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RP Concluded [Prelude/Episode 0] - Natsukashii

Yaichiro smiled widely, returning the embrace of his daughter in one arm. His other arm cradled behind her head while his right hand engaged in a headpat, something the girl had gotten quite used to during her time as a youngling. Perhaps he'd overcompensated for not being told Kaoru was his child, and thus not being there for her youth, by spoiling Kazumi a bit too much during her development? She had been the first child he had the opportunity to help 'raise', after all. He couldn't find fault with the results though. "Hello, Kazumi! I'm happy to see you too. Are you doing well? Given that you're one of the few who isn't absolutely soaked right off the bat, I'm guessing that you've been behaving yourself~" This was as much a tease to the other soaked people as anything else, though Yaichiro did have an impression that Kazumi was a very good girl. Or at least made sure he never saw her misbehaving.

His thoughts shifted a bit when Katsuko mentioned Akina. Oh, he expected her to return at some point. It was he who had protected her ST Backup hidden in that stuffed animal. Still, it was different to hear that she was present and that Katsuko intended to have...a four-way relationship? He kept headpatting Kazumi, not wanting her to think that anything was wrong. Was anything wrong? Not at this point. It meant forging a new relationship and balancing it alongside his relationship with Katsuko and his favorable—but currently less-developed—one with Eri. The concern was that Katsuko had a habit of expecting her significant others to just click with each other as well as they did with her, but Yaichiro of all people knew that such things weren't always so easy. Two people in single group had one relationship between them. Three people had three relationships. Four people had six. Katsuko's harem management difficulty had just doubled. What Yaichiro suddenly felt was the added pressure to make this work.

It took less than a second for him to respond, though it was clear that the news of Akina joining them had dominated his thoughts so much that the innuendo went largely unaddressed. "It will be interesting to talk with her and see how she feels about everything. Just my being here might require some adjustment on her part. Has she met Eri yet, or will this be the first time?" The response was kind and empathetic, but also he also carried a worry about if pounding the woman silly was a good way to introduce her to the group. Then again, she was an old-school Neko. It might well be just the ice-breaker she needed. He wouldn't know until he met her.

As far as Stiener went, he didn't want to interrupt the cyborg's new line of conversation at the moment. He could always ask later about scans or have a conversation of sorts.
 
"Exile?" Kuroko shook her head at Steiner, still smirking a little from Katsuko's gentle admonishment about her politically-daring introduction, "Branch family. In Yamataigo the no particle is like the apostrophe-s in Trade! We're the Motoyoshi of Ketsurui. Well, Katsu-mama and my sisters. We only keep the no part when it's..." She looked back once more at Katsuko, smiling, "for particularly formal situations. Usually it's just hyphenated, and even then, we don't usually use the Ketsurui part in day-to-day life out of respect to the Empress Emerita..." Kuroko looked very self-satisfied at her textbook answer, flaunting her memorized-mastery of the Clan Traditions as a way to laugh about them and look justifiably smug about it. The girl, barely any longer a girl and quite nearly but not quite a grown woman, was testing her boundaries with Katsuko in front of her new-old stepmother Akina. It was such a Katsuko thing to do.

Kuroko's side-eye caught that new-old stepmother and her cousin Yue and the corner of her eye just barely twitched. The actual adults were having their fun while she and generational clan-mate were still waiting their turn for admittance into the club, at the front of the line but still outside the door.
 
The Dream of Taiie
Galleon-Style Sailing Vessel
Jiyuu-jo Dock, Jiyuu III

Fashionably late, or just late... Who knew truthfully, but one of the last guests to the boat to arrive was none other than Motoyoshi Eri. The newly reinstated Shosho in the army had decided to show up in something simple and easy. A deep purple long sleeve shirt, though the material thin and light, was tucked into a black skirt that brushed her uncovered thighs just a little above her knees. As she exited the car she had arrived in and made her way across the dock to the ship, it was a simple matter for the woman to step off the edge of the walkway and onto thin air, quiet as a mouse, to eventually settle onto the deck of the yacht with barely a whisper. Long green hair was swept by a small gust off the water, making her catch it in her fingers to keep it from her blue eyes and from getting into her mouth. Arms crossed under her chest, she scanned the deck and those assembled, quietly watching for the moment.

