Oh yeah, that's more evidence against Admiral Shizuka being a princess.
Tbh if she is secretly a humanized abyssal, she's probably a Ru-class or derivative. Tall, long straight black hair, the most human looking any of the standard MP abyssals types got... Most Ru's didn't have red eyes, but eye color in (MP) abyssals indicates rank/power, so red would just mean we were important.
so true but l hate having 10 construction points per ship girl we have Minefield I- which is 5 turns to make and repaired barracks 3 turns with 2 girls. yes if we get 40 steal this turn build a ship then be 60 steal a turn and a new shipgirl every turn after but still 3 or 4 turns away from building anything.
above is just my thought process
Rukiais there any possibility of there being a construction office in the town/city that would take the penalty away from our shipgirls build speed?
Examine Structures: Unlock new research options.
Should probably find and bond with a normal shipgirl sometime soon. We will then be able to maintain some connection that isn't from the abyss. Or failing that find some human minions we can stand to take care of some maintenance and food gathering.
But interesting to see the progress as we get more comfortable with the abyss, and the effect that it has on Shizuka(Admiral).
so true but l hate having 10 construction points per ship girl we have Minefield I- which is 5 turns to make and repaired barracks 3 turns with 2 girls. yes if we get 40 steal this turn build a ship then be 60 steal a turn and a new shipgirl every turn after but still 3 or 4 turns away from building anything.
above is just my thought process
Rukiais there any possibility of there being a construction office in the town/city that would take the penalty away from our shipgirls build speed?
Examine Structures: Unlock new research options.
I believe that you have entirely misunderstood how construction speed works?
The amount of construction that each ship is capable of is decided via this handy-dandy formula.
Construction Rates
The amount of construction accomplished each turn is calculated with this formula: [Speed * Class Modifier]
SS: Speed x 0.5
DD: Speed x 1
CL: Speed x 3
CA/CV: Speed x 5
BC: Speed x 6
BB: Speed x 7
So the Shizuka class would be capable of 20 points per ship per turn.
Any construction equipment in the city was either bombed or has since rusted to junk. Not that any of it would be particularly useful, even the smallest Destroyers are more than capable of lifting multiple tons of weight.
A) What human support network? Even before spooky abyssal bullshit got involved all of her internal monologue points at her being something of an exploited outcast from the entire tribe.
B) We've been something somewhat Abyssal since we got caught up in the late Princess' ritual. We froze to death, got better, then drowned, and then got better from that too.
I've even pointed it out before, whatever we are is something between Abyssal and Shipgirl, we're not just living on the fence, but rather glued to it. Even when we died we just came back as is instead of going fully one way or the other.
We're a pivot in the spiritual war between the two sides, perhaps even the pivot between them.
So the Shizuka class would be capable of 20 points per ship per turn.
Any construction equipment in the city was either bombed or has since rusted to junk. Not that any of it would be particularly useful, even the smallest Destroyers are more than capable of lifting multiple tons of weight.
Any construction equipment in the city was either bombed or has since rusted to junk. Not that any of it would be particularly useful, even the smallest Destroyers are more than capable of lifting multiple tons of weight.
first off sorry second l am an idiot l thought the destroyers where working in the sub speed my bad.
now onto this you can lift all you want don't mean you can build anything decent that why l wanted an office hardware and blueprints. 5 slabs of metal don't make a house after all though l don't now how Kancolle works im actually just started watching first ep atm
just for an example here on thought that goes into buildings construction. after the first nukes the us started testing them on makeshift towns they made just to see how well they handle that. after few years of testing they done a massive shift in construction blueprints so they would withstand earthquakes,floods, fires and so on. so inless there Kancolle magic hear or someone knows how to build stuff l have a hard time seeing them make anything large scale
ps sorry the rant above i'm going to watch the anime now
A) What human support network? Even before spooky abyssal bullshit got involved all of her internal monologue points at her being something of an exploited outcast from the entire tribe.
Literally anything would be more than what she has right now. What she had wasn't great but anything that would lessen the amount of time she spends getting bombarded by Eldritch Hate Radiation would be something.
