[FFML] [FMP/OMG/R.5(NexGen)/StargateFranchise/Various] Divine Blood Chapter 48(49 by FF.net) - Conversations in Recovery

[Luke Green]

"Excuse me," Kaname said insistently.

Several faces turned to look at her and she immediately felt just the
littlest bit self-conscious, but firmed herself up and made her point
anyway.

"Okay," she said. "I'm going to go visit Eija in Atlantis's hospital. I'll
be back here or at Mara's tomorrow...or tonight...or whatever, but right
now, I've got a friend in the hospital and if things are done I'm going to
visit her."

Major Carter exchanged a look with first O'Neil and then Captain Testarossa
and Athena.

"Yes, please do that," Tessa said in a calm tone. "I shall likely be there
myself soon to visit Second Lieutenant Mao."

Kaname blinked in confusion at there being no protest, but recovered
quickly.

"All right," she said, nodding firmly and turning on her heels, she found
herself walking out the door.

"So, your people hire teenaged drill sergeants too?" O'Neil asked with a
smirk.

"Miss Chidori can be quite brusque when upset," Tessa admitted.

Kaname wasn't far into the hallway as she noted that Eija was still asleep,
or unconscious, but felt like she might be waking up soon. Sousuke was
already in Atlantis, of course, she'd left him there with Eija when she'd
been sent here to do the electro-thing.

*Dr. Beckett assures us that Eija is fine,* Sousuke told her.

Kaname nodded and ran through a series of numbers before disappearing from
the hallway as two people turned a corner.

Dr. Jackson looked over toward Teal'C.

"Okay, remember when the gateroom was the only place we had things moving in
and out of this dimension?" he asked.

"Indeed," Teal'C noted with a smirk.
 ------------------------------

Deimosu saw Kaname coming out of the Atlantis gate-room at a near run
heading for the hospital area. She hadn't even spared a moment to notice
passing him up. The young Ainur, of course, knew why.

A grimace started to work over his face as he thought of the number of times
that Eija had ended up hurt or unconscious around Sousuke and Kaname.

The fact that the girl had somehow convinced Eija to accept sharing the same
man...it felt almost to him as if Kaname and Sousuke had basically asked her
to be the official mistress. If that wasn't taking advantage of his sister's
gentle nature he wasn't sure what was.

*Deimosu, perhaps you should calm down a bit,* Yonjuu suggested.

*That girl and that two-timing guy are making a fool out of my sister on her
sickbed, again,* he responded.

*He looks very...umm...I can't tell,* Yonjuu said. *But he smells really
worried, even if his face is calm.*

Increasing his own pace he was coming to the entrance of the recovery rooms
when his mother stepped out from the door to intercept him with an
outstretched hand first.

"You and me need to talk before you go in there," his mother said. "You
don't want Eija to wake up seeing you arguing with Kaname."

"So I'll argue with Sagara then," he noted, starting to move around the
small form of his mother.

Ranma moved aside to intercept him and put one implacable hand on his chest
and let him try to push forward with no results. He stopped and stepped
back, feeling sheepish as he saw the disappointed look on his mother's face.


"There's an empty room over here," Ranma said, gesturing toward a door and
waiting for Deimosu to walk into it.

Following her son in, she let the Atlantean door close behind her and leaned
against it, looking tired.

"Now about the issue with you and your sisters," the red-head said.

"What issue?" Deimosu asked.

"Fine, we'll start with you and Eija's friends," Ranma commented.

"You mean that two-timing jerk and the domineering..." Deimosu stopped as
Ranma's hand was raised.

"Eija likes them, they like Eija," Ranma said. "And they've been there for
her. They're not hurting her..."

"But she's always getting injured," Deimosu noted. "And always has something
to do with them."

"Deimosu," she responded. "We're in the middle of a war. Practically
everybody's been on the recovery list at least once. If you stopped to
think, I'd bet you'd notice that Kaname isn't exactly in the peak of health
after today either."

"But, it's Eija," Deimosu protested.

"Meanwhile, you have no concern for Naiki," Ranma said.

Deimosu tried to answer but couldn't think of one.

"Either you think Eija can't take care of herself," Ranma noted. "Or you
don't think what happens to Naiki matters."

"That's not true!" Deimosu protested. "Neither is true. But Naiki is..."

"Naiki is what?" Ranma asked.

"She gropes people and chases guys and girls," Deimosu said. "She's almost
as bad..."

The warning look he got sent a shiver down his back.

"You're supposed to look out for your sisters," Ranma agreed, letting the
near comment pass. "Not lording over them. I think you'll find that we'll be
having Sousuke and Kaname around for a long time. And Naiki's starting to
mature too. They make their own decisions, they don't need you for that."

"But, look at wh..." he stopped and remembered what Cu Cuchalin had said.
"I...I am arrogant like Zeus."

"No," Ranme said firmly. "You're arrogant like me."

Deimosu scrunched his brows up and looked toward his mother.

"Zeus doesn't care about anything or anybody else as long as he gets what he
wants," the exorcist explained. "I just think I know better than everybody."


"You're not arrogant, Okaasan," Deimosu protested. "Arrogant people
don't..." he paused and changed what he was about to say. "They don't admit
to being arrogant. I never have."

"Until just now," Ranma said pointedly.

Deimosu stared at her in a bit of shock.

"We're going in now," Ranma said. "Be polite, no snarking, no insulting
Kaname or Sousuke. And I want you to pay attention to what's going on with
Naiki and Eija, got it? Watch their faces, Deimosu."

"I'll try," he said.
 ------------------------------

Eija woke up slowly and leaned up out of the medical bed, feeling the
familiar aftereffects of a healing spell combined with sensation of a
heart-monitor.

"Eija!"*Eija!* Kaname gasped both out loud and telepathically as she reached
down to firmly hug up the waking girl. "Thank the Heavens!"

"It is good to see you up," Sousuke said simply, even as Eija could feel an
equally intense wave of relief coming out of him as he stood at her bedside.


"What happened?" she asked. "Are we back in Atlantis?"

