Matou Shinji and the Price of Victory (HP/FSN CYOA)

[Daiki]

[x] Yes. Meet with Director Spencer-Moon.

Better give our side of the story before a less flattering one comes up.

We don't even have to embellish stuff, just answer questions in a reasonable fashion.

[busterman221]

[X] Yes. Meet with Director Spencer-Moon

Seems like the obvious choice to me.

[Malorius]

[x] Yes

Can't escape politicians forever. Though I find our goals for this discussion dubious outside of the general desire to be helpful to Albion (to straighten our reputation after the Tohsaka fiasco streak, no doubt) and the risks higher than what's strictly comfortable.

But hey, maybe our Dark Lord Wakame vibes are less obvious now? Maybe?

[alfheimwanderer]

Choice 167: [X] Yes. Meet with Director Spencer-Moon

---

Choice 168: What do you wear for the meeting?

[ ] Armor - either from his collection or the Albion armory
[ ] Dress robes, like those he wore on the island
[ ] A dress kimono
[ ] Something else (write-in)

Choice 169: The head of the delegation is pleased that you agree to his request, and before asking anything else, asks that you tell him 1) about yourself, and then 2) what happened, in your own words?

a. How do you describe yourself?

[ ] (write-in)

b. What happened at the Ministry?

[ ] Explain that you tapped into draconic powers in now-lost equipment
[ ] That an ill-equipped and trained enemy ran into prepared defenses and a prepared defender
[ ] That through great trials, he has obtained powers some might find...unnatural
[ ] Eastern arts are particularly suited to helping one fight against many
[ ] (write-in)

[Daiki]

[X] Albion dress uniform.

[ ] (pending until write-in)

[x] Explain that you tapped into draconic powers in now-lost equipment.

I'm done putting extra efforts and explaining shit.

[skulkidcachi90]

Out[ ] (write-in) someone who try His best to help other people if they need help.Someone than can fail to help like any other person, he isn't perfect after all.

[Skull Leader]

[X] Albion dress uniform

No reason to go in looking like you are ready for a fight with armor or the likes. But why not wear a professional uniform that shows that you are not some loose canon, not a dark lord but actual accountable to to something. It is not there to impress the person with your own glory but to show professionalism.

Choice 169a is still pending. So many ways to answer that question.

[x] Explain that you tapped into draconic powers in now-lost equipment

Well you certainly should not act like you KNEW the attack was coming and that you one cause you were ready for it. That would sound like you are in league with Grindlewald and that this is just some large ploy to make Albion look good compared to the ministry in some overly complex chess game.Also eastern answer will not fly when you are dealing with a person that actually has to deal with what the eastern schools teach.

[Dracueri]

[x]Albion dress uniform

[x]​Explain that you tapped into draconian powers in now-lost equipment

[busterman221]

Choice 168: [X] Albion dress uniform.

Choice 169:

b- [x] Explain that you tapped into draconic powers in now-lost equipment.

I'll wait before voting on the 169-a

[Skull Leader]

Rejoice I have an answer for Choice 169a. And it is a big one, but luckily it will answer basically everything Moon could want to know about Shinji that Shinji willing to talk about.

And then some.

This is going to make your eyes bleed. Sorry about that.

Choice 169a
[X] SL's insanity IE the following.

Period 1: Early Years at Hogwarts

Spoiler:

