your runs in the simulator. The same was done for Paul. Now you lost 5 positions falling to 16th place only beating out MMR and Fitzroy in the standings. Paul managed to overtake Zygon and hold off Carrera Condor to take 8th. He is the rookie Dorian. You are the experienced pilot. You should have done better than Paul on this circuit. I let you have your way. I supported everything you requested. What is your excuse for not performing as well as your teammate?”
Dorian’s jaw clenched and his fists clenched. Dorian was angry and frustrated. He wanted to hate Alexander for calling him out. He knew he was right. He should have at least done as well as the rookie. They had the same ships. Alexander had let him run it his way this time and he had failed to perform. He didn’t like that Alexander was forcing him to admit it out loud though.
Dorian: “I was overthinking everything and I played it too cautiously. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to make up for the lost ground.”
Alexander: “Look I know racers will have bad days. I am not your fucking enemy Dorian. I am here to help you. You have had a damn chip on your shoulder and you are not listening to a damn word I say. You are not paying attention to the advice the team is giving you. I don’t mean just me. You are ignoring the advice of our experts and engineers. None of us can do this alone. I will do my best to help you get the best out of this season but we have to work together! If it is going to be your last season, enjoy it! If you don’t like something say something. If the engineers and experts advise differently then detail why it feels wrong or give them an alternative. They can’t make it better or fix it on descriptions like ‘it feels wrong. Fix it.” Try to give more feedback than that. Tell them why it feels wrong. Like that adjustment is making the rear of the ship feel like it's sliding around. It is messing with the handling or the stability. What I can’t have you doing is undermining my authority in front of the rest of the team. You can disagree with me in a respectful manner and argue your point of view Dorian. This doesn’t need to dissolve into a pissing contest at every race. Tell me what you need but listen to the team’s advice. We have got to find a way to work together.”
Dorian’s eyes narrowed as he watched Alexander’s face as he thought about what he said. He really wanted to be angry with him but he knew that the anger he was feeling was from the situation he found himself in. The situation was partially of his own making.
Dorian: “I will work on giving them better feedback and listening better. I hope that means you too. I want to finish on a strong season. I can’t do that with the ships like they are. I know you are working on it but is there anything else we can do in the meantime?”
Alexander tilted his head to the side as he watched the emotions play over Dorian’s face.
Alexander: “The engineers are making changes and upgrades as fast as they can develop them, test them, and modify the ships. With the money from the Enigma Lux contract I will be able to headhunt some new engineering talent. I want another ELS engineer. I am working on raising the capital needed to get new ships designed. That takes money. You can help me by helping with sponsors. In the meantime, we are stuck with the ships we have. If you have ideas on how to improve anything, don’t be afraid to bring it to the team. We will brainstorm the shit out of it and if it can be done, we will do it. I don’t want to spend all season feeling like I have to fight you to do my job. Can we please call a truce and just be civil to one another? I promise I am on your side Dorian. I am doing the best I can.”
Dorian sighed. “You are right. I have been a frustrated mess and all I can see is my last season going up in smoke. It’s making me crazy!”
Alexander laughed a little as he shook his head sadly.
Alexander: “You know if I had known that that was going to be my last season as a racer. If I had known that would be the last time I saw Audrick, I would have paid more attention to the details. I would have stopped to enjoy it more. I regret that I was so focused on winning, I don’t remember what it felt like to run some of those circuits. I don’t remember what it felt like to race Audrick and challenge him on a curve. All of that has been overshadowed by how I left racing. I don’t want that for you. Please slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy your last season. Trust me there are some circuits coming up where Valkyrie should shine because of our handling and stability, Portugal, Monaco, Canada, Belgium, Germany, and Singapore for example. We have time to work on the speed and ELS systems before them. If we can edge them up even a little, you should have a good chance at a podium in those races. You won’t be in the championships though if you keep losing out on all points though. Some points are better than none. Yes?”
