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grovyrosegirl · 3 years

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Confrontation: MCSM Fic

Author’s Note: I’ve been replaying MCSM seasons 1 and 2 recently because I got nostalgic for those blocky dorks. Then I went through some old WIPs in my docs and found this Lukas and Aiden fic from a few years ago. I really liked it, so I spruced it up a bit and finished it for old times’ sake. Enjoy!

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“Bring him in.”

The guards wasted no time leading Lukas into the small cobblestone room. Despite confiscating everything in his inventory upon arrival, including his weapons, they kept a tight, secure grip on both of his arms. It was only when his former friend, who leaned against the wall with the most satisfied smirk on his face, gave them a small handwave that the guards released Lukas and stepped back, still blocking the only exit to the room.

“Leave us,” Aiden then ordered the two guards, much to Lukas’ surprise.

Even with the wary looks he saw on their faces, the guards obeyed and left the room, shutting the iron door behind them. Lukas faced forward once again, now noticing the oak wood table resting in the center of the room, two identical chairs stood on opposite sides of the table’s surface.

“Take a seat, Lukas,” Aiden made his way over and sat down in the chair facing the door, casually resting his arms behind his head. “Let’s chat.”

Lukas didn’t speak, eyeing the other carefully. Despite everything that had occurred in the past year, knowing what Aiden was capable of, and how low he’d sunk already, seeing that look--that smile--on his face felt unsettling to him. Lukas recalled their theater days that felt like centuries ago, the days before the Witherstorm, before they even thought to call themselves the Ocelots. Aiden was never much of an actor, his specialty had always been the set production.

But clearly, Lukas thought to himself as he felt his eyes lower into a glare, Aiden was enjoying playing the villain.

Slowly, he made his way over to the other chair, sitting down and folding his arms.

“So, is this the part where you try to get me to talk?” Lukas curtly began before Aiden could open his mouth again. “Because you’re wasting your time. Even if I did know where Jesse was, I wouldn’t tell you.”

Everything had happened so fast. The guards raced towards them all, closing in fast when they were revealed as the bridge-builders, an innocent act back home, but a crime on the floating island. His own capture occurred in a matter of seconds, he didn’t even see the guard coming until the very last moment. One minute he was watching Jesse sprint away into the alley, the next he was on the ground, pinned down by the guard. But those few seconds let Jesse and Petra escape, and for that, he took some relief in. By the time Lukas and Ivor were escorted to the throne room, the Founder was already getting the report from another guard that they’d lost sight of the “remaining criminals” as they put it.

He felt relieved knowing that his two friends hadn’t been captured yet. It meant there was a sliver of hope of getting out of this place.

Aiden let out an exaggerated sigh and sat up straight in the chair, leaning forward slightly and placing his arms crossed on the table’s surface, “Man, Jesse, Jesse, Jesse. Aren’t you sick of talking about her yet? Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and get an answer out of you. Like you said, it would be a waste of time. Besides, you already got plenty of that from the Founder.” He snickered for a moment before continuing, “No. This is the part where I throw you a bone.”

“And what exactly does that mean?” Lukas said.

“It means I’m giving you a chance here, buddy,” Aiden said, “to join the winning team again.”

Lukas blinked, “What?”

“You heard me.”

He eyed Aiden suspiciously before saying, “You can’t be serious.”

“No games here, friend. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’ve decided to give you a second chance,” Aiden stood from his seat and began to walk around the table to stand next to Lukas. “C’mon, Lukas! It’ll be like the old days. Don’t you remember? We were the top dogs for years, and now, we can finally be on top again. But this time, it’ll be more than just winning some lame building contest.”

Aiden let out a deep chuckle, he wrapped one arm around Lukas’ shoulders and leaned in closer, a grin on his face.

“Here in this world, buddy? We can be kings.”

Lukas roughly shoved against Aiden’s chest, making the other man stumble back a few steps.

“I knew it,” Lukas said through his heated glare, “you’re planning to betray the Founder, aren’t you? It’s not enough that you want to steal the Eversource from her, you want her throne too.”

Aiden shot his own blazing glare back at Lukas, before regaining his composure and saying with that same grin, “Congrats Captain Obvious, you want a cookie?”

“Eat a slimeball, Aiden,” Lukas fired back, “do you honestly think you’ll get away with this?”

“I already am. But right now? That’s nothing you need to worry about,” He once again leaned back against the cobblestone walls. “The real question you should be asking is whether or not you’ll get to be a part of the spoils. It’s easy, Lukas. All you have to do is say yes and follow my lead. After that? Well, it’ll take a while, but I’m sure you can make up for abandoning your real team.”

At those words, Lukas’ boiling thoughts began to steam. He smashed his hands against the table’s surface and pushed himself up from the chair.

“Excuse me?!” He exclaimed. “You must’ve really lost me there, because last time I checked, it was you who abandoned me!”

At that reaction, Aiden almost seemed to shrink against the wall. However, he swiftly recovered his bravado and moved towards Lukas with gripped fists.

“We left because all you could think about was Jesse and her loser friends! It was always, ‘I’ve got to help Jesse build today!’ or ‘I’m going to visit Jesse!’” He clasped his hands together, held them close to his cheek as if he were hopelessly in love, and swung them back and forth while speaking in a mocking manner, “‘She’s my new best friend! We make cookies together! She’s sooo nice, and she’s sooo cool!’ You followed her around like a lovesick puppy. It makes me want to hurl!”

“I don’t get it all. Why?” Lukas shook his head in frustration. “Why do you hate her so much? Why have you always hated her so much? She never did anything to you! You always just got a kick out of torturing her and her friends, didn’t you? And when you couldn’t pick on her anymore, you start pushing Maya and Gill around. Anything to make yourself feel tall, is that it?!”

“Not like you ever tried to stop me,” he scoffed.

“Because back then, I thought it was all some dumb rivalry. But I was wrong. And I still kick myself everyday for not putting a stop to it. Maybe if I had,” Lukas paused, then let out a sigh that was flooded with a regretful tone, “maybe we wouldn’t be here right now.”

Aiden scowled, “She’s a loser. And all she does is drag people down to her loser level. She did it with Petra, and she did it with you.”

“She’s a hero. And she’s my friend!”

“I was your friend!” Aiden snarled.

“Yeah, you were. Until you decided that your stupid, fragile ego mattered more than years worth of friendship!”

“If you were really my friend, you wouldn’t have chosen Jesse over me!”

“If you were really my friend, you wouldn’t have made me choose!”

At the end of his patience, Aiden lunged forward with an angry screech. He grabbed the collar of Lukas’ jacket and yanked the boy forward, dangling him slightly off the ground.

“I can do it, you know,” Aiden said through gritted teeth. His voice was low, but ever-so menacing, “I can throw you off this island right now. No one would blame me if I told them you attacked me. The people here believe whatever I tell them. You fall into the void forever, and all you’ll be remembered as is some villain who tried to attack this island’s savior.”

Lukas, amidst his struggle against Aiden’s grip, looked him directly in the eyes and said in his own low, fearsome voice, “I dare you.”

Aiden went still. All of the bravado, the threats, and the glares were drained from his face. His eyes went wide with disbelief, and in that moment, Lukas saw it. Fear. Hesitation. The thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d taken a step too far. Aiden opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. With only a sentence, Lukas was allowed to see the tiniest glimpse of the person he used to trust most in the world.

He saw the scared, insecure kid he’d met all those years ago.

Aiden’s grip on Lukas became loose, allowing the latter to easily push him away.

“That’s what I thought,” Lukas broke the silence with a sigh. He buried his hands into his jacket pockets, looking down to the floor, “You’re all talk, Aiden. Always have been.”

The anger returned as quickly as it had fled. But it wasn’t explosive. It was simmering. Aiden narrowed his eyes back into a glare, his fists, clenched so tight it looked painful, were trembling.

Another moment of silence passed before Aiden finally looked away from Lukas and exclaimed, “Guards!”

The same guards who’d brought Lukas here returned swiftly, entering the room and grabbing ahold of both of his arms once more. Lukas did little to resist their hold, only keeping a hard stare on Aiden.

“Get him out of my sight,” Aiden said in a low growl. “He’s useless.”

The guards obeyed and led Lukas out of the room. With a slam of the iron door, Aiden was left alone.

