[Fic] "Cardcaptor Uhura" -- Star Trek: AOS/Cardcaptor Sakura

[edenfalling]

sablin27 said: Can I use the wild card on: Uhura, Spock and Gaila chase friendly but flighty magical cards (a la Card Captor Sakura)?

Note: So I've never read or watched Cardcaptor Sakura, but I hope this is more or less what you wanted. :D (900 words)

[ETA: The slightly revised final version is now up on AO3!]

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Cardcaptor Uhura
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Nyota's comm vibrates halfway through a warp navigation quiz.

She thinks about the possible consequences of checking her messages: public humiliation, an automatic failing mark if Professor Avci sees her texting. Then she thinks about the possible consequences of not answering, and fishes her comm out of her hoodie.

Gaila's sent her one word: CARD

Nyota lets her head thump down onto her desk, forehead smearing the scribbles and eraser marks of her latest equation, and curses her past self yet again for touching anything from the Song Library's special collections, even if all she was trying to do was put the intricately carved wood-bound book back from where some other idiot had knocked it to the floor. Then she texts a quick answer.

i'm in the middle of a test; can we wait twenty minutes?

NO, Gaila texts back not even a second later. its making people laugh so hard they FALL UNCONSCIOUS this is not something people can overlook someones going to call 911 or the cdc if we dont hurry pretend youre sick or something and GET TO WILDE HALL

punctuation is still a thing that exists, Nyota sends back, because habit is better than panicking. Then she grabs her backpack, tosses her half-finished test paper onto the professor's desk, and flees with only a mumbled, "Sorry, I have a thing," by way of an excuse. Hopefully she can make up the lost points on her midterm.

did you tell spock? she texts as she runs through Nguyen Hall, down the stairs at the east end, and out the door onto the south quad.

DUH, Gaila says. hes blowing around a bunch of pollen so the laughing maybe looks like a weird allergy symptom instead of magic YAY PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY but neither of us knows what card this is or what it wants its left academy grounds though heading southeast meet us at golden gate park

Twenty minutes later, Nyota has run across what feels like half of San Francisco, dodging exhausted clumps of still helplessly laughing cadets and civilians, and is crouched behind a tea bush in the hastily evacuated botanical gardens, trying to catch her breath. The card-sprite flits from one flowering tree to the next while Nyota listens to her unfairly attractive roommate and her equally unfairly attractive phonology TA hold a whispered battle over what to do next.

"I don't need magic to see that we're obviously dealing with Delirium or Mischief," Gaila insists yet again. "Which means we should try to herd the sprite into the hedge maze and hit it with Calm so Nyota can seal and sign the card. This isn't rocket science!"

"I can think of at least two other cards that might produce the observed effects, which strongly suggests that your certainty is misplaced," Spock says, with the particular lack of intonation that means he's repressing a strong desire to punch something. "Attempting capture without a better analysis only invites further chaos. If you would stop distracting me for even thirty seconds, I could begin scrying for--"

At times like this, Nyota really wishes she were a little less ethical and therefore willing to steal the damned book that started this whole mess. The exhibit it was part of isn't on display anymore, and so far she and Gaila have only found two plausible excuses to request an hour studying it under the close supervision of a librarian. And of course they can't photograph or copy the pages, because magic is never that convenient, so they're stuck relying on iffy memories and guesswork, plus a ballpoint pen that now doubles as the most ridiculous magic wand Nyota's ever heard of. (What they're going to do when it inevitably runs out of ink, she really doesn't want to think about.)

"I don't care what card it is, and I'm not going to start by hitting it over the head with mind control," she says, interrupting the argument. "I'm going to try talking it down."

"That never works!" Gaila whispers furiously. "And what if it hits you? You can't call any cards if you're laughing too hard to speak!"

"Technically speaking, communication has worked twice," Spock says. As Gaila hisses in fury, he adds, "I still advise against this. Without knowing which card this is, we have no way to predict how it will react to the thought of relinquishing its freedom."

The thing is, they're not wrong. Talking to an unbound card is always a risk -- even the ones with silly, ultra-specific uses are still powered by the same overwhelming magic. But the day Nyota starts using force without first trying to communicate is the day she'll stop recognizing herself in the mirror.

And it has worked twice. Maybe today will be the charmed third chance.

"I'm trusting you guys to think of a backup plan," she says, and stands from behind the tea bush.

The card-sprite -- a lovely, androgynous figure about ten centimeters tall, butterfly-winged, nearly translucent, and wrapped in shimmering rainbow bubbles -- flits upward in alarm and raises its hands. A bright pink glow gathers between its fingers.

"Hello," Nyota says quickly, ballpoint pen held loosely between her fingers. "My name is Uhura, and I'm the one who accidentally blew you away from the rest of your deck. I hope you haven't had too many troubles out on your own. Would you like to come rejoin your friends?"

She holds her breath and hopes.

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That was fun!

Comments

[the_rck]

::laughs:: I love this!

[edenfalling]

Thank you! :)

[sablin27.livejournal.com]

This is very cool, thanks. I love how Nyota is so true to her principles while stressed.

[edenfalling]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!