On Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:24:20 +0000 Krista Perry wrote:
: ---------------------------------------------
: Hearts of Ice
: Part 5: Interlude
: by Krista Perry
: ---------------------------------------------
: "I wouldn't have breached your defenses if you had been able
: to control your temper," the tengu chided. "You lose focus, you
: lose the battle. Still, I must commend you on avoiding my
: initial attack. Your leap was quite impressive. You do realize,
: I hope, that you have come a long way since we began your
: training a mere two months ago."
Hey, I just realized - If she learns to control her temper, even
when faced with "Ranma's" taunts, would she be able to take the
*real* Ranma calmer, too?
: Masakazu blinked at her, his black eyes inhumanly calm. "I
: know more than you might guess, Yuki-chan. I cannot presume to
: tell you what to do in your own domain, but I ask you to
: reconsider the course of action you are taking. Remember, your
: experience is not the prototype for Akane's life, or any mortal
: life for that matter."
Grrr, *when* will we *finally* learn about Yuki-Onna's past? Huh?
(Which is not to say that you need to tell it right away - you're
doing a good job, creating suspense. Too good a a job, almost. :)
: Nabiki looked at his retreating form in amazement. He
: agreed? And he was acting on her advice? He *must* be tired!
Heh! :)
: The Snow Woman frowned. If Akane knew about the time
: dilation... If she knew that once the spell was broken, she
: could return to the mortal plane with only a few months having
: passed as opposed to the seven years she had spent in the Kami
: realm...
But it would still be seven years for *her*. I just hope that she
gets out early. Unless we are talking about fairy tale years here
- the kind that passes in sentences like "And he searched the land
for his love, high and low, for ten years..." and never seems to
make any difference. :)
She *should* help Yuki-onna, though, before she leaves. The poor
woman appears to be more scarred emotionally in every episode you
write, and the full extent of her past experiences that made her
the way she is has yet to be revealed.
: There it was. A tiny, almost microscopic wisp of dragon
: blood, identical to the one in Akane's ki. One end of the wisp
: was firmly rooted in the spell, and the other end... simply
: vanished, seemingly connected to nothing at all. Which was far
: from the truth.
:
: "Damn it all, they're linked," growled the Snow Woman. "I
: was afraid of this." No wonder Akane couldn't seem to get over
: her fiance. As long as there was a connection between the two
: halves of the blood spell, the very thing that had separated her
: from Ranma simultaneously kept her in almost continuous contact
: with him.
Somehow I doubt that Yuki-onna has drawn the right conclusion, as
to what is the nature of this link. :)
: Ranma looked at Akane, stunned. The agony her words
: inflicted was sharper than any physical pain he'd ever
: experienced. <Wait, Akane!> he thought desperately, struggling
: desperately to move his unresponsive body in any way. <Please!
: I'm sorry, I always meant to tell you, but I...>
:
: His thought was cut off abruptly when she kissed him lightly
: on the mouth, his mind freezing in shock. The whispery touch of
: her lips sent cold fire burning across the skin of his face, and
: he would have gasped in pain if he had been capable of moving.
: Instead, he lay helplessly as the burning ice spread from his
: face across his body, seeping through his skin.
Hmmm. This is interesting. Is this dream vision an intended part
of Yuki-onna's spell (That would be cruel) or is it of his own
subconscious' devising?
: "Ryoga, wait!" Nabiki called. "You're going the wrong..."
: But it was too late. He was gone. Nabiki moaned and rolled her
: eyes in exasperation. "Idiot!" she yelled. Then she sighed.
: She wanted her sister back, and she wanted to be there to make
: sure Cologne or Shampoo didn't try any underhanded tricks.
: "Well, I guess I'll call Ukyo and ask her to meet me there," she
: said. "It looks like its going to be a long night."
Ah, yes, Nabiki would be the one person I'd believe to be able to
see through Cologne's schemes. I hope she will be a key player in
this story, 'cause she is so underutilized in most other fanfics.
: Please let me know what you think of this installment. C&C gets
: me though those long nights when I stare at the computer screen
: with dull eyes and a slack jaw and think... "Okay, what the
: hell happens next?!" C&C is the perfect antidote for writer's
: block.
Nah, that's not true. I've been doing C&C all this time, and my
writer's block is still there. :)
Anyway, I'm more and more intrigued by the way this develops. The
characters are complex and interesting, and the story is fresh and
captivating. Say, isn't it intriguing that apparently every
culture has some kind of "Ice Queen" archetype in its legends?
Sebastian