Oh my goodness, I think I have to scoop my heart up with a spoon after the first part of this chapter.
I really hope you can deliver on your promise of ponies cutting through the grimdarkness as is their adorable nature (did I get the quotation right? too lazy to source it), though, because the end to that second part...
Fluttershy has emotional problem? FUCKING TIME!! "Remember, it's okay to fuck anything that moves, BUT DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THOSE WINGS! That's crossing the line." God, you're fucking stupid Rainbow. You let Applejack have sex Fluttershy, but when Fluttershy was getting attached to Applejack and tried getting close to her emotionally, you freaked out. Rainbow, you're *still* a selfish idiot and the worst character in this story. It's all your fault. All of this. You completely forced your stupid polygamy bullshit and look what it got you. Element of loyalty my ass.
It seems the running theme of your comments on this fic has been "polyamory is doomed to failure and sufficiently entails a lack of commitment." Now, while I think polyamory is a linguistic abomination (mixing Greek and Latin roots? Come on people, it's multiamory or polyphilia) and I personally am hardwired for monogamy, I'm acquainted with a number of non-monogamous couples in loving relationships - one has an open relationship because one partner has mutilated genitals due to an accident and is unable to have conventional sex with the other partner, and another is a "core" relationship of a husband and a wife, with each partner engaging in emotional/physical relationships with other specific individuals (whom they refer to as their boyfriends and girlfriends). In both cases, these are couples who love each other very much and have mutually agreed to open up aspects of their relationship. It takes a lot of work, but those are their arrangements, and as far as I know, they are happy with them.
Now, if you have moral issues with non-monogamous relationships, that's fine. But what I cannot understand is why you persist in coming to the comments section of this fic and getting mad about the nature of RD's relationship with AJ. You are correct that a lot of the conflicts various characters are experiencing are due to post-coital emotional involvement, but the solution to that, as it is with a lot of problems in sexual relationships, is proper communication and honesty (are you okay with having sex now or do you want to wait/let's have a safeword/I'm just looking for physical involvement here, is that cool with you), and that's what's lacking here, not a problem inherent in the relationship dynamic itself. Since it's obvious these characters aren't behaving in ways you agree with, I don't understand why you keep coming back instead of accepting that this fic isn't for you.
275767 I have no issues with polygamy in a story. Just Rainbow is an idiot. Honestly, more than *half* of this crap would clear up if they communicated properly (even though there's a ton of dialog in this story, they just talk in circles and never tell the other ponies in the "relationship" they have instead of just sex. I mean, how was Twi suppose to know about the eye lash thing?) There hasn't that many scenes where they all group together and try to figure this all out. They just need to set up some ground rules if this is an actual relationship and not just Pinkie and Dash fucking everypony else with no actual feelings for them. If they were exclusive to themselves, that would be fine. But Rainbow getting mad at the emotional attachment others are having on AJ is retarded. It seems she just wants to fuck around with no attachment and have AJ do the same, but as a male. Polygamy isn't the issue. Rainbow is.
275868 That was your last Dash-bashin, son. You are talkin' on Applejinx's page, who ships Appledash HARD an' means it- and I am writin' a relationship drama, which is SUPPOSED to show troubles in paradise. I have been more'n charitable. In fact, there ain't NONE of my characters deservin' such treatment. Not even Twilight. She's just goin' through a rough spell right now. We are not gonna have Dash-bashin' or Twi-bashin'- y'all can express your concerns and I figure I can tell the difference, but they ALL have good hearts and mean well, 'cos they're ponies.
I apologize for this disruption- I could as easily delete posts like a madpony as it's my page, but I would like to be courteous to guests. Hope y'all enjoyin' the ride thus far.
275984 Fine. You are very good at describing what's going on in the scenes (and what's in the ponies minds) but still hold enough back so the reader can piece it together themselves (although sometimes it get's a little to much and the characters talk in circles, but I can understand why you do it, and I'm warming up to it). And I'm glad you have kept the characters as true to themselves as possible without it being a complete different character. That's kinda rare in a clopfic, even one with a story. And at the very least this isn't a Romance Reports' knock-off (thank Celestia for that). I'm actually more interested in the story than the clop, if you can belief that. Speaking of which, when this story's finish, you got any plans for another story? It would be great if you continued writing.