"There was...a booby trap," Sousuke said quietly. "Batiste apparently set it
off."

Eija slumped heavily into Kaname's softening hug and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

"It wasn't your fault," Kaname assured her. "He made the mistake, not you."

Very self-consciously, Sousuke laid a hand on Eija's own and squeezed as
Kaname continued sitting on the bed next to her on the other side.

"Are you effective?" he asked, which was about as close as he could get to
"how are you?"

"Yes," Eija said, sitting up carefully. "I feel somewhat stiff, but that is
all. I shall be fine. We stopped all of Gauron's bombs, right?"

Kaname and Sousuke shared a nervous look
 ------------------------------

"Don't worry, I'm just perfectly fine!" Lusca said waving.

"You were riddled with cannon shells," Naiki protested.

"Cannon shells?" Kyoko repeated with a distinct trace of worry.

"The holes get smaller when I get smaller," Lusca explained nodding with a
smile. "And I'm really good at shapeshifting so it's all just flesh wounds."


Most of the worst injuries had been healed by one of the Gods, but she was
still wrapped up in bandages all over her torso, shoulders and neck. A
couple of her braids had been shorter as well, though after unbraiding them,
they grew back to length fairly quickly. Lusca was in the process of
rebraiding them carefully in between cheerful outbursts.

"Shouldn't you be visiting your sister?" Lusca asked, pointing toward one of
the far ends of the room where Kaname and Sousuke sat around Eija's bed.

"Ah, let the love-birds visit," Naiki said, "I'll talk to her in a little
bit."

The bandaged brunette smiled even more brightly if that was possible.

"Then I'm important?" she asked.

"Of course you're important," Kyoko said simply. "You're our friend."

"Yeah, the next stalker wouldn't be near as nice," Naiki said leaning back.

"How about cute?" Lusca asked.

"Well, you do even make the mummy-look cute," Kyoko said with a smile.
"Right Naiki?"

"I'm still distracted by the whole 'gaping injuries in my friend's small
body' thing," Naiki said.

"SQUUUEEE!" Lusca called out, drawing most eyes toward her as she started to
lean over, maybe to hug Naiki and then stopped herself. "You're still
worried about me!"

"Yeah," Naiki said, flushing. "Yes I am. I mean, you just jumped out and
went after those robots without even stopping or thinking or anything. Mom
and I had to go out and help you and everybody else. It could have been
bad!"

*Naiki,* Tessa's voice asked as the other teen came into Atlantis's
dimension. *Are you lecturing someone else about recklessly diving forward?*

*Yeah, so what's the...* Naiki stopped a little bit. *Oh.*

She looked across the room and noticed a small smirk being directed her way
from her mother near the door. Glancing over toward Kyoko, the girl with the
glasses was raising her camera to her face and clicking a picture of the
look of embarrassed epiphany on Naiki's face.

Immediately, Naiki tried to salvage the situation with a subject change.

"What can you all do with your tentacles anyway?" Naiki asked.

Kyoko glanced over at her with a curious expression.

"Well, I can make a wall to protect myself, though damaging the tentacles
still hurts," Lusca said. "And I can make bandages and go fishing and grab
stuff and you can play games with them when you're alone and you can do
stuff while reading...why?"

"So, umm...is there anything else you can do with tentacles?" Naiki asked.

"Probably," Lusca said, a bit confused. "What else would you want me to do?"


"Ummm...nothing," Naiki said.

Lusca looked a bit more confused and then shrugged.

"I can do nothing with tentacles," she declared. "That's easy!"
 ------------------------------

The bruises were mostly gone and the bullet had been pulled out of her leg
and the injury closed by a Goddess's healing touch. The Goddess responsible
was currently hugging the teen pinkette Goddess tightly as several other
people circled around the bed.

"Oh thank goodness you're back and safe," Belldandy declared emphatically.

"You had us worried, kiddo," Urd said in what she hoped was a casual tone.

"Are you doing okay, Skuld?" Keiichi asked.

"Yeah," Skuld said quietly, flushing a little. "I'm fine, I just...I'm
fine."

The young Goddess didn't want to talk about the robots she'd shoddily
programmed. Robots which had killed people. Or the mercenary she'd knocked
unconscious and tried to pull to safety only to have him die almost on top
of her. At the time, with all the danger and activity, she hadn't had to
think of it. Now she was partly having trouble thinking of anything else.

She glanced around and noted Chihiro, Tomaki, Otaki, Megumi and most
everybody else from her normal circle of friends. She even thought she saw
Mara in the doorway, though it was only a brief glimpse so she couldn't be
sure.

Sentaro wasn't there, but she'd been told he was in a different refugee
group, which they had specified wasn't in Okinawa for some reason. Sora was
supposed to be at some sort of factory as Whirlwind's representative on
something. Sanya was recuperating in her own quarters, and making a nuisance
of herself to Shampoo given that her legal guardian and sister was also on
the injured list.

Aoishima was also missing, but that was the norm. He wasn't exactly a friend
of the group.

Sayoko's absence and the lack of discussion about her, despite the
description of where the other absent people were, was somewhat glaring.

"Where's Sayoko?" Skuld asked.

There were some uncomfortable glances before Belldandy straightened her
shoulders quietly.

"She's...in the Whisper of Souls," her middle sister said. "Zeus...did some
damage that needs to be fixed."

Skuld sat up in the hospital bed and her brow furrowed in confusion for a
moment. The only kind of damage that could be fixed by an ascension device
was the sort that came...she shivered.

"But doing...that...that's illegal!" Skuld protested.

Even as she said it, it sounded childish and naive. Especially given
everything else that had gone on and with the name Zeus involved. She didn't
want to think about it. She didn't even like to think what she suspected was
a close call with Aoshima a couple of years ago.

But that one of her...sort of friends had had that happen to her?

"Will she be okay?" Skuld asked quietly.

"She won't be alone," Belldandy assured her sister. "And you'll be fine to
leave here pretty soon too, so everything will be just fine."

Belldandy sounded almost as if she were trying to convince herself, which
was an uncomfortable thing to hear from her sister. Though that worry faded
somewhat as Belldandy hugged her again.

