Hey.
It's another chapter of fun things, nothing serious.
Take a shot every time you see the word Cosplayers.
Let's go ahead and get back to it.
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"War... War never changes."
The Admiral, now in his own house, scoffed at the TV screen. He lounged in the dark, playing Fallout 3 to wind down after a busy few days.
Fallout 3 is the greatest of the Fallout series.
"War doesn't change? How about turning warships into girls? Is that change enough for you developers!" He shouted at the screen as he listened to the game's intro.
"Hehe, I didn't know you felt so strongly about these things, Admiral."
The Admiral scowled at the shipgirl who invaded his home and made herself comfortable beside him.
"This is my time, Long Island, so shut it!"
Long Island rolled her eyes and continued to watch her phone in relative silence if the munching on snacks counted as silence.
A few minutes later...
"You ever wondered what would happen if we dropped an atom bomb on IJN Kohaku?"
Long Island looked blankly at the Admiral for his random question, "Wow, someone's sensitive today."
"I'm not sensitive," The Admiral growls.
"You're asking what would happen if we dropped one of those big bombs on a single Kansen, a very specific Kansen, that screams there is a sensitive topic to be discussed."
From her position, she could see the Admiral's jaw clenching and his grip on the console controller tightening. She could hear the plastic struggle under his grip.
"You know we are on the verge of another civil war, right?" He grunted.
"War game?"
"Civil War!"
"Same thing, Admiral," Long Island shrugged, not bothered by the Admiral's furious look.
"Enlighten me then! How is it the same?"
"Hehe, oh Admiral, let me answer that with a question: how many Kansen died during the last war between Azur Lane and Crimson Axis?"
"None?"
"Exactly. We shoot each other and cause damage, but how else will we gain real battle experience? It's not like the Sirens are reliable. We see them maybe a few times a month?"
"..."
"We vent our frustrations on each other, and then we return better than ever when the Sirens come knocking."
"But Bismarck..." The Admiral started.
"Bismarck is a Tsundere that, unfortunately, values strength in the form of action. Kohaku has annoyed Bismarck too often to be ignored, and her only way of punishing him is to intimidate us. She had no choice but to put on a big show by threatening war to appear strong, but in reality, Bismarck is a big softy who wants to meet Kohaku. She's just too shy to admit it."
"And If she does declare war and attacks?"
"She won't."
"But if she does?"
"She won't," Long Island looks up and smiles at the Admiral.
The Admiral sighs loudly, "Why does she want to meet Kohaku?"
"Hehehe, why do most Kansen want to meet him?"
"Miss Island, are all Shipgirls perverts?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"I'm glad I'm old then..." The Admiral sighed, feeling better after talking with Long Island.
Before Long Island could retort, she saw a few posts blow up on her social media page, everyone asking for her to comment.
Kitsune seen in downtown Tokyo
Only male Kansen in Tokyo
Kitsune from the Sakura Empire posing with Royal Navy cosplayers
Long Island stared with mouth agape as she scrolled past multiple posts, all with a single topic in mind.
IJN Kohaku.
The cheeky bastard! Long Island had often asked for leave to go to the human cities to socialise with her fans and the public at large but was denied every time, being told a Kansen's presence among the civilians would kick a hornet's nest.
She guessed they weren't wrong; social media is going wild!
It wasn't long before pictures started appearing in rapid succession from her follower base.
Kohaku posing with children and families.
With cosplayers
With police officers?
Heck, even posing with a group of JSDF soldiers!
Long Island would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous; he was doing everything she wanted to do, but her negative thoughts vanished when she saw the picture of the Royal Navy cosplayers.
"Ahahah, Holy sh*t!" Long Island laughed towards the ceiling, making the Admiral jump, which caused his Lone Wanderer to get killed by a Super Mutant.
"Dammit, Long Island!"
"Look at this, Admiral," Showing only the picture of the Royal Maid cosplayers and Kohaku.
The Admiral swiped the phone from her grip and looked at it with a frown, "When was this taken? I don't recall Kohaku ever meeting the Royal Navy personally, and even then, these Maids are rarely in the same place together."
Long Island rolled her eyes again and giggled, "Look at the background."
Following her advice, his eyes scanned the background and came to the cold realisation.
"This was taken yesterday?!"
"Heh, looks like it, yeah." Long Island replied nonchalantly.
Standing up in shock, "Why are the Royal Maids in Tokyo!"
"Ahahahaha, Admiral, they are cosplayers!"
"Huh? cosplayers?"
"People who dress in costumes and make-up, representing characters from anime, video games, television and film," Long Island scolded him as if this was something everyone should have known.
