Glad to see you're still writing!
Terrific story, superbly written, as always. And a fascinating, and
all too credible, look at how the whole AMAW situation began.
I'm a little disappointed about one thing, I must admit: that your
timeline at the end doesn't include "The Better Part of Valor." I
always liked that one. :)
Odd thing. After finishing Compromising Situations, I went back and
reread AMAW itself. It gave me a very different perspective on the whole
scenario, reading the two together like that. As you say, CS is not a
light-hearted story; but it's not particularly dark or grim either. It
was only as I reread AMAW that I realised that, in a sense, it's a horror
story. Ranma's life has been split four or five or six ways (depending
on who you count), and there seems like no possibility of a reconciliation
between them; no possibility of him ever being whole. Nasty.
Seems like he knows it, too. Nastier.
Perhaps that's what I like about "The Better Part of Valor", though I
agree with your story notes that point out that it's too flippant to
fit the scenario and is nearly a spamfic. It does bring all the
fragments together and, while the outcome is going to be messy, there's
at least some hope there too.
(Plus, of course, Yokuma was a little sweetie.)
Anyway. Thanks again for a solid read and an excellent, thought-provoking
story.
Cheers,
Angus