ColumbusGuy

bottle of pills, birth announcement, balloon, scuffed sneaker, new car When I walked up the long driveway after getting the mail from the box, I couldn’t suppress the smile which came to my lips; Jay is taking me out for pizza Friday! Since it had rained the previous night, I walked on the grass strip down the center to avoid the muddy gravel. I approached the long single-story ranch with it’s tan narrow-bricked façade by way of the garage, patting the bi-colored side of my ‘new’ car as I pa

TELLUS NARRATES: When Tellus awoke, he tried to remember the events of the morning, without much success. He had been sent home by his master Philandros because he tore up a message from that whore of a roman Sextus Manlius; Tellus didn't quite understand why--he had only been looking after the boy's welfare. That scum was not good enough for my master...he would hurt him, and then discard him once he had taken Philandros' innocence! Why didn't the boy see it? Why didn't they all see the evil p

It is so sad that Oli had to settle for a more practical applicatoin of his skills...but couldn't he have done a fine arts degree at Brighton? He was too young then to challenge his father meaningfully--but it has now become a matter of habit. I think Boris can help him fight that trend. Unless there is some miracle cure, the situation with Boris is beyond anyone's contro--yet his happiness is right there, if he will only take it. Eager for more Sasha!

As the day faded into night, Sextus still slept--the poppy mixture was doing a good job of keeping the injured man quiet! Yet, had he muttered the name of 'Arrius' or not? Philandros could not be sure...though he remained by his love's side all that day, no more sounds recognizable as words came from the roman's lips. Arcos returned to change the bandages, and check for infection, and pronounced that things seemed to be fine so far...another two days would tell him if infection had set in

I loved this--fills in the gaps about Wil and Tommy. Read Ryan's Heart, now just have to do the Ariel bit, then I'm waiting on more chapters for New Kid.... Great stories!

Another great chapter James! I've done marathon sessions of tv series, some more interesting than others--the anime was torture, but it was set up by a good friend. Seeing what Gunni thinks will be good, though I can't figure out how you will tie your stories togethere logically. Waiting for a new chapter in your other ones also.

Well, I see JJ is definitely the princess--but I don't think he'll be able to handle it when Alex finds his 'whore' accomplice. JJ is going to fall hard when this all crashes in on him. I could have sworn that Will might be clever enough to buy velcro handcuffs rather than metal, for the very reason which happened. It was all fairly cool until the bit with feeding Zach the semen from his own ass...I just find that whole area a turn off, sorry. I hope Zach hasn't made his ankle worse, thereby losing more game time...and unfortunately, I can see him totally overreacting to that final comment. Most people would see it as the taunt it was, but Zach will see it as his being practically outed, and that isn't good. Poor Will. Keep the wonderful words coming, Mark!

***Sextus and Philon ride back to Pompeii; they discuss the idea that Tellus will inform Solon that Philon is seeing an older man. Philon states he doesn’t care--his grandfather can accept him or not, his mother will love him no matter what.*** Despite the urgency of his business, Philandros couldn't help letting himself succumb to the kiss Sextus gave him. He momentarily molded his body to the slightly taller Sextus, then broke off with great reluctance. "Do you wish to join me in the ta

I came to this story from reading Button, just to see who the new characters in that series would be...and I got so much more out of it than that. Now I have to read the chapter where Craig finds his son on the doorstep--after that, I'm going to red the rest of this story--it's far too good to pass up. Reading the description didn't really lure me in, but I'm here now! Thanks so much, Cole!

A great story--nice to see the meeting from Ryan's viewpoint! Can't wait to read more chapters of New Kid!

I can't wait for the next chapter--this story is so suspenseful and action-packed! I haven't reviewed the chapters, but I've 'liked' all of them...the tale was just so good that I didn't want to pause to do it, sorry for that. I am so glad to see Tyler and Ariel working out...and that Ariel isn't going to put up with Sean's crap. Ariel's growth, though slow, is amazing. As for Randy, I fully understand his issue with self-esteem after the years of paternal abuse he endured--the fact that he has trouble believing in Ryan's love is quite clear also: his self-worth is so low that he can't honestly believe that someone can love him for himslf, and that parallells his hesitation to tell his mother the truth--he can't risk losing the love of the one person who he can trust. I am liking Cody more and more as time goes on, and despite what he says, he is not over the loss of his parents, nor is Ronnie. I can't wait to see him spoil Sean's plans at the carnival. Awaiting the next chapter keenly!

Hate Alexander even more--let's have him neutered! Anastasia, in both the figurative and literal sense, is a bitch! Boris grows on me even more as time goes on, while Oli needs to resolve his issues and get over his anxieties. The idea of bestiality is abhorrent to me, being a bit old-fashioned--while I don't fancy picturing the physical dynamics of Boris and Oli's relationship, I don't see it in that sense: were their cycles lined up properly, it would not be a problem, since they both love one another in all their forms; there is no 'taking advantage of the dumb animal' here--just love between two partners. If the two of them can make it work, then I'm happy for them. More please, Sasha!

Another great piece, Valkyrie--I especially like the scene at the end with her announcement!

Mark, you just keep rolling out great chapters! Will and Zach, always a bonus--I hope they get to spend a little time together in Will's 'secret' hotel room. One can only hope that his dad goes surfing or swimming and gets eaten by a shark! How Frank got to be the only good adult of the Hayes family, I'll never know--the others are all white trash. I can spot them because I came from a small town in Ohio, as I mentioned before! Sorry, Maarten, but the whole scene with Will was great--I'm sure he loved knowing things about JJ which Wade didn't. As for the whole Boston scene, the only sad moment was when they decided to let Hammer go to Sydney--that is going to be a mistake both for the team, and I think for Matt. He is just slimey and joins Alex on the dick-o-meter in top spot. Pleae, oh please, let word leak out to Brad what Alex is doing!!

