"Oh no! I'm sorry, Tenta-chan! Yeah, you can totally do the talking, Maxine!"

<It's okay!> Tenta-chan squiggles for a moment then settle back on Maxine's shoulders. 

"If Tenta-chan has things to say I guess I'll relay them, then."

Maxine looks out over the water. "Is that the base coming up over there?"

"It is!"

Naval Station Everett is a large complex in the city of Everett, with a narrow, artificial stretch of land jutting out into the Sound, capped by a pair of long piers, along with a few more closer-in along the shore. As Maxine gets closer, she can see people milling about handling various business, along with what looks like a restaurant, among the various other buildings.

Standing at the end of the outermost pier, arms clasped behind her back, is a tall woman with purple hair tied back in a ponytail that flutters a bit in the cool sea breeze. She's wearing a naval uniform with quite a lot of shiny stuff on it, and all the 'girls — Missouri, Lexington, and Morrison especially — brighten visibly at the sight of her, so she's plausibly Admiral Powell.

[USS - er - HMS Maxine reporting as ordered, Admiral!] 

Maxine waits for the other girls to make their landings, then skates in and settles lightly at the end of the pier, a respectful distance from the Admiral. For some reason she knows how to salute smartly? So she does that. Her body seems to settle at attention naturally, too, as if she'd been doing that for years.

"At ease." Admiral Powell salutes sharply in return and then drops it. She shows no sign of having heard Maxine's broadcast.

Morrison leans over toward Maxine, a sheepish grin on her face. [Um, Maxine, the Admiral doesn't have a radio in her head like we do.]

Maxine flushes, and falls to at-ease, dropping the salute.

"HMS Maxine reporting as ordered, Admiral." Whoops. She clearly needs to get used to this ship-girl thing.

She smiles, intuiting what just happened. "Welcome to Naval Station Everett, Maxine. Well fought out there. I'll let the other shipgirls show you around, especially to the repair baths, in just a moment. Judging by the combination of accent and prefix, I'd wager you're Canadian?"

"Yes, ah, ma'am? Apologies, I'm not very familiar with naval procedure. Up until just before the battle I thought I was a human boy, but that has changed kind of abruptly. I don't think I come from this world's Canada."

She takes a breath, instincts helping her maintain a proper military bearing. "Yesterday referent to me, I came into the possession of a magical notebook claiming to be a messenger of the Spirit of Femininity Unleashed. It offered me a selection of powers and a free trip to another universe. I agreed to the deal, and that's how I came to be in this body, outfit and I-believe universe."

She nods. "While you were out there, we checked the registry. There's never been a USS Maxine in the US Navy. Failing that, we branched out to the RN, RCN, and RAN, with no hits there either. So your not being a shipgirl yesterday is far from the most surprising thing you could say. Magic, power-granting notebooks are certainly new, but I live in a world where the summoned spirits of lost warships gallivant across my base, weighing a hundred pounds or thousands of tons depending on the circumstances, eating most of a crew's worth of food at every meal. I have had to adapt on the subject of magic. I'd like a full debrief after you've had some time to rest up in the repair baths, but that can wait. I'll have someone run you a short form so we can get identification and the like started for you as well, since I presume you didn't land with any identification that works here.

"For now," she steps to the side and gestures onward toward the base, "I'll get out of the way of your R&R."

Maxine breathes a sigh of relief. It's as Tenta-chan said: she just has to trust the process. 

"I don't know how any of this works, but I'm sure I'll be able to follow the other ships' examples," Maxine replies. "Thank you for your consideration."

And she will follow whichever direction the other ships are headed, still with Tenta-chan wrapped around her shoulders.

"Welcome to Everett, Maxine," Nola says with a warm smile.

She leads the way around the base, pointing out restaurants, stores, offices, the quartermaster, the shipgirl dorms, and then finally the repair baths. A low building next to the dorms, the repair baths have frosted windows, but otherwise appear from the outside just the same as any other building on the station. When she opens the door, however, a cloud of steam billows out, along with a smell that strikes some visceral chord in the shipgirl part of Maxine, the metallic scents of iron and bauxite filings in the water touching some need within her. This is healing and relaxing, her instincts say.

Inside, there are steps leading up to a raised wooden floor with benches lining the walls. In the middle of the room are three baths: a large one the size of a swimming pool and two smaller ones the size of hot tubs off to the side. As the door clicks shut, the shipgirls — who'd all dismissed their rigging when they stepped onto land — start pulling their clothes off and tucking them into cubbyholes on a nearby wall.

Morrison and Fletcher are the first to make it to the baths, as usual, sinking naked into the almost-shimmering water of the main pool with happy sighs.

Oh NO.

She sets down Tenta-chan down for something to do that is not "immediately take off her clothes too." 

<Oh my god oh my god oh my god naked girls I barely know ->

<Maxine, if you didn't expect your desire for a pet tentacle monster to land you in this kind of genre of world I don't know what to say to you.>

She takes off her hat and unslings her messenger bag, trying her best to conceal her rapid breaths. <Yeah but, all at once like this???> 

Tenta-chan radiates warmth and affection. <Don't worry! It'll all be perfectly fine. They know trans girls just like you and I'm sure you'll do fine. This is obviously a strange place, so go make friends in it! It's practically home turf for you!> 

Okay okay okay don't panic. 

She can manage this. It is just a locker room. She'll just keep her eyes to herself like she has done in locker rooms before. It's not like they're going to pick on her, right...?

She awkwardly starts to disrobe, and then abruptly realizes that she still has her dick.

<I still have my dick, tenta-chan!!!! I thought it would go away!!!>

<Aren't you just learning interesting things about yourself today?> 

Tenta-chan hugs Maxine's bare leg. <Go on, just get in one of the hot tubs. You'll have the whole thing to yourself.> 

Lexington has slipped into the central pool as well by this point. "Oooh, the water feels lovely."

"Aren't you going to join us, Maxine? What's taking so long?"

Missouri chuckles. "Not everyone's as fast as you, Morri. Give her a moment."

Maxine blushes furiously, but strips off. Hiding her breasts with one arm and her crotch with the other, she slinks over to one of the hot tubs and slips into it alone. 

The water is really hot, but it's better than standing nude in front of everybody!