In the same way Z23 is called Nimi, this fic shall refer to Z24 as Niishi.
The mountains loomed over the road, casting shadows on the car that made to travel between them. It was a serene sort of country, but inside the car, things were anything but. Oriani was taking photos like mad, Z24 was about two seconds from throttling her over it, and Foxhound was staring out the window with unabashed awe.
"Have you ever seen mountains like that, Niishi?"
"Yes. All the time."
"In real life?"
"Of course!" Z24 snapped.
"But we've never been anywhere mountainous on our missions together…"
"Maybe I have a rich life outside of you, did you consider that?"
"You do?" Foxhound asked.
"Of course I do!"
Meanwhile, in the front of the motor vehicle… "Easy on the gas, Gascogne. Easy."
"Understood, Commander."
"Commander, we're getting out of the car soon, right?" Repulse asked.
"We're really close. Ten minutes, tops."
"Your previous projections regarding arrival time have all been incorrect, Commander," Renown informed him.
"I am aware." He sighed.
Gascogne helpfully informed him that seventeen minutes passed between his proclamation of 'Ten minutes, tops' and their arrival at a rough little gravel parking lot. Foxhound and Repulse both shot from the car like it was on fire, stretching their legs and letting out sighs of satisfaction.
"Hey, grab your bags!" He shouted.
"Sure thing!" Repulse rushed to the trunk of the vehicle, ready to grab some bags. Z24, noting this, attempted to push her things on top of Repulse's, in hopes of getting out of some straining. It worked.
Meanwhile, Gascogne was making sure that the car was properly parked and not likely to somehow strand them. "Your car key, Master."
"Thanks, Gascogne." It was a good feeling, finally being out of the car and in nature proper. Foxhound sniffed at the fresh mountain air, the smell of pines and clean water, a brilliant grin on her face, while Oriani was running around, trying to get good shots of them, standing before the primeval forest.
Unfortunately, before he could get really relaxed, Z24 called him over. "Mortal! Your tribute languishes in the car!"
"Sure thing." He sighed.
"Let me assist you, Commander." Thankfully, Renown came to his aid, helping him lift the cooler– carefully, carefully. If they damaged Z24's precious black forest cake, there would be hell to pay.
He almost thought to call Foxhound over to help, but he was pretty sure their help wouldn't be sufficient to make it one trip. The entire point of this trip was letting them unwind, so he figured they could start a bit early.
After getting most of their things out of the car, the Commander guided his fleet towards a little break in the thick forest around them, a little break which led to the camp proper. It wasn't too rough, but he was very glad that Z24 had ditched the thick-soled boots for some simple sneakers.
Slowly, gradually, the camp came into view. The Commander felt a sense of nostalgia for simple adolescent summers, but the others… "Wait, is that it?" Z24 squawked. "You can't expect me to sleep in there!"
"It's called rustic charm." He informed them.
"Commander, I am unsure if the buildings have sufficient integrity to survive any longer," Gascogne commented.
"Rustic charm." The paint was peeling, the wood had colored with age, and the grass grew thick around the building's sides. It wasn't a complete dump, though: a whole swarm of security guys had come up here in advance and were still guarding the area. They were out of the way, of course, but the girls had to be kept safe.
Reaching a building– a worn sign hammered over the door informed him it was the Rose Cabin– they all filtered inside, dumping their things on creaky tables or at the feet of the beds. Well, the bunk beds. Foxhound's eyes lit up at the novelty of such a thing, rushing for a ladder.
"I refuse to sleep below someone," Z24 grumbled, heading for another one of the top bunks. Oriani grabbed the third, kicking off her boots.
"We've still got things to do, Oriani."
"Right! But this one's mine." She grinned down at home, enjoying her 'vantage point' over the room.
The last top bunk went to Repulse, which wasn't that surprising, he supposed. That left him, Gascogne, and Renown with bottom bunks… and more unpacking to do.
By the time the car was finally emptied of their things, it was practically time for dinner, and the Commander could only think of one proper way to start their stay: dinner made over a campfire. Foxhound gathered kindling while he herded the girls outside.
"Observation: fire could be started more efficiently with rigging," Gascogne remarked.
"No!" He yelped. "Bad idea!"
"I must agree that it seems inefficient, Commander…" Renown said.
"Just… forget that you're a shipgirl, for a while. We're a group of friends, and we're taking a relaxing trip."
"I still do not understand the strategic aim of this operation, Master," Gascogne said.
"Morale. It's for morale."
"Morale…" Gascogne mused. She was a quick study when it came to most parts of strategy. The range of guns, how shells and armor interacted, and logistics. If it was numbers, she could understand it, parse it easily, but something as nebulous, as soft and squishy and human as morale? She struggled.
Thankfully, the fire was started without too much issue, and they all kicked back and enjoyed the warmth radiating off of it. Pulling out skewers and potatoes in foil, he got to work making dinner, with some help from Foxhound. ("Well, if you don't want the sausage, can I have it, Niishi?")
Foxhound nearly managed to burn herself with a hot potato, Oriani joked and snapped candids and tried to get them to tell stories, Niishi got grease on her clothes. And then, of course, there was the main event of any night spent around a campfire:
"S'mores!" Foxhound gasped.
"Well," he said, "I'm not sure if I can safely give you chocolate, Foxhound-"
"Doggo! Doggo, I've told you this!"
"Is this humor, Master?"
The concept of s'mores was swiftly explained, and each of the girls took a skewer and got to work heating their marshmallow. Z24 barely flicked the mallow over the fire before concluding that it was properly cooked, while Foxhound and Repulse both shot for a sort of well-browned color. Gascogne and Renown tried to copy the Commander, who preferred his marshmallows literally on fire.
S'mores– and one hell of a mess– were made, and even Z24 had to agree that they were decent. (Even if he had to physically liberate her stick from her to cook her a proper marshmallow.) Gascogne still had a few smudges of chocolate and marshmallow around her mouth, but those were nothing compared to the way the corners of her lips curved up, ever so slightly.
Repulse cheered. "That's the stuff!"
The next morning, he and Repulse woke up early for a bit of a jog. Z24 didn't operate like that, of course, but he decided not to bother her unless she slept until noon or something– there was relaxing, and then there was becoming one with the bed. Thankfully, her hunger eventually won out over her sleepiness, and she had a late breakfast of campfire eggs and sausage.
After that, they dressed for physical activity, and the Commander showed them around his old stomping grounds. Time hadn't helped the buildings, but nostalgia certainly flattered. They walked past an old canteen ("Where they made the best chili I've ever heard, I swear it") and a particular out of the way shed with an ajar door.
"And here…" he trailed off, seeming to realize his audience. "Well, nothing much happened…" Nothing much that he would confess to them, at least.
Oriani smirked. "Hiding something?"
"Nothing."
Renown took a quick peek inside. "Commander, why are these walls defaced with carvings of hearts?"
Oriani gave a sharklike grin and pulled out her camera.
After the camp was explored and a quick stop to gather more provisions, they started on their big activity for the morning (well, it was practically noon, but whatever): climbing the slopes of the hills that surrounded them. He wasn't technically sure if any of them were high enough to count as mountains, but they were beautiful.
(As beautiful as they were when he was a kid? Maybe not, but the girls were certainly enjoying it.)
For him and for Repulse, the slopes were pretty easy to handle. Foxhound nimbly clambered over rocks and roots, closely followed by Renown, while Z24… well, Gascogne was a lot stronger than she looked, and he had given permission for her to 'render assistance'. Niishi had good endurance for tennis, but the slopes and the loose terrain proved too much of a challenge.
Keeping an eye on the ground to make sure he wouldn't slip, he almost didn't realize he reached the slope until he vaguely realized that there was no land to follow further up. They had hit the top, and when he looked up, past the trees….
The land fell away before them, plunging into mile after mile of untouched forest, rising and falling with the curves of the hills. Simple green grew a thousand times more complex as shadow and light interplayed, as clouds passed overhead and shaded the mountainsides. A mirror-like lake sat below them, a tiny little pier visible at its edge.
Oriani gasped. "It's beautiful." (She had kept up very well. A little Alpini, that girl.)
