7729a. Titanic is an exception because he's helping a group of software designers design an amazing computer game.
7729b. For the love of - no, you can't use your ship hulls for live-action World of Warships battles, either! Why would you even ask such a thing?!
Hawaii, some days after the January incident
"I still can't believe you're sweet-talking me into this. You're absolutely sure about this, even after what happened in Japan?" Langley raised a brow at her husband, arms folded over her chest as she put the question to him. "My dear, it's not a side purpose if I'm doing what I was meant to do now, is it?" Titanic chuckled, smoothing a hand through the carrier's blonde hair before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Trust me on this. I'll take full responsibility if Holloway has a conniption over it." "Well, if you insist..." The mother of all American carriers would step back, letting her taller companion step up to the water. "After you, Ti."
Stretching his arm out over the water, the liner shut his eyes, recalling his original steel hull, the way it had been in those five halcyon days before his (her, back then) career had come to a literal grinding halt. Here he was in the middle of the Pacific, so far away from the site of his wreck, and yet that connection to his former shell never really left him. How could it ever, when the memories of the night that sank him - the Night To Remember - were by now engraved into the collective consciousness of the Western world? His hand closed into a fist, as though he had grabbed hold of an unseen hawser, and Titanic pulled.
As with Akigumo summoning her hull, seeing it make its appearance was like watching a vastly sped-up timelapse of the ship being built, three years of work compressed into the span of a couple of seconds or less, and only one who could slow the perception of time would have been able to follow it all - the plan of the keel spreading into existence upon the water, the stem making its ascent to form the knife edge of the bow, the frames shooting up to the heavens on either side like stalks of steel bamboo, the inch-thick shell plating covering the framework as machinery and fittings materialized into existence, paint coats and deck after deck being added as the vessel began to settle into the water, superstructure and rigging and funnels topping it all off - Ezechiel's vision of dry bones coming to life rendered in ship form.
Even in this day and age, and even if it was a familiar enough sight thanks to its recurring reappearance whenever he was tapped to make a delivery, Titanic's original hull was still an imposing, stately sight, and seeing it up close like this gave the unnerving impression that one had stepped back in time, and possibly awoken the dead. Today however, was a different affair than the usual cargo haul, as he'd managed to convince his wife to hitch a ride with him to San Diego instead of making the trip herself like usual, just this once. The journey would take just four days, instead of the six Langley would have made at full speed, and in any case the ocean liner was taking precaution after precaution to ease any fears of a '1912 Encore': among other things constant radio contact with all patrols and even arming himself with the same six-inchers his older brother used (how weird it was, he thought, to bear them and other improvements upon his person and not on his hull. pondering the paradox was liable to give one headaches). At least there would be no icebergs at these latitudes.
"Come aboard?" There was a moment of hesitation, Langley looking up at the vessel before her in awestruck silence, before the carrier took Titanic's hand and stepped onto the gangway leading to the entrance on D Deck. "I feel like I'm trespassing on a work of art," she muttered, earning a laugh from the liner as he ushered her on board. "Work of art though the interiors might be, keeping distance from them wouldn't be the right way to appreciate them," he said, shutting the door behind her before leading her up the famous Grand Staircase. "They were meant to be used after all! We ocean liners took great pride, and still take pride, in the amenities our old hulls boasted. My colleagues had some spectacular furnishingsthemselves, from what I hear tell."
Langley's curiosity was piqued now. Reading about the interiors of the 'ship of dreams' was one thing, but actually seeing them firsthand? "Well then. Maybe you should show me around on the trip back to San Diego how about that? Just promise me there won't be any quoting of the movie - you know which one I mean!" The liner chuckled at that, tipping his hat at her in a salute as he led her out to the boat deck and into the captain's stateroom, where they'd be staying for the trip. "Yes ma'am. Once we're under way I'll give you the whole nine yards of the ins and outs of this fine piece of work." Titanic smiled just a bit, as they began to make their way out to open ocean. "I have to admit though, there is one side project involving this hull that I tried to get the admirals' blessings for before proceeding." "And they made an exception?" That was new. Which admiral would have allowed this one exception, Langley wondered?
