Azunth Wrote:I'll have to second Skysaber. Before he spirals out of control, his stories are pretty good and fun to read.Speaking of Skysaber, he recently added a fourth chapter to Asrild's Restaurant, one of his Ranma 1/2 fics from 2003, and the main character's casual acts of sociopathy have started: (www.fanfiction.net/s/1229331/4/Astrilds_Restaurant).
In a previous chapter, Ranma used his amazing magical powers to build a huge wall around his property. In this chapter, the local building inspector showed up and ordered the wall to be removed since no building permit was ever filed. Ranma responded by Jedi Mind Tricking the man into ignoring the current lack of a permit, doing all of the necessary paperwork himself while postdating it to before the wall was built and quitting a bunch of distasteful but perfectly legal personal habits (drinking and smoking). The word "smugly" is applied to describe Ranma while he brainwashes the man.
Furthermore, when he is questioned as to who'd been at the door, Ranma responds: "A cheap and small man who just had a miraculous change of heart, that's all. He'll smooth over a few bureaucratic tangles for us."
That's right, a government inspector trying to do his job of protecting people by ensuring that new construction meets local building codes is met by a response that boils down to: @#!% you! You're stupid and wrong to try to interfere with my property and that gives me the right to mentally rape you in order to make my life easier!
Having talked on several occasions with officials from my local code enforcement agency, I know that although building regulation are annoying, they are there for a reason. What if the ground beneath that wall is unstable? It could collapse onto a pedestrian. When he had his magic tools build the wall, were they checking to make sure they didn't damage any utility lines? What if the wall interferes with proper drainage? The next heavy rain could cause a flood either on Ranma's property or on the property of a neighbor, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage. Since the wall wasn't installed by a licensed contractor working to engineer approved blueprints, insurance will not cover any damage. If anything ever goes wrong with that wall and the investigation reveals that the inspector illegally postdated paperwork for a structure that never met the building code, the poor brainwashed guy is going to lose his job and may even wind up the victim of a lawsuit since everyone will assumed that he'd been bribed to do those things.
--End Rant--
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV