owlmessenger
Parts Guy Extraordinaire
- Location
- New York
Harry And The Shipgirls: Prisoner of Shipping (A HP/KanColle Snippet Collection)
- Thread starter Harry Leferts
- Start date
- Crossover
Kenshō stole the R.
Anything you want me to do about it?
I've liked their chapters though
Mark them form where as AU?
*-*
THat aside the latest lot of chapters have been interesting to hell and back, even if SJ's feel like they should be all merged as bigger chapters
Amused Bystander
Herald of 'She who Umu's' Be Brave!
- Location
- Philippines
Draco severely underestimated just how much Mad Cow was willing to do in her dislike of Natsumi. He won't make that mistake again.
What a fitting analogy.
No buts! Except your own Mad Cow! She forgot about that didn't she?
Indeed it is. Though just not in the way Mad Cow will be thinking.
At least Draco gets to profit off of this.
- Location
- Mountains of Appalachia
I'd say everything after Johnathon comes back from the Abyss is noncanon -- speaking personally. Hide and Yoshi are canon for me IMHO.
Part of that is me writing these while zoned out of my skull on OTC cold medication, and part is that I'm juggling two plot threads for the Carrow gambit (what Draco's doing and what Nimue is up to).
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Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
I'm currently stuck at home with (I pray its not Covid round three starting to gear up) a cold and was really. really. F'ing. bored.
As I'm still debating on whether or not to do another update to THE CHART considering it wasn't exactly liked last time, I figured I'd tinker at another character I hope we'll see soon...ish.
NAPS Temeraire
Also known as HMS Temeraire Weasley (married [DATA CORRUPTED)
(Interwater era Abyssal Te-class, equivalent to a 1920s theoretical refit Bellerophon class, later upgraded prior to Blood Week as one of the earliest Abyssal Ta-class battleships, equivalent to the canceled Lion-class of 1939)
Temeraire was/is a member of Princess Brigid's* Abyssal taskforce operating out of the North Sea and Icelandic region. Initially a member of the near extinct Te-class - named in part for their classship, Terror - which was roughly equivalent to the Royal Navy's Bellerophon class if with some post-WW1 upgrades, such as being originally designed to run on fuel oil rather then the real Bellerophon class which operated on coal. Another was the complete lack of the primary battery 'wing' turrets to port and starboard that the Bellerophon carried. Instead, and possibly thinking ahead to counter the leaps in human aircraft development over the 1970s-1980s, the Te-class would mount ten additional three-inch guns, five to a broadside, between her mast towers. None of these were armored. As likely envisioned, the Te-class would have been second line battleships that intermixed with the heavier Ru-class to provide anti-air cover for them, all while augmenting the main battle line's fire, while the Ru-class concentrated solely on anti-ship/anti-shore duties. Remaining mass savings from the deletion of the wing turrets was used to augment the main armor belt and to upgrade the existing three single-tube torpedo launchers to twin-tube models plus extra reloads for said launchers. This was known to be a deliberate move by North Atlantic in having the Te-class being the ones to deliver the coup de grace via torpedo, to targets 'unworthy' of the main battle line's cannos.
Roughly eighteen months before Blood Week, as Temeraire herself is not certain of the specific datestamp, she was brought before North Atlantic to be heavily refit into the Abyssal's newly created Ta-class of Fast Battleships. As with her closest colleague/friend, Brigid, the process was unnecessarily cruel and prolonged considering other alternatives were easily available as is now known from other allied Elder Princesses (see also: Hoppou, Spice, Wanko). Even in the face of what amounted to nothing more then medical torture, with lengthening of limbs and other sections without being fully put into a drydock 'coma' (the equivalent of not being fully sedated while being operated on, for a Human or Demi-Human), the results were still overwhelmingly successful. While never confirmed, many Abyssal historians have wondered if this and the Be-Class uprating to the Ru-Class, is where the processs which results in the extreme jump from a normal Abyssal to a Demon or Princess, might have originated from. While her closest friend in North Atlantic's fleet, the battleship whom would eventually be known as Battleship Princess, Brigid, also undewent similar modifications. In both cases, while physically the changes were outstanding successes, internally, both Abyssals had begun to not just silently question their liege, but begun a slow burning hatred for their tormentor. Nothing would come of this though due to the Elder's ability to simply dominate any lesser Abyssal, especially those she herself had created/birthed, and as such, Temeraire followed orders as given even if 'in spirit' many were ignored, in a form of malicious compliance.
When news came of North Atlantic's demise to her widely spread fleet, Temeraire was quite possibly the first to realize that many of her sisters were soon to turn to being mortal enemies, especially as ever increasing reports came in of various Abyssals 'evolving' into a step below a true Elder Princess, or into Demons/War Demons - a process previously only granted by an Elder as an award - without need of a higher ranking Abyssal to initiate the evolution. Or how these newly elevated each begun to state 'they' were the true heirs of North Atlantic, or any of the other Elder Princesses' fleets, resulting in what is known as the Abyssal Shattering (note: not to be confused with the Scattering, which were a series of widely spaced, but similar events, that many of those whom eventually became Allied Abyssals underwent when their human-allied Elder Princesses were murdered by their siblings, or the events following the Battle of Dutch Harbor and the near loss of Northern Ocean Elder Princess, Hoppou). Temeraire impressed upon her commander, and closest friend, Brigid, to immediately submerge and head north, following the southeastern Icelandic coast. While openly stating it as using a combination of the twisting coastline and currents to mask their sonar signature, in a private channel between the two Temeraire heavily emphasized on the taskforce's dwindling supplies and how many were in desperate need of repair; North Atlantic having been known for her complete disregard towards damaged inflicted upon her own forces and many within her quickly disintegrating fleet initially were of the same ideal until mounting losses buckled the lines and broke the cohesion between each formation into their own vastly smaller taskforces. Due to their shared prior experiences at North Atlantic's hands, coupled with now being in command of all newly birthed forces that hadn't experienced the deceased Elder Princess' cruelties whom were also confused/blinded as to why they shouldn't keep attacking, Temeraire stood by as Brigid mercilessly decapitated the most outspoken supporter of continuing onwards, a Ri-class Heavy Cruiser, and cowed the rest of the taskforce into following her.
Outwardly, the two seemed to clash often, with Temeraire acting as a coldblooded professional to the more hotblooded Brigid, while behind closed doors, the two worked mostly in lockstep with each other. Temeraire never went higher than an unofficial third in command, while the two used various means to push any truly disloyal challenger(s) into the executive role. Where whenever anything went wrong, they could be held accountable and dealt with as needed. This allowed the taskforce to continuously use underhanded means in expanding, via absorbing smaller fleets and putting one of the most rebellious into the exalted position as second in command, never realizing it put them squarely in place to 'hang themselves with their own dock rope' after failing to live up to expectations the rest of the formation expected. All while keeping the bulk of the newly joined still intact and loyal to Brigid, whom they would see as rightly avenging those squandered by badly given orders, yet while also terrified of Temeraire's outward persona whom was 'obviously' against Brigid, but having never evolved, was so woefully outgunned that she stayed out of 'professional courtesy' alone, rather then risk the open ocean as an independent.
This scenario would play out and last until the events near Northern Ireland which saw a three-way clash between Brigid's' fleet, a group of half-sane ferals, and Royal Navy Shipgirls, which resulted in Bepres' near sinking and abandonment by Temeraire. The two had long colluded about what might occur if one or the other was struck in a such a fashion as to risk the fleet if attempts to 'retrieve' the other (it is notable that in their public logs, they never openly used the words 'rescue' or 'help' when speaking to the other, while privately held documentation about their own inner thoughts proved the exact opposite, showing how close they truly were). If immediate attempts failed, or were stymied by outside forces, the other was to turn away and not look back. Temeraire would be forced to be the one to do so, and while she did send a torpedo salvo back to at least try to mercifully end her friend, the rough seas caused her to miss widely with the torpedoes hitting nothing by the end of their runs. It was at this point Brigid was picked up by the Royal Navy as a prisoner of war, and transferred over to Victoria House, resulting in a series of personal clashes there with Fortified Harbor Princess, Summer and slow change of heart after being repaired at the hands of Ronald Weasley (note: this was years prior to his commissioning into the Royal Navy).
Temeraire herself, in keeping with her publicly known persona, acted as the ruthless enforcer for the new commander of their fleet, a bipolar War Demon whom had joined immediately following the clash and whom Temeraire had suspicions upon having led the ferals to Bepres' location all in order to usurp command without needing to risk herself. Arrogant in the extreme when fully healed, she immediately would turn stern after damages mounted and had been known to use very shady tactics to reach her position in several fleets that had done well for themselves until she came along. Being one to use underhanded techniques herself, and having practiced them for vastly longer, Temeraire could read between the lines as to what was coming. Ordering the oldest, and true loyalists to run under cover of a moonless night, Temeraire stood her ground against the War Demon to buy them time. When the Demon, whom had repaired herself back to full strength by then via co-opting all remaining supplies, faced her and smugly stated that the 'merely uplifted' Ta-class never stood a chance, Temeraire coolly replied that only idiots give the untrusted good supplies, and that she was no idiot. Then sent a radio signal which remotely detonated numerous pallets of C3 explosives that had been mixed in with the supplies, sinking the War Demon on the spot. Rather than stay and deal with the stunned fleetmates whom hated her and/or weren't yet trustworthy enough to have earned her bugout alert, Temeraire dove for the seafloor while the others fought it out to see whom would lead. After being freed from captivity later, and backtracking from her position logs, no satellite look-down records show any Abyssals in that area following heavy cloud cover dissipating three hours later, if however numerous large oil slicks and debris patches were visible. Fifteen of seventeen out of those whom had taken Temeraire's warning and left however, were tracked as leaving the area, and eventually survived to make their way to Abyssinia and service under Empress Porta Abysseum Atlantia. Eleven of them took up duties in the 2020s as permanent staff in Abyssinia's London embassy and regularly meet with Temeraire and Brigid at Victoria House, while the remainder took up Empress Porta's offer of demilitarizing and taking up civilian life.
Temeraire herself, having long learned of the advantages gleamed from intelligence gathering, took it upon herself to finally go solo and took to hiding in plain sight, by moving right up the Scottish coastline and using the terrain - mainly any forested areas near shore - to mask her presence. Imps in their small forms, rather than as near human sized infantrymen, were also used to steal food, newspapers, oil, and other items by which she could both survive and keep track of the war. It was during this that she spotted a reference to what had obviously been Brigid's body being pulled ashore by shipgirls. Initially furious as to the Princess' remains being desecrated by humans, she maintained a cool head and read through the news report more thoroughly and spotted the oddities of how there was a vastly larger guard complement of shipgirls on-site as the 'body' was being taken ashore, along with an extra heavy presence of RAF flying overhead. None of which would have been needed for yet another Abyssal corpse to be autopsied and studied, but were definitely going to be seen as barely adequate by humanity if they'd managed to capture a battleship princess alive. No matter how crippled. For that matter, Temeraire had been suspicious for months that Brigid hadn't sunk, as the last two of her Imps which hadn't made it back to her hull before Temeraire had had to cut the battleship loose, had never reformed upon her hull. Which meant that they, somehow, hadn't gone down with the sinking Abyssal and survived all that time. Previously having been so far out at sea, all she could do was get a vague direction in which they were located, which was somewhere near, or on, the island of Great Britain. Now having practically hid herself on said island, she was able to much more accurately gauge their location, and begun to serendipitously make her way south.
Unfortunately for Temeraire, while her efforts were more than adequate in hiding from conventional detection, she'd been very rapidly spotted by magical Aurors. As this was still well over a year before the Statute of Secrecy started to crack, and nearly two before it shattered with Operation Toho and the MACUSA Abandonment, her location was not passed along to non-magical agencies. Instead, as one of her last acts before her mysterious disappearance, Undersecretary to the Minister Dolores Umbridge, whom had seen the reports, moved to have them delivered into the hands of the Department of Mysteries, rather than trouble the Minister of Magic with such a dilemma. This resulted in three separate, yet vital key points. The first was that the Aurors wrongly believed that the Ministry had either dealt with it via unofficial, yet widely known of, magical-to-non-magical cut-outs or used a team of hit-wizards to cover things up. The aurors in question had followed orders and outside of their memories, which were used later in Penisieve recollections for proof, had handed over all documents to Umbridge. The second was that the Ministry of Magic not actually aware of the continuing existence of Temeraire as Umbridge had stated to Chief Auror Bones that the 'Abyssal Creature had been dealt with, most severely' and to not trouble the Minister further about it, so the matter was declared resolved before Minister Fudge ever saw the reports. Lastly, was that the Department of Mysteries had effectively been given a blank check and blank slate by which to do what they pleased, and many within the Department had wanted access to a living Abyssal ever since they had been confirmed to exist.
Roughly ten kilometers from Victoria House and moving up a small creek, Temeraire was hit by a kill team of Unspeakables using overlapping illusion charms, hexes, and other spacial distortion hexes that catastrophically caused her to lose all sense of bearings and even being unable to tell up from down. Several forgotten or even forbidden temporal spells were even used to cause the Abyssal's engines to run through weeks worth of fuel in apparently minutes, possibly seconds. Temeraire's own records are chaotic and frantic during the ambush as her Imps were battered around just as the ship spirit was, and unable to respond coherently. The Department of Mysteries as per usual, kept no official records of the event, and any that might have existed were lost in the aftermath of the Battle of Mysteries/Battle of the Ministry. What is known is that several excessively loud noises were heard from that creek that were later mis-identified as a lorry's defective engine backfiring repeatedly, as rounds fired by the confused Temeraire were instantly Vanished via a modified shield spell**, leaving only the sounds of the initial few muzzle blasts to echo before the remaining ones were Silenced with no one aware of what was occurring. Effectively battering herself up against boulders or tripping over her feet, Temeraire nearly drowned half of own boilers in a creek less then two feet deep, while rendered to a near starvation state, hours before the sun rose.
