Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

RCNAnon

Weasley's Warship Workshop 1

Ron staggered as the Portkey dropped him just in front of the gatehouse. Taking a step he managed not to fall, instead placing his hands on his knees and wincing slightly.

"Are you alright Young Master?"

Ron nearly jumped out of his skin as Victoria seemed to appear right behind him. Turning to look at her he shook his head.

"No, I'm not. I hurt, my heart is racing and I barely had time for breakfast." Ron's voice was just a little testy before he took a breath and calmed down some. "I asked you not to surprise me like that Victoria."

"Apologies Young Master, I did not mean to do so." A small bow. "If you'd like I can prepare you a slight repast, something to hold you over for lunch?"

"No, I ate plenty I was just in a rush." Ron adjusted the time turner underneath his clothes. He hadn't wanted to waste his extra time on eating breakfast, not when he'd be able to make it under normal circumstances by hurrying.

"Very well." Victoria turned and offered her hand towards the walk up the main house, which looked better but was not in full repair. "I can accompany you back to the main building."

"Thank you Victoria." Ron nodded and began walking, with Victoria one step behind and to the right.

"You mentioned that you were hurt? Do you need me to notify someone for medical attention?" Victoria was leaning as close as her positioning would allow, looking Ron over as they strolled leisurely up the drive.

"No, I'm not hurt like that." Ron let out a dry chuckle. "I just… ache. I've started working out properly like Harry does and well he's been doing it a lot longer than I have."

"Did you try to keep up with him Young Master?" Victoria sounded concerned.

"No, no I wasn't that dumb. Well, only the once to see what he was currently doing." Ron shook his head. "I'm currently doing his workouts from… a year ago I think? Maybe six months? He said he thought I could do them and he's right… I just ache afterwards." Ron flexed an arm gingerly. "I'll be fine in a bit."

"Very well Young Master." Victoria accepted the answer for the moment and fell back to her position behind him.

"Is everything set for today?" Ron asked, turning to look at the blonde maid.

"Yes Young Master. We have interviews for the staff until luncheon, then Lady Summer and you will preside over another surgery for that abyssal. Finally you have the meeting with the French battleship." Victoria's sniff of disapproval signaled what she thought of that matter.

Ron couldn't help but glance back at Victoria. "You do know the French are our allies now, right? They've been so for like a hundred years?"

"Of course Young Master. I would never go so far as to offend any French guests you have. I've simply had some… visitors of the type who I wouldn't dignify with the term guest since they were quite properly and summarily thrown out after making a nuisance of themselves."

Ron looked back to Victoria but couldn't make anything out through the maids mask of formality. Instead he made a note to ask about it later and simply let it go for the moment.

"So have you looked over the resumes already?" He asked instead, switching topics to the staff they'd been working on getting.

"Oh yes Young Master. Lady Duke and Lady Warspite have already looked over most of them with me and we've had the cream of the crop. Your Mother sent down a very nice list of those looking for work from the magical side. From the attached paperwork I understand the government is being somewhat generous in tax breaks for those who can hiring magically inclined folks so they are more integrated into the workplace."

"So why are you having me take a look at them then?" Ron glanced back at Victoria as the reached the front door to the house and it opened on its own.

"We wanted you to be comfortable with them as well Young Master. You are the Head of the Household after all. There is also the fact that some of them are… unusual in their talents we should say."

Ron turned and looked at Victoria once more as the door shut behind them.

"Unusual in their talents?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow at the maid.

"I think you should simply read their resumes yourself Young Master it's..."

Whatever Victoria was going to say was interrupted at the sound of Duke's voice.

"Ron!" Duke came down the stairs, a smile on her face.

"Duke!" Ron called back, watching as she came down the stairs. He noticed that she was walking a little different than normal. "Are you ok?"

Duke stopped at the bottom of the stairs and seemed somewhat surprised. "I took a few hits on my last mission. Nothing a bit more time in the spa won't fix." She paused and changed back to a smile. "It's good to see you again. A month can feel very long."

"It's good to see you too Duke." Ron smiled back at her and leaned up to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Are you going to be around all day?"

"Yes, I wanted to sit in on the interviews with you if you don't mind."

"No, no that's fine. I don't really know what to do."

Duke smiled and shook her head.

"Just ask a few questions, I think Victoria has files for you to look over." Duke looked over to the maid.

"Yes I do. They should be in the sitting room along with everything else." Victoria nodded and gestured towards one of the now refurnished and refinished rooms.

"Alright. I guess I can take a look and you can bring them in whenever?" Ron looked between the two women.

"I shall bring some refreshments in first and give you some time, then bring in the first." Victoria did a little bow.

"Thank you Victoria." Duke gestured for Ron to take the lead and he headed to the sitting room where two folio's were sitting on a small table next to two chairs. Ron took the first one while Duke sat to his right.

"Only two?" He asked Duke, picking them up curiously.

"Victoria did most of the screening for us. She says that she likes these two and thinks between the three of them it will work out quite nicely." Duke smiled a bit as Victoria came in with some tea and light pastries.

"Here you are. I'll give you a few minutes to look over everything."

"Thank you Victoria." Ron gave her a nod and a polite smile as Duke began to pour drinks for the two of them. Starting with the top folio he began to read, having to pause several times as he did so.

"Am I reading this right Duke?" He looked up from the first one.

"Hmm?" Duke paused and then chuckled. "Oh, yes. Warspite and I were surprised as well but remember the initial list came from the government and your mother. Everything is just fine."

"Well if you say so. I don't see anything else to complain about."

"There shouldn't be." Duke smiled as she sipped at her tea. "Check the other one as well. It's got some interesting bits in it."

Putting down the first folio and picking up the second, Ron wondered what could be "interesting" compared to…

"What?" Ron's voice came out flat.

"Found the good bit did you?" Duke seemed amused.

"But… but why?" Ron looked up at Duke.

"I don't know. It's not as if you didn't meet some unique people in Japan Ron. Everybody needs to make a living."

Ron nodded to that. "I suppose you're right. Some of the people I've met through Harry..."

A knock interrupted his musings and he looked up to see Victoria waiting.

"Your first interviewee is here sir." She seemed extra formal at the moment, like he was actually important somehow and not just lucky.

"Bring her in." Ron settled himself in his chair and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Duke had set a cup of tea near his elbow in case he needed it.

Victoria bowed and gestured for someone out of sight to step into view.

The woman who did so was large, Ron would have said "quite large" before he'd met Summer and Angie, standing at six feet or more and broad shouldered for a woman. The rest of her frame followed suit, she was not fat by any means but Ron could easily imagine her posing for one of the new posters that encouraged women to work in more industrial trades. She looked as if a workers jumpsuit would have fit her more than the baby blue arm and ankle length dress she appeared to be stuffed into. Whatever fastener was holding the thing together had to be the hardest working thing in the room.

The two most striking things about her to Ron were her flaming red hair, much brighter than his own and the way her face was somehow formed into an expression of extreme meekness despite otherwise looking like she could be a lumberjack once out of the dress.

"One Lara O'Donnell to see Master Weasley and Lady Duke." Victoria introduced the guest, even though Ron had seen her name in the file.

"Hello." Lara's voice even sounded meek, the tenor carefully modulated to be as nonthreatening as possible while attempting to hide what appeared to be a deep Scottish accent.

"Hello Ms. O'Donnell. Please have a seat." Duke gestured to the chair that had been set out for her.

The woman nodded and took a seat, the chair standing up to the strain quite well since it and all its companions had been designed to accommodate capital class ship-girls.

There was a second of quiet before Ron caught Duke looking at him out of the corner of his eye and he cleared his throat.

"Hello. Ms. O'Donnell." Ron put a polite smile on his face. "As Victoria said I'm Ron Weasley and this is Duke of York. HMS Duke of York."

"Yessir." The words were nervous, rushed and the accent slipped in more. Lara then promptly attempted not to flush, succeeded only partway and nodded.

Ron glanced at Duke who gave a barely perceptible shrug.

"Would you like some refreshments?" Ron gestured to the tea and pastries.

"No, thank you." The words were stiff, stilted and attempted to be meek again.

"Very well." Ron wasn't sure how he was doing on the interview, either he was making a hash out of it or there was something else going on. All he had to go through was a vague idea to be somewhat formal and polite about the whole thing.

"So I've looked through the file we received from the government and everything appears to be in order." Ron picked up the thing so he could glance through it but hopefully so the woman could calm down. "You've been cleared for work in a government facility, said you would sign the necessary confidentiality papers and have no problem getting dirty or working with your hands."

"Aye sir." More accent this time, more nerves. Less meekness but the woman seemed to be about to vibrate out of her chair despite clearly fighting to maintain her cool.

Ron looked behind the woman to see Victoria still standing there, face impassive for the most part but somehow subtly encouraging.

"Well if that's the case I see no reason not to hire you on as a maid with the terms already in this proposal."

"...Ya nae care?" The confused question popped from the woman in a full Scottish brogue and she actively stuffed her hand in her mouth for a moment before dropping it again, clearly flustered.

"About what?" Ron looked up as he closed the folio.

"Mabledngwlf." The woman mumbled into her own chest.

"I'm sorry?" Ron glanced at Duke, who almost seemed amused.

"I'm a bleeding werewolf!" Lara burst out, then flushed and glanced down at her lap again. "I… I mean..."

Somewhat startled Ron leaned back for a moment and then leaned forward.

"Should I be?"

"What?" Lara looked up from where she had dropped her head in what appeared to be shame.

"Should I be concerned about you being a werewolf?" Ron kept his tone even, not bringing up the outburst.

"I… don't understand." Lara seemed slightly wary but she wasn't nearly as bad as she had been.

"Are you going to try and attack somebody, run off and terrorize the nearby town or anything like that?"

"No! No I'd never! Ma would kill me if I even thought like that and..." Lara petered off. "You really don't care."

Ron shook his head no. "My friend has a little sister that's an abyssal, one of my other friends is a light cruiser, Duke here is a battleship and I've personally met an ancient Egyptian sun-ship. Oh and a vampire who runs a shop in Diagon Alley. Maybe in a different world I'd care but in this one I don't. As long as you do your work properly we won't have any problems." Ron smiled a bit. "We'll probably even be friends."

Victoria looked a little off put by that.

"Well, as long as it's just us around. Victoria will be teaching you how to act I think."

A small nod from the Head maid.

Lara finally smiled herself, the expression looking much more natural on her face than the meekness she'd been attempting to exude before.

"You got it! I'm your girl sir! Ma'am!" She was positively exuberant.

"Then I think we're done. Unless you have something Duke?"

Duke smiled politely and shook her head. "No, I think Ron covered everything. I'll look forward to you starting Ms. O'Donnell."

"Thank you, all of you." Lara stood and nodded to Ron, Duke and Victoria before following Victoria out of the room.

When they were out of sight, Ron let out a sigh and slumped back in his chair before reaching to take a sip of his tea.

"That was stressful." He said, looking to Duke.

"I think you handled it quite well actually." Duke grinned at him before grabbing a pastry and munching on it. "Lara seems a bit high strung but she'll probably need the energy as time goes on."

"That was kind of my thoughts as well when I saw her. Victoria probably wants someone who can wrangle destroyers and carry heavy things for her." Ron took a nibble of a pastry himself.

"Most likely. She'll do fine I think, which is why I had no issues with her." Duke paused and took a sip of tea. "I'm glad you thought so too."

"I think she means well, she was just nervous and probably not used to getting accepted even for work." Ron nodded, tracing his own thought patterns out loud. "So she was surprised and trying to pretend like what she thought we wanted."

Duke just smiled and nodded as the sounds of someone coming up the hall became clear.

Victoria came around the corner again and nodded her head.

"Mr. Xathonorth to see Master Weasley and Lady Duke."

Around the corner came one of the most friendly looking old man Ron had ever seen. If he'd had a head full of hair to match his white beard he would've met the popular description of St. Nicholas but he was instead bald enough to shine in the afternoon light. His suit looked to have originally been made sometime around when Victoria had been built and patched irregularly since then. If not for the way he clearly had no trouble walking by himself and a quick glint Ron saw in his nearly amber eyes, Ron would have been concerned about the old man asking for a gardening position.

Instead the man smiled widely when Ron looked into his eyes and gave a small bow.

"A pleasure to meet both of you." His voice was deep and grandfatherly… if just slightly off from what Ron would expect.

"Please Mr. Xathonorth…?" Ron attempted to pronounce the name correctly, "Have a seat."

"Yes, thank you. Feel free to call me Xath if you wish." The old man sat down, straightening his sleeves as he did so.

"Refreshments Mr. Xath?" Duke offered pastries and tea.

"Yes, thank you. Just Xath if you don't mind. Too old for all the Mr. stuff." The man seemed as cheery as ever as he took a bite of pastry.

"So… Xath. I understand you're looking to fill the handyman and gardener position?" Ron fell back on formality as his thoughts tried to keep up.

"Yes, yes. Good with my hands and I like nature. Seems like it should keep me busy." The man nodded and the grin remained on his face.

"If you don't mind me asking… why?" Ron couldn't hold back his question.

The jolly looking man looked serious for a moment, matched eyes with Ron and then looked to Duke before going back to Ron.

"The winds of change are coming." The voice was less jolly but no less old sounding for it. "For everyone. I'm too bloody old to want to get involved in it this time around. So a nice easy place doing some yard work and helping out sounds nice to me. You're paying quite well too."

"I see." It wasn't quite the answer Ron had expected but it made more sense than any of the ones he'd thought up.

"Not everyone needs to be mysterious lad." The old man smiled, the jolly grin coming back. He leaned forward as if sharing a secret. "One of my extended family said your family were good folk so I asked around and heard the same. I'll have to thank her." He paused for a moment. "Assuming you're hiring me of course." Still a big grin.

Ron glanced at Duke who nodded to him.
"I'd say we are Xath. It'll be a pleasure to have you." Ron smiled and offered the old man his hand.

"I feel the same Mr. Weasley." As they shook hands Ron could feel a tingle of magic run up his arm. Not unpleasant but simply unusual… and strong.

"I think Victoria will handle everything from here Xath." Ron said. "Though be sure to ask if you need anything."

"I will, thank you." The jolly looking old man stood, having finished his tea and pastry.

As he turned to leave, Duke spoke up.

"If you don't mind me asking… when was the last time you got involved Xath?" Her voice was cool but curious.

The man paused, the light flashing in his eyes as he chuckled again.

"When you were around young lady. Got smacked by an 88 over Berlin. Had to sleep it off for a while and decided I'd had enough adventure."

Duke nodded and the man turned to follow Victoria out of the room.

Ron waited a few seconds before he sighed again.

"Sometimes I wonder when life got so exciting." He said with a small laugh.

"I do believe it was sometime around when Blood Week happened." Duke said. "For everyone."

"That's true." Ron looked over and reached out to take Duke's hand. "I'm not complaining. I wouldn't have met you otherwise."

Duke flushed a little bit, her boilers spooling slightly and she squeezed his hand.

"I wouldn't change a thing either Ron." She smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek.

It was Ron's turn to flush and the boy tried not to grin too much.

"Do you think it's time for lunch yet?" He asked.

"Soon at least." Duke checked her internal chronometer. "Perhaps a game of chess first? It's been a while." She cocked her head at him.

"I think that sounds good. I have some new moves to try out on you so you better watch out."

Duke's throaty chuckle echoed through the room as the two stood and went to find a board.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
AN: Wow that one got out of hand compared to what I thought but I hope you enjoyed! Questions and comments welcome like always.

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

You know, you'd think finally getting wifi set up would increase my productivity, not get me so drunk on having 24/7 interwebs that I end up doing pretty much nothing for a week. You'd think that, wouldn't you.
Flash Back: Kung Fu Fighting
The moment that "War" (seemed as good a name as any) rolled fluidly off the back of the couch to avoid Tonbo and the Scottish girl's simultaneous opening strikes, something in Tatsuya's mind clicked to "too easy." Watching as she casually sidestepped her way through her attackers, deflecting them to the sides and bringing up a hand to catch Benio's own opening strike, he was almost tempted to hang back and just watch as she moved with practiced grace and precision.

Basically, she was really, really good. Which was great when viewed on a movie screen, but substantially less so when oh God right in front of me!

His arms snapped up, barely in time to block the kick that still lifted him from his feet and threw him into the opposite wall, then reversed to force the American guy to guard, throwing off his attack and providing War an opening to reset her stance, catch two punches from opposite directions, and throw the two girls at him like ragdolls. Tonbo was in front of her in an instant, blade immediately caught between a pair of Bowie knives that, for all that they hadn't been split in two with extreme prejudice, probably had some crazy degree of magic juice themselves.

And now she's serious. Beautiful.

Okay, okay, so she was basically better than everyone in the room, but everyone's compounded abilities still slowed her down by oh damn here she comes again! Tatsuya threw himself away from the wall, eyes widening as he realized that his head was aimed directly at her knee. Arms up again, head slammed against the wall (it's okay, I've had worse), eyes unblurring as he looked up into eyes filled with if… resignation, more than anything else. It's a shame, she seemed to be saying as she brought a knife up and down, I would have loved to know you—

And suddenly Tonbo was onto her, locking arms in a frantic, enraged attempt at something resembling a half nelson. "LIKE HELL, BITCH!" she screamed, fumbling to pull the older sword away from him.

For a split second, so brief he nearly thought he imagined it, confusion showed in War's eyes. Then her head snapped back to catch Tonbo in the chin, regained her footing and lifted, spinning to put the Muramasa right in Benio's line of attack—she faltered, but the Scottish girl didn't, bringing a knife up to slash through Tonbo's side before War's own blocked it and she had to duck away to avoid a blade to the face. Scrabbling to his feet, getting upright again, Tatsuya missed the next moments, but Tonbo was off her and the American guy was full up against her, opening with a martial arts combo at—Tatsuya wasn't sure what "point blank" would be considered for martial arts, but he was right in front of her, and she wasn't able to block—but she was able to skip backwards, lean just so, and avoid the whole thing. But if she could anticipate everything so easily, why—

Tatsuya caught the thrown blade out of midair with a grimace, then slashed the thrown darts out of midair. Every time he got a chance to think, she was attacking him again! Every attack, every try, she seemed to know exactly where it was coming from and how! The only chance anyone had was to hold out long enough for some sort of miracle, and it was only because everyone here was that good that they weren't already dead—like the knife grating against his collarbone oh God WHY AGAIN!

His hands snapped up and wrapped around War's own, trying to hold it in one place because he like his blood where it was supposed to be, dammit!

"Keep this up," he panted, "and I'm going to start—"

Then she deflected the Scottish girl's flurry of attacks and cracked him on the head with the hilt of her other weapon.

And as if she was dealing a bit of maintenance to a cantankerous computer, a thought that Tatsuya had been trying to form the whole time rose to the surface almost incidentally.

She didn't see Tonbo coming.

That… seemed important. Enough that it almost seemed worth the world going funny the way it had. Distantly, Tatsuya thought he heard the sound of glass breaking. Did someone fall out a window? Things were falling into place, somewhere, somehow… Right, ignore the pain until it stopped you from running walking crawling writhing forward, get UP swing OUT he needed a plan, needed something to equalize the field, now that he had her figured out—phone?

War, standing on Benio's collar, just about to transfer her weight there as she moved from American guy to Tonbo, glanced down at her pocket and rolled her eyes. "Hell," she muttered, "should have left the thing back with—"

"HEY ASSHAT!"

As a Chinese woman flickered out of the air to wrap her arms around her, something flew past her head—Tatsuya couldn't quite make it out, still recovering, but War's arm snapped up to catch it before it hit her compatriot.

Then the two of them were gone.

As everything finally fell into place, Tatsuya regained his feet. Glancing at where they were just standing, he followed the line of fire out the broken window to find Reiko standing there, arm outstretched, breathing heavily. Her pockets were filled with ofuda—looked unused from where he was standing, and Tatsuya realized what the jorogumo must have just thrown.

"Heh," Reiko caught his eye, and gave him a weak smile. "We had a plan. Hope my boss is okay with it."
-----

Whenever I write one of these things, I have this vision in my head of a glorious martial arts battle full of skill, special techniques, and pretty much just style. When I turn them into words, they almost uniformly transform into chaotic brawls with little if any choreography. It's actually a bit annoying.

I think I'm running out of song titles, too.

Well what do you think, sirs?

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

And now, another installment of OPTIONALLY CANONICAL THEATRE!

Tocatta for Toast, in E minor

"Mother's Day?" Tokunotaki-no-Masamune cocked one elegant eyebrow at the slender blonde woman who was her stepdaughter in almost every meaning of the word other than the formal, legal definition. "Yes, it is celebrated in Japan, though on a different date." Her expression turned pensive. "Though I have never been part of such celebrations myself, of course."

"A lack I am sure Mutti will correct in due time, Toku-san," Ehren du Chasteler replied stoically, just the tiniest hint of a blush touching her peaches-and-cream complexion. Toku felt a similar warmth in her own cheeks, and firmly ignored it, in favor of appreciating the magnitude of this gesture from the young dagger -- given Ehren's reserved nature, the carefully-offhand comment was nearly equivalent to a formal seal of approval of her mother's relationship with Toku.

"I look forward to it," she replied instead. "In the meantime, you said that Mother's Day is coming up soon, locally?"

"Ja," Ehren nodded firmly, obviously relieved to be moving on to safer topics. "Claire has generally taken the lead in planning our celebrations, but given how our family has recently expanded, I felt I should make it possible for her to delegate more to me. I would like to set up a surprise for Mutti this year, and it seemed appropriate to request your involvement."

Toku studied the girl, who had unconsciously drawn herself up into a military stance of attention. She was reminded almost painfully of the various apprentices who had passed through her care over the centuries, eager and awkward and uncertain.

Place her in between helpless bystanders and overwhelming evil, she relaxes, Toku reflected wryly, but trying to connect with her stepmother-to-be has her stressed nearly to the point of vibrating.

"I would be delighted, Ehren-chan," she replied with carefully measured enthusiasm. "And I am truly touched that you want to include me."

The dagger blushed again, and coughed discreetly into her fist. "Ah! It is I who is grateful, Tokunotakai-san. I have the current rough draft of my plans in my office, if you would care to see...?"

Toku gave her her best Approving Teacher smile. "I would, indeed. Please, lead on."

A half-hour later, Toku found her head spinning slightly as she stood over Ehren's desk, staring down at the intricately detailed spread of papers, neatly diagrammed and lettered in Ehren's painfully neat draughtsman's hand, that constituted part of her "rough draft." The in-briefing (she really couldn't find any other way to think of it) had also included a physics demonstration, the results of an in-depth study of pastry ballistic and aerodynamic coefficients, and video recordings of several Chinese wuxia films and an American actor named Belushi.

She shook her head in bemusement, and looked up to find Ehren trying not to look as if she were studying the older blade's face carefully. She hid it well, but Toku had learned enough of Ehren's 'tells' to see that the young woman was chewing the inside of her cheek nervously.

Of course, Toku thought. Some of my sisters would easily consider my part in this plan to be an insult to my dignity. Fudo-oneesan, in particular. And I would have, as well, once. She suppressed a smile. But I would like to think I have learned how to, ah, 'take a joke' since then, as Colombe would probably say.

"A plan I believe Hachiman-sama himself would find thorough and carefully thought out," she said. "Have you made arrangements for a camera? The look on her face will be priceless." She let the smile slip out.

Ehren's shoulders relaxed millimetrically like a sigh of relief. "Section 17, sub-section Alpha, sub-sub sections three through seven," she replied crisply. "Buffered recordings from the concealed cameras in the ceiling corners, and Kasuyu has agreed to have his phone recording from his shirt pocket."

Toku blinked and leafed through the binder of color-tabbed pages. "Where... oh! I must have overlooked it at first. Well, you seem to have everything covered. The only thing left to do, is--" She let her smile widen. "Practice."

Ehren actually bounced on her heels. Once. "Mutti will be out attending to buisiness concerns for at least the next four hours, and Kasuyu laid in training materials before they left. Frau Miho has been sworn to secrecy, and the children agreed as well. At least," Ehren's lips curved a tiny bit, "after I agreed to help them with their Mother's Day plans in exchange."

"Shrewd negotiators, indeed," Toku said solemnly. "Shall we?"

"Jawhol!" Ehren about-faced and lead the way out of her office.

"Do you know," Toku mused as she followed down the hall, "it is at moments like this that your resemblance to your mother shows most clearly?"

Ehren almost stumbled a bit. "V-- vas?"

"Oh, yes." Toku let her smile broaden. "It's when you're plotting mischief -- your eyes dance in almost exactly the same way."

Ehren didn't look back, which was how Toku discovered that her stepdaughter-to-be would blush even on the back of her neck. And while she said nothing, her steps were noticeably lighter.

Maybe I won't be so bad at this step-mother thing after all.


Mother's Day found Colombe waking alone, which would have been a disagreeable experience had she not known Toku's early-rising habits (which Colombe took great pleasure in "corrupting" as often as she could get away with), and suspected that her --their-- daughters might well have dragooned their stepmother-to-be into whatever shenanigans they had planned for this Mother's Day.

(Suffice to say, the typical "breakfast in bed" had never been "on the menu" yet, in her years of motherhood to date)

Her suspicions were further confirmed by a pair of giggling Youkai imps who thought they were being stealthy, stampeding down the hall ahead of her into the dining room from what had obviously been their lookout posting.

It made her smile with anticipatory nostalgia. Parenthood had yet to include "the pitter-patter of little feet," for her, but (exasperating as they could be sometimes) Miho's children were a pleasant preview of what she had to look forward to, once she and Toku could formalize things, clear their schedules, and reduce the outstanding dumpsterfires to something manageable.

So she pretended to be surprised as she swung around the corner of the dining room doorway, calling out "Bonjour, mes--" And then she wasn't pretending anymore.

Ehren and Toku were facing each other over the sideboard, steel bared.

"Are you ready, Ehren-chan?"

"I am, Toku-san!"

"Then... en garde!"

A palm strike to the upturned edge of a serving platter catapulted a steaming fresh loaf of bread into the air, rotating lazily as it reached the top of its arc, began to fall--

"Secret Hachimangu Bread-Slicing Technique!"
(...why is To-chan shouting attack names in English?)

--and met the rising edge of Toku's blade-self in a rising cut that had originally been designed to disembowel a warrior from hip to shoulder.

The heel of the loaf, sliced cleanly off, sailed into Ehren's waiting hand, while the rest of the loaf was propelled upwards again, by a deliberate off-normal twist to the blow.

Ehren had already plunged her blade-self into the butter crock, and slapped a perfect coat of butter across the bread-slice as it fell into her off hand, without dislodging so much as a crumb. The catch-and-spread motion segued neatly into an over-the-shoulder pass to Claire, who was standing beside --of course, a numbed sliver of Colombe's mind noted-- a toaster oven.

Claire caught the buttered slice and slipped it into the oven (butter-side-up, of course) with quick efficiency. The next slice was already descending into Ehren's hand, with its coat of butter rising out of the crock in a neat wad plastered across her blade. And the loaf, another slice shorter, was again arcing up and over before descending to meet Toku's next strike.

Miho, for her part, was standing on the other side of the dual-sided toaster oven, and, as it reached capacity, opened the far side and removed the most-toasted slice. She was flanked by her girls, who were themselves armed with jam, honey, and Giggling Determination. What they lacked in skill, they were certainly making up for in enthusiasm. Well, cleaning the mess would be Kasuyu's lookout (as if Colombe hadn't noticed him standing there pretending his phone just happened to be peeking over the edge of his shirt pocket!).

...later. For now... Colombe let herself enjoy the intricate ballet her family was putting on for her benefit (and their own amusement).

All too soon, it was over, and as much toast as five tsukumogami and three youkai could reasonably be expected to eat was plated and tabled, dripping butter, honey, and/or a variety of fruit preserves.

"You know," Colombe commented between bites, "I've seen drill corps that would have been happy with that level of precision. Whose idea was this, anyway?"

"Oh," Toku replied airily, "our Ehren-chan is a subtle prankster, in addition to a meticulous planner."

Colombe didn't miss Ehren hiding a blush behind her next bite of toast.

"And also a budding paronomasiac," Toku continued blithely, causing the dagger to choke slightly and shoot the katana an et tu, Brute look.

Claire giggled and reached over to pat her sister on the back, while Misaki looked concerned. "Does that mean Ehren-nee is crazy?"

"Because she's not!" Chihiro said stoutly.

This time it was Toku's turn to choke on her toast, while Colombe snickered. "No, no, girls, that's 'paranoid'. A paronomasiac is someone who loves puns, and playing with words." She tipped a sly smile in Ehren's direction. "It's a trait often found in people who are very precise linguists."

"And a very good grasp of iconography," Toku interjected smoothly, having regained her breath. "As she said to me, 'what better represents a union of Bread and Butter Knives... than toast?'"