"Surprisingly. Some fine gentlemen are designing a computer game set within these very interiors, and they want it to be as accurately modeled and detailed as possible. It having VR support means players will be able to see all of this, inside and out, as though they were right here on board!" Titanic explained, evidently more than a little excited for the prospect of the upcoming game. "So I decided to chip in, in a way, and give them as much detailed information about my hull and everything in it I can get away with revealing. Plans, dimensions, specs, designs... all of it anonymous or indirect contributions of course," he added, a bit of a mischievous grin on his face. "Low-profile as ever I see. Lucky for me I don't have to settle for the virtual experience," Langley remarked, once again seizing him by the tie to steal a kiss. "Now then. Let's get ourselves steaming to San Diego shall we? And then you sir, you are showing me around pronto."
Within the hour, they were steaming east from the coast of Hawaii, with nothing out ahead of them but ocean. Over the course of the trip, Titanic took Langley on a tour through his old hull, showing her around everything he had to offer back in those days: promenades (good place to shoot at Abyssals from, by the way), reception areas, lounge, reading and writing room, gym, even squash courts and swimming pool and Turkish baths. Even the crew and staff spaces were hers to have a poke around: how could he keep anything of his old shell secret from her, when she had been the one to claim his heart? (and indeed, he said as much when they went down into the engine room, the literal heart of the vessel) Only the cabins that had belonged to the victims of a century past were kept locked, out of respect for their spirits and their privacy. By the fourth day of their passage, they'd visited every dining space on board at least twice, feasting to their heart's content on Titanic's formidable culinary prowess.
~*~* ~~*~ ~**
It was near their journey's end that the relative quietude of the previous few days was broken by the distant sound of naval artillery. Langley was first to the bridge wings, having swiped the binoculars to try and see further out, trying to see who or what had done it, and whether they should open or hold fire. Titanic for his part was keeping an ear out for any transmissions he could pick up, and what he ended up hearing was enough to make him stride purposefully to the helm - while he still had absolute power over his old hull, getting hands-on was reserved for when shit was about to hit the fan. "Live-fire exercises?" Langley queried. "More like live-action wargaming." The slight growl in her husband's voice was so very much like his older brother's when he was ticked off. "Have a listen on the open frequencies, it sounds like a gamer's chat box in there. Apparently the old World of Warships craze made a bit of a resurgence..."
"What?" If looks could kill, Langley's glare towards the sea ahead of them could massacre several Ru-class in one fell swoop. "If any carriers are involved, Mama's gonna have to have some words with them," she muttered, her rigging soon at the ready in case she had to return fire. There was another question on her mind too, a question of a more metaphysical nature. "Isn't it dangerous though? Does damage to their summoned hulls count as damage to themselves?" "I've heard of it happening to Olympic at least once before," Titanic said, "but it was minor and I'm not sure if it counted, and I sure as heck do not want to find out for myself." Langley's answer was more than apt for the circumstances: "Let's just hope they don't end up tacking an F to their LARPing, or in this case LAWGing."
As the West Coast came into view over the horizon, the pair of them could see the source of the commotion they'd heard: about a dozen shipgirls had apparently taken to summoning their hulls for some live-action World of Warships a good distance off the coast for who the fuck knew why. "I can't believe this," Langley muttered, watching the chaos unfolding. "Alabama, North Carolina, both SoDak and Phoenix... And please tell me that's not Lexington I spy." "There is not a snowflake's chance in hell we're getting through that gauntlet. Hang in tight love, I'm going to have to round it." And then the first shell came down a bit too close for comfort to the port side of the hull, right as Titanic began the turn to try and go around to avoid having to pass into the crossfire.