She had just gotten used to the civilian clothing, the civilian life away from the military when her lover and wife had decided to run back headlong into service to the empire. Ever one to follow her, Eri hadn't contemplated long on her renlistment. One nice thing about her kind, they never aged, so they could leave and enter the service at will as simple as a thought. And who would turn away a Motoyoshi as accomplished as one of them? She was sure the empire was glad that they were back and taking the helm of a fleet yet again. All the same, Eri did feel a small pang for the loss of her retirement, but such was life it seemed...
 
She’d always wanted an interesting life, but for the last four years, Fuyuko’s “interesting” life was simply being a cog in the complex machine that was carrier ops. Now she was being ordered to report to temporary quarters at Jiyuu-jo, the Motoyoshi Castle. A maid had taken her duffle to her quarters. A maid. The temporary quarters were larger than any officer’s quarters she’d ever lived in. She even had her own bathroom, which she proceeded to use to shower and change into a fresh uniform. She would have loved to explore, but she had orders… to report to her fleet commander. A full fucking Taisho, and a former Empress. She had to report to the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet commander on her private galleon. Wearing only a stripe and a half on sleeves, Fuyuko wondered if she’d feel as naked if she’d reported to the Taisho straight out of the shower.

After a mirror pep talk, Fuyuko was finally ready to head down. Erring on the side of formality, she presented herself to a guard standing at the bottom of the gangplank and requested permission to board. Once onboard the galleon, she took stock of the various members of the Motoyoshi Clan and their friends and allies. She’d find a moment to report to the Taisho then firmly ensconce herself at the bar. Fuyuko fought to keep a nervous grin off of her face. She was surrounded by powerful women and men planning on how to carve up the worlds beyond the Kikyo sector as their own. Edging closer, the junior officer waited for a lull in the conversation.
 
Balls, there was a certain admiration with men that still had them. 'Lady' cheeky shit. The rest didn't require her direct answer, Steiner knew that if he needed something she would certainly work to appeal to those sensibilities. It truly was a shame that certain components of existing powers found her unhelpful in a seat that she clearly had the connections for, and could undoubtedly change the landscape when it came to the diplomatic end of things, then again such goals were impossible to achieve while babysitting a bunch of ill inspired paper pushers and the next traitor to the Empire's multicolored techno-shit-show. "If there is something you need to ask of me, on a purely corporate and civilian level later, my ears are open," she said, then let the man give his attention to Yaichiro and Kuroko.

It didn't take much to observe that ever-ticking mind of Yaichiros. Surely he was busy analyzing the situation, he undoubtedly was going to overthink it - he always seemed to, then again most men would until the offering was on the table. It was feast or feast with her now, never feminine - because led to unhealthy thinking and she had to escape that, she was riled and hungry for revenge. "They've yet to meet, well in this capacity anyway. Never a dull moment my love, we have to keep it interesting," she said in an encouraging tone to him. Her words certainly led to the inspiration for more private events to come, for now, though they all had to be happy above deck - the many had just begun to arrive.

She heard Kuroko's little soapbox speech, certainly, she had a loose tongue on her - she didn't know whether she should scorn or merely accept the entertainment. Fire and brimstone were laced in the youngster's words, thankfully Eidan was more like Yaichiro in that he was analytical about the way he laid it on thick. "I think you earned yourself a more adult drink tonight, Kuroko. Never too early to just get a taste of the nectars you will enjoy later," her words were laced with metaphor and yet simply upfront at the same time, //"Kuroko and Eidan can have a glass of wine each, they're within the care of the family after all,"// she sent to Yue. Hopefully, she and Akina would be above deck soon, she needed another drink and another kiss.

