The Crashlanding Casino is full of artifacts from the original colony ship, or at least good reproductions. So it doubles as a museum, with various historical displays and games of chance that tie into them. Many of them take advantage of the lower gravity, making for strange variations of roulette and craps, with oddly shaped tables and wheels. And this is where Egypt's com bracelet (Yue got her to wear one before she left the ship) says the Confederate is located.
For Tasha (and to a lesser extent Lacci) the entire casino may as well be made out of gold and gems, since there are shiny, flashy things everywhere one looks.
"I am never going to find anything in here," Tasha remarks, her gaze having gone rather twitchy since she first stepped in. Just about everything seems to demand her attention, all of it either moving or sparkling, and often times both. Egypt could be standing ten feet away flailing her arms and she thinks it'd be 50/50 if she even noticed. Thus it is that she turns to stare down at her datapad, and only occassionally does she look up -- usually without having meant to as some flash reflects off the screen. "So she's ... this way."
"They really seem to be compensating for not having natural light down here," Lacci comments. Given the crowded nature of the place, Shojo and the Lapis chose to remain outside in the plaza (although really they're probably flying around). Of the Karnors, only Hakeber is tolerant of so much noise and activity. Yue is probably around somewhere, it's hard to keep track of her.
"Hake, make sure I don't fall on a crepe table." Tasha keeps walking, trying to avoid people either through warning of peripheral vision. She's familiar with the concept of gambling of course, even Sinai has gambling with the dockside ammenities full of ways for eager and travel weary sailors to lose their hard earned coin, which is is also familiar with. And while she has considerably more 'coin' now than she once did, she hasn't forgotten the lesson. Part of her still thinks it's all a con game, even though she's been told these Galactic casinos can be highly regulated and as fair as mathmatically lopsided games of chance can be. "Do they have these places on your ships, Lacci?"
"Arcades? Not like.. this. There are recreation games and sports," Lacci notes. Hakeber is distracted by a tall pale hostess carrying a large platter of complimentary drinks, but jerks back to Tasha when she hears her name. "Right.. keep you away from pancakes.." she replies.
Tasha blinks and looks up. "There are panca--" ... and is immediately assaulted by visual pornography of the shiny and sparkily kind. She stares blankly until she rememebr sshe's supposed to be doing something, then it takes her a moment more to actually focus enough to recall what. She buries her face in her datapad. "This way."
Lacci follows by holding on to one of Tasha's wings, while Hakeber works to make sure Tasha isn't going to run anyone or anything down. It's tricky, due the 'bounce' each step gives. Luckily Tasha got over any motion-sickness issues at a very young age. At least they're entering a less flashy area now, and there's some sort of sound proofing going on.
While not especially susceptible to noise, Vartans are just as apt to be overwhelmed by an excess of it as Humans or Karnor, and so Tasha is glad to have one less distraction in this place that seems to be made of distractions. She'd have believed that the casino was made for Vartans if she hadn't been expressly told this was primarily a Human resort. "I think we must be close, everything is slightly more ominous, which seems appropriate to Egypt."
"It's only quieter," Lacci points out, but they're soon out of the sonic curtain zone and into a lounge area of sorts. There's music, and a stage.. but it's an odd stage. It's small - only big enough for one or two people really, and there's a display above it showing some sort of score. Some holographic displays obscure things a bit, but it's definitely Egypt on the stage, in yet another sparkly outfit that seems more Babelite than her ball-gown was. She's singing, and as she does, the score keeps going up. People in the small audience are also playing something: there are floating displays with numbers and shapes, and it isn't clear just what is being played other than it probably has to do with the singer.
Tasha stops and finally does look up once it's clear she can't proceed any further without running someone over or plowing through machinery, both of which she tries to keep to a minimum when it's not strictly necessary. "I think this is some kind of ... Katie-thing?" She squints against the flashing, trying to make out what's going on. "Stage. Singing. Egypt Version Who-Knows-Which. Machines. Opinions?"
"It's a singing game with wagering and cash payout, I think," Lacci notes. Hakeber has her hands around her muzzle, probably to keep herself from howling.
