Yes, well, the reason I'm posting this is because I've actually
finished Soul of Ice: Thesis. I thought it might a) be a good
refresher for everyone, and b) well, there are a couple of 
differences. You'll see Soul of Ice: Counterpoint soon as
well (a reposting, mind you), to refresh any memories, and/or
just in case you missed it before. Soul of Ice: Thesis will
come afterwards.


Ranma 1/2 is the creation of Rumiko Takahashi, as are all
characters portrayed within this story. These characters are being
used without permission, and though the author does not intend to
profit in any way... yadda yadda yadda. 

Comments are appreciated. It would be nice if you explained why,
though, because by knowing your reasoning, I can perhaps alter this
one and future ones (preemptive C&C is an idea you can help come
true!).



Preface: 

    I think Soul of Ice is both a continuation and a repudiation of
a particular tradition in Ranma fanfics, The Loose Ends. You might
also call it a Continuation (although it is more of a subset of the
continuation, really), or Resolution fic. The Resolution fic is one
in which choices are made, actions are taken and the current
problems resolved (although a new set of problems, similar or
different in nature may arise). I think it fair to say that Soul of
Ice continues that tradition. 
    I said that Soul of Ice not only continues this tradition of
Resolution, but that it also repudiates it. How so? Well, what
differentiates Soul of Ice from-- I'll use one of the more famous
and I dare say better examples-- Richard Lawson's Thy Inward Love
(beyond obvious stylistic differences and the greater care which
Mr. Lawson has put into his craft) is the solution here is not
necessarily good, the ending not always happy. Life is like that,
though; endings are not always happy, satisfaction is _not_
guaranteed, and sometimes there is justice and sometimes there is
mercy and sometimes there is both and sometimes there is neither. 
    Sounds rather pompous, doesn't it? Pretty presumptuous of me,
eh? Well, perhaps.... I'm not the first one to break away from this
tradition, to resolve things and to not have it necessarily end
happily. There are others who do by far a better job of that, and
have done so long before I ever started.
    My Soul of Ice variants are more than an attempt to deconstruct
a particular tradition of fanfics-- it is also an attempt to make
the reader think. Some of the views expressed by some of the
characters may seem extreme, may seem unbelievable. Sometimes their
arguments might even seem frightening in their plausibility. It is
a challenge-- an opening of other types of opinion, which you may
or may not finding yourself in agreement with. Regardless,
hopefully you will find yourself re-examining your opinion,
wondering _why_ you have said opinion, and _why_ the ones expressed
here are right, or _why_ the ones expressed here are wrong. 
	Just something preparatory thoughts, some suggestions, ways
of looking and categorising this, and nothing more. Feel free to
disregard my preface, of course.

    What I am hoping for in responses is not: it was good, or it
was bad (although the former feels really good to hear, so if any
of you desire to say that and nothing more, I won't hold it against
you too much ^_- ), or how I've really effed up the portrayal of
Akane or Soun or Genma (how many people actually support Genma,
offhand?), et cetera, because in Point and Counterpoint these
characters do not appear at all. How can I get a character wrong if
the character does not appear? Now, whoever's talking about the
characters, on the other hand.... 
	

                Soul of Ice: Point



    "Come here, son-in-law," said Cologne.

    "I ain't your son-in-law, old ghoul!" Ranma snarled.

    Cologne merely nodded. "Very well then, Ranma."

    Well, this was new. Ranma's interest was piqued. He followed
the old woman-- across roofs, across fences and over a canal, until
they landed in the middle of a desolate park, maybe half an hour
before sunset.

    "What'd you want?"

    "I want to talk to you. I think you're ready now, Ranma."

    "Ready for what?"

    "For the rest of the training, of course. Remember the Hiryu
Shoten Ha? That was only the first part, one step only. You have
yet to realise its full potential."

    "Full potential?"

    Cologne nodded sagely. "Soul of ice," she announced profoundly.

    "What do you mean, soul of ice? I don' understan'."

    Cologne sighed. "Take a look at all the other practicioners of
the Anything Goes style. Happousai, with his perversions, your
father, with his gluttony, Soun Tendo with his tears and emotional
excesses, and Akane--"

    "What about Akane?" Ranma asked a little ominously, his
knuckles sounding off like gunfire as he clenched his fists.

    "Akane and her anger," Cologne ended off simply.

    Ranma protested, "She doesn't get as angry as often now."

    "And when she does...?" Cologne probed. "Does she wait for an
explanation? Does she believe your explanation, even if it is the
truth? Does she apologise to you when she's wrong. Does she ever
apologise for hitting you?"

    Ranma fumbled, and looked away from Cologne, and into the
wooded enclosure not far away. "Well... no... she... you see...."

    Cologne gave a small smile.

    "But sometimes I deserve it!"

    "You deserve it. You deserve to be hit and to be beaten. Do
you? Do you really believe that? Oh, child, if they have forced you
into believing that, I think I would have lost you after all."

    Ranma hit upon something, and said triumphantly, "But if I
really wanted to, I could avoid the blows. They don't do any real
damage to me, anyway. Haven't for a while, actually."

    Cologne's smile grew fractionally and she chuckled slightly.
"She still tries, she still means. What about her insults then?
Coward. When have you ever shown fear, even in the face of
overwhelming odds?"

    Never.

    Cologne's lip curled slightly as she continued ticking off her
points. "Gutless. When did you ever back down from an opponent?"

    That was not Ranma's way. Challenges were accepted, no matter.

"Spineless. Well, when it comes to a woman's tears, I suppose I can
concede that, but in other cases.... Insults to your honour, about
how you keep leading women on, fooling around with them. When have
you ever broken a promise to Akane, even if you never made the
promise? How many times have you broken off your engagement to
her?"

    Never never never.

