The first half of this new update was cute as cute can be. And Mutsu, Pickle Juice isn't
that bad now, unless the pickles are expired, then yeah it's
bad. Trust me I know, anyways its good for stopping leg cramps... at least for us Humans. Dunno about boats though.
The second half though... oh
boy where the fuck do I begin here? Perhaps at the beginning, and maybe hope my sanity keeps it together to complete the analysis and put forth the new Theories I have and state which ones have been almost all but directly confirmed.
Captain Mike Aaron woke with a gasp. His cell was a dark, dank place that reeked of salt and rotting shellfish and rusted iron. The walls were coated with a thick slime of equal parts algae muck and congealed blood.
At the crooked door stood a what he'd come to known as a guard. The figure—if you wanted to call it that—might've once been a man. But that was decades ago, at least. Its body was a ragged collection of weathered bone and waterlogged flesh gnawed into unrecognizable ribbons. The moldy rags draped over its skeletal form were identifiable only as some form of uniform, and the top-fed machine gun in its bony fingers was too rusted and encrusted with barnacles to identify. Save of course, for the wickedly sharp bayonet hanging off the end.
Ah yes, the POV of the those unlucky enough to be a POW of the Abyssals. I remember what happened to that unlucky zoomie (and the others) that had been held captive by Abyssmark's Sister.
"I won't tell you anything," said the Captain.
The rattle of bones in the sweltering tropical breeze was the only noise the guard made. It was enough. Aaron filed out on his captor's orders, lacing his fingers behind his head as the abyssal soldiers lead him deeper into the bunker complex. They slogged through knee-deep water thick with… with things Aaron thought it better to block from his mind.
This here though, this here tells me several things besides the obvious. Captain Aaron here must've been a POW of Tosa for sometime now, though exactly for how long is yet not known, maybe. And its apparent that they've tried to interrogate him before in the past if his statement of not telling them anything is anything to go by. Though it could be just his military training acting here but the details to me anyways hint that he's done this before, but the manner of his waking tells me it perhaps wasn't in this bunker complex. I do find it very doubtful that this woulda been his first time given that he's come to know that skeletal figure as the guard. Confusion, and perhaps terror at the figures around him would send even officers into a state of panic upon the first meeting. Unless Aaron truly has nerves of steel, unlikely... but if that is so... then perhaps it may yet help explain why what happens latter on happens...
Inside was… her. The Princess. Tosa.
This line here, this one line... its telling. He knows about her, now whether it was from the guards(highly unlikely) or past contact experience. Perhaps as a ship Captain that had prior evaded/had-contact with Tosa in the past; perhaps as part of the forces that have kept the Philippines from being under abyssal control?; remains to be seen. But regardless of the means, he not only knows her name but her appearance as well.
She sat back in a vast open pool, her enormous arms splayed out along the pool's perimeter. The water was still as glass against her massive breasts, and far to clear to hid any of her inhumanly vast body. She was still as a corpse when he walked in, her chest didn't even rise and fall with her nonexistent breathing.
"Come," she said. Her voice was alluring and grating all the same, eyes the color of liquid fire gazed blindly into nothing. Her inky black ponytail was gathered to the side and it draped around her shoulder like a snake. "You must long for a bath."
The visual imagine the first half of this alone pains is...unsettling, to say the least. But the second half, when Tosa speaks to Aaron, my first and immediate thoughts were that this was some bizzar kind of interrogation technique. But then as I thought about it, a different thought. A, theory, to why she asks him to bathe came to my mind. I'll expand on that in a little bit. There are details here that I must comment and theorize on before my racing, and rapidly unraveling mind is completely consumed by the Typhoon of thoughts, Theories and implications that are battering it presently.
Aaron gulped. "Aaron, Michael K," he said through gritted teeth.
"Yes yes," said the princess. She stood, water rippling off her titanic form. She was naked as the day she was born, her immense curves on shameless display as she strode through the now thigh-deep water towards him.
By all rights, it should've been sexy. She was curvy, her hips swayed with each step, her mouth hung open just the slightest degree. Every detail was—if he had to describe it—exactly what a vixen should do.
But it was all so wrong. Her skin was the color of death, her gaze drifted aimlessly from point to point and it was clear their presence on her horned face was purely ornamental. Her every motion was… off. She moved like a corpse turned marionette animated by a third-rate puppeteer.
This small exchange here, is more evidence I believe that Aaron here has been Interrogated before by either Tosa herself before or her minions at the least. It is either that or Tosa has other plans... and I dare say even,
feelings for the man. Why though I'm not sure I could pinpoint... and to be honest, I fear exploring that path of thought. Trying to think like one of those monsters for a prolong period of time is no good for one's sanity.
Though the way Tosa approached him, like she was
trying to appeal to him... I can't help but think that this isn't a behavior she'd normally do, I saw
nothing that carried the usual malice and hatred that I've seen with every other appearance Tosa has made in the story. We don't know much about this Captain Mike Aaron, and I fear we won't ever learn his whole story, but something tells me that man did
something to earn Tosa's (twisted) admiration, whether it was fearlessness, not breaking under interrogation, Skill in carrying out actions against her despite very likely being heavily outmatched and inflicting some kind of hindrance, or all the prior in addtion to several other factors. What ever the means, the result here is the same. Tosa has come to see this captain as strong, and therefore someone to desire,
love even... if such a word was twisted into a false-simile of itself .
"Captain," Aaron forced the words past his lips. "United States Navy."
"Enough of that, my love," the princess raised a talon the size of his forearm and gently stroked it down his cheek. "You wouldn't dine with me dressed like that, hmm?"
