[REPOST] [FF] [AMG] Plague of Skulds Part 2 of 8

Plague of Skulds  Part 2 of 8

An Oh! My Goddess Fanfic

By Jim Nutley

jnutley@lvnexus.net
Please send me comments!  Good or Bad.

All characters created by Kosuke Fujishima were used without
permission, as were characters from products by Studio CLAMP and
Bandai.  This story may not be sold.  Many thanks to Brett Handy for
allowing me to use his character Brett, God of Destiny. Many thanks 
to Lloyd Goodbar for allowing me to use his character Riana, a 
Goddess of Relief Goddess Office.   

Please do not repost this fanfic, since I will be modifying it in 
response to comments from the ML.  I will make a repostable version 
available when I have had a chance to respond to comments.



***************


Belldandy, Skuld, and Terai left on foot after the dishes were done.  They
walked to a train station and rode into Nekomi city proper.  It was shortly
after morning rush, so Skuld and Terai stood while Belldandy took an
empty seat.  Terai asked questions nonstop.

"Skuld, why are there windows on the train cars?"

"So people can see out, Terai."

"But they're all facing in, or reading.  Wouldn't it be easier to make the
train cars with no windows?"

"Ugh!", replied Skuld, "That would be like riding inside a box.  People
would get train-sick or claustrophobic."

"I don't understand either of those two words, Skuld."

"Well Terai ... did you ever feel, um, bad in your stomach, like you wanted
to spit out what was inside?"

"Usually, I don't have a stomach, Skuld."

'Oh Poo', thought Skuld.

The three of them spent the morning in Nekomi's shopping district.  Skuld
tried to be patient with her friend, but Terai seemed to literally have a
million questions.  Belldandy kept a few steps behind the two girls and let
them lead the way.  After two hours of being quizzed on the purpose,
construction, and reasoning behind every product in every store, Skuld
started suggesting that they visit a nearby ice cream shop.  Terai would
agree, but no sooner would they leave one store than Terai would see
something fascinating in the next shop window, and have to examine it
more closely, and have dozens of questions about it.

"Skuld, why do humans wear shoes?"

"To protect their feet, from sharp or hard things on the ground."

As she paused to ponder Skuld's answer, Terai reached onto the display
shelf and picked up a women's dress shoe with a stiletto heel.  Skuld could
see two or three interminable lines of inquiry about to begin.  To keep
from bursting into frustrated tears, Skuld focused her imagination on the
triple scoop bowl of ice cream she would order at the shop, no, make that
a Lucky Badger seven scoop super bowl.

"But Skuld, since human feet are designed to carry them across a variety
of terrain, not using them directly will keep them from toughening up. 
Don't they perceive that as counter-productive?"

She was going to order two Lucky Badger seven scoop bowls, Skuld
promised herself.  One for Terai and one for herself and Terai was going
to be lucky to get a single taste spoon of each scoop if they didn't get there
soon.  "Actually Terai, humans like to keep their feet soft and can we
PLEASE go get ice cream now?"

"I'm sorry, Skuld", said Terai, just as sincerely as she had said it in each of
the last four shops they had visited.  "Let's go right away."

The three of them trooped out of the shoe store, went ten feet along the
side walk, and then Terai cried out "OH! Look at that!" and ran into a
Kimono and Bridal dress shop.  Skuld stood outside trying not to scream. 
Belldandy came up behind her and put a sisterly hand on her shoulder.

"We are very close to the ice cream shop now, Skuld." said Belldandy. 
"And you are helping your friend have a very good time."

"Thanks, Oneesama."  Skuld gave her sister a quick hug.  "Ooohhh, what
kind of questions is Terai going to ask me in here?"  But she steeled
herself and followed her friend inside and Belldandy came right behind
her.

Terai had passed the racks of bridesmaid dresses and the mannequins
with formal wear and had her hands full of four different kinds of lace that
was kept on rolls on a shelf.  "Skuld, come look at this!", she called.

Belldandy looked around for the clerks and/or the manager, and saw no
one.  She wandered farther back into the store and came to a spot full of
mirrors.  At that moment every working person in the store came out of
the dressing room, hovering around or carrying the train or assisting in
arranging the hoop skit of a fantastic and fantastically expensive wedding
dress, worn by Mishima Sayoko.  There was absolutely no escape for
Belldandy.   Sayoko was admiring herself in the mirror but spotted
Belldandy's reflection anyway.

Sayoko's voice was as smooth as ever, "Belldandy.  You must tell me
what you think of this dress.  And I'd like Morisato-Kun's opinion too,
where is he?"

"Keiichisan isn't with me this morning, Sayokosan."

"How unusual.  Is something wrong?"

"No Sayokosan, I'm escorting my sister and her friend shopping, we'll
meet Keiichisan for lunch."

"Well it's a pity he's not here, it's difficult to get a man's opinion of
wedding dresses, they seem to stay away from these stores as if they held
fates worse than death."  Sayoko turned back to the mirrors.

Meanwhile up front, Terai was holding the bands of lace in front of her
face and explaining something, probably preparatory to another question,
Skuld didn't want to be rude, but she was having trouble focusing on
anything other than her mental ice cream image.

"It looks just like this Skuld, except darker, and all around."

"Umm Hum", answered Skuld.

Terai went on.  "Grandmother held ... well kind of like my 'hand', until my
vector was just right..."

Back in the back, Sayoko was continuing on Belldandy.  "But you haven't
given me your opinion yet, Belldandy, what do you think of this dress?"

Belldandy thought that the dress cost more than the salaries for all three
clerks for a year, but then maybe that would keep the store profitable and
let them keep their jobs.  Struggling to think of something complementary
to say about the ostentatious dress, Belldandy tried to change the subject. 
"I didn't know you were getting married, Sayokosan."

