Young Sage

Okay, the Field Museum of Natural History is still several miles away. My gold-bedazzled Lamborghini is still in the shop getting its tired rotated, so I guess cruising down the S. Lake Shore Drive in style is out of the question. Shame. Guess I’m going to have to hoof it the old fashioned way …with a grappling hook. I take that baby out of its holster and fire it at the nearest building ledge, wait for it to connect, pull on the rope to make sure it’s taut, and then I’m swinging like a circus a

In perhaps an anomaly, I'm someone who had an active account many years ago and left it for many years, and now I'm finally coming back to it. So...for those who don't remember me, I'm Young Sage. You can TRY to read my magnum opus Black Star Cross AND its 300+ reviews (if those survived the Great Migration; it's a door-stopper for sure) to get a sense of HOW I write. I hope to see myself on here a little more often now that I feel like I have a project that fits within GA's guidelines better.

Chicago, 8:00PM. The museum will have been closed for a couple of hours by now and a changing of the security guards will be implemented in an hour. Security will be at its weakest, and I’ll be set to steal the Nano Wrimo Diamond. Simple, right? And if there’s anything else within arm’s reach while I’m there …why not? I’m feeling frisky tonight. “Mrat.” “Not now, Lokitty. Daddy’s gotta get you a new diamond encrusted litter box.” “Mrat. Mrat? Mrat!” Lokitty mashes his face into m

Follow the lives of various supervillains as they attempt to live their best life in The Windy City! Disappearance, a ragdoll-like thief who has eyes on jewelry. Sisterly Bond, a demon slaying, dominatrix nun. Cid Cinders, a human matchstick with a chilling demeanor. Malartic, a fiery icicle who considers anytime playtime. You, a serial killer who thinks he's a fictional character. Jacques Hein, the go-to lackey and liaison between metahumans and normal people. Monsieur Mime, an assassin who is just trying to provide for his family.

*cackles* You all thought I was dead, but I'm still alive and able to get notifications for reviews! As I said with Daithi, I made sure people didn't see Shawn and Anthony as two saints. I wanted them to be real teenagers and real teenagers don't always act rationally, as if trying to resolve all their plot points before their "season" ends. Feel free to slap either one of them. If you haven't noticed by now, most of their problems are their own fault and they're too stubborn to see that. Shawn's mom is trying to salvage her relationship with her son, but he's doing everything he can to push her away, which only serves to negatively affect her as well. Shawn's sister was probably in school when Shawn's mom came to visit. A lot of this story is just looking at how two separate guys view manliness and how they conform to and reject those notions. This will even eventually extend to Keith (spoiler alert: Keith becomes more prominent as the story continues). Thanks for the reviews thus far and thanks for giving this old story a chance!

You work at the golemini shelter in Demential Town. Every day you see beaten and battered goleminis come in. You find it surprising that sturdy goleminis such as ore and compressed goleminis can even be beaten and battered. It just goes to show how cruel people can be to golems. You never got why people could do such horrible things to such wonderful creatures. When has there ever been a golem uprising? Never. No matter how bad humans treat golems, they remain loyal to you, especially gol

Humans are curious. Illogical. It is truth. You have known since you were two. You have known things since you were two. It is sad. You are human. Are you illogical? You think the statistical probability is low. But percentages lie. Like humans. Why do humans lie? What evolutionary benefit is there? You see none. Thus, you do not lie. Humans find this discomforting. Why? Why? Why? You are constantly curious as to why things are. You are more comfortabl

You are at the Mistery Town Aquarium Center. You did not have to pay an entry fee today, for you have a season pass, just as you've always had for the past five years. Even before that, you've always gone to the aquarium as often as you can, as long as your parents could pay for tickets. After awhile, they saw reason and purchased a season pass for you. Then there were the nights where you would sneak out of the house and sneak into the aquarium to see how the inhabitants there lived during

You chatter excitedly with the group you are with. You are all heading for the destination that was described in the letter you all received. You are relieved that you are finally with like-minded people. People that understand your concerns. People that have the same beliefs as you. You come up to the landmark. The letter said to come to Mano de los Sol, a geological formation east of Phonac Town. Mano de los Sol is a set of jagged rocks jutting upwards and vaguely resembles

You look up from the note you've written hastily earlier. This seems to be the place, though you're not absolutely sure. One, it's a warehouse. Two, it is one o'clock in the morning and you're pretty sure you don't have proper security access to be here at this time. Then again, you don't have anything in storage here, so you'd have no business being here during store hours to begin with. Not that you really care. If the bounty is good enough, you'll break into anything. Three, due to the

A collection of five mini-stories, all answering the ageless question: "What kind of person do you have to be to want to join a cult?"

Firstly, thanks for all the reviews! Secondly, yeah, I made sure readers could tell that these two boys weren't exactly saints. Hopefully I didn't make it TOO obvious that Shawn is the cause of most of his own problems. Anthony's not the only one with maturity problems. But remember, they ARE still teens (well, 18, but they're still in school and act like they're 15), and teens aren't known for thinking rationally. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

@Roychelray: A more detailed reply has been sent to you.@everyone else: Long story short, I explained, I accepted, I defended, I pleaded, I made a sandwich. Yes, I'm still reading these, I'm still writing, and I'm overjoyed when I get long constructive criticism like this.

Officially, you're supposed to come up with your own idea as to who sent the love letter. Just another one of my quirky, lovable trademark vagueness! Although I can say that it wasn't Keith. I already made sequel oneshots and Slash Work is basically a lighter BSC set in college, so a college BSC would be redunant.

I'm evil like that ;P. I'll admit that there was a period of hiatus when I wrote the story around the time you probably thought the edginess started dulling. Honestly, I probably lost the feel of the story by then. And only a guy as shallow as Nick would think someone with a mole would automatically be evil. But the non-mole half of his face was really pretty, remember?! So it's really ASYMETRICAL people who are evil! Thanks for the reviews!

If the story doesn't grip the reader somehow, then they won't have any reason to continue reading, so some writers use surprise to evoke grip. Nick should've been more of a man when raped by killing the assailant and eating his still-beating heart (and also his brain to gain his super powers). And I should hope that Chad's story raise eyebrows. He's clearly evil.

Some people would ENJOY being turned into a caricature in my story for the sole purpose of a joke. If you notice, I only summarize the reviews and make a joke of the username. So it’s nothing personal. If you hadn’t said what your username means, I probably would’ve called you “stormbarn,” and had Nick visualize what that name would look like literally (a literal storm made of barns). I’m glad I got a laugh out of you regardless. Little known fact: I wrote the story specifically for you (but don’t tell anyone else!). Characters naming other characters unnaturally in dialogue is a pet peeve of mine. I’m glad others find this odd as well. I don’t write characters that I feel aren’t realistic, which means they aren’t paragons of society or the best role models. In my stories, this means that feeling unsympathetic towards characters is intentional. I chose “Chad” as the name of the jock because I knew a Chad in high school. That’s how I choose the names of half my characters. This is American football. See you in the next review!

It was a very exciting and unexpected incident that came completely out of the blue that no one saw coming (it certainly wasn't pre-planned) that involved

I'm always glad when I get 3 reviews in one day (even if it's from the same person)! I always fret when I see my page length go up, only to suddenly realize that most of my chapter is dialogue and thus only SEEMS like it's lengthy. I'm glad my gabbing didn't turn you away from the story. As always, I do seem to love my ambiguity (I like making my readers think and fill in the spaces themselves). Thanks for the reviews!

I have read the truly awful and it's not that hard to fin them on the internet. Some sites even serve as an archive for truly horrible stories and as this "story" shows, there is even a new kind of genre that specifically deals with intentionally written badly fiction ("troll fic" is one of the names for it). Look up "My Immortal" on the web...if you dare! As for gay teen fiction, I've read the truly irrehensible there, too. Happy hunting!

I'm glad that the ambiguous ending didn't set you off in a fiery rage. I know it's not for everyone. The kid here, I feel, is not thinking with his lower head, which I feel is a refreshing change from all the stories that have teens (and even pre-teens) thinking of nothing but sex. Does romance die at the end of 10? I hope not.

Technically, you would like to READ more. It seems the shorter I make my anthology entries, the more attention they receive. Perhaps next time I shall just recite the alphabet 250 times? Thanks for the review!

I have no self-confidence. I look back on my stories and flinch. So I'm glad me and my character aren't the only ones who are our own worst enemies.

Ironically (maybe?), I DID write a serious look at writing romantic fiction, but it's more of an essay than a story, plus it's quite bland (as essays are wont to be), so I didn't feel like many people would want to read it. Maybe someday in the future...

That's all I ever wanted...is to know that NO juice is safe. Also, glad I could help with the pointers.