Bribeaux hundreds of years ago was very different. Children didn't need to go to school, only the richest could afford tutoring for their children. Mostly, those pre-adult spent their days getting in the way, trying to be quiet, or laboring in unsafe conditions until they lost a limb. Thierry Chartrain had been intended to learn the family craft, whatever it was. (No one bothered to remember centuries later.) He hated the idea of being tied to the family business for the rest of his life, and ran off to the city, to join other urchins in thieving and letting their hair get shaggy. It wasn't that hard, in some ways. Gangs of young teenagers could hunt about like packs of animals, and food was plenty in this time before the revolt. Perhaps it was worse though, than if they had to spend their days scrounging for food. There was so much trouble to be gotten into...

     It took several horrifying seconds before Thierry remembered he could look away. His limbs had turned to piles of pudding by the horror, but he had to escape from the screaming and laughing. The lattice work that had proved so easy to climb, seemed so much more difficult going the other way. That screaming too, didn't help. This time of night, it wasn't an uncommon sound. Crime, of course, but also the scarcity of entertainment for those with money.

SO MANY WIGS. And boobs. I promise the next page and THE NEW YEAR'S BONUS will have less boobs. And more.... something else. --That you will like. :) Oh! If any French speaking readers see something I've screwed up, please tell me. Heh...

Now, for the other surprise! This is taking a while to get going properly, but I have set up a new comment system! Please bear with us while we work it out, and let me know if you have any suggestions. Unfortunately you will need to supply an email address, or some other way of logging in to comment. If you don't want to, please use a fake email 'your name' @ borfy.com. Let me know what you think! :D <3