A Bulldog's Legacy (USS Oregon in Azur Lane)

Chapter 10: A Christmas Story

December, 2XXX.

The last month of the year, containing one the most important holidays. I am of course talking about Christmas.

In Azur Lane, Christmas is almost picturesque.

Snow is everywhere, but the beaches are kept clear by the ocean tides. Everything else is draped in a blanket of sparkling white.

The deciduous trees are nothing but bare skeletons, while the evergreens are weighed down with all the snow they've collected.

In the inland forest, animals and birds caper and dart through the trees and gather around the frozen-over lake in the middle. Tracks and other signs of passing animals dot the snow everywhere.

The little cafes and shops of the port town have been decorated by their owners, with Akashi's being notably heavy on the decorations, likely just yet another attempt at encouraging her customers to buy more.

Destroyers and cruisers would have snowball fights, often employing their riggings as powerful snowball cannons. Even some of the younger battleships and carriers would join in, leading to some quite spectacular snow battles. Salvos of giant snowballs and planes dropping snow bombs on opposing shipgirls would leave many of them wet and cold, but still filled with that unique energy and exitement of winter.

The beaches and ocean were still as useful as in summer, with the main difference that campfires on the beach mostly replace swimming, except for those who liked ice swimming.

One of the main events of the Christmas season was the ship decoration competition. Each participating shipgirl would decorate their ship with lights, ornaments, or whatever they wanted. On Christmas Eve they would be judged and the winner would receive a mystery prize.

Most shipgirls decorated their ships anyway, but those that felt confident in their abilities would enter the competition, San Diego being among the notable yearly entries.

One ship, however, ignored the excitement of winter, instead seeing it as a source of apprehension and, sadly, minor depression. Oregon had always loved Christmas and winter in general, but when he saw the extents that the shipgirls went to prepare, his interest declined. Besides, this would be his first Christmas both at the base and after quite a few decades, so he considered himself to be rather out of place if he joined in such activities.

Whenever he was approached and asked what he was doing for Christmas, he'd always brush it off by saying things like "still thinking about it" or "I'm not getting ready quite yet".

As Christmas approached, Oregon became more and more apprehensive about his ability to participate in just about anything. Eventually, though, he privately decided to just quietly stay out of everything.

"It would be better for everyone. The less I'm present, the happier everyone else will be. Better for everyone else to have fun and enjoy Christmas while I stay alone and keep my negativity to myself."

At night the waters of the port would be lit up by all the decorated ships. Even better, if a shipgirl needed her riggings, the decorations would transfer to them, and vice versa.

Oregon, however, always docked his ship far away from the others. Because it was smaller than even most of the light cruisers and larger destroyers, he wished to avoid any embarrassment he might receive if he left it anywhere else. His self-imposed isolation ended up in his ship being pretty much invisible at night, and therefore largely ignored.

One day, as little snowflakes slowly danced their way to the ground, Oregon went for a walk in the forest, one of the few ways he was able to get away from everything, even his depression.