Luna drifted in the soothing waters of half-sleep, brushing past warm, half-formed memories as she watched the sun rise. It looked rather odd, the way the orange-tinted light softened the cold whitewashed walls. It almost looked . . . friendly. That's a new adjective. Usually "cheap", "boring", and "cold" fit the room just fine. Not that I mind the new look.
She offered a small smile at the ceiling, a touch of encouragement to support the change, the newthat had somehow managed to arrive in her life. It felt like the threadbare embrace of that ragged, dumpster-scavenged blanket from her childhood, unexpected and warm and safe.
"Nice to have you here," she mumbled, the sleep-filled words tasting thick and sweet. "Spending time with Luna." Probably just a dream. Maybe it'll talk. We can have a conversation about colors and decorations. Lots of fun.
"Um . . . Luna, were you talking to me, or is this some more of that nightmare stuff that you told me to ignore?"
Ceiling answered. Doesn't sound like I thought it would. This a dream? Luna squeezed her eyes shut, waited for a few seconds, then - in the slowest and most deliberate manner possible - pinched her left arm as hard as she could. Her eyes snapped back open as she bit back a hiss of pain. The ceiling still blushed orange, though, which meant the either she'd gone crazy and started hearing voices or . . .. "Thomas?"
"Oh, you were talking to me," Thomas said, sighing. "Good. I don't like it when you have problems in your sleep, you just sound worried or sad or mad, and I can't do anything to . . .," he trailed off, his voice speeding up a bit after the pause as if to make up for the empty space. "Um, anyway, I'm really glad to be here, spending time with you. It's my favorite thing to do, in fact."
What did I do to make him like me? General grumpiness and morning hangovers don't tend to make me many friends.
Wrestling gravity and a creaking spine, Luna struggled for a moment before she managed to balance in a hunched-over sitting position. Rubbing at her eyes, she let out a big yawn to buy herself a few more seconds before she'd have to answer.
And . . . nope. Still got nothing. "Well, um . . .. Thanks. I guess," she replied, offering a half-smile to add a bit of substance to her words. After a couple seconds of silence, she added, "I like talking with you too."
"You really- ah, I mean, uh . . .." Thomas's rectangle flopped onto its side for a second before righting itself. "Good to hear it. I believe we're still in the 'Luna can deny anything she says within fifteen minutes of waking up' phase, so forgive me if I check again later."
"No, I mean it," Luna insisted, the half-smile growing into a full-blown grin. "Talking is nice. Most of the time anyway."
"Um, wow. That's great and, uh . . .. Oh yeah, you wanted me to remind you that today's payday!" Thomas announced, pixilated confetti raining down around his rectangle. "Yay, people give you money! Right? I don't think one of those has happened yet. At least, not while I've been here."
"No, I don't think you have . . .." Luna closed her eyes, dredging up her somewhat-fuzzy memories of the past two weeks. "I went out to the club on my last paycheck, and that was the evening we met. Tael tried to steal things the next day . . . so this means we've all known each other for about two weeks." Luna blinked at the realization; it had certainly felt longer than that..
"Hm . . .. Two weeks. Does that mean we get to have a party?" Thomas asked, his rectangle morphing into a dancing birthday cake topped with two candles. "I'd rather like one of those. We can have ice cream and watch a vid and tell stories, and you can't go to sleep until everything is over."
Luna released a small sigh, shaking her head at his extravagantly detailed plan. But how am I supposed to explain to him that I don't do parties? Don't want to crush something he's probably spent a while thinking about, but . . . well, he can't even eat ice cream. There, that's my argu—
"We could even have a little banner, something that says, 'happy two-weeks of knowing each other'," Thomas continued. "And we could hang it above the holoscreen, that way it would cover up that crack in the wall that you're always complaining about."
"Well, there's a bit of a problem with that." She lifted a hand, forestalling whatever protests he'd no doubt already prepared. "You can't eat ice cream. And we don't have a banner. And besides, I don't . . . I'm not the kind of person that can plan out and set up a party. Sorry."
Thomas went quiet for a few seconds, his silence sending a pang of guilt through Luna's stomach. Great. Now I've ruined his—
"Oh, that's okay, you won't have to do anything; I'll plan it all out. And it'll be a surprise party, so you won't even know it's coming." Thomas shifted his avatar back to the rectangle, the shape bouncing around the screen almost too quickly for Luna's tired eyes to follow.
