Another outtake...
Deborah
============
The director walked onto the set, and looked around. Akane and Ranko were
chatting quietly, drinking their morning coffee. Ranma was munching a donut
and reading Variety. The twin's father was working on training his pet
panda.
He'd hand the panda a sign via sleight-of-hand. The panda would hold up the
sign, and Mr. Saotome would feed him a sugar cube. They practiced every
morning.
The director shook her head and smiled, before calling out "Good Morning,
everyone!" She was greeted by a chorus of responses.
There were still a few minutes left before they got started, so she wandered
over to join Akane and Ranko. The two teenagers were quite a bit younger,
but she enjoyed their company.
She was chuckling as she sat down. The two girls looked at each other. "What
is it, Debbie-san?" asked Ranko.
"Your father and that panda of his. They make quite a pair." She shook her
head. "You know, I still can't believe you're all different people. You and
your brother, your father and his panda, Ryouga and that trained pig." She
frowned. "How many of those did you say you've gone through?"
"I think we're on P-chan number six at the moment. Those cute little piglets
get to be big old porkers really fast."
The director laughed. "Just like Lassie. Who would have thought it?"
Ranko sweatdropped. "Ummm, Debbie-san... it's not like Rumiko-san didn't
give everyone enough clues."
The director looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Well... I mean, she put us in pictures together *constantly*. Especially me
and Oniichan. We did shoots together all the time. There must be a zillion
pictures that have *both* of us in them. There are plenty with Ryouga and
P-chan, and Daddy and his panda, too. How could we be the same person if we
appear in the same picture at the same time?"
The director was thunderstruck. "I never thought of that..." she whispered.
"My favorite is the one where Oniichan was in his Mao suit, and he was
carrying me on his back. I really love that red silk Chinese dress; it has
gold flowers and it really looks nice on me. It *is* slit a little high,
but..."
Akane cleared her throat. "Sis, you're getting a little distracted." She
grinned. "Rumiko-san let her keep the dress after the shoot. I think that's
why it's her favorite picture." Ranko grinned too.
"The shoot was fun, too. We tried all sorts of different poses, and the
photographer finally hit on the idea of me being on Oniichan's back. It came
out really well.
"Anyway," Ranko continued, "Rumiko-san really made it as obvious as she
possibly could. I always wondered why no one ever picked up on it."
The director nodded, a little shell-shocked. She glanced at her watch. "I
guess we should get started."
A voice drifted over from the other side of the sound stage. "Hey! Who said
you could sit in my chair?"
All eyes turned to Mr. Saotome, who was talking to his panda. The panda held
up a sign: "Who said it's *your* chair?" Mr. Saotome fed him a sugar cube as
everyone laughed.
Ranko shook her head, grinning. "Daddy really gets carried away with that
sometimes."