The Biggest Clusterfuck That Ever Was [KanColle x World of Warships] (IC)

[hfdt123]

After getting an explanation of why several people have IV's in them I soon started to wander and see if there wasn't anyone else I had to meet. I soon found another USN officer next to a woman and a teenaged girl. They were talking to Drake's 2iC, one Jacqueline Buckmaster, who was the incarnation of USS Yorktown. I began to walk to their table and said a greeting.

 

[Breakaway25]

I was starting to come to the realization that the painkillers Nick had given me were beginning to wear off. The full force of the damage I had suffered was beginning to creep into the edges of my consciousness. This was not going to be pleasant, and I knew that.

I took a quick look around the mess, seeing the two star standing near the main door with a chief next to him. I decided to get things out of the way, and go introduce myself before the pain rendered me invalid. I stood up, and walked over to the man. He had been conversing with Schmitt, but he was called away by someone else, leaving him alone with Bismarck and the chief. I took a deep breath, then got it over with. "Good morning, sir." He spent a second looking me over, and I had to admit that the eyepatch was a bit intimidating.

"Good morning, midshipman, what can I do for you?" That's right, I was wearing my utilities, which still had gold anchors on the collar points.

"Officer Candidate, sir," I corrected, "Officer Candidate Russel."

"Admiral James Smith," he replied, offering me a hand, "Relax, son, this is decidedly not Norfolk." I realized that I had been standing ramrod stiff, just like back in the day.

"Sorry sir," I said, relaxing. A stab of pain through my chest nearly caused me to double over.

"Are you alright?"

"My ship got hit yesterday, I'm still feeling the effects. If you would excuse me, I need to go borrow some painkillers from Nicholas."

"Go ahead," he said, "I'm still trying to get my bearings, honestly. Any information you could give me would be appreciated."

"I'll remember that, sir." I walked back to Nick, liberated a few more pills from her, and then found a chair at the back of the room to crash in until something interesting happened.

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

After getting an explanation of why several people have IV's in them I soon started to wander and see if there wasn't anyone else I had to meet. I soon found another USN officer next to a woman and a teenaged girl. They were talking to Drake's 2iC, one Jacqueline Buckmaster, who was the incarnation of USS Yorktown. I began to walk to their table and said a greeting.

Click to shrink...

My desire to just eat and relax aside, it was readily apparent that wouldn't always be the case. Especially not in a situation like this, where I was the 'new guy' so to speak. I had been fairly lucky so far, really, having only run into a few people. But the new guy with two girls with him, was bound to get attention of some sort eventually. I knew that, I understood that. That did not mean I had to particularly enjoy the idea.

Then again, now was the time to be Friendly Commander, and get to know the others. I could put aside eating for a good cause like that, right?

Don't growl on me now stomach.

With that settled, I turned to the person to bring these thoughts up. A man, or old teenager, roughly my own height. Brown hairs and eyes, set in an Asian-American face. Fairly nondescript otherwise, which considering the eccentrics of everyone else I had seen sans-Admiral Smith, might be a good thing. Then again, looks could be deceiving. I slid my eyes over to where Walker was happily chowing down, and snorted softly. No one would guess she acted like she did, just on how she looked.

That said...

"Hello," I nodded up at the newcomer- well, new from my perspective at least - as Sara and Walker did the same, before the latter went back to digging into her food.

 

[Icywinter]

"N-no, it isn't faint or anything like that, it's non-existent...but, I know there was supposed to be something there....but, it's like..."
I cleared my throat and took a breath.
"It's like a computer deleting files of it's own volition, and then telling you they were never there in the first place. You know you had them....but they're just gone. I remember everything up to the age of about....16...but everything past that is blank. Like...it wasn't even there..."
I shook a little.
"W-what is this.....why is it happening..."

Click to shrink...

It took all of a second to hesitate before he hugged him.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know where to start. But he knew that Thomas needed something -- anything to cling onto, and Al... he was the type that let his action or work speak for himself. He was never really good with words, so he always acted instead.

So he hugged him, and he hoped that he could transfer whatever was left of his calm to Thomas. Because he needed it.

He needed it more than he did.

"I'll find out," Al whispered. "But for now, don't worry about it. If you need someone to talk to, you could always ask Haruna."

 

[NuclearNickel]

It took all of a second to hesitate before he hugged him.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know where to start. But he knew that Thomas needed something -- anything to cling onto, and Al... he was the type that let his action or work speak for himself. He was never really good with words, so he always acted instead.

So he hugged him, and he hoped that he could transfer whatever was left of his calm to Thomas. Because he needed it.

He needed it more than he did.

"I'll find out," Al whispered. "But for now, don't worry about it. If you need someone to talk to, you could always ask Haruna."

Click to shrink...

I'm not really sure what Alphonse was doing, but...I dunno...it felt...comforting really. Hugs could be like that.
So I just hugged him back.
"Th-thank you...thank you...." I manged to get out, trying to calm myself down a measure before letting go and taking a step back.
"I'll...umm...go find Haruna...m-maybe she...can help.." I nodded, tugging on my sleeve a little.
"Thanks." I said, nodding as I turned to walk to the tables.
Maybe I would find her there...

 

[Aires Drake]

After getting an explanation of why several people have IV's in them I soon started to wander and see if there wasn't anyone else I had to meet. I soon found another USN officer next to a woman and a teenaged girl. They were talking to Drake's 2iC, one Jacqueline Buckmaster, who was the incarnation of USS Yorktown. I began to walk to their table and said a greeting.

Click to shrink...

Jack slowly turned her head to fix the teen with a distant gaze. "I have seen the depths of my boyfriend's hidden madness and question my own sanity for loving the man." Atlanta's worried look at the carrier and slow, pleading look to Joseph said everything about the situation. Somehow, this veteran carrier of the Abyssal War had been shocked into detached awareness from meeting one bearded mad doctor.

Meanwhile, Aurora slowly shimmied past Drake's unconscious form to get out from underneath the table where she had hidden. Her own panicked glances about and worried voices spoke volumes of her encounter, "Is...is bearded doctor gone?" At Juneau's nod, the Russian breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Is good then. He...big, glowly spirit of," She pondered the words, searching for the right ones in English, "of Sun. Unbeaten and unrelenting force. He hunts the darkness and the madness of those like Abyss. Good that he limited. Could feel his soul. Could see the link to Commander's soul." She looked down at Cole and Drake. "What makes a soul burn with such justice and hatred of the Abyss?"

Juneau rubbed her eyes as she tried to process the words of the former Abyssal and the shell-shocked carrier. She looked over apologetically at the teen. "Sorry, but Jack," She paused uncomfortably, "Well, you can see how she is. Is there anything I can do for you until she recovers?" She smiled uncertainly at the young man. "Ah, not to be rude, but I did not get your name. What was it?"

I'd been about to respond to Cole - Pensacola, I suppose - when Self collapsed. I immediately stood, grabbing my cane, to limp around the table and try to help. I didn't know anything about medicine - or if I did I couldn't remember - but he was my friend. I had to at least try to do something. Akatsuki got up and dashed over at about the same time, with Tenryū doing the same barely a moment later and Harder a few seconds after that.

Then the guy with the beard turned up.

I just watched in pure befuddlement as the guy knocked Self and Pensacola unconscious with syringes, before setting both of them and Atlanta up with IVs while saying something or other about blood loss. It never occurred to me to think it might be some sort of assassination or attack going on. You just don't try to do something like that dressed like that so blatantly in the middle of a crowded mess hall like this. The whole division just sort of watched the bizzare event unfold.

After the... Borealis character, I think Jack called him, had said his piece and gotten the trio set up with IVs, he strode right out of the mess. I watched him go, then turned to face the rest of my division. "Is that normal?" I asked, everything from my expression to my tone of voice conveying my desperate desire for the answer to be "no."

Harder had the expression of a man who had unexpectedly discovered the last, singular fuck he had to give. He seemed to metaphorically examine it, committing it to his memory, before setting it free as one would a dove. Then he returned to his seat and went back to eating. Akatsuki looked worried and more than a little confused, but she slowly returned to her bowl of milk and cereal sugar. That just left me and Tenryū sharing a befuddled look.