"Works for me, just . . . if you plan on me staying up late, make sure I won't have to work on the next day." There, that's reasonable enough. He'll probably forget in a few days, but on the off chance he doesn't, I suppose I can stand a bit of junk food.Satisfied with her plan of action, she climbed out of bed, wincing as her bare feet met the ice-cold floor. "So . . . you want to wake up Tael, or should I?"
"I've got it, you go ahead and get ready. Don't want to be late for work!" Thomas answered, tilting his rectangle into a slight nod before disappearing from the omni-tool display.
Luna gathered her daily necessities from around the room, smiling as she heard Thomas begin his carefully formulated "Tael-Wake-Up-Now-Or-You'll-Be-Late-For-Work Sequence". A bit wordy, maybe, but also very precise. And he repeats the title a couple of times throughout the process, so I'd say it's more than fitting.
"Tael. Taaaaaaaaaaeeeeel. Wake up now, or you'll be late for work," Thomas crooned in a bright, sing-songy voice.
Her smile grew at Tael's answer: an enormous snore only partially masked by the clatter of clothes hangers as she rummaged through her closet.
"Tael? You can't still be sleepy, you've been lying there for hours and hours. So, since you're obviously not tired and just pretending otherwise, I need you to stop. If you don't wake up now, you'll be late for work." Thomas said, trading his hushed whisper for a conversational volume.
"Idontwannalevmelone," Tael mumbled.
"Oh, come on. Today's payday! You don't want to miss out on the piles of money that everyone gets, do you?"
"Mmmmno. Lemmesleepyoukeepthemoney."
Luna entered the bathroom, shaking her head as she closed the door. Thomas would wake him up eventually. The sleep mumbling was a sign of progress, at least. Another fifteen minutes or so of gentle prodding and poking and he'll be up. Well, he'll be conscious, at le—
A dull thump vibrated through the tiled bathroom floor, interrupting her train of thought.
Or he'll just roll off the couch and speed everything up. How very unfortunate. Despite her best efforts,an amused snort slipped out before she could force her face into a concerned expression. Not that it really mattered, no one could see her. Well, except her reflection, that gaunt, unpleasant specter that always followed her around.
Removing the mirror so I can laugh freely. That's something I should put on my to-do list. But for now . . . focus. I've got credits to earn.
A few minutes later, she basked in the lukewarm – yes, lukewarm. As in not freezing cold – water. I guess some people moved out, or the apartment complex actually installed something that wasn't built before I was born. Weird thought, I know . . .. I guess I'll find out when they bill me for my rent next month.
Tracing a meandering design onto the water-drop laden wall, she let her mind wander away from ordinary concerns. Something I'd like to know: how has Tael gotten worse at waking up? I'd think he'd settle into some sort of sleep schedule by now. Maybe I should set up a time for him to go to sleep, so that he . . . wait. No. Luna shook her head, trying to pull her thoughts back into order. He's an adult, working at a job, and I should treat him like one.
He'd done plenty of things to earn that respect, too, things like dropping the idea of scanning Thomas and showing up at work reliably. And yeah, he's stealing, but at least he isn't taking all of the food.Luna frowned, thinking through that last bit again as she drummed her fingers against the shower wall. That's . . . a pretty weak consolation, but he's made progress, and that's what I've asked for this whole ti—
The rest of her thoughts scattered as the shower head replaced her supply of nice, tolerable-temperature water with freezing sleet. Hundreds of drops peppered her skin, bleeding away all feelings of warmth and replacing them with hair-raising, teeth-chattering, if-you-weren't-awake-before-you-are-now cold.
Biting back the first twelve words that leapt into her mind, Luna shut off the shower. As she worked through the rest of her routine, irrepressible shivers shook her hands, only starting to calm after she had finished drying and pulling on her uniform. Her good mood for the morning had disappeared along with the almost-warm water, giving her a stern expression and an intense glare that just dared for someone to display overt levels of cheerfulness. I'm not having it, not now.
Then she realized she was humming.
Just a little tuneless thing; to call it a song would almost certainly be an insult to every musician who's ever lived . . . but she'd been humming.
