Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Courtship Display VIII

Magical Diet, Magical Chiyoda, Tokyo
Spoiler: The Tokyo Diet

RCMMP Chief Superintendent and Auror Wei Ying walked past a group of four dozen protestors being kept away from the steps to the Diet by a line of hassled Aurors. As she skirted them, she sighed and could feel the tension in the air. The voter on the street was angry.

"Hm, that's new," she muttered to herself as she surveyed the placards and signs the protestors were waving with automatic habit from her decades as a policeman. "I wonder what that is about?"

She focused on one of the signs being waved showing a Nundu of all things chasing a rather fat politician in a red robe out of the Diet building in an endless loop.

'Political Nundu, The Protest Candidate That Can't Be Ignored?' Catchy slogan certainly and there has to be a story behind this. At least it beats the normal death threats against the local crop of village idiots.

At least the local hotheads were waving signs and chanting slogans versus thrown rocks or Blasting Spells. That never ended well in her experience, even if it was because your team had won the Cup. Or in the case of Vancouver in 1994, had lost the Stanley Cup in Game 7. She mentally winced at the memories of the riot.

"Auror Ying, is that you?" The expected shout from her left was right on time and she turned, her face showing clear 'surprise' at the sight of Delilah de Breuil dressed in a nice robe waving at her.

"Del, what are you doing here?" Ying's voice was clearly that of one old friend meeting another as she walked over to Delilah. "Your office said that you were on vacation when I called them four days ago to see if you wanted to meet up and talk."

Delilah grinned after they hugged in the middle of the square, ignoring the hustle and bustle around them, which no doubt included a few snoopers. "Well according to Accounting, either I burn my vacation time backlog by heading out of the office, or they will hire a Hit Wizard to get me to use it. It is making them look bad."

"Ahh, I see," Ying commiserated, "well this is a working vacation for me. The ICW wants to have me help the Aurors here track down Colombe du Chasteler since I'm the subject expert on her. Nasty piece of work that she is." Mischief glittered deep within Ying's dark grey eyes as she continued in that grave voice, "Ottawa also wants my observations of the mood here, unofficially."

Delilah grinned smugly, "I know exactly what you mean. I'm supposed to meet a friend here for lunch. If you want to tag along and meet her, I'm sure that she would be a useful person to know."

"I think that I will." Ying's voice was thoughtful, showing no indication that she and Delilah had planned this 'accidental' meeting all along. "I am just spinning my wheels until they develop a few leads. Damn du Chasteler has that nasty habit of causing trouble then dropping off the face of the planet before we can track her down and capture her."

Delilah nodded as a witch in her 30s approached them and adjusted her glasses. "Konnichiwa de Breuil-san."

Delilah turned and bowed in greetings. "Konnichiwa Miyata-san. May I introduce my classmate from Ilvermorny, Chief Superintendent of the RCMMP Auror Wei Ying?"

Ying bowed in turn and spoke in slightly accented Japanese "Konnichiwa, Miyata-san. Your government called me in to assist with the manhunt for the criminal Colombe du Chasteler. I'm the ICW expert on her and for my sins I was the one to construct a suspect profile for her. I was just speaking with Delilah-chan about our observations of Japan." Ying chuckled as they began to walk toward the primary Floo exit portal. "Ottawa likes to be kept abreast of events, and they generally are interested in the same thing the Yanks like Delilah-san are."

Delilah grinned. "You are just still sore I led Thunderbird to victory over Horned Serpent in our class's final House cup standings. But yes, I always like to hear your observations, since you are quite insightful for a Canuck from the frozen North. What's that saying, ahh yes, The RCMMP Always Gets Their Being."

"Indeed we do," agreed Ying, "Although some chases are harder than others. I miss fieldwork, honestly. I'm half inclined to request to go out and see what can be seen alongside the locals. I really am led to believe that du Chasteler might try a strike at a second Reserve before too much longer." She put her hands behind her neck and cracked it.

"Tell me about it! I miss getting a chance to do fieldwork like we did back in the 1880s against the White Lotus Triad up and down the West Coast. Instead I am suffering from Bureaucrat's Bottom and Swivel-chair Spread. I never should have agreed to take that promotion to my office." Delilah agreed with poorly-hidden wish for a field assignment once more. Come into my parlor and take the bait Naomi Miyata.... With that she rubbed her lower back to work out a knot.

Naomi nodded slowly, her mind whirling behind the polite mask. "I see... perhaps you would like to join Delilah and I over lunch and we can discuss that? I know some people in the Civil service who can perhaps assist you with processing the paperwork to do a check on a few Reserves alongside my inspection tour. We are as interested as Auror Wei is to catch du Chasteler-san, if for no other reason to demonstrate that the mistaken perceptions of governmental incompetence are the results of a few bad apples. Surely you have some?"

Ying grinned, "Oh my yes. Jock, oh you don't know him, Miyata-san. He was Auror Shaw back then and my junior partner before a possessed Canada Goose took off his leg. He wound up assisting Minister Wojcik in Magical Creature Handling and the last time I spoke to him, he told me about Councilor de Santis' granddaughter deciding to fall for a loup-garou she met at a hockey game...."

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

Azabu Tansumachi Tenryoan, Roppongi Grand Plaza Second Floor, Tokyo

"Thank you and please come again!" The manager's bow was quite abject and the unwritten addition "But not too soon, preferably after I retire so you will be the new guy's problem!" was as clear as if he had spoken it.

Ying and Delilah both returned the bows and walked out of the steakhouse. "That was a good meal. Even better that we were not interrupted this time. So, now what after I put in the request to join her fact-finding surprise inspection as an ICW rep checking to see if du Chasteler plans to attack the reserves alongside you so we can report to New York and Ottawa?" Ying mused.
Spoiler: I called WHO?

Delilah grinned smugly. "Now you get to meet our aunts and make the social rounds." She pulled out her phone and dialed a number.

"Moshi moshi? Mou, I'm onna phone!" A soft childish voice came over the speakerphone. Delilah's smug look was replaced with dawning horror.

Delilah spoke firmly like she was addressing a small child. "Kyoshu, call Umi to the Phone please." The revolver crossed her fingers as she made her request.

"Umi-chan! Telephone...wait why am I holding the phone, Moshi moshi?"

"Kyoshu, it's Delilah de Breuil. Call Umi to the phone please?" Delilah spoke with forced patience in her voice.

"Umiiii! Telephone! Wait, mou.... Moshi moshi?" Delilah facepalmed.

After the sixth iteration of 'telephone', a new voice that sounded like nothing so much as a harassed mother of two joined the game. "I'm here Kyo-chan, just give me the telephone? Moshi moshi."

Delilah muttered "At last!" silently. "Aunt Umi, I'm in the area and was hoping to drop by. Ahh is Akutoku there?"

"No, she's with Chisuheri. I'm trying to get this potion order done and you caught me adding the sarugami fur to the mix." Umi spoke, "I don't suppose that you can watch Kyo-chan and Nameless?"

Delilah bit her lip. "I can as long as you don't tell Akutoku I'm back in Japan."

"I'll see you at the family house then. Ja ne!" Umi's voice was that of a prisoner who had just gotten a pardon.

"Right, we will need to Floo to Kyoto..." Delilah started to walk and stopped dead. "Ying, what's wrong?"

The dao looked at her with a slightly maniac shocked look. "Your father's family is Japanese?"

The revolver nodded, "All us Muramasas are Japanese of some form. I'm Japanese-American. Sis is Japanese-Belgian and so on."

Ying turned white as a sheet.

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

Yokosuka Public Library
Spoiler: Hachiko and Moriko

(This one is the 'main' Hachiko/Moriko theme)

Hachiko Miyata smiled at Moriko Ibuki as his girlfriend came to the check-out desk with an armful of books. "Moriko-chan! Thank you for coming by when I called."

The unawakened natural-born Okami shipgirl gave a toothy grin at her boyfriend. "I couldn't resist visiting my Hachiko-chan." She leaned over and Hachiko gulped at the visible cleavage in her keyhole neckline blouse "What's up?"

He walked from behind the counter and guided her to a private reading room. "Yesterday, I found these in my pocket after work," He pulled out a pair of coupons to the Chojukan ryokan hot spring inn that were marked 'buy one night, stay for a weekend!' and handed her them, "but, I can't possibly afford to go. As much as I want to take you to it. So please take them so Sachiko-san can visit with the boy she likes?"

Moriko's heart fluttered as she realized that he was giving up his chance for a romantic getaway with her to make her crippled baby sister happy. Then her jaw firmed. "Hachiko-chan. I know that you wish to make your own way, and not rely on handouts, and I respect that. I know that you distrust good fortune that falls into your lap like these romantic couple's getaway coupons, and put your brother and others needing you first and I love you for it. But I want to see you spend some time upon yourself too."

She placed the tickets on the table. "I will buy one night at the ryokan for two. I will also ask Suzume-chan to babysit Aki-kun so you have time for yourself. She owes me for some things so she will agree to host him for the weekend and help him with studying. In return, will you use these to pay for the other two nights in an Onsen?"

Hachiko closed his eyes and nodded slowly. "I have a little money that I can take with me for train fare and perhaps some shopping? It... Has been a long time since I have had anything resembling a vacation."

Moriko leaned forward and caressed his cheek as she stared through his glasses into his eyes. "It has been too long for me. I have money from the JMSDF so if we find some bargains, we can get some souvenirs. I wonder who will provide a bento to eat on the train though?"

Hachiko smiled brilliantly as he gazed into her eyes. "I can prepare bentos for us, Moriko-Chan. Weekend after next?"

Her return smile lit her face up. "Weekend after next once I ask for vacation and speak to Suzume-chan, Hachiko Chan."

Their lips met in agreement and they melted into each other's embrace.

In a distant office above a literally divine karaoke club Ame-no-Uzume the Alarming Heavenly Female's sunny smile widened noticeably as she checked a relationship status upgrade alert on her phone's apps.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

A folded, somewhat worn shirt was added to the other clothes within an old gym bag before it was zippered shut. Straightening, the young female wolf Yokai looked around the room, "Well, that's about it..." Looking at the bag, she sighed, "Hard to think that, well..."

From where she closed an old backpack, her sister nodded, "Hai, Karen-Nee. All our things, all that we own, can be summed up in two old school backpacks and one gym bag." A knock at the door made her turn, "You can come in."

Moments later, their witch friend as well as the two Nekomata followed her in. A small sad smile on her face, the lone human gave them a wave, "Hey, we're just finished up." Seeing the looks, she tilted her head, "You okay, Karen-Chan? Mami-Chan?"

With a small shrug, Mami shook her head, "Hai, we are, Izumi-Chan. Just.... thoughtful, you know? This? This is an end of an era."

Just walking over to the bed, Izumi sat down and looked at the small, cramped room that she had shared with the two wolves for the past nearly ten years. There was a lot of memories tied up in the foster home after all for all of them, and, glancing at them, she smiled as she was reminded that the two wolf Yokai had been her close friends even before that, "I suppose that it is." Suddenly, Izumi grinned, "But then, we got something to look forward to!"

Confused, Karen cocked an eyebrow and gave the Human a look as she crossed her arms over her chest, "What do you mean?"

Lips curling into a smirk, Izumi gestured first at Karen and then at Mami, "Well, think about it for a moment. For all these years we've been like sisters to one another, since we were toddlers. And now? We're going to become sisters for real once we become shipgirls as we're all from the same class."

Expression brightening, Mami nodded, "That's right!" Giggling, she grabbed hold of Izumi and hugged her, "We're going to be sisters for real!"

Unable to help herself, the witch giggled and hugged her friend, and soon to be sister Ship, back, "I know!"

Only shaking her head at the two of them, Karen turned to the two Nekomata who seemed happy for them, "So, how are the two you doing, Megumi-Chan? Kokoro-Chan?"

Shrugging, Megumi smiled a bit as her ears twitched, "We're doing pretty good to be honest. Kokoro-Chan barely got any sleep last night." Poking her twin, she grinned, "The worrywart."

Lightly blushing, the other Nekomata poked her fingers together, "Sorry about that..."

Ruffling her hair, her sister shook her head, "See what I mean." She then adjusted her own gym bag, "Anyways... we're all packed up. Guess after this, we're going to be living on the base in our own dormitories."

Karen gave a nod of her own to that, "Hai, that is true..." Frowning, she ran a hand along the now empty, and beat up, dresser, "As odd as it is, I'm going to miss this place." Shoving her hands into the pockets of her worn jeans, the wolfess sighed, "Though that may be due to how all the brats will reaction without their Onee-Sama here to keep them in line."

Softly snickering, Mami waved her off, "I think that Oba-Chan can deal with them. And we can always visit, especially as..."

Glancing at the door, Megumi frowned, "We'll be bringing money from our pay checks here to help support them." When she looked at the others, she nodded as they did the same. After all, the Hachishakusama who was in charge of the foster home really was like a caring aunt to them all, and they wanted to help her out. She had taken them in along with other orphans and cared for them.

Which was not too surprising when one knew how Hachishakusama Yokai came about. Like Hone-Onna, they came about from a woman who died. But in this case, the woman was often a mother who either lost her own child or had become separated from said child. Thus, causing their transformation after death. Some were bad, being so driven with recovering their child that they would steal ones away. But their Oba-Chan was one who instead took in those without parents, raising them.

And they were thankful for that.

Heck, they could remember one incident years back when the Abyssals survivors who from those who had attacked Northern Ocean Princess had made a run for the coast. A Nu-Class has come ashore and was going to kill the youngest when the Hachishakusama who took care of them appeared and proceeded to rip it limb from limb for threatening them. Because of that, and how she cared for them, the five of them had decided that they would try and find their Oba-Chan's sons, who had disappeared after a landslide had killed her having saved their lives at the cost of her own. And after her death and transformation, they had disappeared into the system. And now, they had the resources through the JMSDF to find them.

That said, at the moment, the five friends all took a moment to take in everything.

With that done, they all stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind them. Sighing, Karen gave a nod, "And that is that I guess. At least this gives Oba-Chan more room." Bag slung over her shoulder, she looked at Izumi, "So do you have everything, Izumi-Chan?"

In reply, the witch lifted up what looked like a small chest, "Right here." Izumi smiled a bit, "The JMSDF already stated that they're going to help me learn magic. No more trying to learn myself from second hand books since we didn't have enough money for a tutor or to send me to one of the smaller schools."

Frowning in thought as they made their way along the halls, the Yokai nodded before Kokoro spoke up, "Aren't they reopening Mahoutokoro this year though? That is what I heard anyways."

However, Izumi shook her head, "Even if I was not too old to go, there is the issue of being a shipgirl. So I won't have time for it. And I am not going to leave you all in the lurch like that. Not now, not ever."

All the others did was nod at that with smiles. Reaching the bottom floor, they found the Hachishakusama who had cared for them practically in tears as she looked at them, "Oh, you five..." Walking over, she pulled them into a hug, "I am so proud of you, even if I wish that you could just stay here safe and sound. Promise me that you will be careful and take care of each other..."

Tightly hugging her back, Karen nodded, "Hai, we all promise, Oba-Chan." Her ears turned to where she could hear the sound of tires on gravel. With a deep breath, she looked at the others before moving back a step, "I think that is our ride."

When they got outside, they found that there was a small bus there with Akebono at the wheel. The Destroyer walked out with a smile and nodded, "So, ready?"

Blinking, the Hachishakusama frowned as she furrowed her eyebrows, "I am sorry, my dear. But why a bus? A car or perhaps a van would have been sufficient."

Rather amused, Akebono crossed her arms, "The Shitty Admiral figured that all of your would want to be there. And before you ask, the food is free for you on base and you can stay the night. There is also a full functioning bathhouse there as well."

Jaw dropping, the tall Yokai stared, "I... That is..." Looking at the now hopeful children, she smiled and shook her head, "Okay, children, gather some clothes and we'll go with your Nee-Sans." Happy gasps met her and the other children rushed inside. Turning, she gave a smile to Akebono, "Thank you, Akebono-Sama. We appreciate this."

Akebono simply waved her off, "Don't worry about it, we don't mind it at all. And if the Shitty Admiral had not so, we would have forced him to."

Humming, the Hachishakusama nodded, "I see..." Leaning in, she gave the shipgirl a closed eye smile, "Please do not use such language around the children though."

Somehow afraid, Akebono took a step back and waved her hands in front of her, "Um, yeah, sure... won't say that around the kids..."

Upon arriving at Kushiro, meanwhile, they came across a surprise in the form of a number of unexpected shipgirls. The first sign of which was Karen being pulled into a glomp as the shipgirl in question giggles, "Imouto! Panpakapan!"

Muffled mumbling could be heard from the wolf Yokai as she wondered what was going on. A moment later though, she was thankfully free as Atago went and glomped Mami with the same cry. Blinking away stars, Karen shook her head, "What just happened?"

A sigh made her turn to find a bemused Takao there along with Choukai and Maya. The Heavy Cruiser bowed a bit to both Yokai as well as the witch, whose face was currently being smothered in Atago's chest, "You will have to forgive Atago-Chan. She is just happy that we have new sisters."

Letting go of Izumi, Atago brightly smiled, "Hai! We got new Imoutos!" She then nodded to them, "I am your Onee-Chan, the Heavy Cruiser Atago!"

Only shaking her head, Takao also bowed, "And I am the name ship of our class, the Heavy Cruiser Takao."

Adjusting her glasses, Choukai smiled, "Good morning, Nee-Sans, I am the Heavy Cruiser Choukai."

The last of the Heavy Cruisers grinned widely and jerked her thumb at herself, "And I am the Heavy Cruiser Maya! But I'm better known as Maya-Sama!"

Off to the side, the two Nekomata stared a bit as the Heavy Cruisers closed on to talk with their new sisters. Then, they blushed some as they met the gaze of the Yamato sisters. For her part, Kokoro lightly blushed as she bowed to the other Battleships, "Um, good morning?"

Gently smiling, Yamato bowed back, "And a good morning to you as well, Nee-Sans. It is good to meet you."

A frown on her face, Megumi furrowed her eyebrows, "Nee-Sans? But... we're not Yamato class... not really."

It was not, however, Yamato who answered them. But, rather, that was when Musashi spoke up in her rumbling voice, "You came from the same series of design studies as us, it a different design. Thus, as far as Onee-Sama, this Musashi, and the others are concerned? That makes you one of us."

That brought a blush to both the Yokai's faces. One that deepened as Shinano gently hugged them, "It is good to meet you both."

Not too long after found them walking towards the Summoning Pool with Karen tilting her head, "Wait, something happened with the awakening of another magical ship?"

Frowning, Takao nodded, "Hai, it was just yesterday. The one awakened as an Onmyouji and it turned her into a Kitsune. So, we're unsure what might happen."

For a few moments there was no reaction, but then, both wolves turned and looked at a stunned Izumi. They tilted their heads and Mami smiled, "I think that you would look nice with wolf ears and a tail, Izumi-Chan."

Beside her, Karen grinned, "Hai, we'd be needing to beat guys and girls off of you then."

Pouting, Maya turned to her sisters, "It just is not fair. My boyfriend would love it if I had the fuzzy ears and tail. They got it, and Ashigara has it, why can't I?"

However, that only got her laughter.

 

[darthcourt10]

MagisterAurelius

Lonely Street 7 – The Not-so-Lonely Street

So from here on, my Lonely Street Snips are wrapping into the ongoing Ship of Fools. For reasons that should become readily apparent.

-0-0-0-

The mornings after 'Dalt Smash Mode' being activated were never a painless experience for Dalt. This morning's pain was welcomed however, because it confirmed that last night's torrid love-making with Kiho was not a dream. For once he did not wake up alone, but with his lover. His angel had reinforced that it was no dream, for upon kissing him good-morning and hearing his groans of pain, she had left the bed and returned with the Advil bottle. He had still gotten out of bed though, Kiho had some work to take care of, and Dalt knew that Yonehara and Ooyodo would want to debrief him of yesterday's events.

So it was with a smile on his face and a song in his heart when Dalt stepped into the Admiral's office building. He notified the front desk and sat down in the foyer to wait. It didn't take long before Ooyodo stepped out to admit him into Goto's office. Inside, Ooyodo walked back to her desk, while Goto, Yonehara, Ashigara, Takao and the local priestess of the shrine Haru Ono remained seated in various chairs.

"Master Chief, thanks for coming in so early. What can you tell us about yesterday's events?" Goto asked with his hands folded in front of his face.

Dalt described everything in detail until he reached the point where he burst through the wall. "I'm assuming of course that you watched the GoPro footage, that can show my actions far more clearly than my personal perspective, Admiral."

Everyone shifted so as to view the footage being projected onto a briefing screen. Ashigara was the first to speak as the beginning scenes were of the abduction happening at the gate of the base itself.

"These morons were filming the whole thing?"

Dalt chuckled. "So this must be Japan's equivalent of 'Florida Man' then."

Yonehara just facepalmed. "I've seen things, and this? This takes what I thought was the bottom of the pit, but they've started digging."

As the footage progressed to Imada's monologue of what he had planned for Kiho's demise, Dalt frowned. "Okay, if I had heard that, Kiho calling me off from killing him would have been much harder." His comment got him some looks, but he shrugged it off as everyone's attention became riveted once Dalt's dynamic entry started. The rest of the video was viewed in slack jawed silence by all except Dalt and Takao, who had seen the important bits in real life.

Haru was the first to speak, "YOU!" She pointed and stammered, "J-Just how? You shrug off some of the darker curses I've seen, one very impressive blasting curse and an Unforgivable curse, yet you just walk it off?"

"My resistance to magic and my freakish tolerance for pain happen to be something I was born with. At least that's what my grandfather told me was the result of the experiments my birth-mother did on herself while pregnant with me. She apparently injected mixed infusions of dragon, nundu and re'em blood to mix in with the amniotic fluid while I was gestating in the womb."

Haru's features became more bestial as she shouted in rage. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS SHE THINKING?"

Dalt calmly responded, "My mother was a dark witch attempting to have a child immune, or at least highly resistant to magic. Her family supposedly possessed some artifact with an interesting curse. The artifact would only work in the hands of someone of a magical lineage, but the curse would cause any magical attempting to use it to slay their entire family and then themselves."

"Okay, that's one way to keep anyone from using something like that," Yonehara remarked, "but what about someone non-magical getting their hands on it."

"The curse wouldn't take effect on a no-maj, since they couldn't use the item in the first place. But since I would be a child of two magical lineages, but immune to magic, to my mother's mind that made me a skeleton key to a rather lethal lock. There are drawbacks. I can't be magically healed for one, have to heal up broken bones and such the old fashioned way. While I can shrug off a lot of pain, I will usually feel it the next morning. In fact, Advil is the only reason why my pulled muscles aren't screaming right now."

"So your birth-mother's family is still in possession of whatever this device is?" Admiral Goto leaned forward.

"Probably not. They ended up in a nasty three way fight between themselves, a MACUSA squad of Aurors and a band of Neo-Nazi Scourers. It was bad enough that only a handful of the Aurors walked away from that fight, and they promptly looted the family compound. I really doubt they would have missed something like that." Dalt shrugged. "And it's not like I ever knew any of them. My paternal grandfather had made sure that my father raised me the moment I was born."

"At least there's not a sealed-evil-in-a-can just waiting for anyone to pick it up. Something I don't need to worry about then." Goto looked a little less stressed and leaned back.

Haru spoke again, "And then there's the matter of you beating magical creatures to death Longstreet-san. The Boogeyman incident and now a Nundu. Where on earth did you learn to do these things?"

Dalt leaned his head back in thought. "Mostly from my grandfather and his circle of friends and war buddies. Most of my family on that side were members of the Order of Hermes so grandfather knew lots of the weak points on magical creatures that someone with no magic can exploit to take them down. And what he didn't know, Old Man Van Hellsing taught me and my brother the rest."

Dalt stopped in thought and looked at Haru. "I do have a question for you Haru-san. That Nundu didn't seem to be any tougher physically than a mundane big cat. Non-magical big game hunters have been using big game rifles for over a hundred years to take down things like that. Why haven't the mages caught on?"

Haru could only mutter something about common sense and the lack thereof in mages, then the debriefing ventured into what Dalt could recall about the Order of Hermes, what he could recall about his grandfather's activities in Indochina and any other tips on handling magical creatures while being non-magical. Three hours later, Dalt was able to arrange for Kiho to have a temporary base pass that would allow her to stay with Dalt until more permanent living arrangements could be made. Once he had accomplished that he grabbed a quick lunch and took a walk downtown and did some shopping.

-0-

Dalt smiled at Kiho as she entered the main base gate. He held her hand as they walked towards his house. "How did your meeting go?"

"It went very well. My client was extremely pleased with the results of my investigation. How was your day?"

Dalt grinned, "Nothing too strenuous. Just debriefed the Admiral about yesterday. Oh, and I picked this up for you." Dalt handed Kiho an official ID pass for the base. "It's a temporary base pass and ID until more permanent living arrangements are made."

Kiho stopped and looked at it in shock. "Dalt, this means.."

"That you can stay with me, until more permanent living arrangements are made." Dalt's eyes danced as he brought her knuckles to his lips and kissed them.

They had continued walking and finally entered Dalt's home. For the first time in years, Dalt could actually taste the flavor of his own cooking as he and Kiho talked and ate. When night fell, this time he needed no coaxing to the bedroom.

In the morning he awoke to a smiling Kiho in his arms. "Good morning my dear."

"Good morning Dalt darling." Kiho purred in his ear as she embraced him. They lay there holding each other, languishing in the comfort of their entwined bodies.

"Kiho Mitsue," Dalt met and held her gaze with his, "do you know that you have saved my life? These past two years I've been in a very dark and lonely place. So much so, that until I met you, I was waiting for an Abyssal barrage to walk into and not come back out. And then I met you. For the first time in years someone wanted me, made me feel needed. You pulled me from the pit of despair. I love you Kiho Mitsue," Dalt paused as he pulled a small box from underneath the pillow and opened it, "and will you marry me?"

"YES!" Kiho exclaimed and then she kissed him deeply.

About an hour later

Kiho held out her hand, staring at the gold band on her finger in wonder. Dalt hugged his fiance closely and murmured, "I thought to take you shopping for the official ring, to get one the style and stone that you want, but I wanted to have something to ask you with so.."

Kiho stroked his cheek. "We can also go to a magical jeweler and just pick out a stone. Then the jeweler can use magic to make the ring what we want. This is the first ring you put on my hand Dalt, I will not replace it with anything else."

-0-0-

Later in the day, Dalt found himself at the computer in his home. He opened up Skype and placed a video call. He smiled as it was answered by a young teenaged girl who was tying her long blond hair back in a ponytail.

"Uncle Dalt!"

"Hello Nimue. How's my favorite niece been?"

"I'm okay, a little nervous about this summer to be honest. But! More importantly Uncle Dalt, normally we call you, is something wrong? That can't be it. Wait a minute! You're smiling Uncle Dalt!" Nimue's expression went from pensive to suspicious in an instant. "Mom says you're never happy, what gives?"

"Is Flynn home? Or is your dad off on a 'trip' again?"

Nimue snorted at Dalt making air quotes. "Yes, Daddy managed to break out of the basement again after Mom had chained him up after the last time."

"But I imagine you could probably connect to him on Skype right?"

"Wait, you want to talk to Daddy? Are you hiding something? You aren't sick are you Uncle Dalt?" The blond girl turned her worried expression away from the screen.

"No! No, I'm fine. I'm doing great Nimi. I haven't felt this great in decades. I'm not sick so you don't have to worry. No, it's time I stopped being angry and reconciled with Flynn."

"..." Nimue peered at the screen intently, then she covered her mouth in shock and nearly squeed. "Omigawd. You're getting married! But wait, who is she and why haven't you said anything before now?. Not cool keeping secrets Uncle Dalt."

Dalt facepalmed. "Ugh. Yes, I'm getting married. Her name is Kiho, and I literally just proposed to her this morning."

"Well alright then, I forgive you."

"That makes no sense. Just, could you please connect your dad?"

"Oh, alright. You men are all alike. So demanding. Never take the time to talk about important things like weddings, if the favorite niece is even invited to said wedding, when does the favorite niece get a little cousin to babysit, you know, those sorts of things." Nimue stuck her tongue out at the screen.

"Haha Nimi. When I actually know stuff like that my favorite niece will be the first one I call."

"Well then, I guess your call is being connected now..."

After about thirty seconds the screen split and Dalt's brother Flynn joined the call.

"Hello Nimue, why did you have to call... oh holy shit. Dalt."

"Flynn. Did I catch in flagrante delicto again or something?" Dalt smiled disarmingly.

Flynn blinked several times. "Okay, I'm awake and there was nothing funny in the scotch. But my older brother just had my daughter skype me, and he's smiling and cracking unfunny jokes. What the hell?"

"I thought it was time to actually talk to my troublesome little brother again. After all, between his work, his mistresses, and his wife, he might just start a dumpster fire and not have me around to bail him out of it."

"Har-de-har-har. Yeah I started many a dumpster fire when we were young, but you were the one who in 'cleaning up the mess' turned those into used tire yard fires! Wait a minute. You're chuckling. Holy shit. Dalt. YOU GOT LAID!"

"Better than that Daddy! Uncle Dalt's getting married!" Nimue helpfully interjected.

"Shit. Fuck. When?" Flynn had actually fallen out of his hotel room chair and was staring at the screen in shock. "Seriously, when is it? I've got an honest to god tutoring job in England over the summer and I'm taking Nimue along to meet her birth parents and her twin sibling."

"Like I told Nimi, I just proposed this morning. I'll let you know when I have more than that."

Flynn looked off in thought. "Well, hey, depending on what date you set, if it is in the summer? I'll ask Lucius if he would allow you to use the grounds or the manor for the ceremony and reception. Malfoy Manor is a pretty big estate, and has that English wedding charm if that's what your fiance might be into. But it would be a pretty big if."

"Depending on things I'll keep it in mind I guess?"

After that, the brothers and Dalt's niece caught up on all the family news and drama that been long accumulating during the silence between them.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Having gone through the purification ritual, the group of teenagers found themselves on floating platforms that sat in the summoning pool. As they watched one of the Submarines climb up the ladder since she had anchored them, Karen shook her head some as she softly muttered, "I can't believe that we'll be working with someone like that."

Mami glanced at her sister and shook her head, "Um, maybe they're not all like that?"

Lips pressed thinly, the other Wolf Yokai shook her head, "Better not all be like that." Her eyebrows twitched a bit as the Submarine reached the top of the ladder and bounced... and not entirely on her feet, either, 'Okay, serious? What the fuck...'

Arms crossed, Megumi had a small smirk on her face, "Well, there is that one shipgirl, uh... Settsu, I think they call her." As one, they turned to where said shipgirl was, "Not sure how she got the clothes of that one American shipgirl, New Jersey, I think."

Softly snickering, Izumi shot her an amused look, "It was hilarious to see her reaction when Oba-Chan told her no swearing around the kids. That shut her up right quick."

For her part, Kokoro only shook her head before the Nekomata turned her attention to the cheap Yukata she wore. It was well made for all that it obviously did not cost very much, "I wonder where they got these? We could buy some for the others..."

Head tilted to the side, the older of the two wolf Yokai gave a nod, "We'll have to ask."

Before anyone else could say something, the sound of someone asking for their attention made them turn. There, at the end of the pier, stood Tanaka. On his face was a small smile as he nodded to them, "Are you ready?"

