At 11:29 PM 2/24/98 -0600, Richard Lawson wrote:

This chapter disturbed me a lot.  It took me a while to put my finger on
it.  Here it is:

"Do you know what it's like to change, Kodachi?"

"What?"  The question caught the gymnast totally
off-guard.

"You know...change."  Kodachi's eyes widened as
she stared into Ranma's. The intensity of the stare
was enough to cower her...but her legs were too
weak to run.  "You see, it hits the chest first,
causing these breasts we're so proud of to vanish.
The next thing you notice is the hands - you'd be
surprised how much they change from a Jusenkyo curse.
Then comes more... personal areas, areas you never
want a man to violate... except _you_ are the man
now, and that very fact feels like a violation."

Ranma was almost growling now, the seething
frustration of a year's worth of impotent refusals
hard in her mind.  "Then...only then, after
everything's changed, do you notice the fuzz in your
mind.  All of a sudden, you're seeing the world with
different eyes, acting with a different body, and
thinking with a different mind.  You notice things...
feel things...emotions and thoughts that make you
want to throw up once you change back to a girl.
Now, Kodachi...do you really want to put me through
that?"

This *really* bothered me, enough to throw the whole chapter out of whack
for me.

Okay, maybe Ranma could choose to stay a woman.  Maybe Ranma could decide
that he liked being female better than being male.  But at *no* time do I
see Ranma deciding that being male was *bad*.  And not just bad, but
*horrible*, *terrifying*.  And Kodachi, evidently, agrees.

Well, Ranma, in this case, is doing something I do often.  She's
transferring her emotions (in this case, her anger) from her insides to her
story.  

Doug was right.  Ranma is still in her act, one specifically designed for
the Kunous.  If you'll recall in one of the earlier chapters, Ranma
explained to Kodachi's brother that she acted like a different person
because of her 'change' into male form.  This is simply a colored version
of that, with Ranma's anger at Kodachi's earlier actions thrown in for
effect.  

My thoughts only, of course.

And they are appreciated.  

We definitely do not think on similar wavelengths.  You sometimes miss my
subtle stuff, and I usually end up missing yours.  ^_^

Liked the Kasumi bit a lot.

Thanks.  Kasumi-Tofu scenes are very hard to play out sometimes.

I think Cologne bursting out in tears is quite out of character.  At best,
she'd give a wistful sigh, IMO.

Perhaps.  I thought that tears would be appropriate due to the seriousness
of the situation, as her entire way of life is threatened.  Also, I didn't
see it as a Soun-style tear-bursting - I saw it more like silent drops
coursing down her cheeks.  

Nabiki and Nodoka was cool.

I had fun with that bit.  It only made sense that Nodoka would eventually
try to tame her.

-Richard

-- Nick