Why? I've just had my morning ruined by an evil water heater. I shouldn't be doing happy little hum-de-dums. The time itself presented a more than valid reason to not be cheerful;mornings, after all, are uniformly terrible, no matter how often Thomas tried to tell her , she couldn't help humming a few more notes as she finished brushing her teeth.
A few minutes later, Luna stepped out into the living room, giving the furniture a perfunctory look around before settling her gaze on Tael. He sat at the table with his back to her, shoulders hunched and head drooped.
"Hey Tael, what's up?" she asked, walking over to the kitchen cabinets. After a moment of indecision, she picked out an especially indulgent breakfast: a protein bar and a couple local fruits that looked and tasted suspiciously similar to oranges. Of course they carried a different name and a significantly higher price, but they were worth it.
Tael just stared at the table, so still that Luna almost thought he'd somehow fallen asleep in the middle of eating his breakfast.
Luna answered his silence with a small shrug. He was tired and trying to get some food in his system; she could respect that. Besides, a few weeks back I was just as tired as him, and way more grumpy, so I can't really complain. So she sat down in her chair, enjoying both her food and the quiet. More often than not, this would be Thomas's cue to start talking about some random subject, but he hadn't returned to her omni-tool yet. That probably meant he'd stayed there to fix . . . What's her name? Starts with an L . . .. Thomas had mentioned the other program to her a couple days back, but it had only been in passing, and she really hadn't taken to time to commit it to memory . . ..
"The ceiling," Tael mumbled, drawing her attention back to the present.
Luna blinked, raising a questioning eyebrow as she popped the last bite of food into her mouth. "Uhm . . . Yes?"
"You asked 'what's up?', and I said the ceiling," he explained, a dull chuckle following his words. "Get it? The ceiling's above us, so . . .."
Luna groaned. "That's stupid. Class-A dumb." She stood from the table, shaking her head. "If this is what happens when you stay up late, I'm going to have to veto the next movie night request."
"But, I uh . . . hm. You know what? That might not be a bad plan." Tael climbed to his feet, one hand clutching the edge of the table for balance. "Sleepy is not fun."
Luna nodded her agreement as she walked toward the front door. "All you need is something to shock you awake. Freezing cold showers work pretty well, but you're in that suit so maybe something surprising or scary or . . .," she trailed off, frowning in confusion. She'd taken off her boots right next to the entryway yesterday, so why was the left one missing? "Thomas, Tael, have either of you seen my other boot?"
Thomas appeared on her omni-tool a second later, his rectangle wiggling on the display before transforming into a magnifying glass. "Well, you usually leave them by the door, but sometimes you put them in your room, next to the shelf."
"I don't think they're there," Luna replied, closing her eyes as she tried to remember last night. "I went through everything pretty thoroughly this morning, but I guess I can check again. Unless you have an idea, Tael?"
"What? Sorry, I kinda zoned out there for a second. What are we talking about again?" Tael asked, his words tumbling over each other in a very un-sleepy-like manner.
"My boot? I need it to go to work," Luna answered, narrowing her eyes slightly. No, Luna, don't get all suspicious. He's probably just acting weird from lack of sleep.
"You know we have to leave, right? I don't want to be late. It could be anywhere. Don't you have another pair of shoes you can wear?" He said, picking at his suit's pressurized seals.
Luna shook her head, walking past him to check her room again. "I don't have anything else I can chase criminals in, and I somehow get the feeling you're not feeling up to running around today either, Mr. I-go-to-sleep-really-late." Everything else I own has some sort of heel. With my luck, today's the day someone would decide to break in, and then I'd trip and . . . yeah, not going to do that.
"Oh. Didn't know that. Well, uhm. Maybe you should check the cabinets?" Tael offered.
Luna turned and stared at him, trying to tell why exactly he'd decided to start making stupid jokes right now. Or maybe . . .. He doesn't sound sarcastic. Which is odd. There's no half-smile or any hint of humor. So . . . what's going on?
"I mean the one that we keep the bread in. Yeah, that seems like a good place to check," he elaborated.
"Okay . . . I'll check. Even though that makes absolutely no sense." Luna walked to the cabinet in question and pulled it open. Inside sat two loaves of bread, a bag of chips that had been tossed inside during a bout of laziness, and . . . a black combat boot. What.
She pulled out the shoe, careful to not knock anything else out along the way. After staring at it for a second, just to affirm that it really was her boot, Luna pulled it on and turned to face Tael. She started to question him, to at least understand why, but the whole nonsensicalness of the situation left her speechless. So she just stared at him.