#my fanfics #Minecraft Story Mode #mcsm #MCSM lukas #mcsm Aiden #MCSM episode 5

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marcilled · 4 years

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5 years

It was 5 years ago today that a humble little minecraft server first opened its gates. 5 years ago, I started @quixol with a team of 8 friends. Today, only 4 of those original friends are still on our Staff team, and the server is a shadow of its former self.

There’s a lot I could talk about with Quixol, but before I get into it, I just want it to be known that this is a highly personal post from me. This isn’t an official announcement, but seeing as I’m an admin, it’s definitely of pertinence if you are someone who is a part of the Quixol community.

If you’re new to following me, or just don’t know what I’m talking about: Quixol is a trans-friendly minecraft server started by me and a few pals back on November 16, 2015. It’s primarily populated by folks from here on Tumblr, and is an LGBT+ only community. Over its 5 years, it’s gotten over 1600 unique players. And... Well, there’s a lot of history that took place during and after that, I can’t hope to summarize it here. You can see more on the about page on our blog.

So, yeah. Today is the 5-year anniversary of Quixol. Pretty big deal! And... we have nothing in store for today to celebrate that huge milestone. Pretty big bummer. The prior 4 years, the anniversary was the single biggest celebration of the year. We typically tried to schedule large server updates to coincide with the anniversary, just to make it feel that much more special. So, on the day that marks a whole half-decade of being online, why do we have no plans? It’s a long, complicated story. I’ll only be able to tell you my side of it. Everything written below is from my perspective, and doesn’t necessarily reflect how others think or feel.

Regardless of the lonely feeling on the server now, I just want to say, I’m really glad I could host such a fantastic community for so many years. Thank you everyone who has made the past half decade so special.

Long retrospective below (plus, discussion about Quixol’s future):

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Where to begin... All I can say at the start here is, don’t expect anything coherent, I typed this up while sleep deprived just the night before posting this, without much forethought of what I’d say in it. I just feel I need to get these feelings off my chest before I can mentally move on, you know.

Before I delve into this, I just want to put this sort of disclaimer at the top here: Despite how gloomy I make things sound throughout this post, Quixol is and was an amazing place, that I’m so glad to say I got to play such a pivotal role in. I wouldn’t trade my time here for anything. It’s been an honor to serve as an Admin over such an incredible community. I’ve seen countless new friendships forged, plenty of laughs and fun times to be had... I’ve even known several couples that met through their time on Quixol, I’ve known several people that came out or discovered more about their identity/gender/sexuality while on Quixol. It’s a great community, despite its flaws, and what we did over these past 5 years is nothing short of spectacular. I’m forever thankful for everyone who helped make this place as special as it is- you’ve all been such great friends. Thank you.

While I may speak a great deal about some of the lowest lows that happened on Quixol, you better believe it had some of the highest highs as well. Keep that in mind, so you know why I’m spending this much time and effort to commemorate this server that I’ve called home for so long.

I’ll start here with a rough timeline of Quixol... I’ll even include some screenshots for you all.

Old World (Nov. 2015 - Mar. 2017, mc 1.8 - 1.9)

Quixol began back in 2015 like I mentioned- whitelisted at first, but moved on to being unwhitelisted at a later date (I believe it was summer of 2016). Hundreds of people joined after the whitelist was removed, in just the first month or so. We owe that initial success to how much our blog post about the server got shared around, it served as a nice advertisement for the server. It was only posted to tumblr, so everybody who joined then was from the same sort of social sphere of 2016 tumblr. It was pretty lively, and we made lots of friends very quickly. A lot never logged in again after the first initial burst, but a fair amount stuck around.

The server started on minecraft version 1.8, which was before the end update that introduced elytra & all the controversial combat changes. Most people never even saw the server on this version, though, since it was still whitelisted when we updated to 1.9. The world we used back in 2015-2016 eventually got deleted at a later date, however we did provide an archive of this old world to download, it’s... somewhere on our blog, you can go find it if you poke around a bit. (Assuming the download hasn’t been removed from the website I uploaded it to, which would make sense since it’s just 20 gb sitting on some server doing nothing).

While there was plenty of merriment, there was also the fair share of drama. I can’t even hope to recall all the drama that happened in 2016, but one of our og mods got banned completely after the rest of the staff sort of woke up to the realization they were incredibly abusive. There’s lots of other stuff that happened then- I wish I could tell the “full tale” as it were, but it would be so long-winded that almost nobody would bother to read. Plus, my memory isn’t very good, so I would need to dig through old blog posts, discord messages, screenshots, etc etc to jog my memory... way too much work.

Protos (Mar. 2017 - Nov. 2018, mc 1.11 - 1.12)

2017 came around, and that’s when we updated the server to 1.11 and created a new world (Protos). That update happened on March 26, 2017- I remember because march 26th is my birthday, and the other staff made a cute little celebration for me on that day and I literally cried from how happy I was. It was the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a long time. (God, I miss those times.)

A lot more happened during this time period, and honestly I’d consider the period in which Protos was our main, active world to be the most consistently active the server has ever been. It wasn’t always exploding with activity, but the people who joined and played during this time were consistent. And we had a relatively consistent influx of new players.

There was a lot more drama that happened during this time... More staff members left, mostly of their own accord (but never on a wholly positive note). Drama amongst some of the veteran/long-time players, arguments over how to interpret and enforce our rules.

Regardless of the troubles, I’d say this period was overall quite positive for Quixol. We even brought in our first batch of new staff members during this period.

Ghalea (Nov. 2018 - Present, mc 1.13 - 1.15)

I believe late 2018 was when we updated the server from 1.12 to 1.13. We rushed the update to this version quite a lot, which was a shame since it ensured the server had an egregious amount of bugs to work out, and lots of missing plugins/functionality. With this update, we made another new world (and, our current main world): Ghalea.

Regardless of buggy behavior, we managed to hit what I believe is the all-time peak concurrent player count we have ever gotten, which is something like 54-56 players playing at the same time. The server chugged so hard, I’m surprised it didn’t crash. All of those parties were so stressful to put on, but at the same time, incredibly fun and fulfilling to see when lots of people showed up and had a good time.

Funny, though: despite the success of the server, 2018 and early 2019 are the closest the server has ever gotten to absolutely tearing itself apart from internal staff drama. By early-mid 2019, several staff members ended up getting banned one after the other. So that left us with very few staff by that point (only 6 active staff, myself included, if I remember correctly).

2019 should have been a great year for Quixol, seeing as it was what many people referred to as the “minecraft renaissance”, “the great minecraft revival”, etc etc etc. However, the drama amongst the staff, coupled with drama in our personal lives, and just an all around lack of staff members to kick things into gear, resulted in a pretty lackluster year compared to the previous 4 years.

Despite all of that, we worked tirelessly to complete our greatest project yet, Chroma Park, just before our 4th anniversary on Nov 16th, 2019. It took a whole team of builders to complete, and several months in preparation/building.

With such a grand project completed, you would expect it would result in a flurry of new activity on the server... unfortunately, it ended up being almost the opposite. Because we called upon our “build team” to help with it, (several talented veteran players who volunteered their building skills), nearly all of our active players suffered some serious burnout after the major project they just completed. Lots of people just weren’t feelin’ up to minecraft anymore... And, that spelled the beginning of the end, really.

The culmination of this was that, going into 2020, activity on the server just... plummeted. Then, we all know what a shit year 2020 turned into. That just furthered feelings of burnout. I made another personal post about this, back in April- explaining why I had been relatively absent from the server for a while. It goes into more detail about the “hiatus” at that time, what caused it, why it continued so long, and how my personal feelings were at that time. Give it a read if you want. It even goes more in-depth about some of Quixol’s former staff, and how toxic behavior from them may have negatively impacted the community (especially in 2018-2019).

So, basically nothing has happened on Quixol in 2020... I took the time to update the server from 1.14 to 1.15 back in July, just so that the server was on a more stable version of minecraft- but all the effort poured into that resulted in basically nothing happening. Barely anyone even noticed, because it was such a minor update focusing on bug fixes. I hoped it would get the ball rolling again, but it just wasn’t enough.

While I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet, I decided it was for the best if I put any plans on the backburner for a while, and focus more attention on building infrastructure back up again. I spent some time researching sysadmin stuff, and looking into upgrading my PC. I set up a new discord bot that we’re currently using on Quixol, & have in a few other discord servers I’m active in.

