10 Oct 2013

Lethal Ladies #9 - Commentary

Yes, this is the real commentary, for the real chapter 9 last week.  You should go read it before continuing.

Elena and Rose are still in their fox-and-hare game, though both are deadly serious.  Rose is armed and the carabinieri, the Italian military police, are now aware that something is up.  This adds pressure to the Soviet agent and gives Rose a some breathing space.  The entire point of espionage is to keep things quiet, 007 not withstanding.  A police presence will make for awkward questions.  Rose just ditches her "borrowed" pistol, but kept the silencer.  Elena has to dismantle her blockades.

The Metro station does exist, and is on Via Ostiense.  The commentary for chapter 8 went into the directions more, but all the streets were a retrofit based on the action, starting with the station.  At the time of writing, I left a placeholder to be filled in later.  It was NaNoWriMo; slowing to find information took away from the scene and flow of writing.  To add to the fun, I was helping with putting on AC Cubed, which would take away at least three days of productivity*.

Rose and Elena finally get to meet in the flashback.  The big build up.  Hopefully, the pay off worked, though feel free to comment below with your thoughts.  The scene allowed me to contrast the women; Rose with her desparate bluff and Elena with her calm negotiation.  The idea was to sow the groundwork for the partnership seen at the beginning of the story in the then-current date.  Later stories would show other flashbacks, slowly building up a story on its own where Rose and Elena would trade victories and build respect for each other.  Rose's bluff does get called; even at 11pm, there are people using the Metro, though not many.  Rose turns the table back on Elena.  Tossing the silencer to the KGB agent was Rose's last distraction; she was counting on Elena still believing in the possibility of an explosive device.

Tomorrow, back to the full team of Ladies.
Saturday, Lost in Translation looks at The Amazing Spider-Man.
Coming soon, still more NaNoWriMo prep work, an anniversary post, and test flight of the new Shadowrun edition.


* In the end, it was five days; three of actual convention plus two days to recover.  More details once the relevant chapters appear.

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