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“So, we’re just going to wait here?”
The commander looked at Independence. “I figured it would be best for us to let her countrywomen greet her first when she arrived. Besides, I was told she knew what to do once she got here.”
The commander and Independence looked down onto the docks. A new ship from Sardegna had arrived, and was currently in the process of being greeted and embraced by her comrades, from destroyers to light cruisers and further up the line.
Independence had questions. “So, what’s her name, anyway?”
The commander looked at his tablet. “She’s Amerigo Vespucci, a training vessel. It may seem odd for her to be a part of our fleet from now on, but Jeanne d’Arc was also a training ship who became a capable fighter as a Kansen. We still don’t understand exactly how that works, but we’re not exactly in a place where we can turn down another pair of hands.” He put his tablet away. “Besides, she seems nice.”
The two of them watched as she practically jumped into a hug with Trento and the Zara sisters, and then she moved down to greet her leaders, Vittorio Veneto and Littorio. While she did have a formal exchange with the eternal flagship, Littorio gave her a rather dramatic kiss on the hand, and her older sister had to prevent her from going for more than that. At least, that’s how the commander saw things.
With that out of the way, she then practically bounced up the stairway towards where the commander and Independence were. Independence watched. “She’s one of their ships, all right.”
Amerigo Vespucci finally came to a stop right in front of the commander and Independence, and both of them got a good look at once kind of ship she was. She had the same marvelous looks as many of the other ships of her country, but from her demeanor, she didn’t quite deploy them in the same way. Instead, Amerigo Vespucci seemed intent on being a creature of good cheer.
And so, she gave a little bow to the commander while Independence looked on, marveling at Vespucci’s grace and comportment. “Amerigo Vespucci, at your service, commander. Do not worry yourself about my readiness- Taking a long voyage to a new port is more invigorating than tiring for me.”
The commander smiled. “It’s nice to see that you’re in good spirits. Anyways, I am the commander of Azur Lane, its fleets and facilities, and this lady here is the aircraft carrier Independence, who came by because she was curious, more or less.”
“Curious..?” Amerigo Vespucci stepped over to stand in front of Independence, and smiled warmly at her. She then took both of Independence’s hands in her own. “If that’s the truth, then I wouldn’t mind going exploring with you sometime. I’m sure you have many wonderful places you want to show me, and I’s like to show you all the wonderful places I know, too.”
Independence seemed stunned, and so the commander gave her a little nudge. “…I think she wants you to say something.”
The brown-haired carrier took a sharp breath through her nose. Even apart from being friendly, it was everything else that went together. Her lovely smile, her braided hair, her sense of dress, demeanor, and proportions. Independence was a very straightforward person who always pushed others to say exactly what she was feeling, so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise when she blurted out the first words that popped into her head.
So the first words that came sailing out of her mouth were. “You’re the most beautiful ship in the world!”
Both the commander and Amerigo Vespucci went wide-eyed, and the Sardegnian ship blushed a bit, and gave a nervous smile, obviously surprised. “Oh! Oh… I see… Hehe…”
Silence followed afterwards, one of those lengthy, awkward moments of quiet when everyone wants to say something, but can’t find any words appropriate to follow what just happened.
Not that it stopped some people from saying something anyway. The silence was broken by Littorio shouting her own input. “Looks like our dear Union aviator has decided to hit the ground running!”
The commander decided to defuse things. “…Anyway, welcome to Azur Lane. I think your countrywomen will help you get accommodated.”
Amerigo Vespucci bowed a little to both of them. “Ah, thank you both. It has been a pleasure to meet you.”
After she left to go back to Vittorio Veneto and the others, the commander turned to look at Independence. “Something you want to talk about?”
“In your office.” Independence blushed a little herself. “Please.”
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“I don’t even know what happened! It just came out.” Independence was sitting on a couch in the commander’s office, her fingers on the sides of her head.
The commander was at his desk, finalizing some of Vespucci’s assignment paperwork. “I’m not surprised at all. You’re the one who keeps telling others they should just come out and tell others how they feel. Just coming out and saying something like that seems like it’d be natural for you.”
She let out a ragged sigh as she leaned all the way back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling. “Maybe it is how I feel, but now I’ve embarrassed myself, too, and in front of an entire country’s worth of ships.”
The commander shrugged. “I think Littorio was trying to be supportive, at least.”
She rolled her head to the side. “Maybe, but I don’t know how she feels about it. I’m no good at telling these sorts of things, that’s why I want people to just say that kind of thing.”