Then, I got tossed one of the most difficult months of my life in a long time pretty recently. It’s very recent/fresh, but suffice it to say, a decent chunk of what made it such a horrible month was related to drama within the Quixol friend group, particularly... me being a shitty friend. I made another post about this a while back, but I won’t link it since it’s a bit vague and not super relevant to what I’m talking about here. Just know, September this year pretty much demolished any feelings of hope I had for continuing work on Quixol.

So, that leads us to... Today. The 5th anniversary of Quixol.

Where did it all go wrong?

Now that I’ve laid out as quick a summary of the past 5 years as I could, I want to talk about some of the mistakes we made along the way. The people that made Quixol what it is, and how that history always seems to tie me down.

To tell you the truth, saying that “it all went wrong” sounds horribly pessimistic to me. Sure, I felt pessimistic going into writing this, but... Just looking back on everything we’ve accomplished, there’s never really a point where it “went wrong”. Moreso, Quixol has had its fair share of flaws baked in from the very beginning. But, perhaps those flaws are what made it what it really is. I can’t go back and change the past, and neither can you. Perhaps the best we can do is just accept Quixol for what it is, and acknowledge its shortcomings while allowing ourselves to feel happy about the good memories we do have.

While I’m not going to cast away every pleasant memory I have of Quixol, I must admit I find so many of them tainted and forever changed, just because of how many people entered this community, made their stay known, then left or were cast away on a sour note. There are countless people that were a huge part of Quixol, of my life, my friends, that I don’t speak to anymore. People that hate me. Maybe even some that I hate.

If I go back and think fondly of those times, I remember how the people in those memories largely don’t think fondly of me anymore. I remember all of my mistakes, all of the ways I could have avoided that outcome. All the ways I could have worked with those friends, to work out our differences, to just fucking communicate. Sure... some of those friends, there was nothing I could do for them. Nothing I could do to make things work. But, all the same... it stings, thinking of everyone I used to know. Not knowing who is still a friend, or who simply has no need for me anymore...

So much of Quixol’s history is tied up in knots this way. Complicated webs of emotion, suffocating in the tethers to its past. So many things built on the server, just wasting away, never to be touched again... New players won’t even know it. They don’t know, can’t know the history behind those blocks that were placed. It sounds a bit silly talking about it this way, but that’s how it feels to me. There’s real history behind each of these blocks, all of the little farms and structures and silly signs. So much of it, nobody even knows. But it wears on my heart, knowing all of that history, and feeling so disconnected from it. Feeling cast away by the people who forged those memories.

It’s a disconnect that’s always hurt, to me. Maybe I’m just too sentimental, nostalgic. Maybe I cling to the past too much. But it feels impossible to ignore... So much of what made Quixol what it is today was left there by people who want nothing to do with me, us, anymore. What does that say about Quixol? About me...? About our group?

There’s a lot I could say about this, but it’s stuff I’ve mentioned before. I hang on too tightly to the past, and am often too critical of my own mistakes. But, sometimes the past is just the way it is, and there’s not much that can be done about it. Regardless, I find myself feeling regrets about every little thing that went wrong, and thinking about where all those people are now... Maybe one of them is even reading this right now. If you’re out there, hey. We can still talk. I’m not going to hold a grudge on you forever. It’s ok.

My influence

Since Quixol began in 2015, I’ve tried my best to be nothing more than an “Admin” of Quixol... not the “owner” or “lead admin” or “founder”, just “admin”. I hoped I could encourage the other admins to be leaders in their own rights. While each of the admins we’ve had has been great leaders in their own respect, I feel that every one of them has been, unfortunately, tied down by my influence to some extent.

In most aspects of life, I’m a very timid, indecisive person. I’m incredibly anxious, and lack confidence to a worrying degree. However, a different side of me can be seen in the safe, comfortable environment that Quixol provided for me. Surrounded by friends and people who I felt really got me, I became comfortable enough to show some level of confidence in myself... In all honesty, for a long time, I was never able to recognize this self confidence for what it was. I really was not, and mostly still am not, used to feeling confident in myself or my own abilities. Like, at all. So when I actually feel good about myself, like I actually know what I’m doing... Well, for a really long time, I didn’t even process it as such. I just felt like I knew the right answers, and that was it.

On Quixol, this often manifested in a specific way... Being proud of my own knowledge & skills with minecraft, I would insert myself into any discussion about Minecraft, the server, or just anywhere I could, and offer up my knowledge, opinions & help. This hardly sounds like a problem, but... The problem was just in my unwavering presence. I was everywhere on Quixol, you couldn’t escape me. I dominated the space with my presence. Not that I interrupted people (usually...?), I just would try to put myself anywhere a conversation was happening, assuming it was, like, appropriate for me to do so on some level.

Whenever I chimed in with my thoughts, eventually there became this sort of air of almost... superiority about it. This feeling that my word was “final”, or that I had some layer of expertise on everything, and that if I said what you said was right, that was a pretty good indicator you were on the right track. I didn’t pretend like I was infallible, and I don’t think anyone ever saw me as that. But the perception was generally that if Vivian says it, that holds weight to it. Perhaps this is somewhat unavoidable of a staff member, but... it was this way even amongst the staff.

I never really realized that I was creating this environment within the community, because it happened rather slowly. But as things moved along, other staff began to pick up on this (perhaps subconsciously). Including even the other admins. Quickly, my own insistence on doing things a Specific Way, became “the Right Way” to do things on Quixol... Whether I intended it or not.

Now, this is something I didn’t know until quite recently, but I actually have OCD (undiagnosed, but it’s glaringly obvious to me at this point). My ocd comes out in minecraft, and specifically Quixol, quite a lot. I have very ritualistic ways of doing things, whether it be while building a project in-game, to managing specific parts of the server- we have a very detailed format in which update logs are written, and I have very specific rituals related to updating plugins on the server, taking backups, etc. Even just the way I play survival minecraft has sorts of rituals in a way, like specific patterns in which I place torches. I’m not too educated on ocd, so excuse me if I’m using some terminology of this wrong, or if I’m spreading some sort of misinformation about it. This is just my experience.

Anyhow, with the extremely regimented way I manage things on the server, coupled with my constant presence in things, you can understand how this might lead to other admins, who have their own mental illness issues, to become very averse to doing a lot of admin-related duties. After months and months, years, even, of this sort of stuff... and... yeah. That leads to where we are now.

With my selfish behavior in the past, I’ve unintentionally created this staff environment where people are reluctant to make their own decisions, show their own creativity, etc. And that must feel incredibly frustrating if you actually want to do something to make a difference on Quixol...

I’m not even accounting for all the times I’ve butted heads with the other staff before, either. While much less frequent, I’ve definitely had arguments with folks in the past. And with the great amount of influence I hold over the server, it takes a lot of courage to stand up to what I say.

I’ve always resented that I hold this position of power over everyone else, and tried many times to address it. However, I don’t think I ever quite had a full picture of why things were this way. Now, I think I understand it better. Sadly, it feels too little, too late to make any significant changes without uprooting pretty much everything we have set in place already. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m being too pessimistic here... But, this is how I feel at the present moment.

I’m sincerely sorry to any current or former staff members, who have wanted to do something great for Quixol, but felt they could never convince me to go through with your idea... Or who felt pushed away from doing something they otherwise would’ve liked to, just because the attitude I gave, the environment my presence created, made you feel like you weren’t good enough or qualified enough to do it. You are good enough. I’m so sorry that my actions made you convinced otherwise...

I will say, this sort of mindset of mine, that I have to be the Most Right about anything relating to minecraft, or any hyperfixation/special interest of mine, has caused problems elsewhere, too. I talked about this in another post I made. I’ve only really come to realize all this stuff within the past few months, but I’ve been a really terrible friend to a lot of people. I never even realized until recently just how often I struggle with empathy, and how that’s colored so many of my friendships. Needless to say, it’s affected things on Quixol before, sometimes without me even realizing it.

My influence over the community also means if anybody’s relations with me in particular ever become marred, it must inevitably result in them leaving the community because there’s simply no escaping me. There’s not really anything I can do about this, though, aside from doing whatever I can to become a kinder, more

I’m far from a perfect person, and my imperfections seeped into so much of what made Quixol what it is. However, it’d be silly to suggest that I’m the singular reason that Quixol is flawed, if anything, that would be another form of arrogance- assuming that I singlehandedly shaped the way Quixol took form. No, it was always a team effort, and every single staff and community member held great influence of their own.

