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Today I figured for early Christmas I'd pull the trigger. Especially since the mere idea got me out of my writing slump!\n\nNo sex this time around, but hopefully you can forgive that for the sake of overall plot. Still, putting it as mature just because, well, the set of stories it's tied to.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "I had thought about putting a representation, or rather a better representation, of one of my closest and dearest friends into my works for a while, even if I've never had the guts to show them to her. Today I figured for early Christmas I'd pull the trigger. Especially since the mere idea got me out of my writing slump!

No sex this time around, but hopefully you can forgive that for the sake of overall plot. Still, putting it as mature just because, well, the set of stories it's tied to.", "writing": "By Necessity: Priorities part 1\nBy TerraMGP\n\n\t\tSolstice was one of those times when the station was worse than usual for an introvert. Every street and shopway was plastered with advertisements. AR spam that cascaded obtrusively though even the most rigorous stock filters. Fliers and barkers sanding on street corners. Windows plastered with holo displays so big that it was a strain to see inside should anyone actually want something. Even the small corner shops that catered to smaller communities had decorations for the various authorized seasonal festivals plastered around. Garish wreaths of plastic holly. Banners and streamers. Even a few nativity scenes or the odd menorah filling up the clean lines of general living space with obnoxious reminders of the time of year.\n\n\tIt had gotten so bad, in fact, that Brinna had taken to getting her rides from Sean even more frequently than usual. An arrangement that was half his own insistence and half her reluctant acceptance that the spam on the trains was just too much for her to deal with on her own. It was almost a wonder how other people got though it without starting some sort of sensory overload riot and ripping whole blocks of the station down to the foundation.\n\n\tUnfortunately for Brinna, that luxury was not fully assured to her. Part of the problem when ones owner has professional obligations as severe as her Sir. She didn’t’ quite understand what it was, nor did she wish to. To hear him talk of it the whole arrangement sounded like a sea of irrational bureaucracy no sane mind would dare wad into. He’d offered to have one of his other slaves take the car and pick her up, but of course she’d said no. She wasn’t ready to meet her future ‘sisters’ yet. A thought she dreaded just enough to force the dormouse to brave her way back home.\n\n\tShe’d gotten as far as he mall terminal before the spam got too much. Which was how she found herself curled up in a corner just between the terminal entryway and shopping district proper, knees curled to her chest and headphones pushed on. A steady stream of music flowing into her ears as she tried to calm herself down past the pinprick sensation of furs walking back and forth mere feet away from her. A sea of people that seemed to press on some invisible bubble surrounding her and threatened to pop it.\n\n\t“Woz damn, look at you.” A voice slipped in though the headphones. Both outside and inside. Brinna opened her eye slowly to see a purple-furred bunny girl with a diamond-shaped patch of fur on her left eye looking down at her. The girl leaned own and offered a large drink cup. One Brinna eagerly snatched up and took a hard pull from.\n\n\tThe bunny slipped down beside Brinna with one leg curled to her chest and the other splayed out, sipping her own drink and giving the shaken girl a once over.\n\n\t“H-how did you find me?” Brinna muttered between heavy sips of the sugary milky strawberry concoction.\n\n\t“You’re new guy called your parents when you turned down a ride. They figured I might know where you were after you didn’t show up at home. This is where your jack went dark.” She looked around and smirked softly. “Which, seriously Bri. You’re gonna tell me you figured this would be better than the train?”\n\n\t“I got overwhelmed.” Brinna muttered between sips. “You know how it is this time of year. It wasn’t so bad when it was just school.”\n\n\t“Our school is a slaghole, even for a class 3 dump.” the bunny growled with a mix of playful bemusement and genuine disgust “You really think they’d waste money promoting anything serious down there? They barely bother to filter gangerspam.”\n\n\tThe dormouse sighed and shook her head as she leaned back against the cool faux-brick façade of the wall. Her tail curling slowly around her legs as she started to rock a tiny bit. “I still don’t know how people put up with it.” She sighed softly “I just wanna go home and lay down.”\n\n\t“Well if you wanna do that we gotta take the train, squeekles.” Kanina chuckled. A small glint of green going though her dark red irises. Small circuit patterns added along with some of her other back ally augs. “I don’t just magically have a car like your big fuzzy boyfriend. Best I can offer is sitting by you on the train, and maybe helping you with your jack filter. Still a good half hour before we’re on home turf again. But I think maybe it’s better if you take a bit here, first. I mean unless you think you’re ready to wade back in to that.” Kanina nodded at the wall of bodies crashing against each other as they moved in and out of the train cars.\n\n\tBrinna was quick to shake her head and hug the drink to her chest, taking another hard sip “No way! I never shoulda gotten off in the first place! Or at least I should have checked what station it was.”\n\n\t“Calm down, squeak, calm down.” Kanina sighed as she pulled her friend close and patted her shoulder, rubbing the bristly brown fur of it under the baggy shoulder of her coat “We’re not going anywhere until you’re set. You can worry about beating yourself up at home, with that pizza you’re gonna make me for dragging my sweet ass down here like this.”\n\n\tBrinna laughed and shook her head as she broke a small smile. She kept her eyes glued to the grout between the cheap tiles of the floor. Tapping her own big boot in a soothing rhythm that was quickly joined by the tapping of her friends colorful perkier runners. The overly-large grip surface tapping and pounding a sort of off-beat rhythm that both broke the comforting repetition. Yet the grin on Kanina’s face and that playful little chuckle did more than enough to set the poor moue at ease.\n\n\tAfter about half an hour, Kanina reached down and pulled her friend up to standing. The tank topped bunny girl patting and brushing at the shoulders of Brinnas jacket before leading her into the flow of people by her wrist.\n\n\tAs they went, Brinna would hear the strains of her favorite comedy audio queue up. A small group of minor comedians known as the ‘pit crew’ who did comedic audio plays centered around the tropes of class 3 living, and in particular the ‘slag pit’ district. Brinna looked up at the bunny who just smiled back a moment, a mischievous smile accompanied by a small wink.\n\n--------------------\n\n\tThe dormouse all but poured herself into the small apartment. Stumbling and nearly collapsing as the thick front doorway slid open with a comforting hiss. Brinna simply collapsed over the back of the couch and buried her head into the cheap, overstuffed fabric. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed some more. Pounding and kicking on the thing before finally just going limp and letting out a small sigh.\n\n\tKanina moved up behind her friend slowly and sighed. She gripped under her muzzle and tilted her face away from the cushion just enough to look at the upside down visage of the other girl. “You still alive?” she asked.\n\n\t“Nope!” Brinna responded. Kanina let her go and the dormouse shoved her muzzle back into the cushion, her glasses clattering down on to the seat below.