Suggested changes: {before : after}
On Thu, 17 Oct 2002 14:00:37 -0400 "L.S McGill" <lsmcgill@hotmail.com>
wrote:
At present, the woman sitting at the screen was herself worthy of a second
look. The leather harness she wore almost gave her the appearence of wings,
the wide straps that curved around her shoulders supporting two trailing
peices that curved on the floor under her. The black halter top and bikini
{bottoms ; bottom} under the leather emphasized the curves and sexuality of her
feminine form, displaying her figure to excellent advantage. Her hair was
raven black, with almost auburn highlights, the short cropped pixie cut of
the front blending into a long thick ponytail that vanished into the seat
behind her. The blue diamond shaped tattoos on her forehead and cheeks
glinted softly as the light from the monitor played over her beautiful face.
She probably wouldn't like you implying that she has a big ass.
And since Skuld had gone to Earth too, she was stuck de-bugging. She sighed
as she got up from the screen, her long black hair clinging to the seat back
for a second before she went to the closet and dug out one of Skuld's
hammers.{:
:} She hefted it a few times, a small grin on her face as she mentally
plastered Urd's face on a bug. Stress relief time!
//Please desist, Goddess Peorth. You do not possess the required clearance.
{ :}Further attempts to access will force me to notify my creators of your
efforts.//
He deserved better than a woman who could only feel passion with another
woman.
I think she's underestimating Ranma's ability to cope. Especially since
everyone knows her preferences and limitations going into the relationship.
It kind of reminds me of the song "Do You Love Me" in Fiddler on the Roof;
there's more to love than passionate sex.
That sensation faded the further away they were from each other, but never
fully. Ying Ying had felt every blow her aunt had delivered to her upon the
discovery of what Zhu Shu had done, and she had gone to tell Shi what his
daughter was doing. Even when Ying Ying's parents had moved to another
village, that link had remined. She had felt Ying Ying's despair, her hope
crumbling, her growing despondancy, and finally, her death. She had felt
nothing then until she had awoken in her bed looking up at the strange
woman's face and her grandfather. There had been a signifigant look that
had passed between the woman and her grandfather before she had left, never
to return.{:
}
It was strange. For the first time since she had begun to build her wall
against the grief she had been overwhelmed with following Ying Ying's death,
she had been able to think of their days together without the pounding surge
of loss that had howled outside the wall for so long. She still felt her
loss keenly, but the wild undercurrent that had sought to drag her to her
doom for so long had lessened.
"Rei-chan, I love her to the point I nearly destroyed both of us. I would
have forsaken everything for her sake, except loyalty. In the end, I could
not betray a friend. I love her, Rei-chan, but I love Ranma too, so I held
her away, for his sake and the love that he and Akane share, {anad : and} that I
hope they will come to share with my blood-sister. I held her away, and
Ranma, and Shan Pu. . . Three times. Rei-chan, three loves, three offers of
happiness I knew to be a lie. For their sakes. . . I had no choice."
"The eyes of a Dragon see only truth." Rei quoted. "{How�s : How is : How's} that a curse?"
Then she had spent time with Zhu Shu, and had come to realize it was just
Zhu Shu's way. She had no expectations of anyone, and desired none of the
male attention she got, yet could not escape either. She cared for her
friends unconditionally, regardless of who they were, and when she was
teaching, she asked for no {more : less} than their best, because she would give no
less herself. . . .
"Yet one dragon loved shall never die. . ." Zhu Shu finished as Rei's voice
trailed off. "My father would sing me to sleep with that song when
nightmares woke me as a child. . . before he. . . before he and mother died.
It has never failed to comfort me with a sense of the {Dragons : Dragon's} presence, even
here so far from home. I have never heard it from anyone before. . . How
come you to know it?"
Zhu Shu blinked, then gave her a tired smile, her green eyes lighting.
"Rei-chan. . . you should have known I would never have done that." She
stepped forward to give her a hug. "I may be your {Sensei : sensei}, but I am also, and
always your friend."
Rei smiled. "Hey, {Mina-chan�s : Mina-chan's} latest Sailor-V movie is premiering today. You
wanna go?"
Shan Pu put her hands on her hips. "Is Amazon way! Warriors are direct!
Akane is {Fianc�e : fianc�e} like Ranma."
Shan Pu sat down at the table and sighed. "Great-grandmother tell Shan Pu
should win Akane's heart first, or be much jealousy. . . Shan Pu thought was
being good {Fianc�e : fianc�e}. Shan Pu want be good {Fianc�e : fianc�e}."
The traces of Zhu Shu's memories of her travels with the Amazon showed her
how passionate Shan Pu could be. The Amazon had made her interest in her
blood-sister obvious, but had been accepting of the fact that Zhu Shu had
felt it neccessary to put off her original proposal. She had been a warm
and cuddly sleeping companion, but had never pushed for anything else. She
had sparred with Zhu Shu and spent hours talking about how much she was
looking forward to finding Ranma so they could be happy together. She had
always been bright and cheery, and no matter how frustrated she had gotten
at Ranma's eluding them, she had never had an unkind word for her
blood-sister. She could change moods in a second, but there was no way to
doubt that once she had given her heart, she had no {reserves : reservations} about it.