Also "exploited outcast" is not the vibe I was getting from any of that. More along the lines of "noted misanthrope with a monomaniacal focus on a goal is not a reliable narrator, news at 11".
Edit: I'm pretty sure the closet this quest has to a reliable narrator so far is Shizuka. The boat. Everyone else has displayed a fairly hefty amount of perspective bias.
Fair warning: don't take anything in the anime as a given. Even setting aside the obvious major AU of the timeline of events, lore in KC is very subjective in a lot of places, and most of the stuff with an actual basis being used here derives from the game.
(The boats who have swords can still totally parry bullets though, that's just cool. )
[X] Radio
-[X] Scavenge.
--[X] Steel.
---[X] DesDiv1.
-[X] Radio: Your shipgirls are currently unable to communicate with anything but signal flags. This makes life rather difficult, to say the least. [20/25]
-[X] Examine Damaged Base Structures: Unlock new research options, such as Radar, Large Naval Guns or better Shipgirl Housing.
--[X] Radar: Stops ships and aircraft from sneaking up on you without notice. (Destroyed) [LOCKED] Complete ??? Research
It could be argued to do something else with the personal action like get better housing if we're soon to make more ships but the main thing is that I don't want to touch the blueprint again so soon. This way we can still finish off a tech.
If you don't want to completely abstract away the Oil, Ammunition and Bauxite, then you can always use modern equivalents, substituted with food when possible.
Even now, using modern refining techniques, it takes 8 tons of bauxite to get one ton of aluminum, and it's rarity in the WWI and WWII eras had it used very frugally. Now, you can find scrap by the ton in quite a few junkyards, or in the post-Abyssal world, parking lots, dealerships and anywhere with soda cans. Some of the Range Rovers have over 2/3s of a ton of aluminum in the frame alone. Each.
Oil you've already said can be approximated, and having oily food like fatty fish would work really well, narratively speaking. I'll bet the fish populations have skyrocketed since all the fishing fleets got destroyed. The numbers a single amateur fisherman can get from a well-stocked area are ridiculous, and fish like hanging around docks, so even a few hours time spent fishing would likely be enough. Heck, have a ship throw out a dragline off the pier in the morning if you want to.
Ammo's a bit of a bust, however. The only really good news on that front is the absolutely massive piles of waste-sulfur produced by the petroleum industry. Seriously, google Sulphur pyramids. They passed the Great Pyramid of Giza in size ages ago. It's only a component, but it's there.
On an unrelated note, stainless steel cookware can almost certainly survive the apocalypse even if their handles won't, so raiding an old restaurant supply store would likely be worth it beyond just scavenging the aluminum cookware.
Could rename "Food" to "Provisions" to help keep it vague.
Not sure if there's actually any point in shooting the plane down. If we saw the plane, the plane should've seen the base several times now. (And this is assuming no immediate contact, either via radio or Magic Plane-POV.)
[X] Don't shoot it down
[X] Deja vu?
-[X] Scavenge.
--[X] Steel.
---[X] DesDiv1.
-[X] Abyssal Blueprints: You know they exist, but you don't know how they work. If you want to create or modify designs, you have to figure this one out. [30/60]
-[X] Request Assistance: Ask one of the shipgirls to help you in one of your tasks, such as their knowledge or equipment on a research topic.
--[X] Princess.
Shipgirl Operations: Scavenging
"What do you think the new ship is going to be like?" It may be a bit premature to be asking before they had even finished gathering the resources she would need, but the two of you were incredibly close to passing that mark. Besides, the idle musing helped fill the very boring act of gathering the materials, there was only so long that you could be entertained by ripping apart and carrying metal.
Your sister shrugs, weaving a path between the ruins of the base on your trip back. "Quiet." You can't control the puff of breath that escapes you, that was such a terrible pun and from the most unexpected person too. The two of you fall back into the comfortable quiet that usually follows you around, you were louder than your sister, but you didn't exactly feel compelled to fill the silence.
On your way out of the warehouse, the sight of the Admiral out and about draws your attention, you quickly grab your sisters sleeve and drawing her attention over. "She looks better." Ish. The Princess hadn't exactly confided in the two of you what was wrong with her, but you did know that she was doing her best to help. Every day that passed the Admiral looked a little better, less shaky as the weakness that was clinging to her faded. "More better." Neither of you could make anything out of her silhouette, but at least a shadow of it was there now. "She must have been terribly damaged to end up like that." What kind of ship didn't have a ship?
