[I/OOC][WIP][STORY][Season 1][RFC] Less Than

[Black Aeronaut]

Okay.  This one just blindsided me, but it's the kind of Muse-Bites-Man thing that you all love me for.

Just after the bit with me posting the lyrics for the Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood", and then the bit about Micheru confronting Ben, The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" jumped into my mind and simply would not go away.

At first, I thought of having my character singing it and have it be a bit of insight Uranus and Neptune gets for his character...

...And then I suddenly realized it would have a HELL of a lot more impact coming from Alicia Testarosa.

The idea here is that this would be during the time that Alicia is under the care of Haruka and Micheru... but because of her empathic bond with Benjamin, as well as her own feelings about what they did to Nanoha and Fate...  Yeah, even though they've had experience in caring for a child (Hotaru), caring for one that actively resents them is a whole different ball of wax.

There are several reasons that this is done.

For one, it's because Haruka and Micheru need first-hand experience in dealing with the consequences of their actions.

Another reason is that Benjamin is in no shape at all to be caring for a child - even one that is as close to him as Alicia is.  He could easily slip into neglecting her in the midst of his depression, and Alicia would simply accept it because she feels what he feels.

Lastly, it's seen as a safe option because it's known that Haruka and Micheru won't do anything to harm her in any way, shape, or form.  And even then, they're under the watchful eyes of everyone else at the Westwoods Apartments.

Haruka and Micheru will try to bond with the girl, but to little avail.  While they have accepted that Benjamin is far more than they can handle, and that they have indeed messed up, it still hasn't really hit home for them yet just how badly they messed up.

One of Micheru's attempts is sharing in her passion of music with Alicia - she's picked up on Benjamin's own passion for music and, with her mathematical genius, had started messing around with mash-ups on a virtual mixer board.  So, Micheru gets her a decent quality mixer board and 24-track recorder.

Imagine Micheru's shock when she pauses outside the door to Alicia's room to hear her singing The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" with even more heartfelt passion and rage than Pete Townsend has ever presented.

And it is only here that they begin to realize.

Alicia is very much her own person.  But that person also includes a good deal of what makes Benjamin the person he is.  This is because while Benjamin's traumas were his own, they now share a trauma between them - the unraveling of Fate and Nanoha's minds.

And with Benjamin's emotional state being what it is?  There are times where she is fully channeling her beloved older brother, and becomes the man himself, only in the form of a little girl.

A little girl with far less self-control than Benjamin, and a very high mage-potential.

There will be a scene where she throws a huge tantrum that looks like a scene out of The Exorcist.  Micheru and Haruka call for back-up and Madoka and Homura come in... only for them to turn around right away and call in Benjamin.

But she is channeling Benjamin's rage so much that she attacks him...  Why?  Because his rage is inherently self-destructive, and what better way to destroy himself than through another person?  Not that this is his conscious feelings, but something on a more primordial level.  Fortunately, no magic because he's got his AMF cranked up.  But as he holds the raging child in his arms, dimorphic expression kicks in and she bites him so hard that she draws blood (the first and only time this will ever happen).  And she stays latched on, not letting go, even after she starts crying.

Benjamin doesn't have to say a word afterward.  He can see it in their eyes.  They now fully understand what it is they have done - how they have nearly ruined more lives than just those of Nanoha's and Fate's.

That night, Benjamin takes Alicia back, caring for her as her big brother.  And the biting continues to occur, as Alicia copes with the intense emotional swings she's experiencing.  Just nowhere nearly as hard as that first bite.

And Benjamin knows the truth behind those bites, because he can feel the emotion through their bond.  One so powerful that he can even hear the words behind it.  The words are not shouted.  They are a gentle and supplicant whisper in his mind, one that leaves absolutely no doubt whatsoever.

i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you...

Poor Inara has her work cut out for her.

[Labster]

first: s/Micheru/Michiru
second: Does Alicia need a Keith Moon-style drummer as backup?  We have one of those.
third: stop getting love bites from Alicia, Ben

Seems cool. Characters dealing with this kind of angst isn't my thing so I can't really help, but I'd like to read it.  Better than any ideas I had with the same song, which were mostly throwaway jokes.

I'm not sure which scenes from The Exorcist you mean. If you decide to go differently, witches' labyrinths are fun, and don't require someone to be that particular kind of witch.

