“So, Mr. Fetish, what brings you by this morning. And by the way, who is your cute little friend?” Kasumi asked Ranma’s boss, who’d stopped by for another visit. Only this time he had company with him, a petite, vaguely feminine looking figure with long hair and wearing a creamy off-white dress.
“Why, this is that little helper I promised you last night, miss Kasumi. I’d introduce you of course, but I’m afraid that the poor thing isn’t quite finished yet,” Mr. Fetish replied a little vaguely.
“Oh? How do you mean? She doesn’t look like anything is wrong with her, Mr. Fetish,” Kasumi replied uncertainly. It was true too, aside from a slightly odd tinting of her skin- it was faintly greyish -and her oddly shaped ears, she looked pretty much normal to the Tendo girl.
A knowing sort of smile spread across Mr. Fetish’s face as he happily answered her question for Kasumi. “Because despite appearances to the contrary, my dear lass, our little friend here isn’t a person as yet but a golem. An all but finished one at that, with no specific gender either at the moment. Although I must admit that my preference for the female form seems to have gotten the better of me once again. Even so, this is the ‘little helper’ I promised you last night, miss Kasumi. All that’s needed to put the finishing touches on our little friend is to give her a name, and then the creation process will be finished,” he told her with an affectionate pat on the golem’s shoulder.
“All she needs is a name? And then she’s finished?” Kasumi responded, a little skeptical of the simple requirement. If that was really all it took, then why hadn’t he simply called ahead, asking Kasumi to name the poor girl face to face like this almost made it feel like she was naming a pet instead. The whole concept was still just a bit confusing to her so far.
“Well, it’s not quite that simple, dear lady, but close. You see, wether you realize it or not, a name is a powerful thing. Even people who don’t know the first thing about magic can feel the truth of it, wether they realize it consciously or not. It’s part of ‘em, who they are, put enough and the right kind of ‘oomph’ into saying it, and you can summon the attention of the person or being it belongs to no matter where or how far away they might be at the time,” the wizard clarified with a warm and patient smile.
“Now, in this little one’s case, what they need is a name to call their own. But as much as you could just pick the first thing that pops into your head and it’d complete the process, I need you to put more effort into it than that, lass. This little golem’s is to be your household helper, and fill in whenever you step out of the house, miss Kasumi. So, for this golem to do its job properly, I need you to picture exactly what sort of helper you need . . . or want. Make the image that puts in your head as detailed as you can. Picturing things like mannerisms, behavior, even likes and dislikes if need be to make ‘em the best little helper you can imagine,” he told her. The old wizard’s voice gently coaxing Kasumi along as she instinctively closed her eyes to imagine all of these things.
Inside her mind, Kasumi did exactly as she was told. Her perfect helper would have to be tolerant and well mannered, a proper host in every way. They would have to enjoy helping others just like Kasumi did. Being a good cook was a must. They’d also need to be witty enough to keep the father’s in line, and also not to be sucked into any of Nabiki’s little ploys while Kasumi had her back turned. A role model for everyone to look up to . . .
“Now, as you’re picturing all of that, lass, tell me, what name pops into your mind now?” Mr. Fetish finally spoke again. His tone oddly yet pleasantly compelling this time.
Without really intending to, Kasumi found herself picturing her mother for a moment. The wistful image almost cost the girl her concentration as a bout of wistful regret hit her at the reminder of her long absent mother. A hint of guilt reminded Kasumi that the rest of her family probably wouldn’t handle the reminder of their mother much better if she stayed with that image.
So she dutifully altered the imaginary image in her head, thinking of one of her old friends from school, Yumiko. Yumiko had been the eldest sister of a very large group of siblings, and had a home life a lot like Kasumi’s own. Kasumi had learned a lot of what she didn’t remember about her mother’s stye of house cleaning from Yumiko and her mother. The two of them used to share cooking and cleaning tips with Kasumi all the time, and their suggestions were ever so helpful growing up. They even had ways of making the boring old chores into fun little games that Kasumi still played to this day.
