“Brianna!” Theo roared, the perfect figure of parental anger. That is if your parents were demonic flaming skeletons, which Brianna and Graves father was at the moment so I suppose it fits.
“Eep!” Brianna and Grave flinched back from the flaming skull jumping out at them. Graves tail shot up along with her heart rate, which easily hit five hundred beats per minute and so her partial were-cheetah heritage was about the only thing that stopped her heart from exploding from the sudden stress. This was an Arch-Mage before her, someone who was more than capable of ending her existence with very little effort, someone who she had a bad track record with and was now angry. To say that Grave was nervous was the understatement of the century, although she was oddly nowhere near as afraid as she thought she be.
Theo crossed his arms across his chest and stood there glaring at the pair of them with his head aflame. “What do you have to say for yourself daughter?” he demanded in a tone of voice that said he was expecting an apology or an excuse, and if it was going to be an excuse then it better be a damned good one.
“Er... I.. Um... huh?” Brianna stuttered out bewildered as she took a step back, completely at a loss to why she had suddenly become the target of this inquisition.
Grave rested her hand over her breast and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm down her hammering heart to a more acceptable rate whilst the attention was focused away from her. Her tail dropped from its previous 'frozen in shock' position and began swishing agitatedly behind her, if she'd 'inherited' the werecat ears then she was sure they would have been plastered flat across her skull.
“You know as well as I do that your mother extended your grounding to cover no more using Ranma as a 'nookie-toy' this morning,” Theo stated still unrelenting in his expression and tone, feigning ignorance was not going to get his youngest out of this mess.
Julia had finally caught on to what had been itching at the edge of her mind last night when they were playing 'dominating bitch' and had informed everyone that she thought there was the possibility of Ranma being enthralled to Brianna. Theo was a little embarrassed to not have thought of that first but he wasn't a Jade native and knew precious little about lycanathropes despite the fact that he had a lycanathrope daughter, Britney. Until Theo could get around to testing to see if Ranma was indeed enthralled to Brianna, which he first needed to research first, Julia had decreed that the pair of them should stay apart to avoid any unpleasantness that tended to go along with thrall bonds and she was of rather strong mind on this principle as were most Jade natives.
“Yeah... I know. But what does that have to do wit...” Brianna answered back confused before trailing off as something occurred to her, “wait! What do you mean Ranma?”
Theo looked at his daughter oddly, something that looked extra odd when it came from a flaming skull. “What do I mean? I mean Ranma! Right there!” he stated firmly, his voice almost rising to shouting level as he pointed a finger at the petite were-cheetah that he knew as 'Ranma'.
Grave's heart which had mostly slowed down by now, gave a little jump as the angry Arch-mage pointed at her but otherwise managed to keep her heart rate within human norms. She was however confused, a quick look showed that she shared that condition equally with her twin Brianna whom likewise was wondering why their father was calling Grave 'Ranma'. A few crazy thoughts came to Brianna and she also nearly had a heart attack when she thought of Ranma being turned into Grave Digger, she might be able to handle a lesbian relationship but a incestuous lesbian relationship was beyond even her, despite what her collection of Japanese Hentai movies might otherwise tell you.
Honestly.
As Brianna and ‘Ranma’ turned to look at each other confused, Theodore got a distinct sense of impending doom loom over him. The kind that warned you that something big was coming to mess up your previously comfortable life in a horrible, confusing and embarrassing way, but he ignored it with the same blissful confidence of most Jade arch-mages. The fact that he had the experience of being Britanny and Gina's father as well as the Ranma experiences helped dramatically as well.
“Er…Dad…” Brianna started hesitantly, unsure how to say her evil twin was here and not as evil anymore. “Well….you see…”
She didn't get to finish as her father cut her off as he noticed something which caused him to drop his flaming skull and lean forward to peer at her face. “Wait! Why has your eye stripe reappeared Brianna?” He asked confused as far as he knew, her eyes stripe had disappeared when she fighting Grave Digger on Jade who was inhabiting a small were-cheetahs bod.....
Theo turned to look at 'Ranma' and this time had a solid look at 'him' without his anger clouding his vision. Small, human ears and only one eye stripe, a right hand eyes stripe.
Some would say that the Arch-mages of Jade were stupid and Grave Digger after the Jade incident would have been the first to agree with you. Theodore Diggers however was a break from Arch-Mage normality and actually had a degree of intelligence behind him. Putting 2+2 together was very easy for him and he quickly realized the small were-cheetahs identity, a revelation that hit him like a ton of bricks.
Grave recognized the look and the dawning realization that appeared on his face, she gave a bitter sweet smile and decided to remove any last remaining confusion. “I’m not Ranma,” she stated quietly, looking somewhat nervous as she stood in front of him naked with her tail in her hands to stop it thrashing around aggravated. She looked kind of like a harmless little kid, an impression she was aiming towards, as she doubted the psychopath appearance would do much to further her cause.
