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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Crimson eyes darted over the mute girl's message. "Worried? About me, I'm flattered, but you shouldn't be." She batted a hand dismissively, the last she needed was someone worrying about her. "And for the record, I do. Your bob cute, that bandana, your diminutive stature. You're like a little cinnamon roll I could just eat you up." Izanami let out a hearty laugh, followed by a demure smile. "You must have to chase the boys away with a stick, I know I do." Her armored tail whipped over her back like a scorpion's stinger. "Well, those I don't intimidate anyways."

Izanami made herself comfortable sitting on her armored maws, filing the metal talons on her nails as she watched Dee and her crew set about their work. It was rather whimsical watching their antics. It almost made her wish Earth-Chan had given her adorable summons. Almost. D.R.A.G.O.N. could sense her thoughts, the maw she was seated on vocalizing its displeasure in a throaty rumble of metal and steel. "Oh please, as if anything could replace you two." Izanami said, bashing her fist against the side of the metal dragon's head to get it to silence for her. "I've gotten to used to having you two poking around my brain, I don't think I'd give it up even if I could." They weren't a perfect harmony, but they didn't need to be. Perfection was boring, perfection implied a lack of further development. Izanami was of the notion things could always be improved.

Waiting patiently until Dee and her crew finished, Izanami's mouth was beginning to water at the smell of cooked meats. She looked eagerly at the food as it was presented to her. Tail moving to coil beneath the platter and lift it up to chest height. "Nonsense, I wouldn't refuse food offered to be. Lettuce wraps are fine." She said as she began packing one of the leafy greens full of an assortment of grilled meats. "So tell me then Dee, how do you expect payment. Name your currency of choice. Gold, yen, dollars, favors... skulls?" She was unsure what passed for currency in these parts.

Her first bite was magical, Izanami grew silent, save for the sound of her chewing. She kind of lost herself to the world around her, simply savoring home cooked food for the first time in what felt like forever. Blissfully enjoying herself until one of her internal readouts noted the calories had been added to her fuel reserves. It prompted Izanami to snap back to the present. "Exquisite." She said with a sigh, not even invested in her drink yet. Content to just sit there and savor each bite. "So, Dee, where's a mute Japanese girl from out in the sticks learn to cook?" It was always interesting to hear about people's lives before the collapse. Back when the world felt a little less crazy.

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Now Izanami's patience was beginning to wear thin. She read over Dee Dee's note and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's what I said. Everything naughty is covered, which is the same reason we wear clothing. It could be furs, it could be armor, it could be clothes. It's still covering your skin, it means you aren't indecent. It just so happens that what covers my skin is stored in the subdermal tissue." She set Dee Dee down, turning to face her. Izanami really had to bend over to reach eye level, hands on her hips. "And what's wrong with wearing something skin tight that hugs my every curve? Hmm? It's a free country, well, what's left of it. People can dress how they choose, this isn't Soviet Russia."

Of all the things in this crazy messed up world to complain about, the fact her attire was shapely and flaunted her figure was not one of them. Certainly not in Izanami's eyes. "And for the record, I know the waistcloth doesn't cover the back. It's not supposed to. It's mostly to display Ryūzaki heraldry and look stylish doing it." She stood back up, turning as she began walking towards the park. Making sure to add extra sway to her hips to flaunt those curves Dee was so hellbent on complaining about. "If you want to spend your time making reinforced clothes for me, so be it. Fair work deserves fair pay, but they better be stylish. And match my hair." Style was important, it was why her kneecaps looked like small dragon heads when donning her armor. Izanami was of the opinion form and function could be one and the same.

"My D.R.A.G.O.N. is controlled by my thoughts, yes, but it's not physics breaking. If it activates from within my body, it's automatically underneath any clothes I happen to be wearing. Meaning any pair of shoes, ruined by these talons." She held of her armored foot, wiggling the twin claws as if they were her own toes. "Constantly buying new shoes does not sound like a fun time. Were this before E-Day, I'd happily do it. I love cute shoes. But, now is the time for pragmatism, and pragmatism is a half ton suit of cybernetic armor."

"The spikes are for self defense." Izanami said with a shrug, the spikes along her twin maws' tubing retracting back within her armor. "And they look cool." Just as quickly they pierced back outwards, giving off a metallic sound as they deployed. "And while we're at it, if something can disable my D.R.A.G.O.N. remotely, then I have much bigger problems than being naked. Like the fact I'm without my entire class and completely defenseless. If that scenario happens, I'm either dead, going to be, or I'm running away as fast as my curves can carry me. Nakedness is the last of my concerns." She reached into her cleavage, accessing her inventory and pulling out a large t-shirt. Gunmetal grey, with Ryūzaki Industry's logo embossed across the chest in crimson. "I have clothing you know, I'm not some kind of weird nudist degenerate. Most of my wardrobe that survived E-Day is in my inventory, what do you think I wear around the house, or when I sleep?"

