No, I'm not asking for a happy ending. You'll have to forgive me for making
guesses about your story, Mike, but I don't *think* that the theme of the
story is going to be rape survival. If not, I don't think a rape is

necessary

to the plot. I really do think it's that simple.

Even if he does decide to take the story ahead in that
direction, given what he's written so far, the theme would not
really be rape survival as such.  The classic rape victim has to
contend with feelings of helplessness and permanent uncertainty
in the nature and intentions of those around them.   For quite
some time, the rape victim's perception of all interactions with
people will be affected by the mass of negative experience
gained from that single explosive incident.

But... from the description presented thus far, any sex that occurred
(and the description was nebulous enough that I'm not sure it
necessarily occurred) was not brutal and Ranma was not placed in
a situation of helplessness that was not of his own making.  So, the
result would not necessarily be that Ranma would begin to be
frightened of the people around him. The more likely outcome here
is not an 'angst-bomb', but rather the further chipping away of
Ranma's sexual identity (already nicely explained thus far through
Ranma's gradual revelations to his classmates as his inhibitions
were eroded away by the alcohol).

In fact, the life altering incident I see in the story thus far is the
extent of the viciousness in the argument that Ranma & Akane
have.   Ranma & Akane fighting and slinging insults is of course
nothing new.  However, this time, in the space of a few moments,
Akane goes straight to the core of a vulnerability inherent to
Ranma's peculiar nature.  Just as for example a male would utilize
his superior physical strength to accost his rape victim, Akane
attacks from the superior position of her own secure sexual
identity.    Theoretically (not too many real-life cases of this
type to glean evidence from :), the result should be an incredibly
damaging effect on Ranma's already impaired ability to relate to
or trust those around him.

It's going to be real hard to Mike Noakes to plausibly get a happy
ending out of this one so far...

--- Janet (JLGauntt@aol.com)