SPQR Blues part LXXXIX (version 1)

I wanted to do something more dramatic, less "I've already done that" with the central image of today's installment, so I'm thinking of starting over again from a new angle. If you'd like to see version 1, it is below the cut.

Sometimes you can't help but think about a specific person when you're creating a character. Today I found out that a friend from my college dorm, David Lapoff, passed away a day ago from pancreatic cancer. I mention this here because, other than the fact that it deserves mention, also Felix's Blues friend Vibius was modelled after him. Although Vibius doesn't particularly look like him except in superficial ways, he was modelled after him in spirit. He was someone who went out of his way to be nice to a crazy freshman trying to dress everyone up in costumes and make them stand in front of a movie camera and act out vaguely historical dramatics, and was generous and sweet when I saw him again years later at a reunion—big and gregarious, welcoming and fun, kind and warmhearted. I didn't know him at all over the years in between, but memories of a good friend are indelible.

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