I’ve always liked mornings—and I mean early mornings. There’s something special about that particular quiet stillness, when the world is still dark and asleep. It’s so peaceful: a special time where the world seems reserved just for me. And then, if I’m lucky and it works out just right… There’s no better feeling than stepping onto the front porch and looking out over the garden, right as the sun first appears over the horizon, perfectly framed between two distant mountain peaks.

…in Minecraft.

Because let’s be serious: the real world kinda sucks. Maybe you disagree? Maybe you want to argue for some kind of inherent superiority of the physical world. But for me? There was no question. In the real world, I had homework and responsibilities, a full semester left of my senior year. In the real world, I lived with my parents, who didn’t understand me and never would. In the real world, I couldn’t be the person who I knew I was.

Can you really blame me for preferring to spend my time in a digital world, where I got to live in a beautiful house constructed in the side of a mountain, along with my cute girlfriend?

Because, trust me, our house was amazing. It was elaborate, practically a labyrinth inside all connected vertically, with staircases and elevators. The design was a hodgepodge of different styles, depending on whatever had been Ashleigh’s whims at the time, including a Victorian ballroom, and an Art Deco lounge, and one fancy-looking exterior structure that Ashleigh had described as ‘cantilevered, you know, like falling water?’—which I had just accepted and said nice things about, even though the waterfall was on the other side of the mountain, so to be honest I had no idea what she was talking about. She was the artiste, not me—I was the practical one, more concerned with logistics and supplying blocks for her ever-ravenous construction needs.

In fact, that’s kind of how we met… Though at the time it was on a different server entirely, one run by my friend Ben. He had started that server for a small group of friends from school, but then those friends had invited more friends, and their friends had invited even more friends, until the server had quite a large population of regulars, some of whom none of us seemed to know at all. Ashleigh was one of those—I knew for a fact that she didn’t go to my school, because at one point I checked all my yearbooks and there were a few Ashleys, but not a single Ashleigh, not in the whole school.

But that was later on. When we first met, it was just because there was a new person on the server named ‘AshKicka420,’ loudly complaining about how complicated redstone was. For whatever reason, and despite the edginess of that name, I offered to take a look and help out. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find that her character model was an extremely cute and kind of gothy girl, with blonde hair and a frilly black dress. She seemed sort of surprised at my appearance as well—though, come on, you think it would be obvious that if my username was AllieKitten, I’d be a catgirl. But she immediately remarked on how cute my pastel pink-and-blue hair was… and I think it was at that point I immediately became a very smitten kitten. Don’t judge me! I don’t have any experience with hot girls giving me compliments!

After that, one thing led to another. I helped her plan out and set up a redstone drawbridge, and then she asked for advice with a mob grinder, and before we knew it we had spent the whole day just hanging out with each other, chatting about silly things and having a great time. When I logged in the next day, she insisted I come back over to her part of the world, because she had stayed up all night working on something that she wanted to show me. It turned out to be a guest cottage that she had set up, just for me, in case I wanted to visit again. And that was so sweet and adorable that I set my spawn point to the bed there, and we kept spending more and more time together, getting closer and closer over a couple of months. 

She was just so easy to talk to! Even if she was also kind of mysterious—she said very little about her real life. I learned that her name was Ashleigh, of course, and that she was about my age, also a senior in high school. But more importantly, I just got to know who she was on the inside—her cute little idiosyncrasies, how despite being argumentative and sometimes very performatively edgy, underneath her tough exterior, she was really kind and her feelings were often easily bruised. She had a brilliant eye for building things, of course, but usually needed my help to set up any kind of automation, and while she could spend hours working on making a perfect room, she rarely had the patience to go mining or exploring. So I got to do that too!

But she also definitely had a temper. And a high school Minecraft server being what that was, one day she wound up embroiled in some Drama with a capital D. I don’t want to go into it in detail, but trust me, it was all extremely petty and stupid, as drama tends to be. By the end of it, Ashleigh was upset enough that she decided to leave the server entirely. And when I heard that… that’s when I realized it for sure. There was no way I could keep playing on the server without her. What was the point? She was more important to me than all the diamonds in the world.

Before she left, we traded Discord usernames. Actually it was sort of weird, because when I first added her account (AshleighVee), she didn’t even have a profile picture, so I sort of wondered if she had set up an account just to keep in touch with me. But that was only for like a couple of hours, before she changed it to some smirking blonde anime girl, so I don’t know.