"Oh I'm not, at least I don't think I am."  Sayoko observed Belldandy's
blank look and laughed.  "My father has arranged some introductions for
me, ambitious, connected young men I'm sure, or he wouldn't have
approved them.  Of course I wouldn't be so feudal as to simply select one
of them, but I suppose one might be cute and charming enough,...  In the
mean time, father's arrangements are a perfect excuse to try on every
wedding dress in Nekomi City."

Out in front, Terai was still talking, and Skuld was still pretending to
listen.  "...It seemed like I had to wait the longest time to start, but the
Gods and Goddesses had to check every variable before I could begin. 
They even had to measure my vector to ten decimal places, to be sure I
was complying with Kamisama's assignment..."

Sayoko spun to face Belldandy, and the clerks scrambled to keep the dress
in order.  Belldandy sighed, "Aren't you going to fall in Love, Sayokosan?"

Sayoko laughed again.  "Love is a game for college students, Belldandy. 
I'm going to marry a man who can keep me in the social strata appropriate
to my family's standing."  She turned back toward the mirrors and herself. 
"And what about you, Belldandy?  Have you fallen in Love?  Will your
story end happily or will Morisato's parents step in to, ... protect their
son's best interests?"

Out front, Terai was lost in her story and Skuld was just lost.  ".. so when
they finally said I could begin, I closed my..., well I didn't have eyes, but
..."

Terai, still holding the lengths of lace, stepped out into the middle of the
store, closed her eyes and raised one hand over her head.  Skuld was
startled back to the present as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up,
but it was too late.

"**Spin, spin around me, dusty womb.**", Terai intoned.  And the lace
began wrapping her in a spiral as She spun on her heel to her left, and
Skuld's hair stretched out in Terai's direction, and the dresses began to
reach their arms out and then fly off the racks to twist into a growing
maelstrom with Terai in the center.  Even in the back of the store, objects
and people felt an increasing pull in Terai's direction, as if the floor was
tilting away from level.  Belldandy found herself hanging on to Sayoko
with one hand and the wall with another.  The clerks were screaming, and
the shop seemed to lift up on it's side, while upfront, Skuld had been
pulled completely off her feet.

"TERAI!!!", yelled Skuld, as she traced a very elliptic orbit around her
friend "I GET THE POINT ALREADY!!!"

"Oh!" said Terai, suddenly realizing what she had been doing.  She made
a swift downward motion with her hands and the floor became a floor
again.  Belldandy found her footing and kept Sayoko from falling over as
well.  The clerks released their grips on door knobs and counters.  Skuld
plowed into a jumbled pile of clothing at Terai's feet.

"Was that an earthquake?" asked one of the clerks.

Belldandy shrugged her shoulders.  Keiichi would have encouraged such
an idea in this situation, she thought, but she could not bring herself to
deceive them.  Fortunately, distraction was provided from another quarter.

"Get me out of this thing NOW!" hissed Sayoko.  Her tone of command
was well practiced and it snapped the clerks into action.  Sayoko and the
clerks went back into the dressing room without a second look at
Belldandy.

Belldandy went forward to where Terai, with a sheepish expression, was
standing in the middle of a ring of silk, lace, mannequin parts and a few
metal clothes stands.  As she drew near, Skuld climbed to her feet, yanked
a wedding veil off her head, noticed that her skirt was bunched up around
her waist and frantically beat it back down to her thighs.

"Out!", said Skuld.

"Wait.", Belldandy injected.  She glanced behind her to be sure all the
clerks were in the dressing room, and she peeked out the window to be
sure no one was watching.  Belldandy shifted her purse to her shoulder
and formed her trademark globe of light between her hands.  "**Fabrics,
clothes, odds and ends-To your places now ascend**", she intoned.

Anyone looking might have thought they were watching special effects. 
The clothes and other things lifted of their own accord and returned to
their original order.  In moments, the store looked just as it had when they
entered.

"Thank you Belldandy, I'm very sorry", said a downcast Terai.

"No harm done" responded Belldandy cheerily, "But perhaps we should
continue to the ice cream store now."

"YES" insisted Skuld and the three of them trooped out the door.  Once
again though, they didn't go far before...

"Ohh!  Look over there!"

"Terai!", Skuld whined.

"But look Skuld!" said Terai, "Here's a picture of me, I mean us, I mean
my neighborhood!"  Terai had come to stop in front of a store that sold
science gadgets and pictures.  She was pointing to a poster in the window. 
"Humm, you can't see me though, ... I should be right ... there!"  Terai
poked at a spot. 

"Skuld," asked Belldandy, "Isn't there a delay between what is happening
there and what humans can take pictures of?"

"Speed of Light," replied Skuld cryptically, "7000 years, by the caption on
the poster, but that's way inexact, and now..".  Skuld reached over Terai's
shoulders and clamped her hands over Terai's eyes.  "We're going to
the ice cream store NOW.  Walk this way Terai, I'll guide you."  So the
three of them set off again, Skuld ensuring that Terai would see absolutely
nothing until they entered the ice cream shop.

"Umm, Skuld," asked Terai, "If everyone goes to the ice cream store this
way, doesn't it cause unnecessary traffic problems?"

"Teraiiiiii!"

As the three of them turned the corner, Sayoko walked up to the window
they had been looking into.  She hadn't overheard the conversation, but
weird things always happened around Belldandy and someday she was
bound to slip and leave a clue Sayoko could decipher.  Sayoko looked the
poster over, it was a picture of clouds in a night-time sky.  Her English
was quite good, but the words of the title of the poster 'Starbirth in
Serpens' meant nothing to her in any context she understood.  After a
moment she continued on her own errands and filed the incident under the
extensive 'Belldandy weirdness' file.