Afterward, and still delirious from the spells being constantly applied to her, Temeraire was moved to the Department of Mysteries below London while still relatively unrestrained - one of many reasons Her Majesy the Queen ordered the permanent dissolution of the Department following the aftermath of the Battle of Mysteries/Battle of the Ministry, in giving access to the very heart of the capital to an enemy combatant, no matter how disoriented. Some of her Imps in her most protected compartments had managed to avoid being stunned as badly as others, due to Temeraire having unwisely not been at General Quarters with all hatches sealed, before the ambush, and had no time at all to secure them due to the rapidity of the attack, and these begun to peek out to get their bearings as to what was going on. Initially these attempts were missed, partially as the Unspeakables were rotating through numerous members which took turns continuously casting spells to keep her 'locked down', and partially because they were initially confused with roaches before one of the wizards present recalled what Imps looked like in their miniature forms. Still, it was enough for the most critical compartments to be sealed off, with Imps pulling in several other Imps before the next wave of spells hit. Unfortunately the main bridge wasn't able to be reached and wouldn't for days.
During this time, Temeraire was fed what was effectively starvation rations which were just enough to keep her functional, if semi-delirious and barely conscious from the lack of supplies. Use of illusions which normally would have been seen through instantly due to her nature, were effective at persuading Temeraire into believing she'd been heavily damaged and was being repaired over time, with her Imps being 'confused' about the situation. This 'enhanced' interrogation would last months as wizards and witches poked at her for answers along with shaving off parts of her beast rigging to repair, only to allow it to be reformed and then cut off again in a coldly clinical study. The sole attempt at freeing her, via the Imps further shutting down systems for a month in order to build up on fuel supplies, which gained Temeraire roughly five minutes of lucidity and two witches having their lower jaws end up on the other side of the room from the rest of their bodies, saw her run out of power before she could escape the dungeons and collapsed. When she came to, it was while screaming as spikes made from transfigured Abyssal metals - taken from the very parts they'd ripped from her - were being hammered through her limbs and impaling her upon a wall. The spikes, coated in runes that she had no idea how to understand, and to this day Admiral Weasley refuses to comment beyond that he recognized them, somehow were used to pull her ambient magic into themselves and the surrounding wall, in a variation of the shield spell previously used against her. In essence, the more she tried to escape, no matter how healthy she might get, the stronger her shackles would get until she either gave up or tore herself apart in the attempt, and ended up even worse.
Of course, as punishment for attempting to escape and the deaths of two witches, she was still forced to survive on minimal food/supplies, alternating either between herself or her Imps. This at least brought her back to being coherent, but also brought back a stubborn pride and refused to collaborate at all with her captors beyond whatever they could learn via 'other' means she couldn't prevent. However, this also proved to be a gross mistake by the Unspeakables in that while she herself could do little to nothing, during her escape her crew had managed to get most of her open compartments finally sealed up, and so had been unaffected by the follow-up retaliatory spells. Thus with care, small teams of Imps snuck off of Temeraire during moments when either her guard(s) weren't looking, or were out of the room. These Imps started mapping the area and discovered several secrets that, like the rune spikes she was imprisoned upon, she refuses to discuss. However, one such 'secret' was that a team of Unspeakables had setup scrying tools around Victoria House due to wanting to study the interactions between Ronald Weasley, the Royal Navy's Shipgirls, and the Abyssal Installation under 'house arrest'. This had turned more attentive upon the reveal of Victoria being the genius loci of the manor itself, the arrival of a French shipgirl they could secretly study in detail as Mr. Weasley practically rebuilt her plans before their eyes, and lastly, and most importantly to Temeraire, the reveal of where her lost flagship had ended up. At that same manor.
Temeraire was able to watch, much like a very bored, and exhausted, prisoner given only a single channel television, live images from Victoria House for months, as Weasley initially took to (note: she'd missed Warspite's repairs) working on Duke of York, Summer, Jean Bart, and Brigid. This included some kind of incident between Summer and Brigid that Temeraire has commented only upon, 'It was bound to happen sooner or later, and Brigid should be grateful it was a different summer back then, and not summer now', when asked for clarification. Beyond this, she was able to see the effects Weasley had upon the other residents of the manor and how he treated Brigid.
Most importantly, Temeraire had found that, due to being far closer to her Imps still aboard Brigid, that she might be able to contact them. Several times she tried sending signals out via the Abyssal 'radio' she had onboard, which might have caused Brigid to briefly twitch and look around. This was not confirmed un....[DATA/WIKI CODE CORRUPTED. PLEASE RELOAD PAGE OR CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR]
*There is still ongoing discussion as to whether to formally refer to this Battleship Princess as Brigid or Bepres when referencing historical events. Documents seized from her partially sunken hull after decrypting following her signing of Alliance to the United Kingdom and transfer of her codebooks - previously kept hidden by her most loyal Imps in a bilge tank - reveal her name of origin was the Be-class Battleship Bepres under the command of North Atlantic Elder Princess. While records prior to Blood Week were almost certainly lost either in the engagement that lead to her near sinking, or with the loss of her original Elder Princess, it is known that North Atlantic Elder Princess put her fleet through a severe upgrade process sometime in the late 1980s. At the time an Abyssal one-to-one equivalent of a Bellerophon class (1906), rather than the modified Te-class Temeraire was a member of, Bepres went through an extensive - and exceedingly painful - series of hull extensions that would inevitably lead to her change to a Ru-class. These extensions were entirely unnecessary as the Elder Princess could have easily put Bepres and the rest of her fleet through the drydocks incorporated into her Throne (see also: Porta Atlantia), but was a known sadist who preferred 'alternative' methods. It was in this form that she served until Blood Week. Following the rapid demise of her creator in the first days of the Abyssal War, Bepres and a few others were part of the mass scattering of North Atlantic's armada, and she evolved from a Ru-class into her current Battleship Princess form sometime around 2009-2010. At this point, wanting a clean break from her former Princess, Bepres at the urging of Temeraire, recommissioned herself as Brigid, up to and including an IFF wipe & changeover. Temeraire has provided many of the previously lost details via her own ship's logs, notations, and other minor/unoffical diary entries she maintained. As the above article is written in the present, upon which 'Bepres' is currently known as HMS Brigid Weasley, Battleship Princess, and was registered as such during her naturalization ceremony, papers, and wedding certificate, it will use her preferred chosen name of Brigid.
**A very unusual application of an inverted spherical shield spell, which caused any nonliving object physically interacting with it to not only be 'Vanished', but also pulled any the kinetic energy impacting the shield to help power the spell long past the ability of the caster(s) to originally maintain it. The longer anything inside the spell attempted to use physical means of escaping, the less and less objects they would have available, and the longer the shield would last and the stronger it would get. Ironically, the spell was considered useless against magicals, as it could be easily Apparated through, and was readily countered by a simple Disillusionment spell. In short, the spell was meant for use as a means to trap non-magical beings, and let them wear themselves out without technically harming them, all while removing any means of them causing harm to the caster(s) after the spell ends. Had Temeraire not been so badly affected by the multiple layers of illusion spells and gravity warping spells, she could have easily walked right through it due to being an entity that was emanating magic into her surroundings just by existing.
As I'm still debating on whether or not to do another update to THE CHART considering it wasn't exactly liked last time, I figured I'd tinker at another character I hope we'll see soon...ish.
Unless Leferts says otherwise, this is ENTIRELY NON-CANON. However he's free to pick, prod, nibble around the edges, bend in half to eat the middle and ignore the crust, or devour the whole thing if he wants.
NAPS Temeraire
Also known as HMS Temeraire Weasley (married [DATA CORRUPTED)
(Interwater era Abyssal Te-class, equivalent to a 1920s theoretical refit Bellerophon class, later upgraded prior to Blood Week as one of the earliest Abyssal Ta-class battleships, equivalent to the canceled Lion-class of 1939)
Temeraire was/is a member of Princess Brigid's* Abyssal taskforce operating out of the North Sea and Icelandic region. Initially a member of the near extinct Te-class - named in part for their classship, Terror - which was roughly equivalent to the Royal Navy's Bellerophon class if with some post-WW1 upgrades, such as being originally designed to run on fuel oil rather then the real Bellerophon class which operated on coal. Another was the complete lack of the primary battery 'wing' turrets to port and starboard that the Bellerophon carried. Instead, and possibly thinking ahead to counter the leaps in human aircraft development over the 1970s-1980s, the Te-class would mount ten additional three-inch guns, five to a broadside, between her mast towers. None of these were armored. As likely envisioned, the Te-class would have been second line battleships that intermixed with the heavier Ru-class to provide anti-air cover for them, all while augmenting the main battle line's fire, while the Ru-class concentrated solely on anti-ship/anti-shore duties. Remaining mass savings from the deletion of the wing turrets was used to augment the main armor belt and to upgrade the existing three single-tube torpedo launchers to twin-tube models plus extra reloads for said launchers. This was known to be a deliberate move by North Atlantic in having the Te-class being the ones to deliver the coup de grace via torpedo, to targets 'unworthy' of the main battle line's cannos.
Roughly eighteen months before Blood Week, as Temeraire herself is not certain of the specific datestamp, she was brought before North Atlantic to be heavily refit into the Abyssal's newly created Ta-class of Fast Battleships. As with her closest colleague/friend, Brigid, the process was unnecessarily cruel and prolonged considering other alternatives were easily available as is now known from other allied Elder Princesses (see also: Hoppou, Spice, Wanko). Even in the face of what amounted to nothing more then medical torture, with lengthening of limbs and other sections without being fully put into a drydock 'coma' (the equivalent of not being fully sedated while being operated on, for a Human or Demi-Human), the results were still overwhelmingly successful. While never confirmed, many Abyssal historians have wondered if this and the Be-Class uprating to the Ru-Class, is where the processs which results in the extreme jump from a normal Abyssal to a Demon or Princess, might have originated from. While her closest friend in North Atlantic's fleet, the battleship whom would eventually be known as Battleship Princess, Brigid, also undewent similar modifications. In both cases, while physically the changes were outstanding successes, internally, both Abyssals had begun to not just silently question their liege, but begun a slow burning hatred for their tormentor. Nothing would come of this though due to the Elder's ability to simply dominate any lesser Abyssal, especially those she herself had created/birthed, and as such, Temeraire followed orders as given even if 'in spirit' many were ignored, in a form of malicious compliance.
When news came of North Atlantic's demise to her widely spread fleet, Temeraire was quite possibly the first to realize that many of her sisters were soon to turn to being mortal enemies, especially as ever increasing reports came in of various Abyssals 'evolving' into a step below a true Elder Princess, or into Demons/War Demons - a process previously only granted by an Elder as an award - without need of a higher ranking Abyssal to initiate the evolution. Or how these newly elevated each begun to state 'they' were the true heirs of North Atlantic, or any of the other Elder Princesses' fleets, resulting in what is known as the Abyssal Shattering (note: not to be confused with the Scattering, which were a series of widely spaced, but similar events, that many of those whom eventually became Allied Abyssals underwent when their human-allied Elder Princesses were murdered by their siblings, or the events following the Battle of Dutch Harbor and the near loss of Northern Ocean Elder Princess, Hoppou). Temeraire impressed upon her commander, and closest friend, Brigid, to immediately submerge and head north, following the southeastern Icelandic coast. While openly stating it as using a combination of the twisting coastline and currents to mask their sonar signature, in a private channel between the two Temeraire heavily emphasized on the taskforce's dwindling supplies and how many were in desperate need of repair; North Atlantic having been known for her complete disregard towards damaged inflicted upon her own forces and many within her quickly disintegrating fleet initially were of the same ideal until mounting losses buckled the lines and broke the cohesion between each formation into their own vastly smaller taskforces. Due to their shared prior experiences at North Atlantic's hands, coupled with now being in command of all newly birthed forces that hadn't experienced the deceased Elder Princess' cruelties whom were also confused/blinded as to why they shouldn't keep attacking, Temeraire stood by as Brigid mercilessly decapitated the most outspoken supporter of continuing onwards, a Ri-class Heavy Cruiser, and cowed the rest of the taskforce into following her.
Outwardly, the two seemed to clash often, with Temeraire acting as a coldblooded professional to the more hotblooded Brigid, while behind closed doors, the two worked mostly in lockstep with each other. Temeraire never went higher than an unofficial third in command, while the two used various means to push any truly disloyal challenger(s) into the executive role. Where whenever anything went wrong, they could be held accountable and dealt with as needed. This allowed the taskforce to continuously use underhanded means in expanding, via absorbing smaller fleets and putting one of the most rebellious into the exalted position as second in command, never realizing it put them squarely in place to 'hang themselves with their own dock rope' after failing to live up to expectations the rest of the formation expected. All while keeping the bulk of the newly joined still intact and loyal to Brigid, whom they would see as rightly avenging those squandered by badly given orders, yet while also terrified of Temeraire's outward persona whom was 'obviously' against Brigid, but having never evolved, was so woefully outgunned that she stayed out of 'professional courtesy' alone, rather then risk the open ocean as an independent.
This scenario would play out and last until the events near Northern Ireland which saw a three-way clash between Brigid's' fleet, a group of half-sane ferals, and Royal Navy Shipgirls, which resulted in Bepres' near sinking and abandonment by Temeraire. The two had long colluded about what might occur if one or the other was struck in a such a fashion as to risk the fleet if attempts to 'retrieve' the other (it is notable that in their public logs, they never openly used the words 'rescue' or 'help' when speaking to the other, while privately held documentation about their own inner thoughts proved the exact opposite, showing how close they truly were). If immediate attempts failed, or were stymied by outside forces, the other was to turn away and not look back. Temeraire would be forced to be the one to do so, and while she did send a torpedo salvo back to at least try to mercifully end her friend, the rough seas caused her to miss widely with the torpedoes hitting nothing by the end of their runs. It was at this point Brigid was picked up by the Royal Navy as a prisoner of war, and transferred over to Victoria House, resulting in a series of personal clashes there with Fortified Harbor Princess, Summer and slow change of heart after being repaired at the hands of Ronald Weasley (note: this was years prior to his commissioning into the Royal Navy).
