Huh. So, no one else wants to comment or question my sanity? Or were you guys just waiting for me to post more?
Well, here's what I was thinking...
First of all, I want to go ahead and reuse a plot-point from Being You Is Suffering by having Seto arrange for Zeke to be adopted by one of the Royal Houses of Jurai.
Now, before anyone goes up in arms over this, let me explain that Seto would have very good reasons for doing this.
First off, there's going to be the aftermath of the Tag Challenge between the Oni and the People of Earth. Namely, the fact that Lum mistook Zeke for saying that he wanted to marry her. Of course, reneging on this would bring the wrath of the Oni down on the entire world - Lum has very quickly found herself enamored of Zeke because he plays a good game, behaves like a gentleman (at least, by Oni standards), fights like a demon, and is handsome to boot. It probably doesn't help that Jariten actually likes the guy - he's not actively pursuing Lum and treats Jariten with a lot more respect than Ataru ever would.
In fact, Mr. Invader would nominally rubber-stamp the nullification, except that Lum wants Zeke, and damn the consequences! Unless Lum says it's off, then the engagement is solid. And the idea the Zeke would refuse Lum is just simply unpalatable to the rest of the Oni Warlords - Lum is a favorite amongst them. Even to the point they'd raze a planet over her being slighted.
For his part, Zeke cannot honestly say he doesn't like Lum, but he can't marry her! He already promised to marry someone else, but the Oni are not having any of it. Worse, it's polorized the world population in general, with one side thinking that Zeke should simply do what's best for everyone and marry Lum, and the other half declaring that the Oni have no right to dictate obligations to the citizens of Earth.
Enter Seto.
For one thing, Seto likes Earth. While other Juraians see it as a backwater, Seto sees it as full of people with a certain x-factor that she thinks the Juraian nobility have lost over recent millennia. Also, it's the place the planet that Yosho loves the most, and she'd hate to see her favorite grandson become heartbroken. There's also the fact that Earth is a Jurai protectorate. While the Oni would certainly lose to the Juraians in a straight-up fight, it would be a fight that the Juraians would feel for generations. And its no guarantee that Earth would come out of it unscathed.
So, Seto offers up the one thing that will satisfy most parties at once: adopting Zeke into one of the Royal Houses.
This does several things. Primarily, it makes Zeke eligible to have multiple marriage contracts - he could have as many wives as he so pleased. Secondary, it places the Avatar of Raven directly in their clutches. Seto knows that Raven will not abide by their whims, but as far as she is concerned, that's part of the fun. Seto is the sort of person who, while preferring to have an advantage, would find it boring if there was no challenge to the game. Bringing Raven to the Courts inverts the trope of 'Cat Amongst The Canaries' by turning it into 'Eagle Amongst The Cats'.
To make things even better, Seto wants to put Zeke into House Amake - a house that has been politically opposed to House Kamiki and House Masaki for generations. It is her hope that Zeke will find a way to clean out the house of those that would do harm to Jurai in order to further their agendas and take charge of the errant house himself. Seto, of course, would not be trusted by House Amake, but the idea of having the Avatar of Raven under their thumb is just too appealing for the head of House Amake.
Of course, this would mean that Zeke would be obligated to marry a Juraian Noblewoman to cement his place in the Royal Houses. Pity the poor bastard.
Of course, there's still voices that cry foul at the whole deal - mostly from conservatives of all stripes.
Rei will grudgingly go along - it's better than open war with the Oni, and while she doesn't find Lum herself all that terrible, Rei feels that Lum had better know who's wearing the trousers (and it ain't Zeke as far as Rei is concerned).
Lum is equally ambivalent - on one hand, it means that she can have Zeke... but she would have to share her stake in him with other contenders. And this goes against generations of traditional Oni practices of Monogamy.
Teletha, however, is all for it. It gives her an official 'In', even if she has to pass muster with Seto. Which Teletha manages with flying colors - Seto is excited that at least one of Zeke's future brides is a tried and tested naval commander, and one who is used unconventional tactics and thinking in three dimensions. Rei and Lum are automatically accepted on their reputations alone even if they have to be officially vetted by the Royal Council regardless.
This brings me to Korkoi Tomoko.
I'm dropping Kuno Kodachi and replacing her with Koroki Tomoko. While Kodachi was interesting as she brought a certain amount of amorality to the harem, Tomoko is a better fit in this incarnation due to how she is completely juxtaposed against Zeke.
