Date: 09 Dec 2013 22:20 Title: Chapter 1
I'm still bitter that they killed Trip. I like the way T'Pol reacts here. She was always on the volatile side for a Vulcan, and it makes sense that she would have a meltdown about her true love's death.
I don't know much about this alternate universe you've created, but it sounds like you put them through quite a lot.
Author's Response:
I suppose I torture 'em almost as much as trekfan does.
I figure T'Pol had to react in some fashion or another. She was on the volatile side, as you point out, plus she's an ex-addict. And his death is pretty damned senseless. And so for her, the closet full of clothes and the drawers and the stuff on the desk and the shelves is just a bitter reminder that he's gone and he's never, ever coming back, and the reason for it is, at bottom, a pretty empty one.
Thank you for reading.
Date: 07 Aug 2013 00:49 Title: Chapter 1
Wow. A very touching portrait of grief, and what gets left behind. T'Pol's reaction really struck me. And so did Hoshi's. And the not-quite-parallel of them trying to deal with Tripp's death, and the aftermath of it. Nicely done.
Author's Response:
I thank you.
I wrote this in memory of a recently-departed friend. I am (kind of) Hoshi in this scenario, e. g. not the lover, not the big carer but, rather, the one who looks and sees an absence, and a loss of potential, and that vacancy hurts.
Date: 25 Apr 2013 17:58 Title: Chapter 1
I haven't watched all the seasons of Enterprise yet, but I knew about Tripp's death, and this just kills me. I found T'Pol's breakdown to be very much in character, except maybe for the part where she allows a human to see it happen. Still, her emotions were so authentic. I also thought Hoshi was really well written and very much in character. And your reflections on Tripp made him present and real, and also very strongly characterized. Very well done!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you so much!
The breakdown in front of Dawson is absolutely not planned by T'Pol. I wanted to amp up the outsider feelings that both he (as the replacement for Hayes) and she would of course have.
Date: 09 Apr 2013 00:46 Title: Chapter 1
No, my thanks to you jespah. It was great to read this story. And I know that it is very hard to write something of this nature especially if it hits home in a personal way. Truthfully, it hits home hard to read even a piece like this. But I must say it is a wonderful honour for the real Tripp for you to write this and I commend you on that and on the writing.
As always in reading your stoires, but worth the repeating, is the fact that the characters and their relationships come central to the business of the storytelling. Well done.
Author's Response:
Aw, shucks. Thank you.
Date: 06 Apr 2013 16:17 Title: Chapter 1
That was really, really well done, jespah. As you know, I'm only peripherally familiar with ENT, but I could easily feel and identify with the sense of loss the main characters of the NX-01 were experiencing. I'd known about T'Pol's connection to Tripp, but not Hoshi's, so the background you gave on that definitely helped me to identify with her feelings.
I like so much that the story came down to a music file. Music has always played a big part in my life, and has greatly influenced or solely inspired some of my writing.
I agree with MF - I would like to have seen a little more of T'Pol's reaction as it seemed to me she had the deeper, more intimate connection to Tripp. I know getting a Vulcan to express what they are feeling can be difficult, and while I didn't have a problem at all with T'Pol losing control in that situation, I think her true feelings warranted further exploration. Perhaps a meditation session later or a personal log entry where we as the reader were privy to her innermost thoughts and feeling would have been a way for us to get inside her head. Dunno, but it usually works for me when I'm trying to explore Spock's thoughts and feelings on a particularly emotional matter...
All in all, a nice tribute to Tripp - both of them. And sorry for your loss. You've mentioned before that Tripp was someone from your past, but that doesn't diminish the connection you had to him, or the fact that he had an important part in your life...I hope this proved healing for you in some small way.
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you! This was most unexpected, and welcome.
Yeah ... T'Pol. One of these days I will get her right.
The Tripp/Hoshi thing is just my own fanon, but in TATV it's mentioned that Tripp and T'Pol had not been together for years by the end of his life. I figured someone was in there, and then the circumstances were odd and artificial, and a bit forced. So Hoshi isn't as affected, but it's still weird for her. In this story, my feelings parallel hers. When she refers to lost potential, that's me talking.
I wanted it to be really not so profound music, too. The lyrics are somewhat evocative, but they're not super-poetic, and that's somewhat how I see Tucker. Not too highbrow, so he would goof around and wear a leisure suit ironically and ask a pretty girl to dance when his heart was broken, in order to take away some of the sting.
And, yes, it did help to write about this. Write what you know, they say.
Date: 06 Apr 2013 00:44 Title: Chapter 1
A Miranda Fave Read and Review Challenge response (Challenge #1)
“It’s funny, but it’s these kinds of little, trivial things that really hit you in the gut. Those are the things that make you remember somebody. That make you miss them.”
Well that's a truth right there jespah. A brave choice to write this piece which feels in a way like a little bookend to the series finale reading it in the abtract as I am from your series. I say brave because of course the topic matter is a difficult one to handle effectively and portray in a convincing manner.
To be honest, I wasn't sure where we were headed with the Donna Summers song, it wasn't an obvious choice, but as the story progressed and it linked back to the NX-2 meeting it then began clicking into place, especially once Hoshi played the music files.
Like the captain, I had expected Hoshi and T'Pol to work together on this. Strangely, I didn't recall them interacting as much in the series either so it would have been neat to have seen it. But of course, it would not have been fitting in-character actions given their place in life. It turned out an interesting way to do things though and Hoshi with Mayweather was a good pairing as they were often a cited fan favourite shipping pair. To see them interact as friends and discuss love lives etc was refreshing and shows how your series does indeed move on from the series and from being mere fan service to the orginal and forging its own path.
I admit to being disappointed by the T'Pol aspect - only because it was shorter than I had hoped and maybe played out with a character I was familiar with would have had more impact. Still it was great to see you explore her emotions and feelings given her Vulcan ideology and her connection to Tripp.
And that was quite a party list there too - just have to say. I like how you nailed down some of Tripp's aspects with the contents of the wardrobe, etc. My only little niggle in terms of detail would be Hoshi not knowing the music file extension given she's supposed to be quite a whiz in such areas, it took me out of it a little and might have worked as easily with Mayweather asking what the extension was and Hoshi explaining.
As always, you put character relationships front and centre and always in your stories they appear to be fluid, always in motion, changing and developing. Even when at their core they perhaps don't change as much as one might perceive. Much like real life.
Author's Response:
Thank you for your review!
Looking at it again, I agree with you re the file extension - kinda needed Masterson to offer up some exposition so that was a little awkward (and I probably could have done without Masterson - looking at it I am now thinking there were too many OCs thrown in there - Bud and José were enough). And T'Pol has always been tough for me to write. It could have been fleshed out more, I agree, and her awkwardness with Bud, who she doesn't really know at all, and she's suddenly very, very vulnerable.
I came to this from a position of my own unexpected reactions to a death - of the guy who is the reason why I misspell Trip in the first place - this one was a III and I called him Tripp or Tripper.
All I want is for the characters to be believable. Thank you again.