Subject: [FFML] Re: [Fanfic][Ranma] Sacrifice For Manhood
From: RaeMowse@aol.com
Date: 8/6/2000, 4:06 PM
To: lwf58@earthlink.net, ffml@fanfic.com

In a message dated 8/6/00 3:18:19 AM EST, lwf58@earthlink.net writes:

    Heya, Rainman.

Hey, Larry.

     Overall, the phrasing in this chapter is rather stilted.

As figured.  Well, to be expected, as I spent a couple of hours writing it 
out.  It was originally intended to be spammish, but for some odd reason, I 
had a really hard time writing out as such.

 I'm going to
 write alternate ways of saying the same things, so you can see the
 difference.  They're just intended to give you some ideas about how the
 paragraphs could be made more readable, not as actual substitutions.
 
     About the idea: It's an interesting concept, but where can it go?  
Given
 that Akane can't be a girl again, it seems like you've removed the central
 tension between her and Ranma.  That is, resolving whether or not they want
 to be married regardless of the opinions of the people around them.  You've
 very effectively removed Akane as one of the love interests, unless Ranma
 has secret homophilic tendencies... an idea that I, for one, am not
 interested in exploring.

Ditto.  Yaoi is not for me.

 The same goes for a male Akane/ female Ranma
 matchup.  That's been done dozens of times,

Really?  I never really noticed before.  Well, maybe for Virus...

and done well, but (speaking
 solely for myself) it's not the kind of story I get into.  I guess I'm kind
 of straightlaced in my romantic viewpoint.  ^_~

You're not alone on the old-fashion view.  [Personal viewpoint] Adam and Eve, 
not Adam and Steve, though Alice and Eve is kinda enticing ^_^; (male 
chauvanism prevails yet again).  [/Personal viewpoint]

     I suppose you pretty much have to change the engagement over to one of
 the other Tendo girls, but will that really be a good thing this deep in 
the
 series?

Probably about as good as when Nabiki was engaged to him for a week.

 Are you going to propose that there is a cure for Akane out there
 somewhere?

Kinda.  Of course, in the anime, Ranma never met Herb, so...

 I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Quite honestly, I never really planned on making out another one of these 
(though I could do it, I really want to get some of my other projects done 
first before considering it).  It was just to be a quick spamfic, but like I 
said, I just could get into the state of mind for it.

 > No sooner than he had said those words, memories flooded before his eyes.
 He
 > was fighting against Toma, the boy prince who had kidnapped Kasumi,
 Nabiki,
 > Shampoo, Ukyou, and last, but not least, Akane in preparation for 
choosing
 a
 > bride.  Thing had gotten bad in the race for Akane on the mine carts, 
then
 > degenerated into worse; he and Akane had flipped out of the cart and
 plummet
 > towards the permanent man-changing water pool far below.
 
     "No sooner had he said the words, than memories flooded his mind.  He
 was fighting against Toma, the boy prince who had kidnapped Kasumi, Nabiki,
 Shampoo, Ukyou, and Akane in preparation for choosing a bride.  Things had
 been bad in the race for Akane on the mine carts; then they'd become even
 worse as he and Akane were flipped out of one of the carts, to plummet

After looking over the story, I think "thrown off" or "tossed out of" would 
be a better subsitution for "...flipped out of..."

 toward the pool of magical water far below.  The water was supposed to
 change anyone soaked with it into a man, permanently.  For Ranma, it was 
his
 hope of salvation, of being able to stay male once and for all.  But for
 Akane, it was damnation.
 
     So he'd been ready to throw it all away for her.  No way could he let
 those waters trap her in an unnatural masculine life, despite his
 desperation to finally be cured of his own curse.  Ignoring Akane's plea,
 telling him not to worry about her and just let himself be cured, he'd
 charged up to release a Mouko Takabisha and obliterate the pool."
 
 >
 > However, the situation, which was thought to not be able to get any 
worse,
 > grew even more dire.  Just as he started to release the yellow beam of 
ki,
 > his arms were yanked to one side, sending the energy to carve a deep
 groove
 > along the wall.  Furious, he glared to the source of the disruption...
 >
 > ...and found himself meeting Akane's teary, smiling eyes.
 
     "However, just when he'd thought the situation couldn't get any worse,
 it did.  Just as he released the yellow beam of ki, his arms were yanked
 aside, sending the energy to carve a useless groove along the wall of the
 shaft."
 
     Is furious the right word?  He knows that the only person falling with
 him is Akane, so the connection isn't hard to make.  I'd think he'd feel
 shocked.

Well, normally, you wouldn't think that the person you're trying to save 
would be trying his/her best to hinder you, so you look for someone else.  At 
least, that's how I have reacted.

 > He didn't have the luxury of being stunned or puzzled at the moment; it
 was
 > life or death now.  Everything else had to take the backseat.  He 
summoned
 > confidence into the palm of his hands with the waters so close, too close
 for
 > comfort.  "Moukou Takabisha!!" Ranma cried out, successfully firing the
 > yellow beam into the surface of the liquid mirror below them, detonating
 the
 > bottom of the pool, which would result in the loss of his cure.  At least
 > Akane would be-
 
     The expression is "take a back seat".

Ah, the joys of sleep deprivation...

