Hello, I am the Seelie Court Jester.

When I was little, I thought of myself as but a mere shadow, observing the things that come and go. Sometimes I was there, in the scene, but most of the time, I was quiet. It wasn't because I was shy, or angry, or anything of the sort; it was simply because I was curious. That aspect of my own childhood manifested into the character we all know as Jeremy Müller, a reporter who had an eye for the unusual.

When I grew a bit older, I read about the terrorists who instigated 9/11. It was then I got curious as to what was happening in the Middle East. So I did a bit of research, and I watched the news reports, as to what was going on. The revolutions in Egypt, the wars in Syria, as well as the misunderstandings from one group of people to another; I was saddened by all of it, but nonetheless, I was fascinated.

A lot of the themes in this story were inspired by those events. Children were made into living weapons, all because of some paranoia bred out of a group of extremists, who believed their ways were the right way; paranoia, which was induced by misunderstandings and the like, that led to tragedies such as those that were suffered by Danny and Sam. In it all, perhaps they were the real victims in this story; at least with Tucker, he got to die, not to embrace a living hell that his friends had to live in. Unlike them, he didn't have to live the guilt that he survived, while the rest of his classmates died. Unlike them, he didn't have anything to prove; in fact, he only wanted to make sure that his friends were safe, no matter what happened.

A lot of the prose in this story was inspired by a song written by Joe Hisaishi's song, First Love. It's an incredibly beautiful song, and I highly recommend you all listen to it sometime.

Thank you all for reading and following Decadence. I appreciate the comments you've all left me, and I hope you are all doing well.