Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off

[winner3]

It was a good thing that none of the SWAT Cats hated doing cardio. Keeping up with strength and fitness training always paid its dividends in the ring, but it also came in handy for carrying royalty through the halls of this naval vessel quickly and quietly. Of course, it helped to have a delicate, yet firm and secure touch. Tracy blushed slightly as she felt Shimmer's light, lithe, and enchanting form pressed against her own as they braved the corridors of the ship together. Carrying Shimmer bridal style like this would have resulted in an interesting line of questioning if anyone spotted them.

"You know, I think of you as tiny, but in a precious sort of way, Shi-er, I mean, my fair lady." Canon commented with a wink and a whisper

Thankfully, with an expression of focus and light blushing on her face, The Circus Cat got them almost all the way there! They made a pitstop at what seemed to be some sort of supply closet or broom closet. And with that, there was finally some sort of reprieve for them.

"We can nap and snuggle together after we get you somewhere....more fit for royalty to sleep." Tracy would hit a finger gun gesture. The cherry redhead was great at lightening the mood, but no amount of antics or personality could hide the fact that the borrowed clothes fell on Shimmer's body more like robes than like proper loungewear. It was more than apparent when she put on the tank top. But the finagling the pinkette did with the sweatpants and the quick step into the sandals earned her more praise from the maskless luchadora.

"Ohhhh!" Tracy quickly drew and squiggled onto what appeared to be a large piece of paper. She held it up above her head to reveal some text.

"10 outta 10!" She recorded what she read aloud and with much enthusiasm!

"It looks to me like this closet was supposed to have a few different users. On top of the cleaning supplies, there's markers, posters, and other stuff. I'm guessing it's storage for stuff to promote and set up the matches that haven't happened yet." She said, casually tossing the marker and paper aside. The paper fell face-side up revealing a poster for the tag team of Harmonia Edelstein and Molly Forster, The Superstars.

"But I gotta get back on task! Step two! What are we doing? What are we doing? I've totally got this all planned out. I've got this." Tracy thought out loud, trying to convince herself more than anyone else. She caught herself when she realized that whisking someone away from their prison and giving the impression of not having a solid plan ironed out probably wasn't the best way to instill confidence.

"Okay, okay. This probably looks fishy to you, but I swear I'm on the up and up. I promised that I would come clean with you and I will. Right now. We're gonna figure out step two together. But first...." She paused to take a quick peek out of the closet to make sure there were no random passerbys or eavesdroppers.

"I oughta tell you who I am. I'm moonlighting as a knight and I will forever be your Dame Sunflower. But you probably guessed that those aren't my clothes you're wearing. And that I'm not working alone." Canon fished her phone out of her dress. Thank goodness it had pockets, small as they may be.

Tracy would pull up an image of a group shot of none other than LAW's world tag team champions, The SWAT Cats! She slowly handed Shimmer the phone. And if the damsel no longer in distress accepted it, Tracy would take a step back and hit one of her signature poses! With her back to Shimmerlace, her bicep flexed, and her head turned toward the Young Lioness, Tracy would smile widely at her and strongly hint at her true identity. She expected Shimmer to piece the rest together quite quickly. And from that point, figuring out step two together with hopefully no trust issues would flow naturally.

[Malkavia]

Dame Sunflower’s air of conspiratorial secrecy was an infectious kind of game. Shimmerlace wondered if there was or ever would be any low bastards on the hunt for her. She liked to think so; the idea of her emptied cage going unnoticed struck her with a note of melancholy.

But—back to the less-than-wee sunflower, who gushed along with unplanned vow to planning, nervous enough to pop. The Feychild watched on, amused, less waiting for the point to arrive and more enjoying the sloshy and nervous voyage there. The recently knighted flower did imply something about the tiny-ness of the Maitre’s stature, but—a grain of irritation does not a cutie-sandwich ruin, and Shimmer was in fact feeling on the tinier side, so she found it within herself to ignore this point.

Little did Shimmerlace know that all this was but the sleight of hand, the pizzazz and sparkle-pops to get her eyes peering the wrong way so a great fist of a magic trick could clap her unguarded jaw. Tracy Canon.

Realizing precisely the import of her rescuer’s photograph and pose took negative time. Shimmerlace barely glanced at the photograph and she felt the truth of it, an idea that popped into the back of her mind like it had always lived there. Processing this reality, though—that was the time sink.

Charlotte licked her lips, tongue and face suddenly quite dry. What felt like her skin tightening was actually her blood pressure spiking, and her face turned red and hot as she struggled to find something clever to say. She stood completely frozen.

There was, of course, many a talent that, even if they hadn’t been the reason Shimmerlace had joined LAW, meeting them was definitely frosting on the cake. She had intricate, pink-frosting plans on how she’d corner Gil “Arma-Gil-O” for a tea party, and a sophisticated internet-based trap (complete with email-borne malware) in mind for hob-nobbing with the likes of Shiori Takeda. But Tracy was…not that type of person. Not someone you meet. You might as well think over how you’ll shake hands with Zeus.

Which isn’t such an odd idea, dearie, when you remember the fey glitter spinning starlit weave in your hair. Shimmerlace caught her breath and found her footing on the cruiseliner floor. She lowered the phone and smiled up at Tracy. ”The circus kitten herself, then. Wellll. Knock me down, stuff me in a pipe, and call me Mario, ‘cause I’m starstruck.” Shimmerlace took in a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose. So Tracy Canon had heard tell of the match, had she? If there was a sweeter punch to the gut, Shimmer had yet to take it. Her jaw was tight in spite of her smile, and her words came out guarded. She handed the phone back to the Cat. ”Pleasure meeting ya.”

That sounds rude. You’re being much too short with her.

”Eh. I dig your um. The flippity whirligig sky-painting shit you do.” Shimmerlace traced the arc of flying circus cat mid-flight with her finger to illustrate precisely what she meant by sky-painting shit. “It’s uh. Well, I mean, what I’m saying is—it’s fuckin’ great, right? Kinda trapeze-artistry I—I mean. Fuckin’...” Her blush deepened and her eyes cut to the side.“...fuck. You’re lighter ‘n air and brighter than the god damn sun is what I’m tryin’ say, right?”

[winner3]

Whisking the precious Feychild away to safety and comfort, away from the powers that be that would subject her to this over the outcome of a match she fought her heart out in - changing her fate here would surely leave some wondering where she might have gone, or who might have sprung her from her most unflattering and unideal confinement. After all, no Shimmer fan could possibly stomach the idea of her cruise experience being contained to a cell over the outcome of a match. Her Corterie knew Shimmerlace deserved better! And so did The SWAT Cats!

"It's-a-meeee!" The redhead made a couple of silly faces as she drank in Charlotte's reaction. The Circus Cat did love to tease, after all. And the Mario reference was an easy layup.

Tracy finished her shenanigans by interlocking her fingers and resting her chin on the bridge they formed. She was getting a kick out of all this, out of Shimmer's subtle tells conveying her surprise. It's no wonder she volunteered for the job!

Now that they were away from the dingy lower decks of the vessel, away from the staff and the ship crew, formal introductions could be made. Of course, in the world of Shimmer and Tracy, "formal introductions" meant barrelling through some of the sweetest and most honest, unfiltered thoughts Tracy had heard throughout this entire cruise. It didn't matter to her that Shim's words and thoughts weren't necessarily fully formed. In fact, the sentiments hit deeper the way Charlotte put them.

"Heh!" Tracy giggled to herself after hearing Shimmer's words. The grin on her face practically stretched from ear to ear. She slowly reached for Shimmer's hands, taking hold of them both before putting them together.

"Hey, that makes two of us, right? You definitely brightened up my day just now! And you'd probably have a knack for the trapeze stuff. It took me a loooong time to figure out how to fly with everything I got going on." Tracy ran her fingertips down the side of her dress, tracing out the image of her curvy profile.

"Are you sure you're not in the lightweight division? You should share some of your dieting tips, girl, hahaha!" Canon laughed off the silly banter and small talk. This conversation was a breath of fresh air amidst the hustle and bustle that was the day-to-day life on this cruise. No autographs, no interviews, no speculation about matches and title defenses, she was happy to just be shooting the breeze with a friend.
Canon was happy to help make someone's day just by chatting with them.

"Ohhh, speaking of dieting! The food you can order with room service is Mmmmm! I don't know what those chefs or butlers are putting in the tiramisu, but I've cut flips for wayyy worse, lemme tell ya." Now that there was no immediate concern or danger around them, Tracy grew more relaxed. Her eyes were less peeled, her muscles less tensed. She extended a hand to the damsel no longer in distress, not that Shimmer had ever panicked about being stowed away in the recesses of the ship.

"You could come share some with us. With me and with Aurora and Kat. We saw you fight with everything you had out there. We....didn't think it was cool to see someone try so hard only to not get to have fun in this boat, you know?"

At that moment, Tracy's phone went off. She raised her eyebrow and promptly opened the notification, only to see it wasn't even half as urgent as she was expecting. Canon chuckled to herself and scooched closer to Shim to show her her phone's screen. It was a pair of texts from Kat.

"I only just realized I grabbed the first set of clothes I could find. Tell Shimmer I'm sorry about the sizing! Especially on the pants! I'll make it up to her!"

"You guys gonna be there soon? I figured I'd get some snacks and stuff for you both on my way back. Do you know what she likes? Do you want anything, Trace?"

"The sweats are fiiiiine, I hope?" Tracy said aloud with a tentative tone in her voice.

"You know, I look up to her a lot, still. I might not have painted half as many skies if it weren't for her...."

"Ah, I'm getting distracted. You want anything? Should only take us like five minutes to get to our cabin if we use the elevator. I don't know what they were feeding you down there, but I'm sure whatever they have at the food court or the stores is an upgrade."