Sooo I was looking at my previous updates and thought wow, I have literally made one update per year of high school. Goes to show just how inactive I've been over the past few years. It's kind of that time of year again, anyway; I'm pretty sure I'm typing this at about the same time frame as the previous update.

Not really expecting anyone to read this since the people who even bothered to read this in the first place are pretty much dead. Not literally, just that they aren't on this site anymore. Relax, no one was harmed.

I guess I'll start with what's been up with my life so far. Senior year of high school has been pretty awful tbh: college apps were disgusting, I am waiting on most of my decisions and it's the worst. I'm stuck between praying I'll get into somewhere that I actually want to go to and just feeling dead. Also, for some reason, my classes this year are even harder than last year's and they give more work. Even in second semester!! Wtf ;-;

Now, as you can see, everyone is stuck in their houses bc of Coronavirus. I'm currently finishing up spring break, but school has been moved to remote learning until mid-April. It's a welcome breath of relief not only bc I can stay at home and relax more, but also bc I have asthma and that...doesn't really mix well with Coronavirus given that most people with respiratory problems have been more at risk.

Because of this situation, I've found myself with more free time (ignoring my upcoming paper and test that's probably not going to happen but you never know), and I've decided to return to Wattpad. I'm warming up the fingers and mind, oh yeah. In fact, my mom was actually surprised at how viciously I was typing on my laptop (she thought I was writing my paper, she doesn't need to know what I was really doing).

Things on the horizon:
• a kuroko no basuke fanfic called we find solace in the broken. I'm actually debating about whether or not I actually want to post this here because there doesn't seem to be much of a community for this anime. ao3 might be a better place for soliciting feedback. It's a reimagining of the rakuzan high characters that mainly focuses on the dynamic between Akashi Seijuurou and Mayuzumi Chihiro, since they really didn't receive much development in the anime. It also deals with a lot of mental health issues and trauma, which I know are things that not everyone is comfortable reading but it is definitely something I want to explore and get right. Let me know if this is something you would be interested in reading, though!

• a pokéathlon fic. This is something I think I've mentioned to other users (who have left, unfortunately) before. I currently have like zero plans for it, but it's something I'm pretty committed to doing. If you couldn't already tell, I love sports anime lol

• a Pokémon ranger shadows of almia fic called Tears of the Princes. This one is intended to expand upon the lore of the three princes and the king of almia. It's going to have more complicated and mature themes including political intrigue and maybe economics. The former I have like zero understanding of and the latter I have some understanding of bc I'm taking Econ right now. I'll, uh, find some way to make it work. I'm not sure if this will include two parts (first focuses on the three princes, second will make a connection to the actual shadows of almia story) or will be separated into two individual stories.

Other things (we will see how these go, may or may not be happening sooner/later than expected):
• a Pokémon short story titled Sweet Dreams. This is something I found in my drafts from like a year ago and honestly, it's kind of sad if I never finish it. Plus, I decently like the graphic I made for it. It's supposed to be about the relationship between a boy from a world that has no Pokémon (wonder why that is hmhmhm) and Cresselia, who visits him in his dreams. I'm probably going to have to rework the plot though if I decide to completely scrap another story, which was the main story that this work was supposed to be connected to. Idk if I'm making sense, but this was sort of supposed to be a sort-of prequel but more of a bit of expansion on a minor character in the main fic.

• a sort of dystopian Pokémon novel titled Coexistence. This is the novel that Sweet Dreams is supposed to be connected to. I barely remember what this was supposed to be about, but it had to do with N doing something that really changes the world. The Pokémon world that we know ceases to exist and in its place, a new world rises. Now that I think about it, I think it's a bit like The World Without Them by @sopeworldian that I haven't finished reading but is really great. I'm gonna have to check and make sure the idea isn't too similar tho haha.

• an X-Men inspired Pokémon novel titled Silent Prayer. Again, I left myself no summary or writing for that matter, but from what I remember, it had to deal with humans who mutated and gained abilities similar to Pokémon. They are looked down upon and feared by the general populace bc of their abilities, and they face a lot of discrimination. Eventually, these "mutants" must learn to work with top-level Pokémon trainers if they want to stop some unknown threat which idk what it is yet.

