Tag: fic remix

Dreaming of S(erpents), a DoS remix drabble (2016-01-14)

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After Jiraiya, Shikako is the closest thing Konoha has to a seal master. It’s not a surprise, really–this fact has been brought up before on multiple occasions–but she’s never felt it so keenly as she does in the moment.

“You want me to… what?” Shikako stammers, her shoulders tensing with apprehension.

Anko’s unusually solemn gaze does not waver–Shikako wonders if it’d be less unnerving if the older woman had her trademark smirk.

“I-I don’t think I can do that,” she tries, before reconsidering: technically, she might have the ability. She’s just not sure if she’s allowed, “I mean, I don’t see what I can do that Jiraiya-sama couldn’t. And I don’t know if–”

“Kid,” Anko interrupts, before scowling, “Shikako,” she tries again, “I’m not expecting you to pull a miracle out of your ass and get this damned thing off me.”

Shikako’s face freezes, uncertain on how to proceed.

Anko snorts, a rueful grin on her face, “I know a little about seals myself, okay? I just want you to take a look, see what you can learn. With your teammate marked up, too, I figure you’ve got a stake in this.”

And it’s no secret that Shikako’s been formally, officially banned from examining Sasuke’s cursed seal.

But no one said anything about Anko’s.

Shikako straightens out from her hunch–not relaxed, but focused–her body a few steps ahead of her brain. Verbally, she dithers, “I’m not sure…”

But Anko pounces on the hesitation, “I’m not asking you to somehow be better than Jiraiya and that damned bastard. I’m asking you to be different. Just look at it. Please, Shikako.”

It really is a good opportunity. And Anko has already stated she’s not expecting any solutions or modifications. If anything, this is more of a favor to Shikako–she’s been itching to get a closer look at the cursed seal and even a prototype is better than nothing.

“Okay,” Shikako agrees. And then, because she will always be a lucky seven at heart, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

—

This.

This is the worst that can happen.

Shikako, standing in an impossible void, water up to her ankles and a giant white snake with Orochimaru’s face on it.

A part of her–a very tiny part, the smallest bit that isn’t reeling in confusion and horror or preoccupied with the flurry of escape and combat plans flickering in an out–can only sigh. She should’ve known. Orochimaru is a crazy, evil psychopath but he’s a genius for a reason.

And it probably didn’t help that she jinxed herself. She just didn’t expect to be pulled into some kind of mental space like Naruto does whenever he talks to Kyuubi.

The seal is on a complete different person, though, how does this even work?

She can ponder that later, this is very obviously not the time.

“The little Nara on Sasuke’s team,” the giant Orochimaru-faced snake says, it’s body uncoiling and slithering towards her. He… it… continues, “So you’ve managed to–”

And then the explosion.

Good news–seals somehow work in this mental space even though it may be the inside of a seal. She’d been worried about structural instability, one of the basic tenets of sealing, but she’d still done it; touch blast is a staple of her fighting style, after all.

Bad news–she’s going to need a whole lot more than a single touch blast to take down this fragment of Orochimaru.

Also, she’s made him… it… angry.

Very angry.

—

Normally alliances are a good thing, especially the one between the Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka. In fact, given their compatibility and foundation of friendship, the clan alliance has literally never been anything but a good thing. Not like weak flimsy false alliances that break or fester and fail.

But in this very specific, extremely particular case, maybe it’s not such a good thing.

Because being allies with the Akimichi and Yamanaka means that each clan can comfortably stay in their niches and trust each other to focus on their own specializations.

And that means Shikako has absolutely no idea how to handle herself in a mental battle. How the hell does Ino do this all the time?

She had always thought that the Yamanaka mind jutsu were similar to genjutsu–overlaying their own will and personality onto a person with copious amounts of chakra and finesse. Emphasis on the finesse.

If she had known that it was more like a telepathic caged grudge match, well. She’s always had great respect for the Yamanaka clan, but now she also has extreme fear. Also, bewilderment–how are they not all batshit insane?

And they don’t even have the benefit of seals like she does. Jutsu doesn’t work here, which means that all the Yamanaka have are their own mental representation of themselves.

Then again, most of them are up against normal humans and not freaky giant snakes with human heads.

Ino survived; she just has to hold onto that thought. Shikako may not have the same training in the Yamanaka mind arts, but she has seals and she’s up against an earlier version as well. She can survive, too.

—

She doesn’t know how long she’s been here. There is no sun or moon or sky, just Shikako and the Orochimaru-snake and the void. If it weren’t for the cuts and bruises on herself and the huge missing chunks of flesh on the Orochimaru-snake, she’d think she was stuck completely. Frozen in some monstrous tableau–like some kind of fairytale, a lone human trying to take on a dragon.

As it is, she thinks maybe she’s been doing this for days–weeks, months, and eternity. And she can’t help the chilling thought that she’s trapped herself into an infinite hell of some kind (sometimes Tsukuyomi still haunts her, when the sun sits red and heavy in the sky).

But as she’s about to set off yet another round of explosions–there are only so many strategies involving touch blast she can implement–she’s suddenly yanked back and up and, thankfully, out.

Her mind is shoved back into her body, the abruptness causing her to gasp. Then cough as she chokes on air.

Lungs, why this again?

A hand covered in the green glow of medical chakra is pressed over Shikako’s chest, but another hand bats it away.

“It’s just her body being stupid, Sakura” Ino says, angrily, pointedly, “because only an idiot would try to do what she did without having any training in mind jutsu,” but Ino’s hand, curled around Shikako’s wrist, is gentle and warm. Her brow is furrowed not with irritation, but concern.

Shikako is lying on her back, the prickle of grass uncomfortable on her neck. Kneeling on one side of her is Sakura, ignoring Ino’s reprimand and using a diagnostic jutsu on her, and on the other is Ino. Standing above them, with an expression muddled with guilt and relief, is Anko. Shikako can sense some other bright points of chakra–members of the kunoichi group, the older ones at least–just beyond her line of sight.

“Did you call everyone?” Shikako coughs out, because it’s one thing to fail utterly. It’s another to fail utterly in front of an audience.

Anko raises an eyebrow, “Well it was either them or the Hokage.” Which, point. Shikako isn’t exactly looking to get yelled at by Tsunade-sama for blatantly flouting proper procedure. Again.

And given Ino’s experience and Sakura’s apprenticeship, they are basically the most equipped to handle the situation, besides the Hokage, that is.

“I’m pretty sure we still need to tell shishou about this,” Sakura says, apologetic but firm.

—

(“And that’s the real reason why I’m here,” Shikako says, with a not quite obnoxious grin on her face.

Kankurou squints at her, suspicion etched into the line of his jaw, the tilt of his head, “You fought a giant imaginary snake and got assigned as the Suna ambassador… You’re fucking with me.”

She just grins wider.)

~

A/N: I’m sorry anon, I’ve had so many starts and stops with this prompt of yours that when I finally wrote a thing that had a decent length to it, I just decided to keep it.

So probably not what you were looking for…

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Learning How To Fly (a DSS Requirement Zacharias Smith fanmix)

  1. It’s Time (Round Mashup) by Imagine Dragons/Kayla Camacho
  2. Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy
  3. Fly Me To The Moon by Westlife
  4. Binary Mind by Ra Ra Riot
  5. Love Love by Take That
  6. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by Sleeping At Last
  7. What Is Love by Jaymes Young
  8. Give Me Love / Say Something by Song-Masher
  9. Lonely Boy by The Black Keys
  10. Invincible by OK Go
  11. I Love You by Woodkid
  12. I Follow Rivers (ft. Max Giesinger) by Michael Schulte
  13. When Can I See You Again? by Owl City

Find it here!
(The link sends you to a mediafire folder, only the zip file is necessary for the entire mix)

~

A/N: I admit that this won’t make any sense until I write/post my DSS Requirement fic remix drabble featuring Zacharias Smith (and, boy, do I have a lot of feels about that!) but these are some songs off of my “favorites” list that resonated SO NICELY with the drabble to be that I couldn’t help but make this fanmix (also, I didn’t want to have two Missed Posts in a row).

Obviously, Zacharias’ feelings are not as platonic as Marietta’s 🙂

Richie Todd Wayne Goes To Paris 2/? (2015-12-21)

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A/N1: Continuation of this (hence the numbering). Based of @mgnemesi’s baby fic ‘verse.

~

First thing in the morning, over a breakfast nowhere near as good as Alfred’s but far superior to Uncle Dick’s, Mr. Drake asks him, “How’s your French?”

Richie, bleary-eyed but still determined to make a good impression, blinks and dutifully says, “Entre horrible et médiocre.”*

Mr. Drake hums in response and says nothing for the rest of the meal.

Half an hour later, as they are leaving the flat to go to the team’s headquarters, Mr. Drake finally responds, “From now on, you can only speak in French.”

An immediate protest tries to claw its way out of Richie’s mouth, but he bites it back. Still, something must show on his face, because one of Mr. Drake’s eyebrows raise.

“You came to France to learn, so you will learn in French. If you wanted to learn in English, you should have ambushed me in the London HQ. Or,” he says, a smirk slowly spilling across his face, “You could go back to Gotham, everyone speaks English there.”

Rather than discouraging Richie, it fires him up. The challenge is similar enough to his dad and aunts and uncles’ training that it feels familiar, “Je serai Robin!”**

The smirk flickers into a pleased smile, before fading away, back to Mr. Drake’s blank expression.

The trip is made in silence, an unusual state of being for Richie; he plans to brush up on his French so it won’t happen again tomorrow.

—

Richie didn’t notice it yesterday–what with the late hour and being detained by the team as an intruder–but the Batman Inc headquarters in Paris is rather pretty. Especially in comparison to the Cave which, while kitted out to the extreme and very impressive, is still a literal cave.

In contrast, the Paris HQ is bright and airy, mostly windows to let in natural light and the walls either painted to enhance that or glass. It looks more like an art gallery or the offices of a popular fashion magazine, all the better to blend in with it’s surroundings. The physical transparency of the building somehow hiding it’s secret vigilante operations.

Well, that is ostensibly what he came here to learn.

In the light of day, and without the suspicion of being a villain of some sort, the Paris operatives are far happier to see him than they were yesterday. At the very least, they aren’t tying him up and glaring at him, which is a notably big improvement from last night.

But they watch him with wary eyes, only stepping forward and speaking when Mr. Drake rests a hand on his shoulder and says, “Team, this is Richard Todd Wayne from Gotham. He’s here for some undercover training,” in French, of course.

Maybe Richie’s not translating it correctly, or maybe there’s something he’s missing, because the suspicious cast on the team’s faces turns gleeful. Sadistically so.

“Men’s Fashion Week is coming up…” one of them says, a black-haired woman in pink polka dots.

“We do have a concert coming up, as well,” the blonde woman adds.

And suddenly there is a flurry of conversation too fast-paced for Richie to follow, different members chiming in at random times. It kind of reminds him of dinner at the Manor. Except with less threat of being stabbed with a fork… probably.

“I’m sure Richie will appreciate the many learning opportunities,” Mr. Drake says firmly, bringing the discussion to a close, before dropping the hand off Richie’s shoulder, “Before that… Who wants to give him the tour?”

~

A/N2: Given that I don’t actually know where I want to go with this fic, it would not leave me alone while I was at work. So… here? Progress, at least.

Also, the French: *(Between terrible and mediocre) and **(I will be Robin!) I got from google translate. I do not speak French AT ALL. Which is why I didn’t want to continue butchering the language in the second section…

Also, also, thanks mgnemesi for letting me play in the sandbox 🙂

Gambling Away The Past 3/? (2015-12-19)

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Ikoma has only recently been made clan heir, a second son obediently falling in line, but already he is being called Shikakeru–to challenge, to start, to set traps. It is a good Shika name, a name worthy of a future Nara clan head, but it doesn’t quite fit right.

It fits Ikoma’s brother better, even though he already has a Shika name given to him since birth. His brother, Shikaku, the one who should have be clan heir, had he not been disowned for breaking his betrothal. Over some non-clan kunoichi, and a mere chuunin at that.

It’s not that Ikoma agrees–frankly, he doesn’t see why the elders bring up her rank so often, considering most Nara only ever reach chuunin themselves–but he does think that Shikaku could have handled the situation better. Should have, because then this way Ikoma wouldn’t be stuck stepping into a role he’s unprepared for.

It’s not that he’s unsuited–Ikoma is smart, he wouldn’t be a jounin at eighteen if he were an idiot. He can observe a person and know their story without a word, he can analyze dozens of reports and form a strategy to success. He’s smart, okay, so he knows what he’s looking at.

A girl capable of the Nara shadow jutsu, with the same looks as the woman his brother left the clan for, and a Shika name. He knows what he’s looking at and it shouldn’t make any sense but, then again, Ikoma shouldn’t be clan heir either.

Ikoma has a decision to make, an important one. And it doesn’t matter whether or not he is clan heir–doesn’t matter what implied fate is waiting for him–even if he is using the clan heir’s authority. He made an oath: to protect his team, the clan, their allies, and the village. In that order of priority.

In a way, it doesn’t even matter that Konoha is at war, he would protect his clan. He would protect Shikako, even though Ikoma knows what her existence means for his future.

Shikako wouldn’t be named that if she had cousins.

—

Minato is confident that Ikoma knows what he’s doing in assigning Shikako as a fifth member of his team. It makes sense, after all. Minato is often called away to other skirmishes and battles which his team isn’t ready for, and given the near miss that almost occurred… well, Minato isn’t ungrateful.

But he’s also pretty sure that the two of them are lying. Not about Shikako being a Nara–that’s readily evident and, anyway, it wouldn’t make sense for Ikoma to cover for her if she weren’t part of his clan. But there is something off.

It’s not her name or her allegiance–regardless of if he is lying, Minato trusts Ikoma as a fellow Konoha nin. It’d be irresponsible for Shikako to claim a higher rank or overrate her skills–it’s dangerous, to a shinobi and their team–but it’s also clear that those aren’t the lie either.

Minato doesn’t doubt her capability–she saved his team when he couldn’t–especially not after their quick assessment spar. Though it is something about her skills which are questionable.

He recalls the way she aided them in the destruction of the bridge. He notes the lack of sheaths or extra storage spaces beyond the pockets of her flak jacket and compares that to his team’s reports of her fighting–sword and kunai and scrolls.

Surely, as one of Konoha’s three fuinjutsu masters, he’d have at least heard about a girl on her way to becoming the fourth.

~

A/N: So, here’s more of this…

It’s not quite what you asked for @byebyebriar, but it kind of is?

I really love Gambling Away the Past. Maybe the next section can be from Minato’s point of view? I’d love to see his thoughts on Shikako’s touch blast/sealing.

Anyway, thanks for the prompt!

Gambling Away The Past 2/? (2015-12-17)

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The Yellow Flash really is as amazing in person as all the storybooks say he is. It’s also bewildering to Shikako that anyone who has ever seen him wouldn’t automatically blurt out “you look just like your father” when meeting Naruto; but that is a thought for later.

At least three years later, because, apparently, she has somehow ended up in the middle of the Third Shinobi World War.

The good news is, she has been accepted as an ally and a possibly misplaced Konoha ninja. Which is, technically, true. Just in the temporal sense, not geographical.

The bad news is, Team Minato has to report back to a field base–they did end up completing their mission, after all–and Shikako will be expected to explain herself. Which… she kind of can’t. All of her clearance codes are over a decade out of date–in the wrong direction at that–and she’s still not quite over the fact that she may have probably destroyed her timeline by interfering.

It’s weird, seeing a young Obito Uchiha and not feeling that wave of revulsion and hatred she did when she saw Kabuto. There is no visceral desire to kill him even though, in this case, she could probably do it. There is just a strange lack of anything; it might be shock.

She saved his life–saved his future at the cost of her past–and now he is a blank slate.

Well, not as much of a blank slate as she is right now.

“A Nara, eh?” says Minato-san (and she struggles not to make that a sama instead, because this is the legendary Yellow Flash, future Yondaime Hokage).

Shikako just nods, reaching across her chest to clutch at her clan’s symbol on her upper arm. She doesn’t have her brother or her father’s typical Nara looks–having enough of her mother to offset those genes–but she is a Nara. She is proud of her heritage: after all, she is the clan head’s daughter and the sister of the future clan head.

Or… she will be? Verb tenses are difficult when dealing with time travel.

“That’s convenient,” Minato-san continues with a mild smile that could be honestly pleased or could just as easily be hiding a complete lack of trust in her identity, “Ikoma-san is in charge of the base. I’m sure he will be relieved to see a lost clan member.”

—

Here are three things she knows about Ikoma Nara:

1) He is her father’s younger brother.

2) She was given his earrings when she became a genin.

3) He died during the Third Shinobi World War.

None of this actually helps her presently… past-ly… right now.

Again, Shikako is struck with a distinct lack of emotion. It’s helpful, in a way, since it prevents her from doing anything strange, but it’s also a little uncomfortable. Shouldn’t she feel something–anything–when meeting her uncle for the first time? She wore his earrings for a year, surely she can summon something like affection.

Instead she stares blankly ahead and can only be relieved that she passed those earrings on to Sasuke.

Ikoma-san (does she call him ji-san? That’d be weird, he’s only a few years older than her. And also, she doesn’t exist yet) looks at her ears, too, “Chuunin?” he asks, instead of getting her name.

“Special Jounin,” she corrects, then nearly bites her tongue. A surplus chuunin Nara wouldn’t be too out of place, but a special jounin? They’re not exactly a clan full of over-achievers.

“Ah,” he says mildly, and she cannot even. How is she supposed to react to all these mild-mannered expressions?

Just to get it over with, she says “My name is Shikako.” She can’t exactly tell the truth–frankly, she’s still not sure what the truth is–but she’s not going to lie.

“A Nara with a Shika name,” Ikoma-san muses, and she knows what he’s getting at, even if Team Minato–waiting impatiently behind her–doesn’t. Only certain members of the Nara clan are allowed to have names with Shika in it, and as far as he knows? She isn’t one of them.

~

A/N: Erm… is this a cliffhanger? I dunno.

Ikoma Nara, aka Shikaku’s DoS little brother, is mentioned pretty early on in Dreaming of Sunshine, but more recently in Chapter 17 of Sunshine Sidestories

edit: small edit–changed the “same age” part because that wouldn’t really make much sense especially since the whole point of this is so that Shikako is the same age as Kakashi

Dreaming of S(hade), a DoS remix drabble (2015-12-15)

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To burn so brightly means to burn out faster. Konoha has witnessed this before, has seen the Will of Fire be twisted into madness or smothered by death. Prodigies are admired or reviled but, either way, they are watched–there is something mesmerizing about a crash and burn.

But Suna is different, they endure. They live through scorching days and freezing nights and know that the sun is dangerous in either extremes but, ultimately, life-giving. Moderation, patience, endurance. That is the way of Suna.

—

We lose something to the void. Every time a Nara uses their shadow, even for something as small as the Shadow Paralysis, we lose something.

For small jutsu, for those easily controlled, it is always something that can be lost. Chakra, mostly, a good night’s sleep or a lack of calm, other times. But those are just casualties of being a shinobi, the consequences of being a trained killer.

For bigger uses, though, the costs also increase. Exponentially. We lose ourselves: Our emotions, for a time. Or our resolve to be a ninja. Or even, in extreme cases, the will to live.

Our bloodline is a bargain, our affinity an exchange. We sacrifice to the void and in return we receive strength

What my daughter did should have been impossible. Or, at the very least, it should have killed her.

It doesn’t matter how changed she is now, how broken or diminished or unbalanced others think of her. I am glad she survived.

Shikako has paid much to the void; but she is the only Nara who has ever demanded a refund.

—

It began with a stray thought.

There was a mission and a cave so deep that, even though the sun was out, she had to rely on her sensor ability to move around, let alone fight.

Technically, wasn’t the darkness of the cave merely the shadow of the mountain?

It didn’t amount to anything then–a battle was not the time to be experimenting with shadow jutsu. But some part of her filed it away for later, and in the back of her mind, that thought grew even more perilous:

Isn’t nighttime simply the shadow of the planet?

—

The problem with being the leader in the field of medicine is that if Konoha can’t heal something then the matter is deemed incurable.

But Shikako’s state isn’t something that can be fixed with the careful application of chakra, can’t be contained with seals, or soothed by the Yamanaka mind arts. It’s not something that should be left alone and monitored from a distance. She shouldn’t be put out to pasture, so to speak, like other Nara who have pushed too far; as much a skittish forest creature as the deer which make up their clan’s livelihood.

No, she deserves better than that. Even if she’s not the same Shikako who believed in Naruto at every step, or guided Sasuke down the right path, or supported her friends when they faltered. Even if she’s not the sister Shikamaru grew up with, she deserves better.

—

If anyone knows about madness–the kind of insanity that screams and tears and bites away at oneself, the kind of lunacy that waxes with the sun and wanes with the stars, the kind of psychosis that deems other people as unreal and thus insignificant–it’s Gaara.

But the difference between Gaara’s madness and Shikako’s is that Gaara’s was done to him; by his father, by his village, by the demon sealed inside him. Shikako did it to herself.

Nara lose things when they use their shadows, but no Nara has ever become their shadow. And while their legendary founder was thought to control the night itself, no Nara had ever reached so far into the void as to become the night.

Shikako lost herself in that battle; sacrificed herself willingly and dispersed all she was into the dark of the night in order to save the people she loved. Every day, they have to deal with the consequences; every day, they have to watch the shell of her fail to be the person they know.

But every night, she comes back, a little at a time.

It may take months or years or even their entire lifetime for her to be fully restored.

Gaara can wait; the desert endures.

~

A/N: … T_T what am I doing?! This is what happens when I don’t include Kankurou–shit just gets all sad and despairing.

Sorry @tenderwenders, this is what came out of my head for your prompt. But, um, let’s call this a “bad ending!AU” and, uh, I might try again and hopefully it won’t be so bleak as this one…

DSS Requirement (the Payoff For Faith remix), Part Two (2015-12-14)

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A/N1: Based off @esamastation‘s DSS Requirement ‘verse in which the DA (from the Harry Potter series) find an Asgard ship (of the Stargate variety) and become the first magical crew IN SPACE.

~

In a different timeline, one with different decisions and different consequences, an impossible phenomenon occurred. Specifically, the three Hallows of Death were gathered by one wizard; in doing so, he became its Master. And while that miracle allows him to come back to life, it would be decades before he realized the full extent of repercussions.

But in this timeline, such a thing never comes to be. Because the Requirement is possessive. Its Captain will never have to rely on Death’s double-edged powers, when the ship can save the world instead.

Death gave to the Peverell brothers a wand, a stone, and a cloak. The Requirement gave its crew lost knowledge, advanced technology, and itself.

—

(circle)

Unlike the other teams, the information team isn’t at all cohesive. It’s not a problem, it’s just how they work best. But, frankly, it’s a little alienating.

Angelina is used to the camaraderie of Gryffindor’s quidditch team, to the coordination of three chasers flying separately for the same goal. She’s the head of the information team, but it’s nothing at all like being the quidditch team captain.

Instead of making friends with her team, they remain workplace acquaintances. Efficient, but lonely. Anthony Goldstein is her deputy head, but besides being a Ravenclaw and almost as skilled in Ancient Runes as she is, Angelina knows nothing about him.

But he’s a good deputy, quick on the uptake: every time they uncover a new line of research, Anthony can keep up with her. He helps her prioritize the translations, and with allocating who on their team should take over certain topics, and together they hold weekly tutoring sessions for the crew members who aren’t Ancient Runes students.

The work is fulfilling, if not fun, and Angelina honestly appreciates the opportunity. She had been concerned about her future, the way all seventh years do, unsure about what to do next after graduating from Hogwarts. She’d never been passionate about anything–not the way Oliver was about quidditch, or the twins about inventing pranks–and so there was nothing guiding her career path.

Translating the information on the Requirement seems like a natural progression for her, not quite a student anymore but she’ll still be constantly learning. This ship, this team, it’s a worthy cause and a good job; she’s content.

—

(triangle)

Being a muggleborn in a castle full of magically raised students is similar to being the talkative, know-it-all in a primary school–it means a person is different, and thus disliked. It means having trouble making friends or making trouble your only friend. Either way, it’s difficult to find a place to belong.

But, eventually, they both did. For Hermione, it involved more life-endangering and rule-breaking antics than she would have preferred. For Lee, it involved finding a pair of similarly inclined trouble-makers; but they both did it. They both made friends.

And then, on board the Requirement, they both found a place to belong.

Because their heritage and their intelligence isn’t a burden at all. It should be something to take pride in, to improve their lives, and help them reach their dreams. As co-heads of the engineering team, Hermione and Lee have found the place where being a muggleborn is a strength, where being talkative and a know-it-all doesn’t mean being a nuisance.

It’s not just being a bridge between their past and their present, it’s the foundation for the future. For their future and their team’s and the entire crew of the Requirement.

They are the Requirement’s heads of engineering, and they are finally where they belong.

—

(line)

The members of the command team aren’t the ones in charge so much as they’re the ones who have to keep the rest of the crew on track, reign in the more fantastical ideas and channel it into something productive. It’s a bit like herding kneazles.

Ron hates kneazles.

But being part of the Requirement’s crew is like answering a calling he never even knew existed until now. He knows he has a complex, growing up the youngest son among six; trying to carve out a corner of existence for himself, only to find that his brothers have already broken ground.

Even if it’s not to the extent that Hermione or Harry have grown into their roles, Ron feels settled in a way that he hoped for but never really expected.

The difference between a group of children thrust into war and a crew that will win said war is organization and strategy. Hence, the command team.

It’s not enough that the crew has equipment that will help them survive, if the people they care for aren’t similarly protected. Their small club of twenty eight students can’t fully access all the ship has to offer–lacking expertise and manpower. And it’s not fighting a war if all they do is wait to get hit first.

Business, Administration, and Strategy, the three main objectives of the command team. While the rest of the teams are in the preparation and training stage, command has to begin acting: distributing or selling modified versions of engineering’s technology, building an outside structure to recruit more people, and figuring out how best to turn their captain’s goals into reality.

It’s a bit like herding kneazles, yes, but it’s far more similar to getting ornery chess pieces to play a proper game. Ron is a damn fine chess player, it’s what makes him a great executive officer.

~

A/N2: … :/ Part Two was more difficult than Part One, but I hope you enjoyed it! I think I have maybe one or two more DSS Requirement fic remixes, but I think I’ll give my brain a bit of time to rest.

Anyway, esama, thanks again for building such a cool world. If you would like me to change anything/delete this, just let me know.

Now for some ranting under the cut:

The information team is the translation/research team (I figured “information” would be sufficient to cover both roles), and its symbol is a circle:

  1. Angelina Johnson (Head)
  2. Anthony Goldstein (deputy)
  3. Katie Bell (also in operations and possibly engineering)
  4. Terry Boot (also in engineering)
  5. Michael Corner (also in operations and possibly navigation and medical)
  6. Justin Finch-Fletchley (also possibly in navigation and command)
  7. Padma Patil (also possibly in medical)
  8. Zacharias Smith (also somehow in navigation, operations, and possibly command)

The engineering team is basically everyone** who is mentioned to have created anything in the story as well as a few crew members whose canon skills would be complementary to engineering. Its symbol is a triangle:

  1. Hermione Granger (co-head)
  2. Lee Jordan (co-head)
  3. Katie Bell (also in operations and possibly information)
  4. Terry Boot (also in information)
  5. Lavender Brown (also probably in command)
  6. Colin Creevey
  7. Seamus Finnegan (also probably in operations)
  8. Luna Lovegood (also deputy of operations and possibly in medical)
  9. Fred Weasley (also probably in command)
  10. George Weasley (also probably in command)

**[Okay, technically, Zacharias Smith also used the replicator to create a silver box for Slytherin’s locket but in comparison to the other feats of engineering I wasn’t sure if that ought to count. Also, that would mean Zacharias is on literally every team except medical, gotta give him a break…]

The command team is loosely split into three subdivisions/specialties–Business, Administration, and Strategy. Their symbol is a vertical line/bar. Also, even if Heads/Co-heads/deputies are not explicitly part of the command team, they probably also have the vertical line/bar on their symbol to denote their rank:

  1. Harry Potter (Captain)
  2. Hermione Granger (co-XO and also co-head of engineering)
  3. Ron Weasley (co-XO)
  4. Susan Bones (Strategy/Administration, also possibly in operations)
  5. Lavender Brown (Business, also in engineering)
  6. Marietta Edgecombe (Administration, also deputy of navigation)
  7. Justin Finch-Fletchley (Administration/Business, possibly also in information and navigation)
  8. Parvati Patil (Administration/Business, probably also in navigation)
  9. (maybe) Zacharias Smith (Strategy, also somehow in information, navigation, and operations)
  10. Fred Weasley (Business, also in engineering)
  11. George Weasley (Business, also in engineering)

DSS Requirement (the Payoff For Faith remix), Part One (2015-12-12)

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A/N1: Based off @esamastation’s DSS Requirement ‘verse in which the DA (from the Harry Potter series) find an Asgard ship (of the Stargate variety) and become the first magical crew IN SPACE.

~

Seven is a magical number, but for them, six is better. Even and stable and unifying. Two sets of three or three sets of two.

Six like the number of sides in a hexagon, the strongest and most efficient shape. Six like the colors of their suits, red and gold and blue and bronze and yellow and black. Six like the number of teenagers that would have crept into the ministry, if their world hadn’t made a small but crucial shift several months ago.

Yes, six is a good number.

Medical, Operations, Navigation, Information, Engineering, and Command.

—

(cross)

Hannah Abbott becomes one of the co-heads of the medical team because she is literally the only crew member with any healing experience. She’s been helping Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary for the past two years worth of weekends in lieu of the bimonthly greenhouse sessions Professor Sprout mandates for all of her Hufflepuffs. Except for the first years, who can’t really be trusted with much more than fetch and carry (and even then, sometimes mess that up), Hannah is the only Hufflepuff not on the Herbology chore rota (she has the worst allergies).

A fact which makes the identity of the other co-head of the medical team somewhat ironic–Neville Longbottom is the only non-NEWT level, non-Hufflepuff on said chore rota.

To be honest, Neville isn’t really all that suited to be on the medical team, let alone be one of it’s co-heads. In comparison to the other members, he’s mediocre at Charms and absolute bollocks when it comes to Potions (no surprise there). No, Neville will never be a Healer, and he knows this.

It’s not as if he’s never had hopes as a child–that one day he’d become a brilliant wizard and cure his parents and they’d all live happily together. Eventually, though, he became resigned to the fact that it didn’t matter what kind of wizard he was. Magic couldn’t fix his parents.

But maybe science could.

He’s been learning runes as much as the next crew member–he’s not good enough to be one of Angelina’s team of translators–but he’s a lot more motivated to tackle the medical research than anyone else is. Neville doesn’t need to be a magical Healer, to be a medic on the Requirement.

—

(shield)

Ginny’s father is in a coma. She is fourteen years old, one of the strongest combatants amongst the Requirement’s crew–let alone in Hogwarts–and she is angry.

Her father is in a coma and the Order will not let her do anything or even tell her what is going on. It’s no wonder she’s angry. She is tired of sitting on her hands and letting shit happen to her. Ginny hates being the victim, so she’s not going to let this keep on.

She doesn’t need the Order’s permission to act. And neither does the rest of her team.

Before they were just kids playing around, making toys and candy and reveling in their new secret clubhouse. Now, as part of the Requirement’s new direction, the crew will be using their unique advantages to do what the Order cannot–war is coming, and the Requirement is going to be ready when it comes.

The operations team has three main purposes: combat, security, and retrieval. Eventually the entire crew will be taking part in such missions–no matter how much the captain says the don’t have to–but similarly to how the other teams are learning and preparing, Ginny is training her team to be the leaders. It’s not unlike quidditch, except that these practices will one day save lives.

It’s a lot of responsibility for one fourteen year old girl. Which is why Luna is her deputy.

—

(diamond)

Cho doesn’t feel as empty when she’s charting the Requirement’s path. Space is a void–like the vacuum clawing away at her chest whenever she stops and thinks about how it would’ve been their anniversary soon–but there are asteroids and planets and stars. There’s an entire galaxy waiting for her out here and every day she gets to go somewhere new, somewhere no human has gone before.

It’s a sense of control she hasn’t had since–the third task, seeing him walk into the maze and out of her life–since ever. Cho can control a ship bigger than Hogwarts with a mixture of astronomy, arithmancy and muggle math. It’s flight without the reminder of quidditch–of the way their brooms would circle around each other, looking for the snitch. It’s dancing without the aching feet–and the new high-heeled shoes she wore to match her dress she was still so much shorter than him.

It’s freedom without loss, silence without sorrow. Cho feels more like herself than she has in a long time; settled and, if not happy, then satisfied.

She knows Marietta is relieved, sees it in the way her smiles are less strained, in the absence of her. Now instead of awkward silences, they talk about the navigation team and Marietta’s continued endeavors to make the captain more professional. They actually eat meals together, instead of Marietta eating and Cho pushing the food around on her plate. They are friends again, because Cho is herself again; and she will always be grateful to the Requirement for giving that to her.

~

A/N2:  … well… I did warn you… Part One of Two because I said so?

Some unnecessarily long reasoning and ranting under the cut.

Uh, but before that–again, esama, thanks for building such a cool world. If you’d like me to change anything/take this down please just let me know.

Anyway, at the end of Chapter Ten of DSS Requirement, Captain Harry gave his crew a “homework assignment” to figure out an organization system for the ship. Having been hit in the feels, to the point where I made a spreadsheet of the crew members and came up with different occupation allocations, I was like… well. I guess I did it… I should probably get something out of all this effort.

Truthfully, I’m a little embarrassed by how long I spent on it, combing through each chapter to see if a certain name gets mentioned even briefly, but I’m also a little proud? Like… it was also kind of fun, but my brain just kept pestering me to figure this out.

So I figured six different teams/departments (as listed in the tiny first section). As of the main story of DSS Requirement (apparently esama might do a Christmas update oneshot, fingers crossed) there is no operations, medical, or command team but I interpreted certain sentences as going in that direction. Like Neville when he was visiting his parents, Ginny and Luna’s spar, the team breaking into Umbrdige’s office to steal back Ginny’s armor, etc.

Anyway, here is the who’s who of the medical, operations, and navigation teams.

Medical:

  1. Hannah Abbott (co-head),
  2. Neville Longbottom (co-head),
  3. Michael Corner (also in operations, and possibly navigation and/or information),
  4. Luna Lovegood (also deputy of operations and in engineering),
  5. Ernie Macmillan,
  6. Padma Patil (also in information),
  7. Alicia Spinnet (also in operations)

Operations:

  1. Ginny Weasley (Head),
  2. Luna Lovegood (deputy, also in medical and engineering),
  3. Katie Bell (possibly also in information and/or engineering),
  4. Susan Bones (possibly also in command),
  5. Michael Corner (also in medical, and possibly navigations and/or information),
  6. Dennis Creevey,
  7. Seamus Finnegan (also possibly in engineering),
  8. Zacharias Smith (somehow also in navigation, information, and possibly command),
  9. Alicia Spinnet (also in medical),
  10. Dean Thomas (also in navigation)

Navigation:

  1. Cho Chang (Head),
  2. Marietta Edgecombe (deputy also in command),
  3. Michael Corner (also in operations, and possibly medical and/or information),
  4. Justin Finch-Fletchley (also possibly in information),
  5. Parvati Patil (also possibly in command),
  6. Zacharias Smith (somehow also in navigation, information, and possibly command), 
  7. Dean Thomas (also in navigation)

Frankly, a lot of people were never mentioned in the story. Period. Some whose names were mentioned had like one line of dialogue with no clue as to what they are doing the entire time. Zacharias Smith was mentioned in a whopping six out of ten chapters and he is doing something productive in at least four of them on different teams. That boy is busy.

So really it’s a lot of guessing and looking at the HP wiki and seeing whose skills would be best where (which is how I found out that Hannah Abbott actually becomes a Healer so…)

As for the section headers, I figure since–completely against my Star Trek influenced brain–the uniform colors are related to House and not jobs, that they’d probably have to figure out a different way to differentiate team members on sight. So basic symbols in painted in white possibly on their back of on their shoulders or somewhere easily visible. So medical is the classic cross shape (apparently it’s called a Greek cross when all arms are equal length and it is not slanted), operations are a heater shaped shield, and navigation is a diamond (though I’m not sure if I just want a regular diamond like a diagonal square or if I want the skinny slanted thing so that it looks like a compass needle).

Information, engineering, and command I had the weird persevering thought that they represented the three Deathly Hallows? So information is a circle (like the resurrection stone–like the communication stones), engineering is a triangle (like the Invisible cloak of both the magic and scientific varieties), and command is a vertical line/bar (like the Elder Stick, because wands are the only things that the Requirement can’t give them… possibly).

And then, for those crew members who are on multiple teams, they would have multiples symbols with their main team being the largest and their other designations being smaller and inside. So for example Luna, who is deputy of operations and also in engineering and medical, hers would be a shield with a cross and a triangle inside. (I have no idea what Zacharias Smith’s would look like).

In Part Two I will talk about the information, engineering, and command teams. 😀

DSS Requirement (the Gold Over Silver remix) (2015-12-10)

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A/N1: Based off of @esamastation’s D.S.S. Requirement ‘verse, in which the DA (of Harry Potter series) find an Asgard ship (of the Stargate variety) and become the first magical crew IN SPACE.

Seriously, go read it. You don’t even really need to know anything about Stargate to understand it.

~

Marietta almost became a traitor.

She knows it. She’s owned up to it. She’s even admitted as such to the captain.

But almost is an important word.

Marietta almost became a traitor, but she didn’t. She chose not to.

She chose the ship, she chose the crew, she chose the captain instead.

Marietta chose to be the best version of herself, and that does not include being a traitor.

—

Despite how petty sounding it may be, it’s difficult to be Cho Chang’s best friend.

Cho is pretty and athletic and smart, she has a nice family and pocket money and the most handsome boyfriend in school.

Until he dies, that is.

Then Cho is a weepy mess, still somehow attractive to other people, but they’re not the ones who have to sit beside her in the middle of the night when she can’t stop crying in the bathroom. They’re not the ones who have to remind her to eat, at least a little bit, or wake her up on the weekends so she doesn’t spend the entire time in bed doing nothing.

And then the DA happens, and Cho, finally interested in something (or maybe, that snide part of her thinks, interested in someone) drags Marietta along.

That snide, petty part of Marietta still begrudges Cho for that. The rest of her, the majority of her, is so grateful.

She can’t imagine what her life would be like without the Requirement.

—

For once, being second to Cho is how Marietta prefers it. Cho is better at astronomy and arithmancy, she’s more suited to be head of the navigation team. Marietta is content with being deputy head, because that gives her time to turn their captain from a messy haired, teenage schoolboy into a messy haired, potential employer.

“No one’s going to take you seriously if you don’t have an office or some kind of meeting room,” she says to him, eyeing the storage pods lining the walls, “And then how are we supposed to convince recruits that we’re a legitimate enterprise?”

It’s not that Harry is lacking as a captain. He has the respect of his crew and he wears his authority well–he has the presence of a leader, the kind that fills a room and makes his people want to work harder be better.

But to outsiders, he’s still just a Hogwarts student.

Well, for now. Marietta’s part of the command team, too; she hasn’t started working yet.

—

In another world, in another life, Marietta would have been a traitor.

She could never do that now. Not because there’s a threat of punishment stopping her, but because she chooses not to.

Choices. Every day is about choices.

The best part about her job is when the captain asks, “Where are we going?”

Maybe it’s in a literal sense–as deputy head of navigation, she and Cho are the ones who decide how and when and where the Requirement moves. Maybe it’s in a figurative sense–as one of the aministrative officers, she has influence over in what direction this organization of theirs will grow.

She’ll never have to be a lowly clerk in the Ministry, belittled and constrained the way her mother was.

Marietta doesn’t have to follow the captain, but she’s a part of the Requirement’s crew–she’ll follow him anywhere.

And in space? That’s a lot of anywhere to promise, but that’s what she wants. So that’s what she chooses.

~

A/N2: I’ve been in an esama re-reading binge lately (this happens to me at least twice a year) so no one should be surprised by this.

What I am surprised by is how many feelings my re-reading of DSS Requirement gave me–like, for some reason, it touched me more emotionally now than it did the first time around? I guess it’s because I didn’t fully realize the implications of certain things.

I mean (spoilers!) this Marietta Edgecombe not betraying DA is an obvious one, but there are several other parts of esama’s fic which struck me and, heads up, I have had many feels. So there will probably be several more DSS Requirement fic remixes headed your way.

Brace yourselves. 😀

Also, esama, again, thanks for making such a cool world to play in. If you would like me to change anything or take this down I will, just let me know.

Island of Fire (the Eyes and Teeth remix) (2015-12-09)

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A/N1: I’m basically playing around in the sandbox that is @esamastation’s Island of Fire ‘verse. The second section, specifically, is based on the information we get from the Battle for Atlantis arc–which is meant to be a doubly translated transcript of a conversation from William Laurence’s recollection of the events from several years previous. Also he probably made assumptions that aren’t even correct, so who knows how legit any of his info is.

Anyway, if you haven’t read it… this really won’t make any sense.

~

On Atlantis, the victim gets to choose the perpetrator’s punishment.

It is one of the few laws of the island–like “those who do not work, do not eat” (later modified to “those who do not contribute, do not benefit”) and “dragons are not allowed inside communal buildings”–and like those laws, it is brought about because of how small and tightly knit their society is.

In a country numbering in the millions, one person hurting another is unfortunate, yes, but ultimately insignificant. In a society of less than a hundred, such a crime is not tolerated. Repeat offenders are not something that exist on Atlantis.

And so, barring death or banishment, of course, or inflicting harm greater than what was originally done to them, the victim gets to choose the perpetrator’s punishment.

—

There is an exception to the law–all rules may be fluid, so long as justice is not–but not in the way one might think.

When the British Navy arrived and attacked, several Atlanteans had been wounded. For the most part, nothing major, nothing that their small infirmary couldn’t fix with a spell or two. Except for one girl who took a shot to the leg–Ophelia Michaelson.

The healers, themselves not having completed their training, didn’t know if they’d be able to save her. And then, after several hours of grueling spell and rune work, weren’t sure if they’d be able to save the leg. But she was alive, and the entire island had been so relieved that they wouldn’t have to make a sixth grave so soon.

But the Council had to think further ahead. They, too, were relieved that it hadn’t gone any worse, but they had to make a decision and act. How would they deal with the invaders?

Charlie’s idea had been to scare them off: use their numerous dragons as a show of force. Cedric’s suggested mass Obliviation–though it wasn’t a skill that any of the schools had actually taught. Viktor wanted to seize everything but the bare minimum the sailors would need to survive, and send them on their way. Fleur thought they should seize everything–the ships, the supplies, the weapons, even the people themselves–make them literally pay for and work off their crimes.

Harry stayed silent.

For this, they would make an exception to the law–more of a modification, actually. If Ophelia wanted all of the attackers executed, even those British remaining on the three warships, they would do it.

Harry would have done it.

But instead, she just wanted them gone; completely and as quickly as possible. The French Navy, too.

And so both groups were spared, unknowing of how insecure their fates had been.

—

On Atlantis, almost everything is communal–food, water, clothing, shelter, knowledge, even baths–so the idea that something can be stolen seems… unlikely. After all, in order for theft to happen, there has to be proper ownership first.

However, there are a few, rare things that are private and personal. Besides wands, of course, but no one would dare steal someone else’s wand. Wands and magic are what allow the Atlanteans to work, to function, to live. But there are other personal items, things that people managed to bring with them from the other world.

It’s mostly wearable things–for example, Hogwarts students treasure their House scarves, even if the weather is too warm for it, the Beauxbatons girls their cufflinks, the Durmstrang group the medallions which allowed them passage in a school they would never return to–but particularly jewelry, and gifts from family members at that.

Luna’s dirigible plum earrings probably set a bad precedent. She had given them to Neville of her own free will, only after the first greenhouse had been built, that is. And yet, everyone had been so angry at her–had felt entitled to it because even if they had been her earrings they were resources–potential food, wood that could one day be made into something.

Of course, that kind of reasoning could be extended into metals. Silver and gold, especially in the hands of some of the older islanders, the ones who could turn a necklace or a bracelet into something more with a few spells and runes. Creating devices to predict storms, as one such possibility. Couldn’t it be argued that, for such a cause, Atlantis was entitled to a mere shiny trinket.

And yet, Petra Eszes had not asked; nor had Anne-Laure Valluy assented. It didn’t matter that her father’s pocket watch no longer worked–salt water and a lack of magical engineers–it was still hers to keep and cherish. Now it was warped and destroyed and changed–it could not be returned to its original state.

This was not something that could or would be tolerated, regardless of whether or not Petra’s storm predictor worked, but the Council could not decide on a fitting punishment.

Anne could. She wanted Petra to forfeit her Durmstrang medallion as communal property. The Council agreed it was a fair decision and stood by it; and thus the Atlantean law for punishments was created.

~

A/N2: Anyway, some random thoughts:

I figure the five-person council is probably the four champions plus Charlie as the dragon “champion/representative.“

Ophelia Michaelson I made up because most of the Hogwarts sounding names were canon characters that would have been older than fourteen at the time of Battle for Atlantis, but Petra Eszes (probably Durmstrang) and Anne-Laure Valluy (probably Beauxbatons) are names pulled from different POV snippets in Island of Fire.

Truthfully, that last section dragged on longer than I wanted it to, but I couldn’t figure out what parts to trim. If anything I was going to go off in a different (longer) direction involving Luna and bullying but then I realized that bullying is really impractical and would be even more stupid in society like Atlantis. Also, it ended abruptly but… :/

Anyway, esama, thanks for creating such a cool ‘verse. If you would like me to make changes or take this down, I totally understand and would be willing to do so. Just let me know.