Hallo there,

Oh, well.  I'll try to finish the next chapter more quickly.  ;)

Where have we heard that before? :}b

Look over there, it's the Goodyear Blimp!

combatants weaved, locked in an impasse.  Blow met counter-blow, swing 

met

parry, offense met defense.

Damn it, she thought, this guy is good.

This makes more sense to me if I assume it is from Akane's point of view,
but it isn't clear that that is true since the scene seems to be writen in
the third person.

Hmm ... an interesting observation.  It's not really clear who's doing the 
thinking at this point.  I'll fiddle about with this section a bit.

"Goodbye, Mother."

It seemed like Ranma was quite a bit older that she appeared since she was
apparently around when Akane's mother died, but this sounds like she's been
around much longer.  Until a few paragraphs down, I didn't see any
indication that Ranma was hundreds of years old, just much older than
Akane.

Yep.  That's the idea.  There have been a few subtle indications in the 
preceding chapters that Ranma is much, much older than she appears, but it 
is from this chapter onwards that a figure is explicitly stated.

The year or even century that the main action is taking place in has always
seemed ambiguous to me.  I don't recall any mention of trains or cars or
similar 20th or 21st Century things, but no mention of anything that would
place things in an earlier age with any certainty either.  I suppose it
could even be in a post-apocolapse period.

This was a conscious decision, to giving away too much about the relative 
difference in time between the two periods so far shown in the story.  Now 
that the story is pinned down to 2002 for Ranma and Akane, that's no longer 
a concern.

"Come with me, Akane.  I want to help you."

I'm from the government.  I'm here to help you,..

I just need you to fill in this tax return for me.

"You saw that?" Ranma asked softly, her voice heavy with dejection as it
tumbled down into the chasm.  She looked away from Akane, down into the
abyss.  Her voice grew tiny, its tone sad.  "I'm not a demon."

I'm a devil.

I just need you to fill in this tax return for me.

"If I knew, I'd tell you," Ranma replied with a shrug.  "All of the 

Hidari

I've come across have been boys."

Unless she forgets her nightmares, she remembers being a boy.  So she's
still not telling Akane everything.

She remembers being a boy, but doesn't yet want to tell Akane.  There's a 
time and a place for the truth.  Ranma's been a girl for over eight hundred 
years, she doesn't feel the whole actually-a-boy thing is really a priority 
right now.

The story has placed Ranma and Akane in similar situations.  Both thrust 
into a situation they weren't expecting, without being told the whole story. 
  As the story continues, these two parallel situations will be developed in 
tandem and hopefully at the end of it all things will make some sense.

Hopefully.  :)

Anyway, I'm rambling.  Thanks for your comments, I'm grateful for them.

Regards,
R. E.

========

Ten
http://ten.waxwolf.com
Perfection has a price.

========


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