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----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher J Olsen" <GAMERS@prodigy.net>
To: <ffml@fanfic.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2000 5:24 PM
Subject: [FFML] [FFML][Ranma/Saber Marionette J][Lime]Strangers in a Strange
Land: Chapter 14
...
Just as he was resigning himself too not seeing any of the other
famous Marionettes a redheaded one walked in from the back. <That must
be Bloodberry,> Chodo thought. <Funny, I thought she was bigger then
that. She's tiny.>
"Yaa, yaa, Ranma. Bread is here," Lime chanted, causing the
redheaded Marionette, who had been setting up tables, to glance up. She
looked at Lime with a broad smile, and then switched her view to Chodo.
Even from across the room, Chodo could see a film suddenly cover the
Marionettes eyes as her body went rigid. "Uc, Uc, Uc," she stuttered.
Gods, what happened here? Did Ranma finally meet her mate? Was this
young man's resemblance to (Ukyou, one would guess) enough to
overcome the psyche's resistance to bond with a human? We shall
see.
And if Ranma DID, what about Akane? Mayy she have already bonded
to Ranma?
Or is this just a colossal red herring I went for?
It makes the talk between Ranma and Nabiki about Akane in the
last chapter very important.
Lime looked at the small redhead in puzzlement, and asked. "Ranma,
what's wrong? Are you making a joke? Is it a game? Can I play? I can
do it too. See," Lime's body went rigid, and she started to stutter
out, "Uc, Uc, Uc," as well.
Chodo was getting nervous. Their was no other human in the
restaurant, and he had a sudden vision of him being accused of damaging
the, no doubt expensive, Marionette. Nervously, he said, "I don't think
she's playing, I think she's jammed."
"Jammed?" Lime asked, turning to look at him.
"Yea, jammed. I use to have a mixer that did it all the time. I
was always having to give it a good hit to get it going again."
"I can do that!" Lime said in excitement.
"Wait, don't!!!" Chodo yelled, but too late. Lime delivered a
might blow to the back of the redhead, who went flying through the air,
and through a wall.
Chodo beat a hasty retreat.
Interesting scene.
*****************************
...
"Akane?" I don't think I've ever heard of an Akane. Are you one of
those Gartland Marionettes?"
"No, those are Panther and Lynx. I'm a new one. I was only built a
little while ago." Akane flinched a bit at saying those words. It was
still a hard concept to adjust to.
"Well, I guess it had to happen. I'm sure we'll be seeing more and
more of your type. I'm rather looking forward to it. I wouldn't mind
owning a sweet thing like you myself."
Akane flinched again, harder. If it was hard to think of herself as
a thing, it was even harder to hear herself referred to as something
that could be bought and sold.
However, she is.
She felt her temper flaring up, but
managed to control herself, barely.
...
"But you're one of those fancy Marionette's, why would your master
Marionettes
want you to take a job with us?"
...
Akane turned just as a tall slim man stepped in the door. She
blinked once, and stared, her eyes going wide in shock. Her arm came
up, and her finger pointed at the man. "Uc, Uc, Uc," she stammered.
The man stopped and stared. "Not again," he said. He stepped over
and guided Akane out the door. "Here you go, Sugar." You go on home
now," he said, closing the door behind Akane.
Sugar?
"What was that all about?" the man behind the counter asked.
"Damned if I know," Chodo said with a shrug, "and I've got bread to
bake." Stepping around the counter and back into the kitchen, he
slipped the large metal baker's peal he used for self-defense off his
back, and hung it on the wall. Taking a second to make sure his long
brown hair was still secured in a ponytail, he then went to work getting
the next day's dough ready.
Ponytail?
An interesting situation.
*********************
...
Nabiki took a deep breath. "Well, lets start with the easy question
first. Ranma got me up early to start training today... but a question
came up. Just how exactly do we learn to do... physical things. You
know, like martial arts. Ranma explained that a human has to repeat a
move over and over, even after they're doing it perfectly, so that it
will be part of their muscle memory. That way you can do that move
without having to really think about how to do it."
Lorelei nodded. "I understand the theory. Marionettes can learn in
much the same way, especially Saber Marionettes. You're nervous system
is very sophisticated. It learns much the same way a human's does,
opening up certain pathways to work faster when they are used over and
over."
Nabiki blinked. "Well, Ranma will be happy to hear that. She
wasn't quite sure if her training methods would work the way they're
supposed to."
Lorelei nodded. "Her training techniques should work fine."
Good.
She
tilted her head curiously. "You said this was the easy question. What
was the hard one?"
Nabiki hesitated. "Well... it's sort of complicated. You see, last
night...." After an embarrassed explanation, Nabiki shrugged. "So...
can you help me figure out what's wrong?"
...
Lorelei put a hand on Nabiki's wrist reasuringly. "I'm sure we can
reassuringly I think.
...
Nabiki shook her head. "If we do, then we do. Lead the way,
Lorelei."
I am uncertain BUT of Lorelei rhymes with way, it's a cute line.
...
Lorelei hesitated. "If you could collect data from a human female
to correct your current program... would that help?"
And the future of... never mind.
...
The older man stood up. "I have nothing on my agenda more
interesting than what you have brought me.
Yeah, I'll just BET...
Quite frankly, I find this
problem fascinating. The amount of useful data that we should be able
to obtain is more than worth my full attention."
Nabiki rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. "I'd just bet
it is."
Oh... heh heh.
...
Nabiki sighed. "Alright, if you insist on helping me, I doubt if I
can stop you."
True.
...
Nabiki stepped in front of Lorelei to stop her pacing, putting her
hands on the willowy scientist's shoulders. "Lorelei... calm down.
You're working yourself into a nervous breakdown. Try to relax. You
won't make a very good test subject if you're all tense." Lorelei
nodded slowly and took several slow deliberate breaths, closing her eyes
tiredly.
After several moments the longhaired woman opened her eyes, looking
calmer. "Thank you, Nabiki." Her brow knit slightly and she glanced
down at Nabiki's hands on her shoulders. Nabiki followed her gaze and
her face flushed when she realized that she had been massaging Lorelei's
shoulders unconsciously, even going so far as to run her hands down her
chest a ways. Both women blushed slightly, then simultaneously glanced
at Lorelei's bed. Nabiki snatched her hands away with a gasp and
Lorelei took an involuntary step back.
"Oh my." Lorelei started at Nabiki with wide eyes, which slowly
narrowed in understanding as she watched Nabiki's obvious distress. She
opened her mouth to reassure the suddenly emotional marionette, then
closed it. Her eyes narrowed a bit more and she smirked very faintly
before concealing it. "Oh my, Nabiki.... I had no idea.... Is that
why you want me to relax... here in my bedroom... with you? Were you...
offering to 'relax' me?"
Nabiki's eyes went wide. "No! No, you're misunderstanding me! I
wasn't trying to... I wasn't trying to get you into bed, really! My
hands had a mind of their own! I wasn't doing it on purpose...."
Lorelei giggled. "Now you know what it feels like when you tease
people, Nabiki."
Cute. Turnabout is fair play.
Nabiki blinked dumbly. "Huh?"
Lorelei started laughing out-loud. "Oh my... the look on your
face. If you could only see it!"
...
"Lorelei!" Baiko shouted as she came in. "Are you alright?" She
and Tamasaburo came closer, threateningly, but Lorelei was quick to wave
them off.
Oops.
Lorelei blushed and giggled at the same time. "I'd be to
embarrassed to ask... but I suspect they might have misunderstood
slightly." She had turned over in their struggle and looked up at
Nabiki's face. "Nabiki, in the future, could you try to regulate your
strength better? You started to hurt me a bit at the end there."
Nabiki paled. "Oh no... Lorelei, I'm so sorry!"
Lorelei shook her head. "I'm fine. You stopped as soon as I asked,
thank you."
Nabiki sighed. "I keep forgetting how strong I am in this body.
Are you really OK?"
This makes me think that Akane and Ranma are literally made for
each other.
...
Nabiki continued to work on her wordlessly, and Lorelei sighed
happily, almost purring in pleasure. "Oh Nabiki, this is so wonderful.
Do you know how long it's been since anyone gave me a backrub this
good?"
