Tension Forces

Brilliant Harbor
The sun shone brightly over a large white metropolis, giving it an intense gleam that amplified its beauty. It's unknown where the city was located, but it's hinted to be in a place accessible by only the World Government itself; typically, since it was one of their greatest creations — taking much time and energy to formulate for private use. This city was famed for being a safehaven for many scientists and researchers working for both the Marines and the government itself, giving them a piece of mind in exchange for giving their reserach and findings over to their employers. A nice trade-off, don't you think?

Said to be well-advanced beyond its years, this could be called a product of science itself. It's appealing with all the high-tech gear powering it constantly, most of which was solar-powered. It seemed appropriate since the island, which the city itself was built on was akin to — only day exists, with night being non-existent. For a human being, it's a strange feeling not being exposed to that specific time of day, since... everyone needs sleep, but for scientists, who rarely know the meaning of the word, it was not a problem since they have "supplements" for that. Kind of worrying... in a way.

Located at the edge is a nice, serene harbor where the ocean crashed against the piers ever-so-gently. High-tech boats of various kinds lined up in an organized fashion, each one created by and to an extent — belonged to a scientist inhabiting the city. All of them carrying either equipment or people that were personally approved by government officials for entry; I mean, precautions are a must, right?

Standing a Pier 10 — one of the 20 piers surrounding the island is a fairly tall and busty scientist possessing messy auburn hair and rectangular-framed glasses. Next to her was a small girl who was dressed like a nun and possessed a cute figure akin to a doll, despite the mischevious look in her eyes.

"Soooooo~ what's this person like, creator? Are they fun~?" Artemisia spoke. "I mean, you're not the type to be bothered with people unless they interest you in some fashion, so I can only assume they're Im.por.tant. Hehehe." At this point, the small girl has mischevious grin while slouching over in an informal manner.

"Yes, Arty, they are, so you better behave yourself. I can't have you embarrassing me... again... for the fiftieth time." Pyrrha was exasperated with her creation when she said this, given Artemisia's infamy with the scientists and officials in the area. The only reason she came along was so that she could keep a close eye on her, lest she galavants and makes even more trouble for her, which she doesn't need. "Make trouble for me, and you'll be my next test subject. And trust me when I say... it will be one you don't wish to take part in." Pyrrha said sternly.

"Haihai~! I'll be on my beeeeeeest behavior, I pwomise~!" Artemisia was acting cutesy when she said this, fully knowing that she can probably get away from her creator if push comes to shove. She's a free spirit after all. As she retorted, something caught her attention at the corner of her eye. A large high-tech ship could be seen in the distance and had made way to the harbor.

"Okay Arty, look sharp!" As Pyrrha said this, the medium-sized ship that she sent docked and someone came off soon after. Outwardly, she remained situated in a professional manner, but inwardly, she was fangirling. This was a person she deeply respected in the Marines because of both her beauty and her works. It was a real honor to meet someone of such stature.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Peg Nez to squint her eyes nearly shut, due to the sunlight reflecting off of the stark-white city. Frankly, she didn't know how people could stand such a thing; no sleep and constant retinal damage? The woman reached up to the brim of her glasses and ran her finger across the edge, which in turn caused a tiny tinted shade to be rolled down for extra protection against the blinding light.

Nez was all for dramatic effect, and so she truly decided to arrive in fashion to this establishment. Her long chocolate-colored hair was held up in a single ponytail, waving wildly as she strutted side to side down the pier. This confident stride and the tinted glasses most likely didn't make Nez seem too approachable, but then again, these women planned this meeting to discuss, not socialize on trivial things.

Eventually, Nez stopped in her tracks and looked around, adjusting her glasses and observing the area as though she were looking for someone; and looking for someone she was.

"Hello there~!" Pyrrha was calling over Peg Nez, trying to get her attention. Both Artemisia and Pyrrha made way to Peg's direction, with the two brilliant female minds coming face-to-face. "I'm so glad the officials would allow a meeting with us." At this point, Pyrrha was ecstatic to have met the person she was going to spend the day with, ironically-speaking considering the weather around this place.