• a Miraculous Ladybug x Pokémon fic. I literally just thought this up while I was laying in bed this morning, unable to sleep (;-;). Wouldn't it be cool if you had secret-identity superheroes in Castelia City who borrow the special abilities of Pokémon Wait...how come more Pokémon don't exist besides the ones that live in the Miraculous? Yeah, I don't really have an answer for that yet.

• a Pokémon short story about Blue/Green's struggles. Yes, I'm talking about Professor Oak's grandson; I got used to the Japanese naming and started calling him Green, but it's inconsistent since I refer to others by their English names with the exception of Steven Stone who I sometimes call Daigo bc he's great in both versions and he shares a name with another character I really like. Think: mending his relationship with Professor Oak, trying to understand Red, and getting into a shit ton of trouble.

• I really want to do something with fire emblem. Unfortunately, the medium is less flexible than Pokémon and I really don't like writing oc inserts that are shipped with actual characters, so maybe I'll go for a short story/novelization of one of the games/reimagining? Most likely it will be three houses related but no byleth because byleth is bad. Might be an unpopular opinion, will rant about these kinds of things at a future point in time.

• Edit: I remember what I was thinking about. I might try an Fe fates (yes, it's a bad game, that's why it deserves this) reimagining about nohr's concubine wars. Probably will be told from the perspective of young Leo seeing as he has lots of angst potential (jealousy of Xander and Corrin? hell yeah) and I want to explore a bit of young Azura struggling to adapt to nohr too.

Ugh I hate that I'm sleep deprived and can't remember but whatever. Moving on.

I figured since I can't fit everything in my bio right now that I would give you a bit of insight on who I am. My tastes are both similar and different from my middle school self, but I think I've at least grown a little bit.

Anime/Manga:
• Haikyuu!! (only good anime this season smh)
• Kuroko no Basuke (it's pretty ridiculous looking back on it but the characters are really lively and somehow it sucked me back into it, so I would recommend)
• Akatsuki no Yona (badass female protagonist who is the most dynamic female protagonist I've seen in Japanese media)
• Bungou Stray Dogs (on hiatus for awhile but the concept is really interesting. You have real life writers reimagined as modern day characters with unique abilities based on their writing)
• The King's Avatar (still waiting on season 2 😔)
• Houseki no Kuni (interesting turn of events in the manga. Phos is falling further into a downward spiral each update...)
• The Promised Neverland (also taking an interesting turn but I'm not opposed to it. Seems like the manga will end soon)
• Boku no Hero Academia (I only follow the manga; unpopular opinion, hawks and the league of villains are the only remotely interesting characters. Also, idk how I feel about endeavor's redemption he's trying but it also doesn't seem like enough. At least the todoroki family's response is pretty acceptable)
• Rising of the Shield Hero (manga updates super slow, which is fine. Anime was good, the themes might be a little disturbing but they make sense given the protagonist. Looking forward to more but also not looking forward to the ending depicted in the light novel, which haven't read but I've heard of what happens)
• The Morose Mononokean (sporadic updates, but it's pretty nice and there's yokai. A bit like Natsume Yuujinchou)

Others
• Miraculous Ladybug (pls just resolve the love square I love all of them and just want them to be happy)
• The Untamed (stuck somewhere in the middle, need to pick up again)
• Marvel Cinematic Universe (rip the black widow movie)
• Fire Emblem (the best strategy rpg there is. Also I'm very proud of myself for completing blue lions ng maddening and getting the special home screen huehue)
• Octopath Traveler (music is godlike, graphics are godlike)

Things I hate but still watch/read
• RWBY (absolutely wasted potential)
• Owari no Seraph (not really hate but the plot is getting super confusing and it just lacks conviction and purpose that it used to have)

Things I need to get to
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (probably not the ideal starting place for the Zelda series but my friends absolutely loved it. Also probably the best switch game ever)
• Persona 5 (if it ever gets ported to the switch)
• Mystery Dungeon DX (haven't gotten it yet, but I love mystery dungeon, especially explorers of sky)

That's about it for now. There are probably other things but I can't remember.

