#i've always felt so bad for cesar :(

[t0yac1d]

My Juliet, my special girl (C. Diaz x Fem!Reader)

I hope that she looks at me and thinks, "Shit, he is so pretty"

Warnings: gang violence, death, after Olivia's Quince, blood, contemplating suicide

Word Count: 889

It was the morning after Olivia's Quince. The morning after a beautiful party. The morning after Latrelle shot Ruby and killed Olivia.

"It's all my fault."

"I shouldn't have shown mercy to Latrelle."

"I shouldn't have gone after him in the first place."

Cesar blamed and hated himself deeply.

He hated what happened to Ruby and Olivia because in his eyes, that should’ve been him.

In his eyes, that should’ve been him who got shot.

In his eyes, that should’ve been him who got killed. 

I need to cry, but I can't get anything out of my eyes,

Cesar sat on the edge of his bed, eyes filled with frustrated tears that threatened to spill but they wouldn’t fall. No matter how upset he was, they wouldn’t pour.

Or my head. 

And oh my god, the night. That night kept repeating in his brain. 

The sound of the gunshot.

The sound of Ruby screaming his name before getting shot. 

The sounds of Geny and Ruben screaming as their son lay on the ground, bleeding out. 

Every little detail played continuously in his brain. It was like a record player stuck in a loop.

Did I die? I need to run,

Days went by without Cesar coming out of the house. He felt like an empty body, just moving on its own throughout the day.  

but I can't get out of bed for anyone.

He was scared. 

Not of Latrelle or any gang member after him. 

But of his friends and Ruby’s family. 

What if they all hated him? He wouldn’t blame them, but this was the last thing he expected that would break the group up. 

He couldn’t get out of bed to see anyone.

 Not for you,

Not even for the girl he wanted to live for. 

When he did get the courage to go outside, he went to school first. He wanted to see if everyone still wanted to be his friend. Because if not, then he’d just apologize and go away. Leave their lives for good and keep them out of harm’s way. 

When Cesar got to school, no one greeted him. It was like he didn’t exist. 

He hated how no one talked to him, but he couldn’t blame them. He took their friend away.

Cesar skipped a couple classes that day. He just sat in an empty and dark classroom, silently sobbing and crying. 

My sour boy is a pain, 

His chest hurt with each sob he let out, 

I wanna shoot him in the brain,

He doesn’t deserve to live. It should’ve been him instead of Olivia.

He feels like if he died, everything would be better for his friends. 

 but I'd miss him in the morning. 

But a part of him says that this isn’t the way to think. That what happened has already happened and there’s not much to do about it but move on and make amends.

It really hurts when I need to so bad, but I can't see her..

He missed you, 

My Juliet, 

He missed you so dearly.

My special girl.

The only girl that can really, truly help him through a time like this.

But I need to understand when I can power through,

Because he knows you’ll get him through this, and help guide him to the right choice here. 

Cesar pulled his phone out with shaky hands and sent a text to you, he was sure there were a few words that were misspelled, but you’ll understand what he meant. Hopefully. 

He sat in that classroom, patiently waiting for you to come to him. But this time alone helped him think to himself, about himself. 

Sometimes I act like I know, but I'm really just a kid.

He’s just a kid. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. All he’s really doing is causing problems.

With two corks in his eyes, and a bully in his head.

And hurting those around him because of his actions.

I wanna make a colour that no one else has seen before 

He wants to get out and do something with his life. He doesn’t want to be stuck in the gang for the rest of his life. 

I wanna be so much more

He wants to show everyone that he can make something of himself. That he’s not “Little Spooky”. That he’s Cesar Diaz. 

You walked into the classroom and saw Cesar sitting on the floor. You walked over to him and sat with him. You didn’t say anything to him, you just sat there and looked at him with a slight frown. 

You didn’t like this. He looked so exhausted. 

He had dark eye bags under his eyes, and even then they were red and puffy from the crying. He had tear marks on his face and his clothes were disheveled. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, resting his head on your shoulder, as you rubbed his back and lightly scratched his head while you held him.

“It’s ok Cesar.” 

He leaned back and looked at you with teary eyes, wondering what was running in your head as you saw him like this. 

I hope that she looks at me and thinks, "Shit, he is so pretty”

The one thing that was running through his mind at this moment was how you thought of him.

