Paul's Thursday Reviews CCCVIII · 8:23pm Sep 1st, 2022
I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s been on my mind lately and sometimes the best solution for that is to just write it out. My apologies to those of you who’ve heard this one already.
There’s something I realized recently. Specifically, I realized my own lack of activity with this community. I mean, yeah, sure, I write stories and reviews… but what else do I do? Not much. Every once in a blue moon I’ll respond to someone’s question on a group forum. That’s about it. I’m not active on any Discord channels, and the few people I do have connections with via Discord I don’t talk to much. Simply put, I’m the kind of person who tends to be satisfied being on his own, which I’ve always been aware of. But now with the fandom getting so quiet in general, at least on this site, I’ve come to realize that the only time I interact with most of you is when you’re responding to these blogs. The rest of the week? Nothing.
I know where this stems from. Part of it is me being used to being on my own. It’s been like that all my life, so I don’t expect it to change any time soon. Heck, I like being on my own most of the time. But “No man is an island.” is one of humanity’s many truths, and it certainly applies to me.
A major aspect of it is also my ceaseless sense of disinterest and unwillingness to be a bother, i.e. “Nobody cares about what I want to talk about so talking to them will only make me a nuisance.” I know that’s not true, I have plenty of experiences to demonstrate it. But knowing something is true doesn’t stop the feeling that it’s true. When I end one of these openings with a line like “let’s get to what you’re really here for, the reviews,” I mean it; I don’t actually expect anyone to care about the introduction.
It’s one of the biggest hindrances I have to lasting friendships: one day I’m chatting with someone regularly, then abruptly the responsibility of keeping the conversation going falls on me and I freeze because what do I have worth talking about so I stop talking at all and then when I finally do find something they might be interested in it’s been a couple weeks and geez do I really want to talk to them out of the blue like that they’re probably busy and maybe the topic isn’t interesting to them after all and then I’m being a bother I can’t stand being a bother better hold off and next thing I know months have passed without a word between us and the more time that passes the more awkward it feels and damn it I’m doing it again aren’t I?
As a result of these ponderings, I find myself wondering what I can do to get some better engagement with my peers. If they’re not the ones doing the engaging then I tend to keep my distance. The best thing for me to do is to stop doing that. Easier said than done, but it’s gotten to the point where I’d like to talk to people outside of just these blogs, and I’m honestly not sure where to start.
Talking to people is easy. Starting the conversation is not.
Whew. Okay, I’m done. How about we get to the reviews? We all know that’s what you’re really here for (hello tongue, meet cheek).
Stories for This Week:
Fallout: Equestria - The Chrysalis by Phoenix_Dragon
Reconciliations by Soufriere
Total Word Count: 544,571
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 1
Pretty Good: 1
Worth It: 0
Needs Work: 0
None: 0
Fallout: Equestria - The Chrysalis
533,691 Words
By Phoenix_Dragon
Requested by Raugos
Whisper was a simple infiltrator for the hive of Queen Ephema. She never considered herself particularly special or unique among her fellow infiltrators, or even compared to her fellow changelings in general. And yet she finds herself hoof-picked by her queen as one of the extremely few to take part in the Hive’s last-ditch emergency protocol should the megaspells land. Now Whisper finds herself in a radiation-torn Equestria, looking upon the desiccated corpse of her queen and feeling like her world has ended. In many ways, it has. But there’s always the chance that her hive persists somewhere in the post-war wasteland of southern Equestria, and she owes it to her late queen and dead sisters to exhaust every possibility.
Set in the immediate aftermath of Kkat’s Fallout: Equestria, this story follows the changeling Whisper as she explores the southern regions of the Equestrian Wasteland in search for any sign that her hive might still exist. It immediately appealed to me on account of the nature of the main character, who is all spy all the time. Whisper is a terrible shot and not the most athletic of creatures, but she makes up for it by being smart, charismatic, resourceful, practical, and above all, patient. This is a changeling who gets what she wants by knowing the right words (and the right lie) at the right time, and if words don’t work then there’s always good old-fashioned sneakery. It was an element I loved, all due to my preference for stealth over brute force. Why risk an open battlefield when I can kill someone without them ever knowing I was there? Whisper takes that same stance and I am in wholehearted approval.
But you can’t run a 500,000-word-plus story on just one character. Phoenix Dragon knew this well enough to add a whole bunch of extras to tag along on Whisper’s journey, including the grouchy but well-meaning Dusty Trails, who acts as their tactical genius, and the ever-positive Starlight; scavenger extraordinaire, mechanic, and sniper. There’s also Sickle, a former raider and eternal bruiser who makes Big McIntosh look like a foal and loves everything about violence. Rounding out the immediate entourage is Echo, the alicorn who inherited quite a few traits from the late Twilight Sparkle, including her passion for learning, desire to be helpful, and complete lack of social skills. And that’s just the ponies who journey with Whisper through most of the story; there’s a score of side characters who all bring a little something to the table.
The story comes down to two parts. First, it’s Whisper trying to find any evidence that her hive still lives. The second part is a massive struggle against an entirely different hive, one that has modeled its ethics, culture, and goals on the ideals of none other than Queen Chrysalis. The first part feels a lot like your traditional FO:E story; characters exploring the wasteland facing threats and making friends. It’s contained to just our protagonists and doesn’t expand much beyond them, although it does introduce many side characters who become important for part two.
The second part of the story turns away from the typical FO:E formula to give us a new war, pitting multiple small settlements together against a changeling army. Grand strategies, tactical decisions, troop movements, command meetings, logistics, resource allocation, skirmishes, lage battles, it all reads less like an FO:E and more like a WWII novel. That’s not a bad thing. Far from it; it’s a wholly different kind of story to set in post-war Equestria and makes great use of the tools available in that setting to keep the plot and the action interesting.
There are a few quirks worth pointing out. The first is the reminder that Whisper is not a warrior. While she spends the first half of the story on the front lines by necessity, that entire first half mostly serves to show us what she is and isn’t good at. The second half sees her take an almost 100% command role, particularly as a communications officer and strategist. She skips out on the vast majority of the actual combat, instead using her position to relay to us the ongoing events throughout the battlefield. It’s an unusual direction, especially since it mostly keeps us away from the action, but Phoenix_Dragon proves themselves up to the task of making it exciting anyway.
In fact, I think that’s the highest praise I have to offer for this story and its author. From experience, I can say that most authors would greatly struggle to keep such events interesting without taking on the perspective of a character that is witnessing them directly. Phoenix_Dragon, however, is able to channel Whisper’s emotional state and the excitement coming through her pipbuck radio to keep even the distant action feeling too important to look away from. My compliments to a very well-managed narrative style. (Unrelated: Google is not trying to correct “pipbuck”, which means Google thinks it is a proper word. I am amused.)
That being said, there are certain moments that can feel… anticlimactic. Again, I reiterate that Whisper is more inclined to defeat her enemies from the shadows, and she follows that inclination more than once. When a villain has achieved a certain level of reputation and/or bombast you expect them to go down in a blaze of glory and drama, not a one-hit kill sucker punch. Whisper’s methods may still have my wholehearted approval, but some readers may find the lack of an epic, climactic final battle disappointing.
If I had to point out anything that might deserve criticism, it may in fact be that there are actually too many characters. Or, at the very least, they weren’t all treated equally. There are times when characters seem to disappear or get very little attention for long periods of time. Sickle, for example, largely becomes a background character towards the latter half of the story, partially due to her being a melee combatant in a situation that almost entirely relies upon ranged weapons, but also because she’s not command material and thus has no role with Whisper among the army leadership. This was rather disappointing, as she was a very unusual character who I enjoyed seeing develop.
Sickle is only the biggest example. There are plenty of characters who are still present but don’t make any contributions and barely get a mention for long periods of time. On the one hand, I understand and appreciate the struggle of trying to juggle so many characters at once, especially when you’ve created scenarios that severely limit the necessity of having those characters around. If anything, I consider Phoenix_Dragon’s decision to be the lesser of two evils, the other option being to shove everyone into every scene whether they were needed or not. No, they definitely made the right call. Problems still persist, but to be fair I’m not sure what could have been done to solve it other than, say, killing off those who aren’t needed anymore.
Speaking of: A lot of characters die in this story. I don’t mean unnamed soldiers and the like, although there are plenty of those. No, I mean named characters, people with important roles, leaders, friends. Phoenix_Dragon doesn’t shy away from the fact that this is a war and people die. Characters you met a dozen chapters ago and you were starting to like will go down, sometimes abruptly, sometimes painfully, and oftentimes without warning. This doesn’t apply to (most of) Whisper’s closest friends who are equipped with only the finest plot armor, but everyone else? All bets are off.
