Unequally, Continuation. We're reaching a point of no return here...
None of them dared say anything until Ako of all people broke the maddening silence.
"It's Latin, not Russian."
"How do you know?" Makie asked.
"Many medicines have names with Latin roots, so I had to take a few lessons on the language," the assistant nurse explained.
"This doesn't look like medicine to me!" Yuuna pointed at the battle.
"No, it doesn't," Izumi agreed.
"Then, what does it say?" Sasaki prodded.
Ako held the bottle closer, scowling. "I don't remember that much of my lessons, but it says here it's 'Non-Toxic', so I'm sure it's no poison. It's very hard Latin. Let's see, here it says it helps you find Happiness... or Joy... but other than that, I don't understand a thing."
Yuuna sniffed the bottle. "It smells like the fine liquor Dad keeps for the special visits. Maybe Iincho likes to down a few between classes?"
"Iincho? The well behaved, strict, law abiding Iincho?" Ako sounded incredulous.
"Well, you know how it goes! The more uptight people is outdoors, the worse they are indoors! Rich people and aristocrats have all sorts of decadent habits!" Yuuna argued.
"I've never seen Iincho drunk, and I've roomed with her for more than a year..." Makie hesitated.
"Maybe she's a controlled drinker," the daughter of Professor Akashi shrugged.
"That's just plain silly," said Ako.
Another long, uncomfortable silence ensued.
"I'm curious! I'll pour myself a bit!" Makie decided suddenly, pulling a small glass in.
"Are you crazy?" asked Yuuna. "What if it's laxant?"
"What if it's something magical?" Ako wondered.
That made both of the other Sports Girls to look at her, intrigued.
"Why would it be magical? I'm pretty sure Iincho doesn't know anything about magic!" Yuuna said.
"I don't know. I admit it's unlikely, but you don't see many drinks labeled in Latin in this time and age, do you?" the pale haired girl sounded nearly exasperated.
"Maybe it's a rich people thing?" Makie asked. "Iincho has many things with labels in weird foreign languages around. Like those strange vibrating things with Negi-kun's face painted on them I found in her underwear drawer last weekend..."
Ako and Yuuna stared blankly at her.
"Have I spoken out of turn?" the gymnast said meekly.
"Well, it's more like you have just pointed at an elephant in the room, but we'd have liked to keep on pretending the elephant didn't exist," Yuuna sighed. "Never mind, it's not your fault."
"Ah?" Makie tilted her head aside.
"Never mind, it's not your fault!" Yuuna repeated herself.
"Anyway, I'm taking the plunge!" Makie huffed. "The bottle is half-empty, so it's obvious Iincho must have drunk from it! I'll bet it's the thing keeping her skin so beautiful, or her hair so blond, or something like that!" she poured herself half a glass.
"Makie, no!" Ako gasped.
Yuuna made a humming sound. "Maybe Makie has a point. If it's really magical, and it 'brings joy', it'd explain why she has everything in life. It might be a family secret explaining their success."
"Oh, now you're grasping for straws!" Ako pouted. "You only want to drink it because it's liquor, and you've never done it before!"
"Yeah, you could be right, too," Yuuna groaned, serving herself half a glass as well. "You know, ever since I was in that horrible place, I find myself asking myself 'So what?' more and more often. Between Chao's insane plan I'm still intending to follow to the letter and everything else, I'm learning the world doesn't make one iota of sense, and you gotta take it as it comes. So I'll do just that. Cheers!"
And with that, she gulped the drink down quickly, making a long, satisfied sound at the end.
Makie, who still had her untouched glass between her hands, blinked adorably. "Wow... I didn't think you'd really do it!"
"It tastes great!" Yuuna licked her lips. "Strongest flavor I've ever had, but wonderful! You try it too, Makie!"
"Okay!" the pink haired girl nodded and gulped happily.
Ako, a bit paler now, watched her drink before warily pouring herself a tiny cup as well. "I... I just hope this is little enough for Iincho not to notice the difference..."
And she was the third one to drink.
edited 4th Aug '11 3:49:48 PM by NapoleonDeCheese
@SCM: "Two months later, the girls staged a hostile takeover (...)"
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.More of Negi's jobs!
A Member of Akatsuki
The holographic members of Akatsuki stared at the little kid waving at them.
"He's our what now?" Deidari asked, not sure he'd heard it right the first time.
