Mark Arbour

Sometimes we have to bring harsh reality into our story. Meth was/is a problem.

Will is young. He can have lots of combinations. :-) You're right, Brad did tell him that. I don't think he agreed not to, though.

October 29, 2000 Hamar, Norway Will I woke up and was pretty disoriented. There was this warm body underneath me, and it was dark outside. Then as I got a little more alert, I remembered the amazing fuck I’d just had with Jeff, and how he’d taken me to a whole other world. I snuggled into him contentedly and dozed in and out of sleep, enjoying the feel of his body against mine. He woke up and seemed kind of freaked out just like I had been, but unlike me, he didn’t really r

It is perhaps somewhat unoriginal, but until now, the good doctor's true reasons for joining the Royal Navy have been a mystery.

May 21, 1797 Granger’s mind whirled about the news he’d just received. The thought of travelling around the world with Calvert as his first lieutenant made him smile inwardly. His thoughts strayed momentarily to how they were together, to how well their bodies merged, and he forced his mind in a different direction, lest he’d get a raging erection in front of Spencer. He and Calvert hadn’t seen each other for some time, and the last time had been in Gibraltar. It ha

I generally give a "plus" vote to people who agree with me. Thanks Jeremy. I think if you read what I wrote, and re-read what Tim wrote, you'll realize Will isn't getting away with murder, but he is being treated based on the whole picture.

True.

Sigh. You lost that argument because you were merely looking at posted rules and regulations, which offer guidelines. No competent educator is going to take a complex situation like Will's and impose maximum penalties for a first offense. No competent educator is going to review the infractions without considering all the variables, especially the two key variables, those being academic performance and influence. This idea that private schools, even this one, operate as if they're immune from the natural forces of capitalism in our society is truly preposterous.

Actually, they don't need prestige to be an admiral at all. They don't even need influence. All they have to do is live. In the Royal Navy of that era, once you were posted as a captain, you were on the "captain's list." You advanced up the list when the people above you were either promoted or died. As long as you survived, you'd become an admiral. Now, getting a command as an admiral was an entirely different thing. Commands were awarded based primarily on influence. When they wanted to give Nelson his flag (make him an admiral), they had to promote all the captains senior to him to the rank of rear admiral. But if those captains had no influence, they'd simply be a rear admiral without a command. It was jokingly referred to as being a rear admiral of the yellow.

I'm so glad you liked it. I was bored this afternoon and decided to re-read this story...gets me in a "Wade" kind of mood. I'm proud of this one,

I think Will is showing that he can take care of himself just fine. Jeff is a smart guy, and he's in a job he's educationally underqualified for: in other words, he's amazingly lucky to be Stef's personal assistant. I would suspect that when he went flying all over the place to get to Norway, he realized that he was playing with fire. He had seriously pissed off his employer's (probably) favorite grandson. It would make a lot of sense for him to work hard to repair that political damage. He can probably afford to irritate members of Stef's family on occasion, if he has good reason. In this case, he's pissed off a key person, and his reasons aren't good at all. It's all about job security, IMHO.

I haven't specified which island Bertie governs yet, but it will probably end up being Amboyna (or Ambon). In those days, being appointed governor of an island like that wasn't so much about prestige (or, quite frankly, competence), it was about greed. Those postings were very very risky, because of the diseases and hazards associated with them, but they were also very very lucrative. So someone who gets sent out there is going there because they have that special blend of connections (to secure the appointment), risk orientation (because there's a good chance they'll die, most likely from a disease), and expendability (see previous reason). So you won't see someone like Cavendish going out there, because his family would never risk a senior son on such a venture, but the younger son of a noble or a retired officer (admiral or general) who didn't have a lot of money would be an ideal candidate.

The challenge you identify is very real. How do you make write a fictional character that is different, yet keep him somewhat grounded in reality. I periodically get shit about it, but I do my best. Thanks for your support!

I think that the way this story needs to go is that I need to focus on Will and Norway, then switch back to Wade and the election. I thought about trying to intersperse chapters either way, but I think that would just confuse things. Once we're done, I hope you agree.

"my heart starts beating like a teenage girl at an One Direction concert". LMAO. A teen girl...or Jeremy. :-) Glad you liked this one! Will's motto should be something like Carpe Diem, with maybe a different word for 'Diem'.

You are one chapter ahead of things. Hang in there. Michael's probably around because JJ likes him, and because he probably does a good job of sucking up to Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine.

I think what's really interesting is that they both set themselves up that way; in essence, that's what the characters themselves want, so it's not like someone is getting screwed over.

I'm glad you liked it. I'm sure there are some who feel the same way about Wade, but we're in a "Will" cycle now, what with Norway going on and all. We'll switch back to Wade for the election.

You are surprised that Stefan Schluter's grandson carries around condoms and lube? Really? :-)

Well that's a good thing!

Your inability to see the reality of the world around you is stunning. If influence and money made no difference, explain to me how GW Bush graduated from Yale. Or got in. To answer the questions on consequences for the flights, what harm was really done to justify anything more than a scowl? If I was Will, the question I would have asked of my parents, if they were to give me shit about it, was why the staff was allowed to treat me like crap with impunity? Jeff was out of line to vent his bad mood on Will, a member of the family, and Michael has been playing games with him for quite a while. Personally, I'd have had both of their asses fired by now.

October 28, 2000 Malibu, CA Will I walked into the kitchen to find everyone already there, wolfing down breakfast. I glanced at the clock quickly, just to make sure I was on time, and then sat down to join them. “We leave for the airport in 15 minutes,” JJ informed me. “I’m ready. All I have to do is eat.” “That could take a while,” Pop said. “Look who’s talking, chubby,” I teased back. He scowled at me, which made me laugh. “I have to go finish get

You guys crack me up. It was actually quite common for admirals to end up as governors, so that is definitely a possibility.

You remember Calvert's statement perfectly!

Now there's an idea! :-) I think that Mr. Llewellyn will be stationed somewhere safer, but I'm confident we'll see him in the future.