"Pillars?" Ranma asked curiously.
"Yes, Pillars," Washuu replied, as if that explained it all.
Ranma frowned slightly, his brow furrowing. Something about that term sounded familiar, its awareness hovering at the very edges of his consciousness, flitting about like some half-waking dream.
Where had he heard that before?
"The Pillars," Washuu continued, interrupting his reverie, "are the source of this world, the fragments of the idealized broken soul which sustains and supports the lifebreath of this reality."
"Er...broken soul?" Ranma asked tentatively. This was the same woman who had just talked about the destruction of half of reality in a manner that one would usually reserve for talking about the weather.
"Yes," Washuu nodded, overlooking Ranma's growing apprehension, "A divine soul, embodying all 17 aspects of the human spirit, split during the Crash into its component elements: Arrogance, Compassion, Desire, Devotion, Faith, Frailty, Freedom, Honor, Hope, Imagination, Innocence, Judgement, Pride, Strength, Will, Wisdom, and Wonder. The Pillars are the people who embody that power, the ones whose bodies house a fragment of that shattered soul."
"So they're demigods?" Ranma asked suspiciously. He hadn't had very good experiences with demigods in the past.
"Yes and no," Washuu wishwashed, "They house a divine soul and often exhibit abilities granted to them by their host fragment, but they're not in and of themselves, divine. Their true purpose is to act as the foundations of this world, supporting and sustaining it. Their mere presence helps keeping this reality stable. Remove the Pillars, and the entire foundation collapses."
"So they're woven into the grain?" Nabiki inquired, cocking one eyebrow.
"That's one way of looking at it," Washuu admitted, "but it's not entirely accurate. Some of them go against it, after all. It's more that they're...necessary. More like harbingers, really. Their very existence serves to shape the world around them."
"So they're sort of like rocks in a river, then?" Ranma asked in a moment of rare insight. "Ya' know, changing the river's flow while still being a part of it?"
Washuu nodded, "That's a very apt analogy, but let's expound upon it. What would happen if one were to remove those rocks?"
"Then the river, wouldn't be the river any more," Ranma realized, "the flow would have changed."
"Exactly," Washuu approved, smirking slightly at her new student. It was gratifying to know that the greatest scientific genius in the Universe hadn't lost her knack for teaching over the years, after all. "I, for one, have no desire to experience another Time Crash. Do you?"
Ranma shook his head.
"That's why the Pillars are so important," Washuu smiled, "They're basically our safe guard from having to deal with that problem again. Not that they don't create enough problems by themselves," she muttered, her smile changing into a sharp frown.
"Problems?" Nabiki asked, cocking her other eyebrow in lieu of the first.
"Like I said before, the Pillars don't just sustain this reality, they also help to shape it. Of course, since they each embody a different aspect of the original soul, the manner in which each shapes the world around them differs. Some merely alter the course of events, while others bend the very laws of the physical world around them. I've heard that there's even one that can fold space around himself."
"I can see how that could be a liability," Nabiki put in dryly.
Washuu nodded, "Most of them affect the world without even realizing that they're doing it. I believe, no, I'm absolutely sure that some of them don't even realize that they're Pillars. Only a few of the predicted seventeen have been found, after all. If the others are out there, they're keeping a low profile."
"The nail that sticks out..." Nabiki began.
"...gets pounded down," Washuu finished, favoring the middle Tendo sister with a weak smile. "I doubt very much that all of them have the power to defend themselves. All it would take would be one madman with a weapon to trigger another Time Crash. Not a very appropriate fate for defenders of the human condition, wouldn't you say?" Washuu smirked slightly, a smug smile playing about her lips, "Not that all of us are human."
Everybody stared.
"What?" Washuu grumbled irritably, taking in the shocked look on the Masaki's assembled guests, "It's not that big of a surprise, is it? It's not like I don't stick out. I mean, how many cute little redheaded shapechangers do you know?"
The former Nerima residents sweatdropped.
