Motoyoshi, Kazumi held a data tablet curled within the grasp of a pale, cream skinned hand. Her eyes were razor-sharp, focused as the personnel manifest scrolled down the screen. It was inefficient in an age when one could simply download such information directly to their memory with but a thought. But Kazumi? She preferred the written word, or in this case the digitized. And while blessed with the enhanced processing, and perception capabilities of her Eihei body, the youngest of Taisho Motoyoshi, Katsuko's brood seemed just a hair distracted. Hers was the job of gathering, correlating, and acting on data of a sensitive nature, to offer advice and other more clandestine duties. The steady slight clack of mirror-bright polished boots on deck were echoed by the person walking beside her. Both were of a height. Her 'twin' was just a shade lighter in complexion, slimmer than her more feminine inclined form. The other spoke, voice just the right mixture of depth, and light. She was conferring information to the Intel Officer on some matters she'd asked the experienced engineer to look into.
Kazumi's counterpart tossed a lock of jet-black hair over an equally colorfully furred ear, her almond-shaped, golden eyes seemed to smolder in the light. The pair were somewhat of stark contrast to one another. One was light of hair, and eye, the other dark of hair and her own oddity for eye coloration. One wore the onyx panels of the intel branch, of which she was a member of SAINT. The other the red panels of an engineer. This other, Koyama her name was seemed to be doing all the talking. Her voice never wavering in pitch, almost monotone as she recited her information. It only seemed to peak in a rare instance. Others that walked the halls seemed to avoid the duo like a plague. The black panels were always a bit of a given when it came to an equal mix of mystery, respect, wariness, and just plain paranoia. And she had the Motoyoshi look about her. Motoyoshi were thick on the Tokyo after all. Koyama's was of less repute in some ways. She was not intimately attached to a famous surname. Yet her elder sister was a princess of the ruling family, the Ketsurui. And the Taisa of the famous YSS Miharu and had earned her own stripes at the "Battle of Scrapyard". But the pair both seemed to share the same desire of standing in their own light. Both loved their families fiercely but did not want to stand in their immediate blood's looming shadows longer than they had to.
Kazumi wore her polished white enameled triangular rank pin denoting her as a Kohosei. On the fast track to officerdom.
The other, Koyama wore the heart and triangle of a Shoi. Both technical officers, and worthy of being given the right of way past the lower ranks which parted as they passed. Kazumi led, Koyama followed a hair's breadth behind as the younger woman seemingly led her to a lift adjacent to a portion of the bridge. The young Motoyoshi knew her father was likely diligently at work. The man was a machine, or so she thought regarding his work ethic. As did her older colleague beside her. The Kohosei had to admit, the other woman and her father were cut from the same cloth. Birds of a feather. Heads in the clouds of research and technology. Driven by a passion for machinery. Of building, and maintaining it. It just seemed this samurai-blood-borne Nekovalkyrja beside her had a few wild ideas in the field of theoretical work and designs. The woman had designed a torpedo made to rip capital ships apart with unstable, hyperspatial fluxes in the form of mili-second lived fold bubbles. Worked in theory or so she had said. Even showed the Intel Officer footage of a prototype ripping a sizable chunk out of an old Yuumi-class Battleship slated for the test.
One second the thing had been whole and the next... a neat, spherical chunk had been smoothly ripped from it without so much as an aetheric, anti-matter or fusion explosion. Just the barest fraction of a moment's flash, barely perceptible if not for Yamatai's advanced FTL-based sensing tech.
Kazumi had placed the woman on her list of people to keep an eye on. Not out of immediate concern, but on principle. She may have earned a smattering of respect with her beloved father, which tipped the scales a little in her favor. But, still worthy of keeping an eye on just in case. Weapon designers always seemed to have that certain little gleam in their eye, and Koyama had when showing her the footage.
The doors to the lift opened with a pneumatic hiss, Kazumi stepping over the threshold, Koyama strolling in gracefully alongside. The engineer went quiet then, half expecting some shitty elevator music to fill the silence of her verbal report being fulfilled.
Kazumi's tablet hung limp at her side then as the doors parted, the lift bringing them to the Command Offices. Mother wasn't about, and her more uptight siblings weren't either. She'd only very rarely ever come up here. Usually when it was fully staffed. And always in her mother's presence along with the flags under her command. Her heliotrope-dye hued eyes glanced to the smoldering furnaces of gold that were Koyama's. She'd never been up here, or so Kazumi's records said. She was aiding Kazumi in duty at her request, the engineer taking some of her preciously in short supply free-time to accomplish the task requested. All the work could have been done through thought and texts or comms. But this was a bit of a charade. Kazumi enjoyed personal debriefs, in person, it let her gauge the person, see their ticks, hear modulation and tone of their voices.
But the damned engineer's informal samurai-training gave her a steady demeanor, hard to read and guess. It was also a little bit of an excuse and charade. Why not show the engineer the fruits of her labor? Working to get the Tokyo in working order, show her a bit of the sights, perhaps even sneak a cup or two of mother's private assortment of fine wines and alcohols. Plus, it just gave the daddy's girl an excuse to see her father in person with a plus one in attendance knowing the two were on friendly terms. So why the hell not? Both had skipped the big'ol party going on, and stayed aboard. Both may as well get some form of enjoyment out of their labors.
