Com'c #167

Voteness as usual, then, right?

Commentary

There's not too much to say about this one, I suppose.

I guess these "reactions to Vee's strange behavior" str'ps are kind of redundant by now, but I was pressed for time. On the bright side, we get to see Vee in a beret! Which was almost cut because berets weren't adopted for military use before 1889 (almost a century after the Napoleonic Wars). However, Basque-style berets have been commercially produced since the 17th century, similar garments have been around since the Bronze Age, and I think it looks good on her.

As for Rick having been away: An explanation for why he was away originally took up half the str'p. I didn't intend to have it there to begin with, but I needed to establish that it's been a while since last time (unfortunately, #152 was a Rick str'p, so I couldn't have the off-time as long as I'd intended, which could've been expressed by a simple "it's been a while"), and the explanation grew from character dynamics. I wound up cutting it for pacing, space and relevance. If you're wondering, he was just moving.

Rick seems rather good at simply accepting Vee's strange antics (or at least pretending to). *sniff sniff* That smell... *sniff* Is... is that... *sniff* CHARACTERIZATION?! D8