REPOST: Hidden Heroes #3.2, Rules, Rules (REJUVE)
st...@age-play.net
on December 23rd, 2812. There have been a few changes since Lurking Dragon's
Melody series took place, some for the sake of character developement, some
for the sake of plot developement. I've tried to stay true to the original
universe.
This is part two of four. The entire story reached nearly 90k, so I've tried
to break it down so that each section is less than 30k in length.
I hope you'll enjoy!
This story and it's characters are copyright Storm
(s...@age-play.net) 2002. The Universe in which it is set is
copyright Lurking Dragon.
============================
Sonya was frustrated, alright. It was the stress that made her frustrated,
the stress and frustration that made her put on the cheerful act for the
children in her care. While she knew that they were there to be punished,
she also didn't feel it was fair to take her anger out on them. That would
be abuse, penitatas or not.
She'd argued with Shawn that very morning before he'd left for the
conference. His paper was completed, and going to be published within the
month. It was only the final review with the Board of Corrections that was
necessary before it would become a widely-read work of psychological
frustrations and learning.
Sonya's paper wasn't finished. They'd been given a limit of five years. The
only reason they'd been given that concession was that they were parents of
penitatas children, and that, itself, could take up much of their time.
Shawn was a dedicated writer, and had done his research using the old video
chips almost as soon as they'd returned to each other's arms and their house
at the age of twenty-one, the silver Cs of Completas gone from their hands.
Ah, yes, Sonya thought with a sigh. That had been an interesting adventure,
for sure. She thumbed through the various video chips that were now
scattered over her desk, trying to gather her courage to watch them. The
Board of Corrections had dutifully gathered copies of every video that had
been made, and as promised, there had been at least one a week, whether the
rejuves were being spanked in it or not.
They'd separated for the experiment. The idea was to gather opinions based
on their own experiences. For that reason Sonya hadn't even yet read Shawn's
paper.
Her own experiences, however, had forever affected her. She didn't want to
watch the videos, didn't want to remember how she'd screamed and begged and
tried to tell her 'parents' that they'd been doing it as a psychological
experiment. She didn't want to remember those times, and the hard, hard
spankings she'd received. The experience had been like no other rejuve she'd
ever had, and now she knew that she would be faced with the concequences of
the rejuve if she couldn't finish the paper within the next two years. A
heavy fine would be the concequences, and that would be too much. While the
rejuve had been done on a government grant, that didn't mean that the
product of the experiment didn't need to be returned to the Board of
Corrections. Sonya shuddered.
The woman palmed the chip nearest her with resolve, and inserted it into the
player, leaning back as the holographic image appeared, sharp and crystal
clear, so that she was soon faced with the image of herself as a rejuved
child, face down over her Mommy's lap, bottom bared.
Sonya had turned down the volume on the intercomm. It was only recording
now, so that she could go over the conversations later and discover if there
were any special needs that would need to be attended to. She'd be notified
by the computer if there were any major problems with her children upstairs,
but she strongly suspected that Spencer would be on his best behaviour. He'd
had several earned spankings recently, and wouldn't be eager to receive
another.
The volume on the intercomm low, however, meant that Sonya could hear what
was happening in the video she was now watching. She closed her eyes,
blocking the image, but could still hear her own shrieks as the hairbrush
landed repeatedly on her bare, upturned bottom.
Why had they decided to undergo such an experiment? Possibly it was because
they were the two premier penitatas psychologists on Earth, and that meant
something. Whenever the Board of Corrections needed to make a change in
their current policies, they consulted Drs Ellsburg first. And now, at
least, both Shawn and Sonya could say that they'd experienced the life of a
penitatas first hand.
Perhaps it had been then that Sonya had lost her real interest in spanking
the rejuves. She still enjoyed it, of course, but there was a pressing need
within her to mother them more than she had previously. She'd noticed the
same in Shawn's behaviour; he was quicker to offer comfort following a
spanking, and more attentive both to the needs of his children and to those
of his wife. Overall, the experience had affected both of them profoundly,
in many ways.
***
Upstairs, Karin was beginning to think she had a handle on what it really
meant to be a penny. It seemed to her, at that point in time, that the
experience was meant to make her feel absolutely miserable in every possible
way. That not only would her punishment include hard and frequent spankings,
but that moreover it would mean a feeling of loss and one of a lack of love.
