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Graf Zeppelin It's been several days since Akebono's..... well, rather heavy punishment at the hands of Musashi. She nearly sunk from the beating she took, and spent forever and a day in repairs.

     BUT THAT'S OVER NOW.

     Finally repaired and back in action, the girl with the flower in her hair strode through the base's courtyard, arms crossed and a deep frown on her face as usual. What in the world could be bothering her now?
William Pauwel     William Pauwel is in the doghouse. Not literally, of course. Well-- at least, he's not sleeping in one. He is sitting in what is functionally a doghouse, though. It has four walls and a wedge-shaped roof, and is, upon inspection, everything that a doghouse should be.

    He also has a little pink band around his wrist. There's a heart on it. He seems to be trying to not pay attention to it. It's kind of hard, given that he's also taking a screwdriver to a nondescript box of mechanical doodads.

    He's in the doghouse for a reason, though! A very weird, not really complete reason, but he's not the guy with the giant guns.
Xiaomu Given that Xiaomu's partner has begun working more closely with the Fleet Daughters - to the point of using a specially-made set of their equipment, even - Xiaomu has taken it upon herself to visit Hikari as well. She's got her usual staff, she's in her usual outfit, one might presume she has the rest of her weapons on her person - just in case she runs into something hostile on her way to or from the naval base.

The sage fox waves to Akebono as she spots the flower-wearing girl walking through the courtyard ... and, out of curiosity as much as anything, falls in behind her. Not trying to sneak - there's enough of a jingle from the rings atop her staff to give away that Akebono has company, and Xiaomu knows better than to TRY to sneak around a military base, even if it's friendly, when she wasn't necessarily invited to explore.
Graf Zeppelin Akebono spotted the actual possibly doghouse being built by Will. She frowned a little more. The sound og jingling bells caused her to glance back and take in the sight of Xiaomu as well. Her expression soured even more. She kept walking despite the fact that she was being inadvertently accompanied.

     Once she got in range of Will and his work, the destroyer came to a stop and peered at Will. And then at Xiaomu after. "So who the hell are you two assholes, and what are you doing here?" Nice. Very nice. Another glance at the 'house'. "And why the fuck is this thing being built here? Who authorized this bullshit?"

     Someone was pleasant.
Xiaomu The sage fox's ears angle back as she frowns at Akebono ... and then she starts looking around.

Looking *all* around, as if somebody was probably standing behind her. Or hovering overhead. Or, just possibly, buried underneath her feet. Or maybe hiding inside the base wall or something.

When she finally turns her attention back to Akebono, it's with a sharply arched eyebrow. "I can't speak for him, but I'm pretty sure I'm not an asshole. My name's Xiaomu, my partner Reiji Arisu has a set of carrier equipment from here courtesy of Ryuujou."

That said, Xiaomu fishes around in her vest briefly, then pulls out a packet of fried tofu, pulling it open and offering its contents to Akebono.
Haguro It's been a rough few weeks for the Heavy Cruiser, but Haguro's finally found her way back to Hikari! It's only been a few days since she's returned (along with the pre-requisite apologies for taking so long), but she's already feeling significantly better. She's even feeling good enough to wander about the base tonight, although when she hears that flowery language from Akebono...

     She's probably right to be a little worried. Haguro tries to move as quietly as she can while approaching the not-a-doghouse, an awkward frown already on her face even as she appears behind Xiaomu to peer at her and William.

     Not that she actually says anything at first. She's not too keen on drawing Akebono's attention towards her, especially with someone she doesn't even recognize on the base! Although... Perhaps attempting to defuse anything before things goes south could help. "Ah... Akebono? Sorry to interrupt, but... Um. Yes, Miss Xiaomu is a relative of Mister Arisu. Er. Partner." She straightens up a bit, then turns to William. "Could you please identify yourself, sir?"
William Pauwel It's hard not to be a bit short tempered when you're being held for an unspecified amount of time. Especially when your stay on base is being regulated by an almost offensively girly accessory. Seriously, a pink heart band? Who even designs something like that!?

