I can't say that I disliked Jacob, but he didn't make enough of an impression on me -- or at least, not enough of a positive one -- that I could place what you meant, either.

Ah well, any excuse to dust off ME2 is a good excuse, right?

>
>As for Akitsu Maru, well, again,
>the parallels are not exact,
>but you're not too far wrong, either.
>
>(Note that in that picture, she has more of a facial expression than
>Kongō has ever seen on her.)

Mm.

This is one of those times (fairly common, hangin' round these parts) where I have only very slightly more than no idea what you're talking about. I'm aware of Arpeggio of Blue Steel in the sense that I've watched the first season of the anime, but I lack any firsthand knowledge of other sources. Your comments here tell me there's manga, apparently there's a video game of some sort, maybe? -- and brother, let me tell you, I don't even want to *peek* into the corners of the internet where shipgirl arguments fly back and forth like shells from their cannons, because, yowch.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that EPU is pretty much my 'canon source' for these characters, so I'm not likely to catch references like Akitsu there.

I don't mind this; I'm just pointing out where I come from. :)

>
>--G.
>* As an aside, this just reminded me that one of my
>favorite things about Elba's performance as Stacker Pentecost in
>Pacific Rim is that he has two different accents. In the scene
>where he's so worn out and just done with it all that he finally
>unbent a bit, and he's talking to Raleigh about his illness, he loses
>his clipped military diction and reverts to what I suspect is the
>character's "native" accent, which is way more "rough part of London".
> "The Mark Is... we frew dem bad boys togedder in six monfs." It's
>brilliantly done.

I didn't realize that's what that was! I thought that Elba's native accent had slipped through for a minute or something. I agree, that's clever.

And now, as threatened previously, a more in-depth though by no means exhaustive take:

> Warming to her thesis now, the blonde battleship smiled a slightly smug
> little smile and declared confidently, "A battleship and a heavy cruiser
> of the Fog walk among them, and no one has taken any notice."

Huh. Kongo and Maya, right? I guess they changed clothes since the episode I sa--

> By the time they arrived at the corner of Wai'alae and 13th Avenue, they
> had an entire school of curious onlookers: tourists, locals, all mingled
> together, hanging back a not-very-discreet distance and snapping pictures.
> It was like a little impromptu street festival with the two Fog Mental
> Models at its focus.

-- ah. Guess not, then.

Kongo and Maya. On a stealth recon mission.

What could possibly go wrong, he said completely straight-faced.

> Letting it pass, she turned her attention to the rest of the objects.
> Three of them were immediately recognizable: they were scale models of
> warships, two from the mid-twentieth-century Pacific War. One of those
> represented Lionfish herself, a Balao-class American fleet submarine;

I am ashamed to admit it took me until this point in the story to realize just whose home Kongo and Maya were invading, and what sort of recon mission they were on.

I am not a smart man.

> Corwin went to his ersatz desk, but did not sit down in the folding camp
> chair that stood behind it, instead remaining on his feet while he looked
> them over. He hadn't seen much of these three over the (very busy) weekend
> since he and the Midway ships had rescued them from Earthforce; apart from
> a brief meeting on Saturday morning to welcome them to the fleet, they had
> mostly kept out of his path, almost to the point where he suspected they
> might be avoiding him.

I wondered what was going to happen with the extras picked up during that trip.

Well, I mean, I knew somehow they'd end up where later pieces have shown them, but I wondered *how*.

> The light cruiser regarded him with dark, unreadable eyes for a moment,
> then said calmly, "Do you really not understand?"
>
> Corwin blinked. "Uh... I guess not."

Me either!

> 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.

> Corwin considered her with a grave expression for a moment, then said, "I
> bet I'm not going to like what I'm about to learn... but I think you had
> better explain."

I think I'd rather she didn't but yes, yes she had.

> "I'm fine," Kongō replied brusquely, and then—in a snap decision that
> surprised even herself—she ordered, "Organize and pack everything here
> for transport. We'll take it back to Kure for further study."
>
> Maya blinked. "Everything?"
>
> "Yes, Maya, everything. It's a small dwelling, you should have plenty
> of space in your number-one hold."

I hope this means we're gonna see a redemption arc for Kongo. I really really do.

(I don't feel like Maya needs one; she's, for lack of a better term, innocent.)

<Black Omega Bad News Pain Train>

Nyyaaaarrrrgggggghhhhhh.

That about sums it up. I don't really feel like trying to dissect and analyze the situation all clinically. Just... fuck.

> "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.

> Opening a secure channel to Earthfleet Command, the heavy cruiser
> declared cheerfully, "Hiiiii, this is Maya from the Asiatic Special
> Surface Detachment! I have a load of cargo that I need to get beamed
> to my number-one hold, please!"
>
> The operator at the other end didn't seem to think there was anything
> odd about that request; she merely replied in a calm, clipped tone,
> "Roger, patching you through to the Global Transporter Grid now. Please
> define the scan area."
>
> "Rooooo-gerrrrrr," Maya sang, drawing a box around the container stack
> with her laser designator. "There you go!"
>
> "Copy, coordinates received. Energizing now, stand clear."
>
> "Bye-bye, Léonne's things!" said Maya, waving gaily, as the containers
> shimmered and disappeared.
>
> "Transport complete," said the Earthfleet operator. "Anything else you
> need?"
>
> "Nope, all good for now," Maya replied. "Seeya!"
>
> "Earthfleet out."

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

Well, they'd have to be at this point, all things considered.

Reminds me -- not entirely coincidentally, I suspect -- of listening in on the ATC tower. I realize it's a high-stress job and all, but the good ones make your blood pressure drop just listening to their laconic drawl.

> "We don't know Commander Poisson personally," she said, "but we're kind
> of like colleagues." Dipping her hand into her giant happy-face handbag,
> she displayed her Earthforce ID too quickly for Cappy to really read,
> then went on, "We're with the quartermaster corps."

Why am I surprised that it's Maya who's the quick-thinking con-artist? I really shouldn't be. Kongo wouldn't understand deception if it bit her in the ass. Oh wait.

> "Put that back. It's a petrochemical. Why did you look up Léonne's
> neighbor on the Nightwatch facial recognition database?"

Aw, c'mon, Kongs -- she might like it. Let her live a little!

(Part of me is giggling like the perpetual twelve-year-old that I am and pointing out all the bad puns and innuendos that can be milked from this one bit. I am very firmly not allowing that part to reach the keyboard.)

> Did that mean it was going to happen to her? Would she wake from
> maintenance cycle one day soon to find herself acting as erratically,
> as strangely, as inefficiently as all the others? Forming irrational
> attachments to things, developing tastes and habits unconnected with,
> or even detrimental to, the performance of her function as a ship of
> the Fog? Perhaps even having... opinions?
>
> Inconceivable.
>
> Intolerable.

Don't knock it until you've tried it, Kongo.

> «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?

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!

--sofaspud
--