Chapter Two; Practice Makes Perfect
Fallen Angel
Chapter Two; Practice Makes Perfect
Stupid. Rainbow Dash felt stupid. Undeniably silly. Lame-o. The opposite of awesome. Un-cool. And several other words she couldn’t think of.
“Rarity, listen,” Twilight started, and Rainbow had to try hard to keep from rolling her eyes. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Shoving whatever small shred of dignity she had left to the back of her mind, Rainbow put on a terribly forced smile. “Whatever could be wrong, Twilight darling?”
Then Twilight doubled over laughing, and Rainbow got the distinct impression she was the butt of a joke she hadn’t been told. “That accent was terrible!” She cried through her peels of laughter.
“What?” Rainbow asked indignantly. She thought she was doing a rather good impression of Rarity’s fake posh accent. “I sound exactly like her!” She cried in an over-the-top, terribly fake Canterlot accent, raising her voice as high as she could without squeaking. In other words, a spot-on recreation of their snootiest friend.
“You really… don’t.”
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow shook her head. “You said you had something to tell-” her voice finally broke and she trailed off into hacking coughs, only making the unicorn laugh harder. “Yeah, yeah,” she said horsley. “Laugh it up. This was your idea.”
Tears gathered in the corners of Twilight’s eyes as she managed to contain her giggling. “Practice is important, and the only way to practice something like this is roleplay.”
“It’s dumb,” Rainbow said flatly. “How is pretending I’m Rarity supposed to help you talk to the real Rarity? I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m not exactly…” she rolled her hoof in the air, sorting through a million differences between them. Rarity’s distinct lack of coolness or awesomeness came to mind - though she did have a few points in the radical category. “I’m not very Rarity.” She summarized quickly, turning away from the still snickering unicorn and getting herself a glass of water for her terribly abused throat.
Twilight scoffed. “I know that. It’s supposed to help me get more comfortable just saying what I need to say. If I can say it to you, it’ll be easier to say it to Rarity. It’s the same reason ponies practice public speaking in front of a mirror; just saying it to somepony is good practice, even if it’s just yourself.”
“Well, I wouldn’t really know; I’ve always been awesome the first time around. No practice necessary.” Rainbow buffed her hoof against her chest, admiring the shine. She caught the look Twilight was giving her out of the corner of her eye, and smirked. “I didn’t have any problems asking you out, and that was the first time I’d even thought about it.”
“That was different and you know it,” Twilight hissed. She held her glare for a second longer before sighing and shaking her head. “Do you want me to leave?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly, and she cursed herself. Was she being insensitive again? If anything, Twilight was the one being insensitive. Wanting to practice something as lame as asking somepony out on a date? What if somepony overheard? Did she even care about Rainbow’s reputation? “N-no,” she said quickly, reaching out and grabbing Twilight’s shoulder before the unicorn could turn away. “You’re fine, Twi; I promised I’d help you, and I keep my promises. I just… I really don’t see how this is supposed to help you.” And feel increadibly stupid doing it.
“You can be honest with me,” Twilight said quietly, her shoulders sagging slightly. “I know this is silly, and you must have better things to do today. I just… I’ll figure it out on my own.”
“Pfft. Yeah right.” Rainbow jerked her head back, motioning to her desk - pushed against the wall of what was probably supposed to be a dining area - piled high with stacks of parchment and covered in quills. “Nothin’ for me to do today ‘cept paperwork. I’m more than happy to put that off for a few eternities.”
Twilight’s eyes seemed to light up as they fell on the stacks of paperwork. “What is it for?” She asked, a little too eagerly for Rainbow’s taste. Or maybe it was just an excuse to take a break from practicing - which hadn’t exactly been going well. She started strong, but always fell flat on her face in the home stretch; the exact opposite of how to win a race. To be fair though, even Rainbow Dash had to admit the mumbling and blushing was a pretty cute look. Not that she would admit it. Or even think it. She definitely wouldn’t think anything like that.
Wait… what was the question?
“Eh, boring work stuff. Weather reports, temperature readings and predictions, a couple expense reports. I gotta submit a request for a bunch of clouds for a shower we’re supposed to have in a couple days. Apparently some of the farmers have been complaining about the lack of rain recently.” Rainbow made a show of rolling her eyes. “I wonder who that was. It’s like they don’t get I can’t just schedule the weather around what their crops need. Especially when their crops need different things.
