In the Neopian Times Office. Issue 1000

     She looks up at the walls that surround her. Around the room are examples of past achievements - a collection of framed articles, team photos, and a shelf crammed with annuals of the ‘best bits’ of the Neopian Times. For that’s where she is sat. At her desk where she collates the comics submitted by fellow Neopians for publication.

     1000 issues.

     It’s been so many weeks, months, years even, that they have reached 1000 issues and they are hours away from the publication of this historic volume.

     So here she sits, in the comics department, where she has been diligently sourcing the very best from across the globe with her team, for the last 10 years. Almost all of the comics she reads have been an absolute source of joy for her. It’s a job that she never knew she wanted but is so proud to have because it means she gets to share these little snippets of art and comedy with the whole readership. Sure, there has been the occasional comic that actually hits home harder than others but usually they are full of lighthearted fun and jokes. This issue is no exception. (Just scroll over and take a look!)

     She looks at her desk. Finally tidy after the last few weeks of haphazard piles. The resulting selection has been scanned in and submitted into the database and the originals are all filed away in the archive. Thuay looks in her personal Darigan Hand Mirror and checks whether the fur at her temples is really as bad as she thought. Thankfully, it isn’t, so she pops the mirror back in her drawer and rises from her desk to head toward the break room where the rest of the team is starting to gather.

     Making her way over to the glass windowed room, adorned by paper garlands and bright balloons, she passes the already empty Short Stories desks. Jyames and the rest of his team finished up their final edits a couple of hours ago as they were also put in charge of going to collect the food for the publication party. Leaving behind their tottering stacks of paperwork, littered with little red edits and sticky notes, that are the results of hours of painstaking reading and reviewing. The results will be worth it though, for those who contribute to the 1000th issue will go down in Neopian history.

     As she gets to the break room doorway, Thuay can see the piles of cardboard boxes with their upcoming feast in them, stacked high on the tables. Jyames is laughing with Knem nearby. Another colleague of hers is hanging printouts of Team Photos from each of the previous milestone issues up around the room - it’s amazing to see the familiar faces of her team as they have aged. Friends who have moved on and those who left before she even started to beam out at her from these captured memories. Soon they’ll take another to add to the collection too, she muses.

     From the office further down the corridor she can hear the final chatter and clatter of keyboards as the Editorial team answers questions, collaborating on their responses and making sure they are typed up accurately. If they’re still working, it’ll be preparation for future pieces or general correspondence as they would have had to submit their final drafts for issue 1000 earlier that day. She cranes her neck to peek through the open door to see them gathering their things, pushing chairs under desks and heading toward her too.

     The aroma of the hot food in the break room though is too tempting, so rather than head down to Editorial to see what her friend and boss Enixo is up to, she instead decides to wait for them amongst those already ready to celebrate.

     As the rest of the teams gradually filter into the room, the atmosphere ramps up and she also notices the photography team bickering over who will get to take this year’s anniversary photo, who gets to have their name logged as photographer but also who gets to skip out from being captured themselves. It’s lighthearted banter at least.

     Thuay thinks of the souvenir paper copies that are currently being printed and shipped to subscribers - she knows that most of them will be reading it online soon anyway but enjoys that they haven’t entirely abandoned the loud clatter of the printing press and the hypnotic thwump as the finished copies join their stacks at the end of the process. Each is embellished with the well-known white Weewoo and the more recent crayon-carrying Slog who have become beloved mascots for the publication.

     From being lost in her thoughts, Thuay’s attention is brought back to her current position as Enixo steps up to the front of the room where a smart board is displaying the Neopian Times front page, currently showing issue 999, but soon to have the new issue submitted and to refresh onto 1000.

     They did it - it’s live.

     Looking around the break room, the camaraderie is palpable and is linked to the release of tension and stress that had been building up, especially in the last few days. Now the sound of cheers and laughter is overwhelming.

     Enixo gives her concluding speech, full of thank-yous for each of the hardworking departments and jokes that make murmurs of laughter warm the room. The sense of relief that they have reached this momentous moment is a joy. Someone starts up some music and the celebration begins in earnest.

     Finally, they are also digging into the delicious food that has been tempting them all for the last 20some minutes with the smells of delicacies from all over Neopia. Thuay heads straight for the tray of green and beige and grabs a Stuffed Cabbage Pastry - not everyone’s favourite, sure, but a treat that she can’t resist. If you’ve never tried one, you should. She wonders whether she could get away with a comic of her own about the little vegetable-filled snack - something to consider for a rainy day.

     The conversations burble, the piles of food are quickly demolished and just before they are all about to leave for their respective homes, Enixo comes back into the room with a box full of smaller boxes. They are all handed one of the small pale blue containers. Thuay flips hers open to see a pin badge with their mascot Weewoo smiling, holding a quill with its wing and scribbling on a piece of paper. She affixes it to her tabard with a sense of satisfaction and belonging. Thanking Enixo on her way out and waving goodbye to her colleagues, she heads out of the breakroom, past her desk and down to the lobby. Tomorrow, she’ll be back and it’ll be time to start on issue 1001!

     The End.