Kazumi placed a finger to her lips as the door to the offices opened. Her ears pricked, voices. A frown creased her lips, and looking to her counterpart, it seemed the other woman had also heard the nattering further in. Both women edged further into the interior, the voices growing in strength and recognizability. Picking them out, Kazumi rolled her eyes upon hearing her brother's deeper voice in its declaration of seeming to have uncovered something of particular interest. The giggling delight of the eager young Tokyo's avatar speaking, her father's kindly voice giving a seemingly gentle rebuke and warning.
The other though? Kazumi tilted her head, already running through the KAMI's manifests of that particular voice. Although it seemed Koyama hit the mark a hair sooner for the older woman muttered the name under her breath with an exaggerated roll of the eyes. The Shoi though seemed to be having increasingly larger second thoughts as soon as she had crossed the threshold, and made to quietly excuse herself. She'd backed just far enough away to startle Kazumi who was by no means a slouch in her keen perceptions and training. How the other woman had done it... no matter. Quick as lightning, Kazumi's hand flashed forward, snapping up Koyama's more slender wrist. The intel officer took a split second's moment to appraise her response. The engineer had almost on reflex been ready to dance out of her grasp. Caught though, Kazumi made a gentle, yet insistent tug on the wrist. They were in the thick of it now, thick as thieves. If any heat came down on their heads, the younger Motoyoshi'd bear it, it was, after all her idea and now insistence of dragging along the now wide-eyed Koyama along.
No going back now. Silent as a shadow, Kazumi led the still quiet engineer on. Stopping just short, the young Motoyoshi cleared her throat audibly. Her eyes going a little flinty at first, eyeing the array of people. Tio in particular.
"I wouldn't be too greedy with those if I were you, brother mine," Kazumi warned, ever so lightly although there seemed to be no bite to it. The hand with the datapad now resting against the appreciative, shapely curve of a hip. Yet her other arm seemed to be behind her back. And then, as if manifesting from the woman's shadow, the red-paneled engineer's eyes still smoldered, gleaming gold now as the light caught them in just the right way. They were wide with a decidedly 'Oh fuck' seemingly painstakingly etched into her retinas.
"Mother is fond of her seafood." echoing her father's earlier and previously unheard warning just before the pair had entered. Though she wrinkled her nose a little. She wasn't overly fond of lobster. And had once made it subtly apparent to her mother when the two had shared a meal with others. Kazumi just made a 'snip snip' gesture with her index and middle finger at Tio as she said this. Oh, she'd disavow any notion of having taken so much as the barest morsel of cooked lobster meat from Katsuko's private stash she hadn't been the one eyeing them as if they were plated in gold. Besides, maybe it was a bit barbarous but she was more of a beef kind of girl. And not the run of the mill stuff. But that most coveted, rarest, and expensive brand to be had on Yamatai. Stuff costs a fortune but was it ever delectable to the point of decadence for her expensive palate. Granted she to enjoyed seafood, and shared it in common with her Taisho parent. Particularly tuna, chūtoro to be exact. Not too fatty, not too meaty. Just that right balance for the umami one-two punch for her.
Finally letting Koyama free, the wide-eyed woman just seemed to be taking everyone in with the wariness of an outnumbered, lone warrior. Torn between surging onward, or taking flight to fight another day. As if reading this subtle shift in posture, Kazumi placed a steadying,; comforting hand on the equal in height woman's more slender shoulder. "She's with me." a hint of a challenge behind her voice as she eyed her brother, though, to her father, her eyes softened to familial affection and resting on Himawari a moment seeming to ignore Datenshi and then bouncing back to the lobsters skittering about in their tank. And the likely spots of where she knew where her mother kept her most coveted of drinks. It paid to be on the payroll of one of, if not the most effective intel corps in the sector.
Slipping behind Koyama, Kazumi placed her tablet on a nearby countertop and her hands on the girl's shoulders. Gently nudging her forward, Kazumi steered Koyama toward her father's side. Perhaps being in his presence would ease her mind a little? The man had seemed to give her a glowing report on her rather rapid and high advancement from enlisted to an officer in her tour on the YSS Sakura II. With a reassuring murmur, careful prodding of her father in the side, glancing to the stricken woman, Kazumi, SAINT flunky, Intel Officer, and other onerous titles slithered away like the shadow she'd been trained to become.
Koyama for her part got through a mumbled "Kage-Taisa." in greeting, fidgeting just a bit. She was ambitious when it came in her advancement up the ranks. Audacious, whimsical and a little mad in her scientific theory and endeavors, the latter of which was well documented amongst her 'sisters' at Samurai House on Yamatai. But this seemed a bit of a tall order for the seemingly once unflappable, cool under-pressure engineer. She was well out of her element. She just wasn't much of a people person. And well, low and behold... people! And an array of high-rankers, high-blooded, and one over-sexed power armor jock turned occasional wrench-jockey.
Oh, her father likely knew where she was off to. Because of the faint tinkling of crystal being jarred was heard. Along with the now audible snick of a latch and cabinet being closed. Sauntering back, Kazumi cradled a bottle in her arms as if it were her own cherished child. It was a bottle of alcohol Katsuko seemed fond of. Kazumi even seemed to caress it once, as if in the emphasis of this fact.
This was of course before she coughed, looking innocently to her sole parental unit on station at the moment. As if saying, 'What could it hurt?'. It was clear. She aimed to misbehave... just a little. Seeming to try and entice the older man into joining in what Kazumi could only assume was the beginnings of a rather impromptu party. And she didn't give a whit that she'd just barged in. Let alone with a plus one. The female engineer was under her wing for the moment at least. And deserved a little something for all the hard work and man hours put into this floating Zesuaium tub.
