Hanza stared, slightly shocked.
Jane wondered what the big deal was.
Six had simply said, "Oooo! So cute!" before getting smacked on the back of the head by Jane for thinking anyone but Faunty was cute. Not that she couldn't see the appeal, she just owed Faunty so much as it was, some loyalty wasn't so much to ask for.
Tanya ignored them, as she had already seen this before.
Ranma wondered why everyone was staring at him. "Something wrong?" he checked to make sure nothing inappropriate was showing, failing to find anything he decided to simply ignore the staring as best he could. He had turned into human form once or twice only to find his pants had fallen around his ankles for being too big, but this didn't seem to be the case.
"You.. your a child!?" G'nolga all but shouted.
"Child?" Ranma blinked, giving G'nolga the lazy eye, "You don't look anything over twenty toots. Who are you to call me a child?"
While G'nolga didn't look old by any stretch of imagination, this was due to the lifespan of her race, the Dwarves, which typically ran two hundred to three hundred years. She herself was only a few years over her first century mark. She still looked about twenty five to thirty years old by human standards.
"How old are you anyway?" Hanza interrupted, eyeing the smilodon-turned cute boy. "I did not just think he looked cute did I?" she screamed mentally, and reaffirmed to look at Rook's porno more throughly when she got the chance. She liked girls! She liked girls! She was really a man cursed to forever remain in a woman's body, but she still liked girls! (No, she wasn't cursed, but she seemed to equate drinking that potion with being a curse).
Ranma shrugged uncomfortably as the group walked towards Rook's castle. There had been some debate about whether or not we should just fly up there, but Hanza had said Rook would more likely shoot the dragon down then let it land anywhere near him. Not that he couldn't blame the guy, he supposed. It can't be an every day occurence for a dragon carrying a bunch of people to arrive on your door step. "Seventeen I think. Maybe eighteen. Been so long since I thought about that I just don't know no more."
Six gave the boy a comforting pat on the back, "Wanna talk about it?"
Jane, G'nolga, and Tanya sweatdropped and stared at the woman. Who would have thought she could be empathic enough for that? Hell, all they thought she was good for was whining!
Ranma shrugged, "Whats there to talk about?"
Tanya snorted, "Well, aside from Mrs. Airhead here and Jane, we really don't know all that much about you, Ranma. Aside from the fact your a smilodon, and you hate the Armsmaster."
Six scowled, which came out as a cute pout, "HEY!" but she was ignored by everyone.
"G'nolga and her relationship with Julia Diggers." Tanya explained, missing the twitch in G'nolga's eye when she said 'relationship'. "Me and my hate for the bitch who stole my man. Hanza.. eerm.. well.."
G'nolga growled, as the Ninja mercenary didn't look to answer Tanya's subtle questions. "She has her reasons, trust me on that."
"Right. We can at least trust each other as far as the Diggers are concerned." Tanya drawled, poking Ranma in the back, "But aside from your promises to help us, and your self-proclaimed hate for the Armsmaster, we really don't know what motivates you."
"You wanna know what motivates me?" Ranma blinked, giving the shorter Kryn woman a glance. "Eer.. ahh..." Beating up the Weapon masters and the Armsmaster wasn't his real motivation, that was just a desire really. What really motivated him was...
"Do you even know, boy?" G'nolga shot out.
"Of course I do! You tryin to imply I don't?" Ranma seethed.
"Answer the question if you do!" G'nolga gave the boy a lazy glare, "What? Not man enough?"
Ranma growled, "What do you know you Uncute tomboy!" he all but shouted, then stopped and covered his mouth with a look of shocked wonder on his face.
"Pfeh.." G'nolga shrugged. She didn't know what a tomboy was, but the Uncute comment didn't go unnoticed. She wasn't a vain person by any stretch of the imagination, and she knew an insult when she heard one. "But it didn't sound like an insult coming from him." she thought idly.
"Ranma?" Jane poked the guy, "What's wrong with you?"
Hanza snickered, though said nothing. Anyone who dared called G'nolga names to her face was worty of some type of respect, espicially if they got away with it.
Tanya looked at Ranma, then looked at G'nolga, then looked at Ranma, then looked at G'nolga, then looked at Ranma. Nope, she didn't understand what the heck just happened.
"Nothin." Ranma snapped, looking away from the group and picking up the pace. "Look, I just got things on my mind. I'll tell you guys all about me once I work some things out."
The women spared each other a glance, then shrugged and followed after the boy.
***
He couldn't believe it. It was too perfect! Who could have thought Saotome could have pulled something like this off, and with out so much as adding a pimple to his plans? Heck, the boy helped move his plan along.
It was scarey. As long as he has known the boy, he never seemed to help him, whether by choice or inadvertantly, no matter what he did.
Oh, this was perfect. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to laugh loudly.
But the mind of this body was still awake. He would have to wait until later, but it was time to lay some more seeds of despair.
***
Trisha and Sylvia had seen better days. They had been re-chained, thankfully the silver shackles had been replaced by dwarven made ones. It wouldn't allowed Trisha to transform, but at least she wasn't in constant pain anymore. At least they were now chained to the floor.
Sylvia cried, curled up in a fetal position.
Trisha shifted closed to the girl, hugging her close. It had so far been a terrible ordeal, but Sylvia had kept up a strong front whenever their tormentor would return. "Shhhh, Sylvia. I'm here for you." she hugged the elf girl tightly.
"It hurts.." Sylvia whimpered. "Everytime... the hands.. touching." she shivered horribly, clutching large amounts of fur as her tears began anew.
Trisha knew what Sylvia was talking about, she had been forced to watch, but the effect it was having on Sylvia went beyond the norm.
All their tormentor had done was...
***
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(Posted Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:45)
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