hah! Really enjoyed this, and a nice droll follow-up to Nascent Flames. Not totally sure how I feel about the mild repetition I sensed from the “to be fair” when followed by “in my defense.”

Can’t wait to find out who the voice is coming from.

Brilliant stuff. Thought I’d try to do a third part.

The flame paragraph is wonderfully written. Nice description. I think this is more my problem than yours, but I had to reread the last part to get what was going on. Anyway, great follow-up.