Close to the Stars

Ladies and gentlemen! Our audience in the Human Sphere! Welcome to Close to the Stars, your VissioRama where you can learn everything about Aristeia! Our esteemed host tonight is Vince McMahogany!

Vince McMahogany:. Greetings everyone! Tonight’s program is loaded with exciting news… or perhaps not, because tonight we are doing a Close to the Stars Vintage Edition!

(Applauses)

Who isn’t interested in learning the way 20th and 21st people lived on Earth? It was a world where sociological and technological advances allowed humanity look to the stars and beyond! It was the beginning of humanity’s expansion into the known universe.

Exposition aside, Let’s introduce our panel - Lydia Vásquez, Final Boss and Rhod Bozzo.

Hi, Rhod. What would you like to talk about today?

Rhod Bozzo: (Even if you read this at the fastest possible speed, you would never be able to match Rhod’s staccato cadence) Goooooodevening, Vince! You look as handsome as ever tonight. I’d like to talk about our favourite Aristos aaand (takes a deep breath) their lives throughout the ages. What a better way to begin this segment than to talk about music! The 20th and 21st centuries saw the birth of genres such as Rock, Techno, Reggaeton, Hip-Hop… styles that have changed little oooor (takes yet another breath) not at all in the past hundred years!

Vince MCMahogany: As always, Rhod, your passion never ceases to surprise us – who is going to be our first victim?

Rhod Bozzo: … It has to be that Nomad Witch that captivates her followers and generates nothing but ire for her detractors – hEXx3r!

Everyone knows her taste for the classics, but we have recently seen her in the Tunguska Staple Center, a great enclosure located on the Tunguska Mothership. It recreates an old stadium on Earth! It’s here that they have Aristeia! matches aaand (pauses while he takes a deep breath) concerts! Last week there was a tribute band playing songs from the Rage Against the Machine – a group of late 20th century musicians led by Zach de la Rocha that sported a very anarchistic and anti-establishment message for their listeners – everything every Nomad can appreciate! This band made music like this – roll the music!

Final Boss: That sounds like an angry nomad, alright! (laughter) We hope that all that anger will be useful this season, since we are expecting a huge upset from The Nordic Giant.

Vince MCMahogany: I can only assume that you’re referring to Valkyrie – the newest addition to this season’s roster.

Final Boss: I’ve seen videos of her in the lower leagues, and I have to say – she’s a mountain of ice! She is, if I can be frank, absolutely amazing. She’s capable of freezing an entire team around her, and she demonstrates a steely determination that makes her as immovable as Mjölnir – the Norse god Thor’s legendary hammer!

Rhod Bozzo: Oh yeah – she is very classical! She seems to have come directly from a Wagner opera! This will be a duel where the veteran in the battle has a lot to lose. Now, let’s move forward on to the section where we talk about that two ton teddy bear that all the girls want to hug!

Vince MCMahogany: All girls… and boys!

Rhod Bozzo: Right on, Vince! 8-Ball is one of the most charismatic and loveable party animal aristos in the Star System! We had access to his music library, and we found a lot of energetic songs in there. As a great Kahuna surfer, his playlists has songs in it from The Beach Boys, and punk-rock themes like Surfin’ Bird from the Ramones – but this is nothing compared to the discovery we made.

Vince MCMahogany: Come on, Rhod – don’t keep us in suspense!

Rhod Bozzo: Everyone knows about his reputation as a Don Juan, but no one knows of any long-term partner. Among his conquests we’ve found actresses, singers, and once he was even associated with some Tohaa diplomat! To our surprise, using analytical data from his playlists, we found a song that he always listens to on the same day – January 28th. Let’s hear it!

Rhod Bozzo: An old Elton John song.

Vince MCMahogany: Rhod, as always, you exceed my expectations. This is a whole new piece of the puzzle! Who do you think is responsible for these old scars?

Lydia Vásquez: Now that you mention it, using the same analytical software and checking over my database… at the end of January, the number of Frags rise from an average of 1.6 to 3.2! It must be something that pisses our fluffy giant right off!!

Final Boss: Yeah!

Rhod Bozzo: Well, there is nothing that we can prove definitively, but we have our suspicions on what could be the source of this blood-thirsty behaviour – but we will have to leave that to another episode of… Close to the Stars!!

To be continued…