At 05:06 PM 8/1/98 EDT, MetroAnime@aol.com wrote:
"So, my son, you decided to sneak into a village of heavily armed
warriors and steal two of their slaves away?"
"Mrs Saotome!" Kasumi's eyes widened and she stared at Ranma's
mother. Nabiki merely turned pale and closed her eyes, certain that she was
going to be turned away. And then where could she go but back to the damned
village where her punishment would be severe?
"Uhm, I'd have said 'rescue' myself." Ranma tugged his pigtail. "I brought
'em here cause where else could they go?"
Nodoka was not heartless, no matter what her husband might think from
her ability to ignore his pleading and begging whenever he wanted to spend
money.
The tale of these two women, cut adrift on the seas of fate, touched her
greatly. That
her son had done something so honorable and heroic as to risk his life by
sneaking
into a village to rescue two women was a good sign. Two fairly attractive
women
who were apparently quite interested in their rescuer, judging by the body
language
and how close they sat to him. The promise of being a 'man among men' was
recalled
and Nodoka placed a large mental checkmark by it. That Ranma didn't seem to
know
what was going on was merely amusing, but then men tended to be a little
clueless
about some things anyway.
There is the added factor that both of these women are Japanese. I would
think that Nodoka would consider that Ranma rescued two Japanese women from
captivity in a foreign country.
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admittedly this is just a short teaser, but i think you can see some of
the raw potential in this plotline. Ranma has defeated Shampoo and been
cursed,
so those plotlines are intact. Kasumi and Nabiki are also cursed, as part of
punishments for prior attempted escapes. Ko Em/Akane is Village Enforcer, and
regards her two sisters as runaway slaves or stolen property and is coming to
take them back and slay the outsider who dared such a deed.
Ranma staying with his mother in Juuban (or is this merely a fanfic
convention?) and has gotten over his 'man among men' pledge without ever
knowing about it. Genma afraid to confront Nodoka as he doesn't even know
Ranma is alive. Ranma being taught manners and how to speak without putting
foot firmly in mouth, especially with the self-esteem problems both Kasumi
and
Nabiki are likely to have.
Nabiki is still Nabiki, Kasumi is still Kasumi, though both have been
beaten and broken, shunned as non-warriors in a warrior-elite society, and
have
gone through a LOT of abuse. They've also spent eight years being slaves in
a land of very different customs and have picked up some of those attitudes
themselves. Nabiki will still want to be a businesswoman, Kasumi will still
enjoy
cooking and have the aura of niceness, but both will be scarred (and not just
physically) from their ordeal.
Akane and Ranma fated to be together? Maybe, maybe not. i HAVE
been trying to be kind to Akane and tone down her violence level, but she
does
remind me of a few girls i've known. This Akane COULD end up engaged to
Ranma, but having spent most of her life as the coldhearted village Enforcer
Ko Em,
her personality is going to be more altered than Kasumi's or Nabiki's.
The best analogy would those children in places like Sudan and Liberia who
were turned into prepubescent soldiers. If Akane didn't receive affection
from the other Amazons while she was growing up, she may well be
permanently stunted emotionally and unable to express or feel normal
emotions. Of course, we are hardly talking about reality in Ranma fics.
What kind of curses for Nabiki and Kasumi? right now i'm going with
Kasumi having been thrown into Spring of Drowned Man, as it would have been
more humiliating for the "traditional Japanese girl" type and make some of
the
things done to her more palatable to her captors. Nabiki, unless something
better
comes along, turns into a blackfooted ferret
Quick! Alert the International Wildlife Federation! We have more breeding
stock! I believe that the blackfooted ferret is found only in North
America and is on the critically endangered list. Why not make her
something normally found in China like the red panda? (I saw two at the
Central Park Zoo this past week. They resemble raccoons and are really
cute. They are also less endangered than the Giant Panda since they have a
more varied diet and are more easily bred in captivity.)
I would have thought that the Amazons chose the Spring of Drowned Man
because they would consider becoming a male as especially demeaning without
particularly considering Kasumi's Japanese outlook.
I don't see how Nabiki would be able to start school. I think that she
would also need to be home tutored. Nodoka should assign Ranma to help
tutor them. Not only will it help Ranma scholastically (my experience has
been that when you have to teach someone, you end up learning the material
better yourself and I've taught or tutored people in freshman physics,
statistics, and abstract algebra), but it would also allow Ranma and his
prospective fiancees to spend time together without the pressure of dating.
Will Ukyou eventually show up?
dml