Dorian was a little surprised by Alexander. He had expected to get lectured and yelled at and the whole I am disappointed in you speech. He was frankly shocked that Alexander shared some of his regrets from how he left racing. He was even more surprised that he was encouraging Dorian to make memories and enjoy his last season. Maybe he had misread Alexander’s intentions. He had to be honest with himself. He had not really given Alexander a fair chance. He had to admit that Paul had certainly done better than him here in Tokyo. Dorian had been upset about having the weird experience of a former competitor come onto the team as a principal. He had colored everything Alexander told him with a mocking tone as if Alexander was telling him his way was better. Looking back he could see that Alexander had not meant his way was better but more an alternative and another option. He had to admit that Alexander had requested and asked. He had not demanded like Rossi had. He had been unfairly painting him with the same brush. Dorian sighed and let his head fall back against the couch. He closed his eyes and just thought for a few minutes.
Dorian: “Yes I know you are right. Some points are better than none. I will think about what you said. I am still going to push you for ship improvements. I will at least try your strategy next week in the simulator. We will discuss it and I will try to be a professional about it instead of sounding like a whiny child. I know that I have been difficult.”
Alexander smiled at Dorian and jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the door. “Go enjoy your day of freedom today. Tomorrow we both have to mug it for the camera. Enjoy Tokyo a little while we are here.”
Dorian chuckled a little and rose to his feet with a slight smile. “Alright boss. I am on my way out your door.” Dorian smirked a little, unable to resist teasing Alexander a little. “I can’t wait to see how you handle hair and makeup and a predawn site call.”
Alexander just laughed and hung his head. He had felt like the butt end of a lot of jokes about this upcoming photoshoot. The guys in the paddock had a field day with it. They had left books and articles giving modeling tips and more for him in his office. Makeup and makeup application tips had been left on his desk. Makeup tutorial videos had been “helpfully” shared by many of the female staff who had joined in on the fun. “The things I do for my team.” He sighed and smiled as Dorian laughed on his way out the door.
After Dorian left, Alexander sat down at the desk in the suite with his tablet. Alexander sifted through the dossiers that Mabel had sent him on the engineers that Felix had requested he look into hiring. The first dossier he looked at was for an American engineer named Dakota Ellis. She was currently working for Pratt & Whitney, a well known jet engine manufacturer. Dakota had spearheaded the work and development on Pratt & Whitney’s latest jet engine line boasting improved efficiency and speed. He sent her an email asking for a meeting. The next engineer he looked at was Bastijin Velnaar. Bastijin was a Dutch engineer that worked for one of the world’s leading wind turbine manufacturers. He had been instrumental in developing a new type of wind turbine that was being used in smaller urban spaces. Alexander sent them an email requesting a meeting. Alexander looked over Felix’s recommendation for the ELS engineer they needed to hire but his instincts were telling him that this was not his guy. The guy was knowledgeable and his work was solid but there was nothing new or revolutionary about it. Alexander felt strongly that their ELS needed to go in a new direction. He wanted someone with inspiration and new ideas for this role. Alexander pulled up the list of recommendations sent by his father. He started researching the name his father had sent him, Stephanie Mitsuyo. Stephanie was a third generation Japanese American college graduate student. She had submitted her PhD doctoral thesis on how to reduce what she called electric waste, electricity that was lost due to poor design and electrical conduction. Her work had been a study in superconductors and manufacturing techniques. Alexander was intrigued enough after reading her thesis to send her a meeting request as well. Alexander continued to dig through resumes and dossiers before taking a break for some food.
After lunch Alexander checked the time differences before he began to make calls. He had done some video calls soliciting the interest of potential engineering candidates. He had spent some time on a video call with Felix. They talked about how the race in Tokyo had gone. He gave Felix the feedback he had from the race. He told him to focus on the ELS systems to see what could be done to increase their defense against ELS and better accuracy and lock on when deploying ELS against other ships. He also once again asked the engineers to see if they could come up with anything to help with speed. Was there anything that could be done to provide even a temporary boost to their speed? Alexander reminded Felix he would be completely unavailable tomorrow and Friday. If he needed him to reach out via email and call him in any emergencies. He told him if anything drastic came up to call Katherine as she would be with him at the photoshoot and the fashion show.
Alexander called Leopold to check in. Leopold was not available so he left him a message. Alexander had probably botched the time difference again.
Alexander: "Leopold I know Tokyo was a mixed bag. I take full responsibility for the results. I made the mistake of underestimating how important the ELS was for our ships. Paul did alright and had a decent showing. The strategy worked for him but not Dorian. I am working on fixing things with Dorian. I shook hands and made the sponsors happy last night. I have put out some feelers for some of the new talent we need to bring in. I have already spoken with Felix about what needs to happen before the next race. They are working on it. I will be in Tokyo for the week taking care of the responsibilities we owe on the Enigma Lux and Orion contracts. I will be completely unavailable on Tuesday and Friday. If anything dire comes up on those days, contact Katherine she will be available and on site with me. Sorry if I called at the wrong time. Damn time zones. Bye."
