Subject: [FFML] Re: [Ranma/Tenchi/Sailor Moon] Process of Elimination -- Epilogue
From: Brian Randall
Date: 4/28/2002, 4:54 PM
To: David Farr
CC: FFML@anifics.com


David Farr wrote:

Saturday, April 27, 2002, 6:34:39 AM, Brian Randall wrote:

BR>         A heartbeat later, a blonde girl leapt up to the roof beside him, 
BR> clasping her hands behind her back, and leaning forward to smile at him. 
BR> "Thought you would be here!" she exclaimed.

Is Minako in senshi form, or has she become a martial artist too? All
things considered, I'd vote for the second.

	I'm inclined to agree, though I seem to remember an episode of the anime 
where she jumped up to a balcony (and I'm probably remembering it wrong 
anyway) so there's probably some kind of precedence for it.

BR>         "Maybe," he said dubiously. A lifetime of poor sight had lent him better 
BR> knowledge of spatial relations, and his job of assisting landings in the 
BR> starport was one that required a keenly analytical mind. "

Not to mention a year of trying to hit a certain fast moving object
with chains. ^_^

	Hehehe.... There is that. ;)

BR>         "I was," Norris said frankly. "And I think I've got a lot of writing to 
BR> do before I'm ready to rejoin a service -- any service."

I can't imagine any of the other characters being a better choice to
chronicle the events of the war. Norris is probably the only one at
the center of things that wasn't emotionally connected to Ranma. Of
course, he did miss the final play.

	Very true.

BR>         "Feh. Fine, fine. But the odds of this lady looking for someone either of
BR> us knows are pretty damn unlikely, I think," he grumbled, striding 
BR> through the crowd.

And the moment he said that, I expected something bad.

	Well....

BR> For the crowd's part, people parted before him 
BR> without seeming to be aware that they did so, until he was standing 
BR> before her, the girl directly behind him when he halted. "Yo!" he said, 
BR> raising his hand. "We're helping people look for lost relatives and 
BR> friends. You here looking for someone in particular?"

Winces. Not big on diplomacy, is he.

	Nope. But then, a lot of his dialogue is even rougher than Ranma's, even 
when he means well. Though you'll notice that he's stopped swearing. ;)

BR>         The woman blinked, eyes widening as they fixed on him. Something... 
BR> something in those eyes was not quite right, though, and it unnerved him 
BR> very faintly. "I'm... looking for my son," she said quietly. "He... he 
BR> left on a ship from Earth. I... I lose the papers that said which one, 
BR> but it was before the Juraian people came to Tokyo," she answered slowly.

Should that be "lost" or is she not speaking a language she knows
well?

	Typo. It should, in fact, be 'lost'.

BR>         "I... I'm Saotome Nodoka," she said, bowing politely.

As I said. Bad.

	Well, not in and of itself, but....

BR>         "The only Ranma I know is way too good to be your son," he overrode her 
BR> suddenly. "So, sorry about that." Not waiting to allow her to reply, he 
BR> spun, grabbed the girl that had been behind him, and leapt upward, 
BR> landing atop a nearby light post and staring down at the crowd.

Not sure how, I'd react, but I imagine it couldn't be much better.

	:/

BR>         "Well, whatever," he grumbled. "I like to think I know Ranma pretty good. 
BR> I trained with him on the fleet to Shanghai -- Ranma's a hero, and a 
BR> hero deserves better than some woman who's going to call him a monster 
BR> for a mother."

I know it's Ryu speaking, but that last sentence was really clumsy.
Maybe "better than a mother who's going to call him a monster."

	Good suggestion.

BR>         "I'll be polite next time," he said, shaking his head, and leaping down, 
BR> towards the gates of the starport, sill within the cloak of the 
BR> Umisen-ken. "Until then, there are other people to help."

Next time? What next time? When you encounter another Nodoka Saotome
who insists Ranma is a monster? Hehe.

	That is exactly what he meant by it, too.

BR>         "Hello, I was wondering if you've seen a girl I'm looking for I'm--" He 
BR> broke off, sighing, as the man he was trying to ask wandered off. He had 
BR> been searching since the moment he landed, only pausing to contact... 
BR> his friends. Yes, that's what they were. People who had no issue with 
BR> his strange immortality, and people who remembered the long fight on 
BR> Earth before everyone left.

Wow. There are some rude people. Then again, I imagine that kind of
question is asked a lot. Still...

	Yeah, asked an _awful_ lot, all things considered. It's difficult to 
think of a planetary evacuation as being 'orderly', so....

