I should begin by saying a lot of things, but I've put off any sort of check-in for so long that I don't even know where to start. I posted an update to Patreon last night, as well as making it known that I'm mostly dismantling my page until I can get to a point where I'm not getting sick or losing people or moving or otherwise having my motivation slaughtered any time I finally reignite my drive to write again. This isn't to say I won't be writing, though, I made a promise all that time ago to see Aby's story through to wherever it might end and I don't intend to make a liar out of myself, but I will say that I am probably not going to be able to promise a truly regular update schedule for a while, much as I'd like to say otherwise.

All that aside, I'm not actually sure where to go from here. Not story-wise, I'm fairly certain on where I want to take that, but more just where to take this update. I get told by friends and coworkers that I apologize entirely too much, and I think I'm starting to see where they're coming from, so I'm sorry I end up saying it so often.

More than that, though, I want to say thanks to all of you for sticking around, somehow even growing more numerous in my absence(s). Forty-four hundred and change people following this story is about forty-four hundred more people than I'd ever expected to see following anything I've made, much less something that I started on a whim during the downtime I'd had after one of the single worst times of my life, physically and mentally.

This story has grown and changed a lot, almost unrecognizably so, but I'm also just about unrecognizable next to who I was, and I think that's for the best when I look back at the mess I'd been. I'm still a mess, but less so now, and thanks in no small part to the actual, somehow, literal thousands of strangers who look at a thing I've made and enjoy it. I love writing, and I do it for every single person who takes time out of their own lives and dedicates it to reading my words.

Anyway, I'll stop being sappy now, you all are incredible and I thank each and every one of you, and I'll be uploading two more Aby chapters as thanks in a little while. Have a wonderful day, and I hope that you enjoy.