"Isn't it?" He smiled. Was it strange to feel proud of it?
"Oh, wow!" Repulse gasped, walking around in a circle, as if trying to soak up every last degree of that magnificent view. Renown was a bit more quiet, and definitely more still, but she seemed awed as well. Even Z24 seemed impressed from her vantage point on Gascogne's back.
They all quietly ignored Foxhound awoo'ing.
After a quick lunch of sandwiches and bottled water, the Commander gestured to the lake down below. "That's where we're going next!"
"But it's all the way down there." Z24 groaned.
"That it is." He grinned, turning to head back down the mountain. Really, he didn't know what she was so worried about; it was much easier, going down. Well, assuming you didn't slip.
"Wait, wait! We need to pose for a group shot first!"
The lack was good for plain old swimming if you liked that sort of thing and didn't mind the lack of lifeguards. (Fifteen-year-old him would have killed to have lifeguards at this camp dressed like the 'lifeguards' on the Azur Lane base, but that was a different story.) Still, swimming in a lake was a different experience from a pool– Niishi felt the plants brushing her feet and nearly spooked.
Plus, he preferred paddle boarding. It took a bit of talent to keep yourself standing, but it let him enjoy the mountains from the lake without exhausting himself swimming.
"Commander, are you sure you don't want to change?" Repulse asked. "I can run up and grab your things."
"I'm fine."
"But what if you fall in? Your clothes will get wet."
"I just have supreme confidence that I won't."
He may have had supreme confidence in his own ability to navigate on the paddleboard, but that was discounting variables like Foxhound indulging her inner submarine and surprising him as she surfaced from a dive.
At the very least, Renown and Gascogne didn't get the humor in the situation, and so they didn't laugh at him. That was cold comfort considering that Oriani got a photo, but…
The afternoon passed by with him sunbathing, hoping that his clothes might dry off just a little bit faster. Niishi would occasionally join him in taking a break, but she usually preferred the shade; she had to cool down from her tennis bouts. (The court was overgrown, and it had gotten dust all over Niishi. She did not appreciate it, but she savored victory too much to abandon it.)
Dinner was a slightly more complex affair involving stew, and it also saw them serving some of Niishi's beloved black forest cake. Afterward, there were some token attempts at games: Gascogne was a terror at chess, Renown couldn't play a social deduction game to save her life, and Niishi was too much of a ham to dream of holding a poker face.
The sun crept down behind the hills, leaving behind a few faint hints of gold and orange to crown them… and a bit after that, just before everyone was ready to go to sleep, he got them to go outside. There were several complaints, usually to the effect of "Why the hell are you dragging us out now?"
"How about you look up?" He suggested.
They did. Admittedly, it wasn't quite as much of a shock as it had been for him all those years ago– a city kid who figured those pictures in science books were just exaggerations– but they still seemed awed, especially with the way the stars reflected off the lake…
"And now…" he grinned, "We jump in."
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Z24 said.
"It's a proud tradition for anyone new to the camp."
"Commander, that sounds like hazing. I'm pretty sure you got hazed." Oriani said.
"And it made me into the man I am today. A little water never hurt anyone."
(The irony of saying that in front of Repulse did not occur to him at the time, but she didn't take offense, thankfully.)
"Look, I'll jump in first." He jumped in, and oh boy, he forgot how that felt. But if he was in here, he was going to suffer alone. "Pheeeww. The water's fine."
Gascogne, trooper that she was, followed behind, and even she cringed when she surfaced from the water."Commander, my sensors indicate the water is exceptionally cold." Gascogne chattered. "Muscles behaving abnormally."
Oriani lifted her camera.
He didn't manage to convince anyone else, which probably wasn't that surprising. So that left him and Gascogne shivering behind the others as they walked back the cabin.
"And now we kill each other over the hot water."
Gascogne blinked. "Is this humor, Commander?"
"Yes."
"Understood."
Foxhound decided to make a break for it. "Cold!" (She hadn't even touched the water, the cold of the night was just too much.)
The Few, the Proud, the Foxhound Fans
I mean, thinking about it, wouldn't inland vacations be more unusual for shipgirls than beach ones?