#i am both super excited and super dreading getting the helmet ready

[zarntrios]

Eileen is a big gal. She takes up over half my suitcase!

I already knew I'd have to take two suitcases cos that's what I always do every time I go to PAX, but...yikes.

I was also planning on making Templar from XCOM 2 WOTC, and I actually did do a fair amount of work for it. I decided I wouldn't be able to get it done both in time and to my stupid fucking high level of satisfaction.

I made the pants and modelled the spine so my friend Andrey could print it. It's actually got an impressive amount of mobility and I'm very proud of it.

The experience was important, because the second costume I'm trying to get ready is...

Morgan Yu!

I think it's a really neat design, I love warm colours and the general art deco yet uniquely retro vibe of the whole game. It's beautiful yet keeps room for terror.

I've bought some models of the silenced pistol and the margrave shotgun that I'm going to modify to

1) Better resemble the Artemis Golden Gun

2) more easily break apart into two for travel reasons

I have fully modelled and printed the wrench though!!

Here are some of the finer details, which weren't too difficult to add. Literally just a boolean cut once a text object was turned into a mesh.

And IT FUCKING WORKS!!!!!!!

It took me so long to get the thread working... Turns out what people mean when they say something like printing offset is ACTUALLY micron accuracy. Once you know that it's actually super easy because it's just more boolean bullshit.

I'm working on the gloves rn using a personal favourite vinyl. It doesn't have any stretch so they'll suck a little, but also they're gloves so fuck em. Only thing I hate more is mitred corners like on those fucking pants god i hate them so much

Posts will continue to be infrequent and whenever I can be arsed to post. I do plan on having a post dedicated to Morgan's helmet tho. It's the most difficult model I've ever worked on. I want it to have fans and lights and an acrylic front with window tint on it so it actually functions like a one-way mirror.

Reward picture of Luna for reaching the bottom of the post lol

[shewhowantsmouseears]

The Little Peach, Chapter 11

Notes: As always, big thanks to my amazing editor, Drucilla!

Used an old storybit in here, I used to be so much funnier.

Summary: Pete and Panchito put a plan into action to help Mickey achieve his dreams, with Mickey himself finding some extra dreams along the way.

Precisely one day after Pete invited Panchito into his unique plan, Marsupilami was more than tempted to ditch his “newfound resolve”, but an equal balance of guilt-slinging and threats from Maurice convinced him otherwise. He was placed on “patrol” - walking all around the capitol to make sure everything was peaceful and taking out any danger. But in a city that was continuously peaceful, it really felt more like he was just stretching his legs. It would have been easy to merely walk and do nothing, as Marsupilami and Maurice had done most of their lives – grabbing what they could to eat, sleeping wherever a flat surface could be found, and moving on, moving on, moving on – but they were here to repay a debt to Mickey. That meant making an effort, although to what end Marsupilami wasn't sure.

Opportunity came accidentally knocking when he bumped shoulders with a passing villager, who politely excused himself, and then almost jumped out of his socks to see the lumbering Maurice at his side. “Don't mind him,” Marsupilami tried to calm the startled villager. “He looks like a mook, but he's more of a kook. We're the newest guards, sent from the royal palace!”

“Oh, so you are,” said the young man, a dark-haired horse who tried to awkwardly laugh to make up for his fright. “With that armor, what else could you be? We just don't see types like your friend around these parts...save for Pete, that is.”

How easy would it have been to say “Okay, goodbye” and resume laziness? Marsupilami wanted nothing more than to follow that instinct, but he surprised himself by staying put. “Actually,” he began,  fingers fumbling as he tried to articulate something that had been bugging him for sometime. “You mind if I ask you about the great Sir Pete?”

“Not at all, go ahead.” The man replied, sticking his hands in his pockets, lightly chewing on a long piece of straw. “Name's Horace. I've been here all my life, I can tell you anything about anyone. I make it my business to stick my long face into everyone else's business. What do you want to know?”

“When we first started this gig, we heard he got accepted right after defeating a bunch of Oni at the front gate of the capital. Did anyone else besides Jose and Goofy see what happened?”

“Nope, it was just them two. But he was let in right after – oh, the whole capital was hootin' and hollerin' like it was New Year's Eve! He walked on in all mysterious like, covered in head-to-toe with a big ol' robe, you couldn't even see his face or his head! According to the guards, he beat back the Oni with his bare hands! Can you believe it, one ordinary man against five super-strong Oni?”

Oh, it sounded unbelievable all right. “Huh... and Pete's been on the job since? Is that why he came here in the first place?”