Victory Laps Racing News
Alexander Knight was seen out getting drinks with sponsors after the race in Tokyo. It looked like it was business as usual for Team Valkyrie AGR.
Paul: “Bea why would we go to England? You do know that Japan is the birthplace of drifting, right? Drifting tracks are still very popular here in Japan. I am sure we could rent a track for an hour or two to have some fun while we are here in Tokyo. If you have the time? I will be here after the race for a few days taking care of some sponsorship commitments.”
Bea: ”Because just because it’s from here doesn’t mean it’s special. Hamburgers are from Germany, yet it’s the Yanks you think of when you hear the word.” She shrugged, ”And if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right, with enough time, proper car for the occasion and everything.” She was also working a bit of an angle with it, because living with an older sister taught her it wasn’t a friendly competition if you weren’t tilting the field a little.
Paul laughed and tsked at her, shaking his finger. “Now Bea, there is something to be said for tradition. I know for a fact the track I have in mind has cars specifically set up for drifting. It is also a neutral track where neither one of us could call foul play or find unfavorable advantage. There is something to be said for neutral territory.” Paul sighed and smiled at Bea. “My calendar is pretty full for a bit. I don’t know when I can get to England. Maybe we can arrange that when I am in England for the English Grand Prix in June?”
Round 3 of Formula Anti-Gravity Racing Sunday April 2nd, 2094 Race Day Japanese AGP Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan 2000 JST
Paul had been disappointed with how he had done in qualifying. He had started the race in the 9th pole position with both Zygon ships in front of him and Ulrich behind him. Paul had trained hard on ELS just for this race. He was struggling to get the timing right with his driving style. He was surprised when Dorian performed worse than him and was starting behind Ulrich in the 11th pole position. Paul was a little nervous about this race. He wasn’t nervous to be in the race. He was more nervous because there had been a change he hadn’t been expecting. For the first time, Alexander was going to be in his ear along with his engineer. The heavy rain and the need for ELS systems mandated the need to rely on his neural interface for input. He had been training really hard in the new simulator for situations just like this. Today would be telling if that training was paying off.
For this race Paul’s engineer was the team’s ELS Systems expert, Luca Tabarri. The engineer Paul had been working with quit unexpectedly after Cape Town. Evidently he was not a fan of Knight and had been looking for a new job. He didn’t tell anyone he was looking. Paul had been working with a new engineer that had stepped up to be his personal team lead. The person who would be on the headset with him at every race. They had only worked together for a week. Paul liked his new engineer well enough. He was still getting used to hearing a feminine voice in his ear instead of a male one. His new engineer was from Italy and her name was Carmella Fidanza. It had been a big adjustment for Paul. Carmella had different strategies and he didn’t know her very well yet. It was going to be hard to trust her at this race after a week. He was doing his best though.
Alexander’s voice came over the radio deep, calm, and with that authoritative edge that was just Alexander’s personality.
Alexander: “Paul systems check.”
Paul: “Systems are green across the board. I can’t see much in this pea soup though.”
Carmella: “Paul we talked about this. You need to trust your ship systems. Make sure you have your radar and lidar enabled.
Paul sighed and rolled his eyes at Carmella’s advice. Like he hadn’t already done that and played with the settings to get the best images possible for his needs.
Paul: “Already done Carmella.”
Alexander could hear the nerves and frustration in Paul’s voice.
Alexander: “Easy Paul. Do me a favor. Use those breathing exercises that the trainers have been working on with you.”
Paul rolled his eyes again at Alexander but obeyed. He closed his eyes and began the deep breathing exercises to boost his oxygen levels. It had the benefit of slowing his heart which had begun to race a little and calm him down. Damn man didn’t miss a trick.
Alexander switched over to check on Dorian.
Alexander: “Dorian radio and systems check.”
Dorian was frustrated and annoyed with Knight. He didn’t need a damn babysitter telling him what to do. He was pissed that he had done so poorly in qualifying.
Dorian: “Radio check.”