“I didn’t even know that!” Rainbow shouted aggravatedly, glaring daggers at the offending papers. They sat there, unmoving, taunting her. “How am I supposed to keep track of how much sun AJ’s trees need compared to Harvest’s carrots? And don’t even get me started on the demanding flower ponies. I swear their precious plants are pickier than Rarity! Too much sun, not enough sun, too much water but not enough shade.” She groaned, closing her eyes and rubbing at her temple as she felt a headache building just thinking about everything she was somehow expected to balance. “And if that wasn't bad enough, I have upper management breathing down my neck over how many clouds we’ve been using. I swear it’s like they’ve never stepped hoof outside of Cloudsdale; we need clouds or it gets way too hot around here.”
After a moment of silence Rainbow opened her eyes and saw Twilight watching her. She blushed slightly, scratching the back of her head. “Heh. Sorry ‘bout that; I got kinda carried away. Point is, don’t worry about it; I have more than enough time to help out.”
“Are you sure? That sounds like a lot…” Twilight trailed off guiltily.
“Yes, I’m sure. Now stop asking,” Rainbow grunted firmly. “It’s nothin’ I can’t handle, and I have more than enough time before I have to get it all submitted. I might be the world’s fastest flier but that’s not the only thing I’m good at.” After all, who was Rainbow Dash if not the most dependable pony in Ponyville? The most dependable pony in Equestria, of course! The bane of the very notion of paperwork! Even if it did put up a pretty good fight from time to time.
Twilight chuckled slightly at that. “Since when did you have so much paperwork to do?”
“Eh, got promoted a while back. Regional Weather Manager-” she made a show of making airquotes “-basically I’m the head honcho for Ponyville’s weather. It’s pretty much my old job, I just have to deal with a bunch more red tape. Still, it’ll look good when I apply to the Wonderbolts; management shows leadership skills, or somethin’.”
Eyes wide in surprise, Twilight gasped. “I didn’t you know got promoted! Congratulations!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Don’t go making a big deal out of it; it’s nothing impressive.”
“What? You don’t want to brag about something?” Twilight feigned surprise, smirking. “Who are you and where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Har-har,” Rainbow deadpanned. “A job as a pencil pusher isn’t exactly conducive to my public image as an awesome daredevil.”
Twilight giggled, glancing again to the stacks of paper. “If you’re sure it’s not too much trouble-”
“Well I am, so enough worrying about it. Now-” she swallowed what was left of her pride and once more donned her flawless impression. “What was it you wanted to tell me, Twilight darling?”
“Rainbow…” Twilight had to hide her sniggering behind her hoof.
“Rainbow?” The pegasus asked in a spot-on recreation of Rarity’s voice. “What about Rainbow Dash?”
Twilight smiled gently. “You don’t have to do this with me.”
Returning to her normal voice, Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I know, but you said it’d help, right? And a promise is a promise, so-” she cleared her throat “-ask me on a date, Twilight darling.”
Holding in her laughter, Twilight closed her eyes a moment. Rainbow watched her take a deep breath, then two, then open her eyes. Giving her an encouraging smile, Rainbow nodded. “Hey, Rarity,” Twilight said slowly, and Rainbow motioned eagerly for her to continue. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Why, whatever do you need, darling?” ‘Rarity’ asked, and Twilight stifled another giggle.
“Actually I…” she trailed off, and Rainbow swore she could see the unicorn’s pulse increasing. Part of her wanted to break character and cut off the looming panic attack before it could start, while the other part was confident Twilight could do it. In the end she waited, fluttering her eyelashes in that way Rarity did every chance she got, and Twilight seemed to calm herself enough to speak. “I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to have dinner. With me.”
Rainbow had to hold off the victory cry a moment longer; Twilight wanted the real deal. “Dinner?” She asked innocently.
Twilight grinned as she managed to meet Rainbow’s eyes for the first time. “Yes. Dinner. Like a… a date. Would you like to go on a date with me?”
“Why of course, Twilight darling, I’d love to!” Rainbow cried, letting her Rarity voice fall away. “You did great, Twi,” She said, offering a hoof that the unicorn gladly bumped. Chalk one up to Rainbow Dash being awesome. Well, and a bit for Twilight being awesome. Like… half a point. It was mostly because of Rainbow’s help, after all. “How did it feel?”
“It felt… good,” Twilight said, nodding more to herself than her friend. “To finally actually say it. I know it wasn’t real, but… even just doing that makes me feel a lot better. Thank you so much!” Twilight jumped forward and dragged the pegasus into a hug. Not that Rainbow minded much; hugs were a begrudgingly accepted part of life when you were friends with Pinkie Pie. Although this one was starting to last a little too long.
“Heh, alright; we’re cool.” Rainbow fidgeted awkwardly as the embrace went from friendly to dangerously close to sappy. “You can let go.”
Twilight jumped back, blushing subtly. “S-sorry, I just… I’m really grateful; I don’t know how long I’d be fighting with this thing if it weren’t for you.”
“I mean, I am pretty awesome.” She gave her signature winning smile and a sly wink. “So, you feel ready to try it for real, or is there something else you wanna practice?”
“Well…” Twilight hesitated, chewing her lip. Rainbow noticed the expression.
“Hey, we went through this; whatever you need, I’m here, right?”
Smiling gratefully, Twilight nodded. “Right. I just…” she sighed, hiding her blush by looking away. “I’ve never dated anypony. I… I don’t know what I’m doing. You said you have?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Oh…” she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. “I mean… yeah, I’ve dated a few ponies, I guess, but-” she shook her head “-eh, not important. So, you wanna know what to do on a date, or…?”
“More or less?” Twilight sighed, scraping her hoof along the cloudy floor. “I mean, I have an idea; I’ve read enough romance books since this thing started, but… well, I just don’t really know for sure. Like, where would I even take a pony like Rarity?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “I know you know Rarity as well as I do - probably better than me - and I could tell you little miss fancy wants to be properly wined ‘n dined. Think Canterlot noble and I’m pretty sure you’ll be close.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “Right, but like… is there somewhere I can do that here in Ponyville? I can’t exactly take her to Canterlot, can I?”
“Hmm…” Rainbow rubbed her chin thoughtfully, closing her eyes. “You probably won’t be able to take her all the way to canterlot - at least not on your first date. There are a couple fancy-ish places here you could choose, but…” She sighed. “I dunno. You could always go super cliche and do a picnic.”
“Grass stains,” Twilight deadpanned. “I don’t think she’s fond of them.”
“Fair point. Or…” She peeked an eye open. “How good a cook are you?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Rainbow asked, “Why not? She’s always going on about finding her Prince Charming, right? Some mystery pony that’s gonna sweep her off her hooves and be the most considerate and junk. I figure a proper home-cooked dinner would fit that description if you can pull it off. It doesn’t even have to be fancy; as long as you’re the one cooking it, I’m pretty sure she’ll love it. Plus, if you do it at your place, it’s private and you have total control over, like, the atmosphere or whatever. I’m talkin’ candles and music here, Twi. Whole nine yards.”
“I mean… I do know how to cook a few things but… I’d need to practice…” she gave a shy look to the pegasus, and Rainbow grinned.
“You asking me to dinner, egghead?”
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called curiously, tilting her head as she pushed open the front door to her friend’s cloud home. Normally Rainbow was right there as soon as she knocked, but this time the pegasus seemed in no rush to answer her door. “You home?” She stepped inside slowly, glancing around the spacious entryway. There was still no answer to her call, and she was worried she might have been early to their meetup. Though a quick glance at a clock dispelled that fear.
“Hello?” Had her shift run long? Rainbow had never had problems getting her work done on time before.
Just as Twilight was about to leave and wait outside with a book, her ears twitched. There was a faint sound floating through the quiet house. A sound she recognized well.
A quill scratching on parchment.
Raising an eyebrow, Twilight followed the noise through the cloud home until she reached the kitchen she’d found herself in frequently over the past week, ever since Rainbow had started helping her with her feelings towards their mutual friend. Sure enough, as she rounded the final corner her eyes settled on the back of Rainbow’s head, hunched over her cramped desk against the wall. She seemed intently focused on whatever she was writing, so much so she didn’t hear Twilight’s approach.
The unicorn reached out to tap her shoulder. “Rainbow?”