Your sister makes an unhappy noise and you remember that she had seen the Admiral weeks before you ever had. "When I first saw her, I thought she had to be a human that had somehow snuck up on the Princess." You gape in shock, your sister pulling you along with your grip on her arm. "I... shot at her." The choking sound you make is incredibly undignified, but you feel perfectly justified in your shock. "Which is why the Princess sunk me and my sistership."
It was only half way back to the ship that you gathered your thoughts enough to ask. "How in the Abyss did you mistake her for a Human?" Even when you had first seen her there wasn't a chance you could have made that mistake, she was obviously one of the Abyss. Your ocularly challenged sister turns her eyes away as you arrive at the wreck and get to work and you let her avoid the question, no doubt it was something she had already chastised herself for a dozen times.
DesDiv1 have processed roughly a third of the wrecked ship. +40 Steel.
Research: Abyssal Blueprints
Writing in whatever language this was, you had started calling it Abyssal Runes for the odd shape, was tiring beyond belief. It's not just the difficulty of getting the shapes right over and over, it was physically and mentally tiring to create the text. It hadn't been too much effort to write up a "Naval Terminology to Abyssal Runes" dictionary and it was proving to be incredibly useful, when you had a hard limit on how many attempts you could make before succumbing to exhaustion getting it right every time mattered a lot more.
Still, just as learning to read the text had been fast, writing it was moving along shockingly quickly. Sure you had to reference your notes for every rune to make sure you had them right in reading or writing, but the act of reading or writing itself no longer pounded nails through your skull and Princess constant but gentle encouragement helped push you along.
Speaking of Princess, the further into this you got, the happier she got. She was downright cheerful sometimes now, it was so very jarring compared to how cold and angry she had been at the other Princess in the past, her foul mood had carried over to a lot of other things. You don't think that the destroyers had noticed it yet, Princess kept a lid on it around them for whatever reason. But it was very amusing to watch how she tried to keep her "serious Abyssal Princess" aura around the two of them when moments earlier she had been idly flicking a lock of your hair back and forth as she lay next to you.
Now that you had gotten to the point where you could read and write Abyssal Runes, the fuzzy image on the paper was starting to slowly resolve itself into something clearer, the shadow of a small destroyer and a snapshot of Shizuka herself.
You were close, you felt it. Princess was convinced that the only thing left for you to do was spend a week or so copying Shizuka's blueprint on your own to prove to yourself that you could do it.
Admiral Shizuka has the ability and the will, now she just needs to try it out herself. +20 Progress [50/60]
Personal Action: Request Assistance From Princess
Princess good mood was somewhat infectious, it was hard to be annoyed at her when she was so happy. Fwip. Your eye twitches, just a little, as she bounces a finger off of your hair. Hard but not impossible. Princess had looked at you with wide eyes when she had come to your office cum bedroom to find your hair up in a messy ponytail, as if she had never even considered that you could do that. Of course, that had been a few days ago and every day since she seemed to be expecting you to put your hair up again.
You had resisted until today, when you had caught her staring at your hair again while trying to write out the runes for Main Gun. Deciding to be a little merciful, you had taken your hair and tied it up before her faintly glowing eyes, the red orbs following every twitch of your hands as you did so.
Fwip.
And now here you were, trying to focus on working as Princess runs her fingers through your hair and occasionally flicks your ponytail, briefly sending it swinging around. Honestly, you usually enjoyed the way she softly played with your hair, gently stroking it or carefully curving the long locks in-between her fingers, but this obsession with your ponytail was a little annoying. It wasn't like Princess didn't have long hair of her own, but she had just started at you blankly when you told her to play with her own hair. You offered to teach her but she refused, It left you with the feeling that she wanted to play with your hair specifically.
Fwip.
Your eye twitches and you give in to the urge, quickly turning your head to look at something off to the side, incidentally finding that where she had been leaning so close your ponytail had found it's way into her face at rather high speeds.
