Chapter 4

A little while later, I was sitting in the temple with three goddesses, 
sipping tea.

Damn, that seems such a mundane way of stating what would have freaked 
me out completely a little while ago. In fact, I still wasn't at all 
sure I wasn't dreaming all this.
However, it didn't seem like a dream, it seemed far too real, too 
_focussed_ to be a dream. Besides, I didn't think my dreams allowed me 
to have girls as sexy as Urd in them...  

Anyway, I really only had three options on how to deal with this.

(1) This was a dream, in which case I may as well act as if its real, 
and enjoy it, it won't matter.

(2) I'm tucked up somewhere in a nice padded room, with a note telling 
them not to allow me any sharp objects. In which case, I may as well 
believe its real and enjoy it until they give me my next injection.

(3) This IS real, in which case I damn well better act as if it is, 
because something VERY odd is happening to me, and I have an awful 
suspicion I'm at ground zero of whatever it is.

So the sensible option was to take all this as if it were real, no 
matter how much difficulty I had persuading myself of that.

I sighed. At least I now had a plan (hah!) of action, lets see what the 
three Norns had to say.

I looked around at them, trying not to stare too much.

Urd I had seen out in the courtyard. Looking at her, I decided that the 
artists certainly didn't do her justice. It wasn't just that she was 
beautiful, all of them were, but she exuded an aura of sultry sexuality, 
apparently without even thinking, that even in these circumstances was 
getting me flustered. Her clothes didn't help; while she was wearing 
something reasonable for the bitterly cold weather, I found it difficult 
to understand how a girl could wear such warm, concealing clothing and 
still give the impression of being half-naked. I began to wonder what 
would it have been like if I'd appeared in the summer. Probably have 
died of massive nasal hemorrhaging, I suppose...
She was looking me over in return, her eyes narrowed slightly, fingers 
of one hand slowly tapping the back of the other, as she looked 
thoughtful.

I attempted an innocent smile back. I don't think it worked.

The girl I hadn't seen earlier had to be Belldandy. Slimmer than her 
elder sister, she seemed much calmer, more restrained. While Urd gave 
the impression of a banked fire about to burst into flame at any moment, 
Belldandy reminded me of a calm pool. At least she was dressed in 
ordinary clothes, I was already beginning to be envious of Keiichi...
Unlike Urd, at least she smiled when she looked at me, but although she 
wasn't nearly as obvious as her elder sister, I had the distinct feeling 
that I was being subject to a far more detailed scrutiny. The phrase 
`steel butterfly' came to mind in her respect.

Finally, Skuld. I guess the best way to describe her would be vibrant, 
she seemed to give the impression of active, boundless energy even when 
seated, wearing the red/white clothes I'd seen in the manga, a small 
mech chirrupping happily by her side as it respectfully held a tub of 
icecream, and a long hammer strapped to her back. 
She gazed at me in frank curiosity, her large eyes darting between me 
and a small device held in her hand, on which she constantly fiddled 
with some controls. Some sort of scanning device, I assumed. In between 
doing this, she took another heaped spoonful from the large (and already 
half-empty) ice-cream tub. 

I gulped, and sipped my tea while trying to decide what to say. I HAD to 
remember, these were real people, not characters in a manga. Whatever 
their personalities and reactions, they were bound to be far more than 
the 2-D cutouts I'd read about, and I dared not assume they would react 
the same way. Hopefully, the fact that what I'd seen so far did seem to 
correspond would mean they would act similarly, but I reminded myself 
again to be careful.
No clever attempts which assumes events would take place as in the 
manga, or that peoples reactions would be the same. Play it safe.
I sighed mentally. At least the Ah! Megamisama universe was pretty 
harmless (well, as long as you didn't join the Nekomi Tech Auto 
Club...). Now if it had been something like Ranma 1/2, or Bubblegum 
Crisis, I would have started worrying seriously.

Did you ever have days where `Famous Last Thoughts' about summed 
everything up?

Finally, the three looked at each other. After a moment of non-verbal 
communication, Belldandy turned to face me, having presumably being 
selected as their spokeswoman.

She spoke gently, her precise English overlaid with a soft Scandinavian 
accent.
"So, you say your name is David? And a little while ago you were at 
home, and suddenly appeared in our courtyard? And you have no idea how 
you got here, except that you claim we are fictional characters?"

I nodded to all her questions.

She frowned a little, looking at me keenly, her voice sharpening.

"So, you appear and drop out of a hyperdimensional portal right on top 
of us, surrounded by the thickest cloud of bugs any of us have seen for 
many years, with no warning or notification to us, and claim to have no 
idea how, and to be an innocent victim of some sort? And your world 
doesn't have the technology to do this?"

The calmness of her manner as she repeated her statements was deceptive,
masking an inner core of tension.
Despite her gentle voice, I could easily detect the layer of steel 
underneath her words. Gentle or not, I didn't want to annoy her, I 
didn't think I'd like the consequences...

I smiled weakly...
"That's all I know. One moment I'm at home, starting to watch this odd 
LD, and the next I'm on my back, looking up at Urd and Skuld. Everything 
between those events is a blank. I know it sounds stupid, but that's 
what happened!"