With one final look among them, Karen gave a thumbs up, "Hai, Teitoku! We're all ready!"

Just nodding, Tanaka motioned for the ceremony to begin. Unlike down in Yokosuka and elsewhere in Japan, the Admiral had a Ainu spiritual leader there alongside a Buddhist Monk and a Shinto Priest who all worked at the Ritual of Awakening. As they continued, the platforms that the five girls stood on began to rock back and forth, yet they managed to stand straight. Slowly, the water around them began to glow with it spreading upwards over their bodies.

Holding up a hand, Kokoro had a slightly awed look on her face as sparkles slowly rose from it even as the light began to shine brighter and brighter, 'Oh... wow...'

Each of them began to squint against the light and their last sight was of their "Little Siblings" looking at them with excitement, worry, and awe. As well, the Hachishakusama had clasped her hands and was looking on with pride along with some worry. Inside their chests, they could hear their hearts thundering and feel the blood rushing through their veins. The whole time, they could feel themselves become more and more powerful, like a balloon being filled with energy.

Finally... it reached the crescendo of the ritual and they could feel the brief moment of time when their hearts just stopped..

They had just enough time to realize what that meant, and also know that their hearts would never again beat. Then, that moment was past and they could feel their turbines fire and come roaring to life as pure power surged through them pushing them beyond what they could have had as mortals. They could feel their Yukatas disintegrate and new clothes form around them as their rigging manifested and platforms exploded beneath them from their new weight.

Meanwhile, everyone else waited with baited breath as the light around the Yokai and one witch exploded outwards into sparkles that drifted past them. As it cleared, there were the five of them now shipgirls. More than one eye widened as they noticed that the girls look at each other. With a deep breath, Karen stepped forward. Like Mami and Izumi, she had a white, double breasted coat in a naval style that lead down to a skirt and leggings. At her side was a sword. With a salute, she smiled, "Takao Kai Class Heavy Cruiser, Fuji at your service. Just leave everything up to Onee-Sama."

She gave a wink to everyone as Mami stepped forward with a soft smile, "Takao Kai Class Heavy Cruiser, Sakurajima, at your service."

It was then that Izumi also stepped forward and took a deep breath, though unlike the other two, she had blue in her uniform. Such as a blue bow tie at her neck, "Takao Kai Class Heavy Cruiser, Kunimigaoka." She glanced towards the kids watching in awe and winked, "Your Onee-San is now ready to head out and kick Abyssal stern."

Mad giggles met her at that as some of the kids cheered, alongside Atago who was jumping up and down. Forcing his head away, Tanaka could feel the slight glares from Akebono and Kasumi before they started to glare at the jumping Heavy Cruiser, 'Right...'

Now looking at the other two, he could see the older of the two Nekomata smiling and whispering something to her sister. Both of them were dressed in similar clothing in the form of Kimono style tops and skirts, though Kokoro's exposed some of her side while Megumi's exposed some cleavage. Walking forward a few steps, she placed a closed fist against her waist and grinned, "Hello, I am the Battleship Yashima, first of the Yashima Class. And don't worry, Oba-Chan, I'll take care of my Imouto."

Walking a few steps forward, her sister nodded with a slightly shy smile on her face as the cat mask on the side of her face caught the light, "And I am the Battleship Tsukushi."

Up on the pier, Tanaka only smiled at them before giving his own nod as did the other shipgirls who began to clap.

Not long afterwards, Karen finished climbing the ladder which groaned slightly under her weight, followed by the others. With a small tilt of the head towards Tanaka, she turned to the other foster children and the Hachishakusama with a grin, "Hey guys! What do you think? Your Onee-Sama is about a hundred times more awesome!'

Giggling young Yokai rushed forward and hugged her around the knees and waist. Unlike previous cases though, she was not knocked back in the slightest. Karen did look up as the Hachishakusama walked up and smiled at her as she looked her over, "You look very beautiful, Karen-Chan..." Briefly, a frown crossed her face, "Or is it Fuji-Chan, now?"

Lightly laughing even as she easily picked up two of the kids and set them on her shoulders, Karen grinned, "Thank you. And it is Karen, always that for you, Oba-Chan." She reached up and poked one of the Itachi on her shoulder and got giggles, "And for you bunch as well."

Cheers met that before some of the kids went to embrace their other "Onee-Sans", who in their eye had just become far cooler and more awesome. Said newly awoken shipgirls gently hugged said kids and either placed them on their shoulders or had them hanging off their necks. But all of them were grinning and laughing. Kokoro spotted the Hachishakusama giving her a slightly frown and blinked, "Um, Oba-Chan?"

With a blink of her own, the giant woman shook her head, "Sorry, Kokoro-Chan. Just..." There was a small grimace on her face, "Do you need to wear such clothing?"

Slight blush on her face, Kokoro tried to adjust her top some, "Sorry, Oba-Chan... I don't think that I can."

That only got her a sigh from her adopted aunt before the woman smiled just the same before turning to Tanaka. For his part, the Admiral shrugged helplessly, "I honestly do not know why the girls get the outfits that they do. But better than some...'

Considering that, the Hachishakusama sighed, "Yes, I suppose so..." She then tilted her head, "What comes now?"

Just scratching his chin as he hummed, Tanaka gave a small nod, "The normal operating practice would be to bring them to the office and give them a small briefing. But... I already took care of that yesterday. I assume that they told you some of it?" Only nodding as they walked, Tanaka continued, "For the most part, they're going to be sent down to Yokosuka for training after a day or two for them to settle into their new existence. Once down there, training will start right away."

For a few moments, the giant woman frowned and chewed her lip, "They... they will be taken care of, won't they?"

Lips curling into a smile, Tanaka nodded slightly, "Yes, they will. There are two others down there that will be getting trained alongside them as well. So they will be well taken care of, you have my word."

Maya gave a loud laugh before jerking her thumb at herself, "Don't worry, Oba-San, for my new Nee-Sans, I'll give them the best training possible. And you can count on the Great Maya-Sama to manage it!"

Sighing a bit, Takao shook her head, "Maya-Chan, we're all going to pitch in, as well as Ashigara-San. At least until Atago-Chan heads back to her girlfriend and boyfriend."

Heavily blushing, the Heavy Cruiser in question waved her hands, "A-Alaksa-Chan is not my girlfriend! And Cameron-Kun is not my boyfriend! He's Alaska-Chan's!"

Adjusting her glasses, her final sister nodded, "Yes, Takao-Onee-Sama, Atago-Nee-Chan is not boyfriend and girlfriend with them." A sigh of relief escaped Atago, but before she could thank her, Choukai continued with a slight smirk, "She is still in denial after all."

With a groan escaping from her, Atago hung her head and her shoulders slumped, "Not you too, Choukai-Chan... Panpakapan..."

Bemused as the other three sisters joined in on teasing an increasingly flustered and embarrassed Atago, Mami giggled some and shook her head. Turning to Izumi, she smiled a bit, "How are you feeling, Izumi-Chan?"

The witch tilted her head some in thought and clenched her fist as she walked, ignoring the giggling young male Kitsune that hung off her back, "Hmm... powerful. But also a bit disappointed."

Eyebrow raised, Megumi gave her an odd look, "Disappointed? Why?"

In reply, Izumi pointed at her head with a slight smirk, "No wolf ears." Then she pointed behind her, "And no wolf tail."

Looking over her shoulder, Karen grinned, "Yeah, that is a bit disappointing. Would have loved to see you with them as it would have been awesome." She then shrugged and shook her head, "But I guess that is just how it is."

One of the girls on her shoulder tapped her head, "Onee-Sama? Um... you got a sword?" At the nod, the young Yokai continued, "Can you use it? Like, cut bullets and stuff?"

Unable to help herself, Karen shook her head, "No, I don't think that I can cut bullets. But..." Looking at the blade at her lip, she became thoughtful, "I think... no, I know that I can use a sword?"

From where she was walking, Settsu grinned before speaking in a passible imitation of Jersey's voice, "Ffff-" Seeing the Hachishakusama look at her, she changed gears, "F-fudging right. Us shipgirls can use the freaking skills of our crews. So if at least one knew, then you would too."

Eyebrows furrowing, the Heavy Cruiser frowned in thought. After a few seconds, Karen nodded, "Hai, some of my crew knew how to fight. And one of them was taught by a Muramasa no Norimune? Huh."

Raising her hand, Izumi shook her head, "My Captain was trained by a Masamune no Tokunotakai."

When they looked to where Mami was, she gave a sheepish grin, "My XO was trained by Tokunotakai-San as well. But, um... one of my Engineers and two of my gunners were friends who joined up and..." Thoughtful, she gave a hum, "They were from a group of children rescued from the fires of the Great Kanto Earthquake by a woman who called herself Masamune no Musashi? And she taught them some basics over a few weeks to keep them busy while she attempted to find their families or someone to care for them."

That got a raised eyebrow from the Battleship Musashi, "They met someone named Musashi?"

Slowly, Mami nodded, "Hai. Apparently she was the spirit of Miyamoto no Musashi's own blades. From what they tell me, because of all the kids who went to the same orphanage joined up to do her honor."

Just tilting her head, the older of the two Yokai Cruisers hummed, "Huh, wonder if that blade is still around then... And who else might have crewmembers trained by her."

Those listening only nodded as they wondered themselves.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Operation Ehren's Reise (I) [Journey]

Castle Moulbaix, Belgium

Colombe sighed and adjusted the cast on her left arm. Getting seriously wounded was never fun, in her experience. Even if being at home with To-chan, her daughters, and Kasuyu to take care of her was better than....

For a brief instant a memory from almost a century in the past struck her with the force of the kick from Fudo that had turned a fifth of her ribcage into shattered bone splinters.
Spoiler: The Mill on the Meuse

The gasping screams of the gas victims from the attack two days ago as they coughed up the bloody froth that was their lungs. The sickening smell of gas gangrene as wounds swelled and corroded in the filth and despair of the overworked dressing station. The frantic pleadings of the seriously wounded man next to her who had just been marked ne pas évacuer and was to be carried out of the stinking, blood-soaked dugout that had been turned into a makeshift hospital for the mangled victims of the Mill on the Meuse to be abandoned outside to make room for another from the endless stream of broken men. And worst of all, the infernal thunder of the hungry guns endlessly roaring, stabbing her ears with their call that it was a matter of time before the next shell would blow her to pieces as just another anonymous corpse rather than just hammer shrapnel into her like this near-miss as the world went mad and consumed its own people endlessly and hungrily....

A stabbing pain in her right hand as her broken and splinted fingers shifted brought her out of the half trance of the terrible memories of the Great War locked in the depths of her soul where she never wished to return to and she focused on concerned blue-green eyes as Toku entered her room with a tray of food.

"Co-chan, what is wrong?" The Masamune said in a worried voice at the look in Colombe's eyes as she placed lunch down on her bedside table.

Colombe took a deep breath. "I was just remembering," she sighed deeply, her haunted eyes distant as she continued, "the past. Every time I'm injured, can't run, it all seems to catch up with me." Her lips curled in a sad smile, "Lyra always told me that I was a terrible patient for her when I kept coming back to her side to be nursed back to health."

Toku nodded and handed a glass with a straw for Colombe to sip from. "You share that with Fudo-nee."

"How is Fudo?" Colombe asked as she was handed a ham sandwich after finishing her drink.

"Sleeping now, I expect that she can return home in a day or two." Toku responded. "I would prefer to see neither of you as my patients in the future." Her voice gained a subtle edge.

Colombe winced with a hiss of pain. "I'll do my best, I promise. No guarantees To-chan. Not with my luck." She sighed. "I just wish there was something productive that I could do. Well apart from one thing. Can you track down Ehren and ask her to speak to me? You too, of course since I'll need a witness. Tell her to get the package that my lawyer prepared last November from my study and the one that I ordered to get sent here last week."

Toku nodded and after making sure Colombe could reach the rest of her lunch, headed to find the dagger.
Spoiler: Marching Orders

Shortly afterward, Ehren entered with a document folder in her hand alongside Toku. The dagger snapped to attention. "You wished to see me Mutti?"

"Mmm-hmm." Colombe took a bite of a blood orange and muttered, "Not sure what Aunt Juuchi sees in these things. They taste terrible. Anyway, I had planned to set up a trust fund for the Fujii family to provide for them. Both on the magical and non-magical side of things. So pull up a chair."

Ehren complied. "Yes, you had discussed that with me when you and Toku returned from Japan."

"Good. Nice to see Fudo didn't rattle my brains as badly as I thought." Colombe waved for Ehren to hand over the documents and then a pen from her vanity. "Lawyers are such wonderful things and worth their weight in the precious substance of your choice. Anyway! Back before I left for Japan to track down Father, I made the arrangements to make you the executor of my estate with the power of attorney over my affairs, Ehren." She began to flip through the paper, initialing as she went.

The dagger's steel-blue eyes widened. 'M-me, Mutti?"

Colombe pointed the pen at her youngest daughter. "Yes, you Ehren. You are the most trustworthy, loyal, and honorable person I know. Furthermore Kasuyu really does not have your head for business and Claire...she would turn Moulbaix into a giant recording studio and music store."

Mother and daughter both chuckled as Toku smiled. "Regardless, you have the power to conduct affairs on my behalf and my name while I'm incapacitated. Which I am currently between the shattered leg, the rest of the broken bones and other damage, and most importantly, giving my sworn oath to Ying to not travel more than thirty kilometers distance from Moulbaix without permission until my case is cleared. Which presents a problem since I need to speak to Jardine's managing director and a director at Gringotts' face to face in London and sign the notarized paperwork to set up the muggle and magical trust funds for the Fujiis and To-chan, and now Ying so they are provided for in the event the worst comes."

She turned to Toku. "I trust that you will not object to being part of the du Chasteler family in law as well as in truth?"

The Masamune smiled happily and shook her head. "Iie, Co-chan, I am honored."

"Bon." Colombe smiled back as she reached the last page in the packet and waved the others over. "I shall need a witness signature, To-chan. I am in my right mind and under no coercion as I appoint Ehren du Chasteler as my business attorney-in-fact in family matters relating to the estate of Colombe du Chasteler." With that she signed and dated the paper in triplicate and used a signet ring from the package before handing it and the pen to Toku. "Sign and date the witness lines, please, then pass it to Ehren."
Spoiler: Ehren nach England!

As Toku did so. Colombe pulled out a cell phone, then a set of identity papers and a credit card, her du Chasteler signet ring, and last a gold key on a silver chain from the package from her lawyer. "These are yours. Your passport, credit cards in your name, and the key to the family vaults in Gringotts. I will make the calls to the people you need to speak to, so that they know that you are acting as my proxy. I recommend Gringotts first to get wizarding funds for the trip, say a hundred Galleons should suffice. Better to have too many than not enough. Keep one copy of the forms on you for this trip at all times, and hand me the other two for my files."

Ehren nodded and signed the paperwork in turn. "Jawohl, Mutti. Anything else?"

"Yes. Plan on a week in London, so pack accordingly and take the Audi from the garage for your use. According to the Daily Prophet, Harry Potter was targeted by Dementors while at Hogwarts recently. Since the school should be out this upcoming week, I want you to nose around and find out the truth in that if you run into any wizards, especially students shopping in Diagon Alley . Stay discreet like Del taught you, but if you make contact with any of the Potter family's allies, let them know that the du Chastelers stand beside them in this time. If Ian and Lyra's great-grandson is seriously threatened, I'll talk Ying into allowing me to assist him."

Ehren nodded sharply, her eyes agleam. "Zu Befehl, Mutti!"

"That's my Ehren. If Del or Jackie have not told you how to access Wizarding London, instructions are on a slip of paper in your passport. Last but not least, check out one of the emergency Portkeys and if you get into trouble, don't hesitate to use it get back here. Any questions, Ehren?" Colombe finished, as she looked at her daughter.

"Nein, Mutti! I shall pack and depart forthwith." Ehren barked out as she shot to attention with a slap of her leather shoes together, nearly vibrating in her eagerness.

"Bon voyage, Ehren! Oh and don't be afraid to grab anything Claire or the Fujiis would like if you see a nice gift for sale." Colombe responded, watching her daughter head out of the room at double time.

She turned to look at Toku, whose lips were twitching with the attempt to hold in suppressed laughter. "I hope that I'm not making a big mistake here, but I do need to get this done."

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A.N.-Let's Try this again.

A Butterknife Mountie Needs A Calming Draught (Badly!)

Azai Yakkyoku, Magical Kyoto
Spoiler: A Butterknife Family Meeting

"Father's family can't be Japanese..." Wei(-du Chasteler) Ying protested weakly as her aunt Delilah de Breuil(-Muramasa) guided her through the door of the potion and apothecary shop. "She just can't...."

Delilah gave her niece a look. "At least Aunt Umi is a potion brewer. We will need some Calming Draught. The good Calming Draught." Getting a nod from the shopkeeper, she used a move-along hold on Ying's shoulder and arm to 'guide' Ying through the curtain in the back.

"Speaking of Umi, where is she...?" Delilah mused as she walked her niece down the wood and rice paper corridor.
Spoiler: Goldfish Interrupt

"NIECES! Na-chan! Na-chan! NIECES!" A sudden happy cry and a white haired and yellow-eyed comet plowed into Ying with a tacklehug from the room ahead. "Hi, I'm Kyoshu! Who are you?"

Delilah laughed in Schadenfreude as Ying twitched and returned the hug on autopilot..

"Oh there you are. Who is your friend, Delilah?" Umi stuck her head out of the living room as Delilah guided the numbly twitching Mountie into the living room.

"Oh hi, I'm Kyoshu! What's your name...Mou let me guess? Are you one of my Nice Nieces, or a Naughty Nieces. Naughty Nieces~..." Kyoshu giggled happily as she sang, "...do Naughty Nieces eat the last cookie, Na-chan? Oh Hi, I'm Kyoshu, you must be my nieces. Wait wait, Na-chan, if I have Nice Naughty Nieces I'm an Auntie, but then Aunties are old... Na-chan, Na-chan, I'm OLD! Mou, who are you, I'm Kyoshu!" Kyoshu babbled away at the dao, who was muttering to herself about what kind of drugs were slipped into her steak.

Delilah looked at Umi who was measuring droplets of some fizzing pink liquid into her cauldron. "I'll tell you once you put down the ingredients, Aunt Umi. I'll need some of your Calming Draught for her. The good family-only Calming Draught."
Spoiler: Butterknife Drug Dealer

Umi gave Delilah a flat stare as she finished stirring the potion. "This better be good. I'm running low myself." The definite subtext was 'this better not be a joke' from the white-haired spear spirit as she unlocked a high cabinet with a series of hand passes and then pulled out a potion bottle.

Delilah smugged, "Oh it is. Let me introduce you to my classmate and niece Wei Ying of the Royal Canadian Magical Mounted Police who just arrested her father Colombe for serial violations of the Statute."

Umi stared in shock at the Chinese spirit as she handed the potion bottle to Delilah.

A dropped glass shattered in the kitchen and Delilah glanced over in that direction and froze. Her eyes widened and her smug smirk vanished utterly at the look in her father's eyes. "Oh shit. Hi Norimune. I can explain everything." Her voice was slightly frantic as she tried to defuse the bomb that she had just set off.
Spoiler: A Blast From The Past

Norimune stared at the Auror who had been assigned to guide her to and from court in 1946 when she stood trial for war crimes. "No fucking way...."

Umi shook her head. Ying twitched again. Delilah slammed her face into her palm and sighed heavily.

"You're not trying to shi--" Umi glared at Norimune as Kyoshu cocked her head curiously. "s-s-sandbag me, Delilah."

Delilah handed the potion to Ying. "Drink up, you will need it for this one," she advised her niece, "and just let Kyoshu babble at you." Nameless raised a comb and brush, "or that, they like to do hairstyles."

Ying sipped the potion, and then began to gulp it in earnest, her hair lengthening slightly unnoticed to all but Kyoshu as the Sword of Faded Memories began to braid her hair.

"Right. Introductions. The girl in the wheelchair is Toku's big sister Nameless, long story there. The hairstylist is Aunt Kyoshu, the Sword of Faded Memories. Then we have Aunt Umitsubame, the Waterwitch Blade, who keeps most of the cats herded these days. Finally the avatar with the fox ears and tail is my father Norimune, the Unrepentant Blade." Delilah ticked off the other spirits in the room. "Anyone else who gets to join this dumpster fire?"

Umi pulled out a second flask of Calming Draught and took a long pull before handing it to Norimune. "No. Akutoku's working on a deadline for a release. Chi's running around on JNHRO business of some kind. Kago's still in England. Juuchi's busy and stays away from Kyo-chan anyway. Suisei might pop by later once the bakery closes."

"Right. In brief, Sis... Colombe ran into Ying's mother Yuying in 1854 in China during the Taiping rebellion and got her on a boat to America right before a lynch mob in 1855. They don't like huli jing fox spirits over there." Delilah began the story

"No shit they don't." Norimune muttered, looking at the shell shocked dao who was having the French Braid start added onto with some cornrows.

Anyway, Sis was still on her find Norimune obsessive hunt back then." Norimune winced slightly and took a long pull of the potion before handing it back to Umi who was shaking her head. "So she never knew that she had knocked up Yuying by accident."

"Story of my life." Norimune muttered to herself.

"After the birth, they moved up to Canada and when Ying was eleven she got sent to Ilvermorny. That's where we met, when she pinched my arm hard for no reason at all. Gave me a nasty welt."

"You deliberately hit me first with your valise and smugged about it!" Ying focused her spinning mind on a key point in the tale that was getting covered up by her aunt and long-time school rival.

"Did not!" Delilah retorted. "If I had wanted to deck you like you claim, I'd have decked you. So there!"

"Did too! Don't try that accidental innocence shit you sneaky smug Yank!" Ying raised her voice as she glared at Delilah.

"Not my fault! Oh wait, that's Sis's catchphrase. It still applies so I'm stealing it, you stone-faced Canuck!" Delilah returned the glare as her voice elevated in turn.

"Mou, what's a Canuck?" Kyoshu asked, blinking in confusion. "Oh, Na-chan, wanna style her hair?" The silently laughing Masamune nodded as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Umitsubame and Norimune looked at the squabbling spirits and then at each other.

"One of us." Norimune began to chuckle quietly. "Only one of us can have such a fucked-up first meeting."

"No doubt about it." Umitsubame nodded and then pulled out more Calming Draught. "Do me a favor and grab the soothing herbal tea."

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

Umi pinched her nose. "So, let me get this straight. Colombe had an affair with a Chinese fox spirit in 1855 who moved to America and her daughter Ying butted heads with you all through school and then as a fellow Auror and then you found out last week that she was your niece?"

Delilah nodded and sipped her herbal tea. "In summary, yes. Sis had no clue about the child because by the time Ying's mother knew she was pregnant, she was in America while Sis was running around China on her attempt to hunt down Norimune. Truly God exists and He has a sense of humor."

Norimune stared at the tranqued out dao, who was sipping another bottle of Calming Draught while behind her Kyoshu began to floof out her blonde hair. "...and she was my primary guard for the trials in 1946 and then arrested," The nodachi began to break down in tears of helpless laughter again, "her own father for crimes."

Delilah smirked, "Yes, although that is part of a plan to give Colombe a fair shake with the ICW. We put Sis under House Arrest, then Ying has a magistrate friend who issued a warrant to bring Sis in for questioning. She gets her side of all the shit she did explained under Truth Spells and we then hit the ICW with it and get what was justified dropped and plea down the rest. Brilliant and I wish that I had thought of it."

"Because you Thunderbirds are jump in first and figure out what to do later types unlike us Horned Serpents who use our brains, Del." Ying snarked at Delilah as the Calming Draught finally took effect. "That said, Aunt Delilah has the gist of it and I knew Colombe was no villain, just unlucky from the start thanks to Amah's stories."

Something flickered for a moment in Norimune's eyes. "She has to be related to me with that kind of crazy luck." The Unrepentant Blade stated. "No way that is natural."

Umi nodded from where she was brewing more Calming Draught to replace the serious dent in her private stash. "I have to agree there."

Ying subsided as Kyoshu worked on her scalp. "Aunt Delilah told the key parts... Great-Aunt Umitsubame, Grandfather. I apologize for my ill-manners, but this string of revelations has been quite stressful."

"Na-chan, Na-chan, Nori's a grandfather! Then that means that she's Old! Na-chan, I'm OLD!!" Kyoshu babbled, looking at her friend with the brush before the Masamune guided her hands back to Ying's head. "OooO! Pretty gold hair! Lemme style it!"

Delilah's lips twitched as Kyoshu decided to add odangoes to the floof of Ying's hair. The Mountie sighed and began to pet the fox kit that hopped into her lap. "So, what happened to Great-Aunt Kyoshu or has she always been like this?"
Spoiler: Hong Kong

A chill ran through the room at the next words. "Sub-unit 942 happened."

Ying stiffened and her eyes flamed as her face twisted in an ugly snarl of fury. She swore venomously in Chinese. "Cào nǐ zǔ zōng shí bā dài!!" (fuck your ancestors to the 18th generation.)

Norimune shook her head. "You ran into them too then." Her voice was very flat.

Ying nodded sharply. "I was part of C Force holding Hong Kong in 1941. When it fell I slipped away and reported on troop movements through there with a crystal ball for the rest of the war."

Norimune nodded, her eyes distant as she remembered events seventy years in the past. "I'm just glad that I was temporarily assigned to Gorota's Company of the Seventh Imperial Guards for that fight. At least they mostly fought face to face unlike those fucking kempetai."

Ying blinked. "Wait, you were in Hong Kong? What part of the fight? What did you do there?" Her voice trembled and tears were in her eyes.

"Shing Mun Redoubt and then the first push on Jardine's Lookout. After that, my company was rotated back to the rear and replaced since the damned barbed wire was intact on the slope and we got hung up and cut to pieces." Norimune trailed off and stared at Ying. "You were there?"

Ying nodded as she tried to control herself. "I cast an illusion to conceal that barbed wire we had put up the night before from the pre-attack scouts. Had to pull out the next night when we got flanked out to the east."

"Clever." Norimune thought out loud. "Anyway, after that shitshow we got pulled out and that butcher Okita's men got sent in to replace us. Then I got sent to Burma."

"Okita." Ying hissed savagely, her shoulders shaking as she fought for self-control. "Grandfather, I'm glad that I never had to... to..." her voice broke and cracked as she trailed off, unable to speak.

Norimune stared at her. "Wait. The FUCK! You're Lady Kitsune?!?"

"Wait, who?" Delilah questioned.

"What the kempetai were calling a fox spirit in Hong Kong who was stalking and killing them. I served under Okita in '39 in First Changsha and he was a real vicious sadistic piece of shit. From the rumor I heard in late '43, his unit got sent to Hong Kong to root her out and she got him first. Heard he died really badly." Norimune explained, looking at her granddaughter with an unreadable expression.

"He did..." Ying whispered, her head downcast. "I enjoyed paying evil unto evil with him."

"Some people deserve everything you can do to them and more. Like the -942 mage who attacked Nameless and took her very identity. From what we know about what happened to Kyo-chan, same applies to them." Umi said quietly, her eyes hard.

Delilah nodded in agreement, "I watched a friend of mine burn a man alive and he dunked himself in Death Potion to try to put it out, and all I can think about him is that it was too bad that it was not me who did him in. Fucking SS Vampires."

Norimune nodded. "I won't miss Okita at all. Of all the officers I have served under, he was one of the worst. Just glad that it was one of us who offed him."

Delilah agreed as she sipped her tea, "We are all flawed monsters in our own ways. Have you told Sis about Hong Kong?"

Ying shook her head as Kyoshu stepped back from the hairstyle job. Her now floofy blond hair with dumpling buns on either side swayed. "No. Just Mother, Ehren, and now you."

Delilah sighed. "I recommend telling Sis about it. Her answer may surprise you, she has seen and done some shit."

Ying's shoulders slumped and she began to cry silently. Umi sat alongside her and patted her back.

Delilah turned to the puzzled and blinking Kyoshu and smiled smugly. "Here you go Aunt Kyoshu. I found something for you." She reached into her purse and pulled out a white and aquamarine stuffed animal pillow.

"I found a Mizuchi!" Kyoshu cheered, her memories of the past forgotten. "Na-chan, Na-chan! It's a Mizuchi! They are Nice Nieces!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A.N.-Massive props to RCNAnon here for lending me one of his girls to interact with Ehren.

Operation Ehren's Reise (II)

Southern England, M20, Dover End Of The Chunnel

Jean Bart smiled happily as the line of trucks that had been blocking her route to London peeled away to the loading dock for the railroad spur.

Open road at last! She leaned into the throttle and accelerated, feeling her lips pucker in a grin at the feel of what she had been born to do. Born to run with elan and panache.

As she passed a sedan carrying a family of four, suddenly a white Audi behind her flashed the headlights at her.
Spoiler: Audi!

She shifted over and the slab of German engineering cruised to pace her at 80 miles per hour. The blonde driver glanced over and one pale gold eyebrow rose above her custom Porsche sunglasses in a unspoken message. 'Why not?'

Jean Bart matched the challenging stare with a smirk of her own. 'Why not indeed?'

One leather gloved finger touched a button on the steering wheel and a piano began to play frantically from a CD installed in the custom sound system installed in the concept car.
Spoiler: Claire's Custom CD For Ehren

The girl behind the wheel slammed the turbocharged 2.5 liter engine into fourth gear as her foot floored the gas and the Audi accelerated away like a shell from her main battery. Jean Bart grinned at the custom DOVE-2 Belgian license plate and twisted her throttle fully open as the motor on her BMW S1000RR screamed, vibrating her steel bones with the need for speed.

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

Ashford, Kent, 15 miles from Dover, 61 miles from London
Spoiler: A Friendly Little Drive

A howling BMW motorcycle shot like a rocket between a delivery van and a Jaguar containing a stockbroker returning from his afternoon at the hunt club. The grinning rider's long pony tail whipped in the wind of her passage like the national flag on a battleship running flat out at pleine vitesse.

Right on her aft was the white Audi as their game of hare and hounds continued. In the driver's seat, a dagger's Teutonic blonde avatar showed teeth in her smugly happy smile as she calculated distances and possibilities of the spacing in the next clump of cars that they were approaching to make her move while her sister's voice sang to her with the thrill of the chase.

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

Swanlea, Kent, 15 miles from London

Traffic sucked, Jean Bart reflected as she finally was forced to slow down to something within shouting distance of the posted speed limits. She then smiled triumphantly as just behind her, the Audi slowed down in turn.

Glancing at her mirrors she shifted to the left to allow the Audi to come alongside her. The other driver took the invitation and her window lowered.

Jean Bart mentally raised an eyebrow at the young age of the late teenage driver. "Good race." she said sincerely.

A fractional nod from the blonde girl as she spoke in German-accented French. "Indeed. You do your machine credit. Sadly, duty calls. Dienst is Dienst and Schnaps ist Schnaps. May I have the name of the superior driver who has bested me?"

Jean Bart nodded, feeling her boilers flare a little hotter. "Jean Bart."

"I am Ehren. I hope to see you again for another contest. Auf Wiedersehen."

"Adieu." Jean Bart grinned as the window rolled back up and she began to plot her course to Passel House for her design consultation with Ron and his staff. "I look forward to it too."

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

Savoy Hotel, London
Spoiler: Ehren's Trip

Ehren walked to the windows and gazed out across the Thames River from her third floor hotel room. For a brief second, she allowed herself to lower her guard and tears trickled down her cheeks as the streetlights came on.