Will glances up at Akebono, Haguro and Xiaomu from the inside of his Possibly Literal Doghouse and squints his eyes suspiciously. "I don't take kindly to no dames shoutin' at my doorstep. What're you askin' why I'm here fer anyway? Y'all're the ones who brought me here! Name's Will Pauwel, and apparently I'm some kind'a war criminal or somethin'."

He sinks his head back down to stare at the bits and bobs in his little box of parts. "Ain't kindness s'posed to be rewarded?" He mutters, driving in another screw, "What a world, what a world."
Graf Zeppelin Akebono's sour expression grows even MORE sour at Xiaomu's response. "Heeeeeeh? So your boytoy let the Admiral and her goonies trick you into putting on one of those experimental hunks of junk and getting yourselves blown up? Tch-" She crossed her arms and looked away from the offered fried tofu, clearly snubbing it. "I don't want your shit!"

     Another huff and she spoke on about Reiji. "He must really be a glutton for punishment! What do they call those types? Masochists? Hah!" And with another scoff, the shipgirl turns away to regard Haguro. "Well if it isn't you! ...What was your stupid name again?" She asked, staring at her fellow fleetmate. ...And then she shrugged. "Whatever! I don't actually give a shit."

     Will finally gets a look after all that. "Haaaaah? Doorstep?" Akebono intoned incredulously, leaning over to peer at Will like some kind of delinquent. "I'm pretty damn sure this is 'our' doorstep! Seriously, what the fuck is this?" She straightened up and then arched a brow at his brief story. "War criminal? You? Hah! What'd you do? Something retarded like help out an Abyssal?"
William Pauwel Will stares at Akebono for a long moment.

He goes back to tinkering with his little box. You can almost hear something that sounds a lot like 'thoughtshewasjustarobotgirl' out from under his breath.
Xiaomu Is it getting colder at the naval base?

Between Akebono's rather colorful (and uninformed) appraisal of Reiji and her outright insult of *perfectly good fried tofu*, the look that Xiaomu's giving Akebono is now much, MUCH less cordial. She's also gripping her staff quite a bit more securely with the hand that isn't holding that package of fried tofu ... but the staff simply *stays upright* when the sage fox draws that hand back to extract a piece of fried tofu from the package, tucking the rest of the packet into her vest (open end hanging out of her pocket - it's snug enough that the contents won't fall out) as she chomps on the snack.

And she's STILL giving Akebono that downright arctic look. Surely that has nothing to do with the apparent reason why her staff is standing upright unsupported: namely, a layer of frost about a meter across on the ground around it, and extending about halfway up the staff's length ...
Haguro Against his will as a war criminal? That would certainly explain... A lot of things, actually. At least from the way William speaks, he certainly doesn't seem like the sort to be doing... Any of what he's doing there. "I see... Eh? O-oh. I'm sorry!" She bows her head instinctively when he shows his displeasure at the whole situation, only looking back up when Akebono speaks up...

     ... And then bows her head again, practically shrinking back as she speaks. "E-eh? I... I'm sorry! M... My name is Haguro, youngest of the Myoukou-class Heavy Cruisers." Her voice barely comes out louder than a hisper as she says that, looking between Xiaomu and Akebono nervously at that excange. Or lack of exchange on Xiaomu's part, but still!

     Haguro will find some source of confidence one day! And maybe even put stops to potential fights like these. Unfortunately, today is not that day.
Graf Zeppelin "Heh! You did, didn't you? What a moron!" Akebono scoffed loudly at Will's mumbled admittance, smirking to herself and turning away. ...Say, when did it get so cold? In fact, it was coming from right behind he- Ah. Xiaomu.

     The destroyer turned to regard the fox with an arched brow. "Haaaah? And what fuck is your problem? Standing there choking down that shit and staring like someone just killed your dog! What's the problem?" She rested her hands upon her hips and leaned forward a tad. "Eh? If you've got something to say, then just come the hell out and say it! Don't waste time!"