Something I can't believe..

[woundkiss]

top 5 books and/or movies you read/watched last year? i've always found your love for literature very cool and it inspired me to get back into reading things myself... i'm very slow but determined

vlad hii this is so kind! i'm glad you felt inspired and i'd love to know what you've been reading lately!! 💞 last year was rough for me, i didn't manage to finish any books but i'm finally getting back into it this year. i'm also a very (verryyy) slow reader but your message has similarly inspired me... i need to try a bit harder... we've got this 🤝🩷

anyway the list. i'll just do films:

5. jaws 🦈

4. the good, the bad and the ugly 🏜️

3. ginger snaps 🌙 the ending haunts me still...

2. merry christmas mr. lawrence 🌺 one of my favorites and i need to read the book too, but what ryuichi sakamoto and david bowie did here is actually insane. not the point of the film but i've never seen someone so down bad before it was inspirational

1. the cabinet of dr. caligari 🕸️ also one of my favorites now, i'm putting cesare in a jar with various fruit slices yummm

[snoopyliker]

Joui: I wasn’t kind. And that's something I've always tried to be. But I think that after everything I saw and after everything we’ve been through... I was just scared, I was scared of her getting hurt even more, but I had no notion over my own strength and l ended up putting the life of a person, who had nothing to do with this, in danger. And at the same time I keep thinking... I'm not- I’m not feeling so remorseful.

Liz: It’s all okay, Joui. You are the kindest person I know. Believe me, these Ordo things, they fuck us up little by little, but you still have a lot of essence of who you've always been.

Joui: I’m afraid of… no longer feeling anymore empathy for people. I don’t know what to do.

Liz: You feel a lot of empathy for people, Joui.

(Guaxi: Do I hear that?)

(Cellbit: You’re listening, yes.)

Arthur: What do you mean you don’t have empathy? When I said I felt bad because of the red sweatshirt you took it off, man.

Joui: I never liked it.

Liz: You have a lot of empathy for people, Joui. You’re risking your life for days just to save people. And people you don't even know, people you’ll probably never get to know.

Arthur: On the first day that I met you and we saw that spider the first thing you did was grab me and pull me away from it.

(Calango: Okay, I punch the table and get up.)

Cesar: Joui, man! You forgave me having shot you in the face! You are the kindest person here. Stop with that.

(Calango: I sit down again.)

Thiago: What he said, dude.

Joui: I'm so sorry, guys. I will try to be better.

Thiago: You don't have to be better, you just need to be yourself.

Arthur: And so, if you get better, then… I don't think there's a way.

Joui: Okay. Thank you. Thank you guys.

(Bagi: I hug Joui again.)

Thiago: A group hug, family! Group hug, let’s go.

Liz: Group hug, come!

[ninapedia]

June 2025 Books Read

Final Total: 10

A Magical Girl Retires, Park Seolyeon

A short read, but one I really enjoyed! I always love when Magical Girls are depicted in more realistic situations and how pragmatic they get treated. Series like Cloudy Wondrous and Magilumiere real nail that vibe, and so does A Magical Girl Retires. I don't want to talk too much about specifics because the story is short enough that I feel like anything I say would give too much away.

Midnight Rooms, Donyae Coles

Another very tropey gothic novel- once luxurious manor that's falling apart, a fresh faced new wife marrying into an odd and foreboding family, etc. etc. The thing I liked most about it feels like a spoiler so I don't want to mention it, but I liked this about as much as I liked Mexican Gothic.

White Cat, Holly Black

I first tried to read Holly's Curse Worker series when it came out and I bounced off it pretty hard. I decided to try it again waiting for the Thief of Night which is funny in hindsight because this feels very proto Book of Night. Like, the bones of that series is very much in this earlier one. I'm hooked tbh, I love Holly's MCs. She does such a good job writing a certain flavour of blorbo that is my specific brand of catnip. I want to read Red Glove ASAP, but a few books I've been waiting months for got off hold so I'm moving to those next.

This is Not Propaganda:  Adventures in the War Against Reality,  Peter Pomerantsev

Like On Tyranny idk if this book filled me with hope or despair. It was definitely interesting and gave voice to things I already knew to be true. IDK if it's because the author's perspective, but it really does feel how we're still dealing with the echoes of a previously failed regime (USSR), even if this disinformation war has roots earlier than that. Some really good take aways and in general it's a really valuable read.

