"Now we have taken some homeless children in," Ranko said. "What we still need for our household would be a few eccentrics... they would also fit into this household, don't you think?"
"What's an 'eccentric'?" Muzusa asked as she looked up from her cards. They were just sitting in the kitchen and playing Go Fish.
"That's a person that doesn't quite fit into the normal human society," Kasumoo spoke up. "Someone that's somehow... different from others." She looked at her cards. "Ranko, got any twos?"
"Go Fish!" Ranko exclaimed.
"Then I'm no eccentric," Muzusa shrugged. "Everyone loves dogs, right?"
Ranko and Muzusa looked at each other and decided not to say anything.
ChibiChibi looked up at them and laughed. "Chibi chibi, go fish!"
----
The next day, Ranko met such a person that had just come into town. Or rather, a penguin.
This penguin was called 'PenPen'.
He has been homeless for some time now, since his former mistress stopped drinking. He couldn't bear the thought of living without his beloved beer, and so he bailed.
Ever since, he was walking throughout the country, ringing at people's doors to see if they had a place to stay. And if the house's residents opened, he would waddle in, searching all over the place if there was any beer inside. And he would stuck his beak into every place.
"What an annoying bird!" the people would say and chased PenPen out of the house.
PenPen was already used to that. He would never understand human behavior.
This time, he had reached the town in which Ranko and her friends were living. And, as usual, a big mob of angry people was running after him.
Ranko was just coming home from work, when the penguin suddenly ran into her. When she saw the mob of people approaching, she stepped in front of the seemingly defenseless penguin.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" she shouted. "All against one? That's hardly fair!"
The people would like very much to simply take that penguin to the zoo, so the trouble would end, but no one looked like he was willing to take on an angry tiger-girl with sharp claws. So they simply muttered to themselves angrily and went back home.
Ranko felt pity for the homeless penguin, so she took him home, where he liked it. They also found out very quickly what his drinking preferences were.
"Almost like Nabatty," Muzusa grinned. "Lucky thing we are used to that."
And so PenPen stayed. To thank Ranko and her friends, he agreed to act as their doorman. Every time they got a visitor, PenPen would open the door and welcome the guest with a friendly wark. And then, he would help them take off their coats or hats.
----
Some time after that, the next eccentric came into town. Well, at least other people would call her an eccentric.
It was a young girl with black hair and strange markings on her forehead. She was an inventor, also looking for a home. Her name was Skuld.
She also was a goddess.
Kasumoo met her when one day, she walked to the market to buy some things, when she saw a big crowd on the marketplace.
She curiously took a look and saw that girl standing in the middle of the crowd, presenting her newest invention... a portable sock-making machine.
"It's easy, see?" she told the crowd. "Now everyone can make his own socks. You only have to put the right ingredients in here and press that button... and ta-dah! You have your new socks!"
The people laughed. They thought it was a joke, so they did not really take her seriously. Instead, they believed she was putting up a show.
After the other people had left, Kasumoo saw how the distressed girl sat down on a bench. She walked over to her and sat down next to her.
"No one ever takes my inventions seriously," Skuld whined. "Even though I'm taking so much trouble every time I'm constructing one."
"I think this device looks pretty useful," Kasumoo smiled reassuringly. "We could need something like this in our house."
"Thanks, you're very nice," Skuld sniffed. "You know, ever since my big sister and her boyfriend married, I wanted to start anew as well. I had always lived with them, but now I want to live my own life. I had a previous job, but I wanna do something new, you know?"
"Oh my!" Kasumoo said. "I think I see your problem... Well, you would need to find a nice place to live if you're planning something like that."
"Yes, and that's exactly the problem," Skuld nodded. "It would have to be a place with some sort of workshop, where I could build my inventions... and it should also be a place where I wouldn't be a bother to anyone."
Kasumoo smiled. "You know, I think I might just have the right thing for you."
And then, Skuld followed the nice cow-girl to the Cat House. And there really was an old workshop there, down in the cellar. That's where Yamaki's grandfather had once made his felt slippers. And the cellar was big, a nice place for any inventor to work at. And Skuld didn't even mind to sleep down here. They just had to carry a small folding bed down into the cellar.