Aaron, I must say you have Brass Balls and Nerves of Steel to be able to keep talking and continue the name, rank and serial number routine with something like Tosa coming into your personal space. Unfortunately, it may be because of this quality is why she's garnered this... feeling for you. You unlucky
sonuvabitch . This is doubly confirmed when Tosa calls him, 'my love', I cannot fathom what one must do to earn the 'love' from an entity of hatred and destruction such as Tosa, but being the recipient of such a thing
can not and will not bode well for the recipient.
We also get a real good size comparison of Tosa to a normal human. And dear god, combined with
everything else given the mental picture is very disturbing for those of us who have... vivid visualization of what we read. The very fact that Tosa very
delibertly stroked his cheek with a talon,
and in a motion gentle enough to
not cut said cheek? Oh dear, that is
bad. Because it doesn't take a genius to see what she's getting ready to do... Though I do believe there's more to it than that. Much more, and I
shudder to think what exactly it is that is on the menu for tonight. And I do not believe it is him, if it were, Tosa wouldn't have bothered with
any of this. No, She has a more insidious plan for Aaron I believe, and I can not help but think back to when we saw from the POV of the Empress, her aid...
Something tells me, Tosa here, is about to make an aid of her own. And
all this we see here, is the
prep work for that process. The assumed cleanliness of the room? The lack of the normal decay and rot associated with abyssal made/occupied buildings with this one room? The fact the pool of water Tosa was in was far too clear, I dare say
perfectly clear and devoid of the blood, viscera and fuel oil normally associated with pools of water occupied by an abyssal, in addition to Tosa's nude state and her...
insistence that Aaron goes to a similar unclothed state as well? I think the reason for all that is that its all to ensure some kind of, I will say, magical (unholy?) process isn't interfered with. Afterall there's been hints that close contact with an abyssal causes
something to happen to those that have that contact. Like the one Navy Pilot, whom lost his foot (or was it leg?) to a abyssal destroyer during blood week. Ya'll remember how he felt pain or a discomfort of some sort when he was near shipgirls? Maybe what is about to happen with Aaron has some (distant perhaps) relation to that. okay time to finish this all up before I completely go mad from the implications/realizations
Aaron gulped. The metal of her finger was cold as ice against this skin. Her breath was colder still. He winced with every drop of perfume-laded water that dripped off her onto him. Even up to her thighs in the pool she towered over him. "W-what?"
"Bathe," she grabbed him around the waist like a toy and threw him into the water. "Surely you wouldn't come to your lover's table in such a state?"
THIS HERE. This whole exchange here, makes me firmly believe that the next time we see Captain Aaron... or rather more likely, what
use to be him. He'll be the same kind of entity that the Empress's aid is. His reaction to Tosa's question about not dining with her dressed like that. Its clear that what she said to him was
not what he had been expecting at all. And how that... perfume-laded water... dripping off of Tosa and onto him. Yes part of me thinks that the winces he makes from each drop is due to how cold said water is. Part of me also thinks that its something else too... something darker. Like perhaps continued exposure to that water and Tosa will change him into something else. Hell the way Tosa commands him to Bathe shortly before tossing him into the water... something tells me he won't be the same when he comes back up as he was when he went in. And what ever it is that's at Tosa table... will either accelerate the process or make it permanent. Or
both, both is very much a possibility.
Now I have a possible idea as to
why Tosa is doing this. And it deals with a theory I came up with regarding Princess-class Abyssal evolution(least till I can think of better word/phrase for it) when I read the Chapter that gave a better look at the Foresaken Empress and by proxy, her aid.
When an abyssal princess has spilled enough blood to get the Abyssal equivalent of her Kai-Ni, to grow more powerful further still she must set up a sustainable base or have a means to steadily procure supplies of some sort. Following that or perhaps in concert with that effort, they must seek out and find one of the enemy's side, a Human, who has certain characteristics and sets of skills. Perhaps Logistical skills among them. But invariably, someone of Officer ranking. Which if one looked at what the Biggest Navies where right before the Start of the Abyssal war, is good chance its going to be someone from the USN. If for absolutely nothing else, then for the unparalleled logistical capabilities the U.S. Armed Forces have. Anyways, once said princess has come into possession of such an individual, they prepare a ritual of some sort to corrupt, transform that capable individual they have capture into something... inhuman and perform an act of procreation with them. The benefit of bringing about such a metamorphosis in that Human and performing the act, is that by doing so, the abyssal princess in part triggers a change in themselves and they move up ,so to speak, in the abyssal Hierarchy. Thus changing from a Princess to an Empress and with that, and gaining of a aid who had once been a Human they had deemed strong, they become far more powerful and almost exponentially more dangerous than before. The logistical skill and other possible skills that former human once possesed now become available for the newly minted empress to use to her will.
Of course this is just merely a theory, but I certainly believe it is at the very least partially correct in some aspects. The only ones who truly know these answers are JMPer and Old Iron.
Though a horrifying thought I have is that, I do not know if the person the aid used to be, is still inside the monstrosity they would have become. Seeing what happens but completely unable to do anything about it. If that is the case, then I'd put those poor souls in the same camp of suffering the Private First Class Wallace Jenkins is in. Maybe even worse because these unfortunate souls most likely cannot temporarily wrestle control of themselves back from the abyss.
Uh oh. She's trying to turn/flip him. Might want to start considering bashing your skull open on your cell floor, Captain.
if you've managed to read everything I've written before this point. You'll know that its
far too late for the Captain to Kill himself now. I firmly believe His grim, horrifying fate was sealed the moment Tosa threw him into that water.
Now if ya'll excuse me, I know there's a 1/12th of liter left in a bottle of 190 proof Grain Alcohol somewhere in my house, I'm going to go down it all at once. If for nothing else then to assure that I have a dreamless sleep tonight. For otherwise I shall not be able to sleep at all.
*Crazed Corgi Borking*