Commander's Rounds

Entry 20: Renewal

The commander had managed to find some time to spend with King George V, which was always time he enjoyed. It did start with lunch- all of their dates tended to start with food rather than end with it, for reasons obvious to anyone who knew her.

Things ended by the sea in the afternoon, with the two of them having gotten quite close and cozy, as they tended to. They were sitting together on a bench by the docks- Kashino was guiding a few regular transport ships into the harbor, but beyond that, there was little else going on. His arm was around her waist, and she had placed her hand on his own.

He had gotten quite comfortable there, and was comfortable enough to breach the silence. "...It's good to be back."

She smiled. "It's good to have you back, commander- especially after taking off on such short notice and spending so much time dealing with the aftermath."

The commander gave her a nod. "That reminds me- how is Incomparable getting along with the others?"

King George gave him a slow nod. "Her? Ah, she's doing well enough- she is highly energetic. While people may have certain expectations of us Royals, we do have all sorts, as many peoples do. No country has a monopoly on any sort of person. Enterprise can be as contemplative and even monastic as any Sakura, and Gangut is as energetic and outgoing as any from the Union."

The commander leaned against her. "It's good to hear- it's nice to know she's getting on well enough."

"Indeed..." It was then that King George seemed distracted, just looking out over the ocean for a good while.

The commander was able to notice that much, at least, and after a while, he ventured a question. "Hey... You all right?"

She looked back to him, and gave him her smile. "Hm? Oh, I was just... Thinking on some things, really." And then she looked back out over the sea.

This was unusual. In general, her mind was on where she was and what she was doing while she was with him, but she seemed to be somewhere else at the time being.

Something was wrong.

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The commander was becoming aware that there were things he had left terribly untended during his trip to Sector A-14.

He had tried his best to pick up where he left off after returning and bringing back Incomparable and that treasure trove of research notes for Yuubari and Akashi to drool over. For the most part, he could do that, at least where his work was concerned, since he had Z23 and Enterprise and all the others helping keep an eye on that sort of thing while he was gone.

However, that sort of attention only really applied to his work. There were other things left untended that only he could follow up on.

In this case, it was his relationship with King George V, which he had only returned to a few weeks after he initially left for sector A-14 because of the curious matters it brought to his attention.

He had certainly tried to pick up where they left off, and he certainly wanted things to be back to normal. And they did certainly make time for each other in all the same ways that they used to, but something was just feeling off during the time they spent after his return. It's almost as if she was vaguely dissatisfied with things in some way the neither of them could put a finger on. It wasn't something he was going to be able to pry out of her, as she was a person who tended to act on her feelings more than speak of them, except in private.

Besides- she didn't really seem to have had any more of a clue than he did why exactly she seemed to feel this way.

Since he was half-clueless about the finer points of romance himself, he needed to find someone who knew about these matters, or, at the very least, claimed to know about these matters. One thought was Ooshio, but she didn't like to get involved in other couples' business, and Victorious had her own pursuits. So, with those two choices out of the running, he went to another option: Littorio.