Date: 21 May 2015 12:19 Title: Phillipa Green (March 17, 2763)
Hmm. Too much swagger can get a person killed, Rick, especially when dealing with folks like this. But then, I suppose you know that can be fixed with a time ship, too.
This is the premise behind Paradox, by the way. Icheb and Maren are sweet kids, and it's Levi's job to keep them that way. This much power can turn the sweetest kids into monsters, even if those monsters have the bst of intentions. You know what they say about the road to hell ...
Author's Response:
Yep, it's coming down to hubris now. Not too much longer before the ... (no spoilers) ....
Date: 20 May 2015 21:13 Title: Betty Tyler (October 24 – 28, 1929)
Ooh, I knew something like this would happen. How does Daniels undo it?
Author's Response:
All will be revealed .... ;)
I'm such a tease.
Date: 20 May 2015 21:05 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
Interesting premise. My biggest worry, what if he impregnates someone in the distant past? What effect will any person who is not supposed to exist have on the timeline?
Author's Response:
Ah, ye shall see! Thank you for reading and reviewing.
Date: 20 May 2015 18:27 Title: Betty Tyler (October 24 – 28, 1929)
Well, there's our first big consequence of this whole endeavor; a suicide as a result of someone standing someone up. Got to say, it fits in well with the time period (the Great Depression was an end to so many things). Nicely done capturing that era's unique style in such a short space.
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you - I see Betty as being a kind of Daisy Buchanan wannabe.
And there isn't always going to be a big, fat reset button available ....
Date: 20 May 2015 17:49 Title: Betty Tyler (October 24 – 28, 1929)
One wonders too if he had stayed at the desk and done his job might he have averted the Crash!? Goes to show the ripples that can be caused by the actions of others. Shows too in truth, that our own actions can cause ripples but we don't have the fortune of being able to go back and changing our mistakes.
Author's Response:
I play it as there being 3 kinds of ripples - otric is stuff that matters very little. His dalliances with Lucretia and Irene are definitely in this camp. Pariotric is changes that matter and that mere mortals can effect. Betty is here; Dana would be except she's already in an AU so it doesn't really matter (I don't get into whether the alternate timeline lasts after the prime timeline is fixed and everything jumps back on track. That's philosophy for another day). Megaotric are big-ass changes like the demise of the dinosaurs that people really can't practically change. And yes, they're all named for Otra. She's an eponym.
Date: 20 May 2015 17:46 Title: Irene of Castile (July 11, 1417)
Really nice attention to the details of the world(s) you play in. Given the historical settings, these are indeed the little things that would get the travellers noticed and possibly in trouble. 'Rick' is able to get around it but it shows too his experience and how he can inure himself to much of what he encounters. And yet, there's something about the fact he chooses to interact with someone of Irene's status and helps in his own way.
Date: 20 May 2015 16:26 Title: Betty Tyler (October 24 – 28, 1929)
Standing a girl up causes the timeline to switch! Bad boy! Man this temporal agency seem pretty lax on the interfering. Another great period piece with a Star Trek twist. Well done.
Author's Response:
Aw, thanks - and there are more consequences to come, but Betty is the turning point.
Date: 20 May 2015 13:45 Title: Betty Tyler (October 24 – 28, 1929)
Yes, Rick. These are real people's lives you're, ahem, fucking with.
Will he learn a lesson? Time will tell. Of course, Rick has far too much control over time, which is part of his problem in the first place.
Author's Response:
It is such an uneven situation, it's not funny. He can go back and fix Betty (in a way) or any of them. Sometimes he needs to, sometimes not (e. g. whatever happens to Dana in that iteration).
I have to figure that the situation with time travelers would always be fraught with inequality. If someone from 3101 arrived today, how would they act? They would know, we would not. Mash that up with someone who's depressed and looking for an easy outlet to make him feel better (a bandaid on a deeper wound), and you get someone like Rick.
Date: 20 May 2015 07:45 Title: Irene of Castile (July 11, 1417)
One way to cope with things, i suppose.
Author's Response:
It's a hard life in medieval times. The rich are bled when they're ill, and women die in childbirth because doctors go from autopsies to childbeds and don't wash their hands. The poor break their backs with labor and have little to no medical care at all. At least Irene is somewhat independent.
Thank you for reading.
Date: 20 May 2015 04:53 Title: Irene of Castile (July 11, 1417)
How sad to think about, but it's the reality of life in those days. Irene is fascinating and I may just check her story out if I can make the time for it. Meanwhile, Daniels gets a reminder of his privilege.
Author's Response:
Hell yeah - this is life in medieval times. You're lucky if you hit 30, and women of course really had it bad. I decided against him slipping her a few coins for her troubles, as they were there by mistake and he wouldn't have any money, but a woman in her circumstances most likely would be working that angle in order to better feed herself.