I miss you all so very much.

Miho Fujii. Misaki. Chi-chan. Toku.

Kasuyu. Aunt Del. Aunt Jackie. Zamarad.

Mother.

Claire.

I will accomplish my mission and come back to you. I swear.

Her thumb automatically traced along the hilt of her true body as she released the emotions that she had been holding in ever since she had gotten this assignment from Mother.

The restless night's sleep where she eventually had to sneak into Claire's room to let her big sister cuddle her one last time. The tearful departure early this morning. Claire's tear soaked hug and handing over a custom CD of her piano music to play on the drive over. The Fujiis offering her their best wishes for a safe trip. Kasuyu handing her the keys to the freshly washed and gassed up car. Mother in the antique wheelchair pushed by Toku hugging her with her one good arm and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Her burying her excitement, her thoughts, her fears, her worries, her pride in Mother's trust, her acceptance of the responsibility placed upon her shoulders behind her mask of cool confident duty.

Her first time outside the confines of Moulbaix by herself.

A whispered word to her reflection in the window glass. "I miss you all already."

With that, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply in and out. Finally she opened them and turned to the sky blue Beauxbatons uniform waiting for her tomorrow when she visited Diagon Alley and started her mission in earnest.

Mother's old school uniform that had been tailored to fit her by Miho yesterday.

Another whispered question. "Was it like this for you when you left Moulbaix your first time, Mutti?"

The uniform did not answer.

Neither did her smartphone when she double-checked her planned itinerary with her instructions to locate the Leaky Cauldron highlighted as her first step for tomorrow. Nor did her P08 Luger (A Christmas gift from Aunt Del) when she automatically cleaned and oiled it before sliding it into the concealed holster with the Notice-me-not charms embroidered that she would wear for her mission. Nor did her legal papers to notify those who she needed to convince that she was Mother's agent.

Nor did her dagger body when she honed and oiled herself.

Sleep was a long time coming for Ehren du Chasteler that night.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Stretching some as she walked into the small bathroom, Izumi groaned a bit before some satisfying cracks came from her spine... or was that keel now? Just giving that a moment's worth of thought, the newly awakened shipgirl shook her head as she walked towards the sink, 'I'm going to need to get used to thoughts like that, won't I?' Upon reaching the mirror, she sighed some as she caught sight of her reflection, "Heh."

Within the mirror, she could see the image of a young woman wearing a large shirt, that still strained a bit with a pair of shorts underneath. Bemused, Izumi considered her older "Sisters" in the non-magical part of the Takao Class and chuckled, "I suppose that answers the question of how the hell I've been so... gifted as it were." Head tilted to the side, she considered herself with a small smile. Despite just waking up, she still looked nearly supermodel good, "Guess all those rumours about shipgirls always looking beautiful were not just bullshit." Bringing up one arm, she did a small curl and her smile widened at seeing muscles form there that she did not have before her transformation, "Now this is sweet. Thank you to the Kami."

Lightly laughing as she remembered how she had been told at the debriefing after the Awakening Ceremony that shipgirls often changed a bit in the days afterwards as their bodies settled into their new state. Bringing her hands up to her chest, she was reminded of one thing she was told about which was relatively common, "Well, hopefully I don't get anymore here. Because, honestly, I got enough to worry about."

Izumi did pause for a moment as something felt a little bit... off, strange. But then she shrugged it off as something to think about later. Not really all that important when it came to things. Instead, she turned on the tap and ran cold water before splashing it on her face. An act which fully woke her up and made her shiver a little before she stopped and dried her face. But as Izumi pulled the face towel away from her face, she paused at her reflection. Slowly, her eyes widened some, 'What the...'

Back in the room that the witch turned shipgirl had come from, Karen was stretching on her bed with a sigh. Looking over at Mami, she chuckled a bit as the other wolf Yokai was examining her uniform, "Relax, you heard what the others told you last night about the clothes we get as shipgirls."

Only blinking, Mami shrugged a bit, "Yeah, and? I still don't understand how these work." Looking at the pantyhose that came with the rest of her "Uniform", she frowned, "Never wore this sort of stuff before, but I was always told it was a right bitch to get on and off. The girls at school always complained about it. Yet... for some reason, it isn't hard for me to put on or take off. Watch..."

Eyebrow raised, her older sister watched as her younger sister put on the pantyhose. Once it was fully on, Karen slowly blinked, "Uh, okay...? So you can put it on without trouble?"

Rolling her eyes, Mami threw her hands up into the air, "Exactly! I can pull them on as if they're just normal socks, or spandex bottoms I guess." Gesturing at it, she continued, "No runs or anything, it just smoothly and quickly goes on."

For several moments, Karen considered that as well as what she had overheard from other girls regarding that type of clothing. Like her sister, she had never wore something like that mainly because they did not have the money for it. But her own leggings came on and off easily, despite who complicated she would have thought it would have been. With a small shrug, she chuckled, "Maybe it is an example of the Magical Shipgirl Sparkly Bullshit they keep going on about?"

A frown on her face, the younger Yokai thought about it before taking off her pantyhose and throwing her jogging pants back on, "Maybe? Still if so than I am thankful." Sadly smiling, she glanced at her sister, "Remember when Okaa-San used to put them on? We were, what? Five years old?"

Wistful expression on her face, Karen nodded, "Hai, I remember. She used to state that it took a few minutes to put them on from what I remember." Leaning forward, she chuckled a bit, "I wonder what her and Otou-San would think of what we're doing?"

Only shaking her head, Mami sighed, "I hope that they're proud." It was then that there was a squeal from the bathroom and both Yokai blinked and rose to their feet, "Wait, was that Izumi-Chan? What in the world?"

Frowning, her older sister shook her head and began to walk towards the bathroom, "I don't know, but that sounded... happy?"

Just sharing a confused look with Mami, Karen was about to open the door when Izumi threw it open with a nearly blinding smile on her face, "Karen-Chan! Mami-Chan! Look!"

Both wolf Yokai looked at where she was pointing and their jaws dropped at the sight of two fuzzy ears that stood up. Then, they noticed the slightly bushy wolf tail behind their friend. Mouth open, Karen boggled a bit, "What in the world..."

However, Mami's own expression brightened and she walked over before pulling Izumi into a hug, a muffled sound of steel hitting steel as she embraced her, "This is great news, Izumi-Chan! Now you're even more our Nee-San!"

Tightening the hug, Izumi nodded with happy giggles, "Hai!" Moments later, Karen also embraced her and Izumi hummed, "I'm just so glad to share this with you."

Softly smiling, Karen nuzzled her, "And you are not the only one either, because we're both happy for this too... Nee-San."

If her smile before was bright, now said girl's smile was nearly blinding. Nodding, Izumi gave a sigh, "I'm glad."

Glancing at where Izumi's tail was practically a blur with how fast it was wagging, Karen had to hold in a snort, "I think that we noticed."

Confused, Izumi followed her gaze and blushed some at what she saw, "Um, hai?" Tilting her head, she hummed, "Though you're going to have to teach me how to hide them so I can go out and about."

Still smiling as she moved out of the embrace, Mami nodded, "That won't be an issue, Izumi-Nee. Trust me on that, we'll get started as soon as we can on that." Right then, a growl came from her stomach followed by ones from the other two. All of them had a light reddish hue to their cheeks as they placed a hand against their stomachs, "Um... once we get some breakfast into us."

Quickly taking showers and getting dressed, the three newly awoken shipgirls made their way to the Mess Hall. While not the size of the ones in places like Yokosuka or Sasebo, the Mess Hall in Kushiro was still quite large being about the same size as a school cafeteria. Along one side, various cooks worked to get food ready for any JMSDF personnel and shipgirls. In one small corner, the Hachishakusama was helping the various children get their breakfasts as they ate, watching over them even as she had a small mound of food in front of her.

Walking into the Mess Hall, the three Okami Heavy Cruisers looked around with smiles before they got glomped from the side by a surprise attack, "PANPAKAPAN!"

As giggles came from the attacking shipgirl, Karen smiled a little bit, "Good morning, Atago-Nee-Chan."

Brightly smiling with her eyes closed, Atago spread her arms wide, "Good morning, Imoutos! And it is better now that you're here!" Opening her eyes, she blinked some as she looked at Izumi's new ears, "..."

There was a slight blush on Izumi's cheeks as she brushed some of her hair back behind her human ears, "I, uh, woke up this way." Eyes widening, Atago stared at her before with a shaking head reaching up and gently poking the ear which twitched in reply. Then, she began to run her finger along it with a awed look even as the Heavy Cruiser who the ears in question belonged to blushed even more, "Um..."

However, a yelp escaped from Atago as Takao appeared from nowhere and grabbed her ear before pulling her away, "Stop that, Atago." Turning to the three Yokai shipgirls, she gave a small smile, "I'll take her back to our table, and sorry about this." She then gave a small shrug, "Anyways, since we'll get plenty of time to spend at meal times down in Yokosuka, you can join your little siblings." The black haired Heavy Cruiser winked as she ignored Atago's pleas to let her ear go, "After all, I know how to be an Onee-San."

Karen chuckled a bit and winked back, "Good to know~" She then lead the other two to where the Hachishakusama had the other children and waved at them, "Good morning, Oba-Chan, everyone."

Turning, the giant woman smiled, "Good morning, Karen-Chan, Mami-Chan, Izumi-Chan..." Upon catching sight of the new additions to the witch, her eyes widened, "Izumi-Chan? What happened?"

Only shrugging, the young woman in question shook her head, "I... don't know, I woke up with them." Glancing at Karen and Mami though, she smiled as she turned back to the Hachishakusama, "Not that I mind all that much as it makes me more like my Nee-Sans."

Just softly smiling, the Hachishakusama hugged her, "Good to know, Izumi-Chan. And I am glad for you." Gently guiding them to where they could sit down, she nodded, "Now, you just wait here and I'll go and get some food for you three. Megumi-Chan and Kokoro-Chan are already doing so with their new Nee-Sans."

Looking over, they found that the Yamatos were there with the two Nekomata with all seven having large piles of food in front of them that they were working their way through. Both cat Yokai smiled at them and waved at a spot across from them which they took, even as the younger children giggled and whispered about their big sister's new additions. Karen blinked though as she could hear the crackle of static in her head before Megumi's voice came through in her head, '{Good morning, you three.}'

Rapidly blinking, Karen frowned, "How..." The knowledge came bubbling up in her mind at the same time it did for her sisters and she continued over the radio, '{Huh, so that is how...}'

A grin on her face, Izumi laughed over the radio, '{Oh wow! This is so cool!}'

Musashi chuckled as she gave a nod, '{Yes, that is the normal response to such. And this Musashi does agree that it is rather... cool.}'

Snickering, Hana, who was the lone Natural Born of the Yamato class, spoke up, '{You got no idea! Kaa-San can't listen in on me when I want to talk with my Nee-Sans since I can do it whenever over the radio.}'

Eyebrow raised, Yamato gave her a look, '{Not anytime, Hana-Chan. There are times that we cannot speak over the radio for the obvious reasons.}' She then smiled, '{But this is one of those times, yes.}' The Battleship then turned to the Heavy Cruisers, '{Megumi-Chan as well as Kokoro-Chan were telling us about the foster home that you have been living in.}'

When the three Heavy Cruisers turned to the Nekomata, said two Yokai shrugged. Megumi then shook her head, '{Yamato-Onee-San wished to know more about it. And, well...}'

Leaning forward a bit, Yamato smiled, '{From what Megumi-Chan has stated, your foster home needs some work done to it, correct?'

Unsure, Karen gave a small nod, '{I... well, yes? We've done the best that we can, but with so many of us...}'

At that, Musashi gave a nod before her warm rumbling voice came over the radio, '{Yes, and this Musashi is quite impressed with your Oba-Chan.}' Adjusting her glasses, she smiled, '{Which is why we have decided that in a while, we shall pay for what is needed and shall work to fix up the building in question, or even build a new one if that is what happens.}'

Softly smiling at their shocked looks, Shinano hummed, '{Hai, us shipgirls can choose forms of charity to give to, and I think that we can all agree that this is a worthy one.}'

There were tears in the corners of the five newly awoken shipgirls' eyes as they spoke as one, '{Thank you.}'

Only nodding, Yamato smiled at them as did Musashi and the others. It was then that Kokoro noticed that Shinano was looking at a tablet in thought and tilted her head, '{Shinano-Nee-Chan? What are you watching?}'

Noticing herself, Hana giggled some, '{Oh, Shinano-Nee-Chan is watching one of Naka-San's livestreams. This morning, she's livestreaming the official opening of a small museum outside the Shrine in Yokosuka which we all go to. Mainly because the collection there is from Harry-San, who Shinano-Nee-Chan likes~}'

That got Karen's and the others attention and they tried to see best that they could even as Shinano blushed, until Yamato handed them a tablet to watch. Some of the younger children climbed up into their "Onee-Sans'" laps to also watch as Naka began putting on a small performance with traditional music included...

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Adjusting his dress jacket, Harry glanced around the entry area for the museum right outside the Shrine. Off to one side, he could see Haru and Hoshi softly conversing, with the Kyuubi dressed in a fine Kimono. Nearby, one could see some of the local politicians talking with the representative from MEXT. Said man glanced at Harry and gave him a small nod as well as a smile, which the thirteen year old returned.

There was nothing much to be honest until a finger tapped him on his shoulder and he turned to find Harder there, "Hey, Kiddo. Feeling okay there?"

Lips twitching, Harry gave a small chuckle as he shrugged, "I am, Miss Harder. A little bit nervous, but..."

Softly snorting, the Submarine shook her head, "Kid, call me Harder, not 'Miss'. As to feeling nervous?" Harder had a slight smirk on her face as she continued, "I would be worried if you weren't a little bit nervous. Besides... you got to get used to this sort of thing for when you become an Admiral." She then gestured around them, "Though this is smaller than most political bullshit that you might need to deal with. But it serves a purpose to get your name out there at least."

Rubbing his neck, Harry hummed, "True, but..." He sighed a little, "I would have thought that I would be more used to this. After all, returning Honjo was sort of like this."

Only chuckling as she sipped a drink, Harder shook her head, "Maybe, but for the first few times stuff like this will get to you. Sure, it is the Kiddy Pool when it comes to shit like this, but really? Best place to start and get some practice in." It was then that she noted something and gave a tilt of her head, "Looks like your, uh, class just showed up."

With a blink, the teen turned and his eyes widened a bit as a bus pulled into the parking lot, from which a number of middle school students exited. Glancing at Harder, Harry got a nod and walked over with a small grin on his face, "Natsumi-Chan!"

A bright smile on her face, the disguised Kitsune waved at him, "Hello, Harry-Chan." Giving him a look over, she found her cheeks heating at the sight of him in a suit, 'Harry-Chan really does wear that well.'

Moments later, she blinked and blushed even more as she swore she could hear Tamamo's voice, 'Mmm, yes, he certainly is... delectable in that. But imagine in a few years...'

Briefly, there was an image of an older Harry wearing a similar suit. However, Natsumi shook it off and decided that she was just imagining the voice. Or, perhaps, it was just her hormones talking. Most likely that last one, she decided.

Instead though, she walked up to Harry and nodded, "Good morning, Harry-Chan."

Smiling back, Harry chuckled a little, "And a good morning to you as well, Natsumi-Chan." With a raised eyebrow, he glanced over her shoulder to where the rest of her class was, "I can't believe that you managed to get the class here. How?"

Just giving a small shrug, the Kitsune shook her head, "It wasn't that hard really, Oba-Chan did most of the hard work. Among other things, she noted that it would be a great opportunity for students to get to see how government operates and such. Also, they would get to experience some history as well." A grin then crossed Natsumi's face, "It just means that I get to see the looks on some of those bakas when they realize some things about you."

Only shaking his head, Harry sighed though he still smiled, "Natsumi-Chan..."

Natsumi raised an eyebrow and gave him a look, "You might have forgiven some of them for how they treated you back in elementary, Harry-Chan. You.. Not me. And this is me shoving it in their faces."

Before Harry could comment, a voice spoke up, "Did anyone ever tell you how scary you are, Natsumi-San?" They both turned to find Asuka walking up, "Because you really are."

A dark smile was on Natsumi's face at that, "More than a few have, Asuka-San. More than a few..."

Rolling her eyes, Ayaka scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, you like to make sure that those who anger you regret it." She then shrugged some, "Though I guess this is better than some might have."

Slightly frowning, Usagi walked up, "Do they really deserve to have this sort of thing thrown in their faces, Natsumi-Chan?"

The Kitsune turned and gave her a thin smile, "Trust me, Usagi-Chan, you got no idea. Some of these guys bullied Harry-Chan here a little bit back in elementary school. Heck, three of them beat him up when he tried to rescue Shiromizu-Chan from them when they were messing with her because she looked like an injured snake."

Narrowing her eyes, Usagi frowned, "I... see." Then, she shrugged, "Consider my problems revoked then." Looking around, the rabbit Yokai gestured, "Hey, isn't that Kiba-San over there?"

With a glance over her shoulder, Asuka brightly smiled at the sight of the well dressed Yokai, "It is! And Chisuheri as well!"

Head tilted to the side, Harry chuckled, "Huh, Chisuheri-San looks pretty good in a suit."

Right then, a smug chuckle made him turn to find Juuchi behind him dressed in a version of her normal clothing, but with the skirt coming down to her mid thigh, "Indeed, Master. Though I am not too surprised." Biting into a slice of blood orange, she gave him a look, which he nodded at. Smiling, she began walking over, "I suppose that I must go and talk with my dear Nee-San now."

Glancing at Harry's waist, sure enough, Natsumi could see Juuchi's true form there though peace bonded, "Huh, so Nagato-San let you bring her out?"

Lightly blushing, the teenage wizard nodded, "Hai, Mum wanted me to wear her at my side as a statement due to the connection with my family. Apparently it looks good or some such thing..." A small frown on his face, he glanced at his family's blade, "Not sure how..."

Due to not looking at them, he missed the Yokai Heirs outside of Asuka glance at each other. Then Kenta coughed and waved his hand, "We'll explain it later, Harry-San." Turning, he gave a small smile to the Tengu, "And you as well, Asuka-San."

Unsure, Asuka only nodded in confusion, though internally she was also considering asking Koga about the fact. Before she could say anything, a new voice spoke up, "Excuse me, Potter-San? Could I ask you something?"

With a blink, Harry turned and his eyebrows widened a bit. Remembering her from elementary school as one of the students that were nicer to him, he smiled some, "Okita-San?" At the nod as she was followed by two other girls, he continued, "Sure, go ahead."

Nodding, she pointed at the sword, "Is that really the Muramasa, Juuchi Yosamu? Truly?"

A little surprised, Harry gave a nod and patted the hilt, "It sure is as a matter of fact. She's been in my family for a few hundred years." Unnoticed by him, Juuchi looked over and did a double take at seeing two of the girls who had followed Okita up before she furrowed her eyebrows, "Why?"

Fingers twitching, Okita shook her head, "I just wanted to make sure because, well... it is amazing to be in the presence of such a masterwork. No matter the reputation that it may have, it is still a piece of true art."

Internally, the black haired wizard was snickering, 'I imagine that Juuchi is preening right now.' Glancing at said blade's human avatar, Harry shook his head as, sure enough, she was indeed preening, 'Yup, that's her.'

Humming, Nobu stroked her chin in thought, "Yes, truly a thing of beauty. And for your family to be so strong as to own and use a Demon Blade, it makes even a Demon such as I be in awe!"

Somewhat bemused, Harry continued chatting with not just the Yokai Heirs, but also those three whom he had been somewhat friendly with in elementary. Granted, even now he was unsure why Nobu kept going on about him helping her conquer Japan, but as always disregarded it. After about ten minutes though, he said goodbye and made his way over to a teenage girl standing next to a seemingly older teen and a younger girl. Waving, Harry gave her a smile, "Sayaka-San, Momo-San, Kyushu-San! Good to see you here."

For her part, Sayaka blushed a little at seeing Harry come up, "A-ah, good morning, Harry-San."

Both Momo and Kyushu also nodded and bowed, but then the physically younger girl had a small smile on her face, "Um, Harry-San?" Getting a nod, she continued, "Onee-Chan wouldn't mind much if you added 'Chan' to her name."

If anything, that made said older sister flush deeply. Thankfully for her, Harry chuckled and shook his head, "Only if she told me herself, Momo-San." Due to turning to Kyushu, he missed the embarrassed look Sayaka gave a grinning Momo, "So how are you doing, Kyushu-San?"

The Yokai shipgirl smiled a little, "I am doing well, Potter-San. Though..." She rubbed her stomach a little, "I would not mind a snack or two."

A slight smile on his face, Harry made a gesture towards a nearby set of tables where Natsumi and some of the others had already headed to, "You could go and have some refreshments. It is mostly treats as well as tea and coffee. Kenta-Kun's family and someone I know named Suisei-San who is a great baker as well."

Expression brightening, Kyushu looked towards Sayaka. Said girl nodded with a slightly tired smile and motioned for her to go on. The Oni Shipgirl gave a bow to her, "Thank you, Onee-Chan."

Watching as Kyushu walked towards the tables, the black haired wizard smiled a bit. Then, he tilted his head some to the side as he lowered his voice, "How are you doing, Sayaka-San?"

Simply sighing, Sayaka ran a hand through her hair, "I've been doing okay, Harry-San." She gave a glance to her younger sister who smiled back, "Momo-Chan's back, so that's great though I get worried when she heads out on patrol... but I think that I am getting a little better at that."

Only nodding, Harry chuckled a little, "It does become a bit easier with time." Thankful, Sayaka chuckled herself and Harry noted that she looked much better than she had all those months back before Momo had been summoned, 'I was kind of worried about her...'

For her part, the teenage girl stretched a little, "Anyways, the harder part is now that I have a Imouto that looks older than I do. But... we're working on that." Looking around, she chewed her lip some, "Um, about this..."

All Harry did was shake his head, "Don't worry about it, Momo-San will get invited to things like this from time to time. Just act naturally and you'll be fine." Grimacing a bit, he sighed, "Unlike me, who has to go up and give a small speech."

Blinking for a moment, Sayaka looked at him and giggled a little. At his raised eyebrow and amused expression, she blushed a little, "Um, sorry about that..."

However, Harry just waved her off, "Don't worry about it." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pocket watch and opened it to look at the time before straightening his suit jacket and bowing to the two girls, "Anyways, I have to go and prepare a little, Sayaka-San, Momo-San, it's been great talking with you."

The two girls bowed back, though Sayaka blushed for some odd reason.

While walking towards the podium, Harry did note though that Akagi and Kaga had both shown up and were talking with Taichi, who was between the two of them. So too were a number of the other shipgirls like Taigei, Ryuuhou, the Submarine girls, Louisiana, and the like. All of whom he nodded at before coming to a stand by the podium and sitting down with his adoptive mother next to him.

Roughly four minutes later, Taichi's band walked up onto a stand and got into position. The real surprise though was Naka herself, fully done up like an Oiran from the Meiji Era. With a small smile, the Light Cruiser kneeled down and took an instrument before she began to play masterfully as she sang various songs of the time in question.

Unknown to her, Harder was watching with a dropped jaw and a small blush, 'Holy shit... Naka is... holy shit...' When Naka got up and danced the same sort that an Oiran would to the music, the Submarine felt her cheeks heat up a little more every time that the normally orange clad Cruiser glanced at her, 'Whoa...'

For her part, Naka was thankful for the makeup that was on her cheeks as it made it easy to hide her own blush. Especially with how Harder was looking at her, though she didn't quite understand why she was so bashful. Rather than think on that more though, Naka concentrated on the routine that she worked hard to memorize and pulled it off perfectly.

Once she was done, the various politicians and the representative from MEXT gave their own speeches as did Haru. Then, it was Harry's turn as he stepped up to the podium and took a deep, calming breath. A soft smile was on his face as he gave a slight nod to the crowd as all the public speaking lessons from Yamamoto, Halsey, Nagato, Yamato, Goto, Naka, and others came to the fore, "Good morning to you all and thank you for coming. I promise that I will not make this a long speech. I am honoured to speak here on this day as the museum is opened with the Potter Ian Collection within it. Unknown to most, my family actually has had a long time connection to Japan, which I am pleased to say continues to me. One of my ancestors were among the British traders that travelled to Japan in the early 1600s, and even fell in love with a Japanese woman. My family is descended from them and it is from her that Juuchi Yosamu, the masterwork sword forged by Muramasa, came into our possession."

Continuing after a small drink, he took a deep breath, "Then, in the 1860s after Japan was opened to people from the rest of the world, my Great-great grandfather, Potter Ian traveled to this nation. He wished to open trading connections at the time, but there was another, more personal reason for his journey. For he had read the old journals and diaries of my honoured ancestors, about how part of our family originated here. Thus, he wished to know more about this land. And he fell in love with Japan, so much so that he spent many of the next four decades here, with my great-grandfather, Potter Henry being born here in 1890 to his wife, Potter Lyra, nee Black." Part of Harry noted some surprise from those who did not know that, or the rest of what he was stating, "Ian would continue to visit even past that point, with his last visit in 1924, a few short years before his death in 1927."

Most of those were listening intently as Harry smiled, "During his time in Japan, my great-great grandfather bought many things. Most, at the time, were considered knickknacks. Some were works of art, and he even bought a sword, Tsukiakari no Suzu, from a soldier who had used her at the Battle of Shiroyama, but had found a Samurai sword that he found more fitting to himself. All of these items, besides Tsukiakari no Suzu, who he carried while in Japan, were displayed in my family's ancestral abode in Britain. And those items have now been returned to Japan, where they belong and for new generations to enjoy and to learn of our honoured past from and through them. I hope that each of you, and others that will come after you, shall enjoy this collection and learning about those who have gone before. Thank you."

With that, Harry stepped down while there was some applause to that.

As he sat down, he softly sighed in relief. Feeling a tap on the shoulder, Harry glanced towards Haru who smiled at him before she softly whispered, "Very well done, Harry-San. Very well done, indeed."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see the MEXT representative give a nod of his own and a very slight smile. And Nagato was also giving him a proud look. Soon after, it was time to cut the ribbon to the museum and Harry walked up alongside Haru. Together with the MEXT representative, they cut said ribbon and officially opened the museum for everyone. As the various people entered, Harry noted the smug smirk on Natsumi's face at how some of his former bullies had soured expressions on their faces at seeing the picture and plaque inside.

Walking around sometime later, Momo was smiling as she looked at a mouse Netsuke, "Wow, Onee-Chan! Look at it, it's so cute!"

Sayaka was smiling as she bent down and was examining it, "Hai, it's adorable!" She then pointed at another one which showed a wolf, "But that one is pretty cool."

Bemused, Kyushu shook her head and pointed at another Netsuki, "I believe though that this one is the best."

Glancing at it, and noticing that it was that of an Oni, her sisters giggled madly.

Elsewhere on the first floor, Nagato was chatting with one of the local politicians, "... Well, we could not put all the collection on display, I am afraid. There's just too much to show all at once and so it will be rotated. Others... will not be put on display at all. And for some good reasons as well."

His eyebrow raised, the politician hummed a bit while taking note of cameras and such taking pictures, as well as Naka still in Oiran outfit running her livestream, "Oh? Why not? They are our heritage after all."

Nagato's answer, if he had been drinking, would have gotten a spittake from him, "Because some of them are of a more... erotic nature." A light blush appeared on her face, "Besides some woodcuts and such, there was a Netsuki for example of an Ama and an group of octopi. And that was just one example" Clearing her throat, the Battleship continued, "Hence it was decided that perhaps it was best not to display those pieces."

It went without saying the politician nodded fairly rapidly as even he blushed.

A short distance away, Okita was sighing as she looked at an collection of Imari ware plates next to two vases, "This brings back memories." Pointing at them, she gave a small nod, "These were very popular with the Europeans. I remember merchants selling them to such people, though I bought a few myself one time."

Rubbing her chin, Shin nodded some, "Hai, I can imagine why." She waved her hand at the display, "These are some beautiful pieces of art."

Chuckles made them turn to find their friend smiling. At their looks, she raised an eyebrow, "Could you imagine the reaction of some of our... contemporaries, if they were to come to our homes and find such pieces?"

For a few moments, Shin considered that before chuckling herself, "Yes, I could well imagine the reaction they would have. Not bad, Nobu-Chan." Humming, a small smile grew on her face, "Hai, I can imagine such reactions..."

Upstairs, Juuchi had a smug look on her face as she looked at one woodcut before glancing at her sister, "I quite like this one."

Eyebrow raised, her sister glanced back at the picture, which showed a giant skull glaring at a Samurai, with said skull composed of many smaller skulls. Shaking her head, Chisuheri only sighed, "Somehow, I am not too surprised..." But then, she tilted her head, "Though I will admit, Mekurabe are rather annoying..."

Humming, Juuchi nodded, "Quite."

Not far away, the Submarines stood before a wall screen which showed an underwater vista. Gesturing at it, Iku looked at the others, "What do you think? Do you think that Ryuujin-Sama's palace really looks like that?'

Thoughtful, Hachi shook her head, "I... don't really know." Adjusting her glasses, she hummed a bit, "But maybe? I've been nowhere deep enough to see if it exists down there, though since the Kami do exist..."

Imuya tilted her head some, "Could we even go there if we could go deep enough? I mean, we are talking about Ryuujin-Sama's palace after all. And we're not Mizuchi or any form of dragon."

Beside her, the lone German Submarine shrugged, "Why not?" At the looks, RO smiled a bit, "I mean, we are Kami, right? So why couldn't we go and visit a Kami... letting them know before hand."

Chewing her lip, Maruyu furrowed her eyebrows, "Maybe... maybe Shiromizu-San knows? She's part of his court, right?"

One finger raising, Shioi frowned, "Has she even been there though? I mean, she's met him, sure, but that was at Kannazuki. And from what I know, she hasn't seen him since."

A hum made them turn to where Ryuuhou was slowly nodding, "Well, there is Osamu-San? He's, you know..." Glancing around, she leaned towards them, "So he would likely know himself."

That got her a number of nods of agreement before the group turned back to the wall screen.

Meanwhile, not far away, Rika was grinning widely at another wall screen on display. It showed various cats on two feet, wearing human clothing and using human implements, "Cats really are the best."

Looking away from a wall scroll showing an Inugami in a Kimono, Ayaka scoffed, "You wish."

Both Yokai's friends that were there looked at each other and giggled at the two of them. Glancing at them, Natsumi shook her head as she turned her attention back to the touch screens which allowed for one to look through scanned books. Beside her, Louisiana tilted her head some as she looked at the picture of a Kitsune, "There are quite a few pictures in here, Ma Chérie."

Just nodding as she turned to another page, Natsumi hummed, "Hai, but then again, these are from the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō books. And all of those are about Yokai." Chuckling at one picture, she shook her head, "Ojii-San actually has a copy back home."

All Louisiana did was not at that with a smile.

It was a very happy Haru at the end of the day as it had been a great success and one that she looked forward to having repeated.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Humming to herself, Fubuki smiled softly as she sealed the last container and placed it into a basket. With a chuckle, she turned to Fu-Chan who was wagging her tail with a bright smile, "Well, looks like we're all ready to head out for Hanami."

Quickly nodding, Fu-Chan took the basket and held it, "Hai Fubuki-San."

Somewhat amused by her actions, the Destroyer shook her head with a smile, "Are you sure that you'll be able to carry that, Fu-Chan? It is pretty heavy."