“Yes siree, it was like he was sent from the gods above! He said he came here to guard the Princess and the Lucky Hammer, and he wouldn't take no for an answer! Not that her highness was gunna tell someone like him no. He's been a loyal man to her ever since! Why, no one's ever seen him take off his armor! Not even when he sleeps!”

Marsupilami scratched his head, nudging his helmet a little – the darn thing was rather uncomfortable, so he couldn't imagine sleeping with it on. Maybe Pete's had gotten stuck that way, but given how much Pete loved to complain about this and that, surely they would've heard about it already. “What a guy...I'll let you go after one more question. Where is he from, anyhow?”

At that, Horace paused, searching his mind for anything he might've missed, and came up empty. “Huh...well. Here I am bragging about knowing everything about anyone, and I got nothin' for you. Pete's never talked about his past, not once. Anytime someone's asked, he's always got the same answer – 'mind your own business'. After a while people just decided to be grateful he was around and quit askin'. I'm sure he'll tell us all when he's good and ready.” He offered another shrug. “I got my own question now... why are you so curious about Sir Pete?”

The lie came without much thought. “Why, he's a great man I admire with all my heart, and I hope to be like him someday!” Funny how doing something that would help someone required great effort, but telling a falsehood was as easy as taking a nap. Motivation was still a new concept to Marsupilami, but he decided it wasn't as scary as he first thought. “If you'll excuse us, we should return to duty.” He and Maurice bowed politely, and walked on. Maurice cocked his head at his partner, clearly curious about the entire exchange.

“Something's not adding up,” Marsupilami answered, tapping his chin with both his finger and his tail. “If we want to help out Mickey, we need to figure out who we can really trust here, and if you ask me, Pete's not one of 'em. I got my hunches...maybe we're not cut out to be guards, but what's say you and me become detectives for a little while?” It would require more work – how dreadful! - but knowing it would help out the man who saved himself and Maurice made it bearable. Was this what it felt like, doing a hard day's work? How... new! And exciting! Maurice appeared to agree, given his grin and enthusiastic double thumbs up.

“I didn't expect any less from you, big guy. Next on our route... No one's seen any Oni around these parts for some time, but I need to learn all I can about them. And I might have an idea...but until we come across real clues, we don't tell Mickey, right?” Maurice nodded, miming a zipper motion across his mouth. “Good. Little guy's got enough on his plate already. We'll let him know what we know when we actually know something, y'know?” With the silent agreement in place, Marsupilami and Maurice headed further into the village, with an extra kick in their step. Maybe if this actually worked out for Mickey, they could give the whole “effort” thing a permanent part of their lives!

“C'mon, Maurice! The best ones to know Oni are the ones who used to fight 'em...we gotta find some retired samurai!”

~*~

As day was beginning to wear itself out and night was starting to welcome itself in, Mickey headed to the shared bedroom, ready to once again make a pretend effort to fall asleep before starting his search for the Lucky Hammer. He still hadn't found any clues, but ever since that late night chat with the Princess, it wasn't as depressing a thought as it was before – mostly because Minnie kept taking up his thoughts as if she owned the place. He often wondered what she was doing, if she was feeling better about her identity, and if he could get away with another secret talk with her. Since finding the Lucky Hammer could take years, maybe there could be years of talking with her as well. What a lovely thought.

But as soon as he entered the room, he found himself leaving it – via Pluto picking him up by the collar of his shirt. “H-Hey! Pluto! What are you doing?!”

Pluto walked out of the room and headed down the hallway, ignoring Mickey's flailing and protests.  He only stopped when he spotted Pete, siting down on his hindquarters. “Good job, mutt!” Pete clapped laughed loudly before opening his hands up to take Mickey. “We needed you right away, kiddo!”

Mickey tried to wipe off the hints of dog slobber on his sleeves. “This had better be important!” he then stopped, and looked up. “Wait... Sir Pete? What're you doing here? Am I in trouble?”

“Trouble? Why would you think you were in any kind of trouble?”

How could Mickey reply without possibly getting into further trouble? “Well, sir, whenever you talk to me, it's either to give me an order, or yell at me, or yell orders at me.”

“That was then, and this is now, and now is a time for a golden opportunity!” Pete rushed through Mickey's words, trying to cut him off at the pass. “I've been watching you, boy, and your story really speaks to me! Why, when I realized you wanted the Lucky Hammer to be a normal size...” He sniffled, wiping away a tear that wasn't there. “It just about broke my heart!”

“You...didn't realize that was my goal the first time we met?” This was going to be an odd night all around, Mickey could tell.

Pete paused, and then cleared his throat. “Sometimes the heart takes a while to hear things before the ears do. Listen, the important thing is, I'm going to help you get the Lucky Hammer.”