"So, I hope you don't mind," Chihiro said after a moment. "We made a few
mods to Banpei."

"What?" Skuld said in surprise. "What did you do to my Banpei?"
 ------------------------------

"Dr. Beckett said that you weren't in the best of shape," Dr. Weir told
Mara. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

Mara was a bit pale, still recovering from the internal bleeding even though
it had stopped. Replacing the blood was taking some time and stuff kept
popping up. Under ordinary circumstances she wouldn't be close to exhaustion
yet, but stuff was adding up.

"It's been suggested," Mara said. "At least, unlike certain Mithril
personnel, I'm not thinking about going into full battle like this."

"That's good to know," Dr. Weir said. "Now you had a request?"

"I was trying to fix Nidhog with about thirty Demons, Chidori and Megumi
Morisato," Mara said. "Because almost all my Shadows were supporting Kyushu
or in mainland Japan. With what Captain Testarossa just relayed me, I've got
to put more personnel on that."

"What is the exact situation?" the Ainur woman asked.

"When Nidhog went up, it basically froze with all the hacking and
counter-hacking its been subjected too," Mara said. "It's performing
everything it's supposed to, but nobody can access the settings or anything
like it. So it's keeping all the settings the rebels gave it before they
turned it on."

"Which is why all the rebel Demons right now have more power than they
should," Dr. Weir said.

"In all honesty," Mara said. "I'm glad they tried this crap."

"Why is that?" Weir asked.

"Because I have close to a hundred thousand civilian Demons stuck in the
worst prison any official government has ever created," Mara said. "Nobody
in their has been officially marked as a prisoner, but that doesn't mean
they can't run afoul of the punishments that were in place for other Demon
prisoners. So when the criminals attacked Earth..."

"They put themselves up on the priority list and let you get to your
civilians faster," Dr. Weir said. "I'm assuming the next request is
personnel?"

"Yeah, this is going to be a battle," Mara said. "And we had Ainur and
Asgardian Gods in Nidhog cleaning Zeus's attack. One of those criminals
might have noticed and realized that we're patched together somewhere. Our
main task is to fix Nidhog, once we got that we'll be able to shut the
renegades down, but just in case..."

"People to defend the repair crew," Weir noted. "More to defend Silmaril."

"Captain Testarossa is working with General Hammond on invading Nifelheim
physically," Mara said. "I've got Moloch working with them on that. And I'm
handling this part of the assault personally. Now, I know you have people
with experience with gate-building. How many Ainur do you think you could
spare with either programming, gate-building or exorcism experience?"

"I assume you're talking to Asgard about this too," Dr. Weir said.

"Actually, I talked to Belldandy," Mara said.

Granted Peorth was watching and decided to make an offer, but that certainly
wasn't planned.

Traditionally, the Gods had actually been the most successful manipulators
through the ages, but they'd fallen out of active practice around five
hundred or more years ago. It felt good to pull one over on them, even as
allies.

"Major Carter is supposed to be working with me on this too," Mara said.
"But I thought I should make this request directly."

"I'll see what I can do," Dr. Weir said. "I think I can warn you of at least
one name that'll be on your list."

"I've been told I should carry around citrus fruits," Mara said wryly,
shaking her head.
 ------------------------------

Mara sat down and then lay back in her bed, just about ready to go to sleep
now that it was coming to the end of the day. Her eyes had just about closed
when there was a knocking sound outside.

Groaning she called out, "Come in, it's open."

Sitting up as the door slid open, she blinked in surprise to see a very
nervous looking Skuld there.

"Ehh, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Uhh, Mara," Skuld said. "I need to...ask about something."

"Why not talk to Belldandy then?" Mara asked. "I've had my fill of
conversations with teenagers today."

"I....I want to help fix Nidhog," she said.

Mara looked at her closely then on that.

"You've already got Kaname Chidori helping you," Skuld protested. "And
Megumi! Naiki was on the battlefield! I can help!"

"Kaname is on her first incarnation and isn't laboring under the artificial
limitations Yggdrasil and Nidhog put on younger Immortals," Mara noted.
"Megumi is in her twenties."

"Mara, I have to help!" Skuld protested. "I have to. It doesn't take powers
to help with hunting bugs and stuff."

Mara sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Skuld was a verifiable genius,
probably a Prophet, like Kaname, which would really speed things up if she
could activate that. And she needed all the help she could get.

But hell if this wouldn't piss off Belldandy and Urd something fierce.

"I'll think about it," Mara said. "I have to talk to some people about
this."

Skuld nodded firmly and pumped her hands in a fist.

This time she would help people and not screw up like with those stupid
spider things.

"I won't disappoint you!" she said.

"One other question," Mara said.

"What is it?" Skuld asked.

"Why is your hair pink?" the Demoness asked.
 ------------------------------

*Are you calmed down now?* Yonjuu asked, hopefully as Deimosu came into the
room.

He snapped his head toward where she was standing with Kurz in talking to
Nimu.

*Did you tell my Mom I was coming?* Deimosu asked.

Yonjuu looked a little nervous as she answered.

*You shouldn't upset your sisters and mother,* Yonjuu said. *I mean, you
actually have a good mother, unlike some of us.*

Deimosu grimaced and crossed his arms for a moment.

*You have a point,* he said reluctantly. *....And I haven't asked how you
are yet, have I?*

*No, you haven't yet,* Yonjuu said. *When I woke up you were working on
pushing radiation up into the upper atmosphere and then you were angry at
Kaname.*

Deimosu had no response for a moment.

*How are you?* Deimosu asked.

*I'm fine,* she said. *The bump on the head was the most serious thing
apparently. Now, shall we get on with visiting our respective sisters?*

She crossed her arms under her breasts and stared across at him, showing the
trace of personality that did show some of her descent from certain
individuals.

Deimosu likewise stared across at her with his arms crossed. At least she
wasn't directing her stubborness at calling herself ugly just at the moment.
Both nodded then and turned toward their relative.
 ------------------------------

Kasumi sat with Tofu quietly waiting the clear signal to be allowed to go to
Okinawa where Nabiki watched their daughter at Akane's and Ryuu's home.