The kiss however may have found a new footman, she caught sight of Eri and curled a finger in a come-hither manner, "You finally made it," she said with a smile, "I was wondering if personnel had got it wrong and assigned to another fleet," she joked.

The Taisho was highly observant, even in the social fluster that had become the deck of her boat she spotted the newly arrived officer. It took minutes to move through PANTHEON's records, matching face to assignment, //"Welcome aboard, you might find this deck will need more than a boss in a few hours,"// she surprisingly gave the Chui a private telepathic address, and a little humor to go with it. //"A little work, a little bit of a social gathering. I know you're probably shocked you just got assigned to a fleet and now you're staying in a castle and about to set foot on a luxury boat, try to enjoy it. It might be a long time before you get a break again, we're going to be venturing far from home. I'm glad you're here, a pleasure to meet you Matsumoto-Chui, come get a drink. I might bother you about some craft inventories later,"// she said, she wanted the Chui to feel less awkward and welcome to the occasion. A little of those old ways of the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet shone though, everyone had a seat at that table.

Katsuko took a few moments to send the rough fleet plan and ordered ships list to Yaichiro and Eri. She took special time to note, sending to Yaichiro the schematics for one of Port Jiyuu's unclaimed Orange Bays that she had reserved for his tinkering.
 
"I see..." He still didn't quite understand what the girl was on about, but every culture had its quirks in naming-though the name Ketsurui sounded familiar he couldn't quite place it. Katsuko at least was willing to lend aid-perhaps he could possibly get her to send a few ship crews to help fill out the roster. But a conversation for another time.

Looking at the man who's asked him about his mech, the Grandmaster decided to pursue a conversation more in line with his previous profession. "So, are you a technician?" He inquired, his optics zeroing in on him, "Or an engineer perhaps?" It'd be nice to talk shop with someone, if only to distract from how out of place he felt at the moment. To the new arrivals he paid no mind-there'd be plenty of time later for him to get acquainted.

That and he was itching to test out the torpedo launcher design they'd been developing alongside the mobility units.
 
Before Yaichiro could verbally respond to Katsuko's flirting, the conversation had moved on and he eventually took note of the data sent to him. It was impressive that he was being given that much construction volume to work with. //"I'll do what I can to make them feel welcome, within the bounds of their comfort, maybe see about some high-protein snacks just in case~ As for the data...thanks for all of that space. It's an excellent possibility for research. Feel free to mark it for other things if I don't happen to use it in its entirety. As for the arrangement... The lack of a Plumeria variant feels very odd. I've never felt that the Fujis were truly maneuverable enough to be the Plumeria's successor in the sort of engagements the Sakura and Plumeria participated in, but the Azusa will help fill that role. Though...could we grab up old Irims if no one else wants them? I've felt an interest in tinkering with the design."//

He blinked briefly at the question of the armored man before realizing. "Ah, I never introduced myself. I'm Kage Yaichiro, with Yaichiro being the given name. I'm an officer and engineer responsible for a number of civilian and military designs from Ketsurui Fleet Yards and Yugumo Corporation. My relation to Katsuko has been made fairly obvious by her words, as well as by the presence of our daughter Kazumi here. I was a soldier before any of that though, so I never fully assimilated to parties or the fancy life." Yaichiro somewhat downplayed the scope of his role, both out of habit and out of a desire not to be interpreted as a braggart. This person seemed to be having enough trouble fitting in right now, and not merely because of their body. It felt nice to meet another tech-inclined person and it wouldn't do to scare them away. "Your machine somewhat reminds me of my CAMIE M11 construction mecha in scale, if not function, even though there are obvious differences. I'm still trying to decide if omitting a head to limit damage from falling debris was a good idea in that niche...I wanted to make a five-meter combat mecha, but the Army wasn't interested in that niche at the time."
 
Fuyuko found herself wondering if older Nekos had some kind of passive thought detector. No, it was just obvious, not many junior officers would get to be in this position without serving as somebody’s aid. She could simply participate in the event.

