6882/The Sea and sky... are beautiful

The Sea and sky... are beautiful
Date of Scene:	19 October 2019
Location:	The Great Ocean
Synopsis:	Davao is in some kind of a trance, moving slowly with seemingly no destination.
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, Neuroi Girl, Haguro, Midway, Rean Schwarzer

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Shigure has posed:
    Report logged, Paladin forces deployed.

    Shigure and Yamashiro sail at speed from Her Majesty's Naval Base in Clyde, making best possible speed to the last reported location. Shigure is sweeping with surface radar, and Yamashiro has her recon plane pioneering ahead.

    A Royal Navy frigate has been tasked with escorting the kanmusu and anyone else that accompanies them, providing transport for those without the ability to skate across the water, or their own transport. Shigure radios to those accompanying her. <"We don't know what to expect, this is new behavior from any Abyssal thusfar encountered. Be prepared for anything.">

    The group will find themselves in the company of a statue-like alabaster figure. Davao is hunched over, face obscured by her long white hair, and her parasitic 'rigging' hangs limply, dragging in the water in her wake. The Princess is under-way, albiet slowly, clocking in at approximately 5 knots but appears completely unresponsive, even after being lit up by search radar or other sensors. Where are her escorts also, the Ta-class, the Ri-class and the various smaller destroyers. They do not show up on subsurface scans or long range radar.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     It has been a while since Evangeline deployed with the Hikari Defense Force, but she is here today. The little Neuroi stays above the fleet for the duration of the trip to reach the Abyssal Princess, then once they near it Evangeline flies ahead to do some scouting. She approaches with weapons lowered and circles slowly, looking for signs of activity other than the steady movement.

     <"...if she stays on this course...where will she reach land...?"> Evangeline asks Shigure over the radio as she keeps circling. <"...she may not be attacking...but we should still try to alter her course if she is headed toward a settlement or base..."> Those who might be in audio range of her might notice that...her voice only comes in over the radios. She doesn't seem to be speaking aloud.

Haguro has posed:
Coming from the opposite direction of those joining the Hikari fleet is... Nobody? Nobody. At least, nobody on the surface of the water. After hearing about the movements of an unknown Abyssal, Haguro's curiosity has been successfully piqued! Naturally, her first instinct is to scope out the place, lingering below the surface to keep herself partially hidden save for the eerie glow from her eye trailing mere inches under the waves.

Also, she needs to get used to staying underwater. It's still absolutely terrifying, but at least she's not screaming and flailing now. It's just hard to really focus on scouting for that unknown Abyssal at the same time, too.

Midway has posed:
    Davao has nothing in the way of escorts, that much is plain. The only contact in the Abyssal's direction other than the princess herself is far, far to the south. A tiny, fleeting radar signature that might be a single aircraft.

    That aircraft, keeping its distance and shadowing the slow-moving Abyssal, is a toothy white beach ball trailing glowing red mist; An Abyssal Avenger, with no payload, keeping tabs on the errant hate ghost. A tiny camera lifts from Davao, zooming in on the cargo ship as it turns away, and the force that's arriving to investigate.

    In the twilight depths of the sea, crimson eyes open to narrow, glowing slits.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Rean's floating over the water, his uniform looking like it's made of iron due to Evangeline's powers. Davao's kind of just gliding forward on the water, head lowered and slumped over. "Is she even awake?" Rean says as he slowly approaches the Abyssal Princess. "She looks like she's sleepwalking. Er...Sleepsailing?"  He flies in closer, and circles her a few times, thinking. If she really was just sleepwalking, then they needed to either stop her somehow or wake her up.

Rean stops circling Davao...right in her path, in fact. It's not like she was moving fast enough to be dangerous. His sword's out of its sheath though, just in case this winds up being a rude awakening.

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure and Yamashiro hang back, leveling guns on the Princess, but holding their fire. They're waiting to see what happens.

    As Evangeline and Rean approach, the Abyssal stirs a little, lifting her head to track baleful red eyes across the two though her rig doesn't move at all. "Little... flies..." she murmurs, echoy voice wafting like a ghostly whisper across the water. She doesn't stop when Rean interposes himself in her path, instead leaning to one side slightly and adjusting course to go around him, now moving southward, towards the radar blip.

