Mawgrim

Lots of foreboding as we get closer to the end of the Pass. Nasty things will happen.

There's a lot of story potential in the details. Anne and Todd tended to write about the big picture whereas I like to fill in all of the behind the scenes parts.

It was another bright, hot morning as D’gar walked out onto the weyr ledge. Zurinth slept, her legs and tail twitching slightly. Her hide had taken on a faint glow. J’rud had also begun to be affected by her readiness to mate, judging from how he’d behaved the previous night once they’d got back to the weyr. Luduth sleeps, too, Herebeth informed him. When she wakes, she will rise. There was a familiar feeling in the air; a tension similar to the heavy oppressiveness before a storm. D’g

He should have been honest about what happened in the store room. Julie had already mentioned Aiden wasn't exactly employee of the month and although no one likes being a 'snitch' there are times when you have to speak up for yourself. I bet a lot of Aiden's issues with Jason are because he wishes Sarah would go out with him and he's probably noticed her attraction to Jason thus hates him for it.

Good start. I'm a bit surprised nothing has happened with Hunter, but then Puppy is a biased narrator.

So glad you mentioned there will be a part 2. It's a good place to end this, with everything seemingly perfect in Puppy's life, but there are still a lot of issues to be resolved. Look forward to reading more of this story.

I was just thinking that as well. I think it was the mid 90's before I was able to search online (using a computer in the public library). Mind you, I’m in the UK, so we may have been behind the USA in getting internet access.

I'm betting the athletes will be let off with a warning or maybe a detention (that is if Jackson is actually intelligent enough to think about the possible consequences of discriminatory punishment for the same offense). He's probably been getting away with that sort of behaviour in the school for so long, he won't even consider that as a possibility. I’m hoping he'll get sacked and banned from any position in charge of minors again, but if we're talking about the 80's or 90's that's less likely, unfortunately.

Eventful chapter. I can only imagine Dave's motive for having sex with Puppy was a last ditch attempt to win him back. Bit worried that Steven videoed it. That could so easily get into the wrong hands. Glad Mr Watson explained about the situation with Cindy and that they are in contact again. And Hunter. Well, that was one way to try and get Puppy to make up his mind about whether they're going to start seeing each other. Although if Dave finds out, it’s going to confirm his worst suspicions. I’m also worried about the crystal meth. Steven is one of those confident people who think bad things can never happen to him. I hope he sees sense and doesn’t just take it as an act of rebellion against all the advice he's been given. waiting eagerly for the next chapter.

Presumably the reason for Dave's uncontrollable jealousy is because of the insecurity of his home life. Jensen really had no choice but to break up with him. I don’t think the break up is really going to bring it home to Dave; he needs professional help to get to the root of why he feels like this. Hunter seems like a nice guy, but I really hope he doesn’t break Puppy's heart. Max is a great dad.

Uurgh. This chapter is reminding me of a particularly nasty time in my life when I fell under the spell of someone who was charming at first, then became more and more manipulative. It wasn’t sexual, in my case (she was my boss) but she really enjoyed messing with people's emotions as if we were all puppets and she was holding the strings. I really found it useful when Claire tells Josh to filter out the good times from the bad ones and how she used the example of his grandfather to show how we do this.

If only D'gar hadn’t been sent to Telgar when he was, both he and S'brin could have helped M'rell through his grief. Now M'rell is left feeling guilty about what's happened, as well as having to deal with his other emotional problems. R'feem's idea of getting the young bronze to fly with D'gar is to hopefully integrate him into the Wing more quickly and to give him some one to one training outside of Fall by someone who's closer to his own age. There is a reason why C Wing tend not to lose so many young riders as some of the others.

All extremely good points. When I was in the business, most of us refused to go in to a site alone. Even when there were staff and management on site, if we were going into a little-used area, such as behind a screen frame or on a roof, we'd tell them where we were going, how long we expected to be there and borrow a walkie talkie, just in case. The local managers (except for the odd one or two) generally had no real interest in learning about projection equipment. Firstly, their own job took up most of their working hours and secondly, most of them weren't technically inclined, or even very practical. That's why they'd gone into management, rather than become a projectionist when they decided to take up a career in the cinema. The only thing both departments generally had in common was a love of films. when I left the business, the turnover of management was gradually increasing as their workload increased. Older managers who had been on a decent wage were encouraged to take early retirement and the new ones started on a much lower salary while expected to work twice as hard.

As you may have guessed, some of this story is autobiographical! One of the things that always struck me when working in the cinema industry (particularly in the latter years) was the way people in head office perceived those who worked in the field or in actual cinemas. We were seen as inferior beings. The further removed your job was from what I considered the core of the business - showing films to the public - the higher regarded you seemed to be. One experience that really brought this home was when we had to attend the compulsory company Christmas do. Everyone was split up from their regular departments and put on a table with a load of strangers. You then had to introduce yourself. As they went round and various people announced they were from HR, marketing, finance etc, people smiled. When I said ‘ cinema engineer' they looked at me as if I was from another planet!

It's another step towards Craig becoming totally disillusioned with his job.

Glad that Lukas is awake. It probably wasn't up to Seb to tell him all that, but he was still slightly in shock at seeing him awake. And Lukas seemed to appreciate the honesty.

It had been dark for a couple of hours by the time he got home. Windscreens on the parked cars were already opaque with frost. He hurried in from the cold. The house was warm, but with the silent efficiency of central heating rather than the crackle of logs burning in James’s kitchen. He flicked on the light. Jerry had left him a hairball on the dining room floor, as if in protest at being left alone yet again. Sighing, Craig went through to the kitchen, dumping his bag and putting on rubbe

Very suspicious that the Watson's seem to have adopted Cindy. There are definitely some very unscrupulous practices going on at Greenstones. Meanwhile, Puppy and Dave's relationship is moving along well. He seems to be doing much better without all of the drugs.

I've had suspicions about Greenstone for a while. I wonder if all the children they take on are in a similar position to Puppy and Cindy and if they are abusing these children's trust funds.

I'm slightly worried about Max's news. It's obviously not good and I'm concerned it's to do with Puppy.

I still think the misdiagnosis and prescription of all the different drugs were intentional rather than due to incompetence. Greenstone was making him a compliant, institutionalised robot.

Aiden needed to learn that lesson but I hope Jason doesn't get into any of the trouble he's anticipating.

Beautifully descriptive, as ever.

If it was caramel yogurt, this may have been the discovery of salted caramel flavour!

That's what years of frustration and living in a toxic environment does for you. At least Rob isn't abandoning Seb totally.