Izanami stuffed the garment back into her inventory, "IF the situation arises that D.R.A.G.O.N. is non-viable, then I'll just have to make sure to change. Until that arises, I happen to like wearing my armor. It gives me superhuman abilities, it's hard to go back to just being normal." That much was certainly true, D.R.A.G.O.N. was the best and only truly good thing to happen to her since the events of the collapse. It brought a kind of freedom she'd never known in her pampered life before. "And every second of every minute of every hour I wear my armor, it's training. Acclimating to it, and its systems. Normalizing my movements and the armor's augments to my abilities. It means when I do fight, I do so at peak performance. I'm not caught off guard by my own equipment from a lack of sufficient use or practice."

A vein throbbed at Izanami's temple as Dee Dee continued to bring up the point of her curves, even going so far as to try and cover up her ass with a towel. "I am aware of that darling." She said coldly. "It's a tail, it's not there just to block the view of my ass. It's to assist with balance, act as a tripod to brace my hellfire cannons..." Her twin maws retracted their teeth and shut their jaws. Their mouths configuring into hellish flamethrowers rather than biting melee weapons. "...and to use as a weapon in combat. Hence the barbed tip." As if to prove her point, Izanami had her tail coil around the towel, joinking it away from Dee Dee and carrying it up to her grip. She held the towel in one hand, offering it back to the girl.

"You're such a prude darling." Izanami said, handing over the towel. "You like tomatoes, I like high tech cybernetics that actually show of fmy figure. It's in our nature, so just accept people for who they are. I'm not telling you not to eat tomatoes, so you don't go and tell me to cover up my ass. It's not the 1700's anymore, women can flaunt more than their ankles. Besides, it's not even skin on display. It's a highly resilient, thermal insulating, heat resistant polymer." Izanami had kept from raising her voice during this whole exchange, which was good considering she normally had such a fiery temper. Dee Dee was cute, if puritanical. It wasn't worth yelling over.

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]"Then we'll make it so." Izanami said, excited at the prospect of a fresh cooked meal. "A few minutes is trivial, I spend more than that brushing my hair in the morning." She did have a substantial amount of hair, Izanami's ruby main flowed down to the small of her back. She tossed a hand through it as if to illustrate her point. "I know the part though, not far off the Waypoint. I suppose that'll work, if we don't mind getting damp." The rain had mostly let up, at least she hoped. Though it still looked plenty grey outside, no doubt chilly and cloudy.

Izanami chuckled to herself at reading Dee Dee's age. "You? Eighteen? Darling it's rude to lie. But, if you say so." It's not she could ask her for an ID, seeing as there went many governments around still issuing valid ones. Maybe she was eighteen, that meant Dee Dee was just, very small. If Izanami stood too close to the girl she'd be unable to see her, lost in her blind spot. "Yes yes, friendship is power and all that. It's good to have people you can rely on, it's bad to have people you depend on. Never let others dictate your agency in your actions." She waved a hand dismissively, the mechanical maw on that side mirroring the gesture.

Izanami let out a long sigh, as she stepped past Dee Dee. "Darling you need to quit fixating on that nakedness thing. Just because I do not wear clothing, does not mean I am indecent. Besides, I have this lovely waistcloth." She gestured down to the long rectangular fabric that draped down between her thighs. "Besides, how exactly would I wear your clothing? Are you going to poke holes in it for my jaws and tail? Do you expect my claws on my feet to fit inside shoes? And how will you keep the spikes on my armor from shredding whatever you'd have me wear?" Her tail lashed out, wrapping around Dee-Dee's waist and scooping her off her feet. Small as she was, that wasn't hard.

"If you're going to keep bringing that up, you're going to get carried to the park. And, even better, I don't have to listen to you protest." Because Dee Dee couldn't speak. What was she gonna do? Type furiously at her? "Is having your armor embedded in the subdermal tissue of your body, activated by a neural link to a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence implanted into your chest cavity really constitute as nakedness to you?" Izanami wasn't dropping this subject, just like she wasn't dropping Dee Dee as she made her way down the sidewalk. "If I had just told you I used magic to summon my armor, would that not have satisfied you? Or would magic armor still not count as clothing in your eyes?"

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami would say she listened to Dee Dee's reply, but truthfully she didn't. She didn't have to, since the mute girl only seemed insistent on writing or typing. It made conversation easy, Izanami could essentially ramble and monologue and not talk over her, only pausing to reply to whatever was written on the screen. She continued eating the tomato like a hand fruit, it tasted far better than it had any right to. Tomatoes were for sandwiches and salads, not eating raw like they were an apple or something. "It's a good tomato, I'll give you that." She said simply, chewing a mouthful of food.

Dee Dee went on to elaborate all about her love of tomatoes. "I will agree to disagree on that." Izanami remarked with regards to the best food ever. It was a toss up between German chocolate cake or Kobe beef for her. Not that she had gotten to enjoy either since E-Day. "Though I will admit its a rather versatile vegetable, well, fruit technically. Aren't tomatoes berries?" Horticulture wasn't her strong suit. Izanami kept listening, well, reading. Eyebrow raised at Dee Dee's enthusiasm for tomatoes. How could someone love a vegetable so much. "I'll have to take you up on the food cart offer at some point. I'll be sure to actually eat the food myself." Mercifully, D.R.A.G.O.N. had no taste buds and relayed her no sensory data on what it consumed. which was good, because she would make her armor ingest rocks, debris, scrap metal, all in search of precious metals to repair itself with. Any needless biproducts converted into combustibles or fuel.

"Call it a hunch, but I could have guessed you weren't from the city." It was Izanami's subtle jab at Dee Dee. None of her mannerisms, her enthusiastic nature, her constant proving questions. None of it reminded her of the Tokyo denizens. People from the cities tended to be more insular, preoccupied with their busy lives. Izanami sighed, looking out the window of the bar as the topic shifted to tutorials and her parents. "Perhaps." She rolled her shoulders, this was too much contemplating for one day. D.R.A.G.O.N. did not share her emotions, it did not seem to possess any capacity for more human emotions like love, affection, worry, or fear. It was part of why she referred to it as a tool, rather than a living entity. All her deep seated concerns for the well being of her family were alien to it, and its logic driven programming.

"I can't know for certain until I have proof, and proof of anything is hard to come by these days. So I'll have to keep waiting, and hold out hope." Izanami said, hating herself for admitting aloud what little she could do. A silence hung in the air, Dee Dee couldn't speak and Izanami was lost in thought for a moment. Only breaking it when she looked at the latest message. "Sure." Came her reply, anything to take her mind of family and home. "Tell me anything you think is worth knowing." Her armor-core's databanks hungered for more than just material to upgrade. Knowledge and information was a resource all its own. Anything Izanami could learn about the system was useful information, and anything worth knowing D.R.A.G.O.N. would archive for safe keeping.

Izanami reached over, plucking a copy of the book from Dee-Dee's hands. "Cute cover." She muttered, flipping through pages casually looking over the book. This was where being a mute was more tiresome. Izanami couldn't read the guide and Dee-Dee's messages at the same time. "It'll give me some light reading to do when I'm not busy." She folded the book up, and shoved it down her chest. That was literally how Izanami tended to access her inventory. A force of habit carried over from before the collapse. With a bust like her own she'd never much seen the need for a purse, that mindset carried over to the present. "You this friendly to everyone you meet D?" Usually friendly people in her life wanted something, holding ulterior motives. Money, affection, clout. Not that she could offer much of either these days.

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami quickly scanned through what Dee Dee was writing, nearly spitting out her drink. "No! Ok well, yes, but no. Define naked? Everything is covered, it's not like I'm indecent. But D.R.A.G.O.N. is also like a second skin." Her cheeks flushed pink at the comment, and she crossed her arms folded beneath her admittedly massive bust. "Because. I happen to prefer my armor deployed. It keeps me alert, ready for combat, and the extra appendages are useful." She swirled her drink in her mug, it was getting cold. Hidari proceeded to breath a gentle flame over both the mug, and Izanami's own hand until it was boiling hot again.

"It's not just about being warm." Izanami added, dismissively waving a hand. "D.R.A.G.O.N. is thermal insulating, but also thermal resistant. My affinity is fire, both dealing and mitigating. Heat bothers me less than it does to thanks to my [Hardened Scales] Passive. But... my body is also like a living fusion reactor thanks to [Dragonsflames]." She pursed her lips, blowing out a steady wisp of black smoke to illustrate her point. "You should see how much I need to eat..." Izanami added, not that eating was the right word. Consume was more appropriate, with her maws devouring goblin sized creatures whole in gnashing, bloody bites with cutting teeth and crushing jaws.

Dee Dee's continued barrage of questions had Izanami growing more irritated. "Because, even tools can be deserving of names. Why did King Arthur name his legendary blade Excalibur if it's merely a 'tool?' The same reason I named the heads of my D.R.A.G.O.N.. Because one can have fondness even for the inanimate." Her gaze narrowed, casting her attention to her twin maws. "Mmm... I know, she talks a lot for one who doesn't speak." Izanami was not speaking to Dee Dee, but addressing Migi and Hidari directly. "No, we are not devouring her. I know she looks appetizing, that's besides the point!" She pounded a fist against one of the maws, it seemed to wince in pain. "D.R.A.G.O.N. doesn't have feelings, it is an artificial intelligence." Izanami added, her gaze visibly scolding her own armor. "The armor-core, it is directly linked into my nervous system, including my brain. That is how I can manipulate my armor as easily as my own limbs. That is why it feels what I feel, and I sense what it senses."

Izanami downed the remainder of her drink, setting aside the mug as she cradled her head as if nursing a sudden headache. "But that connection is a two way street. Just as I can command D.R.A.G.O.N. like my own body, D.R.A.G.O.N. accesses my brain like an external databank. It, they, whisper thoughts into my head constantly. One head speaks only truths, the other tells only lies." Izanami shook her head, running her hand back through her hair and reclining in her metal folding seat. "And the worst part is I can't decide which one says which."

"You know that little voice in the back of your head?" Izanami said, gazing up at the ceiling. "Well they devoured it. Now I have two voices in the back of my head, neither one my own. They, we... I, I now operate by a simple mantra that D.R.A.G.O.N. has taught me. 'Rip and tear, until it is done.'" Izanami held up one maw close to Dee Dee's face, the teeth spun violently like the teeth of a chainsaw. The jaw flexed shut briefly sending out a shower of sparks before ceasing the display. "Crush, Kill, Consume. Devour my foes, assimilate better and stronger materials, upgrade and become more powerful than we are."

Izanami paused, collecting her thoughts. She inhaled deeply, chest heaving as she did. "Apologies, it's easy for me to lose focus." she tensed her back, as D.R.A.G.O.N. once more contracted up an withdrew inside her. "If you don't get enough nutrients, what does your body do? It starves." Izanami said dismissively. "D.R.A.G.O.N.'s armor-core is irreversibly a part of it. Ask what happens to it if I don't get enough to eat is like asking what happens to your legs if you don't get enough to eat. My blood pumps through it like coolant, its wires and circuits course through my body. I'm not even human anymore if i'm being honest with you, more like a cyborg." She looked at her hand, activating and deactivating the armored fingers of her hand one after another as she wiggled her fingers. In a way it was sickening how easily she would will metal and wires up from beneath her skin.

Dee Dees constant fixation on Izanami's nakedness eventually wore her nerves thin. "Alright, yes, you win. The leotard is also part of D.R.A.G.O.N.. It's the underlayer to my plugsuit that the mounting harness affixes itself to. Ok? Are you happy now? I just choose not to be completely indecent in public, as much as these people would enjoy that." She snatched up the blanket, wrapping it around herself as much for modesty as for warmth. Her hand snaked out from beneath the blanket, grabbing the tomato and lifting it to her mouth. Normally eating a tomato raw would be weird, but Izanami needed some kind of mental distraction. Nothing was worse than being cooped up with her thoughts.

Taking a bite out of the tomato like a fruit, Izanami rubbed the juice from her mouth with arm. "Why do you have so many tomatoes anyways? Are you some kind of farmer?" What did it matter? She took another bite, too proud to admit it was the best tomato she'd eaten in memory. Or maybe that was just E-Day talking, fresh vegetables were a luxury in most places these days. Izanami tossed the tomato from one hand to another as she spoke. "Yes, I'm from Japan. Tokyo, Minato Ward. My home is a damn cyberpunk dystopia now, and most of my country didn't survive the events of E-Day." Izanami looked bitterly out the window at the rain. "I want my home back, its why I grow stronger. I want to see Neo-Tokyo liberated, the nation of Japan restored, and to be reunited with my family." She took another bite of the tomato, it gave her time to think. "Or... should it come to it, find proof of their passing. So I can properly mourn." She did not like entertaining the thought that her parents may be gone, and that she was alone in this strange new world with only D.R.A.G.O.N. besidec her.

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami scoffed at the notion. "Friends? Hardly. It is simply a tool, a weapon. Nothing more." She waved a hand dismissively, and her twin maws did not seem to take offense to her remarks. Again the young girl asked her name, this time Izanami finally replied. "Izanami Ryūzaki, eldest daughter of Yamata Ryūzaki, and heiress to the Ryūzaki fortunes." She scoffed again, it all felt like a lifetime ago. "My 'friends' do not have names. I simply refer to them as Hidari, and Migi." Literally, Left & Right. Despite her statement, the two metal appendages visibly perked up at the sound of their names. Like obedient hounds heeding their mistress' call.

