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There was a knock on Jane's bedroom door. Casual and slightly heavy. Certainly not a ship, that was for certain.
"Come in!" she beckoned the individual beyond the wooden portal as she continued scribbling away at her homework. Her English teacher had piled on all sorts of extra assignments for the winter break and she did not want it hanging over her head. Diligence aside, Jintsuu had enough on her plate without taking the extra time to make sure she was doing her homework.
Doing it correctly however... remained to be seen. Stupid English language. Why could she remember how Mutsu-mama's boilers worked but not her latest vocabulary definition sheets? It really bugged her to no end. Mostly because the latter was needed to advance to the next grade. Phooey.
The door opened with only the most mild of creaking to draw the girl's attention.
"Working hard?" queried her father with the kind of barely relaxed tone he seemed to sport only when he had managed to delegate every possible responsibility he could to someone else. It was quite rare if Jane were to be perfectly honest. And she'd heard it in earnest for the first time only after Hiei-mama had sailed into their lives. She liked hearing her father's voice like that a lot more than his normal tone.
"Yup!" She swiveled her chair around so she could look up at her father. "I'm doing my English language homework."
"Let me guess. Vocab is giving you trouble?" Richardson gave a small grin as his daughter nodded, her smile turning into a frown.
"And my teacher gave us a lot of extra work for the break, too."
"She's just trying to make sure you know your stuff. And she's the one who has to grade it, so the evil teacher theory isn't going to fly." The theory was almost as ancient as the profession. And he'd been convinced it was true for quite some time. But he had also been one of those problem students when he was her age.
"I know. I just don't like it. It's so hard to remember!" exclaimed Jane with a huff of frustration. "But I want to get it done so I don't have to think about it again. And stuff isn't as much fun if there's homework to do."
Richardson tried to not roll his eyes. Time for the time-honored tactic of drawing comparisons. Again. One day his little girl would get it through her head and have it stick. But she was shaping up to be just as stubborn as himself.
"Jane, what's the maximum range of Mutsu's guns?"
"Um... Which ones?" Jane blinked at the sudden shift of topic.
"Her sixteens and fives. The absolute maximum. In yards." He didn't really care what measurement system she used. It wasn't really the point. But requesting a specific one might help.
Jane sat there for a moment thinking before snapping her fingers in realization.
"Over forty two thousand for her big guns and over sixteen thousand for the other ones!" There was no way she could be wrong about those numbers. And she would have smiled at getting the answer right had her father not been looking at her flatly. What? She got it right!
"And why do you know her gun range and not what..." He leaned over and glanced at Jane's homework, aiming to pick out a word she had defined incorrectly and not yet realized or fixed. "...pedestrian means?"
"I... dunno. It's easier to remember. And I liked learning it a whole lot more. Mutsu-mama's a lot more fun to read about than my vocab homework." It was certainly very true. She could easily invest hours upon hours of her free time studying the navy and the ships who served, regardless of era or nation. Vocabulary was just... bleargh. Even if she forced herself, it just wasn't interesting!
"And there you go."
"Wha?"
"If it's fun, it's easier to work with. Heck. Your old man only gets as much paperwork done as he does because somehow found it kinda fun." Tolerate was more accurate. Which was a significant step up from utterly loathe.
Jane simply gave him a flat look.
The sort only a child could give their parent when they were pretty certain that the bullshit was being piled high.
"You get what I mean."
"If you say so, Daddy."
"But you do have more fun with ships."
Jane rolled her eyes and tried to keep the amusement off her face. It must not have worked very well considering her father chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"You want to keep working or are you up for a break so your old man can take you out to lunch and the museum like he promised?" joked Richardson.
"And dinner!" Jane proclaimed, her study related irritation evaporating in a heartbeat. "And ice cream. Gotta have ice cream."
"We'll see about the ice cream. The last time we had ice cream after dinner out, you ate too much and got sick." He raised an eyebrow in a look that was simultaneously questioning and judging. "All over Mutsu's dress to boot."
"That was just one time! Please, Daddy? Please?" Jane turned the full force of her Destroyer Eyes on her father, pouring every bit of cute and pleading she could into it. She didn't want to miss out on frozen treats!
Richardson turned his heart to ice and steel. He would not give in. Not again!
"C'mon, pleeease?"
"...Let's see how dinner goes."
Dammit.
