Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ragnarock ❯ A Night at Makoto's ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Metroanime 
another refugee finds refuge, and two people meet.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Psychological / Post-apocalyptic / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.27.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
another refugee finds refuge, and two people meet.
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Psychological / Post-apocalyptic / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 12.27.2002 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Completed
Ragnarock 4
a post apocalyptic alt-universe Ranma tale by Gregg Sharp.
1/11/1992: Impact. 1/23/1992: Lunar Impact
Nabiki's Tale: 1/12/1991 through 1/11/1992 (Impact) through 1/23/1992.
Ranma's Journey: 1/12/1992 through 1/26/1992
Akane's Act: 1/15/1992 through 3/28/1992
A Night at Motoko's: 3/15/1992
Ranma 1/2 cast members by R.Takahashi. Crossover characters appear in brief roles, but this chapter continues to deal with the Ranma cast primarily.
-----------------
Kasumi Tendo sighed and washed the surface of the bar area off as the silence of the night continued to grow.
"Makoto's B&B" hearkened back to the old European Inn/Tavern concept seen in RPGs - revived for the period in which survivors found themselves needing a place to flop. Local work-chits had been developed, and these were traded in for necessary supplies or an evening on the town. A common area provided cots - newly arrived survivors got the first night free.
Everyone had to pull together, there was no room for slacking or someone to sit back and play boss.
Kasumi worked the kitchens, among other things. It was long and difficult but rewarding in its own way.
Seeing someone stagger up to the bar, she immediately assessed them. Survivors often came in a mass from the boat but the occasional one wandered in from parts unknown.
"Just found the Center?" Kasumi asked quietly.
"Yeah, place is a lot better off than the last camp I saw," came the gruff answer.
"We try," admitted Kasumi, who now placed female and teenage in the appropriate boxes for this stranger. "We pull together and try to make it work out. Have you been to the Survivor Board yet?"
"Not yet," said the girl. "Needed some water if I don't have to pay."
Kasumi nodded and put a glass on the counter. "The well is checked daily though they boil the water anyway. There are public showers. If you take a right and go down past the red tent, it's near the boilers. Should be fairly empty this time of night."
The girl nodded.
"Since you're newly in, do you want something to eat? On the house. You can repay it by telling your story." Kasumi kept a little tape recorder nearby. Everyone entering the town was scrutinized. It would not do to have career criminals or a plague bearer to enter their community.
The girl seemed to think for a moment before shrugging apparently to herself. "Good enough. Mind if I ask your name?"
"Kasumi Tendo, I'm originally from Furinkan in the Nerima section of Tokyo. Currently short order cook for Makoto's on the night shift. We tend to work different jobs from week to week so I'm not quite sure where I'll be next week."
The girl nodded. "Kuonji. Ukyo. It usually this dead here at this time of night?"
Kasumi checked her watch. "10:00pm? No, normally it's not this crowded."
Ukyo looked over the "crowd" - four people scattered around the room. Two were reading, one was playing solitaire, and another was nursing a beer and apparently planning on making it last all night. "Last center I was in there was a group of rowdies keeping the place going at all hours."
"If you mean the bandits," said Kasumi, "after some consideration it was decided to go with an old traditional solution to troublemakers. It was favored during the Edo period, I'm told."
"Seperate their head from their body, eh? Works for me." Ukyo said. "Heard about a few places that tried to be civilized about things like that, do the fair trial thing and prison sentence. Problem is that the people still working have to support 'em and a lot of places are too tight with resources to concern themselves much with the bad apples."
Kasumi let out a deep breath, feeling a lot older than the cheerful housewifely girl she'd been a few months ago. "Yes. We're at least holding on. Better than some. Worse than others."
Ukyo drank deep of the water, clearly relishing it. "Come morning I'll probably hire on. I'm an okonomiyaki chef. Maybe the best."
"I hope you can work with other dishes, Kuonji-san, sometimes the supplies are a bit strained."
"Still better than some," said Ukyo. "I was at Mount Fuji, operating a portable grill, when it hit."
"Well, at least you were above the wave crest," offered Kasumi.
Ukyo got that look in her eyes. It was one that Kasumi was well acquainted with. Many of the survivors had a similar look whenever they remembered the events of January 11th. It had only been two months and four days, but for most people who had gone through it - it seemed to have happened long ago. "Not completely. I wasn't on the top of Fuji-san. It was pretty crowded up and down the main trail. So many..."
