@Evan The number of times I’ve read this comment in sheer delight embarrassed me. But I am proud to be proud of my work, and grateful that you loved it! You saw everything I was going for, you appreciated the little tidbits of worldbuilding I left—that’s my signature, I feel, is blending subtle worldbuilding into a story that can handle those extra hints—and you hit the nail on the head with nut butter. Yes, it involves cum. I hope I accomplished the effect of making the world feel like a real one, in which these characters live—even if some of its facts are surprising and not yet explainable, like the sex-based military. And Puck. Please, if you can, spread this around—I’m posting pretty late in the contest, and I can use all the ratings I can get. But don’t feel obligated. A review like this was enough to make me feel pride in my own work, and that’s enough reward for me!

@Meddler Incs I'm glad you enjoyed it! Puck is meant to be a teaser of the deeper lore behind the events of this story. I'm still spinning that out in my other stories on this site; he's been referenced in one story I've published and will have another mention later. I thought it'd be a fun little tidbit, and I left it until the end, so I hope it wasn't distracting =P

@The Author (name hidden due to challenge) Oh no, it was a perfect monkey wrench! That right amount of jarring that polished off the rest of the story. I like stuff like that. :satisfied:

@Elmara I have just read your bio and saw that you are nonbinary, so I’d like to apologize for calling you dude and any other misgendering I might have done in my haste to praise your story. Was just checking out to see if there was an update when I saw your bio. Hope you’re well!

@Elmara Thank you so much for this comment and your enthusiasm for this story! "dude" is totally fine to call me, and we just didn't have the chance to answer because of timing! Actually, we have one more long scene to write before we'll be ready to edit and then share the next parts! We'll be introducing another Magical Boy~! So glad that we're hitting those buttons and love that you get to enjoy Araci as a Brazilian! <3 Superslut would make a great press nickname for Max!

@Elmara <3 <3 <3

@Bl guy Hey, thanks for the comment. I know, it does seem a bit confusing. It will become clearer later on. I have been busy since the last time I wrote, but now that school is out, and I am free a bit, I will be able to continue. I generally watch a lot of Asian shows on a daily basis of Viki, so they do give me great ideas for what to use here (and other stories).

@Jonanator Glad to know you're great and also for replying to the mail I sent... looking forward to what you write latter. I get it, cause my chrome tabs are just filled with MDL and VIKI sites (and some others which I can't get on VIKI). Any specific shows you're watching which you'd recommend?

@Bl guy I am watching a bit of shows right now, mostly in China, there's really two reasons why I'm watching a lot of shows from there. In terms of which ones I think you should watch, let me see which ones are the best, and then I'll get it to you.

@Jonanator I recently watched Ancient Love Poetry and Hotel Del Luna, and tbh I loved both of them. I'm thinking of restarting Ashes of Love from where I left it off (I had to stop watching it in the middle cause i just couldn't stand the stuff Runyu was going through, it was too much for me, and lemme tell you I get easily attached to the drama characters). My all time favorite xianxia would have to be Love and Redemption. If you have an MDL account, I can send you friend request and we can share dramas there...

@Essex It's like a secret passion project :grin:

@Bl Guy I was going to have it happen like that, but I wanted to make a contrast between Rio and Janus, with the former having stronger hypnotic power and the latter having a stronger... tail power. Since Xander was caught by surprise, having never expected to meet a merman, that's why he fell :P

@Twan Andersen Lol I understand... but all in all, I'm team Janus through and through. Looking forward to what you write next...

@Heru Kane Oh, I got plans for the minions too, don't you worry.

@Stroppy Author I don't know why I didn't get notification for this. Once again, thank you so much for the kind words!

@Heru Kane Princess is too fabulous and non conformist, and it's also a nod to a character somewhere else. As for the other comment, we alreadu discussed and won't spoil here.

@Steve Jones Hi Steve! Thank you for reading, I'm only just now finding the comment, so thank you very much for your kind words. As for the 20 years, I guess the voices were quiet, and maybe now I'm off my meds? Could be. Just, needed to bring some light and fun while working on something else, and this came along. Hope you have fun with the rest.

@Jack Parker Ok, first, gotta fanboy: AAAAHHH, Jack Parker read my story! Now, with that out of the way, thank you Jack. For some reason, I didn't get the notification so I only now saw it, and by now, you maybe know this went onward into crazy, but I thank you for the kind words!

thanks @Nephilim i hope to get around to finishing the next chapter within a few days (but I said the same about Bella's Pastoral Life chapter 2, too!)

@A Possession A Day A little bit of evil to spice things up :grin:

@Essex Soon, soon :grin:

@Twan Andersen He is so fun to write! We'll just have to see what the next chapter holds :grin:

@Feed Your Head Thank you! Maybe I should clarify some things: This is a dream, so it’s Luke’s subconscious speaking to him. The janitor isn’t a real person (he’s not even based on a janitor at Luke’s school) The whole “admit you’re a pussy” thing is Luke’s subconscious trying to get him to wake up! (Metaphorically) So I don’t consider it a rape scene, I tried to make them clear because Luke also participates in the encounter and enjoys it, the consent is implied rather than outright stated. That being said, I understand the interracial and questionable consent stuff isn’t for most people. I do like to play with those classic tropes. My stories are always going to be kinky stories that break taboos - I understand that it’s not for some people. It’s a tough balance to crack for sure. And I’m hardly the only writer on here to deal with these themes. Keep in mind that the janitor is a figment of Luke’s imagination. So it’s maybe based on a deep subconscious _desire_ that he already has, of this big “alpha” black guy that is going to dominate him.

@Charlie Walker Thank you for taking the time to respond! :D It is lovely to have a conversation with the author, although as always, I preface this by saying it is YOUR story, so you get to decide what happens in it. I'm a bit confused about the idea of the janitor not being a real person, because Luke outright says that he's "that janitor I saw around school a bunch." Obviously this needs to be set up for the dream twist surprise, though, so it makes sense. :p I think I'd be more comfortable with the race question if there were other Black characters in the story; the fact that the first Black man we see is the stereotypical "big-cocked assaulter" adds salt to the wound. But that just raises another question: should we shy away from negative stereotypes altogether? I know that some people get off on the old ideas--to cite another example, there are a lot of tales on this site about "real men" pounding the hell out of "sissy bottoms." But is that OK? I don't know... Humorously enough, while you're DEFINITELY not the only author to explore the themes in this story, I have a greater emotional investment in this particular tale. :p I want to preface these comments by saying that ALL of the authors I list are amazing, and I do not intend to bash them, because they're experts in their craft. However, I think there's an odd inverse proportional relationship to the nature of consent to the level of detail/character development in the story. Willie Cici, to cite an incredible example, is amazingly prolific and writes short, excellent, to-the-point stories. The questionable nature of the consent therein thus isn't really a thought that crosses my mind, because that story was written for one purpose (and he does that purpose well). This story, on the other hand--as akin to people like dear Swizzington, or the relatively new GoonNoob--focuses a *lot* on character development and what's going on inside the minds of the characters; as such, questions of consent, rape, and assault tend to surface in my mind more because I'm really invested in what's happening. And finally, call me one of these new "woke" folk, but I do believe in the whole idea of "consent needs to be given freely and stated explicitly--it can't be implied." All this to say that it's a testament to your skill as a writer that I've become so invested in the story that I don't want Luke to get hurt! He's such a sweet guy, and as we've discussed before, your giving him an ASD makes for representation and interesting questions. Thank you again for taking the time to read my comments!

@Feed Your Head If you have these kind of ideas re: consent and stereotypes then I don’t think my stories are a good fit for you. If this is the only thing I’d mine you’ve read you might have the wrong idea about what kind of stories I write. I’ve written many things that are far far more taboo breaking than this. This I think is a central problem with me trying to balance character development with kinky taboo porn. I like sweet romance but also pure filth - even going so far to write stories that are more obviously non consensual than this. I like to both play with stereotypes and reject them. Luke may seem like a stereotypical “dumb jock” but he’s more than that. There isn’t more to the janitor because he’s a figment of Luke’s imagination. I don’t think portraying the way that people can be subconsciously racially biased is racist in and of itself. Also I’ve written several black characters before that don’t fit these stereotypes. Again if you haven’t read anything else I’ve written you just wouldn’t know. So I’ll just make it clear: my stories may contain non consensual scenarios and will play with stereotypes, including racial ones. If that’s not for you that’s fine. Just want to give you fair warning.

@Feed Your Head Also re: consent. It seems a little bit like you’ve been infantilizing Luke. Just because he’s on the spectrum doesn’t mean he can’t be kinky or consent to sex. Lots of people on the spectrum are kinky. Just because somebody has struggle reading social cues doesn’t mean they are unable to consent. Also he does explicitly consent anyways. He tells the Janitor “Put it in already!” Which if that isn’t consent then 🤷‍♂️

@Charlie Walker Hello, hello! Oh, don't worry--I've been reading your stories for a LONG time. :D I love them! Part of the reason I was so excited to see this tale revived/relaunched was that the last chapter with the doctor, and the cliffhanger with Coach--well, in case people haven't read it yet, I'll leave it as a surprise--is one of my favorite pieces on this site. It's definitely for me! Please take my ramblings with all the grains of salt you need. :) You raise an excellent point about finding that sweet spot between romance and kink...you're one of the best authors on here for that! Last one that did it this well was "Curse of 100 Bottoms." I've been eagerly awaiting each new update, because you're able to find that balance so beautifully. I personally prefer the world-building and character scenes to the sex ones, but that's just me and *my* reading style. This is YOUR story, and you need to write what YOU like. :) As for the stereotypes: I know you've written other Black characters before with more depth. I'm a bit of a hawk about that kind of thing, so I bring it up when I see it. Again, pour all the grains of salt you need on it. And I know that people on the spectrum are capable of consent, too. Without getting into TOO much detail, let's just say that I'm sensitive about consent because I have some very unpleasant memories with it on both ends, before I knew better... In any event: please don't take my comments as a sign of dislike. I *love* your stories, and I love the ways you subvert and explore stereotypes within them. They're definitely for me, and I want to thank you for writing them! :D

@nycboot thank you so much for saying so. I’ll have to read that book. The parental aspect of it was crucial, and Sabin’s monologue about being the worst was verbatim something I dealt with. Nothing more impactful than the truth and that’s why I felt it worked perfectly for the piece. I really appreciate you saying it’s worthy.

thanks for the support @NeedControlling i hope you'll enjoy where I'm going with this