A few days later, after some fairly awkward attempts at conversation, she bashfully asked me if I wanted to join her on a private Minecraft server, just for the two of us. I said yes (of course!), and I still remember when I logged in for the first time. She met me at the spawn, and then we walked for quite a ways, because she said she had found a nice spot in a quiet biome. She brought me to the place where she was thinking about starting to build, and I immediately loved the layout of the mountains. She hadn’t had the opportunity to do much at that point, which was fine by me, because I knew I wanted to be with her every step of the way. But there was a start at least: a square room carved out of the stone, with a bed and a chest. 

I’ll never forget watching as she walked over to the chest, opening it to take something out.

AshKicka420: so um
AshKicka420: maybe i could put this like
AshKicka420: here?

And then she walked over, hesitating for a moment as her character swiveled to look at me and then look at the bed. And then she clicked, and laid down a second bed, right next to the first.

My heart fluttered as I typed out the letters on my keyboard:

AllieKitten: Ashleigh, um, are you asking what I you’re asking?

Her player character looked away from mine, staring at the corner of the room. It took her a moment to respond.

AshKicka420: lmao 
AshKicka420: i mean……. 
AshKicka420: i dont know? 
AshKicka420: no no im just kidding

AshKicka420: ……unless?

And that’s how I got a Minecraft girlfriend.

It’s probably a good thing we weren’t on a public server anymore, because I was certain that everyone would quickly have gotten sick of our constant sappy flirting with each other. Our own private server also meant we could decide what mods to use, which meant I could get more complicated crops and cooking to play around with, Ashleigh could have some better block customization options for fine details in her builds… and also that we could install a gender mod, which let you pick a breast size and even have some jiggle physics. I was kind of scared that Ashleigh would find that last one to be sort of weird or gross or something, but she was delighted by it. I guess all girls get euphoria over getting to be represented in a video game?

But anyways, fast-forwarding to today, we were closer than ever. It had gotten kind of hard to focus on school, not when all I could think about was getting home and logging onto the server to spend more time with Ashleigh. The good thing about Minecraft was that there was always something to do next, but honestly the game part wasn’t what kept me so enraptured. I just couldn’t help but want to be around her. I loved each and every moment we could be together, getting to hear her gush about some idea she had, or complain about something silly. 

It really made me curious about what she was like in real life… though I tried not to think about that too much. As much as I would have loved to get to meet her in person, I also knew that would spell the end to our relationship; she liked me, she liked Allie, but… I couldn’t exactly be that person in the real world. Not yet. And I’d probably never be quite as cute and pastel as the girl that she joked about wanting to pat on the head for being a good kitty. 

Things were excellent, in Minecraft, and… manageable, in real life. I had to be satisfied with what we had. That was plenty, right? That was enough. It was stupid and silly to sometimes daydream about something more. So I tried not to. I tried very hard. 

Nothing could change our happiness or get in the way of our time together…

Until one day, when everything went wrong.

This particular day started out like any other—I got home from school just in time to log in and catch that beautiful sunrise, eating a fresh apple on the porch as I looked across my neatly-tilled fields of wheat, carrots, and potatoes. Then I set about trying to find my cute girlfriend. I knew she was online, of course, and I could have easily just started typing out a message, but I don’t know… sometimes you want to run into each other in the world, you know? That’s part of what’s nice about getting to share the same (virtual) space. It’s fun to get to see what she’s up to, and maybe even to catch her by surprise. If I was lucky, I could get her to say ‘allie!! <3 <3’ like she was shocked and super happy to see me, which always made me feel all warm and pleased.

So I started strolling through our home, navigating the confusing passageways with familiar ease. She wasn’t in the grand staircase room. She wasn’t at the belowground smithy, near the entrance to the cavern I was slowly mining for resources—though I took the time to check the smelters and put some more ore in the hoppers. She wasn’t even at the very top of the mountain, where I very stealthily took a peek at her latest secret project. She had told me it was going to be a surprise and to stay out, but I was curious! Unfortunately, I couldn’t even tell what she was doing, other than carving out space and working on a half-built wall of glass panes.

