Day 28
New members have joined the fleet! They're not exactly what I was expecting though.
It was about mid-afternoon when the destroyers got all excited with a whole lot of chittering and started swimming off starboard. Turned out there was a formation of something sailing over yonder, so we stopped the Revenant and headed over ourselves. Keeping the ship as far away from action as possible, don't want any stray shots to hit it if things get ugly.
Anyway, at first I thought maybe it was more Abyssals since there were 2 Abyssal destroyers with them and ours haven't opened fire yet, but then we got closer and…umm…let's just say these things are really weird. I THINK they're also Abyssals, but they're clearly not like Ri or me. Two of them are sort of this…how do I describe them…this sort of pillar stuffed full of cannons with a jaw below them, and there's this humanoid thing with its upper body sticking out of it. They have this toothy helmet thing on but it just looks too flat to fit a regular head inside. The other one has two beefy arms, one with a cannon similar to but smaller than Ri's own cannons, also has some kind of helmet that at least looks like the right head shape this time and has a single eyehole on the right, but when I look into the hole there's just…nothing. No eye, no flesh, no inside of the helmet, just pitch darkness. I am tempted to stick my finger in there but I'll refrain from doing that. Also its lower body is essentially a big destroyer jaw.
I don't know what the fuck these things are exactly, but judging from the white skin on the humanoid parts and black metal everywhere else, these are also Abyssals. What. Well if our destroyers look like metal fish monsters instead of huggable schoolgirls, I guess I shouldn't be surprised there's also things like these. Either way they can't talk neither aside from screechy, chittery noises like the destroyers with a wider vocal range, but despite their apparent lack of eyes they can see just fine, and they can understand what we say too, just like the destroyers. Maybe they're some kind of advanced destroyer? What's one step up from destroyers, light cruisers? I'll just assume that's what they are for now. Anyway they're following us now too, so yaaaaaaay. I'd much prefer someone I could have a conversation with…and someone that looks pretty…but firepower is firepower I guess.
Nothing much else happened today, besides me taking up reading manga. This was before we ran into those cruisers, I was bored so I thought I'd go hang out with Rithe for a while. Found her lazing about in her room, reading of all things. Admittedly it's not like there's much else to even do around here but I didn't take her for the reading type. Turned out she's not really "reading". The last guy who stayed in that room apparently brought along like 20 something manga volumes of different series. From what I remember there's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Durarara, Soul Eater, and I have Hunter X Hunter with me right now. I have no idea what the plot is with just one or two volumes, but the action scenes are pretty damn nice, I could probably take some pointers.
While I was there, I also asked her about that fancy headset she wears. Apparently she woke up with them on, along with her clothes and equipment, sort of like my boots. She can even tune it to different frequencies and pick up radio channels, mostly for music. She let me give it a try, but it doesn't seem to work while I'm wearing it…Either that or she's bluffing. Oh well, whatever.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more manga to read.
Day 29
Woke up particularly early this morning. Saw a little bit of light in the horizon when I looked out the window, figured I got up just in time for sunrise, so may as well head topside to enjoy the view. There used to be a lot up there, with a swimming pool, what I think was an outdoor cinema, and even a little café area, but the pool's full of nothing but stagnant rainwater now and the rest's out of power, so it's just a place to lounge around on the pool chairs now.
Anyway, I moved one of the chairs to a nice spot, sat back and relaxed while I watched the sunrise. After a bit I heard some footsteps behind me and figured it must've been Rithe. Who else could it've been, right? So I said hi, invited her over to join me, asked her how the view was etc. and she says "Very pretty!" which was kind of weird because first, I wasn't expecting an enthusiastic response out of someone like her, thought she'd say something like "Eh, it's okay." or something along the lines of that, and second, there was something different about her voice itself. Like the idiot I am I didn't suspect anything, but then I heard a second voice woof. THAT made me turn around to check, and what I saw almost made me fall off my chair.
