>>73 Every class had the same obstacle, just used a different tactic. One obstacle does not a conflict make, and one tactic does not a scene make. They all essentially acted the exact same because they had the same goal. As far as the story goes, if you read it word for word, Demo wasn't trying to date her. He just needed a friend. I mean, seriously, that's not how any man tries to win a woman. Sympathy only goes so far. He may have been sobbing because he was drunk but if he wanted to ask her out, I don't think he'd drop his dignity to do it. I could be wrong. He is at turns depressed and proud about who he is. For that matter, Heavy, Medic, and Sniper never actively tried to date her or have sex with her, as far as the actual text went. Heavy remarked to Medic about her being pretty but never followed up with it, as far as we were shown. Medic thought to himself that she was too young for him. I suppose their reactions were similar then but they never even tried going past the obstacle. Sniper never even spoke to her as far as we know, he simply fantasized about her because she was pretty. (In retrospect, his was jarringly distinct but I was too amused to notice at the time. What does dub-con mean? I'm curious about the original chapter.) The closest comparisons that can be made are that the Spy and Engineer joke was the same joke used earlier with Pyro and Scout and that Pyro and Spy both gave her gifts. That said, I think the strongest flow and the most distinct point was the interaction between the Engineer and the Transcriptionist; how she didn't live up to being what he had assumed about her (or that she wasn't actually interested in him the way he was with her, also completely possible) when he started having a bit of a crush based on her looks. As much as I liked the other chapters, I think it could have been cropped down to nothing but Engineer, Spy, and Transciptionist with essentially the same message. Though the other chapters were there to illustrate the point of how people deal with and subsequently objectify attractive people that they don't know. I'm sure there are plenty of people who've masturbated, at least once, to some hot thing they never even spoke with. Since Drillbot posted a link to Wikipedia, here is another link on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slice_of_life Incidentally, because I love this very much and I want to prove that I'm not trying to rail against constructive criticism, I shall post this. One of my favorite posts that Coelasquid made regarding Mary Sues and writing in general. http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/589 It does a great job of breaking down conflict on a scale of what is most dramatic. Love falls somewhere in the middle and Esteem is even lighter. I'd say this story falls into the category of Esteem, as it is an exploration of respect (of others and by others) as well as sexual intimacy, regarding men and women. It's about the struggle of connection and finding one between people. Ultimately, none of them made any real connection with her (okay, maybe Demo but it was a single therapy session that she was dragged into, so it only went so far) and I am very pleased that it didn't matter to her because, as boring as her goddamn life was, she didn't need to have a man to make her life complete. At least, that's the tone I took from it. She called her mother but the story didn't say she was sad or angry or exasperated when she made the call. Admittedly, we don't even know the exact connection between her and her mother but since the story didn't delve into it, I assume she has a generally friendly relationship with her and thus the conversation was fairly mild and probably about her date or just her week in general. Then she enjoyed TV because she wanted to. Not riveting but realistic. I am equally pleased that Engie, who was looking for more and didn't find it, was considering the woman at the hardware store. He might have been disappointed but he got over it. Mind you, I could have missed something. I could have missed the whole damn point in fact. This was what I took away from the story. I might have read too much into it but then again, I generally do. You know what? Ultimately, the reason I liked this and why I think I relate to it is because I'm a woman and I've been hit on by complete strangers at work before. Just a few random guys, some I thought were cute or sweet and I felt bad saying no to. Unfortunately there was also the one guy who I'd forget why I didn't want to talk to him before he'd chat me up and be relatively interesting. Then he'd ask if I was single yet, reminding me why I wanted to avoid him (he must have done it every time he came into the store, just about.) Oh, and there was the one guy that asked me while I was ringing him up and I don't even recall if I'd seen him before. I told "I'm taken" (which is true; it wasn't an excuse) and he said "That doesn't matter." That was the guy that pissed me off. That probably makes me a horrible person but I don't give a shit. That's what I related to. (Notably none of them were co-workers but still.) Although... either my fangirl side or my WTFBBQ? side's immediate response to reading Soldier's query was sheer shock and then "... Yes?" because of the commanding nature of the question rather than abject horror as I'd probably react with anybody else. Of course, I know full well that in reality anybody I met who acted like Soldier in general would probably be someone I couldn't stand being around. Either they'd terrify me, make me uncomfortable, or they'd anger me beyond words. I'll stop going off on tangents now, I swear.