[robkelk]

This was one thing she did not blame Benjamin for.  He had been absolutely correct in that he was in no condition to be caring for a child.  And no one else there at Westwoods had any real experience in caring for a child in the long-term.  Aside from Haruka and Michiru, only Benjamin had that kind of experience, and those skills had been born in a hellacious crucible of parentification and abuse.

I was about to complain about this, but then I remembered Washuu-chan has experience caring for a baby, not a child. Sometimes politics sucks.

And the match-up couldn't have possibly been any worse: Alicia absolutely despised Haruka and Michiru.

Yeah, she isn't the only one.

"I'm rebuilding the engine for my bike," said the girl as she removed the final bolt, then began to lug the single-cylinder block to the shop vice to immobilize it.

"... You... know what you're doing?"  The question came, of course, less out of concern and more out of surprise.

Why wouldn't she, in this particular household? In addition to Ben, she has everybody at Whirlwind setting an example for her.

[Black Aeronaut]

The thing is that Haruka is doing what she usually does: grossly misjudging a person based on conventional knowledge. That being that five year old girls do not typically rebuild engines, least of all by themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, Haruka definitely expected Alicia to be involved. And Alicia did need help picking out the rebuild kit because she was uncertain as to how much work the engine needed.  But before she could go to anyone else, Haruka jumped in, mainly in an effort to try and connect with the girl.  But she never expected for Alicia to suddenly take total charge of the project.

Also, this is Alicia’s way of telling Haruka to fuck off and mind her own business. Because even if she did know what she was doing, Alicia still didn’t want her help.

[robkelk]

"Hayate cares a lot about you.  More than she is willing to say, because of Nanoha and Fate.  Because of that, even though I may be synthetic, Hayate and Washu-chan made sure that I was as close to being a woman as possible.  And you're right in that Hayate didn't intend for me to be a sexaroid.  She wanted more than that for me.  She wanted me to be a person who can be happy, who would never be in envy of other girls around me who are able to experience that sort of thing...  well, except for being stuck in eternal training bra land... though it's nice that you help make up for it by spending time with me like this."

I'm reminded of something I added to the wiki page for a character who hasn't appeared yet: "[she] isn't a pre-ending-of-Chobits compelled slave; she's a post-ending-of-Chobits individual with her own desires." That definitely applies to Taiga as well.

Speaking of characters who haven't appeared yet... when is this story taking place? Asking so I can schedule a character introduction roughly a month after this scene.

"It's amazing how much she loves you," she said in Yamina's mind.  "In fact, she loves you so much that I'm actually kinda worried this is going to turn into an Usagi Drop situation."

"Don't let go, Mamoru!"

Yes, I know... but my copy of the story of Daikichi and Rin is still in my "to be watched" box, hence the joke.

"Taiga, have you noticed how my luck runs?"

Talk with Touma about luck some time, man... (That's a plotbunny, not a complaint.)

[Black Aeronaut]

Timing....  I'd say roughly one month after the Emotion Restorer-kun Incident, which should be enough time for Shinobu to do her thing (with Washu's and Dr. Akagi's help), and leave enough room for the Puella Magi and Jail Scaglietti to all have shown up.

Usagi Drop is cute as all hell and packs in the warm and fuzzies.  But what Taiga is referring to here takes place only in the manga when...

Spoiler

...Rin is in high school and she discovers there's no blood relation between herself and Daikichi.  She was the daughter of a manga-ka that Daikichi's grandfather was close with, and the woman just foisted her off onto the old man because she didn't want the distraction.

Naturally, this means that Rin decides she's gonna marry Daikichi.  *rolls eyes*

And yeah, there needs to be a short story where Ben is buying Touma his first drink at Callahan's. 

[robkelk]

Timing....  I'd say roughly one month after the Emotion Restorer-kun Incident, which should be enough time for Shinobu to do her thing (with Washu's and Dr. Akagi's help), and leave enough room for the Puella Magi and Jail Scaglietti to all have shown up.

One month after that gives us... April 15. Excellent.

[Mamorien]

"Something was wrong with my vision, and my cheeks felt cool."
-- Spider Robinson, "The Immediate Family"

My reaction was less intense than that, but not a lot. The tears didn't get big enough to fall, but my eyes, in the immortal words of Simon Morgenstern, did not remain precisely dry.

