After returning to the city, Katie dragged Tasha to her hotel suite where Mr. Invention and Miss Necessity gave them makeovers. This included the metallic sheen treatment, and fancy shimmery (and slinky) gowns. There was a party in the hotel ballroom (adjacent to the casino) that was held more or less every night, and the two women got to dance and eat. Tasha can't remember all the dance partners they had, either, except for the one really big Naga that could somehow do the waltz without moving his coils much.
It was all exhausting enough that Tasha actually slept all night, despite sleeping next to Katherine. Morning came with the breakfast-smell alarm clock, which got Tasha up to eat again. Unfortunately, Katie had some appointments that day that she couldn't avoid, so Tasha was free to do as she liked.
Back to her usual quasi-official outfit, Tasha steps in to the embassy and takes a moment to look around. Her clothes are not so much a uniform as the impression of one, offset by the enduring metallic hair treatment performed by Mr. Invention, giving her the look of the most shinny of faux mercenary captains. It's been some time since she was last here, though she didn't expect much to change. Change, after all, had long been slow to come to Abaddon.
"Ah," the secretary says, smiling to Tasha. "Are you here to see the Colonel?" he asks, apparently familiar with Tasha's usual reason for visiting.
"I guess I'm getting predicable. I really should come back with the big sword and power armor some time, unless that's predictable too." Tasha smiles back as she approaches the counter, one hand resting on its edge as she leans forward slightly, her free taloned hand thumbing towards the path in to the offices. "Does that mean I can?"
"She's in her office," the secretary notes, checking a clock on the reception desk. "Unless her morning workout went long. Do you want me to buzz you or do you just want to surprise her?"
Tasha considers that, then says, "What's life without surprises?" She winks, then pushes off and begins down the walkway. "Thanks again," she calls back, and then she's off hunting a colonel.
The Colonel's office is on the upper floor, but it's a familiar path. Soon Tasha is in front of the big wooden door with the brash plaque that supposedly reads 'Colonel Rapatia' in Confederate script. The question before her now is.. knock or see if it's unlocked?
I better knock, I've already had enough horrors this week. Not that she expects anyting Rapatia could be doing would truly shock her -- she's probably done worse and has definitely seen worse -- but it amuses her to speculate on all the possibilities, besides she thinks knocking is polite. When did I become polite? She then thinks to wonder as her taloned hand raps on the door. "It's the other blonde woman with a big sword and power armor!"
"What?" comes a faint reply, as if from another room beyond the office.
"It's Tasha," the hybrid clarifies, rolling her eyes now that her call back to an old joke has fallen flat.
"Tasha?" Rapatia calls. "Oh, come in!"
The door opens and Tasha peeks her head inside. "Hi Colonel," she greets the other woman, looking around. "I thought I'd come and visit on my last day of vacation, maybe visit the Confederacy, see how things are..?"
The office is empty, but now Tasha can hear the sound of water dripping and smell wet feathers. There's an ajar door on the other side of the room, and Rapatia's voices comes from beyond it. "Be right out," the Vartan says. "Vacation, you say? I only get those when someone wants me to stop meddling."
Unfortunately for me this is a vacation before I meddle." Tasha walks around aimlessly for a moment, leaning forward to peek out the window, then, turning to drop herself in to one of Rapatia's office chairs placed infront of her desk. She leans back and makes herself comfortable. "I've been ordered to take three days off. No prize for guessing who I was with the last two days! I figured I should balance my Karnors with Vartans, really center myself -- whatever that means."
A damp, beaked head pokes though the door, feathers askew, as Rapatia asks, "Oh, so Vartans only take one day then?" She's 'grinning' when she says it though. "You want to go see the farms?"
"Sure I do!" Tasha uses her hoofed to push her chair back until she can crane her neck around at get a look at Rapatia. "Farms, cities, walking farm bug cities, whatever you've got. It struck me I've never really taken a look at the Confederate lands, and I know the wells have been a big help, so why not spend my last d--" The young woman immediately regrets the half-spoken phrase 'last day,' jerking to a verbal halt and quickly recovering with, " ... last vacation day seeing what's what. Plus, I wanted to see you!" She wiggles her fingers in coy wave.
"Ah, I gotta go to the wellhead anyway," Rapatia claims, and pulls her head back into the other room. There's loud whirring sound for a minute. Not too long afterwards Rapatia returns, the feathers not covered by her uniform are poofed out like a chick's. The Vartan just tries to pat those down into place. "Ready to go then?" she finally asks Tasha.
Tasha pulls back, then shifts her weight forward, hopping to her 'feet.' "I'm the JEF's number one explorer, I am always ready to go." She then brushes her hair aside in a particularly slow and obvious fashion. "Even my hair is. So shiny." She winks, waggling her other hand at the door. "After you, ma'am."
"Very sexy look," Rapatia says with a wink. "Come on, we can leave from the roof." She then uses her intercom to let the secretary know she's leaving for the Confederate Quarter before leading Tasha out to the roof access. From there it's easy to get above the power and communications wires that cover Elamoore like a spider web. It's also easy to see where to go, since the cliffs of the Confederate zone glitter in the sunlight.
"I forget sometimes how nice it is to travel with other people that can fly. The Terragens really need to look at wings, I don't know how they can stand all the walking!" Tasha yells over the wind. She wonders how long its been since she flew together with another Vartan, justanother Vartan, not carrying something or someone else as well. Too long, she decides. But that's why she's here today.
"Terrans like to ride things," Rapatia calls back. "Things that run, things that fly. Little bird tells me you had Raehab for a few days." Of course Rapatia would have people spying on Raehab. She probably has people spying on everyone.
Tasha barks a laugh; so much for being covert. "I took him to meet the Phantom! My poor Phantom, he really got his 'revenge.'" Of course, reiterating what happened just makes her laugh again.
"Ah, he didn't try to stab it did he?" Rapatia asks.. whether as a deliberate double-entendre or not is hard to tell. The towering scaffold of the well head is coming up quickly, but Rapatia is heading a bit further away, towards the cliffs.
"Oh he stabbed it alright. I've never seen her so distracted." Tasha makes as good an attempt at an arms out shrug as she can while flying. "And I think it was her idea. Well, better they work it out than hold a grudge. One less problem in the world!"
"There always more to take its place though," Rapatia claims and angles down for a landing on a large platform at the base of the cliff. There a plenty of other Vartans there, along with what could be machines or animals or machine-animals.
Tasha clatters down a moment later, wings beating several times until she slows herself and then they're folded. Placing her hands on the small of her back, she leans, pushing. "I really need to fly more, and not cross-continent either," she remarks as she looks around. "You know I saw this place, but I always though it was a depot or something."
There are a few Eeee, but they seem lost amidst the larger Vartans. And almost all of them are men, stripped down to shorts or loincloths. Most are in queues. At the head of them are Eeee manning large tanks connected to a spray wand, which they use to spray down each Vartan in turn.
Rapatia grins to Tasha, and says, "I like this place at shift changes." Probably because of all the 'beef' on display, since nothing much seems to be going on here.
Tasha's shiny hair does get noticed however, and there are a few whistles and lots of flexing from the nearer batch of men.
"Uh, so, what's all this?" Tasha asks as she hurries to catch up with Rapatia, keeping beside her in unfamiliar territory. She eyes the shower system in particular. "Is that ... 'decon'?"
"Nah, it's opposite," Rapatia says. "Pheremone spray. Each line is for a different kind of livestock. Handlers have the right scent, and cattle aren't worried around them. Don't have right scent? Probably get stamped down into a fine paste. Nobody rustles our cattle."
"I wish I had that back when I was droving pteras, but then I always smelled like pteras so maybe it was all the same thing?" Tasha dictintly remembers the smell, something between dry old leather and dust, with the cloying scent of old meat and the tang of saliva whenever she was face to face with one. Now there's something I don't miss. "Makes sense though, proper handling is all about control and acceptance."
Rapatia points upwards, and spreads her wings. "Unless you want to get spritzed, we can check out the herds by wing."
"And ruin my shiny hair? Not on your life!" The hybrid's wings unfurl and soon she's joined Raptia in the air.
There are several herds, and a lot of raised platforms for the drovers to watch from. Rapatia explains that it's important to keep the different species separated. The first one they fly over are the 'brachoceri' which look like a bit like bug-armored Dromodons with very sharp, spiky antlers. "Good meat on them," the Colonel explains. "All the metals end up in the armor. Very profitable, and can eat contaminated fodder."
Tasha watches the animals roam. She can definitely see why they've endured on the harsh world of Abaddon and their profit becomes apparent once she hears they transfer metals to their shell -- btoh the meat and the shell are valuable, leaving little wasted. They'd be a big hit on Sinai, she's sure of it. "Were these created on Abaddon or brought from the Confederate or Vartan worlds?" She then thinks to ask.
"Created," Rapatia claims. "Not native. Have never been able to do anything useful with the native animals." She points towards a different herd, and angles towards it. Those creatures look like lobsters, but with wheels instead of legs. They come in many sizes and colors, but the herd is much smaller than the previous one. "Wheelbug," Rapatia dubs them. "When they're big enough, we can fit control harnesses and cabins to make them useful vehicles. Good for racing too."
"Now that is definitely not native." The best Tasha can come up with to compare them to are Zelaks, but even then she'd be more likely to lump them in with carts. Confederate bioltechnology has always been amysterious, distant technology from her usual haunts -- electronics, mechanics, even the far-technomagical wonders of the Sifra, Ogdru-hem and Progenitors only seem tangently related. She supposes uplift is of the same nature, but to her it always seemed much more narrowly focused, cleaner, and only a needful concession to the organic among its inorganic trappings. The Confederacy flaunts it biotechnology and very little has ever filtered in to her life. "It's all so dofferent," she admits. "From what we use, even what the old, old ones use. But I guess it's like uplift, just with differnet intentions."
"Uplift is about smarts," Rapatia says. "Food and tools don't need to be smart. Probably a lot of uplift projects out in the big black that Confederates keep secret though. Our last uplift attempt on Abaddon failed pretty spectacularly though." She veers towards another herd.
Tasha follows along, but angles closer so that she doesn't have to yell as loudly. She wants to hear this. "The Confederacy tried an uplift?" She inquires, ears perked.
"Well.. sorta," Rapatia says. "Was scratch-built, not uplifted from existing species. Project Overseer.. ran the main Confederate Life dome. Big, telepathic super-computer brain. But.. ended up running us too. Very efficient but you could never know which thoughts were your own, or even which memories. Vartan from Sinai came, smashed it up. Freed us from it, but also lost the Life Dome."
The next group of animals are smaller but more numerous, and the wranglers are on the ground keeping them together by tapping the shells with long sticks. The beasts look like oversized skedats.
And then Tasha's ears are laying back. "I heard about that. It was one of the things I was worried about -- afraid of really -- being I'm from Sinai too. I thought maybe the Confederacy would resent us, or at least doubt me. It was something I had to work out before the JEF was founded. Something I didn't want to ask about, because I didn't want to cause resentment just be asking." She spreads her hands; what can you do. "I know it was a sore spot. I'm sorry things went badly."
"Reach too far, lose your hand," Rapatia recites. "Every nation has had some sort of game-changer project that blew up in their face. Secret super weapons, mind control, death-rays. Could fill a museum with it all. Someone probably has! Terrans like museums." She gestures to the bugs below. "All purpose insects," she says. "Armor, protein, waste disposal.. but they need uncontaminated food and water for the most part. Originally bio-weapons."
"I've seen those. They're raised in Babel too -- that's the nation that grew up around the Confederate motehrship that landed on Sinai. Probably all from the same genetic stock, except ours are smaller. Bats use them for weapons, armor, food. Thing weird thing is," and here Tasha points towards a group of drovers composed of various avians that aren't Vartan, " ... none of the others live there. Just the Eeee. I'm sure there's a story there, maybe some day I'll get to look in to it." Then the hand retracts and she taps her nose with it. "Speaking of reaching too far, I need to say something before we're all done."
Rapatia leads back towards the cliffs, and asks, "What you have to say?"
"Well ... " Tasha dithers, once again having expected to save this part until the end, but the emntion of overreach seemed like too good a segway to pass up, not to mention /relevant.. "Rapatia, my vacation is long because what I'm about to do is /major./ Maybe the biggest thing I'll ever do; I don't know. But I /feel/ it. I feel it in my heart and in my soul." The young woman knows she doesn't need to explain that feeling -- it is a point of sameness, part of what makes a Vartan a Vartan. That sense of the spirit, the gut impression of things and people. "But it might also be the /last,/ or if I do come back, maybe I won't be the same. Maybe I won't be /me./ So I came to say thank-you for everything you've done for me, and if it's not too much, I'd like to ask you a favor."
