Hello all! Thank you yet again for your continued patience when it comes to my unplanned hiatuses and the lack of updates. Y'all are amazing and I appreciate you so much. <3

This summer was absolutely crazy and so, so busy, but now I am quite eagerly awaiting autumn and all that it entails. I hope to be more consistent with actually getting things written and out to you guys on some semblance of a writing schedule, so bear with me as I continue to be figuring things out.

Chapter four is still in the process of being written, but I already have interlude one and a 2k reads special chapter finished and awaiting edits. I don't plan to release everything all at once, but I will probably be staggering these three updates throughout the next month or so to give me some time to hopefully stay on track and begin writing chapter five.

Thank all for your support! Even in the time that I was gone for most of the summer, the fanbase and community for 'connection' has continued to grow, and I'm so happy to welcome both new readers and old ones as we continue the journey this fall.

I hope that you enjoy chapter three! <33

( chapter title taken from : "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters )

{ 🍃 • 🐉 • 🍃 }

( reader )

My first sunset in Ninjago City was an absolutely beautiful one, the vivid colors rivaling anything that I had ever seen before and painting the bustling city in a new and hopeful light.

At least, that's what I imagined.

In reality, I was too focused on navigating through some of the worst traffic I had ever encountered (it wasn't even rush hour!) and making it to my apartment building in one piece.

Sure, the snippets of color that I caught in my rearview mirror or reflecting off of the windows on some huge building were pretty, but it wasn't like I hadn't seen a sunset before. Plus, I had other things on my mind.

Like how to tell my ninja-obsessed younger siblings that I had not just seen the Green Ninja already, but that I had actually spoken with him. (And how I hadn't taken a picture like I'd promised to do if I saw one of the brightly-colored heroes in person.)

That discussion won't be pretty, I thought with a grimace, resolving to try and avoid sharing anything about my meetup with the aforementioned Green Ninja as long as possible. At least until I had some bribery photos to distract them with.

Following the shortcuts that I had been given, I was able to weave my way through the city in the direction of my apartment, via a quick detour to grab some takeout for dinner.

The more practical side of me was trying to calculate the sodium content, carbs, and lack of protein in said takeout, and I guiltily wondered if I would regret eating it later; but the other part of me, the one that had been on the road for several hours, neglected to stop earlier for food, and was too exhausted to make something that even resembled a healthy dinner won in the end.

Takeout it was.

Chen's Noodle House had extremely good reviews and even better pictures of the food that had just as much sway over me as the overdramatic opinions in every review that I read, so I had decided to stop there.

It was a teeny bit out of the way, but I was too hungry to care. Any place that specialized in noodles was worth going the extra mile for.

After one final battle with the GPS, by some miracle I made it to Chen's without any more trouble. Finding a parking spot wasn't too challenging, considering the fact that it was after 7pm; and it was with a great sigh of relief that I exited my car and headed in the direction of food.

As I made my way toward the restaurant, the cutest little girl came skipping out with her dad, the two deep in a discussion about Skittles and what must have been a drawing that she was working on.

My heart absolutely melted at the sight of them- stupid maternal instincts kicking in- but what weirded me out was the dad's reaction to seeing me.

As soon as he saw my face, his entire demeanor changed. He went from cautious and 'protective dad mode' upon realizing that someone was approaching, to an odd expression of recognition that was more than a little unnerving; because I knew that I had never seen him before in my life.

Maybe I had one of those familiar faces?

Maybe I reminded him of someone he knew?

Maybe I had something stuck in my teeth or my hair was an absolute mess- and that was the actual reason why he was looking at me? (That would make way more sense.)

I guess I'll never know.

Attempting to ignore how awkward I was feeling at that particular moment, I gave the two of them a very nice smile and hurried on into the restaurant before the guy could find some excuse to talk to or approach me. Crisis narrowly averted. Yay me.

Chen's Noodle House was a nice little place. The food smelled absolutely amazing, and the atmosphere was cozy, with plenty of little tables and pretty paper lanterns for decoration in addition to the traditional music playing in the background.

Things didn't seem too busy, at least not tonight, and the staff that I interacted with were all very nice. If the food tasted even half as good as it smelled, I would be back here before long.