Colombe reached out and intertwined the fingers of her free hand with Toku's, and looked around the table at her family. An odd assortment, to be sure, and a "some assembly required" project over the years, but... she couldn't imagine giving up a single one of them.

It was Mother's Day. Everyone was here, healthy, and happy, and all was right with the world.


(So... please 'hammer, don't hurt me?

)
Well, I already did a butter-knife gag with Ehren&Claire, so I had to find a way to make a bread&butter pun once Toku joined the mix....

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Pack Dynamics II

Yokosuka Naval Base, Kanmasu Housing

Moriko smiled as she saw Sachiko come out of her room for breakfast. Two days ago, she had been cleared to use a walker around the house, and while the young wolf was leaning heavily on the frame, she made it from the door to the table slowly but triumphantly.

"Great work, my amazing and determined little sister triumphs once again!" Moriko congratulated her, before giving her a hug and a plate of beef liver on top of her rice. "Eat up so you can grow up big and strong like us!"

"S'Right..." Mumbled a clearly semi-awake Suzume as she made her way to the table for her own breakfast.

"Suzume-chan, you didn't sleep well?" Moriko asked as she shoveled rice into Suzume's bowl.

Her twin shook her head groggily. "So many roads to paint around base.... Between that and needing to study for my engineering certifications so I can train my eventual crew on airplanes, I got to bed late."

Sachiko reached over and squeezed Suzume's hand. "At least punishment detail ends tomorrow, right?"

Suzume gave a faint smile, "Hai. Shigure and I just need to finish up the north pier and we are done."

"That's good. Hachiko-chan has asked about you. He wants to meet you for real." Moriko spoke between bites of her rice and miso.

Suzume drank her coffee, looking slightly more coherent, and then spoke. "I should personally apologize to him for... well..."

Moriko barked a laugh, "It was pretty funny, though. Wasn't it, Sachiko-chan? My own sister charging through the gate to save me from getting assaulted by a boy half my size."

Sachiko giggled. "Oh yes, the look on Suzume-chan's face when she realized it was a simple goodbye-for-now chat and not," she blushed pink, "that! I think Suzume-chan has a dirty mind~~."

"I do not!" Suzume flushed scarlet as the salvo bracketed her.

"Do~ too~!" Sachiko grinned as she loaded another round of shells.

Moriko's phone rang. "Just a second... Moshi moshi! Oh Hachiko-chan~~!"

Suzume rolled her eyes as she knew quite well that Hachiko had gotten a special ring tone on Moriko's phone settings. Sachiko contemplated that her oldest sister was a lousy liar, since her surprised voice was as clearly fake as a 2300 yen bill.

The budding sisterly slap-fight across the table was shelved with a hasty cease-fire as two sets of lupine ears swiveled toward their happily-smiling sister. Hot blackmail and gossip was available!

"Yes, yes, I'd love to go to hanami with you..." A certain MMA fighter fistpumped with a smile of victory, "Saturday is fine for me... Oh, Aki is coming too? We can make it a family outing then! We all go have a picnic and view the flower blossoms!... right, I'll meet you at the main gate then, ja ne!"

Moriko hung up and looked up from punching in the date on her phone's calendar function to see two she-wolves surveying her like they would a stray tender yearling calf after skipping meals for a week in the wild.

"Suzume-chan, Sachiko-chan, what did I say?"

----------------------------------
Spoiler: Another Day Working Toward A Better Future

Hachiko hung up his phone as he reached his bicycle. Uncontrollably, he smiled at the thought of seeing Moriko-chan again while he unlocked the bike lock and mounted his battered and rusty bicycle.

He slipped the phone into the pocket with the money that he had been paid after unloading the furniture for Odawara's Outfitters.

A full 2500 yen toward the Ring Fund. Yay!

Even though he was well aware that she would no doubt make far more than he would as a kanmasu officer in the JMSDF as opposed to someone who had not even gone to college, he would not hesitate to hold up his end of the relationship.

If only rings were not so expensive....

He shook his head at the thought.

He might as well wish for his parents to be alive while he was at it. Wishing for something would not make it happen, only effort would.

He sighed as he continued to pedal, ignoring the protest from his agonized muscles. One step at a time. If he skipped lunch, tightened his belt a little more, perhaps he could scrounge a few extra yen for Moriko-chan's engagement ring.

She deserved nothing less than his best after all. She and Aki....

With that he parked and locked his bike at the library and took a deep breath.

"Is there something wrong, Nephew?"

He turned to see his aunt looking curiously at him.

"Aunt Naomi. It's...nothing really."

She gave him a quelling look. "Is Aki sick?"

"No no, it's not Aki. It's... I met this wonderful girl and...." He trailed off, visibly struggling with himself. "Is it wrong to want something for yourself even though it conflicts with your responsibilities?"

Naomi Miyata hugged him, "Not at all, Nephew. So what's this girl named?"

"Ibuki Moriko, she's a martial arts instructor at the JMSDF base." Hachiko smiled slightly at the thought of Moriko-chan.

Naomi's eyebrows raised at the sight of her nephew's smile. A smile that she knew well from seeing her husband's face over a decade and a half of happy marriage. Clearly, this was not a 'girl who is just a friend' but something romantic. "I see. How did you meet her?"

"She and her little sister were visiting the Cafe while I was waiting tables seven weeks ago, I wrote it down on my scheduler. One of the other patrons bumped into me and I lost my glasses." Hachiko's smile grew more goofy at the memory of the first time that he had seen her. "She was kind enough to help me out and we started talking while we cleaned them off, they landed in her parfait, if you can believe that."

Naomi blinked, and made a mental note to follow up those rumors of Kitsune in Yokosuka. This sounded like a Kitsune prank and she didn't want her nephew to get hurt, he deserved much better. If one of those tricksters was targeting her nephew for sick kicks she would have a fox's tails and ears nailed to the wall above her desk at work. "I see.... What's she like?"

Hachiko beamed, "Oh, she's so strong and caring and beautiful and..." Naomi nodded along with the stream of words about this girl who according to her nephew was an angel sent down from the Christian Heaven. She blushed slightly, remembering a younger herself talking about her future husband in these kind of glowing terms to Kiku-chan in the back of her Potions class at Mahoutokoro.

He paused briefly, but knew that his aunt and grandfather would find out already, and it was not like she had a really dark secret such as his Inugami brother. "She is also a natural born shipgirl, although unawakened."

Naomi froze, visibly taken aback "I see, may I ask for a favor from you? If you have a picture of her, can I borrow it?"

Hachiko pulled out his billfold and then pulled a picture of himself and Moriko taken three weeks ago at a photo booth. "Here you go."

Naomi pocketed it, and handed over the envelope of rent money. "Thank you. I'll speak to your grandfather about her...."

Hachiko winced, "I suppose there's nothing for it." he sighed.

Naomi hugged him again. "Father is not an unreasonable man, just... constrained. Which reminds me. If you see this woman around, stay clear and if possible contact me." She pulled out a flier with a magical photograph of a blonde Frenchwoman smirking smugly from it.

He blinked and pocketed the flier after glancing at the header. "Sounds like the plot of a bad movie. International terrorist visits Tokyo. I'll keep an eye out."

"Good. For what it is worth, Nephew, I trust your judgment and your heart. And Ibuki Moriko is getting herself one of the best men in Japan if this bears fruit. I just worry more if she is worthy of you."

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Eight Views of Moulbaix
Spoiler: Music for Moulbaix

To Miho Fujii, the Castle was a place of refuge.

She had never believed that the outside world could be like this. She had heard stories about the outside world from her mother, who had heard them from her grandmother and from her great-grandmother.

But in all the stories, the outside world was a harsh, cruel place with all men's hands turned against a jorogumo such as her and her baby sister.

She shook her head gracefully in disbelief at that thought now as she spun her silk to clear her mind. The spinning was not even a condition for her employment but something that she could practice of her own free will to gift or use as she saw fit. In this case, heartfelt gifts were her plan for the hand-spun jorogumo silk robes that she was weaving for the rest of the household.

With Lady Tokunotakai's aid -- and who would think that the spirit of a Masamune blade would rescue one such as herself! -- she had constructed a small shrine in her room to give thanks to Hachiman-dono, Konohananosakuya-hime, Lady Tokunotakai, and Lady Colombe for answering her prayers.

The other tsukumogami were equally welcoming in their own ways.

Claire was, as one might expect the tsukumogami of a musical instrument to be, an artist, and a gentle soul. Rapidly she had gained the trust of the children, and served as their big sister and primary minder and playmate. She would have to find a biwa somewhere and see if she could teach Claire some of the traditional songs of her people.

Discussions with Kasuyu about potion crafting were fascinating, and the axe had shared many of the spells used to upkeep and preserve the castle in exchange for the lore that her mother had taught her in the casting of illusion spells. While he was no kitsune, tanuki, or jorogumo, he did have some ability with them. They also shared an interest in cooking, and had been exchanging recipes.

The one who truly excelled at illusion magics was the dagger spirit Ehren. While she was the least welcoming on the surface, underneath the cool expression, lurked the heart of a honorable warrior. Something in her story of grief had touched something within the dagger's steel heart, for it was certain that the source of the chocolate-coated coffee beans that had arrived unexpectedly two weeks after her arrival was the dagger.

With that, Miho took one chocolate coffee bean from the bowl in her room and shivered in bliss at the taste of pure delight as she expelled more thread for the black silk robe with subtle gray spiderweb accents and hidden pockets for her weapons that she was weaving for the young dagger.

---------------------------

To Misaki Fujii, the Castle was a place of wonders.

Food was plentiful and she could actually eat until she was full. Even if Big Sister Miho restricted her to no more than eight chocolate coffee beans a day until she had her First Molting and her abdomen emerged.

Anyway!

There were so many interesting things to see and do!

Some of the rooms were fascinating, ranging from small cubbyholes to the massive great halls on the ground floor.

She was even allowed under supervision to climb up the walls of the large halls and explore the rafters!

Using her own silk and under her big sister Miho's direction and guidance, she even constructed a few hidden pathways twenty meters above the floor. Well anchored silk lines to let her scurry out of sight to play hide and seek or tag with Claire-chan, Ehren-chan, and Chihiro-chan.

But the halls were only the second most wonderful place that she had found!

Above her room that she shared with Chihiro-chan, right next to Miho-nee's room, there were attics!

And such attics, stretching for meters in all directions and filled with chests, crates, boxes, old clothing and a thousand and one other treasures! Full of hiding places, rafters to swing from, even nooks and crannies to practice spinning her webs like the Lady of Joro Falls did to find her true love according to Oneechan's stories.

And then when playtime was over there was chocolate ice cream!

---------------------------

To Chihiro Arakai, the Castle was a place of exploration.

Both in her human form and as a tanuki cub, she explored the castle rooms and attics alongside Misaki-chan, but that was only the start of her explorations.

Her illusions and shape shifting had so many items and people here that she could duplicate! Paintings, photographs, old newspapers, artifacts of every description.

And then there were the libraries.

Sweet Kami, the libraries!

So. Many. Books.

Ehren-chan and Claire-chan were helping her and Misaki-chan read them, and teaching her the languages she needed to read them for herself.

Ehren and Claire-chan were the best new big sisters that a tanuki could have.

And each book was a new place of the mind to explore.

-----------------------------------

To Claire du Chasteler, the Castle was a place of music.

Places for her to sit and play, paintings and artifacts to use for inspiring a fresh piece of music.

(A thought that made her giggle and segue into The Promenade from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition before shifting to a variation on Brahms as she idly played)

Reams and reams of sheet music, and iTunes songs.

And best of all, an audience for her works. Ehren, Mother, Kasuyu, Tokunotakai, Miho, Misaki, Chihiro all enjoyed her playing as they went about their lives.

All she lacked was a fellow musician to join the experience.

Mother was a delight to play with, Tokunotakai and Miho had both mentioned that they would like to play their traditional instruments with her, and Little Sister Ehren was eagerly devouring music in their times together.

But none of them quite loved music the way that she did. But Claire was certain that would change one day.

-----------------------------------

To Kasuyu, the Castle was a place of safety.

He was old, old in ways that made the antics of the Mistress, much less the even younger 'children' of hers seem like the morning dew on the lawns.

He knew full well how harsh and evil the world could be. This was a lesson only the Mistress and her Younger Daughter comprehended, and even that imperfectly.

But they had carved out this safe haven for innocence to flourish and beauty to shelter unthreatened. This was something that a worthy Chieftain would do, and was one reason among many many reasons that he followed the Mistress willingly.

But he knew that the safe haven must be defended and strengthened, because one day the Evils of the world would threaten it once more.

Complacency was death, after all.

-----------------------------------

To Masamune-no-Tokunotakai, the Castle was a place of insight.

Her love had shaped it, and it had shaped her in turn

Here she had walked her first steps.

Here she had taken her first sword lesson alongside her adopted kin.

Here she had bid farewell to her adopted father whose portrait loomed large over the grand staircase in the castle, and loomed equally largely in Colombe's life.

Here she had been betrayed by Hippolyte.

Here she had experienced mono no aware the night Debussy played Claire's piano body incomparably, creating a performance of surpassing beauty and equally surpassing transience and impermanence, save in the memories of the rapier and the piano.

Here she had confronted her traitorous nephew and slew him to save her family honor, just like in a great noh play.

Here she had celebrated birthdays and holidays with her true sisters and her new family, born from the ashes of the old.

Here her children had manifested, first Claire and then Ehren.

Here had lurked the ghost of her greatest failure, until Toku had managed to exorcise it and purify the room properly, leaving the newly cleared soil fallow for new and better memories to grow there.

Here she had taken her masks of nobility, of pride, of duty, of honor totally down for Toku to comfort the wounded soul within.

Here Colombe had been shaped, just as the Hachimangu had shaped Toku.

-----------------------------------

To Ehren du Chasteler, the Castle was a place of growth.

Here she had rested for well over half her life as she gathered her strength and learned by observation of Mother.

Here she had manifested, and faced her Mother in struggle the day of her birth to protect Claire.

Here she had found out the terrible truth about her past and her heritage.

Here she had denied the evil forged into her very soul, pushing herself to the brink of destruction in her rejection of her dark heritage.

Here she had found a Big Sister, found Aunts... and finally found a Mother who she could love and who loved her.

Here she had sworn oaths of service, of nobility, of honor... of commitment to things that she could believe in.

Here she had begun to study the arts of combat and magic, preparing for the day when she must use them in the field of battle, to triumph or die.

Here she had learned the arts of business and management to hone her mind to the same sharpness of her steel blade.

Here she had studied ethics, and morals, honing her spirit to face the challenges outside the walls and within her spirit.

Here she found herself, forged herself, prepared herself.

Finally, from here, she would sally forth to battle the demons of her nature and the evils of the world when she had grown enough.

For here she had learned what it was to be a du Chasteler.

-----------------------------------

For Colombe d'Aubigny-Muramasa du Chasteler, the Castle was a place of memory.

Every door, every turning of the passage, every room, every seat and painting and item there was part of her memories.

The good times with her brothers and sisters, learning to fence, watching her sisters, nieces, brothers, nephews, and cousins get married, celebrations, triumphs, family and friends, the birth of a new baby with the wail a challenge to the darkness as her family endured.

The bad times, funerals, failures, betrayals, doubts, a broken bird struggling to lean to fly again with her shattered wings, weeping in a darkened room in an empty castle.

Papa at the head of the stairs, judging her, inspiring her, challenging her to do more to live up to what he saw in her.

Hippolyte's ghost locked in the tower, tormenting her, reminding her of her failures, tearing her down, whispering the poisons of regret, loss, guilt and shame into her ears.

Her daughters and Kasuyu manifesting, and filling her life in wonderfully unexpected ways.

Tokunotakai accepting her at her worst, at her most dishonored, at her most stained...accepting that no matter what happened, she could share her burdens, share her heart with the Masamune. A gift of love that she did not deserve, did not earn...but needed.

A place like no other, that no matter where her paths would take her, they would always lead back here.

Castle Moulbaix.

A.N.-Yes the music is relevant and yes certain characters 'corresponded' to certain movements in Pictures at an Exhibition when I wrote this. Hints for people guessing. No one gets Promenade (it is the 'theme' of Moulbaix as a whole), Chihiro is The Ballad of Unhatched Chicks, and the sequence and tone of viewpoints is not random (the viewpoints are portrayed in the order their movements come up). Have at it.

 

[darthcourt10]

MagisterAurelius

The following is not part of my Ship of Fools snippets. We've seen those who something special or just are lucky achieve great things, find true love, etc. Those who overcome massive obstacles to achieve happiness. Waff and warm fuzzies. We've seen the winners and heroes. This snippet is about the flip side of that coin. Because sometimes the villains aren't the losers. Instead it is someone who despite their efforts, morality, sense of duty, etc, has ended up unnoticed, unnecessary and unwanted. This is a place called Lonely Street.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*

At 0530 hours the alarm clock sounded off in the spartan bedroom of the small house currently the residence of USCGC Master Chief Dalton Longstreet. A meaty hand landed on the noisy appliance as if offended that it had dared to break the silence. Getting up, he stripped off the tee shirt and boxers he had worn to bed and stepped into the shower. He let the hot water beat on him for a few minutes before washing up and finishing his morning ablutions. While he shaved he noticed in the reflection the angry blue and brown bruising on the pinky finger of his right hand. Guess it's been set well enough.

By 0600, he was chewing through his breakfast and the first cup of coffee of the day. He sighed. I salt, I pepper, I use tabasco sauce. Nothing seems to make any food more than just a chewing exercise. He glanced at the calendar. Oh it's Saturday already. Maybe there will be enough backlogged paperwork to need me to go in on Sunday as well.

It was 0700 hours but the chance to pass the day in dealing with paperwork was denied him. Apparently Captain Yonehara had given everyone in the building time off for hanami, leaving the building secured and Dalton to make the day pass by some other way. As he stopped to puzzle over if there was anything he could even think of, one of his coworkers, a Lt Kawaguchi approached him.

"Master Chief Longstreet-san. I knew you would be here. Most of us don't even need watches anymore, we just see if you've arrived at work yet to know the time."

Dalton replied quietly, "Is there something I can help you with Lt Kawaguchi?"

The young lieutenant laughed nervously, "Well since Cpt Yonehara gave us time off for hanami, the guys from the office and our girlfriends are having a picnic. Thing is, my girlfriends' sister is single and well, we end up needing one more guy so she's not left out.."

"I see. Do you think she is expecting an old broken down Coastie chief? It might not be fair to her after all."

"No no. It will be fine. She's a total Christmas cake, so she might be a bit assertive, but you shouldn't mind that right?"

Dalton shrugged. "Very well. I will at least go with you and see. If she's unhappy though, I will not impose myself."

"It'll be fine. You'll like her and she'll like you, I'm sure of it Master Chief!" Kawaguchi grinned.

They entered the park and approached the group of friends that Kawaguchi pointed out as his girlfriend, his co-workers, their girlfriends, his girlfriend's sister and then Kawaguchi's voice faded out as he was about to point to the young man whose arm was being held in a death grip by the sister of his girlfriend. "What the... I don't get it... my girlfriend said she was single..."

Dalton clapped Kawaguchi on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. This sort of thing has been happening to me for almost twenty years Kawaguchi. I'm not surprised anymore. This is what happens when I try. Have fun and enjoy your day. The day will pass whether I fill it with something or not." With that Dalton walked out of the park alone.

-------

If this is too much of a downer to the thread, I won't continue this. But the concept is interesting to me. What does happen in the HatSG universe to those for whom happiness is something that happens to other people?

 

[darthcourt10]

Digital Historian

Introductions and Reunions

Den Helder, The Netherlands
Around two weeks after the defence of Rotterdam

It had been a busy two weeks after the Abyssals, as everyone now called them, had been driven back from Rotterdam and other cities on the Dutch coast. With a lull in the battering the defenders were taking, there was finally time to send Van Galen to Den Helder for an official re-introduction to the Koninklijke Marine. So far, all communication with 'upstairs' had run through a midshipman that was assigned to be her minder, so she was a little nervous when she sailed into the Nieuwe Haven the first time in this life, past the heavily damaged steel hulls that had found refuge there. She sailed all the way down, to the low floating gantry between quay's 19 and 20, passing the monument to fallen submariners on her right. More names might have to added to the list, as several submarines that had been out on patrol when the attacks happened had not reported back, though Hr. Ms. Dolfijn had somehow managed to make it from her patrol route around the Somali coast all the way to Perth in Australia, claiming two battleships and a cruiser princess sunk in the bargain.

As she came onto solid 'ground', the floating platform dipped down quite a bit, before she noticed and reminded herself she was a girl now, forcing her 1600 tons to disappear. An ensign was waiting for her, and escorted her up the road to the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy, a post that was unknown to her, but she was told it was the successor of what Admiral Fürstner had been in her day – so a man to sit up and pay attention to. She was shown into an office where she was introduced to the new admiral of the Dutch Shipgirl fleet.

Admiral Peter Schippers had been about to retire before the current crisis hit, after spending the last two decades as the commander of Den Helder naval base, interspersed with stints of teaching at the Royal Netherlands Naval College. Based on the tentative experiences of other navies, shipgirl personnel appeared to need a commander that could manage their personalities as much as direct them in military matters. Thus, an older officer with experience moulding inexperienced recruits into a tight-knit cadre of professionals was considered a good choice. Of course, it didn't hurt that, from the perspective of the general staff and the government, with his retirement postponed 'for the duration', if needed Schippers could be sidelined quickly if it became expedient.

"Hello, Van Galen. It's good to have you back with us." With his greying beard and windswept face, the admiral looked like an old sea dog, and he sounded like one too. "It's good to finally meet you face to face. We've been waiting for you to try and summon more scheepszielen, as we've been calling them, so with you here we can give that a shot tomorrow. About that, is there anything you remember from coming back?"

Van Galen was quiet for a moment. "All I really remember," She began, "was a overwhelming need to be there, to complete something I had left undone. There was this weight of the event pushing down on me. A thousand voices calling out, telling me I had to come." The thought for a second, before adding: "that and the taste of salt, steel and oil. That was particularly pronounced – though it may just have been the Meuse." An apologetic look crossed her face. "I'm sorry sir, that's all I remember."

The admiral had been taking meticulous notes while she spoke, and capped his fountain pen. "Don't worry lass, we've talked much with the other navies, and we've got good hopes for the ceremony tomorrow. You've just confirmed much of what we thought we knew. For now, go get yourself some food, and I'll see you tomorrow when the summoning takes place." As she left, she could hear him chuckle. "Summonings, rituals, never thought I'd see the day the navy adopted 'hokey religions as a match for a good rifle'. I wonder if we'll see wizards next."


The Den Helder summoning pool was not very impressive. It was, in fact, the Naval Academy's swimming pool, repurposed for calling forth ship's spirits. This purpose had, unsurprisingly, not been accounted for by the original designers, and thus there were a lot of makeshift elements that were considered 'good enough' until a purpose-built structure could be erected. Nowhere was this more evident than in the fact that the admiral in charge of the summoning was stood on the diving board, while the windows had been covered with dark paint. Lanterns provided lighting, while the Naval Museum next door seemed to have moved half its collection over to surround the basin, filled with seawater for the occasion. Grand paintings of naval battles and admirals lined the walls, while above the pool hung the flags and banners of renown, with the standard that flew from 'Zeven Provinciën' at the four-days battle taking pride of place. By the time Van Galen got in, most of the naval personnel had already arrived to line the sides of the pool, while the band of the royal marines had taken position a the opposite end. As she moved to stand beside the admiral – or as near she could anyway- they struck up the national anthem. A few moments, it seemed like nothing had happened, when motes of light entered the pool, and the water beagn to churn. Before their eyes, the spray and light coalesced into the forms of three young women, stood upon the surface of the water as if it were solid ground.

The eldest of the three was probably in her late twenties, though her clothes and hair made her look much older. Her copper hair was done up in a bun, held in place with a silver hairpin. The neckline of her dark high-cut princess-style dress was accentuated by a silver chocker with a golden gryphon on black field. Surprise briefly flashed over her face, before she his it between a regal mask. "Good day, admiral, you seem to have my companions and me at a disadvantage. My name is Hertog Hendrik, though I went by Ariadne for a while too. Pray tell, where are we, and how did we arrive here?"

Admiral Schippers cleared his throat, quickly stamping down on the elation at the successful ceremony. "I am Admiral Schippers of the Koninklijke Marine. The year is 2006, and you have been summoned in your current form to defend your country once more from a threat only you can combat. The vengeful spirits of those who died at sea in conflict have returned to destroy the living. While we realise that you have all served your country well, and deserve your rest more than anyone, we have to ask: will you aid us?"

The Coastal Defence Ship frowned at the mention of her homeland being under threat, and her answer was resolute. "While I was already getting on in years when the last war was fought, I was ready to try my best. I will gladly do so again."

The two other girls were also a sight to behold, if only because of their contrast with the Coastal Defence Ship. They were taller than Van Galen, but not by much. They had dark, wavy hair and chestnut brown eyes, but what stood out most was their lack of milk-white skin. Instead, theirs had a distinctive tint, betraying their indo roots. Both wore white naval shirts and scarves, but instead of a skirt like the Destroyer, or a dress like the Hertog Hendrik, they wore sarongs as bright blue as the Pacific Ocean, with intricate nautical patterns embroidered in darker thread. One had a sewar on her hip, the other a kris. They had listened closely to the explanation of the admiral, and were ready to give their answer before they were even asked.

"Her Majesty's Java, reporting for action, sir."

"Her Majesty's Sumatra, ready, admiral."

Admiral Schippers smiled. Three ships was a good showing, by all accounts, and while more destroyers would have been nice, you had to take any port in a storm.

"I'll help too!" A squeaky voice without a clear source added. Everyone, the onlookers, admiral, and even the ships looked around for the speaker, when out from behind the skirts of Hertog Hendrik stepped the smallest, and visually youngest, shipgirl anyone had seen. Van Galen realised the newcomer would only come up to her chest, but more odd was the fact that when her rangefinders tried to look at her, they reported her hull was … indistinct was the only way to put it. She didn't wear navy dress, but was instead clad in a two-tone green sundress, with a slouch hat balanced on her mousy brown hair. Her blue eyes, however, shone with eagerness. "I may only be a minesweeper, but I'll do whatever I can to help!"

The poor admiral was by now thoroughly confused. "Sorry miss, we all overlooked you at first."

The girl seemed to deflate a little. "T's okay, I get that a lot." But almost as quick as the gloom had set in, her youthful exuberance took over again. "Oh, I didn't tell you my name! I'm Abraham Crijnssen!" Van Galen noticed the coastal defence ship, now recovered from her surprise, begin to fuss over the littlest addition to the Dutch shipgirl corps – even as she also noticed the admiral looking like he felt a headache coming on.


[I have been chipping away at this instead of the paper I'm supposed to be presenting next week. Please send help...]

 

[darthcourt10]

WickedestCard

So, I've been meaning to post this snippet for a while but I got nervous and stressed as I had a interview with the Director of my department last week and couldn't really focus on anything else. Still, I finally finished it up. Too bad it's one of a three part Christmas snip I'm working on involving the Smols, So-class and Norihara, and Gabby + Friends.. Let's see how everyone likes this one.

--------
What happened during Christmas: The Smols


MiniGato was beaming as the sounds of Christmas music filled the air while she and the rest of the Smols were in a side table enjoy their own mini feast. All the Smols had brought food of their own but everyone of them would admit to having nicked most of the food from different sources of the larger party. Still it didn't stop them and the large gathering of Shipgirl fairies from enjoy the good time. SmolGina and Hibitiki were enjoying drinks (with Harry, MiniGato and Hibiki making sure the tiny destroyer had non-alcoholic versions), ShiNANO was out on a ride on Harry's head, and MiniGato was sure the mini submarine girls had ghosted away to take photos of the party.


All in all it was turning out to be a fun time but MiniGato looked around trying to find her girlfriend Alli. She had last seen the fairy after they had eaten with some of the fairies from Nagato and was MIA since. Granted she was a bit tipsy from the Fire Whiskey that Alli brought to the party but the tiny battleship was sure she didn't have that much.


Suddenly Minigato heard a gasp even over all the festive noise and looked to find the source. Luckily it wasn't that far from their table that she saw the visibly drunk and blushing duo of Naka and Harder looking up at a floating batch of mistletoe. As Harder made a half-hearted swipe at the offending plant it darted out of reach and flew out of sight. Realizing what her girlfriend was doing Minigato sprang into action and hopped off the table, running towards the large entrance door where the flying festive plant was heading. As she neared the entrance to the rec room, the Smol had to head off to the side due to the trio of Yamato, Yahgai and Enterprise coming through the door.