Kasumi placed a bowl of ramen before the chef. "Yes. We know."
Ukyo ate in silence for a few minutes, finally pushing it away when there wasn't enough broth to dampen the sides of the bowl. "There was a time the only thing I ate was okonomiyaki. Damn that seems a long time ago."
Kasumi nodded and began cleaning glasses.
"My story, eh? Well, I'm Ukyo Kuonji from down in the Kansai area originally. Osaka mainly, though Kobe and Wakayama as well. Travelled while operating a portable grill perfecting my family's art of okonomiyaki. Happened to be up in Tokyo looking for a couple of guys when the word came up about the meteor. Went to Fujii cause I figured the crowds there'd have to eat, right?"
Kasumi nodded again and began cleaning the newcomer's plate. "These two people you were looking for?"
"Matter of family and personal honor," answered Ukyo carefully. "Don't worry. If they're here I understand the refugee camp rules - take it outside if you're gonna kill."
Kasumi nodded. There had to be safety valves in place to keep the violence down with the amount of stress in everyday life.
"Anyway, I practiced the family style of martial arts as well as cooking, hoping to get a chance to avenge myself and reclaim my honor. Then there was that bit on Fujii." Ukyo nodded as a glass of sake was placed in front of her and sipped at it before continuing. "The meteor hitting would'a been nothing. When the damn thing ripped open the sea floor and the volcanoes started going off? The tsunami wave was over 2000 feet tall when it hit the slopes. There are nights I can still hear the screams from the people downslope."
Kasumi continued to clean, having seen these reactions before. Best to let them find their words and release the experience somewhat by talking about it. It helped, not much perhaps, but every little bit was a positive step.
"At that point I lost the grill. Kept my profits, not that the money has much value right now." Ukyo shuddered. "At that point it was all a howling mob as people tried to claw their way up further. The waters began receeding eventually, of course, but the lower trails were gone. The inns and restaurants and temples and sporting good shops down at the base - gone. Some buildings remained behind, not intact but they fared a lot better than the more traditionally made buildings. After that I kinda drifted along with another group of survivors. We got chased out when people started getting sick. Plague. Nasty business."
Kasumi nodded. With pharmaceutical supplies often ruined and the lack of the infrastructure and trade routes to restock supplies, added to the decaying bodies still washing up on shores, the fear of plague was as bad as the potential disease.
"Ended up in four more camps, lost track of the other survivors. Just wandered. Still lookin' for those two, though now it's more just some direction to take than trying to right the old wrong. Somehow it's kinda comforting to keep to something from before the Fall." Ukyo knocked back the last few droplets of her drink. "So what's *your* story?"
"I was in Nerima, which is mainly reclaimed swampland, in Tokyo. Three story buildings are rare in that area," said Kasumi quietly. "Most buildings were two stories and most homes were a mix of traditional and modern."
"Washed away and underwater now, eh?" Ukyo nodded. "Osaka's like that too. Couple'a buildings survived and are jutting out of the water. That's about it though."
Kasumi nodded. "I and one of my sisters survived. We're both here. A third sister is missing. We were picked up on the Myou No Maru."
"That ship as weird as I heard?" Ukyo was curious. "I've heard stories, sugar."
"Not nearly that bad," said Kasumi. "And there are strange enough people that have migrated here. You'll meet them if you stay on."
Ukyo thought for a few long minutes. "Everyone's a little more bizarre than when we started. Normal kind of fell by the wayside when everything fell apart. Not the first time I've wondered if all the weirdness was always there, but things got shaken up and its just more noticeable now."
Kasumi smiled a little at that. "I have heard that said so many times, and put so many ways. Perhaps it is that with things 'shaken up' - the bubbles have risen to the surface."
"Yeah," agreed Ukyo, turning somber the next moment. "Or just maybe - it's that those of us with a little edge are the ones who survived. Not everyone trained as long or as hard in the martial arts as I did, but those that came close seem to have survived a bit better."
"I've heard that too, but I have never been skilled in the martial arts," said Kasumi.
"Well, I've got to be going. Have my interview tomorrow then. Take care, barkeep." Ukyo stood and made her way to the door.