The pegasus shrieked, launching from her seat with the aid of her wings and sending her once almost-neatly stacked papers scattering everywhere around the room and managing to spill a pot of ink across her desk. Twilight jumped back in surprise, gasping as she watched the chaos she’d inadvertently unleashed. As the last of the parchment floated gently to the ground, so too did Rainbow Dash, panting faintly with a hoof over her chest. “Jeez Twilight,” she groaned. “Don’t sneak up on ponies like that.”
Twilight smirked. “Aww, did I scare you for a change?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she folded her wings, puffing out her chest. “No, you just-” she deflated in an instant as her gaze trailed across her workspace. “No. Nonononono please no- Celestia Damnit!” The pegasus rushed over to her desk, grabbing the paper she’d been working on and holding it up - black ink dripping from it and onto the small pool below from the spilled well.
“Oh no…” Twilight held a hoof over her mouth. “Rainbow, I’m so sorry, I didn’t-”
“I-it’s okay…” The pegasus’s voice was shaking as she righted her ink pot, doing her best to wipe the ink off the page - and only managing to make her foreleg as black as the paper. Twilight could see her teeth grinding together. “I’ll just… start over…”
The unicorn flinched at the frustration in her tone, barely restrained beneath the surface. “What… was it?” Twilight asked hesitantly, almost fearing the answer.
Taking a slow, deep breath, Rainbow turned to face her friend with a smile, crumpling and tossing the ruined parchment over her shoulder. “Nothin’ important. What did you need, Twi?”
Twilight frowned. “Rainbow…”
“Seriously; it was nothing. No big deal. Water under the bridge. Forgive and forget,” Rainbow said quickly, starting to collect the rest of her scattered paperwork. “You wanna practice somethin’ today?”
Lighting her horn, Twilight gathered all the loose parchment together into a neat stack, snatching a few sheets from the pegasus’s hooves and depositing them on the desk - making sure to also pull the spilled pool of ink and put it back into the well. She noted worriedly that the tower of work was growing larger. “Are you-”
“I’m sure!” Rainbow snapped, before quickly looking away and coughing. “Er, yeah; I’m sure.”
Twilight didn’t buy it for a second. “You have a lot of work piling up, Rainbow. Did you maybe want some help? It’s the least I could do-”
“It’s fine, Twilight.”
“I just-”
“I can handle it!” Rainbow yelled, her wings flaring and knocking over the stack of papers again. Twilight could practically hear her teeth grinding. “Just…” she sighed. “What do you want, Twilight?”
Shoulders sagging, Twilight shook her head. “It’s… not important. I-I’ll just go. You’re busy, and-”
“Twilight, wait,” Rainbow called, pinching the bridge of her muzzle. She blew out a long, slow breath. “I’m… sorry I snapped, but seriously; it’s fine. Nothing I can’t handle. I’ve still got… plenty of time…” she trailed off, glancing to a calendar hung on the wall above her desk. She’d never had to keep one before all this stupid paperwork was dumped on her. “So seriously; what did you need?”
Twilight looked over the loose papers covering the floor. “You know you can ask for help, right? You’ve been so patient with me, it wouldn’t be a problem for me to-”
“You have your own problems, Twi,” Rainbow said, waving her hoof dismissively. “I don’t need to bother you with mine. Especially since I’ve got it covered. Trust me, okay? I might not be AJ here, but I’m telling you the truth.”
Hesitantly, Twilight nodded. “If you’re sure… just promise me you’ll let me know if you do need help, okay?”
“I…” Rainbow trailed off. She looked to the ink-covered page she’d been working on, crumbled and sitting on the floor. “Yeah, sure; if I need some help, I’ll give you a call. It’s not gonna happen though; I could get all this done in ten seconds flat.”
“And just tell me if you need some time to work; we don’t have to meet up every day,” Twilight added quickly, hers eye hardening and practically daring Rainbow to disagree to her terms.
The pegasus shrugged, scratching the back of her neck. “Sure, but uh…” she blushed and looked away. “I’ve kinda been enjoying hanging out with you anyway, so it’s no biggie.”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile at that, her horn glowing as she once more collected Rainbow’s work and stacked it neatly on the desk. “What, surprised spending time with a bookworm isn’t as boring as you thought it would be?”
“Yeah, whatever.” Her blush grew a few shades darker. “At least I’m not the one head over hoods for one of our friends and too nervous to do anything about it.”
The unicorn gasped. “Low blow, Rainbow Dash,” she said, though her tone was anything but hurt.
