MaxomeFoe

'She was doing a very good job of convincing me that she wasn’t very smart.' A new favourite line.

Pete's got some big balls to convey resentment for someone who nearly got a concussion and alcohol poisoning. This chapter was just perfect to me. Such drama. Such good. Such yes.

So happy to be reading this story again. Also couldn’t have asked for a better return than the drama this chapter brought. Luv it.

Hello, just a casual reader and stumbled onto your story and have been enjoying it so far. I was a Classics minor in college and figured you might enjoy hearing about the history of Pandora's box because it's actually pretty interesting and has been changed over the centuries. The original "box" was called a pithos and was actually a jar which you mention very nicely in the story. What many scholars believe this jar to represent (because if you look at the shape of the jar it actually looks like it) is the woman's uterus, and many people believed Pandora to be the "box" herself in a very Adam and Eve-esque fashion. In ancient Grecian times, it was believed that men were the source of an imperceivable vigor called "menos." This menos made men "hard, fast, lively" and could only be made by them. By contrast, women were thought to be "soft, weak, and malleable" and as a result would have to get menos from men. How do you get menos, you ask? I'm glad you did. Sex. Isn't it always the answer? Obviously this is archaic, but the Greeks truly believed that women sucked the life out of men through sexual activity to restore their own vigor. Thus, we see a source of evil being derived from the perception of women. This relates to Pandora's box since she was the first woman, the first "sinner", and obviously the first to lose her virginity which in this case is the opening of the jar-- releasing all of the malice, sickness, and horribleness onto the world... with the uterus carrying the last bit of hope- a.k.a. children and posterity. Good work and can't wait for the next chapter!

Hey, great work with this piece so far. I was reading and came upon a little snag. "Even from this distance I saw the smile falter as he turned back to the small ground he was with." Did you mean group.. instead of ground? I don't mean to be critical, so if it's a misunderstanding on my part I'd like to understand what you meant here better. Can't wait for the next chapter.

I lol'd. I've gotten in trouble putting money into others pockets or purses too. But.. I'm poor so..

I've never posted on this forum. But I feel the collective pain. I'm waiting with anticipation. All school work is on hold. Sleep has been postponed. I'm binge eating humus right now. What is my life without Mark Arbour?

I love reading stories that include Atlanta (where I live). Good read!

Holy $#!@...

Hmm flux. From Fluo, fluere, fluxi, fluxus meaning to flow or fall gradually... and in medicine it refers to dysentery :D - i suppose we dont have to worry about that with this crowd though considering the healthy eating schedules. Well every other reviewer seems to have pointed out all the good parts, but the question on my mind actually seems to come from something entirely different. As you say, it's been roughly 6? months since the end of the last story. I wonder if Tiffany's pregnant... and if so, how that's goin!

While I've been waiting for Wade to finally be done with Matt, I have to say it's rather bittersweet. After reading this, I reflected back on a time when Wade sat by Matt when he was sick and how distraught Matt was at being denied by Wade in his quest to win him over, and it all made this break-up pretty sad. However, I wonder if those feelings are still lurking inside them. I'm sure they are, but I guess I'm just waiting for them to manifest themselves. As I read chapter 75, I couldn't help but notice how far apart they've actually come. It seems that a month of isolation from one another has hindered their communication efforts, because I couldn't help but notice Wade's attention to the negative aspects of Matt's demeanor or speech that probably weren't present to begin with (i.e. the nasty look from Matt, the conversation about Gathan's opinions, etc.). It would seem that Wade probably is just looking for reasons to distance himself from Matt, which could possibly lead to some serious bouts of repressive behavior. What I'm wondering, however, is what the next story will be... Obviously it will have Matt as a POV, but his actions intrigue me dearly. Will he try to win back Wade? I'm not so certain. I figure he has ~6 months to do so but also to see if he even wants to or sees it as a worthy cause. If the flip-flopping is driving me crazy, I'm sure Wade is quite distressed. Also, I hate to say it, but I've kinda lost interest in the Will story line. It's not like it's bad writing, but once Zach came into the picture, I kinda zoned out . I just figured it wasn't going to work out between them, so I won't get worked up about it. Can't wait for the next one.

Thank you.

Since I am not a frequent reviewer, I like to think that my word is either bringing up a new topic that other readers have not yet discussed or a defense of something I find important. Reading other peoples' analyses of the situation and questioning Wade's judgment, frankly, concerns me. Other readers (even Will) have put Wade in this corner, or perhaps on a pedestal rather, so as to omit him from emotional flaws. I could bring up so many different instances, however, when the raw side of Wade's psyche has spewed forth and all of these situations have included Matt. Whether it be in the beginnings of their relationship, the deal with that annoying kid on the hockey team (too many names to remember), or Matt's overall deal with infidelity, Wade has been known to blow up on few occasions. All of these, though, have had nothing to do with a sudden lack of maturity on Wade's part or Will's influence on him. Thus, it has concerned me when other people say that Wade should be more reasonable with Matt, whereas I think the complete opposite. Wade has been hurt. The fact that he went to D.C., experienced so much inner turmoil, and then received no care or attention from Matt who made Wade's homecoming all about himself alone tells us how far apart they've moved and how inconsiderate Matt is being with this whole situation. Matt has literally done nothing to console Wade apart from the day that they found out about the events of 9/11, so honestly, Wade, to me, deserves a massive amount of credit for how he is handling this situation. Considering the other CAP gentleman, I'd say his blowups have been quite tame and probably needs a little more umph if we're ever to see the two reconcile. All in all, I really hope Wade leaves Matt. He's completely worthless and will never change. I had my hopes up with Matt's initial apology to Will at the dinner earlier in the week, but now I feel like Wade would be better off starting over with his son as his priority. And this is saying a lot since I don't like Wade for thinking "Joe" is a lower-class kind of name....

While I was kind of hoping we'd get a glimpse into the inner workings of Wade's mind for this chapter or at least address the issues he and Matt will face, I thought this chapter was very well done. Most of the other reviewers have touched on the exact feelings I had. However, I wanted to commend you on a nuance you either worked into the story intentionally or not. Nonetheless, I was so pleased reading that Matt focused his apology on Will first to directly face the issues at hand. I remember back to a similar time when Will was at ends with Robbie, and the first thing Robbie did to try and make amends was apologize to Brad when the real issue was to be a man and confront his son about his mistakes. In this, I feel for the first time that Matt is actually stronger than Robbie in many ways and may actually have a chance. I'd still love to see Wade kick him to the curb though, but that's the sadist talking. Still shaking with that anticipation!

While many of the previous reviews raise good arguments, what I'm most interested to hear about is not how hurt or confused Matt is, but will Wade ultimately lean toward rationality over emotion. In this department, Brad and Will seem to fail miraculously. As you point out, Brad stuck around with Robbie's antics for so long and Will seems to be falling in line with how Tony has treated him as well as what we could potentially expect from Zach. But what will intrigue me is how Wade will react overall. To me as well as you Mark, Wade is so similar to JP. And if we recall, JP did not react well to Sam's infidelity with Jake as Stef adds to the argument in JP's study. Thus, I'm inclined to believe that Wade will ultimately see the rationality of the situation and choose his family (primarily his son) over the potential roller coaster that is to come if he stays with Matt's destructive behavior. A part of me hopes that Wade does indeed do this since he deserves so much more than to be sidelined, and no amount of grief that Matt can be going through can make up for such behavior. And it certainly does not coincide with Wade's immutable rationale to continue a relationship with Matt at this point. As a separate point, some grammatical things have bugged me. Sequence of tenses in particular comes to mind. For instance, the "if would have slapped... blah... would have impact... such and such". It should read "had slapped... would have." Just a simple suggestion, but then again it's your story. Like everyone else, I'm shaking with anticipation. Joe P.S. I also didn't like Wade so much for disliking the name Joe since it's so "commonplace"... Maybe he can end up with someone named Bubba or something just to spite him.

Will seems to have come a long way. In my opinion, the old Will would have been much more brutal and antagonistic with the thing with Colson. He seems to have mellowed out quite a bit in his avoidance of other people at school and his mitigation tactics between his brothers. I can't help but wonder if this is similar to a post-war effect where soldiers come out of their experiences traumatic very much changed. His anger seems to have dissipated which you can see clearly by his contrast between his father, but I'm wondering for how long?

Maybe I'm reading too far into things or analyzing far beyond the author's intent, but I couldn't help but feel extremely sad by the end of Brad and Will's conversation. It almost sounded like Will was sadly musing over the fact that whenever Brad sleeps with someone they immediately fall in love with him (i.e. Max, Cody, etc.). But Will has never had that luxury and will probably have to deal with it more in the future. Speaking of which, I wonder where Kai and Tony are in all of this and if they have tried to contact him at all? Great chapter. I'm liking this Alex character *wink*

I'm joseph.