“Sure thing, dear,” replied Strypp, getting out of his chair and heading for the other pantry.
The one with the tuna in it.
Theodore Diggers was too experienced to take a windfall like this on face value. After years as a field operative for Agency Zero, followed by more years as a member of the Mage Council, and interspersed with forays into adventuring alongside his wife on Jade, he knew only too well how something like this could be used as a cover, or as bait, even if it was true. He also knew how it could be claimed by persons who had nothing to do with achieving it, and exploited by those who didn’t have the best interests of those directly involved at heart.
Even so, deep inside, he felt a little part of himself relaxing for the first time in over twenty years. His greatest failure – one he had never forgiven himself for – was finally being fixed. This new werecheetah was a hope he had almost lost; Raphiel had kindled it again, Tiffany nurtured it, and now this second arrival from nowhere. The werecheetahs would live again.
Beside him, Julia smiled faintly. Her experience was comparable to his, and she knew how he had beaten himself up over failing to stop the massacre all those years ago. It was clear Bastet expected her family to mentor this young man. Well, like her husband, she wouldn’t trust him until he had earned it; but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t have anything to do with him until then.
And he would enjoy training under her and Theo? After fighting Saffron to... well, death was a relative thing with the Phoenix God, but still. That indicated he was, at least, a suitable sparring partner for Gar, and if he had that female body as well he surely didn’t have any silly notions about girls not fighting like some Earth-realm men.
Brittany tore her gaze from her sisters. Brianna in particular was drooling at the stud, and it was just a little embarrassing. Somehow, connections had already been made in the werecheetah’s mind, and the young male of her species was mentally slipped into that space that would otherwise have been occupied by a younger brother.
Otherwise she would probably have been drooling herself.
Instead, she took a look at the other three figures in the little hologram thingy. She remembered when she had ‘seen’ Cyan; her biological mother’s shade had told her that werecheetahs were supposed to be lean and lightly built, as Brittany was not. The hybrid-form female image was much closer to Cyan’s figure than Brittany’s, and she made a mental note not to challenge Ranma to a race.
The human form was even more petite than Brittany’s. Except... She remembered her Muffin’s comments the first time he had seen her in human form, and hoped Ranma didn’t spend too much time in his female forms. Not that she was jealous or anything...
Gina tore her eyes away from the little figure, and cleared her throat. “Well, I suppose we ought to decide what we do now.”
Brianna nodded. “I’ll get the light gate warmed up and pack some toys...”
“Tiffany’s asleep,” objected Brittany. When everyone looked at her, she explained, “I want her to meet her Uncle Ranma. We’ll go in the morning.”
“Well, I suppose we ought to decide what we do now.”
“Ranma will marry Akane immediately so they can seek redemption for being demons! We even have a Goddess... to... officiate?” Soun squinted at the nearer end of the bo staff. Amaterasu wasn’t even looking at him.
“Well, Ranma seems to have the medium-term future sewn up. I think we need to worry about what to do for tomorrow,” inserted Nabiki.
Ranma glanced up at her. “Meduim-term?”
“Well, with the inheritance and all, you aren’t going to be strapped for cash. And yes, I will help you manage and understand that lot,” she added.
Ranma winced faintly. “I dunno. I mean, if I know he’s gonna, um, die, ain’t I supposed to think of a way ta help him?”
Amaterasu smiled faintly, but only Kasumi noticed. Deciding that if the deity didn’t want to make her interest known it wasn’t her place to point it out, she merely smiled herself as she cleared the table of the dirty teacups.
“Perhaps, perhaps not. I can easily foresee that causing a paradox effect and preventing you from getting the money at all, even if you succeeded,” said Nabiki. “Besides which, how are you going to find him?”
“Um, ask Pops?”
Nabiki gestured silently to the empty space where Belldandy’s lamp had stood.
“Oh, yeah.”