"If you need to grow new bits again, I'll help," Rapatia says. "You're not who you were a week ago, or a year ago. We're always changing who we are. Spirit stays the same though. What's the favor?"
"This is ... different." Tasha insist, but decides to leave it at that. Instead she pushes on to more important matters. "If I don't come back, if I'm not me anymore, I want you help three people, three children: A little girl that looks like me, a brown Karnor named Mariel, and another Karnor amed Fred. Mariel especially; I think she could beenfit a lot from Vartan company."
"Where've you been hiding children?" Rapatia asks. They're close enough to the cliffs now to see that some of the larger resin blisters are greenhouses, with the smaller ones being homes. Below, there are walled pits used for breeding the smaller, more specialized insects - the ones that are effectively tools.
Tasha grins at that. "Hey I can't tell you all my secrets, you'll just ahve to trust me that they're real -- and maybe they'll be here some day. Maybe not. But I won't leave feeling like I haven't prepared for them." She looks away then, peering at the strange -- yet still familiar -- sight of farmland. She's flown over these lands a hundred times, but never landed. If anything on Abaddon reminds her of Sinai, it's here -- the spread of homes, farmland and pens as obvious here as on the world she was born. Maybe some things never change, no matter where you go. "Are we landing here?"
"Eh, pretty busy in the pits and barns," Rapatia says, and curves back out towards the well site. There's something tall and gangly next to the drill tower. "And you can't wear clothes, because the bugs will get into them."
"My days being naked in barns are behind me," Tasha assures Raptia, laying a hand over her heart.
By the time they reach the drill site, it's clear that the 'gangly figure' is actually a rare Eeee-style Confederate Titan - something Tasha's only seen in combat simulations. It looks more like a giant alien than a machine. The well is the center of lots of activity, from pipe laying to surveying, with plenty of 'vehicles' coming and going.
Tasha's eyes widen, then she barks a laugh! "Wow, that thing brings back memories. The first Titan I ever found -- and tried to pilot -- it had one of those things as the enemy. I don't know how many times it killed me or I botched the whole thing, but I kept trying to win until they dragged me out of the simulation. I'll never forget what what they look like." And she hasn't. The countless virtual deaths, the fireball veering for the cockpit, that Eeee-like alien face are burned in to her memories forever as one of the earliest tastes of the greater galactic world and her first exposure to a Titan as pilot.
"That's Faveral," Rapatia claims. "I recognize it from the old Life Dome. Used to be under the Overseer's control. Didn't help when the Celestials came though. They must have finally replaced the control systems so it can be piloted again." She angles down to a cleared landing platform near the base of the well. Tasha's only seen this structure from inside Melchior.. up close it is a lot bigger.
It reminds her of what Shojo said: In her Titan she's a giant of terrifying size. From her end, she just feels like everyone else shrunk, having no emotional impression of the impact of her own immensity and on some level feeling the world looks toyish and a little unreal. It's moments like this that drive home that transition between Vartan girl and towering machine. Soom she's down, clattering to a stop beside Raptia and furling her wings. She only follows her a few steps, however, turning to walk to the edge of the platform and craning her neck up at the Titan. A chill runs down her spine; the instinct to react to an enemy.
The Titan is the only obviously Confederate technology around, aside from some of the vehicles. The well and drill are all made of steel, with Humans, Silent-Ones and Celestials working side-by-side with Eeee and Vartans (Korvs and Aquilans don't have the same level of dexterity or strength, apparently) and even those are limited to the outer areas - the pumping equipment doesn't leave room (or safety) for people with wings. "Ah, big noisy machinery!" Rapatia says, spreading her arms towards the well. "Progress!"
Tasha turns away from the bioroid and grins at Rapatia, hands tucking behind her back as she ducks forward in to a short sprint to catch up. "It's good to see, isn't it?" She stops beside teh older woman, straightening and turning to regard to complex mechanisims. "I think out of everything I've done, it's this I'm most proud of. It wasn't even my best mission; I got some marks on my record for flying off. But still, it's nice to have been a part of this. I wanted to see it for myself before I headed out."
Rapatia pans her head around, then goes, "There he is! Follow me." The big Vartan begins marching off towards a group of Silent-Ones that are a ways off, with Elamoore in the distance beyond them.
"There who-- coming!" Tasha has to hurry; while she's immense in the Melchior she's among the smallest of Vartans, easily outpaced.