Despite the obvious strain, Fu-Chan puffed herself up with a smile, "Hai! I can carry it, Fubuki-San! After all, I'm a big girl."

Lightly chuckling, Fubuki ruffled her hair which made the younger girl happily smile, "Hai, that you are, Fu-Chan. And don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." As the Kitsune toddled off, the shipgirl tapped the side of her head, '{Yuudachi-Chan? Could you, quietly, ask Daichi to get the basket from Fu-Chan? She wants to carry it, but...}'

A giggle answered her over the radio, '{Not a problem, Fubuki-Chan! I'll do that right now, Poi.}' Moments later, there was another giggle, '{Though Fu-Chan is pretty cute right now...}'

Her lips twitching, Fubuki nodded, '{Hai, that she is. Take a picture for me, okay?}'

Getting an answer in the affirmative, she began walking towards the door with her hands in her pocket with a hoodie over her normal clothes. Before she got too far though, a small hand tugged her shirt and she looked down to see a little Neko, "Hai, Ayama-Chan? Is something wrong?"

The little Yokai shifted a bit and looked around before leaning towards Fubuki, "Um, Fubuki-San... could we buy some Kakigōri? Please?"

Unable to help herself, Fubuki patted her on the head, "As a matter of fact, we can." Gently, she began to guide Ayame towards the door, "How about we go get some before we get on the bus to take us to the park, hmm? Does that sound good?"

Eyes wide, Ayame rapidly nodded with a bright smile on her face, "Hai!"

Not long after, the Destroyer was leading them off the base towards where the Kakigōri stand was before heading to the bus stop. As they did so though, Fubuki's senses tingled and she narrowed her eyes a bit as she glanced around surreptuously. Her gaze caught sight of a woman in her thirties that was dressed like an office lady. Said woman was watching them before she winced and rubbed at the side of her head and began to reach into her purse. Anyone else would have thought that it was a normal woman with a small headache, perhaps brought on by stress or a possible hangover.

Fubuki was not one of those.

Destroyers were many, many things. And one of those was escorts for larger ships, which meant that often times they had to pick up on things that others might miss. Hence, she noted that the woman was watching them with some interest which made her narrow her eyes slightly, '{Mutsuki-Chan? Kisaragi-Chan? You're both at the back. Four o'clock, woman in business wear.}'

Both shipgirls in question focused in on that with Mutsuki speaking up, '{Hai, we got her, Fubuki-Chan. Looks to be in her thirties, correct?}'

Giving a slight nod, Fubuki narrowed her eyes slightly, '{That is her, there is something about her... she's watching and focusing on the children. I think that she might be magical. But still...}'

Needless to say, the two Destroyers at the back narrowed their own eyes as both of them shifted their positions slightly. It was then that Yuudachi spoke up, '{Do I need to show them what a nightmare is, Poi?}'

Fubuki gave the slightest shakes of her head, '{No, not yet. But keep an eye on her, and Kana-Chan?}'

The Battleship spoke up, her voice one that was as hard as steel, '{If I need to, I will protect the children while you take care of it, Fubuki-Senpai. And if they try to get past me...}

Leaving the threat hanging, Kana didn't say anything else. Something that made Fubuki smile slightly with a coldness there, '{Good. But send some word back to the base to keep an eye on her, I'll inform Nagato-San if she follows.}'

Each of the other shipgirls gave slight nods as they kept a lookout, all the while not letting on that they were concerned as they continued to take the children to the Kakigōri stand. Which worked as not one of the children noticed anything as their guardians chatted with them and the like as normal. But some of those who knew shipgirls did note that the five shipgirls shifted their position some into something more along the lines of escorting a convoy with the children in the center.

Granted, at seeing her mutter some, Fubuki narrowed her eyes slightly as did her bridge crew. After all, they could not see a bluetooth or other handless device. Which meant that she was likely recording. The fact that she was still glancing towards the children made her shift her position slightly, followed by the others, 'Good.'

Of course, that was when their attention was caught by something else... mainly by Moriko rushing towards someone that Fubuki had to do a double take at. Feeling a tug at her arm, she looked down at Fu-Chan who quietly whispered to her, "Um, Fubuki-San? What's going on?"

Watching as the boy, or that was what she thought they were, was stuffed into Moriko's big... fuel tanks, Fubuki gave a small shrug even as she internally grumbled about her own lack of such, "I... think that she's greeting her boyfriend."

Akane blinked at that and the disguised Neko looked up at Kisaragi, "That's a boy? But... they're really pretty."

Unable to help herself, Kisaragi giggled some, "Hai, that's a boy." Internally through, she frowned, 'I... think?'

The sound of giggles made the blonde haired member of the Destroyers turn to the Inugami beside her. At the look, Kasumi grinned up at Yuudachi, "They're funny."

Laughing, Yuudachi only nodded and ruffled the young Yokai's hair, "Hai, they are, Poi. But that means that they're nice together."

Head tilted to the side, Atsuko nodded as she glanced to her twin, Akari, "Kind of like Fubuki-San and the others. I mean, you're all together, right?" When the shipgirls nodded, though Kana had a blush, the disguised Oni frowned, "I hope that I get someone like that some day..."

Gently patting her head, Kana shook her head, "I'm sure that you'll have someone like that yourself, Atsuko-Chan. But you have a few years yet before you need to worry about that. Just enjoy being a child for now..." Her eyes saddened a little, 'As much as you can with the life that you and the others have lived.'

With that, they guided the children towards the stop where they could get on the bus and go to the park.

Meanwhile, in the park, Harry laid back on the blanket under the sakura trees as blossoms drifted in the breeze and branches rustled, "Now this is nice." Looking down to where he was stroking Natsumi's hair as she laid with her head in his lap, he smiled a bit, "Isn't it?"

Cracking open one eye, the Kitsune smiled back at him, "Hai, it is." Once more closing her eyes, she hummed some with a small sigh as he continued his pampering, "Very nice."

Shiromizu chuckled a bit as she grinned some, "At least until later, because you are taking up all his attention now."

In reply, Natsumi swatted at her with a slight smirk, "Hah? Maybe I am, but we're spending the day here at Hanami after all. And these are days to relax and enjoy."

Lips twitching as she sipped some sparkling juice, the Mizuchi shook her head, "Never said otherwise. But the rest of your family is coming later..."

Only shrugging as she continued to enjoy the petting, Natsumi snorted, "And? Until then, I can just enjoy myself like this." She opened one eye and gave a smirk, "Much like I am assuming my Onii-San currently is with his girlfriends."

Head tilted to the side, Harry considered that some before humming, "You don't seem to have an issue with that." At her curious look, he shrugged, "Taichi-San having more than one girlfriend."

Eyebrow raised, Natsumi considered his question among other things. After a few moments, she smiled a little bit, "I don't mind it that much, Harry-Chan. They do seem to like my Onii-San. And, more than that, they are serious about this. In my book, that is enough of a reason not to have any real issue with it. I'm just glad that he has at least someone."

Somewhat amused, Shiromizu gave her a look, "And also because it gives you plenty of material to tease him about."

Raising a finger, the Kitsune smirked, "Hai, it does give me a lot of material to tease him with. So that is another good reason to not have a problem with it."

That got a laugh from Harry even as Shiromizu shook her head. Leaning back a little, the Mizuchi looked at her friend, "What about you then?"

Confused, Natsumi looked at her, "What about me?"

Waving a hand around, the young Kami's next words got a blush from both the Kitsune and the wizard whose lap she had laid her head, "Would you be in such a relationship?"

Not saying anything for a few minutes, Natsumi looked up at the blossom laden trees above them, "Would I be in such a relationship?" Holding out a hand, she caught some of the petals that were falling in her hand. Several seconds passed as she looked at them and then smiled as the breeze blew them away, "I do not think that I would mind all that much as long as there is love and not lust between those involved."

All Shiromizu did to that was tilt her head slightly before smiling, "I see..."

Leaning back, Catherine glanced at where Harry, Natsumi, Shiromizu, as well as Nagato, Hoppou were nearby. Softly smiling, she gave a small nod as Tsukiakari poured some wine into her glass, "Merci, Tsukiakari." Taking a small sip as the Kyu Gunto did the same with a dish of sake, she hummed as she looked around, "So this is the flower viewing that you spoke of to us?"

Softly smiling, the Japanese blade nodded, "Hai, it is, Catherine-Senpai." Looking around, there was a look of fond remembrance on her face, "I remember Master Ian going to such with me at his side. And Mistress Lyra enjoyed it as well."

Expression gentle, Catherine only smiled, "I can see why. This is quite the nice activity."

From where she was sitting, Goldie nodded, "Indeed it is!" Taking a drink of her own wine, she smiled, "While this is not of Rome, it is still quite Roman! Umu!"

Bemused, Tsukiakari gave her a look, "I... don't think that it could count as Roman, Goldie-Senpai."

In reply, the Roman blade waved her off, "Bah! All is Roman for Rome is all! Tis a rule of the world after all."

While Tsukiakari shook her head in amusement to Goldie's pronouncement, Andraste smiled at Sabah who was cuddled up to her side, "I quite like it. What do you think, Sabah?"

The Arabic blade hummed a bit as she sipped her own fruit juice before smiling, "I like this quite a bit." Turning, she regarded Tsukiakari, "You said that this is to make one consider the impermance of life?"

Slowly, Tsukiakari nodded, "Hai, that is right."

Only taking another sip, Sabah chuckled, "Then this is a fine thing to do."

Leaping to her feet with a full human look to her, Dracul placed a hand to her chest, "This sight is so peaceful and relaxing~ It makes me want to sing~!"

With a sigh, the lone American of the group shook his head and took a sip of beer, "Please don't, Lil' Lady." Taking another sip of his beer as the spear huffed, he smirked, "Though this here is not half bad."

A short distance away, Saki shook her head as the others chuckled before smiling herself, "It is so strange to think that despite being made in Japan, this is my first Hanami. But... I am enjoying myself." Looking down, she hummed, "What do you think, Sheff?"

Her long time partner chuckled a little from where he was seated in her lap, "I am quite enjoying myself, Saki my dear. And I will admit that it is nice to go to and enjoy."

That got him a hum from the older looking girl. Not far away, Nightbane chuckled as he placed his arms behind his head. All of the tsukumogami were dressed like normal people as to not stick out. And part of his amusement came from how Amalie's eyebrow was twitching as Big Iron had fallen into a drunk sleep in her lap and was now drooling, "I can see why people like this."

Pulling a bottle of beer away from his lips after taking a drag of it, Carnwennan nodded, "Indeed." A chuckle escaped from him as he took one of the treats and bit into it, "I could see my first Master, King Arthur, as well as his knights enjoying such a thing." Briefly, the dagger paused and frowned, "Well, for a short time."

Eyebrow raised, Vala gave him a look, "Oh?"

Carnwennan shrugged some, "Well, not long after half of them would be drunk, half would be composing really bad poetry with some being drunk and not, and some of them would be crossdressing among other things." Taking a sip of beer, he shook his head, "Others would be fighting and attempting to woo the ladies."

If anything, that caused more eyebrows to raise. From where she sat besides her "Brother", Xing cleared her throat, "I take it that some of the last one there would be drunk as well?"

Waggling his hand, Carnwennan snorted, "Some... and some would be dressed as women while hitting on women... and sometimes, if drunk enough, on a fellow knight dressed as a woman." That got him stared which made him smirk, "Never a dull moment with the Knights of the Round Table."

Just pausing in his eating, Feng gave him a look, "Truly, Arthur was a King among Kings to be able to herd such an amount of cats."

Voice dry, the Arthurian dagger gave him a look in return, "You have absolutely no idea." He gestured around them, "As much as some Admirals talk about the craziness of shipgirls, they are mild compared to the Knights."

Rather amused at what she was just told, Tsuchi held out a dish which Juuchi filled with Saki, "Sounds like he was an extremely interesting man."

As Carnwennan nodded, Juuchi snorted, "Perhaps, but I feel like we shall not be bad in regards to the Potter family. After all, they are so much more interesting." Filling her dish with sake, she glanced at where Harry was, "Yes, especially with the entertainment that our Master's romantic prospects give us."

Grinning, Tsuchi raised her dish, "Agreed, my old friend."

The other weapons chuckled at that.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Operation Ehren's Reise (III)

Leaky Cauldron, Charing Cross Road, London

Ehren marched down the street, the sky-blue skirt of her mother's old Beauxbatons uniform swishing around her hips. Her steel blue eyes flickered from newsstand to shop to... Aha, there!

Her lips puckered in a small smug smile as she crossed the street to enter the pub advertised by the faded hand-painted sign of a leaky cauldron. Behind her cool, aristocratic calm mask, her heart thudded wildly and she paused a half second with her hand on the door.

She took a deep breath, remembering the last time she had felt this thrill run through the steel of her true body.

The bullets cracked overhead from the Polish village and the copper smell of blood was filling her senses as Vati crawled to his gasping soldier. These Polish troops were blocking the destined path of Greater Germany and that would not do.

With that he flipped the safety off his Luger as one hand rested for a moment on her hilt in a comforting caress that warmed her spirit as she sat on his hip.

His arm shot up and his voice cut through the chaos as his Will exerted itself over his men. "Sturmangriff! Vorwärts!" Alongside him, her spirit shot to her feet and charged at the obstacle in her way in that moment of perfect rightness that liberated herself from all her fears as she ran alongside Vati's shoulder at what awaited them....

With that she opened the door and entered, feeling the comforting weight of her true self ready to do what was necessary to protect her family.

The pub inside was like stepping back in time several centuries to when Mother was her age. Candles flickered and the walls were whitewashed stone while the furnishings were rough-hewn wood. Unbidden, her lips twitched in a smile as she threaded her way through the dozen and a half patrons to the back courtyard.

She examined the bricks and smirked triumphantly at the sight of a damaged brick in the center. She reviewed Mother's instructions one more time. "Tap the bricks in the following pattern with a magical item. Wizards use their wand, but our true bodies serve equally as well..."

A twitch of her wrist and her true body filled her hand, giving her that thrill of rightness at being unsheathed as she smoothly flipped herself to tap the bricks making up the wall with her hilt.

Tap... tap-tap... tap... tap...

The first brick slid back into the wall and she automatically resheathed herself once more. Her hands moved on autopilot as her eyes widened and her lips parted in awe as the first crack of light shone from the opening.
Spoiler: Diagon Alley

"Mein Gott, it's beautiful..." she whispered to herself as she stepped out into the bustling crowd of wizards. Her lips curled up in a happy smile as her eyes flickered from wizard, to storefront, to witch, to a display of racing brooms and Quiddich gear to a bookstore.

She then swallowed and took a deep breath. Focus, Ehren. Dienst ist Dienst and you are here for a reason. Mother trusts you to not act like a fool. You can come back another time for yourself. With that she nodded and her cool professional mask was pinned to her face once more. Gringotts first, Mother said it was down to the right and I could not miss it.

With that observation, she moved down the street, her heart thudding.

Gringotts

Ehren marched up the marble steps of the towering bank and nodded to the doorman as the bronze doors opened. Behind her cool mask, her heart raced and the key on the chain around her neck felt heavier than the castle that was her home.

Her eyes narrowed as she crossed the foyer and read the poem on the inner doors.

Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there

As she stepped inside those silver doors, for a brief instant, Grendel rattled the bars of the cage of her Will at the sight of the Goblins inside. Their hook noses, wizened faces, and clear greed reminded her of some of the Nazi stereotypes of the Jews as money grubbing parasites. With that her eyes narrowed and she exerted her Will to slam the darker side of her nature back into the cage once more.

"Not Jews, but the Gnomes of Zürich then." Her lips quirked as she approached one of the clerks and spoke clearly and precisely as she snapped to attention.

"Ehren du Chasteler to speak to Ragnok about a matter of account management. In addition I shall be making a withdrawal from Vault 455. I am expected."

The goblin flipped through his book. "Signet?"

Ehren reached into her pocket and presented Mother's signet ring for a minute inspection with a jeweler's loupe. "Key?"

She then pulled the key from around her neck for his inspection.

Finally the goblin handed the items back and got off his stool. "Follow."

Ehren automatically fell into position one pace behind and to the right of the goblin as he led her across the floor.

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

Ehren walked out of Gringotts a hour later with a spring in her step. The coin pouch at her waist was heavier by a hundred Galleons and a double handful of Sickles and Knuts for her spending money, and the folder she carried had the notarized, witnessed, and certified official paperwork to establish trust funds and account access for her older half sister Wei Ying, the Fujii family, and her stepmother Masamune-no-Tokunotakai.

Equally happily, she had enjoyed matching wits with Ragnok as he had discussed fees and obligations and tried to sell her some financial services of dubious applicability and even more dubious utility at rather exorbitant costs. It seemed that as someone who had read business law and business textbooks to prepare for her role as Mother's secretary and manager, Ehren was a minority in the Wizarding World.

A smug smirk flickered around her lips as she surveyed the street from the top of the steps leading up to Gringotts and began to plan her attack for the rest of the day.

Hm... bookstore next to pick up some magical histories and spellbooks plus any sheet music for Claire, perhaps Flourish and Blotts? And is that... why yes it is an ice cream parlor three doors down from there! Florian Flortescue's Ice Cream Parlor looks to be a perfect place to listen in while enjoying a French Vanilla and caramel sundae with extra whipped creme and cherries!

Ten minutes and two bites of her requested caramel sundae later, Ehren shivered in pure bliss as her eyes half-closed. She resolved to come back to Florian Flortescue's as often as she could while in London. Along with seeing if she could pick up some ice cream to take home to share with Claire, Misaki, Chi-chan, and Mother.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Courtship Display IX

Yokosuka Naval Base

Moriko smiled at her sisters as they sat across the kitchen table in their quarters. "Hachiko-chan got two discount tickets to an onsen for the weekend and I am going to go in half with him to pay for them. I need my wonderful little sisters to help him by taking care of Aki for the weekend. Please?" The she-wolf Natural born shipgirl gave her best effort at destroyer eyes to her sisters.

It didn't work.

Suzume looked at Sachiko. Sachiko nodded and grinned. Then in unison two heads swung to stare down their older sister who gulped nervously at the look in their eyes.

"Ara~~ Ara~~~! Whatever will our big sister be doing with her Hachiko-chan at a couple's special mixed-bathing onsen~? Hmmm~~?" They exclaimed in chorus as Moriko blushed crimson.

"Oh my~! My pure and innocent older sister will be sharing a hot spring with a young man, what manner of 'nighttime~ naval~ activity~' might he get up to there with her?" Suzume melodramatically announced as she pressed the back of her hand to her forehead in a clearly faked fainting attack.

Sachiko chimed in, "How forward of her, when Kogamaru and I have yet to do anything so bold and scandalous as hand holding! Alas, my cruel big sister won't pay for her deprived and desperate little sister to spend time with the love of her life~."

Moriko whined as her blush redoubled. So much teasing...

Finally a half hour later, the teasing relented a little.

"Of course I will be happy to sit Aki-san for Hachiko-san." Suzume said with a smile. "He is a good boy and you have done so much for us that you deserve this vacation."

Sachiko then wheeled herself over and hugged her oldest sister. "I hope that you enjoy your time with Hachiko-san. Just let me know what it is like since I would like to go someplace like that when I am healthier."

Moriko returned the hugs. "Thank you, sisters. I better get going to pick Hachiko up for our trip to the museum."

Suzume stepped close and hugged Moriko. "Good luck revealing everything to him." Her twin then grinned evilly. "You may want to find out whether he likes girls with large fuel tanks first, though."

Steam shot from Moriko's ears. "SU-ZU-ME!!"

"Kidding, kidding, Oneechan. I know how much he likes your chest!"

Moriko nodded and gulped at the thought of revealing herself to Hachiko.

I can do this, right?

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

I can do this, right?

Hachiko Miyata gulped as he waited outside the main gate for his girlfriend to show up so they could visit the museum that had recently opened. While he would have enjoyed doing anything with Moriko-chan, this was special to him.

He had heard that the museum had an amazing exhibit on Yokai and Japanese magic. Which was the perfect place to reveal to Moriko-chan that he was not just human, but a halfbreed. The son of a Inugami yokai and a human witch, he was a Hanyo, a nonhuman with little magic to his name but still a magical being.

So he would have to reveal to her the great secret that magic was real. It was true that she was a Natural-Born shipgirl, the reincarnated spirit of a Japanese Warship that was being built for the Pacific War. But that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the hidden world of wizards and magic that he would have to reveal to her.

Especially since his family were civil servants working for the Magical Diet, the magical government of Japan. When, not if, his grandfather agreed for him to marry her - which caused his face to flush - then she would be fully brought inside the secret.

And he owed it to her to try to cushion the blow and help her prepare for that day. Starting with hinting at the truth.

"Hachiko-chan!" At the cry he turned to see Moriko dashing toward him.

"Moriko-ch---" The rest of his greeting was cut off as she swept him up in an embrace and his face disappeared into her cleavage. He closed his eyes, reveling in the softness enveloping his head, and even better the clean, wild smell of her perfume, a scent that always made his blood thunder in his ears with something pure and primal.
Spoiler: The Call of the Okami

Finally she released him. He looked up to stare into her sparkling gray eyes and that wonderfully predatory smile of hers.

"Let's go to the museum," he said, feeling his blood thunder in his ears.

"Yes, let's," she replied, her teeth gleaming.

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

Hachiko squeezed Moriko's hand as they entered the exhibition of "The Art of the Yokai." His eyes lighted on a ink painting of an Inugami dressed as a monk lecturing students.
Spoiler: Inugami

"Look at this one, Moriko-chan!" He pointed with his free hand at the Inu. "What do you think?"

"That's a really impressive painting, Hachiko-chan." She responded. "There's a story behind it, right?"

He gulped and nodded. "Yes, there are legends," he mentally added, and family stories, "about pacts made with spirits back during the Yayoi Period that produced the first Inugami as loyal servants and aides to some families."

"That's nice." She responded a bit absently, as her rangefinders sought an Okami. "Oh look here! I like this one!" She said, guiding him to a different wall scroll with two Okami cavorting.
Spoiler: Okami

"That's really nice, Moriko-chan." he responded.

She smiled, "The Okami are the legendary messengers of Amaterasu-ōmikami who marked them with her sigils." She pointed the swirling patterns on the wolf's forelegs and face.

"Wow, that is interesting. I can see why Clover Studio used a wolf to represent Her in Okami." Hachiko said, smiling broadly.

Moriko nodded, "Yes, the same kanji are used for wolf and great kami." That is what my parents told me when I was a cub.

Hachiko grinned. "I like the Inugami legend better because I have always been partial to Man's Best Friend. In fact, I was named by my father after the legendary Inu who waited faithfully every day until his death for his dead master."

Moriko barked a laugh. "It suits you, but I prefer the wild mystery and spiritual connections of the wolves. They are the ultimate hunters and lords of the wilderness."

He grinned and hugged her around the waist at they headed to the gift shop to get souvenirs. "Dogs are better though, you know."

"Not so, wolves!" she responded with a teasing edge in her voice as she bought a set of postcards that showed the prints they liked.

"Dogs!" Hachiko laughed as they walked outside.

"Wolves!" She responded. "This is silly, they are both great. Unlike cats!"

"You said it, Moriko-chan. I'm a dog person, always was, always will be." Hachiko stated as they reached the bus stop. "So we head to a Piece of Heaven for Karaoke next?"

Moriko nodded. "Karaoke then."

As a set of schoolchildren got off the bus that they were going to take, Moriko leaned close and growled softly. "I'll show you everything at the Onsen, Hachiko-chan."

His eyes sparkled as he responded. "I can't wait, Moriko-chan."

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire

Phyrexia Unbound said:

For some reason this image makes me think of a BreadGun and ButterGun in a love-hate relationship.​

Shoot-shoot-kiss?

And, for an off-the-cuff, less-than-serious omake:
*-*-*-*-*-*

Ehren chased the last of her ice cream around the bottom of the fluted glass with her long spoon, pondering whether or not to have another. On the one hand, gluttony was unbecoming a member of her family tree. But on the other hand, it wasn't like she had human issues with calories. And she was on her first trip away from home....

Her conundrum-wrestling match ('more ice cream' was up by two falls, and going for best-of-five) was rudely interrupted when someone shouted in her ear.

"HUZZA!!!"

Ehren did not scream like a little girl, vielen dank. Nor was her leap out of her seat that of an startled gazelle, but rather than of a tigress looking to turn an ambush back upon the ambushers.

KLONK!

...except for idiot magical architects installing a gottverdammt ceiling beam in exactly the wrong place.

"Ooowwwwww...." All right, perhaps her leap had been a bit higher than intended. As she lay on the floor, holding her head and trying to blink away the whirling stars, it occurred to her that Aunt Delilah would never forgive her if she got killed by incapacitating herself in front of an ambush in such an embarrassing fashion. Mutti would disown her in shame--

"UPHOLDER! What have I told you about startling complete strangers like that!"

"Oh, fairest of maidens, ship-launcher of Troy! Ah... that it was rude. And unwise. And that you would do truly unspeakble things to me if I did it again...."

"Ugh! I swear, you do this just for the attention! Now, make yourself useful and go get some ice, while I apologize to your victim."

Ehren was sitting up rather woozily by this point. Her ambusher was, apparently, the college-age-looking woman with the (Ehren couldn't help but glance down at her own chest) impressive bust line, and the ambusher's chider was the tweenage, frizzy-haired brunette with a stressed expression of "WHY am I SURROUNDED by IDIOTS?" that struck an immediate chord with Ehren.

The tween reached down a hand to Ehren, looking apologetic. After a brief moment of wrestling down her paranoia, Ehren took it, and let the younger-looking girl pull her to her feet.

"I'm terribly sorry about that," her rescuer apologized resignedly. "Upholder is supposed to be my... escort... but--"

"HUZZAH! Good day, barkeep! I require ice, and quickly!"

"--but it's more like taking an oversized, overactive pet out without a leash. Or a cattle prod...." she added, under her breath.

"She is..." Ehren tried to think of what Claire would say. "She is quite... sneaky," was the best she could come up with. To be sure, sneakiness was something Ehren could appreciate.

"I know! You wouldn't think someone so loud could be so adept at sneaking up on people, but she is. Oh! I'm sorry, where are my manners! I'm Hermione Granger."

Ehren took Hermione's hand, again. "Ehren du Chasteler." For some strange reason, she felt an immediate kinship with this girl. As if she wanted to buy them both ice cream, and sit down and complain about the loud, inconsiderate, disorganized people in their lives together.


Because, HMS Done With This Shit and Dagger Takes No Shit would get along like a house on fire....

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

A.N.-This runs immediately after and builds upon There are Two Kinds of Fools (Epilogues) and concurrently with Pack Dynamics V-VIII.

Bullets, Blades, and Blossoms

Taura Plum Blossom Park, Yokosuka

Hanami, 2014
Spoiler: Hanami

Delilah de Breuil smiled faintly as she watched her Aunt Chisuheri vanish into the crowd of picnickers enjoying the blossoms of spring. She glanced at her wristwatch and the smile grew slightly more smug as she noted that she was ahead of her planned schedule for this operation.

I can actually take an hour to establish my cover by enjoying Hanami by just wandering and acting like the schoolgirl that I am disguised as while I examine the blossoms.

With that cheerful thought, she then adjusted the 'Hello Kitty Purse' that was actually a concealed space expanded buffalo hide knapsack that she had crafted from the bull that she had killed on her first hunt in 1869. Her hand caressed the leather, and a soft smile grew on her face as the wind blew through the blossoms and rustled her hair around her face.

She could remember the thunder of millions upon millions of hooves upon the endless prairie of the Great Plains as a sea of lowing buffalo stretched before her as far as the eye could see. The thudding of White Leg's hooves under her as he ran at a full gallop and the beating of her heart as one tempo of pure joy as Louise paced her on Grass Dancer, her friend's blue-black hair and Delilah's own chestnut red mingling in the wind of their passage as they participated in their first hunt as full tribal members of the tetonwan, the People of the Plains. While she could have drawn her true self and shot as she pleased, there was a rightness as she raised her bow, feeling the green ash flex and the thunderbird feather marking her arrow tickle her cheek as she took aim at the mature bull that she had picked out....

The breeze faded and she returned to herself with the familiar bittersweet jolt at the memories of those who she had loved and then lost in her long-past youth. Louise, now dead a century and yet mourned privately by her still. The great herds of her youth, now scattered remnants such as the one that she hid on her ranch. The Lakota, now a faded and broken people diminished from what they once were.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Her lips curled as she heard that quote in the voice of Wei Ying. Of course that damn Canuck would have introduced Tennyson to me the first winter after Louise passed away. And I owe her for that. She can be the most inscrutable, annoying, stubborn, prickly person I know - my sisters excepted! - but she is a friend despite all the ways that she gets on my nerves and rubs me the wrong ways.

With that thought Delilah smiled and began to walk among the other people enjoying Hanami.

Suddenly a vaguely familiar voice interrupted her reverie. "Delilah?"

She turned to see a familiar sword spirit's avatar. Her eyes widened as her instincts automatically went to red alert at the sight of the greatest of the Muramasas. "Aunt Juuchi, what are you doing here?" Delilah responded automatically.

Behind Juuchi a set of three young women and two men - no, spirits like herself and her aunt - all looked at her with various expressions of curiosity. One of the young women dressed in simple clothing spoke in a gentle voice. "Juuchi, she called you aunt. Do you know her?"

Juuchi's smile twitched slightly. "This is my niece, Auror Delilah de Breuil. I'm here for Hanami. Come over and meet some of the people who I know from the Potter Armory." Her tone of voice suggested that Delilah saying no would be a big mistake.

Delilah nodded. "I can visit for a bit before I need to run my errand. I am Juuchi's niece, yes, Miss. We met least year when I finally got in contract with the Muramasa side of my family."

The young woman smiled and patted the blanket next to her. "Catherine. You are French, yes?"

Delilah shook her head as she sat next to Catherine. "Not for a long time, no. Mother's family are Huguenot wizards who left France for America after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. We have lived in America ever since. My eldest half-sister Colombe is the Frenchwoman in the family." Delilah smiled. "She is Julie d'Aubigny's daughter with Juuchi's older sister Norimune. Father... got around quite a bit."

Catherine blinked in surprise at that statement and blushed. A dusky-skinned girl sitting in the lap of a second purple-haired girl wearing glasses leaned in and spoke in accented English with clear interest in her voice. "You were not crafted then?"

Delilah shook her head. "Yes and no. The revolver that I am the spirit of manifested when Mother gave birth to me in 1855. I am led to believe that it was the same for my older half-sisters Colombe and Jacklyn when their mothers gave birth to them in 1707 and 1723 respectively, Miss...?"

"Sabah bint Alhasan. My shy friend is Andraste." Sabah responded as Andraste waved, listening with interest. "The others with us are Bill and Nightbane, and you already know Juuchi Yosamu."

Bill tipped his hat and saluted her with his bottle of beer. "Wouldn't mind seein' you shoot, Little Lady. Always nice to see a fellow shootin' iron, and with those eyes you have seen the elephant."

Delilah's lips quirked. "Well, I reckon we can have a right hog-killin' time of it, Bill." She paused and her eyes widened in recognition. "Tombstone, 1881?"

He nodded.

Her lips quirked. "Thought you looked familiar. I passed through there on Auror business in January. Had a Naagloshii that we needed to dry-gulch before it did more damage after it came down out of the Superstition Mountains. Finally cornered it in March. Now I definitely want to spend a day or three swapping tall tales with you."

