Pixie's Chronicle: I Got COVID

Well, it finally happened. After two years of managing to ninja my way out of catching it, it finally got me. Stupid virus. I was honestly beginning to feel like I might have gotten away with it, but nope. I guess that'll teach me to celebrate too soon. I just can't believe that after all of the times I have been exposed to it, it chose now to finally infect me. I guess I had an immune system of steal against the delta variant, but wasn't so lucky with omicron (as a Futurama fan, I cannot take that name seriously). So yeah, I've spent the last two weeks either sick or recovering from said sickness. COVID really does wreak havoc on your body. Not that I didn't believe what people were saying about it, but it's just so much different actually experiencing it than it is hearing about it. 

I caught it off my mum, who had caught it off a super-spreader child at the school she works at. Basically, this child's parents caught the virus, yet sent their kid to school anyway. This kid then spread the virus to literally about a hundred people. It was weird and terrifying watching it happen. Half of the school caught it, as well as the family and friends of those who worked at or attended said school. The annoying thing is, I again thought that I might have gotten away with it. My symptoms didn't appear for over a week after my exposure, but I guess it could have been incubating during that time. My mum didn't suffer too badly, thankfully. She just felt tired, achy, and nauseous. She was better within a couple of days, though it took forever for her to finally get her negative test result. I wasn't so lucky though. I don't think it helped that I hadn't had my booster vaccine. Ironically, I was actually going to get it the very week that I got sick. Go figure.

At first, I just had a sore throat and didn't think too much of it. I just assumed that, because I had been cleaning the day before, some dust had just irritated me. I had some MGO100 manuka honey, and that seemed to help calm it down a little bit. Honestly, that stuff works wonders. The perks of working in a health store is finding expired manuka honey, usually worth £100, and getting it for free. Honey doesn't actually expire, though I suppose the antibacterial properties will be weakened, but it seemed such a shame to waste it. It only would have been thrown away, so I called dibs on it. However, by the evening, my sore throat had come back with a vengeance since honey isn't going to do much against a virus. That was when me and Jowy were like, "uh oh." Have I caught it? Yes. Yes I had. 

My adventure started at 4am when I woke up in a delirious state. Fever alert. It's been years since I've had a fever, and I'd forgotten how horrible they could be. I was absolutely freezing and just could not get warm, despite the five layers of blankets I was using. My whole body felt like it had been hit by a train. My joints felt dislocated, and everything ached. I had a pounding headache, which wasn't helped by the lack of decent sleep. I vaguely remember messaging Jowy at some point in the night, feeling sorry for myself. He then had the fun task of making sure I was resting, since I can get quite grumpy when I'm ill. In particular, I hate staying in bed all day and I hate wearing pyjamas all day. It makes me feel gross. But I could barely move, so following his advice was actually pretty easy. It was so weird that Jowy had just recovered from his own illness, only for me to get sick straight afterwards. 

When my mum hadn't heard anything from me by 2pm, she barged in, probably thinking I was in the middle of a bad depression episode or something. Her concern lasted for about five minutes, long enough to force a cup of tea and some toast down me. My mum isn't exactly the caring and maternal type. She then insisted I took both a flow and a PCR test. My flow test lit up as positive straight away, which was definitely reassuring. My mum then forced me out into the middle of a storm to get a PCR test - great idea when you're ill. Trees were collapsing and the power kept going out in random places, but I gotta get those tonsils probed again. I was literally the only person at the testing site, which was just a large tent, so you can imagine how fun that was in hurricane force winds. Low and behold, the test came back positive the next day, though at that point, I think it was pretty obvious that I had caught it. I felt like I had gone out in a storm and made myself feel worse for nothing. Thanks, mum. 

Self-isolation was pretty easy since I never go anywhere anyway, and I couldn't exactly do much with my joints feeling like I had been stretched as much as Guy Fawkes. Painkillers never work on me, so that made things even more fun. I was under strict orders from Jowy to stay in bed, and he made sure I got plenty of rest. Otherwise I probably would have been rocking backwards and forwards in a corner, going crazy because of how much I felt like trash. Being sick makes me so restless. But I did manage to spend most of my time sleeping. Most of my symptoms cleared up within two days, but that's when the cough finally started. It literally felt like I was going to cough up a lung at some points. It's mostly gone now, but every now and then, I still break into a coughing fit as if I've been chain smoking all my life. I briefly almost lost my sense of smell and taste, but I didn't suffer too badly with those symptoms like a lot of people seem to. I know people who still haven't got those senses back, even over a year after having the virus. It really does mess with your body in ways that you wouldn't believe. Bless Jowy for putting up with my grumpy-arse during that week. You have the patience of a saint.

