Well Dressed waltz [PG1 LE Storage]

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"THAT is Pickle's fault. My mech is named Falcon which in my native tongue is spelled Gǔ but pronounced Hu. When I first joined the Starlit Knights I met my lancemate Pickle and he saw the name on the side of my mech and thought that was my callsign and called me Goo. I corrected him but he had had a few drinks and just kind of laughed it off."

"The company I was with before that was a nightmare, no ethics, no cohesion, the ship was a junker and most of it didn't work so I was really happy to be with a REAL merc company and decided to make everyone a cake as a thank you. It was the first time I had ever tried to bake something and I must have done something wrong but the cake was more of a fudge and Pickle being the guy he is said "Oh so there's the goo." After that it just stuck."

[Aleksandr Korolov]

Alek chuckled a bit his hand on her hip tightening for a second "Ah that's a cute story. Though does everyone In your Lance have unique names? Can't say I've heard of a callsign like Pickle before either...." He said in a tone that was one part amusement and one part pensive.

"So how does a gorgeous woman like you get dragged into a rough line of work like this?"

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Gorgeous is a bit much considering the company we are in but thank you. I wish I had a costume I could have worn in public." She said with a light blush.

"Well the shortish version is that my parents were an arena duos team back home. The planet caters to the rich and powerful, a pleasure world and one of the activities offered was arena fighting for them to bet on. So I pretty much grew up in a repair bay and always wanted to fight like they did. Once I was old enough my parents and I made a deal, I would cut my teeth out here for 15 years before entering the arena. My sim training showed an over reliance on range, something as you well know there isn't a lot of in an arena. The idea was that merc work would teach me the things you can't learn in a simulator and having a lance around me and company behind me would help keep me safe. I have 8 more years of this before I can finally start my path to a championship. The plan was to go home and fight there but...I'm not sure I can go home and Solaris is where the real action is."

[Aleksandr Korolov]

A gloved hand came up and booped her nose not hard enough to hurt but enough to surprise her "Don't compare yourself to others, you're a beautiful woman doesn't matter if there are other beautiful women around." He said with a softly chiding tone. He raised his eyebrow at the costume comment but decided to save that for later.

He whistled a bit at her story "Well damn 15 years of experience is hell of a lot more than most arena contenders get. I only knew the basics my father taught me before I stepped into the arena." He chuckled "then again I spent most of my time getting wrecked for a few years, so maybe your parents have the right idea."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"My started in the local PDF and defended the planet with Davion went on his wedding crusade so they earned a lot from that so they figured it would help me. They weren't wrong though I'm not sure they understood how dangerous this work is.

You had an amazing career though, that fight against Diambu "The Spear" Green was amazing and he's a legend. It's in my top 10 for sure!" She said with admiration.

[Aleksandr Korolov]

Alek laughed a full belly laugh "Ah well that was one of my later fights, not too long before I joined up with the Azure Fang. I'd learned a lot by then."

"But even still I only had a chance because my kick knocked out enough heat sinks."

He thought for a moment "I might still have some old footage of my early fights in the underground arenas on Solaris. Rolling around somewhere." He gave her a smile "if you want to watch me get the crap kicked out of me."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Ohh a private screening with the man himself to talk me through it?"

(Chinese) "Fuck yeah."

"I mean I would love that."

A red ting started to creep into her features.

"Look, umm, I don't want this to end but all this spinning and wine has made me need to go to the little girls room. Thank you so much for the dance and, uh, come find me again before the night is over; after the ball drops OK?"

[Aleksandr Korolov]

That made Alek's smile grow, he didn't understand Chinese so the words were lost but he could understand the feeling behind them "Well good then I'll need to root around in my storage see if I still have em."

He nodded and then cooked his head curiously at her words "Well I've never been one to keep a lady waiting. I'll find you later."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

"Make sure you do." She said in a sultry tone and leaned in giving him a little kiss. "Till then stay sexy my snezhnaya gora (snowy mountain)." With a push she was off, headed for the door.

/thread unless stopped.

[Aleksandr Korolov]

He would return it easily pressing a little deeper and his hand coming to her hip squeezing gently "Always for you Malen'kly yastreb (russian: little Hawk)." He said with a quiet voice as she pulled away from the kiss.

He watched her float away for a bit with a dumb grin on his face before shaking his head and pushing off back toward the wine table.

/thread! Thank you!