• Britain was a land of promise for Shinji when he first arrived.
• He quickly amazed the people of Hogwarts with a small application of knowledge he picked from the East as they were not familiar with outside non-wand magic like he was.
• A troll attacked the school, and he with a help of a few students helped him take down a troll. Ultimately killing the troll with a giant stack of ofuda from Shinji. They became a band of brothers and formed the Stonecutters, earning a reputation and praise from their peers.
• He, during his first year, met a girl that was so brilliant in potions and alchemy that even to this day if she had been the Potion Champion she would have won hands down no question asked. A girl that became the future benchmark for him. His ever distant goal to become her equal. She lies at the heart of who is today.
• A dark wizard tried to steal the Philosopher’s Stone, and his stonecutters with the help of Sokaris tried to stop it from being stolen. Only to be curbstomp by an ambushed and in the resulting fight Sokaris was killed, and the stone was destroyed. Awarded an Order of Merlin.
• In his second year he met another young witch that never saw the world/magic as the people around her did. A girl that explored magic mysteries even when people around her thought that she was mad. And together they slowly shared with each other their love of magic and its many wonders, pushing each other to uncover more hidden depth of magic.
• Third year, he bought a mansion in Britain and for the first time in his life, he felt like he had something of his own that was not tied to his family. That he had a future in Britain.
• On family business, Shinji had a chance to met a young heiress of a family that had once been his families closest of allies, only for them to have become bitter enemies of the highest order. In his surprise, he found a young girl that was trapped in a gilded cage, unhappy and being used as a mere pawn by her family who had no regard for her as a person. So he stepped in, against the wishes of her family and his own family. So he helped her escape her family and hide her where her family would never look for her.
• For this deed, he has been exiled from his family, and the girls family had since hunted down his old family and himself. His once family has since been murdered at the hands of the girl’s family. But he has no regrets in helping her.
• The Stonecutters discovered his third year, a hidden lair of Acromantula a stone throw from Hogwarts. So they took it on themselves to eliminate the threat with the help and guidance from Lockhart. Even after a year of prepping for the event, the stonecutters while slaying hundreds of spiders, still found themselves overwhelmed. They would have died if not for the actions of Lockhart making a deal with Centaurs. The very ‘beasts’ that had no love loss for wizards due to the Ministry actions against them, saved them.

Period 2: After the Quidditch Massacre

Spoiler:

• Britain became a much different place, prosecuting anyone that was not them or loyal, crushing his faith in Britain and its government.
• The British nationalized everything. The newspaper became a propaganda source targeting anyone/anything that did not met their definition of a proper British Wizard.
• The closing of rival paper Quibbler that refused to print news that only favored the Ministry. Printing presses were declared illegal. The owner of the Quibbler (his girlfriend’s father) had to flee the country and has became a refugee in another ICW country to prevent reprisals on his daughter or being used as leverage against her.
• They militarized a place of learning (Hogwarts). Drifted the entire 7^th years. Outsourced the older students to another school so they had room for their warmachine. And keep the lower years so they could indoctrinate them.
• Refused access to Hogwarts anyone that was not a British Citizen. Even Shinji their own champion was not allowed access to Britain at the start of the school year as he refused citizenship on the grounds of not wanting to sever his connection with his birth nation.
• Wrote a play of the exploits of the Stonecutters while at the same time whitewashing the events, marginalizing his role and abilities while all but coming out and saying that he was an up and coming Dark Lord to his face.
• Lauding the attackers of two international students on another country soil without having any evidence that they had anything to do with the Quidditch Massacre, other than one of them being a citizen of a nation they suspected had attacked them and the other being a non-human foreigner who had the guile to fight back lethally when she was attacked and threaten of being raped by them. Rewarding them even with Orders of Merlin for their 'brave deeds.'
• Having declared being said girl’s bodyguard after said attack because it was the right thing to do and in the hopes that it would calm down Beauxbaton’s own desire for revenge and cause Hogwarts to think twice before attacking their OWN champion if they were to repeat the attack, only to then be called a traitor by his fellow students that known him for years and raked by the British media. Having them stating that his reasons was impure at best or were a sign that he was a dark lord at worst.
• On finding out that Fleur did not even seek any ill will against her own attackers but simply wanted to know about their fate, yet was being stonewalled at all turns he took it on himself to grab a non-classified newspaper from Britain and illegally smuggled it out of the country with his Champion privileges (at great risk of himself) and shared it with her and to his host school so that they would know the truth that was being concealed to the rest of the world.
• The British media using every chance they could to character assassin him. Declaring every time he was around girls at Durmstrang for any length of time that he MUST be sleeping with them, or fallen to the lures of his “veela whore.” Never minding the fact that he has never had sexual relationships with any of them. Or that he was assigned the role as Fleur’s date at that ball.
• That the British Government on seeing Shinji actions publicly to the rest of the world decided to replace their Potion Champion multiple times only to be talked down from doing that solely on the bases that he was expandable and an acceptable casualty if he died on the island verses the next candidate their precious “Boy who Lived.”
• The training offered by the Ministry for Shinji to prepare for Championship was solely in the nature of brewing potions. No survival training. No combat training. And done under their watchful eye at Hogwarts, surrounded by people that viewed Shinji with suspicion for not following in line with the group and for being a foreigner.
• Fearing that the training given would not allow Shinji to survive the island, because Britain greatly underestimated the dangers that lie on the island, Shinji sought help from the one place that he knew that would help him that also had the experience and the know how to train a potion champion, Japan. Even if that meant that he had to use an illegal method of transportation to allow him to continue to train in Japan throughout the year.