276091 Well, option 1: Trixie just about orgasmed herself to death just *seeing* Twilight that revved up, and is currently crawling along the floor either begging for mercy or to pleasure Twi.
Option 2: Twilight vaporized her.
AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE ME FOR TRIXIE? DO YOU?!?
The scene with Fluttershy and Pinkie was not only the best Flutterpie shipping I have ever read in my life, but it was astonishingly, achingly beautiful on its own merits, just as writing, in and of itself.
I am constantly astonished by your erotic scenes; you have shown me something I never considered in my life - that an erotic scene can be used to describe, develop, define, establish or illuminate a relationship between two characters as effectively, or more so, than any conventional nonerotic scene can. You do with tongues and labia what another writer might do with complex talks, long walks, or candle-lit dinners, and that this is even possible fills me with amazement. I have grown up in a world where sex is commoditized, censored, made a horror or an evil, then turned back into a commodity.
Yours is the first writing I have ever read that treats sex as a natural expression of a relationship, one that acts as communication as real and valid as any other. It is positively enlightening. And you do it again and again, with seeming ease, as if it were the most simple of tricks, as if it were effortless on your part.
Even more amazing to me is the breadth of how you approach it. From complex to tender (or both), from what most would consider kinky to vanilla, all filled with interweaving, multilayered character emotions, for me, reading your story has been almost like unlocking a puzzle, or perhaps, going to school. I feel like I am learning here, learning new things about life, the world, relationships, and how eroticism can be used in fiction - even if I do not feel that I could ever master such things, I at least feel like my mind is being opened in ways that really needed it.
This story has, chapter by chapter, felt to me like light shining into the dark, cobwebby places in my head, where a lifetime of repression and shame and fear has been stored in musty cardboard crates, and the chapters come in and sweep out some of that crap, and I feel lighter for it. That's an astonishing thing for me to realize, considering I am on the surface, reading a story about cartoon ponies playing sex games with a magical sex toy.
Yet that isn't what is happening here. That is just the conceit, the trunk of the tree on which hangs some strange and marvelous exotic fruit. There is so much more going on here, under that whimsical, silly premise, that it quite takes me aback.
How could I ever imagine that the most astonishing writer I would find on this site would be one seemingly writing a very silly clopfic, only to find that under the label and the appearance, is an entire classroom of things to learn? It's taken me this long, and this many chapters, to just break through enough to realize it.
Frankly, damn, you're good. And I'm learning from you, and I'm grateful for that. I am learning about myself and my own hang ups, about how anything at all can be used in writing to further character development and to demarcate the structure of a relationship, and how many layers of character emotion and complexity can be stacked and still be able to be interpreted.
276140 Well, there are also Options 3 and a few others, but those two are the ones that I'm kinda hoping happen in the dark parts of my brain seem most likely.
oh my god you write such an amazing story and I have loved every single second of it I'm so excited for the next chapter I cant even describe it the depth and care that you have taken into creating such a complex story is, to me, mind blowing, like divide by zero mind=blown. I'm just that I have to wait to read your next chapter *epic sad face*
276192 You are an amazing and beautiful person for creating such a brilliant post with such well developed ideas, I feel exactly the same way but am too stupid to present my thoughts in such a flawless way. By the way, have you read Romance Reports? If you like this story because of the amazing character development, then Romance Reports will probably become your favorite thing in the world. I gotta say though Applejinx, I think you're giving Sleepless Brony a run for his money.
Also, Applejinx, while I don't have time to read the new chapter right now, the description for "Party Soft" Is great, I can't wait to read it. This gon b gud.
This fic is better so far. Not to say that RR is bad - no, not at all, but it suffers from amateur-fiction fizzle syndrome: it sets up a great conflict and then loses steam and just goes "bleh" towards the end. It happens to a lot of good fics (Dangerous Business and Fallout: Equestria come to mind) and I'm just picking on it to be critical, not because it even impacts my enjoyment, really.
Specifically, RR has this great opening arc which ends with Twilight realizing that she's rapidly running out of friends who don't have perfectly valid reasons to hate her (whether they do or not). She's really, really contrite and steps back from the sex for a while.
So, anyway, that should be sorted out by the end, right? Twi learns to like the physical part, but as a part of a much greater whole, an emotional union where she and somepony else fill needs in each other they never even knew they had. Right?
