FoL Nighttime Stories
darthcourt10
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Savato93
Nighttime Stories
XXXXXXXXXX
"So she really meant it?"
Seated beside her Re-class escort, Wanko slowly nodded. "Yes. I have… no reason to… believe she would lie… about something like this."
Revina, her usual manic energy absent, looked down to the tablet in her lap—to the email sent by Hoppou about a day or so prior. There wasn't that much to the message itself: a greeting, a list of her surviving children and their own offspring, and anticipation of Wanko's arrival to see them. That last one was a given, of course; she wasn't about to leave her nieces thinking she hadn't missed them all these years. But at the end of the message was a postscript—one that left her deeply concerned.
My granddaughter Regalia was built wrong. Please don't be alarmed when you see her.
Revina grimaced. "Defectives are never fun to think about, especially when they're the same class as you." She glanced back down to the email, scanning the list of names for the Re-class's mother. "… Tanith's girl, huh… must have been a real gut-punch to her."
"Indeed." Wanko sighed. "This Regalia was… fortunate, to be born… to a good mother."
The Re-class nodded grimly. "Small blessings, I guess. Still, if Aunt Hoppou had to warn us in advance… the defect must berealbad."
If only… Little Sister… could have been… more descriptive. Wanko looked down at her daughter. "I trust you… will behave yourself… around her?"
Revina shook her head. "Don't need to tell me twice, Boss. I won't be hating on her for however she's messed up…" Her lips spread in a crooked grin. "But I hope she's at least got a sense of humor about it."
Wanko delicately pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing in exasperation.
XXXXXXXXXX
A pair of emerald eyes cracked open.
Regalia found herself staring at the ground, hanging over one arm of a couch while her tail hung over the other side. She checked her internal clock: 2317. She'd been resting for about three hours. Hopefully, her little nap would help her stay awake a little longer with everyone else as the drama unfolded.
Shifting slightly, the Re-class let out a soft grunt as she stretched her limbs… and heard an alarmed squawk from someone behind her. She looked back and was mortified to see her tail had also stretched itself out—right into Nagato's face. "O-oh, I'm so sorry, Great-Grandma, I didn't mean to…"
The shipgirl, though, just chuckled softly as she pushed the tail away. " It's okay, Regalia. I'm not hurt or upset, just a bit surprised." Glancing over, she raised an eyebrow. "Did you sleep well, laying like that? Doesn't really seem comfortable."
Regalia shrugged. "Actually, it's not too bad for me. Normally, I have to lay on my side, because sleeping on my front or back puts pressure on my keel, makes it uncomfortable. I found that letting myself hang over something takes most of that edge off, at least for laying face-down."
"Fair enough."
The Re-class lifted herself up from the side of the couch, assuming a sideways-seated position. Looking over, she saw a blob of Abyssals taking up much of the room, her own mother among them. The mass was completely silent, save for a small voice emanating from the center. "So, is that… riot still going on?"
Nagato nodded sadly. "Yes. Things seem to be coming to a head. Hoppou is still worried for her friends, as is Harry. They refuse to rest while their friends are in danger. As for your mother and aunts…" she gestured to the gathering. "They certainly seem determined to be here for her, now that they are reunited."
Taking a closer look, Regalia realized that more than a few of the Abyssals crowded around Grandma and Uncle Harry had actually fallen asleep; their unconscious forms propped up against their sisters, themselves looking ready to keel over but adamant to remain at their mother's side. Tanith in particular, while visibly drooping in her weariness, remained resolute in supporting Hoppou, listening to the radio right beside her mother. "Wow. I usually don't see them clustered together like this outside of a cuddlepile."
"Hm."
The room was quiet for a time, the only sound being the wizard radio and the occasional sleeping sound from one of the Abyssals. Eventually, Nagato spoke again. "So… I've heard a fair bit about what life was like for Hoppou and her girls in the Aleutians, from a number of sources." She looked to Regalia. "But oddly, not much has been said about how you and your aunts got by up until now, hiding from the world. So, I thought I should ask someone knowledgeable in that subject; someone who was born and raised in that exile."
Regalia blinked. "You want to hear… about my life at home?"
The battleship nodded. "Of course. Is it wrong for me to want to know a bit more about one of my great-grandchildren?" For a brief instant, her gaze flickered to Regalia's back. "Especially considering how you… have likely experienced life differently from other Abyssals."
She had a point there. 'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk about that stuff...' Regalia thought to herself. She pursed her lips, thinking of how to begin. "The island we lived on… the island I grew up on… it's a bit odd for me to describe. It's a nice, big island, plenty of space to relax, explore, just be ourselves. But at the same time, it…"
"It feels so small?" Nagato supplied.
Mulling it over, the Re-class nodded. "… Yeah. I've pretty much lived my life as a normal girl, but I'm still an Abyssal. I'm made to wander the great big oceans of the world… or rather, I'm supposed to be. Instead, I was limited to one little island. There's a lot to explore, yeah, but it just doesn't feel like I'm accomplishing anything important by doing so."
The shipgirl suppressed a grimace. She was reminded of a captive zoo animal, living in a habitat much too small for it… only it wasnecessaryin Regalia's case, as she literally wasn't capable of surviving in her natural environment. "I cannot imagine what that was like for you growing up. The closest I've ever really come to such a feeling is… being ordered not to sortie, I suppose."
Regalia shook her head. "It's okay… I think. It only really concerned me for about the first year of my life. After that… well, I got my hands on some crops, and started farming for my family. I just naturally stopped worrying about what I couldn't do, and I focused more on what I could."
"A wise decision," Nagato hummed. "It sounds like it did a lot of good for your peace of mind." She glanced over to Regalia. "I've seen you munching on raw vegetables a couple times, so you evidently grow a number of different crops. Which was your first, though? And how did you choose?"
Regalia considered the question. "Well… it turns out there were farms left behind by the original inhabitants of the island, that were buried under shrubs and weeds, and they had harvested all sorts of veggies. But until we committed to landscaping and actually discovered them, for all we knew, no crops grew on the island. So the only way I thought we could get any was bringing it in from somewhere else. And according to Mom and the others, the only stuff that was seriously grown up there in the North Pacific was potatoes."
Nagato's eyes widened. "So you left the island to find something to grow? Even with your condition?"
Regalia opened her mouth to respond, but she paused. Suddenly, there was this metaphorical weight bearing down on her, something she felt compelled to get off her chest immediately. "Actually… no."
"Eh?"
She glanced over to the lump of half-asleep Abyssals surrounding Nagato's two children, Tanith included. "Can you… keep a secret? From my mom?"
The shipgirl tipped her head, confused. "I suppose I could. What is it that you don't want her to know?"
Looking back and forth between Nagato and Tanith, wanting to make absolutely sure her mother wasn't paying attention, Regalia eventually leaned in. "I told my mom that I snuck off the island to scavenge for the crops I would eventually plant, just like you suggested… but that's not the truth." She whispered hesitantly. "Not entirely, at least."
Nagato's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean by that?"
Regalia took a deep breath before she continued. "… One day, Aunt Ruadri was telling me and my aunts, several of the destroyers, a story. She talked about how Grandma once bought out almost all of Unalaska's potato supply to bake and feed to her fleet. They all liked them so much, they sent the next cargo plane back with a note: 'bring extra potatoes next time'." She chuckled softly at the thought of it. "And when they did, Grandma's fleet took the surplus for themselves, and brought in a few humans to help them cultivate all of it… so they could continue to enjoy them."
Nagato smiled. "That is certainly something Hoppou would do."
"Yeah…" Regalia paused. "It got me and my aunts thinking. That was back before I found my calling… when all I could do was explore the island, hang out with my family, take naps. It just didn't feel right that I couldn't do something for the fleet, when everyone else had a job they could do. Then Ruadri told us that story, and I wondered: maybe I could dothat? Grow food for everyone? It seemed simple enough, it didn't involve any sort of sailing, and I could provide for my fleet. But… we searched around the island at one point, and we didn't find any plants in the open wild that we knew for a fact were edible. Nothing that could be grown for everyone to eat."
