Scion of Snow (INVITE)

"One would think that a massive tournament held every three years - that literally being in the name - would cause some of these people to get off their assess and actually expand to accommodate the traffic they know is coming. Apparently, that's a foreign concept to them!" Amara had continued to run her diagnostics, not all too perturbed by a large power in the area given that it was adjacent to the tournament grounds. The Saiyan hadn't been expecting much from the stranger up until he introduced himself... as Azoth. Amara paused in her duties, straightening up and casting a searching glance over to the Arcosian. "Azoth? You're the current pick for the winner of said tournament, being an Arcosian and all." Their powers were close enough that had Amara still had her tail, she might've stood a chance against him if they fought. The notion gave rise to a bitter flicker of emotion in her chest, angry that her loss had come so early at the hands of lacking the raw power necessary to continue on.

"What's the grand star of the show want with someone such as I anyway? I'm sure prepping for your next fight would be a more productive use of your time than fraternizing with my type... though I'd wager you don't exactly need it with that natural strength of yours." Amara had a few lingering things she had wanted to ask of the possible Emperor, but such questions would not be well suited to her temporary persona. "Anyway I won't be sticking around for long. Came to see what's what with the fights on this allegedly legendary tournament and maybe see how Onnio was doing. Just have to make sure that my pod wasn't damaged or misaligned by all that manhandling those port idiots probably did."

"I had been under the impression that a 'true form' was just that. Your full power. No holds barred. Something that not only happens to generally be strong but also isn't intrinsically tied to needing a tail." Amara's ending remarks were laced with a bitter undertone, and with her armor and bodysuit it wouldn't be very hard to see that she lacked a tail entirely. "But yes, hard work plays a factor. It can also only take you so far without any talent or boosts at all, though. Look at the Earthlings or the natural Tuffles for example." They, of course, compensated with technology for the most part that Saiyans didn't bother to emulate due to cost and inefficiency. Why have a warrior pilot a mech when their natural Oozaru form was just as powerful?

"Said type would be both a warrior and a Saiyan. I could be wrong but I think part of your interest is in that combined factor." Amara smiled but the gesture didn't fully reach her eyes. "Not that I really care. Just an observation." What a first, an Arcosian claiming to be on level ground in both power and prestige with the rest of the galaxy. Certainly wasn't a very common occurrence. His following question had confirmed her already nagging suspicions, though as she had said, it wasn't really that big of a deal for it to be the case. "And what stake in that have you?" It was liable to be an unexpected response. It was true that most Vegetan-born Saiyans had loose lips and fiery tempers, but Amara's obligations and journey thus far had taught her enough to keep her mouth shut.

"I am returning to Plant, if you must know. The conflict there has been paused for months anyway due to the untimely deaths of both the Chancellor and the King, though I'm sure you knew that already if you've been as keen on seeking information about the topic as you are with me." If Azoth of all people planned to get involved on either side that would certainly expedite things. If his good-guy front was not just an act it'd be likely that'd he directly side with the Tuffles, throwing a monkey wrench in her plans on the planet.

"Not like you'd have a hard time prying it from the lips of any well-informed follower of the war on Earth. It isn't exactly a secret, so, me spilling it to you wasn't exactly going to be a grand revelation later on." The woman stood, hands brushing dirt and dust from her armor. The diagnostics were all positive save for one little hiccup. "The stabilization of the fuel was disturbed during transit and now it requires some time to settle..." Time she'd rather spend on her way to Planet Plant, but with the apparent speed of sparking fuel, it'd only be an hour's loss at most. Not ideal, but it wouldn't make or break Amara's campaign on the planet at large. "By the sounds of it, a select few weren't too keen to offer up that information, hm?" It made sense to her. The Arcosians at large still had a rather poor reputation as snide brutes who'd stick their pompous noses into any sort of issue they deemed themselves 'worthy' of in order to flex their power around.

