>Kongo and Maya. On a stealth recon mission.
>
>What could possibly go wrong, he said completely straight-faced.

They mostly got away with it, presumably in large part because Honolulu is a pretty chill place. In some towns they'd probably have caused a riot.

>> Folding her arms, Tatsuta scowled at him, the first overt show of emotion
>> she'd yet produced. "You fool," she said. "Do you think she wears that...
>> outfit... because she thinks it's stylish?"
>
>... oh goddammit.

Yeah, that's just about how Corwin feels at that particular moment, too.

It really dismays him how often he comes up against the fallout from that sort of behavior in his life. I mean, is he missing something? Is it really that challenging to just not be like that? What the hell is wrong with these people?

>> "Eh, no worries," Utena said, stepping out of her jean shorts. "I'm still
>> as dressed as I ever was to play hoops back in high school," she added,
>> modeling her sports bra and bike shorts with a little grin. "Besides, the
>> only guy on this island's my husband, and I promise you, he's seen the
>> rest of my hull before."
>
>Snrk.
>
>Thanks, Utena, I needed that about now.

She's learning! There's more than one way to ride to a rescue. :)

>Earthfleet Operator is either a robot -- BUMA? -- or the most chill
>person on the planet.

Comes with the job, and the standard operating procedures for same. "No questions asked" pretty soon leads to "no shits given" or you get so tangled up in wondering what's going on that you have to find something else to do.

>> «I am Buran,» she said, in what Kongō's language plugin informed her
>> was flat, accentless Russian. «I am the first of the Special Type I-A
>> destroyers.» She paused, lowering her hand, and then went on in
>> precisely the same toneless voice, «I will be in your care.»
>
>I'm not sure I'm parsing this part correctly. Didn't Clemson state
>that Buran was Kongo's new escort vessel? Doesn't that imply Kongo is
>in Buran's care?
>
>Or does the term 'escort vessel' not mean what it seems to mean on the
>face of it?

From what I've read, it seem that's a common figure of speech in Japanese conversation, something people who are going to be working together often say to each other when they're introduced. A lot of the ship girls in Kantai Collection say some variant of it in the first line they speak in-game, when they're introducing themselves to the Admiral (i.e., the player).

(The customary answer is "I'll be in your care as well," implying that We'll All Be Working Hard Together.)

>At any rate, good stuff! I've expressed before, somewhere, that the
>Diqiu stuff doesn't rock my world much -- it's fun, but it's not what
>I come looking for most of the time -- but this stuff is very firmly
>putting its thumb on the button and mashing it for all its worth.
>
>I don't know what exactly that button is, but it is being mashed.
>This and the recent-ish Vocaloid bits both.
>
>I am eagerly waiting for more. Thanks!

Glad you're enjoying it. Next up will probably be the next The Federation Lives Forever!, and then a Mini in support of/setup for Fleet Record 2, which we're working on sort of in parallel (as they're both happening at around the same time).

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.