[Fic] "Straight Answers" -- Ranma 1/2
May. 2nd, 2004 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingIt was lovely weather until midafternoon -- I was out on the porch for a couple hours, reading. Then the wind picked up. And it rained. It's still raining. *pouts*
Family issues are being icky. We will see how that all works out.
Anyway, this is a Ranma 1/2 fic -- that's a manga series about a boy who's cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water, and whose no-good father has managed to engage him to at least three girls. Plus insane (no, really) martial arts and more zany magical artifacts than you can shake a stick at. This fic is told by Nabiki Tendo, the sister of Akane Tendo, who's the most "official" fiance and the one that the author clearly intends to be the one he really likes.
You should read the manga sometime; Rumiko Takahashi walks a tightrope to keep all the action from tipping over into melodrama or angst, and comes through funny all the way.
ETA: A revised version of this story is here on ff.net. And yes, that version's better. :-)
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Straight Answers
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It is next to impossible to get a straight answer out of Ranma Saotome. Even when you think he's given you one, more often than not it turns out to be just a knee-jerk defensive reaction, which scrutiny of his actions will disprove.
On the surface, this makes him very easy to take advantage of. Since he can't -- or won't -- explain himself properly, people can ascribe any number of motives to him. Or any number of desires. Or even any number of actions he's never committed.
And you can get him to take the blame for anything, mostly because he can't -- or won't -- be able to effectively deny your claims, and by now everyone around here is used to blaming him for everything anyway.
But when you look more closely, you start to realize that, barring the strange accidents he's prone to, when Ranma truly objects to something, it doesn't happen. And when he really wants something, he eventually gets it. Notice, for instance, that he's still not married to any of his supposed fiancées. Ryoga has finally stopped playing Akane's pet. His mother has accepted him as manly despite his curse, so he's free from that seppuku contract. And the constant chaos keeps his skills sharp, while never quite getting past the point where he can bear it.
I've known for a long time now that he lets me take pictures for Kuno. I'm still not sure why. Yes, some of that money goes to support my family, and he may feel obligated to pose as a sort of rent payment. But then again, he may just allow them as a way to keep Kuno's obsession -- and consequently his attacks and contributions to the general chaos -- fresh and constant.
I don't think he's quite that smart, quite that underhanded, but the way the pattern of his actions always keeps everything hanging, balanced just so... well, there are times that I wonder.
I tried asking him once, walked up to him with a smile on my face and said, "So what chaos are you planning this week, Ranma-kun? I might be able to help you, for a price."
He gave me that stunned-rabbit look he does so well, and said, "I don't plan stuff! Stuff just happens to me."
I raised my eyebrow. "And it never occurred to you to take advantage of the situation?"
He shrugged. "Aw, Nabiki, you know I ain't like you." Which could mean any number of things, but before I could ask him to clarify himself, Shampoo burst through the front gate with a takeout order of ramen, which brought Akane out of the house and led to Ranma fleeing the scene with the two fiancées in hot pursuit. He grinned at me as he left.
So I still haven't gotten a straight answer from him.
But then again, I wasn't really expecting one.
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Inspired by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15minuteficlets word #53: evasive
Family issues are being icky. We will see how that all works out.
Anyway, this is a Ranma 1/2 fic -- that's a manga series about a boy who's cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water, and whose no-good father has managed to engage him to at least three girls. Plus insane (no, really) martial arts and more zany magical artifacts than you can shake a stick at. This fic is told by Nabiki Tendo, the sister of Akane Tendo, who's the most "official" fiance and the one that the author clearly intends to be the one he really likes.
You should read the manga sometime; Rumiko Takahashi walks a tightrope to keep all the action from tipping over into melodrama or angst, and comes through funny all the way.
ETA: A revised version of this story is here on ff.net. And yes, that version's better. :-)
---------------------------------------------
Straight Answers
---------------------------------------------
It is next to impossible to get a straight answer out of Ranma Saotome. Even when you think he's given you one, more often than not it turns out to be just a knee-jerk defensive reaction, which scrutiny of his actions will disprove.
On the surface, this makes him very easy to take advantage of. Since he can't -- or won't -- explain himself properly, people can ascribe any number of motives to him. Or any number of desires. Or even any number of actions he's never committed.
And you can get him to take the blame for anything, mostly because he can't -- or won't -- be able to effectively deny your claims, and by now everyone around here is used to blaming him for everything anyway.
But when you look more closely, you start to realize that, barring the strange accidents he's prone to, when Ranma truly objects to something, it doesn't happen. And when he really wants something, he eventually gets it. Notice, for instance, that he's still not married to any of his supposed fiancées. Ryoga has finally stopped playing Akane's pet. His mother has accepted him as manly despite his curse, so he's free from that seppuku contract. And the constant chaos keeps his skills sharp, while never quite getting past the point where he can bear it.
I've known for a long time now that he lets me take pictures for Kuno. I'm still not sure why. Yes, some of that money goes to support my family, and he may feel obligated to pose as a sort of rent payment. But then again, he may just allow them as a way to keep Kuno's obsession -- and consequently his attacks and contributions to the general chaos -- fresh and constant.
I don't think he's quite that smart, quite that underhanded, but the way the pattern of his actions always keeps everything hanging, balanced just so... well, there are times that I wonder.
I tried asking him once, walked up to him with a smile on my face and said, "So what chaos are you planning this week, Ranma-kun? I might be able to help you, for a price."
He gave me that stunned-rabbit look he does so well, and said, "I don't plan stuff! Stuff just happens to me."
I raised my eyebrow. "And it never occurred to you to take advantage of the situation?"
He shrugged. "Aw, Nabiki, you know I ain't like you." Which could mean any number of things, but before I could ask him to clarify himself, Shampoo burst through the front gate with a takeout order of ramen, which brought Akane out of the house and led to Ranma fleeing the scene with the two fiancées in hot pursuit. He grinned at me as he left.
So I still haven't gotten a straight answer from him.
But then again, I wasn't really expecting one.
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Inspired by
15minuteficlets word #53: evasive