Weird Ranma reincarnation oneshot

[Spokavriel]

I meant it for both heads of hair.

Gymnastics is a School Club. There is nothing in Anything goes against it and allot of attributes of the Saotome style that compliment it.

I think because of the parents they are both going to be a little short but with super model figures. Forms that leave Kasumi in a Bikini looking plain.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Thanks for clearing up the hair-thing, I was a little confused. I also wasn't sure whether you were suggesting MARG as a hobby of Sakura's or as the whole of her fighting style, I don't really mind it either way because, as you said, it complements her family school quite well. And, yeah, that sounds good enough for their physical looks. Alright, now is the time to start with the personalities- oh, and did you see my "things to do" list for this story? Is there anything I missed?

Now then, one at a time for maximum efficiency...

Ume Saotome
Hmm... I was thinking that Ume is a friendly, sociable girl who doesn't like conflict- actually something of a peacemaker, which means she can sometimes come into conflict with her more aggresive siblings (like Sakura?). This doesn't mean she's a doormat or even that she's shy; she does't boast or brag about her capabilities, but she is confident and has a good amount of self-esteem. I think the word I'm looking for here is the quiet, but self-assured type; she knows her limitations, accepts them, and concentrates on what she's good at. She does't get why her sister and any other eligible siblings like to spend all that time getting sweaty and dirty and worked up; her idea of a good time is to spend time with friends, to enjoy a nice manga or anime, and if she can get her hands on something sweet while she's at it, all the better. She's not picky about her animes and mangas, but she's not very fond of romance (her friends have known her to dismiss them as 'unrealistic') and has an especial dislike for "harem" romances. Her dislike of violence means that she also isn't too fond of martial arts material, and she also hates horror (it frightens her), but she adores science fiction and fantasy works. When not reading, watching TV or socialising, she likes to relax by cooking various "sweet" dishes. She isn't bad at cooking other sorts of things, but she's disinterested in just about all meals that aren't desserts. Her sweet tooth (she absolutely hates sour food too; she's been known to throw a tantrum if forced to do so) is a problem with her parents, who don't approve of her attempts to live solely on junkfood.

What do you think? Any material usable in this?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Thought you might be wanting me to try my hand at Sakura as well, so here she is.

Sakura Saotome
As was more or less mentioned in her sister's profile, Sakura is the aggressive one of the twins. She's confident in her skills, bordering on cocky, just like her old man. Unlike him, she doesn't have any modesty problems and, in fact, is quite fond of bragging and showing off her skill at martial arts. This means that there's a quite a few people who don't like her; nobody likes a smartass, as the saying goes. Still, her skill is such that she is generally respected, if grudgingly so in some cases, and she does have a number of friends, forming a tightly-knit, if somewhat small, social circle. She does not handle losing in martial arts well, and her parents have both reprimanded her on several occasions for attempting to make "dirty strikes" (stuff like attacking an opponent from behind after apparently conceeding the match). She is eager to the point of impatience when it comes to learning martial arts, and has at least once insisted on trying to acquire a technique she isn't yet ready to handle. Outside of martial arts, including her membership in the martial arts gymnastics team at Furinkan, her hobbies primarily consist of games- not just videogames, though she is fond of them, but games of chance. In fact, games of chance fascinate her, though she is not very lucky when it comes to them and, on average, loses everything she wins- if not twice as much. These are about the only things that can get her to sit still and be patient; she is quite lively and has something of a short attention span when it comes to stuff outside of her interests. Her parents have complained about her grades more than once.

Well, that's ideas for both of the girls. Any usable stuff in either one? Oh, and this is the "To Do" list I figured out for this project; does it cover everything?

-Sakura & Ume Saotome
*Figure out their looks
*Figure out their personalities
*Figure out close personas (siblings, friends, love interests)

-Ranma & Shampoo
*Figure out what, precisely, they did to their curses (cured or swapped)
*Figure out how, if at all, said curse changing has affected their kids
*Figure out if they have more kids? (This might blend into Sakura & Ume 3 above)
*Come up with some 'noodle incidents' to mention or perhaps have fallout.

-Notable personas
*Figure out basic concepts (who they are, what they do, what they can do, what their ties to the Saotome family are, etc)

[Spokavriel]

Your To Do list leaves out any mention of Rivalries. And in a way for Ranma working out all the old Rivalries including Moose are kinda important because why wouldn't Nabiki and Akane ask about what happened to the people they knew?

Rivals are just as important as friends in a place like Nerima. So that should really be worked into both ToDo lists.

