Maxine nods. "So the war effort's starting to get underway now as more shipgirls are summoned on a regular basis? And that's why the war's winnable - there's still plenty more shipgirls left to call up, and you think you can outweigh the Abyssals?"

"Exactly. Ton for ton, shipgirls hit harder and fight better than Abyssals do, and we're summoning more of us every week, every month. Eventually, we'll be ready to start retaking their territory."

Maxine smiles. "That's really good to hear." 

She looks down at her hands. "I think I want to go talk to my diary a bit now, to get my head straightened out a bit. It's... a lot to get thrown into a war situation where the fate of the world I know is in the balance. I was honestly hoping for a much more calm and peaceful world, but... If I'm going to be here, I want to fight. I just... need to settle some things out a little. I hope you don't mind."

Tenta-chan squeezes her shoulders affectionately.

"Go ahead. I'll hang out here and game until Morri takes over the TV for your anime sesh."

And she grabs a controller and turns on the TV, starting up a space combat game.

"One last question - which of these dorm rooms is mine?"

"Should be one with your nameplate on the door, midway down that hall."

She points at one of the halls.

Wow, a custom nameplate inside a few hours? Things are sure efficient around here. 

"Thank you!"

And she goes down the hall and lets herself into her dorm room. 

There's a desk, a chair, a wardrobe, a shelf over the desk, a large bed, and room to add more furniture out of one's pay later.

She goes and sits at the desk, and gets out Notebook-chan from her bag. Laying her out on the table with the pen she left clipped to her, Maxine flips Notebook-chan open and smooths her pages. 

Hi again! 

She blushes, ducks her head. 

It's been only a few hours but so much has happened. Are you still there? Is it okay if I tell you about it to help me get my head straightened out?

Hi! I'm fine, and glad to hear from you. Go right ahead! I love hearing about people's adventures, and if I can help you by doing it then so much the better.

So, um. I was kind of hoping for a peaceful world, but when i showed up here I was kind of in the middle of a battle! It was really scary, there was an explosion on the beach next to me and everything! Sharpnel whipped through my hair!

I'm fine, obviously, and really really glad I took Battle Angel. In retrospect more combat powers might have been a good idea. But things are going okay; I was able to copy the powers of one of the ship girls - they're girls but with the powers of ships - and help sink some of the abyssals - they're like evil battleship creatures with teeth. Tenta-chan helped a lot! She's new, I haven't named her yet. I want to talk to her about it, and I want to talk to you about you too because it feels a little awkward to call you notebook-chan and also call tenta-chan tenta-chan. It's starting to be a theme and I don't know if I like it. 

Um. So it looks like I'm in some kind of harem action anime, genre-wise - there's a local admiral with a harem of shipgirls - she's trans too! - but I don't know how it'll go in the long term. I'm turning into some kind of shipgirl myself thanks to Dragon Fairy Elf Witch but it's being a little slower than I expected. 

There's this shipgirl, Missouri, who - she totally came on to me, and kissed me a lot while we were, um, in a pool together. She wasn't, um, wearing any clothes. It was... it was quite the experience. Honestly, worth fighting in a war to get that. I'm blushing so much right now. 

She sets down her pen for a second, pulls Tenta-chan into her lap, and squeezes her. 

<You're doing so well, Maxine. Just breathe. I know it's been a lot, but you've handled it all so well.>

<Okay.> Maxine hugs Tenta-chan for a few moments longer, then lets her go and goes back to writing. 

The Navy here was very prepared for someone to appear out of nowhere because that happens with shipgirls all the time, so I have ID and a dorm room and - all the necessary things. I still need to do a little paperwork but it doesn't look like it'll be an issue. 

I'm still processing a lot. This world... It sounds like a lot of people died to the abyssals before the shipgirls came and helped them. I feel a little guilty about that for some reason? Like... This world might not have had such bad things happen to it if it wasn't for me showing up, or something like that. I don't know if this is a different universe or just the future, honestly. Aside from the Abyssals and the shipgirls everything is the same. I guess I was expecting something more... exotic? Fantasy-ish? But this is... it gives me something to do that matters, and all the shipgirls are... honestly either hot or cute... and Missouri kissed me... 

I guess I just feel a little bad that this world might be set up this way just so I could get a lot of cute girls to be intimate with... 

I don't know. What do you think, Notebook-chan?

Wow! That sounds like a lot! Shrapnel flying through your hair sounds scary! I'm glad Battle Angel worked out for you, though. It sounds like a really complicated situation. I'm really impressed that you dove right in and handled the fight, though! That was hard but you did it!

