>Is this an off shoot of the red vs. blue
>crew (normal people-- ok, more normal people with cool toys) that
>showed up in the most recent SOS story, or are you feeling inspired
>again to try something new?

Separate developments. The Repo Men and McCandless's people are basically setup for future developments, and they're operating within a pretty standard Symphony space-action story (though after I'm done with it, I'm going to try and move the Symphony away from space action and back to something closer to its roots for Symphony No. 5).

>>Inside, it's (in part)
>>Gryphon trying to sort himself out, a process that began with his
>>retreat to Ishiyama (which I haven't shown yet) and continuing in this
>>story after his return to New Avalon.
>
>Now that is something I've been looking forward to since we learned
>Kori was heading to Ishiyama and that poster came out. Neat: Gryphon
>character development!

It's been interesting playing around with him. For his Symphony appearances he was more or less inevitably pushed into the usual role that the parents in stories that star teenagers end up in - benevolent, competent, not on camera much. He had a few nice moments here and there (I've always been fond of the way his own relationship to Utena developed), but for the most part, in the Symphony, he's more prop than character.

Well, I've recently received a memo informing me that he's not content to fade into that role on a permanent basis, so, I'm trying something new with him, and his part in Locard's Exchange was one of the opening moves.

I don't want to go into it too deeply here, because I'd rather develop it on screen, but basically, he's spent the last 30 years - since he was cleared of the murder charges in 2380 - on a one-man crusade to save the galaxy, first with the rebuilding of the WDF, then with the establishment of the IPO, and subsequently the IP Space Force. He's had a lot of help, don't get me wrong, but he's been the go-to guy for all these efforts (with the notable exception of Babylon, which Zoner handled), and he's been raising a family and catching up with friends and everything else... he's been trying to be all things to all people, running faster and faster, pushing harder and harder.

Even a man like him can't keep that kind of thing up forever, and Kei's disappearance destroyed his momentum. At first he thought he'd go away for a while, regain his strength, and then jump back in and pick up where he left off, but he's come to the conclusion that he just can't do that any more. It's time to sit down, delegate, and make the focus of his own efforts smaller. He's put a lot of time and effort into gathering good people to work for him, and he's not doing them any favors either by trying to do it all himself.

One of the hoped-for effects of this slowdown is the creation of actual free time, which he hasn't really had in... well, years.

So that's kind of where he's coming from when he takes an amble through the tenth-floor crime lab on a quiet holiday morning and randomly invites a criminalist out for ice cream. :)

>I'll also admit I'm in the
>minority who thinks the Grissom/Sara tension is annoying.

Heh. I stumbled across a website focusing on that aspect of the fandom the other day, and I have to confess I was moderately baffled by it. Again, it must be an artifact of the half of the show's run I haven't seen yet; either that, or these people are reading a lot more than I am into what goes on between those two.

(shrug) I don't buy it myself.

>>And just let him keep busting down doors and slaughtering people until
>>he got there? Maybe that kind of law enforcement strategy flies on
>>Zardon, but in New Avalon we tend to try and stop killing
>>sprees, no matter who's getting killed.
>
>Nice...was that a quote for the Comet?

It could be. It actually reads more like something Brass would say, if suitably irritated by a reporter, even though if you asked him personally, he'd probably say Big Fire guys getting cacked was all good. :)

(It's 'Cornet', btw, like the horn. Can be hard to tell in some fonts, I know. :)

>>Heh. Sara noticed that too, but wasn't really in a position to follow
>>it up. It might not've been what Gris was trying to imply with his
>>wording, but it sure sounded like it to her.
>
>Talk about enigmatic wording...

Hmm, yeah, it is pretty awkward, isn't it. What I mean is, Grissom's wording in that scene gave Sara the impression that, by pointing out to Depew that she wasn't a warrior, Gris was implying that he himself was one - which struck Sara as a very weird thing for him to be saying. On the other hand, his phrasing was ambiguous enough that that might not have been what he was trying to say, and Sara knows him well enough by now to know that trying to get him to explain it after the fact would be an exercise in frustration.

As Sara's life already contains sufficient exercises in frustration, she let it drop. At least in public.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/