Until recently, most of Tasha's singing games came after paying out, and usually as a preamble to being asked to leave, sex in a semi-public place, or else a fight. She decides that's probably not a money-making resume, and so notes, "I bet Katie would rake it in here, as she looks around again. She spots an unoccupied area with a machine and waves the group that way. "lets sit down, we don't want to disturb our client by drawing attention to ourselves."
The space is rather close, but the seats accommodate people with wings (or there isn't as much need for back support in lower gravity). It does mean that Tasha's side gets bapped by Hakeber's wagging tail though. Lacci's tail does not wag. Once they sit down the small table projects a display of what might be bets being placed by the other tables. It still isn't clear how to play or what the point of the game even is though.
"We should probably vote Egypt as a matter of course," Tasha notes as she frowns mightily at the display screan, rubbing her chin the same way Thotep does. The motion, having started as a way to tease Samael when she wanted to look thoughtful and facetious at the same time, has become a bit of a habit. "Uh. Or we would if any of us knew how this worked. Hake, you're smart, be smart at this machine."
"Oh.. hmm.." Hakeber says as she examines the display, then looks up at the stage, then.. gets up and walks closer to it, looking back over her shoulder every few steps.
"Please watch Hake-bear, she gets lost and dizzy after a few feet," Tasha tells Lacci before returning to puzzle over the screen. Technology, she has learned, is like a factal path of infinite possibilies which also comes with infinite studying.
Eventually, Hakeber bobs her head around a few times, and then returns to her seat. "You can't see the audience from the stage," she reports, and points at the numbers on the display. "That way the performer can't see how people are betting, or get cues from them. I don't think she can see her own score either. When the song is finished, I think whichever table guessed the closest to the final score wins."
Tasha looks up as hakeber returns, then to the stage and back again. "Oh. Well, I'm glad we're not betting on 'which singer can fight a battle Titan better' or something. Um. So we just pick a number?"
"It.. would probably help if we knew how the scoring is done," the Karnor admits. After all, the score over Egypt sometimes goes down, only to tick up again. But then the song ends, and a light shines down on one of the other tables, where a happy Crashlander fist-pumps the air. Everyone else is applauding as Egypt steps down from the stage, and presumably is able to see people again.
Tasha gives a little wave from their table, reaching over to pat what little space remains for Egypt to come join them. "She really is multi-talented," she murmurs to the others. "I guess those memories really work for her."
The Eeee smiles and takes the seat, saying, "Hello there, are you going to buy me a drink?" Then a moment later she goes from flirty to.. not-flirty, "Oh.. I know you! You're.. uh.. the one with the little fluffy thing with the long ears."
"The fliffy thing says 'hi'," the hybrid replies. She cocks her head to the side, taking a moment to really take in the strange Eeee woman beside her. It's one thing to take on roles and faces, she does that herself on a regular basis, but Egypt really seems to become her role. Tasha can appreciate the feeling of sinking in to a deception, she's often felt that way even about personal changs that aren't deceptions yet still feel like one. Egypt, on the other hand, uses technology to literally change her mind. She wonders how much of the original person still exists, or if she's little more than a series of pre-recorded people playing out as needed. "The ship also says hi. I do hope you plan to come back to it." She glances down and searches for a drink menu, maybe alcohol will help where words fail.
"Oh, the ship.. that's right," Egypt says. At the mention of drinks, the display brings up a drinks menu.. tailored to Eeee, given the sugary, fruity nature of most of them. "I have to pick up my prize at the.. uh.. prize counter."
"Well sit a moment and you can get a victory drink from me." Tasha picks something that she thinks Egypt will like, which largely involves guesisng because she's pretty sure what Egypt likes is whatever the faux-personalities like. She looks up, the tilts her head. It occurs to her to ask, "Are you having fun, Egypt?"
"I've never been to Egypt," the woman replays. "Oh wait.. yes, yes I am having fun. That's why I'm wearing my funsuit," she follows, and shows off her shiny outfit that seems to be mostly gift-wrapping ribbon, somehow. "This place is very fun, once you get past the fluid redistribution."
Tasha squints slightly. "The fluid redistribution?" She wonders if this is what it's like to talk to her, during her try-and-be-something-new phases.
"The dress is also very nice," the hybrid adds, taking another look at it. "very shiny."
"Lower gravity makes fluid stay in the upper body longer," Lacci whispers to Tasha. "It makes my boobs bigger," Egypt says more plainly. Although it's hard to tell with an Eeee. Hakeber barks a laugh though. And then very tall drink arrives, and is set before Egypt, along with a little plastic token.