//Thank you, ma’am. Matsumoto Fuyuko Chui, reporting as ordered.// She tried to send the impression of crisp salute, realized it was probably incomprehensible, and simply snapped one off. Pale cheeks turning red, Fuyuko hurried off towards the bar.

The drink she ordered was light and fizzy with hints of botanicals and floral notes playing off of fresh fruit. In short, it was refreshing and sippable. Something she could nurse while working out a plan. She set to watching the guests and their interactions. Watching the various officers and dignitaries interact, she realized it was a lot like observing a deck crew in action. It might not be easy for an untrained observer to differentiate between an ordinance handler and a maintainer, but after a while when you saw a woman do the same task on three different fighters, you’d figure it out. She and pretty much everybody around her would be passing reports to and getting orders from the local deck boss. Motoyoshi Taisho was the deck boss, obviously, but what roles did the others play?

More importantly: what role did Fuyuko want to play? A few different instincts warred within her. On one hand, patronage from a fleet officer or two would fast track her career. She was already in an excellent position as an officer on the new 5th Expeditionary flag ship. On the other hand, did she really want to climb too far? She’d miss the hustle and bustle of the flight deck. It’d probably be better for her hearing in the long run, but she would miss catapulting thousands of KS worth of Star Army equipment and personnel out into the void on the regular. Takumi hangars really needed catapults. The idea of one day overseeing the aerospace complement of an entire carrier was enticing, but the idea of getting tangled in fleet politics made her want to pull her ears off.

The indecision bit at her, pushing her into action. She decided she’d see an old man about a mech. That shouldn’t hurt, right? At least she'd be with her people. Sliding into the conversation as if she’d been part of it from the beginning, she said, “True, but the CAMIE is a bit of a game changer. Easy to use, versatile. The boring stuff gets the job done.”
 

Earlier - Midnight's Pad​

YTP Entertainment HQ​

Asagumo City, Port Jiyuu​


"Fuck! Shut that off!" Kaoru shouted, the momentary blip of YINN's coverage of "Random Alien Man" was quickly muted by KAIMON. Her sky-blue and pink frosted hair was splayed out around where her head leaned on the edge of the nest, "Now where were we?" she gave a playful giggle, followed by a smirk as she coiled her legs around the man's waist. How many days had to be been at Midnight's Pad? It could be measured in days, the number of rooftop private jam parties, the number of times YINN had tried to get an interview about the song, or the missed messages from her mother and aunt; all the messages were marked personal, it was not like she was "destroying her career".

Something else had been destroyed though, that ache though seemed to be unfathomable and insatiable. She squealed out in pleasure as he entered her again, "Sorin! Yes!" she called out in repeated praise. Her hips just seemed to surrender to him, legs flexing to draw him down as her fingers traced up the slender points of his ears. The morning was only missing Datenshi, perhaps she had found her own breakfast, the party the night before had been something else.

Later - Jiyuu-jo​

Dream of Taiie's Dock​


Kaoru had not been around much since the YSS Mazu had returned from its mission. The man they had picked up in the escape pod, and the unlocking of the mysterious AI in the Yuuki System had all been keeping things interesting, mainly the man anyway. The pop star wore a black bikini, and stood on the dock leaning against the chiseled chest of her guest as she gave smokey glances towards those gathered on the boat, "Outo-chan," she said as she gave a smile to her father, Yaichiro. She was happy to see her Daddy there, but she still had a pit in her stomach about meeting her new CO and returned stepmother though, hopefully, it was not yet another person who would try to talk her out of the fact she didn't want to spend her entire life in the military.

She gave a little bit of a sideways glance at Matsumoto-Chui, then put on a smile and gave a slight wave. It was a bit of a shame that the little party her mother had going was likely going to lead to a blowout between them. Between the fact she had made her Oba-Sui even more so than she already was, and the little five-year plan she had for being out of the Star Army within two so she could focus on her booming businesses. She looked around for 'Azure', better known as Yue to the family, she envied that pretty blue girl, never having been pushed into following the family tradition.