Ah, who am I kidding? Her special pony gives a really good horn-job and has a nice-smelling mane. That's fine as it goes, but I war left frustrated imagining how the story could be better.
Now, I'm not 100% sure that TMB has even established its main conflict yet - part of that is the general softness of the SoL genre where character is such a bigger factor than plot - but it does such a great job either resolving or advancing conflicts rather than forgetting about them that I'm not really concerned.
The trauma of "Catch," to go back to the start of this arc? Every pony has now had their moment to process it, and except for Twilight (who is taking over the plot most darkly indeed), has a decent bit of closure. Before that, the big question was "how far does this poly relationship go?" and that's been given a good, hard look. Before that, it was all about AJ coming to grips with loving Dash and Pinkie (and each relationship having it's own flavor).
Now, we've got the AppleDashLight triangle, the related identity issue for AJ, Dash's continuing bone-headedness, the Twixie horror (eugh), and possibly the Princesses' involvement as loose ends -- and the story is steaming along nicely. This chapter functions to unwind Pinkie and Fluttershy from the foreground of the story (if needed, they can always be brought back in with a twist) and clear the way for dealing with the heavy issues.
Normally, plot isn't one of the things that makes or breaks a story for me as a reader, but I'm certainly enjoying it done right here.
(And taking notes - you never know when as a writer you'll do something stupid, like tackle your first novel... Speaking of writing, I have cookies, beer, a sensual non-clop, ideas, and my favorite keyboard. To the text editor!)
I don't see why Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle can't share Applejack. Aren't equines allowed to have more than one mate? Or does it work differently in Equestria? I mean I have read so many romance stories based on this show that I can't make heads or tails of how relationships work in this place.
Did... did you just riff on Joyce there? Will I ever be able to tell anyone about finding a freaking Ulysses reference in the midst of a lavishly detailed erotic fiction about My Little Ponies?
You are mad, utterly mad. Run away with me to the Bahamas.
Since I'm already commenting, why was Pinkie about to burst into laughter when she heard that Bon-Bon wanted her to promise to keep their sexy private nicknames a secret? Does everyone already know them?
Anyway, the real reason I finally decided to comment was to inform you that you are awesome. Namely, because you captured Pinkie so well with this phrase:
There was no bitterness here. The dream hadn’t been betrayed.
I actually burst out laughing upon reading that. I know it was an incredibly touching scene, but damn was that bit hilarious. I'm not entirely sure why I'm telling you this, except maybe because I wanted to integrate that question about the earlier chapter.
Dashie somewhat explained it to AJ several chapters ago. Even though they are sharing each other for body-sex, there are distinct sign of true devotion among the pony races. Pegasi; wing fondling/petting. When Flutter and AJ had there fun, Flutter kept brushing her wings on AJ shoulder--where her wings would be if she had any. It also ties in back near the beginning when Dashie and Flutter were playing, and Dashie said 'wings weren't touching, doesn't count'. Unicorn; the horn-gasm. Mainly for unicorn mares, but if enough pleasure is given the unicorn may have a magic-ejaculation from his/her horn. And with mares, you will never be rid of her if she does. Twi has had two of those from AJ, so she is beyond madly in love with AJ. And why Trixie is so hung up on Twi now. Earth-Ponies; biting on the rump. Enough said.
So although AJ and Dashie are 'sleeping around' with the others of the Mane 6-except Rarity--AJ and Dashie keep going back to each other with their spieces' receptive signs of true devotion.
Twi's gonna fuck some shit up! Fly Dash! Fly for your sexy life! And AJ, run! Run for your a bit too southern life! Pinkie is the master of oral in this story, so skilled. *Sigh* Going to finish this tomorr...technically today.
Oh my goodness, I think I have to scoop my heart up with a spoon after the first part of this chapter.
I really hope you can deliver on your promise of ponies cutting through the grimdarkness as is their adorable nature (did I get the quotation right? too lazy to source it), though, because the end to that second part...
Fluttershy has emotional problem? FUCKING TIME!! "Remember, it's okay to fuck anything that moves, BUT DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THOSE WINGS! That's crossing the line." God, you're fucking stupid Rainbow. You let Applejack have sex Fluttershy, but when Fluttershy was getting attached to Applejack and tried getting close to her emotionally, you freaked out. Rainbow, you're *still* a selfish idiot and the worst character in this story. It's all your fault. All of this. You completely forced your stupid polygamy bullshit and look what it got you. Element of loyalty my ass.