\n\n\t“You know.” Kanina said as she sauntered over to the food printer. Those deft fingers dancing along the small touch display to peruse the favorites list she’d long since set in their system “If you knew you didn’t have a ride today, you could have just called sooner. I mean it’s not like I got anything better to do with school over. At least no yet.”\n\n\t“Wait, you still haven’t found a job?” Brinna whimpered as she snatched the glasses up and turned around.\n\n\tThe bunny shrugged but said nothing more. Hitting a few buttons as she made her way from the printer and over to the couch. She instantly flung herself down on the far end and snapped her fingers. The holo projector clicking on to one of the old retro cartoon feeds showing things from the 23rd century.\n\n\t“Look, It’s not so much hat I knew I’d need a ride. Sir had something come up and he couldn’t drive me.” She sighed softly\n\n\t“Wait, he does know how you get in, you know, public. Right?” She squinted a bit “And he’s kinda loaded. You’re telling me he didn’t like just ‘send a car’ for you or something?”\n\n\tThe dormouse folded her ears down and shook her head “That’s not it. He’s always very considerate. He worries about me a lot.”\n\n\tKanina narrowed her eyes a bit and lopped one ear slightly. The words painting a rather bitter mask on her face, if only for a split-second. “Then why did he let you go on the train at this time of year?”\n\n\t“He didn’t!” the mouse snapped defensively “I… look he offered to help. I just, I didn’t want to. I don’t really want to talk about it right now though.” Brinna held a sharpness to her tone which melted as she sat back into the couch and shivered. It was clear that the toll of the trip was still bleeding out of her. \n\n\tThe purple-furred bunny girl simply sighed and shook her head. She slipped down at the other end of the couch and pulled the thick, heavy knit afghan from the back of the beat up old couch, tossing it unceremoniously over her friend. “So, Peppers and black olives on your half, right?”\n\n\t“You know we can try something other than pizza” Brinna noted.\n\n\t“Heresy” Kanina growled playfully “You might as well suggest we drink something other than Aether while you’re at it.”\n\n\t“I mean, I’m ok with Root beer.” Brinna whimpered “But yeah, A nice salad maybe? I got a program for the printer to do a good one. Or a pressed sandwich. Ohhh, my Sir has these awesome pressed sandwiches he likes that you’d love! Or cheesecake. The printer I bought with my apprentice stipend has the paste and flavorings needed for decent cheesecake if you really want.”\n\n\tThe bunny narrowed her eyes a moment, scowled, then slumped and shook her head. “NOW that’s not fair, squeak. You can’ just wound me by rejecting pizza and then offer me cheesecake like that. What kind of girl do you think I am?”\n\n\t“My best friend?” Brinna asked.\n\n\tKanina mmphed and looked way.\n\n\t“The kind of girl who really loves her cheesecake?” Brinna asked as she leaned ina bit more, a big almost goofy grin on her face.\n\n\tKanina pouted and shook her head a moment. She offered Brinna the most hateful, scalding glair she could muster at the girl before finally falling back and letting out a sigh. “Does it do strawberry sauce topping?” the bunny grudgingly muttered, brushing the long strands of black and blue hair from her face.\n\n\t“Hey, this is me we are talking about.” Brinna chuckled “I triple-checked the specs and reviews just to make sure it did that well.”\n\n\t“You win his round, Brinna. You win this round.” the bunny said shrewdly as she leaned back and fiddled with the barbells lining her right ear. Flicking the side-crawling soles of her shoes against each other and enjoying the rubbery rasp.\n\n\t“So, Look. You know I don’t like your… sir.” Kanina muttered softly as she did her best to bit back on her revulsion. “But you said he still tried to offer you a ride. Why didn’t you take it?”\n\n\t“Do we have to?” Brinna sighed.\n\n\t“You’re the one trying to convince me that the guy who lied to you isn’t a bastard. A good reason for you refusing something you need that bad might help soften me on him.” She noted “Plus it takes a while to print cheesecake. Might as well make conversation.”\n\n\tThe dormouse nodded as she walked back into the room, her fists balled up a bit, though looking over her glasses ever so slightly Kanina could see her friend held something in one hand.\n\n\t“Because… because he wanted one of his other slaves, full slaves, to pick me up.” She sighed\n\n\t“So what, still not comfy with the idea of being one of several owned toys?” Brinna scoffed, clearly disliking the idea herself.\n\n\t“What? No. Well, not really” the mouse muttered “I mean I’m fine with that. I just, He’s big and important. He’s Class 1. Half of his slaves were literally handed to him as gifts. They were trained for this. Me?” she sighed “Well even if he likes me for some reason, how do I know they won’t… judge me” she whimpered “Getting a burger with him on the way home is one thing. Awkward silence with some stuck up snake girl I haven’t met before is just, well it sounds bad. Like ‘worse than a whole day on the train’ bad.. If you must know.”\n\n\tThe bunny quirked her black-diamond brow and just gazed at her friend for as long moment before snickering. Then laughing, then nearly falling off of the couch. Collapsing on her side and giggling hysterically. “That’s it?” she smirked “You’re worried that some trained slave is going to look down on you? What for not knowing how to curtsy and bow and scrape and stroke his fucking ego just right?”\n\n\t“It’s not funny.” Brinna whimpered \n\n\t“Sure it is.” Kanina smirked. “The smartest girl I know is freaking out because she’s worried her sea of neurosis won’t make her a good enough door mat for her prince charming, at least in the eyes of his fuck toys.”\n\n\tBrinna blushed hard and looked away as she bit her lip. Whining, then stamping her foot, then starting to giggle. Then laughing. Harder, finally looking at her friend and blurting out laughing, collapsing on the couch and rubbing a tear from her eye. “ok, when you put it that way.” she sighed as she slumped into the couch. “I guess I can’t argue with you, huh. ‘Haunani Kunitdottir’.” she said sticking her tongue out.\n\n\t“Oh don’t even.” Kanina growled playfully as she gave her friend a soft slug in the arm. “Don’t you dare. I am so not my mother.” she laughed\n\n\t“Nah, you’re right. I mean what, just because you get all jealous and possessive of all your friends? You even do that thing.”\n\n\t“what thing?” Kanina growled\n\n\t“The ‘sure it is’ thing. Just like she does it. All lilting and condescending.”\n\n\tKanina just pulled her friend in close and started to noogie her, Brinna yelping and squirming and shaking her head before finally being let up.\n\n\t“Ok, I give. You’re not your mom.” Brinna sighed even as she tilted her head. “Sorry. I wont’ cross the line again. This week.”\n\n\t“Better not.” Kanina muttered. She then looked down at a small black box the dormouse held out in her paw. A jewelry box, though not a big one. She took it quickly and looked at Brinna a long moment. “For me?” she asked\n\n\t“For tomorrow.” Brinna noted “I made it in class. Think of it as a late birthday slash early solstice gift. Which means you can’t open it until tomorrow. That’s smack dab in the middle.”\n\n\tThe bunny rolled her eyes and sighed “You just don’t want me to gush all over you and tease you about making me something, admit it.”\n\n\tBrinna sighed and said nothing as she looked away, a small smile on her face. She felt her friend slip an arm around her and give her a soft hug.\n\n\t“Ok. I promise.” Kanina murred “But I reserve the right to gush tomorrow.”