Of course, this naturally put my writing plans on hold for a week. I had hoped to have updated most of my stories by now, but alas, the virus had other plans for me. Luckily, last week, I did manage to finally update Reflection, though that wasn't without its teething problems. Click here to read the new chapter by the way. I had to re-write it a few times because it was one of those point A to point B chapters that I always struggle with. But the story now has over 100 followers and favourites which is bonkers. Thank you so much! I've even done some more sketches of Flora, as well as the house that she lives in. You can find them on my Twitter, and I'm hoping to post them on my blog and my DeviantArt soon. 

Double Trouble is the next fic that I am hoping to update, and my aim is to have the next chapter up within a couple of days. That story has just suddenly exploded in popularity, and I squeal every time I see the stats for it. Everyone seems to love Lily and Luna so much, which is awesome! I always feel intimidated writing OCs, because I always feel like they're not good enough to be a part of the story, if that makes sense? I'm glad that you guys feel like I've managed to accurately write child characters, even if they are vampires hehe. That poll of mine is still up by the way, so if you want to see them have their own mini series, then get voting! I must admit, I hope that you guys do vote 'yes' because it is something I would love to work on. However, with them being OCs, I want to make sure this is actually something you guys would want to read. Of course Alucard and Seras will feature in them for obvious reasons, but Lily and Luna will be the main focus. It'll also provide some more lore for you and will explore my idea of vampire children/family life in more detail.

Regarding news of other projects, inkyrable will soon have her story inspired by Madness Within up on AO3. I'm really excited to see what she's been planning, and I look forward to reading it. I'll be sure to link you guys to it once its released, but in the meantime, here's the link to her AO3 account - ainajiya. Please show her as much love and support as possible, as she is super lovely. She's made me cry enough times, so... SWEET REVENGE! Cry in a good way, that is lol. I should probably clarify that. It would mean the world to both of us if you show her some support. It will probably never not feel weird that people are making their own work inspired by mine. Don't mind me trying not to hyperventilate and foam at the mouth. ASDFGHJKL! 

While still on the topic of writing, I'm gonna remind you guys that I don't take story requests. I did in the past, and I just ended up overwhelming myself. I'm flattered that you chose me to write your idea, but I'm retired from all of that. Even with Jowy's help at one point, the pressure was too much. Please also remember that if you want to request a writer, be polite to them. I'm sure this person didn't mean to come across as rude, but they did. The word 'please' can go a long way. Us writers are human too, y'know? I am open to challenges if you want to suggest one to me. I can't promise I'll take it, but if you see a challenge you think I'll be good at, I am open to the idea of them. I feel a lot less pressure from those, and I have a lot more freedom.

Also, I'm now going to try and aim to get at least one of my stories updated per week. Even though I'll be doing more slave labour at work since my manager is leaving, the way the rota has worked out should still give me plenty of time to focus on at least one story for a particular day. That's the hope anyway. I'm really not looking forward to our manager-less period. Even if they had hired someone else to replace her on time, we'd still have to wait weeks for them to properly start working with us, since there's so much training that needs to be done. I just hope that they're not going to be somebody who throws their weight around. We're like a family where I work, and we don't want anybody to change that. I hate managers who are full of themselves and get drunk on power. I've always been quite lucky in the past as I've always had decent managers where I've worked, and I'm just hoping that that trend doesn't end now. If they're horrible and bossy, then they're really not going to fit in. We're a broken bunch that need properly looking after like shelter dogs lol. So yeah, that's certainly not going to help my anxiety over these next few weeks. 

Anyway, while I've been recovering, I've spent most of my time playing video games. I'm still addicted to Sims 4, and I have re-built Alucard and Seras a super cool castle that I'm actually quite proud of. Considering I'm not the best architect in that game, it could have been so much worse. If anyone wants to download it, let me know and I'll see what I can do in regards to uploading it to the gallery. It will be under Jowy's account since I steal his to play Sims games. Of course, as mentioned in my last chronicle, I have officially re-started my island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. LycoRogue is just now starting to learn that I have a problem, and I had to deal with everyone mocking me in our Facebook group chat. Everyone always gangs up on me haha. But I'm happy with my new island, and I'm planning on trying to keep it as natural as possible. I feel like every time I try and terraform too much, I end up ruining things. I'll be sure to post my dream address as soon as I get that sorted. 