[Black Aeronaut]

You all know that my fantasy is to have a partner, maybe two, that together we would have children and raise a family, avoid the mistakes of our parents, and raise those children so that, in one way or another, they become forces of awesome.

But I've come to recognize that this is something that I will never have.  And mostly due to a society that normalized what I went through growing up so that nothing was ever done to effectively help me, as well as made an entire generation of young women who are very disinclined to wanting to raise a family.

This?  This is where I put my sense of loss from this realization into something you can feel for yourselves.

Let me assure you, it's a horribly powerful feeling, and one of the reasons I am on such a potent anti-depressant regimen: Welbutrin and Remeron.  It's not for those who are literally faint of heart.  It's a combination known for causing grand mal seizures and even killing people.  Remeron has a known effect of retarding the liver's ability to metabolize Welbutrin.  And I'm being prescribed the maximum safe dose of Welbutrin.

Please, let this sink in:

My doctor has me taking the maximum allowed dosage of a very powerful anti-depressant, mandated by the FDA because any more poses significant dangers to those taking it...  and they have me taking another anti-depressant that keeps the other one circulating in my system even longer than it normally should.

But that's just me for you.  "They haven't found a way to kill me yet.  And not for lack of trying, either!"

This will be my character's battle cry, because it is so intrinsic to who and what he is.  That you can hurt him, that you can make him suffer, for certain... but that will be your undoing in the end, because no matter how much you hurt him, you won't be able to kill him.  And all that hurt just becomes more fuel for the fire that burns inside of him.  This fire will always keep my character going, no matter how badly hurt he is.

That fire, by the way, is a true eldritch horror - something that seemingly exists at a higher level of comprehension and is utterly unknowable to others.  And for the few that do get an inkling of what that fire truly is?  That knowledge is, in and of itself, painful and maddening because they lack the frame of reference needed to truly understand it.

"What on earth is driving that man!?" some will ask.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," will often be the answer.

[Black Aeronaut]

The next part is coming along nicely, but it's still gonna be a bit.  There were parts where I just bumrushed the dialogue to get it knocked out as quickly as possible because there were other bits I wanted to write.

A teaser for the next part...  Where Alicia starts channeling Benjamin...

"Just now noticing that?" she said in a mockingly coy tone.  "Amazing, isn't it?  That I can cast a binding spell that strong, without a chant or a Device.  But that is what it means to be a Daughter of Precia Testarossa.  I not only have my mother's selfish, greedy heart, but I also have her incredible mind as well.  And with Benjamin giving more and more of himself to me?  I have become more than just the sum of my parts.  I shall exceed even my dearly beloved sister and her partner.  And they will be so proud of me when I do.  Because they, unlike you, are capable of loving more than just one person.

[Dartz]

That actually comes across as just a little bit evil.

[Black Aeronaut]

You hit the nail on the head there.

With everything she's been put through lately - seeing what happened to her sister, Fate (who she honestly loves with all of her heart), having to experience Benjamin's heartbreak almost like as if it were her own (which actually isn't far off from her own feelings), and on top of it all, forced to be under the care of the two people that were largely responsible for all of this hurt?

Haruka adds the straw that breaks the camel's back, and Alicia is done with her.  She fully channels Benjamin's outrage (which is why she sounds so very adult-like here - she more or less becomes Benjamin at this point), and combines that with the Testarossa Cruelty Streak.  With her red eyes, picture-perfect looks, and obscene magical power, Haruka is gonna be wondering if she is witnessing the birth of a goddess....  or a demon.

(No worries, she'll be fine.  But there's going to be a few times later on down the line where we see Fate lose her shit in a similar way, because Benjamin teaches her it's fine to get fucking irate... when it's called for, anyhow.)

Fun thought for an omake:

Gozer the Gozerian:  "ARE YOU A GOD?"
Alicia Testarossa: *Evil Smirk* "I'm not sure if I am or not yet.  Do you wanna find out?"

[robkelk]

I knew this was coming, so it doesn't have the same emotional hit that it no doubt has for other folks. I'll just point out one minor flub...

It's a sort of True Magic as Archer might say.

You've got the wrong Heroic Spirit there. Archer wouldn't say that, but Caster would.

[Black Aeronaut]

I knew this was coming, so it doesn't have the same emotional hit that it no doubt has for other folks. I'll just point out one minor flub...

It's a sort of True Magic as Archer might say.

You've got the wrong Heroic Spirit there. Archer wouldn't say that, but Caster would.