Blessed silence fills the room for the next few minutes as you return to your work until your guest breaks it with a soft crinkle, lying down next to your on your... slightly messy bedroll. You meet her red eyes with your own and stare at the demanding expression on her face, somehow managing to make her childish obsession look more like a regal request. "Fine." You look back at the paper before you and let your hair fall across your back, Princess fingers being much gentler as she plays with the ends now.
Your threat of depriving her of hair touching privileges works well enough to get her to stop flicking it, but both you and her know you enjoy it too much for the threat of taking it away to be a serious one.
Events
Princess spots the light cruiser the scout belongs to approaching the base along with a small escort of destroyers, they don't seem to be moving to attack so she readies to meet them.
Hibiki has her first taste of food this week, Shizuka made sure she knows what oil tastes like first though.
Subturn
Light Cruiser Fleet Meeting & Hibiki's First Meal
Status Changes
Resources
Food 42 > 30
Steel: 40 > 80
Research
Abyssal Blueprints: 30/60 > 50/60
Divisions
DesDiv1: Shizuka (Flagship), Hibiki
Shipgirl Operations
Naval Activities
[] Sortie Ships into Lake Superior
-[] Patrol: Send ships out to patrol the water and generally have a presence. This allows you to stop shipping through an area, have solid intelligence of what is in your patrol zone and protect your own shipping from raids.
-[] Scouting: Send ships out specifically to look for other ships or Installations. Much more likely to find something and also less likely to get engaged in combat, will avoid combat where they can.
-[] Strike Force: Have ships ready at base for when an enemy fleet is detected, then sortie them out to engage in a fleet battle. Depending on the distance and the enemies willingness to engage you, battle may or may not start.
[] Scavenge
-[] Steel: Send girls out to go and tear off chunks of that half-sunk ship, you desperately need more steel if you want to create any more ships.
-[] Food: Send girls to look through the town for whatever edible food that might be left behind.
Base Management
New Construction: Build something new around the base
[] Abyssal Anchor - Coastal Installation I: This construct will remove the upkeep of 3 ships under 2000 tons, selecting the most expensive, if those ships are based here. [0/500 Labour | 0/100 Steel]
[] Resource Processing Facility: This allows you to extract an additional 20% from the resources collected by scavenging for a specific resource. [0/150 Labour | 0/20 Steel]
-[] Steel/Food (Select One)
[] Airfield I: Construct a basic airfield from which you can launch aircraft. [LOCKED] Complete ??? Research
[] Minefield I: Start laying mines out in the bay around the base. [0/100 Labour | 0/10 Steel]
[] Small Slipway: Construct a small slipway meant for constructing, repairing and refitting ships under 2000 tons. [0/500 Labour | 0/100 Steel]
Base Repair
Repair Structure: Select a structure that has been damaged and repair it.
[] Small Defensive Emplacements: Destroyer and Cruiser guns emplaced around the base, used to keep smaller ships from closing to the base. (Destroyed) [LOCKED] Complete Small Naval Guns Research
[] Large Defensive Emplacements: Battleship turrets set into the ground, used to protect the Installation from long range shelling. (Heavy Damage) [LOCKED] Complete ??? Research
[] Anti-Aircraft Emplacements: Stops aircraft from ruining your day, a mixture of small to large guns, all for anti-air. (Heavy Damage) [LOCKED] Complete Anti-Air Research
[] Radar: Stops ships and aircraft from sneaking up on you without notice. (Destroyed) [LOCKED] Complete ??? Research
[] Radio: Lets you communicate with ships while they are away from the base. (Destroyed) [LOCKED] Complete Radio Research
[] Shipgirl Barracks: This is a fairly old Abyssal base, so accommodations are built for older model mass production units that didn't have human wants. Actually a really shitty place to have to live in. (Destroyed) [0/50 Labour | 0/5 Steel]
Ship Construction
[] Small Ship Construction: You may assign small slipways to build one ship, under 2000 tons, each.
-[] Slipway One: Select class to construct
[] Summoning: Use a Catalyst, such as a dead Abyssal or Shipgirl, to make a summoning attempt. (You have none)
Repair and Refit
[] Ship Repair
-[] Slipway One: Select shipgirl to be repaired
Ship Refit You don't know how to refit ships yet.