The question - asked by the guy who'd decided he was a pinball at the meeting the other day - broke the mutual stare, with the both of us slumping forwards out of sheer disbelief. "Blood loss and a crazy doctor, apparently," I answered, kneading my forehead with a sigh. "I wonder if there's any alcohol in the kitchen..." I turned to start walking towards the back of the mess.

"I'm coming with," Tenryū chimed in as she moved to walk beside me.

Click to shrink...

Atlanta craned her neck to look at Calcifer, "Ah, no. Didn't know Boss had things that strange in him really." She grimaced slightly. "Aurora was right about Bearded Dude being weird and scary though. Uh, would it be too much to ask for a few bottles for..." Her voice trailed off as Jack's daunting stare looked onto Atlanta's face. The cruiser continued in a much quieter voice. "Uh, never mind. I don't need or want any alcohol!" The corners of the carrier's mouth turned upward slightly before returning to their neutral position after Jack registered the IV and blood stands again.

For a moment, she even appeared to be hopeful for a moment as Drake stirred slightly before nuzzling into Cole's waist again in his (enforced) sleep while the various nutrients bags continued to empty.

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

You know, for some reason, I expected there to be more drama today. Then again, I'm not complaining about having an uneventful meal, after that crazy Russian guy left!

I shook my head ruefully, as I walked with Sara and Walker. The three of us, pretty well inseparable in a situation where we knew next to nothing about the people around us, walked to what was supposedly a briefing room. I had gathered that we were heading that way, if only from what Alphonse had said...was it really just last night? Felt a lot longer than that. At any rate, the Operations Building...supposedly right across from the fountain. I figured it made sense to head to that building. If anywhere had tech that would give us any idea of Abyssal formations, it would be there.

And while I was hardly a career military man, the training I had gotten gave me an appreciation for good intel. I imagined that Admiral Smith was even more inclined towards that. So, then, the best bet was to get all of us- who were able anyway -to the Ops Building. From there, we could figured out a plan of action to work with. Set up patrol rotations, get an idea of Abyssal performance and patterns, things of that nature. Granted, it seemed like myself, Russel, and Admiral Smith were the only military men around.

Plenty of military women around though, in the form of all the ship girls. But I was familiar with most of them, aside from a few outliers, so I knew that they weren't exactly military formal for the most part. Like Walker.

Question is, where is that fountain?

"Oh my God."

Turning my head, I saw Walker choking back a laugh, her face going red from the effort.

"I...Admiral...I..."

And then there was Sara, turning brighter red than Ranger's hair. Her lip quivered, as the normally fairly serious carrier raised a shaking hand. Her finger pointed over my shoulder, making me turn around. What in the world could have gotten both of my ships like this? Was someone doing something strange aga...in...

"Oh dear Lord..."

I could do nothing but come to a halt, my own eyes going wide as dinner plates. I had heard 'fountain' and assumed it would be a fairly standard thing. Maybe a few terraces or something, but it'd just be water flowing down the side of something. I mean, Alphonse hadn't sounded like it was anything but that. And no one else had commented on it since.

But this? What in the hell...who in hell...had made that?

I don't even know. Not even York in her most pranky mood would do that!

Because, sitting at the center of the courtyard, was perhaps the lewdest representation of a ship girl I had ever seen. More specifically...not one, not two, but four very much nude Yamatos. They were pointing to each point of the compass. At the least the stone battleships were just covering up their modesty. Don't even get me started on the fifth one sitting in the middle though. She was holding her hands up, buckets in either one, that were spilling out the fountain's water. Who in their right mind would make a statue with five naked Yamatos? And more importantly, how in the world had they not died to 18in shell fire from the girl in question? Or her sister, for that matter?

Man, this situation just got stranger and stranger as it went, didn't it?

"Right then," I turned back to my companions, "That's a thing, I guess. Remind me to avoid Yamato, if she's around."

"No...no problem," Walker got out between giggles, more amused than anything.

Sara looked vaguely disapproving, holding her nose up to the statue. Though her fearsome, and cute, blush kind of ruined the look, "Of course, Admiral."

Laughing lightly myself, I turned back around, giving the fountain something of a wide berth, as we continued to the meeting room. The operations building was easy enough to find, and I decided to wait outside, to see if anyone had beaten me here. Best to not go in first, since this was still an unfamiliar place for me after all.

 

[CompassJimbo]

Kongou and I wrapped up breakfast and stepped out, steam rising up from the puddles still around. Naturally, it was almost roasting. We began making our way to the main offices, our more-or-less official HQ, only to notice a few people staring at a fountain of nude and semi-nude Yamatos.

And to make things worse, the real deal was approaching and stopped dead in her tracks.

"No staring~." Kongou said as she pushed me along.

 

[Icywinter]

While Alphonse was busy grabbing his food and helping Erika out with Admiral Smith -- not in that order, obviously -- Elizabeth slinked off, having already eaten her meal.

She hated to admit it to anyone, but she was uncomfortable with crowds. She figured she was always a bit claustrophobic. Especially since the Hangley Incident.

She put her hands inside of her coat's pockets, and let out a breath of hot air. The morning sun was already well on its way to its highest point, and the skies were clearing up from the torrential downpour yesterday night. She crossed into the main courtyard, and passed by one of the Slingshot-type CIWS emplacements, the turrets swiveling and turning to watch her as she walked by it.

She could've sworn the gun waved at her as she walked away... and it, blinked?
She stopped walking and turned around to look at the gunmetal-grey turret. She looked at the eye-like squares to the sides of the RADAR dish on top of the turret.

It stared right back, before blinking and waving at her again.

...

Okay, Alphonse made a living turret, like one of those renshouhou-chan things Shimakaze had with her all the time.

Her first thought was why.

Her second thought was a realization that Alphonse would've told her if he'd known he made a living turret, so he probably didn't realize his creation was alive.

She looked around. Other than the bunch of faeries milling about fixing and working on things in the courtyard, she was alone. Which was a good thing, she realized, as her third thought would look absolutely bizarre if anyone else saw what she wanted to do next.

The pink-haired battleship walked right up to the machine, and held out her hand.

The turret gently placed one of its massive 30-milimetre gatling guns in her palm, and moved the housing up and down carefully.

She was getting a handshake from the turret.

Well, at least Alphonse made it polite. Now onto the next thing. Could the turret understand her? It clearly understood what a handshake was by just looking, but could it understand words?

"Hey," she said quietly. "Do you understand me?"

The turret's 'head' moves up and down.

Well then.

"Huh... well, my name's Elizabeth," she said. The turret nods, and manages to convey -- somehow -- that it already knows who she is. "And your name is?"

The turret stops moving for a second, before shaking helplessly.

"Woah, woah," she patted the turret's casing, "Easy there. You don't have a name?" she queried.

The turret nodded again.

"Hm, strange, though I guess Al didn't bother to give you names 'cause he thought that you weren't living..." she winced when she saw the angry look cross over the turret's 'face'. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

The turret stared at her before turning away, giving the non-verbal equivalent of an angry huff.

Elizabeth was completely amazed at how something with neither a mouth or eyebrows was able to communicate so much with so little movements.

Still, she had to make it up to the turret, somehow. "Hey," she tried again, "Do turrets have genders?"

This time, a sound not-unlike a tired groan emanated from inside of the main body of the turret, and it nodded with its head.

"So... are you a guy?" she asked.

The turret turned around with an indignant look on its face.

"Right, not a guy. A girl then?"

The square eyes softened and the turret nodded.

"Okay, so you're a girl... a girl-sounding name..." she looked at her feet, "Oh, I know," she said, inspiration suddenly striking her. "Christina!"

The turret nodded happily, before moving its guns up and down as if she was clapping. But then she stopped, and looked at her with a confused look on her face.

"Oh, you're wondering why I came up with Christina?"

A nod.

Elizabeth pointed to the base of the turret, where a serial number was inscribed into the metal.

01.1002-CHS, Christina read. She looked up at Elizabeth, who was looking expectantly at her, before the turret swung her body around and grabbed Elizabeth into a hug.

She leaned into the turret, and gave her a pat on the head. "You're pretty cute for a turret," she giggled. She was about to give Christina a hug, when she heard voices. Human voices. People voices.

She let out a surprised yelp, and the grey turret let her go in surprise, dropping the pinkette to the ground before spinning around to see what the threat was.

"Christina, it's okay," Elizabeth said. She stopped her angry scan, and let her guns droop. "It's just a bunch of people."

Elizabeth peered over her, and watched as Derek, Walker, and Sara made their way into the courtyard. They stopped suddenly, and pointed towards her.

Oh. Oh drat. She dropped down and hid behind the turret's body, while Christina looked on in confusion. It was only when the three moved towards the fountain did the turret understand. She let out a quiet purr once they left, and Elizabeth peeked over her again.

"Wait, so they didn't notice us?" she asked.

A nod.

"So what where they--"

She turned towards the fountain.

Oh.

It was a statue -- no, make that five statues -- of Yamato.

All naked.

Her first thought was, HOW DID THEY MANAGE TO MAKE AN EXTREMELY ACCURATE STATUE OF HER!?

Her second thought was a very loud grumble of envy when she saw the Japanese battleship's... assets. No, she was not jealous of how top-heavy Yamato was, she only was making a grumbling sound because she wondered how unfair the Japanese were to put such a big burden on a girl!

Her third thought was extreme befuddlement at how Alphonse, of all people, didn't notice the fountain.

Maybe he was really tired when he put Christina here, she thought. Yes, that must be it. That also must be why Christina is a living, thinking turret too.

She made a mental note to force the messy-haired Director of ARADIA to get some sleep.

While all of this was going on in Elizabeth's mind, Christina was wondering what the big deal was about the fountain. It just blocked her line of sight with the sky, and the turret didn't like that very much.

Finally, Elizabeth got over her initial shock. "Well, I'll have to talk to Al later about fixing this statue before Yamato shows up..." she said to her. "I should get to the meeting," she said. "See you around, Christina."

The turret waved after her, before turning to watch the sky once more.

 

[hfdt123]

As I was about to go and talk to the newcomers I felt a shiver go down my spine. I turned to look behind to find a cold stare directed at me by Jack. Her eyes were in the infamous thousand yard stare. I waved a hand in front of her, but there was no indication she registered it. The girl next to her gave me a pleading looking which only unsettled me further. As if that wasn't enough a girl I had never seen before crawled out from the table. She was muttering to herself while she quickly glanced around the room, clearly afraid. Fortunately, not everyone in Drake's group was in a state of shock.

Juneau rubbed her eyes as she tried to process the words of the former Abyssal and the shell-shocked carrier. She looked over apologetically at the teen. "Sorry, but Jack," She paused uncomfortably, "Well, you can see how she is. Is there anything I can do for you until she recovers?" She smiled uncertainly at the young man. "Ah, not to be rude, but I did not get your name. What was it?"

Click to shrink...

"Oh..uh.... I'm Joseph Kirz. Would you Mind telling me your name and what happened here? I'm pretty sure Drake was conscious and IV-bag-less not that long ago."

 

[Interested Party]

The kitchen was dense with desses. Fairies scrambled to and fro, shifting food and ingredients around, probably in preparation for lunch or something. Tenryū and I weren't looking for food, though.

Tenryū walked over to a fairy who looked like he was directing the other fairies around. "Hey. Any idea where the booze is?" The fairy gave the both of us a flat glare and started to issue a series of disapproving desses. Tenryū wordlessly pointed through the open door behind us to the impromptu IV station with the unconscious pair and... yes, there was some frost that seemed to have broken off Borealis's pack and was melting on the floor. The fairy took a long look and silently pointed deeper into the kitchen.

The number of fairies thinned out a good deal as we went. I guess the way things were organized, there was no reason for the fairies to come over here until later in the day, or something. Eventually we reached a section of cabinets and racks covered in bottles of various shapes and sizes, containing many different colours of liquid. By unspoken agreement, Tenryū started going through the bottles on one side, while I went through the other side.

"Thought I told you that you shouldn't blame yourself," Tenryū started after a few minutes of silent browsing.

I stiffened for a moment, then sighed and put the bottle I was examining back on the shelf. "I know." I picked up the next bottle. "I'm trying not to. But it's not so easy as just saying 'la-dee-dee, I'm guilt free,' y'know?" She frowned, but hummed understandingly as I tucked the new bottle - high quality vodka - under my arm and kept moving. "It's... not just that either. Even if it's not my fault that you - sank -" I held up my hand to forestall her interrupting "even if it's not my fault, I still almost lost you forever when I had only just met you." I paused, frowning at the wine collection while I mulled over my next words for a moment. "It's... difficult," I said, finally.

There was a long period of quiet - or at least, it felt like a long period - while I waited for Tenryū's response. Then I started - gently, didn't want to drop the glass bottles - as she pulled me into a rough, one-armed hug. "Hey, 's fine," she said softly. "I'm not saying your issues should just disappear up in smoke. Just... we'll keep working on it, alright?"

I let out a slow, relaxed breath and leaned into Tenryū a little. It felt... nice. Entirely unfamiliar, but nice. Comfortable. I let another moment pass before speaking again. "How've Harder and Akatsuki been handling it?" I asked quietly. "Haven't really been able to talk with them that much."

Tenryū sighed. Was it my imagination, or did she tighten the hug a little bit? "Harder's fine, more or less. For all he says he 'give no fucks', he does care. Just doesn't like to show it. Probably gonna be ridiculously overprotective in his own way for a good while now, though. Akatsuki..." she trailed off before continuing on, "she was scared when she saw me go down out there. Snuck onto my ship last night because of nightmares." I twitched slightly, but if she noticed she didn't react much. "Was gone by the time I woke up, though," she continued on, a small, fond grin appearing on her face. It faded a moment later as she turned her head to give me a serious look. "She'll be fine - they both will - with some time and a little work. I'm more worried about you. Frankly speaking, I know almost nothing about you and even I can tell that you're a whole bundle of issues."

I hummed thoughtfully for a second. "Not really much to say about me, honestly. Don't remember anything before waking up on a ship in the middle of the ocean yesterday."

She gave me an odd look. "What, nothing? And you aren't worried about that?"

I shrugged. "Would worrying help?" Another moment of silence passed. "Thank you for this," I said. "I think you'll be hearing that a lot."

"Not a problem," she replied, before chuckling ruefully. I gave her a funny look which she answered by saying, "Look at me: Light cruiser Tenryū, shipgirl, certified badass, mental health counselor. Bit of a contradiction between that last one and the rest, I think."

I grinned. "I think you're plenty badass."

She looked at me in - surprise, maybe? - before grinning widely. The grin changed into a smirk as she released me from the one-armed hug - wait, we had still been in that? - and quickly bent down to snag the bottles she'd set down on the floor earlier. "Betcha can't keep up with me!" she called as she tore off back towards the main room of the mess. I blinked in mild surprise before smiling, barking out a brief laugh, and taking off after her.

-------------------------​

Tenryū beat me to the mess. Considering she had a head start on me and was far from "slow", this wasn't exactly what one would call unexpected. The view was certainly nice, though.

I pulled up short next to Tenryū, still carrying my share of the bottles. We'd also grabbed some glasses for the drinks on the way out - though of course there's a point where trying to catty more of something is just dangerous, so what we were able to carry was probably nowhere near enough for if most of the group wanted a share of the drinks. Hopefully not. Or hopefully we'd be able to get more glasses at some point, if the worst came to pass.

Tenryū frowned lightly as she scanned the room. "Seems a lot emptier than when we left," she noted.

I nodded in agreement. "Where'd everybody go?" I wondered aloud, loud enough for someone in the room to hear.

 

[pharaoh122]

We munched on our pancakes as we watched the chaos in the mess hall unfold, then finally cool off as people resumed their breakfast. It'd been several minutes since then and I was fully satisfied with my breakfast. So I decided that I should probably go for a walk, burn of some of the food, enjoy the food yada yada yada... but before I left, I asked my group if anyone wanted to join me, it was only polite to do so.

"Sure, I'll join you, we haven't talked much since yesterday, so why not?" Richelle replied.

"We'll catch up with you two later." Tone replied with a wink.

