Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Shaithan

Have a short Omake

Tirpitz looked at the blueprints Wanko and Vindictive had laid out. "So, what exactly does that mean?" she wanted to know.

Vindictive grinned. "Well, feral abyssal destroyers are, for lack of a better word, moldable. Depending on how they are raised and treated, they may change considerably. At least if I understood Miss Wanko's briefings on Abyssal biology right," the old Repair ship laid out.

Wanko nodded. "This is ... true. Your destroyers ... are changing ..., imprinting themselves ... on you," she laid out.

"You can already see it in their tonnage," Vindictive continued. "Normal abyssal destroyers are around 2000 to 3500 tons. Yours are quite a bit heavier. Also wider and a bit longer than standard. I guess you never stopped feeding them cruiser rations," she continued, leading to a surprised frown on Tirpitz' face.

"I should have put them on smaller meals?" she asked quite confused.

Vindictive pinched the bridge of her nose. "Well, it's too late now, anyway, now they have changed to actually need these portions," she muttered.

"Doesn't help that you ran the little buggers across the Atlantic pretty much non-stop," Revina added from behind the startled battleship. "Powerleveling much?" she continued. "No, seriously, even in most abyssal fleets one will have downtime between sorties, you on the other hand kept them at sea from the day you picked them up, always escorting convoys, fighting others, all that stuff," the cheeky Abyssal continued.

Tirpitz shrugged. "I picked them up during my work shift," she explained. "Between Lent and early-mid September I generally don't work and make my holidays. I don't take days off the rest of the year in compensation," she added.

The other three beings in the room stared at Tirpitz. "All work and no play until summer doesn't make Tirpitz a dull girl?" Revina finally asked.

"No," Tirpitz gave back. "But what exactly does this have to do with the destroyers?" she wanted to know.

Revina affected the air of a wise storyteller. "You see, the little ones imprinted on you. To a far greater degree than would have happened if you treated them and yourself like normal people," she explained. "You stuffed them to the gills and made them work extremely hard while also ensuring that they stayed close to you. Though, this is also because they want to stay with their flagship," she continued. "Now, there have been other such cases, Aurora's very red destroyer comes to mind, but there the imprinting happened over years. Conversely, within less than half a year, you managed to get your DDs from thin even for DDs to strong, 8-gun touting 5100 ton "DDs"." Revina explained.

"Now, that isn't bad per se," Vindictive took up the ball. "It just had some effects on the little ones that couldn't have been foreseen. They changed to accomodate that schedule you keep. And when looking for a mold to fit into, they chose the nearest ship," she explained.

"And that means?" Tirpitz wanted to know.

"They patterned themselves on you," Vindictive explained.

Wanko nodded. "Look at ... these plans," she stated, showing off the blueprints. "Do they ... look familiar?" she wanted to know.

Tirpitz looked over the plans. 4 dual gun turrets, single large funnel, larger superstructure. When she looked up, Revina beamed at her. "Congratulations! It's five mini-mes!" she said exuberantly. "Though, wouldn't that be five mini-yous as they're patterned on you, not me?" she wondered, leading the other three inhabitants of the room to ponder if that was actually the case.

"Okay," she said cautiously. "What does follow from that, though?" she wanted to know.

Wanko rubbed her chin. "Sooner ... or later ... they are ... going to ... undergo ... an extensive ... rebuild," she explained. "I have ... left instructions ... to the ... repair ships ... as to what ... needs ... to be done," she added. "It will ... take days ... for the rebuild ... to be ... complete," she finished.

"If I understood everything right, this doesn't just mean getting more guns and such, their rebuild will basically see them grow out of their shell and taking a more humanoid form. That's also the reason the rebuild will take so long, their humanoid forms are currently forming, but them being fully operational will be a lot of work. We're quite sure that they will have rigging, and going by how much their forms patterned themselves after you, we put good odds on their riggings being similar to your own," Vindictive explained.

Tirpitz considered that, before paling. While there would be undoubtedly differences, the five little ones would most likely look very close to her. "Great. The 'Tirpitz is a destroyer. Her main armament are her torpedoes.' jokes are never going to end," she groused.

Revina patted her on the back. "Now, now, don't feel bad," she said consolingly. "No one could claim you're a destroyer," she added. "You're quite obviously a destroyer leader!" she finished.

Tirpitz glared at the rambunctious Re-class.

Wanko on the other hand brought her hand down on Revina's head. "I disapprove," she stated slowly.

Revina pouted.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Here we go, this was quite a handful to finish. No joke, I actually made myself cry once or twice while writing this. I hope you guys like it.

Reconciliation

XXXXXXXXXX

The only sound to be heard in the bedchamber was the clacking of hooves as Regalia paced back and forth, deep in thought.

Technically speaking, this was her room. A quaint little chamber nested in a corner of the palace, furnished similarly to her mother's room. She actually didn't spend much time here; she spent most of her days mingling with her fleet or tending her fields, and she slept with the destroyers most of the time. But the room was still here for her to escape to, whether it was because she wanted to be alone, she wanted to simply relax, or so she could think. Currently, she arguably fell under all three categories.

Regalia considered her fleet. In a sense, they were her entire world; the list of every person she'd ever known in her short life began and ended with the inhabitants of this island. She'd never particularly minded that; they were her fleet, her family, and the occasions where nobody was free to just hang out with her were few and far between. But she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't occasionally imagine what people who lived beyond the island were like. And now, a group of Abyssals, friendly Abyssals, were coming to the island.

She should have been thrilled. This was an opportunity to bond with her extended family, learn a little about the outside world. But then she looked in the mirror, saw the deformed girl—the defunct battlecarrier—staring back at her, and her fear took over.

Her mother had spoken of her estranged relatives in the past. They were a far cry from the ragtag group of scouts and survivors that was her mother's fleet—no, they were a true task force, a battle-tested fleet that had been sailing together long before their Princess's death set them adrift. Not content to isolate themselves on an island, the fleet instead roamed the seas, hunting sea creatures for food and cutting down whatever Abyssals crossed their path. While supposedly just as kind as their sedentary sisters, their way of life meant that they were a group that would not, could not, suffer weakness or waste.

And what was she, but a prime example of both? A ruined warship, unfit for the very role she was designed to serve; the result of a failed attempt by her Princess to bolster a fleet that, by and large, just spent its days loitering on an island in the middle of the ocean.

Ruadri had been the first, and easily the most severe reaction to her, but she was not the last. Her fleet had been less than thrilled by what her mother had invested in her creation, but they were nonetheless eager to meet their niece, the first capital ship of a new generation. To be met with her…? Her mother made it clear from day one that Regalia was off-limits, that she was not to blame for her own disfigurement. But that did not stop her fellow Abyssals from looking on her with discomfort, disappointment, disdain. She would never have to fear attack from them, but their glares, their unspoken criticisms pierced just as deeply, burned just as hotly as any shell or bomb ever could.

Regalia was torn from her thoughts by the door creaking open. She turned to see her mother standing in the doorway. "H-hey, Mom…" Regalia greeted her weakly.

"I was… warned by Ruadri that… you seemed distressed." The Princess stepped further into the room. "Is something wrong?"

Regalia briefly considered answering that nothing was wrong, that she simply felt unwell, but she couldn't bring herself to lie to her mother. She nodded. "…I'm scared."

"Of my sisters?" the Princess asked. Regalia nodded again. With a soft sigh, the Princess took a seat at the edge of the bed, patting the mattress next to her in invitation. Regalia opened her mouth to protest, but looking to her mother's concerned expression, her resolve broke. Quietly, she took her spot on the bed next to her mother. "Why?" the Princess asked.

Regalia was hesitant to respond. "…It's just… I've known so few people in my life. And for every one of them, I've had to fight from the very beginning to win their friendship, their kindness and trust. Not even wholly because of my defect—I just wasn't what they were hoping for. They wanted a big, strong, brave battleship that, if they were forced to fight, they could trust to lead them into battle and out the other side intact. Instead, they got a screwed-up Re-class that fell on the wrong end of the personality bell-curve.

"But these new Abyssals… they're actual soldiers. Constantly out on the seas. Trained to fight, and kill, trained with the expectation to pull their own weight. What will they see when they look at me? A broken battleship, incapable of defending herself, let alone others? A waste of time and materials, only kept around out of pity?"

Regalia hugged herself tightly. "You made your fleet promise not to lash out at me, to accept that I wasn't the one to blame for what I was. And they listened, because you're their Princess. But the others won't just bow down to you. If they decide they don't like me, what's going to stop them coming after me? Would you and the fleet be willing to fight your own sisters… just to defend me?"

The Princess shook her head. "I will not… claim to know… the minds of my sisters… or how they will… perceive you. But… you have nothing… to fear from them. They are above… petty violence."

"Yeah? They don't need to be violent to still hurt me." Regalia looked to her mother with a pained expression. "Mom, you were born normal. You grew up with a big, happy family that didn't need to be convinced to put up with you. But me? For those first few weeks, you were the ONLY one who could look at me, talk to me, speak about me without some sort of bitterness. You have no idea what it feels like to have literally everyone you've ever known look down on you."

The Re-class leaned into her mother's side, sniffling. "It hurts. It makes you feel small, useless. It's a pain too deep to repair. And it never went away. You were the only thing that brought me any sort of comfort, any relief. It's why I always asked to come to bed with you; it was the only way I could sleep at night… And even then, the pain would still be there when I woke up.

"I thought it would never end, that this was all I could expect in life… but then there was a light. For the first time, one of my aunts looked at me and smiled, ACTUALLY SMILED, and asked me how I was doing. It was practically the happiest day of my life—to see that someone could finally look at me and see a comrade instead of a mistake or a failure or a freak. It started hurting a little less after that. It got better as the rest of the fleet warmed up to me, started being nice to me as well. I could finally go through a day without asking myself if anyone would notice if I vanished for a few hours. I could finally be happy along with my fleet, my family."

Regalia shuddered, her voice getting weaker, shakier. "But… but the pain is still there. I c-can feel it. Waiting for the next per… person to c-come along and… a-and…" The Princess wrapped her arms around her daughter as she broke down in tears. "I-I… I don't w-want it to hurt again… I don't wanna b-be hated anymore… Please, make th-them go away, m-mommy, I don't want them to h-hate me!"

The Princess sat in silence for the next few minutes, gently stroking her daughter's hair as she coughed and cried into her chest, ignoring the bloody tears being rubbed off on her body. Thinking of what her daughter had said to her. She waited for the crying to subside into sniffling, and the sniffling into whimpers, before speaking. "Do you feel… better, now?"

"…a little," Regalia mumbled into her chest.

The pair continued to sit quietly for a time; the Princess simply holding her daughter, as she fought not to break down again. Finally, the Princess spoke. "You're right. I do not know… the pain of being shunned. I doubt… I ever will. But you know…" She looked down at her daughter. "I have felt… a pain so much worse: losing my family. Yes, I was normal… and my sisters were always… kind to me. But that made their deaths… hurt even more. Each and every one of them. Hundreds of times over. And Mother…"

The Princess sighed. "We all live… with some sort of pain. Be it physical… or heart-felt. But you cannot… let it dominate you. If we had succumbed… to our grief… in the wake of Mother's loss… let ourselves be consumed by anger… we would be little better than her murderers." She shook her head. "We all carry… Mother's love in our hearts. We do not hate… only the unloved hate."

"…But…" Regalia protested weakly. "But the others…"

"They do NOT hate you," the Princess insisted. "They have never… hated you. If anything… they cared for you… even more deeply. You were young… frail… not right. They wanted so badly… to help you live… a happy, normal life. Their bitterness, their negativity… came from realizing… how powerless they were… in the face of your defect. They were not disappointed in you… they were disappointed in themselves. Once they came to terms… with their helplessness… they settled for being… the best family they could be for you. Do you understand?"

Regalia went still in her arms. She took a deep breath, exhaling shakily. Finally, she nodded. "Okay, mom."

Satisfied, the Princess herself took a deep breath, letting her stress dissipate. "Why didn't you… tell me about this… if it caused you… so much anguish?"

"…what could you have done about it?" Regalia looked up to her mother with bloodshot eyes. "It's not like you could just… order everyone to cheer up and be nice to me."

"…No. I could not." The Princess admitted. "But… I could have been there… to comfort you. To hold you… as I do now. To remind you that… you are not completely alone." She squeezed her daughter a little tighter, and felt her spirits lift as a pair of arms wrapped around her in turn. "To have not… seen your pain myself… is my failure."

"Well… you do have a whole fleet to look after," Regalia noted quietly. "I can't exactly monopolize you, can I?"

The Princess chuckled. "No, I suppose not."

The two remained in their mutual embrace for a short while longer before separating. Regalia looked up to her mother, her grief not entirely gone, but significantly lessened. "Do you really think your sisters will be willing to give me a chance?"

The Princess shrugged. "There is only… one way to know… for sure, isn't there…?" She turned towards the door.

Regalia followed her mother's gaze—and froze. Because standing in the doorway was the biggest battleship she had ever seen.

Although the Princess surpassed her in raw spiritual might, the newcomer was half again her length and nearly triple her displacement. Her entire hull bristled with anti-air emplacements and secondary batteries, and while her four triple-gun turrets sat motionless in their mountings, at ease in the hospitable environment, their sheer size made them no less impressive.

The battleship was just as imposing on the physical spectrum. Standing taller than anyone else in the room, a single black-tipped horn jutted from her left temple, disrupting the symmetry of an otherwise flawless face, divided by two intersecting locks of silky black hair. A monstrous spiked collar extended from her chin to her breastbone, enveloping her neck and shoulders. She wore a strapless ebony dress that parted in blood-red frills over her right hip, beneath which a set of black stockings rose to her mid-thighs, adorned at the ankles with enormous spiked cuffs.

But her most striking feature was her eyes. They were more akin to orbs of fire; a pair of solid blood-red eyes that glowed with a mysterious power, power so intense that it bled from her sockets in smoky crimson wisps. Truly, the eyes of a Demon.

And yet, despite that extraordinary power, the only thing Regalia could see in those eyes as they gazed upon her was sadness.

And then she spoke. "So…" the Demon began, her voice deep and sultry, but with a somber note to it. "This is Regalia."

The Princess nodded. She looked to her daughter. "Regalia. This is… the Battleship Water Demon. My sister." She looked back to the Demon. "I take it… you heard much of that?"

"…I heard enough." The Demon walked forward, coming to a stop in front of the pair sitting on the bed—specifically, Regalia. To the Re-class's surprise, the towering woman kneeled down, lowering herself to eye-level with her. "Hey, kid. Sounds like you've got some baggage." Noting the juvenile retreating under her mother's arm, the Demon smiled gently. "It's okay, I won't bite. Honest."

Regalia stared at the newcomer in a mix of confusion and anxiousness. "…Really?"

The Demon nodded. "Yeah. I don't have the teeth for it anyways…" her smile grew into a crooked grin. "…not like you."

An awkward silence hung in the air following the newcomer's quip—before being broken by the soft chuckle of a Re-class battleship. Regalia grinned weakly, baring her shark-like teeth. "Yeah, I guess my teeth are kinda impressive."

"No kidding. You've got a pretty sharp smile for a kid your age."

Regalia giggled, her grin spreading. "Don't be such… a kiss-ass," The Princess protested with a deadpan expression.

The Demon shrugged. "Hey, better me than her; she'd probably tear a chunk out of my ass if she tried."

And thus, the dam broke. With a snort, Regalia collapsed in a fit of laughter, falling back on the bed and clutching her sides. "There we go!" The demon exclaimed proudly as the laughing continued. "There's a happy girl!"

"…You're an idiot." The Princess noted dryly, smirking as she looked between the jokester Demon and her daughter, who finally seemed to be in a good mood.

"And my fleet loves me for it." The Demon countered as she stood up and stepped back, hands on her hips. "When you spend as much time on the sea as we do, somebody needs to be willing to play the fool for the sake of everybody's sanity."

On the bed, Regalia's laughing eventually subsided. She rolled over and sat up, wiping tears from her eyes. "R-really?" She asked, wheezing.

"Yep. You'd be surprised just how easy it is to get bored at sea." The Demon cocked her head, smile fading. "…Your mom's right, you know."

"About what…?" Regalia asked, pausing as the Princess reached into her cargo hold, producing a rag and a canteen of water, and started wiping the bloody smears off her daughter's face. The Re-class, to her credit, did not shy away from it.

"A lot." The Demon folded her arms. "Even if you're defective, you're still family. We can't afford to throw away what little family we have left in this world; we've lost too much as it is."

Regalia's gaze fell to her lap. "Yeah… I guess that's true."

"I can't honestly say that I would have made the same choices as your mother, given the circumstances. But, in the end, they were her choices to make, not mine. If she chose to give you a shot at living a peaceful and happy life, who am I to argue?" The Demon cocked her head. "Also… if you can look past the hump, you're still quite pretty."

"Huh? Oh…" Regalia blushed lightly. "Thanks, I guess… Miss, uh…"

"Call me Sunny."

"Uh, okay… Aunt Sunny… thank you," Regalia looked up to the Demon, expression hopeful. "Does this mean you're okay with me?"

The Demon nodded. "Yes. You have my word that neither me nor my fleet will hold your defect against you." She swung her arms open in invitation. "Bring it in?"

Unsure, Regalia looked to her mother, who had just finished cleaning herself off. She nodded towards Sunny as she stood up and stepped aside. "Go on. It will be… alright."

Satisfied with her mother's blessing, Regalia rose from the bed. She nervously took a couple steps forward before Sunny closed the rest of the distance and wrapped her in a hug. "You're a sweet girl, Regalia," she said gently. "You may be flawed on the outside, but your heart is just as beautiful as it should be. You just need to find a way to make everyone notice that part of you, and I'm sure you'll be okay." Releasing Regalia, she smirked. "Also, you're nowhere near as high-strung as Revina, which is a plus in my book."

"Revina?"

Sunny waved her hand dismissively. "Another Re-class I knew back when I was a regular battleship. I'll tell you about her sometime. Right now, though…" She looked to the Princess, who stood in the doorway expectantly. "I'm sure my girls are eager to meet their new niece. Let's not keep them waiting any longer, eh?"

Regalia gazed at the floor briefly, before looking up to Sunny with a smile and nodding. "Yeah. That… sounds nice."

Regalia tentatively took Sunny's outstretched hand, and together they walked out of the room. Tanith stayed behind long enough to close the door behind them, before joining her sister and her daughter as they made their way towards the village—and the family waiting for them.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Inside the Caldera, most of it was dark besides the fireflies floating among the long abandoned and mostly destroyed buildings. Most of it, except for the deck of the sunken Aircraft Carrier. There was a loud chugging sound along part of it from the large generator that had been brought there by Enterprise herself on the way back from a patrol earlier that day. From the generator, cables snaked their way along Denryuu's deck until they reached a spot where it split in two groups. One was mounted on her incomplete superstructure and was a large dish that was now pointing at a satellite.

The other cables made their way to a point halfway along her flight deck between her superstructure and her bow where two large projector screens had been set up. As well, there were speakers and projectors. Both screens were showing the exact same thing...

Naka's livestream of the wedding.

Sitting on a folding chair, Umi was munching on a melon pan that had been made by Yamato as the camera panned out to show the whole of the dancefloor. A small smile on her face, she turned to her sister. "We really need to thank Harry-Chan for this. Allowing us this..." Waving one hand at the screen they were watching, the Hitobashira continued. "It means so much for him to have done this for us. He had not needed to do that."

On Sakura's face was a similar smile before shaking her head. "And yet, that is what he did for us. Harry-Chan will do anything for those that he considers close to him." With a deep breath, her smile grew a touch. "And we thank the Kami that he considers us such."

A cough made her turn to find Denryuu sitting in her own chair eating some food. While not quite the same as what was being served at the wedding, it was still good and a lot more then what any of them had expected to have gotten. "Speaking of Kami... is the wolf the one that I think it is...?"

Biting their lips, the Hitobashira gave a nod. "Hai, we believe that it is her."

Denryuu glanced at the screen which showed said wolf dancing back and forth with a confused Yamato. "Oh. Um..."

Rather then say anything else, she turned back to her food which made the Twins smile yet again. Enterprise and Yamato had both dropped by on their way to the wedding that morning with food for those stuck on the island. Not just Ume and Sakura as well as the ship spirits, but also the various ghosts. Something that had surprised all of them at the time but had lifted various spirits.

Granted, Ume and Sakura were both rather confused about the general feeling of the other ghosts. From what they could tell within the next month or so they would finally be released. All of the ghosts would finally pass on to the next life. While they could understand why some of the Japanese spirits were both depressed and concerned with what was coming, the Americans confused them. They had been overjoyed at finding out that they would be able to soon move on. But now?

Now at times they seemed saddened or angry about something. Often their anger would vanish into a sadness at seeing the Twins. After giving them sad looks, the Americans would wander off with mutters. While they could have pried, the Twins did not feel like it was their place to do so either. And so, the mystery remained despite their curiosity.

Right now though? The Twins could see that there was a small feeling of joy among all of those there in the Caldera. She could see some of the Americans practically crying as they ate steak, chicken, roast beef, and hamburgers that were left by Enterprise for them. That was not mentioning how some of them were drinking beer. Much to the amusement of Ume and Sakura though, ice cream in the magically cooled boxes was even more popular. The Japanese ghosts, meanwhile, ate the foods left behind by Yamato when she had dropped by. For once though, the two sides were not shooting each other dirty looks every ten minutes.

Something that the Twins were thankful for as it might have soured the day.

A deep, rumbling voice made them turn to find the leader of the American ghosts watching Rose and Haruna have another dance. "Still not sure what to feel in regards to those two."

With a blink, Ume looked at the screen and then back at him. "You have mentioned that already, though we're unsure why. We thought that Americans even of your time put great significance on marrying who you loved?"

The American grimaced a bit as he was reminded once more about how some things were done. "Well, yes... I mean, the whole arraigned marriages thing you bunch seemed to like so much was fucked up. But..." Sighing, he scratched his head. "It's just that they're, you know, both women."

Heads tilting to the side at the same time, Ume and Sakura blinked. "Why does that matter though? They are in love with each other, thus have gotten married."

Giving them a disbelieving look, the American had an uncomfortable look on his face. "Because they're women."

Still confused, the Twins shook their heads. "Hai? They are women, but they are also a Battleship and a tea set. Why does that matter?"

Just running a hand along his head, he gave a big sigh. "And isn't that fucking weird? But they Still look like women. And they're getting married to each other and..." Spotting the confusion on the Twins' faces, he pinched his nose. "I... Look, that sort of thing was not done back in the old United States... or the one that I lived in anyways." Frowning, the American looked out into the night as he remembered something that one of the Destroyers who accompanied Enterprise had told him when he had commented on it. "Guess that is one of the things that have changed."

Brightly smiling, Ume shook her head and folded her hands in her lap. "But isn't that a good thing? That now people can love each other?"

For a moment, the black man had an image in his head. Said image being of a sad white woman who gave him a weak smile while the two stood under some trees and shaking her head with tears running down both their faces. The same thing that caused him to join up with the military and eventually see him captured by the Japanese and sent to the Caldera. Reaching up, he felt some wetness on his cheeks and wiped it away. "Yeah... I guess that is true enough." At the looks of concern on the faces of the two girls, he patted their heads. "Anyways, it's nothing to be worried over."

Even though they were still unsure, the twins turned back in time to see Harry dancing on the floor with Verniy, the whte haired girl smiling softly. At seeing that, a soft sigh came from the Twins. 'If only...'

Picking up on it, the American ghost chuckled some and grinned at them. "Wish that it was you there dancing with him, huh? His arms around you?"

Much to his amusement, both Hitobashira blushed deeply and began to play with their fingers. "W-well, that is, um... w-we wouldn't be against such..." They both turned back to the screen and imagined for a moment that they were there. Both of them in their finest Kimonos while Harry guided them across the deck. His arms around them as he did so as he held them close, his warmth seeping into their cold bodies. All the while soft music played. Then they broke out of their daydream at another chuckle before blushing even deeper. "It would be nice..."

With a final head pat, the American walked off to enjoy some more food. On her own hull, Miitake's spirit was watching the screen pointed in the direction of her and her sister through her view finders. Except she had a pout on her face and had crossed her arms which made Ishikari raise an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Miitake-Chan?"

If anything, the pout grew in size. "Just wishing that I was there, Onee-Sama. At the wedding."

Rather amused, Ishikari giggled some. "You want to dance with Harry-Chan as well, right?"

Moments later, she slapped her forehead as Miitake nodded some before pumping one fist into the air. "Hai! I want to dance with Harry-Chan! Just look at him on that screen!" She then clenched both fists. "He just looks so cute that I want to hold him close! And hug him and squeeze him as we're dancing!"

Weakly chuckling, Ishikari scratched her cheek. 'At least she's honest...?' Glancing at the screen, she gave a sigh of her own. 'Though I don't really disagree with her... I sort of wish that I was there dancing with Harry-Chan.'
Unknown to her of course, similar thoughts were going through Denryuu's and Mihara's own minds as they watched the screens...

____________________________________________________

Hands on Verniy's hips, Harry simply swayed to the music as the white haired girl put her arms around his neck. "Hibiki-Chan? Enjoying yourself?"

Softly smiling, Verniy hummed happily while nodding. "Da, I have. It has been a very good day." Tilting her head to the side a bit, her smile grew a touch. "You look very nice, Harry-Chan. Very Khorosho."

Chuckling, Harry felt like rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. However, that would mean that he would need to remove one of his hands from the Destroyer's hip and he found that he did not want to. Instead, the wizard only shrugged some. "Thank you, Hibiki-Chan. You're looking very pretty tonight as well."

That brought a blush to Verniy's face and she glanced away though there was happy sparkle in her eyes. "It is not much, Harry-Chan. Just what Kaa-San had us wear to see Obaa-Sama when we visited her in Britain."

Once more, Harry gave a shrug to that. "And?" Leaning in a bit, he smiled. "Like I said, you look very pretty." After some thought though, he amended that. "Not that you're not normally, just a different pretty."

Moments later though he had to blink as the Destroyer tightened her arms some. The effect of which brought the two closer together. "Spasibo, Harry-Chan." Glancing around, Verniy maneuvered them into the crowd of dancers until those at the edges could not see them. Glancing around, she smiled a bit at the various shipgirls before leaning in to press her lips against Harry's. Several seconds later, the shipgirl pulled away slightly. "Spasibo."

Quite to her surprise, Harry gave her a peck back. "Spasibo, Hibiki-Chan." A smirk appeared on his face as Verniy buried her face in his neck. 'Huh, this is really nice. Like with the others...'

Looking around, the black haired wizard had to raise an eyebrow though due to the sight of Ron dancing with Warspite. It was not the first time that he had seen his friend dancing with her that night. In fact, Warspite had kept bringing him out onto the dance floor with a brilliant smile on her face. Sometimes though, she switched out with Duke which made Harry raise an eyebrow. None of his business mind you, but he still wondered. Granted, he could not say much as he had been dancing with various shipgirls all night, each of them wanting at least one dance.

Somewhat bemused by it all, Harry just shook his head.

Not far off, Iowa was also dancing to the slow music with her partner for the night. Smiling, she looked down into Davie's eyes. "Thanks for being my date tonight, Davie. I really appreciate it."

Chuckling, Davie twirled her around some before pulling her back in close. "You don't need to thank me, Iowa. Heck, it's my honor to be your date and, um..."

At his blush, the Battleship smirked and pressed herself more into her date. "My boyfriend?" When his flush deepened, her smirk grew some. "You're too easy to tease."

Eyebrow raising, Davie hummed for a moment before dropping the tall shipgirl into a dip and then pulling her back. This time, it was Iowa with red in her cheeks and Davie with the smirk. "And you're not at times? Though the teasing does get a bit much..."

Her expression softening, Iowa cupped his cheek. "Let me know if I ever go too far, Davie. Sure, I tease but that's mostly all I got. You know my rule..."

Slowly, he gave a nod at that. "Nothing past maybe third base before marriage, I know." Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. "Like I told you, I agree with that."

Only sighing, Iowa shook her head. "And prove, once more, why you're my boyfriend despite so many guys trying to get a shot at me."

Mock frowning, Davie sighed some. "Yet here I thought it was for my good looks... Ouch."

Iowa gave a snort at that before giving him a look over. "Well, I won't deny that is part of it. I mean, you do clean up nice." Lips curling into a smile though, she leaned her forehead against his. "You do not know how many guys think that just because they go on a date with me, they can get into my pants."

Lightly laughing, Davie raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, your sweatpants aren't too bad." Dodging the good natured what upside the head, he grinned before shrugging, "To be honest though, I don't blame you."

As the two moved across the dance floor, Iowa shook her head. "And that right there is why I fell for you. Because you actually respect my boundaries and don't bother me about pushing them."

Yet again, Davie gave a shrug at that before giving Iowa a glance over. "I have to admit, I really love the dress."

Head tilted to the side, Iowa gave him an amused smile even as some redness rose in her cheeks. "Thanks, Davie. Ma made it for me based on my favorite dress before I awoke as a shipgirl. Took a bit, but Ma managed it and it seemed perfect for a wedding. Even found a parasol like my old one in my size."

Smirking, Davie leaned upwards some. "A real southern belle." Moments later, he pressed his lips against Iowa's with the Battleship returning it. "One southern belle who decided on me."

Eyebrow cocked, Iowa leaned in for another kiss. "And don't you forget it..."

Hours ticked by and slowly people drifted away from the reception. Around eleven, unnoticed by everyone, Haruna and Rose disappeared from the party. Kongou had spotted them heading into Haruna's hull and all she did was smile to herself already guessing what was going to happen. It did not help matters that she could also see one of her sister's crew take the box that contained Rose's true form and bring it into her hull as well. 'Have a good night, Haruna-Chan.'

Inside her hull, Haruna glanced up at the door from where music could still be heard as her and Rose walked through her corridors. 'Good night, Onee-Sama.' Soon enough, the two reached Haruna's Captain's Quarters and the shipgirl noticed Rose place her hand against her chest. "Rose-Chan? Is something wrong?"

Turning, the smaller woman looked into Haruna's eyes. In them, she only found love and care as the Battleship reached up and cupped her cheek. "Oh, nothing really, just me being a bit silly..." Flushed, she played a little with her fingers. "I just... even after all that we are done, I am rather nervous is all. Even though I have been looking forward to just this, now that it has arrived..."

Gently, Haruna pressed her lips against Rose's before smiling at her and whispering. "Does Rose-Chan want to know a secret?" Waiting until her wife nodded, and that was a title that filled her with warmth each time, she then continued. "Haruna is really nervous as well."

Jaw dropping a bit, Rose grasped Haruna's hands in hers and looked up in surprise. "Truly, Haruna? You're nervous as well?"

Biting her lip, the Battleship gave a nod. "Hai, Haruna is very nervous even though she has been looking forward to this as much as Rose-Chan. Haruna... Haruna hopes to be good."

On Rose's face there was a considering look before her expression relaxed some. "Indeed, Haruna, for I hope much the same. But even if we're not good to begin with, I suppose that we will just need to learn." A twinkle then entered her eye. "And practice quite a bit until we are."

It went without saying that those words caused Haruna to swallow. "Oh?"

Nodding, Rose just hummed before blushing. "Oh yes. And I am looking forward to it." A small smile on her face, Haruna then glanced at the door before looking at Rose. Before the tsukumogami could do anything, the Kongou lifted her into her arms in a bridal carry. Eyes wide, Rose looked up at her before giggling. "Oh my..."

Just smiling, Haruna carried her through the doorway, with Rose noting that it expanded to let them both through easily. Then, the door closed behind them as she was set down. "There we go, Rose-Chan."

Eyes twinkling, Rose reached behind her and unclasped the cameo before placing it in the drawer of the table as Haruna watched her every movement. Then, she put her veil onto the table and turned towards her wife. Walking back to Haruna, Rose smiled before pressing herself against the Battleship. Softly claiming each others' lips, their kiss soon deepened with hunger as they made their way back to the bed.

Up on the deck thirty minutes later, Natsumi blinked as the dance ended and tilted her head to the side . "Harry-Chan? What just happened?"

Frowning, Harry looked around and raised an eyebrow. "Haruna-Oba's secondaries just fired what looks like starshells? Huh... guess she wants to put on a fireworks show."

Meanwhile, Hiei had a massive grin on her face before pumping her fist and giving a hiss. "Whoo hoo! You go, Haruna-Chan!"

Kongou just slapped her face before groaning as Kirishima slapped Hiei on the back of the head. "Dammit, Hiei."

 

[darthcourt10]

SoulessScotsman

Connie sighed as she sat down in her wingbacked armchair in her study/office. The home, inside the expanded base housing district that had cropped up when the Boston Naval Shipyard had been reactivated in an act of desperation in the wake of Blood Week, was a modest three story house, built and sold—at cost—to one Commodore Constance McLees of the US Navy for services rendered to the City of Boston. She, Miranda and Admiral Shepard all sat in Connie's study/office, nursing various alcoholic drinks.

Miranda popped the top off her third beer and sighed. She took a long pull and held the cold bottle to her forehead.

Connie cast her daughter a concerned look, "Talking about Cora always does this to you."

"She was my sister in all but blood," Miranda said hollowly, "She was my daughter's Godmother, and I was her children's. She named her son after my husband. I love Crowe as if he were my own. We served together, Mother. She saved my life and I saved hers. I can list reasons talking about her depresses me until the sun comes up. Need I?"

"I remember meeting you two when we were younger," Admiral Shepard mused, swirling her rum, "Fifty Black Ops spooks on the Enterprise, and only two of them were women. Granted, back in the day, that was unheard of."

Miranda snorted into her beer, "You're just jealous the Army was more forward thinking and let us do the fun stuff. Told you the Gavy was a mistake."

The admiral flipped the shipgirl off, "Go fuck a rake, you haggard old bitch. You're in the Navy."

"Not by choice, you ginger twat. When I tried to get my commission back, the Army turned me away."

"You're a shipgirl," said ginger snapped, "What did you expect?"

"Don't give me that. You and I both know I'm only ever going to be useful in a ground combat role, or, godsforbid, an administrative job. I'm far from capable of fighting sea-borne Abyssals."

"So?"

"'So'?! What do you mean, 'so'?!"

Connie laughed, "Girls, girls! Stop fighting! You're both bitchy."

"So," Miranda blew out a breath, "The Summer thing blindsided me. Cora, a Changeling?"

"You didn't know?" Shepard asked sharply.

"Hannah!" Connie snapped.

"It's a fair question," Miranda interjected, "No, I didn't. But she always was a little...ethereal. I'm six-foot and pretty well built, so I was always brute force and blunt trauma. Cora? Cora was barely a hair over five-foot, but she was precise, graceful and fast. I've never met anyone that could pull off the things she could."

"I remember. You two sparred with some SEALs, right? You beat the snot out of yours, and she tired hers out, then beat the snot out of him."

"Death by a thousand cuts, versus death by one big one. Equals and opposites."

The admiral snorted, "Hard to believe such a tiny blonde gave birth to Crowe. He's, what, seven-foot?"

"Six-eleven. Used to hit his head on doorjams constantly. I remember when Cora and I saw a photo of him during his first deployment. The M4 he was issued looked like a toy. Then there was his unit! He was two heads taller than almost everyone else in it. And Raven! Hah! I think she topped out at six-four, all said and done."

Connie hummed, "So. Raven. What's she like?"

"Snarky. Sarcastic. Cynical. But driven, if unambitious. If she sets her sights on a goal, not much can stop her. It's just getting her to do that first bit that's difficult. And while I wouldn't call her nice, she's about as far from mean-spirited as you could get. Just don't earn her ire."

"A female Crowe, then," Connie noted.

Miranda laughed, "Not quite. Raven tends to smile more, and Crowe tends to be a lot more deadpan. Raven's also got a knack for translation. She does a lot of work for smaller manga and anime companies translating their stuff to English."

"So," Shepard drawled, "She just smiles more, but is essentially Crowe. The one officer on my base who had to be coerced into taking his promotion from O1 to O2. The one officer that glares death at any man, and in some cases, woman, that makes an unwelcome pass at you, your daughters, Connie, my daughter—who, I'll remind all involved, can more than take care of herself, on top of the entirety of her crew—and generally any of the Cruisers. The one officer the majority of the younger-and-or-newer Destroyers and Escort Carriers call "Uncle Crowe" because he goes out of his way to treat them like people and not the disposable time-buyers they think of themselves as? The one officer that not only got his commission from a battlefield promotion during Blood Week, but from the same battle that decimated an entire battalion's worth of Special Forces Operators. Operators that not only disobeyed orders telling them to fall back, but then proceeded to reinforce struggling French, British and German soldiers on the shores of Marseille, while also inspiring the US Military forces stationed in Europe to break orders and reinforce all conflict zones along the English Channel and North Sea, and decided to lead a suicidal charge—that he survived—to push the Abyssals back? That Crowe?"

"I'll point out that if Hood, Bismark and Richelieu hadn't shown up sailing in at full-speed, murderously angry and raining down hurt on the Abyssals, that charge would have killed him." Connie said as she rolled her eyes, "He even admits he got incredibly lucky in his report. With an addendum of 'I am never again going to do anything that suicidally stupid. Ever.' Besides, he said it was his CO's idea and that he just took up the torch when he was killed—waitaminute."

Connie whirled on the admiral, incredulity writ on her face, "His file is more black ink than paper! I had to twist the CIA Director's arm to get his uncensored file, and that was with SECNAV's backing! How the hell did you get it?"

Shepard grinned like a fox, "Sergeant Major Harper and I go way back. He's also Force Recon. And his company was one of the first to follow those crazy Spec-Ops bastards in. He recognized that giant you call a liaison."

The door to Connie's office opened and Massachusetts walked in, "Sorry to interrupt you, Ma, but we've got a problem. Oh good, the admiral is here."

Shepard rolled her eyes, "Report, Captain."

"Crowe's family decided to pay a visit."

Miranda snorted into her beer, "What, Raven finally decided to forgive him?"

"What?" Massachusetts blinked, "Who the hell is Raven?"

"...His sister?" Miranda tried, before horrified realization dawned, "Oh, god, it wasn't his sister?"

"No, it was a sídhe. Aurora, the Summer Lady herself. And she claimed to be his aunt."

