diff --git a/VPLink.Common/Data/PlainTextMessageBuilder.cs b/VPLink.Common/Data/PlainTextMessageBuilder.cs
index a1f5ff0..b749a3c 100644
--- a/VPLink.Common/Data/PlainTextMessageBuilder.cs
+++ b/VPLink.Common/Data/PlainTextMessageBuilder.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using Cysharp.Text;
-using Humanizer;
 
 namespace VPLink.Common.Data;
 
@@ -35,13 +34,12 @@ public struct PlainTextMessageBuilder : IDisposable
     /// <param name="timestamp">The timestamp.</param>
     /// <param name="format">The format.</param>
     /// <param name="whitespace">The trailing whitespace trivia.</param>
-    public void AddTimestamp(DateTimeOffset timestamp, TimestampFormat format = TimestampFormat.None,
-        char whitespace = ' ')
+    public void AddTimestamp(DateTimeOffset timestamp, TimestampFormat format, char whitespace = ' ')
     {
         switch (format)
         {
             case TimestampFormat.Relative:
-                AddWord(timestamp.Humanize(), whitespace);
+                AddWord(FormatRelativeTime(timestamp), whitespace);
                 break;
 
             case TimestampFormat.None:
@@ -104,4 +102,53 @@ public struct PlainTextMessageBuilder : IDisposable
     {
         return _builder.ToString().Trim();
     }
+
+    private static string FormatRelativeTime(DateTimeOffset targetTime)
+    {
+        TimeSpan timeDifference = DateTimeOffset.Now - targetTime;
+        bool isFuture = timeDifference.TotalMilliseconds < 0;
+        int value;
+        string unit;
+
+        timeDifference = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(Math.Abs(timeDifference.TotalMilliseconds));
+        switch (timeDifference.TotalDays)
+        {
+            case >= 365:
+                unit = "year";
+                value = (int)(timeDifference.TotalDays / 365);
+                break;
+
+            case >= 30:
+                unit = "month";
+                value = (int)(timeDifference.TotalDays / 30);
+                break;
+
+            case >= 1:
+                unit = "day";
+                value = (int)timeDifference.TotalDays;
+                break;
+
+            default:
+                if (timeDifference.TotalHours >= 1)
+                {
+                    unit = "hour";
+                    value = (int)timeDifference.TotalHours;
+                }
+                else if (timeDifference.TotalMinutes >= 1)
+                {
+                    unit = "minute";
+                    value = (int)timeDifference.TotalMinutes;
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    unit = "second";
+                    value = (int)timeDifference.TotalSeconds;
+                }
+
+                break;
+        }
+
+        string suffix = value > 1 ? "s" : "";
+        return isFuture ? $"in {value} {unit}{suffix}" : $"{value} {unit}{suffix} ago";
+    }
 }
diff --git a/VPLink.Common/MentionUtility.cs b/VPLink.Common/MentionUtility.cs
index 5bc355d..08826b2 100644
--- a/VPLink.Common/MentionUtility.cs
+++ b/VPLink.Common/MentionUtility.cs
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ public static class MentionUtility
         else
             switch (contents[0])
             {
+                // custom emote
+                case ':':
+                    ParseCustomEmote(contents, ref builder, whitespaceTrivia);
+                    break;
+
                 // user mention
                 case '@':
                     ParseUserMention(guild, contents, ref builder, whitespaceTrivia);
@@ -71,6 +76,15 @@ public static class MentionUtility
             whitespaceTrivia);
     }
 