BR>         He considered something for a moment, then pulled a map from his pocket, 
BR> sparing a glance towards the bright sky before scanning the folded and 
BR> much abused paper in his hands. "The old man lives around here 
BR> somewhere. I'll drop in and say hello before I start looking again."

I can't imagine who the old man is. He's about the only character I
guessed right when he was first mentioned.

	I'm not trying to make it a huge surprise, just... subtle. Most of them 
are obvious almost instantly, but....

BR>         Musing over that, he topped the final step, and peered about. The hilltop 
BR> was covered with a shrine, obviously newly built -- like everything else 
BR> -- though the trees on either side of the path seemed far older than 
BR> they should have been. "Huh," he said, turning to regard one closely. 
BR> "This looks like it should be about twenty years old... old man."

Someone's been cheating. I guess knowing the goddess of Jurai
personally has its perks.

	More likely than not.

	Ranma: I wouldn't call being turned into a popsicle (this is the second 
time this author's done it to me. too!) a 'perk'.

	Er... next question! ^_^

BR>         The old man winced slightly, and shook his head. "Call me Katsuhito," he 
BR> insisted. "I... I trust my grandson to manage his empire well enough. 
BR> This is not the Earth I intend to live out my days on, but I imagine 
BR> I'll be here for a long time... and being a shrine priest is something I 
BR> enjoy doing more than other things I can do."

I wonder if he realises that without Ryoko's gems, he going to start
growing old. Or is Tsunami feeding energy to Funaho. Hmm...
interesting questions.

	Mystery! ;)

BR>         "Yakumo? It _is_ you! Yakumo!"

I feel sorry for Pai. Now she'll never be human. All the artifacts
that could do it were probably destroyed on Earth. Not that it really
matters, since being human isn't as special as it once was.

	Not here.

BR>         "Ah... three petabytes to spare."

Ah. Wow, that's a lot.

	I imagine so.

BR>         "Have a little more faith in the people who are mapping on foot. And I 
BR> didn't say all, just their own functions. We want to keep adding the 
BR> incoming packets to the database, after all, but they can fill in for 
BR> some of the missing persons identification database functions, until the 
BR> new core is verified."

I wonder what her bosses are going to say about that. Personally, I
think its a good choice, but... Then again, Cologne is probably one of
those people.

	Yep.

BR>         She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I suppose Mamoru got 
BR> lucky, just going into hibernation," Ami reasoned. "Higurashi got worse, 
BR> after all.... I hope I live long enough to see you wake up, Usagi. 
BR> And... when the Earth thaws enough for him to wake up, you will, too."

Interesting. I was wondering what was going to happen to Mamoru.
Everyone seemed to forget about him after a while.

	Erm... yeah. >_<

BR>         Michiru smiled softly. "I know you can do it."

Ouch. Poor Hotaru.

	Yeah. :/

BR>         Narrowing her eyes slightly, the woman grumbled, "I don't need to listen 
BR> to you two."

So why are you?

	Hehe!

BR>         Unable to resist smiling, Setsuna shook her head. "I never spent any time 
BR> with him like that," she asserted. "But... maybe now would be a good 
BR> time to start...."

For a lonely shrine, Yosho's place is going to be very busy.

	Quite likely.

BR>         And thusly is concluded book one of Process of Elimination.

And my first reaction to this was: "BOOK ONE! ALL OF THIS AND ITS ONLY
BOOK ONE!"

I'd take that as a compliment.

Still, I can't help but feel there are a few characters you missed out
in the wrap up.

I can see why the Washuu and Tsunami where left out, I'm willing to
bet we'll see more of them in Book 2 as well as Ran-oh-ki and
Nuku-Nuku. Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo maybe as well (or was interlude 3
their ending). But what about Nabiki and Kasumi?

	Nabiki and Kasumi would have tied in (mostly) with Nodoka, but.... They 
aren't written out of the story yet. The epilogue is (mostly) for people 
without a major role in the coming book, but not entirely. More... will 
have to wait a while. :p

Anyway, Book 2 should be interesting. I can't wait.

	Ah! Well, it'll be a bit -- I need a break after finishing this. ^_^;; 
And thanks for taking the time to C&C for me!

-----------
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz        katsuhito@planetjurai.com
"I wonder, I wonder. Do you know what I wonder?"
   - The Shadow Play Girls, Revolutionary Girl Utena 

-- Brian Randall -- I write fanfiction. Too much of it. You can read it here, thanks to a kind grant from the Larry F foundation: http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/durandall/index.html -- Together. Allegiance or death. BIGFIRE! -- Haiku of my lament: Forgive my spelling, my U.S. education, is the source of blame. .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----. | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com | | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'