Cynus

Welcome, Dimitrius.

Thanks, tim. Hopefully the judges will see it the same way. When I was given this assignment I had a hard time deciding what to do with it. I know next to nothing about being "A Day Trader", and once I researched it I was hardly any better off. It's simply not a subject i found interesting. Thankfully the characters helped me out a little, and I was able to persevere to the end. I just hope it's good enough. Thank you for the insights on the characters, too.

Well, we definitely agree on one thing. Dumb and Dumber isn't comedy! I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it. I really liked writing Peter. more than I expected to, actually. I normally use dialogue as a crutch, and I couldn't do that here, so I think it stretched me as a writer. Thanks for the review!

Thank you, my friend. This story was built a great deal from secondary and tertiary experiences of mine. I knew people who'd gone through these sorts of things, and I placed them in settings familiar to myself. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for the review!

I hope so, too. I didn't find the subject or character assignment for this one particularly interesting, and as I was looking at the other assignments for different heats I was somewhat jealous. But I felt reasonably good about this one once I was done. At least it was true to the prompt and unique, right? I don't mind it being connected to Rumors of War, considering I reused a name. The original name for Belial was actually Samael, then I realized this could be interpreted as the author putting his name in the story, which would have been a breach of rules! So I changed to Belial. Thank you for your confidence in me, and I hope I make it! Thank you also for reading and reviewing!

Sorry it took so long to get back to you on this review. Life has been . . . complicated. But yes, I am going to try to connect almost all of them. I ended up adding in the short I wrote for the contest, and that one won't be connected to the others, but the rest of them? Definitely. I'm glad you liked Erik, I think he's going to be quite the recurring character. Thank you for the review!

I think by the end of the list I could relate to 5 of them, haha! One Mac won't quite be enough, I think. Thanks though. I did love Boy Meets World, though.

Apparently being a dirt poor kid from that generation means I don't relate to any of them until item 12...

“My name is Belial, archdevil and master soul trader.” Belial surveyed the small classroom with fiendish contempt, watching the eyes of the other students and expecting their faces to be filled with sadistic satisfaction at his presence. Nearly all of them were rather awestruck at his celebrity appearance, and were watching him with adoration. This unexpected reaction made Belial smile as he turned back to the instructor to continue his introduction. “I have over two thousand years of experience

Well, I'm sure you're well aware I can't tell you whether you're wrong or not, as that would certainly spoil the surprise for you either way, but I am glad you're considering it. There are certainly hints placed along to way to help readers figure it out one way or another, though I did try to keep the answer from being too obvious. Where would the fun be in that? There are other options, after all. It sounds to me like you're quite invested in the web of things, and I'm glad it's having that effect. I often had to refer to my extensive notes when writing this in order to ensure I kept all my facts and plot points straight. I think after my editors finished with me it all worked out, but I guess we'll see if everyone else thinks so. Thank you for the review!

Thank you, my friend. I'm trying to keep them connected, though how I'll do that while keeping reality in check when I get to Fantasy/Horror, I'm not quite sure. Three of the prompts I've received so far have been horror, so I guess we'll find out soon. One of which was yours, I believe. I'm eager to try my hand at it, but I think there are a couple more in the queue before then. I liked these guys, though, and I think there's going to be a lot more of them. Thank you for the review.

Thanks, tim. Couldn't have done it without you. it was your prompt which means you created the challenge for me to meet. I can only hope I met it adequately. I think we'll see a lot more of these guys, though when they'll pop up I can't be entirely sure. Thanks for the review!

I'm sure they'll show up again. Maybe they'll even fall in love and go waterskiing? Dressed as mimes, of course. This next one is going to be interesting, and tying it in should be difficult, but we'll see how it goes. I think I'll manage, though. Who it's going to involve, I'm not quite sure, yet. Possibly some old faces, and possibly not. We'll see what the muse thinks! Thank you for the review!

I'm glad it made you smile at least. Comedy really isn't my forte, at least in writing. I can make my friends laugh, but to get that down on paper . . . I am slowly constructing a world, yes, but we'll see how well it continues to mesh together. I'm a little nervous about how I'll manage to incorporate the stories which involve horror or fantasy elements, but I'll continue to try. Thank you for the review!

The cone of light did little to fight the oppressive darkness of the overcast night sky, nor did it dispel the chill surrounding Alexander Perron as he stepped around the freight car. It was fall, and the weather was definitely beginning to shift; it was a bad time to be a security guard at the Hamilton Freight Yards, but at least the pay was nice. Alexander raised his flashlight and pointed it between the two closest rail cars. His boss had found graffiti on one of the cars in the main

And there will be much more to come on Vladi, too. He's a more integral character to the plot than most, and we'll see a lot from him in later chapters. How will Viktor deal with his feelings? I suppose we'll just have to find out, eh? Hopefully the different weaves of the plot aren't too complicated, yet. Thanks for the review, and check out the forum for a picture of Viktor's Muse!

I think the characters are going to continue to appear in cameos in later chapters (Obviously not all of them, as I'm going to continue adding characters) but I do like switching it up as I go along. This experience has been rather liberating for me as a writer, while at the same time it had engaged and challenged me. I'm having a lot of fun so far. On your Swedish note, you might want to look at the 'From The Cup of The Worthless" forum a bit later. It will all be clear. Thanks for the review!

Thanks! The restaurant came fairly easily to me. I've worked in the food industry my whole life, and I've entertained the thought of opening a restaurant or two of my own in the past, some of them themed. Can't say I considered mimes before this story, though, hehe. Thanks for the review!

Well, I did reuse characters from the first story like I said I might do, so Erik was fairly easy to write. Obviously things are going well with Clive, huh? I appreciate your compliments, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. I found Peter surprisingly easy to write, but thank goodness he was as I almost ran out of time. I look forward to your thoughts on chapter three, tomorrow. Thank you for the review!

Thank you, I'm glad your prompt worked out, and that you specifically enjoyed it. I was a bit skeptical about my ability to pull off a cohesive story, much less one which was true to the prompt, but at least you found it enjoyable. I feel like I cheated a bit with the restaurant. I've worked in restaurants my whole life, and it allowed me to use a comfortable setting, which took some of the pressure off. Of course, I know almost nothing about mimes, so the pressure was still strong! Thank you for the challenge, and the review.

Welcome, Dean.

Detention had been hell, and Viktor wasn’t even sure why. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror at his house, staring at his reflection and wondering where the day had gone wrong. It seemed as if everything had been going perfectly well until gym class, and then Nobuyuki had started training him, and then . . . Everything was a blur after that. He remembered shoving Nobuyuki away from him. He remembered hearing Vladimir’s voice, and the fear which suddenly took over. He’d never been

Debra Waters looked at her phone, wondering why her brother would possibly be calling her at a time like this. He knew how important this night was for her; he’d set up the blind date in the first place! She needed to get ready, and had barely an hour before she was to be at the restaurant. Sighing, she answered her phone a moment before it was to go to her voicemail. “Erik, what can I do for you?” “Hey Debs, I need your advice,” Erik said, sounding frantic. “Clive just invited

Certainly. If you look at my responses to other reviews, I've addressed that to some degree. I don't know exactly how everything will connect, but I think I'm going to end up weaving them all together, somehow.

You know, I'm entertaining the possibility of connecting them all somehow, now. I have an idea, and I think it might just work, though playing with the fantasy angle might be difficult once it shows up, haha! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that the characters were interesting. Maybe they'll get a longer story someday, but for now they'll play into an expanding world. I'm sure we'll see Clive and Erik again. Thanks for the review.