The American carrier was so busy talking to the other two that she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until she was hit in the face with flying mistletoe. Enterprise sputtered and coughed as the plant took off again, her face bright red.


"What the actual...since when does mistletoe go flying around looking for Christmas victims!" She exclaimed as MiniGato continued her pursuit. Leaving a smirking battleship and stunned light cruiser thinking about their next course of action.


The chase took her throughout the main building of the base, bumping into several other couples and groups like Goto and Kongou, the destroyer trio of Fubuki, Yuudachi and Mutuski, and a not very stealthy Kaga, Akagi and Taichi. Eventually the chase made it out of the base and MiniGato knew it wouldn't be long until she lost the fairy in open air when she spotted something white flying out of Harry's window. Hedwig was heading out for some night flying and the Smol couldn't be happier.


"Gato! Gato Gato!" The miniature battleship yelled to get the owl's attention. Hedwig banked to the left to find the source of the noise and it didn't take long for the Snowy Owl to spot the tiny being. Quickly flying down the owl looked at her friend with a curious look, waiting to see what the commotion was about.


"Gato gato gato! Na Gato Na." MiniGato explained to her favorite bird who quickly nodded and lowered a bit to let the Smol on her back. With a quick bark and battlecry the two took to the air in pursuit. Thankfully for the two of them it wasn't that hard to find the bustle of flying mistletoe as she neared the entrance to the Mess.


Quickly going through her internal storage, MiniGato eventually pulled out exactly what she needed for a situation like this. She had a firm hold on the owl as Hedwig swooped down and started flying level with Alli when the Smol threw the lasso in her hands around the midsection of her girlfriend and roped her back. Hedwig quickly banked over and flew back towards the rec room holding the party with her passengers. Once the three got back the other Smols got together on the couch and sentenced Alli to cuddle prison with MiniGato and took her whiskey for the rest of the night.


No one really noticed that Hibitiki was the one that made away with the alcohol.


-The next morning-


"Ra!" came the battle cry as all the present Smols jumped into the confetti pile that held all their presents. One by one the found their gifts and given them to the proper recipient and soon enough the sound of gift paper ripping filled the air.


"GATO!" MiniGato declared as she held her new bamboo kendo stick aloft and gave it a couple swings. Soon enough she started to pose with it a little bit to figure out how to hold it and work with it. MiniGato figured it would be useful in some of the small missions they tended to go, such as helping clear out the base from pests. The battleship was soon knocked out of her musing as Alli fluttered over, showing her gift of a diorama kit featuring actual mini sakura trees and a scale koi pond.


A little way down the table their were gathered at Hibitiki looked at the adorable phoenix plushie she was given, nodded and then placed said plushie on her head and sat down with a content look on her face. Not a small feat as the plushie was about as big as she was.


ShiNANO gave a squee as she opened up her gift which contained a few costumes ranging from detailed accurate mini samurai outfits to regal kimonos. She, much like her full sized counterpart and her sisters were very big into traditional Japanese clothing.


SmolGina looked happily at her new clothes as well, seeing as she really only had her mini poncho for the longest time. They were all the same black or dark blue color scheme but they looked really comfy and felt really warm to the touch. The box mostly consisted of dresses or long shirts and shorts but that was more than what she had expected.


The only presents left where the ones for the smol subs as they were out doing some delivery to Admiral Goto and the shipgirl fairies. Still, the others were certain that they'd enjoy their new waterproof speakers.
--------

Well, hope you all enjoyed the silliness of this snip, it was actually pretty fun to write. Though one has to wonder how many other couples were victims to Alli's matching making power.

Also, I wonder if anyone can figure out what may be found out in a later snip/chapter.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Regina slowly came awake from her sleep and the first thing that she felt was... warmth. It did not take her long to recognize that the warmth was coming from a very familiar source and her two gold specked eyes opened to reveal her cuddled up beside a sleeping Harry. Said boy had his own eyes closed and was breathing in and out slowly with his head leaning against her chest. A glance around showed that the Akizuki sisters were also still asleep where they laid on the bed as well.

On top of Harry laid Teruzuki quietly slumbering while Akizuki was holding his arm and Hatsuzuki was spooning her older sister. As for Suzutsuki, she was behind Hatsuzuki and also sleeping quietly, though part of the Re-Class expected them all to be awake soon enough. Some aspects of the military did come through after all, and waking early was one of those. Not that she minded all too much in this case.

Deciding to ignore that for now though, Regina turned her attention to Harry and softly smiled as her eyes glowed. Not with the normal malevolence that many Abyssal eyes did, but with something else, something both softer and more gentle. Something else that always made her boilers burn hot, hotter than even rage sometimes could. But unlike the fires of rage, this fire did not burn, but warmed her deep down. It was a special fire, and one that she adored as well as the reason why it was stoked within her.

The thirteen year old wizard shifted his head slightly, unintentially pressing it more into Regina's chest as she laid there.

Not that the Re-Class minded all that much really, not if it was Harry. It actually made her smile some at what he was doing. Gently, Regina brought up her free hand and with tenderness that would have surprised some, brushed the hair from Harry's brow. A hand that could crush steel, and snapped necks... was full of gentleness for this one person laying next to her. Lightly blushing, though also smiling, Regina continued to brush his hair with her fingers.

Her fingertips barely touched his warm skin, but she could feel it. Not just the heat of his body, but... something else. The warmth of his very soul, somehow coming from within him. She could feel it both from his body as well as from the connection that the two of them had. At times like this, she liked to simply lay and focus on it. On the peace it brought as well as the gentle warmth, like the sunshine of a spring day.

Eyes closing slightly, Regina leaned her head more towards his, her nose in his hair. Slowly, she breathed in and out, utterly relaxed. There was no battle needed at the moment, no fighting. No bloodshed would come at this moment. But... there was peace. Like sailing through the calm seas.

Such peace was helped along by the fact that there was a scent of sorts that she could smell. A scent that tickled her nose. It was not a normal scent in that most could not smell it.

But she could as could others, she knew, as it was more a spiritual scent.

One was Shinano, her friend and someone she held close, as were the Duckies. For a while, as calming and wonderful as the scent was, it was not until she asked Shinano that she got an answer as to what it smelt like. For a time, her friend had stood there in thought before turning to her with a smile and telling her that Harry, to her, smelt like spring on the seashore just after a rainstorm as the Sun broke out. A scent that carried just a whiff of ozone like after a thunderstorm, which she knew was his magic.

The two had agreed that it was one of the best scents out there. And so, the Abyssal just laid there with her eyes partially closed as she inhaled that scent and found peace. Both from the scent and the warmth from the body beside her. Lips curling upwards into a smile, Regina softly sighed as the minutes ticked by. Eventually though, she felt Harry stir some and looked down at his face as he woke up. And as two emerald green eyes opened, eyes the color of life in her mind, she smiled a bit more, "Good morning, Harry."

Humming, Harry looked up at her with sleepy eyes, "Good morning to you as well, Regina." Getting a giggle from her, he raised an eyebrow, "What's so funny?"
Lightly blushing, the Abyssal shook her head, "Um, it's nothing, Harry." Gently kissing the top of his head, she hummed, "Nothing at all."

Internally shrugging, Harry chuckled a bit and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which only deepened her blush, "Okay then." Looking down, he snickered a bit as he noticed that Teruzuki's eyes were partially opened and patted her head. He followed that with doing the same with Akizuki's and Hatsuzuki's heads as well, "Good morning, Teruzuki-Chan, Akizuki-Chan, Hatsuzuki-Chan."

All three Destroyers smiled and replied back, though Hatsuzuki's hair tufts moved as well as she nodded. It was then that the final Destroyer made herself known, "Good morning, Harry-San, Akizuki-Nee-San, Teruzuki-Nee-San, and Hatsuzuki-Chan." Sitting up, Suzutsuki stretched with a sigh, "Mmm, these are nice beds to sleep in."

Only nodding, Hatsuzuki smiled a bit, "Hai, they are."

Grinning, Harry shook his head and glanced at the clock, "Well, we should be going, breakfast will be in about a half hour." He then gave a narrowed eyed look at the Destroyers, "Which means that with how people sleep in on Sunday, there will be plenty of time for stuffing."

Much to his amusement, Akizuki, Teruzuki, and Hatsuzuki all looked both awed and frightened. Suzutsuki just laughed and smiled herself, "Hai, that does sound like a good thing to do."

With a hum, Harry turned to Regina who was smiling, "What about you, Regina? Ready to get some food?"

Regina only hummed back and nodded, "I would not mind some."

She then gave him a kiss to his cheek, she threw off the blankets and got off the bed. Whatever Harry was about to say died in his mouth though as he remembered that she had simply shrugged off her cloak the night before. Which meant that she was wearing the bikini that all Re-Class wore underneath which showed that she was both Battleship and Carrier. Mouth dry as she stood up and stretched, Harry swallowed a bit, 'Uh, wow...'

However, moments later, he was internally beating his hormones viciously while cursing as well.

Once he shook it off, Harry also got off the bed followed by the others. After getting changed and ready for the day, the group left the guest quarters behind and walked to the Great Hall. Upon seeing the tables filled with breakfast food, Suzutsuki's eyebrows raised before turning to Harry, "Is this normal?"

The thirteen year old boy only chuckled and nodded, "Hai, it is normal. One of the big things about magic is that it allows for you to make more food easily from what you got. You can multiply it or enlarge it with little issue. Let's say that I have a small slice of Kobe beef, for example. I can use magic to triple the amount of it before I have issues." Glancing at Akizuki and her other sisters who were listening in, Harry smirked, "Something that I have been learning."

All three of the other Duckies had awed looks on their faces as they imagined various things that Harry would cook for them. Things that included Kobe beef. Much to both Harry's and Suzutsuki's amusement, and some of Regina's, the three other Destroyers whimpered a bit as they clutched their hands in front of their faces.

Giving a nod to his mother and Hoppou, Harry made his way to the table. Though he was somewhat amused to find that Reivana and Hermione were already there drinking coffee. And a lot of it as Reivana had a massive mug in one hand. Isley, meanwhile, was slowly making her way through a pile of food. As for Wanko...

Said Harbour Princess was up at the Staff Table beside Hagrid as the two of them shared breakfast and conversation. Harry was somewhat amused by the fact that Wanko had a small flush to her cheeks though. However, he just shook his head and sat down at the table before gathering his own food. After that was done though, it was a mostly quiet day with Suzutsuki accompanying Nagato down to Hogsmeade. Said Destroyer returned with a lot of treats for her sisters though.

Come that evening though, one thing did happen which left a confused Harry looking up at Isley with his eyebrows furrowed, "Um, I'm sorry, but... what was that?"

With a sigh, Isley grimaced a bit, "I am looking for Reivana as we are going to be leaving, but I am unable to find her. I was hoping that perhaps you might know where she could be..."

For several moments, the thirteen year old stared at her before sighing and pinching his nose, "Oh, I have a very good clue as to where she might be..." Twenty minutes later, after going through the library, Harry just pointed, "Right there."

Now it was Isley's turn to stare in confusion. Somehow, a large number of books had been stacked in such a way to create a... building. Complete with massive ones forming a roof of sorts. From inside, she could hear two voices and see a light. It was then that Stab raised up and, despite not really having anything that could provide for such an expression, gave them one that told them he wanted help.

It was much to Harry's amusement that five minutes later had an bemused Isley walking out with a pouting Reivana under one arm and Hermione under the other.

As they were gathered around the Entry Hall, Harry smiled up at Regina after saying his goodbyes to his mother, Hoppou, and Wanko. Hugging the Re-Class, the wizard sighed a bit, "I'll see you in a few weeks, Regina."

Blushing, Regina nodded, "And I'll see you then as well, Harry." She then gave him a quick kiss and pulled back, ""U-um, bye..."

Two minutes later, and they were gone as Harry sighed and shook his head still giving them a wave.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A Breadknife Conversation

Castle Moulbaix

After the Events of Two Types of Fools Chapter XI...

Masamune-no-Tokunotakai watched from the window as the Jeep carrying her love and Kasuyu headed down the driveway away from the castle. With the arrival of herself and the unexpected jorogumo family at Moulbaix, an urgent need to make some purchases was required. Food, clothing, and an ink brush set were all on the list for today.

Which left herself, her future stepdaughters and their new permanent houseguests alone in the bulk of Moulbaix. Which... was perfect for what Toku needed to do.

With that thought, she walked across the expanse of the entrance hall, following the piano music to the ballroom. Unbidden, a serene smile lit up her face at the sight presented.
Spoiler: Claire Serenades Some Spiders

Ehren was sitting with the tanuki cub Chihiro reading to her in a pool of sunlight. Judging from the soft murmur of conversation, the subject of the day was a German lesson assisted by a book of fairy tales.

"Chi-chan! Watch this!" A cry from overhead made Toku look up and grin as in the rafters crisscrossing the ceiling two stories above, Misaki swung from beam to beam with the agility of a spider in her natural element. Behind and above her, her older sister Miho carefully played out a silk safety line in case the young Jorogumo child slipped.

Judging from Claire's happy smile and segue into one of the songs from Tarzan from where she played her true body in her favorite spot by the windows, inspiration had struck.

Toku wiped a tear from her cheek with her thumb and then quietly closed the door on the scene. As much as her heart wished to linger and enjoy the moment, another matter called to her duty.

With that thought, she walked briskly across the entrance hall's marble checkerboard to enter the billiard room.

Weapons, battle flags, and hunting trophies greeted her at the entrance, but she only had eyes for one object among the many, many artifacts present. Nodding to herself, she locked the door behind her and then crossed over to the door to the main hallway on this side of the castle, closing and locking it too. Finally reaching the door to the dining room, she shot a third set of bolts home and then incanted in Japanese while making the hand symbols of the mandala for a privacy ward.

"You can come out now, we need to talk."

Silence answered her, and Tokunotakai cocked her head.

"I see, you do not wish to reveal your face at this time. Well then."

With that the Masamune grabbed a heavy wooden chair and pulled it to face the battle flags along one wall. Sitting down in it with her back to an African lion's head, she leaned back and made herself comfortable.

"Is that better? I won't force you to come out unless I have no choice, but we are going to have this conversation one way or another."

A long pause, then a harshly accented female voice spoke from behind her. "Speak then, and I shall judge your words."
Spoiler: A Breadknife's Conversation

Tokunotakai nodded in satisfaction, "I'm glad that we are being reasonable here. You should know that I mean to make my life with Colombe here, and if you are a threat to her and hers, you should take the lessons of what I did to Hippolyte's ghost to heart. If your intentions are benign to her, then mine are benign to you."

Shocked silence answered her words, then the voice spoke with suppressed emotion in her words, "Ngendawo has been destroyed then?"

Toku spoke with calm certainty, "At my blade and my hands, he has. I shall be cleansing the aftereffects of his filth from the room he inhabited once I gather the necessary tools for the chore. But you can go up there and see what became of him tonight, I recommend that you do."

Another thoughtful pause, "If true... I owe you a great debt indeed..."

Toku spoke quietly and with hidden pain in her voice., "An equally great one to Colombe for enduring as the focus of that foul spirit's malice. If she had not fought him as she did even untrained, others in the household would have been attacked."

"Perhaps, but I do not trust ibhinqa legolide elimhlophe. Her people's actions toward my adopted people...."

Toku sighed, "No people are innocent, truly. My own nation has committed terrible deeds in the past and even now commits some that are a stain on our honor. All we can do is our best and repair and mend what we can."

Another long, thoughtful silence.

"No, not yet. I have Seen that she is not the umfazi omhlophe I must show my face to when the time is ripe." A bitter laugh from behind Toku. "True seeing, not what I was forced into speaking sixteen decades before to cause my people to slay their cattle in madness and starvation."

Toku nodded in sad acceptance, "As the recipient of a prophecy, and the witness to another one, one cannot fight her fate. One must merely prepare for it, and act when the conditions are met. What else can you tell me of it?"

"Little at this point. Save that a great beast comes from the South, from the valley of the Three Kings in Stone past the peaks like a woman's breasts. The daughter must choose between her parents. And... you have a part to play."

Toku inclined her head. "Thank you for your counsel. I suspect if you wish to speak further with me, you will find a way?"

"Ewe."

The Masamune cracked her neck, "Once you see what became of that onryō, please seek me out once you have thought about the changes in the household. I would prefer not to be your enemy, but what must be, must be."

"I shall judge your words and deeds."

"Good" Toku smiled serenely, "Ah, a question, does anyone else know your presence?"

"Kasuyu alone and he is sworn to secrecy."

"I shall not speak of it until you reveal yourself, or a threat to my family forces my hand then."

Another long pause. "...That is acceptable."

"Still I should go before one of the children starts looking for me." As Toku stood up from the chair, for the briefest second she saw the gleam of blood-red cat eyes from behind her reflected in the gleaming steel of a hussar's saber.
Spoiler: A Mystery Spirit

A.N.-Ahh foreshadowing! Feel free to speculate about who our mystery houseguest is (there's hints to her ID scattered in the conversation).

 

[darthcourt10]

It_agn02

Above Hashirajima, the night sky was only lit by either the stars up above or the sparse city lights of Kure itself. At the darkest hour of night, nary a soul was stirring in the naval base, save for several patrols of ship girls and military personnel. Despite being situated in the Pearl Harbor of Japan, it was no excuse for laziness.

Far away from the night patrols, a single small boat made its way onto the shore of the Seto Inland Sea. A dark cloaked figure slowly exited the craft and waved its hand, making the boat shrink and disappear into the figure's clothing. It let out a small sigh of relief, thankful that its job is done for the night. With that in mind, it disappeared into the Kure Naval Base, carefully avoiding the night patrols on their usual routes.

Elsewhere on the base, a man exited a restroom breathing his own sigh of relief. Hindsight being 20/20, he lamented choosing the Midway Special despite knowing he was unable to handle spice. Barely able to keep his dinner down, he spent two hours in the infirmary with an old ten-liter plastic bucket clutched to his chest just in case the salmon he ate decided to seek revenge.

But on the other hand, the flavors and textures were just so addicting! It was like not just tasting the fish itself, but the various herbs and spices that soaked into its pink flesh. The flavors that Houshou packed into that one meal was almost heavenly! Just as he was enjoying the salty umami taste of the ocean, the spice took its effect.

To pretty much everyone else, it was just a simple dash of hot sauce mixed into the savory sauce ladled on top of the main dish. Just enough to add some heat, but not enough to have that "fire" in their mouths. To the man, however, said "heat" felt more like the gates of hell opened in his mouth.

Groaning, he adjusted his military police badge and set out on his nightly patrol. Sure, he was late, but it was better to be late than not show up for his watch at all.

The dark-cloaked figure pressed her back against the wall as per the norm and checked all directions. From her cloak, she palmed a small cylindrical object and placed it close to the corner. With one end pressed toward the wall, she pressed the other end toward her ear and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

On cue, she heard the tapping of boots on concrete slowly approaching.

Like she practiced numerous times, she curled up into a ball right behind the bushes almost directly at the corner.

Exactly on cue, the footsteps approached the corner and made its turn. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the usual MP making his rounds. The light from his flashlight darted every which way and that, yet never once even came close to the dark-cloaked figure hiding in the bushes.

Finding nothing, the man continued his walk toward the armory as his next stop.

She saw her chance and took it. Getting up, careful not to make noise with the leaves, the dark-cloaked figure turned the corner to disappear further into the naval base.

'Sendai may be eccentric, but I can't deny her skills work.'

With that in mind, the shadow dashed off toward the mess hall, confident in her memorization of the night patrol routes.

The MP checked his watch as he rushed with his flashlight to his checkpoint on the base. Even is his condition was a valid excuse, he didn't want to risk bringing it up to his CO, especially after he was explicitly warned about the food and still ate it. As such, he rushed to the place where he was supposed to be at the current patrol time.

As he turned the corner of the mess hall, he felt something slam into his side like a freight train. There was a brief moment where he found his own feet had lost all contact with the ground before he felt the full impact of the asphalt parking lot on his face.

He groaned in pain and turned around to see the truck that hit him. Said truck was dressed in a blue and green camouflage-patterned cloak and appeared to be taken by geniuinee surprise at literally running into an MP at this time and place. The cloaked girl stepped back a bit as the officer shambled to his feet in a daze and more than just a little bit of pain.

"All right, then!" he grumbled as he turned on his flashlight. "Who are you and what are you doing here this late at night?!" He tried shining it downward into her face, but she hastily pulled the upper edge of her hood down in an attempt to hide it. "I.D., please."

Before the man could get any closer, however, the cloaked woman turned on her heel and bolted in the opposite direction.

'Crap, crap, crap! That route was supposed to be clear!'

"This is Lieutenant Yamanaka!" the MP shouted into his radio. "We have an intruder near the mess hall! In pursuit now! Requesting backup! Suspect last seen moving toward Dormitory Row!"

After successfully entering the base numerous times undetected, the thought getting caught never crossed her mind. At least, until now. When she ran around a corner, she spotted another group, this time ship girls, on their way to confront her. In front of them was one particular ship girl with paler skin and a black uniform.

'Crap, it's Akitsu Maru! She'll have me on the ground in seconds!'

The cloaked girl's mind raced. Three ship girls to the fore. One MP to the aft. She clicked her teeth and turned a hard starboard, cutting across the grass to hopefully lose her pursuers. There was an izakaya up ahead. There. That would save her.

Easier said than done.

While she had avoided those ship girls and the MP, she had neglected one crucial detail: her escape route was out in the open. She was more exposed than Carrier Division One at Midway.

[PATROL, SEARCHLIGHTS ON! SUSPECT MOVING TO IZAKAYA!] came the call over the radio.

Light flooded the pavilion, blinding the cloaked figure as she attempted to flee. Desperate, she looked around Still, she continued to cut across the grass until another searchlight illuminated right in front of her face.

And she screamed.

"Good work, Houshou-san!" one of the pursuing heavy cruisers called. "Thanks for the assist!"

The carrier lowered her searchlight and stepped closer to the hooded girl.

'Houshou-san…why…?'

The girl looked toward the carrier with tears in her eyes, yet the only thing she could see on her face was one of seriousness and sobriety. It wasn't one that took joy in taking down an intruder or taking a life. It was that of a mother looking at a child who got their 'just desserts'.

That look alone crushed her.

One of the light cruisers latched onto the girl's arm in an attempt to force her to the ground. Without thinking, the cloaked figure twisted her arm away and threw a punch in retaliation. Steel met steel and the cruiser staggered for just a moment. It was in that moment that the girl got a good look at the ship girl she just hit. The ship girl wasn't Japanese.

'Oh, no....I just punched Brooklyn.'

"I…I…" the cloaked girl stammered just as the light cruiser wiped some blood from her mouth.

The light cruiser took one look at the blood and immediately put her fists up in a boxing stance. "Ya wanna throw hands? FINE, LET'S THROW HANDS!"

Under her hood, the girl's face dropped.

As three ship girls closed in on her, the cloaked figure swung madly in front of her, trying to not only counter the punches being swung at her, but also keep the ship girls an arm's distance away. Yet the cruisers in front of her continued to close the distance. The light cruiser she punched earlier slammed home two punches to her gut while a heavy cruiser landed a kick to her knee. She managed to score one hit against another ship girl, but that one took the opportunity to get low and swing her leg out. In a mere second, the cloaked figure found herself staring at the sky when her head slammed against the ground. Before she could yelp in pain, she saw an Army ship girl standing over her.

"You are under arrest," Akitsu Maru said. "Do not resist."

With that said, the Army ship wrestled the girl's hands together and bound them together with anchor chains. The searchlights around them focused on the cloaked girl, who was trying to keep her head down even as she was forcibly hauled to a sitting position.

"Now then, let's see who this intruder really is." With that, Akitsu Maru grabbed the hood of the cloak and yanked it down, revealing her face to all present.

Everyone, as one, voiced the only thought in their minds.

"ASO?!"

...---...

With her hand on her face, Admiral Shimada stood on the other side of the cell bars.

"…Admiral, I can explain everything," the ship girl said, still wearing her midnight blue and green-patterned cloak with the hood shamefully trying to cover her face. "Y-You see…"

The admiral's hand went up in a stopping motion, which the ship girl immediately obeyed.

"Save it, Aso. I know what you've been up to this whole time."

Aso's face dropped as she slowly scooted to the far wall of her cell. "You…you did?"

Shimada nodded. "This whole time, you've been sneaking out and delivering supplies to that yokai village."

"B-But Admiral! I was…" the ship girl started to hug her legs. In this new life, this second chance, she felt her heart shatter. Aiding the youkai village was one of the most treasured things she had. It was both her lighthouse and her anchor. It gave her life meaning. A purpose. "…I was…"

"I'm not angry about the humanitarian aid, let's be clear. It's part of our job."

Immediately, the carrier looked up at her admiral with hope in her eyes.

"What I am angry about is that you went behind my back, snuck off-base, and lied through your teeth about why you are unavailable on certain days or nights. I may go out of my way to ensure aid is given where it is needed, but I will not tolerate a ship girl sneaking off behind my back to do as they wish. What's worse, you went alone. I know you're not exactly a fan of the 'battle buddy' thing we're taking from the Americans, but it's for your own sake. You could've gotten hurt out there."

"I-I'm sorry, Admiral…"

The admiral put her hand up to halt the carrier's train of thought in its tracks. Her tone was exasperated, yet trying to stay as even as possible. "I'm not done. After I sent Maruyu to figure out where you were going and what you were doing, I gave you every chance to do the responsible thing and come clean about it."

"Needless to say, I'm disappointed in you. In normal circumstances, had you been honest with me, I would have gone through enough administrative bullshit to make the majority of these problems go away." She gave a sigh. "Unfortunately, with you getting caught by the MPs and trying to knock out a few ship girls that tried to detain you instead of explaining everything peacefully, I have no choice but to give you punishment duty. You are free to return to your dorm for the night. I will have Agano escort you to my office at 1000 hours sharp tomorrow. Understood, sailor?"

Aso nodded, hugging her knees tightly out of shame.

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

Yellowhammer said:
A.N.-Ahh foreshadowing! Feel free to speculate about who our mystery houseguest is (there's hints to her ID scattered in the conversation).​

My first guess was that this is the spirit in that bracelet from Africa that has been playing Checkhov's gun on Colombe's mantlepiece for quite a while now (I recall that Toku found it lying on the kitchen counter when they first got back to Moulbaix from Mount Fuji).
OTOH, the scene suggests it could be the lion's head on the wall?

Either way, I know someone recently mentioned in-thread a case during the Colonial period where a young woman suddenly got all "prophetic" and talked her tribe into slaughtering all their cattle, which would cause the gods to give them the means to fight to encroaching Europeans. Of course, it all ended in starvation and worse, instead.

So this African spirit's (judging by her language and comments) mention of "being forced to spout prophecy" sounds awfully familiar.

Yellowhammer said:
Very very true for Ehren. She really does want approval from both parents.
Yellowhammer said:
Ehren's secret 'if you had one wish' fantasy would be to have her parents (Wolff and Colombe) get together and resolve their differences utterly. In this respect she is a lot like Delilah who wants to see Norimune and Jezabel make amends.
MagisterAurelius said:
Oh I think Herr Wolff will be most insidious in his offer to Ehren. "Mein Tochter. You are everything a father could wish for. Come. Join your Vater. And if she will repent, I can even forgive your mother and we can be a whole family as it should have been from the beginning."​

Yeah, that was my thought, too. Wolff would really have to sell it, to get past Ehren's instinctive "NAZI! KILL!" reaction, but... if he approaches her just right, that probably is the single biggest weak point in Ehren's psychological armor.

The only way I see him having a chance of making it work is if he has a good handle on Ehren's frame of mind in advance, which suggests that Wolff is going to be doing very careful recon of Castle Moulbaix in advance. And I think he'd still have to convince her that he had abandoned Naziism... or was at least open to reconsidering. Get Ehren to believe she could be Luke to his Vader... yeah. If there's one childish hope that could cause Ehren to fail a Common Sense check, I think that would be the one.


And now, another edition of CONDITIONALLY CANONICAL THEATRE (b/c I just can't stop thinking of Toku/Ehren "trying to be family" scenes)
This one, I think, happens before Wolff shows up again.

The flickering light of the candle drew Toku across the garden, towards the secluded alcove whose arrangement made her suspect it had originally been created to give couples a modicum of privacy. The tiny bench her missing step-daughter was sitting on supported that surmise.

She made certain to make just enough noise in the darkness that Ehren would not be startled. And as she stepped into the vine-shrouded cul-de-sac, Ehren did not look up from the candle she had stuck to the flagstones... but did move over to press herself against one end of the stone bench. Toku took the unspoken invitation and sat down.

There was just enough space that their shoulders did not have to brush.

Toku studied the candle, watching it dance, but not gutter, in a breeze that should by rights have blown it out. Had Ehren used magic to protect it? Just what spells the dagger-soul could perform was just one more thing the priestess needed to learn about her step-daughter.

