Cynus

Welcome, Mark!

Dead. Which is why I'm here now.

Chapter 7 is up and ready to read. Important things happen here: https://www.gayauthors.org/story/cynus/fromthecupoftheworthless/7 Now, for those who have read it, what do you think about the development between Dante and Nobuyuki? And what do you think about Katsumi?

“You are a genius, Dante!” Dante looked over his shoulder and smiled at the enthusiastic grin on Nobuyuki’s face. It was good to see Nobuyuki was starting to lighten up again. “Someone is in a good mood,” Dante said as he waited for Nobuyuki to join him in the lunch line. “I trust things went well with Viktor, then?” “Did they ever . . .” Nobuyuki replied, shaking his head in wonder. He bit his tongue nervously as his tone grew more serious. “Hey, I’ve been thinking, would you

A very merry day of existence to you.

This story is somewhat autobiographical, though only in the sense that the emotions are ones I've been through. I remember when I first started questioning my sexuality. I was a scared kid, living in my conservative Christian family and wondering how I was supposed to be happy with all the hate they were preaching to me. It can get to you, and it can make you hate yourself. I know I'm not alone in that experience, either. But the path out is to love and accept yourself. I'm still working on it, but I'll get there. Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the information. I would have never been able to put that together, myself. Also, thank you for your kind comments regarding From The Cup of The Worthless (semi spoilers for those who choose to watch this. Not huge ones, just a snippet about Dante.)

Hmm... I guess it goes to show, Dave, that we still can't agree on men! I'm more fond of the second picture. I honestly don't know. Who is Colton Haynes?

In order to avoid violating GA's policy on the issue (Which I may have already done now that I think about it, though I'm not entirely certain. Hopefully if it is a problem, one of the administrators will let me know) I can't post too much information on the subject. However, I have sent you a personal message with additional information, and can confirm that you are right about the purpose of the web service.

I think one of the hardest things about releasing a story as serial instead of all at once is that spoilers are really hard to hold onto. I love all the questions you're asking and the way you're delving into this, watching all the threads and how they connect. I'm so eager for you to reach the point where those questions are answered. I think I can talk a little about the first point you brought up, though, without spoiling anything. While I was writing this section of the story, I found myself wondering the same thing about Viktor. Was he of the right mindset to be able to put up with the way the others live? It was a dilemma I was forced to address a number of times, and I hope you'll find the answer I came to an adequate one. The next two chapters finish setting our stage, revealing a few more things which may or may not have been wondered about already. Then we're going to enter the real action, where tensions begin to break and worlds are turned upside down. I can't wait for you to read it! Thank you for the review!

I think that part of the driving force behind Nobuyuki's character development is that he's caught between these two worlds. On one hand, he has Masahiro looming over him and Daisuke breathing down his neck. He's under a constant pressure to perform according to the Yakuza culture he's been a part of for years. Then on the other side of things he has Viktor. Sweet, innocent, a tad naive, and seemingly oblivious to the machinations going on around him. He has this desire to connect to Viktor's world, not just because of the pressure from his family, but because he sees something in Viktor which he's desired for a long time. A normal life. Can they find a way to live in harmony? We'll have to see, I suppose. It's like a deal in poker. They're all keeping their hands secret and trying to bluff their way through. As to what will happen when the cards are laid down . . . Thank you for the review!

Well, they do have to have some physical attributes in common, don't they? I like to think that Vladimir and Viktor are similar in their mannerisms, even if they each look like one of their parents and not really like the other. I suppose Masahiro might be a reptile . . . you never know.

A cup of coffee. Same Q

One of several reasons why this doesn't work as well as I'd like. The funny thing is, that is a picture of a Yakuza leader. LOL EDIT: I'm pretty certain he's affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi

And this is the closest I've found for Masahiro, so far. Still looking.

And the long awaited Vladimir picture. Or this one.

Dante may just be the smarter of the two, however. Though I'd definitely rather have Nobuyuki on my side if things go south, lol! Yeah, I guess I slipped up a bit, there. Maybe I should have gone back and revised that part; made Nobuyuki instantly aware of who he was, instead of being caught off guard. Vladimir's a bit different, though, in my opinion. That's because he's such a low ranking member of the Russian Mafia, and he's been trying to keep it from everyone, that he wouldn't exactly be known. More on that later, though. Don't want to spoil anything. I'm so happy to hear you're this invested in the story, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you. As for manipulating me . . . well, you're out of luck, I'm afraid. I post it at a chapter a week for two reasons. One is because the other websites which host the story (Awesomedude.com, Dabeagle.com, and CastleRoland.net) all post it at a rate of one chapter a week, and I don't want to get ahead of any of them. I like to keep everyone as happy as possible, so keeping everyone on the same schedule is a good way to keep that up. Secondly, I use the chapters as my creator posts on Patreon. I do advanced postings there, but only for my Patrons. I'm afraid that's the only place to get the story quicker.

It had been a week since their shared detention had ended, and Nobuyuki had barely seen Viktor since. It was only in the few classes they shared and the times they passed each other in the halls that he caught a glimpse of his quarry. Dante had reported that Viktor had been on the straight and narrow ever since his last altercation with Mr. Morrison, and as a result, detention had become lonely. Nobuyuki had honored Viktor’s request and kept his distance, but he spent most of his time t

Welcome, Dimitrius.

Yep. It's already scheduled to post in the system. 10:00 am, MST.

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, Dave. To those who were wondering, Dave was allowed to get an advance reading of the story since he is hosting it on his website, Dabeagle.com. I'm not just handing out advance readings like candy on Halloween. I adore Dante, as I adore all of my children. I can't wait for the rest of you to experience the later chapters, as the story is about to really take off.

Thanks for commenting! Hope you don't mind me defending Nobuyuki just a little bit. He is my son, after all. I like to think he's been particularly distracted by Viktor, recently, and that was what gave him the opening to be caught off guard. As for knowing Dante's identity, that's a different matter altogether. Should he have investigated? Probably, and I'll definitely give you points for that. He slipped up somewhere when he didn't look into Dante. But I do think there's another way to look at it. Dante is a conman, and a damn good one. He didn't want to be found, and he didn't want Nobuyuki to know about him until this moment. As long as Nobuyuki wasn't specifically looking for who might be attending his school, Dante would have been able to hide for awhile. With Nobuyuki still being new . . . At least, that's how I saw it. I can understand where you're coming from, though. Nobuyuki, as brilliant as he is, sometimes doesn't make any better choices than the rest of us. He slipped up with Dante, but that's all the more reason for him to keep that in mind and prevent it from happening again. Thank you again for your comment! I hope to see you around even more. I like being kept in check.

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!