It didn't take long for him to find cold water, although usually it seemed to occur the other way around. He tipped the pail over his head, and felt the familiar transformation hit him... except there was something different this time. Looking down at herself, Ranma gasped and slapped her forehead for not realising it sooner. Of course the cursed form was different now! Given all the other crap he'd had to deal with of late, yeah that made perfect sense.
Shaking her head, Ranma raised an eyebrow as Usagi dragged Mamoru past her in the corridor. Interesting. Where were those two going in such a hurry now that they were done? Perhaps they were a bit panicked by the transformation, and wanted some help or advise to get them through the sudden change. Whatever the case, Ranma stalked after them, and stopped in her tracks at the sight of Ami bouncing up and down on Keitaro's lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. Well, it kind of was the most natural thing in the world, but not quite in the way Ranma had intended the thought.
"These readings are amazing, Usagi!" Ami said. "We think that we can... uh... who is that?"
Ranma stepped into the room, and each of Keitaro's girls shared a look before Naru said "Hello, Ranma. We were told about your curse, but... well, the transformation is truly astounding."
"Ah!" Mutsumi said with a snap of her fingers. "If we could analyse the curse as he's transforming, think of the things we could learn!"
"She's right!" Kanako said. "I can already think of at least five - no, twelve! Twelve different ways we can use this kind of information... in theory."
"And we might learn more when we read the data!" Mitsune concluded. The other girls excitedly continued to chatter away, discussing and sharing the possibilities that lay out before them.
"Hold it!" Ranma bellowed. "I'm no test subject! I'm not some freak of nature you can just stick under the microscope! I will not be talked about like I'm just a pile of facts and data, sitting there to be probed!"
A small and tender hand rested on her shoulder then, but somehow Ranma could feel that those hands, those soft gentle and slender hands could carry the world if they had to. There was power resting in the palm of that hand beyond Ranma's understanding, The anger at the others for demeaning her just seemed to drip out of her, and evaporate into the air turning into nothing but calm. "I understand how you feel, Ranma. But I'm quite certain that they did not mean to look upon you in such a manner. We are all in trying times, against a foe that we do not quite yet understand. To fight back, we must begin by learning what we can, and if this means we must learn more about ourselves then so be it. Please, Ranma, permit them to study your curse. The more we know, the better prepared we can be to fight back." Usagi blinked and shook her head then. "Wow. Where did that come from? Uh, you'll let them study you, right?"
"Sure," Ranma sighed. She made a good point, and he didn't have it in his heart to argue against something so insignificant. "What do you need to do?"
Ami gestured to the computer in front of her. "Point this at you, then change you back to a guy. Then back to a girl. We can take it from there."
"...I'll need some hot water, and some cold water."
Fri Oct 15 12:49:05 2010