Spencer was cold to her, and Shawn had gone away, for how long, she wasn't
sure. It was beyond her three year-old understanding to accept that he'd
only gone out for the morning and afternoon, and would be home by
dinnertime. It was beyond her understanding that it wasn't because of her
that he'd gone. Worse, she knew that Sonya was stressed, and again took the
responsiblity onto herself. If she'd hurt so many people in the past,
perhaps she would simply continue to do so. Karin sighed.
"Hey," Spencer whispered. Karin hadn't noticed him coming up towards her,
but now his breath was hot, right in her ear. She didn't dare turn to look
at the expression on his face, but the tone in his voice spoke volumes, and
she gave a little shudder.
There was an elvish sort of cruelty in that voice.
"I got something you can do, then we can talk, okay? I can tell you're just
dying to talk to somebody."
Now that was strange. Karin had heard of telepathy, and had experienced it
firsthand during the investigation. She'd even been told once, when she'd
been training to be a teacher, that she was an empath. She was well aware of
the connection between technology and improved senses, but it was hard for
her to accept that Spencer knew what she was thinking. Her head shot around
so that she was staring into the hateful dark eyes of her seven year-old
rejuve brother. Again she shuddered.
"See that intercomm over there?" Spencer whispered. He was fairly certain
that Sonya would have the receiver turned off on her end. Normally when she
mentioned 'work' she turned it off. There was no point in taking chances,
however, so he kept his voice low. When he was sure that he had Karin's
attention, he continued. "Go turn it off. There's a big red button on the
bottom. Red like 'stop'. Stop as in 'turning off.' Go press it."
Karin wasn't sure, and her eyes briefly searched Spencer's, not sure whether
she should do as he asked. Her heart ached with the need to be loved and
appreciated, to be accepted, admired, and to make friends. If she did what
he asked, maybe they could become friends.
"Come on, I'm not gonna say you did it! And if you turn it off, then we can
talk and Sony - I mean Mommy won't be able to hear anything we say! Come on,
Karin! Just do it!"
Karin didn't like the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was that
feeling that had always informed her when she was doing something wrong. Her
first-time mommy had called it her 'concience' although now she didn't
identify it in that way. She thought of it more as fear of another spanking.
Searching Spencer's eyes, however, Karin was sure that she didn't have a
choice. He'd told her to do something, and although he wasn't an adult and
couldn't spank her (without permission, that is!), she knew that there would
be some negative concequences if she didn't do as he asked. Besides, she
wanted to talk to somebody. She needed desperately to confide in someone
without the fear of another spanking looming over her head. He'd said that
if she turned off the intercomm, he'd talk to her, let her vent at him. Then
things might get better.
With one last, pleading look at Spencer, Karin got to her girlish feet....
***
Downstairs, Sonya was still concentrating on the image on the screen.
Watching the old holovideos didn't seem to really be helping her to
concentrate on the necessary paper. She'd made notes in the years since,
comparing the reactions Spencer had to his spankings to her own reactions,
and occasionally watching her own parents' penitatas children as she was
allowed to grow up again. It was a damned shame that she only had these few
to compare herself too. There had to be more notes, somewhere....
The files containing the notes were kept in a large storage unit against one
wall of the psychologist's office, and she stood up and moved towards it.
There was something she knew she should be looking for, but she couldn't
quite put her finger on what it was. Slowly, she opened a drawer, the third
one down from the top, and let her fingers begin rifling through the files
there.
Finally, her fingers stopped, and her eyes linked onto the name attached to
the file. "Amanda Snape," she read aloud before pulling it straight from
it's place. Her eyes darted to the section of the cabinet she'd been
searching, and her eyes read 'Innocentata children'. There were only two
other files, but all three were very extensive. Sonya could remember the
research she'd done. It had been important to her even before she'd become a
pentitatas herself. Shawn had never quite understood it, but now Sonya felt
as though she'd done the research then for a very good reason -- she now had
her thesis.
Sonya grabbed the other two files and carried the three thick folders back
to her desk, plopping them down there and taking her seat again. She
immediately paused the holovideo that she'd been watching and scanned the
files quickly. She could remember all of these three children -- it had been
hard to find innocentata children at the time, and her memories were quite
clear. Each professed the feeling of having actually come to feel guilty for
the crime of which they were eventually aquitted. Sonya had experienced the
same phenomenon during her time as a volutarus penitatas. Amazing, she
thought to herself as she stared down at the three files. "Why didn't I
think of it before?!"