If either of the pair had a single flaw in common, it was their idea of stress relief. Kasumi had been invited to several late night sleep-overs that were . . . fun, in a way that could never tell her family about. Otherwise, the two of them weren’t all that different from Kasumi herself. In fact, she kind of missed them now that neither of the two lived in the area anymore.
Almost wistfully, Kasumi imagined the two of them blended into a single person about her own age. It was like dreaming up the sister she’d always wanted but never had. She pictured Yumiko with her long silky hair turned the same silver-white her mother had. Platinum blond she’d called it. Both of them had slightly elfin features, sea green eyes, and near identical figures that were stunning in anything more revealing than a house dress and apron.
“Yumi . . . ,” Kasumi whispered affectionately as she thought of her old friend turned into her imaginary sister like that, with just a hint of her mother tossed in. She didn’t even notice she’d said it aloud until the child like girl beside Mr. Fetish started to change.
The golem, as he’d called her, grew fairly quickly to meet Kasumi’s own tallish height, her chest blossoming as she did. Her waist stayed quite slender, only growing just enough to match her generous hips and chest, giving her a healthy looking hourglass figure. Her face was a pleasant blend of both mother and daughter, with just a hint of Kasumi’s own face sneaking into it somehow, giving her a sisterly quality.
All in all, she became a mirror match for the pseudo sister that Kasumi had dreamed up. “Hello . . . sister,” the girl replied with a warm smile. Who now looked nothing at all like the faux little girl that Mr. Fetish had escorted into her home just moments prior.
“Oh my . . .” Kasumi teetered on the edge of admitting that she’d only named the girl by accident just now. However, she thought better of it in short order. Not only would it be very inconsiderate, and a tiny bit rude as well, but Kasumi could honestly say that she didn’t really mind the slip at all. After all, Kasumi trusted both of the people Yumi was modeled after to be discrete about certain things when the need arose.
Fortunately the shock of seeing the girl change and being, well, born gave Kasumi a fair excuse for her halting response. “Why hello, Yumi-chan. Welcome to the family.” she finally finished her greeting. Meanwhile she hoped that her pause wasn’t quite as long as it had seemed in her mind.
“Ah~! Very nice work, my dear girl, very nice. Your imagination does your friend and her mother justice, I think. If I read the memories you used correctly that is. Although I think you might have added just a teensy bit extra up top without meaning to though. But that’s hardly a complaint my dear ladies, I think Yumi-chan’s measurements are quite . . . pleasant, to say the least. Very natural looking too, I might add,” Mr. Fetish complimented as he gave the transformed girl a once over.
Kasumi noticed that she and Yumi both blushed quietly at the slightly embarrassing, yet complementary critique. Yumi had a slightly proud smirk mixed in with her embarrassment, but it was fairly well hidden. Even so, Kasumi did her best not to make an already embarrassing situation even worse by over reacting to it. So, instead, she was picking her brain for something to distract her guest with until she could regain her composure.
Yumi beat her to it though. “Would you care for some more tea, Mr. Fetish? We still have plenty here,” Kasumi’s newly finished sister/helper offered with a demure bow.
“Yes, please, if it’s not too much trouble of course,” their mutual guest replied, politely accepting the offered distraction. It was almost as if he were admitting to embarrassing them and apologizing for it at the same time, all without mentioning the actual offense. It was a very subtle form of courtesy, and one that Kasumi was very grateful to the man for just now, especially when taking his chosen profession into account.
Yumi took the pitcher of tea and filled up both their guest and Kasumi’s cups. Once both of theirs were full, the blond girl took a long, slow sip from her own, previously untouched glass. There really was no comparison to the unresponsive child Yumi had entered the house as, and the serene yet sociable girl she acted like now. The difference was simply stunning.
Silence reigned between the three of them for several minutes, before Yumi, of all people, broke it again. “Pardon me for imposing, Mr. Fetish, but before we left to come here, I believe you stated that I wasn’t the only reason you needed to come here in person. Might I ask what other business you have with my new family today?” Yumi asked in a politely commanding voice. It was exactly the same kind of tone Yumiko’s mother used when she was reminding someone to get back on task with one thing or another.