\n\n---\n\n\tThe further down one went in any sector of the station, the worse things got. It was just a simple fact of life. Granted no class 3 citizen lived in anything close to luxury. Probably why so few security officers even bothered to check the broken old offices and repair stops littering the more disused portions of the home station. \n\n\tKanina, as always, chose to slip in through a small access hatch routing its way back up from the sub-levels. Hopping and crawling though musty, oily tubes and passages with a mix of half broken ladder and wall-hugging until she landed in the refurbished maintenance bay. Once inside she was greeted with the smell of hot metal, insulation and flecks of ozone. The bunny girl twitching her nose to the unpleasant yet familiar orders. Her ears twitching to the sound of material printers running full tilt, flickering and glowing in the largely darkened main room sitting before her.\n\n\t“Fortune, what kept you!” A frustrated voice grumbled from a scratch-built couch in the middle of the room. \n\n\t“I’ve told you about that crap, Van.” Kanina muttered as she made her way though the thick clouds of smoke that hung at the ceiling straining for a way free. “Besides, didn’t Caleb tell you to turn the exhaust fan on before doing that? You’re not the only one who has to live here you know.”\n\n\tThe lean cheetah sitting on the couch looked up from the long metal tube he held in his hand. The crew-cut brown headfur fully gelled and stiffened. Eyes burning with veins. “Oh come off it, fortune. Unlike you I had to get slag done today. Got the name of a freight pulling in some osmium ore.”\n\n\t“And?” Kanina sighed in frustration as she sat in a beanbag chair next to the couch. The bunny girl reaching in to her pocket and pulling out the small black box held within.\n\n\tThe leopard grinned a bit and looked down at her. “See, Fortune? This is why I’m the moon, man. They use Oz in making the couples for data crystals. We get our own supply, we can make our own couples. That means all we gotta do is get some quartz and bam, no more buying blank crystals. We can cut out the middle man and corner the trip market for the whole sector. Maybe even the station! A tonne of osmium makes a lot of couples.” He smirked proudly and took another deep pull, even as Kanina slid her hand up her cheek, face palming in supreme frustration.\n\n\t“Van, it’s Osmium ore. Like, the raw stuff. It’s probably just coming through on its way to a processing station. Do you know how much work it takes to refine that crap? For what’s basically pocket change to get off of our supplier in bulk? You know maybe you should try dialing back on the plant, Van.”\n\n\tThe feline growled a bit and took another pull from the tube. His tail thrashing angrily between the cobbled couch and salvaged coffee table. He drew in an exceptionally large hit. Gasping in what little air he could afterwards before blowing it out over the bunnies head, letting it slowly drift down over her. “Oh cram it in your jack, miss high and mighty. You use just as much as I do. Probably more.”\n\n\t“No, I don’t.” Kanina muttered. Her frustration already palpable as she dug around in her bag for her clip-phones, eager to at least drown out this conversation if not the stench. “For one thing the stuff I do is aeroponic. Real deal. Not that cheap printed slag. There’s a difference between recreation and addiction.”\n\n\tVan laughed and shook his head softly. “Don’t try that with me. What, next you’re gonna say I’m as bad as Strength, right? Plant is good for you, Fortune. It’s enlightenment. It ain’t no addiction.”\n\n\tA bitter scowl crossed Kanina’s face at that. Her normally loppy ears perking straight up as she squinted hatefully at the other gang member. “Go get spliced, asshole.” she spat “that was just last week.”\n\n\t“Don’t blame me for telling it how it is. Guy shouldn’t have been playing lookout on NovaWoad. We’re just lucky he flipped out on the officers and not us! At least it made sure we were able to bolt while they took him down.”\n\n\tKanina was up in an instant and on top of the cheetah. Her lithe, athletic frame twisting as she hammered one knee into his side and pushed the bulk of her body weight down on his arm. She then began to hammer her gloved fist into his side savagely. Punctuating the blows with the occasional knee strike into his thigh as she struggled o dodge or endure the sudden flurry of claws from the inebriated ganger.\n\n\t“Knock it off, both of you!” A voice came from the next room over. “Gods damned, It’s like running a fucking grade school sometimes. Fortune, get off of him.”\n\n\tKanina looked up at the black bear standing in the doorway. A rather thin and stunted man. His face wearing the typical signs of malnourishment and pollution exposure one came to expect from Class 3. Then again he, like Kanina, was from the ring. So if anything, he looked rather well off.\n\n\tShe gave one last punch, though rather half hearted, to the feline before slipping off of him and back to her seat. Rubbing her fist and flexing it to ensure she hadn’t fractured anything. It’s why she wore the gloves in the first place. That and the grips which helped her move around the dark corners and rooftops of the station without issue. Fortunately all the blood seemed to be from her foe and not her. Even then the worst Van seemed to show was a small smattering of blood from where his nose had been struck.\n\n\t“you gotta keep that crazy bitch in line, Boss.” Van muttered as he scooped up the metal tube. Reeking water now splashed over his jean shorts. “She walks in here like she’s on top and then flips out at me over nothing. I swear I…”\n\n\t“Stow it, Moon.” the bear snapped. “I heard the whole thing. Your score was stupid and, unless you want to forget, Sven is my little brother. Maybe you should take a page from Fortune here and learn to show a bit of common decency.” The man turned to the bunny and narrowed his eyes “and you. Putting aside the fact that I said face-names in here only, I don’t need you smacking around everyone you don’t like. I don’t’ care if Moon did deserve it. Or if he seems to forget he’s lower on the pole than you.”\n\n\tThe cheetah snickered at that. Something that got him a swift thump on the head and a growl. “Oh, and fun fact. She’s absolutely right about the Osmium. Especially since they don’t just have ore for that stuff. They get it from nickel. So what you want us to do is steal a tonne of nickel ore and rock. You see where I’m going with this?”\n\n\t“Wait, it’s not ore? What did Fortunes dirt-girl tell you that? She getting chummy with you too?” he snickered, only to be smacked in the head once more. Van quickly shutting up and slumping.\n\n\t“If you bothered to do even a moments research, You’d know that too. We’re supposed to be a datagang, slaghead. If you want to stay a member, maybe you should learn to get all the data before coming up with stupid plans.\n\n\tKanina snickered and leaned back into her seat as she looked at the two. Utterly thrilled to see the idiot get what he deserved.\n\n\t“Find something funny, fortune?” The bear asked as he looked down at Kanina.\n\n\t“No, Emperor.” The bunny replied. Thick strands of black and blue streaked hair falling in front of her face. She loathed the code name nonsense. Especially in their hideout. Sure it was probably good for discipline. To make sure names weren’t blurted on a job. But then it felt so stupid and goofy.\n\n\t“So if you’re going to get on Moon about doing his work, I’ll assume then that you already finished coding our latest product?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes.\n\n\t“Can’t” she shrugged “Gav… hierophant… hasn’t finished the neural translation yet. I can’t cook the code until he’s done. Once he is I’m set up for it though.” It was honestly all she could do, and in spite of his brusk attitude she knew the boss understood that. Still it didn’t make his glare any more comfortable.\n\n\t“Mind if I ask what you were doing today, then? Since you didn’t have what you needed to get your job done?” Emperor crossed his arms over the mesh top he wore and looked her squarer in the eye. Bright, almost luminescent green eyes fixing on hers.\n\n\tKanina could feel herself sinking into her seat. Her tail struggling to fold back on pure instinct, ears drooping further than usual even as she forced a nervous smile. The rapid beating of her heart growing a mile a minute. “Well.” she muttered softly “I had to help out a friend.”