Tofu waited until he couldn't sense anybody within hearing range.

"How long were you planning to do that?" he asked.

Kasumi was quiet for a moment.

"It has always been a contingency," she said quietly. "As for when I
decided, about when we recovered that poor Egyptian woman. The scale was
just somewhat larger than just my home and family."

"You could have told me," he said.

"You would have stopped me," Kasumi said. "Or gone with me. There was a
risk, Kimiko needs at least one of us."

Tofu frowned thoughtfully and looked down.

"You knew what I was when you married me," Kasumi said softly, looking away.
"I would still be here had not Wraith...removed us."

"Death is lighter than a feather," Tofu quoted. "You follow your duty then?"


"Our daughter also needs a home," she noted. "And a country."

Tofu nodded and wrapped an arm carefully around Kasumi's shoulders.
 ------------------------------

"What the hell am I doing here?" Mao demanded loudly as the sedatives wore
off and she came to in the hospital.

She started to sit up and swing her feet around to the floor and immediately
felt woozy before falling back again.

"I'd suggest you keep lying down for now," Dr Beckett said casually. "You're
still replacing lost blood and recovering from the sedative."

"I don't have time to sit around here and recover," Mao said with a grimace
as she sat up a little slower and more cautiously. "I have a mission to
run."

"As I understand it," Beckett responded, "that mission was already
concluded."

He pointed further down the room toward where Sousuke and Kaname were
visiting with Eija and then toward where Kurz was visiting with Nimu. As he
did so, Mao watched a certain red-head move quietly around Sousuke, giving
the mercenary a look that said there would definitely be a discussion
between her and the young Ainur later. However, for the moment, Ranma was
heading her way.

Even between the traces of sedative and not yet completely healed injury,
she felt a bit warm as she noted this evidence of Ranma's concern for her.
It was the same cute sort of paranoia he'd shown after Meridia when rumors
worked to her that the red-head had been asking around about her after the
fight.

Swinging her feet to the floor, slowly, Mao stood straight up, noticing the
bandaging that immobilized her injured arm for the first time. Shaking her
head, she reached up to scratch at her head as the red-head reached her
position and looked up into her face.

"Think this will get in the way as much as the broken leg?" she asked,
drawing a blush from the red-head who immediately looked around toward where
her kids were.

"Why is it always the outspoken women?" Ranma wondered quietly as she
confirmed that apparently nobody had caught the comment just yet. "Mao, I
think you should sit back down again."

Dr. Beckett, also flushing at the implications raised, turned to confirm the
suggestion.

"You're still a little disoriented," Beckett said. "So I have to agree
with...Director Satomi?"

"Right, privacy," she said, shaking her head to clear it and try to get back
on topic. "Don't worry, Doctor, I'm fine to stand around a little. Now, what
the hell happened with the mission?"

"Mara's Demons evacuated East Berlin," Ranma said. "The fallout isn't going
to be a problem immediately. There were problems...but we can wait to talk
about those. Right now, you should be resting. They've had Gods close the
wound, but there's still something to be said for bedrest. Am I right?"

She looked toward Dr. Beckett.

"Oh definitely," the man said emphatically. "At least for a couple of days."


"Does it matter where I get that bedrest?" Mao asked.

"No, I suppose, you could return to your quarters," Beckett said.

"All right," Mao said starting to walk woozily toward the door.

"Wait, maybe you should at least wait for the sedative to wear off
completely," he said.

"I got this," Ranma said, moving toward the taller woman and wrapping one
supportive hand around Mao's waist, and pulling the other woman's arm to her
shoulder. "I'll get her into bed just fine."

Beckett stared at her with a flush as did several other people who were
watching Ranma help Mao out the door.

"Not like that," Ranma muttered. "Perverts."

Mao was very close to saying "at least not until he slips into something
more comfortable...like taller and male" but kept enough presence of mind to
keep that underneath her smirk.

"I swear if you say anything about escorting a lady, Satomi," Mao did say,
however.

Ranma sighed and shook her head as she passed Eija's bed and nodded toward
Sousuke.

"We'll be talking in a little while, Sagara," she said in a straight tone.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, flushing a little.

"Just make sure not to kill him," Mao muttered as the two left the room.

At which point Naiki, Deimosu, Kyoko and others congregated around Eija's
bed where the Goddess was sitting up.

"Are they seeing each other?" Deimosu asked.

"No way," Naiki said, "she doesn't react to women ever. Back me up on this
one Yonjuu."

She yelled across the room.

"Quite, there are distinct smells whe..."

"There see?" Naiki said. "So how could they be dating, Mao is straight?"

Then she frowned and thought back to a few months back.

"Just a moment, didn't Okaasan..." Eija started to say.

*Your mother's been keeping the fact she has a male form secret,
Naiki,*Tessa warned as she felt the direction Naiki's own thoughts
were going.

And that brought Naiki moving across to slap a hand around Eija's mouth.

"Umm, Okaasan said nothing," Naiki said in a suspiciously false tone of
voice. "So, yeah, either they're not dating, or Mao's gone lesbian without
me or Yonjuu being able to smell it."

Eija meanwhile pointed toward the hand over the lower part of her face while
mumbling.

"Naiki," Kaname said. "Either let Eija breathe, or you'll be getting your
own bed here."

Naiki blinked and looked around toward the expressions on Sousuke and
Deimosu's faces and immediately pulled her hand back.

"Oh, sorry about that," she said, chuckling nervously as Eija took in a
breath.

Kyoko shook her head, covering her mouth to conceal a slight smile and
laugh.

"What is all that about?" Kurz asked, looking toward Yonjuu.

"I'm not particularly interested," Nimu said, sitting up. "I'm more
concerned being dragged out of a mission while I could still help."

"You couldn't walk," Kurz reminded her. "Any word on when you'll be out of
here, by the way?"

"Dr. Beckett assured me that I'd be ready for duty before the primary
invasion of Japan is ready," Nimu said.

