[Episode 161219] [Episode 161219]The goddess Athena waved her sword like her own personal magic wand, and the line-up of race models vanished, along with the cosmetic table. Only the female Night Elf model remained, and with a second wave of the sword, multiplied into five separate models. All were the same elf-woman, but each wore different clothing and carried in her hand a simple weapon characteristic to her vocation.
The Warrior wore a tight, sleeveless dark-red bodysuit and carried a shortsword and shield.
The Hunter wore a shortsleeved brown outfit, and carried a dagger in hand, with a bow slung over her back.
The Rogue wore a bodysuit similar to the warrior, though it was black, and carried a dagger.
The Priestess wore an elegantly simple green and gold dress, and carried a simple short mace.
The Druid's robe was done up in green and wood-brown, with a light mantle across the shoulders that seemed to be formed of green leaves. She bore a shoddy-looking staff.
It couldn't help but be noticed that all the outfits were light and simple cloth, and the weapons rather cheap and shoddy-looking, but functional. This didn't really surprise those watching souls who'd enjoyed RPG games in the past, and nor did it worry them. If this were anything like their games, better weapons and armour could soon be found or bought with a little work.
"Now then," Athena began, once the display was prepared, "I wouldn't ask you to just blindly choose your life's career, so now would be the best time to ask me questions about each class, so that you can make a good d-"
"Warrior!" Akane grinned. "I want to be a warrior!"
Athena blinked. "That was fast. Are you certain, Akane-chan? You don't even want to hear about the other choices? Not that I disapprove of yours, naturally."
Akane shook her head. "I'd never be a thief, I'm not gentle or patient enough to be a priestess, I'm... not even sure what a druid is, but I don't think it matters, and I think a sword is a lot cooler than a knife and bow, frankly."
"So you're a warrior at heart, is that it?" Athena smirked.
Akane nodded.
Athena shrugged. "So be it. Same as before young lady; step through from behind."
Akane grinned and dashed off to do so. In a moment, she was standing before her sisters in the same outfit the warrior model was wearing, with a sword in her right hand and a small buckler on her left arm. Nearly giggling in excitement, she gave the sword a few experimental swings...which were surprisingly skilful considering she'd never wielded weapons of this type before. A bamboo shinai for kendo and fiancé abuse yes, but a more western-style shortsword and shield combo should have been new to her. Even the stance she found her body automatically settling into was well-suited to fighting while so armed. When she asked Athena about this, the goddess explained that basic skills came with the body. More complex and effective ones would be learned later.
Athena turned back to the remaining two sisters. "Well then, do you two already know what you want as well?"
Nabiki glanced at Kasumi, who waved for her to go ahead, and moved forward a step. "Well... not exactly. I'm not the same sort of personality as Akane. Diving headlong into the thick of things doesn't appeal to me much. I'm more the planner and strategist type. I'd rather stand back from the violence and direct, or at least not get quite that close. I suppose that's not possible in your little war-world though, is it?"
Athena smirked. "Hmm... you might have made a good Mage, or even a Warlock, with that sort of mindset. Too bad the Night elves have no use for those types of magics. Honestly, I think a Hunter's life would suit you best. You will have to do some hand-to-hand occasionally, especially early on, but your primary weapon is the bow, doing your damage from a relatively safe distance. Fairly soon, you'll be taught how to catch and train an animal as a hunting pet, which you can command to get up close and personal for you, keeping your opponent's attention off you while you sink arrows into it from a safe distance. And if you intend to work together with your former sisters, Akane here can fulfil much the same role even when you're between pets: she keeps its attention off you; you shoot it full of holes. How does that sound to you?"
Nabiki looked thoughtful. "You know, I think I might like that."
Akane snorted. "Sure you don't want to be a rogue? I bet you learn how to pick pockets."
Athena nodded a bit sheepishly. That was one of the skills she'd set rogues up to have, even if she didn't approve of the practice personally. So she'd arranged a limitation that they would never be able to lift a purse from their allies or even other souls of the opposing faction.
Nabiki scowled at her sister. "Don't make me sic my pet tiger on you!" She mock-growled as she circled round and stepped through the huntress model, now appearing dressed the same way.
"Now now." Athena quieted them. She turned to the last sister. "And you, Kasumi dear? Any idea what you'd like to be?"
Kasumi looked at the selection and frowned in thought. "Um..."
Nabiki snorted. "Priest."
Akane rolled her eyes. "Priest."
A few dozen souls waiting behind the rope, who'd known Kasumi in life, all cheered simultaneously. "Priest!"
Kasumi's head flicked from one to another in surprise. "Oh my... er... well... if everyone else is so certain about it, I suppose I..."
"Now stop right there!" Athena frowned. "Kasumi-chan, I did not ask Nabiki, or Akane, or any of those other people what they thought you should be. I asked you what you wanted to be. If you let other people tell you what you want to do and be, then you're not likely to enjoy the next 60-odd years of your existence much."
"Well that's certainly true." Kasumi temporised, "but I'm sure they don't mean anything ill by it."
"Of course we don't!" Akane snapped at the goddess, who in turn shot the new-born warrior a look that reminded the deceased soul what the relative power levels between them were like. The look was coldly disdainful, rather than hostile and filled with malice. It as much as said, 'I could blow you into eternal oblivion with a stiff fart, so perhaps you should mind how you speak to me.'
