Re-pulsed By The Abyss: Chapter Eleven.
HarakoniWarhawk
Striking from the Skies
- Location
- Holy Terra
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sorry for the long wait, everyone, fickle Muse and all that unfortunate jazz.
Music for the chapter is from Sabaton.
"And that's how you give reality a great big middle finger with moxie and a lot of force!"
Tobias (Toby to his friends) should have been writing down everything Jia Xin said as she delved into the Abyssal's method of transporting entire fleets long distances. The key word there being should, as the Lieutenant Commander was far too busy worrying about the fact that it was intended for Repulse's use. But unfortunately for his blood pressure, the infamous Abyssal Stormfront/teleport manoeuvre loathed by the Allied navies worldwide relied on the practitioner having lots of mystical power and the precision to back it up.
Judging from Vampire's pale face in the corner of Tobias' vision, she'd just realised where on that scale Repulse fell and was rightfully terrified.
As for the Abyssal Aviation Superdreadnaght in question... The Officer managed an entire five seconds of watching her write in a notebook propped up on her bust before he had to turn away and take a calming breath. He wasn't sure what terrified him more; that Repulse was attentively noting everything the Ka-Class submarine said or how he knew Jia Xin understood his worry and was smirking behind her respirator.
"So, in summary, travelling through the Depths-Between is as much a matter of willpower as it is brute force." The submarine removed her mask and smiled at Repulse. "Any questions?"
"Just one, Miss Jia Xin," the Naga chewed the end of her fringe for a moment. "So I won't be travelling the physical distance in this Depths-Between as far as supplies go?"
"Not for a four hundred kilometre hop, nope, 'specially not when it'll just be the two of us. Things change if you're trying to move from here to, say... Guam, somewhere far away, or if you've got a fleet in tow."
If she can casually jaunt to Guam, Toby thought with sudden dread, what's stopping her from deciding to report to the Admiralty in person? Just the mental image of Repulse trying to squeeze her snekky bulk through the narrow confines of the Admiralty building was enough to make him groan and press his head against the desk. The Officer drew cold (hah!) comfort from the contact for all of a second before the soft hiss of wheels heralded Vampire's arrival and ruined a perfectly good mood.
"Say, Tobes," she began with a sly grin. "Y'think Repulse knows she masses as much as an entire fleet?"
Tobias snorted. "Of course, she does; Repulse isn't..." He couldn't finish the sentence as a terrible thought struck him. "You know what? I'm going to save my fraying sanity and refuse to answer that."
His Kanmusu companion and best friend cackled loud enough to briefly draw the Re-Class' attention before they went back to speaking in excited tones with Jia Xin. Not for the last time, the Lieutenant Commander had to fight to ignore how God-damn enticing Repulse was to view from pretty much every angle. Oh, sure, everyone's initial impression of Repulse was a sheer terror at seeing an enormous Re-Hime loaded for bear and packed to the gunwales with firepower, but Toby had long since moved past that to enjoy the differences that made Repulse the Shipgirl she was. He tuned out Vampire's delighted amusement to rub his aching ribs and quietly admired Repulse's happy gesturing and the resulting movement that caused in particular... areas. Hell, the Supercapital's figure was so far beyond any Kanmusu Battleship Tobias had seen in his career, and that included meeting Iowa once!
And then the content Officer remembered why he was in this room and promptly abandoned dreaming about being hugged by Repulse for hours on end.
On a whim, Tobias stuck his hand up. "Can I ask something, Repulse?"
Warm violet eyes moved from Jia Xin (much to the sub's irritation) to meet Toby's gaze alongside a dimpled smile that made him glad he was sitting behind a desk. Repulse looked anywhere between a mature twenty and a youthful forty, yet mere appearance took a back seat to a smile that could light up a room and take the human's breath away. Faced with a vision of beauty, he lost his voice and only recovered it when the Supercapital's motherly features creased in a worry he knew would prompt an extra-tight hug if he didn't speak.
"You can ask me anything you'd like, Commander."
"Why don't you sail to Singapore; it's only four hundred kliks?"
Repulse's cheeks dusted a darker cyan before breaking eye contact in as obvious a sign of embarrassment as Toby had ever seen, accompanied by Vampire's poorly-muffled giggles. The Destroyer's reaction caused the blush to spread all the way to the Re-Hime's neck and, barely hidden by her luscious white hair, the tips of her finned ears. So, feeling more than a little guilty, Toby wadded up a page from his untouched notebook, flicked it at Vampire's head with a grin, and left her behind to approach the embarrassed Repulse and hug her. His arms barely reached around her thanks to their respective height difference and the two massive fuel bunkers that gave the Re such an impressive figure, but Tobias didn't dwell on where his face was resting.
Much.
Eventually, deceptively powerful arms returned the hug with slightly alarming force. "You needn't comfort me so, Commander," Repulse murmured into his hair. "I owe you an answer to your question, after all."
"Bugger that, Repulse," Toby snarked back. "If you don't want to answer, that's your prerogative. 'Sides, you looked like you needed a hug."
He immediately regretted his words as the Supercapital's embrace went from 'firm' to 'my spine's going to snap', the resulting alarming squawk muffled by the Officer's new position. Speech, and indeed all but the shallowest breaths, proved impossible as he ended head-fist in Repulse's bountiful cleavage to far too much-muffled laughter for Tobias' liking. His frantic tapping to escape seemingly failed when he remained in marshmallow heaven, only to be released a moment later alongside a hand ruffling his hair courtesy of a beaming Re-Hime. Toby was too busy sucking in grateful breaths of wonderful oxygen to be annoyed by the gesture and had forgiven the fluffy Naga by the time he had enough air to speak without a coughing fit.
