#5_21

[whyeverr]

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

[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.

[whyeverr]

Now, folks are still arriving, but as we reach critical mass… Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I managed to invite every. single. non. townie. sim. Every community member, every survivor, even a brand new face or two... Everybody is invited. And everybody is going to show up.

"....I think I'd better put out some more chairs."

[whyeverr]

Tacking a birthday celebration onto this chaos was a choice, but to be honest, I never really know what to do for an adult birthday anyway. Community potluck and confetti — why not?

[whyeverr]

"I told you, Tav. People come together to share a meal. People come out of the woodwork for birthday cake."

And churros. And cupcakes. And even more birthday cake.

[whyeverr]

Back to the kitchen!

Cassie's grandma — and co-op housemates — would be rolling in their graves if she showed up to a potluck dinner empty-handed. 😱