This may have been her first day off in awhile. When she wasn’t working for the JSDF, she had been doing side projects. At a certain point, it became necessary to do something else for the sake of sanity. She’s wearing pretty much all black in a t-shirt and long pants.


She looks up at the climbing wall. This wasn’t her first time at a climbing wall, but the first time at this one in Ahikibara. Someone comes over to help her with her a harness, but she waves them off, “I got this. The girl over there may need your help though.”


After securing herself, she starts her climb. It had been too long since she did something meditative like this, but she falls back into the grove of everything. Her upper body strength had declined some, but she’s still stronger than most, not struggling as she gets higher up.

Valdis pulled her long waist length purple hair up into a high pony tail, tied with a white hair tie. She was dressed in her gym clothes that she usually wore to work out. It consisted of a white form fitting top with a thick purple stripe running down on both sides. Her pants also with the purple pattern were form fitting with a slight flare towards the bottom. Her feet were bare for she preferred climbing rock walls with bare feet. She found the rock climbing shoes didn't give her enough grip for her to feel comfortable with.

She put on the harness pulling it up to her waist and adjusting that section of the harness first before moving down to the straps on her legs. After inspecting her carabineer which also was a bright purple she walked up to the nearest rope that was hung up and tied the standard figure eight knot required. Fully ready she waited for the staff member who would be belaying her to come over.

Valdis looked up at the wall; it looked easy enough...after all yesterday she just climbed up 80 floors threw an elevator shaft. She wondered if Jun had worked out how she had gotten into his office yet. Once she got the go ahead Valdis took to the wall...she was making good time until she got to a section where the wall jutted out. She would have to have enough finger and upper body strength to get up....She looked down...she was about fifteen feet up not that high yet. With a deep breath she took the first hand hold, she made it to about the fourth and was dangling upside down when her grip slipped.

She fell....and fell....the rope whizzed by, then WHAM. The sound of a body hitting a mat hard echoed throughout the gym.

Valdis had hit and landed flat on her back, her eyed bugged out as the wind got knocked out of her and she felt a painful crack of her back. She rolled onto her side and wheezed a bit trying to bring air back into her lungs. After a few moments air returned; an angry stare directed at the employee who was suppose to be belaying her. What the hell had she been doing instead of watching the rope! Yes she didn't fall often but still....

"You....leave....now...."

On another wall, one of the 'advanced' ones, a muscular male makes his way up the crevice minus the harness. He had brown hair going down the back of his head, obviously facing one of the walls away from Taika. He wore a white tank top that let his well toned yet rather scarred arms and shoulders show. His bottom half was covered by a black pair of sweat pants and shoes appropriate for this activity. He was climbing the wall using only his arms, letting his feet hang as he ascends. Every so often, he would pause for fifteen seconds and allow his arms to rest before pushing higher.

To Kurio, this was a workout of a somewhat more enjoyable sort of workout. After some of the more recent stresses, he had to clear his mind. Too much combat recently, the base shrinks were yelling at him daily to take more time off than he had, even to the point they contact the Captain to give him extra leave. Today was one of those days.

About two thirds up the wall, Kurio pauses again, the sound of something catching his ear. He looks down and sees a purple haired girl on the ground, though due to the distance he didn't immediately recognize her. Shrugging, he begins to ascend again, hand hold by hand hold.

Taika can’t quite put a name to the male’s face. He’s outpacing her a bit, which makes him noticeable. She was a damn good climber. And she’s sure she’s seen him before somewhere. However, the number of people employed by the JSDF was too numerous to remember every name. She’s racking her brain, but she’s got admit it’s a little ballsy to start climbing without a harness. She wasn’t even sure how he convinced the staff to let him do that. She wonders if she took the harness off right now if anyone would notice….

*WHAM*

That was the sound of a fall if she ever knew one. It takes a good deal of restraint to hold back the schadenfreude. She had taken a few in the past, and unfortunately for her, they had been on less padded surfaces. What was the point of a harness if no one was attending it anyways though?

She jumps off the wall and rides the rope down the ground. “If no one’s watching the rope, I don’t need a harness. I’ll just do what that guy’s doing,” she says while taking everything off. She looks at the purple haired kid, “Looks like you’re better off without one too. How about a trial by fire? Go over to the advanced wall and learn to climb without a harness… more or less what I did.” It’s a little less than more if she’s honest. She started off by breaking into buildings after all. But her illegal activities of the past weren’t too dissimilar, were they?