"Which wasn't exactly what I was asking," Kurz said.

Yonjuu leaned in and sniffed at him curiously with narrowed eyes.

"Is there something wrong Yonjuu?" Nimu asked, crossing her arms curiously.

"Fifteen," the Ni said seriously drawing confused looks from both Nimu and
Kurz.
 ------------------------------

For a time, the entirety of the world was the vague feeling of connected
minds that made up the Ainur and the odd Whispered that still hadn't been
found.

It was mostly comforting, there were a lot more people involved since she'd
taken the chance not so long ago. And most of them were of good sorts from
what she could tell from the brief contact.

There had been something worrisome somewhere, like something missing or torn
out, but she reasoned that was likely an echo of her own mental state.
Especially as the damage done to her psychic connections was repaired and
the pain started to fade away.

Then the physical world started to come back into focus around her and she
was in a sensory deprivation tube with the ostentatious title of "Whisper of
Souls" and pushing her way out, the unlocked door swinging open easily.

Outside she found Belldandy and Keiichi along with a number of the Nekomi
Tech staff.

"H..how are you Sayoko?" Keiichi asked.

Internally, she still wanted to scream, or else go back into the comforting
immersion within the bulk of protective, decent Ainur minds, but she wasn't
going to show that chink in front of all her friends just now.

She stood up straight then brushed off her shoulders, taking in the simple
shift she was wearing, probably from the hospital.

"I think I need a change of wardrobe," she said with something of her old
behavior.

Keiichi breathed a sigh of relief, though Belldandy and Urd still seemed
concerned. The elder of the two was standing back with a grimace and looking
at Sayoko's face. Belldandy had a more direct manner of addressing things.

The grey-haired young woman stepped forward and pulled Sayoko into a
warm-comforting hug that had Sayoko blushing in embarrassment at the action.


"I'm sorry," Belldandy whispered. "We should have checked."

"Belldandy," Sayoko said, trying to keep a cool tone of voice, "I was clear
and safe and went back to help find Skuld. It wasn't your fault."

She looked around and noticed Skuld wasn't there.

"Where is Skuld is she still missing?" the Ainur asked.

"She was still in the hospital bed," Keiichi said, coming up to her and
Belldandy's side. "We were going to get her to come with us, but when we
went back, the Doctor's say she went to go speak to Mara about something."

"The Demon Queen pro-tem?" Sayoko asked, frowning.

"Don't worry about it," Chihiro said, stepping forward. "She's safe, you're
safe, Sora is safe. Keiichi, Bell and Urd are safe. Megumi's safe. Even
these two low-lifes are safe."

She jabbed her thumb back at Tamiya and Otaki.

"Aww, boss, will you let it go?" Otaki asked.

"Hey, Sayoko," Urd said finally. "I know they're going to ask you to check
in with one of the doctors or healers around here, want to come with me? I
kind of skipped out on that bit."

"Oh, I'm certain that I could handle both issues right now," Belldandy said,
turning momentarily away from Sayoko to look at Urd.

"No, she's right, best to be official about things," Sayoko said quickly.

Belldandy thought about pushing the issue, but shook her head, realizing
that Urd wanted to talk to Sayoko in private and Sayoko was willing to do
so.

"All right then," Chihiro said cautiously. "I think Keiichi and I need to go
look at tweaking the Scirroco a bit."

Keiichi nodded in agreement.

"Right," he said, wondering himself why Urd wanted a chance to talk to
Sayoko privately. "It could still be a bit more efficient and maybe we could
get Skuld in on something."

"Wait a minute," Tamiya said. "Shouldn't we have a party or something, why
are just going right back to work?"

"And aren't they already making more Scirrocos?" Otaki asked.

"Just get moving you traitors, go!" Chihiro snapped.

Belldandy was the last to leave the room, nodding back at Urd as she and
Sayoko headed in a different direction, toward the medical facility, moving
away from Atlantis' guarded Whisper of Souls.

"I take it you aren't buying the 'I'm fine thing,'" Sayoko said.

Urd glanced back over her shoulder and then turned toward the nearest shiny
surface she could, waving her hand over it to make it even more reflective
with a simple, temporary spell. Glancing in the makeshift mirror, Sayoko
noted that the diamonds that had once been at her eyes had become droplet
shapes, like tears, and the crown mark on her forehead seemed somewhat less
regal and more militant.

"Sometimes, a big enough event changes us down to the core," Urd said. "With
Immortals like you and me, that can show in the marks on our faces. And
that's not something you just get over. Even without that, you have to
know...we'd all know you weren't just better after two hours away from the
world."

Sayoko sighed and resisted the urge to slump as Urd canceled the mirror
effect.

"So...I'm going to be pregnant?" Sayoko asked.

"That's the usual pattern," Urd said quietly. "How do you want to handle
that?"

"I don't know," Sayoko said.
 ------------------------------

Mara's eyes blinked open as her door opened and she sat up quickly to see
what was happening. She'd only programmed a couple of people with access to
just open her door.

She was moderately surprised to see one of those people walking in with
another person.

"Ranma," Mara said. "And Lieutenant Mao, is something wrong?"

As she asked, Ranma moved Mao over to sit on the couch.

"Just stay in bed, Mara," Ranma said. "I'm just getting you both situated."

"I have my own assigned quarters, Satomi," Melissa said with a sort of tired
irritability. "Until I'm back on the DaDannan or Meridia is repaired at
least."

"Right," Ranma said. "So this is the situation. You, Mara, need to rest but
people keep bugging you..."

"And this helps how?" Mara asked.

"I'm getting to that," Ranma said.

Mao looked over at Mara then and frowned as she started to notice the other
woman's worse than normal pallor.

"You, Mao, need to rest, but you're determined to be 'doing' something,"
Ranma said. "So, here's the thing. Mao, stay in this room and make sure that
Mara gets at least eight hours sleep, preferably just let her sleep out til
she's good. That's light enough you're still getting rest, and it'll give
you something 'to do'. Are we agreed?"

Mao's mouth twitched into a smile and crossed one arm over where the other
was still isolated.

