Ken Arromdee <arromdee@inetnow.net> wrote:

   "It's the Mirror of Misfortune", explained the old 

proprietor.  "If you

reflect light from it onto another person, you can transfer all your
misfortunes over to that person.  But there's a story 

associated with it.  You

never quite get what you hope for."

   "It twists things?  Like a really perverted genie?"

   "Not really."

   "Then I'll take it."  Akane plunked down a handful of 

yen and walked out

with the trinket.

Yes, of course we all know that Akane is such a sadist that she'd use
such a thing without even a trace of hesitation or compunction. And of
course we don't need to be told what's going through her mind, because
it's just going to be mad cackling and nya-ha-has anyhow.

Yeesh.

I have to agree, though I'd prefer to phrase it more constructively.  It
just seems OOC for Akane to up and buy such a thing.  (Actually, it seems
OOC for Akane to think of herself as having misfortunes except in the
immediate aftermath of a fight with Ranma.)  Given that she does, it is OOC
for her to hesitate to use it on Shampoo because of prudence.  Finally, she
wouldn't use it on Ukyou in a pre-meditated manner.

That aside, I liked the story.  Amusing to see what role Akane's misfortunes
have had in getting her and Ranma together, though I don't think of Ranma as
being quite as shallow as to forget so much about Akane when he's no longer
rescueing her.

If you're in the mood for rewriting the story, I think you can work around
the initial awkwardness.  Have Akane wander into the store during an aimless
walk, after a fight with Ranma over her cooking.  She'd be sad rather than
mad by this point, so she's thinking of "her misfortunes" as being her
cooking (it would be IC for Akane to listen to the proprietor quite
selectively).  Her thought is to give her cooking skills to Ranma, who (in
her opinion) doesn't need them.  Some of the usual wild happenstance
intervenes, such as Ukyou walking in between Ranma and Akane at the exact
wrong moment.