Period 3: Island of Thule

Spoiler:

• On the island, Shinji was exposed to people from across the ICW world and their various believes and ways of magic. He had already been exposed to more of the world than most people, but it really slammed home the point.
• He was exposed to Champions that were decent people, a few of whom he would not be here right now if it was not for them. Kindness like Remona would gave him help and aid when he did not have anything out in the jungle, for no other reason that it was the decent thing to do.
• He was exposed to a Champion that hated Shinji and targeted him for the entire competition for being apart of a particular bloodline even when he had been exiled from said household and was no longer apart of it.
• He had tasted failure when he tasted alcohol for the first time and over indulging on it causing him to almost die falling off of a building. Saved by a skill he only knew because he trained in Japan for the year. Only to land someone where he made even more of a fool of himself and almost dying that night in the arms of the one girl that always stood by him even when others told her not to.
• He had taken part of a team of two other champions, none of which he ever met before the island, working together with them to clear out a monster lair that grew out of hand. Having to pull victory out of defeat taking damage for the group to open an opportunity so that another could change the tides of the battle.
• He choose to polyjuice as one of his fellow partners so that he would act as a decoy so they could make it to the finish line, only to find out that another champion had ambushed another group so he step in because he could not let the ambushed be hurt because of the overly aggressive behavior of others.
• And in his defense of his other champions, he was accused of being a nefarious person because he was polyjuiced during the entire time, and had used Avada Kedavra on the champion that had tried to cast Imperious on him and was cutting his limbs off.
• He went back into the wilds of the island exploring its mysteries, fighting monsters that lurk in the shadows, and echos of the past from an age long forgotten that few will ever know existed, let alone have fought. Losing his equipment in the process, only to bailed out by another champion. And to then after a week of exploring its depths, he finally find treasures that wizards would have fought over for generations to come if he did not lose most of it in the events to come.
• One of the relics he found continued the essence of an ancient wyrm that when he held the item caused it merge with Shinji and formed a symbolic partnership between the two. When the two align, such as in combat, Shinji can call on the powers of the dragon, increasing his combat capabilities. That is the fundamental source that allowed for him to survive the ministry and the rest of the island.
• Surfacing after finding his ancient treasure, he found Mischa aggressively attacking his fellow champions again, almost resulting in their death. So he stepped in and helped, using the power that he had acquired as well as the potion that he developed to kick start it. He bought time so that the others could retreat. Only to find that in his victory that the enemy just arose again as a living curse, a foe that was so filthy strong that it is a miracle that he is standing here today.
• And in the end, weaken and without most of his items and clothes again, he survived only due to the kindness and goodwill of his fellow champions, who cared for him and protected him when he was in a weaken state.
• No longer cared who won the competition, Shinji still attempted to do his best brewing the final potion because its what his old friend from first year would want him to have done. And so showed the world his Potion of All Potential.
• Fearing what the ministry would do with PoAP, and not trusting the ministry from not forcing him to give them the recipe, Shinji cut a deal with the Americans so it would not legally be able to fall into the hands of the Ministry. Also ensuring Shinji had education credentials outside of Hogwarts sole discretion.