"Oh. Right." Washuu replied blandly, casting a level look at Ranma, "Well it's true. I'm not human. Of course, I'm not a Pillar either."
"But you just said-" Ranma interrupted.
"No," Washuu cut him off, waving her finger in a threatening manner, "I said that not all of us were human. I never actually said that I was a Pillar. You made that assumption on your own."
Ranma groaned. He had the beginnings of what felt to be a world-class migraine forming. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that Akane had malleted him again.
"Don't be rude," Akane chided from her position behind Ranma, extracting her mallet from her fiance's head, "It's not nice."
"Weren't you just in the kitchen?" Ranma grumped, ruefully rubbing the growing lump on his head, and shifting his gaze between his erstwhile fiancee and the self-identified alien sitting across the table from him. His eyes widened as he realized what he had just said, "On second thought, never mind."
"Auntie kicked me out," Akane grumbled, missing the slip, "I don't know why."
"You changed the recipe again?" Ranma smirked, unconsciously tempting fate.
"Just a little," Akane admitted, slumping down to a sitting position next to him, "I just don't understand it. That Mizo soup shouldn't have attacked Sasami the way it did. I didn't put anything that unusual in there," Akane sighed, "She's alright though. My cake fought it off before it could hurt her."
Ranma whispered a quiet prayer to the twin angels of supper and mercy, then yelped as the escaped cake bit him on the ankle.
"Hmm," Washuu hummed, scooping up the furiously snarling cake and looking it over with a critical eye, "Interesting composition, fluctuating chemistry...sentient? Hmm. Alright, into the lab you go," she cackled, negligently flipping the offending cake into a subspace portal.
Ranma just rubbed his leg and wondered where he could get one of those.
"Ahem," Nabiki interrupted, clearing her throat and glaring at the author, "I think we're getting a little far afield here."
"Yeah," Ranma broke in, "what's all this have to do with me?"
"Let's find out," Washuu said, smiling mysteriously. "Ranma, I want you to close your eyes. We're going to try a little experiment."
Ranma stared at her for a second, but then shrugged, obediently closing his eyes.
"Now what? You're not goin' to stick me with that needle again, are ya?"
"Of course not," Washuu replied indignantly, stashing said needle behind her back and returning to her side of the table, "Now, I want you to focus. Extend your senses and try to feel the world around you. Try to feel everyone's presence."
"Yeah, yeah, aura detection, is that all?" Ranma grumbled irritably. While meditation wasn't exactly a prime tenant of Anything Goes Martial Arts, or even something that was encouraged for that matter, simple focusing exercises were something that Ranma had been doing since he could walk. He could more or less do them in his sleep, as his past midnight fights with Ryouga could attest to.
"Got it?" Washuu asked raising an eyebrow, but not commenting further.
"Yeah," Ranma snapped irritably, "Now what?"
"Tell me what you see," Washuu said simply.
Ranma rolled his eyes, which was an impressive feat in itself considering that they were closed at the moment. "Alright," he grumbled, turning his head and looking around the room, "I see you and Akane, and that's Nabiki and Pops over there," Ranma stated, waving his finger around blindly in the air and pointing to each named person with unerring accuracy. "And there's Mr. Tendo and Mr. Masaki out on the porch over there," he gestured, pointing out the open door, "and Mom and Kasumi an' Ukyo an' Mousse and Shampoo an' the Ol' Ghoul are all in the kitchen, and-" Ranma trailed off, a slight frown creasing his features.
"Yes?" Washuu pressed, smiling expectantly.
Ranma frowned again. "I don't know...I'm getting some kind of weird void over there. It's like there's something that's dampening all the ki around it. It's kinda like when someone hides their aura, but...emptier," Ranma muttered, his face screwing up into a confused expression.
"Er...just ignore that," Washuu quickly amended, gently directing Ranma's questing finger away from Mihoshi, "Just tell me what else you see."