"To answer your query, Commander, I'd prefer to limit my time away from Port George," Repulse beat him to the punch with the barest of blushes. "While I have several reservations with the method," she cast a lidded glance at a red-faced Jia Xin. "I can't rightfully deny the tactical and strategic advantages afforded by it."
"Y'sure it's got nothing to do with your top speed?" Vampire called across the room.
Repulse turning and sticking her nose in the air fooled precisely nobody. "I haven't the slightest notion of what you mean, Vampire; my cruising speed is perfectly suitable for the voyage."
"Why not your maximum speed?" Toby joined in on the joke. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can hit twenty-five knots according to Boa and Python."
The Supercapital muttered something under her breath, once again blushing up a gradually spreading storm that brought smiles to everyone's faces. Unlike the last time, Jia Xin recovered from whatever embarrassed/jealous daze she'd been suffering and slunk over to Repulse and offered her a pleading look that proved surprisingly effective. If not for the pale blue glow of her eyes and subdued rigging, Toby wouldn't have known the Ka was an Abyssal submarine, given how human she acted. So, even as he watched the Re-Hime's silence crumble in the face of Jia's pleading expression, the Officer mentally upped the other Abyssal's threat rating.
Eventually, Repulse pinched her nose with a groan. "I can't easily make my top speed, okay?" She met everyone's eyes one by one. "I may be part composed of 'spooky Abyssal bullshit' to borrow some Innie parlance, but it's draining to do so for the time needed to reach and maintain my maximum speed."
She clammed up after that, leaving behind a gobsmacked Vampire who quietly rolled up beside Toby without a quip while the Officer marvelled at hearing the oh-so-composed Supercapital cursing in casual conversation. Jia Xin, meanwhile, looked like the cat who'd snatched the canary and immediately drew the Z-Class Destroyer's ire by existing in the same space as Repulse. The pair got as far as sizing each other up for yet another catfight over the Re's affection before a quiet cough from the warship in question derailed it before it began. And yet, that was followed by a wave of spine-tingling power that washed over everyone as the Re-Hime drew herself to her full height with deceptive speed for someone of her bulk in a genuinely intimidating display. She looked as soft and huggable as ever, to say nothing of her nigh-permanent state of lacking dress, yet Toby's hindbrain screamed in terror and ran off to a dark corner to hide and possibly get wasted.
Thankfully, the display was wasted when Repulse promptly undermined it by folding her arms below her bust and drawing attention from her stern expression to other more intriguing sights.
"I shan't be gone long, but until then, Lieutenant Commander Williamson will be in charge." She tucked a stray lock of hair behind an ear. "Is that understood?"
Toby joined in with the chorus of 'Ayes' and cursed his luck for getting put in charge of this Abyssal madhouse... Not that he'd dare say that to Repulse's face. So, instead, the Officer offered a curt nod and breathed a sigh of relief once the Supercapital returned it and left the room without a hug.
The last thing his poor ribs needed was Repulse-induced breaking before they healed.
I'll admit to being more than a little nervous leaving Boa and Python behind as I finished my preparations for the jaunt through the Depths-Between. They floated well away from the arbitrarily chosen departure site, though, given our nature, it still meant I could chat with them without raising my voice.
"Be on your best behaviour, Girls, and do try and go easy on the Commander," I half-turned to wave at the distant human on the dock. "The last thing I want to find out on returning is that you caused him issues."
"You can count on us, Mum!" Boa snapped a salute.
Python threw an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Don't worry, Mum, we'll be saints for him!"
I seriously doubted they'd get up to no trouble, but keeping my mouth shut and hugging them was the motherly thing to do. There was the requisite faux-complaining, more tearful hugs from both sides and one last embrace for good measure, but I eventually waved Boa and Python back to shore with a stiff upper lip. Let nobody say that a warship of Her Majesty broke down over a short jaunt through a realm so far beyond the pale as to be Fey. I tracked my gaze across the dockside and waved towards Tobias and Vampire for good luck before turning my attention inwards to where my Captain was preparing for the critical task.
"The CAG's getting the last of his air group stowed away as we speak, Repulse," he informed me while browsing a clipboard a Middie handed him. "Chief's got people watching the hull braces where that torpedo struck in case the seas get rough, but that's more the jammy bastard being paranoid than any genuine fear."
I smiled as the Chief Engineer's outraged squeaking echoed from the depths of Engineering. "And the crew?"
"Confident that you'll keep them safe through thick and thin..." My Captain favoured me with a lidded glance. "Just like the last five times, you asked, Dear."
My cheeks burned even while I pretended with all my might that I hadn't been just a teeny little bit overbearing in my protectiveness. My Captain chuckled deep in the back of his vocaliser and said nought else in that regard. He was undoubtedly aware of my embarrassment yet far too honourable of an officer to needle me about the emotion. If there was ever a man that embodied the Navy's finest traditions, it was the metal-and-flesh juggernaught standing tall and proud amidst the finest damn sailors from Britain's shores. I caught a flicker of pride from my Captain and made to speak, only for Jia Xin to arrive whilst downing an entire flask of some concoction.
"Deep below, that stuff kicks like an oxygen torpedo," she spat to the side and donned her rebreather. "Right, that'll give me enough juice to open the way for us. Watch what I do, and Singapore can finish the rest after we arrive on the far side."
I tapped two fingers to my brow. "Never fear, Miss Jia Xin, I shall be a most attentive student."
Middie Team Six waved their notebooks and writing implements with a multitude of hands, grippers and claws from their position atop my head. The Ka blinked multiple times at the group, glanced down at the empty flask in her hand, and then tucked it away with a nigh-inaudible mutter. She seemed confused, but then again, there was a great many things about how my crew operated that confounded the poor thing...
