Yes, I'm really glad we worked bits of this one out in advance. I wrote parts of it right after you shared that draft, so it really has been in the works for awhile. Thanks for the review! I hadn't thought of writing Paine's backstory, but now that you've put the idea in my head... This chapter was a joy to write, really. I had fun with the riff on Nooj's curses at the beginning, and it was a real relief to cut the drama loose and make them happy, even for a little while.

I think your part is the most likely to stand on its own because it was written first. But I expect reading it as a solo piece is a very different experience.

I imagine this style of storytelling has been done before (one event told from the point of view of different characters as written by different authors), but I don't think I've ever come across anything quite like it. More than anything, it seems the literary version of a role-playing game, with you as GM, running Nooj as an NPC, while the three of us play the other characters. Weird analogy?