It still looked nice, though. The way the fur caught the light and shone like something made from metal was certainly appealing in a way. It wasn’t the kind of thing she would wear herself, but maybe she could put it on Mini's pauldrons to help the mech fade into the background and be more difficult to see in some circumstances.
It might be especially helpful if she needed to take more shots from a distance. She still had the rifle, although she would have to find or fashion a better holster than the mag clamp on her back. Engaging and disengaging the damn thing was a nightmare in the middle of combat and impossible if she was supposed to carry something into the heat of battle.
Jessica13 made a mental note that she needed to find a solution.
"I’m fairly sure that's the kind of thing that would be worn by someone who doesn't spend most of their time in a mech," Windchime pointed out and raised her own concerns on the matter.
"You don't have to be inside those mechs all the time, do you?" Caysom asked, obviously keen to make some kind of sale.
"Basically all the damn time," the other man said. "It might be nice to have them on the outside of the mech, though, to make them a little swankier. It's a problem when your mech has six limbs, or so I've heard. Folks say I look like a giant insect walking on two legs."
"I'm sure you take that as a compliment," she interjected and chuckled at the thought.
"Yes, because every little boy dreams of being thought of as a massive mechanical insect."
"Well, if you aren't interested in any of my special furs, I think I might have another something you might want," Caysom said. "And I’ll provide this one to you for free if you're willing to hear it."
"I'm always interested in something offered for free," Windchime assured him.
"Well, the word has spread that you and your Knights want to know any information that might be collected on a place called Citta del Mar."
Jessica13 could see the almost instant reaction from her teammate as he turned fully to stare at the man. The response was a little exaggerated by the mech itself.
"What…what do you know about that?" he asked and tried to keep his voice from betraying his true feelings.
"Ah, well, it's not really much that I know," the townsman admitted, a little surprised by the reaction he’d received. "We get peddlers in and out of here every couple of months, and they always have chat and gossip about what's happening in the world at large. Anyway, the talk is there's a man out in the Wastes who has received a fair amount of attention over the past few years. He calls himself The Prophet."
She narrowed her eyes, a little suspicious. If there was talk about the man out in the Wilderness, the Knights hadn't heard it. He seemed the type Hammerhand would react to. Not many folks in the world at large had the balls to call themselves a prophet, much less The Prophet.
"Anyway, this Prophet has apparently gathered himself one hell of a following," Caysom continued. "The kind who would kill a man who so much as looked at their leader wrong. They are religious zealots and very fervent in their beliefs, and if the talk is to be believed, quite violent about it as well."
"I haven't heard of the like before," Windchime said. "He has to be stupid or something special to call himself something like The Prophet."
"That's what I thought," the other man said. "He has all kinds of talk about the Above, and how Skyfall is his god sending judgment on the earth, that kind of crock, but you hear a few things here or there that stick. One of those things I heard talked about was Citta del Mar. He talked about it like was some kind of land that is promised and where he'll lead his true believers to when the time is right."
"He sounds like a nut," her teammate said bluntly. "Worse still, the dangerous kind of nut—one with power. I have the feeling that if Hammerhand were to run across this character, he would make The Prophet prove his connection to whatever god by entreating them to keep him from being crushed by his hammer."
"No doubt," Caysom said. "But I thought it was interesting that they looked for this place that you are looking for too. Maybe they might know a thing or two about it, come time to go looking."
Windchime nodded. They could mention it to Hammerhand later.
He turned suddenly to Jessica13. "Get in your mech."
"What's the issue?" she asked, already on her feet and headed toward Mini.
"Hammerhand has word he wants to share over the comms."
She nodded, scrambled into the Minato, and closed the hatch before she inserted the open comm line onto her HUD and listened carefully.
"All Knights Mechanica, hear me," their leader said and his voice boomed into the confines of her cockpit. "Athena and her entourage have been seen approaching a small town about half a day's march from our position. While she is likely supported by highly competent fighters, this is about as exposed as she'll ever be and therefore, this is our chance to strike at her while she does not expect us to attack."
Her heart pounded violently. To attack an unsuspecting supply train was one thing, but a group of attack mechs that were ready for a fight, including a damn Excalibur, was something altogether different. She wouldn’t have the luxury of ignoring orders like she had with Windchime or the relative safety of smaller numbers.
"Rally to the Beast. Marching orders will be handed out," Hammerhand continued. "We move at noon."
Jessica13 looked at Windchime, who was already moving toward the Beast to the surprise of Caysom, who hadn't heard any of the conversation. She gestured a hasty apology to the man,