That’s not a complaint. I think it was great that the author was willing to deal with everything so realistically, plot armored characters aside.
The last issue is how everything seems to fall neatly into place in the second half. Whisper and Dusty come up with an overarching plan. They enact that plan. Everything goes off without a hitch. The end. I’m vastly oversimplifying it, of course; they do encounter a ton of resistance and hard fighting. But when the enemy changelings try to put down some sort of roadblock, our protagonists swiftly create a solution that works perfectly every time. It all felt like it was going too easily and I kept waiting for the Big Problem to show up that finally forces them into that desperate situation where they have to truly struggle to get by, but it never comes. They just… do what they set out to do, and nothing stands in their way. It is a testament to Phoenix_Dragon’s writing style that these events were still fascinating, but I could never quite escape that nagging feeling of “this is just too easy.”
Nowhere was this more apparent than in the everlasting awareness that they’re fighting changelings. You know, those creatures that can look like anyone and anything? And sure, attempts to infiltrate the good guys’ army do happen on occasion. Yet I never felt that the changelings were ever doing what they would do under these circumstances, and the few times they did Whisper & co. had an easy solution or everybody in their army did exactly what was required to deal with the problem, sometimes before it even became a problem. Their ability to rat out changelings, prevent sabotage/assassinations, and avoid being roused into internal suspicion and conflict are so thorough and effective that it defies my sense of disbelief. Maybe I’m putting way too much faith in the abilities of changelings and stealth tactics in general (I’m a stealth build kind of guy, after all), and maybe that makes this particular criticism subjective. Maybe the story was getting too long (ha!) and Phoenix_Dragon was just trying to expedite the ending a little. Or maybe the author legitimately believed that a large and inexperienced army made up of numerous disparate groups that don’t necessarily like one another could resist every infiltration and sabotage action performed by an enemy that specifically specializes in infiltration and sabotage.
I suppose it’s not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. I imagine a lot of readers won’t notice or care. But it bugged me regardless (pun not intended).
Overall, I enjoyed this. It starts off in familiar FO:E territory but eventually swerves into something I’ve not seen before for the sub-genre, and I greatly approve of that. The characters are compelling (or at least interesting (I’m looking at you, Sickle)), the stakes are high, the writing great. There are a few… let’s call them “gray areas” for the overall plot, but on the whole I must approve. I’m glad I got pointed in this story’s direction and look forward to whatever I may read from this author’s library in the future.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Reconciliations
10,880 Words
By Soufriere
Sequel to Exes Meet
For the past month, Sunset Shimmer has been in a suicidal depression stemming from her past actions. Luckily, Best Human Rarity decided to take matters into her own hands and has been steadily nursing the former unicorn back from the brink. Now that Sunset’s finally up for it, it’s time for the others to get involved. To this end, they arrange a day where each of the other girls can visit her, one at a time, over the course of a long day.
This has been a quirky series, not least because many of the stories – especially the early ones – feel less like “stories” and more like “chapters”, if you catch my drift. Really, this entire arc should have been one story. Still, it was nice to get to this point at last, with Sunset finally coming to grips with the fact that her friends don’t hate her and do want her back in their lives. I think Fluttershy’s was my favorite, although Rainbow Dash being Rainbow Dash (albeit in a slightly exaggerated manner, perhaps?) was a highlight.
There are only two caveats. The first is that it’s probably better to have read the previous stories first, if only to better grasp how deep Sunset’s situation really is. The second is that there are two Pinkie chapters, which are redundant of each other as one is not intended to be canon. That’s right, it’s the ever-unnecessary “bonus chapter”. The term alone induces eye rolls from me, although I’m typically okay with them when they’re providing more info about, say, lore or character background. But this? It’s literally the same scene portrayed in two different ways.
To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with either scene. And Soufriere doesn’t bother to specify which is canon, so I guess you’re free to pick the one you prefer (at least until future stories make the decision for you, thereby making the effort pointless). Plus I do kinda like this depiction of Pinkamena, which loosely resembles my own. So I guess if people want to see the same scene twice just for witnessing two versions of Pinkie in the same situation, more power to them.
