And You And I

S309(U5): Darkside lightside

Author's note:

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special update of And You And I. Today, April 13th, marks the story's 2nd birthday. In fact, it is somewhat of a double celebration, as this update also brings the story's word count above the 600K milestone. In some ways, it feels like no time at all since I sat here and wrote my author's note for the 1st birthday update, yet in others it feels like an eternity. So, chalk one up for the relativistic nature of time and the lyrics to the Pink Floyd song Time.

Last year I sat and wrote a mini-story on the creation of And You And I, however, I'm not going to do anything like that today. Instead, and this may very well be my current mood talking, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has been a somewhat difficult year for me creatively, at least when held up against the previous year. I haven't done an exact word count, but my estimate works out at about 200K words over this past year, compared to 400K words in the previous one, so I only wrote about half as much. It's difficult to put into words (yeah, I see the irony) what it feels like to have the level of drive and creativity to write virtually every day for a year, to the point that you average over 1000 words per day. And for you enjoy almost every moment of it. I guess the aptest descriptor would be for me to steel Kim's motto and say that, in a creative sense, I felt like I could do anything (except for write a one-shot, as we all know how that turned out, lol). Alas, all things come to an end and as many of you will know, I ultimately burnt myself out writing the conclusion to Kim and Shego's third night in Spritzers. Ever since, I've struggled in several different ways with my creativity and have rarely been able to maintain a consistent period of output. And, truth be told, there has been more than one occasion that I've come close to giving up the story entirely.

However, as I sit here and look back over the chapters I have managed to write over the past year, I feel that they include some of the best of the story thus far and that Kim and Shego have made more progress over the 24 I wrote last year, than the 65 that came before them. They have gone from frenemies to friends, gone on dates, made-out... had sex! Captain Brooks has been villainous, Amber has kicked her butt at chess, Quinn has been crazy, Ron has been... Ron. Yes, it's been a tough year for me as the author and yes, the story has become harder to write as the relationship between Kim and Shego deepens. But I am still immensely proud of the work I have done over the past year and, ultimately, while it might be taking me longer to write, I'm still here and I'm still writing And You And I. And I want to keep going until Kim and Shego are done.

So, happy birthday, my little one-shot!

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for reading this story and for all the support I've had from the Kimmunity since I started two years ago. Also, a big shout out to the Spritzers crew, you guys mean the world to me.

Ok, now that's all over and done with, on with the update. This first chapter, Darkside Lightside, is the name of a song by Ash, on their debut album 1977. And for those of you who know Star Wars, you'll probably already know what the metaphor refers to.

Enjoy.

##

The sun shone bright overhead, bathing Middleton in glorious warm rays and causing the air temperature to hover around a local hot of thirty-degrees-Celsius. However, towards the horizon, wisps of white cloud could be seen, an early indication of a potential storm to come.

Shego stepped out of the accessory shop down the street from Mama Joy's; tearing the tag off a brand-new teal hairband. She groaned internally, why am I even doing this? This damn thing represents... she thumbed the teal fabric; her brain telling her that it was just a hairband, ...well, it still represents a peppy prude that isn't me! Somewhat grudgingly, she took command of her long raven hair and slipped it on. At least I won't have to act like Miss Go unless we need to talk to someone.