- Location
- Under the ice of Antarctica
I believe you have a error there, unless fairies suddenly became short range passenger ships.
Mikasa isn't actually docked, she's stuck in concrete.
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Belated Battleships (KanColle) [REHOST]
- Thread starter theJMPer
- Start date
I believe you have a error there, unless fairies suddenly became short range passenger ships.
Mikasa isn't actually docked, she's stuck in concrete.
DawnofWar32
War is coming. Prepare yourselves!
- Location
- Butuan City, The Philippines
Well, this is a nice one, since Fly has now joined the fight against the Abyssals. But what if Admiral Goto will now try to find a way to figure out the how to remove the curse on Fly with help from others who are familiar with the legend? Will that be alright?
- Location
- Vancouver WA United States
Damnation, let me fix that... done!
And fixed the second part of your suggestion as well.
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Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Lewd, but I approve.
- Location
- Vancouver WA United States
Has Iku been running around in your head?
What'll be more interesting is how those other ships familiar with the legend interact around her. Their reactions will vary between groveling worship and running away, screaming in terror.
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Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Goto told a bote to go inside another bote. Lewdmiral is lewd.
DawnofWar32
War is coming. Prepare yourselves!
- Location
- Butuan City, The Philippines
Iku, do you have a hand in this?
Iku: Do you have a problem with that, nano?
...Goddamit.
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- Location
- Vancouver WA United States
The lewdmarine is on the march! Call in reinforcements!
DawnofWar32
War is coming. Prepare yourselves!
- Location
- Butuan City, The Philippines
And please add what Fly's reactions will be regarding the, uh, 'hero worship' that some of the shipgirls will lavish on her, and whether she is comfortable with it or not.
- Location
- Vancouver WA United States
I will, no worries!
DawnofWar32
War is coming. Prepare yourselves!
- Location
- Butuan City, The Philippines
Farmerbob1
Rest in Peace
- Location
- Atlanta-ish
I am currently addressing that very issue now, to some extent, in my next chapter of Fairy-napping.
- Location
- United Kingdom
I've been wondering about this and related matters for a while (I can't right now find the post that kicked off this train of thought, but I want to say it's from within the last month or so, contained a poster's speculation on either Kongou or Mutsu 'aging' in whatever way a shipgirl can, coming to the end of her career, however one wants to put it) and the various summoning/resurrection scenes have made it clear that the sense of duty is a large and necessary part of what drives a ship-spirit to answer the call and return as a shipgirl... but the whole reason for that 'call' being necessary in the first place is the appearance of the Abyssals. There's a war to be fought and shipgirls are the best ones to fight it; how could any ship-spirit, hearing that call, decline? At the same time... assuming Abyssals aren't an endless threat, assuming the war can be won, the threat defeated, that duty discharged... what then?
Phrases like "learning how to girl" are generally used in a humourous context, in scenes where a shipgirl is being klutzy and thinking/acting like a ship more than a human, but if the war against the Abyss can be won, there's going to come a point at which the 'ship' part of a shipgirl simply isn't necessary any more. There's a sentiment common to a lot of the summoning scenes, whether a ship was sunk in battle or survived the war and went on to be decommissioned, of spirits at peace - "I've done my duty, I've earned my rest well," - and to the extent that a ship-spirit is made up of the collective memories, experiences, and emotions of those officers and enlisted who served aboard her, that means a strong sense of duty, of pride, of courage by the bucketload, but also a fierce desire to protect families and loved ones back home and, eventually, a desire to return to them, a desire for the war to be over.
I like to think that, when the war is won, whatever combination of sense of duty and MSSB enabled any given shipgirl to come back and do her duty against the Abyssal threat, will also allow her to hang up her rigging for the last time, job done, duty discharged, and just be human. The ship-spirit goes back to its rest, and the girl gets to live out her life, with all the frailties and all the possibilities that implies.
Farmerbob1
Rest in Peace
- Location
- Atlanta-ish
And when she does, nobody will believe her without proof.
EDIT: Err, maybe I jumped to a conclusion. Wasn't expecting Fly to be a team player, even if she was on the same side.
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Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
She did say she was bound to serve. Even before she was the Dutchman, she served as Flyut in the Dutch Navy.
Omake: Fairynapping
Farmerbob1
Rest in Peace
- Location
- Atlanta-ish
Fairy Napping V
**
"What?" Fred muttered, clearly taken aback. "You're already spirits, right? How can there be ghosts of spirits?"
Bannie stared off into the distance, still gnawing on a knuckle. "I saw her, then the Abyssal cruiser fired on her, and she was gone. There wasn't any wreckage. She was white. All her fairies were white too."
Gale looked at her watch. "It's almost seventeen hundred girls. First of the month. You know what that means. We can talk more about this on the way there."
All three destroyers perked up as Kidd raised her right fist into the air. "Another night at the Citadel!"
Gale smiled "This time, please let the bouncers handle anyone that drinks a few too many or doesn't belong."
Kidd visibly shrunk, slightly, "I never actually threw him out the door."
Fred looked at Gale. "I'm new to this base. What' the Citadel?"
Dee piped up, before Gale could explain. "It's the back half of the NCO club. Only shipgirls and people who have served on returned shipgirls are allowed in."
"So, I can't join you then?" Fred intentionally slightly altered the direction he was walking, and noticed all three girls in formation adjusted their position to match.
"We can get you and Gale in as guests." Dee paused, and turned to look at Fred. "Why did you just change heading?"
"So, you aren't doing it completely automatically." The Marine grinned at her. "Escorting us, that is."
Dee made a little face at the Marine, somewhere between irritated and upset, but far short of angry.
Bannie looked up. "No, not automatically, but close. Escorting is what we do."
With a chuckle, Gale spoke. "Fred, it's like getting a bunch of Marines in a line and telling them to walk. In a few steps, they will start walking in step, without thinking about it. Jersey's just as bad as any destroyer around carriers. Put her around a carrier, and she'll be glued to that ship's side unless you pry her off."
"That makes sense, I suppose." Fred muttered. "Sorry, girls, I'm trying to learn here."
"Slippery slope, Marine. Slippery slope." Gale muttered, with a smile. "Once you get around ankle deep, you can't get away." She reached out and mussed Bannie's hair. "Now, what was that about the ghost shipgirl?"
Bannie didn't stop walking or scanning around them, but she did hesitate before speaking. "It was at Newport News. Dee, Kidd, and I were up there for the weekend. We were doing a fundraiser for shipgirl summoning research and events. The three of us, against the entire Army football team."
Fred muttered, barely audible. "Ow. Those poor fools." Then spoke a little louder. "How did you keep from hurting them?"
Bannie made a throwing-away motion with one hand. "Oh, no, we didn't play football against them. That would have been so unfair, and would have made them look bad. It was an eating contest. They almost won." The destroyer patted her stomach. "I've never eaten so many hot dogs."
Dee broke in. "They would have won, but the referees wouldn't let the Army cheerleading squad help the Army team. Some of those guys could really eat, for humans. A lot of them were even bigger than you, Fred, and some of the biggest were a little fat."
"Ghost." Gale reached over and tapped Bannie's head with an index finger.
The tapped shipgirl responded. "Oh, yeah, well, we had finished the eating contest, and were going here and there for fund raisers and exhibition shows and other talky stuff when we got word that there was an Abyssal cruiser and two destroyers attacking the waterfront in Newport News."
Kidd broke in. "The truck driver was awesome. I thought he was going to flip us over at least a couple times, but he got us to the coast quick."
"Yeah. That was a bit scary though. I'm not sure what would happen if we were going fast in a truck and the truck tipped over." Dee broke in.
Gale raised a finger in the air. "Stay On Target. Ghost."
"Well, yeah." Bannie continued. "The truck let us off at the inlet, so we had the Abyssals trapped in the bay, but they didn't know it. The local police and shore patrol were tracking the Abyssals on the water. The cruiser was closest to us, so we went to ambush it first, hugging the coast and running dark with radar off. Just passive sonar and visals."
"And that's when you saw her?"
Rapid head-nodding occurred. "Yes. I was on point, and watched the abyssal spotlight a bright white shipgirl on the water. Without radar active, I couldn't tell what class of ship she was, or what weapons she mounted, but she was at least as big as a light cruiser. Kinda skinny though. Sonar didn't give much either. She didn't seem to be under way."
Bannie crossed her arms in front of her and thought to herself for a few steps. "The abyssal started firing on the shipgirl, but I didn't hear any hits. I know I didn't hear the other shipgirl firing back at the Abyssal. Then the ghost was gone. Poof." She raised both hands into the air, palms together, then drawing her hands apart as her arms raised.
"Not even an oil slick or any floaty bits in the water." Kidd interjected, shrugging. "We asked the Professor, and he said she might not have been fully summoned. There had been a summoning event on the pier next to where we saw the shipgirl, and it had been interrupted. The abyssal cruiser killed and maimed a lot of people there-"
"Until she ate a spread of torps." Bannie interrupted. "Too late for a lot of the people though." She paused. "But even after the ghost was gone, I did see a bunch of ghost fairies on the beach. I tried to get close to them and see if any would talk, but they all poofed before I had taken even a couple steps on land. There were still two Abyssal destroyers farther up in the bay, so I left to join Dee and Kidd, so we could end them."
The matter-of-fact coldness in the girl's voice made Fred look down at Bannie. The expression on her face was a thousand-yard-stare, but it quickly disappeared. Seeing that expression on the face of a twelve-year-old girl was chilling in a strange way that he really couldn't express. What was worse was watching her head droop in what was clearly a belief that she had somehow failed.
But, Fred, like many humans in the military, had seen a lot of death. This time, he didn't offer a headpat. He placed a hand on Bannie's shoulder and squeezed slightly, offering support like he would offer to a fellow Marine who had lost a buddy.
