Ahh... My wife's been watching The Help a lot, and I didn't realize that it was such an overall regionally based form of address, so thanks for clarifying

The nature of Stark's industry, and the fact that he chose to stay with it as long as he did, also suggests a non-pacifistic mindset.

Of course IRL we have had no need to invent a different term.

Thanks...that was as I intended.

I'll tell a story from IRL I've already told cmdrscarlet, that also influenced my choices as to how Alyosha would think and react. Once, I was driving through Tennessee and I saw what was easily one of the most inappropriate billboards I had ever seen (no TOS violations involved, though). It was an advertisement for the Shiloh Battlefield, which for those of you from overseas, was the site of a terrible battle from the American Civil War. On this billboard were pictures of a smiling family, and slogans about what a GREAT time you could have at the battlefield.

I was just...astounded, especially thinking about what it would've been like for those who lived back then and experienced those things. We often lose sight of it when reading the Gettysburg Address (also from the Civil War) because of the archaic language, but you can definitely hear it when Lincoln speaks of what it is like to stand in a place like that. "Hallowed ground."

That's why Alyosha, even as distanced by time as he is from our world and our time, felt as he did. None of the analysis, arguments, none of the history-book commentary, none of whatever superfluous debates built up over time are as important as we sometimes think they are. Not compared to the people and their stories.

The phase-shifted shield from Section 31 in particular suggests the possibility to me.

I can see where that would be an issue because, unlike Alyosha, she did not create her human appearance. He, on the other hand, "designed" his own human form. For Alyosha there can still sometimes be some difficulty because it's hard to tell sometimes which form is the mask and which one is the reality--the Devidian form or the human one. Somehow it's both for him.

Yet at the same time, with Meliden, it feels like a loss to contemplate someone losing a part of their unique self. :-/

Absolutely so. The found footage in Iron Man II showed him to have quite a sense of humor, but I do think he would have been someone who would have had a distaste for non-Corporate America. And yet he would still have been the ideal man for the job at hand.

Yet

Shocking to hear of a historic site like that being so diminished by being turned into some kind of attraction

Yes, absolutely...

Well, yes and no... In a previous LC, mention is made that Meliden was wearing her hair in a style which covered much of her forehead and eyes, in a deliberate attempt to conceal her Cardassian features and appear more Human. Maybe a more fitting comparison for Meliden and her thoughts on her ethnicity and appearance, would be to compare her to a transgendered person who had not yet undergone gender reassignment surgery, or someone with a severe disfigurement who needs to have corrective surgery to normalize their appearance: She was raised in Human culture, so thinks like a Human, and thinks of herself as Human, so sees her Cardassian appearance as a complete incongruity. It's not that she's a self-loather or hates herself for being Cardassian, she just doesn't think of herself as Cardassian, and felt trapped in the wrong skin. To use The Matrix for another example, and what Morpheus refered to as 'residual self-image': If Bellic Chanos and Meliden were plugged into the Matrix, he would appear as Bolian, she would appear as Human, if that makes her thoughts make more sense?

You guys are putting a whole lot more thought into this than I did! I just figured the "Miss Teela" thing was a little personal quirk of speech - also, one that wasn't stereotypically Irish. Pete was getting a bit too Irish, sometimes, as I was writing him. Sure and he was, begorrah.

On the subject of currency - it might be a question of Tylha's sense of ethics (flexible though that can get, sometimes), but it might also be a practical point; Amanda Palmer, with the resources of a full starship at her disposal, can probably do things like re-using the serial numbers of destroyed bills, so as to pass her manufactured money into circulation almost tracelessly. With only a small shuttlecraft to rely on, Tylha wouldn't have the in-depth historical databases she'd need to do something like that. (As I've noted in a previous discussion, I believe in making life difficult for my protagonist.)

Actually, speaking of protagonists with difficult lives - may I say that I'm enjoying the adventures of Khas quite a bit, and am looking forward to seeing more of him?

I have to admit, I didn't put that much thought into it, it was simply as mentioned above, my wife's been watching The Help a lot lately, and being from the UK and not realizing that it was a more generally Southern term of address, it seemed a little incongruous for an Irish-American, but no slight was intended

A bit like how in Wrath of Khan, even though 'Mister' is a correct naval term of address, I felt it jarred every time Kirk said 'Mister Saavik' ...

That's true, Tylha's resources might have been limited by the facilities of the shuttle, but replicating diamonds for stake money is admitedly not something I would have thought to do, I just wanted to reinforce that while Palmer knew she was breaking the rules, she wanted to do so in as legitimate way as possible, rather than Kirk's methods of "I'm Jim Kirk and I'm awesome so I'll do it anyway..." or going 'Captain Ransom'

Likewise

zomg so true! Especially because its Kirstie Ally!

/swoon

It just seemed so obviously and unnecessarily done, it really bugged me >_< (Mister Saavik, not Miss Teela )

Finally. Man, this was not easy and my mentioning New York City seems very circumstantial.

I may do more with it but I'm ok with it as it is ...

EDIT - actors list

Kathryn - Rachel Nichols
Section 31 agent - Mark Harmon
Kyle Retarius - Matthew Fox
Margaret Retarius - Emma Roberts

Yeah...and while I doubt that happened, by the 24th century, it does show the extremes to which we can go in forgetting the reality of historical events.

While I kind of see what you mean, I think that in part it's DS9's episode "Cardassians" that left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to that sort of thing. Rugal Pa'Dar definitely came off as having been brainwashed--either by his adoptive parents or by the society around him, depending on who you believe was responsible for the abuses against him--into a very self-destructive mindset regarding his identity.

Punchy, and with shades of Blade Runner... I like it