Clown in a Cornfield, Adam Cesare

I understand why this was optioned to be turned into a movie. It's a slasher film in book form. Like Old Wounds I read this and it felt like sitting in a movie theater. IDK if I'm gonna read the sequels, but this one was fun in the junk food sorta way. I guessed every twist early on but this is largely due to genre savviness (Slasher isn't my favourite flavour of horror, but I did/do wind up watching a lot of them). I do like the overall direction of this book! The surprising things were just part of the story, not some big build up reveal.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black

I read the short story that it's based off of in The Poison Eaters when that was published, but skipped the book on release. Vampires aren't my go to supernatural Thing and if I think on them too long they trigger my thanatophobia so when it came out it was a pretty easy pass for me. I enjoyed it! I like the exploration of vampirism as a known disease and how the world adapted to such a thing, I liked Holly's exploration of the type of people who would want to subject themselves to vampirism and- more so- the commentary on how vulnerable peoples get left behind. I liked hopping perspectives and time. Mostly, I love Holly's character work. I'm interested in this setting/characters, but also glad it's a stand alone.

The Truth Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Separating Facts from Lies and Stopping Fake News in Its Tracks, Bruce Bartlett

If I remember right I added this book to my hold list because it was recommended in On Tyranny? I could be wrong, but I was hesitant because Bartlett's a pretty well known conservative. I wasn't sure if ~Fake News~ was being used in the real sense or the other sense. Turns out it's the real sense and a lot of common sense knowledge is in here that doesn't feel so common anymore. Bartlett advocates for libraries, fact checking, and more nuanced reporting. He urgers people to trust vetted experts and peer review, and to be wary of sensationalized reporting- esp. that which may confirm a bias or seems "too good or too bad" to be true. Anyways, it's a good and short book (only about 2 hours to read!) and it's a great companion book to This is Not Propaganda. Definitely an essential read.

Red Glove, Holly Black

I liked this one less than the first book, but this is largely because of my frustrations with the situations presented. Too many things too close to what's going . There's one left in the series but I need a little break before moving on to it!

Black Heart, Holly Black

JK LMAO. Third on ties everything up neatly and it was worth the frustrations of the middle book. Not my favourite Holly series, but very solid and as always I love her character work.

The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi

I got Lies of P brain rot so I decided to quickly read the original Pinnocchio because I never had. It's so silly! And it's very interesting to see how which version of the story adapted which parts from the original book. Guillermo del Toro's version felt overall more faithful than the Disney version, funnily enough; and I hadn't realize just how clever Lies of P was in it's adaptation. Also, I have grown an unnatural attachment to Lampwick/Romeo and the book didn't help :') 10/10

CURRENTLY READING:

Recognizing the Stranger, Isabella Hammad

BOOK CLUB BOOK:

Inkspell, Cornelia Funke

[dwncata]

Pleaseeeee write something for the duo (Krys+Yue) I wanna see ur take

it has been done,,

(Before Cesare is rescued, and before Krystal starts overclocking her cores.)

--

“Mother, can you call?” A simple check in from Yue, one that Krystal always made a habit of answering as soon as she was able- after all, she knew Yue still had reservations about directly asking for help if it was needed, not that Krystal blamed her in any capacity. It could have been something as simple as “I found this post, and it made me think of you”, but Krystal still felt it was important to respond. She was unresponsive entirely on social media as is…

However, Krystal only heard the vibration from her phone, deciding to check it after she finished installing a few more components. A few minutes turned to almost an hour as she dropped one, another broke on the iron… god, she needed better fucking equipment. But in Daiki’s words, drilled into her head, the best way to learn isn't by having your fucking hand held…

Whatever, Val had enough on his plate as is. She'd figure it out.

And by the time she did, she completely forgot that insignificant little buzz, until she decided to eat a snack- only 6 hours into her work, 10 since the last few scraps she could force down her throat. Yue always expressed concern when she recognized Krystal hadn't eaten- and Krys hated how Yue often figured it out before she herself did. It sure as hell wasn't setting a good example, but… fuck, she already had so many things she had to do, eating was more of a battle than a respite.

Not that she'd ever admit this to Yue, hells above. Poor girl had her own shit to deal with as is….

Doesn't everyone, she supposed. Fuck, she literally split herself up to get shit done, and she still didn't have proper time for system maintenance.

“...Or, you can't prioritize it.”

Krystal sighed, wolfing down a few protein cubes and deciding to call it a day.

“I'm going, I'm going. Hells above, this shit hurts, you know that.”

She heard the spite in her own voice as it answered, silent in the room but piercing through the static in her mind:

“And you're the one who's choosing to do so. Fuck, if it weren't for me, you'd probably be fucking dead by now, too weak to eat or too dehydrated to move.”

Krystal didn't respond, checking her phone out of habit- and she finally saw the message, 3 hours after the fact. “Shit.”

It wasn't rare for Krystal to answer late, she knew Yue wouldn't be upset- but damn it, man…

“Shit, work has been a bitch, sorry- but I'll probably be heading home in a few hours. Did you want to talk about something, or just pass the time?”

No response for several minutes, she's probably doing something else…

She finished up her work for the day, finally heading home after another 4 hours. And yet, it felt like she didn't get much of anything done…

On her way home, she checked her phone again. This time at least, she was only 20 minutes late.

“Nothing specific… I just wanted to hang out while doing my homework”

Krys felt her heart sink a bit. “I'm sorry I've been so busy lately, man. Did you need help on any of it?”

Yue started typing a few seconds after.

“No, I think I got it this time. Could we still call though? Just like in the background you know”

Krystal was happy her homework wasn't too bad, at least.

“Yeah, I'll let you know when I'm home, another 20 mins or so”

“okii”

And after she got home, changed, and laid on her bed, she actually remembered to respond this time.

“alr, whenever ur ready”

…no response. Krystal assumed she might have gone to bed, and was about to do some more research- when her phone went off again.

“Sorry… had to deal with something. I might want to call later, but not now.”

Krystal felt a bit of anxiety pooling in her gut- less fear of a major issue, and more just general empathy, knowing what her household was like.

“That's absolutely okay, did you wanna talk about it? Or would a distraction help maybe? If you need a min to yourself that's absolutely fine too, no pressure /gen”

The mini paragraph made Krystal feel she was saying too much to not say anything… or was that just Daiki's influence in her head again…

“I think I want to text, just not about that. There's this silly post I saw, it made me think of your work, actually.”

Krystal opened the link, leading to a post where a technician was basically cussing out new tech hardware, and praising old, dangerous hardware in a silly, comical manner.

“HDKSBSH ‘RAW CAPACITORS READY TO BITE YOUR FINGERS OFF’ LMAOO”

“No but fr sometimes idk it be like that??? Like,,

Krystal hesitated to finish that text- she was gonna write, “Sometimes I lowkey wish we had that shit here, maybe people would bitch about my shitty work less”, or something to that extent- but that wasn't quite the best sentiment to share. “I wish I was in constant danger so people would leave me the fuck alone”, is what Krystal felt about that sentence- whether or not it was said, she didn't exactly want to play with the sentiment while talking to Yue.

“Like,, idk its dangerous if u fuck it up but there's not a billion components to lose….”

There, that was a decent enough deflection.

“How hard do you think it is to work on that stuff?”

Krystal felt bad for the initial thought she had, but at least it fueled a better line of conversation.

“With proper protection, it's not too much. Just don't touch coils, or hold metal with your bare hands and touch capacitors- that's more or less it, less accessible for the average person but for a tech its whatever yk”

“Mm… I think I get it. So it's a lot harder for techs now, then?”

Krystal gave a sigh, filled with something close to spite. “Don't even get me started… god, even the solder itself is awful to work with. Half the parts I order, I have to fix up myself to make them work right… their “factory standard” is a joke for any meaningful project. I wish older stuff was as powerful as today's tech, I'd use it in a heartbeat.”

Yue’s response was likely lighthearted, but Krys couldn't help feeling her energy dissipate as she read it:

“No wonder you're so busy… Not that I mind, I'm okay with waiting.”

…She didn't want to keep her waiting. She's always waiting, while Krys was just stuck here. The hell kind of message is that, ‘when you grow up, you don't get to do anything anymore.’

Well… shit, maybe she'd find a way to make more time, just like the initial split.

“Your body is falling apart as is. Don't fucking push your luck.”

…God, self preservation was annoying.

