One of the main reasons I wanted to toss in an aside here (aside from the fact that I did asides after ARC 1's "Awareness" and ARC 2's "Escalation" as well) was to briefly address Hank Waterson's Woodlands story which just concluded. I initially wrote it trying to (as Hank himself states) get away from the angst for a bit, while trying to capture the same flavour as Chartreuse's humourous storytelling from the beginning of the "Destruction" Arc (with her family encountering Tope). Does it work? I'm still not sure.

During the initial writing (13 years ago), I had placed the story right after everyone got knocked out, when Mindy was banished. But upon rereading it, it felt like a "speed bump" before getting the fallout from the events that evening. So (after debating removing it entirely) ,when I put it on my personal blog a year ago, I moved it to after the Clarke-Julie breakup, but before the Frank-Luci plot. There were mixed reactions. One person liked it, another wondered as to Hank's awareness of Carrie's situation.

In re-editing and reformating for RRL, I decided to shift it right to the end of the Arc. In doing so, I layered in a bit of extra foreshadowing regarding Mindy's banishment perhaps not ending her storyline, and backed off the "Glen's personal/hidden agenda" angle somewhat (given how we now already saw it in Part 68). I think I like it better this way? But really, it comes down to the readers. Was it jarring? Cute? Barring comments, I guess I may never know.

At least the Chartreuse story from near the start of Arc 3 feels like it remains some of my best comedic writing in the past 20 years. It helped to cement the mystic as a central character, as important as Julie to the overall plot. The initial part for Arc 3 (with Carrie meeting herself, and talking about doing training with Chartreuse) was actually written afterwards.

A couple other things:

-The polls! Any vote is a new opinion I didn't have, so thanks for those. I must admit, the "relationship" poll was largely to see if I'd break any hearts as I kind of smashed all the romances to dust in the subsequent parts. (In particular Clarke-Julie, Carrie-Glen, Frank-Luci.) I liked that Carrie was central to the two votes I got - is her being the main protagonist an influence? Look for the curious Carrie-Glen-Chartreuse dynamic to continue into Arc 4. As to secondary characters, I'm also a fan of Azure, whose reluctance for engaging in her family's mystic shenanigans was another byproduct of that Chartreuse story. We'll see Azure again, granted, still in a minor role.

-With the timelines talk between Carrie and Glen, I'm hoping the mechanics of time travel within this universe is becoming more clear (for those who are keen on that sort of thing). Namely how there is only one timeline, but it can be overwritten, Carrie's very existence being a change away from a timeline where there was no time travel. Know that there will still be some explanations upcoming, in particular about "predestiny" and how it all fits into that "future war" thing, in case that's not sitting well for you yet.

As to where we're going... I don't think there's anything to warn you about this time. Julie's issues with her parents and suicidal urges, along with Luci's issues with being abused, do get referenced in our final arc, "Resolution". But the focus is (naturally) more on the timelines, the way Carrie is tied to time, and whether it's possible for her to fight against her destiny. Chartreuse's bisexuality remains a factor, but if it hasn't caused you any trouble yet, it shouldn't going forwards. Granted, not everyone necessarily survives to the end... ah, well, you'll see.

There's 26 parts left (a bit longer than the prior arcs of length 24, 23 and 23). Hope you like it. Thanks for reading.