”I won’t let you do as you please!”
Names
Kawaguchi, Umeko (川口 梅子)
Nicknames
Gundam Girl, White Devil
Gender
Female
Nationality
Japanese
Ability
(Rage on, Giga Assault Humane Dynamo!)
Affiliation
Student at Daiseki Academy, part time Hero of Justice! Engineer on the best space probe!
Personality
Umeko is energetic. Once she sets her mind on a goal, she will pursue it relentlessly and without fatigue until she has reached it. Kawaguchi is extremely competitive, a driving factor in her enmity with the rabid Irishman, and will turn almost anything into a contest. Once she decides it’s a contest, she won’t give up as long as there is any room to keep going. Stubborn to a fault, but her heart is always in the right place. In many ways, she’s the definition of Chaotic Good, striving to be a Hero of Justice. Unsurprisingly, this blends right into her love of all things mecha and tokusatsu until it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. In many ways the two are one and the same. One has to have examples of justice to try and live up to, right?
Always eager to talk about the fiction, or models, with anyone who will listen. And some people who won’t, in the case of Brennan Griese. Eccentricities aside Umeko has an extremely keen mind for engineering if you can get her to focus. Problem solving and creative solutions are right up her alley, as long as they pertain to matters in which she’s interested.
Always eager to talk about the fiction, or models, with anyone who will listen. And some people who won’t, in the case of Brennan Griese. Eccentricities aside Umeko has an extremely keen mind for engineering if you can get her to focus. Problem solving and creative solutions are right up her alley, as long as they pertain to matters in which she’s interested.
History
Born to a reasonably wealthy family in Japan, Umeko didn’t have far to travel to go to Academy City. Her father was a businessman, so Umeko didn’t see him often; she was mostly raised by her mother. At a very early age she was fascinated by mechanical objects; cars, planes, trains, all manner of vehicles. The first time she was exposed to Gundam implanted it in her mind forever. As her enjoyment of the franchise grew, so did her fascination with robotics; she was working on her own projects by the time she was ten. They weren’t very good, obviously, but within a few years she was working on technology with genuine relevance. Academy City seemed like a godsend. Heightened technological capabilities, facilities with greater resources, opportunities to work on new and exciting technology…
Her own designs were making her money, with her father’s help, by the time she was fifteen. The sum has steadily increased as she produced better products, and got involved in the engineering community at Academy City. The best she keeps for herself, but patent fees alone are enough to support her. And the list of patents continues to increase. She lives in a modest student apartment by herself, equidistant from her school and from the small workspace she rents in District 23. That said, lately she chafes underneath the curfew and the increasing hostility in the city around her. As an ally of justice, she seeks to try and solve the problems. Even when it brings her into trouble with, say, Judgement.
レイジオン、ギガアサルトヒューマンダイナモ ! (Level 3)
Humane Dynamo, oddly enough, harnesses waste energy. Whenever there is force exerted, energy is lost; especially in impacts. Heat, sound, it all escapes and no one thinks anything of it. Not for Kawaguchi Umeko. This waste energy is captured from every impact, large or small, and is converted into energy within her AIM Diffusion Field. All espers emit one, but for Umeko the effect is increasingly strong with higher amounts of energy recaptured. The effect on the world around her usually is indicated by increased static electricity around her as well as the air around her being a couple of degrees warmer than her surroundings.
This is merely the storage method; the energy built up is merely stored in her diffusion field. This reservoir can be used to enhance her own output of kinetic energy, either in a burst or a sustained duration. The former is quick and efficient, an exertion from her stockpile to add to a blow or push. The latter requires more energy exerted, but can be used to increase her strength to move a heavy object with greater ease. Once she exerts the stockpile available, she has to wait for it to build back up; high-impact activities, resulting in greater lost energy, will add to it faster albeit at the (obvious) cost of short term energy exertion. Since there is no safe way to absorb an impact that would generate vast waste energy, she has to be patient and ration its use though she has been experimenting with conditions that generate high amounts of “waste” energy, but low kinetic energy. For reasons of safety, this experimentation is slow going but her early results indicate that coming into physical contact with other types of energy will replenish her as well. She can go from ‘empty’ to a full tank in a few days, shorter if she devotes a few hours a day to strenuous exercise. Small enhancements will sip at this reservoir, boosts that simply bump her higher up in the range of what is humanly feasible, whereas outright supernatural feats will burn through her reserves faster if used too frequently. Despite the simple result of how she uses the energy, the nature of her absorption leaves for substantial room attain a higher level.