The Future

This part is probably why many of you clicked on this post... You want to know what’s going to happen to Quixol. You likely noticed I’ve been referring to Quixol in the past tense a lot in this post. Honestly, I’m not sure why I did that, it just felt the most natural to type it that way. But, I will be honest- the future of Quixol right now isn’t looking very bright.

This is a personal post, so I don’t want to deliver any sort of formal announcement about plans for Quixol here, especially since I haven’t run this post by the other staff before posting it.

For the past 2 and a half months, I’ve been taking a very long break from Quixol. Much greater than any previous break of mine... I’ve neglected to even log in for weeks at a time. I still keep an eye on the discord server, and check the mc <-> discord bridge channel to see which players have been logging in. But I have little to no motivation to play, even just casually.

While I’d love to give you some fun cool news about how this hiatus is ending soon and I have a million and one projects planned, that simply isn’t the case. I’ve gotten to this point where I’m rethinking everything about myself, who I am, and what I’m doing with my life. Surely, I can’t dedicate all my time and energy to running a minecraft server for the rest of my life, even though I do care deeply about this community. But at the same time, it’s not really my call to shut down Quixol, and I’d hate to pull the plug just because of my own lack of motivation.

So, for the time being at least, you can probably consider Quixol to be on a sort of “indefinite hiatus”. I am generally the one to update plugins, do major server updates, etc., and I likely won’t be doing any of that any time soon. I fully entrust the other staff to handle that stuff if they really want to, and I’ve expressed that to them already. But as things stand, nobody else seems to want to pick up the torch right now. Shit is rough for pretty much everyone, and we’re all equally burnt out. We’ve all grown up quite a lot since Quixol began, too. So... Don’t expect anything anytime soon.

If there are any updates, they’ll come in our Discord server first.

As for me, personally... I just need time away from all of this. It’s clearer than ever to me that I have a lot of personal problems I need to work on, and I think that the cozy safe environment provided by Quixol didn’t challenge me enough to really address those issues. I need time to focus on myself & my own growth. At the same time, I also feel like I need more experience being a part of a team, instead of just running the show. I’m not getting the kind of enrichment I need from running Quixol, so I’m trying to turn my attention elsewhere.

I’m doing this not because I want to abandon you guys, or because I feel like I want/need to move on from this community. It’s just... Something I need to do, for myself. And I’ll still be around, I’m still gonna be posting to my tumblr & twitter and stuff, and you can still reach me on discord. I’m just focusing my time elsewhere for once.

What does that mean for the future of Quixol? I don’t really know yet. But, for now, it’s not going anywhere. It’s just... also not changing anytime soon. Not even a little bit. I’m sorry to give you this disappointing news, but I hope you all understand.

I miss the good times on Quixol, too. I really do. Maybe we can share them again sometime? Who knows...

For now, that’s all.

It breaks my heart that we don’t have anything glitzy and glamorous to do to celebrate Quixol’s 5th anniversary... But it would be asking far too much of the staff to set anything like that up right now. Maybe we can have some sort of celebration later...? I dunno.

I hope you’re all staying safe & healthy out there. Thank you so much for reading this. I love all of you.

Happy birthday, Quixol.

#vivi bleats #txt #Quixol #long post

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maxismatchccworld · 4 years

Photo

Hey you lovely Simmers! It is time for our new Spotlight of the Month. Please give a warm welcome to Sara aka @catsaar 😊 Sara quickly became one of my favorites when looking for unique builds. I would not be able to pick a top 5 because they all amazing but thankfully Sara is showing you a few below!

Hello my fellow simmers,

allow me to introduce myself. I’m Sara aka CatSaar and I’m (mostly) a builder for The Sims 4. I started playing the Sims 1 as a teen and it quickly became my favorite game back then. But some years later I stopped gaming all together, life just got too busy and it fell off my radar. Until 3 years ago, while I was at a low point in life and just clicking through YouTube I stumbled on a speed build. I don’t remember by who, but I was sold. That same day I got The Sims 4 and not much after I got all the available packs. And so my sims journey began again. In the beginning my houses were just boxes with a roof slapped on. Looking back at them now, I just have to laugh at how bad they were. Which I realized once I discovered the community and how many talented builders there are. Seeing the possibilities through what others created, I was determent to get better. I watched A LOT of speed builds and then I found the Holy Grail of creativity, Simblr. The first builds I shared on the gallery were unfurnished modern houses that I recreated from real life buildings. I leave them on there, even though I don’t like them anymore, as a reminder of how far I have come. Always remember that any skill takes time to learn. Even to this day I still make progress in building, which is part of the fun!

The friends I made on the Gallery were the ones who pushed me into getting a Simblr and I’m thankful for that cus it has been a fun ride. Sharing my builds and getting excited reactions to them brings me so much joy. It’s really the cherry on top of the cake that is building.

So let me show you some of my finest moments in building and why I am getting featured here. (Thank you so much for the opportunity Kerstin!!)

The first build I posted on Simblr was my Cherry Blossom Town. A 64x64 Japanese town. I’m still proud of it. It was my best build at the time and it took me a full week of non stop building to complete. It’s been 2 years since I made it and even tho I got better at detailing, it will always have a place in my heart.

Honestly cottages are just adorable so I had to share at least one that I made. There’s just something about this style that makes my heart all fuzzy and warm. This one is simply called Rustic Cottage, as my creativity does not extend to naming my builds. Landscaping is such an important part of these kind of houses and who doesn’t love a bunch of ivy?

But let’s move on to some more recent once. Another town, as I looove to make those even if they take me forever, Vista Silegra. This one got picked up by The Sims 4 France and EA Benelux on Twitter and got me gold on Reddit. (shout out to my reddit peepz) The recognition for this build still baffles my mind to this day. It was inspired by a picture of a small Italian side street I saw on Pinterest and thus a whole town was born.

I swear I also do houses, I just have a soft spot for neighborhoods and towns. This Tokyo Suburb is my most recent one as I’m writing this. I think you can definitely see the progress I made in detailing my builds compared to the Cherry Blossom Town. I love making it realistic,there’s always a thought process in my cluttering. It has to make sense to me, like it’s real life.

There’s a lot of builds I would love to show you, but hopefully you’ll just check out my Tumblr. To close off this showcase, I chose my version of the Foxbury Commons. It was the number 1 build for my blog last year and I know it got a lot of my followers really excited. (I see y'all) Modern isn’t my strongest and I revisited this one a lot before I was finally happy with it. Perfectionist much?

If you made it this far, I thank you for reading my journey. Come say hi over on my blog and if you use one of my builds don’t be scared to tag me. I love to see how you use them. If you’re an aspiring builder, don’t be too hard on yourself, remember it takes practice and time. You have every right to be proud of your creations! Love you, you talented Simblr community and I wish you a wonderful day!

#s4cc #s4mm #ts4cc #ts4mm #maxis match #thesims4 #s4 spotlight #catsaar

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sing-selah · 3 years

Text

Selah.

If you read through the Psalms of the Bible, you’ll find this word regularly.

History has lost the true definition of the word, but it’s thought to express the sentiment of “forever”, or perhaps it means “to take a break.” One online dictionary indicates that it may indicate a pause for contemplation.

2020 was a year for Selah.

Everyone took a break, and it felt like it was going to last forever.

The whole world was forced to take a step back and evaluate operations, contemplate the nature of how we live. For many, the chaos and stress were too much to process. Mental health assistance was hot in demand, and so were yoga mats. I, myself, also attended therapy and bought a hot pink foam mat. We were all looking for comfort and means to cope in the chaos.

I lost 20 pounds and gained 80 with the new addition of my dog-son Samson. (He’s a Great Pyrenees, a massive fluff.) I know I’m quite blessed to be able to say I gained good things during the pandemic, when so many suffered unimaginable loss.

When the New Year approached, we all awaited with bated breath.

Would 2021 be a better year for us?

This year was the first New Year’s Eve I have ever spent alone. I thought this would sadden me, but as I sat on my bed sipping wine and watching Samson gobble down his celebratory ice cream, I was surprised at the peace I felt.