There's a phrase Quiet Confidence. People who have it. They are never noticeably insecure and they don't appear to struggle. I think what you described for Ume might fit that. Her tastes in food would be a bit extreme. For her not really being in training that many sweets... It seems almost too much like what Nabiki did without an addmition of working out to keep in shape. It also may be fun if when the memories are integrating that Akane has an epiphany about cooking that she really was trying to hard and fighting her meals to death instead of delectable states.

The underhanded strikes seems a bit too aggressive. Although for a twist what if she some times gets training from Great Great Grandmother Cologne and that adds fuel to the 'tude? I don't think Cologne would be remiss in educating her about Amazon laws and Amazon superiority. One way to get caught at those advance techniques would be a Training Trip with Cologne that has the obvious result of Bauksaitenketsu hardened skin noticeable to everyone when she gets back home.

I still think Rivals should fit in on the individual tasks list seperate from the Notable persona part you added. And sorry about the Delay. Chances are I will be contemplating rest soon.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Yeah, I was kinda worried about the sweets thing myself; true, her father at least has a pretty good metabolism, but he also works his ass off (no pun intended), so it's not surprising he can eat what he eats without any weight problems. What would you suggest as a replacement quirk for that?

Alright, the dirty shots was a bad example and I admit it's too extreme, but I do feel that a distinct tendency towards playing dirty suits Sakura though. But I can be convinced otherwise.

The idea that Cologne trains her sometimes, which helps build her ego (though that's more secondary, a side effect of "granny teaches me super-cool moves", than primary- when was the last time Cologne flattered a student she was training?), sounds like a good one to me.

I kind of blended rivals into Notable Personas, but yes, they are as important to this story as friends. I'll add them into the Other Entities segment.

So, is there anything more that is needed for Sakura and Ume's personalities, or are they complete? If yes, what topic should I move onto next?

Edit: and now that you bring up the survivors of the 'old gang', I can't help but try and figure out just what might have happened to them.

Ryoga: got married to Kasumi after the two fell for each other due to leaning on each other for mutual moral and emotional support after Akane & Nabiki's deaths. Most likely has been cured of his Jusenkyo curse by now, regardless of what Ranma did (cure or change), and may be working on a cure of his direction sense. If this is so, there are several possible levels of success...
-No luck (hasn't found even the slightest clue yet)
-Developing (has some minor control, but still very prone to vanishing)
-In Training (roughly a 50/50 chance of being able to find his way)
-Advanced (can usually find his way where he wants to go, but still gets lost on occasion)
Likely has continued his "friendly rivalry" with Ranma and is in fact probably Ranma's most frequent challenger. It might even be possible that their getting together to beat each other's heads in is their equivalent of tossing drinks back in a bar on Friday night.

Mousse: undoubtedly went ballistic when Shampoo volunteered to be "the host", was probably lucky to avoid being killed when he went after Shampoo and/or Ranma. Quite likely has been given the Joketsuzoku equivalent of a restraining order- only if he breaks this, it's a death sentence he's facing, not a term in jail. Most likely is either dead (having committed suicide in a moment of overemotional drama) or, more likely, brooding hatefully somewhere- might even have become a "Big Boss" type figure, training one or more teens in an attempt to make them tools for exacting his revenge on the Saotomes. A less evil fate for him does occur, but it's probably not worth mentioning. Let's just say it ties into the possibility with Ukyo.

Kuno: probably flipped out. If he didn't get himself incarcerated in a mental hospital before, he might even have been crazed enough to assault the pregnant Shampoo; in that case, he's probably also needed physio-therapy as well as psychological therapy. Might still be in the loony bin, or might have been cured and released. In either case, not a bother to Ranma anymore.

Kodachi: could have endured the same fate as her elder brother... but a more comedic version is that, once Ranma was truly unavailable, she merely shrugged her shoulders (perhaps motivated to pragmatism by her brother's fate) and simply moved on with her life. Her protege (who may or may not be her daughter) is likely an avowed rival of Sakura's if Kodachi escaped incarceration.

Ukyo: neither she nor Ranma like to talk about each other. The breakup was... painful, for both parties. Angry, heartbroken, left Nerima and has likely vowed never to return. One idea that pops up in relation to her, though I know it's impossible to justify, has her and Mousse meeting in a bar somewhere after Mousse's own departure from Nerima. Drinking to dull the pain, mutual bitterness coupled with drunkenness leads to a onenight stand.