"Welp here goes!"
So it was with that unusual battlecry that Jia Xin raised her arms in the air and began chanting in a harsh, guttural tongue as if beseeching an eldritch god. Despite my reservations about the fel words, I forced myself to listen for Middie Team Six's sake, if not my own and endured the lengthy chanting with nary a shudder. I felt the opening to the Depths-Between before I saw it, my eyes being drawn to an innocuous patch of ocean perhaps five hundred metres distant as a heavy weight settled across my frame with no discernable source. Jia Xin lowered her arms and traced a semi-circle from her lefthand side to her right while chanting all the while and causing a distortion to form in the aforementioned unusual spot. For a moment, it seemed like as if nothing was to occur... And then a tear in the very fabric of the world opened up before my eyes.
Dark clouds poured skywards from the growing portal and heralded a nigh-immediate thunderstorm that bucketed upon us while oily, rusted chains rattled and clanked into a frame around the weeping hole in reality. Only rapid-fire orders from my Captain prevented Alpha and Bravo turrets from firing upon the Fey construct, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that I would have done the same thing in their place. Jia Xin waited until the chains finished the eldritch task to cease chanting and steam towards the unholy portal, forcing me to follow behind lest I put her hardwon effort to waste. I cast one final look towards Port George and my family before steeling myself and sailing from the world I knew to the stormy reality of the Depths-Between.
"Yesss, enter my realm, little Princess~."
The Watcher steepled her fingers and allowed herself a slight upturn of her lips that only the most generous would call a smile. She felt the nasty residue of one of Singapore's ilk hidden underneath her project's shining beacon and immediately dismissed the former in favour of inspecting the latter. It burned with a fervour that surprised and intrigued the Watcher, though she took great pains to avoid drawing the amalgam's attention lest they detected the occult bindings trailing through the Abyss to her personal realm. There was no telling how it would react given the disparate nature of its pieces, yet curiosity had the Watcher expending a not-inconsiderable degree of power to create a storm in the Depths-Between to drive the project off course.
She leant back in her chair in the physical realm and reached for a glass of Saké as the Abyss answered her call and battered at the project's form. The Watcher had no doubts about the course of action despite the amalgam's sheer bulk, for she'd ensured it couldn't handle high seas to easily control it. Oh, it might have broken out of the laboratory and killed the peons who'd summoned it, but the Watcher still mentally slapped herself on the back for managing to make the amalgam ever barely seaworthy given its displacement. She sipped at her drink and watched the Depths-Between be thrown into a terrible frenzy while debating what to do with the project when it inevitably floundered and sank.
Turning it into an Installation after a few mental adjustments could work, the Watcher mused, or perhaps a mobile Installation!
"Well, mobile in the loosest sense of the word~," she giggled behind a dainty hand.
And then immediately spat her Saké across the room when the Watcher noticed what her pet project was achieving.
"No, no, no, no, no; that's not possible! How in the Deep is it doing that?!"
"REPULSE, WHAT IN THE DEEP'S NAME ARE YOU DOING SAILING INTO THE MASSIVE WAVES?!"
Jia Xin screamed in terror as another wave washed over the bow of Repulse's steel hull while she clung to their neck for dear life. The crazy fucking Supercapital laughed as the Depths-Between tried and failed to wash the enormous capital ship away because, of course, she did! While the Ka had no damn clue where the inexplicable storm surge had come from, she'd endured more than a few turbulent trips and figured it wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't like the anomalous conditions would last overly long with the presence of an Abyssal Princess to stabilise the area by dint of existing.
Which, unfortunately, relied on the Princess in question wanting a nice, calm voyage and not swells large enough to drown lesser vessels.
Catching a snapshot of Repulse's steel hull was the sole upside to this terrifying experience, Jia Xin repeated in her head even as more waves smashed atop the occult steel of the fore turrets without damage. Which, to be fair, made sense when she factored in the angular slabs of metal, cannons and insane marines weighing more than the Ka did! Jia tried not to dwell too hard on how badly she'd fare being smashed by waves like that and thanked the Deep that Repulse's avatar was perched well above the deck atop the bridge. It said a lot about the Princess' crew that the Middies sharing the perch with the Re-Hime and Jia alternated between delighted screaming every time Repulse entered a trough and furious scribbling as they observed the Depths-Between.
"I don't get why you're scared of a few little waves, Jia Xin; it's not that bad."
The Ka's head snapped upwards to glare at the insane Re-Hime. "THE WAVES ARE HIGHER THAN YOUR ABYSS-DAMNED TURRETS, WOMAN!"
A truly massive swell chose that moment to appear from the all-encompassing fog shrouding the area and smashing down atop Repulse's bow. Jia Xin wailed in terror when it looked as if they were about to plunge beneath the resulting trough, yet the Aviation Superdreadnaught merely flashed a toothy smile and thrust an arm towards the next wave.
"All ahead full, Captain, I want to hit this one at full speed!" Repulse reached over and ruffled Jia Xin's hair. "I'd rate this as a Winter Monday in the North Sea if that."
"A Winter Monday in the North Sea..." the Ka wondered who she'd pissed off to be stuck with the craziest Re of the lot. "Please tell me you're joking."
Repulse merely smiled and said nothing, content to leave Jia Xin's mind spinning in ever-increasing circles as to if the Supercapital was being serious or not. Someone, probably Singapore, must have been watching out for the submarine, for between one raspy scream and the next, the storm abruptly subsided as they sailed out of the Depths-Between into a crowded harbour. Jia relaxed her death grip with a relieved groan, struts and crew joining in until her dickweasel of an XO pointed out that they must be in Singapore's domain. Then, she ever so reluctantly cracked open an eye and found herself looking down at her Mistress' unamused expression, Repulse's steel hull nowhere to be seen, to say nothing of the Human retainers and Abyssal escorts surrounding the Harbour Princess.