I had achieved more than I thought myself capable with losing that 20 pounds; making small but consistent changes in my daily diet and habits. As I reflected on this, I decided to make 2021 a year for even more growth!

I took to Amazon, searching for a goal-oriented planner. I knew I needed something more than years past, where I would make a list of what I wanted and promptly forget where it was placed (also forgetting the declarations therein).

I decided on a sunshine-yellow beauty by BoxcleverPress that broke the year into quarters and had sufficient room to document my goals and plan for success. This lovely agenda contained pages for 8 goals, with space to document what the goal would mean for me and keep track via quarterly check-ins. The blank pages in the back were perfect for brainstorming, and I made good use of it. I also asked friends on social media what their most rewarding resolutions had been and used that as fuel for thought.

Of the MANY ideas I had, I settled on the following:

1. Lose 60 pounds

· Being the shortie that I am, charts for my height indicates a “healthy” weight for me is 140 pounds. I haven’t been 140 lbs since I was 16 years old, and honestly I was probably being optimistic on my driver’s license even then…

· For those that hate the maths, this is only 5 pounds a month. This felt semi-do-able for me. I figured if I missed it, better to aim high (or low, as it were).

2. Create more, enjoying hobbies

· 1 piece of art

· 1 poem or song

· 1 playlist (I planned to make playlists for those I love, so this also seemed like a good relationship builder.)

· 1 journal entry per month

3. Read 1 book per month

· In my ambition, I thought it would be beneficial to pick a different category every month. I chose English lit, health/wellness, non-fiction, poetry, fiction, historical, International classic, self-help, biography, science focused, math focused, spiritual/faith. These distinctions were quickly thrown out of the window, as I already own a lot of books that needed to be read. And as all lit nerds know… I continue to acquire more! I’ve just been selecting the one I was most excited to read every month.

4. Better manage my finances.

· Save $1000 by the end of the year

· Eliminate my credit card debt

· Spend $120 on groceries per month

· Cut unnecessary spending (Read: regular online shopping for undies and makeup. I also found it helpful to take a break from social media, as this is where I was constantly being advertised to by my favorite brands.)

5. Explore areas of curiosity

· 1 focus per quarter

· I wasn’t sure what this would look like, I just wanted to focus on learning more about areas of interest, like fashion and nutrition.

6. Complete 1 home improvement project per quarter

· I had plenty to work with here. Fixing the kitchen light, garage door, garage light, painting front porch, painting back porch, painting the exterior, painting my bathroom, cleaning out the overgrown backyard…

7. Grow my abilities in the kitchen!

· 1 new savory (preferably International) dish per month

· 1 new baked good per month

· Note: Originally, I said 1 new recipe a week. This did not happen. I adjusted.

8. Be more intentional in my spirituality

· Keep the Sabbath regularly

· Fast once a quarter

Phew.

That was a lot to outline! It seemed a little (a lot) ambitious, but I felt it would be better to set the bar high for myself. I wasn’t sure if I could manage all of that, but monthly self-check-ins were a helpful tool in seeing growth. Perfect, I am not. I’ve yet to meet all of those goals; but seeing even some achievement is a constant encouragement.

As the adage proclaims, change doesn’t happen overnight!

So why share now?

First, journaling once a month is part of the goals!

Secondly, I’m hoping a shared blog will hold me more accountable, and maybe I’ll even get some helpful tips from others as I work towards my goals.

Third, I believe any achievement is a result of hard work and blessings from God. I think it’s only right to share that light with others. I hope my journey can be encouraging, or at least entertaining, for my friends and family.

I’ll be sharing a blog post at least once a month, maybe more if I’m feeling feisty. I’ll be posting to tumblr under the username sing-selah and sharing on my social media.

I'll end my post by asking you to implement a little Selah (pause to contemplate) in your life.

#goalsetting #life goals #goals #goaldigger #2021 goals #motivation #resolution #selah #blessed

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aweebwrites · 5 years

Text

Celestial Influence 8- The Beginning of the End

The sun peaked over the distant horizon, filling the realm before it with light, scattering the darkness as it always does each morning. Wu breathed in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cool morning air from his place meditating atop the Monastery's roof. He opened his eyes slowly, a smile tugging his beard upwards. Today promises to be a good one.

"Heeeya!" He glanced down into the courtyard, finding one student already hard at work in the training yard.

He promises to be quite the fighter. The boy was quick to use a front handspring to get out of the way of the machine's fist as it spun.

"Ha! You're nothing!" The boy grinned at the bot. "Ninja go!" He yelled, using Spinjitzu to charge at the machine but the move soon became unstable, his use of it not quite mastered as yet.

He yelled as he ended up thrown towards the robot that immediately smacked him in the face, sending him flying back. Wu winced as he took a hard fall then hopped off the roof, landing silently on his feet then approached with his hands behind his back.

"Your form was perfect but you are too hasty. Too cocky." Wu says as he reached a hand down to help the boy up.

"Sorry Sensei. I'll do better next time." Jake says as he rubbed the back of his head then dusted off his orange gi and Wu smiled at the youngest member of his new batch of students.

"I'm sure you will." Wu says, ruffling the young teen's hair before walking away. "You remind me of a student of mine. The master of fire." He says and Jake perked all the way up at that.

To be compared to the master of fire, his favourite ninja Kai himself! Now he was even more determined to pull this off.

"Ninja go!" He yelled, jumping right back into practise.

Wu chuckled soft then headed inside the monastery for tea. No surprise when he found it already made for him and another student of his already waiting.

"Nelson. Good morning. I see you're up early." Wu greeted, taking a seat from across the leader of the team, clad in his purple gi.

Not that he realised that yet.

"Yeah! I'm an early riser and I know you really like your tea so I just-uh through I might as well do something productive with the extra time, you know?" He says sheepishly.

"Why not join Jake with training?" Wu queried, taking his cup of tea and taking a sip.

"Ah… Right…" Nelson says sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head.

He hadn't thought of that. He was still riding off the high of being sought out by Lloyd, the green ninja's master personally. Yes it was a year ago but he's so excited to become a ninja!- er. Continue being a ninja.

"He hasn't got over the kiss up stage, that's why." Antonia says as she walked by in her grey gi, a half eaten apple in hand.

Nelson sputtered and she laughed then took another bite. Wu hid his smile into his cup. He's long gotten used to his new students'... Quirks. Antonia was the strong yet level headed one of the group. More than all of the ninja, she syncs with Cole.

"And where are you off to this morning?" Wu asked her.

"To test out the new bots." Was all Antonia says then walked out into the training yard.

"What?!" Wu looked towards the hall leading to their rooms where Gene was now standing half dressed in his indigo gi, panic in his eyes. "Don't break them Antonia! I spent three whole days on those!" He yelled as he rushed out after her, struggling to put on his glasses as he did.

Gene was the genius of the group and the builder. He's as eccentric as Jay is.

"What's will all the commotion?" Sally asked as she carried breakfast to the table, an apron over her yellow gi.

"Gene's trying to save his robots from Toni." Nelson told her and she hummed.

"He might already be too late." She says and just then, Gene's cry of dismay came. "Yeah. Too late." She reiterated then headed back to the kitchen for the other plates.

"I'll help." Nelson says as he got up, following behind her.

Sally was by no means level headed but she was more stable and critical in thinking than them all. Much like Zane.

"Is that breakfast I smell?" Wu was unsurprised by Brad walking into the dining space in his pajamas and half asleep, apricot gi thrown over his arm.

He seats himself across from Wu, yawning as he scratched his arm, his hair ruffled all over. Wu huffed quietly.

"And good morning to you too Brad." Wu spoke up and the boy jolts, as if he hadn't seen him there the whole time.

"Oh uh, good morning Sensei." He was quick to say, as sheepish as he was.

Wu only nods at him, pouring himself another cup of tea. Brad had a tendency to use a mean front to hide his true self, considering it weak and embarrassing. He uses shows of superiority and usefulness to make himself feel worthy though unnecessary as it was amongst his brothers and sisters here. It's a trait he's also seen in Nya.

"Nel, go get the others." Sally says as they brought in the last of their meal in.

"Roger." He says, setting the plates down and heading out. "Guys, time to eat!" He called but was ignored by Gene whining over his broken bot, Antonia snickering at him and Jake training with all he's got.

He sighed then paused to think.

"No food means no energy which means no energy to train Jake!" he called out and the brunette whipped his head around to look at Nelson, considering.

"Alright!" Jake yelled back then turned off the machine, running past him.

"Come on Gene. I'll stop by Borg Industries today and see if Cyrus has any spare parts for you." As spins the words were out of Nelson's mouth, Gene's head snapped up.

"Can I come with you?" He asked seriously and Nelson laughed but nodded.

Somewhere along the line, he's become a sort of casual friend of both Cyrus Borg and his daughter Pixal also known as Samurai X: Ninjago's greatest defender. Sure she's backed by the Elemental Alliance, but she's the Ninjago chosen green ninja. The title didn't sit right with Nelson. Yes, he's grateful for her years of service but… There's only one green ninja.

"You alright?" Nelson blinked back to the present and focused on a concerned looking Antonia.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." He smiled at her. "Let's go eat." He says, turning back to the inside.

Antonia watched him go, not completely believing him but deciding not to push it. Wu had seen the whole happening from his seat thanks to the open concept of the Monastery the original ninja had left him. He looked down into the green of his tea. How long has it been? How long as it been since the ninja have disappeared, taking his brother with them? Wu brings the cup to his mouth and sipped. A few months and it would be 8 years. While he realised it on the night it happened, Ninjago realised after a few months. Their consensus was unanimous: they were all glad they were gone. By then, the elemental masters started calling themselves the Elemental Alliance and had all been equipped somehow with the ninja's gifts. Whether it be new swords and weapons, armor, vehicles, mech amd even items to ward off evil. It made fighting easier for them. None of them offered a thanks for the items they suspiciously then eagerly accepted. The Ninja were fine with that. It sparked fire in their usually humble old Sensei's heart however.

He's learned to come to terms with this realms inability to see the bigger picture. It was difficult but as their former Sensei, he had to remain humble. They celebrated, thinking the ninja gone forever. That was far from the truth. Wu knew what happened to them. Not where they were but certainly what happened to them. They came to him in his dreams, told him of a need they couldn't control and bid him farewell. The loneliness that came was as painful and sharp as it always was. But knowing they weren't truly gone as the rest of Ninjago believed lessen the blow. He glanced out the opened Monastery doors at the pillar in the middle of the grounds, holding a gold dragon on top and the six symbols of the ninja in the ground around it, their colours faded to dark gray with their inactivity. He longs for the day their colours returned.

"Sensei?" He opened his eyes to see all six of his students looking at him with varying degrees of concern. "You alright?" Nelson asked again and wu nods, setting his cup down.

"Yes. Just a little lost in thought. Now eat, all of you. You all have a long day of training ahead of you." He told them and the only one to perk up was Jake.

Wu smiled at their mixed reactions.

For now, he had new company. He can be patient.

_________

"Sensei! Gene and I are heading into New Ninjago City for a bit!" Nelson called over his shoulder as he headed out to where Gene was waiting in his Aerial Assault Jet.

"Very well but make sure to come back in time for evening training!" Wu called back and Nelson ran over, hopping into the dark blue jet Nelson wouldn't have believed he made if he hadn't watched him work on it for weeks.

"Sensei says to be back in time for evening training." Nelson says as he slipped his seatbelt on, leaving Gene to start the jet up and shut the hatch.

"Ugh. Why are we even training so hard? It's not like we get to fight bad guys often. Samurai X and the Elemental Alliance have that covered!" Gene complained as he brought the jet airborne, steering them towards New Ninjago City. "It's not like we're the chosen ones. We're just replacements. And not even good replacements at that!" He growled, irritated.

Nelson frowned.

Honestly? He's had similar thoughts before. He could never replace Lloyd or any of the ninja. No-one can. But he didn't accept Sensei Wu's offer to become Lloyd. To become like him, yes but not to be him. He just wanted to do his part for the good of Ninjago. He looked across at Gene as he frowned.

"Why take Sensei's offer if you felt like this then?" Nelson asked and Gene froze then hardened his gaze.

"... It was either this or the orphanage." Gene says quietly and that surprised Nelson.

Orphanage? But Gene had a father. He was one of Ninjago's recurring villains, one of many who stepped out of the shadows when the Ninja disappeared. Then that meant… Nelson looked down into his lap, at his fingers that were laced together as Ninjago flew by below.

"... I'm sorry for asking." Nelson whispered and Gene shrugged it off.

"Forget about it. It's the past. We're here." Gene says and Nelson blinked in surprise.

"Already?!" He sputtered as he looked around and indeed, New Ninjago City was right in front of them.

"What's the point in having a slow jet?" Gene grinned as he headed towards Borg Industries, touching down on the landing pad on the roof.

Nelson hopped out as soon as the hatch was open then blinked in surprise to see Pixal herself standing there. He smiled as he walked over to her.

"Pix, hey!" He greeted cheerfully and Pixal's expression changed subtly.

"Hello Nelson. Please call me Pixal." She reminds him lightly and Nelson winced.

"Right, right. Sorry." He apologised.

"That's an interesting aircraft. It's quite fast from what I've seen." She says, looking towards the jet as Gene walked over.

"I made it myself. I haven't decided on a name for it as yet so I've settled on Aerial Assault Jet. Or AAJ for short." Gene says proudly.

"Impressive." Pixal complimented. "What brings you two here?" She queries.

"We were hoping to pick up some spare parts for Gene's projects if you guys have any." Nelson says, tucking on his heels.

The truth is, he's never asked them for something like that before. Gene usually gets his parts from the old abandoned junkyard in the Sea of Sand. He only knew Cyrus personally through his time as a mail carrier in training when the mailman came to the paper route insisting he needed help. Mr Borg had always had a lot of mail that Nelson was unfortunate enough to deliver. He started offering him a moment to rest before continuing his route and would eagerly answer his questions on anything he was working on. Pixal was always there too. Mainly just watching. Now that he remembers, it was… A little creepy.

"... I'd have to ask my father. Follow me." She says, coaxing them over to the elevator.

Both boys shared an eager look before following after her.

"You both came at an opportune time at least." Pixal says once they were in the elevator. "Right now, we are updating the tower's factory. While we usually recycle parts, there's a high chance you may be able to gather a few pieces." She told them as she hit the button for the factory.

"You mean I could get pieces of the very same factory that brought Ninjago into the technical age?!" Gene says excitedly and Nelson laughed to himself at his excitement.

"Indeed." Pixal nodded and silence fell over the elevator.

"... How is Sensei Wu?" She asked them and both Gene and Nelson shared a confused look.

"He's ok! We're heading back to train with him after this!" Nelson told her with a grin.

"I see…" Was all she says, confusing both boys.

Before they could ask, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Both boys awed at the inside of the large factory. Sure Gene has been here before when he was much younger but it's nice to visit when the machinery weren't trying to kill him. Pixal walked in and they followed behind, looking around in awe as the tower workers inspected and removed certain parts of the factory, mainly the robotic arms and the convertor belt.

"Father." They looked ahead once Pixal spoke and they saw as Cyrus perked up then turned around in his wheelchair.

"Pixal! Ah. I see you have company!" He greeted warmly as always and Nelson grinned while Gene stared wide eyed at the Cyrus Borg, right in front of him!

"Long time no see Mr. Borg." Nelson greeted, walking over to shake his hand.

"Indeed. Being a ninja is a busy job after all " Cyrus says light hearted and Nelson nods then glanced back at where Gene was fidgeting with his glasses.

"I'd like you to meet my friend Gene. He's a pretty smart guy and really looks up to you." Nelson says, gesturing to Hehe who sputtered at the introduction, face going red.

"Ah. Now that's a familiar name." Cyrus says and Gene's eyes widened in surprise- but then he hung his head, remembering his father us a pretty wanted villain who put him up for adoption the moment he decided he wanted to always be good.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but…" Cyrus began, rolling closer to the boy. "You were the child who presented an exceptional piece on thermodynamics, were you not?" He asked and Gene blinked in surprise.

He heard of it? Better yet, he read it?! Despite it being false?!

"Y-yes but my thesis was incorrect." Gene says with a frown, not quite sure he's awake.

"Indeed but it was an astounding piece. I could hardly believe a child of your age had written it." Cyrus says then smiled wider as he took both of Gene's hands. "It doesn't matter that it was incorrect. What does matter is the knowledge gained from it." He says gently, giving both of Gene's hands a squeeze.