It's difficult to tell the Silent-Ones apart. They're all wearing the same clothes - gray tunics and brown pants, sturdy enough for working in the dirt. They've got there masks, at least. Some of them back away from Rapatia as she marches over and taps the back of the man looking through a surveyor's theodolite. The man makes a shooing motion behind his back in response.
Tasha arrives a bit late, slowing to a stop outside the circle of workers and cocking her head to the side, ears askew. She thinks better of asking what's happening, sensing she'd be interupting some ritual or surprise.
Rapatia crosses her arms and waits. Eventually the surveyor looks up from his tool and waves to the cheetah in the distance that's holding the target pole. Then he turns around to see who tapped him. His mask reads Strength-of-Stones. "Hello Colonel. You are late," he signs, not wearing the speaking glove.
Tasha's brow arch and ears cease the confused skew. She folds her arms, shifting her weight on to one leg and grins lopsidedly. The fingers of her folded hands wiggle in hello whe she thinks the Archon has glanced her way.
"Was showing Tasha around," Rapatia says. "Any progress here regarding the city water supply?"
Tasha shrugs her shoulders and tilts her head the other way in a 'what can you do, I cause problems where ever I go' sort of gesture at the mention of being shown around. She then steps forward, albiet slowly, not wanting to interupt.
The Archon smiles. "Yes," he signs. "A pipeline cannot be buried without considerable cost. I am therefore recommending a covered aqueduct."
"Which is what you wanted to build anyway," Rapatia notes. "I suppose the support arches will all be carved into heroic figures and such?"
The cheetah holds his hand out flat and wobbles it from side to side in a 'maybe' gesture.
A covered aquaduct ... Tasha would be the first to admit she knows very little about civil planning and engineering, her first thought of covered pipes everywhere being tripping over them in her Titan. Still, she can guess some of teh merits, like not having to dig everywhere and not risking contamination if the basin is ever flooded, at least to the level of the pipes anyway. She can easily picture gaudy and dramatic Silent-Ones arches everywhere, however.
"And the cover will be iron-glass so everyone can see the water flowing?" Rapatia asks next, arms crossed.
Still grinning, Strength-of-Stones nods, then signs, "Bottom too, so you can look up at it. With lights so it glows at night."
"She has you, you are very grandoise," Tasha signs, struggling with making her gesture seem mock-stern and equally chastizing given she only knows Formal Sign and everything in Formal Sign sounds stern. As far as langauges she knows go, it is the least suited to the tongue-in-cheek, and to teasing.
"You really are a frustrated artist, aren't you?" Rapatia asks, and looks from the impressive but ugly well-head to the impressive but ugly city in the distance.
"Yes, a lovely graceful arched aqueduct would fit right in," Rapatia says.
"Maybe you should add 'wicked flames,'" the Cadet suggests.
"I am glad that you agree," the Archon signs. "We can present it to the Council together."
Rapatia looks at Tasha. "Hmm, flames.. flame-throwers! Yes, flame-throwers would make it more formidable.."
The Archon's expression falls a bit.
"And rails on the edges for mobile artillery," the Vartan offers next. "Nothing from the canals will be able to get through!"
Tasha throws her arms wide. "Don't blame me, I'm young and naive and everyone tells me I have a lot of growing up to do," she insists, grinning all the more.
"It does not need to be a defensive structure," the Archon signs, looking disappointed.
"Of course it does! It's a key point of infrastructure, along with the well itself," Rapatia notes. "The Pit has to be able to defend itself from.. everyone else.. if necessary."
"Maybe you could suspend the canals by the dome's glass, like with cables? Have hanging structures. I am not just trying to make the Pit more interesting for fliers." But Tasha winks, then she walks over and sits herself down right next to the Archon, feeling a need to be beside ehr friend, and closer to the earth. A memory flits through her mind, something about farmers being closer to the spiritual.
"The dome will never be finished," Rapatia claims.
"Five years," the Archon counters. "And defenses can be mounted on it sooner. No need to ruin my aqueduct."
"No matter, Council wouldn't even approve the perimeter mine field," Rapatia grumbles. "We don't even have anti-aircraft bunkers yet up there!"
"Why not?" Tasha asks, tilting her head downward as she reaches down to run her hand through the soil. The smell of damp, loamy earth greets her. The only place to smell it to such degree across the whole of the planet. It makes her think of home again. She runs the dirt between her thumb and her pointer finger as she looks up. "It sounds like you're expecting a war."