Fixed.

[robkelk]

Washu-chan sighed.  "Benjamin.  You've been giving her shards of your soul.  And you haven't even noticed it!"

Later, once the report of this incident goes out to the inner circle, Rob's going to have something to say about this...


Once it was just the two of them, Rob started off with, "So. Ben. This whole 'giving pieces of your soul to Alicia' matter."

"It's under control."

"Thank you for confirming that; that puts my mind at ease. But Usagi spotted the matter in your report right away, and she shared it with Hyoga. They talked for almost a half-hour, then they gave me a long list of technical questions and asked me to ask you for answers. I told them no."

"You did? Rob, you know I don't keep secrets from all of you."

"I know, and I also know that things that affect only you are your business. If you want them to know, then tell them yourself when they ask. And you should know by now that Usagi will ask about this. She loves you too much to let the matter go unaddressed to her satisfaction."

Ben looked surprised for a brief moment, then he realized what Rob meant... and Rob saw the subtle signs on Ben's face as he came to that realization, which meant Ben wasn't hiding it from him. Rob went on.

"Yeah, she doesn't love you the way she loves Mamoru, but she loves you and me and even Accelerator the way she loves Rei and Ami. Usagi is Love, the same way that Madoka is Compassion. Of course she cares about you."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Usagi or Madoka?"

Rob grinned. "Both of them, actually. And they both care about both of us, and all the other displacees and building managers they've met. In some ways it's humbling to have two such kind and caring people care about me without wanting to be a part of my life. Why do they think I deserve something like that? But I'm getting sidetracked. Usagi is going to ask because she wants to make sure you aren't killing yourself by giving yourself to Alicia. And that's something I wanted to know, too. It won't do Alicia any good if you die."

"Oh, I know that very well, probably better than you do. But why are you so concerned about her?"

It was Rob's turn to look surprised. "Think about it, Ben. I was present at her rebirth, and other than the Celestials, I was the oldest person present. I'm the closest she has to a godfather in this world. Unless you've asked somebody else to take that role in her life. If something happens to you, it's up to me to make sure she has a loving family - and that's a responsibility I take seriously and accept gladly."

And that made Ben wonder for a moment. Sure, he knew that Rob wouldn't let Alicia suffer if something happened to him, but to go that far? Then he remembered that Rob's early life was nothing like his, and his attitude started to make sense.

"I hope you never have to actually take that responsibility. And I suppose you want to know the answers to Usagi's questions, too."

"I hope so, too. But I don't want answers to those technical questions - all I need to know is that you've got things under control, and you already told me that. I just told you that the questions exist so you'd be ready for Usagi."

[Black Aeronaut]

Lemme just work on that a biiiiit.... 

Once it was just the two of them, Rob started off with, "So. Ben. This whole 'giving pieces of your soul to Alicia' matter."

"It's alright, Rob," said Ben in a placating tone.  "I have it all under control."

"Thank you for confirming that," replied Rob, visibly relaxing as the tension left his body.  "That puts my mind at ease. But Usagi spotted the matter in your report right away, and she shared it with Hyoga. They talked for almost a half-hour, then they gave me a long list of technical questions and asked me to ask you for answers. I told them no."

Benjamin blinked at that, then remembered that Rob had a tendency to keep matters relating to other people very close to his chest.

"You did? Rob, you know I don't keep secrets from all of you."

"I know," agreed Rob, "and I also know that things that affect only you are your business. If you want them to know, then tell them yourself when they ask. And you should know by now that Usagi will ask about this. She loves you too much to let the matter go unaddressed to her satisfaction."

Benjamin sighed heavily at that.  This was nothing new to him.  Usagi had been very up-front about how much she cared about him - starting off from the night after the Halloween Party.  At that time, she had managed to pry out of Rei what had transpired between the two of them in Benjamin's apartment, and then showed up in San Antonio, fully intent on giving Benjamin some Moon Healing Escalation.

But then, learning about what that may do to Benjamin had been a heartbreaking thing for the girl.  To know that this was something she couldn't fix.  Usagi had spent a good while crying on his shoulder for that.  (And hadn't that been an uncomfortable few minutes for the man, because the girl was exactly the sort of dainty-yet-shapely that drove him nuts, but this was Mamorou's Lady and he was absolutely not about to infringe on that!)  But afterwards, Benjamin had become something of a pet project for the girl, trying to come up with ways to help him heal.

