What he saw was a room littered with paper, each with a fairly well-done pencil sketch of a girl in a familiar oxhorn hairdo in various costumes (most of them skimpy, skintight, or otherwise revealing). In the middle, Shampoo, Champion of the Amazons, sat in a circle with his fiancée, Akane, and his would-be manager, Nabiki, poring over several huge stacks of loose-leaf paper. "What the heck is going on?"
The three girls looked up. "Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo chirped. "Shampoo going over sidekick costume designs with Akane and Nabiki. You say to bring over, remember?"
"Uh, I guess... I just didn't realize you had so many."
"Well, since Shampoo not allowed to talk about Taiyohime with Airen, had to come up with as many options as possible."
"Yeah, but what made you think all your costume ideas had to be as risqué as the options I had?"
"Freedom of movement."
"Oh, right." Amaterasu had mentioned something like that, and Ranma had to admit that it did make sense. He turned his attention to the Tendos. "So what are you two doing?"
Akane rolled her eyes slightly. "I'm making sure she doesn't go too over the top."
"And I'm making sure she doesn't do something too conservative," Nabiki replied. "Sex does sell, after all."
"Why should you care? You're not my manager yet."
"Only because you haven't had a chance to get a lawyer to look over my contract. And remember, I'll also be serving as your agent and PR representative."
"Yeah, I know, higher percentage than normal; ya don't have to repeat it."
"So, Ranma talk to Mousse?" Shampoo asked.
"Yep."
"Learn secret?"
"Yep."
"All of them?"
"You betcha."
"What secrets?" Akane asked.
"Mousse is actually gay, and for a long time he had a crush on Ranma," Nabiki explained nonchalantly.
Ranma was surprised, though in retrospect, he really shouldn't have been. "How did you know about that?"
"Mousse was one of my best costumers for beefcake shots of your male form. I even gave him access to copies of photos I'd reserved for my personal collection."
"Ooohh-kaaay.... but why would he tell you he was gay? Couldn't he have blown his cover about the Taiyohime?"
"Indeed he could have... if I didn't already know about it."
Ranma started to ask the natural follow-up question before he caught himself. "How did— No, actually on second thought, I'm not sure I want to know how you knew. But that does explain how you had that contract all ready to go: you've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"
"I wouldn't say planning is the best word—when I realized how badly your mother was screwing up, I knew that meant that I wouldn't be able to predict your reaction. That contract was just one of several possible courses of action for me to take."
"Whatever," Ranma replied with a sigh as he plopped down between Shampoo and Akane. "So, what have you come up with?"
"Well, first option is bodysuit, like Taiyohime, except purple, without hole in chest. Was going to add catgirl ears and tail, but Nabiki say that costume basically taken already."
"Lawsuits?"
"Actually, with the ears and tail it would look too much like the costume of a criminal-turned-vigilante who still occasionally engages in, er, 'questionable' activities."
Ranma looked at the black-and-white sketch, and asked, "So, how would you get into it? I mean, you might not get a five-minute head start if a bad guy shows up."
Shampoo raised an eyebrow in response. "Shampoo wear under normal clothes—standard Amazon pantsuit hides perfectly."
"Yeah, but wearing it all the time?"
"Make more than one, always have clean costume."
"That ain't what I meant. Won't it get, you know, uncomfortable?"
"Oh, no. Made of special silk, found only in Bayankala Mountains. Is like second skin."
"When you say 'second skin,' are we talking 'close your eyes, feels like you're naked?'"
"Pretty much."
"And that means it won't leave a thing to the imagination, even though she's completely covered up," Akane added.
"You say that as though it were a bad thing," Nabiki said. "And to answer your next question, nothing that marketable can be as bad as you make it out to be."
Shampoo, meanwhile, had moved on to the next option. "Second choice was originally planned in case Ranma get roped into choosing short, frilly dress by Nodoka."
Ranma briefly glanced at the drawing. Lots of leg, and the cut drew attention to the Amazon's ample bust, but the frills were just a little too girly for his tastes. "Next."
"Let's see... this one like cheerleader outfit, but without pom-poms."
"Hmm... it's nice, but do you really expect me to believe you'll just be cheering on the sidelines?"
"No, but why that matter? Costume still look good."
"Oh, brother," Akane said with a roll of her eyes.
"You have better idea?"
"Yeah, I do," she replied. "How about not bothering with a costume at all?"
"First you say I not cover up enough, and now you want me to fight nude?"
"What? No! I mean your regular clothing. I mean, let's face it, your pantsuits and cheongsams already sort of set you apart, and nobody would claim they get in your way when you're fighting. And as far as Nabiki's 'marketing' goes, this is 'exotic,' and that should be marketable, right?"
Nabiki sighed slowly before answering, "Given the right approach, it could work very well."
Shampoo looked disappointed to hear her closest ally capitulate so quickly. "But... Shampoo wanted a costume...."
Ranma decided to defuse the situation. "Look, we don't need to decide right now. Let's sleep on it, okay? I've got a lot on my mind."
"Oh... okay. See Ranma tomorrow, then?"
"Sure."
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(Posted Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:06)
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