Bannie reached up with a hand and placed it on top of his, briefly. Her head came up, and he heard her mutter "Thanks."
"So," Gale began, "Did either of you see her, Dee, Kidd?"
"Nope." Kidd answered first. "Too far out for visual ID against the docks. The lights aiming at the Abyssal were bright to, and I was looking into them."
Dee followed with a similar statement. "I saw what looked like it might have been a cruiser class shipgirl, but same as Kidd, I was looking into spotlights, and operating entirely on visual. Bannie was lead ship and got the best look."
"And nobody ever found anything?" Fred asked, his tone matter of fact, obviously just wanting to be sure.
"Right." Bannie agreed. "We went back after taking out the other two abyssals. Nothing. We even talked to the police, firefighters, and shore patrol."
As they approached the NCO club, Fred could see the girls grow more excited. Their steps started getting just a little longer, a little faster. They started weaving slightly back and forth to stay in formation with the humans who hadn't changed pace.
"Go ahead you three. Just let Sam know to let us in." Gale waved at the destroyers, who took off at a sprint, making a beeline towards the entry of the club.
Fred watched as they came to an abrupt halt a few feet short of the doors, then started talking with the people outside. Some of whom were very old, many supporting themselves with canes and walkers, but a lot of them in wheelchairs. Most of the hale and healthy people in the crowd waiting outside all seemed to be accompanying the elders. A look in the parking lot showed a lot of vans with wheelchair racks.
"A lot of world war 2 crews show up for these?" Fred asked.
"They do, though there are fewer every year. Numbers are shrinking rapidly now. Anyone under ninety that served in the war lied about their age to get in, though there are a lot who did exactly that."
Gale waved at one of the older men who had waved at her in greeting. "The older sailors love coming to swap tales with each other. They also really enjoy being around the crew fairies." Gale looked sideways at him. "The crew fairies are never as alive as when they meet human members of their crew. The original crew members say they can understand their individual counterpart fairies, even though all you and I will hear is 'Hey!'"
"How do they get in?"
"Any ex-crew of any shipgirl can get into the Citadel, with up to two guests. There's a roster for the bar to use before the girls arrive, and shipgirls can tell if any human has served on any summoned shipgirl. Even from other nations. There's some sort of… something they can sense." The ensign paused. "Kidd found a newspaper reporter claiming to be his father two months ago. The guy tried to lie about it, but Kidd wouldn't have any of it."
"That was the incident you were referring to earlier?" Fred looked towards Kidd, who was receiving headpats from a man in a wheelchair that Bannie was pushing.
Gale nodded to an older man who was walking next to them with a cane, and didn't seem to need any help. "Kidd grabbed him by the belt buckle and started dragging him towards the door. It was actually funny in a slightly terrifying sort of way. It's so hard to remember what they really are until they find a reason to get serious about something important. Then you see hardened killers in the bodies of children."
"I saw a little of that from Bannie, when she was telling her story just now." Fred nodded. "I imagine the older-looking shipgirls are easier to imagine as being fighters. Especially the ones with battle scars. I've seen pictures of Arizona and Pennsylvania. They look like barbed wire cage match veterans."
"Definitely. It's hard to get used to until you see it a few times." Gale pushed open the door and entered the NCO club, turning towards another door at the back of the club.
Fred held the door for a few of the older men to pass through before a younger man stepped in and took the door from him, holding it in turn.
As he turned to follow Gale, he got a good look at the door at the back of the club. It was a hatch, not a normal door, but it was very large, with a ramp to let wheelchairs cross. There was a line at the door, and a big bouncer with a gigantic afro and muttonchops checking ID on anyone that didn't look like they had retired before he was born.
Kid and the other two destroyers were at the front of the line, and Kidd was complaining. "Aw, Sam, you know who we are."
The voice was deep, and raspy. H leaned over and poked Kidd in the nose. "I know who you look like."
"Who would pretend to be us?" Kidd wheedled. "Hey, want a bottle for the bar?" A bottle somehow appeared in Kidd's hand, and she handed it to the big bouncer.
Sam took the bottle and looked at it. "Don't know. Don't care. You gotta be legal to drink to get back there, and you know it." He handed the bottle back to Kidd. "Captain Morgan. Imagine that. But we only use what we get from licensed sellers. That don't have a tax stamp on it. Anyways, I been scammed by some good scammers. Had a Naka cosplayer who really knew her stuff get past me a couple months ago. Admiral says shipgirls gotta pass the anchor test, so that's what you gotta do."
Most of the older men in line were looking at each other with knowing glances. Some seemed genuinely interested in the exchange.
"Fine. Fine." Kidd walked over to a chain suspended from the ceiling next to the hatch. As she put her hand on one of the links, Fred could see metal to either side of her wrist. She gripped the gigantic chain, braced herself, and pulled.