Nightbane leaned in with interest. "What is a Naagloshii?"Beside him Catherine's eyes sharpened.

Delilah winced. "Navajo shapeshifter and skinwalker and nothing anyone sane wants anything to do with. They are pretty much shaped from the essence of pure malice and evil just like Dementors in Europe and Wendigo up in Canada and Alaska. I know a little about them from having to fight them, and the little I do know about how they are manifested is enough to convince me that I should not probe deeper. That kind of magic is dangerously seductive."

Catherine smiled. "Well said, Delilah. Evil is an omnipresent threat that we must fortify ourselves against."

Juuchi snorted. "Speaking of evil, what about my other nieces?"

Delilah laughed, "Jackie is doing Jackie things. The one who is my current headache is Colombe. She decided to get into a fight with some Aurors over here who were torturing a family of Yokai fleeing a reserve. That's why I'm here, I'm working on putting a stop to the current manhunt aimed at her. Again."

Andraste blinked. "Again?" she inquired curiously in her shy voice before sipping her wine.

Delilah shook her head and nodded after accepting a glass of wine from Catherine. "Merci. Yes, again." Delilah gave a long-suffering sigh as she explained, "Sis... Colombe that is, has a nasty tendency to run into situations where doing the right thing involves bending the laws if not outright breaking them. When I first met her, it was after she defended herself magically from a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob after her head in the middle of town. Which got MACUSA on her tail for violations of Rappaport's Law. Then there was her starting a riot during the French Revolution to save her young nephew from the mob, resulting in a major breach of the Statute of Secrecy."

Catherine puckered her lips and nodded slowly, "I cannot fault her for that, especially if her nephew was innocent."

Delilah sipped her wine and thought for a moment. "According to her he was about ten years old and about to be guillotined."

Catherine sighed with a somber expression. "I certainly cannot fault her for that. I have my own memories of that madness."

Delilah nodded. "Nor do I, but the ICW certainly does not see it that way. I agree with her opinion that it is more morally abhorrent to stand by and do nothing rather than act and save lives. Then she served in SOE during World War Two alongside Lyra Potter and myself once America entered the war in '41. Not all of our operations were on the magical side of the fence either." Delilah had a sick expression on her face. "Especially not the one where we trashed that SS relocation camp for the Jews of Holland."

Juuchi spoke smugly, "I could not have done it much better from what I heard. You certainly have the right attitude toward our family's enemies."

Delilah shook her head. "I don't know whether to be honored or horrified there. I pride myself on being a little more subtle than the rest of my family's pack of bloodthirsty maniacs."

Juuchi's smugness increased as she reached into the basket by her elbow and pulled out a blood orange.

Sabah spoke. "Subtle is better. I remember seeing you around Potter Manor during those years. What of your friend the Ifrit?"

Delilah blinked, "I don't recall you though. Zamarad is well, she moved to America after the war and I keep in touch with her. You know her?"

Sabah gave a slight smile, and slid her hand down her face, shifting it to that of a House-Elf, before sliding it back up to resume her normal appearance. "I was selected amongst us in the Armory to assist Tsukiakari in secretly bodyguarding Mistress Lyra with her approval while Master Henry was away with Juuchi fighting the war. And yes, Zamarad and I had many conversations while you were absent alongside your sister. It was pleasant to speak to another Muslim to discuss philosophy and the finer points of the Faith."

"Ahhh." Delilah made an understanding sound and sipped her wine. "When I see her next I shall relay along that message, and shall be happy to put you in touch with her if you so wish."

"That would be good." Sabah pulled out her phone and Delilah did the same to exchange numbers, followed by Bill. "I must ask, whatever became of that cute little dagger that your sister left with us during the war and then reclaimed?"

Delilah blinked, visibly running back through her memory. "Oh, you must mean my niece Ehren. Sis took her home to Moulbaix in 1946 and she manifested last year. She is a good girl, just do not tell her that, for she can be prickly. Sometimes she reminds me of nothing so much as a very wary and very angry cat."

Juuchi smugged harder as the rest of the blades gave her long-suffering looks.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Packing the last bit of clothing into a backpack, Harry gave a nod before swinging it onto his back. A chuckle made him turn and the sight of Nagato leaning against the doorframe caused him to smile, "Good morning, Mum."

Softly smiling, Nagato walked over and ruffled his hair before kissing the top of his head, "Good morning, Harry. Ready to head over to Wanko's Territory for two days?"

A grin on his face, Harry nodded, "You bet, Mum! I can't wait to see it." Briefly, his grin became a frown, "Though I wish that it was for more than two days..."

Only ruffling his hair, the Battleship shook her head, "If this works out well, then you'll be able to spend more time there. Right now though, Wanko wants to introduce you to her fleet. Mainly because they've all become very curious about you." Gently smiling, Nagato lightly laughed, "Though I am not too surprised about that to be quite honest with you. Not with how much Wanko, Regina, and Revina have likely talked about you to them."

Rubbing the back of his head, Harry chuckled weakly, "Well... Big Sister and Regina are not too bad...but..."

Bemused, Nagato chuckled, "Revina on the other hand? Yes, I can see why you might be nervous about what she has told people. Especially considering her... personality." Tapping her chin, she grinned, "I wish you luck." That got a sigh from her adopted son though the small smile on his face said it all. Walking over, the shipgirl placed a hand around his shoulders, "Now, how about we get some breakfast with Hoppou before you leave..."

Elsewhere on the base, Regina was walking alongside Shinano as they chatted. Tilting her head, the Re-Class blinked some, "So are your new sisters doing well?"

A bright smile on her face, the Yamato nodded, "Hai, they are and will be coming to Yokosuka in a few days to begin their training." Giggles escaped her as she clapped her hands like the young, teenage girl she was in her mind despite her body looking like a young adult's, "I actually came home ahead of Onee-Sama and the others so that I can get our quarters all ready for Megumi-Chan's and Kokoro-Chan's arrival."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Regina frowned, "Megumi? Kokoro? But I thought that their names were Yashima and Tsukushi?"

Just shaking her head, Shinano smiled, "Those are their ship names. Megumi and Kokoro are their birth names from before they were awoken." She rapped her chin for a moment, "They prefer to be called by their birth names rather than ship names unless out on patrol or on a mission. We don't have a problem with that as a number of Natural Borns do that."

Regina tilted her head a bit to the side and frowned, "Um, don't take this wrong but... that's kind of weird...

Shaking her head, the Carrier smiled, "Just a little bit, but it doesn't matter in the end. What does is what they're comfortable with." Considering that, Regina nodded in agreement with Shinano. A frown then appeared on the Yamato's face, "Though I am a bit confused as to why Kokoro-Chan went out and bought those, um shorts? Like what you see on some bathing suits. Don't know why... something about she doesn't like feeling a breeze?" Lips twitching, Shinano could almost swear she saw question marks appearing above Regina's head before she shrugged, "That's what she said."

Now scratching her head, the Abyssal frowned, "Um, okay?" The two shared a look that only those confused, though also amused somewhat, about something and long time friends could. Deciding to leave any questions regarding it for much later, Regina smiled a bit, "So they're going to be coming here to train?"

Just nodding, Shinano hummed, "Hai, that's right. For at least a month or two before going back to Kushiro. But I'm glad because now I have new sisters... though I might have more soon."

That made the Abyssal cock her head to the side in confusion, "Really? More sisters?"

On Shinano's face could be seen a thoughtful look, "Hai. You know the A-150s?"

It took a moment to place the name, but Regina nodded, "That's what people call the 'Super Yamato', right? Because I think that someone mentioned them before..."

Brightly smiling, Shinano nodded, "Hai, that's right, Regina-Chan." For a moment, she frowned, "The design was finished at the end of the war, but... they never built them. And when the war ended, they destroyed the plans for them." Turning, her expression became happy, "But... I think because of Harry-Chan, they might be able to be born!"

Head tilted to the side, Regina blinked, "Because of Harry?"

There was no doubt in the tone of her voice that Harry could do such a thing, absolutely none at all. Rather, it was more a question of how which Shinano nodded at, "Because of magic." Seeing her friend blink, the Carrier shook her head, "Remember the ritual that Harry got into? Which helped Louisiana-Chan come fully awake?"

Eyes widening, Regina nodded, "I remember that." A thoughtful look crossed her face, "I think that Lady Wanko said that it is still going...?"

Making a sound of agreement, Shinano smiled, "Hai, it's draining Voldemort of his life. And Harry-Chan is strong enough that he is forcing it, I think that he is pushing as hard as he can against Voldemort and beating him."

Her eyes hardening, the Re-Class gave a slight nod. After all, there was absolutely no question who was stronger between Harry and Voldemort for her. None at all... as shown by the image in her head of a Chibi-Harry standing over a dead Voldemort, as shown by the Dark Lord having "X"s for eyes. After a moment, she shook that image off and remembered what else she knew, "So Harry might be drawing enough out to get your sisters created?"

All that Shinano did was smile, "Hai. And I know that he can." Giving a sigh, she shook her head, "I know that he can."

Slightly smiling, Regina just nodded in agreement to that before patting her friend's shoulder, "Yes, he can." Tilting her head some, she gave a hum, "I wonder what they'd be like?"

Crossing her arms, the Carrier also tilted her head as she thought about it, "Hmm... I think that they would be like Onee-Sama. Or maybe Hana-Chan?"

For her part, her friend considered that before Regina smiled, "Hopefully, or maybe like you."

Blushing lightly, Shinano adjusted her glasses as she looked at the Abyssal next to her, "Um... you hope that they might be like me? Really?"

The next words from Regina only made her blush worse as the Re-Class gave her a serious look, "Of course! Then they would be pretty, strong, tough, and very smart as well as brave."

Knowing that her face was likely hot enough to cook an egg on, Shinano gave the best smile that she could despite the embarrassment she felt. At the same time though, she was also proud, "Thank you, Regina-Chan."

Just blinking her reddish gold eyes, the Abyssal frowned as her next words caused steam to escape from Shinano's ears, "Um, okay? But I was only telling the truth..." Seeing her friend poke her fingers together made her internally giggle, 'So cute.' Deciding to take pity on her though, Regina hummed a bit before remembering something, "Oh! Speaking of sisters... remember how you mentioned that dream? Of the other Shinano?"

Slowly, Shinano nodded, "I remember. Why?"

A little amused, Regina shook her head, "Well, wouldn't she have counted as a sister? And what if you could have made her stay?"

Looking up at the blue, April sky, the shipgirl considered that before nodding, "I would not have minded having her stay. And I would have welcomed her."

For a few moments, Regina thought it over before nodding, "I would have as well... though, what if she became like you with, um, Harry? Since she was you... kind of?"

That caused Shinano to close her eyes in deep thought for a minute or two before shrugging, "I would not have minded all that much. Once, I mentioned it to Onee-Sama." She then furrowed her eyebrows and scratched her head in confusion, "But... she went all weird on me for some reason. And Enterprise-San had this grin on her face saying something about twins before Yahagi-San slapped her hand over Enterprise-San's mouth."

Eyebrows furrowing, Regina frowned, "Wonder what that was all about?" Simply shrugging, the Carrier shook her head before replying that she had no clue and the conversation continued along the line before something else came up which made Regina surprised, "You're getting your first Rebuild?"

Proudly, Shinano nodded, "Hai! I'm getting my Kai refit, though..." Her face became thoughtful and she frowned, "I don't know if I should surprise Harry-Chan by having it done or... have him there when it happens like he was for Hibiki-San." A light blush appeared on her cheeks, "He held her hand the entire time after all."

Now, it was the Abyssal's turn to blush as she imagined it, "H-he held her hand? The entire time in... in front of others?" At this nod, Regina poked her fingers together while looking down, "I would not mind if he did the same for me..."

To that, Shinano nodded in agreement as her own cheeks blazed, "H-hai... I would not mind." Both of them glanced at each other with blushes on their cheeks before giggling. Looking around, Shinano leaned towards her friends, "I can't believe we're talking about that! We're so naughty."

Rapidly nodding, Regina smiled back, "Very naughty."

Another burst of giggles escaped from the two at that even as they had blushes on their cheeks from imagining it in their head. Shinano then hummed a bit, "Um, anyways... you can see the glow, right?"

Head tilted to the side, Regina looked at Shinano before narrowing her eyes. After a few seconds, her expression brightened and she nodded, "I can actually! That is so neat." She placed a finger against her chin in thought, "So what is your Rebuild like?"

Lightly smiling, the Yamato looked up at the sky in thought, "Well... it is mostly improvements. My old Type 89s are being replaced with the new Type 98s that Yuubari-San has come up with. And my old rocket launchers are being replaced with a new one. But the big one is... some of my old 25mm guns are being replaced with 40mms. I'm also getting a hydrophone like Musashi-Nee-San as well as better radars." Glancing around, Shinano shook her head, "One of the things grabbed from the magical shipyard at the Caldera was notes about a new radar based on ones salvaged from a number of American ships that the magicals had gotten."

Eyebrows furrowing, Regina considered that before smiling, "That will make you a lot better at AA, especially with new radar. You'll have eight of those Type 98s, right?" Getting a nod, she continued, "And that will give you a nice boost. Though..." The Re-Class frowned and glanced at her friend, "No word yet on becoming a full Carrier?"

Shinano sadly shook her head at that, "No, not yet. Akashi-San stated that she needs to use the scraps of my old plans we've found as well as looking at Hana-Chan to see what that would look like. Also, um... the stuff I got from the other Shinano." Expression brightening, she nodded, "But on the other hand, she thinks that I'll start operating Jets soon!"

Her own expression bright, the Abyssal nodded at that. Regina then glanced around and shyly smiled, "You're not the only one about to get a rebuild, Shinano."

It took only seconds, but Shinano gasped and grabbed her friend's hand, "You're getting your rebuild as well? And becoming a Flagship level Re-Class?"

Nodding rapidly, Regina was smiling so wide it could have hurt, "Yes, Lady Wanko stated that she's finally able to upgrade me to a Flagship! And she's going to do it in a few weeks as well."

Both girls were smiling at each other and holding their hands before they let out squees and bounced around a bit more like how two young teens would rather than full grown women. Shinano than pulled her friend into a tight hug, which Regina returned happily as they continued to bounce on their feet. After all, they each considered the other to be very cuddly. Kissing Regina's cheek, Shinano smiled just as wide as her friend, "I'm so happy for you, Regina-Chan! You really deserve this!"

Massively grinning, Regina gave her friend a kiss on the cheek, "So do you, Shinano! And this is going to make you even better."

Pulling away from the hug, Shinano nodded before puffing out her chest, "Hai! We're going to be so awesome!"

Just nodding as well, Regina also puffed out her chest, "Very awesome! And we're going to kick stern!"

The moment was interrupted though with a crash sound and both the Abyssal and the shipgirl turned to see that a man in a JMSDF uniform had tripped over a garbage can. Face red, he glanced at the two girls, straightened his uniform, and walked off quickly. Scratching her head, Shinano had a look of confusion on her face, "I wonder what that was about?"

Slowly blinking, Regina scratched her head, "Maybe he was playing a game on his cellphone? Or looking at the clouds?"

Head tilted to the side, Shinano gave a nod, "That makes sense..." Eyebrows furrowing, she shook her head, "It happens a lot, but Onee-Sama keeps telling me that I'll have it explained when I'm older. Don't know why..."

All her friend did was shrug as she did not understand it either.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

SkyeFire said:
Because, HMS Done With This Shit and Dagger Takes No Shit would get along like a house on fire....​

Indeed they would!

SkyeFire said:
And, for an off-the-cuff, less-than-serious omake:​

Which gives me a nice hook for Ehren's first day in Diagon Alley!

Operation Ehren's Reise (IV)

Florian Flortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Diagon Alley, Magical London

Ehren smiled happily at Florian Flortescue as she held the bag full of ice to the swelling knot on her head. "Ich hätte gern drei Kugeln Eis. Zwei Vanille, und Sahne-Kirsch mit Karamell-Sauce, bitte!" She then cocked her head at the frizzy-haired brunette with her college aged friend. "No hard feelings here, so I'll buy for you two. You aren't any worse than my big sisters and aunts."
Spoiler: The Banana Split of the Undersea!

"HUZZAH! Tutti Frutti Banana split My Good Publican!" Upholder cheered and Hermione groaned.

"Butterscotch with hot fudge sauce here." The brunette then focused on Ehren. "That's three scoops of ice cream two vanilla and one with cherries and cream and caramel sauce?"

"Ja, it is," Ehren responded. "I am currently rigorously and methodically testing to see which items on the menu are superior." She gave a brief smile. "It gives me something to do while I study and work on my English."

"Aha!" Hermione made a sound of understanding. "You must be hoping to be part of the Beauxbatons delegation for the Triwizard tournament this fall at Hogwarts."

Ehren nodded, and then paid Florian as he delivered the promised ice cream. "Indeed I am. When I heard that Hogwarts would be hosting the Triwizard Tournament I resolved to redouble my studies in English and schoolbooks assigned to students to compare them to what I have been taught. Übung macht den Meister." Silently she added 'when you just told me' behind her cool smile as she spoke.

"Practice makes a master." Hermione mused between bites of ice cream. "That is a very true saying. With an attitude like that you will go far. Hopefully I see you in Hogwarts because I would love to show you around our library then."

Ehren's smile became more genuine. "I cannot wait. Although Mutti was concerned about the reports of Dementors attacking students in The Daily Prophet. I hope that it is nothing too major, because I would hate to have Mutti prevent me from going."
Spoiler: Song for HMS Done With This Shit

Hermione scowled, "At least the Dementors got sent back to wherever they come from in pieces and have been barred from the school grounds. I still can't believe that the Ministry of Magic could be so stupid. I swear you need a leash and muzzle to keep Harry out of trouble, though. First Professor Quirrel, then the Basilisk, and THEN the Dementors. What's next? Giant flaming wombats?"

Ehren's smile widened. "I can relate. Mutti is a trouble magnet," You have NO idea how true that is.... "and Aunt Del and my big sister Ying both are pranksters of the first order. Keeping them from burning the house down is a full time job, I fear. It is a wonder I am not bald from pulling my hair out."

Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "Harry made a better girl than I did for a prank. It was shocking! Don't even get me started about my idiot sister Cleo's taste in boys."

"Be fortunate that your sister does not demonstrate how much a piano virtuoso that she is with backing music. I was more than half asleep one morning and heading for my wake-up cup of espresso and Claire started playing the theme from Jaws in front of everyone!" Ehren commiserated between bites of her ice cream.

Hermione laughed.

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

"...And then Mutti yelled at poor Claire, and she panicked and stomped down too hard. Her foot was still on the gas and she accidentally snapped the pedal off" Ehren paused to pay for the third round of ice cream as Hermione facepalmed and shook her head. "So Mutti is yelling at her and the throttle is full open, so she twisted the wheel and took the Reparo-Wagen into a woodlot. At least Mutti knows Reparo and Kasuyu used the jeep to tow it back home to get fixed up."

"Ouch, that is...." Hermione sympathized. "Yeah, that is something else. I hope that your driving lessons were not that kind of disaster."

Ehren grinned. "Oh, they were better. You see, after that Aunt Del and Aunt Jackie agreed to teach me themselves. So while Del distracted Mutti, Jackie snuck me off for two weeks at a private driving school.'

Hermione blinked, "And your mother was OK with it? She sounds like such a control freak."

Ehren smirked, "Oh, no, she was frantic. But Jackie is a sailor and by the time that she found out that we were gone, we were already at sea on Aunt Jackie's other yacht. Jackie patched things up with Mutti after I passed the tests."

Hermione smiled, "I love sea cruises myself."

"As do I, they are peaceful, and I learned how to handle a small sailing craft. There is a joy in testing yourself against the elements, just you and your will and skills against the open seas."

Both Upholder and Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "That's very true. But I do need to go soon."

Ehren nodded. "Ja, I have other errands to run myself." She paused. "Can you do me a favor, Hermione?"

"Which is what?" Hermione asked.

Ehren scribbled a phone number on the back of the receipt. "Mutti asked me to let Harry Potter and his friends know that if he runs into trouble, the du Chastelers stand ready to stand beside him. Mutti has some ties to his family and owes them much. Here is the number for our telephone if, no, when, he needs assistance."

Hermione blinked and tucked it away. "I will keep that in mind." With that she stood and headed down the street. As she hefted her purchases, her radio room crackled to life. {What do you think, Upholder?}

Upholder cocked her head. {She is not human, certainly. She is also concealing a few things from us, although I could not detect any outright lies, just... omissions. She is also much younger than she looks, and German is her native language.}

Hermione nodded, {One thing that I noticed is that outfit of hers was superseded in the 1890s at Beauxbatons. They did away with the pearl buttons that she has and now the House insignia are embroidered on her blouse pocket like we have in Hogwarts. If she is really a Beauxbatons student, I will eat my anchor chain.}

Upholder frowned slightly. {That is troubling. Better safe than sorry. I have your permission to proceed then?}

Hermione sighed as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. {Approved.}

Upholder spoke. {Cousin, you heard?}

A soft shy feminine voice entered the conversation. {Affirmative, Commander. I have our Blonde Woman of Mystery in my scope.}

{Then Proceed, Venturer. Find out what you can about our German conversationalist. In the name of the Knights of the Undersea! HUZZAH!!}
Spoiler: HMS Venturer (P68)

Vana Yael Apfelbaum, the natural-born spirit of HMS Venturer and great-granddaughter of David Apfelbaum, locked her tracking solution on Ehren du Chasteler as she trailed the blonde through the streets of London.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

After a few moments of puzzling over what had happened, the two shook it off and continued to walk along. Head tilted to the side, Shinano blink a bit, "So, Wanko-San is going to give you some escorts of your own?"

Humming, Regina nodded with a small smile, "She is as a matter of fact." She tapped her finger on her chin, "Not sure which ones, mind you. But... I am certain whichever ones she does assign me can get along with you and Harry."

A slight frown on her face, the Carrier considered that, "Hmm..."

Regina's smile widened a touch, "I think that one of them that Lady Wanko is going to assign is Rainy Spring as she is a Flagship Destroyer. Though..." Tapping her chin, the Re-Class frowned, "I think that Lady Wanko is also going to evolve her into a Demon. She could lead any Abyssal Destroyers assigned to me."

Eyes widening a touch, Shinano tilted her head, "Really? She would assign you a Demon?"

Only nodding, Regina smiled, "She would, Shinano. Rainy Spring is a very good Destroyer and I've fought alongside her. Also, um... as a Flagship I would still be stronger than her as a Demon.'

Crossing her arms, the Yamato just nodded and smiled, "I can see that." Her smile brightened a bit, "Because you're already very strong, Regina-Chan."

Lightly blushing, Regina sunk a bit into her hood and poked her fingers together, "You think so?"

Pumping her fist, Shinano nodded sharply, "Hai! I don't think so, I know so!" She became thoughtful and tapped her finger against her cheek, "Hmm... do you think that she might willing to have combined exercises? So that my Destroyers can get some practice in against Abyssal Destroyers? Like our planes have against one another?"

That made the Re-Class furrow her eyebrows as she thought it over. Eventually, she gave a small nod and smiled, "I think that I might be able to." Regina's eyes then widened a bit, "Oh! And I think that Tsuzie might be willing to come as well for such a thing to help you get used to such things." Looking around, she leaned towards Shinano and whispered with one hand cupped beside her mouth, "She's a huge fan of Miss Naka."

Quickly looking around, Shinano leaned in, "She's a big fan of Naka-San? Really?" When she got a nod, her eyes widened a bit, "Wow..."

Nodding, Regina smiled, "A really big fan. She has all of Miss Naka's songs and the like. I've also seen her singing along to them and other songs. And she has a very nice voice too."

With a small hum, the Carrier considered what she had just been told before nodding, "Maybe we can get her to meet Naka-San as well? That might make her pretty happy."

Eyes widened a bit, Regina smiled, "It really would! Tsuzie does a lot of work for Lady Supprin after all, though even Lady Supprin has tried to cut back on that. From what I overheard... Lady Supprin is thinking of making her into a Light Cruiser Demon due to her loyalty and hard work. She is a Flagship level after all."

Humming, Shinano gave a small nod, "I can see it from everything that you've told me." For a few minutes, the two of them walked in a comfortable silence before the Yamato sighed. Seeing Regina look at her, she smiled a bit sadly, "Sorry, Regina-Chan... I'm just a bit jealous of you."

Confused, the Abyssal frowned, "J-jealous? Of me?" That got a nod which made her insides twist a bit. Right then, Regina decided that she did not like her friend being jealous. But when she spoke, it was in a soft voice that was nearly a whisper, "Why?"

For a moment, Shinano didn't say anything and when she spoke, it was in nearly as soft of a voice, "Because you're going to have Harry-Chan to yourself for the next two days, and, um..."

Eyes widening a bit, Regina's expression softened and she hugged her friend, "Sorry."

All the Yamato did though was hug her back with a smile, "You have nothing to be sorry about, Regina-Chan." When her friend's eyes met her own, Shinano shook her head, "I'm happy that you get to spend time with Harry-Chan. Because I know that I'll get to spend a lot of time with him too. It's not a bad thing to be jealous, but that's normal I guess. But... as long as you're happy, I'm happy."

She then gave a closed eyed smile which made Regina look at her with tears in her eyes before the Re-Class hugged her even more tightly, 'Shinano...' Pulling back, the Abyssal looked at her smiling friend before nodding, "T-then one of these days, you need to come to my home. And we can have a sleepover."

Blinking at that, Shinano tilted her head before her eyes widened, "Your home, Regina-Chan? And... and you want me to sleep over?"

Regina blushed a little and poked her fingers together, "Um, yes? I've sort of wanted you to come and see it..." A thought then occurred to her and she gasped a bit happily, "Maybe you can even come tomorrow!"

That made her friend blink a bit before Shinano furrowed her eyebrows, "Tomorrow? But, um... I need to make sure that everything is ready for my new Nee-Sans."

With a shake of her head, the Abyssal looked around, "Harry's time turner. You can use it to turn back time, get some sleep, do it again, and come spend the day with us!"

Her eyes widening, Shinano stared before thinking it over, "Um, it could work..." She turned to Regina and frowned a bit as she shuffled slightly, "Do... do you really want me to come?"

Grasping Shinano's hands, Regina gave a nod, "I do, Shinano. And I know that Harry would like it as well." She then clapped her hands, "We could do some things there too! Like, sunbathe there just outside my home. I really like doing that and it's so warm too. And the water is also right there if we want to go into it."

Lightly smiling as she imagined it, the Carrier nodded, "That sounds nice..."

Regina only smiled at that, "Really nice, Shinano. Sooo relaxing, though... um..." Frowning, she shook her head in confusion, "I sunbathe without my poncho. But sometimes humans walking by who are visiting and stuff just stare at me weirdly. Not sure why."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Shinano blinked, "Huh, that sometimes has happened to me when I've been to the beach and sunbathing in my swimsuit. But Onee-Chan, Musashi, just gives this odd smile and says that she'll take care of it when she notices and goes to talk with the people with them leaving. Really fast at that..." Both Regina and Shinano frowned in confusion at that before shaking their heads after having a shared look. It was then that she remembered something, "Um, what are you going to be doing anyways?"

Just blinking, Regina stared before blushing a bit, "Ah, it's not all that much. I was going to show him around and introduce him, which should be just the first day. Ruby really wants to see him..." Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked at the floor, "And the second day is to give him some time to relax before bringing him back. So, mostly swimming and stuff. Maybe take him diving at one of the reefs."

Slowly, Shinano nodded before she realized something and blushed, "Um, maybe you could do something... o-or have Harry-Chan do it." At seeing the confusion, she continued and walked up to her friend, "T-there's palm trees there, right?"

While confused, the Re-Class still nodded, "Yes? There's a couple."

Looking one way and then the other, Shinano leaned in, "M-maybe you could b-be leaning against one. And then Harry-Chan reaches up and..."

Once more, she glances around before putting her hand on the wall beside Regina's head, which made the Re-Class flush as she realized what her shipgirl friend meant, "Y-you mean, he might do..."

The Yamato nodded, "H-hai, and then he would lean in and... and..." Doing the same, she reached up and rapped her knuckles above the wall beside the bright red Re-Class' head, "T-th-then maybe Harry-Chan would go... 'Regina-Chan, I want you to do something...'"

Hands covering most of her face, Regina peaked out from between her fingers, "R-really? You think he might... and... command me to do something?"

Nodding, Shinano pulled back and looked around, "Like, maybe... get some coconuts o-or, um rub his shoulders! Because they're all achy or something."

Fists now clenched in front of her, Regina nodded, "W-wow..." Looking at each other, the two let out a happy squeal before glancing around and giggling, "And m-maybe when you come, he does the same."

All Shinano did was nod at that with a light blush of her own.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Operation Ehren's Reise (V)

Savoy Hotel

Vana, or as she preferred to think of herself while on assignment, HMS Venturer walked away from the front desk while adjusting her glasses absently. Her Royal Navy identification card had gotten her a chat with the night manager, and the manifestation of her faeries had persuaded him that she was who she said that she was.
Spoiler: Venturer On The Hunt

Which had gotten her some useful data to refine her targeting solution. With that she sat down in one of the provided chairs and pulled some light reading out of her hold to 'visually occupy herself' while she discussed the data with her crew. She opened Spivak's Calculus, Fourth Edition to page 357 and ordered her faerie of the watch to keep a close eye on the elevator bank with her periscopes for Miss Ehren du Chasteler.

With that she took a deep breath and found herself inside her cramped, familiar, comfortable hull. She ducked through the hatch to the wardroom and nodded very respectfully to the young man waiting for her with a chessboard in front of him.

"What do you have for me, Jimmy?" she asked.

He extended two fists and she tapped the right one. He opened it, showing a white pawn and they set up the board to play chess. "Ma'am, while you were signing the autographs for the manager's young daughters, we radioed the Admiralty. HMS Victoria called to Scotland Yard and the Home Office and we have confirmation that a Miss Ehren du Chasteler arrived yesterday through Dover via the automobile tunnel. Our report is that she is a Belgian national, age nineteen." He tapped his king pawn thoughtfully then advanced it two squares.

Vana nodded and moved her king knight in response, then frowned slightly as he advanced his queen knight pawn one square. "I see. No criminal record then?"

"None whatsoever. She is quite a tabula rasa which is unsurprising if she is a magical being of some kind." Jimmy fianchettoed his queen bishop and Vana sighed and castled in response, biting her lip absently.

"Ton nit plotz, Apfelbaum." she muttered to herself, then looked up at her captain. "Do you have any recommendations for me, Jimmy?"

He frowned and drummed his fingers on the table. "I do not suggest direct confrontation yet. Rather just watch and wait for now, and gather data. Considering the importance of Mr. Potter diplomatically with the Japanese plus the magicals, we need to determine the motivations of the new player in this game, of which Miss du Chasteler is apparently an agent of."

"Oy vey! I know all about the inimitable Mr. Potter having his fingers in so many pies. You taught me well about patience being a necessary virtue for a submarine. Especially one with only four tubes and eight torpedoes." She shrugged and exchanged knights to put pressure on his defenses. "Do we have a listing of her purchases in Diagon Alley?"

He pulled out a message form and passed it across. Her eyebrows rose while she read it as the steward entered with cups of gunpowder tea for them. "Hm, magical textbooks. Specifically basic spellbooks, history of magic one through four, third year Defense Against the Dark Arts...? And Upholder reported that she was quite young and green as a new ensign." She leaned back and surveyed the board before moving a rook.