"Thank you so much for the food, have a great rest of your evening!" 

I happily accepted the paper bag of food, offering a smile to the tall redhead with a high ponytail and perfectly applied orange lipstick who had given me my order.

"Of course- have a great night!" she replied, giving me a bright smile of her own before she turned her attention to another customer.

Holding the cute little paper bag that contained my dinner in one hand, I hurried back out to my car. Outside, the street lamps were already on; the darkening sky a reminder of just how utterly exhausted I was.

The apartment complex was only ten minutes away from Chen's, but it felt much longer because I was tired and very hungry and the car smelled like the noodles I had been craving ever since I found out that they existed.

Maybe if I hadn't been so distracted, the broken and deserted buildings that dotted the cityscape would have served as a better warning for me- an indication of what exactly I was getting myself into; but to be truthful, I hardly noticed them.

To my surprise and excitement, there were actually several real cherry trees in front of Cherry Tree Apartment Complex. They were part of a beautiful, neatly kept little garden of sorts; one with several benches to sit on in the shade underneath the trees and a cute stone walkway that joined up with the sidewalk leading into the building.

If the nice, well-maintained outside of the apartment complex was any indication of the way that it looked inside, I was already sold. (Not that I had the money to afford much else, but hey- it was a bonus if this place turned out to be even somewhat decent and I didn't totally and completely hate it. At least not yet.)

I fished out the bag of noodles from the passenger seat under a mess of paper maps and some of the contents of my bag, grabbing my water bottle as I hopped out of my car and into the fading orange sunlight.

Locking the car just to be safe, I crossed the parking lot and made my way over to the little garden; water bottle clenched haphazardly under my chin as I fished my phone out of my pocket with one hand just before I sat down on one of the cold stone benches.

Setting my stuff down beside me, I began to type out a quick text to my parents; knowing all too well that their sporadic messages should stop once they knew that I had reached my destination safely.

Made it to Ninjago City in one piece and located my apartment without too much trouble. Just about to have dinner now. I'll text you whenever I get settled in. Love you. <3

With that finished, I opened the bag and fished out my bowl of noodles and a pair of chopsticks; knowing I'd made the right decision about dinner as soon as I spotted the chicken and veggies mixed in with the large noodles. Everything smelled absolutely amazing.

I ate more quickly than I should have, but I really didn't care. It was late and I was hungry, plus I still had to move the necessary stuff for the night into my apartment. I'd have to get the rest of it tomorrow, as nothing was going to persuade me to try and attempt a full move-in with so little daylight. 

There's no sense in inviting trouble.

Anything could happen, and there was no way to be sure that the Green Ninja or any of his buddies would be there to rescue me out of whatever dilemma that I (inevitably) found myself in next.

I was quite content with the idea of leaving a large portion of my stuff to deal with tomorrow, however stupid that mindset of a true procrastinator might be. With dinner in my hands and a long journey behind me, the future was looking pretty bright.

Ninjago City isn't half bad so far.

{ 🍃 • 🐉 • 🍃 }

"Just. . . cooperate! You stupid. . . piece of. . ." 

I huffed in annoyance as I tugged mercilessly at the last corner of my fitted sheet, sweat beading on my forehead and my hair an awful mess.

It had been a long day and I was so, so worn out; which meant that this felt even more difficult than it would normally. I often participated in an ongoing wrestling match with fitted sheets, but this time it looked like they might actually win.

As I was in the middle of yanking my sheets into position, having almost defeated them; of course that's when my phone started to ring.

"Dang it!" I hissed through gritted teeth, attempting (and failing) to lunge and grab my phone with one hand while still holding onto that final, most difficult corner of my fitted sheets with the other hand.

I couldn't quite reach that far, and the caller ID revealed that my sister was the one on the other end of the phone; so it was with great reluctance and frustration that I released the final corner of my sheets.

The fabric snapped back triumphantly, settling in a somewhat wrinkled mess that threatened to unravel right before me and undo all of my hard work; a fact which did not escape my notice as I snatched my phone from the table.

"Hey Naomi."

"Hey! How's it going?"