"Come on, hanaii, time to meet the family," she said to a silent date who was simply decked out in a pair of red and black swim trunks and a pair of shades that were needed with the state of the declining sun. He was rather taller than her, muscled and handsome in a foreign type of way. Strange bioluminescent tattoos covered his chest, some type of glyph language dominated it and he had a single cage-like earring that danged from one of his slender pointed ears. It appeared the side references made in Katsuko and Steiner's conversations now had an even more impactful place. "Mother, I missed you..." Kaoru said to Katsuko, unsure of how she was going to respond to her after their angry discussion earlier.
 
"I am Albert Steiner, Fieldsmith, Sentinel and current Grandmaster of the Iron Company," The mechanoid gave a slight bow as best as the ballast tanks would allow him, listing his own title and rank, "I can sympathize with your feelings, having never developed much of a taste myself for such things, though compared to some of the excesses I have seen of noble houses this is actually quite the pleasant outing." And far, far more tame-though the less said on that matter, the better.

Some depths were never meant to be explored, nor experienced.

Doing his best to suppress a shudder and not quite succeeding as his walked only slightly disturbed the water and decided that the conversation would be best steered into less disturbing waters. "And on that note, whilst I do not know what this...CAMIE is." Stiener searched for his words before continuing lest his ignorance of current Kikoyan technologies get the better of him, "But if does fulfill a similar role to my own specifications, then I suspect it is at least quite useful for construction. Though in my case having a head is quite useful-allows me a greater degree of vision." And bait for fools thinking they could easily finish or blind him. Many a foe had paid the price for such attempts-he had backup cameras all across him which provided him a nasty surprise

"As for conflict, whilst I am not wholly dedicated towards or intended for it, I am more than capable of providing a beating or two when required." Stiener showed both the massive battlefists; capable of crushing man and machine alike. The Helstrom was meant to provide a vicious punch towards anything heavier than a jeep or infantry, though these days he'd often found himself carrying an autocannon rather than a plasma weapon. The Neko chiming in however got his attention. "On that we can agree-many a time some damned fool or another gets in their head that they need the most advanced and 'cutting-edge' of technology, when a simple, inexpensive machine gets the job done."

"Though, there benefits towards mounting a cockpit in a torso-lower profile," He stated, containing on the previous subject, "Can take advantage of armor and such, though space and visibility can be an issue depending on how its' built-weapons and tools can also be just as much of a hinderance as a boon." Some of those designs he'd seen-it made him want to throw things at them-and he'd done so on more than one occasion. Like that idiotic gun on legs: no, weapons, nor tools do not go there-he did not care about the context or the joke in question. Shove off, or better yet die in a fire caused by your idiotic creation, you stupid twat!

It was designs like that had a habit of making his blood boil and made him feel no small amount of satisfaction when they got destroyed-particularly when he did it himself. The sudden appearance of the newcomers however...the woman-yet another relative of Katsuko's that'd he'd have to make a note of. The man however...the man had his attention. "Hmm," Stiener's optics zeroed in, "Greetings Norian. Your kinswoman among us still yet draws breath, in spite of her best efforts to the contrary." When'd she'd first been assigned as a matter of "Cultural Enrichment" Tacho's hubris had nearly been her downfall when they'd returned to Valhalla on more than one occasion.

Flak batteries had a habit of knocking some sense into even the most stubborn of individuals.

"Anyways, Mister...Yachiro, as I was saying-all design features have their boons and flaws alike." Turning back to the original conversation, his interest in the Norian having waned slightly, "And I have often found that sometimes the flaws only manifest after being rigorously field tested." His own flaws, mainly being that he couldn't eject and was far too slow for some engagements being good examples of that.
 
Kuroko felt it was best she made her exit. It only took a wireless signal for her own hoverboard to come sailing to her on a custom autopilot mod. The custom omnihue surface she'd set to a hyperrealistic, animated maroon tentacle theme with fluorescent pink scrolling text in sharply scrawled Yamataigo rudely punctuated by Trade, narrating the story of a space kraken, whose content and brutality would be quite at home as lyrics on the Funky City black metal circuit. She engaged her inertial system, one she'd only been old enough to use at full capacity for a few years and was still in the stage of enamored with, and hovered scant far enough above the ship's deck for the hoverboard to slide right under her feet and take her away in a rail-grind along the gunwale. Grind to nollie backside crooked grind. Then off into the water.

She was definitely showing off in front of company. She was everything the opposite of her generational clan-mate. Definitely more like her mother.
 
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Yue felt the petting on her hand and the squeezing, and all she could think was Akina was a nice friendly woman. It hadn’t occurred to the short blue-skinned naturist that Akina might actually feel attracted to her. The teasing comment about wanting to get her nectar flowing, caused her to nod, though the teasing part flew over her head. “Yes! If we can get it out there, and people actually enjoy it, that would be amazing! I’m sure mom and the rest of the clan would be proud like I hope they are for the Hoverboards and the new agriculture ship. ” She told her before Katsuko sent them both a telepathic message, and Yue’s cheeks turned a different shade as she heard Akina’s response to her aunt.

Yup Akina loved her aunt, which made her happy to know. Though her thoughts went to Kaoru, and Kazumi did they too found love as she and their aunt had? She wasn’t sure. I understand, Aunt Katsuko She sent back before Akina replied to her earlier question about what they should bring up.

Her head nodded, as she prepared to move to put the Moon’s Nectar, as well as Nepleslian whiskey on a tray. As she worked, she accidentally brushed Akina’s side with her small chest ad blushed a little in embarrassment. “Sorry about that.” She said to her in reply as she worked to get things ready. She set up two trays, one, would be for Akina to carry up the other would be for her too.

Absent-mindedly, she reached down to scratch an itch that was way too close to her privates, while looking at Akina again. “I do like the idea of getting rewarded though... I am curious about what kind of reward?’ She asked her unaware that Kaoru had arrived.

She’d moved closer once her itching issue was dealt with, as she listened to Akina talk of her and Katsuko’s past. She smiled, thinking that Katsuko getting her a teddy bear was cute. Katsuko must have a fun side. This thought brought up an idea in her mind. Why not challenge her aunt to a hoverboard race? That might actually be fun! She didn’t say this out loud, though. Her attention was on Akina afterall.
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"Oh, it's fun making you turn interesting colors." Akina was paying Yue her due attention, there was no way she was going to miss the moment of fluster caused by their shared communications, much less that she would let it go. The moisture-laden uniform she wore still weighing her down, she helped set up one more tray, deciding to put the bottles of alcohol in the middle for balance. The others could tuck under her arms.

"That's-oh, nice cupcakes. You can put those on me anytime. A shame I still have my uniform on." How closely they were working together did get her a chance cast an easy glance along the curves of her pretty clan mate, leaving her at the collar she wore, getting more of her digital brain going with possibilities.

The seeking of that errant itch spurred on a dance of her eyes like she was being invited in, and in fact, the same trick had been used on her before! It wasn't bad, even if the actual real itch the blue girl was chasing wasn't meant to invite the princess' advances. "I thought you might ask that. Help me out of all this, won't you?" When my hands aren't busy I can give you a little preview." In Akina's estimation they had a lot of catching up to take care of, as she did with most of the Motoyoshi. In her mind not only would they know each other much better, but it was good for everyone involved, her time in the fleet had taught her as much.

Still damp hands came to rest on Yue's hips, bringing them close enough so there was only a couple hand's widths between them. "Aren't you curious what my bikini looks like? Do not fret, it's exciting enough, even for you I wager. Get the top first, won't you?" She prompted, that voice all honey suddenly, while she slid her palms upward, stopping to squeeze in a trail from the sides of her stomach, her chest, and back out to go to her shoulders, in preparation to shrug out of things.

