Sofia and Greylock walked into the assembly hall to find it feeling… much too large. For the Masquerade, it had been packed with bodies and decorations, and at least for the auditions there had been seating set up for those who wished to stay and watch, not to mention tables of probably-leftover food to one side. Now, there were only a handful of chairs all pushed close to the stage, mostly empty - though that made sense, given how early she and Greylock were this time around.
A large 'sign' of glowing magical letters hung over a small group on stage-left. Incidentally, also her left, as they were acting as the audience. But at any rate... This group was marked [*~ACTORS~*], asterisks and tildes and all because of course just words weren't clear enough, Sofia mused. At any rate, the gaudy sign directed her and Greylock to that group, versus the two others.
The middle group, denoted [~*STAGE CREW ETC*~], had a few people sitting there. Sofia was pleasantly surprised to see Mabel, though the latter seemed to be focused on - or perhaps more accurately enamored with - the blonde boy next to her, such that she didn't notice Sofia. Not that Sofia minded; there'd be plenty of time to talk, and she knew how Mabel could be with crushes. It was cute, really.
Sofia didn't recognize anyone from the group on the other side of the room, labeled [~*CW III DIRECTORS*~], but many of the chairs were still empty. She shrugged and sat down second row from the the front, next to Greylock, then turned to look behind her. One other girl had gotten here, so far. Rainary, the - uh. Sofia gave a small wave and turned back around in her seat to ponder how to think of Rainary, other than as 'the green girl'. The girl with long dark hair, a year ahead of her, a familiar named Tay that was something called a 'rice otter', whose fur was as green as ...its caster's skin. Sofia wished she knew anything else about her. It was hard to focus on things that weren't the obvious, that must be pointed out on a daily, hourly basis, when that was the extent of her knowledge. On the other hand, it wasn't any better to make friendly with her for that sole reason.
"Wow, this place is way too quiet! Everyone needs to hurry up and get here so we can start having some fun!" The voice breaking the silence was loud, bright and happy, and definitely feminine; and it came from the back of the room. Sofia and Greylock turned to see a pretty, perky, pudgy, and pervasively pink girl standing at the doors to the hall. Sofia wondered if she was related to that professor from the other day. Big, curly pink hair, if much messier, similar body type… This girl's ears were visible unlike the professor's had been, and she was definitely not an elf, despite the hair. Huh. Maybe the professor wasn't after all?
Only when Sofia saw Greylock approach the girl did Sofia realize he'd gotten up. "Pinkie!" he said, and put out a hand to shake, but apparently-Pinkie chose to use the hand to pull him into a hug. He hesitated a little, it looked like, but maybe that was Sofia imagining things. Either way, he did return the hug, though he also retracted his arms quite a bit sooner than Pinkie. Sofia supposed sympathy would be a more appropriate reaction, but she couldn't help but find the whole exchange oddly cute.
"Grey! Grey, it's so great to see you! I knew you'd get in, I mean, duh, it's you. But I stuck around to see everyone's auditions, and you were soooo great!" She squeezed him again, then finally let him out of the hug.
Greylock grinned. "Well, your confidence is as appreciated as ever, Oh Pinkest One."
Pinkie giggled and clapped her hands excitedly, hopping around a little. "We're gonna have a blast, I just know it!"
"Absolutely! Though right now I'd be satisfied just knowing what the bloody play is. Such mystique over such a silly thing, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean!" Just then, someone else Sofia didn't recognize walked by them, apparently catching Pinkie's eye as she turned and started to follow them, before halting and turning on her heels back to Greylock, as though excusing herself was an afterthought. "Catch ya later, Grey! I'm gonna say hi to the others!" Greylock just nodded and waved her on her way, but as the pink girl passed by, Sofia thought she heard something on the lines of, "And then maybe see about the party cannon this place super needs."
Other people eventually started filing in as well, and the seats filled up. Pinkie was lost in the forming crowd at some point, and Grey seemed to be up greeting as well now. Sofia thought to join him, but he seemed to be on a first-name basis with everyone, where for her most would involve introductions, getting to know new people. While that was a hobby in its own right, usually, here it felt like it might get awkward, or at least old quick. Not to mention that a few people did know exactly who she was- the commoner, the scholarship girl. As such, she thought it better to hang back, get a feel for the crowd, and allow them to see her as a fellow castmate rather than 'that girl we've heard a bit about in passing'. Come to think, Sofia wondered if perhaps Rain was doing much the same.