***
The intercomm unit had a complicated interface, and Karin stood for a long
time, staring at it. Within her mind, a debate was occuring. She knew that
to turn it off could mean very serious trouble. Obviously it was there, and
turned on, for a good reason, and to turn it off might mean more than a bit
of trouble -- it might mean that Mommy wouldn't know if something went
terribly wrong. The more adult part of Karin's mind knew these things, and
the debate between adult persona and childish mind continued to rage.
"It's the big red button down at the bottom. See how the green light is lit
up? That means it's on," Spencer was explaining, staring over her shoulder.
Karin was too short to reach the intercomm unit without standing on
something higher. She glanced over her shoulder at Spencer, and realized
that he, too, was probably not entirely tall enough to reach it without some
kind of a boost. She wondered to herself if he'd ever tried to attempt such
a crime before in his year with the Ellsburgs.
"What'er the other buttons?" Karin asked, as she turned back to stare at the
unit. She recognized the numbers, a full set from 1-0. It was possible that
the intercomm also acted as a telecomm unit, but she couldn't reason that
there would have been such a device fitted into the bedroom of a seven
year-old penitatas. There had to be another reason for the numbers. She'd
seen similar units before, without the various buttons that she now
considered. There had been one in her classroom, in case of emergencies, so
that she could press a button and a buzzer would sound in the principal's
office. Help would be dispatched immediately. She recognized a similar
button on this particular unit, and she reasoned that it would set off a
similar call for help if necessary. Was there such a unit in her own
bedroom? She would need to find out later, in the case that something went
wrong. There was a strong sense of forboding for the little girl as her eyes
continued to study the device.
"Look, you just have to push that button," Spencer was saying. "I'll get the
chair for you so you can stand up on it. I'll help you. Then we can talk.
You do want to talk, don't you?"
Karin felt a hot, sudden surge of pain. More than anything in her entire
world she wanted to have somebody to talk to, somebody who wasn't at the
ready to judge her at the first chance they had. Although she had already
developed some affection for Shawn and Sonya, trust was often longer in
coming. "I.... yes...." she whispered, her lower lip beginning to tremble of
it's own accord. She didn't remember being a crybaby as a kindern -- she'd
avoided tears wherever possible. Her early years, however, had been happy,
until her mother had been rejuved for medical reasons when she was ten. Then
she'd become the woman of the family, and any time she'd needed to cry...
well, she'd held it all back within. "Be strong," she whispered to herself,
her body beginning to tremble slightly as she studied the buttons and
thought about the possibility of a code, or more.
"What? Look, it's not that hard. A baby could do it. All you have to do is
press that red button and the system turns off. Simple as that. I don't know
why you won't do it. If you don't turn it off, then Mommy will know
everything you say. You know she writes it all down, don't you? So she can
study us later." Spencer shuddered visibly.
Karin felt a chill go down her spine. She wanted to lash out at him, to tell
him that what he'd told her wasn't true, but there was no sense in that. Of
course it was true. That was the reason for the holochips and the audiochips
she'd seen when she'd first arrived. She wasn't supposed to see them, of
course, but they'd been there. Again, the little girl shuddered.
***
Sonya flicked the holovision on again. The image of a little blonde-haired
girl across a maternal lap popped back up, and Sonya turned the volume up as
high as it would go. She pricked her ears, listening for the sounds as her
hands rummaged on the desk for the case the chip had been in. She found it,
and glanced down at it. December 2nd, Year Two. That's what she'd needed. A
small, sly grin formed on her lips as her eyes darted back to the image.
"Mummy! Muh-Mummy no! Please! No more! I'll buh-be good! I wuh-won' ever do
nuh-nothing like that again!"
"Anything, dear," the woman said as she continued to assail little Sonny's
bottom.
One more piece of information, and then the observation would be complete,
the thesis formed. Sonya grabbed for the case again, staring down at it. The
label read: "Sonya Katrina Mashall -- December 2nd, Year Two, 2794.
Pentitatas Spanking."
She'd not looked at the labels before, nor had she really been interested in
the videos before at all, but Sonya knew that her parents had labelled the
videos as 'Penitatas Spankings' and 'Earned Spankings.' She had the
information she needed. Grinning, Sonya picked up her pen.
