ColumbusGuy

Let's see...if this is a certain movie, then I see Katherine Hepburn as Theo, Diego is Natalie Wood, Spencer Tracy as Sablo, and that leaves Sidney Poitier as Azrael...or is Theo the maid who says 'All hell's gonna break loose tonight'? :) Waiting for more, min kaeresteven!

...wow... I heard a rumor that some guy up in Ontario was trying to become the Shakespeare of the New World, but I was doubtful--until now. I did a lot of poetry reading to get my Lit degree in college, and carried around two huge paperbacks over ten pounds each in weight to prove it. They covered English poetry back to Caedmon's Hymn and Beowulf, and up through Modern American poets like e.e.cummings and Maya Angelou...most of it was dry or wandering or done to reach the readers in some way. Sure, some did manage that, but most 'classic' poets never sparked a deep emotion or lit a fire in my soul. My dear Gary...you have consistently done that for me, with wit and relevance and imagery that brings out my pains and fears, and hopes and dreams. Do you, perchance, have a pond on your property?

When I read Jeffrey's comment, I couldn't get a Monty Python line out of my head: 'You don't vote for kings.' The Elves don't have a democracy, and nobility do not do anything that a servant can do instead. The fact that other courtiers might be getting suspicious is interesting, but unless they can concentrate their powers, there isn't anything they can do unless it might be to assist Kieran. My big question is this: is the King's aversion to Kieran's sexuality due to the need to continue the dynasty or something that is common among their people? I'm eager to see what will happen when they reach the barrier...is it between realms, or is there nothing but void beyond until the next region? A portal implies that to me....

The banner at the top said 'Fan Fiction' so that must mean it's a show or something, but I've never heard of it. Regardless, I'd like to read more about these two guys. Will these be additional chapters or new stories? More please!

Okay, reading some of the comments above, we'll find out all the twists and turns in good time, thanks to our author...but I just have to inject a lighter note from one of his comments: 'Robbie is playing with fire' and 'his chickens are coming home to roost'... Do I smell fried chicken? Yummy! 😸

Well, Alex' grip on reality is less strong than I thought. In a way he's right about Cobourg not being a great place for him when his sexuality is known, but there are other options if he'll only look for them. If Robbie could bring himself to help, then they both might benefit, but neither is willing to open up to the one man who could be on their side--Mr. Andrews. Such a teaser in that end note...if only Sue could have shown some back-bone earlier, her family might not be suffering so much. I'll wait to see what she does and hope it's not just a delayed giving in to Don like before. As for Robbie's belief he's dying, I think the problems he's having now are almost entirely due to the anxiety and stress brought on by the giant homophobic complex Don has. Get him out of the house, and things will be much better.

Okay, I have no idea where this is heading, but I'm hooked. I don't like the way Diego is being manipulated, and I hope Sablo raises all kinds of hell and some people in high positions get their butts roasted. I only hope that the poor children Diego has been given would have died anyway, and at least he can comfort them in their final moments. I have the impression that since the Big Guy seems remote, the lower admins are becoming reckless and a bit abusive with their power.... Keep us guessing min ven!

I almost passed up this story because tattoos don't attract me, nor the culture that revels in them, i.e. bikers and super macho types. My friend Ivor said to give it a try, and I have to say that I've been intrigued by the characters and their intertwined stories. Tattoos are still not my thing, but the Indian bike sounds cool, and the aura aspect is definitely making this an otherworldly experience. :)

About all I can track is pizza...fortunately it can find its way to me. :) I like caves actually, and hiking and the outdoors. If the cave has a bathroom, I'm in!

Where did it all go wrong? Who can truly say, but the first archaeological evidence comes from Turkey where stone circles dating to about 11,000BC were erected by hunter gatherers to promote the earliest religion which placed Man above his surroundings rather than a part of them. Hunting and gathering was fine because they knew to keep things in balance, and then someone somewhere said 'I don't want to work too hard today, so I'll see what I can do to get somebody else to do my share...' And so, the stirrings of an elite class was born. And the easiest way to do that was to convince your fellows that you were set apart from the rest because you had some connection they didn't. Voting is a valuable and wondrous thing, but when all the choices are bad, where do you turn? In the US, we are at an impasse because neither party is willing to bargain or even think they might have common cause...so, we spiral down into further division and hatred preyed upon by the power hungry on both sides. Sadly, too many of the electorate don't educate themselves on the issues and are conned by the rhetoric of demagogues. One party promises free things and preaches divisiveness, and the other promises security through ever higher military budgets. Truth and justice is lost to Man...can anyone teach me how to track and make a snare?

Bring on the strangeness my friend! What worries me most is this new 'fear' weapon that Kieran can't seem to negate...maybe he just needs to try using the opal when he encounters it again?

I'd be seriously surprised if Noah's mother came to accept him and Jordan; accepting Noah is remote, but for her to extend any welcome to Jordan is just out of the question. It boils down to religious intolerance so ingrained as to be irrevocable, and the fear of what her 'friends' will say. I'm surprised Noah's father is allowed to differ with her as she seems to thoroughly dominate her family. From personal experience of my father's reaction to my sexuality--and it wasn't religious so far as I know because he never said anything beyond not accepting me--once he found out, he never spoke to me until he died thirteen years later. Aidan...well, I'd like to see him marry Jenn, but if Liam's the end result, that would be okay too. Perhaps Aidan will find a nice Aussie to settle down with? For any more, I'd love to see a sequel that might cover them establishing a home and careers, perhaps having children...maybe Jenn would be a surrogate? I'd believe she'd go for that when the time came, and if she marries the right guy, he might agree if it's via artificial insemination... So often the option is to adopt a child, but the way you've set these characters up, I think the usual method is what would feel right. Seeing Jenn as a mom would be a whole drama in itself because there's no way she'd not be part of the child's life. :)

Holy cow, they know not what they do. Underestimating Kieran more than once was stupidity supreme, and now they've unleashed him in their own world and he's bent on keeping his friends safe and has no clue of his own ancestry. If he finds out now, I think it will only increase his anger and resistance to his father's wishes and demands for control. Looks like Kieran's father may have to make a choice soon--his realm or his son...or his own life. Power vs. Love is what it boils down to, and Kieran's group has all the latter, and is rapidly gaining the former, so the High King is screwed. :)

Aigh...you've hit on my greatest fear, my dear friend...the loss of myself into the mists of my own mind. Alzheimers doesn't run in my family so far as I know, but I saw what it did to my step-father before my mom died in 2007. She remarried to a great and funny guy in the 80s, and his kids were grown and gone, like my mom's...but he treated me like I was one of them or another grandson. He loved telling jokes and stories, and they'd go to Ontario twice a year for a few weeks fishing, and it was on one of those trips that the first signs appeared. He got lost in Detroit doing a trip he'd done a hundred times before, and one of my sisters had to go and bring them back. Over the last three years my mom was alive, he grew quiet, not talking at all, and just looking off into space, and losing control of his bodily functions . The last time I saw him was at mom's funeral, and he was on oxygen full time, in a wheelchair, and recognized no one--even his favorite grandsons he'd fished and hunted with since they were little kids. And yet, when he was wheeled up to the casket, he looked in and began to cry. I was told he died about six years ago in a nursing home at age 90. The shocking thing was that I'd met his mother a year or so before she died at age 93, and her mind was clear as a bell to the end. I hope my genes don't carry the factor that can lead to this...and judging from my mom, and what I heard of my father in his last year...I ought to be going strong mentally. Fingers crossed.

Great to see something from you again, and it's tied in with a truly 'imp'ressive storyline. Just gotta say it with the evidence above: something smells rotten in the state of Denmark. Sorry.... :(

I set the zoom back to zero and the text still runs over the edge of the browser, which is almost full screen. I have the text thing in th five buttons above set to 3/4, and even set lower, it doesn't help much. I'd wager what droughtquake mentioned and your reply is what went wrong because the story's 'cover' page is perfect as are all other things I look at on site with my usual settings, and it's only some of your chapters that do this thing to site's appearance. I use Word 2013 which uses some html things to format, and I just copy the text and paste it into the software here...never had a problem. For Nifty, I do tend to send them the files as htm files with the MS coding removed, and it shows up there when they post it that way...even the foreign letters the Danish bits sometimes use. :) I used to use the same copy and paste routine when i was trying other writing things like OpenOffice and LibreOffice and googledocs, and those looked fine too. For my browsers, I don't know enough to go beyond the basic settings like default fonts and sizes, and letting it choose colors, and those are things I kept consistent from browser to browser. Not complaining since Kippy and Charlie are awesome in any 'setting'.... :)

