Dispatches from the Void. V.II

Mowgli Demands Reparations for Abandonment, Suggests 5am Face Pats as Justice.

Akela Contemplates Betrayal, Accepts Chicken Settlement Pending Further Emotional Damages.

Poe Declares Amazon “Unreal,” Adds It to Existing List of Existential Threats.

This Week in Underland:

• Chickens, Cuddles, and Cautious Optimism: Negotiations for forgiveness continue. Current currency: grilled bribes.
• Birthdays, Blankets, and Backyard Battles: Celia’s birthday looms. Weed wacker vs. nettles — victory declared. Garden wine chats resume (with layers).
• Papers, Penthus, and Perspective: Thailand plans solidify. Honourable mentions and a temporary Amazon gig keep the wheels turning — sort of.
• Moving, Mourning, and Medium-Sized Milestones: The future is pencilled in. The past still lingers. But joy is a BBQ and a borrowed strimmer away.

Well, it’s already been a week in Underland. We’ve recovered, and we think we’ve been forgiven, for going to Turkey (though negotiations are ongoing and seem to hinge on continued chicken bribes).

It’s Celia’s birthday on Saturday, and her mam’s is today (did I do that right?). We’re keeping things low-key but fun, which is exactly our speed.

We’ve finally started getting things from Thailand, documents from the school, and we’re beginning to look at houses. It’s all starting to feel real, and we’re very excited. In the meantime, I’ve picked up a fake online temp job at Amazon (because is Amazon even real?) to tide us over until the move. Still looking for something more permanent, of course.

One of the things we’re most excited about is having outdoor space all the time. Our garden here is lovely, especially now that our neighbour let us borrow his weed wacker (or… scrimmer?). It was getting a bit wild. We even found a rose bush under there and successfully vanquished the evil stinging nettles.

It’s still cold here though, so we only really started using the garden right before our Turkey trip. But it’s been so nice to sit out there after a long day, chatting over dinner and wine. We do still need blankets, and there are at least two extra trips involved every night to bring everything back inside. Worth it, though.

In writing news, we got two honourable mentions in Vocal challenges, which is medium-level excitement (what can I say, we’re moving countries… perspective!). Our piece Xquity placed in the Tomorrow’s Utopia challenge, and Celia’s song Penthus was recognized in the Harmonic Verses challenge.

Overall, things are looking up. The anxiety about the unknowns of moving is starting to melt away. It’s wild to think that in just a few months, we’ll be decorating a new house and settling into a whole new life. The strangest part? Everyone says we’ll find housing within a few days. Which is mind-blowing compared to either of our home countries. We want to start picking something now, but apparently, that’s just not how it works.

Still, navigating a new place together is going to be an adventure. Every challenge we’ve faced so far has only made us stronger.

Here goes nothing.

R x

Yep, definitely a week here in Underland. Fully underwhelmed by the prospect of another birthday. It’s not so much the getting old that bothers me — more the lack of any real achievement. Celebrating being born somehow feels a little vacant. Unremarkable. Like, what did I do? Just… exist. Anyway, ponderings.

Thailand seems to be on track. We have a date — etched in pencil, eraser at the ready — but still, it’s finally starting to feel real. There’s definitely excitement bubbling under the surface, but the prospect of causing paw trauma lies thick and heavy.

It’s strange thinking that in less than two months our life together can truly begin. The past year has been all kinds of wonderful, but underpinned by a sense of the unreal. Knowing we weren’t settling in the UK kept us in a kind of flux. We’ve made the best of it, but it’s been tough. We’ve wanted to be part of a community, to get involved but the fleetingness of our existence here put a bit of a barrier on that.

So, we’re looking forward to building new routines, creating a space for ourselves, and above all, the quiet life together we’ve been working toward.

It’s on the horizon now, and we’re ready — paddle in hand and Thai phrasebook at the ready.

For now, we BBQ. We survive. We love. And we wait.

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We’re still open for submission to our new zine , so send u what you’ve got (or you can just email us at riverandceliainunderland@gmail.com). We’ve also launched a discord server for chatting about writing art and life (https://discord.gg/hZ9KmMFa) join us there if you fancy a chat.  

Art, cheeky clothing, and a tiered membership! Check out our Fourthwall site.

Dispatches from the Void: Volume I →

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Poetry Collection, ‘Is this all we get?’

Prose Collection, ‘ Fifth Avenue Pizza’