\n\n\t“Brinna.” The bear sated, an obvious guess.\n\n\t“Yeah. She got stuck at the mall and had one of her lil episodes. Her owner wasn’t around and her parents don’t have a car, so I tracked her down and got her home. I was kinda hoping Hierophant would be done by then. But I just got in and he never sent a message before hand. Plus, well, him.” she said scowling at Van, who scowled back just as hard.\n\n\t“You know, maybe you should be spending less time babysitting a grown woman, with an owner, and more time practicing so the ICE on our next big job isn’t the same kind of problem it was last time.” The bear growled. “We’re a team. I don’t give a damn what you smoke, or drink, or plug. But my baby brother is in a med pod somewhere right now waiting to be patched up and put on trial because you jokers couldn’t keep it together. Gonna be honest, I’m starting to get sick of all these needless distractions. Next time It’s a problem I may have to think about how to fix it.”\n\n\tHe didn’t say an more, nor did he need to. The bear simply turning as he went back in to his room. Van was quick to scoop up the metal tube and the small baggie he had out with it, slinking down further into the disused repair station where his own dark little corner was located. This just left Kanina, who took a very long moment before finally shutting her eyes and sending an impulse to trigger the exhaust fan. The stale air of the printed plant spewing free and replaced by fresh, or as fresh as could be expected, circulation. \n\n\tSebastian, Emperor, wasn’t entirely wrong. The last crack job went south fast. True it was mostly due to Sven using the absolute worst drug for a small datagang to touch. It was still unclear if he’d actually killed the first officer on the scene, but the rage and pain tolerance weren’t exactly helpful when the M.O. was smash and grab. It still seemed like the bear was getting needlessly irrational, though. True, the Tarot had been her second family almost as long as she’d been in the sector. Before, back on the ring, times were a lot harder. She may have been fast, but no way a girl like her would have cut it very long in the kind of war gangs those trashheaps churned out. But then, Brinna…\n\n\tKanina blinked as she realized she still held the box in hand. She thumbed it open quickly and peered inside, barely able to contain the gasp of shock.\n\n\tIt was a die. A six sided die seemingly made of bright, brilliant opal. The corner with the six, five, and three faces was pointing up and held by a small silvered tungsten pin running though it. The pendant shone with an immaculate brilliance that seemed to trap the light and radiate it back out in a dazzling rainbow. Shifting and sparkling as she tilted it to and fro. Even the pips seemed to be painted with a small plating of platinum, Her jaw dropped a bit as she looked over the item. It wasn’t big, wasn’t gaudy. Not at all the kind of thing most of her crewmates might shrug off as a tiny rock.\n\n\tShe allowed herself another long moment to gaze at pendant before shutting it and shoving it into her pocket. She then quickly pulled herself up and started to worm her way up into the rafters towards the small tucked-back alcove she’d laid claim to. A bed, physical jack connection and floor space for a few trinkets and treasures tucked away in the back corner of a closed off air vent. Not as big or extravagant as the bunks higher-up members claimed. Bur then she didn’t need it that way.\n\n\tThe bunny half-crawled, half dragged herself into bed. Flopping on to the cheap foam mattress and pulling a bundle of blankets up under her head as a makeshift pillow. The various bits of wetware in her head whirred to life a moment. A final manic diagnostic that sent tingles though her nerve impulses and danced though her grey matter like fire before informing her that all was well with the custom, and highly illegal bundle of mods resting in her skull and spine. When that settled comfortably, she kicked off the tight shoes and started to pull down her track pants, slipping the elastic violet material down off of her semi-ample rump and shifting to adjust the bulge in her panties to at least meet some bare standard of comfort.\n\n\tShe gripped the bottom of her pants with one toe and pulled it up enough to drag the thing closer with her hand. She pulled out the box and took another quick look at the pendant before reaching over to her small personal safe and placing her hand flat on it. The memory lock sought out the perception of just the right moment in her mind before popping the lock and swinging free, allowing her to set the box among her various other treasures. A small model of a Falcon fighter, a bug out kit, some of her more specialized tools, and the records of the AR game campaigns she and Brinna used to run for each other.\n\n\tShe quickly shut and locked the safe once more, rolling over on her side and letting her eyes slip shut. It was odd, in a way. All though school Brinna had been the one seemingly stuck in place. Booksmart in a social caste with no use for it, doomed to mindless mediocrity repeating the same tired dead end job as her parents. Not that the bunny could claim much better. But at least her inherited trade was one with a good deal of upward mobility, if you survived long enough.\n\n\tThen suddenly the squeak was out and about. She had a new man, even if he seemed like kind of a rich suck up asshole. A career path. Things had changed. Suddenly Kanina was the one starting to question. Starting to wonder if just maybe it was time for a change.\n\n--------------------\n\n\tSebastian looked down at the small holo display and tapped his fingers on it angrily. It was bad enough Sven had gone off the deep end with the NovaWoad. It hurt, but the kid was sixteen now. More than old enough to make, and live by, his own fuckups. But when adding in the fuckups he had to deal with and that botched job, things were starting to spiral off track.\n\n\tHe wanted out, needed out. Back on the ring everything seemed like hell. Getting to the main station, even in some class 3 slum, seemed like it would be a whole new world. A paradise compared to his old life of scrounging and scraping to survive. Maybe it was. That was a decade ago, though. Back when he was content with drugs and edge sims and idealistic jobs for pocket change. It was amateur hour. Kid slag, it wasn’t going to get him anywhere in the long run and he knew it. Part of him, just a part of the black bear started to wonder if it was about time to cut some of the dead weight loose. Give the Tarot a good spring clean.\n\n\tHe was still wondering this as he looked down to see a message resting near the bottom of his unread list. That alone was strange. Strange enough to set him on edge. The fact hat his inbuilt code hadn’t already detected the source of the message and given him the relevant data from the backdoors in the station system set his fur on edge.\n\n\tWhile he might not have been as sharp as he once was, Sebastian was still good enough to handle something like this. His mind racing as he slowly dug though the file toolkits he kept on hand. Carefully scanning and rescanning the message. Going over the code for any sort of ICE, Even setting up a small data node specifically to isolate the thing. Everything short of diving in to use his avatar and get up close and personal, which would have been the kind of specially stupid thing Fortune or Hermit might do.\n\n\tFinally he was fairly sure he’d gotten off all of the malicious code and allowed the file o be opened, the small lines of text coming into view in a flowing hand-drawn script. A fine, refined New Avalon accent playing the words out on audio.\n\n\t“Greetings, ser Sebastian. I am to understand hat you lead a small band of freelance information experts. Based upon my research I believe we have business we may discuss…”\n\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "By Necessity: Priorities part 1
By TerraMGP