Way too short, but it's still got the ol' magic skwish. Sadly, it's spread way past the edge of the browser, and it's too hard to like anything comment-wise. The front page was fine, it was only when the chapter itself came up that this happened, and even the site parts are way off kilter. :(

@droughtquake Sorry I missed this...I'm not sure if I got a notice or not. Told ya it was a wish fantasy since I had only sisters...but I know what you mean about seeming from different families. Mine were six to ten years older and we lived together only until I hit thirteen when they'd all moved out to do their own thing. The oldest had the art talent and I felt closest to her until she died in 2014, the middle two always seemed to distance themselves from me unless I could baby-sit, then they'd call. Once our mom died, and the oldest too, they essentially broke off contact, particularly when I asked the remaining older one if she could help me for a few weeks between my eye surgeries in 2015/16. I was lucky my best friend in Cincinnati took me down to her house for those weeks to oversee my eye car and take me to appointments. Blood is thicker than water? Ha, what a laugh. My friends stood by me when my family ran. I'm glad one of your brothers is still in your life.

You don't have a salamander? A semi-mythical fire-breathing lizard could be useful in cooking I suppose. :)

I see you've altered the adage--or is that adulterated? Life is the variety of spice.... 😸 Hollandaise on rice? Dare I say...yuck.

Jordan is going to feel pain at the loss of his father, but it's not going to be too bad, the worst part will be the lack of resolution between them. I don't see Noah's father being as open as some think--his wife is clearly in control of the household, and he too is concerned with the family image to change, even if his religious aversion isn't quite as strong...it's still there. I also don't see the breach between the boys as irreparable--incredibly difficult mainly because they both have a lousy track record with communication and timing....

I've only gleaned a fewcomments from above, but one thing I'm sure of: Noah won't come out to his parents unless forced into it--and I'll wager he denies it's morethan a casual friendship. You don't say the photo has them kissing, or if it has anything written on the back, so can he deny it successfully? I never officially 'came out' to my parents. I moved away from home in '87 when my dad and I sold our house--he moved in with his girlfriend, and I with a girl I knew until I could find my own house. Just before that, he found a letter I'd gotten from a personals ad, and didn't say much. We had been farirly close, but once we moved, I never heard from him again, and I gave up trying after a few times. That lasted until he died in 2001. My mother told me around 1990 that she'd be okay with me being gay, but I was single and it didn't matter. I held back because she didn't like my gay nephew, and I was single so it didn't matter. Turns out she disliked him for other reasons. She did meet the guy I would have my longest relationship with, and didn't like him on principle, so again, I kept quiet. Still, she'd said she'd be okay, so we remained close until she died in 2007. How she know or suspected, I never asked, but some say mom's always know...my older sisters did, and were okay about it as I found out, but they never let on until my nephew came out to me and said his mom told him I'd understand because we were alike. :) So, I get not coming out to parents, but then, mine weren't like Noah's--not religious--but I got support in a way from the one I thought would be hurt by it, and cut off by the one I thought would be okay. I'm sad for Noah, but with his background, what choice has he but to deny? He has no resources to be on his own, and no one who could provide more than emotional support right now, and that doesn't put a roof over your head.

I had nights like that, but luckily for me they were the result of watching some monster movie--not horror with lots of gore like today, but ones with just a hint of what could happen if there just might be something lurking in the dark to grab me as I went to sleep. One scene that scared me for many nights was the scene in 13 Ghosts black and white version where that canopy bed came down and smothered anyone sleeping in it...didn't matter that I didn't own one. Many nights as even a teen I'd turn a light on ahead of me before turning out the one behind, then jumping into bed as fast as I could. You might laugh, but out in the country, once the light was out, it was DARK. Weirder still was that if I hadn't seen any such movies, I was fine and enjoyed laying out in the yard looking at the stars. Thanks for the creepies, my dear!

I wouldn't stress over it, just occurred to me today. Just odd he hasn't mentioned, or seemed to care not hearing from family. It could come up in future if they really start to delve into who's doing all this, and why Kieran is so special...

The group is learning some powerful magic, and I hope they will be able to defeat Kieran's father when the time comes. Also, it's nice to know that there are some non-magical assholes out there that are just plain ignorant rather than in league with the magical bad guys. One thing I'm not sure of though: Kieran doesn't seem to know of his ancestry, yet we also haven't heard him mention any normal family he ought to have memories of, either real or implanted. Wanna share, my friend?