Period 4: Homecoming and the Battle at the Ministry

Spoiler:

• Five seconds after portkeying back to his mansion, he was met with a team of aurors at his house that “escorted” him to have a “talk” with the minister, taking him to a secure place inside the ministry.
• He was fed truth potions laced tea during the talk, without his knowledge, without due process or, or being charged with a crime, even thought he was underage.
• Shinji was then asked questions about his Island experience, forcing him to reveal more of his deeds than he was willing to. Ministry became concerned when there were portions of his island adventure he could not physically talk about due to magical oaths/contracts Shinji had made.
• They accused him of murdering his ‘tutor,’ Mr. Slughorn on the island and where shocked when Shinji had not killed him or was involved in any way with his death, having died of a heart attack according to an official investigation.
• They accused him to be a dark wizard because of two champions death that he caused by way of Avada Kedavra. Even if he was under the influence of imperious for the first one and only by sheer willpower manage to resist targeting the person he was ordered to kill. Nor did they like the fact that he killed Mischa with six homing AK because of the boost given to him by his potion as well as a spell storing item that was later in the fight destroyed.
• That on finding out that he could not by Oath/contract handi them the secret of making the PoAP, they flat out forced him to admit to any and all crimes he had committed. Even thought he was a minor and a foreign citizen.
• Was then threaten that if he did not swear an unending Loyalty Oath to the Ministry and forced to develop potions for their war machine that they would imprison him for his crimes that he admitted to.
• News of an imminent attack on the ministry reached the room then. A mere handful of aurors were given the suicidal mission to by time for the people of the building to evacuate. No one in the room thought that they would be able to survive 15 minutes.
• Shinji made a deal with the minister, an unbreakable oath that he would hold the line solo, using everything he had, for a period of no less than 30 minutes if they would pardon all his past crimes.
• Pardon was not the only reason he defended the ministry. Innocent people lives were at stake, and he could not let his beef with their government/employer cause him to turn his back on them. And because his fallen Stonecutters would have wanted him to defend the people no matter the odds, one of which had died in the Q.M doing the very same thing and even saved the very life of the auror who was to lead this suicide defense in the process of.
• And so once more into the breach he went...and to the shock of everyone but himself he won! Even if it did take him weeks to fully recover after the fight.

[Skull Leader]

Conversely due to a explanation given in period 3 section, the answer for 169B was expanded on. So I will add a write in for that to highlight this change for people to review.

Choice 169b

[X] A relic found on the island, merged the essence of an ancient wyrm into his body, creating an symbiotic relationship between the two. He survived the ministry fight by calling on this power as they both were aligned in purpose against the attackers but it is very taxing power, leaving him in a weaken state. Plus he was on Luck Potion during the battle. The relic was destroyed when it merged with him.

That is a fairly close to the truth explanation that I can give that skirts the whole "I was reborned again" issue and other classified stuff.

[Daiki]

Okay, this got my approval.

[X] SL's insanity

[X] A relic found on the island, merged the essence of an ancient wyrm into his body, creating an symbiotic relationship between the two. He survived the ministry fight by calling on this power as they both were aligned in purpose against the attackers but it is very taxing power, leaving him in a weaken state. Plus he was on Luck Potion during the battle. The relic was destroyed when it merged with him.

It's a lot of info for Leo to absorb but then again you can't get a clear idea of what kind of individual you're dealing with, with only a couple of phrases. As such the summary is pretty solid and gets the job done.

[Dracueri]

[x]SL's insanity

[x]​A relic found on the island, merged the essence of a ancient wyrm into his body, creating. A symbolic relationship between the two. He survived the ministry fight by calling on this power as they both were aligned in purpose against the attackers but it is a very taxing power, leaving him in a weaken state. Plus he was on Luck Potion during the battle. The relic was destroyed when it merged with him.

[EmperorBR]

[X] Albion dress uniform

[X] SL's insanity

[X] A relic found on the island, merged the essence of an ancient wyrm into his body, creating an symbiotic relationship between the two. He survived the ministry fight by calling on this power as they both were aligned in purpose against the attackers but it is very taxing power, leaving him in a weaken state. Plus he was on Luck Potion during the battle. The relic was destroyed when it merged with him.

Poor Spencer-Moon. This will take hours.