"So... Why are they dressed up as Kansen?"
Long Island snorted again, "You old Idiot, you have a game in your Console Libary called 'Azur Lane: Crosswave'"
"We don't talk about that game!"
"Oh, I know, Admiral. I'm still angry about how they represent me; I look nothing like that, and my thighs are not so thick!"
"Long Island, your thick thighs are not important," He waved her off, intently looking at the picture of Kohaku.
"Excuse me?! They aren't thick!"
"Wait, Wait! If these are cosplayers, then that means they are civilians of Tokyo, and Kohaku is casually walking around the place?"
Still glaring at the Admiral scornfully, "Yeah?"
"Can all Kansen see this?"
"Originally, no, but San Diego saw fit to post it publicly to all Shipgirls that use social media." Long Island shrugged, still glaring.
"Which is all of them!" The Admiral yelled.
"Not true. I believe they tried teaching Lady Mikasa how to use a phone, but she had a meltdown about how technology was evolving too fast, that it was simpler in her day and stormed off."
"..."
"What? Don't glare at me, Admiral!"
Ignoring her, "Where is Nagato and her fleet?"
"Do I look like your secretary?" Long Island folded her arms, annoyed.
"Unless you want your gaming set up confiscated."
"Woah, Let's not be hasty," Long Island threw her hands up in surrender, "Lady Nagato and her escort left yesterday. I'm pretty sure you were there to see them off."
"Small details aren't worth remembering."
"You calling Lady Nagato small?" Long Island glared at the Admiral with renewed anger.
"What? No!"
The Admiral defended himself. Nagato might have been a Sakura Empire leader, but she had a way of making everyone she met like her. No faction was immune to her innocent and pretty demeanour.
Even if she was a powerhouse when angry.
That's why people were not allowed to visit her. Specifically, humans are suspected to be Lolicons. They would inevitably do something stupid and get turned into a paste by the small battleship.
If not by her, then her endless supply of supporters.
"Why do you want to know where Lady Nagato is, Admiral?"
"Because she has Akagi, Kaga, and Taiho with her, I don't need them to rush into human-populated areas and destroy everything.
"Isn't the Iron Blood more likely to do something now?"
"Iron Blood... Sh*t!" The Admiral curses and rushes out of the room.
"Admiral!"
- - - - - - - - - -
"Care to Explain this, Belfast, Sirius, Sheffield?"
Belfast, Sirius, Sheffield and a dozen other maids stood curtsying respectfully to Queen Elizabeth, who sat stiffly on her throne, slightly elevated above the maids. Warspite stood to her left and looked even more furious than the Queen.
"Your Majesty, we don't understand!"
"You abandoned your head maid duties, Belfast and took the rest of the maids to go and gallivant with a Sakura Empire Kansen, with Kohaku, of all people."
"What?! No, we never!"
"SILENCE!" QE shouted.
While Queen Elizabeth berated her maids, Hood, King George, Ark Royal and Monarch stormed into the room.
"Your Majesty, we received your urgent call. What's happened?" Monarch shouted, startling everyone with her powerful voice.
Queen Elizabeth didn't reply but pointed to a large picture projected on a screen against the far wall, which dozens of attending Royal Navy Kansen were looking on with interest.
"Oh my!" Hood giggled at the sight of the picture.
"Lady Hood, Take this seriously!" Warspite barked. Her mood was at an all-time low. She tried to meet with Nagato before she left the Island but was too late. Nagato bailed from Azur Lane faster than she anticipated, and only Belfast could stop her trying to sail after her.
She would meet Nagato sooner rather than later, but the image of Kohaku projected before her proved he wasn't with the Sakura Empire at that moment. This was a small victory for Warspite.
"I'm sorry, but I can't."
Queen Elizabeth glared at Hood, "This is no time for your games, Hood. My Maid core's honour is on the line, so what do you know we don't?"
Hood stopped giggling and noticed how serious everyone was. A dozen maids led by Belfast were looking at her with pleading eyes.
Hood walked forward and stood closer to the maids and the projector. She pointed at the picture and said, "Your Majesty, I understand why you believe these to be your maids, but they aren't."
Everyone either gasped or muttered quietly.
"Silence!" QE shouted again, and everyone went quiet. She looked back at Hood and said, "Explain."
"They are humans, dressing up as Kansen."
Everyone looked at her strangely, and some whispered.
"Imposters?" QE growled.
Hood smiled and shook her head, "Cosplayers."
"I... We don't follow."
Hood laughed lightly and explained to everyone what Cosplaying was and how it was typical among humans. She explained how it was actually a great honour if someone were to dress up as you because it meant they loved you as a character and wanted to be you and show you off.