"Did mother send you after me?"

"No. Oh, she and Claire both noticed you slipping out as they lit the candles, but they said nothing. They did seem concerned, but... uncertain as to what they should do. Or could do."

"Concerned. Ja. If one of them were lighting a candle for a monster the world is better off without, I would be concerned as well."

There was a dangerous, brittle edge to Ehren's deliberately matter-of-fact tone. Toku weighed that edge, and the dark swirling undertones driving it, and debated internally if she was close enough, yet still sufficiently distant, for Ehren to feel safe opening up on this topic. Because the dagger spirit needed someone to unburden to, plainly obvious to everyone but herself. But in Ehren's mind, Claire needed to be protected from this, and Colombe... Toku sighed, considering the minefield that existed between mother and daughter, despite their obvious love for each other.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

"After the war," Toku began, falling into the Storyteller Voice she had used over generations of students, "there were many who came to the temple of the Protector of Warriors, seeking... divine intervention for their husbands, sons, and fathers who stood accused of horrible crimes."

Ehren didn't move, but Toku could feel the young dagger's attention shift towards her. "Some simply sought to understand how a beloved member of their family could be so accused. Or... could have committed what they were accused of. It was not uncommon for some to--"

Toku found herself forced to pause and breathe, to her own surprise. Strange, how these old ghosts could return with such force. "There was one I recall especially. Her father was on trial before the Tribunal of... truly horrific acts. But to her, he was the Tou-san who had read to her, cast the yurei from shadowed corners of her room, took in the orphaned children of their neighbors who had perished. At first, she denied that the accusations could have any truth. Later, in the face of mounting evidence at trial, she moved to insisting the accusations were exaggerated... then that he must have been forced into participation... and later, that the enemy had subjected him to such horrors that his sanity and honor failed."

An unexpected tear ran down her cheek. She let it fall, staring through the candle's flame into the depths of memory.

"I... to my shame, I failed to help her. I had known some of what my nation had done, and suspected more, but... the constant drumbeat of revelations, and accusations, of thinking the worst had finally been revealed only to be proven wrong again and again...." She closed her eyes, unable to meet Ehren's as her daughter finally looked away from the candle. "My faith... wavered. And in that wavering, I who should have been a pillar to shield those left behind in the ruins of war, was less protection than a willow reed...."

It hurt. So many years later, and it still burned. I should tell Colombe this story of my past, she realized a bit numbly. After she has bared so many of her shames to me... she deserves to know that I am equally fallible. Moreso, even.

The feather-light touch of Ehren's hand on hers startled her into opening her eyes. And in her daughter's open gaze, she saw....
That same "bleeding heart" that Colombe wore on her sleeve. Behind Ehren's careful reserve, burned that same inability to look away from someone in pain. That same need to reach out, to do something--

Toku realized her hand had turned to grasp Ehren's. Lightly, cautiously... but her daughter did not pull away.

"She took her own life, ja?"

...when did I become so easily read? "It was an accident, everyone insisted. But given her state of mind when last I saw her... when I failed to help her find a way to deal with the dichotomy between the father she remembered, and the monster the world told her he was... I suspect it was an accident she could have avoided. And chose not to."

Ehren looked back at the candle, her erect carriage slumping. "That... is not a problem I have. I know what my father was. I was there when he-- when he committed most of his crimes. When he nearly killed mother, disemboweling her with me. The father I loved, who loved Mutti... I know he was merely an illusion. A child's dream. So why--" her hand tightened spasmodically on Toku's, and Toku squeezed back. "WHY can't I stop?!? Why do I light a candle for a man whose death I should celebrate?"

That brittle edge was cracking badly, now. Toku slid across the tiny gap between them, pressing their sides together as her daughter trembled.

"One of the things that lead to that young woman's death," she began slowly, "was that the world would not permit her to mourn. Her father was a monster, so mourning him, treasuring her bright memories of him, was the same as approving of his crimes. That... was wrong. Ehren-chan -- there is nothing wrong with mourning someone you loved." She stared into her daughter's eyes, praying that she could succeed this time, where she had failed before. "Even if you are mourning what could have been, rather than what was...." She took a deep breath. "For all that your father was, and did... you mother loved him. And the knowledge that no amount of love could bridge the gulf between them... believing that there was no way she could sway him away from his evil path... it haunts her. She blames herself for being unable to give you the whole family you deserve -- for the fact that your only memories of him are painful -- for you feeling your only recourse is to sneak away and mourn alone."

"...but why doesn't she say anything?" A child's wail, faint as a whisper.

"Oh, my Ehren-chan," Toku crooned, hurting for both Colombe and the daughter they shared. "Guilt. And shame. And fear, that re-opening these wounds would harm more than heal." She steeled herself. "Before tonight... I have never spoken of how I failed that young woman, whom you remind me of so much. I was... ashamed. And... in my hubris, I decided that burden was mine to carry alone. My punishment for my failure. My burden, never to be shared, because to lighten it would be to evade my responsibility."

On sudden impulse, she leaned in and planted a kiss on her daughter's temple. "Thank you, Ehren-chan."

The dagger spirit's crystal blue eyes were enormous in her pale, candle-lit face. "Wufor?"

Toku smiled and let her forehead rest lightly against Ehren's. "For needing me to re-open that wound. For giving me a chance to get it right this time." Her lips quirked in a lopsided smile. "For reminding me that I am no longer 'Miko Punchable Face'."

Ehren's eyes widened even further, if that were possible. "Vas?"

"What, your mother never told you that story?" Toku teased lightly. "How, on our first meeting, more than one hundred fifty years ago, she beat the arrogance out of me with her steel?" She touched a thoughtful finger to her lower lip. "And maybe her boot. I'm fairly certain it made robust contact with my rump at least once."

It was gratifying to see Ehren's eyes go from "wide" to "bulging". "And it was a most salutary lesson, one I certainly needed at the time." She winked. "Of course, your mother didn't lack for arrogance of her own, back then, and she got her turn learning humility at the hands of Hachiman-dono himself, immediately afterward." A light sigh of nostalgia. "She probably remembers it differently, but she was magnificent. Facing the God of Warriors Himself, and she would not stop, until he literally hammered her into submission...."

Lost in nostalgia and entranced by the story, respectively, neither of them noticed the candle eventually gutter, and go out....


....soooo, um... that happened.
It was just supposed to be Toku getting Ehren to open up about her tangled feelings concerning Wolff, and then Toku suddenly went into War Stories mode and what the hell where is all this stuff coming from?
It was supposed to be Ehren opening up to Toku b/c, unlike Colombe, Toku's not entangled in the entire Wolff issue (and also didn't try to kill Ehren on first meeting, always a plus!). And then... suddenly Toku was the one who needed Ehren to throw a lifeline, and suddenly they're treading water together.
Anyway, this inserts more stuff than I'd intended into Toku's backstory, and touches on one of Ehren's key issues (which is likely to be a major plot point, soon enough). So, again, CANONICITY OPTIONAL unless/until Yellowhammer blesses it (or mines it for whatever bits work, in the larger context).
As to the candle thing... I couldn't find a specific holiday for "lighting a candle for missing loved ones," so I just decided that Colombe has a regular "thing" where she lights candles for the people she misses, and Claire of course joined in years ago, but Ehren... felt like her candle didn't deserve to be among the others. And Colombe and Claire couldn't figure out how to open such a painful subject with her. Enter Toku, who is on A Mission From God (ahem) to fix the boss's butter knives... and get fixed up herself, in the process.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Gunfire and screams could be heard all around as one man in a National Guard's Corporal's Uniform ducked as several bullets punched through the car that he was hiding behind. Just days ago, him and the rest of his fellow National Guardsmen had been watching the news regarding the War in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. Some of them wondering if and when they were going to be sent into the meatgrinder there. Others had shrugged and stated that they were likely not to be sent in at all. That was just three days ago...

And now they were fighting on American soil against what could only be said to be Legions of the Damned.

Poking his head up over the rim of the car window, he took aim and shot one of the... creatures in the chest, which went down screaming. It looked like how one would imagine a body left too long in the water would, skin waxy and slimy looking. From parts of it's body were black hunks of metal while it's eyes glowed a ghostly blue in sunken eye sockets. And the wounds from it dribbled black blood, fetid and rank. What made it somewhat worse was that they all did not have the same uniform.

Some of them wore American uniforms, some what looked like Spanish or Mexican uniforms from late 1800s... and some wore Confederate Uniforms. All of them though were out for blood and death. Civilian or soldier, it did not matter. Nor did it matter if they were man, woman, or child, all would be killed by them. If you had told him that he would be facing beings not even a week before, the Corporal would have laughed at you. It was like something from a horror movie.

But no one was laughing now.

For years now, there had been mysterious disappearances of ships out at sea. Ships vanishing with all aboard, sometimes without getting even a warning. Everything fine right up until they suddenly were not, only shown by the ships disappearing. As the years went on, the number went up. Not that the Corporal had ever really thought much of it, being a ground pounder. But now he wished he had...

The attacks, when they finally happened, arrived out of nowhere. Strange aircraft appearing on radar only minutes before they began to drop bombs on cities inland from the coasts. Meanwhile, coastal communities were shelled by what could only be described as monstrous women. The United States Navy, those that were there, went out to fight and a large number of ships were sunk, though they gave as good as they got. The Coast Guard, too, fought like lions on the high seas, desperately trying to save lives of those ships at sea with their own. But then came the ground troops, the almost corpselike soldiers and odd, crab-like things that functioned as tanks. It was that which they were fighting against.

It was then, watching as they pulled back, the Corporal internally cursed as he knew what that meant.

Not long from now, there would be another surge.

Glancing around only confirmed what he already knew, that if there was another surge, they would not be able to hold. Out of nearly sixty National Guardsman from three hours before, they were lucky if there were only a quarter of that. And most of those were walking wounded at best. The road was barricaded by using cars and a bulldozer to create a makeshift fortification. It was not much, but it did the job, and that was all they could hope for.

Head low as he crouched, the Corporal ran towards the Lieutenant that was there, the last of those in charge. A shout of "Tank" followed by a whoosh of AT4 and then another made him wince. Sliding to a stop even as a explosion made his ears ring more than they had, the Corporal threw his back against what had once been a SUV, "LT, what's the word!?"

Radio to his ear, the Officer glanced at him, "I'm trying to find that out myself." Growling, he shouted into the radio, "What is going on with the evacuation, Over!"

From the radio came a somewhat tired, but also frantic voice of a civilian, "{We need twenty five more minutes! We found a group of children in one of the schools along with their teachers that no one realized were there! They're getting onto the buses right now, but we need some more time! Especially with the roads bombed and shelled, we only have one route in and out!}"

Both National Guardsman as well as those within hearing range shared a look at that. Going by previous surges, the creatures were going to hit in ten minutes. And with the numbers they had, they would not be able to hold... or at least hold and get out themselves. For several seconds, the LT looked around at the remaining Guardsman and saw their expressions.

He already had their answer.

With a deep breath, he brought his radio to his lips, "You got your twenty five minutes, but we cannot give anymore, Over."

Relief colored the voice inside of the radio not knowing of the nods that the soldiers were giving each other, "{Thank you... just thank you... We'll see you when we get to the rendezvous point... Frank, I think.}"

Grimly smiling, the LT nodded, "Yeah, we'll see you there... good luck, Out." Closing his eyes, he hung his head some before sighing. Raising his head, he gave a look to each of his group, "Okay people, you heard the lady. We got to hold the damn line for them to get the last civvies out, and that is what we're going to do." For a moment, he seemed lost before nodding as he steeled his nerves, "It's been an honour and I'll see you all on the other side for beer."

One of the few female soldiers clapped a male one on the shoulder with a grin, though it did not reach her eyes, "Tell you what, Andy, when we get out we'll go for a nice steak dinner, you and me."

Adjusting his glasses, Andy gave her a raised eyebrow, "Wasn't that what I asked you back in high school? And you turned me down right there and then, Susan?"

Expression falling, Susan looked at him and seemed to be seeing him for the first time. Sadly smiling, she gave a nod, "I did, and I regret it. But that was then and this is now."

Something passed between the two of them and they nodded before turning back, Andy frowning, "So what's the plan?"

Just reloading, the LT looked at him, "We hold, nothing else. Now get to positions, we only got a few minutes left. Any wounded that can't hold on, get on the pickup and get out." Turning to the Corporal, he grimaced, "You'll be driving." When the Corporal opened his mouth, the LT shook his head, "No, Jake, for some of these guys, they're too badly hurt to be much more than meat shields. You've got the experience with trucks and can drive fast. You get them the hell out of here. That is an Order, Soldier."

For several seconds, Jake was going to argue before he sighed and his shoulders slumped, "Yes, Sir. Under duress."

Thinly smiling, the LT only nodded, "Good." Pausing, he reached for his neck and pulled out his dog tags. With a yank, he gave the Corporal one of them, "Here... take this. And... tell my niece that her uncle is always going to watch over her. Even when she can't see me."

One by one, the others gave him one of their dog tags as they helped get the last of the badly wounded onto the truck. Getting into the truck, he gave one last look to them before saluting, with them saluting back before he started it and drove out. His last sight of them being them holding the salute before they headed to their stations.

It would be the last time that anyone saw any of them alive...
_______________________________________________________________

Watching as the Sergeant nursed his beer, Cameron was quiet for a few moments. Finally, the teen looked at the older man who had a haunted look on his face, "So they all died?"

Slowly, the now older Jake nodded as he sipped his beer, "Yeah, to a man at that barricade. One of the nearby buildings had a CCTV still running and caught the whole thing. They did not hold it for the needed twenty minutes... they held it for thirty before being overrun, giving enough time for both the last civilians and the wounded to get out." Taking another sip, he continued, "It took two days for the Army to roll in and push the Abyssal ground forces back enough to recover their bodies and I was there with them since I was still not badly injured. LT was... almost unrecognizable. Andy had fallen stabbing one of the Abyssal Infantry in the head with his knife even as it disembowelled him, standing between it and Susan who must have fallen... already dead considering that the bullet had gone right through her heart.

From where she stood, Alaska blinked away some tears, "They did their duty and none could say otherwise."

Atago gave her own nod before giving a salute, "Hai, they did."

Inside her hull, she could feel her own crew in agreement with what she just said. To them, they upheld their honour to the greatest. After a few moments, the Sergeant cleared his throat, "My friends and comrades... they were magnificent." Briefly, he paused before shrugging, "Though one of the Army guys, well, he gave a whistle before shaking his head stating 'Damn, not bad for a bunch of weekend warriors.'"

That got him scowls from the other three before Cameron growled, "He what? After what they did?!"

Darkly laughing, Jake grinned though it was all teeth, "He did, though a second later his Sergeant grabbed him and practically slammed him into the Humvee that they were using for transport. The Sergeant told him that he was not to disrespect the soldiers who died there within earshot of him ever again. And that the only thing that he was right about was that they were warriors. National Guard or not, they, and we, had bled ourselves white for our nation." Drinking the rest of his beer, he snorted, "Saw the guy later all roughed up, claiming that he had tripped over something."

Simply sipping her own drink, Alaska nodded, "I wish that I could have met them."

Lips twitching, the Sergeant looked over at her and smiled, "Same here, Andy would have been over the Moon to meet you girls." A far off look entered his eyes at that, "Over the damn Moon..." Shaking it off, Jake glanced at his now empty beer and sighed a bit, "Anyways, that's enough time that this here old war dog takes up you three's time."

Cameron only shook his head and held out a hand, "No Sir, it was our honour to hear about your friends."

A small smile on his face, the Sergeant grasped the young man's hand and shook it, "Thank you."

Giving a salute to the two shipgirls, and receiving one in return, he soon walked off. Feeling movement, Cameron looked to find Alaska on one side of him and Atago on the other. He then ordered another drink for his girlfriend from the bar that they were at. Granted, he did wonder why Alaska brought along Atago on their date, not that he minded too much...

 

[darthcourt10]

mikelima777

In the harsh winter off the Aleutians, a pack of abyssals were shadowing a convoy of human transport ships, using the weather as cover. After the fall of the North Ocean Princess, some of the ferals occasionally ventured into her former holdings, hoping to find easy prey.

The convoy was rather large, with plenty of tempting targets to choose from. While there were escorting human warships, they were few and were apparently busy protecting a battered warship that was struggling to stay at 12 knots. The same could be said of the humans' shipgirls. The flagship of the pack, a Ta-class battleship snarled in annoyance. The shipgirls had limited the packs hunting grounds and made life as a feral abyssal hard.

Her musings were interrupted by a worried shout from the pack's Nu-class carrier, whose scout plane spotted something strange. There were abyssals in the convoy, but instead of attacking the humans, they were working alongside them. Stanger than that, they were flying one of the human flags, and to the concern of the pack leader, there was another Ta-class there, but a much more powerful one. Just as they realized what IFF the abyssals possessed, they realized that all of the shipgirls and the abyssals working with them were staring in their direction.

The feral abyssals panicked as an aura of terror overwhelmed them. The Ta-class lost all composure and ordered a hasty retreat. Even as the pack fled, they felt terror like never felt before, boring into their backs. It was, in fact, similar to the feelings of soldiers of the German 6th Army on the morning of 9th of April, 1917 at 5:30 am, as hundreds of British and Canadian artillery pieces fired simultaneously, preceding a terrifying roar as thousands of Canadian infantry rushed forwards.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Pack Dynamics III

Diet Building, Magical Chiyoda

Naomi Miyata rubbed her temples before taking a sip of her tea to chase down the Headache Potion.

If the job she was doing riding herd on Councilor Ito was not hard enough....

She flipped through the JMSDF Civilian Contractor file generated by the Civil Service for one Ibuki Moriko, age 24. Schooling was listed as Iai Joshi Women's Academy in Hakodate.

Which had been destroyed in an Abyssal attack during Blood Week.

Parents were listed as deceased when the Abyssals attacked Hakodate..

Considering that a trio of heavy shells had landed on City Hall then and blown the birth and marriage records to the four corners of Japan, that was awfully convenient.

Family was listed as two sisters, Ibuki Suzume, age 24 -- twins perhaps? -- also a JMSDF contractor and an Ibuki Sachiko, 19. No male relatives. No extended family.

Another sip of tea and a scowl at the file. There was something fishy here, and she knew it.

Especially since more than a few unregistered Yokai and criminals had used the near-obliteration of Hakodate in Blood Week as a convenient way to make false identities.

Another flip to her qualifications. Kyokushin karate, second Dan. No tournaments listed there.

Naomi examined the photograph in the file of a rather battered tomboyish young woman. She might have been cute without the slightly bent nose and a haircut rather than the unruly mane of hair.

Mane....

At least with comparing her to the photograph Hachiko supplied, it was clearly the same girl. That was something. Just not enough something to make a decision.

With that she closed the folder and drained the rest of her teacup. She was not looking forward to the discussion she would have with her father.

---------------------------------

"Daughter, you look troubled." Shigeru Miyata looked across the dinner table at his child.

Naomi spoke slowly. "I spoke to Hachiko today as per our arrangements. The news was... not what I expected."

Shigeru's eyes widened. "Nothing bad, surely!"

Naomi shook her head. "I'm not sure. He has met a girl who he has fallen for. Hard."

Shigeru leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hand across his bare scalp. "You do not sound overjoyed, Naomi."

"That is because I am not. This 'Ibuki Moriko' has... well see for yourself. I called in a favor to get access to the unclassified files that Tokyo has for civilian contractors working for the Self-Defense Forces." Naomi handed her copy of the Civil Service files to her father.

Shigeru opened the folder and his eyes bulged at the photograph of Moriko clipped to the first page. "Well I can see a reason for my grandson to be interested in her, or rather two reasons. She is definitely female with those breasts. Even if her face... mmm... She looks like she fought a truck and lost though. And she looks like she's built like an oni."

Naomi nodded. "Yes, which is concerning. Hachiko-san is not the most masculine or assertive soul I know. I can see her dragging him off and the family needing to pay for pelvis surgery to go with the gallon of orange juice and IV drip the next week after she has her way with my nephew. Also," Her voice trailed off and she frowned as Shigeru looked up at her, "there's something wrong with that dossier. I cannot put my finger on it, but I know that there's more to her than the report says."

Shigeru flipped through it and then grunted, "I agree, it's a lot like a politician's campaign speech. All words and no real substance. This is all you have?"

"Yes. Hachiko claimed that she told him that she is a Natural-Born shipgirl, but that data is under lock and key by the Navy, and I can easily see a Christmas Cake like her working at the Naval Base saying that to get his attention. Plus the way he described their meeting, it reads like a particularly trashy shoujou manga scene." Naomi sighed.

"How so?" Shigeru's gaze was sharp.

"Apparently he was waiting tables , another customer bumped him, and his glasses went flying and wound up in her parfait. And then it was love at first sight, and he is badly smitten with her." Naomi shook her head. "Add in the reports of unregistered Kitsune in Yokosuka and..."

Shigeru nodded, "It fits. So, what do we do?"

Naomi sighed, "Gather information about Miss Ibuki now. Of course I can't use official means with the policies in place toward Yokohama and the naval base."

Shigeru gave a toothy smile, "I will call Mitsue Kiho tomorrow then. She took up private investigating after being too good as an Auror in uncovering political... ahh... skeletons. I'm sure that she will be interested in making some Ryō by compiling a 'supplemental file' on this young lady."

He then looked across the table at Naomi. "Keep me informed of what comes of this. And counsel Hachiko to not do anything rash before the family decides how to deal with this situation."

"Yes, Father."

 

[darthcourt10]

K9Thefirst1

So. For the past few months, I've been marinating the idea of showing what OLD was up to during Blood Week - because there's no way she was going to participate in sinking merchant/civilian craft, and while Porta isn't nice, she's not Heartless enough to force her. Harry's most recent snippet gave me a touch of inspiration, of just one more bit of madness that is no doubt lost amongst the chaos and stories of nobledark sacrifices of Blood Week, and will likely stay that way for years unless someone puts two and two together. So I wanted to do something of a proper chapter. but given how I still have a LOT of snippets to work through, I'll just give impressions of what I envision. Hopefully I'll be able to get back and fill these out properly.



Transcript. Excerpt.
Debrief of Korporaal Pierre Longstreet
Concerning the Battle of Antwerp, August 2005

Interviewer: Now, to clarify, you say that your platoon then received reinforcement.

Longstreet: Yes.

I: But, not from the army, nor any NATO force, correct.

Long.: Yes, that's correct. They were...

I: Were...?

Long.: They were ghosts, sir.

I: Indeed. So you said in your Action Report. That they were soldiers from the first world war.
Spoiler: Dämontruppen of the HIMT Demonic

Long.: Yes sir. Gas masks that seemed to- No. They were glowing, it was night. Their eyes were glowing with Hell's own fire. They had rifles like what my Great-Grandfather used, but the bayonets were as long as my arm. And they were black, smelled of... Of brimstone.

I.: Yes. And you called them... Dämontruppen?

Long.: Y-yes. That was, that was Private Vandoorne's name for them. His mother was German you see, and he was our unit's resident historian for World War One, so he came up with the name and it stuck. And... And with him... Gone, it seemed right that, that I use his name for them...

I: And where did these... Demontroopers, come from?

Long.: A demon cruise ship.

I: I beg your pardon?

Long.: It's insane, but that's the best word I can think of. It was only there for a second, I blinked and it was gone. But I was in the steeple of a church, the Lieutenant sent me up there to do recon. I looked to the port to see this giant black ship. Looked like one of those passenger ships a hundred years ago. Four funnels, but the smokestacks were belching blue fire along with the smoke, and in the back of my head I heard some animal growling, like that lion I saw at the zoo when I was a kid. And something in my gut was yelling at me to just get the Hell out of there. Then I blinked, and it was gone. An hour later and the Sea Demons that were about to over run us at our barricade were getting attacked from behind. I heard artillery fire that wasn't ours, and then shells started landing in the teeming horde. But they didn't explode, they just released clouds of gas. Then the troopers started marching from the side-streets with gun fire, then the Dämontruppen just ran up to the enemy and impaled them on their beyonets. And to my dying day, I swear I saw one whack an enemy with his rifle like it was a club just for fun. Then the crowd parted to reveal a platoon of Dämontruppen wielding flamethrowers and... Well, point is, they saved our lives, helped us hold the line until we were given the order to fall back the next morning, at which time they just disappeared.
------

CCTV Footage recovered Post-Blood Week, CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET!

The footage shows abyssals swarming the Antwerp Port, when one - an as-yet unidentified Abyssal outside of her being a probable Demon-Type, wearing armor not unlike a Medieval Knight - running into the group and killing them one by one. With nothing but her bear hands. Of particular note are two instances: One is her ripping the leg of a Ru-Class off at the hip and beating a Ta-Class to death with it, and in a separate incident reaching under the surface and lifting a Yo-Class submarine by her hair before crushing her skull in her hands.

The Minehunter Primula then opens fire on the group - by now mostly light cruisers and destroyers - indiscriminately with her 12.7mm M2 guns. While the smaller Abyssals winced away from the small gun fire - Intel suggests the 50 cal. bullets were peircing the unarmored areas of their superstructures - the Demon simply turns to the minehunter and runs to her, and breaks through the hull on impact. Seconds later the small ship lurches violently, then the upper deck explodes. For a few frames the Demon is seen holding the sinking minehunter's diesel engine over her head before throwing it at the remaining Abyssals, the engine skips on impact with the Abyssals and flies towards the camera, where the footage cuts out.
------

Excerpt from "Surviving Blood Week at Sea," part of a series on Blood Week originally published in The Chronicle Herald December 21st, 2005

...while there are many tales such as Ms. Keller's, where newly self-summoned shipgirls stayed with survivors and assisted with military and government officials throughout Blood Week, what struck this reporter the most is this one of a shipgirl that seems to be shy. Jacques Bordeax is a Quebec native, and had been at sea for forty-one years. His ship, the Arcadian Dream, a 65,000 tonne bulk freighter registered in Panama, was on its way in from Japan when Blood Week began.

"We were all very nervous at the time. With the growing number of missing ships through out the past few years, we'd be fools not to be. But then we started getting maydays, until the airwaves were flooded with them."

Over the following days, Arcadian Dream and its crew ran for their lives, hoping to make for a friendly port. New York was closest, but they found a major naval battle between the US and Canadian navies against a large Abyssal force between them and their destination. Not wanting to get in the way or be sunk on accident, the captain turned the freighter north. Boston was tried next, but were told to try further north, as the city had been brutalized and could not handle taking in more shipping. It was then that the Arcadian Dream and a small convoy of merchant ships began to group together on the way to Halifax, the largest city north of Hampton Roads and New York City to survive the days of fighting with only moderate damage. But they almost didn't make it, when two fleets of Abyssal ships closed in on them.

"Mother raised me a good Catholic, but I'm a little ashamed to say that I had lapsed," Jacques Bordeax recounts, "but some sixty hours with no sleep and fearful of ones life makes one reprioritize things. I had just finished my turn at the wheel when those monsters started closing in, and I just went to my knees and started reciting the Hail Mary, as if it hadn't been some thirty years. I think towards the end I stopped bothering with the words and just went to begging for God to send someone to save us. And He did. Suddenly one of those monsters screamed as it was dragged under. Then some... thing burst from the sea and started literally tearing those demons apart. Real brutal business. Like a lioness among gazelle.

"We, that is, all of us among the ships, tried to train our spotlights on our savior as she circled the convoy, but no one could get a good angle on her. It was like she was shy. But she stayed with us all through the night. When she would turn sharply in one direction, we'd turn the other way, because that meant was going after another fleet, waiting for us. Then an hour or two later she'd be right back, leading us north. When the sun rose we finally met with the Cape Roger and Haida. And that was the first time any of us had actually seen a shipgirl. Though she was the second we ever met. The first being our mysterious savior."

The identity of the Jane Doe Shipgirl of the Blood Week Convoy has yet to be determined. Given the darkness and the rain, no one was able to get a clear picture or description of their savior. Though what little could be made out in the dark and compared to other currently serving shipgirls, Navy insiders speculate that on size alone, she had to have been a Capital ship in size. But none can answer why she did not utilize her weapons, as all shipgirls have been shown to use the weapons on their rigging as easily as breathing. Even aircraft carriers have either their planes, or smaller arms. When asked, Haida claims that she did not see any sign of a shipgirl. This is because by the time Haida knew about her, the shipgirl had already left the convoy.

"She must have known that we were in good hands. It was just as the sun was breaking. I couldn't get a good look at her because the sun was directly behind her. But she just stood there on the ocean, watching us, then she turned around and sailed away. And none of us saw her again after that."

