Harry Potter & the Shipgirls

[darthcourt10]

Barricade

Another idea, along the same lines as my post from last page:
Harry gently hands over a squirming, yawning, and surprisingly not very fussy infant to her grandmother. The instant she has a good hold on her, with thousands of tons of force that could be brought to bear in a moment, yet infinitely tender, two tiny deep azalea colored eyes look up at the one holding her.

Everyone present who can see spirits can easily spot the tell-tale signs of a battleship's hull, superimposed over the infant.

There is a moment of what seems to be recognition between grandchild and grandmother, and decades later everyone still swears that the little one's arm tried to bend and perform a proper salute before getting tuckered out and falling asleep just under the far larger battleship's chin.

"Haha-ue, I see Kiku Chōshū seems to like you."

Hearing the name, along with seeing tiny pure white kanji emblazoned proudly at the little one's bows, just as her grandmother can see them, Harry says nothing as his mother's eyes widen in shock. He simply rests his hand on her shoulder as Nagato leans into it. Nothing needs to be said, as the softly falling tears of pure joy patter down over the blanket says it all.

"Arigato. Arigato gozaimasu Harry. Arigato."

(And yes, that is one very loaded name)

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Took me a bit to get this written out in a satisfactory manner. Been doing research on spinal disorders so I can get a solid idea of Regalia's condition in human terms... made my own back hurt in the process.

Check-up

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sorry, you're looking for what now?"

"Some sort of medical room. Like an infirmary, or a clinic or pharmacy…" The Gothic Lolita shrugged. "Hell, I'll go with a spot in the docks if you guys are willing to let us into the base."

Kasumi folded her arms, eyebrows raised. "And what, exactly, do you need it for?"

In response, Ritou pulled out a clipboard. "Physicals. We've been out in the wild the past few years with minimal maintenance. Now that we've got some free time, Mother wants to make sure we're all healthy and running well."

Thinking about it, the shipgirl eventually sighed. "…I think there's a first-aid center in the hotel to handle emergencies. I'll speak with the staff and see if they might loan it to you."

"Thanks. We won't make a mess of the place, I promise." Turning around, Ritou called out to her sisters in the lobby. "To all the cruisers: if you could come over here and follow me, we can start getting you looked at. Now, it's been a while since I did this sort of work, but Mother gave me a checklist to run through, so if you can just bear with me, we'll try to get through this as smoothly as possible."

"Wait, wait, wait." Kasumi held up a hand. "I thought you said your mom wants to give you all check-ups?"

"She does," Ritou noted, "but she's currently busy. However, I served as an engineer in our old fleet while I was still a Ri-class, so I've got the experience to at least service the other cruisers in her place."

"Busy? With what?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Do you and Grandma really need me here?"

Tanith tilted her head gently at Regalia's question. "No, I suppose not. But this work… does concern you. It is your body… you deserve to have… a hand in the process. Don't you think?"

Biting her lip, thinking, Regalia nodded. "I guess. I'm just not sure how I could contribute." Stepping up to the door of Hoppou's hotel room, the pair glanced at the "Do Not Disturb" sign attached to it—with a small bit of Japanese underneath it that supposedly said the same. "I don't put much thought into how my body works, most of the time."

Tanith smiled. "Just consider this a… learning opportunity, then." Raising a hand, she knocked lightly on the door. "Mother, it's us. May we enter?"

There was a brief pause before the answer came. "Come in." Satisfied, Tanith cracked open the door, pushed it inward, motioning for her daughter to enter. With a small nod of thanks, Regalia stepped into the hotel room.

The room itself was mostly intact, the removal of the bedside table in favor of a full desk being the only real difference Regalia could spot between this room and her own. Blueprints, charts, and cross-sectional images littered the room, laid out over the walls and any available flat surface save for the bed. To Regalia, it was like looking at pieces of herself—she recognized her general shape, her compartmental layout, all the various weapons that made up her armament. Everything that made her what she was, laid out for all to see.

She felt like she should be embarrassed for some reason.

Shifting her focus, she could see Hoppou wandering about the room, reviewing her work and making small scribbles in the margins of various papers… but she was not alone. There were two others in the room with her—a familiar Japanese woman, and a shipgirl of a design she'd never seen before. "Hi Grandma…" she said quietly, stepping further into the room as her mother closed the door behind them.

Looking up, Hoppou spotted her granddaughter. "Hi, Regalia. How are you today?"

"I'm doing alright, thanks." Regalia cocked her head at the unfamiliar ship. "And you are…?"

Perking up, the shipgirl looked around to face the newcomers. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize there would be two of you coming." She gave Tanith and her daughter a small salute. "USS Amycus, repair ship. Amy for short."

Tanith's eyes widened. "…A repair ship? I was not… aware, that there was… one here in Kushiro."

Amy shrugged. "I'll admit, I'm not quite as renowned as Akashi over in Yokosuka, or my cousin Vestal back in the States. Really, I'm designed to repair landing craft, not other ships. But as long as I have the tools and the blueprints, I can make do." She focused on Regalia. "I take it you're the patient."

"Uh… y-yes," Regalia answered, uncertain. "Does Grandma need your help, or something? Is that why you're here?"

Amy shrugged. "Not really. I'm here more as an observer. Watching the little lady go about her research, passing what I see to the other repair ships. Nothing too sensitive, I assure you." She jerked her thumb to the human woman behind her. "She's here to help."

The woman nodded. "Yumeno Norihara. It's nice to meet another of Hoppou's grandchildren."

"I-I'm Regalia. It's nice to meet you, too," The Re-class said, returning the gesture. Pausing, she gave Norihara a confused look. "So, what exactly will you be doing?"

"Nothing major, just giving you a physical examination." Norihara waved a hand. "Taking a look at your body, testing your joints, checking that your eyes, and ears work; that sort of thing. Is that alright?"

Thinking about it for a moment, Regalia nodded lightly. "Yeah, I can handle that much."

"Great." Norihara gestured to the bed. "If you could just take off your jacket for a bit—don't worry, you can keep your bikini on—and sit down over here, we can get started."

Regalia shrugged. Plopping herself down at the end of the bed, she started fiddling with the zipper of her parka, needing a bit of effort to pull it down. As she shook herself, letting her garment slide off her arms and back, she turned her attention to the blueprint pinned to the wall in front of her. She leaned in closer, trying to make out the scribbles.

"Curious?"

Regalia looked down in front of her to see Hoppou there, another sheet of paper in her hands. "Oh… uh, yeah. I guess. It's kinda weird—I'm pretty much looking at pictures of my own guts." She scratched her scalp. "But instead of being… disgusted, I have this sense of enlightenment. Like, seeing all the little things that come together to make me, in individual pieces. And in so much detail…"

"I wish I could see them the way you all do," Norihara noted wistfully, rubbing her temple. "For some reason, all I get when I try to look at one of them is a headache. Not like the stuff shipgirls work with."

"Maybe it's because we shipgirls just utilize the blueprints of whatever ships we're based off of," Amycus hypothesized. "I bet if you could disassemble a shipgirl and document all of it, you'd get stuff a lot like this."

"Really?" Regalia asked. "You can't read them? I could see right away that it wa—eep!" she was cut off as something cold was pressed against her back.

"Sorry, probably should have warned you about that," Norihara said sheepishly. "Anyway, I'm just going to press this against a few spots on your back, and have you take a deep breath for me each time. This is just so I can check how well you're breathing, in general."

As Regalia complied, inhaling each time the cold, round object came down on her back, Hoppou nodded. "Hoppou not satisfied just knowing her daughters will work when building them. Hoppou takes time. Pays attention to every detail. Makes sure everything fits right, so daughters grow up to be very best they can be." She tapped the blueprint behind her. "Keeping lots of notes on every part of Abyssals is crucial to process."

In her spot off to the side, Tanith frowned. "I thought… most of your documentation… would have been lost in Unalaska."

Hoppou wiggled a hand. "Physical paperwork gone… but basic knowledge of design is in Hoppou's head. Current work is mostly re-gathering Hoppou's supplementary notes and refinements."

At last, Norihara lifted the cold object from Regalia's back. "Okay, your lungs sound clear and healthy, which is good. However, the severity of your condition may be hampering their ability to expand fully; your breathing is rather shallow."

Hoppou looked back from the schematic she was writing on. "Not really unexpected. Crooked hull means asymmetric air flow. Less effective ventilation."

The doctor nodded. "In all honesty, I'd wager a guess that a lot of your internal organs are under more stress than they should be. Humans with similar conditions, their organs tend to wear out faster than they would under the normal aging process. You probably haven't noticed it since you're… how old are you, exactly?"

Regalia paused, looking inward to her archives. "I hatched… April of 2010."

"A little over three years, then. Yeah, if you were actually as old as you looked, you'd probably already be starting to see some organ damage." Norihara came around to kneel in front of Regalia. "But thankfully, that's not an issue for you. Now, shall we continue?"

The doctor continued to go over Regalia's body diligently for the next few minutes. She swung a small rubber wedge into her knees, making her legs spasm and kick of their own volition; she shined a small light into her eyes and ears; she even inspected the articulation of her tail, among several other things. It was a bit odd for the Re-class, but at the same time kinda touching, that this woman was putting so much effort into assessing her health.

Eventually, Norihara sat back and softly clapped her hands. "Okay, we're almost done. Just one more thing for me to go over, and I'll be through with you, but from what I've seen so far, you're pretty much as healthy as can be."

Regalia perked up, intrigued. "What all's left, then?"

At this, Norihara frowned. "Your back."

Regalia visibly sagged at Norihara's statement. "…ah, right."

"If you're not fine with it, we can just call it here…"

The Re-class shook her head. "No, no…" pausing to take a deep breath, she shifted to present her back to the doctor. "Just… please, be gentle? It's sensitive."

Norihara nodded softly. "Of course."

Regalia was absolutely still as Norihara examined her back, gently running her hands over her malformed spine. In some places, she would press a little deeper into Regalia's skin, feeling for the keel beneath the pale flesh. In others, she would tap between the knobs of her spine, looking for the individual bones. Regalia bit back a sound of discomfort as Norihara firmly pressed on the apex of her hump, sending a spark of pain down her keel.

Finally, the doctor removed her hands from Regalia's back. "You… you can put your coat back on, now," She stated, her tone laced with surprise and agitation.

Regalia was apprehensive as she picked up her parka and began to slip it back on. "W-well…?" She asked.

Norihara's expression was dour as she began to write things down. "Orthopedics isn't exactly my specialty, but even I can tell that this is serious." She looked up to Regalia. "For ordinary people, the upper spine curves forward anywhere from twenty to fifty degrees. Your spine? Its curvature measures in the eighties. And all the segments that make up that section of your spine are fused together, making them immobile. That you're somehow not in constant pain from your perpetual hunched posture is a miracle."

Regalia flinched. "I-it's really that bad?"

"From the perspective of a human? Yes." Norihara gave her notes one last look before handing them off to Hoppou, who went over them studiously. "This is the sort of thing that would require intensive surgery: reaching all the way into your spine—typically entering the body from the front—and cutting the affected bones from your spinal cord, jamming metal rods in their place. All with a not-insignificant chance of further complications arising from the surgery itself later on." The others in the room couldn't help but grimace at the description—like ripping their superstructure away to cut out their keel from the top.

Hoppou shook her head, expression somber. "This means full rebuild is even more necessary," she said. "Especially if hump is hurting Regalia's insides, without her noticing."

Regalia could only shudder at that.

"It's okay, Regalia," Tanith told her daughter reassuringly, stepping forward to rest a hand on her shoulder. "You are in Mother's care… a nigh-undisputable master of her craft."

The Re-class simply sighed, taking another look at all the blueprints scattered over the walls. "…Yeah, I guess she knows what she's doing. It just… doesn't make it any more pleasant to think about."

"In that case… why don't we… go do something to… take your mind off it, for a bit?"

Regalia nodded. "That sounds nice. What do you have in mind...?"

"You two be good," Hoppou said as the pair stepped out, putting down her own notes on Norihara's clipboard. "Hoppou will stay here just a few more minutes. Ritou probably wondering when Hoppou will relieve her of duty."

XXXXXXXXXX

"…Nero?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Where's Grunt? I don't see him in your hold…"

"…oh no."

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Glancing over at Gyaru, Ai raised an eyebrow as she sipped her drink having relaxed enough to drop a bit of her disguise. "I thought that you and the others were playing volleyball?"

A sheepish look came over the Okinawan's face at that. "We were, but..." There was a boom and both of them looked to see Ryuujou leap several meters into the air and spike the volleyball hard enough that the sand cratered. "We sort of challenged some of the shipgirls. So we're calling it quits. They brought out something called a Bludger to play with since we stopped."

Eyebrow raised, the Tengu shook her head. "That is a ball used in Quidditch, that aerial game I spoke to you about. The one that is a cast iron ball wrapped in leather."

Blinking, Gyaru looked at her. "Wait, you weren't shitting us about that?"

Still watching the game, they could see Regina catch the ball and set it up for her tail to headbutt it for a point. Ai just hummed a bit at that. "No, I was not." Glancing around, she frowned a bit. "Where's Ji-"

At that moment various people noticed the ground shaking a bit before a transformed Jin came rushing out of the trees heading for the waves. Leaping into the air, the Mizuchi curled herself into a ball. "CANNONBALL!"

The resulting plume of water rose up above all their heads and Gyaru yelped before ducking behind Ai who braced herself. And with good reason as moments later there was a massive wave that swept past at chest height. What caught their sight though was Minagato on a surfboard riding the waves with Allie holding on to her from behind. "Gato! Gato gato gato!"

Laughing, Allie nodded some as she snuggled into the Smol. "Pip, pip pip!"

Minagato was not the only one as Hibitki and ShiNano also went past on surfboards. Watching it, Ai blinked and then sighed before shaking her head. "And I think that's enough fun for one day."

Several hours later, the Sun had sunk below the horizon and the boats had reached the wharf in Yokosuka. Yawning, the Tengu Asuka stretched some with a slight smile on her face. "That was a lot of fun."

With a chuckle, Natsumi looked at her and nodded some. "I told you that it would be." Checking the time, the Kitsune frowned and tilted her head before looking at her fellow Yokai. "You know, we're going to have a bit of a party for Harry-Chan if you want to come along? Its on the base and all that, but since he's leaving tomorrow to head back to Hokkaido we're having it a bit early."

Chewing her lip, Asuka glanced to where Kiba was giving Ai a look. That was before he gave a yelp and jumped as a slightly drunk Liberty Ship passed by him and gave a wink. Granted, the teenaged Tengu could guess what happened as said shipgirl pulled her hand back as she walked off. "Um, I don't know? I mean, it is getting somewhat late? And... I don't have anything for him."

All Natsumi did though was shake her head. "You don't actually need to bring anything, we're probably not going to give him any presents until tomorrow morning. Besides..." Briefly, there was a saddened look on her face. "To Harry-Chan, presents are not a big deal as long as those he cares about are there."

Even though she didn't quite understand, the Tengu played a bit with her necklaces, once more around her neck. "Um, let me just go talk with Kiba and stuff. Maybe they'll let me go? But what if it goes on too late?"

Smirking, Natsumi shrugged her shoulders. "Then we pull out the futons and sleep. We're teens and its summer time, we're supposed to hang out late at night and stuff."

Head tilted to the side, Asuka considered that before nodding. "I guess?"

Nearby, Louisiana stepped up the boat ramp and dismissed her rigging. In her arms, Natsumi's little sisters both dozed with their heads laid upon the Battleship's chest. Looking up at the sight, Sakuya gave a small smile. "Thank you for bringing them over, Louisiana-San. Seems that the two of them are tuckered out."

Just smiling softly, the shipgirl chuckled slightly as to not disturb the two children too much. "Non, Miz Sakuya, these two were little trouble. And the boat, it would have disturbed them on the waves."

Lips curling, the mother only shook her head. "That is true enough, I suppose. And you kept it from bothering them too much. But as soon as these two get Haru-Chan's house, straight to bed they go."

Muttering, Rei rubbed at her eyes some. "We don't want to..." She then snuggled more into Louisiana. "We want to stay up more with Louisiana-Nee-Chan."

That caused the Battleship to widen her eyes before she gave the two curious looks. "Nee-Chan?"

With a hum as she nodded against Louisiana's chest, the Kitsune Asuka mumbled some. "Yeah, you're our Nee-Chan. Because you like Natsumi-Nee-Chan and Harry-Nii-Chan. And if you're with them, then that makes you our Nee-Chan."

Eyebrow raised, Louisiana blinked before looking at Sakuya. Said Kitsune smiled and shook her head before chuckling. "Well, I suppose in a way that they're right." Becoming thoughtful, she looked at them before glancing at Natsumi. Then Sakuya turned back to Louisiana some. "As Natsumi-Chan is heading our way first to drop off some items, so perhaps you can walk with her to the party? Which means walking with us for some time as those two are a bit of a handful for us to carry, especially with how much they ate."

It took a few moments, but then Louisiana gave a small nod with a slight smile. "It would be my pleasure."

The two kits only muttered some and yawned.
__________________________________________________________

July 31 dawned bright and early with some heat, and on Yokosuka Base, people started to stir with the rising of the Sun. Walking into one of the Common Areas, Kiba gave a small grin at Asuka who was seated in a chair with an odd look. "Well, how was the party?"

With a slight jump, the Tengu turned to see Kiba there along with Ai and her fellow Abyss Divers as well as Jin. "The party? Oh, yeah! It was fun, though..." Trailing off, she yawned a bit. "It went on late."

Snorting, the Mizuchi crossed her arms some with a smirk. "Well, that is the sort of thing that happens when teenagers party."

Kiba's grin widened a bit as he jerked his thumb at her. "She's right, you know. But its good to know that you enjoyed yourself, this is the sort of thing that teenagers are supposed to do after all... well, among other things."

He waggled his eyebrows some at Ai who rolled her eyes at him. A smirk crossed her face and she looked behind him. "Hello, Akagi Maru."

Jumping, Kiba whipped around and looked about before scowling at the Kotengu. "Ha. Ha. Real funny, Ai." All Ai did was smirk as she sipped her coffee with him giving said drink a grimace. "How can you drink that, just the once was enough for me."

While taking a small sip, the Yokai pilot shrugged some. "You get used to it, JASDF coffee is better though even if I am not going to complain."

Meanwhile, Jin took note of something else. "Oy, what are you staring..." Following Asuka's gaze, she blinked. "What the fuck?"

Confused, Taikomachi also looked and did a double take at the sight in a corner of the room. "Uh, what she said..."

Almost as one, they all turned and just boggled a bit as the mass of shipgirls in a corner of the room all sleeping cuddled up with each other. Though Boke did twitch a bit at the sight of Regina's head. It was Kero though who realized something else. "Wait, isn't that kid, Harry in the middle of that? And that Natsumi girl?"

Eyebrows raising, Ai slowly nodded as she spotted the messy black hair alongside two twitching fox ears. "Yes, it would appear so? I mean..."

Kudzu frowned a bit and then shrugged. "I'm guessing that's one of those shipgirl cuddlepiles you're always hearing about?" Giving it another look, he scratched his head. "Though how they can sleep like that..."

However, Kero is just grumbling a bit as he crossed his arms. "Okay, that kid is lucky."

Without even glancing at him, Boke gives him a slap upside the head. Scratching her head, Asuka frowned some. "I thought that Natsumi-San and the others were kidding about the cuddlepile thing. But..."

A voice then spoke up and they turned to see a sleepy Verniy there. "Cuddlepiles are serious business, da."

Then, even as they watched, the sleepy Destroyer staggered back to the cuddlepile and looked at it. Then she leaned forward and seemed to be absorbed into it before her white hair reappeared on where they guessed Harry's chest was. Slowly, Kiba blinked at that. "Okay... That is just, yeah." At the looks, he gave a shrug.

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K Omake: Card Games on Motorcycles!

Harry Leferts said:
Card games on Fast Battleships?​

*-*-*-*
Ai looks at Ikazuchi and Inazuma, the former with one of those fancy yugioslavia wrist-gauntlet deck things on her arm, and riding behind the latter who is managing the task of actually controlling the electric bike they are both astride.

Ai then looks at Jin. Jin who is currently astride her GSX-R1100 Superbike. And sitting behind the mizuchi on the 1100 cc, 155 hp producing motorcycle, is a certain daitengu, who is now rather guiltily attempting to hide her own card filled gauntlet-thing behind her back.

Gaze narrowing, the older kotengu then glares at the ex-water kami.

"Jin no."

"Jin yes!"

"No Jin!"

"Oh come on! She has a helmet, and I even sized a full set of riding leathers for her! We weren't going to go any faster than the twins anyway!"

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

"Are they strong enough yet, Shoukaku-San?"

Looking up from the note she scribbled on a piece of bark, Aircraft Carrier Water Demon blinked. "Ah, you mean the former prisoners?" At the nod from the Abyssal version of Fubuki, she sighed and ran a clawed hand through her hair. "They're... better then what they were. With the food that we've been bringing in and such, they should survive the trip now. We've got them all on solid food at least."

With a sigh, Lycoris Fubuki nodded some. "That's good to hear." She then grimaced some. "Especially as we need to leave soon enough."

That made the other Abyssal widen her eyes some. "They're getting closer then?"

Her gaze looking out the door to their hut. "Hai, they are. It won't be long before some of the Abyssal forces in the area figure out where we are and there is only so much that the three of us can actually do here to protect them and we've spent enough time to get them healthy enough to survive the journey."

Frowning, Aircraft Carrier Water Demon frowned in thought. "That... makes sense. But the question is where do we go from here though?"

Internally, Lycoris Fubuki grimaced some. Despite being just a Destroyer, she found that the Abyssal Aircraft Demon as well as Kisaragi had both turned to her as their leader. Perhaps it was because out of all of them, she had adapted the best to their... existence. A quick glance at their IFF showed that Kisaragi was once more on the beach, most likely staring out at the sea. The Abyssal version of Shoukaku placing her hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present. "I've been thinking on that, and I have a few ideas. But we need to wait for Kisaragi-Chan to arrive here first."

Several minutes later, Kisaragi walked with a small frown on her face. "You wanted to see me, Fubuki-Chan?"

Turning to her, Lycoris gave a small nod. "I did." Gesturing at the table they were using, she gave a sigh. "According to Shoukaku-San, the former prisoners here are all as healthy as we can hope for. Which means that we can leave the islands here and get them to safety."

Kisaragi blinked at that before looking down. "Ah, I see."

Even though she was worried about the response, Lycoris continued. "That means that we need to decide where we should be heading. Wherever it is, we need to be able to get there quickly with the people here."

With a deep breath, the Abyssal Kisaragi walked over and looked at the rough map that they had drawn. It was inaccurate having been drawn more from their memories of maps as well as dead reckoning of where they might be. But it was the best that they had at the moment. "Well, the rafts are all made and tied best that we could make them, two layers thick. So we should be able to tow them without them getting swamped as long as we are careful about it."

That got her a nod from Lycoris Fubuki and the Destroyer looked at the map herself before pointing at a spot. "That's good to hear actually. But right now, we got to decide where to head. If we wanted to, we could head to either the Philippines or Taiwan, but that is a long distance to travel."

Leaning over the map, Aircraft Carrier Water Demon pointed at one spot. "Minami-Tori-Shima is a lot closer to where we are."

For a few moments, Lycoris considered that before frowning as she looked through her foggy memories. "There is a airstrip there from memory. And a radio station..."

When she glanced at Kisaragi, said Abyssal nodded. "Hai, there's a radio station there. Its also a way point for the convoys coming along the central route from Hawaii through Wake." She then pointed at another spot. "The next best place would probably be Minami Iwo Jima since we'll be noticed by the people on Iwo Jima itself."

Chewing her lip, Lycoris considered that before nodding. "Yes, either of those would be good choices, I suppose. Minami Iwo Jima might be the better of the two though, from what I sort of remember, there's shelter there and we might have to wait who knows how long on Minami-Tori-Shima for a convoy." Gesturing outside, she shook her head. "They might be healthy enough, but exposure will kill them as sure as anything else. Not to mention that if a typhoon arrives while we are waiting? There would be a lot of them dying, if not all."

Aircraft Carrier Water Demon then spoke up. "There is the question of how we should prevent us from being shot at. They might well attack us and harm the people we're protecting."

There was quiet for a few moments before Kisaragi spoke up with a near whisper. "We have them further in on the island from us. That way, they'll be safe and they'll send people to check on the island afterwards. So they'll be rescued."

Sharing a look with Aircraft Carrier Water Demon, Lycoris cleared her throat. "That does not solve the issue of them attacking us on sight."

On Kisaragi's face was a sad smile before she shrugged. "Does it matter in the end? They'll be safe and that is all that is really important, anything else... doesn't really factor in."

Eyes wide, Lycoris sucked in a breath and turned to Aircraft Carrier Water Demon. Then she tilted her head to the side. "Maybe we need a little more time to think this over, we'll discuss this later."

Clearing her throat, Aircraft Carrier Water Demon nodded. "Ah, yes, that might be best. We have some time yet after all. I'll... go and send up a patrol flight or two to keep a watch out."

After she was gone, Lycoris turned towards Kisaragi who had not said a word and was just standing there. Placing a hand on her shoulder, she took a deep breath. "Kisaragi-Chan-"

Before she could get any further, the Destroyer War Demon hung her head. "Don't." Turning, she looked at the Abyssal Fubuki with utter loss in her eyes. "Don't say that everything will be okay. Because that is a fucking lie! Nothing is okay! Nothing!" Eyes clenching shut, Kisaragi took deep breaths. "Look at us! M-maybe... maybe it would be best if we actually do sink."

Utterly gobsmacked, Lycoris shook it off and grabbed her. "SHUT UP! That is not true and you know it!"

Tear running down her face, Kisaragi sniffled. "Do I? Fubuki-Chan, what is there for us? Honestly? All we have... is to get the people here to safety, where they can be taken care of, all of them. After that, we don't have anything more and I can rest knowing that I've done that much." Then she gestured at herself. "Look at me! Look at us! We're not real people! You heard that... that bitch! We're clones! Not the actual shipgirls, just fakes made of Abyssal flesh!"

Shaking her head, Lycoris held her by both shoulders. "We are real! You, myself, Shoukaku-San! Even Saratoga-San! All of us are real people, Kisaragi-Chan!"

Just snorting, the other Abyssal shook her head rapidly. "No we're not, Fubuki-Chan. We only think that we are. The actual shipgirls are out there, right now. They don't even know that we exist yet! Our memories and even our own faces are not ours!" Sobbing, her shoulders shook. "Something that I am reminded of every time I see my own reflection in the mirror. That my memories are all fakes, not even my own. Everything that the shipgirl Kisaragi went through is not what I did, even if I can remember!" With a shudder, she swallowed. "This face, twisted as it is, its not even mine. It belongs to someone else no matter what my memories tell me, what my mind tries to convince me of. We're twisted mockeries created through some sort of madness, that's all we are!"

Lycoris reached up and cupped Kisaragi's cheek with one hand. "We are who we think we are, Kisaragi-Chan. You'll see, everything will turn out right. We'll... surrender to the JMSDF, and they'll accept us."

Bitterly laughing, Kisaragi shook her head. "It is a nice dream, Fubuki-Chan. But that is all. How do you think that Shoukaku-San, the shipgirl, and Zuikaku-San will react when they meet ours? Do you think that they will accept them? Or what about when the actual Fubuki-Chan as well as her Nee-Sans not to mention Yuudachi-Chan, Mutsuki-Chan, and Kana-Chan when they see you?" Voice turning soft with a lost tone, she closed her eyes. "Or how the real Kisaragi-Chan as well as Mutsuki-Chan will react to me? When they lay eyes on me?" Opening her eyes, she sighed. "You are so lucky, Fubuki-Chan, so is Shoukaku-San. Neither of you have clear memories. Not like me."

The Abyssal Destroyer Princess frowned at that and furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Eyes still full of unshed, bloody tears, Kisaragi took a deep breath. "Mine are clear, Fubuki-Chan. I remember everything that the real Kisaragi had up to that day we... she was attacked with her Fubuki-Chan. Her thoughts and her feelings. All of them, I remember as if it was actually me who lived them. And that makes it horrible, because it means that I know what she thinks and... and how she feels about some people"

A scrap of memory came to Lycoris' mind and she blinked. "You care for her, don't you? Mutsuki-Chan?"

