--- Angus MacSpon <macspon@ihug.co.nz> wrote:

This is a scarily cute idea.  Considering the sort of stuff both
Hotaru and Skuld build, Skuld might even be able to pull this off.

... Right up until someone notices that she doesn't have a
permanently
deadpan expression.

In other words, about 5 seconds.
Or less, if there's ice cream around.  ^_^

...that plus http://www.snafu-comics.com/?strip_id=216 equals...

---

Belldandy gave her sister The Look.

Skuld knew that look well.  Belldandy might have never raised a hand
to hurt her yet, but then, she never had to.  That look still terrified
Skuld, as well it should.

"So, let me get this straight, dear sister.  You allowed this robot to
butcher an innocent man in front of you."

Skuld was too paralyzed to nod.

"You then exerted your influence to make sure the man survived, so that
in retrospect the robot did not violate his own First Law."

Skuld nodded ever so slightly.  Surely helping people - and the android
was a "person", as far as Skuld was concerned - through moral crises
was okay, at least by itself.  And surely saving innocent lives was
also usually okay.

"Moreover, you caused this robot to be constructed in the future and to
travel back in time, to commit this very deed."

Paralysis won out again.

"And your sole purpose was that, through this ritual, the robot gained
the power to convert energy into ice cream for a period of time."

Once again Skuld nodded.  She had been caught red-handed - literally,
with her hand covered in raspberry ice cream.  To attempt to deny it
would only cause more trouble.

"Which energy you then proceeded to supply in large quantities, so that
you could consume the resulting product, before the robot finally
returned to the future."

A tired, irritable part of Skuld's mind almost wanted to snap back,
give Belldandy the finger, anything.  This part was very quickly hunted
down and beat into submission.

"And Father decided that, as sufficient punishment...*completely*
sufficient punishment..."  Belldandy's eye twitched.  "...would be for
you to wallow in your guilt while suffering the worst ice cream
hangover that anyone on Earth has ever experienced.  Is that all
correct?"

Skuld muttered an acknowledgement.

"And nowhere, in any of this, was anything said about cleaning up the
mess made while you were on an ice cream high?"

It was not often that Skuld actually, sincerely prayed.  She could
simply talk to her sisters, or to Father, when she needed their aid.
If she needed to converse with another diety, reaching them was usually
no big deal either.  Even the demons could be sought out if she really
needed infernal assistance.

But right now Skuld prayed, deep in her heart, that Urd's alchemical
cleaning solution would be ready for use very soon, and that Keiichi
would soon arrive to take Belldandy's mind off of Skuld's
indiscretions.

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