"Errr... what? Oh... it's not like that!" I huffed in indignation

The girls giggled at my reaction. Meanwhile, Richelle finished up her plate and after wiping of the remaining syrup off her face, we made our way out of the mess. We took off in a random direction once again in aimless exploration of the base, we started up on idle chatter as we walked through the maze that is the naval base. We had been in the middle of an amusing chat on what was better, cats or dogs, when she suddenly stopped.

"Dogs are pretty cute too you know, they can have the most adorable of derps, sure while cats are... hey, why'd you stop?" I turned to look at her. She was staring off in the distance and her eyes were widened. Following where here eyes were pointed, well, wow... Yamatos... 5 of them... naked... fountain and those large...

And my vision was suddenly blocked out by a hand... that was moving really fast.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Serves you right for staring"

"But look at them they were...ouch stop! Okay okay I'll stop staring."

With a huff of annoyance, Richelle turned around and started walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Richelle wait up! I'm sorry!" I yelled as I ran after her.

(OOC): I'll have to cut off here. I'll add another part once I get home after school.

 

[Aires Drake]

(OOC NOTE: Using @hfdt123 's character with his permission here)

"Oh..uh.... I'm Joseph Kirz. Would you Mind telling me your name and what happened here? I'm pretty sure Drake was conscious and IV-bag-less not that long ago."

Click to shrink...

Dimly, I heard voices in the background. The next voice I recognized as belonging to Juneau through my haze of confusion and heavy eyelids. "Ah, I'm USS Juneau, CL-52." I heard the rustling of clothing as I guess she curtsied or bowed to whomever had asked for her name. I tried to rub my eyes and get them to open, but I found that they were restrained after a slight, careful tug. The slight sensation and faded memory of something inside them surfaced in my mind, so I halted any other attempts to struggle. Instead, I basked in the warm, soft-yet-hard feeling of my pillow and listened to the continuing conversation.

I heard some more shuffling and then the sound of the table groaning slightly from someone leaning heavily upon. "Nice to meet you, Miss Juneau. So then, what happened here? Why are those three covered in bandages and hooked up to IV stands? For that matter, why did that happen here of all place?"

"Ah, we were fighting yesterday, and their hulls were all badly damaged. I guess," Her voice shrank in on itself until her words were barely more than a whisper. "I guess the hull damage was reflected back onto them. I couldn't be with them, because Commander Self assigned me to protect our carrier during the battle in case any more enemies showed up. Their injuries are my fault for letting them do-Eh?!?" Her vocal spiral in despair was cut off by a soft rubbing sound, occasionally interrupted by a series of flesh -a hand maybe?- patting on hair, and then followed up by the gentle sound of compressed bones and flesh. I could only guess someone was hugging her. Good for her, and well done by whomever was reassuring her.

"C-Commander! A-aurora! W-why? Why are you wasting your attention on me?" Juneau sounded like she was still on the verge of bawling her eyes out. I thought I had had issues when I was younger during the war and losing friends on the frontlines while I sat safely back in an office or lab to design, build, and test practical, mundane equipment for my friends to hopefully keep more of them alive. I could only wonder how at poorly Juneau viewed herself. I cracked a slight smile at the thought that I would need to boost her Self-esteem later.

I heard Aurora's accented voice first in response. "You are...my friend. Have helped me much despite knowing what monster I was before. I owe debt to you all, and I will pay it back anyway I can. You are good person, Juneau. If one tell other, I show what how hard fist of Tzars, Soviets, and Federation breaks faces. Understand, my friend?" Juneau sniffled and mumbled out an agreeing sound.

The other guy, Joseph shifted uneasily in his seat from the sounds of the bench. "Uh, I don't know what the deal is here, but I'm here if you need help too? Uh, your turn, um Commander Buckmaster, ma'am?"

The silence for the next minute was deafening until I heard Atlanta coughed. "So yeah, about the injuries? We all walked out of Yorkie's sickbay feeling as fine as could be, but I at least noticed after the Lieutenant Smith, um, incident that I was not feeling as well as I had yesterday morning before the fighting. So, I made sure to get extra food and sat with everyone and just chilled while Boss devoured everything on his plate and then leaned into Lady-Boss here," I guessed she waved in Jack's direction given the pause in her words to let herself breathe as well. "He was really out of things, and I guess he didn't realize that he's a shipdude now and needs a lot more food than normally, especially after being badly hurt and missing two meals to boot. Well, next you know, Lady-Boss sees an old buddy and tags out with Ice-Cole," She giggled lightly at the bad pun as her sister sighed heavily from the - Ah, I get it, well-played Atlanta - distracting pun.

"Boss by this point is so out of sorts that he doesn't even know that he's cuddling a very-cute-acting Ice-Cole and making her embarrassed. I guess she didn't realize how much of a beating she had taken, because she was just ignoring the pain or something like how Ice-Cole shrugged off two nukes and had to be sunk as targets, laughing at the effort it took to sink them."

Joseph's voice crackled a little, "U-uh, okay? But how they did get from then to now?"

Atlanta's indignant voice chimed out, "I'm gettin' there! Sheesh, you gotta appreciate the process of the story, okay?"

Joseph sighed as I finally found the strength to crack my left eye open and see that my 'pillow' was somewhere in Cole's lap or on her stomach. I wisely stayed quiet for the moment as Atlanta continued. "So, where was I?"

"Um, 'Ice-Cole' laughing at nukes?" I could hear the trepidation in his voice as I looked at his head propped up by his arm while resting his elbow on the table through my barely-open eyelid.

"Oh yeah, thanks! Alright, so she's stupidly tough, almost to the point of being actually stupid when she's trying to just walk off massive injuries off like this morning. It's not a bad thing, since she feels it's her job to be out and fighting her enemies every possible moment. She just overdoes it."

I could see Joseph's shoulders sag slightly as Atlanta continued her tangential topic. "Um, so what does that mean?"

Atlanta giggled at the question. "What it means~ is that she doesn't know A) how to handle herself around cute guys like Boss," I felt my cheeks burn from the compliment while the younger guy rolled his eyes at the remark, "Hey! I'm serious! She must like him some too, since she put up with all of it as well! I mean, normally she 'won't take any crap from any piece of shit calling himself God's Gift to Women or Shipgirls,' you know what I mean?"

Joseph straightened at the audience-response prompting. "Yeah, I guess? I don't know her though."

I could hear Atlanta's verbal shrug that followed, "Yeah, well, take my word for it. She's a major hardass if 'she don' like you non', ya haear?'" I rolled my eye at her overstated accent, but I still smiled at it. Given the lambasting Cole had delivered earlier -however incorrect she had been for doing it- to that Lieutenant, I found myself agreeing with Atlanta on her point. I wonder if I could give her a nickname? Maybe 'Altie' like one of the girls in my Dagorhir circles? That could work. Around this time, I was finally able to start opening my right eye for the first time of the day, but I still couldn't see anything with it due to its bandages. I noticed Joseph glance over at me, but he shrugged and looked back over to where Atlanta was talking.

"Anyway, part B is that Ice-Cole isn't very aware of when she is really messed up like she was after yesterday and still was this morning. Of course, this leads into the third part for her which is that she doesn't quite understand the phrase 'downtime' either. You wanna know what she's been doing since the Abyssal War ended?"

Joseph gave a long-suffering sigh. "No, but I get the feeling you're going to tell me anyway no matter how I answer."

Atlanta laughed loudly at his response. "Of course I am! I'm a captive speaker and the only person who's willing to talk here. Much as I love my sister Juneau here," At the mention of her name, said shipgirl gave a cute squeak before looking around frantically only to then be calmed down by the whispers from the Russian shipgirl to her. "Huh, that was funny. Right, well, much as I love her, you were lucky that Juneau said as much to you as she did given everything. Hey! Stop poking me, Russkie!"

Then Aurora rebuked Atlanta, "Stay on topic. Worse than young child and losing audience to kick."

Atlanta exhaled loudly. "Fiiiine. So, Ice-Cold never stood down from ready-alert. Aux. Command assigned her a Coastie liaison I think, so they could keep her occupied the whole time. Didn't take up any hobbies or the like, just constant rotations of sleep, eat, and work since the war ended. Hell, since she was summoned really. And God forbid her from not being super-serious or -angry mode that whole time."

