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Mige is making some small talk with Richard, showing him to some food stands that he found quite enjoyable and even buying a few small samples so that Richard could try it. Though his mood suddenly changes to a much more serious one as soon as he sees a Jhereshii walking up to the two of them. At first he tries to ignore them but it's clear they want to get his attention. Reluctantly he sighs and then flicks his head to the side for the moment.

"What do you want, Ret?" Mige asks the Jhereshii.

"Oh, I was hoping to play you in a game of Clairvoyance," Ret says in response.

"And why should I agree to this game?"

"How about we put a wager onto all of this. If I win then you owe me a favor, to be claimed at a later date. I'll be magnanimous enough to say that when I move to collect you may refuse that particular favor if it is too difficult for you. But eventually I will find a favor that you will be okay with doing and I'll collect on that."

"And what do I get out of this if I win this little thing?" Mige demands.

Richard is watching the two of them, somewhat confused because he has no idea of who this Jhereshii is, and more importantly why the normally cheerful Mige is so annoyed at this Jhereshii.

"That's quite simple. I will tell you something that I have been made aware of. And I will give you this guarantee on top of it. If you find, for any reason, that my information is not absolutely worth your time, then tell me so and you will never see me make any contact with you for the rest of your stay on the station. Is that fair enough?"

Mige thinks about it for a moment, even going so far as to float all the way down to the ground. He also seems to suck on one of his fangs, which is an interesting enough look. Ret watches patiently, not making any effort to rush the decision. Richard wonders idly what he should be doing in this particular situation.

"Fine," Mige sighs after a moment later. "Richard, you might as well take off, this may take a while."

"No, no," Ret says quickly enough. "I think he should come along and watch. I think it'll be quite enlightening for the TD14 to see what the game is like."

Mige looks over to Richard, who just shrugs as he doesn't have much to do for a little while. Ret turns and leads the two off the side of the main market to a table that has been set up with a board of some sort. There are a couple of bowls full of little pebbles on each side of the bowl. What surprises Richard the most is that there is no means for them to actually get at the pebbles. There's a glass box on top of the board. Both Mige and Ret sit on each end. Without any preamble little pebbles start lifting out of both bowls and positioning themselves on that board.

"I guess I can start," Mige says after a moment of them somehow putting pieces on the board. "Ret is not your real name."

"Well that isn't worth anything. It's common knowledge we don't go by our real name."

"Well I was going to say that it isn't even the name you should be called, but if you insist," he flicks his head and then starts speaking complete gibberish as far as Richard is concerned. He then flicks his head again and Ret waits a few seconds before beginning his playing.

"You are a prince," Ret says in response.

"I have said I was. It's kind of how I introduce myself. It's pretty easy to be a prince when you are the last of your kind. Just have an election and declare yourself a prince."

"But you weren't elected as a prince. You were born as one. Royalty from birth, not the heir, but definitely a prince born."

Mige frowns a bit at the statement but places a few more pieces onto the board. Richard wonders at this, trying to figure out then why Mige would say they are only elected as a prince if they were one to begin with.

"Your models aren't working for you as much as you would want anymore."

"Don't think that counts enough to warrant any points."

"Your main board is missing a piece. One of your colleagues had borrowed your board recently. But they forgot a piece at their quarters and either don't know or are too ashamed to admit it. Of course that is the real reason you've been chasing me down. Because your models have been failing you on the important things ever since I came on board."

Ret shrugs and then places another piece onto the board as he considers what to make for his next move. They spend a good two minutes just placing pieces onto the board without making any comment.

"You are here on business," Ret says finally. "But even if you weren't hired to come here, you would have still come to this station. This station has always been your end goal. Your current job just gave you the excuse to come here now."

"There's going to be an attempt on your life," Mige says in response almost immediately, though he does place a piece onto the board while doing so.

"Oh please," Ret half laughs. "Is that the best you can do. Not even with a date listed? That can't count. You don't get anywhere I am without making some enemies. An assassination attempt is to be expected."

"Okay then, what if I said that the ones that will be trying to kill you will be your own government?"

Ret seems taken back from the statement and stares intently at the board for a good long moment. Finally, he relents and places a piece onto the board. Richard stares at the duo in some confusion at the accusation. So far the two were saying things that they probably could deduce with enough research but now they're moving into the realm of things they couldn't possibly know by themselves, at least without knowing far too much about the plans at work.

"However, it looks like you will be personally responsible for that attempt on my life failing."

"Not intentionally," Mige quickly adds in, confusing Richard even more as it's sounding more like they're talking about future events as if it was a certainty and beyond even just base speculation.

"Well, no. That is true. There is no indication of you coming directly to my aid. However, the fact still remains that as a direct consequence to your actions my assassin will be stopped."

Mige responds by sticking his tongue out at the other, but still puts a piece onto the board. He thinks long and hard at the board, clearly not wanting to owe a favor to the other individual. Finally, after turning his head to the side and attempting to look at the board in another angle a smile creeps into his face.