***
"Listen, if you don't press that button, not only am I not going to talk to
you ever again, but I'm going to make sure that your life here is just as
miserable as it can get. And it's going to be miserable enough as it is. I
heard Mummy say you were a murderer. That's got to mean at least four
spankings a day! You don't need my help to make you more miserable, but if
you don't push that button, by God I swear...."
Karin was ready to turn on Spencer. His words cut deep, the accusations, not
from her parents, or even from the Board of Corrections, but from another
little penitatas! What made him better than she was? She'd never thought of
herself as a violent person until the day that she'd been found holding a
bloody knife, hovering over her niece's slain body. She'd never lashed out
in anger. Sure, she'd spanked her students, that had been her job, after
all. And yes, she'd spanked her little niece on one occasion when she'd
really needed it, kindern or not. But she'd never been truly violent before
that day.
Now, Karin's hand itched to reach out and slap Spencer. He was taunting her,
cutting her deeply with his threats of withdrawing friendship, with his
accusations. Her heart lurched, sending chills down her spine and making her
stomach feel as though it could cave in at any moment, making her sick.
"And if you tell Mummy or Daddy what I said, then I'll make sure that
Corrections sends over ten switches next Christmas!"
Karin froze. She'd known that Christmas was only two days away, and that it
would probably be one of the most brutal special punishment days she would
experience. That is, of course, unless she discovered that she'd also been
assigned Thanksgiving. She shuddered at the thought, but her mind quickly
moved on. She wasn't sure of what Spencer's crime had been, but if he'd been
a slicer.... then perhaps there was a chance that he could slice into the
government's computers! She didn't want that, for good or ill. If he sliced
into her records and made good things happen for her, he'd still be found
out and it would be assumed that she'd had something to do with it! Then
they would both be in equal trouble. That would be quite a problem.
There was one other, lingering thought on Karin's mind as she moved to slide
the chair across to where the intercomm unit waited against the wall. One
last, prevailing thought before she climbed up upon it and reached her hand
out to press the red button. She knew that what she was doing was wrong, but
more than worrying about her own tail, about the amount of trouble she was
about to be in, she found herself concerned about Spencer appearing in
Penitatas Court for slicing into the governments computers. It seemed, to
the little girl at least, less of a thought and more of a premonition.
She shuddered as her finger pressed against the large, red button.
***
Sonya had barely managed to scribble the words, "Innocent victims of the
criminal justice system are harmed by being placed with penitatas parents."
Then, of course, she'd scratched it out. She wasn't happy with that at all.
Sighing, she tried again. "Those penitatas who are later found innocent
reflect guilty feelings following their aquittal." That made sense. Sonya
smiled. It would work, at least for now. She'd talk to Shawn a little bit
about it, and perhaps ask him if she could see his videos too for any traces
of such evidence, but for now, she knew she was onto something. Sitting back
with a deep sigh, she sipped the cup of coffee that sat on the edge of her
desk.
She could afford to rest for a few minutes. The thesis had been three years
in coming, and now that the idea had come, Sonya knew that she could easily
write the paper within the next year and do her presentation by Christmas
Eve of 2713. A satisfied smile crept across her lips.
And was quickly vanquished as an alarm sounded in the office, startling
Sonya so that she spilled the coffee down into her lap and jumped
immediately to her feet. She knew the sound, but she'd only ever heard it
once, many cycles ago when a particularly troublesome little penny had....
"Oh, shit," she muttered. She turned her head towards the door, and then
back into the room. There were choices, and she mustn't panic. The alarm
wasn't sounding to tell her that one of her children was in danger and
needed her help -- rather that one of her children had been naughty and
needed a good butt-blistering to set them back on the right track.
Sonya needed to know who had turned off the intercomm unit. In her panic,
she had nearly forgotten that the computer would keep a record. Not only was
there a small video camera in the panel, but further, the panel required a
password (hence the numbers) and would scan the fingerprint of any user who
hadn't entered the correct password.
The young mother rushed to the computer and flicked it on quickly. It took
barely a second to boot and display the error on the screen. Karin had tried
to turn the intercomm off. A picture of the three year-old, a worried
expression on her face, was displayed on the computer's screen, and when
Sonya toyed with the keys on the interface, she was disappointed to discover
that it had indeed been Karin's fingerprint that had been scanned. She
sighed. It wasn't foolproof of course. There were devices that allowed for a
retinal scan, but she'd not wanted to pay the extra money to have them
installed. Fingerprint would have to do, of course. And both photo and scan
proved that it was, indeed, Karin who had tampered with the unit.