Joseph gave her an incredulous look while I stared at my nearly-empty bags hanging over me. "That's...uh...really bad, right?"

Atlanta barked out her laugh. "Of course it is! She's been burning out mentally, and she was only lacking the physical injuries to take her out of the active-duty line-up!" Joseph recoiled slightly from her loud voice. "Oh, uh, sorry about that. It's kinda depressing for me to admit it, but I was partially responsible for her ending up here when Salt Lake City enlisted me to get her to relax a bit with the typical World of Warships gig. It sorta worked though. "

Joseph buried his face in his hands. "Can we please just get to the end of your story?"

Atlanta huffed. "Geez! The nerve of some peo-Ow! Stop pinching me, Aurora!"

"Get to point little cruiser."

"I'm either a light cruiser or a destroyer leader, not 'little!' Anyway, I guess you have a point." Aurora snickered triumphantly. Wait, how was it possible for her to do that? Was it some Russian secret skill? "Right, so Boss is all-but-entirely leaning on Ice-Cold at this point when he freaks out and ends up falling down her chest and into her lap. He hadn't eaten enough to make up for what his body used to heal itself by that, so he's suffering from low everything at least point."

Joseph blinked. "Wait, you said 'down her chest,' right? Did he...?" He trailed off as my ears began burning in my embarrassment.

Atlanta snickered. "Yep! Exactly what you think. Now, to be fair, he didn't do that on purpose and was trying frantically to pull himself up onto the table, but he just couldn't manage it. So, at this point he's mumbling about 'not okay' or something, and everyone is more than a bit worried. Hell. even Ice-Cole has gone from annoyed about the impromptu collision to being worried over his left arm that was straining to pull him up and failing miserably. And that's when that bearded crazy guy shows up, calling Boss...Umm, give me a sec."

Joseph sighed. "You know, I don't think that's really relevant to my original question."

Atlanta got excited by that. "YES IT IS! Just give me a moment! It was something weird and really relevant...and Russian! Russian, Russian, Russian...." I felt sorry for Aurora, because I heard her facepalm and knew that no one would ever want Borealis as a part of their nation.

I licked my lips, moistening them, and said, in a passable imitation of my favorite madman's voice, "'Comrade-Creater-Captain,' is the phrase you're looking for." Immediately, I saw Joseph smirk triumphantly at the confirmation that I had been awake for a decent part of the story.

Atlanta's response was hilariously delayed. "Oh, thanks Boss. So, anyway, bearded dude comes out from under the tab-WAIT! Boss! You're awake! I thought you were going to be out for the whole day!"

I dryly chuckled. "Well, like you said earlier about me being a shipdude, I guess Borealis hadn't processed it either, since he's both a part of my ship's crew and my mind."

Atlanta choked slightly on her would-be response as I heard Jack's voice from the other side of the table. "Tiger...was that really him?" Her voice was unexpectedly small and insecure.

I nodded, not that she could see that, "Yeah, that was him." She giggled uncertainly at my reply. I watched as the bags over me edged ever closer to being empty. I began to worry about getting air into my bloodstream right as the bags emptied and the flow cut off. "Huh, that's handy. Hey, Joseph, right?" He nodded and got up. "Could you give me a hand with this?" I idly noticed that Cole's bags were still more than half-full, which was really odd since we had the same number and size of bags.

Joseph grabbed a first aid kit from one of the walls and brought it over. "Yeah, what can I do?" I nodded towards the needles. "Okay, but what do I do?"

I inhaled deeply and then let it out slowly to keep myself calm. I couldn't expect anyone and everyone to have as much first-aid training as I had. I spoke clearly and slowly, just to be safe. "I need you to take some of the gauze bandages and press down over where the needles go into my arm. Once you've done that, cleanly remove the needle right back the way it came. Got it?" I thought about the instructions for a moment. "Oh, and put on some of the medical gloves that should be in there." He nodded and began rummaging through the first aid kit.

After a bit, he pulled out the supplies needed, showed them to me to confirm they were correct, and then got to work. After he finished my left arm, he took care of my right arm with a bit of assistance from me. Once done, he looked at me. "That wasn't so bad. Uh, now what do I do?"

I smiled. "Now we wrap up my arms, and someone can go find a biohazard disposal bin."

Juneau chose that moment to re-enter the conversation. "I can do that if Aurora lets go of me."

"Da. It is done." And then I watched Juneau rise up over the top of the table to grace me with a comforting smile before jogging off to find that disposal bin. Meanwhile, Joseph and I finished bandaging up my arms as Aurora watch in curiosity.

That was about the time that Calcifer and Tenryuu walked back into the main area as I stretching my arms and enjoying the freedom to move them while still resting on Cole's stomach. I was more comfortable than I was willing to admit, and I didn't want to rush getting up this time and cause a repeat accident with Borealis.

-------------------------​

Tenryū beat me to the mess. Considering she had a head start on me and was far from "slow", this wasn't exactly what one would call unexpected. The view was certainly nice, though.

I pulled up short next to Tenryū, still carrying my share of the bottles. We'd also grabbed some glasses for the drinks on the way out - though of course there's a point where trying to catty more of something is just dangerous, so what we were able to carry was probably nowhere near enough for if most of the group wanted a share of the drinks. Hopefully not. Or hopefully we'd be able to get more glasses at some point, if the worst came to pass.

Tenryū frowned lightly as she scanned the room. "Seems a lot emptier than when we left," she noted.

I nodded in agreement. "Where'd everybody go?" I wondered aloud, loud enough for someone in the room to hear.

Click to shrink...

Those worrying thoughts of Borealis aside, I waved to Calcifer as he walked back into the mess hall carrying a good number of bottles and such. Looking at the two of them as Tenryuu let Cal catch up to her, they seemed a bit closer and more comfortable with each than they had been earlier. I guess there really wasn't anything quite like picking out alcohol with others to bond with them. I rolled my shoulders to work out the kinks only to freeze as two hands lazily grabbed my hair. "Stahp ti-ticklin' meh, Saltie. Lemme sleep." Cole's sleepy voice almost made me jolt were it not for her hands gripping my hair and my guess that she was somehow sleep-talking. How long had I been asleep? Judging by my watch, it didn't seem to have been very long, so had Borealis used too-little sedative for keeping us unconscious for very long?

Turning my head just enough to not strain my eyes by constantly looking out of the corners of them and to not have Cole pull out my hair, I looked over at Cal. "I don't know, because they must have left while I passed out. You seem to be doing better by a bit now. Work things out alright?"

I noticed Joseph nudge my foot. "So, who the Hell was that Borealis character anyway? Short verion please. That other girl might enjoy telling stories, but she really needs to get sidetracked less."

I sighed and grimaced slightly as Cole's grip tightened slightly before loosening. "Short version, huh? Give me a moment." He nodded, giving me the time to compose my thoughts properly. "Okay, to be blunt, he is a superpowered one-man army with intelligence and skills beyond any human comparison. He has lived for over nine hundred years and sworn to protect humanity from all outside threats, founding an organization over eight hundred years old to help him with that. On top of that, he is the epitome of functionally insane in that he uses his madness to prevent himself from going further insane and to remain a relatively-decent-and-moral individual. He's not exactly a character though. When I game as him, I don't have some little box of characterization labelled 'Borealis.' Instead, I become Borealis for all intents and purposes." I waved in my guesstimation of where Jack was currently. "That's what Jack's problem might have been. It's kinda hard to come to terms with the insanity of your boyfriend that he uses as a coping mechanism. How is she doing, by the way?"

Joseph looked over in my presumed direction of Jack. "Well, she looks pretty shell-shocked right now, but I think she'd be hugging the Hell out of you if she didn't have that other girl in her lap. Speaking of her and the one you're laying on," I felt heat rise to me cheeks, "Why did you drain your bags so much quicker?"

I frowned. I hadn't noticed or realized that there was a difference. "I, uh, I don't know? Bullshit shipgirl magic maybe?"

We shared a few chuckles over that.

 

[Interested Party]

Those worrying thoughts of Borealis aside, I waved to Calcifer as he walked back into the mess hall carrying a good number of bottles and such. Looking at the two of them as Tenryuu let Cal catch up to her, they seemed a bit closer and more comfortable with each than they had been earlier. I guess there really wasn't anything quite like picking out alcohol with others to bond with them. I rolled my shoulders to work out the kinks only to freeze as two hands lazily grabbed my hair. "Stahp ti-ticklin' meh, Saltie. Lemme sleep." Cole's sleepy voice almost made me jolt were it not for her hands gripping my hair and my guess that she was somehow sleep-talking. How long had I been asleep? Judging by my watch, it didn't seem to have been very long, so had Borealis used too-little sedative for keeping us unconscious for very long?

Turning my head just enough to not strain my eyes by constantly looking out of the corners of them and to not have Cole pull out my hair, I looked over at Cal. "I don't know, because they must have left while I passed out. You seem to be doing better by a bit now. Work things out alright?"

Click to shrink...

d̶̲͚̬̝̣͈̗͒Ò̧͍̤͕̼̪͈̱͕ͬ͘̕n̡͉̹̟ͤ̈́͆ͨ̆ͣͤ'͙̲̅̏ͩ͐́̏̋t̸͈̩̘̺̮̙͊͑͒͆̓͑̐̓͟-̴̨̛͖̞̝̩̬͋͆ͦͪ̂ͩ̍̉a̪̩̅͂͂̊ͦ͢͟T͖̲͕̙̰̭͖̳͑ͩ͒ͩ̓̓͡T̨̧̬̣̲̲̖̹̈́̄ͅR̴̩͇̥͈̖̣͉͊ͦ͗̒̔̑̒͊̅͘ȧ̘̔ͥ̏̑͗̆̚c͓̫̬̯͉̩̬̹̾ͫ̒ͪͫ͜͢͞t͙͉͕̼̓͐̈̓-̧̲͔̗͈̻̞̩̟͌̑̑̇͢Ã͓̯̱̝͖̌́t̸̨̫̻̠̖͋ͯͤͨ́̇͜e̱̘̗̔̎̍͆͊n͈̣͉̥̹̣̮͎ͨ̃̉tͧ̓̎ͬͯ̓҉̶̜͘Ǐ̪͙͙̭̤͍̲͈̌ͣ͌̿O̸͙̳̽̀Nͩͩ̑͗̏̇̍̂͠҉͓̥̫̣̝̞-̡̖̜̄̽ͭͤ͛̓́̕Hͤ̅͏̻Iͥ̿̉̉͑͟͏̢̪̜̪̼͍̲͓D̻͂̅̉ͭͥ͆ͣ͘Ẻ͓̜̹̰͍ͩͬ̆̄́͡-̥̺̹̪̳̻͎̺ͨ̇̾̓ͩ̔͊S̥̞͇̹̟͇͉͊̾͋͟H̩͓̳̖͙̮̯ͪͬͅE̗͎͙̯̬̝ͫ̈͊ͧ̇͘'̧̠̤̥̎̾ͮ̄͝͝S̀̾̆̂҉̠̤͍̘̳͉-̨̜̩̘̼͙̣̃͜H͛ͯͧ̿̈̑̓͐҉̣̬̜̦͚̞̪Ě̴̪̰͕͉͈̮͕ͨͥR̤̼͕͉̦ͥ̅̏̿̇͝E̺̒̓̾ͯ͂̆ͩ̀̀ͅ​

I squashed a bizzare desire to hide in a corner somewhere as Tenryū replied "Yeah, we talked a little."

I noticed Joseph nudge my foot. "So, who the Hell was that Borealis character anyway? Short verion please. That other girl might enjoy telling stories, but she really needs to get sidetracked less."

I sighed and grimaced slightly as Cole's grip tightened slightly before loosening. "Short version, huh? Give me a moment." He nodded, giving me the time to compose my thoughts properly. "Okay, to be blunt, he is a superpowered one-man army with intelligence and skills beyond any human comparison. He has lived for over nine hundred years and sworn to protect humanity from all outside threats, founding an organization over eight hundred years old to help him with that. On top of that, he is the epitome of functionally insane in that he uses his madness to prevent himself from going further insane and to remain a relatively-decent-and-moral individual. He's not exactly a character though. When I game as him, I don't have some little box of characterization labelled 'Borealis.' Instead, I become Borealis for all intents and purposes."

Click to shrink...

We all listened to Self's description of Borealis in fascination. Once he was finished, Harder quietly scooted his chair just a touch further away from him. Much as I still considered Self a friend, I couldn't quite blame Harder.

I waved in my guesstimation of where Jack was currently. "That's what Jack's problem might have been. It's kinda hard to come to terms with the insanity of your boyfriend that he uses as a coping mechanism. How is she doing, by the way?"

Joseph looked over in my presumed direction of Jack. "Well, she looks pretty shell-shocked right now, but I think she'd be hugging the Hell out of you if she didn't have that other girl in her lap. Speaking of her and the one you're laying on," I felt heat rise to me cheeks, "Why did you drain your bags so much quicker?"

I frowned. I hadn't noticed or realized that there was a difference. "I, uh, I don't know? Bullshit shipgirl magic maybe?"

We shared a few chuckles over that.

Click to shrink...

​

"I'm pretty sure I saw that phrase in an official memo at some point," Tenryū noted dryly.

"So!" I said, moving to change the subject. "We've brought a little alcohol for those who need it after that incident." I stopped to point at Self. "None for you, though; if Borealis is what you come up with when you're sober, I don't want to know what you come up with when you're drunk."

 

[Icywinter]

"Actually," Alphonse neatly slid into their conversation, "I'd rather not drink it myself." His shaking had calmed down, and Erika's fingers were laced around his, giving the taller of the two some much needed emotional support.

"I know that it's completely unfair of me to ask, but I'd like all combat-ready personnel in the Operations Centre as soon as possible. AEGIR is detecting something headed towards our base," which he mentally added, had no name yet, "And we need to come up with a plan to defend ourselves from whatever it could be."

He passed a look at Self and his fleet. "You okay there?" he asked, voice dropping. "I-I can get someone to look at your ship and yourself if you need it... Connie probably knows who to ask."

 

[Cmmdfugal]

I worked alongside many forces that operated in strange manners, so seeing a few people unconscious with IVs in them did not really strike me as odd though my experiences with ship person oddities were more civilian in nature.

As I was sitting down with at the table that Taihou and I had claimed as our own, her face was scrutinizing me as though I had done something wrong. Looking back at her, we had an incredibly awkward silence between us before she spoke up with a question. "Aren't you concerned with the people with IV's passed out on the floor right now?"

That was not what I was expecting to hear at all, but I should give some kind of explanation to...what exactly?

I now have to wonder exactly why Taihou is asking that question. Is she concerned about my well-being? Is she curious about something? Why is she asking this?

"Umm, are you ok? You've been staring at me for a few minutes now." She stated, waving her hand in front of my eyes.

Shaking my head to get out of my thoughts, I began to answer her question. "Yeah, and as for being concerned, not particularly I've heard rumors of the oddities that happen when ship-girls are around, that and my brothers and I have gotten into incredibly weird situations before."
she looked away from me letting out a sigh and she gave me one of her sad smiles the smile that says please.
"Then, can you tell me what kind of weird situations you and your brothers got into." It was a statement; not a question she wanted to know.
"Not here, tonight on the manta we'll..." I paused almost hesitating, "I'll tell you what you want to know. Right now, I want this to remain private."

The look she gave me told me she was not exactly happy with this idea but she at least accepted it. "Fine, but I want everything, okay? No half truths like the ones you give Washington when his stuff comes in a day or two late."

"Alright." I agreed. The tone in her voice gave no room for argument.

We were a little surprised when someone else came in the mess hall. Turning around I saw some purple-headed girl with an eyepatch and a guy alongside her. Looking around, it was significantly more empty than when we had entered. I then answered back."No idea, but I do have a question for you."