I was stumped. Had she gone out exploring? That would have been kind of uncharacteristic of her, though. She would always wind up getting killed by creepers, and then get super mad about having to run back to pick up her stuff, even though I had told her plenty of times that she could just change the server settings to keep her inventory on death. But that was ‘cheating’ according to her, I guess.

While I was thinking about it, I went for a stroll through the farmland laid out in front of our mountain. Speaking of creepers, I needed to make sure that none had gotten in or anything—I sort of wished I had a way to better protect everything outside of the mountain proper, but also I didn’t want to fortify too much and put torches everywhere, because that’d ruin the aesthetics…

But when I got closer to the small building that we had set up as a barn and stable for our animals, I realized where Ashleigh was. We had built the barn a bit further away so that there wouldn’t be constant animal noise… and yet that’s exactly what I heard when I got closer: noise. Far more noise than the cows milling around would normally make.

I let out an amused sigh.

AllieKitten: babe
AllieKitten: are you punching the cows again

Immediately the frantic moo sounds stopped.

AshKicka420: ………no?

I giggled to myself, walking around to let myself through the gates and into the pen, and then over into the barn itself. Sure enough, Ashleigh was standing there, looking as guilty as a blank Minecraft character face could look.

AllieKitten: oh ashleigh, not the livestock

AshKicka420: they make funny sounds ok???

AllieKitten: yeah but you don’t have to hit them!

AshKicka420: its like
AshKicka420: stress relief

I smirked, torn between wanting to tease her and feeling like if she was frustrated about something, she probably needed someone to hear her out. The latter won out, because I am soft and weak, at least when it comes to my girlfriend.

AllieKitten: what’s wrong? problems with your project? do you need me to make more glass?

She immediately turned towards me and then hopped in the air twice, making me laugh again.

AshKicka420: DID YOU PEAK???

Oh. Oops. I guess I shouldn’t have known about the glass.

AllieKitten: I was just looking for you… and maybe I was a bit curious
AllieKitten: sorry!!

AshKicka420: ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
AshKicka420: ur lucky ur so cute

Great, and now I was blushing too. At least that wasn’t something she could see.

AshKicka420: ok yes fine
AshKicka420: i need more glass
AshKicka420: and help with pistons cuz i was thinking maybe having the ceiling retract

AllieKitten: what are you even making?

AshKicka420: it was supposed to be a surprise
AshKicka420: but…
AshKicka420: a greenhouse for u

My heart swelled. I hadn’t even thought she was paying attention when I was rambling about the crop fields earlier. She really was so much kinder and considerate and thoughtful than people gave her credit for being. I had such a good girlfriend. And of course I had to let her know that!

AllieKitten: oh my gosh!! ash!! I love you!!

AshKicka420: love u too

AllieKitten: you’re the best, most adorablest gf a girl could ever want

AshKicka420: what
AshKicka420: no
AshKicka420: im
AshKicka420: im not adorable

She strafed back and forth in place, her character’s arms swinging, and I’m not sure exactly what she was trying to accomplish, but the overall effect was of someone so flustered that they didn’t know what to do with themselves. In other words: adorable.

AllieKitten: you totally are!!

AshKicka420: im not adorable ur adorable
AshKicka420: stupid

AllieKitten: okay I will happily admit that I am adorable
AllieKitten: if you admit that you are lovely and wonderful and cute
AllieKitten: I will throw in ‘hot’ and ‘supremely kissable’ if that helps

AshKicka420: whja
AshKicka420: no!!!!
AshKicka420: sdhut up[

AllieKitten: never! you can’t make me!!
AllieKitten: my bragging about my cute gf is unstoppable!

I was interrupted by one of the cows making their idle ‘mrwaohr’ noises.

AllieKitten: …even if she hates cows for some reason

Ashleigh stopped bouncing around all of a sudden.

AshKicka420: i dont hate cows

AllieKitten: uh huh, that’s why you were out here punching them

AshKicka420: no really i dont
AshKicka420: i really like cows
AshKicka420: like a whole lot

Huh. That was a new and potentially useful fact about my girlfriend to file away. I wasn’t very good at design, but maybe I could, like, redecorate one of the bedrooms to be cow-themed or something as a cute surprise for her. But she kept typing.

AshKicka420: i just

I waited as a moment stretched out, now sort of oddly curious where she was going with this. I didn’t really expect this much explanation, after all. I watched as she turned to look at the cows, which were still milling back and forth, occasionally making their sounds.