She goes back over to the advanced wall, and tries to see if she can catch up with the mystery guy. Damn… she gets the feeling that this guy outranks her or something, and she can’t remember his name at all.

Val stood stretching out her back, quite frankly when doing sports like this even if she did injure herself it wouldn't stay that way for long. She shooed the person who was suppose to be belaying her a way. She would be getting her money back from this climb. Valdis looked over when she heard another girl slide down and announce she was doing this without a harness. It was probably a good idea...wasn't like it was providing the safety it should anyways. Valdis raised an eyebrow when the woman addressed her....and made an interesting suggestion. This brought a grin to her face; here was an older woman suggesting and even encouraging a teenage girl to attempt something dangerous in disregard to all safety measures.

"Count me in"

She decided she like this woman. Valdis stripped herself of her harness and tossed it over at the butterfingers. She fallowed the woman to the wall and looked up...was that Kasei's brother? Well she was planning on bugging him soon anyways. This was probably better then bugging him at his sisters bedside. Although....she'd have to get up there first.

Valdis didn't waste much time getting to it. She began to climb, bit by bit. She didn't make it very far the first time before, wham....back down on the mat. This continued as a pattern however she made more and more progress up the wall. One would have to admire her persistance.

As Kurio kept ascending, not aware that there were two women behind him possibly competing on some level with him, he keeps raising his altitude, one jagged hand grip after the other. The way he saw it, the workout wasn't done until he reached the top, though at this point he has to stop ignoring using his legs and scrambling in the rest of the way to the top.

As he nears the top, he pauses and looks down, seeing the purple haired girl who had fallen off another wall trying to climb this wall, without a harness. A bubble of sweat went down his head as he observed the repeated failures, before he reaches to another handhold and ascends, pausing for a moment as he reaches one of those awkward spots that have no obvious path. He begins to shuffle to the right slowly, looking for a more clear path up.

The staff members on the ground cringe at the fact that not only was the military lieutenant climbing without protection, but a beginner climber and another woman were trying to follow the same example. A particularly brave one goes up to Valdis on one of her falls.

"Excuse me ma'am, I have to insist that you use a harness to use this wall, especially considering your...experience level with it."

The kid had spirit for damn sure. Taika watches her failures from a little ways up the way, reliving painful incidents from the past. However, it was amusing to watch beginners try hard. She looks up to the guy who was probably her superior. She probably wasn’t going to catch up at this point.

She watches as the staff member bothers the teenager. She moves back down. “Listen, as far as I can tell, you guys don’t give a shit about the harness policy or you simply don’t have one. Either you’re selectively enforcing a rule, which is a bunch of crap, or you’re harassing someone who’s trying to learn, which is also a bunch of crap. Besides, the harness didn’t do anything to prevent her from falling the first time.”

She points to the beginner wall, “Why don’t you pretend to watch the ropes over there again?” Looking back, at the teenager, “Alright, let’s teach you not hurt yourself, so this people can go back to looking busy.”

Valdis continued to climb she was making good progress, getting at least a quarter of the way up before any slip ups. When she fell she was getting better at landing on her feet instead of her back. So there was improvement. After another one of her repeated falls a staff member had the audacity to walk up to her. If looks could kill the glare Valdis sent out would have landed this person six feet under. She was about to say something when the other woman stepped in.

"What she said...."

She turned to the woman with a slight grin.

"I'm always looking for pointers; cause its only a matter of time before Kaneko realizes I broke into his office via the elevator shaft. I like to mix things up"

The staff member backs off, intimidated by the forceful approach that Taika had taken, along with Valdis' own flavor of defiance. There was going to be a long discussion later with management on how to prevent this kind of thing from happening again: the legal liability was overwhelming.

By the time the latest spat was over, Kurio was at the top of the wall, pulling himself up. He looks down at the others who were making their way up, before he takes a seat on the bench up top. There were these benches to allow those who make it all the way the ability to rest, along with an emergency staircase in case of incident. He sits up, taking a pause to gather himself, still unaware of his pursuers.