Tael gave a weak laugh, hands still picking at his suit. "That's pretty weird, huh? A boot in the cabinet. There's no logical reason that should be up there."
"No, there isn't," Luna agreed. This has to be the strangest thing that'll ever . . . no, I'm sure one of them will top it sooner or later.
Thomas changed back into a rectangle, the shape bouncing excitedly in the omni-tool. "Ooooh, I think—"
"Someone must have put that there deliberately, as part of some poorly thought out joke," Tael interrupted.
"No doubt," Luna agreed. "Did that someone just figure out that it's a really bad idea to hide my stuff in weird places?"
"Luna, I know who did it!" Thomas announced. "It was—"
"Yes, I think that someone understands perfectly," Tael answered.
"It was Tael!" Thomas shouted, flashing the omni-tool screen through a rainbow of colors.
"Yes, Thomas. I know. Let's get going." Luna let out a deep, slightly melodramatic sigh. The things I have to deal with . . .. At least there's never a dull moment around these two, right?
Noise.
Rough coughs, the squeak of shoes against recently polished floors, and hushed conversation crowded the already too-full lobby, the pattern of sounds just inconsistent enough to resist fading into the background.
I know I've complained about nobody going out anymore, but right now I can't help but wish a few more people had just stayed home. Can't really blame them for coming to the bank, though, I'm sure they all have to cash in their pay too.
"Ummm . . . Luna? Did you hear me?"
"What?" Luna looked down to her omni-tool, a touch of guilt clearing away her distracting thoughts for a moment. "Sorry, Thomas, I missed that."
"Oh, that's okay!" he answered, sounding just as cheerful as ever. "I was saying, there are a lot of Elephants outside right now. Maybe it's because a bunch of omni-tools are in one place, or maybe it has to do with the bank . . . but either way, it's pretty scary out there."
Luna rolled her shoulders and fidgeted in place, a fresh wave of worry sending an excess of nervous energy through her body. "Just . . . be careful, okay? If something does break in, then worry about staying safe. I can worry about fixing up the omni-tool if it gets broken, but I don't know how to fix you."
"I'll be fine." Thomas's rectangle shrunk until it nearly disappeared from the omni-tool display. "All of the programs around here are pretty good at fighting off viruses and Elephants, after all. You might want to warn Tael, though. I haven't had a chance to look over how safe his omni-tool is, and I don't want anything happening to . . . well, just make to tell him, please?"
"Sure thing." Luna nodded, turning toward Tael. He was swiveling his head back and forth, gawking at the vaulted ceiling and majestic pillars as if he'd never been inside an Illium bank before . . . which, to be fair, he probably hadn't. "Hey, Tael. Over here, got a question for you."
"Yeah?" Tael asked, turning to face Luna while looking back over his shoulder at a one of the dozen marble statues decorating the space. "I'm listening."
"Okay . . . but this is important. Might want to pay attention." She waited a few more seconds until he worked the last bits of starry-eyed amazement out of his system and returned his attention to her. "Thomas says that the extranet's really unsafe right now. I don't know how good your antivirus software is, but if you aren't really confident in it, you might want to shut down your omni-tool until we're done here."
"Thanks for the heads up, but I think I'll be fine. I'm reasonably good at programming things, you know." Tael stood a little taller, a slight spring to his step as he walked forward in line.
"Good to hear it." Luna said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "Makes me feel better about paying you for your security programs."
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get anyone to hire me?" Tael asked, his tone a mix of curiosity and confusion. "I didn't think anyone would take a chance on a quarian with . . . well, not the best of work histories."
"I didn't," Luna answered, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm just pulling money from my paycheck. I tried sending a message to my boss, but she gave a rather firm 'no', and that was before I got to that awkward part about how we met." It's not really a big deal. I've saved more than enough money from not going drinking, I can afford to pay him something reasonable.
"Wait, but . . . no, that's not right." Tael deflated, his pride gone. "You've done so much for me already, you don't need to pay me money." He started to fidget a bit, jerky movements that betrayed some sort of unspoken emotion. Fear, or nervousness, or . . . guilt.