    Haguro doesn't go completely unnoticed, Yamashiro's recon plan is circling above her position, though the Kanmusu seem to either not notice yet, or are ignoring the cruiser's presence in favour of the Princess's actions.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Davao just...sails around him, continuing to move forward. "Huh?" Rean says, turning to follow her path.  Her voice sounds odd as well. Her course changes to go towards the radar blip, in fact. "...You can't tell what that radar blip is, right? Just that it's there and not moving?" Rean radios to Shigure. "How far away is it?"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline moves to pace with the princess as she alters course to go around Rean. "...where are you going...?" she asks Davao, her voice coming through the radios and out-loud this time via a big red watch around her right arm. <"...we are now headed toward the other contact...it is hard to tell for sure from here...but I think it is an Abyssal aircraft..."> she says, this time just over the radios. <"...distance is difficult...it is at the very edge of detection range...">

Haguro has posed:
There's the Abyssal! And... There's several suspicious planes both nearby and in the distance. Haguro winds up surfacing a little while after, both to get a clearer view of what's going on, and because it is still scary submerging for so long.

No sense freaking out before she even sees what's really going on here. When she spots Davao proper, she also catches sight of the other responders in the area. There's a curious glint in that glowing eye of hers as she watches their approach to the unknown Abyssal, adjusting her cap and drifting forward slowly to make her own presence known once her cap is properly in place.

"H.. Hello. Are you lost?" It's not clear if she's directing that towards the Abyssal or Rean and Evangeline, and her glance even keeps shifting between the three of them. Shigure and Yamashiro are a bit too far off for her to have the same conversation with, after all!

Midway has posed:
    The inconsequential blip seems to realize it's been spotted, banking sharply towards the Abyssal and her newfound entourage. As it draws closer, it's more easily identified as one of the upgraded aircraft favored by the Black Fleet, round and white rather than oblong and black. It's also clearly not armed, being a bomber with no obvious payload. A trick to increase an aircraft's range for recon purposes.

    Unless intercepted or shot down, the plane passes overhead rather harmlessly.

    To the south, the sea erupts in a geyser of salt and spray. When the water crashes back down, a figure in white stands upon the sea's surface. Her skin bone-white, her eyes crimson, a nightmarish brace of jet-black steel spines ringing her neck and obscuring the lower half of her face.

    The Princess of Progress lifts one hand, resting fingertips thoughtfully to her cheek. The other cradles her elbow.

Shigure has posed:
    As the Avenger passes overhead, Davao suddenly lurches into a blinding flurry of action. Rigging snaps up, opens its jabbering jaws and fires a massive burst of flak shells at the passing aircraft. Far more than strictly necessary to down it. Red eyes then lock onto Midway as the other Princess emerges. "You... I've been looking for you." she snarls, suddenly very attentive and very angry.

    Shigure waves the human frigate away, radioing to it to disengage, while she and Yamashiro move into a blocking position, coming closer to Haguro by coincidence. "Hello. Haguro." says Yamashrio, keeping her eyes on Midway.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline's arms snap up and the ends start to glow with a sinister red light as Davao suddenly reacts to the aircraft. But, when Davao does not shoot at them, Evangeline lowers her arms (though they are still glowing). "...you do not like Midway...?" the little Neuroi asks Davao before swiveling in air to face Midway. "...what are you doing here...? ...and why does this one not like you...?" she asks Midway.

     She turns her head slightly toward Haguro when she speaks up, then shakes it just barely. "...no...we came to investigate why this Abyssal was moving alone and at such a slow pace..."

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
A figure with scaly armor comes out of the water, looking an awful like one of Davao's cohorts. Rean readise his sword, preparing to fight her...and then she speaks. Rean's eyebrows furrow. He knows that voice.  "Wait, Haguro?" Rean says. "What happened to you?" he asks. She was still a Fleet maiden when he last saw her, after all. "Uh, anyway, what she said." he continues, indicating Evangeline. Then Davao suddenly wakes up and fires on a passing aircraft. Then another familiar voice sounds over the radio. "...Midway." Rean says. Davao fires on her too, and it looks like the smaller Abyssal has some sort of grudge to settle. Well, that was unexpected. What exactly happened between them?

Midway has posed:
    The recon bomber stands no chance, chewed apart by anti-air munitions and flak. Trailing smoke and flames, it spirals down into the sea with a satisfying splash.

    Midway's eyes travel from the downed aircraft to the approaching Princess. When questioned, Midway's eyes close, "Were you one of my failures? No, I believe I would recall an outcome this close to success." Eyes open, narrow glowing slits of scarlet, "You also lack the respect typically afforded me by those who have served me. So that theory seems unlikely."

    She lowers her hands, then spreads them to either side. The sea behind her parts, the great sphere of her parasitic equipment rising behind her. Mismatched teeth part in a deep, throaty rumble while crimson mist seeps from the corners of that nightmarish mouth, "If it is me you seek, Air Defense Princess, than just what is it you intend to do."

Haguro has posed:
And then Midway arrives. Haguro hears her before she sees her, and that blue glow in her eye flickers red for a brief moment while she spots that aircraft in the sky. That leads to spotting the geyser from the corner of her eye, and then it turns red for another few seconds while the Re-class Abyssal stares right at the Princess of Progress.

So many options. So many ways this could go. Things have changed since their last meeting, though, and Haguro takes several of those seconds to compose herself, then adjust her admiral's cap once more before turning back towards Davao. There's surprise in Haguro's eyes (the visible one, anyway) she Davao actually fires on Midway's aircraft, and she's not entirely sure how to even react to that. Yamashiro gets a distracted nod towards her in greeting, and Evangeline too gets an acknowledging nod when she explains their reasons for being here.

Rean gets a more verbal response since she's pretty sure she hasn't seen this happen before. "Oh. Um. I died, but I got better?" She certainly looks different, at least, between her general color palette going from black and purple to white, white, and some black with a big honking mouth-tail coming out of her midsection. Said tail turns towards those escort ships leaving the area, drooling for a few moments.

Too bad they left.

When Midway approaches and explains herself, Haguro regards her cautiously once more. "This is your territory, then?" Straightening up, the Abyssal Cruiser drifts back slowly to take better stock of everyone present. She's still not sure what to make of Davao, but her earlier reaction to Midway has already piqued Haguro's curiousity as she turns towards her once more.

"I see... Ma'am? Are you going to be alright here? Do you need help going.. Um. Somewhere else?"

Shigure has posed:
    Davao clenches her fists... then, as if a switch has been flipped when Midway's equipment emerges, she chuckles. It's the same sadistic sound Rean would remember from when the Abyssal attacked the Airship in his world. "I'm bored... I want to fight you... oh, Samar sends her regards, by that I mean she wishes you would die and never rise again." the Air Defense Princess reclines back in her symbiote, the jaws clacking and drooling as they glare back at Midway's own parasite.

    Haguro addresses her, and a bored glance is afforded to the cruiser. "Leave? When my entertainment just arrived? You must be joking." She makes a dismissive gesture before looking back at Midway. "Well?"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline gets no answers to her questions and so just floats there silently, listening to the others. At least until Davao says she is bored. Evangeline tilts her head lightly. "...being bored is not a good reason to fight...unless you fight in a place like the Shrine of Adversity..." she says, her synthetic voice once again coming from her watch. "...We can provide directions..." she adds after a few moments.

     Of course, it would actually be okay if they decided to fight here, as far as Evangeline is concerned. There are no innocent people around, and she doesn't like Midway very much.

Haguro has posed:
This one's related to Samar. That's enough information for the Ne-class to start putting some pieces together, and she drifts back a bit further as hostilities between Davao and Midway become more visible. "If that's the case, then... Do as you wish."

Haguro doesn't seem interested in stopping a potential fight between the two so far. Instead, she starts glancing around to see just how close they are to land. "The area seems isolated enough. You wouldn't have to worry about interlopers out here." She chuckles briefly while putting some more distance between herself and everyone else.

No sense putting herself in the line of fire here. She does, hwoever, look like she wants to watch.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
"O-Oh." Rean says. "Glad to hear you're ok, I guess...?"

Davao continues to be Davao, deciding to fight Midway because she's bored. It's open ocean, so unless they were in the middle of a trade route or something they could explode one another all they want. Rean shrugs. "Honestly, as long as you two don't mess with any other ships that are passing through, you can do whatever you want."

Midway has posed:
    "The entire sea is my territory," Midway states in an even tone when Haguro questions her, "The precise border is up for debate depending on whom you consult on the matter." Her gaze shifts back to her fellow Princess, regarding the pale girl. The rage in her glare is obvious, and yet when she speaks her voice is that same steady monotone.

    "I have no interest in providing your entertainment. Indulging in the barking of mad dogs is a waste of my time." Eyes closing, she lifts a hand, "I monitored you only to see if you would do something of interest." That same hand is thrust down, the woman crouching as she does to reach beneath the sea's surface, "You are the Air Defense Princess. You believe that your anti-air might will give you an edge against the Princess of Progress."

    Rising up, she wrenches a device from the water. Black metal, glistening wet and covered in cannon turrets. The armguard cannon rigging of a Ri-class heavy cruiser. As she straightens, Midway lobs this up over her shoulder, right into the waiting mouth of her parasite.

    "You expected air squadrons," The parasite's mouth clamps down, then splits open, disgorging paired platforms of multi-barreled cannon turrets, "I will not play your game. And if you continue to annoy me..." Talon-tipped fingers clench, scraping together, "I will tear you apart to further my research."

Shigure has posed:
    If there's any fear in the Air Defense Princess, it doesn't show. As the others start to back off, the Air Defense Princess just chuckles. "Samar was right. You /are/ a cranky old hag." Davao sighs. "And here I was hoping to have a challenge worthy of my time." She stands back up, her symbiote twisting around to look at the others backing off, before returning to the shifted Midway. "Fine, I'll go find someone else who might be able to make me feel something." With that, the Princess crashdives, like gravity suddenly took hold and pulled her down beneath the waves. A high-speed blip on sonar trails away from the group, before breaking away from range.

    Shigure frowns... that was not usual... and now they have an upset Princess of Progress who might just want to take frustrations out on them to deal with.

Haguro has posed:
Haguro doesn't bother hiding her disappointment, and neither does her gut tail. Keeping her arms crossed lightly over her chest, she turns her gaze instead towards Rean, Evangeline, Shigure, and Yamashiro on one side, and Midway on the other side.

"... So. What do you intend to do now?" It's clear that she's testing the lot of them, but what that test is... Does she have something more devious in mind? Or is she just trying to sound wiser than she actually is?

It's probably the latter.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
And then Davao just bails, since Midway doesn't want to play with her. Rean turns to Shigure and the others. "Do we pursue her?" he asks. She was probably going to go off and cause more mischief but who knows where she got off to?

Midway has posed:
    "Insolent," Midway states with a slight edge in that carefully measured tone of hers. When Davao sinks out of sight, the Princess of Progress lobs a canister into the water behind the fleeing destroyer. It's soon revealed to be a depth charge, blasting up a geyser of water. Not expressly to damage the other Princess, though Midway certainly won't lose sleep over that. More to send the message of how close she got to something she'd probably regret.

    Seemingly satisfied, Midway adjusts her facing to more directly stare down Haguro, Rean, and the two kanmusu. She's aware of Evangeline's floating about, though pays the neuroi no direct glance.

    "If this were some ploy to lure me forth-- consider yourself successful," Her head tilts forward, casting her eyes into the shadow of her bangs and accentuating the ominous crimson glow they give off, "Choose your next move carefully. The barking dog has eroded my patience."

    "If you are not affiliated with her, than I recommend disabling her engines and delivering her to me," Her head tilts back, the menace shifting to an almost arrogant or haughty posture, "Modernization is well overdue."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline watches as Davao retreats, then looks toward Rean before over at Shigure. "...it is your operation...what are your orders...?" she asks, both out loud and over the radios this time.

     When that geyser of water shoots upward, Evangeline lets out a screech that is a mixture of electronic and metallic as she rushes to avoid it by quickly flying upward. When it seems she is clear of getting splashed, she comes to a stop again, hovering horizontally and looking down at those below. "...I will not do that...delivering her to you would be as bad as letting her reach land somewhere...or a shipping lane..."

Shigure has posed:
    Shigure looks to Rean. "She's already outside of sonar range... last course has her heading southeast, probably back to her origin site." says the destroyer girl before blue eyes lock onto Midway. "As others have said before, we came to investigate Davao's actions. You are a rogue element to this operation." The destroyer then scoops a hand, half-turning as if to leave. "HDA and Paladin units, we are withdrawing. A fight here serves no purpose." She does keep an eye on Midway, just in case the Princess wants to press an attack.

Rean Schwarzer has posed:
Yeah, that didn't sound ominous at all. "I think I'll pass." Rean says. Shigure informs the group they're withdrawing, and turns to leave. "Understood." Rean says, and follows after her.

Haguro has posed:
With the trio of Hikari-affiliated responders choosing not to start a fight, Haguro shrugs lightly before turning to Midway. "I am not affilaited with the..." She pauses briefly, glancing over at Shigure when she names Davao.

"Davao. But if you want her brought to you, then..." She pauses to glance over once, then adjusts her cap while steeling herself. "What do you have to offer me in return?"