+    private static void ParseCustomEmote(ReadOnlySpan<char> contents,
+        ref PlainTextMessageBuilder builder,
+        char whitespaceTrivia)
+    {
+        contents = contents[1..];
+        ReadOnlySpan<char> name = contents[..contents.IndexOf(':')];
+        builder.AddWord($":{name.ToString()}:", whitespaceTrivia);
+    }
+
     private static void ParseTimestamp(ReadOnlySpan<char> contents,
         ref PlainTextMessageBuilder builder,
         char whitespaceTrivia)
diff --git a/VPLink/Services/DiscordMessageService.cs b/VPLink/Services/DiscordMessageService.cs
index 8611e36..2230eaf 100644
--- a/VPLink/Services/DiscordMessageService.cs
+++ b/VPLink/Services/DiscordMessageService.cs
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ internal sealed class DiscordMessageService : BackgroundService, IDiscordMessage
         SanitizeContent(guild, message.Content, ref builder);
         var content = builder.ToString();
 
+        Span<byte> testSpan = stackalloc byte[Utf8Encoding.GetByteCount(content)];
+        Utf8Encoding.GetBytes(content, testSpan);
+
         _logger.LogInformation("Message by {Author}: {Content}", author, content);
 
         var messages = new List<RelayedMessage>();
@@ -141,14 +144,16 @@ internal sealed class DiscordMessageService : BackgroundService, IDiscordMessage
 
     private static void AddMessage(ICollection<RelayedMessage> messages, string displayName, string content)
     {
-        Span<byte> buffer = stackalloc byte[255]; // VP message length limit
         int byteCount = Utf8Encoding.GetByteCount(content);
+        Span<byte> buffer = stackalloc byte[byteCount];
+        Utf8Encoding.GetBytes(content, buffer);
+
         var offset = 0;
         while (offset < byteCount)
         {
-            int length = Math.Min(byteCount - offset, 255);
-            Utf8Encoding.GetBytes(content.AsSpan(offset, length), buffer);
-            messages.Add(new RelayedMessage(displayName, Utf8Encoding.GetString(buffer), false));
+            int length = Math.Min(byteCount - offset, 255); // VP message length limit
+            Span<byte> slice = buffer.Slice(offset, length);
+            messages.Add(new RelayedMessage(displayName, Utf8Encoding.GetString(slice), false));
             offset += length;
         }
     }
@@ -199,6 +204,8 @@ internal sealed class DiscordMessageService : BackgroundService, IDiscordMessage
     {
         Utf8ValueStringBuilder wordBuffer = ZString.CreateUtf8StringBuilder();
 
+        Span<char> chars = stackalloc char[2];
+        Span<byte> bytes = stackalloc byte[4];
         for (var index = 0; index < content.Length; index++)
         {
             char current = content[index];
@@ -207,6 +214,13 @@ internal sealed class DiscordMessageService : BackgroundService, IDiscordMessage
                 AddWord(guild, ref builder, ref wordBuffer, current);
                 wordBuffer.Clear();
             }
+            else if (char.IsSurrogate(current))
+            {
+                content.Slice(index++, 2).CopyTo(chars);
+                int byteCount = Utf8Encoding.GetByteCount(chars);
+                Utf8Encoding.GetBytes(chars, bytes);
+                wordBuffer.AppendLiteral(bytes[..byteCount]);
+            }
             else
             {
                 wordBuffer.Append(current);
@@ -256,6 +270,10 @@ internal sealed class DiscordMessageService : BackgroundService, IDiscordMessage
                     MentionUtility.ParseTag(guild, temp[..tagLength], ref builder, whitespace);
                     break;
 
+                case var _ when char.IsSurrogate(current):
+                    buffer.Append(chars.Slice(index++, 2));
+                    break;
+
                 default:
                     buffer.Append(current);
                     break;
diff --git a/VPLink/VPLink.csproj b/VPLink/VPLink.csproj
index 4d33764..5d383f9 100644
--- a/VPLink/VPLink.csproj
+++ b/VPLink/VPLink.csproj
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
         <Authors>Oliver Booth</Authors>
         <RepositoryUrl>https://github.com/oliverbooth/VpBridge</RepositoryUrl>
         <RepositoryType>git</RepositoryType>
-        <VersionPrefix>1.3.0</VersionPrefix>
+        <VersionPrefix>1.3.1</VersionPrefix>
     </PropertyGroup>
 
     <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(GITHUB_ACTIONS)' == 'true'">