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Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

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Hoppo's Hot Chocolate
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    • Harry Leferts

    Two weeks after the newest addition to their household had joined, Harry woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. On his way back to bed though, the nine year old paused as he thought that he had heard something. And then he heard it again and crept to where Hoppou's door was and slowly opened it to reveal the Abyssal sitting in bed as she stared at her window. "Hoppou?"

    Blinking her red eyes, Hoppou turned toward him and tilted her head. "Harry?"

    Just yawning, Harry frowned as he watched her. "What are you doing up? It's..." He quickly checked the clock and blinked. "Oh-Three hundred."

    All Hoppou did though was turn back toward the window for almost a minute before she spoke. "Hoppou can't sleep, is thinking."

    Raising an eyebrow, Harry watched her carefully. This wasn't the first time that either him or Nagato had come across her wide awake at night and neither ever got answers from her as to why. She would just sit there staring at the Moon and stars. "Can't sleep huh? Give me a moment."

    With that, Harry turned and walked into the small kitchenette for their quarters before turning on the light. He could hear the soft footfalls enter the room and didn't look over his shoulder to where he knew Hoppou was. "What is Harry doing?"

    Thoughtful, Harry took out a small pot and placed it onto the hotplate before also opening up the fridge and pouring some milk into the pot. "I'm making you something that's guaranteed to help you sleep better, Hoppou." Yet again, Harry could hear Hoppou's soft foot steps but this time she came to a stop behind him. Turning his head a little, he saw her stand on her toes as she tried to see what he was better. "Just give me about... fifteen minutes tops, and we'll have something for you, hmm?"

    Once she nodded, Harry turned on the hotplate and then began opening cupboards. Soon, the countertop had two mugs, a stick of cinnamon in each, a bottle of honey, and one of Harry's small bottles of spices which Hoppou pointed at. "What's that?"

    Glancing at her, Harry pointed at the spice bottle. "This?" At her nod, he held it up and wiggled it from side to side. "Just some nutmeg." When she pointed at the cinnamon sticks, he smiled a bit. "That's cinnamon, it's pretty good."

    Hoppou tilted her head a bit and just watched as Harry stirred the milk until it began to boil and then added some nutmeg which he stirred in before turning down the heat. After several seconds, he turned off the hotplate and poured the mixture into each of the mugs which had the cinnamon sticks in them before placing a plate on top. "And that?"

    Softly chuckling, Harry smiled a bit. "That's to keep the heat in while it steeps. Now we wait until the pot's cool and quickly clean it." Not long after, Harry removed the plates and then smiled at Hoppou a bit. "You want to help me add the honey?"

    That caused Hoppou to look up at him before she pointed at herself. "You want Hoppou to help?" At his nod, she once more got to her tip toes. "What does Hoppou do?"

    In reply, Harry held out a spoon for her to take, which she did. "Now, I'll pour some honey into the spoon, and you add it to the milk, okay?" Nodding, Hoppou held out the spoon and Harry, as he said he would, poured some honey into the spoon which Hoppou then added to the milk in the mugs. Harry of course held each one out as she did it so she could more easily add the honey. "Great! Now, all we got to do is remove the cinnamon sticks and then stir it so it's all mixed together, okay?"

    At her nod, he held her mug so that she could stir as he did the same to his. Eventually, Hoppou looked up at him as he gently took the spoon and placed it into the sink. "Now what does Hoppou do?"

    Chuckling, Harry gestured with the mug. "We drink it of course."

    For a few seconds, Hoppou waited and watched as Harry drank his mug before she began hers. After a few sips though, she closed her eyes as she began to drain it. 'It's... warm...'

    Harry watched as she finished it and then licked the inside to get as much as she could before he smiled and took the offered mug. "Now then, how about we head back to bed?" Quickly, he rinsed both and set them into the sink. Much to his surprise though. Hoppou took his hand and he brought her back to her bedroom. By the time they got there, the Abyssal's eyes were already starting to droop and didn't put up much of a fuss as Harry got her into her futon and under the covers. "There we go."

    Two sleepy red eyes just stared up at him as he stroked her head, careful to avoid her horns. "Harry... stay, until Hoppou asleep?"

    Nodding, Harry chuckled. "Sure." Still stroking her hair, he began to hum and before he knew it, Hoppou was asleep. "Night, Hoppou." Getting up, he turned off the light and then walked out before closing the door. As he made his way back to his room though, he looked over at his Mum's room which had the door open a crack. "Night, Mum."

    Soft chuckles could be heard from Nagato's room as she replied. "Good night, Harry. See you in the morning." Once he was in his room, Nagato glanced toward Hoppou's door before shaking her head and closing her own. 'I knew that he would make for a good Onii-san...'
     
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    • Ron the Chess Champ
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    • Tiypo

    Ronald Weasley could not be more confused.

    "Umm... Dad... Why are are we in the middle of muggle London?!" he whispered fiercely.

    "That's simple! You are going to be entering a muggle chess competition!", the boy's father grinned without the slightest care

    "It's almost like ordinary chess, but with a few other rules. First, you have to move the pieces yourself. Second, you capture the opponents pieces rather than kill them. Third, if you get a pawn to the other side of the board then you can trade it for a captured piece of your own. Now go knock them dead my boy!"

    With that Arthur gave his son a light push towards the table with funny little glass candles that were lit up to look like Ronald's number.

    --- 6 hours later ---

    It had been years since Ron Weasley had a tough match in wizarding chess. Other kids simply couldn't get how to see what would happen three or four moves in the future, so he would put himself in bad situations where he had to create new ways for himself to escape, not that the kids ever realized the insult he was dealing to them. Adults would get angry when a kid could beat them, so he let himself loose slowly, drawing out every trick thy they had for himself.

    But here he found a challenge. These muggle kids were better than any wizard or witch he knew of that didn't make a living off the game, and maybe better than some of those too.

    He relished in it. Never before had he been pushed like this, every single move scrutinized to the limit of the scant time they gave him, every opponents move the clockwork of some greater plot he had to fight to see through, and every win sweeter than than any candy he had ever had.

    And now he was in the finals. His opponent looked over the board, a glare just as intense as the one he knew was plastered on his own face. Seconds ticked by, a frown slowly growing on the other boys face, before he closed his eyes and straightened himself with a sigh.

    "I concede."

    The crowd broke into applause as he bonelessly flopped back in his seat as the tension left in in a rush to be replaced with a giddy joy. After a handful of seconds to recover, both boys stood and shook hands, congratulating each other on the match.

    A tussling of his hair marked his fathers rerun to his side.

    "Good job Ron! I always knew you had more potential than what you could show." He said, smiling down at his son.

    "Thanks dad, I didn't think that Muggles would have a game so close to ours. Could we come again?" He replied hopefully.

    "Absolutely, now go get that prize! It's all yours after all."

    With a smile Ron walked over to the well dressed commentator who guided him up to a small platform to better present the winner.

    "And now we'll bring out a surprise special guest to present the prize for the South Western London District Youth Chess Competition, Miss Victory of the Royal Navy!"

    At this the crowd promptly exploded into cheering and Ron's eyes bugged out as the human personification of one of the worlds most renown ships stepped out from behind some cleverly placed curtains with an over sized check larger then him. Waving to the crowd as she walked over to meet the boy who was frozen in place staring at her.

    "You know, I always wanted to give out one of these." She whispered.

    At that he numbly nodded his head, as she launched into a speech on the need to cultivate young minds as bright as his. Then afterwards as she handed him the oversized check for a several hundred pounds, she said one final thing, only loud enough for him to hear.

    "It's good to see a wizard here, a good heart and good mind will see you much further then you could imagine. Now go celebrate, take pride it what you have accomplished."

    Later on Ron would point to that day as the one that he would think back to whenever he felt lost, but for now he was a star struck 9 year old holding a check bigger than himself. Needless to say he was quite happy.
     
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    • The Duckies must be fed
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    • Harry Leferts

    Harry was standing just outside the building for the kitchens when he heard a shout and looked up to see DesDiv6 come running up with Inazuma in the lead. "HARRY-CHAN! HARRY-CHAN! WE GOT NEW SUMMONS!"

    Blinking, Harry's eyes widened before he smiled. "Really?"

    As they came to a stop in front of him, Ikazuchi grinned. "Yup! Three new Destroyers of the Akizuki class." She then frowned a little bit with a sad look in her eyes. "They look pretty hungry though..."

    Just beside her, Akatsuki glanced at her and then turned back to Harry. "Yeah, really, really hungry. So we came by to let the cooks know that they need to cook up a lot." It was then that a smell hit her nose and she turned to regard the contraption in front of her while her mouth watered. "What's that?"

    There was a smile on Harry's face as he looked towards what he was using. "This? It's a smoker."

    Inazuma just blinked at that. "Isn't smoking bad for you though?"

    However, Harry just laughed a bit before he shook his head. "Not that kind of smoker, Inazuma-Chan! It's a type of American barbecue." Putting his hands behind his head, he tilted his head toward it. "Anyways, I'm trying something that Aunt Texas and Aunt Mississippi taught me."

    Leaning a bit forward, Hibiki swallowed as she took a sniff. "What's that?"

    While checking his watch, Harry hummed. "Barbecue bologna. We had some and while normal sandwiches are good, I wanted to try this for everyone because, well... we can have it more often.."

    An odd look on her face, Inazuma began to walk around the smoker. "Bologna? It's good, but... barbecue?"

    Now grinning, Harry nodded. "Yup! It's really good." Suddenly, he blinked and then turned toward the Akatsuki sisters. "Hey, you said that the Akizukis are hungry, right?"

    They all nodded before Hibiki's face lit up. "That would be really khorosho."

    Giving her a thumb's up, Harry nodded. "Exactly! The first batch is nearly done so if you go and get some bread and mustard, I'll make them some sandwiches! Then you can take the sandwiches to them."

    With identical looks, all four Destroyers nodded before they rushed off with Inazuma calling back. "Hwa hwa hwa, we'll be right back, Harry-Chan! Nanodesu!"
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Goto frowned as he looked at the three Destroyers as he finished his explanation of what was going on. "As the Americans say, that's roughly the long and short of it. We're at war with an enemy who is ruthless and wants to see us brought to ruin."

    Swallowing, Akizuki looked at her sisters and then back to Goto. "B-but the Americans are our allies now, Teitoku?"

    From where she was leaning against Goto's desk, Kongou nodded. "Dess! And the British, Germans, French, Itallians, Canadians and others! We're not alone in this, so don't worry."

    A grumble was heard and everyone turned toward Teruzuki who placed one hand against her stomach with a whimper. "S-sorry..."

    Expression becoming more gentle, Goto shook his head. "We can take a break for you to get something to eat, it's no issue since it'll take a while to go over the various materials." Seeing the tempted expressions, Goto nodded. "It really isn't."

    The three shared a look before they straightened their backs and Akizuki shook her head. "No, Teitoku, we can handle this. A bit of hunger won't bother us."

    When another grumble, that was joined by two others, was heard though, Goto raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. Blinking, he turned toward Ooyodo who shrugged and then opened the door. "Yes?" At seeing who was there though, though she became slightly amused. "Akatsuki, Inazuma, Ikazuchi, and Hibiki. What brings you here?"

    It was then that the smell hit the Cruiser as Akatsuki answered. "We brought some food! Just like proper ladies would."

    Slowly, Ooyodo opened the door and the four Destroyers entered with a food cart that had a container on top. Even from where he was, Goto could smell something. "The kitchens had something ready?"

    Frowning, Inazuma tapped her chin in thought before she shrugged. "They only had the usual snacks..." Then her expression lit up. "But Harry-Chan was cooking some stuff and gave it to us for the Akizuki, though he said that the rest of us can have some if they want. It's really good."

    There was a blush on Ikazuchi's face as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah... he kind of gave us each a sandwich to try, but the rest are for the Akizukis."

    As Hibiki took the container and walked up to the three Akizuki Destroyers, Ooyodo adjusted her glasses. "What did he cook up this time?"

    Smiling, Inazuma looked at her. "He said it was barbecue bologna." Hearing a grumble, she turned to look to see all three Akizuki sisters staring at the open container in awe. "Hmm?"

    Hatsuzuki looked at her sisters and then took one of the sandwiches which she examined. And then she took a bite and let out a moan that caused Goto to cough as he fought down a blush. For her part, Kongou covered her eyes before shaking her head as Hatsuzuki quickly finished the sandwich and turned toward her sisters. "Akizuki-Nee-San, Teruzuki-Nee-san! You got to try these!"

    The two shared a look before they bit down and identical moans to their sister, which caused Goto to hide his face behind his hands as Kongou glanced at him in amusement. Ooyodo just gave him a sympathetic look as the four Akatsuki sisters blinked in confusion. Swallowing her bite, Akizuki sniffled a little bit. "This Harry-Chan gave this to you, for us?"

    At their nods, Teruzuki stared at them. "B-but this is amazing! I mean, shouldn't this be saved for the Cruisers, Battleships and Carriers! They deserve food like this..."

    Seeing her sisters confused, Hibiki shook her head as she knew what the three later Destroyers meant. "Nyet. You get the same food as anyone else." A slight redness could be seen on her cheeks. "And Harry-Chan just wants to know if you enjoy it or not."

    While taking another, Hatsuzuki nodded. "W-we do! We'll have to thank him for such wonderful food."

    Her fellow Akizukis were unable to answer as both were quickly finishing their sandwiches, but they nodded nonetheless.
     
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    • Harry's First Dive
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    • Harry Leferts

    A late May breeze was coming off the ocean as Taigei sailed along, a smile on her face. Finally, she looked down at the wetsuit clad boy who she was carrying in the crook of her arm. "It's really a lovely day out for this, Harry-Chan."

    Nodding, Harry leaned back to examine the sky and then look off to the side where he could see Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki who were keeping an eye out. "Yeah... I'm actually pretty happy with it." He then glanced off to the other side where he could see the Izu Peninsula, and further in the distance, Mount Fuji. "This is going to be so much fun!"

    With a giggle, Taigei nodded as she placed her free hand close to her mouth. "I suppose so."

    Harry then nodded and leaned back before hugging the Submarine Tender, causing her to blush a bit. "Thanks for giving me a ride here."

    In reply, Taigei just leaned into the hug best as she could while slowing her speed. "You're very welcome." Coming to a stop, she looked down into the water with a smile before nodding. "Now all we got to do is wait, and I don't think that the girls will have us wait long."

    Sure enough, within moments, a grinning Iku poked her head out of the water and looked up. "Harry-Chan! Taigei-Chan! There you are!"

    Grinning right back, Harry waved at her as Taigei just closed her eyes and nodded. "Sorry about the wait, I hope it wasn't too long?"

    All the Subgirl did was lean back as Taigei kneeled down onto the water and shifted Harry onto her lap while handing him his gear that she had stored away. "Nah, wasn't that hard. Besides, we've been following you for a while now." Looking at Harry who was checking various things as he had been taught, she gave him a thumbs up. "And looking pretty good there, Harry-Chan."

    Even as he continued to check and put on what he was supposed to, Harry nodded and smiled. "Thanks!" He then glanced at her before going through the check of his air tanks, even though it had been done already several miles back by his dive instructor before his ship left for the south. "Almost done here."

    Laying on her back, Iku nodded as Hachi, Imuya, and RO poked their heads out of the water. "Take your time, we're in no rush." Putting her hands behind her head, Iku lounged there in the water with ease. "Anyways, we've already checked the area and it looks all good, and Shioi will be joining us later once she makes sure that there's no Abyssals too close."

    Now finished and looking down the checklist, Harry nodded before he handed the list to Taigei, who stored it away as he put on the mask. "I'm ready now, Iku-Chan."

    Iku only shifted as she moved back some. "Okay then, I'm right here Harry, and so are the others." She nodded to Hachi who slipped under the water as Harry scooted down Taigei's lap until his legs were in the water. "Now, just hop in and we'll show you around our world."

    With a final nod, Harry pushed off from Taigei and, within moments, the water closed over his head. On the surface, Iku only nodded before she dove downwards to where Hachi was already guiding Harry who turned his head and smiled through the facemask. "Iku-Chan!"

    Chuckling, Iku pulled alongside and then hugged him tightly. "Hey, you could have waited a little bit for me."

    On Harry's other side, Hachi just grinned. "But you were taking too long."

    Just sniffing, Iku's eyes twinkled as she looked back at Harry, who then blinked as two tan arms wrapped around his neck and RO giggled. "I want to hug him now!"

    Before Harry could say anything though, Imuya huffed a bit, but then also hugged him from the front. "Guess I'll take the best part then."

    Surrounded by giggling Submarines, Harry just blinked. "Um..."

    Taking some pity on him, Iku then looked at the others and gestured with her head. "That's enough girls, this is Harry-Chan's first dive and we don't want to crowd him any." Much to Harry's surprise, the other Subgirls let go, but stayed close while Iku took his hand in hers and gestured downwards. "Anyways, we should head down to the seafloor, there's lots to see."

    As he nodded, Harry flipped in the water and began to head downwards through the clear water, Iku on one side and Hachi on the other. "Corals and stuff, right?"

    Once more giggling, Iku nodded some. "And stuff." A glance upwards had her nod and then gesture with her head. "Who's who?"

    Looking up, Harry blinked at the shilhouettes of the shipgirls above them circling. "Um..." With a frown, he pointed at one of them. "That's Taigei-Chan... and that one is Yuudachi-Nee with Fubuki-Nee beside her."

    Slightly impressed, Iku raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that?"

    Harry just looked at her. "Well... Fubuki-Nee is longer in the hull then Yuudachi-Nee. And the longest and biggest hull must be Taigei-Chan."

    While her lips turned upwards, Iku nodded some. "That's a great job, Harry-Chan." Then she nodded below them. "And look at that, we're nearly at the bottom."

    As he looked at the sandy bottom, Imuya came up and took his other hand as she held his arm before pointing at a spot. "Look right there, do you see it?"

    Frowning behind his mask, Harry narrowed his eyes a bit. "There's something in the sand?"

    RO flipped on her back and nodded. "Yup! Now let's see what it is." Getting close to the sand, RO made a motion with her hand that disturbed a wide swath. But it did more then disturb the sand as within moments, a stingray began to swim away from where it was hidden. "And it's Mister Stingray!"

    There was an awed look on Harry's face as he watched the stingray swim off. Several seconds later though, his eyes widened. "There's the reef!"

    Simply nodding, Iku grinned. "Yup! Now you're going to see some real neat stuff. But we'll be right here beside you the whole time." After all, that was why Nagato had trusted them with this trip, she knew that the Subgirls would keep him safe from anything under the water while also keeping watch on the time. Soon, they came into sight of the corals and Iku held Harry's hand a bit tighter as he looked around him. "Pretty cool, huh? And we got it all to ourselves."

    With a smile growing on his face, Harry nodded. "Yeah!" He then looked over at Iku, who blushed some at seeing the excitement on his face. "This is so awesome, you all must know the best places to dive."

    Amused, Hachi snickered a little bit. "Well... we know a lot of places to dive."

    Just swimming along, Harry watched all the colorful fish as the four Subgirls kept close. Harry then turned toward Iku. "Um... if you've been to various dive places... have you seen that underwater pyramid?"

    Blinking, and sharing a bemused look with her fellow Submarines, Iku turned back to Harry. "Underwater pyramid? And where did you hear this?"

    The nine year old shrugged. "Jake was going on about a pyramid by Okinawa under the water there..." He then frowned as he tried to remember. "I think he said it was at Yonaguni."

    Softly snorting, Hachi hid it behind a cough. 'Jake... that USN guy who believes that Abyssals were something sent by Atlantis through time in order to reconquer the world for them...'

    With a smile on her face, Iku shrugged. "I haven't seen anything like that, but next time I'm down that way I might take a look, okay?" At his nod, she then pointed at something. "Look at that now."

    Distracted, Harry missed Imuya whispering something to Hachi who rolled her eyes as RO snickered. "Is that a moray eel?"

    As it ducked back into it's home, the redhead Subgirl swam up. "Yup, now... don't try this yourself, okay?" Once he nodded, she reached into something out of Harry's view before pulling out a dead fish which she held in front of the eel's tunnel. "Come on... come on..." It shot out and grabbed the fish, but was unable to pull it out of Imuya's hands and she slowly pulled back so that Harry could better see it. Even when it bit her to try and grab the fish, she just smiled. "You'll have to do better then that, eel."

    Within moments though, it finished off the fish and ducked back into it's tunnel. Harry meanwhile just grinned as RO took his other hand. "Awesome..."

    Giggling, RO just nodded. "It was... now we got so much to show you!"

    The rest of the dive was enjoyable for Harry and when he ascended, each time he stopped to decompress, one of the Subgirls took the chance to hold him close with the excuse of making sure that he didn't drift. When he told his mom that later that night though, she just sighed and facepalmed to his confusion.
     
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    • Modeling Harry as an Adult
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    • Harry Leferts

    Tenryuu placed her hands behind her head as she gave a bored look to Akashi who was typing something on a computer. "So... why exactly did you call us here?"

    Raising a finger, Akashi turned around and took in the crowd that she had there. "Ah, I've recently helped with something that I think that you all will find amazing and wonderful! In fact, I believe that my little surprise will knock all of your socks off."

    Still looking bored, Tenryuu looked over at Nagato who seemed confused. She also noted that besides herself and her daughters, Tatsuta, Shinano and her sisters, Hamakaze, Isokaze, the Submarines, Taigei, and some others were there. The fact that Natsumi was also there caused the Cruiser to raise an eyebrow. "Okay, that still does not answer the question."

