Private Meet the Robot [Request Miro/Kitsune]

[Toraono Michino]

It was a seasonally cold winter morning, but nothing overly unusual about it. Snow blew through the village covering every inch of stone until the street services were called into action to remove it. Moot, really, as another deep snow storm rolled through closing down certain parts of the road down to the main country below. It had, ofc course, caused the business up in the mountains to slow down with no one on the highly dangerous path up. Niche stores had already closed their buildings or moved down into Raiden’s Eye to do their business, and even some of the local popular ones were boarding up for the week. It left the streets rather bare and activity among normal criminals down.

Standing outside in the freezing winds, looking down from a balcony of the center tower, was a shaggy purple haired woman bent over slightly and leaning against a metal railing as her hazel-red eyes peered out onto the empty town. One arm was against the railing, the other only propped up an elbow against it that brought a lit cigarette occasionally to her lips to be inhaled. She was dressed in a long trench coat, winter pants, combat boots, and a white button down shirt of which the top three buttons remained undone. They revealed her upper chest and the smooth piece of flint that laid against her sternum; currently spinning in the wind. A strong gust of air and snow drove down on the high area she stood on but the woman showed no signs of being even the slightest bit cold; Rei was beyond such frailties.

She wouldn’t even be here today if it wasn’t for the summon. The scientist was, as ever, always busy with either her new job defending Kumogakure or her old one of creating destructive tools to do the same. Today was supposed to be a creative day as missions were put on a hiatus until the winter storms eased up, but in all honesty it was starting to bore her. The latest project was going to require some…supplies, and other various sundries that were drying up within Kumo. So, in all, the summons was a good excuse to get out the house and breathe in some fresh, cold, air; even if she feigned being annoyed with it.
Right as Rei finished the last puff of tobacco, a door slid open behind her to reveal a thin woman in a pencil skirt holding preciously onto a black clipboard. The wind pushed down hard again as the secretary stepped out, threatening to do away with her schedules, but a practiced hand caught the errant paper before it could lift off.
“You’ll be seen now, Ms. Ryuu,” she shouted above the storm.
“Please, just Rei,” the android replied in a clear tone as she turned quickly to follow the clerk back inside.

A wave of warmth washed over the new shinobi. It caused joints that were starting to freeze to loosen up, giving Rei an awkward half fluid/half stiff walk for the first few seconds of being inside as the secretary led the Machine past the front desk and down a long hall. Second door on the left, she opened and continued to lead Rei down three flights of stairs, another right out of three doors in another hallway, and back up a single flight of stairs. There stood before her a lone office where higher ups met with Jounins in privacy to discuss business. She had no idea why she was being summoned, but had no doubt that it had to do with a mission to track down something to do with that church again. Two had already been assigned and completed, just a few simple supply cuts based off some new information, but they weren’t easy. The opponent fought back fiercely, and the scientist had already seen three out of the four Genin she’d been assigned so far die from their ferocity. If this was another mission involving them, Rei might just ask to allow her to go this one alone. Of course, that was if this was all about. Once, she had been summoned in such a manner and it was just Kitsune who wanted to have a cup of tea and catch up.

The android reached out and turned the handle of the door, and slid it opened before stepping in.

[MFT]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune had summoned Rei to her office for a few reasons. It was time for a checkup of her mechanics, and no one better to do it in all of Kumogakure, given that Kitsune singlehandedly revolutionized the prosthetics the medical branch could offer, even to non-chakra capable people in the village. Secondly, Kitsune knew that Rei couldn’t go on missions during these temperatures, so why not spend a little time socializing with an old friend? Thirdly, well, Kitsune wanted to ditch paperwork for a while and do something that wasn’t boring. Like having a chat with a likeminded individual, also well versed in the sciences.

As timing would have it, Rei arrived just as Kitsune was pouring herself a cup of freshly brewed tea and she chuckled, as it sure seemed like that was a recurring theme at this point. ”Right on time as usual, Rei-chan.” she said as Rei entered the room, ”Tea?” she offered and gestured with the teapot before finishing pouring her own cup. Assuming Rei said yes, Kitsune would pour a cup for her and offer it. Afterwards, Kitsune would bring her own cup over to a set of big leather reclining chairs, sitting down in one of them and gesturing for Rei to sit down in the other.

