On Mon, 3 Jun 1996, Marisa Price wrote:

At 02:02 AM 6/3/96 -0500, you wrote:

  My suggestion: just have Ranma confront her and put the terror of
God in her, as he did before, though perhaps even more aggressively
("I don't hit girls; don't make me make an exception in your case").

Wow.... this is good stuff. Can I use this quote? This is a very very
good idea... thanks.

   If you like...(You liked it that much? I'm flattered.)

Well... I am trying to do two things here 1. explore Ukyou's
femininity and 2. add to the sexual tension between her and Ryouga.

   1. Ah yes. Her femininity. Such as it is. I suspect Ukyo's as screwed up 
as one could hope for in the gender identity department. It's been 
conjectured by other writers that she may not think of herself as a girl 
at all (for example in "A Son's Duty" where the author refers to Ukyo 
with male personal pronouns throughout to convey that idea of Ukyo's 
self-perception).
   Just what do you think she considers herself to be at the moment (as 
opposed to what she'd like to be, that is, a girl in mind, appearance and 
everything else)? It might be important later in the story. 
   2. Ah-hah...yes...well, I can see that. Will anything come of it 
after the fashion of chapter 8? I'm not sure whether to dread that or 
look forward to it...
   I ask because you've made it very clear that Ukyo's falling for Ryoga. 
I suspect she's doing so despite herself (on the rebound, I suspect); she 
certainly didn't like him much before. In her more sensible moments he 
still does nothing but irritate her. Now, though, it seems all things 
are possible in this regard. Of course in her case it may be a great 
mistake. 
   As an aside, Ryoga, for his part, is coming across as bad as Ranma _and_ 
Kuno. Leading on Ukyo _and_ Akari like that...disgusting...:) _And he 
appears to have fallen for them both--in addition to his rush on Akane. To 
paraphrase Lord Tatewaki, "whichever shall he choose?" And do either of 
them honestly need him? You may not have intended this, but Ryoga comes 
across in a very bad light in this tale.

Ever read Careful Destiny? Gosh I liked that story...that is the mood 
I am trying to achieve. 

   I'll have to read that one one of these days. It _is_ quite long, and 
I've never found the time to go through it.

her going to school dressed quite as you described, even if she were

hey!! I dress like that!! ^_^

   Well, yes, but she _is_ still in high school, and in a Japanese one, no 
less, where unbuttoning one's collar is the height of rebellion as far as 
dress goes. (Ukyo, I believe, would normally wear a boy's shirt 
underneath the jacket; a tank top would be unthinkable even if she  
really were a boy.) Not that I personally object to anyone dressing like 
that in real life (I flatter myself that I'm a liberal-minded 
individual; besides, I'm a guy, and thus have a dirty mind...H_H) but keep 
that in mind. 
   Actually, though, I'm not sure her dressing in a feminine mode in 
school would be such a good idea. It would depend, of course, on whether 
she'd registered as a boy or a girl, and to be quite honest I'm not sure 
what the school considers her to be. If she made it too obvious she was a 
girl and had registered as a boy, she could risk (in real life) getting 
slung out for violating dress code _and_ deceiving the school 
authorities. But then, in volume 25 in the manga, she dresses in a 
girl's gym outfit for recreation in the first Hinako story, so it may be 
that the school knows the truth about her--the students certainly do, 
after all--but there is little they can practically do about her dress, 
much like they can't do anything about Ranma's Chinese shirt. Of course 
if this _were_ real life, Ranma would have been slung out for any number 
of offenses long ago, but of course it is not...hm...maybe I'm just 
thinking about it all too hard...

trying to look more feminine. (i take it she's got very little on
underneath the tank top. 

no no no!! She just usually bound her breasts, and she was now wearing
a bra. This isn't a see-though top either! ^_^

   Well, _that's_ all right then...whew...ahem. Anyway...
   You might want to make a bit clearer though that this might not be 
the most revealing of tank tops. A writer should try to avoid 
misunderstanding whenever possible.
   The point is, I gather, is not that the tank top is particularly 
revealing so much as the fact that Ukyo has a tank top on at all.

"...in all their glory"...ahem. Um. She _was_ planning on buttoning 

hee hee. ^_^

her 

jacket, I hope? :) )

yup yup. ^_-

   Well, thank almighty God for that! :)
   (Again, make that clearer. Heck, you might even have Ryoga ask Ukyo in a 
strangled voice to please button the jacket before he passes out--and 
then have her do so, wondering aloud perhaps just what Ryoga takes her 
for, and what gave him the idea that she wasn't about to.)
   With the jacket buttoned, though, her true gender wouldn't be as 
obvious, which would be of great help if she's still trying to deceive 
the school authorities, at least.

[Ukyo] does underestimate the "femininity" of her garb a bit more than 
I'd expect. Her intent _was_ to look a bit more desirable, I 
understand...

Not really desirable, just more feminine and less masculine. Only to
YOU, a guy, does more feminine probably mean more desireable ^_^

   (Corrigan takes the hint and goes to take a cold shower)

  Otherwise, chapter nine was thoroughly enjoyable. More, please...! 

soon! Hafta graduate you know ^_^

   On that...will you have Internet access after you graduate? This may 
be of great importance, if you plan to continue to release installments 
of the story. 

Paul Corrigan
budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu