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Haguro After getting enough rest to move about without the risk of passing out in the middle of the ocean, Haguro's made a speedy exit from the Hikari Sea Port! Unfortunately, it's also been a while since she's actually explored the area, and now...

She has no idea where she is. In retrospect, she probably should have just followed the roads, but having that time to clear her mind didn't hurt in theory. The only problem with that: Having a whole lot of nothing but ocean and random islands to look at hasn't really let the cruiser clear her head at all.

At least she's busy mulling over things instead of actually focusing on how lost she is now.
Midway     Something appears on radar, approaching fast. It's quickly identified as a squadron of four spherical Abyssal fighters, dashing past at high speed. They bank sharply and begin circling, just outside the effective range of most of Haguro's anti-air weaponry. Another squadron dips out of the clouds to join them, bombers. And another fighter wing from the South. More and more aircraft converge, circling like predators around cornered prey.

    As this accumulation of attack aircraft grows more and more concerning, a patch of the sea itself stirrs, then swirls, then foams and erupts. When that geyser sloughs back down into the waves, what stands upon the water's surface is the unmistakable snow-white figure of the Princess of Progress.

    Seawater sluices through the spines around her throat, runs down her arms and dress. She lifts her hands, metallic braces glinting as she touches fingertips together with the clicking of steel on steel. Her face is unreadable, a dispassionate slant to those eyes which otherwise burn with ceaseless fury.
Haguro      Haguro doet notice the movements on radar at first. Her mind is still clouded, and her gaze is still rather vacant as she mulls over everything. It's not until the fighters actually speed past her that she nearly jumps out of her skin, bracing for some kind of impact on reflex.

     "Out here...?!" She grimaces, weighing the few options available to her with all her weapons still broken from her last engagement. She looks ready to leap forward when that geyser of water shoots up before her, and at the sight of the Princess of Progress...

     The Cruiser relaxes. Visibly, even, as she straightens back up and holds up a hand in a meeker-than-usual greeting. "Ah.. Hello, Midway. Are you..." She trails off, her tone somewhat resigned and lacking in her usual energy and even that underlying fear from her past encounters with the Princess.

     "... What are you doing here of all places?"
Midway     Midway observes for a long moment. Eventually she raises a hand in a gesture, and the swarm of aircraft disperses. They just break off in various directions. When she lowers her hand, she shifts her posture to fold those arms together. It almost looks judgemental, though she's clearly evaluating the lethargic cruiser before her.

    "You wandered aimlessly into my territory," the Princess states at last, "I should be asking you the same question. However, I believe I have reached a conclusion without further input."

    Her head inclines, casting those glowing eyes in shadows, "You are troubled. Perhaps conflicted. An expected condition considering your recent activities."
Haguro      The Cruiser breathes a sigh of relief when the swarm leaves, somehow managing to find even that worth lowering her guard a bit for. She even chuckles when the Princess gives that dead on assessment of Haguro's reason for being out there, slowing to a stop and rubbing the back of her head.

     "Is it that obvious? Mm... It's... Yes, that's the long and short of it. Speaking frankly, if I may?" She waits a moment as she starts to drift again, looking back towards Midway, but she does't actually not speak even if the Princess responds in the negative.

     "... I don't know what to do. Next, I mean. I think... I think I still hate them, but the ones I don't hate... I don't want to hurt them, at least. Do you have any humans that you like or... Um. Tolerate, at the very least?"
Midway     "Speak," is all Midway says in responds to 'speaking frankly'. The following statement is met with that same unreadable, slightly disdainful or bored expression, right up until that question at the very end. Those eyes close for a moment, then open in a more neutral, wider fashion, "My very existence rejects mankind in its entirety. Those I associate with are, themselves, monsters either separated from humanity forcibly or naturally."

    Her head tilts back, giving her a more dominant appearance, "One such man was Matthew Perry, the Foreigner. Although he has sailed to distant seas, I maintain correspondance. Make no mistake, outwardly he may be a man, but the Foreigner was every bit the unnatural abberation I am."

    A hand unfolds, held out palm-up with her fingers slightly curled, "You have already met the one closest to me. The Re-Class Aviation Battleship. A monster of my own creation."
Haguro      "Oh right... That one." The discomfort is evident on Haguro's face and in her tone when the Foreigner's name is brought up. "I almost forgot about him... He's doing well, I assume?" She also doesn't do a very good job at trying to hide how much she's lying.

     The topic of Re, at least, puts her more at ease. "A few times, yes. She's an interesting one... I saw her at the last... Outing I had." There's another hint of discomfort there, but it does't last for long as Haguro takes a deep breath to steady herself.

     "How do you do it?" There's another moment of hesitation as Haguro seems to be weighing her words carefully, furrows her brow, then shakes her head with a distinctly 'fuck it' energy. "Your hatred of the humans. It's been so long since your battle, and they never learn. They just keep going and it never stops with them, but they keep replenishing themselves and just... Doing it again!"

     Haguro breathes in slowly again, calming herself a little more. "But you... There's only one of you. There has to be something fueling it. Fueling your..." She gestures at where those aircraft had been earlier prior to their dismissal. "... Everything. All of this. How? What?"
Midway     "He and his family are well," A simple statement, though it's the closest thing many have ever seen to Midway being pleased about something, she still comes off as rather cold about it. But that surrender and candid question, that prompts Midway's eyes to widen a touch. It's clearly not the sort of statement she expected. After a moment, her eyes narrow again, an act which does nothing to stifle the intensifying glow within them.

    "I am War. In all of its madness, horror, fury, and hatred. I am War. I am a creation of humanity, and so long as they possess the will and capacity to wage War, my existence persists."

    Midway leans over, domineering over Haguro. Her eyes go wide, becoming perfect circles of searing crimson cast in the shadow of her bangs.

    "I persist to punish Man for my creation. To facilitate a catastrophe so scarring that Man would view War only with disgust and revulsion. Only then shall I relent. I persist because /I should not exist/."
Haguro      Haguro can't hide the slightest of grins from crossing her face at Midway's reaction. If nothing else, that single look is one of the few victories Haguro can recall in recent memory she can actually feel good about.

     She doesn't seem quite so comforted by Midway suddenly looming overhead. Intimidated, certainly, but not comforted. Although the smaller cruiser doesn't move back, seh does shrink down a fair bit. "A punishment? That's.. No, that makes sense. Their greed, their disregard for the sea and their own lives... And all the wasted ships that were created just to kill more of them more effectively."

     "But in the end, you want them to... Change their ways. To learn what they shouldn't be doing. That's..." Haguro blinks slowly in surprise as she finds herself tearing up rather suddenly, wiping her face off once to confirm just how confused she's making herself. "... And you're sure that you truly hate them all? Not the... Not those that look like humans, but actual humans?"
Midway     The Princess leans back, her expression returning to its neutral setting. The intense glow of rage in those scarlet eyes is contained by narrowed eyelids once more. "They create to destroy. I abhor the waste of potential. Bringing out restrained potential is the true secret to progress, although your Admiral is ever quick to disagree with this method."

    Midway lifts her arms again, folding them together as she had previously, "I do hate them, as a generalized statement. I have yet to meet an individual who has earned any other response, but I will acknowledge such a person may exist."
Haguro      Midway's words seem to be rejuvenating Haguro, strangely enough, as the Cruiser nods rapidly with a look of slow realization coming across her face. "That's... No, right that's...! I get it. That's... Wait, no, but then..."

     It also seems that Haguro's mind is going faster than she can process proper sentences. She goes on with those broken sentence fragments, even becoming more distraught than before for a short while. After calming herself with another deep breath, however, she turns back to Midway.

     She's smiling. "Thank you, Princess of Progress. I... I needed that." Haguro holds her hands towards Midway, her excitement waning quickly and becoming a more awkward shifting of the eyes once she realizes what she's doing with her hands. She just sort of moves her arms to the side, then clears her throat and rubs the back of her neck instead. "Sorry. Erm. A-anyway. I'll need some time to... To figure some things out, but once I've made my decision..."

     There's another shift in Haguro's posture, and her confidence is at an all time high! "Will you watch me?"
Midway     When the hand is held out, Midway's eyes shift to it. She does not move at all in response to it beyond focusing her glare, though. She remains still through the admission, just as she had through the stuttering moments ago. At last, she speaks: "I will."

    Her head inclines.

    "I have been watching you with a great deal of interest these past months. You have continued to resist your own potential. Should you at last embrace it, I will be there to facilitate your evolution."
Haguro      The affirmative gets a nod from Haguro in return, and she looks off into the distance. No ships on the horizon, and only a couple of seagulls gliding overhead. "That's good to hear. It might not make a lot of sense since... Um. Well."

     Haguro turns back to Midway, gesturing at her and then herself. "What we are and all. Our goals... But it means a lot. I'll try not to disappoint."

     With her mind seemingly at ease, Haguro brings a hand up in a quick salute to Midway before backing away, then starting to drift away. A few moments later, she turns back to Midway with a more sheepish look on her face.

     "East is... Which way?"
Midway     The Princess' expression remains unchanged. Haguro's comments, as positive as they might be interpreted, are met with that indifferent disdain so commonly etched across Midway's face. She never was the sentimental sort. Not the type of person to stare thoughtfully into the distance. So it's about the best response one could hope for, honestly.

    That final question gives her pause, though.

    "...Is your compass damaged?" However, she does unfold a hand to gesture in the requested direction, off to her left.