Research
Select a Research option
[] Radio: Your shipgirls are currently unable to communicate with anything but signal flags. This makes life rather difficult, to say the least. [20/25]
[] Small Naval Guns: You have the design of Shizuka's 100mm gun, but that's all. You need others, you don't want to hurt her feelings, but it's a pretty wimpy gun. [0/???]
[] Anti-Air: Shizuka didn't come with any, so you don't even have blueprints for this. Princess has a few working examples scattered around the base, you are sure you can figure out something. [0/???]
[] Abyssal Blueprints: You know they exist, but you don't know how they work. If you want to create or modify designs, you have to figure this one out. [50/60]
[] Ship Flotation: Bring sunken ships back from the bottom of the ocean. You have a few ideas as to how you could do this, but you'll definitely need to be able to modify blueprints first. [0/???]
Personal Action
[] Spend Time With X: Spend time with a particular shipgirl this week.
[] Request Assistance: Ask one of the shipgirls to help you in one of your tasks, such as their knowledge or equipment on a research topic.
[] Assist Shipgirls: Help out the girls during one of their tasks, you have a wide range of knowledge on many subjects that might be helpful.
[] Examine Damaged Base Structures: Unlock new research options, such as Radar, Large Naval Guns or better Shipgirl Housing.
-[] Specify which structure to examine.
Next chapter will be a Subturn: Light Cruiser Fleet Meeting & Hibiki's First Meal
Are we sure the Princess isn't a cat? That said, maybe Shizuka should mess with her hair too, or just style it (instead of teaching it since it's bonding or smth)
[X] Plan Food Destroyer Blueprints Examining
-[X] Scavenge
--[X] Food: Send girls to look through the town for whatever edible food that might be left behind.
-[X] Small Ship Construction: You may assign small slipways to build one ship, under 2000 tons, each.
--[X] Slipway One: Shizuka Class Destroyer
-[X] Abyssal Blueprints: You know they exist, but you don't know how they work. If you want to create or modify designs, you have to figure this one out. [50/60]
-[X] Examine Damaged Base Structures: Unlock new research options, such as Radar, Large Naval Guns or better Shipgirl Housing.
--[X] Shipgirl Barracks
[X] Plan Food Destroyer Blueprints Examining
-[X] Scavenge
--[X] Food: Send girls to look through the town for whatever edible food that might be left behind.
-[X] Small Ship Construction: You may assign small slipways to build one ship, under 2000 tons, each.
--[X] Slipway One: Shizuka Class Destroyer
-[X] Abyssal Blueprints: You know they exist, but you don't know how they work. If you want to create or modify designs, you have to figure this one out. [50/60]
-[X] Examine Damaged Base Structures: Unlock new research options, such as Radar, Large Naval Guns or better Shipgirl Housing.
--[X] Shipgirl Barracks
I was going to say that we could hold off on using Steel so that we could get Radios into our shipgirls, but we haven't actually finished that research yet. Other than that, the plan looks good? Get food, make another Shizuka Class Destroyer, finish up the blueprints research, and start looking into barracks so that our base inhabitants won't live in terrible conditions. Even in their destroyed state, examining them could yield some interesting information.
[X] Plan Food Destroyer Blueprints Examining
-[X] Scavenge
--[X] Food: Send girls to look through the town for whatever edible food that might be left behind.
-[X] Small Ship Construction: You may assign small slipways to build one ship, under 2000 tons, each.
--[X] Slipway One: Shizuka Class Destroyer
-[X] Abyssal Blueprints: You know they exist, but you don't know how they work. If you want to create or modify designs, you have to figure this one out. [50/60]
-[X] Examine Damaged Base Structures: Unlock new research options, such as Radar, Large Naval Guns or better Shipgirl Housing.
--[X] Shipgirl Barracks
Small announcement to make, the quest is going to be on hiatus for a few days while I present my Dissertation. It shouldn't be longer than 3-4 days at the most, more likely 2-3.
Small announcement to make, the quest is going to be on hiatus for a few days while I present my Dissertation. It shouldn't be longer than 3-4 days at the most, more likely 2-3.
