4227/DOOM

DOOM
Date of Scene:	18 June 2016
Location:	Great Ocean - Western Loop
Synopsis:	Will faces his doom. HIS HEART IS IN PIECES.
Cast of Characters:	William Pauwel, Shigure, 939

---

William Pauwel has posed:
    Several months ago, William Pauwel did something of... questionable wisdom. It was, of course, all out of the kindness of his heart that, when he found an apparently bisected pseudo-mechanical girl, he decided to try to put her back together. It turned out that said pseudo-mechanical girl was, in fact, a HIGH RANK ABYSSAL.

That is how Will became an on-again off-again mechanic for Hikari Seaport.

We'll just skip over all the 'literally in a doghouse' thing he went through for a little bit there.

    REGARDLESS, he has been asked to report to Hikari again for some unforeseeable reason. Someone apparently wanted to talk to him? How strange! Maybe it's Naka, or something, preparing yet another horribly embarassing exercise.

Well, he wouldn't give her an (immediate) chance! Naka can't possibly make him spill his spaghetti when he's seated at a table at Mamiya's with a BOWL OF RAMEN. Right? RIGHT!??!

Shigure has posed:
    Expecting Naka? You're in for disappointment.

    A relatively tall, strongly built blonde walks into Mamiya's. Her uniform would remind of another group of Destroyer sisters, the bouncy, energetic Shiratsuyu and Murasame, the quieter and more subdued Shigure and Harusame... this one, however, is a different beast all together.

    Yuudachi's red eyes seem to glow from within, and settle on the only male in the entire seaport, apart from the dockhands that help load and unload the Expedition transports. A chill may run up Will's spine as those eyes land on him, predatory as she approaches. "Are you, like, William Pauwel?" she asks, her tone light and airy, with a bit of a valley-girl twang coming through the translation effect.

William Pauwel has posed:
    It's strange that there aren't many guys on-base. You'd think there'd be at least one male ship-spirit around. Maybe a Russian one, or something. But that's what happens, maybe, when nearly every seafaring civilization around treated their boats like ladies.

Not that Will'd know anyhing about that. He's just an extraversal, eating his ramen in peace. When suddenly--!

That... That feeling...!

The Fleet's Idol, Naka-chan!?

    Wait, no. It's someone... else. Will actually shivers as a feeling of incomprehensible dread shoots down his spine. He looks left, he looks right, and then he turns around and sees-- someone unfamiliar?

"Uh," Will blinks up at those MILDLY UNSETTLING EYES. He kind of feels like a mouse staring down a cat... A cat with a very disarming accent, perhaps, but still a cat!* "Y-yeah, that's me. Do y'all have something you needed fixed?"

(*Or perhaps a doggie!?)

Shigure has posed:
    Yuudachi lifts her right hand and taps her cheek with a finger. "Hmmm, I don't think so, but like, I got something to ask you." she replies, then reaches into her serafuku, pulling out a VERY FAMILIAR LOOKING LETTER. "Did you, like, send this letter?" she asks, placing it down on the table before straightening up and tilting her head curiously.

William Pauwel has posed:
Will's blood is normally BOILING WITH ENTHUSIASTIC HEROISM, but right now, when he sees this mysterious boat pull a FAMILIAR LETTER from her uniform, it all just sort of turns to ice. "Uh," he babbles, reaching for the paper and tentatively begins flattening out the creases. "Uhhhhh."

This-- this is... this is--!

"H-how," Will asks, his face somehow both deathly pale and BLUSHING BRIGHT RED. His hands are shaking every so slightly. "How did you... get this?"

Shigure has posed:
    "When I woke up, it was in my uniform... I guess 'She' found it." replies Yuudachi, canting her head a little further. "I just wanted to, like, let you know. She found it, but... I'm not, like, her... so." she shrugs a bit, then grins. It's not a comforting expression with those glowing red eyes. "Don't worry about it... I didn't like, read it or anything... well, I did, but only to find out who you were so I could like, give it back and stuff."

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     It's been a LONG DAY for Hikari Seaport's favorite Fleet Idol! ...A long day of swabbing the docks and singing all the while. What? Who says she can't sing while performing punishment activities? ...Oh right, Nagato did.

     Well.

     YOU CAN'T STOP THE BEAT!

     But no, Naka was actually hungry now. So it was time to head to Mamiya's! Which is why the orange-clad IDOL OF LOVE AND PEACE strides into the place with a huge smile on her face, humming a happy little tune to herself. Probably the backing track to a song in development.

     She was going to order her usual LOVE FILLED CURRY, when she spots something with her NAKA-VISION(tm), and veers her head off to one side of the restaurant!

     It's....

     IT'S....!

     "WIIIIIIILLL!" Naka cries happily, skipping on over to their table, but then she freezes as she spots THAT LETTER on the table. ...And Yuudachi who seems to possess it. "....Eh?"

     Tick...tock...tick....tock....

     DING!

     "AHA!" A clenched fist is smacked into a palm. You can almost see the lightbulb above her. "Yuu-chan! Are you...did you? ...! ....Can it be!?" And suddenly, her face floods red, and she brings her hands to her cheeks, wiggling with glee and anticipation. "OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING!"

     Suddenly, Naka sobers up with startling speed, folding her arms behind herself and taking a step back.

     "Proceed."

William Pauwel has posed:
    She... She found it in her uniform? Will's fingers tighten into the page, the paper deforming around his grip. "You... She found it. And you..." Aren't her? but then how did she have it with her? There are so many questions! So few answers! "You read it though. You saw it. But you're... not her?"

Did SHE read it?

    Why does that even matter!? But it does, though. It matters in the terrible gut-clenching grip in his belly. Damnit, Naka, this is ALL YOUR FAULT.

But as with all such things, if you speak of the Naka, SHE SHALL APPEAR.

    The fleet's idol, NAKA-CHAN charges right into the horrible roiling bubble of embarassment and confusion and dread and ALL KINDS OF OTHER AWFUL EMOTIONS. "N-naka!?" Will gapes, and then gapes even wider when she... does that weird wiggly thing. "I don't-- what's goin' on!? Why'd she have my... my--"

LOVE LETTER!?

"L-letter to the Destroyer Princess!?"

Shigure has posed:
    Naka's arrival is met by a single confused word from the Destroyer. "Poi?"

    Then Will starts having an (even worse) breakdown, and Yuudachi responds. "I was Destroyer Princess."

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     Naka tilts her head at Yuudachi, and simply smiles. She knows. SHE KNOWS. And she's just SO AMUSED RIGHT NOW.

     Will's embarrassment is DELICIOUS! Her smile spreads even more, and she steps over, patting the poor guy on the back. "It's okay, Will! Y'see, when us Fleet Daughters sink, we usually come up as Abyssals! And when our Abyssal selves are sunk, we usually come back up as Fleet Daughters! Yuu-chan here used to be Destroyer Princess, before she got her keester kicked by Shigure!"

     Wow, rude. "And now she's back here with us, and that's why she's got your letter filled with love~" Oh god, she said it. SHE SAID IT. And she griiiiiiins wide, hands clapped together. Why, if it were possible for the idol to sparkle right now, she would be.

     She probably is.

     Poor Will.

     "So! That said; Will!" She gestures to Yuudachi. "This is Yuu-chan! I mean-- Yuudachi!" And then she gestures to Will. "And this is Will of The Eastern South Paw of The Northwest!" Wait, what?

William Pauwel has posed:
She was the Destroyer Princess.

SHE WAS THE DESTROYER PRINCESS.

    Will's embarassment seems to be reaching the breaking point. His pupils have gone so very, very wide. There's a distinct, bright red line that creeps right up from his neck to his chin all the way up to the very tip-top of his head. It's a palpable thing; you can practically SEE the steam whistling out of his ears.