Rainbow smirked, glancing at her friend out of the corner of her eye. “Well? You gonna do somethin’ about it then?”
“I-” Twilight hesitated. When it had begun, there mere thought of confessing her feelings nearly paralyzed her, worst-case scenarios sending her anxiety spiraling out of control. Now, though… well, she still felt nervous about it. But that roiling mass in the pit of her stomach had dimmed to a level much more manageable. She smiled. “Soon, but that’s not why I’m here; the girls wanted to get together this evening, and they asked me to let you know. I guess they noticed me coming here so often recently.”
Sucking a breath through her teeth, Rainbow threw a surreptitious glance to her paperwork. “I… probably shouldn’t…” she trailed off scratching the back of her head. “Gotta get some weather work done tonight.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “You said it wasn’t a big deal.” The pegasus looked away, and she took a step forward. “You said you had plenty of time.”
“Twi, I meant-”
“You said you’d let me know if you needed help.”
“I don’t need help,” Rainbow bit back shortly. She shook her head. “I just need to get some work done tonight, is all.” She couldn’t meet Twilight’s gaze. “Been putting it off too long.”
Twilight’s glare bored holes in the top of Rainbow’s head. “If you need help-”
“I’ll let you know.” Rainbow threw her a confident smile. “And I will. Promise.” Their eyes met and an unspoken war was waged between them. Rainbow Dash pulling her best earnest look while Twilight scrutinized every facet of the mare’s face. Eventually, a winner was declared.
Twilight stepped back and sighed. “Alright, I’ll let them know you can’t be there.” She turned and started for the door. “You should get to work.”
“Don’t sweat it, Twi; I could get this done in my sleep!” Rainbow called, watching as the unicorn waved over her shoulder. She heard the front door close with a click, and once more found herself alone with piles of long-overdue reports. Glancing forlornly at the ink-stained crumpled piece of parchment in the corner that had taken her almost an hour and a half, Rainbow sighed.
It was going to be a long night.
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Best way to love paperwork is to work retail. You would gladly give up a kidney to get away from customers let alone fill out a few boring forms.
I'm wondering if the scenery should be described earlier. It took fifteen paragraphs for me to know just where in Rainbow's house she and Twilight were practicing asking Rarity out, and for someone who doesn't remember they agreed to meet there in the previous chapter, the question becomes 'where, fullstop?' instead.
Seeing how many interruptions and parentheses there are in the narration, I'm also wondering if you should start using em dashes instead of hyphens.
I found Rainbow's voice less prevalent in this chapter and didn't really notice any trace of Twilight's whenever the point of view switched to her. There was one golden opportunity for it though; when she startles Rainbow as she's doing her paperwork, I feel you could have described the results better than with merely "she watched the chaos she’d inadvertently unleashed."
This is Twilight we're talking about here. If anyone is going to describe an inkpot spilt on paperwork as an oil slick inexorably submerging an innocent, unsuspecting squeaky-clean beach punctuated with the crashes of thunder of her racing heartbeat, the banshee howls of displaced pieces of parchment floating about and the driving rain of ink dripping almost silently from the edge of the desk onto the cloud floor, it's her. The whole thing in slow-motion, naturally.
Incidentally, seeing Rainbow—the mare so skilled in sneaking in and out of supposedly secure places she puts professional burglars and spies to shame—scold Twilight for sneaking up on her amused me so very, very much.
I still enjoyed several lines from Rainbow's point of view;
"miss fancy wants" certainly was a favorite of mine. The following "wined 'n dined" was nice too, but I still liked the former better because it's a play on Fancy Pants' name. We both subscribe to the same 'Rainbow Dash has her way with words' school of interpretation, it seems.
Speaking of which, I half-expected her to follow "Water under the bridge" up with a curt 'Ink under the desk' hissed through her teeth, but she was trying to downplay her frustration there.
There was another line I liked that didn't showcase her voice, but still fits her character in the sense that it feels like the rare gem of wisdom in the rough of Rainbow's 'thoughts only weigh me down' usual mindset;
And one last line I enjoyed but doesn't really display either character's voice;
There were a few lines I found to suit her voice, save for the vocabulary used;
I'm not sure Rainbow would use words like "eternities" and 'conductive' (which is incidentally misspelt here), though this comes from someone who didn't watch the show in its original language.