"Token shota," Nagato said. "We needed better publicity, and this was the easiest way to get it. It also helps us in the demographic of girls 8 to 14, though it works on all ages."
"Oh, come on," Kisame growled. "What good is that? We're Akatsuki."
"We still need funding, and thanks to this, we finally got that contract with Lady Daidouji of Piffle country."
They considered that.
"Can we get another one?" Kakuzu said.
"It just so happens, we're getting our token loli tomorrow…"
The next day, Negi was attacked by the token loli who was screaming about his father while Deidara held up his contract at Nagato and demanded they get rid of her. He was their puppet-user, darn it!
A School Counselor
"Now, what would you like to talk about—" Negi checked his clipboard. "— Itoshiki-sensei?"
"I'M IN DESPAIR! MY STATE AS A CAMEO CHARACTER HAS LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!"
Negi considered this. "Lollipop?" he said, offering a jar of them.
"Oh, thank you."
A Secret Agent
"Two," Johnny English said proudly.
"69, babeh," Austin Powers countered.
"137," James Bond said. English scowled at him. Austin gave him a thumbs up.
Agent double-0 32 thoughtfully considered. "Does it still count if it's my cousin or some other relative?"
"Uh, I guess so…" English said.
"543," Negi said.
The other three stared.
"How…" English tried to ask and couldn't.
"Well, I'm always getting caught by threesomes and more," Negi said. "Like last week in Gotham City there was this girl dressed like a bat, two more in purple, and these 30 clown girls…"
"Excuse me," Bond said, rising. "I have catching up to do…
It's actually 496, which is a perfect number - equal to the sum of all its factors. That's 1 to 31 for 496.
Also, ninja'd.
edited 4th Aug '11 4:42:27 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.I wanna play too
"I never knew a human filly looked so cute."
"I agree sister."
Negi Springfield knew that right now, Anya was dying to kill him for this. Right now, he stood in a palace, in front of two winged unicorns, apparently physical gods of this dimension.
"Yes, my name is Negi Springfield. I'm here as a representative of the Earth Magical Division."
The larger of the two Alcorns approached him and nuzzled his cheek with her muzzle.
"Yes, I know of your mission. But I think it's appropriate that you experience some of Equestria's magic."
The smaller of the two sisters placed her hoof against her head. "Celly, please don't tell me you're sending him to Ponyville."
"Why not Luna? I'm sure Twilight would enjoy teaching someone all of her lessons."
Six months later, Negi was recalled to Mahora to deal with the kidnapping of the youngest Ostirian princess. The only thing Fate remembered from that day was a massive assault of rainbow-colored magic that suddenly impugned him with a fill range of human emotion, motivating him to seek a solution to fully stabilize the Magical World.
On that same day, Evangeline steadfastly refused any cure to her imprisonment. Her argument was that if her freedom meant that she would be forced to walk around with six multi-colored miniature horses, she'd stay where she was.
The Omake Section of Decadent Habits
is up.
I'll start writing the Epilogue on Sunday, it should be done by Wednesday.
If you won't I'll slit your throat/Won't you please be nice?@Napoleon: Oh don't get too comfortable on your throne, Overmaster de Cheese. Somebody's bound to overthrow you one of these days. <whistles innocently>
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Unequally, Continuation.
The first four mice froze in mid-air rather quickly. "Mother, we cannot!" Pico squeaked. "They have no systems we can infiltrate!"
"What?" Chisame babbled, just as the electromagnetic shield she had just activated around herself blocked a fist of the blonde, which otherwise would have socked her in the face. "How come?-! They're automatons too, aren't they?-!"
"We find no neural nets we can get into!" Boku informed.
'Kazumi' stood there, arms crossed behind her back. "Stupid girl. Unlike Chachamaru, we work on pure magic. You cannot manipulate us with your technology-based powers. You're going to have to get your precious soft hands dirty."
"Great," Chisame grumbled, shooting a few weak blasts at the Konoka puppet, who staggered back. Apparently, she was of as much use in a real fight as the real Konoka was. Still, blasting her down just felt wrong. The wounded look on those huge black eyes when she was rattled back by the impacts was... disturbing.
Then Chisame saw Hakase brutally putting the Chizuru unit down, and cringed, even while hearing Matoi, closely behind her, making an appreciative sound.