\t\tSolstice was one of those times when the station was worse than usual for an introvert. Every street and shopway was plastered with advertisements. AR spam that cascaded obtrusively though even the most rigorous stock filters. Fliers and barkers sanding on street corners. Windows plastered with holo displays so big that it was a strain to see inside should anyone actually want something. Even the small corner shops that catered to smaller communities had decorations for the various authorized seasonal festivals plastered around. Garish wreaths of plastic holly. Banners and streamers. Even a few nativity scenes or the odd menorah filling up the clean lines of general living space with obnoxious reminders of the time of year.

\tIt had gotten so bad, in fact, that Brinna had taken to getting her rides from Sean even more frequently than usual. An arrangement that was half his own insistence and half her reluctant acceptance that the spam on the trains was just too much for her to deal with on her own. It was almost a wonder how other people got though it without starting some sort of sensory overload riot and ripping whole blocks of the station down to the foundation.

\tUnfortunately for Brinna, that luxury was not fully assured to her. Part of the problem when ones owner has professional obligations as severe as her Sir. She didn’t’ quite understand what it was, nor did she wish to. To hear him talk of it the whole arrangement sounded like a sea of irrational bureaucracy no sane mind would dare wad into. He’d offered to have one of his other slaves take the car and pick her up, but of course she’d said no. She wasn’t ready to meet her future ‘sisters’ yet. A thought she dreaded just enough to force the dormouse to brave her way back home.

\tShe’d gotten as far as he mall terminal before the spam got too much. Which was how she found herself curled up in a corner just between the terminal entryway and shopping district proper, knees curled to her chest and headphones pushed on. A steady stream of music flowing into her ears as she tried to calm herself down past the pinprick sensation of furs walking back and forth mere feet away from her. A sea of people that seemed to press on some invisible bubble surrounding her and threatened to pop it.

\t“Woz damn, look at you.” A voice slipped in though the headphones. Both outside and inside. Brinna opened her eye slowly to see a purple-furred bunny girl with a diamond-shaped patch of fur on her left eye looking down at her. The girl leaned own and offered a large drink cup. One Brinna eagerly snatched up and took a hard pull from.

\tThe bunny slipped down beside Brinna with one leg curled to her chest and the other splayed out, sipping her own drink and giving the shaken girl a once over.

\t“H-how did you find me?” Brinna muttered between heavy sips of the sugary milky strawberry concoction.

\t“You’re new guy called your parents when you turned down a ride. They figured I might know where you were after you didn’t show up at home. This is where your jack went dark.” She looked around and smirked softly. “Which, seriously Bri. You’re gonna tell me you figured this would be better than the train?”

\t“I got overwhelmed.” Brinna muttered between sips. “You know how it is this time of year. It wasn’t so bad when it was just school.”

\t“Our school is a slaghole, even for a class 3 dump.” the bunny growled with a mix of playful bemusement and genuine disgust “You really think they’d waste money promoting anything serious down there? They barely bother to filter gangerspam.”

\tThe dormouse sighed and shook her head as she leaned back against the cool faux-brick façade of the wall. Her tail curling slowly around her legs as she started to rock a tiny bit. “I still don’t know how people put up with it.” She sighed softly “I just wanna go home and lay down.”

\t“Well if you wanna do that we gotta take the train, squeekles.” Kanina chuckled. A small glint of green going though her dark red irises. Small circuit patterns added along with some of her other back ally augs. “I don’t just magically have a car like your big fuzzy boyfriend. Best I can offer is sitting by you on the train, and maybe helping you with your jack filter. Still a good half hour before we’re on home turf again. But I think maybe it’s better if you take a bit here, first. I mean unless you think you’re ready to wade back in to that.” Kanina nodded at the wall of bodies crashing against each other as they moved in and out of the train cars.

\tBrinna was quick to shake her head and hug the drink to her chest, taking another hard sip “No way! I never shoulda gotten off in the first place! Or at least I should have checked what station it was.”

\t“Calm down, squeak, calm down.” Kanina sighed as she pulled her friend close and patted her shoulder, rubbing the bristly brown fur of it under the baggy shoulder of her coat “We’re not going anywhere until you’re set. You can worry about beating yourself up at home, with that pizza you’re gonna make me for dragging my sweet ass down here like this.”

\tBrinna laughed and shook her head as she broke a small smile. She kept her eyes glued to the grout between the cheap tiles of the floor. Tapping her own big boot in a soothing rhythm that was quickly joined by the tapping of her friends colorful perkier runners. The overly-large grip surface tapping and pounding a sort of off-beat rhythm that both broke the comforting repetition. Yet the grin on Kanina’s face and that playful little chuckle did more than enough to set the poor moue at ease.

\tAfter about half an hour, Kanina reached down and pulled her friend up to standing. The tank topped bunny girl patting and brushing at the shoulders of Brinnas jacket before leading her into the flow of people by her wrist.

\tAs they went, Brinna would hear the strains of her favorite comedy audio queue up. A small group of minor comedians known as the ‘pit crew’ who did comedic audio plays centered around the tropes of class 3 living, and in particular the ‘slag pit’ district. Brinna looked up at the bunny who just smiled back a moment, a mischievous smile accompanied by a small wink.

--------------------

\tThe dormouse all but poured herself into the small apartment. Stumbling and nearly collapsing as the thick front doorway slid open with a comforting hiss. Brinna simply collapsed over the back of the couch and buried her head into the cheap, overstuffed fabric. She screamed, and screamed, and screamed some more. Pounding and kicking on the thing before finally just going limp and letting out a small sigh.

\tKanina moved up behind her friend slowly and sighed. She gripped under her muzzle and tilted her face away from the cushion just enough to look at the upside down visage of the other girl. “You still alive?” she asked.

\t“Nope!” Brinna responded. Kanina let her go and the dormouse shoved her muzzle back into the cushion, her glasses clattering down on to the seat below.

\t“You know.” Kanina said as she sauntered over to the food printer. Those deft fingers dancing along the small touch display to peruse the favorites list she’d long since set in their system “If you knew you didn’t have a ride today, you could have just called sooner. I mean it’s not like I got anything better to do with school over. At least no yet.”

