For a moment Lina was seriously tempted to see if she could find a resurrection spell so that she could kill the keeper that had summoned her once again. The moment passed though, and the fury drained out her leaving a rather pleasant numbness. The sorceress sighed once and began to walk away.
"I am going to review that spell again. To get such variance of summoned people it had to have been heavily revised." Lina frowned as an imp ran past her. "What are those things anyway, and why are they here now?"
"Those are imps." Ranma gave a small shrug. "Magical servants that I can make. I called 'em here cause we need ta loot this place as fast as possible and run."
"And what about MY dungeon heart?" Lina turned and frowned at Ranma and placing both hands on her hips. "You know the one that if it gets destroyed I DIE!?"
"That's easy." Ranma gave a small shrug. "Most dungeon heart stuff is instinctual, so I just gotta do this.." Ranma frowned and focused slightly.
The dungeon light's flicked once, and both Ranma and Lina winced as a half painful half strangely pleasant sensation rushed through them. Off to the side The Mentor gave a ghostly frown. The way things were going right now were not part of his plan. Maybe though, this newest addition might become a blessing instead of a hindrance.
"What in the world?" Lina frowned as she focused on the now very visible link to the dungeon heart. "I didn't realize that the thing had so many embedded spells.. Wait.." The girl blinked and looked at Ranma incredulously. "You MERGED our dungeon hearts?!"
Ranma shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea. When the library is finished back at my dungeon we can totally abandon this place."
"Of course you also gave Lina equal control over every part of your forces, and relinquished any hold over her life." The Mentor gave a ghostly sigh. "There is a reason that option is rarely used. Now you two are bound together in a way far more permanent than anything else in this world." He chuckled at the expression of the two keepers. Corrupting two for the price of one was going to be very interesting. "Congratulations, you are now married, keeper style."
There was a stunned silence as everyone present gawked at The Mentor. Finally Lina's eyebrow twitched and she clenched a hand at her side. Glaring at Ranma for a moment she turned around in a huff and began to walk away. "When your library is finished I will tell the imps to move the books here to there. If there is not a SEPARATE room available for me to rest when I move in you will be a greasy smear of ash on the wall." Lina growled as she continued to stalk away. "I do NOT want to see you until then!"
Ranma chuckled nervously as he watched the sorceress stalk away. Finally the young keeper sighed and slumped. "Not again."
"This happens often keeper?" The Mentor blinked at Ranma.
"More than I want to talk about." Ranma sighed and waved at Seras. "Keep an eye on her ok? Don't get toasted, but make sure that she doesn't get injured while I try to get things ready on my side." With that Ranma began to stalk away, muttering something under his breath. "Why is it always violent tomboys? This one can shoot fireballs too."
The vampire looked from Ranma to the still irritated sorceress with wide eyes. Then with the sigh of one damned Seras began to walk dejectedly after Lina.
The two walked through the halls until Lina slammed open the doorway to the library and sighed loudly. "Quit sulking and help." She frowned at Seras and turned to the books. "Yeah you bit me, but so long as you keep your fangs to yourself I won't freeze your head off again, deal?"
"Yes my lady." Seras bowed slightly, intimidated. "What can I do to help?"
"Can you read?" Lina looked at Seras with a small frown. She didn't correct the usage of the title. "If you can look for references to summoning spells on the shelves over there."
Seras nodded and moved towards the bookcase.
"Alright then." Ranma frowned slightly as he surveyed the inner sanctum. "Need a place for Seras, for Lina, for me, and for Skuld. Not that hard." With that Ranma shrugged and directed a few of his imps to modify the area a bit. "Library first, then we can have them finish off everything else."
Tilting his head Ranma focused on the only non-summoned creature in his dungeon. "What is she doing?" Skuld was in a dark corridor, alone. Frowning to himself Ranma wondered if he should have left the girl on her own. She clearly wasn't sane, but she didn't look like she would hurt herself.
It might be best to check on her anyway, just in case. With that thought Ranma walked through the corridors until he came to the softly humming girl.
