---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 16:09:04 -0400
From: Ross McKenzie <rmckenzi@euclid.ucsd.edu>
To: fanfic@fanfic.com
Subject: Re: [FFML] Symmetric Polynomials, part six (fwd)

   They do however have a village paper. It's not entirely clear just how 
advanced the Amazons are.

	I figured that means of communicating with the outside world 
would clash with their desire to maintain a tribal identity in the 21st 
century.

	Mousse blinked, just now remembering his manners.  "Forgive me. 
Please, have a seat."  He indicated a second stool, identical to the one 
Shun sat moping on.  "I live alone, so I'm afraid there isn't much space 
here.  I've made arrangements for you to stay with other members of the 
tribe, though."

   Alone? No. He and Shampoo aren't divorced, are they? How things change...

	Why does everyone assume that Mousse and Shampoo were married in 
the first place?  These are amazons, after all...
	For that matter, it hasn't been explicitly stared that Shampoo 
_is_ Brook's mother.  Yes, there is the evidence of the purple hair, but 
that could be a red herring, after all (It isn't, though).
	I like to leave things as ambiguous as possible, and I reveal the 
answers only when it would be appropriate to do so.  The classic example 
of this is Ranko Saotome's curse.  I never said where or how she got 
cursed, only that she was on a training trip with Ranma.  People 
automatically assumed Jusenkyo, but there are at least two other places 
where water changes things into men (Toma's island and under the girl's 
gym at Furinkan High).

	"Father, may I go now?" the young amazon interrupted.  "I do have 
sentry duty tonight."
	"I don't think your mother would begrudge you the time it takes 
to see to the needs of village guests, Brook," Mousse chastised.

   By analogy to Spring. Clever.

	Thank you.  Names always give me trouble.  Most of the second 
gen. characters have names copied from other works of anime, or derived 
from first gen. characters.

	Mousse slowly reached for his glasses.  He carefully took them 
off the top of his head, folded the temples closed, and smiled.  "Good 
for you."  He handed Tachi his glasses.  "Your father wouldn't have let 
me get away with that sort of behavior, either."

   Umm...Tachi is Tatewaki Kuno's daughter, if I'm not mistaken. Usually 
it would be Ranma who gave Mousse a hard time about his glasses. Is 
Mousse referring to Ranma? If so he wouldn't have said "your father" but 
"your uncle". I don't recall Kuno giving Mousse a hard time about his 
glasses. Have I missed something?

	Tachi wasn't complaining about the glasses as much as for dressing 
Brook down in public.  As for Kuno's behavior, in D&I it was revealed 
that Kodachi's experimentation with chemicals was the primary reason why he 
was a fruitcake.  Nabiki had Kodachi institutionalized, and Kuno regained 
his sanity.  Furthermore, Kuno has apparently become a rather honorable 
individual, and he's tried to pass that trait to his daughter.
 

	Tachi eyed him quizzically.  "Then your vision is just fine?"
	"Twenty-Thirty.  Surgery is an amazing thing."
	An idea began to take shape in Tachi's mind.  "It's also expensive."
	...Tachi set Mousse's glasses on the stool behind her.  "To make 
that kind of money, someone would have to do something very dangerous, 
or possibly illegal."
	This time, the white-robed man offered no answer.

   I guess all will be revealed in time...
   This story seems to be moving very slowly indeed. Mind if I ask just 
what you're leading up to here?

	The story moves slowly for a couple of reasons.  First, I get 
bored with a scene after a while.  Since I only have one group of 
characters giving POV in this story (as opposed to the half-dozen in 
D&I), I can't swap people when I get tired of writing one conversation.  
This makes my posts shorter.
	Second, Tachi is a thinker, and this "adventure" is about the 
guessing game she's playing with Nabiki.  I have to reveal the clues 
slowly and subtlely to be fair to the readers.  If I hammer you all, then 
you don't get the chance to play along.
	To be honest, though, there will be a bit of action in the near 
future.  There's a reason it's raining in China...
 ______
{B-{=__
rmckenzi@euclid.ucsd.edu : The White-Robed Mathematician