"Indeed. And according to the desk, she will be here for six more days." Jimmy moved a bishop. "Check." As Vana moved her knight in response, he continued. "Visigoth, Vulpine, and Viking are going to help their big sister out. Their words, not mine!" He hastily added at her un-amused stare.

"Vey is mir! I need the 'assistance' of those three shlimazels like I need ein lock in kop!!' Vana moaned. "This is an operation needing subtle and they don't do subtle." Absently she moved her queen.

She thought rapidly then developed a sly grin. "I need to tell those three stooges something to prevent them blowing this operation higher than my torpedo spread into that munitions transport in '44. I know! Tell them that she's an U-Boat in disguise and to infiltrate the U-Boats' current social gathering to find out their plans. I have every confidence in their ability to blend in and gather critical intelligence from the Kriegsmarine girls." She finished with an evil smirk at this job of killing two birds with one stone.

Jimmy laughed. "Perfect, Ma'am. I shall alert the Admiralty to bail them out from the brig for being drunk on duty a week from now after our operation concludes." He moved his rook. "Check, mate in three."

Vana looked at the board as she computed her options, then toppled her king with one finger. "How many moves this time did I last?" She asked curiously.

He nodded respectfully. "Fifty-one, a new record for you, Ma'am."

"Good to see that I am improving." she mused as she set the board up for another game. "So now we wait until du Chasteler makes her next move."

Jimmy nodded and advanced a pawn to open their next game. "Just so, the game is afoot."

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

"Target status report! She's moving from the elevators!" The call came down into the wardroom where Vana was finishing her normal kosher breakfast of kippered herring, fried eggs, and rye bread while reviewing her maintenance paperwork.

With that she blinked and stirred, noting in passing that she had done another hundred pages of calculus proofs as she stowed her current pleasure book.

Equally fortunately, while she had been waiting and dealing with her never-ending struggle against paperwork, her faithful crew had changed her camouflage pattern. Gone was the schoolgirl look, and instead she appeared like a young college student with her King College London Department of Mathematics sweatshirt over blue jeans.

Du Chasteler had changed clothing too, now dressed professionally in a pressed gray blouse with black tie, knee-length black skirt with razor-sharp pleats in it, white stockings, and black flats. The impression was of nothing quite so much as a junior banker or stockbroker, aided by her hair up in a ponytail held in place with a music-themed scrunchy.

With that observation, HMS Venturer began to stalk her quarry once more through the early-morning pedestrians as London stirred to life.

 

[darthcourt10]

Shinr

Harry Leferts said:
"Oh! Speaking of sisters... remember how you mentioned that dream? Of the other Shinano?"

Slowly, Shinano nodded, "I remember. Why?"

A little amused, Regina shook her head, "Well, wouldn't she have counted as a sister? And what if you could have made her stay?"

Looking up at the blue, April sky, the shipgirl considered that before nodding, "I would not have minded having her stay. And I would have welcomed her."
jmcdavid said:
Alternate Shinano: I do not deserve such happiness. Not after what I have done in my timeline.
Harry Leferts said:
Shinano: *Stern expression on her face* Yes, you do!​

Post-Seventh Year, San Francisco, under the Golden Gate Bridge, USS Super-Carrier (Insert Name Here)

A Steel-Hull Super-Carrier was returning home from her duties, her crew eager to unwind on earthly ground.

Especially the Flight Deck Crew, who at the last minute were tasked with cleaning up after an accident that had the deck covered in loose ordinance and spilled with highly flammable and explosive liquids.

And among them was a tall woman of mixed American/Japanese descent, who was inspecting the cleaned up part of the deck for any missed surprises when she heard a cry.

She looked at the source of commotion, a fellow crewmember who in panic pointed above at the bridge, and she along with many others on the deck looked up. But soon it became apparent that he was pointing at something more troubling.

A jumper.

As people around the deck started to notice and panic, time nearly stopped for her as she with sudden too-perfect clarity looked at the suicidal man.

Whose skin was bleached with white paint, and explosives strapped to every part of his body.

An Abyssal Cultist.

"BOMBER!!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, and everybody started running for cover, from the projected point of impact at the edge of the deck.

Which, unfortunately for the crew, was the part of the deck where the loose and all-too delicate ordinance were not yet cleaned up.

She felt a sudden pain in her heart, and for reasons unknown even to herself at the time, she ran.

Towards where the bomber will go splat.

She ran with all the might her long legs would give, the fastest she ever did in her life, her heart pumping at absurd levels.

And along the way, her vision occasionally flickered, the suicide bomber no longer looking bleached, then bleached again, her surroundings suddenly looking outdated for at least half a century, distinctively un-American and in flames, and then modern and undamaged again.

And just as the bomber was about to hit the deck, she tackled him out of the air, both of them flying beyond the deck and towards the water.

Her heart stopped.

And then the bombs exploded, too far away too cause any serious damage beyond cosmetic to the ship.

She, her body surprisingly, if relatively, intact, splashed into the water, and she blacked out.

A day later, she would wake up in the repair baths as an awakened Natural Born, and to confusion to herself and everyone else, would identify herself as the Yamato-Class Carrier Shinano.

And to her's even greater confusion, she cried tears of relief, as if a great burden was lifted.

That fate could be changed.

----

In which the reincarnation cycle doesn't care about little details such as the soul being from the alternate universe or that timelines don't exactly align.

For context: Alternate Shinano was inspired by an unreleased Hearts of Iron 4 mod where Germany and Japan won WWII, and she is mentioned in the USA Diary getting bombed in San Francisco, causing Nixon, already deep in the Watergate scandal, a bit of trouble.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

The Shadows of the Past

Hayama Imperial Villa, Kanagawa, Japan
Spoiler: A Family Meeting

Masamune-no-Fudo brushed soot off the shoulders of her tailored suit as she stepped out of the green-flaring flames in the fireplace. Seeing the other spirit in the room, she immediately bowed deeply out of respect to her eldest sister. "Kotegiri-oneesan"

Kotegiri returned the bow just as elegantly and precisely in her manners as she was in the ways of warfare. "Fudo-chan. It is good to see you once more."

The flames flared green again and a young man dressed in a black morning coat with a silver tie and cufflinks stepped through and bowed to his sisters. "Kotegiri-oneesama, Fudo-nee."

Kotegiri returned the bow of greetings. "Hōchō-kun It has been a long time since we have spoken. 1902 in fact."

The Hōchō Masamune nodded and walked with Fudo to the offered sword racks waiting for their true selves. As her fellow tanto placed himself on the polished wood, he spoke in an undercurrent with a glance toward his eldest sister in her red kimono. "Fudo-nee, do you know what the meeting is about?"

Fudo shook her head. "I have suspicions, but nothing definite."

"Honjo-chan." The flames flared green again and the Honjo Masamune stepped through with a briefcase in her hand and bowed to her sister who returned it.

"Kotegiri-nee" The greatest blade of their sisterhood responded as she rose from her bow. "It is time then?"

"It is." Kotegiri then turned to the newly arrived Musashi and bowed in welcome.

Finally the last Masamune arrived and Kotegiri gestured to the room beyond where tatami mats were laid out for them to kneel on. "Siblings, welcome. I called all of us together because there are some matters of grave importance that we must discuss as a family."

Hōchō blinked. "What of Tokunotakai-nee?" He inquired from where he knelt next to Fudo.

Kotegiri shook her head slightly. "Toku-chan will be informed of our decisions since she is unable to attend because of another duty. Fudo-chan has graciously agreed to inform her since she is on musha shugyo on the orders of Hachiman-dono. Musashi-chan, will you do the same for Truman-chan?"

The sword of Miyamoto Musashi nodded. "It would be my honor, sister."

"Good. First and most happily, Toku-chan is not the youngest of us all anymore." A stir ran through the room. "It has come to my attention that during Kannazuki that the Mizuchi Shiromizu who was present there was requested by Masamune-sama himself to bring back a gift to the Mortal Realm for a worthy soul that he chose. The tanto Hogosha Odori, who was gifted to the kami of the cruiser Jintsuu is the newest member of our family."

Excited whispers ran through the room as the gathered masterwork weapons speculated on their newest sibling. Kotegiri let the speculation run its course then coughed to refocus the attention on her. "I trust that we shall all behave ourselves with proper decorum both when visiting our youngest sibling and also assisting Jintsuu if she requires some training to master Hogoshi Odori?" Kotegiri fixed Musashi with a steely gaze as she spoke.

Heads bowed in acceptance.

"This is a serious matter, as is the next item on the agenda. Honjo?"

Honjo bowed her head and adjusted her glasses. "The reason Toku is not here is that the pilgrimage that Hachiman-dono has sent her on has already revealed some alarming matters." Honjo opened her briefcase and began to pass out folders. "Toku and the Muramasa who Hachiman selected to accompany her have revealed a rather grave injustice involving the Yokai Reserves."

Fudo clenched her fists as she placed the unread folder in front of her. She already knew from Toku what was in the report. Beside her Hōchō frowned. "One question. Hachiman-dono selected a Muramasa and not a more worthy blade to handle these matters alongside Toku-chan?"

Kotegiri nodded sharply and spoke with velvet-edged steel in her voice. "He did, and He apparently prefers this Blade for dealing with such actions from what I have read of her career. Once the Reserves are dealt with, you can then take matters up with her if you so choose, Hōchō. I do not like it either, but our duty in such matters is clear. Especially with the Statute of Secrecy failing and the instability in the Diet, this matter must be resolved successfully and smoothly to prevent grievous harm to the country if it is allowed to fester."

Hōchō subsided with a scowl on his face that matched some of Fudo's best as Kotegiri took command of the family gathering back. "Honjo and I have come up with a plan to resolve these matters politically, but I wish to hear your thoughts...."

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

Owari-To Construction Company, Office of Vice President In Charge of Inspections
Spoiler: Fudo's Wrath

Fudo scowled as she remembered the rest of the meeting. Every muscle in her body wanted to take swift and decisive action to purge the dishonor that the Reserves had become with blood.

She could not forget the saddened, horrified, and furious looks in Toku's eyes when her sister had told her about what she had discovered.

Could not forget the moment when Toku-chan confessed that she had killed another to save Colombe. The shock in her heart when she realized that Toku had blood on her hands that would never truly scrub away. After all Fudo could remember every face of every man and woman that she had killed in the Sengoku Jidai even though they were over four centuries dead and gone.

With that she grabbed a stress ball from her desk and savagely squeezed it as she began to pace in her office again.

Unfortunately immediate, decisive action was off the table for now in favor of politics.

Curse politics.

She could still hear Gorota Tokugawa's voice telling her about the bravery of the Yokai troops who her words had inspired to volunteer for his unit of the Imperial Guards in 1942. Telling her about how when given the chance to prove themselves, prove their honor and loyalty, they were some of the best troops that he had.

Yokai whose children, wives, sisters, and parents had been locked up by Kamo and those who came after in the Reserves 'for their own good' that had slowly degenerated into jigoku-on-earth in the tales of the jorogumo that du Chasteler and Toku had saved. Yokai who had given their all for Japan and then had been betrayed by politics and the Statute of Secrecy.

With that angry thought she threw the ball across the room to thud against the door. Glaring at it, she stepped forward to kick it across her office for lack of anything more productive that she could do.

The door opened behind her as she wound up a soccer style kick and a familiar voice sounded from it. "Fudō-oba! What is wrong?"

She turned to see Yoshiakira Tokugawa's concerned face and bowed to the middle-aged youngest son of the current company and family head. "I am sorry, it is just...."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You have been upset ever since you returned from that family meeting."

She nodded, blushing slightly.

"Then you should get out of the office. We are having difficulties with the surveying for our contract at Yokosuka. There seems to be something in the area that is affecting our people. Father sent me down to see if you would look into these matters for him."

Fudo nodded with a small smile of relief. At last, something to do!

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Chatting with Kitakami Maru, Harry turned as the door opened to reveal a slightly blushing Regina and Shinano. A bright smile appeared on his face at the sight, "Regina, Shinano-Chan! Good morning"

The Carrier gave a slight bow to him with a small smile on her own face, "Good morning, Harry-Chan."

Beside her, Regina was also smiling as she looked down on the teen that had captured her heart. For a brief moment, the image from hers and Shinano's previous talk came popped up and she had to fight down the blush that threatened to deepen. Instead, the Abyssal nodded, "Yes, good morning to you as well, Harry." She then tilted her head a bit, "Are you ready to go?"

A chuckle escaped from Harry as he gave a nod, adjusting the backpack he had with him, "I am." He frowned a little bit, "Though I am a bit worried..."

Head tilted to the side, Regina blinked, "Worried? Why?"

Scratching his cheek, the teenage wizard sheepishly grinned, "I've looked the area of the Timor Sea up. And, well... supposedly this is the hottest time of year for it? And, well..."

Much to his surprise though, Regina waved him off with a small smile, "Oh! Don't worry about that, Harry. You'll enjoy yourself as a matter of fact."

While confused, Harry just nodded and gave a shrug, "Well, if you say so." Gesturing at the Vanishing Cabinet that they would be using, he smiled, "Ready?"

In reply, Regina nodded, "Ready." Turning, she gave Shinano a tight hug before whispering in her ear, "See you in a little bit." Then it was Harry's turn to say goodbye to her and the two opened the doors to the Vanishing Cabinet and stepped inside before turning and waving as the doors shut. Regina did note though that her tail came up and draped itself over Harry's shoulders, which caused him to giggle while she blushed a bit. At the same time, she was also smiling a bit, 'I finally get to show Harry my home... I'm so excited.'

Moments later, the two could tell there was a small shift of some sort and a clicking sound came from the door. As Regina opened the door, Harry's eyes widened a bit. Wherever they were, it was within a chamber of some sort with ghostly blue flames lighting the area. Nearby, Harry could also see a desk made of Abyssal metal with a Ru-Class behind it blinking at him in interest.

But more important was that Wanko was standing in the middle of the room, a smile on her face as she crouched down some, "Welcome... Little Brother to... my home."

Stepping out of the Vanishing Cabinet, Harry walked over and gave Wanko a hug, "Thanks, Big Sister, I'm glad to be able to finally see it."

Almost immediately accepting the hug, Wanko brought her two massive and clawed hands up to gently hold him against her, "As am I... Little Brother." She then stood up and gestured to the Ru-Class who was watching in interest, "Little Brother, allow me... to introduce... Ruka, who is... often here watching... the Cabinet."

With a glance at Wanko, Ruka walked around the desk and held out a hand which Harry took without any hesitation. Something that impressed her considering the expression she wore, "It is good to meet Lady Wanko's Little Brother. Welcome to our home, as she said."

Just nodding, the thirteen year old thanked her. Part of him, from various sessions with Hoppou and some with Wanko herself, recognized that her guns were likely twelve inch, which marked her as an older class of Ru. Something that went far to explain as to why she was the guard for the Vanishing Cabinet. Not long after, they were journeying through a long tunnel which had alcoves here and there that were big enough for an Abyssal to stand in and fire their guns down the hallway in either direction.

Soon enough though, they were outside and Harry blinked as he was hit with the tropical heat and humidity of the air. Almost immediately, he began sweating and soaking his shirt. Yet... it was also less hot than he had expected. More like that one time he went for a trip with his Mother to Okinawa in the middle of Summer. Blinking, Harry looked up at Wanko in confusion, "Um, Big Sister? I thought that it was supposed to be hotter than this?"

In reply, Wanko gave a smile and nodded down to him, "Yes, normally it... is much, much hotter. But I decided... to make it... cooler for you... Little Brother... for your visit."

Eyes widened a touch, Harry realized what she meant. He had heard that various Princesses could easily control the weather in their vicinity, and knew from Hoppou that was true, not that his adoptive little sister ever really used such powers around him. Still... that Wanko had turned some of the hotter days of the year cooler, just so that he would find it easier?

That said a lot.

A smile on his face, the teen hugged her thighs with a chuckle, "Thank you, Big Sister."

Gently, Wanko hugged him back, "You are very... welcome, Little Brother."

When he pulled back, Harry looked over what he could see. They were obviously on a coral island of some sort, which rose a few hundred feet above the sea. Down below, he could see an lagoon dotted with various structures, another atoll nearly out of sight seemingly the same as well. And out on the horizon, the wizard could see massive thunderheads rising upwards. Seeing them, part of him wondered about the clouds before Regina leaned down, "That is where Lady Wanko's power over the weather ends."

It took only moments, but Harry's eyebrows nearly reached his hairline with how high they shot as his eyes widened at what that meant. He knew from lessons taught to him as well as educational programs that when hot, moist air met cooler air, it would rise rapidly. And if there were massive thunderstorms on the horizon... suddenly, things made a lot more sense, 'Big Sister must have created a big cold front for those to be that big...'

Not knowing his thoughts, the giant Princess nodded, "Yes, and when... night falls, I shall... let them go on... their way." Glancing at Harry, she smiled, "It should cool things off... and I think... Darwin will also... like some rain as will... Timor."

Head tilted to the side, Harry remembered something that he had been told, "Timor? Don't you control that island?"

Slowly, Wanko shook her head, "No, I do not... control them. Some human nations... consider them a Protectorate... of mine. I see them... as what I believe is... called a Protected State." As they began to walk, Harry keeping up with her long strides, she continued, "I allow for... them to continue... ruling themselves and living... as they will. At the same time... I protect them from... other Abyssals... and humans that... could cause them trouble."

Beside her, Regina nodded with a small frown, "They have had some... issues regarding people that have attacked them that we've helped them with." She gave a small shrug, "I don't understand it myself."

Shaking a claw, her Princess shook her head, "It all boils down... to politics. Especially... after we handed... West Timor... back to Indonesia in... exchange for them... acknowledging our control... over the Timor Sea... and a few minor islands. Also... an actual defense... treaty." Wanko then smiled a bit, "As for Timor-Leste... in exchange for... protection and our help... with infrastructure, which I use for punishment... duties, they give us... treatment in regards to... trading and the... like."

Just nodding, Regina looked at Harry, "Lady Supprin was behind that. She said that growing both our economies were important and that through trade with them, we could get a lot that we need that we don't produce ourselves." A little bemused, she chuckled, "Even before we got the treaty with Australia, we were trading for food and the like. But now there's a plant being built on the island to refine methane Lady Supprin's forces are gathering into petroleum products with a small cut for the Timorese to use as they wish. And also we're building a refinery for the manganese nodules and crusts we're bringing up from the deep sea as well as other metals."

A happy expression on her face, Wanko nodded, "Yes, it has been... to the benefit of... both our nations. And both sides are... very happy with... what is happening."

Considering that, Harry just nodded as it made a lot of sense. Before he could say anything, another Ru walked up before speaking in an Australian accent, though Harry also had to stare at the hat she wore. One which had what looked like shark and crocodile teeth on it, "Good morning, Lady Wanko, Regina." Spotting Harry, she cocked her head to the side, "Now who is this here bloke? Unless..."

With a small sigh, the Re-Class nodded with a smile, "Good morning, Rula. And yes, this is Harry, Lady Wanko's Little Brother."

Rula leaned down and examined him for a few moments before smiling, "Ah, nice to meet you, Mate. Good onya for visitin' us."

Taking the hand, Harry shook it with a smile, "Well, I've been meaning to do so for a while now... just never had the chance."

Just chuckling, the Ru-Class smiled back, "Fair dinkum. Well, perhaps later we'll go and throw something on the barbie for ya." Glancing at Regina, she gave a wink with her next words causing the Re-Class to hide her face due to her blush, "Unless this little Shelia here goes and takes up too much time with a Pash. Hopefully, you brought your togs." Slapping Harry on the shoulder, Rula walked around them with a nod, "Anyways, going to bring Ruka a stubby holder for later."

And, with that, she walked off whistling a tune. Eyebrow raised, Harry turned to look at Wanko, "Well... she's interesting."

Sighing, Wanko shook her head, "That is... a good way to put it. Though be careful... sometimes she can be... a real Larrikin." Despite the confused, though also amused, expression on Harry's face, she did not explain further. Instead, she started walking again, "Let's introduce you... to some of the... others here..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Broken_Mirror93

So, this idea had been rattling around in my brain and after a long debate I decided to post it I hope it is of acceptable quality and let's see if you guys can guess with whom Summer Interacts.

White on White


Summer liked her Dockmaster. Then again, She liked almost everyone and everything. She liked the nice warships that surrounded him, she liked his family, she liked the men at the port and she liked the supplies she was given. However, what she didn't like was when the port got just a bit too busy and loud. Yes, she could just retreat to her room and be on her lonesome, but even then it was just a bit too loud for her liking.


When that happened, she snuck off-base into a nearby forest where she could just hide and wait until the base got just a bit quieter. However, 'snuck' was perhaps not the right word, mainly because she went through the port's main gate and told the men watching it where she was going and when she would return. The first time that happened, they had barred her way out. They called for her Dockmaster and Miss Warspite and together they came to an agreement: She would wear a bracelet that would allow the men to track her and they- and a warship or two- would come to fetch her if she stayed away for too long or moved too far away. Why she would do that, she didn't understand: After all, her Dockmaster and friends were here. But if it allowed her some peace and quiet, she agreed and let them put the bracelet on her arm.


She didn't know why the port got so busy and loud today, but after making sure she wasn't needed, she had excused herself and left for her forest. She liked the forest. The wind rustling through the leaves, the tiny birds filling the air with their songs, the warm sun on her skin… she didn't know why but even before her Dockmaster had found her, she liked it. Truth be told, those were the first things she liked. No other Abyssals taking what they wanted and leaving her with nothing. No sudden attacks because why not. Just the wind, the leaves, the songs, and the sun.


While she liked the entire forest, she liked one part most of all: a small grove, with tall grass and wildflowers, surrounded by tall, strong trees. When she first stumbled into it, she felt… something: Not the sun or the wind. Not what the Dockmaster and his family were cloaked with: but something different. It didn't feel dangerous or hostile but that something told her this little grove was special and that she was safe here. No one who would mean her harm would find her here.


That was why she was surprised when she encountered someone here. Sitting on a blanket with a basket, wearing a sundress and a sunhat, was an oddly familiar woman with pale skin, white hair and rather impressive ...displacement. At first, Summer wanted to hide from this new, unknown person but before she could do so she was seen and the woman on the blanket called out: "Why, hello there! Would you like to join my picnic?"


The woman on the blanket wasn't scared? But... Summer was an Abyssal and the fact that she was loyal to her Dockmaster was not well known outside the base, at least as far as she knew. Perhaps this was a visiting shipgirl that had been briefed about her presence and decided to go looking for her? Slowly, Summer approached the unknown woman, who had a kindly smile on her face as she made room on the blanket.


Carefully, Summer sat down as the other woman in white pulled a small, cloth bundle from her basket. opening the bundle, she pulled a sandwich out and handed it to Summer. A second fulled suit, but this one remained in the other woman's hands. Seeing her take a bite out of the dish, Summer herself gingerly took a bite-only for her eyes to widen in surprise. The rest of the sandwich didn't stand a chance as she gobbled it up. A gentle giggle shook Summer out of the sudden feeding frenzy she had found herself in and, with a gentle blush, she turned towards the shipgirl, who covered her mouth with her hand as her kind, blue eyes twinkled with amusement. Handing the blushing abyssal another sandwich she said: "I'll tell Edinburgh that you like her sandwiches. If you are still hungry, feel free to take more." She rose from the blanket and started to walk through the grove, picking flowers.


Summer decided she liked this odd, seemingly fearless shipgirl. The second sandwich was soon joined by a third, then a fourth and during the fifth the other woman re-joined Summer with a bunch of freshly picked wildflowers. Stopping her spree of sandwich destruction, Summer watched her skillfully weave the flowers into something.


A sudden nagging feeling overcame Summer as she looked at the other woman working. She wanted to say something but didn't know what, she wanted to know who this person before her was and why she was so kind to her.


"You look like you want to ask me something." the voice of her new friend brought her back to reality. She looked up and saw the odd woman looking at her, the finished wreath in her lap.

"I… Yes." Taking a deep breath, Summer continued. She could do it! She talked to her Dockmaster and the others all the time! "Are… are you one of the visitors of th..the base?" The shipgirl's eyes widened in surprise. "The was a base nearby? No, I'm not visiting any bases. My fleet and I planned a Picnic, but everyone else suddenly had to fill in for others, so I had to make do just by myself and the basket Miss Edinburgh prepared. I hoped I would find someone to share these treats with and enjoy a nice day off. When I met you I decided to make a new friend."

Summer was stumped. Did this ship girl not know what an abyssal was? It sounded like that was the case. "Are...are you aware of who I am?... What I am?" came her question. It hung for a moment in the air, then the possibly insane woman answered: "I don't know what you are but I know who you are: Someone who enjoys the wind, sun, and birdsong as much as I do. After all, if you did not enjoy does things you wouldn't have made that peaceful, happy face you made when I first saw you. And if you were hostile, you would have attacked before I saw you."

"That...is true." Summer could see the logic behind her words. "But I look rather frightening to humans. With…" she pointed at her legs and her arm. Now it was the unknown woman's to be stumped… and then she giggled again. "The Ironblood look just as frightening, maybe even more so, and they are quite kind once you get to know them… except for Roon." the woman in white shuddered. "Roon is … frightening." Suddenly, a harsh noise filled the air and Summer's new friend produced a smartphone from somewhere between her breasts. Looking at the screen, her face fell. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave. A convoy is under attack."

Without packing the supplies she stood, carefully, but quickly, placed the wreath in Summer's hair and hurried into the forest. "What about the picnic?" Summer called out. With a last smile, the other white-clad woman turned around and returned: " Share the sandwiches with your friends and return the rest the next time we meet." And with that, she disappeared in between the trees.

Looking at the left behind basket and blanket, Summer picked them up. Then she realized something. "I didn't ask for her name."


Warspite sipped her tea, glad that the entire mess with the replacement parts was over. Turns out, a lapse in concentration from anywhere in the chain of command could cause a headache for hundreds, maybe even thousands of people as everyone scrambled to find parts of long-range radars that were sent somewhere they shouldn't go. Another sip. Soft knocking at the door. Only one being on the base knocks that gently. "Please enter, Summer." Just as gently as she knocked, the shy abyssal opened the door and entered the room. She looked slightly different. A crown of wildflowers on her head and a picnic basket in her hand. "Uh… Miss Warspite? If you would like, I have sandwiches." she said. Warspite's elegant eyebrow rose. As far as she knew, Summer had no idea how to prepare food. Worry crept into her. "Summer, please tell me you didn't accidentally frighten off some picnic-goers and steal their basket."

Summer was aghast at the idea and shock head. "Oh no, no, no. I met a ship girl in the forest and she had to leave. She told me to share the sandwiches with others and return basket and blanket when we next meet." she rattled down.

Warspite's eyebrow rose further.: That sounds odd. rising from her seat, she approached the shy abyssal and looked into the basket. Only two sandwiches remained inside. Taking one, she looked at, sniffed and took a bite. Her eyes widened and she had to resist the un-ladylike desire to simply inhale the treat in her hand. Slowly, carefully she ate, savoring each bite of the morsel.

" Quite good, but I hope you didn't give some to the human personnel. They are only fit for consumption by shipgirls… and abyssals."

Summer nodded quickly. "Of course." The abyssal looked into the basket. Hear face brightened. "Miss Warspite, Could I please keep the last one? I have an idea." Cocking her head slightly, Warspite asked what that idea was. With a smile, the Installation answered.



Brigid lay alone in her cell, bored out of her mind. There was very little to do after all. A knock at the door, a sliding noise. Supplies had arrived. Stupid Humans, keeping her supplied until she could force that traitorous installation to restore her to her former glory.

Standing up, she moved to the door and in addition to the grey slop the fed her was some kind of triangle. Sniffing it, she found in harmless and ate quickly. The slop followed. The triangle tasted much better. Laying down again she returned to doing nothing.


…

…..

…….


She wanted another triangle.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Reaching the bottom of the small mountain, Harry's eyebrows rose at what met them. At the bottom was a wide beach that stretched down to the water's edge where tropical waves washed ashore. More amazing were the groups of Abyssals gathered here and there simply sunbathing and dozing without a care. There were even a few humans as well, though mostly under shade to protect them from the harsh Sun above. But some of them were swimming in the lagoon itself in an area that was cordoned off by a net. Seeing his gaze, Wanko pointed at it, "That is a... jellyfish net. It keeps out... jellyfish that could... harm humans and so... makes it safe to... swim there for humans."

Somewhat amused, Harry chuckled a little, "Abyssals meanwhile don't have much of an issue with said creatures."

The slight smile on Wanko's face told him that she found it just as amusing, "Yes, our skin... is as tough as... steel after all."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something and the Princess looked up to see a man in a Khaki shirt and shorts come up to her. On his tanned face was a massive grin, "Hello there, Miss Wanko."

As Wanko greeted him back, it took Harry a few moments to place him and he grinned as well, "I know you, you're the Croc Hunter!"

Blinking, Steve Irwin grinned at him with a laugh, "That's what they call me." Holding out a hand, which the teen shook, he smiled, "Steve Irwin."

Unable to help but grin back, Harry chuckled, "Harry Potter."

For her part, the Abyssal Princess placed a hand on Harry's shoulders and nodded towards the other human, "This is my... Little Brother, Mister Irwin. He is visiting for... a day or two from... his school for Spring... Break."

Nodding, Steve smiled a bit before snapping his fingers, "I remember Hagrid telling me that." Lightly laughing, he shook his head, "Biggest and strongest bloke that I've ever met, but gentle he is. Helped me wrestle Brutus last Summer." If anything, his smile widened, "How's he doing back in Scotland?"

Hands in his pockets, Harry chuckled a bit, "He's doing fine, Mister Irwin-"

The Croc Hunter just waved his hand, "Call me Steve."

Only nodding, Harry smiled back, "Steve, but yeah, he's doing just fine and has started teaching us about, uh..."

Looking around, Steve shook his head, "About all sorts of magical creatures?" Seeing the widened eyes, he gave a wink, "Known about them for a few years now. Amazing creatures! Can't wait for the Statute to fall so that I can show them to the world at large."

Brightly smiling now, the teen laughed, "I can imagine it now." After a moment, he hummed, "But yeah, Hagrid has been teaching Care of Magical Creatures back at Hogwarts..." Pulling out his phone, he thumbed through the video and showed it, "This was when he showed us Hippogriffs."

Just leaning in, Irwin smiled before waving at a teenaged girl, "Bindi, come on over here." Gesturing at Harry as she also jogged up, he smiled, "This here is Harry Potter, Harry? This is my daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin." As the two teens shook hands, he made a motion at the phone, "Harry here has some video from one of Hagrid's lessons."

Grin on her face, Bindi shook her head, "Really? Hagrid is teaching now?" Getting a nod, she leaned in to watch the video of the Hippogriffs, "Crikey, look at them, Dad."

Awed look on his face, Steve only nodded, "Yeah, they're real beauts they are, just gorgeous." Harry showed them a few more videos of magical creatures and he sighed, "No matter what, Mother Nature never ceases to surprise. And I cannot wait to see them. Especially those dragons Hagrid went on about. Crikey, I want a dragon."

Beside him, his daughter nodded, "I can't wait either, Dad." She grinned a bit, "Though we're helping in our own ways." At seeing the confused look on Harry's face, Bindi explained, "We're just coming from an island nearby that was hidden by magic. They got Megalania on the island! Actual Megalania!"