Oh, look, Yannik was here with his smartphone out and recording.
Jia Xin was fucked, well and truly shafted now.
Several minutes earlier.
"The stream's up and running, Ma'am," Yannik cheerfully informed Singapore from the cluster of IT technicians and their equipment. "Everything's backed up and on a hardline, in case the Wi-Fi bites the dust when she appears."
The Harbour Princess nodded. "Very good, Yannik; join me if you would."
Her most loyal Human adviser said his goodbyes to the excited-looking technicians and weaved through the greeting party with enviable ease for one such as him. Singapore hid her smile and schooled her expression into a hopefully calm mask when Yannik drew his smartphone from a pocket and briefly directed it towards her. She offered the advanced device a slight tilt of her head, knowing that the gesture would be seen by the mind-boggling amount of people watching from the safety of their homes and still amazed by the march of technology. While the exact mechanisms behind sharing video from a phone the size of her palm across the world went over the Harbour Princess' head, her Human advisors had been proven correct in its usage for PR time and time again.
And to think that some backwards Humans still thought the Abyss could corrupt people through such videos despite five years of solid evidence against it. The incredibly expensive hardening and multiple backups required to cleanly transmit video of Singapore herself, let alone her speaking, were the best counterarguments for that line of thought. But, speaking of transmitting video, the Princess' domain registered the incoming bow wake of a portal from the Depths-Between right where she'd directed Jia Xin to send them.
"Our guest will be arriving shortly," Singapore informed her retainers and adjusted her half-moon glasses. "And do remember to avoid the portal's edge."
This she directed more towards her subordinates enforcing the exclusion zone around her largest pier than the immediate crowd, but both groups accepted the warning without comment. Those on land backed away from the edge while the Ta leading the escorts shepherded her rowdier underlings out of the zone with an apologetic smile. Singapore had time to make a mental note about coaching the fast battleship to be more confident before an arch formed of rusted chains erupted from the deep blue waters of the bay. A blast of seaspray and icy winds flowed around the Harbour Princess' group thanks to a hastily erected barrier which faded to allow her guest through unimpeded. However, things turned for the odd when an occult-steel bow eased through the portal's grasp, forcing the chains to clank and groan to accommodate the mass, only to vanish without a trace a second later. Sometime between Singapore blinking away the conflicting Aura clouding her vision and the portal closing, a deathly hush fell over the greeting party.
The Harbour Princess took pride in staring up at the cause of the silence without flinching, meeting the towering Re-Hime's violet eyes and offering them the customary shallow bow for greeting an equal-ranked Princess. But, of course, protocol dictated that Repulse did likewise... But she wouldn't know the proper etiquette, would she, Singapore? She was saved from a terribly embarrassing facepalm by a slight touch on her shoulder courtesy of Yannik. The bright young man smiled like mad and surreptitiously gestured downwards while keeping his phone steadily aimed in Repulse's direction.
Singapore followed his gaze to find Jia Xin with her arms around the bruised and scantily-clad Re-Hime's neck (What was it with Re's and their lack of proper clothing?) and tucked into the crook of their arm. Her wayward subordinate's eyes widened in alarm as the bespectacled Princess levelled a flat look in their direction, but that was all she could do when their guest hadn't... Singapore spoke too soon, for Repulse ruffled the Ka's hair with a blatantly maternal smile despite the filed teeth and let the sub down before approaching the Harbour Princess. Words couldn't properly describe the maelstrom of emotions turning the senior Royal's eloquent speech into so much dust and echoes from seeing the long-lost member of Force Z, no matter how much she tried to voice them.
So, instead, Singapore took in her counterpart's mottled cyan skin across their arms, face and torso where shells had failed to penetrate (without leering at the Re-Hime's massive bust), salt-soaked ivory braid draped across her heavily-armoured tail and racked her brains for the best thing to say. Did she mention the battle damage and offer to fix it as a welcoming gift? Or maybe remarking on Repulse's battle scars was best to soothe their undoubtedly sizeable ego was the best course of action? Every second felt like a ticking time bomb for the Harbour Princess, which was the only thing to blame for what came from her mouth.
"Did you forget to bring an umbrella, Dear?"
Mortified, Singapore's entire world froze as she contemplated how bloody stupid she sounded. What did that even mean for someone like the enormous, heavily armed and battle-scarred Re cratering the concrete pier from her sheer mass...
Repulse's gentle giggle shattered her stupor. "Nothing that would prevent me from meeting you after eighty-two years," A deceptively large hand reached out towards the dumbstruck Royal and cupped her cheek. "I failed you once, but on my honour as a warship of the Royal Navy, I shall never fail you again!"
Every non-Royal present backed away from the Re-Hime's unrestrained aura 'till it faded with the faint clash of steel on steel. Singapore hesitantly reached up and touched Repulse's hand, terrified that it'd vanish despite all the impossible-to-ignore evidence smiling down at her. Instead, she found a genuine smile breaching her composure and promptly removed the hand from her cheek to grasp it between her own like a lifeline.
"Welcome back, Repulse, and may I be the first to say that it's an honour to meet you once again."
Singapore Harbour Princess and Boarding Party Princess managed an entire minute staring into each other's eyes before Repulse pulled an unresisting Singapore into a spine-breaking embrace with a delighted belly laugh.
And the people watching Yannik's Twitch live stream immediately went mad, requiring the deletion of a great many thirsty comments.