"So what, you're trying to flip the script on the home front? Try and make a rule of peace over a rule of force? Can't say you calling that ideal an Empire would be very good PR-wise but the decision is up to you... assuming that the Arcosian throne can be secured under your control, that is." Benevolent and Empire didn't often co-exist given the implications of an 'Empire' to begin with. Still, the naming scheme of this dreamed utopia was not Amara's primary concern - though keeping tabs on it wasn't a bad thing either. Knowing if their powerful Arcosians neighbors united and were looking to conquer other planets was very vital information indeed. "Culture may have flourished, but what good are cheeseburgers and movies against a hostile army seeking to exert their unstoppable strength over your planet? I'm certain that loyal or heroic passerby will take up arms in defense of Earth, but if its regular denizens don't see fit to protect themselves more openly as other species do then that could be the ingredients for a terrible disaster later. Not to say that all of them or even most of a species should dedicate themselves to the pursuit of power, but this current blase state of being is just poor."

Azoth pushed on for her opinion on the war at large. Why the thoughts of a stray soldier were of such importance to possible Emperor was beyond her, but she'd be careful to share them in an organized manner. "...War is Hell. Civilians and soldiers spill blood, families and homes are ravaged, the very ground is torn asunder, and an intrinsic hatred festers on both sides of the conflict. No matter who seemed to start it, whoever the aggressor or the barbarians of it are, that doesn't change the fact that neither is perfectly innocent. And judging by how you carry yourself and the proclaimed goals of this peaceful Empire, I'd wager that you plan on getting involved on behalf of the Tuffles at some point." Amara froze a bit at Azoth's final words, and while it seemed to be full of brevity that very train of thought would need to be corrected immediately.

"To a Saiyan, losing a tail is like losing an arm or a leg. It is excruciatingly painful and crippling. Yes, perhaps it may help foster peace via proxy of removing their ability to transform but the cost of that is mass mutilation of an entire species. A prospective Emperor looking for peace does not achieve it in a healthy manner by forcibly crippling an entire species, no?" Even now the loss of Amara's tail was still a devastating blow to her morale, and ultimately something she'd never fully recover from - either physically or mentally. Sometimes tails could be regrown... and sometimes they couldn't.

"Makes a diplomacy victory a bit harder to achieve when both sides lack a major authority figure on the political side of things, right?" That didn't stop military commanders from continuing on with the skirmishes in the faux calm that had enveloped Plant, and it wouldn't stop the smoldering war from reigniting soon. "...Depends on what way you're classifying strength. Yes, there is a section of martial artists, some even participating in the tournament next door, but that doesn't change the fact that something like a Saiyan child could lay waste to most of the regular populace with one hand. There's little shame in deterrence or defense - having a larger core of soldiers or at least having some sort of plan is better than just relying on people to not want to conquer you." Perhaps it'd work. Earth was and still mostly is considered a backwater compared to the development of the wider galaxy, though with all these bread and circuses it wouldn't be long before more and more eyes fell upon the serene blue ball. And when the blissfully unaware and unprepared Earthlings were hit full force by an army, they'd fall.

"A fully peaceful solution, huh?" Then Azoth mentioned something about a peculiar 'associate' of his. "Beowulf? I know of him. Not m-" She paused mid-track, mind rewinding and soaking it what exactly the Arcosian had said. Beowulf. Had mentioned an 'Amara' by name. "...He did what?" A few slip-ups on Earth around regular people she could tolerate. Eagerly spilling it to a potentially dangerous threat involved with politics was another thing altogether. Amara's fists clenched together as she shoved down a growl, huffing angrily instead. "You are speaking to that very same Amara, though I must say that idiot blurting it out to people wasn't supposed to happen. What did I expect after he did it before, though?" The Saiyan pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking carefully about how to proceed. "You don't seem like a threat at the moment but if you would, keep that tidbit under wraps for a bit longer. There IS a reason for it, but I'm afraid I shan't be sharing it for the time being. Nothing illegal or evil, yadda yadda."