"And no, my world certainly doesn't have the capability to do this sort 
of thing! Only in films, or in fiction... although... we do have an 
awful lot of unexplained disappearances - but I'm sure they can be 
explained naturally"

Belldandy looked politely frustrated.
"I'm sorry, but under the circumstances I can't just take your word on 
that. We will have to find out if you are telling the truth. I'm sure 
you will understand..."

I looked at her, and gestured helplessly.
"Go ahead. Umm, it won't hurt, will it?"

She smiled reassuringly. 
"Oh, I don't think so. Urd is very accomplished with her spells."
Behind me, I heard someone make a noise surprisingly like a snicker 
would have been like if it hadn't been muffled by the maker eating a 
mouthful of ice-cream.

I looked back in disbelief, wondering if it would be safer to run now, 
and have them assume me guilty of something, than submit myself to Urd's 
magic. Accomplished, right! As in accomplishing disaster!

Still, it wasn't as if I had a lot of choice. I just had to trust them, 
I had a feeling that I wasn't going to get very far in an attempts to 
get home without their help, so I might as well give in graciously

Standing reluctantly, I turned to face Urd.
"Go on..."

She grinned, standing slowly and lazily...
"You know, this spell would be easier if you were naked..."

I blushed. 
Skuld turned bright red, and yelled at her sister!
"Urd, you hentai! Can't you keep your mind off  _that_ for a moment, 
even when things are serious!?"

Belldandy gave her sister a look.
"Please, Urd, not just now..."

Urd smiled, and shrugged in acceptance.
"Oh, OK. You aren't any fun, though."

Turning to look at me, she raised her arms, making graceful, flowing 
gestures as she swayed, chanting something in a faintly gutteral 
language I didn't recognise, but I assumed was something like her native 
tongue. Old Norse maybe.
Her chanting built up to a climax, and I braced myself, wondering 
absently what life on a lily-pad would be like if she'd gotten this 
wrong.
She gestured fiercely at me, releasing the spell in my direction. I felt 
_something_ wrap about me; I couldn't describe it, it sort of tickled, 
but that wasn't it. It was so unlike anything I'd felt, I just didn't 
have anything to properly compare it with.
As the feeling faded, I looked down at myself. Well, it could have been 
worse, I still looked like me. I was even still clothed, something I 
hadn't been quite sure about, given what Urd said earlier.

Belldandy and Skuld looked at Urd, the former expectantly, the latter 
with barely-concealed impatience.

"Well, Urd? When's it gonna kick in?"
Skuld was obviously not going to wait any longer.

Urd was looking at me, with a very puzzled expression on her face.
"But it DID! It just - didn't have much effect!"

She peered at me, closely, then gestured her sisters to join her.
"See, it DOES show his aura! But it's so faint..."

Skuld frowned, and whispered something to her small mech. It bounded 
away, drawing the curtains, making the room as dark as possible. As my 
eyes adjusted to the fainter illumination, I could just see a faint 
flickering glow standing out from my body, a mix of royal blue and gold.

Urd snorted, loudly, her finger poking at me.
"This is crazy! A HAMSTER has more of a magical aura than he does!!"

I wondered if I should feel insulted by this? Up till now, the presence 
or absence of a magical aura (whatever that was when it was at home) 
hadn't exactly worried me, but then they tend to be fairly irrelevant to 
software engineers. I was rather more annoyed about the hamster remark, 
though.

Belldandy moved her hand in front of my face, not quite touching me as 
she looked thoughtful, her eyes not really focussed on anything.
"Well, he's definitely not a demon, there aren't any hidden markings."

Urd snorted in derision.
"Of course he isn't a demon, I could have told you that! Demons have 
better dress sense than to turn up in old jeans and a t-shirt, 
especially in this weather."

I blinked, ignoring for the moment Urd's scathing comments on my
sartorial elegance.
"Excuse me? But what was all this supposed to show, and how could it 
help you tell if I was telling the truth about how I got here?"

Belldandy motioned the others to sit back, while she tried to explain it 
all to me.
"Well, as we said, all living beings have an aura. Urd's spell should 
have made yours clearly visible, and let us see more details in it, like 
whether you were a demon in disguise. And your aura changes when you 
lie, we would have been able to spot that easily too. But yours is so 
faint.. even enhanced, it's barely more than that of a normal persons!"

Skuld brightened visibly, almost bouncing up and down on her seat.
"Hey, oneesama! I can rig up a device to tell if he's lying! Easy! And 
much more reliable than Urd's spells..."

Urd scowled, but Belldandy nodded thoughtfully,
"I think you'd better, Skuld. And then we'd better investigate just why 
his aura is so strange as well. I can't believe all these things are 
coincidental. While you do that, I will see what information I can get 
off of the system"

I sat back, and sighed.
"So, how long will this all take?"

Skuld grinned, as she grabbed my hand, starting to drag me in the 
direction of her room.
"Not long, I've been waiting for an opportunity to try some of these 
things out."

Damn, I was afraid she was going to say something like that.

(to be continued)