2022-09-15: Regular Normal Girl Talk: Burgeoning Bonds Forged in Cocoa!
- Log: 2022-09-15: Regular Normal Girl Talk: Burgeoning Bonds Forged in Cocoa!
- Cast: Himeyuri Oono, Shiho Hahnenfuss
- Where: Nazca-class Socrates
- OOC - IC Date: 15 September, 0096
- Summary: Himeyuri and Shiho do some casual R&D while hanging out in the rec room.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
The Socrates has seen several engagements, but continues to have been held back from the front for reasons that are starting to border on confusing. Some of the crew are eager to take the fight to the earthnoids, but the Captain has kept patient, and done her best to quell the unease. The time to fight will be soon.
But right now, at 11PM ship time, the Captain is in the rec room, a thin laptop and a notebook out, as she dashes through equations on paper before testing them on the laptop. She also has a nice hot cup of cocoa, which she drinks with both hands.
She doesn't seem to be giving the air of someone who wants privacy and solitude- quite the opposite. She's having a rare break moment and doing her side work. If anything, spending it with someone would be splendid.
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
Shiho isn't necessarily a permanent fixture on the Socrates -- she's a research attache and a test pilot, which means at any moment she could be yanked off and reassigned. Still, she's had time to get used to the ship.
Shiho's also a bit of a night owl when it comes to getting work done; she arrives at the rec room with a laptop with a touch screen, and --
-- wait, the captain's here too! Blinking as she realizes she's stumbled upon her immediate superior, she shifts her things to give a quick salute, saying, "Ma'am." ZAFT isn't a terribly formal militia, after all. She glances at the spot next to Himeyuri, asking, "... Do you mind if I take a seat? I have another pass at this coolant system to take."
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"Oh, Shiho-chan!" The captain's own attitude is, honestly, way too relaxed here. She's fine on the battlefield but right now... "Feel free! I find this sort of thing much more relaxing when working alongside someone else." This sort of thing?
Himeyuri shifts a little, to give Shiho more desk space, and quickly scrawls some more in her notebook before starting her simulation running. "I hope you don't mind me prying, Shiho-chan, but what's the coolant system for? I don't mind playing debug duck if it helps!" She turns to her subordinate with all the propriety of the teenage girl she is. "It's not a problem, I've got to wait for this to finish simulations anyway."
She seems far more in her element than she does on the bridge right now. The spread on her sketchbook is there too- has she been doing those equations by hand!?
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
-chan isn't a totally unheard-of way to address a subordinate, but the way Captain Oono says it is... a little overfamiliar, and that's for Shiho's relaxed ZAFTie standards. Shiho isn't bothered by it but she's incredibly perplexed. She looks like she might if she went to Engineering and the section chief was carving up an enormous tuna.
"The main guns on the DEEP Arms," Shiho answers, moving to sit down. "It's..." How does she even explain this? She knows the Captain has a technical background, but -- "It's a semi-novel thermal beam cannon system. Because it's so reliant on reaching extremely high heat levels to enhance penetration, normal cooling systems aren't enough... if we committed to it as a space-use unit exclusively we could add more bulk but they're asking for in-atmosphere performance, too, so that's not an option."
She laments, "Every time I work on this I feel like what really needs the coolant is my brain." Her gaze tracks over to the captain's own work, and... she blinks a few times. "... wouldn't it be easier if you used your computer for your entire workflow? It'd at least be faster." She opens up her own laptop at this point, ready to get started.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Hime, for her part, sees nothing wrong with it. But most captains also don't insist on cooking for the crew when they can. Still, she listens. "Hmm, so you're looking for an in atmosphere coolant to keep up with that. It's not used for sustained fire, right? No, the coolant distribution wouldn't keep up." Tap tap tap goes her pencil on the sketchpad.
"Are solid state ejectable heat sinks an option?" She asks, musing. "Fire until they reach peak temperature, eject, replace." She puts the end of her pencil to her lips. "The CGUE's already got quite a heavy load, but they could work functionally like e-pacs and a skilled pilot could eject them at an enemy and do significant damage if you had something with high enough thermal capacity."
And then Shiho comments on the sketchpad and she looks a little embarrassed. "Ah... you caught me, Shiho-chan." She sighs. "In truth, if I do my calculations on the sketchpad, it means they're ready to go when the simulation finishes. Then I enter them in, and can start working on my next theory. I know it's not the most efficient but it's my speed."
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
Heat sinks... that are also projectiles? That's actually fascinating -- though Himeyuri immediately points out the problem herself. "We'd need something strong enough to use as a projectile, with a high enough thermal capacity to work. ... I mean, if you want to airlift Mt. Fuji or Mt. Wayne into space, sure."
