All five teenagers found falling asleep to be a bit more difficult than normal, due to the novelty of the links’ added stimuli. Still they all eventually drifted off to sleep; once Ranma slid off, it effectively closed the links, allowing his suitors to do the same. However, while the conscious mind is ordinarily not active during the night, they were soon reminded that this was not always the case….
As soon as Shampoo walked through the door into a conspicuously nondescript room, she knew she was dreaming, for one very simple reason: she heard Ranma and Akane speaking in Mandarin, much to her surprise. Well, Ranma she sort of expected — he spoke Mandarin all the time in her dreams about their future together, but Akane was always noticeably absent from those dreams. Also, in those dreams, Ranma’s Mandarin was almost as eloquent as hers (as she would be the one who would teach it to him), but right now, his Mandarin was as rough as his Japanese. Still, she had to make sure… “Airen? What is going on here?”
The two teenagers turned to face the lavender-haired Amazon. “Shampoo? You’re speaking Japanese?” Akane asked.
“You ask why I am speaking Japanese, but I could just as easily demand an explanation for your fluent Mandarin.”
“What? I’m not speaking—”
“Ya may not be speakin’ Chinese,” Ranma interjected, “but Shampoo’s hearin’ ya in Chinese, just like when I’m hearin’ her think in Japanese. I told ya dreams would be different.”
“Ranma! Don’t say the ‘d’ word!”
“What is wrong with Airen bringing up the fact that we are in the world produced by the mind’s eye during slumber?” Shampoo asked.
Akane looked stunned at the question. “Wow. You’re… you’re actually… articulate.”
“Let me guess; even after Ranma informed you of my eloquence in my native tongue, you still would not believe him, simply because I have difficulty with your language.”
Akane blushed heavily. “Well, I… maybe.”
“And to think that some Japanese wonder why they and their fellow countrymen are stereotyped as racists. But I digress. You still have not answered me as to why Ranma was to avoid mentioning that we are dreaming; for I assume he is referring to what we Amazons call a ‘dream of awareness’ — a ‘lucid dream,’ if you will.”
“We’re dreaming?” came a new voice from behind her. “But that would mean that I’m dreaming. Oh sh—” Shampoo turned around in time to see Ukyo’s form (whose arrival she hadn’t noticed) suddenly disappear.
Ranma sighed. “That’s why. Apparently, Ucchan can’t do the whole lucid dreamin’ thing. I’m thinkin’ that she keeps disappearin’ ’cuz every time she realizes she’s havin’ a dream, she wakes up. Kinda surprised me, actually: one of the first really useful things Pops taught me was how ta get lucidity when yer dreamin’. Said that way I could continue trainin’ mentally even when my body was asleep. I guess I’ll find out what Ucchan’s deal is tomorrow.”
“But can you not simply ask her with your link?” Shampoo asked sensibly.
“What link?” Ranma asked with a smirk.
“Why the link that allows us to hear your thoughts, and you ours.”
The smirk did not leave his beloved’s face. “That so?”
“Yes… why are you laughing, you Culinary Monstrosity?”
Akane managed to regain control of herself in time to flash a smirk of her own. “If you can hear him, what’s he thinking now?”
“What a simple question — he’s thinking about…” Shampoo trailed off as she realized that she couldn’t hear what her husband was thinking, at least, not with enough clarity for her to come to any sort of conclusion. “Wait, what’s happening here?”
“Not sure,” Ranma said. “But I ain’t hearin’ any of ya right now… though I think I’m feelin’ some vague frustration from Ucchan; this has gotta be the fourth or fifth time she’s woken up tonight, so she can’t be in a good mood.”
“But… but why would that be the case? Not that I am complaining, mind you — it is good to have something that even vaguely resembles our former situation — I simply fail to understand why the circumstances of our waking life would not be replicated as we dream.”
“Actually, I think they are.”
“How.”
“Well, think about it. All of ya got access ta what I’m thinkin’, right? Well, this dream is what I’m thinkin’. That’s probably why yer hearin’ everyone in Chinese—”
“Mandarin,” Akane interrupted.
“What?”
“There’s more than one language used in China, remember? Shampoo speaks Mandarin, not Cantonese.”
“Oh, right. Anyway, that’s also why Akane’s hearin’ ya speakin’ the same flawless Japanese that I hear in my head.”
“I see… well, for lack of a better explanation, I suppose I shall have to accept this,” the Amazon replied. “Though I do have one further question.”
“Go ahead,” responded Ranma.
“You said that the likely reason for the Chef’s absence is her inability to remain in a slumber once she gains lucidity — is this the reason that the Rose-Obsessed Egomaniac is not present as well?”
“Oh, ya mean Kodachi?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, no — she’s over there in the corner.” Ranma then motioned to the figure of the gymnast, who was currently bound and gagged rather tightly, with an extremely cross expression on her face.
“Ah… I take it she was misbehaving.”
“That’s an understatement,” Akane replied with an eye roll.
“Yeah,” Ranma concurred. “She was the first one ta show up in my dream, an’ she wouldn’t stop pesterin’ me.”
“I see… so you used your lucidity to have her bound.”
“Yup.”
“And I assume that she was not able to free herself because your will is stronger.”
“Not really — I mean, she’s havin’ a lucid dream right now, too. I’m pretty sure she could free herself at any time.”
This confused Shampoo greatly. “Then… why does she not extricate herself from her predicament?”
“Because her ‘predicament’ has nuthin’ ta do with bein’ tied up. In fact, if she had her way, she’d stay tied up.”
“I fail to follow your reasoning.”
Here Akane stepped in. “What Ranma means is that the freak over there wants to be tied up so somebody can… can…. can we change the subject, please?” the Tendo girl suddenly asked, looking slightly ill.
This, however, was enough to allow the Amazon to piece together the reasoning behind Kodachi’s actions. “I see… she wishes Ranma to ravish her in her current bound state.”
“Well, I suppose, but when Akane showed up, she sorta implied that it didn’t have ta be me….”
“Seriously, I’m willing to talk about anything else,” Akane said, even more earnestly.
Unfortunately for Akane’s virgin ears, Shampoo seemed unwilling to let this go. “You mean, she desires encounters with women?”
“More like she don’t care. I mean, she claims that perversion’s some sorta outdated concept, an’ that it really don’t matter how ya get yer orgasm, so long as ya cum.”
“So, did anyone see the game between the Giants and the BayStars last week? That was some amazing pitching, I’ll tell you what.”
“I see. Well, that would explain the cross expression. After all, she’s giving the three of us an open invitation.”
“Okay, how about this? We can talk about how much you don’t like my cooking. I won’t even try to do anything to you. You’ve always wanted a chance to do that, right?”
“Well, four, if Ucchan ever manages ta stick around long enough ta figure out what’s goin’ on. But yer right about the ‘invitation’ thing. I don’t think any of us can force any of the others ta do anythin’ they don’t wanna, so right now, all she can do is sit in the corner an’ try an’ look temptin’. Still, even if I was interested, I would do it — I mean, I wouldn’t want ta risk bein’ wrong an’ havin’ her accuse me of rape or somethin’ later.”
“Mmmhh hmmmhh mhh hmh!” Kodachi commented from her spot in the corner of room.
By now, Akane had plugged her ears and started singing as loudly as she could to avoid having to listen to cnoversation about filthy acts of disgusting perversion (like the missionary position): “♫ And everywhere I go… there’s always something to remind me…. ♫”
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(Posted Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:33)
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