The Re-class briefly clutched at her chest. "It was… kinda painful, having a small ray of hope snuffed out like that. I tried to just let go of it, move on… but my aunts saw my distress. And they couldn't stand to see me hurting like that." She was quiet for a few seconds. "A couple days later, they were sent out on a long-range patrol. They took nearly a day longer than anyone expected to return; they said they found shipgirls in the same area and were forced to lie low. But, the day after they came back… the destroyers came up to me, in private, and told me they'd brought me a… gift."
Rolling her backpack off, Regalia reached in and pulled out an object—an empty burlap sack. "They'd gone back to Unalaska. Snuck into the harbor. Stole some potatoes from one of the few storehouses that survived the original invasion… just for me." She ran her fingers gently over the rough fabric. "They risked so much for so little. They abandoned their patrol route. Intruded on human-controlled territory. Threatened death and exposure for all of us… just so I could have something constructive to do with my time. I… I didn't know how Mom would handle that. So, when I showed Mom the potatoes and she demanded to know where I got them…"
Nagato had a rough idea of where this was going. "You let Tanith think it was you."
"Yes. I did." Regalia looked torn. "I didn't want my aunts to get punished just because they wanted to make me happy… to help me, help the fleet. Sure, they're older than me, but they're still destroyers; their thinking can be a little basic sometimes. They're not immune to mistakes."
"… You're quite brave, to shoulder the burden of your mother's wrath."
"Yeah, but… I'm not sure it's something I want to experience twice." The Re-class pulled her legs up, curling into a ball. "To see my mom glaring down at me… with so muchragein her eyes… it felt awful."
"Hmm…" Nagato had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well… I doubt Tanith enjoyed it either."
Regalia looked at the battleship, eyes widening slightly. "You really think so?"
"Hai." Nagato looked towards the younger Princess in question. "She clearly loves you deeply, wants you to be happy… but she also wants to keep you safe. If she was thinking that you endangered yourself so recklessly, because you wanted so badly to be helpful… it must have terrified her. A lot more than a couple destroyers who don't know better getting themselves into trouble. Does that make sense?"
Regalia was quiet for a moment, thinking, before a look of dread crept up onto her face. "You mean… by taking the blame for my aunts, I may have made my momangrierthan she would have been?"
The shipgirl pursed her lips. "I wouldn't say it quite like that… but yes. Still, I'm sure that if you explained it to your mother now, she'd understand you were just trying to protect your aunts, and all would be forgiven. After all, nothing bad actually happened from what the destroyers did, right?" Regalia nodded uncertainly. "And everything ended up going great for your farm?" Another nod. "Then it seems like things worked out in the end."
"… I guess." Regalia sighed. "Still, though… if not for my aunts putting themselves at risk like that, I probably couldn't have taken up farming like I did. If I had to do it over again… I'd still probably take the heat for them. I owed them that much."
Nagato closed her eyes, her expression one of approval. "That is very noble of you." She nodded. "Alright. Whether or not you choose to tell your mother the truth yourself… you can rest assured that I will keep your secret."
Regalia relaxed slightly, smiling. "Thanks, Great-Grandma."
"Think nothing of it." Nagato clapped her hands together—softly, so as not to wake any of the sleeping girls in the room. "Now, I think we've gotten a bit off-track here. Why don't we get back to the original topic?" Thinking for a moment, she continued. "Some of the destroyers told me about the sea cows that live around the island; how they liked to kill time watching them bob around in the water. What about you? Did you have any particular animal you liked to observe?"
Regalia bit her lip as she rocked her head side to side. "Well… at first, I thought it was pretty neat to watch the pigs that live on the island go about their business with their little fuzzy babies…" she chuckled darkly. "And then I started farming, and they became my worst enemy."
And so, the pair continued to talk about her life, about the land she called home. Nagato was able to learn a little more about this peculiar young girl, helping her open up a bit about herself, while at the same time piecing together a picture of the land her new granddaughters had survived and thrived in following Hoppou's absence. Regalia, meanwhile, had the rare chance to just shoot the breeze; discuss topics unrelated to her deformity, her hardships, her feelings in general. The details and events brought up were rarely important, or life-altering, but that wasn't the point—sometimes, you just needed to stop and appreciate the small things in life.
All the while, the pair was unaware of a certain Abyssal stealing glances at them... a small, knowing smile on her face.