Temeraire herself, in keeping with her publicly known persona, acted as the ruthless enforcer for the new commander of their fleet, a bipolar War Demon whom had joined immediately following the clash and whom Temeraire had suspicions upon having led the ferals to Bepres' location all in order to usurp command without needing to risk herself. Arrogant in the extreme when fully healed, she immediately would turn stern after damages mounted and had been known to use very shady tactics to reach her position in several fleets that had done well for themselves until she came along. Being one to use underhanded techniques herself, and having practiced them for vastly longer, Temeraire could read between the lines as to what was coming. Ordering the oldest, and true loyalists to run under cover of a moonless night, Temeraire stood her ground against the War Demon to buy them time. When the Demon, whom had repaired herself back to full strength by then via co-opting all remaining supplies, faced her and smugly stated that the 'merely uplifted' Ta-class never stood a chance, Temeraire coolly replied that only idiots give the untrusted good supplies, and that she was no idiot. Then sent a radio signal which remotely detonated numerous pallets of C3 explosives that had been mixed in with the supplies, sinking the War Demon on the spot. Rather than stay and deal with the stunned fleetmates whom hated her and/or weren't yet trustworthy enough to have earned her bugout alert, Temeraire dove for the seafloor while the others fought it out to see whom would lead. After being freed from captivity later, and backtracking from her position logs, no satellite look-down records show any Abyssals in that area following heavy cloud cover dissipating three hours later, if however numerous large oil slicks and debris patches were visible. Fifteen of seventeen out of those whom had taken Temeraire's warning and left however, were tracked as leaving the area, and eventually survived to make their way to Abyssinia and service under Empress Porta Abysseum Atlantia. Eleven of them took up duties in the 2020s as permanent staff in Abyssinia's London embassy and regularly meet with Temeraire and Brigid at Victoria House, while the remainder took up Empress Porta's offer of demilitarizing and taking up civilian life.
Temeraire herself, having long learned of the advantages gleamed from intelligence gathering, took it upon herself to finally go solo and took to hiding in plain sight, by moving right up the Scottish coastline and using the terrain - mainly any forested areas near shore - to mask her presence. Imps in their small forms, rather than as near human sized infantrymen, were also used to steal food, newspapers, oil, and other items by which she could both survive and keep track of the war. It was during this that she spotted a reference to what had obviously been Brigid's body being pulled ashore by shipgirls. Initially furious as to the Princess' remains being desecrated by humans, she maintained a cool head and read through the news report more thoroughly and spotted the oddities of how there was a vastly larger guard complement of shipgirls on-site as the 'body' was being taken ashore, along with an extra heavy presence of RAF flying overhead. None of which would have been needed for yet another Abyssal corpse to be autopsied and studied, but were definitely going to be seen as barely adequate by humanity if they'd managed to capture a battleship princess alive. No matter how crippled. For that matter, Temeraire had been suspicious for months that Brigid hadn't sunk, as the last two of her Imps which hadn't made it back to her hull before Temeraire had had to cut the battleship loose, had never reformed upon her hull. Which meant that they, somehow, hadn't gone down with the sinking Abyssal and survived all that time. Previously having been so far out at sea, all she could do was get a vague direction in which they were located, which was somewhere near, or on, the island of Great Britain. Now having practically hid herself on said island, she was able to much more accurately gauge their location, and begun to serendipitously make her way south.
Unfortunately for Temeraire, while her efforts were more than adequate in hiding from conventional detection, she'd been very rapidly spotted by magical Aurors. As this was still well over a year before the Statute of Secrecy started to crack, and nearly two before it shattered with Operation Toho and the MACUSA Abandonment, her location was not passed along to non-magical agencies. Instead, as one of her last acts before her mysterious disappearance, Undersecretary to the Minister Dolores Umbridge, whom had seen the reports, moved to have them delivered into the hands of the Department of Mysteries, rather than trouble the Minister of Magic with such a dilemma. This resulted in three separate, yet vital key points. The first was that the Aurors wrongly believed that the Ministry had either dealt with it via unofficial, yet widely known of, magical-to-non-magical cut-outs or used a team of hit-wizards to cover things up. The aurors in question had followed orders and outside of their memories, which were used later in Penisieve recollections for proof, had handed over all documents to Umbridge. The second was that the Ministry of Magic not actually aware of the continuing existence of Temeraire as Umbridge had stated to Chief Auror Bones that the 'Abyssal Creature had been dealt with, most severely' and to not trouble the Minister further about it, so the matter was declared resolved before Minister Fudge ever saw the reports. Lastly, was that the Department of Mysteries had effectively been given a blank check and blank slate by which to do what they pleased, and many within the Department had wanted access to a living Abyssal ever since they had been confirmed to exist.
Roughly ten kilometers from Victoria House and moving up a small creek, Temeraire was hit by a kill team of Unspeakables using overlapping illusion charms, hexes, and other spacial distortion hexes that catastrophically caused her to lose all sense of bearings and even being unable to tell up from down. Several forgotten or even forbidden temporal spells were even used to cause the Abyssal's engines to run through weeks worth of fuel in apparently minutes, possibly seconds. Temeraire's own records are chaotic and frantic during the ambush as her Imps were battered around just as the ship spirit was, and unable to respond coherently. The Department of Mysteries as per usual, kept no official records of the event, and any that might have existed were lost in the aftermath of the Battle of Mysteries/Battle of the Ministry. What is known is that several excessively loud noises were heard from that creek that were later mis-identified as a lorry's defective engine backfiring repeatedly, as rounds fired by the confused Temeraire were instantly Vanished via a modified shield spell**, leaving only the sounds of the initial few muzzle blasts to echo before the remaining ones were Silenced with no one aware of what was occurring. Effectively battering herself up against boulders or tripping over her feet, Temeraire nearly drowned half of own boilers in a creek less then two feet deep, while rendered to a near starvation state, hours before the sun rose.
Afterward, and still delirious from the spells being constantly applied to her, Temeraire was moved to the Department of Mysteries below London while still relatively unrestrained - one of many reasons Her Majesy the Queen ordered the permanent dissolution of the Department following the aftermath of the Battle of Mysteries/Battle of the Ministry, in giving access to the very heart of the capital to an enemy combatant, no matter how disoriented. Some of her Imps in her most protected compartments had managed to avoid being stunned as badly as others, due to Temeraire having unwisely not been at General Quarters with all hatches sealed, before the ambush, and had no time at all to secure them due to the rapidity of the attack, and these begun to peek out to get their bearings as to what was going on. Initially these attempts were missed, partially as the Unspeakables were rotating through numerous members which took turns continuously casting spells to keep her 'locked down', and partially because they were initially confused with roaches before one of the wizards present recalled what Imps looked like in their miniature forms. Still, it was enough for the most critical compartments to be sealed off, with Imps pulling in several other Imps before the next wave of spells hit. Unfortunately the main bridge wasn't able to be reached and wouldn't for days.
During this time, Temeraire was fed what was effectively starvation rations which were just enough to keep her functional, if semi-delirious and barely conscious from the lack of supplies. Use of illusions which normally would have been seen through instantly due to her nature, were effective at persuading Temeraire into believing she'd been heavily damaged and was being repaired over time, with her Imps being 'confused' about the situation. This 'enhanced' interrogation would last months as wizards and witches poked at her for answers along with shaving off parts of her beast rigging to repair, only to allow it to be reformed and then cut off again in a coldly clinical study. The sole attempt at freeing her, via the Imps further shutting down systems for a month in order to build up on fuel supplies, which gained Temeraire roughly five minutes of lucidity and two witches having their lower jaws end up on the other side of the room from the rest of their bodies, saw her run out of power before she could escape the dungeons and collapsed. When she came to, it was while screaming as spikes made from transfigured Abyssal metals - taken from the very parts they'd ripped from her - were being hammered through her limbs and impaling her upon a wall. The spikes, coated in runes that she had no idea how to understand, and to this day Admiral Weasley refuses to comment beyond that he recognized them, somehow were used to pull her ambient magic into themselves and the surrounding wall, in a variation of the shield spell previously used against her. In essence, the more she tried to escape, no matter how healthy she might get, the stronger her shackles would get until she either gave up or tore herself apart in the attempt, and ended up even worse.
Of course, as punishment for attempting to escape and the deaths of two witches, she was still forced to survive on minimal food/supplies, alternating either between herself or her Imps. This at least brought her back to being coherent, but also brought back a stubborn pride and refused to collaborate at all with her captors beyond whatever they could learn via 'other' means she couldn't prevent. However, this also proved to be a gross mistake by the Unspeakables in that while she herself could do little to nothing, during her escape her crew had managed to get most of her open compartments finally sealed up, and so had been unaffected by the follow-up retaliatory spells. Thus with care, small teams of Imps snuck off of Temeraire during moments when either her guard(s) weren't looking, or were out of the room. These Imps started mapping the area and discovered several secrets that, like the rune spikes she was imprisoned upon, she refuses to discuss. However, one such 'secret' was that a team of Unspeakables had setup scrying tools around Victoria House due to wanting to study the interactions between Ronald Weasley, the Royal Navy's Shipgirls, and the Abyssal Installation under 'house arrest'. This had turned more attentive upon the reveal of Victoria being the genius loci of the manor itself, the arrival of a French shipgirl they could secretly study in detail as Mr. Weasley practically rebuilt her plans before their eyes, and lastly, and most importantly to Temeraire, the reveal of where her lost flagship had ended up. At that same manor.
Temeraire was able to watch, much like a very bored, and exhausted, prisoner given only a single channel television, live images from Victoria House for months, as Weasley initially took to (note: she'd missed Warspite's repairs) working on Duke of York, Summer, Jean Bart, and Brigid. This included some kind of incident between Summer and Brigid that Temeraire has commented only upon, 'It was bound to happen sooner or later, and Brigid should be grateful it was a different summer back then, and not summer now', when asked for clarification. Beyond this, she was able to see the effects Weasley had upon the other residents of the manor and how he treated Brigid.
Most importantly, Temeraire had found that, due to being far closer to her Imps still aboard Brigid, that she might be able to contact them. Several times she tried sending signals out via the Abyssal 'radio' she had onboard, which might have caused Brigid to briefly twitch and look around. This was not confirmed un....[DATA/WIKI CODE CORRUPTED. PLEASE RELOAD PAGE OR CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR]
*There is still ongoing discussion as to whether to formally refer to this Battleship Princess as Brigid or Bepres when referencing historical events. Documents seized from her partially sunken hull after decrypting following her signing of Alliance to the United Kingdom and transfer of her codebooks - previously kept hidden by her most loyal Imps in a bilge tank - reveal her name of origin was the Be-class Battleship Bepres under the command of North Atlantic Elder Princess. While records prior to Blood Week were almost certainly lost either in the engagement that lead to her near sinking, or with the loss of her original Elder Princess, it is known that North Atlantic Elder Princess put her fleet through a severe upgrade process sometime in the late 1980s. At the time an Abyssal one-to-one equivalent of a Bellerophon class (1906), rather than the modified Te-class Temeraire was a member of, Bepres went through an extensive - and exceedingly painful - series of hull extensions that would inevitably lead to her change to a Ru-class. These extensions were entirely unnecessary as the Elder Princess could have easily put Bepres and the rest of her fleet through the drydocks incorporated into her Throne (see also: Porta Atlantia), but was a known sadist who preferred 'alternative' methods. It was in this form that she served until Blood Week. Following the rapid demise of her creator in the first days of the Abyssal War, Bepres and a few others were part of the mass scattering of North Atlantic's armada, and she evolved from a Ru-class into her current Battleship Princess form sometime around 2009-2010. At this point, wanting a clean break from her former Princess, Bepres at the urging of Temeraire, recommissioned herself as Brigid, up to and including an IFF wipe & changeover. Temeraire has provided many of the previously lost details via her own ship's logs, notations, and other minor/unoffical diary entries she maintained. As the above article is written in the present, upon which 'Bepres' is currently known as HMS Brigid Weasley, Battleship Princess, and was registered as such during her naturalization ceremony, papers, and wedding certificate, it will use her preferred chosen name of Brigid.
**A very unusual application of an inverted spherical shield spell, which caused any nonliving object physically interacting with it to not only be 'Vanished', but also pulled any the kinetic energy impacting the shield to help power the spell long past the ability of the caster(s) to originally maintain it. The longer anything inside the spell attempted to use physical means of escaping, the less and less objects they would have available, and the longer the shield would last and the stronger it would get. Ironically, the spell was considered useless against magicals, as it could be easily Apparated through, and was readily countered by a simple Disillusionment spell. In short, the spell was meant for use as a means to trap non-magical beings, and let them wear themselves out without technically harming them, all while removing any means of them causing harm to the caster(s) after the spell ends. Had Temeraire not been so badly affected by the multiple layers of illusion spells and gravity warping spells, she could have easily walked right through it due to being an entity that was emanating magic into her surroundings just by existing.
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Blarrgh, being sick is no fun
Hope you feel better soon, is it snowing?
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here's something to chew on -
The Fools of April 19
SisterJeanne
Monday Morning, 13th April 2015
Nimue is called to the Principals office over a Sasquatch student and is essentially blackmailed bythe school over the singing frogs to look after said Sasquatch, uses a translation spell to understand them
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I'm still working my way through keeping NSFW3 up to date but am working on NSFW1 onwards, I like to be relativity clearheaded when writing upthe summaries - SFW hasn't reallybeen started bar stet up of titles authors and if possible dates
NSFW1/2 have authors, titles and dates if posssible setup already some have summaries writen or statement of - home trip for christmas start written down so I know when, I used Ehren going home on Dec20 to place Harry going home earlier
I believe @RCNAnon would be the one to ask about canonicity on this subject, if (s)he is still here.
- Location
- Mountains of Appalachia
I wish it was snowing. More a cold drizzling rain, Blegh.
That's a really good summary, honestly.
That's good, because there are some other timeline and lore inconsistencies for the Abyss as well.
1) There is no North Atlantic Elder Princess. The Atlantic prior to Blood Week was divided between Ancient Atlantic Gateway Princess (Porta) starting in 1969, Nordic Horde Princess (Little Miss Vikingr Chuni), Central Atlantic (big beefy meathead that loved fighting and killing things weaker than her), and the two Capes Princess (Treacherous Cape for Cape Horn, and.... Nuts, another one around Cape of Good Hope). So the description could match Central Atlantic, as her obsession with strength would be a justification for her to always be innovating.
2) The Ta-Class apparently originated in the late 1800s, as Spice's girlfriend is a Ta-Class, and seems to be more aligned with the Dreadnoughts, the RU-class likely Superdreadnoughts going by the larger guns.
While the existence of a "Te-class" is not at all out of the question, it shouldn't be hard to adjust things in the background to better match canon. Events After Blood Week, as RC reports, may need more work to accommodate canon and planned future events.
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Harry Leferts
Suave Shadow Cabal Kaiju
Okay, so the Ta-Class can trace its heritage back to both the Ru-Class and what was basically the Abyssal Battlecruisers. The Ru-Class in the Abyssal equivalent to the Queen Elizabeth Class, which I will note was only about two or three knots faster than their contemporaries, and thus counted as "Fast Battleships". But, in reality, the actual Fast Battleships did not come into being until you got well armored versions of the Battlecruisers, such as if Hood got her proper upgrades, or the Kongou Class and the modifications they underwent in the 1930s.
Tamama's current body is basically what Hood's sisters would have been like if actual built, as lessons from Jutland were incorporated into them. They honestly would have likely been the first, true Fast Battleships in the world. But, well, treaties and the like happened.
As for Brigid and such, what happened there was that they had gotten swarmed by Dementors, with Brigid nearly sinking due to a botched scuttling. Temeraire/Tameraire was also badly damaged in the same fight, with most of her Imps gone and was found by members of the Ministry, with the MoM taking her into the Department of Mysteries to study her. And yes, it goes without saying that once it is discovered what happened to her, heads are going to roll and not metaphorically as "War crimes" is putting it mildly. They're going to be compared to the Nazi scientists and Unit-731 with them targeted for "Dead or alive, preferably dead" by everyone.
Tamama's current body is basically what Hood's sisters would have been like if actual built, as lessons from Jutland were incorporated into them. They honestly would have likely been the first, true Fast Battleships in the world. But, well, treaties and the like happened.
As for Brigid and such, what happened there was that they had gotten swarmed by Dementors, with Brigid nearly sinking due to a botched scuttling. Temeraire/Tameraire was also badly damaged in the same fight, with most of her Imps gone and was found by members of the Ministry, with the MoM taking her into the Department of Mysteries to study her. And yes, it goes without saying that once it is discovered what happened to her, heads are going to roll and not metaphorically as "War crimes" is putting it mildly. They're going to be compared to the Nazi scientists and Unit-731 with them targeted for "Dead or alive, preferably dead" by everyone.
- Location
- California
Coyote: "There are too many groups these days that can do that and have the property damage equal the gdp of small countries."
- Location
- Mountains of Appalachia
A. N. -- Draco gets the band back toggether and has a private celebration with the Crabbes. Prior snip in the arc here.
The Carrow Gambit (XIV)
Medical Wing, Hogwarts
Late Saturday Afternoon, 18th April 2015
'Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue.' -- Honore de Balzac
Draco turned from Mei Cao's sickbed as Madam Pomfrey approached him. The tubby Medi-witch gave him a chiding look. "Are you disturbing my patient, Mister Malfoy?"
Mei shook her head with a groan as she answered the mind accusation. "Not at all, Healer. Draco was just filling me in on the gossip of the day while keeping me company for you to tend to once you got done with the other person Potter attacked."
Draco nodded and backed up the statement. "What Mei said. I have to ask what happened to Blaise?" He pointed at his unconscious classmate, whose left leg now looked rather like a deflated balloon compared to the leg it was next to.
Pomfrey shook her head. "I had to Vanish some of his bones to get his leg straightened out and unjammed. A few doses of Skele-Gro should fix him up though."
"Ahh." Draco commented with a thoughtful look. "I see. I take it he might be missing classes for Monday then?"
"Or even more of the week before he can walk, depending on how fast he responds to treatment," Pomfrey commented while beginning to work on Mei's injuries. "It would be greatly appreciated if you could run assignments and the like to him."
"I'll do that and let the Sixth Years know about Mei being up here so they can do the same for her." Draco said glibly. "In fact, I should get right on that!"
With that parting comment he turned and made his escape.
"Muffin!"
Draco smiled at the soprano squeal of his name from a certain Dido-class cruisergirl who was trailing her Fleet-mate as USS Johnston sprinted toward him at flank speed.
He braced himself for the imminent Taffy Tackleglomp and called back. "Hey there, Cleo! Hope that your book search in the Library of Secrets was productiv--- oof!"
He staggered as Johnston glomped him and resigned himself to returning her energetic, passionate kisses -- with a side of Destroyer headpats -- before continuing the conversation with Cleopatra. He only had enough oxygen for one thing at a time now, after all.
Finally, Johnston's exuberant greeting ran its course, and he smiled at the peach-haired shipgirl in his embrace. "I love you too, Jay. You should be aware that Honeydukes had a shipment of those Chudley Chocolate Cannonballs you love come in from Saint Brendan's, so Niobe has a reload of your candy magazines waiting for you down in the Dungeon."
Johnston bounced on her toes and fistpumped vigorously as her happy grin stretched from ear to ear. "Aces! You're the best ever, Skipper! The Library run was actually pretty quiet since the creepy-crawlies are pretty cleaned out." Then she glanced over to the Dido waiting in attack position and suddenly skipped back to clear a path for Cleopatra's attack run aimed at Draco's tonsils.
Cleopatra immediately closed into smooching range and performed a passionate set of mouth to mouth exercises to 'prepare her captain for listening to her after-action report'. "I got copies of most of the books on my list. It was a bit boring in a sense, unlike the last time we were down there. How's your day been, Draco?"
Draco laughed while observing some nearby students out of the corner of his eye. "'Interesting' in a word, maybe also 'productive'. Have you by chance seen Ehren? She was supposed to be running a study group with her Firstie friends but she looked pretty ragged at breakfast."
Cleopatra giggled coquettishly as she fluttered her eyelashes at Draco for the benefit of those students that they were now walking past. "We ran into Ehren in the school library where she had her study group hard at work -- in fact she told us that you and Niobe had come back from your date with Hestia Carrow. She said something about...a friend of yours in the Medical Wing?"
Draco grinned at the unspoken message that they had met Ehren's primary avatar -- and no doubt one of them now had her dagger body safely stowed aboard so Ehren could get smuggled back to Slytherin Dungeon secretly. His eyes twinkled as he began to throw out a bit more of a verbal smokescreen to obscure his true actions while leading them to the secret passage that he planned to use to enter the Slytherin Head Boy's Room. "Oh yes. It seems that Blase Zabini and Mei Cao picked a fight with Harry Pottah earlier today in Hogsmeade. Apparently Pottah even crammed poor Blaise's foot up his arse with some kind of spell."
"No way!" Johnston exclaimed with a broad smile. "That's actually a pretty badass thing to do. Do ya think I could learn that one?"
"I have no doubt that you are more than badass enough to perform it on the Abyssals, Jay. But anyway, I got dragged into financing some clothes and jewelry shopping by Niobe and Hestia before we then took Niobe to get a custom wand built for her at Ollivanders...."
'A man should not labor on weekly Sabbath day and don't let your friends and family labor too.' -- Brandon Arnold John
Slytherin Head Boy's Room, Hogwarts
Draco smiled at the trio of people waiting for him once he was safely ensconced back in the Head Boy's Room. "Um, it's Shabbat Shalom as a traditional greeting for you, right Vince? Also I heard from Harry about how you covered for Nimue in Italy; I owe you a massive one for that one, honestly."
"Least I could do for you and yours, Draco." Vincent Crabbe rumbled out with a smile while hugging Elspeth Crnokozic to him. "Shabbat Shalom is one of the traditional Jewish greetings during Shabbat, yes. It translates out to 'Peaceful Shabbat', in fact. Niobe said that you were going to head our way once you got done running an errand upstairs, so we decided to stick around and wait for you. No Ehren tonight, though?
Ehren manifested in a wash of energies next to Johnston (who had her dagger body on board). "I'm here, Vince. Why did you want me?"
Elspeth walked over and hugged the Butterdagger. "Well, among other things for our Shabbat, we talked about you Malfoys being such good friends for us two over a few games of chess." She gave Ehren a look that caused the Butterdagger to start to blush. "Especially you, Ehren. You had personal reasons not to get involved with Zabini's blackmail attempt on Vince -- but instead you didn't hesitate to jump to his defense because it was the right thing to do. So we decided to wait for you Malfoys to all get back from Hogsmeade to join us before we perform the havdalah ritual to end us Crabbes' Shabbat celebration. After all, as Vince has taught me, we're called to share the sabbath with our friends and family like you."
Ehren teared up at the kind words of acceptance.
"Thank you... just thank you. So, what are we going to do tonight... meine guten und treuen jüdischen Freunde {my good and true Jewish friends}?" Ehren finally gasped out in a choked voice with a blinding smile as she was supported by Johnston and Draco's loving embrace.
Vince waved his wand in a spell, then winked at the assembled Malfoys as he gestured toward an octagonal silver tray containing a silver kiddush cup along with a blue and white candle and a second silver container. "Well this is an allowable spell to cast on Shabbat, since it tells me when the holiday begins and ends as the first three stars rise and are visible. Once that's clear, we will light the braided havdalah candle there with a blessing, pass around the spices so you can all smell them as another blessing is recited, and finally share a cupful of kosher wine." Then the Jewish wizard gave Cleopatra and Johnston a serious look. "I just want you to know that when you have to leave Hogwarts to defend us on the seas that Elsica and I both will be praying for your success and safety daily. And I'm sure we won't be alone in that either."
Draco hugged Ehren around the waist and smiled at Vince. "Of course Ehren, Niobe, and I will be both praying for Jay and Cleo and also doing everything we can to help them. Starting with taking the two of them to Ollivanders tomorrow to get their wands picked out and custom made. But that's for another day; for tonight, it's about our companionship as friends and allies. I'll need friends like you two to help us forge a post-Statute world that we can be proud of. So... well... I suppose it time for a lesson in Judiasm for Ehren and me then?"
Vince nodded, then told them to form a ring around the small table containing his antique heirlooms. Once everyone was assembled with Elspeth on his right and Draco on his left, followed by Ehren, Niobe, Cleopatra and Johnston in a circle, Vince lit the candle and began to pray in Hebrew: "Hinei El yeshuati, evtakh velo efkhad, ki ozi v'zimrat Yah, Adonai vayehi li liyeshuah. U'shavtem mayim besasson mima'anei hayeshuah. La'Adonai hayeshuah, al amkha virchatecha, selah. Adonai Tzeva'ot imanu, misgav lanu, Elohay Ya'akov, selah. Adonai Tzeva'ot, ashrei adam botayakh bakh. Adonai hoshi'ah, hamelekh ya'anaynu veyom karaynu. Layehudim hayetah orah vesimcha vesason vikar. Kein tehiyeh lanu. Kos yeshuot esa uveshaym Adonai ekrah. {Behold, God is my savior, I will trust God and not be afraid, for my strong faith and song of praise for God will be my salvation. You will draw water joyously from the wellsprings of salvation. Salvation is the God's; may Your blessing rest upon Your people. God of the heavenly armies is with us; the Lord of Ya'akov is a fortress protecting us. God of the heavenly armies, happy is the individual who trusts You. God, redeem us! The King will answer us on the day we call God. The Jews had light, happiness, joy and honor; may we have the same. I will raise the cup of salvation and call out in the name of God.}"
The Carrow Gambit (XIV)
Medical Wing, Hogwarts
Late Saturday Afternoon, 18th April 2015
'Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue.' -- Honore de Balzac
Draco turned from Mei Cao's sickbed as Madam Pomfrey approached him. The tubby Medi-witch gave him a chiding look. "Are you disturbing my patient, Mister Malfoy?"
Mei shook her head with a groan as she answered the mind accusation. "Not at all, Healer. Draco was just filling me in on the gossip of the day while keeping me company for you to tend to once you got done with the other person Potter attacked."
Draco nodded and backed up the statement. "What Mei said. I have to ask what happened to Blaise?" He pointed at his unconscious classmate, whose left leg now looked rather like a deflated balloon compared to the leg it was next to.
Pomfrey shook her head. "I had to Vanish some of his bones to get his leg straightened out and unjammed. A few doses of Skele-Gro should fix him up though."
"Ahh." Draco commented with a thoughtful look. "I see. I take it he might be missing classes for Monday then?"
"Or even more of the week before he can walk, depending on how fast he responds to treatment," Pomfrey commented while beginning to work on Mei's injuries. "It would be greatly appreciated if you could run assignments and the like to him."
"I'll do that and let the Sixth Years know about Mei being up here so they can do the same for her." Draco said glibly. "In fact, I should get right on that!"
With that parting comment he turned and made his escape.
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"Muffin!"
Draco smiled at the soprano squeal of his name from a certain Dido-class cruisergirl who was trailing her Fleet-mate as USS Johnston sprinted toward him at flank speed.
He braced himself for the imminent Taffy Tackleglomp and called back. "Hey there, Cleo! Hope that your book search in the Library of Secrets was productiv--- oof!"
He staggered as Johnston glomped him and resigned himself to returning her energetic, passionate kisses -- with a side of Destroyer headpats -- before continuing the conversation with Cleopatra. He only had enough oxygen for one thing at a time now, after all.
Finally, Johnston's exuberant greeting ran its course, and he smiled at the peach-haired shipgirl in his embrace. "I love you too, Jay. You should be aware that Honeydukes had a shipment of those Chudley Chocolate Cannonballs you love come in from Saint Brendan's, so Niobe has a reload of your candy magazines waiting for you down in the Dungeon."
Johnston bounced on her toes and fistpumped vigorously as her happy grin stretched from ear to ear. "Aces! You're the best ever, Skipper! The Library run was actually pretty quiet since the creepy-crawlies are pretty cleaned out." Then she glanced over to the Dido waiting in attack position and suddenly skipped back to clear a path for Cleopatra's attack run aimed at Draco's tonsils.
Cleopatra immediately closed into smooching range and performed a passionate set of mouth to mouth exercises to 'prepare her captain for listening to her after-action report'. "I got copies of most of the books on my list. It was a bit boring in a sense, unlike the last time we were down there. How's your day been, Draco?"
Draco laughed while observing some nearby students out of the corner of his eye. "'Interesting' in a word, maybe also 'productive'. Have you by chance seen Ehren? She was supposed to be running a study group with her Firstie friends but she looked pretty ragged at breakfast."
Cleopatra giggled coquettishly as she fluttered her eyelashes at Draco for the benefit of those students that they were now walking past. "We ran into Ehren in the school library where she had her study group hard at work -- in fact she told us that you and Niobe had come back from your date with Hestia Carrow. She said something about...a friend of yours in the Medical Wing?"
Draco grinned at the unspoken message that they had met Ehren's primary avatar -- and no doubt one of them now had her dagger body safely stowed aboard so Ehren could get smuggled back to Slytherin Dungeon secretly. His eyes twinkled as he began to throw out a bit more of a verbal smokescreen to obscure his true actions while leading them to the secret passage that he planned to use to enter the Slytherin Head Boy's Room. "Oh yes. It seems that Blase Zabini and Mei Cao picked a fight with Harry Pottah earlier today in Hogsmeade. Apparently Pottah even crammed poor Blaise's foot up his arse with some kind of spell."
"No way!" Johnston exclaimed with a broad smile. "That's actually a pretty badass thing to do. Do ya think I could learn that one?"
"I have no doubt that you are more than badass enough to perform it on the Abyssals, Jay. But anyway, I got dragged into financing some clothes and jewelry shopping by Niobe and Hestia before we then took Niobe to get a custom wand built for her at Ollivanders...."
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'A man should not labor on weekly Sabbath day and don't let your friends and family labor too.' -- Brandon Arnold John
Slytherin Head Boy's Room, Hogwarts
Draco smiled at the trio of people waiting for him once he was safely ensconced back in the Head Boy's Room. "Um, it's Shabbat Shalom as a traditional greeting for you, right Vince? Also I heard from Harry about how you covered for Nimue in Italy; I owe you a massive one for that one, honestly."
"Least I could do for you and yours, Draco." Vincent Crabbe rumbled out with a smile while hugging Elspeth Crnokozic to him. "Shabbat Shalom is one of the traditional Jewish greetings during Shabbat, yes. It translates out to 'Peaceful Shabbat', in fact. Niobe said that you were going to head our way once you got done running an errand upstairs, so we decided to stick around and wait for you. No Ehren tonight, though?
Ehren manifested in a wash of energies next to Johnston (who had her dagger body on board). "I'm here, Vince. Why did you want me?"
Elspeth walked over and hugged the Butterdagger. "Well, among other things for our Shabbat, we talked about you Malfoys being such good friends for us two over a few games of chess." She gave Ehren a look that caused the Butterdagger to start to blush. "Especially you, Ehren. You had personal reasons not to get involved with Zabini's blackmail attempt on Vince -- but instead you didn't hesitate to jump to his defense because it was the right thing to do. So we decided to wait for you Malfoys to all get back from Hogsmeade to join us before we perform the havdalah ritual to end us Crabbes' Shabbat celebration. After all, as Vince has taught me, we're called to share the sabbath with our friends and family like you."
Ehren teared up at the kind words of acceptance.
"Thank you... just thank you. So, what are we going to do tonight... meine guten und treuen jüdischen Freunde {my good and true Jewish friends}?" Ehren finally gasped out in a choked voice with a blinding smile as she was supported by Johnston and Draco's loving embrace.
Vince waved his wand in a spell, then winked at the assembled Malfoys as he gestured toward an octagonal silver tray containing a silver kiddush cup along with a blue and white candle and a second silver container. "Well this is an allowable spell to cast on Shabbat, since it tells me when the holiday begins and ends as the first three stars rise and are visible. Once that's clear, we will light the braided havdalah candle there with a blessing, pass around the spices so you can all smell them as another blessing is recited, and finally share a cupful of kosher wine." Then the Jewish wizard gave Cleopatra and Johnston a serious look. "I just want you to know that when you have to leave Hogwarts to defend us on the seas that Elsica and I both will be praying for your success and safety daily. And I'm sure we won't be alone in that either."
Draco hugged Ehren around the waist and smiled at Vince. "Of course Ehren, Niobe, and I will be both praying for Jay and Cleo and also doing everything we can to help them. Starting with taking the two of them to Ollivanders tomorrow to get their wands picked out and custom made. But that's for another day; for tonight, it's about our companionship as friends and allies. I'll need friends like you two to help us forge a post-Statute world that we can be proud of. So... well... I suppose it time for a lesson in Judiasm for Ehren and me then?"
Vince nodded, then told them to form a ring around the small table containing his antique heirlooms. Once everyone was assembled with Elspeth on his right and Draco on his left, followed by Ehren, Niobe, Cleopatra and Johnston in a circle, Vince lit the candle and began to pray in Hebrew: "Hinei El yeshuati, evtakh velo efkhad, ki ozi v'zimrat Yah, Adonai vayehi li liyeshuah. U'shavtem mayim besasson mima'anei hayeshuah. La'Adonai hayeshuah, al amkha virchatecha, selah. Adonai Tzeva'ot imanu, misgav lanu, Elohay Ya'akov, selah. Adonai Tzeva'ot, ashrei adam botayakh bakh. Adonai hoshi'ah, hamelekh ya'anaynu veyom karaynu. Layehudim hayetah orah vesimcha vesason vikar. Kein tehiyeh lanu. Kos yeshuot esa uveshaym Adonai ekrah. {Behold, God is my savior, I will trust God and not be afraid, for my strong faith and song of praise for God will be my salvation. You will draw water joyously from the wellsprings of salvation. Salvation is the God's; may Your blessing rest upon Your people. God of the heavenly armies is with us; the Lord of Ya'akov is a fortress protecting us. God of the heavenly armies, happy is the individual who trusts You. God, redeem us! The King will answer us on the day we call God. The Jews had light, happiness, joy and honor; may we have the same. I will raise the cup of salvation and call out in the name of God.}"
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Kenshō, what has Harry said about your bullying a poor, defenseless T?
Amused Bystander
Herald of 'She who Umu's' Be Brave!
- Location
- Philippines
Draco has a fun time with a Cleo and Johnston there. Johnston learning that foot up ones ass spell is rather terrifying,think of all the poor Abyssals she will humiliate with that.🤣
Ehren being able to attend Vinces Shabbat celebration is wholesome and good for her.
Harry Leferts
Suave Shadow Cabal Kaiju
So... one of the channels that I am subscribed to, ExtinctZoo, actually just posted a video on one of the dinosaurs that the RCMMP ride, the Nanuqsaurus:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLT-QDZqoX0
There's very good reason why the RCMMP use them for heavy backup against Wendigo infestations...
Also, here's the picture for the thumbnail, which works for one of the mounts enjoying a snack that it caught and being photographed:
Imagine being a criminal and coming across that in the dark of night...
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLT-QDZqoX0
There's very good reason why the RCMMP use them for heavy backup against Wendigo infestations...
Also, here's the picture for the thumbnail, which works for one of the mounts enjoying a snack that it caught and being photographed:
Sakuya's Butler
A refined Butler to a knife wielding Mistress.
- Location
- ↓, ↘, → + Punch
Part of the inconsistencies was me just not giving a damn because my head felt, and still feels, like it'll explode. So looking up the Elders wasn't on the table, and I tried going from memory. But in short, Temeraire & Brigid - at least in the above - were to be from Central Atlantic's fleet. She of the 'attack, attack, attack, I don't care about injuries, attack or I kill you' philosophy. Again, the post is/was non-canon.
Mostly it was mentioned as giving the duo the initial 'seed' for their eventual turning against the hostile Abyssal after being exposed to British life, Ron, getting repaired, Ron, no more backstabbing, Ron, and Victoria's cookies. As in, the sheer fact Ron made a back brace for Brigid, rather than turn Dr. Mengele~ish, was a huge shock.
Perhaps I should have mentioned Ron more...
The origin of the Ta, I'd completely forgotten, since Spice hasn't really had much screentime to allow that to sink in repeatedly.
Again, the post is/was non-canon.
-=-
OTOH, I'm fairly certain that for canon?
While the Armory will be present, it'll be at Harry's side. Ron however will likely have a very, very, VERY missed off/frantic Brigid at his side after pulling Temeraire free. I've currently got a $50 bet with my wife - yes, she reads this occasionally - where she thinks Brigid is pulled in from the start via accidental proximity to Ron & goes Godzilla elsewhere on the DoM while Ron is pulling Temeraire freed, while I'm betting Ron used clues from Brigid to find Temeraire, and only afterward pulling Temeraire free, has Brigid come to the Ministry and 'asked' her to go for an enthusiastic walk & that act of utter trust - letting her off the leash for righteous vengeance - is what completes her turning to humanity & Ron.
The specifics though, neither of us are even remotely attempting to guess/better on.
Mostly it was mentioned as giving the duo the initial 'seed' for their eventual turning against the hostile Abyssal after being exposed to British life, Ron, getting repaired, Ron, no more backstabbing, Ron, and Victoria's cookies. As in, the sheer fact Ron made a back brace for Brigid, rather than turn Dr. Mengele~ish, was a huge shock.
Perhaps I should have mentioned Ron more...
The origin of the Ta, I'd completely forgotten, since Spice hasn't really had much screentime to allow that to sink in repeatedly.
Again, the post is/was non-canon.
-=-
OTOH, I'm fairly certain that for canon?
While the Armory will be present, it'll be at Harry's side. Ron however will likely have a very, very, VERY missed off/frantic Brigid at his side after pulling Temeraire free. I've currently got a $50 bet with my wife - yes, she reads this occasionally - where she thinks Brigid is pulled in from the start via accidental proximity to Ron & goes Godzilla elsewhere on the DoM while Ron is pulling Temeraire freed, while I'm betting Ron used clues from Brigid to find Temeraire, and only afterward pulling Temeraire free, has Brigid come to the Ministry and 'asked' her to go for an enthusiastic walk & that act of utter trust - letting her off the leash for righteous vengeance - is what completes her turning to humanity & Ron.
The specifics though, neither of us are even remotely attempting to guess/better on.
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OnceUponWhatever
Give me my creatives back
Void Scheme
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Takiyasha-hime leapt away from the scrying pool with a howl of fury. Energy rent the air, sending out gusts of wind that hurled magical artifacts around the cavern.
She had been close. She had been so close! Whatever trickery the thief had used to conceal the bowl from her had failed him, and it had even been taken from him from those other weapon spirits. She had them dead to rights!
And then… and then that miko! Clearly a yokai, clearly powerful. A fight that she couldn't win, not in person at any rate.
She'd had to flee, and left the bowl again!
She needed that power. Needed to restore herself to her full strength. She'd needed a body when she found the girl, so she couldn't complain, but that didn't change the fact that her host was a powerless peasant! Not only that, she wasn't even six years old when she took her over!
She was still beyond the skills of many onmyouji, and dark rituals had restored more of her power, but if she wanted to set out and fulfill her destiny—the destroyer of Japan and ruler of the new country that took its place—she needed to restore herself to a proper form! To regain her full power!
Patience. I can sense what belongs to me again. No matter where they take it, it is within my grasp.
And grasp it I shall.
There was another comfort, she supposed. Whatever that foolish thief had been after, his plans had now failed.
-----
As far as Mushin could tell, everything had worked out as she'd planned it.
She wrapped the blanket she'd been given tighter over her chest and shuddered. Part of it was pain at her effectively flayed arm. The other was the green-faced medic who was attending her.
The only thing she wasn't sure about was the Ono miko. She had probably accounted for the Ono presence at school. the bowl still would have been present, and Kotegiri would have raced over in the aftermath, meaning she still would have encountered the frog thing. Ono Haru showing up personally, on the other hand? A complete shock. Had the past her known she would show up, somehow? Or had she been counting on her and Kote-neechan's legs to carry them to victory? Considering how close everything had come, it was extremely unsettling.
"Okay," the medic said, reaching gingerly toward her arm. "Okay then, I'll…"
Mushin felt her forehead twinge. "Do something, or screw off so I can take care of it myself!"
"But—you can't—with this, you can't—"
"Aren't you supposed to be a medic?!?"
The man flailed desperately. "Who wakes up expecting something like this in the morning?"
"First day, then?" Kote-neechan asked. Mushin looked up at her, and then at the commotion several meters away. She'd asked if she could have a spot a little bit outside the mass of crying, frightened teenagers and shaken adults. She needed to think, and relative quiet to do so.
Also, she had bisected a man in front of most of them. Didn't want to make anyone jittery.
"Hell of an introduction."
Hmm? Had Mushin missed an exchange? Kote-neechan was crouching beside her, placing a medical kit that she had scrounged up somewhere on the ground.
"I'll handle this," she said. "You go find something more your speed."
"But… I can't…"
"Okay, then," Kote-neechan gave him a side-eye. "How about this? I'm ordering you to go treat someone else."
She was still wearing the Oda kimono. Did the medic know what that meant? Or maybe he did, and that was part of what was making him a trembling idiot? Kote-neechan did have that effect on people.
The medic hemmed and hawed, trembled some more, then turned and shuffled uncomfortably back into the throng.
Kote-neechan shook her head. "That man is never going to make it in this job," she grumbled. "How did he even get cleared for this?"
Mushin glanced between her sister and the medical kit. "Wait, are you—?"
"I'm not officially licensed, but I know a bit about patching a wounded soldier up."
Did she now? Mushin considered her words. The fingers on her right hand flicked through a silent, wandless privacy ward.
"This is about Nobunaga being back, isn't it. She's gonna get in trouble, and you want to patch her up along the way—"
Kote-neechan stifled a groan and rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and hold still."
Mushin dropped the ward and obliged. She simply watched as Kote-neechan ministered to the massive wound that wrapped around her forearm, down the back of her hand, and up a few centimeters past her elbow. Being tended to by her older sister wasn't in the plan, or she doubted if it was.
She wasn't complaining, though.
"What happened with that bowl?" she asked.
"Ono Haru is taking a look at it to see what it is and if it's safe to transport." Kote-neechan replied. "Either way, my people will be taking custody of it as part of the investigation."
"Oh," Mushin replied thoughtfully. She wasn't sure what the whole plan was yet, but she thought she had the gist of it. And if it was what she thought it was… "That's good."
"If you say so," Kote-neechan paused at the sight of Mushin's hand and fingers, and sighed. "You know, the navy's testing a repair gel of some kind. It's not as effective as the normal form, but it can be applied on-site and it'll help you get out of the bath faster. It's not actually available yet, but you volunteer to try it out—"
"Right, because no one ever wanted to spend the day lounging about in the bathtub," Fu-neechan scoffed as she approached them, brushing past a distinctly nonplussed policeman. Mushin glanced past her to see her reincarnated boyfriend watching from the edge of the crowd.
Soaking in a bathtub all day, unable to deal with business or phone calls, you'd probably have to arrange to eat your meals there somehow, that didn't seem…
Luxurious, but ultimately time consuming. "I'll think about it."
"So what happened to you?" Fu-neechan continued, gesturing to Mushin's increasingly bandaged limb. "Get bitten by a shark?"
Mushin winced at the twinge that ran down her leg. "That was one time."
"Nobu says that—" Kote-neechan stiffened, then stared at her. "A shark?"
"It was years ago. Meiji 3, probably." Mushin rolled her eyes. It wasn't like every other one of her sisters hadn't had some similar experience at this point, right?
… Okay, so the youngest. But still!
"You were bitten by a shark?!?" Kote-neechan was not going to let this go.
"It wasn't that bad! I didn't lose anything!"
Fu-neechan was grinning like a shark now. She'd known exactly what she was doing, didn't she? This called for retribution down the line.
Kote-neechan's mouth moved silently, forming words and strangling them in an apoplectic fit. "We are going to talk about this," she finally managed.
"Yeah…" Mushin replied. "You were saying something about Nobunaga?"
Kote-neechan frowned. It was her 'I'm not sure about this, but I'm doing it anyway' frown. "Nobu believes that Kyomu was trying to bait me and that frog thing into conflict," she said slowly, tentatively. There was an intensity that was beginning to spark in her eyes.
Nobunaga was smart. "Is that the sort of thing Kyomu would do?" Mushin asked carefully.
"I'm honestly not sure. Not much of this situation matches their M.O., except for the mind wiping on the man we interrogated. Even then, they prefer to work through extremists and political dissidents, not Yakuza thugs."
"Using you to get rid of a rival, maybe?" Fu-neechan mused. "Or… a teamup, maybe?"
Kote-neechan rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "Even if it were true, somehow I can't see Kyomu having a rival like that. A teamup… possible, but I don't know enough about that thing to make an accurate judgment."
What exactly does she think of Kyomu? Mushin sighed internally. Best not to ask.
"Regardless," Kote-neechan continued, "I'm going to be keeping the artifact under guard—I already have ideas for who I'm going to be calling on to handle that and study what it is—and I'm likely going to take personal control of the investigation once I brief the Tenno this afternoon."
She pulled away from Mushin's arm, looked over her handiwork, and chuckled. "My position is going to be a little less ceremonial this week than it was earlier this morning. No rest for the wicked, I suppose."
Mushin snorted. That conversation… That had only been a few hours ago, hadn't it? Time flew when you got into your work.
Kote-neechan sat up straight. "Now. You may be treating that with repair fluid, but you are going to the hospital, and you are going to listen to what the doctors tell you."
"Understood. I'm going to be out of action for a little while, anyway. Think I'm due for a vacation, anyway."
"Oh?" Fu-neechan cut in. She still hadn't returned to her teenage avatar yet, and her eyebrow was cocked like that American movie star that Mushin didn't have a poster of from his wrestling days stowed away in her room.
She didn't, actually. Mick Foley was way cooler.
"Claire—Tokunotakai's step-daughter-to-be, remember? The piano? She's given me a standing invitation to visit the family home in Belgium," Mushin explained. "I said I'd come over, and I'm thinking that I'll collect on that offer. I've got to make sure that the plants are watered and whatnot first, but I should be able to finish by this evening."
"Call first," Kote-neechan warned her.
Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Her older sister had never been this much of a mother hen. "Of course I'll call first. What's gotten into you? You're never like this!"
Kote-neechan was silent. She slowly looked over her shoulder, where the Shinsengumi girl had Nobunaga's reincarnation in some sort of elaborate headlock.
Mushin glanced at her, then up at Fu-neechan. Her other sister shrugged.
"Today…" Kote-neechan started, then swallowed. She turned back to face Mushin. "Today was… unsettling. It's one thing to have someone you care about encounter danger, but this… she was vulnerable, and I wasn't here. In the middle of a situation like this, if Fudo hadn't been here, things might have ended very differently. I'm… still feeling it."
"Ah."
Mushin wasn't able to say it out loud. She couldn't. She'd known terror like that, after all.
And she'd ground her older sister's face in it, knowing full well what she'd go through. She may have taken precautions, but even then, accidents happened.
I am the villain, after all.
Kote-neechan sighed, and the vulnerability faded from her face. "Stay here. I'll send someone to come get you. Remember: hospital first."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Mushin rolled her injured arm around. "I'm a big girl, remember?"
"Of course." A smile rested briefly on her older sister's face, and she turned away. Something shifted in her bearing, and Mushin and Fu-neechan were in the presence of the Emperor's Blade. "To work, then."
The two Masamunes watched their older sister stride into the crowd, the mass of people splitting around her like a terrified red sea.
Mushin looked up at Fu-neechan again. "That was weird, wasn't it?"
"That was so weird." Her sister sighed, stretched, and shrugged. "I've gotta find a hiding place to change back. Later?"
"Later," Mushin agreed. Fu-neechan flipped her a thumbs up and darted around a corner.
The final few memories slotted into place, and Mushin let out a breath she had been waiting to exhale since she realized this was her plan.
The frog monster was Takiyasha-hime. That was what had been going on.
Now, how did things stand?
Kote-neechan had the bowl, and she would still keep it doggedly from evil hands. Takiyasha-hime was crazy enough to go after it no matter what stood in her way. Even if they'd figured out the broad shape of the plan, they both had no choice but to go along with it.
Masamune-no-Kotegiri and Takiyasha-hime were going to fight. And Takiyasha-hime would fall, because that was what Kote-neechan did. Not just because of the threat to Japan, either—Kote-neechan was going to be running off of the fear and fury of this morning as she ran the ancient sorceress down.
Mushin had participated in the rescue, learned and experienced everything alongside her sisters, and even taken an injury when things went unexpectedly wrong. Even if no one suspected her, these would all reinforce the separation of Masamune-no-Mushin from the mysterious Kyomu.
And she got to visit her Muramasa piano (piano!-!-!) niece-to-be. Well out of the blast zone of the coming fight, and she got to visit family and family-to-be. That in particular was going to be lovely.
Mushin wasn't going to say that she'd come out on top yet. But so far, she had done very, very well for herself.
Void Scheme
End
Next: Void Part 3
Void Rest
End
Next: Void Part 3
Void Rest
Oookay! What is there to go over here?
Takiyasha-hime's survival by possessing a small child was indeed lifted from Soul Eater. And yeah, she's kind of taking the full Supervillain route. My personal interpretation here is that she was fully aware for the... however long she was sealed away inside that bunker and went a little bit crazier, but someone else may decide to take their own direction with her.
Also, we've just about hit the end of my buffer--I only have two chapters of Void Rest written. Posting that segment is probably going to be slowed down even more. It's troublesome, because while Void Rest is far less action-packed than the rest of the Void arc, it contains some revelations about Mushin that I have been waiting to post for years at this point. So yeah, slowing down to maintain some small semblance of a buffer.
I can't really think of anything else to say that isn't making jokes about the chapter.
Well, what do you think sirs?
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Likely.
Were I Kotegiri, once the nature of Takayashi-hime's bowl has been discovered, I would arrange an expedite to scale Fujiyama. Once done, I would throw the bowl into the lava, so it can be well and truly destroyed.
Shinr
Lurking since December '98
Troublesome work foisted on someone else, successful... assuming that the frog witch will be completely focused on whoever gets to hold the bowl.
I'm a bit confused about Mushin's confusion about Haru being there, since Natsumi attends that school. And even in her niece's absence the rest of her friends who also happened to be scions of powerful ally youkai clans attend it too.
Speaking of which, I can see the news already, speculating that the school having these august personages, along with the Youkai children coming out of the closet a week before, led to this mess.
Regardless, vacation time, that may or may not be derailed by a frog or some other unrelated dumpster fire.
I remember the Soul Eater anime, and that bit with the Snake Villainess taking over a girl and bluntly telling her mother that her child is ego dead too. The knowledge of the anime getting into filler territory made me drop it somewhere in the second half, though.
OnceUponWhatever
Give me my creatives back
I don't think that the bowl was created in the fires of Fujiyama though, and oh good Lord I did a LOTR without even noticing what is wrong with me.
It's less that she's confused about Haru being there, and more that Mushin tries to be as meticulous a planner as possible, adjusting for every possible variable when she has the chance to. Haru didn't just show up, she appeared at the exact time and place needed to bail Kotegiri and Mushin out of major trouble, and Mushin can't figure out whether that specific thing was a plan she made or not, and how she would have known that that precise circumstance would come to pass.
Yeah, the anime did kind of a "FMA" in the second half, where the crew went off in their own direction after they overtook the manga. I think a lot of fans hold that second half to be weaker than the manga.
Harry Leferts
Suave Shadow Cabal Kaiju
Amused as she glanced at her sisters, Taiyang slowly shook her head a little bit, 'Well, I suppose that some showmanship is needed in such a job as theirs to put themselves forward.' Then, noting their own brief glances, she internally nodded, 'Yet, they're experienced and blooded. Excellent.'
For his part, doing his best to smother his grin (and failing to the amusement of the others), Harry bowed, "Hello, I am Potter Harry."
With a glance towards the others, the blue-clad woman stepped forward and gave him a nod as she placed a hand against her chest, "Hello, Itoko, it is nice to fully meet you, I am Fuyune."
Upon hearing that, Harry cocked an eyebrow with some amusement, "'Winter sound'?"
Lightly chuckling as she understood the amusement considering her job, she gave a nod as she formed a blade of ice in one hand, Fuyune grinned behind her mask, "The most common sound in winter is that of the deadly cold of a blizzard after all."
That got her a laugh before the wizard turned to the next one, the yellow clad woman who stepped forward, "I am Mihoyo."
Beside her, the grey-haired member then stepped forward, giving a small nod as smoke swirled around her form, "I am Yukasumi, Itoko, and I promise to help protect you."
It was then the purple clad member's turn to step forward with her eyes crinkling as she gathered an orb of water in one hand, "I am Ameya, and as the Midnight Rain hides foes, it can also hide protectors."
Glowing green eyes set in a greyish face peered into fellow green eyes as the red-clad Kunoichi gave a nod, her voice rumbling a little, "We are called Yomiko."
That got a raised eyebrow from Harry, but he simply nodded before turning towards the last of the group, her voice a rasp as she spun around two serated kama, "I am Kagehoshi, Itoko. And any who try to harm you with myself around, shall find that death is the coldest darkness of them all."
Raising a finger, the wizard grinned a bit, "See, that right there is an awesome catchphrase." Needless to say that got him various chuckles and once they died down, he frowned slightly and tilted his head, "Though… why haven't I met you all before?"
A small sigh escaped from Fuyune as she shook her head a bit, dismissing her ice sword, "Unfortunately, Harry-Chan… With how things have been the past few years, we have been extremely busy running missions for the Clan. Not to mention…"
When she glanced to the side, Yomiko spoke up, "Some spectres from our past have shown their faces. Ones whom we have wished to deal with personally for many years for what they had done to us."
Briefly narrowing his eyes some, Harry frowned a bit and glanced at the others, who gave him a small nod, "… Does it have to do with how you look like those small Gashadokuro that bastard Kamo created?" At the sharp looks from the Kunoichi, he grimaced, "I… unfortunately have fought a number some time ago doing an incident."
The green-eyes in the undead woman's face widened briefly before she bowed, "We see, in that case-"
However, before she could get much further, Harry stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder… and then pulled her into a hug, "Hey, I didn't say that I was afraid of you… well, I mean, I know that I should being Ninja and all, but…"
Any stiffness then vanished and Yomiko relaxed a bit before nodding and enjoying the hug for a few moments. Stepping back, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "You are right that we are similar to such creatures. Several of us were Hone-Onna Kunoichi of our Clan captured by Kamo and used to create the One before you. Others are from the remains of other Kunoichi, including some of the Fukai Clan who their leader thought were failures."
Placing her hand on her hip, Natsumi's ear twitched a bit as she frowned, "Would it be much issue for the Fukai members of you to be around me? Or possibly working with Sumiko-San and some of the others?"
Very briefly, the red-clad Kunoichi twitched before shaking her head, "No, it would be no issue, Natsumi-San. For they hated her and see this as taking a small amount of revenge knowing that she would hate such." Then, it was obvious that she smirked behind her mask, "And for much the same reason as to why they would be willing to work alongside Sumiko-San/Chan as they remember her well and with fondness."
Understanding on his face as well as some anger, Harry slowly nodded, "They wanted to create a fully intelligent version of their mass production Gashadokuro, didn't they?"
Slowly, Yomiko nodded at that, "Hai."
Meeting her eyes for several long moments, the fourteen-year-old's eyes darkened, "… You need anything to make those responsible pay, only ask, and I will do what I can."
That got him a slightly widened pair of eyes before Yomiko crouched down slightly, "Thank you, Itoko."
With a nod, Harry glanced around before humming some, "So… considering things… is there anything that you can tell me about yourselves?"
Lips twitching behind her mask, Fuyune shook her head some, "There is not much to tell in my case, Itoko. My Otou-San was one of Ian-Ojii-San's sons and my Okaa-San is a Yuki-Onna he came across when doing a trip to the Japanese Alps." She then smiled slightly as the corners of her eyes crinkled, "I became interested in defending the Clan and was trained in such arts."
From beside her, Mihoyo stepped up and clapped a hand on her fellow Kunoichi's shoulder, "And I am her rival considering ice and fire, though we are good friends who have each other's backs."
Pausing partway through a nod, the fourteen-year-old boy blinked and then furrowed his eyebrows, "Ice and fire?"
A small laugh escaping from her, Mihoyo nodded, "Hai, my Okaa-San was one of Ian-Ojii-San's musume, while my Otou-San was a Kasha that she met, both still happily married." Then, she pulled off her mask and the headgear as her head became a skull that had fire in place of hair and flames for eyes, "Which gifts me control over fire."
Just staring for several moments, Harry slowly raised a finger as a grin appeared on his face, "Just… to make sure… do you happen to use a dart attached to a rope?"
Rather bemused, especially when the teenage Kitsune there began to facepalm and mutter, the flaming Hone-Onna nodded as she produced said weapon and swung it around, "Indeed I do, Itoko, and am very good at making use of it. Especially when I need to grab someone with it and drag them in close." A moment later, she blinked as Harry began to laugh and raised one flaming eyebrow, "Hmm?"
Whacking the cackling Harry on the back of the head, Natsumi shook her head some, "Don't mind Harry-Chan, he's got something of a twisted sense of humor."
Cackles calming some, Harry pointed at her, "Like you're not moments from laughing yourself."
Blush appearing on her cheeks, the Kitsune looked away, "S-shut up…" Internally, however, she was grinning, 'I wonder how much I can make Sumiko-Oba-San facepalm…'
Meanwhile, Harry was shaking his head some, "Sorry, just… reminded me of something, Mihoyo-San."
There was something about the gleam in the firey eyes of Mihoyo that made him think that she knew exactly what he was amused by as she put her mask and headgear back on, "It is fine, Itoko."
Upon attention falling onto them, Yukasumi gestured at herself, Ameya, and Kagehoshi, "The three of us are all daughters of Ian-Otou-San. My own Okaa-San was a Enenra, Ameya-Chan's was an Ame-Onna, and Kagehoshi-Chan's was a Kage-Onna."
Only nodding at that, Natsumi suddenly paused and gained an odd look on her face, "Wait… your Okaa-San was a Enenra and Kagehoshi-San's was a Kage-Onna?"
In the smoke-using Kunoichi's eyes was amusement dancing as she nodded, "Hai."
Mouth moving, Natsumi was unable to say anything for several moments before she managed to speak, "I… how?! An Enenra is a being of literal smoke! And a Kage-Onna is… well, just a shadow on the wall."
Dry tone to his voice as he smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets, Harry snickered, "Ian."
Quickly twisting towards him, the Kitsune waved her hands some, "That is not an answer and you know it, Harry-Chan!"
Very slowly raising an eyebrow, Harry simply gestured with one hand, "And yet… it is."
Sputters escaping from her, Natsumi finally placed her hand over her eyes, "Why do I even try….?"
Laughs escaping from her, Yukasumi then shook her head some, "As for your question… in the case of my Okaa-San, she had been turned into a Shikigami and thus was able to be with him… alongside her Mistress. Eventually, I came from their union and she brought me here as neither her nor her Mistress were able to properly train me… and, after her Mistress' death and Otou-San's, she ascended to the Heavens to join them."
Voice dry, Kagehoshi raised one eyebrow, "And in my case, Otou-San was apparently making use of shadow magic he learned from one Carnwennan to hide in the shadows of the house that my Okaa-San lived in. And this, nine months later, I was born with her bringing me here as she was not able to properly care for me."
Pinching her nose, Natsumi muttered some, "Because of course that is what happened."
Extremely amused at her reactions, Ameya then shook her head and turned towards Harry, "As for my own Okaa-San? Otou-San had heard rumors of a Yokai hunting children and thought at first it was her. But, in reality, it was a vampire from the West and thus the two of them teamed up and slew it… before having relations while recovering."
It was now Harry's turn to have a dry tone to his voice as he smirked, "Because of course they did."
With a small shrug, the purple-clad Kunoichi shook her head, "Of course, my own Okaa-San not long afterwards ascended into the heavens, having cleansed herself through her own efforts and become a minor Kami of rain." She then chuckled a little bit, "I still see her from time to time being her musume."
Suddenly the sound of grumbles made them all blink before giving amused looks towards the two teens, both of whom suddenly gained some sheepish looks on their faces. Chuckling a little bit weakly, Harry rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, sorry?"
Unable to help herself. Yukina lightly laughed before gently patting him on the shoulder, "It is fine, Harry-Chan. You're a teen and it is to be expected that you'll always be getting hungry after all." She then shook her head a little bit, "Thankfully, we have more than enough food to deal with a pair of hungry teens."
Only nodding at that, Harry gave a small bow, "Thank you."
Moments later, however, the Yuki-Onna gently raised his head to look at him, smiling softly, "There's no need, Harry-Chan, as you are family after all."
None of them commented how Harry became slightly teary eyed at that and simply nodded, only giving him a few moments to compose himself, "Thank you…" Then, he perked up a little bit and smirked, "Actually… I have a bit of news on my end that is kind of important considering how my newly met Itokos will be guarding me."
Raising an eyebrow, Yukasumi shared a look with the others there, "Oh?"
Grin appearing on his face, the wizard snickered some, "Just watch…"
Before their very eyes, the teenage boy in front of them slowly changed until it was instead a teenage girl who stood there.
For several moments, no one said anything before Chiho gave her a look, "Harry-Chan? Is that you?"
Lips twitching, Harry giggled some and nodded, "Hai, I've gained the ability to transform into a woman now."
There was a beat before Tsubaki sighed and shook her head with an amused look on her face, "Of course a Potter would manage such a feat." Then, she gained a grin on her face as she glanced at her fellow Arashi Clan elders, "Hmm… I wonder if Ian-Kun could have such an ability as well."
Eyebrow raised at that, Huixing frowned slightly as she cocked her head to the side, "You're not questioning as to if it is Harry-Kun?"
Only shaking her head, Mifuyu only sighed a bit with an amused look, "No, because during his last visit, Ian-Kun informed us that you would gain a unique ability that was said to be impossible. Thus, it is not too surprising and we can feel that it is you."
About to nod, the transformed wizard suddenly paused and then frowned a little bit, "Wait… I would have thought that the last time that you would have seen him would have been during the holidays…"
Chuckles escaping from her, Chiho shook her head, "Normally, that would have been true. But, since you revealed who Kitakaze-Chan is? He's been able to visit more often…"
Right as she was about to say something, Harry noticed how several of the elders were looking slightly different and realized why before transforming back into a male, "Congratulations."
Placing a hand on her baby bump, Tsubaki grinned a bit, "Thank you, Harry-Chan." She then shook her head a bit and gestured towards the main compound, "Well, considering that you're hungry, I think that a good meal is in order, not to mention how we have some people who wish to meet you…"
Interested, the teenage wizard nodded some and soon they began walking as the group chatted amongst themselves, with Natsumi asking some questions that they answered.
Upon entering the dining room, the visiting group came to a stop and blinked a little bit at the two who were there meeting them. One of the two was a Huli-Jing if the Chinese features and fox tails behind her said anything. She wore a black Kimono style top that was nonetheless rather open and showing off some cleavage, while her dress at the same time also showed off her long, toned legs. Beside her was another, this time Japanese, woman, with wolf ears and a tail. Like the first, she wore a kimono-style top that was open, but under it was mesh and there were no sleeves. And also like her fellow, her skirt also showed off her legs though her skin was more tanned compared to the paleness of the fox woman.
Bowing, Harry gave them both a smile, "Hello, I am Potter Harry."
The two women easily stood in one motion and bowed back with the fox woman placing a hand on her chest, "I am Arashi Hóngyuàn."
On her other side, the wolf woman also bowed, "And I am Arashi Kaede." Straightening, her gaze softened as she murmured, "You truly look so much like him."
Blinking, but also guessing who, Harry tilted his head, "Um, who?"
Gently smiling, Hóngyuàn placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Henry, I can see much of him in you." Then she held out a hand with her smile growing a touch, "Come here…" Doing so, the wizard kept his eyes on hers, which made her chuckle before she ran her hand along his cheek, "Yes… there is much of him in you, I can see."
Only nodding at that, Kaede shook her head, "Hai… and it is good to see." Seeing him chew his lip some, she smiled, "You're wondering what our relationship with Henry-Kun was, correct?"
Unsure, the fourteen-year-old slowly nodded, "Hai… if it is okay…"
Lightly chuckling, Hóngyuàn gestured for him to take a seat beside them as they also sat down, "That… is a very long story. As for our exact relationship, well… the three of us were lovers…" Her expression fell some as she shook her head, "Unfortunately, his heart was torn in two his Fleamont-San was not of the same mold as Lyra-San, or even similar. Not to say that she did not love him as he did her, but…"
There was an understanding look in Natsumi's eyes as she nodded, "You let him go."
With a small nod, the Huli-Jing smiled sadly, "Indeed… and at the time, due to how he was working for the Wizengamot, the Tabloids kept a very close eye on him, and while he disagreed greatly, we also understood that our presence could have caused trouble for him."
Beside her, after thanking one of the Arashi's bringing some food, Kaede turned back to him, "We will always be thankful for Henry-Kun, and love him deeply, do not think otherwise. But… at the same time, sometimes circumstances means that one must be apart for a time."
Simply nodding with understanding, Harry reached out and patted their hands, "I'm sure that Great-grandfather thought much the same with you."
At that, both women simply smiled with one another before nodding as they began to chat.
Listening to one bit, Harry blinked and gave Kaede a look, "Wait… so my Great-grandfather rescued you from some Shinobi from your own Clan who were hunting you down?"
Only laughing some, Kaede nodded with a small grin on her face, "Oh yes…" She then shook her head some with a small sigh, "At the time, the Heir to the Clan, my Onee-San, had been involved in a rather dumb idea to gain one over the Fukai by sleeping with the then heir and having a child by him… turned out to be actually twins, if one would believe that." Then, the wolfess snorted and rolled her eyes, "Of course, said Fukai Heir was executed by his Haha-ue, may she burn in the Hells. And that had effects on my Onee-San."
Eyebrow raising, Natsumi snorted and shook her head, "I don't doubt that… how bad?"
Just shaking her head, the wolf-Yokai snorted, "Well, her children were never trusted, because some suspected that they would turn coat to the Fukai at some point. And the supposed in, that they were the children of the heir, was no longer functional. Still, they were quite good Shinobi… as for myself? Well… I was one of those other possibilities to take over the Clan, and when it began to fragment…"
Realization on his face, Harry nodded some, "When it began to fragment, you had a target on your back."
Grimace on her own face as she took a bite of meat, Kaede sighed, "Hai." She then motioned with her chopsticks, "I met Henry-Kun as well as Hóngyuàn-Chan, and they offered me a trip to Britain. It was far enough away that none were looking for me. And when I returned… well, anyone associated with my old Clan thought me dead. Thus, I began teaching the Arashi Clan everything that I could."
When it came to Hóngyuàn, she simply chuckled and stated that she simply was on the run from Chinese wizards as the Qing came to an end and thus joined Henry, also teaching the Arashi Qi usage.
As the meal continued, to the teenage wizard's great joy, he was told several stories of his great-grandfather. Unseen by him, Natsumi was watching with a happy look on her face as she knew just how important that it was to her boyfriend to learn more about his family. Though the Kitsune was more amused by the fact of how Sumiko would likely be reacting when she finally met the Arashi Kunoichi who would be guarding Harry.
Much later that night, however, the two teens were awoken by a loud ringing and various scintillating lights dancing across the ceiling of the guest room in the main Arashi household. It took them several moments to discover that said lights and sounds were coming from their time turners. Both items practically vibrating hard with visible auras dancing around them as a powerful time quake occurred…
For his part, doing his best to smother his grin (and failing to the amusement of the others), Harry bowed, "Hello, I am Potter Harry."
With a glance towards the others, the blue-clad woman stepped forward and gave him a nod as she placed a hand against her chest, "Hello, Itoko, it is nice to fully meet you, I am Fuyune."
Upon hearing that, Harry cocked an eyebrow with some amusement, "'Winter sound'?"
Lightly chuckling as she understood the amusement considering her job, she gave a nod as she formed a blade of ice in one hand, Fuyune grinned behind her mask, "The most common sound in winter is that of the deadly cold of a blizzard after all."
That got her a laugh before the wizard turned to the next one, the yellow clad woman who stepped forward, "I am Mihoyo."
Beside her, the grey-haired member then stepped forward, giving a small nod as smoke swirled around her form, "I am Yukasumi, Itoko, and I promise to help protect you."
It was then the purple clad member's turn to step forward with her eyes crinkling as she gathered an orb of water in one hand, "I am Ameya, and as the Midnight Rain hides foes, it can also hide protectors."
Glowing green eyes set in a greyish face peered into fellow green eyes as the red-clad Kunoichi gave a nod, her voice rumbling a little, "We are called Yomiko."
That got a raised eyebrow from Harry, but he simply nodded before turning towards the last of the group, her voice a rasp as she spun around two serated kama, "I am Kagehoshi, Itoko. And any who try to harm you with myself around, shall find that death is the coldest darkness of them all."
Raising a finger, the wizard grinned a bit, "See, that right there is an awesome catchphrase." Needless to say that got him various chuckles and once they died down, he frowned slightly and tilted his head, "Though… why haven't I met you all before?"
A small sigh escaped from Fuyune as she shook her head a bit, dismissing her ice sword, "Unfortunately, Harry-Chan… With how things have been the past few years, we have been extremely busy running missions for the Clan. Not to mention…"
When she glanced to the side, Yomiko spoke up, "Some spectres from our past have shown their faces. Ones whom we have wished to deal with personally for many years for what they had done to us."
Briefly narrowing his eyes some, Harry frowned a bit and glanced at the others, who gave him a small nod, "… Does it have to do with how you look like those small Gashadokuro that bastard Kamo created?" At the sharp looks from the Kunoichi, he grimaced, "I… unfortunately have fought a number some time ago doing an incident."
The green-eyes in the undead woman's face widened briefly before she bowed, "We see, in that case-"
However, before she could get much further, Harry stepped up and placed a hand on her shoulder… and then pulled her into a hug, "Hey, I didn't say that I was afraid of you… well, I mean, I know that I should being Ninja and all, but…"
Any stiffness then vanished and Yomiko relaxed a bit before nodding and enjoying the hug for a few moments. Stepping back, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "You are right that we are similar to such creatures. Several of us were Hone-Onna Kunoichi of our Clan captured by Kamo and used to create the One before you. Others are from the remains of other Kunoichi, including some of the Fukai Clan who their leader thought were failures."
Placing her hand on her hip, Natsumi's ear twitched a bit as she frowned, "Would it be much issue for the Fukai members of you to be around me? Or possibly working with Sumiko-San and some of the others?"
Very briefly, the red-clad Kunoichi twitched before shaking her head, "No, it would be no issue, Natsumi-San. For they hated her and see this as taking a small amount of revenge knowing that she would hate such." Then, it was obvious that she smirked behind her mask, "And for much the same reason as to why they would be willing to work alongside Sumiko-San/Chan as they remember her well and with fondness."
Understanding on his face as well as some anger, Harry slowly nodded, "They wanted to create a fully intelligent version of their mass production Gashadokuro, didn't they?"
Slowly, Yomiko nodded at that, "Hai."
Meeting her eyes for several long moments, the fourteen-year-old's eyes darkened, "… You need anything to make those responsible pay, only ask, and I will do what I can."
That got him a slightly widened pair of eyes before Yomiko crouched down slightly, "Thank you, Itoko."
With a nod, Harry glanced around before humming some, "So… considering things… is there anything that you can tell me about yourselves?"
Lips twitching behind her mask, Fuyune shook her head some, "There is not much to tell in my case, Itoko. My Otou-San was one of Ian-Ojii-San's sons and my Okaa-San is a Yuki-Onna he came across when doing a trip to the Japanese Alps." She then smiled slightly as the corners of her eyes crinkled, "I became interested in defending the Clan and was trained in such arts."
From beside her, Mihoyo stepped up and clapped a hand on her fellow Kunoichi's shoulder, "And I am her rival considering ice and fire, though we are good friends who have each other's backs."
Pausing partway through a nod, the fourteen-year-old boy blinked and then furrowed his eyebrows, "Ice and fire?"
A small laugh escaping from her, Mihoyo nodded, "Hai, my Okaa-San was one of Ian-Ojii-San's musume, while my Otou-San was a Kasha that she met, both still happily married." Then, she pulled off her mask and the headgear as her head became a skull that had fire in place of hair and flames for eyes, "Which gifts me control over fire."
Just staring for several moments, Harry slowly raised a finger as a grin appeared on his face, "Just… to make sure… do you happen to use a dart attached to a rope?"
Rather bemused, especially when the teenage Kitsune there began to facepalm and mutter, the flaming Hone-Onna nodded as she produced said weapon and swung it around, "Indeed I do, Itoko, and am very good at making use of it. Especially when I need to grab someone with it and drag them in close." A moment later, she blinked as Harry began to laugh and raised one flaming eyebrow, "Hmm?"
Whacking the cackling Harry on the back of the head, Natsumi shook her head some, "Don't mind Harry-Chan, he's got something of a twisted sense of humor."
Cackles calming some, Harry pointed at her, "Like you're not moments from laughing yourself."
Blush appearing on her cheeks, the Kitsune looked away, "S-shut up…" Internally, however, she was grinning, 'I wonder how much I can make Sumiko-Oba-San facepalm…'
Meanwhile, Harry was shaking his head some, "Sorry, just… reminded me of something, Mihoyo-San."
There was something about the gleam in the firey eyes of Mihoyo that made him think that she knew exactly what he was amused by as she put her mask and headgear back on, "It is fine, Itoko."
Upon attention falling onto them, Yukasumi gestured at herself, Ameya, and Kagehoshi, "The three of us are all daughters of Ian-Otou-San. My own Okaa-San was a Enenra, Ameya-Chan's was an Ame-Onna, and Kagehoshi-Chan's was a Kage-Onna."
Only nodding at that, Natsumi suddenly paused and gained an odd look on her face, "Wait… your Okaa-San was a Enenra and Kagehoshi-San's was a Kage-Onna?"
In the smoke-using Kunoichi's eyes was amusement dancing as she nodded, "Hai."
Mouth moving, Natsumi was unable to say anything for several moments before she managed to speak, "I… how?! An Enenra is a being of literal smoke! And a Kage-Onna is… well, just a shadow on the wall."
Dry tone to his voice as he smirked and shoved his hands into his pockets, Harry snickered, "Ian."
Quickly twisting towards him, the Kitsune waved her hands some, "That is not an answer and you know it, Harry-Chan!"
Very slowly raising an eyebrow, Harry simply gestured with one hand, "And yet… it is."
Sputters escaping from her, Natsumi finally placed her hand over her eyes, "Why do I even try….?"
Laughs escaping from her, Yukasumi then shook her head some, "As for your question… in the case of my Okaa-San, she had been turned into a Shikigami and thus was able to be with him… alongside her Mistress. Eventually, I came from their union and she brought me here as neither her nor her Mistress were able to properly train me… and, after her Mistress' death and Otou-San's, she ascended to the Heavens to join them."
Voice dry, Kagehoshi raised one eyebrow, "And in my case, Otou-San was apparently making use of shadow magic he learned from one Carnwennan to hide in the shadows of the house that my Okaa-San lived in. And this, nine months later, I was born with her bringing me here as she was not able to properly care for me."
Pinching her nose, Natsumi muttered some, "Because of course that is what happened."
Extremely amused at her reactions, Ameya then shook her head and turned towards Harry, "As for my own Okaa-San? Otou-San had heard rumors of a Yokai hunting children and thought at first it was her. But, in reality, it was a vampire from the West and thus the two of them teamed up and slew it… before having relations while recovering."
It was now Harry's turn to have a dry tone to his voice as he smirked, "Because of course they did."
With a small shrug, the purple-clad Kunoichi shook her head, "Of course, my own Okaa-San not long afterwards ascended into the heavens, having cleansed herself through her own efforts and become a minor Kami of rain." She then chuckled a little bit, "I still see her from time to time being her musume."
Suddenly the sound of grumbles made them all blink before giving amused looks towards the two teens, both of whom suddenly gained some sheepish looks on their faces. Chuckling a little bit weakly, Harry rubbed the back of his neck, "Um, sorry?"
Unable to help herself. Yukina lightly laughed before gently patting him on the shoulder, "It is fine, Harry-Chan. You're a teen and it is to be expected that you'll always be getting hungry after all." She then shook her head a little bit, "Thankfully, we have more than enough food to deal with a pair of hungry teens."
Only nodding at that, Harry gave a small bow, "Thank you."
Moments later, however, the Yuki-Onna gently raised his head to look at him, smiling softly, "There's no need, Harry-Chan, as you are family after all."
None of them commented how Harry became slightly teary eyed at that and simply nodded, only giving him a few moments to compose himself, "Thank you…" Then, he perked up a little bit and smirked, "Actually… I have a bit of news on my end that is kind of important considering how my newly met Itokos will be guarding me."
Raising an eyebrow, Yukasumi shared a look with the others there, "Oh?"
Grin appearing on his face, the wizard snickered some, "Just watch…"
Before their very eyes, the teenage boy in front of them slowly changed until it was instead a teenage girl who stood there.
For several moments, no one said anything before Chiho gave her a look, "Harry-Chan? Is that you?"
Lips twitching, Harry giggled some and nodded, "Hai, I've gained the ability to transform into a woman now."
There was a beat before Tsubaki sighed and shook her head with an amused look on her face, "Of course a Potter would manage such a feat." Then, she gained a grin on her face as she glanced at her fellow Arashi Clan elders, "Hmm… I wonder if Ian-Kun could have such an ability as well."
Eyebrow raised at that, Huixing frowned slightly as she cocked her head to the side, "You're not questioning as to if it is Harry-Kun?"
Only shaking her head, Mifuyu only sighed a bit with an amused look, "No, because during his last visit, Ian-Kun informed us that you would gain a unique ability that was said to be impossible. Thus, it is not too surprising and we can feel that it is you."
About to nod, the transformed wizard suddenly paused and then frowned a little bit, "Wait… I would have thought that the last time that you would have seen him would have been during the holidays…"
Chuckles escaping from her, Chiho shook her head, "Normally, that would have been true. But, since you revealed who Kitakaze-Chan is? He's been able to visit more often…"
Right as she was about to say something, Harry noticed how several of the elders were looking slightly different and realized why before transforming back into a male, "Congratulations."
Placing a hand on her baby bump, Tsubaki grinned a bit, "Thank you, Harry-Chan." She then shook her head a bit and gestured towards the main compound, "Well, considering that you're hungry, I think that a good meal is in order, not to mention how we have some people who wish to meet you…"
Interested, the teenage wizard nodded some and soon they began walking as the group chatted amongst themselves, with Natsumi asking some questions that they answered.
Upon entering the dining room, the visiting group came to a stop and blinked a little bit at the two who were there meeting them. One of the two was a Huli-Jing if the Chinese features and fox tails behind her said anything. She wore a black Kimono style top that was nonetheless rather open and showing off some cleavage, while her dress at the same time also showed off her long, toned legs. Beside her was another, this time Japanese, woman, with wolf ears and a tail. Like the first, she wore a kimono-style top that was open, but under it was mesh and there were no sleeves. And also like her fellow, her skirt also showed off her legs though her skin was more tanned compared to the paleness of the fox woman.
Bowing, Harry gave them both a smile, "Hello, I am Potter Harry."
The two women easily stood in one motion and bowed back with the fox woman placing a hand on her chest, "I am Arashi Hóngyuàn."
On her other side, the wolf woman also bowed, "And I am Arashi Kaede." Straightening, her gaze softened as she murmured, "You truly look so much like him."
Blinking, but also guessing who, Harry tilted his head, "Um, who?"
Gently smiling, Hóngyuàn placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Henry, I can see much of him in you." Then she held out a hand with her smile growing a touch, "Come here…" Doing so, the wizard kept his eyes on hers, which made her chuckle before she ran her hand along his cheek, "Yes… there is much of him in you, I can see."
Only nodding at that, Kaede shook her head, "Hai… and it is good to see." Seeing him chew his lip some, she smiled, "You're wondering what our relationship with Henry-Kun was, correct?"
Unsure, the fourteen-year-old slowly nodded, "Hai… if it is okay…"
Lightly chuckling, Hóngyuàn gestured for him to take a seat beside them as they also sat down, "That… is a very long story. As for our exact relationship, well… the three of us were lovers…" Her expression fell some as she shook her head, "Unfortunately, his heart was torn in two his Fleamont-San was not of the same mold as Lyra-San, or even similar. Not to say that she did not love him as he did her, but…"
There was an understanding look in Natsumi's eyes as she nodded, "You let him go."
With a small nod, the Huli-Jing smiled sadly, "Indeed… and at the time, due to how he was working for the Wizengamot, the Tabloids kept a very close eye on him, and while he disagreed greatly, we also understood that our presence could have caused trouble for him."
Beside her, after thanking one of the Arashi's bringing some food, Kaede turned back to him, "We will always be thankful for Henry-Kun, and love him deeply, do not think otherwise. But… at the same time, sometimes circumstances means that one must be apart for a time."
Simply nodding with understanding, Harry reached out and patted their hands, "I'm sure that Great-grandfather thought much the same with you."
At that, both women simply smiled with one another before nodding as they began to chat.
Listening to one bit, Harry blinked and gave Kaede a look, "Wait… so my Great-grandfather rescued you from some Shinobi from your own Clan who were hunting you down?"
Only laughing some, Kaede nodded with a small grin on her face, "Oh yes…" She then shook her head some with a small sigh, "At the time, the Heir to the Clan, my Onee-San, had been involved in a rather dumb idea to gain one over the Fukai by sleeping with the then heir and having a child by him… turned out to be actually twins, if one would believe that." Then, the wolfess snorted and rolled her eyes, "Of course, said Fukai Heir was executed by his Haha-ue, may she burn in the Hells. And that had effects on my Onee-San."
Eyebrow raising, Natsumi snorted and shook her head, "I don't doubt that… how bad?"
Just shaking her head, the wolf-Yokai snorted, "Well, her children were never trusted, because some suspected that they would turn coat to the Fukai at some point. And the supposed in, that they were the children of the heir, was no longer functional. Still, they were quite good Shinobi… as for myself? Well… I was one of those other possibilities to take over the Clan, and when it began to fragment…"
Realization on his face, Harry nodded some, "When it began to fragment, you had a target on your back."
Grimace on her own face as she took a bite of meat, Kaede sighed, "Hai." She then motioned with her chopsticks, "I met Henry-Kun as well as Hóngyuàn-Chan, and they offered me a trip to Britain. It was far enough away that none were looking for me. And when I returned… well, anyone associated with my old Clan thought me dead. Thus, I began teaching the Arashi Clan everything that I could."
When it came to Hóngyuàn, she simply chuckled and stated that she simply was on the run from Chinese wizards as the Qing came to an end and thus joined Henry, also teaching the Arashi Qi usage.
As the meal continued, to the teenage wizard's great joy, he was told several stories of his great-grandfather. Unseen by him, Natsumi was watching with a happy look on her face as she knew just how important that it was to her boyfriend to learn more about his family. Though the Kitsune was more amused by the fact of how Sumiko would likely be reacting when she finally met the Arashi Kunoichi who would be guarding Harry.
Much later that night, however, the two teens were awoken by a loud ringing and various scintillating lights dancing across the ceiling of the guest room in the main Arashi household. It took them several moments to discover that said lights and sounds were coming from their time turners. Both items practically vibrating hard with visible auras dancing around them as a powerful time quake occurred…