Well since we didn't get any critiques in, we're going to feature this one for a second week.

C'mon guys! Let's get some critiques up.

I'm so sorry this took so long! And I know it's Monday (which probably technically constitutes as being late, but the next piece isn't up yet, and it's like midnight in the US now, anyway. Excuses accepted?)

TQ: Ask me anything you might want to know about the FCG!

Um. Oh! Okay. How did Talk:CSI come about originally? I mean, obviously, you started the site, but how did others find it? Ws it just one of you who started it, or did you start it together?

...I'm sure I've surpassed my limit of one question. Sorry.

...

Critique:

Um. *Looks guilty* The first thing I thought when I read your Author's Note was, "What? Why'd Horatio live?!" But then I started reading, and the voice in my head went poof.

The beginning is really good. It's very thoughtful - more so than I ever actually pictured Horatio being, but still. I actually sympathised with him, here. As in, I actually liked him. Weird.

I'm telling you that that means something. Hehe.



*Choke* Huh? That happened? Geez. That's... incredibly uncool. The whole Prologue is really good. I like the depth you've added to Horatio's character, and the way you've written it shows his turmoil really well.

Your grammar is just about impeccable, here, by the way. You've left me very little to chew on. Hehe. The only thing I found was this:



Should be "five hundred" or "five hundred dollars". It's a bit long-winded, though, and might not quite get the same bang, bang, bang effect that the conversation already has. So, yeah. Your call. Hehe.

I like the scotch. I mean, I hate scotch, but the idea of it is very... depressed-man. Haha. You know? You picture a depressed manly-man in a suit, and he has scotch. They just go.

For a few seconds, I thought, "This could all work as one chapter", but I quickly decided that no, it wouldn't. The chapters, while connected, are still separate, and putting them together would lose something from the story.

I like Speed ebing/maybe not being Horatio's conscience. He's telling him all the things that he already knows, just never voiced to himself out of fear or denail and whatever else.

It was weird because it made me feel for all the characters and how hard they're trying. Or at least how Speed's death and Horatio's near-death affected them all. AU as it may be.

Anyway, I have class soon (ick), so I'll go away now. But I really did like this story. And oh, my God.

HORATIO CAINE AND HIS SUNGLASSES OF JUSTICE!

He put them on. And he's Horatio again. All justice-fighting-for and suave in his black suit and I can just see the zoom out of the camera, and Horatio's tiny, almost imperceptible smirk.

Classic.

...I hope that was something close to what I was supposed to see.

Anyway. It was an awesome story, and good to see one from you again, Race!

-Giorgia

TQ:
Giorgia, I did not start Talk: CSI. I actually have no idea how it came to be. It's been in existence far, far, far longer than I've been an Internet guru/fiend.


Critique:
So I think I've told you already but I want to tell you again. This really is one of my favorite pieces you've ever worked on. If not one of my favorites, then it's my favorite. I just love how vibrantly you write Horatio's character. Not quite in the “colorful” sense, or the same vibrancy in which the show exists: bright, colorful, and hot. More in the sense of a true and rich vibrancy. You have a way of cutting away all of the surface and getting down to what a character really is and with Horatio here it's true, concentrated, and pure Horatio. None of the superficial extra. You also employed the use of other characters to highlight (and in places lowlight) the same depth of character. Calleigh and Speedle acted as human tools to etch away at him, creating the man he was always meant to be. A man I think, sadly, that the writers themselves have forgotten.

The more times I read it the more I think that perhaps it's not the true depth of character that you reached that draws me, but the complete and epic (and for once I mean that literally) impact it leaves. In a few short chapters you more than sent Horatio on a journey; you led him on an Odyssey. It was as though your gentle touch and guiding hand you were able to help him become more than he was, and more what he was--or was meant to be. I know he didn't physically go anywhere to speak of but he experienced far more than many men do in a lifetime. I guess, well... I think this story really is as poignant and robust as Homer's own Odyssey and thus you've turned Horatio from master of the sunnies to Odysseus himself.

Told you I loved it, didn't I? I, hands down, guarantee that's the most positive, thought out, and truthful review I've ever written. It was wonderful.

Thanks for the awesome critiques, guys.

I have to admit, this is probably the most proud of a piece I've ever been. I really like this story (which, for me, is saying something... haha), and even though it took me a while to really hit my stride with it, I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Giorgia- I totally meant for the Sunglasses of Justice thing, so I'm glad you picked up on it.

Thanks again for your awesome critiques!