All in all, I liked this one. It’s certainly superior to its predecessors, mainly because it actually has a conclusion, which most of the prior stories didn’t (see the “this should be one story” commentary above). I’m curious to see where Sunset goes from here, so I think I’ll keep going with this series… even if I don’t expect Soufriere to change methods after this point.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Sasha — Pretty Good
Highs and Lows — Pretty Good
Rarity Visits Sunset Shimmer at 4 a.m. — Pretty Good
Exes Meet — Pretty Good
Lows And Highs — Worth It
Stories for Next Week:
The Hug Bug by TheLegendaryBillCipher
Idol by Coronet the lesser
This date is going to be perfect! by Crystal Moose
My Chemical Reaction by MysteriousStranger
Freeport Venture: Come And See by Chengar Qordath
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Paul's Thursday Reviews CCCXIII
My best suggestion is to just do things and see how they react. Alternatively, find some Discord servers.
I'm actually more interested in your little stories than the reviews. Don't get me wrong, they ARE well written and I enjoy them, I just think the stories are more fun.
Oh my… I relate so, so much to your opening intro. I'm like that a lot not just here, but in most walks of life, frankly. Right down to the hesitation to continue a back-and-forth that's in my court and by the time I have plucked up the courage, it's gone long enough I need more, and so on. I also have the hesitation in my own being interesting (down to the "let's get to the reviews" bit). Not completely silent, I do semi-regularly comment on a decent handful of folks I follow by now. But lord knows I'd like to get to communicate more regularly with some of the names around here, whether that be on a Discord server, or elsewhere.
Tl;dr – I get it, Paul, I really do.
Now, given I still struggle mightily with this myself (I do have a few friends and one or two groups I'm past the issue with, but that's it), I don't have any great sagely advice. That said, I'm sure many folk here would welcome more talk outside of these fics, and get on with you great. I know I would.
Otherwise, just keep trying. It's a dilemma that never ends, true, but it doesn't have to win either.
Oh, and, for what it's worth; I love your intros. Yes, even when they're about a video game well beyond by interest or whatever.
I haven't read The Chrysalis myself, given the length, the M-rating (it wouldn't deter me much from a fic like this, to clarify, but it does make me consider regardless) and it being a follow-up/in the same universe as Fallout: Equestria, which I don't know if I'll ever see myself reading at this stage. Your review certainly makes it sound great but no so great as to spend that much time on a story that long.
However, I can attest to Phoenix_Dragon's skills as an author: they may have only written four novels here (all changeling-centric), but one of them, Without a Hive, remains my favourite changeling longfic. I'm loathe to give much away, but suffice it to say it involves a changeling separated from his hive and having to live among ponies, not to feed/gather intelligence for his tribe, but simply to survive, lest he be discovered and killed. It benefits immensely from being an all-OC fic, really getting into the mindset, crafting a multi-years tale out of him and the main figures along his journey, and while not without flaws (the momentum/energy visibly sags before the despair point in Act II, and the actual final two chapters are noticeably strained). And simply put, none of the usual flaws and tics associated with OC changeling protagonist fics are present. It's that compelling as a character fic, largely for not humanising (or ponyising) its protagonist that much, and maintaining the facts of what he is.
[The fic its in the same continuity of, which is alluded to loosely at the end, Fragments, is nowhere near as solid, been a more bog-standard "changeling befriends Mane 6 after the Canterlot Wedding" story, but I'm willing to forgive that being Phoenix_Dragon's learning growth for this one. It's not needed to read at all for Without a Hive, though one would do to read it before the sequel to both, A New Way, which is pretty darn good, but has a lot to handle and much saggier momentum.]
Anyway, Without a Hive is a long fic, yes, but at only 180K (and it's one of the quickest 180K – it demanded me to keep reading as much as The Silver Standard did, no joke), not a hard one for you to squeeze in, I think. I'd seriously consider it, my friend.
5683444
I kind of have the same problem as Paul, and was thinking about the same solution. Are there any you'd recommend besides the Magic one? I don't want to just randomly DM people I'm acquainted with who I'm pretty sure have servers and just ask to join up though. (And the main Fimfic server is not great.) At this point I'm not even certain they'd remember or even like me. I don't want to just let the relationships I've built here fade away.
Over the years, my social life has much less stressful as I gradually realized that "friendship maintenance" is a myth. If you haven't talked to someone for months, that's fine! Call them up whenever you want to! You don't even need to start with an apology, just dive straight into, "Hey man, did you see that new movie?" or "Wanna come over for board games this weekend?" You can just do that!
And if you set a good example for your friends, they'll learn that they don't need to feel awkward if they haven't talked to you in X days or Y weeks, either. Be the social change you want to see, and refuse to let Miss Manners tell you how often you "have" to be in touch or what subjects you "need" to cover in order to be a good friend. Then, you can spend less time trying to be a good friend, and more time actually being friends,
5683449
Estee and Aragón's servers are both delightful in my experience.
Glad to see The Chrysalis get such a high rating, it's one of the contenders for my favorite story. Heck, I even have a physical copy of it! I was initially somewhat put off by it because of my previous experience with FoE changeling stories, but it was definitely a fantastic read.
What 5683448 said. I kinda felt like you'd broken into my brain and stolen my thoughts there
It's hard.
I like talking about stories and world-building if that's of any help. Seriously though I kind of know what you mean, I can give a heartfelt comment on Twitter or discuss things on Discord periodically but I am much closer to a Twilight and Fluttershy level in terms of engagement with my peers. In my long ago school days I was the kid who got along better with the teachers than my fellow classmates.
5683444
I second this. I don't engage with much of the community on here right now, but I am in several discord servers made by authors from this site, and they're great for whenever I want to be a little bit more vocal and interact with (even a small part of) the community.
I'll be honest, I see all the work that you already do put in - releasing weekly reviews (and 3 mil words worth of stories) - and I'm blown away by your ability to put out even that. I realize that submitting semi-formal written stuff is different from engaging directly in conversation, but that stuff is no small potatoes to me. Commenting on your blogs is the most engagement I think I've ever done with the fandom, despite being an avid pony fan for 7 years now. And I've only started doing that within the last year. Then again, my general isolation and lack of confidence in my ability to contribute constructively to a conversation may be to a degree that could be considered legitimately unhealthy, but that's neither here nor there...
Point is, I can empathize with your frustrations. Quite strongly, in fact. In my limited experience, Chris' take seems pretty true to life. The really meaningful friends won't care if you haven't spoken in forever - in fact they may be floundering over how to do so just as much as you may be. I know you may not know me as well as many others on this site, but I'm certainly open to chatting if you are ever interested (which I realize may be hypocritical/counterintuitive - I'm working on starting the convos too I swear). I actually look up to you a fair amount as a person, and I'm interested in what you have to say on nearly any topic. It's why I enjoy reading your blog intros as much as the reviews themselves - your take on whatever games you're playing or the writing process or even just random family stuff is just neat to hear. I may not always have something with which to reply back, but I do always read them with interest. Internet communication can make it difficult for us to realize that people are listening, but I swear that I am interested in what you have to say, whatever that may be. That's why if you do ever pack up and move to some other corner of the internet, I would gladly follow you. I wanna hear what you have to say.
Um. Yeah. Thanks for reviews. See you next week. Or whenever you feel so inclined.
I run a lovely friendship is optimal fan community if you have any interest in joining that!
You're always welcome at The Makalay Camp discord! I'll DM you an invite.
For me, it’s quite the same. My engagement of this fandom is only fueled by how much others engage with either me or my stories. I joined with the idea of working on them with someone who knows what they are doing but I can’t seem to find the right person without the risk of sounding like I’m demanding their services. Or without using cash to write or finish stories. which seems to be the only language that people know on this site. At least the ones I’ve managed to find.
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Yesterday I was all "I kinda want to talk to people". Then you guys give me options and my immediate reaction is something along the lines of "Ew, social interaction, gross".
Regardless of the flailing and wailing of my (not insignificant) inner introvert, I may just give these a try. Thanks!
5683447
It's appreciated! I need to write another short story soon. It's been too long and I'm itching to push that Publish button.
5683572
I meant the little stories you share that preface these reviews, but those are also very fun.
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Good to know I'm not the only one facing these communication woes. That said, I've come to learn that most of the people I've met in this fandom are actually pretty cool about just chatting whenever you feel like it. If I'm ever in a position where I really just need to get my (extremely insignificant) inner extrovert on, I have a few options. It's just... you know... doing it. Which is the biggest hurdle.
5683448
After reading The Chrysalis I am certainly interested in looking into another of Phoenix_Dragon's works. Perhaps I'll give Without a Hive a chance someday.
5683451
The funny thing is that I've technically learned this lesson before. I can't count how many times I've stumbled over myself trying to work up the nerve to talk to someone only to find that the second I do it's all pathetically easy and really what was I so worried about? I am reminded, specifically, of pacing in front of an RA's door in high school because I locked myself out of my room and oh, God, I need to bother someone over this and it's my fault and I'm an idiot and they'll know I'm an idiot and then, forty five minutes later (not an exaggeration), I finally knock and then it's over in thirty seconds and why the hell did I get so worked up over something so simple?
So yeah, I've been fighting this all my life, but I've experienced it enough that I know it's all in my head and I just need to get over it. Some days that's just hard though, you know?
5683457
I don't think I've read any FO:E Stories featuring changelings until now. A shame they're usually not up to snuff.
5683571
I mean, if you want some good vibes and more engagement with both the site and other authors, I'd recommend joining the Quills and Sofas speedwriting group. There's a discord server that organizes the speedwrites, and even though I'm not very active on there, the spontaneous nature of the server has both led to me improving my writing constistency and done more reading and idea swapping, so I'd still recommend giving it a try!
5683497
Much appreciated, all around. Rather flattering, in fact. The idea that people are interested in what I have to say feels... counterintuitive, at least from the perspective of my personal intuition (does that even make sense?). Perhaps we could have a chat on Discord someday, assuming either of us can ever work up the willpower to make that initial move. Good luck, amiright?
Seriously, thanks. I'd say more, but when people gush about me I kinda get all embarrassed and don't know what to do with myself.
The curse of being a member of a social species while finding talking to others exhausting sometimes feels like a cruel quirk. For me, my problem is remembering people exist. I'm quite social, but if I don't talk to someone for a while, they just drift away into the ether until I suddenly realize that I have a sister-in-law or I haven't talked to my best friend months. It upsets me that I don't miss people for a long time. It's not the same issue, but I think we all have social proclivities we'd rather not have. Something that might make us feel more "normal" whatever that means.
Being away in Japan has been mostly a positive, but I haven't hugged anyone in over a year. I bought a Toriel plushie to help, but I knew going in that I was sacrificing my love of hugs. I also recently saw a picture of my dad. It's been over a year since I saw him and age is starting to hit. It's depressing to think about that one day the messages will stop coming. I've tried to make my peace with it, but it frightens me.
Just, if you feel this way, please realize you can always do something about it. Your friends want to hear from you and know how you're doing. You might be socially awkward, but they've known you for years. Just be honest with them. I know I've called my friends to say "I just wanted to hear you." It's embarrassing, definitely awkward, especially when I have literally nothing to talk about. Sometimes they might have something for you though, and I love to hear what they have to say when they do.
Do whatever makes you comfortable and keep on caring for yourself.
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Really? That's a shame. But I think that if you keep at it and improve as a writer you'll develop a reputation, and with a reputation comes people willing to help you out just because. That takes a lot of time and effort, though; it was a few years before people became willing and eager to assist me just because I asked, and my productivity level was through the roof back then.
Keep at it and things will eventually turn around. It won't be quick or easy, but it will happen.
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Ah, yes, Q&S. They actually do sound like the kind of group I'd like. Always have. Kinda like the Writeoffs, which I haven't been active on in ages but still think is an awesome group. I just never bothered to join Q&S. Closest I came was at Bronycon 2019 (the only convention I ever attended).
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Ah, Japan. My sister (and her daughter) have been unable to come home for... what, three, four years now? It's really doing a number on my poor mother, but every time she and Dad look into possibly going over there the hurdles are just too high.
Also, I get the whole "I forgot people exist" thing. I have names in my Discord where I'm like "wait, who is that again?" It doesn't help that many of them have Discord names that aren't the same as their FIMFiction names. I've lost a good number of friends that way.
Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. It is very much appreciated.
Ah, the eternal plight of introverts.
I've found that it helps to develop a habit of just randomly sending each other invitations for a chat in the evening while the going is good, so that it feels less awkward if more time has passed between interactions. Just a one-word message like "Discord?" (or whatever your preferred platform is) is enough. Then we're all on and chatting as if no time had passed at all.
Yay! I'm very happy that you enjoyed it as much as I did!
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I know that feeling
Seconded