Date: 26 May 2015 20:59 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
Rick's cutting it kind of close, there, isn't he? He's risking becoming a fossil himself, which would really wreak havoc on the timeline.
Author's Response:
This one is definitely close - and it also gives him a chance to see what really happens afterwards. Octavia's not long for the world, and neither are any of the others.
Date: 25 May 2015 13:12 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
And the lesson is learned - he can't interfere. It almost harks back to Kirk and Edith Keeler; she had to die.
Author's Response:
Yep. I run the time travel part of my universe as there being acceptable levels of interference before it all goes belly up. Edith Keeler is another instance where interference will tea things too much.
Date: 23 May 2015 16:00 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
Man. Rick is looking at 18 year-olds now and thinking, "I'd like some of that." I think he has hit an all time low here. He didn't do anything, but to see him treat someone he didn't even know like a thing to be used was really quite disconcerting. He needs help.
Author's Response:
Welcome to rock bottom.
Date: 23 May 2015 12:12 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
He gets colder and more aloof by the instalment. And yet, each time he develops some sort of attachment or want with a woman of the time. It expresses some sort of need or want on his part. But throughout he remains this enigma and sort of stranger to himself and the reader for all of the surface reading of his cadish and at a distance personna.
Author's Response:
Bingo. Forced to be the unknowable, he chameleons his way right into that role, almost no matter what he does.
Date: 23 May 2015 12:07 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
Nice call-back to Doctor Who here, still waiting for them to explain why the new Doctor chose Roman-Capaldi's face! :) Either way, an interesting use of the Pompeii disaster for your Rick journey this time round, with some true to history tidbits added in as usual to give it a realistic tone. These have been lots of fun!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you. I adore this time period and need to find a way to write of it again.
Date: 22 May 2015 18:48 Title: Octavia Caecilia of Pompeii (August 20 – 24, AD 79)
Huh, I was just reading about Pompeii earlier.
Cutting it close there, Rick. You might have watched from a bit further away for the actual eruption! Would be interesting if he became a fossil himself.
The way he looked at (and away from) Octavia was enough to make my stomach turn. Eighteen or so? Convenient assumption, Rick, but likely false, since in that day and age, she'd probably have been married by then, especially if she was so pretty. But you know, whatever lets you off the hook mentally for being a grown-ass man planning to use a child for self-gratification ... and then leave her there to burn alive.
I thought you were going to have me liking him by the end of the week, but with one entry to go, I actually want to kick his ass.
Great writing, though.
Author's Response:
Possibly a bit of both. And yes, she would likely be closer to 16 or even 14.
He has stem cell growth accelerator. He's hard to kill (it restores his cells from injury or disease at a rapid rate. But it hurts. A lot. All the pain, in a fraction of the time. But at least you survive such things). But yeah, they cut it too close. Seeing her at what are probably her last moments, that affects even our intrepid traveler.