"What else? Um...just a couple of other signatures over there on the couch, and...whoa..." Ranma trailed off.
"What the!?"
"That's it!" Washuu cackled excitedly, capering around the table like some sort of rabid chipmunk. Or for that matter, Akane's cake. "I knew it! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Washuu exclaimed gleefully, continuing her frenetic dancing.
"Um...can I open my eyes now?" Ranma asked, a little unnerved.
"Oh!" Washuu suddenly stopped, "Yes, of course, sorry about that," she quickly amended, having the good grace to look embarassed.
Ranma's eyes immediately flew open and traced the path down along his arm and out past his finger to where he was pointing directly at....Tenchi.
The once-but-no-longer-future prince was staring back at him with an expression that was akin to a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.
"Do you see now?" Washuu chuckled, taking in her daughter's love interest's expression with a barely suppressed mirth.
"Yeah..." Ranma trailed off, shaking his head and turning to address Tenchi, "What...what are you?"
"What are you talking about, boy?" Genma-Panda signed, growfing slightly. The elder Saotome had closed his eyes and was now focusing in on Tenchi's aura, a slightly disgusted expression filling his face, "He's barely above normal!".
"You might be wrong about that, Mr. Saotome," Washuu replied with a small smirk, "but you're not quite seeing what your son's seeing. Frankly, I'd be more worried if you were."
"What are you talking about, little girl?" Genma signed, opening his eyes and glaring at Washuu with a furious expression, a low growl rising in his throat.
Washuu promptly reopened her portal and sicked Akane's cake on him.
"What I mean," Washuu drawled, watching the furiously fighting martial artist with an amused expression, "Is that no one but Ranma should be able to see what Ranma's seeing. Except Tenchi, perhaps. Tell me Tenchi, what do you see when you look at Ranma?"
Tenchi shot Washuu a bewildered expression, but quickly recovered, closing his eyes and focusing in on Ranma, an intent expression crossing his face. "He's....glowing," he replied after some time. "I don't know how to express it any better than that."
Washuu nodded as Ranma adopted a confused expression, closing his eyes and refocusing in on Tenchi, "Wait...I'm glowing? No, you're the one who's glowing!"
"Neither of you are glowing from what I can see," Akane grumbled irritably.
Ranma carefully bit back his oncoming comment regarding uncute tomboys and martial arts posers.
"You're both glowing," Washuu interrupted, silencing any further protests, "but no one else can see it. Only the two of you can."
"Washuu, is he...?" Tenchi asked suddenly, opening his eyes and trailing off hesitantly.
Washuu nodded.
"Am I what?" Ranma asked suspiciously, opening his eyes just in time to catch Washuu's nod.
"You're a Pillar, Ranma," Washuu replied with a gentle smile.
"WHAT?!" Ranma screamed.
"As is Tenchi," Washuu continued unconcernedly, "that's why the two of you perceived each other as glowing. That's also why no one else could see the glow. It takes a Pillar to find a Pillar....or at least an extremely sophisticated supercomputer, at any rate," Washuu said with a smirk.
"But-" a wild-eyed Ranma yelped, a trapped expression crossing his features.
"So..." Nabiki drawled, a wide smirk plastered across her face, "Our Ranma's a harbinger of reality, eh? Yeesh. When you do something, you sure don't do it small, Saotome."
"But-" Ranma protested weakly.
"Dinner's ready!" a melodious voice chimed from the kitchen.
"But-" Ranma repeated, too dazed to even fight back as Genma launched him across the room and usurped his place at the dining room table.
"I'll have to run some more tests to figure out just which Pillar you are, later on," Washuu continued, shooting Genma a rueful expression and emitting a regretful sigh as she noticed the few remaining crumbs of the cake-based lifeform lining Genma's mouth. "But I suppose it can wait until after dinner, at any rate."
"But-" Ranma wailed from his position inside the Masaki's family room wall.
That night....
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(Posted Mon, 17 Feb 2003 21:08)
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