”So, it’s about time I give you a checkup to make sure your body’s still functioning at peak efficiency.” she said, taking a sip of tea ”And I do so enjoy our conversations, I always end up getting fun new ideas to work on.” she added and chuckled. Last time they’d discussed chakra mechanics, Kitsune came up with a new method to construct artificial chakra coils in a manner that would essentially allow someone to use a mechanical exoskeleton without sucking their own chakra reserves dry. Sadly there wasn’t much use for it, as it was way too expensive to construct. She did upgrade her artificial human puppet, Hisako, with the tech though, allowing her increased performance from the perpetual chakra engine core in her chest.

 

[Toraono Michino]

The moment Rei walked into the room, a robust warmth swaddled her thawing body. It was far warmer in here than the building was allowed normally as a nice fire roared in a brick fireplace. Her eyes caught, first, Kitsune pouring tea, and this brought a smile to the cyborg’s lips. The very first time she had met Kitsune, personally, was some years back when she was first kidnapped into the weapon research facility. Rei was terrified at the time, but unlike everyone else there she was the only teenager. The rest were grown adults. Some of them had the air of chakra control around them, the rest seemed to be just as normal as she had been at the time. Rei could still recall with ease the absolute horror she faced when someone came and picked her off from the rest of the group to be led to a separate room where she found Kitsune pouring a cup of tea; just as she did now.

Rei stepped fully into the room and let the door automatically slide shut behind before nodding to the Raikage’s question of her own desire for leaf soup. Rei slowly eased herself into the leather chair, and picked up the little saucer with one hand while guiding the cup with the other. She lifted it to her lips and allowed the bitter drink to slide past her tongue. It was nice and hot, warming up her mouth and body far quicker than the fire was but that was to be expected - what little remained of her human form was mostly her core muscles.
“Do you want to work for Kumogakure?” Rei recalled Kitsune asking her as a teenager so many years ago. It was a sweet memory. She had been singled out for once invention she had submitted to the military out of boredom one day, and yet they were so impressed by it they went through the same protocols to recruit her as they did professional scientists. It was an honor to be kidnapped by Kumogakure when you didn’t have chakra potential; at least in Rei’s eyes it was.

“Is it that time again already? The year really slips by, don’t it?” Rei responded to Kitsune’s request for a check up. The cyborg placed the saucer and tea down on the table before shoving a hand into her jacket to look for, find, and remove a small metal cylinder. She reached down and drew up the shirt to reveal a bare stomach and inserted the tube where her bellybutton would be. It slid it about half way before there was a strange tweeting sound echoing from somewhere on her body. Rei turned the cylinder clockwise and a narrow sheet of paper with a coded message began to print out of the small cylinder. After about a full sixty-seconds, something tweeted again and Rei twisted it back and removed it; her abs returned to being just that. The scientist tore off the paper and put the metal cylinder back before placing the paper that was trying really hard to curl back in on itself on the table. She slid it over to the Raikage, picked back up her tea, and continued to enjoy the warmth in her core while Kitsune looked over the line of code.

It revealed that her systems were running at normal capacity, if just perhaps a little slow due to the weather freezing certain joints. The coil that had been inserted into her body and beyond was showing to be working without a hitch, and that her physical health was checking out normal as well.
“The joints still freeze up after extreme exposure,” Rei replied once she had counted to twenty, “but clothing helps keep them thawed. I was thinking of adding a regulator to my thighs so that at the very least my knees won’t stop working in blizzards like this if I’m chasing someone. Arms I can do without, if I have to,” Rei crossed a leg over one knee and relaxed back into the chair more. Normally she wouldn’t care for such creature comforts, but, Kitsune was probably the only person she never had problems letting her guard down around. Maybe it was something the Raikage wrote into the seals on her brain, or more likely, they shared a common trait by both being highly intelligent scientists in a male dominated field. Standing now as they did above the rest, it gave Rei a feeling of power standing next to the Raikage knowing she was that respected.
“As for inventions, I’m afraid that I’m a bit stuck on everything due to the weather. I’ve very much almost completed the Satsujin-sha Project which was is an upgrade to the original murder ball idea I had- you know, the one with the saw blades cleverly tucked away in a little ball? It houses four super-cursed katana blades; each on their own rotary wheel. Tucked away in a cannon ball sized ball of light metal…which is where I’m stuck at. I need a certain blood-type to contain the curse within the weapon so it doesn’t try to kill me. I’m also a little torn between which metals to use as I have to decided between weight vs power vs speed…and, ah, there I go rambling again.”

