"So tell me why I'm doing this again?" I asked, while toying with the
spacebar on my keyboard.
Nabiki arched an eyebrow and paused from popping a potato chip into
her mouth. "So your legions of loyal fans will understand just what's
delaying Awakening 12, of course."
"Right, I knew there was a reason." My hands halted, poised over the
keyboard. "Wait a minute; what legion of loyal fans?"
"Well, you must have some..."
"Uh huh, so this would be like the legion of Nabiki Tendo boyfriends,
then?"
"Well, at least I have a legion of fanboys."
"Not really my type; wrong gender for one thing."
Nabiki threw a chip. It bounced off my forehead, leaving a coating of
oil and salt behind. "Your humour just sinks like a lead weight at
times."
"Thank you. I learned from a mistress of the art."
"You know, Phil, sometimes I think I might just--"
"Fall passionately in love with me?" I asked, hopefully.
"--write a revenge fic, starring a certain annoying author."
"But it's just too much effort, right? You'd rather be out making
money, or reading manga, or teasing Ranma, right?"
"Bah, it's boring being stereotyped. Anyway, get on with it."
"Get on with what?"
"An Awakening of Demons, remember? The interminable delays, the
lame excuses, the..."
"Okay, okay, I got it! Right, Awakening will be somewhat delayed
owing to the fact that I've started a full-time Masters course--"
...crunch...
"--a full semester ahead of schedule. I'll still be making an
effort to push out chapters, but don't expect them with any regularity
or speed--"
...munch...
"-- and I apologise to loyal fans in advance."
...chomp...
"Will you stop that?"
Nabiki fluffed the empty potato bag, held the top closed, and popped
it with a small bang. "All done. No one's interested in your lame
excuses, anyway."
Quietly grumbling about all-too-real figments of imagination, I sneaked
a finger over to the tape deck and pressed play.
"Nabiki Tendo, accept the love of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan,
Tatewaki Kuno, aged seventeen!"
Nabiki yelped and leapt four feet high from a prone position - an
impressive feat under any circumstances.
The menacing glare flash-frying my eyebrows a moment later was no less
impressive. If looks could kill, I'd have been scorched, torched, and
melted like a candle in the path of a raging inferno.
I hide a tiny chuckle of amusement... and a few shivers of palpitating
fear.
"Enjoy your little joke, while it lasts." The icy mien was back and
utterly chilling. "Don't forget who the Queen of Vengeance is in
Ranma 1/2, Phil."
"Heh heh. Sorry, Nabiki. You'll forgive me, right?" Silence, in this
case, was not golden. "Right? Right?"
---
Hmm. I may have put my foot into it. Oh well.
A last word of advice. Thinking of doing a full-time Masters in
addition to work commitments? Well, don't. ^_^
Phil - hoping everyone on the FFML is doing fine.