 

[CompassJimbo]

Kongou and I stepped into the briefing room, only to find it empty save for a few random fairies. Well, this was unexpected. I could've sworn folks were making their way here. We needed to deal with the new arrivals and reorganize the Chain of Command considering we had a high-ranking officer of the US Navy here. And I think an officer from someone else's navy, too.

Of course, Kongou was probably getting ideas. I could see her eyes narrow and drift towards me.

"Later." I said.

She pouted. "You're no fun~."

 

[Breakaway25]

Admiral Smith was a man of routine. If he found himself completely out of his depth, he found someone to throw him a lifeline. Be it his CMC, his intelligence officer, or, if he was really desperate, the CNO. Right now, he didn't think it was possible to be further out of his depth. Alphonse had mentioned a briefing room, and he thought it would be prudent to go find it, maybe the situation could finally be explained to him. The rest of the room seemed to be preoccupied with the injured man, so Smith decided to leave without saying anything. He nudged Fletcher, who was slowly shoveling food into her mouth. "Hey, chief, let's go find the briefing room." Fletcher simply grunted, then nodded her acknowledgement of the order. The two stood up and made their way outside.

Smith had a bit of trouble locating the HQ He picked a promising looking building, then started walking in that direction, hoping that his guess was correct. He found himself becoming lost in thought, thinking about the situation he had been unceremoniously dropped into. He was so distracted by his errant train of thought, that he didn't see the girls walking in the other direction. "I swear Sammy, you have to make us late for everything. Why can't you be at muster when you're supposed to muster?" Smith's first indication that he wasn't alone on this path was when he felt someone run into his chest, followed by a muffled, "Sorry." He took a step back to see who exactly he had just collided with. He recognized this girl from back in the bad old days, one USS Johnston, and she was dragging USS Samuel B. Roberts behind her

"Well, I'll be," Smith muttered, "That wouldn't be Johnston, would it?"

She seemed to be at a loss for word sat the sudden appearance of her old CO, but she finally managed to say, "Admiral, when did you get here? I thought you were in Norfolk."

"Good, maybe you can sort out mess that is our chain of command," Sammy grunted.

"Before I try to step into things, I would have to have a better understanding of the local situation," Smith replied, "I was on my way to the briefing room, you wouldn't happen to know where it is?"

"Yes, sir, we went there yesterday before the recon attempt," Johnston replied.

"Recon attempt?" Smith asked, "I keep hearing references to that, but I don't know the whole story."

"We tried to recon some points around the island," Johnston explained, "We were looking for supplies, but all we found were Abyssals. My division CO got roughed up pretty good in the battle. He wasn't the only one who got hurt though. One of the other divos had to be put in the sick bay."

"I think we saw him," Fletcher added, speaking for the first time, "Guy with the bandages around his head?"

"That's him," Johnston confirmed.

"Anyway, can you lead us to the HQ? I would like to get a better picture of the overall situation."

"This way, sir," Johnston replied, then began to walk down the path.

"While you're doing that, I'm going to go get chow," Sammy announced, "Seeing as I havn't got any yet." She slipped past Smith, and disappeared into the mess.

"Does she still act like she did?" Fletcher asked her sister, "Disregarding all authority?"

"Pretty much," Johnston replied, "She even managed to bring her decidedly out of reg hand cannon into this world." Smith followed behind the two destroyers in silence as they talked, half listening to their conversation and half thinking things over. He would have to have a discussion with the other people who had ended up in this world, maybe they could get some sort of provisional chain of command worked out. Johnston led them up to a building that looked like any other official structure, and then pushed open the door. She led them to the room that had been converted to a briefing space. Smith saw that the only other occupants of the room were Kongou and her husband. He walked to an empty seat, and plopped himself down, waiting for the rest of the base's occupants to show up.

 

[Aires Drake]

I squashed a bizzare desire to hide in a corner somewhere as Tenryū replied "Yeah, we talked a little."

We all listened to Self's description of Borealis in fascination. Once he was finished, Harder quietly scooted his chair just a touch further away from him. Much as I still considered Self a friend, I couldn't quite blame Harder.

"I'm pretty sure I saw that phrase in an official memo at some point," Tenryū noted dryly.

"So!" I said, moving to change the subject. "We've brought a little alcohol for those who need it after that incident." I stopped to point at Self. "None for you, though; if Borealis is what you come up with when you're sober, I don't want to know what you come up with when you're drunk."

Click to shrink...

Aurora came around the table with a cup filled with water and began helping me out of the slowly-stirring Cole's lap. "I do not see how you can work with him." She had an oddly-harsh tone to her voice as she whispered covertly to me.

I blinked and looked at her in confusion while she helped me slowly take a sip from the cup. After a couple shuddering breaths, I finally cleared my throat and looked at her seriously to whisper back. "The Doc? He doesn't seem half as bad as I thought he was. Kinda depressing to be around for how much he supposedly beats on himse-"

Aurora cut my confused stream of whispered words. "No!" She nodded to Calcifer. "Him."

I looked from her to Calcifer and back to her with a confused frown. "What are you talking about? He has a funny name, but he doesn't seem too bad. I mean, he lost Tenryuu, but I think he's willing to learn from that and not make the same mistakes. Don't you?"

She glared at Calcifer. "How do you know he did not get her sunk on purpose?"

My expression widened from shock and then became blank. "Aurora, you of all people should know that you're treading on thin ice. Why are you accusing him of that or even just implying that?"

She looked at me with a concerned look. "Because I consider all of you to be good friends and do not-Er, could not bear to lose any of you." She paused. "And there is s͚͈̹͎͇̺͆o̹͍̞̞̺̲͔̓̈͊̉̂ͩm̐͒ͪ͊e͕̲̫͆̑̃ͯ̃t̗̘h̟̳̩ͩ̀i̙̲ͯ̑ͤͪ͆ͩn̴̟̙̂͂͊̈́͂g͆̾ͩ̅͂҉̤͖̱̦̭̠ about him that reminds me of things I do not wish to remember."

I looked at Aurora inquisitively, causing her face to redden and look down at the ground. I pursed my lips and shrugged. "Well, if it bothers you enough that you decided to bring it up with me, then I won't disregard it." I gently lifted her chin up so we could make eye contact. "I *trust* you, alright?" I tilt-nodded over at Doc. "Look, we've gotten that meeting to do first, so I'll watch him for now and then the three of us can talk it over. Sound good?" She shyly nodded after I stopped pressing her chin down.

"Actually," Alphonse neatly slid into their conversation, "I'd rather not drink it myself." His shaking had calmed down, and Erika's fingers were laced around his, giving the taller of the two some much needed emotional support.

"I know that it's completely unfair of me to ask, but I'd like all combat-ready personnel in the Operations Centre as soon as possible. AEGIR is detecting something headed towards our base," which he mentally added, had no name yet, "And we need to come up with a plan to defend ourselves from whatever it could be."

He passed a look at Self and his fleet. "You okay there?" he asked, voice dropping. "I-I can get someone to look at your ship and yourself if you need it... Connie probably knows who to ask."

Click to shrink...

I chuckled slightly at the reminder of what had happened. "Well, if things aren't too urgent, I think we should be fine. I think Cole is coming around now, so she should be good to go with the rest of us in a few minutes." I was momentarily distracted by the searching hands of tough Pensacola wrapping around the wrist of the arm I was propping myself up with while mumbling about not wanting to be left alone. I grimaced at the reminder of Atlanta's earlier talk about how Cole had been driving herself to destruction, so I shifted to lean more on the table and let the cruiser wrap her callused yet delicate hands around my own hand. "Yeah, I think we'll be alright."

I looked away from the rousing cruiser toward the Doc. "How are you holding up? With everything that you've been doing and how well it's been done, I'd imagine you haven't gotten much sleep." I tried to offer him a reassuring smile, but I don't think the bandages on my head allowed me to pull off the look that well. "Is there anything I can do to help you with projects and the like?"

 

[Icywinter]

I looked away from the rousing cruiser toward the Doc. "How are you holding up? With everything that you've been doing and how well it's been done, I'd imagine you haven't gotten much sleep." I tried to offer him a reassuring smile, but I don't think the bandages on my head allowed me to pull off the look that well. "Is there anything I can do to help you with projects and the like?"

Click to shrink...