Everyone looked between her and the projected image of the human women dressed and looking almost identically to the real maids of the Royal Navy.
The maids who stood before the Queen, initially worried about punishment, blushed at the idea of people dressing up as them because they looked up to them, even if it almost got them in trouble.
"It's not an insult, your Majesty, or an act of subterfuge; it's just people looking up to us and expressing it in cosplay."
Hood could see Queen Elizabeth was conflicted, so she decided to go for the jugular. She pulled out her phone and connected it to the projector.
Everyone watched her every move, but she was unbothered as she went through her phone, looking for something specific, "Here we are!"
The projected screen changed for everyone to see.
Kansen-Convention: Best Cosplayers.
Everyone stood baffled by what they saw as Hood slowly went from dozens of pictures and videos of humans dressed as Shipgirls.
Plenty of maids and Belfast lookalikes walking around, flattering the maids even more.
Prince of Wales and King George were shocked at seeing a picture of them together, but not them smiling at the camera.
Everyone laughed at the tall woman cosplaying Ark Royal and surrounded by her little sisters dressed as destroyers, much to Ark Royal's embarrassment and Envy.
More laughs at a man dressed as an Admiral pinned to the floor by an Akagi, Kaga cosplaying duo.
Much to everyone's shock and amusement, the video showed twenty Queen Elizabeths running around the convention, shouting orders at everyone. Meanwhile, several Warspites chased everyone away from the Queens with fake swords.
Queen Elizabeth didn't know if she should be flattered or horrified at her counterparts. Warspite was starting to smile at the fun everyone was having; Warspite thought the sight of many people looking up to her other than fellow Shipgirls was a sweet feeling.
Plus, the weight lifted off her regarding a certain Kitsune running off with a bunch of Royal Maids. But anger still stirred at the idea of Kohaku hanging around a bunch of human women. Like that first Belfast cosplayer, she was practically eye-banging him!
Hood ended her show, much to everyone's disappointment; even Queen Elizabeth wanted to see more people trying to be her. That's how it should be, she thought.
After the excited chatter died down, everyone turned back to Queen Elizabeth. The Queen looked at Belfast and the other maids. Swallowing her pride, she stood up, "Belfast, and my maid core, I... I... I apologise for assuming the worst."
Queen Elizabeth bowed.
All Shipgirls looked at her, stunned. Even Warspite looked at her bowing sister in shock.
Belfast recovered first and bowed in return, followed quickly by the rest of the maids, "There is nothing to forgive, your Majesty. You only ever wanted us to be the best and believed we were insulting you by neglecting our duties."
Queen Elizabeth stood straight and smiled, "Yes, that's exactly right!" None noticed the bead of sweat rolling down her head.
"While the matter of the wayward maids is resolved, Your Majesty, there is still the matter of Kohaku?" Hood smiled, and Queen Elizabeth frowned.
"What about him?"
"His location is now known to everyone, Azur Lane and beyond. Even the Sirens probably know his location now. Should we move to recover him?"
Queen Elizabeth looked down in thought before looking at everyone present. "Yes, we don't want the likes of Bismarck to have him. I need some volunteers to retrieve IJN Kohaku," she said, looking at the maids.
Queen Elizabeth didn't think her request through as every Kansen's hand shot into the air.
What Shipgirl wouldn't raise their hands if allowed to go after a male Kansen and visit a human city?
The Queen groaned and looked at Belfast and Sheffield.
If humans liked to cosplay as Shipgirls, what better option than the two most popular Royal Navy maids to infiltrate Tokyo as cosplayers and find Kohaku?
Without the Admiral, the Admiralty or the Sakura Empire knowing?
What could go wrong?
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Done!
Another fun chapter.
The Admiral is a fun character to write about and very relatable. I also liked how he and Long Island got along.
Long Island spitting facts, Bismarck is a softy who shows interest through strength and intimidation by force.
She sees it right through Bismarck, as most Kansen probably does.
Shoutout to Fallout 3 and Azur Lane Crosswave.
Even though most shipgirls(Rip Mikasa) are on social media, it doesn't mean they fully understand us that well.
They were created to fight and wage war, not perform for our entertainment.
Shipgirls now understand cosplayers and are flattered, which I would be too if someone dressed up as me at a convention, assuming I was famous. Otherwise, it might be weird or someone trying to steal your identity. Watch out!
Hood is a mastermind; she's probably a professional thief at night and an elegant lady warship during the day.
It looks like all the girls want to go to Tokyo, which is not viable as they would draw attention and have no permission from the Sakura Empire or Admiralty.
I own no Art or Gif's
Thanks for the support and votes!
Zero-