There was one last thing, Sonya realized as she found her legs once again
carrying her towards the door. She was different from most Penitatas
parents, including her own husband, in that she liked to get to the root of
the matter before doling out discipline. Karin's reasons for trying to turn
the unit off wouldn't change the punishment that Sonya intended, even if
they were somehow honourable. The girl would have to learn the rules sooner
or later, and the best way to teach her was through the seat of her skirt.
Yes, she'd be spanked, and spanked severely, no matter what the little audio
chip said....
"Recorder stop," Sonya ordered briskly. "Rewind.... Play." She listened
carefully for five minutes to the conversation that had occured between
Spencer and Karin before the unit had been turned off. The woman could feel
her face growing hotter and hotter with anger and disappointment. This was
ridiculous! Spencer had been causing them some problems for the entire year
that he'd been with them. He'd cut school one day, and his grades were poor,
and he just didn't apply himself to learning anything, whether from a book
of from his penitatas life. Sonya suspected that there might be deeper
emotional problems, but when she'd tried to work through that with him, he'd
pushed her further away. She should have known that his reaction to Karin
wouldn't be positive!
Sonya had been angry before she'd listened to the tape, but she'd been angry
with Karin. Part of the woman had expected that Karin might begin to become
some trouble for her new family, given her past record. By their nature,
Sonya had noticed that the most violent offenders were often troublemakers
as rejuves, especially in their first one or two cycles. She'd even written
a paper on the subject. But when she'd listened to the tape and discovered
that it was, indeed, Spencer who had been behind the little trick, she
couldn't have been less surprised.
Sonya had already noticed something odd about Karin. She was sweeter in her
first few days than Sonya had expected. The mother had grown accustomed to
penitatas who were adjusting to their recent rejuve for the first two weeks
or so, but Karin had been submissive and mild throughout the past three days
since her arrival. Sonya wasn't sure what she'd expected, but it had seemed,
at first, that Karin's shutting off the unit was right in line with what
many new pennies did upon their arrival.
The goading she'd heard on the audio, however, confirmed Sonya's original
feelings about Karin. She was struggling with something, but what it was,
the mother wasn't certain. Moreover, Karin was behaving like a mild little
kindern, not a hardened criminal penitatas. Sonya would at least have
expected that Karin might have lashed out at Spencer's jibes, but she'd not
heard a sound to indicate such. Besides, the computer would have picked up
on any such activity, and she'd not been notified.
Sonya moved towards the cupboard where she kept her more severe impliments,
and began to look through them.
ErinP...@gmail.com
this is worse then anything i've ever written. My own stories
included. My advice is don't quit your day job. Infact switch your
dayjob around where you can also go back to school maybe this time
you'll learn more then just how to be a moronic sack of shit with no
skills whatsoever.
st...@age-play.net
<<this is worse then anything i've ever written. My own stories
included. My advice is don't quit your day job. Infact switch your
dayjob around where you can also go back to school maybe this time
you'll learn more then just how to be a moronic sack of shit with no
skills whatsoever.>>
Uh uh. That's why I've sold my writing in the past and will do so again.
Now, this story being almost five years old... It's not up to my current
standard of writing, and I didn't bother to do much proof-reading when I
first posted it. But if you were to look back at the original postings, this
series is quite popular and I expect that it will continue to be so.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I just ask that you keep your
trollin' ways out of my threads. You have no place here, Erin, and neither
does your viciousness. I've never said a single thing to you about a single
subject. If you're jealous of the positive response that my stories have
received here, I'm sorry. I can't help that. I have been writing since I was
fifteen years old and was first published at that age.
I was also a creative writing major when I went to college. And my
professors were so impressed with me that they tried to all pass me out of
their classes. So if you want to have a moan about somebody, try somebody
who isn't, basically, a PROFESSIONAL WRITER.
Storm -- feeding the trolls for the last time.
http://age-play.net
ErinP...@gmail.com
You are so far beyond being able to understand anything anyone here
says that this is just converging on uselessness. The really sad part
is that you really believe that you're winning. You are a shocking
waste of natural resources - kindly re-integrate yourself into the
food-chain. Just go die slowly and painfully you mindless flatulent
freak!
I seriously hope you fall and break that neck of yours. Freaks like
you diserve to be shot!