Alphonse gave him a smile that appeared all too easily on his face. "No," he said, "I've finished most of the stuff that I can work on with the materials I have at hand at the moment." He dug his hands into his coat pockets, and nodded slightly -- almost imperceptibly -- as if he was trying to convince himself as much as he was convincing Drake.

Erika noticed, and frowned slightly. She'd have to have a word with him later.

"Now, I really don't want you to work on anything just yet. You've been healing well," he continued, not noticing his wife's critical look. He examined Drake's bandages with the practiced gaze of a doctor. "But I would rather have you rest and not overexert yourself just yet. It could complications. I'm sure you probably heard this line from any medical drama if you've watched any, but I don't want you to get hurt even more."

He turned to look over at Calcifier and Tenryuu. "You guys alright?" he asked.

 

[pharaoh122]

"Richelle! Wait up!" I yelled as I ran to catch up to the fuming girl. I have to admit though, she was fast. I skid to a halt just as she took a left turn, I overshot. As I ran back to where she had turned, she was gone.

"Richelle where are you!" I began to shout.

I really don't get why she got so mad at me... either way, I had to find her so I kept up my search.

Almost half an hour had gone by and I still haven't found her. I was getting really worried. Wait... that might just work! Grinning, I willed my HUD to appear, and... bingo! Her Icon popped up. And there seems to be a lot people gathering at the Briefing room... We'll have to check it out later. But for now, my main objective! I followed my HUD as it directed me to where my wayward partner was. I found her sitting at the edge of the concrete path, facing the ocean. Plopping down beside her, we sat in silence, just enjoying the view.

"I'm sorry." I said, breaking the silence,

She glanced at me and turned away before asking,

"What for?"

"For... you know... staring at those Busts..." Blushing and scratching the back of my head awkwardly, the pun going over my head completely.

"Oh ha ha very funny, but it wasn't about you staring at those statues. You ignored me. Ever since meeting with Tone and Chikuma, you've talked to them more that you've talked to me. Sure we've known each other for three days, but I watched helplessly as your ship was battered by those damn demonic beings, I watched over you as you lay unconscious. You were the first person I met on this weird world, my first friend here. We even kissed on that pier when you woke up. I don't know what it is, but I felt as if we've known each other for a long time. And that's why I decided to walk with you, then you ignored me again. It hurt. I know it really shouldn't matter, but it did... so that's why I got mad..."

I sat there in silent contemplation as I pondered the meaning of her words... And honestly, I have to agree with her, I haven't really made much of an attempt to talk to her since breakfast yesterday. I spent most of my time cooped up in my ship. Even when I went for lunch, I didn't ask her to join me... Guilt flooded through me...

"I... I'm sorry... I just... I don't really have an explanation for that... I'm really sorry, Richelle."

And I was suddenly pulled into a hug. A very nice hug with 2 roun... bad me... baddddddd...

"Okay, you're forgiven, you just have to give me a foot massage every evening and feed me every day." She giggled.


Sighing dramatically, "If it is your wish your majesty, it shall be done."

"And... I'm sorry for overreacting."

Humming in acceptance, as I relaxed into her warm embrace. We sat there for a few more minutes before I sadly extricated myself from our embrace, and stood up, I wanted to see what was going on in the briefing room. Offering my arm to her, Richelle smiled and took my hand, and I helped her up. We made our way to the Briefing room.

Just as we passed the statues again, Richelle spoke up,

"Just how does Yamato manage with those puppies of hers."

She giggled at my reaction and resumed walking to the briefing room, dragging me along.

 

[Interested Party]

He turned to look over at Calcifier and Tenryuu. "You guys alright?" he asked.

Click to shrink...

I tensed briefly before sighing and forcing myself to relax again. "Functional," I repeated what I'd told Self earlier.

Tenryū shot me a look. Cal...

I inclined my head. I know, I know.

"So," I said, blatantly changing the topic, "No alcohol? Seems a shame to just leave the, after picking them out..." I trailed off while I stared at one of the bottle's labels, as if it might produce a solution to the newest conundrum.

The sound of bottles clinking drew my attention away from that, and I looked up to see Tenryū setting her bottles down on a table off to the side. "We'll leave 'em here for now, and we can have 'em when we get back or some shit," was her explanation when I caught her eye.

I nodded and moved to set my bottles down next to hers. "Makes sense." I started to turn away, paused, and quickly turned back around and snagged one bottle at random. Sake, it looked like. I didn't remember ever drinking any of that - or any of the others either, to be fair. "Taking this one, though. Not to get plastered or anything, but juuust enough to take the edge off if something else insane happens. That fair?" I asked, glancing back at Mr. Schmitt.

Harder sighed and slid out of his seat, Akatsuki having already bounced out of hers and standing near the door impatiently. "So are we going or what?" he asked.

 

[Cmmdfugal]

Seeing a few people leave the mess hall to go somewhere I felt a little confused. What had happened while Taihou and I were taking our nap in that box of cotton? I could feel my face squish in confusion. thankfully it seemed that Taihou had been paying more attention to the surrounding area and helped alleviate the confusion I was feeling.

"I think I heard one of them mention the briefing room."

Turning to her I nodded

"Then that is where we are going next."

We got up and made our way to the briefing room, and hopefully we can figure out exactly what had happened while we were napping.

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

"Well, should we head in now?"

"Probably."

"Probably? Admiral?"

"Wanted to wait and see if anyone else showed up." I shrugged, at the look from Sara. "Hey, don't give me that look. I'd rather make sure that everyone gets here first. I may not be in command anymore, but some habits are hard to break. Like Walker and her...everything."

"Hey!"

Snorting softly at the glare from the destroyer in question, I turned back to my best friend, "Look, Sara. I know that Admiral Smith is the one who will be in charge here, not me. But I...well, it's telling that I probably have more experience than almost everyone here. I should make sure that I can do what I can to help, even if it's only getting a handle on them."

"I know." Sara blew hair out of her eyes. "But..."

I just placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. She always did worry too much. It wasn't like standing out here, waiting for someone to show up, was going to hurt anything though. At the least, I could always go back inside the briefing room whenever Admiral Smith showed up. Until then though, I wanted to make sure I knew where everyone was. Like I had said...some habits were hard to break. If I was going to be stuck here, I wanted to make the most of it.

I didn't like people dying on my watch. The last thing I wanted was that. So learning the habits of the people here, and what they looked like, would be at least a first step to finding out a way to work with them. And the sooner I could figure out how to work with everyone else, the better off we all would be.

At least, that was what I believed and...and...

"Kongou..."

"Huh?"

Sara blinked wide green eyes, as I ducked behind her. Could one blame me? I had seen a man I didn't know, and the familiar form of Kongou. The latter was skipping around, and I had no intention of being spotted. She was...she was unique, that was for sure. And I did not want to run the risk of her spotting me.

Thankfully, neither of them seemed to notice me as they went into the briefing room. Letting out a sigh of relief, I moved out from behind Sara...in time to see Admiral Smith come walking into view with a pair of destroyer girls. Newer ones than Walker though...they were older than her- physically at any rate -for sure. Fletcher-class, probably.

"Admiral..." I began, only for him to move into the briefing room without noticing me.

"Ignoooorrrreeeedddd." Walker drawled.

"Shut it." I ignored her giggle, realizing that the Admiral had to be just as overwhelmed as I was, if not moreso.

"Should we follow him?" Sara had realized the same, sending a worried look past the man.

"Probably."

Sharing a look with my two companions, we went into the briefing room ourselves, sitting near the door. Still wanted to see people when they showed up, after all.

 

[CompassJimbo]

I sat down, deep in thought. A lot of people and shipgirls to deal with. And I remembered something about a ship selection as well.

Note to self: investigate that at some point.

My trance was broken when I heard some commotion behind me and looked to see the USN Admiral, another officer, and a few shipgirls in the room.

"Guess we're about to start soon." I muttered to myself. I looked over towards Kongou, who had stopped bouncing around and was staring at the newcomers.

It took a second before I realized what was about to happen next and bolted into action.

"NEWFACE!" The brunette shouted excitedly. I managed to grab her dress, only to be dragged along as she tackle-glomped the officer.

I groaned in mild pain.