AshKicka420: i just
AshKicka420: ok havent u ever had something that u thought was really cute

My fingers were already halfway through typing when she quickly added:

AshKicka420: and dont say me!!!
AshKicka420: i mean like
AshKicka420: something u like a lot but ur not sure why
AshKicka420: and so u dont know what to do
AshKicka420: but u kinda want to
AshKicka420: um

AllieKitten: ???

AshKicka420: u kinda want to hurt it
AshKicka420: just lke a little bit
AshKicka420: not becuz ur mean or anything
AshKicka420: and not in a way that hurts it for real
AshKicka420: but just a little bit to leave a mark
AshKicka420: so um so they have to pay attention to u
AshKicka420: like they have to think about u at least for a minute

I stared at the screen, trying to figure out what she was saying.

AllieKitten: …Ashleigh
AllieKitten: is this really about cows?

AshKicka420: yah
AshKicka420: it is
AshKicka420: thats what you asked about isnt it

AllieKitten: But. Um.
AllieKitten: This isn’t *just* about cows
AllieKitten: is it?

AshKicka420: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AllieKitten: don’t shrug emoji me!
AllieKitten: i can’t believe you installed a mod just to be able to do that

AshKicka420: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
AshKicka420: its useful

AllieKitten: Okay but you are Avoiding the Question

AshKicka420: um
AshKicka420: ok dont freak out or get mad

AllieKitten: Why would I get mad???

AshKicka420: ok your freaking out already 
AshKicka420: shit

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head, uncertain why I was even suddenly kind of on edge. I had always thought that I wanted to know more about her. It always felt like she kept up certain walls around everyone—she let them down a little bit around me, but they were still there. So if I really cared about her, I needed to not be super worried and defensive when she actually might be willing to share something. Even if something about this, something about what she was talking about, for some reason it set off alarm bells in my head.

AllieKitten: I’m sorry
AllieKitten: I’m not mad, really
AllieKitten: I’m listening
AllieKitten: <3

AshKicka420: ok
AshKicka420: <3
AshKicka420: um i guess
AshKicka420: i hadnt really thought about it much before now
AshKicka420: so im kinda figuring it out as im talking here
AshKicka420: but uh maybe its not only about cows yeah
AshKicka420: like ok maybe
AshKicka420: like theres a person i know irl
AshKicka420: that i always had weird feelings about
AshKicka420: and i guess maybe i kind of treated them the same way
AshKicka420: ?

AllieKitten: You were mean to them?

AshKicka420: a little bit

AllieKitten: oh my gosh ashleigh are you a mean girl?

AshKicka420: no!!
AshKicka420: wait
AshKicka420: i dont know?

Part of me immediately wanted to say ‘mean girls are hot,’ but I resisted the urge. It didn’t feel totally appropriate here. Ashleigh’s hesitation and the way she was framing this kind of hinted at it being kind of significant, involving some complex feelings or her part that I didn’t want to trivialize. Plus… well, I knew what about it had gotten me on edge, too. This sounded… well it sounded a little bit like bullying, and I knew from first-hand experience that being the target of a bully wasn’t much fun. As much as I naturally wanted to leap to see things from Ashleigh’s perspective, I couldn’t help but think about how the other person might feel as well.

And then there was another layer to it all. I couldn’t help but think that Ashleigh kind of sounded like some kindergartener who pushed their crush into a mud puddle because they didn’t know what else to do about it. I knew she could be kind of dense and even a little immature at times—actually, I really liked that about her, weirdly enough. I found it endearing. But it made it all the more likely that… well that maybe she really did have a crush that she didn’t know how to process. And how did I feel about that?

First, I had to be sure, though. Gulping, I typed something out. It took a bit to word and reword it, my nerves suddenly getting the better of me.

AllieKitten: So this person you’re talking about. Do you… like them? Is that what’s going on?

An equally long silence passed, Ashleigh’s character going completely still. I’m not sure she realized how much that answered my question all in itself. I chewed on my lip. 

A weird feeling twisted in the pit of my stomach. I really didn’t want to feel jealous, but… I really cared about Ashleigh, okay? I really really did. Even if it was just some stupid Minecraft relationship. Even if it wasn’t real. And maybe that was why this felt kind of particularly disconcerting to me. Even though Ashleigh was kind of just pixels and a fleeting connection, she had become something bigger in my heart. I.. would have liked to believe the same applied in reverse, too. But even if that was the case, she knew this person in real life. This person could be something that I couldn’t.

