Personally, I like the exaggeration better than "hundred", but then I'm a
Texican. Also, I liked the "acrylic pink smoke" and the "emerald sky". They
fit right in with the rest of the chaos.
 
But, just so everyone has the skinny on colored stones, I'll drop this bit
on FFML at large.
 
Rubies and sapphires are actually one and the same thing. They are an oxide
of aluminum called corundum. The difference in their color stems from trace
elements. Any piece of corundum which is deep red is considered by
gemologists and jewelers to be ruby. All other colors of corundum, and they
run through nearly the entire spectrum, are considered to be sapphires. If
it's pink and its corundum, it's a sapphire, got it? There are no pink
rubies. 
 
The sapphires which bring the best prices are the famous deep blue ones.
Montana, by the way, has some of the best sapphire mines found to date.
There is a dealer in downtown Great Falls that can show you some truly
lovely stones, all of the dug up in nearby mines and cut locally.
 
To date, rubies are found only in areas where people have the disconcerting
habit of shooting at one another. I suppose it has something to do with
their color. The most recent large find of rubies appears to be in a remote
area of Northern Vietnam and despite Hanoi's claims to the contrary, the
region is not under particularly good control.
 
Emeralds are nothing like sapphires or rubies chemically. Their quality
varies markedly and they are among the softest and most fragile of all gem
stones. Currently, the best emerald mines are in Brazil. Caveat emptori!
Emeralds are prone to suffer from cracks and less than reputable dealers are
likely to give them an oil treatment to hide these flaws.
 
There are scams used on just about all the colored gemstones accept for the
fancy diamonds, but even then you are well advised to do some serious
research before making a purchase.
 
Now, if you are wondering why I know about this stuff, blame it on Nabiki.
When you enjoy writing for her, you end up looking into what makes shiny
rocks so valuable.
 
Regards,
 
Don Granberry.

AJ Andreason wrote:
[snip]

Glittering like so many blue gems, a thousand sparkling pools
stretch out in front of him. Thousands more stiff bamboo poles stuck

Thousands?  I thought there were only about a hundred or so?

All right, I'll change to hudreds. But thousands is so much more dramatic!

And also, "Thousands more" sounds a bit odd, since it sounds like it's
'thousand more poles [in addition to the other poles]' or somesuch.

Hmm. Okay, I'll rephrase. No promises, though.

into the air like the spines of an enormous porcupine, some leaning
and broken and others still stiff and new. In the distance, Ranma
could make out a little cabin set against a hill with a slow plume
of smoke rising from the chimney. The sky was an emerald blue.

 [I didn't get "emerald" blue, but then I never really understood a
"wine dark sea" either. Of course the Japanese language often fails to
make a clear distinction between blue and green, so I guess this is
entirely appropriate--all things considered.]

Hmm. I guess you could call it sort of a really vibrant darker blue,
sort of like the kind you'd get on a clear day in the mountains.

How about "saphire" blue?

Emerald, saphire... What am I, a geweler? ^_^
Okay, I'll do SOMETHING.

Thanks for the feedback,
AJ Andreason


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