Nighttime Stories
XXXXXXXXXX
"So she really meant it?"
Seated beside her Re-class escort, Wanko slowly nodded. "Yes. I have… no reason to… believe she would lie… about something like this."
Revina, her usual manic energy absent, looked down to the tablet in her lap—to the email sent by Hoppou about a day or so prior. There wasn't that much to the message itself: a greeting, a list of her surviving children and their own offspring, and anticipation of Wanko's arrival to see them. That last one was a given, of course; she wasn't about to leave her nieces thinking she hadn't missed them all these years. But at the end of the message was a postscript—one that left her deeply concerned.
My granddaughter Regalia was built wrong. Please don't be alarmed when you see her.
Revina grimaced. "Defectives are never fun to think about, especially when they're the same class as you." She glanced back down to the email, scanning the list of names for the Re-class's mother. "… Tanith's girl, huh… must have been a real gut-punch to her."
"Indeed." Wanko sighed. "This Regalia was… fortunate, to be born… to a good mother."
The Re-class nodded grimly. "Small blessings, I guess. Still, if Aunt Hoppou had to warn us in advance… the defect must berealbad."
If only… Little Sister… could have been… more descriptive. Wanko looked down at her daughter. "I trust you… will behave yourself… around her?"
Revina shook her head. "Don't need to tell me twice, Boss. I won't be hating on her for however she's messed up…" Her lips spread in a crooked grin. "But I hope she's at least got a sense of humor about it."
Wanko delicately pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing in exasperation.
XXXXXXXXXX
A pair of emerald eyes cracked open.
Regalia found herself staring at the ground, hanging over one arm of a couch while her tail hung over the other side. She checked her internal clock: 2317. She'd been resting for about three hours. Hopefully, her little nap would help her stay awake a little longer with everyone else as the drama unfolded.
Shifting slightly, the Re-class let out a soft grunt as she stretched her limbs… and heard an alarmed squawk from someone behind her. She looked back and was mortified to see her tail had also stretched itself out—right into Nagato's face. "O-oh, I'm so sorry, Great-Grandma, I didn't mean to…"
The shipgirl, though, just chuckled softly as she pushed the tail away. " It's okay, Regalia. I'm not hurt or upset, just a bit surprised." Glancing over, she raised an eyebrow. "Did you sleep well, laying like that? Doesn't really seem comfortable."
Regalia shrugged. "Actually, it's not too bad for me. Normally, I have to lay on my side, because sleeping on my front or back puts pressure on my keel, makes it uncomfortable. I found that letting myself hang over something takes most of that edge off, at least for laying face-down."
"Fair enough."
The Re-class lifted herself up from the side of the couch, assuming a sideways-seated position. Looking over, she saw a blob of Abyssals taking up much of the room, her own mother among them. The mass was completely silent, save for a small voice emanating from the center. "So, is that… riot still going on?"
Nagato nodded sadly. "Yes. Things seem to be coming to a head. Hoppou is still worried for her friends, as is Harry. They refuse to rest while their friends are in danger. As for your mother and aunts…" she gestured to the gathering. "They certainly seem determined to be here for her, now that they are reunited."
Taking a closer look, Regalia realized that more than a few of the Abyssals crowded around Grandma and Uncle Harry had actually fallen asleep; their unconscious forms propped up against their sisters, themselves looking ready to keel over but adamant to remain at their mother's side. Tanith in particular, while visibly drooping in her weariness, remained resolute in supporting Hoppou, listening to the radio right beside her mother. "Wow. I usually don't see them clustered together like this outside of a cuddlepile."
"Hm."
The room was quiet for a time, the only sound being the wizard radio and the occasional sleeping sound from one of the Abyssals. Eventually, Nagato spoke again. "So… I've heard a fair bit about what life was like for Hoppou and her girls in the Aleutians, from a number of sources." She looked to Regalia. "But oddly, not much has been said about how you and your aunts got by up until now, hiding from the world. So, I thought I should ask someone knowledgeable in that subject; someone who was born and raised in that exile."
Regalia blinked. "You want to hear… about my life at home?"