"Dammit!" Miranda cursed as she bolted out the door.

"Why wasn't I notified the moment this happened?" the Admiral demanded.

"Damage control. Didn't want the entire base going totally nuts. And I'm telling you now."

Connie sighed, "Agreed. Much as you don't like it, Hannah, she made the right call. Now, full report, Captain."

Massachusetts sat in Miranda's vacated chair, "This is gonna take a while..."
---------------------------------------
A/N: Backstory!

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

One of the very first things that came to Haruna as she slowly woke up was the familiar scent of tea and silver polish that tickled her nose. The next thing was the heat that was nestled gently against her body soon followed by the feeling of smooth, soft skin against hers. Both being things that she loved feeling and could not get enough of. Upon opening her eyes, Haruna could see a head of hair the dark red color of tea on her shoulder and a small smile came to her face as she remembered where she was. Mainly in her Captain's Cabin with her new wife sleeping next to her.

Granted, that also brought forth the memories of the night before of the events that had happened once the door to the cabin had been closed. Something that caused her to blush deeply, but also smile. And also something that she looked forward to repeating again, and again. As many times as it would happen in the years, decades, and the centuries to come that the two could look forward to. It was something that she enjoyed even though parts of her stll felt slightly tired and sore even now, but in a good way.

With a mental message to her crew, Haruna settled in as she awaited breakfast to be brought to them. Though she could do without the knowledge of her crew being extremely amused. Or the mental smirks that they shot back to their ship due to knowing what had happened.

And she could have certainly done without knowing her shooting off her secondaries the night before at least once. Something that her crew enjoyed informing her much to her embarrassment, not helped by the obvious amusement that they took in that fact. However, all that she shoved to the back of her mind to deal with later, much later as a matter of fact. Right now, Haruna simply settled for focusing her attention on something far more important in her mind. Something that eclipsed everything else...

Mainly the form of her new wife cuddled into her.

Under the blanket, Haruna ghosted her fingers along Rose's body with a smile on her face. Just enjoying the feeling of it, the softness and the warmth, nothing else. So focused on it was Haruna, was that she missed the change in Rose's breathing. That was, right up until she felt the tsukumogami shift and her eyes met the silver ones of her wife's. "Good morning, Haruna."

Smiling softly, Haruna gave her a small peck before smiling down at the newly awakened tea set. "Good morning, Rose-Chan. How are you this morning?"

On Rose's face was a similar smile to Haruna's own as she gazed into the Battleship's eyes with pure love that was reflected back to her. "Wonderful, Haruna. Absolutely wonderful." At the raised eyebrow, she let out a giggle. "Perhaps a little bit tired and somewhat sore, but wonderful nonetheless. Last night was..." Closing her eyes, the tsukumogami shifted until her face was buried in the crook of Haruna's neck. Deeply inhaling, she could smell the sea, cordite, steel, and a hint of something else. "Was yesterday all a dream, Haruna? A wonderful dream?"

Gently, Haruna reached up with one hand and brushed some hair from Rose's face which made her open her eyes. "No, Rose-Chan. Or rather it was a dream coming true, the dream that we have dreamed of... And if this is a dream, then Haruna never wants to awake from it."

Claming Haruna's lips for her own, Rose pulled away a few seconds later. "Then neither do I if this is a dream. A dream of the most lovely thing that I could imagine." Moving so that her body was pressed closer to Haruna's, if that was possible, the Tsukumogami hummed. "One that I do hope will last forever."

In reply to that, Haruna kissed her wife on the brow. "As does Haruna." Both of them laid there just luxuiating in the feel of the other. Haruna did let out a soft giggle though several minutes later at the ghosting of Rose's fingers on her stomach, tracing lines under the blanket. Returning them with strokes of the smaller woman's hips, the Battleship watched as the tea set let out a sigh. "Is Rose-Chan enjoying herself?"

There was a glint of amusement in her eyes as Rose moved her hand upwards some and Haruna sucked in a breath. "Oh yes, I do believe that I am, Haruna. This is quite enjoyable."

Not even a second later, she squeaked and wiggled some as the larger woman lightly pinched her. "Rose-Chan should be more careful."

Pouting, the tea set looked up before her expression melted into a smile and she moved until she was nearly on top of Haruna. "Perhaps I like to live somewhat dangerously then." She then bent down and captured her wife's lips for a few seconds before pulling back, the two of them breathless. "Quite dangerously."

Before they could do much else though, there was a knock on the door and both laid back down after shifting the blankets. Clearing her throat, Haruna faced the door. "Yes?"

Moments later, the door opened to reveal one of her crew pushing in a cart which came to a stop at the side of the bed. Bowing slightly, he smirked at the two blushing women in the bed. "Good morning, Haruna-Sama, Rose-Sama. As asked, breakfast is here."

His smirk widened a bit as Rose gave Haruna a look. For her part, the shipgirl heavily blushed before coughing. "Haruna forgot that she asked for breakfast to be made?" Looking away from the tsukumogami, she gave the sailor a small smile. "Thank you."

Only nodding slightly, the crewmember chuckled some. "You are most welcome, Haruna-Sama, Rose-Sama. I hope that you enjoy your breakfast." He then gestured at Rose's true form which was steaming. "We'll leave the tea though to Rose-Sama."

With that, he gave another bow and walked out the door, closing it behind him. For almost a minute they were quiet until Rose gave a giggle which made Haruna give her a look of confusion. In response, Rose shook her head. "I am sorry, Haruna. But that was quite funny just now. Not just what happened but our reactions."

Considering that, Haruna gave a giggle herself. "Haruna does suppose that Rose-Chan is right." She then stretched some and sat up, the blanket falling away to her waist much to Rose's enjoyment. Seeing that, Haruna gave a smirk before reaching over and taking the tray that the food was on and placing it on her lap. "Now we should probably have some breakfast..." Chewing her lip, she continued. "Our first after being married."

Rose tilted her head before kissing her on the cheek. "Quite." Getting up, she slid her legs off the bed so that she could make a cup of tea for the two of them. The whole time, the tea set could feel Haruna's eyes on her and knew that if she looked over her should, they would have a hungry look in them. 'It seems that last night was not enough for her...' The smile on Rose's face then became a smirk. 'Good, as it was not enough for me either.'

After the tea was made, the two settled in and began to make their way through breakfast. Every so often their gazes went to the rings around their fingers and they would look at each other happily. It was Haruna though who spoke first as Rose spread some honey on a slice of toast. "Haruna wonders what we should do today?"

Humming thoughtfully, Rose considered the question before nodding. "Well, our flight to Australia is not until four in the afternoon. I believe that we are heading back with Miss Tiger, Miss Australia, as well as Admiral Kirkpatrick and her neice?" At the nod, she tilted her head to the side. "We should arrive in Australia early in the morning as well if I am correct?"

Just nodding, Haruna frowned slightly. "Hai, we should arrive in Australia in the morning."

Several seconds passed before Rose leaned into her wife and ran a hand down her arm as she whispered. "Well then, we have all morning as we have already gotten ready with the afternoon for goodbyes. Only question is what we shall do with our free time this morning."

As the hand trailed further down, Haruna swallowed some and gave Rose a smirk. "Oh, Haruna can think of a few things that we could use to pass the time. A number of things..."

Even as giggles escaped her, internally Rose remembered something from the day before. 'Perhaps before we leave I shall finally get an answer to that one question of mine from when we received those wedding gifts. Why ever was Haruna blushing at that one gift with a number of slippers that Miss Amaterasu brought with hers...'

But then she put that thought in the back of her mind as Haruna's hand laid itself on her thigh as more important things came to the fore...

It also went without saying that neither of the two were seen before noon.

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K

MWKillKenny84 said:
Are there in the British Wizardling World 'facts' on her on the like "Augusta Longbottom has a werewolf rug in her dining room. He's not dead, only too scared to move and untransform?"​

Augusta Longbottom, Albus Dumbledore, and Mary Maleficus go to a wedding. Some gods decided to turn up incognito.

Alternately and more relevantly to this; Augusta Longbottom, Albus Dumbledore, and Mary Maleficus go to a wedding. Silly crack ensues.
*-*-*-*-*

Easily the three oldest people at the party who were still actually baseline human, over the course of the ensuing night, Mary, Augusta and Albus had found themselves by chance, all sharing a conversation. One that then continued to a nearby table, bound by an empathy and conversational similarity brought about by not just age and lengthy experiance, but also the kind of camaraderie found between those who once served.

Maybe the three had had just a little too much sake, momentarily forgetting that their constitutions were not quite as rugged as in their youths. Maybe it was just the good mood, found within the rare kind of company the three were increasingly the last of in this day and age. But as time went on, the trio of old warriors began to indulge themselves in the kinds of amusement and silliness normally seen in young soldiers.

No one would admit who started it later, but eventually, there reached the point that on the count of three, each of the venerable veterans then simultaneously put a limb on the table and began judging.

"Hydra, Greece, 1941." Says Augusta proudly, pulling up a sleeve to reveal a faded but twisting circle of triangular marks snaking around her right forearm and elbow. "Jerries tried to set one loose against us during a battle." The elderly matriarch then grins. "I gave one of it's heads bad enough "indigestion" that the rest went after the Germans who released it instead."

Mary meanwhile pulls down her collar slightly, to reveal a discolored patch just below her left clavicle, that also shares a corresponding dime sized mark on her back. "M1911. Korea, 1950. Some idiot's thought I'd make a good hostage when they attempted to attack our command center for our Intel. Apparently they also failed basic muggle weapon recognition."

And then it's Dumbldore's turn, the old headmaster placing his foot on the table, and pulling up his pants leg to reveal a spiderweb of thin, raised lines criss-crossing and intersecting one another, on a canvas that must have originally been his kneecap, but now spilled over to his lower thigh and upper shin with extensions. "A bit of spirit mapping gone wrong. 1945. Grindewald's agents had plans most horrific planned for London, and all we knew was that it involved powerful magics to conceal a portion of the Underground from which their weapon would be unleashed and dispersed across the city. Having already taken an injury to the knee, and as dire as things were, a powerful bit of blood magic seemed like the only option to overpower through their enchantments."

Both witches make acknowledging nods, but Mary can't help but raise an eyebrow as she notices some of the "lines" that are included on the scar. "It grows to account for the modern extentions and upgrades to the Underground?"

"Unfortunately yes," admits Dumbldore with a grimace.

The American witch grimaces, sharing a look with Augusta who nods, before then glancing back to Dumbledore. "Well, neither of ours continue to grow and self-modify over six decades later, so I believe that means you win for "not so smart in hindsight" and get the next pick."

The headmaster smiles, considering things for a moment while partaking in a pleasant sip of his drink, before coming to a decision. "Hmm.... How about the results of someone else's ridiculousness?"

The two witches nod, allowing for a small pause as all three take a moment to consider their choices. Then on the count of three once more, further old scars are revealed.
----------------------------

"So, it wasn't uncommon for many to adopt non-regulation weapons to wield as back ups due to the melees jungle fighting would often devolve into. Knives, smalls swords and rods were usually the most popular options." Giving a rather fanciful twirl of a bread knife to reveal what her preferred choice was, Mary then continues. "But then, there were also more than a few who took something of an interest in muggle fire arms. A pistol sometimes works better in a cave if you don't have room for the propr wand movements or rapid casting, and I have yet to see a man who can out cast a Thompson if caught flatfooted."

The witch grimaces. "Some however.... honestly should not have been playing with things they did not respect or understand."

Pulling up a sleeve, Mary then displays a series of faded patches and lines on her left bicep. "June 1943. Some idiot decided that of all the weapons we would stumble across and have access to in the aftermath of battles, that the best kind of pistol to enchant was a Nambu, much to the detriment of myself and three other people."
----------------------------

Pulling his sleeve all the way up to his left shoulder, Dumbledore reveals a slightly discolored patch that barely stands out or looks any different to the rest of his skin. Only the most careful assessment, would reveal that it is likely a long faded and thankfully well healed burn. "An uncomfortably close encounter with a squib wielding a flamethrower."

"A squib with a flamethrower?" asks Mary with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed," says Dumbldore with a nod. "Himmler's Thule and Vril allies did not go quietly, which rather regrettably lead to the state the Wewelsburg was in when the muggles found it."
----------------------------

Opening her shirt a little, Augusta grins at the look of mild respect she gets from Mary, even as Dumbledore winces slightly at the memory involving the line running just to the right of where her heart would be. "1999. Death Eaters. Something of a roaring rampage of revenge gone awry."

"How close?" asks the American witch, getting a laugh in response.

"Too close. They thought I was dead." the Longbottom matriarch then chuclkles. "I got better."
----------------------------

"Tonkin, 1964," offers Mary when questioned by a curious Augusta, who points a a small, innocuous line crossing one of he knuckles of Mary's right ring finger that the American witch still has yet to elaborate on.

Dumbledore raises an eyebrow, while Augusta looks only further intrigued.

"No story to go along with it?" she asks.

Mary can only make a grimace and shake her head. "Not one I can tell yet. Still classified I believe."
----------------------------

"I'm sorry, but do you mean to tell me that you have never broken your nose?"

Augusta smirks smugly. "Never."

"Not even once?"

"Not once."

Mary looks at her fellow witch in disbelief.

"I don't believe you."

"I'm just that good." The British witch preens, before offering a smile. "Honestly though, whoever you healer was, must have been a dab hand. Until you asked, I never noticed the signs at all."

Unconsciously, Mary rubs at the bridge of her nose, before then shaking her head in annoyance at her self-conscious reaction. "No matter how well the job was done, if someone good enough can notice it, then it is undeniably still there."

Still grimacing with mild annoyance, the witch the glances at the eldest member of their little veteran competition of one-upmanship. "So how about you Albus? What's the most memorable manner in which you broke your nose?"

Taking off his glasses, Dumbldore runs his fingers over the crook of his nose sadly. To most, the bends and crinks of his nose might look merely like the wrinkling and misshapeness of age. The story however, is otherwise.

"My brother."

From the tone alone, Mary and Augusta both respectfully nod and acknowledge that the tale behind this scar, is not one for them to hear.
----------------------------

"The oddest or most awkward injury you have ever had to explain to someone?" Mary repeats to herself with uncertainty, considering her options that might apply. Finally the witch shrugs. "It thankfully never left a scar, but I suppose there is always that thing with the Honey Badgers in Hong Kong in '72."

Pausing for a moment, she then shoots Augusta a look. "Or alternately it would be the zombie-meat fuelled plant-dragon-thing your daughter-in-law left behind after her trip to America, that we ended up having to clean up after it did it's job at the Death Eater rally a little too well."

The British witch actually raises an eyebrow at Mary's accusation. "Pardon me, but are you saying that thing actually managed to injure not just someone of your calibur, but you of all people."

"Yes."

Rather than looking apologetic, the British witch seems to swell with mild pride for her daughter-in-law.

On the other side of the table, a look of mild irritation crosses Mary's face. "Perhaps it wounded my pride more than my body, but it was a rather frustrating hit to take to one's reputation at the end of a long career, and at a time when it was known I was unwinding and taking it easy in the lead up to retirement."

Dumbledore meanwhile, looks thoughtful. "Hmm.... If we're moving out of the realm of physically scarring things.... well, as a headmaster, the available material becomes rather spoiled for choice...."

On the otherside of the table however, Augusta nonchalantly waits until her two opponents have reached for their drinks, before then casually dropping her submission into the running.

"Having to explain to my husband what giving birth to a baby Frank's size does to a woman."

Mary chokes on her sake for a moment, but at least does a better job than Dumbledore who violently spittakes.

"Is that really necessary to share?" asks the American witch, while the wizard mumbles about being thankful for putting a notice-me-not charm on their table as the competition progressed.

Augusta meanwhile, savors the charisma-break she has induced on her normally stoic and reserved drinking partners and fellow veterans. "Well, if we're not limiting ourselves to the realm of combat anymore, he was just shy of twelve and a half pounds."

Now it's Mary's turn to cringe in sympathy. "And I thought Molly was bad...."

Having finally found his tongue once more however, Dumbledore then hurriedly speaks up. "Well then, I believe the round once more goes to Augusta, so if we could move onto the next one, I believe that makes it Auror Maleficus' turn to pick."

Seeing the awkwardness of the headmaster, for a moment, the two women share a glance and snicker like girls a fraction of their venerable ages.
----------------------------

"True or false," Mary asks the headmaster as she pours out more sake for her fellow veterans. "Did you ever actually punch Grindwald? Or is that something made up for the kids in the same vein as Captain America punching Hitler?"

Dumbledore's response is a thoughtful hum and then a rueful smile. "There is both truth and falsehood in that statement, depending on the point of view. Technically, I never did interrupt him in the middle of some sort of villainous monologue, as most of the tales would suggest. But do I have three rather memorable right-hooks that stick out to me in my mind."

"Oh really?" asks Mary with interest.

Dumbledore nods. "Once in our youths, a second during the heat of a battle when we both lost our wands, and one of our first meetings just after the war."
----------------------------

"What country would I never want to go back to...." Augusta hums thoughtfully to herself as she considers a wealth of old memories. "That's a difficult one to pick. Probably one of the North African nations. Egypt was relatively palatable as long as one stuck to more modern parts, but even the outskirts could be unbearable. Libya however..."

The matriarch gives a deriding sniff.

"Personally, I don't blame the Italians for not being all that motivated to fight for such a godforsaken desert."

Glancing at Mary, the American witch's choice is immediate and without hesitation.

"North Korea. It was an asshole of the world when I first went there in the '50s, it wasn't any less of an asshole of the world when I was briefly assigned there in the '60s, it had somehow become even more of an asshole of the world by the time of the Poplar Tree Incident in the '70s, and I can bet you that today, it will still be just as much of an asshole of the world."
----------------------------

Mary eyes her British counterpart with a suspicious look. "Is it true or false that you once killed six men with a grenade, before it even went off?"

A smirk tugs at the corner of Augusta's lips. "Yes."

"Bullshit," accuses Mary. "The most I've ever managed was three, and that's just because they happened to be standing behind one another when I banished it."

Now she receives open smugness in return. "It's perfectly doable. You just need to be a bit more creative."

"Right," says Mary drolly "Creative."

"Well if you don't believe me, Albus can back me up."
----------------------------

"I apologize, could you repeat the question?" Dumbledore asks Mary in confusion, while Augusta takes her turn at reinforcing the various spells and wards they have surreptitiously added to their table for privacy.

The American witch just laughs, and repeats the so-called "riddle" she has just posed to him.

"Circumstance have placed all the cards and the initiative in the hands of a Dark Wizard, while you are faced with a conundrum. To proceed, you are given the options between touching a cursed object, or drinking a cursed potion. What do you choose to do?"

The old headmaster takes a moment to consider the wording, although not quite with his usual sharpness after the amount of sake the three have indulged in at this point.

"Can I.... take a third option?" asks the wizard uncertainly.

Mary laughs.
----------------------------

"Is it true," Dumbledore now asks the American witch in return, "that you have almost every single combat medal available to a MACUSA Armed Forces Auror, except for the Medal of Honor?"

At this, Mary grimaces in slight annoyance. "Even without the Medal of Honor, Audie Murphy, I am not. I'd still be missing a few things. Despite managing to pick up a MACUSA DSC, I've somehow never earned a Legion of Merit, nor do I have an Order of Merlin of any class."

The latter fact actually mildly surprises the older wizard. "Really? Considering your history, I'd have thought otherwise."

Mary shrugs, not looking particularly concerned about the fact. "I've never particularly cared for gaudy trinkets to pin to my breast on the rare occasions I actually wear a dress uniform. A trade off of working from the shadows for so many decades I suppose. After World War Two, many of the things I could have earned were either down graded, delayed, or purposely not awarded to maintain secrecy." A melancholy grin tugs at the corners of her cheeks for a moment before she continues. "It would defeat the purpose of keeping our real identities hidden in many of the operations we ran, if our foes could simply tie agents to battles or deeds by keeping an ear to the ground for who in MACAUSA or the ICW Investigation teams were getting awards every time something major took place."
----------------------------

"Biggest explosion you ever caused," challenges Augusta as she now takes her turn at refilling everyone's cups.

"Probably that castle that time...." mumbles Dumbledore to himself thoughtfully.

"A Japanese destroyer built by magical means," says Mary, adding her lot to the pile. "Albeit, it was a team effort, and not so much an explosion, as much it was a very well timed vanishing of many major safety features in the boilers, just hours before it was supposed to be handed over to the nomaj IJN."

"An Italian fuel refinery, although admittedly that was more collateral than intentional," admits Augusta as she tosses in her submission.

Mary looks at the British witch with uncertain disbelief. "How do you explode a fuel refinery as unintentional "collateral"?"

"In my defense, I did not realize that muggle petroleum could aerosolize inside the tanks when exposed to the after-effects of certain spells."

The American witch blinks in disbelief.

"Are you telling me that you turned a fuel storage tank into a giant Fuel-Air Explosive bomb?"

"Technically it was more like a half-dozen of them...."
----------------------------

"An honest question Augusta," Dumbledore asks the Longbottom Matriarch. "Who was the oddest person you ever had to deal with as a leader in the war?"

"General Surefoot." The witche's response is both instant and cutting, even as she gives a sigh. "Bless his soul, old Blathazar tried, but he was trying to fight the last World War and not the one we were in. It did not help that he was anything but surefooted."

"The woes of politics," agrees Dumbledore with remembered annoyance and a shot of sake he puts back down on the table just a little too hard. "Personally, I always felt that Bauny would have been a better replacement for him than Fudge Senior. Corneilus is a veritable font of logic and initiative compared to his grandfather."

"Now let's not be too hasty," points out Augusta. "You do fonts a great disservice with that statement."

"True," mutters Dumbledore with a sigh, before looking to Mary. "So who might I ask, was your oddest person you ever had to deal with?"

The American witch chuckles. "Well, thankfully I spent much of the war with a special operations unit, so our command was generally rather competent. And most of the time we had the ability to plan the finer details of our missions, if not outright veto the more inane or imbecilic ones ourselves. So if I had to pick the oddest person I ever had to work with, it would most likely have to be one of the girls I knew at Ilvermorny, who found herself in the running to qualify for the unit on one occasion we were looking for new recruits."

"How was she odder than anyone else you might have known?" asks Augusta.

"Well, you know how regardless of what school you go to, in every year group, there is always that one girl? She's either bookish, or weird, a late bloomer, or doesn't get along well with others for some reason, and gradually develops a chip in her shoulder because of it?"

Dumbledore winces. "I'm unfortunately familiar with the concept."

Augusta however, raises an eyebrow. "I take it that was her then?"

"Oh no," says Mary with a laugh. "That was me."

The British witch almost chokes on her drink, before looking at Mary in disbelief. "Forgive me if I have a hard time believing that."

"It's true," she counters with a guilty chuckle at her counterpart's reaction. "I was a very different child to the person who joined the army. I was an immigrant kid with a weird accent because my parents didn't speak much English at home, my classmates thought me a nerd because I hid in the library a lot and inadvertently read enough to do well in tests, only to then get rumors spread my parents were teaching me "Durmstrang dark magics" when I did well in the dueling club to prove I wasn't a nerd."

"So how do we get from bullied bookworm, to Ms Knifes-A-Lot?"

Mary laughs. "I did something of a self-reinvention after I finished my education and was out from underneath my schoolmates. I kept up with the dueling, took a few self-defense courses, cut my hair, and was pursing tertiary studies that would help me get into the Aurors. Then the war started, and strangely enough, military training and then three years of camaraderie and the respectful rigidities of a command structure also helped."

Going off his knowledge and experiances of watching Hogwarts reunions where the personalities and fortunes of members have sometimes reversed, Dumbledore winces at the inkling of where this is going. "And so I take it this girl you mentioned going to Ilvermorny with, was one of those whom you shared a less that auspicious past history? I'd imagine that would have been a rather... disonant meeting."

Mary grins with unrestrained schadenfreude. "The best part, was that for portions of our assessment of the new applicants looking to join the Raiders, my Captain and I would disguise ourselves as fellow nominees for some of the tests, so we could observe and interact with them when they thought the test proctors were not watching."

The American witch's face then lights up with glee. "Those three weeks were absolutely worth it, for that moment David and I finally got to put on our officer uniforms, and reveal ourselves as the selectors for the Company's final test."
----------------------------

"I have another question," says Augusta, breaking the previous manner of circling the questions around the table as she now looks at Mary curiously. "Did you ever work with a man who went by the name of Blazkowicz?"

Immediately, Mary's eyes light up with amusement. "Ah, Old B.J."

The witch then shakes her head and chuckles. "The European Theater was mostly his area of deployment during the war. Afterwards, he went into hunting down agents, and the surviving artifacts and tomes of knowledge, of the Thule and Vril in the years after. He wasn't exactly the most subtle of men though, and his areas of focus rarely crossed with mine, but it was hard not to know of him in the years he worked with MACUSA."

"Yes, that was rather the impression he left on many of us in Europe as well," admits the Longbottom Matriarch with an exasperated shake of her head. "Whatever happened to him anyway?"

Mary laughs. "You wouldn't think it, but the family bug bit him. I suppose one day they finally ran out of old nazis and cultists to point him at, so he decided to retire. That, or they got tired of the less than subtle trails of destruction his chases around Europe and South America could be. Last I heard, he was running a pet store."

"Well, if any man deserved such a peace with his family, it was he." Even as she finishes, Augusta can't help but look disbelieving. "Still, it's hard to imagine Blazkowicz of all people starting a family."

"Oh, the whole family are all like that," laughs Mary in between a sip of her drink. "Keen's not too terrible, but if you thought B.J. and his hard on for killing Nazis, Blood Supremacists and Dark Wizards was bad, you should see his grandson. That kid is a veritable rage-machine when he gets going."

A bemused grin tugs at the corners of the British witch's lips. "So Blazkowicz not only procreated, but so did his progeny. The world must surely tremble when this B.J. the Third is afoot."

"Considering how big he is, that's not too hard to believe."

Augusta raises an eyebrow curiously. "I take it you've met him then?"

Mary's response is to give a proud chuckle. "I was his instructor for Hand-to-Hand and Knife Combat Training."

From where he has been awkwardly silent from his side of the table for much of the conversation, Dumbledore then chokes on his drink and narrowly avoids spittaking at Mary's boast.

"That explains far too much."
----------------------------
"True or False," asks Mary as she looks at the Longbottom matriarch. "You once got bitten by a vampire?"

"Yes."

"Wait, really?"

Augusta nods gravely, pulling down the high collar of her dress and the bands of her necklace, to reveal two slight indentations on the side of her neck. "France, June 1944."

The Pacific Veteran looks up and down her European Front counterpart who is most certainly not a vampire, in confused disbelief.

"Okay... so how did you pull that one off?"

"Well," the English witch makes a face. "It was a very near thing, but after five long days and nights of agony and pain, the vampire finally died."
----------------------------
Mary levels a looks at Dumbledore. She can see he has a question for her. However, this is the one he's really been meaning to ask for most of the night.

The one that he's only now finding the courage to ask after the sake they've been indulging in like veterans half their ages.

"Did you really have a near-death experiance?"

Abruptly, Mary is also glad for the amount of sake she's been having as well. This isn't just the multitude of occasions which could classify as "a close brush with mortal danger if things had gone any more wrong" he's referring to. This is that moment he is asking about.

Meanwhile, on the otherside of the table, Augusta sighs and looks at Dumbledore. "You just had to ruin the mood with a heavy question didn't you?"

For a moment, Mary almost deflects the question or gives her normal answer of blaze or nonchalance. But then, for just a brief moment, she detects something more than just morbid curiosity or fascinated academia behind his gaze. Something that is just a need to know, but also something like hurt and guilt.

Mary fortifies herself with the rest of her current cup of sake.

"It was a fair bit more than a "near" thing. According to the medics, my heart stopped for about four minutes." The witch examines the bottom of her now empty cup with a grimace. "But you're not asking about the four minutes I was a KIA on a table are you?"

Dumbledore's face is a mix of uncertainty, embarrassment, and yearning curiosity, while Augusta actually now looks intrigued. "I'm sorry, but are you saying you saw..... the afterlife?"

Mary gives a grimace as she considers the theory she's generally settled on for so many decades. "Maybe not the actual afterlife or whatever comes after. Possibly it was just the random memory recall of a oxygen starved brain that produced what I saw and felt, but where I was almost felt like an.... in between. Or a limbo of sorts."

"How so?" asks Dumbledore hesitantly, causing Mary to pick at the table cloth in mild embarrassment.

"I was on the long driveway up to the farm where I grew up. As a child, my parents rarely ever left the farm, so that dirt road was a gateway to mystery and adventure, though not always of the pleasant kind. I could either go home, or I could stay and see where in the uncertain world it might take me too once more."

"So what happened?" asks Augusta with a raised eyebrow. "How did you choose?"

Mary's response is a grin. "My captain ordered me not to die."

"So?"

"So I didn't."


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

Bonus Trivia

Out of mild boredom/interest, I decided to try and figure out what kind of fruit salad someone with Mary's career could potentially collect, considering all the places and things I figure she's been involved with over the course of her history; Starting out as an officer in a magical version of the Marine Raiders, servings in the post-war occupation, going into Intelligence for Korea, and then pursing a long and successful career in espionage and black ops primarily specialized in the Far East from the 50s, to the early 90s.

The end result is this. The idea is that the vast majority of her more prestigious medals are supposed to be for WWII service, and then she didn't actually collect much else for the rest of her service due to OpSec. I also figured that MACUSA would also give some of their equivalents of certain awards more magical sounding bents.


Spoiler: Awards
Distinguished Service Cross (MACUSA)
MACUSA Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Wand - V Device
Auror's Medal
Bronze Wand - V Device with Two Oak Leaf Clusters
Purple Heart - Silver Oak Leaf Cluster
MACUSA Commendation Medal
Auror Corps MACUSA Presidential Unit Citation
MACUSA Good Conduct Medal - Bronze Clasp, Two Knots

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - One Silver Star, Two Bronze
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation (Japan) Medal
Korean Service Medal - One Silver Star
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal - Two Silver Stars
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal (1960- Device)
Korea Defense Service Medal
MACUSA Overseas Service Ribbon

Combat Auror Infantry Badge
Master Badge with Duelling Component Bar
Master Badge with Knife & Sword Component Bar
Journeyman Badge with Ward-Breaker Component Bar
Apprentice Badge with Nomaj Sidearm Component Bar

ICW Service Medal Korea
Korean War Service Medal (50th Anniversary Version)
Ministry of Vietnam Special Service Medal
Ministry of Vietnam Training Medal

Also, something stupid I've in my head ever since Juuchi's story of the necromancer in Paris.
Spoiler: Blood Sword
To the district of Quartier Asiatique floo'd a stranger one fine day
Hardly spoke while at the Ministry, didn't have too much to say,
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip
For the stranger there among them had a Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip

It was early in the morning when he found the magic side of town
He came asking about the catacombs, slowly lookin' all around
"He's a hunter of dark wizards'", came a whisper from each lip
"And he's here to do some business with that Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip"

Beneath this town there lurked Dark Lord, by the name of Tarbes Rouge
Many Aurors had tried to take him and those men of Law were dead
He was Necromancer and a duelist, though a youth of twenty four
And the notches on his staff numbered one and nineteen more,
One and nineteen more

Now the stranger started talkin', made it plain to folks around
Was an Auror and Lord of the Britain, wouldn't be too long in town
He was here to take a Dark lord back, alive or maybe dead
And he said it didn't matter that he was after Tarbes Rouge,
After Tarbes Rouge

Wasn't long before this story was relayed to Tarbes Rouge
But the Dark Lord didn't worry, those men who tried were now his dead
Twenty men had tried to duel him, twenty men had made a slip,
Twenty one would be the Auror with the Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip

But his dread-guard fell too quickly, and it was time for them to meet
It was twenty past eleven when, when the fight spilled from the catacomb to the street
Warders were watchin' from their windows,
Fellow aurors held their breath,
They knew this handsome Briton was about to meet his death,
About to meet his death

There was barely feet between them
When they made their final play
And the swiftness of the Briton is still talked about today
Though Tarbes Rouge did cast cleanly, from crown to groin he was then ripped
For the Auror's aim, he countered, but not the Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip

It was over in a moment and the crowd all gathered 'round
There before them lay the Dark Lord, now in twain upon the ground
Oh, he might have went on livin' but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Auror with the Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip
Blood Sword, Blood Sword,
Oh he tried to match the Auror with the Blood Sword on his hip,
Blood Sword on his hip

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 27: S0ngD0g13

Canut sketched the design for the box required of her by the Princess; it was finer work than her normal craft, and demanded a greater attention to the details. Each side of the box, and the lid, would have its own puzzle-lock, the answer of each puzzle a phrase that very few besides a monarch would have cause to know or understand...

And those locks, once unlocked, merely revealed the keyholes, three in number, that actually unlocked the box itself...

.....................................................

The process of building the box took six painstaking weeks, carefully shaping and tempering the Abyssal steel until it would withstand damage better than her own armor-belt, fitting the lock-work, making certain that all was in order. Canut tested the box with every method she could devise, from hammers to axes, prybars to throwing the box into the heart of her forge; it withstood every abuse without the slightest damage.

.......................................................

Canut knelt before the Princess in her liege-lady's apartments, and presented the box to Gateway on open palms. "Your Majesty, the lock-box you commissioned me to craft. I confess I have made small progress in the crafting of the stamp and signet-ring, but this I have completed. If you would allow me to approach and demonstrate its workings?"

At Gateway's silent nod, Canut approached; the Princess took the box and looked it over. "So swiftly-built... I would not prefer your haste to have produced shoddy craftsmanship; Demon, test its durability," she said, handing the box off to her Champion.

Canut watched as Liner Demon strained and strove to break the lock-box; she smiled inwardly at the Demons failure, knowing the quality of her own craft.

"How is it secured?" asked the Princess after taking the box back.

"Milady, the lid and each side are puzzles, the answers being certain things known most-truly to a Sovereign." A quick glance toward Liner Demon from Canut was answered by a minute nod from Gateway.

"Demon, guard the door; let none enter until I send for you."

After Liner Demon stepped outside, darting a glare at Canut as she passed, Canut straightened. "The locks, Milady. The first is this one here." She gestured to the left-hand side, at an engraved image of a tree, a man, and a spear with knotwork on the shaft. "It opens when the man hangs from the tree, the spear piercing his side; Odin hanging from Yggdrasil to learn the Runes- Wisdom is never without Cost."

She gestured to the second, right-hand side, at the image of a wolf, a chain, and a man. "The second lock opens when the wolf is bound, but the man must first place his hand in the wolf's maw; Tyr and Fenrir when the wolf was chained- Honor, though it sting one's Pride."

Canut indicated the lid and its images of a crowned Abyssal Princess, islands and seas, and other Abyssals. "The final puzzle is here. The Princess' crown from off her head, her subjects and her realm at her sides with the crown connecting them; The Truth few Sovereigns ever Know- how The Queen and the Realm and the People are One."

When the final piece was shifted into place, the runic knotwork on the spear-shaft slid apart to reveal a keyhole; the wolf's jaws snapped shut on the man's hand, revealing a second, and the engraved Princess' arm lifted as if in triumph, revealing a third.

Canut produced three keys from her cloak. One of iron she fitted into the rune keyhole; one of ivory she fitted into the wolf keyhole; the third, of Abyssal Steel, went into the final keyhole. A twist of each unlocked the box, and Canut lifted the lid. "When the key-locks are engaged and the keys withdrawn, the puzzles reset themselves, Your Majesty."

Gateway was silent, and as the silence stretched out Canut began to grow nervous, though she concealed her nerves behind a stoic facade. At long last, the Princess spoke. "The crafting of this casket was well-done, and your locks well-made, Canut. However, I find them insufficient; two of them are easily-solved by any with knowledge of Norse myth, and keys can be stolen. If I were to supply you with a copy of my thumbprint and a vial of my blood, would you be able to incorporate them as an additional layer of security?"

Canut froze and her eyes widened by a fraction. "I would, Milady. I had however hesitated to request such... personal items of you; I know but a small amount of seidhr-craft, but even I know the inherent power of blood..." She left unstated why she'd hesitated, that being that Canut didn't think Gateway would trust her enough to willingly give her blood for the locks.

"As do I, Canut. There is power in blood; great and terrible power, if used wrongly," Gateway said as she cut her palm with a claw and filled a small vial, then stamped the label with a bloody thumbprint. It wasn't lost on the Pre-Dreadnought what Gateway had meant, that any misuse of the blood would be dealt with harshly. "To your work now, Canut; I expect to see results of your normal, impeccable, standard."

................................................................

When Canut had returned to her forge, she set the blood aside; she knew how she would use it in the box, and if any were left after, in the stamp. Which left the ring...

Canut sighed, then started her forge heating. "Before I try making a ring with safeguards, I'll first have to be able to make a ring..."

She started working a piece of steel, stretching and drawing it out, then cut it, flattened a section for the signet, and carefully bent it to shape around a mandrel before forge-welding it together. As Canut began filing and smoothing the ring, she fell into the near-trancelike state of true craftsmen, where the world faded away and hours passed like seconds... In that state, Canut would say she herself didn't create anything; the work-piece crafted itself, using the crafter as a conduit.

When the ring was smooth and clean, Canut sharpened her gravers and began carving the sigil...

..............................................................

"Lady Angband? A moment of your time?"

"Yes, Canut?"

"You are aware of your mother's commissioning me to craft a casket, stamp, and signet-ring?"

"Yes, I am..."

"The casket and stamp I have well-in-hand, but I have never turned my hand to jeweler's-work; in order to prepare for crafting your mother's ring, I decided to craft several other rings as practice-pieces..." Canut extended a signet-ring to Angband. "This one, being the best of those practice-pieces, I have engraved with arms for you. The sigil is not identical to the Princess' sigil; I differenced the arms to denote your cadency."

"Differenced?"

Canut nodded. "The unaltered arms, or plain-coat, is for the head of a line only; offspring add additional elements to the arms or in some other way alter, or 'difference', them. As the Princess' daughter you are entitled to a sigil. I would have differenced it with an ermine spot, to indicate a second-daughter of the line, but as your elder sister has passed..."

Angband looked at the ring's signet; in the center was the Abyssal-Crustacean of Ancient Atlantic Gateway Princess, and above it was a winged heart.

