It was, Morrigan decided, a case of truth being stranger than fiction.
And the fiction could get mind-bogglingly weird. Even cursory investigation of the ward of Nerima revealed a sizzling powder-keg of half-baked martial artists on parade at all times of day or night. Martial variants of professions and hobbies of every description were represented, curses and magic came and went like the tide. It was hardly alarming to her, of course. But this level of anarchy sustained by a handful of humans? Fun.
She might have let herself waste a week or two letting herself get swept up in the energy of the district, but sadly, she was here for business, not pleasure. She could always come back later, perhaps. But for now, she tried to restrain herself and remain unnoticed by her quarry. Within a day, she had earmarked several of the local girls as possibilities, and then she got down to some in-depth examination.
What she found was really most disappointing. Akane Tendo was cute enough, but not only was she susceptible to Morrigan's pheromones, her reaction had been confusion, spiraling rapidly into disgust and then anger. Her skills in combat left something to be desired as well. Not suitable for conversion.
Ukyo Kuonji had enough willpower and sense of self to shrug off the pheromones, but she was, in truth, only barely in the same league as Morrigan herself when it came to fighting power, which was at least an improvement on Miss Tendo. This would not be such an issue if she showed any real interest in improvement, but Miss Kuonji's time and effort was obviously devoted to her restaurant, with just enough study devoted to her family style to keep herself from backsliding. Makai was not in desperate need of cooks. Next contestant.
Xian Pu was completely unbothered by the pheromones and was higher on the scale of power than Miss Kuonji, which SHOULD have meant she'd be perfect. Shampoo practiced and grew not out of desire, however, but out of tradition. She was a warrior because that's what her Great-Grandmother had encouraged her to be, and while she sounded much less vapid when she spoke in her native tongue, she was no genius. What's more, she seemed determined to make up for this shortcoming with treachery. If she were GOOD at treachery, that might be something, but... Anyway, Chinese is fine, but not for every meal. NEXT!
Kodachi Kuno was talented in her own fashion, probably could have ignored enough pheromones to choke the life from an elephant, and was somewhat less bumbling in that most of HER circuitous schemes seemed to actually work, for a time at least. Kodachi being in line to rule a lemonade stand was stretching the credentials she possessed, however. Just look how her father ran his school! Morrigan was at least only occasionally negligent, not BAD at ruling.
"And that's it." Morrigan pouted to herself as she sat on the roof of Furinkan High. "Every worthwhile female in the ward, and none are worth the effort to even try and convince."
It was at that very moment that the school bell rang, letting the students out for the day. Morrigan gave the retreating students one last cursory glance, hoping that someone would catch her eye and her time in Nerima would prove to be more than an amusing bust.
"Boring... Boring... Already done 'it'... her too... boring..." "This is pointless." Morrigan grumbled to herself, standing and preparing to leave. "I guess there's no-one he..." Morrigan cut herself off as the sounds of combat reached her perch from down in the courtyard. "Who... is THAT?"
Leaping down to get a closer look, she saw that Miss Kunos' idiot brother was assaulting a very petite, redheaded girl who was, in turn, almost absently dodging his bokken with an annoyed look on her face.
'Oh,' Morrigan thought absently, watching Ranma-chan belt Mr. Kuno after he loudly proclaimed something she found particularly offensive, 'somehow I didn't expect Ranma Saotome's alternate form to be so... femme. Or virginal, considering the sheer NUMBER of...'
Morrigan knew about the curses of course. She had heard the rumors of them before ever entering Nerima itself, and she had gotten to see it in action often enough during her surveillance of Xian Pu. She had not realized, however, that the Jusenkyo Curse, was essentially the closest one could come to a complete change without unintended mental consequences(unless you fell in a mostly-mental-consequences spring) or without turning the cursed into actual magical creatures who happen to have the "ability" to uncontrollably change forms when exposed to liquid. When Ranma, or any of those who had a Jusenkyo Curse transformed, they were completely changed, as if a girl, or panda or pig or cat etc, had lived their life exactly as they had. The point being, Morrigan realized, that at the moment, this girl named Ranma Saotome was as much of a girl, physically, as any other girl in the district. And so, she could conceivably respond as any girl would to her succubus' kiss.
Ranma Saotome was (somewhat grudgingly) acknowledged as the best fighter in the district. Herb and Saffron were each on par or beyond many Darkstalkers in power, and if she could fight them NOW, as a human... Ranma never DID respond to Morrigan with anything other than vague discomfort, no confused arousal or lust. That didn't change with her introduction to the female-specific pheromones Morrigan was outputting either. The discomfort was kind of cute, actually... Ranma was no mental giant, to be frank. There MAY be potential there, but it lay untapped for now. It's just not what you have, but how you use it too, after all. But she could work with cute-but-dim if it came to that. Last, and most important, Ranma-chan smelled Great. Confidence, and determination, and the clean sweat of effort.
Watching as Ranma meandered out of sight on fence top, Morrigan smirked. It looked as though Nerima wasn't a waste after all. It wouldn't be easy to convince her, maybe, but where was the fun in easy?
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(Posted Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:38)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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