[Spokavriel]

Suggestion. Use your own judgement. I sadly felt my mind flat line returning to the thread this time. So goodnight and I am enjoying how this is shaping up. If I tried to give imput on mental fumes you might get a laugh but talk about fighting mice in icecream bikinis trying to capture every hunk on the beach just leads to headaches when you are fully awake.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

...Okay, I understood that and yet I did not understand that at all. I guess I'll leave this until tomorrow before continuing. Unless someone else speaks up beforehand. Anyway, you get some sleep; but thank you for all the help you have provided so far. Only one question: WTF is an icecream bikini?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Finally decided to get a jump on things by tackling the most controversial aspect; the curses.

Ranma
Fact: it's likely that Ranma would want to retain his state as a Jusenkyo cursed due to a feeling of guilt at failing to save Akane & Nabiki's lives and/or because Shampoo must remain cursed.

Fact: Shampoo wouldn't want him to remain cursed; she wants him to be whole. Genma would also want this, particularly if the curse could somehow affect his descendants (for example: Nyanniichuan curse means Ranma can only father daughters, which means the Saotome name would become extinct), as would Soun for the sakes of "Ume" and "Sakura".

Fact: by having them reincarnated as his own children, Ranma is atoning for his failure.

Fact: there are few Jusenkyo curses, if any, that would not impair his attempts to be a father. Nyanniichuan or animal; impairs his ability to defend his children if they are threatened, and Nyanniichuan could affect his ability to find employment. Fuushanniichuan or similar; altered mental state could endanger his children directly, as well as having the previous effect.

Result: either Ranma has, however reluctantly, been cured, or he has taken a form that is actually helpful to him and which thusly doesn't really count as a curse at all.


Shampoo
Fact(?): Shampoo must remain Jusenkyo cursed as punishment.

Fact: allowing a girl with a cat curse to be married to a powerful warrior with ailurophobia is asking for disaster.

Fact: Shampoo would thusly have been allowed to change her curse.

Question: but for what/in what way? Nekomimi, scale-up, or trade-off?

Fact: as women are in practice disadvantaged in the Japanese workforce, coupled with the fact Shampoo would want to be close to her children and doesn't really have a background that could help her (very few organizations want an employee who is, to all practical purposes, a super-strong bloodthirsty hillbilly from China), Shampoo is most likely a stay-at-home mom (or homemaker, whatever the term is). Though employment, if on an erratic base, is not impossible, particularly if it's jobs that can be done from home- massage treatment, cooking, demolition work, etc.

Fact: because she's more likely to be at home than in the workforce, changing when wet is less of a problem (relatively few employers would find the idea of a person changing sex when doused with hot/cold water to be something that would entice them to hire said employee).

Result: Shampoo is most likely Jusenkyo cursed, but because it doesn't have a negative impact on her life, she has most likely accepted it and may not even consider it a curse any more.


Statement: I look at what I have written... and I think I have just been going around and around in circles.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Alright, I've been doing some thinking on the previous topic and maybe this is clearer...

Ranma: Like I've said, his only real motivation to remain cursed here is guilt that Shampoo herself is remaining cursed. Given her own feelings on the matter, I think that if she does allow him to be cursed, and she would probably pull out all manner of verbal guns to persuade him otherwise, she'd only agree to let it pass if gets a 'matching' curse to replace his female one. Fanon to the contrary, Shampoo is not bisexual and wants a husband, not a husband/wife. Thusly, if he is still cursed, he's probably a kemonomimi like she is (see below)- though maybe an inumimi (dogboy) instead of a nekomimi (catboy), or even a okamimimi (wolfboy) due to the symbolism?

Shampoo: if Shampoo is retaining a curse, it's because she's legally obligated to by her laws. If this element is removed, than she'll have gotten a cure as well. A "nekomimi" curse (or a general kemonomimi) seems like it would be the curse Shampoo would go for. It doesn't upset her sensibilities like something like Taro's curse would, neither she nor her husband would like a mind-altering curse like the Spring of Drowned Young Priest, it has little effect on her daily life in an urban environment (baggy pants/a skirt and some kind of headcovering, and who's to notice the most obvious differences?) and, more importantly, it doesn't place any unborn children of hers at risk like a Nanniichuan or regular animal curse would. Do you know what happens to a housecat if it suddenly has two objects the size of human foetuses manifest inside of it? It's a very nasty, if quick, way to die...

Do you have any input?

[Spokavriel]

When you point out the curse circle you can see why I was thinking it better just to leave the curses alone.

One Fannon thing I like to use when it comes to pregnancy is the idea that a curse temporarily locks to allow it. But there is another idea I used in RP a long while back when I was playing a character who was a child of a shape shifter. And the way that worked is the unborn shifts species with the parent. Also handling the NPC's there I even had the character's grandfather toss out a side comment or two about how lucky the guy was that his mother kept him inside to be born human instead of laid as an egg in any of half a dozen forms that were taken during gestation.