"I'm trying to change and reward her, it's a bit time-consuming, but we're working on it. The trays and bottles are set, we'll be as quick as we can." Updated their joint-communication to Katsuko.
 
Yaichiro was enjoying his conversation with Steiner, absentmindedly patting Kazumi on the head as he did so. It might seem disrespectful to be patting a Neko like a cat, except that this was a father-daughter pair and she was notoriously hungry for headpats from her parent. He glanced at Kaoru's arrival and gave her a nod and a warm smile, before taking note of Kuroko's showboating. This was all while listening to Steiner and the newcomer.

"Yes, the CAMIE is a construction mecha. It was meant to be effective, simple, and boring; so I did exactly what I meant to do there. I built in an underpowered energy source to keep it from being used with energy weapons, but that 'flaw' was a 'feature' at a time when terrorists were trying to get their hands on whatever they could. It still does its job just as well. The jury's still out on if the headless part is a flaw, though. There haven't been a disproportionate number of complaints or failures caused by it at least."

Yaichiro chuckled a bit as a thought crossed his mind. "Call me crazy, but for all the things I've worked on, military or civilian—some of the ones I'm the most proud of are either things I've refined in unexpected ways or the simplest things I could possibly make. Take the Hauler. It's a space truck made out of two gutted shipping containers that takes design cues from an old semi-truck. It's meant to haul up to three smaller shipping containers that may or may not be modified as well, giving it optional modules for various purposes beyond being a family business's cargo ship. The thing's a cheap flying rectangle, and I love it." Yaichiro's nervousness from before was fading away as he discussed something familiar. "Here's the kicker though. Its propulsion and weapons are the same simple system, the only difference between the modes being how the plasma is discharged from the ship and how the recoil is handled. Verniers and Point Defense became the same thing, provided you had enough coverage not to make performance suffer. Imagine my surprise when the Yugumo Corporation started sticking that system on everything they could. When I saw that installed on the latest model of Power Armor, I couldn't keep a straight face knowing where the tech came from."

He shifted his attention for a moment to his approaching daughter. "Hi, Kaoru. Nice to see you and your date made it! Did you want what your sister's having?"
 
Fuyuko listened with wrapped attention to the older engineer discuss his designs. When he turned to address the newcomers, she didn’t let herself become discouraged and forged on talking with Steiner. “Personally, I don’t think the CAMIE’s lack of a head is a flaw. It’s a construction mech by the way,” she added before taking a sip of her drink. A toothy grin began to spread across her face as she continued, “Most heads are just sensor pods, and yeah the increased situational awareness might be nice, but you really don’t need much more than 360 degree cameras or motion detectors to make sure you’re not stepping on anybody. Or just to occasionally smack the newbie and tell him not to stand in the mech’s blind spot.” Fuyuko let out a small chuckle. She’d been that newbie standing in the mech’s blind spot only a few years ago, until one of her senior NCOs respectfully told the shiny new O-1 that she was being an idiot. If she got to request any personnel, she’d want the old girl back on her deck.
 
"Hmm," Stiener replied, intrigued by the both the information provided, and a solution to energy weapon problem so glaringly obvious that only a fool could've missed it, "There is nothing wrong with any of that-as I said a simple solution is often the best, and the fact that the propulsion system can be utilized to defend itself if necessary is quite the boon in fact. Even better the fact the system can be used for such wide variety of purposes."

"Though, I feel the need to point that with a little work and a proper power amplifier your CAMIE would be able to mount energy weapons," The grandmaster explained, hold out his right arm and fabricating such device-it was clear with the capacitors mixed in with the amplifier that it could be potentially used to boost the CAMMIE's output, "We mount such on vehicles with engines that lack sufficient output for such weapons-these are normally of the internal combustion variety. I apologize if my words seem patronizing; but I often have found that desperation and creativity go hand in hand, and if a foe can, they will." The implications of those last few words were...unsettling to say the least.