It took Harry a few moments before he realized what she meant, "Wait, you mean the giant monitor lizards? I know that their saliva can be used in potions and their hides can be used in place of dragonhide among other things..."

Steve chuckled and shook his head, "That's the one, biggest goanna that I've ever seen in my life."

Giving her father a look, Bindi snorted with a smile, "Yes, and one of them chased us up a tree until one of the Abyssals chased it off." She then laughed, "Still a real beaut it was, had to be at least twenty feet long. And we caught it all on film... some of these creatures are driving zoologists nuts as either they should not exist, or should be extinct..."

After a few more minutes of chatting, and Harry getting an autograph, the father and daughter duo needed to leave, so after Bindi shook Harry's hand goodbye, Steve did much the same, "You tell Hagrid that the invitation to my zoo is still open when he comes by next time. We'd love to have him around and back on the show."

Rather amused, Wanko gave him a look, "As long as... you do not try... to steal Hagrid... for too long."

Only laughing at that, Steve shook his head, "No worries about that, Miss Wanko. Just like the bloke as he loves animals as much as we do. And finds the dangerous ones misunderstood like we do as well."

With that, the two left and the thirteen year old wizard shook his head, "Never expected that."

Beside him, Regina giggled a little, "Not many do, but we don't mind it when he visits us. And a few of the girls are fans of his as well." That got a chuckle from Wanko. She then perked up a little, "Oh! We have to bring you to Ruby."

Having heard about the Harbour Demon in question, Harry was excited to meet her and they lead him towards a cave in the mountainside near the beach. Entering it, he glanced around in interest as the cave was more a tunnel, with offshoots where various living quarters were. Looking at him, Wanko pointed further down the tunnel, "Down at the end... is where my quarters... are. Ruby's... is right around that... bend."

Just nodding as they reached said bend, the teenager looked at the large door and waited as Wanko knocked. Much to his confusion, the voice that came through sounded like it was coming from a girl not much older than Hoppou. Then, Wanko opened the door and they stepped inside the furnished room to find a Harbour Demon type there. A part of Harry noted that she looked a like Wanko, though with some differences. Instead of the giant gauntlets, Ruby's hands were exposed and each one of them were massive with claws.

Right as Harry was about to speak, Ruby spoke in the same voice that he had heard through the door, "Um, Lady Wanko? Who is..." Furrowing her eyebrows for a moment, her eyes soon widened, "Is this Harry?"

With a glance towards Wanko, Harry held out his hand to her, "That's right, I'm glad to meet you, Ruby. I've heard a lot about you."

A light blush appeared on the Abyssal's face as she reached down and shook his hand, "Um, thank you?" With a brief look to Wanko, she smiled, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Harry. Lady Wanko has told all of us a lot about you. Especially when she brought that basilisk meat here."

Lightly laughing, Harry grinned back at her, "Both Big Sister as well as Regina and Revina have also told me a lot about you all as well. And I'm glad to be able to finally visit.

That caused a smile to break out on Ruby's face before she nodded, "I'm glad that you could visit as well."

Both of them chatted for several moments before something came up that made the wizard frown, "You have trouble getting dates?" At her embarrassed nod, he scratched his head, "Because you're an Abyssal?"

Ruby though shook her head with a sigh and pointed one massive talon at her mouth, "It is because of my voice." Shoulders slumping, she looked like she was going to cry, "They're interested until I speak and then back away because I sound like a little girl. It's not fair..."

Frowning, Harry furrowed his eyebrows, "That's not right..."

Unknown to him, there was a soft smile on Wanko's face as well as Regina's as they watched the two bond.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Operation Ehren's Reise (VI)

Savoy Hotel, London
Spoiler: Ehren's Mission

Ehren du Chasteler marched out of the Savoy Hotel's lobby to the taxi stand. Her ponytail swung back and forth like a pendulum with her steady, determined, precise stride. She clasped the document folder containing Mutti's financial instructions to Jardine to her side as if they were top secret plans for world domination.

Behind her Vana placed the bookmark back in her calculus textbook and followed the dagger spirit with the stealthy patient hunter's gait of a submarine who had never failed to return to port from the lethal hide and seek that was the North Atlantic and North Sea at war. Inside her red-lit control room, her captain called out target movements and observations with his eyes glued to her periscope as her crew updated their target's actions and threat analysis. In her ASDIC room, her chief sonarman raised a hand as he held his headset closer to his ears and the spoke in a firm voice in the hushed hair-trigger readiness of her hull at Action Stations that cut through the tense atmosphere like a knife.

"Sir, hydrophones report that target is ordering her taxi to take her to Jardine Matheson's offices in the City."

Vana nodded in response and approached the next taxi in line, pulling out her purse as she did so. The Magen David charm that she had gotten at her bat mitzvah from her Aunt Abigail glittered as she slid into the back seat and firmly spoke. "Jardine Matheson's offices."

Inside her, her diesel engines hammered harder with the thrill of matching her wits and skills against an unknown opponent to protect her country, her Queen, and her family. After all, as her captain had said, the game was afoot, and it was a game that she had been born to play and win.

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

Jardine Matheson's Offices, London

Ehren got out of the taxi after paying the driver and adjusted her skirt absently. She nibbled her lip nervously at the sight of the slab of glass and steel overhead, then nodded decisively as she walked to the revolving door. Behind her a second taxi pulled up and Vana got out.

Ehren breathed out and then in. "Finalize the paperwork for Ying, Toku, and Miho's trust fund and then represent the du Chasteler family at the shareholder's meeting. I can do this. I shall do this for Mutti." She whispered to herself and then strode forward with a facade of confidence that she did not feel in the least under her armor of cool competence.

She was blissfully unaware that HMS Venturer had heard every word that she said and was using it to refine the target analysis as the submarine followed her into the lobby.

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

A half hour later, Ehren finally stood from the comfortable chair and placed her signed, witnessed, and notarized copies of the financial documents in her folder. Across the desk from her Robert Jardine-Patterson extended his finely manicured hand and she shook it. "A pleasure, Miss du Chasteler. I look forward to your mother recovering fully from the automobile accident that broke her leg." His blue eyes twinkled as the seventh-generation descendant of the businessman who had founded the international company continued. "She is doing well at her age?"

Ehren nodded. "Ja. Mutti is doing quite well when I called home last night to speak to her. My sister Claire is watching over her convalescence like a mother hen with one chicken." Her lips quirked as she mentally added in that Toku, Kasuyu and the Fujiis were no doubt helping nurse her mother back to health.

Robert smiled charmingly. "I confess that when I got the news that the legendary Colombe du Chasteler planned to attend our biennial senior shareholder's meeting, I had my hopes up. Father mentioned that she was one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen when she arrived to extract him and his staff from Iran in 1979. Normally then he hastily added that my mother was of course even more beautiful." He chuckled and after a moment Ehren joined in.

"I can see that in your case, the apple did not fall far from the tree at all. Beautiful, and sharp as a razor. I must inquire, have you considered working for us, Miss du Chasteler?" He finished in a voice that was filled with curiosity.

Ehren blushed pink at his compliment. "Nein. I fear that Mutti has other plans for me. She has been grooming me to be her deputy in business, you see. Jardine is certainly very important to her, but she also has other concerns that need my skills. Hence my private schooling and intense tutoring in business. I believe her plan is to ease me into acting as her business proxy moving forward, since she can only be in one place at one time." Also I have commitments to fight evil and injustice alongside Mother and Aunt Del, and am the designated backup plan for the Black Hills, but you do not need to know that.

Robert responded as he guided her to the door of his office, "If you change your mind..."

"Then I shall certainly contact you." Ehren finished with a precise nod of her head. "Alas, Befehl ist Befehl(Order is order./Command is command, could be either). I have to get ready for the stockbroker's meeting that I am to attend as Mother's representative. "

He opened the door for her and spoke to his secretary. "Jennifer, please conduct Miss du Chasteler to Executive Waiting Suite Number One for the shareholder meeting."

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

Meanwhile downstairs in the lobby, Vana glanced outside as a black limousine pulled up. The uniformed driver got out and held the door for a group of six, all of them blondes ranging from silver through pure gold to light peach. She locked her eyes on the peach-haired girl with a feather clip in her pink hair hugging the blonde boy's arm and her face paled as they approached.
Spoiler: Enter The Malfoys

As she entered on Draco's arm in the wake of his parents, Johnston's lookouts reported a periscope on her port bow. Instinctively she moved into position to shield Draco as her faeries sprinted to General Quarters. Her radio room called to her fellows in the flotilla. {Submarine sighted at oh three zero!}

HMS Cleopatra's head snapped around as her machinery skipped a beat. While she had survived The War, her sisters Hermione, Bonaventure, and Naiad had all fallen to the submarine menace. Suddenly her intelligence officer waved a target identification card frantically to get her attention. {Stand easy, that is a V-Class! One of ours. Unidentified submarine, this is HMS Cleopatra, report immediately!}

Vana took a deep breath as her eyes locked on the destroyer and two light cruisers staring at her. {HMS Venturer, Pennant P sixty-eight. Upholder has instructed me to surveil and report on a Miss Ehren du Chasteler who is present in this building attending a stockholder meeting scheduled for twenty-three minutes from now. Du Chasteler is a magical who has expressed interest in Mr. Harry Potter and represents a unknown faction that we are trying to determine capabilities and motivations for.}

A German voice joined the radio conversation as the shipgirls relaxed and escorted the Malfoys as they headed across the lobby toward the elevators. {What kind of idiot parents name their child 'Honor' anyway? Muffin's family is attending that meeting, and we are invited. We will report observations to you once the meeting concludes, Venturer.}

Vana nodded. {While you do that, I will return to her hotel and run the tag number on her automobile and investigate her room to further refine the profile of her organization. Target is a light blonde girl, dark blue eyes, precise military bearing, approximately 18 years old. German accent in her English, dressed in a dark grey blouse, black skirt, white stockings. Hair in a ponytail. Thank you and good hunting, Cleopatra.}

Cleo's gold ringlets bobbed around her head as she entered the elevator. {Tally-ho Venturer and Godspeed.}

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

Executive Waiting Suite Number One
Spoiler: A Dagger, A Sith Lord In Training, And Shipgirls

Lucius Malfoy's brow wrinkled minutely as he entered the lavishly furnished waiting area. The only other occupant was sitting in a leather chair by the window overlooking London reading the financial prospectus sheet minutely. Her steel-blue eyes rose and she gave him and his family a cool considering gaze before returning to her paperwork.

He was not fooled for a moment. A lifetime of dealing with dangerous people had honed his instincts well, and this young woman was radiating purpose and strength of will, advertising her hidden depths as she made a note with her pen. Silently he blessed the foresight that his younger self had shown in learning wandless magic. While it was less controllable than using his wand, it was more subtle to cast.

Such as now as he flicked his fingers and his eyes gleamed silver. The girl's right forearm glowed, showing the presence of a magical artifact there, probably her wand. That was not the part that caused his eyes to widen in shock as his Seeing Spell faded.

On her hand a signet gleamed with magical light to those who had eyes to see as he did. It had projected the image of her magical heraldry for him to witness in response to his spell. A shield which had the bottom as the silver M upon the black and green of his own House of Malfoy quartered with fleur-de-lis, while above was heraldic eagle of the Hapsburgs.

Lucius sat down in the provided sofa while behind his impassive stare his mind whirled. The French branch of his family were dead for three-quarters of a century; he knew that. But yet, the signet this girl wore was a match to his own, one that only a blood member of his House could wear without the curses and Dark Magics forged into the very white gold of the ring killing her horribly.

A ring that only the Head of the House or his designated deputy could wear.

With that information internalized he decided upon his course of action and glanced at his family. Narcissa read his intent in his eyes, and gave him a supportive nod. Draco looked up from where his girlfriends were chattering to him and after a moment's pause his son's lips quirked. It also did not escape Lucius that the shipgirls were shooting glances at the mystery woman present. "We should introduce ourselves to a fellow shareholder, no?"

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

Ehren glanced up from her paperwork to see the patriarch of the family with his blonde son and gaggle of girls in tow approach her. She put aside the profits to earnings sheet that she had been examining to prepare for the meeting ahead and raised one eyebrow. "May I help you?"

The man extended his hand. "Lucius Abraxas Malfoy. May I introduce my wife Narcissa, my son Draco, and his friends Johnston, Cleopatra, and Niobe?"

Automatically Ehren took the hand, the signet that as per Mutti's instructions that she was to wear for her financial meetings throbbing suddenly as her hand clasped his. "Ehren du Chasteler. The pleasure is mine." She responded absently. Ehren's eyes flickered across the somewhat old-fashioned formal clothing of Lucius, Draco, and Narcissa and then sharpened as she noticed that Lucius wore a matching signet to hers.

Ehren continued. "I must inquire, are you any relations to the French Malfoys?"

Lucius sat beside her. "Indeed, they are close relatives of ours until they died out during the War. Why do you inquire Miss du Chasteler?"

Ehren smiled slightly. "Because my family is descended from them. Jean-François du Chasteler was a Malfoy who founded our family as a cadet line of the Malfoys in his native France. Mother traces direct descent from him."

"Interesting." Lucius's eyes sharpened and he leaned in. "It is good to find someone of proper blood and breeding in these sad days. I was unaware that any of our French cousins survived."

"Belgian actually. Our family established themselves in Belgium before the French Revolution and have remained there ever since. At least that was what Mother told me along with the family histories that I read in our castle." Ehren responded, her voice cooling somewhat as Lucius talked about 'proper blood'.

Lucius smiled, "Just so. Heritage is important, as is measuring up to the standards of our forefathers. It is a pleasure to meet a cousin for the first time. How long as your family been investors in Jardine, if I may inquire?"

Ehren smiled, "Since the nineteenth century. We got in at the very start and it served our family well. Mutti normally would tend to matters personally, but she broke her leg in an accident," an accident named Masamune-no-Fudo, "and is convalescing in our castle under the care of my sister Claire and members of our staff. So I was deputized to act in her behalf." Ehren finished proudly.

"Pass along my best wishes for her recovery when you return home please." Lucius said as Narcissa coughed meaningfully. "I should attend to my wife. Draco, please make your cousin's acquaintance."

Draco sat down next to Ehren and smiled smugly, reminding Ehren of nothing so much as Delilah forming a plan. "Have you ever seen Star Wars?"

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

Two hours later the elevator doors opened and Lucius strode into the lobby at the head of his family. Behind him, Ehren was speaking with Draco and the girls. "I really enjoy 40:1 the best of all the Sabaton songs that I have heard. What is not to love? Honor unto death in the face of impossible odds fighting the Nazis with immortality awaiting you when you fall!" Ehren sighed happily with a smile on her face.

Johnston nodded with an ear-to-ear grin, "Just like me and my sisters at Samar. You only die once but glory lives forever. When I saw the Jap fleet coming for us, I knew that my time was up, but how you die defines yourself more than how you live. So I charged the Jap fleet to buy time for my carriers and went down with my flag still flying and not a shell or torpedo on board as my boys fought as hard and as long as we could fight."

Cleopatra chimed in. "ABC said it best off Crete. 'It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue.' My cousins died there happily to uphold the Royal Navy's tradition of victory at sea that Nelson set at Trafalgar."

Niobe nodded enthusiastically, "Ja. While I was too old and too outdated to participate in the First World War for my Kaiser, I served as faithfully and well as I could as a coastal defense ship until I was sunk in the Med in 1943."

Ehren looked at her curiously and then spoke hesitantly to the silver-haired armored cruiser. "I... must ask. How much of a perversion of what it is to be German were the National Socialists?" She bit her lip nervously as she waited for the reply as Lucius's limousine approached.

Niobe's face turned thunderous. "That was the most horrific corruption of my Fatherland imaginable. The worst part were the brave men I saw who believed the lies that they had been fed unknowingly and never realized how badly they were staining the true grandeur of the Germany that I knew."

Lucius waved them into the limo. "Claude Bosi's. I have reservations." He told the driver who tipped his cap.

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

As they were seated in the five star restaurant Lucius's phone rang. The Malfoy patriarch flipped it open and raised it to his ear. "Hello...Wait, she is trying to have Fudge do WHAT?! That utter moronic pink piglet!! No no, keep things under control there, I will get there as soon as I can and handle it!" His knuckles on his cane turned white with anger.

He pulled out his Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card and handed it to Draco. "I need to deal with matters at the Ministry. Use this to pay for lunch and then entertain the ladies, son. I will see you and Narcissa for dinner at our townhouse." With that he strode to the restroom and Apparated away.

Johnston's eyes gleamed as she looked at the credit card when the champagne and the appetizers arrived. "Harrods?"

Cleopatra raised her flute of Dom Perignon. "Harrods most definitely."

Niobe spooned caviar onto a canape. "Ja. Harrods."

Ehren smiled smugly and loosened her tie slightly.

 

[darthcourt10]

Year Three - Prisoner of Shipping Part 4b

START

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Shortly after Harry was done bonding with Ruby, Wanko and the Harbour Demon in question were pulled away. Regina continued the tour, much happier now that she was spending time alone with him. Not that she minded much Wanko or Ruby also doing so, but... there was something special about her being able to show him around herself.

Just... her and him, together.

Thus, the Re-Class showed him around and introduced him to various members of the Timor Sea Abyssal Fleet. All of them were polite to him and somewhat bemused to finally meet him, but were happy to spend a minute or two just talking. It was just after saying goodbye to a Chi-Class that Regina heard a grumble and turned to find Harry holding his stomach with a sheepish look, "Um, sorry about that..."

Eyebrows furrowing, Regina was about to ask what was wrong when the grumble came again and she realized what it was. A giggle escaped her and she smiled down at Harry, "Hungry, Harry?"

Sheepish look still on his face, Harry gave a nod, "Yeah, a little bit... sorry about that."

However, the Abyssal just shook her head and smiled, "That's fine, Harry. After all, we have plenty of time, so..." Tapping her chin, she gave a nod, "I'll take you to one of the food places here."

Cocking his head to the side, Harry raised an eyebrow, "You have food places here, Regina? Really?"

With a hum, she lead him towards what looked like a wharf that headed out towards the structures in the lagoon, "We have a few here actually, though, um... not really all that big." Giving it a moment of thought, Regina shook her head, "But they're good places to go and eat. And really good food as well."

A frown on his face, Harry furrowed his eyebrows, "But I only have Japanese currency on me."

Much to his surprise, Regina stopped and looked down at him with a smile, "I thought that you might not. But I'll be paying." Seeing him open his mouth, she summoned her bravery and placed a finger against his lips, "I-I can pay, Harry. And then, um... you can pay for when we go to Hogsmeade with Shinano."

Frowning behind her finger, the teen considered that before nodding, "Okay, that's fair enough." As they began walking towards the structures, Harry scratched his neck, "So, um... what would you suggest we eat?"

That question made Regina pause and consider things, "Um, well, there's no big places here... I think that Lady Supprin mentioned that McDonalds was trying to get a resturant going, but not much more than that." She then shook her head, "B-but while the places are more like those food trucks inside of buildings, they're really good."

Slowly, Harry nodded with a small smile, "I don't mind that sort of thing."

Finally reaching the structures, part of the teenage wizard was surprised that they were mostly what looked like homes on stilts made of either wood, black Abyssal metal, or the odd organo-metallic material some called 'Abyssal Coral', which grew underwater near Abyssal bases. The Abyssals that Harry knew had told him that they used it as a building material. On their roofs were either solar panels, small wind turbines, or a combination of both. Under his feet, meanwhile, was a metal walkway that was covered by some sort of cemented sand. He could also see ladders going down to the surface of the water where Abyssals climbed up out of the water or down to it. Seeing his surprise, Regina shook her head, "Sometimes it is easier for us to get around on the water. And also allows for us to head out on patrols."

Just nodding as he continued to look around, an thought came to Harry and he chuckled a bit. At the confused look on Regina's face, he shook his head, "It sort of reminds me of a real life version of Lake Town from The Hobbit."

Blinking for a moment, Regina considered that and then giggled a bit, "I suppose so, Harry. Though, um... there is another one in one of the other lagoons. We call it Lagoon-Town, so..."

Eyebrow raised, Harry gave her a look before both broke out in chuckles at that, "Okay, that sounds pretty neat." Now able to see some signs that were written in English and some Portuguese, he tilted his head, "Where should we go?"

For her part, the Re-Class furrowed her eyebrows and looked around with a hum, "Well... there's a few places. John's over there has some nice burgers, including a shark burger that's really good. But... then we got Smith's over there and he has some fish and chips and also HSPs..."

Confused, Harry frowned, "Um, first, those are human names. And... HSPs?"

Regina just smiled and shrugged, "We have some humans who have moved in or are from when Lady Wanko didn't have the peace treaty." She then lightly blushed, "And, um, HSPs are short for Halal Snack Packs. They're really good and have this meat called doner kebab on chips with all sorts of sauces." Glancing around, she leaned towards him, "A lot of Abyssals like eating there because we like the taste. If there is one thing that we really like about the peace treaty, it is getting to eat human food."

That got a nod from Harry, "Oh! So it's like doner meat and chips." Considering it for a second, he gave a small nod, "That... actually sounds pretty good, Regina."

Happy, the Abyssal took his hand and lead him to the food place in question where they were greeted by the owner and his wife, both of whom were human. If the two cooks were surprised by Harry, they did not show it and simply greeted him like he was an old friend. When Regina paid for it in Australian bills, she smiled at him, "We don't really have a currency yet... but we use either Australian or American money. And sometimes centavo coins."

Question answered, Harry took his food and Regina's before following her as they went outside. Sitting down on the side of the "Road", Harry glanced behind and below to the water where an Abyssal Submarine moved between the pillars of the buildings above. He could see that it was placing various objects around and frowned, "Wonder what she's doing?"

Looking over her shoulder, Regina shook her head, "Oh! She's just laying coral around." Seeing Harry's confusion, she giggled a bit, "It is one of the ideas from Lady Wanko to grow natural coral around the piers to make a reef here. Apparently it will help with fish stocks and the like."

Only smiling at the thought, the teen chuckled a bit. A thought than occurred to him about something that she had said earlier and Harry turned towards the Abyssal, "Regina? You mentioned that one of the things that Big Sister's fleet really appreciates is the fact that they can now have human food. Why?"

For a moment, Regina blinked before she finished chewing the bit of meat that was in her mouth. Looking down at her meal, she smiled a bit, "Why?" At his nod, she frowned for a moment in thought before making a motion with her fork, "Um, a lot of reasons actually. For a lot of Abyssals, a meal might be a barrel of oil, a hunk of steel, or seafood that can be pretty much raw. And not like sushi, but, well... imagine using depth charges on a school of fish and you got the idea of what some Abyssals might eat when they can."

Grimacing at the thought, Harry shook his head, "Okay, that makes some sense. So human cooking is great to Abyssals because... there's variety?"

Slowly, the Re-Class smiled at that and hummed, "That's right. There's so many different things to eat, and different ways to eat them as well as tastes that us Abyssals adore it." Looking first at her own beer and then at Harry's soda, she pointed at them, "Almost all Abyssals would never think of beer or fizzy soft drinks." Regina then gestured at their meals, "Or making a spiced meat like this, or cutting potatoes into chips. But because of the treaty, our fleet has access to such things! And it's so different and... and nice..."

A small smile on his face, Harry reached over and patted her on her thigh, "I think that I can understand that, Regina. And there's so many foods including that which, well... isn't yet invented, you'll never run out."

With a hum, Regina nodded, "That's true..." Turning, she considered Harry for a few moments before leaning in and gently kissing him. Light blush on her face, she pulled back, "But I like your cooking the best."

Though his blush, Harry smiled back at her with his next words getting a smile from the Abyssal as well, "Thank you."

Both him and Regina lapsed into companionable silence as he continued to eat while observing what was going on around them. Watching as the odd human walked while Abyssals also made their way too and fro, it struck Harry at that moment that it could be a look into the future. A look to the day when there was peace and the war was over, with human, shipgirl, Abyssal, and others living and working alongside each other.

It... was a dream to both cherish and to fight for, and one that he would do both for.

Seeing Regina giving him a questioning look, Harry explained and was not surprised to see her become thoughtful as he knew she was seeing the same thing as he did. A soft smile spread across her face as she ate the last of her food and leaned forward, "I never really thought about it, Harry. But... you're right. This... this could be how things turn out when the future comes. And I hope that it does."

Harry reached over and grasped her hand which made her look up before she blushed a bit at the look he gave her, "Same here, Regina. I hope that some day in the future, after we win the war, this sort of place is more common. Will you help me with that?"

The answer from her came quick, if silent as she kissed his cheek and pulled back. Regina then nodded with a smile, "Yes, Harry. I will help you with that for as long as you want, for a dream such as this... for peace." Turning back to their surroundings, she sighed a bit, "For a dream that all of us can share and enjoy."

With his hand in hers, Harry stood up before helping her to her hooves, "Then we'll do this, together."

A soft smile on her face, which was shared by Harry, Regina nodded as she looked down into his green eyes with their hands holding the other's, "Yes... we'll do this together."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"So this is your home, Regina?"

From where she stood in the doorway, Regina nodded some with an unsure look on her face, "Um, yes?" Looking around, she chewed her lip, "Is... is something wrong?"

Confused, Harry tilted his head at her in question, "Why would there be something wrong with it?"

That made the Abyssal blink a bit, "Well... it was your tone."

Blinking, it was now Harry's turn to blush at what she said. Scratching the back of his head, he chuckled, "Sorry, I didn't know what to expect for your home. But... this is kind of nice." Hands in his pockets, he glanced around, "Really nice."

Eyes widening a touch, Regina smiled at him, "Really? You think so?" At his nod, her smile brightened a bit, "I'm glad then..." Realizing something, the Abyssal hurried over, "Oh! Let me open the windows!"

With practiced ease, she did just that as she reached one of the windows. Unlatching the shutter over it, she opened it to reveal that there was a screen there. One that Regina moved to the side before opening the outer shutter and letting air and light in. Due to being an Abyssal, Harry suspected that she did not need to worry about mosquitoes and biting flies. Which meant that she had a screen for another reason. One, he suspected, involved him.

Meanwhile, Regina opened the other three windows before she nodded. At the same time, Harry looked around the small building in interest. Oddly, it reminded him of those small beach homes he once saw in magazines. The walls were made mostly of weather worn wood, as was the floors. The roof, meanwhile, was made of sheet metal. There was a large cot, without the mattress though there was a long piece of wood there with the bed along one side of the wall and in view of the door. There was also a small table and chairs along with shelves which had various things on them such as shells. There was even a cabinet.

All in all, it was a rather nice place. Something that Harry told Regina and made her smile, "Thank you, Harry. I'm glad that you think so.""

Giving it all another look around, Harry tilted his head some, "By the way, why isn't there a mattress on the bed?"

Regina blinked at that before realizing what he meant. A small blush on her cheeks, she tapped her chest, "Oh! Um, I carry the mattress and blankets around with me inside my hull." She then grimaced a bit, "Helps keep them from going all mildew and scuzzy with bugs in them when I'm gone for a week or two. Revina learned that lesson once when she came back and these spiders had made a nest in her bed. And there was mushrooms growing in it without her noticing."

Amused at the image in his mind, the teen chuckled and raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

With a hum, she nodded, "Yeah, it was sort of funny. She came in all tired and flopped onto her bed and then..." Throwing her hands into the air, Regina continued, "Pomf! There was this big cloud of spores that burst out and made her cough and wheeze. But before she was able to do anything else, all these spiders came out and swarmed her. Revina started screaming and ran out the door before leaping into the air and crossing half the lagoon. And then she fell into the water with this huge splash! Sploosh!"

Right then, Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as Regina told the story, complete with gestures and sound effects. Granted, something else came to mind, 'So cute...' Once she was done, he smiled and crossed his arms, "Okay, that actually sounds rather hilarious, Regina."

Giggling, Regina gave a smile back as she nodded, "It was rather funny to see at the time." As she looked around, she hummed a bit, "Just need to set up some last things."

Head titled to the side, he just watched as she went to the wall where there was a nail before reaching into her poncho. Moments later, Regina pulled out a picture that she hung there and Harry felt his eyebrows raise at what was in the picture, "That's me and Shinano-Chan."

Soft smile on her face, Regina adjusted it a bit, "Mm-hm. That's right." Besides the small blush, there was something else in her expression that the teen could not identify, "I want my friends to be one of the things that I wake up to."

With that, she walked over to the end table and placed another photograph there. This one being of Harry with Regina on one side and Shinano on the other, all three happily smiling though the shipgirl and Abyssal has slight blushes on their cheeks. Walking up next to her, Harry glanced towards the Abyssal who had a happy look on her face, "You keep these pictures with you?"

Humming, Regina nodded, "I do." Gently, she traced a finger along the edge of the photo's frame, "That way, they'll be protected and I have them with me." Turning to Harry, the Re-Class smiled, "That's not a bad thing, is it?"

Chuckling, Harry reached up and ruffled her silver hair before giving her a kiss on the cheek, "No, nothing is wrong with that, Regina. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact."

Brightly smiling, Regina gave him a kiss to the cheek and straightened. Shows of affection like that we're something that she enjoyed after all, and she hoped that Shinano was right that when Harry became their Admiral, they would get more of the same. It was that she noticed that Harry was looking towards the cupboard and nodded, "That is where I keep the cooking supplies." Seeing the interest, she continued, "Um, it's a small charcoal grill as well as a pot and a pan for when I want to cook something." Poking her fingers together, the Abyssal flushed a little, "I'm not all that great at it, but I can cook fish and such."

For a few seconds, the thirteen year old considered that before smiling, "Well... if you want, I can cook while I'm here." Eyes wide, Regina boggled at him before rapidly nodding so fast that Harry was concerned that her head would fall off. Lightly laughing, he ruffled her hair again, "Guess that I know what I'll be doing while I'm here then." All Regina did was smile before leaning in. Of course, that was when her tail snaked alongside Harry and he laughed more before scratching it, "Yes, and also giving you attention as well."

It was a blushing Regina who listened as her tail gave a rumbling purr in response to Harry's attention to it. Yet, she was also rather happy about the fact we well. After a few minutes, she turned to Harry, "Um, do you want to do something? Like swimming or..."

Considering that, Harry tapped his chin in thought, "Well... I just ate a bit ago, so best to let it settle. Anything besides swimming I guess."

That made the Re-Class hum before she stood up, "How about we go and sunbathe? We have the beach right there after all."

Unable to help himself, Harry felt his lips twitch into a smile, "I don't see an issue with that. But, um... give me a moment to get changed?"

A giggling Regina gave a nod to that, "Okay, I'll wait outside for it then."

Waiting just outside the door, Regina looked around her section of the island. While some of the Abyssals lived on homes out on the water, the Re lived on the island not far from the underground complex that Wanko called home. The hut where she lived was just a few feet from the beach though well above the high tide mark. Like many, it was on stilts of a sort, which helped to protect it against any possible storm surge that could somehow get past the lagoon. And with the trees to the side helping to shade it, Regina loved it.

As she stood there though, her mind drifted a bit.

In her mind's eye, she could see what may be in the future. Out on the sand we're a number of shipgirls like Iku as well as Hachi. Natsumi was dozing as she leaned against a nearby tree, with Louisiana beside her. And in the surf, she could see an older Harry laughing as him and Regina swung a messy, silver haired boy around with water splashing around them. Shinano, too, was there in Regina's other side with a young Re-Class that hung into hers and the older Abyssal's hand, also being swung around. Laughs could be heard as a few other children came running up, some with fox tails and others being a mixture of shipgirls or Abyssal children. All of whom knocked the young man into the warm waters of the lagoon.