Kasumi nodded and checked the hidden crossbow where a simple gesture on her part would have sent the bolt into her customer. "I think she'll fit in just fine."
==========
end transcript.
a post apocalyptic alt-universe Ranma tale by Gregg Sharp.
1/11/1992: Impact. 1/23/1992: Lunar Impact
Nabiki's Tale: 1/12/1991 through 1/11/1992 (Impact) through 1/23/1992.
Ranma's Journey: 1/12/1992 through 1/26/1992
Akane's Act: 1/15/1992 through 3/28/1992
A Night at Motoko's: 3/15/1992
Ranma 1/2 cast members by R.Takahashi. Crossover characters appear in brief roles, but this chapter continues to deal with the Ranma cast primarily.
-----------------
Kasumi Tendo sighed and washed the surface of the bar area off as the silence of the night continued to grow.
"Makoto's B&B" hearkened back to the old European Inn/Tavern concept seen in RPGs - revived for the period in which survivors found themselves needing a place to flop. Local work-chits had been developed, and these were traded in for necessary supplies or an evening on the town. A common area provided cots - newly arrived survivors got the first night free.
Everyone had to pull together, there was no room for slacking or someone to sit back and play boss.
Kasumi worked the kitchens, among other things. It was long and difficult but rewarding in its own way.
Seeing someone stagger up to the bar, she immediately assessed them. Survivors often came in a mass from the boat but the occasional one wandered in from parts unknown.
"Just found the Center?" Kasumi asked quietly.
"Yeah, place is a lot better off than the last camp I saw," came the gruff answer.
"We try," admitted Kasumi, who now placed female and teenage in the appropriate boxes for this stranger. "We pull together and try to make it work out. Have you been to the Survivor Board yet?"
"Not yet," said the girl. "Needed some water if I don't have to pay."
Kasumi nodded and put a glass on the counter. "The well is checked daily though they boil the water anyway. There are public showers. If you take a right and go down past the red tent, it's near the boilers. Should be fairly empty this time of night."
The girl nodded.
"Since you're newly in, do you want something to eat? On the house. You can repay it by telling your story." Kasumi kept a little tape recorder nearby. Everyone entering the town was scrutinized. It would not do to have career criminals or a plague bearer to enter their community.
The girl seemed to think for a moment before shrugging apparently to herself. "Good enough. Mind if I ask your name?"
"Kasumi Tendo, I'm originally from Furinkan in the Nerima section of Tokyo. Currently short order cook for Makoto's on the night shift. We tend to work different jobs from week to week so I'm not quite sure where I'll be next week."
The girl nodded. "Kuonji. Ukyo. It usually this dead here at this time of night?"
Kasumi checked her watch. "10:00pm? No, normally it's not this crowded."
Ukyo looked over the "crowd" - four people scattered around the room. Two were reading, one was playing solitaire, and another was nursing a beer and apparently planning on making it last all night. "Last center I was in there was a group of rowdies keeping the place going at all hours."
"If you mean the bandits," said Kasumi, "after some consideration it was decided to go with an old traditional solution to troublemakers. It was favored during the Edo period, I'm told."
"Seperate their head from their body, eh? Works for me." Ukyo said. "Heard about a few places that tried to be civilized about things like that, do the fair trial thing and prison sentence. Problem is that the people still working have to support 'em and a lot of places are too tight with resources to concern themselves much with the bad apples."
Kasumi let out a deep breath, feeling a lot older than the cheerful housewifely girl she'd been a few months ago. "Yes. We're at least holding on. Better than some. Worse than others."
Ukyo drank deep of the water, clearly relishing it. "Come morning I'll probably hire on. I'm an okonomiyaki chef. Maybe the best."
"I hope you can work with other dishes, Kuonji-san, sometimes the supplies are a bit strained."
"Still better than some," said Ukyo. "I was at Mount Fuji, operating a portable grill, when it hit."
"Well, at least you were above the wave crest," offered Kasumi.
Ukyo got that look in her eyes. It was one that Kasumi was well acquainted with. Many of the survivors had a similar look whenever they remembered the events of January 11th. It had only been two months and four days, but for most people who had gone through it - it seemed to have happened long ago. "Not completely. I wasn't on the top of Fuji-san. It was pretty crowded up and down the main trail. So many..."