Mickey wanted to be happy about this cooperation, he really did, but... “I appreciate that, sir, I truly do! But you don't know where it is either, right? And the only one Minnie – I mean, the Princess can talk to about the location is her husband. You were there when Goofy told us!”

“Don't go tellin' me things I already know!” Pete roared so loudly he nearly knocked Mickey out of his hands – he then stopped, and then cleared his throat again, this time straightening his back as much as his shapely body would allow. “I, uh, don't like dwellin' on the past, is all. What we need to focus on is your future! If you do what I say, then I can guarantee the Lucky Hammer will be yours.” In fact, Mickey's casual admittance of the Princess' name had sealed the deal for him.

Mickey tapped his foot, thinking this over. “Hmmm...well, gee...I guess I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.” Even if the horse had bad breath. Besides, it had to be better than sneaking around and trying to steal it – almost any plan had to be better than that! So without giving it any further thought, he allowed himself to be both hopeful and confident. “Okay, Sir Pete, I'm in! How do we start off?”

“I got our pal Panchito gettin' part one of the plan into action as we speak.” Pete replied as he began to walk with Mickey and Pluto tagging along. “Part two is all on you. You just need to go into the gardens, and follow your instincts.”

Mickey blinked, amazed at how quickly things had become confusing. “Huh? What am I supposed to do?”

“If I told you, they wouldn't be instincts, you dummy!” Pete snapped, fingers clutching in a visible effort not to squeeze Mickey like a stress toy. “Just...do what I say, and we'll all be happy! Now stay out in the gardens and don't come back until you get the answers!”

Mickey didn't bother to ask any more questions, mostly because he didn't want Pete to change his mind and swat him like a fly. Maybe if he tried thinking about this more positively. Sir Pete was older than him, therefore wiser, therefore he must know what he was doing. “If you say so...” He wondered what Panchito was doing, and tried to be confident about that as well – Mickey wasn't entirely sure about Pete's intentions, but he fully believed that Panchito was there to help Mickey out, so if Panchito was willing to work with Pete, all was well! What sort of brilliant plan had they come up with?

~*~

Once Panchito had been told about the plan, he jumped in with both feet, excited about the idea and having his own spin on it. Pete had merely nodded along in an effort to make it go faster, and now Panchito was hiding around the corner to the bedroom of the Princess, ready to put everything into action. He waited until he was sure Clarabelle had left, then began to inch towards the doorway. The plan would work, and Mickey would get the Lucky Hammer, and then Jose would be so impressed by Panchito's part of the plan he'd be completely devoted to being Panchito's sensei!

That part was... a little cloudy on Panchito's end, since he wasn't sure how it would impress Jose at all, but Pete had insisted it would. When Panchito questioned it, he got the same response as Mickey did – to just shut up and do as he was told. Okay then!

At the door, Panchito cleared his throat and then knocked shove-and-a-haircut, two bits. “Your Royal Highness, pardon the intrusion!”

Through the paper door he could make the faint shadow of Minnie lifting her head quizzically, before shuffling over to the door and opening it, blinking slowly before turning into the rigid, cold Princess she was supposed to be. “Sir Panchito. What has happened? Is it an emergency?”

“Not a matter of life and death, no, but a matter of heart and mind!” Panchito struck a fist to his chest. “Mickey wishes to speak to you in private!”

“Mickey wants to speak to me in private?” Minnie had repeated the request, confused, accidentally slipping back into her casual speech. “What do you mean? He can talk to me anytime he wants. He's a dear friend – that is, you all are.” She was quick to catch herself, and then tried to straighten out her entire body, trying to look as authoritative as possible – as much as one could when wearing adorable diminutive nightwear. It was even pink and frilly. “No, no, good lady, this is a very private talk he wants to have.” Panchito lowered his voice to a whisper, hoping to make her understand quickly before he was caught. “Mickey has some special things he wishes to tell you.” He wiggled his eyebrows, emphasizing each word by pressing his fingers together. She'd yet to wash off the layers of make-up on her face, yet it was easy to tell the difference between the blush that was from powder, and the blush that came naturally. Minnie reddened and reddened more with every passing second. “Oh, my.” She finally said, eyes cast down demurely. “W-well...I suppose it would be rude to deny him such a request.” It was almost hard to hear her faint mumble, the cold front abandoned entirely. All of a sudden it didn't seem that important. “Very good!” Panchito clapped his hands together. “He'll be waiting for you in the gardens! Don't keep him waiting!” Although he doubted she would, judging by that shy yet eager smile on her dainty lips. With part one completed, Panchito suddenly raced off to complete his next step.

