The Mech Touch

Each of them have seen their parents designing mechs in a similar fashion for years now, so they developed a particular liking for expressing their creativity in this way.

Of course, compared to the complicated professional design suites utilized by full-time mech designers, the three munchkins had to make do with a simplistic children's drawing program.

This was more than enough for them to draw crude figures. The art, style and aesthetics did not matter much to them as their imagination was already doing most of the work.

Though Gloriana objectively found the drawings of her children to be ugly and a stain on her eyes, her overflowing love for her son and daughters allowed her to overcome her inherent disgust.

None of her children had taken any formal art classes, so how could they know anything better?

Even their designer baby genes offered little help in making them more proficient in drawing. They would have to be conceived with designer genes especially formulated to raise artists or artisans.

Gloriana walked up behind Aurelia and kissed her proudest girl on her cheek.

"What are you drawing, my dear?"

"Can't you see, mama? They're cats! Look, here is Clixie, and here is Lucky. Don't they look cute?"

"They certainly look cute." Gloriana lied as she tried her best to maintain a pleasant demeanor.

Aside from the blotches of color, there was nothing in the drawing that looked anything close to a feline. Gloriana would have to be drunk if she could recognize a single cat from this mess of lines and colors!

"Miaow~"

Clixie didn't seem to mind at all. The Rubarthan Sentinel Cat happily laid beside Aurelia as more and more 'cats' began to fill up the projected drawing interface.

Gloriana couldn't stand her perfect daughter continuing to make a mockery out of art, so she gently tutored her girl so that she would at least be able to make passable drawings next time.

"Remember what I told you, okay? Start by getting good at outlining a single cat before you go any further. Clixie is by your side all the time, so you always have a readily available model by your side. If you are able to make a decent line drawing of her, I'll give you a present."

"Really?"

"Mama never lies, sweetie!"

The young mother showered her eldest daughter with kisses before she moved over to her other daughter.

"Meow~"

Lucky happened to keep the younger girl company. The mechanical cat had draped his body over her lap which made for a comical sight.

Fortunately, Lucky didn't weigh much more than an organic cat despite all of the advanced hardware in his body, and he possessed the ability to manipulate his own gravity, so Andraste hardly bore any pressure.

Unlike Aurelia who had opted to use all kinds of colors in an attempt to depict different cats, Andraste kept it simple and stuck to making sketches with simple black lines.

Of course, Andraste was also younger and might not be proficient in manipulating the drawing interface, but Gloriana could already tell that her second daughter simply preferred it this way.

"Hm?"

Andraste showed greater talent in art than Aurelia. The mech she drew looked surprisingly good even if its proportions weren't accurate at all. The angle of view and the pose of what appeared to be a Valkyrie Redeemer looked like it was taken straight out of a snapshot of the mech in battle.

"Do you like mechs, honey?" Gloriana asked.

"Yup!" The little girl chirped. "I want to pilot a mech just like this when I grow up! I will beat lots of bad guys with auntie Helena when I am strong!"

Gloriana smiled with both pride and concern. She came closer and hugged her doll-like daughter from behind.

"I'm so happy for you, but don't be in such a hurry, okay? Let us wait until you are 10 years old before we plan out your future. No matter if you become a mech pilot or not, you will always be able to work with mechs. This drawing of yours tells me that you might be able to follow in my footsteps! Doesn't that sound great, sweetheart?"

Andraste clearly didn't think so because she immediately shook her head. "Designing mechs is boring, mama. I want to fight with them! I don't want to sit around all day!"

The two chatted a bit further before Gloriana kissed her second child on the cheek and approached her only son.

Marvaine's ability to draw sketches should have been the worst considering his young age.

However, his specialized designer genes granted him a considerable advantage in this area.

Even if he was still too young for his designer genes to exert their full potential, Marvaine instinctively mastered crucial skills that would allow him to visualize mechs to an impressive degree when he matured!

Gloriana curiously studied what Marvaine was working on at the moment.

At first glance, her son had chosen the same subject as Andraste, making it look as if he was copying his sister.

However, the image looked substantially different.

Andraste had opted to make a line drawing of a mech she loved. Her feelings for the mech prompted her to make the mech look as cool as possible. Accuracy and realism weren't big concerns to the energetic young lady.

Marvaine adopted a different approach towards his sketch. He already began to imitate the demeanor of his two parents and did his best to pretend as if he was a mech designer.

His sketch showed an attempt to depict a draft design with as much accuracy and fidelity towards realism as he could manage.

Even if Marvaine was far too young to master any real knowledge or skills, he appeared to be quite good at learning from his parents!

"How impressive." Gloriana genuinely spoke as Marvaine did a surprisingly good job at reproducing a draft design for a boy of his age. "Is this the Dullahan Project that your father is working on, Marvaine?"

