"Yes, that's why I have permission," said the young girl. "It's only polite to ask though."
"Uh huh," said Ranma. "Why wouldja be granting me a wish anyway?"
"Because you stand at a crossroads, Ranma Saotome... oh wait a minute, Minako is always telling me I need to use dramatic effects. Can I start over?"
Ranma nodded. "Sure go ahead. See if ya can conjure up some warmth too. It's kinda chilly here."
"Okay," said Hotaru agreeably. "Ahem. Sorry, I'm not very experienced at this sort of thing so... so here goes."
Crackle BOOM!
Hovering three feet off the floor, Hotaru's eyes opened and shone forth like violet headlights. Ranma was currently imitating a deer in those headlights.
Genma came running, saw this and began demonstrating the Crouch Of The Wild Tiger.
Know this, Ranma Saotome, for thou standeth at a crossroads! The path thou doth chooseth now shall determine whether thy father... oh heck this isn't me at all."
Ranma remembered to breath as the girl who had just become this glowing apparition throwing out waves of chi blinked and was a young and cute girl in a kimono again.
"There, at least I can talk like this and not cause the plaster to crack any more," said Hotaru happily. "Now, Ranma, your thread of destiny is getting ready to change. You can blindly follow the path your father has set out for you, end up cursed and in a love affair that ends tragically in fourteen months when you've defeated a minor demi-god and your fiancee's sister puts it out that you're a 'godslayer' and you get into a fight way over your head. Apparently they felt that if you could defeat even a minor demi-god you were a credible threat to their plans of world annihilation."
"Really?" asked Ranma, trying to follow this. It sounded like some good fights.
"Yes, and while you survive, practically everyone around you is killed just from the side effects of the battle and you never recover from it," said Hotaru. "I know the Norns. Urd can be a little scary but they're pretty good at fortune-telling when they cooperate."
"What about me?" Genma asked, pointing at himself as if to remove any doubt about who he was referring to.
"You get cursed, and during that fight, well, I believe the term is 'splatted'," said Hotaru with evident distaste.
"Uhm, 'splatted', in a good way?" said Genma hopefully.
"From what I was told, they had to identify the remains of most of the bodies by checking the DNA," said Hotaru, bowing apologetically.
"That doesn't sound good," observed Genma.
"It isn't," said Hotaru, cheering up. "That's why I'm here to grant Ranma a wish! It at least gives you some chance to defeat some of the menaces heading your way."
Ranma nodded. "A wish? Like a real wish? I'm still not sure I believe this but I could have some really great martial arts technique, or I could-"
"-be filthy disgusting obscenely wealthy?" suggested Genma, also not sure about what the girl was but the light show had indicated that she wasn't all that ordinary.
"I suppose," said Ranma. "Can ya hang on a bit? I wanna think about this."
"Sure... I'll make a nice hot soup, it is a bit chilly," said Hotaru.
Genma waited until the girl was out of the room before grabbing the collar of his son's gi. "Ranma my boy. Let's talk."
WHAP! Ranma removed his elbow from his father's face. "Hey old man, I listen to you - I get screwed. Let me think about this."
"Hi!" said a tall green eyed girl. "I'm Hotaru's sister. My name is Makoto."
"You another goddess?" asked Ranma.
Makoto nodded. "That's right. Now, Hotaru, have you finished dicing the vegetables?"
"Almost," said Hotaru.
Ranma sniffed at the pot. "Smells good."
"Thank you," said Makoto turning on a smile that seemed to bring fresh air into the building and the smell of fresh herbs.
"Whoa," said Ranma, who'd never had a girl this close - much less smiling at him.
Genma was already fixing up a table to be seated at, practically salivating at the odors.
"These were in the cupboard," said Hotaru, bringing Ranma a set of bowls. "Can you go out back and wash them out while I finish with the vegetables, please?"
"No problem," said Ranma, a little stunned by TWO girls smiling at him like that.
"There's an old pump style well out back," said Makoto.
Eventually the bowls and spoons were clean, the soup ready, and Ranma was ready to start tearing into his dinner.
"I'm glad you like it," said Makoto as Ranma began going through the second bowl as she was taking a second spoonful.
"Ish good," said Ranma, or something fairly close like that.
"It's nice to hear that, I don't get the chance to cook very often," said Makoto sadly. "Not for guys at least."
"Vwy notsh," said Ranma while slurping down more soup.
"Oh my old boyfriend left me, and well, take a look," said Makoto, standing up. "As you can see, I'm too tall to get a boyfriend. Even among the Aesir."
Ranma looked her over, seeing that, okay she was maybe 6' tall. "That doesn't seem right." She could cook like this? Not right at all.
"Perfectionists," bemoaned Makoto. "I'll never get a boyfriend like that."
Ominous thunder sounded distantly, mainly because it wasn't going to get there in time, as Ranma said:
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(Posted Sat, 31 Jan 2004 13:12)
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