Zeke has gained fame and notoriety despite him not wanting it. He has a natural tendency to seize the stage, outshine everyone else, and if there are no signs of a strong leadership then he's going to take the mantle upon himself, if only for no other reason, then to make sure everyone makes it through in one piece. However, he hates the attention it garners him and would very much like to be left alone so he can get on with his own life.
Tomoko, on the other hand, craves attention. She wants to be popular and acknowledged by her peers, and above all have an attractive and popular boyfriend. However, she has no idea how to accomplish these feat, especially starting out from her underdog position. She is all but ignored and sometimes even passively bullied for her efforts, and yet she still strives to achieve her goals.
Things between Zeke and Tomoko will begin with Zeke taking pity on the poor misguided girl. He sees in Tomoko a lot of himself in how he was very much a victim of bullying and the only thing that turned it all around for him were the influence of Kubiak and Parker Lewis. So, feeling that he needs to pay this karma forward, Zeke decides that he's going to do the same for Tomoko.
For Tomoko, it's an omen of good things to come. Zeke is the most popular guy in school, and probably the most notorious man in Japan. Forget about the latest scandal in the Diet! Zeke is what people want to know about! And Tomoko can't believe that Zeke would come down from on high to hold his hand out to her. At least, at first. It takes a day or two, but after Zeke keeps several of his Harem from coming down on Tomoko, she begins to believe that he is genuinely interested in her.
He knows that it could be trouble, but he feels certain that his already lofty standing and his status of contention between several powerful (politically and otherwise) young women will dissuade Tomoko from pursuing him. And he is right... that is, until Sasami and Chibiusa side in Tomoko's corner and start advising the girl. And it's not shoddy advice at all! Between Sasami mentoring under Seto, and Chibiusa having a future-timeline perspective, the two youngsters give Tomoko all the ammunition she needs to effectively disarm the rest of the Harem.
Finally, Zeke's Grandmother Charlotte will enter the picture and take Tomoko under her wing as an apprentice. Yes, this means that the Harem will have a resident necromancer, and it will be awesome.
I'd do more here, but my battery is about to die. So, thoughts?
Well, here's what I was thinking...
First of all, I want to go ahead and reuse a plot-point from Being You Is Suffering by having Seto arrange for Zeke to be adopted by one of the Royal Houses of Jurai.
Now, before anyone goes up in arms over this, let me explain that Seto would have very good reasons for doing this.
First off, there's going to be the aftermath of the Tag Challenge between the Oni and the People of Earth. Namely, the fact that Lum mistook Zeke for saying that he wanted to marry her. Of course, reneging on this would bring the wrath of the Oni down on the entire world - Lum has very quickly found herself enamored of Zeke because he plays a good game, behaves like a gentleman (at least, by Oni standards), fights like a demon, and is handsome to boot. It probably doesn't help that Jariten actually likes the guy - he's not actively pursuing Lum and treats Jariten with a lot more respect than Ataru ever would.
In fact, Mr. Invader would nominally rubber-stamp the nullification, except that Lum wants Zeke, and damn the consequences! Unless Lum says it's off, then the engagement is solid. And the idea the Zeke would refuse Lum is just simply unpalatable to the rest of the Oni Warlords - Lum is a favorite amongst them. Even to the point they'd raze a planet over her being slighted.
For his part, Zeke cannot honestly say he doesn't like Lum, but he can't marry her! He already promised to marry someone else, but the Oni are not having any of it. Worse, it's polorized the world population in general, with one side thinking that Zeke should simply do what's best for everyone and marry Lum, and the other half declaring that the Oni have no right to dictate obligations to the citizens of Earth.
Enter Seto.
For one thing, Seto likes Earth. While other Juraians see it as a backwater, Seto sees it as full of people with a certain x-factor that she thinks the Juraian nobility have lost over recent millennia. Also, it's the place the planet that Yosho loves the most, and she'd hate to see her favorite grandson become heartbroken. There's also the fact that Earth is a Jurai protectorate. While the Oni would certainly lose to the Juraians in a straight-up fight, it would be a fight that the Juraians would feel for generations. And its no guarantee that Earth would come out of it unscathed.
So, Seto offers up the one thing that will satisfy most parties at once: adopting Zeke into one of the Royal Houses.
