Irhaboggle Pride (2022) Gaylor Swift's Version

Call It What You Want, New Year

My castle crumbled overnight. I brought a knife to a gunfight. They took the crown...but it's all right...

So. It finally happened. Dawn finally left that stupid server.

No. It wasn't stupid.

...Ok, maybe it was a little stupid. But ultimately, it ended because it was a bunch of broken people turning against each other, none of them knowing how to speak in peace because none of them knew peace. Everyone and no one was to blame. None of them used good communication skills, because none of them really knew how. The outcome was inevitable.

It would be a lie, though, to say that Dawn didn't feel a little stung, especially because it forced her to open her eyes to the truth of how few of them actually cared for her, and how few of them she cared for in return. She certainly wasn't a blameless victim in all of this. But, as cliché as it was to say, she'd come to realize that the lyrics from that song were just too true...

Sometimes giving up is the strong thing. Sometimes to run is the brave thing. Sometimes walking out is the one thing that will find you the right thing! And she'd known, in her soul, that it was time to go, even though it took her so long to finally go. That server had her past frozen behind glass, so now all Dawn had left was herself and her future...That didn't seem like such a bad deal after all.

At first, it felt strange to be gone. She could only ask herself, "Now what?" What to do with all that new free time, when that place that held her past two years was suddenly just gone? It was lonely at first, and she constantly wondered what she was missing. She hated that they'd taken the crown. But then she remembered that she had someone to run to...Sometimes walking out is the one thing that will find you the right thing!

"Hey, Penelope." Now Dawn was finally back on the right path.

"Hello!" Some things never changed, did they?

It was funny, in some ways, Dawn did feel changed. A fair bit had happened in the past two-ish years. In other ways, though, this only felt like 2016, Part Two. Even down to Penelope being the only person Dawn felt like she could relax around, even though Penelope had no idea how much she was helping Dawn just by existing, it felt like it was the first time, five and half years ago.

Nobody's heard from me for months...I'm doing better than I ever was...'Cause my best friend's fit like a daydream, walking with her head down, I'm the one she's walking to! My best friend's fly like a jet stream, high above the whole scene, loves me like I'm brand new!

Dawn didn't believe in invisible strings, but sometimes she wondered if maybe something was there anyway...What else would explain how or why she and Penelope became such close friends even though they actually had very little in common? What else would explain how or why, even now, all these years and changes later, it still felt the same with Penelope, and in such a wonderful, relieving way?

Sometimes, Dawn wondered and worried when Penelope was next. Surely this was too good to be true. She'd leave eventually...right? Whether it was next year or next decade, surely it would happen eventually. Everyone always left, just because that was how life worked. So how on earth had Penelope lasted this long already? Five and a half years...It was the longest Dawn had ever kept a friend, because it was the first time she ever felt so inclined. It was a wonderful feeling, yes, but she still couldn't wonder and worry when it would finally meet its own inevitable end. She could only hope it didn't end the way her original Discord server did...

All my flowers grew back as thorns. Windows boarded up after the storm. She built a fire just to keep me warm...Was Dawn talking about today, or five and a half years ago? She honestly couldn't tell. All the drama queens taking swings. All the jokers dressing up as kings. They fade to nothing when she comes on in. To the library, or to the VC? Dawn honestly couldn't tell.