Her son nodded but pouted at the same time. "Yes, mama, but I hate it. My mech is not as good as that of papa."

"Oh, dearie. You are still too young to be thinking about drafting a mech at our level. Your sketch is completely fine. You already show a much better sense of proportions and angles than your sisters."

Her son did not accept her praise at all. Instead, he sulked even deeper.

"It's all wrong!"

The mother grew concerned. "What is wrong, Marvaine?"

"It's not warm!"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Gloriana looked puzzled.

Marvaine waved his hand at the projection, causing a lot of messy lines to appear due to his uncontrolled gesture.

"My mech is cold. Papa said that cold mechs are bad. Only the mechs that can make me feel warm are good."

Gloriana began to sense that something was horribly wrong. She lifted up her little boy in her lap and began to stroke his head.

"What has your father been teaching you lately? Can you tell me? Tell me what a warm mech is supposed to be. Why do you want to sketch one so much?"

It didn't take long for Gloriana to obtain the answer from Marvaine's enthused and partially-incoherent babbling.

Her expression soured more and more as Marvaine professed his complete liking for supposedly 'warm' mechs!

Though Gloriana had long been aware that her husband wanted to groom Marvaine into his successor, that didn't necessarily mean she was willing to let one of her own children develop a warped perspective on what constituted a good mech!

Whatever nonsense that Ves had drilled in Marvaine's mind was completely wrong!

"You shouldn't listen to your father all the time." She told him. "He can be a dum-dum sometimes. Just because he likes to design living mechs doesn't necessarily mean they are good."

Marvaine shook his head. "You're wrong, mama! Papa's mechs are warm while everyone else's mechs are cold!"

"Whether a mech is warm or cold doesn't determine how good it is." Gloriana sternly retorted. "Let me give you an example."

She waved her hand to set aside her son's drawing and summoned up projections that showed two different mechs.

One of them displayed a Desolate Soldier Mark II Version B, which was a rather basic but popular budget model in the LMC's product catalog.

Though the mech was one of the cheapest products sold by the Larkinsons, it still stood out for its useful and desirable duty-based glow.

This made it especially popular among second-line troops and garrison forces. The mech pilots employed by these forces weren't the most elite or well-trained of the bunch, so the glow of the Solemn Guardian was able to make these soldiers a lot more diligent in doing their jobs.

Floating next to the image of the Desolate Soldier was a snapshot of the Mars in battle.

Compared to a commercial standard mech design, the unique and domineering ace mech exuded a lot of more majesty and power!

The Desolate Soldier looked like an inconspicuous blade of grass next to a blooming red rose.

Not only did the ace mech radiate an immense amount of masculine power, the ace hybrid mech also looked a lot more impressive when it was in the process of firing all of the integrated energy weapon modules of its ARCEUS System!

"Which of these two mechs is better, Marvaine?" Gloriana gently asked.

"That one!" Marvaine immediately pointed towards the Mars!

"Which of these two mechs is a warm mech?"

"Uhhh… this one?" The boy pointed at the same mech again.

"Wrong! That's not a warm mech according to the definition of your father. It's a cold mech, don't you see?"

Her words threw her son in utter confusion.

"I don't understand…"

"I know." Gloriana responded. "That's because your father has been lying to you. Warm mechs or living mechs can be useful, but they are not always the best mechs. Do you see these two mechs? The Desolate Soldier is a living mech designed by your father while the Mars is a perfect vessel that is largely designed by myself! Did you know that the Mars started out as a warm mech upon the insistence of your father, but that it changed into a cold mech because its pilot liked it that way?"

"Huh? Isn't it nice to have a friend?"

Gloriana shook her head. "Not everyone wants their mech to be a friend, my dear. You can't control a mech if it has ideas of its own. Warm mechs aren't always good, Marvaine. A cold mech like the Mars is actually the strongest mech in our fleet, and there are good reasons why that is so! It used to be weaker back when it was a living mech, but now that it has gotten closer to perfection, it has become much stronger! Can you see these smooth lines? Can you feel the power in the metal? Can you pick up how well its proportions are set? Your mother is largely responsible for designing such a powerful mech."

Though her son was obviously impressed by the sight of the Mars, he didn't understand anything that her mother was trying to press into his mind.

"I'm confused, mama."

"That's okay, Marvaine. I will tell you as much as you need to understand that perfect mechs are stronger than the sloppy mechs of your father. There is no reason to admire his work when they are completely uncontrollable once they become alive. While it may be nice to turn a mech into your friend, it is not necessary for you to build a relationship with a machine. There are already many family, friends and pets around you. They are more than enough for you to play with for the rest of your life! Rather than make new friends with the mechs you want to design in the future, you should rather strive for developing stronger and more perfect mechs so that you can protect all of your pals!"

"Ohhh…"