There were two girls there, one short and one tall. The shorter one looked destroyer age, messy black hair, a gray vest and short shorts. Most noticeable was the white face mask that covered her eyes and nose. Well, one eye, there was a hole for her left eye which was a shade of cyan so bright it almost looked like it was glowing, much like Ri's own. The taller girl looked about my age, with long curly white hair, a cane and a cape strapped to her back, some kind of white bodysuit with a collar that looked like a toothy lower jaw, neat black trousers, and some serious friggin' heels. And a jellyfish monster sitting on her head like a hat, which also has massive teeth along with 4 big tentacles.
We've just been boarded by two Abyssals at some point and we never knew, alright then. At least they looked friendly and weren't pointing guns at me, so that's a good start right? After I calmed myself down I asked them a few questions, like how the fuck they got on board for example. I thought the destroyers and cruisers were keeping watch for us or something, that's what Ri told me they do. According to the kid, she and her friend saw the Revenant last night and came over for a closer look. I guess since they were Abyssals too, our "guards" weren't too wary and the two quickly earned their trust then climbed aboard. They didn't even know the ship was occupied, which I don't blame them for since the place is huge and there's only me and Rithe on board with Sting unsummoned for the night. That's what I understood from what she said anyway, she wasn't the most eloquent speaker around. I don't remember her exact words, but for an example, she talks something like this.
"Last night saw ship, take closer look! Friend fishes, let us up! Not know you live here, sorry…"
Oh and the best part, she still talks better than her friend, who literally can't speak. All she does is repeat the same sound, sounded like "wo", which was what I thought was a woof earlier. The kid seems to understand whatever she's trying to say though. Is this what Rithe sees when I talk with Sting? Also, Wo seems to be emotionally paralyzed or something because I haven't seen her change expressions all day. Chatting with her is going to be so much fun.
Either way, I told them to stay where they were and went to wake Rithe up, had to drag her ass up top cus she spent the entire night reading manga with a flashlight and barely got any sleep, and properly introduced ourselves. It seems Wo calls the kid Chief, which I'm okay with, and Chief just calls her Wo, which I'm not okay with, so now her name's Wolf, which both of them really like. Since the destroyers and cruisers went and caught us some breakfast, we sat down at the café and shared stories while we had our meal. Chief was actually surprised Rithe and I couldn't understand what Wolf was saying, so she had to translate for us.
From what I understand, Chief and Wolf also woke up at the bottom of the sea just like the two of us, but they were around the same area and spotted each other soon after they woke up. They've been travelling together since then, they're not sure for how long but around a week or two, and found our ship last night. Strangely enough they haven't run into anyone else all that time, neither Fleet Girls nor other Abyssals, so like me before I met Ki, they don't know what they are. Didn't expect it to be pleasant having to explain to them they're Abyssals, and Abyssal season's open year-round, but they took it surprisingly well despite initial shock. At least I know Chief's not that worried about it, not sure about Wolf, for obvious reasons. Kid's actually looking forward to a fight, something about things going boom being pretty. That's…not the least bit concerning. Anyway they've agreed to come with us since the Revenant's much comfier than being out in the open and Chief really likes us, the little flatterer, so that's two more members to the fleet! I'm not sure whether progress is faster or slower than I expected since I had no real expectations in the first place, but at least things've been going smoothly so far, which is more than I can ask for.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon were spent doing more target practice. I know it's weird, just met two strangers and I'm immediately like "Let's shoot some guns together!" but that WAS the original schedule I had with Rithe and they were pretty into it anyway so there we go. Plus, despite having some understanding of what they themselves are capable of, Chief and Wolf haven't had any actual combat experience whatsoever so it was best to start them out as soon as possible, which we did once Rithe tutored them on controlling firepower.
