In theory it should have been possible to limit most of the bonds to a familial or sibling level, maybe as strong as very sensitive identical twins, as long as a bond of love (and lust) formed with at least one other person involved. However, Urd was finding that the amount of contact necessary for the bond to strengthen was minimal. And thinking about it made it worse (or maybe better).
Perhaps, before Urd had explained the situation, they could all have gone a month or more before they started noticing that they were noticing the others. Now it was like a pit of quicksand, every little sign, whether it was meaningful or not, provoked a struggle which pulled them down further.
Once Urd had caught her mind drifting toward Sayoko, she had resigned herself to the fact that she'd practically have to isolate people in little rooms for something like a year in order to prevent the group bond.
She shrugged. There were worse fates than falling in love with a cute guy and five cute women.
She knew what it took to solidfy a bond now, as it had happened twice in the last five days. All that had to happen was they had to have sex again, now that the potion was mostly gone.
Keiichi and Belldandy, having already had a stong bond anyway, where sharing a bed that first night. This was much to Skuld's annoyance. After several conversations with the mother of her child and checking on her and teaching her about Goddess stuff, well, Ranma and Urd had consummated their relationship by the third day. Coincidentally the same day that Ranma's father was being killed.
Urd highly doubted the ability of any of them to resist another round in bed with the others for a whole year, but they'd see what came anyway. She suspected that Sayoko and Peorth (staying at the rich girl's to both keep her company and because the temple was loaded, by Urd's testimony anyway) would soon be confirming their bond if they hadn't already.
And Urd thought that the next they came to talk to Keiichi and tried to distract her that she might make a play to join them. She was getting to think that much about it.
As for Mara, she was still unconscious. All they knew about her recharge method was that it required Mara to do something. And that just left the normal way of recovering mana, sleeping. Since Mara had burned so much energy away in her time as a cut off demon, it was taking far longer than normal for her to recover, but she was recovering. And they had her thoroughly warded with spells in case any demons came looking for her.
"Ranma," Urd called out to her mate, perhaps one of several she'd have. "This isn't training, this self-flagellation."
Ranma paused after another go at trying to run through the kata at high speeds. Urd could almost see the muscles stretching past their limits as Ranma pushed herself further and further.
"Stop a moment," she said. "Come over and sit down. Nabiki is visiting."
"Yeah," Ranma said quietly. "All right, I'm coming."
That was when the knock on the door came.
"I'll get it," Belldandy called out as Ranma sighed and walked over to sit in Urd's lap and watch the TV.
"You two are getting cozy," Nabiki noted with only a hint of sarcasm.
Ranma turned toward her with a retort on her face, but saw the teasing smile that marked Nabiki's face and knew the other girl was teasing mostly. She hmphed in a way most feminine and settled herself more comfortably in Urd's lap.
"Cozy is the best," Urd agreed, encircling her arms around Ranma and kissing the hollow of her neck. Ranma giggled slightly at that, but pulled herself together to make a mock complaint.
"Fine encourage her," she said, not indicating whether she was admonishing Nabiki or Urd.
"Ranma," Belldandy said hesitantly. "You have a visitor." Urd looked over and saw Officer Ken Nakamura and frowned.
"What's a homicide detective doing here?" Urd asked, she noticed Nabiki paling.
"It seems," Belldandy said. "That Ranma's father has been poisoned."
"And where is Saotome-san," Ken asked, looking around.
"That's me," Ranma said quietly. "Sorry about this..."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Tue, 24 Dec 2002 15:30)
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