Right now, I haven't actually been playing Animal Crossing that much, since both me and Jowy are addicted to Mariokart again. Seeing the new content that's releasing soon gave Jowy the itch to play. And hey, I'm always down for a race. He's still in the lead on our scoreboard, which is annoying. I will overtake you one of these days! It's a shame that we still have to wait for the next Mariokart game while they milk this one for everything that it's worth. I guess for now, I'm stuck with constant Baby Parks and Sweet Sweet Canyons. Yeah, those are my least favourite courses. They can go die in a fire for all I care. I hate them! Jowy hates Baby Park too, but he always chooses Sweet Sweet Canyon just to annoy me. In fact, one time, I chose random, and of all the courses, it picked that one for me! Jowy found it hilarious, of course. To make matters worse, I then got hiccups during one of our matches, which was totally unfair! I call sabotage! Though I annoy Jowy in my own way too by sometimes racing as baby characters, which he hates. He says they're a waste of space where other characters could be. I get what he means, but still, I find them cute. However, I mainly do race as Rosalina because she's my bae.

But I haven't been able to do much racing these past few days since Jowy got sick again. We just hope that he hasn't caught COVID now. It really is like 'pass the parcel' between us right now. Only it's 'pass the sickness' instead. I've gotta go into nurse mode again lol. I can't even imagine what it must be like to have a weak immune system. Now it's my turn to make sure that he's getting the proper rest that he needs haha. 

Before I finish, I also just wanted to quickly voice my support to everyone in eastern Europe right now. To those in Ukraine fighting for their homes, to the Russians standing up to their government, to the other neighbouring countries living in fear of invasion, and to other countries like Palestine who are experiencing the same issues and have been for years on end. Dictatorships always fall, and all it takes is for some brave people to stand up and say 'no'. Governments will do anything to keep themselves rich and powerful at the expense of their people, and in the words of V, "People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." 

Stay safe out there.

   

Pixie's Monthly Story Recommendation:

Queen of the Night by Halex | Hellsing | Alucard/Seras - When Seras harnesses her magical abilities with the help of a new friend, she accidentally sets into motion a prophecy that brings hundreds of midians to the British coast in search of their Queen of the Night. Can she keep her mistake a secret from the people she loves? 

Reviews of the Month:  

"This was so good! I’m so happy that his character is still got balance of him being demonic as I find a lot of stories loose it after the love interest meet. And how he allowed her to see him “die” and injured is very manipulative… I’m really excited to see how you develop his character more."

- Deux-solitaire-loups, Reflection

"Sebastian you sneaky little devil purposefully making yourself look beat up to appeal to her human side, make her worry over you! You can’t fool me I see you haha, that OR whatever injury she gets he gets since they’re the “one soul spilt”. this was a awesome chapter like always but i feel bad for Ciel lmao he has to sit and watch Sebastian flirt, it’s like he’s the son having to watch his dad hit on the mail lady hahaha i can Hear his eye roll every time hahah"

- Akari.Wolf.Princess, Reflection

"I really love how you started this version of the story, it's better than the first story, and that shows how much more skilled you became.

Can't wait to see how the story will turn out when you decide to finish it."

- chatnoirfan, Immortal Bonds

"I loved hearing about future Seras! I hope when the girls meet Alucard or talk more about him we learn what his appearance is like in the future also since they refer to him as Vlad! Love this story so captivating!!!!"

- VampireQueen44, Double Trouble

"This is my third time reading the story and I'm still dying on the inside. XD

Alucard's fierceness and hostility are just so well written. And the way he talks about Seras and her being his mate is precious. What's going to happen when he finds her and the twins? (Rhetorical, of course! I don't want any spoilers!!!! XD) I have a feeling that Seras may go as far as fighting him in fear of what he will do to the twins, but he will manage to talk her down. But what about the twins? The direness of the situation without having both parents? This is all so thrilling!!"

- Oxford Not Brogues, Double Trouble