Note:

So here is the skinny, my little chickadees. I am not a spring goose anymore. Maybe never was. The truth is, I work a full time job, have a ton of bills to pay, am working on a second degree, buying a home, writing a novel, and starting a business. In short, I'm an adult. I know, I know, I hate it too. I've got a lot of responsibilities and, more importantly, goals I want to achieve. These 's aren't excuses, what I'm building towards is that, sometimes there comes a point when writing fanfiction is no longer a hobby but a hindrance to achieving my IRL goals. I look for work-life balance, and sometimes that means toys get put in a corner until I can find the time to dust them off and play with them again. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, this is really why I tend to get short with people who become too overbearing in their demands for updates. Also, if you ever come onto another of my fanfictions and leave a review just to ask about updates for fanfiction you're reading-- that's my biggest pet peeve, it's the most disrespectful thing you can do to me, so if you want to see me get real nasty, that's the way to do it.

But I digress. Let's talk about Operation: Fragments.

I want to complete it one day, no matter if that means one day is a year from now or 30 years from now. It's an intensive story. I did a lot of research for it. The chapters are not short. The plot itself is rather complex. I'm working with a lot of characters. It's fun for me, but it's also taxing. I can honestly say, I understand why it takes George R.R. Martin over a decade to publish new books.

Right. I wanted to also take the time to address a couple of the questions that popped up in the reviews over these past 9 years, because I'm not going to have the time to individually respond to them all like I used to do.

Q&A: Operation:Fragments

Rachel and Wally - this wasn't so much questions, as mixed feelings about this past relationship that I really wanted to comment on. I did not expect this revelation to go over well, largely because I don't know of too many KND fans that are not hardcore 3x4 shippers. Truth be told, I didn't plan it when I first started writing the story. Hell, it wasn't a thought in my head until that exact moment Rachel and Wally encountered one another. I knew there was a way that Rachel got invited to Wally's party, I'd always expected it to be through Patton, but then that encounter happened and the moment they started talking I knew...I just knew there was a past between them. It fit them both. The characters on the show, no, I get an immediate ick-factor when I think of the characters on the show. But the characters within the context of this story, yeah, it made sense. Wally is the bad boy, he's been around the block. Rachel is world-weary. Their both rugged characters that have been through things. They both get this thousand-yard stare, they're old souls, and because of that they connect on a specific level that, yeah, it went romantic for a moment but it also blew up in their faces. In my mind, they don't really have what it takes to build something loving and intimate for the long run, but they could do something hot and steamy for a few months.

Why is everyone so afraid of Wally? I saw a couple...or maybe it was just one...comment about Wally's reputation and how he's treated/perceived to be such a bad guy by just about everyone and the questions of how did he earn such a reputation. From the commentator's perspective, it wasn't really well established in the story as to how or why he garnered so much fear. I would beg to differ, but I'm also the author (biased much), so let me try to explain here. There's a few different ways to address this question. I'll start with: is everyone afraid of Wally? When we really get down to it, majority of the characters we see interact with Wally do not fear him or think of him as a bad guy. It's mostly people that don't interact with Wally. There's a bit at play when it comes to him: perception versus reality, society versus individual. TBC..

I started an AO3 account to compile, clean up, and maybe finish some of my favorite fanfics from all my accounts. If you are interested in checking out, my own penname is afinepricklypear.