I hope y'all enjoy, Folks!
Music for the chapter is from Sabaton.
"And that's how you give reality a great big middle finger with moxie and a lot of force!"
Tobias (Toby to his friends) should have been writing down everything Jia Xin said as she delved into the Abyssal's method of transporting entire fleets long distances. The key word there being should, as the Lieutenant Commander was far too busy worrying about the fact that it was intended for Repulse's use. But unfortunately for his blood pressure, the infamous Abyssal Stormfront/teleport manoeuvre loathed by the Allied navies worldwide relied on the practitioner having lots of mystical power and the precision to back it up.
Judging from Vampire's pale face in the corner of Tobias' vision, she'd just realised where on that scale Repulse fell and was rightfully terrified.
As for the Abyssal Aviation Superdreadnaght in question... The Officer managed an entire five seconds of watching her write in a notebook propped up on her bust before he had to turn away and take a calming breath. He wasn't sure what terrified him more; that Repulse was attentively noting everything the Ka-Class submarine said or how he knew Jia Xin understood his worry and was smirking behind her respirator.
"So, in summary, travelling through the Depths-Between is as much a matter of willpower as it is brute force." The submarine removed her mask and smiled at Repulse. "Any questions?"
"Just one, Miss Jia Xin," the Naga chewed the end of her fringe for a moment. "So I won't be travelling the physical distance in this Depths-Between as far as supplies go?"
"Not for a four hundred kilometre hop, nope, 'specially not when it'll just be the two of us. Things change if you're trying to move from here to, say... Guam, somewhere far away, or if you've got a fleet in tow."
If she can casually jaunt to Guam, Toby thought with sudden dread, what's stopping her from deciding to report to the Admiralty in person? Just the mental image of Repulse trying to squeeze her snekky bulk through the narrow confines of the Admiralty building was enough to make him groan and press his head against the desk. The Officer drew cold (hah!) comfort from the contact for all of a second before the soft hiss of wheels heralded Vampire's arrival and ruined a perfectly good mood.
"Say, Tobes," she began with a sly grin. "Y'think Repulse knows she masses as much as an entire fleet?"
Tobias snorted. "Of course, she does; Repulse isn't..." He couldn't finish the sentence as a terrible thought struck him. "You know what? I'm going to save my fraying sanity and refuse to answer that."
His Kanmusu companion and best friend cackled loud enough to briefly draw the Re-Class' attention before they went back to speaking in excited tones with Jia Xin. Not for the last time, the Lieutenant Commander had to fight to ignore how God-damn enticing Repulse was to view from pretty much every angle. Oh, sure, everyone's initial impression of Repulse was a sheer terror at seeing an enormous Re-Hime loaded for bear and packed to the gunwales with firepower, but Toby had long since moved past that to enjoy the differences that made Repulse the Shipgirl she was. He tuned out Vampire's delighted amusement to rub his aching ribs and quietly admired Repulse's happy gesturing and the resulting movement that caused in particular... areas. Hell, the Supercapital's figure was so far beyond any Kanmusu Battleship Tobias had seen in his career, and that included meeting Iowa once!
And then the content Officer remembered why he was in this room and promptly abandoned dreaming about being hugged by Repulse for hours on end.
On a whim, Tobias stuck his hand up. "Can I ask something, Repulse?"
Warm violet eyes moved from Jia Xin (much to the sub's irritation) to meet Toby's gaze alongside a dimpled smile that made him glad he was sitting behind a desk. Repulse looked anywhere between a mature twenty and a youthful forty, yet mere appearance took a back seat to a smile that could light up a room and take the human's breath away. Faced with a vision of beauty, he lost his voice and only recovered it when the Supercapital's motherly features creased in a worry he knew would prompt an extra-tight hug if he didn't speak.
"You can ask me anything you'd like, Commander."
"Why don't you sail to Singapore; it's only four hundred kliks?"
Repulse's cheeks dusted a darker cyan before breaking eye contact in as obvious a sign of embarrassment as Toby had ever seen, accompanied by Vampire's poorly-muffled giggles. The Destroyer's reaction caused the blush to spread all the way to the Re-Hime's neck and, barely hidden by her luscious white hair, the tips of her finned ears. So, feeling more than a little guilty, Toby wadded up a page from his untouched notebook, flicked it at Vampire's head with a grin, and left her behind to approach the embarrassed Repulse and hug her. His arms barely reached around her thanks to their respective height difference and the two massive fuel bunkers that gave the Re such an impressive figure, but Tobias didn't dwell on where his face was resting.
Much.
Eventually, deceptively powerful arms returned the hug with slightly alarming force. "You needn't comfort me so, Commander," Repulse murmured into his hair. "I owe you an answer to your question, after all."
"Bugger that, Repulse," Toby snarked back. "If you don't want to answer, that's your prerogative. 'Sides, you looked like you needed a hug."
He immediately regretted his words as the Supercapital's embrace went from 'firm' to 'my spine's going to snap', the resulting alarming squawk muffled by the Officer's new position. Speech, and indeed all but the shallowest breaths, proved impossible as he ended head-fist in Repulse's bountiful cleavage to far too much-muffled laughter for Tobias' liking. His frantic tapping to escape seemingly failed when he remained in marshmallow heaven, only to be released a moment later alongside a hand ruffling his hair courtesy of a beaming Re-Hime. Toby was too busy sucking in grateful breaths of wonderful oxygen to be annoyed by the gesture and had forgiven the fluffy Naga by the time he had enough air to speak without a coughing fit.