~*~

And so Mickey went to the gardens, although he wondered why Pete had said “follow your instincts” as if he was going to run away at the last minute. He did his best to dismiss all his worries, and walked into the tall grass. Mickey wasn't sure where exactly he was supposed to meet Minnie, as the simple garden for her was an entire landscape for him, but as he walked deeper in he found a familiar clearing – the same spot where he first met Princess Minnie. But now it was covered in a thick, silk blanket, a golden candle-holder in the middle holding up two flickering red candles. Petals of various colors had been strewn about. Mickey was immediately suspicious. “Oh my goodness. Did you do all this?” came the sweet voice of the princess, who was now walking into sight. Instead of washing off her make-up and undoing her hair as she was supposed to before going to bed, she'd added on even more touches to her face and her hair was tied up in even more elegant curls. It was as if instead of donning the look a princess should have, she'd gone the extra mile to make sure she was looking as beautiful as she could make herself. She'd made an effort – which made Mickey's heart jump into his throat, until he realized what it was she'd asked. “Uh,” Mickey struggled in his throat, looking around. “I guess? In a way?” This had to be Panchito's doing, but what the rooster was doing, Mickey couldn't guess. “It's lovely,” Minnie smiled, sitting down on her knees and smoothing down her flowing robes, this one white with a pattern of red roses stitched on, creating the illusion that the petals were fluttering with every move she made. “I hope you didn't go to too much trouble.” “It wasn't any trouble at all.” Literally. What was he getting into? “That's, uh, that's a nice kimono you got on. Ain't seen it before.” “It's for special occasions,” Minnie replied, her eyes timidly turning away for a moment, hiding her lips behind her sleeve. Mickey's mind reeled - special occasion? Why was this a special occasion? Weren't they just there to talk? “I...I was told you have some special things you wanted to tell me.” “Uhhh...?” Mickey stretched the word out as long as he could, trying to decipher whatever was being presented to him. As his eyes bounced all over, he noticed a rustling in a nearby cherry blossom tree. At first, worry seized his body, and he made a motion to grab the needle of a sword on his belt – was it one of the Oni King's minions? Nope – it was Panchito, who now hung upside down from one the branches, holding up a long piece of paper with hastily written words. Say “You're so beautiful!” Mickey blinked rapidly in honest confusion. “You're...so beautiful?” He said out loud, and it took him half a second to realize what he'd actually said and who he'd actually said it to. Minnie giggled, oblivious to what was happening in the tree or the panic flowing through Mickey's head. “You're always so sweet, Mickey. I've had so many people give me compliments, but it's... just different coming from you. Like you see me as Minnie, and not just the princess.” “Oh. Well. Um.” Mickey fumbled, trying not to watch Panchito write something else on a new layer of paper. “I think we'd be friends even if you weren't the princess. You've always been real nice to me.” Okay, so they were complimenting each other. It was nice, but how was this going to get the Lucky Hammer? Minnie wasn't going to reveal its location over idle flattery. … Right? “I feel the same way!” Minnie chirped, her enthusiasm growing while she lost some of her proper royal demeanor. “Size, titles, none of it matters. The friendship we have is so much stronger than that. You always know how to cheer me up, and make me feel like a real person.” Did he really have such an influence over her? Mickey momentarily pushed aside the thoughts of the hammer, more than happy to indulge in this time of sweetness. “I only give as good as I get, Minnie! You make me feel ten feet tall! Everyone else always takes pity on me or tries to do things they think I can't do. But you let me try stuff. You let me...” Panchito was finished writing. “Um... You let me...” Minnie waited patiently for him to finish the sentence, but Panchito had gone on a different tangent. Say “I want to be with you!” Be with her? But he was with her already, they were right there, talking and - And then the entire idea of the plan hit Mickey with the force of an exploding mountain. THIS was the plan to get the hammer?! He was supposed to – supposed to – seduce the princess?! Was Panchito out of his mind?! “Mickey?” Minnie asked gently, lowering her head slightly to get a better look at her companion. “Is everything all right?” The revelation of Panchito's plan had caused Mickey's entire face to go as red as the roses on Minnie's kimono, and his tiny body trembled with great force. “No!” Mickey shouted, intending to tell Panchito before correcting himself. “I mean, yes! I mean, that is, uh, I, um...” He wanted to make plans to kill the rooster in his sleep, but this matter had to be resolved first. “I don't know what I was thinking.” He struggled to make his voice stern, hoping that he'd make himself clear to Panchito, who was now pointing at the same words over and over in an attempt to make Mickey say them. “I must have been thinking something crazy. I must have hit my head. I was thinking about things that would never, ever happen in a million years.” He finished with a curt glare to Panchito. The rooster stuck his tongue out. Minnie's body sunk with every negative thought, oblivious to the plan being made and defied all around her. Had Mickey been paying better attention, he might have picked up that Minnie thought of him just as fondly as he thought of her – perhaps even more. It was why Panchito had been so confident of the entire idea in the first place – he'd noticed the wistful gazes Minnie had