Scene #3657: Of Battleships and Little Girls

Owner	Pose
Tatsuto Satou	How do a little girl and her teenaged brother get to a military base in an entirely different world from the one they live in? Bus, of course. As the bus pulls up, Hina Satou and her brother hop off the buss. Tatsuto himself looks rather bored, but Hina, as well as the Plotmon currently perched atop her head, look around themselves in awe! The Moonmon currently dozing in Hina's arms doesn't seem to care either way. The quartet make their way to the gate and wait politely to be let in.
Shigure	Yamashiro is waiting at the warpgate. The bus service was recently added, and stops within the courtyard of the outer portion of the seaport. All around, water stretches to the far horizon, and across the far side of the island base, the sound of metal striking metal, and a loud, female voice shouting orders can be heard. Yamashiro herself is an incredibly tall woman with short black hair, wearing what looks like a modified Shrine Maiden outfit. She bows graciously to the four. "Welcome to Hikari Seaport." she offers, then gestures towards the base proper. "I will be your escort during your stay."
Tatsuto Satou	Hina returns the bow politely, which causes Plotmon to nearly lose her balance - luckily, Tatsuto's there to pluck her to safety. He turns the bow with a polite nod, but doesn't do the whole bending-of-the-body thing. "Hina Satou. The puppy is Plotmon, and this cutie is Moonmon!" She holds up the water-droplet-beastie. "...And the dork behind me is Tatsuto. Thank you for having us!"
Shigure	Yamashiro smiles softly. "It is my pleasure. Come, I will show you the base, then we can retire to my quarters and you can help me with my project." she says, keeping a reserved countenance throughout. As a proper lady should. She lets the kids and Digimon go first, then follows after, her ship-clog clacking against the flagstones underfoot.
Tatsuto Satou	Plotmon squirms out of Tatsuto's grip, leapfrogs off of Hina's head, and begins to march up front, checking for danger! Of course, intellectually she knows she's probably not going to find any, but... well, YOU try telling a dog to stop guarding their three most important people in a new place. Hina looks around, awe-filled. She's never been to a place like this before! It reminds her of some of those war anime her parents don't know she watches sometimes.
Shigure	Hikari, despite having multiple Fleets out on Expedition, building up resources for the coming reengagement of Abyssal and Confederate forces, is still lively. Human support crews ferry equipment and resources back and forth, accompanied by small, button-eyed creatures wearing various branch uniforms. Other girls wearing varying outfits, jog around the perimeter. Some are wearing their Rigging, others are just exercising and winding down after returning from sortie. Yamashiro nods politely to the girls that greet her, and everyone offers hellos to the visitors. No stares, they're all far too polite for that.
Tatsuto Satou	Hina turns her whole body to look at things, resulting in her walking backwards half the time. Everything is just so... different! Just wait 'til she gets a load of Njorun. "Wooow. I spend so much time in the Digital World lately, I forget that... Real stuff can be so neat. I've never been to a working port before!" Tatsuto is doing his best not to roll his eyes. Sheesh, his sister.
Shigure	Yamashiro covers her mouth to stifle the giggle that erupts. Snicker. She then looks at Hina with a smile. "First we will visit the Arsenal, remember not to touch anything, many things are explosive and dangerous in there. Afterward, the Messhall, then the Docks. And finally we will visit the Barracks, where my Quarters are located. The Battleship gestures towards a large, reinforced concrete structure. It's not marked but is clearly designed to withstand a beating, both from outside, and from inside too.
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto murmurs a bit to himself. "Why are we taking my ten-year-old sister to an arsenal..." He's not really complaining, though. He just thinks it's weird. Hina salutes. "I promise not to touch anything!" Plotmon peers at Hina for a moment, then attempts to copy her gesture and promptly falls on her face due to walking on all fours. And not stopping before trying to salute. ... No one said Plotmon was smart. At least she's tough, because she doesn't seem fazed at all.
Shigure	"Part of the tour, young man." Yamashiro replies lightly to Tatsuto. Her expression is still pleasant and amiable. "Thank you, Little Hina." adds the Battleship to the girl, which leads her to spot Plotmon's little crumple... earning another stifled giggle. The Arsenal is guarded, of course, but the two Destroyers on duty salute and stand aside once Yamashiro clears it with them. Inside? Crates. Crates upon boxes upon canisters, all of them marked in standard, if archaic Japanese. 46cm shell, 63cm torpedo(Oxygen), etc etc. There's large containers near the far end, marked with 'Fuel' 'Steel' and 'Bauxite' with little counters under the nameplates. Probably a method of quickly analyzing resource levels without having to manually count it all out.
Tatsuto Satou	Hina goes very, very quiet as she enters the Arsenal, just staaaring at all the boxes. After a while, she speaks! "You know... I spend most of my time surrounded by monsters who could seriously hurt or even kill me if they ever wanted to. Even the babies could give me pretty horrible acid burns. But..." She steps just a little closer to Tatsuto. "For some reason all the... destruction this place could do is scarier..."
Shigure	Yamashiro nods gravely. "I suppose this feels more real to you than these... monsters." she remarks softly, then turns. "Let us leave, the Messhall awaits. I believe Irako is serving ice cream." she offers, smiling reassuringly at the young girl.
Tatsuto Satou	And Hina immediately snaps out of it. "Oooh, I want ice cream!" She practically bounces out the door. Tatsuto is doing his best not to laugh now. Plotmon... bounces out the door after Hina chanting 'Ice cream'.
Shigure	Yamashiro beams to herself. She asides to Tatsuto as she walks out after the bounding youths. "Works every time... I get Shigure something sweet if she is feeling upset. Cheers her up to no end." The tall woman stoops out of the door, and calls after Hina and Plotmon. "Mess hall is this way~!" pointing in the direction of a very homely and welcoming looking building, next to a more spartan one. These /are/ marked Messhall and Barracks respectively.
Tatsuto Satou	Looks like Hina was going in entirely the wrong direction! Maybe she doesn't know the kanji those signs are written in. ... Or she doesn't bother to read signs, who knows? Soon enough and and Plotmon are headed in the right direction however. "I must learn these tactics. I've got a dozen infant monsters to look after..."
Shigure	Yamashiro sighs wistfully. "Such is the burden of the shepherd." she says, placing a hand on Tatsuto's shoulder lightly. "You are lucky, your little sister is such a sweet girl." she mentions, before hiding her hands inside of those massive, pouffey sleeves. "It makes me sad, knowing my own big sister is out there somewhere, suffering under the yoke of her own hatred..."
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto stumbles a bit. "Wh- Wait, what? ... This conversation suddenly got heavier than I was expecting." He peers up at Yamashiro - while the three girls all chant 'ice cream' in unison. Even Moonmon is awake enough to join in now!
Shigure	Yamashiro hmms softly. "You are right, forgive me." she says, bowing slightly and closing her eyes. "I should not drop my misfortunes on you." the Battleship continues on in silence, until the group is inside the Messhall. A young looking woman pokes her head out of the kitchen area. She smiles broadly, and essentially dances out to greet the visitors. "Hello! My name is Irako, I'm currently standing in for Mamiya while she's preparing the fleets evening meal!"
Tatsuto Satou	Hina beams up at Irako. "Hello! I'm Hina Satou. The puppy's name is Plotmon, and this cutie is Moonmon." She holds up the purple Digimon! "And the dork back there talking with Yamashiro is Tatsuto. He's my brother." Tatsuto tilts his head slightly, then shakes it. "No, no. I'm not complaining. Just, uh, caught me by surprise. You can drop your misfortunes on me. S'what I'm for."
Shigure	Irako looks over at Yamashiro, and smiles softly, before she offers a hand to Hina. "Come on, I'll get you some ice cream." she offers. She's used to dealing with the younger acting Destroyers, so her entire countenance is like a kindergarten teacher. All smiles and reassurances. Yamashiro gestures to a seat, then takes the one opposite in the booth-like seating unit. She calls after Irako. "Could you bring us some as well, Miss Irako?" She then turns back to Tatsuto. "My sister and I, fell to the Abyss... Unfortunately my sister has joined some... splinter faction, or something like that... and we have no way of tracking her down..."
Tatsuto Satou	Hina is a -bit- too old for kindergarten, but she's too excited by the prospect of ice cream to complain. So off she goes! Even taking Irako's hand and everything. Plotmon follows along! Tatsuto sits and rests his elbows on the table, propping up his head and listening to Yamashiro. "Fell to the Abyss? I'm not sure what that means."
Shigure	Yamashiro hmms. "The Abyss are the creatures we fight... From the smallest Destroyers, to the largest Super Dreadnaught Battleships... they have made the seaways of my work, and since Unification, the entire Multiverse, dangerous to travel." she explains. "They are being of hatred, violence, anger and sorrow... they are our Shadows."
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto gives Yamashiro a blank look for a few moments. "...O..kay. So what does 'falling to the Abyss' mean? You seem to be fine, so..."
Shigure	Yamashiro sighs a bit. "That is the difficult question to answer... if a Fleet Daughter sinks... she can fall prey to the dark thoughts and memories that hide under the surface." she looks at Tatsuto, those red eyes are haunted, like war veterens when they've had a flashback. "This is falling into the Abyss... under the influence of these thoughts and feelings, we become monsters."
Tatsuto Satou	"Soo, wait, they're -ghosts-? Alright, I get it now, I think." He rubs the back of his head. "The only thing I know about ghosts is half-remembered Buddhist purification rituals and for some reason I don't think that's helpful..."
Shigure	Yamashiro shrugs. "We bring them back to their senses the only way we know how." she clenches a fist. "Gunsmoke and death. We sink them, hoping that they will remember the good times, not only the bad." A sigh. "Again, forgive me, my thoughts have been dwelling on this matter for some weeks now."
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto waves a hand idly. "Nah don't worry about it. Sometimes it can take some of the weight off, having someone else to care about things for you, y'know?" He gives a reassuring smile. "Like I said, it's what I'm for."
Shigure	Irako returns with two bowls of icecream. Three balls of white(Vanilla) Green(Mint) and Brown(Chocolate). "Enjoy~ I must get back to the young ones~." she gives Yamashiro a reassuring smile. Such a nice girl, that one. Yamashiro herself smiles a bit, both at Irako and Tatsuto. "Little Hina is lucky to have a brother like you to look out for her."
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto grins a bit. "Big brothers are put here on this Earth to look after the little ones. That's why we're born first." He sounds like he's quoting -someone-. He then picks up a spoon and starts on that ice cream. He may not be as gaga about it as his three girls, but he's still a teenager and ice cream is still junk food. "-I'm- lucky I get so much help from Plotmon. I'd never be able to keep up with Hina if it weren't for her."
Shigure	Yamashiro nods to Irako, then picks up her own spoon, dipping into the ice cream. Tatsuto's words seem to hit a nerve though, and she tenses up, taking a breath before letting it out with a shudder. She explains herself without prompting. "Big Sister Fusou said that to me... before our final battle together." a tear wells up, and is wiped away by a big sleeve. "She sank first... protecting the rest of us."
Tatsuto Satou	Tatsuto's hand, clutching a napkin, moves up towards Yamashiro's face almost automatically - but then his hand crumples up the napkin when the taller woman wipes her own tears away. He gives a little smile. "...She'd probably be happy to know you still remembered her." And then he stands up. "Maaan where did Hina get off to. I should go check on her..."