"To answer your query, Commander, I'd prefer to limit my time away from Port George," Repulse beat him to the punch with the barest of blushes. "While I have several reservations with the method," she cast a lidded glance at a red-faced Jia Xin. "I can't rightfully deny the tactical and strategic advantages afforded by it."
"Y'sure it's got nothing to do with your top speed?" Vampire called across the room.
Repulse turning and sticking her nose in the air fooled precisely nobody. "I haven't the slightest notion of what you mean, Vampire; my cruising speed is perfectly suitable for the voyage."
"Why not your maximum speed?" Toby joined in on the joke. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can hit twenty-five knots according to Boa and Python."
The Supercapital muttered something under her breath, once again blushing up a gradually spreading storm that brought smiles to everyone's faces. Unlike the last time, Jia Xin recovered from whatever embarrassed/jealous daze she'd been suffering and slunk over to Repulse and offered her a pleading look that proved surprisingly effective. If not for the pale blue glow of her eyes and subdued rigging, Toby wouldn't have known the Ka was an Abyssal submarine, given how human she acted. So, even as he watched the Re-Hime's silence crumble in the face of Jia's pleading expression, the Officer mentally upped the other Abyssal's threat rating.
Eventually, Repulse pinched her nose with a groan. "I can't easily make my top speed, okay?" She met everyone's eyes one by one. "I may be part composed of 'spooky Abyssal bullshit' to borrow some Innie parlance, but it's draining to do so for the time needed to reach and maintain my maximum speed."
She clammed up after that, leaving behind a gobsmacked Vampire who quietly rolled up beside Toby without a quip while the Officer marvelled at hearing the oh-so-composed Supercapital cursing in casual conversation. Jia Xin, meanwhile, looked like the cat who'd snatched the canary and immediately drew the Z-Class Destroyer's ire by existing in the same space as Repulse. The pair got as far as sizing each other up for yet another catfight over the Re's affection before a quiet cough from the warship in question derailed it before it began. And yet, that was followed by a wave of spine-tingling power that washed over everyone as the Re-Hime drew herself to her full height with deceptive speed for someone of her bulk in a genuinely intimidating display. She looked as soft and huggable as ever, to say nothing of her nigh-permanent state of lacking dress, yet Toby's hindbrain screamed in terror and ran off to a dark corner to hide and possibly get wasted.
Thankfully, the display was wasted when Repulse promptly undermined it by folding her arms below her bust and drawing attention from her stern expression to other more intriguing sights.
"I shan't be gone long, but until then, Lieutenant Commander Williamson will be in charge." She tucked a stray lock of hair behind an ear. "Is that understood?"
Toby joined in with the chorus of 'Ayes' and cursed his luck for getting put in charge of this Abyssal madhouse... Not that he'd dare say that to Repulse's face. So, instead, the Officer offered a curt nod and breathed a sigh of relief once the Supercapital returned it and left the room without a hug.
The last thing his poor ribs needed was Repulse-induced breaking before they healed.
I'll admit to being more than a little nervous leaving Boa and Python behind as I finished my preparations for the jaunt through the Depths-Between. They floated well away from the arbitrarily chosen departure site, though, given our nature, it still meant I could chat with them without raising my voice.
"Be on your best behaviour, Girls, and do try and go easy on the Commander," I half-turned to wave at the distant human on the dock. "The last thing I want to find out on returning is that you caused him issues."
"You can count on us, Mum!" Boa snapped a salute.
Python threw an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Don't worry, Mum, we'll be saints for him!"
I seriously doubted they'd get up to no trouble, but keeping my mouth shut and hugging them was the motherly thing to do. There was the requisite faux-complaining, more tearful hugs from both sides and one last embrace for good measure, but I eventually waved Boa and Python back to shore with a stiff upper lip. Let nobody say that a warship of Her Majesty broke down over a short jaunt through a realm so far beyond the pale as to be Fey. I tracked my gaze across the dockside and waved towards Tobias and Vampire for good luck before turning my attention inwards to where my Captain was preparing for the critical task.
"The CAG's getting the last of his air group stowed away as we speak, Repulse," he informed me while browsing a clipboard a Middie handed him. "Chief's got people watching the hull braces where that torpedo struck in case the seas get rough, but that's more the jammy bastard being paranoid than any genuine fear."
I smiled as the Chief Engineer's outraged squeaking echoed from the depths of Engineering. "And the crew?"
"Confident that you'll keep them safe through thick and thin..." My Captain favoured me with a lidded glance. "Just like the last five times, you asked, Dear."
My cheeks burned even while I pretended with all my might that I hadn't been just a teeny little bit overbearing in my protectiveness. My Captain chuckled deep in the back of his vocaliser and said nought else in that regard. He was undoubtedly aware of my embarrassment yet far too honourable of an officer to needle me about the emotion. If there was ever a man that embodied the Navy's finest traditions, it was the metal-and-flesh juggernaught standing tall and proud amidst the finest damn sailors from Britain's shores. I caught a flicker of pride from my Captain and made to speak, only for Jia Xin to arrive whilst downing an entire flask of some concoction.
"Deep below, that stuff kicks like an oxygen torpedo," she spat to the side and donned her rebreather. "Right, that'll give me enough juice to open the way for us. Watch what I do, and Singapore can finish the rest after we arrive on the far side."
I tapped two fingers to my brow. "Never fear, Miss Jia Xin, I shall be a most attentive student."
Middie Team Six waved their notebooks and writing implements with a multitude of hands, grippers and claws from their position atop my head. The Ka blinked multiple times at the group, glanced down at the empty flask in her hand, and then tucked it away with a nigh-inaudible mutter. She seemed confused, but then again, there was a great many things about how my crew operated that confounded the poor thing...
"Welp here goes!"