Kasumi placed a bowl of ramen before the chef. "Yes. We know."
Ukyo ate in silence for a few minutes, finally pushing it away when there wasn't enough broth to dampen the sides of the bowl. "There was a time the only thing I ate was okonomiyaki. Damn that seems a long time ago."
Kasumi nodded and began cleaning glasses.
"My story, eh? Well, I'm Ukyo Kuonji from down in the Kansai area originally. Osaka mainly, though Kobe and Wakayama as well. Travelled while operating a portable grill perfecting my family's art of okonomiyaki. Happened to be up in Tokyo looking for a couple of guys when the word came up about the meteor. Went to Fujii cause I figured the crowds there'd have to eat, right?"
Kasumi nodded again and began cleaning the newcomer's plate. "These two people you were looking for?"
"Matter of family and personal honor," answered Ukyo carefully. "Don't worry. If they're here I understand the refugee camp rules - take it outside if you're gonna kill."
Kasumi nodded. There had to be safety valves in place to keep the violence down with the amount of stress in everyday life.
"Anyway, I practiced the family style of martial arts as well as cooking, hoping to get a chance to avenge myself and reclaim my honor. Then there was that bit on Fujii." Ukyo nodded as a glass of sake was placed in front of her and sipped at it before continuing. "The meteor hitting would'a been nothing. When the damn thing ripped open the sea floor and the volcanoes started going off? The tsunami wave was over 2000 feet tall when it hit the slopes. There are nights I can still hear the screams from the people downslope."
Kasumi continued to clean, having seen these reactions before. Best to let them find their words and release the experience somewhat by talking about it. It helped, not much perhaps, but every little bit was a positive step.
"At that point I lost the grill. Kept my profits, not that the money has much value right now." Ukyo shuddered. "At that point it was all a howling mob as people tried to claw their way up further. The waters began receeding eventually, of course, but the lower trails were gone. The inns and restaurants and temples and sporting good shops down at the base - gone. Some buildings remained behind, not intact but they fared a lot better than the more traditionally made buildings. After that I kinda drifted along with another group of survivors. We got chased out when people started getting sick. Plague. Nasty business."
Kasumi nodded. With pharmaceutical supplies often ruined and the lack of the infrastructure and trade routes to restock supplies, added to the decaying bodies still washing up on shores, the fear of plague was as bad as the potential disease.
"Ended up in four more camps, lost track of the other survivors. Just wandered. Still lookin' for those two, though now it's more just some direction to take than trying to right the old wrong. Somehow it's kinda comforting to keep to something from before the Fall." Ukyo knocked back the last few droplets of her drink. "So what's *your* story?"
"I was in Nerima, which is mainly reclaimed swampland, in Tokyo. Three story buildings are rare in that area," said Kasumi quietly. "Most buildings were two stories and most homes were a mix of traditional and modern."
"Washed away and underwater now, eh?" Ukyo nodded. "Osaka's like that too. Couple'a buildings survived and are jutting out of the water. That's about it though."
Kasumi nodded. "I and one of my sisters survived. We're both here. A third sister is missing. We were picked up on the Myou No Maru."
"That ship as weird as I heard?" Ukyo was curious. "I've heard stories, sugar."
"Not nearly that bad," said Kasumi. "And there are strange enough people that have migrated here. You'll meet them if you stay on."
Ukyo thought for a few long minutes. "Everyone's a little more bizarre than when we started. Normal kind of fell by the wayside when everything fell apart. Not the first time I've wondered if all the weirdness was always there, but things got shaken up and its just more noticeable now."
Kasumi smiled a little at that. "I have heard that said so many times, and put so many ways. Perhaps it is that with things 'shaken up' - the bubbles have risen to the surface."
"Yeah," agreed Ukyo, turning somber the next moment. "Or just maybe - it's that those of us with a little edge are the ones who survived. Not everyone trained as long or as hard in the martial arts as I did, but those that came close seem to have survived a bit better."
"I've heard that too, but I have never been skilled in the martial arts," said Kasumi.
"Well, I've got to be going. Have my interview tomorrow then. Take care, barkeep." Ukyo stood and made her way to the door.
Kasumi nodded and checked the hidden crossbow where a simple gesture on her part would have sent the bolt into her customer. "I think she'll fit in just fine."
==========
end transcript.