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Jenny- Thank you for this thoughtful piece. Hope you're well this week. Cheers, -Thalia

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Thanks Thalia, I see I'm a little late coming across this now, having been a bit unwell lately, but recovering now, fortunately. I'm glad you found it thoughtful, this was intended. 😉 I look forward to your thoughts as I get back at it, hopefully in the coming weeks.

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First, be careful what you envy... and we all make that mistake I think... that grass is greener syndrome. But consider what you might trade for in a Northern Hemisphere summer, in exchange for violent thunder storms, strings of tornados repeatedly, drought and high winds with high temp extremes leading to rampant wild fires, and increasingly powerful hurricanes or tropical cyclones threatening vulnerable coastal areas. A little cold and windy weather sounds lovely where I'm at right now, lol! See, we all fall for it!

So take me to this universe of yours, where I feel safer than where I find myself awake right now!

Well, that was a quick feel good "fix" that Logan and Luke a quite content with, oblivious to anything but a shallow "I'm sorry also". And right away Logan starts having visions of Misty and himself in a golden love story! May the Goddess save us from the hormones of young men!

I think Misty is operating on a whole different cognitive level of self awareness than Logan or even Luke! Sure, she is still moving toward complete maturity but she is way further along as I see it. And now you have peeled back the layers with Misty to the real core of this story. Down to the nitty gritty to use a colloquialism of some years past. Will there be a survivable solution to this gordian knot?

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My dear Frank...

You're absolutely right, about the grass is greener thing. We have our share of drought and wildfires, and just this past December I experienced my first tornado, which was exciting to say the least, and did quite a bit of damage to our outbuildings and infrastructure. We were without mainstream electricity for nearly a week, only just managing with solar and batteries. I do detest summer here because it is so HOT, and dry and miserable, but it would be nice to just not get so cold all the time. I know warmer weather is on the way and soon enough I'll be wishing it weren't so hot again but there is one good thing about summer and that's swimming, which I look forward to. And one other thing - the violent thunder storms, my fav.

Anyway... I'd love to take you back to my world!

Yes, it was a short apology, but remember also, how much it takes for Misty to speak aloud and as such, how precious each word is, add to that the fact that Logan isn't only feeling his own emotions at the moment. He's an untrained empath, which means that, swept up in a tide of strong feelings on both sides, things sometimes get confused, so who can say who it is that is actually having visions... I really should make that clearer in this scene... (Maybe one day.)

You're also correct that Misty is not entirely on the same plane as the guys so to speak. She's trapped in this endless feedback loop of loneliness and self isolation because of the trauma of her past. And at some point every teenager just wants to feel heard. Cathy played the part of companion to Misty pretty well, and now again she's on her own.

Also, Misty was always a little mature for her age. She's close to fifteen here too in case you've not been keeping track.

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I'm glad you reminded me of the positive role that Cathy played in Misty's growth as a person. I had closed the book on her and put her on a shelf. She was just so easy for me to dislike! She definitely served a purpose of abating the loneliness for Misty at a critical time.

And no, I actually haven't been tracking chronological ages very well. Glad you reminded me. I just let myself feel the mental and emotional age from the tone of your written narrative. I should be more observant!

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" I'm sorry too" ...[sniffle] ... Damn that was a good one

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Yup, three little words, and Logan melts into a gooey blob. Curse of the empath. Misty's emotions feeding his as well, by the way. I can't wait for you to see where this goes.

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I can't wait either but I would like to add here that I have been yelling at all three of your characters along the lines of " damn it, people, she tried to kill him and almost succeeded. Why does he have to be the one to apologize or kiss and make up? Having to remember she's only a child. Planet eating child, Maybe, but still a child and I have to push back from the computer and tap my toes waiting for you to come sort this all out for me LOL

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Oh Dave! I had quite forgotten about the almost killing him part. I think Logan kind of accepted it as his due considering his role in the incident that led to it. Looking back, I don't think he ever blamed her for it, more like they all wondered why it hadn't happened sooner. Maybe Misty's apology was for that too.

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Well I'm that guy who doesn't forget that I did what I was told for some obscure greater good even though I didn't think it was a great idea, and will be hard pressed to forget that I was damn near kill for my efforts :) but since you just lumped her apology together - what she did to him and what happened with Tom (though it wasn't her fault) I guess I can make myself let it go haha

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That incident, did happen three years ago, remember...

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Oh I remember... And a lot of things happened in the lives of those four all the way up until Tom died... So whether it was by Design or happy coincidence you have set up a transition to the next part of the story I will be anxiously tapping my toes in anticipation of where you are taking us next ;) Have I Told You Lately how good you are at this?

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