I've had some people tell me how much they've "learned" from 24/7. This is good, and I'm honoured! However, just in case any of you are trying this at home here's a little light-hearted guide to some of the stuff that's mentioned in the series. I don't think anything in 24/7 is unsafe (except possibly having sex in the office which might get you fired) but there are lots of great BDSM resource sites out there and if in doubt, I'd strongly advise taking advice from them and not a work of fiction. No, this *is* fiction. It is! Please don't ask me for a list of resource sites. I don't know any.

So, in no particular order:

Pony Trials. (Chapter 16) Yup. People really do this, and apparently it's fun. So I'm told. There are even websites devoted to it, and specialist Ponyfic. The world is a wondrous place.

Cock Rings (Chapter 3 and various) It's probably very unwise to go around in a gold cock ring all day, especially if you spend your life in the state of constant arousal that Mulder does. I wouldn't go so far as to state that your willy will drop off but it very well might. However, Four Gold Rings and a Plastic One didn't have nearly as nice a, ahem, *ring* to it when I wrote that chapter, so that's the reason for that.

Nipple Piercing (Chapter 6) It's not a good idea to either play with, or suck, newly pierced nipples as Skinner does in Chapter 6, not because of the pain (surprisingly!) but because of the slight risk of infection. I'm afraid I sacrificed verisimilitude for sheer erotic fantasy because it was a horny scene and I'm a girl. 'Nuff said. In addition, people's healing times vary. I spoke to a friend who has pierced nipples and used information based on that in writing this series, but other people have written to me to say their experience was different.

The 'Scene' (Various) Ah, the scene. So exciting in fic, so much more mundane and messy in RL. A bit like sex, actually. The scene does exist, and it's not even that hard to find. The 'Guardian of the House' is a totally made up concept because I liked the idea of it.

Bondage Equipment (eg the harness in Chapter 5) Should only be used by people who have taken the time and effort to understand exactly what they're doing. People who have unsafe BDSM sex are asking for trouble. It's not erotic to be in genuine fear of serious physical harm.

Wanda. (Chapter 4 onwards) Wanda is what we in the UK call a Lilac tortoiseshell Burmese. That means she's a mixture of creams, golds and softest pale gray. She probably has yellow or yellow-green eyes, although I call them green because it suits her personality. There are different breed classifications in the US, and I gather it's *possible* that she might be known as a Platinum Calico Malaysian over there. It's not important. Basically, she's gorgeous and she knows it!  The cat in the button at the end of most chapters is a lilac tortie Burmese so that's how you can picture Wanda.

Tops and Bottoms. (Various) There are generally more bottoms than tops on the scene, and for this reason most bottoms are happy to top. It is fairly common to be a "switch" which means you swing both ways. If you can manage to be a bisexual switch then you are clearly making the most of all available options and are probably *far* too busy to be reading this...