Needless to say, that did not sit well with the ocean liner, who was now keeping the helm stubbornly at hard over and turning southwards from his original course at full speed. "Who did that?! Whose fire was that?" Langley had no time to dwell on the perp's identity, answering the (no doubt accidental) fire with a launch of several planes of her own, her way of announcing 'Mama's back' to the shipgirls involved. Especially Lexington. "Does it matter? We have to get out of the line of fire, stat, or at least get the ladies to hold their damn fire while we pass!" "They can see us right? As surely as we can see them from this distance?" Titanic asked, voicing his thoughts out loud as another volley of shells overshot its mark, coming down in the waters between his hull and Phoenix's. "Oh they probably can, but they're probably preoccupied with their all-out showdown right about now," Langley grumbled, binoculars to her eyes once more. "Competition can get pretty fierce when they get really into it."
Goddamn, as unsettlingly mesmerizing as it was to watch the fire being exchanged, Titanic's only thought was to get the hell out of dodge and swing around the area before anything could happen - and as he began the northward arc to find safe passage between the 'gauntlet' and home base, another misaimed volley landed closer than he would have preferred. "Oh for chrisakes! Langley my dear I'm going to transmit, might want to tune out right about now!" Up to now the liner had avoided transmitting directly to them - his rotary spark gap transmitter had a tendency to drown out other transmissions because of the broad bandwidth of its signals - but in this case, he needed to make himself heard loud and clear to every shipgirl in a 250 mile radius, and the distinctive tone of the rotary spark would make it unmistakable as to who was coming to call.
CQ CQ DE MGY, have been fired at, not amused. The words famously misattributed to Queen Victoria were a fine example of British understatement, and a damn good way for the liner to vent his displeasure without being foul-mouthed about it. If they hadn't been paying much notice to his presence due to being 'in the zone', he'd certainly gotten them to realize there was a neutral party passing through and getting caught in the crossfire. Titanic's knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping the ship's wheel while terse transmissions were exchanged (among other things, objections to him butting in on the frequency, minor panic on whether he'd been hit or not, an offer to use his hull for target practice), but within a couple of minutes it seemed an understanding had been reached, and he breathed a long, tired sigh of relief. "I'll take that to mean we can pass in peace now?" Langley asked, plane-firing rifle at the ready just in case. The liner's only reply was a quiet nod, and they managed to round the naval gunfight with little trouble after that.
Their arrival in San Diego was a little subdued, though they made it intact and with an hour to spare before the sun went down. "I'm sorry the trip ended in such a... fiasco, I should say," the liner admitted ruefully, rubbing the back of his neck a little flusteredly. "Running into trouble on the last leg of a journey seems to be a running problem of mine when passengers are involved." "Shhh, shhh don't you dare say that buster. It was still a sweet gesture, taking me all this way, showing me the sights." As stressful as that had been, the carrier didn't seem to hold it against him, hand in hand with him as he walked her back to her quarters. "Besides, I think we handled that well enough? I'm still going to have words with Lexington later on-", and then Langley jabbed her husband in the chest with her finger, "But you are going to get yourself to bed, you didn't sleep a wink in four days and you need to catch up on your rest." Titanic just laughed, stifling a yawn with his cap to no avail before conceding to her. Having stood lookout night after night meant that, guilty as charged, he hadn't slept the whole time. "Yes ma'am."
~*~* ~~*~ ~**
"Sit." Admiral Holloway's tone brooked no contradictions or objections. The motley crew of cruisers and battleships who had been involved in the incident of the day prior (minus Lexington, who had been treated to the full wrath of the Mother Carrier herself) sat down, still a bit banged up from the mayhem they had gotten up to, their reactions anywhere from 'oh shit' to 'worth it' to 'rats, foiled again'.
"Explain." Never had Admiral Holloway sounded more like Minerva McGonagall's intimidating American cousin than in that moment.