WHy don't you take your pathetic stories and your -15 IQ and fuck off.
good for nothing shit pile! God dogshit is smarter and better then
you. This place is for stories not freak-shit like you and your
stories. Don't take the fact that you're too STUPID to know a story
from the shit you spewed out on me you good for nothing mindless cunt!
You're nothing! You think you can take a shit and call it 'writing'?
HA! get real biatch!
Just because your inbred mom took a shit and called it givin birth to
you doesn't mean you can do the same and call it writing.
kindly fuck off and die whore-bag.
PS. I don't give a shit how long your unwanted -15 IQ ass has been
writing you suck and you carly do not belong on earth with humans
kindly fuck off and go back to planet shitface where you belong.
or better yet why not just kill yourself? You do know how to do that
right freak?
st...@age-play.net
Who on earth do you think I am that you are attacking me so? Prior to my
return to SSS after a four year absense, I had never seen your name before,
have never spoken to you before, and have, frankly, had nothing at all to do
with you before.
What on earth could be the point in attacking somebody you don't know so
viciously? Does anybody want to vouch for who I am here?
Storm -- Who has not been seen on SSS for four frickin' years and now is
getting attacked for coming back!
ErinP...@gmail.com
get lost you disgusting freak! I know damn well who you are.
Tony Elka
Barrister <Barr...@Assville.com> wrote:
> No one needs to vouch for you, Storm. We all know who you are. Erin is, at
> minimum, seriously emotionally disturbed and possibly certifiable. She
> attacks
> many here for no reason whaosoever and just as viciously. Like denis and
> Jennifer, she is best killfiled or ignored.
Seconded.
Tony
CrimsnKid6
> Who on earth do you think I am that you are attacking me so? Prior to my
> return to SSS after a four year absense, I had never seen your name before,
> have never spoken to you before, and have, frankly, had nothing at all to do
> with you before.
>
> What on earth could be the point in attacking somebody you don't know so
> viciously? Does anybody want to vouch for who I am here?
Well, I already kind of "vouched" for you in suggesting privately
to Erin that she read some of your reposted rejuve stories--she (Erin)
has written and posted some RU stories which IMHO have an interesting
premise (a female Penitatas being parented by people who were former
adult friends of hers) although the writing techique could stand
improvement in places.
Erin recently asked for help with some of her stories (not
necessarily rejuve ones), especially RE characterization, and
Katharine gave her some guidelines to follow. Since I've always
thought that the characterization in "Hidden Heroes" was quite good, I
suggested to Erin that she read a few stories to get a *feel* for how
you handle portraying your characters.
I didn't expect Erin would react this way, based on the fact that
she'd actually been fairly civil to Katharine (whom she'd earlier
bitterly disliked) recently. Clearly I was mistaken and just as
clearly I'm nothing like Dale Carnegie in helping anyone else (i.e.,
Erin) to "make friends and influence people."
> Storm -- Who has not been seen on SSS for four frickin' years and now is
> getting attacked for coming back!
Well, being attacked by Erin puts you in a somewhat less-than-
exclusive *SSS club,* I'd have to say. Too bad, I'd hoped that she
might relate well to a fellow female rejuve writer--she rather admires
Nadia.
Looks like I was merely "paving the road to Hell"...
H.I.A.W.B.,
--C.K.
ErinP...@gmail.com
Nadia? Storm got rid of Nadia?! I knew she was trouble from the
begining! Thanks for the warning CK.
Denis F. Oliver
"Tony Elka" <shado...@shadowlane.com> wrote in message
news:shadowlane-52610...@news.newsguy.com...
>
> Like denis and Jennifer, she is best killfiled or ignored.
>
>
> Seconded.
- Like larry, you are too stupid to realize that it isn't "best" to
killfile me or ignore me, Tony.
Denis
st...@age-play.net
Don't take the blame for her reactions. I think I did see that you'd
suggested that she read Hidden Heroes, and I definitely appreciated that
when I saw it. I worked very hard on this series and will continue to do so
as soon as my sleep patterns begin making sense again (I've been having some
health problems that have been keeping me up at night).
Clearly this is just a jealousy issue then. I'm glad that you like the
charactarizations in Hidden Heroes -- I've always considered
charactarizations one of my weak points, and that is definitely something
I'm going to be working on both with the new series and as I continue HH,
although, looking back, Karin, Sonya and Shawn are all good characters
(IMNSHO).