    Much to her annoyance though, Akashi chuckled and shook her head. "Ah, I was just getting to that. One needs a proper build up after all." At the looks she got though, she held up her hands. "Okay, okay, look... two weeks ago Nagato and myself were talking right? And one of the things she mentioned was that she was wondering how Harry might look like once he grew up."

    That caused blinks from everyone before Nagato coughed. "Um... it was just a thought..."

    Narrowing her eyes though, Yamato frowned at Akashi. "You didn't create something that would age him, I, Yamato, would hope. Or else..."

    Just waving her hands in the air, Akashi sweated at the glares. "Of course not! Besides, reversing the process would be far too hard." Part of her was glad that she had put away the file about possible methods to temporarily age things out of sight. "Anyways... I read about this computer program that can take pictures and then age them up, so to speak. It's honestly pretty neat all told and can thankfully be run from a normal computer. See, the software uses internet photos, thousands of them, and then uses the averages to give an idea of how the kid will look once they're older. With a few tweaks, I've come up with a way to make it even better. But to show off..."

    When she brought up a picture, Inazuma gasped. "That's me!"

    As she nodded, Akashi crossed her arms across her chest. "Yup! See, the new program can also use older photos of the person to help it when aging them. In your case, I've got photos from your Kaa-san from before you became a shipgirl, same with Ikazuchi going back to when you were six. Now then... let's age you up to... seventeen, shall we?"

    Doing so, Tenryuu raised her eyebrows at the now much older Inazuma. As she scanned the face, she let a thoughtful sound escape her. 'Huh, I can see some of me and some of... her father, in her.' She then turned to the blushing Inazuma and smirked before ruffling the Destroyer's hair. "Heh, you're going to grow up to be beautiful."

    There was a million watt smile on Inazuma's face as she looked up at her mom. "Thanks, Kaa-San."

    Ikazuchi was practically vibrating in place. "Do me next! Do me next!"

    Chuckling, Akashi brought up a photo of Ikazuchi and then aged it up to the same age that she had her sister, which caused Tenryuu to blink. "Hmm..."

    When Akatsuki's photo was aged up, the purple haired Destroyer cheered. "I look like a real lady!"

    A slight chuckle escaped from Akashi before she turned to the last of the Destroyers of DesDiv6. "How about you, Hibiki-Chan? You want me to give it a shot?" Once she nodded, Akashi brought up Hibiki's picture and smirked. "And there we go."

    Gasping, Inazuma grabbed her sister. "You look so pretty, Hibiki-Chan!"

    Slightly embarrassed, Hibiki brought the brim of her hat down. "Hai..."

    Akashi then turned towards Natsumi who blinked. "I also got Haru's permission to do the same for you as well, Natsumi-San."

    Blinking, she looked at her aunt who only gave a mysterious smirk. By the time that she turned back though, Akashi already had her picture up and aged it to the same age of the others. Haru smirked a bit. "My, my, you will turn out to be such a lovely vixen, Natsumi-Chan."

    Her niece only grumbled as she continued to look at the aged up version of her human disguise. One thought though kept coming up in her head. 'I wonder what Harry-Chan would think of me looking like that...'

    Suddenly, Akashi snapped her fingers and Harry's picture was brought up. "Now, for the finish! Thanks to Nagato, I had a lot of pictures as well as known dates they were taken going back to when she first adopted Harry-Chan. I also got in contact with the British and it turns out that with the Abyssal War, the school photographing companies were to hold onto pictures, paid or not, just in case. That way if anything happened, they could send out pictures for... identification." Shaking off the downswing, Akashi clapped her hands. "Which means that I got pictures of Harry going back several years, increasing the accuracy. Now, let's give it a whirl."

    Tapping on the keys, the picture of Harry began aging before their eyes until it stopped on him at around eighteen years of age. Almost as one, the shipgirls blinked before Tenryuu snickered and looked at Nagato who was staring at the picture with wide eyes. "Heh, you better be ready, Nagato. With how much of a heartbreaker he is there, you'll be beating girls off him." Hearing the sound of whispering, she glanced at her daughters who were having a conversation she couldn't hear, but judging by how heavily Hibiki was blushing, she could guess. The fact that her other daughters also had blushes only caused her amusement to increase. 'Heh... Guess that I'll have to be ready in a few years...' Remembering her own private thoughts though, she frowned. 'I hope that I'll have to be ready...'

    Meanwhile, Akashi just blinked and then looked to see the reactions. Besides the reactions of Nagato, DesDiv6, and Tenryuu, she had to hold back laughter as poor Shinano looked like she was about to faint, though said Carrier's glasses had fogged up and Akashi swore there was some steam coming out of her ears while her sisters had narrow, considering expressions on their faces. Natsumi's face was red, which only deepened as her snickering aunt whispered something into her ears, which made the repair ship wonder what was said. Meanwhile, all the Subgirls seemed to be intently looking at the photo, though what looked like flashes of light behind their eyes caused Akashi to blink. "Well? Am I good, or am I good?"

    Just examining the older face of her son, Nagato nodded absentmindly. "You're good..." Tapping her chin, Nagato turned toward her. "So this is how Harry will look when he was older?"

    Leaning back in her chair, Akashi shrugged. "It's the best approximation of how he'll probably look, yes. It's probably in the range though of how he'll be when he's eighteen."

    That only caused Nagato to nod in thought.
     
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    • Neville & the Orions 2
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    • sasahara17

    FYI, I went and deleted the Neville/Orion snip and dropped the content into the empty thread-mark spot since I couldn't get rid of the empty post. At least this way, when someone goes in to look at that thread-mark, they are going to see something worth looking at instead of an vacant post.

    I also re-uploaded the most current draft regarding Ron/Warspite snippets in their entirety to the other empty thread-mark - I almost deleted the only copy of the thing on my hard drive, and I realized that I needed to store a backup somewhere. I haven't been able to really fix the problems yet though, so sorry about that.

    -=-

    The battle was over. It had taken almost three hours of fighting, and when the dust finally settled it was clear that Royal Navy had successfully beaten off the Abyssals once more. But, as with all battles, there would always be an aftermath.

    Emergency vehicles and personnel were all over Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, fighting fires, tending to the wounded, and clearing debris. Although the situation looked bad at first glance, preliminary reports showed only a scant fifteen civilian casualties for the entire Portsmouth region. It was still a terrible loss of life, but one that could have been far, far worse given the circumstances.

    As emergency personnel went about their business, two women proceeded down the main road of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Though one was wheelchair bound, it was nevertheless clear that both women were regal, proud and carried an air of strength most mere mortals would not possess.

    "That was reckless, taking on a Re-Class on your own like that. I know you are a Battleship, but there is a stark difference in capabilities between a ship from the Great War and an Abyssal," Warspite said as Orion pushed her chair along as the pair made their way towards their intended destination.

    "You speak as if a ship from the Great War has never defeated an Abyssal before. I do seem to recall hearing one light cruiser by the name of Tenryuu pulling off a similar feat not too long ago," Orion said evenly without a single inflection, "I dare say that I won that engagement quite handily. If you require further proof, I think a quick check online will show several mobile camera recordings from bystanders."

    "I am amazed there were people crazy enough to staying out in the open to record a fight between two battleships instead of getting into the shelters. I swear, some people these days have no sense of self-preservation. They could have been killed!"

    "It is just another thing we will have to get used to in this modern day and age, I suppose." Orion said.

    Honestly, she didn't mind too much that those civilians had been risking life and limb to record her battle with the Re-Class. It was not her place to dictate to the citizenry of what they could do or could not do, even if it was phenomenally stupid. Her lot was to protect and serve.

    "Honestly, I worry, Orion. I still remember what happened at Jutland so many years ago," Warspite admitted sadly, "With the benefit of hindsight, our Navy had some serious problems then…"

    "And you were worried that some of that remained with me? Do not worry, yourself over such things, Warspite. I am not so foolish as to retain flawed practices that cost us Indefatigable, Queen Mary and Invincible," Orion reassured the other battleship confidently, "More to the point, you forget that waging war in this new form can be very different from when we were steel and wood, particularly at the ranges I had chosen to engage that Re-Class in."

    "Is that advice coming from MI5's consulting monster slayer?"

    "Giving an enemy a concussion by repeated blows to the head, whilst in a grapple, would not have been possible in my previous form. I find that to be a tactic that is quite effective against most of my foes." Orion advised as she pushed Warspite into the National Museum of the Royal Navy building.

    The building, which had been housing the Battle of Jutland exhibit, had been repurposed by emergency workers as a temporarily holding area for wounded civilians to relieve the overburdened shelters. There were at least a hundred civilians and medical personnel inside. A stillness settled into the building as the two women entered, both civilians and responders turning to look on in awe at the two new arrivals.

    "I don't believe it. Orion and Warspite."
    "Slew that beast in hand to hand combat, like a something out of an action movie."
    "I know. I saw the fight on YouTube."
    "On YouTube? I saw the fight in person. The bravest thing I've ever seen…"
    "Saved those kids."
    "She saved the whole Dock. That Re-Class would have killed us all."

    The people around them continued whispering as Orion and Warspite proceeded deeper into the building. The two ship girls paid no attention to the discussion around them, their minds set on trying to find the one that they had come all this way to see. They eventually found him, in the north most corner of the building, accompanied by three other youths and a stern looking man in black robes.

    "Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Thomas, I hope you all understand the seriousness of what has transpired here," The man quietly lectured the youths, "If Mr. Longbottom had actually cast a spell, or Mr. Thomas had not been able to pass off his volume enhancement spell with that megaphone excuse, this would have been a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy."

    "Peasegood." Orion spat venomously.

    "You know this gentleman?" Warspite asked.

    "Unfortunately."

    "Yes, Mr. Peasegood. We understand." Neville Longbottom nodded slowly. All four of the youths were hunched over, shame and humiliation clear from their body language.

    "Can you imagine what would have happened if any of you were caught on camera? The Muggle news is going stark raving mad about the duel between HMS Orion and that Abyssal. Can you imagine what it would have been like if you'd actually used magic there? There will be repercussions for this as it is!"

    "I know, Sir. It's just… if there are any penalties, please don't put any of it on Dean," Neville implored the Obliviator, "The only reason he had to use that spell was because I put myself in danger."

    "Nevillie, you don't have to do this." Dean said, only to be silenced when Peasegood raised his hand.

    "I completely agree. Although Mr. Thomas did use his 'talents' near all those muggles, he only did so because you forced him in that position, Mr. Longbottom," Peasegood stated firmly, "Your conduct today was most irresponsible, and I will be having words with my superiors about whether any charges should be brought against you, Mister Longbottom."

    "That's not right!" The Indian girl exclaimed angrily. "We covered everything up! Nobody saw anything, and what they did Dean covered up! Why is Neville getting blamed for this?"

    "Because there is the laws, and the laws need to be upheld for the good of all. The law is a deterrence against subversive behaviors to a good and functioning society, and a deterrence is only as good as the threat behind it," The Obliviator's explained without a shred of mercy, "Your actions could have had dire repercussions for many, many people, Mr. Longbottom. An example will need to be set…"

    "There will be no such thing."

    Peasegood's head snapped around so fast that Orion could have sworn he would have caused whiplash to himself. It took only a fraction of a second for recognition to kick in, at which point the Obliviator's mouth curled into a snarl as he regarded the two approaching women.

    "HMS Orion. I did not expect to see you here," Arnold Peasegood greeted the redheaded woman, both anger and grudging respect clear on his features, "And I see you brought Warspite as well. Charming."

    "Good evening, Mr. Peasegood. I hope we were not interrupting anything." Warspite greeted the man with a strained smile, clearly trying to be diplomatic. As distasteful as the Obliviator was, as were the circumstances of their meeting, he was still a government official. If not the man, Warspite respected the uniform Peasegood wore and as such acted accordingly.

    Orion on the other hand, had no such compulsions.

    "Young Mr. Longbottom has risked life and limb to protect another citizen of the United Kingdom this day. I will not suffer to see a brave young man such as he be harassed by the likes of you in my presence." Orion stated calmly but surely, carefully letting Peasegood know the danger he was courting if he continued on his current course of action.

    "What right do you have to interfere? This is a… government matter. I am simply doing my duty."

    "Lodge your report, as you will. That is your duty as a servant of the crown, and I have no quarrel with that, regardless of what you choose to put in there," Orion clarified, "However, be aware that causing distress to Mr. Longbottom, so soon after he has experienced a brush with death, is most certainly not something expected of a man of your post. Continue to do so, and I will be forced to act on my duty."

    "And what duty would that be?"

    "Protecting the citizens of the United Kingdom against any and all threats, both foreign and domestic," Orion locked eyes with Peasegood to show him just how serious she was about this, "Do not test me."

    "…very well. Do as you please." Peasegood reluctantly backed down. Chastised, the Obliviator stormed past the two ship girls to exit the building for parts unknown.

    "Good riddance to bad rubbish." Orion said once she was confident he was out of earshot.

    "You could have handled that with more tact, Orion," Warspite admonished the older battleship, "He does work for… a government, and this was his job. Would it really be that much trouble to 'be nice'?"

    "I will 'be nice' to that ministry cur when he stops harming her majesty's citizens, and not a moment before." Orion said stubbornly. Obliviators. Although Orion understood why they did what they did, she could not feel anything but loathing for them and all their ilk: in her time as a field agent for MI-5, protecting the people of the United Kingdom from all manner of domestic threats, she had seen time and time again of the damage Obliviators left in their wake.

    The will and mind of a human being should not be so easily tampered with, and it would be a cold day in hell before HMS Orion, member of the Royal Navy Grand Fleet and protector of her majesty's people, would condone such behavior.

    But enough about Peasewood. He would almost certainly return to trouble her further, however that was for tomorrow. For now, Orion had more imminent concerns.

    With that thought, Orion turned her head to regard the four, astonished youths that were now staring at her slack jawed. Understandable, since Orion had pretty much sent the cur that had been the source of their distress running with his tail between his legs.

    Hard to argue with Orion, not when she was armed with an entire battery of 13.5 inch guns and a sword that could cleave though steel as if it were hot butter.

    "…wicked." The Irish boy whispered, unable to keep his awe out of his voice.

    "Greetings, young ones," Warspite smiled at the four young wizards and witches, "My name is the Battleship HMS Warspite. It is a pleasure to meet you."

    "And I, the Battleship HMS Orion," Orion turned to look at Neville Longbottom, allowing a slight smile to grace her normally stoic features, "It is good too see you again, young man. I did say that would speak with you when the battle was over, did I not?"

    -=-

    A/N –I know I took a whole crapload of risks with the above chapter (Orion beating the crap out of the Re-Class, her working with MI-5, knowing an Obliviator by name), but I had reasons for doing so. Since it's a bit wordy, I put it in spoilers to save space.
    Spoiler: Notes on HMS Orion Characterization
    In case you are wondering why Orion seems to be such a badass in hand to hand combat, I'm trying to stay true to siirakannu's vision of HMS Orion. Since becoming a ship girl, Orion has apparently become quite the brawler. While she still; has her naval rifles Orion isn't afraid to close range for fisticuffs and swordplay to take down superior adversaries (much like Tenryuu, another 'older' ship girl).
    failedtoload


    (art by siirakannu, available on danbooru)
    failedtoload


    (art by siirakannu, available on danbooru)

    Siirakannu also created a whole bunch of Super Smash Bros mock up 'sprites' for Orion as if she were a fighting game character. Between that and the crossover pictures with Bloodborne (with her as the Good Hunter wielding Ludwing's Holy Blade), I decided the best way to do justice to the character in this story is make her a monster hunter and brawler – one that is quite familiar with closing in and destroying normally daunting targets with swordplay and unarmed martial arts.

    Given there are precedents in KanColle about 'older ships', like Tenryuu (who has been known to get into swords fights against Re-Classes in KanColle), that happen be complete badasses once reincarnated as ship girls, I figure much the same can be done for HMS Orion.

    To clarify, Orion is on 'loan' from the Royal Navy to the British Government's Military Intelligence Division 5 to hunt 'monsters' – the idea is that, much like Japan, all sorts of beasties (including some from the Magical World) are coming out of the woodwork because the Abyssals are raising a fuss, and many such monsters are threatening ordinary British citizens.

    While the Aurors do their best to keep it all in check, they're spread so thin that lots of nasty stuff get though. That, and the fact the Muggle Government is NOT content to let wizards tell them when they can and cannot protect innocent people, have caused MI-5 to form a special 'monster hunting' unit expressly meant to deal with these new dangers.

    Be it unchecked monsters from the magical world, Abyssal insurgents that have come onto land, or even evil pharmaceutical companies conducting dark experiments on recovered Abyssal remains, MI-5's 'monster hunter' unit takes on all this in the name of the Crown... and their ace in the hole happens to be an 'outdated', 'vintage' World War One-era battleship girl with 13.5 inch cannons and a really, really sharp sword.

    Now their ace in the hole has identified someone with the potential to be her apprentice, hence this side-story.

    I hope I got it right, but if it needs to be changed let me know

    If I continue this, the next scene will be back to Neville's point of view: in fact, I'd imagine most of this story arc will be told from his viewpoint as Orion teaches him how to be a warrior. No naval rifles though. Orion is not going to be teaching Neville how to fight a ship girl. She's going to be teaching Neville how to kill monsters… like this guy right here.
    Spoiler: This guy kills monsters

    Should be interesting, I think.
     
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    • Harry Realizes that Yes, He is a Big Brother Now
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    • Harry Leferts

    Looking up from her game of snakes and ladders, White smiled at Harry as he turned off his phone. "Hoppou enjoy her story?"

    With a nod, Harry walked over and sighed. "Yeah..." He then frowned a little bit with a confused expression on his face. "She really likes me telling her bedtime stories for some reason."

    A soft snort caused him to turn his head to see Hamakaze and Isokaze with amused expressions. Since coming back, the two of had moved into the same dormitory room as White and Shinano. Despite it being a bit crowded, none of the four seemed to really mind all too much. Seeing his confusion, Isokaze winked at him. "Well, you're a really good Onii-San to her after all."

    Blinking, Harry tilted his head as he furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

    Hamakaze only shook her head. "You've been adopted by Nagato-San as her son, correct?" At his nod, she continued. "And Hoppou-San is her ward as well. So, since you're a boy and older then her, you're her Onii-San."

    Just as he was about to comment, White chirped. "Yup! Also, you do all sorts of big brother things with her!"

    Frowning, Harry looked down. "I don't know if I'm her Onii-San though..." None of the three missed his whisper, though they pretended not to hear it. "And I don't know how to be one..."

    It was then that Shinano stepped out of her bedroom with a book which she shoved behind her back. "Ah... Harry-Chan? You're still here?" Glancing at the clock, she frowned. "I-I thought that you would have been heading home by now..."

    Softly snickering, Isokaze pointed outside to where rain was lashing against the window. "Kind of hard for him to head home when it's pouring like that outside."

    Nodding, White gave Harry a smile. "Yeah, it's pouring cats and dogs out there and Harry here might get soaked before he's made it ten feet!"

    For her part, Hamakaze leaned toward Isokage with a confused look on her face. "Cats and dogs?"

    Her fellow Destroyer just shrugged her shoulders. "I think it's an American expression."

    There was a frown on Shinano's face as she looked outside before wincing a bit. Sure, the rain wouldn't bother her, but she knew that Harry was another matter. "So you're staying here, tonight?" What she didn't say was that she was hoping that the answer was going to be yes and so when he nodded, she just smiled and pulled him into a hug. "I'm glad." Seeing the looks, Shinano flushed a bit. "Um, because otherwise you would get all wet and maybe sick."

    Wrinkling his nose, Harry nodded. "Yeah, I hate being sick." It was then that he noticed what book she was reading and his expression lit up. "You're reading the book that I got you for Christmas!"

    Gently placing the book down, Shinano nodded some. "I've finally gotten around to reading it, but this King Arthur sounds like a very interesting person."

    Claiming her lap for his own, Harry just smiled. "I'm glad that you like it, I got it because, um, I remember you asking me stuff about England and knights..."

    Shinano just wrapped her arms around him in an embrace and nodded. "Hm-hm. Kongou-San and Mikasa-Sama were going on about them and I wanted to know more." Biting her lip, she glanced around. "And, um... I've been looking up stuff... Hedgehogs are really cute. They're just so small and I could hold one in my hands..."

    With a blink, Harry looked up and nodded. "Yeah, hedgehogs are pretty neat. Sometimes, if I didn't finish the gardening before dark, Aunt Petunia gave me a flashlight and told me to finish up. And sometimes, I saw hedgehogs snuffling through the dirt and eating worms and stuff."

    Despite the flash of anger she felt, Shinano nodded before placing her chin on top of his head. "I wish that I could see one like that..."

    From where she was sipping some strawberry milk, White just smiled. "Hey, maybe get one as a pet!"

    Blinking, Shinano blushed a bit as she tried to imagine it. "A... a pet hedgehog?" Part of her imagined one and playing with it, or it crawling all over her. "That would be kind of nice..." Feeling Harry shift a little, Shinano looked down and smiled as she noticed that Harry was now leaning into her with his eyes closed. The Carrier didn't need to say it. but she was happy that she got to spend some time with Harry and have him stay over.
     
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    • Harry makes Peanut Butter Cookies for Natsumi
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    • Harry Leferts

    Sighing, Natsumi straightened her back some with a satisfying crack before blinking as she heard her name called. "Harry-Chan?" Said boy came around the corner of the shrine and stopped as he spotted Natsumi who raised an eyebrow. "What?"

    Harry just looked her up and down before he shrugged. "I've never seen you in your Miko clothing, that's all."

    There was a blush on the kitsune's face before she coughed. "You saw me dressed up as Reimu last Halloween though."