Now, here are some things about me that may or may not be relevant:
• I'm an athlete; a golfer to be specific. I'm the captain of our girls varsity team (okay pls never let my friends find this lol they will know this is me). The golf season is always bleh but it's a great game and something you can play for a long time in comparison to other sports.
• I watch a lot of sports too; more specifically, I'm a fan of figure skating, gymnastics, and the Toronto Raptors only in basketball. Yuzuru Hanyu and Simone Biles are the GOATs, Serge Ibaka is a legend at artistry.
• Eating and sleeping make for the good life. But at the same time, I have slight insomnia :( I swear it's not bc of the coffee I literally drink less than a cup every day I swear
• Penguins and ducks and birds in general are the best. Fight me. I do like cats and dogs too though.
• My favorite characters in media always end up being minor characters. Idk if it's because they have unexplored potential or they're really just interesting. This is part of the reason why I'm doing the knb reimagining; Mayuzumi's sarcastic and prideful and completely different from Kuroko while being similar at the same time. Wasted potential honestly since his teammates treated him badly and he barely got any development :( Anyway, this will come to bite me in the ass when I start writing my own original story haha. I think I like the protagonist and deuteragonist the most tho so far?
• There really should be more to this but can't think of anything else at the moment haha

Finally, I want to get to something more serious. A long time ago, during my middle school years, Wattpad was like my second home. I didn't always write well or write a lot, but I've met a lot of great people along the way. Some are still here, some have left the platform to pursue other paths.

This is a bit of a tangent, but I am aware of a certain event in the Pokémon community that was just awful. At the time, I was barely involved with the community; the only reason why I knew of it was because of a brief check-in on Wattpad and Discord. I ended up running into the offender because we were in the same group chat and I remember telling him off for it privately but he just sent me a bunch of memes and had the audacity to ask me to read his book instead.

I feel bad that all I was able to do was give him a slight slap on the wrist, but unfortunately, I didn't know him or the other person involved very well and it wasn't really my place to get involved in something in which I didn't have the details. I'm not sure if this was a bad or good thing, but I definitely didn't mean any bad intentions and I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. Let me know if there's anything I can do better in the future though; I'm still looking to grow as a person and be a more compassionate person.

As a result of this, the community was deeply hurt, and some people I knew who used to laugh along with me and have fun just...left. I remember not knowing what to do because one one hand, I didn't want them to let go of Wattpad because I didn't know how I would ever reach them again but on another hand, I knew that this experience must have been awful.

Not only that, but there are various close friends who pretty much left Wattpad without a word. It's not their fault, though; I was a fool to think that little happy place from a lifetime ago would always stay the same. I should've tried harder to stay in contact. I should've at least reached out before they left. I shouldn't have done the same thing, because I wasn't on Wattpad at all and it was as if I had been part of those people who left.

But now, I'm trying to make things a little better. I've reached out to several of my old friends, and though it's hard to stay in contact for long periods of time, there is communication. I have a link to those amazing people. Our relationships might not be as they were before, but that's okay. As long as they are healthy and enjoying life, especially in these difficult times, that's enough for me.

I'd like to thank those people for making part of my life such a happy time, and wherever you are, I am wishing you all the best. This list is in no particular order and includes both those who have left and those who are still here:

Stormlocke
VanillaWind
fiktionkat
valflame_
Sheare
FallOfRempire
MAGICK-
izayoix
Demoniscy
Kaiterai
LogicalCabbage
pi_memorizer
rose-golds
luminescencexx
blue___22

I'm probably forgetting some people, but these are who I remember off the top of my head.

My Wattpad journey cannot solely remain in the past, though. These people may have moved on, but there is still a great community here. I am trying to meet new people and find a new home again, and I'm looking forward to spending the future with everyone. In particular, I would like to thank scftsmiles- for welcoming me with such open arms. Ceci/Softie (idk which u prefer lol) is a talented writer and artist who's very kind and a great person overall, even though I only just met her days ago. I can't wait to see more of your writing and art!

This ended up being longer than expected lol. Also took a bit of a depressing turn. I promise not all updates will be this long in the future 🤣

Thanks,
Azur