"Uh, it's going pretty well so far," I replied, keeping one wary eye on the sheets. "Just getting the last few things set up for the night."

"Sweet! Mom said that you made it safely to the city, but I figured I should check on you before you went to bed- just to make sure that you're doing okay."

A smile made its way onto my face as she spoke, an odd homesickness of sorts settling into my heart. Suddenly I missed my sister, I missed her house, missed her laughter and her kind words so much already- even more than I had expected.

"Thanks, Naomi. I appreciate it. I've got all of my stuff for the night moved in, and I'll get the rest up here tomorrow morning after I get some sleep."

"Sounds like a plan." 

Laughter could be heard on the other end of the phone, and I could hear the smile in my sister's voice as she spoke again.

"Did you disinfect everything in the apartment like Mom told you to do?"

I suppressed a laugh of my own, rolling my eyes before I took a quick glance around at the cozy little space that was now my own- a place that held promise of actually becoming a home one day.

"Yes, yes I did. Okay- maybe I didn't disinfect everything in the apartment, but I got the doorknobs, bathroom, and all of the counters. You know, the normal stuff and not the germaphobe stuff."

"Ooo- are you calling Mom a germaphobe?"

"I am not!" I retorted quickly, a smile tugging at my lips.

"It's just that I've grown up on a farm- I've gone barefoot through the barns and eaten raw egg and drank unpasteurized milk and all of that stereotypical 'farmer girl' stuff. I think I can handle a few city germs."

"Dude- city germs are so much worse, though! All of the things you mentioned are stuff that our ancestors did. They're all part of living a life like they would have had- out in the sunshine and the dirt. Random island-wide viruses that make us go on lockdown and creepy stomach bugs are another story- so much more dangerous!"

I wrinkled my nose as she spoke, my brow furrowing in reluctant agreement. "I guess you're right. I'll try to be more careful."

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You've got a good head on your shoulders," my sister replied, laughing yet again. 

"Thanks, I think," I replied, still smiling as I leaned back against the wall.

"How's Felix doing? Is he letting you and Caden get any sleep these days? Or is he still keeping you awake for most of the night?"

"Oh, he's doing well. We're still trying to figure out the nighttime routines and feeding schedule for him, but he's sleeping more and is a little less fussy. I'm still catching up on missed sleep, but Caden has been so supportive and so encouraging throughout this whole journey- he's done a lot of the late night stuff so I can sleep more."

"What a man," I hummed in appreciation as another odd, unexpected ache of homesickness settled deep in my chest (which was yet another sign that I was tired and in need of sleep).

"I'll definitely miss you guys. You'll have to send me plenty of pictures- but mostly of my cute nephew and not quite so many of your plants."

"That could be arranged," Naomi replied, and I could tell that she was smiling again. 

"I'll be sure to keep you updated on how he's doing, just as long as you promise to send me a picture or two every so often of your adventures out there in the city."

"I'll do my best."

"Sweet. Well, it's getting late and I'm sure you're tired from your drive, so I'll let you go now. Don't forget: I love you lots."

"I love you too, Naomi. Thanks for checking in on me, I really appreciate it. Send my love to little Felix and to Caden too."

"I will. Take care, and I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," I echoed, a bittersweet smile on my face as we said our final goodbyes and I hung up; my apartment falling mostly silent once again.

It was a little more than an hour before I had finished setting up the rest of my things, gotten a warm shower, put on comfy pajamas, and settled myself into bed with my laptop.

The apartment was still way too quiet for me, even with the nighttime city noises from outside. I was very much in need of winding down from the day, which was why I had started an episode of my favorite TV show and lit one of my scented candles.

With some familiar background noise from my laptop and the combination of a calming scent and cozy glow from the candle on the bedside table, I was finally able to process my adventures from the day and to prepare myself for sleep.

Halfway into the episode I became too tired to pay attention to the plot that I already knew by heart, so I blew out the candle and closed my laptop; shutting off the light before I settled under my blankets and closed my eyes.

It was a little while before I finally did fall asleep, but when I did, it was a deep and restful sleep; with dreams of my family, my drive this afternoon, and of needing rescued by the ninja from multiple embarrassing scenarios.

And just like that, my first day in Ninjago was over.