And of course, she saw this person in reality and liked them, already knowing the way they looked. There’s no way she would do the same for me, if she met me in person. Not the way I look now. Not with the body I’m trapped in.

Finally, Ashleigh responded.

AshKicka420: im not sure

I hated myself for the jealousy roiling inside me, for the way my fingers immediately clenched up, pulling back from my keyboard. I took a deep breath and then let it out again. I… I had to be better than this. I had to support Ashleigh. I wanted her to be happy. I tried to mentally back up, to disengage my suddenly treacherous emotions and look at this objectively. I tried not to think about it from the perspective of a jealous girlfriend, and grasped around for some other way to see the situation.

I tried to see it from another viewpoint, and there was only one there that took me away from everything I was feeling. How would this other person feel? This girl that Ashleigh was talking about… or, at least I was assuming it was a girl, because as tough as she was it still seemed like an unlikely dynamic for her to be picking on a guy. But if Ashleigh was being mean to her—even if just a little bit—how would she have experienced that? I knew how sharp Ashleigh could be, sometimes even when she wasn’t meaning to. Someone without any context of what was really going on… could be hurt by that.

AllieKitten: Ashleigh, if you’ve been mean to this girl
AllieKitten: if you’ve been bullying her…

AshKicka420: no its

I waited a moment. 

AllieKitten: ??

AshKicka420: um nothing go ahead

AllieKitten: I am worried that even if you didn’t meant to hurt her for real
AllieKitten: she might not have known that 
AllieKitten: it could still be a bigger deal than you expect
AllieKitten: particularly for the one on the receiving end
AllieKitten: ..trust me

AshKicka420: wait
AshKicka420: hold on wait do u mean
AshKicka420: is someone bullying u?
AshKicka420: wtf
AshKicka420: who
AshKicka420: ill kick their ass

I let out a surprised laugh, her absurdity breaking the tension slightly.

AllieKitten: no no it’s okay that’s not my point
AllieKitten: and things have been fine lately anyways
AllieKitten: I’m just saying that you could have been hurting her more than you thought
AllieKitten: and maybe you should try to fix that

AshKicka420: its been a while
AshKicka420: i havent messed with them in a while
AshKicka420: *her

AllieKitten: Even so… it wouldn’t hurt to apologize?
AllieKitten: I’m not sure how she would take it, but it would be the right thing to do

AshKicka420: …do i have to

AllieKitten: lol ashleigh you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do
AllieKitten: but I really really think you should
AllieKitten: …is my beautiful, strong, brave, cool girlfriend *scared* of saying sorry?

I expected her to shoot back a ‘hell no.’ Instead, I got:

AshKicka420: a little bit

Gosh, that hint of weakness and uncertainty was exactly the kind of thing that made my heart melt for her. But it was also why I knew things would be okay. Deep down, underneath the tough facade, she was so much softer and kinder than people understood, and I really loved her for that. She could be sarcastic or rude, but when it came down to it she always did the right thing, even when I knew she found it difficult.

So I tried to put on a smile and be positive and encouraging about it.

AllieKitten: And hey, you never know! Maybe you’ll wind up with a friend!

…Even if that bitterness in my stomach simmered, and I kept typing, feeling myself sliding down a slippery slope as my resolve to be encouraging and my sick, shameful jealousy fought with each other.

AllieKitten: Maybe even more than that…?
AllieKitten: Maybe if you’re actually nice to her she might realize how adorable you are 
AllieKitten: ;)
AllieKitten: who knows, maybe she’s had a crush on *you* this whole time too
AllieKitten: ;) ;) 
AllieKitten: tho even when you two are dating you still have to play Minecraft with me
AllieKitten: of course
AllieKitten: lol

I forced my fingers to stop. Ugh. Here I was, getting all worked up again. After all, who wouldn’t want to date Ashleigh if given the chance? I bet she was hot as hell in real life, too. And even if she didn’t look anything like her character model or whatever… well, that wasn’t important. She was hot regardless. Her personality, the way she talked and typed and thought, all of those things were the quirks that I found to be so endearing. I wasn’t in love with some attractive collection of pixels. I was in love with her, the person behind the keyboard. If someone else couldn’t see that, they didn’t deserve her.