She placed the cup back down.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune chuckled ”It sure does, Rei-chan.” she replied to the cyborgs practically rhetorical question about it being that time again already. She would never stop being fascinated by how well Reis body worked, and how well it stood up to the rigors of shinobi life. Sure it was a collaborative work between the two of them, but still. The degree of perfection in terms of mimicking the human body, without all the downsides was astounding. ”I recall the discussion we had about including an entire printing system within your body, but it sure does come in handy, doesn’t it?” she chuckled as she accepted the roll of paper.

”Well within operational parameters. Mhm mhm. This is great news. That means instead of doing repairs, we can brainstorm new features. You say you’re having issues with freezing temperatures, so it sounds like we’ve got an icing problem to solve. I’m thinking, and really just spitballing here, maybe if we try a different metal alloy we could get close to something that wouldn’t be affected by shifts in temperature, while maintaining the same power to weight ratio as previous iterations of your joints.” she said, practically lost in thought about the problem to solve, already.

She looked up and tilted her head a little to the side. ”Now I’m no master metallurgist, but. And feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here. Gold is a great conductor, but is also so soft you can make dents into it with your teeth. While something like vanadium is a great thermal insulator, but is also quite soft, though still harder than steel...” she said, then paused before righting her head ”Meanwhile titanium can be made incredibly tough and durable. Maybe an alloy of the three would allow us to make an outer casing that could withstand not just cold temperatures, but hot ones as well. Your chakra core should provide plenty heat to keep your organics in the right temperature range, all on its own, due to the perpetual reaction going on inside it.”

The scarlet haired woman didn’t want her operative to work without arms if it could be avoided so of course the solution had to encompass all necessary joints, even if Rei didn’t consider them vital to mission completion. Then, Rei spoke about the murder ball project she’d been working on, mentioning cursed katana and how she was stuck in its development due to needing a certain blood type to contain the curse with so it didn’t try to murder her. ”Sure sounds like you’ve got your hands full with that one then. Have you considered maybe not using cursed katana, and instead opting for something simpler, that, maybe could shatter upon slicing, turning it from a slicing murder ball into a slicing/shrapnel-exploding murder ball?”

 

[Toraono Michino]

Rei flashed a smile at Kitsune when she mentioned the printing system, clearly having thought of it more as a joke. The scientist sitting across from the Raikage, however, did not; at least not in the end. At first she tried to view it with the same humor that Kitsune had, seeing only the impracticality of it, but what had started to become truly annoying was having to undress and open up her systems for a full check up. Rei didn’t mind any of it, at least from a moral standpoint, but it took at least an hour originally to complete the check ups which ate into her own personal time. She had a lot of things on her plate to make up for the lack of being an able shinobi until just recently, and preferred it that way; it helped maintain the reputation she desired. So, she took the joke and turned into from science fiction into science fact. She wired tiny chakra receivers throughout her entire body, organic or otherwise, and they all attached to a small box with a very limited roll of paper that would print out her vitals in code; only the Raikage and her knew what they said.

“That…yes, actually. You don’t claim to be a metallurgist, but that sequence of blend could indeed result in a high yielding performance against cold. I’m actually rather jealous I didn’t think of it first!” Rei exclaimed at her problem with freezing systems. “Once again, you never cease to amaze me with your understanding of the scientific method despite having had control over the supernatural strength of chakra for most of your life.”
“I have to say, if anything, these meetings do good to temper my fears of the future. I often find myself worrying uselessly at night over the progression of our country, and what could happen if there was to be a sudden surge of chakra potential across the people. Despite our technology and science that rules right now, the raw potential and power of Chakra still leaves science in the dust on a lot, and it risks leading us back into narrower thinking. I am thankful we have you for a leader. It helps qualms those fears a little…” and though, true as it was she did fear the rise of chakra users, her mind was already moving away from that stress and towards the correct ratio and formulas for combining the three suggested metals. Of course, she set that part of her brain on a sort of auto pilot before taking another long sip of tea. Kitsune was now asking why she was going through the trouble of using cursed weaponry.