That had been explained to her, the outer wound had been closed and the
internal bleeding stopped, but they were keeping the arm isolated while some
of the damage to her bone and muscles healed completely, in addition to
replacing lost blood.

"Sooo, is this where Eija gets it?" the marine asked.

"What?" Mara asked rubbing her hand through her head as Ranma winced.

"What are you talking about?" the red-head asked cautiously, though she had
to admit she suspected what was coming.

"So have you slept together yet?" Mao asked.

Mara's eyes popped out wide and she whipped her head toward Mao and then
Ranma.

"Now wait a minute," she said. "I'm straight, really completely straight."

"He has a male form you know," Mao told Mara, and was gratified to see a
weak flush in the woman's face.

Given the apparent pallor she was in before, that said something.

"Melissa are you still high?" Ranma asked, pinching her nose.

Meanwhile Mao stood up from the couch where Ranma had set her down and moved
to sit down beside the shocked Mara, putting her good arm around the
Demoness.

"Now," the lieutenant said. "When you wake up, we're going to have to get
you and Satomi here a first date. And then we're going to have a girl-talk
about finding some lesbian out there, because you just know that the woman
side is going to get really pent up not getting anything out of the two of
us."

"I'm right here you know," Ranma said.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mara asked. "The only sort of
relationship I'd have with Ranma is a Stockholm Syndrome!"

"I'm not that bad..." Ranma muttered.

"Right, now go to sleep and try not to be distracted by imagining the idea
of spending a night with him trying to find your access port," Mao said with
a smile.

Mara and Ranma stared at her in disbelief before Mara narrowed her eyes.

"This is revenge for knocking you out and taking over your mission isn't
it?" Mara asked.

"And calling you a lady," Ranma reasoned.

"Yes," Mao said in cheerful tone.

"Could you just make sure she gets some sleep, and watch she doesn't have a
problem in the night," Ranma asked Mao weakly.

"Right," Mao said. "I'll make sure she gets all her necessary rest."

Ranma nodded and was about to leave the embarrassing scene when Mao snapped
her fingers.

"Ah ha!" Mao said.

"What is it?" Mara and Ranma asked.

"The secretary," she said.

"Yomiko?" Mara asked.

"I'll bet she's at least bi," Melissa said with a smirk.

The Demoness and exorcist went back to staring at the Ainur in mild
disbelief.

"You're still high, aren't you?" Mara muttered.

"Doesn't make it not a good idea," the marine said.

Then Mara found herself gently pushed back into bed by the marine with
currently one-good arm and firmly tucked in under the covers much to her
consternation.

"Now get some rest," Mao said. "And you don't worry, I'll make sure she's
plenty healthy to take things up later."

Ranma put her face in her palm as Mara just stared at the ceiling somewhat
confused.
 ------------------------------

Eija, Kaname and Sousuke came to a stop as they left the hallway and found
Ranma standing there with her arms crossed and waiting, by all appearances.
Eija swallowed nervously and Kaname laughed likewise as Sousuke came to
attention.

*How'd she get back here so fast?* Kaname asked.

*I seriously don't know,* Eija responded.

*Perhaps she's only been there a few seconds and felt us coming?* Sousuke
suggested hopefully.

"Sagara," Ranma said expectantly before reaching one hand out and giving a
"come here" gesture.

"Excuse me," Sousuke said, turning toward Eija and Kaname. "But I think
I..."

"You have to go," the girls said simultaneously.

"Also, privacy," Ranma said, glancing more toward Eija and Kaname than
Sousuke for the moment.

Both the girls nodded then as Ranma led Sousuke down the hall.

"I think we still need to get our blouses exchanged," Kaname said idly.

"Yes, true," Eija said. "We should attend to that."

*At least she thinks its mostly my fault that we...uh, slept
together,*Kaname sent to Eija.

*No, I think she feels this is something we all have a responsibility
for,*Eija said.

*Uh, by the way, as the medically trained of us, should we get
tested?*Kaname asked.

*It's only been a little more than a day,* Eija said. *I think it takes
something between one and two weeks for conception to actually happen. For
humans anyway. I haven't asked about Gods yet.*

Kaname paused and looked toward Eija.

"You think?" she said. "You don't know."

"I believe Naiki is the only one who has received that particular lecture
often enough to know it by heart," Eija noted.

"Well that makes sense," Kaname said, then she had an uncomfortable thought.


If it took two weeks to conceive that meant that Sousuke's...soldiers were
still...

The blush on Eija's face let her know that the thought had passed on to her
friend as well, though it was fainter. Probably because she already
basically knew that.

"Let's get those uniforms and meet back up whereever Sousuke is when Okaasan
is done speaking to him," Eija said quickly.

"Right," Kaname agreed.
 ------------------------------

Kaname snatched up the blouse she'd left in her borrowed room that morning.
Or was it yesterday by now? She'd been going so long and doing so much it
was hard to remember how long ago it was that she'd woken up this morning.

She was about to turn to leave when she caught a glimpse of herself in the
mirror. This was the first time she'd actually taken a good look at her own
face since the events the resulted in her changing to be what she was.

A first glance and her under-eye marks were somewhat similar to Eija's,
being almost drop like, but there were subtle differences. More like little
candle flames than falling drops of something liquid. Her forehead mark was
like a small portion of a starburst, one long ray and two shorter ones
pointed downward, like a rocket exhaust or something.

That was supposed to say something about the character of a God or Demon, or
maybe just personality since it didn't seem to be a way to tell the good
from the bad. So what exactly did it say about her, she wondered.

Grimacing, briefly she moved to the door with the blouse and walked out of
it.

Or would have if Deimosu hadn't been there getting ready to knock.

"Deimosu," she said, narrowing her eyes.

*Deimosu?* Eija replied. *Are you all right with him alone?*

"Chidori," he responded. "I want to talk to you."

*I'm fine, but I have to go for a moment,* Kaname said.