    All Harry did though was snort and shake his head. "But that's not a real Miko outfit... not like the one that you're wearing anyways." Just as Natsumi was about to say something though, the nine year old tilted his head and blinked. "It looks... cute."

    Eyes wide, Natsumi stared at him as her face flushed before smiling some. "Re-really? Cute?"

    Placing his hands behind his head, Harry just nodded. "Yeah, it looks really good on you, Natsumi-Chan."

    Face flushed, Natsumi looked away with a shy smile on her face. "Um, thanks..." Shaking it off, she took a deep breath and then turned back to Harry with an interested look as she gripped her broom's handle. "So... any particular reason you came by today?" Glancing at the watch on her wrist, Natsumi blinked. "After all, we were supposed to meet up in a few hours."

    With a blink, Harry reached behind him and pulled out a paper bag that he jiggled in front of her. "I made some chewy peanut butter cookies and thought that you might want a snack."

    As soon as the smell hit her, Natsumi grinned and reached forward. "Give me!"

    Yanking it out of her reach, Harry smirked. "Gimme, gimme, never gets, don't you know your manners yet?"

    Natsumi just snorted and tried to jump for the bag as she replied right back. "Yes I do, very well, but gimme, gimme, anyhow!" When Harry just laughed and held it above her head though, Natsumi pouted. "Come on, Harry-Chan! You know that I like peanut butter cookies! Especially the soft, chewy kind..." Licking her lips, she seemed to zone out. "So... peanut buttery... so soft and gooey..."

    Just snickering, Harry shook his head. "I'll never understand you and peanut butter, Natsumi-Chan." Tilting his head toward a nearby bench, Harry smiled. "We should probably sit down over there though before you start eating."

    For the first time in their conversation, Natsumi looked slightly unsure. "I don't know, Harry-Chan... Haru-Oba wants me to finish up with my duties first. She is training me to be a Miko after all."

    Before Harry could reply though, Haru's voice rang out. "THAT'S OKAY, NATSUMI! TAKE A SMALL BREAK WITH YOUR FRIEND AND ENJOY YOUR LITTLE PLAYDATE."

    Needless to say, Natsumi turned bright red and began to glare in the direction of the voice, only to hear the barking laugh of her aunt. Meanwhile, Harry just blinked in utter confusion. "Was she... watching us this whole time?"

    Eyebrow twitching, Natsumi took a deep breath to calm herself before grunting. "I wouldn't put it past her." Then she took a deep breath. "PROBABLY GETS HER JOLLIES BY WATCHING KIDS!"

    The only answer was yet more barking laughter which caused her to pout and growl. All Harry did though was shrug with a slight smile as he was well used to the usual antics between Haru and Natsumi. "Right, now that you've been given permission, guess that we can have that snack now."

    Giving him a look, Natsumi finally huffed a bit, though was no real bite to her next words. "Yeah, I guess so..." Once the two sat down, Natsumi licked her lips as Harry poured some tea from a small thermos and, finally, handed her the bag of peanut butter cookies. Biting into one, she let out a small groan before smacking her lips several times. "Ohh, yeah..."

    All Harry did though was just shake his head in amusement at his friend as he tried to hold back his laughter. "Glad that you enjoy them."

    In reply, Natsumi raised an eyebrow at him before swallowing and taking a sip of tea. "Of course I enjoy them, they're peanut butter." Her gaze turned far off. "Wonderful, lovely, peanut butter..."

    Raising an eyebrow, Harry only nodded some. "O-kay..."

    With a huff, Natsumi reached over and shoved his shoulder some. "You'll never find out the true joys of the stuff." Much to his surprise though, she leaned over and laid her head against his shoulder as she bit into another. "But thank you anyways." Harry simply shrugged which caused her to smile before he took one himself. "Mou... don't take my cookies, Harry-Chan."

    Eyes rolling, Harry snorted. "I made them, Natsumi-Chan. So I get to have some myself."

    Lips twitching, Natsumi giggled some. "I guess..." She then gave him a playful poke. "So who else got any?"

    For a moment, Harry just looked at her amused before he shook his head. "Well... I only gave some to the Akizuki sisters." Tapping his chin, Harry frowned before he shook it off. "They were just standing there and looking at the food with this look of hunger in their eyes... So I gave them a couple."

    Thoughtful, Natsumi nodded before she moved off his shoulder. "I don't mind." Before Harry could do anything, she instead laid down so that her head was resting on Harry's lap as she looked up at him with amber eyes and a slightly fanged smile as she bit into another cookie. "After all, those three deserve treats."

    Blinking as he looked down at her, Harry just tilted his head to the side. 'Why do I feel like giving her a belly rub...?'

    With a shake of the head, he dismissed that thought and instead reached down and began to stroke her hair which caused Natsumi's eyes to widen before they became half closed and she hummed at the attention. Off to the side, Haru stifled her giggles as she watched the two of them before shaking her head. "Those two are just so adorable..." Glancing around, she pulled out her phone and took a picture. 'I know that a certain vixen that will just love this...'
     
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    • Neville & the Orions 3
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    • sasahara17

    Here is another scene about the story arc regarding Neville's encounter with HMS Orion. It talks place after the Firstand the Second scenes.

    -=-

    "I knew I shouldn't have let him go on that blasted trip, I knew it!"

    Augusta Longbottom was beside herself with worry as she paced around the inside of Amelia Bones office. The old witch had rushed right over to Department of Magical Law Enforcement the moment she had received word that her grandson had been involved in some kind of underage magic incident from Amelia Bones herself. However, when Augusta arrived, she was astounded to discover the situation was far worse than she could have imagined.

    All thoughts about giving Nevillie the lecture of a lifetime were quickly forgotten. Now all Augusta wanted was to see her grandson safely home.

    "Augusta, calm down. Your grandson is not in any real trouble," Amelia said to the older witch, "While the responding Obliviator's report was quite serious, no actual magic was performed and there were infuriating circumstances that can be used to justify Neville's behavior. The most he'll get is just a formal warning, nothing more?"

    "Neville's behavior? Formal warning? You think I'm worried the behavior of my grandson?" Augusta turned to look at Amelia sharply, "My grandson got caught up in a war, Amelia! It was life or death! If he felt the need to use magic in a situation like that, I can't bloody well blame him now, can I?"

    "Augusta…"

    "I can't believe this. He was supposed to be on holiday. He was supposed to be safe," Augusta continued her frantic pacing, unable to contain her worry, "How long did you say it was going to be before your people bring him here? I half a half mind to run out on my own because they're taking so long!"

    Amelia bones made a show of quickly checking her watch before looking back up to answer Augusta.

    "Should be any time now, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are some delays in getting here. Portsmouth is a bit chaotic right now, finding transport and evading muggle notice will be hard."

    "A bit chaotic you say." Augusta snorted derisively.

    If she weren't already certain that Neville was on his way here, she would have taken off on her own to find him herself. Augusta had lost so many members of her family. The thought of something happening to poor Neville was almost unthinkable.

    "The war against those Abyssal creatures keeps pushing its way into our world, Amelia," Augusta turned to look at the younger witch sharply, "If the Abyssals are so indiscriminate as to attack as well as the Muggles, why is it that we don't seem to be doing more to help the Muggles win this war?"

    "You would be surprised about how many good wizards and witches are asking that opinion as well, Amerilia," Amelia Bones said, just as a loud knocking sounded on Amelia's door. "Yes, who is it?"

    Amelia's secretary popped his head in, looking rather pale.

    "Madame Bones, as requested I am to inform you of the moment that Auror Shacklebolt and Neville Longboom arrive in the building," The young secretary took a visible gulp to steel himself before he continued, "I am pleased to report that they have done so, but they have been accompanied by… by a ship girl. Madam, it… it is Her Majesty's Ship, Orion, and she refuses to leave Mister Longbottom's side."

    Both Augusta and Amelia were completely stunned by the secretary's proclamation. It was one thing to know that Neville Longbottom had gotten caught up in a battle between the ship girls and the Abyssal fleet, but to have an actual ship girl come with Neville was completely unexpected. Normally ship girls and wizards avoided each other like the plague, yet this one had come here on her own volition.

    "HMS Orion?" Amelia exclaimed, instantly recognizing the name. "Orion is here?"

    "Yes, Ma'am. She is downstairs with Auror Shaklebolt and Mister Longbottom at the moment."

    "Did she say why she was accompanying young Mister Longbottom?" Amelia asked

    "No, but Orion did enquire as to whether Neville's grandmother was also in the building. I believe she wishes to speak with Madam Longbottom," The secretary said, "Shall I send them in?"

    Augusta and Amelia exchanged worried looks, the situation getting curiouser and curiouser. It was now increasingly clear to both witches that Neville hadn't just gotten swept up in the battle and had almost needed to resort to underage magic for survival. Something significant enough must have happened for Neville to capture the attention of a ship girl.

    "Please, so." Amelia ordered, and the secretary left, closing the door behind him.

    "You know this HMS Orion?" Augusta asked Amelia, trying to discern as much information as she could before the ship girl arrived. She wasn't very familiar with Muggle warships, or ship girls for that matter, and couldn't imagine what this 'HMS Orion' wanted with her grandson. If she was to act, Augusta needed every shred of information she could get her hands on.

    "Yes. Yes I do," Amelia lowered herself down onto her chair resignedly, "HMS Orion is a reincarnated battleship, first of the Orion-class. I do not profess to be an expert in naval history, but she is apparently a very old, almost obsolete ship compared to most of the ship girls currently in service."

    "Obsolete?" Augusta tilted her head in confusion.

    "Orion was originally built and launched in the 1910s. Most ship girls and Abyssals used technology from around the 1940s," Amelia recited from memory, "because of that, she isn't as useful to the Royal Navy as her compatriots. As such, she was assigned out to the Muggle Government's Military Intelligence Division 5 to help the Muggle agents deal with 'unorthodox' threats."

    "Curious… Amelia, this wouldn't be the ship girl government agent that you were complaining about the other day over the floo, were you?"

    "One in the same," Amelia confirmed with a long sigh, "Her duty is to protect the British people from dire threats that Muggle policemen cannot handle, and that naturally overlaps with the duties of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement a fair bit. I will say that she is honorable, brave and upright, though. Were it not for the conflicts of our departments, I would have been proud to call her friend."

    "I see. That is good to know, at least." Augusta nodded as she listened to Amelia's words. At least it seemed that Neville had found himself in good company. "But what could a ship girl like HMS Orion want with my grandson?"

    Before Amelia could answer, another series of knocks sounded though the room, heralding the arrival of the people that Augusta had been waiting to see. Neville, and HMS Orion, had arrived.

    "Well, Augusta, with regards to the question of what a ship girl wants with your grandson… I do believe that we are about to find out." Amelia Bones nodded, before she sat up from her chair and proceeded to answer the door.

    -=-

    A/N – Any thoughts and comments on the series so far?

    Writing the actual scene where Orion offers Neville the chance to be her apprentice is proving to be unexpectedly hard. That one might take some time before I can post up up here on the thread proper. I also need to start thinking about how to integrate the other three Orion sisters given how many pieces of of siirakannu's art features them.
    failedtoload


    (credit - siirakannu, more art avaliable on danbooru)     ​
    I would imagine that, given how siirakannu seems to portray them, Neville will have his hands quite full trying to keep up with his teacher's sisters. Still, I'm sure they'll have a few nice things to show him... like their love for classic automobiles for instance:
    failedtoload


    (credit - siirakannu, more art avaliable on danbooru)     ​
    Also, I'm wondering about how I should try introducing the more WWII era HMS Orion, a Leander-class light crusier that attained an impressive 13 battle honors for her service (only Warspite has gotten more). Surely that HMS Orion, likely still on active service, will have some sort of relationship with her WWI predecessor.
     
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    • Rose is found out
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    • Harry Leferts

    There was a small frown on the human form of the tea set as she looked into the open cupboard. "Hmm... Now then..." Placing her hands on her hips, she shook her head and tutted a little bit. "Master needs to go and get some more tea, I think." Unnoticed by her, the door to the quarters opened up and a golden eye poked in before widening at the sight of the person standing in front of the cupboards. Meanwhile, the tea set continued to go through the cupboards and drawers as her frown increased. Behind her, the door fully opened and someone quietly rolled in and out of sight as the door closed. Turning, the tea set's human avatar blinked her silver eyes before looking around. "Rather odd... I could have sworn that I heard something."

    Shaking it off, she turned back to the cupboards and placed a finger on her lips. "Hmm... Master will need some honey as well, I think. Or perhaps sugar?" Once more, she missed the figure rolling across the room before leaping to a standing position just out of sight with a wall unit for cover. Blinking, the teaset looked behind her only to see nothing at all before tilting her head. For several seconds, she scanned the room before turning back with a sigh. "Now..." The hidden figure rolled until it was right behind her. "I wonder what sort of tea, Master would like..."

    Quietly, the figure unfurled to reveal Haruna who frowned as she stood taller then the person in front of her. Eyes narrowed, she examined them before clearing her throat and causing the tea set to squeak as she leapt and turned around. Before she could move though, the Fast Battleship's arm shot out and grabbed her by the wrist. "Haruna is wondering who you are and what you are doing in Nagato-San's home."

    Sharply wincing, the tea set whimpered a little bit. "You're... hurting me..."

    Eyes widening, Haruna glanced at the slender wrist in her hands and then at the person in front of her. Realizing that it was not a man as she had assumed, but a woman, she let up some of the pressure, but not enough to let her escape. "Haruna is sorry, but Haruna still wants to know who you are and what you're doing here..." With a blink, Haruna trailed off and glanced at the wrist again as she could feel indents where her fingers had been. 'That doesn't happen to humans...'

    Meanwhile, the tea set glanced at her true self for a moment before straightening. "I'm... um..." Suddenly lost, she tried to think up of a way to explain that she was a tea set, while looking like a human. It became moot though as Haruna leaned in close and narrowed her eyes. Seeing how close the shipgirl was, the tea set blushed with wide eyes. "Th-that is..."

    Unknown to her though, Haruna was looking past her and blinked as she saw another form overlay the woman's in front of her. Then she pulled back surprised. "You're Harry-Chan's tea set?"

    Blinking, the tea set's jaw dropped before she nodded. "Y-yes, b-but how did you..."

    Simply smiling, Haruna brought up one finger and tapped it against the side of her head. "Haruna, like all shipgirls, can see things humans can't. And Haruna can see that you're Harry-Chan's tea set." Hearing the sound of metal clattering, Haruna looked over to see said set shaking before she frowned. Turning back, she slowly let go. "Haruna is wondering how this happened though."

    The tea set just gulped as she gently grasped the wrist that Haruna had grabbed and rubbed at it, wincing. "I... do not know. One day I started to think and a few months ago I was able to..."

    She gestured at her body as Haruna thought it over before snapping her fingers. "Ah! Haruna knows now, you're a tsukumogami."

    Confused, the smaller of the two women tilted her head. "Tsu... ku... mogami?"

    Nodding, Haruna smiled. "When an object becomes more then a century old, they are given a soul."

    Eyes wide, the tea set reached up and placed her unhurt hand against her chest. "A... soul...? Is that possible?"

    All Haruna did was nod before she frowned. "You wouldn't hurt, Harry-Chan, would you?"

    Recoiling as if slapped across the face, the tsukumogami stared at her in horror. "Hurt Master!? Never! How could you even think of such a horrid, unthinkable thing! Why, I-"

    Haruna just placed a finger against her lips to silence her before shaking her head. "All Haruna wanted was to be sure. There are stories of Tsukumogami who..." For a moment, she trailed off before helplessly shrugging. "Can be rather mischievous... or even try to harm their owners."

    Sucking in a breath, the tea set gulped. "H-harm their owners... I..." She then shook her head. "I can see why you would be worried." Then the tea set straightened her back and thrust out her chin. "But I would never harm Master! To do so is unthinkable!"

    With a slow nod, Haruna just smiled as she relaxed further. "Haruna is sure of that now." Then the Battleship glanced down at the smaller being's wrist and winced at both the bruises and the indents there. "And Haruna would like for you to know how sorry she is that she hurt you."

    As she blinked, the tsukomogami glanced at her wrist and also winced. "Ah, quite alright. You were only protecting Master from a possible danger..." Reaching over, she rubbed it and grimaced at the flash of pain and tried to hold back a hiss, though she failed. "I... cannot fault you for such."

    Eyes sad, Haruna gave her a frown. "Haruna is still sorry and will help you to show it." Looking around, she frowned some as she pulled a container out of the cupboard. "All Haruna needs is some hot water."

    Slightly confused, the tea set just tilted her head. "I can provide some if that is what you need." When Haruna glanced at her, the tsukumogami waved her hand and hot water snaked through the air from her true self and into the container until it was mostly filled. "Should that be enough?"

    For several moments, Haruna stared at her before shaking it off. "Yes, that should be enough and Haruna thinks that was amazing!"

    Blushing at the attention, the tsukumogami just shuffled some. "Um, you're quiet welcome." A moment later though, she blinked as Haruna reached into her clothes and pulled out a small packet, about the same size as one would use to make a cup of hot chocolate. "What is that?"

    With a glance, Haruna hummed a bit as she tore off the top. "This?" At the nod, she smiled. "It's something that Yuubari-San and Akashi-San came up with. Instant repair fluid..."

    Intrigued, the tsukumogami leaned in. "Instant repair fluid?"

    Humming, Haruna just made a sound of agreement as she poured in the powder in the pouch, which soon turned the water light green. "Yes, it doesn't do much, only heals minor damage like scrapes and bruises for shipgirls, but Haruna always carries some around because it's useful."

    Head tilted to the side, the tea set just nodded as this was something outside of her experience. "I see..."

    Moments later, Haruna watched the water and stirred it with a spoon before nodding. "It's done." Slowly, she held out her hand. "Could you please give Haruna your hand?"

    Part of Haruna would not admit it, but when the smaller woman next to her hesitated, it caused a small pang of hurt and sorrow. Then taking a deep breath, the tsukumogami nodded and held out her hurt wrist. "Certainly."

    It was only the work for Haruna of a few seconds to unbutton the sleeve that covered the arm and then roll it back to reveal pale skin, which only made the bruises stand out more. Gently taking her arm, Haruna placed it into the container which caused the tsukumogami to gasp. "Are you alright?"

    Slowly, she nodded as she looked down at her arm, only to see the bruises rapidly disappearing along with the indents filling in. "I... Yes. My word, this feels just... wonderful. I have no words."

    Giggling, Haruna smiled brightly as she nodded. "Haruna knows what you mean, though the baths in the dock are much more lovely." The two of them continued to talk as they waited for the repair fluid to finish the job, with Haruna finding the odd accent of her new friend to be pleasant, though she couldn't quite place it. 'Something to ask Onee-Sama about later..." Glancing at the clock, she suddenly smiled. "Ah! Harry-Chan will be home soon."

    Also looking, the tea set sucked in a breath. "O-oh, Master will be home soon? I should go back and-"

    Utterly confused, Haruna blinked. "Why? Harry-Chan would be happy to meet you."

    There was a blush on the smaller woman's face as she bit her lip and then shook her head. "I... I can't though. Not until I know what's happened to me..." She trailed off at the giggles from Haruna and frowned, slightly hurt that the Battleship was not taking this seriously. "Why are you laughing? This is quite serious, I assure you!"

    Smothering her giggles, Haruna cleared her throat. "But you do know, Haruna told you after all. You are a tsukumogami."

    For several seconds, the tea set worked her mouth before she frowned. "Huh... I do believe that you are right."

    Nodding, Haruna held up a finger. "Now all we do is wait for Harry-Chan to get home. He's going to be so happy."
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Harry tilted his head as he looked across at the woman who sat across from him. "You're my tea set?"

    With a nervous expression, she swallowed and nodded as Haruna just smiled from beside her. "Tha-that's right, Master. I'm your tea set... somehow."

    Putting down her tea cup, Haruna hummed. "She's over a hundred years old, Harry-Chan. She's become a tsukumogami and can now take a human form." Seeing him look at the tea set in front of the three of them, Haruna shook her head. "It's separate from her true self."

    Slowly, Harry tilted his head. "Huh..." Then he smiled and nodded. "That's pretty awesome actually." Suddenly, Harry stiffened some. "Wait, sometimes odd things happened and when I was sick last winter, I woke up to find ginger tea even though I didn't notice anyone... was that you?"

    There was some redness in her cheeks as the tsukomogami nodded. "Yes, that was me... I couldn't stand to see Master suffer, so I tried to make him feel better."

    Completely unexpected to her, Harry walked around and gave her a hug. "Thank you."

    Eyes wide, she slowly reached back and hugged him back. "M-Master is most welcome."

    Amused, Haruna just watched over the rim of her tea cup as she tried to hold back an explosion of happiness. 'Haruna is happy that things have turned out this good.'

    Sitting back down, Harry watched the tea set's spirit as she looked over the food. "You can have some, you know."

    Her back stiffening, the tsukumogami shook her head. "It would not be proper of one of my station, Master. Besides..." She looked over the food with a frown on her face before she took off her cap and placed it onto her lap, so revealing deep auburn hair tightly bound up in a bun. "I am unsure if I can eat. After all, I am a tea set."

    In reply, Haruna grabbed a scone and then held it up to her. "Of course you can, Haruna can after all. Right, Harry-Chan?"

    Nodding, Harry just smiled. "She's right."

    Still unsure, the tsukumogami took the scone and examined it before looking at the two smiling faces. "I... suppose that it could not hurt much..." Taking a bite, her eyes nearly shot out of her head as, for the very first time, various tastes and textures crossed her palate. She had to force herself to chew slowly and swallow before dabbing her lips. "That was... quite amazing."

    With a smile on his face, Harry watched as she finished off the scone. A thought then occurred to him and he frowned. "Um... do you have a name?"

    Blinking, the tea set just frowned. "No, I don't have a name, Master, after all I am a tea set." Much to her surprise though, Harry scowled. 'Did... I say something wrong?'

    A moment later, Harry shook his head. "No, you need a name." Frowning, he examined her before he stopped at looking at her hair, in particular the deep, auburn color which reminded him of tea before milk was added. Then his eyes widened. "I know! Rose!"

    That caused both Haruna and the tea set to blink and say the same thing at the exact same moment. "Rose?"

    Rapidly nodding, Harry smiled. "Yeah! Rose! Because your hair is kind of red, you can make tea from rosehips, and I remember being told that naming girls in my family after flowers is a pretty common tradition."

    Face flushed, the newly named Rose stared at him. "F-family... me?! B-but I am only a tea set and..."

    She looked toward Haruna for help, only for the shipgirl to shake her head. Then Harry wagged a finger at her. "You've been in my family for over a hundred years! So as far as I am concerned, you're part of it."

    At the stubborn expression, Rose sniffled a bit, though there was a bright smile on her face as she felt her chest warm up in a way that hot water had never caused. "T-thank you, Master. I would love to be part of your family then."

    The only thing that Harry did was smile widely.
     
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    • An Old Man Makes the Ultimate Sacrifice
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    • Harry Leferts

    With a groan, the old man sat back onto a stone and looked across the darkened harbor to where he could just see the lights of the naval base from where he sat on Sarushima. For several moments, he just watched as the waves crashed onto the shoreline. Before the war, one could have seen the twinkling of lights of the naval base, all lit up. But now... it was all dark, with the bare minimum of lights just in case the Abyssals came calling. A grunt caused him to blink though and turn. "OI! Jiji, are we done here or what?"

    Looking at the small, Karasu Tengu, the old man chuckled. "Yes... I think that we might be done here."

    As he sighed, the little youkai hopped up beside him. "About damn time! Seriously, I think that your getting slower in you're old age, Jiji."

    For almost a minute, the old man was quiet before he groaned and stood up. "No, my old age isn't the true problem. But I thank you for your service all these years and release you from it, my old friend."

    There was a frown on the crow before his eyes widened. "You're dying..." Chuckling, the old man just nodded which caused the tengu to shake his head. "No, no fucking way."

    Simply sighing, the old man smiled tightly. "I was always on borrowed time, I'm afraid. And my last effort I think took far too much out of me..." His smile then turned melancholy. "Though I have no regrets, this will be a true, lasting legacy, though I hope that no one ever finds out about who was responsible."

    Grimacing, the crow tengu shook his head. "Way too honorable and good hearted."

    A laugh burst from the old man as he looked at the yokai beside him. "Well, I did save you from that Oni two centuries ago, did I not?"

    In return, he only got a scoff. "I still say that I could have beaten it, Jiji. I didn't need no help from you, a human."

    Chuckling, the old man just grinned. "No, I suppose not. Just a few strikes with your blade and you would have finished it."

    Just huffing, the Tengu pointed said sword at the old man and nodded. "Glad to see that you understand. About time." Then the avian yokai's expression softened as best it could. "Going to miss ya, you old coot." After another laugh from the old man, he gestured at the objects on the beach, above the high tide mark. "So... uh... what about those?

    The old man looked at the objects, which resembled nothing so much as coffins. "Hmm? Ah, yes... just one moment." He then performed a small chant before blowing into his closed fist. Opening it, green flames shot on in small balls before landing onto the coffins. Within moments, the flames disappeared to reveal that the coffins were gone, and in their place were two young women and several girls. Around them, the sand dampened as the liquid that had been in the coffins disappeared between the grains. "There we go."

    Staring at them, the Tengu turned back to the old man with a raised eyebrow. "So... Kanmusu. You somehow had Kanmusu in those things." Getting a nod, the yokai shook his head. "Ooo-kay, I'm not going to comment on that, except for asking why one of them looks American."

    With a sigh, the old man shook his head. "I could not find enough materials for the ones that the mundanes refer to as the 'Super Yamatos'." Tapping his cane into the sand, he hummed. "So I decided to thank the Americans instead for all that they've done. And they have done much fighting and dying beside my countrymen in this war to keep this nation alive and safe. So strange to think that less then a century ago, we were at each other's throats... Yet here we are shedding blood together as brothers."

    Rolling his eyes, the Tengu scoffed before hopping over and examining the American shipgirl with a gimlet eye. With a curious expression, he took in the dark hair and freckles that were barely visible on her tan skin before he opened one of her eyes to see a bluish-green eye just staring ahead. "Huh... Which one is this then?"

    All the old man did was shrug. "I do not know which one, though she is one of five. But I suspect that through her, the other four will follow now that they have an anchor." Straightening his back, he groaned a little bit as he checked the time and nodded. "They should awaken though in a few weeks or months, with the Navies taking care of them."

    His wings crossed, the Tengu snorted. "Yeah, if they know that they're even here."

    Yet again, the old man just chuckled before making a wave of his hand and several piles of wood catching alight. However, instead of normal flames, they were that of various colors of deep red, blue, green, and purple. At the look, he grinned. "No magic for the colors. I must say though, there's been some quite clever non-magical feats and it'll attract attention while leaving a mystery. Now... let's leave."

    Grunting as he flapped his wings, the Tengu gave him a look. "And where are you going?"

    There was a far off look in the old man's eyes as he stared into the distance. "I shall be heading to my family's estate in Hokkaido where they are staying safely away from the ocean. Perhaps I can convince my son to finally release those wolves of his back into the wild now that attitudes have changed."

    Slowly, the Tengu bowed. "May you have your last days in peace, Jiji."

    Then he transformed into a crow and vanished into the night as the old man watched. "And may you have peace in your life, Kuro, my old friend." Without a sound, the old man vanished as the tide slowly came in and erased his footprints.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    A scowl was on Ooyodo's face as she turned and looked at the RHIB that was on one side of her carrying some US Marines. "I don't need an escort, you know."

    However, the glare just washed over the Marines' backs as water off a duck's while the one at the controls shrugged. "Sorry, Ma'am. Normal procedure, Cruiser shipgirls and above don't go out on a sortie without an escort."

    Ooyodo just glared even harder, with much the same result. "I called in the fires and Sarushima is less then two kilometres offshore from the base. I doubt very much that I am in any real danger from anything if I investigated it by myself."

    The Marine just shrugged again. "Orders are orders, Ma'am."

    Rolling her eyes, Ooyodo turned back to the small island that was getting steadily closer. Around her, things began to lighten in the predawn while on the beach, she could see the oddly colored fires burning down. Even now, she spotted one of them go out. "Hopefully it's not some idiot camping there hoping to watch us sortie."

    With a frown on his face, the Marine nodded. "If it is, we'll take care of it, Ma'am. Same it it's some of the teenage children of the base having some fun."

    Part of Ooyodo wanted to raise her eyebrow at the tone, but instead, she snorted at the thought of how the Marines would take care of them. With ferry service suspended to the island, no one was supposed to be there. Especially as there were talks of placing guns on the island to cover the harbour. Despite that, or maybe because of it, people sometimes made their way out there in small boats to watch the shipgirls as they went out on missions due to the vantage point. Other times, some of the teenaged daughters and sons of base personnel would hold parties on the beach facing the base.

    Needless to say, both sometimes caused headaches.

    Suddenly, Ooyodo was drawn out of her thoughts as one of the Marines shouted. "Looks like there's a bunch asleep on the beach."

    Blinking as she shook herself out of her thoughts, Ooyodo turned and spotted where the Marine was pointing, only for her eyes to widen and for her to nearly trip on the waves much to the surprise of the Marines. However, they couldn't see what she did. Where they saw several people laid out as if asleep, Ooyodo saw instead ship hulls. A few looked like a familiar Destroyer while the biggest one was obviously a Battleship which made her think of an Iowa. It was the final one that caused her boilers to come to a dead stop before they were relit though.

    It was a Cruiser, much like the one that Ooyodo saw every time she looked into a mirror...

    Very stiffly, Ooyodo looked toward the Marines. "Call Teitoku... and have him send every available shipgirl, including Akashi out here, now. " Turning back, Ooyodo ignored the trembles in her hull. 'How...'
     
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    • Never Built Shipgirls
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    • Harry Leferts

    A knock at the door caused Ooyodo to turn and blink at who was there. "Harry-Chan?"

    Just nodding, Harry glanced inside the room at the large bathtub there. Hooked up to said bathtub was a series of tubes and pipes which lead to a strange group of devices. In fact, it reminded him of a chemistry lab of some mad scientist. And there, in the bathtub, was a young woman who looked a lot like Ooyodo, just floating and breathing. "Um, you missed lunch so I brought you some stuff..."

    Relaxing, Ooyodo sighed and gave him a tired smile. "Thank you, Harry-Chan. I really appreciate it."

    Several moments later, Ooyodo was eating a bento as Harry examined the person in the tub, the greenish water of a repair bath around her. "Um, so this is..."

    Having swallowed, Ooyodo's features softened. "My sister, Niyodo." Ooyodo's hands shook as she reached over and brushed some hair from the unconscious shipgirl's forehead. "I... she was never built and yet..." Stuffing her knuckles into her mouth for a moment, Ooyodo blinked back some wetness before pulling her knuckles out. "Here she is."

    With his voice a whisper, Harry looked over at her. "Why hasn't she woken up?"

    Just sighing, Ooyodo shook her head. "We think it's because her bridge crew is still getting used to the layout... I've sent over some of my own fairies, but it might be a while until she gains enough operation to wake up." Turning, Ooyodo turned toward the room's window, through which she could look across the hall to another room. However, that room had Shimakaze in it watching several forms in their own tubs. "Shimakaze is in much the same situation."

    Looking himself, Harry blinked. "Oh."

    As she chuckled, Ooyodo just continued to stroke her sister's hair between bites of food. "She's in a bit of an easier situation, Destroyers don't have much of a crew compared to a Cruiser."

    Slowly nodding, Harry frowned. "Or Battleships..."

    Lips twitching, Ooyodo nodded. "Or Battleships."

    Tilting his head to the side, Harry hummed. "Um... You know, Shimakaze-Nee hasn't told me what her sisters' names are, Ooyodo-Oba."

    Ooyodo leaned against her fists and shook her head. "That's because they were not given any names, Harry-Chan. Those ones in there we suspect are the cancelled ones that never got built." Seeing Harry's confusion, the Cruiser shook her head. "Some had been laid down, but part way through they started to convert them into the Super Akizuki class."

    Confused, Harry crossed his arms before frowning. "Does that mean that Shimakaze-Nee shares sisters with Akizuki-Nee and her sisters?"

    Pausing for a moment, Ooyodo bit into the rice ball she had before swallowing. Then she reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "Well, I suppose that is one way of looking at it, Harry-Chan."

    Just watching as Shimakaze began to wave her hands around, almost as if she was telling them some story, Harry nodded. "Neat."

    Softly smiling, Ooyodo nodded. "Very much so."

    Harry then leaned back in his chair and frowned as he tried to look down the hallway. "What about the Battleship?"

    Taking a moment to take a drink of the tea brought her, Ooyodo shook her head. "That would be one of the Montana class, in fact we think that it's the USS Montana, BB-67. One of the final Battleships ever ordered by the Americans." She then frowned. "Iowa herself is coming over to look after her as none of us want to mess around with her and possibly mess something up. This... this is all new ground and I wish that I knew where they came from as we've never seen a paper ship return. Maybe the odd incomplete one and usually as a Natural Born... but never one that was never laid down."

    A moment later, she felt a small hand place itself on her arm and she turned to see Harry smiling. "Well, she'll wake up soon, Ooyodo-Oba. And then you'll have a little sister and everything."

    Chuckling, Ooyodo patted his hand right back. "Thank you, and I'm sure that you're right."

    Suddenly, a sound caused both Harry and Ooyodo to turn toward the shipgirl before the nearly ten year old tilted his head. "Is that her turbines?"

    Breathless, Ooyodo let one tear roll down her cheek as she nodded. "Y-yeah... they must have finally got the engineering crew up to where they can turn on her boilers and run some of her systems." She didn't finish the rest of them as she felt as if her own boilers were going to explode from the emotions coursing through her body. 'And bringing her one more step closer to waking up...'
     
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    • (Neverbuilt) Warship 111, AKA Hana-chan - Natural Born
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    • smthng

    Harry Leferts said:
    That... okay, I want to see this now.
    -*-*-*-*-​
    "Yamato-nee!!"

    The famous Japanese battleship smiled and raised her hand in a greeting, as a young girl ran towards her at full tilt. Aruga Hana, age ten, was a new, and common ,sight at the naval base. Already taller than the youngest-looking destroyers - much to the charing of the four Matsuda sisters - the girl exhibited none of the lankiness that often seen in children in the middle of a growth spurt. Her shoulders were wide, her arms and legs muscled, and her body was clearly athletic and strong.

    Though few realized just how athletic and strong the girl was. After all, no other girl of her age was known to possess hundred and fifty thousand horsepower or displacing well past fifty thousand tons.

    A moment later, Yamato quickly trust her parasol to her companion and to set her feet in order to not reel under the girl's tackle-hug. One could vaguely hear the sound of metal slamming and then grinding against metal, as the girl squeezed the lead ship of the Yamato class. "It's so good to see you, Yamato-nee"

    "This Yamato is also glad to see you, Hana-chan."

    A minute later, Hana drew back long enough to give Yamato a wide grin, before she half turned on the battleship's lap and raised one hand. "Iowa-san! High-five!"

    Grinning, the American battleship slapped the girl's hand, and this time the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard loud and clear. "How are you, squirt!?"

    In return, Hana stuck out her tongue. "I'm not a squirt, Iowa-san! I've already got more displacement than you! And I'm still growing!"

    Iowa just laughed and ruffled the girl's head in return. "Welcome to Yokosuka, kid. You ready for practice?"

    Quickly, Hana pumped her fist and proudly presented her bicep. "Ready and able, Iowa-san! Yamato-nee told me you're going to help me this time?"

    "Yup! I was around so Yams asked if I could look after you. How does getting some practice for your secondaries sound? With maybe some AA afterwards?"

    Hana just grinned, and wriggled in Yamato's lap long enough for the Japanese ship to realize what she wanted. Quickly, Yamato and Iowa exchanged one girl for a parasol, and Hana gave the American just as tight a hug as she had given to Yamato.

    "You're awesome, Iowa-nee," She shouted into the American's ship's shoulder. Then Hana hopped down and turned again to face Yamato.

    "So are you going to come with us too, Yamato-nee?"

    The Japanese battleship's smile turned wistful, and she laid her hand on Hana's shoulder. "The circumstances are most unfortunate this time, I'm afraid. Duty calls. That's why Yamato asked Iowa to help you today."

    Hana made a face. But only for a second, before her wide grin again found its way to her face. "It's okay Yamato-nee! I know you all have responsibilities." Then, the girl quickly unslung her back pack and opened it. "Anyway, I got a new shirt for Musashi-nee! I know the last one shrank in the wash, so I made sure to buy an extra-large one that's guaranteed to stand even the highest temperatures!"

    Proudly, Hana showed the two battleships a screaming pink, very large woman's T-shirt. An equally pink, somewhat lopsided bunny had been embroidered to the shirt. "I made mister Bunny myself, and mom already washed it in 95 degrees, so this time Musashi-nee can be sure it fits!"

    For a few seconds the two battleships stared at the shirt. While Yamato just continued smiling, Iowa quickly put both hands over her mouth and her whole body started shaking.

    With a smile, Yamato accepted the shirt. "Thank you very much indeed, Hana-chan. I am certain that Musashi will appreciate this gracious gift." She then glanced at Iowa. "Now, unfortunately, Yamato must take her leave. Iowa-san, I will now leave Hana-chan into your capable hands. I trust you nave no complaints?"

    Her shoulders still shaking from suppressed laughter, Iowa managed to give the Japanese battleship a thumb's up.

    Yamato nodded in return. "In that case I, Yamato, bid you two goodbye. I shall be left waiting for a report describing successful practice."

    Iowa forced her laughter to subside, and then put down her hands and took a deep breath. She held it for half a second, before quickly exhaling, and then turning to face Yamato. "Don't you worry, Yams! Me and Hana, we'll kick ass and make names!"

    Yamato closed her eyes. "I shall pray for the souls of the practice buoys and drones. Their sacrifice will be remembered. Now, good day, Iowa-sana, Hana-chan." With a shallow bow, the Japanese battleship turned to leave, parasol in one hand, and the folded bunny shirt for Musashi in the other.

    When Yamato was far enough that it was no longer polite for her to hear private conversations, Iowa commented, "You do know Musashi's lost all the shirts you've given her on purpose, don't you, kid?"

    Hana theatrically rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot, Iowa-san. That's why I both stitched the bunny myself AND got Yamato-nee to deliver it. That way Musashi-nee has to wear it."

    Iowa grinned at the younger ship. "Clever girl."

    Hana gave the American a flat look. "Not a dinosaur."

    Iowa burst out laughing again. "You are so awesome Hana-chan! Yams never gets my jokes!"

    * * *

    There you go, Harry. No interaction with Harry at this point, but Hana is sure to be interested in Nagato's son.

    Hana: But I'm more awesome! His mom's a battleship, but I'm one myself!

    ...

    Hana: If I'm not a carrier, that is!

    The idea here was that Hana is not quite yet ready. She has her rigging, and can sail, and there are some secondary armaments and AA guns on the rigging, but otherwise it's still featureless. So it's not yet clear whether she's a carrier with guns, an aviation BB, or a regular BB.

    (Yamato and Iowa's characterization shamelessly stolen from myself!) E: And Hana's last name taken from Yamato's final captain.
     
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    • Haruna's Sisters Meet Rose
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    • Harry Leferts

    Kongou smiled at Harry as he nibbled a scone before chuckling. "Well, what do you think?"

    For several moments, Harry chewed before he gave her a thumbs up. "It's really good, Dess."

    That got giggles from Hiei while Kongou simply shook her head before patting Harry on the head. "That's good to hear." Sighing, she leaned back some in her chair as she took a delicate sip of her tea. "It's lovely that we're spending some time together. With everything going on it's rather hard for it to happen."

    However, Kirishima frowned from where she sat. "Except... for Haruna-Onee-San."

    Simply frowning, the eldest of the sisters nodded as she checked her watch. "She is running a little late for our tea part... rather odd." A chuckle caused her to look at Kirishima with a raised eyebrow. "Do you know anything about it?"

    With a hum, Kirishima nodded. "As a matter of fact, I do." There was an odd smirk on her face as she adjusted her glasses in such a way that the light reflected off it in a menacing way. "It seems that our Haruna-Onee-San... has a secret boyfriend."

    In seconds, it registered with each of the people there who acted differently. The biscuit in Hiei's hand dropped into her tea, Harry stared at her wide eyed, Kirishima nodded. However Kongou... Kongou just gave a level look to Kirishima. "A... boyfriend, you say."

    Tilting her head, Kirishima nodded. "Hai, Onee-Sama. She has a secret boyfriend."

    Looking at her, Hiei just boggles. "Hiiiieeeee!?"

    Harry blinked though, "Haruna-Oba has a boyfriend?"

    Just chuckling, Kirishima leaned forward with a grin. "Oh, she's been very quiet with it all, I can assure you. But her burning love knows no bounds. I've seen her in company with a young man at times, animatedly talking with him. I believe that she is quite smitten with him, unless I miss my guess." Letting out a sigh, Kirishima held her hands to her chest before throwing one arm to the side that Harry ducked under. "Ah... such sweet love. The two of them just walking under the trees, whispering to each other. Above them, the leaves rustle in the gentle breeze as the two of them enjoy their duel escort, sheltering them from the sun..."

    As Kongou gave a nod, Harry noted that she had a tight grip on her tea cup and was certain it was trembling. "I see..."

    Suddenly, Hiei stood up. "N-no way! I refuse to accept this!" Pointing a finger at Kirishima, Hiei snarled. "How do you know that they're boyfriend and girlfriend! They might just be good friends."

    Kirishima nodded. "True, true..." Then she stilled and clasped her hands in front of her face. "Except... I have seen them sharing tea with each other."

    The other two sisters both gasped at that and reeled back as if struck, as Harry just blinked. "Huh...?

    Mouth working silently, it took Hiei a few times to say anything. "Sh-sharing tea together?! You're certain of this!?"

    Chortling, Kirishima shook her head. "I've seen it with my own rangefinders. Haruna-Onee-San may think that she's been quiet and sneaky, but it takes much to sneak by me."

    With a snort, Hiei rolled her eyes. "Such as Washington? Or that other woman... Gale, I think." At the stunned look, Hiei smirked. "I heard all about how she snuck up on you and struck you down like lightning with paintballs when she thought that you had pranked her.

    Off balance, Kirishima blushed some. "I... that is... Wash-Chan and Gale-Chan are quiet different!"

    It was then that they both heard a cough and turned to look at Kongou who fixed them with a glare before she went back to sipping her tea. "Moving away from Kirishima's developing burning love, we must discuss Haruna's." Placing the cup down, it was almost like the small click of the china was a boom from one of Kongou's main batteries. "To that end... do you know which of the base personnel it is?"

    Tapping a finger against her chin, Kirishima shook her head. "That's the thing, it's not one of the personnel on the base."

    Eyebrow raising, Kongou frowned. "It's not, Dess?"

    Just shaking her head Kirishima shrugged. "That was my first clue. You see, it appears that she has caught the eye of a foreign train conductor!"

    Blinking, Kongou tilted her head to the side. "What?"

    Simply nodding, Kirishima chuckled. "Oh, yes, it's a foreigner and from the uniform, they're a train conductor, Onee-Sama. Perhaps she took a train trip and met them, two ships passing in the night only to illuminate each other with their spotlights and rangefinders before blasting each other with their burning love! Burning love the pierced through their belts with ease!"

    Chin leaning against her hand, Hiei frowned. "You sure that you're not mixing it up with yourself and Washington?"

    As the two Fast Battleships bickered, Harry frowned and crossed his arms. 'Wait a second...'

    Once more coughing, Kongou waited until her sisters stilled. "I have to say though, I do not remember Haruna leaving on a train trip recently... though with how things have been lately..."

    Of course, it was then that Haruna came walking up with someone familiar to Harry following her. Coming to a stop before the table, Haruna smiled brightly. "Haruna is sorry that she was running late, but Haruna has brought her new friend, Rose-Chan to meet my Onee-Sans."

    Rose just gave a slight bow, a flush on her cheeks. "Hello, I'm Rose." Then she spotted Harry and smiled. "Hello, Master!"

    Waving at her, Harry smiled. "Hi, Rose!"

    Meanwhile, Haruna continued. "She's the tsukumogami of Harry-Chan's tea set."

    For almost a minute, there was silence before Kongou spoke up. "... Kirishima-Chan..."

    A brittle smile on her face, Kirishima nodded. "Hai, Onee-Sama?"

    Slowly, Kongou turned her head and looked at her. "That is not a boy."

    With a hum, Kirishima adjusted her glasses as she took in the gentle swell of Rose's chest and the very slight curves elsewhere. "It seems that my rangefinders were mistaken."

    Blinking, Rose just cocked her head to the side with a confused expression on her face as a part of her felt like she might have been insulted, but couldn't quite figure out how. "... What?"
     
    Last edited:
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    • Harry Walks on Water
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    • Harry Leferts

    Looking at the water lapping at the bottom of the boat ramp, Harry gulped only to blush some as he heard a soft chuckle. "It's okay, Harry-Chan. I'm right here and so are Mutsuki-Chan and Yuudachi-Chan."

    Beside Fubuki, the red eyed Destroyer nodded. "That's right, Poi!"

    Just looking back at the water and then at the metal shoes on his foot, Harry shifted a bit. "It's just... are you really sure that it'll work? I mean..."

    Once more, Fubuki chuckled, though she crouched down to be more at Harry's level. "Harry-Chan, look at me." When he did so, she softly smiled. "Akashi-San made these specially for you when she gave them to you at your birthday party last week. And she promised that she checked out every bit involved to make sure that absolutely nothing would go wrong... Besides, you're not the only one here."

    A glance off to the side showed Harry the sight of Shimakaze holding one of her sister's hands as they slowly made their way across the water. He could even see where Ooyodo stood with Niyodo in a wheelchair, the Cruiser unable to move much still, but able to observe things. "I guess..."

    Nodding, Fubuki moved back some on the water. "Now... just walk forward."

    With a swallow, Harry stepped out onto the water with one foot. But instead of falling through the surface like he had expected, the metal clad, boat looking boot around his foot kept it on the surface. Taking a step with the other foot found him fully standing on the water before he began to pinwheel. Just as it seemed like he was about to fall backwards, Mutsuki gently grabbed him under the armpits. "Whoa there, Harry-Chan." Once she got him upright again, she slowly pushed him forward until she was standing behind him as well. "Fubuki-Chan?"

    Simply smiling, Fubuki reached out and grasped Harry by the arms as she slowly brought him further out. "I got you, Harry-Chan."

    However, Harry was simply staring at his feet on the water. "I... I'm walking like you and Mum, Fubuki-Nee!"

    Giggling at the excited look on his face, Yuudachi grinned. "Not yet, Poi! But soon you'll be there and we'll help as it's our duties as your nee-sans!"

    Not even a moment later, Harry's legs began to slide apart. But before he could go full on splits, Fubuki pulled him back upright. "Yuudachi-Chan's right, Harry-Chan. You got some way to go before you can keep up with us, buuut... Fubuki will do her best to get you there!"

    The smile that was on Harry's face was reward enough as he slowly got rid of the wobble in his legs. "I know that you will, Fubuki-Nee."

    Once she was certain that he wasn't about to fall, Fubuki slowly let go of his arms before she moved back a bit. "Okay, now slowly make your way toward me..."

    Slowly nodding, Harry began to slide his feet along the surface bit by bit as Fubuki nodded encouragement to him. When he slipped though, Yuudachi helped him straighten out with a smile on her face.
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    "Hey there, 'Yodo."

    Turning with a sigh, Ooyodo frowned at the blonde haired Battleship. "You know that I hate that nickname that Kongou-San came up with."

    Just chuckling, Iowa shrugged. "Yup! And the look on your face is worth it each time."

    Eyes rolling, Ooyodo took note of the other Iowa sister there. "Hey there, Wisconsin-San. And how are you today?"

    Wisconsin, or "Wisky" to her friends, only smiled a bit. "Doing pretty good, Ooyodo." She then patted the shoulder of the person in the specially modified wheelchair she was pushing. "Decided to bring Montana down here for a little bit to both get some sun and to see what she can look forward to."

    That caused Ooyodo's eyebrows to raise as she noted that Montana's eyes were tracking her, if a bit slow and that every so often her finger's twitched. "Already? I would have thought that it would have taken her a lot longer."

    Scoffing, Iowa shook her head. "Nah, Jer and Mo both gave us some of their crew to bring over with us. Along with Wisky and my crew? It's getting hers up to speed pretty quickly."

    Very slowly, Montana's eyes turned in their sockets until they regarded Iowa evenly as Ooyodo nodded. "I see..." She then frowned some. "Does she know anything about... what happened?"

    Frowning, the Iowa sisters glanced at each other before Wisky shrugged. "Not much, we're still looking through her logs..."

    Arms crossed, Iowa huffed a bit. "Not that it helps much as it seems that all she knows is that she was floating for months submerged in something. Hell of a thing though, she could hear a muffled human voice."

    Finger tapping against her own sister's wheelchair, Ooyodo nodded. "Same here and with Shimakaze's sisters, which means that we can cross out the Abyssals having anything to do with this. Though... that said, apparently there was something odd in the groundwater out on Sarushima."

    Blinking, Iowa frowned at her. "Odd in the ground water?"

    Thoughtful, Ooyodo gave a short nod. "Some sort of substance in the lens of freshwater under the island. Akashi is still trying to figure it out and sent samples to Yuubari and South Dakota to look at, though I heard that Alabama is helping her."

    Eyes narrowing, Wisky hummed at that. "Huh..." Then she blinked. "Didn't Akashi get hurt though?"

    Blowing some of her bangs out of her face, Ooyodo nodded. "Hai, the drill they were using broke and Akashi grabbed it so no one would get harmed." Ooyodo then held up her pinkie. "It tore off her little finger in the process and we haven't managed to find it."

    With a wince, Iowa shook her head. "Dropped into the borehole, huh? Damn..." It was then that Iowa noticed what was going on out on the water. "Hey, is that Harry out there?"

    The Cruiser only chuckled as she turned and looked out to where Harry was slowly making his way toward Fubuki, who kept backing up. "It is, he's using the shoes that Akashi made for him." Seeing the intrigued looks, she held her hands out as if she was holding something. "Akashi went and used two Daihatsu landing craft she had on hand to make him a sort of shoe he could wear that he can use to walk on water."

    Frowning, Iowa nodded some. "Huh... you know, Davie can use parts of Willie's rigging..."

    Interested, Ooyodo looked at her. "Just Willie's?"

    Hooking her thumbs into her skirt, Iowa nodded. "Yeah, we tried with rigging from other shipgirls, but no reaction. His sister though... he can use parts of hers. Makes things rather interesting..."

    Wisky groaned a bit. "You flirting with him doesn't help."

    All her sister did though was laugh. "Can you blame me? Davie gets all flustered it's adorable, and it gets Willie all fired up right off the bat." She then shook her head. "A bit too young for me yet though. Maybe in a few years, but who knows."

    Meanwhile, Montana just rolled her eyes at the older Battleship.
     
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    • Hermione Endures Exposure Therapy
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    • Harry Leferts

    It was a tired, but pleased, Hermione who had made her way to bed the night before. Too tired from her "Training Patrols" in the Irish Sea to make it home, she had instead decided to spend the night in the Cruiser Dormitory. Though even now she laughed at the idea that what she did were training patrols when everyone and their grandmother knew them to be combat patrols. But, Hermione understood the need to keep appearences since the English public, unlike the Japanese, had issues with young natural borns fighting. However, she ignored all that and, after a hearty dinner, had settled down for the night.

    Now that it was morning though, Hermione began to stir as she felt her crew also go about their business. Inside her hull, she could also feel her boilers slowly being brought up to speed which made her become more awake and then aware of the two bodies pressed against her on either side. Rather then how she would have originally reacted, with blushes and stutters, Hermione just smiled. After all, ever since becoming a shipgirl, and gaining several sisters in the process, Hermione had found that sleeping alongside them to be pleasant and relaxing unlike anything besides the baths in the docks. Sighing, she pulled the body in front of her closer and snuggled in as she continued to enjoy that half-awake, half-asleep nirvana with her sisters close... Which was when Hermione remembered one fact that percholatated up from her bridge and into her mind.

    All of her sisters were either out on patrols, escorting Convoys, or back at the Granger residence.

    Slowly frowning, Hermione began to internally list issues. 'Body is too small to be a Cruiser and too big to be a Corvette.' Giving the other body a squeeze, Hermione found her face jammed between two objects. '... No, definitely not a Destroyer...' It was then that there was a giggle and a shush before Hermione realized that the form in front of her was wearing a swimsuit. Which only meant one thing...

    Opening her eyes, Hermione blinked to see Thrasher in front of her with a smile. "HUZZA-" At another shush, the Subgirl sheepishly grinned before pumping her fist. "Huzzah, the Lady doth awakens with the sun like the beautiful flower that she is. Hark, the birds sing to welcome her to the new day!"

    Behind her, another Submarine pressed herself close. "See? Exposure therapy works, Thrasher! Indeed, our Daughter of Troy hast not done anything untoward!"

    Thrasher just nodded as she ignored the paling face of the shipgirl she was cuddling, though that could be because not much of said face could be seen. "Indeed, Thorn! Well met!"

    Meanwhile, inside Hermione's head, alarms were screeching as her crew rushed to stations. The same thought repeating over and over again. 'Submarines in my bed... SUBMARINES IN MY BED... SUBMARINES IN MY BED... SUBMARINES IN MY BED... THERE ARE SUBMARINES IN MY BED!'

    Suddenly, Thorn blinked. "I say old girl, I have an undeniable feeling that something quite terrible is about to happen."

    Nodding, Thrasher hummed. "Indeed, horrible feeling to be truthful, wot?" She then looked down and nodded. "Why, I am certain that our flower here is feeling the same thing. She is trembling quite badly."

    With a frown, Thrasher just shook her head. "Do not worry my Lady, for we, your gallant knights of the undersea, shall protect you!"

    Hermione's eyes shot wide open and there was a sudden sound of steam whistling as her boilers redlined...
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    The tea in her mug warming her hands, Prince of Wales softly sighed as she looked out on calm Irish Sea. Just a hint of mist was rising from it though that was being burnt off by the morning sun. Holding her mug up to the sun, Prince of Wales took a sip of the brew and let out a sigh before she heard footsteps coming toward her. When she caught sight of the Base Commander, she gave a salute to him. "Good morning to you, Sir."

    Slowly nodding, the Commander let out a soft sigh. "And a good morning to you as well, Wales." Coming to a stop beside her, he frowned. "Anything to report?"

    All she did though was chuckle a bit. "No, it's a fine, quiet morning. Looks like a calm start to the day."

    It was then that an odd sound caused the both of them to turn in time to see part of the wall for the Cruiser Dormitory explode outwards, two objects in particular flying up into the atmosphere. "HUZZAH! TRULY, THE LADY HERMIONE IS POWERFUL!"

    "INDEED, THORN! WHY, SHE IS WORTHY OF THE TITLE OF BEING THE DAUGHTER OF TROY!"

    "HARK! IS THAT THE COMMANDER BELOW US?"

    "WHY YES IT IS, AND PRINCE OF WALES AS WELL! CHEERIO OLD BEANS!

    Giving them both a wave, Prince of Wales nodded to herself. "Nice height and distance, I think that Hermione's improved on her technique. In fact... I think that she added a spin this time."

    "AND HERE COMES THE WATER! WELL, IT HAS BEEN MOST SMASHING TO SEE YOU TWO AGAIN, ALONG WITH THE LADY HERMIONE, BLESSED BE HER HORSEPOWER!"

    "SMASHING, QUITE A GOOD ONE THERE!"

    "INDEED, FOR ONE MUST ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE!"

    "WONDERFUL MOVIE THAT... WELL, GOODBYE FOR NOW, TALLY HO!"

    It was with barely a splash that the two submarines hit the water and disappeared beneath the surface. On Prince of Wales shoulders, several fairies suddenly held up signs with various numbers. "Hmm... a seven, a six, an nine... and a four?" The fairy in question just snorted and the Battleship nodded. "Ah, I see, no singing this time. True enough." She then took another sip of tea as she watched a wild eyed Hermione leap from the destroyed wall with depth charges strapped to her like a makeshift grenade bandolier. "Now things are more normal. If you would excuse me, Commander..."

    He just waved her on before putting his face in his hands. "How for the love of the Queen, Country, and God has this become the new normal for me..."
     
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    • Shinano reunites with Yukikaze, Hamakaze, and Isokaze
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    • smthng

    ...

    The fuck's going on with British subs?

    ANYWAY, now for something completely different.

    * * *

    "Thank you for helping me carry these, Shinano-chan!" Harry told to the amazonian carrier in a bright and happy voice, as the pair carried baskets of melon pans towards the destroyer dormitories. A deep blush immediately found its way to Shinano's cheeks.

    "Ah, it's okay Harry-chan. Of course I helped you..." Shinano tried to reply. She then glanced at the basket she was carrying. It was perhaps five or six times the size of Harry's basket. Which, in turn, was about as big as a little kid of Harry's age could carry.

    For a few moments more Shinano studied the buns. "Um, who are these for?"

    "There are some destroyers from Sasebo that just arrived," Harry replied. "And Mamiya-san baked these for them. I said I could take them, but I guess it's good you happened to be around Shinano-chan. I don't know if I could have carried all these."

    Shinano opened her mouth, but whatever she had been planning to say just stuck into her mouth. At times Harry-chan was just too... so dutiful and helpful. She sincerely hoped she could one day be as useful herself.

    The carrier's train of thought came to stop, as the pair reached the door of the carrier dormitories. Since they were both carrying large baskets it took a moment to get the front door open. Inside, the foyer was empty, but excited chatter could be heard from deeper into the building.

    The mismatched pair shared a glance.

    "Um, I guess they're in the common room..." Shinano guessed, causing Harry to nod and take a deep breath.

    "Well, let's go then," he said and started to march towards the half-open door to the common room. Shinano dutifully followed behind the boy, and a moment later they peeked into the room itself.

    It was quite full of destroyers. Fubuki, Mutsuki and Yuudachi were there, as were a number of other destroyers Harry had met, together with closer to a dozen unfamiliar girls.

    Those last caused the boy to pause in the doorway, and swallow. While the time he had spent in Japan had made Harry a lot less timid than he ha been while living in Little Whinging, a large number of unknown faces still made him nervous.

    Thus Harry continued to dither in the doorway. And since Harry wasn't stepping into the room, Shinano stayed in the lobby proper and shyly peered into the room and the over two dozen girls inside.

    Then Yuudachi noticed the boy, and quickly sauntered over, the grin on her face growing ever wider. "Harry-chan, what'cha doing here?"

    The familiar face quickly cleared away Harry's hesitation. "Yuudachi-nee! Mamiya made some melon pans for everyone." He then nodded at the large carrier standing in the foyer. "Shinano and I are bringing them here."

    Still grinning, Yuudachi opened the door fully, and then turned to face the room. "Hey everybody! It's like time for snacks!" she called out loud enough for the whole room to hear. Quickly, the chatter subsided and every head in the room turned towards the doorway.

    For a moment, Harry stared back at the girls, frozen like a deer in the headlights. Then Yuudachi grabbed his arm, and dragged him into the room proper. "To you all from Sasebo, this here's Harry-chan, Nagato's adopted son. He's like totally awesome, especially in the kitchen, so the buns are gonna be like totally sweet!"

    "Ah, these are actually Mamiya's..." Harry tried to interrupt the cheerful destroyer.

    Then Shinano stepped into the room behind Harry, and a shrill cry cut through the air. "SHINANO-SAMA!!??"

    In the absolutely quiet that followed the outburst, all the girls in the room immediately forgot Harry, as they turned to look at a brown-haired girl in a short white dress and large binoculars hanging from her neck. She was trembling like a leaf, staring at the huge carrier in the doorway.

    "Yu-Yukikaze-chan?" Shinano muttered, and with a wordless cry the girl in question jumped across the room to cling to the large carrier's neck. Utterly shocked, Shinano dropped the basket she had been carrying. It fell down with a thump, but somehow none of the buns in it spilled, despite how overflowing it was.

    "Shinano-sama! Shinano-sama! Yukikaze is...! Yukikaze is so happy to see you alive and well!!" Tears spilling from her eyes, the little destroyer squeezed at the carrier with all her might.

    Two girls, who had stood next to Yukikaze before the girl had dashed into the larger ship girl's arms, stared at the carrier with their eyes large. Both had uniform similar to Yukikaze's - although these two had skirts. One, a girl with long, straight and black hair, whispered to her platinium-haired friend. "Hamakaze, is that perhaps...?"

    The other girl nodded, and replied in a trembling voice. "Yes."

    The pair looked at each other and nodded, before quickly dashing to Shinano, and stopping right in front of the carrier to stare up at her.

    Shinano, still utterly shocked by the unexpected tackle, had hesitantly put her arms around Yukikaze. When she registered the two other destroyers, she stared at them with her mouth open and her face pale.

    "Shinano... This time we WILL protect you," Hamakaze said emphatically, before glancing at her companion. "Right, Isokaze?"

    The dark-haired destroyer nodded. "Yes, this time we will not fail."

    Then, while Yukikaze was still crying to Shinano's shoulder, the two ship girls almost reverently pressed themselves against the carrier's sides.

    "Ha-hamakaze? Isokaze?" Shinano managed to mutter through her astonishment.

    Harry, who had watched the whole exchange with a look of utter bafflement on his face, whispered to Yuudachi. "Yuudachi-nee, what's going on?"

    Yuudachi gave Harry a wry smile. "Old things, Harry-chan. Old, old, things. Let's... just let them have this moment, 'kay?"

    Hesitantly, Harry nodded, giving the four girls in the group hug a confused look.

    * * *

    Shinano, in her only sortie, had three escorts. Said escorts also participated in Leyte Gulf AND Ten-go. From that last battle, only Yukikaze came back. They were present when all three Yamato sisters perished, and thus might have some ISSUES regarding them.

    Isokaze's and Hamakaze's lines actually reflect this. Yukikaze's are more about her survival.
     
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    • Germans Teaching Science
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    • Harry Leferts

    At a clap, Harry turned his head to where there was a projector screen set up which was currently showing Prinz Eugen on it. However, currently Eugen wasn't wearing her usual uniform. Instead, she was wearing a black turtleneck and skirt that had a lab coat thrown over it. Closing her eyes under the goggles as she clapped again, Eugen smiled. "Okay, are you ready for our chemistry lesson?"

    Grinning, Harry nodded as he adjusted his own goggles. "Yup! Right, Natsumi-Chan?"

    The kitsune also nodded as she looked over the various things they had. "We're all ready."

    Still smiling, Eugen hummed a bit before gesturing to the side. "Now, I hope that you don't mind, but I'm having Hanna join us today for the lesson."

    Both ten year olds shook their head as they looked at the thirteen year old girl who seemed rather nervous. "No, Miss Eugen, we don't mind."

    Reaching over, Eugen gave a pat to her younger sister's shoulders. Said young girl had not awoken as a shipgirl yet, but she was slowly doing so and it showed, especially when she worked out at the gym and out bench pressed the adult humans there. At the moment though, she just waved at Harry with a bright smile. "Hi, Harry."

    With a wave of his own, Harry smiled back. "Hi, Hanna!"

    After glancing at Akashi, who had given them a corner of her workshop so that she could keep an eye on them, Eugen coughed. "Now then, today we're going to be having fun with chemistry. But, before we go any further, we need to make sure that we made all the safety precautions. Now, Harry, do you have the list?"

    Nodding, Harry held up the clipboard on which there was some paper. "Got it right here, Miss Eugen!"

    Once more, Eugen clapped her hands. "Wunderbar! And we got ours over here, don't we Hanna?" Her sister raised a similar clipboard at which Eugen nodded. "Right. Now let's go through the safety checklist point by point before move on, shall we?"

    Several minutes passed as Eugen called something out and both groups checked it and once it was done, Harry gave the small webcam a thumbs up. "Everything is all clear, Miss Eugen."

    Giving him a short nod, Eugen chuckled. "Excellent. Now, I heard that a few weeks back there was an incident on that island by Yokosuka were odd colored flames were seen, correct?" At the nods, she smiled and continued. "To that end, today's lesson is how to make colored flames of our own. In chemistry, this is called a 'Flame test' and can be done pretty often as different compounds or metals can produce various colors. This is because the heat of the flame excites the molecules involved and cause them to emit light, not that they burn."

    Eyes wide, Harry and Natsumi stared at her, meanwhile across the workshop, Akashi perked up a bit as the ten year boy grinned. "Wicked."