Slowly, Kisaragi nodded. "I do, I feel everything that the real Kisaragi did. Like how sometimes she was a bit jealous of their Fubuki-Chan. And that makes it far worse as I know how they'll react at seeing me. Mutsuki-Chan will see some monster wearing the face of her sister. Fubuki-Chan, theirs, as well as Yuudachi-Chan and the others will see the same. They'll look at me with disgust and nothing else. And that will destroy me more then being bombed or shelled. I'll die then, with those looks directed at me as surely as if I scuttled myself."

Rather then say anything, Lycoris simply held her close. 'Oh, Kisaragi-Chan...'

Her shoulders shaking, Kisaragi shook her head as she had her face buried in the other Abyssal's chest. "I look monstrous and I know it. A mockery of the real Kisaragi in every way, the Kisaragi who is still out there and alive. Some... some sort of funhouse reflection of her, twisted and warped."

Gently, Lycoris held her and stroked her hair while whispering to her. "Everything will be okay, Kisaragi-Chan. Just you wait, everything will be okay..."

Sniffling, Kisaragi sadly smiled. 'I wish that I could believe you...'

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

Because this was the only way I could think of for two Muramasas to run into each other again.
-----

"Thanks for letting Benio use your shower," Tatsuya said, leaning back on the couch and cracking his neck.

"It's really no problem," Harry replied. He placed his tray of drinks on the table, and turned to face Tonbo. "And anyways, it's nice to meet you Tonbo-san."

"Same here," Tonbo replied absently. "You don't seem that bad." She raised her orange to her mouth and... Tatsuya paused, looking down at the coffee table and examining the row of orange peels that sat before the sword.

"Hey, Tonbo," he said casually, "where are you getting those?" Tonbo shrugged, placing a new peel at the end of the row.

"Someone just left them lying around," she said vaguely. "Shouldn't do that, they'll go bad."

The room was silent, but for the mysterious grinding noise coming from one corner.

"Okay, Tonbo, who're you screwing with this time?"

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire: "Wait, who are the parents?"

/*/*/*/*/ +++VNotcanonV+++/*/*/*/*/
Haiku said:
Behold! Unlimited Cuddle Works!​

Harry: "I am the core of my cuddlepile...."
All: "Oh holy shit he's doing it! TAKE COVER!!!!!"
/*/*/*/*/ +++/\Notcanon/\+++/*/*/*/*/

Haiku said:
Not really. After all, they're family, so why bother keeping track of who's mum?​

"Well, Potter-san, it's a requirement for the school paperwork. Just to dot the i's and cross the t's, you understand."
"...Well... um. That is... Honey, can you grab the DNA test kit?"
"Potter-san...? You don't know?"
"Well, it's not like it ever mattered before. With so many babies the same age in the house at the same time, it pretty much was just a matter of whomever was closest when they started crying! After a while, we lost track."
*-*-*-*-*-*

Harry Leferts said:
Always having some minesweepers around perhaps?​

And that is how the McAmis family found the Minesweeper dogs they cared for taking on new roles as Shipgirl Therapy Animals.

Weaver said:
Oh god I didn't think of that. Plym has just won a place on the list of potential shipgirls whose summoning would cause major headaches.​

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"...Admiral? Sir? I'm... ticking. I don't think this is good."

To be fair, poor Plym would have gone from "fully intact" to "vapor" so quickly, she wouldn't have had any time to get traumatized. It might well be, arguably, less traumatic that what happened to Sara or Pringles, just to name a few.

She might have more in common with Campbeltown, honestly. Although Cam can honestly claim to have gone down in combat, even if it was as a fireship.

It could also give Plym bragging rights to the "Ultimate Viking Decomissioning." I say that becasue, IIRC from an old NatGeo issue, one of the stock phrases at Viking Funerals was "we burn him in a moment, so that he enters Valhalla at once." Plym probably "burned" faster than any other pyre in history, so....

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Moving along with her walker, Tanya gave a small nod towards the hotel staff at the front desk. In return, she got smiles back from them as the Abyssal continued on. Glancing around the lobby, Tanya could see various other Abyssals here and there. The Battleship Water Demon she knew was called Sunny was lounging in a chair with her limbs akimbo.

It amused Tanya that she could see some of the men, and a few women, in the area giving glances at the Abyssal.

However, the Ta Class shook that off and continued. After all, she was an Abyssal on a mission, one that was to her of great importance. Reaching the elevator, she pressed a button and waited, ignoring the slight burning in her legs. Minutes later, Tanya reached the door to the room where she was staying with Norihara. Placing the key card into the reader, she waited until the door unlocked before opening the door and entering.

A smile then bloomed on her face as she could see Norihara exactly where she met her. The doctor was seated on the couch with a laptop open in front of her examining notes or writing them down. Watching her, Tanya felt her boilers heat up and her turbines spin a bit faster. In the morning light, one could see the look of concentration and deep thought on Norihara's face as she worked. How the light played across her features. It never failed to not cause Tanya to pause and watch as there was something... about that which drew the Abyssal in.

Besides the kindness that the human doctor showed her, it was perhaps the other thing that drew her in. Every time Tanya saw it, she felt her breath hitch in such a way that she had to swallow. Somewhere in her, there was a small voice telling her to do something every time she saw it. What that something was though? Tanya was still not sure. But due to her recent talks with some of the Wardens, she had a decent idea what it was.

Which was something that made her boilers pound a bit more and her cheeks flush at the thought of doing that sort of thing with her beloved doctor.

Not to say that she was against such a thing. Quite the opposite as Tanya had the hope that perhaps, one day in the future it may happen. And just the thought, or the images she had, made her steam pressure go up at it. Shaking it off though, Tanya shoved such back into her mind for a later date. Moving forward, she smiled some. "I'm back."

Simply blinking as she snapped out of her thoughts, Norihara turned to her and smiled back. "That's good to hear, did you enjoy your walk..." Trailing off, she frowned a bit and got up. "What in the world, Tanya!? Where did you go!?"

Only smiling, Tanya had a pleased look on her face. "I went to a bakery down the street that... I was told about." Raising the seat of her walker, she held up a large bag. "So I brought some... breakfast for us."

Rubbing her eyebrow, Norihara made her way over. "Oh Tanya... Here, let me give you a hand." Within moments, she had the Abyssal in a bridal carry and was bringing her over to the couch. Part of her wondered some about how Tanya seemed to smile more at that before she snuggled into her. "You know better, you're still recovering."

All Tanya did though was shrug as she was placed down on the couch. "I wanted to... help you. To take care of you like you... have taken care of me."

Eyebrow raised, Norihara looked at her friend in amusement as walked over and grabbed the two coffees which were also placed on the walker. "Thank you, Tanya. But you don't need to do that." At the look she got, she blinked. "What?"

The Abyssal tilted her head some and frowned at her. "When was the last time... you ate, Norihara?" About to answer, the doctor was betrayed as her stomach gave a growl which made her flush. Tanya only nodded though as if that confirmed something. "As I... thought."

Betrayed by her own body, Norihara's blush deepened at that. Sighing, she sat down beside Tanya with a small, rueful smile. "I suppose that I should be taking better care of myself then. After all, as a doctor I do know better."

Much to her surprise though, Tanya gently grasped her leg and gave it a slight squeeze. "You do, but... I am here. I can help you take care... of yourself now." A small smile appeared on the Abyssal's face before she leaned against the human. "Like you took care... of me."

Looking down at the hand on her thigh, Norihara gave a weak chuckle. "I suppose so." Moments later, she placed her hand on Tanya's before giving a nod and turning to the bag. "So then, what did you bring for us?"

With a nod, Tanya brought it over and placed it into her lap before opening it. "There are some pastries... in here. Also, these."

Norihara tilted her head as the Ta-Class pulled out what looked like a bread bun. "Is that a cream pan?"

However, the other woman shook her head. "No, it is... a cream cheese bun. It has fruit and... cream cheese inside."

Thoughtful, Norihara was about to say something when her stomach rumbled again, reminding her that she really needed to eat something. "Well, that sounds delicious." Moments later, she blinked as Tanya held it close to her face. 'Wait, is she...' Meeting the others gaze, the doctor sighed a bit and gave her a bemused smile. "I can feed myself, Tanya."

Shaking her head, Tanya smiled a bit. "Yes, but I want to... feed you, like you fed me."

About to say something, Norihara paused at that. In Tanya's eyes, she could see hope and for a few seconds the doctor considered before internally shrugging. 'I... guess its not that big of a deal?' Leaning forward, she took a bite of the bread before chewing and swallowing. "Hmm... that was a good choice to pick, Tanya."

It went without saying that the bright smile on the Abyssal's face told Norihara that she made a good choice there. "Then I am... glad."

She watched as Norihara stretched a bit after finishing the rest with her eyes catching every movement with the precision of a Battleship. Meanwhile, the doctor took a sip of her coffee and nodded. The drink was exactly the way that she liked it, which made her internally tilt her head. Just how she liked it... Glancing at Tanya who simply watched her happily, she thought back over the past few months. Now that the Battleship could move around, said Abyssal went out of her way to surprise her. Often bringing her things that she needed, sometimes even food that she had quickly made. Food that Tanya had made, which told her that said woman had paid a lot of attention over the years. In the back of her mind, there was a small niggling before suddenly she realized what it was.

Tanya... acted like a wife at times now.

Now that thought brought a flush to Norihara's cheeks as well as an internal grimace. She was Tanya's doctor, dammit! And the Abyssal was her patient! Developing feelings like that was simply wrong. It was the Florence Nightingale Effect in full force.

Yet... there was a small, traitorous whisper in the back of her mind that it wasn't. About how she had started to fall for Tanya, her patient... and her best friend. How nice it felt now that Tanya was able to move and often cuddled up to her. All those lonely nights when the two shared a movie or just talked. Just the same, Norihara shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind even as she watched Tanya lay out some plates with pastries on them, something her stomach was happy about. Especially as she began to eat them.

Perhaps she should talk with someone, such as the Doctors Gawa about it since they were friends...

Meanwhile, Tanya was humming with a small smile with her mind on what would happen when they returned home. Her smile grew a touch when she was reminded that Norihara was going to start using swimming for her physiotherapy. Which meant more then being in the water, it also meant that she could see her doctor in a swimsuit. And the last few times that was a real treat for the Battleship to see. Though she did find it somewhat amusing that Norihara often complained about how she looked in one, as to Tanya she looked perfect.

A yawn brought her from her thoughts and she turned to find Norihara trying to smother one. Eyes narrowing some, Tanya looked back over her memories and then frowned. "How much sleep... have you gotten?"

Sheepish at being caught, Norihara tried to wave it off. "I've gotten plenty of sleep. Just a little bit tired is all."

Moments later, Tanya gave her a small glare and poked her in the cheek. "Liar."

Needless to say, the doctor blushed a bit at that. About to say something, she paused though and then sighed. 'Not like Tanya can't see through me.' Rubbing her face, another sigh went through her. "Okay, I had a few hours of sleep. But with what is going to be planned, we're all going to need to look up what we can. Which is why I've been working on this."

Head tilted to the side, Tanya looked at the computer screen and blinked at the sight of what was on it. A quick glimpse to the side showed her the encrypted uplink to the local JMSDF's digital network. Turning back to the screen, she leaned in a bit. On it were two similar skeletons that slowly turned in place to show themselves in their entirety. What caught the Ta-Class' notice was that the skeletons were not human in the slightest going by the legs or the tail.

In fact, they were Re-Class.

However, one of them had a spine that was twisted, and this caused the skeleton to be hunched among other things. Frowning, Tanya looked forward. "Is that... Regalia?"

Glancing at her, Norihara pushed the screen down some to block the images, which Tanya knew was due to her feelings on patient confidentiality, before rubbing her eyes. "Its... the best that I can do." At the confusion from her friend, she chewed her lip and considered how much she could tell. Then the doctor shook her head. "The program I'm using is a teaching and diagnostic tool that they're starting to roll out to demonstrate various issues and their complications. With the war going on, you got doctors who might need to treat bad trauma and so this helps us look inside by putting in some parameters. Not that it was made for Abyssals mind you, but it didn't take much modifications for it." Grimacing, she shook her head. "What has been more difficult is putting together a simulation of a Re-Class' internals in a way that makes sense for me. Up until the Allied ones let themselves be examined, we didn't really have much information on them. And even now... we're working on what we can."

Thoughtful, Tanya nodded at that. After all, she knew from their library at home that the humans examined dead Abyssals. It had confused her at first until she had really thought it over. Then it made some sense, like the issue Norihara was talking about. "Because after a fight with a Re-Class, not much could be gathered."

Frowning, Norihara eventually sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah, we only got bits and pieces before now. Which meant that I have had to put it all together in here and then run the program with the closest human equivalents to what Regalia is going through. I'm not an expert in this, but... she needs her rebuild, sooner rather then later or else there will be complications. Respiratory and digestion especially." Pulling out a data stick, she put it through the usual encryption process and downloaded what she had. "Hopefully this helps out Hoppou with her."

Simply nodding, Tanya waited until Norihara had disengaged it and placed the data stick along with notes in an envelope for Hopppu. "You are done then?"

Chuckling, Norihara shut down her laptop and nodded. "For now, anyways." Before she could do anything though, Tanya pulled her sideways until her head was resting in the crook of the Abyssal's neck. Sputtering, she looked up at her friend. "Tanya!"

Unrepentant, said Battleship looked down at her. "You are tired... and need some rest. That way you do not... make any mistakes."

Running a hand down her face, she groaned. "Tanya, you're my patient-"

Just shaking her head, Tanya frowned at her. "I am also... your friend." Eyes narrowing, she continued some. "Which is why... you should rest... a bit."

Only signing, Norihara pinched her nose. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" When she felt Tanya shake her head, she gave a small chuckle. "Fine, I guess that I could take a nap. Might do me some good as well."

Less then a minute later found her asleep with Tanya smiling triumphantly. Then the Ta class shifted her position to lay down with the human on top of her and simply laid there with a bright smile.
_______________________________________________________________

Grinning as he set the new laptop to the side, one heavily modified, Harry hugged Naka. "Thanks, Naka-Nee! Its going to be so awesome to play some games on that."

Naka hugged him back with a grin of her own. "You're welcome, Chibi. And it goes with how Shinano-San got you the Okami remastered game." Pulling back, she gave him a wink. "Just let me know if you want to livestream it again."

Softly snickering, the now thirteen year old nodded. "Will do, Naka-Nee." Looking at another present, this time from Louisiana, he took it before turning it over. "Hmm..." When Harry glanced at the Battleship, she simply smiled and he opened it before his eyes widened. "A wallet!"

Lips twitching, Louisiana leaned down and shook her head. "Not just any wallet, mon chéri. But rather, what it is made from." That caused Harry to look at it before his eyes widened and he looked up at her. "Oui, it is made from the hide of the Basilisk. I found someone who could work it into leather, and then to make it into a wallet. And Miz Ryuujou enchanted it as well."

When he looked over at her, the Onmyoudo using Carrier nodded. "Hai, Louisiana-San is right, Harry-Chan. An' let me tell ya somethin', it was not easy ta do at all. But worth is as it will last you a long time."

Getting up, Harry walked over to Louisiana and hugged her before giving the Battleship a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks." Once she let go, he gave another hug, minus the kiss, to Ryuujou who only chuckled. "And thanks, Ryuujou-Oba."

Ryuujou just shook her head. "No need ta thank me, Harry-Chan. Besides, Ah did not mind at all."

That made Harry glance at the book said Carrier had gotten him on the history of magic in Japan. "Still, thanks." After she nodded, he walked back to the presents and grabbed one that was from Fubuki, Mutsuki, Yuudachi, Kana, and Kisaragi. Puzzling over it, he opened the gift and blinked. "Clothes?"

Nodding, Mutsuki got up on her toes. "Hai, you did say that you were getting too big for yours at the moment, Harry-Chan. But..." She then winked at him. "I think that you should look at the hoodie from Fubuki-Chan."

Eyebrow raised, the wizard unfolded it before laughing which got him odd looks. That was, until he turned it around. On it was a circle with Fubuki's steel hull going through the waves. At the top, outside the circle were the words "Fubuki Class" and at the bottom outside the circle was "Destroyer". But what had made Harry laugh was the words inside the circle. At the top was "Often Imitated" and at the bottom was "Never Duplicated" along with "Fubuki-gata Kuchikukan" along with the Kanji just under the hull itself with "Est. 1926".

Just pinching her nose, Naka gave a snort. "Really, Fubuki-Chan? I mean, really?"

The Destroyer in question just smirked. "Yes, really. My exercise buddy needs some new workout clothes for runs outside. Besides..." Her smirk widened a touch. "Its true."

Needless to say there were amused snickers and giggles from everyone around while Harry gave them hugs and thanked them. Once he got back to the pile of presents and smiled. There was a number of different ones from his family and friends. Niiyodo had gotten him a new planner as one example, while Ryuuhou and Taigei had wrote him a recipe book as another. Each Submarine had gotten him a separate gift such as Hachi getting him a book on Submarines or Iku with a collection of figurines based on them. Meanwhile, Imuya had gotten him a soundtrack of Touhou music remixes, Maruyu a small handbook on self-defence, and Shioi a model of her own planes.
RO's, which was a lamp of sorts with Submarines that rose and fell with the water amused him and the others to no end.

A tap on the shoulder though brought him back and he turned as Natsumi handed him a gift. "This one is from me, Harry-Chan." While he opened it, she chewed her lip. "Hopefully you like it."

Interested, Harry gave her a small smile. "I'm sure that I will, Natsumi-Chan." Once the wrapping was gone, his eyes widened a touch. "A CD?"

With a slow nod, Natsumi took a deep breath. "Um, Naka-San let me use her studio for a recording session and I sang a number of different songs." Seeing his surprise, she finally smiled a bit. "One of them is The Last Unicorn as I know that you like that one."

Looking from the CD to Natsumi, Harry set it aside and hugged her. "Thanks, Natsumi-Chan. I know that you had to think about this."

Simply hugging him back, the Kitsune shrugged. "Its no big deal, Harry-Chan. I'm not like Taichi-Nii where I can go out and perform, but I'm not a bad singer." At the snort from Louisiana, she blinked. "What?"

Eyes rolling, the American sighed. "That is putting it mildly, ma chérie. When you sing truly, your voice, it makes all listen. Even the songbirds, they stop their own songs to better hear you."

Harry continued to hug her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks."

Flustered, though pleased, Natsumi simply nodded in reply and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome, Harry-Chan." Turning back to the presents, he the one from Shiromizu and his eyes widened at the sight of the men's Kimono that was inside. From where she was, Natsumi's eyes also widened before she smiled. "Oh wow..."

Just staring, Harry looked it over before looking at Shiromizu. "Is this the one that you had Misa-San make for me?"

Humming, the Mizuchi nodded some. "Hai, it is. And she did just as good work on it as I expected that she would." There was an amused smile on her face as she glanced at Natsumi. "And it should be good for when you meet Natsumi-Chan's Obaa-San and Ojii-San in a few weeks."

As she looked over his shoulder, Shinano adjusted her glasses and gave a nod. "This is really well made..." Blushing slightly as he looked up at her, she played with her fingers. "Um, maybe you could later go and try it on for us...? Because I sort of want to see you in it."

When he looked around, Harry could see a number of the others also nodding. "Sure, but not right now." A smile on his face, the young boy could only feel happy. Not because of the presents, though he did enjoy that. But rather because it reminded him once more that he now had people who loved and cared for him.

Granted, he did wonder what would happen once he got to Kushiro...

 

[darthcourt10]

SkyeFire Omake: Tanya's decision and question

Guardsman_Sparky said:
I was imagining her blinking and asking "whu happen?"​

"Someone set you up the bomb."
...
"And that's when she nuked me. She's from 1948, how did she even know the Zero Wing meme?"
*-*-*

Harry Leferts said:
Issue being that Norihara is her doctor...​

"Norihara... I'm sorry, but... I need... to see another... doctor."
"What? Why? Is-- have I let you down? Made you uncomfortable? I just, I don't even...."
"It's not... you. It's your... ethics. I can't have... the relationship... with you... that I want. Unless... I am... no longer... your patient."
"...Oh. Oh."

"Um... I can, ah, recommend some good alternatives?"
"That would be... wonderful. Um... How long... do I need... to wait before... asking you out?"
"Let me... um, check my medical ethics handbook...."
*-*-*-*
In other news, I think it may have already been mentioned here, but it bears repeating: there's a pair of KC-based fics next door, which are quite good. The author is good at Feels, and (unlike our Kaiju Overlord

) actually expresses concern for his readers when the Feels become hazardous to their health, and sincerely begs them not to die.
I speak of A Past, But No Future, which is complete, and the "sequel" Chrysanthemum, which just started this month. I suspect a very large overlap between fans of these stories and fans of HatSG.

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K

A.N./ FINALLY got the last part done.
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QueenOfTheNorth: forums.shipgirlsonline.com/threads/star-crossed-under-the-starshell-snippet-collection.630637/

LinkBot: [QueenOfTheNorth Has Posted A Link to the Chat]

QueenOfTheNorth: Latest chapter is now up everyone!

Outrageous-ly Fun: : D

Prancing Dragon: (｡◕‿‿◕｡)

Pagoda Simulator: Wait, what's this about?

Mutslug: Some people took the joke about Tillman Demon being Naka's secret love child with Puget Demon and ran with it.

TheOtherEnterprise: Now there's a legit thread on SGO with fanfiction for a re-imagined and fleshed out Tillman Demon, who is the result of a one night stand between Naka and a Princess, set twenty-minutes into the future, trying to find her famous "other mama" so she can get her parents back together.

TheOtherEnterprise: Basically "The Parent Trap", but with a hilariously OP Demon who terrifies everyone, but is actually hilariously moe, wants to be a rock star, and apparently rolled the power "Disney Musical Number Plot Progression" at character creation.

FailureToLaunchDysfunction: Hahaha, lolwut?

Winter(S)oldat(-83): It's every bit as amazing as it sounds

SalemTheTeenageSeaWitch: KEK

CarrierOfTheEndCentury: Okay, this I have to see

Yorkten: Trust me, you need to. Dat latest chapter ⚙̥ꇴ⚙̥

NotSkitter: No real-person crack-fic has the right to be that WAFF-filled, hilarious and heartwarming at the same time

OG Smoke Cancer: Praise where praise is due, Tirpitz is one one of the main writers.

The Fleets Idol: Really?

QueenOfTheNorth: Yeah, you like?

QueenOfTheNorth: Sorry if I caused any trouble with the tabloids though, didn't realize people would copy it off SGO and spread it elsewhere/confuse the piece in the opening chapter as a legit news article

QueenOfTheNorth: No hard feelings?

[QueenOfTheNorth] Is Temp-Banned From Talking In [Naka Streams: CK2 MP Mod Special - Abyssal Princesses 2] By Moderator [The Fleets Idol]

HighImpactNightBattleViolence: That's a bit harsh don't you think?

Vollhorst: MY SIDES

Arky Welcomes You To T4: LOL

Arky Welcomes You To T4: F

KTKM-SAMA: F

U-Are Being Monitored: F

HMASter Blaster: F

Nightmare of Solomon: F

Brokinawa: F

ScrewedOverbyWoWs: F

Rodnol: F

The Blue Beauty: Aw, don't be like that. I bet you haven't even read it. It's actually really good!

xX-BushidoSamurai-Xx: Maybe she's trying to cover up that she actually does have an illicit Abyssal love-child daughter? /s

Dunkek: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[xX-BushidoSamurai-Xx] Is Temp-Banned From Talking In [Naka Streams: CK2 MP Mod Special - Abyssal Princesses 2] By Moderator [The Fleets Idol]
----------------------
"Hi hi everyone! Hello and welcome back to our Crusader Kings 2 mod, multiplayer special!"

"Picking up where we last left off, I am currently pursing a certain end game tech-oriented build, so I am mostly focused trying to improve my learning, and thus my monthly technology points gain, along with a small amount of dabbling in eugenics and Hapsburg-ian dynastic integration on the side. Basically this means I'm shaking down my neighbors for resources and knowledge to fuel my Research and Society Special Events, while occasionally plowing everyone else's wives, sisters, nieces and daughters when they aren't looking."
----------------------

"I am currently in, like, four- no, five different wars right now. I just can't help myself. I keep on saying I'll stop, but it just keeps escalating every time I beat on someone, and they go running or crying to some bigger fish to help."

"You know, you could just not try to Full-Annex everyone who fights you?"

"But if I've already taken all their territory and resources...."

"We don't really have Over-Extention or a Demense Limit in this mod, thank god, but you must have so much Aggressive Expansion right now."

"I kicked their asses, their shit is mine by right."

"And you wonder why you're fighting three different Coalitions right now."

"And wining."

"Then stop complaining about it!"

"But I want to change my damn Succession Laws!"

"Then stop fighting everyone!"
----------------------
"I am currently stuck in a stalemate with Puget Princess, who is also still fighting off the USN."

"Also, I may or may not be almost broke again..... Dakota?"

"GOD DAMNIT IOWA!!!"

----------------------
"Now in this grave hour, the Inquisitors of Gangutgrad face a most dire task! Dreaded western subversive elements now walk among the Free peoples of this glorious soviet nation!"

"Didn't WolfMail technically start out and, thus spawn 'The Cult of the Dark One', to the east of you?"

"Political dissidents and enemies of the people now threaten the peace and stability of our great communist country!"

"What peace and stability? You're legitimately at -2 Stability right now, and constantly imprisoning people to avoid uprisings and plots by all the people unhappy about all the imprisoning you were doing in the first place!"

"But this grand pillar of the commune and the proletariat, our Free Peoples Democratic Republic of Gangutgrad shall not falter!"

"Oh hey, five lies for the price of one!"

"We shall carve this Cult and it's members out like the cancer it is, and exorcise this bourgeois influence once and for all!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

----------------------
"So Yuubari, what are you up to?"

"I would like to get my Fleet back. Or at least become a Princess or Demon again."

"I'd also like to think that by this point, my character wants to find a nice clean shower to sit down in, and hold herself while rocking back and forth and gazing off into the distance with a thousand yard stare."

"Oh come on, we haven't done anything that completely pointlessly heinous yet."

"You are eating people for incremental Trait and stat boosts, and forcing me to help you!"
----------------------

"And I'll need to Alex Mercer-lite quite a few more before we can seriously consider going back to the Pacific."

"That's not the only horrible thing you've done! You knocked up your own daughter's wife!"

"Tragically my daughter is both Mad and an Imbecile, and I will not allow her to risk the RNG of passing those Traits on to any of our Dynasty's progeny."

"And then you imprisoned her wife anyway!"

"She was plotting against me, and thus a traitor."

"Because you imprisoned and ate her mother!"

"But that those Stats! I could have passed those on to our kids."

"And yet you ate her anyway!"

"My daughter created a Faction to free her wife, and I could not risk a problematic and rogue loose end with such high Intrigue being allowed to go free."

"She was still pregnant!"

"Which was a mistake on my part, I'll admit. If I'd waited a little longer, then I could have had two prisoners to eat."
----------------------
The only member of the group who is an actual Abyssal in real life, beams brightly for the stream.

"Hoppou is giving them all enough rope to do it themselves right now."
----------------------

"Hey SoDak?"

"It better not be more Resources you're about to ask for."

"No! Thank god, I don't need anymore right now, but..... now that I think about it, doesn't it strike you as odd that Naka was willing to Ally with WolfMail at first, only to turn on him as quickly as she did, that early in the game, as soon as we offered her some of his turf?"

"Not really?"

"You don't think so?"

"I've been following along the chat and the other view points for the stream in another window. The guy is either the legit descendant of some sort fucked up magical dynastic warlord IRL, or he knows the ins and outs of this mod like the back of his hand. Nothing phases this guy for very long. You should see all the events he just keeps on managing to trigger. Naka probably realized she needed him weakened and lagging behind as quickly as possible."

"That's a bit harsh."

"This is CK2."

"True."

"The worst thing isn't what the game or other players do to you, but what you can do to yourself when you're on the backfoot."

Iowa pauses quietly at that thought, letting Dakota's sentence hang in the air for a suspiciously awkward long moment.

"Iowa. What did you do?"

The larger battleship chuckles with uncertain helplessness.

"Uh.... yeah, about that.... I may have just face planted Central Princess into one of Puget's doom-stacks in a desperate all or nothing move to drive her latest offensive off, but now I kind of don'thavetheresourcestofixher."

"GOD DAMNIT IOWA!!!"
----------------------

Colonia was an interesting little Province.

While basically the middle of nowhere in the western Pacific, and limited in raw Resources or base Development, there was still a mildly decent amount of room for some buildings if one wished to to turn it into a minor Forward Operating Base or an outpost for resupplying Fleets. Geographically, it also sat at something of a crossroads.

To the east was the rest of the atolls that made of the Caroline Islands. To the west was the Philippines. To the north was the chain of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. And to the the larger island of Palau, offering a further jumping off point that could be used to reach the island groups of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

It was for this latter reason, that Kogamaru had first intimidated the island's original conquerors into becoming one of his many Vassal Fleets. To him, Colonia had been just another stepping stone towards building a network of Vassals, Alliances, and eventually defensive pacts that could have protected him from his more aggressive neighbors.

But then, hopes for a strategy of peace, reason and fairness were dashed by an opportunistic invasion from three different directions. An invasion that then saw the great swathes of territory placed under banner, divided up between the three conqerors.

Colonia in particular, went to Naka. And Naka had a much different interest in Colonia than its mildly strategic positioning. In one small, inconsequential Sea Zone, just to the northwest of Colonia, in a patch of random ocean in the middle of nowhere, with no obvious claim to fame or resources of note, Naka had an entire Fleet of Submarines.

Back and forth they scoured the area, currently set to Hunt for Treasure. Normally the way this function worked, one would occasionally turn up either raw Resources or Artifacts from sunken vessels. Sometimes though, there was even a chance to find actual sunken treasure, which could also be sold on, or kept for a nice Prestige and Legitimacy boost on occasion. Rarest of all though, was the chance to occasionally find a sunken wreck, that could then be summoned as a Demon or a Princess.

And now, after well over twenty minutes of repeatedly turning up nothing, and losing against the hefty demoddifiers and RNG for searching in such deep waters, Naka had found what she was looking for.

"Mwuhahahaha!!!! At last I have it!!!"

Naka cackles like a supervillian who's plans are finally coming together, while the game chimes merrily to announce the completion of the ritual, and the addition of Shark Cruiser Princess to her court upon the completion of her ritual.

"Sounds like something good happened Naka?"

"Oh yes. Something good alright. Hehehe...."

"Does not sound very good for us I think."

"Oh don't worry about it you guys. You'll be fiiiine."

Looking at her webcam, Naka then mouths 'no they won't', before putting a finger to her lips, signalling for them to keep quite about what she is about to show. Selecting Shark Cruiser Princess, and highlighting her Traits, Naka then hovers over one of them in particular.

Fatally Secret Mission - ???

"Hey, does anybody know if that Mad Scientist Princess is still in the game?"

"I think she's in some random Abyssal's Court in the Bonins right now. For some reason Midway and Wake were going all out trying to wipe her and her Dynasty off the face of the map earlier, and she had to flee."

Naka grinned. Perfect. If Mad Scientist Princess was already unlanded, that would make convincing her to come to Tinian Princesses Court to help with some research that would enable the next two phases of her plan even easier. She might not even have to Seduce her now, to secure her aid.

"Awesome! By the way, who wants to help me try and become Kind somehow?"
----------------------

Hoppou's frown was a most displeased one as she looked over her recent messages.

Not only had her puppets failed to see their job through properly by capturing or slaying Mad Scientist Princess in the field of battle while taking over her territory, but now Naka had apparently reached the next stage of her plans. A stage which pulled Mad Scientist Princess from the Abyssal Court to which she'd fled, and invited her into Naka's own.

Hoppou took pride in her carefully cultivated and grown Intrigue score, but the littlest Abyssal was strong doubts that a plot which would have to be carried out by proxies so far from home would work. Not against Naka's own respectable capabilities. Either Hoppou would fail, or at the very least, Naka would learn who was behind the assassination of the newest member of her court. And from there, the Light Cruiser would have to be an idiot not to realize that someone (most likely Hoppou) was on to her plans.

No. Better to leave things as is.

Better a known plan and an unaware foe she could plan a counter around, than having to go to the time and effort of then figuring out what Naka had up her sleeve as a back up if she were to scrap her current one.

Hoppou tents her fingers as her eyes scan the screen analytically.

Yes. That is what she would do. The course would be set irregardless.

They were rapidly approaching the endgame of their little scenario. Her failure to remove Mad Scientist Princess from the playing field would eventually have irksome consequences, but it is was a possibility Hoppou had always foreseen could be a possibility. It was time to be a bit more proactive.

Speaking of which....

Looking over her list of family members, Hoppou in particular, looks for that one daughter she caught plotting against her that one time. Said daughter is currently Improving Relations with one of the Abyssal Fleets in Tarawa.

There's nothing of actual value, or future importance to Hoppou's primary plans in Tarawa.

But there is a highly virulent plague.

One her traitorous daughter has now picked up a few weeks after arriving.

Hoppou now redeployes her daughter, directing her efforts to instead begin schmoozing with the minor, but still rather populated court of a Demon subservient to Gangut

An 'assassination' with zero risk of being caught Kinslaying, and biowarfare, all rolled into one.
----------------------

"Annnnnnd I do believe that's the last of them!" declares Kogamaru as he rubs his hands gleefully. "Not only am I now "the Uber-Re" with Traits out the waazo, but we have also officially removed the last Fleets with any potentially claimants to the sea-zones from the Nigeria coast all the way to the Cape of Good Hope."

In spite of this achievement, Yuubari can't help but cringe. "Now if only capturing enemies in combat, imprisoning subjects, and then eating everyone didn't give you such a massive Tyranny modifier. We've got rebellions coming out of our ears now."

"Which is awesome, as it gives me a whole bunch more people to capture or imprison."

"Aren't you at all concerned about actually holding onto these provinces in any actually meaningful way?!?"

"Not really to be honest. At this point I've gained everything I need from these territories, that being victims to farm for Traits and Stats, and sufficient resources to rebuild my forces before I move onto the next phase of my plan."

"We're returning to the Pacific?"

"Not quite yet actually. There is one more Event Chain I want to proc before doing so, but it is definitely time to leave the Congo I think."

"What about your holdings here then? This dumpster fire is going to fold like a house of cards the instant you're gone and not here to eat anyone who so much as thinks about rising up."

"Well originally I was operating on the assumption that I would be doing this all solo, so I was just going to let them rebel and jump ship as they wished once I was done with them. They all hate my guts, and I don't particularly care for earning positive opinions when there isn't any need to. Now that you're here though, that provides some interesting possibilities."

Yubari's eyes light up excitedly. "You want to give them to me now?!"

"Why not?" Offers Kogamaru with a shrug. "If they're more likely to listen to you, it's more resources and ships we can potentially pull on later."

"Alright! Yuubari is back in the game baby!"

"We should also probably pick up your old Fleet as well. We'll be passing it by on the way to where we next need to go anyway."
----------------------

"Jesus Christ Naka!" exclaims Iowa with mild disbelief as she takes a moment to look away from the bloody back and forth between herself and Puget Princess. Allowing herself a brief look at how everyone else's Dynastys are doing out of curiosity, the battleship's eyes boggle at the sheer number of character portraits she sees crammed into one field in particular. "How many freaking kids do you actually have?"

"I like to operate on the assumption that if you have enough of them, statistically some of the ankle-biters will eventually be good. Alternatively, it's more chances to shack up with someone potentially worth trying to claim something from."

"With the way I tend to accidentally lose heirs and other descendants to meat grinders, I kinda have to do that by necessity," admits South Dakota. "Thankfully at least some of my decent spawn have survived to Demon-hood, in spite of all the wars I've been fighting."

"Do you know their names?"

"Uhhhh...... I think one of them is..... Ta....er.... Tabitha?"

"Your family tree says Tabata."
----------------------

Gangut unleashes a fercious stream of angry Russian.

"Chto za huy!!! I have the Rust again!" Then the battleship pauses in horrified disbelief. "It's not just me! Half of Gangutgrad seems to have it all of a sudden!!!"

"Hold on, how the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know, but this is terrible! My sister has it, my Marshal has it, my Spymaster has it- oh god, even my half-human Daughter has it!"

Turning on her map filter for diseases, South Dakota then boggles at what she sees. A splotchy patchwork of colors covers most of the Philippines.

"Holy shit, that's a bona fide plague outbreak you've got there." Then the battleship pauses in confusion. "Actually, that looks like there's three or four of them all happening in there at once. That's not normal."

"Such dirty underhanded methods!" cries Gangut in realisation. "The glorious peaceful nation of Gangutgrad has been made a victim of biological warfare! This is beyond even normal warmongering capitalist methods!"

Scanning the map and the player list suspiciously, the Russian then glares at one name in particular. "There is only one kind of foe so truly blackhearted as to resort to such measures! Cultists!"

"Hey, I didn't have anything to do with this! Besides, there isn't even any actual form of Bio-warfare in this game anyway. I need all my people too much to turn them into plague-bearers!"

"A suspiciously knowledgeable denial from the member of the group to most publicly profess a grudge against Gangutgrad, don't you think?"

"Indeed."

"Oh come on! Your courtiers or their underlings must have picked up those diseases from sending people to areas that already have the disease."

"Yeah, and they all just happened to pick up four of the most virulent kinds that can hit Abyssals, all at the same time," interjects Naka, merrily adding fuel to the fire.

"And they also infected the provinces close enough to my border that I might get hit as well if this shit keeps on spreading like it currently is."

"You question not just the intelligence of the people of Gangutgrad, but my own as well?!"

"I am telling you, this wasn't me!"

Unnoticed by everyone else, Hoppou smiles beatifically for the face cam.

She also uses the opportunity to send her chancellor on a very special diplomatic mission to the south. One she would rather that the other were just a wee bit too distracted to notice.
----------------------

Meanwhile, Naka begins smiling for much more different reasons.

The first of her two special Research Projects has finally popped.

A very rare branch of the Immortality Event Chain, brought about by a combination of being Kind, Genius, Scholar, with at least one dead child and a Mad Scientist Princess in her court.

"Far and wide, Mad Scientist Princess has scoured the land for the secrets to immortality and defying the vulnerabilities of earthly flesh and steel. Most recently however, some of her agents have uncovered a rather unique tale to behold. A recent tale that to the much more learned ear, almost sounds a form of Sacrificial Blood Protection, capable of protecting even from death when empowered by the love of a mother. "

"Mad Scientist Princess is intrigued by the tale and the possibility of what might be gleamed from attempting to reverse-engineer the ritual. However, she is uncertain whether or not it is worth proceeding, considering the generally fatal nature of the sacrifice required to place the protections."

Naka begins highlighting her options for the benefit of her viewers.

"I'm interested not dying. My kids can look after themselves."

"This could prove useful for a rainy day. For the sake of my daughters, I'd like to know more."

Then the Light Cruiser grins.

"If the love of a mother is so powerful...... can it not just protect from murder, but even reach past death itself?'
----------------------

"You know, I think that at this point, the one nice thing I've got going for me, is that the US doesn't actively hate me that badly."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I'm actually pretty close to neutral for them right now."

"How'd you manage that?"

"It's fucking Puget Princess. I've basically been fighting her non-stop for so long that aside from setting up my base at Pearl just so I can pump out and repair vessels, I haven't actually done anything against all the humans in my territory."

"What about when you first took over?"

"I head to blockade and siege it down, rather than just stomping in and taking over thanks to loosing my heavy hitters to the Pele Event, remember?"

"Oh right."
----------------------

Yuubari gave a heavy sigh.

Examining what was left of the Horn of Africa and the surviving descendants of her original Fleet that had now joined her new one at WolfMail's side, the Light Cruiser was far from impressed.

"God damn it!" she curses loudly. "There's barely anyone left!"

"I guess I don't know my own strength."

"You killed half of them in combat!"

"Well, at least we convinced a fair few the ones who survived to join us."

"They only did so after receiving a Feared-Reputation modifier because you ate another quarter of them!"

"If they weren't going to join us, then better I at least got some use out of them, rather than leaving them behind to pointlessly rot in prison or rebel later."

"I've now got barely a quarter of the people I could have had!"

The cruiser sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Okay, whatever. At least I got at some of my original Fleet back and can finally become a Princess again. Now that we've got that sorted, where are we headed next? You said this was on the way to the next part of your 'plan'?"

"That's right. Now that we're officially done with Africa, it's time to head on to North Sentinel Island. Also, you'll want to bring everything you can afford to pull away from your territories for this next attack."

"Why?" asks Yuubari, sounding slight baffled. "Isn't North Sentinel Island only inhabited by tribal hunter gathers? There's literally nothing there in-game."

"Trust me," says Kogamaru with a grin. "You'll want to bring a doom-stack or two."
----------------------

Simultaneously, a pop up springs up across everyone's screens, signifying the importance of the Event that has finally happened.

It is an event that changes a great many things for many factions and groups.

"What the hell?!"

"Accords?"

"Wait a minute, it's still too early for when this normally fires for an A.I.!"

"Who even managed to get on good terms with with the Humans so quickly?!?"

"Wait, look at the Fleet name!"

"Hoppou?!?"

The picture of childish innocence, Hoppou bounces in her seat excitedly and nods happily.

"Hoppou just wants to everyone to be friends, just like Hoppou does." The little Abyssal the nods determinedly. "And more friends means more people working against Puget Princess!"

"The Truce Accords," reads Naka for the benefit of the stream.

"Thoughts of disapproval against the Abyssal crusade to wipe humanity from the seas are spreading across the Pacific as a result of the increasing ineffectiveness of Demons and Princesses. Voices are raised questioning the current rationality and long term viability of the War. A Princess in Unalaska has for some time expressed deep concerns and is now openly declaring her discontent with the War, paving the way towards a Truce with humanity."

"Ohhhhh boy." Shaking his head, Kogamaru then laughs. "Well, it sucks to be you guys. Hoppou just started the dominoes. Once Puget's down, most of the minors in the region are probably going to flip, or be stomped out by Hoppou and those that do. They're too weak after so many years of constantly fighting Puget or each other, to then stand on their own against the USN or their stronger neighbors once they aren't distracted, so inevitably they'll peace out, if only to get the next biggest fish and their immediate allies off their backs."

At Kogamaru's assessment, Iowa then groans.

"God damnit, he's right!"

"Right about what?"

"I've barely managed to hold out against Puget this entire time."

"Pfft, what do you mean barely? I've basically been bank rolling your entire continued existence."

"Exactly!" Cries Iowa hopelessly. "Pretty much everything I've done at this point, has gone into just trying to stay above water fighting her. One, admittedly OP, Princess who's been trying up most of the resources and units of the USN on the West Coast. Once she's gone, they'll be free to move all those assets onto other things, and I have barely any defensive infrastructure to speak of."

"Well I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Hoppou will help if Iowa wants to join the friends group!" adds the littlest Abyssal.

"Really?"

"Hey, no bribing!"

Iowa however, bites her lip, torn with indecision.

"Wait, hold up- Iowa, you can't seriously be considering this?!"

"Why shouldn't I?" asks the larger battleship. "Hoppou is closer, it would make a number of other Abyssal Fleets near me less likely to attack, and I could potentially get allied reinforcement beyond periodic drip feeds of raw resources."

"What the hell!" cries South Dakota in affronted response. "Is this the thanks I get for basically gifting you a third of my economy?!"

"I'm not in a position where the problem can just be fixed by throwing Oil and Steel at me! I don't have the population or facilities to produce the ships needed to decisively outnumber Puget! Not while having to repair and replace everything already getting into fights with her! I need actual troops Dakota!"

"Then just wait a bit, and eventually I'll get around to you once I finish crushing all these little wars!"

"That's what you've been saying for the last two fucking hours!!!"

"They'll make you give up most of Hawaii!"

"Well it's better than inevitably loosing all of it to Puget or whoever comes next!"

As the two continue to argue back and forth, Hoppou momentarily allows herself a small smirk.

Not only has one of the most natural partnerships in the game now found it's two halves looking in opposite directions for their Dynasty's futures, but now Hoppou has garnered for herself a new non-A.I. Ally out of the deal as well.
----------------------

A jaunty chime announces a new pop up, and Naka rolls her eyes at the continued back and forth between South Dakota and Iowa in the background, as she reads off the blurb for the latest event.

"After the publication of the "Truce Accords", introducing the central principles and ideas that could eventually become the seed for nascent peace and coexistence, the social, political and philosophical attitude of Abyssal Fleets the world over, has begun to alter. The doctrines of non-aggression and potential recognition, has had a strong effect on the Fleet of Central Princess of Hawaii, making them give up their old beliefs in favor of those advocated by the reformed Abyssals."

Closing that particular window, Naka then reveals the one she was actually looking at. One that makes a smile spread across her face.

"Within the heart of Shark Cruiser Princess, Mad Scientist Princess finds something. An echo, resonating like the ripple in the water from the skip of a stone. An after-image of an object, central to some world-shattering trauma, left like a wake in the original's passing. Something is missing from this cold reflection that doomed Shark Cruiser Princess in life however. Mad Scientist Princess believes that with some time and luck, she could eventually re-awaken this missing element, and then discover what you would need in turn, to wholly replicate this terrible artifact yourself."

"Such power is beyond anything borne before. We could not survive the reactionary attention it may draw."

Naka then grins as she moves her cursor over the second of the two options.

"We shall become death. Destroyers of worlds."
----------------------

"Alright, we're here. Now what?"

"Siege it down. Don't bother with a blockade."

"What?" Yuubari double checks the province info for North Sentinel Island again, just to be sure. "There's nothing here? There's literally nothing to siege. This place is so empty, it doesn't even have any buildings or holdings."

"I know that's what it says,'" replies Kogamaru with unconcerned offhandedness. "Just stack everything you have on top of mine anyway, as if you're trying to Siege down a fortress or castle that's sitting in the upper holding slot. Trust me, it's either this, or we go hunting for Alepotrypa cave in Cape Matapan, try to take Lake Avernus from the Italians, or get into an excessively expensive fight with Gateway for the Isle of Demons."

Yuubari gives the undeveloped province's info another dubious glance.

"Well alright then...... if you know what you're doing....."
----------------------

"So....." grumbles Dakota to Gungut. "That happened. How are things on your end."

"Not good," admits the battleship with a grimace. "I currently have a bunch of revolts sailing around my territory. But my main Fleet is too plague-stricken to effectively deal with it. Meanwhile, all these revolting Abyssals are actually making things worse, because new members of the group keep on catching the plagues and carrying them everywhere, which just keeps on adding to the attrition my plague-ridden Fleet is being strangled by."

"Well, I guess the peasants really are revolting."

"It gets worse. Because they keep on capturing provinces and spreading the plague to new areas, it then makes those places more likely to aid their rebel cause."

"Ah.... yeah, that does sound like a kick in the teeth then, yeah."

"Ohooiet! I don't know what's worse! These plagues, or these rebels! if this keeps up, I'm going to have to move my Home Base to some other part of my teritory that's mildly less of a dumpsterfire!"

"Chin up Gangut. It's not like it could get any worse."

The Russian battleship's eyes widen in horror. "Cyka blyat! You did not just say that!"

A merry chime sounds, followed by Gangut giving an agonized groan of infuriated frustration.

"Holy shit, did you just get assassinated!"
----------------------

Feeling mighty proud of herself, Hoppou dusts off her hands and examines her work proudly.

The chaos she has sowed in Gangutgrad is coming to fruition, and just in time to.

If WolfMail is still attempting to do what Hoppou thinks he's trying to do, then the strife in Gangut's territory should be reaching it's climatic peak at the perfect opportunity for him to carry out his task, with the added benefit that Gangut is now a plague-ridden half-human Abyssal child.
----------------------

"-with all the ridiculous shit you can already do in the game if you know how to exploit the system or get the right events, I'm just saying. You can play as a horse. You can play as a bear. You can play as a Lustful gay horse fucking a bear Priest in a Satanic orgy, and then give birth to the Spawn of Satan, who murders the house cat that replaced your last Spymaster after killing him. But the unmodded base game still makes you jump through almost as many hoops or requirement in order to go Hapsburg+ with your siblings? What's up with that?"

Naka sighs as her Subs now scour the waters surrounding the US West Coast, in search of her next objective.

"Please stop talking."
----------------------

Yuubari stares at her screen, and what is left of her forces in baffled disbelief.

"What... what the fuck was that?!?!"

"What was what?" asks Kogamaru curiously

"THAT!!!" cries Yuubari "THE THING WE JUST GOT A POPUP FOR WHEN IT SORTIED OUT OF THE FUCKING NOTHING AND WRECKED HALF OF OUR COMBINED FORCES!!!"

"Well, in case you already closed the pop up-" Kogamaru then clears his throat.

"Best Left Undiscovered"

"North Sentinel Island is an isolated and almost entirely uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean, a with a sparse population at best, despite it's long history of habitation. As it turns out, there is apparently a reason for this. One which the supposedly 'primitive' natives are willing to pay dearly to protect, lest you discover what it is. After weeks of strangely futile efforts to track down the locals and their homes, suddenly you are beset from all sides. Not just by the local peoples you expect, but by a whole host of supernatural defenders. Venerable war mages and battle sorcerers, looking as if gathered from all corners of the globe, now attempt to drive you into back the sea."

"What ever is here, must certainly be worth dying for!"

Yuubari just shakes her head as Kogamaru finishes.

"I still don't understand! What was that?! It's written like this is something that could be done elsewhere as well?! Are there more of these things?! Was that what we came here for? To get a magical army dumped on us for some reason? Are we supposed to keep doing this to trigger a hidden easter egg or something? What even was the reward for that?!?"

"Don't worry, it'll pop up in a minute or so."

"Look, I'm just really confused, and I want an explanation."

"Don't worry. All will be revealed soon enough."

The game then chimes, signaling the appearance of a popup.

"See! There we go!"

Uncertainly, Yuubari begins to read.

"Dark Corners of the Earth"

"In the days since your battle on North Sentinel Island, many of the greatest minds in you fleet have been baffled by the surprise battle and the desperate ferocity of the apparently magical army that tried to drive you off. No small number of hypothesis and postulations are put forward as to why so many, from possibly so many far flung reaches of the globe would unite to drive you off, but none can come up with a satisfactory answer. As the days go on however, you and many others on the island begin to hear things. A faint scratching noise, as if something were digging at a wall that isn't there, and can never be heard when you are seeking the source of the maddening sound.

A week of this passes, before your Priestess of the Dark One, Hera, abruptly collapses and begins speaking in tongues. When she finally reawakens once more, she explains that she has had a vision. This island is one among a number of rare places, scattered across the globe, hidden away in secret and protected due to their well-springs of magical power and ability to focus the will and interactions of things normally not of this world. Hera reveals that thanks to this discovery, she has now come up with a ritual to call upon the Dark One with the full might of it's power, drawing forth that which lies lost beyond the boundary of death and within her poisoned home turned corpse. All that is needed is to gather the necessary sacrifice, and surely you shall be rewarded upon the Dark One's summoning."

Re-reading just to make sure she has everything, the Light Cruiser blinks owlishly.

"Sacrifice? What Sacrifice?"

Kogamaru then grins.

"The way we unlock the next stage of this event chain is a bit of a finicky task. Specifically, we now have to capture a direct descendant of a Princess who slew human citizens during Blood Week, and then we have to Sacrifice her to the Dark One."

Yuubari shifts nervously.

"You aren't going to backstab me are you?"

"What? No!" The okami actually looks a little affronted at the suggestion. "You've proven yourself to be a useful and worthwhile minion so far, why would I waste that?"

A toothy grin then splits the wolf's face.

"Luckily, I know just the place where we can someone else who fits the bill."
----------------------

Gangut glared at what remained of Gangutgrad as her beloved Abyssal communist utopia was yet again gripped by Civil War.

Thankfully however, there was at least some form of distraction available.

"Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the traitor."

"Oh can it Dakota. At least I'm still in the game thanks to Hoppou. Thing's aren't quite as dire now that I have actual help and don't have to worry about the USN crawling up my butt." The battleship then grimaces slightly. "Actually, that brings me to what I was meaning to ask."

"If this is an invite to the Humie-Lover club, no thanks."

"What? No- look, I was wanting to ask about Naka, WolfMail and Hoppou."

"What about them?"

"Don't you think they're up to something? That they're all building up to something big. Aren't you maybe a little bit worried? WolfMail and Yuubari are definitely working towards something out east, Naka has been kinda silent lately doing god knows what. And since I've been working for Hoppou, it's slowly dawned on me just how powerful and rich she is. She has a stupendous amount of Resources moving around her territory, and not all of it is being stockpiled. It's going places. To people."

South Damota shrugs. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. She's barely fought at all this entire match."

"I dunno..." says Iowa uncertainly. "I'm starting to think that might be part of her plan. More and more, I think she proc'd the ability to make Truces with humanity early for a reason, and not just because she likes playing a pacifist. Cooperation with the US is far more of a boon to her than any of us realized."

South Dakota just blows a raspberry. "You're getting paranoid. Either that or you're just trying to scare me into jumping into the pro-humanity bed as well now."

Iowa facepalms. "I'm not kidding Dakota. I think there's some serious shit happening now, and we're the ones who're eventually going to get either caught in the pile up or captured in these webs of machinations."

From where she has now been forced to move her capital to one of the few still secure areas of the eastern Philippines, Gungut gives a resigned sigh of frustration.

"Honestly, I think I may have to do the same soon enough."

"What! Gangut, you can't be serious!?!"

"Why shouldn't I?" asks the Russian battleship. "All joking aside, I am really not in a good position right now, and I pretty much am part way towards an alliance with the humans already. My current Character is half-human. Most of my loyalists have picked up the "Humansexual" Trait too after somebody divulged my heirtage and made the more anti-human members of my Fleet jump ship to the rebels."

"Come on Gangut, you can turn things around."

"By joining humanity so I have a few less enemies on my back, sure."

"Screw humanity!"

"That is so going to be clipped from the stream and quoted out of context by someone."

Before Gangut can chip in with her own observation as well, a pop up on her screen then makes her blink in surprise. Then she groans in dsibelief.

"Oh what the hell? Unknown raiders from the west have entered your territory."

Meanwhile, South Dakota, continues her Pro-"Stay Part of the Anti-Humanity Club" spiel unabated. "So what if you're at the bottom of the barrel right now! That just means the only way is up, and you have nothing else to worry about. Things officially can't get any worse for you!"

Scrolling over, Gangut takes a moment to locate the stack of units beelining straight for her capital, and then clicks on it to check the unit compilation.

"WHAT THE FUCK! A SUBMARINE PRINCESS AND A RE-CLASS?!? AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THOSE TRAITS AND STATS?!?!?!"

"Greetings Gungut! Remember that promise I declared earlier?"
----------------------

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

As Gangut tracks her captors' progress away from her yet again ruined Home Base, the Russian battleship shift nervously, pondering her poor character's fate.

"You aren't actually going to eat me are you?"

"No. Technically I can't anymore."

"Oh good, thank god for that, South Dakota had been saying some weird thing's she'd been hearing from the other streams and chats about- wait." Gangut then pauses uncertainly as something about WolfMail's wording raises suspicious flags. "What do you mean by 'technically' and 'anymore'?"

"Well originally I was going to make good on that promise and eat you myself." the okami pauses. "But then I decided it would be far more convenient to sacrifice you in a magical ritual on an altar built atop a gateway between the mortal world and the realms of gods and unknown things, in order to summon my unholy liege and lord of cruelty, the Dark One, at the greatest extent of her power."

Gangut stares.

"I- what?"

An alert then pops up on Ganguts screen, describing her charcter being lead ashore in chains, towards the center of a tropical island in the Indian Ocean.

"Wait, please no! I can- I'll give you- er....."

Uncertainly, Gangut tries to figure out some excuse or bribe to offer. Resources? No, she's broke. Territory? Barely has any at this point? Troops? She's pretty sure WolfMail and Yuubari just killed most of those who were still loyal. Now really scrapping the bottom of the barrel, she glances at the portrait of her Character, and her youthful half-human features.

"Oh god, I have so much to live for!"

In the Twitch chat, a message appears in among the stream of jokes now taking place at her expense, or poking fun at the reinvention and melding of the usual CK2 Cthulhu Summoning and Demon Worshiper Event Chains for AP2's Abyssal religions.

MaleficentMolly: Wrong god >:3
----------------------

Looking up from her latest research project to complete, Naka pauses in her cackling, her elation at everything coming together immediately 180'ing into dread.

"Oh fuck."

Looking back at the earlier two earlier pop ups to appear, Naka steels herself. It appears that WolfMail has now finally forced her hand.

Thankfully however, she is still ahead of them all.

Shark Cruiser Princess' hidden ability has been unlocked as a only a single-use range-0 ability, rather than one of it's rarer but more useful forms unfortunately.

But on the other hand, Naka now has a certain ritual available to her, and one last objective to achieve before she can complete her other Event Chain.

All that remains, is to follow the trail of the Shadow to Japan.

And WolfMail may have just given her the perfect distraction to keep everyone else occupied.
----------------------

Far to the north, Hoppou watches the proceedings and quietly tents her fingers. The final act upon this grand digital stage of warfare, politics, and deception approaches. On the screen in front of her, the full might of her secretly built and gathered Fleets now splits into two separate, but equally great and titanic forces.

The first, begins to move south.

The second however, she send elsewhere.
----------------------

"I warned you!"

"Oh shit..."

"What did I tell you!?"

"Holy fuck!"

"But did you listen?!"

"Iowa..."

"Nuh uh, and now look where we are!"

"Oh my god, Iowa!"

"Now we got to fight the fucking Abyssal version of The Beast."

"That's so fucking cool! I have to figure out how to do that!"
----------------------

"Re-velation" Reads Kogamaru, while Yuubari remains mute with stunned silence at what they've done.

"The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a Princess coming out of the sea. It had ten tails and seven squadrons, with ten turrets on its tails, and on each aircraft a blasphemous name. The Princess I saw moved with the agility of a leopard, but had the strength of a bear and the magic of a lion. The dragon gave the Princess her power and her throne and great authority. One of the turrets of the beast seemed to have had a fatal detonation, but the fatal detonation had been repaired. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the Princess. People worshiped the dragon because she had given authority to the Princess, and they also worshiped the Princess and asked, "Who is like the Princess? Who can wage war against her?"

"Behold the Dark One!"

"What have we done?" breaths the Light Cruiser as she looks upon the now even more insanely OP Stats and Traits of the 'Revelation Princess' Kogamaru's Re-Class has now become. "What is this thing?"

"We have brought about the end game. And this shall be the instrument of that climax."

Kogamaru now grins and claps his hands happily.

"So, how about we say hi to Naka and Sodak next? I believe it's been a while since I last caught up to them, what with the whole unceremonious exile to far flung Africa thing."

The game then elicits a merry chime, signaling a new pop up.

"Oh hey, they all just declared war on us using the "Unholy Champion Casus Belli"."

"WHAT!?!
----------------------

Moments earlier;

"I'm thinking we can all agree that this is kind of enough of a Godzilla Threshold that we can call an Enemy Mine moment, right?"

"You want to fight that? Knowing the outrageous collection of Traits and Stat modifiers Gangut said she saw?"

"Well, I know I for one don't plan on welcoming our new dark overlord without a decent fight first"

"Aren't you still fighting your million and one wars right now?"

"Hey, it's only seven! And I'm winning enough that I can peace out of most of them already. Mostly. Maybe once I just grab a little more land."

"I take it from the way you're arguing, that you aren't coming Iowa?"

The USN battleship pauses uncertainly, before finally succumbing to the silent pressure and expectation from players and chat alike. Inevitably, she gives a long-suffering sigh.

"I can't just leave my turf undefended against Puget Princess.... but I can probably afford to send a descent portion of my Fleet, as long as the US can keep her distracted while I'm away."

"What about you Gangut?"

"Beautiful Rusalka!" cries the Russian battleship, who is now playing as her previous character's cousin. "You were too sweet and innocent for this capitalist world! A product of forbidden love that could have brought hope and peace between Man and Abyssal! Now snuffed out by superstitious madmen and sacerdotal warmongers upon the altar of their make-believe deity!"

"Er....Gangut?"

"I shall avenge you, dear daughter of the revolution! This crime shall not go unanswered! So swear I, cousin!"

As the Russian breaks out into faux-sobbing, Iowa looks mildly disturbed.

"Okay... well.... that's a thing."

"What about you Hoppou? Are you a bad enough teenager with attitude to take on the chosen champion of the Dark One?"

"Hoppou's Character can't ally with you because Hoppou in game made you her rival, but that's okay! Hoppou still wants to help and can declare a war separately!"

"Awesome!" Ecstatic that she now has the situation shifted to a 5v2 against WolfMail and Yuubari, Naka then grins excitedly. "Then knowing that they're probably gunning for either Dakota or me next, and that they're likely going to need at least some form of Forward Base to do it, here's the plan!"
----------------------

Sailing across the Pacific with Yuubari and their massive war Fleets accompanying them, Kogamaru grins as they reach their destination.

Colonia. The place where it all first went off the rails so many hours ago.

And surrounding the island, are fleets.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the whole gang here to welcome us Yuubari. Or at least most of them. Naka not coming?"

Iowa stiffens slightly at the possibility that the suspiciously absent forces of the orange-wearing light cruiser have abandoned them to their fates, but South Dakota is unmoved by the suggestion.

"She's still readying her forces. Great swathes of them. Her air assets alone could block out the sky. You may have ambushed Gangut by surprise, but today you face us as well! The combined might of the Pacific Abyssal Alliance!"

Kogamaru just chuckles, as if South Dakota had told him a mere mildly amusing joke.

"Then I suppose we shall just have to defeat the combined might of the Pacific Abyssal Alliance in the shade." the okami then smiles with open friendliness. "Really though, it does not have to be this way. Swear fealty to me, and I shall allow each who does, to continue on unimpeded. I may not even require taxation or any kind of tribute from you. Resist however, and like the Great Khans of the Steppes, I will be sure to destroy any who refuse this one time offer. Utterly."

South Dakota scoffs.

"I'd prefer to take my chances with liberty entwined with danger, rather than peace with the chance of becoming a slave. Or worse, a late night snack for you."

"I see. And what says you, o' Biggest of Sticks?"

"Enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom."

"Quoting FDR, are we? Then how about this one; 'it is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them'."

The American battleship shifts uneasily at the pointed fact that Naka is still absent, while the wolf now turns her Russian counterpart.

"You, I am willing to put aside previous grudges for, in the name of peace. Swear fealty to me, and I will even help you in regaining control of your land. With my aid, you could restore Gangutgrad back to greatness, if not beyond it's previous glory."

Gangut's response is succinct.

"DEATH TO REVELATION PRINCESS! DOWN WITH THE CULT OF THE DARK ONE! VENGEANCE FOR RUSLAKA! AND NOT ONE STEP BACK! URAAA!!!"

"Fair enough. Hoppou?"

"You've done very bad things! To people who weren't even bad too!"

"I suppose that is indeed true."

The okami then shrugs and cracks his fingers. "Welp, nothing for it. I guess this means we'll just have to kill you all."

"Now hold up!" declares South Dakota, interrupting Kogmaru before he can give his forces the order to finally begin the attack that will likely decide the fate of the game. "What about you, Yuubari? Are you really going to see this through, on this guy's side? As the glorified lackey to a Possessed Trait-Stealing Cannibal serving as the right hand of some sort of jacked up minor dark-god?"

The Light Cruiser shifts uncomfortably. "Well... when you put it like that, it's kind of hard to forget that he is a Power-Stealing People-Eater that has been given great and terrible power by a god he actually managed to summon."

Iowa facepalms at South Dakota's failure of diplomacy, while the smaller battleship fumes. "Come on Yuubari! It's not too late! Swap sides and backstab him, and surely we can defeat him together!"

"Together?!" asks the Light Cruiser incredulously. "What's this about together? Unlike you lot, I haven't been too bamboozled and distracted to notice, but I see what's happening! Hoppou has only brought half her forces! Hell, Hoppou herself isn't even here-"

The three battleships' eyes widen in shock, as they all collectively glances at the one non-battleship in their midst in shock. "What?!?"

"- and neither is Naka! They've both hung you three out to dry!"

"That's what you think!"

And then from the north, they appear. A stream of ships, of all classes and type, bearing traffic cone orange on their banner, and led from the front by a Princess level Abyssal.

"NAKA! YOU CAME!"

"Phrasing!"

Ignoring the low-brow humor from the peanut gallery, Naka grins.

"Quickly! Lock them into a battle before they can escape!"

"Okay!"

"On it!"

"Hoppou will do her best!"

"For Rusalka! Urraaaaa!!!!!!"

As the three battleships and Hoppou immediately charge their forces forwards to meet his and Yuubari's head on however, Kogamaru then feels the hair on the back of his next raise.

Instinct screams to him that something isn't right.

Why would Naka order them to leave an Island Province where they would have terrain and fortress defensive bonuses, to engage his and Yuubari's qualitatively superior force? If they were wanting to overwhelm him with quantity, why not wait for Naka's troops to catch up, or move as a coordinated group with the best Flagships selected to lead their formation's center and flanks?

Clicking through the unit compositions and examining the Traits of the leaders facing him down, to his horror, Kogamaru then discovers his answer.

"OH FUCK!"

"Having second thoughts?" asks South Dakota smugly.

Kogamaru however, ignores her. "Yuubari! Don't commit your troops! Pull them back now!"

"They're already in the fight too! I attached them to your troops remember!" Something in the okami's urgent voice then makes a chill of horrible anticipation rundown the Light Cruiser's spine in turn. "What's going on?"

South Dakota laughs. "I think he's finally realized how screwed you both are now that Naka's here to help us."

The okami however, can now only watch helplessly as the flagship of Naka's contribution to the battle now prepares to enter the fray, days before Yuubari's and his own can finish leaving.

"YOU FOOLS! SHE ISN'T HELPING YOU!"

Like watching the descent of an executioners axe in slow motion, Kogamaru braces for the inevitable impact he knows can only be coming if Naka is committing Shark Cruiser Princess as her sole heavy hitter for this attack.

"SHE HAS BETRAYED YOU ALL!!!"

In a flash of light, the screens of all those currently viewing the battle turn white.

When the artificial glare at last begins to fade away, a mushroom cloud now rises above the island of Colonia and it's surrounding seas.
----------------------

Far to the north where Naka's actual attention is, the Light Cruiser grins victoriously.

Across the seas sails her actual Tinian Airfield Princess, at the head of a Fleet containing the heavy hitters and capital ships that were never actually committed to the trap at Colonia. A trap that wasn't just for WolfMail and Yuubari.

With the rest of the present players now likely reeling from the point-blank sacrificial play using Shark Cruiser Princess, Naka has made her move. Now she is a crusader on the march, not to the south, but northwards.

North towards Japan.

North towards the Inland Sea.

North towards Hiroshima.

And the final requirement needed to fulfill her goal of becoming an Abyssal version of a Nuclear Weapon State.

She blitzkriegs through the outer kanmusu patrols before the A.I. can properly react or redeploy to her presence.

Her sheer numbers let her Fleet weather the storm of missiles and railgun projectiles hurled at her by JASDF Air Units and JMSDF Steel Hulls

The massed firepower of so many capital ships sailing towards land with the unstoppable suicidal dedication of computerized soldiers, lets her shred through the shore defenses as she gets closer and closer to the Home Islands.

However, upon arriving at the Bungo Channel, the southern most entrance to the Seto Inland Sea, Naka at last has to stop.

And then she laughs.

Because suddenly, it all makes sense.

"So it was you all this time. You were the other mastermind behind the scenes."

Blocking Naka's way through the Bungo Channel, and possibly the last line of defense between Hiroshima and Tinian Airfield Princess, is Hoppou and the missing half of her Fleet, accompanied by the In-Game Hoppou and her own great Unalaskan host as well.

"You have been a bad person!"

With a jaunty chime, a pop up appears on Naka's screen, announcing a Declaration of War from Hoppou and her Allies of humanity.
----------------------

"Fuck me! I can't believe I died from that!"

"Chush' sobach'ya!"

"Okay, sound off, who's not dead?"

"You've got to be shitting me!?! I died in the same battle as my heir again!!!"

"What about you Gangut? Still alive?"

"Pó xuju!!!"

"I'm gonna take that as a no."

"I guess that makes us four-for-four so far on people Crossroads'd"

"Wait.... hey WolfMail?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Revelation Princess on the kill list?"
----------------------

It is a valiant effort.

A battle for the ages.

Were it reality, the waters of the Bungo Channel would have no doubt run black with Abyssal blood, furthering the clogging of the channel begun by the untold numbers of corpses from both sides. So many dead, on a scale unseen since Blood Week, in a single titanic battle which has largely been Abyssal on Abyssal.

And now it is only a paltry scattering of either side which remains. Tinian Princess lives, surrounded by the few members of her personal Retinue to survive the battle.

Hoppou however, is now the leader of the surviving Unalaska-Human Allied Forces. Hoppou, the not-even-a-demon-yet Spymaster.

Because Hoppou's in-game Abyssal Princess doppelgänger, now lies dead. Slain by Tinian Princess' hand.

"Give it up Hoppou! I've won! It's over now!"

"Never!" declares the little Abyssal definitely.

"You think you can still contend with me?" asks the Light Cruiser. "You're good at the Intrigue game, I'll admit that. But your passiveness has been your undoing! I'm the combat powerhouse here! And with the Fleet to support her too!"

"Hoppou thinks otherwise!"

"Oh, and how are you going to change my mind? Some last ditch trick up your sleeve? Because I can bet you I have more!"

"Jellyfish Princess' power won't help you if you don't have it yet, you know."

"True. But that doesn't mean I gambled all my plans on one idea alone. Now, not to be mean or anything, but I have an ocean to crush and subjugate, and I believe you are in my way."

"Hoppou believes," says the Princess slowly as she opens up the Mod's reinvention of CK2's usual Title Actions menu, "That you need a good spritzing!"

With a flash of light, Hoppou's Character changes. And where there was a moment ago, just another relatively squishy, low-ranking Abyssal with some admittedly decent stats, is now a new Northern Ocean Princess. Carefully hoarded stockpiles of Oil and Steel hemorrhage at the cost of the sudden upgrade.

And yet, the massive stockpile Hoppou has been slowly building towards almost since the beginning of the game, is barely dented by the cost of this upgrade.

Naka scoffs. "You think that's supposed to scare me? I took down one Northern Ocean Princess without needing that much help from my Fleet. What makes you think I can't just can do it again without them by my side at all?!"

"Because if Hoppou as Northern Ocean Princess is not enough to stop you-"

Opening up her Title Actions Menu once more, Hoppou now moves her cursor over a new option now available. One normally hidden, to all but those with the right amount of resources and that have defied the odds by managing to maintain a truly pacifist stance with humanity throughout the game.

"-Then I shall be more than a Northern Ocean Princess."

With a second click of a button, the screen flares with the light of Abyssal ascension once more. Hoppou's stockpiles, previously bearing the burden of becoming a Princess with little issue, now plummet at the cost of an upgrade that costs almost three times as much.

And with a merry chime, a pop up appears on the screens of all watching.

"I am the Bird of Hermes."

"When Hope is gone.... unlock this crown. I am the widow left ashore. I am the mother who's child is taken. I am the fisher's daughter orphaned by the storm. I am the sister ripped from her twin. I am the castaway, stranded and adrift at sea. The sole survivor, old and regretful in bed. I shall spread my wings, no longer content to remain tame. And now set forth, on a moonlit course."

"I am the Forsaken Child Elder Princess."

Watching as Hoppou's character art now changes to a hypothetical older version of herself, while many of her Stats are given appropriate modifiers and bonuses for such an ascension, Naka grits her teeth.

"Is that how you want to play it? Fine! I'll see your raise, and match it!"

Navigating to her Decisions menu, Naka moves her cursor to her own ace-in-the-hole. And then with a single click , a merry jingle from the game announces that Tinian Island Princess has died.

It takes only a second however, for the pop up to appear.

"A Second Beginning"

"You lay down on your bed and close your eyes. Slowly but surely all thoughts and impressions melt away as you clear your mind. Even the sound of your own breathing disappears into nothingness as you sink deeper and deeper....

"And then you rise. The body before you is no longer yours. You have seen the reflection of that face a thousand times, but never more shall it be. She is peaceful, not even breathing as the form begins to change. This fact does not upset you. Detachedly you observe for a while, before you drift away, drawn to the endless sea you now see."

"The first breath is more powerful than anything you have ever seen. "Good as new," Mad Scientist Princess says proudly. "Welcome back to Life Tillman Demon."

A new pop up then appears.

"As you awaken from what feels like a long slumber, you briefly have the impression of a caring presence passing you by. You come to, surrounded by the remnants of a ritual. A perversion of self-sacrificial blood magics, sorceries of the soul, necromanicies, and the bastardization of kanmusu summoning. Above it all however, is the final words of a fading voice, as Mad Scientist Princess welcomes you back to the land of the living once more."

"Mother loves you."

Naka, now at the helm of Tillman Demon, the fully resurrected and restored daughter of Puget Sound Princess and true heir of Tinian Airfield Princess, grins victoriously.

"No more playing around. This one's for all the marbles, and it's time pull out all the stops."

And so Naka deploys the closest thing she does have to a nuke at the moment, further ratcheting the odds at play in her favor with one final factor.

Opening her diplomacy menu, Naka then sends a Call to Arms to the one surviving Abyssal in the game who will answer Tillman Demon's request.

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

Looking over what diminished forces she has in her home territory, Iowa sighs while the others watch the final show down between Naka and Hoppou with rapt interest.

So much struggle and toil, now wasted. Hours of painstakingly building up a core of hardcore, veteran commanders from the sporadic survivors of the periodic meat-grinder defensive campaigns against Puget's advances, which went through most green Fleets like hot knives through butter, rendered irrelevant with a single masterstroke backstab from Naka.

Iowa would have been impressed if it wasn't so depressing.

Still, at least things couldn't get any-

A minor alert in the corner of her screen appears, warning her that she now has invaders in her territory. With a sigh, Iowa scrolls over to investigate.

And then she practically spitakes at what she sees.

"Holy fuck!"

"What happened now? The A.I. neighbors kicking you while you're down?"

Iowa shake her head, mouth open in shock at the fact that that one enemy she never expected, and prayed never would go on the move, is now mobile and taking the the field herself.

"You guys aren't going to fucking believe this. But Puget Princess is on the warpath."

"WHAT!?!?"

"She just punched a hole through the USN's blockade, and stack-wiped one of my patrols like they were bugs on a windshield!"

"Is she coming for you?"

"I don't thinks so actually.... she just sailed right on by Hawaii...."

"Where the hell is she going then?"

"I think... I think she's heading northwest across the Pacific."

"No way...."

"She's going to help Naka!?!"

"This is turning into a battle of monsters. Princesses, Demons, and Beasts."

"Yeah. And only one of them gets to be King of Monsters.... or Queen technically."

"Ain't that the truth. They're basically playing forces of nature with how OP they all are now."

"Fuck me, do we want to get involved in this? Actually, can we even get involved? I don't have any decent heavy hitters left."

"Gangutgrad is in a million pieces right now, so no."

"At least you guys have people. I've got nobody left at all at this point. I had all my best commanders at Colonia, and now all my other wars are clusterfucks."

"What about you Yuubari? Do you think we got any chance of making a difference at this point?"

The Light Cruiser is silent for a long moment. "The folly of man, is thinking he is in control of nature, and not the other way around. Let them fight."

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

There are no more Fleets.

The last of the Unalaskan defenders have sold themselves dearly, holding the line against Naka's host at her flanks. Inevitably however, the wrath of Hoppou's Forsaken Child Elder Princess has whittled away the Light Cruisers followers to nothing. Even Mad Scientist Princess has fallen.

Tillman Demon may have borne stats and traits that would have put even most Princesses to shame, but this was no normal Princess she faced. Slowly but surely, Hoppou was winning the digital dice-rolling slugging match between the two titanic demi-gods.

And yet, it was Naka who was grinning.

"Too little, too late Hoppou."

"Hoppou think's you're confidant for someone who is about to lose."

"Maybe if you had some better Combat Traits and Martial Bonuses, sure. In a straight up 1v1, you'd win. But this isn't a 1v1."

Far away, at the edge of Hoppou's fog of war, a figure appears, causing the little Abyssal to narrow her gaze.

Puget Princess.

"I win again Hoppou. I don't need to beat you. I just need to live long enough for back up to arrive, and swing the DPM game in my favor."

"You won't win."

"Are you sure about that? Look around Hoppou! Everyone else is is either dead or licking their wounds. By the time they recover, I will be in Hiroshima, and it will be too late to stop me. Even your own Fleet is destroyed."

The Lighth Cruiser laughs like a villain on the cusp of her grand victory.

"You fight this battle alone, and once Puget Princess reaches us, you shall die alone!"

"That's what you think!"

Eyes widening in shock at the sudden shout, purposely ironically echoing her earlier words, Naka looks to the edge of her own fog of war.

"What the-!? Impossible!!!"

Racing in from the south is the still heavily damaged and now Fleet-less, but no less individually deadly Revelation Princess.

"How?!? You should be dead!?!"

"You're right, I should be," chuckles Kogamaru with a vengeful grin. "But there's just one thing you didn't account for."

"When you detonated Shark Cruiser Princess' nuke, you didn't just destroy everyone's fleets, and kill off most of the surviving Demons and Princesses with lingering Fire, Flooding and Radiation Damage. You also destroyed and afflicted Colonia's defenses due to the close proximity of the battles as well. With all the defenders dead, that let me capture the place on the first seige tick, before the DoTs could completely outpace all the different Self-Repair, Healing and Regeneration Traits I've stolen!"

"Damn you!" Naka grits her teeth and glares, as Revelation Princess suddenly pulls to a stop in the final sea-zone just beyond the ongoing battle between Tillman Demon and Forsaken Child Elder Princess. "What do you hope to achieve anyway?! You're still mostly-dead! You have no hope of defeating Puget Princess and myself at such low health!"

"Maybe so." Kogamaru then laughs. "But then I don't need to defeat either of you. I only have to stop her from saving you."

With horror, Naka then realizes where Revelation Princess has placed herself and what the Okami plans to do. Having waited until Puget Princess is committed to entering the final sea-zone before she can reach Tillman and Forsaken Child, Revelation will entrap Puget in a battle.

One which Tillman will likely already be dead before the end of, even if Puget wins.

Hoppou smiles as the dawning horror at last begins to spread across Naka's face at the realisation she has been outplayed, and that now there is no stopping Tillman's ever shrinking health bar.

With nothing left to do, Naka finally gives up with a sigh, before deciding to ham it up for the stream

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" A merry chime announces the second death of Tillman Demon of Puget Sound, and the final victory of the Unalaskan Fleet in the defence of Hiroshima. "DAMN YOU FORSAKEN PRINCESSES!!!!! I SHALL RETURRRRRNNNNNN~~~ WOOoOOooOoOo ~~~~~"

"That's silly."

Hoppou isn't done there though, and immediately turns her attention one province over, where the faltering Revelation Princess still struggles against Puget Princess. Abruptly the tables turn. Low on health though Forsaken Child and Revelation both may be, common Abyssal Units mean nothing to Characters of their power. Soon enough, the sheer damage the two can collectively output when simultaneously focused, brings about the all but inevitable result.

Puget Princess is slain as the Center of her Fleet folds, swiftly throwing the rest of her force that she brought from the West Coast into a broken rout of a retreat. Back on the West Coast, the effects of Puget's passing are immediate. Not only do the US and many neighboring Abyssal Fleets begin numerous opportunistic attacks, raids, and attempts at reconquista the instant she is dead, but Puget's Death brings internal ramifications as well.

With Tillman Demon, resurrected, renamed heir, and then killed in battle alongside her mother before either of them could elect a new successor, the inevitable happens. All across Puget's territory, revolts begin to break out as conquered territories rebel, while others become the fiefdoms of warlords and claimants seeking to name themselves successor.

In one fell swoop, Puget's empire has been shattered, and hours of careful plotting and secretive preparations by Naka have been undone. With a single battle, Hoppou has broken two of her greatest foes.

And now there is one more that lies at her mercy before her.

With Puget defeated, Revelation Princess and Forsaken Child Elder Princess now stand opposite one another in separate sea zones.

Forsaken Child is heavily damaged.

But having entered the fray to save her, with only the bare minimum of repairs Kogamaru could squeeze in after a nuclear detonation that would kill most other Princesses, Revelation is practically on death's door. A few good hits from even a destroyer could polish her off at this point.

And Kogmaru knows it.

"So....." he asks with idle nonchalance. "I don't suppose there's anything I can say to convince you of my pragmatic worth as an Ally?"

Hoppou gives him a flat look. "No."

The Okami merely gives an amused chuckle, knowing he could not have expected anything else.

"Fair enough."

Hoppou directs Forsaken Child to advance into the sea zone of her once-more foe. Kogamaru doesn't even bother trying to escape. Forsaken Child is faster than Revelation anyway. There is no escape.

"Welcome to the top of the food chain."

It's less of a fight, and more the execution of an already defeated foe who accepts death with dignity.

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

"Well, that happened."

"Hahaha!"

"You play like a right bastard, you know that?"

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Naka! What the fuck was that?! You and Hoppou going all "this isn't even my final form" on us at the end!?!"

"There's a lot of fun, hypothetical, and sometimes just silly things in this mod when you have the supernatural stuff turned on. Trust me."

"Well, I definitely think I'll have to do that more often, yeah."

"You should see the kind of magical shenanigans you can get up to if you have a start in the Baltic or Scandinavia. Now that can be fun."

"That you apparently think there are more 'fun' ways to play this game, seriously makes me worry."

"I'm not that bad."

"I pray nobody ever puts you in change of a large number of people."

"snerk"

"Fun aside, I guess this makes Hoppou officially the only person to have not died at this point."

"I guess so."

"I don't even know what number Character I'm on at this point. I died again while you three were having your show down."

"Yeah, Gangutgrad's kind of gone to hell in a handbasket hasn't it? Not really sure how to help you fix that rat's nest at this point."

"Speaking of which, now what do we do? I think most of us kind of went all in for that fight at Colonia, and the repercussions kind of show."

"Honestly, I think we should just call that Hoppou's win."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We've been playing for a few hours now, and I don't think any of us that died are going to be coming back from that fight anytime soon."

"If ever."

"I think it would take more than a few hours more to come up with something that could actually face off against an Elder Princess with most of the northern Pacific under her control. One that's also backed by the full might of the USN behind her as well."

"Yeah.... That'd be kind of hard to face off against, even from a fresh start."

"Well, I guess we're all in agreement then. It's your win Hoppou."

"No quibbles with that here. Good job Hoppou."

"GG."

"Well played."

"MVP right here."

"Good match."

"Thank you!"

"Then is settled! Let's all give a round of applause for the real, legit princess right here, folks!"

"Woo hoo!"

"Go Hoppou!"

"Hail the conquering Princess!"

"Yay me!"

"Winner winner chicken dinner!"

"Better ask Harry to make you some!"

"Hah!"

"I think this deserves a toast, no? Hold on, let me pour one out. Finest Russian vodka to celebrate victory! Even if it isn't your own!"

"Wait, have you been drinking this entire time?"

"Good to stay hydrated while playing, no?"

"That explains so much."

"Okaaaaaay, I think that about wraps things up then!"

"Thank you all for watching! We'll be back in half an hour with some high volume industrial salt production, also known as World of Warships Ranked Battles!"

"In the mean time though, it's time for a short intermission! Grab some snacks, maybe something to drink too, but not something like Gangut's 'cause the break will be over before you know it! This is Naka-chan, signing off!"
----------------------

 

[darthcourt10]

Barricade Omake: "Sisterly Mistakes"

Harry Leferts said:
Hasn't arrived yet to be honest.
*-*-*-*​

"Won't arrive for another 3 to 4 years. Because it involves a big red bow and not much else, as....OUCH!"

*Hipper smacks Hanna in the back of the head*

"You're thinking lewd again too soon. We're cruisers, learn patience. Learn all you can about your target. Their motives and motivations. What they expect, and what they're blind to. These can take months to learn, and years to master the nuances. And when you have learned all you can about your target? Pounce with all you have, and leave nothing behind once you're done."

"I think we need to re-visit our discussion as to what is lewd again. Because that is way more lewd."

"Eh?"

"To use Harry's terms: 'oneesan no hentai'."

"Ehhhh?!?"

"Admiral Hartman kindly informed me that there are plans in the works for a Pacific based international shipgirl exchange program to be based out of Kure, to allow the new allied Abyssals a chance to see how other navies utilize their shipgirls. And since I already know Japanese, plus am familiar with the region and the staff from Yokosuka, plus still needing to work up and thus aren't as needed on the front yet, that my name was at the top of the list if I wanted to go. And I said yes, if they go through with the idea. That is ALL I was implying, and was about to continue saying before you interrupted."

"EHH?!?!"

"Baka. You're worse than Ark Royal."

"Mwo....that's cruel."

"Live with it."

 

[darthcourt10]

Year Three - Prisoner of Shipping Prelude B, Split Point due to Keep Filesize Down

START

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Leaning back in his chair, the Prime Minister of Britain considered the man in front of him. Cornelius Fudge was going on and on about an escapee from Azkaban loose in Britain. Mention of said prison made him internally sneer even as he kept it from showing on his face. Oh, there was nothing that the Prime Minister wanted more then to reduce that place to rubble and history. He had heard there were plans of course, but not much more then that.

The fact that someone escaped from said prison was somewhat worrisome, but less so considering who it was. From the reports that he had gotten, this Sirius Black might well be innocent. Oh, the wizard would need to be charged in a court of law and put through the process, unless more evidence came up that definitely showed that he had not committed the crimes that he had. But there was more then enough for a reasonable doubt that there was little doubt that this Sirius Black would be let go in such a case. Even with a guilty verdict, assuming it happened as the Ministry of Magic had stated in regards to the deaths of his fellow countrymen, his punishment would be downgraded to time served considering his mental state at the time. But that was not what worried him...

Rather, it was the fact that someone had escaped from the prison, which also made him wonder how many others might have.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Prime Minister could see movement. He didn't even need to turn his head to wonder what it was, he knew that already. Oh, he could not wait for the day when he could take down that damnable portrait from his wall. How many other Prime Ministers did it spy on over the years? How many of his predecessors had their memories wiped or freedom unknowingly taken due to a thoughtless word? It made him glad that technology's ever onwards march made sure that he could examine things without it knowing as well as communicate.

Perhaps he would invite those of his predecessors to watch as he burned the damned thing? Maybe roast some of those marshmallows over it, though the occupant would have fled from it as the rest was turned to ash. Thatcher, the current Prime Minster knew, would raise a glass over it. Granted, she might well piss on the ashes afterwards as well...

It was then that he noticed that the "Minister" was winding down and considered what he had just been told. For almost a minute there was silence in the room except for the ticking of a clock in the corner. Part of the Prime Minister was pleased that Fudge looked more and more uncomfortable with the silence as he thought. No doubt, the magical thought him dull witted or some such. A twitch of the lips escaped from the politician at his next thought. 'Though perhaps he is looking at a mirror in my office believing his reflection to be me?'

Finally, Fudge took a deep breath and grimaced. "So you see, Prime Minister, Sirius Black is quite dangerous. Having escaped from Azkaban shows just how dark and powerful a threat he is. Normally, we would not need for help, but you placing information for people to use the fellyphone or whatever to contact your people when he is seen would be helpful. More eyes or some such."

Rolling his eyes, internally of course, the Prime Minister took a deep breath. "I see, though I must wonder why you both come to me now and why I was not informed of such a character before this point."

Simply waving him off, Fudge shook his head. "We had thought before the recent sighting that Sirius Black was dead. That he had died swimming from Azkaban to the mainland, or taken by those damnable Abyssal thingies." That got a twitch of the eyebrow from the non-magical of the two. "But it seems he was able to survive. As to asking for help..." Fudge gave a hopeless shrug. "Amelia suggested it as a method with which to help. Don't much see the point myself."

That got another eyebrow twitch from the Prime Minister before he shoved it down and counted to ten. It would not due to strangle the twit after all. At least not until the Statute finally died, something he was looking forward to. But the mention of Amelia made him turn thoughtful. For all that he had issues with the Ministry of Magic, especially with the information of how much harm that they had done over the years, Amelia was on a list of people to trust. Competent and willing to work with his people as needed, along with one Arthur Weasley.

Oh, he knew that there would be issues when the time came to fold the Ministry of Magic into Her Majesty's Government. The actions of both Madame Bones and Mister Weasley before Blood Week and after for some time would be among those. But he did have some hope. They were certainly proving themselves as being forward thinking.

Coming out his musing, the Prime Minister gave a frown to Fudge. He had an inkling of what Amelia really meant by her suggestion, as well as likely what had happened to her idea. Slowly, the British Prime Minister gave a nod. "I will do my best, of course. And yes, I will make an announcement, but it will take some time before we can manage to do so, you must understand."

Utterly confused, Fudge furrowed his eyebrows. "Why ever would it take time? Simply announce the fact and be done with it. We'll take care of the rest."

A thin smile on his face, the Prime Minister nodded at that. "I have no doubt of that, Minister. But it will take some time for a cover story to be made to explain it. If this was even a decade ago, we might not have needed as much work as we do now. But now with digital records and the like? We will need to backdate records and the like in regards to what has happened. With the way things are with the Media, they will be looking into the story. And the last thing that we need to have is to have holes that may have them question it. Trust me, they will indeed be searching for any holes in regards to the story about him."

Frowning, Cornelius gave him a look. "Why ever would you need to worry about the media? Simply tell them what you need to, lean on the editors and away you go."

Several seconds passed as the other man stared at him in utter disbelief. Internally, shaking his head, the Prime Minister got a very good idea about his counterpart's intelligence and beliefs. Especially if he believed that such things were still possible on his side of the divide. Which going by recent events in Japan was most certainly not true. With a frown, the Prime Minister leaned forward. "Unfortunately, that is not how it works in the Non-magical section of the world, Minister. Freedom of the Press is held up as a very high standard. Which means that is not what I can do, even if I wish to do so. And there are times which the Lord himself knows that I have wanted to do so."

Just boggling at what he heard, Fudge snorted at Muggles and their follibles. It was just another example, he supposed, of why they had such problems with things. Shaking his head, he grimaced some. "Yes, well, I suppose as long as it does get done."

Eyes narrowing slightly at being ordered, the Prime Minister covered up his annoyance with another thin smile. Oh, he just could not wait for that fall of the Statute to occur. He would take a great amount of enjoyment at what would happen to the ass in front of him among others. "Of course, Minister. We will, of course cooperate." Within his mind, the non-magical snorted. 'Just not with you.' Externally, his smile became slightly mocking. "I am sure though, that you don't want me to go into details, what with the amount of work you no doubt have."

Part of Cornelius thought that he might just have been insulted somehow, but shrugged it off. It was doubtful after all, he was the Minister of Magic while the other man was just the head of the Muggle government. Probably awe or some such that he even thought that the muggles could help. "Yes, well, that is true enough. The job never ends after all!"

Glancing at the fireplace, Fudge internally frowned at how there was some sort of renovation going on with it. Which meant that he was unable to leave through that one. Hopefully, they would finish it up soon enough as it had been going on for some months now. Leaving the room, Fudge did pause for a moment at the pair of guards that were quietly talking in a corner. There was something about them that tickled the back of his mind, especially the man. He had met him before perhaps?

And then the Minister of Magic shrugged and continued to walk towards the secondary fireplace even as they watched him. Most likely he had seen said guards before, the Muggles mostly looked alike, no sense of style in those uniforms after all. Once he was gone, the female of the two guards raised an eyebrow and snorted. "You think that he recognized us?"

Eyes rolling, the man shook his head. "That idiot? Doubtful. You know how he is and besides, he would recognize me if anyone since I worked for the Ministry during the last war and you worked before his time. But... he barely saw me as I was an Auror before one of You-Know-Who's werewolves bit me." A growl escaped from his mouth and he clenched his fists. "Then I was let go as I was a possible 'Threat' due to being a Dark Creature."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, the woman smiled which showed her sharp teeth. "I know how you feel, Sabastian. But look on the bright side, our experience let us get this job as the Prime Minister needs protection from hostiles from there. And the two of us have little loyalty to those people."

Still grimacing, Sabastian scowled deeply. "About as much as they showed us." Then shaking it off, he sighed and let the tension escape from his body before pulling out a cooler and opening it. "Anyways, you should be heading to bed as the Sun is now up. But I brought you a snack, Ellen."

Hand whipping out, the woman grabbed the bag filled with blood thrown at her before biting down on it. "Ah... that hits the spot." ignoring the looks being given to her by the other guards, she licked her lips. "Best job ever, I'll see you tonight, Sabastian when the Prime Minister leaves."

With that, she walked off with a slight sway of her hips. Sabastian's lips twitched as one of the other guards muttered about stupid, sexy female vampires. Then he took up his position with his wand in it's holster and sidearm at his side. Seemingly relaxed, he stretched out his senses and simply kept an eye out. After all...

That was what him and Ellen had been hired at Victory's suggestion, and after being cleared by various background checks, to do as magicals could be just as much a threat as non-magicals...

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Since classes have started up again and I've lost pretty much all my free time, I have to start either posting smaller snippets, or take forever between posting bits of my typical size.

Outing

XXXXXXXXXX

"We there yet, Boss?"

Wanko looked towards her subordinate with mild surprise. "I believe that's… the first time… you've asked me that… this trip. Rather… conservative of you."

Beside her, Revina shrugged. "Trying to save my energy for when we meet up with the others." She rubbed her hands together with a maniacal grin. "Me and the girls all have so much fun to catch up on… especially Sunny."

The Princess rolled her eyes at that last statement, but otherwise let it slide. As long as she was willing to behave in front of officials…

After a few more minutes of sailing, the pair could see land on the horizon. As they drew nearer, they could see the docks. Up front, there were several shipgirls waiting for them, ready to escort them the rest of the way to land. The two Abyssals didn't react outwardly, simply letting the shipgirls take up formation around them as they pressed on.

Standing at the pier was a pair of men in naval uniforms, one of them familiar. "Welcome to Kushiro, Princess Wanko, Revina," Admiral Goto greeted the pair with a small bow, as they transitioned from water to land and dismissed their rigging. "Good to see you again." He gestured to the man beside him. "This is Captain Tanaka, he's in charge of the naval base here."

"Hello, Admiral. It is… good to see you, as well." Wanko offered Goto a small nod before turning to Tanaka with a soft smile. "I believe… I have you… to thank, for… hearing my nieces out… and helping them… return to Little Sister." She bowed deeply. "You have my gratitude."

The Captain nodded hesitantly. "Think nothing of it, Ma'am. I was just… doing my job to the best of my ability, hoping to avoid bloodshed. That it helped to reunite a family and bring home the crew of the Regina was a stroke of good fortune on everyone's part."

"That, it was." Goto smirked. "Now then, Wanko, I take it you'd like to see how they and Hoppou are all doing right now?"

Wanko perked up a little at that. "That would be… nice, yes. Where are they?"

The admiral jerked his head further inland. "We currently have them set up in a hotel while we prepare everything for the treaty signing. We can have you escorted there, if you'd like."

"We would be… very grateful, for that."

Next to her, Revina rocked her head, lips pursed. "Here's hoping they're not having too much fun without us…"

XXXXXXXXXX

A hotel employee squawked in surprise as a squealing pink blur scrambled between her legs. "The hell was that?" she said, to nobody in particular.

Before she had a chance to work it out, she looked up—and very nearly screamed at the wave of monochrome charging towards her. Over a dozen Abyssals, of all different types, barreled into the room and surrounded her. "I think he came in here! Spread out, search any nooks and crannies you can see. There's no telling where he'll get off to in an urban environment…" Someone called out as they began to survey the room.

"H-hello…?" A couple of the Abyssals paused in their efforts to give a curious glance to the woman. "C-can I… can I h-help you…?"

A Ne-class quickly pulled the employee aside with an apologetic, but panicked look. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. My pet got out, he's a pig (literally) and we think he might have been through here. Did you see him?"

Shaking, the woman pointed to the doorway behind herself. "Y-you just missed it, I th-think."

The Abyssal's face lit up in a hopeful smile. "Thank you so much, ma'am. I promise we'll make it up to you if anything gets messed up." She looked to her brethren. "He went this way, everyone!" The employee could only watch in stunned silence as the group of Abyssals hurriedly filed out of the lobby, chasing after the baby animal.

She made a mental note to hit the nearest bar once her shift ended.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Ice cream?"

"Yes. I was hoping to… introduce my daughter to it. Is there a… store nearby, that sells it?"

"Hm…" Kasumi was quiet for a moment, thinking. "I'm pretty sure that there's an ice cream shop about a block away from here… Baskin Robbins, I think it's called. I can escort you there, if you want to go."

Tanith's eyes lit up with recognition and delight. "That's perfect! Thank you."

Regalia glanced to her mother as the trio began to walk, Kasumi a few paces ahead of them. "You know what that place is?" she asked.

Tanith nodded. "There was one back in Unalaska. It was a favorite dessert… for many of my sisters."

"And you?"

The princess shrugged. "My preferred treat… is sour licorice. However, ice cream is… still very nice."

Regalia glanced at the storefronts around them as they continued to walk. There were a variety of different signs and advertisements she was unable to read, but something common to all of them was that they were… rather empty. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Probably shying away from all of you," Kasumi said. "The stores are open, of course, but I doubt people want to get too close—you may be friendly enough in person, but that many Abyssals in one place is still scary as hell."

After a few more minutes' walk, the three arrived at their destination. Regalia could tell, from the fact the store's name was printed in English as well as Japanese. Around here, the human presence was still fairly sparse, but there were people around.

And they were staring at them.

Regalia could see all sorts of feelings in the gazes being leveled at her and her mother—some good, some bad. Mostly bad. And most of them at her. Having gotten so used to being surrounded by people who cared for her at pretty much all times, she'd almost forgotten the fact that, friendly or no, they were still technically monsters… and she was a freak among monsters.

The Re-class felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to her mother, who wore a concerned expression. "Don't let their looks… get you down. They do not know you… as we do."

Sighing, Regalia nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She glanced back up at the storefront. "Let's just head in, get out of the open." Without further ado, Kasumi pushed the glass door open, gesturing the mother-daughter pair to enter.

The air inside was cold and smelled of… sweetness, was the only way Regalia could really think to put it. The interior of the shop was bright and clean, the colors comfortably soft. There were a few other customers present, mostly younger folks, but rather than stare at the Abyssals like the people outside, they would rather do anything but pay attention to them—anything to not draw focus on themselves.

Behind the counter, a woman's gaze was fixated on the trio. "Er… welcome," The cashier greeted them uncertainly. Her gaze flickered between the shipgirl and the pair of Abyssals that had entered the store. "H-how can I help you… ladies, today?"

Kasumi held up a hand. "There's nothing to worry about, ma'am. Just a mom getting her kid some ice cream for the first time. They just happen to be Abyssals."

The cashier blinked in surprise. "…I see. Okay." Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she continued. "Well, in that case… are you ready to order? Or would you like some time to, uh, make your decision?"

Reaching into her pocket, Kasumi pulled out a handful of bills. "Seeing as you lot don't have your own cash yet, we can cover you for minor expenses like this. But don't overdo it, alright?'

"…ah, sure." Regalia said a little absent-mindedly as she looked over the menu… her former gloom forgotten, in favor of wonder.

There were so many different options to choose from.

Dozens of unfamiliar flavors, in all sorts of bright colors—some solid single colors, others incorporating different, but complementary shades of color, and still others just a delightfully-tacky mishmash. And she could get it in either a cup, or a wafer cone, or even an edible bowl! And this was all without mentioning the choices of toppings she could get on top of it all…

"So, Regalia…" Tanith said, looking to her daughter with a light smile. "What will you get?"

And she thought agreeing to Grandma's help had been the toughest decision of her young life…

XXXXXXXXXX

"Over here! Over here!"

"…There's nothing in this room—"

"Spotted him coming out the opposite doorway!"

"But he just ran in here! I SAW him do it!"

"So did I!"

"Come on, come on—DAMMIT, just missed him!"

"He's running further down the hall! After him!"

"This is getting really stra—ACK! He just ran out between my legs!"

"What!? But we literally just checked the room you're in!"

"Wait, is that ceiling vent open?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?"

 

[darthcourt10]

Weaver

A/N: More about the lifeboat. Don't worry, I'm going somewhere with this.
*-*-*-*-*
She couldn't remember when she gained a mind of her own. Awareness had come to her so gradually that it was impossible to tell when it started. She remembered everything though.

She remembered the South Shields boat yard and being delivered to a small fishing village on a treacherous stretch of coast. She remembered her first crew; thirteen fishermen equipped with little more than their work clothes, their brawn and skill, and sheer bloody minded determination. She remembered subsequent crews, eventually better equipped but still fisherman and often the sons and grandsons of their predecessors. She remembered the drummer and his call before every launch.

"Come along brave boys, come along."

She remembered being launched out into rough seas again and again, ten pairs of hands heaving at her oars. She remembered coming back to shore packed with people rescued from the sea, she remembered the times she and her crew had failed, and she remembered the one and only crewman that she lost out at sea.

She remembered being damaged in the line of duty after years of service and it being decided that she was to be replaced. She remembered the angry crowd who saved her from being broken up and claimed her as their own. She remembered when they raised the money to have her repaired, even though she was old and had been replaced by two new boats.

She remembered when she was called upon for the last time, years after she was last sent out, and came back with seven rescued sailors in her hull, the last of over five hundred lives saved.

She remembered when she was put on display in a boathouse, to be cared for and admired. Maybe that was when she started to wake up but she wasn't sure. Being a museum piece was very different from what she was used to but that was alright. After so many years of service it was time for her to rest.

She remembered a war, then peace, then another war, and then peace again. She remembered the world outside her boathouse changing, getting busier and noisier with all sorts of new things. She remembered learning that she was the oldest lifeboat in the world.

She remembered being taken out of the museum once, surrounded by a crowd, and loaded onto a truck, and she remembered how before she'd been covered with a tarp she'd seen just how much had changed and that the tiny village she remembered wasn't a tiny village anymore. She remembered being taken far away and put on display somewhere new where something important was going on and people were talking about lifeboats a lot.

She remembered when another war came, out of the blue one summer day. She remembered how the cries of pain and fear were as loud and clear as the drummer's call and she remembered running to help before she even realised she had legs on which to run. She remembered helping as many as she could but seeing ships go down too far out for her to save and she remembered the wrongness of the things that sank them and shelled her home.

She remembered doing everything she could until she was too tired to do any more and she no longer had arms with which to carry and legs on which to run. Time to rest again.

She remembered how her museum was damaged and how she was rescued after that first attack, hurriedly filled with other things from the museum that could be saved, loaded onto the back of another truck, and taken inland to safety.

She remembered laying in storage for a long time before she was put on display again in another new place. She remembered hearing about the war, the wrong things she'd seen (Abyssals, they called them) and the ships who'd returned in human form to fight them. She wondered if that was what she was but wasn't sure. She desperately wanted to help out in some way but her hull was too far from the sea and she couldn't go far enough from her hull. Revealing herself to someone was considered but she didn't know how to explain what she was and anyway a opportunity never presented itself. So she waited, and listened, and waited.

Then something interesting happened. Among her visitors one day were girls who were also ships, like she'd heard of. She wasn't quite the same as them but she was a boat. Maybe they could help or at least understand what she was.

Time to take a chance.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Sitting at a table, Harry was looking around with interest at the Golden Ofuda. While he had been somewhat bemused to note that he was heading to the same place where several shipgirls had, from what he heard, nearly puked from overeating, he had wondered about it. As it turned out, the place had a public floo and was reasonably close to where Kushiro was. Which meant that a trip that by either train or car which would have lasted well into the night was now down to just a few hours.

Granted, Harry could have left much earlier with Admiral Goto. However, doing such would mean missing the small party with his friends at Yokosuka due to how early he had left on a plane. And that was something that Harry nor the others really wanted. Hence, why he was sitting in a sports bar in Yamainutaira while waiting for Nagato to arrive. Though the thirteen year old was taking the chance to grab some food while there.

He had heard good things about it after all!

Now looking around though while waiting for food, Harry shifted a bit uneasily. Mainly due to the other patrons in the bar. 'I wish that they would stop staring at me or keep giving me looks. Is it because they recognize me or something?'

A pale hand placing itself on his made him look towards where Regina was seated on a stool on the other side of the table. There was a concerned expression on her face. "Is there something wrong, Harry?"

Calming down, and not noticing that the stares had nothing to really do with him but were more directed at his friend, Harry gave a shrug. "Not really, Regina." Quickly, he searched for an excuse that was plausible. "Just thinking about how different it is from the Leaky Cauldron and, um, similar in other ways."

Head tilted to the side, Regina considered him before giving a small nod. "Oh, um, okay then." Looking around herself, the Abyssal had a curious look on her face. "Is it really that different?"

With a shrug, the black haired boy smiled a bit. "Pretty different? I mean, the Leaky Cauldron looks right out of a fantasy novel, like something you would find in a D&D game. This place though..."

Regina blinked and nodded some. "Is like any other place that is non-magical?" At Harry's own nod, she considered that. "It reminds me of some places down in Darwin that, um, some of the others of Lady Wanko's and Lady Supprin's fleet go to on their down time."

Unnoticed by them, several other patrons were listening closely to that in utter bafflement. At least some of which was caused by the images of a bunch of Abyssals in a bar. Meanwhile, Harry cocked his head to the side curiously. "Wait, some of Big Sister's fleet and Supprin's fleet go to sports bars in Darwin? Really?"

Smiling slightly, Regina gave a nod at that. "Well, yes? They really seem to enjoy 'hitting' the bars there. Harbour Demon has one in particular that she likes to go to whenever she visits."

Eyebrows furrowing, Harry frowned at that. "Wait, Harbour Demon? Isn't she like Big Sis, but only about nine feet tall?"

Finger against her chin, Regina ignored how her tail flopped itself into Harry's lap, or how people tensed for a moment before relaxing. "Hm-hm." Then she gestured with one hand. "She seems to enjoy it. But, um... one thing does confuse me."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, neither him nor Regina noticing a waitress heading for their table. "Really? What confuses you about it?"

The next words out of Regina's mouth caused various people to pause with the waitress freezing and blushing as at least one other patron spewed their drink. "Well, they say that they like the bars so that they can make booty calls... I don't really understand what that they mean by that. Lady Wanko sort of goes slightly red and pinches her nose though while muttering." Her own eyebrows furrowing, Regina frowned. "Supprin meanwhile makes motions like she wants to strangle some of them like she does with Neptune at times. Revina just grins and states that they are performing diplomacy of the most basic kind."

On Harry's face was a completely blank expression for several moments. 'Wait, they make booty calls in Darwin...?' Being around sailors, Harry knew what that meant and so he turned away and coughed. "Well... Revina isn't wrong?"

About to ask, Regina is interrupted as the waitress appeared balancing three plates in her hands. "Um, your meal is ready." When the Abyssal turned to her, the okami gave a somewhat shaky grin. "Two Dai-Maru burgers and one Lamb Burger. I... hope that you enjoy it?"

Looking at what was on the plates, Harry nodded. "I think that we will, thank you!"

Suddenly remembering something that Shinano had told her, the Re-Class gave a bow and a smile. "Thank you for both the meal and the service."

More then somewhat flustered, the Yokai waitress gave a nod back. "You're welcome, the both of you. Please, enjoy your meal." A frown on her face, she looked at the three plates and then back at the two in front of her. "If I may ask, are you expecting someone else to join you?"

When the thirteen year old shook his head, she was about to say something when Regina spoke up with a smile. "Oh! Um, the other burger is for my tail." Said tail rose up and opened its mouth slightly. "That way we don't need to share."

For several moments, the waitress stared before she shook it off. After all, she had seen odder at times. "Right." She then turned to Harry as she remembered something else. "Oh, yes, about your question regarding take out? Just let us know and we'll have one ready for you before you leave."

Brightly smiling, Harry gave her a small bow. "Thank you." As the waitress walked off, the wizard turned to Regina. "Hopefully Mum will enjoy the Dai-Marus I asked about as well."

Taking the massive burger in one hand, Regina opened her mouth wide revealing her shark-like teeth. Moments later, she took a large bite of it and chewed with her eyes widening. Swallowing, the Abyssal gave Harry a bright smile. "It is really good, so I think that she will, Harry."

Simply chuckling, Harry took a bite of his own burger while watching Regina use her free hand to hold out the second giant burger for her tail to bite. Chewing, he swallowed with a smile of his own. "Huh, you're right, it is good." Then he grabbed a napkin and held it out. "Here, you got some sauce on your chin."

Regina blinked at that before smiling as she leaned forward and let him wipe it off. Taking a moment to take a sip of her drink through a straw, Regina watched as Harry also wiped her tail's chin. 'Harry really does take care of us.' Pulling back, she then considered the burger with a thoughtful look. "Um, Harry?" Having gotten his attention, the Re-Class continued. "Maybe one day we should come back? But with Shinano?"

Considering that as he chewed, Harry eventually nodded. "That might be a good idea. Heh, then you and Shinano-Chan can try the Nine Clan Head Challenge."

Eyes wide a bit as she did see it in the menu, the Abyssal turned thoughtful. "That could be fun, Shinano would enjoy it, I think." Head tilted to the side, she considered Harry's burger. "Harry? Why did you choose the lamb burger?"

Only taking a moment to wipe his chin, Harry shrugged. "Hokkaido is known for a couple of things, one of them is mutton. Its not really that popular in the rest of Japan because some people think it smells or something. So that was a bit of a surprise when I arrived, though it has changed due to rationing since it was one of the more common meats available fresh. Anyways..." Waving a hand, he continued. "I usually try at least one lamb burger when I come up to Hokkaido."

Interested, Regina examined the burger that Harry was eating. "Is it any good?"

Harry glanced at her before blinking and nodding. "Yeah, but..." Placing the burger down, he then cut a quarter off the back and placed it onto her plate. "You can try it yourself."

With a flustered look, she gave him a smile. "Thank you, Harry." Taking the knife, she cut off part of her own burger and placed it on Harry's plate. Said burger was so large that the chunk she gave him was still big enough to equal at least half of his burger. "Here, you can try some of mine."

A smile on his face, Harry chuckled some. "Thanks." Once he took a bite of it, the thirteen year old nodded. "Definitely going to suggest to Musashi-Oba to come up here, she'd like this. Though she swears by the Lucky Pierrot in Hakodate... even though the restaurants there are just plain weird."

Mouth full of the piece of burger Harry had given her, Regina blinked a bit. 'I wonder why Harry would say that?' Shaking it off, she swallowed and gave him a smile. "Um, your burger is actually pretty good as well. Tastes a bit different, but still good."

Just shrugging, Harry smiled. "Yeah, maybe, but I'm enjoying it." Picking up a fry, he tossed it at her tail which snapped it out of the air. "Still great food though." After Regina nodded, the black haired boy thought back and remembered something that she had said. "You mentioned someone named Neptune?"

Blinking at the question, Regina considered it before swallowing the bite that was in her mouth. "Oh, um, she's a Ne-Class that serves under Lady Supprin. But she's kind of obsessed, I think? Anyways, she really likes video games and playing them, which gets her in trouble with Lady Supprin." Frowning, she furrowed her eyebrows some. "She also says some weird things like Revina about cameos and stuff. There's also how she goes 'Oh, Nep' or 'Nep, nep, nep' and such instead of swearing."

For some odd reason, that tickled something in the back of Harry's mind, but then he shrugged it off. Probably not a big deal, instead, him and Regina turned back to continuing to converse when the Abyssal across from him asked him a question. "Hmm?"

The rest of her tail's burger held in one hand, Regina watched as it finished it off. "I was asking about what Miss Jin asked us to do? Something about if we see a Kogamaru to set up an Omiai with Lady Hoppou's daughters?"

Unnoticed by either of them, there were several spit takes at that. Even more happened when Harry shrugged and answered her. "Its a traditional way of setting up two people together to see if they can get married. I mean, I could set one up I suppose, Hoppou probably wouldn't mind. But the question is who would I set up? Tanith has a daughter and the same with Ritou, though maybe he's into that sort of thing? But we also have Sunny, Patty, and the others. I'd talk with Hoppou first though in such a case."

Nodding at that, Regina hummed as she finished the rest of her own burger at the same time as Harry did his. Then the two turned to their fries as they continued to converse about things, not noticing the odd looks they were getting which were the same ones they got when they shared their burgers. Looks that only increased when a Parfait-Bound was brought out and they split it between the two of them.

It went without saying that the town gossips had a lot to talk about and Kogamaru wanted to kill a certain Mizuchi once he heard of what happened.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93 Omake: Harbor Demon's Dating Issues

gaea said:
Damn. That's one way to kill the mood fast. Poor woman. She would need to actually try dating I'd think. But then what do I know? I don't go picking up women at bars.​

*-*-*-*-*

*Harbor Demon comes home from a night on the town in tears*

Wanko: ...Shot down again, Ruby?

Harbor Demon: *sniffles* Yeah...

Wanko: *sighs* I think this... bar-crawling business... is ill-suited for... a girl like you. Might I recommend... a different approach?

Ruby: ...like what?

*later...*

Wanko: She may seem intimidating... but I assure you, Ruby is... a smart and gentle girl. She just wants... to find someone... who makes her happy.

Woman: I suppose I can understand that, but... why speed-dating?

Wanko: Being an Abyssal... makes it somewhat difficult... to find love.

Ruby: I tried dating websites... nobody would reach out to me, or respond to my messages. We just thought I'd have better odds in something like this, where participation is pretty much required.

 

[darthcourt10]

K9Thefirst1

Welp. S0ngd0g has shown that Canut is awake from her umm... Education, and has found that the cost of tuition was cripplingly high. Meanwhile, during the nine days she was passed out, her surviving Imp Commissar had to give his report:
*-*-*-*
The Imp Report

It had been many weeks since the Battleship Demon Canut was sent out on her quest. Regardless of her success or failure, the Elder Princess was confident in her standing.

If she discovered this Arval creature and learned her secrets, Porta gained a smith skilled in craft magic, and Her Highness had a vault's worth of potential projects that she would be eager to commission. Secondly, it meant that she had the location of the one who taught her, and thus Porta had a backup in the event Canut died, plus a potential token of goodwill to the Humans in giving up her location.

But if Canut returned a failure? Hardly a tragedy. The denial of a magical smith would be unfortunate but hardly a defeat, as her plans had no genuine need for one beyond being 'nice to have.' And with no hope of completing her service to the Crown, Canut would have been given just enough rope to hang herself. And thus, Porta's plans had little chance at being derailed – again – by the battleship demon's impulsiveness.

Either way – Porta won. And every day that passed heightened the anticipation, not only in the Princess herself, but in the rest of her fleet. Canut had made a strong impression in her students, and so they all wished for her success… Not that there were not those unwilling to make wagers on her returning triumphant. Judging by the smirks dotting the crowd, Porta suspected everyone had by now heard of Canut's return, having made landfall on the island of Antillia hours ago, but the news of it being in victory or failure was curiously delayed.

And so it was with a hush that all present looked on as the Commissar Imp Gaunt entered the throne room and approached the throne. The fellow was only an inch tall so it was a long walk. As the time ticked by speculation was rampant in hushed whispers. Where was Lady Canut? Weren't there two commissars? How did the quest go? All these questions repeated themselves in one wording or another as minute by minute passed. By the time he was three-quarters of the way to his destination, Angband had already run all the way from her training grounds – where she had been retraining her pilots on the new planes gifted by one of the mercenary Carriers, now serving as a shepherdess on the island – to the throne, gasping for breath, hands on her knees. Porta looked from the corner of her eye at her daughter, and how she looked from one corner of the room to the other, looking for her mentor and friend. The Princess took pity on the girl, and gently patted her on the shoulder, and offered a small smile. A smile which, to the Princess' hidden relief, was returned. At long last, Commissar Gaunt was at the foot of the throne, and the tiny Imp kneeled before his Liege.

"Nazg."

"Commissar Gaunt," the Princess said, loud enough for all the assembled to hear, "it is good to see you have returned safe and sound. Tell Us, where is Canut and your counterpart? We are most interested in your reports."

"Nazg. Nazg nazg Naz-nazg."

Porta schooled her features, but could not stop the sharp intake of breath in shock. Taking a moment to observe other reactions, she noticed some of the audience were looking distraught, others more eager. Two in particular caught her interest – a pair of Ri-class twins, Rickity and Ritzy. The former was one of those she noted at being disgusted at how Porta had spared Canut's life all those months ago, while the latter was elated at the show of mercy. Two extremes, both equally important. Rickity looked very pleased, her sister greatly distressed. Marking their place in the crowd, Porta returned her attention to Gaunt.

"Forgive Us Commissar… Did… Did you say that Canut killed Commissar Cain?"

"Nazg. Nazg nazg-g."

To her right, she heard Ocean Liner Demon restrain a dark chuckle as she moved her hand to the Warhammer Canut gave her. This was… Unfortunate. Canut was very much aware how much her life was tied to those of her minders while traveling abroad… Or Porta hoped she did. And now he was saying that she chased down Cain and crushed him in her hand for his steel? Porta gawked at the imp for what felt like hours before responding.

"And you did not assist him… Why?"

"Nazg nazg nazg, na-naz nazg-nazg."

"'…Because Bitch was high as balls, and Cain was an asshole.'"

While Porta visibly nursed a powerful migraine, the crowd murmured amongst themselves.

"You Highness!" one particularly cheeky Ta-Class asked aloud, "Can I go on a quest?"

That got a few laughs from the court, and in other circumstances Porta liked to assume that she would be among them laughing… Except she had a powerful headache going on, which was not helped by the singing on someone in the back who apparently made a very lucky bet.

"Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney!"

By the Abyss that was getting irritating.

"Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney! / Bitches owe me moo~ooney!"

"May I?" Ocean Liner Demon asked, holding up on of her wrist-mounted guns.

"Please," Porta begged under her breath.

Without another word, the Demon aimed at the offending cruiser and fired a single round, which struck home dead in the forehead.

"Sorry," came the pained response.

The throne room was once more – thankfully – quiet. Porta took the time to try and formulate a response to the madness that was this report. Alas, the absurdity of the events and the growing migraine were not helping.

"I have many questions!" she declared, "First of all, why would she need to do such a thing?! W-was she-building something? Why c-? Couldn't she have used materials on site? Or better yet wait until she returned and take some from the forges! And what the Hell do you mean she was high?! HOW did she get stoned?!"

According to Gaunt, Canut did in fact use the steel to make… Something. But he didn't get a good look at it before it was stowed away. As to the intoxication, according to Gaunt it involved drinking water from a subterranean well of some kind, which Arval stated gave wisdom and knowledge. Porta leaned back in the throne, her head throbbing in pain. In the corner of her eye she saw Angband. Sweet, innocent, impressionable Angband, who was in the company of Canut for hours at a time…

"Daughter," the Elder Princess moaned as all beleaguered mothers do, "if ever a crazy hermit, or other slovenly figure, offers you food, or drink, or 'sweets,' promising you supernatural wisdom or knowledge… You are to politely but firmly decline. After which you are to find the nearest responsible adult or constable of the Law and tell them what happened. Am I clear?"

"Yes Mother," the girl answered, and by her expression she meant it, to Porta's infinite relief.

"Thank you darling… Gaunt, where is Canut now?"

"Nazg."

"…Passed out with the MacHamish clan. Because of course. Very well, inform them that they are to ensure Canut is not a danger to herself or others, and when she sobers up she is to report directly to the Throne room. Oh, and please compensate them for their troubles. Court is adjourned for the day. I have a beast of a headache."

*-*-*-*

Lord Khuzdul said:
Fudge: They are going to drive Dementors to extinction!

Victory: And nothing of value was lost!​

FTFY ^_^

Shinr said:
Harry Leferts, any reason why Magical England feels like something from several centuries ago while Magical Japan feels like only half century behind modern times at worst, even before the Abyssal War?

Now that I though about it while writing the above, in Japan's case the pro-ICW magicals probably semi-embraced the rapid modernization during the Meiji era. And occupation by the relatively young MACUSA also most likely influenced things towards relative modernity.​

Perhaps it also has something to do with Japan's magical community being put into hiding 'for good' in the 1940s, while Magical Europe was more in the late 17th century?

 

[darthcourt10]

NotHimAgain

Not sure where this one came from, but I just got home from my trip around Pittsburgh and I wanted to write something.
-----

"Ah, tha' hits th' spot!" Anna McKay shouted, slamming her shot glass down on the counter. "C'mon, yeh two, drinks'r on me t'night!" Lily Potter grinned and downed her own. Alice, still slightly taken aback by her company, waffled and sipped her own somewhat more sedately.

"I'll drink to that," Lily grinned, replacing her own glass on the table in much the same manner, "But you've gotta something nicer than the cheap stuff! You told me your family's got money!"

"Aye," Anna agreed, smirking. Then she donned an imperious expression and sat up straight. "Bu' tha's ta fund oor family's grea' duty of doin' battle again's th' forces of darkness tha' woul' do harm tae man." She grinned impishly and waved at the barkeeper. "Oi, Rex! Wha's th' best liquor yeh got here?"

As she chattered excitedly at the small-town barkeeper, Lily leaned back to look over her new friend's back at her old friend. "You okay over there, Alice?" Alice nodded, and waved her off, placing her cup back on the counter.

"I'm fine, really. Nothing I haven't dealt with before…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Or at least, that's what I'd like to say. She's… not what I expected." Lily gave her a blank look. "Oh—you know. My mother-in-law, her mother, they've—" she mimed throwing an uppercut. "When you told me that you were friends with a McKay, it was…" She paused as a glass of amber-colored liquid was shoved in front of her. Trailing off, she looked down at her host. Anna looked back at her with her lip clenched in her teeth and eyes threatening a storm.

"Eh, hush yerself," she grunted. "Ah get enuff lip fra her abou' duty an' shit, Ah don' need ta—ah, jis' a sec—" Reaching down, she grabbed Alice's wand and, ignoring her protests, threw it trough the window like a dart. It punched through the chest of a dark-haired man who had been staring through the window at them and he choked and dissolved into dust. The unfortunate pane of glass shattered. Alice blinked. Rex gave Anna a baleful look. "Put it on mah tab," she said blasely.

Alice looked at her again, then snickered. As Lily excused herself from the table and jogged out the door, the snickers turned into guffaws such that Alice soon began to feel with a pang of fear that she wasn't able to breath. Thankfully, the laughter subsided, and her (miraculously intact) wand was pressed back into her hand by Lily.

"So," her friend asked, "What brought that on?" Alice found herself giggling again, and tried to suppress the amusement.

"Oh, nothing, it's just that—a, a tab for…." She pointed between the muggle and the muggleborn. "I can see why you two get along so well."

"Aye! We're both awesome."

"I wouldn't go that far," a substantially drier voice cut in. Almost as one, the three turned to see one of the most foreboding people any of them knew taking a seat at the counter herself. "I was finally able to get Neville to sleep. I imagine that he'll wake up again as soon as I walk in the door, which is why I would be rather put out if you didn't return with me. I apologize, Lily and Miss—"

"Mrs. McKay," Anna replied cheekily.

"McKay, I…" Augusta Longbottom trailed off, then glared at her. "I'm sorry, come again?"

"Mah name is Anna McKay," the sole muggle in the party bowed and gestured in an uncertain parody of a curtsey. "Pleased ta meetcha, Mrs. Alice Littlebottom's mother-in-law." Augusta's glare turned into an uncertain stare.

"I… that's…" She shook her head. "I highly doubt that woman is capable of procreation, much less raising a child."

"Ha!" Anna laughed. "Yeh do know her!"

The September night was cut short after that, Alice being pulled away to look after her infant child and Lily getting a call from James, but Anna made sure to extract a promise from the others that they would get together again whenever all three found the time.

It would be a long time before Alice made her way back to the little bar in the small town, with the daughter of the one and the son of the other accompanying her.
-----

Well what do you think, sirs?

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Opening the door, Regina walked into the office before standing to attention. "Battlecarrier Regina reporting that patrol is complete!"

Behind his desk, a twenty something Harry smiled at her before chuckling. "Good to hear, Regina. Anything happen while out on patrol?"

A small smile on her face, the Abyssal shook her head. "No, nothing happened, Harry, I mean, Sir! Everything was calm and the patrol was uneventful. As expected."

Getting up, Harry walked around his desk until he was in front of her. "Well, an uneventful patrol is never bad to be honest. Because it means that you had no trouble out there." His lips then curled slightly. "Not that I expect for you to have any real trouble out there with how strong you are."

Blushing lightly, Regina twiddled her fingers some. "Ah."

Embarrassed, but pleased, she tried to look away only for Harry to grasp her chin. "Something wrong, Regina? Or...?"

Chewing her lip, the Re-Class looked at the young man in front of her who had a knowing look on his face. As well as a twinkle in his eye. No doubt, Harry knew exactly what was up and was simply waiting. Regina didn't keep him waiting though as she took a deep breath. "W-well, um... maybe a reward? For doing a good job?"

If anything, the twinkle in Harry's eyes only increased as he hummed. "Hmm, a reward? Perhaps..." Letting go of her chin, he then slammed both hands into the wall on either side of her head as she slouched against the wall. "A reward might well be in order, I suppose."

Trapped between the young man and the wall, Regina felt her cheeks flush and she let out a whimper as his body pressed against hers. Soon, that was followed by his lips as one of his hands knocked against the wall. 'H-Harry...'

Meanwhile, in real life, Harry looked up from his book at the gasp from the sleeping Regina before tilting his head as she mumbled his name. "Poi? Wonder what that is all about?"

Deciding to ignore that, he turned back to his book which was noticed by Nagato in the driver's seat. "Interesting book, Harry?"

With a blink, the black haired wizard looked up and gave a nod. "Yeah, Mum, its pretty interesting. Its called 'First Hundred Nights' and its the stories of some of those Yokai who fought the Abyssals until you and the others managed to drive them away from the home islands." Closing the book some, he looked at the cover which was an image of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, except all of them outfitted for war. "Haru-San got it for me, apparently its sold in Kyoto and some of the Yokai communities to raise funds."

Head titled slightly, Nagato made a sound of surprise. "I did not even know that there was that sort of book." Glancing at the mirror, she continued. "Would it be possible for me to borrow it once your done reading?"

Only shaking his head, Harry smiled at her. "I don't mind, Mum. Besides, it really is pretty interesting, though a lot of the stories end sadly. Some of it is just amazing though when you get down to it. Like how the daughter of Ibaraki dōji and Shuten dōji got together a bunch of Oni to patrol along the sea shore with them using scavenged artillery as makeshift bazookas."

That made Nagato blink a bit. "Shuten dōji's and Ibaraki dōji's daughter? So Ibaraki dōji really was a female Oni?"

Shrugging, the thirteen year old could only shake his head. "I know, right? But it mentions that she's not like her parents or brother. It also says that her and the others armored themselves with sheets of steel they gathered. But right now, the chapter that I'm reading is about a battle that happened on Kyushu between a group of Itachi, Mujina, and Abyssal paratroopers."

More then a little intrigued, Nagato continued to drive. "Oh? What happened?"

As he frowned, Harry looked over the page. "Um, apparently the paratroopers landed in one of the magically hidden areas for growing magical plants and started to head towards where there was a refugee center. According to this, they would have been able to get into range to kill a lot of people before being noticed... except a Yokai noticed and contacted a group of Mujina and Itachi set up nearby. They fought the paratroopers with a standstill with what they had which included two home made tanks they called Iriomote Tanks."

Needless to say, the Battleship raised her eyebrows at that. "Homemade tanks? They built themselves tanks?"

Harry could only nod at that. "Yeah, they took some of those Bobcat bulldozers and put a bunch of sheet metal on the outside as armor, with discarded JGSDF body armor on the inside with the inside split into two levels for their normal sizes. One of them had an automatic grenade launcher as it's main weapon and the other a heavy machine gun... not counting the other guns poking out firing holes. Both were destroyed though, but had thinned the numbers and held long enough for reinforcements to kill the rest of the Abyssals."

Finger tapping the steering wheel, Nagato frowned in thought. "I do believe that I'll be interesting in just what sort of stories are in that book, Harry." Glancing at the GPS, she let out a sigh and smiled. "And it seems that we are almost to Kushiro, so perhaps you should wake Regina."

With a nod, Harry reached over and gently shook the Abyssal. "Regina? Its time to get up." Getting a mumble, he shook her some more. "Come on, Regina, you have to wake up." As the black haired boy watched, her eyes fluttered open though he wondered about her blush. "Re-"

And then, all thoughts fled from his mind as she leaned down and pulled him into a kiss for several seconds before her eyes snapped wide open. Realizing that she was no longer dreaming, she stared at the shocked thirteen year old before leaping back the best that she could. "U-uh, um.... I-I..." Clapping her hands over her face, she ignored the steam coming from her ears. "Eep!"

Completely and utterly stunned, Harry just slowly blinked as his mind attempted to reboot. As the book fell off his lap, he only really had one thought in his head. 'Wow...'

Up front, Nagato fought the urge to close her eyes and pinch her nose. After all, she was driving the car and that could cause an accident. 'Why, oh why? Is it because of the war?' Choosing to rub the side of her head, the shipgirl only sighed. 'I'm just going to ignore that for my own sanity.'

Needless to say, it took the rest of the trip before Harry and Regina could look at the other without needing to look away with a heavy blush. When they arrived though, Harry smiled a bit at seeing Wanko there already waiting. Getting out of the car, he walked over and hugged her the best that he could. "Big Sister!'

Softly smiling, Wanko leaned down and gently hugged him back. "Hello, Little Brother... it is nice to see... you again. Also, happy birthday."

Pulling back enough to tilt his head back, the wizard gave a laugh. "Thanks!"

Revina appeared beside him and grinned widely. "Heeey, there birthday boy! Thirteen years old, huh?" At his nod, she continued. "Man, you're growing up fast! But this means a party! And cake! And cake at a party! Whoo-hoo!" While the others sighed and shook their heads, the Abyssal noted that Regina was giving Harry looks while blushing. "Hmm, what's this now?"

Confused, Harry looked up at her. "What's what, now?"

Now smirking, Revina looked between him and Regina, noting that when Harry looked at her sister he also blushed. "Hey! Did something happen between the two of you? Huh? Did the two of you do-"

Before she could continue, a hand came down on her head. Unlike usually though, it was not Wanko, but Regina who did so. And it was with the result that her face became embedded in the asphalt. However, Regina became more flustered as Revina raised one hand and gave a thumbs up.

Unnoticed by Harry or either Re-Class, Wanko raised an eyebrow and had a thoughtful look on her face.

 

[darthcourt10]

Savato93

Just a little bit I managed to work out for now, before everybody meets back up in Kushiro.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hearing her daughter's scream of utter bafflement, Ritou slowly and calmly reach out, pulling closed the door to the room she was in. "Let's… yeah. Let's not get tangled up in that fiasco."

"What's that?"

Ritou turned back to her mother and handed off her clipboard, filled with the reports she'd taken on her sisters. "Nero's pet got loose, and he almost seems like he picked up some tricks in spacial distortion from being stuffed in her hold too long. Little bugger's all over the place out there."

Hoppou shook her head with a small grin. "Everybody being so silly over a pet…" She paused, looking to her daughter in surprise. "Wait, Nero has a pet? Nobody told Hoppou about this."

Ritou shrugged, a bemused smile on her face. "I suppose we've just been so caught up in everything else…" Stepping over to her mother, she tapped a few names on the paper in front of her. "So, most of the cruisers are doing well, but Ringo has some sort of blockage in her fuel lines, can't run her engines at full power. Along with her, Helga seems to be suffering from overheating problems, and Nebby's fire directors are on the fritz. Now, I should be able to get those things sorted out myself, but I wanted to see if I could get a second opinion from you, as well as possibly have you supervise me while I make the repairs…"

The older princess bit her lip as she went over the reports. "Hm… Hoppou trusts your expertise. But to be safe, Hoppou will do her own check-ups for the cruisers later. For now, Hoppou will help you with these light repairs."

"Of course, Mother. I still have a lot to learn before I come anywhere near your level of skills."

Leaning back, Ritou glanced once more at the room around her; to the various schematics laid out over the walls and tabletops. "I Must admit... I never imagined I would see you working with… these designs again," she mused.

"Neither did Hoppou." Hoppou shook her head softly. "But Hoppou never imagined Abyssals would gang up on Unalaska, either. Or that Ritou and sisters would survive, and grow up, and make daughters of their own."

"That's true." Ritou was silent for a little while longer. "…Do you ever wonder—"

"If she's still out there?" Hoppou cut her off. "If she was spared the fate of so many of her sisters? If she even still remembers us?" She sighed heavily. "Hoppou thinks about it every day. And Hoppou refuses to give up on her without proof."

"…It's been over six years since she left us," Ritou pointed out somberly. "That's a long, long time for a deteriorating Re-class to survive by herself."

"Hoppou knows. And Hoppou doesn't care." Hoppou looked around to face her daughter. "She was special. One of Hoppou's strongest daughters, both here…" She tapped her bicep. "And here." She patted her chest. "Hoppou believes in her."

Ritou spent several seconds debating a response, before she simply sighed. "Alright, then." Stepping over to the door, she held an ear to the wall. "…Sounds like things have calmed down out there. I'm gonna take this opportunity to head out while I can, avoid getting caught up in the madness. So, I'll meet with you later, Mother?"

Nodding, Hoppou returned to her notes. "Let Hoppou know in advance when you are ready to start procedures."

"Can do." With that, Ritou cracked open the door and slipped out, leaving Hoppou alone in her room.

As the door clicked shut, the little Princess slumped over in her seat, a pained and mournful expression settling on her face. In here… alone, surrounded by reminders of her failure to help her daughter… she truly looked the part of a mother grieving her missing child.

"It's not foolish for Hoppou to believe she's okay… is it…?" She asked herself quietly.

 

[darthcourt10]

SoulessScotsman

A/N: It's a thing?
-----------------------------------
Sitting in one of the chairs surrounding the conference table, Lieutenant Anderson put a hand to his head, "Why am I here?"

The redhead sitting to his right grinned at him, "In the immediate sense, or the more existential, esoteric sense? Because if it's the latter, given your family tree, we could be here all day."

He rolled his eyes, "Go fuck yourself, Shepard."

Her grin widened and she gave him a wink, "In your best dreams, maybe. Not today, though."

"Jane!" Admiral Shepard slapped a folder in front of her daughter, "Enough. Commander, since the Salem is undergoing a long overdue repair and retrofit up in Bath, you have new orders. Admiral Bailey said the work's going to take months, if not the better part of two years. So, in the mean time, you've been reassigned to Connie's command until the work's done. Your crew will be stationed at Bath Ironworks and assist in repairs."

Jane practically leaped out of her chair, "What?! Old Witchy can't be in that poor shape! My chief engineer made sure she was the best cruiser in the Atlantic!"

"Age, Commander, gets us all, eventually. Her rudder was bent, most of her guns need the barrels replaced, her boilers, her propulsion, her radar. All of them need substantial work. Hard fighting for more than half a decade will to do that any ship. We've only recently had the breathing room to actually fix her."

Anderson coughed, "All respect, Ma'am, but why am I here? I've got a cross-continental trip to plan out."

Another folder was violently thrown onto the table. This one had two O-3 double bars pinned to it.

Anderson blinked. He then turned to the Admiral, stout refusal at the ready. But her look killed any hope of that.

"Refuse," she hissed at him, her expression a rictus of fury, "I dare you. Because if you do, I have your discharge papers right here."

"But I hate being an officer!"

Commander Shepard rolled her eyes, "You don't even do anything officer related. You're Connie's gofer."

"The fuck I don't, and the fuck I am!" he indignantly squawked, "I've got three different NonComs alone who answer to me! That's not even counting Connie's yeoman! Or the permanent Marine detail Connie's got! The highest ranking guy they've got is a Butterbar! A fucking Butterbar! I'm up to my goddamn eyeballs in work!"

"Then take the damn promotion," Admiral Shepard snarled, "Then I can justify assigning a few more O-2s to help you."

Jane looked at him, expression utterly perplexed, "Are you...are you actually afraid?"

Anderson just gave her a look, like she was the dumbest person in the room, "Yes! I suck at being an officer! I'm a grunt, I'm not cut out for this responsibility shit! I'd rather be busted back down to sergeant!"

"Lieutenant Anderson!" Admiral Shepard thundered, "You will take this fucking promotion, or so help me, I'll get Connie in here!"

Anderson shrunk in on himself, looking utterly defeated.

"I hate you," he said.

"I'll take that as a yes," the Admiral said, expression smug, "Congratulations, Captain Anderson."

"Stop being a baby," Jane said, "I'll be here to help with things for at least a year. Speaking of," she turned to the Admiral, "How does that work?"

Shepard the Older rolled her eyes, "What are they teaching in OCS these days? Anderson, what needs doing?"

"She can be Connie's minder for a while," he replied, casting a glare at Jane, "I've got the logistics of this trip to work out. Oh, hell, Corvina's gonna need a passport! Goddammit, I have too much shit to do!"

As the newly minted captain despaired over his workload, the Admiral cast her daughter a look, "You heard him, Commander. Get to it."

Jane shrugged, "How hard can it be?"
-----------------------------------

 

[darthcourt10]

Lord K

Kudzu sat in his armchair, deep in contemplation.

Contrary to what Gyaru had said, he wasn't brooding. Just very carefully ruminating over past memories, and considering doing something outlandish.

He'd heard about the book through Ai. Picked up a copy out of morbid curiosity, tied to his own experiance seeing what happened when yokai fought Abyssals. And then he'd basically not put it down until he finished the thing.

Now kudzu sat in his armchair, considering doing something..... not rash persay. But certainly bold and ballsy.

Was it not the nature of pilots though, to push boundries, defy limits, and ride the edge of what was possible?

In one hand, he held a cheap cellphone he'd brought as a burner, just for an extra layer of security.

In the other, Kudzu had 'The First Hundred Nights', open to a piece of paper he has been using as a book mark. Across it, is a private phone number Ai had somehow manged to find for him via Kiba. Apparently the Okuri-Inu knew the authors better than her.

After a few more moments of hesitation, the pilot checks he has the right number one last time, then hits the call button. Thankfully for his nerves, it's only a couple of seconds until somebody picks up.

"Hi there, I heard from a friend that you were apparently looking to compile more stories of the yokai community from Blood Week and the early war as either another book or an online audio memorial?"

The pilot nervously listens to the reply.

"That's correct yes, and the whole anonymity thing definitely works right? You're fine with name changes and vagueness?"

Kudzu then nods in relief at the answer he gets

"Yeah.... I suppose that's more than true. I'm definitely one of those in a position where I could get in trouble if I reveal my identity."

A rueful grin then appears on his face.

"Wizard defying family, or yokai out of a reserve? Nah, I'm neither of those things."

Kudzu then chuckles at the uncertain hesitance of the next query.

"Don't worry, I'm not a kami either. I'm- what was the term again? A nomaj. Muggle, yeah."

The pilot pauses as he hears an uncertain silence at the other end.

"Hello? Are you there?" Kudzu then shifts nervously. "This isn't a crank call, I promise you. I heard about the book from a friend and.... And there's someone I owe it to, to get remembered. Even if it's under a false name. A yokai who saved a lot of people that first day, and probably no one else remembers."

Hesitantly, at first, but slowly with greater and greater journalistic curiosity and confidence in his legitimacy, the questions start.

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

Ai doesn't protest, but she certainly is more than a little worried about the prospect of him having a meeting with one of the main researchers/writers helping correlate and cross-check all the details for the book. It's why he has a surprisingly surreptitious set of back up and bodyguards in the form of a pacifist sword-spirit and a fortune telling witch-wizard couple, at two of the other nearby tables in the local Yokosuka bar.

Even without Ai's friends from the JNHRO, Yokosuka is shipgirl turf, and you'd have to be stupid to try anything in this town. Considering how much they've been running around shipgirls recently, Kudzu's not too sure how well an Obliviate spell would stick these days anyway.

The others in the squadron and seen his current choice of actions with mixed reactions, even if they had been generally more worried for him than anything else. Kero and Taikomachi thought he was crazy, or at least mildly nuttier than they had ever given him credit for, to be taking a risk like this. Boke was a bit confused about why he thought now was the time to be doing this, even if he accepted that Kudzu had to.

Strangely enough, it was Gyaru who had seemed to understand the most. When he had announced his plans and intentions, there had been none of the expected irreverence, quips, or inappropriate humor. Only a nod and a surprising look of empathy from the witness and survivor of the Second Battle of Okinawa, followed later by a hug and a wish for him to be careful when he was preparing to set out for the meeting.

And now there he was. Pretending to be a just another member of the Japanese Self Defence force, in civvies and out on the town for a night of leave. Kudzu had left nothing to chance. He'd worn nothing that could suggest his identity beyond "military", which would be a pointlessly hopeless search in Yokosuka. He'd even borrowed a few magical items from the others to temporarily color his hair brown rather than black, and shift his eyes to a lighter shade of hazel.

Kudzu notes carefully every person that enters the room. And then finally, there is one woman who after a mildly meandering course, begins to home in on his table. After a few moments staring him up and down, as if uncertain he really is her contact, the woman sits down, placing a satchel on the table. Inside, kudzu feels mildly relieved to note a mildly out of date tape recorder, and reams of paper already covered pages of crammed, short-hand scrawl.

All signs that the mildly confused looking author was likely legit. Finally, she then leads off with the question that seems to be most obviously tugging at her curiosity.

"Are you really a muggle?"

Kudzu chuckles.

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

Arm still in a sling, the pig yokai wanders into the Zuchi house's garage, holding a phone as if still unsure about what he just heard.

"Hey Jin."

"Yeah Porkchop?" drawls the mizuchi lazily, from where she is half under her bike and performing some basic maintainence, much to the curiosity of the watching Asuka.

"You know that cult of yours?"

"Kinda hard not to know about them," grumbles the mizuchi. "They keep turning up at the park or trying to get into the apartment. I'm pretty sure one of them also stole my laundry off my balcony." Asuka makes a face, while ex-water kami grimaces. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Yeah, well..... They may have gotten themselves in trouble."

The mizuchi groans from beneath her bike. "With what? Or who even? It better not be another kami, I don't have the power to step on any divine toes, as much fun as it is to tap dance across all the mortal ones."

"Actually, it's the police."

Finally looking up, Jin wipes at a streak of grease on her cheek, not quite realizing she is actually making the patch bigger. "Please don't tell me they did something stupid. Gifts and tribute are nice I guess, but I will not tolerate anyone running around trying to do sacrifices or rituals on the unwilling in my name."

Glancing at his phone, the pig yokai shakes his head.

"Actually, it doesn't sound all that bad."

"Then what happened?"

"Apparently a couple of them are in the drunk tank after, and I quote, "several noise complaints related to persons and Abyssals intoxicated in the streets, holding a heated debate of apparently theological nature between members of the Cult of the Dark One, and practitioners of Tanaka's Steel Balls Shrine who were on leave at the time."

Jin blinks for a moment, brain struggling to process that last part, before finally tilting her head and staring with open confusion. "Practicioners of the who's what now?"

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

With dubious hesitance, the officer finally steels himself, and then unlocks the cell.

"Alright you lot, you're free to go. Somebody paid your bail."

A muted cheer goes up from the Abyssal Cultists, most of whom are currently mildly more distracted by their apocalyptic hangovers, than their newly found freedom.

One of the group however, still possesses enough braincells not yet rendered nonfunctional by agony, to ponder their change of fortune.

"Who would pay bail money for a bunch of random Abyssals?"

The officer shrugs.

"The name on the docket was for a Hisakawa in Adachi ward."

A mildly delayed ripple of shock and hungover mumbling spreads through the group.

"The Dark One has heard our prayers...."

"....she has released us from this prison of torment...."

".....knows all and sees all when her followers are in need...."

The officer shuffles uncertainly. "Actually, one of Hisakawa's friends work here, so they probably-"

".... a chosen envoy and agent."

".... her justice is unmetered and swift...."

"....praise the Dark One...."

Hearing that particular line, one of the members of the group, still slightly more on the drunken side of the spectrum rather than hungover, then stands up.

"BEHOLD THE DARK ONE!" declares an exuberant Re-Class wearing a worryingly stretched T-shirt, sized for a much more modest (if not absent) womanly figure than her own, and with a set of boy-shorts on both her and her tail's heads.

Immediately she is then silenced by a thrown boot to the face from the wincing Ru-Class of the group, while many others similarly hold their heads and cringe at the painfully loud volume of their fellow cultist.

As they shamble out of the drunk tank, and into the painfully bright light of the street outside, the Priestess Re makes a piteous noise and quietly begins praying to the Dark One. The pathetically mumbled and half-baked prayer is one that is swiftly picked up by the rest of the group sharing in her state of agony.

If the Dark One can free them from the cruelty of jail, maybe she can take away their torturous hangovers as well?

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Watching as Harry greeted his various Nieces, Nagato smiled a bit. It was then though that out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a speck heading towards them and waited. Soon enough though, said speck resolved into an owl carrying a heavy envelope which landed on the Battleship's outstretched arm. "Well, hello there." Said owl gave a hoot and bobbed its head, which made Nagato wonder for a moment why it flew all the way to Kushiro, especially as she recognized the seal on the envelope as being the one that belonged to the shop in Diagon Alley that made the owl boxes rather then give them to Harry.

And then she remembered that they would be addressed to her and so any owls would deliver them to just her and no one else if possible.

Head tilted to the side, Wanko slowly blinked as Nagato took the letter from the owl. "May I ask... who sent you... a letter?"

Glancing at her, Nagato hummed. "The shop in Diagon who sells the Owl Boxes as a matter of fact." While Wanko nodded, she turned to the owl on her arm. "Would you like some water and a bit of food from my stocks?"

The owl looked at her and bobbed its head with a hoot. Less then a minute late, it was gratefully drinking from a bowl filled with cool water provided by Nagato's crew while some others set up a plate with some meat on it. Meanwhile, the Battleship herself opened the letter and began to read. On her shoulder, Yamamoto gave a small nod. "Desu."

Also nodding, Nagato felt her lips curl a bit more. "Yes, this is excellent news, Teitoku." Still smiling, she looked at Wanko. "Apparently they have finished up two of the Vanishing Cabinet pairs that the JMSDF placed on order. They simply need to be picked up when we go to Diagon later in the month. One of the pairs will, of course, be sent to you."

Slowly, the Abyssal gave a nod to that. "That is truly... very good news. It means that... if something else... was to happen that... I could reach... Little Brother much sooner... then having to wait. I am... pleased with this." A slight smirk then crossed her face. "And I believe that... Supprin will also... be quite happy with... this. After all, she already... has the facility... for our end up... and running."

Moments later though, her normally pale face lit up in a blush as Nagato smirked herself. "And I am sure that you're pleased for other reasons. Rather large ones at that."

Wanko gave a cough at that and was unable to look the shipgirl in the eye. "Yes, well... It will also mean... that Little Brother will... be able to visit... my fleet." At the raised eyebrow, she smiled some. "They wish to... meet Little Brother... in person."

Only nodding at that, Nagato turned back to the letter. "Something that I am sure that Harry will enjoy. Though now I wonder..." Frowning thoughtfully, she tapped her chin. "I remember them stating that they have some shorter range ones in storage. Ones from the last war as a matter of fact, which they stated could reach France from Scotland at least. If they're long range enough..."

Eyes turning to where the Fleet of Laughter was, Wanko also became thoughtful. "It could lead to a way... for Little Sisters fleet... to also visit. Or to be... visited. My fleet would... not mind very much." Frown deepening, she looked at Nagato. "But would the Japanese... government be willing... to allow for it?"

Frowning, Nagato rolled that around in her head for several moments. "They might. If the cabinets in question don't have enough range, they might simply place one end here in Hokkaido, most likely here in Kushiro. Perhaps with a second short range pair to connect Kushiro with Yokosuka as well. In either case though, the facility in Yokosuka is well equipped for it if it ends there as we planned for it to become a hub of sorts. Especially as we have been thinking of ordering one pair to go between Yokosuka and Sasebo."

The Abyssal Princess understood what was not being said, that such a pair would be used for reinforcement if needed. Neither of the two noticed Yamamoto shake his head and sigh quietly. 'What I would not have given for even one of these vanishing cabinets back during the war...'

Meanwhile, Nagato continued to look over the letter and smiled. "It also seems that Harry's recent order for more owl boxes alongside the ones the JMSDF ordered is also complete, two pairs of them. It seems that they're able to make them slightly faster now."

Raising an eyebrow, Wanko leaned over her shoulder. "Two of them? Why would Little Brother... order two Owl Boxes?"

With a glance at her, Nagato turned back to the letter. "Harry wants one pair to connect him with the Potter's German properties so that he can keep in contact with Johann and Marie." Wanko nodded at that as she remembered Regina's report on them. "The other pair is going to connect the Potter's properties there with Wilhelmshaven Naval Base." At the confused look she got, the Battleship smiled. "Some of the Veela were trained in making potions and got together. Harry can't make enough bruise cream and other potions and such in enough volume. So they've formed a company of sorts to supply the Deutsche Marine with them. Apparently, the trials of the bruise healing cream is done and the German Uboats are very, very happy with it."

All Wanko did was shake her head at that. "Yes, I would... suppose that the Uboats... would indeed be... very happy with such. From what I have... been told it is... effective at quickly healing... depth charge damage?" When Nagato confirmed that, she hummed. "Yes, very useful... And an idea that... will make them... a lot of money."

Softly snorting, Nagato rolled her eyes. "As will the hangover cure potions, no doubt." One finger tapping the sheet, she gave a small nod. "Hopefully though the one that will be for Shiromizu between her village and Yokosuka will also be ready in time. That will decrease some of her stress regarding it." Eyes trailing along the comment that they will check their stocks of vanishing cabinets made her frown as they also stated that they might have several pairs. 'I wonder how many orders were cancelled after the last war...?'

Not even five minutes later, she watched as the owl flew off with her reply before nodding.

From where he was, Harry watched the owl fly off before shrugging it off. He just turned though when a white blur hugged him and he gave a laugh. "Hoppou!"

Tightening her hug slightly, the Abyssal Princess looked up at him with a bright smile on her face. "Hoppou is happy to see Big Brother is back! Also, Hoppou wants to wish him a very happy birthday!"

Simply hugging her as tightly back, Harry grinned. "Thanks, Hoppou. And I'm glad to be back to enjoy my birthday with you all."

After he set her down, Hoppou gave him a nod. "Is very true! Also, not every day that one becomes thirteen! Big Brother is a whole year older now then he was last year!" Flinging her arms wide, she continued. "Hoppou is happy because it means that Big Brother is becoming even bigger, with bigger hugs for Hoppou and others!"

Brightly smiling, Harry chuckled. "True enough, Little Sister." Suddenly, he gained a surprised look on his face and began to dig around in his backpack he had brought. "Oh! Almost forgot, I brought some stuff from Yokosuka for your... project."

More then one of the other Abyssals boggled a bit as their uncle reached down to his shoulders when the backpack should have not even reached his elbows. Eyebrow raised, Sunny leaned forward to look more closely. 'How is he even doing that?'

Harry meanwhile continued to dig around until he nodded. "Right, here we go!" Pulling out a metal bar, most of those there were confused by what the big deal was. Hoppou though had wide eyes as her brother handed it to her. "Here, I thought that you could use these."

Gently, the Abyssal Princess took it and looked over the metal. "Is this... one of Big Brother's special bars?"

Reaching over, Harry tapped one finger against it. "As a matter of fact, yes." At her look, he smiled. "I wrote to Professor Dumbledore and he gave me an... exemption from the laws for underage magic specifically in this case. Under 'Special transfiguration studies and practice'. So I made a couple while in Yokosuka while thinking of Regalia." An unsure expression on his face, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Its not much, I know. But I kind of wanted to do something..."

Eyes still wide, Hoppou looked at him. Then, turning her attention to the piece of metal, she ran one mittened hand over it. Beneath the smooth surface, the Abyssal could feel it. A warm tingle that pervaded the entire structure of the metal. One that she recognized easily as her brother's magic, all there and ready to be used for the purpose that he had imbued it with along with the metal. Softly, Hoppou smiled and looked up at him before giving him a hug. "Hoppou thinks that this is more then enough, Big Brother. And that it will help out lots."

Just blinking for a moment, Harry's worry melted away and he hugged her back. "I'm glad."
___________________________________________________________________

Stomach full of various goodies including cake, Harry leaned back in the chair he was in with a small smile on his face. Various members of the Fleet of Laughter stood around chatting with Harry looking at Tandy with some confusion. Partially because the tips of her hair had turned black, which made him wonder if she had started to dye it for some reason. But there was another reason as well which made him frown.

It almost looked like she had become taller since he had last saw her. Harry mentally swore that she now stood slightly higher when seen beside her husband. But as he watched, she reached up and rubbed a bit at her forehead with a small frown on her face. 'Hopefully, she's not getting a headache or something.' Sharking off that though, his eye was drawn more to the small table beside him now. What was on that table made his smile grow as there were various items there.

While they were still somewhat confused by the idea of what a birthday really was, Hoppou's daughters and such did try their best. And that included presents of various sorts which were in a pile on a table. There were seashells, rocks that sparkled, and sea glass. Even some carvings of driftwood were there as was a necklace of shark teeth that had been given by one of Sunny's Cruisers. According to her, she had kept them from sharks that they had wrestled and eaten. More because they had nothing better to do with them then anything else. Hence, making a necklace of them. Yes, they were not huge or expensive gifts...

But he loved the gifts all the same with him wearing the shark tooth necklace at the moment.

Part of him did wonder though about one thing. After his arrival, Tanith and the others had arrived and asked him and Hoppou if they could borrow his bracelet for a time. He, himself had been confused. On the other hand though, Hoppou had been all for it and so he had given them the bracelet. When she had nodded though with a knowing look, Harry handed the bracelet over to them easily and watched as they walked off with it.

It has not been until the party was well underway that they returned, though they had not given back the bracelet. At seeing how Hoppou was not worried though, Harry shoved it from his mind. After all, she would not let anything happen to a present that she had helped make for him. Just then though, he noticed that the group of Princesses and Demons had walked up to him and their fleets had turned towards them. Getting up, Harry accepted hugs from them all. "Thanks."

Nodding slowly, Tanith gave him a small smile. "You are very welcome... Uncle Harry." She then paused and shared a look with the other Abyssal Princesses and Demons from the Fleet of Laughter. All of them nodded back at her and she reached into her hold. "We too, have... a gift for you."

Somewhat confused, Harry looked at Hoppou who brightly smiled up at him. When he turned back to them, he gave them a smile. "Thanks, though you really didn't have to. Just enjoying my birthday with family is enough."

Needless to say, that got him a large number of happy looks from the others there. However, Tanith just smiled and produced his bracelet and held it out. "Still, we felt that... more was needed... Uncle Harry. Hence we did... some work that... mother showed us how to do."

Eyebrow raised, Harry took the bracelet and looked it over before his eyebrows raised in surprise. Before, the bracelet was mostly made up of a triple helix style. However, other bands of Abyssal metal had been added to it. After a few moments, Harry looked up at them in surprise. "Does this mean...?"

Hands behind her head, Sunny grinned. "Yeah, we added the IFFs for our various fleets from it. Sure, you already kind of had it since Mom made you 'Demon' rank. But..." Shrugging, she continued. "For mine and the other Demons, you'd rank as Flagship, while Tanith and the other Princesses all have you as a Demon according to that. Just if we get close to you."

Jumping in place, Aeroprin grinned. "Same with my fleet, Uncle Harry! You're a Demon! A Demon!"

Lips twitching a bit at what they said, Harry gave them all a teary smile. "Thanks you bunch." Giving each one of them a tight hug, the wizard then pulled back and slowly slipped the bracelet back on. Like before it fit perfectly, though he noticed more then one pair of eyes widen once it was fully on. But then there were smiles all around him at feeling his now personal IFF on their sensors. "I really, really appreciate this."

Moments later, he laughed a bit as he was suddenly pulled into a group hug while Sunny laughed. "And we appreciate having the best Uncle that we could!"

A bit squished, Ritou gave an eyeroll and a sardonic smile to Harry. "What Sunny said." Shrugging, she winked at him. "Besides, this just makes the whole thing official."

Brightly smiling, the black haired boy just laughed and hugged them all back best that he could while enjoying his birthday with his family.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing on the end of the island overlooking the island, the young woman puffed on a cigarette before turning. "So are there any issues with the people coming in? At all?"

Hands in his cloak's pockets to ward off some of the early chill, the man shook his head. "None to be honest, Miranda. It's moving a lot smoother then we expected, we already got the areas needed warded, so the ICW cannot complain about that, nor can MACUSA. The first number started arriving..." Pulling out a pocket watch, he flipped it open before nodding. "About an hour ago."

Eyebrow raised, Miranda made an impressed sound. "Still, that is amazing if you don't mind me saying so, John."

Now shrugging, the man chuckled. "Not that impressive. We have been planning this out for a year now." Scratching his chin, he glanced to where one could barely see the barest beginnings of a glow. "It's not the Quidditch World Cup mind you, but its not going to be small with us trying to get about forty thousand magicals into areas of the city for three days. And that is on top of the two thousand that already live here since the war started."

Frowning, the other person did a number of calculations in her head. "Is there enough room for them? With all the places that you're hiding them?"

With a snort, John smirked. "Well, there is the Halifax Nor'Easters Quidditch Stadium out in Sackville which is going to be running games with teams across Canada. So there's going to be a number there. Then there's the other venues such as the concerts that the Ministry of Magic is running across the city. There's even the old tunnels that have been widened into the local magical district."

Only shaking her head, Miranda chuckled some. "Hard to believe that those rumors were true. Or that the only reason people haven't proven them was that you bunch went and hid them."

Considering her, John frowned a bit before glancing back at the harbor. Even from where he is, the shapes of shipgirls out on patrol could be easily seen. "What about on your end? Is everything working out?"

After a moment, Miranda sucked in a breath which caused the end of her cigarette to glow in the pre-dawn darkness. "So far, so good. All the trains and trucks have arrived and dropped off what they need to in warehouses across the city as well as yards. Each one marked and placed as best we could. Even brought in a number of ships now in the Basin. We also got a load of events all across the city as well." At the look, she smirked. "We're listing it as being under celebrations for the War of 1812 anniversary."

Eyes rolling, the wizard snorted. "Because of course you No-Majs are." Then he gained a smirk of his own. "Not that we're any different as we're doing the same. That it tweaks the noses of MACUSA is just a bonus."

For several moments, the two were quiet with only the lapping of the waves before she frowned. "Acadia is also heading back for the three days needed. She is not exactly happy, but... she can follow orders. And I am sure that the old girl has an idea or two as to what may be going on."

Chuckles made them turn to see a third person there who was sitting on a rock. Dressed in the traditional outfit of the local Mi'kmaq, the man smoked from a pipe with the glowing coals showing a face both youthful and yet old with experience. Smiling, the man shook his head. "Acadia is a wise one, no doubt. I would hazard to say that you are wrong... She knows exactly what is going to happen."

Raising an eyebrow, John looked at him. "Oh? And why do you say that?"

It was almost a minute before the man answered and he gestured out at the harbor. "Because, this harbor is Acadia's as much as she is Jipugtug's. It whispers to her softly every time she heads out on it. The tides are to her heartbeat. Jipugtug welcomes her every time she returns and cries with her when she is sad. This is her home, and she is told when she is needed, as she was that dark day years ago."

While John was rather bemused, Miranda was thoughtful. "Is that why?" When they turned to her, she continued. "The first day of Blood Week, one of the things that happened was one of those Abyssal Q-ships arriving in the harbor when panic set in and then revealing itself to blast at the city. I saw the reports, Acadia's hull stormed out from where it was and ghostly guns appeared on her before she blasted it just as it was about to shell the city. It should have been impossible for her to win that fight, but she did, as she did later as a shipgirl during the Second Battle of Devil's Island when she killed that Pre-Dread." Looking at a surprised John, she shook her head. "Acadia led it into shallow water before dropping some depth charges right below and breaking the Abyssal's keel. Then she finished it off with a few shots to the turrets causing its magazine to go up."

Choking, John boggled at her. "Say what!?"

However, the Mi'kmaq man just laughed. "Yes, that does sound like her. She is a survivor, and as I said, the Harbour will protect her as she does it." Musing, he leaned forward slightly. "The Heart of a Battleship beats within her chest despite her size."

Both Miranda and John shared a look at that before they turned back to the man. One of the major reasons he was there was due to being the 'Advisor' who helped Canada crack the way to summon their own ships during the early months of the war. "You sure that this will work though?"

Puffing a bit, the Mi'kmaq man removed his pipe and gave them both a grin as his eyes seemed to twinkle. Eyes that also seemed to hold so much knowledge that neither of the two could be sure how much the man knew forgotten by everyone else. "It will work, you can trust me on that. Believe in it and it will come true." Once more placing his pipe between his lips, he got up and patted himself off. "Now then, I have places to be for now and people to gather for what is going to happen. A good day to the two of you."

With that, he walked off and seemingly vanished among the woods to both Lauren's and John's confusion. As usual when the other man did that, Miranda turned to John with a frown on her face. "Do you have any idea how he does that?"

All John did though was shake his head and scratch his hair. "Not a clue. Its not portkey nor apparation. He just sorts of... vanishes." Shrugging, he turned back to her. "I should be going myself though, we got a lot to do. Hopefully it works though."

Miranda shook her head with a smile. "I'll just believe that it will work, like he said. And he hasn't steered anyone wrong yet. Besides... it works or it doesn't. If it does, then it helps out in a big way. And if it doesn't? We have a better idea of what will be needed."

Simply watching as she pulled out the cigarette and snuffs it out, John shakes his head some while she places it into a can nearby. "I still don't understand how you No-Majs can use those. They'll going to kill you one day."

Just laughing, Miranda shook her head. "Not like the Abyssals have tried." Reaching down, she knocked against her leg which created an artificial sound. "And they failed. See you after the attempt, John."

Only nodding, John smiled a bit. "See you then, and remember that you owe me a breakfast if it does work."

Getting a wave, he twisted on the spot and disappeared with a pop. Miranda meanwhile headed towards the nearby wharf where she would hop onto a patrol boat to head back to the town proper.

Out on George's Island, a group of Sea Cadets watched as one of their members finished the hole that they had dug there. Wiping some sweat from his brow, the young man was helped from the hole before saluting the RCN Lieutenant that had accompanied them. "Sir! Is the hole good enough?"

Leaning over, the Lieutenant nodded some before smiling. "It is, Cadet. Now put that barrel inside there and bury it. We've been ordered to have this done by dawn."

With a shared look, the group of cadets shrugged. Then, they went back to their boat and hauled out a barrel with something sloshing around inside of it. More then one of them privately wondered what was so important in the barrel and why they were burying it on the island. At least one though swore that she could see a slight glow around it. But soon enough, the earth was placed on top of it right where the old careening beach had been. There was a second emplaced inside of the fort itself before they left.

Unknown to them, similar small barrels were emplaced at various historical points across Halifax. The fortifications on MacNab's Island, Citadel Hill, and the York Redoubt also joined Georges Island with having similar, small barrels buried as was Point Pleasant Park, Pier 21, the old Clock Tower, and others.

After the last was emplaced, more then a few felt the hairs on the back of their necks prickle and if they listened closely, there was a hum coming from the barrels below which contained the same fluid as found with Habakkuk and the others. And as the Sun rose, Halifax prepared to begin celebrating Natal Day weekend, three days of celebration...

 

[darthcourt10]

Admiral Pendulum

QUEEN OF SPEED

May 10th, 2013, 03:00 Central US time


An arm reached out from the covers to hit the snooze button on the alarm clock that seemed be just out of reach despite extending forward a bit. The individual forced themselves to get up to still hit the sacred button that brought another 15 minutes of silence. After another few attempts a feminine voice groaned exhaustedly.

"...Guys just another hour or two, I was up late with another band going through another collaboration idea…"

Illinois cast her sleepy, amethyst gaze to the fairies that were tasked with keeping her alarm clock out of reach. They were dressed with turn of the century naval uniforms and both shook their heads, keeping with their orders Illinois had issued a few hours ago. A loud yawn came from the natural born as she stretched, the sound of metal groaning and popping followed as her crew members quickly made their way back aboard her in the interim. The ship actress went into autopilot while internally attending the morning briefing once all her fairies were present.

"So aside from the almost all nighter with Too Many Zooz, what do we have today?"

Externally, the apparent twenty year old stripped before she got the shower going. Half-lidded violet eyes bore into the bathroom mirror that presented the reflection of her mass of an unkempt hair and the ever so light shadow under her eyelids. A feature that forced the pseudo-shipgirl to use a good deal of eyeliner to mask it when in the public eye. She was the great lakes battleship Illinois, and spokeswoman for the US Navy in the region.

Internally though, the visage of the former Civil War Navy Lieutenant, Richard Worsam Meade III spoke up under the dim glow of archaic electric lights as he stepped forward. Her only commanding officer was strangely among the first to join her in the weird limbo between dismantlement and awakening due to his appendicitis only several years after taking command of her.

"Well, your schedule has quite a few openings. Next week will have the Chicago Housing Department going through for their semi-annual inspection to ensure the home is still structurally sound and we will need to ensure clear paths to any internal appliances that they will also be inspecting at that time as well. Generally you use free time like this to mill about the 'L' for potential musical collaborations, inspiration for your music, or performance for the Navy."

Illinois nodded as she enjoyed a bowl of cornflakes while externally she began to wash herself.

"Thank you Commodore Meade. Lieutenant Commander Taussig?"

Lieutenant commander Edward D. Taussig stepped forward. Illinois still found it odd that the man who was a veteran of not only the Civil War like her CO, but also of the Spanish-American, and First World War decided to take her of all ships up her request for being her XO, especially with having the dock in rank from rear admiral to Lt. Commander while on her decks, much as Meade had to do.

"Ma'am?"

Lt. Taussig stood next to Commodore Meade, in his left hand he held one of Illinois' log books.

"Since we all are running bereft of a sound night's sleep, do the logs indicate when I placed my order for Vinyls at Reckless Records?"

Both officers resisted the urge to roll their eyes at their ship. She was an Audiophile and had been releasing Electro-Swing and other electronic-genres under various aliases, some of which had already garnered a decent amount of popularity domestically and signs in Europe showed that the first few months had also seen much the same as well.

Taussig looked through the logs and nodded as he cast his gaze once more to the shipgirl.

"Purchase was made the 3rd of May at 09:32. Vinyl totaling $487.81 including shipping, handling, and sales tax, however they will not be opening until nine o'clock."

The Fauxtlleship nodded as she swallowed another mouthful of breakfast. Externally, the shower was turned off and a towel run through her hip-length raven hair.

"It should be in at Reckless this morning then. What's our budget so far in terms of disposable income?"

The Natural born's break-even lifestyle had been a thorn in her crew's side for a long while. Money that didn't go towards work on her home on Navy Pier, buying equipment, music, or enough food to skirt by was quietly donated to military charities and public works projects to aid those who lost their homes, livelihoods, and/or loved ones in the first global war of the twenty-first century. However Meade and his charges needed to apply Theodore Roosevelt's motto.

"$132.63 for the remainder of May. Your Vinyl purchases last month bled over to this month and resigned your groceries to solely instant ramen, a single jar of peanut butter, and a few chemical treatments for the barrels you have collecting rain for fresh water. Once more, this isn't something you can run on for too long and passing rations off to the shelters. While commendable for your spirit of charitably, Medusa has given you warning that continued work under these conditions will have you bound to a wheelchair."

Meade turned to Taussig, his second in command gave a node in the affirmative.

"If you intend to continue on like this we will be forced to intervene so as not to put you in a position that renders you unable to function in your post."

The Ravenette's eyes narrowed both internally and externally. Her crew was seriously considering a mutiny, again. The last time that happened she found over 500 dollars had gone missing and to some seed investment company in Japan no less. The investment account was placed under a password only her CO and XO knew, and that meant it was there for as long as the deemed fit. As such, she took the threat seriously and pushed her bowl of cornflakes aside to give her undivided attention to her crew.

"Suggestions other than adding money to that fund you forced me to set up?"

Meade sighed and rubbed his temples.

"We ask for a little more given to food and reserving rations for yourself. Figuring in shore leave you've accrued would also help you get a restful night's sleep for the first time in nearly two years."

Illinois laced her fingers together in thought.

"I will give it more consideration. However, that will need to wait until August, pending any extremely rare offers from other artists pop up."

One of her crew spoke up from behind the two officers.

"You mean like snoopy?"

The natural born couldn't help but crack a smile. The sailor was referring to the collaboration with the one-and-only Snoop Dogg. Naval Hizztory presented pre-20th century US naval warfare in a similar but far longer format that followed in the footsteps of Plizzanet Earth. One that had posted the month prior with the meme of Benedict Arnold as W-Dogg's Snitch gained fame and infamy on SGO depending on who took it seriously or not. Illinois privately apologized to the admins and promised to give a warning a month in advance of the next episode posting to publicly.

"Yes, like snoopy, but now we need get ready for the day."


The natural born quickly dressed her lithe frame with baggy clothing to better obscure her identity and keep her crew warm from the early morning breeze that gave Chicago its name of the 'Windy City'. The commuter rush that was soon to be in full swing would show some of the City's busking scene for inspiration and future opportunities for working with other musicians. It was one reason she disguised herself, she wanted the spotlight on the musicians, not herself.

The hours wore on until having racked up at least the full length of the Blue and Orange line at that point. When sunrise came she snapped her head towards her home on Navy Pier in the southeast. Her bell was rung by a few of her landside crew, a sort of morning ritual that occured only when the sun rose and its rays gleamed on the brass artifact that was the sole surviving piece of Illinois' hull. It also served as a signal for the neighboring Smith Stained Glass museum to push a bit more forward in getting ready to open up.

As she was thinking, she was alerted by her crew in her berret to the presence of another ship girl, a blonde with green eyes and a face full of freckles that certainly gave her the appearance of a country girl. Given the battleship's name that wasn't entirely inaccurate if she wasn't a summons. Like Illinois, she wore baggy clothing and a pair of dark shades. Her headgear of choice however was a simple baseball cap from the Indianapolis Children's museum.

"So Illy, any clue when that next video is dropping?"

Indiana kept her voice low, both the Fauxtlleship and Green-water Battleship lacked radio transmitters as the research for equipping pre-first-world-war ship girls with radio was quite slow going given their crews were in some cases barely literate in the first place, let alone confident in using these 'new-fangled sound boxes'.

"We haven't even shot the next episode yet, You'll be one of the first to know provided you don't go hyping SGO."

Illinois' half sister nodded slightly as the train began to rapidly decelerate for Addison station. The early dawn light lighting up the very edge of Wrigley Field. The evening would see the stadium filled with humans and ship girls alike rooting for their teams. Tonight the game was the Chicago Cubs against the New York Yankees. The former was off to another promising start towards the world series that had eluded them since Indiana was still sailing as a steel hull.

"I've heard that if the cubbies make it to the finals, you'll be requested to help with any fireworks displays with your two name buddies and the three Chicagos."

Illinois' smile brightened a bit at that, she wasn't too much into baseball, but she couldn't help but feel proud for the city she called home.

"As well as take a herd of goats in Wrigley to help sate that curse."

The Fauxtlleship turned her head with near mechanical precision and gave her half-sister a glare before both started to laugh. Given some of the destroyers were still all for animals, It wouldn't be too hard to rope a few of them into helping keep any of the unruly hooved creatures in line considering a destroyer's speed and strength-to-weight ratio.

As they chatted, the train the pair of shipgirls were on quickly made its way on the downgrade and Southeast turn after Armatage. It was here that the line quickly went from an elevated railroad to a subway under the heart of Chicago. Following under Clybourne Avenue, Division Street, And State Street as it made haste along the route. A bell sounded over the car's speakers as the train began to decelerate breaking the two from their conversation.

{"Lake Street, please keep belongings clear of and allow those departing access to the car doors. Now arriving at Lake Street."}

Illinois gave her half sister a hug after the conductor went off of the PA system

"Try not to let the Kamikaze sisters be too rambunctious."

"I'll Try not to Illy!"

The Ravenette exited the train, onto the bustling platform. The Red Line was the most busy corridor on the CTA's L, the influx of those wanting to have a beach Vacation without the worry of an abyssal attack only added to the traffic. As she passed there were several railfans getting onto the train she left, most likely out and about for national Train Day activities. The Fauxtlleship went through the turnstiles she had her crew resync her onboard Chronometerers with the clock as she passed…

08:24 Central US time

It would be about the perfect timing for her to reach Reckless precisely when the doors opened. As she rounded the corner of the Pedway door, smacking straight into a lanky young man with gauged ears, nose ring, and black Carcass shirt with Jeans that had holes in their knees.

"Motherfucker!"

Josh grasped his hand as if it had hit a brick wall before his angered gaze latched onto the actress ship girl, fully intending to tear whoever wasn't paying attention to what was in front of them. However his anger was cooled once he recognized who he ran into.

Even Josh knew he was an asshole, but there was a difference between that and outright throwing someone to the sharks… especially if said someone was one of his favorite non-metal artists. Almost immediately there were individuals who also recognized the actress battleship, and reached for their smartphones to grab a picture. No doubt some wanted to cash a few in to the tabloids.

And thus Josh helped by throwing an unused novelty handkerchief… With a rather offensive image of a stick figure flipping the bird. Said figure wore a pair of boxer-briefs with a dark spot of perspiration in the groin area. The caption that followed would certainly make any mother of young children upset if they saw it: "Go fuck yourself Dickhead, It's hot as Balls out here!" Any tabloid-worthy shots to confirm Illinois' Identity beyond here-say were ruined. Adding insult to injury was Josh keeping his left middle finger raised in front of his face while helping Illinois up with his right hand.

"Seriously people? I'm pretty fucking sure that I'm one of the biggest assholes out of the shithole called South Bend, but you retards think it's more important to get a shot of a girl who accidentally ran onto some otherwise random schmuck off the streets than to help her off the concrete that's covered with pidgeon shit and gum you fucks spat out!"

Illinois was rather taken aback, not only by what was currently on her head, but also this High school senior's language and intensity. However she now had the opportunity to make an escape to the loop and get anywhere but the fresh hell that was the scene starting to appear. Her records could wait for a few days.

The Fauxtlleship was then taken along by the random stranger to give her a chance to vanish or at least hide for a bit in the back of the store.Coincidentally, it was also where he and the shipgirl were bound for prior to their collision. Illinois quickly took off what was in her head and promptly did a double-take upon seeing the image and text with a blush that her raven hair thankfully obscured externally. Internally however, a few of her crew would be in charge of scrubbing duties for the next week at the raucous howling laughter that was unbefitting of those who were to be the public face of the navy… would being the keyword as both Commodore and Lieutenant were among those trying to catch their breath.

When the pair finally arrived at the door, Josh gave a few heavy pounds on the entryway frame to get the attention of anyone inside still getting ready to open for the day.

"Be there in a few minutes!"

The man who appeared from the backroom would have had an uncanny resemblance to the high school senior if Josh decided to bulk up a bit and make frequent trips to the gym.

"Well looks like the little broski found himself a girlfriend!"

The young man rolled his eyes at his elder sibling.

"Fuck you too Gerald, She needs to lie low for a bit until things calm down a bit and Paparazzi decide to piss off."

The brawny man was about to bust his younger brother's chops a bit more before the mention of Paparazzi came into the figurative light. A few more moments passed as he looked more closely at the woman before realizing who it was.

"O-Oh! Yeah totally cool with that bro. I'm pretty sure Greg would have a shitfit if I threw her to the wolves."

Sighing with relief the ship girl removed her glasses and beret as she headed back behind the counter.

"Speaking of, Where is he?"

The elder brother winced as he spoke.

"Food poisoning, he texted an hour ago was almost glued to the toilet for the Majority of last night."

Josh sucked in a bit of air through his teeth as he grimaced sympathetically.

"Take it that's why you're late getting this place up and kicking today?"

Gerald yanked his brother into a headlock before giving him a noogie as he spoke.

"Who said Illinois was sticking around for free? I need some help too after all. Friday's are busy with the four-day-work-week crowd getting orders in for pickup."

As the two wrestled for a bit, Illinois had some of her fairies scout about for the myriad of records she had ordered.

"I'd be willing to help out if you don't mind me taking a discount copy of Alice Coltrane's Lord of Lords for free?"

The price on the vinyl was given at $4.99 due to the minor water damage on the sheath.

"There's a bit of damage on one of the tracks. Previous owner probably scuffed it when yanking it out of the player. Not surprising given the condition of the cover. But sure, We could use some help."

On cue the actress battleship had some of her crew hop off and begin to move items about. Store merchandise, records, CDs, Cassettes. Most impressive to the brothers though was how a quartet of these entities were able to move a full shelf of CDs weighing around 700 pounds despite being able to fit two to a palm without trouble.

"So you're the real deal then? A ship girl."

Illinois gaze turned to Gerald and nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I can't fight though like my half sisters… I was only built to get around the Rush-Bagot treaty, Aka no warships above 100 tons allowed in the Great Lakes."

Josh piped up with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

"Bullshit, there's plenty of you girls out there and the news even said that one destroyer is like ten times that."

Illinois sighed, it was a very frequent question and due to her entire existence being owed to the aforementioned arms limitation treaty

"Fifty years after I was built the treaty was stretched to allow training of naval forces during World war two. It still happens today, but we have to notify Canada and vice versa if we are doing training sessions. Plus, Smugglers post 9/11 left a bit of a brown stain on SecDef's office chair so we do have smaller armed ships from the local law enforcement and, prior to Blood Week, the Coastguard."

The Ravenette gave both a flat look of mild irritation at the brothers as her fairies continued to work.

"I know it seems as though I am doing absolutely nothing but My crew still have human endurance, and it would be awkward if we had one of them working the register."

Gerald leaned a back a bit to peer through the doorway between the back storage room and the actual store. No less than five customers were already waiting.

"Shit… come on pipsqueak, we've got work to do."

The highschool senior began to shout expletives as he was yanked along by the back of his shirt while Illinois open and closed her hand in a good-bye gesture as she was left to her work in relative safety from the paparazzi. Internally, working on her next piece as her crew gave each other knowing looks but remained silently moving things about. As needed for customers picking up and purchasing on the spot.

"A very interesting morning… Only now I need to find a way home now that the shutterbugs have my scent."

The ravenette's phone promptly dingged as she looked at the message in brief, her smile widened a bit at who it was sent from. The actress had to bite her lip nearly hard enough to draw oil so as not to bust out laughing at the question, it was certainly shaping up to be an interesting day for nothing planned.

S.Dogg: Yo Illy-G, what you say we get that next episode shot in two months. One y'all ship's said somethin' about barbers??? They do dredds'n shit?

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

AN:
A special shoutout to Reckless records in Chicago, great place to pick up lightly used Vinyl, CDs, or Cassettes. As well as to @Kiyone4ever for bringing up Illinois existence in their Actress ship snips. This snip certainly wouldn't have been here if it weren't for them, well, at least not penned by me.

 

[darthcourt10]

Dances in Shadows

I tried to get one of you to write it, but no one would take the bait. So you only have yourselves to blame.
(This takes place in the near future, Just after Harry returns to Hogwarts.)

----------------------------------------------------
Dungeons and Dragons and Shipgirls.
----------------------------------------------------
Part 1. Preparations.
----------------------------------------------------

Nagato bowed as she realized that she was returning to the waking world. "Thank you... and it has been an honor." Nearly concealed in the fog, Lily returned the bow. "You're welcome, and the honor was mine. Just keep looking after our son, Merlin knows he'll need it." Before she fully vanished into the deepening mists , she said one last bit that confused the battleship. "By the way... you should play Dungeons and Dragons some time, you might learn a few things."

"Alright have you all finished your character sheets?"

Snapping out of her reverie, Nagato returned her attention back to the matter at hand. Sure it had taken more than a year to arrange for it, but tonight they were going to follow Lily's advice.

Reaching into her hold she removed a sheet of paper and handed it to one of Ooyodo's crewmen who was politely waiting. With a crisp salute he turned to gather the rest of the group's sheets. Tenryuu was first, and surprisingly had been the most eager to accept her invitation. When questioned on it she had simply stated that "playing at the request of a ghost sounds pretty bad-ass". Next was Naka, who thankfully had agreed not to take video or stream the game. While grateful for this, Nagato was fairly certain that a play-by-play of some sort would be on SGO later that evening. Finally the crewman reached Junyou who took a moment to finish her drink before handing hers over.

"Thank you again for taking the time to run this for us, I know how busy you have been lately."

The secretary ship looked up from her notes on the other side of the two kotatsu they had pushed together to play on. "Its not a problem. Besides, I found the material to be rather interesting and well thought out." Gesturing to a binder of notes next to her she continued. "Could have been better organized though."

"Now lets see here. Naka I see you went with a halfling rogue?"

"That's right, Kana Light-foot con-women and thief extraordinaire!"

"Tenryuu your playing Throm Bloodbane, half orc barbarian?"

"Fuck yeah! Rage and Battleaxes are the only way to go."

"Right...Nagato your a human wizard named....Harriet Canner? Really?"

"I thought it was appropriate. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, no its fine...Junyou your playing a Dwarven cleric?...who has no name apparently."

"Oh its....Brunhilde...Lager...Fist?"

"..."

"Alright if you all can get your dice and miniatures ready while I finish taking some notes here."

Placing her hand down on the white board they had placed on the table, a fairy dressed in a hooded crimson robe slid out of Nagato's sleeve. At first they had planned to use tokens to represent their characters until one of Naka's crewmen had volunteered to serve as her miniature. After that several other crewmen had made similar offers.

Placing her own hand down a crewman in a felt thief's outfit came out of Naka's sleeve carrying a small black coin-purse. A second crewman joined him carrying a small plexiglass box, bringing it over to their robed counterpart.

"Hope those work for you. Nice wizard robes by the way, you make those yourself?"

Poring out the green and white swirled dice Nagato smiles. "Thank you and no, Rose made it up for me."

Further down the table Tenryuu's barbarian looked rapidly between the wizard and rogue before sighing. His tinfoil armor and popsicle stick battleaxe suddenly feeling less impressive to him than before. "Dess...."

"Don t give me that! And stand tall, Throm Bloodbane envies no man. We can ask Rose to make you some armor later."

Junyou's cleric soon joined them on the table, dressed in some rather familiar looking white robes adorned with red triangles. "Perhaps Harry or Hoppou would be a better choice for metal armor?"

"Not a bad idea, besides you never start in the good armor, gotta work your way up to it"

Popping open a bottle of ramune Naka shifts in her seat. "Alright I believe we are ready. So what is the name of our campaign?"

"I ended up going with one Haru suggested actually, Its called Rappan Athuk"



To Be Continued?

 

[darthcourt10]

RBomber

Repost all my Tabletop Shenanigans snippet from SV. Except mentioned otherwise, the DM is Revina.

No, it didn't goes !!FUN!! like you think.

****

----

"In the middle of their journey, the heroes, forced by a storm, taken shelter in a cave-"

"Revina?"

"Yes?"

"...Why the table has miniature thunderstorm in the top of it?"

"Immersion."

----

"Revina?"

"Yes?"

"Why you allow Hoppou to take a persuasion roll?"

"...She wants those Gnolls?"

"But she doesn't even have the required skill-"

"Now she has. Houserules."

"...."

----

"Revina?"

"...Yes?"

"Tarrasque are supposed to be unstoppable-"

"Because Hoppou wants it, and she had the feat to do so. 5 turns ago."

"Well, that's kinda broke the game, isn'it? I mean, she had, like, 50 monsters by now and we rarely had fighting at all!"

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"... Then you tell her. Ask her to not tame the Tarrasque."

"...Hoppou-"

[Hoppou rolls a Saving Throw]

[Hoppou gets +15 bonus of Sad Pleading eyes and +8 for Innocent Little Sister]

[Hoppou succeeded Saving Throw]

"...You know what? We play this for fun anyway."

"Told you so."

-----

"The Admiral of Bards had successful roll! Greater Heroism now performed!"

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"


-----

"Why I can't be an Idol?! Why it's against rules?!"

"Well, I already tell you to take Bard class-"

"But their spells and stats suck-"

"Utility skills never sucks, despite what Internet told you. Looks at Duckies or Inazuma-"

"But why I can't even sing? Or speak?"

"You took Mute attribute-"

"...The Stealth Bonus is too nice to pass...."

"Then you can branch to Geisha or Ninja, you took ninja-"

"I'M NOT PROSTITUTE!"

"Some Geisha aren't providing that kind of service, y'know. Also, they required Instrument Training to qualify...."

"Geisha aren't Idol!"

"True, but most Bard aren't Enka Performer, either."

"...."

"...."

"...I ...I ...*sob* How can I screw up so badly *sob*"

[Nice!Revina throws a roll!]

[+10 from Pure Maiden Anquish!]

[+10 from Pleading Friend!]

[Roll Success!]

"...Look, if this is that important to you, let me think of something. Maybe Feat to modify Mute, at least-"

"OH THANK YOU!"

In a hug, Revina decides, there are many worse things than houseruling a friend. Or a friend of a friend.

----

 

[darthcourt10]

Weaver

A/N: Inspiration stuck so I wrote. Am not entirely happy with the result, mostly because I had to leave some things vague due to having insufficient familiarity with RN command structure to know who'd be in charge of a small but still important base.
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Another day, another summoning and as always everyone present was hoping but not really expecting that this would be the one that broke the "curse" the base had and got them something bigger than a frigate.

The first sign they had that things weren't going to go as usual was when the vanishing of the summoning materials was swiftly followed by a voice speaking up from the summoning pool.

"What the hell?"

The girl who'd spoken was (yet another) frigate and looked even more bewildered than new summons usually did. Noticing the officer looking at her she blushed before hastily saluting.

"Apology for my outburst sir. I was taken by surprise and forget myself for a moment since the last I remember I was at sea. HMS Plym at your service."

As soon as she identified herself a number of those present visibly stiffened, their faces paling as a sharper and more immediate version of the dread that some of them had felt every time there had been an Abyssal attack before the nearby power station had been decommissioned settled in their stomachs. The senior officer present found his tongue first.

"HMS Plym."

"Yes sir?"

"Do you remember where you were before you arrived here?"

"Yes sir, Monte Bello sir."

"Is what was inside your hull at Monte Bello still there?"

Something in the frigate's expression and posture tightened.

"Yes sir."

"Is it going to go off?"

There was a fraction of a second's pause that seemed to go on forever before Plym relaxed ever so slightly.

"No sir. It's been deactivated."

The relief that followed that statement was palpable as everyone in the room who knew about HMS Plym started breathing again.

The commanding officer gave orders that the frigate was to be made comfortable and have the current situation explained to her but that she wasn't allowed out of the building and was to remain under supervision at all times, along with informing everyone that what had happened was not to leave the room until further notice. Then he hurried to his office. He had some urgent phonecalls to make.

 

[darthcourt10]

Harry Leferts

Standing in front of the crowd of people, the young woman clapped her hands as in the distance loud music could be heard. The source of which was Alderney Landing which was having a public concert. "Welcome, everyone to this tour of the Dartmouth Marine Slips. I hope that you have all been enjoying the Natal Day Weekend celebrations and want to thank you for coming. Now, due to the activity here this is only a short tour and we won't be entering any work areas. If you'll follow me?" As they did so, she continued. "Now, the Dartmouth Marine Slips are quite old and were constructed in 1859. They used the Chebucto Marine Railway here to haul ships up out of the water for repairs. There was also the fact that Dartmouth Cove, where the Marine Slips sit, was one end of the Shubenacadie Canal so it would serve any ships needing it that came through."

One of the people there, an older woman, raised her hand. "So it was used by the Royal Navy back then?"

Nodding, the guide hummed some. "As a matter of fact, yes. An interesting fact though was that the facility was also used during the American Civil War by blockade runners repairing their vessels here in Halifax for the duration of the war. But the heaviest use was during the Second World War with the Battle of the Atlantic. During that time, the facility worked around the clock, twenty four seven to repair Merchant Marine vessels as well as Naval Escorts. In fact, the Flower class Corvettes were often here." Gesturing behind her, she shook her head. "And as you can see, those of us here at the Dartmouth Marine Slips have continued that. Behind me is the HMS Robin, one of the Royal Navy's current Black Swan class Sloops, which is being repaired from minor damage due to an Abyssal attack on a convoy."

For several minutes she continued with the history before pointing at a teenaged boy there. "I got a question for you. Mom said that this place closed years ago, but was bought back? Is that true?"

With a sigh, the guide nodded. "Sadly yes. Irving bought the Marine Slips back in the 1990s. Despite it working well for smaller ships and to service the oil rigs, Irving closed the facility in 2003 and sold the land to a real estate developer. From what I have been told, he was going to develop it into condos and a marina. At the time it was rather controversial due to events happening out on the sea. The damages ships took and disappearances."

One of the men snorted some. "You mean the Abyssals."

After a moment, she gave a nod. "Yes, the Abyssals. Of course, thankfully, no work had been done on the land and the facility was still here in 2005 when Blood Week occurred. The Government of Canada then nationalized the land and handed it over to the Royal Canadian Navy as a repair facility. It was needed after all, what with the damage that the Irving Shipyard here in Halifax took. Since then, it had operated as part of CFB Halifax here on the Dartmouth side, servicing smaller ships such as the Black Swan, LCS, the few remaining Kingston class, and the Orca class patrol boats to name a few."

The tour continued for a couple of minutes before one of the kids noticed a worker coming towards them and his eyes widened. Said worker, besides the normal work clothes, goggles, and overalls had something a bit extra. There was some strange thing on him that included metal struts that ran along his legs as well as a heavy harness. But it was the odd metal arm holding a large device not unlike the Jaws of Life rescue workers used that caught the kid's attention. "Wow...'

Lips twitching, the guide turned to the man and gestured at him. "Everyone? This is Aaron and he's one of the workers here at the Marine Slips. He's taking some time to come over here and meet with us to show off some of the new ways that we're working here."

Waving, he chuckled a bit at the various looks he was getting. "Hello, everyone. Hopefully you're enjoying the tour."

Various replies met him as the people were looking curiously at him. One of the teens in the back raised their hand. "What the heck are you wearing?"

A grin on his face, Aaron crossed his arms and shook his head. "This? I'm wearing one of the industrial exoskeletons that us workers here at the Slips use to do work here. It helps us with the more heavy tools."

One of the young boys there widened his eyes. "Exoskeleton? You mean like with Iron Man!" Expression brightening he looked at his mother. "That is so cool!"

Chuckling Aaron shook his head. "Not quite like Iron Man, though it is pretty cool. For one thing, the exoskeleton is not made for combat. Another is that it is not powered at all, which helps out."

More then a little confused, a young woman raised her hand. "Wait, not powered? How does it work then?"

In reply, the worker took the tool in both hands and moved it, and the metal arm it was attached to above his head. More then one eye widened at that as various adults knew how heavy a tool like that was. For the kids though, it just looked cool. Chuckling, Aaron shot the kids a grin. "A good question, the exoskeleton works by having the structure that you can see take the weight of the heavy industrial tools we use and distribute it evenly across it and then into the ground. What that means is that we can use the tools for a lot longer without needing to take a rest then normal."

Beside him, the guide nodded and gestured as Aaron went into a kneeling pose with the tool held above his head. "Normally, a human can only hold a tool like what you see in front of you for a few minutes in the way he is doing so right now. At best. Five minutes is the average for the strongest workers here. With the exoskeleton assisting them? That can be extended to twenty, thirty minutes or even more. It goes without saying that makes things much more efficient here." Curling her lips, she gestured to the side. "Which is not to say that we don't have powered exoskeletons here, as Rebecca shows."

Almost as one, the crowd turned and gained looks of surprise as a somewhat small woman walked into view with a much bulkier suit then Aaron's. In her case, the various struts and such extended up and over her shoulders with what looked like a battery pack on her back with wires extending from it. But what really caught their attention was how she was holding a chunk of metal that was as long as she was tall and as wide as her body. There was a chain of sorts from one of the struts over her head to the chunk of metal and more then one noticed that a magnet was at the end of the chain. Smiling, Rebecca gave them all a nod. "Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Marine Slips."

Rather amused as people were taking pictures and video of this small woman handling a hunk of metal that even the strongest of men would have had trouble with instead easily, the guide nodded. "Rebecca here is using one of the powered exoskeleton suits that have recently come into use here. As one can see, it is too bulky for true military work and the battery pack she is using lasts about five hours. But it allows for her to carry about sixty kilograms with general ease. Within a few years, we hope to have these capable of handling up to a hundred kilograms."

Both Aaron and Rebecca smiled for the crowd and went into various poses with their exoskeletons. Once the tour group was gone though, Aaron looked around and looked at the guide. "Uh, Amber? Can I ask you something?"

Taking a sip of water from a bottle, Amber raised an eyebrow at him and Rebecca. "If it is about showing off, the bosses cleared it. They want to show off the exoskeletons."

Only shaking his head, Aaron dropped his voice some. "Actually? Its about the MP over in the warehouse, in the corner. Do you have any idea what is under that tarp he's guarding next to that pile of sheet metal and what looks like bricks and mortar? Every time I go past I swear that every hair on my body is standing on end."

Glancing in the direction of the warehouse, Amber leaned towards him. "No, not a clue. All I know is that I've been told it is safe and is for some sort of special project that we'll know the result of soon enough. But seeing as he's got a rifle and does not look like he'll take any crap? I'm not asking too many questions."

With a shared look, Aaron and Rebecca just gave a nod. It was not the first time that they had to deal with secret, military shit after all. Instead, they decided to get ready for the next tour.

Over on Citadel Hill, one of the reenactors walked forward while a crowd watched to one of the cannons on the fort. With great gravitas, he ignited the fuse and there was a loud boom that echoed as the noontime cannon was fired. A small smile was on his face at the claps he got as well as the sight that he could barely see of various people out and about as the town clock continued to tick at the bottom of the hill.

Meanwhile, in Sackville in a hidden area containing a stadium, another event was happening. Various wizards and witches of all ages as well as some non-humans were gathered as two teams walked onto the field. In the announcement booth, one of the two men gathered as the radio sounded off with a boom. "And there is the Noontime Cannon over on Citadel Hill. I'm Greg Smith and here with me is my fellow announcer, Hal Whynacht."

Hal gave a chuckle. "Good to see you again, Greg. And also good to see everyone here on a wonderful Natal Day, 2013. Welcome to the first Quidditch Game of the Natal Day Weekend. We'll be having games all weekend here at Nor'Easter Stadium. And our first game of the event is going to be one heck of a doozie."

Laughing, Greg only shook his head. "That is putting it mildly, Hal. We got the Halifax Nor'Easters against the Saint John Sea Serpents. Only way it could be worse is if it was against the Moncton Whoopers."

Just shaking his head, Hal snorted. "No, that's on Sunday and no doubt it will be brutal when the two meet on the field as per usual. Expect a lot of fouls coming from both Whoopers and Nor'Easters. But the Whoopers will be playing, hopefully, later in the evening against the Montreal Windigos. Ah, and there they go, the game is about to start and the Captains are about to kick off the match. Before they do, we would like to thank one of our sponsors for the events here, Prop's Magical Brewery located in New Minas. Remember, if it's not Prop's, its just slop. If you are legal age, they have a stand here in the Stadium for when you're thirsty. And we have the Captain's shaking hands and... they're off!"

Several moments later cheers and jeers could be heard as the two Maritime teams collided in the match.

Out on the water, two Schooners entered the harbour. Standing on the spar of one of them was a young girl with a pipe in her mouth and a smile. On her decks, various shades made their way here and there while she adjusted her hat. Lightly laughing, she glanced at the other Schooner which was near identical. Besides the fact that the other ship had human crew, another difference was that the girl on the spar there was ghostly. "You seem to be enjoying yourself, m'dear!"

The ghostly girl only giggled some and adjusted her own hat. Somehow, despite the distance the two could hear each other easily as if they were next to each other. "Of course, I am, Mom! Its a lovely day, my refit is all done, and I am back out on the water where I belong! Couldn't be better!"

Pulling the pipe from her mouth, Bluenose I just tapped it out with a small grin before winking at the Bluenose II. "And right you are, my daughter. Right you are!" Watching the approaching waterfront, the Schooner shipgirl only smiled. 'And as always, good to be home in Nova Scotia.'

At the Halifax Commons, the same Mi'kmaq man who had spoken to Miranda and John glanced up. Several seconds after, he smiled with his eyes twinkling before turning back to the group of children that were in front of him as the public concert continued not far off before he continued his tales. And in a small office in part of Halifax, John looked up as several instruments began to make noise and turned his attention on a map of Nova Scotia. There, centered on Halifax Harbor was what looked like a hurricane in miniature.

Rather then composed of storm clouds and rain though, this one was composed of magic and spiritual energy swirling inwards.

Beside John, a machine spat out paper even as the magical storm intensified. Glancing at the paper, he only nodded as it was to be expected with both Bluenoses there. One was Nova Scotia's sailing Ambassador and had been since the 1960s. More then that though was the original Bluenose having summoned her hull. After all, not only was she a symbol of Nova Scotia, but also Canada having her image stamped on the Dime. Turning back to his paperwork, he sipped his coffee with a smile. 'And this is only day one...'