"Your dear friend is getting the idea faster than you," Kazumi crooned evilly, sounding nearly identical to Eva now. "She's detached enough from stupid social concerns to be able to hurt others."
"She only does it because she knows they're puppets!" Chisame growled, whacking the Ayaka across the face as the fake Iincho's punches began to shatter the barrier. "And don't call her my 'dear friend'!"
"But she is. Isn't she?" Matoi's voice sounded tiny and a tad bitter behind her back.
Chisame grumbled again, cheeks unwillingly warming. "Just stay quiet there."
Taking a long gulp, she aimed the scepter at Konoka and shot her through the head just as the false Konoe tried to sneak behind her to hit Tsunetsuki. The stalker cooed softly as her amazed eyes followed the upright travel of Konoka's upper skull, her pupils betraying their 3-F nature while showing her morbid fascination with the display of fierce protectiveness. "You really care about me..."
"It's only pity," Hasegawa huffed, trying to ignore the horrible feeling in her gut as she waved the scepter back on Ayaka's general direction, only to notice again she was a much harder target than Konoka. She moved fast and athletically, with the real Ayaka's energy, and many of her fighting moves as well. Chisame had only ever seen Iincho fighting Asuna, but the rumors she overhead from the likes of Haruna and Misa in the classroom said she was an accomplished martial artist herself. She would be a difficult opponent, and Chisame's shield grew weaker by the moment.
"You need to work on keeping a steady, strong defense," Evangeline coached through Kazumi. "You get tired too soon, and that's because you have no physical condition. Simply pathetic, but to be expected from someone who does nothing but sitting before a computer!"
"I'm still good to go!" Chisame shouted, really annoyed. And missing another blast. Crap, it wasn't getting her anywhere. The doll would keep on attacking after she grew tired, and then...
No. There was something else to try.
"Nene, Paco, Coco!" she called. "Forget trying to hack her! Overload the air with electricity around her instead!"
"Immediately, Mother!" the three obeyed.
Asakura lifted an eyebrow as they flew in fast circles in a wide trajectory around the Ayaka puppet, the air between them cracking with power flowing in arcs and streams from mouse to mouse, until the sparks began appearing in the blond doll's joints, making her to stiffen. Then it looked like she was overheating from the inside. The artificial Ayaka shook several times, spazzing and falling to her knees, one blue eye popping out of its socket. She still waved her fists in Chisame's direction ineffectually, but rather soon, she just stopped moving altogether.
Chisame panted wearily as Kazumi rubbed her chin. "Interesting!" the redhead commented. "How did you do it?"
"Their bodies are made of a material that doesn't absorb electricity well, but it looks like the thin cables running through them connecting their parts together are a different matter," Hasegawa wheezed. "The sprites share a connection with me... I just noticed it, if I concentrate enough, I can faintly feel what they are feeling, and learn what they have learned. They saw your dolls' insides when they tried to take over them. The cables transmit your magical power through them, and while they won't transmit electrical pulses, that's a fatal flaw on itself, because they still absorb it. When I downloaded electricity around and into her, it wouldn't be displaced, so her body just grew overcharged, and couldn't take it."
"Bravo, Chisame-sama! You're so intelligent!" Matoi clapped and cried.
"No. Maybe not so much," Chisame snorted, before jumping to Hakase's side to help her deal with the Zazie doll, who was putting Satomi against the ropes with her superior skill and speed.
Tsunetsuki briefly made a saddened face. The Asakura puppet noticed it and put on a sly smile.
edited 4th Aug '11 7:58:19 PM by NapoleonDeCheese
Yeah, you guys did. That's why I asked quite a few times in the past that someone compile the omake/crackfic oneshots/etc. to avoid having to sift through hundreds of pages for them.
You technically can use the "google site search" function by entering the thread name as part of your keywords.
edited 4th Aug '11 8:49:32 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Another Decadent teaser I just thought of.
Negi blushed, tightened the towel around his waist, and looked up at the newcomers bunched up on his doorstep. "Um, good evening. Not like we're unwilling to have you with us... but... what are you doing here at this time?"
Tokiha Mai held a sheet of paper up, sheepishly. "Well... We just were informed we're going to do a crossover with you guys next, so we decided to come for some... tips and training..."
Setsuna paused in her labors between Konoka's legs to give the assembled Mai Hime cast an annoyed glare. "We don't even have a date for the sequel yet!"