\t“Wait, you still haven’t found a job?” Brinna whimpered as she snatched the glasses up and turned around.

\tThe bunny shrugged but said nothing more. Hitting a few buttons as she made her way from the printer and over to the couch. She instantly flung herself down on the far end and snapped her fingers. The holo projector clicking on to one of the old retro cartoon feeds showing things from the 23rd century.

\t“Look, It’s not so much hat I knew I’d need a ride. Sir had something come up and he couldn’t drive me.” She sighed softly

\t“Wait, he does know how you get in, you know, public. Right?” She squinted a bit “And he’s kinda loaded. You’re telling me he didn’t like just ‘send a car’ for you or something?”

\tThe dormouse folded her ears down and shook her head “That’s not it. He’s always very considerate. He worries about me a lot.”

\tKanina narrowed her eyes a bit and lopped one ear slightly. The words painting a rather bitter mask on her face, if only for a split-second. “Then why did he let you go on the train at this time of year?”

\t“He didn’t!” the mouse snapped defensively “I… look he offered to help. I just, I didn’t want to. I don’t really want to talk about it right now though.” Brinna held a sharpness to her tone which melted as she sat back into the couch and shivered. It was clear that the toll of the trip was still bleeding out of her.

\tThe purple-furred bunny girl simply sighed and shook her head. She slipped down at the other end of the couch and pulled the thick, heavy knit afghan from the back of the beat up old couch, tossing it unceremoniously over her friend. “So, Peppers and black olives on your half, right?”

\t“You know we can try something other than pizza” Brinna noted.

\t“Heresy” Kanina growled playfully “You might as well suggest we drink something other than Aether while you’re at it.”

\t“I mean, I’m ok with Root beer.” Brinna whimpered “But yeah, A nice salad maybe? I got a program for the printer to do a good one. Or a pressed sandwich. Ohhh, my Sir has these awesome pressed sandwiches he likes that you’d love! Or cheesecake. The printer I bought with my apprentice stipend has the paste and flavorings needed for decent cheesecake if you really want.”

\tThe bunny narrowed her eyes a moment, scowled, then slumped and shook her head. “NOW that’s not fair, squeak. You can’ just wound me by rejecting pizza and then offer me cheesecake like that. What kind of girl do you think I am?”

\t“My best friend?” Brinna asked.

\tKanina mmphed and looked way.

\t“The kind of girl who really loves her cheesecake?” Brinna asked as she leaned ina bit more, a big almost goofy grin on her face.

\tKanina pouted and shook her head a moment. She offered Brinna the most hateful, scalding glair she could muster at the girl before finally falling back and letting out a sigh. “Does it do strawberry sauce topping?” the bunny grudgingly muttered, brushing the long strands of black and blue hair from her face.

\t“Hey, this is me we are talking about.”  Brinna chuckled “I triple-checked the specs and reviews just to make sure it did that well.”

\t“You win his round, Brinna. You win this round.” the bunny said shrewdly as she leaned back and fiddled with the barbells lining her right ear. Flicking the side-crawling soles of her shoes against each other and enjoying the rubbery rasp.

\t“So, Look. You know I don’t like your… sir.” Kanina muttered softly as she did her best to bit back on her revulsion. “But you said he still tried to offer you a ride. Why didn’t you take it?”

\t“Do we have to?” Brinna sighed.

\t“You’re the one trying to convince me that the guy who lied to you isn’t a bastard. A good reason for you refusing something you need that bad might help soften me on him.” She noted “Plus it takes a while to print cheesecake. Might as well make conversation.”

\tThe dormouse nodded as she walked back into the room, her fists balled up a bit, though looking over her glasses ever so slightly Kanina could see her friend held something in one hand.

\t“Because… because he wanted one of his other slaves, full slaves, to pick me up.” She sighed

\t“So what, still not comfy with the idea of being one of several owned toys?” Brinna scoffed, clearly disliking the idea herself.

\t“What? No. Well, not really” the mouse muttered “I mean I’m fine with that. I just, He’s big and important. He’s Class 1. Half of his slaves were literally handed to him as gifts. They were trained for this. Me?” she sighed “Well even if he likes me for some reason, how do I know they won’t… judge me” she whimpered “Getting a burger with him on the way home is one thing. Awkward silence with some stuck up snake girl I haven’t met before is just, well it sounds bad. Like ‘worse than a whole day on the train’ bad.. If you must know.”

\tThe bunny quirked her black-diamond brow and just gazed at her friend for as long moment before snickering. Then laughing, then nearly falling off of the couch. Collapsing on her side and giggling hysterically. “That’s it?” she smirked “You’re worried that some trained slave is going to look down on you? What for not knowing how to curtsy and bow and scrape and stroke his fucking ego just right?”

\t“It’s not funny.” Brinna whimpered

\t“Sure it is.” Kanina smirked. “The smartest girl I know is freaking out because she’s worried her sea of neurosis won’t make her a good enough door mat for her prince charming, at least in the eyes of his fuck toys.”

\tBrinna blushed hard and looked away as she bit her lip. Whining, then stamping her foot, then starting to giggle. Then laughing. Harder, finally looking at her friend and blurting out laughing, collapsing on the couch and rubbing a tear from her eye. “ok, when you put it that way.” she sighed as she slumped into the couch. “I guess I can’t argue with you, huh. ‘Haunani Kunitdottir’.” she said sticking her tongue out.

\t“Oh don’t even.” Kanina growled playfully as she gave her friend a soft slug in the arm. “Don’t you dare. I am so not my mother.” she laughed

\t“Nah, you’re right. I mean what, just because you get all jealous and possessive of all your friends? You even do that thing.”

\t“what thing?” Kanina growled

\t“The ‘sure it is’ thing. Just like she does it. All lilting and condescending.”

\tKanina just pulled her friend in close and started to noogie her, Brinna yelping and squirming and shaking her head before finally being let up.

\t“Ok, I give. You’re not your mom.” Brinna sighed even as she tilted her head. “Sorry. I wont’ cross the line again. This week.”

\t“Better not.” Kanina muttered. She then looked down at a small black box the dormouse held out in her paw. A jewelry box, though not a big one. She took it quickly and looked at Brinna a long moment. “For me?” she asked

\t“For tomorrow.” Brinna noted “I made it in class. Think of it as a late birthday slash early solstice gift. Which means you can’t open it until tomorrow. That’s smack dab in the middle.”

\tThe bunny rolled her eyes and sighed “You just don’t want me to gush all over you and tease you about making me something, admit it.”

\tBrinna sighed and said nothing as she looked away, a small smile on her face. She felt her friend slip an arm around her and give her a soft hug.

\t“Ok. I promise.” Kanina murred “But I reserve the right to gush tomorrow.”