That's right, he steals from me, I give him a home and food and pay him money. Try to stomach that one, Tael. All she let show, though, was a simple shake of her head. "You've done – as far as I can tell – quality work, so you get paid. Simple as that."
Tael went still, holding up the slow-moving line for a just a second before he walked forward to stand beside Luna. "Um . . . thanks."
Luna nodded. "Thank yourself, you did the work."
"Uh, Luna, I . . . um . . .."
Luna looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, what is it?"
Tael stared at the ground, his hands plucking at the edges of fabric on his suit. "Well, uh, when I've gone out in the evenings, I'm not just running around. I mean, you probably already figured that out, it's a stupid excuse. I-I've been s—"
"Wait a second, and think about where we are right now," Luna interrupted. "Is a bank really the best place to talk about that?" An odd sensation of warmth spread through her, a not unpleasant mixture of pride and bemusement at Tael's near-confession. He really needs to start thinking things through.
"Um . . . no?" Thomas answered, voice shaky and slightly weak. "Wait, you don't sound surprised. Or angry?"
"We'll talk about it later," Luna replied, stepping up to the counter as an elcor lumbered away from an open window. "Until then . . . stop poking at your suit. You'll wear a hole in it."
The bank teller – a cerulean-skinned asari – sat up in her chair at Luna's approach, a patently cheerful smile plastered across her face. The mask slipped as Tael walked up, though, the corners of her mouth tightening and eyes narrowing before her gaze slid back to Luna. "Hello, madam, thank you for choosing Nos Astra Central Banking. How may I help youtoday?"
"Cashing in a check to my omni-tool and opening an account," Luna answered, flashing the brightest smile she could muster as she reigned in the sudden flash of anger that burned beneath her skin. Don't do something stupid, Luna. Keep it under control, and remember where you are.
"Of course, one moment please." The woman tapped a few buttons on an out-of-sight console, triggering a familiar series of prompts on Luna's omni-tool. Usually this sort of process could be carried out from the comfort of, well, just about anywhere. With all of the dangers and difficulties of the extranet, though, it seemed to be safer to just take care of business in person.
Okay, check number, account information, security code, personal identification, aaand omni-tool clearance. Done. Luna smiled at the familiar chime signalling the end of the process. No matter how many times I hear that sound, I'll never get tired of it.
"Now, for your new account . . .. You already have a checking and savings, but we also have money market accounts and certificates of deposit available," the asari said, returning her gaze to Luna.
"No, actually, the account is for him," Luna explained, motioning at Tael. Or rather, where Tael had been standing a minute ago. At some point during their conversation, he'd scooted back behind her, shrunk into a slouch as if he was . . . hiding behind her. Shaking her head, she pulled him to stand next to her. "Checking account, please."
"Oh, I'm afraid I can't do that," the teller said, the slightest hint of a smirk belying her helpless shrug. "There'sa minimum initial balance requirement attached to all of our accounts, I'm afraid. It would be rude of us to impose a condition that is so clearly beyond one's means." She looked over Tael, the corner of her mouth twitching higher as her gaze lingered on the stained fabric decorating his worn exo-suit.
"How much?" Luna asked through gritted teeth, clenching her hands into fists. Don't do something stupid. Like punching her in the face. Yeah, definitely don't do that.
"Excuse me?" The asari asked, faking miscomprehension. Her tone said that clearly enough.
"What's the minimum balance required to open an account?" Luna restated, grabbing Tael's arm as he began to slip backwards again. Come on, Tael. We're not going to let her win, I promise.
"Three thousand credits for a basic-level checking," she answered, turning back toward Luna. "As I said, it's—"
"Done." Luna typed through her omni-tool options, setting up a three – no, four – thousand credit exchange. "It's ready. Just put it on his omni-tool, and we'll be on our way."
The asari didn't respond for a moment as she pulled her face back into the original phony smile. "I see. Well then, I suppose I'll set this up for . . . Tael? That's the correct name? I'll need him to fill out a few pages of information before I can . . . oh dear." The smirk returned full-force. "I'm sorry, but it looks like his omni-tool is an out-of-date model. Our system can't interface with it. That is too bad."
