Akisai Khan -- that furry mutt of a dragon better known as Jigsaw -- sighed as she rested her human-formed head in her human-formed hands and stared at the paperwork arranged on the desk before her. It was incredible -- incredibly sad -- how rabid all these off-worlders seemed to get whenever they saw a newborn dragon go bondless! It was like they were all in a fight to get some new limited-edition stamp or coin or trading card the moment it came off the delivery truck. Though establishing the new rule that sponsors had to come see her had cut down the insanity so that it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before Siche Four had had her, well, breakdown, there was still plenty room for improvement! Did no one care that these dragons were homeless newborn children anymore?

A monitor blinked on at her elbow, displaying the pinched face of her secretary. "Miss Khan?"

"You're supposed to call me Jigsaw," the shapeshifted dragon replied, lifting her head.

As always, the old human woman ignored her correction. "Your three o' clock appointment is here."

Jigsaw blinked, then scrambled to find her calendar amidst the clutter on her desk.

"It's the Ronijas, Miss Khan, here to inquire about a sponsorship."

"Oh, right! Send them in, then!" she exclaimed, gathering her desktop mess into her arms.

When the Ronijas entered her office a few moments later, Jigsaw's desk was clear but for a single report, though a file cabinet behind her was bulging ominously. "Hi!" she chirped, as the three little aliens bobbed into the room on their overlong, birdlike legs. "How can I help you?"

The trio were all sotiel, those partially insectoid, partially lizardlike aliens that were one of the many kinds that inhabited Star City en masse. The largest of the trio barely topped three-and-a-half feet, while the smallest didn't even reach two-and-a-half feet, and had golden cyborware plating making up a good portion of his body, albeit in such a haphazard manner that suggested it had been installed to repair some kind of horrible injury, rather than for cosmetic reasons.

The three sotiel moved into the room in a cluster, and if Jigsaw hadn't known the species as well as she did, she would have thought they were afraid of her. Instead, she knew it was simple a quirk of the species to cluster together, as they were a race with a hive-community somewhat akin to that of ants and termites. The largest of the three hung behind the others, and after a moment the mid-size sotiel was somehow nudged to the fore. The creature had a ruby-red carapace and was wearing brown sleeves and pantlegs that were strapped to her limbs with little belts. A bright blue lumi-wire collar encased her neck.

::We want to register as local sponsors,:: the sotiel announced, the mental 'feel' of its mindvoice identifying it as a female, though there was no false sound to the voice as some mindspeakers had.

"And you have no idea how nice it is to have locals come in for once, rather than all those rabid off-worlders!" Jigsaw grinned, examining her papers on the three siblings. "Er... which one of you is which?"

::I'm Nazeki,:: answered the first.

::I am Rodato,:: answered the one who was half gold with cyborware, its mental presence quiet, but solid, and masculine.

::And our neuter-sib is Jasri,:: Nazeki concluded, and the magenta-ish sotiel lurking behind them bobbed its head shyly.

::...hi,:: it whispered. ::You... you're really a... dragon, right?::

"That's right, I'm the mutt of all mutts," Jigsaw snickered. "But it's a whole lot easier to fit in my office when I'm only five-seven, rather than twenty-five-seven," she grinned, giving the largest sotiel a wink.

::Ah,:: Jasri murmured, though its posture was immediately more relaxed. Jigsaw wondered why. Nervous at finding a human where a dragon had been expected? Most people were more comfortable around her human shape!

Jigsaw didn't dwell on the curiosity for long. "So, you want to sponsor. First question, of course, is why?"

::We decided we're too small to bond,:: Nazeki answered, lazily waving her long tail. She was apparently the spokesperson of this little group. ::Sure, some smaller dragons have been coming in since the station opened up again, but for the most part dragons are just too big for one little sotiel to take care of. But the three of us have always wanted a dragon or two around... so we figured we could band together and sponsor! Our whole community will be in on it, really, but we'll be the... leaders, of sorts. A bunch of sotiel can take care of a dragon when one alone couldn't!::

Jigsaw smiled. Their logic was sound. "Where will you house any dragons you are permitted to sponsor?"

::With the community, of course. Do you know how sotiel communities work?::

The human-formed dragon laughed. "Enough to know your little 'hives' will buy out entire apartment complexes and completely renovate the insides. You're almost as bad as those xenos and their resin when it comes to that!"

::But we're far nicer than xenos,:: Nazeki grinned, while Rodato smirked and Jasri's eyes creased with silent laughter. ::But yeah, that's right. And if you know that, you probably know we usually go after the complexes with dragon-sized additions, since the size of those rooms means fewer walls to tear down, and if you know that, then you know we have room enough for dragons!::

"Guess you've got me there!" Jigsaw laughed, flipping through the papers before her. "Well, I see here you already submitted all the forms and gave us all the signatures we needed from you, so you know this interview is really just a formality. And really, it's great to have some locals come in knowing what they're doing, for once! With all those off-worlders coming in last minute and trying to get dragons just by drawing straws or whatever... no wonder Minister Four handed the job over to me!"

Jigsaw pulled out her list of all the folks and off-world dragonries that had current requests for sponsors, and frowned at seeing the Ronijas' names all the way at the bottom. With how few sponsorships went out per clutch, if any, it would be years before a dragon came their way, at this rate!

So, with a devilish little smirk, Jigsaw tapped the control panel on her desk, calling up her holographic computer screen, and did some quick rearranging of the glowing files.

"Alright!" she crowed when she was done. "I have you three slotted as permissible sponsors for the duowing Kaliinse's clutch, and her eggs are expected to start hatching any day now. Make sure you're there the instant you hear the call go out on the overheads!"

The sotiel all blinked with mixed levels of surprise, then grinned broadly or smiled quietly as suited their personalities. ::You got it!:: Nazeki promised.