Candidate Rebirth.
AN: Someone, a guest, finally figured out the romantic subquest!
AN2: please get an account if you want to ask questions, like when someone asked me to do a fic, with werewolf Harry, and the answer is no BTW. I generally don't take requests, and I have many irons in the fire already. I also tend to delete guest reviewers that are either overly rude or aren't reviews at all. I don't delete negative reviews out of hand.
Chapter 20: First meetings.
Histore was at Chloe's bedside. The candidate was no longer in danger, but she still tired easily. Vert had allowed the small woman in the room because of the condition that she tell Chloe that she was the admirer.
On the side table was the gift she brought. She fell asleep and dreamed of when she first met the girl.
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What happened before the dream.
It was shortly after the candidates first meeting with Blanc, Vert and Chika were needed for an important meeting with the companies involved in the flatter goddess's complaint. She needed someone to be there for her sister, but most of her friends were either busy with important issues or would be bad for her sister's recovery.
Mina would have been good, but she had a perpetual babysitting job, and the two youngest, physically at least, divinities would drive Chloe mad.
On the other hand, there was one that she could think of that is a combination of kind and strict.
Chloe may not need the strictness, but she did need kindness.
So Histore was contacted.
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Dream start.
Histore was, for once bored. Neptune and Nepgear had finished their paperwork for the week and were now goofing off.
Apparently, the two had decided that short bursts of work to get her off their back for goofing off longer worked better than getting constant lectures.
Histore couldn't argue the point, but it ended up making her have actual time on her hands.
Then she got a call.
"Hello, this is Histore. Well yes, I'm free. Babysitting? Who? Oh, I see. Why? She seemed to be old enough, physically at least to stay alone for a few days." Histore's face fell as more words from the other line, then it hardened. "I see... I will express my... disappointment in her the next time we meet. Give me a day or so to get there. Your welcome."
Histore hung up the phone with a frown. She had just been asked to look after the sole individual 'born' in Gameindustry that she had trouble tracking. Almost anybody else she could get their life story in three seconds, the longer-lived people might take three minutes, but she nearly ninety percent of Chloe's existence, since she was created in her current body at least, missing from her pages.
It had put her on Histore's radar as a curiosity. Something that was extremely hard to do.
Shaking her head she went off to pack, and inform Nepgear that she would be gone for a week or so.
She just hoped that Chloe wouldn't be a complete recluse.
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A week later Histore was home and went straight to bed.
That girl was hard to deal with, with mood swings that made Histore cringe. Going from giggling at Histore's stories to a depression so deep Histore was honestly worried for Chloe's life to raging where the Oracle thought she would have to restrain the girl.
It was a headache and a half. The times when the girl was on an even keel made her good company, but the other times made the small woman want to tear her hair out in frustration.
She restrained herself because it would make things worse.
If only she could figure out what was wrong with her towards the end of the time.
She would deal with that another time, she thought while sitting on a bench, hopefully at a point that she wouldn't be about to fall aslee...
She collapsed exhausted on a bench in the basilicom, fast asleep, and eventually was taken to her room by a worriedly amused Neptune.
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"Histore? What are you doing here?" a faint voice asked, jostling the small woman awake, Histore pored a glass of water containing ground up sharecite while looking at the open, yet bleary eyes of the one she admitted that she had feelings for.
She also shook her head to clear the memories from her head.
Well to herself, Neptune, and Vert at least.
Shaking her head, Histore replied, "I heard about you being injured, and came to check on you."
"Why?" Chloe asked sitting up, then dropping down. She then scooted back so she was sitting against her headboard.
Histore took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. With a wry smile, Histore asked, "Who do you think kept sending you those flowers?"
Chloe did a spit take, drenching the woman across from her. She shrieked with a brilliantly red face, "What?"
"Remember the first time we actually spent time together? It started then, and only grew the other times we were in contact, so I asked your sister permission to court you, and I figured going slow would be best. I'm going to be around for the next month barring emergencies, so um... would you like to go on a date after your mobile?" Histore asked nervously.
Chloe nodded, and replied, "according to the medics, I'll be mostly recovered in a few days, and the visitors from Earth will be here next week."
Histore smiled cutely and said, "Plenty of time then. I see you're flagging again, please get some sleep."
Scooting back down to a sleeping position, Chloe fell into a troubled sleep, wondering why Histore chose her, but more than willing to give it a try.
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Meanwhile Vert was meeting with Cyberconnect2 and two others.
One was female wielding a large cross-shaped shield, and black armor that covered her torso and ended in a skirt like arrangement, elbow length gauntlets, mid-calf length grieves and had a sword at her waist.
The other new person was male. He was wearing a black shirt with a split cross on the back that had a V-cut in front showing a section of his chest, black pants, and brown shoes. His messy brown hair made him look like a delinquent. (EN)
Mash, Yuri, I called you here because I want you to help Cyberconnect2 help my sister do something that I hate, but is necessary. I need you to help power level her to the point where she won't kill herself by casting the spell she recently acquired. Yuri, to you specifically, I would like to ask you to help my sister come to terms with her transformation. I know you have had gone through something similar when you were younger, so I feel like you would have the best chance to help her. Any questions?" Vert asked.
Yuri asked, "I know you hate power leveling, so why, besides her being your sister with a spell too powerful for her, are you making an exception, instead of just sealing the spell?"
