Inside, a brooding nobleman addressed a shadowed female figure,
who was only illuminated occasionally by lightning.
"You understand your instructions?"
"Perfectly, father. Eliminate the infant. Make sure I am
impregnated first. Then my descendent, the first-born, will claim
the imperial throne." The shadowed figure put the back of her
hand to her mouth as an eerie peal of laughter emerged.
O_O Mayhap one should point out the salient characteristics
of ancient
civilizations and *why* they tend to go belly-up after a while. ;)
But what fun would that be? Applying Ottoman or Roman politics
to Jurai is just so much fun!
Similar scenes were repeated elsewhere, with some exceptions.
"No! I won't do it!" The young girl hurried out of the room in
tears.
The wife turned to the other wife sternly. "This is all _YOUR_
fault for bringing her up so permissively. She has no head for
politics at all!"
Hmmm... A heretofore unknown sibling to Aeka and Sasami?
No, I'm just (take your pick) 1) polygamy is not restricted to the
royal family, or 2) same-sex marriage is legal.
This morning, in Tenchi's bedroom, Ryouko and Aeka woke
simultaneously and gazed lovingly at the individual their arms
were wrapped around. Said gaze quickly turned into a glare.
"YOU! Where's Tenchi?" They said simultaneously.
LOL! Predictable, but fun anyway. ^_^
Indeed. Half the fun of writing these is that the main characters'
reactions write themselves, even when you put them into new
situations.
Aeka and Ryouko quickly disengaged themselves from the other.
Turning their backs on each other, their eyes swept the room as
they each grabbed their clothes off the floor and put them on.
"This is all your fault, Ryouko-san, for coming up with such a
dumb plan. I should have known it would scare Tenchi-sama off."
Suggest [Aeka being properly trained and all ^)^ ]: ...it would scare
off Tenchi-sama."
Noted. Will change.
"Hey, it sounded good to both of us last night. Barge in here..."
"Rip each other's clothes off..." Aeka trailed off. "Um..."
"So you DO like me!" Ryouko was ecstatic.
"... Oh, no..."
Could have gone that way, I suppose, but wanted to use that joke
more sparingly.
"...smelling of sake," interrupted Aeka.
"Like you didn't? Anyway, phase myself into your body, and
announce to Tenchi that we're both going first at the same time."
You know, with the proper, er, handling, Ryouko phasing into another's
body has all sorts of possibilities. Mind if borrow that? ^_^
Not at all! :)
"I'm sure that the very idea scared Tenchi-sama away."
As well as the rest of the local male population... except for
Katsuhito, of course, but nothing phases him, not even mutant
phased-together sister-demons... ;)
It's certainly difficult to imaging _not_ being scared by
the idea, especially when it's the boy's first time...
Unnoticed by the girls, a nervous Tenchi picked up the still-
sleeping Sasami and snuck out of the room.
Hehehe. Groom Survival Training 101 - Saotome Ranma, guest
lecturer. ;)
heh.
"No, I missed..." Aeka drawled to a halt and blanched. "Oh,
no," she whispered. "They didn't..."
A bubble of light appeared in the yard, then vanished. In
its place stood a LOT of young women.
LOL!! I can just imagine Tenchi's face. Should've chosen while the
field was still narrow, Tenchi. ^_^
As you might imagine, I had a LOT of fun writing this part...
Sasami and Mihoshi happily handed out rooming assignments to the
unexpectedly-large horde. Sasami paid special attention to three
of the new-comers,
newcomers,
Noted; will change.
the only ones close to her own age.
"I'm Sasami. You must be Duchess Misao," Sasami smiled.
Reviewer falls out of chair...
I had a lot of fun once it occurred to me to keep the actual
number of new arrivals indefinite... :)
In Washuu's lab, Aeka and Ryouko angrily glared at the faces of
Misaki and Funaho, displayed larger-than-life in mid-air.
"Oh, Aeka-chan, this is just the way it turned out. No need to
get upset about it," chirped Misaki, with transparent amusement.
"We were having trouble negotiating the number down very far, so
we just reversed course. You wouldn't _believe_ what you can get
done with a marriageable prince in hand."
I'm still left to wonder what the queens are REALLY up to
with all this marriage business...
Heh. Maybe a lot, maybe not so much... ("WHAT? One of the bills
you got passed was funding for a new off-world vacation palace?")
"But, girls, be on your guard," cautioned Funaho. "You know
Juraian politics, Aeka. Many of these young ladies will be up to
no good."
Ryouko: Yeah, sneaking into MY Ten-- [Sees Aeka glaring at her.]
ERRR, *our* Tenchi's bedroom.
Maybe I should have used that...
"I'll guard Tenchi with my life!" declared Ryouko.
"And I shall not leave my destined husband's side until this
crisis is over!" declaimed
declared or exclaimed. (I think declaimed has negative connotations.)
"declaim", v.t., speak or say impressively or dramatically
- Oxford Minidictionary
Still, if it really reads wrong, I should change it.
Back outside, as the newcomers milled around, Washuu hung back,
hiding a smirk, as Aeka and Ryouko reemerged, guarding Tenchi.
Kiyone hovered nearby, darting an occasional nervous glance
at Tenchi.
"So how far did you get with Tenchi last night?" Washuu asked
suddenly.
Kiyone jumped. "Me? What makes you ask?" Kiyone replied
nervously.
Hrm... Protesteth too much? :)
I have the previous night's step-by-step laid out; I just don't
want to give it away all at once. :)
Several of the new arrivals fainted. Most, however, simply
produced weapons. One scantily-clad but amply-endowed blonde
produced a ten-foot-long phaser cannon she had apparently had
concealed on her person.
Mihoshi clone?
Actually a reference to the funniest scene in 'Debutante Detective
Club', where Nina Kirov, a mini-skirted blonde, assembles out of
small parts "concealed on her person" a rifle, with telescopic
sight, longer than she is tall.
More of the newcomers jumped into the fray, wielding monofilament
yo-yos, light sabers, tiny wooden floating cans, and even more
unusual devices. Blue gore splashed everywhere.
Heh. A properly trained princess is an armed-to-the-teeth princess.
-- Misaki Jurai
You have to be in order to stay alive, given Jurai politics.
Tenchi eyes grew larger and larger as he watched his new-found
fiancees as work.
All thoughts of eventual escape fled his mind...
Exactly! ;)
"Great plan, Washuu," Kiyone noted drily as the blue golems were
quickly reduced to small tidbits. "And now you've scared Sasami."
Kiyone pointed to where Sasami and Misao were hugging each other,
both crying. Sasami was saying something about her scary dream
the previous night coming true.
"Oh, well, back to the designing table."
This scene lost me a bit. I wasn't sure what the point of having the
blue golems attack the fiancee horde was. A tentative weeding out?
Washuu's "brilliant plan", which she announced she had in part 4.
The point is to scare them off; the golems wouldn't have actually
hurt anybody. They announce that they hate the "Royal House"
specifically to advance the idea to the girls that the girls're
safe if they _don't_ marry Tenchi.
I'll work on making this clearer.
Early that evening, Kiyone and Mihoshi joined several of the
newcomers sitting outside enjoying the day's last light. One of
the new girls, one Menori, a slight, brown-haired girl, produced
a stringed instrument and proceeded to play a long-drawn-out,
haunting melody, somehow suited to the steep wooded hillsides
of the area.
Tenchi: She's in.
Fiancees: WHAT?!?!
Given that all of Tenchi's "base set" of girls have their little
quirks (except perhaps Sasami), introducing one or more adult
girls without such has the potential for real fun. Can anyone
spell "jealousy"?
"Something about that monster attack just seems fishy to me,"
said one of the others, a tall, stern, short-haired woman named
Shiria.
It's almost all I can do NOT to start deciding who would work and who
wouldn't for Tenchi. Hey! Everyone else is making decisions
for him. ^_-
That's another part of the real fun in introducing a large, indefinite
number of new fiancees! Cameos! Cameos! Who might work better
for Tenchi, and who wouldn't?
Kiyone's ears perked up.
"I agree," said another, who Kiyone remembered was named Teruzi,
the daughter of a powerful Juraian Senator. Kiyone caught Teruzi
looking at her sidelong. "What did the Smirfiends have to gain?
If it was really them."
ARGH! Another Smurf reference. <Don't - hurt - Bert! It's - just - a -
fic!> :P
Took you this long to get it? ;)
"I was never very thrilled about coming here in the first place,"
added a willowy, silver-haired young lady named Pikko, "but now it
looks like it might be interesting after all."
"Indeed. Who cared about this backwater Prince? But a mystery,
now _that's_ worth sticking around for."
Hazard's of royalty... Or put another way, Dukes of Hazard.
BWAAHAHAHAAA!!! Ahem. Pardon me. ;p
And this is how Washuu's plan _really_ backfires... (which, of
course, it had to do).
Mihoshi stood and turned towards the door.
After tripping over Kiyone, who grumbled, Mihoshi wandering
wandered
Ack! Well, noted.
Inside the dark room, Lady Fuyuno was just wrapping both hands
around Mayuka's neck when the door opened. A pink cube popped
through, bounced once on the floor, and then brushed Fuyuno's leg.
With a small "poof", she vanished. In the dark, Mayuka, now
awake, burbled happily.
Mayuka: [thinking] Hehehehe. One down, fifty-five to go.
And just how conscious _is_ Mayuka, anyway? Oh, someone's already
done that.
Somewhere else, Lady Fuyuno slowly sat up to face a jolly knife-
wielding teddy bear. "Naughty, naughty," said a voice. "Trying
to kill my daughter. We'll have to make sure you're properly...
entertained."
O_O Yuzuha's still alive, hey?
That's from part 3. Oh, well, the hazards of coming out with these
at such a slow pace..
"Why am I not reassured?" moaned Tenchi.
Because, dim as you are, you CAN be taught. ;)
One would also almost have to scream at this point because if
Ryouko and Aeka could just get along, they'd all be having a
grand time, right about now. :)
We CAN'T make it too easy, that wouldn't be any fun at all.
Another nice installment, Bert. I enjoyed it. :)
Mission accomplished, then.