Meanwhile, though, Ashleigh was silent, completely still again. Pulled back from my thoughts, I glanced back over the chat, trying to figure out what I had said that had affected her so much. Was she really that surprised that I was joking about her extremely transparent crush?

AshKicka420: its not like that
AshKicka420: i think

AllieKitten: are you suuuuure?

AshKicka420: its not
AshKicka420: i dont know
AshKicka420: ugh fuck
AshKicka420: FUCK

AllieKitten: Um

The words kept coming, faster and faster now, practically frantic.

AshKicka420: no
AshKicka420: it cant be like that
AshKicka420: thta cant be
AshKicka420: i cant be
AshKicka420: its different
AshKicka420: i dont

AllieKitten: Ashleigh? Whoa, are you okay?

AshKicka420: i dont feel that way about them
AshKicka420: ok?
AshKicka420: i dont
AshKicka420: for real

AllieKitten: Okay! That’s fine! I was just joking!

AshKicka420: i dont like them
AshKicka420: i mean i dont dislike them
AshKicka420: but not like like
AshKicka420: not um
AshKicka420: i dont have a crush ok

AllieKitten: okay I believe you!

AshKicka420: i CANT
AshKicka420: im not gay

Suddenly everything came to a halt. I stared at the screen, stared at that last message. I read it again, the words not making any sense to me. 

Mechanically, my fingers started moving, asking the only question that my brain had room for right now.

AllieKitten: You’re not?

She remained silent, character frozen in place.

AllieKitten: But…

It didn’t make any sense. I mean… okay, we were just Minecraft girlfriends, and of course I knew that wasn’t real life. But the way we acted all the time, the silly flirting and everything... If she wasn’t… if she didn’t like that, wouldn’t she have said something? Was I making her uncomfortable this whole time? But she had flirted back just as much!

AllieKitten: ashleigh? if you’re not gay then
AllieKitten: um well I’m just confused
AllieKitten: I thought we were
AllieKitten: i dont know
AllieKitten: girlfriends?

AshKicka420: oh
AshKicka420: uh
AshKicka420: yeah

AllieKitten: god i feel stupid
AllieKitten: I guess it’s just Minecraft, right?
AllieKitten: I’m sorry

AshKicka420: no!!
AshKicka420: wait hold on
AshKicka420: thats not what i meant i wasnt talking about us

AllieKitten: I don’t understand

A very long moment passed. I was stuck in my head, replaying our previous interactions and conversations, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong. How had I been so stupid? How had I read so much into the situation that obviously wasn’t there?

AshKicka420: Allie no i am so happy your my gf
AshKicka420: i rlly rlly am
AshKicka420: its just like

She paused for a moment, and then the words popped up.

AshKicka420: u know how they say that theres no real girls on the internet?

Oh. There it was, like a dagger sliding between my ribs. Of course. I could taste ash in my mouth as everything seemed to suddenly fall into place.

AllieKitten: You thought I was a boy.

AshKicka420: no
AshKicka420: oh or
AshKicka420: wait
AshKicka420: oh um maybe?
AshKicka420: haha wouldnt that be a funny misunderstanding?

AllieKitten: This whole time, you thought I was a boy pretending to be a girl.

AshKicka420: um
AshKicka420: Allie?
AshKicka420: hold on i didnt mean it like that
AshKicka420: that wasnt what i was trying to say

I didn’t see any more. I couldn’t.

I disconnected from the server and closed Minecraft. My fingers shaking slightly, I signed out of Discord, and then shut down the computer entirely.

As I watched the machine power down, I just kept staring straight ahead, until I could see my reflection in the black, empty screen. And then, that did it.

That’s what finally caused me to burst into tears.

rooibos_chai

Helloooo! Thanks for reading - this is the first of three chapters (maybe four? I should maybe break up the next chapter because it's loooong. We'll see.) Expect the remaining ones over the next few days! Despite getting a liiiittle angsty in places, this is a very silly story that I really hope you'll enjoy.

If you're impatient and would like to read everything immediately, or if you want to support my writing in general, you can do so at my patreon, here: https://www.patreon.com/rooiboschai

But more than anything else, your comments and thoughts are what really give me happiness and motivation. I'm really hopeful that I'm getting back in the swing of writing after a long, difficult spell and hope to have many more stories for you soon! <3