The teen looked down at the man before him, at a real genius who thought his most embarrassing and regretful piece was actually worth something. Gene's eyes watered. He squeezed his eyes shut then nodded at him.

"Thank you." He told Cyrus, unable to cry the tears that wanted to be shed.

Some habits back in his days of being evil are hard to break. No matter how forced and traumatizing they were. Cyrus saw this and decided against asking.

"So what brings you ninja here?" Cyrus asked, glancing over at Nelson as he walked over.

"We were hoping for any spare parts you might have. Gene's gotten pretty big on the mechanical side of science and likes to build things." Nelson explained and Cyrus grinned.

"You've come at the perfect time then. We're completely replacing the robotic arms of the factory and upgrading the rest. If you'd like, you can have the arms of the machinery, wiring and motherboards included." He offered, releasing Gene's hands to roll over to the closest one. "They don't have any damages or anything, I've just come up with a more efficient version that needs less repairs over time." He says, patting the large mechanical arm's base.

"Woah, really?!" Both Nelson and Gene spoke at the same time.

They looked at each other and Nelson grinned as Gene gave a semi reluctant smile while adjusting his glasses.

"Yes really." Cyrus says with a laugh. "They're a little big however. I can arrange transportation if you'd like. Nothing makes me happier than fueling the minds and opportunities of the young." He says cheerfully, his radiant positivity contagious.

"That would be amazing!" Gene was quick to say, today already feeling like the best day of his life.

Oh who was he kidding? It is!

"Perfect! While we're at it, I can get you…" Cyrus trailed off once Pixal walked past them, a suspicious look on her face.

All three watched as she headed to where almost all of the workers have gathered: one if very few windows in the factory.

"What's with the commotion?" Nelson asked, watching Pixal also climb up to where the high window was.

"Is it me or does the outside look darker than I recall?" Gene asked, spotting it through a higher window.

"Maybe it's rain?" Nelson suggested, confused still.

Just then, a loud, thundering roar echoed, shaking the building with its might, sending the workers into chaos and panic.

"... That's not thunder… And this isn't rain." Cyrus says, completely daunted by the familiarity of that roar as Pixal rushed over. "The Overlord." He whispered before she could say it.

She gave a dreaded nod.

"We have to get you and the rest of New Ninjago City out of here immediately." Pixal told him and no sooner than she said that, was there a loud sound equivalent to an explosion, throwing them all off their feet and causing Cyrus to be thrown out of his chair, hitting his head against the assembly line on the way down.

Seconds later, there was another, louder thud that had pieces of the ceiling breaking.

"We have to go, now!" Pixal yelled, pulling both boys up then her father, sparing a moment to gasp at his unconscious state and the small trickle of blood running from his temple.

She sets him in his chair, fastening the seat belt on it quickly. They took off into a run then, Pixal leading the way with Cyrus in front of her. She lead them to the emergency exit, glad they kept the factory on the first floor. The moment the door pushed open was the moment they could hear loud flapping, putting even more fear into their hearts. Nelson looked up once they were far enough away from Borg Tower and never felt as terrified as he was, looking to where over half of the tower was missing, the upper half of it now laying collapsed behind the base of the building. Worse still was the massive black dragon hovering over the city, the dark clouds he brought with it covering the city with a negative atmosphere.

"I-I-I don't understand! How?! Zane destroyed the Overlord years ago! How can he return? Why now when the only people to have defeated him twice are nowhere to be found?!" Gene yelled, spiraling into a panic attack.

"We don't need the ninja." Pixal says chin tilted up determinedly. "Take my father and leave the city immediately. The Elemental Alliance and I will take care of this." She says then without giving them a moment to respond, she ran back into the almost completely destroyed building.

"We have to tell Sensei Wu immediately." Nelson says as he pulled down his hood.

He then took Cyrus by the chair, and taking off into a run, Gene stumbling then catching up with him.

"Then save our own skins!" He yelled, pulling his hood down too and Nelson shook his head.

"No! That's not want ninja do. We'll come back and we'll help evacuate the city-"

"Are you crazy?!" Gene yelled, cutting Nelson off. "Forget what ninja do or don't do! If we come back here, we could be killed! What's the point of being a ninja if you don't live long enough to actually be one?!" He yelled over the terrified screams of people.

"And if we don't, a lot of people will be killed because we'd be cowards! Are you really on with that?!" Nelson snapped at Gene who looked stuck.

"Ninja…" Both boys looked back once they heard the sole word, loud and growling.

They both immediately regretted because now, the Overlord was focused on them, flying towards them on massive wings.

"Oh heck, oh heck!" Nelson yelled, running even faster with Gene who was starting to lose his breath.

"W-wait! This is good! We can lead him out of the city! Pixal and the Alliance are in their way so they'll get to us before he does! Hopefully!" Gene panted out and Nelson considered before nodding, liking the plan.

"Alright! But we can't have Cyrus with us!" Nelson yelled over the flapping of wings getting closer and closer.

"The mailman!" Gene says after a moment of looking around, seeing the elderly man hiding behind his parked truck.

Nelson spotted him too then looked down at the unconscious man before him.

"Sorry about this Mr Borg." He says then turned the wheelchair abruptly and shoved, sending Cyrus rolling down the one-way, right into the mailman.

"Here he comes!" Gene all but screamed, looking back at the opened maw getting closer to them filled with sharp teeth.

"Follow me!" Nelson yelled then took an abrupt turn, Gene skidding on the turn but managed to make the turn, missing getting eaten by an inch.

There was an angry growl before the massive dragon was on their tail again.

"How long will you be able to keep running? You only delay the inevitable!" The Overlord growled after them and they rounded another corner but this time, the Overlord was able to keep up without pause.

"We can't keep this up for much longer! I'm already running on fumes!" Gene panted out, limbs and lungs burning.

"We've gotta push through! Just for a little longer!" Nelson panted out. "The Sea of Sand is just- Woah!" He yelled then he was suddenly swept off his feet.

Both Nelson and Gene grunted as they were crushed together, back to back in the talons of the Overlord who've finally caught them.

"What's the matter Ninja? It's not like you pests to run. I was looking forward to your shocked, dying faces as I killed you immediately. Though chasing you like the vermin scum you all are was indeed satisfying." The dragon purred, wide maw dangerously close to the duo.

"I think he's… Mistaking us for… The Ninja!" Nelson wheezed out against the pressure on his chest.

"We're… Not them!" Gene yelled out and the Overlord narrowed his overcast, glowing magenta eyes at them.

"What trick is this?" The large dragon hissed and Gene flinched back once a large feeler brushed over him.

The Overlord growled then, eyes narrowing at them.

"You aren't the Ninja! Where are they?! I will seek my revenge!" He roared at the terrified duo.

"We don't know! They disappeared years ago!" Nelson was quick to say and the large dragon narrowed his eyes at them then snarled in irritation, sensing no lie.

"How disappointing. But it only serves to make my true goal easier." The Overlord chuckled.

Nelson and Gene yelled, finding himself soaring quickly through the air from where they were tossed aside. The desert was rushing quickly towards them both- when suddenly, they were caught by a blur of gold-white.

"Are you two alright?" Relief washed over the two when Wu's voice caught their ears.

"Sensei! Boy are we glad to see you!" Nelson says, relieved as he managed to sit on the back of their Sensei's elemental dragon.

"Sensei, is it me or is the Overlord dragon… Bigger than I remember? He even has four legs this time." Gene says, holding onto Nelson as their Sensei brought them down to the edge of the city.

"Yes." Wu sighed, looking troubled. "Not only has the Overlord somehow managed to return, but he's stronger than ever before." He says solemnly, looking back to the city.

"You-"

"If I can't have Ninjago… No-one will!" The Overlord's roar was loud and echoing, no doubt able to be heard from miles away.

Just then, a sound similar to thunder started up. They all looked to the sky confused- then horrified when several Wyverns, bipedaled dragons came down, their eyes a bright glowing red and their bodies as black as night. They weren't as big as the Overlord was but they were close enough. Yet again, the Overlord had an army but this one they could tell would be his toughest yet. It hit them all then, what the Overlord's true intentions were.

"No. He can't destroy Ninjago… Can he?!?!" Gene asked, panicking anew.