... that actually does start leading her around to a thought -- slowly, by inches. She'll need some time for it to percolate, though. "... the only way that makes any sense is if you're constantly doing both of..." Her brow furrows. She stares at Himeyuri for a moment.
"... you are constantly doing both of those things. That's... actually exceptional." It's rare for Shiho to feel intimidated by someone else's brains, but... who is this eccentric captain?
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"The ejection mechanism would want to be a railgun or similar too, unless you constantly want to be replacing barrels. Which just puts us in the initial position we were in..." At Shiho's realizing what she's doig, Hime looks modest- and it's not false modesty. She genuinely believes she has to downplay this. "Well, we don't always have a team, and it got faster for me to do it this way, and it meant we could put resources to other efforts."
She smiles slightly. "Our colony has never had a big population, so the more one person can do, the better." She glances to her own project. Still running. At that point she looks suddenly concerned. Is something wrong with her simulation?
"Oh, I've been a terrible hostess!" Hime reaches down beside her and pulls up a thermos- which still has the lid/mug on it. "Would you care for some cocoa, Shiho-chan? My family sent me some and while it's delicious, I'd hate to drink it all myself. This is the sort of gift you share, after all!"
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
"Japanium makes a mediocre slug for a rail weapon, though... unless you're charging it electrically as well as thermally -- oh, but then we're right back where we started again." It was a fun thought, but in the end it just displaces the problem a few more times. (Admittedly, displacing the problem enough times is almost as good as solving it, since you can spread the load.)
Himeyuri startles, and Shiho does with her -- and then offers her some cocoa?? "... I actually could use something nice to drink," Shiho agrees, once she... metabolizes the offer. "Sure -- do you want me to get my own cup?" She knows that the answer is probably going to be 'Himeyuri goes and gets everything herself' or 'the thermos lid is sufficient,' but she'd feel weird not asking.
Curiosity gets the better of her. "I think this is the first you've mentioned your family. What are they like?"
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"Japanium, hm..." She's seem at a pause. "I'm afraid I only know a little about it, but if it isn't a slug..." She looks to Shiho. "Could you tell me more about the properties?" Shiho seems knowledgeable, and Himeyuri seems eager to learn.
The talk of her own cup seems to change streams briefly. "Oh, it's not a problem. I can get you a cup if you like, but I can vouch for this lid. It's never let tea go cold on me no matter how long I'm caught in research!" It seems like this is a lot of times. "Besides, we only get so much time off, so we don't want to waste it." Unless stopped, she starts pouring into the thermos lid, and offers it to Shiho. "Oh, I hope it's not too sweet for you."
Himeyuri blinks briefly, before smiling. "Well, my father is a soldier in our colony defence force. Strong, brave, stoic... He couldn't make officer, but he fights for us. He's always ready to support his fellow man, solid and dependable. The man I marry one day will have a lot to live up to." She seems wistful, but happy in the memories.
"And mama is one of the best homemakers you'll ever meet! She taught me every recipe I know! Her cooking puts mine to shame. I don't think I could ask for more wonderful parents." Her cover didn't require changing many details.
"Once we've put those darn earthlings in their place and won this war, I want to take people back home to visit. Papa will want to shake the hands of the soldiers who got us through this, and mama will want to make sure you get a proper meal instead of having to make do with what we can get."
There's a beep beep beep from Hime's laptop. "Oh, please don't mind me, Shiho-chan. I'll just be checking the outputs so we can keep talking."
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
Shiho listens to Himeyuri's talk about her family. "Your parents sound incredible," she says. It's a simple life -- and a bit of a stereotype, kind of like Himeyuri herself tries to be -- but still...
There's something about the way Himeyuri says 'those darn Earthlings' that startles her out of that, though. Shiho has an okay amount of anger, but the killer instinct isn't quite there yet; she knows when the vibes are off. She doesn't dwell on it, though; they have other stuff to talk about. Practicals are easy!
"The durability is top-notch -- which makes it an okay slug, potentially, but it'd have to be recovered almost every time not to become prohibitively expensive. There are only a few deposits worldwide... it's a major component in Super Alloy Z, and the primary source of Photon Power. I heard Britannia was trying to find alternatives but before we got very far in looking into that..."
Here, Shiho lets out a small sigh, taking the thermos lid and taking a drink finally. "Oh -- this is really good," she says, before dropping the bomb.
"I used to work at the Photon Power Labs, until I got deported. It was the kind where they show up outside with Jegans." Letting out a sigh, she admits, "ZAFT put me to work on energy weapons. It's not bad work -- I'm good at it, but..." The feeling is plain: There's somewhere she'd rather be.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
"Thank you! I'm very lucky to have them." Hime doesn't seem to notice that shift in Shiho's moods. For all Himeyuri's skills, she's not that good at reading the little changes in people. It's fine, though. Still, Shiho's description of Japanium...
..is distracted first by Shiho responding to the cocoa. "I'm so glad you like it!" And then the rest of the story. "...Shiho-chan, that's horrible!" She seems a mix of angry and upset, and all of it is seemingly for Shiho. She pauses. THIS she catches. She knew there were normal girls like her here.
"...You really don't want to be making weapons, do you, Shiho-chan?" There's nothing aggressive or accusatory there- rather it seems to be understanding. "If you want to talk about it, I'd like to hear what sort of work you did at the labs." She takes a sip of her own cocoa, as she watches. She's even leaving her simulation untended- her attention is undivided on Shiho now.
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
It's a little startling to be caught so readily -- but it doesn't come with judgment, and Shiho has a relatively stable self-image, anyway. "Not really. I was working on a directed energy transfer system when I was interning with the Photon Power Labs. The work was incredible, and Dr. Yumi and Dr. Kabuto were honestly brilliant."
She finally opens her laptop. It's not the work she gets to. It's the photo app. She swipes to the side a few times, landing on a candid shot of Sayaka and Koji at work. "Getting this shot was a nightmare -- there are a lot of areas in that laboratory where photography is prohibited, obviously. Catching them both doing something interesting on the public side of the checkpoints took a whole week."
This is the work Shiho wanted to be doing. "It worked out for the best that I didn't finish it -- if we'd finished, the Earth Federation could probably have switched from solar to Photon Power when the war started and ZAFT would have had to rethink its entire strategy. ... it's still the kind of work I'd rather be doing." Maybe the place she'd rather be, too.
After another sip of cocoa, Shiho fishes something out of her bag -- a small piece of Super Alloy Z, about the size of a thumbnail.
She drops it into the bottom of the mug as if it's even remotely normal.
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Himeyuri listens intently, that warm smile on her face. "Oh, that sounds fascinating." But seeing the people on the picture, something gives the young captain pause. The man- 'Dr. Kabuto' certainly has the look of a real man but not. And 'Dr. Yumi' could fit into Himeyuri's own laboraties easily. Yet both of them looked off. Too earthling, she had to assume. That's surely it.
"It sounds like you admire them a lot..." She feels cautious but not... judgemental. A part of her realises where this conversation could go if she were indelicate, and it would be unfair to a maiden like Shiho to do so.
"I think I'd much rather be working on something... peaceful." She takes another sip of her cocoa, when she sees Shiho drop the object into her cocoa. She blinks. "What in the moons is that, Shiho-chan?"
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
"It's actually a sample of Super Alloy Z. It's not much, and this is a relatively low-Japanium alloy," Shiho answers. "Not... cheap, but 100G in a gift shop." She takes a long sip of cocoa. "I like it in hot drinks. They stay hot a little longer, and the flavor..." She smiles. For an instant, she looks a little goofy.
"Well, I like it. Would you like to try?" She sets down the mug and gives it a very small nudge toward Himeyuri. Shiho, at least, is not much of an Indirect Kiss thinker.
Peaceful... "I feel that way too. I think there's a lot we could get done if we weren't doing all this."
<Pose Tracker> Himeyuri Oono has posed.
Himeyuri is a little surprised by Shiho's reasoning, but after a moment she nods. "I would!" Himeyuri doesn't believe an indirect kiss would at all be a problem here. They're both women after all. She takes a sip and blinks a few times. "That's... fascinating, Shiho-chan." Fascinating isn't a euphemism, either. "It does change the flavour, just slightly..." She places it down again, musing quietly. "...I wonder how it might affect a rich beef stew, or miso soup." She doesn't prefer it to sweetened cocoa, but the idea is very intriguing indeed.
Himeyuri nods slowly. Shiho really should have had the chance to be a delicate girl, shouldn't she? Not thrust into this war. "It wasn't our choice, Shiho-chan. We just have to put an end to this quickly. So we can do what we should be doing, where we belong." Her voice is so certain, so confident, as if she is completely empty of doubt.
And she is.
<Pose Tracker> Shiho Hahnenfuss has posed.
<poem> Seeing Himeyuri like this actually makes the Captain make a little more sense to Shiho. At first, she'd thought she was just a very skilled weirdo with some significant personality defects (not uncommon, and with a minimum of judgment), but... the clarity is nice. It really makes her easy to follow. "I'd love to see what you could do with it," Shiho answers -- and that much is true.
She gets settled in, saying, "... both of us probably ought to get some work done while we're here, but... this is nice." The back-and-forth slows a bit -- and gets more technical -- but it goes a long way in establishing the Socrates as a pretty decent place for Shiho to get work done.
... if not the kind of work she likes. Not yet, anyway.