*Wait, are you...* Eija's thoughts shrunk to a muted mumble as Kaname turned
all her attention on Deimosu.
 ------------------------------

Eija took up the carefully folded blouse and headed for the door, aiming to
get to where Kaname was before her and Deimosu's talk developed into an
incident of some kind. Deimosu wouldn't intend to do anything, but Kaname
had some power now and both had rather real tempers. And Kaname
unintentionally going akira would just make Deimosu's opinion of her worse.

The Goddess had moved out into the hall and moving through the halls at a
quick step.

"Excuse me," a voice said that stopped Eija in her tracks.

She turned around slowly to look toward the source of the words, and saw an
older woman leaning painfully against the walls. She easily recognized who
it was.

"I seem to have gotten lost," the woman said with a wince. "I understand
that the Satomis are quartered somewhere in this direction. Would you happen
to know where?"

Eija's nervousness moved away at that question and she tried to put in her
mind the things that Kaname and Sousuke had reminded her of after her first
interactions with this woman.

"I am right here, Grandmother," she said, straightening herself and frowning
as firmly as she could manage at the moment.

That brought a curious reaction from the woman as she moved closer to the
wall and tried to straighten herself as she leaned forward, wincing at each
step.

"Are...are you all right?" Eija asked.

There didn't seem to be an immediate risk of death, or a sign of anything
advancing too quickly, but it was clear that the woman was in pain.

"You're...you're, which one are you?" Nodoka asked, reaffirming Eija's firm
and cautious attitude.

"I would assume that I am not the Satomi daughter who is one hundred
seventy-five centimeters with green hair," Eija noted, narrowing her eyes.

Nodoka frowned at the response, though it was hard for Eija to tell whether
or not it was from an effort of understanding what was said or in reaction
to the implied insult.

"Eija...am I correct?" Nodoka asked finally.

"Did you need a doctor, Grandmother?" Eija asked, hard tone cracking to
something gentler in spite of her intent. "Or would you rather receive aid
from someone who really exists?"
 ------------------------------

Sousuke could feel a fine sweat working over his brow as Ranma led him to
his quarters. That was deliberate, of course, he was quartered currently
with the other Mithril people, Eija and her family were quartered near the
Psyche freelancers and Kaname had been quartered with the civilians, but
closer to the Demons she was working with.

Sousuke wondered if Ranma had had anything to do with that arrangement but
dismissed that. It was likely just coincidence, and assigning everything to
the Satomi parent was likely just a healthy level of paranoia.

The door closed behind him and he stood rigidly at attention as Ranma moved
around in front of him.

"Before I relate what I've got from talking to Eija and Kaname," Ranma said.
"What do you have to say about what happened?"

"I have no excuse, Ma'am," Sousuke said sharply. "Events progressed
unexpectedly and I lost perspective on my actions."

"So you're saying, if you had to do it over, you wouldn't have gone through
with it?" Ranma asked.

Sousuke started to open his mouth and stopped as he was aware of both Eija
and Kaname's emotions pushing through their blocks in the back of his mind.
It caused him to hesitate just a couple of seconds.

"Good answer," Ranma said, misunderstanding the reason for Sousuke's
hesitance.

"But...I didn't say anything, Ma'am," he said, trying to split his attention
between Kaname, Eija and Ranma.

"Sometimes there aren't any good answers," the exorcist said. "Especially
when you get into a situation like this one."

There was a clear tone to her voice that said she would not be so
understanding if there were a repeat performance in the near future.

"I understand Ma'am," Sousuke said, swallowing nervously.

"How are you handling the Kalinin thing?" Ranma asked a bit quieter. "I got
the feeling that he was important to you."

"He was my...superior, Ma'am," Sousuke said tightly.

Ranma sighed and shook her head. That meant that he wasn't dealing with it
at all just yet. Ranma herself only had the faintest idea of what Kalinin
was to Sousuke, however, so she wasn't exactly in a place to help much.

"People...get lost," Ranma said finally. "That's all I can really tell you
without knowing more about the circumstances. His and yours."

"It is under control, Ma'am," Sousuke assured Ranma.

The red-headed exorcist arched an eyebrow but went ahead.

"I'm guessing that that and other things had something to do with what
happened," Ranma explained quietly. "But, this doesn't happen again until
people are older, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sousuke said.

"You will be joining Kaname and Eija in training," the martial artist
promised him finally.
 ------------------------------

"I'm getting really tired of you, Deimosu!" Kaname snapped not letting
Deimosu get started talking. "Every time you're around, you're harping and
me or Sousuke!"

Deimosu started to open his mouth and found Kaname stepping forward and
leaning up into his face.

"You spend all your time looking for something to snap at us for," she said.
"And you keep coming back to that stupid locker thing that happened months
ago!"

Her hands curled into fists and she thumped Deimosu on one of his shoulders.
He lightly felt it, though she put some strength into it.

"And don't give me crap about wanting to protect Eija, because you're
ignoring her!" Kaname said.

What Deimosu had been planning to say went out the window as Kaname said
that.

"How dare you!" he snapped. "I have always protected my sisters! I have
never ignored when they're in trouble!"

"I got news for you, Deimosu," Kaname said. "They don't need that kind of
protecting! Do you know what Eija really needs? She needs to people to push
her to make decisions and stick with them."

"And you think she gets that by you dragging her into a triangle as some
sort of window dressing," Deimosu asked.

"I really don't know who first suggested that," the blue-haired girl said,
calming down and turning quieter and looking down. "Part of me thinks it's
the way we're linked, but then I look at Tessa and Naiki and they don't
share the same interests in people at all. So I don't know what it is. Then
again, it might be because they don't share the same taste in personalities
or looks or gender that this hasn't happened with them."

She frowned then and glared back at Deimosu.

"And if you're one to talk about treating her like window dressing," Kaname
said. "She's not some character in your heroic fantasy, she's your sister!
And not everything she does revolves around you, and she doesn't stop
existing when you're not around! Hell, I'd trust Naiki's judgment over
yours!"

"Naiki gets herself nearly killed out of sheer recklessness on a regular
basis!" Deimosu protested.

"And?" Kaname asked pointedly.

Deimosu's mouth and eyes twitched as he stared down at Kaname.

