"I see..." Maxine tilts her head. "That would explain the, uh, invading monsters. There's definitely a 'save the world' plot going on too..." She runs a hand through her hair. "It's silly to guess, anyway. And hopefully I'll be able to fix it! I mean, not to sound completely conceited or anything but..." She ducks her head. "I trust notebook-chan not to strand me somewhere with an unbeatable plot, you know?"

"This war can be won. It will be bloody, but it can be won, and you can help. I wonder if you're just partially a shipgirl, or if you'll gain more ship traits somehow." She hums thoughtfully. "You don't have any rigging, and you don't have a proper radar return."

"I dunno, her return isn't much bigger than it was earlier, but it feels a little more solid, maybe?"

"Oh! That's, um, one of my magic powers. It lets me copy the magical heritage of anyone or anything nonhuman I encounter, with the benefits but none of the drawbacks. I don't know if it'll come in more over time or not. I think it did come in a little more during the fight? But that was necessary to keep me from being wounded, so that's another power of mine probably helping it along." She runs a hand through her hair. "I can't be seriously wounded in battle unless it's a very plot-important one, and I think I'm guaranteed to survive any wound taken in battle though that wasn't said explicitly. That's why I was so reckless, I knew I'd be okay."

"Wow, that's a pretty different power."

"Not like we can talk," Fletcher adds with a giggle. "Sparkly shipgirl bullshit, as some of the sailors put it, is just as weird."

"Hah. Still, though, I think we can use that. Can you reuse the power by pointing it at the same shipgirl again? Or a different one?"

"I'm not sure! I didn't really use it deliberately originally, Tenta-chan had to guide me through it because I was panicking. Do you mind if I try now?"

"Go ahead."

She focuses her power - it sort of fizzes - and points it at Lexington. 

Lexi doesn't feel a thing, but Maxine sure does. Something about her feels more solid, more present, in her shipself. She starts to notice a sense of where everyone around her is, now. Is that radar? It shows everyone's shipselves, too.

Lexi's next radar ping gets a different return, too. "Oh wow! Your hull seems to be filling out. You're at least as long as a destroyer now."

"Oh! It definitely did something! I can sense... everyone's shipselves, now. I think it might be radar coming in?" She grins. "Do you mind if I try on the rest of you all? It's supposed to work by my aesthetics a little, so whichever ship classes most resonate are likely to give me more."

"Oooh, yeah!" Morrison nods excitedly.

"Go right ahead, Maxine. We're not going to say no to our pretty, new friend getting strong enough to help us out."

Eep, Missouri just called her pretty!

"Okay," she says to cover her blush. "I'll try."

She points DFEW at Missouri first, and then at Morrison.

Pointing it at Missouri fills out her hull quite a bit more, reaching something closer to cruiser-length, and a brief flicker-into-view of rigging. Very familiar rigging. Iowa-class rigging. The guns look like they're only half-constructed, but they look like similar, at least. Same number, same arrangement, but the main guns seem like they might be just a touch larger when they're finished.

Pointing it at Morrison fills out her boilers a bit more, readying her engines to handle moving more of her full weight.

"Seas was that rigging!? Eeeeeeee!"

"I definitely got the most from Missouri, there. I think that probably means my full shipself would be closest to her." She looks over at Morrison. "It seems like the more shipgirls I draw from, the more the transformation solidifies." 

She looks over at Missouri again, trying not to let her gaze stray too low. She opens her mouth to ask a question, and then pauses and rephrases.

"Missouri, you're a - an Iowa-class, right? I don't know what that means but it's what my radar is reporting. Are there any other battleships like you on the base?"

"She's running a convoy out to Japan with Langley, Alaska, Kimberly, and a few 'girls of the JMSDF, but my sister, New Jersey, is another Iowa. She should be back in a few days," Missouri replies with a grin. "And yes, that brief moment I saw of your rigging looked similar to mine."

"Then I guess I'll wait for her to return." 

Maxine takes a slow breath. She has no idea how to do this...

<She's totally checking you out, Maxine, and she's polyamorous! It's okay! You're allowed to ask!>

... tenta-chan's constant cheerful support is starting to get a little annoying.

She squares her shoulders. "Um, Missouri... Could I ask you a personal question?"

"Please do~," she purrs.

Her voice is nice. 

"Um. If it's not too much to ask, how does the... polyamory situation with all of you... work? I've never met anyone who was polyamorous in real life before."