There was a creaking, grating metal-on-metal noise. Several feet away, in a barred enclosure, Fred saw an enormous anchor lift into the air a few inches.
Kidd slowly released the tension on the chain, and the anchor settled back into its rack with a resounding clang. The rest of the bar went completely silent at the noise, except the old timers, who either chuckled, if they seemed like they knew what was happening, or made sounds of wonderment if they had seemed unfamiliar with what Fred realized was certainly a ritual of some sort.
Most of the younger people scattered amongst the elderly men were wearing shocked expressions on their faces, and getting elbowed in the ribs and laughed at by the old men.
Sam nodded and waved Kidd through the entrance.
As she was walking through the hatch, Kidd turned and pointed. "Oh, Sam, Ensign Gale and Marine Gunner Frederick are with us."
Gale and Fred both waved at Sam, who, after a brief glance, nodded back at them. "Roger that, Kidd."
Dee and Bannie repeated the anchor-lifting, then walked in. By the time Gale and Sam made it to the door, the noises at the non-Citadel half of the NCO club had resumed.
As Gale and Fred approached the hatch, they could see that Sam was checking names of all the guests against some sort of database on his tablet. "ID, Ma'am?" The bouncer asked as Gale approached.
"How many times have I come here, Sam?"
"Less times than the girls have." Sam shrugged and pointed his thumb at the open hatch. "Besides, in twenty years or so, you'll be thrilled when bouncers ask you for ID."
"Watch it, Sam."
"OK, in thirty years."
"Better."
Fred started to reach into the top of his PT shirt for his ID lanyard, but Sam just pointed at the hatch with his thumb. "No need, my man. Nobody sports grey like that who can't drink."
Fred stared at Sam for a second, then smiled. "So the anchor thing is just a show? For their crews and family?"
"Sure. Mostly. Don't really need it for the destroyers, but like I told Kidd, I had a lady cosplay Naka and got by me. Jersey saw her first. Poor girl nearly wet herself when Jersey started into her." Sam whistled and shook his head. "Jersey was seriously mad at that girl." After a second, Sam continued. "Anywho, I know most of the girls now, but there are new girls pretty regular now, and they always stop by when they are on base." He jerked his thumb at the hatch again. "Now get in there. Got folks in line behind you that could use a place to sit, soonest."
Fred followed Gale through the hatch into something that almost felt like a movie set. The Citadel seemed to have been crafted from pieces and parts of hundreds of ships. The floors and walls were teak, clearly old and used. Bits and pieces of all sorts of naval equipment from the age of sail all the way to the modern day were mounted on walls, hanging from the ceiling by ropes and netting, or used as furniture.
But what grabbed Fred's attention more than anything else were the fairies. Hundreds of fairies on practically every available surface. Crawling through the netting in the ceilings, sitting on naval accoutrements hanging on the walls, and, a few of them, sitting on the shoulders of old men.
Over on the bar, a large group of fairies were tap dancing. A few of the older men were joining in, dancing in an open space near the bar, carefully, and slowly, but clearly enjoying themselves and being heartily encouraged by dozens of tiny crew. The fairies were clapping to provide the dance beat, a two-part rhythm, the slow beat matching the older men, and the faster beat that the fairies danced by.
In another corner, there was a circle of a dozen men in wheelchairs playing cards, and each man was matched with a fairy, who moved chips and cards around for him.
There were several fairy-only card games happening as well, and in the darkest corner, behind some netting and tarps, it sounded like there might be a boxing match going on between Marine and Navy fairies. Fred knew that it was Marines against Navy, but he had no idea why he knew.
The huge room was filled with the sounds of thousands of 'Heys', but, somehow, it didn't seem out of place, or bother Fred that much.
Throughout the room were wide-eyed younger folks staring at fairies, and sometimes Fairies approached the younger people, peering up at them.
Gale saw him watching some of the interactions between the younger folks and fairies. "A lot of the fairies recognize their children and grandchildren, and will approach them. The oldest men, who claim to understand their fairies, say that they just want to see what their kids and grandkids are like. The girls agree."
"I never knew fairies could be like this. You almost never see them." Fred looked around himself, then started moving towards an empty table.
Following behind the big marine, Gale explained. "The Japanese shipgirls noticed it first. Their fairies were much more energetic and outgoing in the real world when around their human crew counterparts, or their descendants."
As he and Gale sat, Fred spotted Bannie, Dee, and Kidd standing at attention on the far side of the room. They were next to what was clearly a commemorative wall of some sort. All of the men around them were very elderly, and each man had a fairy on their shoulder, leaning against their ear.
There was a fairy on a tiny scaffold, working on a metal plate with what looked like a hammer and chisel.
Gale followed his gaze. "More names for the wall. The fairies document the passing of the living crew. The living crew that remain pay their respects when the fairies engrave the names. It's too small to read without a big magnifying glass."
"I thought Fairies could only write 'Hey.' "
"They can also write their own names after their living counterpart passes. We don't really know a lot about fairies. They don't like to be poked and prodded, and the girls don't fully understand them either. Holding them captive to study them would certainly create extremely angry shipgirls." Gale looked over at the somber gathering by the three destroyers.
After a few seconds, Fred asked "Are these fairies all crew from Bannie, Kidd, and Dee?"
Gale raised her hand and a waiter came over to the table. "Water, please. I'm on duty."
Fred thought a second, then sighed. "Water as well. I'm on painkillers."
After the waiter left with their order, Gale continued. "The fairies aren't all from the girls here. Every shipgirl on base sends at least some fairies, and most of the shipgirls will show up in the next few hours if they aren't deployed. They can do that because most of the girls have a lot more crew than they need, so even deployed shipgirls will sometimes find a way to have a few of their fairies be here. I've seen Sam open some big next day air boxes with dozens of fairies inside."
Looking around the room, Fred shook his head. "After seeing this, I refuse to believe their medical fairies suicided. They aren't just cogs in a machine."
"It's almost as hard to believe that another shipgirl would poach fairies, or that fairies would willingly leave their shipgirls." Gale drummed her fingers on the table. "We're missing something. Something important."
**
"What?" Fred muttered, clearly taken aback. "You're already spirits, right? How can there be ghosts of spirits?"
Bannie stared off into the distance, still gnawing on a knuckle. "I saw her, then the Abyssal cruiser fired on her, and she was gone. There wasn't any wreckage. She was white. All her fairies were white too."
Gale looked at her watch. "It's almost seventeen hundred girls. First of the month. You know what that means. We can talk more about this on the way there."
All three destroyers perked up as Kidd raised her right fist into the air. "Another night at the Citadel!"
Gale smiled "This time, please let the bouncers handle anyone that drinks a few too many or doesn't belong."
Kidd visibly shrunk, slightly, "I never actually threw him out the door."
Fred looked at Gale. "I'm new to this base. What' the Citadel?"
Dee piped up, before Gale could explain. "It's the back half of the NCO club. Only shipgirls and people who have served on returned shipgirls are allowed in."
"So, I can't join you then?" Fred intentionally slightly altered the direction he was walking, and noticed all three girls in formation adjusted their position to match.
"We can get you and Gale in as guests." Dee paused, and turned to look at Fred. "Why did you just change heading?"
"So, you aren't doing it completely automatically." The Marine grinned at her. "Escorting us, that is."
Dee made a little face at the Marine, somewhere between irritated and upset, but far short of angry.
Bannie looked up. "No, not automatically, but close. Escorting is what we do."
With a chuckle, Gale spoke. "Fred, it's like getting a bunch of Marines in a line and telling them to walk. In a few steps, they will start walking in step, without thinking about it. Jersey's just as bad as any destroyer around carriers. Put her around a carrier, and she'll be glued to that ship's side unless you pry her off."
"That makes sense, I suppose." Fred muttered. "Sorry, girls, I'm trying to learn here."
"Slippery slope, Marine. Slippery slope." Gale muttered, with a smile. "Once you get around ankle deep, you can't get away." She reached out and mussed Bannie's hair. "Now, what was that about the ghost shipgirl?"
Bannie didn't stop walking or scanning around them, but she did hesitate before speaking. "It was at Newport News. Dee, Kidd, and I were up there for the weekend. We were doing a fundraiser for shipgirl summoning research and events. The three of us, against the entire Army football team."
Fred muttered, barely audible. "Ow. Those poor fools." Then spoke a little louder. "How did you keep from hurting them?"
Bannie made a throwing-away motion with one hand. "Oh, no, we didn't play football against them. That would have been so unfair, and would have made them look bad. It was an eating contest. They almost won." The destroyer patted her stomach. "I've never eaten so many hot dogs."
Dee broke in. "They would have won, but the referees wouldn't let the Army cheerleading squad help the Army team. Some of those guys could really eat, for humans. A lot of them were even bigger than you, Fred, and some of the biggest were a little fat."
"Ghost." Gale reached over and tapped Bannie's head with an index finger.
The tapped shipgirl responded. "Oh, yeah, well, we had finished the eating contest, and were going here and there for fund raisers and exhibition shows and other talky stuff when we got word that there was an Abyssal cruiser and two destroyers attacking the waterfront in Newport News."
Kidd broke in. "The truck driver was awesome. I thought he was going to flip us over at least a couple times, but he got us to the coast quick."
"Yeah. That was a bit scary though. I'm not sure what would happen if we were going fast in a truck and the truck tipped over." Dee broke in.
Gale raised a finger in the air. "Stay On Target. Ghost."
"Well, yeah." Bannie continued. "The truck let us off at the inlet, so we had the Abyssals trapped in the bay, but they didn't know it. The local police and shore patrol were tracking the Abyssals on the water. The cruiser was closest to us, so we went to ambush it first, hugging the coast and running dark with radar off. Just passive sonar and visals."