This is merely the storage method; the energy built up is merely stored in her diffusion field. This reservoir can be used to enhance her own output of kinetic energy, either in a burst or a sustained duration. The former is quick and efficient, an exertion from her stockpile to add to a blow or push. The latter requires more energy exerted, but can be used to increase her strength to move a heavy object with greater ease. Once she exerts the stockpile available, she has to wait for it to build back up; high-impact activities, resulting in greater lost energy, will add to it faster albeit at the (obvious) cost of short term energy exertion. Since there is no safe way to absorb an impact that would generate vast waste energy, she has to be patient and ration its use though she has been experimenting with conditions that generate high amounts of “waste” energy, but low kinetic energy. For reasons of safety, this experimentation is slow going but her early results indicate that coming into physical contact with other types of energy will replenish her as well. She can go from ‘empty’ to a full tank in a few days, shorter if she devotes a few hours a day to strenuous exercise. Small enhancements will sip at this reservoir, boosts that simply bump her higher up in the range of what is humanly feasible, whereas outright supernatural feats will burn through her reserves faster if used too frequently. Despite the simple result of how she uses the energy, the nature of her absorption leaves for substantial room attain a higher level.
Expertise Kit
Kawaguchi Umeko is an exceptional engineer, especially for her age. Her primary focus is the field of robotics, particularly as it applies to powered armor and piloted machines. For obvious reasons. Since she works by herself, she is familiar with fabrication, wiring, programming, and anything else she has had to pick up on the fly. Though she wouldn’t claim mastery of any one aspect, sheer persistence and a capacity to learn accounts for a lot. This is enabled, on a different scale, by a passion for the skilled assembly of plastic models. Almost to the point of obsession. Asking about them is a trip down a rabbit hole you can’t really escape.
More expected, considering her boisterous behavior, is an avid and enduring love of kickboxing and other martial arts. As much as Academy City is a mecca for science and engineering, bringing so many strange people together makes for a lot of opportunities to learn other things, too. She never turns down a chance to learn a little about a style she’s never tried before. The result is a girl that can take apart the average person, even the average Esper, in hand to hand combat without ever even making use of her own ability. Considering Humane Dynamo enhances her own abilities, it only gets worse her any enemy of hers from there.
She also possesses a pair of gloves with padding and small metal disks at the knuckles, meant to help reduce any risk of injury punching things with her enhanced strength. Her Bluetooth hairband is her own work, too, with a built in voltmeter to trigger some small aesthetic changes. Swears up and down that she has a suit of powered armor of her own. It doesn’t actually work. Yet
More expected, considering her boisterous behavior, is an avid and enduring love of kickboxing and other martial arts. As much as Academy City is a mecca for science and engineering, bringing so many strange people together makes for a lot of opportunities to learn other things, too. She never turns down a chance to learn a little about a style she’s never tried before. The result is a girl that can take apart the average person, even the average Esper, in hand to hand combat without ever even making use of her own ability. Considering Humane Dynamo enhances her own abilities, it only gets worse her any enemy of hers from there.
She also possesses a pair of gloves with padding and small metal disks at the knuckles, meant to help reduce any risk of injury punching things with her enhanced strength. Her Bluetooth hairband is her own work, too, with a built in voltmeter to trigger some small aesthetic changes. Swears up and down that she has a suit of powered armor of her own. It doesn’t actually work. Yet
Family
Umeko gets along very well with her mother, whom she calls often, but has a distant relationship with her father. So often away on business even before Umeko moved to Academy City, their relationship mostly has to do with Umeko borrowing his knowledge to ensure the status of her own patents. She only sees him a few times a year. No other family to speak of.
Peers and Foes
Kawaguchi Umeko is an ally to all that seek justice! Mostly. Judgement gets a little complicated, considering their (relatively) passive policy and distaste for vigilante behavior. Oops. But generally she’s friendly, and raring to fight any injustice! Including that damned European who keeps trying to compete with her! Absolutely unacceptable. It would be one thing if he didn’t talk so much trash. Takes some real ego to insist on comparing, honestly.
Also an excellent tipper to any delivery drivers that furnish late night model or workshop sessions with food. There is little time for cooking in the pursuit of a real Gundam.
Also an excellent tipper to any delivery drivers that furnish late night model or workshop sessions with food. There is little time for cooking in the pursuit of a real Gundam.
@HereComesTheSnow @Plank Sinatra
