Man, but Ryu was just the most adorable like this. Sitting there, cross legged on the floor, leaning over the dolls with a deeply furrowed brow and frantically fumbling fingers. She was so cute like this! Absolutely adorable watching her try to figure out how to play with dolls for the first time. He felt privileged for the experience, and this by itself made having the book absolutely worth it.
"How do you get this damn thing off?" she growled, and Ataru noticed all of a sudden that the only reason he thought this looked cute was the context. He knew that Ryu was a chick. If he didn't know that it would look like he was spending time with a boy trying to get the clothes off a bunch of dolls to check if they were anatomically correct. Sort of like he used to. The main difference was - "Aha! Got it! Let's see how I'd look in this cute pink dress."
"Sure, sure!" Ataru said, picking up dolls of Benten and Oyuki. "While you figure that out, why don't I show you how to play? It's really simple. You see, all you have to do is pretend that the dolls are people, and then you have them say things to each other. Like, maybe Benten would say to Oyuki something like…"
"I'm bored! Whaddaya wanna do?"
Ataru stopped in mild confusion. Huh! His impersonation of Benten's voice had been more spot on than expected. He was also pretty impressed with the doll's flexibility. He'd been effortlessly able to pose Benten so her arms were resting behind her head in a classic 'bored' pose.
"Then you have the other character reply, and you just sort of pretend they're having a conversation," Ataru continued. "You can have them say anything you like. For example, Oyuki might reply…"
"I do not have anything planned for today. However, I did see an advertisement for lap dancing lessons that seemed quite enticing."
"Feh! That's not really my kinda scene, but it's better than nothing. Might as well give it a try."
"You can basically do whatever you want," Ataru said in his normal voice again. Wow, who knew he was so good at impersonations? "You could have them argue, fight, make up, go on adventures, do whatever you want! Any questions?"
"Two," Ryu replied, holding up two fingers. "One, what the hell is lap dancing? Sounds kinda hard, I mean it's not like you can really get much movement out of a lap."
"Uh… Pass for now. What's your other question?"
"How the hell do ya get this dress on?! Damn thing's like one of those colour square puzzles!"
Still absolutely adorable, even under these conditions. Ataru smiled and wordlessly took the doll, undid the velcro strap at the back, untied the tiny piece of string holding it together and redid both with the doll right there in the middle. Sure, doing it for her like this wasn't going to help her learn, but knowing her she was just going to -
Going to be sitting there in a cute, pink and frilly dress, staring in wonder at the doll in Ataru's hand.
"So cute!" Ataru and Ryu said in unison. Even the same tone, inflection, same timing, same everything really.
Huh! No way. Could it be possible that these dolls…?
"I should probably stand on my head," both said at once. "No good reason for it, I just feel like doing it."
Ataru tipped the doll upside down so that it was standing on its head, and watched when Ryu did exactly the same thing right there in front of her. He lifted the doll from the floor to take a better look, and honestly felt just a little relieved when Ryu didn't suddenly start flying all across the room. He gently sat the doll back down the right way up and let go of it, intrigued that Ryu sat in the same kind of way, but a little bit scared when she started staring at him.
"Hey, did you do something funny just now?!"
"Not on purpose!" Ataru insisted. "Ryu, what are you wearing just now?"
She looked down at herself and damn near hit the ceiling. Was that surprise, joy or both? Whatever. She was distracted enough that he could draw out his little black book while she was distracted, and if he was careful he could easily use this opportunity for a little more fun. All he had to do was set her mood to something a little more trusting.
<hr>
Lum was the kind of girl that could sleep through just about anything when she was tired enough, and boy was she ever tired enough! Add in the simple fact that when the Mendo family builds something to purpose, you'd practically need divine intervention to get something better suited for that purpose. At least that's what they'd tell anyone that listened.
Point is, this was the best sleep she'd had in years. And for some reason she'd absolutely needed it! Trouble was, as effective as she was at sleeping - if such a thing could really be measured competitively - her dreams were every bit as malleable as anyone else's. Which meant that even though she wasn't waking up, her mind was still sort of registering what was going on just outside in Ataru's room right then…
"It looks like these dolls can influence people's behaviour!" Ataru said. "Ryu-chan, please let me have your doll again!"
"What're you, crazy? Nuh uh! Not happening! Paws off!"
"Oh, come on. It's not like I'd try anything. Right? I mean, I can't hold the doll forever, and the second I wasn't you'd kick my ass if I tried anything."
"Then whaddaya want it for?"
"Easy! I was just thinking. You know how you have trouble acting like a girl? Well, that doll would be great practice. Don't you think? It'd let me help you get a little practice at behaving like a chick in no time flat!"
"Feh! I know what kinda chick you'd make me start acting like. I've seen those bunnygirls you boys drool over in your magazines! Not a chance, forget it!"
"No, no! I was more meaning a cute girl to match that pink dress! A pretty princess, not a sex kitten! What do you say? Let me be your Prince Charming for a little while. Don't you trust me?"
"I… Guess? For some reason I can't see you trying anything too nasty. Need to think about this."
All of which added up to a rather peculiar dream for Lum's unconscious mind. She beheld a kingdom where Ataru Moroboshi was - God help them - Prince Charming, and Ryunosuke was a pretty princess in a pink dress that had to be rescued from herself in a bunnygirl costume and another version of herself that was a complete sex kitten. How did that make sense? Dream logic! The least logic kind of logic there was! Too much logic in your diet? Try dream logic and watch the pounds melt away.
So while she tossed and while she turned, the special little sleeping cabinet developed by the Mendo family made use of a feature that was previously unknown of. To the tremendous surprise of the real Ataru and Ryu, four figures manifested right there in the room with them. One, a buff, tall and idealised Ataru. The other three were all variations of the same girl, in different dresses and sporting very different attitudes from each other and the real deal.
Because yeah, as if a plan by Ataru Moroboshi was going to go anything like to plan.
- Ryu freaks out, waking Lum up.
- Suddenly, another arrival in the room!
- Meanwhile, Sakura tries to resist the urge to try her gift
- Focus on someone else as they figure out their gift
- Something else
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