"And that's when you saw her?"
Rapid head-nodding occurred. "Yes. I was on point, and watched the abyssal spotlight a bright white shipgirl on the water. Without radar active, I couldn't tell what class of ship she was, or what weapons she mounted, but she was at least as big as a light cruiser. Kinda skinny though. Sonar didn't give much either. She didn't seem to be under way."
Bannie crossed her arms in front of her and thought to herself for a few steps. "The abyssal started firing on the shipgirl, but I didn't hear any hits. I know I didn't hear the other shipgirl firing back at the Abyssal. Then the ghost was gone. Poof." She raised both hands into the air, palms together, then drawing her hands apart as her arms raised.
"Not even an oil slick or any floaty bits in the water." Kidd interjected, shrugging. "We asked the Professor, and he said she might not have been fully summoned. There had been a summoning event on the pier next to where we saw the shipgirl, and it had been interrupted. The abyssal cruiser killed and maimed a lot of people there-"
"Until she ate a spread of torps." Bannie interrupted. "Too late for a lot of the people though." She paused. "But even after the ghost was gone, I did see a bunch of ghost fairies on the beach. I tried to get close to them and see if any would talk, but they all poofed before I had taken even a couple steps on land. There were still two Abyssal destroyers farther up in the bay, so I left to join Dee and Kidd, so we could end them."
The matter-of-fact coldness in the girl's voice made Fred look down at Bannie. The expression on her face was a thousand-yard-stare, but it quickly disappeared. Seeing that expression on the face of a twelve-year-old girl was chilling in a strange way that he really couldn't express. What was worse was watching her head droop in what was clearly a belief that she had somehow failed.
But, Fred, like many humans in the military, had seen a lot of death. This time, he didn't offer a headpat. He placed a hand on Bannie's shoulder and squeezed slightly, offering support like he would offer to a fellow Marine who had lost a buddy.
Bannie reached up with a hand and placed it on top of his, briefly. Her head came up, and he heard her mutter "Thanks."
"So," Gale began, "Did either of you see her, Dee, Kidd?"
"Nope." Kidd answered first. "Too far out for visual ID against the docks. The lights aiming at the Abyssal were bright to, and I was looking into them."
Dee followed with a similar statement. "I saw what looked like it might have been a cruiser class shipgirl, but same as Kidd, I was looking into spotlights, and operating entirely on visual. Bannie was lead ship and got the best look."
"And nobody ever found anything?" Fred asked, his tone matter of fact, obviously just wanting to be sure.
"Right." Bannie agreed. "We went back after taking out the other two abyssals. Nothing. We even talked to the police, firefighters, and shore patrol."
As they approached the NCO club, Fred could see the girls grow more excited. Their steps started getting just a little longer, a little faster. They started weaving slightly back and forth to stay in formation with the humans who hadn't changed pace.
"Go ahead you three. Just let Sam know to let us in." Gale waved at the destroyers, who took off at a sprint, making a beeline towards the entry of the club.
Fred watched as they came to an abrupt halt a few feet short of the doors, then started talking with the people outside. Some of whom were very old, many supporting themselves with canes and walkers, but a lot of them in wheelchairs. Most of the hale and healthy people in the crowd waiting outside all seemed to be accompanying the elders. A look in the parking lot showed a lot of vans with wheelchair racks.
"A lot of world war 2 crews show up for these?" Fred asked.
"They do, though there are fewer every year. Numbers are shrinking rapidly now. Anyone under ninety that served in the war lied about their age to get in, though there are a lot who did exactly that."
Gale waved at one of the older men who had waved at her in greeting. "The older sailors love coming to swap tales with each other. They also really enjoy being around the crew fairies." Gale looked sideways at him. "The crew fairies are never as alive as when they meet human members of their crew. The original crew members say they can understand their individual counterpart fairies, even though all you and I will hear is 'Hey!'"
"How do they get in?"
"Any ex-crew of any shipgirl can get into the Citadel, with up to two guests. There's a roster for the bar to use before the girls arrive, and shipgirls can tell if any human has served on any summoned shipgirl. Even from other nations. There's some sort of… something they can sense." The ensign paused. "Kidd found a newspaper reporter claiming to be his father two months ago. The guy tried to lie about it, but Kidd wouldn't have any of it."
"That was the incident you were referring to earlier?" Fred looked towards Kidd, who was receiving headpats from a man in a wheelchair that Bannie was pushing.
Gale nodded to an older man who was walking next to them with a cane, and didn't seem to need any help. "Kidd grabbed him by the belt buckle and started dragging him towards the door. It was actually funny in a slightly terrifying sort of way. It's so hard to remember what they really are until they find a reason to get serious about something important. Then you see hardened killers in the bodies of children."
"I saw a little of that from Bannie, when she was telling her story just now." Fred nodded. "I imagine the older-looking shipgirls are easier to imagine as being fighters. Especially the ones with battle scars. I've seen pictures of Arizona and Pennsylvania. They look like barbed wire cage match veterans."