Tasha looks down at herself, then to Egypt, Hakeber, then finally to Lacco whom she smiles tootily at and wags her tail. "Huh, I didn't even notice. Being the boss is robbing me of all the important thoughts." She makes a show of oogling Lacci, mainly for the reaction, then turns back to Egypt. "I wear my undersuit, so I didn't notice. never know when something horrible will happen, got to be prepared, blah, blah, blah responsibility -- are you going to drink all of that?"
Egypt sips it through a straw made from.. some sort of tube-fruit probably. "I can share it with Party Wolf if it's too much," she claims.
Tasha consider this. "Am I the Party Wolf?" She points at herself, but has the sinking feeling it's Hakeber. Hakeber, after all, does not have responsibility.
"You are only half-wolf, and I don't know which is the party half," Egypt admits, and then points to Hakeber, who is already leaning in rather close to that drink.
"It's Hakaber," Tasha admits with a sigh of resigantion. Maybe she should have accepted a berth on the Dainty Mauler, of course then she'd have no responsibilty and a kill-on-sight bounty in most stations and systems. It's a give-and-take, really. She picks Hakeber up and sets her down closer, scooting next to Lacci. "I'md deressingly responsible, Lacci. You should have signed up with someone else. I need a ... Oh, wait." She punches in another. "There we go."
It takes a moment before the drink arrives - but there's not little token for Tasha to go with it. "I thought you mostly delegated your responsibilities, and only took on the crazier ones," Lacci notes to Tasha.
"Right," Tasha agrees, picking up the straw and pointing it at Lacci in confirmation. "So I'm bored and feel useless, until I'm the only one who can save us or talk to the big guys, then I'm indispensible. Want to share my drink? I'll be sure to flirt and make it seem like more than it is." She bats her eyelashes as she sips on her straw.
"I'll try some," Lacci agrees, more out of curiosity than the possibility that a drink meant for an Eeee would have any chance of affecting a Vartan much, even if it does have rum in it.
"Oh, is there anyone I can have sex with on the ship?" Egypt asks. "If I've asked before then I've forgotten the answer."
Tasha scootches over and leans in, sipping close but never actually touching. She turns her attention toward Hakeber and Egypt. "So you'll be leaving us soon. off on a fun new adventure? Any last words?"
"Leaving? Oh.. where was I going again?" Egypt says, looking distracted. Enough so that Hakeber sneaks a sip of her drink.
"You must be the very best spy," Tasha notes, taking another sip and then laying her head on a hand, where she further puzzles over Egypt. "I hope you do know where you're going, because I'll feel a little bad if we're just helping you wander aimlessly because you're stuck on it."
"I'm sure I'll know when I get there," the Eeee says, waving away any concern over the matter, and has another sip of her drink. She then notices the little plastic token, and picks it up. "Ah, my prize token!"
"I didn't get a token," Tasha says with a mock-pout. Another sip, then she asks, "So what did you win? And what are the rules?"
"Rules?" Egypt asks. "I won a prize, for singing," she claims, and waves the token. "This is a casino, you know. I thought it was a museum."
"It's a museum about Human disappointment and ingenuity, which also tries very hard to take your money. I think that's supposed to help you understand the plight of the original colonists, because it looks very shiny and wonderful, but then you don't have any more resources and you have to eat the other tourists." Tasha scratches the side of her neck, ears flicking. "Something like that. It's very Khattan. I like it, more cities should give thought to having large places where you can fly."
"Even if it's underground," Lacci notes. "There's no flying on the Caltrop. Even our biggest ships don't have real flying room. But here they decided they would fly, and built everything around that."
"Sometimes I think I might like Humans. That's probably good, since they made, uh, Hake-bear what fraction of me did Humans make? And what's the fraction?" The hybrid and fractions-based entity turns to peer at her friend.
"Oh, it's not really made so much as.. well, share," Hakeber says. "I think Karnor are.. close to thirty-percent human? I don't know if that holds after so many generations though. But we've got more human in us than the others. The Pans and Phins apparently don't have any human in them."
