In the rather large open field in front of the Saint Gloriana tank storage hangars, some space was being taken up by that mess of a Churchill VII which, for lack of better words, was next to totally trashed. The turret had been removed given that it now had a giant gaping hole torn through it and was probably going to be too expensive and too much time to fix, though the inners such as the gun and loading mechanism and some of the radio equipment was getting salvaged. It was mainly the turret structure itself that was damaged, the actual components within not so much.
Darjeeling's legs dangled in through the large hole normally covered by that turret, her butt on the deck of the hull as she observed Orange-Pekoe and Assam within making various notes about the inners of the vehicle. Mostly about object conditions and if there seemed to be any damages. It was a task they assigned to themselves with Darjeeling's approval - somewhat of a therapeutic process to return to the 'scene of the crime' so to speak. The vehicle had been mostly untouched by anyone but them, save for the investigators that had come weeks prior to give the vehicle a full thorough examination to determine what went wrong, through it didn't take them too long with too much digging to isolate the source of the problem.
It had turned out that the collision from that charging Pravda tank trying to secure a quick-and-dirty flag tank kill of its own knocked something loose in the tank's onboard computer system, meaning that it couldn't accurately assess any damage the vehicle was taking, and by extension it never deployed the flag for surrender. An eerily similar event occurred during the last match against Pravda which forced Earl Grey out of sensha-dou. The similarities didn't go unnoticed by those assigned to investigate the matter, and pending punishment for Pravda with input of some key Saint Gloriana members was the result. Pending punishment being the key phrase, as the selected members of Saint Gloriana left to come up with a punishment were still considering exactly what they would want to inflict on Pravda. Said members were primarily the crew of the Churchill VII as they were the most strongly affected, though input from other members of Saint Gloriana was being considered.
"We could make Katyusha bow to us instead of the other way around," Darjeeling remarked jokingly.
"I think I heard Rosehip suggest that... But really, we have almost complete freedom over what their punishment should be, and this could be a bit of a rewarding moment to help everyone relax after all that stress before the battle," Pekoe replied. "Even if the battle finally being over is probably giving most of the team plenty of consolation."
"Making them pay for our repairs should be a given, the dent in the side of this Churchill and it's previous failing is probably a sign that this needs to be replaced or fully rebuilt at the least," Assam added. "Maybe while we're at it we could swap it out for something a bit newer, like a Centurion or something."
"Come now, Assam, what is the Saint Gloriana style without the conservative and well-thought maneuvers of an infantry tank like the Churchill? It's the best of its class anyway, after all," The commander replied before bringing her lips to the rim of her teacup.
"I assume that by 'conservative' and 'well-thought' you mean 'slow'," The brighter blonde remarked, eliciting a giggle from both of her present peers.
"We will have them pay for our repairs, I agree that's obvious enough, though only for the Churchill or its replacement. The rest of our team was defeated fairly." With that, she considered, glancing up into the pinkish sky as the sun was preparing to set on the horizon, filling the sky with a plethora of unique and gorgeous colors which never got old to look at.
Her train of thought was soon broken by Pekoe's head popping up out of the turret hole however, causing Darjeeling to quickly glance down at her. "Thermos please, commander," she requested, Darjeeling replying in kind by grabbing the aforementioned metal container of tea and handing it to her so that she could have a few sips from it directly.
"Maybe a rematch?" Darjeeling considered aloud, gaining a few blinks from her ginger-haired friend as she continued drinking for a moment more. "I doubt our troops will be terribly concerned after they've had this time after the battle to consider their own safety, and I'm sure the fact that we've found the root of the problem will make them further relaxed. A rematch with us at our top forms will help us all to regain our honor after what was admittedly a poor showing in the last match, regardless of the disaster," she continued.
"The jury is still out on who to give the win to. Obviously Pravda would have won even in spite of the safety failure, but promoting them to the next round of the tournament after doing what they did to us divided the judges," replied Orange.
"We can use our team being fearful as a citation for it being an unfair match to begin with," came the echoing voice of Assam who was deeper within the tank, "at least somehow. I don't think it'll take much convincing to have them give us a second chance at the tournament spot."
Darjeeling nodded, "That seems like a good set of conditions. They pay for our repairs and-or replacement of the Churchill, and we have a rematch for the tournament spot."
"We'll probably need to get more opinions from the other commanders to make sure they'd be okay with a rematch, but besides that I think we'd have a compelling case for something like that," Pekoe assured.
"So we're all in favor of those conditions?" Darjeeling asked.
"Aye!" "Yah!" She got two replies, before Orange-Pekoe placed the thermos down on the hull deck prior to going back into the metal monster.
Darjeeling would have been doing more than 'supervising', but in spite of her condition improving enough to where she could return home and even attend classes, heavy lifting of any sort or even very rigorous physical activity was off the table for a little while yet. Her internal and external wounds hadn't fully healed, and were still subject to opening up again if put under too much strain. This also exempted her from sensha-dou practice for awhile, not that there was much of that going on while everyone continued their various stages of recovery. Even if that tended to consist of curling up on the couch with a tub of ice cream with nothing else to do for most team members.
Once again the commander looked to the sky. It'd be dark soon, and they'd need to head home. The battle was over, the worst came to pass, but Darjeeling was feeling okay. There were still things that needed fixing, flesh and metal, and some would likely take awhile to heal, but Darjeeling felt ready to take care of that. It almost disappointed her, that all that fear and panic and sleepless nights were all for this. She hoped it to never happen again of course, but she sighed out as she kept her eyes on the gradually darkening sky above her.
A rematch to come, a tank to be repaired and potentially replaced, and all manner of wounds to heal. As she considered things for a moment, Darjeeling smiled and shook her head, going for another sip of her tea. Never a dull moment when you practiced sensha-dou.
[Author's addendum]
Can you say 'clunky ending'? I sure can. Hello there reader! I've not yet addressed you through any direct means (or indirect now that I think about it) but I have compiled a long list of notes over my writing of this story that I wanted to share, so what better place to put them all then the very end?
Right from the start I want to be clear that finishing this story, even as sketchy as I think it is, is a rather big deal for me. I've never planned well enough or had enough self-motivation or continued interest to be able to write a story beginning to end like this. It's a bit of a milestone given that I've been writing for over six years now on various sites and this story is one of a handful I'd say I've 'finished', and it's certainly the longest one without a doubt. That said it's still riddled with problems, at least from my perspective, and I'd like to vent about them here and now while I have your attention. Or not. You can head away now if you like, the words will still be here whether you read them or not! Regardless I'll be going through things on a chapter-by-chapter basis, and also give you some insight into some behind-the-scenes changing of the story which you may be interested in hearing. If not though, I understand.
Chapter 1: Stupendously boring, particularly for one of my works. The atmosphere of a dry, pale, sterile exam room environment was put on too thick here I think. The biggest regret I have is the total lack of any hook which is more odd given that that's practically a personal signature of mine - a jump ahead or just... Anything more interesting than how this started! Beyond that though I'm pleased with how the chapter turned out. It establishes our main canon characters, my one addition who I'll talk more about later, and doesn't do much more than exposition which is what it's made for.
Chapter 2: I'm more pleased with how this one turned out. We get to see here the lesser-known but technically canon character Earl Grey and what I've done to her for the story, as well as try and get some more mysterious exposition going (which I totally won't shove in your face and repeat throughout the story, nosir). Not much to say really, I'm pretty satisfied with what this all conveys and how it further serves to set things up.
Chapter 3: In which we have Rosehip because everyone loves Rosehip including myself. This serves to try and do some more character building for Koveryn and cement him as a part of Saint Gloriana, implying past experience to good degrees with the students to make him more believable and fitting in this tale that he has been plonked in. This chapter also continues my trend of overt foreshadowing which is a repeating theme which I'm displeased with.
Chapter 4: This is almost just here for pacing purposes, with continued minor implications as to Victor's past experience with the school and students there to, again, try and make him fit in more naturally as a member of staff as compared to some random OC that I added. Otherwise it's shown that tensions are ramping up which is another component of background goings-on which I probably put too much emphasis on.
Chapter 5: My least favorite chapter and the main reason that I wanted to make this addendum noting all my issues with my own work. The problems I have with Chapter 5 started as kinda minor things when I first wrote it, but as the story changed and progressed and went in a much different direction starting with the next chapter, many components in this one start to fall apart. For one this chapter goes way off the rails and focuses far too much on Victor, something I wanted to avoid as much as possible because nobody does (or should) care about Victor too much. He's a supporting character and he's non-canon, I don't expect him to be liked and I don't want to use him in a way which would get him disliked. Beyond that, this chapter serves as a kindof big nothing due to, as I mentioned, changes in the story arc which occur from the next chapter onward. Many things this chapter sets up don't lead to anything due to these changes, primarily Victor's interaction with Nonna - which does serve some merit to place Koveryn as a natural character in this world, but had more unrealized purpose beyond that - as well as his 'call' he was going to make which sets up another thing that ended up being cut due to the focus change from Victor to Darjeeling in the next chapter.
Chapter 6: In which I have a genius idea - swap Victor for Darjeeling as protagonist. As I said, too much focus on Victor is something I know is bad and shouldn't be done due to him being an original character which isn't very interesting or identifiable anyway. Going to Darjeeling on the other hand is a much better move for many reasons. She's already a canon character, she's probably more identifiable if for no other reason than how I write her and her situation, and her struggle and dilemma is just generally more interesting. At least to me. While I stand by the balance of including plenty of canon characters alongside Victor's lead earlier on in the story - Victor's overall view of many characters allowing him to view the gradual mass panic which was mounting - the switch in focus to Darjeeling is what should have happened in chapter 5 rather than the focus on Victor's excursion. Victor's purpose as a kindof overarching narrator to show the inner feelings of a few other key characters earlier on is done, and tapering off and swapping focus to Darjeeling is a great move that I should've used sooner.
Chapter 7: The battle chapter. I'm not going to say I'm great at writing these in particular, or that it maybe turned out good or bad, but what I will say is that my whole process of putting this chapter together, planning the battle beforehand and then turning it into a summary before putting it on paper was long, time-consuming, exhausting, but also quite fun and satisfying. When I was done with this chapter, it was a rare moment in which I felt quite happy with my work - that I had done the best I possibly could have and that was good. Though it better have been for eight straight hours of work from starting planning to submitting the finished chapter.
Chapter 8: This is a chapter whose entire purpose was modified from outline to publication. Originally, this chapter was to serve as a flashback sequence to a bit of a bonding moment between Darjeeling and Victor when they were both new to the school and Darjeeling was more of a shy introverted nervous girl. The father-daughter bond was to be shown not told here, but in part due to the change in focus from him to her and another large change for the post-battle which also occurred, this instead became this genuine trippy dream sequence. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I feel like I wrote it well enough, but I'm moreso unsure as to how well or not it fits thematically with the rest of the story.
Chapter 9: In which one of the biggest changes in the story occurs. In the original outline for the story, Darjeeling doesn't very well make it through the battle - she's left in a coma of sorts while Victor goes off and does stuff. However, due to the change in character focus, and the fact that what Victor was planned to do was quite stupid and unnecessary, that was all cut and changed for Darjeeling being relatively okay after all was said and done. We also have a cheap fill-in of exactly what I was trying to avoid with the original plan for Chapter 8, but instead I failed and did the bad habit of 'telling without showing' which just makes the connection Victor and Darj have feel that much less natural and more forced. Not to mention the fact that I feel like I didn't very well emphasize the fact that it was a father-daughter type of relationship rather than something lewd, but it is what it is. (If you'd like some Girls und Panzer erotica let me know, wink wink.)
Chapter 10: The last chapter that matters. I had writers block on this for the longest time given that I no longer had a workable outline, because as I mentioned the ending of the story dramatically changed from Darjeeling being in a coma with Victor being the focus to not at all. I had wanted to end the story on a bit of a sour note, with some issues resolved but not all. I dislike putting too tidy and neat of a bow on things to end with. The direction I ended up taking this chapter in is one I'm mildly pleased with but unsure about. Darjeeling arguing with Earl Grey was indeed supposed to be a kind of 'face your demons' moment, but I can't help to feel like it came off as it seemed - with Darjeeling just lighting up her former commander for next to no reason, hence my explicit telling of what I was aiming for.
Chapter 11: The one you just read! As I said Chapter 10 is almost the last one that matters, but this one is intended to put a more proper cap on things. I don't really have many thoughts on it yet since I just wrote the thing, but I feel like there are worse ways to end a story. Lowkey sequel bait is another trademark of mine, but it really depends on you the reader if I do make a continuation of this. I don't have many ideas, so it'd take quite a bit of thinking. This story itself was technically in development for I wanna say over two years? I had the original idea for this and built it up over a long time, and only a few months ago did I compile an outline and decide to just go for it.
So yeah, if you read through all of that then good lord you're a trooper, but I hope that this was somewhat enlightening or interesting. I'd love it if you could leave a review! Positive or negative I don't really care, I adore feedback in all forms! I hope you've enjoyed this mediocre tale, maybe I'll write something else Girls und Panzer related someday.
For now, farewell~
