Each team was handed a design that would fit onto Queen Olympia’s lithe arms and were told to replicate it perfectly on their chosen canvas. If no team meets her standards, nobody would win.

The Interstellar Tattoo Union may have picked me, with my arms roughly seven times thicker than Queen Olympia’s, but they’re gladly taking it as an extra challenge. They have to adapt the design to my size and the curvature of my muscles.

But the cirathan-led Body Art Practitioners brought an arcadian girl who professionally impersonates the queen for events and plays. The girl even wore the same dress as her queen and nearly fainted when Queen Olympia said she was easily the best canvas.

That didn’t bode well for the rest of us.

The ITU team involved six people, and another dozen artists who helped plan. The first was a line artist who used black ink to get the shapes on my left, then right arm. The colorist came in afterwards, filling the empty space. Then there was the backup artist who gave the final touchups. Each had their own assistant.

Since the ITU invented these competitions, the other conglomerates used some variation of their process.

After half a day, we canvases lined up on stage and posed for Queen Olympia’s inspection.

I flexed as she approached as she smiled, “you’re that reporter. I’m not sure if I should reward your glowing praise or pick someone else and read how you’ll complain.”

She had sharps remarks for all contestants, though her doppelganger received nothing but compliments.

Queen Olympia made a show of asking the audience their opinions, but clearly steered them to pick BAP.

It’s surely a coincidence that Queen Olympia picked the cirathan-run conglomerate while Arcadia is negotiating a trade deal with the Pel League.