#rebuild a city

[whyeverr]

Good moods abound back at the hydro plant.

"Please can I skip school tomorrow, Al? Please???"

"Manners, nice! But you know the rules, bud."

[gwahhhhhhhh]

Oh. My god.

[whyeverr]

Yeah... Octavia might be in over her head with this whole school thing. Even though it was her idea...

But, the kids are getting out of the house, making new friends, and learning that the world is bigger than just scraping by. That's got to count for something, right?

[whyeverr]

"Hey, Das, how was class?"

[dramatic sigh]

"Pointless."

"Oooof. Harsh. Sorry—"

"No... She's not wrong... I don't know what I'm doing, Al. I'm not a teacher. I was a good student but most of the stuff we taught in schools before is pretty pointless. We started on a high note learning about dinosaurs, but they've been down on everything since extinction..."

[whyeverr]

"Hey, bud! Done already?"

"'Already'? It's been 65 million years!"

[whyeverr]

Meanwhile, one storage unit over...

"So, a 'noun' is a person, place, or thing. Can anyone think of an example of a noun?"

....

"This is exhausting!"

"Not to skip ahead to tomorrow's lesson, but that would be an example of an adjective."

[whyeverr]

"Oh! Hey, is that a waffle maker? I know Cherry has been on the hunt for one of those things for ages..."

"It is! I found a couple, actually, earlier this year. I gave Cherry the other one..."

"Ohhhhhhh. Well. That's great!"

I guess it has been a minute since I stopped by the depot... Aaaaand now Tyler knows it. Should that really come as a surprise to anyone? We broke up!

Guhhhh, why did I have to bring up the waffle maker in the first place...

[whyeverr]

[deep breath]

Hang in there, girl. You got this.

[whyeverr]

"Daaaamn, girl, you should really sleep over more often!"

[chuckles]

"I know, right? What were we doing crashing at my place for so long..."

That's... not Cherry... 👀 That's one of the Kang siblings — you know, the survivors voted most likely to show up at the welcome center or any New Promise community event for the third year running!

[whyeverr]

"Alright, y'all. Time to wash your face and get to bed."

"Can we play with makeup again tomorrow?"

"Anytime you want, Skip."

[whyeverr]

Morning yoga at the welcome center 🙏 not the greatest turnout but there's plenty of room to spread out.

[whyeverr]

Makeovers for everyone! 🤪

[whyeverr]

Saturday, 6:00 A.M. ??????????

[whispered]

"Babe?"

[whyeverr]

Worth the effort ✨

[whyeverr]

Saturday, 9:00 A.M. Conifer Station

"...This is the one?"

"This is the one!"

"Ohhhh my goddddddd!"

I won't lie... After all this time it feels a bit strange jumping back in here in Conifer Station of all places, but New Promise is booming! It's been a busy couple years of community development. The roots we put down in Port Promise run deep — and now that they're so well-established, New Promise is expanding its reach throughout Evergreen Harbor.

[whyeverr]

"Heyyyyy, there you are. How was yoga— What is that?"

"We're pregnant."

Cassie isn't worried about any possibility of the test being a false positive. Deep down, Cassie knew it was true just as soon as Octavia first suggested the possibility. And Cassie couldn't be happier to share this news.

Starting a family together is something that always felt wildly out of reach, far beyond the horizon ahead of them or behind them — like dialing a number and hearing a voice pick up on the other end of the line. Life on the road, just scraping by... it could never be more than a dream, a shared fantasy of a prospective future outcome in the alternate timeline where the apocalypse never came.

But here and now, after settling into a comfortable life of abundance — good sleep, good food, good people — it doesn't have to stay a fantasy anymore.

[whyeverr]

The table is engrossed in friendly conversation — Octavia recounting the story of her first time attempting to shear their llama, Queso, while Tyler snuggles with a beetle for some reason — but Cassie's mind is elsewhere, moving in fits and starts between her stomach doing back flips (the herbal tea seems to be helping) and mental math because there

absolutely

positively

IS

a very good chance that she's pregnant.