The kids are rather cute, I like them. And so is Josh. I like writing cute Josh so much more than jerk-y Josh, mostly because Josh-the-jerk is way too close to Jayson for my comfort.

I–dunno if Anna-Marie would recognize Cox or not. I doubt that she’s gone to many things where Cox would be pointed out to her. Even Darin, the first time we saw him and Cox in the same post, wasn’t entirely certain it was Cox. However, unfortunately it’s not Cox. Like Jayson, I’m not quite done with Cox yet.

Yes, seeing someone who was fried to death by lightning wouldn’t be pleasant. But with Raven and her Papa Bear around, Anna-Marie has the best chance of almost any of them coming out of this relatively okay.

Thanks, Morgaine!

Josh is usually good with people who he doesn’t feel he needs to put up a front for. Kids, servants, friends. It’s when he thinks that he needs to be a certain sort of person that he usually gets into “dick” mode. He can be a dick and bully. But that’s far more Jayson’s doing than Josh’s personality.

Yeah, I sorta wish it could have been Jayson, too. I can’t even legitimately think of a “pet the dog” instance for him. Petting dogs seems so out of character for him. So I’ll just keep him squirreled away for when I need someone to kick the dog or until I can think of some way to make that sociopath more human…

Well, all I’ll say so as to not spoil everything is it will hopefully make more sense after the next update.

Thanks, Winter!

Still, seeing someone die right in front of you = stressful as hell, even if you’re not eight years old.

As far as the kids being okay, as okay as they can be given the circumstances is about the only answer I can give…

Thanks, Van!

Then we find out it’s some random guy we’ve never seen before, and well, I think I can live with this.

Still, the post was cute up until the roll of thunder and the scream. I agree with Winter, Josh is going to be a good baron if he keeps being this nice. You would think that rulers would leap at the chance to be nice when it’s not going to cost them anything, but somehow Jason never seemed to get this memo …

… Hey, is there any chance that the guy Jason was with, who Anna-Marie identified as being someone she saw in church, was Cox? Would Anna-Marie know who Cox was?

Poor little kid, though. I’m glad that whoever it is that’s dead isn’t Elias, Bronx, Josh, or Darin, but it can’t be easy witnessing a sudden violent* death. I’m sure Papa Bear and her mama will be able to help, but they’re in for a rough time.

*Nature can be violent.

It’s a shame the dead person was with the baron instead of just being the baron. This business about the servant being sent to say Bet is sick is not promising. Though, if whoever was with the baron at church tried anything on Bet, we’ll know how he died.

I hope all the kids are okay!

And for being late. I really tried last night, but I was depressed as hell and got nothing done. We shall see who died and what happened–at least in part–in the next update.