Suddenly, her reverie was broken by an almost painfully loud bang, and confetti filled the air, showering over the room. ...W-wait. So… apparently Pinkie was serious about that cannon. That… was both amazing and a little terrifying, but Sofia found herself laughing, so she guessed if cheering the place up was the intent it must be working to some degree!
Someone else seemed to agree, as behind her Sofia heard a slow gasp and an "OOooooh! I gotta get me one of thoooose." ..Oh wait. Sofia knew that voice!
Turning around, she asked, "Star?" And her face lit. "It IS you! I was starting to think I wouldn't know anyone here but Grey!" Smirking, she added, "Well, and Mabel, but." She nodded toward the friend in question, who seemed to be making awkward conversation with the same boy. But the awkwardness looked one-sided and the boy quite calm, so that could be a good sign.
Star smiled. "Aww, good for her!" Out of the corner of her mouth toward Sofia, she added a little more cattily, "Here's hoping this works out better than the last five attempts, right?"
Sofia felt a bit bad for grinning, but grin she did. But when Star plopped down in the seat next to her, her line of thought changed to, "Wait. Shouldn't you be in your own section? I'm pretty sure things are about to get started."
Star made a 'pffft' sound to accompany her handwave. "This is my section, silly!"
Simultaneous excitement and confusion. "Wait, you're an actor!? I didn't see you at tryouts at all!"
Star leaned in a bit, smile calm as ever. "And I didn't see yoouu at tryouts!" Sofia laughed; that was fair, after all. Leaning back in her seat and drumming her hands against her lap idly, Star added, "To be fair, I think I was the first one there, and I had to leave right after for-" She stopped suddenly and her grin became a little more pasted as she finished, "reeeeeasons~!"
Sofia quirked a brow, but gave no further reaction to that suspicious behavior. She would have respected her friend's privacy regardless, but she did so especially given that, in this school in general, she had learned it was often better not to ask. "That makes sense. Grey and I were the last ones to show, so we probably just missed you."
"Oooh, Greylock's here? Any chance Ceeedriiic is coming too, hmmm?"
Sofia sniffed a small laugh. "No, he's not the artsy type." Thinking to all his little poems and bird doodles, she mentally added, Except when he tries to be. Gosh he was adorable.
"Awww. Oh well. But I wonder when they're gonna tell us-"
"Welcome, everyone!" rang a loud, clear voice. Oh! Perhaps now, then? Sofia looked around to see each section now… more filled than it was, at least, although for having three separate sections the group was still somewhat small. Those still up moving around filed to their seats, and everyone, including Sofia and the now-back-at-her-other-side Grey, turned their eyes to the speaker: a girl with a tan complexion and multi-color hair - blue with pink and purple streaks? - tucked behind pointed ears. Well, this made three of the five cases of strangely-colored hair elves. ...Three of six if she counted Cedric's bangs, but she was pretty sure those were Different. But maybe colors like this were just more common than she thought? ...Were there any half-elves, she wondered? Would their ears reveal them as such, and could Pinkie be one? ...Could focusing so much on the ears be considered a form of prejudice?
All these thoughts did flash through her mind rather quickly, and whatever the case she put them away for now to focus on the girl on stage.
"Is everyone settled? Are we good?" she asked, quieter, seemingly more to herself than the audience. When no one replied but everyone seemed focused, her voice became projected once again. "My name is Twilight, and I will be serving as your director for this year's play. Everyone should have a drama club schedule under their chair detailing the events of the next few weeks, and at the end of the day we'll be providing any extra materials needed for your individual roles."
She went on, explaining that... apparently? ...the reason for all the secrecy was that they'd be doing a student-written play, wherein the "CW" of the director group stood for Creative Writing. Sofia understood this should be inherently interesting, but Twilight's long-winded explanation of the process was surprisingly dry, leading her mind to wander a little more than she was comfortable admitting. She also found herself a little envious, as a Creative Writing II student herself. But maybe that meant she'd get to do something like this next year? Ooh, but what could she write about, hmmm… Annnd she was wandering again, ugh.
Something that caught Sofia's attention partway through, though, was "The premiere is in February?" she whispered to Greylock. "I thought this was an autumn, or at least Wassalia play?"
