The Bet- Ah, Megumi-sama
Rock supplied by Anon E Mouse
Pond supplied by Kosuke Fujishima
Coffee supplied by Gloria Jean's
-----------------------
	"Small changes snowballing." The goddess flung back
a strand of hair. "Used to prop up a fading timeline and then the
winner of this Bet sees the timeline of their choice stabilized."

	"That's it," agreed Toltiir, god of mischief.

	"So just a little tiny change may have far-reaching 
consequence." Bast purred as she looked over. "Tsk. Everyone is
either concerned with a sexchanging martial artist or a bunch of
superpowered schoolgirls. What about...this!"

	"Hmmm." The little black cat that was Toltiir examined
the scrying pool. "Y'know, I don't think I've seen that one before..."
--------------------------
	Megumi stared at her brother's bike as he went
driving off without a second look.

	"Oh, hello there." 

	Megumi turned to face the girl in the doorway to
the house. "Uhm. Hello. Is this where my brother, Keiichi is
staying?" Nah, it couldn't be. Kei with a girl? And a babe at
that? Never happen.

	"Why, yes, it is. So you're his sister?" Belldandy
bowed, she thought she had the local customs down. She'd
have to review the file on Japanese families. "I'm sorry, you
just missed him. He left his wallet accidently at the store, you
see. Please come in, he should be back shortly."

	Megumi grinned. She'd just about given up on
her brother ever attracting anyone. And here he was with
some gaijin girl. "Way to go, Keichi..."

	"I beg your pardon?" Belldandy wasn't mindreading,
after all, Megumi wasn't her client.

	"Oh nothing," Megumi picked her bags up again and
followed the woman in. "Oh, my name is Megumi. Megumi
Morisato." She glanced around the foyer. Nice, clean, simple.

	"Ah. My name is Belldandy," she smiled and extended
her hand for Megumi to shake in a Western fashion.

	"Glad to meet you, Belldandy." Megumi smiled,
there was something just so overwhelmingly NICE about this
girl. "Just moving in, huh? Wow. So you and my brother get 
along well, do you?"

	"Oh yes," Belldandy nodded. "Would you like
some tea? We just got this in?"

	"Hmmm. I see your gas hookups haven't been
made yet. So how long have you known my brother?"

	Belldandy hesitated. "Uhm. That question is
actually a little complicated." Belldandy tapped the stove
and a bright blue flame sprang up. The question had 
caught her off guard and she had gotten a little nervous.

	Megumi stood up from checking the gas 
connections and stopped. "Uhm, this isn't electric. The
gas isn't hooked up. How are you doing that?"

	Belldandy blinked. "Oh, just magic. Why?"

	Megumi started inspecting the circle of flame.
It was just sitting in midair inside the burner on the
stove. It was quite hot, she could feel the heat coming
off of it when she tried to find how the thing was 
burning without fuel. "Magic doesn't exist..." She
didn't sound too sure of herself.

	Megumi thought for a moment. "A plasma
toroid? No apparent fuel. No apparent reason for it
to be there." Megumi turned her gaze to Belldandy.
Maybe she was an alien or an esper or something.
There had to be a rational explanation but what she
was observing was outside the framework of day-to-
day reality. Therefore, when confronted with something
that was clearly impossible, it was an indication that
there was something outside normality- ie consider 
the explanations that were NOT normally rational.

	"Are you an alien then? Esper? Witch?
Superhero?" Megumi frowned. What was it that
some SF writer had said? "Any technology 
sufficiently advanced enough would be 
indistinguishable from magic."

	"Are you all right, Megumi?" The
sincere concern in Belldandy's voice reached
Megumi.

	Sighing. "Okay, why don't you tell
me how you and my brother got together?"
--------------------------
	Keichi stopped his bike and shrugged
the kinks out of his shoulders.

	"NO WAY!"

	Keichi dropped his helmet. That had
come from within the house! What could Bell
have run into that SHE couldn't handle?

	Keichi rushed in, and finding no one
in the foyer, headed for the kitchen. He skidded
to a stop as he saw his sister and Belldandy 
sitting together and talking.

	"Keichi," Megumi said in a dangerous
tone. "We HAVE to talk."

	Keichi swallowed nervously. "Uh, yeah."
-------------------------------------
	"So we agree to keep this little secret?"
Megumi cautioned her brother and his... "Say,
Belldandy, what exactly is your relationship to my
brother."

	"Well, the wish was that I be his girlfriend
forever..."

	Megumi blinked. A goddess was blushing.
One of the reborn Norns, in fact. Today just seemed
to pile on unexpected developments. "Uh-huh."

	"Why ask, Megumi?"

	"Well, I was just thinking how good you
two look together," Megumi waited until Keichi was
taking a drink. "I just can't wait to meet the inlaws."

	<SPLLOOORRSSSHHHH!!>

	Belldandy's blush actually increased.
--------------------------------
	Where to go from here? Megumi knows
all about Belldandy, even before Urd shows up.
Keichi gets some mortal assistance in the secret
keeping dept.

	When Urd and Skuld show up, Megumi
is there and is fascinated by Skuld's mechanics. The
two settle into an odd rivalry with Megumi
supporting the Bell/K1 thing and Skuld opposing.

	When Marller shows up, Megumi is
targetted for the insanity but she understands what
is going on. When Yggdrasil crashes, she "tags
along" (remember the odd rivalry with Skuld) just
to see if she can lend a hand.

	Megumi meets a really nice guy in Asgard.
Now Megumi's in the same sort of mess her brother's
in. Subject to change without notice, but i thought
Fray (Frey) would be a cool choice...

	Then, as the saying goes, things get 
truly weird.

	Eventually there's the wedding of Belldandy
and Keichi. Demons (Marller in particular) want to crash
the party. Opposing them are various gods, goddesses, and
non-aligned supernatural beings (independent demons,
elemental spirits, cherry tree spirits, dragons, etc) that
have had affairs with mortals or are the result of such
unions. (Hercules immediately comes to mind.)

	After the wedding, things begin to settle down
for Bell and K1. Not so for Frey and Megumi, though a
number of mortals and "others" DID mix at the wedding.
The MiB run through, but end up cutting deals for the
"benefit of all concerned."

	And, just so I can have my little Ranma 
reference, Hercules accidently defeats Shampoo in
front of Cologne. (Well, she wanted a strong husband,ne?)
This happens during the wedding and the only other
thing we see of it is a running (literally) joke with Herc
being pursued by an amazon on a bicycle...
===================
maybe my tagline should be:
"And nOw foR sOmEtHiNg Completelee Diffyrent."

ja ne,
gregg