Nabiki smirked to herself. "Three hundred years?"
Lorelei groaned. "Oh no! That makes me sound so old! I was only
twenty-four when I went into cold sleep. It's only been four months or
so since I got out, so I'm not even twenty-five yet. At least
physically."
Nabiki laughed. "I've got you beat there. I'm over five hundred,
but this body is probably less than a month old."
Of course, Lorelei is 300, but not a day over 24.
Lorelei smiled. "So I'm being molested by a one-month old?"
Nabiki pouted. "Why? Don't you WANT to be molested?"
...
Lorelei sat up, covering herself self-consciously with her hands.
"I'm sorry... I...."
Nabiki sighed. "Aren't interested in me that way? I understand
that, Lorelei, and I don't blame you. I've been acting like a
nymphomaniac... and not only am I female, but I'm not even really a
human...."
And, it can be argued, not REALLY female either.
Lorelei sighed back, shaking her head. "Nabiki, would you please
stop feeling sorry for yourself? I'm not completely closed to the idea
of you and being... being together. We're just moving a little bit too
fast."
Nabiki blinked and turned around. "You're not?"
Lorelei hesitated, blushing slightly at Nabiki's stare. "No, I'm
not. Intellectually, I find you quite attractive, and emotionally, I
feel a growing bond to you. I really do care about you, you know. As
for my... sexual preferences... I'm starting to wonder. I never
considered myself attracted to women especially, but being with you
feels comfortable. I've never been able to... play like that with
anyone... not since I was a child. It's nice... just... I just need a
bit more time."
Now this is an interesting development.
Nabiki smiled. "I'm not going to push, Lorelei. Besides, even if
you were ready, I'm not. Talk about not being wired right, huh?" She
sighed. To tell you the truth, I think we have something in common
there. Before all this, I wasn't attracted to girls... well, not
exactly, anyway. When Ranma first came to live at our house, I think I
started to realize that I wasn't repulsed by the idea either.
After all, she DID let her fingers do the walking when she first
saw Ranma...
After a
while I realized that I feel pretty much the same about girls as I did
about guys. If they were cute, I liked them... and if I liked them, I
could feel attracted to them. I just hadn't been letting myself think
that way until after Ranma showed up."
Lorelei raised an eyebrow. "Nabiki... are you... are you in love
with Ranma?"
Nabiki's eyes widened and she blushed. "No!" She shook her head.
"I knew that Ranma and Akane were meant for each other after a few
weeks... and by then it was too late for me to go after her myself.
Ranma and I were never meant to be."
Nabiki looked at Lorelei strangely. "I've never told anyone else
any of this, but I can't seem to keep anything from you anymore." She
shrugged. "If you want to know if I'm attracted to her... I am.
Interesting.
I
won't lie to you about that. I'm a hundred times more attracted to you
than anyone else I've ever known, though. It's probably just my maiden
circuit... at least most of it. But even if I wasn't bonded to you, I
think might still have been interested."
...
Lorelei sighed. "I am not settling for anything. " Otaru is not
available, even if I was interested in him."
Nabiki frowned. "I'm still you're second choice... if that."
your, not the contraction of you are.
Lorelei sighed again. "I don't think we're getting anywhere right
now." She glanced around for her clothing, spotted her sweater on the
floor next to the bed and leaned over to get it. "Listen, Nabiki."
Lorelei held the sweater in front of her while she found the sleeves.
"If you keep looking for reasons why we can't be together, I'm sure
you'll find them. You could find reasons why any two people can't be
together if you look hard enough, but that doesn't mean anything. I
want to try and make this work between us, and that means looking for
reasons why it will work, not why it won't."
...
Lorelei smiled in understanding. "You've never been in love
before. Trust me, it makes you crazy." Lorelei pulled her sweater on
over her head and hopped down from her bed, looking around. "Now where
did the rest of my clothes go?"
End Chapter 14
Wow. I'm really curious about the Ranma 'Ukyou' thing, too...
Kevin D. Hammel
========================================
khammel@mail.anime.sobhrach.com
kevinsff@pacbell.net
http://www.fanfic.net/~khammel/
========================================