Taylor's Things

* 1) A large selection of cooking pots, pans, utensils and various implements.

“It’s like loose change. Almost every girl I’ve talked to gives and takes these stainless steel kitchen items to make up for any number of minor disagreements/trades. I’ve seen some snacking on them, like they were candy bars. Where are they getting all these?”

…

“And what do they taste like? Would actual silverware taste better?”

* 2) A sewing collection of needles, buttons, zippers, other bits and various knick-knack’s.

“Hell of a way to learn your blood can change ordinary steel to abyssal steel. One moment I’m bending each needle any time I touch it wrong, the next one is buried in my palm and drinking my blood. Turning dark. I exchanged one problem, breaking so many of them, with another. I may no longer need my hooks for sewing but needles hurt. Ow.“

* 3) A fairly large (for a girl) and minor (for a Princess) collection of various luxury trade goods.

“I can’t figure out how the Abyssal economy works from all this junk, or where they keep getting it, if they spend it like this.”

* 4) A dress room.

“It’s not a dressing room, it’s a dress room. Stop changing the name.”

“When I find out which one of you keeps stealing my things, I am going to throw them overboard. Without a lifebelt.”

* 5) Library of blueprints

“Midway seems to keep a basic library of blueprints freely available to any repair ship or Princess that passes by. It made getting my hands on basic gear designs fairly simple, but from what I’m both hearing and seeing, much of this is considered obsolete by the other girls. No wonder almost anyone can get their hands on it. Even if that strikes me as shortsighted, as what’s stopping enemies from studying your gear? Still, better to have something than nothing. For all I know, once I leave I’ll have no way to get more. Knowing where the others are weakest, vulnerable, will come in handy one of these days.“

“These notes are turning into a mess.”

Prices: Varied

“I think it’s just whatever whim struck the ship that was copying them over for the little stuff. Much of the smaller gear I could arrange for as low as a few bowls of black oil fish stew. Some of the bigger stuff got expensive, but being able to just get a blueprint for a full ship damn near blew my mind.”

“They just give these out for a pittance. They’re huge. I’m not sure I’ll actually be able to make sense of them all.”

They’re kids. Fuck.

Includes the blueprints for:

Base:

-Anti-Air Dispersal Shell - Anti-Aircraft Shell – “What? They’re free. Who doesn’t have them yet? Did your contact misplace hers?”

“Is that how ship cannons kill planes high up? Would that make them flak?”

-21inch Torpedo Early Model – Torpedo – A bag of shiny, round pebbles.

“I get the feeling someone out there was surprised to be asked to make a copy of these. No way that price made any sense otherwise.”

-21inch Torpedo Late Model – Torpedo - Four pots of Black Oil fish stew.

“Not sure what kind of fish, but it’s spongy and warms up nicely. Shun had to dive for them. Customer requested something from the depths. They don’t seem to come up to the surface. Some of the other girls seem to like the variety as well.”

“Can’t really tell what the difference between the early and late model is yet, but maybe comparing the two will give me some idea how the Abyss advances.”

-5inch Single Gun Mount - Small Caliber Main Gun – Several fashion magazines

“It’s just…a gun. Only much bigger. Not sure what I was expecting. Why does it seem so small and weak when I consider it?”

-3inch Single High-angle Gun Mount - Small Caliber Main Gun – A coloring book, mostly filled in.

“Isn’t this too small? I’m not sure this could even hurt me.”

-5inch Single Anti-Aircraft Gun Mount - Medium Caliber Main Gun – Smuggling four thousand tons of oil to Ivo Jima. Fucking pyro. Fucking twists.

“Why do the escort girls think I should already have these?”

-6inch Twin Rapid Fire Gun Mount - Medium Caliber Main Gun – Four clay pots of fresh juice. Which were a bitch and half to get my hands on.

“How is this basic? It looks innocent from the outside, but I can barely understand parts of this. I know some gun safety, maintenance. But this is ridiculous. This is straight up military level gear mixed with the work of some biotinker, not just a bigger gun. What the hell?”

-14inch Twin Gun Mount - Large Caliber Main Gun – Two puffy tribal-wire sundresses, spun from Abyssal steel wire and over a hundred pretty clams. Took forever, but what am I supposed to do while sailing?

“I’m not sure I want to know what a pair of these could do when parked off-shore, in view of a populated city.”

General Note:

“Why are they called main guns? Are there side guns? Are guns the men in the Abyss? Because that would be creepy as all hell. And explain so much about how some girls treat their weapons. Or they could just be gun nuts and I’m slowly losing it.”

-12.7mm Machine Gun - Anti-Aircraft Gun – Seaweed and netting headscarf

“Probably also works just fine on people. But it means something that it’s not marked that way. I know they have land bases, so are soldiers just not a concern in battle? I can’t tell if that’s good or bad. Probably both in some new and horrible way.”

-20mm Autocannon - Anti-Aircraft Gun – A three black pearls necklace. These are a thing?

“And I thought the Machine Gun was bad.”

-6inch Single Gun Mount - Secondary Gun – Two crates of fresh bananas.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“I’m guessing this is a battleship thing. It would make no sense for a Secondary to be bigger than the main gun.”

-5inch Single Anti-Aircraft Gun Mount (Secondary) - Secondary Gun – Six bottles of sunflower oil.

“Why? Why are two completely different weapons systems called the same name? Because they are the same caliber?”

-Reconnaissance Seaplane - Reconnaissance Seaplane – Studied from example. Yes!

“The plans for an entire plane. This is kind of surreal. Am I a tinker now? Will I be able to just build these? Midway must be able to. Why else keep them as a basic blueprint?”