So it was with that unusual battlecry that Jia Xin raised her arms in the air and began chanting in a harsh, guttural tongue as if beseeching an eldritch god. Despite my reservations about the fel words, I forced myself to listen for Middie Team Six's sake, if not my own and endured the lengthy chanting with nary a shudder. I felt the opening to the Depths-Between before I saw it, my eyes being drawn to an innocuous patch of ocean perhaps five hundred metres distant as a heavy weight settled across my frame with no discernable source. Jia Xin lowered her arms and traced a semi-circle from her lefthand side to her right while chanting all the while and causing a distortion to form in the aforementioned unusual spot. For a moment, it seemed like as if nothing was to occur... And then a tear in the very fabric of the world opened up before my eyes.
Dark clouds poured skywards from the growing portal and heralded a nigh-immediate thunderstorm that bucketed upon us while oily, rusted chains rattled and clanked into a frame around the weeping hole in reality. Only rapid-fire orders from my Captain prevented Alpha and Bravo turrets from firing upon the Fey construct, and I wasn't ashamed to admit that I would have done the same thing in their place. Jia Xin waited until the chains finished the eldritch task to cease chanting and steam towards the unholy portal, forcing me to follow behind lest I put her hardwon effort to waste. I cast one final look towards Port George and my family before steeling myself and sailing from the world I knew to the stormy reality of the Depths-Between.
"Yesss, enter my realm, little Princess~."
The Watcher steepled her fingers and allowed herself a slight upturn of her lips that only the most generous would call a smile. She felt the nasty residue of one of Singapore's ilk hidden underneath her project's shining beacon and immediately dismissed the former in favour of inspecting the latter. It burned with a fervour that surprised and intrigued the Watcher, though she took great pains to avoid drawing the amalgam's attention lest they detected the occult bindings trailing through the Abyss to her personal realm. There was no telling how it would react given the disparate nature of its pieces, yet curiosity had the Watcher expending a not-inconsiderable degree of power to create a storm in the Depths-Between to drive the project off course.
She leant back in her chair in the physical realm and reached for a glass of Saké as the Abyss answered her call and battered at the project's form. The Watcher had no doubts about the course of action despite the amalgam's sheer bulk, for she'd ensured it couldn't handle high seas to easily control it. Oh, it might have broken out of the laboratory and killed the peons who'd summoned it, but the Watcher still mentally slapped herself on the back for managing to make the amalgam ever barely seaworthy given its displacement. She sipped at her drink and watched the Depths-Between be thrown into a terrible frenzy while debating what to do with the project when it inevitably floundered and sank.
Turning it into an Installation after a few mental adjustments could work, the Watcher mused, or perhaps a mobile Installation!
"Well, mobile in the loosest sense of the word~," she giggled behind a dainty hand.
And then immediately spat her Saké across the room when the Watcher noticed what her pet project was achieving.
"No, no, no, no, no; that's not possible! How in the Deep is it doing that?!"
"REPULSE, WHAT IN THE DEEP'S NAME ARE YOU DOING SAILING INTO THE MASSIVE WAVES?!"
Jia Xin screamed in terror as another wave washed over the bow of Repulse's steel hull while she clung to their neck for dear life. The crazy fucking Supercapital laughed as the Depths-Between tried and failed to wash the enormous capital ship away because, of course, she did! While the Ka had no damn clue where the inexplicable storm surge had come from, she'd endured more than a few turbulent trips and figured it wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't like the anomalous conditions would last overly long with the presence of an Abyssal Princess to stabilise the area by dint of existing.
Which, unfortunately, relied on the Princess in question wanting a nice, calm voyage and not swells large enough to drown lesser vessels.
Catching a snapshot of Repulse's steel hull was the sole upside to this terrifying experience, Jia Xin repeated in her head even as more waves smashed atop the occult steel of the fore turrets without damage. Which, to be fair, made sense when she factored in the angular slabs of metal, cannons and insane marines weighing more than the Ka did! Jia tried not to dwell too hard on how badly she'd fare being smashed by waves like that and thanked the Deep that Repulse's avatar was perched well above the deck atop the bridge. It said a lot about the Princess' crew that the Middies sharing the perch with the Re-Hime and Jia alternated between delighted screaming every time Repulse entered a trough and furious scribbling as they observed the Depths-Between.
"I don't get why you're scared of a few little waves, Jia Xin; it's not that bad."
The Ka's head snapped upwards to glare at the insane Re-Hime. "THE WAVES ARE HIGHER THAN YOUR ABYSS-DAMNED TURRETS, WOMAN!"
A truly massive swell chose that moment to appear from the all-encompassing fog shrouding the area and smashing down atop Repulse's bow. Jia Xin wailed in terror when it looked as if they were about to plunge beneath the resulting trough, yet the Aviation Superdreadnaught merely flashed a toothy smile and thrust an arm towards the next wave.
"All ahead full, Captain, I want to hit this one at full speed!" Repulse reached over and ruffled Jia Xin's hair. "I'd rate this as a Winter Monday in the North Sea if that."
"A Winter Monday in the North Sea..." the Ka wondered who she'd pissed off to be stuck with the craziest Re of the lot. "Please tell me you're joking."
Repulse merely smiled and said nothing, content to leave Jia Xin's mind spinning in ever-increasing circles as to if the Supercapital was being serious or not. Someone, probably Singapore, must have been watching out for the submarine, for between one raspy scream and the next, the storm abruptly subsided as they sailed out of the Depths-Between into a crowded harbour. Jia relaxed her death grip with a relieved groan, struts and crew joining in until her dickweasel of an XO pointed out that they must be in Singapore's domain. Then, she ever so reluctantly cracked open an eye and found herself looking down at her Mistress' unamused expression, Repulse's steel hull nowhere to be seen, to say nothing of the Human retainers and Abyssal escorts surrounding the Harbour Princess.
