#narrator

Herbert got a new toy for Narrator

and Ash wasn't very impressed

The story comes to a close. Though the world remains an inreversible pile of ash and flesh, our survivor did indeed make a significant change. No longer would the Earth's fate be controled by a sole narcissist. Instead, it's everyone on their own.

"I... What?"

Our survivor says, confused about something even he doesn't know exactly.

"All this blood... And the red sky..."

He looks to his surroundings, searching for a new motive in his life. The survivor then walks above one of the few unbroken bridges, below it a river tainted with blood. A dead tree floats down the current.

"That tree wasn't there before."

...

"It didn't exist."

...

"And you know what? I think I can do this too."

{"I- Grrgh!"}

For one reason or another, the survivor's right hand burns slightly after he raises it towards the sky. Maybe magic, maybe tiredness.

{I... I reach my hand to the sky again... Ahh! At first my body melts... It pains me, it pains me! But... I soon feel relieved. My... oh what do I call this? Umm... My physical body, my flesh falls down to the floor. After this strange shock, it rises up again. There are a few burns across its skin, but now it's true: it's mind, my mind... my mind had connected itself to an invisible realm, beyond any mortal sense. How do I describe how I feel at this point? Best I can say is through text.}

...What in the...

{So, uh... I walk- I mean, my physical body down in the world below walks through the bridge and reaches a ruined city. Its airs feel refreshingly cold. Unlike the other places my physical body had visited, there was... lot's of green. By that I mean some vines and trees overgrown across that abandoned city. Let's see. A little chunk of concrete from one of the buildings falls down into the cracked road.}

The dust from the impact spreads through the shattered windows.

Hmm...

Where did you learn to reach this... abstract place?

{I dunno, after I defeated that so-called main villain, I heard your voice, then felt a tingling in my head, and then I really wanted to explore thay tingling. Also, forgot to make my physical body talk.}

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

He finally arrived! Heh, unfortunately, I wanted to make this post earlier, but alas, I was resting after a ton of hard work. Now I just need to finish my last commission, and I'll finally be free to draw whatever I want. But that's not the point...

I'm here to share a little story because trying to order the Narrator plush gave me a few mental breakdowns. First of all, the moment I found out that pre-orders were open, I had to look for work. Sadly, I rarely get commissions in the country where I live (and obviously, it's because I'm barely active on social media).

I remembered YCH commissions, where rumor has it you don't really need a big audience—the main things are staying active and constantly experimenting with YCHs and adopts... And honestly, before this, I had never tried drawing anything like that in my life, let alone so many different things.

The only problem left to solve was actually receiving the money. And that's where the second issue came up. I live in Russia, and the sanctions and local restrictions are an absolute nightmare. In the end, I found a middleman who helped me receive payments. Unfortunately, since I hadn't used that site before, I only made two successful sales. But you know what? It was awesome! Thanks to my family and relatives, along with some of my previous small savings, I managed to gather the right amount.

However, that's when the third problem hit—shipping. Even though I had the money, delivery to Russia was completely impossible. Then I remembered that most of my relatives, with whom we have a really warm relationship, live in Kazakhstan (and my parents and I are originally from there too). Shipping to Kazakhstan was possible, as it was on the list of available countries.

I tried to reach out to my aunt, who already had experience ordering from the US and other international stores. But she declined; I can only assume she was just too busy and didn't want to hassle with it.

So, the shipping issue was still very much alive, despite having the funds. I started looking for a solution and remembered there are mail-forwarding services that provide a local address and then ship the item to Russia. So, I began searching for those middlemen.

I actually managed to find one. Unfortunately, a new problem popped up right away—I had to buy the item myself. And I thought it would be a brilliant idea to convert everything into crypto... Since crypto was an option, it seemed great because my rubles would automatically turn into dollars. But due to a total lack of information about the restrictions, I couldn't pay for the Narrator plush at all. Once again, it was because of limitations for users living in Russia, which triggered during the passport verification stage. Mind you, I had googled and double-checked everything multiple times before this. In the end, I crashed hard into reality. I started looking for another solution and a different middleman. I even thought about finding someone on Avito earlier, since a friend of mine bought official Pressure merch that way. But the problem was that I had already converted everything into crypto, and most of those middlemen didn't really work with cryptocurrency.

So I started searching through websites again and found one company. Thank God, they accepted both crypto and various banks. Already exhausted from all this crap, I put my trust in this middleman. After transferring the money to the site, unlike the previous company, they offered a buyout service through an agent in their company. Long story short, from what I understand, they work not only with Russia but with other countries too, buying various goods from the US and shipping them out by mail.

In the end, they bought it for me almost right at the very end of their workday, just three days before pre-orders were set to close.

I was so happy, but even after that, I was sitting on pins and needles. For better or worse, I immediately started looking for money for the shipping. Once the Narrator arrived at the warehouse, I would have to pay for the delivery from their warehouse to Russia, and then to the specific city where I’d pick him up.

A few months later, when he finally arrived at the warehouse, I gathered the money and paid for the shipping to Russia. In a way, I still didn't know if everything would turn out okay or not. But finally, after about 2 or 3 weeks, he arrived! I was so happy—honestly, I was practically glowing with joy. People were looking at me with so much surprise because I was just beaming.

Especially when HE ACTUALLY ARRIVED! Yeee, my dream came true! It’s the first time I've ever ordered official merch, and on top of that, I finally understand what it’s like to work as a real artist... My joy knows no bounds, and the moral of the story is this: Guys, your stubbornness and strong desire always pay off. If you want something, you will absolutely make it happen, I believe in you! Overall, I’m just so grateful to everyone who helped me achieve this goal. And a massive thank you to the artist Snowdrop, who ordered a commission from me—thanks to her, I was not only able to pay for shipping, but also buy a gift for my mom. I believe in you all, and now I’m gonna go back to drawing! <3

Bluescreens