     And Haguro is given a sidelong glare seemingly just for existing and speaking. Yes, it's your fault for existing here, right now, in the this place, in this moment.
William Pauwel Will certainly doesn't look like he should be a war criminal! Sure he's literally in a Possibly Actual Doghouse, but that doesn't mean he belongs there. Look at his poor, innocent face, all melancholy and depressed because he's in a strange land where he doesn't belong, where people eat hundreds of weird, white beans for every meal, and where the girls all have guns bigger than he is tall.

It's all backwards, it is!

And now some weird blonde dame is making everyhthing all frosty and he's still missing parts for his mysterious mechanical contraption. Ugh. Will glances over towards Haguro with a tired expression and manages a resigned nod. The people in this place all have weird names too. And they bow a lot.

Is that normal?

He doesn't know.

Just like he didn't know that girl was an Abyssal.

    "...Was more polite than you are, though," Will mutters in Akebono's vague direction as he puts his little metal box away. "That pale girl I found, I mean."
Xiaomu "I'm pretty sure Nagato would take exception to me trying to teach you some manners," Xiaomu says, her tone extremely calm ... maybe even excruciatingly calm. "Otherwise I'd be happy to whack you for how uncannily rude you are. I mean, we just met and you've dropped at least two insults too many to *me*, never mind Haguro or or this guy. And Haguro is one of your own, isn't she? Another Fleet Daughter?"

THe sage fox finishes her fried tofu. "I mean, think about how this would go if I were the sort to fly off the handle and put you through whatever this guy's spent so long working on building. You wouldn't be happy. - Well, you'd be less happy than you clearly are to start with. Regular ray of sunshine ... and you know, I don't *think* you were even polite enough to tell us your name before you started trying to show off how badly your mouth needs to be scrubbed out ..."

Xiaomu doesn't even look at her staff before reaching out and picking it up again, a faint crinkle of shattering ice accompanying the retrieval. "I mean, I'm allied with the Union, so are the Fleet Daughters ... you could at least keep a civil tongue in your head for *that* reason alone. Or is that too much for a pipsqueak of a shipgirl who hasn't bothered paying attention to so simple a thing as elementary school politeness lessons?"
Haguro That look from Akebono just makes the Heavy Cruiser lookd istinctly un-heavy, prompting Haguro to shrink back further and look like she'd rather be anywhere but where she is right now. Curse her natural curiousity! Even William's nod doesn't get her to budge much, although the mention of a pale girl does get her to look up.

     Just a bit. Not that much. She's still listening, at least! And as Xiaomu speaks, she even straightens up slowly, centimeter by centimeter. They don't use inches, after all! And by the time the fox sage finishes speaking...

     "... She's right." It starts quietly, but Haguro's starting to find her voice. "M... Miss Xiaomu is correct. We're Fleet Daughters, but we're members of the Union, too. This... this isn't the way allies should be speaking to each other."

     The Admiral isn't here now, so someone has to try and take charge! And by process of elimination, it's... Up to Haguro?

     Shit. "So... Akebono. Apologize to these two, please." She speaks with something almost resembling a firm voice and swallows once, trying to keep her expression relatively neutral (and not like she's about to crap her pants) while staring right at Akebono.

     She just needs to hold it together a little longer.
Graf Zeppelin Akebono glanced aside at Will and narrowed her eyes. "Eh? What was that? I don't think I heard it right." And then Xiaomu speaks up. Something about manners and teaching, and civil tongue and all that stuff. Oh, and pipsqueak. THAT gets her attention. "Huh? What was that, you bitch? I think I heard you say something like 'I want to get decked, Akebono!'" The all too rude girl stated, stepping closer to Xiaomu till they were only inches apart. Like some kind of tension filled staredown. "I say what I want, when I want. And I don't give a shit about anything you-"

     Haguro speaks up.

     Akebono pauses. Akebono glares. Akebono looks back at Xiaomu, who she hasn't stepped away from, and then at Will.

     "Tch-! It's all fucking horseshit anyway." And like that, the destroyer turned away and stomped off. "I'm out of here! Go do your buddy buddy friendship bullshit if you want! I don't care!"

     ...Well.
William Pauwel     Maybe it wasn't the right choice to start the inevitable steamrolling dogpile that crushed Akebono under-roller like it was being driven by some kind of terrible immortal timestopping vampire. Will feels a little bad about it, but only a little bit. Akebono WAS being very rude.

"Said the princess was less rude than you were," Will says, just a little bit louder. Loud enough that it can actually be heard by more than one person, anyway. He sighs, resting his chin on one hand. "Swear, this just ain't my year."
Xiaomu "Such a delightfully charming little girl, isn't she," Xiaomu comments dryly to Will and Haguro as Akebono storms off. "You should keep her in reserve for use against Abyssals who are particularly susceptible to harsh language, but I wouldn't trust her with anything heavier than a water pistol."

The sage fox pauses. "Assuming she can lift *that* much when she's laboring under the weight of that truly unfathomable attitude.

She steps over to ruffle William's hair, then looks at the remaining shipgirl. "Anyway, pleased to make your acquaintance, Haguro!" Xiaomu says with a bright (and not ironic) smile. "I don't know that I'll be working with you all, but please take good care of my partner Reiji."
Haguro Haguro actually does a decent job keeping her jaw clenched and her expression steady while Akebono is still facing her, although it's taking all of her willpower just to maintain eye contact. it's only when she starts stomping off that the cruiser finally lets her face relax, although she's still careful not to utter a single noise until after William and Xiaomu start speaking up.

     She's still noticeably quieter than she was a moment ago, though. "It's... Been an interesting month." She comments, although it's not entirely clear whether that's in response to William or just a general observation. Both, probably! "What... Um. What was that about a princess, though?"

     She looks somewhat uncertain about even trying to correct Xiaomu when she talks about Akebono, although she does give her a mildly disapproving look at that.

     Only mildly.

     "It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Miss Xiaomu. Mister Reiji did very well during his initial tests, so we'll be happy to take good care of him and use him to best of his abilities." She even smiles a bit at that! Fancy that.
William Pauwel Of course Reiji did well. Y'all put an actual Onmyoji in ceremonial attire, handed him a bunch of Onmyoji things and told him to banish evil spirits.

What other results did you guys expect??

    Will slowly shrugs his shoulders. "Princess. The girl I repaired. She was some kinda royalty, I guess. Not the type you folks like, I gather. Which is why I'm here, 'cause war crimes."

    Will shoots Xiaomu a bit of a glare when his head is judiciously ruffled. He reaches up and smooths most of it back out again. "T'weren't even aware there was a war, or what side was who or what or why."
Xiaomu Xiaomu should *probably* defer to Haguro to explain what that girl was - seriously, nobody else has talked to Will about that yet? - but she offers up what she knows anyway.

"Basically, as far as I've put things together, the Abyssals are restless spirits, the embodiments of hate and remorse and vengeful feelings. Call them an 'evil ghost navy' if you like - although they might argue they're not 'evil' per se, there *are* Abyssals allied with the Confederacy, so draw your own conclusions."

The sage fox looks at Haguro, pulling out the fried tofu package from earlier and offering her a piece. "How far off the mark am I?"

She also offers some fried tofu to Will.
Haguro So that's what happened. Haguro had heard bits and pieces of what had happened, but now it's all making sense to her! She takes in an uncomfortable breath before nodding slowly. "I see... Erm. That's unfortunate. It's... Oh." She doesn't even know whether to blame him or not! Sure, he helped an enemy, but it's not as if he knew...

     This sort of indecision is probably why Haguro's not in charge of making the difficult decisions. Or any decisions, even. Luckily, Xiaomu's there to make sense of the situation in her stead, and she offers the fox sage a grateful smile for both that and the piece of fried tofu. "Thank you.. Ah. That was perfect, actually. S-so it was a bad thing you did, Mister Pauwel, but... It's not as if you knew, so... Er."