    With some laughs escaping from her, Eugen nodded. "Very wicked. And if we have some time at the end of the lesson, I'll even teach you how to make candles that give off different colors of flames or how to make wood do so. It's a rather neat little trick to say the least." She then moved off to the side and the camera at her end followed her until she was standing in front of a bunsen burner. "First though, we need a flame. Now, Harry? Natsumi? Take your places in front of your own burners and turn them on."

    Taking their spark igniters, Harry and Natsumi turned on their burners and then ignited them before adjusting. After they were done, they turned to see Hanna and Eugen do the same. "Now what?"

    Lips twitching, Eugen raised a finger. "Well, we got the flames and have adjusted them to the proper level. In front of each of your stations is small test tubes with the chemicals involved. We're going to start off with lithium chloride. Use your nichrome wire to take a small bit." Reaching into her own test tube, Eugen used her tool to take a sample before looking up at the webcam. "Now, you don't need very much for the reactions involved. Just a little bit will more then do us for the experiment."

    Slowly nodding, Harry and Natsumi took some before looking at Eugen with the kitsune smiling. "Okay, we got the samples, Sensei."

    Chuckling, Eugen then turned toward the flame. "With that done, now we test the sample by placing it into the flame, like so." Gently, she eased the sample into the fire which changed colors. "Now, this compound when we place it into a flame, burns with a very deep red, a carmine red."

    Both ten year olds watched with wide eyes as their own flames turned a deep red with Harry grinning. "This is so cool..."

    Just winking, Eugen smirked. "You haven't seen anything yet. We've got a number of different compounds and metals to test."

    It goes without saying, that Nagato found Harry having a candle that when lit had a green flame to be rather freaky until he explained how.
     
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    • Herb Gathering
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    • Harry Leferts

    Mist swirled around Harry's foot as he slowly picked his way along the ground, trees rising high above him. On one arm hung a basket which already had a collection of herbs in it before he stopped and looked at some mushrooms that were gathered around the foot of a tree trunk. Crouching down, Harry frowned as he examined them more closely. "Hmm..."

    A voice caused him to look up at the smiling face of Haru. "Trying to decide if these are the right kind, Harry-Chan?"

    Frowning, Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he nodded. "Yeah... are these the poisonous ones or not..."

    Slowly, the Miko raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you asking me or...?"

    With a frown still on his face, Harry shook his head. "No, I'm just thinking to myself." After a few moments though, he nodded and reached out to pluck them one by one before putting them into the basket. "There we go."

    Just nodding, Haru hummed before patting him on the head. "Very good, Harry-Chan. Those mushrooms can be used in various ways that I'll teach you once we get back to the base." Silent, she moved around him and crouched down so that she was closer to his own level. "You're doing very well so far. Knowing what you have, where you can find it, and how to get to it is very important. And when we get back to the base, we'll need to dry out what you found so we can use them over the winter."

    Letting out a sigh, Harry looked out over the forest with a thoughtful look. "It's a lot harder finding them then I thought."

    Haru just let out one of her barking laughs before nodding. "Yes, it usually is. Some people prefer actually growing the plants and fungi needed in gardens and greenhouses. However... I've always found that those that grow in the wild can be far more potent, if harder to find." She then placed her arms around Harry's shoulders before reaching out and grasping some moss. "One only needs to go through the trouble to search for such. It can also be dangerous if you're not knowledgeable in such things."

    Confused, Harry watched as Haru mixed the moss with some of her own herbs, crushing them together before spitting on the items to make something like a soggy ball. "What are you doing?"

    Whispering a few words over it, the kitsune then breathed on it before tossing it up into the canopy a short distance away. Even though Harry watched, it soon vanished into the leafy canopy before Haru began to guide him again. "Oh, not much. Just making sure that something won't be bothering us."

    Eyes wide, Harry looked up at the canopy and stared through the leaves. Not noticing the smile on Haru's face grow, he blinked. "There's... something there?" Then he narrowed his eyes as he looked around. "No birds or animals."

    Once more, Haru patted him on the shoulder and chuckled. "Yes, but it won't bother us now. However, it's good that you're slowly becoming better at realizing when something is wrong. That is a very good talent that you need to nurture. Now, let's just move on to another area, shall we?"

    Slightly nervous, the ten year old followed her lead as she guided him elsewhere. And so, he was not there ten minutes later when what looked liked a large head dropped out of the trees and landed on the ground, twitching as foam bubbled up from it's lips.
    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Leaning back against the rock, Haru let out a drawn out sigh escape from her lips before she pulled her hair back and let it drop into the hot water. "Lovely." Opening one eye, she smiled a bit at Harry who was also laying in the water. "Enjoying yourself, Harry-Chan?"

    With a hum, Harry nodded some. "It's pretty relaxing."

    Barking out a laugh, Haru gave him a toothy grin. "Using an onsen after spending a day crawling through the woods is always a good thing."

    There was a slight frown on Harry's face as he looked up at the darkening sky above them. "I don't know why we came back though so soon. I mean, Junyou-Oba taught me how to create light."

    For a moment, the Miko paused before she let out a sigh. "The woods can be quite dangerous at night, Harry-Chan. But these woods can be especially so due to their age. Many things can lurk in the darkness after all..." Pushing a finger through the water, Haru watched it before she looked up. "And we were fast approaching Ōmagatoki, the time of meeting of dark spirits and to be in these woods at that time can invite bad things to occur."

    His eyes widening, Harry stared at her and then at the woods he could see over the wall. "Re-really?"

    An oddly serious expression was on Haru's face as she looked out as well. "Yes, hence why I brought us back here even though we could have covered more ground. You are not yet ready to challenge such things yet." Then she moved until she was within reaching distance and placed her hand gently on his head. "But I wouldn't worry too much, you're safe within these walls and nothing around here would try to cause problems." Hearing footsteps, Haru glanced to see that the owner of the inn was checking in on them before he smiled and turned around. Behind him, a tail of a tanuki could be seen before it vanished back into his clothing. "No, nothing would take that chance."

    Seeing him relax, she nodded and waited until Harry spoke up. "So, um... what are we doing next?"

    Chin against her chest, Haru hummed a bit. "Well... first we're going to have some dinner and then lay down for the night. And then tomorrow, once day breaks, we'll pack up and then hike to the train station to catch the next one home to Yokosuka where we'll prepare the herbs and mushrooms we've gathered."

    It went without saying that Harry was somewhat surprised. "Really? That's it?"

    The kitsune only laughed. "Yes, that's it. But since you're somewhat disappointed..." She then smiled gently at him. "We'll visit a spring on the way that I know of from which we can gather some water, which can be highly effective in potions."

    Harry just nodded as he leaned back with a smile. "Can't wait."
     
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    • Shipgirl Airlift
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    • Harry Leferts

    Looking around the crowd, Harry blinked before looking down at Kaga upon who's shoulders he sat. "Is this really okay, Kaga-Oba?"

    In reply, the Carrier just glanced upwards at him and her lips turned upwards slightly. "It's fine, Harry-Chan. You're not that heavy anyways and this way you can see the plane arrive."

    A scoff caused Kaga to turn to the side at one of the politicians who was glaring at Harry before he noticed the level look from Kaga. After several moments, said politician grunted uncomfortably and moved away. Not even a second later, her radio crackled and she could hear Houshou speaking to her. {I really wish that you would not do that, Kaga-Chan.}

    Narrowing her eyes, Kaga just grimaced. {You know how I feel about the Ultra-Nationalists, Houshou-Okaa-Sama. The less I need to deal with them, the better.}

    There was another sigh over the radio and Kaga could see Houshou shake her head. {Despite some of their more... problematic views, Kaga-Chan, they are among our greatest supporters. We do rely on them as one of our bulwarks in the Diet and they do want to protect Japan.}

    For a moment, it looked like Kaga's jaw was about pop before she let the tension leave her with a deep breath. {Be that as it may, there is a reason why I said nothing and did nothing but look at him. Harry-Chan has done nothing wrong for their attitudes towards him.}

    Sighing, Houshou just kept looking ahead. {I agree with you, Kaga-Chan. But whether they dislike Harry-Chan for being a foreigner or not, we still need to work with them for now. Hopefully, attitudes change in time as we all work together more often in this dark time.}

    With a grunt, Kaga shook her head. {Something that I cannot wait to occur.} She also shot a glare at the Carrier by Houshou. {And as long as you keep Aso away from us, I shall be happy. At least with the Ultra-Nationalists I can chalk it up to pure ignorance.}

    Chuckling sadly, Houshou glanced at the Carrier beside her to see her glaring at some of the Americans before she placed her foot on said Carrier's and pressing down causing Aso to hiss and wince. {Still have not forgiven her for what she said about Harry-Chan then?}

    Just turning her head toward Houshou, Kaga replied with a simple answer. {No. And until she apologizes and realizes why she said in regards to him was wrong, among all the other things, it's good that you keep the two of us separated.}

    On her shoulders, Harry looked down with confusion. "Is something wrong, Kaga-Oba?"

    Humming, Kaga looked back up at him with a raised eyebrow. "No, nothing is wrong."

    It was at that point when Zuikaku saddled up to them and winked up at Harry. "Hey there, chibi. Ready to see the new plane coming in?"

    Rapidly nodding, Harry grinned. "Yeah, I heard that it's huge!"

    Seeing him hold his arms out wide, Zuikaku laughed. "Yeah, it's pretty big. But then it's supposed to be used to deploy us shipgirls with rigging to where needed here in Japan."

    That caused Akagi to look over at her from the other side of Kaga. "Really? I thought that with our weight included in our rigging..."

    Zuikaku only waved a hand. "Well, yeah, with rigging we weigh a lot. But the Pelican is supposed to be able to take it easily. And if it works..."

    Frowning thoughtfully, Kaga nodded. "During surprise attacks, that would be rather useful I suppose..." She then narrowed her eyes. "Have you heard anything from the Americans about it?"

    In reply, Zuikaku only tilted her head. "Well, I know that they've apparently been testing it with their own shipgirls as well. Heck, Colorado said it was a hell of a fun ride, though I would take that with a grain of salt considering who we're talking about there. Buuut..." Shrugging her shoulders, she shook her head. "We're talking about a joint project between us, the Americans, the Australians, and the Europeans. I'm honestly surprised that we got it this soon really."

    Simply nodding, Kaga and Akagi hummed before both perked up and Akagi brought a hand to her eyes. "I think it's about to arrive."

    Bringing a rangefinder that had been made into a scope, Harry looked through it and grinned. "I see it!"

    Just giggling at his excitement, Akagi looked up at him. "And the coordinates for the flight path?" After Harry told her his best guess, she nodded. "Very good, Harry-Chan."

    It was then that the plane came into view of everyone else and Kaga raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Rather large for an aircraft."

    With a scoff, Zuikaku smirked at her. "Well, it does use the ground effect to fly. And really, you should keep up better with developments in your old age-Oof!"

    As he watched her grab at her side where Kaga had elbowed her, Harry just shook his head with a sigh before turning back as the massive aircraft finally landed on the runway and came to a stop to cheers.
     
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    • Harry becomes Big Brother
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    • Harry Leferts

    When Harry woke up, for several moments he wondered if it was the typhoon outside that had done so. Then he felt something trying to get under his blankets and opened his eyes to find a shuddering Hoppou there. "Hmm? Hoppou?"

    Blinking, the little Abyssal flinched a bit at the lightning outside. "Hoppou no like storms..."

    For several moments, Harry considered this and was about to ask himself why she didn't go to Nagato when he remembered that she was out on a sortie. It was also at this point when he remembered that Hoppou must have spent most of the storms in the north with her fleet. Decision made, Harry held up his blankets. "Come on then."

    Eyes wide, Hoppou stared at him before quickly scrambling up to him, not noticing Harry flinch as she was actually a bit colder to the touch then a normal person. But then he brought the blanket over the both of them and held her in his arms. "Better?"

    Slowly, Hoppou nodded against his shirt. "Better. Hoppou feels not so scared now."

    Another burst of lightning happened and the dorm shook, but even though she squeezed her eyes shut, Hoppou opened them a moment later as Harry tightened his embrace. "Hey, it's okay, I'm right here, Hoppou."

    Tilting her head back, Hoppou just stared at him with her red eyes as the seconds passed. "... Hoppou wants to know something..."

    Just raising an eyebrow, the ten year old boy blinked and looked down at the Abyssal that was cuddled close. "Sure, if I can answer it, I'll do my best."

    Seconds passed as Harry only felt Hoppou breath in and out before she finally spoke up. "Hoppou wants to know if... if Harry is Hoppou's big brother."

    Harry blinked as the question caught him off guard and then looked down at her in utter confusion. "You want to know if I'm your big brother, Hoppou?" At her nod, Harry frowned as he stared at his wall in thought. 'Am I her big brother...? I mean, Mum has pretty much adopted her and she calls Mum... well, mum. And I think that I am older then her... so does that make me her big brother?'

    Not sure what to make of the silence, at least from Harry as the storm continued to range, Hoppou fisted his shirt a bit. "Harry?"

    With a shake of the head, Harry came back to reality. "Sorry about that Hoppou, I had to think for a moment." He then looked down at her to see Hoppou staring back up at him in curiosity, though he could see some fear in her eyes. "It's just... I never had a little sister or anything so..." Frowning, Harry hummed a bit. "Do you want me to be your big brother?"

    Confused by his question, Hoppou tilted her head some. "Does Hoppou want Harry as her big brother?" At his nod, she frowned before closing her eyes. "Hoppou... likes Harry. Hugs from Harry are almost as nice as from Hoppou's mom and make Hoppou feel happy and Hoppou likes hugs. Harry has also protected and been nice to Hoppou." Then Hoppou opened her eyes. "Being with Harry feels like when Hoppou spent time with big sister, Wanko. But Harry is a boy so it's a bit different, bit feels almost the same. And Harry is a lot like Big Sister."

    Somewhat amused, Harry smiled a little bit. "I see..."

    Then Hoppou looked up at him before closing her eyes and smiling. "So Hoppou would like Harry to be her Big Brother very much."

    Just chuckling, Harry grinned a little bit. "Then I guess that I'm you're big brother then." A moment later, he winced as Hoppou hugged him tightly. "Not... so hard, Hoppou."

    Loosening the hug, Hoppou blushed a little. "Hoppou is sorry, big brother."

    All Harry did though was pat her on the head. "That's okay... little sister."

    The smile on Hoppou's face was nearly bright enough to light up the room and Harry swore that there were sparkles around her and that he could feel the sheer happiness that came off her. "Hoppou is so happy!"

    Shaking his head, Harry's lips twitched before he kissed her on the top of the head. "Now that's all sorted out, how about we get some sleep, hmm? Big brother will watch over you."

    Her head nodding, Hoppou snuggled in with her arms wrapped around Harry and his around her body. Closing her eyes, she slowly fell asleep as she listened to his heartbeat as if it was a lullaby, the storm no longer bothering her.
    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Keys clattering together, Nagato opened the door to her apartment and entered only to blink at the now common sight of Rose making a cup of tea. From the smell, it was Nagato's favorite blend. "How...?"

    An odd smile on her face, Rose just tapped the side of her nose. "I had a feeling that you were about to arrive, Miss Nagato."

    Raising an eyebrow, the slightly exhausted Battleship just gave her a look. "... A feeling."

    Gently humming, Rose finished the cup of tea and brought it over to Nagato, that odd smile still on her face. "Yes, a feeling."

    Head tilted to the side, Nagato considered this before shrugging it off. After so long, Nagato had become used to the newest member of her household. She had seen, and experienced, much odder things in her life as both a ship and a shipgirl that this did not rank up there. At least this was nowhere near as odd as one time when she was being built involving a group of kawausu, oranges, and a scroll. "I see... and how was last night? Any problems?"

    Rose frowned thoughtfully as she watched Nagato sip her tea. "Not much, the little one did get scared, but she went to Master and, well..."

    Seeing the tsukomogami gesture with her head, Nagato placed her tea onto the countertop and walked over to Harry's door before opening it. The sight inside caused her to softly smile as there was a sleeping Harry protectively curled around Hoppou. Gently, Nagato closed the door with a smile, though she took a picture before she did so. Once the door was closed, she squeed a bit. "Kawaii."

    With a blink, Rose shook her head. "Indeed." She then paused with a lit to her voice. "Oh! And Master and the Little One have agreed that they're brother and sister."

    If anything, that caused Nagato's smile to grow before she took her tea and continued to enjoy it. "Mmm, that's good news in my mind." Getting a nod, she watched as Rose continued her work before raising an eyebrow. "And do you have any plans for today?"

    There was a soft smile on Rose's face as she nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes. I shall be helping with the cleanup alongside Haruna."

    Nagato just hummed at that as she remembered that though Rose was nowhere near as strong as even the weakest of the shipgirls, the tsukomogami was still stronger then what her stature would make one think. The memory of one incident that involved a drunk sailor who couldn't understand when Rose said she wasn't interested brought a smile to Nagato's face. After all the expression on the over six foot tall, muscular man when Rose easily picked him up off the ground with one hand and proceeded to lecture him on manners was hilarious. Especially when she began to wag a finger in his face like an English school teacher. Since the worst thing that the sailor had done was words, he was mostly let off...

    Mostly because the video was considered punishment enough.

    Just nodding, Nagato chuckled a bit. "Well then, I hope that you enjoy your day, Rose."

    The smaller woman just smiled at her before she began to brew some more tea, this time for Harry.
     
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    • Harry Being Silly
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    • Harry Leferts

    Leaves were falling from the trees as DesDiv6 walked along one of the park paths, only for Inazuma to stop as she noticed something. "Is that Hoppou-Chan over there?"

    As they looked in the same direction, the other three Destroyers noticed the Abyssal on a bench. In her gloved hands was a fallen leaf that she twirled back in forth in amazement. Suddenly, she looked up as Akatsuki shouted. "Hi, Hoppou-Chan!"

    Just blinking, Hoppou waved at the four as they rushed over. While some of the shipgirls were still nervous with the Abyssal around, the girls of DesDiv6 fully embraced her as a new friend as they had with Harry. Needless to say, it was not exactly uncommon to see Harry and Hoppou with DesDiv6 with Hoppou holding Harry's hand. "Hello."

    Coming to a stop, all four shipgirls looked around before Ikazuchi huffed as all they saw were falling leaves and piles of them. "Where is he?"

    Meanwhile, Inazuma just leaned over to Hoppou. "Um... Hoppou-Chan... have you seen Harry-Chan anywhere?"

    Head tilting to the side, the Abyssal nodded some. "Hoppou has seen big brother around."

    Raising an eyebrow, Hibiki frowned some. "So do you know where he is?"

    All Hoppou did was nod some before a sound caused Ikazuchi to look around in confusion. "Did you hear that?"

    Akatsuki narrowed her eyes and then shrugged it off. "Probably just something in the trees." Then she turned back to Hoppou and smiled. "So, do you know where Harry-Chan is?"

    Smiling, Hoppou nodded. "Hoppou knows where big brother is! He's being silly though."

    For several moments, DesDiv6 waited for her to continue. However, Hoppou just turned back to her leaf , twirling it around again. Finally, Ikazuchi coughed. "So... are you going to tell us where Harry-Chan is?"

    When Hoppou looked up though, she shook her head. "Hoppou can't tell where big brother is. Big brother told Hoppou not to tell anyone where he is." She then leaned forward and nodded. "But Hoppou thinks that big brother is being a very silly boy."

    Crossing her arms, Ikazuchi just huffed. "That's just like him."

    Just chuckling weakly, Inazuma waved one hand. "Harry-Chan's not that bad, Ikazuchi..."

    Once more though, her twin just huffed. "Sometimes though he's just such a boy." She then turned toward the white haired Destroyer. "Right, Hibiki?"

    Said Destroyer nodded. "Sometimes..."

    Then they all heard something and looked around, but before they could do anything, the leaf pile right beside Hibiki and Ikazuchi exploded upwards and both of them were grabbed and pulled back. "GRAH! LEAF MONSTER ATTACK!"

    Even though later she denied it, Ikazuchi squealed as did Hibiki as the arms around their waists yanked them back into the leaf pile. "EEEEEEEEE!"

    Waving her arms in the air, Inazuma leapt back. "Hwawawa! Something's got them!" Then she paused as she heard laughter and noticed who had grabbed them, Akatsuki stopping her screech at the same time.. "HARRY-CHAN!"

    Both Hibiki and Ikazuchi turned their heads and then blushed at seeing Harry laying back laughing as well as his arms around their waists. "You should have seen your faces!"

    Covering her face, Hibiki tried not to groan, as Ikazuchi facepalmed. "Really, Harry-Chan!? Really!?"

    Still laughing, Harry just nodded. "Yup!"

    Face still hidden behind her hands, Hibiki shook her head. "Not khorosho."

    Part of her though liked having Harry's arm around her waist though. However, a moment later, the air was driven from Harry's lungs as Inazuma leapt onto him. "That wasn't very funny, Nanodesu!"

    Harry just kept laughing and wincing as Inazuma shook him though. Meanwhile, Akatsuki looked at him and sniffed. "Not very gentlemanly."

    Within a few seconds though, Ikazuchi had grabbed her and pulled her into the pile of children. "Aw, come on!"

    Blinking, Hoppou just watched as Akatsuki complained. "Eee! This isn't very lady-like, Ikazuchi!"

    As the only answer was yet more laughter from Harry and Ikazuchi, Hoppou tilted her head to the side. When, a few minutes later, a breathless Harry laid there with DesDiv6 on top of him, though only Ikazuchi did not have blushes among her sisters, the Abyssal shook her head. 'Silly.' Then she hopped of the bench and picked up a pile of leaves before throwing them on top of the group to their shouts. "Very silly."
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Having dropped off Hoppou, Harry was walking alongside DesDiv6 with a grin on his face. "That was hilarious."