"Yay!" There was still a chance! Lunch and museums and dinner and delicious ice cream! And she got to spend rare time with her father. So that was a plus. She all but rocketed out of her chair, sending a few papers and her writing utensils flying. A mess to clean up later.
"I'll be waiting at the front door, so go wash up and get ready." Richardson began making his way towards the door before remembering something and turning back around. "And don't forget to brush your teeth."
Jane simply rolled her eyes again.
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Mutsu yawned loudly as she shuffled into the dining room and sat herself down on the first chair she could find. She slumped over and her head impacted the dinner table's surface with a dull thudding sound.
The hour was late and she simply couldn't be bothered to anything more than kick off her shoes by the front door. Much less care about potential damage to the table.
Oh what a day it had been.
One might think a battleship would be more than capable of dealing with a pair of destroyers, one of them even with a disposition towards good behavior, with plenty of energy to spare. That same individual would be sorely mistaken. Destroyers were still destroyers.
"You look like you've been through Hell."
Mutsu looked up to see Richardson with a mug in each hand, the aroma and rising steam hinting to the existence of freshly crafted hot chocolate.
She needed no prompt to accept the offered beverage.
"I may need a day off to recover from my day off..." The first touch of cocoa upon her lips sent a shiver down her spine as her senses reawakened. She savored the drink with a slight smile and closed eyes, not even bothering to hide her relief. Hiei must have made it. John made a good cup, but Hiei's were above and beyond his level of skill.
Mutsu didn't even care to reason why. It was Hiei after all.
"No can do," replied Richardson as he took a seat opposite his XO. Oh, she looked like hell alright. Beautiful, but still like she'd been through the wringer. Her normally well kept hair was a mess and her clothes looked ruffled as all could be. "We're trying for a summoning tomorrow and an immediate deployment right after. You can cash in your extra day later."
"Meanie."
Richardson merely shrugged and gave her a teasing grin.
"You should have scheduled your day in advance, like Jintsuu did." Jintsuu was also quite well aware that she could lose that day in a heartbeat. Given mention the increased Abyssal activity in the region and the plans coming down the line, it was more than likely to become a reality.
"Jintsuu didn't have to babysit two destroyers during holiday shopping." Mutsu shot her Admiral a flat look mixed with what exhaustion she could muster up and a slight measure of amusement. She then grinned playfully. "No sympathy for me?"
"No, she decided to teach Yamashiro how to do her job and yours. I'm also a little worried at how well she did it." Sometimes Jintsuu's level of competence and drive went far above what he could comprehend. He'd had to yank on her chain at times, but very rarely. And she was nowhere near the level of Oyoodo. "So, nope. No sympathy."
"D-Drat," Mutsu huffed with mock indignation as she stifled a yawn.
The battleship set down her cup before stretching her laced fingers upwards with a satisfied moan. She arched her back and tried to reach for the ceiling to no avail. Oh, she felt like she could sleep for days. She wouldn't be able to, but it was nice to imagine.
"How was your day with Jane? You don't look tired at all." Mutsu blinked after speaking, wondering for a moment why John was staring at her blankly. "John?"
"Right," Richardson lamely answered as he cleared his head. "We had a good time. Had lunch, went a museum. She wasn't that hungry for dinner afterwards, so we just grabbed something small on the way home. Probably burned herself out running around so much. I haven't seen her that wound up since she was really little. I'm amazed I'm not falling over right now."
"No ice cream?"
"Nah. She passed out on the way home. Didn't even crack an eye when I carried her out of the car." He paused to take another sip of Hiei's cocoa. The second Kongou had decided to take her leave with a mug of her own right after making the stuff, claiming with a grin that he shouldn't neglect his XO. Dammit Hiei. He knew that.
"Oh? You managed to carry her?" Mutsu inquired with a smirk. It had been a bit too long since she'd been able to sit down with John and just have a fun little conversation like this. Certainly longer than she'd have liked. She didn't even notice her boilers warming up. "Isn't that bad for your back?"
Richardson snorted.
"A lot of things are bad for my back. But since when has that ever stopped me?"
"Oh~ Since never?" A wry grin made its way onto her face as she crossed her arms under her bust. "You'd better be careful old man~"
"Har har. You're older than me, Mutsnail." Much as he'd hoped, Mutsu balked and turned a rather nice shade of red.
"Wha!" She narrowed her eyes dangerously. However the red on her cheeks lessened any effect it may have had on the man. "That's not very nice, John. And only Jane can use that nickname."
