Akemi returned from the race riding her bird at a leisurely pace. Kuroma was still far from being obedient but was willing to cooperate enough if the objective was to return to their own stables.

Here Akemi left the complex task of actually unsaddle and brush them to a local servant while she herself did little more than offering to the animal a few sweets to peck out of her (armored) hand.

Where now the bird and the rider?
Where now the heavy rains pouring?
Where is the stalk and the fungus?
And the race flop souring?

They have passed like sake in Crab den
Like good vibes in the dance club
The day has gone down past the race
Into Shiro Yoake miai hubbub!

And the rider was passing on his otori through the farmlands, just like Akemi, singing something similar to the above, just more metal.

Akemi turned her head at the racket:

"Oh hello Moto-sama. Sounds like the bad weather did not manage to make you hoarse or damage your morale. How does the day find you outside of that watery surprise?"

"It's all good! I am going to go with a stereotype you won't find an unhappy Unicorn as long as there's something to ride on." He patted the neck of his diminished cousin of some late local dinosaurs. "How about you? Still drying up, I get?"

"I'm Crab, not sugar, so I'll make do. Hida Akemi by the way."

She bowed.

"It's nice of the Phoenix to have offered us a waterproof coat after the race though.

Guess I'll also have to invest in a gas mask of my own soon soon, as this planet seems really keen on poisoning us.

What do you think of this place yourself actually? I had expected it to be wild, but not that wild."

"Moto Ruhe!" He said, having stretched his arms to let the obtained cloak flutter like some superhero cape, then laughed. "I haven't seen a lot, but it looks pretty metal to me. I don't mind that it's not boring. Too much safety and people start inventing dangers of their own. Besides, if it's a planet that kills you, you've at least gone down against a worthy foe."

"You're hopelessly optimistic Moto-sama and that, that's indeed metal as heck.

From my understanding, your contagious good mood has even infected our usually deadpan Phoenix hosts. They seemed quite impressed by how you've defused their diplomatic challenges. Out of curiosity were those tremendous successes prepared pieces or masterful improvisations?"

"Hard question. I guess I improvised the hell out of it but it is still rooted in my metal core I don't let get lukewarm. I just asked myself: Ruhe, how to do it so that you feel you fully live, and I did just that."

"That's one impressively solid way to approach life. If I may ask... Are you from a very religious background or something? Rarely have I met people with such faith in their actions and such calm when confronted to failure."

"If you call heavy metal a religion, but otherwise not really." He shrugged, then smiled. "Life's short. What is there to lose? Make it a bit shorter? Seems like a good trade-off instead of making it a lot more boring and full of regrets, which is supposed to be a sin, right?"

He paused. "You know, my father had a band, and I remember one concert they played when I was just a kid. I watched it all from backstage. The hype was great, people were singing with them with all the voice they had. And then he asked them: 'Are you alive? How does it feel to be alive?' The kind of vitality that erupted was something indescribable, one of a kind. I like to think that that helped to get me to the mindset I now have."

"Wow. That's actually, like, super cool.

Does that mean you're also a professional musician like your father was? With a band and all?"

"Currently without a band, but otherwise - yeah. Do you like metal?"

Akemi shrugged:

"I don't dislike it but I have no particular attachment to it. I'm pretty neutral to most forms of music and art honestly. I can enjoy them but I'm not enthralled by any."

"Fair. So what gets you going?"

"Pushing my body to the limit one way or the other. I'm a warrior, a biker and a dancer. If I remember correctly, you're also the later."

"I'm all of those things too, one more than the other though."

"Oh, nice. And which one got your preference then?"

"I'm a Unicorn, it's an easy guess." He grinned.

"Hey, our clan does not define us."

She smiled.

"But rider then I guess? Do you like better flesh mounts..."

She petted her otori.

"Or mechanical ones?"

She waved her hand in the direction of the parking lot where her own motorbike was awaiting her.

He looked in that direction, the produced his fiddle. "Let me reply to you with a song." And started shooting out words in sync with fast and aggressive music.

"Give me fuel, give me fire
Give me that which I desire, ooh!

Yeah
Turn on, I see red
Adrenaline crash and crack my head
Nitro junkie, paint me dead
And I see red
A hundred plus through black and white
War horse, warhead
Fuck 'em man, white-knuckle tight
Through black and white

Ooh, on I burn
Fuel is pumping engines
Burning hard, loose and clean
And I burn, churning my direction
Quench my thirst with gasoline
So give me fuel, give me fire
Give me that which I desire
Hey!

Turn on beyond the bone
Swallow future, spit out home
Burn your face upon the chrome
Yeah!
Take the corner, join the crash
Headlights, headlines
Another Junkie lives too fast
Yeah lives way too fast, fast, fast, ooh

Ooh, on I burn
Fuel is pumping engines
Burning hard, loose and clean
And I burn, churning my direction
Quench my thirst with gasoline
So give me fuel, give me fire
Give me that which I desire, ooh, yeah-heh
White knuckle tight!

Ooh, on I burn
Fuel is pumping engines
Burning hard, loose and clean
And I burn, churning my direction
Quench my thirst with gasoline
So give me fuel, give me fire
Give me that which I desire
On I burn!"