275649
It seems the running theme of your comments on this fic has been "polyamory is doomed to failure and sufficiently entails a lack of commitment." Now, while I think polyamory is a linguistic abomination (mixing Greek and Latin roots? Come on people, it's multiamory or polyphilia) and I personally am hardwired for monogamy, I'm acquainted with a number of non-monogamous couples in loving relationships - one has an open relationship because one partner has mutilated genitals due to an accident and is unable to have conventional sex with the other partner, and another is a "core" relationship of a husband and a wife, with each partner engaging in emotional/physical relationships with other specific individuals (whom they refer to as their boyfriends and girlfriends). In both cases, these are couples who love each other very much and have mutually agreed to open up aspects of their relationship. It takes a lot of work, but those are their arrangements, and as far as I know, they are happy with them.
Now, if you have moral issues with non-monogamous relationships, that's fine. But what I cannot understand is why you persist in coming to the comments section of this fic and getting mad about the nature of RD's relationship with AJ. You are correct that a lot of the conflicts various characters are experiencing are due to post-coital emotional involvement, but the solution to that, as it is with a lot of problems in sexual relationships, is proper communication and honesty (are you okay with having sex now or do you want to wait/let's have a safeword/I'm just looking for physical involvement here, is that cool with you), and that's what's lacking here, not a problem inherent in the relationship dynamic itself. Since it's obvious these characters aren't behaving in ways you agree with, I don't understand why you keep coming back instead of accepting that this fic isn't for you.
tl;dr YOU ARE KILLING MY BUZZ.
Yay flutterpie
275767 I have no issues with polygamy in a story. Just Rainbow is an idiot. Honestly, more than *half* of this crap would clear up if they communicated properly (even though there's a ton of dialog in this story, they just talk in circles and never tell the other ponies in the "relationship" they have instead of just sex. I mean, how was Twi suppose to know about the eye lash thing?) There hasn't that many scenes where they all group together and try to figure this all out. They just need to set up some ground rules if this is an actual relationship and not just Pinkie and Dash fucking everypony else with no actual feelings for them. If they were exclusive to themselves, that would be fine. But Rainbow getting mad at the emotional attachment others are having on AJ is retarded. It seems she just wants to fuck around with no attachment and have AJ do the same, but as a male. Polygamy isn't the issue. Rainbow is.
275868
That was your last Dash-bashin, son.
You are talkin' on Applejinx's page, who ships Appledash HARD an' means it- and I am writin' a relationship drama, which is SUPPOSED to show troubles in paradise. I have been more'n charitable.
In fact, there ain't NONE of my characters deservin' such treatment. Not even Twilight. She's just goin' through a rough spell right now. We are not gonna have Dash-bashin' or Twi-bashin'- y'all can express your concerns and I figure I can tell the difference, but they ALL have good hearts and mean well, 'cos they're ponies.
I apologize for this disruption- I could as easily delete posts like a madpony as it's my page, but I would like to be courteous to guests. Hope y'all enjoyin' the ride thus far.
275984 Fine. You are very good at describing what's going on in the scenes (and what's in the ponies minds) but still hold enough back so the reader can piece it together themselves (although sometimes it get's a little to much and the characters talk in circles, but I can understand why you do it, and I'm warming up to it). And I'm glad you have kept the characters as true to themselves as possible without it being a complete different character. That's kinda rare in a clopfic, even one with a story. And at the very least this isn't a Romance Reports' knock-off (thank Celestia for that). I'm actually more interested in the story than the clop, if you can belief that. Speaking of which, when this story's finish, you got any plans for another story? It would be great if you continued writing.
Quoth the Fluttershy: Oh... my.....
Loved the first part, but I'm a little worried that Trixie might not *be* there anymore at the end of the second part.
276050
Thanks- no immediate plans for another story, apart from finishing up The Old Castle (which ships, but is clopless)
276078
You should ask yourself what she did that she just flat out dropped the cup to smash on the floor! Oh, she's there all right...