"I could make a joke about Phins and being in things, but I'm respectable and classy now, so I'll just imply it." Tasha smiles and sips again, the rests her hea on its side, on her hand. "So if I'm half Karnor and half Vartan, no, wait, I lost my hand but fixed my face, maybe something like fifty-five fourty-five, and thirty percent of Karnor, thennn--" She scrunches up her face. "Like sixteen percent? It's still weird to think about, I never really thought about Humans much before. What do you think of Humans, Lacci?"
"They are deceptive and more dangerous than they appear," Lacci claims. "Because they are weak, they find ways to cheat."
"Yue stole my breakfast burrito yesterday, something about keeping me on my feet. She said feet." Tasha wrinkles her nose. Feet are something she also doesn't understand, how can anyone walk around feeling so much of the floor? And all the rocks? Humans spent millions of years stepping on rocks. "Well, maybe I understand that thinking. I'm short, but we're all, um, short compared to some of the ... people ... we interact with. Still, I'm always worried they're going to show up and want my mate back or soemthing. Terragens spirit, that sort of thing. Sorry, this is a one-hundred-precent Terra-DNA event, no hybrids allowed."
"Well, Karnors are hybrids," Hakeber points out. "And Vartans are... I have no idea. Nobody does. They don't make a lot of sense."
Lacci hmpphs at that.
Tasha snorts, which she hopes is suitably species-defensive enough not to tip her hand as to her allegiances. Which, if she thinks about it, are probably very vague at the moment. "Vartans were uplifted by a big sparkily alien from the pets or designer-animals created by a Precursor civilization, most likely First Ones generation. Their current homeworld is not the original, that's nearby. Too problematic, had to move." The young woman takes another long sip, shrugging her shoulders: what can you do.
"Ah, you mean the Progenitors?" Egypt asks. "My people don't have legends like that. Not that they don't have some strange legends."
"I always wondered where your people came from. So, what's your legend? Any sparkily aliens? Giant space seed? Extra-univeral horror? Giant goat?" Tasha makes a show of rubbing her chin consideringly as she awaits the answer.
"Well, the oddest is that we came from another universe, through a network of gates that connected many worlds," Egypt says. "Even though we share common genetic precursors with most other life in this galaxy, which would be an amazing coincidence if we came from somewhere outside of it."
"That would suggest a common connection, like, say, a Seed," the hybrid notes, reaching her free hand up to make a spinning motion with a finger, indicating a Seed's supposed travel. "Supposedly the eldest of the first sentients were extremely advanced, I wouldn't think that creating a long distance gate system would be beyond them. The Silent-Ones are the least advanced Galactic and they have gates. Gates or Seeds or some other possibility doesn't seem unlikely when you've seen what the old timers can do."
"The First Ones supposedly had means to connect galaxies," Lacci offers. "But in truth, we only know a small part of our own galaxy. There's no guarantee the Star Seeds move beyond our neighborhood."
"I think they probably do." Tasha taps her nose. "But I do hang around a lot of old timers who like to tell stories and make me do their work for them, so maybe I like to think I know what's going on. Still I think I'd like to see another galaxy. Maybe we'll make a vacation of it?"
"That would be a rather long vacation," Lacci notes. "And not all life that we know is descended from the Star Seeds. Phryxus will illustrate that."
"Ah, Phryxus!" Eqypt blurts, and Hakeber has to grab the drink before it can spill. "That's where I'm going."
"But you'd get to be around meee for the whole trip!" Tasha bats more eyelashes, then her expression falls and she takes another sip, dropping her head back on her hand. "Yes, that's where you're going, you crazy Eeee you. I hear they have a wonderful trade in the production of lava and fissures. So, are there alien-aliens, so alien I won't be able to comprehend even the idea of comprehending them? Because I am hard to impress." Another sip, and done rather haughtily at that.
"Phryxus is.. unique," Lacci offers, but doesn't say more.
"Oh, be mysterious, I've never had to deal with mysterious people before." Tasha makes a show of sliding the drink closer to herself, as if denying Lacci the priviledge for denying her the reveal. "You're lucky I like mysteries and mysterious things, or, well, uh, I probably wouldn't do anything because I think I have someone else to fire you, now. I'd have to figure out who that is, or maybe ask Liza. But, then Liza would give me a look for not knowing annnd ... Like I said, lucky. Lacci-lucky."