Still, Jacques Bordeax and the surviving crew and passengers of the ships of the Blood Week Convoy all wish for the shipgirl that saved their lives, whomever she is, and wherever she makes port, to know that they thank her for saving their lives.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Sipping her tea, Kathleen Dippet looked out from the balcony of the small café that she was at out onto Portsmouth base. Her eyes searching for those that her many great grandfather's sacrifice had allowed for their existence. After mourning her ancestor, she had taken to keeping an eye on those that he brought about. It was, after all, the least that she could do for him.

Kathleen could even remember dropping them off on the beach close to Fort Gilkicker and sending a message to the Naval Base at Portsmouth. Not that she just left them there, she had stayed until one of the shipgirls had arrived, only disillusioning herself when they got close. Backing up, she had continued to observe as they gathered up the shipgirls laying there. Once she was absolutely certain that things were good, she apparated out.

Her next two months were spent mainly taking care of her many greats grandfather's last will and testament as well as his funeral. That, and grieving for the man who had raised her and comforted her after her parents had been killed in Blood Week. Kathleen was not ashamed to admit that she had cried many days alone in her bedroom. Not the Master Bedroom, not yet, as to her that was still Armando's, but a smaller room in the family estate. When she finally had grieved all that she could, Kathleen had gone back to work at Saint Mungoes best that she could.

But despite that... she still made time to come down to this small café outside of the Naval base to simply watch.

At least once a week, the Medi-witch would sit at the café and, after a few weak spells to not draw attention, would spend an hour or two having tea as she watched. It was not until February that she had seen the first of the shipgirls who were born due to her ancestor's sacrifice heading out onto Portsmouth Harbour. It had lightened her, until then, heavy heart. That what Armando did had meaning. Despite that, she had continued to simply watch and observe as well as listen to the non-magical news. Hearing that the Dutch accepted the never built warships lightened her spirit still more, and she could remember talking to her ancestor's grave about it when she had visited, believing that he was happy wherever he was.

Currently, Kathleen had omniculars up to her eyes as she scanned the waves before nodding at seeing the Malta Sisters out on the waves practicing. 'They're getting much better. Grandfather would be proud, I think.' Pulling the Omniculars away from her eyes, her smile brightened a bit, 'I needed that, especially after...'

For a brief moment, her mood soured a bit at the reminder of what had happened. Mainly, Rita Skeeter publishing one of her lie filled books regarding her grandfather. Something brought to her attention by how one of her fellow Medi-witches had shown her it and was swallowing the lies in it. Not that Kathleen had expected much better from Skeeter, having had the unfortunate luck to have gone to school with the woman in question. The fact that the "Reporter" used the fact that there was not much in the way of defamation laws on the magical side of the world to her advantage.

Granted... Skeeter herself had a lot of skeletons in her closet. And Kathleen had quite a bit of money and connections. Enough to hire many people to put together all those skeletons in her own book. Published under a pseudonym, of course. But enough that she was going to see that woman's life utterly wrecked. Part of Kathleen believed that if her parents were alive, they would have argued to just leave it be. But since they were not, she was not going to leave it lie...

Taking a deep breath, Kathleen let it out, 'No, forget about that woman. She is not worth it.' With a sigh, the witch took a sip of her tea before turning her attention to the slice of cake that was on a plate, 'This is much more deserving of attention then...' Carefully getting a forkful, she put it into her mouth and hummed, 'Yes, much more deserving of attention...'

A moment later, there was the sound of a throat being cleared and Kathleen blinked as a voice with a tinge of an Irish accent spoke up, "Hello there, can I take a seat here?"

Only swallowing, the witch nodded as she turned, "Of course..."

She trailed off though at seeing one of the N3s there with a smile and a cup of tea in one hand while the other had a plate with what looked like a quarter of a cake on it. Red hair cascaded down her back from it's place under a black cap while two green eyes twinkled from beneath the bangs of said hair. Hanging off her shoulders was a black naval jacket while the white shirt strained at her chest while her similarly white skirt was far too short. The twinkle only increased as she noticed Kathleen's open staring before she pulled one of the chairs away from the table, "Thank you..." With a chuckle, the N3 smiled a bit and held out a hand, "Where are my manners... I am HMS St. Patrick, of the Saint Class. Patty to my friends and sisters."

Having snapped out of her surprise and lightly blushing, Kathleen took the offered hand, "And I am Kathleen Dippet."

Moments later, her blush increased as St. Patrick smiled and leaned over to kiss her knuckles, "Charmed to make your acquaintance."

Within her chest, the witch felt her heart pounding in a way that it had not for some time. As some termed it, she was a Chaser for both teams. 'It... has been some time since...' Rapidly shaking that thought off as it was still far too soon after her grandfather's death to think of such things... as much as she might have wanted to otherwise. Instead, Kathleen smiled with a small nod, "Same, Miss Patrick."

Leaning against one hand, St. Patrick hummed a bit and gave her a glance over, "Please, call me Patty, if you must."

Softly giggling a bit, Kathleen shook her head some, "Charmer." Getting a wave of the hand, she sighed a bit before tilting her head to the side. After all, this was a chance to get to know one of the shipgirls her grandfather had brought into existence. And, while she was not exactly looking for such, having nice company was always a plus, "If I may ask... Saint Class?"

Chuckles escaped from the massive Battleship as she took a sip of her tea, "Indeed, myself and my sisters are each named for one of the Patron Saints of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. St. Patrick, in my case and St. George, St. Andrew, and finally St. David. Hence the name of the four of us as the Saint Class."

Bemused, Kathleen chuckled as she placed her hands under her chin, "Well, I think that they suit you."

That got her a smile from St. Patrick. For the next hour, the two of them chatted though Kathleen did dance around some subjects regarding the magical world, though she admitted to working in the medical field. Eventually, the tea and cake ran out and the N3 leaned back with a small smile, "Nothing quite like enjoying tea with a friendly, and lovely, face."

Despite the blush on her face, Kathleen laughed and made a shooing motion with her hand, "Begone, you."

Humming, the Battleship scratched her chin before sighing, "You know, as a Battleship, I do not do subtle." At seeing the confusion, she continued after a glance around, "I will admit that when I came in here and saw you, I had to come over and talk with you." Slightly smiling, St. Patrick nodded, "Which I have not regretted and would not mind doing so more often."

Now confused, Kathleen frowned, "You... had to come over when you saw me?" At the answering nod, she frowned more, "Why?"

With a deep breath, St. Patrick leaned in, "Because, Kathleen... I recognized you."

Lips dry, the witch licked them, "You... recognized me? From where and... how?"

For several seconds, St. Patrick was quiet before speaking in a soft whisper, "I... remember, when they found us on that beach. When the lid on the container I was in opened, I was somewhat conscious at the time and some of my fairies caught sight of your tearful face." Reaching over, she placed her hand on a now pale Kathleen's, "And the name... Dippet. Are you related to an Armando Dippet? As... as I remember him, though hazy. An old man sailing past as I and my sisters as well as the others went on to this world. Some of my fairies know his name."

Voice soft, nearly inaudible, Kathleen looked up at her with teary eyes, "You... you all remember him?"

Slowly, the Battleship nodded, "We do, and we honour him. Despite the... issues regarding the divide, enough is known that we know what he did to give us the chance to live." Eyes soft, St. Patrick pulled out a cloth and used it to dab at Kathleen's eyes, "What he did, we can only thank him."

Nodding, Kathleen took a shaky breath, "Thank you."

Only smiling, St. Patrick did not say much though she looked out towards the base, "You've been checking up on us, have you not?" From the corner of her eye, she could see Kathleen nod, which made her smile, "I see."

Just running a hand through her hair, Kathleen sighed, "You must think me as some sort of stalker. But I had to know that you were all alright."

Much to her surprised, she felt her hand being gently squeezed by the other woman, "No, I do not. Far from it." When she turned to look at her, the witch found herself blushing from the look from St. Patrick who smiled, "It says much about your character that you are willing to spend the time and effort to make sure that we are treated well."

Lips curling upwards into a smile, Kathleen hummed a bit, "Thank you."

Staring her in the eyes, St. Patrick shook her head, "No, thank you and your grandfather." After a minute, Kathleen nodded but said nothing. Getting up, the Battleship stretched a bit before helping the witch to her feet, "I must thank you for the enjoyable company."

In return, Kathleen shook her head, "Not as much as I have. It... has been too long, I think."

Eyes narrowing slightly, the Battleship hummed before reaching into a pocket and pulling out a piece of paper, "Here, this is my telephone number." Leaning in as Kathleen took it, she smirked, "Perhaps... we can make it so that it will never be nearly as long as it has been?"

Kathleen's eyes widened a touch as she searched the Battleship's own eyes. After a few moments, her expression softened and she took the piece of paper with a small smile, "I... think that might well be quite lovely. As friends at least, for now."

Rather than look disappointed, St. Patrick smiled instead, "Yes, as friends at least."

Both of them walked out of the café next to each other and the witch gave St. Patrick a peck on the cheek. Seeing the blush, Kathleen gave a wink before walking off and the shipgirl heard a crack when the witch walked into an alleyway. Smiling herself, the N3 began to walk back to the base whistling.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Tsukiakari walked into the guest house on the Potter Properties before blinking at who she found there, "Andraste-Senpai?"

Looking up from where she was cleaning her true self and polishing, the purple haired girl smiled a bit, "Good afternoon, Tsukiakari. How are you this morning?"

Just walking over, Tsukiakari sat herself down, "I'm fine, Senpai." Watching as the Shield continued her maintenance, the Kyu-Gunto cocked her head to the side, "Can I ask you something, Andraste-Senpai?"

With a hum, Andraste glanced at her and smiled, "Of course..." Pausing, she snapped her fingers, "It is the glasses that I am wearing, isn't it?"

Blinking, the sword frowned, 'Glasses...' It was then that Tsukiakari realized that, yes, Andraste was wearing glasses with light purple frames along with more modern clothing. Lips twitching, she shook her head, "Well, I was wondering about that as well, I suppose. Though they look good on you, Senpai."

A light dusting of pink on her cheeks, Andraste giggled some before adjusting her glasses, "Sabah suggested them for me..." Her blush deepened a touch and she smiled slightly more, "She said that they looked cute on me."

Unable to help herself, Tsukiakari also giggled and blushed as she nodded, "Yes, they certainly do make you look cute." Becoming thoughtful, she hummed, "Though... that does make me wonder. You and Sabah-Senpai are both really close to one another, and I never did come across the reason why...? Though I think it has to do with how she became a Potter blade?"

For a moment, Andraste was silent before she hummed some, "Ah, there is a bit of a tale there." Gathering her thoughts, she continued, "I was forged shortly before the Fifth Crusade for Hadrian Potter, whose mother was the Queen of the Local Fae with Richard Potter as his father. Yes, it was part of the deal to tie the Potters and the Fae Band closer together, via blood. But... she loved Richard, I think, and loved her son as well as much as a Fae could. When both died, she visited their graves despite the pain of being on consecrated ground." Cloth gently swiping at the shield, the Spirit nodded, "She also had me created in the forges of the Fae for her son when she heard he was going to join the Crusades."

Eyes wide, the Kyu Gunto stared at her before shaking her head, "I know that it was mentioned before, but..."

Chuckling, Andraste shook her head, "Surprising, is it not? But she had me forged by the smiths of the Fae. Some of my metal came from a star that fell from the heavens. These stones..." She tapped the ones circling the shield's boss, "Came from the stone from which King Arthur withdrew Caliburn... but the central boss..." Her finger slid across it, "Comes from the anvil that sat upon that stone and from which the Sword in the Stone was drawn from to prove that Arthur was King. Powerful artifacts, but ones that were left behind to rust and turn to gravel. Into the metal and stone were poured protections."

Now leaning forward with a childish look of interest, Tsukiakari smiled, "How powerful? I know that Sabah mentioned poison, but...'

Lips curling upwards into a smile, the Shield lightly laughed, "Powerful. As shown one day when we were journeying along a road in the Alps and were set upon by a group of trolls lead by a giant. Said giant had a great axe and knocked Hadrian from his horse. Scrambling to his feet at the same time that the giant brought his axe up for an overhead blow, my first Master brought me up, extending me from where I had been disguised as an armlet. The axe met me... and shattered, with Hadrian barely moved. Some of the shrapnel embedded itself into the giant, and gave him time to slide his blade between it's ribs, slaying it." Pausing, she frowned some and made a motion with her hand, "Not that was the last time that I was used to slay giants. Jonathan Potter used me about... 1346 during a spat of giant attacks since I was able to turn their blows aside to give him room to kill them. One of his Welsh friends called him Iach, or 'Healthy', due to how he never really got hurt."

For some odd reason, that nickname made Tsukiakari frown some in confusion, 'Iach? Why does that tickle the back of my mind...' After a moment, she shrugged it off, 'Probably not important.'

Instead, she turned back to the tale as Andraste told it, "Anyways, besides being able to turn aside blows, I can deflect many spells and wearing me allows for one to be unaffected by the heat of the desert sands while making their skin as tough as leather while still looking normal. As well, poison cannot affect one with me nor can spells that cause secondary effects such as withering. All that became very useful as the Crusade went on." Finger tapping her thigh, she hummed, "Though the fighting did not begin until we arrived in what is now Syria. It was shortly after the battle where we defeated Saphadim where Sabah's master snuck into the encampment to slay as many of us as possible. It was night when Hadrian came across him and deployed me as the two fought across the encampment... It was magnificent. A slash from Sabah killed other Crusaders from mere scratches. But my Master... he fought and fought, getting cut again and again. The poison in his veins making him fight all the harder."

Tsukiakari was unable to help herself as she was drawn into the story. In her mind, she could almost hear the blows between the two fighters as they fought, "So what happened next?"

Not saying anything right away, the Shield hummed, "Well, it was a draw at first, until the Hashashin, who was part Efreet, used his fire magic to heat up Hadrian's sword until it was red hot and began to melt. But if he thought that would be the end of it, he was wrong. Hand burned, my Master charged him with me held in front of him when the Hashashin attempted the same trick on me." Thinly smiling, she brushed some hair from her brow and adjusted her glasses, "It... did not work for I withstood the flames. His eyes widened as we burst from the flames, the fire trailing along my edges before I was slammed into him. Once we was down, Hadrian smashed him again and again with me before getting off as he lay dying. I remember him chuckling and calling Hadrian a worthy warrior before he expired. As he was without a sword, my Master took his, which was Sabah." With a shrug, Andraste smiled a bit, "The two of us have been together since then to be honest."

Considering that, Tsukiakari only nodded, "That makes sense... but what about the rest of the Crusades?"

A small frown on her face, Andraste shook her head, "There... is not a whole lot to speak of. During the Crusades, we fought across the Middle East until we came to Egypt. When we took Damietta though... Hadrian saw how the Commanders were fighting amongst themselves for control. That, as well as an inkling that things were going to turn, led to him heading back home. It was only after we arrived back in Britain that the word reached us of the disastrous defeat. Hadrian retired from Crusading after that, though his grandson, Jeffery, joined the Crusades under King Edward the First. He brought me along and it was during that Crusade that I met... Prydwen."

Upon hearing that name, the other Tsukumogami stiffened, "Prydwen? As in the same one that..."

Slowly, Andraste nodded, "That has searched for Carnwennan? Yes, the very same... it was on the travel back that we met each other as a matter of fact..."

***********************************************

Jeffery was in a deep, magical sleep behind Andraste who stood between him and the woman before her. Narrowing her eyes, the Shield growled as the other woman jerked back her hand as if shocked at her appearance, "Who are you!? And why have you placed my Master within slumber?!'

The woman looked at her for several seconds before narrowing her eyes, "I am Prydwen, Shield and Ship of the Once and Future King of Briton, King Arthur Pendragon. May I ask who you may be?"

Hand tightening on the strap she held her true body with, the Shield narrowed her own eyes, "I am Andraste, Shield of the Potters. And you still have not answered why you placed my Lord into slumber."

Only tilting her head a bit in acknowledgement, Prydwen frowned, "I have not. As for why... I search for the Relics of my King, to keep them safe until his return. Through magic, I sensed such here..." Her eyes narrowed to mere slits, "And coming from you, it would seem."

Shifting slightly to better cover her Master, Andraste scowled, "What right does it give you to take such items? Did King Arthur give you such a duty?" Her own eyes narrowing, she continued at seeing how the other shield stiffened, "Or is it one that you have assumed?"

For several moments, there was no answer. Then, Prydwen scowled back, "I do not need to answer to you. Give me the items that belonged to my King and I shall be off."

Andraste only shifted again and tightened her hold as she prepared to defend, "Than you shall have to break me, Prydwen, Shield of Arthur. For what you seek is as much a part of me as your steel is of your own body."

Now it was Prydwen's turn to shift a bit and mumble something. Before Andraste could do anything, the stones in her shield glowed as did the central boss. The other shield grimaced and had the expression of deep thought on her face, "They used the Stone and the Anvil from which Caliburn were drawn for you."

With a deep breath, the other Shield swallowed, "Yes, after both were left in the field to rust or turn to gravel."

Hands on her sword, Prydwen had a look of consideration upon her face as one finger tapped out a rhythm on the hilt, "That material, ultimately belongs to my King..." Seeing the stiffening stance of Andraste, she held up one hand, "However, you are right in that my King also left such items behind of his free will. And I can sense the magic of the fae within you."

Slowly nodding, Andraste frowned, "Yes, my Lady had me forged for her son who she had by a mortal in the Potters."

Deep in thought, the Shield of King Arthur was quiet and for several minutes there was only the crackle of flames. Then, slowly, she gave a chuckle, "I see. Under most circumstances, I would take you, but as you said, forged from items that my own King discarded and by the Fae. I know better than to even attempt to take you." With a slight bow, Prydwen smiled, "Accept my apologies."

Relaxing some, Andraste bowed a little as well, "Accepted, as long as you lift the spell from my Master."

Waving her hand, Prydwen did so...

******************************************

Head tilted to the side, Tsukiakari frowned, "Wait, so she let you go? Despite..."

Simply shrugging, the Shield shook her head, "She did, though she did state that if the Potters ever died out, she would attempt to claim me, but not until then." Chuckling, Andraste shook her head, "She journeyed with us for some time, much to Jeffrey's moneybag's misery whenever it came time to stop at a tavern for a meal. As she stated, the greatest enemy was hunger and she ever sought it's defeat."

Eyebrow raised, Tsukiakari shook her head before placing her chin in one hand, "But obviously at some point in the journey she went on her own way. Why?"

With a sigh, Andraste shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Mainly? She had this small... being, I suppose that a shipgirl would call it a 'Fairy', which was that of Merlin. Allow me to just state that he had... issues regarding how close Jeffery and Prydwen became on the journey. Enough so that he caused many, many problems. Enough so that Prydwen commented that she was reminded of a certain Paladin before stating that Jeffery reminded her of him greatly, especially the one time he had to cross-dress as a woman." Ignoring the snickers from Tsukiakari, she continued, "To the point where she mused that they might have been related somehow... But eventually there came a point where what Merlin was doing, and dragging the others into, was too much and they went their separate ways. Apparently, from what I know, Merlin believed that if he could not have Prydwen than no one would... and said shield reacted as well as you could imagine when I told her. Last we saw was her tossing Merlin into a nearly frozen mountain stream with a scream of rage."

That made the Kyu Gunto blink until she put it together, "Jealous pervert?"

Her tone utterly dry, Andraste nodded, "Jealous pervert."

All Tsukiakari could was shake her head with a sigh.

 

[darthcourt10]

jgkitarel Omake: Why it is not a good idea to get Andraste mad at you

And when they meet again, I can see her running into Carnwennan, get royally chewed out by him, have Merlin get on her shoulder, and our favorite dagger glaring, well, daggers at him.

Carnwennan: "And now it makes all too much sense." *pauses as Andraste steps out* "Umm, Andraste?"

Andraste: "Just a moment, Carnwennan. Prydwen, can I have Merlin for a moment?" *Prydwen hands him over* "Ah, thank you, my dear."

Fairy Merlin: *Angrily* "Pip! Pip pip pip, pipipipippi- GACK!"

Andraste: *squeezing Merlin* "Enough of that and watch your language. There are ladies present. Now, it seems as if you were the, what is that term they use these days? Oh right! You were Prydwen's Good Idea Fairy, or Gif. And given that the entire Potter Armory is here, as well as a large number of Shipgirls and Abyssals who happen to like our Harry. Why, one of them calls him her older brother, and her daughters call him uncle. Isn't that cute? Well, enough of that. You are going to cease and desist in pushing this quest on Prydwen. Arthur and his knights will return in their own time, no sooner, or later, than that. So you are going to stop making Prydwen's decisions for her, yes I know who is truly responsible for this. You. So, you are going to stop, and don't think about using the others as proxies, we will know. So, again, you are going to stop this. Or all of us are going to get... Angry. And you would not like us to be angry at you, let alone me now, w̹̥̜̲o͇̭̣̘͡u͏̖̯̳̰̲l̼͟ͅḍ̺͉̲̯̯ ͈̞̣̮͇̺̼y̗͔̣̣͞o̤̙̯u̶̫̮̗̖͙͎?"

Carnwennan: "And this is why none of us want her to be mad at us. Ever."

 

[darthcourt10]

Hazard

Crossposted from SV.

(Matters of interest on the river IJzer during and following Blood Week)


Battle of Nieuwpoort and associated riverine action.

Concurrent with the raids, assaults, bombardments and other hostile action during Blood Week (see also, the First Battles of London, Hamburg, Rotterdam, 's Gravenhage and Antwerpen, and the Raids on Den Helder, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Bergen, Oslo, Calais and Dover, as well as the Waddenzee Campaign), the Battle of Nieuwpoort and the forcing of the IJzer was a relatively minor event. Under the cover of the much larger fleet and amphibious action occurring across the Noordzee, the flotilla of destroyers and corvettes that made their way to Nieuwpoort was easily missed. While lacking the sheer fighting power of the cruiser and battleship fleets, a dozen I-class destroyers and at least 50 corvettes of unknown type assaulted the town.

While most of the destroyers stayed behind and started shelling the town, 2 of the destroyers and all the corvettes only took shots of opportunity as they rushed up the river IJzer towards Ieper. Survivor's accounts and post battle analysis of the damage indicate that every building and village by the shore was fired upon, and all war memorial steles and stones were directly and physically assaulted by a small group of corvettes while the remainder stood guard. When the group arrived by the Dodengang Memorial they cleared the preserved section of trench, killing the civilians hiding there, before continuing on to Diksmuiden where they shelled the river shores and brought down the WW1 memorial tower and museum.

Apparently satisfied with the state of Diksmuiden, the group continued on down the IJzer, eventually taking the Ieper-Lee branch channel towards Ieper. Although like with Nieuwpoort and Diksmuiden the Abyssals shelled Ieper, casualties this time were very light, with less than two dozen confirmed killed and all accounted for. Messages send ahead of the Abyssals allowed the sirens to warn the civilians, but those are not credited for the extremely low casualty numbers. Forty minutes after the sirens first sounded a thin, green fog spread over the town, followed swiftly with at first vague images and far off sounds of soldiers in WW1 era gas masks gesturing at citizens. As the Abyssals approached the fog became thicker and the soldiers more solid and clearer, until with only minutes before the Abyssals' arrival the ghostly soldiers started physically hauling and shouting at the civilians in a somehow perfectly understandable creole of Dutch, English, French and German, guiding them into ancient trenches with instructions to keep walking until the soldiers at the end told them to stop.

When the Abyssals arrived they found a ghost town, still caught in that green fog. At the end of the channel they made landfall, spewing forth several hundred Abyssal soldiers as they rapidly made their way south. When they tried to cross the remnants of Ieper's ancient moat however they were met by a hail of small arms fire that stalled them in place. Reacting swiftly, Abyssal infantry took position in the buildings while the ships took cover behind them. Over the next half hour or so a stalemate developed, with neither side willing to press the attack against potentially catastrophic losses, until the Abyssal destroyers took a small group of corvettes back with them to the channel and started firing as heavy artillery support to suppress the defenders while the remaining corvettes rushed forward with the infantry to provide heavy machine gun support.

The situation untenable, the defenders abandoned their position and fell back in good order. This situation repeated itself with the next street, if with a swifter Abyssal answer, before the Abyssal forces swung their line further east to take advantage of the moat to open up their firing lines and let their corvettes offer effective fire. This also allowed them to more easily take the Menenpoort, a key memorial for the Battles of Ypres. When the Abyssals approached within a hundred meters of the gate, a thunderous roar greeted them from afar, with ancient artillery position both east and west of Ieper speaking. A devastating, constant barrage then started raining on Abyssal positions and leveling part of the town in the process. Curiously, neither the Menenpoort, nor the Church, nor the Flanders Fields Museum in Ieper were hit by so much as a stray bit of shrapnel, despite the size of the barrage and the combat being very close to these buildings.

Forced into cover, taking severe losses, severely outmatched in artillery as even the destroyers were getting shelled and their cover literally getting blasted to pieces right around them, the Abyssals routed, with only 2 damaged destroyers and a half dozen corvettes fleeing north, the remainder cut down in Ieper.

As the battle in Ieper progressed the population was further evacuated, eventually spilling out of the trench system in the nearby towns in that same, green fog. With the battle now to a close however the fog started dissipating, lasting only long enough to evacuate the last citizen to enter before fading along with the soldiers and trenches.

In Diksmuide rescue operations were well under way by the time the Abyssals came back at speed. Nearly caught by surprise again, the emergency services none the less managed to hide themselves and the victims from the Abyssals among the already blasted rubble. They passed through without issue until they approached the Dodengang memorial. Passing into a bend of the river and forced to slow down, the Abyssals took heavy fire from a crossfire of massed machine guns and direct fire artillery. They were sunk to the last.

After shelling Nieuwpoort for several hours the destroyers there retreated without further incident.

For weeks following Blood Week, ancient, WW1 era trench and artillery positions along the route from Nieuwpoort to Ieper would occasionally be marked by loose piles of brass munitions cartridges still smoking a pale, green haze in the sun or glowing a faint green glow at night.



The Dodengang Warning.
On All Hallow's Eve 2013, a group of German soldiers on leave in Diksmuide disappeared. When they were found on the following All Souls Day in the Dodengang Memorial early in the morning following a series of extraordinarily dense fog events they spoke of having been warned by the White Women of folklore of the repercussions of the summoning of Halifax by the Canadians. While the Canadians main memorial is on Vimy Ridge, even Ypres felt it happen.

And so did much of Europe's own place spirits.

While all of them yet rest, some are now resting uneasily. Le Mort Homme at Verdun whispers most loudly of them in its sleep for more, Ieper, Wieltje, Hullugh and Wulverghem have started coughing in their sleep along with others, many places in the Alps and Balkan regions have started bleeding even as the mountainsides grow less safe, much of Eastern Europe is seeing its fields watered with blood spilled long ago, and in certain camps in current day Poland and other areas of what was once the Third German Empire, ovens that should have never been build in the first place are heating up once more.

It is possible these places never wake. It is possible to still their nightmares and let them rest easier once more. But things are stirring that should not stir, and Europe is not alone in this.

And this is the only warning they'll get.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Letting out a sigh in the chilly air, Natsumi looked beside her as she adjusted her backpack, "What do you think, Louisiana-Chan? Ready for the two day climb?"

Warmly chuckling, the Battleship nodded some, "Oui, I am, ma chérie." Looking up towards the mountain, Louisiana smiled, "Spending the next few days hiking I think will be a pleasant way of spending time together." Shifting her coat a little, she hummed, "Especially as Spring Break is nearly over for you. But I would never say no to spending more time with you, ma chérie."

A laugh made them turn as Hoshi winked at them as she joined them, flinging her own backpack on, "Don't forget me, you two." Smirking at the slightly flustered look on Natsumi's face, she continued, "After all, you both need some adult supervision."

Placing her face in her hands, Natsumi groaned, "Hoshi-San..."

More amused than anything else, Louisiana smirked herself before patting the Kitsune on the shoulders, "There, there, ma chérie. Nothing for it." With a small nod, the shipgirl hummed a bit, "Shall we?"

Both Kitsune nodded at that and soon they began their journey up the mountain. Here and there snow yet covered the ground even as spring arrived. Looking in the distance, Natsumi could just see Mount Fuji rising upwards due to the clear weather, "A bit of a shame that we could not climb Mount Dainchi."

With a shrug, Hoshi shook her head, "The snows were heavy once more this year, Natsumi-Chan. Which meant that we could not climb up the mountains as it is a bit too dangerous for one of your level this time of year. But... perhaps in a few years. And there is also always summer."

Considering that, Natsumi hummed some, "I guess." She then perked up some, "Which means that maybe I could take along Harry-Chan." Becoming thoughtful, the nearly fourteen year old frowned in thought, "Though we have also discussed maybe climbing some mountains in Scotland."

That made the older Kitsune cock her head to the side, "Truly? Which ones?"

