On Sun, 25 Jul 1999, Miller, Bert wrote:

    "I didn't change.  I tricked 'em.  I used cold aura to take
the heat out of the water before it hit me."

OK - now I felt cheated; if it *was* a trick of Ranma's, it
really should have been explained at such, when the scene
was after all shown from his (her) very head; as it was written,
it seemed like some new mysterious phenomenon.

<hangs head> Sorry... it just seemed like the right place at the time.  I
thought I'd foreshadowed it adequately to premit deferring the
explanation.  I'll think about it, though. 

I thought you did foreshadow it, with the "ice forming from his
aura" scene earlier.  At the point I read it, I was aware that
the lack of change was _probably_ of Ranma's doing.  I think
you could improve the scene and aftermath a bit, though:

     Ranma's jaw muscles flexed.  "Make your test."  *Sorry,
Akane... it was good while it lasted.*  She racked her brain for
a way out of the trap, a miracle that would turn the hot water
into cold before it touched her--

Perhaps adding something like "...touched her.  At the last second,
Ranma saw it:  he could--" to the above paragraph would get the
point across.

Yes, that's a good suggestion.  Thanks.

I think it also would have helped to make it a bit clearer that
Ranma was back in male form at the Dojo.  Possibly something
about Kasumi glancing over the planes of his chest.

I definitely agree with Ronny on that; an oversight on my part, and I'll
fix it.

I don't have a problem with your characterization of Ukyou; her
reaction is unusual enough that I was interested in what would
happen next, rather than skeptical.

Given Ukyou's demonstrated propensity for sudden emotional U-turns, I
thought it not too far-fetched that Ukyou would go back to hating Ranma
for this ultimate rejection, but I didn't want to go that way.  Instead,
she's just, well, pissed; Ukyou, unlike Ranma or Akane, does hold a
grudge, and it'll take her a while to get over it. 

This portrayal of Kodachi was not one of your better ones, IMO.

OK.

It was consistent with what we saw of Kodachi _in school_ in
"Taming", but, personally, I'd rather read scenes with the
fascinating, sexy-but-spoiled-rotten Kodachi you showed us
in "Taming" rather than the borderline psychotic.  This reaction,
that Ranma must be a masochist, seemed more like the latter.

Kodachi is complex; she shows different faces to different people.  The
date with Ranma in "Taming" showed her on her best behavior and relaxed;
she'd gotten Ranma to pay attention to her at the cost of a little genteel
blackmail and a promise not to use drugs, bombs, or cows.  :)  She even
opened up far enough to show the real Kodachi under all the masks. 

At the time of the confrontation in "Centaur 1", she'd just been beaten by
Akane at the wedding, woken up tied to a post by her own ribbon with a
drunken party going on around her and the bride and groom long gone, and
spent a sleepless weekend imagining in detail what was going on on the
honeymoon.  She's stressed.  Badly.  And then Ranma hands her another
shock: that he loves Akane.  Is it any wonder that she backslides?

The "masochist" bit is a running gag in Taming and Centaur, of course, but
in Kodachi's case it's desperate denial.

I'll think about about how to make this more clear, but it's unavoidable
that C1 and C2 show Kodachi at a low point.

I want to see Kodachi maneuver Ranma into romantic situations
that he doesn't know how to get out of, or the best way out of. 

Well, if you've read C2, you know what happens with THAT.  :)  Ranma's a
lot harder to push around now that his sexual tension is resolved and his 
wife is beginning to trust him.  She'll keep trying, though.

I like the sexy-but-spoiled-rotten Kodachi too, but to the gymnasts at
St.H she's a bully, to Akane she's a nemesis, to Ranma she's a pain in the
butt who he's feeling a bit sorry for, to Hasegawa she's a brilliant
student who has some issues to work out, and the "real" Kodachi gets lost
in there somewhere.  We'll see whether she finds her way out. 

Thanks for your comments!

Vince Seifert    Network Analyst     seifertv@csus.edu
Techie: http://webpages.csus.edu/~seifertv/
Fanfic: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/
CSUS hired me to build their LANs, not to give away the homeworld.