"Aaaaa." Will un-says. His brain is incapable of forming words. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--"

FILLED WITH LOVE

    "Waaugh! Agh! No! It was just supposed to be a letter! WHY IS THERE ALL THIS PINK INK ON IT? Why does it say--" He squints desperately, DESPERATELY, at the letters. And then he chokes, staggers back into the table, and... knocks his poor ramen all over the floor.

naka. naka why.

WHY.

NAKA.

"Y-you... Nakaaaaaa...!" SHE SAID IT. SHEEEE DID IT. "I'll- I'll--!"

'Eastern South Paw of the Northwest'

    "...Buh?" Will just kind of slumps forward, eyes swimming between the girls, his letter, his noodles, and all the injustice in this cold, unfair world. "N-no. It's Pauwel. Will Pauwel. Ain't no directions, just..."

Will looks up, his face still glowing bright red-- it goes ALL The way up to his ears. "You... You don't remember anything? About when you were... her?"

Shigure has posed:
    Yuudachi is so very confused right now. She was just trying to give the letter back. "Poi?" she says again, confused... and then the question.

    She shrugs. "Bits and pieces, like, when someone puts the slides in a slide-show the wrong way around with like, lots of them missing. I remember someone patched me back together... but that's about it."

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     Don't laugh.

     DON'T LAUGH.

     DON'T. LAUGH. NAKA.

     RESIST!

     DON'T LOSE YOUR WAY.

     With supreme herculean effort, the fleet idol manages NOT TO LAUGH, though her lips, pressed together firmly, quiver subtly as the temptation bears down upon her. "Oh dear. Oh man, this was great! The perfect development! Oh yes, this is inspiration! This is material!" Naka pulls out a pad and pen, scribbling notes down to herself with swirlies in her eyes and a manic smile on her face.

     Oh dear. Ohhhhh dear.

     So that's why she was so gung ho about this. ...Well, LOVE AND PEACE aside anyway.

     She nods along as Yuudachi explains the whole deal about memories of the other side, having not experience that in a ....very long time actually. And then she smiles all pleasant like once Yuudachi gets to the part about someone putting her back together.

     "Oh! Oh! I know this one!" She points RIGHT AT WILL "It was him! It was Will! He saw you washed up on a beach, so he just went...." She actually sobers up, and pressed a hand to her chest. "....I....I think I'm in love...." It was so serious. But then she breaks character and goes back to grinning. "So he welded you back together, and the Catmiral got SUPER MAD at him, so she put him on house arrest in the base, but he couldn't stop thinking about you, so I helped him write the PERFECT LOVE LETTER, and then-"

     Oh my god she was going to spill everything to join the ramen.

     STOP HER.

William Pauwel has posed:
She... Remembers that, huh?

    "Oh," Will murmurs, still fidgeting with the letter in his hands. "I... You remember being put back together, huh," he sags, breathing a long, resigned sigh. And Naka was just... just using his BLATANT EMOTIONAL DISTRESS as material for... for what, songs? Man, what a terrible person! But at least... at least it's over, right? He can come clean. "That... That was m--"

NAKA-CHAN

NAKA-CHAN, NO.

    Will's arms flail like some kind of wacky inflatable armtube man. "Wagh! Naka--" He leaps like he were more spring than man! But in the span of time that he SCRAMBLES OVER THE TABLE and goes to THROW HIS HAND RIGHT OVER NAKA'S TRAP. Unfortunately, the floor is also covered in both noodle and soup, and so it's just as likely that he'll TACKLE NAKA TO THE NOODLY GROUND. "No! That's not how it went! We just-- we just talked! REALLY."

He says that, but would someone who 'just talked' be approximately as red as THE RISING JAPANESE SUN!?

"I- I repaired you 'cause I thought you needed help, and then... And then-- everything... happened from there."

Everything happened.

On that day, his doom was writ.

Shigure has posed:
    Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

    "Mmm, I'm hungry... Mamiya~ Can I get something to eat~." calls Yuudachi, who seems completely bored and uninterested with what's going on now. Capricious thing she is.

    The blonde skips off towards the kitchen area, poking her head inside to talk to the stewardess of the establishment.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     "WAUGH!"

     And here comes SIR WILLIAN OF THE EASTERN SOUTH PAW OF THE NORTHWEST to TACKLE HER DOWN into that horrible PUDDLE OF RAMEN! And down down down she goes! SPLASH!

     "EWWWWW! Will you jerk, I just changed! Ahhhhhhh!" And then she pushes forward, wrestling with him and rolling around on the floor like a pair of school children. "I was just telling the truth! You don't need to be so embarrassed! Isn't that right Yuu-chan?"

     Pause.

     "Yuu-chan?"

     She looks away from Will and over to the convenient dotted white outline of where Yuudachi used to be standing.

     "Oops."

William Pauwel has posed:
    NAKA-CHAN. THIS IS YOUR FAULT. ALLLL YOUUUR FAULT. You deserve every ounce of that ramen soup that's soaking into that adorable idol-outfit you're wearing. "Y'all brought this on yerself! Playin' with a guy's heart like it were some kind'a instrument! Yer punishment is RAME-AUGH!"

*Splat*

    "Agh! Yer lucky these're my work clothes!" Even though his travel-gear is probably much more easily washable. BUT STILL. He does try to wrestle himself back on top of this weird rolling pile, but Naka is kind of a battleship and he's just an apprentice combat archaeologist. "Anyway, that ain't the truth t'all! Ain't that right, prin--"

    "--Cess." Will blinks at the empty space that once contained Yuudachi and then sort of... wilts. "...She doesn't really remember anything, huh?" There's a note of sadness, of palpable regret in his voice. "So the princess is just... Gone."

NAKA, WILL IS SAD.

WHAT DO.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     Aw.

     Naka may have been hyperfocused on her art, but she wasn't a terrible jerk. At seeing Will deflate, all of the mirth and good cheer she had sort of fizzled out. Oh nooooo... Now she actually felt bad for him.

     There's a sigh, and she sits up off of him, patting his head. "I'm sorry, Will. That's just... kind of how it is, usually. But this was an unusual situation to start with." She smiles a bit an teasingly pokes his cheek. "People aren't usually so nice to Abyssals after all."

     Ah, but this downer atmosphere would not be tolerated! Naka stood up, clothes partially soaked with ramen soup. It's okay, Mamiya will clean it up! Sorry! "I have an idea! Let's go change, and then go out somewhere! That'll cheer you right up!"

     Giving her usual RADIANTLY BRIGHT SMILE, the light cruiser winked playfully as she offered him a hand up.

     Didn't she have disciplinary tasks to finish up?

     Shhhhh, she'll just beg bi sis Sendai to stand in for her again. Roll up her hair into buns and smile. No one'll notice! Probably.

William Pauwel has posed:
    So it turns out that even TERRIBLE IDORUS can have a heart. Even if it IS one that delights in the suffering of innocent young men. ARE YOU SURE YOU AREN'T THE ABYSSAL, NAKA-CHAN!?

    "...People keep saying they ain't nothing but pure evil, but..." He sighs, sitting up just in time for Naka to pat his head. If he had ADORABLY EXPRESSIVE EARS, they'd still be drooping a bit right now. "You know, she wasn't... that bad. She actually talked to me, you know? And now she's... gone."

Will shakes his head, pushing himself up to his feet. A few noodles stick stubbornly to his shoulders, but he sort of just... pulls off the jacket he was wearing, and starts brushing it off. "Go out...?"

...With Naka-chan?

IS THIS A TRICK!?

"...Sure, okay," he says, still very visibly IN SAD MODE. It doesn't even cross his mind that this could be construed as A DATE.

WILL'S DOOM CONTINUES.