More progress on the prologue of TSoM1. While there may be a short in the future that depicts Ally’s father in the Space Arc canon, TSoM1 is his only appearance until then. He’s spoken about somewhat obliquely in “The Case of the Striped Leopard”, but that’s another If Arc story. That being said, the If Arc stories are as true to the characters’ canonical depictions as the setting and plot allow. There wouldn’t be much point in a What If story if the characters were totally unrecognizable, after all.

Anyway, back to Ally’s father, he kinda got away from me being an immensely unlikable person. There’s some justification for his hostility in the prologue as he’s opposed to Ally attending SOMA, but there’s this very oppressive atmosphere in the house that certainly gives you the feeling that his ill temper is a regular thing.

Dr. Steven O’Connor, Sr. is a real piece of work.  Married four times. Each time the wife got younger and younger. He may or may not have been having dalliances with future Wife #4 while still married to Wife #3.  (For that matter, he may have been having dalliances with Wife #3 while Wife #2 was still alive.)  Womanizing, ill-tempered and a drinker though he was, his domestic tyranny was mostly non-violent. I imagine Wife #3 had a little more fire in her belly, which is probably what drew him to Wife #4, who had a more submissive personality. Probably explains a lot about Ally’s timidness.

However, Steven Senior was killed along with Wife #4 and his eldest daughter in a traffic accident, leaving it to eldest son Steven Junior to head up the household. Steven Junior is remarkably unlike his father, an all-around nice guy (though he does resemble his father with his soft spot for the ladies). He was just starting out his own career as a doctor when their parents were killed, which resulted in a 15-year-old Ally having to take up domestic responsibilities for her youngest siblings. Then, of course, she was drafted into the Army and things went downhill for her from there.

With the TSoM series, though, because it starts with Ally at age 10, we actually get a glimpse into the O’Connor household back when it was still intact. They’re not exactly the same O’Connors from the Space Arc cannon, but you do get a better idea of what it was like.

Well, this has turned more into a commentary post than a WIP update, but there you have it. We’ll see what I get accomplished over the weekend. Stay tuned.

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