“I’ll admit, it does seem a bit of a chore,” Rei began to explain, “but what you just mentioned is actually the newest prototype.”

Setting her saucer and cup down with a little clink, the cyborg stood up and flicked her arm at the elbow like a whip. A small orb, no more than 10cm in size rolled out of her palm. She attached a chakra string to it and tossed it into the air above the table. With a simple tug of the right middle finger, the ball exploded into a hundred tiny saws, and in a split second twitch of the ring finger, the blades hovered there harmlessly.
“I can control them to spin at varying speeds, move as many in and out as much as I want, and can turn a simple man into mincemeat in as little as twenty seconds,” Rei closed her hand into a fist and the blades all organized themselves back into a compact form before the metal shell covered them into a harmless ball once more.
“It was one of my first 'Puppets', based off of the Sunagakure technique we researched a few years back; I’ve added a few things to my personal version. It is a marvel of perfectionist math and science. The weapon with the cursed blades takes a hesitant step into the realm of the supernatural that I try very dearly to avoid. I do not know what power allows it, but I have seen the weapons I am trying to install cut things that it should not be able to cut. A single one of these katana also has about, easily, a stick of dynamite’s power behind them for no reason as well. Imagine four sticks of dynamite with the ability to cut anything. If I can control it, there will be so little that could stand in my way. It might even hold the potential to harm a god. Can you imagine that, Kitsune-dono? A weapon of Science that could harm a Creator? Its potential for basic combat supersedes anything else I have ever invented either; theorized or not. All I need is to find a bloodline that can handle the raw power of these weapons, and I can use that for a base to control it.”

Rei flicked her wrist down, allowing a hole to open up in her forearm that the murder ball harmlessly rolled back into until there was a soft “click” that it had been reengaged. She flicked it back up with a “clack”, and sat back down to pick back up the tea and allow the sublimely warm fluids sooth her as the scientist’s brain continue to quietly pick at what her Raikage had offered in ideas.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune chuckled ”I said I wasn’t a master metallurgist.” she corrected ”Besides, it was mostly a theoretical idea. We’d have to do a lot of prototyping, but I’m fairly certain we could bang something out that’d solve the issue.” she continued before Rei gave a compliment that Kitsune hadn’t anticipated. ”Well, technology and invention has always been interesting to me. Because despite how much we can do with chakra, we still can’t communicate with our neighboring countries instantaneously. Basically if we could share knowledge across the world with near zero delays, we could advance much further, and much faster than we already are.”

”As for chakra itself, I mostly don’t rely on it for my inventions except when I see no alternative for a power source. Like with Hisako, you remember her right? My artificial human puppet? I was at a loss for how to power her, when I stumbled upon a mineral that was chakra reactive. Chakra goes in, chakra perpetually goes out. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why that’s a huge deal. I started her reaction with a bit of my own chakra and she’s been running non-stop ever since. Which uh... Also gave some challenges when I upgraded her chakra coils not too long ago. Had to do them little by little ”

When Rei explained that what Kitsune had described before was actually her latest prototype she had to suppress a laugh ”I suppose great minds think alike” she said with a chuckle, letting Rei continue on with her demonstration and further theorizing. ”Well. A stick of dynamite with the power to cut anything seems a bit far fetched to me. Then again... I once made a theoretical chakra grenade. Tiny compressed ball of, well, death. Packs a punch comparable to about five hundred sticks of dynamite. Decided to not manufacture it. Too dangerous.”

[MFT; WC: 310]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Kitsune, ever the bastion of interesting information.

Rei had only known of his A.H.P. from rumors and having actually seen her once during a briefing. She was a thing of beauty that was hard to compare. The fact that the machine was a capable A.I. was already a feat in of itself, but given that the Raikage had given the said machine legs, was a feat that was surly beyond any form of technology any other country had. Yet, as interesting a topic that Hisako was, the scientist across from the Raikage was far more interested in this “chakra grenade”. Rei, herself, now had a literal list in her head of potential ingredients one would need to even build such a device. Then beyond that, there was a power containment inside of the shell itself that kicked up the list by at least another twenty potential items. Chakra was wily. One couldn’t just shove a bunch of molded chakra into a contained device and hope for the best. Even in a device that circulated a small amount of chakra constantly until the pin was pulled sounded extremely dangerous; one wrong senbon and that was boom-city.