"The Crab, a Heart be-winged above. Arms of the First-Daughter of the Line of Ancient Atlantic Gateway Princess. I would have differenced it with a label of three points instead of a heart, but that indicates both a firstborn-son and an Heir Presumptive."

Angband smiled slightly and slid the ring onto her finger. "Thank you, Canut. Your gift is much-appreciated."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Going over a checklist with his Smols, Harry raised an eyebrow at Jane who was watching as Duke was getting the small bus that they had rented for the day ready alongside Warspite. "Wait, Aunt Mutsu told you to come with us? Really?"

Only humming as she looked at the Weasleys who had gathered while waiting for the Greengrasses, Tracy, and Susan as her aunt had gone home. "Yeah, it was really weird, Cuz." Frowning, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Mutsu-Mama said that her and the others had a plan with Daddy for today and that they were going to be busy."

Eyebrow raising a bit further, Harry tilted his head. "Odd, Mum said the same thing. You don't think that it would be connected?"

Jane only shrugged at that. "Who knows, Cuz? But I'm sure that they got their reasons..."

Elsewhere on the base, a soft voice spoke. "John... John... wake up John..."

Groaning at the light hangover, John grimaced a bit as he slowly woke up. "Mutsu? What time is it?"

A giggle answered him before Mutsu's voice could be heard again. "Oh, it's about nine in the morning. But that it not the important question that you should be asking~"

With a sigh, John was about to ask when he realized some facts. One was that he was sitting in a chair. Thankfully, a padded one.

Yet another thing was that his legs were tied to the chair's and so was his arms.

They were tied with tough rope, and in such a way that he could not move. Opening his eyes, John could see Mutsu there in front of him with a glint in her eye that he decided he did not like. It was the same look that Jane's mother used to give him when she was about to give him hell for some stupid thing he did. What did not help matters from Richardson's perspective was that he could see Arizona, Hiei, and Jintsuu behind Mutsu. And that all three of them had much the same expression on their faces as Mutsu, though Ari had a small look of sympathy.

Something that sent a chill down the American Admiral's spine. Clearing his throat, he glanced at Mutsu. "What is going on here?"

From beside him, he could hear a familiar voice filled with tiredness. One that he knew quite well and so he was only surprised in that Goto was also tied to a chair rather then him being there. Somehow, John knew that he should have expected the other Admiral to be there. "That is what I am wondering as well."

Grumbles made both John and Goto turn to find Yonehara on the American's other side. And as with them, he was also tied down to a chair. "Tell me about it, I just woke up here."

But what was worrying to John was that Ashigara was right behind Yonehara's chair with her arms crossed over her chest. The Heavy Cruiser had her eyes narrowed even as her tail swished behind her and her ears prickled. Something about that gaze caused his sense of danger, well honed over the years, to ramp up to unheard of levels. Not helped by how he realized that Kongou was also at the front of the room with a closed eyed smile. One that somehow told him that all three were screwed right before the Battleship tilted her head. "Why, you're here for a refresher course!"

Needless to say, that made them all three men blink in confusion. Even though his instincts told him otherwise, Goto's curiosity told him to ask his next question even as a certain feeling of doom fell upon them. "A... refresher course?" When Kongou nodded, he glanced to Nagato who was watching them with a frown. "What sort of refresher course?"

This time though Nagato answered as she stepped forward until she was behind all three men. Leaning down, her face was full of seriousness. "One of the most importance. It is in regards to something that happened earlier this year."

Confused, all three men tried to piece together that statement even as the need to run they all felt rose higher and higher in them. Yonehara frowned and glanced at the others. "Something that happened earlier this year?"

John, meanwhile, realized something else. 'Why... does Arizona have one her her Chaplain fairies out? And is he... performing Last Rites!?'

Moments later, a smile appeared on Nagato's face that was not nice at all. One that made them all shiver. "Oh yes, a very important incident. It happened during Spring break."

Eyes widening as the penny dropped, John stared at his wife in disbelief even as Yonehara grumbled about not understanding. The other two froze when the American Admiral spoke up. "You don't mean the whole thing regarding Harry being given The Talk..."

Arms crossed, Kongou still had the smile on her face. One that Goto realized look a lot like the one that Tatsuta often wore when about to dish out pain to someone. And pain that she was going to enjoy giving. "Dess! That's right!"

Fingers reached through the screen of one of the ceiling vents and Mikasa dropped through. Somehow, the older Battleship did several summersaults in the air until she landed on her feet. "DESS! Battleship Mikasa has arrived to do battle!" Then she turned and pointed at the three men. "Myself and Chibi-Kon shall teach you how to give The Talk for when one begins the Springtime of their Youth!"

Moments later, Goto relaxed some and chuckled. "You had me worried for a moment there. I know that Tenryuu put up a rule that you could not do that-" He was cut off as Nagato shoved a paper under his nose. "Anymore... What is this?"

Her eyes narrowed as she darkly chuckled, Nagato smiled at him. For some odd reason, Goto swore that it reminded him of how some of the Abyssals looked at their enemies. "Read."

Doing so, Goto rapidly paled and had to read it three more times before he swallowed. "Tenryuu... gave you permission... to do this..."

Kongou gave a sharp nod. "Dess!" Then she shot Mikasa a glare. "And don't call me Chibi-Kon!"

With weak chuckles, John looked first at Mutsu and then the other girls that Jane called "Mama". But if he thought that he would feel relief, their expressions put paid to that. Quickly, Richardson then looked directly at Mutsu into her eyes. "Mutsu, honey... you know that I don't need this. After all, I proved that, right?"

Placing a hand on her swollen belly, Mutsu hummed some. "Oh yes, you did..." She waited until John began to relax to fire off her next salvo. "On the practical side of things. But on the theoretical side? Now there is the question."

Arms crossed, Hiei smirked some. Said smirk quite dark and reminding the American of a cat about to kill a mouse. "One that has come about due to your failure. Not just when Jane needed that talk and you had a nurse give it... and stuck her in with the Battleships when they were given the class. No, you also showed it with Harry."

Jintsuu gave a small nod. "Yes, one must wonder how much you truly know, John. Hence a remedial class."

Meanwhile, Arizona gave him a frosty look. "We're helping you with this."

Swallowing, and taking a deep breath, Goto looked into Kongou's honey brown eyes. "Kongou-Chan, you have to understand something though. Nagato is Harry's mother, his parent. That's why we didn't give it."

Briefly, he felt relief as Kongou nodded. That was, until she spoke. "Dess, that is true. But you are right that she is his mother. You, Yonehara, and John are like his uncles and are men."

His gaze going back and forth between Kongou, his girlfriend, and his fellow hostages, Yonehara stuttered a bit. "Well, didn't you punish us already? It was not comfortable on that couch after all. And I thought that we were forgiven. And it's been months!"

Gently, Ashigara cupped his cheek and gave a small nod. "Hai, you're right. But this is not a punishment, this is to help you. All of you."

With one hand on her stomach, Mutsu smiled. "Yes, John, this is to help you. After all, what are you going to do when our children need it? Hopefully not shove it off on someone else. Hence all this..."

Mikasa then winked at them with one finger raised. "As for why this took so long? Jintsuu-San introduced me to this most wonderful of things..." Spreading her arms, the screen behind her lit up. "Powerpoint, Dess! It even lets us choose clipart!"

Despite the other two being speechless, Goto spoke up as he noticed something. "Kongou... that font. Is that..."

Brightly smiling, Kongou nodded. "Dess! We found it and used it for all the writing in our presentation of the most wonderful blossoming that one undergoes as they enter the Springtime of Youth!"

Eyebrow twitching, Yonehara choked a bit. "You mean that you wrote everything... in comic sans!?"

Just humming, Mutsu patted John on the head and then walked out of the room. "See you later today, John. Have fun with Mikasa-Kaa-San and Kongou-San~"

Across the base, Jane rubbed her arms as she looked around. 'Did I just hear Daddy call for Mutsu-Mama, Ari-Mama, Jintsuu-Mama, and Hiei-Mama?' Giving it some thought, she shook her head and boarded the bus. 'Nah, must be my imagination... Mount Fuji, here we come!'

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Um… wow. Once I got over the stumbling block that was the previous snippet, I just sorta… banged this out in a few days. I'm frankly amazed by just how much a simple note page on my iPad detailing the specific steps I want the story to take helped me.

Quick note, I actually wasn't planning to write this. I was planning to jump straight to the present, write out my take on Hoppou's kids learning the news that she was alive, so Harry Leferts can FINALLY pick up that plotline again. But somebody brought up Regalia's first harvest and I realized… I hadn't actually done anything with Regalia's farmer aspect yet. The next two snippets will be my making up for that.

Sorry… to everyone… I hope you like it anyways.

Also, posting this from my iPad, where text highlighting is a bitch and a half. So, Times New Roman for everything. No painstaking formatting this time.


A Proper Reunion

XXXXXXXXXX

1 Month Later

"…I'm bored."

"Try to… bear with it, Regalia. The world is… a big place. Traveling takes time."

Regalia reclined against one of the many rock outcroppings dotting the island shore. "Did she even say why she was coming back so quickly? Did she forget something?"

Standing beside her, the Princess shook her head. "She wouldn't elaborate. She just said… it was urgent. And she wanted everyone… to be here when… she arrived."

Regalia glanced at the rest of the shoreline. As requested, the entire fleet was out here, idly killing time while awaiting Sunny's arrival. She'd wager they were as bored and confused as she was. "I wonder…"

It had been… well, nice, meeting Sunny's fleet. True to Sunny's promise, her fleet was polite, didn't give her demeaning looks. If anything, just like Mother had explained why her own fleet fell to ill moods in her presence, the visitors looked at her with something akin to pity. They asked her what it was like to be defective, if it hurt her, how she went about her daily life. The questions got a little insensitive, but they stopped once she asked. Aside from that, the only real negative was the occasional intrigued stare at her back, which she didn't mind too much. In all, they were nice, if a little awkward, but she was sure it'd get better after meeting them a few times.

Several minutes of waiting later, one of the cruisers spoke up. "I can see them!" It had been barely a month since last they met, but everyone seemed just as excited as if it had been another full year. Regalia didn't blame them; when the weight of war pressed so deeply on them all, every moment they were able to spend in one another's company mattered. The Princess, watching the shapes of Sunny and her fleet cresting over the horizon, couldn't help but break out in a smile of her own.

A smile that slowly faded, replaced with a confused frown, as additional silhouettes began to cross the horizon.

"Uh, girls…" Nearby, Ruadri spoke up nervously. "Who are all those ships following Sunny…?"

She wasn't the only one; the rest of the fleet began to murmur among themselves in confusion and concern. Numerous questions, possibilities arose—Had Sunny betrayed them? Had her fleet been captured and forced to lead an invasion force here? Were they being chased by shipgirls? Or something worse!?

As everyone else's imaginations ran rampant, the destroyers suddenly began chattering even more loudly, squeaking and yipping excitedly. Distracted from her thoughts by the noise, Rivet turned to them. "Can you keep it down a bit? What's got you so hyped up!?"

"IFF, IFF!" Silver chirped. "CHECK IFF!"

Regalia watched as her fellow Abyssals, confused, all started looking to their IFF systems. Gradually, everyone's worried expressions vanished, and they began showing a rush of different emotions—shock, relief, amazement, anticipation, joy. Baffled, Regalia turned inward, to her operations room, looking for her own IFF system. Where is it, where is it…? What are they seeing? There. Regalia felt something like a static flicker in all her senses simultaneously, and she was suddenly able to perceive more.

And the she saw it, what everybody was reacting to. There were five, six different fleets out there, all lead by their own Demon or Princess... but their IFF tags were all remarkably similar. They were undoubtedly unique, as befitting multiple fleets. But she could pick out patterns, frequencies that were identical in each and every incoming ship; the same patterns and frequencies she could see in her mother's, her fleet's, even her own IFF tag.

At some point, long ago... every single ship present belonged to the same fleet.

Beside her, the Princess gasped. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she brought a hand to her mouth. "...sisters…"

All around Regalia, her fleet began to break out in relieved laughter, hugs and cheers, a few even breaking down in tears of joy. A couple of the cruisers and destroyers, in their excitement, actually deployed their rigging and rushed into the water, unable to wait for everybody to come to them, sailing out to tackle-hug their nearest sister.

Within a minute, the inbound fleet made landfall, dozens of Abyssal ships wading onto the shores, into their sisters' open arms. Leading the pack was Sunny, a warm—if slightly teasing—smile on her face. "Sorry to bug you again so soon, ladies. Just ran into some people I thought you'd want to meet."

"I… I can't…" the Princess stammered, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. "How… w-where…"

Sunny gestured to the water. "Thank the submarines. They've been tracking down survivors all this time."

On cue, multiple pale hands erupted from the water to flash a thumbs-up.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was chaos. That was the only way Regalia could describe it.

Dozens of destroyers, cruisers, submarines, multiple battleships and carriers, and unbelievably, a few Installations, all packed into one shoreline, mixing and mingling with one another. Everyone could barely hear one another over the din of countless conversations going on simultaneously. Even her mother was swallowed up by the madness, buried under her other ascended brethren.

Regalia observed the chaos from a distance, struggling to fight down the rising unease in her gut. She couldn't thank Aunt Sunny enough for helping her overcome her anxiety in meeting her own fleet. But this… this was the biggest group of people Regalia had ever seen in her life. Even if they were all nice people, this was just too much for her to handle all at once.

Thankfully, somehow nobody had noticed her yet—

"So, you're the defective Sunny was talking about."

Shit.

Regalia turned and found herself face-to-face with a bored-looking Ne-class cruiser. "Oh… hi," She squeaked.

"I'm Nero." The Ne-class held out a hand. "Fleet of the Isolated Island Princess."

Regalia nervously took her hand and shook it. "Regalia, fleet of the Northern Water Princess." She spared a glance to the madness before her. "You… you're not interested in hanging out with everybody else?"

Nero shrugged. "Getting to meet everybody is cool and all, but I'm not exactly as… connected to them as the rest of my fleet. One problem of being a step down in the family tree, I guess."

Something about her statement clicked in Regalia's mind. "Wait, you mean…?"

"Yep. I'm third generation Abyssal, like you." Nero turned and pointed towards Regalia's mother, where a short girl in a frilly black outfit was chatting with her, pointing to various bits of her outfit and twirling every once in a while. "See her right there, the little showoff? That's my mom. Decided to try out her new powers immediately after she ascended as an installation, and I'm the result. Pretty sure that makes us cousins." Turning back, she gestured to Regalia. "So what about you? How'd you come about?"

"A-ah, that…" Regalia began, twiddling her thumbs. "M-my mom was trying to cheer up her fleet, distract them from the massacre in the Aleutians…"

"The Great Scattering?" Nero spoke up. In response to Regalia's confused expression, she jerked her head back towards her Princess. "That's what Mom calls it. She thinks it sounds cool, and honestly, everyone else finds it preferable to using the words 'massacre', or 'betrayal', or 'murder'."

Regalia nodded. "…Fair enough."

Stepping forward, Nero sat down beside the Re-class, and the pair quietly spent the next minute just watching everyone mingle. It seemed the general reconciliations were finishing up, as the Abyssals started naturally sorting themselves into class-specific groups—destroyers with destroyers, cruisers with other cruisers, etc.—to continue talking with their closest sisters. "So," Nero spoke up, looking over to Regalia. "What's got you hanging back? Lack of connectivity issues, like me? Something else?"

Regalia huffed. "Take a wild guess." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

Nero leaned back and glanced at Regalia's hump. "Ah, right. Defective. Forgot about that for a second. Sorry."

"You…" Regalia paused, mouth open, as those words sank in. "You forgot?"

"Yeah, I—" Nero was interrupted as she was tackle-hugged by the Re-class beside her, who was squealing in glee. "OY! What the hell!?" she yelped in shock.

Regalia's eyes snapped open. Realizing what she had done, she tore herself away from the cruiser, horrified. "Oh god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! It's just that, most of the family I've met, my defect was at least a little bit of a stumbling block in bonding with them, and even if they were nice to me otherwise, sometimes it was just hard not to stare at it, but here you are and you care so little about my back you had to be reminded it was there, I was just so happy that a stranger could completely overlook it and I—"

"Hey!" Nero snapped, cutting her off. "Relax. Breathe. You're getting kinda blue in the face." Heeding her advice, Regalia slumped over, gasping. The cruiser continued. "I'm not mad you hugged me. Surprised and a little annoyed? Yes. But really, wouldn't it be weirder if I wasn't?"

Regalia shrunk back sheepishly. "I guess…"

Relaxing, Nero sighed. "I can let it slide. Just try not to let it happen again, 'kay?" Regalia nodded. "Alright, cool."

The sudden blare of a foghorn silenced the din consuming the shore, startling the pair… as well as all of their aunts.

"Can I have… your attention?" Tanith exclaimed. The crowd of Abyssals paused in their murmuring, turning to face the local Princess. Gazing over her family—the last children of the Northern Ocean Princess—she continued. "This is… without a doubt… a miraculous occasion. We were, all of us… cast adrift. Abandoned. Isolated. Hunted. But we persevered. We rose from the ashes. And… thanks to our sisters of the deep—" at this, she gestured to the group of submarines, headed by a politely-waving Princess "—we have come together once more. Yes, we are few. We are lesser for our loss. But we are HERE. We are survivors. This is cause for celebration."

"Now, that being said…" Tanith grinned. "I do believe… we can choose a better locale for our celebration… than this," she swept her arm over the cramped, rocky, and overall unfriendly shoreline, "Don't you think?"

She was met with a cacophony of responses in the affirmative.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Abyssals gradually streamed away from the shoreline, down the path to the island village. Tanith led the pack; behind her, the various Princesses and Demons organized into their respective fleets as they followed, with members of the local fleet scattered throughout, serving as something like tour guides. Regalia and Nero quietly picked up the rear, both uncomfortable with being in the middle of the commotion.

"Hey…" Regalia spoke up. "So, you're healthy, right? Nothing wrong with you to stop you from serving?"

Beside her, Nero shrugged. "Aside from my, as my mom put it, 'devil-may-care' attitude, no. I'm pretty much a model Ne-class."

"What's it like, training to fight as part of a fleet?"

"Eh… it's okay, I guess." Nero waved a hand. "From what Aunt Sunny said, you got some magic 'ignore this' bubble around your island, right? Well, my fleet isn't quite as lucky. We can't exactly do combat exercises in open water while we're living incognito, so we make do with other things. We tow driftwood around in the water for target practice, I sit in the shallows and open a porthole or two to practice damage control… once in a blue moon, when we find a gap in nearby patrols, we go out and practice fleet formations and maneuvers. Pretty basic." She looked over. "I take it you weren't suited even for simple stuff like that?"

Regalia shook her head with a sigh. "Well, obviously I can't sail straight unless I make a conscious effort. My guns do work fine, though, and my deck is stable and straight enough for my planes to take off and land. As for damage control…" She reached back and scratched her head awkwardly. "That was something of a trial by fire for me—the only time I ever tried firing a full broadside with my main battery, my messed-up frame couldn't quite take the shock, and I suffered a hull rupture. I was in the shallows, so I managed to get out of the water and stop the flooding easily enough, but…"

Nero cringed. "Damn."

The Re-class nodded sadly. "Yeah."

The pair were silent for a few seconds. Nero took the time to inspect the fields around them—and the farm visible in the distance. "Does it… you know… bum you out?" she asked. "Not being able to fight with the rest of your fleet?"

Regalia shrugged weakly. "A little. I'm sad I can't really sail with everyone else, yeah. But other than that… do I really NEED to fight? We live a quiet life here on the island. That's not much going on, sure, but it's peaceful. I'm not bothered by not being part of their fleet, since I know I'm still part of their family. Plus… y'know. I'm defective. Couldn't fight even if I wanted to."

"I see…" A pause, and then Regalia heard a weary sigh from the cruiser beside her. "…It might surprise you to hear this… but I could really care less about it, as well."

"Huh?"

"The whole fleet business. To protect my family? Hell yeah, I wouldn't think twice about sailing into an enemy's guns. But other than that…" Nero folded her arms and stared at the ground. "I don't actually like it. While everybody else is happy to be doing their part for the fleet, I'm just… going through the motions. It's not how I want to live my life, you know?"

Surprised, Regalia simply let out a noncommittal grunt, now thinking to herself.

The crunch of gravel and dirt transitioning to the clack of cobblestone pathways beneath her hooves alerted Regalia that they had arrived in the village. Looking up, she saw everyone was gathering in the square, her mother and the other flagships standing in the center.

"To those who are new here…" Tanith began, "This village is the refuge for my fleet. It is our home. Today… our home is open to all of you. You are free to wander, explore, converse, make merry with whomever you please. If anybody needs to speak to one of us, the flagships…" She pointed to the old palace nearby. "We will be in my throne discussing some important matters." She closed her eyes, hands clasped to her chest. "Again… it is wonderful, so wonderful to see so many of my lost sisters alive and well. This… is a time of celebration, for us all. We would be remiss… to not enjoy it while we can."

As Tanith stepped away, and everybody began spreading out to explore the village proper, Nero looked to Regalia once more. "So, if you don't train, what do you do to kill time around here?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Inside the throne room of the palace, the various Demons and Princesses that once served as flagships for their mother's fleet convened.

"I have to say, this is a pretty nice thing you got going on here," the Isolated Island Princess noted, gazing at her surroundings. "Not bad at all for a non-installation Princess. But you couldn't at least make an effort to get the place looking nice again?"

Tanith spared a glance at the shattered windows and tattered curtains littering her throne. "I don't think… any of our sisters… know how to mold glass… let alone stained glass. As to the curtains…"

"Actually," The Anchorage Princess spoke up, "My fleet happened to find a large supply of canvas, thread and dyes on Kiska, some time after we set up there. One of us has been trying to teach herself to knit and weave."

Tanith nodded thoughtfully. "Hm. Perhaps… on a later date… we can do something with that." She held up a finger. "My fleet has managed… to barter with passing humans… over the past few months. We may be able to procure some guidebooks… to help her advance her studies."

"While you're at it, maybe see if you can 'procure' for some new furniture." Sunny fidgeted in her ancient chair, which groaned and creaked with every movement. "This old stuff is really uncomfortable." The other flagships, experiencing the same issues with their own seats, found it hard to disagree.

Tanith rolled her eyes, deliberately choosing not to bring up the "Ikea catalog" given to her fleet by the fishermen—it did them no good without currency to purchase anything.

The Submarine Princess responded in her stead. "Me and my kin have been operating from an old abandoned yacht, beached on a shallow reef… a victim of early Abyssals, I suspect. It has more than enough furnishings for my pack alone; we could bring some surplus pieces out here."

Sunny's gaze snapped to the submarine. "Wait, you've been living off a yacht for the past year!?" Submarine Princess shrugged as the demon sank into her chair, grumbling. "Lucky…"

Tanith, meanwhile, looked to her sister with a smile. "That would be nice… thank you."

Isolated Island Princess clapped her hands. "Alright, that's settled. Now… to some ACTUALLY important matters…"

"Indeed," Tanith interrupted. "Firstly… I just wanted to… get this out of the way. Hopefully, Sunny has told you… of my daughter—"

"The defective Re-class?" The Airfield Demon interrupted. "Yes, she told us. She sounds quite nice. Sunny figured all this activity would be something of a shock to the girl, so we all gave our fleets an order to just ignore her, leave her in peace and let her approach us once she was comfortable."

"An order which MY daughter opted to disregard." Isolated Island groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I swear, she's always like this. Bucking my orders, not listening to my advice, doing the bare minimum of work required of her… You managed to make a crippled sweetheart, while I put out a picture-perfect delinquent. Wonderful."

"I don't particularly mind… her disturbance," Tanith shrugged lightly. "They seemed to be… getting along well enough… on the beach."

The Gothic Lolita huffed, but nodded. "Well, if you're okay with it, I won't stop her. Maybe it's good for both of them."

"Thank you." Tanith leaned over the table, fingers tented. "Now… to issues that affect… all of us." She looked over her sisters, a grim expression setting in. "Such as working out who is left."

XXXXXXXXXX

Regalia examined the potato plant in front of her. The leaves and flowers of the plant, while looking withered, still had some healthy color left in them. Reaching beneath the plant, the Re-class pushed through the dirt with little resistance and delicately pulled the nearest tuber into a position she could see. Gently running a thumb over the nascent potato, she let out an annoyed sigh as the skin came away with little effort. Still not ready, she thought to herself as she replaced the tuber and covered up the hole.

After gathering up the wild vegetables and thoroughly de-weeding the surrounding area, these potatoes had been the first crop she replanted, the crop she handled with the utmost care, considering the effort she'd gone through to obtain them. And yet, a season had passed, and they were the only crop remaining that wasn't ready to be harvested. She'd put thought into the seeding process, staggered her planting of the different types of vegetables based on their growth period, in hopes of harvesting the most possible crops in one sitting. But now, everything and everybody was stuck waiting on the spuds, and it was starting to agitate her.

At least she wasn't alone out here. "So, you did all this?" Nero asked, impressed, looking over the numerous rows of plants surrounding her.

At her feet, Regalia shrugged. "Well, not exactly. A lot of this stuff was already here before I actually got the idea to grow a farm. Humans did live here before us, after all. But I did lead the efforts to get it nice and orderly again, with mom's blessing."

"Hm." Nero reached out to a nearby corn stalk, inspecting the fully-grown ears of corn by touch. "And this is fun for you? Not insulting, just asking."

Regalia considered the question as she stood up, brushing the dirt off her hand and sleeve. "Well… I wouldn't say 'fun'. A little boring and tedious to be honest. But… well… it's satisfying." She gazed up into the sky. "It gives me something to be responsible for, something I can do for my fleet, something to work on throughout the day when I'd otherwise just be sitting around twiddling my thumbs. And at the end of the day, I can sleep well because I know I did something worthwhile with my time."

"…Huh." Nero folded her arms, expression thoughtful. "Must be nice… having something you can do that makes you feel that way."

Regalia stared at the Ne-class, cocking her head. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. Just… a bit envious, is all."

"Does this have to do with your not wanting to serve…? 'Scuse me." Regalia stepped around Nero to inspect the corn herself.

Nero wiggled her hand. "Kinda. It's like… if war isn't my calling, then what IS? I see you here, and you're happy to just be growing veggies. Then I look at myself and see nothing like that and…" She shook her head. "Don't worry, it's nothing. I won't bore you with it."

Regalia paused. "…Sounds like it's something that's really bugging you." She looked back. "Have you tried talking to your mom about it?"

"No, I haven't. But what would she do about it anyway?" She grunted defensively. "I'm not exactly like you. I can sail in a formation, fire my guns without shaking myself to pieces. I'm expected to pull my weight, same as the others. You think I can just walk up and say, 'Hey Mom, I know we're in the middle of a war, but I don't really FEEL like being a soldier'?"

"Well, I don't know. But don't you guys worry about going stir-crazy or something like that? She could give you some time to just go off, do your own thing, find something you enjoy doing."

"Like what? Not a lot of career paths I can take as part of a fleet of fugitives, wanted by both sides of a world war." Nero sighed. "You think we can just… drop it for the time being? I'm getting bummed out thinking about it."

Regalia quietly acquiesced. "Alright. No need to be a downer about it."

She'd sometimes thought about what things would have been like if she had been born as a normal Re-class. Would she be more peppy, upbeat? Would she be a battle-hungry warrior? Would she have gone stir-crazy, cooped up on this island? Her answer for all three was 'probably'. But those were just what-ifs; THIS was reality. She was defective, and the odds of there being an installation spirit out there both able and willing to fix her were slim-to-none. As such, her mother saw no reason to plant seeds of false hope by trying to train her anyway. In the end, she was okay with that.

Nero, though… she was completely fine. She'd be perfectly at home serving in a fleet… she simply didn't want to. Regalia was honestly fascinated by that.

Maybe she could ask Mom about this. She barely knew Nero, but she already liked her—she was the first person she'd ever met who looked at her as an equal—and she didn't like seeing her sad like this. She doubted Mom could actually do anything about it herself, but she held sway with the other flagships, she could convince them to do something about it…

She was torn from her thoughts as alarms blared in her head. Confused, she looked inward—and swore. Her disembarked crew just spotted several wild boars wandering out onto the plots, AGAIN. Little bastards just wouldn't quit...

Nero stared at her as she stiffened, eyebrow raised. "What's up with you?"

A small part of Regalia considered whether Nero might have a bit of fun with this. The rest of her shrugged and decided to roll with it. She turned to the cruiser with a lopsided smirk. "You up for helping me with some pest control?"

Nero shrugged. "Sure. Beats whatever they're doing down in the village, I bet."

XXXXXXXXXX

Rivet growled, feeling for the new gaps in her smile with her tongue. "That all you got, Ridgeline!?"

Across from her, the other Ri-class grinned, ignoring the blood flowing from her ruined nose. "Oh, it's just the beginning. I'm gonna snap your keel over my knee like a damn two-by-four."

Rivet scoffed. "Oh, you've got the tonnage to do it, no doubt, but do you have the horsepower? I fucking doubt it."

"We'll see about that..."

Around the two, a circle of their sisters had congregated, watching on with anticipation, interest, excitement. A little further away, a Wo-class had produced some oil drums from parts unknown and was pounding on them rhythmically, like a set of war drums, providing a beat for the beatdown. The two cruisers, differentiated by colored straps around their arm, slowly circled each other, both waiting for the other to make the next move.

The initiative went to Rivet, who flexed her legs and lunged forward, tackling her sister to the ground. Ridgeline took the impact in stride, letting herself roll backwards and using the motion to drive both knees into her attacker's gut, ripping the air from her lungs. Rivet's momentum continued to carry her over the other cruiser, who swung her legs and snapped back to a standing position as she herself tumbled to the ground in an unceremonious pile. Ridgeline turned and dropped into a predatory stance as Rivet scrambled to her own feet, gasping.

Tables turned, an unsteady Rivet brought up her arms just barely in time to block an elbow drop from her opponent. Rising to her feet, she shoved Ridgeline away and wound up, launching a fist at her face. Her target abruptly collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, allowing the swing to pass harmlessly overhead and leave herself overextended. Rivet bit back a howl as her target snapped back up and drove a jab into her open armpit, eliciting a loud pop from her shoulder, and leapt away from her retaliatory kick. Ridgeline circled Rivet as she nursed her dislocated arm, working it back into the socket with a pained hiss, before charging once more.

Back and forth the pair went, ducking and weaving between each other, trading blows that would have knocked out, disabled, or outright crippled a normal human, and shaking it all off. The crowd around them took turns cheering either combatant as they repeatedly claimed the advantage over one another, landing a solid strike that sent the opponent reeling, only to have the tables quickly turned back on them.

After a minute of heated combat, the exchange came to a head. The two Ri-classes retreated to either end of the arena, both struggling to remain standing, their bodies more black-blue than ashen white. Both sisters closed in slowly, guard raised, cautious of the next strike. Rivet stumbled forward with a fist—a fist caught and held fast by Ridgeline. Rivet lashed out with her other hand, only for her opponent to catch it as well. Stuck in a deadlock, both fighters weakly struggling to push the other back, Rivet did the only thing she could think of: she reared back, yanking Ridgeline forward, and slammed her between the eyes with her forehead.

A spray of blood rose shot into the air as Ridgeline staggered, head snapping back, and released Rivet's hands. An opening had presented itself, and Rivet took it. In an instant, she was on top of her opponent, lashing out at any open hole in her defenses. Arms rose unsteadily to block a strike to the face, only to be thrown a feint in favor of a sharp jab to her ribs. Ridgeline doubled over, clutching her side… and THEN Rivet punched her in the face.

It continued for several more seconds, a dazed Ridgeline unable to react, block, redirect herself fast enough for the blows hammering down on her. After a final, vicious haymaker to her jaw, Ridgeline's legs gave out underneath her, and she crumbled to the ground in a heap. With a heaving sigh, Rivet stumbled forward, until she stood over her opponent, ready to claim victory.

And then a hand shot out, grabbing her ankle.

Rivet only had enough time to grunt in surprise before Ridgeline yanked back, pulling her foot out from underneath her. The humanoids of the crowd instinctively winced in sympathy as the cruiser was forced into a full split and she let out a startled yelp of pain… opening her up to a slug in the mouth from Ridgeline. Distracted, off-balance, crotch in searing agony, Rivet took the full force of the punch, collapsing on her back.

In front of her, Ridgeline rose to her hands and knees. Lacking the stamina to rise to a full stand, the cruiser flexed her arms and thrust herself forward, letting herself, in particular her outstretched elbow, fall and land with her full weight on Rivet's solar plexus. Rivet could only get out a choked gasp, paralyzed by the blow.

Ridgeline had seconds to act. Gripping her opponent by her tattered clothes, she hoisted herself on top of Rivet's chest. Holding one arm down with her hand, pinning the other beneath one knee, and her other knee planted firmly in Rivet's sternum, she shifted herself higher on her opponent's body, enough for Rivet to be unable to reach her with her knees or legs. Now in the best position she could think of to deny her opponent the leverage to force her off and get up, Ridgeline raised her free fist and brought it down as hard as she could on Rivet's face, giving her sister a broken nose of her own. Again and again she punched her target, her bloodied face snapping back and forth with each strike, all the while helpless to stop it.

Finally, she could take no more.

"I YIELD!" Rivet cried. Ridgeline paused her assault, her bloody, bruised fist pulled back in preparation for another blow. Beneath her, Rivet went limp, no longer fighting except to draw breath with the immense weight on her chest. "I… I yield..." she repeated, gasping between pained lungfuls of air, crimson tears forming in her blackened eyes.

An eerie calm settled in the arena. Everyone around them unconsciously held their breath as the two fighters lay on the ground, one having firmly established her dominance over the other, now pleading for mercy.

Finally, the tense silence was broken by Rivet herself. She started chuckling softly from her position on the ground, just barely audible as she continued to struggle to breathe. Slowly, the chuckling grew into joyful, if pained, laughter. On top of her, Ridgeline snorted before breaking down with weak laughter herself, rolling off her sister, finally giving her the breathing space she desperately needed. For a time, the two simply laid there, laughing, aching beside each other. Around them, the crowd let out a collective sigh of relief, glad the match was settled before it got really messy.

Eventually, an out-of-breath Ridgeline sat up. Still on the ground, Rivet coughed and wheezed, looking up to her sister with a crooked and bloody grin. "So… I kinda forgot the tally… from back when we were… still in Mom's fleet. Do you still remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Ridgeline replied. "This victory makes it 7-2, advantage me."

"You sure it's not… seven to three?" Rivet asked. "There was that one time—"

"That didn't count, and you know it." Despite the snappy tone, Ridgeline was smirking. "I had you dead-to-rights before you pulled my clothes off in front of everyone and made me run screaming out of the ring."

"'Didn't count', my ass…" Rivet protested, chuckling, but didn't press further.

The pair laid there for a little bit longer, just letting themselves relax. It felt good, letting out their pent-up stress and aggression by just whaling on each other with their fists and feet like this. It was relatively safe, too, as being ship spirits meant any damage was mostly superficial.

Eventually, a much calmer Ridgeline stood up. Turning back to her sister, she held out a hand. "Good fight."

Rivet smiled brightly, taking her hand and pulling herself shakily to her feet. "Great fight."

The two Ri-class cruisers took advantage of the handshake to pull themselves into a one-armed hug, patting each other on the back. "I'm so glad you're okay," Rivet said softly.

"Same here."

The crowd of Abyssals around them applauded the pair, congratulating them on the resolution of their good-natured spar, before starting to disperse. Ruadri stepped over to Rivet, damp cloth in hand. "You know why you got floored, right?"

The cruiser rolled her bruised eyes as she accepted the cloth to wipe off the blood all over herself. "I didn't guard my le—"

"You didn't guard your legs." Ruadri put her hands on her hips. "We're not just ships anymore, remember? Human bodies are a lot easier to trip up, knock off balance. You keep putting all your effort in blocking the 'important' parts, you're liable to have your legs swept out from underneath you." She shuddered. "That split, though… ouch."

"Yeah, yeah." Rivet's gaze flickered as she noticed something past Ruadri. "You, uh… you notice you got something of an entourage going on, there?"

"Hm?" Ruadri glanced behind her, finding a small pack of destroyers from the other fleets right on her heels, led by Silver. "Do you need something, girls?"

Silver slapped the ground with a flipper. "Silver was telling her sisters about Sister Rudy's stories, how nice they are, make fleet-sisters feel better when they're sad. Sisters wanted to hear stories, too! Can Rudy tell story, please?" The destroyers looked up at the battleship with innocent, pleading eyes.

Smiling, Ruadri chuckled softly. "I'd be happy to." She gestured for the destroyers to follow her. "Come on, let's find a spot you girls can get comfortable." With that, Rivet quietly watched as the Ru-class walked off, a gaggle of cheering destroyers tailing along. A couple of the other Abyssals, curious, moved to join them.

Nearby, Ridgeline was cleaning herself off as she was approached by a couple of her Chi- and Ne-class sisters. "That was amazing," One of them swooned. "You two were practically dancing around each other!"

"You think you could teach us?" Another asked.

Ridgeline looked at her sisters, eyebrow raised. "You sure?" She gestured to their slender, lithe forms, then pointed to herself. She was shorter than her sisters, but her bruised body was still sturdier, more muscular. "You're not exactly as suited to bare-knuckle brawling as us Ri-classes."

A Chi-class shook her head. "No, she means we wanted you to teach us to dance!"

Ridgeline leaned back a little, surprised. "Me? Dance?" She scratched the back of her head, flattered. "I mean… I could try, sure… but I've never ACTUALLY danced."

"We don't mind," A Ne-class shrugged. "That just means we'll all be learning together!"

Thinking about it for a moment, Ridgeline eventually nodded, smiling. "Sure. Why not? Sounds like it'd be fun. Just… you think we can take a breather for a few minutes first? I'm beat.

Chatting excitedly, the group of cruisers departed, leaving Rivet, the peculiar drum-wielding carrier, and a few others remaining in the impromptu arena. Said carrier was picking up her makeshift instruments, likely to put them away wherever the hell she was storing them.

But before she could do so, a pair of familiar Tsu-classes ran up to her. "Hold up, hold up!"

