Upon completion of her remarkably accurate action-report--it didn't take as long as would a partial or total fabrication--Khimera delivered a discrete missive to Daisuke. 'Awaiting your pleasure -Khi ' P. Grooming 6 +9 =15 (cleans up sharp) Wardrobe 5 +7 =12 (well, it's not a polo and slacks at least) Social 7+8 =15 (set up the ambience pretty well, thought to bring some flowers) Daisuke had decided to go with a nice slate-grey suit, since if he was overdressed it was easy to slip the jacket off, but looking like you didn't care to make the effort was never a good course to a positive impression. He'd had the computer fabricate a modest bouquet, as well - he hadn't the faintest idea what the flowers actually were, but he'd specified one that meant friendship and the possibility of romantic interest and it smelled nice enough, so as long as it didn't trigger an allergy or something that should be all right. He checked the deck map one last time before heading out of his quarters and down the corridors a bit to Khimera's, and held the bouquet in his off hand while tapping the door chime with the other. Not wanting to unduly fluster Daisuke, Khimera arrayed her form within a LBD:HG ( Little Black Dress: Holly Golightly). It was stylish and possessed exactly the right amount of alluring cling without gaudily flashing flesh. Accompanied with the leather clutch-purse, three-inch block-heel pumps (both items also black) and jewelry----she was perfectly and precisely attired for a first date with a skittish swain. She greeted Daisuke with a fond smile and a slightly quirked eyebrow at the proffered bouquet. "They're lovely..." She ran a rapid floral analysis: Yellow tulips for friendship, snapdragons for a gracious lady, peonies for bashfulness, and just the right amount of Forsythia for anticipation. "and shockingly appropriate! Unable to resist getting a good eyeful confronted with that dress on top of Khi's innate charms, Daisuke does still manage to confine himself to one trip down and up on the Eyeball Express, and resumes eye contact afterward. (COOL 5 +8 versus 21? Pwned! As a fella should be when meeting his date, of course, after she goes to the trouble of getting all gussied up.) Feeling very glad he went for the suit instead of his usual business-casual plus uniform jacket off duty wear he offers the bouquet while trying to get his speech centers working again. 'Nantekotta!' (Holy cow!) Khi thought. 'There wasn't enough bashful in that bouquet for this boy!' Still, 'Hebo dorufin' (clumsy dolphin) was a charming change from the funzorikaeru same & kamasu (cocky sharks & barracuda) that abounded in her typical social-seas. Tickled by Daisuke's restrained once-over, she responded with her own, much less circumspect appreciative toe-to-crown. The suit was good...quite good; but he wore it a little too much like a uniform: everything was buttoned and the tie was hermetically sealed with a Gordian Windsor-knot. She repressed the urge to induce the proper amount of stylish chaos to his outfit. "Why, Daisuke, you do look sharp! She turned the smile up a notch, planted a kiss on his cheek. "Give me a second to place it in stasis (who would put flowers in mere water in the future?)." She vanished into her quarters for a brief minute. D: "Honesty compells me to admit, I don't know much about flowers and just asked for one with the meaning I wanted to convey, but I'm glad I read the mood correctly. You outshine them by far, in any case." 'Ohmygod, he's so earnest! She mentally squealed in delight...or S.D. Khi did. Heck they both did! "Honesty compels me to admit that I believe that you are buttering me up!" "Maybe a little," Daisuke replies, holding up a thumb and finger half an inch or so apart. Reminding himself that he's neither on duty nor in a board meeting, he tries to lighten up a little on the ingrained reflex to act about 20 years older than he is, to be taken more seriously. He looks down at the hand in a slightly exaggerated way and tells it, "No, no, less than that," pinching it closer on each 'no.' She addressed her dominate hand, "Yunde-chan (left-hand cutie-pie) tell that no-good Usoku-chan (Right-hand cutie-pie) to help show how much we like butter!" She held her hands up, palms apart four inches. "More than that, girls!" The gap widened four more inches. "More!" The gap widened into a buttery gulf. She sighed dramatically slipping the roguish left hand round Daisuke's waist. " Idle hands!" Daisuke offers Khi an arm with a grin. "Probably, you know the way to Holo-Chamber #2 better than I do, but who am I to let a little thing like that get in the way of tradition? Unless the tradition involves getting lost and not asking directions, that one I'm happy to break." Not that he'd taken the chance on that, he'd spent almost as much time on studying the Racer's layout as writing his mission report for the ship's records. "Now," she said, taking him by the arm, "Don't keep a hungry, intrigued girl waiting. I want to see your dining venue." As they strolled toward it, he asked, "You've mentioned being a member of a police force, and even leading a special unit. To achieve such a position at a young age is impressive, it must have taken real dedication and a will to succeed. What led you to such a challenging career, if I may ask?" She laughed, delightedly. "I was a spoiled, flighty bitch chosen to be an unwitting cat's-paw in a larger, ugly corporate plan! My police unit was made to fail so that a Multinational corporation, GENOM, would have the necessary excuse to implement a horrific combat-android program. My dedication & will came of discovering that I disliked being a puppet. My plan: public emphasis of the ditzy, sexy and helpless nature of the ABC police while actually building them up as an effective unit. I covered their successes with a renegade group of hardsuited female vigilantes, The Steel Angels, the members of which were drawn from the ABC. The hardest part was leading both groups in the synchronized dance that allowed for the fiction that the vigilante group was the only effective group." She paused to take a breath; nudged in a little closer to her walking partner. "I'm a complex gal." "It sounds like it was quite a struggle, if in a different way than I'd imagined. I... the time I spent trapped outside normal realities seems to have caused a case of amnesia," he explains, a bit slowly. "It's irrational, but ... admitting it is embarrasing, even if it's neccessary. The point of a date is to get to know each other, after all, and I feel like I barely know myself." He shakes his head sharply, and forces his voice lighter as he continues. "All my skills are intact, fortunately, though I can't tell you any amusing anecdotes from medical school, or what my advisor looked like. I remember that most of it was an odd mix of exhileration at how I tore through the program, and exhaustion at how much work it was to do it. I know that I was recruited for the Danzai Foundation as soon as I achieved my Doctorate because they needed someone who was open to new thinking to be the physician for their new super-powered tokusatsu sentai, the Justice Agents Danzaiver, and my police training was really only the minimum to qualify under the charter." The forced smile becomes more natural as he moves into firmer territory. "There's more detail from there, I became close friends with a different version of Ambassador Gregman, a senior Inspector among the normal Justice Agents. I finally learned to swim, and spend time in water that hadn't been poured into a tub or pool without worrying about dangerous native creatures." Brought back to the present, he nods to Khimera and notes, "I have something to show you later, and thank you for," before skimming the important points of Arissa Shadow's attack on Foundation Headquarters that led to his attempt to stand in for the control element of the Danzaitron to revive the Danzai Soldiers, resulting in being reverted from pure energy in a hidden section of the flagship, Big Z. Khimera submerged the seldom-seen humorist part of her character that she thought of as S.D. Khi (External cool requires the repression of internal impulse, right Spock?); gave Daisuke's waist a reassuring squeeze while drawing herself in a little closer. "You know enough to be gallant, compassionate, goofily sincere & genuine: a fairly compelling collection of things that you don't seem to know about yourself. Reaching the holosuite at last, he taps the door control, but instead of the usual Chrono Racer door chime it produces the cheery synthesised "Bing!" of an elevator, and a second set of doors opens just inside to make the impression even stronger. Inside is a greeter who takes his jacket and directs them to the reserved table. It's against the wall which is floor-to-ceiling glass, and while the chairs do have backs they also pivot like stools to let guests look out at the Osaka skyline from the 40th floor vantage point without straining their necks. The place is quiet with low j-pop in the background and just a few other tables occupied - not anyone Khi recognises from the crew - and the lighting is moderate, the better to show off the early-evening neon and building lights. There's a framed picture of a different view entirely propped at the back edge of the table behind the napkins and condiments for whatever reason, but Daisuke ignores it in favor of pointing out a certain building with a lit shuttle pad at the top and a shield emblem in red, yellow, and blue neon on the side. "The headquarters of the Danzai Foundation," he explains. "It's only modified a little from what was on file for Osaka in 2050, to look close enough that it feels like mine." Khimera was astounded by the skyline: all that was really missing--and that was a happy omission--was the domineering sprawl of the regional GENOM sub-arcology. That and, she laughed musically as Daisake pointed out the Danzai Foundation building. "That's Osaka's AD Police headquarters! We really are fellow cops!" "Really? That's... well, logical I suppose, if the services and access are good for one police orginization it's good for another. I hope it didn't get over-run by terrorists or those robots you mentioned in the spring of 2050 like ours." "Osaka was only ever overrun by paperwork, boredom and ineptitude All the real excitement hit Mega-Tokyo in the early 2030s and New-Sydney in the mid 30s." She finished off her Campari. "If I had been assigned to Osaka I'd still be an Egregious Panty Flash with a Badge." She smiled sweetly. "You know I've remade my finest ABC creation, the Zip-Suit: fully zipped together it's an actual uniform; fully unzipped it's a naughty fetishist's dream; and in between the two extremes it's merely racy." The sweet smile took a slightly naughty turn. "There are times when I find my naughty-cop outfit absolutely indispensable." Taking the cue from Khi's flirty attitude, Daisuke played at being worried as he moaned, "Oh dear, I hope we don't end up one putting the other in handcuffs for Internal Investigations! That would be scandalous!" ' "Internal Affairs is the proper improper police terminology." She replied, with a slight grin. "And their investigations take quite a while to build to full prosecution." "Too much?" he asked, faux-worried face becoming more genuine. "Since I don't joke around too often, sometimes I go a little far when I do try to unwind." Perhaps ironically, he tugs his collar and tie a bit looser nervously, until conversation picks up again and it's clear Khi wasn't too offended. By then, a waitress has arrived to pass out menus and take drink orders, and he's babbled on quite enough about himself for a bit anyway. The menu is a laminated, three panel affair, featuring staple restaurant fare for entrees, meals ranging from light to substantial, and desserts, plus a few house specialties, but the back of the third panel is a standard Racer interactive mess hall ordering screen pretending to be ink on paper if none of them catch her fancy. There's also an open salad and sushi buffet set up against the inside wall. "Sorry, I didn't mean to carry on like that," he apologizes after she leaves again. "Did you have any particular adventure, your first time in the field like that?" Khi ordered aperitifs: two Campari on-the-rocks; suggested that a fun first-date meal was Shabu-Shabu, a Japanese hot-pot that diners cook at their table with the assist of a portable propane stove. Daisuke agreed that shabu-shabu sounded appetizing, and the drink palatable. Due to his enhanced body taste is the only real consideration for drinks; it would take more alchohol than would fit in his stomach to make him get drunk. "Then I suggest Junmai Daiginjō-shu saké. It's beautifully light, complex, fragrant and will compliment the flavours of the shabu-shabu." "That sounds quite wonderful, don't let me forget when the waitress comes back." That settled, Khimera told her own story. "That adventure would be the first time that an innocent wanna'-be wild-child had her eyes opened to what was really going down." Her eyes registered the hazy, far-away glaze of recollection. "Bimbo, fashion-cop Khi was wasting her talents achieving empty ends: the ABC was a whirlwind of ridiculous mass-media reported, micro-skirted romping pretty-police. Hell, I even invented the sexist collection of modular leather & zippers to ever cover, often barely, the assets of the single most alluring and incompetent police initiative ever mounted. Then I received my wake-up call: a legend, the leader of a hardsuited mercenary team, gave me the, 'You're a talented silly bitch' speech followed by the, 'Douche of Reality' speech followed by the Stunning Offer spiel. She wanted an energetic, organizational wunderkind to develop and lead a hardsuit-team in an overall agenda of confounding those very Corporate Interests that were messing with me." She stopped to drink the carmine sweet-saltiness of her iced- Campari. Daisuke sputtered and barely avoided a spit take, having just taken a sip of his drink. "Douche of Reality?" he repeated with a laugh. "Sorry, I know that couldn't have been as funny as it sounds, but you do have a way with words. Still, if this person sought you out and recruited you, you must have been doing something right even if it wasn't gaining wider notice." She shrugged eloquently. "I did play my ABC personae as an over-the-top and outrageous show-woman for the better part of a year. It like the uniform still makes the occasional appearance." "So I see... I spent most of the last six months alone when I wasn't fighting beside the other Danzaivers, so I'm a little out of practice socially, even without the amnesia. If nothing else, being friends with you will clear that up, I'm sure." "Just as I expect that my eccentricities will eventually even out now that I am but one woman again with no plans beyond knowing you better and, well...saving the the Human Race." "Making a girl cry on the first date! Brute! She smiled weepily, punched him companionably. "Now I've got to regroup my composure." She pulled herself together in the Little-Girl's Room Five minutes later, a composed Khi returned to the table; the food and drink arrived; the rest of the evening passed in delightful montage ending with the promising reward of a kiss that was considerably further along the relationship track than the earlier cheek-peck. A light blush warms his cheeks, and a suprprised look that spreads into a wide grin as he says his farewells. There's a spring in Daisuke's step as he walks back to his own quarters after returning Khi to her own door, and parting on such positive terms.