Skuld had cleaned up nicely, dressed in a pair of Ranma's shirt and pants one could barely tell that she was still underfed. The strange markings on her face were clearly visible now, and a small amount of the madness that laid behind her eyes was gone. Really she was a beautiful young woman now, long luxurious black hair and clear fair skin. Really, once she got more weight Skuld would be something close to the most beautiful creature in the dungeon.
If she were sane that is.
"So what are you doing?" Ranma asked conversationally as he approached the girl.
"EEEP!" Skuld squeaked and dropped what she was holding, before she lunged forward and grabbed it, stuffing it under her shirt and looking at Ranma with wide eyes.
Ranma rolled his eyes good naturedly and sat down next to her, ignoring the way that she scooted away from him. Leaning against the wall, Ranma just smiled and leaned his head back, closing his eyes.
The young girl in front of fidgeted slightly and watched the keeper. Slowly, but surely she calmed down, and crawled next to Ranma, waiting for any sudden movement. Slowly and almost timidly she sat down next to him and took out the object from her shirt.
It was actually two things. Skulls.
Ranma opened his eyes and blinked at the bones incredulously. He wasn't sure he wanted to know where the things had come from. He grit his teeth and forced the reaction down though, Skuld was skittish enough, he didn't want to ruin what little progress he had made.
"Eldest sister." Skuld point to one skull, he voice scratchy from lack of use. "Big sister." She pointed to the other skull.
Ranma swallowed slightly. "I'm sorry Skuld."
"Want a fortune?" Skuld smiled at Ranma switching subjects rapidly, grabbing a lock of hair and twisting it slightly. "Eldest sister says that Master could use some advice."
"Umm. Yeah, sure." Ranma winced slightly as he looked at the skulls. The girl was worse than he thought.
Skuld nodded happily and squirmed around until she was right next to Ranma. Putting the skulls in front of her Skuld fished several bones out of her pocket and dropped them to the ground in front of the people. "Eldest sister says that the Queen is right. The lure was refastened several times. Look for the old keepers, they have the records."
Ranma snorted inaudibly. That told him nothing. That said, Skuld looked happy, so he would play along. "Anything else?"
"Big Sister has something to say too!" Skuld chirped happily. "But she says Master has to pay for it."
"Okayyy." Ranma sighed and shook his head. "What is it you want?"
Here Skuld looked around slyly and tilted her head as she grabbed a lock of hair and twisted it. Looking at Ranma adoringly she smiled slightly. "Kiss?"
Ranma sputtered.
"Kiss!" Skuld giggled and wrapped her arms around Ranma, pressing her lips to the young keeper far faster than he would have thought possible. Ranma fell backwards with Skuld on top of him, still liplocked. For a brief moment there was no sound, and then as fast as she had lunged forward Skuld let go and sat up.
Ranma blinked up at the ceiling, not sure whether to be aroused or appalled. Finally he sat up at the sound of the bones hitting the ground.
"Big sister says your enemies are there." Skuld pointed to the bones at the ground. "We are here." She placed a finger to the side of several bones. "The big bones are the hearts, and the little ones are the strong minions. They will hide for now, but hurry before they get stronger."
Ranma blinked at the arrangement. There were four big bones, and many little bones. He swallowed thickly, that actually looked plausible. Very plausible.
"You want to hear my fortune?" Skuld looked at the slightly flushed Ranma with a sly smile.
"Not if I have to pay for it." Ranma replied with a straight face.
Skuld giggled. "You will cherish Queen, Knight, and Oracle. You will be a lover, and a fighter, and you will die, and live." Here Skuld brushed back her hair. "Can I be your first?"
Ranma snorted audibly this time. "Not unless I can't see your ribs."
"I want a present!" Skuld clapped her hands together. "I get fatter, you give me present!"
Ranma chuckled slightly at the girl, more from the way that she worded the reply than anything else. "So what do you want?"
Skuld placed a finger on her lips in thought then nodded. "Clothes!"
"All right then." Ranma nodded and got to his feet. "Eat right, and I will make sure that you are properly clothed."
Skuld nodded in agreement, then seemed to loose interest. Reaching down she picked up the small bones and dropped them on the ground one by one, the skulls in front of her watching with their empty eyesockets.
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(Posted Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:37)
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