Midway has posed:
    The fleet turns away. Midway finds herself rebuked, tilting her head forward silently as backs are turned towards her and offers are declined. Her parasite's reaction is to start shuddering violently, rolling back and yawning its mouth open. The cannons are vomited out into the water amidst a slick of oil, the Ri-class rigging smoldering as it sinks-- as if it had just been bathed in corrosives.

    But there is one voice that does not reject the Princess out of hand. The abyssal Haguro is regarded carefully. Anger still burns in Midway's eyes, but it is that same restrained glow she typically has. Less rampant. Less likely to explode. Midway lifts a hand, touching her fingertips to her cheek in thought, gliding them down until the metal talons clatter against the spiked brace she wears.

    "You still field 8 inch cannons, fifty calibers. Five inch secondary battery. Anti-air defenses of .50 and .30 caliber machine guns. 21 inch torpedoes, Type 91, no? Even in this pure form, some things rarely change." Her eyes close, "Does your navy still use those pathetic 25 millimeter autocannons as well? I do have something far superior which occupies the same deck space."

    An eye opens, "Although we are still far from allies, are we not, Ne Class? Any weapons I reward you with are going to be used against me sooner or later."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline nods lightly as Shigure's orders come through, then turns to leave. That is until Haguro offers to help Midway in exchange for something. The little Neuroi stops, then rotates her entire body to face Haguro rather than turning just her head. "...you...know what Midway does...what she did to you...and you are willing to help her...?"

     The Neuroi stares for a long moment, then...she shakes her head lightly and continues after the others. "...even if she is an enemy of Hikari and humanity...I will not allow her to be imprisoned and experimented on if I can help it...that happened to me and...I will not let it happen to others..."

     There is a bit of a dark static in her usual transmission frequency. This particular subject hits very close to home for her.

Haguro has posed:
To say Haguro's relaxed in this situation would be a complete lie, but neither does she actively show fear in Midway's presence. Tension, yes, but that's to be expected in the face of someone who's already sank Haguro once before.

"I've made some upgrades, but the classics are what they are." She shrugs at the talk of a navy, stuffing her hands into nonexistent pockets to try and look nonchalant before realizing that her armor is distinctly lacking in pockets. "I'm not exactly a member of the Hikari Fleet these days, anyway. I have worked with them a few times since..."

She furrows her brow, glancing aside for a moment when Evangeline speaks. She nods once at the Neuroi, then turns to Midway with that earlier faux-disinterested gaze. "... The changes. But fixating on the past won't help either of us."

Haguro adjusts her cap, then her eyes flicker red, her gut-tail snaps in a clear display of hostility, and it's clear that she's having trouble keeping her cool here. She's still trying, though, and she even jerks her gut-tail back forcefully before settling into another, calmer (and definitely forced) smile. "As Vice-Admiral of the Luthan Fleet, I'd like to move past that and try a fresher outlook than before. Y.. Your thoughts, Princess of Progress?"

Midway has posed:
    The tail snaps. Midway's eyes dart to it, and her parasite's maw gnashes in return. It remains behind her, however. As restrained as it's going to get. Her gaze travels from that to the floating Neuroi, narrowing just slightly. She does remember dealing with that little alien in the past, after all.

    It's an uncomfortable pause before Midway returns her attention to Haguro, "So it is something somewhat less tangible that you seek. Not my inventions, but my cooperation towards some endeavor." Those eyes close, hand lifting to touch her forehead between her eyes, "I will ignore the indolence of a common cruiser speaking so brazenly to a Princess. It is clear you have found your confidence, at least."

    Midway lowers her hand, fixing a gaze on Haguro, "Bring me the Air Defense Princess and I will owe you a 'favor'. That is what you are expecting, isn't it?" She leans forward slightly, "It is by my curiosity alone that I agree to this. Bring her to me and use your boon wisely."

Haguro has posed:
Eventually. I might have something more tangible in mind in the future, but for now..." Haguro's smile widens just a smidge, even looking genuinely pleased when Midway gives her that sort-of compliment. Having some sway over Midway in the future could certainly be useful, but would it be worth it? Could Midway be trusted?

Fresh start. That's what she told the Princess she wanted, and that's what Haguro has to believe herself if she's ever going to move forward. She straightens her posture again as Midway leans forward, then dips into a light bow at the waist. "I'll see what I can do regarding the Air Defense Princess. Until next time, Midway."

And with that, Haguro turns to leave, her gut-tail needing another yank to stop it from 'staring' daggers at Midway's parasite.