Ashen Empire Tournament Main thread

The disease had passed, finally, leaving the Armada wrung out and exhausted but alive. Now more than ever they needed to show a strong front to enemies and allies alike so that no one would be able to take advantage of any momentary weakness as they recovered. The opportunity to show their continued strength to their nominal allies - the "Empire" that they'd always been involved with but somehow still apart from her whole life, an Empire that would undoubtedly use any weakness to take advantage of the Armada and see them as inferior - came when Habari called for a tournament once the sun had returned and burned away the sickness. Aris had never really had anything to do with Habari... they were just kind of there. But she wasn't going to pass up a chance at a tournament, and she was determined to put in a good showing for Armada. She'd been so close last tournament but had failed in the melee final. Today she'd not be so much as sniffing at alcohol - she was on a mission. Striding up through the crowd she saw the girl who was apparently playing host, and she snorted out loud at her fancy getup as she slipped into place beside Gossamer. "That looks absolutely ridiculous," she sneered to Goss in a low voice, nodding sharply at the girl-hostess. "She looks like she fell headfirst into a net and decided to keep it. Are all the rest of the Empire so... so..." She wrinkled her nose, trying to think of a word that encompassed what she was thinking. "Prissy?"