-Fighter - Carrier-based Fighter Aircraft

-Torpedo Bomber - Carrier-based Torpedo Bomber

-Dive Bomber - Carrier-based Dive Bomber – Seven book series on child wizards. Copies filed to library. Note to self: Teach more of the crew to write. Also, learn to write properly with the hand you still have. Ow, my poor fingers.

“These came as a carrier package. An obsolete one. Why do they have to specify it’s carrier based? Just how different are carrier planes and regular ones? And I thought the guns were complicated monsters.”

-Depth Charge Projector - Depth Charge – One fish oil/black oil shake.

“Really? I thought maybe it delivered cookies, milk and happiness. No? Go figure.”

“On further consideration I would not be surprised if a Princess did make one. Fuck.”

-Air Radar Mark.I - Small Radar – The fourth copy of a children’s songs book. Surprising demand for them, for monsters.

-Surface Radar Mark.I - Small Radar – Four rolls of Abyssal bandages. Abyssal Steel wire reinforced, cloth bandages. Soaked in fresh blood and left to settle in a hole on the seafloor where the sun never reaches. Why?

“The range on these Mark I’s. That can’t be right. Right?”

-Air Radar Mark.II - Large Radar – Fourteen brand new jokes. Good ones. Abyssal humor is violent, horrifying or depressing. Or all three. Black humor. Or so sweet I feel like my teeth will rot just from hearing them. That’s not how jokes work.

“Ok, that’s better, but still. My gear’s kind of awesome. Like the sensor crew. Wait. Where’s their sonar? How is sonar not basic for a ship?”

-Searchlight – Searchlight – Fourteen AAA batteries.

“A square is a square. Sometimes I wonder who these designations are for. Then I remember the butterflies. Seems even the Abyss isn’t free of meddling bureaucrats.”

“You know somewhere in my head I was wondering why so many of these all had pictures as well as written explanations. God damn it.”

- PT Imp Pack II – Destroyer – A formal request and proof I am carrying some. Except not, because Bruce, Judy, Bentley are III’s, not II’s.

They are ticklish.

Also: Sapphire can burn in hell. I’m not a pony to give out piggyback rides to smaller ships.

“No they are not. They’re patrol torpedo boats. Who makes these designations? And why is the first one not even available?”

-Destroyer I-Class – Destroyer – One day they just showed up with theirs. Sometimes I wonder just how smart those two are.

“Itchy and Scratch. These are their blueprints. Wow.”

-Destroyer Ro-Class – Destroyer – I had no idea how hard it was to find 150+ proof alcohol in the middle of the ocean. Let’s not do that again.

“Doesn’t look that different, on the outside. I wonder how much the internals changed. Or the performance. I need some time alone to really dive into all this.”

“Couldn’t get my hands on the other two Destroyer blueprints. Even with all the subterfuge, someone out there got wind that an interested party was getting a lot of blueprints and now people are looking for it. So this operation is scrapped, for now.”

Standard gear:

“Standard Midway? Is it the same everywhere? Probably not.”

“Standard Court maybe?”

-Fighter - Carrier-based Fighter Aircraft, Mark II

-Torpedo Bomber - Carrier-based Torpedo Bomber, Mark II

-Dive Bomber - Carrier-based Dive Bomber, Mark II

“The Mark II Carrier package. I feel like I swallowed some hidden hook for these and the other shoe is yet to drop. Had to smuggle four containers from the forward anchorages to Midway for it. Without breaking the seals, so who the hell knows what was in them? I’m not sure I wasn’t caught at the docks. But why would Midway let me get away with it? Was she in on it?”

-Attack Seaplane - Seaplane Bomber – Copy found among the manuals donated by the Seaplane Tender (Princess), “aunty Ena”

“This one? This one doesn’t feel standard at all. Or look it. I can’t understand half the performance numbers, but they’re all bigger than the base carrier based planes. Nearly all of them. Are seaplanes just better in the Abyss? And why does it look like one giant angry floating monster head? That’s not how planes work!”

-High Speed Torpedo – Torpedo – Traded for a waterproof Walkman and couple of cassettes.

“Better in every way. Except the cost and difficulty in making it. Damn it. My engineers are going through their training so slowly and I can’t tell if it’s me or them that’s slowing everything down. She must be able to make them, so why wouldn’t I? I’m pretty sure this is a good copy, so it shouldn’t be the plans.”

-5inch Twin Gun Mount - Small Caliber Main Gun – Won in a bet off a drunk Destroyer Tender. I’m not sure what the Wa-class was drunk off. I didn’t think we could get drunk.

“Why even start with one if you could have put two into the same space?”

-16inch Twin Gun Mount – Large Caliber Main Gun – Convinced a battleship I was in awe off her guns. And could I please take a copy with me to cherish? I need to wash out my mouth from the taste of all that simpering. Stupid bitch. At least all that training was worth it, yeah Saph? Maybe I can train you some day. See how you like it.

“Bigger is better, applied in practice. I’m not sure I ever want to feel one of these. With my luck? I’ll happen eventually.”

-Sonar – Sonar – Acquired from the desk of my so called “overseer”. She won’t miss it.

“Seriously? Seriously. Sonar isn’t basic, but advanced gear? What decade are all these ships from?”

* 6) Actual Library

“Which is dreadfully small. I really need to get some real books in here. A single half empty shelf is just sad.“

“Hawaii, here we come.”

* 7) The swimming pool.

“Favorite gathering spot of all my nightmares. Good for morale. Maybe get some toys, balls, stuff like that. Water polo when?”

“These are my notes. Don’t mess with them you creepy flower.”