"Well, you know, it always pays to be ready from the very start..." Shizuru smiled pleasantly before looking inside. "Hasn't Saotome-san joined you yet?"
"We're this close to convince her," Arika said calmly.
Elsewhere, Haruna was furiously doodling escape blueprints under Haruka's eager eye. "I think we can be out of the country and out of their reach before that happens if we follow this route, but we gotta act fast. I think Nodoka-chan's suspecting me, and she won't go down alone, let me tell you..."
edited 4th Aug '11 9:35:13 PM by NapoleonDeCheese
@The Nobody: Ah, cool. Thought that you were behind from your comments.
@SCM: Very nice.
Otherwise, nice snippets.
End of Chapter 18:
“Well, at least Eishun gave me this clue.” Anya shrugged, showing the tube off.
“You never told me about a clue.” Chisame said as she folded her arms.
“Well, I was going to wait till we were back in Mahora to open it.” shrugged Anya.
“Anya-sensei!” called Shizuna. “Please speak a few words to the students too!” After a brief speech in which she stated that she hoped that everyone enjoyed themselves an a request to behave on the train, Anya got on board. Soon, she was the first of her team to fall asleep.
////
Omake:
////
“Thank you, Shadow Crystal Mage-sama.” said Purin as she led her two sisters to the stage.
“Your effort has worked on Sereg-kun and now he has finished the Kyoto arc.” Suramui explained.
“And we’re getting screen time in the next chapter!” squealed Ameko.
“Unfortunately not much.” sighed Purin.
“Well we’re setting up for our fight, we’ll have to take what we can get.” shrugged Ameko.
I’m away again this weekend, so you’ll probably have to wait till Monday for the beginning of the next chapter.
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Actually, I really do think that we got all of the "Alternate Habits" segments. There are more vignettes that touch on the setting, like the ones about characters from Decadent meeting their counterparts from Unequally, but most of them have already been published in More than Fifty-Four or elsewhere.
And it adds up to a little less than 10,000 words, which is nothing to sneeze at ...
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<snort> Actually, I don't think Haruka would be all that reluctant, given who she's going to end up with ...
edited 4th Aug '11 10:21:13 PM by Darkenning
If you won't I'll slit your throat/Won't you please be nice?

@Love is Weird: Negi reads H.P. Lovecraft?! I got the impression that he wasn’t a fan of horror. Otherwise, funny.
@Cygnus: Nope, that was just before the trip to Kyoto. Also, good luck.
Long one coming up:
“Are you satisfied, Master?” asked Chachamaru.
“Yeah, I’m satisfied.” Eva smiled.
“He looks sophisticated in plain clothes too!” gasped Asuna.
“Hi, Eishun!” Anya called. Once they walked up to him, Konoka pulled the burning cigarette out of his hand.
“No smoking!” she pouted.
“It’s in these back-mountains.” Eishun informed them. “We’re looking for a narrow, three storey building.”
“Hey, hey, where are we going?” Haruna whispered to Yue.
“Negi-san’s father’s holiday house.” Yue replied.
“Eeeeh!” exclaimed Haruna.
“Neegi-san’s…daddy?” Nodoka asked.
“Sukuna’s resealing has been completed.” Eishun informed them.
“Un. Good work, Konoe Eishun.” Eva smirked. “Sorry for having you do the hard work.”
“No, I must apologize too.” smiled Eishun. “I truly thank you for your help this time.”
‘What about Kotaro-kun?” Yue asked. “He wanted to make sure that none of us got hurt, so…”
“I don’t think they’ll punish him too harshly.” Eishun reassured her. “Even if he was working with Amagasaki Chigusa…Anyway, please leave that to us.”
“More importantly, the real problem is that white-haired brat.” Eva said as they walked down the path.
“We’re currently looking into that.” Eishun replied. “He’s currently calling himself ‘Fate Averruncus’. He came to Japan one month ago from the Istanbul Magic Association to train here…It’s probably a false name, though.”
“Hmm…” Eva said.
“Here we are.” Eishun said as an observatory became visible between the bamboo.
“It looks like some kind of hidden home.” Haruna squealed as she shielded her eyes for a better look.
“Hoho.” said Yue.
“An observatory.” Nodoka said as she clutched her fists to her chest.
“I thought it’d look more Japanese, being in Kyoto and all.” Asuna declared. Eva just blushed.