At least Shampoo in Neko form is still a mammal with a similar reproductive system.

Edit: It also adds to my reason for seeing a curse carry over to the child. Because if a child is changed as part of the mothers body during the pregnancy why would the curse magic let go after birth?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

The unfortunate thing is, that fanon idea is strictly contradicted by the Ladle of Locking- why else would the Musk need it unless there was a risk of the animal changing herself back and either destroying the infant or dying horribly?

When you put it like that, the best answer really is the cure. It's the simplest, easiest, most logical explanation; it's stupid to have Shampoo marry Ranma if she's going to turn into a cat while they are married, Shampoo wants Ranma cured, Ranma wanted to be cured before and, deep down, probably still does, Joketsuzoku Village is right next door to Jusenkyo, Ranma is already atoning/redeeming by agreeing to raise Akane & Nabiki as his children so he can't really use that as an excuse, and Shampoo would have no problems with either (brow)beating some sense into Ranma to make him accept a cure or simply getting a sufficient amount of Nanniichuan and dousing him with it against his will.

Edit: there's also the fact that the two might have had to be cured before they could be the parents (bad things can happen when mixing magic), and Soun might have even demanded that Ranma get cured so he can give the reborn Akane & Nabiki a normal life- well, as normal as the life of a martial artist is.

When you add all this evidence up, there really doesn't seem to be any reason, besides nostalgia, to have them retain the curses, and it's been more or less concluded that simply trading the curses is a Bad Idea(Ltd).

[Spokavriel]

My idea for why the Musk would lock the curses is because an animal use to 4 legs now in a 2 legged body. Even with the Jusenkyo assist in handling it will still have problems getting away before it learns how to be human. Just the change to Human alone is enough to let them learn how to find and use Hot water to get back to "normal" and get away if their husbands didn't get them pregnant yet.

Edit: That and if the curses don't lock they want the kids coming out Human.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Look, can't we just get over this topic? They're cured; end of story. There's no real way I could pull off them remaining cursed, or worse still Shampoo getting cured and Ranma staying cursed, without it coming off as a huge plothole. There's too much stuff for why they would get cured to make them staying cursed be believable.

And, really, when you get down with it, the only possible use them being cursed could have is sheer nostalgia. But as this story focuses on Ume and Sakura, Ranma & Shampoo are really secondary characters at most- it's not important for them to be cursed. I normally wouldn't argue this hard over them being cured or cursed, but like I said there's just too much of a damn plothole if they aren't cured- hell, one of the first things the Tendos are likely to expect upon finding out it's nearly a score of years into the future and they've been reincarnated as Ranma's daughters is that Ranma got himself cured in the interim. Both of them know it's the fact he doesn't really want to leave Nerima for the time a trip to China would take that he's cursed in their time.

With all of the things I've pointed out, is there really any way I could logically explain them as retaining their curses without having it that Jusenkyo was destroyed by some natural/manmade disaster? And if I were to use that, how long do you think it would be before I had readers calling bullshit on me? This is nothing against you or your tastes, believe me, this is just me trying desperately to save my own credibility.

Besides, doesn't the fact that none of the Musk change into animals when wet, or even have animal traits bar swiftness, strength, ki production, kind of put a kink in that theory?

[Spokavriel]

I was just saying what my thought was behind why they have the locking ladle. But if I was more awake I probably would have spotted it as being rhetorical. I wasn't intending on dragging up more nonsense, its a tangent that doesn't help anything and I'm sorry I tossed that out there.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

No apologies are needed; I figured it was your theory as to why the Ladle of Locking exists, and while I was a little confused why you brought it up, I'm not offended. I should be the one apologising anyway.

So, how about a compromise? While Ranma and Shampoo are cured, and got cured before Sakura and Ume were born, Ranma was initially planning to sneak off and get himself cursed again after the girls were born for... well... let's just call it guilt. Of course, Ranma isn't the best at hiding stuff like that, and as Shampoo is, among other things, fairly adept at pulling Ranma's strings (not to mention self-describedly selfish and not adverse to manipulating people in general), so she took steps to prevent that. By the time the girls were two or three years old, whether or not Shampoo had another child born/on the way by then, Ranma had probably forgotten all about his plan. They may even joke about it privately.

Does this sound alright to you? It takes (or at least attempts to take) the best parts of both of our stances and manages to semi-unite them. It also makes sense, given that Ranma canonically isn't the person to dwell on the negative side of life all that much. In fact, if one were to be cruel, one could say that Ranma only has room in his heart for one or two "active" emotions at a time.