Dorian tugged on the gloves of his new racing suit. He tried to push negative thoughts away and focus on what he needed to do. He set up the radar and lidar systems so that he could navigate the ship without being able to see with the naked eye since he couldn’t see crap out his windshield. Dorian switched to the private comm line direct to Alexander. Dorian knew what to do. This was not the first time he had raced in the rain with poor visibility.
Dorian: “Alexander are you there?”
Alexander: “Yes of course Dorian, What is it?”
Dorian: “Please don’t talk to me during the race. Just leave me to my team lead engineer, Remy. Hearing you try to talk to me during the race will just break my focus.”
Alexander’s jaw clenched tight in frustration. Dorian was struggling here in Tokyo. He was a skilled and experienced racer and it was one of their issues. He didn’t want advice or to listen to anything Alexander told him. Alexander couldn’t force him to get on board with his way of doing things. He had suggested a strategy for Tokyo that was working for Paul but not Dorian. Who was going off script and doing his own thing. He had not done very well in qualifying. Alexander understood that Valkyrie’s ships would struggle here in Tokyo. He thought he had proven his strategies to Dorian in Cape Town. Yet here he was determined to run the race his own way once more. Alexander decided to give him what he wanted. He would focus on Paul.
Alexander: “If that is what you want, I will focus on Paul for this race. Run the race how you see fit. I have given you what I feel is the best strategy for our ships here in Tokyo.”
Dorian smiled as Alexander gave him what he wanted. He was surprised that Alexander agreed to his request. Dorian respected that Alexander had his own experience pool to pull from but Dorian didn’t trust it. Alexander had been out of the game a long time. The fact that he couldn’t seem to make any improvements to the ships was just frustrating to him and a red flag. He didn’t feel like Alexander had a plan to turn their team around. This was his last season and he wanted to do better than he had been. .Dorian snorted at least he wouldn’t have Alexander commenting on top of his engineer distracting him during the race.
Dorian: “Thank you.”
He went through his pre-race checklist quickly. He switched his comms back over to the main channel.
Dorian: “All systems green.”
Remy: “Dorian I can confirm we are reading the same here in the paddock. All systems look good.”
Dorian had not been content with the strategy laid out for this race. He had been very vocal about how he felt and instead of focusing on the strategy the team had come up with, he had pushed his own agenda. Dorian was pushing for consistency which had fared him well so far. He knew his ship was not going to do well here in Tokyo. He was still frustrated that all the tweaks to the ships have not put them on par with Silver Apex and Southern Cross. He kept telling Knight if he would get him a competitive ship he would bring home the wins. He felt like Knight was coming up with excuse after excuse. It was a short time later and the countdown for the start was on.
5 4 3 2 1
Paul hit the accelerator as the race started, rocketing off the starting line. He was grateful he had been training for this. His neural interface was handling all the incoming data and he was not feeling overwhelmed by it. He had the data coming in from the radar and lidar systems overlaid on a wireframe of the track. His neural interface was feeding all the sensor data that the ship had directly into his brain. He had been training on focusing on the data he needed and processing it faster. Paul’s digital display on the dashboard had been reconfigured for this race. He had the ship’s camera feeds pulled up in a small sectioned display to one side the dashboard. The screen split half showing what was in front of the ship and behind the ship. He had a screen with infrared and thermal imaging displayed next to each other. There was an almost identical quartered screen on the other side of the dashboard that showed the radar and lidar scans in real time. It allowed him to see what was happening and where he needed to steer despite the almost blinding rainfall. It would allow him to see other ships around him during the race. The rest of the dashboard was a host of holographic gauges and indicators on everything from available power, speed, direction, fuel, hydraulic pressures, air speed, and directional air flow flap indicators.
Carmella: “Good start Paul. Ease yourself into this. Just stay on pace as you get a handle for the track. No one is going to be making any hard aggressive moves in the first round. You are looking good, just maintain your pace and position for now.”
Paul was struggling to nail the timing for the ELS. He was hitting the corners and the chicanes getting the most he could out of the ships handling and stability. He was failing to keep the energy systems charged enough to boost past other ships. He was fighting tooth and nail to keep Cassie and Hyeon-Ae in his sights. Ulrich was right on his tail and seemed glued to his damn ship sucking its energy away. He managed to maintain his position in lap one but it was a battle.