“The outside is overgrown since it’s been ten years, but the inside is very clean.” explained Eishun. “Please come in, Anya-kun.”
“Ho.” said Chamo from Anya’s shoulder. They walked into the building and were greeted by the sight of many tall bookshelves.
“Amazing! It’s full of books!” Haruna squeed as she held a hand to her mouth.
“Approval rating up.” Yue said.
“I-it’ so fancy…and modern.” Asuna smiled.
“I’ve kept it just like it was when he last visited.” Eishun explained. Eva smirked in approval.
“Does Negi also like books this much?” Yue asked.
“Yes, the two of us would sneak off to study them.” Anya replied. “He really enjoys reading. That’s why the two of us were the top of our class.” Yue raised her eyebrows.
“Interesting.” she said. “Was he first or second?”
“...First.” frowned Anya.
“I see.” Yue replied. The girls began exploring, with the librarians beginning to search through the books.
“Ladies!” Eishun called out. “Please take care of the books! They belong to a friend of mine!”
“There’s so much to look through!” Anya said after they looked around for a while.
“Hahaha, you can come here whenever you like.” Eishun laughed. “You’re doing this to help Negi-kun, right?”
“Well, I suppose we are friends and I did have the opportunity.” said Anya. “So it only makes sense! Is there anything else that I should tell him about his father?” Eishun touched his chin.
“...Hmm. I suppose.” He turned towards the others. “Everyone, come here. If you’re helping Anya-kun with this, then there are things you should hear too.” Once they had gathered, he showed them a picture of six people. “These were The Thousand Master’s comrades-in-arms.” he explained. “The one in the back is me.”
“From when he was a member of Ala Rubra?” asked Anya.
“Technically, he still is. Though this is a picture from twenty years ago.” Eishun replied. “The one next to me is the fifteen year old Nagi...The Thousand Master.”
“Wahyaa!” squealed Konoka as she shifted forwards for a better look. “This is Negi-san’s father? He’s so cuuuute!”
“Ehhh! Show me, show me!” begged Asuna as she shifted up to Konoka and grabbed the picture. “Which one is he?”
“This person! Isn’t he cool!” Konoka smiled as she pointed out Nagi. “What a guy!” Setsuna and Eva looked around Konoka for a better look, but Chachamaru stayed at the back, her ocular instruments being more than sufficient.
“Will Negi-san turn out like this too?” she pondered aloud. She had seen her master’s pictures of the boy and the strong family resemblance was obvious.
“Eh...” Asuna said, losing her smile as she looked at the photograph. Huh...? Isn’t this...?
“What’s wrong, Kagurazaka Asuna?” asked Eva.
“Eh? N-nothing. Asuna smiled as she placed a hand behind her head, before pinching her cheek to make sure that she was still awake.
“I was still a young man during the war. I fought alongside Negi as his comrade.” Eishun explained. “...And then, when peace returned twenty years ago, he had become known for his many heroic deeds. They called him The Thousand Master.”
“What war was this?” Yue asked. “It’s too recent to be World War Two.”
“Yes, this was the last great war of The Magical World. Amagasaki Chigusa’s parents died in that war.” Eishun clarified. “That’s why she still bears a grudge against mages from The West. That might have been why she did what she did.”
“Hmmm...I see.” Chamo said, scratching his chin.
“Her attitude is founded on psychological trauma from her childhood?” Yue questioned.
“We think so.” replied Eishun. “I thought that Nagi and I had become inseparable friends after that...but...ten years ago, he suddenly disappeared. Where he was last...What he was doing...No one knows. The official records have stated his date of death as 1993. Even I don’t know any more than that...I’m sorry Anya-kun.”
“Well, you’ve helped as much as you could.” Anya shrugged.
“You should take a copy of the photo for Negi-kun. And this might be a useful clue as well.” He handed over a long parcel.
“Thanks. I’ll do that and check for clues back at Mahora. I’ve got a lot to tell Negi.” Anya smiled.
“Speaking of photos, now that we’ve finished this complicated conversation, I’m going to take a memorial photo!” Kazumi grinned, waving her camera. After some mild protests from Eva, that’s exactly what they did.
EDIT:
Brilliant! Glad that you're still doing those. And my awkwardness is perfectly in character!
edited 4th Aug '11 7:33:14 AM by Sereg