This is the first thing I've read by you...what an introduction! It brings back the vigil at my mother's bedside in '07...she wanted no machines or extreme measures, just pain killers...but it took six days for the end, with her in a coma the last two or three. She went in the day before my birthday, and since then, I don't really celebrate them anymore. Thank you for the story, and reminding me that the body was only the outer shell of the person we love.

Another good one, Valkyrie! I loved your ditching the assumption that the acccident killed Evan. Jody's pain is captured very well--and it's nice to see he finally realizes he needs help. I think of my s.o. almost daily after seven years--but no accident claimed him, it was on purpose when things got to be too much....The part that bothers me most, and possibly Jody, was that prehaps he could have done more to keep them together--but that effort needs two to make it work.

***Sextus and Philon talk about various topics, Sextus admits that he has learned that perceptions are misleading, and that people are often deeper than their surface appearances; Sextus again reassures Philon that Arrius has no interest in men.*** With that reassurance still ringing in his ears, another knock came at the door, and several servants carried in large platters filled with dishes: chicken in honey, vegetables carved into fanciful shapes of roses and small fish, several pastry

“I can’t believe you asked him that!” Linda’s voice went up an octave as she looked at her younger brother standing by his ancient blue Ford pickup. Jay looked around the school’s parking lot, but it was nearly empty this late in the afternoon; while taking Miles home, he remembered that he had to pick up his sister after cheerleading practice, so it meant another trip to the highschool--two in one day was one too many! The high school lot was at the north end, mostly gravel, extending b

Okay, more intriguing information. We now know David is a closet case, Marvin I am unsure of, but I think he is also...and Mikhail? I have known several people who just always seem to be 'on', with no 'off' switch...so I'm wondering if under all that, he is hiding something very deep or damaged? More please!

I like the story so far, Ken! I know prologues are usually short, but you chose such a good point to end it. Soon as I'm finished with this, I'm off to read the first chapter. Forgive me if I come across as ignorant, but language and idiom have always fascinated me; the US has so many issues with history and political correctness that we are afraid to speak about anything relating to 'sensitive' topics now...but curiosity is driving me crazy! My knowledge of 'street talk' and modern slang is hopelessly inadequate, but I'll venture this anyway: when you use the word 'nigga', is that in the sense of showing familiarity among similar friends? It doesn't sound like an insult or derogatory thing in the dialogue, but you also used it I think in normal text. I ask because in the US such a word is essentially forbidden for whites to use, although Africain-Americans can use it freely--things are so twisted here that if a black person uses a term for whites which is derogatory, a white man would be crucified by his own people for taking exception to it--common respect and decency is subverted to correctness now. My knowledge of street slang pretty much stopped after the 70s because that's when my speech patterns were finalized when I left my teens. 'Man', and 'Dude', and 'keen' and 'cool' were the last words I adopted into everyday speech...so you can see what a dinosaur I am!

***Sextus and Philon talk of families: Sextus has no desire for a wife or children, though he admits to having had several women lovers claim he fathered children with them. He admits to having slept with several women, and many men since he was 14. Philon learns Sextus is 27, and Sextus tells him that he could find love only with a man--Philon, if he would agree to it.*** As he listened to Sextus Manlius talk of his past...the many men--and women too--Philandros couldn't help showing his

It's nice to learn more about JJ as things progress; it was also a surprise to see JJ setting his own interests aside for the tour of Boston--he is obviously taken with Alex, but even so, he didn't make a big issue out of subordinating his likes to accomodate Alex's plans. I found it funny how he kept trying to control his 'responses' to Alex--other teenager know that is pretty much impossible, but JJ is just learning that I think. Well, centex pretty much nailed what was running through my head too--I could also see Alex fitting JJ into the application for Madonna/Prinicess. Even so, I am still uneasy about the idea of the two of them together, but I'll let Alex have his chance. I also have to confess, that for a long while now, I have been thinking that JJ is younger than Will, based primarily on Will's more mature growth rate, and the fact that JJ seemed to be acting so childish most of the time; it came as a bit of a shock to learn otherwise! Taking that into consideration, I am slightly less concerned with him and Alex being together. On a final note, JJ keeps ratcheting up my scale of approval, but for the moment, Alex is holding steady somewhere slightly above Kevin--who is at the very bottom. Keep the good word coming, Mark!

This is still about two months since we started writing the story together, so the other writers tended to keep their parts shorter. Since the action could move from one location at the site to another (like from the Villa to Phil's domus) I did tend to recap slightly when I wrote the next post. Most posts were replied to the next day, so they showed up on the daily update fairly isolated and easy to find--now, you can still go back and check those dates, but it is harder--I have been following by checking post dates in each thread of the story board--hoping not to miss one.

I loved this Krista--it captured the agony of shyness very well! It also brought back bittersweet memories of times I could have had, had I the courage to make a move. As Tim said, a sequel would be great, but it works as a short story as well.

Wow, Dmitri had such a hard life in Russia, but he found a way to turn the negative into a positive thing with the help of one caring teacher. I admire him for being able to do that, rather than sink into the depths as his father did. Now, we just have to find out how he got to Iceland, and just how Siggi's father ties into this, since he seems to be the 'anonymous source' the press is using. Keep up the good work, James!