Or, why fangses rocks.


Man, that's a long time. Five years ago, I'd just graduated from high school, and I was waiting on tenterhooks to see if my application to get into an archaeology program would be accepted. I'd been eighteen for half a year already, and certainly didn't feel like an adult. (Still don't. Stop smirking, fangses, I see you there.)

I was idly browsing the Pit of Voles that spring, and ran across a fic for a Star Wars game that had a fun summary, and a great first chapter. As I read, I grew more and more intrigued not only with the premise, but with this remarkably attractive game character named Carth. So I figured what the hell, I'd try the game. This guy sounds pretty, and the game looks like fun. ...Looking back, with the sheer amount of fic I read before I ever started the game, I can't believe I managed to avoid spoiling myself. Or perhaps it was just selective obliviousness. (I still maintain that all the hints about Asuma and his Dad were remarkably well hidden. Never mind that they share a last name. And look the same. And...okay, never mind.)

Anyway, I eventually found my way to whatever the hell KFM was before they made the move. I hung around the site for a while, absorbing all the fascinating new internet slang, (teh? What's teh, and why is it amusing?), and I worked up the courage to post an off-topic thread of my own. Naturally, it was a Pratchett thread, because I'm a good little fangirl, and much to my gratified surprise, it was sort of popular.

And then, five years ago today, I got a reply to my thread, from a KFM denizen I'd seen here and there, but never really taken much notice of. (Sorry, dude. Bad llama, bad.)

I replied back, using more emoticons than I'm now willing to admit, and...boom. It snowballed from there. Or perhaps it avalanched. That might be more accurate. Soon we were PMing, and soon after that, emailing. That was my very first email account, incidentally. That was also when my strange new power became apparent, when I got a most amusing note saying that because of me, fangses had woken up at way-too-damn-early o'clock and been attacked by a rabid plot boma. I was so proud.

Of course, that set the stage nicely for the next five years, with much fic inspiration on both sides, many, many pages of fic beta'd, and insanely long emails, which graduated to insanely long AIM conversations.

Five years later, I'm twenty-three and a freight train conductor. ...Really, really didn't see that one coming. We've pillaged our way through more fandoms than I can count, and I tried. Seriously, I got stuck at like twelve. And I know I'm missing plenty.

We've rarely missed a day of chatting, whether it was idle conversation, or our five millionth new 'verse. And that's just in DAO! Hey-o!

Because I met fangses, I'll never be able to eat eggrolls without feeling mildly grossed out, I've lost the damn game far too often, and I've encountered truly amazing pr0n and utterly brainscarring pr0n. Usually on the same day.

I've written fic - something I never thought I'd do - with your enabling pushiness help, and my writing has matured and improved. ...Not by much, though, I don't write that often.

When we finally met up, it was exactly as awesome as we predicted, even if the stomach-sharing doesn't seem to work in person. The brainsharing, however, continued unabated.

It's been a kickass, amazing five years, fangses. Let's aim for another five, and may they be just as cracktakularly awesome as the last.

And I promise, I won't do something like this every year. Just every five.