The Wo-class looked up. "Eh? Wot?"

Tsunami pointed to the oil drums. "Where'd you get those?"

The Wo looked at her belongings and cocked her head. "Well… my fleet is settled in an old military outpost. These were just lying around. Whenever I was bored or stressed by something, I'd bang on these and I'd feel better. Thought I'd bring them along, try to make some music." She looked at the Twins, frowning. "Was it bad?"

"No, no, it was actually pretty good." Tsubasa held up a finger. "But it didn't seem kinda… lonely to you?"

"Lonely?"

"Yeah. You can make a beat with those drums, sure, but that's it. It could be so much more!"

The Wo pursed her lips, thinking. "…You know what, you're right. What do you suggest we do?"

And so it went. All around Rivet, her sisters were finding things to do with each other. They were simple things, random things, things that nobody involved had any clue what to do. But they didn't care. They were happy. They were in the company of those once believed lost. It didn't matter that they were wandering blindly, because they were doing it with loved ones. Just being together was enough for them.

Perhaps, Rivet thought. Perhaps, like this… they really could move on. Grow. Make something new of themselves. Maybe, just maybe, they could make Mother proud… wherever she was now. Heaven? Hell? The Abyss? Could Mother truly be sailing among the stars now, as Ruadri fantasized? Rivet didn't know. Whatever afterlife the universe deemed her mother fit to pass onto, all she knew was that she—

"Rivet!"

Hearing her princess call her name in such a commanding tone, Rivet's mind immediately shifted gears. Her expression became cool and professional as she snapped to attention, saluting as Tanith approached. "My Lady. What do you need?"

The Princess came to a stop in front of her, exhibiting an emotion Rivet didn't think she'd EVER seen on her elder sister before—panic.

"We have a problem."

XXXXXXXXXX


While writing this snippet, my mind finally made the long-dreaded connection between Regalia, potatoes, and Kancolle memes in general, and I am now imagining her as a Re-class drawn by Shibafu.

Please help me.

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

Here's a thing
-----

"So, that's all there was on that front," Yorktown finished, curling a finger in her hair. "And now Hornet is Queen of the Wendigos." Kaga clutched a hand to her mouth, struggling to contain her laughter.

"It certainly sounds… like she had… a good time," she managed to snicker. Exhaling deeply, she pressed her hands into her lap and composed herself. "Where do you think that will go?"

"Eh," Yorktown shrugged. "No one really knows. On the one hand, who doesn't want an army of supernatural monsters? On the other hand, man-eaters… How's Yokosuka?"

"I do not know of anything so… drastic occurring," Kaga admitted thoughtfully. "It will not be much longer before Harry goes back to school. And then… say, do you know of any individuals who spend their nights battling magical evils? Goto has us looking into it." Yorktown hummed thoughtfully.

"No, I honestly can't say that I have," she admitted. "Though… Oh! One thing I wanted to ask you. Hoppou does repairs for damaged Abyssals, doesn't she?"

Kaga called Tanya to mind—there were other cases of Hoppou making repairs, she was sure, but there had been a little bit of a kerfuffle around that one. "Yes, she does. Do you require her services somehow?"

"Surprisingly yeah, but does she do brains?"

"… I would have to ask her. Why?"

"There's this Abyssal submarine that hangs around Pearl Harbor. We think she took a head shot or something, she's… Well, you'd have to see her to get the picture, but she's odd. Mainly spends the days pestering Aylwin or bringing people live fish." Yorktown smiled. "We call her Katie."

 

[darthcourt10]

Shaithan

Reporter

The Free Pirate Ship Radio Pirate was one of a few pirate radio stations in the North Sea. Officially an illegal endeavor, they tended to serve as early warning systems and morale boosters. Of course, of the shipborne radio stations, none were as far out as Quedagh Merchant's band of merry men and women.

They tended to report on things going on at the various naval bases, often supplied with gossip by the older destroyers doing patrol duty across the North Sea. Sometimes even a bigger ship came alongside, carrying goods and more news, not just from Europe, but also from the rest of the world.

It was this that had led to a heated debate among the crew of the Radio Pirate, as there was considerable disagreement on whether they should cover the news of the shipgirl wedding in question. Some had argued that they hadn't covered the marriage between some USN admiral and a Japanese shipgirl, either. Others argued that this had already been a missed opportunity. Doing so twice in a row would be a grave mistake.

After some back and forth, it had been decided in favor of actually reporting. This left one problem, though. Getting a press pass to report from Japan was quite unlikely, so they'd have to report from what the stream would be showing.

It was quickly decided that Quedagh Merchant and Adventure Galley would be the ones to offer commentary on the wedding.

After all preparations were complete, Naka's stream was booted up and the old pirates settled in.

"Good morning, North Sea!" Quedagh Merchant greeted exuberantly. "This is your radio pirate speaking. Are you awake?" she asked rhethorically. "Oh, who am I kidding, if you're listening to this you should be awake. Though, I have heard that sleepwalkers have tuned in before. Feel looked at Dido!" Quedagh Merchant continued. "Anyway, why we're awake at this ungodly hour you may ask? A wedding. Not just any wedding. A big one. How big? I'm surprised they didn't invite the Queen big!" she laid out grandiosely. "So, we here at Radio Pirate debated and decided to cover it. Alas, we be pirates so we be not welcome to Zipangu," she lamented. "Luckily, this is the 21st century and the Kantai no Idoru does a livestream. But that doesn't help you, who are sitting infront of your radios and listening to actually follow the proceedings. But worry not, for we shall provide commentary on the ceremony and proceedings!" Quedagh Merchant promised.

"Quite right!" Adventure Galley piped up. "So get comfortable, because it will be a long morning," she continued.

"So, we are currently in the build-up phase. guests arriving, various last ditch preparations and I'm relatively sure there will be a case of nerves," Quedagh Merchant laid out.

"There always is," Adventure Galley agreed. "Remember when you wedded Sven and Steve?" she continued.

"Oh, those two," Quedagh Merchant chuckled. "Totally cute when in public and in private it's Rum, Sodomy and the Lash. Finest naval tradition there," she laid out.

"Oh yes. Complete bundles of nerves before the showdown, worried about far too many things," Adventure Galley recalled.

"True, true, then again, they couldn't know if Germany and France would accept their marriage, especially one officiated by a Pirate Captain," Quedagh Merchant remarked.

"Hah," Adventure Galley scoffed. "Cap'n Kidd held a great ceremony, with keelhauling and everything! Would have been a crime to not accept them as being lawfully wedded as husband and husband," she remarked.

"True that," Quedagh Merchant retorted. "Anyway, currently there isn't much going on, we're going to play music for now and come back when things pick up," she added.

On cue, Billy Idol's White Wedding started playing.

After about half an hour, things started to pick up. "Well boys and girls, looks like things are picking up. Guests are piling in now, and it looks like we're going to the docks? Galley, help me out here!" Quedagh Merchant pleaded.

"I'm as lost as you are. Also, what the hell is that big-ass wolf doing there?" Adventure Galley gave back.

"I don't know. Also, are that these French Horror Clowns? The Spider Alien things played by Tim Curry?" Quedagh Merchant asked in turn.

"Buggered if I know, I think France still has an outstanding "preferably dead" bounty on me, so I haven't gone there. They say the last thing you hear before vanishing is a "Honhonhon!" and then darkness," Adventure Galley whispered.

"Well, if you didn't have a preferably dead bounty before, you have one now," Quedagh Merchant reassured her fellow pirate.

"Anyway, what is happening over in Japan, I wonder?" Quedagh Merchant changed topics.

Adventure Galley glared at her fellow pirate for a few moments. "Well, looks like they reached the docks," she commented. "The bride is stepping on the water? Okay? Wait, something is happening," she continued.

"Something is good, the bride is summoning her hull! Those of you who have seen pictures or videos of a ship sinking may be able to envision it as the reverse of a sinking. A ship leaving the embrace of the endless ocean!" Quedagh Merchant explained. "We knew that some of the smaller girls could do it, but to see a venerable battlecruiser in all her majesty and splendor is still something else. Speed and firepower in one gracious package!" Quedagh Merchant waxed poetically.

"You haven't been possessed by the ghost of Jackie Fisher, have you?" Adventure Galley asked distrustfully.

"Oh, please. I'm reasonably sure they exorcised him completely by now. Though, stuffing the poor possessed girl into a Maus of all things?" Quedagh Merchant shot back.

"It's slow, heavily armored, army and German. Four things he hates. After all, using the Churchill didn't work out in the end, did it?" Adventure Galley gave back.

"Fair enough," Quedagh Merchant allowed.

"Now at the wedding, the guests are getting seated. Oh, those sour faces right at the back. Want to bet that's deliberate?" Adventure Galley commented.

"I am not that old and gullible," Quedagh Merchant chuckled.

"Curses, foiled again!" Adventure Galley grumbled. "Anyway, looks like we're getting ready for the flower girls. And yes, there they are," she reported.

"Sho cute!" Quedagh Merchant gushed. "Especially that little abyssal. Good Lord, I think I need a new pankreas!" she continued, fighting the urge to squee loudly.

"Fo fayf fou," Adventure Galley bantered. "I'pf los' a' my feef," she added, while sucking her lips over her teeth for extra speech impediment. "A' wotted apfay," she lamented.

Quedagh Merchant couldn't help herself and began laughing. "You look hilarious like that!" she said between guffaws.

Adventure Galley grinned. "Oh, looks like they had something special in mind. Destroyers with confetti cannons. Oh, hey, Cap'n. Taking notes?" she said.

Captain Kidd grinned. "Arrr!" the fairy shouted gleefully.

"Well, if we have another wedding, it looks like Cap'n Kidd has had new ideas," Adventure Galley said with a grin.

"And here comes the bride. Clad in one of these Japanese formal wear things, I'm sorry I don't remember the name, I will commit sudoku in repentance later, I promise, anyway, here is Haruna. Escorted by her sister Kongo in front of her and Hiei and Kirishima by her sides, who all seem determined that their sister reaches the altar safely. And my, she does look happy," Quedagh Merchant reported.

"And there is the bride," Adventure Galley piped up. "Led by Battleship Nagato, it's the spirit of the teaset of Nagato's son. Oh, that's some fine blade he's wearing there. Not much of a swordsman, though," she observed.

"He's what, ten?" Quedagh Merchant countered. "He's got a whole life before him to learn. Maybe should ask a few of the pirate girls at his school for pointers. Swordplay is well and dandy, but you generally want to know how to get the pointy bit into the squishy bit as quickly and deadly as possible," she mused. "Anyway, where the Japanese bride is wearing traditional Japanese clothing, the British bride is wearing a lacy dream with silver. It makes my fingers itch," she admitted.

"Down girl," Adventure Galley shot back. "Don't go around wanting to steal the wedding clothes of a bride whose bride outruns you by a considerable margin," she admonished. "That way lies a dance with the roper's daughter," she finished.

"I know," Quedagh Merchant sulked. "Anyway, looks like they're getting a Captain and an Admiral to join that ceremony," she observed. "Though, why they're standing with the bridesmaids and best man, wouldn't they officiate such a... BLISTERING BLUE BARNACLES!" the old pirate exploded. "They've really gone all out for this. That's an old uniform, this is an admiral from the war officiating the wedding of his girl and a teaset," she exclaimed.

"Not just that, according to a few comments I've managed to read, that other ghost is a Japanese prince. Not sure about his line to the throne, but with the Emperor himself being present, as well as an older Japanese prince, we can readily conclude that this wedding has Imperial approval. Now it's also clear why the captain and the admiral didn't officiate, they're leaving that to the more senior ranks," Adventure Galley explained.

"Also, does Nagato's rugrat really have an owl?" Quedagh Merchant asked.

"Looks like. Quite a majestic bird as well," Adventure Galley gave back.

"And we're off to the wedding. The couple is reaffirming their love for each other, reaffirming their will to stay together and their committment to each other," Quedagh Merchant reported.

"Well, boys and girls, we're officially setting sail! The rings have been exchanged and the bride has been kissed! We here at Radio Pirate wish the new couple fair sailing and always some booty to loot!" Adventure Galley exclaimed.

"Too true. Remind me, can we still send a wedding gift? Doubloons from New Spain and a few bottles of Rum, so they can make grog?" Quedagh Merchant wondered.

"I don't see why not. Also, stay tuned, because while the wedding is over, we're now getting to the fun part, the one that promises shenanigans. That's right, the reception is upon us. Stay tuned while we oil our throats," Adventure Galley promised.

Rammstein's Heirate Mich started playing and the two pirate ships turned to each other. "Well, let's grab some drinks, we're gonna be here a while," Quedagh Merchant finally said.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

As the cable car slowly ascended the ropeway, Harry glanced around the compartment at the various members of the group. Both Ginny and Astoria were pressed up against the glass looking at the scenery as they ascended the mountain. Susan, Daphne, and Tracy along with Neville were talking to themselves while the older members of their families were doing the same. 'Well, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.'

Unnoticed by him, Amisi was looking out the window with an awed look. Yes, she had seen quite a bit at the side of Percy since awakening in this strange time. From metal chariots that sped faster then horses, powered by burning naphtha, to massive towers that stretched towards the heavens themselves. Everything had made her thoughtful with each new thing. But this truly made her look around her in awe. A journey of hours to climb a mountain reduced to just minutes.

Breathtaking.

Soft mutters made her turn though and frown thoughtfully at her Pharaoh and the Sea Devil he was talking to. When she had first met her, the Devil was heading for her Pharaoh and, as his protector, she had stepped between them ready to defend against the monster. The Sea Devil, Supprin, had tensed up ready for a fight... a fight not to be as her Pharaoh stepped between them and had held up his hands to declare that neither of them would fight in his presence. Much to Amisi's shock, the Sea Devil had nodded and obeyed Percy. Truly, in that moment he proved his kinship to Ra by making a declaration and the world changing to obey it.

Moments later, when Percy had turned to her with a frown, she bowed to him while relaxing. Amisi was somewhat amused though by the confusion and the flustered look on his face at her words, translated by her "Fairy" to him. Even more so at how the Sea Devil had groaned and facepalmed. That night though, his mother had taken him aside when she had tried to sneak into his room to show her Pharaoh how much her words had affected her. His Matriarch had not been amused for some odd reason, and so Amisi had obeyed due to her being one of the elders, though she had not liked it. Something of which must have shown on her face as "Molly" had rolled her eyes skyward before muttering.

Oddly, the next morning, her Pharaoh's mother in this life had taken her aside and told her that she only cared under her roof. There was also an odd glint in said red haired woman's eyes when she told Amisi that perhaps though Percy could use something to relax upon his time in Hogwarts as it was his last year. The older woman had giggled at the look on her Pharaoh's father's face when she had given him a look that needed no explanation while asking if he remembered their Seventh Year. And how she had helped him when the stress had gotten too much.

Even now, Amisi smiled at the remembrance of that.

Turning away from her Pharaoh for the moment though, Amisi turned her attention back on their surroundings. Ooyodo had helped Percy by using the papyrus wall screen. Using light, she had projected an image that had shown Amisi first her homeland of Egypt. The Sunship had nodded as they slowly grew the area shown until it showed the whole of the Nile as well as the deserts. Oh, what she would not have given to have such a map in her time when she had served her Pharaoh in his first life.

And then, Ooyodo had continued increasing the area shown on the map until the ancient lands of Egypt had shrunk down to a small portion. The Great Sea that Amisi had known in the past was itself much smaller compared to the world then she had known. A great land to the north of the sea was explained as being Europe, with a large island off the coast, as big as Egypt at the least, being where her Pharaoh now lived.

But they had not stopped there and slowly increased the area shown on the Light Screen. Amisi's breath was taken away as one of the women she knew was to be her Pharaoh's wives showed her how large the world as it was known truly was. Land, far more land then she had known existed and great seas that could swallow the Nile's water as if it was a drop in the desert. Mountains that clawed at Nut's stomach, and caves that had to be close to where Ra went at night. However, more then that, she had pointed to the land that they were now in, called "Japan".

Ooyodo had explained some things, others which Amisi had picked up. To her bemusement, the Pharaohs of this land, called the "Emperor" was supposedly descended from the Sun God of this land! And said Sun God was a goddess, though she did not dismiss that idea. After all, this was as far from Egypt as possible so she kept an open mind at the time that different lands were ruled by different gods. Such a thing was not impossible after all as Egypt was created by the gods, but nothing said that Japan had been made by the ones she was familiar with.

Something that she was happy for as during the wedding, she had spotted a massive white jackal-like creature she was told was a wolf. It had amused her that the local Sun goddess had been disguised as such, but she simply bowed to the god. A fact that seemed to amuse the deity if her expression was anything to go by. And now, looking out the window, Amisi softly smiled and was happy. No matter what, there was so much to see in this time. The Sunship pulled away at the sound of her name from her Pharaoh's lips and knew the question even if the words still escaped her. He was asking if she was okay.

Her smile widened as she nodded before grabbing his arm and holding it close to her chest as she whispered into his ear. "{Indeed, my Pharaoh... As long as I am at your side, I shall be fine.}"

Granted, at least part of the reason that she was amused was due to the eyebrow twitching on the Sea Devil's face...

At the other side of the cable car, Harry turned his attention as Astoria spoke up. "Can I ask you a question, Potter?"

Lips twitching, Harry gave a chuckle. "Sure, go right on ahead. What question do you have?"

Frowning, Astoria ignored the look that her older sister was shooting her and pointed towards the form of Mount Fuji. "It's summer time, right? So why does the mountain have snow on it? I mean, with how warm it is out one would think that it would have melted all away..." She trailed off though at the disbelieving look on Harry's face. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

Only running his hands through his hair, Harry gave a small sigh. "Well... I thought that this was pretty known but guess not. Anyways, the reason why there's still some snow at the very top even though it's late July is because of Blood Week and what happened after."

There were confused nods from the other magicals outside of Ron and Percy at that while Warspite and Duke both gave nods. Glancing at the two red heads, Neville frowned. "Blood Week? What does Blood Week have to do with the amount of snow on the mountain?"

For several moments, Harry was quiet as he scratched his cheek. "Well... you know how many cities and stuff burned during Blood Week, right? There was also massive fires in California and the like that were set off." At the nods, he waved a hand and continued. "The amount of smoke that rose up into the air was enough that it caused a drop in temperature worldwide of a few degrees. It's sort of only just now that things have started to get back to normal."

Eyes widening, Susan boggled at him. "Wait, is that why it seemed like a few years back the winters were really, really cold? Because of the smoke and stuff in the air?"

Harry just nodded at that as he recalled lessons in school. "That's right, there was some worry for a bit there that the world could dip into a nuclear winter due to the smoke and dust in the air preventing sunlight from reaching the ground. But stuff is finally getting back to normal weather-wise, but you got some oddities like Fuji-San still having snow at the very peak well into July. Some other mountains that were losing their snowcap were saved by the temperature drop as well..." Internally, he frowned. 'Though from what some of the documentaries said, it's going to swing in the opposite way soon...'

Blinking, Neville just shook his head in disbelief before frowning. "Huh..."

Any further thoughts were stopped as the cable car reached their destination and they slowly plied out of it in order to take in the lookout. More then a few of the magicals though were thoughtful in regards to what they had just heard. It answered more then a few thoughts in their minds regarding how odd the weather was, though the adult Greengrasses decided to have a closer look at what they were just told. Just in case.

 

[darthcourt10]

RCNAnon

So, this just sorta popped out even if I did start with Ron and Warspite in mind. Hope you all enjoy it. This is of course supposed to be set during the night of the wedding. I also need a new name for this, since it's no longer just Ron and Warspite but that still needs work.

Ron, Warspite and Duke - One Long Night
----------

Duke had to admit that Warspite having gotten her hull fixed and therefore no longer needing a wheelchair to get around was only a good thing. Nobody deserved to be in such pain, certainly not her best friend. Even if it did mean that she did a lot more hurrying up, running around and generally following Warspite on "adventures" than she had previously.

Today however promised to be an exercise in endurance for poor Ron as the wedding continued into the night. He'd been holding up marvelously given how much of his time Warspite seemed to be interested in taking but even with most of their dancing being limited to basic moves and perhaps a turn or two it was clear he was running on empty. She'd stepped in a few times to slow things down and it looked like it might be time for another break for Ron.

As the song ended she stood from the table that the Weasleys had been using as a base of sorts throughout the night. Mrs. Weasley looked to her as she did so and gave her a small grin.

"Off to dance with my son again?" The Weasley matriarch had been introduced to her shortly after Ron had fixed Warspite and while she wouldn't say they'd "hit it off" it had gone much better than she'd initially hoped.

"Just giving him a bit of a break from Warspite's enthusiasm."

Mrs. Weasley gave her a measured look and then shook her head. "If you say so."

Duke made as if to ask what she meant by that but the redheaded woman simply waved her hand dismissively and reached for her drink. Duke shook her head and headed back to the floor.

Warspite was wearing a slimming white dress that was somewhat different than her normal wear, even if it was cut conservatively for the wedding. She certainly looked good in it, especially with the two nicely sized diamond stud earrings decorating her earlobes. Ron had given them to her the night before and Warspite had loved them from the moment she'd laid eyes on them, even if she had said Ron spent too much.

Her musings carried her to the point where Warpite saw her and stepped away from Ron even as a slow song began to play.

"I suppose you can have a turn." Warpite's smile was wide, even as Ron turned and gave her a nod.

"I..." Warspite placed a finger over Duke's lips and tugged at the red fabric of her dress down a bit, though Duke didn't see anything wrong with where it currently was.

"You two have fun!" With a wave Warspite walked off, leaving Duke to turn and face Ron, who gave her a tired looking smile.

"You look worn out." Duke took her hands and placed them around Ron's shoulders lightly, even as his settled on her hips.

"I'm ok." Ron flashed her a smile that had more acceptance than enthusiasm but it still had a bit of its normal sparkle.

"How many dances have you been going for now?" Duke gave Ron a bit of a gentle smile.

"I lost count." Ron's eyes drifted up to hers and then remained there as they spun around slowly. "Have I told you that you look lovely tonight yet?"

Duke felt herself blush slightly, despite the fact that Ron had indeed told her that she looked good… though he'd not used the word lovely yet.

"Not using those exact words but yes, you've mentioned it." Duke still found herself smiling at the compliment. She wasn't as used to dresses as Warspite, at least hers were a bit more functional with the tights underneath. The red number she wore at the moment hugged her in ways she wasn't quite sure of even now and her long blond hair was done up in an entirely too elaborate braid that Warspite and her fairies had helped with for over an hour. She had to admit it looked good but the time involved made her shake her head.

"Well good… cause you do." Ron smiled and his eyes closed somewhat even as they swayed back and forth.

Despite it being somewhat public and Ron having been dancing lead as best he could all night, Duke couldn't help but take pity on the boy and moved her hand to the back of his head. Ron didn't resist as his head pressed to her shoulder and she felt his body press to hers. She felt him relax somewhat as she took a bit of pressure off of his tired legs.

Looking around it seemed that she'd picked an appropriate song for it at least, as there were a number of other couples in similar….

Duke felt herself flush somewhat as Ron and her continued to spin around together, the soft music seeming to go on for quite some time. As it ended she found Ron still leaning against her, making her wonder if he'd fallen asleep on his feet.

"Ron?" She kept her voice quiet, not wanting to wake him if he had indeed fallen asleep.

"Mmm?" Though he responded, he made no move to leave his position against her.

"The music stopped, I think you should go sit down for a bit." Duke kept her hand against his head so he didn't fall.

"I suppose. You're still really comfy though." Duke felt herself warm even as Ron pulled his head away. Ron did his best to escort her properly but she found him leaning against her more than would have strictly been necessary had he not been exhausted.

At their approach to the table she found Warspite and Mrs. Weasley in conversation with their heads together. They spotted the two of them returning and they both sprouted smiles. Warspite's was wider and clearly more excited, while Mrs. Weasley seemed more relieved.

"It looks like you wore him out." Warspite pulled out Ron's chair while Duke let him settle in.

"You wore him out, I just had to carry him back." Duke sniffed somewhat, even as Ron settled into his chair and almost immediately began drifting again, his head settling onto Warspite's shoulder even as Duke pulled up her chair on the other side of him. Warspite's hand drifted to Ron's mop of read hair, stroking it idly.

"Between the two of you he hasn't been off of his feet for more than half an hour in the last five." Mrs. Weasley spoke with the tone of somebody who knew they'd kept track of things correctly.

"Was it really that long? I suppose I lost track of time." Warspite managed to sound chagrined, even if she was still softly patting Ron's head. Duke felt herself shake her head as well.

"I apologize, we should have realized."

"Yes, you should have." Mrs. Weasley's voice was not harsh but it was tempered with the voice of a mother. "I have a pretty good idea what's going on between you three, given that the same is happening to Percy with Ms. Ooyodo, Supprin and now this Amisi."

Her eyes went to Warspite's and then Dukes, daring them to deny it. Neither of them tried, Warspite even smiled.

"I think you know exactly what's going on Molly." Warspite's voice was soft, barely carrying over the general merrymaking around them.

"Of course I do, I'm his mother." Mrs. Weasley managed a smile then. "You've been very good for him Warspite, I've said as much before." Her gaze swiveled over to Duke. "You're his next project by the way, I've already found him passed out on a different set of blueprints than hers." Her head nodded towards Warspite. Duke found herself going nearly scarlet, while Warspite's cheeks filled out.

There was silence for a few second as Molly looked between them.

"That being said, I can tell both of you truly do care about him. So all I ask is you take it easy on him. He's only thirteen and you're both battleships. I think tonight proves my point."

Duke looked at Ron, who was clearly asleep at the moment and nodded to Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes, it does."

"Very well, then I have nothing more to say on the matter." Mrs. Weasley paused for a moment and then smiled. "Oh, except for one more thing. I do expect to meet your mother at some point, so don't keep me waiting."

Duke looked to Warspite and both of them felt a chill go down their spines at the mere thought of Dreadnought and Mrs. Weasley in the same room. Not that they could or would ever refuse.

"Of course." Duke and Warspite replied nearly simultaneously.

"Good." Mrs. Weasley ended the conversation with a smile and a sip of her glass.

Duke took a moment to turn and look at Ron, who had the faintest smile on his face. That was worth any number of meetings between mothers.

 

[darthcourt10]

dan-heron

Continuing the totally normal day of a normal Abyssal, Suiren the former Supply Depot Princess, following up this bit Harry And The Shipgirls: Prisoner of Shipping (A HP/KanColle Snippet Collection) | Page 123

== == ==

Taking a few moments to make sure Sur didn't forget anything, Suiren sighed to herself and then froze right before an arm wrapped around her slim shoulders, pulling her into a mighty strong grip.

"Suiren, what are you doing this weekend?" inquired a cheerful voice and Suiren groaned in defeat.

"What do you ask for?" she shot back, glaring at the person holding her tight with a single arm.

A smile greeted her in return. "I was thinking some good old karaoke fun," came the cheeky reply. Suiren glared harder. "Actual harmless karaoke fun, no Hime inviting Mutsu and Nagato into our booth. Again."

Suiren's glare melted down to frown levels and she sighed again. "Put me down, Rio." A rich chuckle filled the air and Suiren easily dropped back to the ground.

The white haired Abyssal dusted her shoulder in faux annoyance, glaring at the person who could pass for a handsome girl or a pretty boy, and enough muscle tone to land in the middle by the usual Human standards. The Heavy Cruiser looked at her expectantly, like a big puppy ready to pounce at the first chance of playing and Suiren was definitely not going to give her one. "So?"

Suiren's eyebrow raised in silence behind her glasses.

"Come on, it's been ages since we last hanged out. Wanna eat out? I heard there's an important wedding soon, let's take a look! Or maybe you could make a dress for it!"

"I would rather just stay home," Suiren's reply lacked any heat and Rio sighed in defeat. Damn, how could a girl her size be that adorable? "Where are you going?" she asked quickly, hoping to get Rio to change her disappointed expression.

"On a date!"

"Date or date?" Suiren inquired. It wouldn't surprise her if somebody had managed to catch Rio's interest considering all the people and things she ended up helping through the years. That oni certainly was still trying to find her way into her friends heart.

Rio chuckled "I'm playing boyfriend first and then I'm looking over a group of girls who are going for a "wild night" around the city. I'll probably stop by the clubs depending of when the girls decide to call it quits, if they do anyway," the taller girl shrugged easily.

Suiren nodded, it seemed the two troublemakers would spend the night out, which was always a nice time to stream. Not that she ever stopped the stream. Less risk of barely clad ladies trying to sneak into her room while the innocent camera was on.

Still... "Hey, Rio?"

"Yep?"

"The shipgirls are streaming the wedding, so I could set something up and we all can watch it together, just eat and drink while we watch the brides trip on their dresses or something." Suiren fixed her glasses, pretending to not notice the pleased smile on Rio's face.

"You'll let your watchers see us?" Rio asked with a teasing smile. "I thought that would ruin the lore of your channel."

"Bunch of girls put together, I'm sure they will understand," Suiren couldn't help chuckling at that.

"I'll let Sur know she has to take the day off then," Rio waved good-bye and turned around, walking with that confidence that attracted so many to her.

"Hey, bring me some bento or some ramen when you come back! The good stuff!" she shouted and Rio turned around, walking backwards without missing a step, and gave Suiren a salute before reorienting herself.

"I guess taking one day off won't be so bad," Suiren murmured before making her way into their home.

== == ==

Rio, the Ri-class heavy cruiser, similarly to Sur, she also goes around doing stuff for people most of the time, but she tends to have a bit more of a plan rather than tackle things as they come. Just a bit more, tho. Like the other type of Yakuza protagonist, who actually has a job they are supposed to be doing, they just get distracted by the side-stories

Usually working as a rent-a-boyfriend/girlfriend, and making sure people don't cross the line on the clubs/bars she hangs around

This may have caused many people and beings to get a bit of crush on her

The Karaoke bit is partly inspired by this image by Torinitea

torini_tea:
listening to the karaoke delivery

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Harry glanced to where Ron was seated between Warspite and Duke, taking some of the pressure off his feet. Both girls were quietly talking with him and the black haired boy could very easily guess what it was that was being said. After all, he had noticed that morning that Ron's feet were likely hurting him. Thankfully for Harry, as soon as he had gotten home from the wedding he had placed his feet into a bucket filled with repair fluid. Something that had made sure that his feet did not really ache all that much.

Meanwhile, Ron needed to deal with the issue in other ways.

Looking away from his friend, Harry looked out towards the impressive sight of Mount Fuji rising upwards from the surroundings. With a small smile on his face, he turned to where Tracy and Susan were both looking towards the mountain. "So? What do you think?"

Slowly shaking her head, Susan gave him a small grin. "Well, it's a lot more impressive in real life then seeing it in some book."

Before Harry could say anything though, movement on his other side made him look over at Daphne. The Slytherin was also staring at the mountain in some awe before turning to him. "Nothing like that back in Britain, that is for sure." Eyebrow raising, she gave Harry a look. "Tell me something for a moment, have you ever considered climbing the mountain?"

Head tilted to the side, Harry considered the question before nodding. "Actually? I have." Using a finger, he trailed along the side of the mountain in his sight. "Hundreds of thousands climb Fuji-San each year, usually along the four main routes. Subashiri, Fujinomiya, Gotemba, and finally, Yoshida. But there are also the Shojiko, Suyama, and Murayama routes. A lot of people try to make for the summit in time for goraikō, the coming of light when dawn breaks over Japan."

Eyebrow raising, Tracy stared at him. "Wait, they try for the summit to make it by the time dawn breaks? So do they sleep up there or what?"

Much to her surprise, the black haired boy shook his head, none of them realizing that the rest of the group are listening in. "No, because there's no camping allowed above the Fifth Stations for the routes. Fujimiya is the highest one at about 2,400 meters." Scratching his chin, Harry frowned as he thought back to what he had been taught. "There's huts along the routes above there where one can rest and it takes about four to six hours at times between the Fifth Stations and the summit."

Their eyes wide, they turn to the distant mountain and stare. Each of them tried to imagine climbing the mountain in the darkness and predawn light. Neville only shook his head in disbelief. "No offense Harry, but you're welcome to that."

While said boy laughed, Susan tilted her head. "But you want to do that? To climb the mountain?"

Calming down some, Harry gave a nod. "Yup, Natsumi-Chan and I want to try and perform it together some time at least once." Winking, the black haired boy continued. "An old saying here in Japan is that a wise man climbs Fuji-San once, only a fool does it twice." Leaning against the post, he tilted his head to the side. "Part of the issue is if we want to go up one of the non-magical routes. They got the good point of being well travelled after all, even the less used ones. And the different stations have stamps that are placed onto the staves that you use as you come up the side the mountain. Alternative we could try to climb the Tsuki e no jōshō magical route."
Only furrowing her eyebrows, Tracy scratched her head. "Which route is that?"

Lips curling a bit, Harry's eyes trailed along the mountain's side. "It's the only magical route on the mountain and translated, it means 'Ascent to the Moon'. And it is connected to the story of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter..." Telling the story, the wizard noticed the rest of the group listening and, upon ending it, he pointed at Mount Fuji. "Now, Fuji-San is that mountain and it is said that the Tsuki e no jōshō route is the very same one that the Emperor's retainers took. It is hidden by magic on the way up the mountain and some of the Onmyouji clans took care of it... though they have mostly died out."

For several moments, Daphne stared at him. "Leaving beside all the rest of the story, there is one thing that I have to say. That Emperor was rather stupid to have an elixer that could gift immortality destroyed. He could have taken it and lived forever."

Humming, Harry continued to gaze at the mountain. "But was it stupid? Consider for a moment what happened to Kaguya-Hime. Perhaps he was more wise then one would think as he would need to sever attachments in such a case." About to say something, Daphne noticed a twinkle in his eye and stopped. "And who is to say that the Elixer of Immortality was destroyed?"

Utter silence met him before as one they turned to the mountain, Ginny speaking up. "You mean to tell me, Harry... that it might not have been destroyed?!"

With a shrug, Harry shook his head. "Who knows? There's tales and legends on the magical side that state that it was rather hidden on the mountain somewhere, most likely along the Tsuki e no jōshō route. Others say that it was given into the protection of Konohanasakuya-Hime, waiting for someone she saw as being worthy of it. A few more... state that Kaguya-Hime herself came down that night and took it back. There are people who spent decades hunting around the volcanic stone that makes up the mountain after all."

Neville frowned some as he rolled that thought around in his head before dismissing it. After all, it was just a story. Princess of the Moon? An Elixer of Immortality? 'Heh, it's about as likely to be true as the Tale of the Three Deathly Hollows...'

Meanwhile, Astoria focused on another part. "Konohanasakuya-Hime? Who is that now?"

Smiling slightly, Harry gestured towards Mount Fuji. "According to Shinto belief, she is the Kami of Fuji-San and several other volcanoes around Japan. The Great-Grandfather to Emperor Jimmu, the first Japanese Emperor and the son of Amterasu is her husband. Ninigi-no-Mikoto had been sent to pacify Japan due to the chaos that the Kami could see and met her at the seashore and fell in love. So he asked her father, Ōyamatsumi the Kami of Mountains, if he could have her hand in marriage. Ōyamatsumi tried to offer the hand of his other daughter, Iwa-Naga-Hime instead. But Ninigi would have no other and so the two were wed. But it is because he chose Konohanasakuya-Hime that humans experience brief lives, like the sakura blossoms for which she is named, instead of long, durable ones like mountain stones for which Iwa-Naga-Hime was named."

Eyes wide, Ginny looked between him and the mountain. "Oh wow... Is there any other stories about her?"

Finger tapping the post, Harry consided the question before nodding. "Fuji-San was not always the tallest mountain in all of Japan. Once, long ago, there was an even taller mountain. One far more impressive then Fuji-San. This angered Konohanasakuya-Hime and she tore down the entire mountain so that Fuji-San would be the tallest! Its remains now make up the Yatsugatake Mountains." Raising a finger, he continued. "What is interesting is that the Yatsugatake Mountains are older then Fuji-San and have worn away while Fuji-San grew here over tens of thousands of years."

Head tilted to the side, Percy shook his head. "So a grain of truth to the story, even if not in the way that one would think." As Harry gave a nod, Percy frowned in thought. "There was something else though, in one of the guidebooks about another Kami on the mountain?"

Blinking, Harry grinned. "Yes, that would be Kuninotokotachi, one of the three first Kami, and one of two who came from something like a reed that arose from the chaos that formed the Earth. Eventually, Kuninotokotachi would come to hide upon Fuji-San, or so the legends go anyways."

Somewhat intrigued, Daphne's mother gave Harry a look. "You seem to know quite a bit about Japanese mythology. May I ask how?"

As he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, Harry gave a sheepish grin. "Growing up on base I did a lot of reading at times. When Natsumi-Chan moved in with Haru-San, and I started hanging out there, I heard all sorts of the old stories and such. It's always been pretty neat to be honest."

Daphne's mother simply nodded at that in thought.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Walking into the gift shop, Harry glanced around at the various members of the group going through the items on sale. In his hands was a tray with several cups filled with liquid as he watched them. Somewhat amused, the wizard closed one eye and then opened it with the iris glowing softly as he began to look around. 'Nope, no magic...'

Suddenly, Harry trailed off as his gaze fell onto the owner of the shop. The seemingly young woman with pink hair and green eyes had a kimono on as she stood behind the cash register. But more importantly though was that Harry could see that while she appeared so, that was only part of the story. Then the owner turned and smirked at him before winking. "See anything that you like. Harry-San?"

Eyebrow raised, Harry cut off the magic and just gave her a look. All she did though was lean against her countertop. Then the black haired boy shrugged and chuckled. "Maybe some chocolate actually."

If anything, the woman's smirk became a grin. "The chocolate Fuji-San is good, especially the ones with the icing. And we have good prices for them."

His eyebrow raising still further, Harry tilted his head to the side. "Should you even be here? I mean, a gift shop? Really?"

Giggling softly, the woman shrugged some. "Is there a reason why I shouldn't be? For one thing, it is much more comfortable then up on the mountain. And for another?" She pointed to where Molly was looking at a decorative plate. "Worship comes in all forms. This is just another form of it."

Lips curled, Harry shook his head. "And let me guess, this shop is closed every October?" At her grin, he chuckled himself. "Well, I'll see about those chocolates later, 'Kono-San'." In reply to that, the woman only giggled as Harry walked off towards the rest of the group. Reaching Susan, he tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey."

With a slight jump, Susan turned and gave him a glare. "Harry!" With a huff, she shook her head. "You scared me."

Somewhat amused, Harry snickered only to shake his head at her glare. "Sorry, didn't realize that you were so into what you were looking at."

Tracy suddenly spoke up from where she made her way over with Daphne. "Well, considering all this stuff here that we could buy? Can you really blame us?" She then noticed what Harry had and leaned in. "What are those?"

Glancing at the cups, Harry grinned. "I thought that we were all getting thirsty so I brought some drinks." He then gestured with his head at them. "So I went and got some bubble tea."

Needless to say, the three girls stared at him and then at what he was holding. Then they turned their stares back onto him. "Bubble tea?"

Head tilting to the side, Susan took one of them and looked at the black dots at the bottom. "Is it because of... whatever those things at the bottom is? I mean, they sort of look like bubbles."

Just shaking his head, Harry held them up. "Actually, the name refers to milk tea. It froths when one shakes it, hence the name 'Bubble tea'. The stuff at the bottom is tapioca pearls, they're sort of chewy and these ones have a bit of juice inside the pearls."

Taking a green one, Daphne raised an eyebrow. "And these are popular here in Japan?" At the nod, she looked it over. "So I take it that these are flavored teas?"

Only nodding, Harry smiled a bit. "Yeah, they are. That one is a melon one, which is pretty good. If you drink it though, just be a bit careful because the pearls will come up the straw. But they're some of the best part."

A frown on her face, Daphne brought the straw to her lips and took some sips before pausing and chewing. Then she raised an eyebrow and nodded with a small frown. "I will admit that it is a bit... different. Not bad, but different." With another sip, she gave a hum. "It is somewhat nice though considering how warm it is outside."

Shaking her head, Tracy took a pinkish one and sipped it before smiling. "I could like this actually." The Slytherin then turned and nodded towards a picture. "I was thinking of buying that one there."

Interested, they all turned to look and Susan raised an eyebrow as Ginny and Astoria came over to take some drinks. Said picture had Mount Fuji and a large wave. "I was actually wondering about that." At the looks, she shrugged. "I've seen it all over the place in here."

While sipping his own drink, Harry gestured at the picture. "That would be 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' and is considered one of the greatest pieces of Japanese art." At the looks, he shrugged. "I have a reproduction myself back home. As to the picture? It's famous all around the world."

Considering the picture, Daphne slowly nodded before pointing her straw at it. "Well, I agree with Tracy, that is a nice picture and would look nice." Around her were various nods. "And tomorrow we're heading to Tokyo to do some shopping, right?"

Harry gave a small smile at that. "That would be the plan. And that time Mum is going to be coming along with us."

At the same time, Ginny was looking around in thought. "By the way, um, Harry? Where's Ron? And Warspite as well as Duke?"

In reply, Harry pointed out the door. "They're outside with Ron sitting down. His feet are killing him right now."

Lips twitching, Susan snorted softly. "Considering how much those three were dancing together at the wedding? Its no wonder his feet are still aching..." She then gained a small frown. "Do you think that he'll be okay tomorrow for the shopping trip?"

Everyone looked at each other before shrugging.

Before they left though, Harry did buy some of the chocolates and got a grin from the owner of the shop as well as a wink.
_______________________________________________________________________

The day after the trip and on an isolated island in the Bering Sea off Kamchatka, Northern Water Princess stood on the rocky shores of her island. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath before letting it out as the Sun slowly rose above the horizon. Then opening her eyes, the Abyssal Princess nodded as she glanced at her sisters and their combined fleets. "It is... time for us... to leave."

Sunny came to a stop beside her and looked out towards the ocean with a small nod. "Yes, but we're ready for this. And soon, we'll get to see mother again! She's alive!"

More then one of them blinked bloody tears away from their eyes as they stared out. The Isolated Island Princess giving a small frown. "Well, we're all stocked up on supplies for this at least. So we won't need to worry too much about it. But..." Eyebrows furrowing, she looked at her fellow Princesses and Demons. "It's going to be a long trip."

Lips curling, the Airfield Demon shook her head. "But worth it as well. Though, um..." Scratching her cheek, she blushed. "It's going to take us a while as some of us aren't exactly quick. And we need to keep a close eye out for shipgirls to talk to them."

Only nodding, Northern Water Princess continued to stare out at the waves before turning to the group behind the fleets. "It is of... no trouble as... we will all... meet Mother. And to meet... the humans and... shipgirls."

However, the Submarine Princess gestured behind them. "Not all of us though."

Blinking, Northern Water Princess turned and looked at the group of Abyssals standing back. Each of them had been chosen from the various fleets to keep an eye on the island just in case. There would be some Submarines hanging back to provide a relay back to the island they were on. Mainly so that if something was to happen, it would not be a mystery. And if the combined fleet was attacked and sunk? Then they would know better and hide even further. It would also make sure that their mother's legacy would continue. "You all... understand what... you must do if... the worst comes... to pass."

Ruadari only nodded and bowed. "Don't worry about us, Tanith. We'll be fine no matter what, you all just be careful and make sure that you come back, okay? That is what is important."

Softly smiling, Tanith gave a small nod. "Understood."

Turning, she then stepped onto the water as did the others before they slowly made their way from the island. All of them having locked in the destination they had in mind. Thousands of miles away...

Kushiro, Japan on the island of Hokkaido.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing at the waterfront of Yokosuka, Neville was frowning as he was looking out at the harbour. Around him, he could see various people taking pictures of two ships out on the water. Turning to Harry, who was recording it, the young wizard frowned. "Um, Mate? What's the big deal with those ships?"

Much to his surprise though, it was not Harry who answered but Ron. Said boy was taking a picture himself of the ships. "That's because those are the two newest ships in the JMSDF, the JS Fubuki and the JS Izumo, right?"

Harry slowly nodded as he brought down his phone and began to post the video. "Yeah, they're taking them both out for sea trials. That's why Fubuki-Nee as well as Yuudachi-Nee and Mutsuki-Nee are there alongside Kana-San and Izumo-Oba." Looking where Harry was pointing, Neville could just see the shipgirls mentioned. "They're sticking to the harbour and Tokyo Bay, but they're going to be putting them through their paces."

Joining them, Daphne watched as helicopters began to land on the Izumo with a small frown. "Isn't that an Aircraft Carrier though?"

Only waggling his hand side to side, Harry shrugged. "Kind of? The Izumo and her sister ship, the JS Kaga are Helicopter Carriers. There was a sort of big fight over whether to have them use fixed wing or not when they were laid down in 2010 and it was decided to stick with just normal helicopters and Ospreys for now. The JS Houshou is a Flight II version though and from what I heard will be operating Harrier IIIs off it until the first F-35s come off the line for Japan. She's going to be the first actual Aircraft Carrier that Japan has had since the war."

Eyebrows furrowing, Daphne frowned and looked at him. "Why would there be a fight over it though."

Sucking his teeth, the black haired boy tilted his head for several moments. "It's... complicated and pretty political. Long story short? People here in Asia have long memories and there were some people up in arms. United Korea was one and so was Taiwan to some extent, though considering that Taiwan was allowed to buy F-2s soon after and quieted down about it..." He shrugged and shook his head. "We would be here all day if I was to go on about it."

Daphne had a thoughtful look on her face as they continued to watch as the ships made their way along, shipgirls alongside. It was then that Cyrus walked over and came to a stop behind them. "Politics normally do take that long to make a sensible explanation for, I'm afraid. But I do wonder something, if I may ask, Mister Potter?" At Harry's nod, he continued. "I've heard that the Fubuki uses nuclear fusion?"

Confused, Susan joined the conversation at that point. "Wait, actual nuclear fusion? As in what powers the Sun and stars?"

Nodding, Harry gave a small hum. "Well, yes? Non-magicals have cracked it. I know that Kyushu is building a fusion power plant and there's another one being built in Hokkaido. Pretty sure that there's a number being built in the US and I know that Canada has started on one in their oil sands. Something about using the excess steam generated to get more oil from it which is being shipped elsewhere. Britain and Ireland are also starting on building their own and so is Germany."

Eyes wide, Daphne stared at him. "Correct me if I am wrong, but... isn't that rather big?"

A smirk on his face, Harry gave a small nod. "Very big." He then frowned some. "Especially here in Japan. Sure, they started up the old coal mines for coal gassification and getting coalbed methane from them for fuel, but this is a pretty big step forward..."

Elsewhere in Yokosuka, Hiei threw her arms out wide. "Okay, time to head back home." Twirling in place, she fixed Jane with a grin. "You already say goodbye to Harry?"

Jane only nodded some as she looked towards where the Fubuki and Izumo were heading out. "Yup! Said goodbye to him before he left."

Meanwhile, Mutsu sighed and looked at John with a roll of her eyes. "Don't tell me that you're still angry over what happened."

The Admiral just fixed her and Arizona with a look. Said American Standard only gave him a look back as his rolled off her body like handgun bullets against her armor belt. "Considering what you did, that is the least of what you deserve."

Grumbling, John held back a shudder. "No one deserves that. No one." He then looked around with a sigh. "Hiei, what are we doing here?"

Hands behind her back, Hiei grinned some as she thrust out her chest. "Well, I have a surprise for you, John~" Then she winked some. "And it should make up some for what happened with Onee-Sama."

Merely crossing his arms, John frowned at her. "I very much doubt that, Hiei." When she opened her mouth though, the American waved him on. "But go ahead."

Smile softening into something else, Hiei just nodded. While he was married to Mutsu, the two of them were extremely close and could easily read each other. Hiei could still remember people asking why she had not married him, which she just shrugged off. After all, none of them were actually competing with each other. Though she did wonder about the odd glint in Jane's eyes whenever she overheard such comments...

Just shaking that off, Hiei hopped off the side of the dock into the water before looking up at the others as she drifted away slightly. Her family outside her fellow Kongou sisters. "Well, we're heading home a slightly different way, John."

When she spread her arms out and the water began to bubble around her, John's eyes widened and Jane gave a squeal. Moments later, Hiei's hull burst from the water and soon she extended a plank down to the dock. Walking up it, John came to a stop and saluted her. "Permission to come on board, Hiei?"

All Hiei did was give him a smile and a jaunty salute back. "Anytime you want, John. You are always welcome on my hull and so is Jane." Her expression softened and there was something there that gave Jane a feeling that she knew what it meant even as Mutsu winked at John. "Anytime you want."

Flushed some, John gave a small cough while ignoring Jintsuu snickering and Arizona rolling her eyes. 'Dammit, Hiei.' Ignoring the twinkle in the Kongou's eyes, he stepped on board and looked around with some awe on his face. Sure, when he was younger he had visited some of the US Musuem Battleships. But this was different from that, they were static and anchored, never to sail again. Hiei's hull though? He could feel the rumble of her boilers down below and as Jintsuu stepped onboard, the gangplank was pulled back and he could see some of the Tugboatgirls now pushing Hiei's hull out into the harbor. Moments later, John could almost feel her screws as they began to turn under the water. "I have to admit, this almost makes up for it..."

Lips curled upwards, Hiei let out a laugh. "Well, we're only starting!" It did not take them long to reach the harbor proper and the Kongou could see various people taking pictures and video of her making steam as the group entered her Bridge. Once she got far enough out though, she grinned. "Okay!"

Having spotted the expression on her face, John's face paled some. "Hiei..."

The Kongou just waved him off though. "Don't worry about it, both you and Jane are safe as is everyone else." Expression becoming stern, she took a deep breath. "I would never hurt either of you... Now just stand back and watch." Holding up one hand, the Battleship brought it down. "FIRE!"

Outside, each of her cannons fired a shot, blanks of course. And they continued out into the sea. Coming to a stop in front of her bridge windows, John only shook his head. "So we're going to be heading down to Sasebo like this the whole way? And what about our car?"

Jintsuu chuckled some and came to a stop beside him. "One of your aides is driving it back to Sasebo. And yes, Hiei is going to carry us all the way back home."

Bouncing around the bridge, Jane could see Hiei's ghostly crew watching her with fondness. "Oh wow! This is so cool!" Quickly spinning, she fixed her other "Mamas" with a look. "Are any of you close to summoning your hulls?"

Simply coughing into her fist, Arizona gave a small nod. "I am rather close, Jane. Though when I do... there is some place that I need to be."

Only nodding, John gave her a small smile. "And you have my permission when it comes time to do so."

As the American Battleship nodded with a grateful smile, Mutsu gave a small shrug while placing a hand over her stomach. "I would have been able to, but I decided not to undergo the work as I was not sure how it would affect the little ones. But give me a year and I'll probably be able to do it like Onee-San is able to."

Eyes wide, Jane stared at her. "Wait, Aunt Nagato is able to do it? Really?"

Raising one finger, Mutsu gave a wink and a smile. "Well, if not now then she is close. I am sure though that she wants Harry to be the first one to be on board her hull at the moment."

When they looked at her, Jintsuu shrugged some. "I'm getting close, though a bit further then what Mutsu would be. Give another year and I'll have it." She smiled slightly. "Then I'll take you all on a cruise of the Inland Sea." A moment later though, the Cruiser blinked. 'I wonder what that grin on Jane's face is about though...?'

Hiei coughing though made them turn and the eyes of the shipgirls all widened at the book in the Battleship's hands. Then their expressions softened when the Kongou looked at them and nodded. With a deep breath, Hiei then turned to the Richardsons before producing a pen. "John? Jane? I... I have something to ask of the both of you..."

It took a few moments for John to recognize the book and his eyes shot up to look in Hiei's. "Is that your crew manifest, Hiei?"

Taking a deep breath, Hiei gave a small nod. "Hai, it is. I... I want both you and Jane to sign it." With a swallow, she gazed into his eyes. "Please, John."

For several seconds, John didn't do anything even as he thought back to everything that the two had gone through. How Hiei had been there for him during the dark days after Blood Week when him and Jane had been stranded in Japan after the near destruction of the Seventh Fleet. And later being beside him when he became head of the US Shipgirl Program based in Sasebo, working alongside the JMSDF. As well, a memory of a discussion that Mutsu had brought up to him months back, shortly after their own wedding.

Both of them had been in their bed cuddled up with each other when Mutsu had leaned into him. She had then outright asked him if he could have seen himself with Hiei, Jintsuu, or even Arizona if he had chosen another. At the time, John had panicked and sputtered something until the Nagato class Battleship had placed her finger against his lips. "John? I'm being serious. I've seen you with each of them since they joined our family, though I came here after Hiei had come here. Be truthful."

Gazing into her eyes, he could find nothing there that hinted at jealousy. Nor was there any sort of feeling that would be negative except for pure love. At that moment, John was struck with the realization that Mutsu had simply wanted to know for a reason that still eluded him.

And so, he gave her an answer that made her gain a secret smile.

Back in the present day, John could see that same smile on his wife's face. Turning back to Hiei, he gave a small nod. "It would be my honor, Hiei."

Just behind him, Jane nodded rapidly. "I would love to sign your crew manifest, Hiei-Mama!"

Tears dripping down her cheeks, Hiei presented the manifest to John and he opened it. Pages upon pages of names were listed there of sailors who had served upon her as well as their ranks and positions. Eventually, he came to the end and there were blank pages there with him signing his name before looking up at her. "What do you want me to sign, Hiei?"

Smiling brilliantly, Hiei shook her head. "Sign yourself in as an Admiral, John. Because you are my Admiral."

Only nodding, John did so with a flourish. Perhaps it was unneeded, be he felt otherwise. Then, he watched as Jane signed her own name with an Ensign as her rank. At that moment, he felt something change a little in the air. What it was, John didn't know, but simply smiled as Hiei held the manifest close to her body, protecting it. Stepping forward, he embraced her as did Jane as Hiei let out a sob and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Their hug was soon joined by the others and when John looked at Mutsu, she gave him a smile that told him he had made the right decision.

When they broke apart, they all turned and gazed out the windows at the calm, blue sea for some time before Hiei took them on a tour of her hull.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Stretching some, Natsumi looked over at the others following her with a small smile. There was one girl that she was looking at in particular. "Thanks for coming over, Asuka-San. Hopefully our study group can help you get caught up fast."

The daitengu flushed slightly before nodding. "I'm just happy that you all don't mind accepting me into your study group." Internally though, she was screaming at how she had somehow joined a group of the most important Yokai children in the district. 'What are you doing!? Stop that! Asuka, stop!'

Not knowing what was going through Asuka's mind, Usagi gave a small smile. "Of course we don't! Besides, the more the merrier!"

Riko threw an arm around Asuka's shoulders which made her yelp in surprise. "And also, us Yokai have to stick together, you know? We're the only ones of our age group really in the area unless you count the elementary students."

When Natsumi softly snickered, they turned to her and she gave a large grin. "I'm just remembering Asuka-San's reaction to meeting Hoppou that one time."

Blushing, Asuka softly groaned. "It was an Abyssal Princess! In an elementary school uniform! And it did not help that she jumped onto you while shouting your name!"

All the kitsune did though was shrug and grin. "True, but I'm used to it. And your expression was hilarious!"

Moments later though, she squirmed some as Kenta poked her in the side. "Enough, Natsumi-Chan. Not all of us are as used to things like that as you." Eyes rolling, he shook his head. "Some of the things that you get involved with."

Confused, Natsumi gave a blink. "What do you mean? The stuff that Oba-Chan keeps getting me involved in?"

Only giving her a look, Usagi snorted. "I think that Kenta-Kun means the shipgirl shenanigans." Turning towards Asuka, she gave a stage whisper. "Not just the pranks and stuff, but also cuddlepiles when sleeping."

Lost, Asuka looked between each of them even as Natsumi grumbled. "Cuddle... piles?"

The others shared a look before Riko coughed into her fist. Hands in his pants pockets, Kenta shook his head. "It's exactly how it sounds like. Imagine a bunch of shipgirls sleeping all cuddled together into a pile." Jerking his thumb at a blushing Natsumi, he continued. "We had a sleepover some months back when we saw Natsumi-Chan here in one. Harry-San was also in said cuddle and up against Natsumi-Chan."

Slowly blinking, Asuka stared at him before giving Natsumi a blank stare. "... You were sleeping in a pile of shipgirls? With Potter Harry-San...?"

Cheeks red, Natsumi scratched her head. "Well, yes?" At the look, her flush deepened and she looked away as she waved her hands in the air. "You got no idea just how comfortable a cuddlepile is! And I've been in them with Harry-Chan for years, so it doesn't mean anything there!" Then the kitsune sighed and hung her head. "They've ruined me."

Ayaka snorted and crossed her arms before smirking. "Comfortable, hmm? Well, Natsumi-San, you certainly looked comfortable when you were using that Battleship's chest for pillows alongside Harry-San. Not that she was complaining..."

Eyes wide, Asuka just kept looking between Natsumi who was giving a glare to Ayaka, and the inugami in question. 'I... what? Cuddlepiles... Battleship chests!? Just, what?!'

Just as she was about to say something as they reached the front door to her aunt's house, Natsumi stopped and took several sniffs. Having noted that, the other ones did as well and their eyes widened slightly. Already feeling her mouth water, Riko wiped a bit at her lips. "What is that...?"

Frowning, Asuka also took a sniff but unlike the others, her sense of smell was not as sharp. But just the same, she could smell something delicious wafting in the air as well as the sharpness of spice. Like the others, the teen licked her lips. "That smells pretty good..." Trailing off, she blinked at the sight of Natsumi grinning. "Natsumi-San?"

Only chuckling, Natsumi shook her head. "That would be the devil that we spoke of." At the blank looks, she raised an eyebrow. "English idiom, you know? 'Speak of the Devil and he will appear'?"

His eyebrow raising, Kenta scratched his head. "Okay? I mean, is that really..." At the nod, he blinked. "Huh."

Still somewhat confused, Asuka looked between the two before tilting her head to the side. Upon entering, all of them left their shoes behind and put their feet into the slippers there. Another thing that happened was that the others all dropped their disguises and allowed their ears and tails to pop out. Which caused the daitengu's eyes to once more drift to the two tails that trailed from Natsumi. She would more then admit to being curious as to why she had more then one tail when as far as she knew, kitsune only gained tails with age.

Maybe ask Ai and the others when they got home?

Then they entered the kitchen area of the home and those thoughts were shelved as she found the source of said mouthwatering smell. Because there at the stove and checking a pot was a shipgirl, one that Asuka recognized from television though she didn't know their name. Much to her surprise, Natsumi walked over and gave said shipgirl a large hug around her middle that best that the kitsune could manage. "Louisiana! What are you doing here?"

Chuckling in a warm manner, the now identified Louisiana turned and hugged Natsumi back. "Ah, you're home, ma chérie! As to why I am here?" There was a smile on the Battleship's face as she easily lifted the smaller girl in her hug. "Your Aunt is going to be busy for some time today. So I offered to make some dinner for you and her when she gets home."

Not for the first time, Asuka was struck by just how tall and big some of the shipgirls looked. Louisiana stood well above almost everyone that she knew and looked like she could break someone over her knee with ease while still being stunningly beautiful. However as she watched, the Battleship gently set Natsumi down as the kitsune's tails wagged. "Wait, you're making dinner, Louisiana? Really?"

Only humming, Louisiana patted her on the head. "That is right, ma chérie." Smiling, she raised an eyebrow. "Hopefully that would be alright?"

Lightly laughing, Natsumi shook her head as her grin widened. "You kidding? It's more then alright!" Taking a sniff, she narrowed her eyes some. "Hmm... judging by the smell... Jambalaya?" With a glance around, the thirteen year old tapped her chin. "And since I don't see any tomatoes, cajun jambalaya?"

A laugh escaped from Louisiana as she nodded. "Oui, I'm cooking up some jambalaya, ma chérie." Seeing Usagi about to say something, the American shook her head. "And I made some up without meat as Miz Haru said that some of you might be staying for dinner to study."

More then a little confused, and letting her own disguise drop some, Asuka took to the air in order to look at what was being cooked. There was a small smile on Louisiana's face as she watched the tengu furrow her eyebrows. 'Rice, sausages, vegetables? And what looks like more meat?' Landing, she turned towards Louisiana and took a deep breath. "Um, what is jambalaya?"

Gently smiling, the Battleship turned to her food. "It is a dish from Louisiana, the state that I am named for, Miz..."

Blushing some as she realized that she had not introduced herself, Asuka rapidly bowed. "Um, I'm Miku Asuka. It's very nice to meet you."

Chuckling, Louisiana bowed back before holding out a hand which Asuka shook. "And I am USS Louisiana, the last of the Montana class Battleships, BB-71. Pleased to meet you, Miz Asuka." Once that was done, she placed the lid back onto the pot of jambalaya. "But as to jamabalaya? It is a dish that uses rice, the Holy Trinity of cooking, and sausage and other meats in it. The one that I am making is the cajun version instead of the creole and so does not have any tomatoes in it."

If she was not confused before, the daitengu was now. "Um, Holy Trinity of cooking?"

Eyes rolling, Natsumi shook her head. "It's what they call onions, bell peppers, and celery in cajun cooking. Don't ask me why they call it that." Turning, she tilted her head some. "Do want some help?"

Warmly smiling, Louisiana patted her on the head. "Non, I do not need your help at the moment, ma chérie. But perhaps when it is time to serve in an hour or two?" Getting a nod, she chuckled. "Then perhaps you should get to studying like Miz Haru said that you were supposed to instead of trying to get out of it."

Sighing, the kitsune grumbled a bit. "Drat, you saw through my clever plan." Getting another laugh, she hugged Louisiana with the Battleship returning it. "Thanks though."

All Louisiana did though was hum and nod. Asuka meanwhile was leaning towards Kenta in utter befuddlement. "Um, 'ma chérie'? I know someone who speaks French and..."

Just glancing at her, Kenta had a small smirk on his face. 'Her reaction will be good.' Clearing his throat, he spoke out loud. "Well, you see, Asuka-San... Louisiana-San here is in love with Natsumi-Chan and Harry-San both. Hence her using that term for Natsumi-Chan as she wants them both."

Expression going blank, Asuka stared at him for several moments before turning to Natsumi who was blushing. But it was Louisiana who answered with a grin. "Oui, he is correct. Ma chérie and mon chéri? They are my knights in shining armor and they have taken my heart." There was a small twinkle in her eye as she continued. "Though a few years yet before we can do anything."

Natsumi, when the daitengu turned to her, only blushed deeply and hid her face in her hands. "Um, well..."

Internally, Asuka just had the same thing echoing around in her head. 'What... what.... what the what...' Eventually, snickers from the tanuki made Asuka snap out of it and she turned in time to see him wince. it did not escape her notice that Usagi had a smile on her face as she removed her foot from his foot. "I... see?"

Walking over, Usagi patted her on the shoulder even as she ignored Ayaka's muttering about kitsunes and harems. Honestly, that girl sometimes... "Don't try and think about it too much, focus on something else like the dinner we're going to have."

As she was guided out of the kitchen to chuckles from Louisiana, the tengu gave a small nod as she played a little with her necklaces. Shaking her head, Asuka turned Natsumi who still had a red face. "Um, so... is this jambalaya any good?"

Suddenly perking up, Natsumi gave a small nod. "You wouldn't believe how good it is! Same with most of her cooking and some of the other non-Japanese foods that I've had since moving here to Yokosuka."

More then a little thankful for the change in subject, Asuka cocked her head to the side. "You've had a lot of non-Japanese foods here then?"

Also thankful, Natsumi placed her hands behind her head. "Hai, I've had a lot of different foods here. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but there's all sorts of small restaurants here in Yokosuka selling foreign food?" When she got a nod, the kitsune continued. "Well, that's because of all the convoys that come through here along with the foreign shipgirls and warships. So some of those places opened up to take advantage of that. But the best food is actually here on base in the mess hall."

Blinking, the other girl listened closely. "The mess hall? Really?" At the nod, Asuka furrowed her eyebrows some. "But... I always heard that military food tasted bad."

That got her a snort from Riko who was shaking her head, twin flame tipped tails behind her. "Apparently that is only true of field rations and stuff. Natsumi-San once took us to the mess hall and we tried some of the food there. It was... amazing."

Licking her lips, Ayaka nodded. "Hai, it was so good!" Seeing the looks, she suddenly looked away. "Natsumi-San chose a good spot... for once."

Even as Natsumi rolled her eyes, Usagi continued. "Anyways, the cooks they got there are all really experienced. So the food is really tasty and they have so many things on the menu."

Natsumi gave a small nod as they entered the room that they would be studying in. "They got theme nights and the like where they got food from a specific place. See, when foreign shipgirls stay here in Yokosuka for any time, they teach how to cook foods from their home countries here which get added to the menu. Roma-San, Littorio-San, and Zara-San when they were here taught the cooks how to make Italian food." Rubbing her belly, she licked her lips some. "It was amazing and we still have Italian days here." With a sigh, the thirteen year old continued. "Anyways, Oba-Chan and I will go to the mess hall if we don't want to deal with cooking a meal for dinner or breakfast."

Leaning towards Asuka, Usagi gave a small grin as she whispered. "Which is a lot."

Only giving her a glare, Natsumi sniffed. "Anyways, I've gotten to try foods from all over the world." Frowning thoughtful, she glanced at the others. "Though with Fleet Week coming up, you might be able to as well."

That made Asuka furrow her eyebrows. "Fleet Week? You mean when they open up the base to visitors?" When Natsumi nodded, she frowned in confusion. "Why would I get to eat foods from around the world then? Unless we can go and eat in the mess hall?"

Shaking her head, Natsumi smiled a bit. "There's a spot here on the base called the 'International Pavilion' where you got shipgirls from elsewhere in the world set up to cook meals. Each day it will be a different country." Raising one finger, she nodded. "This year, one of the groups setting up is the Canadians since Haida-San and Acadia-San are sticking around for a time. From what I heard from Harry-Chan, Acadia's meat pies are to die for and I am so trying one."

Just nodding, Asuka considered that before firing a text over to Kiba to ask if she could stay for dinner. Several moments later, she got a return reply that she could and he would pick her up once their study lesson was done. It was a happy daitengu with her belly full that left that night. She even scored some leftovers, though she had to keep away from Jin who wanted it all, right up until Mary got involved and made the Mizuchi sit down.

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 28: S0ngD0g13

Canut was at an impasse. The Casket was completed; the Stamp also was done. But the Ring...

It wasn't the physical crafting of it that had her pacing; the many practice pieces she'd made had honed her skill at making rings. It was making the Ring unusable by any save the Princess, that left the Pre-Dreadnought stumped. The Box and the Stamp were, in the end, a container and a tool, but the Signet-Ring was a symbol, an extension of Gateway's Authority and Power made manifest; to make it required workings beyond Canut's ken. As she paced, Canut felt her branded hand itching fiercely and snarled.

Armor I know, and blades! I know their shapes, their weights, their balances; I know the runes and the workings to bring out the true spirit of a blade, to make armor proof against the fiercest weapons! Damnit, Princess, I'm a Bladesmith, not a Jeweler! I know not the working of seidhr on this!

... but I know of someone who might, if she's still afloat...

.....................................................

Canut knelt before the Princess, her eyesdowncast. "Your Majesty, I... I cannot at the present time complete the task you have set me to. To craft the Ring and make it truly yours and yours alone, requires seidhr-working, true seidhr and not the pale imitation I work with my blades and maille." She took a deep breath, once more trying to mask her nerves behind a stoic face. "I know of one who might be able to fill the gaps in my knowledge and instruct me in the True Craft, but she dwells not in your realm, nor in any realm that borders upon yours, and it's been many and many a year since last I saw her; I know not if she yet lives..."

"I ask, I beg, leave to seek out Arval, who was in the days of the Northern Horde seeking to rediscover the ancient mysteries of the Norse."

Canut swallowed thickly as she heard Liner Demon's warhammer slide free of its place at her hip...

A rustle; ashwood sliding on leather and a steel head clicking against the metal ring at the Demon's belt...

"Stay your hand a moment, Demon. Canut, lift your eyes. Explain to me who 'Arval' was, and what her deeds were."

Canut brought her eyes upward to spy Gateway; the Princess' face was calm but her eyes were alight with interest. "Arval, whose name meant the grave-ale drunk in toast of the fallen, and was also corruption of her original name 'Narwhal', was a submarine in Northern Horde's fleet; she was... less than enthusiastic about going into combat, but she was possessed of a quick and cunning mind, and a... a talent, for magic. I've a spark, a tiny spark, of it myself, and that is what I channel and work with in my forging, but Arval had a flame, bright as a searchlight."

Canut took a breath. "Middle World Ocean Princess, it was known, was obsessed with discovering our lost histories in the Age of Bronze; Northern Horde Princess, Nordic Horde Princess, was of the same vein obsessed, seeking ever-greater and greater knowledge of the Norse; Arval volunteered to seek out and rediscover the ancient seidhr of the Vikings, the True Crafting of Nordic Magick. She was away, as she often was, when the Horde was broken. I've not heard from her nor laid eyes on her since, but I beg your leave to seek her, Your Majesty."

Gateway was silent, deep in thought. She weighed potential costs, weighed potential benefits, weighed potential difficulties. She nodded. "I grant you leave to seek your tutor, Canut; however, you will not make this journey alone." Two imps in long coats and severe peaked caps trod out onto the arm of Gateway's throne. "These imps of mine shall accompany you, and they shall observe and daily report back to me. While you are journeying and learning, if Arval lives, I shall suspend the deadline to finish the ring I commissioned you to craft."

Canut nodded deeply. "I thank you, my Princess, and I shall not disappoint you."

"I know that you shan't disappoint me, Canut. Extend your right hand." When the Battleship Demon did so, Gateway smiled slightly. "The reason I know you won't disappoint is because other than your one. Major. Indiscretion," and each word was accompanied by a sharp claw-prick into the still-tender brand on Canut's thumb, "which you have strove mightily ever since to make amends for, you have been nothing but steadfast and loyal, and faithful to your oaths." Gateway dropped a medallion into Canut's palm, that bore the Princess' sigil. "It is an IFF, to show the Humans you are one of mine; I hope the importance of politeness need not be reiterated?"

"I will be the very soul of courtesy, Your Majesty."

Gateway nodded magnanimously and said, "Go then, Canut; I wish you Good Luck and Safe Travels, and a Swift Return."

After Canut had departed, the Ocean Liner Demon looked to the Ancient Atlantic Gateway Princess. "May I speak frankly, Princess?"

"You may."

"Why have me stay my hand, Princess? Why let the Warship go looking for a Submarine that's likely been sunk since Blood Week?"

Gateway looked at Liner Demon. "You mean, 'Why let Canut go on a fool's errand and give her a chance to run?', yes?"

"Yes, Princess. She won't come back."

Gateway chuckled. "Oh, but she will. Her honor won't let her not return, whether successful or in failure."

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K

A.N./Thank god I'm finally done. I honestly should have had this out ages ago, but unfortunately, IRL happened.

Have more wedding shenanigans with the JNHRO crew.



"Well, the old folks look like they're having a good time."

At the table of the JNHRO and Abyss Divers, sake and other assorted alcohols was flowing just as easily, if not more so, as the merriment of the yokai activists and human aviators rose in tandem with the party around them.

Over her cup, Jin in particular, shoots Kiba a cheeky smirk. "Hey, don't let mom hear you say that. She may be old, be she could still kick your ass."

Across the table, Gyaru laughs. "If half the things you say are true, I think the list of asses that lady couldn't kick would be easier to list."

Kiba holds a hand over his heart, feigning injury through the heart in response. "Alas, my confidence as a man! Crushed in battle by a modern valkyrie. A real life mother of dragons."

"Dragon, singular, technically," corrects Jin distractedly, causing Boke to frown at the seeming lack of recognition for the referance. Then his eyes widen.

"Hold on, have you seriously never heard the title Mother of Dragons before?" His disbelief is palatable as he then segues into his follow up question "Do you not watch Game of Thrones?"

"No," responds the mizuchi, before suddenly sounding defensive as she expands on her statement. "I just have so many other things I watch and, so I never seem to get around to it."

"You mean you just like 2D better," chips in the peanut gallery in the form of Kogamaru, from the relative safety of his seat on the opposite side of Kiba. A position that puts the okuri-inu in the firing line first.

The dog yokai himself, can't resist a snicker and a jibe of his own, as he looks at the human members of the table with a grin. "She knows how to say the entirety of the incantation for Dragon Slave in Old Norse, Mcgyuver'd a watered down version of it for use as a draconic curse, and can transcribe a version written in Eldar Futhark ancient runes for use as a seal."

Immediately, the mizuchi's alabaster face lights up like a tomato. "KIBA, YOU ASSHOLE!"

Witness to all of this, and knowing how futile intervening would be after so many cups of sake over the course of the evening, Ai sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose as yet another round of back and forth set in. At least on the bright side, the music is nice.

As many of the guests have proceeded to dance away the night as part of the celebrations alongside the newlyweds, a party atmosphere has slowly set in. One that yo-yo's entertainingly between the eras the majority of those present are familiar with and know.

Especially as the party progresses towards the midnight hours, the drunken song requests and cries for old favorites begin to rubber-band between the Haruna's shipboard band, and Naka who doubles as DJ on the occasions cues up more modern tunes the crew's instrument's can't replicate. Romantic ballads of the 30s, give way to modern pop-tunes, before seceding back to 40s classics, only to jump back to the late 2000s. Then they switch things up with another round of pre-war material, with the occasional pop-culture or universally recognized single from the 70s, 80s, or 90s thrown in, usually at the request of human guests or shipgirls that have picked things up by osmosis.

There is however, one conspicuously absent time span of material among the song list however. From the mid 40's to late 60s, few of those present and familiar with nomaj music were still float, or had yet to be born.

It's not that Ai particularly minds. She recognizes and enjoys plenty of the other songs, while appreciating the evening with her fellow pilots and JNHRO members, in between the occasional hours of rubbing shoulders and making in roads with other wedding guests. But it is a curious absence that becomes all the more notable when a song she finally does recognize from that era comes on.


Ai's gaze widens in shock, as she looks up at the various couples already moving to the dance floor, or cheering on the newlyweds themselves. No doubt, whoever selected this particular version of the song did so because of the obvious factors; it being a Japanese cover of a song about a French idom involving the color of roses, for being in love.

This is a post-war song, and while most are probably more familiar with the original iteration or it's American cover, for Ai however, this is a song that actually has memories attached to it. Very particular ones from a certain time of not just her life either.....

Looking across the table, she then catches Kiba simultaneously turning his own gaze to her, barring an equal expression of amused surprise and fond nostalgia. Meeting her eye, for a moment something passes between them. And then the okuri-inu grins.

Ai's immediate response is to shake her head. "No way."

"Come on Ai," laughs the dog yokai. "How about just once? Like the good old days?"

The kotengu remains emphatic. "Hell no." To her shame however, she then can't help the admission that slips out. "It has been too long. I doubt I remember the steps."

Kiba just chuckles and shakes his head. "That never stopped us as kids."

The Kotengu is silent. Much to her dismay though, the rest of the table are intrigued by this back and forth, with Kogamaru being the first to fill in the absence of her answer with a question instead.

"I'm sorry, but what is this about?"

The okuri-inu laughs. "This used to be our song way back when, before we broke up."

Immediately, Gyaru latches on like a shark smelling blood in the water. "Ah, so it's not just a song with ancient history, but one with a sordid history too? How "romantic" of a "your song" are we talking about here?"

The kotengu thankfully avoids blushing through rigorous application of the self control installed upon her as a daughter of (low) nobility, and stares down Kiba with a look. "We had, like ten different "our" songs."

"Okay, point," concedes Kiba, before his expression turns back to an amused raised eyebrow. "But this was one of the only ones we actually danced to."

On the otherside of the table, Boke spitakes, causing Kadzu to shout in disgust while Jin bursts out laughing at the expense of the night's humor finally being turned on someone else. "I'm sorry, but wait? You're serious? You? And Tengu?" The pilot shakes his head, while Ai quietly facepalms. "I'm sorry but I'm having a hard time envisioning that."

"It was a long time ago," mumbles Ai through her fingers. "And the two of us were both very different individuals back then."

"That's Ai talk for "dumb teenagers"," corrects Kiba with a faux-stage whisper to the others, causing the normally ever stoic kotengu to sink further into her chair. She blames the sake. It's definitely the sake everyone's been drinking.

Just then, there is a thump on the table that rattles the cutlery and plates, causing everyone to look up at Jin in shock. Even as the group stares at the mizuchi in confusion, the ex-water kami raises her fists up and brings them down on the table again with a shout.

"Dance!" she demands with a grin, in tandem with each shake of the table top she produces. "Dance! Dance! Dance!"

With a grin, Gyaru then joins her in the chant, which soon opens up the floodgates for the rest of the group. Even Kudzu and Kogamaru sheepishly join in and indulge themselves in the challenge, leaving only the bemused okuri-inu and furiously embarrassed kotengu silent.

"Dance! Dance! Dance! DANCE!"

Taking sympathy on the disguised pilot, Kiba finally acquiesces. "Okay, okay, if Ai doesn't want to dance, she doesn't have to dance."

"DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"

The kotengu can't help but lower her hands and smirk as now the group start turning their chanting and heckling on the dog yokai in turn. "Look at you. Undone by the mob of your own making."

"DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"

"I guess that leaves only one way to shut them up then?" Kiba laughs ruefully, and then offers out a hand as he rises from the table. "Come on Ai. Just one dance, for old times sake. It doesn't have to mean anything."

She knows the mature understanding that this older and wiser Kiba's harmless words are intended to convey. But for a moment, Ai can't help but remember a very different place and time, and a response a younger kotengu once received for those same words in turn.

"But then what would be the point?" she asks with a knowing smile as she accepts his hand and rises from her seat, earning a chuckle from Kiba in return while the rest of the group laughs and cheers.

"Come on, we're almost in time for the last half of the song."

Ignoring the peanut gallery that is their table, the two then add themselves to the outskirts of the dance floor and it's couples.

To Ai's surprise, the movements come back with almost seamless ease, even in spite the fact that they're starting partway through the instrumental middle portion of the song. Feeling a faint sense of deja vu, she finds herself drifting in perfect tune with Kiba as they move through the motions of the slow dance. After a few moments, it's like the two of them had never forgotten. As if they never stopped.

After a few seconds of this, Ai chalks it up to them both simply being drunk enough to be in tune. It's definitely the sake's fault.

Glancing at Kiba for a moment, Ai then realizes something. That beneath his smile, Kiba is no doubt hiding the same expression of awkwardness and nerves she is disguising beneath her own mask of calm, ladylike dignity. Once upon a time, the two of them would never have dared break the facade, even if they had noticed, for fear of what the other might think. With the benefits of hindsight, tempered with age and maturity however....

After a few moments the two almost have to momentarily alter their slow dance to a shuffle, as both of them choke down their snickers lest they ruin the dance for the real couples, having actual romantic moments around them.

The dance becomes only easier after that, as the remaining tension drains away. As the first of the final verses start however, Ai then shakes her head with a sad smile.

'"Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast,
This is LA VIE EN ROSE."

"Have you ever thought it ironic that this was the last we record we brought together and considered "our song"?"

Kiba gives a quiet chuckle. "As I got older, yeah."

"When you kiss me heaven sighs,
And though I close my eyes,
I see LA VIE EN ROSE"

"A song about seeing the world through rose colored glasses when in love," muses Kiba.

"For a pair of foolish youths who should have taken them off," completes Ai.

"When you press me to your heart,
I'm in a world apart,
A would where roses bloom."

"Would that really have changed anything?" asks Kiba quietly.

"No...." admits Ai with a sad sigh. "We each wanted too much. But not what the other needed."

"And when you speak
Angels sing from above,
Ev'ry day words seem to turn
Into love songs."

"We never did listen to what either of us actually said, did we?"

"Only what each of us wanted to hear," murmurs Ai.

"Give you heart and soul to me
And life will always be...."

Ai sighs. "We were both so similar, we couldn't consider how we weren't. We were...."

"... different sides of the same coin," finishes Kiba.

".....LA VIE EN ROSE."

"I missed this sometimes," Ai admits as she lays her head on Kiba's shoulder.

"I know."

As the final notes of the song fade away, for a few moments, the two almost seem to linger.

Finally though, they separate, but unlike many of the other couples on the dance floor who do so with romantic gazes and kisses upon cheeks, lips or jokingly chivalrous hands, Ai settles on a rare display of public affection by pulling Kiba into a hug. Though surprised for a moment, the okuri-inu then returns the gesture while Ai muffles a slightly embarrassed laugh into his collar.

"I know I never appreciated you enough as my beau. And I know I am still bad at such things. So I want to impress upon you how much you do mean as a friend and confidant."

Kiba chuckles quietly. "I like to think time has also taught me the ability to infer things I shouldn't have to be told."

Ai responds with a laugh as well, and for a few more seconds, the two quietly enjoy the moment.

Finally though, the two of them pull apart as Ai gives Kiba a clipped look. "Hand."

"Ah, sorry." Awkwardly, the okuri-inu raises both up apologetically as they return to the table.

"I'm going to ignore that fact that you haven't had such privileges in almost six decades, and blame it on reflex and the sake."

"Please do."

Ai is surprised there haven't been any catcalls from the peanut gallery for that particular slip by Kiba.

As they return to the table though, the kotengu discovers why. The peanut gallery has already found something new to amuse themselves with, namely one of the other couples that had previously been on the dance floor. In particular, the rest of the group are now heckling Kogamaru, as the dancer in purple drags her significant other in a JMSDF officer uniform, over to the table that she has by chance picked out from all the rest.
--------------------------------------

Blushing thanks to a mix of embarrassment and anger (as well as probably a little bit of alcohol too), Ashigara levels a finger at the 9th Koshaku of the Hokubu Okami.

"You!"

Confused and slightly fearful, Kogamaru glances around in the vain hope that she could possibly be point at any one other than himself.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!" grounds out the heavy cruiser in a voice that is somehow both between a hushed shout and an angry whisper. "You're the family head of the Hokubu right?"

The okami blinks in confusion, but nods nevertheless. "Yes, that would indeed be me....?"

"Then you know exactly how all the spells and rituals that govern people being in you clan work?" The hungry wolf levels a piercing glare at Kogamaru, even as Yonehara tries and fails to de-escalate her questioning. "You're the one who has the final say on who is and isn't a part of your clan, right?"

"That... uh, that is true yes." The young wolf shifts in his seat uncertainly. "Technically though I've never actually exiled anyone or had to strip anybody of the clan name." The okami's eyes then widen as a thought occurs to him. "If this is about a crew member, or somebody else's crew member from my grandfather's time-"

"THIS IS ABOUT ME!'

Kogamaru's jaw hangs open uncertainly for a moment as his brain adjusts to this new information, before he finally finds his tongue again.

".... I'm sorry?"

Ashigara grits her teeth in embarrassment and annoyance. "When I was in Yamainutaira, Sakiko said they'd just be temporary and would eventually go away, but they didn't!"

".... what didn't go away?" asks the okami in baffled confusion.

"THESE!" cries the heavy cruiser as she momentarily lifts up her hat, revealing a brief glimpse of a lupine pair of ears sitting a top her head, before she swiftly conceals them once more.

While Ai considers this confusing revelation as to why the Heavy Cruiser was still wearing a hat when it is now well into the night, Jin begins surreptiously raising some wards to offer their table some privacy from prying eyes and ears. Kogamaru however, now seems to be considering something else, even as his eyes widen in shock.

"That's not right- that-" Frowning, the wolf shakes his head in baffled disbelief. "I heard you were offered Clan Markings and temporarily inducted, but it should have been that. Temporary."

"Do these look temporary!?" hisses the Heavy Cruiser, causing faint lines of red to momentarily glow upon her face. At that moment, Kogamaru is immensely relieved that the Hungry Wolf can't see Jin on the other side of the table. For a moment, the Mizuchi's eyes glow with a dark, poisonous looking aura as she calls upon her magic. And then the spell fades, causing the ex-kami to clap a hand over her mouth, struggling to contain her laughter at whatever she has inferred.

"Unless you're of blood, they shouldn't linger without my knowledge or permission." Explains Kogamaru nervously "And even then, permanent Clan Markings bestowed without a clan head's permission, can only be given between those of shared blood, or bonded to someone of the clan in spirit and-"

The wolf freezes, something Ashigara doesn't miss. "What?"

"....or if you're bonded to someone in spirit and soul." Kogamaru's eyes widen, as a thought begins to occur to him. "It's supposed to be a loophole for adopting people's spouses into the clan if the need arises, or they wish to take a mark instead of keeping their's, but.... You had multiple sailors from Yamainutaira in the years before the war, correct?"

"So?" asks Ashigara in confusion. "What about them?"

Now it's Kogamaru's turn to tilt his head in uncertain bewilderment.

"Wait, you mean you don't know?" You never realized that they-" A frown then crosses his face, as yet another facet of the mystery now makes sense. "No... that makes sense. Considering how close quarters and life on board a ship are, they might never have taken the risk, and if they never did, you'd never know..."

"Never know what?" grits out Ashigara. "What do half a dozen people from the same place have to do with these?" she asks, angrily pointing at her hat and the ears hidden beneath.

"Half a dozen?" Kogamaru's eyes widen in shock. "How many crew members from Yamainutaira did you actually have on board when you were sunk?"

For a moment, Ashigara flinches at the question, causing Kogamaru to wince and look apologetic.

"I'm sorry, I should not have been so blunt. If-"

"No." The Heavy Cruiser shakes her head. "It was an honest question, but I don't know what it will do to solve this mystery. I did have one crewman who said he was from the Kamikawa area at the time, but I don't think he was from Yamainutaira."

"Even so.... Could I see him?" Kogamaru asks hesitantly.

With a shrug, Ashigara holds out a hand, placing a small fairy on the table.

"May I present seaman first class, Makita Saito."

Looking down at her fairy crew member however, Ashigara then pauses. Because for someone who has supposedly never had anything to do with magic, the tiny fairy is now glancing between the kanmusu and okami with suspicious nervousness. Something that then only increases when Kogmaru stares back in disbelief.

For a long moment, a strangely non-verbal conversation seem to pass between the fairy and the wolf, before Kogamaru abruptly gives a bark of laughter. "Is that Makita spelled with the kanji for "Tend cattle" and "Field"? Or the kanji for "Sincere" and "North" instead?"

"W-Why?" asks Ashigara, suddenly feeling that 'Makita' is not as genuine as she has always thought him to be.

"Because either one is equally fitting for this fellow here."

Abruptly the fairy begins looking between Kogamaru and Ashigara, pointing at the heavy cruiser in between motioning apologetically to the okami.

"Desu! Desu desu! Desu!"

While Ashigara frowns in confusion, Kogamaru can't help but wince.

"Sorry. That was rash of me. But I would have thought you would have cleared things up yourself for her." The okami then tilts his head with a questioning eyebrow raised. "Or why you've never come back to the Shrine either."

"Desu!" The fairy admits with something that is simultaneously a mix of guilt, shame and very obvious fear."Desu, desu! Desu!"

The wolf's response is an understanding grimace. "That's... totally understandable to be honest. Actually, you needn't ever have actually worried about encountering him."

Now the fairy looks at him curiously.

"Desu? Desu, desu!"

Kogamaru nods in answer to the fairy's hopeful question of veracity.

"Father stuck him in a boulder out behind the Honden. It's like our own local Sessho-seki now. He's not actually in the Main Family Shrine, or even the Branch Family one."

Interrupting the conversation, the now thoroughly confused Ashigara interjects. "Um, excuse me, but who the hell is Royomaru, and why apparently, did Saito believe an eternity bound to my wreck, to be better than risking spending it with this guy?"

The okami can't help but make a face. "Royomaru.... that's going to be a long topic, but the short of it is that unfortunately, he was my grandfather, the Seventh Koshaku before my father, and a most despicable villain to say the least."

"And what does this have to do with Saito?" asks Ashigara. "which by the way, you still haven't explained what he has to do with this... furry little problem."

"Well...." says Kogamaru awkwardly, before deciding to cut to the chase and utilize the 'band-aid' method of explanation. "This, and at a guess, your history with most of the other sailors from Yamainutaira, is likely why they haven't gone away."

Holding out a hand to the fairy on the table, there is a momentary glow like the sun from the okami's paw, causing the tiny sailor to shout let out an exclamation of "Desu!" in shock. What follows as the light fades however, is a small "woof".

And then Ashigara's jaw almost hits the floor.

Because where there was a fairy only a few seconds earlier, is now a tiny chibi wolf in a sailor shirt, with an anchor-like implement slung over it's back, and a pattern of red glowing lines upon it's brow.

A very familiar set of glowing red lines.

While not quite identical, the overall design is almost the same as the set she saw in the mirror this morning.

Kogamaru attempts to offer an awkward smile. "Say hello to Saitomaru. Setto Saitomaru. I guess what was really going on, was that you were technically part of the clan all along."

For a long moment, the Heavy Cruiser stares at the fairy turned wolf. Or was he technically a wolf turned human, turned fairy? A wolf-fairy? wolfman-fairy? ManWolfFairy?

Finally Ashigara's brain rebooted, unfortunately in a manner that was slightly faster than her brain-to-mouth filter.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK SAITO?!?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!?! WHY DID YOU- OH- OH NO!" A look of horror begins to dawn across the now-actually-a Hungry Wolf's face. "THIS MEANS I'VE GOT A KEMONOMIMI CREW MEMBER!!! THIS MEANS I'M PART KEMONOMIMI BY PROXY!!!! NOW THE OTAKU WILL BE UNBEARABLE!!!"

As Ashigara wails and Yonehara uncertainly gives her a comforting pat on the back, Kogamaru shifts awkwardly in his seat, while the fairy-wolf whines and covers his face with his paws.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Signing the piece of paper with a flourish, Remus leaned back with a sigh before glancing at the clock on the wall. A knock on the door made Remus blink and look up. "Yes?"

The door opened to reveal a woman in a dress from the 1820s and an intelligent glint in her eye. "Headmaster Lupin? Your ten o'clock appointment is here. May I show him in?"

Just smiling, Remus gave a small nod and a chuckle. "You may, Miss Beagle, thank you."

On HMS Beagle's face was a smile as she gave a little curtsy and then backed out the door. Less then fifteen seconds later, the door opened to reveal Albus as he walked into the room. "Remus, my dear boy, its good to see you."

Getting up, the werewolf walked over and gave the other Headmaster a hug. "Headmaster, it's good to see you as well."

Lips twitching, Dumbledore shook his head as he returned the embrace of one of his favorite students. "Please, call me Albus, Remus. We both have the same position now after all." Smile widening a touch, he chuckled. "And I must say, you have done a splendid job."

Remus only shrugged some before rubbing the back of his head. "Thank you, it's been wonderful so far." His expression took on a forlornness there for a moment. "I only wish that James and Lily could have been alive to see this."

Placing his hand on his friend's, and former student's, shoulder, Albus sighed. "As do many of us, Remus. I know that they would have been extremely proud of what you have done here... if they were not helping out that is." That got a sad chuckle as Remus nodded and agreed. Looking him over, Dumbledore frowned slightly at seeing the tiredness there. "How are you holding up."

For several moments it looked like the other wizard was going to brush it off before he let out a breath. "Hard. Sirius escaping has opened old wounds after all." Shaking it off, Remus straightened a bit. "Would you like some tea, Albus? I'll have Beagle make some for us as she makes a lovely tea."

Eyes twinkling, Dumbledore gave a small nod. "I would not say no to such, Remus. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I would enjoy such." He watched as Lupin walked over to the door and opened it a touch before stopping. "Though I suppose that she is already making some?"

Only shaking his head as he closed the door, Remus snorted some in humor as Beagle's voice drifted through the door. "Of course I am, Master Albus! It will only be a few minutes more and I shall bring it to you."
Slowly nodding, Remus chuckled with a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Miss Beagle. We both appreciate it."

After she gave an acknowledgement and Remus closed the door, Dumbledore shook his head. "Perhaps you might tell me the story of how you managed to gain HMS Beagle as your secretary? I would assume that it would be quite something."

Walking around his desk, Remus sat down with a sigh. After all, he was extremely thankful for the leather chair he had there. "There's not much of one, Albus. Miss Beagle was looking for a job after going through a course but decided to join us here at the school. According to her, she enjoys helping out the young weres here... And she is also the science teacher as a matter of fact."

Eyebrows raised, Dumbledore smiled a bit before shaking his head. "Am I right to assume that she does a rather good job of it as well?" Getting a grin, his smile widened a bit. "I also noticed that you have HMS Challenger here as well?"

Lips curling, Remus hummed a bit. "She's our geography teacher as a matter of fact, and one that the students love." There was a small glint in his eye as he continued. "Though I will admit that some of the older boys that could be said to be especially true."

That got a loud guffaw from the older of the two wizards before he shook his head. "Ah, the perils of being an attractive teacher! Perhaps one day I shall tell you of the various times that poor Minnie broke the hearts of students who held an attraction to her. She did try to let them down gently, though I suppose the one of a young First Year bringing her flowers was as they say adorable."

Dumbledore could see the thoughts working behind Remus' face before he suddenly grimaced some as it fell into place. "Do you mean McGonagall, Albus?" At the gleeful nod, he shook his head. "That is an image that I did not need."

Humming some as he leaned back, Albus chuckled. "I do remember a certain person attempting to hit on her in his Second Year."

Just laughing, Remus shook his head. "Poor Frank, I don't think that Augusta ever let him live it down. Neither did Alice now that I think about it..." Amused, he drifted back into memories. "Granted, Si... he had gotten drunk at the time." The two traded stories of Remus' time at Hogwarts until Beagle brought in a tea tray and placed it down. Giving her thanks, Remus watched as the shipgirl left before turning to Albus who put the milk and honey into his tea. "Albus, not that I mind you coming here but..."

With a sigh, Dumbledore blew on his tea. "You're wondering why I am here?"

A small frown on his face, Lupin nodded some. "Yes. I already spoke with Amelia in regards to all that I know of Black after all. And I don't know where he might be."

Placing the cup of tea down after taking a sip, Dumbledore looked at a photograph from Remus' time in school. It was a picture of their Seventh Year and showed Lily and James laughing in one of the chairs of the Common Room. "As much as I would like to say that I only arrived to go over old times, it does have to do with Sirius." Ignoring the surprise on the werewolf's face at how he referred to the escapee, Albus continued. "It is also something that I am loath ask of you even as a favor."

Eyes narrowed, Remus leaned back in his chair and fixed Dumbledore with a stare. "You want me to come to Hogwarts as a teacher."

Simply nodding, the elderly Headmaster gave a small nod. "That is my hope, though with your duties here... I know what it means when one needs to leave the students for a time."

Rather then say anything, Lupin frowned and looked at the picture as he put his mind to work. "You want me to be there to protect Harry." As it was a statement and not a question, the other wizard did not say anything. "And to capture Black so that he could be given the Kiss."

Humming, Dumbledore also leaned back some. "For the first, I would say that you are correct. In regards to the second? Not quite." When Remus gave him a confused look, he continued. "I want to capture Sirius alive and keep him from being Kissed."

Needless to say, Remus' eyebrows shot up "I'm sorry, what? Albus, he broke free of Azkaban! He betrayed all of us! Betrayed..." A growl escaped from him and he clenched his hand in his armrest which creaked under his strength. "Betrayed Lily and James as well as Harry, leading to my brother and sister to be killed and Harry to be nearly killed!"

Easily weathering it, Albus just sat there before he nodded. "That is what everyone has assumed all these years. But some recent events have caused me to... reconsider what we believed was true."

Slumping in his seat, the werewolf stared at him. "I'm sorry, Albus... but what?"

There was a frown on Dumbledore's face as he gazed at something only he could see. "You know of Harry's adopted mother, the Battleship Nagato?"

Confused, Remus gave a small nod as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Yes? Of course I do, Albus. While I have not seen him because of... issues, I have kept track of him." Sadly smiling, he looked towards a framed newspaper article which was new on his wall. It was a non-magical newspaper showing Harry, his mother, alongside Rose and Haruna at their wedding. "He has grown up into a man that I know that Lily and James would have been proud of. Granted, I never imagined that tea set of Lily's mother would turn out the way that she did, but still."

Giving him a look, Albus frowned. "You could have gone to the wedding, Remus. None of them would have minded."

With a grimace on his face, the other man waved him off. "Not after everything, Albus. I was not there when his parents needed me most, nor was I there when he needed me. No, I didn't deserve it."

Internally, Dumbledore rolled his eyes. After all, this was an old argument between the two and so he only sighed at it. "Now, as to your question regarding Harry's adoptive mother? An... incident... occurred during her Rebuild, as I believe that they call it."

More the a little interested, Remus furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back to what he knew of shipgirl Rebuilds. "I... see. And what happened?"

Knowing what the reaction was going to be, Dumbledore drew a big breath. And then he let it out slowly as his eyes met Remus'. "It seems that during a shipgirl's Rebuild, they are somewhere between this World and the Next, the Afterlife. While she was undergoing her own, Miss Nagato met Lily herself."

Face paling, Remus slumped in his chair and swallowed as it felt like his heart had stopped. "She met... Lily?"

Slowly, Albus nodded with a frown. "Yes, she met Lily there and as it turns out Lily is... was... an unawakened shipgirl. She told Nagato several things while they were there, at least one of which I know would have been impossible for anyone to know, except maybe the dead. But one piece that she told Nagato was that Sirius did not betray them, that someone else was the one who did so. Who was their Secret Keeper."

Rapidly going over everything in his head, the younger wizard gave him a piercing look. "And you're certain that it was not a dream? That Nagato had not imagined it?" When Dumbledore shook his head, Remus collapsed into his chair. "If not Sirius, then... it had to have been Peter. But why, unless..." Getting up, he began to pace around with a frown on his face. "It would not make much sense, unless Sirius suggested it. Because we all knew that he would be the Secret Keeper and so that would keep the real one safe. That's... possible... no, it's probable. Which also means that Peter was the one who was the spy."

Eyes closed, Albus sighed and nodded. "That is what apparently happened. Which puts everything we know into a different perspective."

Just scoffing, Remus growled as he came to a stop near the window and looked out. But he was not looking at the present, but the past. "More then you think. Peter was always so nervous starting before Lily and James went into hiding. I thought that it was just the stress of the war getting to him. But if he was the traitor, then he would have been nervous of us catching him. Why though? Not just why did he turn against us, but why did he wait so long to give the information to You-Know-Who? He had to have been the spy before then!"

Frowning, Dumbledore looked back at the picture before shaking his head. "Because Voldemort had planned on killing them on Halloween from the start. He likely knew where they were for months, but planned on that date due to it's connection to death. A... final victory over it, if you will, on the day when Death is at its supposed strongest. Slapping it in the face if you will."

That got a snort from Lupin as he shook his head. "And we all know how that turned out." Finger tapping on the sill, he continued quietly. "... Sirius was always a hothead. Something like what happened would have seen him running off to confront Peter to kill him, and doing so in the process."

At hearing a sigh, he turned and blinked at Albus who was shaking his head. "I'm afraid that we might be wrong there as well, which is also why I wish for you to come to Hogwarts."

Staring, the wizard blinked for several moments. "I'm sorry, are you saying that Peter is still alive?" Instead of saying anything, Albus pulled out a folder and placed it on his desk. Walking over, Remus opened the folder and held back a look of disgust as the first photo was a wizarding one of where Peter was blown up. It did not help that there were still human remains in the photo as well. Going to the next one, he sighed at the sight of Peter's finger there. "I've seen these before, Albus. There's nothing here except for how little was left of Peter."

Now leaning back, Dumbledore gave a small nod. "Yes, how little there was of him. Even the Auror reports noted that. But it was pointed out to me that there are several issues... Look at the scene of the destruction and think for a moment regarding Peter, Remus."

Eyebrow raised, Remus turned back to the two photos and looked at them side by side. 'What is he talking about? There was an explosion which killed Peter and those muggles in the photo, with only...' There was almost a click and he turned back to the picture of the finger and looked at it more closely. "Why would the other remains still be mostly whole, but Peter only is a finger!? And... it looks cut, not blown off..." Paling, the werewolf turned to Dumbledore in shock. "You think that Peter is still alive..."

Rubbing his face with one hand, Albus looked every bit of his age. "Yes. I had some people who are experts look over the crime scene as well as the reports of witnesses. The explosion happened behind where Peter was standing. Even assuming that it had blown through him first, his body would have been thrown forward and against as well as around to behind Sirius, or back across the damaged area. But the finger had been dropped right in front of Sirius. He could have easily escaped at the time somehow."

Just looking down at the photo, Remus frowned as he noticed something that he missed. "Such as down the sewer." At the confusion, he gave a silent apology to James and Sirius before continuing. "James, Sirius, and Peter were all Animagi. They managed it in our Fifth Year with Sirius as a dog and James was a stag... And Peter was a rat, one that could have fit down there easily."

There was something that tickled at Dumbledore's mind at that, something that wanted his attention. But what, he could not figure out. "That would make sense. And Peter being alive is also why I want you at Hogwarts, Remus. Just for this year as I am certain we could catch Sirius and get him a trial to prove he was innocent." At the look of shock, the older Headmaster pursed his lips. "I am afraid that Sirius was not given a trial as he should have at the time. Something that I have only recently found out."

Pinching his nose, Remus let out a breath. "Lovely, that is just... lovely." A frown then grew on his face and he looked up at Dumbledore. "But why would Peter being alive mean that you need me at Hogwarts? Because I know him and so might be able to predict him?"

Hands clasped in his lap, Dumbledore shook his head with his next words causing Remus to swallow. "Because, Peter has shown that he is willing to kill in order to frame Sirius before. And now? Sirius is free and I know that Voldemort is also alive. My worry is that Peter may try to frame Sirius again by having Harry killed before pinning the blame on him. And doing so means that Sirius would just as likely find his death at the end of a wand then being given the Kiss, while also giving something for Peter to present to his Master to save him from Voldemort's wrath. There is also the concern of Sirius' own mental state to consider as well..."

Just sitting back in his chair, Remus took his cup of tea with a shaking hand before taking a gulp. It made far too much sense, a horrible kind of sense. Blinking, he shook his head. "Albus, I... I need time to think. All of this is just too much for me to make a decision."

Draining his own tea, Dumbledore gave a bitter chuckle. "Something that I know far too well, Remus, believe me..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 29: S0ngD0g13

The wedding was over and the Weasley family had trooped down to Kure, taking the McAmis family up on their invitation to a barbecue on Spider Island. James manned the massive grill, slow-smoking racks of ribs over imported hickory-wood chips, while Kaylee tended a pot of beans that was cooking over a fire in between rounds of can-shooting with Ginny and their airsoft guns. Fred and George were on the beach with Charlotte, cheering her on as she flew Gosling at quail Kaylee had introduced onto the island. Ron was laying in a hammock alongside Warspite and Duke, relaxing, and the others were chatting with Houshou over tea.

Kaylee stirred the beans and looked around, frowning. "Hey y'all, you see where the Twins went?"

"I think they're still on the beach with Charlotte," said Molly.

"Not Fred'n'George, Miss Weasley; Charlotte's twins, Boromir and Faramir."

A quick search was mounted, but they weren't nearby. "When was the last time you saw them?" asked James.

"They were over by the trees when I started the beans, so about an hour ago," Kaylee said. "They were pesterin' me for stories about when Dad went through Jump School."

Houshou looked upward as Bonaparte circled high overhead; he seemed... lumpy... The Carrier pulled out binoculars and tracked the Chinese Fireball. "Kaylee... they're riding Bonaparte..."

Kaylee's eyes widened, as did Charlotte's. "They wouldn't..."

They did. Both juvenile acromantula hurled themselves off of the dragon's back; as they plummeted toward the ground a pair of tinny voices came to earth as they yelled, "AIRBORNE!!!"

Kaylee and Charlotte scrambled to try and catch them, or break the twins' fall, panicking and nearly tripping over one another as others rushed to do something. Boromir and Faramir suddenly released the bundles they were clutching and their falls slowed with a jerk as their silk parachutes filled with air.

They drifted gently to the ground and landed on the sand. Boromir broke free of his chute and ran up to his brother. "We did it! We made our first jump!"

"And it'll be your last jump, too. Boromir Meriadoc McAmis, Faramir Peregrine McAmis, what in the name of SECNAV's Favorite Combo-Cover were you thinking?!" shouted Charlotte.

The Twins turned and saw their mother; behind her stood Kaylee, and Uncle James, and Aunt Houshou. The Weasleys watched from behind them, and (other than Fred'n'George's expressions of awe) none of them looked happy...

The spider twins suddenly, simultaneously, pointed at each other and shouted in sync, "It was his idea!"

 

[darthcourt10]

mikelima777

(1 week before Haruna's and Rose's wedding)

"New Hope Island", somewhere in the Aleutians

Captain Lucas Wilson CD, RCN took a walk along the trail, listening as waves pounded the shoreline. A few seagulls going around the island. Dressed in his battered, worn RCN jacket, he looked at a picture that gave him both hope and sadness. It was a photo of him, his then-pregnant wife Kathy, and their first son Richard, on the bridge of his ship before that fateful voyage off Alaska. Hopefully, he prayed, they had made it back to Winnipeg before the fighting began. He wondered what Richard would be doing, as he would be in high school by now. He wondered how his second child was doing, and if Kathy told them about their father. But still, he had a duty, both to his crew, his ship, and the former opponents who became part of that crew.

When HMCS Regina engaged the otherworldly beings, it should have been the end for the Canadian frigate. Her Harpoon missiles had missed, and her gun was ineffective. The ship had been quickly surrounded, and a few well-aimed shots crippled their search radar and long-range communications. Yet, when they had surrendered, the Canadians were spared, as the enemy ship-beings received orders from their "Princess." They were taken to an island where they were held in secret and guarded by some of the Princess' ship-beings. For over half a decade, they were held as prisoners. But while they were captive, some of the crew took an attraction to the guards. The guards had been cold at first, but eventually, they opened up. In the prison camp, Captain Wilson presided over a few weddings. Some were between fellow members of the crew, but a few saw the union of humans and their guards, including his XO.

Then came that fateful day, when the guards received a chilling and heartbreaking radio call. Their Princess was under attack, but not by humans. Other princesses and demons had ordered their Princess to murder, to kill, but she refused. Instead, she ordered the guards to flee with their prisoners and to protect them to the end. HMCS Regina was rapidly manned, and the guards guided the ship and surviving crew to sea, bringing along any supplies they could carry, hours before one of the hostile fleets scorched the island.

The guards found another island with a well-hidden cove, and the ship was anchored within. A few months after finding the island, they tried to find safe harbour but were attacked by a military jet, either Russian or American, that damaged the Regina and hurt one of the cruisers escorting the frigate. They had to turn back, and haven't sortied since. Regina could no longer use her turbine engines with no spare parts, and with her diesel engine also damaged, she could only go 5 knots or less. Thus, to go anywhere, Regina would need to be towed by the guards, which would risk another attack by the jets.

Despite the predicament, the Canadians had made the most of their situation. Over the years, the humans and abyssals used timber, pieces of scrap metal recovered, and other materials to build shelters, though some still slept inside Regina's bunks. The only concern now was the fact some of the couples now had children, some of whom clearly showed their ship-being parentage.

Captain Wilson smiled as he greeted his XO, Commander Bruce Ferguson, and his wife, sitting on a fallen tree trunk along the trail, which looped around the island. The couple smiled warmly as they watched the Captain take a walk. "Tandy" was a Ta-class fast battleship, and despite her initial frosty attitude, she had warmed up to Bruce and set aside her innate anger. The couple had become parents to two children, a mostly human son, aside from his right eye that glowed under emotional duress like his mother, and a young girl that clearly took after her mother.

Passing by them, Wilson continued along, stopping as he met another of the former guards. "Wonda" was enamoured with PO2 Matthew Smith, but the two had yet to take the next step in their relationship. Wonda, though, often liked to walk by herself along the trails. The carrier, who lost most of her aircraft during the escape, was often seen with a pair of binoculars looking out to the oceans. Who knew an aircraft carrier would be a whale watcher, mused Wilson. The Captain began to smell something good in the air and fought the urge to drool. Ah, lunch is getting ready.

In the mess hall, Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Macdonald arrived in the kitchen along with two junior NCOs. They had brought eggs taken from Seagull nests. Jeremy smiled as one of the cooks waved them in. No one knew how a Tsu-class cruiser learned to cook, but still, "Tsumi" proved rather skilled in the culinary arts. It had helped that one of the guards, a So-class submarine who called herself "Sophie", had become talented in gathering seafood and scavenging supplies, and helped a few crew members that had taken to fishing. King crab, wild berries, salmon, and cod were on the menu today. There was also canned soup and some other foods; Sophie had found a nearby island where a factory ship had been wrecked, and she along with a few others salvaged what they could in the dark of night. After preparing the gathered food, the Tsu-class rang the bell, telling the village that lunch was ready.

Just as people stopped what they were doing before heading for the mess hall, Wonda spotted something and called out a warning. Three ships were inbound. Two destroyers and a submarine. The children were quickly sent to a cave for refuge with heavy cruiser Nelly watching over them, as the crew of HMCS Regina and the former guards prepared to defend themselves. The Canadian had noticed that their former guards positioned themselves between the inbounds and the humans, now willing to give their lives for their former prisoners.

Then, Wonda realized something and began jumping down in excitement. The inbound ship had IFFs that resembled their presumed-lost Princess. The arrivals could be fellow survivors. In her excitement, her IFF, shut off to hide the island, was activated for the first time in years.

Despite the news, Tandy ordered her fellow ex-guards to stay vigilant, as the arrivals headed to the hidden entrance to the cove.

xxxxx

The two Na-class destroyers and one Yo-class submarine were heading towards an island on orders from Northern Water Princess. Another submarine had reported seeing odd activity on the island; the Princess thus ordered the three abyssals to investigate. If it was a threat, their Princess needed to know. If it were fellow survivors, she still would want to know.

As they approached the island, they suddenly picked up an IFF code, one that matched their own Princess. The submarine noticed an odd part of the island's coastline and quickly realized it was an entrance to a cove. They did not spot as a pair of binoculars tracked them as they headed in.

Inside the cove, the three ships were surprised to find nearly a dozen fellow abyssals in full rigging pointing their weapons at them, with a human ship anchored behind them. The abyssals all felt familiar to the submarine and felt very powerful and old. About as old and powerful as their own Princess. On the human ship and along the shore of the cove, human sailors aimed their own weapons. For a few moments, no one moved

Then one of the abyssal, a So-class approached the Yo-class, looking at her in astonishment and hope.

"Yolanda?" she asked.

"Sophie?"

Tandy recognized the abyssal and sighed in relief. Nodding to Captain Wilson, everyone lowered their weapons, some reluctantly, as the two submarines embraced. The two Na-class destroyers looked on in bewilderment, following their leader as Yolanda was led to the village. They were then led to the mess hall, as human and abyssal joined together to feast, now with a reason to celebrate.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

I'm worried that this snippet may not be of comparable quality to my others, but I just couldn't let myself leave a cliffhanger for too long. I hope this is okay for all of you.

The First Harvest

XXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean, we don't have enough food!?"

Tanith paced back and forth in her chamber, wringing her hands in worry. "We… I didn't anticipate Sunny coming back so soon, bringing so many of our sisters here. We had no time to prepare…"

The Ri-class rubbed her scalp, frustrated. "But the Twins just came back from a fishing trip a week ago. We should have plenty of fish—"

"Plenty of fish to keep a couple dozen of us fed," Tanith corrected. "Me and the other flagships did a headcount. There are almost a hundred of us on the island right now." She reached into her coat and produced a small piece of paper, handing it to the cruiser. "I had my crew run inventory of our food stores. Tell me how you would ration this all out."

Rivet looked at the manifest, silently running the numbers in her head. "…Setting a small supply aside to tide our own fleet over for the 2-3 days it will take the Twins to head back out and gather more fish… Assuming everyone will only be eating one meal before they leave, consider they may ask for seconds… We could serve three, potentially four fish to each Abyssal."

"A pathetic offering." Tanith shook her head angrily. "I will not hesitate to lower myself to such a simple meal, as it's for the sake of my fleet. But these are our SISTERS. They have risked so much traveling all the way here, for us all to come together in harmony for a day. I will be DAMNED if I cannot provide everyone a fitting meal to the occasion!"

Rivet struggled to come up with a response for her princess, but her words failed her. Tanith was right, a few measly fish to each of them was no way to treat guests, let alone their precious family. "But… but what can we hope to do about it?" Something came to mind. "What about the crops? Regalia's farm? Could we do something with any that?"

Tanith leaned against the wall, hugging herself tightly, expression dark. "They may be our only option. But they're Regalia's responsibility, what she has devoted her time, her effort, her intellect to. Thus, I defer to her judgement on the matter. If she says they are not ready…"

"Things will be right fucked?" Rivet offered.

The Princess chuckled bitterly. "That will be an understatement." She glanced over to Rivet, taking her in properly. "Are you certain you're okay to work? You're… well." She gestured to the walking bruise of a heavy cruiser.

Rivet waved a hand dismissively. "I've been through worse, I'll walk it off. Remember when I challenged Ruadri?"

The sound of air being sucked through teeth could be heard from the Princess. "…Ooh. Yes. That."

Rivet snorted. "Really, you would NOT expect a stand-up gal like her to fight THAT dirty."

"Indeed, it was an… incredibly embarrassing injury to explain to Mother," Tanith noted.

"Eheheh—Ah!" The cruiser's laughter was broken by a flinch as she clutched her side in pain. "Ow, ow, ow… okay, you may be right, something feels messed up," she admitted. "I think I'm gonna hit up one of the new installations… see if they can fix me real quick." She turned and limped away, pausing to look back. "Have you asked Regalia about the status of the crops recently?"

"Not recently." Tanith's eyes briefly glazed over as she turned her focus inward. "…She's currently on the farm plots right now. Now should be a good time to go ask."

XXXXXXXXXX

"GET OVER HERE, YOU GREASY BASTARD!"

Regalia dived at the boar. Lacking the language skills to berate the Abyssal for telegraphing her approach, the animal simply squealed and pranced out of her path, leaving the battleship to dig a meters-long groove into the dirt with her impact.

"I got it, I got it!" Nero chanted, sprinting after the pig with her more agile body. The cruiser's pursuit had her duck and weave between rows of crops, fighting to catch up with her target while avoiding damaging the precious plants. "You've got imps, you know, why don't you have them standing guard?" she asked as she maneuvered through the plot.

Regalia rose from the ground, spitting out a mouthful of soil. "Ordinarily, I do. But this reunion caught me in the middle of a shift change. All my guards are out of position!"

"Figures…" Seeing the culprit about to vanish into the corn stalks, Nero tensed her legs and leapt into the air towards the boar. All Regalia saw of the act was her comrade hitting the ground in an explosion of dirt and dust that enveloped the plot. As the air cleared, the cruiser stumbled to her feet, porcine struggler in her arms. "One down!" she whooped. "What do you want me to do with it?"

Shaking off the debris, Regalia waved her hand dismissively. "Couldn't care less as long as you get it off my farm," she grunted, scanning her surroundings for their next target.

"Alright, cool."

Behind her, the Re-class heard the captured boar let out an unholy scream—before it was abruptly silenced. Confused, she turned to face Nero—who was dusting herself off, no pig in sight. "The hell did you just do?"

"Stuffed it in my cargo hold," the Ne-class answered bluntly, as if it was the most obvious response in the world.

Regalia blinked. "…you can do that?"

"It's easy." Nero cocked her head. "What, you've never stuck something in your cargo hold before?"

"Never a living thing," Regalia clarified. "…what are you gonna do with it?"

Nero shrugged. "Not sure."

Regalia snapped her head towards the source of a soft crunching noise, seeing another boar ripping a carrot out of the ground and munching on it. "God DAMMIT!" She hissed, chasing after the animal.

XXXXXXXXXX

Stepping through the village, Tanith gazed over her scattered sisters, who were engaged in a number of different activities. She saw Abyssals of all sizes gathered around Ruadri as she told one of her fairy tales; she saw a group of cruisers lead by a Ri-class practicing some rather peculiar combat stances and motions; she spared a quizzical glance at the Twins mingling with a lone Wo-class, fiddling with bits of metal scrap and drums. In all, everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

She hoped she could find a way to save this happiness from reaching an abrupt halt come dinner.

Reaching the dirt path leading towards the farm, Tanith blinked in surprise at who was waiting for her. "Hey, Tanith," Isolated Island Princess greeted her as she approached. "Coming to check on your kid, too? My systems say they're both out there."

"Ritou." Tanith nodded. "Something like that, yes."

"Hm." The diminutive princess huffed. "Guess we can go together then."

As the two made their way towards the farm, they casually conversed. "So..." Tanith began. "From heavy cruiser... to installation. Quite the leap."

"While you were lucky to remain a battleship," Ritou retorted. "You don't have to re-learn everything you were capable of."

"Yes… but my main guns… are four inches smaller."

"Big whoop, my main guns are GONE. Plus, I have to wear THIS—" Ritou pointed to her outfit "—as part of my rigging. I went from a nice, breathable bikini to a full-body wool sock. The stuffiness is almost unbearable."

"You at least… still HAVE clothing." Tanith rolled her eyes. "I feel we'll get nowhere… arguing who got the short straw… in their ascendance." She thought back to her daughter, and the lone Ne-class cruiser that seemed to be sticking to her. "Your daughter…"

"Nero?"

Tanith nodded. "What is… she like?"

Ritou tapped her chin, thinking. "Well…I may have called her a delinquent back in the palace, but that was mostly just exaggeration. She's a model heavy cruiser, really. Excellent maneuvering skills, impeccable accuracy and damage control, follows orders more or less without complaint… reminds me of myself in the good old days."

"Hm. That sounds… nice."

"You would think that." Ritou huffed. "The thing is… I've never really seen her enjoy herself. She'll mingle with the fleet, play with the destroyers, do favors for everyone, but she does it all with the same just-going-with-the-flow attitude. She's always off finding different things to do in her free time, and she never sticks with one hobby for long. You think being open to new experiences would be a good thing, but she treats it all like chores, she doesn't derive any sort of fulfillment from it. Honestly, I'm just not sure what I should do to help her."

"…I see." Tanith considered her sister's words. "I wish… I could help you… with your dilemma. But Regalia has… always been easy… to please."

"I figured as much. If this farm is any indication, she knows what she wants from life." A few seconds passed quietly between the pair. Eventually, Ritou looked over to her sister. "So, I take it you're coming out here to ask your kid to share her bountiful harvest with us?"

"Regrettably, ye—" Tanith did a double-take. "Wait… you knew?"

Ritou shrugged. "More of a hunch, really. I don't think you'd have your sisters out at all times on food-gathering duty, you'd just get enough to feed yourselves every few weeks. And I doubt you would have thought to stockpile in case a big ol' fleet stopped by unannounced." Seeing her sister's embarrassed expression, she rested a hand on her shoulder. "Nobody's blaming you for not seeing it coming. Hell, I doubt the rest of us even have a contingency for it like you do."

"Y-yeah…"

Ritou put her hands to her hips, grinning. "Tell you what, seeing as I'm at least partially to blame for this fiasco… whatever it is you end up doing, I'll lend you girls a hand. How does that sound?"

Swallowing, Tanith nodded. "That sounds nice… thank you."

"Don't mention it."

The pair spent the remainder of their walk in silence.

XXXXXXXXXX

Regalia struggled to maintain her hold on the screaming boar in her arms. "Hurry up! I'm losing my grip!" She called out.

Nero rushed forward, pulling the beast from Regalia's hands. "It's alright, I've got you—oof, this one's a fighter." With some difficulty, the cruiser managed to get the boar into her cargo bay—next to two others. "Okay, that's done. Any more?"

In response, Regalia's tail pointed upward and launched a plane. It rose roughly thirty feet into the air, did a quick ring around the farm, and returned. "…Nope, that's the last one."

With a sigh of relief, Nero slumped to her knees. "Whew… that was an ordeal."

"Tell me about it." Regalia took a seat next to the cruiser, panting. "Was it… fun, at least?" she asked.

Nero smiled. "Yeah, I guess. It was nice to get away from the rabble and do something… different for a bit."

The pair spent a couple minutes in silence, laying back and relaxing. Eventually, Regalia looked over to her partner. "Have you figured out what you want to do with them yet?"

As Nero opened her mouth to speak, a series of muffled bangs emanated from her abdomen, startling both girls. The cruiser sat up, tapping her midriff. "Oh, damn it."

Regalia stared at her, concerned. "Are you alright?"

Nero nodded as she reached into her cargo bay and brought out a now-bullet-riddled boar carcass, examined it, and put it back. "'s cool. Just gonna need to do some interior cleanup." She held out a hand, where a small figure materialized. "If you're gonna kill them, drain the blood, please. I don't exactly appreciate stains on my insides," She commanded the imp before dismissing it, not noticing Regalia's face scrunch up next to her as she tried to picture that image.

Regalia let out a sigh of relief, smiling brightly. "Well, I'm glad you were at least able to enjoy yourself a little bit. Plus, you were a big help; who knows how much they might have managed to eat if I hadn't had you with me." She reached over and picked up an object off the ground, a fully-grown carrot uprooted during the scuffle. "Damn. Can't re-plant it, but I can't let it go to waste."

"Huh." Nero inspected the carrot briefly, before Regalia stored it in her knapsack. "So, when is all this stuff supposed to be ready to come out?"

Regalia sighed. "In truth, it should have come out already. Everything but the potatoes is ready to be harvested, and they should only need a day or two more."

"Then why not just harvest them?"

The Re-class sighed. "Well… call me sappy if you'd like, but… this is my first batch of crops. I kinda wanted it to be special. I wanted to gather up everything at once and show it all to my family, show them what a great job I did."

Nero held up a hand, smirking. "Say no more. I suppose the first time should be special, whatever the subject."

"Thanks." Leaning forward, Regalia stared at the ground, contemplating. "But… it's kind of a shame. All you guys showed up out of the blue, and if I'd had just a bit of time to prepare, we could have maybe used all these vegetables to whip up something nice for everyone…"

"You still can."

Regalia ignored the twinge in her back as she whipped around to see her mother and the Isolated Island Princess behind them. "Mom?" She asked, her surprise echoed by Nero.

"Having fun, Nero?" the Isolated Island Princess asked, a single eyebrow raised.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Nero responded hesitantly.

"She was helping me take care of food thieves, if that means something," Regalia offered.

"Is that so?" The princess smirked. She stepped forward and patted her daughter on the back. "Well then, great job, Nero." The cruiser blushed with her mother's praise.

Regalia looked back to her mother. "Why did you come out here, mom? Did you need something?"

"…Yes." Tanith stepped forward, arms folded, a look of mild guilt on her face. "Regalia… are the crops… ready for harvesting?"

Cocking her head, the Re-class nodded lightly. "Most of them are. Everything except the potatoes. Why?"

Tanith sighed heavily. "We lack the fish… to provide our… sisters with a feast. I need your help… and your crops… to give them the… nice meal they deserve."

Regalia blinked several times, just letting her mother's words register for a moment.

Her family needed her crops? It made sense, she supposed, they didn't exactly plan on visitors, of course they would lack food. But to call on her for help? Most of her vegetables were ready, sure, but the potatoes were still growing. If she did this, her first-ever harvest would be incomplete. It wouldn't be quite everything she'd hoped it could be. Still, though… this was for her family. If her crops could make a difference… they might just look at her a little more favorably, accept her a little more readily. That would be worth a hell of a lot more than just some fuzzy feeling in remembering pulling everything out of the ground at the same time…

Tanith looked at her silent daughter with a concerned expression. "Regalia…?"

Blinking, Regalia shook her head energetically, clearing her thoughts. "To hell with it. My family's more important than my sentiment." She looked to her mother and nodded. "You need the crops? They're yours, everything I can spare."

Tanith lunged forward, wrapping her daughter in a crushing hug. "Thank you, Regalia… thank you… Everyone will… be so… happy."

"Well, it's the right thing to do…" Regalia wheezed in her mother's arms, briefly noting the chuckle from the other princess. Once she was released, Regalia reached into her knapsack and produced a book labeled Hobby Farming for Dummies, the pages riddled with tabs of all different colors. "We're going to need some extra hands for this."

XXXXXXXXXX

Several stress-fractures in her amidships ribs. Airfield Princess had prescribed her a few days' off the sea and limited movement while she acclimated to the reinforcements made in her hull. Could have been better, could've been worse, Rivet figured. At least she wasn't immobilized with outright broken ribs that needed to be pulled out and replaced.

Anyway, rest suited her just fine. Even when mom was around to put them back into fighting shape immediately after sparring matches, it always felt good to just lay back and laze around for a while…

Rivet's thoughts were interrupted as she noted a seaplane circling in the air. Upon sighting her, the plane immediately turned and barreled towards her. Eyebrows raised, Rivet deftly plucked the plane from the air and snatched the parchment attached to the fuselage. Releasing the plane to return to its owner, Rivet opened the note with a flick of her wrist and read the message within.

Your assistance is needed. Please gather as much fish as you are comfortable using for tonight and wait for us in the palace mess. -Tanith

"…Damn it."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright… this one's good, this one's good, this—wait, this one's got maggots crawling over it. Toss it, and go check where you plucked it to see if any of the other nearby plants have been similarly infested."

Nero nodded, pitching the bad onion bulb in her hands out of sight and rushing back to the onion patch. Regalia grabbed the healthy bulbs, storing them in her cargo, and turned to her mother. Tanith, a page of Regalia's notes in hand, examined the corn stalks, grabbing the good ears and stowing them away, tossing away the overripe ears. The Isolated Island Princess had her bestial rigging deployed, using its teeth to rip carrots out of the ground by the stems.

Regalia found herself in a position she never thought she'd ever be in with her deformity—leading others. It was something of an exhilarating experience, she had to admit; a pair of Princesses, including her own mother, were looking to her for guidance, to know whether a given vegetable was good or bad, how many of them to harvest, the best way to harvest them. It felt… nice, having people look up to her, if only briefly. She wondered if this was how it felt being a princess or a flagship…

"Hey!" Regalia looked back to Nero. "What about that stuff?" She pointed to walls of golden grain in the distance.

Regalia shook her head. "You can make bread with that stuff, but we don't have the time or the know-how. Just leave it for now."

"Alright." Shrugging, Nero returned to the onions.

Nearby, Tanith perked up on hearing her seaplane approaching, sans note. "Rivet got my message," She announced. "She will be… waiting for us."

Regalia nodded. "Alright, cool. Everybody, can you come bring me a list of what you've got so far?"

The trio finished gathering what was in front of them before stepping towards the Re-class, manifests for their respective inventories in hand. Regalia quietly looked them over. More than enough onions to work with, and the corn and carrots could be stretched out if necessary. Stretched how far, though…? "How many are we serving for?"

"Ninety-seven," Tanith answered.

"Okay…" Regalia worked the math in her head. "Okay, we just might be able to make this happen." She heard a sigh of relief from her mother.

"Sounds good." Ritou clapped her hands. "Quick question though… what are we going to make with it all?"

Everyone paused. Brief glances were exchanged, full of confusion, surprise, and a dawning horror.

Nobody knew any sort of recipes involving something other than fish.

God dammit, Regalia thought, why had nobody thought this far!? They'd gone through all this effort, and all this food laying around, and they lacked the slightest idea of how to put it all together, outside of serving everything raw! What did they do now?

"Waagh!"

Everyone blinked and turned to Nero—more specifically, the imp that had appeared on her shoulder. "Waagh, waa waagh!" It was waving a slip of paper around in its stubby hand.

Nero took the slip from her imp and stared at it quietly, eyes wide. Curious, the other three walked behind her and peeked over her shoulders.

After a few seconds of reading, Ritou broke the silence. "…we're missing a few ingredients, but yeah, that could work."

XXXXXXXXXX

Rivet was slumped against the wall, waiting, when they arrived in the palace kitchen. There was some visible new patchwork in her side, which she idly scratched and prodded as she turned to look at them. "Alright, I'm here. What is it you need me for?"

"One sec," Regalia said as she stepped over to the table, sliding her sack off over her shoulder. Flipping it end-over-end, the Re-class casually began to empty her cargo all over the counter. The others followed suit, Tanith producing dozens of ears of corn from her fur coat, Ritou's rigging vomiting up carrots, and Nero—lacking a suitable focus for her hammerspace bullshit—simply pulling onions out from behind her back.

Rivet stared at the spectacle, eyebrows raised. "Quite the haul, there. You know what to do with it all?"

"No," Regalia admitted, "But apparently she does." She pointed to Nero.

"Technically, my crew does…" Nero corrected.

"Not too big of a difference, really." Ritou reached down and picked up one of her carrots. "Tell us what to do, 'boss'."

"Boss?" Nero was confused. "But… I mean, isn't Regalia the one directing this whole effort?"

"My expertise stopped mattering the moment my crops left the plots," Regalia noted. "You had a recipe when all of us had jack squat; at this point, that means you have more experience than the rest of us, me included."

"If you had… the knowledge, then… you likely know the… technique."

"Go ahead, Nero," Ritou spoke up. "Can't hurt to try. I doubt you'll do any worse than the rest of us."

Faced with such overwhelming encouragement, what could Nero do but accept? She finally threw her hands up in defeat. "Eh, why not. I'll give it a shot." Closing her eyes, the cruiser took a deep breath. With an exhale, she opened her eyes, a determined expression setting into her face.

Pulling out the recipe and examining it, she pointed to each of the girls in turn. "Mom, you peel the carrots, wash them, and chop them into slices. Aunt Rivet, skin the fish and cut them into chunks. Aunt Tanith, just scrape the corn kernels off the cobs into a big bowl or something. Regalia, get some pots and start heating up water—not to a boil just yet—then start cutting the green beans. I'll handle the onions. If any of you finish your task, go help anyone else who needs it. You all got something to cut with?" Every Abyssal present brandished a combat knife. "Sweet. Let's do this."

And so, the group went to work. It was a sight that would likely cause many individuals beyond Japan, human or otherwise, to do a double-take—two Abyssal Princesses, two heavy cruisers, and a defective Re-class battleship, all working in a kitchen.

An ordinary Abyssal would berate even a destroyer for lowering themselves to such grunt work. For a Princess to do it? Heresy in all but name. But if you asked any of the Abyssals involved, they'd say they were simply putting together a nice meal for their family. Who gives a damn if they're princesses? They're still sisters, first and foremost. Ascendance didn't change that fact.

Then again, they weren't exactly cut from the same cloth as other Abyssals, were they?

A few minutes passed quietly as the group worked. Regalia paused, rubbing her sore back, before shifting her fourth cauldron into place. "Will this be enough pots?" She asked Nero.

Nero glanced up from her task, eyeing the pots laid out in a row, and nodded. "Yeah, that should be plenty for us."

"Alright." Reaching into her sack, Regalia pulled out her bilge pump. Handing the duty off to her imps, she stepped over to the table, knife in hand, and grabbed a fistful of bean pods to start chopping. Her progress was slow and careful, as she was wary of cutting herself… or breaking the knife on her flesh. She wasn't quite sure which would happen, given her Abyssal biology, so better safe than sorry, she figured.

As she cut, Regalia spared a glance at her cousin. Nero's hands were practically a blur, peeling away the flaky outer layer of the onions, cutting the roots and stem off, slicing the bulb down the middle, and dicing the halves with a practiced ease and precision, before finally pushing the minced vegetable aside and starting on the next. Her gaze was sharp, focused…

Yet as she worked, a smile started to form on her lips.

The motions seemed to come as easily as breathing to Nero, as she processed the bulbs at a breakneck pace. As Regalia paused her own cutting to watch, Nero came to the bottom of her pile of onions—far ahead of every other Abyssal in the room—and looked over to Rivet. Her fellow cruiser huffed in frustration as she struggled to hold her still-intact fish carcass and scrape the scales away from its flesh, only to repeatedly have her knife slice into the flesh beneath the scales when she applied too much effort. Cleaning her hands off, Nero walked over to her.

"Hold on, Aunt Rivet, you're using the wrong side of the knife. Let me help you," Nero said, taking another fish and producing a fresh knife. As Rivet watched, she brushed the dull end of the knife over the fish quickly and repeatedly, swiftly descaling it. Now holding a clean fish, she began to cut into the flesh itself, along the spine and behind the gills, before digging the knife into the belly and carefully peeling away the fish's whole flank. She flipped the fish over and repeated the process, finally handing Rivet both slabs of fish meat. "Okay, I can handle skinning and getting the meat off the bone, you can dice it, sound good?" Not hearing a response, she looked up. "Aunt Rivet?"

Rivet was simply staring at her, jaw slack.

And it wasn't just Rivet; everyone in the room had halted their work and turned to face Nero, struck dumb by the speed and precision with which the Ne-class had just accomplished her task. "…Is something wrong…?" Nero asked, confused.

"That's it! Cooking!" Regalia blurted out. As everyone now turned to her, baffled, she continued. "You told me earlier that you don't feel war is your calling. Maybe… maybe it's cooking instead!"

"Uhh… are you sure?" Nero asked, head cocked.

"It has to be! I mean," Regalia gestured to the pile of diced onions, "You went through your part of the work faster than any of us, even my mom, and she has one of the easiest jobs here!"

"Well… we kinda need to rush to make this stuff, don't we?" Nero reasoned. "I was just going as fast as I could…"

"Kid, you just cleaned and cut up that fish like it was no big deal." Rivet pointed out. "And you did a damn fine job of it in the process. It would have taken me minutes of painstaking work to get similar results. You did it in seconds."

"That sort of… expertise can… only be natural… in someone as… young as you," Tanith added.

"But… but you think I haven't tried cooking before?" Nero asked. "We eat fish back home too, you know. Cooking fish was just as much of a chore as everything else is to me!"

"You mean just throwing whole seafood into fire and letting it roast?" Rivet scoffed. "You gotta admit, what we're doing currently is a mite more involved than that."

As Nero was preparing a comeback, she felt a hand grip her shoulder. Her mother stood beside her, expression thoughtful. "Nero. Forget why we're doing this, forget your past experiences. Just ask yourself: how did you feel while doing all that work just now?"

"…I…" Nero's gaze fell. For several seconds she stood there, staring at the floor, thinking. Finally, she looked up, a small but relaxed smile on her face. "I guess it felt… right, in a way. Normal. Like I've been doing it my whole life."

Ritou smiled. "Then it's that simple. It feels right to you, so just go with it. Maybe this is what you've been searching for all this time."

Nero nodded. "Maybe… yeah."

"Try not to stress about it," Rivet said. "Just relax, keep doing your thing, hopefully you'll start to enjoy yourself at the same time."

"Yeah… you're probably right. I just need to take it ea—" Nero let out a yelp as Regalia wrapped herself around the cruiser "Hey! OFF, PLEASE!"

"O-Oops…" Regalia paled as she detached herself from Nero. "Sorry. I was just glad we may have found something that makes you happy."

The heavy cruiser shook herself off and shot the Re-class a half-lidded glare. "Just… try not to get so touchy." Looking back over the scattered ingredients in the room, she clapped her hands. "Alright, we should probably get back to work. Everyone's waiting, aren't they?"

Thus, the group returned to their task.

XXXXXXXXXX

As the sun began to set on the phantom island, dozens of Abyssals loitered in the village square. Their princesses had told them they would be ready to eat supper soon, and to make sure they had a bowl and eating implements. Why they needed these things was anyone's guess. Perhaps the local fleet was preparing something interesting? Rumors were abounding in the combined fleet.

The quiet rabble was broken by a sharp clap. Everyone turned to the source—the Northern Water Princess. "Good evening, sisters. I hope you've all… been enjoying your day…?" She was met with joyful exclamations. "Wonderful. Me and a few… others have been… working on dinner the… last few hours. Before we eat, I… wanted to make a… confession."

As her sisters exchanged glances of confusion and curiosity, Tanith continued. "Your arrival was… most unexpected. Had we known… earlier, we could… have stockpiled in preparation… to provide you all… a feast." Her gaze fell, and a guilty look appeared on her face. "Instead, we had barely… enough food to make… a simple meal." Looking up and smiling, she turned and gestured behind her. "But at the very least… we can make it… a meal prepared with thought and care."

As everyone watched, four Abyssals clambered into view, each carrying an enormous, steaming pot. The pack watched on in fascination as they quartet hauled the pots to the center of the square. Those who managed to catch a glimpse over the rim of one of the pots would see a motley of bite-sized vegetable bits mixed with chunks of fish, floating in a briny broth. "With my daughter's crops… and what fish we can spare… we were able to make enough soup… to share with everyone. We hope you… enjoy it."

Well, that explained the necessity for bowls. The curious Abyssals took turns filling their dishes with soup before returning to their spots. Sitting down, the sisters examined their stew warily, unsure whether or not to proceed. None of them had ever eaten anything like this… Was it safe for them to eat? Would they enjoy it if it was?

Their fears were unfounded; several of the braver destroyers took the plunge, lapping up a mouthful of soup… and broke out in yips and cheers of glee, with the occasional "Yummy!" thrown in for good measure. Enticed by the destroyers' sudden outbreak of joy, the others followed suit… and broke out in praise of their own.

"This… this is delicious!"

"Damn, that's good!"

"A mix of sweet and salty and savory… I haven't had anything this tasty in a LONG time!"

"Sister, this is fantastic!" A Wo-class exclaimed as she and many others stepped forward to Tanith. "And you say you put all this together on such short notice?"

"You are too kind. But…" Tanith gestured to the nervous Re-class and Ne-class standing off to the side. "None of this… would have been possible… if not for our daughters. Regalia has put… so much effort into… growing food for her family. Without her crops… and Nero's culinary skill… we might very well be… eating broiled fish like… any other normal day."

Regalia and Nero only had enough time to shoot their respective mothers a pleading look before their aunts swarmed over them, bombarding them with compliments and questions.

"The vegetables were incredible!"

"I can't believe you made something this great with just fish and veggies!"

"You really grew them all yourself?"

"You guys did so well cutting the fish, I didn't find a single bit of scales or guts in my soup!"

"Do you think the extra free time you're allowed by your condition helped you make these crops so good?"

"We could definitely use you back at our base to spice up the cooking there…"

"You think you could help some of us try and grow our own crops?"

And on it went. Smirking, Tanith and Ritou stood back and watched as their daughters became the center of attention, and each tried to handle it in different ways. While Nero broke out of the crowd, asking for order, offering to take one question at a time, poor Regalia was overwhelmed by all the attention on her.

Tanith gradually shifted from amusement to confusion to concern as she her daughter began to break down in sobs and tears. As she moved forward to comfort her daughter, Ritou stuck an arm out, holding her back. "She's fine, let her be. Take a closer look at her face."

Unsure, Tanith complied with her sister's advice… and let out a sigh of relief. Despite the bloody tears streaming down her face, Regalia's expression was one of utter joy and bliss. The tears continued to flow as confused and concerned aunts tried to give her hugs to make her feel better. For once, absolutely nobody was giving her funny looks because of her back… she was simply being celebrated for her accomplishments, and she couldn't be happier.

Happy to see her daughter was in safe hands, Tanith spared a glance at the more agitated-looking Nero. "Are you sure… your daughter is doing okay?"

Ritou waved her off. "Yeah, she looks a bit miffed from being mobbed, but I can tell she's overjoyed. She's finally found her calling, and she was able to make her family happy in the process. A little violation of her personal space is a small price to pay for it."

"So you say…" Tanith replied, tone doubtful, but didn't interfere.

A couple more minutes passed as the pair's daughters were smothered in affection, and the two sat back silently observing. "…I doubt we will… have another chance to… come together again like this… for a very long time."

"I know." Ritou agreed. "Which is why we've got to enjoy it while we can."

Tanith simply nodded.

And so, life moved on for the children of the Northern Ocean Princess. They all came together in the throne room to sleep the night away, forming one of the largest and most diverse cuddle piles never seen by man, and come dawn, the various fleet went their separate ways to resume their day-to-day life. Their normal lives were far from perfect, but they were able to leave that island just a little bit happier, a little more hopeful, with the knowledge they weren't alone in the world anymore.

It went without saying that this would go down as one of the best days of Regalia's and Nero's young lives.

XXXXXXXXXX

Regarding Isolated Island being a former CA: Ritou is the fanon name for her, and it fits the Abyssal naming convention, so I figured, why not?

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Walking behind Juuchi, Tsukiakari glanced around at the brush that was in front of them. Then she turned back to her "Sempai" with her eyebrows furrowed. "Um, Juuchi-Sama? What are we doing here...?"

Only glancing back at her, the Muramasa hummed. "Remember how I spoke of training you? In the ways of the sword?" At the small nod, she smirked. "First, we need a place to do so."

Still confused, the Gunto frowned. "But... where are we going?"

It was then that Juuchi came to a stop and nodded. "Right here."

Blinking, Tsukiakari looked around them but could not see anything but a hillside with some concrete sticking out of the top of a small incline. "Juuchi-Sama? There's nothing here but a hillside though. Are we going to train in front of it?" Glancing around, she tilted her head to the side. "I suppose that it would make a certain amount of sense? The trees do hide what we're doing after all..." At the laugh, the Gunto blinked. 'Did I miss something?"

Just looking over her shoulder, Juuchi shook her head. "I took a look in the archives here and discovered one important fact. But just watch." Unsheathing her true self, Juuchi pointed it at the hillside. "As you know, one of the first rules of combat for a Potter is... what?"

Eyebrow raised, it only took a second for the other sword to answer. "Anything can be a weapon..." She frowned and scratched the back of her head. "I remember Ian-Sama once killing an attacker using chopsticks."

Intrigued, Juuchi paused in what she was seeing and turned to her. "Chopsticks, you say?"

A small blush on her face, Tsukiakari nodded. "Hai. He was caught off guard at a dinner and used a small banishing charm wandlessly on the chopsticks in his hand to impale his attacker."

Head tilted to the side, Juuchi chuckled and shook her head. "Typical Potter then, never think that even when disarmed they are less then dangerous." Her smile faded slightly before turning her attention back onto what she was doing. "Another lesson that Potters have kept even if it fell out of favor with other families is that not only can anything be used as a weapon, but they can also be used as a focus. Some objects are of course better, a newspaper will catch on fire if you try and channel magic through it for example..."

Tsukiakari smiled some before speaking up. "Which you can throw into the face of the person attacking."

Needless to say, that caused Juuchi to grin widely. "Exactly, that is how a Potter weapon should think." With a deep breath, she moved her blade as Tsukiakari's eyes widened. "But other things, such as swords, can also be used as a focus for spells when one had practiced enough."

Before the other sword's eyes, the earth moved away to reveal a concrete wall of some sort. Then, switching to a stance, Juuchi narrowed her eyes as her blade glowed and then slashed. And then she slashed again, and again until there was a rectangular form in the concrete. "Sugoi..."

Completely smug, Juuchi gestured for her to move back and then made a yanking motion, with a plug of concrete popping out like a cork in the form she had just slashed. Almost immediately, both swords leapt back as there was a gush of water that came out of the space shown. It took several minutes, but eventually the water stopped and Juuchi gave a small nod. "Almost done." Expression switching to a serious one, she held out her sword once more. "But please, be quiet as I need my concentration."

Only nodding, Tsukiakari watched as a small flame gathered at the end of Juuchi's sword before a weasel made of it leapt off. Eyes widening, the Gunto shoot the Muramasa a look even as the flame shot across the ground and into the hole, moments later the sound of steam filling the air. 'Fiend fyre!?'

Even as sweat gathered on her brow, Juuchi stood there and after fifteen minutes nodded as she walked forward. "It is done."

Walking forward, she stepped into the space even as her sword glowed in the darkness. Following, her, Tsukiakari looked around the space which was rather large. "What is this?"

Juuchi swung her blade this way and that, cracks in the walls, floors, and ceilings sealing themselves as she did so while sweat dripped from her brow and not due to the heat still present. "According to the map I found, this was a aircraft shelter partially built into the hill. After the war, they simply sealed the entrance with concrete and buried it. Which means that it is not being used as the rest of the tunnels and the warehouses are." Sweeping her gaze around, she swung once more and watched as the ashes left from decades of dirt, decay, pollution, and mold having been burned by the intense heat simply vanished as if they never were. "Thus, this is where I shall teach you how to fight."

Clapping her hands together, Tsukiakari gazed at her with some awe. "As in our own dojo, Juuchi-Sama?! Really!?"

Lightly chuckling, Juuchi gave a small nod. "Indeed, Tsukiakari-Chan."

At having spotted the other sword breathing a bit heavily, Tsukiakari became worried. "Juuchi-Sama? Are you alright?"

With a smirk, Juuchi waved her off. "Do not worry yourself, it has just been some time since I channeled as much magic through myself. As well, I do not have as much magic as my owners have had through their lives, I simply know how to use it."

Stars filling her eyes, Tsukiakari looked at Juuchi with some awe in her face. "It was so amazing, Juuchi-Sama! Not once did I think that we could channel magic through ourselves in such a manner!"

Fingers running through her hair, the Muramasa smugly smirked. "Ah, but we can. However, it is difficult as we are not as... optimized... as a wand might be." Shaking her head, she began to control her breathing. "More then one fool has tried to fight with both wand and sword, which limits what they can do and thus leads to their end. Certain spells though do work well with a sword, such as a cutting spell in regards to myself. A number of wizards and witches thought themselves outside of my range only to... heh... get cut down with a spell." Eyes narrowing, the sword spirit continued. "However, a fool is one who relies on such a thing beyond using it when no other choice is present."

Eyes wide, Tsukiakari bowed and nodded some. "Hai! I can see the wisdom of such." Frowning, she rolled around what she had just been told before looking at her elder. "Cutting spells... does it tie into your special ability, Juuchi-Sama? To cut through anything?"

Smirking, Juuchi chuckled before coming over and ruffling a blushing Gunto's hair. "Very good, Tsukiakari-Chan. Yes, my particular enchantments lend themselves to cutting spells extremely well. In your case though, I expect that you will do quite fine at using magic due to the enchantments on yourself. Now, draw yourself!"

Tsukiakari eeped for a moment before doing what Juuchi had ordered and held her sword in a fighting stance. "H-hai, Sensei!"

Lips twitching even as smugness poured off her, the Muramasa shook her head. "You need to draw yourself still faster, young one. But that will come later... right now though, as we must still prepare our training area I shall teach you how to cast magic. In this case, a very simple spell, the Lumos spells. Now..." Coming to a stop beside her, Juuchi gave a small nod. "Follow my motions..."

By the time that they were done, well over three hours later, Tsukiakari was drenched in sweat from the concentration she had gone through. But there was also a bright smile on her face as her blade was now shining in the darkness. "I did it, Sensei! See!"

Once more ruffling her hair, Juuchi gave the younger blade a closed eyed smile. "Very good, Tsukiakari-Chan. Very good indeed, I am proud of you."

Brightly blushing, Tsukiakari could not help herself but internally squeal. 'Sempai is praising me! Juuchi-Sama is praising me and patting my head! Eeee!'

After a few moments of this though, the older of the two stopped before tapping the other sword's leg. "Now, fix that stance up some." It took several other taps, but she got her as close to a proper sword stance to Juuchi's eye. "Good. Channel the light spell through your blade and give me one hundred proper downward swings while using the spell. We will follow that up with another hundred to the side, keeping the spell going the whole time."

Her blush transforming to a blanch at the order, Tsukiakari swallowed and was about to ask when Juuchi opened one eye a crack. Quickly, the Gunto went to work while the Muramasa nodded while correcting her work. Internally though, she was crying. 'Juuchi-Sama, why!?'

It went without saying that by the time that they were done, poor Tsukiakari nearly collapsed from exhaustion while Juuchi simply continued to smirk and eat a blood orange. The older sword considering things. 'Hmm... yes, I will need to transfigure a proper door. Perhaps wooden floors and a bath tub, one of those clawed ones obviously...'

 

[darthcourt10]

Souless Scotsman

Anderson and Graves sat in Celts' Corner, a Celtic pub near the Yard, finally both off duty. Well, sorta. Ranger sat next to them, spending her winnings from the most recent betting pool.

"Another!"

Anderson rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Graves, "So...you want to re-enlist? You do realize Connie's got first dibs if you do, right?"

He merely nursed his Scotch at the look Graves gave him.

"What."

Anderson laughed, "You can't tell me you hadn't figured that."

The Auror spluttered, "But I'm Army!"

"So am I. Certainly didn't stop her, now did it?"

Graves cast him a dirty look. "You're some kind of spook, you don't count!"

"Nope," Anderson replied, "Special Forces, sure, but I am one-hundred-percent Grade-A Army Trooper. Haven't even technically left my unit."

That earned him a sideways glance from the Ranger, "What unit did you say you were in?"

"I very pointedly didn't," Anderson admitted before turning his attention to Ranger, "Got a pen?"

Not even stopping her chugging of a pint of Jameson, Ranger reached into her cleavage and pulled out a fountain pen. After handing it to Anderson, she slammed the now empty glass onto the counter.

Then she BELCHED.

"Christ, Ranger!" he snapped while recoiling. The bartender, who had the misfortune of standing in front of Ranger, swayed.

"Whoo!" she cheered, "Another!"

Anderson just shook his head. Paying no more attention to the carrier, he began to write something down on a napkin.

"Jesus, you can't even say it out loud?"

"Classified," was the Lieutenant's deadpan response as he slid the napkin to the Auror.

"I doubt it's that ba-!" Grave's response was cut short as he read the napkin, "...Oh..."

"Yeah. So. I guarantee you aren't safe from her poaching."

"...Bartender! I'll have what she's having!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Snippet 73: Harry Leferts

Cruising along, I-351 sighed to herself as she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. A movement that would have caused many a man, and some women, to walk into objects under normal circumstances. Oh, don't get her wrong, she didn't really have an issue with patrols. Especially as she was a Submarine and Tanaka considered her useful despite most others rolling their eyes due to her being a Tanker Submarine.

Which, sadly enough, was part of the problem.

Still pouting, I-351 twisted around in the water to look at the surface, not that there was much for her to look at as dawn was just a few minutes away. Which meant that it was mostly dark under the waves at the moment. Hands behind her head, the Submarine sighed as she considered her problem. After being bounced around for well over a year between commands, she had been handed off with her sister to Tanaka and I-373. Part of the reason was that while the other Submarines acted lewd, the three of them were actually like that. Maybe it was due to being tankers which meant being filled and then drained of oil, or perhaps it was just because they were always bored out of their minds due to be stuck on land most of the time.

In any case, while happy for still being together, the three Submarines had known what was going to happen when sent to Kushiro. They would be sitting around and twiddling their thumbs for the most part. Maybe they would head out and try to have some fun as well if the usual bit between the three became boring. After all, what could possibly happen?

And then they met Tanaka.

The three of them had entered his office and upon catching sight of the young man who would be their Commander had grinned. Almost immediately they had done their usual antics which made the Captain blush before he took several deep breaths and pushed it down. More amazing to them though, he had then met their eyes and asked them to sit down. For the next hour he had spoken to them all and got a good idea of their abilities. I-351 could still remember him tapping his pen on the desk as he thought over what he had heard.

Eventually, he nodded and asked for them to tell him their range once more which the three had done so in confusion. Immediately, his eyes had lit up and he had grinned. Without any Aircraft Carriers, he had been limited in the area that he could patrol. But with their range, Tanaka had told them, he could now cover everything up to the Aleutians. Add in that they could easily refill the oil tanks at the outposts in the Bering Sea?

Needless to say, all of them were surprised as he laughed and shook his head before telling them to settle in. Once they were out the door though, they heard him talking with that purple haired Destroyer, Akebono. To their shock, he had called their other Commanders idiots when Akebono had asked what was so damn funny.

He had then went on to explain to her while not the most offensively equipped Submarines in the JMSDF, all three had the range to cover a large area. Now he could far more easily cover the area that was needed for patrols, especially the wide range ones. Tanaka even wished that he could summon their sisters to help out. At hearing that, the three eavesdropping Submarines had just looked at each other in pure shock. Someone, their Commander, did not see them as all but useless. More then that, he found something that they could do and make a real difference for the war in.

Was it any question that all three had decided to focus on him?

Almost every time they returned from patrol, he had greeted them with a smile and a word of thanks once they had given their report. Not all was sunshine and flowers though as their base was almost always chronically undersupplied. Even when they weren't, what they needed sometimes did not arrive on time. Being just a small base though, there was not much that they could do. Granted, Akebono and Kasumi sometimes grumbled about shitty Admirals and shitty politics causing issues.

But... in the end they always pulled through and everyone pulled their own weight. Not enough food for the base? Their Captain went out to the locals and spoke with them, making deals with both fishermen and hunters. He had also gotten a small fund from Goto directly in order to pay for supplies under it "Helping promote the local economy of Hokkaido". Which was a nice, polite way to the Submarines' understanding of telling various people elsewhere in Logistics to go fuck off.

It was something that the hunters, who had been trying to sell local game were extremely happy about. And the various shipgirls were as well as it meant not just fresh fish and seafood, but venison as well as rabbit, boar, and other meats were available in the Mess Hall. Local farmers were also happy as it gave them yet another place to sell their produce to as well. But to the shipgirls on the base, who were considered too troublesome for other places, that was only part of it. What truly mattered was that Tanaka, their Captain and Commander, had fought for them every step of the way. More then once they found him asleep at his desk trying to squeeze that bit more out of what they had.

Thus, even as they worried about him, all of the shipgirls under the Captain's command had grown to care for him. Deeply at that and was it any such surprise. Internally though, that brought I-351's thoughts to some of the things that had been discussed between some of them. Oddly, it was Kamoi who brought it up for some odd reason. 'Wonder how long until we wear him down...' Smirking, I-351 let out a lewd giggle. 'And I wonder if Akebono's mouth is as dirty in other ways~'

Meanwhile, in Kushiro, said Destroyer stiffened and glared while looking around much to the confusion of the still waking up Tanaka. The whole time she was growling about shitty people fucking talking about her behind her back. Which was when she noticed that the Captain was looking at her and puffed out her cheeks while glaring. A glare that grew with her being flustered when Tanaka commented that it made her look cute before she exploded with abuse that only seemed to amuse him.

Suddenly though, I-351 was pulled out of her musing as one of her crew got her attention. Even with her mind drifting around, her crew were still keeping an eye out. Hence, when one of her fairies stated that he was hearing a lot of noise, she stopped thinking and focused on listening. Slowly, her lips turned downwards into a frown and she looked around. 'That... is a lot of screws.' Catching movement, she filled her ballast tanks and dove for the seafloor. Hiding among the kelp, and thankful again for her human body, I-351 turned her eyes towards the lightning surface and waited.

As it turned out, she did not need to wait long.

The first thing that she spotted was the silhouettes of a dozen or so Abyssal Destroyers led by a Light Cruiser. Then she spotted a number of Submarines with them above, none of whom noticed her waiting at the bottom. But I-351's blood ran cold as she spotted that one of the Submarines was not a normal one... it was a Princess class. At the same time, she realized that the sound of screws in the water was only increasing as the group, a scout group she belatedly realized continued on.

Less then five minutes she was shaking as she watched no less then three Princess Class and several Demons pass by above her. Along with them were Carriers, Battleships, Cruisers both Heavy and Light, and large numbers of Destroyers. This... this was not a Battlegroup, or a flotilla. No, what she stumbled across as a massive fleet not seen since the early days of the war. Slowly, she rose above the bottom and made her way along, following them when she saw something that made the Submarine pause.

Near the back of the center of the formation, from below, she could see the form of a steel hull. Not a spiritual one, but an actual steel hull of a human ship. Eyes narrowing, she looked up at the stern where if it was a Q-Ship, one could see the spines of the Abyssal "Hermit Crab" that would be wearing the hull like a shell. Much to her surprise though, I-351 could see actual propellers turning. But not fast enough to propel it through the water. Which meant... what? That the Abyssals were towing a human ship? Why?

Moving along below them as silently as she could, I-351 weighed her options. She could run, no one would blame her. Once she was far enough away, the shipgirl could surface and then contact Command. They would be able to find the group after all. Or she could attack and sink some. With a glance though, I-351 internally snorted. 'Yeah, and get my ass sunk.' Five minutes of following them though and she realized with a sinking feeling where they were heading.

If they continued in this direction, on this heading...

They were going straight for Kushiro.

Blanching, I-351 looked around and then steeled herself. What she was about to do might get her killed. More then possible to say the least. But... across her mind was the image of Kushiro base. Her friends and especially Captain. The one man who she trusted and cared due to his actions.

Inside her torpedo room, her fairies selected a special torpedo. One of the little things created as the war went on for just such a case like the above. A worst case scenario. It looked like an ordinary Oxygen Torpedo for the most part. But the warhead was coloured yellow. The Fairy Captain opened a small compartment to reveal a keypad. Quickly, he began typing before pressing enter and they could hear a "Ding" before he nodded. Gently, they inserted the torpedo into the tube before closing the hatch. Outside, I-351 swallowed and fired.

Just as I-351 expected, the Abyssals heard the launch and dove as they began searching for her as the torpedo continued. Looking around, Northern Water Princess missed the torpedo as it headed for her, passing just below her feet. It also passed below Sunny and then through the other Abyssals, just below them. And then it was out of the Abyssal Fleet.

While the Abyssals were searching for I-351, the torpedo flew through the water until it reached the limit of it's range. Inside, small canisters or compressed gas released, popping out hatches with inflatable bags which brought the torpedo to the surface. As soon as it got, the transmitter where there would have been a warhead shot off a short burst, one that contained the information of the Abyssal Fleet, its composition, the speed and heading. From there, it was transmitted to a satellite and then reached Kushiro. Roughly an hour later, the Abyssal Fleet began to move on, now watching more carefully though they did not catch the Submarine that had launched the torpedo, not knowing that she was still shadowing them...
______________________________________________________________

Making his way through his paperwork, Tanaka was sipping his morning coffee when suddenly the phone on his desk rang and he glanced at it. Upon seeing the number though, he raised an eyebrow before reaching over. 'Communications? What are they calling for?' Picking it up, he brought it up to his ear with a frown. "Captain Tanaka." After a few moments though, the Captain's eyes widened and he glanced over at Akebono. "I-351, where is her patrol area?"

Confused, the Destroyer looked over at the map they had and glanced at the patrol schedule. "That shitty Submarine would be in Patrol Area Delta." When Tanaka rattled off some coordinates, Akebono placed her finger in one spot and placed a magnet there. "Right here, about... seven hundred klicks away. Why are you asking..." Turning though, she noticed that the Captain looked frightened of something. "What is it, you Shitty Captain?"

However, he didn't answer her and only took a deep breath before speaking calmly into the phone. "Okay, Lieutenant, listen to me closely and carefully. Send out people to wake up the Mayor, the Police Chief, and the Fire Chief. Have them contact me once they are awake as I will have more information hopefully by then... Oh, and send someone to contact the hospital and inform them as well. Yes, that too."

As he hung up, Tanaka turned to Kasumi who was sharing a look with Akebono. "What's going on now?"

For several moments, the Captain was quiet before he answered. "I-351 just sent out one of the burst communication torpedoes. According to what she sent, there is a fleet of Abyssals, no less then thirty, heading right for us. Not just light units, but heavies including no less then three Princesses and a number of Demons."

Both Destroyers paled at that before Akebono walked over and slapped her hands down on the desk. "What!? Are you fucking shitting me, you shitty Captain!? Because if this is a shitty joke, it's not funny!"

When Tanaka looked at her though, he had a deadly serious expression on his face. "This is no joke, Akebono. If she sent that, then she had no chance to surface safely and report it. Who knows what has happened to her in the meantime." Turning back to Kasumi, he shook his head. "Get me Colonel Matsuda on the line, ask him if either him or Commander Sakamoto have any aircraft on patrols in the area, recon only. Hopefully Sakamoto has a P-1 in the vicinity that can grab a look so that we can get confirmation. But Matsuda should get one of the F-4s to have a look as well."

Quickly nodding, Kasumi rushed over to her desk. "Got it! Give me five!"

Just giving her a thin smile, Tanaka brought his attention onto Akebono. "I need you to get in contact with Major Takayama and tell him what is happening. He needs to get his artillery up and running as fast as possible and into position to cover the harbor. We only have a few hours notice, but we'll do the best that we can." Picking up the phone, he began to dial. "I'll get in touch with Yokosuka and inform Admiral Goto of what is happening before I start getting calls from the Mayor among others."

Already dialing her own phone, Akebono gave a sniff. "Hopefully that Shitty Admiral is not asleep with his dick buried in that shitty overarmored Battlecruiser. Especially as we need them!"

Lips twitching, Tanaka considered what said shipgirl's reaction to that would be before dismissing it. There would be enough time for later to laugh over it when he needed such a thing. Right now, he had to get ready and had little time. "Oh, and once your done with Takayama, get on the line with the other girls and inform them of what is happening. That way we know where they are." All Akebono did was nod and was already speaking on the phone while taking shorthand notes.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Slowly, Tanaka set the headset down into it's cradle before turning to his computer. There was a ding sound as an email arrived and he opened it before watching the video attached from the P-1 that had been in the area. The Captain watched it two more times before letting out a sigh and sitting back in his chair. "Well..."

For once, Kasumi seemed worried and stepped forward. "What is it?"

Glancing at her, his expression softened before he plucked the cap off his head and set it down. "I-351 was not wrong, in fact it's as bad as she said." With a few clicks, he brought his attention to a nearby screen on the wall which showed the footage. Both Destroyers went bone white at the image being played across the screen. Carriers, Battleships, Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers, Destroyers and the odd Submarine were all journeying across the screen. In the middle, there were various Princesses including what looked like an Airfield type alongside an Isolated Island type. Besides them, there was one unidentified Princess type and a number of Demons.

All in all, the type of force that shipgirl Commanders had nightmares about.

And all of them were heading in their direction. Suddenly there was a cracking sound as Tanaka glanced at Kasumi who was gripping her clipboard hard enough it was breaking. Not saying a word, he got up and walked over before drawing her into a hug, one that he pulled Akebono into. It said something that neither Destroyer fought him or said anything insulting as he did so. "It's okay you two, it's okay."

Pulling back, Akebono gave him a disbelieving look. "Okay..." She then angrily gestured at the screen. "Are you seeing the same thing that we are, you shitty Captain!? None of us have the firepower capable of fighting something like that! Settsu is an old Dreadnought and she's out heaviest hitter up here!" Finger jabbing at the screen, her voice continued to rise. "EVEN YOKOSUKA WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO DEFEND AGAINST SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

However, what Tanaka saw as Akebono continued her abuse was not the usual shipgirl. No, it was something else...

It was a scared teenaged girl who he knew.

Gently, he pulled her into the hug and took a deep breath even as his own mind was awhirl. He wanted to run, to freak out himself after all. All he was, was a Captain in a small base, not a legend such as Goto or Richardson. Or someone like the American Settle who fought in the Second Battle of Los Angeles and managed to fend off the Abyssal incursion. And even he had not faced down a force like the one that was now facing them. No one would have blamed Tanaka for breaking at that moment.

But one look by Tanaka at the two Destroyers frightened eyes anchored him. He could not, would not, give into fear and despair. Maybe later, if he survived this he could have a freak out. However, at this moment his girls needed him to be strong, to be their anchor. And Tanaka had swore that he would never fail them.

And he was not about to start now.

With a deep breath, the Captain closed his eyes and then nodded before opening them. "Okay, Kasumi-Chan? We need to get ready. I want you to activate Okuri Inu Protocols right now, that will send all the data that we have to Sapporo, and then to Ōminato. We'll continue to send data dumps every five minutes until either we stand down or else the attack... does more damage then what we would hope for." Neither Destroyer needed to be told that meant that the base, and all that lived there, would have been wiped out. But it gave Kasumi something to do and she rushed to her computer. Meanwhile, Tanaka turned to Akebono who looked up at him. "Akebono-Chan, I need you to gather up all our paperwork copies and place them into the safe as per the Okuri Inu Protocols. I... need to make some calls."

Looking up at him, Akebono gave a sharp nod and rushed to the filing cabinets, her fairies coming out and helping as Tanaka walked over to the red phone on his desk.
_______________________________________________________________________

Minutes later, throughout Hokkaido, warning sirens began to howl. In Yamainutaira, various people were shocked for several moments before the members of the Civil Defense Corps went towards the stations where they would get their orders. Inside the main home for the Hokubo Okami Clan, the elders were heading to the floo when Kogamaru stepped through. Soon enough, there was shouting everywhere.

The events in Yamainutaira on both sides were repeated all across Hokkaido in various places. In Sapporo, below the city where there was banks of computers inside a bunker belonging to the JSDF, several technicians handled data being sent via the Okuri Inu Protocols and sent them on to Ōminato. A silent front in the war and one hardly seen, they each went about their job with all the seriousness that it meant. Even if the Abyssals were bombing and shelling the city, they would have stayed there until either the Abyssals stopped and were driven off, or they were dead.

Elsewhere in Japan, various people turned their attention to their radios and cellphones as alerts rang out across them. On the waterfront of Yokosuka, Harry yanked out his cell phone and stared at it while the magicals looked at him in confusion. Clearing his throat, Neville brought the attention onto him. "Mate? What's going on?"

It was Warspite though who answered as she looked northwards. "That's one of the Japanese civil defense alerts. There's an incoming Abyssal attack on Hokkaido and... its big. Very big."

Pale faced, Harry nodded some before gulping. "She's right, there's several Battleships and it mentions there is at least one confirmed Princess heading for Kushiro. And it also is telling everyone in the Civil Defense Corps to head towards their stations for orders in case of a wider Abyssal attack."

Duke looked at Ron before squeezing his shoulder. "Ron, Warspite and I need to go and head to the base for orders. If there is an attack, we're needed."

All Ron did was turn around and hug the two Battleships before standing back and watching as they headed off. When he turned though, he noticed that Susan was giving Harry an odd look as the boy began to look around. The red haired girl then spoke up with a frown on her face. "Harry? What are you doing?"

Turning, he gave her a thin smile. "Just making sure that I know where I am as I need to head to my own station. I'm in the Junior Civil Defense Corps after all."

Head whipping around, Molly fixed him with a look. "Say what, Harry! You're in the military already!?"

Quickly, he shook his head and chuckled weakly. "Not really? The Civil Defense Corps are not part of the military proper, being mostly made up of civilians. And in my case, I'm stationed at the same school as Natsumi-Chan. My job is to basically help out if there is an evacuation to the shelter there and help pass out first aid kits, water, that sort of thing." As Molly relaxed, he glanced at his phone and nodded. "Which means that I need to get going."

Before he could leave though, Tracy raised a hand. "Just one thing, that alert on your phone, is it across Japan?"

Giving her a look, Harry only nodded. "It is as a matter of fact, that way everyone knows that there either was or is going to be an attack and where. They built it off the Tsunami and Earthquake alert systems. Pretty sure that Britain has its own version of it anyways on their cell phones." As Tracy nodded in thought, and the elder Greengrasses shared a look, the black haired wizard continued. "You should be heading back to the hotel though, they got a shelter there in the basement just in case."

And with a final nod, Harry ran off towards where he knew one of the transport points for Civil Defense was in order to get to Natsumi's school. Back with the others, Arthur let out a sigh and looked at Amelia who gave a nod. Returning it, the red haired man placed a hand on Molly's shoulder. "Amelia and I need to get going as well, Molly. We're heading to the Magical Diet in case we can be of any help in this, it's what we're supposed to do after all."

Only blinking away some tears, Molly nodded and hugged her husband close before kissing his cheek. "I know, Arthur. You just stay as safe as you can, alright?"

Softly smiling, Arthur gave her a kiss to the cheek as well before hugging his children, kissing Ginny on the head. And then both him and Amelia jogged off to where there was a small alleyway from which there was a double crack sound moments later. Watching his mother wipe her tears, Bill squeezed her shoulder. "Come on, Mum. We should head back to the hotel and wait this out."

Molly only nodded and, with a final look at the alley, headed off.

In Hidakagawa, Haku was driving his scooter through traffic and dodging around other vehicles as he blasted along the roads. Behind him, Kiyohime held tightly to him as the two screamed around a corner. "How much further, Haku-Kun?"

Glancing around him, Haku went around another corner. "Not much further, Kiyohime. We're almost to the river." Not even five minutes later, the two were in sight of the river and pulled to a stop. Both of them did not bother waiting until the scooter was secured before running down the embankment to the side of the river. "Okay, we're here."

With a look around, Kiyohome pulled off her helmet to reveal that the "Horns" coming from it were her real ones poking through holes in it. Then she took a deep breath before looking at Haku. "Any more word on what is happening?"

Haku looked at his phone and the warning only to shake his head. "Nothing, though that could be good news as well. It might mean that the Abyssals are not about to attack here."

Just shaking her head, Kiyohime grimaced. "We can't take that chance, Haku-Kun." Looking up and down the river, making sure that no one was there, she gave a small nod before kissing him. "I'll see you in a bit."

Then she stepped back and Haku watched as fire sprang up around her with her legs lengthening and merging together into a long, serpent tail. At the same time, her hands became scaled and clawed while her horns grew larger on her head. When Kiyohime opened her mouth, he could see fangs there while her cheeks also grew scales and her eyes glowed. The "Dragon Princess of Hidaka" was about to enter the water when Haku grabbed her sleeve and pulled on it. "Kiyohime, bend down for a moment."

Confused, the demoness did so with a small frown as her face was level with Haku's own. "Haku-Kun? What is it-"

Before she could react, he reached behind her and pulled Kiyohime into a heated kiss. Pulling back after nearly a minute, Haku took in the stunned and flushed form of his girlfriend who had not expected that. A small smile on his face, he chuckled. "For good luck."

Still blushing heavily, and stunned as he had just kissed her while she was in her most monstrous form, Kiyohime gave a nod. "H-hai, and thank you, Haku-Kun."

With a final look, she turned and slithered into the river. The only sign of her passage being a bow wave headed downstream and steam rising from the waters as Haku stood there. "Stay safe, Kiyo... and come back to me." Giving the river one last look, he headed back to his scooter as he had his own area for Civil Defense.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Hand slamming down on the desk, Arthur growled. Something that would have surprised many of those who knew the usually mild mannered man, unless they knew what he was like when utterly furious. Like he was right now as he was staring at the head of the Magical Law Enforcement in the Magical Diet. "What do you mean you aren't going to send anyone to help out in Hokkaido against the incoming attack!? Do you know how many people might die!?"

All the man behind the desk did though was lean back and scowl. "And what would you have me do, Weasley-San? I do not have the forces needed for this. Even if I did, there are more important things that are needed." A small sneer grew on his face. "Leave it up to the shipgirls as they love to flaunt breaking the law as they do."

Clenching his fist, Arthur wanted nothing more to punch the man in front of him. Part of his mind flashed back to the Battle of the Thames of which he was a participant on the magical side along with other witches and wizards. All of them fighting to prevent the Abyssals from coming up the river to attack London directly. Or the various other battles during those early days when the Aurors and other magicals fought alongside their non-magical brothers and sisters. Until the shipgirls started appearing and finally drove the Abyssals back.

Those memories, paired with what he was hearing, brought his temper to the breaking point. On Arthur's face was a similar sneer. "Yes, like keeping Yokai in reserves, even those helping."

Nostrils flaring, the man behind the desk stood up and was about to say something when Amelia walked in. The Director of the DMLE in England took one look and narrowed her eyes. "Enough!"

Sitting back down, the man frowned and gave her a look. "Perhaps, Bones-San, you should keep your subordinates under control when in a foreign land."

If he had expected Amelia to agree, he was wrong as she fixed him with a glare. One that caused him to shrink slightly before she walked over and brought her face close to his. "You listen to me and do so well. I am not impressed in the slightest with how the Magical Diet is handling things and have already. My country fought a civil war and has been fighting the Abyssals and the like ever since. And yet, we have done far better then your own government has!"

Angrily flushing, the head of the Magical Law Enforcement, only having been there a few weeks after the 'Spider Incident' which saw his predecessor dismissed, scowled. "I can promise that we will do something once the issue is resolved. If any Yokai or others involve themselves, we will Obliviate any of the No-Majs there."

Out of nowhere, a fourth voice made itself known. "How... interesting." The three magicals turned to find Mary there watching them. For several moments she looked around before humming to herself. "Arthur, Amelia, can I speak with you?"

Both British magicals shared a look before they walked over while the Japanese man grumbled and turned to one of his subordinates muttering about Gaijin not knowing what they are speaking of. Upon reaching the American though, Amelia lowered her voice. "You cannot support this, Miss Maleficus. It's a travesty."

Glancing at the various Aurors running to and fro, Mary frowned. "No, I do not. Even in the US this sort of thing is beyond the pale. Combined with recent... incidents, I believe that we are seeing the death knell for the Magical Diet. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be a sentiment that they wish to share." Head tilted to the side, she gave a somewhat predatory smile. "I have gotten word that another faction may be making a move in Hokkaido though..."

While Amelia was lost, Arthur was not and raised an eyebrow. "You mean the other government down in Kyoto? They're moving out to support the muggles?"

As Mary nodded, Amelia frowned and narrowed her eyes. "That is... interesting. But us going there could be seen as being supportive of them politically before the dissolution of the Diet occurs. Something that could be seen as a slap in the face."

If the American's smile was predatory before, now it would have sent a Tyrannosaurus running. "Perhaps. But then, considering their recent actions in regards to you both? You could be just simply... observing things. One could even claim that you were accompanying me on an investigation as foreign observers."

The two British magicals considered that before smiling and giving a nod. Moments later, they were walking along with Mary. More then one Auror, even as some of the others sighed in relief and rolled their eyes, felt like something really bad for them had happened...
______________________________________________________________________________

Sighing, Tanaka looked over the office as Akebono returned from placing the hardcopies into the safe in the basement of the building. With a small nod, he straightened. "Akebono-Chan, Kasumi-Chan, come here for your orders."

Both Destroyers walked over as Tanaka faced the map on the wall. It was Akebono though who spoke up with a scowl. "So what are our orders, you shitty Captain."

For several moments, the Captain did not say a word before speaking. "I have gotten in contact with Settsu and she is making steam as we speak. She's coming from the southwest though and by the time she arrives the Abyssal attack will likely be well underway. Major Takayama is already setting up artillery in the hills, but will only be so useful."

Eyebrows furrowing, Kasumi looked over the map before nodding. "What about the other naval bases? Any help from there?"

Running a hand through his hair, Tanaka shook his head. "Yokosuka is sending relief forces in via the US-2 seaplanes of the Fourth Transport Squadron. But even at top speed, we're looking at four hours before they arrive. The JASDF is already sending what they got into the air and from what I heard, the USN is doing much the same. I have also been told that the Russians are getting ready to sortie as well, if needed." None of them needed to hear the second part of that statement, which was that they would do so only if the Japanese asked. "Right now though, they are going to reinforce the Kurils."

Arms crossed, Akebono scowled. "Of course they are."

Lips twitching for a few seconds, Tanaka became serious once more. "Among the shipgirls reinforcing us upon arrival will be Haida and Athabaskan. Acadia has already moved to help defend Tokyo Bay to help relieve some of the forces there."

That made both Japanese Destroyers blink before they turned confused expressions onto their Superior. It was Akebono who spoke up. "Haida-San is coming? Why?"

Pointing at the image on the screen, Tanaka sighed. "Because of the steel hull that the Abyssals are towing. It has been identified as a Canadian warship, one of their Halifax class. Some were lost in the Pacific after all during Blood Week and afterwards. Now, I-351 claims that it is not a Q-Ship, but..."

Slowly, Kasumi nodded with a frown. "We can't be sure. And if it is, then the Canadians are going to be out for blood to be sure." Shuddering, she shook her head. "I saw Haida angry once, never again."

Once more, the Captain felt like laughing a bit before tampering that down. Instead, he gestured at the map. "I want you to take the Ukuru sisters with you and head out. Your destination is the other side of Cape Shirepa."

Both Destroyers looked back and forth before Akebono gestured at the map. "Cape Shirepa!? That's on the other side of the bay from the base and would leave it wide open, you shitty Captain! You would have no protection."

Expression blank, Tanaka looked her right in the eyes. "We would have protection from the artillery being set up. And besides which, this allows for you to launch an attack from the Abyssal's flank while they are distracted. You both come around that cape and then launch torpedoes. They will be stuck between the shore and you."

Hands clenched, Kasumi glared at him. "I have not heard of so much bullshit from your mouth! What the fuck do you think you're doing?! By the time we launch any attack, they would have been shelling the base!"

Tanaka just took a deep breath. "Yes, and the artillery and aircraft would have been hammering them for some time."

Growling and twitching, Akebono pounded on the desk. "The fuck, you shitty Captain! You're likely to get killed in the meantime! We should be right here at the base and-"

Suddenly, Tanaka roared. "AND WHAT?! GET SUNK?!" Calming down, he fixed the two with a look. "You are both Destroyers and nothing more. Taffy 3 may have managed to drive off Center Force, but they nearly all sunk for it. And this is not Center Force that we are facing. If I was to have you both do what you are asking, you would die as there would be no way to hide you." Expression softening, he leaned against his desk and closed his eyes. "I... I can't do that. I cannot order you to throw your lives away like that uselessly."

Mouth acting like a goldfish, Akebono could just stare at him. Kasumi meanwhile blinked away some tears from her eyes. "Tanaka..."

Opening his eyes, Tanaka gave them both a sad look. The same look that he had given them both that day years before when he was hauled off by MPs for disobeying direct orders. "Look, this way you'll live and the Abyssals will be pinned in on multiple sides once the fighting starts. Settsu from the South, you from the north, artillery from the west, and various Fighters and such from multiple sides. I don't want any of you to throw your lives away needlessly."

Both Destroyers stared at him for several moments before they embraced him tightly. Sobbing, Akebono let her tears dampen his uniform while shaking her head. "You damn shitty, shitty Admiral. You are so shitty that I cannot fucking believe it. You better survive this you shitty Admiral so that I can tell you over and over how shitty you really are!"

With a blink. Tanaka had a wry smile on his face. "Akebono-Chan, I'm a Captain, not an-"

Kasumi looked up through her own tears and then glared at him. "Fuck off, you are not a Captain to us. You are our fucking shitty Admiral." She shared a look with Akebono for several moments and the purple haired Destroyer nodded. Before Tanaka could do anything, they yanked down his head and kissed him on either cheek. Letting go, Kasumi wiped her tears away and shook her head. "Just... just live."

Somewhat stunned with what happened, Tanaka only nodded some. "Um, sure... You too." When both left through the door, he blinked. "Okay, that just happened..."

A chuckle made him look up to where Kamoi was in the doorway. The Oiler was giving him an odd look with a small smile before walking in. "Not that unexpected and as I said, it is easy to see how. You care for all of us despite how much we're considered the most troublesome shipgirls." Head tilted to the side, she stopped in front of him and then gently kissed him right on the corner of the lips before pulling back. "And as the two of them said, you make sure that you live." Winking, Kamoi turned. "That way, you can see what will happen next~"

There was a final look over her shoulder before she turned and walked out. Meanwhile Tanaka stared for almost a minute before he shook it off. "Um, right... the bunker!" Quickly, he made his way out of the office, and only paused for a few seconds to take in what might be the last sight he might have of it. All the memories that were made there.

And then, he closed the door and locked it before walking to the elevator and pressing for the bottom floor. It did not take long for the elevator to reach the basement and he got out before walking to a steel door and opening it. There, in front of Tanaka, was a set of stairs that went downwards still further into the rock. Not rushing, the Captain made his way down them as the heavy steel door behind him closed shut. As always, when heading into the command bunker beneath the base, part of him mused about it. Part of him always wondered what would happen after the war was over and liked to imagine that it would become something of a local attraction decades in the future if not destroyed.

However, right now he had to use it for the purpose that it was given. Opening the final door, Tanaka walked into a form of chaos as various people were quickly going to and fro across the bunker. Some were shouting out loud for various items while some were providing updates as fast as possible. Walking over to the glowing table in the middle of the room, Tanaka took the offered glasses and put them on. Almost immediately, he could see a hologram of sorts on the table which showed a map of the surrounding area. And there, at one corner, he could see the fleet of incoming Abyssals. "Okay, what do we have so far?"

Frowning, one of the Ensigns shook her head. "It's mostly what we have in from the recon flight, and they did not get too close, Sir. But the Abyssal fleet is heading for us at about ten knots. Which cannot be their top speed."

At another side of the table, one of the Warrant Officers grumbled. "Arrogant bastards."

Lips turning downwards, Tanaka took in the whole sight of the tabletop before pressing an button. It provided a 'Fast forward' of what would happen if the Abyssals kept their heading. Needless to say, it showed them arriving in Kushiro well before any real reinforcements could arrive. If they sped up, then they would reach them sooner. Looking at the map though, something niggled at him. "No, there is something else going on here. We're missing something."

That got him an odd look from the Lieutenant in charge of the table. "Missing something? But what?"

Eyes narrowing, Tanaka shook his head. "That's the question, and one that my instincts are telling me are important..."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

On the runway given over to military aircraft at Kushiro Airport, the pilot of an F-4RE Phantom II was lowering the cockpit as he looked over his shoulder. "You didn't have to volunteer for this, Reo. Where this plane is going-"

The man in the backseat just snorted. "We won't be needing fear. I know that, Sora you baka. Besides, if I didn't then my Nee-San would kick my ass all over the place and I'm sorry, but I'm more afraid of her then you." After a moment, he then added a bit more. "Or any Abyssal fleet."

Instead of laughing, the pilot only nodded. "Agreed, I don't blame you in the slightest for that. Ami-Chan can be scary, though sometimes in a sexy way."

Grimacing, the other man in the cockpit shook his head. "Too much information there about my Nee-San."

Lightly laughing, Sora shook his head. "Well, you started it." After a few seconds though, he lowered his voice as he went through his checks. "Thanks for volunteering anyways, I appreciate it."

Just snorting, Reo shook his head. "Don't sweat it. Besides, I trust you bro, especially in our baby here." Grinning, he continued. "That one Abyss Diver, Tengu, has nothing on the Suzume."

Wincing, the pilot checked his systems to make sure that they were not being recorded. "You know that you should not be mentioning that. If it gets out..."

Reo's expression shifted to something more serious. "If it gets out that you are a Yosuzume, then they will need to get through to me. Besides, I'm letting you date my Nee-San."

Even as he relaxed some, the Yokai only nodded as he completed his checks. "Yeah, something that I'm thankful for. Anyways, everything checks out so time to head out."

Looking over his own part of the cockpit, Reo also became serious. "Right, everything checks out and datalink is live. We are transmitting direct to command and JMSDF Kushiro Shipgirl Base. Time to head out."

Everyone around stopped to watch as the modified F-4 sped along the runway until it was airborne and rapidly climbed into the air. Not long after, they heard the distant boom as it broke the sound barrier while heading for Mach 2 and where the Abyssals were waiting...

Meanwhile inside the Command Bunker in Kushiro, Tanaka was looking at the map spread out on a table showing the area. On it, he could see figurines showing the Abyssal position as well as the various positions of shipgirls in the area. In Akkeshi Bay, he could see the figurines showing Akebono and the others waiting out of sight. There were others representing artillery emplacements and the like. All in all, it was the best that they could do.

Turning away, Tanaka brought his attention to a large screen on the wall and frowned as it was showing one of the photos from the P-1 that had done recon. Not for the first time since this started he wished that they had gotten closer, though it was understandable why not. Walking over, he leaned close to the chair that a Sub-Lieutenant was working at. "Any thing on enhancing the photographs so that we have a better clue of what we are looking at?"

Said woman glanced over at him before continuing her work. "I'm working as hard as I can at this, Sir. But writing new bits onto a program from scratch is not easy work at all. Do you have any idea how hard it is?"

Bemused, the Captain shook his head even as he remembered what he knew of the Sub-Lieutenant, a "Hokubu" from memory, some clan from a small town in Hokkaido. "No, how hard?"

Chuckling, she hit a few last keys. "Hard... And done!" Up on the screen, the photograph began to clear up and soon they could more easily see the Abyssals from where the photo was taken. "Had to add data from the other photographs and such to clean it up, but that is the best that I can do." Grimacing, the Sub-Lieutenant shook her head. "Not that it helps all that much."

Now able to see clearly the forces arrayed against them, Tanaka took a deep breath. "No, not that much but at least we now know." Eyeing her, he raised an eyebrow. "You could leave you know, I asked for volunteers only."

The woman gave him a wolfish grin before laughing. "And miss this? No thanks. Besides..." Her expression softened some. "We all got to do our part no matter what some might think."

Even though that comment, and tone of voice it was delivered in, made Tanaka wonder, he dismissed it. Walking up to the screen, he stared at it in thought. The small niggling he had been feeling became a nudging in the back of his mind. Something... something was not right. But what? As one of the Leading Seaman walked past, Tanaka stopped him. "Get me a pad of paper, will you? And one of the good pens as well."

Confused, the young man, barely out of the JMSDF Academy, gave a small nod. Within a few minutes he came back with a pad of paper and a pen. "Here you go, Sir. Is there anything else?"

All Tanaka did though was wave him off. "No, nothing at the moment. You can go back to your duties."

While the Leading Seaman walked off, the Captain frowned and began to list the various things that he knew. While she continued to work with the data coming in, the Sub-Lieutenant glanced over at him. "Sir?" At the hum, she continued. "Is there something wrong?"

Frowning, Tanaka glanced at her and then back at the screen. "Yes, there is. But the question is what is wrong with this. It's here." Giving his head a tap, he continued. "Somewhere anyways, but what it is I don't know. And I know that it is important."

Just glancing at the screen, the Sub-Lieutenant frowned. "Well, there is the size of the fleet..."

Thoughtful, Tanaka looked up and nodded. "That is odd and not normal behavior since Blood Week. Usually a fleet like that would be attacking multiple targets instead of wasting all their firepower on one place. It is beyond overkill."

Scratching her head, his subordinate furrowed her eyebrows. "Maybe because we're a shipgirl base? Take us out and be able to attack the rest of Hokkaido?"

However, once more the Captain shook his head. "No, even then that doesn't fit. With the strength that they are showing, they could have hit anywhere along the coast." Looking down at his pad, he pressed his lips into a line. "Not to mention their speed. Even the slowest Abyssal ships are capable of hitting twenty knots for cruising, and they're doing half that."

Finger tapping her console, the Sub-Lieutenant frowned. "Maybe they're using that Q-Ship with them? The one using the hull of a Canadian Destroyer. They could be slowing down for it and hoping that we don't attack them."

Considering that, Tanaka ran a hand through his hair. "No, it can't be that. If that was the case then it would be keeping up with them at normal cruising speeds. Not at a speed like..." All of a sudden in his head, something clicked. "Bring up the formation of the fleet when viewed from above." At he confusion, he shook his head. "Just trust me on this."

Moments later, the Sub-Lieutenant did so and the image of the fleet was replaced with a top down version. It also listed the various Abyssals and their positions. Walking forward, Tanaka was examining it when the young woman cleared her throat. "Uh, Sir? Is there something there?"

Not saying anything right away, Tanaka looked at the screen and narrowed his eyes before answering. "Look at the formation for a moment. It's not one formation... it's two. The one defensive one around the Demons and Princesses make sense. But you also got the one around the steel hull as well. The Destroyers and Light Cruisers can easily shift their position in case of an air attack and you got three Battleships surrounding it, with one towing it... But why would they consider the ship so important?"

The Sub-Lieutenant didn't think that the question was directed at her, but answered anyways. "Maybe they got someone on it?" When he turned, she cringed a bit. "Just a thought."

Slowly, Tanaka rolled that around in his head. 'Someone on it...' Turning back, his eyes widened some and he motioned at her. "Bring back the photos and enhance it so that I can look as close at the Abyssals as possible!" Confused, the Sub-Lieutenant did so even as she knew that various people were now paying close attention. On the screen, the image was blown up and Tanaka reached up. Thankfully, the screen was touch sensitive which meant that he could move the image around which he did so. Looking it over, Tanaka frowned. 'What are you doing...'

One of the other Lieutenants then spoke up. "Sir? What are you looking for?"

Eyes scanning the photo as he moved it along, Tanaka frowned. "Something. Anything... I don't know what I am looking for but I will when I do." Suddenly he stopped. "There! Can you enhance this portion of the image? Clean it up some?

Furrowing her eyebrows as she looked at the image on the screen, she turned back to the console and worked. It stopped being so blurry, but not much more could be made out. "Sorry Sir, that is as best as I can make it at the moment."

Much to her surprise, Tanaka laughed some and shook his head. "No, that's fine." Turning back to the room, he pointed at it. "That! What does that look like to you?"

No one answered at first until the Leading Seaman at the back spoke up. "Um, it sort of looks like a big flag?" When everyone turned to him, he cringed some. "At least to me..."

Tanaka gave a small nod. "And it does to me as well. More then that though is the color, it's white."

Utter silence met him at that before they all looked at the picture with wide eyes. Someone in the back of the bunker shook his head. "No way... no fucking way."

Not smiling, Tanaka just straightened. "Pull up the map and show me their heading." Once it was, he tapped one spot and nodded. "Okay, now bring up where I-351 reported the fleet's direction and where it had come from." Now the line extended back a distance. "Using that, extrapolate the direction that they came from and their likely origin."

Confused, the Sub-Lieutenant did so and the line extended back as the map zoomed out. Soon enough, it terminated somewhere in the Bering Sea and the Aleutians. "What in the world..."

Pointing at one of the Petty Officers, Tanaka gave a sharp nod. "Get me Admiral Goto on the phone, now! Also, someone get in contact with Colonel Matsuda, I need that F-4 to get as close as possible. Focus on that Princess right there! Also on the steel hull, those dots out on her I need to see as clear as possible!" Then he gestured at another. "Pull up any and all information on the Aleutian Abyssals. See if there is anything that could hint at a Canadian Warship, even use the tapes of the interviews with Hoppou!"

While everyone rushed around, Tanaka turned back to the picture as the Sub-Lieutenant spoke up. "Sir? You're not suggesting what I think you are?"

Only frowning, the Captain shook his head. "I don't know, but if there is a chance..." He then shouted over his shoulder. "Also! Tell everyone not to attack!"

Finger tips tingling, Tanaka walked over to a nearby terminal and began his own search. After all, he would not order anything that he, himself, would not do...