    "How many times has she broken off the engagement? How many
times has she apologised to you when she finds out she blamed and
punished you for something not your fault?
    "Pervert. And then, and then, the water. No, son-in-la-- sorry,
force of habit, Ranma. No, Ranma, she seldom hits you anymore,
true. I see things, I hear things. I know. The insults to your
manhood, and then, then she takes it away from you. Deliberately,
she emasculates you, castrates you." Looking at Ranma's slightly
confused expression, Cologne sighed and said, "unmans you. Even
though she knows about your promise to your mother." 

    Ranma's eyes widened in shock.

    "Oh-ho-ho. Yes, I told you. I hear things, I see things. I know
about that promise. Even though she knows about that, knows how any
little comment about any supposed lack of manliness on your part
sets you off, nevermind the water...."

    "I've grown used to my curse. I've accepted it," Ranma said
quietly, eyes down.

    "You've learned to live with it, that's different. If you could
get rid of it, you would, wouldn't you? Just because you've learned
to live with the curse doesn't mean you have to give up control of
it to others. 
    "Back to my point, look at everyone else who practises Anything
Goes, and what do you see? Excess. A lack of control. They cannot
see beyond their baggage. Akane was with us when you learned the
Hiryu Shoten Ha. She heard what you heard, saw what you saw. How
come she never learned the move then?"

    "Soul of ice?"

    Cologne cackled appreciatively. "Good, good, child! And what is
soul of ice but control? Being in command of yourself, your
emotions, and your opponent, leading him or her through the
spiral."

    "What about me then? I practice Anything Goes."

    "One of your most powerful techniques is the Neko-ken. Can you
tell me in truth that you are in control of yourself while using
it?"

    Ranma paled slightly. "Then why," he said, in a voice rapidly 
tightening with strain, "are you talking to me? and how come I can
use the Hiryu Shoten Ha then?"

    "You can use it for the same reason I'm talking to you, Ranma.
There's still a chance for you. You don't have to go that way.
Become my student, I've already taught you some things; I can teach
you more, so much more," Cologne said enticingly, seducing Ranma
with hints of techniques and skills matched by few.

    "And I'll have to marry Shampoo, right? No deal, crone."

    "If you don't want to marry her, I can arrange for that."

    Ranma was taken back by the surprise. "Why? I don't understand.
Give up so much, just for that. Why?" Maybe the shock had made
Ranma a little more apt to want to know why, or perhaps it was the
seriousness of Cologne's tone, or maybe just some strange quality
that pervaded the whole conversation.

    "Me. And Happousai. It's a fight."

    A fight.

    "For you." Cologne pointed a bony finger straight at Ranma's
heart.

    "Me?"

    Cologne nodded. "You, and I will not let him win. Come with me.
Be my student, learn what have to teach you. I know things. Ways of
moving, points on the body, means of manipulating ki. I know ways
around the curse. To nullify it temporarily, or," Cologne let the
moment linger, "permanently."

    Ranma peered deeply into Cologne's eyes, and saw no hint of
deception in them. "You can... then why haven't you...?"

    "Because, it wasn't necessary, not before. But now, maybe now.
You may have accepted your curse, Ranma, but only because you've
had to. I offer you a chance at a cure, a real one, a way out of at
the very least one of you current relationship problems, and with
the training I'll give you you will be able to solve the others
easy enough, and training the gods themselves would weep at to have
a chance at. Take it boy, take it, lest Happousai make you into
another version of himself, or your father, or any of the others."

    "I... I need time to think about it," Ranma said, the phrase
somewhat alien to his mouth, but it felt right, nonetheless.

    "I see," Cologne nodded absently. "You need time. Don't take
too long, however, it might be too late for you if you do." So
saying, she hopped off.

    Ranma slowly made his way home in the twilight, going neither
right nor left, wondering whether there might be some path of his
own, somewhere between Cologne's soul of ice, and Happousai's
excess.


The Beginning


Author's Notes: 
    Originally started because I got tired of hearing some
arguments, mainly the 'Ranma deserves to get hit because he insults
Akane.' Yes, butbutbut what about her insults to him? Yes?
    Same goes for the 'Akane+Ranma=wrong because she hits him' one.
All of his fiancees do that, Akane's around him more, and has a
bigger presence in the series, so of course it's going to be shown
more. So why if they're wrong because of that does it mean that
Ranma+X=right then? I don't see it. Beyond that, as one can argue,
violence in the series isn't real, isn't permanent. There are no
lasting effects, no scars or anything, no permanent damage. Usually
not much more than a sight gag. This unreal violence should be
taken into account when arguments are made.

    The question is, how much can you trust Cologne, how much can
you believe what she has to say?
    Explanations? I could give them if you want, if you don't feel
like figuring out for yourself, as to Cologne's motivations, but
then again she _is_ supposed to be inscrutable here, she _isn't_
supposed to be obvious. You are supposed to work to figure out her
motivations here, inasmuch as we can understand them. So, for the
purposes of you who are reading this, and do want to work it out
for yourselves, I'll leave some space as I give you one of the
reasons why Cologne said some of the things that she did.




Here's how the Soul of Ice stories I'm writing will work:

			    /> Thesis
			   /
Point-->Counterpoint--> Synhtesis-- Broken
			   \
			    \>Antithesis

In other words, it diverges after Counterpoint into different
continuities.

Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
InDefinitelyso on IRC
See him on FFIRC [bachman.newberry.edu fanfic]
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
Playing the fool in a foolish world
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Sheen watched his flight. "I forgot to mention the most
important thing," he murmured. "If there's one thing a mind
can't avoid, it is its automatic aversion to evil. The
moment he lets it into himself, he places his feet on the
road to demolition."
 		    -excerpt from A Billion Days of Earth
			by Doris Piserchia
____________________________________________________________