(8:56:22 AM) ID_Call: The crew's split off from Mami Wata's; it's time to get to the business... of figuring out their business. Daikyu's got a few options to go with... some more useful than others.
(8:57:23 AM) ***Daikyu ponders...and sighs. This is ares...she's going to have to call her. She really doesn't want to...
(8:58:21 AM) ID_Call: Her commlink is sitting there, waiting; it's like it knows, taunting her. Which is silly, of course, unless a technomancer got into it.
(8:59:56 AM) ***Daikyu sighs, dragging a hand down her face. She could try...anything else...literally anything else...it just wouldn't be as useful.
(9:00:18 AM) ID_Call: Maybe she'll be busy?
(9:00:58 AM) ***Daikyu rubs her temples. That would be nice...then Daikyu can honestly say to herself she tried.
(9:01:41 AM) ID_Call: The commlink waits. Patiently, of course; it's nto like it has anywhere to go. Though it'd be nice if it did.
(9:05:20 AM) ***Daikyu grumbles and makes the call.
(9:06:43 AM) ID_Call: Ring... ring... ring... "RIN!" And she answers. "HIIIIIIIIIII~ What's going on?! How're you doing? It's been days since we talked!~" Oh god she's enthusiastic
(9:07:51 AM) ***Daikyu has a very good poker face, so her eye only twitches ever so slightly. "Not bad, it's just been a while since we spoke."
(9:10:31 AM) ID_Call: "It has! We should meet up somewhere! Um. Though my dad's not letting me leave the house right now for the next few days, but you can totally come over! I've been building a shrine!"
(9:11:24 AM) Daikyu: "...a shrine? To...what?"
(9:13:15 AM) ID_Call: "Oh, I haven't, um, dedicated it yet... I'm still doing research! But probably Bishamonten, since, well, ares, right?"
(9:14:08 AM) Daikyu: "I suppose so..." She nods. "If you are alright with me visiting?" She'll be fine...she's got a good SIN and no criminal record...
(9:15:24 AM) ID_Call: "I'm more than fine! Honestly you could totally come over more often if you want! You've still got the address, right?"
(9:23:10 AM) Daikyu: "I do, yes." She nods.
(9:27:38 AM) ID_Call: "Great! I'll see you in...?"
(9:28:27 AM) Daikyu: "...not long?" She checks how long it will take to get there.
(9:29:32 AM) ID_Call: With traffic estimates, about fifteen minutes!
(9:30:19 AM) Daikyu: "In about fifteen minutes." She heads off, dread in her heart
(9:38:06 AM) ID_Call: Truly, Daikyu suffers for her job. She's about fifteen minutes to the Ares corporate enclave--they wave her through after scanning her SIN; she's not pulled aside for a random search and patdown, at least! Then it's just an elevator to the upper floors, quick walk down a hallway... and the Door beckons. Beyodn this door there is only madness and suffering.
(9:40:04 AM) ***Daikyu was very, very much hoping something would prevent her getting here as she approaches the door.
(9:40:59 AM) ID_Call: It appears, for all intents and purposes, to be a completely normal door into a very high-scale Ares apartment. Nothing abnormal at all, save for the aura of dread that surrounds it.
(9:42:36 AM) ***Daikyu takes a deep breath and opens the door.
(9:43:42 AM) ID_Call: Inside, it looks like a normal apartment... not that Daikyu gets a good glimpse of it before an orange, white, and red blur glomps hard onto her with all the force of an over-enthusiastic weeb. "RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN~"
(9:44:17 AM) Daikyu: "...hi Kaitlin..."
(9:45:44 AM) ID_Call: "Hiiiiii~" The now-resolved blur says. Kaitlin still has her hair dyed orange; she's currently wearing a red and white kimono. Her Predator is on her hip, though her swords aren't. "It's so good to see you!" At least her Japanese is... decent?
(9:46:04 AM) ID_Call: It's actually pretty nice, really, she's fairly fluent, but...
(9:48:09 AM) Daikyu: "It's good to see you too..." She nods.
(9:49:07 AM) ID_Call: "Come in, come in!" She says happily. "It's just me right now, my dad's at work--" Is her dad always at work? Daikyu's pretty sure she's never actually *met* Kait's father. "So the whole house is free!"
(9:53:58 AM) Daikyu: "That's lovely. How have you been?"
(9:56:02 AM) ID_Call: "I've been doing really well! I Mean, stuck at the house ever since that reading, but I'm sure things will calm down and I can start doing things outside the house again!" She smiles broadly and leads Daikyu in, the door closing automatically behind them. The apartment is... actually rather spartan, at least in this part ofi t; large entrance and sitting room, with a layout much like any other
(9:56:03 AM) ID_Call: Ares executive. There's going to be a kitchen through a short hallway, with a dining roomm; and another hallway leading to the bedrooms.