Theo stared blankly at the petite were-cheetah and then at Brianna who nodded slowly, confirming everything.
Theo let out a slow breath as he thought out his next moves whilst Grave tensed, fighting her fight or flight instincts.
“Grave Digger?” Theo asked surprisingly calm for someone who had either another daughter or a potentially unstable curse to deal with.
Grave gave a weak smile and an equally weak “Hi.”
“Grave Digger? As in the curse?” Theo asked again, seeking clarification.
Grave rallied herself and put a bit of her old cocky self back on show. “Hmph… I’d have though you of all people old man, would have recognized me,” she stated, a little put out at still being called the curse. “You did almost kill me the first time we met.... and I'd thank you not to call me a curse.”
“You’ve changed a lot since that first night,” admitted Theo, perhaps a little guilty. He despised the taking of a life, the denying someone of the chance to live and he might have almost killed her previously.
“People change,” Grave shrugged, the tip of her tail in her hand swishing was the only sign of her agitation.
“It appears they do,” murmured Theo as he focused back on the present and carefully scanned the petite were-cheetah’s aura. She definitely had a soul of her own and was not a mindless creature, also the curse of Tyranthrax seemed to have disappeared, replaced by Jusenkyo’s own power. Theodore was sure there was a very interesting story behind how Grave got to be here and he was suspecting that Brianna was deeply responsible.
Grave fidgeted slightly under his gaze, still nervous of rejection but settled back into her trademark smirk when she noticed he didn't find anything objectionable in her aura.
“So.... Congratulations father, it’s a girl!” Grave announced dramatically before pausing in thought and muttering. “Yet again…”
Brianna sweatdropped at Grave's theatrics and then the nervous rambling that she devolved into, that was a recognizable Gina trait. Brianna then winced as her fathers attention focused back on her. “Dad, I can explain this… Really I can…”
“…Come to think of it having four daughters and no son is kinda odd….”
Theo raised an eyebrow at the rambling Grave, he too recognized it as something Gina used to do whenever she was nervous. He put it out of his mind as harmless as he focused his attention onto the person he was sure that was responsible for this mess, glaring down at his daughter, Brianna. “This had better be good,” he warned her as he got ready to hear whatever excuse she came up with.
“Ah... well...” Brianna murmured as her mind rapidly fought to find someway out of the rather awkward situation that she had gotten herself into, today just was not turning out well for her.
“… I wonder if you’ve got an impotent Y chromosome….”
Theo twitched at Graves statement, but kept his attention on his other daughter.
Brianna fidgeted under his glare, she was doomed like the Dodo. She just knew it. She sighed and decided to bite the bullet. “Well I was bored of sitting up in my room, most of my stuff is over at the house not here at the mansion. So I decided to... “ Brianna coughed, there really wasn't any delicate way to put this that wouldn't get her into trouble, “... drag Ranma back to my room for nookie.”
“… It would explain how you act all girlish at times….”
“So you decided to get Ranma back to your room so you could have your way with him despite the fact you were told to stay apart?” Theo questioned and at Brianna nod, he continued. “Okay but how did that result in Grave over there, appearing?”
“… Mean what is up with that mage suit? It must be made out of spandex or something….”
Brianna looked embarrassed.
“Well I've got some packets of Instant Jusenkyo Spring of Drowned Twins that I've been saving for a special occasion, I was planning on using them to get around the spell that would alert you if I left my room. I was expecting a temporary clone of myself to appear but Grave here turned up instead” Brianna explained, inclining her head towards Grave who was still rambling nervously. Brianna had to bite her tongue at some of the things Grave was saying and if it wasn't for the sudden threat of being grounded until she legally reached adulthood, technically another 16 odd years, then she'd probably have burst out laughing.
“… Superman proved that. Only women can look good in spandex, it just suits….”
“Oh. Dear. God.” Theo stated slowly and firmly as he rubbed his forehead, he couldn't believe it. He just could not Believe it. Brianna couldn't be that stupid could she?
Thoughts of various disasters she had caused crossed his mind. Oh God. Yes, she could.
Brianna looked somewhat alarmed at the sudden serious look that had crossed her fathers face and had a deep sinking feeling that she had cocked up more than she initially suspected. Her shoulders slumped, well she had wanted to be fucked and now she was well and truly fucked, though in a completely different manner to the one she'd hoped for. Why did she get the feeling that she was suddenly paying off Karma at a vastly accelerated rate?
“… See that is the difference between us. I actually make a Mage suit look Good …”
“Grave!” Theo shouted.
Grave froze in her monologue. “Yeah?”
“Just shut up…” Theo begged, reaching the limits of his patience.
Grave blinked.
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(Posted Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:43)
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