Alexander: “Paul, you are doing good. This was just the first lap. How are you feeling about the ship? Any issues?”
Paul: “Handling and stability is saving me in the corners and chicanes but Ulrich is slowing me down. It is like he is locked onto my ship. I can’t maintain enough energy to use boost and maintain a higher speed. He is bonking me every chance he gets.”
Alexander’s voice was back confident and soothing as he reassured Paul.
Alexander: “Paul we expected this, remember. Just like Cape Town our goal is to pick up points. There will be tracks where our ship will be in a better position to compete. I expect Ulrich will make his move to overtake you in the next few laps. Remember your defensive training.”
Paul snorted as he passed Shibuya Crossing for the fifth time and was robbed of breath as his body was thrown against his harness as he executed the hard left and right turn sections onto Route 246 and onto Route 3. Paul felt the ship shuddering as cross winds caught it on the open straight. Paul used his interface to make the minute changes to the steering flaps to add some downforce to help with steering even as his hand on the joystick picked the best line for keeping a consistent speed coming out of the turns. He saw Ulrich coming up quickly behind him. He did his best to defend against an overtake and it was like Ulrich turned off the lights in his ship as he suddenly shot past him on the right.
Paul: “Ulrich just passed me. At least he is challenging Cassie now.”
Alexander: “Pick up your pace and chase him. Take advantage of the chaos as he pushes those in front of you!”
Carmella: “Paul focus on rebuilding your energy reserves as you pick up your pace some.”
Paul followed orders as he floored it on the straight aways. He whooped with glee when he went into the long turn as he approached the Rainbow Bridge. Paul smiled as he drifted through the long turn having built up some decent momentum. It was one of those places where he used his piloting skill to conserve some energy while keeping his momentum going.
Carmella: “You are approaching Robot Corner. Good pace Paul. You are closing on Ulrich. 1 second ahead of you.”
Paul pushed the ship in an effort to catch up to Ulrich once more and be in a position to overtake him. He tried to lock onto Ulrich’s ship to drain some of his energy but Ulrich was playing damn good defense. Paul’s ship was dancing left to right as he tried to get a lock. Ulrich pulled ahead of him and shot out of the tunnel section from under the Shinbamba which spat the racers out on Route 2. Ulrich went flying by Cassie. Paul followed in Ulrich’s wake and was shot by Cassie as if her ship had stalled.
Carmella: “Nice job Paul. Try to keep up the pace now. See if you can continue to follow Ulrich’s lead. He is opening those doors nicely. Keep taking advantage of them.”
And so the next several laps went as Paul listened to the engineers and Alexander sharing the intense battle behind him. He managed to hold off Cassie who was charging him hard trying to overtake him and regain her lost position. Pretty soon he lost Ulrich as he slingshot past Hyeon-Ae. It was about the midpoint of the race when he found out Bea was behind him having overtaken Cassie. Paul was charging hard as he once more used his ship's superior handling and stability to catch up with Hyeon-Ae’s Zygon craft in front of him. Hyeon-Ae couldn’t take the turns as fast as he could and he was within overtake range finally. He managed to get close to her at Robot Corner. He managed to stay with her. He smiled as he used the antigravity on the ship in the tunnel to his advantage as he poured on the speed and ran the ship up the tunnel wall using it like a skateboarder would a halfpipe and swept up and around and down in front of Hyeon-Ae. He shot out of the tunnel in front of Hyeon-Ae.
The rest of the race left Paul chasing after Ulrich but never able to get a lock on him. Ulrich was simply a master of the ELS. The rest of his race became a defensive battle to maintain his position. First from Hyeon-Ae and then a few laps later it was Bea nipping at his heels. He smiled having fun with this amazing track. Bea kept him on his toes as he fought to maintain his position. The track challenged his skills and highlighted areas he needed to work on. He was still having a blast as he defended against Bea’s attempts to get around him. Their side bet just added another layer of satisfaction to how well he was doing every time he shut her down. The checkered flag came down and he had finished in front of Bea.
Paul threw a fist in the air in victory as he slowed his craft down and headed to pit lane. He could be heard laughing on the radio. At least he had beaten Bea. He wouldn’t have to wear the rainbow shirt. He would have if he had lost the bet. He smiled as he wondered how much she hated the sight of the number 72 on the back of his ship at the moment. Maybe he would surprise her and wear it anyway.
