Cia

Well I don't like how Mr. Smith is apportioning blame, I mean... dicks don't just jump out of your pants and screw someone at the other person's behest. Trying to let Oscar justify his actions like that, no matter what provication, did bug me but otherwise this was an excellent chapter. Well done. I did notice a period outside of the quotation marks at one point, and you're forgetting the 'mom/Mom' capitalization rules. If you use mom as a name 'Mom told my dad' Mom is being used in the place of the name, hence capital. 'My dad' there is being used as a pronoun, to tell us who the person is, not replacing their name. The variation would be if you used 'Mom told Dad'. An easy way to tell is to simply place the name, or any name, in the place of mom or dad. 'Sherry told my Dan' doesn't make sense, right? Hope that helps!

Welcome to GA Markycielo!

Well lookie you all decked out in the fancy duds there Houdinii! Nice!

I think something very complex is going on. Anna seems to be manipulative, and a tad shallower than I thought she'd be. Chris does seem to be into Elijah, and not very subtle about it. What I really wonder is what is up with Elijah's hair and why he hates his hair so much. Also, what his mother knows, since she makes him shave it off.

I like that you started to introduce characters a tad bit slower in this chapter. The more gradual approach to showing his history with them makes it easier to keep track of details. You did a very good job of showing more of his mother's characteristics by saying that his sister was picking them up, thereby giving us the mother's habits as well. Next chapter...

Happy Birthday!!

Yet another topic about dkstories's stories being removed from the site... from a new direction this time, but still the same old thing. Simply put, your 'nurture' environment does affect your mentality and the way you react to things. However, just saying a person is an American, therefore a fighter, is a very broad generalization. The US has its share of pacificists just as any other country in the world does. I'm an American, I grew up in the West, spent summers in the east and south, and I was raised in a very volatile household. However, I am NOT the type that will simply 'fight until the last breath' for something as inane as a political or social conversation on a writing website. Our nationality plays only a small part in the whole that determines our personality. In all truth, there are a lot more factors involved. What the issue boils down to in this case, with Dan deciding to remove his stories and leave the site, was a clash of personalities. Fighting is NOT something to be admired when it supercedes common sense and social decorum. There is a time and a place, of course, but discussion in the Soapbox on GA does NOT have to so darn 'life and death' to shove opinions down other's throats, yet some treat it that way. The ability to separate your feelings from your reactions, and knowing when they are extreme, is not always easy. Some can't do it. There are always going to be people who leave the site because they get angry at one thing or another. The drama in this case is getting old fast. I really hope this is the last topic we see a 'omg, why did Dan have to leave?' message, or some variation thereof.

A great point KC! GA is a community that brings authors and readers together, along with a whole host of other personalities to keep the site interesting. As both a reader and an author, I love being able to both hear from my readers and share what I think about the stories I read with the authors. Nothing is as invigorating and helpful to get the creative juices flowing as talking with someone else about something we obviously all care about.

Rob! You're finally here! Okay, so I don't post on Nifty, but I do on Literotica. Let me give you my feelings on the differences. Pro: 1) You control your stories here. You can set them to publish whenever you want, once you get 50 likes and get out of the mod queue. 2) The mod queue. That seems like an iffy thing, but really it helps you as a new poster on GA. We make sure you are formatting your stories correctly, posting the right way and we always check for plagiarism. If we find your story elsewhere, we let you know. We protect author's rights on the site quite vigorously. Also, I check the queue almost every day, so stories don't sit for long even in the queue. 3) While you cannot delete stories or chapters yourself, you can control if they are published on the site or not. So, if you have an issue with a story, you do have control over it. Plus all it takes is a request to staff to help edit or delete a story if you have a major problem. 4) GA has a great writing community over here. I know you have your own group, but we really support new authors and have a lot of information in the Writer's Corner and Editor's Corner. We also have fun things like quarterly anthologies, weekly writing prompts... things like that. 5) GA Stories is a great place to showcase your stories. It has search features that let readers find your stories. Once they do they can easily leave reviews as well. We also have a forum specifically for authors to set up topics for authors to discuss their stories with readers. The more you interact with readers on the site, the more readers, and feedback, you will get. 6) Our authors don't have as many issues with stories being stolen like Lit authors do. Con: 1) You won't get as much feedback or reads here as you do on the other sites. Fact of life, they get more traffic than we do since they showcase more smut. We have a higher quality of stories overall, particularly romantic/relationship stories, so you have to work harder to make yours stand out. 2) That's all I could think of I know I talked to you about posting your stories on GA in the past. GA is my 'home' so to speak. I like posting on Lit, since it has gotten me new readers that follow to my blog or GA, but this will always be the site I suggest first when writers I know are looking to post their stories online. This is a community made of members, writers, readers, editors, betas... and it's hugely supportive. Quite a few of the authors on here have stories they are working on for publication, along with their free stories for this site. We have a high caliber of authors, and being a part of this site has been great for me personally. Besides, Rob... what do you have to lose?

LMAO. Sorry guys, I know in real life it isn't funny but imagining the dumb expressions on every chick that says that crap and your resulting expression of repressed 'omg you need a stupid bitch slap' tickles my funny bone. One of my jobs in my early 20s I worked with 2 guys who were out. One was a 50 something Jewish texan with a scultped white beard and fabulous manicure that liked to occasionally perform as a drag queen. His boyfriend was a late 30 something huge guy that wore a lot of leather, loved sports and his motorcycyle, but was a super sweetheart. The other co-worker was an early 20s total metrosexual with frosted hair and eyeliner that loved to do the finger snap and 'oh no you didn't' thing. Gay men come in all ages, shapes, appearances, and preferences. Anyone who can't understand that just liking to have sex with a certain gender doesn't mean you have to have other traits is stupid and would deserve that bitch slap!

Again 'GA' didn't do anything to Dan. He had a conflict with some members, in one forum that is clearly marked unmoderated and those who participate do so at risk of running afoul of those types who cannot debate with insult and argument. If you haven't, read the topic he posted. Then please get the very clear distinction straight in your mind and let that reflect in your statements.

I'm not going to kick your butt for being down on yourself. Nope, I'm not. I guess I'll you instead. Then pinch your butt. Not in a nice way either, Mister! Look, relationships are great, sure, but being unhappy with who you are outside of one isn't going to change if you find someone to be with. You'll still be unhappy with yourself. So, work on that. I'm not saying some guy will fall into your lap because your attitude changes regarding your own self-worth, but one never knows. At least then your smile would be honest.

You, and everyone else who have said it, are exactly right. No one is going to care more about that baby than you are and no one has a more vested interest in making her into happy, healthy little individual. From what I read of your schedule and feeding habits, you are spot on for what I discovered worked for my 2 kids. Food should be before the milk/formula, EVERY time. There is only one thing I see that the nanny was thinking that is a little right. Baby Q may be thirsty. At 5-6 months I began to introduce my children to cups, with an ounce or two of water, once a day. Now, mine weren't bottle fed so that wasn't a conflict but my friend also found it good way to get her son off the bottle early. Formula is food. Babies are just like everyone else, they get thirsty, especially if they are out in hot weather. If she doesn't need the nutrition (and her growth percentiles say she's just fine) then adding water in a cup now wouldn't hurt her. Just something to think over and discuss. I really hope the nanny gets into shape and realizes that you're not some first time parent with no idea of what you're doing. Because, from what you've said and shown us in pictures, you've been raising a great baby girl so far!

OMG, Yang turned down the chance to publicly perv on people? What strange pod person took over the man?

While I believe it would be easy to blast Zombie for posting something that says women are essential nutso and don't understand well meaning men who say compliments (in incredibly moronic, bumbling ways), I'm pretty sure this is meant to be a humorous joke. HOWEVER, there's some proof that a man's brain dumbs itself down at the mere mention of being around a woman, even if they don't actual interact. See, it's not us, it's all you!! We're not overly complicated, you guys just get stupid at the prospect of being around our awesome selves. Actual article in Scientific American I do so love it when science backs up my insults.

Wind down? Really? But there are so many questions left unanswered! Things are still heating up! Thanks for reading, avidreadr.

Thanks Aditus, I hope I get better soon too! I'm tired of being sickly, lol. Evolution with my characters, and within their relationships and interactions, is very important to me within longer stories. I'm glad that's coming across in this story. Thanks for reading.

I think you might be surprised Such things coming... Thanks for the review!

I'm plotting the next chapter, but it's not quite visualized yet. Thanks for the review, unlikelyu, I'm really glad you're enjoying the story.

I'm glad you liked it, thanks for reading secretsides!

I'm glad you liked it M! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

Thanks unlikelyu! I'm glad you liked it. More is posted, have fun learning more about what is to come!

Ellis is a lot more assertive than he seems. I think that's only going to show more and more. Thanks for reading!

I'm glad you liked it, LOL!

Thanks!