"And why can't I wait somewhere out of sight?" Once again Princess had brought you to the edge of the dock, the very last place you wanted to be considering how your last meeting had ended. And this is a light cruiser too, she's not going to go down with one shot like the others did. Which meant that she'd have the chance to shoot back, at you. "We both remember how this went last time." Needless to say you did not agree with this course of action.
Princess doesn't ignore your concerns at least, but there is a tightness in her voice as she responds, betraying her anger. "It would not matter if you were as deep into the base as we could hide you." She doesn't comment as you step behind her when she releases your arm, at least willing to give you this comfort. "They would still feel you from this distance, your presence is very distinctive." The two destroyers flanking you nod, Shizuka giving you a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes, cold chips of ice gazing at the opposition across the waves.
That doesn't sound good. Humans were capable of sneaking into Abyssal bases because they didn't exude any noticeable aura like Abyssals did. You knew something was happening to you here, it was a thought that you had come back to over and over in the past few weeks and it didn't fill you with comfort, but regardless... It doesn't matter what happens to me in the end. You take a deep breath and stop hiding behind Princess. If I die it will just set them against the other Princess. Even if it stops there it will be more damage than anyone has done to the Abyssals since Yokosuka. This was what you had given your life to, you weren't going to buckle when the price demanded it's payment.
Your escorts follow you lockstep as you move out into the open, the looming shadows lying behind their tiny forms bringing you some kind of comfort. The only noise that comes for the next several minutes is the splash of the waves and the slowly growing anger of Princess, her rage wasn't present on her body in any way, but you felt it as sure as the sun was shining.
When you finally lay your eyes upon your guests you feel your eyes widen. She has so many guns... The Light Cruiser didn't exactly tower over the Destroyers around her, though she is certainly a fair bit taller, looking somewhere around fourteen or so, but she alone carries more guns than both your and her escorts put together, and they were bigger too. You can't quite see the ship through the shadow, but you can see the many weapons lining her rigging, pointing in all directions.
Not a centreline arrangement. Naval design was considered important knowledge for children to learn in these times, if only to know how dead the Abyssals they saw were going to make them, and your father had taught you much. She must be an old design, World War One or before. The fact that both the Destroyers and now a Light Cruiser were of an extremely old design sent a few thoughts bouncing around your head, but for now you couldn't confirm any of those and stayed silent.
None of them stop as they approach, a horrible fluttering filling your stomach as you see their gazes locked firmly onto you, rather than the very angry Princess looming over them. But they don't slow their approach, nor do they start turning their weapons onto you, they just continue their... confused staring at you. Princess doesn't step forwards when they reach the edge of the docks, forcing them to leave the water and make their way up the narrow steps to where you are waiting, the quiet grinding of the lone defensive turret that still works screaming out as it slowly follows them. It was the only major deterrent you had to stop them from just overpowering you.
The Light Cruiser leading the group appears in your sight close enough for you to make her out properly and you look her over. A messy top of pitch black hair left to hang freely down her back and shoulders, narrowed dark blue eyes and pale white skin on an angular face, the slight softness present in your Destroyer escorts faces is absent. It gives her a very serious look which fits well with the pitch black armoured bodysuit she wears, covering her from neck to thigh in dark metal plates, only interrupted by a smattering of white plates forming a small diamond from her stomach to chest and small white lines where her rigging rests on her hips.
A small collection of plates make up some kind of bracer on her arms and where your destroyers have small metallic boots she has thick metal plates covering her feet all the way up to her knee, shaped very much like the old armours you had seen in museums, with the exception of a small but wide heel sitting at the back of the foot.
She looks considerably more armoured than the destroyers do. As she crosses the last meters between you the strange movement of her "armour" catches your eyes, small glimpses of black fabric and white flesh peeking through the plates. Is the armour actually set onto anything? Wouldn't that just mean it's for looks? It might be very thin, not something you can tell from the outside. There was really no way to tell how thick it was just by looking, but the fact was that she at least had armour of some kind put her leagues ahead of anything you had.
She doesn't waste any words when declaring her intent. "The Princess demands recompense for your insult." She turns her eyes away from the smouldering Princess in front of her to your small trio. "Two destroyers for those lost and..." Her words fall off as she stares at you, thoughts visibly racing behind her eyes as her silence continues for a few moments. "Your experimental ship will cover the costs of the transport and the resources." The butterflies in your stomach return with a vengeance, you have a rather sudden premonition that this was not a part of her original offer, but the words had already been spoken. Please Princess, please keep your temper.
Out of the corner of your eye you can see Princess and if she wasn't in better control of herself she would be vibrating in rage, but while you can't see it you can feel how so very angry she is, it hurts that soft part of you and the rest of you is so very cold. The Light Cruiser stiffens in place but doesn't back down, her escorts look tempted to hide in their jackets but instead they slowly cluster around their flagship in the same way your own shift in front of you. The Light Cruiser opens her mouth again and you feel an imminent sense of doom, but evidently she is feeling the anger just as sharply as you are and wisely chooses to return to silence, cutting off the rest of her message.
Princess stews in her anger for a few moments longer before responding. "No." For some reason the Cruiser actually relaxes a little at her words, though you don't have the slightest clue as to why. "You will leave this place and if you return you will enter the embrace of the depths."
The Light Cruiser slowly nods at this, an approving gleam in her eyes as she looks back at your Princess. "I understand." She very reluctantly turns her back on your Princess and makes her way back towards the stairs looking back over her shoulder at you and narrowing her eyes before stopping, turning her head towards Princess. "You have a very special one here." You feel a shot of ice crawl down your spine as she turns her eyes back to you, icy orbs studying you. "When you are destroyed I will protect her for you." With that she turns and makes her way down the stairs, missing the very visible twitch that goes through Princess.
Silence reigns over the dock as they leave, even the grinding of the turret falling silent as they pass over the horizon.
Fuck.
Hibiki's First Meal
"This is food." Shizuka flitters about in front of you as she cooks for Hibiki, the way she is mimicking the shadow of yourself the week before brings a smile to your face. Shizuka had given Hibiki a small sip of Oil earlier, just enough for the girl to have a solid idea of the taste -that being godawful- before starting on this meal. She wanted to make sure that Hibiki knew exactly what fate she was escaping before trying food and you feel like it's a tradition that is going to stick around with every new girl.
She quickly and efficiently follows the steps you had shown her, copying your actions and words as she teaches Hibiki the simple steps of making rice like she was reading from a holy book. It makes something warm tingle in your chest that you nurture as you watch the two of them watch the boiling rice with rapt attention, no doubt recording every movement of the floating rice in their logbooks. The thought makes you laugh and you don't suppress it, ignoring the way the two of them quickly glance at you before going back to observing the water.
When the specified ten minutes pass, according to the clocks mounted on their bridges, Shizuka shows Hibiki how to strain the water and pours the rice onto a plate. Both of you watch her with eager eyes as she takes her first bite, freezing in the same way Shizuka did before swallowing and letting out a perfectly innocuous question, "Why does oil taste like Admiral's hair before she washes it? This stuff is great!" What. You don't realise that you have spoken the word until Hibiki quickly turns to you, evidently having forgotten you were there and stops, red quickly rushing up her face as she stares, the plate clutched to her chest tightly. "A-Admiral! I didn't-"
She falls silent, engines running over pressure as she silently flounders. You can't resist the urge to grab her and smush her adorable face into your chest, amusement just growing larger as she carefully but quickly twists the plate out from between the two of you making making sure not a single grain falls off. You speak into her hair, "Just because you are cute doesn't mean I'm going to forget about that." She stiffens. "Now, what to do..." You turn your eyes down to her food and an evil idea sparks. "Now Hibiki, since you have clearly already eaten, why don't you let Shizuka have-" She gently but forcefully escapes your grip, clutching her plate tightly as she rounds the fire, all the while stuffing her face with rice like it might try and escape from her.
You lose your fight with laughter again and bend over, giggling loudly as you drop back to your concrete rubble seat. Oh yes, this is a tradition I approve of.
I'm baaack, a little later than I expected but things should be back on schedule now. Next chapter is Thunder Bay: Rising Thunder I. Combat awaits.
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