Alexander: “Good job Paul, you came in 8th. We got some points.”
Paul: “My thanks to the team. I wouldn’t have done as well without all your help. Thanks everyone!”
Paul pulled his ship into pit lane and shut it down, handing it over to the mechanics and engineers to deal with. After getting to spend some time with some of the other pilots, he wanted to make a point to be more friendly to them. He finished in 8th place but he had faith that he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of the pack forever. His time to shine would come. It was still a fun track for any serious racer.
Paul first went into the Valkyrie paddock and gave a personal thank you and feedback to Carmella, his new engineer. He also made sure to give personal thanks to all the engineers and mechanics in the bay. Not everyone had radios on. He wanted to be sure that they knew he appreciated all the hard work it took to keep him in the race.
Paul was on his second sports drink since pulling into the paddock. Japan might be cool but it could be really warm inside the ships and the race was long. Their sponsor Zap sports drinks always had drinks in the paddock for the drivers after they were done. Paul liked the pink ones which were a watermelon flavor. They were full of all natural ingredients that replenish electrolytes and had natural energy boosters in them. They were great for recovery after the race and a quick energy boost before the interviews.
The back wall of the paddock was plastered with sponsor logos and slogans. Valkyrie’s biggest sponsors currently were Zap Sports Drink and I Can’t Believe It's Not Meat. Part of the reason he was in Tokyo after the race was to finish Valkyrie’s responsibilities to their newest sponsors the Enigma Lux Fashion House and Orion Luxury Watches. There were a bunch of smaller sponsors. The less important the sponsor the smaller their logo. They had representation on the wall though. There was a special section that listed the agencies on Valkyrie’s governing board: Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, Renault, Sauber, the European Union Space Agency, Brimex Corporation, Biomatter International, Hansen Genetics, and Kivelo Kinetics.
He was surprised when he found out that Dorian had finished in 16th after starting in 11th. He had lost 5 places since the beginning of the race. It was the first race where he had a better finish than Dorian and by a huge margin. He was about to leave the paddock to go in search of Bea. He wanted to congratulate her on a good race. When she found him and showed up in the Valkyrie Paddock.
Bea approached him, amusement was in her tone as she told him.
Bea: ”You really didn’t want that shirt, did you?” She laughed, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. ”Guess I’ll swing by later to pick up mine.”
Paul gave Bea a bright smile. “Great race Bea. It was a fun track and you made it even more fun.” He grabbed one of the Zap Sports Drinks out of the large cooler he was standing next to and tossed a drink to her. “Here, have a drink on me.” He grinned at her. “I will see you soon.”
Paul wanted to congratulate Kais on his win. So he went over to the Al Saqr paddock which was full of celebratory smiles and cheer. Paul approached Kais with a smile. Paul. decided to share a Zap Sports Drinks with his fellow pilots. He brought an orange flavored one to Kais. Paul held his hand out offering Kais a handshake.
Paul: “I wanted to congratulate you on your first win. That was an epic race. I am glad you broke Stirling’s winning streak.” He handed Kais the orange flavored sports drink. “Here, have a drink on me.” He clapped Kais on the shoulder in a friendly way before he left to find Hyeon-Ae.
Paul approached the Zygon paddock and had to pass through multiple security checkpoints to even get close to Hyeon-Ae. He waved at her and was finally let through after some kind of hidden signal. Paul approached Hyeon-Ae with a warm smile. He was once more carrying a Zap Sports Drink with him. This drink was green in color. He didn’t like this one as much but he figured Hyeon might. It was a mint and lime flavored sports drink.
Paul: “Here, have your first drink on me.” He handed her the green sports drink. “Hyeon-Ae, I wanted to thank you for the absolutely stimulating race. You kept me honest and battling hard all the way through the finish. I look forward to our meeting tomorrow.”
Delta Hyper Post Race Interviews: Sponsored by the Anti-Social Social Club
Paul smiled at Aurora: “Always a pleasure to be here Aurora.”
Aurora: "Paul, a respectable result, up from P9 to P8. Valkyrie however doesn't look like it performed as well as it could have this weekend, any lessons learned from this weekend?"
Paul paused and thought about his answer. He didn’t want to keep throwing out the same canned responses. He wanted to come across as genuine to the fans. He wanted to give an honest answer but be respectful.