As far as Dragon Elf Fairy Witch, I think it can be reused on different instances of the same species, so it makes sense that you could turn yourself into more and more of a whole shipgirl that way. Also, the Abyssals sound really scary. I'm glad you were able to beat them.

It's really cool that you've met another trans girl already! And harem action anime is a neat genre! And it's really great that you got to kiss a beautiful shipgirl, and that you're meeting lots of pretty and friendly people. It sounds like things are going really well, all-told.

A lot of hearts and sparkles surround that last paragraph.

You don't have to be afraid that this world was created with all these bad things just for you to show up in. The multiverse is really huge, and worlds like this already exist, and are already going the way they're going. The Spirit just picked an already-existing one that you'd fit really well in, and that would meet your needs and wants, as well as it could.

As for the name thing, would you like to pick one together with me?

It's reassuring to hear that the world was picked for me and not created on my behalf or nudged along. 

The battle was so intense! They shot lots of shells at me but just kept missing or bouncing off my shipgirl plate; if it wasn't for Battle Angel, I definitely would have been hurt. I didn't have any weapons, I just sort of ran in and punched and kicked. It worked, sort of, but mostly I think I was a good distraction. I'm a little sad that I didn't take the heavier combat powers; it sounds like this world kind of needs them. 

That said... Thanks to this world being really heavily shipgirl-based, a lot of the obvious inconveniences like not coming with any cash or ID that fit my new body, or any housing, or anything like that were pretty easy to get past, and the shipgirl powers are cool. I can hear radio now! And skate on water! Theoretically my guns will come in eventually, which would be kind of cool, but I'm not sure I should really celebrate having weapons as part of me. I think it's necessary to help out properly but I'm glad I took Undiplomatic Immunity so I don't have to register them or something like that.

There are five shipgirls I've met so far - Missouri, Morrison, Fletcher, Nola, and Lexington. Lexington, Missouri and Morrison seem to all be in a harem kind of setup with the base's admiral, Admiral Powell. Missouri's the one who kissed me. She did it kind of a lot. I was so flushed. We. I got thrust into the middle of a nude bathhouse with the shipgirls. (!!!)

She sets down her pen and takes a long breath. 

This is really embarassing to write about!!!!

I think it would be really unfair if you had to register everywhere you went that you had natural weapons as part of you! I think you'll be okay without the offensive combat powers, though. You've got lots of experienced shipgirls you can learn from, right? And it sounds like you're definitely getting closer to them!

It's okay to be embarrassed! You're exploring things you've never done before! And talking about those things too!

Yeah, they seemed... pretty enthusiastic. I definitely want to get to know them better. We're going to watch anime together and stuff, and I'm going to talk to Fletcher about computers... 

I really hope things go okay. 

I bet they will! You don't seem like the kind of girl who needs a Tragic Failed Romance before her Actual Romance Arc to feel okay with herself, and with how much metanarrative stuff is in play here that's the kind of thing it would take for things to go really badly, I think. At worst you're likely to still wind up friends?

I really hope I don't need a Tragic Failed Romance! I guess people come in all shapes and kinds. Friends would be good too though.

Honestly it feels like trying is super worth it if I'm... going to keep getting the kind of responses I have so far.

I'm really glad things are turning out worth it so far! I bet things will go well.

If you still want to try to come up with a name for me, do you have any name ideas?

Oh! Sorry, I got completely distracted.

Let me see. You could be...

- Rose, from the color of your cover and the floral pattern on it.

- Hope, maybe, because you've given me so much of it.

- Something cute, like Clara or Bluebell or Glaceé

- Something that can be feminine but also can be gender neutral, like Sam or Audrey

- I like flower names a lot, and I like names that have meaning. Lilac? Lily? Daisy? Poppy? Sunflower? I'm not sure most of them suit as much. 

- We could go with a Japanese name like Yuki (snow) or Haruhi (spring sun).

Any thoughts?

Maxine's suggestions all get hearts and sparkles, Rose and Clara especially.

Ooh. I think I like either Rose, Clara, or some other pink flower than Rose. It's hard to pick. I like floral names, and I like names that match the color of my cover, and I like cute and pretty names, and I like names that reference my current Chosen Person's interests. What do you like best?

Between Rose and Clara I think I personally like Clara better because it's less on the nose, but let me try and think of some other pink flowers. 

Peony? Primrose? Crysanthemum? You could shorten Crysanthemum to Anthe, which sounds pretty. 

It feels a little self-centered to name you after my interests. You're a whole person! 

That's really sweet of you! But I get to have lots of names. But hm. I think I'm stuck between Clara and Anthe now.