Commander's Rounds

Entry 24-4: Commander's Holidays: A Royal Christmas

The commander had attended the major celebration on Christmas Eve, and each nation had their own, smaller, quieter celebrations the day after- the commander was free to go to whichever one he wanted to without any hard feelings, as he celebrated with the fleet as a while the night before.

As odd as it may have seemed, the commander was actually something of a morning person, and despite all of the revelry the previous night, he was up at a reasonable hour- whether anyone else was even close to awake remained an open question, and he was going to have an answer. As soon as he had cleaned himself up, he went out his door and right up to the Royal Quarter. He tipped his hat to Black Prince, who was filling in because the Royal Maids were taking a well-deserved break for the time being.

The commander didn't want to barge into anywhere at first, so he at least decided to have a look around the Royal gardens, and as he was poking around, he heard someone singing:

"Her nose should pant/ and her lips should curl/ her cheeks should flame/ and her brow should furl/ her bosom should heave/ and her heart should glow/ and her fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow~"

The commander became curious as to who would be out here like that, and he realized he really should have put two and two together as to what other royal might be up and about and energetic even taking last night into account. The commander came around, and tipped his hat. "Hello, Incomparable."

The battlecruiser was sitting alone at one of the tables winding her pocketwatch, with a bottle of something she had taken from the previous night's festivities. She turned in her seat to face him immediately. "Good morning commander! Not one to sleep in yourself?"

He shook his head. "I can, but there are limits." He gestured to her table. "Could I join you?"

She gave a swift nod. "Of course, commander."

He pulled up a chair and did so. "So, did you have a good time?"

She smiled. "Of course I did- I'd say a holiday here is worth ten anywhere else, since I not only get to spend it with other ships, but also ones that know how to have a good time."

After the commander heard that, he started to think about that promise she made about how she would live her life.

And she immediately noticed that he was distracted. "Commander!"

He was startled. "Yes?"

"Commander, I know what you've been thinking about. But someone was going to find me eventually- And if I was meant to be found, I'd rather have it be by someone who would take me to a place where I could be with those who would have been my comrades in the old days. I have no complaints about being awake in this time and place. Here, there are plenty of nice girls to meet and enemies to fight. Let's not go into the new year full of regrets, okay?"

The commander relaxed. "All right, how would you like to go forward?"

"Wellll...." She held up a pair of glasses. "Why not have a drink with me?"

The commander blinked. "I mean, I'd like to, but isn't it a bit early for that?"

She smiled. "Commander, if you'd like to do something, why not do it now, rather than wait?"

And so the commander had a drink with Incomparable.

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There were more signs of life later in the morning, and so the commander decided to pay his visit. The throne room was being used as the focal point for all the presents that had been given by one ship to another and distributed by Enterprise. The commander decided to just have a look over the heap of boxes that were allocated to each of the ships, especially the half-dozen or so given by Littorio to Illustrious. There was a great tree, but an artificial one- pine wasn't exactly common on islands in the middle of the ocean.