whenever she looked upon Mickey, the sheer delight in her voice whenever she spoke of him, and the daily excuses she thought up so she could spend more time at his side. Clearly Pete had noticed it too, since he'd help come up with this scheme. But being a princess, and a lady, it was only appropriate for the man to make the first move, so to speak. Which wasn't all that helpful when the man in question had a mixture of self-loathing and obliviousness. So in this moment when Minnie believed Mickey was giving up on telling her how he truly felt about her – which was what she had desperately hoped was the special thing he wanted to say – her heart felt as it'd begun to rip in two. Yet one of the things that had won Mickey over was that she didn't take things lying down. She did want to find out who she was, the real her, so she pushed away the thoughts of being a Princess and indulged in the thoughts of being Minnie. “I want to hear it!” “Huh?” Mickey had been so caught up in telling Panchito off he'd forgotten Minnie was even part of this. “Hear what?” “I want to hear what you were thinking.” Minnie placed her palms on the ground, lowering her head as much as her body was able. “I promise you, I'll listen to everything you have to say. You can trust me! Can't you?” “O-Of course I can trust you!” Mickey stuttered, but to his relief Panchito appeared to have given up on that one train of thought, as he'd tossed the paper aside and was writing something else. “Minnie, I'd trust you with anythin'! But, well, there's just...somethin' weird goin' on, and...” Panchito was finished. Maybe, Mickey prayed, this was something far more reasonable. Say “I love you!” Panchito was a dead man. “...and some people have rocks for brains.” “Mickey, please don't say that about yourself!” Minnie cupped her hands, which was the usual signal that meant Mickey was allowed to walk onto them. “I wasn't.” Mickey muttered under his breath, seeing Panchito now writing something else. “You're not dumb at all!” Minnie insisted, lifting Mickey up so they were closer together. “You've always been very clever! You always find your own way to fix things! I'd say you're smarter than every man in Japan put together!” Mickey would have been immensely flattered by such words, but Panchito kept distracting him. Now the rooster was flinging several papers in a row, each suggestion worse than the last. Mickey could only hope his eyes were getting the message across. Say “I wish I could take you into my arms!” No! Say “I wish I could kiss your lips!” NO! Say “I wish I could be at your side forever!” PANCHITO PISTOLES FOR THE LOVE OF -  “I wish you could be at my side forever.” “I AIN'T SAYIN' – what?” Hold on a second, that last one had been said out loud. Mickey abruptly paused, looking back at Minnie's face. His ears were big for his body, little for anyone else's, but they worked very well. He was certain she'd said something. “You...you can stay here forever, with me,” Minnie was saying, her voice now as soft as the evening wind, one of the ribbons coming undone in her hair.  She wished she could hide as she said this, but if Mickey wasn't going to make any moves, then it was up to her, no matter how embarrassing it got. “I know your size makes you so unhappy...but I'll do all in my power, every single day, to make you happy. I'll make up for all the happiness you ever deserved in life, and for the rest of our lives. If you'd allow me...I want to take care of you.” She closed her eyes, as if worn out by expressing her deepest desires. Mickey was tempted to pinch his arm to see if this was a dream, but he convinced himself that if this was a dream, Panchito wouldn't have been it, especially not obnoxiously giving two thumbs up. Mickey's heart pounded in his chest, a hard drumming that he would've believed the entire kingdom could hear. There was no way Panchito's ridiculous idea had worked – so, somehow, someway, he must have stolen her heart before this night happened. How he did it, Mickey couldn't fathom or guess. Around Minnie he was simply Mickey – nothing more and nothing less. And to be honest, he hadn't a clue about his future. He had refused to go home until he was of normal size, and if he wouldn't ever be normal sized, then where was he to go until the end of his days? A lump formed in Mickey's throat. He missed his parents deeply – but he also cared for Minnie deeply. The offer was more than tempting. He couldn't possibly give her what she deserved, yet she didn't care. It was a strange sort of happy mindboggling. If he had nothing to lose anymore, then, well, why not? “I like you,” Mickey blurted out, and regretted it only because of how childish it sounded. One didn't answer a potential confession with “like”. It was just the first words that popped into his head and had the power to leave his mouth. “I like you a lot.” As if that was any better! Then again, it wasn't as if he'd ever practiced or rehearsed for such a moment, since said moment had always bordered on the impossible in his mind. “You don't really...have to worry about all that happiness stuff. I'm happy enough when we're...together, y'know? Just being around you makes everything all better. So, you just be you, and I'll just be me. Like we've always done.” It wasn't a wholly definitive answer, but they were both still young, and Minnie accepted he would need time to think it over. For now, she was greatly pleased by what she had heard. She lifted her hands up and kissed Mickey atop his head – it couldn't be said if her lips had knocked him over, or if Mickey was so struck with lovesick stupor that he fell onto his back. Either way, Minnie giggled, and Panchito believed his plan to be a surefire success. Wanting to give the young ones some peace and quiet, he swung from tree to tree like a monkey until he hit a window, wanting to find Pete and tell him the good news.

