"Tadaima!" Ranma called.
"Hello Ranma." Kasumi said. "You had a phone call earlier."
"Oh? Who was it from?" Ranma asked taking the neatly transcribed message.
"I don't know. The nice lady just said to have you call her back as soon as possible."
"Nice lady, Ranma?" Akane said icily.
"Hmm... Who did I give this number to?" Ranma mused heading to the phone.
"You've been passing our number out all over town and you don't even remember who you gave it to?" Akane screeched.
"Really Akane, do you think even if Ranma met someone he liked, do you think he'd be dumb enough to give her the number here?" Nabiki drawled as Ranma dialed.
"Hello? Oh hi, Anita Chan! It did? Great! Tomorrow? Sure! I look forward to it! Bye!" Ranma grinned giddily as he grabbed his fiancé and danced around the room.
"Lemme go you big jerk!" Akane squealed as Ranma gave her a mighty spin that left her swaying dizzily in the middle of the room.
"So what's got you so happy?" Nabiki smirked a moment before Ranma scooped her into a hug as he whispered into her ear. "I see. Congratulations."
"Ranma, what's the meaning of all this?" Soun demanded as Ranma released Nabiki and started a spirited waltz with a bemused and giggling Kasumi.
"I just got some absolutely wonderful news." He laughed, bringing a breathless Kasumi to a stop.
"From your 'Anita Chan', no doubt." Akane fumed.
"Why Akane, are you jealous?" Ranma smirked. "If you really want to know," The pigtailed boy walked past Nabiki, dropping a folded bundle of Yen notes into her hand as he went. "I'm sure Nabiki will tell you if you ask really nicely."
As Ranma ascended to his room he was pleased to hear various shouts of shock, either at the news he had just received, but it was more likely from Nabiki's asking rate.
Ranma Chan shook the water out of her hair as best as she could before walking into Bornes and Nables.
"Welcome back, Ranma." Anita said, reaching behind the counter and tossing the redhead a fluffy white towel. "Would you like some tea or shall we start your orientation?"
"Some tea sound's great." Ranma said, as she toweled off. "But how did you recognize me?"
"You got that same hungry look you had when you were here the other day." Anita said as a slight smile played over her lips.
"Heh, well there are a lot of books here just begging to be read."
Anita just rolled her eyes with a bemused grin before leading the redhead over to a customer reading area. "Are you sure you wanna work here, Ranma? This is one of those stores. We get a lot of weirdo's coming in here."
"I don't really mind that, Anita Chan." Ranma said sipping her tea. "You see, this isn't work for me. I love books, and getting away from the lunatics in my life is an added bonus."
"Okay, just so you know working here does provide some protection from the magic of this and the other stores in the mall. You're not immune, just protected."
"How protected?"
"It takes about four times the exposure to the magic in this store or any other to have the normal effect or abnormal effects so to speak." Anita said. "Now if you're sure you want to do this I've got some papers for you to read and sign then we'll see about getting you into uniform."
"Sounds good." Ranma said, toweling herself off. "Say, do you have some hot water? I need to be a male if I'm gonna be fitted properly." Anita nodded and lead Ranma to a water cooler prompting a quick change of genders, before following Anita though a door into the employee lounge. "So what would I have to do?"
"Mostly just sales." The pink haired girl said. "And the occasional retrieval."
"Retrieval?" Ranma said as his guide picked up a file folder and thumbed through it.
"Oh, all the stores take a dim view on attacking employee's since it's very difficult to fill vacant posts." Anita responded absently as she flipped through the folder. "Almost every store, including ours, has at least one posted notice against attacking the staff. More to the point, all stores have security spells to neutralize attackers without harming them. Ours sucks them into books. You or any other staff member may be called to go into the world of the book and guide them out. Now then, this is your file. It contains everything about you, your past, your past live, your present. Might even have hints on how to guide your life where you want it."
"How did you get all this?" Ranma asked in surprise. Anita just stared flatly. "Right, magical store. So what am I supposed to do?"
"Read and confirm what you can, then read and sign the included documents on the yellow highlighted lines. Please remember that this is a magically binding contract. There are... penalties for breaking it. Here's your uniform and name badge. Welcome to the Bornes and Nables family." As Anita headed back to the door, she glanced over her shoulder. "Come to the front counter when you're done. I'll introduce you to the rest of the staff and we all pitched in to get you a little 'welcome to the team' gift."
Twenty minutes later, Ranma stepped out of the lounge adjusting his name badge. "All done, Anita."
"You look great, Ranma." Anita said. "You really do the uniform justice. Now then, I was lucky to manage to round up all your coworkers at once. You've met Yomiko Readman before."
"Nice to see you again, Readman San." Ranma smiled, shaking Yomiko's hand as she blushed slightly.
"The tall brunette here is my sister Maggie Mui."
"Hello." Ranma said, tipping his head back.
"Do you like Piers Anthony?" Maggie asked in a quiet voice.
"I've read most of his Xanth novels. Good stuff."
"You might want to check out his Incarnations of Immortality series." Maggie said with a smile. "I like that one."
"This is my other sister, Michelle Chan."
"Oh your boyfriend is so cute, Anita dear!" The bubbly blonde squealed, burying Ranma's head in her cleavage.
"Michelle! He's like four years older than I am!" Anita exclaimed yanking Ranma away from her over enthusiastic sibling. "He's not my boyfriend."
"Does she do that a lot?" Ranma asked straightening his clothes.
"Michelle is... excitable. Moving on I'm pretty sure you've met our last employee, even though she just started today too."
"Nabiki?" Ranma gaped.
"In the flesh." She smirked. "I do read things other than Manga."
"Then you'll love the 45% employee discount." Anita grinned. "Anyway, before we get started here, we have some gifts for you. You two don't mind books, do you?" Ranma and Nabiki just shook their heads. "All right. First for each of you, a leather bound copy of your file. I always find it interesting to read about my past lives." Anita rummaged behind the counter to produce the books and two neatly wrapped boxes. "And this one is yours Nabiki." She said sliding book and bundle to one side of the counter. "And for Ranma. Hurry, open them up."
"What's this... 'Wealth, Power, and What's Really Important: A Book About Friendship by Ivana B. Riche.'" Nabiki read aloud raising an eyebrow.
"I got 'Paper Ken: The Deadly Art of Folded Paper by Pape R. Cutter.' Sounds kinda silly, but I'll give it a shot."
"Believe me, Ranma." Anita pulled a piece of paper from a tablet and folded it into a plane. "It may sound silly." She said sharpening the creases before throwing it past Ranma's head. "But it's pretty damn effective." She finished pointing to the two halves of the fly laying on the floor.
"Okay. You've got my interest." Ranma said, as the door chime announced:
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(Posted Wed, 18 May 2005 17:36)
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