“Right… Things are changing a bit here and there at work, something about Val’s helper leaning more and doing more, or a friend? I don't remember, but hopefully it'll leave me more time.”

A message that Yue saw with hope, whereas Krystal could only feel defeat. One day things could change, but…

Safety be damned, she'd find a way to create her own change, sooner or later.

[countesspetofi]

I used to go all the time when I lived near the mall, like between 10-15 years ago. A lunchtime matinee plus the odd free or discounted ticket from membership points wasn't a bad deal. The art house cinema downtown was a short bus ride away, with even better prices. My sister and I used to go to the movies every Thanksgiving and Fourth of July.

When prices started to go up and discounts were fewer and further between, eh, OK. Maybe I went a little less often, maybe I bought fewer snacks, it wasn't a huge deal. I still loved the experience.

When terrible sound design started becoming the industry standard, with painfully earsplitting music and FX sequences alternating with barely audible mumbled dialog, sure, fine. Usually you could still tell what was going on even with my terrible eyesight, because it was on an enormous screen, and there were still special events like TCM Presents and Live from the Met, and indie movies at the art house and the Family Classics series every Christmas and summer, and other one-off things. And not EVERY new movie fell into that trap.

What finally killed it for me was the audiences. And this was before COVID. And I'm not picking on any one particular demographic. This is all sexes, all ages, all skin colors, all socioeconomic levels, all ethnic backgrounds. It's like everybody lost the capacity to remember they're not in their own living room at home. I went to a screening of The Shining once where it felt more like a Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight movie festival. I'm pretty sure I was the only sober person in the entire theater. I was definitely the youngest person at a Live from the Met show of Handel's Giulio Cesare where I ended up sitting on the floor because none of the elderly college professor types would move their coats and purses out of the empty seats next to them.

Parents ignore kids running screaming around the auditorium and babies wailing at the top of their lungs. People watch videos or play games or have conversations on their phones at full volume without headphones. People just randomly shriek out of nowhere and then giggle uncontrollably. I've lost count of the number of times I've been kicked in the head by people putting their feet up on the railing behind the handicapped-accessible seats I have to use. People coming in late stand and block the screen while having five-minute conversations with their friends about where they want to sit instead of just slipping in by the sude aisle and taking the first empty seats they see.

Theater employees will do absolutely nothing to interfere with bad customer behavior, and I can't really blame them. You never know these days when someone is going to pull out a gun and shoot the place up. At least I've never gotten an argument when I've left a movie early and asked for a refund because of egregious audience behvior.

Nowadays, I will go to the occasional special event movie, but only if it's really, REALLY special, like the screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey I went to last year. And I'm always on tenterhooks for the first fifteen minutes or so, wondering if it's going to be a great time or a flashback to junior high school.

Sometimes I think about how modern movie going was so diffrent for previous genertions

My grandma and my great aunt would go to the movies every weekend when they were young .Being a small town the theater showed two types of movies:Westerns on Saturdays ,Musicals on Sundays .Occasionally theyd show a religious epic like the Robe ,but that was it

@countesspetofi @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @the-blue-fairie

@themousefromfantasyland @ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9

@alexa-santi-author @princesssarisa @punster-2319 @grctw

@florals-cardigan @filmcityworld1 @geeky92

[daniiiiicccccccc]

sweet thing

oscar diaz x reader request: oscar having a crush on a cottagecore hippie girl. requested by: @dazed-confused-happy , This is absolute ass but I hope you enjoy it lovey! I don't know anything about the cottagecore aesthetic so I really hope this is good enough!

Introduction: My name is Y/n. I had just moved to Freeridge with my dad after living with my mom my entire life. Don't get me wrong, I have a good relationship with my dad, I just preferred to live with my mom, but my father asked me if I would come stay with him for a while because he missed me and I just couldn't say no. I'm coming from England. My mother and I moved there after she got a job offer. It was a really amazing and beautiful place. Our second year there, we discovered this aesthetic lifestyle called cottagecore and it immediately struck my attention. I decided to change my entire lifestyle to cottagecore and I've been living like this ever since.