Greylock shook his head. "The competitions start near the beginning of spring semester, so we wouldn't have time to rehearse just before. And, well, we can't expect the good actors to stay at school through the winter hols, now, can we?"
Sofia conceded, and let the hushed conversation drop. Eventually, Twilight finished. "On the last page of your packets, I've put together a few different groups of names. You should find and familiarise yourself with the other people in the groups you find yourself in, as you'll be spending a great deal of time with them over the next few months. Use the time now to do so, though of course we hope you also maintain these friendships well into the future! After you've met everyone, you're free to go for today. But be sure to read through the scripts on your own time, as our actual rehearsals will begin next meeting! Until then, snacks and refreshments have been provided at the table at stage right." Twilight gestured, and Sofia found her head turning to follow, much as everyone's did. She didn't remember seeing that table before, but it was clear across the room. Magic or having simply missed it seemed equally probable.
Sofia shrugged to herself, and found her name in the mentioned groups. At least [~*ACTORS*~] - in the same font as the magical signs, with the same decoration, and all - were separated here from the stage crew, etc., which made it easier to locate herself.
One such group - at the top, even - had herself, Greylock, the Diane girl who'd beaten Sof out for the lead, and someone named Jamie. That was nice to see; wasn't that the name of the boy Greylock had got on so well with during auditions?
Another section had her and Diane with Rainary, Star and Belle (oh was she here? Sofia hadn't noticed her yet either), and a few other names she didn't know. This section was labeled, "Woodland Creatures."
So… Sofia took a deep breath. She had her reason to go talk to Rainary more, now, but she'd have to remember to be careful when she spoke. She always tried to be, but this required more than usual tact. Avoid the subject of color, and don't make remarks about green things unless it was otherwise appropriate - but avoiding anything and everything green would be just as obvious.
She'd also have to find this Diane at some point, and go through to check again to see if there were any other groups she was included in, but she might as well go accomplish the task she could literally see in front of her. Well… behind her, technically, given seating arrangements. Still.
Rainary hadn't stood when most of the rest of the people in attendance did, so rather than needing to find her again in the milling crow, Sofia just made her way to the row where the other girl sat, and took the seat next to her.
"Hi there, Rainary isn't it? I guess we'll be Woodland Creatures together." Sofia smiled at the girl, who didn't meet her gaze.
"Just Rain is fine," she said. "I play Acacia, a dryad." Rain was looking at her hands, folded on her lap, not facing Sofia in the least. In fact, she was on the edge of her chair opposite from Sofia, and looked as if she was about to fall off.
Sofia was reminded of Cedric momentarily, then shrugged and moved a seat away. Rain didn't immediately react, but Sofia did eventually notice she was more centered on her seat after a while. "At least you've got a name," Sofia said after settling back down into her new seat, "I'm just Frolicking Faun. Though I suppose I don't have a number like the poor guards do."
"What's wrong with being numbered?" Rain asked, though her voice was nearly too level to be a question.
"Well," Sofia started, a little surprised, "I suppose nothing, if you don't mind which role you have. Which isn't a judgement in itself, just - not usually the case, I guess. My point had been that at least I'm not unimportant enough to not only not-get a name but be one of several of such a probably-unimportant group?"
Rain nodded at all this - was that a nod? It was hard to tell, while the girl's face was still angled a bit away from Sofia - then opened her script and began looking through it. Sofia waited for a moment, but it seemed Rainary wasn't going to reply. "Well, um, I live in Crage House, dorm C. How about you?"
"Vinkus House, Dorm B." Rain didn't look up from her packet, and her reply was short, but she didn't seem annoyed, at least by the tone of voice.
"All right. I'll probably come find you at some point, so we can practice lines, assuming we have any together. I mean, we probably do, that was supposed to be the point of these groups, right? But I haven't looked much at the script yet, so…"
Rainary pointed at her book. "You have lines, I don't." Sofia blinked and leaned in to see where Rain was pointing, and indeed, Frolicking Faun did have lines. Acacia was down as responding with gestures and...jingle bells, for some reason.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Sofia said, trying not to sound too happy about the fact that she'd get a chance to actually act after all.
She needn't have bothered, it turned out, as Rain responded, "I'm not. This seems fun, but speaking has never been my strong suit." That made sense. "Though I do wonder if I was chosen as the role for poor speaking but decent movement, or if I'm a tree because I'm green."
