"Anything else, Leon?" Fuko looked up over her shoulder from her sketchboard at the ADP inspector.Leon rubbed his chin and stared at the drawing on the board. "No,I think that's it.""Right," Fuko said, and slid the pencil in her hand carefully into its proper place in her kit. She released the clips holding the page on the board, slid the sheet of paper off, and laid it next to three other drawings on the table next to her. "I'd ask you if you were trying to trick me into drawing an American-style comic book for you, except about 7:30 last night I heard a voice in the thunder and ended up curled into a ball, whimpering." She shivered, and Leon put his hand on her shoulder."You and most of Megatokyo," he said softly."Well, yeah, but not being alone doesn't exactly help me feel better about it," she snapped, and he quickly withdrew his hand."Sorry," she said in a far less angry tone. "Just the thought ofit... The gods are supposed to be remote, distant from ordinaryhumans. Not standing in the streets yelling at them.""She just *claimed* to be a goddess," Leon offered. "Doesn't mean she actually was one."Fuko laughed sadly. "Oh, she was, Leon, believe me. The fear of the gods lurks in every human soul, and mine responded to her." She shook her head slowly. "Hell of a thing for an atheist to say, huh? I guess I better start attending services again.""If you say so," he replied, dubious.She turned her swivel chair around to face him more directly. "Istill can't get over how you were so close to her, and were unaffected."Leon shrugged. "Well, I was distracted by everything else going on." He fingered the folded sunglasses hung on the breast pocket of his shirt and grimaced. "Plus my ears were ringing like mad from all the loud noises already -- regular thunder, sonic booms, that one woman... screaming, for lack of a better word. I didn't actually *hear* the voice in the thunder that everyone else did."Fuko giggled, her entire countenance brightening again. "And here I was, thinking you were some kind of superman for standingup to it at such close range." With a smile, she turned back toher kit and began closing it up.Leon snorted. "Yeah, right. Some superman. I was lucky to leave that war zone under my own power. If any of then had decidedI was some kind of threat, I'd probably be a grease spot now."Still fitting pencils and other tools of her trade back into thekit box, Fuko said, "I thought you said you shot one with yourEarthshaker.""I did," Leon replied. "Apparently that wasn't enough to qualify me as a serious threat." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the flattened bullet. With a quiet little "click" he laid it on the table next to the drawings. Fuko looked at the source ofthe noise, raised her eyebrows and looked at him. The corner ofher mouth twitched, and finally she cooed, "Poor baby! Your big,bad gun isn't up to the job any more.""Fuko," he growled."You know, there are treatments for that now... therapy and drugsthat can do wonders.""Fuko!" She was laughing outright now, and Leon felt an unfamiliar rush of heat in his cheeks. "Stop. Please."Laughter subsided back into spurts of giggling. "Oh well, sinceyou asked so nicely.""Thank you," he said, trying to gather the shreds of his dignityback together. "I doubt anything short of an antitank weaponwould have worked on those women, Fuko. I tell you this, either they build really strong buildings in the Loon's world, or the construction and insurance companies are making out like bandits.""Probably both," she said.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.