"Bull," Luna replied, her voice flat and emotionless. "It looks and works the same as mine or yours or anyone else's. Don't make this difficult." Keep it under control, Luna. Don't do something you'll regret. Blah blah blah. I'm not letting this self-righteous, racist b—
A bleep from her wrist interrupted her train of thought, signaling a message from . . . Tael?
luna,
it's okay. i don't want to make a scene. can we go home please?
tael
She looked over at Tael, noticing for the first time how small, how uncertain and afraid he could look. He always seemed to be puffed up with pride whenever they talked at home, him riding a wave of successes while shrugging off whatever unfortunate flukes came his way. Now, though he stood half-slouched, frail and thin and scared. Broken.
Pity and anger and disgust and defeat twisted Luna's stomach, a combination of emotions so foul she could almost taste it. Or maybe it was bile climbing out of her throat. She couldn't really tell, the red clouding her brain made it difficult to think through that sort of thing.
The asari started some slick sidestep of an answer, but Luna had stopped listening. With a quick, rough nod to Tael, she walked away from the counter, past the line of staring people, and out onto the streets.
They walked down at least a dozen streets, well over halfway back to the apartment before Luna slowed to a stop, her anger cleared away enough that she could manage words. She turned toward Tael, seeing her faint reflection in the gray visor, ready to say something inspiring or vengeful or angry. The words wouldn't come, though, caught in her throat or lost in some corner of her head.
They stood there in silence for a full minute before Tael spoke, his voice free from any hint of sarcasm or laughter, "It's okay, Luna." He shrugged his shoulders and let out a shuddering breath. "Not a big deal."
Then Luna found her words. Not a whole lot of them, but maybe enough. "No, it does matter. You matter. We'll get a different bank to open an account, okay?"
"But why?" Tael asked, turning away and looking down at the ground. "It'll just happen again."
"Then we'll figure something out, because you're worth the effort. Don't forget that," Luna answered, folding her arms and nodding once. "No arguing allowed."
"Got it," Tael said, standing just a bit taller as they resumed walking back to the apartment. "And uh . . . you think we can have a movie night?"
"Hm . . . no work tomorrow, so sure." Luna allowing herself a small smile. I think we could both use a touch of happy right now. "Oh, but don't think you're off the hook for the whole stealing thing. We'll deal with that tomorrow."
Tael muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
"What did you say, Tael?" Thomas asked, curiosity filling his voice. "Because it really sounded like—"
"I said, 'sounds like a plan'," Tael interrupted, raising his voice to overwhelm the second half of Thomas's sentence.
"Glad to hear it." Luna snorted, shaking her head. "And yes, Thomas, I know that's not what he said. "
"Oh. Okay, then." Thomas bounced his rectangle around the omni-tool a few times. "So, what are we going to watch? I don't really like the scary ones."
"Me neither, let's watch something funny," Tael agreed. "We could see the old Blasto movies again."
"No, I want to see the one about Commander Shepard," Thomas argued.
"You're just saying that because there's a girl A.I. in it."
"What? No, I just think it's has good acting and interesting characters, plus it's based on—"
"Thomas likes EDI," Tael teased, a lighthearted laugh bubbling beneath his words.
Luna just smiled, enjoying the gentle banter. It didn't matter what they watched, not really, and they all knew it. It was just their excuse to argue, to joke, to laugh away the outside world from beneath their patchwork cover of friendship.
You know what? Friends are a good thing, I've decided.
And, to her surprise, she really believed it.
A Note From Chopped Bread:
Hey guys, nice to have you here, at the end of yet another chapter! Sorry for general lateness on this one . . . it didn't all want to jump out from my keyboard right away. So, thanks for reading up to this point, and I hope to see you again next week!
Hmmm . . . you know, I really like board games. I really really do. I also like cheese. So, I'll combine a boardgame and cheese if I . . . um. You know what, this isn't really going anywhere. At some point I was going to do something clever and ask for feedback, but it kinda fell apart, so . . .. If you want to tell me how I've done, good bad or otherwise, I'd love to hear from you, whether through a PM or a review!
Now, I have to say, this chapter would probably be delayed for another few days (and wouldn't be anywhere near as good) without the help of my incredibly amazing and awesome beta, MizDirected. I think I say this every week, but check out her stories. Really great writing awaits!
Thanks again for reading! Tael and Thomas and Luna say "Thank you!"
Secondary Note From Chopped Bread:
I know it's been a while since I've updated, but the story is NOT dead. I wrote a two-sentence blurb on my profile about what's going on right now, and hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out soon-ish.