276091
Well, option 1: Trixie just about orgasmed herself to death just *seeing* Twilight that revved up, and is currently crawling along the floor either begging for mercy or to pleasure Twi.
Option 2: Twilight vaporized her.
AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE ME FOR TRIXIE? DO YOU?!?
276115
Oh, but your mind is gonna be so blown... I can't wait to write the next chapter now
The scene with Fluttershy and Pinkie was not only the best Flutterpie shipping I have ever read in my life, but it was astonishingly, achingly beautiful on its own merits, just as writing, in and of itself.
I am constantly astonished by your erotic scenes; you have shown me something I never considered in my life - that an erotic scene can be used to describe, develop, define, establish or illuminate a relationship between two characters as effectively, or more so, than any conventional nonerotic scene can. You do with tongues and labia what another writer might do with complex talks, long walks, or candle-lit dinners, and that this is even possible fills me with amazement. I have grown up in a world where sex is commoditized, censored, made a horror or an evil, then turned back into a commodity.
Yours is the first writing I have ever read that treats sex as a natural expression of a relationship, one that acts as communication as real and valid as any other. It is positively enlightening. And you do it again and again, with seeming ease, as if it were the most simple of tricks, as if it were effortless on your part.
Even more amazing to me is the breadth of how you approach it. From complex to tender (or both), from what most would consider kinky to vanilla, all filled with interweaving, multilayered character emotions, for me, reading your story has been almost like unlocking a puzzle, or perhaps, going to school. I feel like I am learning here, learning new things about life, the world, relationships, and how eroticism can be used in fiction - even if I do not feel that I could ever master such things, I at least feel like my mind is being opened in ways that really needed it.
This story has, chapter by chapter, felt to me like light shining into the dark, cobwebby places in my head, where a lifetime of repression and shame and fear has been stored in musty cardboard crates, and the chapters come in and sweep out some of that crap, and I feel lighter for it. That's an astonishing thing for me to realize, considering I am on the surface, reading a story about cartoon ponies playing sex games with a magical sex toy.
Yet that isn't what is happening here. That is just the conceit, the trunk of the tree on which hangs some strange and marvelous exotic fruit. There is so much more going on here, under that whimsical, silly premise, that it quite takes me aback.
How could I ever imagine that the most astonishing writer I would find on this site would be one seemingly writing a very silly clopfic, only to find that under the label and the appearance, is an entire classroom of things to learn? It's taken me this long, and this many chapters, to just break through enough to realize it.
Frankly, damn, you're good. And I'm learning from you, and I'm grateful for that. I am learning about myself and my own hang ups, about how anything at all can be used in writing to further character development and to demarcate the structure of a relationship, and how many layers of character emotion and complexity can be stacked and still be able to be interpreted.
Thank you for your brilliant work.
276140
Well, there are also Options 3 and a few others, but those two are the ones that I'm kinda hoping happen in the dark parts of my brain seem most likely.
oh my god you write such an amazing story and I have loved every single second of it I'm so excited for the next chapter I cant even describe it the depth and care that you have taken into creating such a complex story is, to me, mind blowing, like divide by zero mind=blown. I'm just that I have to wait to read your next chapter *epic sad face*
Keep up the amazing work!
276192 You are an amazing and beautiful person for creating such a brilliant post with such well developed ideas, I feel exactly the same way but am too stupid to present my thoughts in such a flawless way. By the way, have you read Romance Reports? If you like this story because of the amazing character development, then Romance Reports will probably become your favorite thing in the world.
I gotta say though Applejinx, I think you're giving Sleepless Brony a run for his money.
Also, Applejinx, while I don't have time to read the new chapter right now, the description for "Party Soft" Is great, I can't wait to read it. This gon b gud.
tell me Trixie's not dead D: i love trixie <3
277310
>Romance Reports
This fic is better so far. Not to say that RR is bad - no, not at all, but it suffers from amateur-fiction fizzle syndrome: it sets up a great conflict and then loses steam and just goes "bleh" towards the end. It happens to a lot of good fics (Dangerous Business and Fallout: Equestria come to mind) and I'm just picking on it to be critical, not because it even impacts my enjoyment, really.
Specifically, RR has this great opening arc which ends with Twilight realizing that she's rapidly running out of friends who don't have perfectly valid reasons to hate her (whether they do or not). She's really, really contrite and steps back from the sex for a while.