She certainly had had no {reserves : reservations} about showing her affection. Only
Kasumi's hand on her shoulder had kept her from jumping up and booting the
Amazon into orbit when she had locked lips with Ranma following the
ceremony. Only the fact that the startled boy had tried to fight the
relentless kiss had reassured her somewhat that Ranma was just as
uncomfortable with Shan Pu. He'd failed to get out of the kiss though, and
somewhere after minute five, Akane had decided she really was in need of
that cup of sake.
Shan Pu nodded and bowed before stepping onto the mat and assuming a stance.
{ :}Akane took the chance to study her for a long moment. She really was
beautiful, easily a match for Zhu Shu, but she had a hardness Zhu Shu
lacked. Her muscles were more defined, and her moves spoke of a lot of
power carefully controlled. Her large breasts swayed slightly with her
breath, their nipples partially erect. Akane took in her stance, her eyes
following up long legs to the tangle of violet curls, then up to meet Shan
Pu's eyes. The small bell ornaments in Shan Pu's purple hair chimed softly
in time with the ones in Akane's braid as their eyes held each other,
searching. There was silence as for a long second neither girl moved, then
they simultaneously attacked.
Akane launched herself, her body spinning as her blade arched towards Shan
Pu, then reversing her spin as the blade was intercepted. Shan Pu threw
herself into an aerial cartwheel over the blade and launched an attack at
Akane's extended arm. Akane's whirl carried her arm out of the way as both
blades circled towards where Shan Pu's legs would {impact : land : hit}.
All Ranma could see was that all traces of the awkward tomboy he'd fought on
his first day at the Tendo's was gone. Akane's style had merged with Zhu
Shu's grace and fluidness to give her a kinesthetic all her own. She moved
with all the lethal grace of a tigress, right down to the lashing tail of
her braid. To him, she had never seemed more beautiful.
And Shan Pu. . . He'd never had a chance to appreciate how skilled she was.
{ :}He'd taken advantage of her tiredness to get in a quick power shot that
had knocked her off the challenge pole. Now, watching her fighting Akane,
he realized he might have had an entirely different kind of match had she
not just won several challenges in a row. He still would have beaten her,
he was confident, but he would have been in bad shape afterwards. . . and
seeing her in this light, he was struck by how beautiful she was as well. .
.
The wizard growled. "I should have guessed. She always was partial to the
bitch." He steepled his fingers. "I have things I must see to here, but I
think we should not let our nuisance free to enjoy herself. Especially with
a {Scout : Senshi}."{:
}
Mara nodded. "I agree. I have an imp I can send to annoy them. Anything
more will alert the goddess watching over her to my meddling."
It threw into bold relief just how lackadaisical her training in Martial
Arts had been in comparison. Yes, her dad had taught her everything he had
known, had made her the best {Martial : martial} artist in Furinkan, but he had never
pushed her.{:
}
No. To be fair, she had never made him push her. She had never had the all
consuming drive to be the best that had driven Ranma and Shan Pu. She could
have spent years training and never have caught up to them.
She'd been forced into this engagement, even if by her own actions. She'd
been deliberately corrupted by Zhu Shu to make her {amiable : amenable} to the idea of a
female lover, even if she did love Zhu Shu too much to really be angry about
it. She'd been manipulated by the old ghoul Shan Pu called her
Great-grandmother into begging for her life. . .
Ami nodded. "Exactly. For this one instant, it appears Zhu Shu existed only
as magical energy." She ran ahead a few frames to Zhu Shu's elf form and the
traces reappeared, but even Usagi's usually unobservant eyes could see the
difference.
I thought it was a dragon or half-dragon form.
"They were going to see the new Sailor V movie and then to dinner at the
{Ginza : ginza}." Makoto supplied.
Zhu Shu watched as Rei jumped to the roof of the next building and
reflecting on the sudden fire the kiss had seemed to ignite. Whatever she
and Rei eventually might become, there was no denying there was a chemistry
there.{:
}
Another roar sounded, and she decided to follow Rei and watch her student in
action. It was just to study how she fought and see how she could improve
her training class, it certainly wasn't because she wanted to watch the
beautiful Senshi in action in that really short skirt. Not at all.
I guess there are limits to her self-honesty.
The imp continued laughing as the energy washed over it without effect . So
all of its lures were coming to play. The teacher had to be close. It
shrugged off the effects of a Lightning Dragon as it smiled. "So good of you
all to come my little {Sailorscouts : Sailors : Senshi : Sailor Senshi}." It waited as the five girls surrounded
it. "Now my pet!"
Rei screamed in denial as Zhu Shu {impacted : hit} the rubble with a sickening thud,
and scrambled in her direction heedless of her own wounds and bruises.
It seems to me that this might have been a better place to end Book 1.