Hello guys. First of all, I want to thank everyone who has faved, followed, reviewed, or even just remains a loyal lurker waiting for this story to be brought back from the dead. As I've probably said before, I never expected this would get as warm of a reception as it has, as it was my first attempt at writing anything of this scope. I'm happy to see Zucest get some love, and I started writing this at a time where it felt like there was a lull in content featuring this pairing. So I thought, fuck it, why not? I'll try my hand at it, and if it's shit, maybe at least it'll encourage others to try their hand at making something better. Whether it be for my story, or the innumerable other works of much more talented creators, I like to see my favorite series and characters get their time in the spotlight, and it seems like Zucest has had a bit of a spike in popularity, a renaissance of sorts.
A lot has happened since I last updated this story, both in my personal life and to my abilities as a writer. Not necessarily for the better. But I'm still practicing and trying to get back into the flow of things. As far as this story is concerned, it isn't dead. It's just taking a really long nap. One it's still not ready to wake up from. But it's alive. Comatose, but its heart is still beating.
Why the long hiatus? I became really discouraged after I lost a couple chapters worth of progress. For the longest time I thought it was all gone, ate by my old shitty laptop. Recently however, I discovered that I still had chunks of it remaining. They're unpublishable as is; either not fully complete or I'm not satisfied with them. But they at least give me a frame of reference for what I was thinking and what direction I was planning on taking things at the time. My stories are generally planned out very roughly- I have an overarching narrative informed by themes or concepts I want to explore, and a basic structure of how I want the plot to progress, where I want to put what, etc. But with the exception of certain standalone chapters I've had a lot of fun dreaming up, the actual details are usually very murky, even as I'm writing. I use outlines sparingly. The end result is that if I lose steam it's harder for me to just pick up where I left off.
Then, a bunch of personal shit happened, and I just couldn't be bothered to try to pick up the pieces and start over. I wasn't in the right headspace to continue something like this, and so I dropped it, unsure of when or even if I'd resuscitate it.
But then recently I've been working on other stuff, and I started to think about this work again. And I started to feel that spark again. So, no definite timeline, because I'm a dick like that, but this will be coming back. I need to piece together what I'd already written and decide if I want to readjust where things were headed. But I've still got the general outline mapped out in my head. I haven't ever stopped thinking about this story, I just got caught in writers' purgatory.
Anyway, I know you're all tired of seeing these kinds of messages at the end of every chapter. In the interim, feel free to check out my other work, if you like Evangelion. No promises about the quality, but it's a family-focused story set in an AU of sorts, similar to this one. Reishin, if you enjoy it like I do. Yes, I realize these pairings make me look like I have a hard-on for a certain type of pairing, those of the Alabaman 12-toed offspring variety. Pure coincidence, I promise. But if you like that sort of thing, whatever floats your boat.
If you don't give a fuck, and assuming you like Zucest a lot but for some reason haven't combed through every nook and cranny of the internet to find content about it, AO3 has had an explosion of stories for these two in the past few years. I've been really impressed with what I've seen on there.
Anyway, the next time you see an update for this story this message will be gone, and chapter 6 will be up! Thank you for your patience!