"You know, you're correct. Celeste is doomed to fail. I can fully understand your insistence on it being stopped. And it might even be why your government tries to have you removed. But I can't exactly blame them for it. If the plan were to work it would most certainly be very good for your people. The problem is that for Celeste to work it requires for far too many variables to play out exactly as you want. If but a single one fails, everything that was invested into the project would have been for naught."

Ret makes no response, though he does go and put a few more pieces onto the board. And then spends a good few minutes just staring at the board, trying to decide what best to do. Eventually Mige grows bored and looks away from the game off towards the market.

"Are we done here?" he asks.

"I suppose so. Anyway, your reward," Ret says waving an arm to gesture at both of them, which strikes Richard as somewhat of an odd move. "In a few days a shipment of Jhanfo will be arriving from Raeshael space." With that Ret stands up, bows to the two of them and begins walking away.

"So what was that all about?" Richard asks.

"Eh, who knows," Mige says, resetting the board back to normal and then floating off his chair. "He was probably here trying to get information. His kind are schemers and don't like it when their models don't match reality. He was hoping that by playing the game he'd find what is causing his models to fail."

"And what about that sentence?"

Mige just shrugs in response, "I wouldn't worry about it. Ooh, I smell some Tiolar jerky. This is something you have to try," he starts leading the human back into the market. "Looks a bit disgusting and smells terrible, but the taste is. Well, there's a reason they actually put a stool next to their stall. It's not something you want to be standing while eating. Many people have fallen down they get so wrapped up in it. You are going to love this."

Richard ponders on this as they walk, noting how quickly his vulpine friend changed the topic. But though he was still tempted to try and question them further about what all it was he just witnessed, Mige seemed to act as if it never happened, leaving him with that statement resonating in his mind. Instead, Richard resolves to find out more about the game and the statement from other people.

Elsewhere on the station, Riu wakes up and heads over to the dining area after getting dressed, making sure to pass by the statuette of the three sisters and bowing his head slightly as he offers a quick prayer for their equal support. It's a nice relaxing day as far as he can tell. There is no real need to get up too quickly. His shift won't be starting for another couple hours and he hadn't gotten any reports of anything really important that would require his immediate attention. Riu debates for a moment if he should go and use his pod for a bit after eating but puts that off for later. He heads into the dining area and kisses his Prime. He then sits down at the table, his Prime having already gone and made breakfast for them all. The little dragon Ackrin already digging in. Riu can feel through his connection with the dragon child that something was bothering him, and a far bigger issue in mind than just being anxious to go head out to meet up with his friends before school.

"So how has school been going," Riu begins.

"Well enough," Ackrin shrugs, though Riu can hear that he wants to say more, but possibly is not saying anything perhaps in fear of his response.

But Riu is nothing if not patient with his familiar and so he simply eats for a bit and waits to see if he brings it out on his own. In the mean time he makes some small talk with his Prime, talking about whether she's caught up on all of their shows and what she thinks will happen in a few of them. Unfortunately, though he can see that Ackrin will frequently pause and open his mouth as if about to speak again but then decides against it. Finally, Riu feels the need to press the issue and sighs for a second before bringing it up.

"Okay, out with it," he demands.

"Well, sir," Ackrin begins, which Riu knows is usually not a good sign when the dragon calls him sir. "Well there's a break coming up soon. And the class was planning on going to the Alimae Research Facility on a field trip."

"And you were asking if you could go as well?" Riu asks as Ackrin fiddles with his fork sheepishly. He doesn't say anything but eventually just nods and looks down at the table. Riu's Prime just shakes her heads slightly and continues eating. "Well you know the rules."

"I know," Ackrin quickly pulls out a plate he had been hiding underneath his chair. Riu accepts it and looks over it without any emotion, even going so far as to blank out his own mind so that his familiar can't pick it up over the link. Ackrin's grades were decent enough. Nowhere close to what would likely be the top of the class, but well above the threshold that he had put his familiar under in regards to getting special permissions. It'll definitely suck for Riu and leave him a bit more vulnerable for his familiar to be away studying a black hole. But a promise was a promise

"Very well, I guess I have no choice in the matter. Give me the file and I'll sign it and send it in," Riu says, having to try really hard not to smile with the flood of excitement flooding over the link. "But make sure you keep up your training. I would be very disappointed if I ended up finding myself with a rusty familiar."

The dragon child jumps out of his seat, almost spilling his food onto the floor if not for Hannah grabbing it with her magic before it can come to trouble. Ackrin rushes forward and hugs Riu quickly, "Thank you, father," he says before running off, probably too excited about going and telling his friends to even remember about finishing breakfast.

"Oh, and make sure you send a message to your sires. I'm sure they'll want to know how you've been doing," Riu shouts after him.

"Okay!" Ackrin shouts as he's leaving their apartment.

Riu shakes his head a few times and looks to see his Prime giving him an amused look.

"What is that look for? You think I'm spoiling him?"

Hannah laughs. "Spoiling? No. I know your friend. That is spoiling a familiar. I was just musing how you don't treat him as a familiar, but rather as an adoptive son."

"Well in some regards he somewhat is. He is a child and has all the expectations placed upon children his age. Eventually, he will grow up and if he wants to break the bond, I will not stop him. That is the agreement I had with his sires."

"But I know you," Hannah stands up and kisses his forehead. "You are no longer thinking of him as your familiar. You're already preparing yourself, distancing yourself from him just a little so that if he leaves when he reaches the age of maturity in ten more years that it won't impact you as much, despite it being ten years away still."

"And what did you want me to do? Tell him he can't go on a field trip to a black hole because he's my familiar?"

"No," Hannah says, leaning against a wall. "He should go. You gave him very strict rules and conditions that had to be met before he'd be allowed to do something like this field trip. If he satisfied every requirement and you still said no, that would send the wrong message and you know he'll rebel against you. No, let him go. Let the boy have his fun with his friends. But at the same time, I want you to put some serious thought into what you think about your relationship with him."

"Well, what do you mean?"

"While you both are on the station you are able to draw power from him, this is true. But if the situation arose that needed you to do more than just be on the station, would you have it in you to do what must be done? Can you bring yourself to pull him from his life of comfort and his friends and drag him into real battle, where he must fight alongside you?" She leans over and nuzzles at the side of his cheek for a moment. "I love you dearly, prime, but the fact does remain that you are fairly soft when it comes to fighting. Theoretically Ackrin should be the strongest familiar on the station, but do you think he'd actually beat Mia in a fight? Or that myobu's blind unicorn? Or Chouran's whatever that is."

"Sh'rantdi."

"Whatever it is. My point is this. My leave is up around the time Ackrin will be heading off to his little field trip, leaving no one here to keep you company than your idol of the Three Sisters. And while you are on your own I want you to put some real thought into the question of if you're willing to treat the dragonling as a familiar if required, or if you can only think of him as an adopted son. Though in the meantime, have you put any thought into the applications for our daughter's prime?"

"I have. I will admit most of them are not that appealing. Either their personalities would clash too much or their appearance too plain."

"We're arranging her Prime, it really doesn't matter how she feels about them. Us being in love is far more the exception than the rule."

"I know, but if they have to attend events together, I'd at least like someone that she could stand to be around. That and the fact that it would reflect poorly on us if the only thing she can manage with her prime is to get into arguments. Beyond that many are far below her station. I imagine many of closer status are avoiding us for my association with a nogitsune. So we're either getting strict loyalists trying to decide if they should be trying to turn us in or are just wanting any excuse to advance their status in life."

"Well believe me when I say this but it is far better to go with those that are trying to raise themselves up and are perfectly fine to overlook your friends and station than those who care more about whether or not there is any myobu blood in you. I have seen it when I go on tour. There is a divide building within our own people. The ones who are desperate to follow the myobu and hold them as the divine they claim themselves to be and everyone else. There are those that defend the Silver Purge and some even think it hadn't gone far enough. And quite a few people will just go along with it not because they actually agree, but rather that they are afraid of any sort of retaliation for not being seen as a part of the group in power. These are people you won't want to be associating yourself with, even in regards to the Prime of a child. The ones that are trying to gain her hand are doing so because they simply don't care about the politics of it or are too desperate to raise their station that they'll happily look the other way in exchange."

"So what, I should just take table scraps because they're less prone to trying to use me for political gain? There really should be people on our level who don't care so much about the eugenics policy."

"You'd think so, but that's unfortunately not the case. There's a reason you were picked to be the Head Orenshii. And that is quite simply that you were the highest person on their pecking order that they knew they could actually accept working with a nogitsune. You don't care because you've known her a long time. But the people out there, the ones that the only things they know about their kind and their religion is what the myobu propaganda says about them and has said about them for hundreds of years. Have you ever asked her why her parents had moved to Mars in the first place. They used to live on the moon of Earth if I remember correctly. After she was born they packed things up and moved to Mars. Because unlike Earth and its moon, Mars had a very strict diversity program. The Silver Purge was not allowed on Mars so they could raise her safely there."

Riu doesn't really have anything to say in response to that. She's only telling him stuff he already knew. He and his Prime had moved to Mars themselves at one point simply because Mars didn't care about interspecies politics. All Mars cared about what equality and business and didn't mind when the two of them were gone for months at a time while on tour. In first he got to know Anon when she arrived on his ship as little more than a kit on her first duty and he was curious about her. About whether or not the statements made about her ilk were true or not. Once done eating Hannah stands up and kisses him on the forehead.

"Make sure you give some serious thought on those options. Her suitors won't be willing to wait forever."

"I will," Riu says back in response.

She smiles at him a moment, puts her dishes away and then leaves their apartment. Riu leans back for a moment and considers what all to do about everything that his Prime had told him. His mind's probably a bit too chaotic right now for him to really feel like just going into his pod for a bit. At least he isn't overdue for his treatments of it. He really should still try for it nonetheless. Maybe download a program to really work the stress out. His Prime could be a on the mischievous side of things, but she never really played a joke on anything when it was important and when she was trying to be serious he could always tell. She pointed out those things to him for a reason and he'll just have to figure out what all it meant, not only for his familiar but which of the suitors to go with for their daughter.