(9:56:38 AM) Daikyu: "It was chaotic...do you know why that happened yet?"
(9:58:22 AM) ID_Call: She shakes her head. "No, no, still no idea..." She says. "My dad got really worried, though, so I figure it had to be something important, right? I mean, it was just... I don't know why someone would DO that." She sighs. "... So, you ate yet or you just wanna hang out?" She asks, perking back up.
(9:59:02 AM) Daikyu: "I've eaten already, sorry." She shakes her head.
(10:00:04 AM) ID_Call: "Okay!" She starts heading towards where her room must be; the door is painted to resemble a classic japanese archway. Hand-painted, even.
(10:00:38 AM) ***Daikyu follows with a sense of dread.
(10:05:30 AM) ID_Call: She opens the door! Inside, it's... well... it's very weeb. Half of it is done up like a traditional japanese room would be, at least in style and painting; the other half is very modern and chic. There's an open door leading into a closet... though in this case it's leading into an armory--the other similar door must lead to her closet. There's half of a personal shrine built in the armory;
(10:05:30 AM) ID_Call: it's not done yet.
(10:07:27 AM) Daikyu: "Very interesting, I don't think I've visited before?"
(10:08:28 AM) ID_Call: "Nope! I asked you too a few weeks ago but you said yo uwere busy with work!"
(10:09:35 AM) ***Daikyu nods. "Right, right. That makes sense."
(10:10:17 AM) ID_Call: "So!" She leads Daikyu in; there's chairs, a bed, a futon... plenty of places to sit! Though oddly enough everything seems designed for two people atl east. "Whatcha wanna do?"
(10:11:48 AM) Daikyu: "I don't really know, what would you like to do?"
(10:12:46 AM) ID_Call: "Well, I was building my shrine like I said, 'cause, well, I bought this kit online, right?" She says with a smile. "You wanna help?"
(10:13:56 AM) Daikyu: "I suppose so? I've never really done anything like that, though."
(10:14:42 AM) ID_Call: "I mean, it's just following instructions, right? It can't be that hard!" Says the girl who's probably never put together IKEA furniture.
(10:16:31 AM) Daikyu: "Right...I can do that?" She nods.
(10:17:32 AM) ID_Call: "Cool!" She heads over to her armory and offers half the materials, tools, and the instructions to Daikyu. It can't be that hard, right?
(10:17:50 AM) ***Daikyu can give it a shot at least?
(10:22:58 AM) ID_Call: It's... okay, calling it 'not that hard' is a bit of a misnomer, but it is doable, with assistance. Kait is... actually surprisingly patient with it, despite how frustrating it can get working on this shit, where nothing fits right and hte instructions always seem upside down.
(10:25:31 AM) ID_Call: Daikyu also notices that her friend's armory is, uh. Exceptionally well armed; she's got a Predator for every day of the week (each one slightly different, too--carved handles and custom engraving), three sports rifles, two shotguns, two assualt rifles and a battle rifle, a legitimite, albeit currently dismantled, sniper rifle... and unless she's wrong she spies a pair of laser pistols, too.
(10:25:31 AM) ID_Call: And that's not to mention the entire wall taken up with various japanese melee weapons.
(10:25:57 AM) Daikyu: "That is...a lot of weapons. Ares, I guess?"
(10:26:55 AM) ID_Call: "Oh, yeah! I mean, I get a discount on buying them, so why not, right? And my dad always told me a girl should know how to protect herself with whatever she can find! Though the melee wall's kinda my personal collection... I'm actually kinda thinking I wanna take a smithing class, learn how to make them, y'know? I know how to maintain them and everything but..."
(10:27:20 AM) Daikyu: "It's not quite the same?"
(10:28:00 AM) ID_Call: "Yeah." She smiles. "My dad taught me himself when ti comes to guns--I actually made each of the Predators myself, in the enclave's gunsmith. Did the engraving and everything!"
(10:28:42 AM) Daikyu: "Oh, that's very impressive." She nods
(10:29:45 AM) ID_Call: "Yeah! Do you wanna see 'em closer?" She puts the last bit of the shrine together, smiling.
(10:30:33 AM) Daikyu: "I guess? I've not really much experiance with guns..." That's pretty true, she's mostly trained in more silent weapons.
(10:32:18 AM) ID_Call: "Do you want mroe experience with guns?" She asks, standing up and pulling one of the Predators down; Daikyu notes she checks to see if it's loaded, checks the manual safety, and maintains trigger discpline as she brings it over. The barrel engravings are in katakana, looks like a haiku; the grip's got a woodcut engraved. It's not really professional work, but she seems quite proud of it.
(10:32:48 AM) Daikyu: "Actually, I did see some odd guns yesterday when out near the bay."
(10:33:51 AM) ID_Call: "Oh?" She perks up a bit.
(10:34:50 AM) Daikyu: "Yeah, there were some ares...float or...what are those hovercraft things things they send into the Bayou? One of those with some odd gun on it.
(10:35:34 AM) ID_Call: "Did you take a picture or anything?"
(10:35:51 AM) ***Daikyu shakes her head. "I didn't think to at the time."
(10:36:22 AM) ID_Call: "Aww... though, hmm. Was it Ares or a competitor?"
(10:36:34 AM) Daikyu: "I'm almost certain it was Ares." She nods
(10:37:02 AM) ID_Call: "Hmm... I've got a friend who's dad works in Vehicles And Deployment... I wonder what it is? I bet it's something super cool!"
(10:37:13 AM) ID_Call: She's already gesturing at some private AROs.
(10:37:32 AM) Daikyu: "Not a clue." She shakes her head. "It looked weird, I'd never seen anything like it before."
(10:40:04 AM) ID_Call: She nods. "Hmmm... Energetics..." The girl works fast, it looks like. "Ooooh, Project Winchester! I remember hearing my dad talking about that! It's a project to make laser-based weapons that punch through the Astral, to help against dual-natured targets! They're testing it here to see how bad it suffers from backscatter, y'know, like normal lasers? That's really neat, I wonder if it actually
(10:40:04 AM) ID_Call: works yet?"
(10:42:57 AM) Daikyu: "...you can make lasers that do that?" She tilts her head.
(10:44:12 AM) ID_Call: "I dunno! That's why it's experimental!"
(10:45:18 AM) Daikyu: "I mean...how..." She shakes her head. "That is weird. Really cool but weird."
(10:46:06 AM) ID_Call: "I know right? Imagine if it can work! I mean, lasers have their own issues and stuff," she says, gesturing to her own pair of laser pistols, "But they're so COOL! It's like we're livign in the future or something!"
(10:47:08 AM) Daikyu: "Issues? Sorry...I don't know guns, as I said."
(10:49:48 AM) ID_Call: "Well, like, they have backscatter, right? You know how when you shine a flashlight, and it's really misty, the light doesn't go as far 'cause the mist reflects it back?"
(10:49:54 AM) ID_Call: "It's like that; a laser's basically a weaponized flashlight, right?"
(10:51:07 AM) ID_Call: "But magic does wierd stuff, so like, the logic is that it might help prevent backscatter, but it might make it worse, so they're testing the prototypes where it's always really misty andhumid!"
(10:52:40 AM) ***Daikyu nods. "Right, that makes sense."
(10:55:59 AM) ID_Call: "Yeah. I wonder if they're gonna open the tests up to the public? Or at least to corp citizens... I'd love to watch!"
(11:00:14 AM) Daikyu: "Yeah...maybe when they are sure it is safe? Though...what could really go wrong? I mean, it's pointed away from people, right?"
(11:01:48 AM) ID_Call: "Oh, definitely. Field testing's usually against either, like, dangerous wild animals or pre-setup hard targets," she says with a nod.
(11:04:31 AM) ***Daikyu nods. "Right, that makes sense."
(11:07:36 AM) ID_Call: "Want me to see if it's gonna be public? If it is I can try to get us tickets!"
(11:13:05 AM) Daikyu: "If you want to?"
(11:13:59 AM) ID_Call: "If there is one thing I love more anime, it is *big weapons*~" She says with a bit of a manic grin.
(11:16:12 AM) ***Daikyu nods
(11:19:48 AM) ID_Call: "Oh hey, it's going to be open to execs and families! And we can bring guests!" She gives Daikyu a hopeful grin. "Well, one guest for the family ticket, anyway. Wanna go?"
(11:21:51 AM) Daikyu: "I...guess so?" This was not as planned!
(11:23:09 AM) ID_Call: "Cool! And that's the ticket! It's gonna be... next tuesday, the fourth, at three PM. We can meet for lunch and hang out some before we go!" She says.
(11:23:51 AM) Daikyu: "Sounds fun." She nods, smiling as internally she screams.
(11:24:26 AM) ID_Call: "Yay!" She hugs Daikyu *really* tight. "You're a good friend, Rin!"