The battleship nodded. "Of course. Is it wrong for me to want to know a bit more about one of my great-grandchildren?" For a brief instant, her gaze flickered to Regalia's back. "Especially considering how you… have likely experienced life differently from other Abyssals."
She had a point there. 'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk about that stuff...' Regalia thought to herself. She pursed her lips, thinking of how to begin. "The island we lived on… the island I grew up on… it's a bit odd for me to describe. It's a nice, big island, plenty of space to relax, explore, just be ourselves. But at the same time, it…"
"It feels so small?" Nagato supplied.
Mulling it over, the Re-class nodded. "… Yeah. I've pretty much lived my life as a normal girl, but I'm still an Abyssal. I'm made to wander the great big oceans of the world… or rather, I'm supposed to be. Instead, I was limited to one little island. There's a lot to explore, yeah, but it just doesn't feel like I'm accomplishing anything important by doing so."
The shipgirl suppressed a grimace. She was reminded of a captive zoo animal, living in a habitat much too small for it… only it wasnecessaryin Regalia's case, as she literally wasn't capable of surviving in her natural environment. "I cannot imagine what that was like for you growing up. The closest I've ever really come to such a feeling is… being ordered not to sortie, I suppose."
Regalia shook her head. "It's okay… I think. It only really concerned me for about the first year of my life. After that… well, I got my hands on some crops, and started farming for my family. I just naturally stopped worrying about what I couldn't do, and I focused more on what I could."
"A wise decision," Nagato hummed. "It sounds like it did a lot of good for your peace of mind." She glanced over to Regalia. "I've seen you munching on raw vegetables a couple times, so you evidently grow a number of different crops. Which was your first, though? And how did you choose?"
Regalia considered the question. "Well… it turns out there were farms left behind by the original inhabitants of the island, that were buried under shrubs and weeds, and they had harvested all sorts of veggies. But until we committed to landscaping and actually discovered them, for all we knew, no crops grew on the island. So the only way I thought we could get any was bringing it in from somewhere else. And according to Mom and the others, the only stuff that was seriously grown up there in the North Pacific was potatoes."
Nagato's eyes widened. "So you left the island to find something to grow? Even with your condition?"
Regalia opened her mouth to respond, but she paused. Suddenly, there was this metaphorical weight bearing down on her, something she felt compelled to get off her chest immediately. "Actually… no."
"Eh?"
She glanced over to the lump of half-asleep Abyssals surrounding Nagato's two children, Tanith included. "Can you… keep a secret? From my mom?"
The shipgirl tipped her head, confused. "I suppose I could. What is it that you don't want her to know?"
Looking back and forth between Nagato and Tanith, wanting to make absolutely sure her mother wasn't paying attention, Regalia eventually leaned in. "I told my mom that I snuck off the island to scavenge for the crops I would eventually plant, just like you suggested… but that's not the truth." She whispered hesitantly. "Not entirely, at least."
Nagato's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean by that?"
Regalia took a deep breath before she continued. "… One day, Aunt Ruadri was telling me and my aunts, several of the destroyers, a story. She talked about how Grandma once bought out almost all of Unalaska's potato supply to bake and feed to her fleet. They all liked them so much, they sent the next cargo plane back with a note: 'bring extra potatoes next time'." She chuckled softly at the thought of it. "And when they did, Grandma's fleet took the surplus for themselves, and brought in a few humans to help them cultivate all of it… so they could continue to enjoy them."
Nagato smiled. "That is certainly something Hoppou would do."
"Yeah…" Regalia paused. "It got me and my aunts thinking. That was back before I found my calling… when all I could do was explore the island, hang out with my family, take naps. It just didn't feel right that I couldn't do something for the fleet, when everyone else had a job they could do. Then Ruadri told us that story, and I wondered: maybe I could dothat? Grow food for everyone? It seemed simple enough, it didn't involve any sort of sailing, and I could provide for my fleet. But… we searched around the island at one point, and we didn't find any plants in the open wild that we knew for a fact were edible. Nothing that could be grown for everyone to eat."
