A Chain of Debt (A Matou Shinji AU Quest)

[EmperorBR]

​[x] Yes

[alfheimwanderer]

[x] Yes

---

Halloween rolls around, and since Shinji is not participating in the launch of Wizards Unite, he has a few options for what to do.

[ ] Join the Halloween Feast as usual - there will of course be plenty of pumpkin dishes
[ ] Accept an invitation to dine with Lord Black and family
[ ] Join a small dinner event the History Professor is doing
[ ] Come to the first meeting of the Slug Club

[Skull Leader]

[X] Join a small dinner event the History Professor is doing

I am going to continue to show my bias against Slug Club even if I know it might have an interesting event/person at it. I am more likely a smaller event, such as History Prof offers. Or maybe Lord Black family event. It is interesting that he has this offer.

[Dracueri]

[x]Join a small dinner event the History Professor is doing

[Daiki]

[x] Join a small dinner event the History Professor is doing

[alfheimwanderer]

[x]Join a small dinner event the History Professor is doing

---

Each invited person is allowed a plus one. Does Shinji bring a guest...?

[ ] Yes (write-in who)
[ ] No

[Skull Leader]

Time to take our partner in crime history.

[x] Zabini

Other choice here is take Amber but I suspect she already going to it. Draco is likely busy with the Black Dinner. Shinji does not really know many people to take with him. He has been rather selective with people he hangs around this go around.

[Daiki]

[x] Zabini

[Dracueri]

[x]​Zabini

[alfheimwanderer]

[x]​Zabini

---

When Shinji walks into the converted classroom where the dinner was to occur, with Zabini glancing around subtly to see what he could glean from the situation, he noted that there was a face he didn't recognize. A rather distinguished dark-skinned man dressed all in white, who seemed to be on good terms with Professor de Lune, as well as recognizing Ana Spencer, who apparently had also been invited to this little gathering.

...a gathering that was rather exclusive, as there were only 2-3 students per year present. He wondered why that was, and what the criteria for selection had been - though he also wondered who the other man was. He didn't think the ah...African? gentleman was from Britain, due to his soft accent, and while he didn't recognize the man exactly, he thought the man seemed somewhat familiar. Perhaps he looked like an actor of some repute?



Professor de Lune introduces their guest as Mister Adewale Akindele, the current ("only temporary, I assure you") head of the International Confederation of Wizards' Security Directorate, and a man with a rather colorful past as an canny operative, given his involvement in the Great Wizarding War as several agents of the ICW (yes, agents - he was on the books under several identities, identities which had only been revealed as aliases after the war was over), as spymaster of the Army of Light, and as the man who kept Grindelwald's forces from gaining a foothold in Africa.

"Now I would not say all of that was my doing," the man interjects softly. "Not alone, at any rate. I did have the aid of the inestimable Mister Harper. Jack, as some called him. After the war, he disappeared, leaving behind no clues as to who he was before the war, or who he actually served, save that it was not Grindelwald." He chuckled at that. "He was a rather elusive individual. Still is, I would imagine."

The History Professor acknowledges this, but notes that working with others by no means lessens Adewale's accomplishments.

"After all, if you managed to keep up with that man..."

"I doubt your students wish to hear stories of someone who might as well be a ghost," Director Akindele reproached. "I will speak a little of myself, then I suppose I can answer questions. Is there anything I should focus my remarks on?"

[ ] His experiences in the Great Wizarding War
[ ] His interactions with the mysterious Mister Harper
[ ] His work with the ICW
[ ] Who he is as a person, outside of his professional responsibilities
[ ] (write-in)

[Dracueri]

[x]​His work with ICW

[Daiki]

[x] His interactions with the mysterious Mister Harper.

Potential introduction to stealth / spying master early. Shouldn't need to mention how it would influence Shinji's build to get a meeting with the man. Especially if we are to learn how to be subtle.

Asking Akindele about his experience during the war would also benefit us, since he was himself a spy assuming different identities.

Those two options make the most sense to me.

[Skull Leader]

[x] His interactions with the mysterious Mister Harper

I am not sure if hearing these tales would be all together useful since he is a ghost that works for an unknown side. So it is not like Shinji can be introduced to him anytime soon. But still learning about someone of this caliber with this kind of mindset that has gone unsung by the masses other than small ghost tales, I think Shinji might be able to look up at the idea of Harper as a role model, even if the imagine in Shinji's head is likely far different than reality.

It is often the case with our Shinji. Reality and concept do not always align.

[Malorius]

[jk] Illusive man theme

One day Shinji will become a respectable government official (by day, and Batman by night) . Today is not that day. Today we are making useful contacts.
​
His work with ICW

[EmperorBR]

Man, this vote is a difficult one indeed. To ask about the ICW is a good way of estabilishing connections, and it would be a good Slytherin choice. To ask about Harper is a shot in the dark, as we may not get much, but damm it picks my curiosity and atention.

In the end, i go with the conservative option

[x] His work with the ICW

[alfheimwanderer]

[x] His work with the ICW

---

Adewale Akindele smiled genially as he looked over the gathered students, glad to see that so many had questions about his experiences - especially his work with the International Confederation. He'd heard some peculiar things about the island nation of Britain and how...disinterested many tended to be when it came to foreign affairs, though perhaps it was just that their schooling did not expose them to such. Or that the previous History professor failed to discuss anything of note concerning the role of the International Confederation.