Welp. "I'm sure it was the first thing," Sofia said, "I can't imagine they'd do something like that." Nor would - who had chosen the cast list, anyway? Well, whoever 'they' were, they definitely didn't put Sofia in a side role because she was a commoner. Of course not. ...On the other hand, she apparently did have a speaking role after all. Maybe she'd been too harsh in her assessment.
With a shrug, Rain said, "It doesn't matter much now, anyway. Just an idle thought."
Sofia nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll leave you to the script, though you probably should go find the others in the groups you're in."
Another shrug. "They'll find me, I don't exactly blend in." Sofia couldn't exactly argue with that, but she didn't want to confirm, either… She smiled, nodded, and moved to leave. Rain seemed to find something funny as Sofia did so, but she couldn't imagine what.
She found Belle pretty quickly after, who seemed enthused about having gotten a part despite her critical reception. As… a siren no less? Well, that was serendipitous. Though Sofia did wonder why the judges had criticized her singing if there was a role that called for it, however small? Hm… Well, no sense dwelling on that, now.
At any rate, given she and Belle had already met, it was a pretty brief exchange overall before they parted ways. And of course she already knew Star pretty well, so spending more time with her just now seemed unnecessary. Which meant moving on to the names she didn't recognize, now.
Aside from Greylock, Jamie, and… Diane… she still had a 'Ferbs' and a-
"OOF!" Sofia suddenly ran straight into someone, knocking them both back. "I- I'm so sorry I usually look where I'm-" ...Hm? Sofia had to… look… down? Which was actually pretty close to eye level, but. She was so used to needing to look up at least a few inches that even this felt much stranger than she expected it to.
The other girl laughed off her embarrassment and knelt down to pick up the script she'd dropped upon their collision. "It's okay, I don't, honestly." Smiling sheepishly, she added, "So that was probably my fault. I just meant to skim the script a little, and, well…"
Sofia found herself smiling with her. "No problem. Glad to hear it's apparently interesting. I'm Sofia, by the way."
"Levy," she introduced herself. ..And Sofia only now realized her hair was bright blue? At this point, the length of time it took her to notice felt more surprising than the fact itself. Levy's eyes lit then, and "Oh! We're in the Woodland Creatures section together, right?"
"Oh, that's right!" What serendipitous timing, almost as if someone had planned it. Well, no sense looking a gift horse in the mouth, right? One down!
They spoke at a little more length than her previous encounters, but not by much. Sofia learned Levy was actually pretty nervous about the play, having only tried out to support one friend and because another had been one of the writers. But Sofia did her best to reassure her that it would be fun. They found they had a mutual interest in reading and watching plays, as well, and agreed they'd have to talk more on that another time.
As they parted, Sofia looked around and noticed a boy.. with.. green hair, this was getting ridiculous… sitting with Rainary. ...Heh. Doing her best to ignore the correlation, she checked over her list and found that by process of elimination, that was likely her guy. So Sofia waited until he stood up and got a few steps away from Rain before approaching him. "Ferbs, by any chance?"
"Just Ferb is fine." Sofia blinked a bit at the echo before musing on the fact that dropping one letter seemed a little bit silly for a nickname. But, well, if that was what he preferred, she certainly wasn't going to say anything.
"So you're the other Dryad, right?" With.. his hair - nope, there was still nothing to this type-casting theory, not at all. Ferb nodded. "Have you looked over the script any yet? Are you excited for the play?" Ferb gave an almost imperceptible shrug. ...O..kay. "From my lack of character name I didn't think I'd get any lines, but it looks like I do have at least a few! Do you know if you will?" In response, Ferb opened his script and showed Sofia a page. Skimming, she found his part - gesturing and shaking bells, same as Rain. Wait. And she-.. so he… "...So I'm guessing you don't talk much outside of the play, either?"
"Not usually, no," he said, just above a mumble. He closed his script, and tucked it back under his arm. Sofia couldn't quite decide how to feel about that - but, she supposed, whatever the casting implications were or weren't, it meant Ferb wasn't being rude, right? He wasn't giving her a cold shoulder; this was just his norm, right? That did make her feel a bit better.