Date: 19 May 2015 21:50 Title: Irene of Castile (July 11, 1417)
Oh, Daniels. You're heart is only going to grow more weary as you continue on this path ... you portray his regret here very well and we see the first signs that his resolve about bedding women across time is taking a toll. I wonder what his breaking point will be?
Author's Response:
He's already seen too much, yet there will be more (because it's only Tuesday ....).
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Date: 19 May 2015 12:31 Title: Irene of Castile (July 11, 1417)
Nice use of period info to power the story, I'll say one thing for all of these little ficlets, they've given me some reading material for later to go back and catch up on the stories you've linked back to. Nice job!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you! Ads for the HGW series! :)
I love a little historical snack.
Date: 18 May 2015 15:47 Title: Dana MacKenzie (February 12, 2380)
Frick! Certainly feels punchy and short but sort of like those Saturday morning action reels. Straight into the thick of it and end on a cliffhanger. Again, Daniels is cold and aloof and a stranger. A stranger even to himself maybe. Certainly, a stranger to the normal conventions but then his life is beyond normal conventions. When you think in terms of failures being do overs to be attempted again then it is going to lend you a very skewed perspective on things.
Author's Response:
I figure he has got to be seriously messed up much of the time. He needs an anchor! But that might take a while ....
Date: 18 May 2015 15:44 Title: Dana MacKenzie (February 12, 2380)
Yesh. Temporal jumps aren't good for anyone's love life, especially someone who regularly sees what Daniels does. Here he gets on with Dana (at least once? I feel like he implied a few more times with the number of attempts he'd made before), and then leaves her to try again.
Daniels, at least leave a number, yeah?
Author's Response:
Yeah, he does hook up with her otherwise - I'm currently settling this in my head but he does meet her in a few iterations, sometimes an engagement is broken off or the like when they hook up.
Date: 18 May 2015 12:35 Title: Dana MacKenzie (February 12, 2380)
Damn, Daniels, you really did step in it. Poor Dana!
Here's hoping that the fifth time will be the charm.
Author's Response:
I'm writing it in my miniscule free time - he gets to thirteen tries (they won't be in the ficlets) before finally getting her back to where she's supposed to be.
Date: 18 May 2015 12:22 Title: Dana MacKenzie (February 12, 2380)
Daniels is pretty cold at times, isn't he? Quite James Bond: kiss the girl and then abandon her to crash on a planet. I loved the idea of the weapon to open a portal to the mirror and the way you described the change of scenery. Interested to see where this goes next!
Author's Response:
Aw, thanks! Dana will be okay (I think). He is definitely meant to be like Bond. I'm glad you picked up on that.
Date: 17 May 2015 21:55 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
Oh Daniels run the danger of becoming a stranger to himself too at this rate. I wonder if that is why he and Archer butted heads so much but seemed to make a connection. Both men striving to be something but all too often having to be something else in order to get the job necessary done. But he cold aloof stoic impartiality to all things is bound to cause him more pain in the end. I wonder if he can/will learn to not be so aloof, so detached, to allow a connection to someone or will he allow his mission and the protection of the timeline to override everything.
Author's Response:
The timeline is a tyrant, and he must obey. But ye shall see - thank you for reading and reviewing!
PS Yes, this is why there is a story on the Archive (I believe it's a few years old) called He Stays a Stranger. But that's not a spoiler, I swear.
Date: 17 May 2015 19:48 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
I have the hardest time being sympathetic with him; I wonder if it's because his narrative comes across as so detached and flat, if this is some kind of coping mechanism wherein he distances himself. Still, it's an interesting start!
Author's Response:
He is very detached - he kind of has to be. He'll be gone in a day or an hour, and off to something else. I think the life of a professional time traveling agent would, for the most part, be a kind of hell.
Date: 17 May 2015 15:59 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
Ah, Daniels -- bedding women across time to deal with the traumas of working his particular job. He's got a hell of a mental makeup, but I'm hoping he finds peace in this series ... or, perhaps, he gets to a place where he no longer HAS to go to these lengths. Well done, looking forward to more.
Author's Response:
Aw, thanks - sketches in time - that's what I'm going for.
Date: 17 May 2015 14:02 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
Daniels, you sly dog, you. Interesting to see Calavicci all but give him her blessing, given her position and the stakes, but I guess they can go back and fix anything he breaks if it comes to that. Somehow I do believe you are going to have me liking this character by the end of the week.
Author's Response:
I hope so. Calavicci is very casual in her management style, and the prime timeline is loaded with nasty moments (such as the Enola Gay). Hence she's giving him a little license if he doesn't really screw things up. But yeah, of course, there's a reset button if needed. Thank you for reading.
[Report This]Date: 17 May 2015 13:29 Title: Lucretia Crossman (November 13, 1699)
Ok... This looks like its going to be on par with your usual off the wall goodness! :) Who else is Daniels going to "encounter" on his travels? I wonder... Good stuff!
Author's Response:
Oh, thank you! There will be more ... ;)