"Definitely. It's hard to get used to until you see it a few times." Gale pushed open the door and entered the NCO club, turning towards another door at the back of the club.
Fred held the door for a few of the older men to pass through before a younger man stepped in and took the door from him, holding it in turn.
As he turned to follow Gale, he got a good look at the door at the back of the club. It was a hatch, not a normal door, but it was very large, with a ramp to let wheelchairs cross. There was a line at the door, and a big bouncer with a gigantic afro and muttonchops checking ID on anyone that didn't look like they had retired before he was born.
Kid and the other two destroyers were at the front of the line, and Kidd was complaining. "Aw, Sam, you know who we are."
The voice was deep, and raspy. H leaned over and poked Kidd in the nose. "I know who you look like."
"Who would pretend to be us?" Kidd wheedled. "Hey, want a bottle for the bar?" A bottle somehow appeared in Kidd's hand, and she handed it to the big bouncer.
Sam took the bottle and looked at it. "Don't know. Don't care. You gotta be legal to drink to get back there, and you know it." He handed the bottle back to Kidd. "Captain Morgan. Imagine that. But we only use what we get from licensed sellers. That don't have a tax stamp on it. Anyways, I been scammed by some good scammers. Had a Naka cosplayer who really knew her stuff get past me a couple months ago. Admiral says shipgirls gotta pass the anchor test, so that's what you gotta do."
Most of the older men in line were looking at each other with knowing glances. Some seemed genuinely interested in the exchange.
"Fine. Fine." Kidd walked over to a chain suspended from the ceiling next to the hatch. As she put her hand on one of the links, Fred could see metal to either side of her wrist. She gripped the gigantic chain, braced herself, and pulled.
There was a creaking, grating metal-on-metal noise. Several feet away, in a barred enclosure, Fred saw an enormous anchor lift into the air a few inches.
Kidd slowly released the tension on the chain, and the anchor settled back into its rack with a resounding clang. The rest of the bar went completely silent at the noise, except the old timers, who either chuckled, if they seemed like they knew what was happening, or made sounds of wonderment if they had seemed unfamiliar with what Fred realized was certainly a ritual of some sort.
Most of the younger people scattered amongst the elderly men were wearing shocked expressions on their faces, and getting elbowed in the ribs and laughed at by the old men.
Sam nodded and waved Kidd through the entrance.
As she was walking through the hatch, Kidd turned and pointed. "Oh, Sam, Ensign Gale and Marine Gunner Frederick are with us."
Gale and Fred both waved at Sam, who, after a brief glance, nodded back at them. "Roger that, Kidd."
Dee and Bannie repeated the anchor-lifting, then walked in. By the time Gale and Sam made it to the door, the noises at the non-Citadel half of the NCO club had resumed.
As Gale and Fred approached the hatch, they could see that Sam was checking names of all the guests against some sort of database on his tablet. "ID, Ma'am?" The bouncer asked as Gale approached.
"How many times have I come here, Sam?"
"Less times than the girls have." Sam shrugged and pointed his thumb at the open hatch. "Besides, in twenty years or so, you'll be thrilled when bouncers ask you for ID."
"Watch it, Sam."
"OK, in thirty years."
"Better."
Fred started to reach into the top of his PT shirt for his ID lanyard, but Sam just pointed at the hatch with his thumb. "No need, my man. Nobody sports grey like that who can't drink."
Fred stared at Sam for a second, then smiled. "So the anchor thing is just a show? For their crews and family?"
"Sure. Mostly. Don't really need it for the destroyers, but like I told Kidd, I had a lady cosplay Naka and got by me. Jersey saw her first. Poor girl nearly wet herself when Jersey started into her." Sam whistled and shook his head. "Jersey was seriously mad at that girl." After a second, Sam continued. "Anywho, I know most of the girls now, but there are new girls pretty regular now, and they always stop by when they are on base." He jerked his thumb at the hatch again. "Now get in there. Got folks in line behind you that could use a place to sit, soonest."
Fred followed Gale through the hatch into something that almost felt like a movie set. The Citadel seemed to have been crafted from pieces and parts of hundreds of ships. The floors and walls were teak, clearly old and used. Bits and pieces of all sorts of naval equipment from the age of sail all the way to the modern day were mounted on walls, hanging from the ceiling by ropes and netting, or used as furniture.
But what grabbed Fred's attention more than anything else were the fairies. Hundreds of fairies on practically every available surface. Crawling through the netting in the ceilings, sitting on naval accoutrements hanging on the walls, and, a few of them, sitting on the shoulders of old men.
Over on the bar, a large group of fairies were tap dancing. A few of the older men were joining in, dancing in an open space near the bar, carefully, and slowly, but clearly enjoying themselves and being heartily encouraged by dozens of tiny crew. The fairies were clapping to provide the dance beat, a two-part rhythm, the slow beat matching the older men, and the faster beat that the fairies danced by.
In another corner, there was a circle of a dozen men in wheelchairs playing cards, and each man was matched with a fairy, who moved chips and cards around for him.
There were several fairy-only card games happening as well, and in the darkest corner, behind some netting and tarps, it sounded like there might be a boxing match going on between Marine and Navy fairies. Fred knew that it was Marines against Navy, but he had no idea why he knew.
The huge room was filled with the sounds of thousands of 'Heys', but, somehow, it didn't seem out of place, or bother Fred that much.
Throughout the room were wide-eyed younger folks staring at fairies, and sometimes Fairies approached the younger people, peering up at them.
Gale saw him watching some of the interactions between the younger folks and fairies. "A lot of the fairies recognize their children and grandchildren, and will approach them. The oldest men, who claim to understand their fairies, say that they just want to see what their kids and grandkids are like. The girls agree."
"I never knew fairies could be like this. You almost never see them." Fred looked around himself, then started moving towards an empty table.
Following behind the big marine, Gale explained. "The Japanese shipgirls noticed it first. Their fairies were much more energetic and outgoing in the real world when around their human crew counterparts, or their descendants."
As he and Gale sat, Fred spotted Bannie, Dee, and Kidd standing at attention on the far side of the room. They were next to what was clearly a commemorative wall of some sort. All of the men around them were very elderly, and each man had a fairy on their shoulder, leaning against their ear.
There was a fairy on a tiny scaffold, working on a metal plate with what looked like a hammer and chisel.
Gale followed his gaze. "More names for the wall. The fairies document the passing of the living crew. The living crew that remain pay their respects when the fairies engrave the names. It's too small to read without a big magnifying glass."
"I thought Fairies could only write 'Hey.' "
"They can also write their own names after their living counterpart passes. We don't really know a lot about fairies. They don't like to be poked and prodded, and the girls don't fully understand them either. Holding them captive to study them would certainly create extremely angry shipgirls." Gale looked over at the somber gathering by the three destroyers.
After a few seconds, Fred asked "Are these fairies all crew from Bannie, Kidd, and Dee?"
Gale raised her hand and a waiter came over to the table. "Water, please. I'm on duty."
Fred thought a second, then sighed. "Water as well. I'm on painkillers."
After the waiter left with their order, Gale continued. "The fairies aren't all from the girls here. Every shipgirl on base sends at least some fairies, and most of the shipgirls will show up in the next few hours if they aren't deployed. They can do that because most of the girls have a lot more crew than they need, so even deployed shipgirls will sometimes find a way to have a few of their fairies be here. I've seen Sam open some big next day air boxes with dozens of fairies inside."
Looking around the room, Fred shook his head. "After seeing this, I refuse to believe their medical fairies suicided. They aren't just cogs in a machine."
"It's almost as hard to believe that another shipgirl would poach fairies, or that fairies would willingly leave their shipgirls." Gale drummed her fingers on the table. "We're missing something. Something important."
Farmerbob1
Rest in Peace
- Location
- Atlanta-ish
Well, it seems like SB just went unreachable. I hope it's nothing serious.
So, I found this drawing on the internet. It screams shipgirl to me, even though it's not quite rigging that she's wearing.
Which shipgirl would you say this might be?
So, I found this drawing on the internet. It screams shipgirl to me, even though it's not quite rigging that she's wearing.
Which shipgirl would you say this might be?
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- Location
- Deep in the Badlands of Equestria
Well, single cannon, looks like an early coal-fired boiler plant, no radar, and a round turret structure for the bridge. I'd say this might be a candidate for the original Union ironclad, USS Monitor.Well, it seems like SB just went unreachable. I hope it's nothing serious.
So, I found this drawing on the internet. It screams shipgirl to me, even though it's not quite rigging that she's wearing.
Which shipgirl would you say this might be?
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Now, we just need a Merrimac for her to best frenemies with.
- Location
- Vancouver WA United States
Now, we just need a Merrimac for her to best frenemies with.
Merrimack/Virginia who has a multiple personality disorder. Just don't lock them in the same room when Virginia is present and they should be best buds!
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
My headcanon is that they squabble, and spar a lot. Like, A LOT. But they would back each other up , because if anyone's going to beat the other, it's goinf to be them.
DawnofWar32
War is coming. Prepare yourselves!
- Location
- Butuan City, The Philippines
So in short, the Only I Am Allowed to Kill You trope will be in use here?
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Precisely. Like Vegeta and Goku, but the first Ironclads. They also have high opinions of themselves. They did, after all, make every Navy in the world obsolete simply by existing. They couldn't even penetrate each other, despite being almost muzzle-to-muzzle.
Farmerbob1
Rest in Peace
- Location
- Atlanta-ish
So when fighting Abyssals they would be elbowing and rabbit punching each other for position like Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman did when they played against each other?
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
More like Legolas and Gimli.