---

\tThe further down one went in any sector of the station, the worse things got. It was just a simple fact of life. Granted no class 3 citizen lived in anything close to luxury. Probably why so few security officers even bothered to check the broken old offices and repair stops littering the more disused portions of the home station.

\tKanina, as always, chose to slip in through a small access hatch routing its way back up from the sub-levels. Hopping and crawling though musty, oily tubes and passages with a mix of half broken ladder and wall-hugging until she landed in the refurbished maintenance bay. Once inside she was greeted with the smell of hot metal, insulation and flecks of ozone. The bunny girl twitching her nose to the unpleasant yet familiar orders. Her ears twitching to the sound of material printers running full tilt, flickering and glowing in the largely darkened main room sitting before her.

\t“Fortune, what kept you!” A frustrated voice grumbled from a scratch-built couch in the middle of the room.

\t“I’ve told you about that crap, Van.” Kanina muttered as she made her way though the thick clouds of smoke that hung at the ceiling straining for a way free. “Besides, didn’t Caleb tell you to turn the exhaust fan on before doing that? You’re not the only one who has to live here you know.”

\tThe lean cheetah sitting on the couch looked up from the long metal tube he held in his hand. The crew-cut brown headfur fully gelled and stiffened. Eyes burning with veins. “Oh come off it, fortune. Unlike you I had to get slag done today. Got the name of a freight pulling in some osmium ore.”

\t“And?” Kanina sighed in frustration as she sat in a beanbag chair next to the couch. The bunny girl reaching in to her pocket and pulling out the small black box held within.

\tThe leopard grinned a bit and looked down at her. “See, Fortune? This is why I’m the moon, man. They use Oz in making the couples for data crystals. We get our own supply, we can make our own couples. That means all we gotta do is get some quartz and bam, no more buying blank crystals. We can cut out the middle man and corner the trip market for the whole sector. Maybe even the station! A tonne of osmium makes a lot of couples.” He smirked proudly and took another deep pull, even as Kanina slid her hand up her cheek, face palming in supreme frustration.

\t“Van, it’s Osmium ore. Like, the raw stuff. It’s probably just coming through on its way to a processing station. Do you know how much work it takes to refine that crap?  For what’s basically pocket change to get off of our supplier in bulk? You know maybe you should try dialing back on the plant, Van.”

\tThe feline growled a bit and took another pull from the tube. His tail thrashing angrily between the cobbled couch and salvaged coffee table. He drew in an exceptionally large hit. Gasping in what little air he could afterwards before blowing it out over the bunnies head,  letting it slowly drift down over her. “Oh cram it in your jack, miss high and mighty. You use just as much as I do. Probably more.”

\t“No, I don’t.” Kanina muttered. Her frustration already palpable as she dug around in her bag for her clip-phones, eager to at least drown out this conversation if not the stench. “For one thing the stuff I do is aeroponic. Real deal. Not that cheap printed slag. There’s a difference between recreation and addiction.”

\tVan laughed and shook his head softly. “Don’t try that with me. What, next you’re gonna say I’m as bad as Strength, right? Plant is good for you, Fortune. It’s enlightenment. It ain’t no addiction.”

\tA bitter scowl crossed Kanina’s face at that. Her normally loppy ears perking straight up as she squinted hatefully at the other gang member. “Go get spliced, asshole.” she spat “that was just last week.”

\t“Don’t blame me for telling it how it is. Guy shouldn’t have been playing lookout on NovaWoad. We’re just lucky he flipped out on the officers and not us! At least it made sure we were able to bolt while they took him down.”

\tKanina was up in an instant and on top of the cheetah. Her lithe, athletic frame twisting as she hammered one knee into his side and pushed the bulk of her body weight down on his arm. She then began to hammer her gloved fist into his side savagely. Punctuating the blows with the occasional knee strike into his thigh as she struggled o dodge or endure the sudden flurry of claws from the inebriated ganger.

\t“Knock it off, both of you!” A voice came from the next room over. “Gods damned, It’s like running a fucking grade school sometimes. Fortune, get off of him.”

\tKanina looked up at the black bear standing in the doorway. A rather thin and stunted man. His face wearing the typical signs of malnourishment and pollution exposure one came to expect from Class 3. Then again he, like Kanina, was from the ring. So if anything, he looked rather well off.

\tShe gave one last punch, though rather half hearted, to the feline before slipping off of him and back to her seat. Rubbing her fist and flexing it to ensure she hadn’t fractured anything. It’s why she wore the gloves in the first place. That and the grips which helped her move around the dark corners and rooftops of the station without issue. Fortunately all the blood seemed to be from her foe and not her. Even then the worst Van seemed to show was a small smattering of blood from where his nose had been struck.

\t“you gotta keep that crazy bitch in line, Boss.” Van muttered as he scooped up the metal tube. Reeking water now splashed over his jean shorts. “She walks in here like she’s on top and then flips out at me over nothing. I swear I…”

\t“Stow it, Moon.” the bear snapped. “I heard the whole thing. Your score was stupid and, unless you want to forget, Sven is my little brother. Maybe you should take a page from Fortune here and learn to show a bit of common decency.” The man turned to the bunny and narrowed his eyes “and you. Putting aside the fact that I said face-names in here only, I don’t need you smacking around everyone you don’t like. I don’t’ care if Moon did deserve it. Or if he seems to forget he’s lower on the pole than you.”

\tThe cheetah snickered at that. Something that got him a swift thump on the head and a growl. “Oh, and fun fact. She’s absolutely right about the Osmium. Especially since they don’t just have ore for that stuff. They get it from nickel. So what you want us to do is steal a tonne of nickel ore and rock. You see where I’m going with this?”

\t“Wait, it’s not ore? What did Fortunes dirt-girl tell you that? She getting chummy with you too?” he snickered, only to be smacked in the head once more. Van quickly shutting up and slumping.

\t“If you bothered to do even a moments research, You’d know that too. We’re supposed to be a datagang, slaghead. If you want to stay a member, maybe you should learn to get all the data before coming up with stupid plans.

\tKanina snickered and leaned back into her seat as she looked at the two. Utterly thrilled to see the idiot get what he deserved.

\t“Find something funny, fortune?” The bear asked as he looked down at Kanina.

\t“No, Emperor.” The bunny replied. Thick strands of black and blue streaked hair falling in front of her face. She loathed the code name nonsense. Especially in their hideout. Sure it was probably good for discipline. To make sure names weren’t blurted on a job. But then it felt so stupid and goofy.

\t“So if you’re going to get on Moon about doing his work, I’ll assume then that you already finished coding our latest product?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes.

\t“Can’t” she shrugged “Gav… hierophant… hasn’t finished the neural translation yet. I can’t cook the code until he’s done. Once he is I’m set up for it though.” It was honestly all she could do, and in spite of his brusk attitude she knew the boss understood that. Still it didn’t make his glare any more comfortable.