 > The water suddenly surged up, as if in an act of defiance, and Ranma
 realized
 > that he made a critical miscalculation.  The void that the Moukou
 Takabisha
 > left in its wake had to be refilled immediately by natural laws, and the
 > force of the ki blast had created a large void.  Thinking quickly, he
 tried
 > to shield Akane's body with his own from the impending spout that
 violently
 > rose up to greet them both.  He felt a warm wetness engulf him, and then
 > nothing.
 
     "The water suddenly surged up, as if in a final act of defiance.  Ranma
 realized that he'd made a critical miscalculation.  The wake of the Mouko
 Takabisha had left a vacuum, and by natural law, something had to fill the
 void...  He quickly tried to use his body to shield Akane from the
 waterspout rising violently to greet them.  With a force like that of
 slamming into a wall, he felt the liquid engulf him, and then blacked out."

Good one, there.

 > "Violent pervert girl stuck as boy?  Shampoo want off island now!"
 
     Where does this reaction come from?  Shampoo should be overjoyed; it's
 one less competitor, as far as she's concerned.

True; of course, if Akane has been turned into a guy, what's to say that it 
couldn't happen to her as well?  That would be really bad for her standing 
with Ranma, and Mousse would flip out totally.

 > "What foul magicks hath thee cast upon the beatific Akane Tendo,
 Hounorless
 > Sorcerer?!  And what hath becometh of the pigtailed girl?"
 
     "honorless"

Sleep deprivation again...

 > "More importantly, you destroyed our only chance at getting a cure!  How
 dare
 > you be so greedy Saotome?!"
 
     "How dare you be so greedy, Saotome?"
 
 >
 > "It's...I choose to get cursed.  For Ranma's sake."
 
     "I chose to be cursed"
 
 >
 > "Yes.  That is something we all would like to know," Cologne said, 
tapping
 a
 > smoking pipe on the heel of her tiny foot before taking a deep drag off
 it.
 > "Why would you choose to sacrifice your femininity for his benefit?"
 
     Is Cologne smoking the pipe, or checking to see if it's clear?  When 
you
 knock a pipe against something, it's usually to clear ashes or old tobacco
 out of it, so that it draws properly next time you load it.

Gah...  She's suppose to be smoking it, not clearing it.  Remind me to 
petition Congress for more hours in the day.

 > He didn't look up.  "You're an idiot.  For giving up your girliness for
 me.
 > That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone ever do.  It's even
 dumber
 > than oyaji teaching me nekoken."
 
     Girliness?  That's a strange word...

This is Ranma, remember.  Femininity sounded a bit too intelligent for him to 
just say it without thinking about it first.

 > He was hurt, as well as angered, by his words.  Akane balled up a fist 
out
 of
 > reflex to slug him across the mystical island.  See if she would do
 something
 > nice for him again!
 
     You're going back and forth between "he" and "she" for Akane.  Also, 
the
 first sentence would still be referring to Ranma because you haven't 
changed
 the subject of the sentence yet from the previous paragraph.  In effect, 
you
 said "Ranma was hurt and angered by his own words".

Yeah.  It happened a few times before, but I caught those little slips.  Just 
happen to have missed that one.

 > "...thank you."
 >
 > His anger deflated, replaced by confusion.  "Wha?"
 
     "What?"  Akane isn't dazed, so there's no reason why she wouldn't say
 the complete word.
 
 >
 > "Well...it feels good so far."
 
     Eh?  This is a weird reaction for Akane.

Of course; it was suppose to be Ranma's line.

Tired eyes to proofread is definitely not a good thing.

  She's in a male body for the
 first time, with its different hormones, weight distribution, hips, and the
 sensitive external parts girls just don't have.  I just can't see her
 feeling at all comfortable so soon.  It should take months for her to come
 to terms with the change!  Heck, just having the hormone imbalances of a
 teenage boy should have her clawing at the trees.  She doesn't have any
 experience with the sensory and emotional overloads guys have to deal with

 at that age.  While teenage girls have similar hormone problems, they have 
a
 different physiological effect.
 
 >
 > For reasons unknown to even the modern sciences, it rained over the 
island
 > without warning.  A minute later, it subsided, leaving most of those
 caught
 > in its path drenched, or, for the Jusenkyou-cursed factions, changed.
 
     And what happens to Ryouga?  He was near Ranma and Akane.

Scampered off.  It's not like anyone noticed, though, as they were too intent 
on gawking at girl-type Ranma in their presence despite being cured.

 > "Mmm...true.  It didn't help that the man-changing water use to be known
 as a
 > cursed hot springs.  Its waters could only change the outside form.  Not
 the
 > same thing as canceling out a curse."
 
     This explanation is unclear.  Are you trying to say that the pool was a
 hot spring, so it only affected the "hot water" side of Ranma's curse?

Something along those lines.  Falling into the spring as a guy only kept him 
as a guy, though it now gets into a whole new catagory as to which curse has 
what priority.  If he fell into the cursed hot spring as a girl, would he 
come out as a guy, or as a guy who changes into a girl?  Would the spring 
successfully overwrite the girl curse, or would it be nullified as there is 
already a curse on said subject?  I had similar thoughts on the Herb story.  
If Ryouga and Mousse heated up water in the bucket, then dumped it on 
themselves, would it lock them in human form?

Interesting comments and such.  I'll make corrections later on and repost it.

Laters...


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