This does several things. Primarily, it makes Zeke eligible to have multiple marriage contracts - he could have as many wives as he so pleased. Secondary, it places the Avatar of Raven directly in their clutches. Seto knows that Raven will not abide by their whims, but as far as she is concerned, that's part of the fun. Seto is the sort of person who, while preferring to have an advantage, would find it boring if there was no challenge to the game. Bringing Raven to the Courts inverts the trope of 'Cat Amongst The Canaries' by turning it into 'Eagle Amongst The Cats'.
To make things even better, Seto wants to put Zeke into House Amake - a house that has been politically opposed to House Kamiki and House Masaki for generations. It is her hope that Zeke will find a way to clean out the house of those that would do harm to Jurai in order to further their agendas and take charge of the errant house himself. Seto, of course, would not be trusted by House Amake, but the idea of having the Avatar of Raven under their thumb is just too appealing for the head of House Amake.
Of course, this would mean that Zeke would be obligated to marry a Juraian Noblewoman to cement his place in the Royal Houses. Pity the poor bastard.
Of course, there's still voices that cry foul at the whole deal - mostly from conservatives of all stripes.
Rei will grudgingly go along - it's better than open war with the Oni, and while she doesn't find Lum herself all that terrible, Rei feels that Lum had better know who's wearing the trousers (and it ain't Zeke as far as Rei is concerned).
Lum is equally ambivalent - on one hand, it means that she can have Zeke... but she would have to share her stake in him with other contenders. And this goes against generations of traditional Oni practices of Monogamy.
Teletha, however, is all for it. It gives her an official 'In', even if she has to pass muster with Seto. Which Teletha manages with flying colors - Seto is excited that at least one of Zeke's future brides is a tried and tested naval commander, and one who is used unconventional tactics and thinking in three dimensions. Rei and Lum are automatically accepted on their reputations alone even if they have to be officially vetted by the Royal Council regardless.
This brings me to Korkoi Tomoko.
I'm dropping Kuno Kodachi and replacing her with Koroki Tomoko. While Kodachi was interesting as she brought a certain amount of amorality to the harem, Tomoko is a better fit in this incarnation due to how she is completely juxtaposed against Zeke.
Zeke has gained fame and notoriety despite him not wanting it. He has a natural tendency to seize the stage, outshine everyone else, and if there are no signs of a strong leadership then he's going to take the mantle upon himself, if only for no other reason, then to make sure everyone makes it through in one piece. However, he hates the attention it garners him and would very much like to be left alone so he can get on with his own life.
Tomoko, on the other hand, craves attention. She wants to be popular and acknowledged by her peers, and above all have an attractive and popular boyfriend. However, she has no idea how to accomplish these feat, especially starting out from her underdog position. She is all but ignored and sometimes even passively bullied for her efforts, and yet she still strives to achieve her goals.
Things between Zeke and Tomoko will begin with Zeke taking pity on the poor misguided girl. He sees in Tomoko a lot of himself in how he was very much a victim of bullying and the only thing that turned it all around for him were the influence of Kubiak and Parker Lewis. So, feeling that he needs to pay this karma forward, Zeke decides that he's going to do the same for Tomoko.
For Tomoko, it's an omen of good things to come. Zeke is the most popular guy in school, and probably the most notorious man in Japan. Forget about the latest scandal in the Diet! Zeke is what people want to know about! And Tomoko can't believe that Zeke would come down from on high to hold his hand out to her. At least, at first. It takes a day or two, but after Zeke keeps several of his Harem from coming down on Tomoko, she begins to believe that he is genuinely interested in her.
He knows that it could be trouble, but he feels certain that his already lofty standing and his status of contention between several powerful (politically and otherwise) young women will dissuade Tomoko from pursuing him. And he is right... that is, until Sasami and Chibiusa side in Tomoko's corner and start advising the girl. And it's not shoddy advice at all! Between Sasami mentoring under Seto, and Chibiusa having a future-timeline perspective, the two youngsters give Tomoko all the ammunition she needs to effectively disarm the rest of the Harem.
Finally, Zeke's Grandmother Charlotte will enter the picture and take Tomoko under her wing as an apprentice. Yes, this means that the Harem will have a resident necromancer, and it will be awesome.
I'd do more here, but my battery is about to die. So, thoughts?