\t“Mind if I ask what you were doing today, then? Since you didn’t have what you needed to get your job done?” Emperor crossed his arms over the mesh top he wore and looked her squarer in the eye. Bright, almost luminescent green eyes fixing on hers.

\tKanina could feel herself sinking into her seat. Her tail struggling to fold back on pure instinct, ears drooping further than usual even as she forced a nervous smile. The rapid beating of her heart growing a mile a minute. “Well.” she muttered softly “I had to help out a friend.”

\t“Brinna.” The bear sated, an obvious guess.

\t“Yeah. She got stuck at the mall and had one of her lil episodes. Her owner wasn’t around and her parents don’t have a car, so I tracked her down and got her home. I was kinda hoping Hierophant would be done by then. But I just got in and he never sent a message before hand. Plus, well, him.” she said scowling at Van, who scowled back just as hard.

\t“You know, maybe you should be spending less time babysitting a grown woman, with an owner, and more time practicing so the ICE on our next big job isn’t the same kind of problem it was last time.” The bear growled. “We’re a team. I don’t give a damn what you smoke, or drink, or plug. But my baby brother is in a med pod somewhere right now  waiting to be patched up and put on trial because you jokers couldn’t keep it together. Gonna be honest, I’m starting to get sick of all these needless distractions. Next time It’s a problem I may have to think about how to fix it.”

\tHe didn’t say an more, nor did he need to. The bear simply turning as he went back in to his room. Van was quick to scoop up the metal tube and the small baggie he had out with it, slinking down further into the disused repair station where his own dark little corner was located. This just left Kanina, who took a very long moment before finally shutting her eyes and sending an impulse to trigger the exhaust fan. The stale air of the printed plant spewing free and replaced by fresh, or as fresh as could be expected, circulation.

\tSebastian, Emperor, wasn’t entirely wrong. The last crack job went south fast. True it was mostly due to Sven using the absolute worst drug for a small datagang to touch. It was still unclear if he’d actually killed the first officer on the scene, but the rage and pain tolerance weren’t exactly helpful when the M.O. was smash and grab. It still seemed like the bear was getting needlessly irrational, though. True, the Tarot had been her second family almost as long as she’d been in the sector. Before, back on the ring, times were a lot harder. She may have been fast, but no way a girl like her would have cut it very long in the kind of war gangs those trashheaps churned out. But then, Brinna…

\tKanina blinked as she realized she still held the box in hand. She thumbed it open quickly and peered inside, barely able to contain the gasp of shock.

\tIt was a die. A six sided die seemingly made of bright, brilliant opal. The corner with the six, five, and three faces was pointing up and held by a small silvered tungsten pin running though it. The pendant shone with an immaculate brilliance that seemed to trap the light and radiate it back out in a dazzling rainbow. Shifting and sparkling as she tilted it to and fro. Even the pips seemed to be painted with a small plating of platinum, Her jaw dropped a bit as she looked over the item. It wasn’t big, wasn’t gaudy. Not at all the kind of thing most of her crewmates might shrug off as a tiny rock.

\tShe allowed herself another long moment to gaze at pendant before shutting it and shoving it into her pocket. She then quickly pulled herself up and started to worm her way up into the rafters towards the small tucked-back alcove she’d laid claim to. A bed, physical jack connection and floor space for a few trinkets and treasures tucked away in the back corner of a closed off air vent. Not as big or extravagant as the bunks higher-up members claimed. Bur then she didn’t need it that way.

\tThe bunny half-crawled, half dragged herself into bed. Flopping on to the cheap foam mattress and pulling a bundle of blankets up under her head as a makeshift pillow. The various bits of wetware in her head whirred to life a moment. A final manic diagnostic that sent tingles though her nerve impulses and danced though her grey matter like fire before informing her that all was well with the custom, and highly illegal bundle of mods resting in her skull and spine. When that settled comfortably, she kicked off the tight shoes and started to pull down her track pants, slipping the elastic violet material down off of her semi-ample rump and shifting to adjust the bulge in her panties to at least meet some bare standard of comfort.

\tShe gripped the bottom of her pants with one toe and pulled it up enough to drag the thing closer with her hand. She pulled out the box and took another quick look at the pendant before reaching over to her small personal safe and placing her hand flat on it. The memory lock sought out the perception of just the right moment in her mind before popping the lock and swinging free, allowing her to set the box among her various other treasures. A small model of a Falcon fighter, a bug out kit, some of her more specialized tools, and the records of the AR game campaigns she and Brinna used to run for each other.

\tShe quickly shut and locked the safe once more, rolling over on her side and letting her eyes slip shut. It was odd, in a way. All though school Brinna had been the one seemingly stuck in place. Booksmart in a social caste with no use for it, doomed to mindless mediocrity repeating the same tired dead end job as her parents. Not that the bunny could claim much better. But at least her inherited trade was one with a good deal of upward mobility, if you survived long enough.

\tThen suddenly the squeak was out and about. She had a new man, even if he seemed like kind of a rich suck up asshole. A career path. Things had changed. Suddenly Kanina was the one starting to question. Starting to wonder if just maybe it was time for a change.

--------------------

\tSebastian looked down at the small holo display and tapped his fingers on it angrily. It was bad enough Sven had gone off the deep end with the NovaWoad. It hurt, but the kid was sixteen now. More than old enough to make, and live by, his own fuckups. But when adding in the fuckups he had to deal with and that botched job, things were starting to spiral off track.

\tHe wanted out, needed out. Back on the ring everything seemed like hell. Getting to the main station, even in some class 3 slum, seemed like it would be a whole new world. A paradise compared to his old life of scrounging and scraping to survive. Maybe it was. That was a decade ago, though. Back when he was content with drugs and edge sims and idealistic jobs for pocket change. It was amateur hour. Kid slag, it wasn’t going to get him anywhere in the long run and he knew it. Part of him, just a part of the black bear started to wonder if it was about time to cut some of the dead weight loose. Give the Tarot a good spring clean.

\tHe was still wondering this as he looked down to see a message resting near the bottom of his unread list. That alone was strange. Strange enough to set him on edge. The fact hat his inbuilt code hadn’t already detected the source of the message and given him the relevant data from the backdoors in the station system set his fur on edge.

\tWhile he might not have been as sharp as he once was, Sebastian was still good enough to handle something like this. His mind racing as he slowly dug though the file toolkits he kept on hand. Carefully scanning and rescanning the message. Going over the code for any sort of ICE, Even setting up a small data node specifically to isolate the thing. Everything short of diving in to use his avatar and get up close and personal, which would have been the kind of specially stupid thing Fortune or Hermit might do.

\tFinally he was fairly sure he’d gotten off all of the malicious code and allowed the file o be opened, the small lines of text coming into view in a flowing hand-drawn script. A fine, refined New Avalon accent playing the words out on audio.

\t“Greetings, ser Sebastian. I am to understand hat you lead a small band of freelance information experts. Based upon my research I believe we have business we may discuss…”


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