He signed off on the last of the papers, putting them in the box for outgoing work. “I would say this. Today, she’s probably going to be spending time getting settled in her new room, so why not offer to show her around? That way you’ll find out, one way or the other.”
Independence thought about it for a moment. “All right, I’ll do it. One way or another, I do want to know.”
The commander put his feet up on his desk. “I was just thinking. A different carrier called Independence once called her “The most beautiful ship in the world” some time ago, so maybe it runs in the name?”
“Ugh, commander…”
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Independence didn’t need to wait long for Amerigo Vespucci to show up. The training ship had all the boundless energy of any other explorer. She was a little surprised when the Sardegnian ship agreed after that embarrassment on the dock the previous day, but…
“Hello!” Amerigo waved to Independence before walking up to her. “So, you wanted to show me around?”
“Yeah, and I was hoping you’d say yes. It meant that I didn’t do anything wrong.” She stretched. “Anything specific you might want to look for, or…”
“Just show me what there is to see. I want to find out why the others seem to love living here, hm?”
That narrowed things down. It meant that she wasn’t interested in seeing things like the military facilities, just having a good look at what regular life had to offer at the port. “That’s no problem at all. As hard as we must work on training and missions, we’re just as good at making a place we can take a load off.”
Amerigo put her hands behind her back, and giggled. “All right, help me explore, then.”
Even without going into town, there was plenty to see and do around the base, as the ships had a tendency to mold any environment into something that suited them. The dormitories housing the ships of each nation had been transformed into something far more than mere quarters- each one was a real home for those who dwelled in them, and so each of them were able to exercise their own hobbies in some place or another.
That was what was on their mind as soon as they picked up coffee from a little stand run by Mainz, who had made it her mission to show others what quality looked like.
Independence began talking after she got some coffee in her. “So, aside from that, everyone with an interest in showing off the things the do that aren’t fighting has a place to do that here.”
“Mmm.” Amerigo began, before taking a sip from her own cup. “So, if someone is a chef, they just make things and spread them around?”
“We have quite a few cooks here, too, from basically everywhere that has ships.” Independence shook her head. “You actually kinda have to be careful about that, because everything’s so delicious you might end up with a bit more than you bargained for.”
“Hehe, I’ll keep that in mind. You, after all, are the guide.”
After picking up some filled croissants to go with their coffee from Trento, the two went on their merry way until they were suddenly approached by South Dakota, who had something to ask. “Independence, would you happen to know anything about the next set of combined exercises, I…” She paused and had a look at Amerigo, who was looking at the battleship with delighted eyes. “I’m sorry, you seem to be busy, so.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I was showing her around in the first place.” Independence was happy to let someone else be the subject of Amerigo’s intense curiosity. “Anyway, Amerigo, this is South Dakota. You can always count on her to protect you at sea.”
Amerigo looked South Dakota up and down, clearly appreciating her- not merely for other proportions, but for her strength as well. “No doubt at all! I hope to work closely with you and Independence in the future.”
South Dakota blushed a little as she was appreciated, but she wasn’t really opposed to it. It was easy to see that it was out of genuine interest, not any kind of base ogling. “…Thank you… I’ll leave the tour in your hands, though.” And then the battleship went her own way.
Amerigo Vespucci turned her attention back to Independence. “It looks like there are no shortage of marvelous ships here, too.”
The light carrier scratched the back of her head. “Well, she and her two sisters are very strong, so you can always count on them, no matter what happens. And that goes for the port as well as at sea. They’re quiet, but they’ll help you.”
Her eyes went wide. “She has sisters?” Amerigo giggled. “Well, you must keep showing me more, then.”
Independence went on being Amerigo’s your guide, feeling that she should at least meet someone from every nation under their flag, not merely from the Union, and so she led her around, explaining things along the way.
It was a lovely, sunny day, so there wasn’t a shortage of people from foreign climes for Amerigo to meet on her way around the base as Independence showed her all the ways there were to blow off steam, and all of the people that were there to help her do it, and Independence found doing this sort of travel with her was a delight.
Because, at the end of the day, Amerigo Vespucci wanted to discover new and exciting things that she hadn’t ever seen before in person.
And the port just seemed to deliver a feast to satisfy Amerigo’s desires. The first member of the Sakura Empire they ran into was Amagi, who met them while she was on one of her rare walks outside. Not only was she happy to meet one of the famous Sakura kitsune for the first time, Amagi herself was a model of grace who was more than worthy to represent her country to the Sardegnian explorer, and Amerigo had plenty of questions, both about the Empire as well as the fox herself, including, naturally, tail care.
