Castles of Steel - Lesbians Good, Imperialism Bad

[X] A patterned silk art piece to be hung on a wall, depicting an ancient navy battling a sea monster.

You studied the silk piece carefully, taking it in. There was a dozen intricate little ships, so well woven you could see figures on some of them, shooting rockets and firing arrows at a huge leviathan rising from the waves. You were no stranger to silkworks, but still, this looked incredible, and probably decades old. It belonged in a royal court, not here with street vendors.

"Four yen? Sold!"

The piece was carefully rolled and stowed under your arm, and you were back off towards the ships.

"You're a princess, right? They must have put you on… a battleship or something, huh?" Lieutenant Arita slurred, clumsily dodging the last few people as the market street ran out and you headed for the base entrance. "Those are the big ones, right?"

After checking in with the guards, you lead Yachi back directly to your ship. You didn't want to spend another minute in this oppressive heat and humidity: at least it was cool below decks. As he caught sight of your ship and realized where you were heading, Arita groaned.

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

"Nice. Come on." You hustled the Army officer up the gangway with a grumpy huff, though you did pause to salute towards the bridge and encouraged him to do the same. He managed it, clumsily, and then you turned him over to the officer of the watch with a relieved sigh. At least he was out of your hair now, right?

Unfortunately, that didn't actually seem to be the case. The next morning after you'd managed to get some sleep, bathed, and hung up your new decor (which made the office feel much more homey) you ran across him on your way upstairs to the mess. He was looking much more sober, at least, and he'd managed to trim up his beard enough to look more presentable. You stared at him for a brief moment.

"...Why are you down here?" You finally asked, feeling fiercely annoyed. You were protective of your domain belowdecks.

"That's where they shoved me last night. Gave me a corner in a store room and told me to stay out of the way, but I'm still an officer so I guess I'm allowed to eat with the rest of you high and mighty Naval types." Spirits, even when he was sober he was insufferable. You gritted your teeth and put up with him chatting at you and asking questions about your 'boat' as you headed upstairs. Finally, you were in the mess and it was with gratitude that you sank down at the same table as Hideaki, who was already demolishing a huge Western style breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast. Such breakfasts were becoming more popular, especially with the rapidly expanding middle classes who liked to imitate Western fashions in everything from their homes to their clothes. You went for something a bit more reserved. Rice with an egg cracked into it--simple food, but it had been your favorite as a child and was still something of a comfort in these times. It helped that there were some egg-layers on board to help provide officers with eggs that weren't powdered.

"Good morning, Arisukawa!" Hideaki boomed, then glanced over at the Army officer as he… sat down with the pair of you. Great.

"And good morning to you too!" Hideaki was too good for this world. Unlike practically everyone else, he seemed to take the intrusion of Army blue into the usually white and black world of the officer's mess well in stride.

"Good morning, Kishimoto. This is… ah. Lieutenant Arita Yachi. Of the Army. Apparently we're ferrying him home. Lieutenant, this is Ensign Kishimoto Hideaki. Junior Signals Officer on board our little ship." The Army fellow has a bowl of simple rice and is already eating it with relish.

"Good morning! Nice to meet you both properly." Yachi replied politely, then went back to attacking his breakfast. "Spirits, you're big." He managed between mouthfuls. "What's your job, hauling up the anchor?"

"I like this one!" Hideaki laughed. "No, I supervise the signaling crew. Make sure the wireless is doing its job, waggle flags at other ships or use the morse lamp. That kind of thing. What about you, Army boy? What do you do?"

"Well this is usually the part where I brag about getting to fire huge guns, but even this little tub has a respectable cannon on the end. I guess recently I've been in… um, let's say civilian correspondence."

"You mean you were a censor," you said flatly. For all of his faults (being a miserable Army drunkard chief among them) you grudgingly had to admit to yourself that he seemed like an alright fellow

"Oh no, I mean I spent a duty rotation pretty much just, uh, fraternizing with the locals." He said. "At least with a ship you have something to do or it sinks! Guns… if you park 'em under a tarp it's fine."

"Mostly we make sure other ships don't sink," you pointed out. "We're a destroyer tender."

"So a destroyer mom? Are the destroyers your ducklings? Quack quack?" Yachi asked. Hideaki snorted and tried to hide his laugh behind one hand as you give your friend a mild glare. Traitor.

"Something like that." You replied, managing to restrain your own laughter. It was hard not to laugh just because his impression of a duck was uncanny. And he was so unerringly friendly, which last night had seemed to be a product of drink but in reality seemed to mostly be just Lieutenant Arita.

