Tetsu sits at his densai, looking over the descriptions of the day's event and the challenges. He is going by the letter of the rules, and everyone would get the same amount of time to actually build and work on the problem, but one couldn't spend so much time without getting a little invested in the process.

"What do you think you're doing to design for?" Tetsu asks his new acquaintance in crime.

She was sitting with her shoeless feet flat on the cushion, tucked up under her with her knees up so she could rest her chin on them. In front of her, she sorted through the information on her densai, staring at it as if about to accuse it of a crime.

"Not sure yet. But the more I look at it, the more I suspect the ideal strategy is going to be going hard on one specialty and giving it basic functionality in the others. Which one I decide to specialize in is... basically arbitrary at that point. I might go for labor, since it'll give me some experience for our project."

"Designing for maximum functionality in one area is probably going to be best for the end result. Buuut..." Tetsu shrugs "It's mostly a taste thing, but I want to see what it can do. Being able to keep ours to work on might help us along later. I'm thinking... builder. That way I can practice loading engineering software."

"Yeah. I admit I'm probably being more purpose-focused than exploratory. I guess I have a habit of looking at things as puzzles to be 'solved'," she said, chuckling softly. "It's pretty practical to keep it to work on.."

"Oh, believe you me, a big part of me wants to make the best flier possible and show them what I can do. But, the optimization is an interesting problem." Tetsu rests a hand on his chin. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

"Nope. I mostly make programs for the computer and densai, and games," she said. "I have some basic AI experience from the latter, but directing a 'bot's limbs is a little different."

"I was thinking more of competitions. It wasn't formal or anything but we would kind of do something like this for classwork."

"Oh, competitions? No, not really. I don't have time, since I'm usually on a ship," she replied with a shrug. "Programming's just a self-taught hobby, so I don't get much time off for stuff related to it."

"Oh? I had kind of assumed that you were a programmer for your job." Tetsu pauses "What is it you do anyway?"

"Nope. I wish. I just really like doing it, and it keeps me busy so I don't... space out too much," she said, waving a hand in the air. "I'm a marine in the Crane navy."

"Huh." Tetsu looks over her face, and (not too subtly) the rest of her frame. "You mean, boarding parties, thing like that? I mean, I know that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I'm trying to imagine you dressed up like Crab Berserker, and...well, it's kind of amusing"

Sha laughed at that. "Yup, exactly! You're not ridiculously far off, though not berserker in particular.. I'm particularly tough, so I tend to be the one at the front taking the attention so the faster, harder-hitting people can work at their best. Or guarding other people in the same vein."

Her frame isn't particularly thick, but there is something... dense about her build, like a punch would encounter more resistance than it seemed. She certainly wasn't the sort of willowy Crane princess that might blow away in a stiff breeze. He could spot hints of scars.

Tetsu changes his appraisal of the woman, checking off a box for the better. She might be able to take a punch better than I can, and look a hell of a lot better than I do doing it.

"I guess that's kind of my role as well. Well, Kaiu trained engineer officers are a bit tricky to nail down. I " Tetsu scratches the back of the head. "I mean, in the ideal world, we are onboard a ship, working the artillery or making sure that the fortifications are holding. We just don't live in that world. Other than that, we are better and weathering hits that dishing them out, and if I can block a shot so a Hida can smash it with a Tetsubo...well, then it's a job well done"

"That's so cool!" She gushed, holding balled fists up close to her chest, her expression excited. "Being able to do both some of what I do, plus have a role in the technical side of things? I mean, sure, the ideal is different, but it's really cool to be able to do both, too. You're doing so many awesome things between your regular duties and the bot project. I'm a little envious."

Tetsu scratches his head, slightly embarrassed. "I'm not really doing that much...I kind of bombed the coursework when it came to Tactics, which disqualified me from Command track. Which was fine by me, but without perfect grades and an influential patron I'm pretty entry level, which means that I have to hustle to learn what I can."

He pauses, looking at the ground for a moment
"I probably shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay. I'm not great at tactics, either. Just means it's something to work on with your spouse once you get back! Then you have someone on your team who can support you. Big improvement over trying to get recognition for your awesomeness alone," she said with a form nod and a thumbs up. "Anyway, there's no reason not to have said it to me, anyway. I can't complain. If it makes you feel any better, I'm mostly here because I have a bad relationship with my parents. It's probably also not something I should say, so we're even."

"Well...what is I like someone who winds up being terrible at tactics too? Would that really be so bad." Tetsu smiles , and then looks down.

"What happened with your parents, if I can ask?"

"I mean, I think it could work out, depending on what you wanted to do. And I hear studying together goes better," she said.

"I tend to lose myself a little if I don't keep busy. It's some kind of condition. When I wasn't sure how to deal with it as a kid, they just assumed I was lazy."

"Lazy?" Tetsu quirks an eyebrow. "Lazy people don't run up numbers like this." He points to the work they are doing. "I don't know how they came to that conclusion."

She shrugged. "There were occasions when I would just..." She made a gesture moving her fingers in the air in front of her face. "Be gone for almost an hour if I didn't stay active to avoid it or have someone shake me out of it. I mean, yeah, when I work, I work hard, and it doesn't happen as long as I stay active. But I could see how someone could get frustrated when it happened a lot and make the wrong assumption. Especially if they were worried about how others would see them."