Rob, of course, picked this up right away from Ben's reaction.

"You knew already?" he asked in surprise.

"Rob, this is Usagi we're talking about.  She was so out-in-front with it that it was almost one of those speeches she would give in the anime to the monster of the week."

Why am I even surprised? thought Rob to himself as he shook his head, and decided to continue anyhow just to be sure.

"Well, she doesn't love you the way she loves Mamoru, but she loves you and me and even Accelerator the way she loves Rei and Ami.  Usagi is Love, the same way that Madoka is Compassion.  Of course she cares about you."

Ben raised an eyebrow with a knowing smirk. "Usagi or Madoka?"

Rob grinned. "Both of them, actually. And they both care about both of us, and all the other displacees and building managers they've met. In some ways it's humbling to have two such kind and caring people care about me without wanting to be a part of my life. Why do they think I deserve something like that? But I'm getting sidetracked. Usagi is going to ask because she wants to make sure you aren't killing yourself by giving yourself to Alicia. And that's something I wanted to know, too. It won't do Alicia any good if you die."

"Oh, I know that very well, probably better than you do. But why are you so concerned about her?  I mean, besides the obvious - little brat can probably charm a Wall Street Shark out of their fortune."

Rob was at first surprised at Benjamin's seeming ignorance, but then he couldn't help but snort at the follow-up snarky remark.  But even with that, he wasn't going to be deterred easily.

"Think about it, Ben. I was present at her rebirth, and other than the Celestials, I was the oldest person present. I'm the closest she has to a godfather in this world. Unless you've asked somebody else to take that role in her life. If something happens to you, it's up to me to make sure she has a loving family - and that's a responsibility I take seriously and accept gladly."

And that made Ben wonder for a moment. Sure, he knew that Rob wouldn't let Alicia suffer if something happened to him, but to go that far? Then he remembered that Rob's early life was nothing like his, and his attitude started to make sense.

Ben sighed.  "Well, fortunately for you, we're working on some plans for the future."

Rob frowned.  "What sort of plans?  ...if you don't mind sharing."

"Not at all," replied Benjamin.  "In fact, it's part of the reason why I came here in the first place."  Benjamin's mien suddenly turned serious.  "Precia has asked me to make a formal request to Shinobu Nunotoba if she would be willing to make a Testament for her.  And not just any testament.  She wants her memories of being Alicia's mother."

Rob stared at Benjamin in surprise, then cursed under his breath.

"Skuld's sake, man.  What the hell is going on with all the drama over there!?  If it gets any worse I'll be worried that you were stuck in some kind of soap opera!"

Ben shrugged.  "With great power seems to come great emotional damage.  Some of us are a lot better than others, but then shit hits the fan and... well, you know the rest.  Anyhow, Precia-chan likes Alicia very much, but she feels terrible about not being able to be her mother again.  Apparently she was really compassionate in her youth.  Which makes sense, otherwise she would never have kept the pregnancy that resulted in Alicia's birth.  So yeah, the idea is we use Alicia's memories to generate a Testament for Precia, and she can take over her day-to-day care... and maybe also help Fate heal, too.  Because without me in the picture anymore....  yeah."

Rob raised an eyebrow.  "You don't mean to push her away like you've been doing to Nanoha and Fate, do you?"

Ben shook his head.  "No.  She'll still be living with me.  In fact, we're working on remodeling two units into a large three-bedroom unit so that Precia can live with us and still have her own space.  Though I don't doubt that Alicia's bed is gonna see very little use because she's probably going to want to spend a lot of nights either in Precia's room or in mine."

"Are you sure that's safe given what happened?" said Rob.  He didn't like to think of it much as it was very disturbing for the man, but sometimes to question needed to be asked.  "Alicia is very... mature."

Ben nodded.  "Hild came and made a special filter for our soul-bond.  The most she'll get now when THAT happens is a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Pleasant and comforting, but without being overtly sexual.  Which is perfect for a child.  While Alicia doesn't see Taiga as a parental figure, knowing that her father figure shares a healthy love with someone else she loves and respects is like the ultimate security blanket.  It gives a child a sense of stability and safety, which she desperately needs right now."

"But still, she seems to be... attracted to you."

"Inara is helping us with that to keep it from turning into an Electra Complex.  And it seems to be working.  That incident was just that she desperately needed a connection with someone that was closer than what she had then, and it was starting to drive her over the edge."