It was because of this he missed the other good news.

“You know...” Minnie said slowly, coming to a decision that was weighing less heavily on her with every passing second. “My father said I could only give the location of the Lucky Hammer to my husband.”

“A-huh.” Mickey wasn't paying that much attention, still gobsmacked in all the best ways over what just happened.

“So, in a way... you might be my husband some day!”

“A-huh.” His brain still wasn't firing off any synapses.

“Which means I could tell you where the Lucky Hammer is, and then if we ever get married, you can use it all you like!”

The usual “third time is the charm” gag didn't work this time, as Mickey popped back into reality with those words, sitting up so fast his tail smacked his back. “What?! Really?! You can tell me?”

“Being a good Princess means finding a solution when all hope is lost,” Minnie replied, smiling with a hint of pride. “And I know you won't tell anyone else. So as far as I'm concerned, it's as if I've never said it at all.” Satisfied with this loophole, she glanced around to make sure they were alone, and then leaned in to whisper into Mickey's big-little ear.

Mickey leaned in as best he could – for a good moment he thought she might kiss him again, and that thought nearly blocked out what she was actually saying – and when he heard the secret, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “There? It's hidden there? Why would...” But even as he said it, he knew the answer. No one would dare enter that place, or at the very least not without the Princess being there. It was perfect, and Mickey knew in that moment he'd never get near the Lucky Hammer – while he'd been worried about his morals dying a pitiful death, there was enough conviction left in him to know that was absolutely forbidden place. Why, it was safer than a vault with locks – this location was safeguarded by morals and decency!

“Well...it's a good spot.” Mickey concluded, and while he was disappointed that the Lucky Hammer was once again so close and yet so far, he was also relieved he'd no longer have to sneak around like some petty thief. Now he could live out his days and wait until...

…Suddenly he realized what he'd just agreed to.

“Once the Oni King is defeated,” Minnie continued, oblivious to Mickey's mind utterly collapsing, “I'm sure we'll both be ready to give marriage real thought! Won't that be nice? And by then, I'll be the sort of person that can be both a Princess, and myself. I'm sure of it.”

Mickey looked away, his cheeks apple red, but he found he didn't have the words to deny her – perhaps because a part of him didn't want to. “R-Right, of course. Might take a while... but, uh, I'm willin' to wait. We should probably get to know one another better and all that.” Perhaps when he next saw his father, not only would he be average-sized, but a husband, and the Princess' husband! Wouldn't that make him Emperor someday? If that didn't make his father proud, nothing would! Sure, it would be a lot of responsibility, but maybe defeating the Oni King would take years and years. By then, Mickey would know what it was like to be a good ruler – what a leap, to be a samurai without a master to co-ruler of all Japan! He began to smile without thinking about it.

“I can only imagine liking you more, the more I get to know you.” Minnie nodded with her own charming smile to match. “Like how I know you won't tell a soul what I told you. It'll be our secret, okay?”

Mickey placed a hand on his chest and bowed deeply. “Of course, Minnie. I promise, as your faithful guard and as a member of the Duck clan, I will never tell anyone where the Lucky Hammer is.” A promise made by a samurai – the second, he remembered, the first being the one he made to his father. He'd keep them both, and at long last, the guilt and worry he'd been carrying on his shoulders began to fall away. All was well, and he was truly happy.

The peach-sized man and the not-so-cold Princess talked for a long time in the gardens, honestly believing all their troubles were now far away and could be easily dealt with.

They were wrong, of course, but how were they to know?

