From: Eric Adams [mailto:eda104@erols.com]
Sent: Monday, January 05, 1998 1:21 AM
To: sterman@sprynet.com; Fanfic Mailing List

Eric: thats it, I'm blowing up Lucas Arts and destroying Jedi Knight.

Heh, I liked that game.  Only the final battle was well-nigh impossible
for me to figure out; I finally stumbled onto a sure-fire strategy.

I played the game, then later got my first 3D card.  I decided to load JK
up and see what the difference was.  Man, it was *awesome*!  I ended up
playing the whole game over again just so I could appreciate the
difference a 3D accelerator makes.

Akane looked around the table at table, wondering if anyone knew.

Eric: wow two tables present in the Tendo household.

D'oh!  I completely missed this one.  You caught me just in time, too; I
was just adding it to my web page.

paying any attention to hear.

Eric: This might be a possible to typo.

It was.  This one Gary caught for me.

Eric: *sigh* poor Akane.

Sarah: I actually never felt this sorry for her before.

Hehe.  One trend I've noticed lately in a lot of Ranma fanfics is that
most of the fights between Ranma and Akane are Akane's fault.  I call this
the "Bitter End Effect".  ^_^  One point I wanted to make here was that
the fights in the manga were as much Ranma's fault as Akane's.

My first Ranma/Akane fanfic, "Thy Inward Love", blamed most of the stuff
on Ranma.  I added some Akane culpability at Zen's behest.  :)  In "Thy
Outward Part: The Nature of Love", Akane becomes quite the harridan.
Akane is also quite prickly in "Roses of Shadow" while Ranma remains
relatively saintly in his behavior towards her.  So in this story I swing
the pendulum back towards Ranma being the jerk.  The truth is, of course,
they're both immature in different ways, which leads to all of the
slapstick fights they keep having.

"Not like that, stupid."  Nabiki tossed the pinwheel next to Akane.

Ranma

leapt after it, batting it with his hand.

Sarah: humm... catfist thing?

Yup, catfist.  The "pests" Nabiki refers to are the cats she's filled her
room with.  The crashes Akane hears are Ranma desperately trying to escape
and failing.

Eric: well... a couple of things here.  Like most of your fics there is
something strangely unsettling about them.  Not thats bad its just that

they

make me think.

Sarah: first of all, you have an excellent blend here.  A touch of

insight

about how Akane and Ranma think, which are always pleasurable to read,

the

story is almost secondary to the interaction of the characters and their
thoughts.

Thanks.  Those kind of stories have always been my favorites.  I never do
as well when I try to do real plots, like "Magic" and "The Price of
Heaven".

Eric: But still the ending is disturbing.  To deprive Ranma of his will

is

not necessarily a good thing and it makes Akane's feelings towards him

seem

questionable.  Almost false.

Well, here's the rub:  Ranma is *not* being deprived of his free will.
Rather, his free will is being deprived of Ranma.  :)  By that I mean,
when he's in "cat mode" he's not letting his stupid immaturity to get in
the way of his feelings.  When he's "sane", he thinks that being nice to
someone is a sign of weakness.  He becomes exceptionally embarrassed at
any implication that he might actually like Akane.  His growing attraction
to Akane makes him so uncomfortable that he hides those feelings behind
his almost-cruel insults.  However, in "cat mode", none of that silly
stuff interferes with his feelings.  He *likes* Akane, and shows it.
Contrast this to the way he treats Genma; in the manga, Ranma attacked
Genma in "cat mode", indicating that there's a bit of a rift between
father and son.  Also, he hissed at Cologne and would have attacked her if
Akane hadn't held him back.

So, to make a long story short (too late), being in "cat mode" doesn't
mean that Ranma automatically likes everyone; it only means that he shows
his emotions without inhibitions.  And I don't think that's necessarily a
bad thing.  Certainly what Akane needed was a clear sign that Ranma really
liked her.

Sarah: I really enjoyed it myself and really i cant think of a better

title

it implies a lot.

I decided to keep it; there are too many "birthday" titles, and a large
part of this story deals with what Ranma is really thinking - or feeling
when he's not thinking.  :)

Eric: thanks.. .and later!

Hey, thank *you* for the C&C.  I love stuff like this.  ^_^


-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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