"My name is Pyrrha Ganymede, first name Pyrrha by the way." She said with a bright smile that was almost as the rays that illuminated the city. Then, she introduced her assistant, pointing to the troublemaker beside her. "This little gremlin parading as a nun is my assistant, Artemisia. Don't be fooled by her cuteness. She can give you quite a headache." She said with exasperation in her voice.

"Heeeey~, I'm more than a nuisance. I'm a cute nuisance~♥" At that point, Artemisia was up to her old tricks... again. "You're still a nuisance nonetheless, so behave will you?" Pyrrha stated.

"Sooooo~ how's the trip over here? Was everything to your liking? I made sure to set the preparations while mommy-dearest over here was sleeping in the lab." She said as she posed for victory. Then all of a sudden...

*POW*

As if she reached her limit with her annoyance, Pyrrha gave her a good smack behind her assistant's head unexpectedly. "Oooooooooooowwwwwwwww~! What was that for?! That hurt y'know? How could you hurt your precious little creation like that?! So mean~!" Obviously, Artemisia was over-exaggerating for nothing.

"One: that NEVER happened. In fact, it was the other way around. And two: you pretty much deserved it. Damn, did that feel good." Pyrrha stated, admonishing the girl's behavior. "Anyways, moving on before you start up your antics again for the hundredth time. We should take her somewhere so she could unwind. Perhaps to a nice cafe in the city. Then I want to take her to my lab."

Turning to Peg, who probably felt somewhat embarrassed by that little display upon arriving here, she asked her course of action. "So Ms. Peg Nez, what do you want to do? You wanna go to the cafe or straight to the lab?"

Watching the eccentric series of arguing go back and forth, Nez mentally declared that all of the comments she received on her infatuation with Den Den Mushi were undeserved... there were definitely odder characters in the world.

"My trip was nice, thank you very much. It's also good to know that people do get sleep around her... I know I certainly couldn't" Nez replied to the robot, ending her sentence with a friendly and jovial laugh.

"I suppose a cafe would be nice, walking around would definitely do me some good! That ship doesn't go quite as fast as you'd think it should..." Nez stated before rubbing her lower back, as though she was experiencing some discomfort from the venture here.

"I see...." By the sounds of things, Pyrrha was displeased by the sound of her voice when hearing Nez's response. She was going to have a serious talk with the officials in charge of transportation since her explicit orders were to make sure that Nez's trip was comfortable.

*sighs*

"It seems the only person you can trust to get the job done was yourself." She said to herself. "Anyways, let's get moving. I'm sure you must be famished from your long trip, and I know just the cafe that will do the trick."

Chemcafè
As the trio of wonderful ladies left the harbor, Pyrrha made it her mission to show Peg some of the sites before her eventual departure. However, she made sure that she was fed first before anything. Making their way into the city, a nice calming breeze blew over the trio and everyone else that was around, as if it was welcoming Nez to this nice metropolis.

As they walked amongst the glistening streets — various tall buildings overshadowing them, small security bots passed them by — cleaning the trash off of the streets. It was one of their main duties after all. The white metropolis couldn't be "white" if "dirt" was found. Pyrrha would imagine that something like this would be slightly new to Peg, so she inquired her opinion on the matter.

"So Peg, what do you think of these cleaning bots you're seeing around the city? Pretty new isn't it?" stating with glee in her voice.

"They do seem awfully interesting... I assume they're expensive though... how do the people react to artificial intelligence?" Many thoughts entered Nez's head as quickly as she spouted them out loud, a bad tendency that she had. Not even waiting for a response to her questions, Nez walked over to the robots ever-so-gently, as though they were wild animals that she was attempting not to scare off with her movement.

From inside one of her many coat pockets, Nez pulled out a small, seemingly dormant snail. Nez placed her finger on the shell and rubbed gently, waking the snail from its sleep before placing it down on the ground and tapping its head a single time. With the tap, the snail's eyes began glowing and scanning the cleaning robot, performing a top-to-bottom analysis of the machine. Once the snail was finished, Nez promptly put the snail back into her pocket, presumably so it could rest more.

"I just sent those back to the lab for analysis, I hope you don't mind!" Nez exclaimed, looking back at Pyrrha's confused expression. "I've seen all of the individual parts of this machine before, but I've never seen them conjoined in such a manner..." Nez continued in a pondering tone.

"Oh, no worries. In fact, you could've asked some of the government officials a copy of their blueprints and they would've gladly sent it to you." Pyrrha said with a sincere tone. "In response to your que-" All of sudden she was cut off by her assistant.

"Haihai~! I can easily answer that!" Artemisia seems gung-ho about this, given how she raised her hand like a student who already knows the answer to a question. "Apparently, when it comes to artificial intelligence, the scientists here are rather blasè about it. This is due to them being introduced some years ago." As Artemisia said this, she sounded... professional, rather surprising given her mischievousness.

"I believe it was at one of the previous annually-held scientific symposium held at the Maritime Research Hall located near Pier 1. Anyways, originally the scientists and government officials were shocked to see such a breakthrough and quickly mass-produced them." As Artemisia continued, they were slowly approaching the dining and shopping district.

"But... like with all things, the A.I.s had their own share of problems. It wasn't big, but it was certainly troublesome." Artemisia had sounded a bit condescending as if it sounded like she already knew how to solve it right away. "However~, that problem what quickly remedied when mommy-dearest came into the scene." She looked at Pyrrha when she stated this.

"It was through her latest scientific breakthrough that the issue was solved and propelled not only G-Infinity, but the entire Marine organization forward a couple decades, if not centuries." Apparently, there was a lot of pride coming from Artemisia when she made such a declaration, proud of being created by such a sublime scientist.

"And that invention is-" Before she had the chance to continue, Pyrrha quickly covered her mouth, not wanting to spoil it. "Arty~, that thing is for later when we get to the lab. No good in spoiling it now." The amber-haired scientists were in a fuss about what her creation was about to say.

"Sorry about that. She almost spoiled the big surprise." She was desperately trying to recover from her assistant's needless babbling on that last part, seen in the somewhat embarrassed and stressed look on her face. "O-Oh look, we've arrived." As Pyrrha was shifting focus to her location, the trio stood at the doorway of a large cafe. "S-So, shall we go in? I'm sure you're famished from that long walk."

Opening the door, and the trio going inside, the cafe was rather spacious yet held an air of elegance and tranquility. From the music playing soothing tones to the spacious room that possessed the appropriate decorum from a cafe, one could say it was breath-taking. Upon arrival at the front, a robotic waitress had come to serve them. However, from the naked eye, one could mistake her as a human. She had long auburn hair like Pyrrha, albeit much cleaner and was wearing a Victorian-Era maid's uniform.

''<>'' Upon making such a statement, the three followed her leading them to a rather comfortable booth. "So Peg, which side do you want to sit on?" Pyrrha stated. "I have to sit with this one, so she doesn't make trouble for anyone else here." pointing to Artemisia as she made a bold, yet accurate claim. "Awwww~ I'm not 10, I can bwehave." her assistant stating in her usual cutesy manner. "I pwomise~"

"No. Now hush. We're in public." At this point, one could see that Pyrrha was on the verge of getting a migraine from dealing with her assistant. Nonetheless, she waited on Peg's response.

"Haha, w-well it doesn't matter to me, I'll just sit on this side..." Nez tried not to accidentally express how she felt due to the awkward air that Artemisia and Pyrrha's bickering had inadvertently created. Surely, if this was the current state of robots on G-Infinity, there was... work to be done, to say the very least.