Apparently, the whole tail fiasco had been a joke, Amara silently examining the lizard for a moment. "Good. Best to leave it as a joke."

"It exists how it does as of now because of the selflessness of offworlders," Amara argued back. "If this off-world support was completely permanent then yes, I'd be inclined to agree, but a civilization can afford to militarize enough to defend themselves while retaining a beautiful culture. ...The Tuffles are an example of that, in how their side of Plant is still rather lush of full of life compared to the badlands of Vegetean territory." The Saiyan paused for a moment, considering what exactly Azoth meant. "At the same time there are people and cultures happier to be more militaristic or basic without the advancements of others. Connecting them to a wider route of ideals may not necessarily be what those people want to begin with. Some species aren't similarly satisfied by luxuries like Earth has en mass." Unification of the galaxy was a noble goal on paper, to exert peace by strength. Yet it came with its own slew of problems that Azoth hadn't possibly considered.

At least he had agreed to keep her identity secret. "At the time it wasn't necessarily a secret. That information only became so shortly after, meaning that Beowulf's own knowledge evolved into a secret itself. Unfortunately that Vulkis has very, very poor secret-keeping skills." She was lucky that her head was still attached at this point. Clutching her arm with a minor amount of force, Amara went to retrieve a plasma torch from her pod's emergency kit. "Even if two agree that there should be peace, the terms of it are often hotly debated. I assume that to be the case here. Even getting both sides to sit down at two sides of a table will be an incredibly difficult task, let alone getting them to agree diplomatically." Amara sighed, pausing in her work. "This isn't something you can easily solve by swooping in with good intentions and an army, Azoth. Plant is undergoing a decades-long cultural and generational war." It likely couldn't be solved in an afternoon, or a week, or a year. "What's you're relation with Beowulf anyway? He didn't seem to be the military type."

"Sounds like a noble goal in theory," Amara paused to finish her patchwork job on the fuel tank, shaking her plasma torch a few times to jog the chemicals around. "After all: A united but distinct gathering of all the cultures and societies in the galaxy to form a loosely cohesive collective for the betterment of tomorrow. What isn't there to like? Yet with such lofty things in mind, I think you're missing out on a few critical things. Surely others must have had this idea before and at least tried to implement it - so why does little record of that exist? What causes such missions to be snuffed out and not stand the test of time?" Azoth seemed to be much more of an idealist than a realist, an odd trait for an Arcosian to have. "Maybe you've got the 'resolve' and the team needed to get through it. I doubt it, though. Not of any fault on your part but on the sheer difficulty implementing that sort of galactic policy will be even among the peaceful planets."

He seemed to think that her entire assertion was military strength - which wasn't true. "I got that part. My original point was that the Plant situation was something that can't be easily solved by force or diplomacy. Yes, the Saiyans are an invading force, but so many generations have passed that calling those who were born there - including me - as also invaders seems disingenuous. Plant is the only home planet I've ever known, even if it was secured under morally questionable circumstances." She sighed heavily. "No offense Azoth, but you need to think seriously about more moderate solutions. All this talk of mediation and peace and building fleets sounds all well and fine but it won't pan out for you. Especially since you're an Arcosian. I don't mind but the Saiyans and even a chunk of the Tuffles will. You'd be better off having a contact of either natural species that could help you."

It seemed that Beowulf had gone and wrapped himself up in a paramilitary peace task force headed by the most unusual Arcosian she'd ever met. "...Fuckin' Hell. Listen, I know that even after all I've said you're going to go through with this vision of peace but unless - as I said - you had a solid member to assist you on the matters of it this plan won't go far. And I'm not talking just any random Saiyan or Tuffle off the street, you need someone rather important by any stretch of the imagination. A scientist, a warrior, a noble, anybody of at least slightly higher standing. And considering this is my planet you're going to be fucking around with... I guess I'm willing to volunteer on that front."