"Nobody is going to attack us, that is why," the Archon signs. "Soldiers always expect war."
"And we have no money for any of it either," Rapatia admits.
"It'd be nice to think it could never happen," Tasha remarks, hedging between the hope of peace and pragmatic understanding of an unpeaceful universe. "Do the nations not believe in the Pit, or is there no money back in the cities, either?" She turns to the Archon. "The Silent-Ones seem to be mixed about the, um, honorability..? ... of the Pit."
"We have Lawbringers, the Gryphon, and soon the Viceroy's bioroids," Strength-of-Stones signs. "They should be more than enough. The Pit is expected to support itself for the most part. The well rig was a necessary expense, but it was an expense."
Tasha bites her lip, raising a hand. "I'm not sure I'll be available. In the future, I mean. But you should have the rest of the JEF backing you," she warns, feeling it needs to be said and it's now or never. She can at least rest assured that the kaiju are unlikely to engage in wide spread destruction of the Pit, now that she has spoken with their director.
"We can make do," the Archon insists. "With the Confederate fields able to expand, we can begin trading food for what we need. The Terrans believe that so long as profit is made from peace, war will be too expensive."
"Until someone runs out of water," Rapatia notes. "Or a blight strikes their crops. But.. I am sure the Celestials will be invaded before we are in either of those scenarios.."
The young woman frowns at the idea of war. It had been discussed before, what the JEF would do if a war broke out. They would have to play their neutrality to the fullest and most likely withdraw to their base -- or bases -- until things have smoothed over, either distributing discoveries cautiously, sitting on them, or subtly using them to undermine the cause of war if possible. They would almost certainly be approached to join this or that side; the capacity to reduce a city to a crater is no small military advantage, albiet an extreme one, and they have lesser technologies that could make a difference as well. "This is really depressing. I think I want to beat you both up," she remarks, looking up at the two.
"Oh, we can go to the gym," Rapatia says, and rolls her right shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I could take you, little girl," she says and winks at Tasha.
Strength-of-Stones just signs, "I have to survey the rest of pipeline path still."
"Maybe I should bring landmines and a gun on a big track," Tasha counters, sticking her tongue out. She pushes herself to her feet, then in a well-meaning fit of pique, fondness, and possible international incident casuing blasphemy, steps over and ruffles up the Archon's hair. "But no fighting friends for me."
"Ah, but it's way better to fight your friends than your enemies," Rapatia notes. "Can't take your enemies out drinking afterwards. Most of the time, anyway."
Tasha holds up her hands. "I have fought way too many of my friends in the last few months. I'd prefer enemies." She holds her hands up to the Archon; I surrender, don't arrest me. "You can still get me drunk though, I'm easy."
"I delegate the drinking to my Vartan friend," the Archon signs. His assistants have packed up the theodolite and seem anxious to move on.
"I refuse to be offended by that," Rapatia says. "Tasha wanted to see what Confederates do for fun."
"I am ruining your hard work and respectable public image." Tasha lays a hand over her heart, then leans down and says, "But I wanted to say:" Her hand lifts and she signs, "Thank you for being my friend. Without you I would have never had faith in the Silent-Ones as a people. Thank you for your council too, even if I did not always listen." She then lowers her hand and offers the Archon a hand up.
Strength-of-Stones takes the offered hand, and also shakes it, Terran style. With his other he signs, "Do not lower your self-confidence. It is your greatest strength."
"Since you say so, I will try not to. Do not ever change; you are a great man who can stand with his own greatness." Tasha shakes the hand and steps back, then turns to smile at Rapatia. "So," she says, head tilting, "I think someone promised me drinking."
"And gambling," Rapatia says. "Care to take in a wheelbug race?"
"There is no technology I can't crash first and learn to pilot later," Tasha insists, then she shoos Rapatia on. "Well? My vacation is ticking away, Colonel!"
After parting with the Silent-Ones, Rapatia takes Tasha flying back towards the cliff.. and up it. The race track is apparently outside the Pit itself - and thus any of the Pit's regulations. "Always bet on purple," she notes. "At least, I always do. It's simpler! Sometimes it even wins.."
Tasha grins at the joke, surveying the track with a hand perched on her hip. "I bet on silver, because I always win if I do," she inists, pointing up at her hair. "Now, I hope I don't have to pay for any damages ..?"