Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Before I type this, guys, I want you to know that this really, really, hurts me. I'm doing this, but. . . I don't want to. I really don't, and this hurts me so much you probably don't understand.

Don't worry, I'm not leaving. 

But. . .

I'm pulling my AEs from CB.

They might come back. I don't know. There's been a lot of discussion and it's generally been agreed upon that you should only have 1-2 AEs and it's. . . how do I say this. . . generally frowned upon to have 3+ AEs.

And I can't just drop one of them. I spent so much time, making charrie sheets and avatar creators, drawing them countless times, developing their personalities, and writing stories with them as characters. Not one of them would be the same without both the others. 

Who is Mandy, if she doesn't have Critic to trip and Hobbes to force-feed muffins?

Who is Critic, if she doesn't have Hobbes to mercilessly ship with Feather and Mandy to obnoxiously correct? 

Who is Hobbes, if he doesn't have Critic to whonk over the head and Mandy to make fun of?

Not the AEs I created, that's for sure. So much of them is built upon their interaction with the others, and I think of them as seperate beings as part of my CB family, I guess, bickering siblings who make me laugh.

I created them simply for my own amusement. Not for anyone else, but because I liked them, laughed, and thought they were funny. If I feel guilty about having forbidden amounts of AEs, I feel no reason to have them.

Why?

I don't care if you guys like them at all. They got 6 votes in the AE Set Voting poll, tied at the top with Feather and Dev.

I was so surprised. Obviously I'm glad you all like them, but that's not why they exist. That's not why I use them. I use them for me. 

And can I repeat? I don't want this. It hurts me. I'm crying. But it hurts worse to feel like they shouldn't exist. I can't stand thinking that it's wrong of me to enjoy the presence of my AEs when Hobbes shouldn't have been created, and if Hobbes wasn't created, Mandy and Critic weren't truly created either.

I'll let them talk one last time now.

*sniffles sadly*

*looks down*

I'm the mature one, aren't I? *voice cracks* I-I-I'm supposed to be the one who says this, aren't I? 

I don't know. I feel like suddenly I don't know anything.

I know what you mean.

Never mind. I'm too sad to make them properly funny. It doesn't work. Nothing works.

They might be back. Sometime. They're at least taking a break. They'll miss you, you know. 

I-I-I-I think I need a break too.

*runs out crying*