The Re-class briefly clutched at her chest. "It was… kinda painful, having a small ray of hope snuffed out like that. I tried to just let go of it, move on… but my aunts saw my distress. And they couldn't stand to see me hurting like that." She was quiet for a few seconds. "A couple days later, they were sent out on a long-range patrol. They took nearly a day longer than anyone expected to return; they said they found shipgirls in the same area and were forced to lie low. But, the day after they came back… the destroyers came up to me, in private, and told me they'd brought me a… gift."
Rolling her backpack off, Regalia reached in and pulled out an object—an empty burlap sack. "They'd gone back to Unalaska. Snuck into the harbor. Stole some potatoes from one of the few storehouses that survived the original invasion… just for me." She ran her fingers gently over the rough fabric. "They risked so much for so little. They abandoned their patrol route. Intruded on human-controlled territory. Threatened death and exposure for all of us… just so I could have something constructive to do with my time. I… I didn't know how Mom would handle that. So, when I showed Mom the potatoes and she demanded to know where I got them…"
Nagato had a rough idea of where this was going. "You let Tanith think it was you."
"Yes. I did." Regalia looked torn. "I didn't want my aunts to get punished just because they wanted to make me happy… to help me, help the fleet. Sure, they're older than me, but they're still destroyers; their thinking can be a little basic sometimes. They're not immune to mistakes."
"… You're quite brave, to shoulder the burden of your mother's wrath."
"Yeah, but… I'm not sure it's something I want to experience twice." The Re-class pulled her legs up, curling into a ball. "To see my mom glaring down at me… with so muchragein her eyes… it felt awful."
"Hmm…" Nagato had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well… I doubt Tanith enjoyed it either."
Regalia looked at the battleship, eyes widening slightly. "You really think so?"
"Hai." Nagato looked towards the younger Princess in question. "She clearly loves you deeply, wants you to be happy… but she also wants to keep you safe. If she was thinking that you endangered yourself so recklessly, because you wanted so badly to be helpful… it must have terrified her. A lot more than a couple destroyers who don't know better getting themselves into trouble. Does that make sense?"
Regalia was quiet for a moment, thinking, before a look of dread crept up onto her face. "You mean… by taking the blame for my aunts, I may have made my momangrierthan she would have been?"
The shipgirl pursed her lips. "I wouldn't say it quite like that… but yes. Still, I'm sure that if you explained it to your mother now, she'd understand you were just trying to protect your aunts, and all would be forgiven. After all, nothing bad actually happened from what the destroyers did, right?" Regalia nodded uncertainly. "And everything ended up going great for your farm?" Another nod. "Then it seems like things worked out in the end."
"… I guess." Regalia sighed. "Still, though… if not for my aunts putting themselves at risk like that, I probably couldn't have taken up farming like I did. If I had to do it over again… I'd still probably take the heat for them. I owed them that much."
Nagato closed her eyes, her expression one of approval. "That is very noble of you." She nodded. "Alright. Whether or not you choose to tell your mother the truth yourself… you can rest assured that I will keep your secret."
Regalia relaxed slightly, smiling. "Thanks, Great-Grandma."
"Think nothing of it." Nagato clapped her hands together—softly, so as not to wake any of the sleeping girls in the room. "Now, I think we've gotten a bit off-track here. Why don't we get back to the original topic?" Thinking for a moment, she continued. "Some of the destroyers told me about the sea cows that live around the island; how they liked to kill time watching them bob around in the water. What about you? Did you have any particular animal you liked to observe?"
Regalia bit her lip as she rocked her head side to side. "Well… at first, I thought it was pretty neat to watch the pigs that live on the island go about their business with their little fuzzy babies…" she chuckled darkly. "And then I started farming, and they became my worst enemy."
And so, the pair continued to talk about her life, about the land she called home. Nagato was able to learn a little more about this peculiar young girl, helping her open up a bit about herself, while at the same time piecing together a picture of the land her new granddaughters had survived and thrived in following Hoppou's absence. Regalia, meanwhile, had the rare chance to just shoot the breeze; discuss topics unrelated to her deformity, her hardships, her feelings in general. The details and events brought up were rarely important, or life-altering, but that wasn't the point—sometimes, you just needed to stop and appreciate the small things in life.
All the while, the pair was unaware of a certain Abyssal stealing glances at them... a small, knowing smile on her face.