    There was a pout on Inazuma's face as she huffed a bit. "No it wasn't, Nanodesu!"

    With a frown on her face, Hibiki reached into the back of her shirt and grabbed a leaf that was there before tossing it to the side. "Not Khorosho."

    Ikazuchi snorted though and shook her head. "No way, Harry-Chan's right, it was hilarious!"

    Grumbling, Akatsuki shook her head. "That isn't the sort of thing that ladies do..."

    Just placing his hands behind his head, Harry shrugged before the group lapsed into silence. Seeing Inazuma try to say something only to fail though, Harry sighed. "So, uh... I was thinking of getting someone else, but you came along." Having gotten their attention, he scratched his nose a bit. "Uh... why were you looking for me?"

    Uncomfortable, Inazuma shared a look with her sisters before kicking a stone. "We kind of wanted to talk about... what happened during the sleepover."

    Mood dropping, Harry looked down at the ground. "Oh..."

    A moment later though, he blinked as Inazuma reached over and grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. On the other side, Hibiki did the same as Ikazuchi got in front and began to walk backwards as she looked at him. Arms crossed against her chest, the Destroyer frowned. "Why did you never tell us what happened before Nagato-San adopted you?"

    Shrugging, Harry tried to look away, only to see Inazuma looking at him with a kind expression. "We're your friends, Harry-Chan. And when you had that nightmare and... you know, told us what it was about and ran out in the morning."

    Now, if anything more uncomfortable, Harry grimaced. "I try not to think about it. I mean... it's the past, right?"

    Huffing, Akatsuki glared at a car. "It doesn't matter, Harry-Chan! They hurt you, and as real friends you shouldn't be afraid to tell us these things."

    What caught everyone's attention was that Hibiki spoke up. "Kaa-San knew, you know." With attention now on her, she continued. "Both about the dream and what happened before now... guess we woke her up."

    Ikazuchi frowned. "Cha! Yeah, I guess that Kaa-San would have known..." She then rubbed a finger under her nose. "But what happened to you makes me so angry! What kind of... of... relatives would have put you into a cupboard! Especially when they gave their son two bedrooms to himself!"

    Trying for a bit of humor, Harry gave them a brittle smile. "The Dursleys, I guess..."

    Just giving her sister a look, Hibiki frowned. "Well... they should hope that they never meet us... or Tatsuta-Oba-San. She had one of those smiles of hers on her face and asked Kaa-San if she knew where the Dursleys were."

    A shiver ran through all five of them before Ikazuchi shook it off. "Anyways, what we're trying to say is that we're here and that you can rely on us!"

    Nodding, Inazuma glared a bit. "Yeah! Especially with those meanie meanies! Nanodesu! How could they do such mean things to you, Nanodesu!? If I ever see them-"

    Akatsuki placed a finger against her lips and stopped her in her tracks, only to shake her head and look at Harry. "She did the same thing after you left."

    There was a blush on Harry's face as he tried to imagine it before shaking it off. "Thanks." Moments later, Harry blinked as all four members of DesDiv6 hugged him tightly which caused his worries of how they might think of him to vanish before he hugged them back. "Thank you so much..."

    Once they pulled back, Ikazuchi raised a fist. "Right! Enough of all this serious stuff, let's head to Mamiya's! Hot chocolates for all!"

    With cheers, they began to run as they followed Ikazuchi, Harry having the biggest grin of them all.
     
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    • Wanko Finds Out Hoppou Lives
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    • Harry Leferts

    She was angry.

    No, too small a word to describe her feelings at this moment. It would be like comparing a grain of sand to a boulder. She was furious with what she had been told.

    As she watched the Light Cruiser Oni leave, Wanko, better known as "Harbor Princess" by the humans and shipgirls, barely held back a snarl at the smirk on her fellow Abyssal's face. She knew it was from delivering the news she did. And she focused on that rage to keep the grief from overwhelming her. Hoppou...

    Her little sister Hoppou...

    Slain by the shipgirls. Her entire fleet destroyed and sunk. Oh, she knew that the others enjoyed her pain. After all, her and Hoppou were two that simply claimed a portion of the ocean and that was it. Neither had wanted to kill unless attacked. But now, Hoppou, dearest Hoppou... was gone. Part of her felt like she had her boilers ripped from her body and Wanko had no doubt that they expected her to soon wreak bloody vengeance on both the humans and the shipgirls.

    Oh, was she ever tempted.

    Unlike the others though, she was not about to lash out. First, she would check herself. With the wave of an arm, one of her subs submerged and began to go north. It would take time, she knew. However, she would know in the end.

    Now though... now was time to prepare as she deployed her rigging and looked at her own fleet. "Find me... resources. I must... build. Let the humans... and shipgirls... not see... until it is too late."

    Simply acknowledging the orders, her fleet went to the task as she stared out to see.

    A bloody, oily tear sliding down one cheek.
    _________________________________

    Yet again, Wanko was staring out at the ocean. She hadn't wanted it to be true, but it was. The Abyssal had seen through the eyes of her Submarine and seen the devastation of where Hoppou had lived. Dead Abyssals clogging the ocean floor as humans and shipgirls had crawled over the islands here. But none had seen her Submarine.

    It hurt.

    But despite the ever present rage, the pure, agonizing fury that powered her boilers, Wanko still did not lash out yet. However, the seas themselves practically frothed in the storms that were unleashed. She wanted to know exactly who she was first going to sink, to tear limb from limb. For that reason, and that reason alone, she waited and bided her time. Not because she was nervous. It was more because unlike her siblings, she understood what was needed first.

    And so, almost two weeks after receiving confirmation, Wanko walked deep into her lair. There, she entered her trophy room, ghostly light lit the shelves there. Slowly, she made her way along them until she stopped and plucked two items she needed for the one thing that, in her mind, put her above the other Abyssal Princesses and Demons. One, looked like a lighter. And the other was a simple ring. "Yes... it is... time..." For a few moments, she looked at the comparatively tiny items as she remembered where she got them. Shaking herself out of her memories, she soon left her trophy room and soon reached the ocean before turning toward a Re Class. "Wait... here... you keep... guard, Revina."

    Grinning, and showing a mouthful of sharp teeth, the Re blinked. "Okey-doky, Ma'am! And if anyone pokes around?"

    Briefly, Wanko paused and then shrugged as she slipped the ring onto her horn. "Do with them... as you will..." Ignoring the laughs, she soon slipped beneath the waves and made her way along the coast of Australia Eventually, she sensed her destination and made her way up a river into the interior, silent and unnoticed. Hours after she left her base though, she reached a bend in the river and walked out of the water. Night was already falling as she reached a road and stopped before looking both ways.

    Wanko waited though as two young boys on bicycles passed within feet of her, though neither noticed. Once they were gone though, she pulled out her lighter and carefully clicked it, several of the lights going out along the stretch of road. Then she strode across the road with a few steps to a gas station, though it was boarded up. That wasn't what interested her though, in fact, she could care less. What she wanted was in the box under the overhang. Opening the box, the Abyssal reached inside and pulled out the newspapers inside, some of them going back weeks as members of the town dropped them off to be picked up every two months. Flipping through them, Wanko frowned. 'Where is it...'

    One of the newspapers caught her eye and she gasped. There on the cover was Hoppou, a shipgirl beside her. Narrowing her eyes, Wanko began to read the story slowly as she sat down. She didn't even care about the cars that passed the old station as no one noticed her. It was past midnight when she slowly closed the last newspaper before tucking them into her clothes. Part of her was practically singing in joy. "Hoppou... alive..." However, the image of her beside the shipgirl floated up and Wanko's expression became a frown. "But... captured..."

    After a few minutes though, the Abyssal shook it off and then stood up and made her way across the road again, though she did click the lighter a few more times, releasing lights that once more lit up the road. And then she was back in the brush heading toward the river. It wouldn't be until noon that she returned to her base and she carefully placed the items back in her trophy room, though before she left, Wanko looked at the desiccated corpse in the corner and nodded. "Once more... thank... you..." Shaking her head, she left the room as she still could not believe the foolishness of some humans. Trying to sneak into her lair to kill her.

    However, she did enjoy the ring since it made humans ignore her with the lighter getting rid of their lights...
     
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    • Shinano's Commisioning Day
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    • Harry Leferts

    There was a look of pure happiness on Shinano's face as she looked around at the room. Part of it was because it was her Commissioning Day, another part was that everyone that she cared for was right there in the room with her. Both Yamato and Musashi had made sure to show up and the other Carriers had as well. The Carrier thought that the cake that Harry baked for her was one of the best she had ever tasted though. And much to her surprise, the Submarines had also shown up with presents. Shinano still did not understand where they found clothing that actually fit her or how they knew her measurements.

    It didn't help that she wasn't sure that she wanted to know.

    But now she was also opening other presents and blinked at the one from Harry before she closely examined it. Giggling at her actions, the ten year old grinned at her. "Aren't you going to open it up?"

    Frowning, Shinano pretended to think about it to smiles. "I don't know... should I, Yamato-Nee-San?"

    Yamato just grinned at her before ruffling her hair. "I, Yamato, think that you should."

    When Shinano then looked at Musashi, said Battleship just crossed her arms beneath her pagodas to draw attention. In reality, all it did was cause amused eyerolls though. "This Musashi agrees."

    Meanwhile, Harry just mock pouted before he reached over to it. "Guess I'll just take it back."

    Before he could reach it though, Shinano held it out of reach. "I'll open it, I'll open it!" There was a blush on her face at the smile on Harry's face as she slowly opened the gift, only to realize that it was inside a box. When she opened the box though, Shinano furrowed her eyebrows. "An Aircraft Carrier?"

    Leaning in, Musashi adjusted her glasses some as she examined it. "Hmm... it is a very nice model."

    Snickers caused them to look at Harry who walked over. "It's not just a model." Reaching over for the flight deck, Harry pressed something and a section popped up. "See?"

    Eyes wide, Shinano's expression brightened. "It's a clock!"

    Thoughtful, Akagi also leaned in and smiled while Shinano played with it, pressing the clock down into the flight deck and then flipping it open. "It's rather lovely... though I don't recognize what class it is."

    Harry just shrugged though. "I don't think that it's any specific class. But I thought that you might like it."

    Smile on her face, Shinano just pulled Harry into a hug. "It's wonderful, thank you." She then looked it over with a frown. "I'll just have to decide which of my shelves to put it on..." Gently, Shinano placed it to the side before clapping her hands. "Thank you, everyone. This... this really has been wonderful."

    However, Iku just shook her head and made her way over to the stereo and pressed a button. "Who says that it's done yet?"

    Grabbing Shinano's hands, Harry laughed as he pulled her to her feet as music filled the air. "Come on!"

    Face flushed, Shinano just nodded as a bright smile grew on her face as she let herself get pulled out to a clear spot. "I'm getting up, I'm getting up!"

    Still sitting down, Musashi just watched as Harry and Shinano swung their arms back and forth as they shuffled around, both of them laughing. Her and Yamato shared a look and then laughed as they both just continued to watch the party.
     
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    • Informational - Australian Sub Characterisics
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    • Finbar

    Refering to the comments about Australian Submarines.

    Now, History tells us that Australia didn't have any Subs during WW2. Not a one. They had 2 English WW1 O class subs which they got rid of in the 30's and a Dutch K class which never worked properly, thus never went to sea during the war...
    On the other hand, Freemantle (It's near Perth in Western Australia) played host to 122 US Navy Submarines, 31 Royal Navy Submarines and 11 Royal Netherlands Navy Submarines...

    Which led to this idea.

    The submarine fleet of the US Shipgirl Navy were known as incorrigible thieves. Their skill with break and enter, lock picking, pick pocketing, insider trading and other forms of theft were famous. If it wasn't nailed down, it was thought to be fair game and some of the girls carried crowbars just in case it was.

    On the other hand, there were a few others that were a little..affected..by their time spent in service in other nations. No more than the USS Growler, also nicknamed the Kangaroo Express. She, more than most sub's had spend rather a lot of time in Australia, both in Brisbane for extensive repairs and out of Freemantle before she died at the torpedoes of Shigure. Her fellow shipgirls knew her as a skilled Submarine, who was fearless in pursuit of her job.
    Yet, despite her very american attitude regarding most things, it was only once she returned that she could combine her two biggest thrills, getting up close to her enemy without them knowing about it, and then sinking them.

    Which led to this situation.

    "check it out!" Growler whispered to Seahorse. She was really quite pleased to be sent out with her old friend. They worked well together and knew how good the other was. Still, even so, Seahorse was looking a little nervous.

    "Thats a Light Cruiser Princess!" She whispered back, both were being as quiet as possible, despite being just below the surface and more than a mile away, they were taking no chances.

    "Yep! But it's destroyer escorts are way out in front clearing the way. Right now, she's waiting for them to report back before she moves on." The grin on Growler's face was manic.

    "Which means we can shoot now and scoot out to report it. If she notices us, we are in trouble!" Seahorse was clearly the more cautious of the two

    "Uhuh. Right now, she is moving up to the Marshal Islands. That means if we don't do anything, whoever is there is getting reinforcements. If we don't act now, they will be much harder to defeat and those Oni's are too fast not to be able to dodge. Someone needs to get closer." Growler was grinning, even as she nodded. "Which is why you are going to hang back, I'll sneak in and hit her with a spread, then, you give me five minutes and nail her from range. She won't be able to avoid the old one-two wolfpack attack!"

    Seahorse sighed but nodded and bumped fists with Growler, who then dove down a bit and started sneaking up on the Water Oni, who was oblivious to the danger approaching from her rear.

    Seahorse just shook her head as she lined up her shots, She'd have to be careful, but she planned a full six shot spread. Even if Growler didn't sink anything, her own spread would freak out the Abyssal and force her to break off pursuit. They'd thought up this technique during the war, and now it was time to test it. The only problem was... Growler had spent a lot of time in Australia. She had a disturbing fascination with getting far too close to disturbing animals and deliberately antagonizing them.

    Under the water, Growler grinned wildly as she pulled out a a torpedo and very carefully made some adjustments to it before she put her tools away and moved closer.

    The Light Cruiser Princess was sneering as she stood tall, looking north as she scanned for ... whatever she was looking for. So much attention ws she paying, that she hadn't notice the very quiet Growler. Quiet, except that she had an underwater camera out, mounted on her shoulder.

    "This here is a rare Light Cruiser Princess. Now, you'd best notice that she is a speedy devil, very fast and hits hard too. She has six inch guns and a surface Radar, which combined with her speed and Escorts, means she is death on legs in narrow zones like an archipelago. Fast enough to outrun the big ships, can turn tight as any destroyer and has enough fire power to ruin the day of any destroyers who go in to chase her. She's also got twin depth charge launchers, but she need to be really moving to use them safely. Luckily, she doesn't carry any torpedoes. This means she is custom designed for hunting destroyers and some cargo raiding too. On the other hand, she isn't nearly as dangerous to a submarine as her escorts and right now...the nearest one is about an hour to the north. So, I'm gonna stick a torpedo up her arse."

    Sneaking closer, Growler surfed with dreadful slowness behind the Abyssal, her slasher grin was broad, her eyes were wide with manic, sadistic glee and held in both hands.....was a torpedo.

    For the Light Cruiser Princess, the day was turning into an exercise in frustration. One of her beloved destroyers has caught the scent of a submarine, so she had let them off the leash to hunt it down, clearing the way for her. Unfortunately, they had lost it, she thought, or more likely, were driving it north, out of her path. Thus it was a great surprise when she felt a sudden pain in her....screws.

    "SURPRISE!!!!" Came an ecstatic voice right next to her ear, scaring the life out of her and causing her to leap into the air in shock as she turned to see what was going on, only for what she thought might be an American Submarine, in the brief fraction of a second she saw her, before Growler, wielding the torpedo like a baseball bat, slammed it into her head.

    The explosion of a detonating torpedo knocked Growler backwards, where upon she dove back underwater and started swimming down and away as fast as she could, leaving a very shocked Light Cruiser Princess with a gashed, bleeding and mangled face to gape in shock and rage, before the torpedo lodged up her..... exhaust vent.... detonated, breaking her keel and ending her life.

    The two submarines met up a few hours later, where upon Seahorse got the confirmation she feared.

    "You stuck a torpedo up her arse, on a timed fuse, them smacked her in the face with another torpedo?"

    "Yup. This report is going to be awesome. Best of all, I got it all on video!"

    "You do realise, Tenryuu will kill you if her DesDiv ever hear about this? Not to mention the ulcer the Admiral is going to have?"

    "Yup." Growler giggled. "This is going to be the best patrol report ever!"
     
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    • Hull Manifestation
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    • Harry Leferts

    "Mikasa-Sama, can we speak to you for a moment?"

    Blinking, Mikasa looked up from her cup of tea to see Yokosuka's Subgirls in front of her looking somewhat nervous. Even though she knew their reputation for being "Lewdmarines", she had little contact with them just the same. For some odd reason though, seeing them tripped her "Grandma Sense" rather heavily and told her that there was a source of amusement. "Of course, Dess."

    After she glanced at her fellow Subs, Iku cleared her throat. "We were wondering if you could teach us to manifest our hulls."

    Out of everything she had expected though, that was the last thing that she had expected. So slowly, and gently, she sat her tea cup down with a click. "Manifest your hulls?"

    Nodding, Imuya took a deep breath. "During your last sortie when you were escorting the inter-island convoy... I saw you manifest your hull. We checked and we know that your real one was still in Battleship Park the whole time."

    Slowly, the Pre-Dreadnought nodded before she hummed. "It could have been all an illusion though. After all, it's happened where someone looks to where a shipgirl is on the water with her rigging out and instead sees their hulls rather then their human form. That is what you might have seen..."

    However, Imuya narrowed her eyes. "Except when one of the ships were sinking, you were picking people up and bringing them onto your hull, so it was solid."

    Chuckling, all Mikasa did to their surprise was shake her head. "Well now, it seems that you caught me." With a stretch, she grinned widely. "So you want to know how Mikasa-Obaa-Chan did that, hmm?" At their nods, Mikasa hummed as she leaned against one closed fist. "I wonder why you would like to know how to do it. After all, all it is really useful for is to have normal humans be able to stand on your hull."

    A heavy blush on her face, Shioi looked slightly away. "... We have our reasons..."

    Just humming, Mikasa's grin became positively feline. "Would one of those reasons happen to be a certain someone? Perhaps a someone with emerald eyes?" At the bright red blushes on all the Submarines, Mikasa laughed. "I see..."

    With a frown, RO coughed. "So, um..."

    Taking some pity on them, Mikasa leaned back and considered the girls in front of her. "Hmm... it's not exactly easy to do so."

    Imuya straightened her back some. "We'll do it."

    For several moments Mikasa watched them with a serious expression on her face before she nodded. "I can actually see that. As to how... it's rather complicated and will take a lot of work on your parts. I don't expect that you'll manage it for some time though."

    Much to the Pre-Dreadnought's surprise though, Iku nodded. "Could you also teach Shinano?" At seeing the raised eyebrow, Iku looked somewhat uncomfortable. "I figure that she might want to learn it..."

    However, Mikasa slowly nodded as she made a thoughtful sound before suddenly she grinned. "Oh, I am sure that she would love to learn it. Perhaps even for the same reasons as you. I am rather impressed that you would like for her to learn as well." Making some more hums, she picked up her cup of tea and sipped it. "Perhaps I should even teach a class on it, for I am certain that more then a few of the others would like to learn it. For example... Chibi-Kon and Mutsu-Chan would love to have their Admirals deep inside them."

    Choking some, Hachi leaned back. "L-lewd!"

    All Mikasa did was smirk and snicker at their expressions.
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    With a smile, Harry set up the three bowls down onto the table and nodded. "Here you go, one of my specials! Chicken noodle and rice soup and..." Reaching over, he placed a basket down onto the table before adding a small tub of butter. "And some nice, warm bread rolls fresh from the oven! Perfect for a early winter meal."

    Drool was dripping from Akizuki's face before she clapped her hands together and closed her eyes. Then she opened them and took a sip of the soup before actually crying. "It's... so good..."

    Beside her, her sisters also nodded with tears in their eyes as the embarrassed Harry rubbed the back of his head. "I don't think that it's really that great..."

    Wide eyed, Teruzuki just gestured at the bowls in front of them. "N-not great!? This food is a gift."

    Hatsuzuki then gulped as she looked down at the dinner roll she had just bit into. "A... are you sure that this won't be a too a great a burden on our supplies?"

    In reply, Harry only hooded his eyes. "It's soup."

    Clapping her hands to her mouth, Teruzuki swallowed nervously. "We... we're running out of supplies again, aren't we? And this is... this is going to be our last good meal for a long time, right?"

    As he noticed that the other two Akizuki Destroyers were now looking at their food, Harry reached out and gently tapped each of them on their foreheads. "It's just some soup and we're not running out of supplies. We just got a convoy last week after all and another will arrive next week."

    Quickly, Akizuki looked back down at the steaming bowls of soup and then back at Harry. "A-are you sure?"

    Slowly, Harry blinked. "Yes, I'm sure." Then he gently ruffled their hair which brought smiles to the three sisters' faces. "Now, just enjoy your dinner, okay?"

    Once they nodded, he gave them one last smile and then walked off. After he was out of earshot, Hatsuzuki let out a soft sniff. "He's so good to us... and gives us such good, filling food."

    Taking a bite of a dinner roll, Teruzuki nodded as she chewed it slowly, making sure that it lasted. Meanwhile, Akizuki took a sip of soup and whimpered. "And there's so much food."

