New Story: Ash and Amber

Jumping in with a new story that undoubtedly will not be everyone's cup of tea (and that's okay!) but that I've been having so much fun with that I wanted to share:

Ash and Amber: Chapter 1

If you want to just dive in, go ahead and read! Or if you want a overly-rambling and lengthy explanation/background...keep reading below: 

Terms & Specific Conditions Update

 

Chapter 41

There are things that sound absolutely terrible when you say them out loud. And then someone asks you to say them again, which really doesn't help.

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Terms & Specific Conditions Update

 

Chapter 40

The worst thing about being with someone who knows you very well is that occasionally they acquire new information.

And then you have to keep living with them.

In the same house.

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Terms & Specific Conditions Update

Chapter 39

Thirty. Nine.

That is a bus route. That is a shoe size in Europe. That is too many little chapters about two adults with jobs behaving like this.

Thank you for reading, and also: what are we doing? But, genuinely. Thank you. 

Nothing dramatic happens

Jack gives a reasonable answer about stairs.

Penelope discovers that reasonableness can be obscene.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 38

This one felt a little more private than usual to post, which is obviously an excellent reason to put it on the internet. 

A viewing is requested.

Expectations are lowered preemptively.

Penelope discovers several new things about herself in real time.

Jack is, unfortunately, paying attention.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 37

A future hypothetical becomes unnecessarily detailed.

Terms are established.

Dinner becomes briefly procedural.

Supporting evidence is introduced.

Penelope stages a tribunal.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 36

A vegetable-related incident occurs.

Jack becomes extremely employable.

Administrative paperwork exceeds scope.

The zucchini survives.

Dinner does not recover.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 35

A private joke receives public funding.

Jack exceeds scope.

Furniture becomes contentious.

Penelope develops an interest in floor-based logistics.

A forward journey is supported.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

Chapter 34

A hotel carpet becomes personally offensive.

Jack conducts a routine inspection.

Penelope is assigned one factual task and develops an ethics problem.

Pants occur.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 33

Penelope receives a drunk invitation from the wilderness.

The terrain is reviewed.

Rugged spontaneity theater is declined.

Abby handles perimeter security.

Entry protocol is established.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

Chapter 32

Dinner requires a digestive quest.

Penelope prepares for the collapse of society.

Jack contributes shelving.
A question is asked at an inappropriate horizontal hour.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 31

Penelope arrives dressed for dinner with no apparent regard for neutrality.

Jack experiences several internal staffing failures.

Maggie serves dinner under increasingly compromised circumstances.

Potatoes are endangered.

A grip is requested.

A grip is not produced.

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Terms & Specific Conditions Update

 

Chapter 30

Final part of the small moral emergency trilogy.

The system fails.

Penelope attempts to be less weird.

Jack makes several logistical corrections.

Nobody is rescued.

Something does come back.

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Terms & Specific Conditions Update

 

Chapter 29

This one is about what happens when you notice something ugly in yourself and then attempt to correct it using the worst possible internal management system.

Penelope does learn a lesson.

Unfortunately, she immediately makes the lesson weird.

Everyone is trying. Everyone is tired. Nothing technically happens, which is one of the more violent forms of happening.

A system is developed.

The system is deranged.

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Terms and Specific Conditions Update

Chapter 28

This one is about a coffee lid, unfortunately.

It is also about the tiny laundering machine in my brain that occasionally takes something morally sticky, runs it through a gentle cycle, and hands it back labeled Respectful Behavior.

Which is inconvenient, because sometimes it is respectful behavior.

And sometimes there is a second thing behind it with its little awful hands on the wheel.

I don’t think shame fixes much. I do think naming the thing can. Or at least it gives you half a second more than you had before – which, apparently, is sometimes the whole moral structure.

Anyway. Coffee lid. A completely normal beverage accessory. Naturally it ruined my life.

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Terms & Specific Conditions Update

 
Chapter 27 

An accommodation arrives.
Penelope attempts a small act of domestic gaslighting.
Jack does not participate in this lie.

Everyone is normal about the bathroom.

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Terms & Specific Conditions - Update

 

Chapter 26

A demonstration is requested.

Penelope offers a lukewarm review.

Corrective measures are taken.

Someone says something emotionally devastating on the rug.

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Final Update to Long Term

Hi everyone,

There it is, Chapter 10, concluding this little story. I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading, for your lovely comments, and for your support. Take care!

If you have any questions, need someone to talk to, or would like to post your story on the story blog, feel free to contact me at lovis.johnson123@gmail.com.

All the best,

Lovis  

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Terms and Specific Conditions

Hi everyone!

Tiny housekeeping note: I’m going to take a short pause from posting.

The story isn’t going anywhere. Jack and Penelope remain, tragically, Jack and Penelope.

Thank you so much to everyone reading, commenting, messaging, lurking fondly, and generally being very kind about this whole thing. It means a lot. An annoying amount, actually.

Back soon-ish.

No Update to Long Term Today

I didn't get around to editing the last chapter of Long Term. My apologies!

To make it up to my lovely (and very patient) readers, I have a little treat for you: my ebook Lobster, with a straw is discounted for the next few days. If you’ve read it and enjoyed it, I’d be eternally grateful if you left a review on Goodreads!! Thank you so much!

I was inspired by an Instagram post, so this is a little shoutout to everyone reading wherever you happen to be, and to Rowan, the wonderful artist behind this illustration 💚

 

See you next week!

Lovis 

Terms and Specific Conditions - Update

Chapter 25

Penelope behaves like a public nuisance, Jack behaves like a narc, and his family is, unfortunately, delighted.

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Update to Long Term

Dear readers,

I hope you have as much fun reading Chapter 9 as I had writing it!

Best,

Lovis

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Terms and Specific Conditions - Update

 

Some people are too vivid for the polite version. I just needed to get the real shape of him onto the page — and, ideally, into every available cavity — before memory started behaving.

Also, thank you for all the comments and DMs. Truly. It’s meant more than I can say without becoming insufferable.

Night Drives

Update to Long Term

Hi everyone, 

thanks for your patience! I hope you're all ready for more Rachel and Adam in Chapter 8! 😊 

We're getting closer to the end with this one… I still have to edit the hell out of this story’s ending, but I think there will be two more chapters at this point.

Take care,
Lovis

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