He was not an elf. He was not a dwarf. He was... strange.
He was human. Contrary to some stories, he was not four hundred elf-heights tall, breathing fire and devastation, and making dragons flee from him in terror. Nor did he seem inclined to wear armor, bluster in prose, drink until he passed out, or charge at windmills and airships from the back of some hornless unicorn. Nor did he seem to be anything like the late Emperor, and prepared to dispense miracles while bemoaning his fate and asking where the beer was.
Ren hadn't been around back in the days of Emperor Mannin Shades, so she wasn't entirely sure how much of the various 'Emperor Tales' to take seriously. When he heated the barrel for a bath and got in, and she commented on the odd practice being similar to dwarves - he had actually gotten apologetic about having not noticed her and spent a fair amount of time wincing and acting as if he'd expected her to hit him or something.
It had been fairly obvious to her that he'd simply been exhausted and worn out and looking forward to soaking. Dwarves did the same thing, and for much the same reason. She'd been around dwarves, who liked hot soaks. She'd been around elves. She'd been around halflings and some of the other races. Some of them didn't bathe at all, but had other practices. She herself hadn't done a whole lot of any of that - because she'd gotten sealed away and put on a shelf during some sort of weapons treaty that had apparently come and gone during her sleep.
Cisqua was easier to understand. A slightly built elf with a penchant for demolition work, her reasons for getting out of a dwarf community were simple. The look Cisqua frequently turned towards Ren was interpreted by Ren as greed. That part was easily understood.
Now she was free and partnered with a HUMAN. The legendary precursor race that produced elf and dwarf and giant and ogrii and most of the others.
So, on the one hand, she was not certain of what she was dealing with. Many of her pre-existing ideas about having a partner were either not applicable or they were at the least proving to be difficult to maintain.
"I am a weapon," Ren had stated at one point.
"Cool," had responded Ranma.
"I am capable of destroying a mountain," had tried Ren.
"How many mountains have fought ya?" had asked Ranma.
"Only one," had answered Ren, neglecting to say that as she hadn't had a partner at that time she hadn't actually fought back in that battle.
"Well, then it's good ya can do that sort of thing," had reasoned Ranma.
The encounter had gone absolutely nowhere near what Ren had expected. So she regarded Ranma with a slightly puzzled expression and wondered what she was in for.
Meanwhile, the airship flew on, coming out through a cloudbank and Ren could see-
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(Posted Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:23)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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