"My 'armor' is more than just a suit. It is D.R.A.G.O.N., Dynamic Raiment Augmented for Grand Operational Neutralization." The name was a mouthful, which is why most preferred the acronym. "More comfortable clothing?" Izanami asked and chuckled to herself. "How comfortable is your skin to wear? That's how comfortable my D.R.A.G.O.N. is to wear." She set down her coffee cup, to keep it from spilling during what she was about to do next. "I am perfectly capable of taking it off. Observe."

Izanami's brow furrowed in concentration for a moment, as she mentally issued the command to D.R.A.G.O.N. to retract. In a moment it began, the tail of her armor retracting into itself segment by segment. Her twin maws clamping shut, as the long metal tubing that extended from them to her back withdrew into her body until they were flush with the power pack on her upper back. Her tail retracted until only its barbed end pierced out like a stinger just below where her maws were now affixed to her back. The cybernetics that covered her neck, arms, legs, all of it began to physically withdraw into her body. Metal and polymer replaced by synthetic flesh and blood. Izanami inhaled sharply as her additional appendages pulled fully into her back along with the armor's power pack. It took but a few moments in total, and left the curvaceous woman naked save for the grey leotard she wore.

"I will never get used to that sensation." Izanami admitted, running the bare skin of her hand along the now equally bare skin of her arm. "It's like a metamorphosis in reverse. Like having your limbs sucked but up into your body." Her hand picked up her coffee cup, nails painted bright red to match her hair and eyes. She held the mug shaking slightly in her grip as she took another drink. Izanami also shivered, it was far colder in the bar outside of her D.R.A.G.O.N., being as scantily clad did not help one bit.

"To answer your question better, I'm perfectly capable of taking off my armor, but never removing it. D.R.A.G.O.N. is not just a suit of armor. It is a living, feeling cybernetic organism. Like a symbiotic parasite. It is fueled by the nutrients I consume, it mends my body just as it does itself. The nucleus of it is its armored-core. It is a perfectly spherical cybernetic organ implanted beneath my chest." She pointed to her chest... there was an immense amount of chest blocking Izanami's chest. "Earth-chan says should the armored-core be removed, I'll die. So for better or worse, D.R.A.G.O.N. is a part of me now. No different than your hair or limbs are a part of you."

She clenched her fist, and just as quickly as it retracted within her, D.R.A.G.O.N. returned one more. First emerging from her back, forming both the power pack that acted as the mounting fixture for her tail and maws. The two signature appendages sprouted forth, as long hoses protruding from her upper back before unfurling the collapsed jaws at their ends. Without hesitation both maws happily devoured the tomatoes set forth, swallowing them whole even as the remainder of D.R.A.G.O.N. covered Izanami's arms, legs, and torso. "Much better." She said with a swish of her tail as the armor again encased the entirety of her body from the head down. "Any questions?"

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[attr="class","inner-finally"]Izanami was still lost in thought when the stranger wandered over. She had to physically lean forward and look down over the slope of her own immense bust to the see the girl, but sure enough she was there. An eyebrow raised she watched the young girl pull out a notebook and physically scrawl out a note for her. She glanced over the handwriting, what, was the girl some kind of mute? "I'm used to inconvenience." Izanami replied, taking another sip of her macchiato. She was in no mood for small talk, though the offer did pique her curiosity, if only to see where it led. "Chairs are small, and not strong enough."

The girl proceeded to retrieve an otherwise unassuming folding chair, sturdy and metal but otherwise mundane in appearance. Izanami rubbed her chin as she studied the simple looking piece of furniture, she did not trust it to take her armor's weight. "Alright, I'll bite." She replied, already slowly rising to her feet. One of her D.R.A.G.O.N. maws lifted and returned to her side after shaking itself off. Tentatively, Izanami lowered herself onto the chair, expecting it to buckle under the weight of her armor. And to her mild surprise, the chair held firm. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but her rear made up for that. Tail draped through the back of the seat, Izanami crossed one leg over the other. Her waistcloth draped between.

"Alright, I'm surprised that worked." She wasn't too proud to admit it, looking over the diminutive girl more closely. What was she, like, eleven? "Got a name kid?" Izanami asked coldly, still not much interested in conversation even if it was a one sided affair. The maws of her armor leaning forward to study the diminutive girl from either side, inspecting her silently with eyeless heads. All the while Izanami maintained drinking her coffee, eager to enjoy it while it was still warm.