"And how do you encourage her to make decisions?" the blonde Ainur asked.

"I ask her advice," Kaname said. "Constantly. I've been practically having
her write my script for the last couple of months, actually. I ask her what
she wants to do. Sousuke's the same way. Unless there's some sort of
dangerous emergency, then they're both good."

"If you hurt her..." Deimosu said.

"If I betray one of them, the other won't forgive me," Kaname assured
Deimosu. "And if any outsider comes after one of us, we'll retaliate."

"And what can you do to someone strong enough to do anything to them?"
Deimosu asked.

"Do you know how many psychic viruses I've helped breakdown recently,
Deimosu?" she asked. "Do you think I just forget how they work?"

Her eyes glittered warningly.

Deimosu crossed his arms with a frown and stared down at her where she
refused to bulge and his eyes wandered to the shirt over her shoulder and
how it was clearly too small for her.

"Is that Eija's shirt?" he asked.

Kaname flinched then and pulled the shirt behind her.

"Uhhh, we got some laundry mixed up," the girl said quickly and then shaking
her head and returning to her glare. "So let's finish this. We're going to
stop arguing or fighting around Eija right?"

"You're doing laundry wi..."

"Right?" Kaname insisted. "Because she doesn't like us fighting."

"Fine," Deimosu said. "But I'm still keeping an eye on you."

"That's just fine," Kaname said, throwing her head up and walking forcefully
down the hallway.
 ------------------------------

Nodoka pushed off the wall and tried to stand up straight, but fell against
the wall again. Eija's eyebrows darted up as her look softened for a moment
as she stepped forward intending to help the older woman. Then she
remembered how she'd been treated the last time she'd encountered this
particular grandmother.

The older samurai woman squinted her eyes for a moment and then shook her
head as she breathed heavily.

"Do...you al...ways wear those awful things in front of your eyes?" she
asked.

Eija's hand reached up to her face and the sunglasses she habitually wore.
At the same time the Goddess winced from the callous, petty remark.

"I...suppose it has to do with the fact that light somewhat hurts my eyes,
Grandmother," Eija returned after some thought. "Now I think you need to be
going to see a doc..."

"Is that an attempt at being witty?" Nodoka asked.

Eija winced again and slumped at the remark. Why was this woman bothering to
talk to her at all if she was just going to give petty insults.

"As you wish, a direct question," Eija said, she tried to firm up her
expression, but couldn't do it without recalling when she'd sealed Hecate.

Instead of a firm and confident glare, the memory of Persephone's death gave
her a tremble of the lip and voice as she continued speaking.

"Why did the mother of the mother who saw me as a tool treat me with love,"
Eija asked, "while the mother of the mother who raised and protected me
treats me as an abomination?"

Nodoka took a breath then and resisted the urge to answer right away as she
reconsidered the question. Something about the emotion put into those words
came through the pain that was still garbling her thought. This was
something she didn't want to leave toward the trash in her mind just yet.
Her breath came in sharp twists.

"Is...there an answer?" Eija asked.

"Did?" Nodoka repeated. "Did something happen to your other grandmother?"

Eija shoulders dropped some more and Nodoka was instantly aware that she had
said something wrong, though it was hard to lay on to what exactly. Hadn't
there been a question to answer?

Eija reached up a hand to wipe at her cheeks.

"I see," Eija said quietly, stepping forward. "I'll take you to the hospital
now, Grandmother."

Nodoka winced and resisted the urge to sit down as the pain worsened again.
Yesterday, or was it this morning, sometime recently, she'd been coherent
enough to attempt to avenge her...daughter? She had a son didn't she? But
everything was turning frustratingly into a mush now.

"If you could, young woman," Nodoka said, trying to force herself to speak
with a normal tone. "Take me to the Satomi's instead. I need to make an
apology to...someone..."

Eija blinked and stared at Nodoka with shivering shoulders and blinked. Had
Nodoka simply decided to return to disbelieving Eija's raw existence? Or was
she...was she really in that much pain?

"I...I think you need to see a doctor first," Eija said in a clearly worried
tone.

"I've seen a doctor," Nodoka said. "It doesn't do anything. I believe some
of the Gods have told me it is a curse..."

"A curse...then," Eija said. "I think I might know who to go to...umm...if
you would follow me, please....Saotome-san..."

She gestured for Nodoka to follow and hesitantly held out a hand to offer as
support, still more than half worried that this was some sort of cruel
trick.
 ------------------------------

"Mara's sleeping, Eija, go find someone else," Mao said before glancing
toward Nodoka suspiciously. "Are you okay with her?"

"You seem familiar, miss," Nodoka said to Mao.

"Uhhh, let's call that doctor," Mao said quickly.

*Ehh? Eija, what are you doing over by Mara's room?* Kaname sent.

*Well, I'm trying to get help for my grandmother,* Eija started to explain.

*Have you had contact with Persephone's spirit?* Sousuke asked.

*No, Persephone crossed over,* the Goddess said. *I was speaking of the
other...*

And she had an impression of both Kaname and Sousuke rushing to get to her
position.

*I am not in danger,* she protested with a mental sigh.
------------------------------
 ------------------------------
 ------------------------------

Update on Original Reboot:

most of the Expies created, first book's format decided on

There will be a short prologue completely of dialogue with unidentified
speakers, five to seven character centric pieces stretching from a month
before the first day of classes to a month after....the aborted school
vacation is going to come into play in the last five to six chapters,
followed by an epilogue between the unidentified speakers of the prologue

Written so far: Mao Semezou's char-focus (Ranma's expy...yes, naming her Mao
is an in joke)....Yoon-Ji "Yooji" Jeon's char-focus (Kaname's expy)

The campaign guide progress

History of world to point of the story...write ups on the three Immortal
races, write ups on various organizations (Nirvana, Yomi, Avalon, Psyche,
Legion), description of supernatural abilities

to do: Magic descrip, finish world write up, some editing for mythology
changes, mortal history add in...campaign write up, character descrips.

The DB original reboot novels are going to be written as one-possible result
of the way things go in the campaign....
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