"They're the older models, the Type 3" you continue, "so they have miserably small coal bunkers and their bathing facilities are mostly salt water. And they're all ten years old and kinda worn out, but they still have good legs in a sprint and carry enough guns to make smugglers and pirates think twice, which why they're down here." Piracy was the other problem in the area besides smuggling. Small boats that darted out of inlets and coves to try and take merchant shipping. Bastards. "Thankfully we should have the new models starting off the slips this summer, which will help. I hear they have properly sized bunkers. And that they even managed to fit a bath in! Only for officers, though."

"We have a saying in the Army: it takes two baths to get an infantryman clean, and we only have one, so why waste it!" Hideaki laughed uproariously at that one, though you weren't quite sure you understood it yourself. Maybe you didn't know enough about the infantry? You pursed your lips, then tried to change the subject.

"Why are you getting sent aboard our ship though?" You asked with a curious glance. "We're probably going to be nurshing the Maikaze back to the yard at home. Nokor has a big naval depot but not the facilities we need to do proper repairs. I wish they'd just build a yard here already," you added with a sigh.

"Yeah," Hideaki added. His interest in personal gossip was stunning. "What's the scuttlebutt? Got a sweetheart you're in a hurry to get back to?"

"I don't know what scuttlebutt is but no, they're reorganizing all the artillery battalions for some reason. Incorporating support companies and stuff, and apparently I'm gonna be working in General Horikoshi's office as part of that. What about you? Anyone special waiting?" Arita grinned as he turned the question back onto the two of you. "Princess probably already has a prince waiting for her, right?"

"No way!" You shake your head. Being so irreverent to the Imperial blood. What an infuriating man. "I'm a girl who prefers silk, thanks. And I haven't had time to court anybody since I went into the Naval Academy, anyway."

"I have a someone!" Hideaki was already digging into his breast pocket for his wallet and revealed the same picture from before--himself in his dress uniform at graduation and the shorter man (though there were very few people in the country not shorter than Hideaki) with the huge corsage and Western style suit.

"My Osamu. We're going to exchange swords next year." Hideaki sighed happily. "He actually helps design and draft the ships! He's very smart and he knows everything about ships."

"A valiant officer of our Navy engaged to a slide rule toting egghead? I'd have thought you'd be into the more rugged type, Kishimoto," Arita teased. "And I can't believe you're single, Princess. Wouldn't you be one of the most eligible ladies out there? And dashing in a uniform, to boot."

"I suppose so," you murmured, your face taking on a heated blush. If you were honest, your dating experience was… limited. Even if you enjoyed a few flings now and then. "I just haven't found the time," you admitted.

Hideaki seemed to take the teasing in stride himself.

"Hey, I need someone smarter than me around to keep me honest. I have a brain full of naval jargon and not much else," Hideaki said with a laugh. You thought that was nonsense because signals took a lot of smarts but you didn't say anything further. Really, it was remarkable he seemed to have changed from what you remembered at the Academy, when he had been cold and distant and almost haughty. You'd never have guessed there was a warm, friendly, jovial sort under there. Maybe it was his boy who had done it.

"Sure, I just can't imagine it. What would you even talk about? 'Hey sweetie today we counted to seventy zillion and measured some things'? Not for me. Pretty artist boys are my poison. Or maybe another soldier. Or at least someone who gets outside more than once a year." You glanced at your watch and saw you still had another quarter of an hour before you had to be on duty (you were reorganizing the food stores again) as another white-clad Naval officer entered. Ensign Kehara Akio again. He glanced over at your table and visibly sneered when he saw the powder blue uniform sitting there and slowly wandered over, pointedly speaking only to you and Hideaki.

"Good morning. I thought I'd smelled something unpleasant come on board. Are you really eating breakfast with an Army dog? Or are you just feeding him because you felt sorry for him?" You inwardly winced. You, like most of the Navy, did not have a high opinion of the Army but this felt just… ostentatious. It was one thing to be (rightfully) arrogant but to be outright insulting was poor form. Arita was scowling, probably getting ready to say something overly honest in return that might well make the argument into something worse.

[ ] Say nothing; let Lieutenant Arita dig his own grave.
[ ] Politely intervene and try to smooth things over
[ ] Rebuke Ensign Kehara. Even if Lieutenant Arita IS an Army dog, he's a guest of the Navy and officer. He deserves to be treated with some degree of respect.