The news channels are spasming, or frothing, or whatever it is they do. — Iain M. Banks

Ah, dear. How fine the line is between acceptably defiant bravado and hopelessly delusional boasting.

~My full name is the Mistake Not My Current State Of Joshing Gentle Peevishness For The Awesome And Terrible Majesty Of The Towering Seas Of Ire That Are Themselves The Mere Milquetoast Shallows Fringing My Vast Oceans Of Wrath. Cool, eh?

“Have you always been so suspicious, Banstegeyn?”

He looked at her, unsmiling. “No, I stumbled into a position of great power quite by accident.”