Gutter Goddess
Arris had returned from Corellia - a little detour that didn't do her much good when Mercy was still recovering from Humbarine, because it meant one thing for Windrun:
Business.
Always.
More.
"Business," Arris breathed.
Through the glass, her eyes looked on the curve of the Coruscanti atmosphere, as the skylift carried her up to the gaudy, orbital monstrosity that Mercy called Throneworld.
When she stepped off the lift, the gargantuan skyhook responded to her presence immediately. Some sophisticated automation that Mercy reckoned would give her - and all those she wished - a certain level of impulsive control over the complex and its many, many systems; as if the technopath needed that in the first place. Though... It was all surface-level stuff. Millions of slaves still toiled to make it all work.
"Gross," all of it was gross. She was still just whispering to herself.
The cyborg marched down the grand concourse, which wrapped around the central structure, joining other massive corridors connecting the various wings and towers.
Oh yeah. Arris had changed since the last time Mercy (or anyone else, for that matter) had seen her. Traded blonde for black, ponytail for bob, and dropped the pretense of wearing flesh to hide the extensive modifications. How many times had someone asked, or just outright assumed, she was a fancy HRD? Too many. Still wore a face, though. Synthflesh and skin that ended where the jaw and neck met. Everything else? Black metal, fibers, and flexible armor plating. Might've looked like a battlesuit at a glance.
It took her a long time, too many steps, to reach the place where Mercy rested. Arris had passed trams and speeders, ignoring every insistence from the synaptic connection that the station could ease her journey if she just let it. As if it really, really wanted her to fall into the sand trap of Mercy's decadence.
But when Arris had nearly arrived, a woman was standing in the hall. It took her a few seconds to process who she was. "Oh. Hello..." Empress? Mercy's Friend? Just... Hello.
For now.