All of that aside though, Nez's thoughts were quickly filled with the possibilities of the "surprise" that Artemisia had nearly mentioned. Nez wasn't exactly, impatient per say, because no good scientist is... truth be told, she really just didn't like not knowing things.

"What was that surprise that she mentioned?" Nez inquired, clasping her hands together and staring straight towards Pyrrha with an excited sparkle in her eye revealing that she was very eager to unveil this secret.

"Well... you can say thus little surprise of mine is the reason why I'm so highly-valued by the World Government and the reason why I've been put in charge of maintaining G-Infinity (as weird as a name it is)." Pyrrha was trying to be low-key about it because she knew there were others that could be listening in.

Looking at the menus in front of them, Artemisia already knew what she wanted to order, but the other two were taking their time. By the time they made their decision, the same maid that showed them to the table was ready to take their order.

<> Though her voice was robotic, there was a tone of deep reverence and sincerity behind it; must be due to her programming. "Ooh ooh, me first~!" Artemisia was showing the usual child-like energy. "Alright then, just quiet down. We're in a restaurant." Pyrrha chided her for her sudden outburst.

"I'll have the tuna tartar with quail egg, the duck with pear mostarda, and a Summer-Island Sunset smoothie." It seemed that despite her childlike demeanor, what she ordered was rather... mature. <> the robotic maid retorted. "For me, I'll have the Tosa Wagyu Sukiyaki as my main and for my drink, a Winter-Island Deep Blue smoothie with a side of coffee." Pyrrha's order seemed... large for someone of her stature, but she hasn't eaten since this morning, so such a big plate wouldn't stand a chance in the face of her appetite.

<> the robotic servant retorted. Turning to Nez, she asked the following. <>

"Hm... I think I'll just take the Water Cake please. I'm not particularly hungry." Nez ended with a smile as the robotic waitress glided off in a different direction. Nez reached back and tightened her ponytail before she took her glasses off, something that she considered to be respectful whilst dining with another.

"Well you seem to have quite the reputation and ability already, why call someone like me here?" Nez inquired, resting her chin on her hand and looking towards Pyrrha inquisitively.

Performing the same actions as Nez out of etiquette, she proceeded to answer her question. "Here's the thing. For a long time...." Before she could continue, she looked down and started to blush, considering her reason to bring Nez all the way out here would seem... childish.

"I've been a big fan of you and your works!" It was like a teenager confessing their love to their crush. Pyrrha was rather sincere in her statement, as there are no female Marine scientists that stood out as much as Nez, which she aspired for. "Ever since I've joined the Marines with my best friend, Luna, I've aspired to become a scientist — hoping to make a difference. At first it was hard because of people seeing me as "cute" and didn't take me as seriously as they should, but..."

Before she continued, she took a deep breath and calmed herself a bit more — trying her best to be professional in front of her idol. "when I first heard of you in some of the latest Marine reports, I was... captivated. Not only by your beauty but also your intellect. I wanted to reach the same plateau of respect as you. Thus I worked hard for all these years, so one day I could meet you." She looked straight at Peg after such a grandiose statement, wonder what her reaction will be.

Nez's expression was completely blank as Pyrrha went on, and even for a few solid seconds after she had concluded, as she seemed to be processing the information before giving the appropriate reaction. It was rather abrupt when her face flushed with the deepest crimson color and she hid her face in her hands as she rocked side to side rather comically. She didn't seem to be bothered by Pyrrha's confession; quite the opposite, truthfully.

"Oh wow! I never would've thought that I'd be recognized in this manner!" Nez expressed fervently as she removed her hands and attempted to calm her raging embarrassment. "Anyway, it is definitely difficult to get taken seriously as a woman Marine... understandably so, too, considering how attractive you are!" Nez laughed nervously before continuing on.

"W-well I'm sure that you did all of the things that you've done for other reasons... after all, there is more passion to science than simply meeting your idol. With all of the amazing things that you've accomplished in such a relatively short period of time, I'm sure it amounted to more than this meeting