'I trust the Director will correct them of any misapprehensions they may have,' he mused. It did rather amuse him that someone as distinguished as Leonard Spencer-Moon would give up his position on the Security Directorate, even temporarily, to teach younglings, but then the man did rather dote on his granddaughter.

"Let me ask you then, what do you know about the Confederation?" he questioned, wanting to see what he had to work with.

"...I think they were involved with the war against Grindelwald?" one of the older students spoke up.

"Didn't they condemn Britain for celebrating after we finally got rid of You-Know-Who?"

"If I remember correctly, they evaluated the curricula of the eleven wizarding schools registered with them," a certain redhead who Shinji thought must be a Weasley noted.

'Well, so that's what I'm working with.'

At least they had heard of the Confederation, even if they seemed to know very little about it.

"None of you know of the Security Directorate then?" he inquired, with all but two shaking their heads. "I see. The Security Directorate is the humanitarian and peacekeeping organ of the Confederation, with our primary charge being to uphold the Statute of Secrecy in situations outside or beyond the jurisdiction of a single wizarding nation." He nodded to the student who had mentioned Grindelwald. "The Great Wizarding War is indeed one of the more notable examples in recent history, as Grindelwald's actions endangered the very foundation of our society. True, the war was mostly fought in Europe, but with many of the European Ministries unable to mount a coherent response to his tactics, it fell to us to coordinate Allied operations in the European theatre. Gellert Grindelwald and the movement he led represented the single greatest threat that the Statute of Secrecy faced since its inception, and only with the help of several nations did the Confederation-aligned nations emerged victorious, and then, only at great cost. During that war, I was deployed all over Europe - though mostly in war-torn France and Eastern Europe."

"What did you do there?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, I was assigned to seek out Grindelwald's sympathizers, to identify any safehouses or bases his faction was using, and to...ensure he had not compromised the French government." He chuckled then. "A more difficult task than it seems, I assure you, given how many collaborators there were."

"Why did you not help us fight You-Know-Who then?" an older Hufflepuff questioned. "He was a Dark Wizard too, wasn't he? So why didn't you - or people like you - come help us? Was it because...because You-Know-Who was more powerful than Grindelwald?"

Adewale raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't we help?" he echoed. "The first is that the Voldemort incident" -- a number of students twitched as he said the name, something he didn't miss -- "was essentially a domestic affair."

"Huh?"

"The wizard you refuse to name was a British man leading an insurrection against the British Ministry," the acting head of the Security Directorate explained. "He may have recruited allies from abroad, but his reign of terror occurred within the borders of his home nation, and in such a case, we do not have jurisdiction to act."

"Wha...?"

"The only exception would have been if your Ministry requested our assistance, and they did not."

"So because they didn't ask..."

"We were not allowed to act. It is not our place to intervene in the internal affairs of a member nation."

"But...people died!"

"Yes, I'm sure they did, and that is a tragedy," Adewale Akindele acknowledged. "But that doesn't change the fact that it was neither our responsibility nor our right to intervene. Wizarding nations have a right and a responsibility to handle matters within their own borders - that is what it means to be a nation: to be able to exist without the interference of other nations."

"And if they had asked? Would you have helped?"

"The Confederation would have, but that help would have come at a cost."

"A cost?" Shinji spoke up. "What do you mean?"

"If a wizarding nation could not handle a single terrorist - one without an international reputation - without international aid, then the Confederation would have to consider if it was capable of carrying out its responsibilities under the International Statute of Secrecy. If it wasn't, well..." He shrugged. "What is defective must be replaced."

"Ah, so if they asked for the Confederation to intervene...the Confederation might well have replaced the Ministry with something else."

"Or supervised the restructuring of the Ministry to Confederation standards, yes," Adewale agreed. "Much as we assisted survivors in Eastern Europe with recreating new governments in the wake of the Grindelwald War, though the post-war era was a complicated one for several reasons."

"What sorts of things does the Security Directorate do these days?" Amber Noel inquired in the silence that followed.

"Oh, we run a number of international task forces, with one of the better known ones being the one stationed in the mountains of Tibet, given the many sightings of Yetis by non-magical people," the Director explained. "We still maintain a mission in Eastern Europe, of course, given how the sparsely populated area is favored by dark wizards, and otherwise respond to emergent situation as needed. One never knows when another Azkaban situation may arise."

What does Shinji wish to know?

[ ] How does one end up working for the ICW?
[ ] What is Japan's relationship with the ICW
[ ] What is the most interesting mission Adewale has ever been on for the ICW?
[ ] What is an Azkaban situation?
[ ] (write-in)

[Dracueri]

[x]What is an azkaban situation?

This sounds the most interesting. My second choice would be most interesting mission.

[Malorius]

[x] How does one end up working for the ICW?

Subtlety? What is it? Do you eat that?

[Skull Leader]

[X] What is the most interesting mission Adewale has ever been on for the ICW?

All other given questions can be answered by the History Professor, given its either falls under History itself or a question that he as the Director is capable of answering at a later date. Thus I figure I would vote for the question that only Adewale can answer.

[EmperorBR]

Either azkaban or most interesting mission are fine by me. But now i follow Skull Leader on the matter.
[X] What is the most interesting mission Adewale has ever been on for the ICW?