Independence watched as Eugen decided it was time to make her presence known and give the new arrival a bit of a tease, as she gave to everyone. However, as enigmatic as the Iron Blood cruiser could be at times, that sense of mystery seemed to inflame Amerigo’s curiosity even more. If Eugen had meant to appear inscrutable, then that only piqued Amerigo’s interest even more. Or perhaps that had been Eugen’s plan in the first place?
It just went that way all the way through, with Independence tagging along as their new arrival got acquainted with the various peoples of the port, as well as the other way around. Yat Sen, Gangut, Drake, and even more besides as Amerigo just wanted to see all of these people who had their origins from all around the world, all living in the same place for the same purpose. At the ended of the day, Amerigo wasn’t merely content with marking off places she had been on the map, she wanted to know people from all of the distant places of the world, as well, and Azur Lane offered her the most tremendous opportunity to do exactly that.
And the reason Independence couldn’t really catch all of the exact details was because Amerigo Vespucci was such a whirlwind of excitement.
Throughout all of this, Independence found her energy and enthusiasm infectious. It was uplifting, in a way to see someone get so excited over things that she may have taken for granted during her own time in the service of Azur Lane, and even though they had spent almost the whole morning walking around and introducing Amerigo to the denizens of the port (and vice-versa), Independence ended up feeling less tired at the end of it than she did at the beginning.
And so, she saw nothing wrong with going to Dunkerque’s place to pick up some manner of cake for herself and their new resident. And so, after Amerigo had her time talking to Dunkerque about everything Iris, including where she got her recipes from, the pair sat down on a bench outside to enjoy what they managed to get. However, as they ate, Independence noted that Amerigo Vespucci seemed rather quiet. “So, is there something on your mind? It’s better to let that sort of thing out.”
Amerigo Vespucci giggled. “Ahh… I was just thinking. I don’t know how many of you appreciate what you have.”
Independence blinked. “So, what do we have?”
“A little slice of the world, of course!” Amerigo stood up on the bench and took her map pointer in her hand, for the sake of emphasis. “Look around. Over there, we have a café that could be found anywhere on the streets of Napoli. But not much further down the way, there is an Iris patisserie and cake shop run, as it should be, by a lovely girl who a man couldn’t get out of their head even after seeing her for a single moment. And if something happens on the beach, your fellow Eagles can’t resist a barbecue, correct? And one can even see those lovely native girls while one is at it, too.”
Independence nodded along. “Yeah, that’s right…”
Amerigo put on a bigger smile. “Ah, and that isn’t even the end of it. It’s hardly even the beginning, either.” She turned on her heel to point more things out. “One only needs to open one’s eyes to see those famous Royal maids hurrying about their business and getting things ready for teatime, while not needing to go thousands of miles from there to end up in an Empery scholar’s garden. From there, one only needs to walk a little while to be in eyesight of an Iron Blood bar, for the taste of their beer as though you were standing on their home soil. And if that’s not your flavor of choice, one can visit the Northerners instead.”
Independence watched Amerigo Vespucci excitedly point all of this out to her, just… Staring. She knew it wasn’t really correct to do so, but she couldn’t really help it at this point. She listened intently as much as she could, but it was always fascinating to watch someone become very animated about what they were into.
“And on top of all of that, even when one had seen everything else, one can always just stop, relax, and sit down under the Sakura’s famous cherry blossoms.” Amerigo Vespucci finally sat down beside Independence again, taking a deep breath. “And that’s what you have- A world in one place that you call home. Over 24,000 miles, all in the distance you can walk.”
Independence hardly knew what to say, so she tried something all the same. “I’m glad that you like it here.”
“There’s nothing to it.” She smiled, and gave the carrier a wink. “I have to thank you for showing me around your own special places, now, don’t I?”
“I guess you do…” Independence finally came back to what she meant to ask. “So, about that thing I said to you when we first met. How did you feel about it?”
“Hm?” She looked right into Independence’s eyes, and gave her that warm, wonderful smile that she gave when they first saw each other at the port. “I don’t think there’s a ship from Sardegna who doesn’t want to be told she’s the most beautiful ship in the world.”
“Oh.” She went. The brown-haired carrier gave a sigh of relief, and looked forward. “Glad that’s sorted out.”
Independence was surprised when Amerigo Vespucci leaned over and suddenly gave Independence a friendly kiss on the cheek. She giggled as Independence blushed brightly from the sudden display of affection. “I had a fun time, Independence. Perhaps sometime I’ll show you my own favorite ports. But I look forward to seeing more of you around too.”
Amerigo got up off of the bench and went along her way, leaving Independence to deal with feelings she was going to have to figure out to tell her new Mediterranean friend the next time they met.