In all honesty, Tea was surprised by Nodoka's request. On the one hand, it was her chance to finally become the main star in a film, instead of playing a supporting character. However, why would Nodoka do something like this with her son? Even if he had a lot of acting talent, of which Tea was sure since Nodoka said so, the typical thing to do would be to pair him off with a more experienced actress. Breaking in newbies was almost always done by the most senior actresses and actors.
Nodoka saw the confusion in Tea's eyes and gave a soft smile. She than started to explain the situation. "From what I've read in your dossier and from what I've seen of you, both on stage and off stage, you are the best choice to bring Ranma into the business. I blame myself for this since I let Genma take my son on a martial arts training trip and my baka of a husband has made a complete mess of things."
Tea blinked her eyes and inquire, "Uh Lady Saotome? Just how has your husband made a complete mess of things?" Tea wanted to know just what kind of a mess she was being introduced to and what she would have to deal with.
The elder woman pulled out two sodas and handed one to Tea. Nodoka continued to explain things once both of them had finished drinking. "Don't worry about Ranma too much dear. My son is good, if slightly naive, young man. I wouldn't bring him on set if he was a despicable person. Nepotism and business is never a successful mix. The main problem with Ranma's situation is the fact that my husband is a little too free with his promises. Thanks to Genma's stupidity, Ranma is engaged to no less than 4 women who are actively perusing my son and almost a dozen more have engagement promises. All of these promises are technically void because Genma keeps breaking them. However, my husband and the other women insist that these ridiculous claims be honored."
Now things were starting to make sense to Tea. It was well known at N-Class Productions that Nodoka had a major ax to grind with her husband. Obviously, Nodoka was enraged at her husband practically pimping out Ranma. Very quickly, Tea proved that she was more than just a pretty face and said, "I take it that these so called fiancees will not take your son's new position here quietly?"
Nodoka waved her hand dismissively and replied, "Don't worry about those girls Tea. If they so much as grumble loudly I will hit them with a harassment lawsuit so damaging that their great grandchildren will be in the poor house. This ties into why I want you to be Ranma's first co-star. Those girls have been rather aggressive in their pursuit of Ranma. My son will need a gentler approach to get him used to working here; an approach that I know you can provide. After all, you needed a similar approach to become comfortable acting here."
Tea couldn't help blushing a bit at the thought of giving Ranma a gentle approach. She always loved performing the tender explicit scenes the most out of the various adult scenes. The young starlet then asked, "Is there anything else I need to know about Ranma right now?"
Nodoka put her right hand under her chin and said, "There is one other important thing you need to know. As you know, events can happen in life that have a certain shall we say supernatural dimension." Tea gave Nodoka a small nod before the elder woman continued on. "My son has had to deal with those kinds of situations before and sadly one of them had some permanent consequences."
The young woman wondered just what these consequences where. In her experience, magic was very dangerous and needed to be treated with care. Nodoka saw Tea's concern and quickly said, "To put it bluntly Tea, Ranma is cursed. Every time he is splashed with cold water he turns into a girl. The curse's effects are reversed by hot water. I'm telling you this in the strictest confidence. My son doesn't like people to know of his curse and the only reason I am telling you this is so you don't panic when you first see the curse. How people react to first seeing the curse has a major impact on how Ranma behaves around people."
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(Posted Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:03)
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