----
But the strangest of the newcomers to the Cat House was the girl that was arriving a few days later. Or rather, a few nights.
In the middle of the night, Ranko suddenly woke up. She heard something. She looked over to the bed in which Kasumoo was sleeping in. The cow-girl was also wide awake.
"Oh dear..." she whispered. "Did you hear that, too?"
Ranko nodded. "Yeah... sounded like footsteps." She looked up at the ceiling. "Did they come from the second floor?"
"What's wrong?" Tomoyo asked sleepily as she raised her head from her pillow.
"Nothing, sweetie!" Ranko said. "We'll take care of it."
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door. Then the door opened and Muzusa looked into the room.
"Did you hear those noises as well?" she asked. "I bet that's a ghost!"
That statement was enough to make Tomoyo cry. ChibiChibi and Totodile woke up as well and joined the chorus.
"Now, calm down, everyone!" Ranko said firmly. "Kasumoo, you stay here and watch over the children, while Muzusa and I go up there and see what it is."
While they were walking up the stairs, Muzusa shivered. "You don't think we should wake Skuld and ask her to build a ghost-trapping device?"
"I don't really think this is a ghost," Ranko said.
When they stood in the middle of the second floor's hallway, they heard some rustling coming out of one of the rooms.
Ranko opened the door and switched the light on... but there was no one there. Well, if you don't count the many shoe boxes.
Muzusa gestured at a shoe box lying in front of the old wardrobe that was standing in the corner of the room. It was open... and the slippers were gone.
"You don't think..." Ranko whispered. "In the wardrobe?"
Muzusa nodded, and on tiptoes, they walked over to the old piece of furniture.
Ranko carefully opened the wardrobe's door a bit.
"Do you mind?" an annoyed voice asked from the inside. "That light stings in my eyes!"
"Oops, sorry about that!" Ranko said and quickly closed the door. "Um, don't you like the light?"
"Well, I guess I'm just not used to it," the muffled voice said from within the wardrobe. "It's not too bright where I come from, so I normally walk around in the night... could you please switch it off?"
"Sure!" Ranko nodded. "Muzusa..."
The dog-girl nodded and quickly switched off the ceiling lamp.
With a sigh, the girl that had been hiding within the wardrobe stepped out. "That's better," she said. "Sorry if I woke you or anything."
She then noticed the stares the two animal-girls were giving her. "What? Never seen a succubus before?"
Ranko tried very hard not to stare at the red-colored wings coming from the girl's back, or at the smaller winglets at her head. "Um, no, can't say I have... Um, who are you?"
"Call me Lilith," the spunky succubus said. "And I've searching through hour house because I'm looking for a place to stay. I'm afraid there's not much place up here... I mean, it's a very nice collection of felt slippers, sure, but I have a big collection of my own, and that complicates things."
"Sure, I understand!" Ranko nodded. "Um, how about you take a look at our living room, downstairs? I mean, we are always sitting in the kitchen after all. If you want, you can sleep in there."
And so the young succubus followed them down into the living room. It was dark and gloomy in there, just as she liked it. And if she would close the curtains, almost no light would come in at daylight.
"And you could always store your collection in the drawers of the old bureau over there," Ranko pointed out. "So, what do you say?"
Lilith nodded. "I like it! Okay, you convinced me: I'm staying!"
"Um, if you don't mind the question: Just what are you collecting?" Muzusa asked in a small voice.
The succubus grinned. "Souls of men!"
Muzusa gulped. "Ah, okay..."
"Where is the ghost?" Tomoyo asked in a frightened voice as Ranko and Muzusa came back into the bedroom. "Is it gone?"
"No, it moved in," Muzusa sighed. "It's living in our living room now..."
----
"So, you don't think that the house is full enough?" Muzusa asked the next morning.
"Well, I'm thinking about taking just one additional person in," Ranko grinned. "Then we have an even number."
"I just wonder who that tenth person is going to be..." Muzusa mumbled. "Kasumoo, it's your turn!"
"Um, got any fives?"
"Go fish!"
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(Posted Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:09)
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