Now it was Mr. Fetish’s turn to look a little bit embarrassed . . . or perhaps flustered was a better description of the man’s expression. “Ah, yes. There were a few other things actually. First off, I wanted to know if you’d given any thought to where you’d like to go on your outing with our young Mr. Saotome?”
Kasumi was honestly surprised that the man hadn’t forgotten about that already, partially because she’d forgotten it herself until just now. Her reaction gave her away apparently, since the wizard didn’t wait for her to respond beyond Kasumi’s quiet little gasp.
“I was afraid you’d need a little prodding to go, lass. And I’m sure you don’t want to deal with all the upset some of the lad’s friends ‘ll make over it being you and not them he’s taking out for a bit of fun. So I whipped up these little tickets for you. They’ll take you to a quiant little tavern back home that my sister runs.
“She’s an incorrigible romantic if she sees a pair she likes, so keep an eye out for that. But otherwise she’s a real lively sort, and likes to keep that dance floor of hers as busy as possible. I’ve told her to expect you some time in the next few days or so, so don’t disappoint her by waiting too long, lass,” declared Mr. Fetish with that fatherly tone of his again.
“Oh my, but I’m not sure that my or Ranma’s English are good enough for a trip like that,” Kasumi hesitated, stunned by the unexpected suggestion.
“Not to worry, my dear. Maria keeps a translation charm on the place for the benefit of visitors like yourself, as aren’t too sure they have the local language down or not. Getting there and back is simple enough too. Just hold one ticket each in your right hand, then follow the instructions on the back,” the old Scott told her with an impish smile.
“Th-thank you very much,” Kasumi stuttered slightly, blushing slightly as she looked the instructions over once, then pocketed them. The instructions were surprisingly innocent, considering what she knew about Mr. Fetish so far. But the idea of kissing Ranma, specifically with both their eyes closed still made Kasumi feel just the slightest bit . . . giddy, for some reason.
“You’re stalling,” Yumi warned her creator in the same, politely commanding tone she’d last used on him. The slightly disappointed not-frown she gave him was a subtle reprimand best used on someone who already knew what they were doing wrong.
Mr. Fetish responded by ducking his head a little bit and looking rather sheepish. “Heh, heh. Yes, there was one other thing as well, miss Kasumi. It’s about your sister, the one who lost her temper last night. After some reflection on the matter, I realized that I might have given the girl’s naturally aggressive tendencies an accidental boost last night. I was expecting the girl to act a certain way based off young Ranma’s description of her. Which is to say that her reaction to me last night wasn’t entirely her own; I should have realized sooner that the lad was exaggerating a wee bit on certain points. But I didn’t, ” he dithered, nervously chewing his unlit pipe a moment.
“Oh my, I thought Akane lost her temper a bit faster than usual last night . . . ,” Kasumi conceded, recalling her sister’s near instant blind rage. Sure, Akane had been less than pleased to hear Nodoka interrogating Ranma about his store’s wares last night. But she should have calmed down enough during her bath after dinner to not attack Mr. Fetish at the mere mention of his presence last night.
“Aye, lass. With my brand of magic, one has to be careful not to project their expectations of people too strongly. Else they might force the person in question to act that way instead of how they normally would have. I should have been more careful than I was last night, doubly so since I wasn’t the only one with a bit of magic in me expecting the girl to act that way.
“So, as much as it pains me to admit to it, I judged your sister poorly last night and she’s suffered somewhat unfairly because of it. You seem the sort to know your family better than they know themselves. So I was wondering if you might set me straight on how the lass really acts, miss Kasumi. Then maybe I can decide fairly wether or not she really deserves some sort of punishment at all, or if I owe her an apology of my own instead.” A rather self-conscious and slightly pensive look marred the Scotsman’s face as he admitted to all that.
“Oh . . . I see,” Kasumi replied, feeling pleasantly enlightened by the revelation about last night’s events. “Well, to be completely honest with you, Akane is normally . . .”
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(Posted Sun, 18 Jan 2009 09:10)
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