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Description

TALES OF AUTUMN SPRING (ToAS)

by Richard Mandel

based on characters and situations

copyright (C) 2019-2023, all rights reserved

Episode 1 - "Prelude"

PREV --> FIRST --> NEXT -->

--------------------

COMMENTS

Enter Rufus Nelson, the beloved husband of Maybeline "Mama" Nelson, whom you've already met on the previous page. Rufus is another character from the original Autumn Spring that I'm reintroducing for ToAS. He and Mama are a matched pair who complement each other -- he being the calm, collected, and patient husband who lovingly puts up with his wife's well-intentioned antics and occasionally (and gently) reining her in as necessary. Just as Mama was originally inspired by Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched, Rufus was inspired by Abner Kravitz -- save that I also gave Rufus a good dose of the personality of award-winning actor Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, The Unforgiven, et al) along the way and as he frequently played his various characters on screen. The Nelsons been friends and neighbors of Larry Watts ever since they moved into the Richland Townhomes a few years back after getting the last of their many kids grown and out of the house, then selling their home and moving as part of their new lives as empty nesters, to use the common phrase. They also quickly make friends with Brandy once she moves in, and ... well, for the rest you need to go read the original Autumn Spring. Oh, and FWIW their last name of "Nelson" comes from Major Tony Nelson of I Dream of Jeannie TV sitcom fame -- which is another classic series I drew on as part of my inspiration for certain parts of the original Autumn Spring.

I don't have a direct download link for you for an XPS model of Rufus Nelson; however, I'll tell you how to get him. He's nothing more than Citizen Van from the original Half-Life 2 (HL2), and like all of the stock City 17 citizen character models they're usually included with most of the older Source engine based games out there by default. His clothes are nothing more than a fan custom retexture that I got as part of a pack of such off of the old garrysmod.org website years ago. I did my own head rig at the time by hand (Marc did a better one for me later) and while is isn't perfect, it worked well enough for what I needed back then. I had my own model posted for download a few years back but pulled it when I got out of the XPS public download business and don't plan on reposting it again. If any of you download it back then, or the components to recreate it (which I also posted back then), feel free to repost this yourselves for public download. FYI here's some more information on the original model; just follow the link below and skip down to the "Male 01" section:

half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Citi…

King David ... Abishag ... Abigail - I first drew the parallel between Larry and Brandy's situation and that of the Biblical story of the aged King David and his final concubine Abishag in the first season of Autumn Spring. You should look it up if you're not familiar with it. For this reference I've also added a reference to Abigail, King David's second wife, and the story of how the two of them got together is another one you can look up on your own.

Oh, and Mama is a very religious woman, as readers of the original series will tell you. XD

Yes, the newspaper Rufus is reading is the San Andreas Post from GTASA. It's me reusing a stock model, okay?

daily dose of doom and despair - This phrase is original and unique to me. It was inspired by a comment I got at my job a while back. I have the habit of reading the Wall Street Journal sometimes on my breaks, and one of my co-workers who likes to throw out quick quips whenever possible in order to try to sound cool (and who doesn't like the Journal) saw me doing this and said, "Oh, indulging in your daily dose of doom again?" (chuckle) All I did was elaborate on his quip and reword it so it would be unique to me. That way, no one else could claim it was theirs first. Since I came up with it, and since it appeared first in my own copyrighted work (this part of the Autumn Spring series) then it's my intellectual property (nudge-nudge). FYI it's nothing more than a variation of the more common multiple doom and gloom type sayings and expressions that are already out there, with the closest one to mine being daily dose of doom and gloom, but with the last word changed for a little onomatopoeia (common sounds across multiple words, in this case initial consonants). This is part of the fun of being a writer, you know -- coming up with stuff like that and in a way that people will remember it. -_^

Description

TALES OF AUTUMN SPRING (ToAS)

by Richard Mandel

based on characters and situations

copyright (C) 2019-2023, all rights reserved

Episode 1 - "Prelude"

PREV --> FIRST --> NEXT -->

--------------------

COMMENTS

Enter Rufus Nelson, the beloved husband of Maybeline "Mama" Nelson, whom you've already met on the previous page. Rufus is another character from the original Autumn Spring that I'm reintroducing for ToAS. He and Mama are a matched pair who complement each other -- he being the calm, collected, and patient husband who lovingly puts up with his wife's well-intentioned antics and occasionally (and gently) reining her in as necessary. Just as Mama was originally inspired by Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched, Rufus was inspired by Abner Kravitz -- save that I also gave Rufus a good dose of the personality of award-winning actor Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption, The Unforgiven, et al) along the way and as he frequently played his various characters on screen. The Nelsons been friends and neighbors of Larry Watts ever since they moved into the Richland Townhomes a few years back after getting the last of their many kids grown and out of the house, then selling their home and moving as part of their new lives as empty nesters, to use the common phrase. They also quickly make friends with Brandy once she moves in, and ... well, for the rest you need to go read the original Autumn Spring. Oh, and FWIW their last name of "Nelson" comes from Major Tony Nelson of I Dream of Jeannie TV sitcom fame -- which is another classic series I drew on as part of my inspiration for certain parts of the original Autumn Spring.

I don't have a direct download link for you for an XPS model of Rufus Nelson; however, I'll tell you how to get him. He's nothing more than Citizen Van from the original Half-Life 2 (HL2), and like all of the stock City 17 citizen character models they're usually included with most of the older Source engine based games out there by default. His clothes are nothing more than a fan custom retexture that I got as part of a pack of such off of the old garrysmod.org website years ago. I did my own head rig at the time by hand (Marc did a better one for me later) and while is isn't perfect, it worked well enough for what I needed back then. I had my own model posted for download a few years back but pulled it when I got out of the XPS public download business and don't plan on reposting it again. If any of you download it back then, or the components to recreate it (which I also posted back then), feel free to repost this yourselves for public download. FYI here's some more information on the original model; just follow the link below and skip down to the "Male 01" section:

half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Citi…

King David ... Abishag ... Abigail - I first drew the parallel between Larry and Brandy's situation and that of the Biblical story of the aged King David and his final concubine Abishag in the first season of Autumn Spring. You should look it up if you're not familiar with it. For this reference I've also added a reference to Abigail, King David's second wife, and the story of how the two of them got together is another one you can look up on your own.

Oh, and Mama is a very religious woman, as readers of the original series will tell you. XD

Yes, the newspaper Rufus is reading is the San Andreas Post from GTASA. It's me reusing a stock model, okay?

daily dose of doom and despair - This phrase is original and unique to me. It was inspired by a comment I got at my job a while back. I have the habit of reading the Wall Street Journal sometimes on my breaks, and one of my co-workers who likes to throw out quick quips whenever possible in order to try to sound cool (and who doesn't like the Journal) saw me doing this and said, "Oh, indulging in your daily dose of doom again?" (chuckle) All I did was elaborate on his quip and reword it so it would be unique to me. That way, no one else could claim it was theirs first. Since I came up with it, and since it appeared first in my own copyrighted work (this part of the Autumn Spring series) then it's my intellectual property (nudge-nudge). FYI it's nothing more than a variation of the more common multiple doom and gloom type sayings and expressions that are already out there, with the closest one to mine being daily dose of doom and gloom, but with the last word changed for a little onomatopoeia (common sounds across multiple words, in this case initial consonants). This is part of the fun of being a writer, you know -- coming up with stuff like that and in a way that people will remember it. -_^