[Mail call] 2017/02/21 – On names and shipgirl operations

“Having just returned from visiting the Lexington museum in Corpus Christi, which also has small sections about both CA-30 and CL-81 Houstons and miniature of CV-8 Hornet, I had a question regarding ships in WWII that share names. Are you planning on doing anything to differentiate them in name, or will they just have the same name in the same way that John or Mary are common names?”

You guys have seen this one, but it’s worthwhile to post it again to illustrate my point. This is really a matter of identity.

[Mail call] 2017/02/21 - The ol' Name question

Here, Pennsy is obviously trolling Sanny. Those are (probably) cosplay pictures, but the general point is pretty clear. Even if all those are different “Pennsy’s” (which they aren’t), Pennsy is a Pennsy is Pennsy. Putting on a funny hat doesn’t make Pennsy not a Pennsy, and putting on a swimsuit doesn’t make a Pennsy more Pennsy.


“Where’s Pacific’s next major event?”

Taiwan went well. Probably the Chinese ones next. Zero’ll be coming to the US for AnimeBoston. I’ll probably put up an announcement soon regarding that.

Oh, do you mean in-universe? No comment. 🙂


“What happens when a shipgirl goes on a mission?”

This is sort of an unusual question, but I’m going to guess at what you’re actually asking.

On the mission itself, the shipgirl does whatever the mission objective may be. Generally, on your standard counter-Abyssal run, you’re looking at a very simple thing of eliminating the Abyssal in question.

The shipgirl is generally kept in touch with Avalon through a number of ways. Satellite image, two-way communications, and the like. I mean, the shipgirls themselves aren’t dumb. This isn’t like Pokemon where Mike has to tell them to fire on the enemy or run away or whatnots. He might have to remind a few girls to back off or to fight at optimal range, but that’s a comparatively rarer event.

Though, of course, STEC does watch the shipgirl’s performances. There’s plenty to be learned from each shipgirl’s way of fighting, and plenty of ways to improve after. In addition, a chance to observe the Abyssal fleet in action is always a good one, since the more you know and understand what the enemy’s capable of, the better you are at beating them.

[Mail call] 2017/02/20 – Pam

Well, Raleigh really is something, isn’t she? 

Even when she’s like that, she still tries her hardest. Poor girl tired herself out, and I’m probably going to have to scold her a bit for it, but I’m proud of her. She smiles through everything no matter what. I kinda want a nap, but seeing that smile is all I need to keep going if the day’s tough. 

Oh, life’s been going fine so far. I’ve taught Shaw to handle most of the simple cuts and scrapes that happen, so that lightened my workload considerably. Shaw’s always been my little angel. She picks up things very quickly, and is eager to try them out. I think it’s only a matter of time before she’s able to run things all by herself. Wonder what I’ll do then. Maybe I’ll finally get to lie around the pool and actually lifeguard, heh…

My requisition for more medical supplies just went through, so I’ll get to reorganize all of my stuff when that finally delivers. I’ve actually been putting it off, so this’ll be good. It’s important to make sure we have adequate supplies of the things we need, AND of the things we might need. You’d be surprised to hear how fast we can run through stock…

Oh, and tell O’bannon that I know she’s been in the supply room. It’s annoying to find stuff tampered with all the time. Confuses Shaw to no end too when she decides to look around in there.

Don’t worry, I haven’t been slacking off on my fighting skills either! Dolphin’s been kicking the rust off of my TDC skills, and I still go to practice daily like all the other subgirls. I ended up with a 80% hit rate yesterday. Not bad for a medic, right? Now if only I could catch up with Narwhal’s record…

Maybe then you’ll send me out more, yea? I wouldn’t mind throwing a few punches myself. 🙂

[Mail call] 2017/02/17 – [Contents Classified]

Commander. Since two months ago, MERLIN has steadily detected low-level activity occurring during regular intervals. These bursts of Abyssal signals occur at highly irregular intervals, but always seem to accompany the deployment of abyssal beacons. Over time, we have learned to correlate these activities with our beacon-hunting activities.

Recently, however, we have noticed that certain segments of “data” (if it can be called that) have been highly repetitive. That is to say, we’ve noticed that the signals are exact matches to signals that we have captured during prior sessions. Naturally this arose our collective curiosity, as it wasn’t long before we figured that the repetition must have something to with the destruction of the beacons in question.

We’ve always known that the beacons seem to be integral in the deployment of Abyssal forces. We knew from prior experience, including recollection from our shipgirls, that the beacons allow for the Abyssals to bring in stronger and more capable units into the war. We also knew that the Abyssals are capable of subverting the resources of the planet towards the creation of its units – the initial stages of any major incursion necessitates the creation of one or more Abyssal “fortresses,” where the Abyssal Fleet uses as a combination of headquarter and eventually, a local manufacturing base.

We now believe that the beacons also serve as some sort of logistical repository. It is my opinion that the Abyssals deploy roughly half its beacons as decoys or decoy-equivalents. These serve the ordinary function of calling in the Abyssal fleet and nothing else. The remainder with the aforementioned similarities in composition are structures of a logistical nature, where we believe the Abyssals are intentionally trying to deploy and to ensure that they remain deployed on the planet for purposes unknown.

In a recent incident, however, a beacon was deployed anomalously. Rather than its ordinary form of deployment of being hidden somewhere in the deep sea, it literally crash-landed in the Mississippi delta. The malfunctioning Abyssal object was quickly terminated, but we were able to record and observe the data that it carried, and it matched signatures that we had observed previously.

We are currently working to decipher, to the extent which we are capable of, the implications and the contents of the data carried. I’ve got a feeling that this could be something big, commander. Here’s hoping that we succeed.


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[Mail call] 2017/02/17 - [Contents Classified]

Valentine 2017

Valentine

Hey? Hello?

Aw, I’m late again… I stayed up all night trying to write something extra-special, since, you know, today’s a special day. You can show your affection for someone special every day, but today, today’s one where you gotta do a little extra.

But, you know, I looked through a dozen stores, and none of those cards had what I wanted to say in mind! So I thought, well, maybe I’ll write my own instead. The only thing worse than a gift not given is a bad gift, right? That’s how it’s always been. You don’t just buy someone something without thinking about it. Gifts are precious because they say a lot about you, and how much you care for that person!

But, I’m not really good with words… I can’t make myself sound fancy like a lot of the other girls. And, like, asking you to be MY valentine? It just feels a bit off. You aren’t a thing, you’re a person that I like a whole lot! Is it really okay for me to ask you to belong to me? I don’t think so. 

So, uh. Here’s what I ended up writing.

“From Okie, with lots of love. Thank you for everything.”

So I guess it’s not really a card but more like a note instead… Ack, maybe I should have found a bigger sticker or something….

I, I’ll be seeing if the dinner party still need any last minute help! T-talk to you later!