I've been living with my dad for almost two months now. I got a job basically as soon as I got here at Dwayne's bbq. Dwayne and my father are really good friends and that resulted in me becoming good friends with Dwayne's son Jamal and his friends. They were pretty great and I got to hang around Cesar's brother Oscar a lot which was awesome. When I first saw him, I was extremely intimidated but he's really not a bad guy. We talk and joke all the time, he's really funny. I don't have to work today because it's a Saturday so I made plans to go hang out with everyone today. I got up, got in the shower and got dressed. I added moisturizer to my hair and then left it in it's natural afro. (outfit):

I watered my plants and texted Monse to tell her I was on my way. We were meeting at Cesar's place today. They didn't tell me the plans but I'm pretty sure we'll probably just chill in Cesar's room. I got in my car and drove over to Cesar's. When I got there, Oscar and his friends were sitting outside. Everyone else must be inside. I thought. I walked up to the house. "Is Cesar here?" I asked Oscar. "I'm honestly hurt that you came here for him instead of me." He said. I laughed. He chuckled. "Yeah, he's inside." "Thank you." I said smiling at him. He smiled back at me. His smile is the cutest. I walked inside to find my friends chillin in the living room. "Hi guys." I said, setting my bag down. "Hey." They all said. "So, what's the plans today?" I asked sitting on the couch in between Ruby and Monse. "We're just gonna chill here until the party later." Cesar said. 'What party?" I asked. "Oscar's throwing a huge santos party later tonight." He said. "You should come, it'll be fun." He said. He knows I don't do well with crowds so I'm glad he's not trying to force me to go. "I think I'll sit this one out, I got some missing assignments I have to turn in." I said. "Thanks for inviting me though." "No problem, you're always welcome." He said. "If you change your mind, just come by." "Will do." ~time skip~ After about 3 hours of hanging out with Cesar and everyone, I decided now would be a good time to go home before hella people started showing up. "Imma go home guys." I said grabbing my bag. "Aww okay, thanks for hanging out with us today." Monse said getting up and giving me a hug. "Thanks for inviting me over." I said giving everyone a hug. I said goodbye one more time and walked out the door. "Aye, where you goin?" I heard Oscar yell as he walked up to me. "I'm just going home." I said. "You're not gonna stay for the party?" He asked me sounding genuinely upset. "I have a lot of homework to do, I'm sorry." I said. "I might come back over later though, depending on what time I finish my homework." I said smiling at him. "You better." He said pinching my cheek in a playful way. I giggled. "I'll see you later Oscar." I said walking to my car. When I got home, I worked on my homework for a while. When I finally finished all of my missing assignments, it was already 9:30. I decide to go and pick some strawberries from my garden outside and then go to bed. I put on my sandals and walked outside. As I was picking my strawberries, I heard a car pull up and a door close. I turned around and there was Oscar. "Oscar, what are you doing here?" I asked standing up and sitting my basket down. "You said you would come back over." He said. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, I got caught up doing homework." I said as he walked over to where I sat on the ground. He took a seat next to me. "Why aren't you at home enjoying your party?" I asked him. "I would much rather be here with you than at some stupid party." He said. I felt my cheeks get hot, luckily you couldn't tell because of my dark complexion. "Oscar, are you drunk right now?" I asked with a laugh. He laughed too. "Nah, I'm completely sober. I was just missin you." He said smiling at me. "You're goofy." I said. It was quiet for a little while as we sat there picking strawberries. "I really like you y/n" Oscar said. I didn't think much of it.  "I really like you too Oscar." I said smiling at him. He grabbed my hands gently which made me look over at him. "Everything okay?" I asked in confusion. "Yeah, everything's cool.." He said quietly. "I just wanted you to know that I think you're beautiful and really amazing." I didn't really know what to say. "It's okay, you don't have to say anything, I just couldn't hold it in any longer." He said letting go of my hand. He got up and started walking away. "Wait, Oscar." I said getting up too. He turned around. "I really like you too." I said. He looked at the ground and smiled. "That's a relief." I laughed. He walked up to me and kissed me

[ctorres74]

Let’s see, how do I put this…you’ve changed a bit. Opening up to Cesar, allowing yourself to be vulnerable, even if it’s just a little bit, it can be daunting. I know it might not mean much, but I’ve always thought that kind of thing deserves recognition. So, good job.

It didn't... feel good, if I'm being honest. I just felt like I wanted to cry. And I've never felt like that before, so... hah, weird experience for me. And not in a good way.

...I guess I feel a little less bad around Cesar now, though. Is that anything?