Vert smiled, glad that someone asked the question, and turned to Cyberconnect2, and asked, "What is Chloe's current level, what would you say is her skill level, and do you think she'll need the spell.
CC realized why she was being asked so that it wouldn't look like a sister bragging, so she responded
, "Chloe's at level forty-six, and has a skill level equivalent to a level sixty-nine, her spell is somewhere between level seventy-three and seventy-seven and considering she cast it out of desperation, I believe that she may need to use it again."
The two were impressed, and now understood the seriousness of the situation, when Vert decided to explain further, "My main problem with power leveling is that people get the power, but not the skill to go with it. I believe that my sister would work to maintaining the skill level needed for a level that would allow her to survive casting the spell. I don't expect you to get her to the mid-seventies, but just high enough to make her able to cast it semi-safely."
After getting the agreement of the two to help her sister, Vert smiled, things looked like they would be getting better.
They would start in a month, long enough for her sister to recover, give the tour to the guests from Earth, Histore to finish her visit and attempt to start a relationship with her sister and arrange the minutia that having Chloe to busy to do her normal work required.
It would be a long few months until Chloe went back to Hogwarts.
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Sirius was pacing back and forth. He had discovered what happened to his godson, and now he had to find a way to approach her, a divinity that he knows little about, and to his knowledge has nothing in common with.
He had never heard of her liking pranks, she was too studious for his taste, and didn't even like Quidditch.
In short, he didn't seem to have an opening.
Well, he had to start somewhere, so he would volunteer to help with the incoming group since he had the experience of coping with the culture shock.
He also heard gossip that there was someone trying to date Chloe, and he wanted to meet him or her.
He would wait until she was mobile on her own power to see whether he could become her Uncle Sirius since she probably didn't need a parent with her sisters around.
At least he was better than his old friend, who wanted to take her away from her family... except he still hadn't cottoned onto who Harry was reincarnated into.
Sighing he grabbed his laser pistol, and headed out to do some quests, he had a new model armor and weapon to buy.
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Remus Lupin looked at the bottle of fire whiskey and threw the empty bottle against a wall. He had blown his third guess by suggesting a first-year boy and was brutally mocked for blowing his last chance.
With a drunken sigh, he looked around the shabby cabin he lived in and put his head back. Perhaps if he hadn't been so rude to that Chloe girl, she would have told him who Harry was now. He had read the books that Chloe had brought for Hogwarts, and was rather confused. Mostly at how goddess's and candidates just appear out of thin...
The werewolf blinked. Then started cursing. It was so bloody obvious he needed to be three-quarters drunk to see it.
With a sigh, he put his head back on his Lazy-boy recliner and bitterly laughed. He had blown it, the reincarnation of his best friends child was out of his reach.
With his laughter becoming sobs he fell into a deep disturbed sleep.
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Chloe was, now that she was up and around a few days later creating a rough itinerary for the guests while they were in Leanbox, and compiling it with the itinerary from the other three nations.
She had her date later in the day and wanted to lock down the generalities of the visit. She would give them choices, one thing she thought would be interesting would be a peaceful Chocobo ride around the capitol. The friendly large birds travel fast enough to get them around the city in a few hours, and would be a small activity for the day they arrive.
She also already set up the accounts, ten thousand credits for each child and twenty thousand for the adults. Which is the equivalent of three hundred pounds for each pair, enough to allow them to buy some souvenirs but not terribly excessive, she would also buy the wizarding gold, silver, and bronze coins at the worth of the material if they wanted to increase their funds. Muggle money was, unfortunately, completely worthless in Gameindustry.
She also made a note that one family wanted a medical consult, and scheduled it for that first day at a respected free clinic.
With some more keystrokes, she confirmed the number of people coming which was an even two dozen, one child and one guardian for each child. So she set aside three hundred and sixty thousand credits from her own personal account to provide the funds.
She also noted a message from Sirius about wanting to help, and that he had something to talk to her about, and gratefully accepted the help.
Looking at the time, Chloe decided to get ready for her date.
An hour later she was dressed in a modest semi-formal dress in Leanbox colors, and waiting for the small woman to arrive.
When she did she was wearing a similar dress that suited her small frame perfectly and was in the purples and blacks of Planatune.
The two smiled at one another while blushing like schoolgirls, and headed out on their date.
Sirius who had been coming back from some missions saw them depart and realized that his reincarnated godson was dating another woman, and accepted it.
Besides, from what he had seen, both goddesses and candidates seemed to be attracted to their own gender, perhaps it was because from what he read they were all sterile, so they didn't have the biological imperative to reproduce or some other reason.
Anyway, he was happy to see Chloe heading out on a date, even though his own efforts to get a date had... fallen flat.
Shaking his head to prevent his thoughts from going down the depressing path, decided to get some sleep.
Tomorrow was another day after all.
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End chapter
EN: Yuri Hyuga, the protagonist of the game Shadow Hearts. He wasn't originally the type of character I wanted to put in the last slot. I originally wanted a heavy hitter type to round out the team since they have an agility based character in CC, a mage in Chloe, and Defense in Mash, but then I realized that he would be perfect to help Chloe work out issues with transformation.
He ended up being chosen after my friend suggested the muscle-bound vampire from the second game, then I made a leap to him, and then the positives, the fact that when transformed HE could act as a mage, while Chloe's HDD could be the heavy hitter.
Not that either Mash or Yuri will play big parts.