     Will she ever stop waffling? Nope.
William Pauwel What even is Fried Tofu? It looks like some kind of weird flappy bread crust. Will peers at the strange offering and then shakes his head. He'll happily stick to the weird white beans they're feeding him, thank you very much!

    "That embodiment or ghost or whatever she was, she talked to me, you know? We had words, and that ain't somethin' that happens with someone who's all bad." Will says after a moment, though he's still mostly just staring into space. "Maybe she is pretty angry, but shucks, I get pissed off too. It ain't weird, and it ain't right to shoot at somebody over it 'less you've got darned good reasons besides."

"People keep tellin' me it's a bad thing, but I ain't convinced it is." He continues, glancing up at the ship and fox, "Y'all can keep me chained up all y' like, but I ain't apologizin' for helpin' someone who needed it, iff'n that's what y'all're expectin' me to do."
Xiaomu If Will doesn't want fried tofu, more for Xiaomu. She keeps the packet offered for a moment, then shrugs and takes another piece out for herself before tucking the package away. "Well, that's the thing; Abyssals and Fleet Daughters are, apparently, opposite sides of the same coin. Sink an Abyssal, she might come back as a Fleet Daughter; sink a Fleet Daughter and you might have a new Abyssal on your hands. And each of the 'sides' is convinced it's the 'correct' side, so ... the conflict perpetuates itself."
Haguro Haguro bites her lip at William's response, another uncertain frown appearing on her face. She can't really fault his thought process, at least, and she actually starts to shrink back a little more when Xiaomu confirms it in a way. "It's... There's lots of factors in it, but..."

     Haguro lets out another awkward noise, looking at the floor for a few moments before bowing her head lightly to the two. "I'm sorry. Ah...I don't expect you to apologize for doing what you thought was right. If it helps, the Admiral... I don't think she is, either. But..."

     She looks to Xiaomu, then at Will. "We've been fighting the Abyssals for a long time with Admiral Nagato as our leader, so... She has to set an example for us. It's not as if she can simply not enforce the rules, right...?"
William Pauwel Oh.

So that explains it.

    "Nnn, so this whole mess is just..." Will groans, scrambling his own fingers through his hair. "That's just plum crazy, is what it is." He sighs, letting his hands fall back down to his sides. "Well, whatever. I ain't gonna blame anyone who ain't been part of the decision to keep me holed up in here. So don't you worry miss, I ain't pinned anything on you."

But what about the people who are, in fact, responsible?
Xiaomu "You'll get used to it," Xiaomu says reassuringly ...

Then *grins* and adds, "Or you'll have a psychotic episode." She's about to add more when something starts playing from inside another pocket of her vest; she fishes out her phone (a nice smartphone with a possibly-customized red case and a DEFINITELY customized 'tail'-and-beads strap). "- It's that time already?! Crap, I'll see you guys next time! Thanks for letting me visit, let me know when potty-mouth gets her scrubbing so I can help hold her down!"

She pulls a baton-like object out of some pocket or other, pops it 'open,' makes sure her staff is across her back as she straddles the resultant lightcycle, and #highspeedxiaomu's out of Hikari. Doesn't even stop to sign out properly.
Haguro William gets a grateful, if still awkward smile from Haguro at that reassurance. "Thank you for understanding. I'm sure the Admiral would be willing to talk to you soon. Please be patient, though. I'll.. See if I can do anything, Mister Pauwel."

     It's not a promise, but it's something!

     The sudden music from Xiaomu's phone gets Haguro to jump a bit in surprise, and she blinks slowlyin confusion as she mentions a time. "Ah... OF course. Please feel free to come back again, Miss Xiaomu. Er... Take care." Her confusion only grows when the sage fox rides off on that lightcycle, but Haguro's not about to question that when she's literally been in a virtual world already.

     It's so much easier not to ask sometimes.