He took a moment to think about things were escalating quickly, out of the knowledge and the advisement that the public was aware of. Things seemed normal to them...but if his gut instinct was right, it was only going to get worse before it got better.

Taika raises an eyebrow as the teenager speaks to her about breaking into Kaneko’s office. “Either you’re lying or Kaneko is as much of a dumbass as I thought he was. Who allows their office to be connected to an elevator shaft?!” She grumbles, “You think someone like him would give a shit about security measures. But if it were true, I guess that’s another reason to doubt that damn Shogun project besides it being an unoriginal, ineffective long term solution that is also sketchy as hell.”

“Not that I don’t think he’s a complete idiot, but that story’s hard to believe.”

She turns to the wall, “But we can climb and talk. First thing’s first. Don’t let your hands or feet get too spread apart. It’s easy to lose track of your positioning on the advanced wall since there are fewer handholds. Also, sometimes you need to back track. Don’t be so focused on moving upward. Always keep in mind the present. Do you have enough places to hold on to ascend further?”

She climbs a small ways up the wall, “So what’s your relationship with Kaneko? Or do you also want to punch him in his smug, arrogant face?”

"Wasn't so much the elevator shaft as the air ducts attached to the elevator shaft. Turns out his whole office is his home to.... scared the crap out of him while he was getting ready for a shower...didn't even notice me sitting in his chair. It was amusing; although you have to admire his ability to keep face after being scared. But it sounds like you know Jun personally?"

Valdis tilted her head, she hadn't gotten much information from the shogun project this person talked about yet. Although it sounded like this woman had a chip on her shoulder over Jun...she supposed he did have that smart ass quality to him. Valdis took the woman's advice; she was more of the keep moving forward always looking ahead type so focusing on what was there and now was a bit of a change. She began to make more progress then she previously had.

"My relationship with Jun is mainly to switch my musical career over to the agency he owns. Other then that I see him as a challenge. He has a good mask of composure on; and daddy's mask has become too easy to break. So he's my new pet project...So my relationship with him is he's my new toy that I haven't broken yet"

She grinned wickedly.

"So what do you have against the Shogun project?"

Taika shakes her head as she talks about crawling through air ducts. “You know… there are normal office buildings with better security that don’t have CEOs living in them. Also, a word of advice. Don’t make a habit of climbing through air ducts unless you want a bad case of bronchitis. Well, unless it’s really worth a few weeks of bad coughing fits. Also, when they crank up the heat, they tend to burn too. But really, you should just learn how to analyze security systems and learn a bit about social engineering. A small lie said with the right amount of confidence can go a very long way… And it’s a lot less painful.”

Breaking and entering was more than going crawling around in cramped locations with lockpicks and screwdriver. Those things helped, but there were sometimes easier and faster ways to get what one wanted. And it always helped a bit to know what different security systems were on the market as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

She looks at the teenager behind her, “But no, I don’t know him personally. I suppose I had the displeasure to speak with him for a few moments as he eavesdropped on my conversation. Honestly, that was enough to tell me he was tool. As for the SHOGUN project, a more mobile vehicle isn’t really what’s going to win the war. It’ll simply buy time, and probably not near enough. It’s very flashy, and it looks cool on video. It’s also something that the public can easily digest. And that’s why it’ll get a ton of support, and people will be very excited about it. I’m sure it’ll win a few fights early on as it will be unexpected. However, the Covenant is nothing if not adaptable, and they’ll tear through them after awhile. The problem is that most people are stuck in a mindset of more conventional warfare. I don’t think an effective long term solution is one the public will like or want to hear.”

“When you meet someone so self-assured in an outdated philosophy or one that you believe will doom your entire species, I believe you are allowed to hate them.”

Valdis nodded, it did burn...and to analyze security systems sounded fun...But it was official Valdis officially liked this woman. She didn't take to people immediately often; but she liked this woman's readiness to corrupt the youth of Japan. Although the woman sounded like she had experience in such endeavors....if it proved to be true Val may of found her first female role model.

"Teach me master in the ways of confusing the hell out of my colleges. If I gained access to the knowledge on how to analyze security systems and break them I'm sure I would turn my father's hair entirely grey; that and Juns....."