Rob nodded as he began to understand.  "And it didn't matter exactly what the connection was, so long as it was filial in nature."

"Right," said Ben, nodding as well.  "Becoming a romantic partner would have more than just done the trick alright.  But pushing it back towards a father-daughter bond works just fine, too.  Really, the father-daughter bond is a very profound thing.  It skirts the edge of being a lovers' bond, but that's only because a daughter is learning how to love from her father.  And the same applies to the mother-son bond - which is probably why I came out as well as I did.  My mother and I are incredibly close, even now."

Rob sighed.  "Hooo, that's a load off of my mind.  And you're sure this thing with Precia is going to help?"

Ben shrugged.  "It sure as hell can't hurt at this point.  Washu-chan is certain that Precia-chan is in a healthy enough state to handle it, and she'll continue to monitor Precia long afterward.  In fact, Precia asked if Washu-chan would do that because of what happened in MSLN."

Rob nodded at that, his concerns now laid to rest.

"So, with all that out of the way," said Ben, "I suppose you want to know the answers to Usagi's questions, too."

"I don't actually want answers to those technical questions - all I needed to know is that you've got things under control, and you already told me that. I just told you that the questions exist so you'd be ready for Usagi."

Benjamin sighed again.  "I'm gonna have to see if either Mami or Sasami would be willing to whip up some sweets.  If she's really that upset, then that's the only thing that's gonna get her to settle down and not overreact."

Rob snorted.  "And here you claim that the women in your life conspire against you."

Ben gave a crooked smirk in reply.  "As Darjeeling in Girls und Panzer would say, all is fair in love and war.  What kinda of strategist would I be if I didn't cheat at least a little bit?"

.....  Okay, maybe that's more than a bit... (;*_*)

And later on....

Usagi eyed the spread in front of her.  Hot milk tea, macadamia macaroons, and the most delectable looking matcha cake she'd ever seen in her life.  The aroma alone was almost intoxicating.

She then glared at Benjamin.  "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Benjamin, though, only made a whimsical "Who, Me?" gesture in reply, earning a spectacular Bronx Cheer from Usagi.

[robkelk]

Just one slight tinkering with the tinkering, and I think we're done there.

"Are you sure that's safe given what happened?" said Rob. He didn't like to think of it much as it was very disturbing for the man, but sometimes the question needed to be asked. "Alicia is very..." He hunted for the right word for a half-second (which didn't escape Ben's notice), then settled on "... mature."

[Black Aeronaut]

Just one slight tinkering with the tinkering, and I think we're done there.

"Are you sure that's safe given what happened?" said Rob. He didn't like to think of it much as it was very disturbing for the man, but sometimes the question needed to be asked. "Alicia is very..." He hunted for the right word for a half-second (which didn't escape Ben's notice), then settled on "... mature."

Ship it!

[robkelk]

Definitely not for the story...

Ben shrugged. "With great power seems to come great emotional damage."

Rob raised a hand in objection. "That isn't necessarily true. Look at Accelerator, and Meltdowner, and Touma, and ... I'm digging myself into a hole here, aren't I?"

[robkelk]

Well, that's a kick and a half...

[Inquisitive Raven]

BTW, that's "flouting the rules," not "flaunting the rules." "Flout" and "flaunt" mean very different things.

[robkelk]

BTW, that's "flouting the rules," not "flaunting the rules."  "Flout" and "flaunt" mean very different things.

It's in quoted dialogue. I assumed SI-Ben got the word wrong because he was under pressure...

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, I didn't do that on purpose. I wrote some of this on my tablet while I was at the laundromat, so it's very likely I misspelled the word, and then autocorrupt did its thing...

Fixed now.

[robkelk]

I noticed that I've been misspelling "Tenou" as "Tennoh", so be advised that I've changed that for the following.

"Tenou", "Tennoh", "Ten'ō" - they're all approximations of the real name, 天王 (which in the Chinese reading means "King of Heaven"). I used "Ten'oh" on the wiki...

[robkelk]

OMAKE!

"Funny, I didn't see a light show," said Benjamin with a half smile.

Hild grinned back. "Belldandy has many virtues, but that child also has her vices. She's not only the jealous type, she can also be such a show-off sometimes."

"Hang on, Skuld does the light show too and she... fangirls her big sister so never mind."