Natsume & Kurumi on Ranma's training trip - need suggestions

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Point.

Speaking of which, what are they going to do for the Chardin issue? Ranma's not girl-cursed, and he probably doesn't have the finesse to masquerade as a girl with his kitsune magic (especially not as a believable one) even if he does have the inclination. Hmm... wonder if they mightn't suggest Kurumi with the "if she can beat you in a martial arts dining match, you have to forfeit the engagement" challenge of canon? Of course, there may be problems like Mme. St. Paul sabotaging it by, say, turning Kurumi into a tanuki and arranging it so that she can't find any hot water...

[Spokavriel]

Well thats still a way off. There are allot of things that will be bound to go different than cannon, by the time it gets there, with two female sparring partners and another who obviously never developed the philosophy of avoiding hitting girls even in sparring Akane might feel up to taking on the challenge herself. Or even Nabiki if she ends up seeing these other "Daughters" of Soun Tendo as a threat to her inheritance. Or worse a threat to her older and younger sisters well being.

Edit: Its a little less than a quarter til 1 AM here I'm heading to bed. Nighty night.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

This is actually something I've been wondering. Is it at all possible that Ranma doesn't hit Akane when they spar not because he doesn't like hitting girls (he may not, but he doesn't have any problems with beating girls senseless if he has to - there's several episodes/chapters about that) but because Akane is currently unable to hit him in a fair fight? Ranma tends to fight on his opponent's level or otherwise "fair", so is it possible that his refusal to strike Akane back and dancing around when they spar together is his way of saying "until you get fast enough that you can tag me, I'm not going to bother hitting you back, as you're so slow that you wouldn't be able to defend against me anyway"? The reason he doesn't get why Akane doesn't seem to grasp this is because... well, he's a prodigy who's been forced to read an opponent/sensei's intentions and monitor his own skill all his life. He just doesn't "get" that Akane isn't going to think "If I can't punch fast enough to hit him, I can't move fast enough to block or dodge him, so I've got to get faster" from his antics.

It is a possibility, you have to admit. I just don't know how likely it might be.

[Spokavriel]

I wasn't really talking about that moment. What I was getting at is that things are going to have to be different. After all only Natsume will have an appearance anything similar to Human showing up there. Its not like the Month of being cursed will really be enough for them to have much success in trying to access and use their supernatural powers beyond the instinctive level they get automatically from the springs. And it won't be easy at first. Also there will be contention about these two girls showing up claiming the right to be the heirs to the Dojo first and fore most above any Marriage possibility. Really it will kinda shatter that whole first meeting and make it so it has to go in other ways.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

...huh? What brought that on? I mean, I know you're right, but I wasn't talking about that point in time at all in my last question, I was just wondering if Ranma, canonically, really does believe he's not supposed to hit Akane even when they spar.

::Edit::
Though, now you mention it, trying to figure out the likely events of the first Tendo meeting would be helpful for putting together the first chapter... assuming, of course, we actually start things off with the Saotomes and the sisters arriving in Nerima instead of covering what happens when they first meet them as little girls.

[Spokavriel]

It almost has to start there or earlier. Later leaves too much exposition.

Edit: Sorry didn't answer that again. I agree that dodging like that is probably Ranma wanting to avoid harming a fighter not skilled enough to avoid hurting if he hit them. But I didn't mean to imply he had the attitude just that he would know better than to make the claim inserted by the Dubbing team of "I don't hit girls."

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Sorry? Are you agreeing that it should actually open with Ranma & Genma meeting and taking in Natsume & Kurumi, and perhaps show how their presence affected canon "Pre-Nerima" events, before moving on to the quartet finally arriving at Soun's home? I just want to make that clear before I progress.

[Spokavriel]

You need to know the training trip details. I don't think they could avoid bringing Natsume because in cursed form she'll be the only one who knows how to speak at the moment.

As to telling how they got together that is going to have to come out at the Tendos anyway but I again emphasize you have to know the back story to avoid making plot holes when you fill it in later.

Edit: Wait no she Ranma and Kurumi could speak but she's the one least likely to freak people out by speaking because at least she still looks mostly like a person.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I think I get what you mean...

Alright, so, how do you think the first meeting is likely to go? Unlike in canon, there's no humans in this party, just what looks like a giant woman in a white fur coat, so everyone is probably going to either freak out or demand to know why they're there. I don't think Natsume would be able to bring herself to call Soun "dad" while she's in her yeti form, so I'm guessing she would basically confirm that this is indeed the Tendo Dojo, maybe trail off into silence as she finally gets to see the man she believes is her father, then finally manages to compose herself and ask for hot water so she can restore all four of them to their true forms and introduce themselves as the Saotomes and Soun's "long lost daughters"?

