Geekin Over Gadgets [SM, Engineer]

Akui found herself cruising towards Bellmuse Central, in a bit of a rather good mood, as she was actually doing something potentially interesting: according to the sign-ups at the academy, there was a local engineer that was looking to teach someone the ways of weapon design. Of course, Akui doubted that she would have much to learn from her, she was still interested in meeting another woman of the same caliber: smart, strong, and independent. There were way to many lame chicks at the academy who were more worried about the new guys joining up then the fact that the way the electricity was set up in the girl's dorms could be about thirty-five percent more efficient in design, or cared more about who was sleeping with who and how to get their party on then trying to design personal transportation that was not only cheap and efficient, but also environmentally friendly.

Just the thought of all those stupid b****es made her want to vom as she weaved around traffic on her hoverboard, which was just one final test away from being officially completed. She hopped over three cars and banked off and dumpster and landed in front of the building that was on the sign-up sheet. Akui dismounted her board and dragged it along as she walked into the shop. As the door closed behind her, a weird noise that sounded like a victory theme played in the shop...she couldn't remember it, but it seemed familiar, some about blue and bombs came to her mind...

Her thought process was interrupted by a loud crash from the back room. "Hang on, I'll be there in a minute, just let me fix this-" it was caught off by another crash and what sounded like a small explosion. "Ahhh, DAMMIT! Son of a...UUUGGGGHHH!" This was followed by a slamming noise and a girl awesome blue and green hair emerging with oil all over her face. She stormed behind the counter and grabbed a towel to wipe her face off. "Guess I'll be taking care of you now, stupid fricken...errrrgh. Welcome to Scone's Scopes, what can I fix for youuuuu oh god you're that gangster chick!" the girl recognized her after all the oil was gone, and she armed her self with a wrench that seemed like it was a lot more, but Akui just rolled her eyes and sighed.

[401/1000]

"Oh come on, f***ing really?"

"What do you want with me? Do you want my money?" the female faunus assumed a more defensive position.

"F***ing Christ, I was told you were intelligent. If I wanted you f***ing money, I'd have taken it and been gone already. You should probably be less lax about your security."

"...Then, what do you want from me?" she asked again, her look a bit more questioningly.

"Technically, I'm here for the stupid shadowing mission s***, but I highly doubt I could learn something from you. However, I'm much more interested in that gizmo of yours. Is it an omnitool?" she blatantly put before asking her question as she laid the flyer.

The faunus girl just looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was dreaming: the terrifying leader of the Pink Death gang who kill thousands...want to know about her prized creation?

"Umm...is this some sort of joke?

"What, like life itself?"

"Fair enough...well, this right here is Clocker. I made him when I was six, and he's been with me ever since. It's not nearly an omnitool, just a regular multitool, but he is everything I need and more."

"You're wielding it as a weapon, what's it's striking form?"

"You're lookin' at it." she said with a smile.

This made Akui smirk; this chick seemed alright to her so far.

[637/1000]

"So I was told you were a prodigy of some sort. I want proof of this prodigy."

"Prodigy? Peshaw, dunno about no prodigy, just good at what I do. This here can be any tool I need at any point, or a wrench for clubbin' folks."

"Primitive, but effective, I'm sure. What else you got?"

The mechanic faunus just smiled before leading the gangster to the backroom of her store. Once there, she saw this gigantic machine that looked like it was just recently huffing and puffing along, although now it was kinda just hanging around with no purpose.

"This is my greatest invention, an invention that burns dust cleanly and safely and still provides enough energy to run my entire shop. Now you may think it's a failed experiment, but it was working fine until I decided to expand it to handle multiple shops...now I'm stuck. I already figured I could fix it by completely dismantling it and starting from scratch, but I need it for my shop, so...yeah."

Akui heard everything the chick said, but she kept just staring at the contraption in front of her, a glimmer in her eyes: She always loved admiring technology, and she already learned everything she needed to about this chick just by looking at her creations. She worked hard, was highly intuitive, and cared about others. She then looked at the chick for a second, then unclasped her bracelets and chucked Agony and Infamy at the chick, who caught them easily.

"What the-"

"Agony and Infamy. I recently upgraded them, but they haven't changed much. Best friends I've ever had. First made them a few days after I escaped from jail, with no prior experience in crafting any sort of weapon...just some info on glocks and dust. Finished them in about a day's time, little less. They have an aura-lock feature that I designed before knowing that was a common feature, and I integrated nanotechnology into them and the magazines...something I've been obsessed with since I was younger."

The chick was eyeing her weapons the same way that she herself had eyed her creation: glimmering eyes, soaking up all the information. After a few moments she looked up at her, her eyes a bit easier on her than they were beforehand. "You...you've been through a lot..."

"Hmmph." was her only response before looking at the efficient dust-engine in front of her. "Partially dismantling it may not be a bad idea, downsize it a bit so it has less working parts and is easier to repair. If you design a system that moves the dust around the same pipes and process until it's ready to use, that could get you closer to what you are looking for."

The chick looked at her and smiled, then tossed her guns back to her, which Akui then pulled the charm on each and wrapped them around her wrists. Then the chick's smiled opened and she had something to say. "Those guns are works of art, unlike anything I've ever seen...but they made need to be upgraded again at some point. As you are aware, you aren't killing thugs anymore, but wild beasts...and they put up way more of a fight. It seems you prefer semi-automatic, and I think I know why, but you may want to put in an option for full auto sometime soon: the split seconds between pulling a trigger and just holding it could be the difference between life and death."

Akui smirked: it was solid advice, something she had been thinking herself, and she assumed that this chick had already thought of her suggestion as well. They were 'bird of a feather' as it were, and she stuck out her hand in the form of a fist. The chick returned the bump, and the just stared at one another for a second before Akui hit her with a "Later, chickadee." and waved as she escorted herself out of the shop.

She may not have learned about engineering, but she did learn that it was okay to open up just a little bit, and that this new life she had was different from what she had in the past. Different...but okay.

[1244/1000]