[alfheimwanderer]

Choice 168: [X] Albion dress uniform

Choice 169: a. [x] SL's Insanity; b. [X] A relic found on the island, merged the essence of an ancient wyrm into his body, creating an symbiotic relationship between the two. He survived the ministry fight by calling on this power as they both were aligned in purpose against the attackers but it is very taxing power, leaving him in a weaken state. Plus he was on Luck Potion during the battle. The relic was destroyed when it merged with him.

---

Choice 170: Perhaps you can address a curiosity of Leonard Spencer-Moon's then. Why did you choose to work with Albion following the Battle of the Ministry, when given your citizenship and your exploits on the island, you could easily have been gone back to Japan and lived a comfortable life? In particular, why did you agree to become an officer of Albion's Home Guard, given that such a role virtually guarantees you will come into direct conflict with individuals like Mister Potter - as well as members of the Ministry, who you previously saved?

[ ] (write-in)

Choice 171: As a corollary to that, what is it that you will accomplish as part of the Home Guard?

[ ] (write-in)

[Skull Leader]

Choice 170 pending. A lot of angles on this one, most of the real good ones can't be explained because of censored information given.

Choice 171: This one I split into two seperate things. That of becoming a Leader and basically a better person and that of making a better nation.

[X] Personal goals –To become more than just a talented yet controversial fighter/brewer.To learn the burden/responsibility of being a part of something bigger than himself. To become a Leader that is strong enough to inspire, wise enough to when/when not to do something, perspective enough to know the needs of those around him, supportive enough to assist them gaining it and moral enough to not fall into the everpresent Abyss, and becoming a complete and utter monster like the one from his family legacy.

Non-personal goals – To reduce the suffering caused by this conflict and to help create a more tolerable progressive nation. A place where any self-aware, sentient and peaceful entity may call home with equal rights and social equality as any other. A place that any magic/science can be study, where they are not judge for their ‘darkness’ in and of itself but rather judging the caster himself for any nefarious use with said knowledge.

I am well aware the way I avoided saying person or sentient being. I made it broad enough that it would cover even AIs like when will we ever need Shinji to be open to AIs having right...

​That answer might need to be edited with some talks but I figured I would attempt a baseline first. Some of this I think is Shinji soul searching of himself and voicing his underlying fears of becoming a monster. The second half is more him moving the country more towards Japan/atlas combination.

[Skull Leader]

Choice 170:

[X] Just cause he's not willing to forego his Japanese citizenship for British citizenship does not mean that he has no connection or love for this country. He has friends, comrades and even a girlfriend that this is their home. Some might have sided with the Ministry, but most are just scared. People have voiced to him their grumbles about the present course that Ministry was on last year, yet fear had kept them silent or they felt powerless. Albion changed that. What kind of person would he be if he turned his back on them, just because he has a safe hole to crawl to when they did not?

In addition, there is still an unknown threat that has already tried to attack Britain twice in less than one year’s time, with no evidence that they were connected or that the threat is over at this point. As an semi-outsider, it behooves Shinji to be at the center of the crisis so that he can help mitigate damage caused by possible future attacks so it does not spill into a muggle world and/or into a bigger global conflict. It will be too late to do anything if/when the conflict reaches him in Japan or the Statue of Secret is broken.

I swear one of these days I need to go back to writing short write ins. But this write in is the best argument I could think of that did not involve something that Shinji could not talk about. And more importantly it resonates with the lessons from the past which Mr. Moon might have some thoughts about. I like both paragraphs together, but if I had to keep one, I would kept the first.

[Daiki]

[x] SL write-ins.

[Dracueri]

[x]SL write-ins

[alfheimwanderer]

Choice 170 + 171: [x] SL's Write ins

---

An afternoon passes as Shinji speaks, answering the man's questions to the best of his ability, while taking into account the fiction concerning the length of his recovery. Compared to his interview with Lucius Malfoy, this one - with a former Minister, no less - is rather more unhurried, with no use of veritaserum to compel him to tell the truth - nor any pressure to speak if he does not desire to, which actually makes the boy feel more inclined to be cooperative.

Leonard Spencer-Moon is an old man, after all, and certainly not an enemy - and Shinji had always been taught to respect his elders - something he tended to remember when people weren't actively annoying him (or a member of the press, given that that particular group tended to be rather unreliable, with the exception of Luna and her father).

Soon enough though, the interview comes to an end, and the man thanks the boy for his time, with Shinji not quite certain what to make of it.

---

Sometime later - after about a week, the boy is summoned to the office of the Wizard Marshal to be given his special assignment. He makes his way there, wondering what the man might want him to do, though when he arrives, he is surprised to find that the man is not present - and that sitting in the automaton's chair, working on paperwork, is a golden-eyed girl with silver hair falling to her ankles dressed in a charcoal grey uniform dress which he has never seen before.

For that matter, he's never seen her before either, though from the sword leaning against the wall whose grip seems to match her hand, and the intense, steely aura she gives off as she focuses on her work, he can only assume she is a warrior of some kind, even though the top of her head would only reach his shoulder - and he wasn't a particularly tall boy. Perhaps she is a fellow squad leader? A new recruit for First Squad? Or perhaps...

"You know," he speaks up. "I'm not--"

"Viersechs," the girl interjects, looking up at him, her golden gaze meeting his.

"Huh?" Shinji responded intelligently.

"I am the Wizard Marshal's secretary," she explained, noting his presence, before looking back down at the paperwork spread across the desk.

...she was Tomas' secretary.

"I've never seen you before," the boy comments. "And given how often I was around HQ at one point, you'd thought I would have."

"I was supervising the construction of an ALF stronghold in the north," she responds. "Compared to that..." She shakes her head. "Simply to move a few soldiers and the provisions for them, one must first fill out so much paperwork." She pauses. "Sit, Matou Shinji. The Marshal will return shortly."

Matou Shinji can only nod and do as the girl asks.

Perhaps five minutes later, the Wizard Marshal does indeed return, with the automaton laden with several boxes from which waft a rather curious scent.

"Sauerkraut risotto," Tomas says, in answer to the unasked question from Shinji, before setting the lunchboxes on the desk.

The girl nods, barely moving her head as she turns from the work before her to the box that was placed before her.

"Thanks again for watching the office while I was out," the man says. "Matou."

"Wizard Marshal. You have an assignment for me?"

"Yes. As a part of the Home Guard, I am tasking you with helping to coordinate security for an upcoming reception Albion will be hosting for a number of ambassadors and their guests, given that we have finished negotiations with the Confederation, with the end result being a recommendation for its members to normalize relations with us."

Shinji blinks.

"Me?" he asks. "I...I'm down to a single member of my squad, and given how often Lockhart has special duties for her...."

"That should be remedied under this. For this operation, however, you will be serving as Weiss' assistant," the Wizard Marshal explains, gesturing to the girl in his chair.

"Weiss? I thought her name was Viersechs," the boy grunted.

"Weiss is her first name," Tomas notes dryly, making Shinji feel very foolish indeed.

"Oh."

"In addition to the two of you, Miss Suoirtsulli will be present at the event, there will be goblins on perimeter duty, and the ambassadors have security details they have agreed to second to us to help provide a pleasant experience for the evening."

"...I see."

"I will have Weiss brief you, given that you will be working under her for the duration of the operation."

"After lunch," comes a quiet interjection.

"...yes, after lunch."

Choice 172: After being briefed about the upcoming reception and the role he is meant to play in it, Shinji has a few reservations, as he doesn't know anything about Viersechs, who will be in charge of him. He sees this as a problem, and asks if they can remedy this...

[ ] ...via a friendly spar
[ ] ...by doing a training scenario together, so he can see how she operates
[ ] ...over a short chat about their (unclassified) operational history
[ ] (write-in)

Choice 173: During the reception itself, Miss Viersechs will be the one ultimately in charge of coordinating overall security deployments and response, while Shinji and the others under her will be working more closely with one of the delegations' security personnel. Which delegation's chief security officer does he wish to liaise with?

[ ] Japan - given his heritage and fame in the country, he should have a fairly easy time working with them
[ ] France - their security detail is led by Rachelle Lestrange, and he has worked with her before
[ ] America - from what he knows of them, they are rather professional and he is familiar with their equipment
[ ] Whichever is fine
[ ] He would rather work directly with Viersechs