Oh, look, Yannik was here with his smartphone out and recording.
Jia Xin was fucked, well and truly shafted now.
Several minutes earlier.
"The stream's up and running, Ma'am," Yannik cheerfully informed Singapore from the cluster of IT technicians and their equipment. "Everything's backed up and on a hardline, in case the Wi-Fi bites the dust when she appears."
The Harbour Princess nodded. "Very good, Yannik; join me if you would."
Her most loyal Human adviser said his goodbyes to the excited-looking technicians and weaved through the greeting party with enviable ease for one such as him. Singapore hid her smile and schooled her expression into a hopefully calm mask when Yannik drew his smartphone from a pocket and briefly directed it towards her. She offered the advanced device a slight tilt of her head, knowing that the gesture would be seen by the mind-boggling amount of people watching from the safety of their homes and still amazed by the march of technology. While the exact mechanisms behind sharing video from a phone the size of her palm across the world went over the Harbour Princess' head, her Human advisors had been proven correct in its usage for PR time and time again.
And to think that some backwards Humans still thought the Abyss could corrupt people through such videos despite five years of solid evidence against it. The incredibly expensive hardening and multiple backups required to cleanly transmit video of Singapore herself, let alone her speaking, were the best counterarguments for that line of thought. But, speaking of transmitting video, the Princess' domain registered the incoming bow wake of a portal from the Depths-Between right where she'd directed Jia Xin to send them.
"Our guest will be arriving shortly," Singapore informed her retainers and adjusted her half-moon glasses. "And do remember to avoid the portal's edge."
This she directed more towards her subordinates enforcing the exclusion zone around her largest pier than the immediate crowd, but both groups accepted the warning without comment. Those on land backed away from the edge while the Ta leading the escorts shepherded her rowdier underlings out of the zone with an apologetic smile. Singapore had time to make a mental note about coaching the fast battleship to be more confident before an arch formed of rusted chains erupted from the deep blue waters of the bay. A blast of seaspray and icy winds flowed around the Harbour Princess' group thanks to a hastily erected barrier which faded to allow her guest through unimpeded. However, things turned for the odd when an occult-steel bow eased through the portal's grasp, forcing the chains to clank and groan to accommodate the mass, only to vanish without a trace a second later. Sometime between Singapore blinking away the conflicting Aura clouding her vision and the portal closing, a deathly hush fell over the greeting party.
The Harbour Princess took pride in staring up at the cause of the silence without flinching, meeting the towering Re-Hime's violet eyes and offering them the customary shallow bow for greeting an equal-ranked Princess. But, of course, protocol dictated that Repulse did likewise... But she wouldn't know the proper etiquette, would she, Singapore? She was saved from a terribly embarrassing facepalm by a slight touch on her shoulder courtesy of Yannik. The bright young man smiled like mad and surreptitiously gestured downwards while keeping his phone steadily aimed in Repulse's direction.
Singapore followed his gaze to find Jia Xin with her arms around the bruised and scantily-clad Re-Hime's neck (What was it with Re's and their lack of proper clothing?) and tucked into the crook of their arm. Her wayward subordinate's eyes widened in alarm as the bespectacled Princess levelled a flat look in their direction, but that was all she could do when their guest hadn't... Singapore spoke too soon, for Repulse ruffled the Ka's hair with a blatantly maternal smile despite the filed teeth and let the sub down before approaching the Harbour Princess. Words couldn't properly describe the maelstrom of emotions turning the senior Royal's eloquent speech into so much dust and echoes from seeing the long-lost member of Force Z, no matter how much she tried to voice them.
So, instead, Singapore took in her counterpart's mottled cyan skin across their arms, face and torso where shells had failed to penetrate (without leering at the Re-Hime's massive bust), salt-soaked ivory braid draped across her heavily-armoured tail and racked her brains for the best thing to say. Did she mention the battle damage and offer to fix it as a welcoming gift? Or maybe remarking on Repulse's battle scars was best to soothe their undoubtedly sizeable ego was the best course of action? Every second felt like a ticking time bomb for the Harbour Princess, which was the only thing to blame for what came from her mouth.
"Did you forget to bring an umbrella, Dear?"
Mortified, Singapore's entire world froze as she contemplated how bloody stupid she sounded. What did that even mean for someone like the enormous, heavily armed and battle-scarred Re cratering the concrete pier from her sheer mass...
Repulse's gentle giggle shattered her stupor. "Nothing that would prevent me from meeting you after eighty-two years," A deceptively large hand reached out towards the dumbstruck Royal and cupped her cheek. "I failed you once, but on my honour as a warship of the Royal Navy, I shall never fail you again!"
Every non-Royal present backed away from the Re-Hime's unrestrained aura 'till it faded with the faint clash of steel on steel. Singapore hesitantly reached up and touched Repulse's hand, terrified that it'd vanish despite all the impossible-to-ignore evidence smiling down at her. Instead, she found a genuine smile breaching her composure and promptly removed the hand from her cheek to grasp it between her own like a lifeline.
"Welcome back, Repulse, and may I be the first to say that it's an honour to meet you once again."
Singapore Harbour Princess and Boarding Party Princess managed an entire minute staring into each other's eyes before Repulse pulled an unresisting Singapore into a spine-breaking embrace with a delighted belly laugh.
And the people watching Yannik's Twitch live stream immediately went mad, requiring the deletion of a great many thirsty comments.
I hope y'all enjoy, Folks!
Last edited: