Thorn Wilde

Dave is a pretty tragic character, isn't he? Mandi's mum is in part based on the mother of a friend of mine. In general, the concept of tiny, scary Indian mum is a fun one to me. Thanks so much for reviewing! Glad you're enjoying the story.

Thanks!

Thanks! I'm glad you think so. I'll admit, I've actually been worrying about the pacing a bit... Hoping that people won't get bored. Feels like there are many stories to tell in this book, and that will occasionally put Dave and Nick's relationship a bit in the background. Thank you so much for reviewing!

CHAPTER FIVE Drag ‘You should work with your partners to outline this experiment, give an idea of the results you expect and what it is you’re trying to accomplish. You’ll hand in the outline on Friday and then perform the experiment next week. Any questions?’ ‘Well, you said you wanted practical work,’ Mandira whispered and smiled at Dave. ‘Are you ready for this?’ ‘I am so ready, you have no idea!’ Dave grinned. ‘I was born ready! I love lab work.’ ‘Quiet back there!’ their

Same here. I bought a comic book for myself when I went Christmas shopping and felt guilty because I'm behind on bills, so spending any money on games at all is a no-go.

See, that sounds pretty awesome to me. I hate getting a bottle of white wine and not having time to chill it. Could be great for picnics in summer, too. Thing is, she doesn't really know that I write, so it's still a little weird. But I figure she just thought it would be funny.

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the story.

I agree. I think W_L should be able to vote, too. There's only so much he can sway the vote anyway, as he's only one person. *shrug*

Hm, we'll see... I tend to avoid wedding scenes. I find them cheesy.

My Finnish family eats fish in the evening on Christmas Eve (my uncle is the only person I know who can actually cook lutefisk and make it taste like, well, fish), and ham as a sort of daytime meal on Christmas Day. At least that's how it went the last time I was there for Christmas. I don't know if that's at all typical.

Thank you so much, Ron! You always leave such nice and encouraging reviews.

Nowhere did it say that they were barebacking... Just saying. But then, you are free to put whatever you like between the lines. Jason will make a reappearance. Not saying when. Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you've stuck with the story.

You do not approve? I think The Oxymorons is an awesome band name! That said, I fully intend to one day have a backing band called Your Mother. Thorn Wilde and Your Mother would be pretty awesome, don't you think? Thanks for reviewing! Glad you're enjoying the story.

With regards to professional help for Nick, see my reply to Suvitar. As for Dave staying with Nick every night, I think his father might try and put his foot down if Dave essentially tried to move away from home. And for all that Dave feels like his parents don't really care about him, he still really wants them too, which is why he's continued to play the dutiful son for all these years. Thanks for reviewing! Glad you like!

Nick is seeing a very good psychologist named Evan twice a month. He's been doing that since his mother's attempted suicide, and Evan has helped him a lot, but with things like nightmares and insomnia there's often only so much that can be done without medicating, which, especially in someone so young, would mean opening up a whole new can of worms. Thank you for reading and reviewing once more!

CHAPTER FOUR For What It's Worth ‘How about a D-minor thing with, like, a Dorian modal feel to it? Like this.’ Nick played a D-minor chord followed by an F and a G. ‘I dunno, sounds a bit folky, doesn’t it?’ said Stuart. ‘Can’t we at least jazz it up a bit with a D-minor seven instead of the F, or maybe an F-major seven?’ ‘No, but see, then Matt plays a bass-line that goes like this.’ Nick played a melody, and Stuart nodded his head but still looked unconvinced. ‘How ab

A woman's voice has a tighter quality. Vocal techniques are taught pretty much the same to prepubescent girls and boys, but they still sound different. The mechanics are the same, but it's a different quality of voice. Have you seen the musical Oliver!? The film version? Oliver's singing voice was done by a girl, and though she does a very good job of mimicking the boy soprano vocal quality, it's still not completely convincing if you're well-versed in this sort of thing. (I sang Where is Love at a concert when I was 7. It's not an easy song to sing...) Once people hit puberty and their voices change, they have to re-learn how to use them. This goes for both men and women. Once again, the actual physical mechanics of how to find support and breath, and how to project your voice without amplification, in the case of classical singing, are more or less the same for both genders, they just sound different.

Happy Birthday!

Not quite sure I understand what you mean here. Altered how? A woman would use a different technique, yes (with many, many different techniques to choose from) but she can easily sing the same melody in the same key.

No lady sounds like that. That particular kind of vocal quality is only ever found in boy sopranos and eunuchs. Problem is, we may have to move the piano to my old room at my parents' house in order to fit you guys.

I love that song. The Snowman was brought to my attention when I was in my teens because I was a really huge fan of Nightwish, and they did a cover of Walking in the Air, on their album Oceanborn. Very pretty version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okItHetxgy8 I taught myself to play it on piano some years ago... Wonder if I can still do it, I haven't tried in years.

Thanks for leaving so many reviews again! Always makes me so happy to see review notifications. Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Hope you'll like what's to come as well.

Oh, wow, thank you! Thanks for such a lovely review, that makes me really happy. I'm so glad you enjoyed the first book, and even more glad that you seem to be enjoying the second. I think I'm done with having everyone fall in love with Nick now... Emotions are awesome. If my stories can make people emotional, that makes me happy.

The one with the dead horses was oddly beautiful in kind of a morbid way, and also so surreal... I think that one's my favourite.

Rudolph is damn tasty!