Natsumi looked at her before smiling a bit, "Harry-Chan pointed them out to me actually when we went to Hogsmeade back in October. One was called Braeriach and is the third highest mountain in the United Kingdom." Getting a nod, she continued, "The other one that we talked about was Ben Navis which is the tallest mountain in the United Kingdom. Neither are that big compared to some of the mountains here, they're smaller then Kumotori-San. But..."

Slowly, Hoshi nodded with a chuckle, "It would be a mountain that the two of you would climb, and in Harry-San's homeland. A victory of your own and memories created."

Lightly blushing, the teenaged Kitsune nodded. She then glanced at Louisiana and shrugged, "Maybe you could come along as well, Louisiana-Chan."

Her lips curling into a smile, Louisiana chuckled a bit, "Oui, perhaps. Though it might be best if it was just the two of you first, ma chérie, with mon chéri. But thinking on it..." Frowning, she gave a hum, "Did not mon chéri mention another mountain?"

After a moment, Natsumi tapped her chin, "Well... Harry-Chan stated that it was not really a mountain, just a very big hill in Surrey called Leith Hill. According to him, his class when he lived in Britain climbed it. And... he wanted to climb it alongside me and some of the others." Softly smiling, she shook her head, "I would not be against such a thing..."

Smiling herself, Louisiana nodded, "Nor would I, ma chérie. Nor would I..."

The three of them shared a small smile and continued their hike as they slowly made their way up the incline. Entering the trees, the group looked around in interest before Hoshi hummed a bit, "There is nothing quite as good for one such as us, Natsumi-Chan, than Shinrin-yoku."

Even as Natsumi nodded in agreement, Louisiana tilted her head some in curiosity, "Shinrin-yoku? Forest bathing?"

Looking over her shoulder, the Kyuubi smiled a bit, "Hai." With one hand, Hoshi gestured around them, "To walk among the trees and meditate on them. Wonderful."

Somewhat intrigued, Louisiana glanced around in interest before taking a deep breath before letting it out, "Oui, walking in the forest is something to treasure." Reaching over, she held out a hand that Natsumi took, "Especially with those that you care for."

Fingers entwined with the Battleships, the Kitsune could only nod in agreement. As they continued their hike. Still holding Louisiana's hand, Natsumi slowed down some and waited until Hoshi was a distance in front of them. Looking up at the shipgirl, she smiled some, "Thank you for coming, Louisiana-Chan."

Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, the Battleship shook her head, "You do not need to thank me, ma chérie. Any time I spend with you, I treasure." The smile that she got made hers grow a bit more before she hummed some, "You seem to enjoy mountain climbing."

Even though it was not phrased as such, Natsumi understood that it was also a question. After a few moments of thought, she tapped her chin, "I do, Louisiana-Chan. For some reason, climbing mountains and walking through the forests and such... it calls to me. And I feel this peace when I do so. Not sure how or why... but I do."

For several seconds, Louisiana was silent before nodding, "I see." She then smiled again, "Does that mean that one day you may try the Seven Summits?"

That made Natsumi blink a bit in confusion, "The Seven Summits?"

Chuckling, the shipgirl looked down at her, "Oui, they are the highest mountains on each continent. A challenge for one who enjoys climbing mountains."

Head tilted to the side, Natsumi considered that, "I've always seen Fuji-San as the goal of my climbing, to one day climb the slopes of that peak. Myself and Harry-Chan have talked about it when we were younger and we promised to do so when we graduated high school. But... perhaps after..." She grinned a bit and Louisiana knew that if her tails were out, they would be wagging, "Perhaps after, I could become the first Kitsune to climb the Seven Summits."

Warmly smiling, the Battleship nodded at that, "I believe that you could do so, ma chérie."

All Natsumi did was nod excitedly at that.
__________________________________________________

Feeling herself being shaken some, the Kitsune grumbled a bit and snuggled more into her pillows. They were nice and soft as well as warm. Being shaken again, she grumbled a bit into said pillows, which got a chuckle from them which made her thoughts pause. Eyes cracking open, Natsumi tilted her head back and squinted at the smirking Louisiana, "Well, ma chérie?"

It took only a few moments for Natsumi to realize what her "Pillows" were and she deeply flushed, "Sorry, Louisiana-Chan..."

Moments later, Louisiana brought a finger under her chin and tilted her head back some, "Non, you have nothing to be sorry about, ma chérie. Though I will not deny that I do not mind all too much."

Giving it some thought, a part of the teen's mind gave a mental shrug, "Eh, sure." With that, she buried her face back into the Battleship's shirt covered chest, "Too tired, and too comfy."

Eyes closed, it took every bit of Louisiana's will power not to burst out laughing. Mainly because she knew that if she did, than she would both be unable to stop and would likely wake everyone else in the lodge. Still, her shoulders shook as she bit her lip and her voice was coloured with mirth, "Ah, but it was you who suggested that we wake before dawn to go back to the summit, ma chérie. To watch as the Sun rose over Japan."

After a few moments, Natsumi gave a sigh and mumbled into the marshmallow hell she had placed herself into, "Thank you for reminding me, Louisiana-Chan..." Pulling back, she gave a huff of annoyance though her eyes twinkled with mirth, "I suppose that we must wake up then."

The only thing that the Battleship did was smirk at that.

It did not take the two of them long to get changed back into their climbing clothes. And leaving their room, they met Hoshi who gave them a once over and nodded, "Good, everyone is ready." Holding out some cups, she smiled, "Here, to wake you up some."

Sniffing the cup, Natsumi sighed as she took a drink of her black tea while Louisiana downed her coffee, 'Harry-Chan ruined me when he introduced me to this... How else would I get up in the mornings?'

With that done, she handed the cup back to Hoshi who took it, the same with Louisiana's. Leaving the lodge quietly, the three headed back up towards the peak. A frown on her face, Hoshi looked over at the Battleship, "Are you going to be fine? That last slope is steep and it is still dark out."

Louisiana only smiled some and pointed at her shoulders. There, two fairies on each one held up flashlights and turned them on revealing the path, "Oui, I will not have any problems, Miz Hoshi. But thank you."

Only chuckling, the Kyuubi shook her head, "Ah, the wonders of being a shipgirl. Not that I have much worry nor does Natsumi-Chan." Seeing the interested look, she pointed at her eyes which Louisiana noted had eyeshine, "Among other things, us Kitsune have very good eyesight in the darkness."

All Louisiana did was nod at that as it did make sense. Meanwhile, it did not take the three long to reach the summit. Reaching it, the three breathed a bit hard into the cool, pre-dawn air. Slowly, the horizon began to lighten and Natsumi took a few pictures. She then grasped Louisiana's hand and looked up at her, "Did you know, Louisiana-Chan, that Kumotori-San features in 100 Famous Japanese Mountains?"

Warmly chuckling, Louisiana nodded, "Shinano mentioned such to me when I stated where we were going." Turning some towards the South, she could see Mount Fuji in the distance as the sunrise painted it in color, "And I can understand why."

Looking in the same direction, Natsumi nodded though she did not say anything. Taking a picture with her free hand, she placed her camera back into her pocket before gesturing for Louisiana to bend down. Once the taller woman did, she gave her a kiss on the cheek, right on the corner of her lips, "Thank you for coming, Louisiana-Chan."

The Battleship just returned said kiss on the cheek in the same spot on Natsumi, her eyes glimmering, "Non, you do not need to thank me, ma chérie. For this, I have no problem."

Both of them shared a smile at that before turning back to the rising Sun. Due to that, neither noticed the amused look that Hoshi had on her face before the older Kitsune shook her head, 'Ah, to be young again...'

Several hours later, the three sunk into the hot springs with a sigh from Louisiana and Hoshi as well as a groan from Natsumi. The nearly fourteen year old Kitsune leaned back against the shipgirl some much to the amusement of the older Kitsune, "Ah, nothing like a visit to a hot spring after climbing a mountain."

With a glance towards Hoshi, who nodded, Louisiana placed her arm around the teen's shoulders, "Oui, this is lovely."

Arms on the side of the pool, the Kyuubi gave a slight bow towards the shipgirl, "I must thank you, Louisiana-San. When those Aurors arrived looking for magical beings that tripped one of their sensors, I believed that I would need to... make them forget having found anything." Snickering, she shook her head, "Though the looks on their faces when you stated that it must have been you was priceless."

From where she was leaning into Louisiana, Natsumi gave a barking laugh, "Hai, that was hilarious! Especially when you summoned your rigging." Widely grinning, she looked up at the freckled face of the shipgirl, "They cleared out rather quick."

Humming, Louisiana leaned her head to the side, "Well, I could not have them interrupt our trip after all." After a nod from both Hoshi and Natsumi, her next words caused the two Kitsune to freeze, "Though I doubt that they will like the fact that my fairies were annoyed with the interruption enough that they decided that such sensors were not needed on the mountain."

That got a laugh from the Kyuubi after a few seconds as she shook her head, "No, I think not!" She blinked and looked back at the mountain and smiled a bit, "And I think that perhaps the local Kami are in agreement."

Not quite understanding what the Kitsune saw or sensed, Louisiana simply nodded and went back to enjoying Natsumi cuddled up to her as they sat in the steaming, mineral rich waters. The trip turned out to be everything that she could have hoped for. She spent quite a bit of time with Natsumi just talking as they made their way up and later down the mountain, shared a meal with her, and generally got to know the teenaged Yokai. At the same time, Natsumi got to know her a little better

Slowly, the Battleship leaned back a bit into the hot, mineral rich water with a soft sigh even as Natsumi used her shoulder as a pillow. Opening her eyes, Natsumi glanced at Hoshi before leaning up and kissing Louisiana's cheek, "Chu!"

Getting a blink, she smiled a bit and giggled before going back to laying her head on Louisiana's shoulder with a sigh. After a blink, Louisiana looked down at her with a soft smile herself before closing her eyes. Both of them just relaxing.

Really, as far as Louisiana was concerned, it was a worth while trip in every way.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Sipping her coffee, both to wake up and to ward off the early morning chill, Tonks gave a hum. At hearing a snort beside her, she glanced at one of her fellow Auror trainees, though this one was barely through the Academy, "What is it, Giles?"

The young man gave her a grimace, "How could you drink that?! I tried it once and... ugh!"

Eyebrow raised, the currently purple haired woman smirked, "What? It's just coffee."

One of the other female trainees snorted, "No, that is mostly sugar disguised as coffee. How much milk, sugar, and cream did you put into that?"

Loudly smacking her lips, Tonks had a mock thoughtful look on her face. After a few moments, she shrugged, "Enough to put a diabetic into a coma from seeing it." She then gave a loud slurp which got more grimaces, "So almost enough."

That got her eye rolls from most of those there. But one of the younger male ones scowled at her, "Ugh, do you mind? Just because you got lucky..."

Just giving him a look, Tonks narrowed her eyes, "Yes, as you have made your thoughts on the matter known very well, Trainee Alexander. And yes, it was luck. But I am very glad for it as a real piece of shit is now off the streets."

However, Alexander was not finished and gave her a scowl, "Doesn't it bother you that he is being put to death in a few weeks?! That someone is going to get killed for what happened?"

Mock thoughtful, Tonks shook her head, "Nope, not bothered at all." She then turned on her foot and walked up until her face was inches from the other Trainee's own, "But what bothers me is that he was able to get away with his shit for so long. And that you seem to have an issue with the fact that he is going to get exactly what he deserves, Parkinson. Don't like it? Tough shit. The guy murdered a bunch of our own and others. For that? I hope that he burns in Hell."

Alexander turned red, but didn't say anything. Instead, he walked a short distance away and stood there with his arms crossed. More than one of the others rolled their eyes. After all, the trainee had his family's views when it came to blood purity. So a fellow Blood Purist being sentenced to death was not something he liked, no matter what the reasoning.

Only shaking her head, another of the Trainees pulled out a pocket watch. Looking at it, he looked around, "Who are we waiting for anyways to get out to this island?"

More than a little thankful for the distraction, Tonks looked around, "An old friend of mine actually." Before anyone could comment, there was a crack and a red haired wizard was there, "Charlie!"

Grinning widely, Charlie Weasley gave a laugh, "Nymphadora!" At the glare he got, his grin widened more, "It has been far too long."

Her arms crossing under her bust, which seemed to grow a touch, the Metamorphmagus snorted, "We just talked last night." With one final glare, she calmed down some, "Still, thanks for coming. I appreciate having an expert here."

Charlie gave something of a shrug, "Not a problem. Besides which, I'm waiting for some materials for the new dragon reserve being built in the Highlands. So not that much really to be done."

A smirk crossed Tonks' face at that, "Oh? And here I thought that you were spending lots of time with Seiche..." Much to her amusement, the Weasley coughed and looked away as he blushed, 'Hah! One for me!'

A cough though brought them back as Giles gave them both looks, "As interesting and amusing as this may be, I do have a wish to be done with this. Not to mention, we may be needed elsewhere, so best that we get this done now."

With a shrug, Tonks looked at Charlie with a raised eyebrow, "He does have a point." Getting a nod, she made a motion, "Okay, everyone into the boat."

Several minutes later, they were all in a small motor boat and were heading out into the Irish Sea. As they traveled, one of the Trainees frowned a bit, "What's the big deal anyways with this island? From what I know, it is a Reserve or something, right?"

From where he sat, Charlie nodded, "That's right. Though it is mostly for wyverns or the odd Welsh Green. A lot of them seem to make it a point to travel to this island at least once in their lives for some odd reason." A frown on his face, he shook his head, "I have a few ideas as to why..."

Eyebrow raised, Alexander looked at him, "Oh? And what sort of ideas are those now?"

Ignoring the slightly mocking tone, the Weasley shook his head, "You'll find out soon enough..." However, if they expected him to continue, they were going to be disappointed. Instead, Charlie pointed at a line of breakers that seemingly stretched out, "That is one of the more interesting bits though."

Twisting in her seat, one of the female Trainees frowned, "What? That the waves are breaking over something? Why is that interesting?"

Bemused, Charlie shook his head, "It is interesting because of what it says. Once, centuries ago, before Hogwarts was built, this was all land. But the sea reclaimed much of it and the island that we're heading to was once attached before the sea wore away the peninsula and left it on its lonesome. Which is probably a good thing as it was set up as a place for the British Wyvern to live."

Right then, a tingle washed over them as they entered the ward line and they could not see an island. Above the island though were flying forms about the size of horses. One swept by close enough to snatch a fish from the water and they could see it more clearly. It was reptilian with a crocodilian head with horns. Unlike a dragon, it only had four limbs with the forelimbs replaced by bat-like wings while an arrow shaped tail stretched out behind it.

As it turned back to the island with its catch, Charlie gave a nod, "And there we have one of the British Wyverns. Beautiful..."

Glancing at him, Giles frowned a bit, "I would not quite say that..." His frown deepened, "Has there been any issue with them?"

Just humming, Charlie considered the question before crossing his arms, "Wyverns are like any other animal really, though intelligent. Not to a human level, I don't think. But... at least as smart as one of those Chimps. So they can be dangerous if they had to be. Most though just do things like catch wild pigs and such. Outside of those who do something to piss them off, I can only think of maybe two attacks in the past three hundred years."

Sighs of relief escaped from the various young Auror trainees at that to his amusement. Moments later, Tonks snatched that away, "Which does not mean that this is not dangerous."

At that, they winced.

It did not take long though for them to arrive on the island. Much to their surprise, a young woman was waiting for them. Glancing at her fellow trainees, Tonks rolled her eyes at how more than a few of the guys were outright staring at the woman. Granted... the Metamorphmagus had to admit that she was beautiful. Hair like spun gold cascaded down her shoulders while piercing blue eyes looked out onto the world.

Before she could think more on it, Charlie jumped off the boat and grinned like a loon, "Ceiwen! It has been some time."

Pale lips curled upwards into a smile as Ceiwen laughed and hugged him, "Ah! It has indeed, Charlie." She pulled back some and looked him over, "Let me look at you... it seems that good, honest work has agreed with you!"

Lightly laughing, the red haired man grinned, "It has, though my Mum would rather I be in a different career. Claims that I'm going to turn her hair white if the Twins don't."

Softly snorting, Ceiwen shook her head, "I very much doubt that." After a moment, she slugged him in the shoulder getting a yelp, "Now, about what I have been hearing from Seiche-"

Blinking, Charlie stared at her, "Wait, you know Seiche? How?"

There was an amused twinkle in the golden haired woman's eyes, as if she knew a joke that Charlie did not, "We've known each other for a very long time. Both of us and her sister are members of a... unique community, let me just say." Ignoring his confusion, though she noted that there was a slight suspicion in his eyes, she turned to the trainees and placed her hands on her hips, "Now then, the Ministry informed me that I could expect some visitors... but not why." Ceiwen rolled her eyes some with a huff, "Not that I expected much better, no offence to present company."

With a shrug, Tonks walked forward and held her hand out which the other woman shook, "Well, we're to investigate something in particular. We just got some of the sensors repaired and there's been some... odd readings from Wyvern Isle. And someone noted that the muggles have noticed tremors here."

For a moment, surprise crossed Ceiwen's face, which made Tonks narrow her own briefly. But then it was gone and the golden haired woman nodded, "I see... I will admit that I am unsure about the magic, though the wyverns have been more active as have the four Welsh Greens that call the island home. The tremors though... those have been going on for a few months."

Pulling out a notepad, Tonks clicked a pen, "They have? Do you have any idea of when they started happening?"

Somewhat bemused, Ceiwen hummed, "I think that they started in early August of last year... yes, it was right around then." She then made a gesture with her hand, "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to where I live and keep the logbooks. Perhaps even a tour of the island itself?"

Alexander spoke up with his voice tinged with haughtiness, "Yes, that might be a good idea."

The glare that Tonks gave him slid right off him. As they began to walk, the trainees kept an eye out for the wyverns that lived there, or the few dragons that did. Giles adjusted his glasses and looked at the woman with a frown, "Do you really live here all alone?"

Humming, Ceiwen nodded, "I do, as have members of my family for centuries. We're the Keepers of the island dating back to before there was a Hogwarts. Granted, we don't go to said school. Rather, we've been going to the Avalon Academy."

Only snorting, Alexander sneered a bit, "That place? It doesn't even count as a school!"

Eyebrow raised, the golden haired woman gave him a look which made him quail. For a moment, he felt as if he was a mouse before a large lion, "It is only not considered such because the Ministry and the ICW has Hogwarts as the only official school in Britain."

A glance by Charlie at the annoyed Tonks told him that a certain trainee was going to get chewed out. Deciding to head that off at the pass, Charlie cleared his throat, "Since we're here, perhaps you can tell us that family story of yours?"

Confused at first, Ceiwen's expression softened, "Of course, Charlie. Do any of you know the Tale of the Two Dragons?" At their heads shaking, she tsk'd a bit, "I see, I would ask what Hogwarts is teaching, but that is beside the point I suppose."

Hands in her pockets, Nymphadora hummed, "You mean the legendary red and white dragons of Wales? That story?"

Lips curling into a smile, the other woman began telling the tale of the Red and White Dragons. How the Red and White fought each other with their screams and such causing problems such as women to miscarry and the like. And how the British King, Lludd, after consulting his cousin Llefelys, managed to capture the two dragons and buried them under a hill in the middle of Britain, where Oxford now is. Centuries later, King Vortigern attempted to build a castle on the hill, but it always fell. Until he came across Merlin who revealed the dragons and that the two were released. The Red Dragon, according to Merlin represented the Britons, while the White represented the invading Anglo-Saxons. Because, for a time, the White Dragon, like the Anglo-Saxons, would be stronger than the Red... eventually, it would reverse and it would fall, like the Anglo-Saxons would before the Britons. And the Red defeated the White...

Raising a finger, Ceiwen continued, " Granted, in a way, you can make the argument that the Britons did win in the end." Seeing their looks, she smirked a bit, "Now, in most legends that is where it ends. Except for one continuation passed down in my family and a few others. According to that, there was more to it than that. See, the White Dragon disguised itself as a woman to hide until such time that it could heal enough to fight the Red once more. The Red, meanwhile, transformed itself into a man to try and draw out the White." Lips curling, she chuckled a bit, "Guess what happened?"

Boggling, Tonks stared, "Don't tell me that the two..."

Slowly, Ceiwen nodded with a broad smile, "They did, and had a child. But when they saw the Golden Dragon, both parents realized who the other was. The Midwife ran for her life with the newborn hatchling as the house behind her exploded as the two dragons resumed their fight... until Gwydion, who was passing by, spotted the fight and tried to get the two to stop. And when they ignored him, he cast a spell that sent them into a slumber as their spirits roamed the earth. With that, he buried them deep beneath the ground once more."

Tilting his head, Giles frowned, "But what about their daughter?"

For several moments, Ceiwen was quiet, "Gwydion cast a spell to make her appear as human for a time and had her placed in the household of a local King. She was raised alongside the King's heir and they became like siblings. When she was an adult, there was an attack and the spell broke, with her sending the enemy into panicked retreat. But... a final spell from an enemy hit the Prince, who had become the King and the curse meant that he would die by the time that the year was out. As well, his wife was dead and thus he was left heirless. Until, the Gold Dragon stepped in. While she loved him as a brother, and he as a sister, she was willing to bear him an heir which she did. The King lived long enough to name said son... Uther Pendragon."

More than one set of eyes widened at that before Alexander scowled, "Are you claiming that King Arthur was... not of human blood? And was some sort of Halfbreed?"

All the golden haired woman did was shrug with a mysterious smile, "Perhaps. But that is how the tale in my family goes..."

For the next few hours, the Trainees studied the logbooks at Ceiwen's home. This was followed by them searching the island for any oddities regarding the magic. But... they found none and could not identify where the odd magic was coming from. Thankfully, Charlie proved his worth in that a few times he had to step in before one of the trainees did something to anger the Wyverns or dragons there. Though he did have to step in once to calm a Welsh Green that was set off by Alexander with help from Ceiwen. But all of them were glad when they could go home despite not finding anything.

After they were gone and she had returned home, Ceiwen pulled out a satellite phone and dialed a number. Putting to her ear, she began making her dinner, a pot full of stew, "Hello? Seiche? It's Ceiwen." Smile brightening, she gave a laugh, "Yes, it has been a few days. Guess who I saw again today for the first time in a while as well? Oh? Charlie already told you?" Pouting a bit, the golden haired woman huffed, "Well, that's no fun."

Slowly stirring the cauldron, which contained far more than a normal person could eat, Ceiwen sighed, "Yes, they came to see about some odd... signals, that the magical sensors picked up. Not to mention that the Muggles have been picking up tremors..." A worried look crossed her face for a moment, "Yes, I am worried too. Hopefully though, they will listen to reason this time. But you know my family... especially those two." Wryly smiling, she snorted a bit, "Quite." Suddenly, Ceiwen smirked, "Though I will note that I am impressed with Charlie once more, and same with that one woman, Nymphadora Tonks. If she becomes an Auror, she'll go far I think. You met her as well? Not too surprising I suppose and I am glad that you share my opinion on her."

Taking a sip of her stew from a bowl before nodding and adding some more spices, she hummed, "By the way, speaking of Charlie and Miss Tonks... both of them are quite intelligent. I suspect that they know something. Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't mind if it is them. And both of them seem to be the sort to keep quiet, Charlie especially. During the tour, we came across a crack in the ground which had smoke coming from it. I managed to convince the others that some of the Welsh Greens set off an underground fire on a coal seam a few years back when incubating their eggs. But those two? They did not seem to be fooled at all, though they didn't say anything." Grinning a bit, Ceiwen laughed, "Oh, you definitely have a smart one. Brains and good looks in one package as they say. If you had not already sunk your claws into him, well..."

On the other end of the line, Seiche said something and made Ceiwen laugh, "No, I am not into that sort of thing. If I am to be involved with someone, then I would be their only significant other. Won't want to share them with anyone. Though I would look out for your sister regarding him. Especially if she happens to get into the mood to, ah, 'repopulate your clan' as it were-" Briefly, she froze and blinked, "Wait, you... um..." Head tilted to the side, she gave a hum, "Well... I suppose that would be a rather surprising and nice gift for a birthday or anniversary though even you agree not beyond that." Giggles then escaped Ceiwen, "You might need some pain relieving potions as well as helping for dehydration the morning after such a gift.... and skele-grow. We are talking about your sister and I do remember your mother and aunts. Though considering how large the Weasley family is from what I have heard..."

As she continued to talk, a golden scaled tail swept back and forth while she placed some of her bangs behind horns that grew from the side of her head...

 

[darthcourt10]

RCNAnon

Weasley's Warship Workshop 2

Ron gave a chuckle as Duke looked thoroughly embarrassed.

"One of your biggest secrets is that you like coffee?" Ron couldn't help but grin at her as the two finished up their luncheon.

Duke's face was quite red and she took a moment to compose herself by wiping her mouth.

"Yes. Don't spread that around." If Duke had looked any more mortified Ron would've expected her to be caught with her knickers down.

"I won't." He grinned and shook his head. "I just don't get why it's such a big deal."

"Family." Duke shook her head and Ron knew enough about that to get where she was coming from. "They aren't the ones who went to America and then Bermuda on their shakedown cruises. Washington didn't help, what with the time we spent together." There was a pause and Duke shook her head. "She still sends me some occasionally."

Ron just shook his head one more time and wiped his mouth. Victoria appeared from seemingly nowhere and took their plates to the kitchen.

"Well if I ever find myself in the position of having the need of or in possession of some coffee I'll let you know." Ron would treasure the look on Duke's face as he stood from his chair and checked the watch on his wrist. "I think we should go check on Summer and the other abyssal for the surgery."

"Yes, we should." At the mention of the other abyssal Duke's more businesslike demeanor came back and she was more on alert.

"Did she ever give her name?" Ron asked curiously, "Summer didn't seem to know."

"No, she didn't." Duke shook her head as they headed towards the now finished and covered repair baths. "Even her crew wouldn't tell so we've just been calling her Battleship Princess since that's what she is."

"Hmm..." Ron pondered that as the two of them went out the back of the manor house and onto the covered walkway that led to the baths.

The building was built to match the style of the manor house, with a number of windows and a more angular style. The windows were especially in the style of the house as most of them were fake and none of the rest looked onto anything important or potentially embarrassing for those inside. Opening the rich wooden doors Ron looked around with a bit of amazement.

"They really did a good job, didn't they?" He said as he looked at the freshly laid floor and painted walls.

"It's quite nice." Duke agreed with him. "I believe Summer should be this way, to the private baths."

It was clear enough where Summer was given the presence of Acasta standing outside the door.

"Hello Acasta. Did she give you any trouble today?" Duke spoke as they approached the dark haired girl.

Acasta shook her head in the negative. "No. She was… ok."

Duke's nostril's flared and she shook her head. "I suppose we shouldn't expect her to be all that cooperative. Lets go see if Summer is ready Ron."

Ron nodded and gave Acasta a smile and a wave as he passed. She gave a little wave with her hand and a slight quirk of her cheek. Ron took that as friendly enough, as he knew she wasn't much given to histrionics or even being very expressive like her friend Ardent.

Inside the private bath was a pool that was roughly twenty feet in diameter with tiered steps that also doubled as seats. There was about five feet of water at the deepest point and the air was somewhat more humid than outside had been. Inside the room were Summer, Angie and a grumpy looking abyssal with long black hair, a black dress and the figure of a battleship seated in a wheelchair.

The abyssal was the first to turn and look and Ron got the feeling she would have been glaring if she felt she could get away with it. Instead she simply looked morose. Her eyes went to Duke first, then examined him for a moment. Ron looked her right back in the eyes and the red orbs met his own for two seconds before turning away. Ron wasn't quite sure what she made of him but he could tell just from looking at her that the damage he'd been told about was quite serious even now.

Summer turned around next, her eyes going wide at the sight of Ron and she rushed over.

"Ron, I-I mean Yardmaster." Summer paused in front of him, reaching into her dress and pulling out something. "I-I m-made t-this for y-you." Summer handed Ron a small flattened piece of square black metal with several curlicues on it that he didn't recognize.

As he took the item Ron noticed out of the corner of his eye as the sullen battleship suddenly looked up in surprise.

"Thank you Summer. Can I ask what it is?" Ron ignored the look he was getting for a moment and focused on Summer.

Summer blushed and placed her arms under her chest, accidentally displaying her fuel farms better as she turned her head to the side.

"I… it… uhm…" There was a pause for a moment as Summer moved her hands to cover her face. "I-t's your Yardmaster pass.""

Ron looked at the black square once more and nodded, understanding the significance of it.

"Thank you Summer." He reached out and patted her on the arm. "I should keep it on me at all times right?"

"Y-y-you d-don't h-have to but i-if y-you do it w-will let everyone k-know you're in charge." Summer flushed again when he touched her arm but she didn't pull away.

