Still ironing a lot out, but to speak a bit in brief about iiit...

It'll be about magicians! Five hundred years prior to when the first of these VNs'll take place, a cataclysm shattered humanity at its (somewhat literal) height. It resulted in the world being split into two halves, separated by a streak of black mana-eating miasma known the Stain that stretches across the equator. The northern hemisphere is where most of the magic-capable survivors relocated, anchoring a remnant of their civilization to a mountain and eventually styling it as the world's first and last magic academy city. It's there that magically-talented children and their families get whisked away to, saving them from their likely squalor in the ragged world below, where there are very few thriving towns. Very few in the northern hemisphere knows that their world was ravaged by a cataclysm, believing that it was simply always like this. The powers that be work tooth and nail to continue suppressing and burying the truth, taking more and more magically gifted into the city and watching over them like hawks, ready to punish anyone they catch that'd threaten the status quo they've painstakingly crafted for themself.

What I have planned to kick things off is just following a girl in the northern half that's always wanted to be a magician ever since she was saved by one when she almost drowned as a child. She'll find that things aren't as they seemed or as they were promised once she does make it to the academy city, and things might go off the rails before too long. Still keeping a lot of the fine details to myself, though.

On the southern hemisphere, there's a more distinct flavor of "nature is healing". Here, the people are aware of their history and their predecessor's faults, striving every day to make the best of what they have and do better. Instead of one concentrated city-state, society's more spread out evenly into towns and villages with a well-developed road network between all of them. Here, the land is similarly bereft of mana and magical births are rare, with any one recognized being treasured cherished by the people around them as a miracle who will then create miracles. They're first apprenticed to a more experienced magician to obtain learning and experience, and then are set off to wander the land, help those in need, and search for nature spirits to make pacts with to help restore the flow of mana to the land. All the while they're accompanied by a Knight, individuals who are similarly scouted out and trained to be a magician's ever-present companion, bodyguard (and in a less charitable interpretation, warden), as anyone capable of magic is too valuable to lose.

As lofty as that all sounds, I plan on doing VNs in both halves, in the current era described and the time of the cataclysm! I have stories I want to tell and I want to see them through.

The situation in both halves of the world aren't ideal, but we can make them better!

There was a day where a friend from my girlfriend's high school days wanted to visit and hang out. He works at a pizza place with a 50% employee discount and wanted to treat us to a big old pizza night.

The morning of, he told us he wouldn't be making it that day.

I remember freezer diving for a pack of ground beef and digging into the pantry for canned beans and I went on to make chili in the Instant Pot. I even did another batch in another pot that had tofu instead of beef for the one vegetarian in the house. It was good enough that it washed away all the disappointment of not getting pizza!

Here's the recipe I used!

Yesn't?

There's a lot of context and nuance going into that answer that I don't think I'll be getting into, but for starters, my personal preference leans towards being mono. A polycule isn't something I would've entered on my own, but the hands life deals aren't always what you expect, and sometimes cards get played on your behalf when and where you were least expecting.

All that said, I'm happy, and I love them both so much. Over half the week is spent just spending time together, be it anime, games, or just enjoying each others' company. Teaching them both how to play fighting games with me has been especially fun!

The IRL meetup will be great~

Hmmm... I think you have the idea. Even a daytrip into a nearby city or the major one nearby would count for me.

In continued statements that'll probably diminish everyone's faith in me as an aspiring writer, I don't do a whole lot of recording my own thoughts and experiences without prompting! It's like that when you spend most of your growing up being convinced that there isn't much worth to your thoughts and feelings. I'm working on it! Still, a travel log... that does sound plenty fun. I mean, one of my favorite series is Wandering Witch, I could just be the next witch to take up the mantle!

To properly answer the question... I grew up sheltered as all hell, so there's an entire world out there of novel experiences waiting for me. I don't think I'd be getting bored of the idea of travel anytime soon. I'm a girl that lives through her stomach, so food tourism is also a go!

All the usual, commonplace stuff, I'd think...

An aquarium date, a planetarium date, a walk and picnic at the park, dinner out somewhere nice, working together on making dinner together and watching romance movies or anime at home, amusement park date with a ferris wheel ride, playing at the beach (I can't swim!), maybe even a little book club or manga club type deal between us...

Anything else is more specific, like "them standing up for and protecting me when I'm getting harassed," or "being able to show me their undivided attention during a date, even with their phone getting lit up," or "stargazing together at the Mauna Kea Observatories," going traveling in general...

I dunno, I feel like I'm kinda boring!

aaaa a a a a a a a a a a a THANMKK YOU FOR READING IT IM GLAD YOU L EIKDD THE IT AAA A AA

ahem

Hmmm... it's kind of a tough one to answer. A lot of extenuating circumstances contributed to me almost not choosing to participate, only for me to pull myself together through setbacks and recent traumatic events to do so. Because of that, most of what you read was a whole lot of winging it the entire month.

In that kind of position, I think the two guiding principles I had were "what I know" and "what I like". When life's seen as a series of meetings and partings, highs and lows, full of the people you meet, love, and hate, you have a lot of building blocks to work with, and work I did! Tietra is someone who's twice shy and wants to help people to a fault, and Reise has a chip on her shoulder she's trying to run from, and has to struggle to trust anyone around her on top of that. I've seen this sort of thing in myself and a few of the people close to me, past and present.

I don't want to spoil too much, but a common thread between the two of them is that they both have something they really need to forgive themselves for.