Paul: “Tokyo is not a circuit that Valkyrie expected to do well on. Valkyrie’s engineers work hard between every race to try and tweak our ships to get more out of them. More speed and better energy management systems. Every circuit we race is different with different challenges. I couldn’t do what I do without the team behind me. I know they work hard and do their best so I can meet the challenges of each circuit.”
Paul shrugged a little and gave the camera a wry smile. “Everyone on the track has skill and wants to win. The fact is we can’t all win all the time. We are all going to have bad days. Today was not Valkyrie’s day. We had hoped for better but the results are what they are. I can’t change them. I was happy with my finish today.”
Paul smiled at the camera. “Tokyo was a fun race for me. I really enjoyed this challenging track. The midfield battle was intense. I have to give props to Ulrich. He proved himself a master of ELS today. Bea kept me on toes with pure racing skill. Today’s race reminded me to enjoy what I do but I have a lot of work to do. I will be training harder on ELS management and trying to improve my defensive skills. Today was not my day but that’s okay because I will be ready when it is my day.”
Social Media
Bea Ward @MadBea: [Image of Bea standing in front of the Valkyrie AGR fan area, wearing the signed t-shirt.] So, what have we learned today? If you want to make @ValkyriePaul do something, make a bet with him that he has to wear wiphala if he doesn’t do it. I give this advice to you free of charge, Mr. Knight.
Paul Mulder @ValkyriePaul: Bea you were a great sport about our bet. I really enjoyed racing with you. I have donned the rainbow shirt in friendship. Not even I can make it look good though! See you in Italy!@MadBea [Image of Paul wearing the overly bright and truly hideous Carrera Condor shirt. The image was taken at the world famous Shibuya Crossing. It was hard to tell which was more colorful the shirt he was wearing or the neon he was surrounded by.]
Team Valkyrie AGR Sport @TeamValkyrie Tokyo Japan race results are in with Paul Mulder finishing in 8th and Dorian Hornfleur finishing in 16th place. Team Valkyrie AGR Sport is 4th in the constructor standings. Paul picked up some points for the team. Let’s hear it for the rookie! #TeamValkyrieAGR #ValkyriePaul #ValkyrieDorian #JapanAGP #FormulaAG
OfficeDrone#12: Rumors from inside Valkyrie say there is tension between Alexander and Dorian. SuperfanAGR54: Dorian utterly quit by round 5. He must feel comfortable at the back of the pack. DantheMan: Dorian looked like he just gave up! He even made Fitzroy and SuperCat look good at this race. Superfan2075: Paul did okay but what the hell happened to Dorian? DadBod89: I feel like this is a repeat of last year’s disappointment. Hater101: Knight fails as a leader. Valkyrie is obviously struggling. Papabear34: Paul is showing promise as a rookie. It was a good race for him. Solid performance. Nana2050: The team still managed to take some points from the race. Disappointed with Dorian’s performance though. GeorgeFly: #ValkyrieCrashes ValkyrieFan56: I am glad to see Paul performing with some consistency. There is hope for Valkyrie yet! Go Paul! #ValkyriePaul Weedhead81: Maybe Dorian should try some green magic. Maybe he would do better in the next race. SexyM@m@5: Poor Dorian. I wonder what happened? Paulmulder4eva: Paul is doing well. Is there something going on between him and Beatrix Ward? What’s with the whole t-shirt thing? Britball12: Valkyrie’s wings are broken. !YouSlow!: Dorian totally botched this race. His performance was downright sad and lackluster. xImFasterthanUx: Dorian was outperformed by the rookie. Sad. AGInthusiast: Look at that Kais took the podium! micheal650004: Paul did ok. llamalover4life: #sadrace ieatAGR: Team Valkyrie’s performance was abysmal in Tokyo..
Welcome to The Paddock, our popular Formula AG Racing Forum! All Formula AG Fans are welcome to discuss all things Formula AG! This channel is moderated and all participants need to adhere to the Community Guidelines and Terms of Use. This online channel is a place to discuss the thing we are all passionate about Formula AG Racing!
Moderators will flag and censor anyone breaking the community guidelines. A quick reminder of the most important rules: Be respectful, no attacking other members. Share relevant content only. NO spam or vandalizing the forum. Respect other members' privacy and guard your own. DO NOT USE language that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, threatening, offensive, demeaning, derogatory, disparaging, or abusive, or post links to content that contains any of this language.
