Posted by YepMcNope 3 years ago Report

And so the plot thickens...

Nice! This was a really interesting change of pace, all while Rosemary and Sage are the same as ever.

Seeing them openly taunt the assassins at gunpoint was hilarious. It's one thing for them to bounce off each other, but you gotta love their ability to sweep everyone around them into their inanity and irreverence as well.

Seeing Sage through the eyes of people who knew him before really does put his own changes into perspective now though, huh? While he'd previously have panicked at the mere sight of what Rosemary did to the thugs, this time he was able to remain so calm it was terrifying- to Otis, anyway.

Well, those old feelings of anxiety clearly aren't totally gone though, considering the whole deliberation regarding responsibility for their deaths. But his resolve to take that responsibility seems like him getting past one of the few barriers remaining.

At any rate, good to finally see a peek into good ol' "Nathan's" MTB (yes, I did just abbreviate that), though once again you've left me hungry for answers. I can only speculate on the truth behind Soroni's intentions, as well as how Sage found out about predators in the first place.

For now, though, we'll just have to wait. And since you didn't specify exactly what day it'd be, I'll just say it now:

Happy early birthday!!

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Ewww, don't call him Nathan! He prefers Nathaniel. Although I was entirely too pleased to torment those two. Imagine learning the creator who decides your fate is just reveling in your humiliation.

But thank you! The original plan was to go a lot farther in this story, but once things flesh out, the stopping point often surprises me. I'm actually still ironing the kinks out of the "MTB", but I hope everyone finds it satisfying after all of the buildup when the time comes.

And thank you for the birthday wishes! It's on the 29th, if you were curious.

Posted by YepMcNope 3 years ago Report

Oh, I know. Hence the quotes. I'll just call him Sage either way, much like Miss S'Mary over there.

To find that you exist as nothing more than a side character to be humiliated and disposed of... must be a terrifying fate. One could write an entire story off that concept alone. Maybe if I ever get off my lazy butt and write something, I could do that.

Your endings often sneak up on you too, huh? I hadn't considered that, but it makes sense. They always feel like they *could* continue, despite the presence of a good stopping point.

The 29th? Good to know. I hope you have a great birthday weekend!

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Yeah, I'm just teasing a bit. But hey, if the concept inspires you, go for it! I know how hard it can be getting motivated to start sometimes.

I like to think it's fitting, though. Maybe a story can have an overall endpoint, but just between chapters there's a kind of a constant flow, just like how life (usually) has no chapter breaks. It helps that I really do prefer opening and closing with dialogue, though; it's immediately engaging to start and expresses a clear thought or feeling to end on. Although, do you find the stories too short right now?

And thank you! Friends are available then so it should be good!

Posted by YepMcNope 3 years ago Report

Figured as much~ And yeah, I'll see what I come up with.

I don't think the stories are too short at all, and that's coming from someone who is always left wanting more, haha. Each chapter is a respectable length and tells its own self-contained smaller story within the scale of the overarching plot.

Posted by YepMcNope 3 years ago Report

...So, much to my surprise, I ended up writing that story after all.

And speaking of story length, it ended up almost exactly the same length as this one. What are the odds of that?

Thanks again for the idea~

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Congratulations! I'll need a bit to get to it, but it's already great that you took the initiative to write your own work!

Interesting that the length matched though...maybe this is just a good span for a short story to be with parameters like this.

Posted by TheMysteriousSadSack 3 years ago Report

Sage's life must be some crazy rabbit hole to get hitmen sent after him

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Sometimes you just run afoul of the wrong people. It's not like he's the only one.

Posted by RDRW 3 years ago Report

Sage (or should I say Nathaniel?) and Rosemary messing with hitmen is definitely a complete change of tone, but again a very entertaining story.

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Either works, but it's kind of Sage now because Rosemary said so.
Glad you liked it!

Posted by Artthegreat 3 years ago Report

I enjoyed it and understand it was all in good fun, but it seems a bit in bad taste to make a joke (I think?) about eating Sage so soon after promising that they are non-homocidal friends (whatever the exact wording was) at the end of last chapter.

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

I did only mention it once, but it's been a couple of weeks since then. That's also why Sage is now casually using "RoseM", Rosemary's close enough to be wearing his shirt (and it's been laundered since it was last seen), and Sage has become so desensitized to her predation.

Posted by Birichino 3 years ago Report

Thank you so much! I know it's been a while, but I am planning to loop around back to this series when I can. Glad you're enjoying it!