Ok new goal.....drive Jun batty to the point of a full twitch out. Val continued to make her way up; she was doing a lot better this time around. She continued to listen with interest as the woman continued to talk about the Shogun project..so they were some sort of suits.

"What do you think is the long term solution? Also I didn't catch your name"

She chuckled at the obvious hostility towards Jun; she wondered if he was as flirty to this woman as he was to her when they first met.

"Everyone has something to protect when your in the military or associated with projects like Juns involved in every one has a different opinion on how things should be done. In this world its whoever has the most man power and support that see's their way pushed on to others. When there is a hierarchy of power such as this people will always be stepped on and their dreams opinions will be snuffed out. When that happens its un avoidable to despise the person who is silencing you...I'm assuming you're in this position with Jun yes?"

She was beginning to catch up to the other woman and keep pace with her.

Taika laughs as the teenager calls her master, “Yes, my pupil, you can learn from my failures. Also, seeing Jun’s hair turn grey might be worth it. I’d be willing to impart my wisdom just for that.”

Taika sighs, “My name is Taika. And if I knew the answer to what would end this war, I’d be a rich woman… It’s just not a tank with arms and feet. We need to be targeting the Covenant leaders… If you’re not doing something that they’ll make them piss themselves, then you’re not doing anything worthwhile. The SHOGUN will be very effective against their enslaved masses, but the Covenant has the ability to make more, making it an ineffective strategy. No… I’m sure Virgo would look at the mech and be relatively unimpressed. But back to stopping the corruption from where it stems. Hmmm… I’d support taking weed killer to the weeds. But I don’t think biological or chemical warfare is the most supported option. Tends to make people feel uncomfortable. But something like that, that would make the queen bitch shit herself, I’m sure.”

“I guess there are other alternatives that may work just as well. A weapon designed against the physiology of the higher classes of Covenant. But that requires extensive study on their anatomy. Another thing that makes people uncomfortable.”

She raises an eyebrow as Valdis talks about hierarchy and being at the bottom of it. “That’s a pretty astute observation. Yeah, I guess you could say that.” She laughs, “But I probably earned my right to be at the bottom of the totem pole.”

“In all seriousness though, there are other reasons I hate him besides the differences in opinion. One, I get the sense Jun is hiding something. And I don’t know what that could possibly be. It’s really annoying when something seems so wrong, but you can’t tell exactly what is up. Two, his arrogance makes him insufferable. Three, he’s held to an entirely different set of standards, and that’s pisses me off.”

Ahh the bonding power of goal to cause mayhem, it was a beautiful thing! The woman also had the same idea of targeting the Zodiac members first.

"I'd be one for supporting the study of the Zodiacs anatomy; how is one to defeat an enemy if one does not understand its inner workings. You have to understand something completely before you know which spot to strike to send it tumbling. We're out numbered easily by the covenant so we need to hit smarter not stronger. So I can see where you are coming from; however at the same time those underlings need to be taken care of and distracted otherwise we'd be swarmed like a piece of discarded candy on an ant hill. So the mobile suits have their uses; I'm sure they'll require less man power then a traditional tank which means less losses on that end."

She paused as she was force to stop and look for the nearest hand hold...it was out of reach....sort of...she looked down she was plenty high up now. So what she was about to do was slightly idiotic...but hey. She crossed her arm over and took hold of a hand hold with both hands. She then kicked off and swung her body to the side. Her feet horizontal to her hand hold. With the momentum of the swing she shot her hand up and grabbed the hand hold that was previously out of reach. With some effort and shimming she was back on course of climbing the wall.

"A Zodiac has just been taken down yes? So we know it's possible to bring them down. Perhaps that could be a good argument for pushing forward to understand our enemy better"

She raised an eyebrow with interest when she mentioned she had earned her right to be at the bottom of the totem pole.

"Being at the bottom means you can chew at the ankles to bring the ones above you down. But what makes you say you've earned your place?"

Valdis shrugged when she made more comments on her disliking Jun; a chuckle escaping her lips at the dig at his arrogance...his arrogance was what made him a particular fun toy.

"I like to make a game out of his arrogance; by being more arrogant then him. I have never met a man before who can maintain a cool attitude after being surprised in the bathroom by a person who just broke into his home. He'll be a particular challenge to crack, so I will be happy to have a partner in crime. When do the lessons begin?"