"I dunno. I like it. Better than Mutslug." He grinned like the asshole he knew he was when Mutsu turned an even darker shade of red. Those names made it far too easy to get through her defenses. Not that she had good defenses to begin with, but it was more fun this way. And he would admit that her reactions were rather cute.
"My, oh my. Someone's playing with fire tonight..." Mutsu loved Jane dearly, but sometimes she regretted not nipping that nickname in the bud. Mostly when John got into one of his moods to see how far he could toe her line. "Keep it up and you might get burned."
Richardson knew when it was time to retreat and coughed into his hand.
"Right."
"Hmph." Mutsu leaned back into her chair and sighed, letting the tension slip away. "While you and Jane were having a good time, I had to keep the fox and the hound on a leash."
"Did you at least have a good time?"
"Oh we did. People were running around, having a good time. It was almost like there wasn't a war going on. And those two girls seemed really happy to see that. Especially Kawakaze." Mutsu smiled warmly. "She's a hellion, but she's a really sweet girl."
Before Richardson could comment, Mutsu raised her finger with a bright look in her eyes.
"Oh! And you should have seen Shigure trying to pick out a gift for Yamashiro. She was going back and forth between stores trying to find something just right. I've never seen her so worked up before." Granted, that sudden abundance of energy was part of why she had come home so worn out. But the look on Shigure's face was well worth it. "Even Kawakaze seemed like she was having trouble keeping up at times."
Richardson found the sight hard to imagine. He might not know the destroyers nearly as well as some of the other, more permanent members of his fleet, but he liked to think he had a rather decent grasp on Teruzuki and Akizuki's replacements. And Shigure running around as Mutsu had described was more than a little outside his reasonings. Well, the more you know.
"I'm guessing she finally found something?"
"Of course~" Mutsu smiled as she twirled her raised finger. "And I'm not gonna tell you what it is."
"Afraid I can't keep my mouth shut?" sniped Richardson before finishing off his mug of hot chocolate. And now he wanted more. But there wasn't any more. Damnation.
"I'd rather err on the side of caution. And Shigure asked us to keep quiet about it." It was really quite cute. Apparently the normally reserved destroyer had a special plan in mind. And Mutsu wasn't about to dissuade the girl.
"I really wish I was awake enough to argue that first point."
"You know I'd win. Or call in Hiei if I needed support."
"So, every time then?"
"You live dangerously, Admiral~" teased Mutsu with a smile. She reached out and waggled her finger in a chastising gesture. "You should know better by now."
Richardson stood from his seat and leaned over, placing his index finger squarely on the tip of Mutsu's nose. The battleship froze as her eyes trailed up the path made by his arm. She dared not move at the sudden and, dare she say intimate, action. And the look in his eyes made her breath catch.
"And you should know I'm a very slow learner and a very stubborn old man." He gave the rapidly reddening Mutsu a mock glare that turned into a smirk. Said smirk devolved into a yawn as the day's events finally began to catch up to him. He might not have dealt with a pair of destroyers, but his daughter was plenty a handful already.
Words failed Mutsu as her boilers crept closer to the red line at an increasingly rapid pace.
Richardson shook his head and dropped his hand as he stifled another yawn.
"We should probably get some sleep." He looked out through the entranceway and sighed. "And I'm going to bet Hiei stole my bed again."
"She ...what?" Was Hiei becoming even more bold now that she was no longer on the combat roster? Or was she just milking the time off for all it was worth? That woman... Honestly.
"She had that look in her eye. That Kongou-look. The one that means she's going to do something Kongou-like again."
"That... only makes sense because she's a Kongou, you know."
"Can't argue that." Richardson paused and sat back down. Sure, he was exhausted as all hell. And it was finally starting to really hit him. Plus he could tell Mutsu wasn't in much better shape. Still...
"John?"
"Mutsu, it's been a while since we've been able to just... talk like this."
"Well, yes. With the war and our work and now the holidays..."
Richardson cleared his throat.
"Do you mind if we just talk? While we have the chance." He thumbed over to the kitchen. "I can make some more cocoa if you want. Or some coffee."
Mutsu shook her head, doing her best to ignore the now critical warning her chief engineer was giving her. Stupid boilers.
"No, that's fine." She smiled playfully after a few moments, managing to get herself under control. "We have a busy day tomorrow, but... I wouldn't mind some exclusive Admiral time~"
"I'm all yours right now." Richardson smiled.
In the end, neither of them made it to their beds.
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