[houseinthesouth]

    Today’s goal is to rest and write down everything that I can about breaking my  leg and dislocating my ankle in the hope that maybe someone else can benefit from it. I’m going to post pics of what each stage of my recovery from ORIF looks like. It may take more than one post. Some of them are not very pretty but this is real life so I’m not going to filter them. This is not a pity party but I am amazed at how much I took something as simple as walking for granted. Being able to wake up and just walk to the another room wasn’t something that I was terribly grateful for. Taking a shower standing with both feet on the floor wasn’t groundbreaking. Being able to carry my own hot cup of coffee from the coffee maker to the couch wasn’t an amazing feat. If you would have told me those were the things I would be praying to be able to do on my own a couple of months ago I would have been horrified. I didn’t think that I was taking my life for granted.  In fact I felt like everything was about to be pretty perfect. I was on a “health journey” up to twice a week workouts, 12 pounds lost, and had stopped eating sweets.  My youngest son was in the middle of his baseball season and was (finally) really excited to go to practice this year.  Summer vacation was about to start and I had many fun travel plans and day trips in mind. I had many home improvement projects planned including putting furniture and decorating our newly emptied and dry basement. The basement has flooded every time it rained for many years and we finally got a drain put in that completely fixed the problem. I will put up a post detailing everything about that soon. We had just bought new furniture, a sectional and recliner, for the den and planned to move the old couch and chair down to the basement. Derek, my husband, had just gotten a promotion and could stop working overtime and spend more time at home.  You can see how everything was lining up pretty perfectly. Even before my accident Derek also had to have his first surgery ever.

April 3rd –

After 2 days of complaining about his side and the same amount of days trying to get him to go to the hospital because its the “appendix side” Derek had to go into surgery to have his appendix removed.  It was his first surgery and I was really worried but he sailed through surgery and everything went great. My parents kept the kids and I stayed with him in the hospital. The recliner in our den was the only place he felt comfortable after he got to come home. I made sure that he didn’t have to move too much while he recovered and we pretty much slept in the living room for the next few weeks. Thank goodness for the new comfortable furniture. By the 10th he was feeling well enough to be surprised with a Hornet’s game and dinner for his birthday.

April 26th-

After a few more weeks Derek was doing pretty well, had his staples out, and had started going back to work. He wasn’t able to help with yard work or lift anything yet and the yard was getting pretty rough. On a Friday afternoon I cleaned up my yard, picked up sticks, moved all the outdoor furniture, and mowed the lawn. After picking up the kids I created two new flower beds, planted flowers, and put new mulch in them.  I cleaned out the stock tank pool and filled it up and was excited to enjoy our Summer ready yard the next day with my boys.

After all hard work it was time to take my youngest to baseball practice. I literally thought about skipping it but I rallied and we headed to practice. Toward the end of practice my son realized that he had left his batting helmet in the car. I climbed the little hill to my car and on my way back down the hill my left foot started sliding and it was either stop myself or fall flat on my face. I kind of wished I would have. I put my right foot down it rolled and I lost my balance all at once and fell on it. I heard two loud sickening pops and realized that the sound was my bones. It sounded like when you are in the woods and step on a stick. My ankle swelled up immediately three times its normal size and turned purple. My foot was completely disconnected out of the joint, I couldn’t move my toes, and my foot was floppy. After yelling for help a few unsuccessful times I ended up having to scoot over to where my phone had landed, several feet over. I called the coach and let him know that I had broken my leg and my ankle was dislocated. Another sweet parent ace bandaged it and after my Mom got there, the coach and another parent picked me up and carried me to the car. We went straight to the ER and they out me into a room and got an IV started. After I had a large ice pack on my ankle and some morphine I felt a little better.

After x-rays I was told by the doctor on call that I would absolutely need surgery because it was a serious break. He said that most fractures don’t need surgery but that I would need the most invasive kind, Orif surgery. Open reduction meant that I would have to have my bones physically put back into alignment during surgery and Internal fixation meant that I would have metal hardware placed with screw to hold my bones together to heal.  The doctor said the break around the fibula bone (the smaller bone) was all the way around and down like a candy cane and that there was a chip broken out of the tibia (the larger bone.) I wouldn’t be able to have surgery until the swelling went down so the next thing that I would have would be a splint to stabilize my leg and ankle which would have to be popped back into its socket. That was not pleasant at all.  I felt like my foot was slipping out of the joint even still since it was extremely painful when it did.  I let the nurse know and she determined that the splint would have to be taken off and a new one set. Again having the foot jammed back into place and held there while the splint dried into place was extremely painful. After all was said and done I was glad to have everything stabilized. I was sent home with crutches, pain medicine, and an appointment at the Orthopedic office a few days after. I was exhausted when I finally got home and couldn’t wait to take my pain medicine and go to sleep. I woke up every two or three hours needing new ice in my icepack to stop the pain and swelling. The next few days I used crutches to get down the hall to the bathroom but didn’t leave the couch other than that. It hurt too much to move around.