I'm pretty certain she wouldn't use "surreptitious," however. True, this line might have been from Twilight's perspective since the point of view ping pongs between the two of them come the second part of the chapter.
Which brings me back to matters of points of view. Word usage this time, specifically.
I'll preface this by saying that I have a severe dislike of constructs like "the unicorn" or "the pegasus" being used when pronouns or their names could have been used, without confusing the reader in the case of all characters involved sharing the same gender.
Here, though, I feel the issue is less subjective. When it comes to intimate points of view, I don't think Rainbow would refer to Twilight as "the unicorn," or the other way round, unless it's important to underline her tribe rather than who she actually is. But that's not the real misstep as far as I'm concerned; it's Rainbow or Twilight referring to themselves as "the pegasus" or "the unicorn" in their own mental narration.
I just don't think it makes sense in limited, in-character points of view.
I feel some paragraphs could be broken up as well, though that's most likely up to debate;
into
and
into
There also were spelling and punctuation mistakes, notably some of the said tags;
she cried
Rarity,” she summarized
incredibly
she asked
conductive
Canterlot
I think "level much more manageable" should be 'much more manageable level,' as well.
FIMFiction apparently skipped three lines rather than only one after "Twilight smiled gently. “You don’t have to do this with me,”" too.
I noticed you referred to Twilight as 'dragging' Rainbow into a hug, which is a very nice to describe the latter's reluctance, especially that this same reluctance was downright stated with the reference to Pinkie. It's noticeable enough, however, for me to remember you described it the exact same way in the previous chapter even though I last read it over a week ago.
I believe this 'issue' is more subjective than objective, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Twilight seeing, then hearing Rainbow's teeth 'grind together' is another instance of repetition, though in much closer succession this time.
I also feel the line "Rainbow jerked her head back, motioning to her desk - pushed against the wall of what was probably supposed to be a dining area - piled high with stacks of parchment and covered in quills" could benefit from being slightly rewritten and shortened; replacing ", motioning to" with a simpler 'towards' and replacing the pseudo em dashes with commas. As it is, I feel that stating Rainbow is "motioning" is redundant and that the part between the hyphens doesn't qualify as an 'aside' and as such is not suited for em dashes.
All that said, the characterization is once more good from what I can see. I'm still unsure whether Twilight would laugh so much with Rainbow as she does here and in the previous chapter, but I've not watched the first seasons in a long time—and she did end up laughing herself silly after Pinkie's Giggle at the Ghosties in the show premiere.
9695057
All excellent points, as always. If there's one thing that frustrates me about my own writing it's the... inconsistency of it. I will note; if I use 'the pegasus" or similar, it's usually because I was writing during a block. I tend to get pretty dry - especially in my dialogue scenes - when I'm having a difficult time with something. It's unfortunate, but something that's hard to fix when I want to put chapters out regularly. Sometimes I just gotta push through and do my best to clean it up in editing. It'd be a hell of a lot easier if I did the "proper" thing and fully planned/wrote a story before starting to release it. Which is what I'm starting to do with my more serious projects.
I'm off topic, though.
Again, the problems with keeping the narration focused. I did a pretty heavy editing pass on the first half, before the break, and I like to think it shows. Somewhat. (It previously switched perspectives a lot) but... well frankly I ran out of both energy and time for the second part, and so just did a spell/grammar check. I'm actually pretty bad for that. It would have required quite a bit of rewriting to get anywhere near the level of the first half of the first chapter, which is ultimately the kind of quality I want to aim for. I didn't want to put in the effort for something I see as a silly side project. Perhaps one of my many flaws as an author. The third chapter that was supposed to be out today would have to be totally rewritten to be anywhere near up to snuff, which is why I'm hesitant to release it.
In the end, it comes down to what I want this story to be. And I've been going back and forth on that for a week. Part of my wants to slap it on hiatus and do it proper. The other wants to do a fun side project that I don't have to worry about being super well written. Though that would probably just end up reinforcing bad habits... ugh. No one told me writing was going to be hard! Then again no one told me anything about writing. I just kinda did it.
Anyway, I think I'm gonna hold the next chapter back while I see about doing some rewrites. Might end up making something proper out of this in the end. We'll see.
Welp, another workaholic Dash. I’m curious to see how this ends :D
No matter how many flaws are in this, I still like this story so far.