So, anyway, that should be sorted out by the end, right? Twi learns to like the physical part, but as a part of a much greater whole, an emotional union where she and somepony else fill needs in each other they never even knew they had. Right?
Ah, who am I kidding? Her special pony gives a really good horn-job and has a nice-smelling mane. That's fine as it goes, but I war left frustrated imagining how the story could be better.
Now, I'm not 100% sure that TMB has even established its main conflict yet - part of that is the general softness of the SoL genre where character is such a bigger factor than plot - but it does such a great job either resolving or advancing conflicts rather than forgetting about them that I'm not really concerned.
The trauma of "Catch," to go back to the start of this arc? Every pony has now had their moment to process it, and except for Twilight (who is taking over the plot most darkly indeed), has a decent bit of closure. Before that, the big question was "how far does this poly relationship go?" and that's been given a good, hard look. Before that, it was all about AJ coming to grips with loving Dash and Pinkie (and each relationship having it's own flavor).
Now, we've got the AppleDashLight triangle, the related identity issue for AJ, Dash's continuing bone-headedness, the Twixie horror (eugh), and possibly the Princesses' involvement as loose ends -- and the story is steaming along nicely. This chapter functions to unwind Pinkie and Fluttershy from the foreground of the story (if needed, they can always be brought back in with a twist) and clear the way for dealing with the heavy issues.
Normally, plot isn't one of the things that makes or breaks a story for me as a reader, but I'm certainly enjoying it done right here.
(And taking notes - you never know when as a writer you'll do something stupid, like tackle your first novel... Speaking of writing, I have cookies, beer, a sensual non-clop, ideas, and my favorite keyboard. To the text editor!)
I don't see why Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle can't share Applejack. Aren't equines allowed to have more than one mate? Or does it work differently in Equestria? I mean I have read so many romance stories based on this show that I can't make heads or tails of how relationships work in this place.
Did... did you just riff on Joyce there? Will I ever be able to tell anyone about finding a freaking Ulysses reference in the midst of a lavishly detailed erotic fiction about My Little Ponies?
You are mad, utterly mad. Run away with me to the Bahamas.
Oh god Twi's mad
I am so hooked now. Just, wow.
Since I'm already commenting, why was Pinkie about to burst into laughter when she heard that Bon-Bon wanted her to promise to keep their sexy private nicknames a secret? Does everyone already know them?
Anyway, the real reason I finally decided to comment was to inform you that you are awesome. Namely, because you captured Pinkie so well with this phrase:
I actually burst out laughing upon reading that. I know it was an incredibly touching scene, but damn was that bit hilarious. I'm not entirely sure why I'm telling you this, except maybe because I wanted to integrate that question about the earlier chapter.
355250
Dashie somewhat explained it to AJ several chapters ago. Even though they are sharing each other for body-sex, there are distinct sign of true devotion among the pony races.
Pegasi; wing fondling/petting. When Flutter and AJ had there fun, Flutter kept brushing her wings on AJ shoulder--where her wings would be if she had any. It also ties in back near the beginning when Dashie and Flutter were playing, and Dashie said 'wings weren't touching, doesn't count'.
Unicorn; the horn-gasm. Mainly for unicorn mares, but if enough pleasure is given the unicorn may have a magic-ejaculation from his/her horn. And with mares, you will never be rid of her if she does. Twi has had two of those from AJ, so she is beyond madly in love with AJ. And why Trixie is so hung up on Twi now.
Earth-Ponies; biting on the rump. Enough said.
So although AJ and Dashie are 'sleeping around' with the others of the Mane 6-except Rarity--AJ and Dashie keep going back to each other with their spieces' receptive signs of true devotion.
I love it. Flutter's finally got the special some pony! Pinkie is just like a sponge here, taking that hurtful rant with a smile!
Best way to sum up this chapter.
And EVERYPONY RUN!!!! TWILIGHT IS GONNA BLOW!!!!!
And I have a feeling that it was both shock and a mare-gasm that made Trixie drop the cup of tea.
Twi's gonna fuck some shit up! Fly Dash! Fly for your sexy life! And AJ, run! Run for your a bit too southern life! Pinkie is the master of oral in this story, so skilled. *Sigh* Going to finish this tomorr...technically today.