Hi

[Andromeda Black]

Hi,

I don’t really know where or how to begin with this post, despite the fact that it’s been a long, long time coming and it’s not really new information. I want to apologize to all of you, first and foremost, for disappearing the way I did from the site, for not dealing with things properly, for handling everything pretty shit. ISS was a huge part of my life for many, many years and it’s been really difficult for me to get to this point – even now as I’m writing this I’m still wondering if I’m doing the right thing, or if this will be okay, even though I’ve basically been gone for months and months. I’m a horribly indecisive person and I have a habit of pushing problems to the back of my head and pretending like they don’t exist, and I’m sorry to say that that’s pretty much what I did with ISS when I couldn’t handle it anymore, when university was making my life too busy, when ISS was slowing down, when it started to not feel the same anymore, when it felt more like something in the past for me – I just told myself I would deal with it later, maybe things would get better, maybe I could make it work. It’s still a little hard for me to wrap my head around leaving my characters behind, having other people picking up canons I played for years, and I know that I have zero right to feel weird about it after abandoning this site and everyone here, I just, I guess I’m just trying to explain that it was really hard for me to make this decision, and that’s why it has taken so obscenely long for this post to happen. But yeah, I’ll come out and say it, clear as can be: I’m leaving ISS. I’ve left ISS, honestly. I just never got around to making it official, I couldn’t do it, but now I am. And ugh, I am sorry if this is coming off really melodramatic? I’m not trying to make a scene about something that’s already happened, I’m just... trying to apologize, and trying to explain, and trying to do the best I can to make some closure, as was pointed out to me would probably be the best thing right now. So, yeah, this is me saying goodbye to ISS.

I’d like to think that maybe it’s not me saying goodbye to all of you guys, though. I know I haven’t kept up with many of you, and I will completely admit that I was avoiding pretty much anything related to this site for a long time, because I just didn’t know want to do, because I felt irrelevant and embarrassed, but I do hope that even as I officially leave the site, I will keep talking to some of you. I mean, I’m not even discounting the possibility that I might someday return to this site, maybe with just one character, if it looks like I can handle it, but it doesn’t seem immediately likely what with a hard year of university coming up, to be juggled with two jobs. I might try to pop around sometimes, though, just to see how things are going, say hi, catch up, etc etc. Other than that, I don’t really use MSN anymore, but if you ever want to chat, the best place to catch me would probably be tumblr (wynonas.tumblr.com). Sidenote: you’ll notice that I’ve been going by Cassie there. That’s from a nickname/my middle name and it’s a name I’ve just become more comfortable using since a lot a lot of people I know in real life have become tumblr users and even follow some of the same people as me. So. Hopefully that’s not too confusing?

I would also like to interrupt things here to say that I appreciate the staff members for dealing with my accounts and tidying things up, I’m sorry I wasn’t here to do it myself, and just let me know if there’s anything else that needs to be dealt with for administrative purposes. As far as characters go: Annie, Sirius, and Rita are all canon characters and whoever is playing them now or will play them soon can make their own decisions about them. I don’t really have anything to say on that front, because it’s still just a bit of a mindfuck for me, so. Yeah. Claire never really had much in the way of the plotting that took off the ground, so I can’t imagine her disappearance has affected anyone. Simon... I don’t know, Ellie, Simon and Bridget got together and were cute and happy? Or not, if you anything else happened with Bridget before you dropped her. I don’t think Simon really would have affected anyone else either. And then Isabelle. Oh, Isabelle. Kels, you pretty much have free reign here with what stuff happened or didn’t happen, I realize it’s been ages at this point so you’ve probably already figured out what to go with, and I’m completely fine with that. If anyone’s curious, Isabelle did pull her shit together this year and get her grades up, and the plan was for her to end up studying psychology with the goal of becoming a grief counsellor at St. Mungo’s (oh, the irony for the girl who hated shrinks, indeed). So who knows, maybe we can imagine her and Noah’s paths would intersect again somewhere off in the future if he does become a doctor. I don’t know. Isabelle ends up happy, eventually, that’s what I care about.

Lastly, okay, I was unsure whether or not I wanted to single people out in my goodbye, because I don’t want anyone to feel like I won’t miss them just because I’m not mentioning them, but I do feel like there are certain people I owe bigger apologies to, or deserve to hear certain things said. So, to begin with that: Jooj, sorry for being a shit co-admin and leaving you to pull so much of this site back together, sorry for distancing myself and kind of losing contact, sorry for being such a shit friend basically, I miss talking to you and I miss the fun times we had around here and I hope you’ve been doing well; Didi, sorry again for shit admin-ness, I know you were a huge part of bringing this site back after things dropped out a bit, and that is amazing and something I respect you for so much, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help, I’m sorry for my vagueness over and over about coming back, I’m sorry for losing contact with you as well, I really miss you too; Ellie, basically the same apologies about shit admin-ness and not being there apply to you as well, you’ve also been amazing with everything and I want to commend you for that too, sorry for taking longer than I promised to get this post up, sorry for my rambles and indecision, sorry for characters and stuff we never got to finish, sorry for losing contact, I miss you and hope we can still talk more soon; Kels, oh Kels, to be honest I think that me and you had even worse timing than Noah and Isabelle, and I am sorry for that, and I am sorry for everything we never got to do, and I am sorry for leaving, but I will always have fond memories dating back five years (wow) of this place and you, and I’m sorry for losing contact with you too and hope we can still catch up; Ry, I want to thank you too for helping get this place back together and being such a huge part of it, I don’t think we were really staff together very long before I started to leave this place but I still checked in with this place and saw how active you were and how fundamental you’ve become as a staff member, so I just want to thank you for that and apologize again for my own shittiness as an admin; Fief, babe, there isn’t much to say here, I don’t know. We planned so many things, we wrote so many stories in our head, we imagined so many characters, and I enjoyed every minute of it, and I don’t care if some of it was never written, it still exists to us, and I just—you are one of my closest, best friends, and I’m sorry we’ve been a bit less in contact too lately, and I’m sorry for not talking to you more before writing this post even though it’s not really a surprise. I love you, and I’m not worried about losing touch, because we won’t, okay? I will talk to you more very soon, and honestly, I am always, always, always there when you want to talk, about absolutely anything, serious or trivial or funny or whatever.

And that goes to all of you, honestly? Even if I’m not around, even if we haven’t talked in ages, feel free to drop me a message at tumblr about absolutely anything, just to catch up or whatever, because I would love to hear from any of you, anytime. This is getting to be rather painstakingly long, though, and there’s a part of me that feels like I haven’t said enough, or I haven’t said the right things, I don’t know, but this is what it is. I have said goodbye to ISS, hopefully not so much to the people. But whatever the case, however it goes, I love you all and I wish you nothing but the best in your lives, you deserve it,

Much love,
Kabs

Goodbye

[Lily Evans]

Oh man, Kabby, I am such absolute shit at these goodbye things and even though I knew this was probably coming and was prepared to accept it and everything...I'm still incredibly sad to see you go. I understand your reasons and everything, but it still doesn't stop me for being upset that you're leaving. You're an amazing writer, a great rper and an even better friend. I absolutely loved rping with you, but more than that, I loved getting distracted and just talking to you, and our lol wars and everything. We've had so many great combinations over the past few years - Rose and Isabelle, Lily and Sirius, Annie and Teddy, Sirius and Audrey, et cetera et cetera if I sat here and listed them all I'd be here forever. I'll sorely miss all of your characters. They were fantastic and I'll never forget them. You were one of my favourite people to write with, always have and always will. I hope you don't mind me occasionally creeping into your ask box just to say hello and what not, and I hope you'll do the same for me. Take care, Kabs. It's been a great few years, and I'll miss you very much. I wish only the best for you ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Love you,
Najooj.

[Imogen Sauveterre]

I don't really know what to say, Kabs. I'll miss you on ISS, that's for sure, and it's weird to not have you and your characters here anymore. You're always welcome back when you feel like you're ready. It's been great having you here, and you were definitely one I looked up to when I joined. And you were a great teacher when it came to being on staff. I'm not really good at this whole thing, so I'll just keep it short. I'm gonna miss you, and I hope things go well for you in university.

[Noah Orchard]

I'm feeling like the old man of ISS now.

Kabs - I've missed you already and I'll miss you more now that you're officially gone. It would be great to keep in touch with you and see how you are doing. Really, don't be a stranger. I know how it is when things just don't feel the same as they used to be and you don't have to apologize for that. As for Noah and Isabelle - aw man, I love those two. They have been around for so long, with all the comings and goings, almost as long (maybe as long) as Ethigo! Rping with you has been a blast and you've helped me explore my ability and learned to write more than I thought I ever could. All your characters were extraordinarily unique as are you and they will also be missed. Noah will miss Isa especially, but not as much as I'll miss you. We were such oldies on this site! Now I'm an old maid lol, with expiring characters. Good luck with everything and I hope you'll find a balance that will make your school year less stressful.

Best wishes,

Kel