Tarja the Samurai.
Okay, they were both dark elves who had been born of exiled drow parents - those parents had died by drow hunters and the two had been two young (in elven terms) kids trying to survive. They had never really felt connected to the society of their ancestors nor to what passed for culture of the mountain township of Breckenridge.
They had a few stories and tales from Ranma and had promised to serve him in the manner of those stories. Ranma had thought it an amusing game from two fourteen year olds and had taken their oaths of loyalty. He'd been surprised at Tajra having developed her talents and showing up to be a housekeeper.
Identical twins were rare within the drow. Even when they were born normally, one or the other eventually killed the other after sufficient humiliation and pain had been done. Neither Tajra nor Tarja had that upbringing, and so were more close in the manner of human identical twins despite that they had taken different paths in life as far as promoting skills.
They were both slender dark-skinned elves with yellow eyes. They were both beginning to fill out in the manner of young women, showing every sign of developing into voluptuous figures as drow often did - the wide hips helped in childbirth and drow often had to give birth many times due to the high attrition rate due to assassination and other natural causes within their society. Their hair was identically long, and would hang almost to their knees when it was unbound.
There were differences though, if you knew where to look. Tajra was ever so slightly more slender and quicker. Her hands were softer and lacked Tarja's line of callous. Tarja had not only that line of callous from handling weapons intensely, she was slightly more buff as a result of long training.
"Is he gone?"
Tajra nodded, an impish smile appearing. "He's in his lab. Hurry up, it's getting to the good part."
Tarja sat down next to her sister, leaning forward and watching intently. She disliked hiding but the lure of the picture-box was strong. "Ooooh. What I miss?"
"The ninja's name is Ken and he's defied his clan by not killing the shogun's daughter and framing another ninja clan. Currently the samurai have been trying to find the intruder but the commander has figured out that something is not as it appears and is trying to nail down the clues."
Ranma checked it all out from his vantage point, still not realizing that Tajra's sister had come to visit.
The tower was at the center of the demiplane and consisted of three buildings. One was his tower, three floors. Bottom floor was kitchen and living room and reception area. Second floor was three bedrooms, only two of which were used. Third floor was where he was now, the lab. There was also a roof but as he didn't want to get wet he simply opened and looked out the window. There was the garderobe over there - which was one of his projects on the 'to do' list. He still had to use a spell or something because the room was fairly chilly. There was the bathhouse, which had been made by a dwarven acquaintance who had been fond of long hot soaks. Thin wisps of steam escaped the pipe that served as ventilation for the small outbuilding. Hmmm. Maybe if he used some one-way wind spell he could use the warmed air of the bathing area to pipe over to the garderobe.
The bathing area was vaguely Greco-Roman in design. Built entirely in stone of course. The dwarf in question had been scandalized at the thought of building a bathing area in lacquered wood. At least publicly. Ranma thought he'd caught a glimpse of him sketching out copies of the designs.
As an archmage, Ranma could have summoned elementals to do a lot of the work. Frankly he thought mortals had a better grasp of the basics most of the time.
Ranma sat back with some elven waybread and a mug of hot cider (being a powerful mage had its benefits) and tried to remember how he'd returned back to this world. Oh yes. Apparently it wasn't talked much about but there were paranormal investigators and magic specialists and devil hunters and the like around and had been for centuries. When he'd returned, he'd found that he had to get a license and start up a business. As the Archmage of Tokyo, he was sort of the top generalist in the field.
There was no Tendo arrangement that had been brought to his attention in this timeline?
Ranma frowned, trying to remember why it had never come up. Oh yeah...
Ranma greeted his father with a twinkle in his eye. "Pops! Glad you got my message. Good to see ya again."
Genma stared wildly around him for a few moments. "Uhm, right. SON! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR POOR FATHER?!"
"Do what?" asked Ranma.
"Giving up the martial arts for something ludicrous and useless, oh the shame of it!" Genma wept, building up to the revelation.
"I dunno about that. I haven't given up the martial arts. Still practice an hour a day, and oh yeah! I made this for you!"
Genma blinked as he was handed a sake bottle. "Oh. One moment." (chug chug chug clink) "Now son, I have to -" (gurgle)
Ranma smirked. Genma stared at the full sake bottle that he had set down empty. Genma blinked twice.
Genma picked up the bottle, uncorked it, and again emptied and set it down. (chug chug chug clink) "Now son I -" (gurgle)
Genma stared again at the full bottle of sake on the table. "Huh?"
"An everfull sake bottle," explained Ranma. "I remembered how much you like that stuff and were always complaining about the price."
Genma gaped for a moment, his jaw hanging loosely and swaying in the breeze. "An 'everfull' sake bottle? One that never stays empty?" At his son's nod, Genma considered his earlier statement about 'useless' and 'ludicrous' studies. Hmmmm. "Well, as to why I told you about a matter of importance-"
"Oh yeah, I got my license and first paycheck, here ya go," said Ranma cheerfully, pushing an envelope across the table. "I hear you and Mom are kinda financially strapped so I'm arranging to get some of my payments coming your way. Just trying to help out."
"Now son, I -" Genma began, opening the envelope and. Good googly moogly. "Is this for real?"
"It's not enough?" asked Ranma. "How bad are the finances? I got another job coming up, I can try to get more money or some help if you're that much in the red."
"I think this is fine," said Genma, clutching the check to his chest as if afraid someone would come by and steal it. "Son, you do your father proud! Keep up the good work and keep these coming!"
Ranma nodded as the images faded from the crystal ball, which had helped trigger the appropriate memories. His path had never crossed the Tendos, and his father had likely been blinded by all the pretty yen signs. His mother had met Tajra and had (despite the racial differences) immediately taken to the pseudo-ninja servant. Though Ranma only knew about this because of notes left for him, he still kept missing her whenever she dropped by.
Ranma decided the next details of his new life to examine should be:
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(Posted Sun, 18 Apr 2004 10:31)
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