    With a sigh, Teruzuki nodded. "The future is truly wonderful..."

    Several minutes later, when Harry looked back, he could see the three sisters making sure to wipe their bowls with bread to catch every last bit of broth. Just shaking his head, Harry started to walk over with some pie so that this time they wouldn't forget dessert. How they could forget, he didn't know.
     
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    • Shimakaze and her sisters
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    • Harry Leferts

    Yawning, Shimakaze slowly opened her eyes and blinked as the room came into focus. Then she smiled at the feeling of arms around her and turned her head to see Karakaze there gently sleeping. If it was possible, her smile became even more bright at the sight of the dirty blonde Destroyer currently cuddled to her back. 'I'll never get over this... who needs speed when you have family.'

    A mutter escaped from the other Destroyer as she pulled Shimakaze closer. "Mmm... warm..."

    For her part though, Shimakaze was way too busy just doing what had rapidly become her favorite hobby besides trying to go faster. Simply watching her sisters sleep peacefully. Karakaze in particular looked a lot like Shimakaze, though her hair was dirty blonde and her eyes were reddish brown. Several minutes passed like that before Shimakaze looked around the Destroyer Common Room and smirked at the sight of all the other snoring Destroyers. She did roll her eyes though at the sight of Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki in the corner though. "Those three, Ou..."

    Then she turned her head and had to surpress a snicker at the sight of Harry cuddled with the Akizukis, though Hibiki had also stayed the night along with the rest of DesDiv6 and was currently sleeping on Harry's chest. All of which brought Shimakaze's mind back to why they were all there and her smile widened just a fraction. A yawn was heard though and she watched as Harry woke up and rubbed his eyes. For several seconds, he looked around and then spotted Shimakaze and Karakaze before nodding as he whispered. "Good morning."

    Just nodding herself, the Destroyer snickered as Hibiki began to grumble. "Good morning to you, Harry-Chan."

    Harry looked around and his eyes widened a bit. "Wow... last night was a big party..."

    Snickering, Shimakaze stilled for a moment when Karakaze grumbled before she fell back asleep. "Well, it was a Commissioning Celebration for my sisters..." It was then that she realized that the others were not around and blinked before relaxing as one of her fairies gave a report that they had left for a bathroom. "So, it would have to be big, Ou."

    As Hibiki was now somewhat awake, she sat up and looked around before looking at Harry. "Morning..."

    With a smile on his face, Harry went to get up. "Good morning." Before he could though, Teruzuki's arms tightened and then pulled him back into the cuddle pile moments before her sisters also grabbed him. Looking at them though, he could tell that they were asleep which made him blink. "Um..."

    For several moments, Hibiki just watched this before she shrugged and then cuddled back against his chest. "Khorosho."

    At the look he gave her, Shimakaze fought herself not to laugh. She did snicker though at the poor boy. "Sorry, Harry-Chan, too slow."

    Grumbling, Harry leaned back as much as he was able before sighing. "Could be worse, I suppose."

    Shimakaze only nodded at that before she felt a stirring behind her. "Onee-Chan?"

    Over her shoulder appeared the sleepy face of Karakaze who looked around, which Shimakaze smiled at. "Yes?"

    Mouth open in a wide yawn, Karakaze blinked. "Where's the others?"

    Chuckling, Shimakaze shook her head. "They went to the bathroom."

    The eldest of the sisters could see Karakaze considering this before she laid back down. "Oh." Softly smiling, Shimakaze turned until she was facing Karakaze and tightened the embrace which caused the sleepy smile on the younger Destroyer to widen. "This is nice."

    All Shimakaze did was nod as she stroked the hair of her sister. "You have no idea..."
    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Blinking in the harsh, winter sunlight, Rose turned away from the sun as she heard footsteps and smiled. "Good morning, Haruna."

    Haruna for her part just smiled back, though it was a brighter one. "Good morning, Rose-Chan." She then looked over the tsukumogami. "Are you ready?"

    Simply nodding, Rose adjusted her overcoat even as her breath fogged in the air. "Quite ready as a matter of fact." Walking up beside Haruna, the two of them began to walk away from the Battleship dorms. "I must admit though, I am curious as to where we are going exactly."

    Giggling, Haruna looked down at the smaller woman who only reached shoulder height to her at best. "Haruna is taking Rose-Chan shopping of course."

    Eyes wide Rose stared at her before she smacked her closed fist into her palm. "That's right! Christmas is on the way and I need to do some shopping for presents for Master and others." Hearing more giggles, Rose blinked and tilted her head some. "What is so funny?"

    Unable to help herself, Haruna pulled Rose into an embrace. "Because you're being silly. While we can get some presents, Haruna is taking you shopping so that Rose-Chan can get some items for herself. Such as more clothes."

    Her eyebrows raising, Rose blinked. "More clothes?" She then looked herself over. "Is there a problem with my uniform?"

    Slowly shaking her head, Haruna smiled. "No." Haruna then looked over Rose herself and hummed. "Haruna thinks that Rose-Chan looks very nice in her uniform."

    Frowning, Rose furrowed her eyebrows some. "Then why should I have need for new clothing?"

    As she shook her head, Haruna wagged a finger at her in mock disappointment. "Because having just uniforms is no good. But Haruna thinks that Rose-Chan would look very nice in some new clothing and that she should get some as well."

    Tilting her head, Rose furrowed her eyebrows before nodding. "I suppose that you may be right. Does that mean that you have clothing besides your uniform?"

    While she nodded, Haruna gestured with one hand. "Haruna actually has a number of clothes."

    For a moment, Rose tried to imagine Haruna wearing some of the clothes that she had caught other women wearing, especially in the modern day before blushing. 'Oh my...' Not for the first time, Rose puzzled under the odd emotions she sometimes felt before shaking it off. 'Perhaps it is because I awoke I was owned by Master's grandfather since my old Mistress had passed... and then owned by Master.' Ignoring the stab of pain at the thought that her previous owners were gone, Rose shoved the idea to the back of her mind before she caught sight of one of the soldiers on an early morning run. A sly smile caused her lips to turn up a bit. 'Hmm, I suppose that comes from my Mistresses.'

    Not knowing what was passing through her friend's mind, Haruna hummed as she continued to walk. 'Haruna is happy that Rose-Chan is coming.' Looking down at her, Haruna tightened the half hug some, though she was careful not to do so too much. She didn't want to hurt Rose after what had happened when they met. Though, that said, Haruna did feel protective of Rose. It was then that Haruna noticed that they were close to their destination. "Ah! There's Onee-Sama's car!"

    Looking up from her thoughts, Rose blinked and gave a sound of appreciation. "A Range Rover! Here in Japan?"

    Just nodding, Haruna's smile widened. "Onee-Sama found it on a trip to England and brought it back. Then she fixed it with us helping." She then reached into her robes and pulled out some keys that she twirled on one finger. Onee-Sama let Haruna drive it for today."

    Rose smiled a bit. "Very good, I do believe that I will enjoy this trip of ours."

    Brightly smiling, Haruna pulled her into a full on hug with her chin on Rose's head. "Haruna thinks so too!"

    All Rose did was blush though, yet there was also a smile on her face.
     
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    • Finnigan Family Pub
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    • Harry Leferts

    Flying along the dell, Seamus Finnigan looked around before landing and walking over to a shed. After a few more moments, he unlocked it and placed the broom inside before locking it back up. "There we go." With another look around, he walked home and through the back door in time to see his mother glaring at him. "Heh... hi Mum."

    The woman just scowled as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "And where were you now, Seamus?"

    With a nervous look on his face, the red head glanced toward the door from the kitchen where he could hear music and loud talking. "I was just taking a walk." At the narrowing of his mother's eyes, he held up his hands. "Honest."

    Slowly, his mother raised her eyebrow before crossing her arms against her chest. "So if I was to look in the broom shed, I would not find at least one of the brooms out of place then?" When he flinched, she sighed and rubbed the side of her head in exasperation. "What am I going to do with you, Seamus? You know why I told you no to using brooms during the day and what do you go and do?"

    Grimacing, the ten year old scowled. "Aw, come on, Mum. Nothing's going to happen and the muggles didn't see anything."

    Her expression now becoming stormy, his mother growled at him. "You are tempting Murphy to smack you, you are Seamus Finnigan! I did not go and raise no idiot of a son!" She then pointed outside. "The muggles have been noticing something strange flying around and the Obliviators have already stated that anyone caught is going to get a lot worse then a talking to. And then there's how you haven't been keeping up with your school work."

    Just sighing, Seamus looked away. "Come on, Mum. I ain't going to need any of that silly muggle stuff. Especially as I'm going to Hogwarts."

    All she did though was rub the side of her head. "What am I going to do with you..." Then to his surprise, she turned around and grabbed a plate off to the side and shoved it into his hands before pointing at the door. "Take that to booth 2-D."

    Looking from the plate to his mother, Seamus sputtered a bit. "But, Mum-"

    With a glare, she jabbed her finger into his chest. "Don't you 'Mum' me, Seamus. Consider this punishment for the stunt that you just pulled."

    Despite his glare, she wouldn't budge and finally, he grumbled and walked through the door. "Fine." Part of him though was disturbed by the sly grin on his mother's face. As he walked through the crowded room though, he waved at his father who was at the bar serving drinks to patrons, said man waving back. Upon reaching the booth in question, Seamus sighed. "I got your order..."

    However, at seeing who was in there, he gulped. At the same time, the Irish shipgirl Muirchú just grinned widely with her face flushed from the alcohol she had already consumed. Though Seamus still did not know where the ten year old looking girl put it all."Well now, as I live and breath, Seamus Finnigan. It has been a while..." Then she pouted some. "Some poor girl might think that you were avoiding her."

    Just gulping at the predatory looks on her and her companions, several Flower Class Corvettes, Seamus internally cursed his mother as he gave them a shaky smile. "You know that I wouldn't. I've been, uh, a little busy."

    Leaning against her fist, Muirchú just hummed in amusement. "I'm sure." Suddenly, the musicians began to play a song and she grabbed him. "Come here you! It's been a bit since we sang together." Clearing her throat, she began to sing. "FUCK YOU, I'M DRUNK! FUCK YOU I'M DRUNK! YOU POUR MY BEERS DOWN THE SINK, I'VE GOT MORE IN THE TRUNK!"

    At the same time, Seamus could see his mother smirking at him from the kitchen door as he flinched from the off-key singing. 'Sometimes I really hate, Mum...'
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Naka was checking various odds and ends when she heard Harry call out. "I'm ready, Naka-Nee!"

    Smiling, she turned with a chuckle. "That's great, I'm just getting the livestream set up..."

    Whatever else she was about to say died in her throat as she spotted Harry dressed as an elf. For several moments, she was making odd noises before Harry tilted his head to the side. "Is something wrong, Naka-Nee?"

    All Naka did though was shake her head. "No, nothing's wrong..." Meanwhile inside her head, she chanted the same thing over and over. 'Must not glomp the chibi. Must not glomp the chibi. Must not glomp the chibi. Must not glomp the chibi...'

    Once he sat down, Harry looked around in curiosity. Despite being a frequent "Guest" on Naka's show, he still found her studio to be rather interesting. "Um, where are we getting the music from?" Taking a deep breath, Naka pointed at a table which caused Harry to blink as he noticed that there was an band of fairies there with instruments. Several of them he could recognize as being from his mother and he waved at them. "Hi guys!"

    With a nod, one of Nagato's fairies waved back at him. "Desu!"

    Just shaking her head, Naka got up and sat down in her chair. "Anyways, they'll be providing the music. I got to admit, they're pretty damn good at what they do."

    Spinning the chair around, the ten year old boy just grinned. "Of course they are!"

    Out of the corner of Naka's eye, she could see several of the fairies give Harry thumbs up at the compliment before she shook her head in amusement. Then she looked down at the program. "Anyways, you got a good list of songs here for the carol episode... though I do have a question."

    Coming to a stop, Harry blinked at her in confusion. "Okay...?"

    Slightly frowning, the Cruiser pointed at one part. "I'm wondering why you're singing 'Silent Night' twice."

    For a moment, Harry blinked at her and then shrugged. "I wanted to do something nice for RO-Chan and Hachi-Chan, so I'm singing it in German."

    That caused Naka's eyebrows to raise. "German... really?" At his nod, she made a note. "Well, that's up to you." Naka then tapped another one and handed him the checklist. "Now, I've listed the songs that we're both going to sing, though most will just be you singing."

    Confused, Harry frowned a bit. "But... I'm not that great of a singer, Naka-Nee. Are you sure that you want me to do this?"

    Reaching over, Naka ruffled his hair. "I do. And you don't need to be great, Harry-Chan, trust me on that. And for my audience, they're going to love it no matter how you sing because it's different." She didn't say the rest out loud. 'Also, the cuteness factor and your accent will drive some of them wild.'

    Just blinking, Harry shrugged. "Okay."

    With a soft chuckle, Naka continued to take him through what she wanted to do with him as he nodded and listened.
     
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    • Naka's Past
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    • Harry Leferts

    Hearing the door open as she did some editing on one of her newest covers, Naka didn't bother looking up as she already knew who it was. "Here to pick up Chibi, Nagato?"

    For a moment, Nagato paused before looking to see where Harry was in a recliner asleep with a blanket wrapped around him. A soft smile spread across her face as she nodded some. "I am." Much to Naka's surprise, Nagato took a seat in one of her chairs which creaked under the Battleship's weight. "He seemed to have enjoyed himself actually."

    After some thought, Naka paused her work and turned in her chair as she looked toward Harry with a soft smile. "He did as a matter of fact. Once he got over his nervousness anyways." Getting up, Naka walked toward the small fridge she kept around. "Would you like something to drink?"

    Just nodding, Nagato leaned forward some. "I would as a matter of fact."

    Not even a minute later, she blinked as Naka handed her a glass of eggnog and gave the Cruiser a raised eyebrow, which caused Naka to smirk. "I like to get into the spirit of the holidays where possible." Watching Nagato sip her drink, Naka leaned back in her chair with one of her own. "Anyways, the Chibi had a blast and I enjoyed having him on my show. Thanks for letting him be on it by the way."

    There was a slight upturn of Nagato's lips as she nodded. "He's always enjoyed coming onto your shows, Naka."

    Both of them slipped into silence as they enjoyed the other's company until Naka let out a sigh. "You got some questions, I take it?"

    Nagato nodded as she placed the glass down onto Naka's desk, making sure to put it onto the coaster there. "I've... been wondering something for a while now and I suppose that this is as good a time to ask as any."

    Having already guessed, Naka gestured with one hand. "Go on."

    As she raised an eyebrow, Nagato let out a nod. "I've noticed that when Harry goes onto your shows, you always make sure that he receives some of the money that's made. I never wondered about it until fairly recently... but you give him an equal share of the profits of what you make from both your shows and what you sell from them that involves him."

    Simply nodding, Naka gave her a slight smirk. "And you're wondering why?"

    Leaning forward, Nagato placed her chin on top of one fist. "Well, after having mentioned it to someone it turns out to be very odd."

    For a little while, Naka just stared off into the distance before she quietly spoke. "Did you know that I'm was not summoned, but am a Natural Born?"

    That was a bit of news and Nagato sat up. "No, actually, I didn't."

    On Naka's face there was a thin smile before she snorted. "I'm not surprised, I don't make a big deal over it after all." Sipping her eggnog, Naka sighed. "Before becoming a shipgirl, my biggest dream was to become an Idol. To see people looking up at me for my music, for my acting, and so on. Growing up, I practiced and trained to be an idol, to make it big. I watched actual Idols in various videos and took notes, did research... did everything I could to make it happen."

    Frowning, Nagato narrowed her eyes. "What happened."

    While still staring off into the distance, Naka reached up to a picture on her desk and took it down. "Never did make it. Here." Passing over the picture, Naka tapped it. "That's me from before I became a shipgirl. I keep it to remind me of where I came from."

    Her eyebrows raising, Nagato looked down at the person in the photograph and felt her eyes widen as she compared it with Naka. While there were similarities there, the two of them also had major differences. "What was the problem?"

    Scoffing, Naka waved a hand around. "Lots of things really. Despite healthy diets and exercise, I was never able to get rid of the last little bit of fat. Nothing too bad, in fact I was a good weight for a girl my age and height. Also... I was too 'Headstrong', which meant I wasn't vapid. Skin wasn't absolutely perfect and so on. The Idol Industry is harsh. And I found out how harsh it was as at one audition just before I found out that I was a shipgirl that I got torn apart because I was, quote, 'Wasting their time over and over.'"

    At the bitterness in Naka's voice, Nagato winced. "Indeed?" At the nod, she shook her head. "At least your parents..."

    The Battleship trailed off as Naka snorted. "My parents did not support me in the slightest. They told me to go and get a real job, to give up on my dreams."

    With a thoughtful look on Nagato's face, she searched Naka's expression. "So that is why..."

    Naka nodded with a soft sigh. "That I will never stiff Harry on what he's learned? Or any of the other shipgirls that come on my shows or who I sell songs they sing? Yeah..." She stared off into the distance. "Everyone has dreams of what they're going to do once the war is over. Myself? " Waving at her equipment, Naka had a smirk on her face. "All this will build up my reputation, my funds, and build connections. Then I'm going to use this and change the industry. I'm going to take my success and build upon it until I crush those fucking bastards under it with them choking to death on their own bile."

    Eyes wide, Nagato leaned back some. "I see..."

    There was a gleam of dark amusement in Naka's eyes as she chuckled. "Did you know that after my first sortie, the bastards who tore me apart showed up and tried to get me to sign a contract with them?"

    Now narrowing her eyes, Nagato frowned. "No, I've never heard of this."

    If anything, the amusement in Naka's eyes increased. "They had somehow found out who I was and showed up as I was leaving the docks. I listened to them and then gave them my answer... for some odd reason they didn't like having a Oxygen torpedo dropped on their feet. Then the JMSDF got involved, especially their PR department." The Cruiser's tone then turned dryer then the Sahara. "It seems that they were even less happy then I was with them, though that could be due to them somehow having gotten a hold of classified information."

    All Nagato did was wince as she could easily guess how that went. Then she shook it off as she finished her drink. "Just the same, thank you for what you've done for Harry."

    Expression brightening, Naka winked at her. "Hey, like I said, I would never cheat the Chibi, I'm his Nee-San after all and Naka-Chan takes care of her family.

    For some reason, that amused Nagato and made her feel more at ease.
     
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    • International Politics with Dumbledore
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    • Harry Leferts

    Walking into Dumbledore's office, Victory blinked at the sight that met her. "Hey, Bumblebee, you're late for our get together."

    She could hear a sigh from the door that was off to the side letting her know that Dumbledore was in his quarters moments before his voice drifted out. "Most sorry about that, Vicky. However, something has come up and I am afraid that I shall have to miss it"

    Intrigued, Victory walked over with a raised eyebrow. "Oh? How so?"

    There was a note of tiredness in Dumbledore's voice and he soon poked his head out as he frowned. "Apparently, Belgium has called yet another meeting regarding the Statute and the current issues regarding it."

    When he ducked back into his quarters, Victory leaned over to look in. "I see..."

    On Dumbledore's face there was a thin smile as he shook his head. "No, I don't think that you do, my friend. Among other things, they're demanding yet more support for protecting themselves as their Ministry simply does not have the manpower to keep things secret."

    Snorting, Victory just shook her head. "You know my thoughts on the whole thing, Albus. Perhaps it was of use back in the 1600s, but it should have been done away with well before now. Especially with the Abyssals being a danger to everyone."

    Just humming, Albus looked over his choices and sighed. "And sometimes I find myself agreeing with you. However, others would need to be convinced and more then a few would much rather continue on the path that we were treading or worse."

    Victory grimaced a little bit at that. "Speaking of... how did things go with that pink toad?"

    Lips twitching, Dumbledore glanced at her. "Why, one would think that you did not like Madam Umbridge."

    Crossing her arm across her chest, Victory gave him a snort as her tone turned dry. "Whatever could have possibly have given you that impression, Bumblebee? It would not have been me stating that I was considering strapping her to one of my cannons and firing it after the last time we met."

    Eyes twinkling, Dumbledore shook his head. "Perish the thought, Vicky." He ignored her telling him not to call her that. "I believe though it was more the language you used."

    Her own lips twitching, Victory shrugged. "My language is positively clean for someone who has been rode as often and as hard by as many sailors as I have, Bumblebee. Or at least, that's how Consititution would put it."

    For several moments, the Headmaster just blinked before he shook it off. "Hmm... I see."

    At the sound of something skittering across the floor though, Victory looked around. "So, how long do you figure that it'll take you before the whole mess has been sorted out, yet again, until the next time?"

    Sighing, Dumbledore shook his head. "Possibly the better part of a week I am afraid." Much to Victory's surprise though, he held up two robes which looked like colorful, tie-dye versions of ship camouflage. "Which do you think would be the best?"

    Tilting her head, Victory pointed to the one in his right hand after giving the matter some thought. "That one, its more eyewatering and headache inducing."

    With a smile on his face, Albus nodded before tossing said robes off to the side. "Thank you."

    Following the robes flight, Victory boggled a bit at what happened next. "Bumblebee... what the hell..."

    Dumbledore looked over his shoulder and then smiled. "Ah, it's something that a former Muggleborn student of mine came up with. Most useful I must admit. Even presses and folds my clothing."

    Simply staring at the trunk, Victory shook her head as she watched it rush around on dozens of tiny feet. "Never thought of you as a Pratchett fan, Bumblebee."

    All he did was smile behind his beard. "You never asked, though they are rather wonderful stories."

    Highly amused, Victory just shook her head. "Quite."
     
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