[Spokavriel]

Sounds good to me. But don't forget to keep in mind the actual daughters reactions. Not just to appearances but to the curse changes and finally the announcement about Soun having other daughters on top of the fox becoming (I can see in Nabiki's opinion at least, maybe Kasumi's too.) another kind of fox. Akane: Another perverted boy/Their supposed Fiance.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Yes, I would appreciate suggestions on how to handle things like that...

I'm vaguely thinking that this would be far too much for the girls to handle; first their father tells them out of the blue they're going to get married, then the stranger turns out to be even stranger than they might have imagined, and now they have two strange girls claiming to be half-sisters of theirs - and they would believe them; Akane was about the only person in canon who raised the possibility that Soun might actually be as innocent as he claimed and even she stopped believing it when they showed off their evidence.

In this canon, given that this is happening at a moment when they are so stressed out, I'm thinking Akane would probably grab the nearest blunt object and start chasing Soun around the house; she's just been pushed well beyond the breaking point with this. Nabiki and Kasumi wouldn't join in, that's not really their style, but I can see Kasumi telling either Soun that he deserves this, giving "encouragement" to Akane, or both, while Nabiki may well trip Soun if the opportunity arises.

So, you think that having a curse that doesn't involve switching genders would make Nabiki (who was canonically rather excited about the idea of having a boyfriend, strangely enough) and possibly Kasumi less put off by Ranma than they were canonically?

[Spokavriel]

I still see no problem with the proposed sequence of events.

As to the sisters reactions to Ranma. Well sly as a Fox is something that I could see Nabiki wanting to test out. And while Kasumi might still be put off over his age she might think his Fox form is adorable and want him at least as a pet.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Alright, so, how are things likely to calm down and progress from there? Given the mood they're in, I don't think anyone is going to be any more inclined to believe that Natsume & Kurumi's "evidence" isn't proof, and it's going to be quite some time before Happosai arrives and can possibly clear things up as to their true relationship to Soun.

Hmm... by this point, Genma and possibly even the teens themselves are used to the idea that Ranma will marry Natsume. How do you think that the actual Tendo girls will take this revelation?

Akane will definately be relieved; even beyond her current aggravation with the male gender due to the attacks and her crush on Tofu, she disdains the idea of an arranged marriage, so knowing that it's more or less "settled" will make her less hostile towards Ranma. She'll still be wary of him, due to him being a freak and a boy, though.

As you've pointed out, Kasumi thinks younger men are less mature, and so she's probably not disappointed (or at least not very) to discover he's more or less engaged to her new 'sister'. Either way, she's quite happy that she's gained a little sister, a little brother, and two cute little pets, all at once.

Nabiki, on the other hand, is more of a mystery. As you've pointed out, she was actually interested in the idea of a boyfriend as presented by an arranged marriage, and here she doesn't have her potential fiance turn out to switch genders and so put her off. How do you think she's likely to react to discovering she still doesn't really have a chance with him even if she is interested?

[Spokavriel]

Fannon Nabiki follows the gossip at school more than enough to know that any relationship isn't certain to work out. She'll probably take some time to make an evaluation of the couple and see what her options are instead of getting defeated.

Cannon Nabiki on the other hand is more likely to be looking for photo op chances and ways to make use of this so she can get more Manga or sweets. Cannon Nabiki did after all out right sell Ranma on a few occasions.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Indeed. So, basically, Nabiki would be a little depressed, but would simply shrug it off and instead see if she can somehow make a profit out of these newcomers to her family - badgering Ranma and/or Kurumi to take on sexy girl/kemonomimi/monster-girl forms with their shapeshifting magic so she can sell them for money, trying to start betting rings when Ranma or Natsume gets challenged at school, maybe setting up eating contests for Kurumi?

Speaking of school, how are Natsume and Kurumi likely to fare when Kuno is introduced? I figure they'd probably be outraged to hear about how and why he started up the "hentai horde", as I don't think either of them would like bullies any more than Ranma does, but would they try and beat him down for being such an asshole? If they did, would Kuno be at all likely to fall for one (or both) of them? Canonically, he seems to take an interest in pretty girls only after they first kick his ass - my theory is that doing so gets his ego going; he's so convinced of his strength and attractiveness that he insists any girl who can beat him must both be interested in him and "worthy" of his interest.

On a totally different topic, a vague idea has come to mind recently involving some mystical monster of the week breezing into Nerima and kidnapping various members of the main cast to extract a certain "quality" from their soul, aiming to create some powerful macguffin or other by combining the seven essences of Prayers, Sadness, Rage, Hatred, Joy, Pleasure and Wishes. Do you have any thoughts on which characters might be believably stated to bear one of these essences? My kneejerk reaction is that Ryoga would be a suitable source for Sadness, Mousse for Hatred, and Akane for Wishes, but I don't think that's right at all.