This piece genuinely has meant so much to me I still even now can't get over it.

Arenides came into my life as a character of mine in a pretty rough time of mine. Struggled with a lot of things both personal and external, and yet somehow he helped me through it. He helped me through life as a sort of manifestation of a long-dormant self-confidence that had rekindled itself to further strengthen me for the path ahead.

This year marks a lot of things for me, but most importantly:
My fifteenth year in the fandom.
A decade of this big fluffball in my life.
And five years of steady progress of rebuilding myself once again.

Many many thanks to the wonderfully talented bean here:

https://bsky.app/profile/rustyruu.bsky.social