#Int...roverty's...? back

[random-introverted-blog]

Introvert, Introvert, Introvert. Where are you?

Well, let's see. Do you have a day or two to kill?

First and foremost: none of the stories are dead. I'm back to actively writing HS-HQ. Flickers, I plan on fully involving my bestie on in all parts of the process. She is wonderful and working on her own story To Defy The God's and all you Shadowheart girlies should absolutely check it out. So damn good 😳😩.

I'm also building a new Shadowheart x OC story, which includes a Durge x Astarion. It's called Estranged and I can't wait to share more. This one has been my baby for the last 3-4 months and I'm stupid proud of how fleshed out the details and lore are for the OC, including their backstory and how it interacts with the main game.

That said; the last few months haven't been easy.

At the end of April, I was mentally preparing for June. June is the busiest month at my job. No days off, 11-13 hour days, super stressful workload, the whole nine yards and then some. I had about 2k words for Chapter 11 of HS-HQ but I wasn't really enjoying it, and I got stuck. And that combined with the impending stress, the blog took a backseat.

I can not stress to you how much I hate June at my work. Anything would be preferable to working that many hours. Overtime pay in my state is a legal requirement, so it's not like that's even a big deal. They have to pay me for it. But even with the pay, I miss so many family events, opportunities, life in general in June.

Trigger warning: self harm/Dark humor

And the lead up to June this year I was saying I would rather play in traffic, stab my hand with my box cutter, break my foot, jump off the roof, anything except work another June (this was my third June).

My (other) bestie even offered to run over my foot with her car and I considered it, honest to God.

Where am I going with this?

Ahem.

End of Trigger Warning

Ladies, gentleman, and gentlefolk.

'Twas the night before Monday, June 10th, about 11pm. I had just gotten a new A/C for my room. My old one had given up the ghost many moons ago and was just window dressing at this point. The new one I had was a portable, not a window one. But I needed one short notice for the heat wave we were suffering and, as I mentioned, June is a busy month. What sleep I could get, I didn't want to spend just trying to sleep in my hot, wooden panel bedroom.

How this situation came to be, I won't explain, but I wound up carrying my old A/C unit out of my bedroom and down the stairs to get it outside and in the front yard. The goal was to get it out of the house and deal with it later.

I'm a 5 foot, 3 inches lady and I'm not a twig. The A/C, although more bulky than heavy, was still manageable for me to lift. I couldn't see my feet, and that was the only significant problem.

And it was the only one that mattered 😌.

I'm on the last 4 of 15-ish steps and my foot decides it too, would like to give up the ghost.

Did I think I was closer to the bottom than I was? Probably. Did I think "fuck, I'm dead, this is how I die, this thing is going to crush me"? Also probably.

My mom was behind me. And apparently my head hit the dry wall too, but I don't remember that. My body slid down the rest of the stairs. I land at the bottom and my foot is sore. A/C landed on my stomach, but honestly, only a cut or two was visible on my legs. My foot was swollen something ugly and bruised, but eh, whatever.

Until I tried to stand up.

That's right, ladies, gentleman and gentlefolk.

Following an ER visit at 1 am and a doctor's appointment, my foot/ankle was undeniably shot. I couldn't put weight on it if my life depended on it.

I still can't fully walk right/normal on my foot, but I think that's because I've spent about 2-3 weeks wearing a boot and my foot isn't at full strength.

With that said, I am back; I am alive, and I will be sharing what I've been working on relatively soon. Such as the new story, Estranged...

And a little something called

Ahem.

His Star - His Queen Chapter 11 teaser?

This chapter is going to be shorter, just to get back in the saddle and reestablish myself. The first major blow to my writing schedule was writer's block. I knew what I wanted, but not how to get there, and it killed me. So Chapter 11 has been gutted more than once.

Normally, every two chapters we switch POVs, but for some reason, I got stuck on Astarion's. And in all honesty, I think you guys/gals/pals are more interested in seeing what's happened to yourselves [Tav] than the shenanigans Astarion and Jester have gotten themselves into. So we'll check in on how you guys are handling the maestros composition of his masterpiece...

P.s: I'll try and respond to my inbox, comments and DM's later tomorrow night, I've seen and heard all of you, including on AO3.