In terms of armaments, Chief has a singular armcannon, kind of like Rithe's but smaller. Much better fire rate than Rithe, but the firepower even on full power is…meh. The barrel spins when she shoots though so that's pretty neat. The really cool part was her jet ski summon, which looks pretty beast. Bikey, as Chief calls him, I'd call him something else but she really likes that name so…eh, he's her demon. IS he a demon? I mean he seems to work similar to Sting as a summon with a mental link with Chief, but y'know, he's so much smaller and weaker, much like his owner. Not meaning to make them sound useless or anything but it IS a fact. Them being weaker, not them being useless, obviously. Unless I'm super strong even among princesses and demons, which I'd love to be but I highly doubt that's true. At least Bikey's a bit faster and more agile than Sting. Oh and there IS one thing he can do that Sting can't: he can fire torpedoes out of his mouth. THOSE made some big splashes when they exploded. For practice purposes he can fire duds instead. Also he only has a few, and he needs some time to recharge and make more. Apparently eating metal helps him recharge faster, including the dud ones. And no I don't mean just jamming the duds back down his mouth, he chews, or more correctly grinds them up with his circular grinder of a mouth. I'm not sure how that even works, Abyssal biology is WEIRD, but that's how it works so whatever goes.
Meanwhile, Wolf carries her full gear around everywhere, which namely consists of her staff and hat. Seriously she wears that thing everywhere, the only time she's ever taken it off far as I know is when it's too wide to fit in a door, and even that's after trying to jam it through with her a few times. If I haven't mentioned this yet, the hat is alive too, just like Sting and Bikey. If anything he's MORE emotive than Wolf herself since he has some semblance of body language in the form of waving his tentacles around like one would do their arms. I'd actually believe he was the main body instead of Wolf if he couldn't be taken off. Oh and his name's Jellal Hattington. Don't look at me, I didn't make that one up, Chief said Wolf said he named himself. She helped though. Now I have the distinct urge to put a top hat and a monocle on him, maybe a smoke pipe too, but I digress. Much like Sting, he can launch a variety of aircraft by sticking out his tongue as a runway, and Wolf's staff can act as a sort of conducting baton. He doesn't have as many as Sting, but I still wonder how the hell they all fit in him. Y'know what, I'm just not gonna question Abyssal anatomy anymore, if you can use your tongue as a flight deck, you can do anything you fucking like.
After target practice, we showed our two newcomers around the ship. It's not like there's really that much to show, thankfully Chief's child-like enthusiasm made her easy enough to entertain. Some of the more interesting places include that grand dining hall which also has a big hole still blasted through its side (very nice air circulation though), a miniature casino with pool tables and rusty slot machines, and the clubhouse. Admittedly even I didn't know the clubhouse was there, so that's a new one. Disco ball, dance floor, bar, the works, must've been a flashy place to hang out when there was still power. There's also metal poles stuck around which's purpose none of us could figure out, I guess if the ship hits some rough seas the patrons can hang on to them? Anyway there's still some bottles of alcohol that haven't been smashed open when the ship was attacked way back when, and I'm pretty sure stuff like that don't spoil over time. Maybe one day we can pop the cork off one and give some a try?
Not much happened after the tour, found a nice two-person room for them and spent the rest of the day reading manga alone. For all the cool moves in there, some of which I can actually kind of replicate, they do make me feel kind of bored with myself. Yeah I can summon Sting, but that's it, I don't have anything special on my own. Rithe has her cannons, Chief has Bikey and torpedoes, Wolf has her planes… I guess I could control Sting's planes if I wanted, but still. It's just, sure it's nice that I can beat the crap out of people just fine the old fashioned way, but imagine how awesome it'd be if I had Stand powers or Nen or something! Y'know, superpowers! Hell just give me a weapon of my own, something fancy like…a bow? That'd look cool, but I doubt it'd stand up to cannons and torps. Unless it had some kind of special feature of course, like elemental arrows, maybe homing, explosives…Oooh, what if the arrows explode into a wave of planes? …Nah, that's just silly. If it's any consolation, at least I still have my little stash of knives and my revolver, so that's something.