"Observant, and easier on the eyes than Goldteeth," said a smooth male voice.
"What's next?" asked Setsuna as she looked skyward. "So help me, if the Ghost Of Christmas Past shows up..."
"Well, I am a ghost, sort of kind of," said a fox. "In a manner of speaking."
"I'm not an expert on Norse mythology," admitted Setsuna. "Though with a god of thunder running support duties, I have read up on them."
"Don't believe everything you read," said the fox.
"Yet I can't discount everything I read either," pointed out Setsuna. "You're remarkably together compared to certain others."
"There's a couple of reasons for that," said the fox agreeably.
"Which are?" asked Setsuna, sitting down and crossing her legs as apparently the fox was NOT in a combative mood.
"Look, the crazy girl took my totem," said Loki, "but she's broke inside. She's crazy. Take it from me, I've had to deal with berserkers, gold-crazed dwarves, vindictive Aesir, French poets, and yoma-possessed jotunkin. I know crazy."
Setsuna pursed her lips, considering briefly. "'French poets'?"
"A very Baudy-lair sort of group," confided Loki. "They'll be the Brunin of you if you let them."
"Rk," winced Setsuna. "No puns."
"Aw, you're no pun," complained Loki.
"Explanations," insisted Setsuna.
The little fox sighed. "Okay, okay. Her mind isn't simply deranged. I could work with that. It's actually broke. There's something wrong with the neurochemistry. Otherwise I'd have just settled into the background and given her shapeshifting skills."
"Shapeshifting?" asked Setsuna, seeing all sorts of uses for that.
"I'm the god of fire, and the shape of fire is very prone to change," stated Loki. "Sigyn should get a chance by the way. She's hearths, the stable and loyal one, the one that keeps fire under control. If you're interested in riding herd on me. That's one thing that drunken lout Snorri got right."
"So why did your one-eyed father look like a pale ghost compared to you?" asked Setsuna.
"Oh, I'm more stable than most of them because I actually planned for this eventuality," said Loki. "Helblindi is the only other one that did much planning. Oh, and he's my brother, not my father. Snorri screwed up a lot of details."
"So that's all, you saved up the power to last a bit longer?" asked Setsuna.
"No, Odin's faded out so much because he's bequeathed a lot of power to his heir," said Loki.
"His heir? Baldur then?" asked Setsuna.
"No, not at all, Baldr had a few issues that Snorri missed," said Loki.
"Vidarr then?" asked Setsuna.
"You're doing this on purpose?" asked Loki.
"Thor?" asked Setsuna, raising an eyebrow. "He certainly doesn't show greater power than you'd expect from the legendary figure."
"Where's his belt of might, his gauntlets of strength?" asked Loki. "He doesn't have those. Yet. He's using Mjollnir without them. In any case, I'll just be fading along now. I've about used up what little power I could hoard away. Just get this girl some medication, would you?"
Setsuna pondered this as the fox and the sense of presence of same faded out.
More to think about, as if she didn't have enough on that particular plate as it was.
Ami grumbled to herself as she fed twigs into the fire to get it going again for breakfast, careful not to grumble TOO loud anywhere near the others.
She'd always envied Ranma his ability to appear confident and open in public. He had a distinct lack of shyness. Mind you, she'd often thought he could use some shyness - particularly when his mouth went off and said something that would bring trouble to his doorstep.
He'd always had a reputation for being completely straightforward but he'd also had a reputation as someone you didn't want to cross. That "right hand of god" punch of his - though that was a complete exaggeration by school gossips - had been demonstrated enough to cow the average bully. On the other hand, that deserved reputation for being a martial arts prodigy and general 'rough guy with a gold heart' had also gotten him into a few fights that had been downright dangerous.
Now though, here he was, bringing lots of other people into HER fights.
"Damn martial artists and their pride," said Ami, throwing another stick into the fire.
"Damn martial artists and their pride," grumbled Ami from a few yards away, the comment carrying quite clearly.
Usagi sighed and glanced over at Makoto, whose face had gone stony. Again.
"Ugh," said Rei, facepalming.
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:31)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.