Date: 03 Dec 2019 19:52 Title: Poltergeists
This guy definitely knows what he's doing and clearly this isn't his first rodeo.
Still, there is always tension when you sneak into hostile territory and you did a masterful job at making it palpable in this chapter.
This may be nothing new for Arnie, but the danger is still very real even if the soldiers he's up against are drugged up and underfed. In fact, perhaps that makes it even more dangerous.
Author's Response: As Teddog says in another review, he kinda revels in this covert ops bullshit. LOL! In his original canon, he was a bit of a weasel, so the job of sneaking around quite suits him. And yeah, the danger is real, and he definitely never forgets that, but he's at the point of skill and practice that he's pretty good at assessing that. Not perfect, he's only human, but pretty good. Thanks! ^_^
Date: 30 Nov 2019 23:04 Title: Poltergeists
I love this chapter so much. Let me count the ways.
You don't show much about Enrico and Arnie's time together (I don't think it's ever been explored deeply on screen, other than we know it happened) but the little peeks we get into that time are so vivid that I don't think we need to see more to get an idea of what it was like.
I adore the boys. They're jerks in the way teenagers can be, but charming nonetheless. You can't help but feel sad for their desperate situation and understand why Arnie, especially with his own garbage youth, would want to see something better for them. You know, aside from them reminding him of the twins.
"And Arnie was proud of her, because she had done what he could only pretend to: She'd adapted and accepted and then made something great of it."
Give it time, Arnie.
The section detailing the end of Prime Nance is a gut punch. In all of the right ways, natch, but it's a brief, emotionally intense section. I don't think this timeline's Nance has really come into her own like that. This part really drives home that I need to get off my butt and write about that transition in the 2080s.
What I love about the action scene is similar to what I mentioned about the MMI RR: it's really clear that Arnie lives for this covert ops bullshit. This isn't a cold action scene about logic dominating emotional, but one that delights in sticking it to corrupt authority. It makes me giddy to read.
Author's Response: Ah yes, the two rat bastards. LOL! I actually really adore AU!Enrico? And I think a lot of his meaner edge fell off by the time we met him in that AU, too. Dude was brave and badass and wore a coonskin hat with five tails-- wasn't it counting the five times he escaped certain death? And now we know at least part of HOW he did. Which was this other highly skilled rat bastard in his ancient history. XD
I really adore the boys too. I've got tentative plans for them which are not actually devastating. And yeah, you nailed the combination of why he'd want better for them.
Yeah, I totally did start crying when I wrote about Prime!Nance's last days. It was the gentlest kind of ending, but fricken-- still, you know?
LOL! For a guy who used to be so down on himself, he found two niches he really could inhabit like a boss: Printing and covert ops. Both of them suit his personality, though in different ways. So, he definitely has a good time doing it, and getting to stick it to a corrupt authority is the icing on the cake. Thank you! <333