Date: 12 Nov 2009 03:01 Title: Part II: The Lady Grey - Chapter 4
I just realized how ironic that Scotty gets his nickname of Wolf from someone who doesn't seem to mean it all that kindly--and yet he adopts it and makes it his own. That actually seems very fitting, with what I now know about Scotty.
And I also just went back and read the passage in the RR where you mention that Barrett and Berat would likely get along well--and there's a comment in this chapter that clinches it. You say that when Barrett's around, substantive conversation of some sort is almost always expected. That's *definitely* Berat. They're both engineers, but they have that "N"-theoretical thing going on all the time, and I suspect they both have that same need to engage people, and deeply. I can now see where, just like Barrett (damn, I can't type the correct name--only the accent and last syllable sound different!) gave Scotty that puzzler about the nature of the wind, that to him felt like some kind of Zen koan, where what Berat said about the difference between having something in your memory and ACTIVELY remembering it when you need it would've felt the same way to him.
It is SO neat now to see how these past experiences inform the reactions you portray in Scotty in the Round Robin environment!! :-)
Author's Response: It was fun extrapolating what the twenty-nine year old Scott would be like, versus the one who's eight years younger here. I haven't filled in some things yet, so there was some thought that had to go into it, re: the Churchill and that. But I figured that Barrett's moral would have stuck with him because it wasn't, ultimately, what he thought it must be about and Barrett didn't explain it, but allowed him to come to the conclusion. Just put the bait out there and then waited to see if it would be taken, chewed and eventually understood.
Yes, I do think the Commander and your Gul woulda gotten along well. XD