“Inconceivable,” Rei blurted out, as if she was calling Kitsune out on a bold lie, “A chakra grenade is…impossible! The shell would have to be tight, strong, and really light, as the energy of Chakra itself has its own weight when it’s molded. Then you’d have to find a way to contain that in a…a, subterfuge of sorts to keep it in check. The only way I can even comprehend it is with a device far larger than a hand-held grenade. I can imagine a chakra bomb, and not one that could be easily transported or moved. By Raiden, you’d have to build the damn thing right where you wanted it to go off - best estimate is a week’s time. I, I just can’t!”

Her skepticism didn’t yield non-belief, though, as Rei’s eyes clearly showed a curiosity and desire for Kitsune to explain to her how and prove the fellow engineer wrong. If there was one thing she had gained from the last couple of years being under the genius of the Raikage, was that there was no such thing as thinking too far out of the box. The woman sitting across the table sipped her tea with confidence; and it was well earned. Rei’s own body was a miracle, being that her core was still very humanoid as opposed to the mechanical parts that made up her limbs and trace vital organs. By all means she shouldn’t be alive, for multiple counts, but yet here she was. Sipping hot tea in a cybernetic body that wasn’t killing her with gangrene. The inner sanctum suddenly shook a little as the sounds of the roaring blizzard outside strengthened.

“Getting really bad out there this year. I haven’t seen a blizzard like this in Kumo in nearly a decade…I wonder if something is going on out there.”

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

A grin played upon Kitsunes features, akin to the kind seen on cartoon sharks just before they find a rear end to chomp down on. ”See, I can see why you’d think that. But I can assure you, the math checks out. Did I forget to mention it was a liquid core? See I managed to liquify chakra way back. I used it to keep my reserves topped off during my erroneous incarceration with then Main Branch Sennin, Takaki Masao.” she explained and withdrew a small vial from her coats inner pocket and handed it to Rei. ”This is what I was referring to.”

She’d let Rei have all the closer looks at it as needed or desired ”It’s part of what allowed me to bond a weapon to a person, essentially making them an artificial Kensei. So instead of a strong bond between weapon and user, it’s a literal extension of the user, as part of their own essence is transferred into the weapon itself. Dealing with souls and essences is highly unscientific, but sometimes you just have to go for it, and every now and then it pays off. It did in this case as well, which is delightful.” she explained and leaned back in her chair, taking another sip of tea.

As the building shook from the gale-speed winds buffeting the tower, Kitsune raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t remember the last time the weather had been this bad really. ”I honestly can’t remember weather this bad at all, to be honest. Nothing that could make the Torre shake at least. This is rather… Unusual.” she said and looked out the window, seeing nothing but snow zooming past ”Nothing suggests untoward activity causing the weather, so maybe it’s just a terrible weather day?” she suggested with a light shrug.

[MFT; WC: 301]

 

[Toraono Michino]

The cyborg snatched up the vial with a quick flick of her wrists. She focused chakra into her eyes and reflected them back and forth across two ‘mirror nodes’ to increase the magnification of her vision for a second. Rei gently turned it in her hand looking at the unnervingly calm chakra liquids inside. Immediately she wanted to know everything about it, as well as anything she could also apply it to, because it looked like a different form of chakra distillation. She had one herself that could pull the latent chakra from a corpse, put it in a special box, and do a kind of ‘meat curing’ technique but for chakra that turned the remnant energy in crystals. These ‘chakra crystals’ were what powered all of her most powerful inventions and Rei couldn’t help but wonder what a liquidize version could mean for those said weapons. Reluctantly the cyborg rolled it back to Kitsune. The subject turned to the weather and she looked up at the ceiling.

“I’m not the superstitious type. I believe there is a logical explanation for everything that happens, however my devastated clan would beg to differ. We kept the majority of the knowledge collected from over the world, and there was a lot of it that just couldn’t be explained. That said, the old books always said that devastating weather was always a prelude to a great change. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a late spring with a influx of new Students! One can only hope…” Rei finished her tea and placed the cup back down on the saucer. Now that the check up was done and pleasantries had been exchanged it was only natural that she return to her duties…but she didn’t want to.