Nabiki cleared her throat as she watched Akane's attempt to stare down the goddess result in the young warrior hiding in a curled up ball behind Kasumi's legs and shivering. "While I would not have put it quite the same way, Athena-sama, I do agree with my sisters. It's not our intention to bully or push around Kasumi-oneechan; we love her to death... and beyond, apparently. We only made our... suggestion as we did because we've known Kasumi all our lives. She has always been, as long as we can remember, kind, caring, helpful, and pacifistic. The role of a priestess just seems like a perfect match to her personality, to our thinking." She paused, considering. "Then again, we are only her sisters, seeing our oneechan through our own eyes. We don't pretend to know her deepest secrets, her hidden fantasies. If she does want to be something different, we would of course support her choice wholeheartedly. Speaking for myself, I only gave my opinion because it looked like she was having trouble deciding."
Athena listened in silence, then turned to Kasumi for her response to this.
Kasumi smiled warmly at her middle sister. Akane was impulsive and occasionally self-centred. For all that she was a good person inside, she sometimes forgot to consider other's feelings, making a broad assumption that other people must naturally share her opinions and thus no discussion was needed. Nabiki, though she was not always nice to everyone, was at least intelligent and thoughtful. If she did put her own desires before another's, she did it consciously and usually for a good reason (not that she would be sharing that reason, naturally). More often than not, she was considerate of Kasumi's feelings whenever she could reason them out. Of course, Kasumi had never been the sort to harp on and on about her own wants and desires, so she could hardly blame either of her sisters for not helping her have something she never let them know she wanted.
"I think the truth is somewhere between the two extremes, Athena-sama." The former eldest Tendou girl began. "I don't have any especially strong desire to choose this or that, in this case, though I was hoping for something interesting. It's also true that I don't enjoy violence, and certainly wouldn't be suited to take on a warrior's role, as Akane has, I would think. As for taking care of my sisters... that has always been at least as much a joy as it has been a duty for me. I love them both dearly and it would indeed please me to be able to heal their hurts and guard them from harm. I just wondered if it might not... get a bit old, after a while."
Athena slowly nodded in understanding. "I noticed earlier how you stared for a long time smiling at the Tauren model, then you just sighed and went along with your sister's choice of Night Elves. Tell me true, Kasumi-chan, did you in truth want to try being a Tauren?"
Kasumi glanced at her surprised sisters and reluctantly nodded. "I... suppose I did, at first; the looked so interesting, especially with what you told us about their culture and philosophy. Still, it was just a whim, and I have no complaints about being a Night Elf. Furthermore, being together with my sisters truly is much more important to me than having my first choice."
Akane and Nabiki glanced guiltily at each other. It wasn't so much that Kasumi had chosen to stay with them over her first choice... it was that they hadn't even bothered to ask if she had a preference.
"Taurens for sure, next life?" Nabiki whispered.
"Eww..." Akane glanced at Kasumi and winced guiltily. "Oh alright, but so help me, one cow crack out of Ranma and I'll... I'll gore him!" She whispered back.
Nabiki grinned. "Sound's fair to me."
Athena slowly nodded as she absorbed all this. "Hmm... Do you know what, Kasumi-chan? I do believe I have an excellent compromise for your conflicting interests. The Druids are a somewhat tricky class to master, but they're anything but boring. Druids are highly spiritual and in touch with nature; you might call them "nature mages", using the powers of nature in their spells and attacks. They also have the undeniably interesting and frequently handy ability to shape-shift into the forms of various animals. Bears, panthers, sea lions, etc. I really don't think you'll ever get bored living as a druid. Moreover, After priests, of course, druids are the 2nd best healers in the world. Those that specialise in using the Restoration branch of their nature-magic skills can even be better healers in many ways than an average priest. What do you think?"
Kasumi brightened considerably. "That sounds marvellous! It's like everything I want all together! Thank you Athena-sama!" She wasted little time circling around the Druid model, reappearing momentarily in the leaf-shrouded robe, with the shoddy staff in hand.
The war goddess grinned. "Well, I did have quite a bit of fun planning the druids out. I'm glad all my creative work will be appreciated. You should find many uses for you druidic abilities. When your youngest sister here goes charging into battle unprepared, you can heal her wounds, then change into a bear and sit on her until she promises not to be so reckless!"
"HEY!"
Kasumi was giggling into her hand at that mental image. Nabiki wasn't even trying for modesty, and fell on her behind laughing. She stopped a bit when she noticed how sore her but was from the fall. "Ow, that hurt more than it should have." She muttered as she rubbed her behind soothingly. A few male souls waiting behind the roped drooled at the image.
Athena smirked. "You're a bit higher off the ground than you used to be, Nabiki-chan. Have you ever noticed how babies learning to walk can trip and do a complete belly flop that would have hurt an adult a lot, but they just hop back up and keep going? They're only falling about a foot down to the ground, and have less weight pressing down to add to the impact."
"Well thanks for the physics lesson."
Athena shrugged. "I would have thought it more like paediatrics myself. Anyway looks like you three are ready to go start your adventure. Do you want to wait here and see what some of your old friends are going to end up looking like, or just get started and meet them later?"
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(Posted Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:48)
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