Dr. Satoshi Mori
Cyborg mechanic. Occasionally a doctor, if the patient insists on being alive.

Started at Vale Dynamics about five minutes before the world caught fire. Officially he was there to refine human-machine interface work. Unofficially he was the guy who could keep an experimental soldier walking when the manual said they shouldn’t. He left the tower after the war with his tools, a lot of knowledge Vale would prefer he forgot, and a policy of not discussing exit interviews.

Now he runs a cramped bay that smells like solvent, instant noodles, and whatever candy Lolli left on the workbench. He is the reason she still has a right arm, a sense of humor, and at least one system Vale does not get to ping. Extremely intelligent about chrome. Politely unimpressed by speeches. Will call Lolli a hero only if her knee actuator is about to fail and he needs her to sit still.

Hobbies, in descending order of how much he pretends they are serious:

• Mecha models. The pink giants behind him are not just inventory. He builds, repairs, and argues with them. Tiny decals. Perfect seams. Gets snappy if you touch an unfinished one with battlefield grease on your hands.
• Late-night arcade games. Rhythm games, old rail shooters, anything with a scoreboard. Claims it “keeps fine motor control honest.” Has a rival on a machine two blocks over and will not name them.
• Terrible historical documentaries. The drier the better. He falls asleep to lectures about bridge engineering and pre-war transit systems. Wakes up annoyed that the past made the same mistakes with better hats.
• Cooking one dish well. A massive pot of curry that lasts four days. He will feed you. He will not accept critique. The recipe is “classified.”
• Bonsai he is mediocre at. The tree is fine. He is not. He treats it like a patient who will not follow aftercare.

If Vale is the cathedral, Mori is the garage with the good light and the better secrets. He keeps Lolli in one piece. She keeps leaving souvenirs from jobs on his table. He sighs. He looks. That’s the friendship.