The harsh realities of being a full-blown shinobi instead of just a researcher that supported them with weapons tilted her view on a lot of things she had once held close to her chest. The biggest one had been getting over a death during a mission. Even with her ‘perfect’ mission clearance rate, she was witness to more than a few deaths that could of been prevented if she had just taken a few extra steps in order to ensure the lives of those around her. Unlike the men and women she parted through the gates with, she was a scientist first - ninja second. Rei didn’t go through the classes; she taught them. The first couple of missions had been a giant lesson in hubris and they still weighed heavy on the woman. So these small moments when she could just relax around a fellow-minded individual and discuss small things like inventions and the weather they…well ironically, they helped her stay human.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune mulled Reis statement over a few times in her head. ”You know. I think you’re right.” she finally said, proceeding to empty the cup of tea as there were almost nothing left in it, before continuing ”But at the same time it does seem kinda silly to let superstition rule your life. Personally, I’ve never subscribed to any superstition. Not even when I died and came back to life after having been buried. Well. Other than remembering that there’s something hungry in the darkness, and I’m not in a hurry to go back there. Luckily, my body seems to agree, because I haven’t aged in a long time.”

She paused and frowned a bit ”I suppose that’s why a lot of people refuse to take me seriously. I mean. Would you when someone that looks like a 20-something is barking orders at you? A lot of people seem to forget that I’ve been around longer than they have.” she said, folding her arms. It wasn’t an unreasonable reaction. Most people are naturally sceptical of young people when it comes to leadership ”Oh well. I suppose it could be much worse. I could’ve been stuck looking even younger than I do.”

Really she was game to keep chatting with her friend for as long as desired, as this was one of the more slow days Kitsune has had in the past months time or so. Lately, Kitsune had been doing research in the field of nootropics, or cognitive enhancers in common terms. She hadn’t been making much progress ”Say, Rei. Just out of curiosity here. Have you ever heard of nootropics? Or, cognitive enhancers, if you will?” she asked her friend while pouring a fresh cup of tea, waiting for a response from the cyborg.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Rei simply stared at the Raikage for a moment, trying to take in what she was just told. It had never really occurred to the woman, but Kitsune really hadn’t aged at all. She had known her for years due to her field of study, and the woman was even one of the first people to endorse her weapons into a full branch for Kumogakure. Rei’s time as the head of the short lived Puppet Department in Kumo’s military was only due to the literal immortal sitting across from her. Now, Rei couldn’t help but wondered if Kitsune slept at all anymore or if she dined on the blood of the innocent to keep this youthful appearance. There was a lot about her friend that was just downright mysterious, and she had never once considered that Kit might just be immortal; not that she cared about her methods. Being women of science, morality was something they both had let go of long ago when achieving a goal that, in their minds, was better for mankind than the sacrificed it cost. Rei’s only stipulation was children, even though she wasn’t a fan of them, the cyborg refused to have anything to do with child experiments; even super soldier ones.

Then Kitsune mentioned cognitive boosters, and it melted away some of those weirder worries about her immortal boss. So she did sleep, Rei assumed to herself as she reached to the porcelain pot to pour herself another cup,
“I happen to know a lot about them, actually. I don’t keep up on the studies of Public Boosters, but I have a very personal list of ingredients that I use to create drugs capable of keeping my brain from, you know, spazzing out over all the metal inside of my body that isn’t major organs. I’ve also come up with a rather powerful powder based ingredient I pack into dissolvable pill capsules that boosts my ability to focus. I haven’t found a way to increase my ability to think beyond what I already have the ability to do, though, but stay awake? Covered. A real cognitive booster would actually be helpful on a number of levels for myself since sometimes my thought process can be…buggy. I take it you might have found something yourself? If so, I have the list of ingredients for my medication memorized, maybe we can find a common factor and build from there?”

Rei lifted the small cup back up to her lips before giving it a soft blow, then a sip. Her eyes closed as the freshly warm fluids rushed through her remaining organics once again, causing a small sigh of pleasure before setting the cup back down. The scientist really did adore the tea made from Kitsune’s holdings.

[MFT]