"Oh, like Harry's ID bracelet. What does it say I'm in charge of?" Ron cocked his head at her.

"Everything. Even her fleet?!" Ron looked over at the abyssal battleship as she spoke for the first time, her voice clearly surprised. As he turned to look at her the Battleship Princess noticed and their eyes met for a moment more. This time he could tell she was putting more serious thought into him, before their eyes broke away once more and she clammed up.

Ron gave it a second or two before he looked back up to Summer.

"Is she right?" Ron asked, his voice quite serious.

Summer couldn't do anything but nod.

Ron felt a weight settle onto his shoulders, one of responsibility given to him that he hadn't quite realized he'd taken but he certainly wouldn't let down.

"Thank you Summer. This is very precious so I'll always have it on me." He raised his arms to Summer and wrapped a hug around her waist. "I promise."

Summer didn't say anything but she wrapped her arms around Ron lightly in return before he broke away and looked up at her.

"Did you have anything else? He asked lightly.

Summer shook her head no, still blushing but clearly happy.

"Then could you tell me what you're going to do with her?" Ron nodded towards the wounded Princess. "I read the precis you gave me but I want to hear it from you again."

Summer nodded happily and immediately began to speak about how she planned to reinforce the Princess' keel, words pouring from her mouth in a torrent that Ron managed to keep up with, smiling all the while.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Brigid couldn't help but look at the small human out of the corner of her eye while he and the traitor installation discussed whatever butchery they were going to do to her next. While some of it made sense to her, she had no idea what a "back brace" was or what it might have to do with her keel. By the gestures the human was making it seemed like it was a torture device of some kind, though his words seemed to claim it would help her.

Brigid couldn't help but shake her head. Of course the human wouldn't actually be helping her, if he could control an installation harshly enough for her to make a token of his superiority over her then he was either fiendishly clever or inherently cruel, possibly both.

As she glanced at the blonde battleship another possibility entered her mind. She was clearly looking at the human fondly, though she could not fathom why. Perhaps he held the installation in check through the power granted by his fleet? Whatever it might be composed of?

Like many abyssals Brigid knew of the humans and some of their ways, like the overall fleet organizations. What she wasn't sure of was if the ship girls followed the same rules or how they were broken out. It was entirely possible that this little human was in command of a larger portion of the enemy fleets. If that was the case…

Brigid sat and waited, her mind plotting even more dark thoughts as she waited for her opportunity.

Of another explanation, of love or trust she had no thought, as those things were the exception not the rule among the abyss. Why would it be different here?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
AN: Not as long as the last one but I hope you all enjoy.

Questions and comments welcome as always.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Four and a quarter months.

A hundred and twenty four days.

Two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy six hours.

It was thoughts like that which went through Sirius Black's mind as he sat in the Accused's Chair before the Wizengamot. Everything, including his trial, had taken months to get to this point. Not that he minded all too much after nearly thirteen years in Azkaban.

Quite the opposite as a matter of fact. If there was one thing that he was happy about, it was that Amelia had a good head on her shoulders. Say what you would about the Ministry as a whole, but when Amelia wanted a trial? She would have her "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed. Along with his lawyers and such? They had made sure to drag out the trial as much as possible, even as it brought to light various issues with the Ministry. Now looking up at Dumbledore in the Chief Warlock's position, Sirius found his heart pounding.

It was so loud in his ears that he barely heard what Dumbledore's speech was. Though he raised his eyebrows as Dumbledore apologized for it taking so long to grant him a trial. Finally, the words came as the old wizard's eyes met his, "Sirius Orion Black, it is the decision of this Court that, upon considering the evidence, that you are innocent on all counts. And thus, you may walk out of this courtroom a free man. Once more, I cannot apologize enough for what you have been through and how we, who should have been better, failed you when you needed us. In my duty as Chief Warlock..." Raising a hammer, he brought it down, "I now pronounce this court adjourned."

The strength in his body sapped, Sirius slumped where he sat as the chains around him removed themselves. And he would freely admit that he cried as well at the same time. Free... he was finally free. A laugh escaped him even as he noted Umbridge looking like she had swallowed something rotten.

With a deep breath, the wizard rose to his feet. The weeks spent in Redstone had done wonders for his health. Say what you will about non-magicals, they provided medical help for their inmates. A far cry from Azkaban's dank and damp halls and cells. Which meant that, among other things, Sirius had recovered more than he had from his incarceration in Azkaban. Voice thick with emotion, he spoke with a smile, "Thank you, one and all for this. I have always stated that I was innocent and none believed me until now. So thank you."

With those words, he stepped away from the Accused's Chair and, without a glance to it, walked away. Shaking his cousin's hand, he found her smiling at him, "Congratulations, Sirius."

Lightly smiling, he chuckled some, "No, I should be congratulating you, Andy. If not for you..."

All that Andromeda did was hug him, "Someone would have stepped up." Pulling away, she patted him on the cheek, "You just keep yourself from getting into these situations anymore."

Thinly smiling, Sirius shook his head, "No promises, Andromeda. But I am going to do my best. Especially as I now have three things that are highly important to consider."

Chuckling, the female Lawyer gave him a look, "Yes, you do." She then clapped him on the shoulder, "Let's get out of here, Delores looks like she is about to combust."

That only got a snort from Sirius and a shake of the head. With a deep breath, he walked with her towards the Courtroom doors to confront the two greatest challenges yet. One, of course, was piecing his life back together. Granted, he had friends and family helping with that. But the other was more immediate as he opened the door...

And that was the press as they swarmed him with questions.

Blinking away the spots in his vision from the flashes of the camera, he gave a smile as they shouted at him. One of them asked if the Ministry was going to give him recompense for the time spent in the prison. That one Andromeda answered with a thin smile that reminded many of a predatory cat, "There has been some preliminary discussions before the verdict, but nothing concrete. But there should be some for what my client has suffered through."

One of the reporters caught Sirius' eye and made him blink. After all, he would recognize that lion-like hairdo from anywhere. Especially as he could remember the prank that he had cast on the man which made gave him lion ears and a cat nose... which helped the wizard attract his future wife, "Xenophilius!"

Brightly smiling, the reporter nodded, "Sirius! As you are now free, are you going to take up your old alias as Stubby Boardman and reunite the Hobgoblins for a new tour?"

Everyone went silent at that and just stared at him outside of Sirius who hummed, "Stubby? Huh... been a while since I was mistaken for him." Waving a hand, he shrugged, "His girlfriend thought that I was him once. If it was not for the fact that he is five years older, I would wonder if we were twins."

It was not the only odd question either, but most of them were covered by either Andromeda, is Sirius himself. At the very end though, one of the reporters put his own question forward, "Mister Black, if I may... now that you are a free man, what are you going to do?"

Pausing as he considered the question, Sirius scratched his chin, "I have a few plans. First is to give myself a few days to come to terms before going shopping for clothes. It has been some time after all and my wardrobe is out of date... by a lot. After that, spend a Saturday with my godson, Harry Potter."

As others shouted, Andromeda held up a hand, "I am sorry, but that is all the questions that we have time for now. All further questions will be dealt with in time. Please and thank you."

Grasping Sirius' shoulder, she helped him get through the crowd even as they shouted further questions. Unnoticed by them was Umbridge in the background with a grimace on her face, though there was a hint of unease. Seconds later though, she turned and left herself.

It took a few hours to get through all the paperwork and to retrieve his belongings from both the DMLE as well as Redstone. Much to the bemusement of the guards there, Sirius shook their hands and thanked them for his stay. The Warden walked out with him and gave him a handshake of his own, "Hopefully, Mister Black, this will be the last time that you have issue with law enforcement."

Sirius gave a snort as he shook his head, "The worst that I hope for is maybe a night spent in a drunk tank, and that is about it." With a nod, he walked away whistling happily before leaving the Anti-Apparation wards. Once past the sign, he disappeared with a crack and reappeared at a hotel not far from the ocean. He only paused in front of an MP and glanced inside, "Is she...?"

Lips curling into a smile, the MP nodded, "She is, and she's waiting inside for you, Sir."

Just nodding, Sirius took a deep breath before letting it out, "Thank you." Walking past, it did not take him long to enter the hotel. Nor did it take long before he came across his first Abyssal, a lone Ru-Class in front of a room, "Rulia."

Eyes widening, the Abyssal grinned, "Sirius? If you're here..." She looked around and her grin widened still more, "And without an escort, than..."

Puffing out his chest, Sirius gave a chuckle, "I am a free man."

Moments later, he found himself getting a hug from Rulia, "That is good to hear, Sirius. And I am certain that the Princess will be happy." Seeing him glance at the door, she pulled back some, "She is just inside, so go and tell her the good news."

With a smile, Sirius straightened his shirt, "And I am just about to-"

The Ru-Class than winked, "Just give me enough time to get some earplugs for when you two... ah, celebrate."

Cheeks somewhat red, Sirius gave her a glare though it was ruined by the twinkle in his eyes. Finally, he chuckled and nodded as he patted her shoulder, "I'll try." Walking up to the door, the wizard opened it to find Isley looking over some catalogues. At hearing the door open, she looked up only for her eyes to widen, which made Sirius grin, "Isley, my Love... I'm free."

In Isley's eyes were tears as she gave a laughing sob, "That is good to hear, Sirius." Despite the advanced stage of her pregnancy, she made her way over quickly and pulled him into an embrace, "That is wonderful news..."

Reaching up, Sirius brushed some of her hair from her face, "Aye." He then placed one hand on her swollen belly, "Now I can be a proper Dad."

All Isley did was pull him into a hard kiss that deepened rather rapidly. That was followed by her dragging him towards the bedroom, "Let's celebrate..."

Outside the door, the Ru-Class there whistled before checking her internal clock. Reaching into her clothes, she pulled out some magical earmuffs and put them on, 'Not going to be listening to this...'
_____________________________________________________________

Pale faced, Umbridge ignored the group of Dementors around her as the personification of Azkaban growled at her, "What do you mean, Sirius is free!? He can't be free, he belongs to me!"

Grimacing, the witch nodded some, "You will get no argument from me on that matter. Unfortunately, I tried everything that I could to get him tossed back here." A scowl grew on her face as her jowls shook a bit, "Bones blocked me every chance I could and that lawyer was not much better. Cornelius would not hear of trying to block certain problematic issues with the trial."

The seemingly little girl walked up and snarled at the witch, "That does not matter! He is mine and stays mine! And if you cannot get him for me..."

At feeling the temperature drop around her, Umbridge shook a bit. She had always had an understanding with the Dementors after all. One that they understood as well as she did was because they were able to... compliment them. Her first meeting with the personification of Azkaban nearly went badly for her, as she did not expect for it to have manifested an avatar. It galled her to work with such a creature, but at the same time... it was useful for when she wanted someone broken.

More than one recent opponent of the Ministry had been found mentally 'unwell', after all.

But that was as far as it went, and both understood just what the relationship was and how they could stab each other in the back once they stopped being useful. Rapidly looking through her memory, Umbridge suddenly smiled as she remembered something. A fact that Azkaban noticed and raised an eyebrow, "You know something."

On the witch's face, a sickingly sweet smile appeared, "I do. And with it, we can both get what we want." Chuckling, she narrowed her eyes some, "You see, Black is apparently going to spend a Saturday with his godson. Which one, I am unsure of mind you, but I can have some people keep an eye out and when he goes out..."

A similar sick grin appeared on Azkaban's face as she jumped up and down like an excited little girl, clapping her hands, "Oh yes! And once I know where and when, I can send my subjects to go and collect what is mine... and perhaps a little extra. After all, he does owe me."

Slightly confused, Umbridge nodded, "Yes, I do suppose that Potter does for the Dementors that he slew."

However, her confusion only grew as Azkaban waved it off, "No, no, not that. I am not talking about Potter, though one does owe me and I shall take it from Potter along with his soul."

Just frowning, the witch shook it off. None of her business, just the fact that the Ministry, and her, were going to have a thorn removed was good enough. Clearing her throat, she smiled, "Of course, we shall need to come up with an excuse for why the Dementors still went after him... thankfully, they are quite alien in thought and might have issues with understanding that Black does not need to come back here, let us say..."

Both of them grinned at that.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Pack Dynamics IV

Mitsue Detective Agency

The old-fashioned antique telephone rang shrilly on the battered and chipped wooden desk in the cramped office. A female hand with dark purple nail polish fumbled for it and brought it to the sole occupant's ears.
Spoiler: Miho Kitsue

"Moshi moshi? Kiho Mitsue here."

A brief pause of static sounded and then the woman's brown eyes narrowed at the sound of a voice from her past. "Ahh, I am pleased to catch you, Miho-san. It is Shigeru Miyata."

Her dark brown eyes narrowed and flashed with a suppressed fury as she looked over at a dusty picture frame across her office. A fifteen-years younger her in Auror's robes accepted a decoration for public service with Deputy Undersecretary Shigeru Miyata on the stage with her under the screaming headline 'SCANDAL IN THE DIET! COUNCILOR'S SON OR YOKAI PIMP?'.

Her last case as an Auror before her promotion was derailed by a 'routine security check' turning up that her mother was unfaithful and had conceived her after a one-night stand with an Inugami sailor. Disgrace, and dismissal followed, along with the suicide of her mother after the news leaked that her child was a Hanyo.

With that stigma and the shunning of many of her friends, she was barely able to get into business herself privately as an investigator. Missing persons, background checks, adulteries...

Fifteen years of scrambling to stay afloat, one step above eviction. Fifteen years of her ideals to clean up Tokyo and make the Law a shining thing rather than a sick joke. The worst part was that she knew, knew that the security screening was a political hit job.

She just couldn't prove it, prove what was done to her mother to cause her to say what she said. Which was acid in her gut as she suppressed the reflexive disgust at the Diet with the ease of long practice.

"I see. I take it this is not a social call." Her voice was cool with a razor edge in her soprano.

A happy laugh on the other end of the line. "Oh certainly. I was wondering, if you were free tomorrow for dinner? My daughter Naomi has asked about meeting you. Since your time is money, you will of course be amply compensated for your dining with her, plus she insisted that I pick up the tab."

Her fist tightened on the handset as she refrained from slamming it onto the metal switchhook above the dial. "That...can be arranged. You do know that I reserve the right to choose my clients and jobs." A warning, letting the slimy bastard know that she would not be trapped in one of his sick schemes. While far from the worst member of the Civil Service, his hands were filthy considering his 'coincidental social ties' with members of the magical yakuza running the gambling and entertainment industry in Roppongi.

"Of course, of course. Your current rates are two Shu per hour, correct?" Shigeru's voice was calm.

She glanced at her near-empty cashbox. "Hai, that is correct."

"Well since my niece holds you in such regard and your reputation is strong, two Ryo for two hours of your time then. I shall have Naomi visit our bank and make the withdrawal if you are agreeable?"

She bit her lip and nodded hesitantly, "I see no problem with meeting your daughter for dinner, where do you wish for me to meet her?"

"She enjoys seafood, so The Kappa's Catch in Magical Roppongi then? I shall arrange reservations for your both for seven PM then?"

Kiho felt something inside her cry out as she agreed to the meeting and hung up the phone. Damned Tsuchigumo spinning his webs from his office...

With that she walked to her bathroom mirror, rested her palm on it, and began to shake as she looked at her reflection in the glass.

She had trouble looking herself in the eye.

If she did not desperately need Miyata's money to pay the rent and put food on her table....

But she did.

She dreaded what filth she would have to rub on her soul this time to make ends meet.

Was this the time when she would finally have to break the law and her code of ethics and morals?

-------------------------------

The Kappa's Catch

Magical Roppongi

Kiho Mitsue smiled at the uniformed Maitre'd as he led her to a private booth. The Inugami bowed. "Your table, ma'am."

She nodded and slid through the beaded curtain, feeling the tingle of a privacy ward on her skin. With that, she bowed to the witch sitting opposite from her. "Greetings."
Spoiler: Naomi Miyata

Naomi Miyata tilted her glasses down and bowed back. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Mitsue. One moment while I strengthen the privacy wards here."

With that she pulled out her wand, and cast additional wards on the booth, causing Kiho to raise her eyebrow silently. She slowly spoke. "You know that I have certain ethical constraints in my line of work, Mrs. Miyata."

Naomi nodded. "Which is acceptable. We do not intend to have you transgress on your moral code. Far from it. The one thing I must request is for you to keep the following statement I make in strictest confidence whether or not you take the job."

The ex-Auror looked at the bureaucrat across the table from her for a minute. "As long as it does not involve a crime, I shall agree to that."

"Good. In brief, my nephew Hachiko Miyata has met and fallen for a young lady who works at Yokosuka Naval Base as a martial arts instructor to the shipgirl program. I wish to have a full background check on her so my father and I can make a determination as to her suitability to marry into our clan. Furthermore, because of certain political currents in the Diet, we request that all the information you gather about the lovebirds and their families be handed over to us in strictest confidence. My father does not need the distractions while he helps hold the government together."

Kiho raised her other eyebrow. "I take it there are difficulties with the young couple."

Naomi sighed. "Yes. In brief, as you may know, Yokosuka has gotten a hands-off reputation with the Aurors thanks to certain policy decisions. I suspect that an unregistered Kitsune may -- may -- have pranked my nephew to make him fall for Miss Ibuki. If so, I would like the identity of the miscreant so I can communicate my displeasure by requesting the Aurors to take steps to arrest the troublemaker. Any information about conditions in Yokosuka and any unregistered Yokai there will be worth a bonus for you so my department can formulate better policy decisions."

Kiho felt something inside her unknot as she recognized that today might not be the day she sacrificed her honor for a roof over her head. "I see, I have reasonable daily and weekly rates and would be happy to assist you with this family matter...."

Naomi nodded, "We are willing to pay a premium for your discretion, plus expenses, of course." She reached into her purse and pulled out a folder with a contract pinned to the front of it. "Here is the Civil Service file on Miss Ibuki."

Kiho opened the file and flipped through it rapidly. "I... see. This is much appreciated. Is there anything else that you can provide?"

Naomi pulled out a small, heavy box and placed it on the table. "Your first week's pay in advance plus expenses. My nephew will be meeting Miss Ibuki this Saturday for hanami at the Plum Blossom Park in Yokosuka so you can observe them in the wild as it were. I included my contact information with the file I gave you."

Kiho carefully read the contract, then signed it with a quill, followed by Naomi. "I shall make arrangements to view the blossoms then. Weekly reports?"

"Are more than acceptable." Naomi tapped the box of Ryo with her wand to unlock it, letting Kiho see the money within. "I suppose once you count your fee, then I shall take the privacy ward down and we can discuss Japan's chances in the World Cup of Quiddich qualifying while we eat?"

Kiho smiled and relaxed as she shrunk the box to place in her purse alongside her copy of the contract. "Our draw is not ideal. The Pakistanis are lucky to be in the regional qualifiers, but New Zealand is a traditional powerhouse and Korea will put forth their best effort against us. Plus we have to play the Koreans in Busan, not ideal at all...."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Just finishing dinner with Isley, Sirius was surprised to hear a tapping on the window of the hotel suite that he now shared with Isley. He was not going to take his future wife into the traditional Black home of Grimmauld until he could be certain that it was safe for her and the children. And from what he had seen, it would be some time before he was willing to let Isley live there. Besides his mother's portrait, which continually shouted obscenities at him and those there, there was also Kreacher. The old house elf muttered various insults and the like as he walked around.

It was going to take weeks before he considered the home livable enough for them to stay in, though he was thankful for Isley's Fleet helping. Say what you will, but the various nasties and such were not able to bother them in the slightest. And they had some fun with some of the dark creatures that had taken up residence, with Rina, a Ri-Class laughing as she chased doxys around with a butterfly net, the poor creatures freaked out. Sirius had laughed his ass off at seeing it.

Shaking those thoughts off, Sirius turned to the window where Hedwig sat on the windowsill. A smile bloomed on his face at that, "Hedwig!" Looking at Isley, he shook his head, "That must be from Harry."

Rulia's lips twitched some as she opened up the window, "Give me just a moment, Sirius."

Once the window was open, Hedwig flew in and landed on the table. The Owl glanced at Isley curiously before bobbing her head... and opening her beak to speak, "Owl-gram from Harry for his Dogfather."

Everyone went silent at that, even Sirius. Inside of her head, Hedwig could hear Harry cackling in hilarity. Waggling a finger in his ear with an odd expression, the Animagus frowned, "I'm sorry... what was that again?"

Her eyes twinkling in amusement, the owl held out her leg, "Owlgram for the Dogfather of Harry Potter, my Master." She tilted her head some, "I am talking to him, correct? Though I hope that you are not drunk..." Looking at the wine glass, Hedwig clacked her beak, "Hmm... or it is hearing damage? I hear that as humans age they can become hard of hearing..."

Just blinking, Sirius frowned and shook his head, "That was what I thought that you said... wait a second!" An expression of realization became one of irritation, "I'm not old!"
In return, Hedwig only hummed, "I see, I see. Granted, considering your age, well..."

Grumbling about how he was not old, the wizard took the letter. Meanwhile, Reivana just boggled at what was going on as well as other Abyssals. Raising up some, Stab moved forward with a frown on his face until he was just inches from Hedwig. Said Owl only just looked back at him nonplussed, "... The owl just talked?"

Eyes wide, Hedwig gasped, "I did?" Holding one wing in front of her face as it stroking her chin, she looked away, "Hmm... I suppose that I do-Wait!" The owl's eyes widened again and she gestured at the tail, "The tail talked! How about that?!"

A single bolt of lightning jumped from one cathode tube on Stab's head to the other, "Are you mocking me? I mean, really...?"

Shaking her head, Hedwig gave him a look of innocence, "Nooo... of course not." As Stab got within inches of her, she held up a wing, "One moment please." For a second or two, she looked around before leaping off the table to a nearby dresser and she grabbed something. Coming back, she dropped it in front of Stab, "Here you go."

If he could have, the Tail would have given a slow blink as he looked down, "What."

One wing in front of her face, Hedwig leaned toward him while giving a stage whisper, "It's a breath mint. You really need one because you have a sort of issue..."

Jerking back, Stab growled, "You stupid owl!"

Wing against her chest, Hedwig gave a blink with a mock offended (or the best that an owl could give) expression on her face, "I will have you know that I graduated with honours from a prestigious Owl School! Even have a certificate and everything that I am a trained post owl. Have you been to school..." Pausing, she looked at Reivana, "Do Re-Class tails have a school?"

Nearly completely lost at what was going on, Reivana opened her mouth, "School? Tails? I, uh... no?"

Sighing, the owl shook her head sadly and patted Stab's jaw, "You poor dear... being jealous of those with an education... There is nothing to be jealous at all about as I am certain that you are quite smart."

For several moments, Stab's jaw worked, "You stupid featherball!"

A gasp escaped from Hedwig and she held her wing to her chest as she stared at him with wide eyes, "Featherball! Why, I have never been called that before!"

With a glance at the sputtering Stab, Sirius gave a raised eyebrow, "... Never would I have expected to see an owl and a tail of a Re-Class in a battle of wits and snark... as well as sarcasm."

Bemused, Reivana shook her head, "Or for a tail to lose in it..."

Head tilted to the side, Hedwig blinked, "Do you think that perhaps I should give him a handicap or two? I mean, if this was an actual fight than I suppose that it would be best if I was to do so disarmed."

With a shrug, the Re-Class chuckled a bit, "Maybe?"

Twitching, Stab growled, "Oi! I am attached to you!"

All the owl did was turn to Reivana and bow slightly, "My condolences."

Even as Reivana accepted them, leading to more angry sputters from Stab, Sirius finished reading the letter and summoned a piece of parchment. Using a pen, he wrote down his answer before folding it up and giving it to Hedwig, "Here you go, if you could take this to Harry for me?"

Hedwig only bobbed her head before giving a salute, "Yes, Sah!"

And with that, she left, flying out the window which an amused Rulia closed. After a few moments, the Ru turned to her Princess with a chuckle, "Well, that just happened."

Isley was also rather amused and only nodded before turning towards Sirius, "So what was the letter about, Sirius?"

Chuckling, the wizard smiled up at her, "It wasn't too much really, just Harry asking about the Saturday that we'll be spending together to get to know each other, Godfather and Godson." Taking a sip of his wine, he sighed a bit, "He got permission to go to Hogsmeade for that day so that we're away from all the stares for the most part. I think bringing him up to the Shrieking Shack and sharing some stories there might be a good idea."

Head to the side, Isley considered that some before nodding and turning towards Reivana, "I know that you belong to Aunt Porta's fleet, Reivana, and so I cannot order you, but could you..."

Understanding what was being asked, Reivana gave a nod, "Watch over him? I can do that, Lady Isley." Puffing out her chest, she smiled, "You can trust in me."

All Isley did was nod at that with a smile.
______________________________________________________

The night before his Godfather's visit, Harry slipped into his bed and closed his eyes to fall asleep. He was nearly asleep when he felt something move under the sheets. After a few moments, he sighed and shook his head as he realized what it was. Or, rather, who. Partially because it was something long and chilly...

And also the scent of oranges in the air.

With a sigh, he grumbled a bit, "Juuchi, what are you doing?" The sheathed sword rattled for a second or two making him furrow his eyebrows, "So since I am going to meet my Godfather, you have decided that you need to keep an eye on me just in case something happens..." Yet again, he got a sword rattle, "I am not that ba-"

Once more, Juuchi gave a rattle in her sheath.

Scowling, Harry looked over at said sword, which exuded waves of smug and some concern, "I am not that bad, and that stuff just happens. It is not like I actually go looking for trouble you know, it just happens to find me all the damn time, whether or not I want it." When the Muramasa rattled again, he sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine, I am not going to argue with you." Placing his head back onto the pillow, Harry grumbled a bit, "At least go and put on the covering I got for you for Christmas. Because otherwise you are too damn cold."

There was a brief moment of silence before the sword rattled.

Under his eyelids, the teenaged wizard rolled his eyes, "You know that you like it. We both know that you actually love it. Now go and get it before I change my mind about letting you follow me around as you're likely to do."

For several moments there was nothing before Harry felt Juuchi leave. After a minute or two, she returned and slipped back under the covers, except this time there was a softness covering her that was also warm. While yawning, Harry grumbled a bit, "Much better."

The only answer he got was happy smug as he fell asleep.

Waking up, Harry stretched some and slipped out of bed before turning to look at the sheathed Juuchi. Over the sheath of the blade was something akin to a sock, colored black with blood oranges, whole and in slices, covering it. It was something that he got for her around Christmas because more than once, he found her in his bed. At least this way he would not wake up because of something cold touching him.

It helped though, that as he had commented, she loved it. According to Tsukiakari, she had even shown it off to the other Muramasas, who were confused. Said Kyu Gunto also asked where he had gotten it because she wanted one with apples on it for Honjo. And perhaps one with Mizuchi and goldfish for one of Juuchi's sisters, Harry was sort of confused on why but just shrugged it off.

Stretching some, Harry got his change of clothes and walked off to the shower. Granted, he was somewhat annoyed at coming back to his bed to find Juuchi still there... and the bed covered in blood orange peels, "Don't make me regret letting you follow me."

All Juuchi did was exude smug.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Hands in his pockets, Harry leaned against a stone wall as Sirius did much the same as he told him a story about his grandparents and father. Lips curling into a small smile, the teen could only chuckle at a bit at a mention of a prank that the older wizard had played on his father. So far, the day was going great. The weather was fine, if still a bit chilly due to being still early April though not that bad. And the two had spent the day telling each other stories with Sirius about Harry's parents, grandparents, and friends.

Meanwhile, Harry had told Sirius about his own life thus far. Granted, he had gotten an odd look from the other wizard when he talking about Natsumi and the others. But than he had snorted, shaken his head, and told him that his parents would be proud of him. When he spoke about Hoppou and the Fleet of Laughter, he had been surprised. After a few moments though, he calmed down and smiled.

In the present though, the current story was winding down and Sirius was looking out at the growing heather on the hills and such surrounding Hogsmeade with a small smile of happiness. Looking over at him, an epthiny came to Harry, "You really loved my Grandparents, didn't you? As parents, I mean."

Slowly, the elder wizard nodded, "I did." Turning to Harry, he chuckled a bit, "Your grandparents, James' parents, were really great people. When I ran away from home upon turning sixteen because of my own parents, mainly my mother, your Grandparents took me in. More than that, they treated me like I was their own son. And for that? I can never thank them enough." Pausing, he shook his head, "Hell, even before I ran away they were there for me. Every time my... Mother was too much, I would take off for James' home."

Tilting his head to the side, Harry snorted, "I take it though that she, your mother, did not like that too much."

