Megumi's Big Day by Gregg Sharp ===== Rock supplied by Anon E Mouse Pond supplied by Kosuke Fujishima Coffee supplied by Gloria Jean's ----------------------- "Small changes snowballing." The goddess flung back a strand of hair. "Used to prop up a fading timeline and then the winner of this Bet sees the timeline of their choice stabilized." "That's it," agreed Toltiir, god of mischief. "So just a little tiny change may have far-reaching consequence." Bast purred as she looked over. "Tsk. Everyone is either concerned with a sexchanging martial artist or a bunch of superpowered schoolgirls. What about...this!" "Hmmm." The little black cat that was Toltiir examined the scrying pool. "Y'know, I don't think I've seen that one before..." -------------------------- Megumi stared at her brother's bike as he went driving off without a second look. "Oh, hello there." Megumi turned to face the girl in the doorway to the house. "Uhm. Hello. Is this where my brother, Keiichi is staying?" Nah, it couldn't be. Kei with a girl? And a babe at that? Never happen. "Why, yes, it is. So you're his sister?" Belldandy bowed, she thought she had the local customs down. She'd have to review the file on Japanese families. "I'm sorry, you just missed him. He left his wallet accidently at the store, you see. Please come in, he should be back shortly." Megumi grinned. She'd just about given up on her brother ever attracting anyone. And here he was with some gaijin girl. "Way to go, Keichi..." "I beg your pardon?" Belldandy wasn't mindreading, after all, Megumi wasn't her client. "Oh nothing," Megumi picked her bags up again and followed the woman in. "Oh, my name is Megumi. Megumi Morisato." She glanced around the foyer. Nice, clean, simple. "Ah. My name is Belldandy," she smiled and extended her hand for Megumi to shake in a Western fashion. "Glad to meet you, Belldandy." Megumi smiled, there was something just so overwhelmingly NICE about this girl. "Just moving in, huh? Wow. So you and my brother get along well, do you?" "Oh yes," Belldandy nodded. "Would you like some tea? We just got this in?" "Hmmm. I see your gas hookups haven't been made yet. So how long have you known my brother?" Belldandy hesitated. "Uhm. That question is actually a little complicated." Belldandy tapped the stove and a bright blue flame sprang up. The question had caught her off guard and she had gotten a little nervous. Megumi stood up from checking the gas connections and stopped. "Uhm, this isn't electric. The gas isn't hooked up. How are you doing that?" Belldandy blinked. "Oh, just magic. Why?" Megumi started inspecting the circle of flame. It was just sitting in midair inside the burner on the stove. It was quite hot, she could feel the heat coming off of it when she tried to find how the thing was burning without fuel. "Magic doesn't exist..." She didn't sound too sure of herself. Megumi thought for a moment. "A plasma toroid? No apparent fuel. No apparent reason for it to be there." Megumi turned her gaze to Belldandy. Maybe she was an alien or an esper or something. There had to be a rational explanation but what she was observing was outside the framework of day-to- day reality. Therefore, when confronted with something that was clearly impossible, it was an indication that there was something outside normality- ie consider the explanations that were NOT normally rational. "Are you an alien then? Esper? Witch? Superhero?" Megumi frowned. What was it that some SF writer had said? "Any technology sufficiently advanced enough would be indistinguishable from magic." "Are you all right, Megumi?" The sincere concern in Belldandy's voice reached Megumi. Sighing. "Okay, why don't you tell me how you and my brother got together?" -------------------------- Keichi stopped his bike and shrugged the kinks out of his shoulders. "NO WAY!" Keichi dropped his helmet. That had come from within the house! What could Bell have run into that SHE couldn't handle? Keichi rushed in, and finding no one in the foyer, headed for the kitchen. He skidded to a stop as he saw his sister and Belldandy sitting together and talking. "Keichi," Megumi said in a dangerous tone. "We HAVE to talk." Keichi swallowed nervously. "Uh, yeah." ------------------------------------- "So we agree to keep this little secret?" Megumi cautioned her brother and his... "Say, Belldandy, what exactly is your relationship to my brother." "Well, the wish was that I be his girlfriend forever..." Megumi blinked. A goddess was blushing. One of the reborn Norns, in fact. Today just seemed to pile on unexpected developments. "Uh-huh." "Why ask, Megumi?" "Well, I was just thinking how good you two look together," Megumi waited until Keichi was taking a drink. "I just can't wait to meet the inlaws." Belldandy's blush actually increased. -------------------------------- Where to go from here? Megumi knows all about Belldandy, even before Urd shows up. Keichi gets some mortal assistance in the secret keeping dept. When Urd and Skuld show up, Megumi is there and is fascinated by Skuld's mechanics. The two settle into an odd rivalry with Megumi supporting the Bell/K1 thing and Skuld opposing. When Marller shows up, Megumi is targetted for the insanity but she understands what is going on. When Yggdrasil crashes, she "tags along" (remember the odd rivalry with Skuld) just to see if she can lend a hand. Megumi meets a really nice guy in Asgard. Now Megumi's in the same sort of mess her brother's in. Subject to change without notice, but i thought Fray (Frey) would be a cool choice... Then, as the saying goes, things get truly weird. Eventually there's the wedding of Belldandy and Keichi. Demons (Marller in particular) want to crash the party. Opposing them are various gods, goddesses, and non-aligned supernatural beings (independent demons, elemental spirits, cherry tree spirits, dragons, etc) that have had affairs with mortals or are the result of such unions. (Hercules immediately comes to mind.) After the wedding, things begin to settle down for Bell and K1. Not so for Frey and Megumi, though a number of mortals and "others" DID mix at the wedding. The MiB run through, but end up cutting deals for the "benefit of all concerned." And, just so I can have my little Ranma reference, Hercules accidently defeats Shampoo in front of Cologne. (Well, she wanted a strong husband,ne?) This happens during the wedding and the only other thing we see of it is a running (literally) joke with Herc being pursued by an amazon on a bicycle... =================== maybe my tagline should be: "And nOw foR sOmEtHiNg Completelee Diffyrent." ja ne, gregg