“Well, what do you think we ought to do, then, Nabiki?” asked Akane. In the absence of Belldandy, a harsh edge was evident in her voice as it really began to settle in that a) her fiancé was now the recognised-by-Heaven future patriarch of a nearly-new species, and b) had turned her into another of that same species, implying that she would be expected to be a mother to it. Oddly, the notion of little Ranmas running around at her ankles wasn’t as repulsive as she had long thought it would be, but she was earnestly denying that at the moment.
Yes, Bastet does think in terms of ‘Pregnant Women’, and hadn’t told them everything that little pendant did for those Ranma transformed.
Nabiki thought for a moment; a pose, really, she already knew the answer or she wouldn’t have posed the question in the first place. “Well, Ranma needs one, or ideally both, of two things by tomorrow morning.” She paused for effect. “Bigger clothes, or a way to return to his human form. Now, I have heard of the Western legend of the werewolf, which I’m assuming is vaguely similar to the case here, and if that is so he ought to be able to change into something virtually indistinguishable from a normal human being.”
Ranma looked down at himself. While it was true that his coat of fur obviated the need for clothes for keeping warm, he was feeling more than a little nervous wearing only a frilly apron wrapped around his waist. Or maybe it was the way the various women looked at him while he was wearing a frilly apron wrapped around his waist.
Heck, he was sure he’d caught Kasumi looking at him oddly.
“So, how…” His brain made a connection. “Hey!” He grabbed the books Bastet had left behind. Sure enough, ‘Learning to Shift Forms for Beginning Weres’ was on the top. Something else slipped into his mind. “I guess Akane ought ta read this with me, too.”
“Give the boy a cigar. Now, while you two do your homework, I need to prepare for that Schools Inspector tomorrow.”
“Um?” noised Ranma, already buried in the first chapter with Akane reading over his shoulder. “But Bastet-sama said I didn’t need to worry...”
“About making a good impression, right.” Nabiki smiled thinly. “I want a good record from school so I can get into a good college, and there are a few people in school smarter than I who really deserve decent records, which is going to be very difficult with pineapple-head in charge. But without Kuno-chan there to ‘challenge the foul sorcerer’, I need to make absolutely certain of something giving the inspector a bad impression.”
Ranma nodded owlishly. Amaterasu frowned to herself, and then smiled reassuringly to Akane when she noticed.
“Oh, yes,” said Kasumi. “It would be nice for the school to get a sensible person in charge for a little while. I did so hope the Principal would never come back after he left in my first year, but I think he may have gotten worse than he was then.”
“That might have something to do with all the people able to stop him now, big sister,” said Nabiki dryly. “Between Ranma, Akane, Kuno, and Ukyo there’s no shortage of people to trip him up, but that just seems to encourage him.” She stood up and walked to the hallway. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some calls to make.”
“Of course.” Kasumi turned back to the others. “Would anyone like some more tea? Good, I shall have the kettle ready in a few minutes. Now, I don’t think I can adjust your clothes to fit, Ranma, but I will go to the market tomorrow morning and get some material; I saw some nice flubbed silk on Tanaka-san’s stall just yesterday.”
“Um, thanks, Kasumi. I, um...”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you will be able to stay in human form for tomorrow. Just let me take some measurements before we go to bed.”
Darn, he was right. Kasumi was looking at him oddly.
“Amaterasu-sama, will you be staying with us for dinner? With Saotome-san away, we will have plenty, although I’m sure it won’t be what you are accustomed to.”
Amaterasu blinked. “Thank you, Kasumi-chan. I would like that.” She blinked again. “Oh, bear with me for a second; I really ought to have a guesting gift if I am to eat with you.”
Before Kasumi could protest – or Soun burst into tears at the thought of a goddess eating with his family – she blinked out.
She walked back in through the hallway past Nabiki, who was deep in discussion with a minion over the telephone and didn’t look up. Graciously, she offered a small, simply-wrapped package to her hostess.
Dinner was especially nice that night, Ranma thought. Not having to defend his plate from his father was only the icing on the cake. He eventually went to bed well-prepared for the next day.
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(Posted Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:52)
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