A bark-like laugh escaped from Sirius at that, "That old bitch? No, she did not like it at all. Considered the Potters to be 'Impure' with their blood and all that bullshite. Grandfather, Arcturus who was my grandfather, really disagreed with her. Apparently, it nearly came to blows when, a few years after marrying my Father, she attempted to disown my aunt, Dorea Black for having married Charlus Potter due to 'Sullying a Pureblood Line'. Grandfather fixed the tapestry after that and nearly kicked her out." He gave a small shrug at Harry's incredulous gaze, "She was like that. Grandfather though outright told her there and then that the Potters and Blacks were friendly to each other and it went back centuries." For a moment, Sirius was silent, "Also told her that if she tried that again, he was going to toss her into the Thames... in the middle of winter at midnight."

Just staring, Harry boggled a bit, "Really?"

Now serious, the other wizard nodded, "Really. The Blacks, well... we have a reputation as a Dark family as a reason despite our relationship with the Potters. After that? Dear old Mum limited herself to blasting names off the family tree and acting as if that disowned them, though Grandfather kept his own and showed me how to repair it. Apparently tried to blast my name off the family tree as well when I ran away, but Grandfather kept me."

Frowning, Harry remembered something that he had been told, "Wait, what about Andromeda Tonks? Wasn't she disowned?"

That made Sirius grimace a bit and suck his teeth a bit, "She was... part of it was due to her marrying a Muggleborn. Grandfather was many things, lenient among them, but he still did not like Muggleborn except for those that 'Proved' themselves. Your Mum was one of those, and he stated that she was one of the 'Good ones' compared to others. Andy's husband, Ted? Never proved himself to Grandfather's standards. Thus, he didn't protect her though in his will he stated if I wanted to, I could bring them both back into the family once I was out of Azkaban or if declared innocent as I would be officially the Head of the Family."

Eyebrow raised, the black haired teen frowned as he considered the thoughts from a now dead man towards his mother before shaking it off, "Partially?"

Grimacing, Sirius nodded, "Yeah, partially. She ran off with Ted because her parents were planning to get her married with a Pureblood. I am reasonably sure that it would have been either Rabastan LeStrange or MacNair. And considering how either of those have turned out? Well, yeah... But that still left the family with egg on its face and thus she needed to be punished." Scratching the stubble on his chin, he shook his head, "Hence her being disowned due to embarrassing the family so much."

For a few moments, Harry considered that before nodding. While he did dislike the reasoning, it was understandable if one looked at it from such a point of view, if distasteful and something that he disagreed with heavily. Instead, the conversation turned to other things and events. One of which made Harry boggle as they re-entered Hogsmeade and raise his hands into a "T" formation, "Wait, wait...my Mum did what now with her underwear and bra?"

Sheepishly grinning, the older man laughed, "Well, by that time the... former friendship that your Mum had with Snape had pretty much died and she really disliked him. Not helped by how he tried to get back into her good graces by insulting James and hinting that perhaps she was under some sort of potion. So, one day she somehow caught him brewing Felix Felicis potion in our Seventh Year. Supposedly, according to him, Professor Slughorn was giving it as an assignment to people under his wing as a test... Unknown to him, Lily was already his apprentice and he stated that, no, he did not give that out and was concerned. So Lily set up something." Lightly laughing, he shook his head, "Had me show up with her bra and panties as if to tease her about showing them to Prongs and hit me with a tripping hex. And what do you know, they landed in Snape's completed potion! Completely random and by accident!"

All Harry did was facepalm, "I cannot believe it... though..." Pulling his hand away from his face, he frowned, "Those had to be the luckiest pair of panties and bra in the world..."

To that, Sirius shrugged, "Pretty sure they were. Gave Lily-Flower a lot of luck when fighting after all and I am pretty sure that she was wearing them the second time her and James fought Voldemort. Because that took a hell of a lot of luck to escape from him." Seeing Harry's unsure look, he shook his head, "And no, she was not wearing them that night... I think." Pausing, he grimaced, "I, uh, didn't check and-"

Looking somewhat sick, the thirteen year old held up his hand, "Please... don't."

In return, Sirius gave a shrug and they continued to walk before pausing as their breath began to fog and a cold wind swept past, 'What in the world...? Why did it suddenly-' Suddenly, the older wizard's eyes widened as he recognized the now familiar feeling and shoved Harry forwards, "RUN FOR THE VILLAGE!"

Even as he stumbled, Harry pushed off and began to run further into the village alongside his Godfather. From where he was, he could see wizards and witches shouting and running for cover... right before he nearly fell back as four Dementors swept in. Twisting, he could see more arriving behind them and to the sides. Not just a few, or a handful...

But dozens of them.

Growling, Sirius whipped out his wand even as sweat began to bead on his brow, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A silver mist gathered around the two even as the older wizard shuddered under the strain. Meanwhile, Harry was grabbing some of the Ofuda he carried on him even as he could hear his mother, Lily, screaming in his mind, "Bloody great!" Hitting one of the Dementors, he could only nod as five of them screeched as they vanished into ash with a burst of light, even as darkness crept into the edges of his vision, 'I'm going to have to thank Kagotsuruhe-Sensei for giving me some resistance...'

Elsewhere, Reivana skidded to a stop as the Dementors' effects began to hit her. Almost immediately, every dark emotion that she felt spiked and rose to heights that she had never felt in her life. In the back of her mind, as it began to be swamped and she began to go berserk, she could hear herself screaming as did every imp in her body as they went completely insane. Stab, too, was going nuts with his cannons extending and retracting as the cathode tubes on his head lit up brightly with one cracking from the power being put through it. Mind almost submerged in the anger, the hate, the rage, the despair, and the terror, Reivana's screamed one last plea to the world both internally and externally.

"PRINCESSSSSSS!"

And said plea got an answer as something slammed down on her mind and her very soul. It was cold and dark, the feeling of the Abyss at it's most powerful. Even what remained of Reivana's conscious mind could tell how powerful it was, and recognized it as Porta. Despite focusing, Porta's mind seemed to be strained as it fought the madness that had taken her Re-Class from where she was in the North Atlantic. Unknown to Reivana, sweat began to bead on Porta's forehead as she focused and suddenly, the Elder Princess was there within Reivana's body and seeing what she did. Feeling the mind of the Re-Class grab cling to her own consciousness like a frightened child to their mother, the Princess growled as she forced back the dark tide of emotions.

Moments later, the twenty Dementors that had been about to feed on Reivana paused at the darkness coming from her. And then the Re-Class raised her head to reveal one eye completely black except for an electric red pupil, "Perhaps... I was wrong to be so dismissive of Isley's failure..."

Then, she leapt forward and began to tear the Dementors apart.

On the other side of the mass of Dementors, Juuchi snarled as she cut one Dementor in half, while beside her, Kagotsuruhe drove one Dementor inside before stabbing it and hurriedly resheathing herself. A frown on her face, she glanced to where the main mass of Dementors were and blinked before speaking with a toneless voice, "We won't get through them in time."

Nearly maddened, Juuchi looked at her, "DON'T TELL ME BULLSHIT LIKE THAT!"

For a moment, Kagotsuruhe looked at her sister in the eye before the other Muramasa turned back to the slaughter as she attempted to fight her way through the horde. Briefly, the Blade of Hopelessness cast her mind back to decades before, when she attempted to comfort a young boy who called her "Onee-San" as he died. Her lips then curled a bit, "No, we can't, but..."

Twisting, Juuchi looked at her sister and noted where she was looking before understanding and tossing her true self to her sister.

Airborne, Tsukiakari growled as she came down and smashed one foot into a Dementor's face before slashing her true self across, and through, another. Pushing off with a Eastern spell that Ian knew, and causing the Dementor's face and head to explode like a overripe melon hit by a hammer, she leapt once more. Lips curling upwards, she smiled grimly before smashing one Dementor with her sheath and decapitating another, with the follow up cutting the first in two.

One of them grabbed her, only for her to grab the arm and twist it around. As it slammed into one of it's fellows, she stabbed herself through them both, following it up by nearly cutting them into four. Unlike Juuchi, this was the sort of fight that she was made for, and which ran through her blood. A fight pitting one against many, and she showed it.

Meanwhile, Harry was rapidly weakening as the darkness crept more and more into his vision. Beside him, Sirius as on his knees barely conscious as the black haired boy reached for another Ofuda... only to come up empty. Around him were at least twenty piles of dust and ashes where Dementors had been. Feeling two cold hands grab him, he found himself staring into the face of a nightmare as he attempted to pull the boy close through his weakening struggles, 'Sorry Mum... Hoppou... Natsumi and everyone... I won't becoming an Admiral..'

It was then that he could see a glint of something before a sword descended, a Japanese woman appearing beside it with the hilt in her hands. Upon what would likely be a beautiful face was a vestige of pure rage. There was a brief flash and Harry found himself falling into her arms as the Dementor's own were removed... as was it's head. Snarling, the woman turned to the other ones, ""You filth dared to harm my Lord and attempted to prevent him from entering the Pure Land. I will not abide this." Bringing up her blade, she continued, "My Maker named me 10,000 Cold Nights and bade me to cut all without distinction. It is said that that you cannot die for you are not alive. Very well, may your continued existence be AGONY!"

With one arm around Harry, she slashed another Dementor into first two and then four. Seeing one come up from behind her, Harry was about to call out when another blade burst from it's chest, and around the edges, the flesh seemed to blister and melt from the bones due to a bluish mist that drifted from the blade. That was, until the sword was brutally ripped from the creature, which only had time to scream before being bisected. As it fell apart, it revealed Tsukiakari there breathing hard. Her clothes torn by claws and covered in what passed for blood and gore from the Dementors. Even Juuchi had to pause for a moment at the sight before literally disarming another Dementor that was trying to drag an unconscious Sirius away, "TSU! GET MASTER HARRY OUT OF HERE!"

Glancing at her even as she smashed one Dementor away with her sheath, following it with a backswing of her true self, Tsukiakari grimaced, "SENPAI-"

It was then that Harry took a deep breath and snarled at himself at the memory of what happened. What was he doing?! He was about to die and just allow for it?! Was he really about to just allow for himself to die here, like this!? Didn't he train under Kagotsuruhe, fight past mental exhaustion to learn a spell to protect himself?! And for what!?

To just give up?

HELL NO!

Digging deep, Harry brought up memory after memory. Nagato, when she adopted him. Hoppou when she first declared him truthfully to be her Big Brother! Wanko, hugging him and declaring him to be her Little Brother. The Arashi clan, and how they welcomed him fully. Tsukiakari and Juuchi, now fighting to protect him. Sirius having done the same and Remus...

Out of the corner of her eye, Juuchi could see Harry stand as he fought against the aura attempting to drag him down.

More and more images and moments came to the fore in the thirteen year old's mind. Natsumi hugging him while they laid on a hillside in summer, followed by her giving him a light kiss. Shinano looking at him kindly before she kissed his cheek. Verniy brightly smiling with tears in her eyes as he signed her logbook. Regina that night of the party in Germany, laughing as she carried him. Hachi and Iku as they danced with him. Enjoying tea and such with RO and Shioi.

His hand began to shake as did the wand in it.

Maruyu laughing alongside him as the two played with paint guns and hit Akitsu Maru. Theatrical groans as he beat Imuya at a video game. Cooking alongside Taigei and Ryuuhou. Facepalming at the sight of Eugen with a face blackened from a chemistry experiment gone wrong as Hanna laughed, holding onto him to keep from falling. The expressions of happiness on the faces of Akizuki, Teruzuki, and Hatsuzuki as he brought them a big meal.

The look on Louisiana's face when they had saved her, followed by more recently the date that they had together with Natsumi. Niiyodo as she looked on to the first festival that she organized with his help, the pure joy on her face. Happy tears dripping down Ume and Sakura's faces as he hugged them after seeing their 'Yuurei Forms' that night. The thanks and smiles he got from the ships in the caldera.

All of the times, the laughs, the tears... and the joy as well as another emotion he felt and knew they did rose up like magma in a cataclysmic volcanic eruption all rose up.

One last memory, from the very depths of his mind, of his soul. Of a red haired woman with green eyes lovingly smiling and a man with messy, black hair and hazel eyes with a Devil may care lopsided grin. Both of them with love on their faces as they looked at him.

Eyes snapping open, Harry did not know that they were not just glowing, but brightly so as if they were full of fire. A small golden film covered his body, his birth mother's protection supercharged. More than that... it was fueling what was coming as he raised his wand, the phoenix feather able to be seen as it too, was glowing, and able to be seen through the wood, "Go back to the dark pit you came from..."

Outside the horde, various Aurors appeared. Tonks was one of them as was Kingsley and Mad-Eye. As well, Amelia Bones appeared and paused at the sight of the Dementors which dragged up memories of the war with Voldemort. Looking around and seeing Dumbledore also appear, she called out, "OKAY! READY PATRONUSES AND-"

However, a bellow from within the Dementors made her pause, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

From inside, there was a flash of silver and then what could only be described as a pulse pushed outwards, flinging Dementors everywhere, most smoking. Briefly, everyone had to look away as it lit up the night. Feeling it wash over her, Kagotsuruhe felt the closest that she had ever to surprise and shock, even as she could feel the emotions within the light. Reivana, too, paused as all the negative emotions were washed away and on her throne, Porta's unseeing eyes shot wide open and her eyebrows met her hairline, 'What in the name of the Abyss...?!'

Before the first pulse was even done, there was a second followed by a third, all of which threw the Dementors like leaves in a whirlwind. When everyone looked back, they could see a roughed up Harry standing next to a massive stag that was glowing so brightly that it was hard to look at it. Coming back to consciousness, Sirius squinted a bit before mumbling in shock, "Prongs...?"

Glancing at him, Harry breathed heavily before narrowing his eyes. Legs tensing, the Patronus cracked the flagstones beneath the hooves as it shot forward. One Dementor screeched as it was caught in the antlers and tossed like a doll, followed by another. It drove the dark creatures before them, with the Dementors cringing and trying to get away from the light. As the Aurors and Dumbledore created their own Patronuses, the Dementors changed direction. Their Mistress, their 'Mother' wanted the one named Black. In the back of their minds, they could feel her scream of rage at being denied and would not have it.

They really should have.

As they rushed towards him, Harry spotted one last Ofuda blowing past. Quick as a snake, he grabbed it and the paper began to smoke. Raising it, he held it up as the paper burned away, leaving the glowing letters of the charm as he chanted, calling upon Amaterasu to burn away evil. There was a final flash from the setting Sun before it sunk fully beneath the horizon as the Dementors came within feet of Harry.

Everyone had to look away as the world went white.

Where they laid around Harry and elsewhere, the Dismembered Dementors smoked and burst into flame under the light before burning into just smoke. Those in front of him were not much better as their bodies seemed to disintegrate as the light reached them. Thirty Dementors were near instantly killed with others badly burned. And with that, they just broke and took off, driven forth by Harry's Patronus that continued to chase them all the way out of the village, a hundred total.

It eventually returned though, and came to stand before an exhausted Harry. Looking up into it's eyes, Harry whispered something that only Juuchi and Tsukiakari, caught, "Thanks... Dad..."

His eyes closing as everything caught up to him, the black haired boy collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut. Before he could hit the ground, Juuchi caught him and smiled at him, "Good job, Master... Just as worthy, and perhaps more than most, as any Potter."

The only response Harry had was to smile softly as Prongs disappeared into motes of light...

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

SkyeFire said:
Okay, my head went straight to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire, which frankly Colombe could almost use as a theme song. Except that she's too old....​

You too, I see. Hmm... Well. This one is all your fault....

She Didn't Light The Dumpster

Castle Moulbaix, July 13th, 2007

"I'm glad that Jezabel was able to come, Del." Colombe said as she watched her 'aunt' speaking to Zamarad next to the baluster at the end of the grand staircase.

"So am I, Sis. So am I. She caught cold six weeks ago and I was very concerned." Delilah responded quietly as she watched her mother.

"Hello hello!" Both blades turned at the familiar voice coming down the stairs.

"Jackie, good to see you!" Colombe said with a smile and a hug for her middle sister. "New dress?"

"Aye. Picked up for the party from a dressmaker down in the Tenderloin." Jacklyn responded, turning around slowly so her sisters could see the strapless scarlet cocktail dress.

"Red suits you, Jackie." Delilah murmured, giving Jacklyn a look and a slight nod.

"Indeed it does. Let me speak to me favorite niece first!" The cutlass headed over to where Claire was playing Debussy and leaned over to speak to the piano.

Colombe turned back to Delilah. "So nothing too crazy at MACUSA this week?"

Delilah shrugged slightly, her dark green dress rustling, "Nothing too crazy. Fortunately, the shipgirls are holding the line against the Abyssals, so no second Blood Week. Thankfully."

Colombe nodded and absently rubbed a hand against a scar hidden under the midnight blue silk of her dress. "Thankfully." Then her head snapped around at a musical giggle from Claire followed by a sudden fast flurry of bass notes with a catchy treble melody.
Spoiler: She Didn't Light the Dumpster

Jaklyn leaned against the piano like a 1920's cabaret girl and began to sing huskily with a smug smirk on her face.

"Big Sis went to Beauxbatons. Got expelled so said I'm gone!
Decided to go the mercenary life to find our Dad!
Went cruising around the Med. Fought pirates who wanted her dead!
Ran into ghouls, slavers, and everything that was bad!"

Colombe blushed and started to chuckle as Jacklyn continued to sing her take on Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"

"Her Papa was fitted for a shroud! So she set out to make him proud!
Sailed from Paris to India hot on Dad's trail!
Saved a Rani who kissed girls for fun! That became Lady Chastity's Adventure One!
Killer thugees, naga, raksasha, all did fail!"

Delilah smirked smugly and joined in on the chorus.

"She didn't light the dumpster!
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
She didn't light the dumpster
No, she didn't light it
But she tried to fight it!"

Colombe gave Delilah a wounded 'you too?' look as her sisters continued to serenade her.

"Got word of the French Revolution! Saved her family and went for absolution!
ICW blamed her for violating the law!
So she fought against Napoleon! Sent him to Elba cursing a rapier amazonian!
Went back on Dad's trail as an outlaw!"

The uncontrollable grin Colombe had put the lie to her weak protests as Jezabel and Zamarad moved over to the piano.

"Back to India to pick up some jasmina! Then hot on Dad's trail to China!
Established a company and smuggled opium!
Crossed the tongs so killed their Hit man! A gang war later, off to Japan!
Got barred from Japan with extreme odium!"

Colombe shot Delilah a 'you told her about my Asian misadventures, didn't you?' glare as Zamarad picked up on the chorus and the revolver smugged back at her.

"She didn't light the dumpster!
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
She didn't light the dumpster
No, she didn't light it
But she tried to fight it!"

Claire picked up the volume and banged her head as the next verse started.

"Back to Belgium to check in with her clan! Found her evil nephew was a bad man!
Sent her off to be killed in the Franco-Prussian war!
Didn't work so her next trip was to Africa! Found out that he was a slave trafficker!
Another dumpster ready to burn and Sis said more!

Our dove is hard to kill! Despite all his ill will!
Evil Nephew blown away! What else do I have to say?"

Colombe shook her head and began to laugh helplessly at the retelling of her life in song.

"She didn't light the dumpster!
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
She didn't light the dumpster
No, she didn't light it
But she tried to fight it!"

Jezabel hugged her daughter around the waist and joined in the song.

"Just in time for World War One! Asked the Klan to have some fun!
Saved an Ifrit in World War Two!
Went to Tijuana in the wrestling ring! Iranian Revolution was a thing!
Blood Week was shared with Kasuyu!"

As if summoned by the song, the axe appeared with a tray full of full brandy glasses and a large birthday cake shaped and iced like a dumpster fire and with Happy 300th Birthday in icing on it.

"She didn't light the dumpster!
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
She didn't light the dumpster
No, she didn't light it
But she tried to fight it!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Pack Dynamics V

Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, Kamakura

'Excuse me."

Hachiko Miyata turned at the words from the scowling young lady standing by the gold-colored American car parked illegally just outside the shrine. "Yes, can I help you ma'am?"

"I was wondering if you had seen my imōto Tokunotakai? She teaches Kendo and Kyudo at the shrine and I have not seen her in the last week. Since she was supposed to go out to dinner with me yesterday..." The young lady -- who Hachiko was sure was a yakuza considering her gold-framed sunglasses, expensive haircut, fitted business suit and flashy car -- sounded quite concerned under the hectoring tone.

Hachiko frowned, "I last saw her....ten days ago. She and a blonde foreign woman were planning to take the train to climb Mount Fuji."

A sudden grasp pulled him nose to chest with the yakuza. "This gaijin...what did she look like?!"

Hachiko gulped, "Well she was taller than Toku-sensei or you, slender, hair of a rich gold and blue eyes...oh, and she was carrying two backpacks and had a straight sword at her hip... like in that movie about the Musketeers?"

The yakuza girl released him. "Kuso!! Thank you, I need to make some calls now. She could be anywhere doing anything to poor Toku-chan!"

As he hastily made his escape up the shrine steps he heard the girl behind him yelling into her phone. "What do you mean Honjo is out of the building at an appointment! Get her on the phone, we have a real crisis here! That damn gaijin rapier kidnapped our sister!"

At the top of the stairs, a cough attracted his attention. A young woman with peach-colored light pink hair in a red and blue kimono tilted her conical sugegasa straw hat back to survey him from where she was idly whittling a piece of driftwood. "You have not seen Tokunotakai, have you?" Her voice was high pitched with a Kansai accent.
Spoiler: A Mysterious Wanderer

He blinked, "I'm sorry miss. As I told her sister, she left on vacation to climb Mount Fuji and has not returned to teach kendo."

Two sharp blue eyes surveyed him and the figure nodded once as she tapped a finger on the hilt of the daisho set that she carried. "You said her sister was here?"

"Yes, she is down the street next to a gold... car..." Hachiko trailed off as the mysterious figure sprinted down the stairs, then shrugged. Strange day, but he needed to get Aki and head to the base to meet Moriko for hanami flower viewing.

-------------------------------------

As Hachiko collected his little brother from the substitute kyudo instructor, Fudo Masamune swore into her cell phone as she drummed her fingers on the hood of her car.

The Evil Gaijin Rapier was getting away and Tokunotaki was in trouble. She had to go to the rescue of her little sister!

"Dammit, Kote-chan, pick up!"

Suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder and squeezed hard enough to cause her to wince. A very familiar voice drawled in her ear. "Fudō-han! Shibaitaro ka?" (Fudo! Do you want me to give you a beating?)

Fudo paled and turned to see the smiling form of her big sister Musashi. Who was carrying a freshly carved bokken and had an ear to ear happy smile at finding a suitable 'sparring partner'. Regardless of what the current victim of Musashi's monomaniacal devotion to The Way Of the Sword wanted.
Spoiler: Musashi Says Long Time No See

Fudo gulped and spoke nervously, "Musashi-sama, this is not a good time..."

Musashi-no-Masamune's grin widened. "It is always a good time to practice The Way. Now get over here!" With a crack of displaced air and a cut-short scream from The Chosen Blade of Fudo My'oo, Musashi Apparated Fudo away.

---------------------------------------

Yokosuka Naval Base, Main Gate

Kiho Mitsue bowed to the street vendor, then took her cup of kakigori flavored shaved ice as she watched the traffic out of the main gate. Dressed in a knee-length skirt and a nice blouse, she was the image of an Office Lady secretary out to enjoy flower viewing. Something that her thick brass-rimmed 'cat eye' glasses and hair up in a severe bun furthered her appearance as yet another of the mass of humanity on the street outside the main gate.
Spoiler: The Glasses


Of course her 'glasses' were actually custom-built low profile Auror's Omnioculars set to record the scene for later analysis. She stepped to one side as a group of destroyers led by one she recognized from the muggle newspapers escorting one taller girl and a gaggle of young children headed to the shaved ice cart that she was standing next to.

She raised a mental eyebrow as her oculars flashed indicators around most of the children showing that they had magical auras disguising their true forms. Before fuzzing out in static as the surveillance spells glitched on the elderly device causing her to sigh and duck her hand inside the purse to rub the control ofuda taped to the liner to try to bring the focus back to non-headache-level clarity. She was lucky that she even had these old models thanks to Auror Yamato selling her her old pair rather than destroying them when the Mark XIV models superseded them before Blood Week.

It didn't make the headache that was forming any less before the display finally cleared up some while the younger girls attached to the lead destroyer asked if they had peanut butter flavored shaved ice.

With that she murmured to the Self-Scribing Quill inside her purse as she discarded the empty cup in a nearby trash bin. "Shipgirls exited Yokosuka with eight apparent Yokai children in tow, possibly acting as parental figures."

Once again she resolved not to try breaking into the base. If they knew about magic, no doubt precautions were taken. Also, she would only bend the law as an absolute last resort, and her plan of observation should render it unnecessary. It was clear both from what she had heard before the job and the attitude of the Miyatas that if she messed up and was caught, she was on her own.

Also, this was just her preliminary round of observations to establish a baseline and highlight areas to look into for further analysis and data collection. Get observations and footage of their interactions and auras for later analysis and refining her plan of data collection.

Field Work is 99% boredom and 1% utter robe-browning terror, as the saying went.

She idly mused that hopefully she had used up her quota of terror for this decade when she had found out that the missing daughter she had been hired to locate last year was the victim of a jorogumo who had a gashadokuro on call. Once again she resolved if she ever met Nagato to prostrate herself at the battleship's feet for getting rid of that menace, which had converted her to a quiet but fervent supporter of shipgirls on the spot when she heard the news through her contacts among the Aurors and the press.

Yamamoto-sensei had impressed on her how tricky and deadly a jorogumo alone could be when he spoke of the one that had eluded him for decades up and down Japan after ripping half his face to ribbons on Hokkaido as she escaped his capture team. One with the kind of unstoppable power that a gashadokuro represented really did not bear thinking about save to burn incense that someone else had put paid to that menace no matter the risks to the Statute of Secrecy.

Better embarrassing explanations to the muggles than slaughtered towns.

Her eyes located a young 'girl' in tan slacks and a baggy off-white sweater escorting a somewhat shaggy headed younger boy toward the gate. "Hachiko Miyata in sight, escorting young boy. Boy has a magical aura, potential Yokai? Potential sibling? Potential wizard? Research later." Her lips curled in a smile as she ordered the oculars to lock on him and start recording.

Her eyes narrowed at a group of three young women, the lead one immediately recognizable from her file as Moriko Ibuki. Behind her, a clear close relative of Miss Ibuki was being pushed in a wheelchair by a near-identical twin of her target.

Time to earn her pay.

With that thought, she reached into her purse to pull out a cell phone. Turning as she began her 'phone conversation' as she walked down the street in their direction, she watched Hachiko drop the boy's arm and run toward the woman in the lead. She then blushed slightly as Moriko gathered him in a hug where his face vanished in her rather substantial chest and swung him around like a rag doll in her excitement.

She could see why the boy had fallen for the girl if this was normal. She certainly acted a lot younger than her 'official age' of 24, and as she zoomed in, she noticed a strong magical aura around Miss Ibuki and the other girls. Matching that of the Yokai children that the destroyers were guiding toward a bus running to the park.

Interesting...

She casually walked to be in earshot of the teenagers as Moriko finally released a red-faced and giddy Hachiko from his daily dose of Marshmallow Hell.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer Omake: Musashi whittles a bokken

Lord Khuzdul said:
Enter stage right, Musashi-chan. Me likes this older sister.​

Musashi: "Oh, you want to date my nerdy baby sister, Colombe? Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while kicking your ass!"
Musashi: "Hello Toku, long time no see! Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while kicking your ass!"
Musashi: "Toku's been kidnapped by a gaijin Muramasa, Fudo? Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while kicking your ass!"
Musashi: "Honjo, I see you got returned to your family after 70 years! Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while trying to kick your ass!"
Musashi: "You want to tell me about the new Emperor you serve, Kotegiri? Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while trying to kick your ass!"
Musashi: "Have I seen a Mizuchi, Kyoshu? Let me whittle a bokken and test your skills while kicking your ass!"

(You get the picture)

Granted, she will listen to Fudo several hours from now once she beats Fudo into the ground a dozen times and comments that Fudo is out of practice.

Lord Khuzdul said:
Hmm... maybe she should meet the severe shirt allergy case that shares her name. I might even ship them. Attitudes seem a good match nonetheless, and I personally know just how much fun a couple that shares the same first name can be (my better half and I have the same unisex first name).​

Musashi the Bread Knife and Musashi the shipgirl are a good match since both like a good brawl, or a good bar crawl. After the requisite Hero Fight sequence because that's how Bread Knife Musashi rolls.

jmcdavid said:
I see Musashi-no-Masamune probably likes to play Scorpion in Mortal Kombat.​

Musashi: "He was a good sparring partner. Pity what happened to him."

(if Mortal Kombat actually existed in some form in HatSG, that is the kind of Tournament of Death that Musashi would absolutely track down and participate in)