A soft smile on her face, she clutched her hands together, 'I hope that happens some day...' Regina was brought out of it as she could hear footsteps coming towards her from inside, "All done, Harry?"

When she turned, she flushed at the sight of Harry in his swim trunks and a lopsided grin that was just him, "Yeah, I'm done." Seeing the blush on her face, he cocked his head to the side, "Uh, Regina? Something wrong?"

For her part, the Abyssal waved her hands in the air, "N-no, nothing is wrong, Harry." Internally though, she felt her cheeks heat, 'I guess that those new exercises are helping...' Shaking off that thought, Regina held out a hand, "Want to go and sunbathe?"

Much to her confusion though, Harry shook his head. But before she could ask, he brought up a small tin, "Just need to put on the sunblock lotion that I made."

Now things made sense to Regina and she gave a nod, "Oh! I forgot that humans burned easily in the Sun." Ducking her head some, she rubbed the back of her neck, "Um, sorry..."

However, Harry just waved her off and shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Regina. I'm not." A light dusting of red on his cheeks, he gestured at his back, "I was going to ask if you could do my back for me though. Don't want to leave any parts unprotected under this Sun."

Lightly frowning, the Abyssal checked his face and neck for a sunburn, "You're not burned now, are you?"

To her relief, Harry shook his head, "No, I'm not. I put some on my face and neck as well as arms and legs before we left Yokosuka. But I should reapply it and add some if I'm going to be sunbathing."

Much to his amusement, Regina gave a sharp nod, "Yes, you should." Walking begins him, she took a dab on her fingers of the magical lotion and began to work it in. Unknown to Harry, she had a blush on her face as she did so, 'O-oh! Maybe Shinano can do this too, tomorrow...'

At the same tome, Harry worked in the lotion elsewhere, though a small shiver went through his body as the cool hands worked at his back. One thought made him blush a little, 'I wonder how good she is at shoulder and neck rubs.'

Once she was done, she smiled at up him and straightened, "There we go, all done, Harry."

Smiling, Harry gave a chuckle, "Yes, we are." Holding out a hand, which she took, they began to walk towards the beach, "Time for a little bit of Sun."

Upon reaching the sand, Regina picked a spot and used her tail to sweep the sand level. With that done, what she did next made Harry blush and stare as she took off her poncho and spread it out. The sight reminded him that for all that Regina could be shy, she still wore what amounted to a bikini under her poncho. A rather revealing one at that.

It also left no doubt that, yes, she was a Battlecarrier with the best parts of a Fast Battleship and Aircraft Carrier combined in one hull.

Looking over her shoulder, Regina felt herself blush some at his stare, "Um, Harry? What's wrong?"

Quickly, Harry gave a weak chuckle and shook his head, "Heh, it's nothing, I, uh..." Looking away for a moment, he found his gaze going back to the now confused Re-Class again and again, "Um... didn't expect you to take off your poncho, that's all."

While Harry was internally cursing puberty and his hormones yet again, Regina relaxed some, "Oh, that? I, um, don't really use towels or blankets. So I just lay on my poncho on the sand since that is all I need or just lay on the sand itself. That's all."

Just nodding, the thirteen year old gave a nod, "That makes sense."

Humming, Regina laid down on her side against the poncho. She then patted the empty side with a smile, "Here we go, you can lay right here."

Only swallowing, the thirteen year old did so though he kept having to look away from where the Re-Class was stretched out. It was only the fact that he knew she didn't know any better that he knew she was not teasing him like he overheard some girls talking about doing. That said... it was hard for him not to take glances as she laid with her eyes closed as the hot Sun beat down. Despite himself, Harry also began to relax some as the minutes passed...

That was, until Regina shifted and laid on her front with her tail shifting to lay on the opposite side of her body from Harry.

Needless to say, that left said wizard once more cursing certain things. Meanwhile, Regina had her eyes closed as she relaxed and dozed a bit. After all, like other Re-Class, she liked to lay in the Sun when she could. Though... she did wonder one thing.

Why did Sendai mention to her and Shinano about doing this in front of Harry would be enjoyable for him? And why did White Plains grab the Light Cruiser by the ear and drag her to where Johnston and her sisters were looking annoyed?

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Legs swinging beneath him, Harry looked down into the crystal clear water beneath him. From where he was perched on Regina's tail as she strode across the lagoon, he could see the bottom and various sea creatures in the warm waters. As she came to a stop, he turned to look at her and had to swallow a bit. Mainly because the Abyssal had left her poncho behind, leaving her in just the normal Re-Class bikini. Her reasoning being that her poncho would just get in the way.

Words which made Harry internally choke and beat a certain thing called hormones over the head.

Giving her a glance, he had to admit to himself that she did look good... right before shaking his head, "So about here, you think?"

Not knowing what was going through the teen's mind, Regina smiled and nodded, "Mm-hm. I think that this is a good spot for diving." Now looking down herself, she giggled at the looks of the fishes, "The reef is right there."

Mask in one hand, Harry gestured at the water, "Mind lowering me some so that I can rinse?" The Abyssal did so and he washed his mask on the water before putting it on. He then finished by putting the hood of his wetsuit up and giving her a thumbs up, "Okay, I'm ready."

Even as she began to sink into the water, the Abyssal cocked her head to the side, "Um... why are you wearing a full wetsuit, Harry? The water is warm and it is kind of odd."

Water now reaching his calves, Harry chuckled some, "Actually? You should always wear a wetsuit. Besides which, as much as I know and trust Big Sister when she says it's safe, best to keep as well prepared as possible." Now water reached his waist as he kept a hold on her tail, "There's jellyfish and such in the water that could hurt if they stung me. So best to give them as little chance as possible."

Considering that as the water was now up to his chest and still rising, Regina smiled some with a slight nod, "Now that makes sense I suppose. Um, we've been told that some of the jellyfish can even kill humans and the like." At last, the surface closed over Harry's head as they continued to submerge with Regina frowning as the water reached her own neck, "And I don't want you to get hurt either. So best to be safe."

And with those words, she fully submerged and continued to sink until her hooves impacted the sandy floor of the lagoon, small clouds of sediment expanding outward from where she landed. Letting go of her tail, Harry drifted a bit as he tapped his go pro, part of him excited about being able to show off his trip, "Wow... its really beautiful down here." Twisting, he looked at Regina, "So being down here doesn't bother you?"

Shaking her head, Regina looked perfectly at home where she was, "No, why?"

Just shrugging, Harry grinned behind his mask, "Well, a lot of shipgirls don't like diving. Yet you're walking along down here with little effort." At her giggle, he shook his head before a thought occurred to him, "How do you get around down here?"

Glancing at him, she hummed, "There's a few ways. I can walk along the bottom, or use my screws to propel myself... alternatively, if I really want to move fast?"

Her tail moving was the only warning Harry for before it whipped around, shooting her forward with a massive cloud of sediment behind her. Unfortunately for him, it caused him to get flung backwards and he summersaulted in the water. Despite that, he could see Regina rapidly change direction with sweeps of her tail, not unlike a crocodile, "Whoa!"

It was then that the Abyssal noticed what had happened and quickly made her way over, "S-sorry!" To her confusion though, all she got was laughter, "Um, Harry? Are you alright?"

Only waving her off, the wizard nodded, "I'm fine, Regina." He then gave her a look which made her boilers run a little bit hotter, "But that thing you just did? That was awesome!"

Lightly blushing, Regina poked her fingers together before giving him a hug, "Thank you." Once they separated though, she nodded, "I'm still sorry that happened." Chuckling, Harry shook his head in amusement. Several minutes found them swimming along the reef when Regina tapped him on the shoulder and pointed, "Look, a sea snake!"

Sure enough, moving through the water was a sea snake, not a care in the world. Watching it, Harry tilted his head to the side, "I wonder if I can talk to it...?" Making his way over to it, Harry hissed, "{Hello.}"

That made the snake turn him before it's tongue flicked out and it headed for the surface. Following, Harry's head broke the surface as the serpent turned to him, "{A ssspeaker? I have heard of sssuch thingsss from the land dwellersss. But did not think that I would ever meet sssuch a being.}"

A small smile on his face, the teen shrugged as Regina poked her head up beside him, "{Well, I am ssstill getting ussed to thisss. Anything you can tell me?}"

The snake seemed to stare at him before pointing with its tail, "{In the wet grasss are big grazersss. You might look at them.}"

It seemed that was enough for the snake as it dove and vanished out of sight among the coral. For Harry, he looked towards Regina in question and she hummed, "I think that he means the dugongs that live nearby." As they continued to swim above the reef, taking in not just the array of colours, but also the life, they had a companionable silence between them. Until Regina broke it as she glanced at him, "So you like diving, Harry?"

With a blink, Harry turned to her and gave a nod, "As a matter of fact, I do like diving, a lot. It's... relaxing." He gave a small chuckle as he looked around, "Granted, it is not like I've seen too much doing so since most of my diving has been up at Yokosuka. And certainly not anywhere as colourful or full of life as here." Emphasizing that, the teen brushed his hands through a school of fish, metallic flashes seen as they dodged it. Turning back to Regina, he smiled, "Also it is something that I share with Hachi-Chan and the other Submarines... and you now as well."

Brightly smiling, the Re-Class nodded, "Yes, it seems so." Tail slowly propelling her along, she let out a sigh with bubbles escaping from her mouth, "I've always enjoyed swimming like this. Like you said, it is relaxing and lets me get away from the rest of the world for a time." As he nodded, she turned to him, "Speaking of diving, have you ever done cave diving? There's a few here in the island that some of the Submarines say look nice."

Much to her surprise, Harry grimaced, "No, I don't do cave diving. For one thing, I'm not trained for that. And even if I had the chance to get trained, I wouldn't. It is far too dangerous."

That made Regina blink, "Too dangerous? Really?"

Slowly, the wizards nodded, "Very dangerous." Gesturing at the gear he was wearing, Harry shook his head, "I use a newer model of rebreather, Regina. It is a lot better than, say, what was on the market even five years ago." Considering that, he frowned, "A lot better. There's been some major advancements to safety and failure rate. Anyways..." The thirteen year old waved a hand, "With it, at this depth? I could stay down for... oh, five to six hours without worry. Less if I was much deeper, like fifty feet, but we're barely at thirty. Cave divers use the same sort of equipment because it is safer and lets them stay down longer... but usually by maybe three to four hours with something like mine."

Frowning, the Abyssal considered that, "So a lot less then a Submarine could."

Just nodding, Harry smiled behind his mask, "Yeah, a lot less. But the amount of air is just one issue. I could dive in a sinkhole no real problem as long as I don't go into any branching tunnels from it. Because I would always have the opening above me to keep me orientated."

Eyebrows furrowing, Regina raised a finger, "But you've dived inside of wrecks. And there's no light there."

Chuckling, Harry shook his head, "Yes, but wreck diving and cave diving are only superficially similar. In reality, inside a wreck you would not really lose your way unless you're talking an absolutely massive one. Because you can always orientate yourself to some extent. And I also don't wreck dive alone. In a cave though, it is different. You can lose track of your orientation in regards to where you are and where the exit is. It also messes with your sense of time and direction. All of which are downright deadly when diving. You might start heading in the direction that you think is the exit, only to be heading deeper into the cave where there is no way out with your air supply growing less and less all the time." Voice and tone becoming somber, he looked at her, "There's a relatively famous underwater warning sign in one cave that gets the point of how dangerous cave diving is that..."

Her eyes widened, she frowned, "A sign? What sort of warning sign?"

She could see that Harry was frowning behind his mask, "Well, on it, it warns that cave diving is dangerous and a lot of divers have been killed, including in the very cave that the sign is in. It even tells the person to prevent their death to go no further. But... it is the imagery on the sign that is what gets the point across." Seeing Regina gesture for him to continue, he does, "It shows the Grim Reaper beckoning the person looking at the sign to go further into the cave. And at the Reaper's feet are the skeletal remains of various divers, including one that died reaching for another dead diver's breathing equipment, as if it would have saved him." Tone dry, the thirteen year old looked at her, "It certainly gets the point across."

A shiver went down Regina's keel as she nodded, "I... yes, it does seem to do so..."

With a shrug, he sighed a bit, "I am many things, brave among them. But stupid is not one of those, and cave diving is something that I will not do..."

Thankfully, however, soon they went back to exploring the reef and having fun. One example being when Regina's tail coughed up a dead fish that she used to lure out a eel from the place it was hiding in...

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Operation Ehren's Reise (After Action Reports)

Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England
Spoiler: Vana's Zeyde

Vana Apfelbaum smiled as she crossed the bridge separating the BAE docks where she had been built in a past life by Vickers from her home town of Vickerstown on Walney Island.

Home at last, she thought happily as she glanced over at her brother-in-law Mordecai who was driving her from the main railroad station to Zeyde's house. "You said that Sarah is expecting again, shvager?"

"Feh! That alter cocker of a doctor says that it is twins. Again! Oy vey! My Sarah will be the death of me! One goes to sleep and the other starts crying, all night every night just like Joshua and Moishe did, mark my words! Always before I argue a court case or have to prepare a brief!" Mordecai kvetched happily at his 'misfortune'.

Vana's happy smile widened as she reached into her hold and pulled out a bag that she set in the passenger seat foot well. "Maybe this will persuade schvester Sarah to cook you some of her mother's brisket recipe tonight, Mordecai. Alef-Bet flash cards to help her teach your sons Hebrew, and milk chocolate gelt coins to reward them when they learn our language."

Mordecai smiled happily, his white teeth gleaming in his beard then resumed his kvetching as they turned onto Mikasa Street. "Even if she does cook it, those three bottomless pits masquerading as my sons will eat it all and leave me nothing! I work myself to the bone day and night only to get eaten out of house and home! Such misfortune!"

The car stopped and Vana got out, curtsying modestly. "Adank, Mordecai. Give Sarah my regards and I shall pray for a short labor and a swift delivery of your children."

She then turned, adjusting her headscarf and walked to her family's house.

She knocked on the door, and then looked at the small row house, smiling happily. Her hydrophones picked up the thunder of running feet and then her smile widened as her younger brother Jakob opened the door. "Muter! Schvester Vana is home!" He shouted before hugging her.

As she stepped inside, her mother's face appeared from the door to the kitchen. "Vey ist mir! How many times have I told you not to run in the house you shaygetz! Du farkirtst mir di yorn!" The blinding smile on her mother's face as she saw Vana put the lie to her moans about how a little rascal and imp of mischief such as Jakob would be the death of her. Said death of her poor overworked and underappreciated mother would be aided no doubt by his big sister who was off fighting in the war and setting a bad example for her juniors.

"Muter, where is Zeyde?" Vana asked politely when her mother paused the kvetching to take a breath.

"Oh he is in the garden out back sunning himself. Probably fell asleep again, now give me a kiss and wake him up. I need to get back to the kitchen, and make sure my kishkas do not burn before I put them in the cholent."

Vana's mouth watered as she hugged her mother. "I need to speak to Zeyde, but after that I will help you cook. Many hands make the work light, nu?"

With that, she walked into the small garden in the back. True to her mother's word, Zeyde David was snoring in his favorite lawn chair under a parasol keeping the rain off him. Vana stood there for long moments, smiling shyly at the sight.

This is what she ultimately defended, after all. Her wonderful and irritating family. The country that had taken in her great-grandparents after the Shoah when they arrived as penniless refugees, a bare handful of the thriving communities that had once existed in Poland.

Her home.

With that thought, she gently shook her great-grandfather's shoulder. "Zeyde. Zeyde?"

The white haired elderly man mumbled and then blinked. "Vana? Is it you?"

Her shy smile widened. "Yes it is, Zeyde. The Royal Navy gave me leave to come home for Shabbat with the family."

His dark eyes sharpened and not for the first time, he seemed to see through her. "You are troubled, though. What is wrong, my Kleyn Delfin?"

Tears of joy filled her eyes at her family nickname of 'little dolphin' that he had given her as a young child for her habit of swimming happily in the bathtub rather than getting washed. She took a deep breath and began. "Zeyde, you know that magic is real, nu?" He nodded solemnly. "I recently was sent to investigate a fellow spirit. But she was not that of a ship like I am. Instead she is that of a SS Dagger."

His breath caught in his throat and the fist on his arm that had a blue numeric tattoo clenched as she finished. "And yet, she is apparently a good person and hates those mamzerim as I do. Yet she is one of them. What am I supposed to do, what am I supposed to feel, Zeyde?"

For long moments he thought, his eyes dimmed remembering days that had seared his soul. "Vana. I can only say this. Not all Germans or Poles were evil. Some of them saved us at the risk of their own lives and were acclaimed as Righteous Among Nations. Some of my fellow Jews fell to darkness and persecuted their brothers and sisters to save their own skins then. Watch her certainly and decide for yourself by her deeds and words. If she is one of them in sheep's clothing, you know what must be done to protect our people. If she is what you say that she seems to be... remember your Tanakh."

He took a deep breath and recited from memory in Hebrew. "{Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.}"

Vana nodded slowly and then hugged her great-grandfather. "Thank you Zeyde."

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

Castle Moulbaix, Belgium
Spoiler: Ehren's Homecoming

Ehren drove the Audi up the familiar driveway and parked it in front of the main doors. She pushed the button to open the trunk, and then unlocked the passenger side door where her mated pair of Eurasian eagle post-owls waited in their cages before turning to the two pairs of golden eyes looking at her curiously. "Welcome to your new home Uhu, Bubi." She said quietly with a soft smile.

As the owls hooted back, the door opened and Kasuyu walked out. "Welcome home, Miss Ehren," he rumbled.

"Guten Tag, Kasuyu. The packages and bags in the trunk go to my room, the wicker hamper in the passenger seat foot well goes to Mutti. The financial paperwork and receipts are in the folders inside it." Ehren said as she picked up the two owl cages. "I will help of course, but the bulk of this is Christmas and birthday presents. Some of which are fragile so do take care."

As the axe tsukumogami picked up the Harrod's Indulgence Hamper, Ehren finished "How is Mutti?"

The axe smiled. "She is moving around well in her wheelchair, and once the arm is regenerated, I suspect by the end of the week, she can proceed to crutches. She has missed you, as have we all."

Ehren responded softly as she walked inside. "So have I. So have I."

"Ehren!" Claire's overjoyed voice assaulted her ears. Ehren smiled to see Claire leaning over the second floor balcony with an ear-to-ear smile. "You're home! Mother! Ehren's home!" In the distance, a familiar Bosendorfer piano's music shifted into Verdi's "Triumphal March" from Aida.
Spoiler: Claire Welcomes Ehren Home
]

Ehren smiled warmly. "Claire, it is good to see you too. I have many things that I bought, if you can help Kasuyu bring them up to my room?"

The Piano nodded happily as she dashed down the stairs. Ehren, wise in the ways of Elder Big Piano Sisters, set the cages containing her owls down in a safe spot and braced herself for the inevitable tackle hug. Which came with the expected crushing force and was returned eagerly as the sisters reunited at last.

Tears of joy filled Ehren's eyes as she whispered. "I got your birthday and Christmas presents, just be careful when you bring them up, some of Mutti's are fragile."

Claire's hug tightened as the piano whispered in her tear-filled voice, "Vielen Dank, kleine Schwester." Then her true voice filled the castle with the sounds of triumphant victorious arrival.

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

In her second-floor study, Colombe smiled at Toku as the piano in the corner that she had been playing one-handed suddenly shifted to playing Aida on its own. "Ehren-chan is home, To-chan."

The Masamune smiled and lowered her shakuhachi bamboo flute that she had been playing in a duet with Colombe. "Should we go down to see her, Co-chan?"

Colombe thought, and then shook her head, absently scratching her splinted left arm. "Not just yet. Let Claire have her moment first. You know how mopey she has been the last few days."

Toku nodded. "Hai. I never knew how emotional Russian composers could be."

Colombe laughed as Kasuyu entered with a wicker hamper. "Tell me about it. When Claire is doing the Russians, she is in a mood. What do you have Kasuyu?"

The Axe placed the hamper down on her desk. "Miss Ehren said this was a get-well package that she got for you and the paperwork and receipts are inside."

"Thank you, Kasuyu." Colombe responded absently, a faint alarm bell sounding in the back of her head at the sight of the Harrods logo on it. "Please help her get the rest of her luggage inside, no need to call Miho or the children down from their attic hunt."

"Yes, Mistress." The axe responded with a bow and left.

"Now, let's see. To-chan, can you help me open it?" Colombe wheeled herself to the desk as the Masamune popped the straps and opened the lid, taking the neatly lettered and labeled folders out of the top to lay on Colombe's desk.

"Merci. Let's see here. Oh, Grand Cru Champagne! Très bon!" Colombe grinned happily as the two bottles of spirits were extracted.

"Bath and shower gel and body creme!" Colombe's smile turned crooked and she winked at Toku and waggled her eyebrows. "Perhaps these could be shared tonight?" The Masamune blushed crimson and gave a happy nod as she pulled the last items out.

"Oh là là là là! Chocolate fondants and Marc de Rose truffles! Ehren is such a good and thoughtful girl!" Colombe interjected as Toku looked curiously at the two tins of delicacies. "You must try this, To-chan!"

With that Colombe turned to the folder marked in Ehren's precise hand "Expenses and Reciepts" and opened it. She began to page through. Slowly her jaw dropped and she turned pale as a ghost then flushed an angry red.

"MON DIEU! SHE SPENT HOW MUCH?" Colombe shrieked at the top of her lungs, hyperventilating as Toku looked at her with concern.

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

"EHREN DU CHASTELER! GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW YOUNG LADY AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!!"

With that command Ehren double-timed to the study and snapped to attention after entering. Facing her was a rather wild eyed Colombe who was breathing heavily with a red face and a Toku looking quite concerned.

"Fifteen hundred dollars for a pearl necklace!!" Colombe snapped out.

"Jawohl, I needed to get Toku a Christmas present." Ehren reported calmly.

"Fifteen hundred dollars for earrings!" Colombe flipped to the Tiffany receipts

"Your birthday is coming up in three months, Mutti." Ehren explained patiently

"Three hundred dollars for toys!" Toku bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"Die kinder deserve a good first Christmas, Mutti." Kasuyu took one look inside the room at the tableaux and slowly and silently eased the door closed with the look of a man staring at a nest of angry rattlesnakes.

"One thousand dollars in the gift department!" Colombe grated out.

"Ja, they had limited edition music boxes that Claire would love." The piano in the corner played a shocked chord before shifting to John Williams' "Main Theme" from Superman.
Spoiler: Music Boxes! Thank You Little Sister!!

"I raised you better than this, young lady! Where did I go wrong?!?" Colombe choked out then shook her head in memory.

She could remember herself standing exactly where Ehren was right now dressed in her sky blue Beauxbatons uniform as Papa said those very words when he found out that she had lost five hundred francs (and her virginity with a boy) playing picquet with Gabriel Potter after curfew. A bottle of Spanish brandy had been involved in her decision to add her undergarments to the pot on that hand where she let him score a trick with four aces too, she recalled. She never had been as good as he was at picquet either.

"Mon Dieu, I have turned into Papa..." she muttered to herself absently before flipping to the next receipt. "Sixty-one hundred dollars of alcohol? You are only two years old!!"

"I thought you would like the Louis XIII brandy for Christmas, and the Baron de Signognac was recommended by Narcissa." Ehren said in that cool, precise voice as she stood at rigid attention.

"Who is Narcissa?!?" Colombe grated out, pouncing on this new piece of information involving the disaster that Ehren's mission had apparently turned into.

Ehren took a deep breath and reported in a level, precise voice. "When I was in Jardine, I ran into Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy, of the British Malfoys, our cousins. Lucius had a matching House signet ring to ours on when I spoke to him before the stockholder meeting. Afterward we went to lunch, he got called away to handle a crisis at the Ministry of Magic, and his wife Narcissa, son Draco, and three shipgirls who are romantically involved with Draco, specifically USS Johnston, HMS Cleopatra, and SMS Niobe, proceeded for Harrods. I took the opportunity to buy several late birthday presents for my Malfoy cousins. Specifically the Tag Heuer fine watch for Draco, one bottle of Louis XIII brandy for Lucius, and two bottles of Chanel #5 for Narcissa. Draco is an acquaintance of Harry Potter and in his class at Hogwarts and shall be relaying along our message of support. In addition, I have the contact info for Draco, his parents, and all three shipgirls."

Colombe blinked, then shot a glance at Toku, whose lips were twitching uncontrollably and whose serene National Treasure of Japan composure was cracking badly around the edges. She then gave Ehren a firm stare. "So what exactly did you buy for yourself, Young Lady?"

Ehren reported from memory. "Books itemized on receipt D-1. Ice Cream itemized on receipts D-2 and D-5. Post Owls itemized on receipt D-3 to keep in touch with Cousin Draco at Hogwarts covertly, and to deliver packages as needed; they can also supplement Miho's hunting efforts in the attic. Chudley Cannons paraphernalia to blend into magical society itemized on receipt D-4. Swimsuit on H-7. Clothing itemized on H-8, the polo shirt is for Sister Ying. Meals Itemized on all M-series receipts, Hotel lodging on S-1, Gasoline on G-1 through G-8. Tolls on T-1 and T-2...."

Colombe raised a weary hand. "Enough, I get the picture. The other expenses are for the family members for birthdays and Christmas?"

"Ja, Mutti! It was more efficient that way!" Toku dissolved into giggles and slowly collapsed into a chair.

Colombe scowled. "That's one way to describe this feu de benne à ordures. Is there anything else you did that I should be aware of?"

Ehren paused, and then looked embarrassed. "On the way to London, I raced a young lady on a motorcycle from Dover to London."

Colombe facepalmed and groaned. "Did you get caught?"

"Nein, Mutti!"

"Proving yet again that God and the kami look after fools, imbeciles, and du Chasteler daughters." Colombe moaned. "Did you win?"

"Nein, Mutti!"

"Don't gamble on any races then until you win consistently. Anything else? No drunken duels to first blood with a fellow aristo you met in a tavern enroute? No drunken duets in taverns either that sparked a bar fight?"

"Nein, Mutti! No taverns were harmed in this operation!" Ehren responded as one of her eyebrows raised a millimeter at the oddly specific questions.

Colombe shook her head. "That makes one of us then. Ahh... no romantic entanglements?"

"Nein, Mutti!"

"Thank all the saints and kami! Your poor mother's heart can't take much more! Consider yourself grounded to the castle and property until further notice and I will be docking half your allowance as a reminder for next time to let me know in advance and not be so extravagant spending." Colombe waved a hand absently at the mass of receipts.

Ehren blinked in confusion. "But I was not extravagant, truly. Narcissa bought a $24,000 pendant on her husband's credit card, and Draco got Cleopatra a gold necklace valued at over $18,000 dollars on that card. Johnston and Niobe got custom items at Tiffany's too, but I was unable to report their price."

Colombe cradled her head in her good hand and began to laugh and cry hysterically as Toku dissolved in giggles. "Ehren just go... Find Claire and play a duet with her. Fix yourself a late lunch. Go before I limp over there and throttle my wonderful, infuriating daughter."

Ehren slapped her heels together and about-faced. "Zu Befehl(At your command), Mutti!"

As Ehren marched out the door, the madly giggling Toku staggered over and gently patted Colombe on the back.

 

[darthcourt10]

Yellowhammer

Cousin's Correspondence

Castle Moulbaix

Two Days After Ehren Returns To Moulbaix From London

Colombe du Chasteler glanced at Toku as the Masamune entered her study with the requested bottles of brandy from her cellar and a wicker basket. "Here they are, Co-chan. Why did you want these particular bottles?"
Spoiler: A Dove's Correspondence

Colombe smiled as she unlocked a desk drawer and pulled out a sheaf of creamy fine paper marked with the watermarked interlinked NC of Neenah Coldenhove's paper manufacturing business. Next came a blotter, then a gold-engraved antique dip pen, a bottle of ink, and finally a stick of red sealing wax. "They are to accompany my letter to Lucius Malfoy. Thanks to Ehren's efforts, we have a useful contact in England, and I am not minded to have it go fallow."

Toku sat with interest as Colombe arranged the items on her desk and uncorked the bottle of ink. "The dip pen was a wonderful invention. I learned calligraphy on a goose quill as a girl, and that was quite an ordeal to write up to Papa's standards with. Hm, in fact, call Ehren in, please."

Ehren entered shortly afterward. "You wished to see me Mutti?"

"Oui." Colombe nodded. "Pull up a chair and watch." Colombe dipped her pen in the inkwell and began to write her letter in a beautiful flowing 18th Century Rhonde script.
Spoiler: Rhonde Calligraphy

Castle Moulbaix, Belgium


To Mr. Lucius Malfoy
Malfoy House, England

27th April 2014

Sir,

I wish to thank you and your family for providing such wonderful hospitality to my daughter Ehren du Chasteler during her recent visit to London. Such courtesy and nobility is quite a delight to see in these days just as they were in my youth.

My daughter has notified me of our blood relationship through the French Branch of our mutual family, and it livens my heart greatly to be informed of cousins who practice the noble arts of hospitality and family loyalties.

Enclosed is a modest token of my esteem along with my wishes for a very happy belated birthday. May this vintage satisfy your refined palate and bring you joy with your family by partaking of a suitable cordial for such a celebration.

I close with an invitation to visit myself and my daughters if you or members of your family should ever visit Belgium in the future.

Your humble correspondent,

Ms Colombe d'Aubigny du Chasteler, Marchioness of Chasteler and Moulbaix

Colombe signed the letter with a flourish, and then carefully used the blotter on it. She looked over at the enthralled Ehren and the thoughtful Toku. "Anything worth doing is worth doing with style. This letter demonstrates to Lucius Malfoy that I am an individual of proper breeding and nobility, which your story said that he values highly. In addition, one can never have too many allies in positions of influence."

She looked at the letter. "Good penmanship is a work of art, and will predispose my correspondents to react more positively." Toku nodded, thinking of her own work with inkstone and brush as she wrote letters to her sisters.

With that Colombe carefully folded the letter into a square and picked up the sealing wax. A quiet incantation summoned a small flame that melted the wax to drip on the letter. "There is a protocol here. Black wax is for ill news such as a serious illness or death in the family, red is for formal correspondence, blue is for more informal. Since I am just meeting him for the first time and sending a gift of friendship, I am using red wax to show the importance of this letter to me."

With that Colombe used her signet ring to stamp her heraldry into the cooling wax. Ehren nodded along, her eyes intent as she took mental notes.

Colombe flipped the letter over, and wrote Lucius's address on it, then cast a series of Cushioning Charms on the basket and the straw covering the cognac bottles inside. "I am enclosing the four bottles of Sarajishvili 1896 Cognac that I own. It is a fine vintage and quite deserving of its five-star ranking, but a little sharp for my palate. Not that Lucius needs to know that," she finished with a smug grin.

One last charm to renew the stasis spells that prevented the antique cognac from going bad followed. Then Colombe attached the sealed letter to the lid of the basket with a Sticking Charm and wiped her brow. "Now I just need a volunteer to head up to the top of this tower where the owls that you bought are nesting and ask one of them to deliver this to Malfoy Manor."

Ehren snapped to attention. "I shall do that forthwith, Mutti!"

"Danke, Ehren."