Alan

Luke is not being conniving. His impression was that Seth was a gay guy masquerading as Angela's boyfriend. Showing Angela she's being used is not an especially evil thing to do and doesn't bear comparison for all the stuff that Aaron's been repeatedly forgiven for. It also does not mean that Seth and Luke are picking out their trousseau. The shirt trick and the rest seem to be effecting Rory as much as Seth and Luke believes in showing, not telling.

I promise not to flame unless the final scene is Jase and Alice the Incomprehensible's wedding. Congratulations on a spectacular year of writing.

Word! Now if only Rory would take 5 minutes to think through what's really gone on between him and Seth. After Eddie's conversation outside Rory's door we're beginning to get some idea of where Rory's less than stellar people skills come from. I'm not even going to think about the similarity between the way Alice the Incomprehensible deals with uncomfortable conversations and the way Rory does. I'm not. I'm just not. I don't have to if I don't want to. Seth may be a nice guy, but I may have to scream a lot if Luke falls for Seth, but I really don't think it's happening.

In all fairness the prize got changed to a weekend with Luke and Jude. I'll just go and have a cold shower now.

Yeah, I won an exciting weekend with Alice the Inomprehensible once.

Sorry, I couldn't disagree more. Rory's been on a binge of self-destructive behaviour since he hit Arizona. Alice the Incomprehensible bears a large part of the responsibility for Rory's behaviour because she disregarded Gina's wishes and sent Rory into a situation where he did not know what was happening or even why Gina might have wanted him with Eddie. Alice has not been a real parent (except in the sense she was there and Eddie, for reasons beyond his control, was not) and with Gina gone there's no-one to moderate Alice's irresponsibility. That irresponsibility does not just run to bad parenting, or refusing to hear any criticism of her conduct, it also runs to things like driving without a license and ignoring speed laws. Alice does not even understand that disregarding Gina's wishes was a bad thing to do and her last telephone call with Rory shows she did not expect Gina to tell Rory in her letter that she'd told Alice she wanted Rory told about Eddie. A whole lot of Rory's rationalisations about Aaron are actually rationalisations about how worthless Rory feels himself to be, mixed in with fears that Rory has no-one to talk to, no-one he can trust and nowhere to live. All that came from somewhere and Arizona is not that somewhere. Rory is in a bad, bad way and has zero, zip, nada insight into his situation. He's a minor. He's not legally (or actually) competent to judge where he should live or what's best for him. About the only defence Eddie's got at this stage is that he does not know about Aaron. Parenting is about the best interests of the child, not being popular.

Chapter 6

I've been mumbling for a while that the only things wrong with Seth are things Aaron told Rory about him. I don't think Luke was being brotherly. Anyone in love with Rory is likely to be a little freaked out by the idea of Aaron controlling when and how Rory comes home, whether it's drink driving or a repeat of the 'Officer, I had no idea this was a stolen car' trick. Seth's anger when he first met Rory is most easily explained by Seth resenting that Aaron would turn up with another victim in tow. This was truly an amazing chapter. Luke should give Aiden a call to get advice about how to get someone clueless to notice they make you feel all hot and feverish.

I agree Aaron is trying. I doubt we agree about what he is trying. Perhaps because even someone as inexperienced, vulnerable and clueless as Rory was beginning to work out that all that ever happened was Aaron promising to go slow while reaching for his cock? You know, I've never ever heard of a gay kid with homophobic parents. I'm shocked to learn that it occurs in this one case. This totally unique circumstance of course explains and justifies everything that Aaron does. If there was even one other gay kid facing homophobic parents without getting their boyfriend a criminal conviction, than this would be a different story.

My skin actually crawled reading this one. I was watching a documentary last night where someone described a sociopath as someone who looks and sounds human but actually has no human sense of other people's existence or rights. The contrast between Luke (who has it so bad for Rory) being ready to give Rory up because he cares, and Aaron's manipulation is stark. Needless to say, I credit Aaron's sad tale, which is fundamentally different from his previous account of the car stealing, about as much as I credit my ability to wait calmly and patiently for the next chapter. Amazing stuff.

Um. we just don't know anything about Seth. We don't even know if he's seeing Angela or they're just friends. We certainly don't know what Seth said to Aaron. We know what Aaron says was said, and hey, big surprise, it just happens to fit with Aaron's grand plan for world domination. The negatives about Seth are all seen through Rory's eyes, and while I like Rory I don't know, at this stage, I could call him the world's most insightful individual. So let's hold judgement for a while until we find out what's actually going on. I think Aaron should discover he's really into older women and start chasing Alice the Incomprehensible. They deserve each other.

I'll happily ship over about 15 of mine. (degrees, not substances)

I'm so relieved this post is about snow. Meanwhile, Sydney was 43 degrees yesterday (109 Fahrenheit). People buy an evil plastic substance that looks vaguely like snow and spray it on their windows. Yesterday it all melted and turned black. Several Santas had to be treated for heat stroke. DD16 was the usual great chapter.

Angela is presumably endowed with certain inalienable rights such as making up her own mind about who to be with. We do not know anything about her situation with Seth. All we know about her situation with Dave is that Dave likes her. Liking someone is not a property title, especially when Angela seems to be totally unaware that Dave is crushing for her. I admit I don't understand why people feel driven to assume Seth is a bad guy. Given Aaron's taste for lying, it's more likely that Seth is just another victim.

Newsflash Domaholic found wandering the streets of the Emerald City gibbering incoherently. The nice men in white coats who assisted the poor bewildered idiot reported he kept repeating: 'Luke? Jude? Aiden? Arrrrrrgh?' and smiling in a bewildered if horny manner. The treating physician speculated that malnutrition may be the underlying cause because the patient kept repeating: 'Sandwich?' in a tone described by the doctor as hopeful.

Damn! People are starting to channel Alice the Incomprehensible. It has to be involuntary.

I am now deleting all Domlucian character names from my spellchecker. At least Aaron TBS is not on the prize list. Afterthought Edzzzzxkdie should be shot for leaving Rorywwww to his own devices while he emotes with ppppffjgyJase and Jatlsjfhuese should be shot for letting Roryjs;dkgjk;sd think he's unwelcome. A!!!!!aron shouldn't be shot. Bullets are quick. Stabbing him to death with a blunt spoon might be adequate.

Trying to get Rory to stay with Eddie is the first theory we've had that makes the Alice the Incomprehensible sound even half-human. She sounded to me a little ashamed in her talk with Rory. She still used the hanging up trick but she was not nearly as certain of herself as in previous phone calls. She may not have realised Gina would say in her letter that she wanted Rory told about Eddie. As far as Seth goes, we actually don't know much about his motives. We could rely on Aaron's truthfulness, in which case Seth is as much of a player as Aaron. Or we could doubt Aaron's truthfulness (no prizes for which way I'd jump on this issue) and see Seth as someone as confused by Aaron's manipulation as Rory himself. PS You know you're a Domaholic when you start adding the character's names to your spellchecker.

I'm glad you're feeling better. Don't worry too much about the performance anxiety. I know people who tell me they don't regard a sex scene as any good unless they get off writing it.

I want to know who Aaron TBS slept with at Dom's cable company. He's realised we're onto him.

Aaron TBS is really very good at painting himself as the victim. He even paints himself as victim of the car story because Luke isn't buying his apology. The Seth remarks are a really good way for Aaron to play victim and leave Rory scrambling for something to say. I'm not convinced Seth said anything at all to Aaron, but we'll see. Seth may just be being played along with everyone else. Rory may believe Aaron's story, but Rory has not proved all that good at challenging people. It's bad enough that Aaron exploits Rory's insecurity to get into his pants. It's worse that Aaron exploit's Rory's isolation to paint himself as Rory's only friend. The last scene with Rory and Luke may be the most evil cliffhanger I've ever read.

So far Aaron has launched sprays at Luke, Rory and Seth. We don't believe him when he treats the car issue as something minor that Luke should get over. We don't believe him when he complains that Rory leads him on. On what evidence do we believe him when he says that Seth said Rory said that Aaron is a bad guy? Especially when that charge was an obvious device to put Rory off-balance?

Rory's fast becoming my favourite character to read. Owen's situation was rougher, but he had the support of his brothers and quickly made friends at school. Rory is completely isolated and is in an impossible situation. It's a wild guess, but I wonder if Luke might have given Aaron TLS a run for his money except for the Vow of Silence imposed by Eddie and (indirectly) by Alice the Incomprehensible . On the information Eddie had at the time, the Vow of Silence was not such a bad idea although it lasted too long. I can only surmise that Aaron TLS paid Alice the Incomprehensible quite a lot of money to make sure the Vow of Silence would be in place. This may be a big old soap opera but it's becoming my favourite branch of the Domlucian mythos.

I know this happens every chapter, but what has Aaron done in this chapter to deserve the customary chorus about how much he's reformed? He's still manipulating Rory and if Seth really said that stuff to him how likely is Aaron to take Rory back to Seth's? Leaving the car aside, Aaron is still someone who makes stuff up all the time and is pushing a younger and isolated kid very hard. The really interesting question from this chapter is why Jase is so angry with Eddie and why Luke is so weird when he asks if Rory likes Aaron. And what James sad, Rory's been through a hell of a lot, if less than Owen. Even so, Owen still had a support system in his brothers. Rory has people who lie to him and walk away (or hang up) if he asks what's happening.