With a smile, she went on a bit, more properly introducing herself and talking more about the play, trying to keep her questions more yes/no and one-at-a-time than piling on open-ended ones. It was, admittedly, a little awkward, and she wasn't quite sure she was handling this ideally, but he did react positively as far as she could tell. Once she started watching for it, she also realized his gestures and facial expressions in response to things were more pronounced than many people's, and she got the impression he had a pretty good sense of humor. Getting to know him would be different than she was used to, but Sofia found herself looking forward to the prospect.
Of course, parting ways with Ferb meant she was down to… Sofia sighed.
Well, there was still Jamie, right? And she should be able to recognize him from auditions. Let's see.. Oh, there was TS. Not in any of her groups so it didn't seem they'd have any on-stage interaction, but good for him getting a part. And… ah! There was Jamie! Talking to Greylock, but Sofia was technically supposed to talk to both even if Greylock was already her best bestie, right?
As Sofia approached, she saw Pinkie literally-bounce over join the boys as well. What was she here for, Sofia wondered. She hadn't seen what section she'd ended up sitting in before. Well, perhaps she'd steal Grey and give Sofia a better excuse to talk to Jamie?
Instead, Sofia found Greylock's hands suddenly on her shoulders and "Pinkie dear! Haaaaave you met Sofia~?" And suddenly she was shoved toward the other girl. There was a mumble afterward of something like 'yes I know' and 'that's the joke' but Sofia didn't catch all of it.
Before Sofia could voice her complaint of are we going to do this EVERY drama meeting or - Pinkie was already giggling and responding. "Oh c'mon silly, I'm met every-" But her eyes settled on Sofia, and a wave of horror washed over her.
"W-what's wrong?" Sofia asked. Was there something on her face? Had she done something wrong, somehow? D-did Pinkie think of her as 'the commoner girl'? What could it-
"I haven't met you!" Pinkie exclaimed frantically.
"Oh!" Sofia exclaimed, relieved. "Is.. that all?"
"Is. that. ALL!? What do you mean is that ALL, this is a TRAVESTY! I'm friends with EVERYONE. EVERYONE! And it's… It's November! It's the middle of November! You-" Suddenly, a moment of hope. "Wait! Did you just transfer here?"
Sofia should not have been laughing at the girl's crisis, but it was oddly endearing, making such a fuss over something like this. "Yeah," she said. "I came in on scholarship this year, so I-"
But the horror was back. "This YEAR? The beginning of the semester, this year? So you have been here for months, and I haven't met you or thrown you a Welcoming Party or anything! I'm soooo sorry! We- we'll have to correct this!" And just like that, she was back to bouncing, all but skipping in place, hands shaking with excitement. "We'll throw you a super-duper-extra-big-and-EXTRA-special party to make up for it! What kind of things do you like? Balloons? Streamers? We'll have to get your favorite cake andwecan'tforgettheicecreamandpartygamesOHwatkinagamsdyuliketplawe-"
"PINKIE," Sofia interjected, a hand covering her wide grin. By all the Princess Pantheon, Sofia realized on some level she probably should have found this annoying but all that energy was just entirely too infectious. "Slow down, it's okay. I really don't need a p-" She could immediately tell by Pinkie's face that argument wasn't going to fly. "...A small party might be more fun," she said instead.
With that, her fidgeting became a little more lowkey, but her smile remained. "Oh. Are you sure? I really would love to do something super special, but if you waaant a smaller one I guess those have their perks too."
Sofia nodded. "Maybe we could turn it into a welcoming-and-also-Wassalia party with just a dozen or so friends, a little before the holiday break?"
Pinkie perked. "-But! But we could do a party for both-" and this time it was Sofia's expression to stop her. Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes, but Sofia could sense no ill will in the act. "Alll riiiiiight."
"Also, we should probably work on party planning later. Not that it doesn't sound fun. But we're supposed to be meeting everyone we'll have scenes with in the play, and-" Pinkie grinned a mile wide, and Sofia found herself both very charmed and a little envious. "Well, yes, you already know everyone, except for me I guess. But I do still need to find a few more people."
Squirming, Pinkie suddenly looked rather… anticipating? Was that the word? What on earth could have her so excited now? All Sofia said was - "Oh!" She laughed sheepishly, borderline embarrassed it took her so long to piece together. "I guess since you know everyone, you could probably help me find everyone, huh?"
Pinkie jumped and squealed as she clapped her hands. "I was hoping you'd ask!" She twirled around once as she landed. Wow she was just… entirely too cute for Sofia. This was going to end up drifting into crush territory, she could feel it. Like, not nearly in the same way as Cedric, just… She didn't quite know how to describe it but it felt Different. Still quite giddy and 'watching you be adorable makes me super happy', etc, though. "Honestly I haven't really looked at the lists yet. Didn't think I'd need to, ya know? So who do you still need?"
"Jamie Postman," she answered. "That's the boy Grey was-" She looked over her shoulder, and… Still? Well, all right. "Is talking to, right?" Pinkie nodded with a firm mm-hmm! "And..." Sofia took a deep breath. "I think the only other one is Diane Pi."
A delighted gasp escaped the girl. Was that a good sign, at least? Maybe it was someone who Pinkie - "That's me, silly! Oh my gosh, so you're my understudy! This is gonna be the best! Now we'll have so much time to get to know each other and become super best ultimate besties!"
Sofia… had never felt.. so conflicted. This was the girl she'd felt - still felt - so bitter toward for beating her? But… She was so. damn. cute. But with that much rampant energy, could she really act? And then, as if Sofia needed a nail in the coffin-
"I can't believe Twilight put my 'proper' name though! She knows everyone calls me Pinkie! I'm not even sure everyone knows my other name! It sounds like Grey sure didn't!" She giggled. Sofia wasn't sure when that was determined; perhaps just before she'd approached? Whatever. "I guess everyone else had their full names listed, though, and being one of my actually-very-best friends is no reason for special treatment, right?"
Sofia deadpanned. ….So. The green kids were trees. The smallest girl Sofia had seen above Year 9 was a harpy. The commoner got a nameless part. And two of the most popular kids in school, one of whom was close friends with the lead writer-and-director, got the lead roles. YES. There was absolutely definitely NO type-casting or favoritism here whatsoever! This was absolutely fair for everyone!
"Y-ya know.." Sofia said, voice weaker than before. "I'm suddenly feeling a little dizzy. I think I'm actually going to head back to my room and rest for a while. I'll just talk to Jamie some other time." Without checking the list again, she was pretty sure she only needed to talk to Jamie because he was Grey's understudy, anyway, so the chances of them actually working together weren't too high. It probably wouldn't matter if she never got around to it, let alone avoided it right now. "...S-see you around, Pinkie."
"Awww. Well I hope you get to feeling better!" Pinkie called after her. "Bye-bye, Sofia! Rest well~!"
Ugh… Even now she was a ball of positive energy, and what on earth did that say about Sofia for begrudging her? Let alone lying to her? ...Wait, shit-
…. She stopped in the middle of the hallway, alone, and looked to her chest, where under her uniform the Amulet lay. "Nothing?" she quietly asked, both to it and herself. ...Hm. She guessed her logic regarding Jamie was convincing enough for it, and with no real consequences at stake even it could understand her needing a little space. She did feel bad in a few ways right now, even if dizzy wasn't quite one of them. But then again, if the Amulet thought this was okay morally, perhaps 'bad for lying to Pinkie' shouldn't be one of them, after all.
Maybe she'd even explain that she was just a little bitter, once she had time to calm down and get over the initial sting. Or who knew? Maybe this actually did still look a lot worse than it was. Rain seemed happy about her part. Levy probably would have been offput by something bigger, no pun intended. And maybe Pinkie would surprise her.
So yes. No sense in dwelling on it today. She'd just take some time to herself to calm down. And, hey! Cedric helped last time. And possibly alone now, what with Grey still out for at least a bit longer. Maybe she'd go see if he was in his room~
A/N: The beginning part of this chapter put me officially over 50k words (I know what 's word count says, but it includes quoted text and author's notes, lol) -and thus I won National Novel Writing Month. (Even if this story's faaar from finished, it's still 50k, haha.) Thank you all for your encouraging reviews/etc this month, it's been a blast! [insert hearts here. I've finally learned greater-than and less-than signs don't work here lol.] Going forward, updates will be a bit slower, and I'll alternate between this and Romance! probably, not to mention possibly working on even more story ideas, though those are far more nebulous at this point, haha.
Another big thank you to Poly Goggles, without whom I never could have won NaNo, and who now that the month is over is helping me not just with ideas and wording but more solidly collabing with me. Character voices! :D
Just, yeah. I've finally won NaNoWriMo, after I literally don't know how many years of trying, and you readers were an important part of that. Thank you. Here's to hoping you enjoy it as much from here on out~!