The girl's comment on the other brought out yet another one of those awful chuckles. "I can understand that point of view, but motion trackers aren't nearly as reliable as you would think-almost anything generates sufficient amounts of motion will interfere with it, even when fine-tuned to pick up only specific things, radar and infrared are affected by terrain and weather conditions as well as electronic interference-radar for example unless you take the time to tune it can have its range greatly reduced in rainy conditions. Cameras can fooled or jammed." Steiner had learned that one the hard way on more than one occasion. "As such, you cannot always expect heads to be used for little more than extra sensor pods-while in most cases it is true that such a thing is possible, at the same time it is cheaper and far easier to cram a conventional cockpit and sensor array into a head than try and rig up an extensive sensor network and camera rig throughout the machine-while it is something of a weakness that can be exploited, at the same time it gives the pilot higher visibility, which can be further augmented through the use of equipment mounted to helmets or even augmentations if so inclined." One of their standard practices when dealing with units toting advanced sensors was to set fires-the smoke, ash and heat reduced its ability to use them effectively.

The Kikyoans, to him anyways, did not seem to understand that any piece of technology could be fooled, whether intentionally or not if one knew how. Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to impress that upon her.
 
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Fuyuko put up a hand making slowing motions. She felt like she was talking to a pair of geezers at a pub and they’d gone off on a tear. “Guys, guys guys, before we get too in the weeds, what's our end goal? The CAMIE works great as a utility mech and doesn’t really need all of those extra features. If it’s ever outside the wire, it’s got a full escort. But, I guess if you’re a small force on a budget trying to get a mech, it’s far from the worst platform to start with. Make it into some sort of technical. A mech technical. A mechanical…” She blushed slightly and carried on. “I’m just saying when you’re designing things you’ve gotta take the end user into account. From my experience on that side, we’re mostly using them to load and unload cargo and ordinance. A combat focused sensor suite would drive up the unit price making it less attractive as a utility mech. But, If I was a merc or a warlord, it’s not too much of an investment to weaponize them. That’d also affect how you use them too. Even if you bolt on more armor, it’s still not something you’d want to use going toe to toe with a Ryoko with. So yeah, let’s pick a path and start designing,” she said, taking a sip from her drink. The straw made a gurgling sound as she sucked at ice and dregs.
 
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"Ahh....soaked?" Kazumi asked at the self-same moment her eyes closed on reflex as she felt her father's hand rest atop her head. "Just... work," not going any further than that vague answer. Albeit she wore a frown, staying close to him having gone quiet a long enough time for Yaichiro and the walking tank to speak. Seemingly amicably.

More to herself, and in a small voice, "My girlfriend is an engineer." at the two's continued banter.
 

Jiyuu-jo​

Dream of Taiie's Dock​


"Hereeeeeeeee's Freydis!" the tall Eihei shouted as she entered the boat. She had come ready to relax it seemed, wearing denim shorts and a t-shirt with some metal band logo. Yet despite that she also wore a shoulder holster carrying a Sizi revolver. "Alright people now that I'm here, let's get this thing going!"
 
"Knowing Personnel? They might have..." She admitted as she returned the kiss, her heart fluttering a little at the touch of her love's lips on her. She had been a bit distant and absent as Katsuko had begun to reconnect with other past lovers, and it had hurt a little, but all the same she knew where she belonged and knew where she needed to be. The return to service had been somewhat welcome, but as she looked around the assembled group and the various states they were in, she decided to remain a bit back away from the edge of the railing and simply contented herself to watch just what the others were doing. She stiffled a yawn, watching and waiting and just simply observing.

"Interesting group we have here... Family and new friends hmm?" She half said to herself, half asked to Katsuko through a mental link, though she wasn't expecting to much in terms of an actual response. She knew the woman was busy being a social butterfly, paying attention to the others, and she was content with where she was.
 
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