KingKofiFan: Kofi might not have done well but he is still my favorite. I am a member of the pride, not the herd! #SuperCatPride $erwa: #SuperCatPride Jan2084: It is nice to see some fans stay loyal to their team. Bertha: Kofi botched it!
NoraRules: Nora top five again! BadBrad: I agree Nora is this season’s rookie of the year! ApexSuperFan: Kais certainly tried to tie for Nora’s rookie of the year nomination. AGInthusiast: Southern Cross as a team is doing really well this year. Bertha: Nora still has not beaten Amy Stirling.
TeamCondorSF: Good teamwork by Team Condor. Susie: Ava could have done better. ApexSuperFan: Hart finished in front of Ava. Abdullah: #FalconSoars Falcon Kais knows how to fly! Bertha: Even Bjorn came in ahead of Villarosa.
Roberto: #NordicCallReturns #AstridDomination Merica1: Astrid looked hot on the podium. Was nice to see others above Silver Apex for once. Bertha: Who knew the blonde really knew how to drive?
Zygonista: Disappointed in Tokyo. BadBrad: Not surprised Han tanked in Tokyo. #NoSkill ValkyrieFan56: Exciting midfield race between Han and Paul. Zygonista: I will grant Paul has some skill. BadBrad: [comment removed by the moderators] Bertha: Even Miller Motor Racing did better than Zygon in Tokyo. How sad is that?
SuperfanAGR54: Jamie Hart didn’t do very well and Dorian was flat disappointing. Was he even there to race? It was like he didn’t show up at all. BeaLover: Bea did pretty well. Abdullah: Al Saqr ruled in Japan! ApexSuperFan: It was only one race. Apex will be back. Bertha: [Content removed by moderators.]
I am experienced roleplayer returning to online roleplay after 10+ year break. I have missed roleplaying and the creative outlet it is for me. I am interested in casual roleplay. I consider myself a decent writer and I will put effort into my writing. I am not into writing a novel for one post though. Descriptive, character building, engaging, yes. I will always write at least 2 paragraphs unless it is a quick fire session revolving around dialogue over private messages. I am a fairly laid back person and don't want to be a grammar nazi. I believe in quality over quantity. Roleplaying is a hobby and a escape from real life pressures.
[color=00aeef]Genres I am interested in: [/color]
Fantasy
Middle Ages
Science Fiction
Vampires
Shapeshifters
Crime Drama
[color=00aeef]Fandoms I am interested in:[/color]
Pokemon
Harry Potter
Anita Blake
Dragonriders of Pern
Star Wars
I don't mind roleplaying romance but I am not looking for smut. It has to make sense for the roleplay. I am okay with a fade to black moment instead of roleplaying it out. For me its about the story and the character. I am open to roleplaying it out.
I am in the Pacific Standard Timezone. I work full time and will be seen in the evenings and weekends online.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I am experienced roleplayer returning to online roleplay after 10+ year break. I have missed roleplaying and the creative outlet it is for me. I am interested in casual roleplay. I consider myself a decent writer and I will put effort into my writing. I am not into writing a novel for one post though. Descriptive, character building, engaging, yes. I will always write at least 2 paragraphs unless it is a quick fire session revolving around dialogue over private messages. I am a fairly laid back person and don't want to be a grammar nazi. I believe in quality over quantity. Roleplaying is a hobby and a escape from real life pressures. <br><br><font color="#00aeef">Genres I am interested in: </font><br>Fantasy<br>Middle Ages <br>Science Fiction <br>Vampires <br>Shapeshifters <br>Crime Drama<br><br><font color="#00aeef">Fandoms I am interested in:</font><br>Pokemon<br>Harry Potter <br>Anita Blake <br>Dragonriders of Pern <br>Star Wars <br><br>I don't mind roleplaying romance but I am not looking for smut. It has to make sense for the roleplay. I am okay with a fade to black moment instead of roleplaying it out. For me its about the story and the character. I am open to roleplaying it out. <br><br>I am in the Pacific Standard Timezone. I work full time and will be seen in the evenings and weekends online.</div>
Member
FourtyTwo
wintersoldier
Pen Name
Lunamaria Hawke
Eventua
Snowdrops
Ivar
Sky Blue
Triantafyllo