April 29th

I arrived at my appointment and let the doctor know that my ankle felt like it was slipping out of the joint again.  They x-rayed me again with out removing the splint and saw that I wouldn’t be able to have surgery for another week. I didn’t like the fact that I would be lying on the couch unable to move with a severely broken ankle that wasn’t healing. I also wasn’t super excited that I had an entire week to dread surgery and all the complications that were possible. I was told that I could have a cast placed the next day if I wanted to further stabilize the joint and my leg. I agreed since I had an entire week to wait until surgery.  I was given a prescription for stronger pain medicine and a appointment for the following morning to get a cast put on.

April 30th-

I had my appointment and was told that my surgery was scheduled for the following Friday. I would have pre-op the day before on Thursday. The cast tech came in and used scissors to completely remove the splint and ace bandages that covered my leg. It was purple, blue, and green and still a little swollen. When she asked me what color I would like to have for my cast I said purple so I would have something pretty to look at. She put my foot on a metal bar to line it up to a nighty degree angle.  The color really didn’t matter because the next thing she did was saw the cast in half on both sides and ace bandage it back together. The doctor has requested this step to make removing it during surgery easier. It had the stability of a cast but the access to my ankle easier. Having the hard cast made my ankle feel so much better and I came home and had a nice bath, sticking my new cast out of the side of the bath tub.

A tip for anyone going through the same thing: To get into the bathtub using only one leg put two towels on a stool beside the bathtub and sit on it. Put your good leg into the bathtub and use it to stand up then hold the sides and sit down before you run the water. Stick the leg with the cast out onto the stool and cover with a towel to avoid it getting wet. You can also purchase a cast cover online or even use a plastic trash bag to cover it. To get out of the bath tub you will reverse the process. I stood on one leg to use the detachable shower head to rinse off and rinse my hair out. At first balancing like a flamingo is hard but it gets easier.

Pre-op wasn’t a huge deal they had me give them a blood and urine sample and sign a few papers. I was given pre-surgery soap to wash with and when I got home I took another bath and washed my hair. When I got out I dried my hair and curled it to feel a little better. I knew that I would be on the couch for even longer and unable to bathe after surgery for a few days. My hair holds curl forever so I wanted to do this so I didn’t look homeless for the coming week. I couldn’t eat or drink after 12 am. We stayed up watching tv and I went to bed nervous.

May 3rd-

The Friday of the surgery Derek drive me to the surgery pavilion and I was put into a room where I changed into a hospital gown. I had a little bag with a change of clothes,  makeup and toiletries, and a phone charger in case. The anesthesiologist came in and let me know what to expect and that he would be putting me to sleep with general anesthesia. He also said that he had the option of doing a pain block but would not be doing that in case I needed it more after surgery. After I had my IV placed I was given fluids and something that I was told would feel like I “had a couple drinks.” My husband kissed me goodbye and said that he would be right there and everything would be ok. I remember being wheeled through several doors into the OR but nothing after that.  After I was out they put a breathing tube in, anesthesia mask, and preformed my surgery.

I woke up in recovery (PACU) with horrible pain. I had not been able to be woken up. I didn’t remember the first few times but apparently I had acted like someone in bed that wanted to sleep a little longer. I was having an extremely hard time coming out of anesthesia and had two pain medications already placed in my IV. When I came completely out of anesthesia the pain hit me like a truck and I had tears streaming constantly. Nothing they gave me helped the pain and the anesthesiologist came in to give me a nerve block. This was a process of jamming a needle into my thigh above my knee on the front and another on the back of my leg. At this point I was all for this as the pain was almost unbearable. Despite how unpleasant the process was I immediately felt better and was told that I should be able to be discharged soon.

After my pain was managed I was able to be wheeled back into the room where my husband and mom had been waiting. My mom had just left to go pick up my two boys from school. I was so happy to see Derek and be out of surgery. My whole leg was numb but I was given more medicine to stay ahead of the pain and nausea medicine to help with that. The surgery was supposed to be inpatient but every time that I tried to sleep my oxygen levels would tank. All the pain medication and the Narcan that had to be used to finally bring me out of anesthesia had brought my oxygen levels too low and I would have to be admitted overnight.

The next evening I was able to be discharged with a oxycodone, aspirin, and nausea medications and told the nerve block would start to wear off and I need to make sure to take all my medications to stay ahead of the pain that was coming. I did nothing but take medicine and sleep for the next few days.

I had a few complications with healing and I will get more into that on the next post. I will get into what happened when the nerve block wore off and something that caused even more pain during my recovery.

Thanks for reading

,XO Danielle

      ORIF Surgery / How I Broke My Ankle Today's goal is to rest and write down everything that I can about breaking my  leg and dislocating my ankle in the hope that maybe someone else can benefit from it.