"We won't give them the chance." Wu says firmly. "The others are already in the city aiding the evacuation. I want you two to join them." He told them quickly.

"But what about you?! And the Overlord?!" Nelson protested.

"I will take care of the Overlord. There's one thing I can use to defeat him." Wu says then flinched at the sound of increased chaos starting in the city. "Go, now!" He ordered them, taking off with his dragon, being immediately chased by a group of the smaller black dragons.

"Let's go!" Nelson says, taking off with a run- only to stop when his footsteps were the only ones he heard.

He looked back at Gene where he stood in place, watching him as he visibly shook.

"Aren't you terrified?" He asked Nelson with a small, trembling voice.

Nelson smiled at him.

"Absolutely." Was his answer, watching as surprise passed Gene's face. "You're not the only one who has thoughts like that. To not want to die. To save yourself. It's perfectly normal. But I can't let myself run away from this, from the lives being lost this very instant. If I could do something, anything to help out, even if I wasn't a ninja, I would do it in a heartbeat, no matter how much my brain screams at me to get away, that I might die." He says, clenching his fist and Gene saw it shaking, as much as he was.

"I won't think bad of you or look down on you if you decide to take off but I am going in there and I am helping my friends and the people of Ninjago." Nelson told him then whirled around, taking off again.

His heart was pounding in his ears, watching the dragons destroy the city with beams of red from their maws that dripped dark matter, explosions and screams echoing as they spread out through the city. He could barely hear them over his racing pulse. He raced towards the collapsed building blocking the road and peered inside as he passed to make sure no-one was inside. He had to keep going, had to help everyone evacuate. He flinched once he heard a very close explosion then looked up wide eyed as the building next to him began to crumble. He ran as fast as he could but he had already been running from the Overlord for a while added with training earlier. His body hadn't had enough time to rest. He looked up in time to see a large slab of concrete falling directly towards him. Heck! He was gonna-

"Ninja go!" A racing dark vortex snatched him out of the way of the concrete's way, coming to a stop at a safe distance.

Nelson panted heavily, sitting on the ground in shock.

"Are you alright?" He looked up to see Gene checking on him.

He couldn't stop the wide smile that pulled at his lips even if he tried.

"You came…" Nelson whispered and Gene huffed, reaching a hand down to help him up.

"Of course I did. I may be a ninja out of convenience but even so..." Gene says as Nelson took his hand, using it as leverage to stand. "Ninja never quit." He smiled and Nelson grinned, nodding.

"Ninja never quit." He repeats, engraving the words into his heart, thinking now, he truly understand the gravity behind those words.

"Help!" Their heads snapped up at the close cry, eyes immediately searching the area for the source.

"There!" Nelson pointed out, seeing someone's legs kicking from under a pile of rubble.

They rushed over, Gene stopping Nelson before he can help.

"Wait. The debris fell on them in a unique way, giving them enough space to breathe and to not be completely crushed. We have to be careful or else we'll disrupt that and they'll be crushed." Gene warned quietly as to not let the victim hear and struggle even more.

"Don't worry. We'll save you!" Nelson told them then looked over the large slabs of building resting precariously over them.

He then noticed the largest slab resting on top was keeping the space too small for them to just crawl out on their own.

"If we can get rid of this, they'd be able to get out on their own." Nelson says, gesturing to the piece he meant.

"But we aren't strong enough to move it. And if we tamper with it without getting it off right away, it might fall over and crush their lower half." Gene warned.

Nelson thought for a while before he had an idea.

"Do you trust me?" He asked Gene who looked wary now.

"I do." He answered without pause but knew whatever their stupidly courageous leader had in mind would be insane. "What do you have in mind?" He asked critically and Nelson only grinned.

_______

Wu somehow managed to stay out of sight of the Overlord as he headed for their only hope: the golden armor. It was no surprise that the building was abandoned but he was glad for it. It meant that they had gone looking for safety, increasing their chances of survival. Now that he had the armor on his person, atop the back of his elemental dragon as he struggled to out maneuver the dragons that have locked onto him. The ground was too obstructed and the roofs were exposed. His best bet was to travel by dragon but he had to distract them long enough to get a clear shot.

He had to take care of this as quickly as he could. He fears however, that he alone, even with the aid of the golden armor, wouldn't be able to take this upgraded Overlord. But he must try for the sake of all of Ninjago. He continued to try and shake the dragons but they were avid fliers and kept on his tail, shooting at him. Suddenly, one was hit and it screeched then vanished. All at once, the offending dragons were being shot down around him. He looked to the source of his help and wasn't surprised to find that it was Pixal in her mech.

"The Alliance and I will clear a path! You take the Overlord down- and fast!" Pixal yelled from her mech and Wu nods once.

He then flew his dragon towards the Overlord's massive back from where he had settled in the heart of the city, blasting everything in his path with the magenta beam coming from his mouth. Two aircraft's came in then, distracting the Overlord as more attacks rained on the black dragons. He had a clear shot now. He had to put everything both he and the armor had into this.

Meanwhile, Gene ran as if his tail was on fire, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as a black dragon chased after him.

"I never agreed to this!" He yelled as he ran back to where the meet up point was, skidding down a fire escape suddenly to avoid being eaten and to throw the dragon off on his location.

The dragon hissed as it looked down on the alleyway for him- then flew in once a purple clad figure ran out towards the main road.

"You did an amazing run Gene!" He yelled back at his ninja brother then ducked out of the way of its sharp claws.

It started to grow annoyed it seemed and gathered energy in its mouth.

"That wasn't part of the plan big guy!" Nelson yelled then looked around quickly.

He swerved out of the way of the building pile and the person trapped beneath it, towards the building blocking the road not too far away then dropped once the time was right, allowing it's destructive beam to hit the collapsed building, the impact breaking it into two and clearing the road enough that any person could climb their way over safely. He didn't have a moment to spare however. He rolled out of the way of the taloned feet grabbing after him then ran again, back to where the trapped person was. He had to time this just right. Gene said climbing over it will slow him down and the dragon will be guaranteed to strike then.

Here comes the moment of all their efforts! He quickly began climbing onto the large slab the person was under then glanced back- only to yelp seeing the dragon diving in, seconds away from taking him instead.

"Ninja go!" He yelled, using his Spinjitzu to get out of the way.

The dragon grabbed the concrete slab instead of him then, lifting it off and away. Nelson grinned as Gene ran in, helping the person out as Nelson watched the dragon fly away- only to loop around and began flying back, with the concrete slab.

"We need to go! Now!" Nelson yelled and Gene looked back then paled, tugging the rescued man along.

"Quick! We need to hide!" Gene yelled as he looked around.

"Over there!" Nelson pointed out the mostly destroyed building with the first story mostly untouched.

They darted over with their rescue, diving into the building just in time for the dragon to drop the slab of concrete, blocking the way in. They heard it land then as they retreated as far into the building as they could.

"It's most likely going to blast the building. With all the rubble on top of the already unstable roof, the building will complement collapse!" Gene warned and the man looked at him terrified.

"I got rescued to be buried again?!" He yelled, panicking.

"No way. We're Ninja. We always find a way out of sticky situations like this." Nelson reassured then glanced around the room, beaming once he spotted a way out. "There. An emergency exit sign." He pointed out and they ran to where it pointed, towards the back of the building.

"See? We're alright." Nelson says as he pushed open the door, all three of them coming out.

"U-uh… Nel… son…" Gene managed to get out and the purple ninja looked at his fellow ninja, seeing bun looking up.

Nelson looked up too then paled to see the dragon there, waiting for them, mouth holding a beam of dark energy, ready to hit them.

"Oh pop rock." He whispered and the dragon snarled.

Before it could hit them however, a sudden blast of fire had it shrieking as it withered into dark shadow then nothing. Nelson's heart picked up. That fire! Could it be?... A figure walked to the edge of the building then jumped down.

"You kids alright?" Nelson felt disappointment fill him upon realizing it was just Skylor, master of amber.

"Yeah. We are." Nelson nodded.

"The Alliance has this from here. You take this civilian and get to the east exit to the sea of sand with the rest of your friends. We have an evacuation craft waiting." She told them, scouting the area, remaining unphased by the near constant rumbling of the ground from the continuous attack against the city.

"But-"

"No buts." Skylor told Nelson sharply, all but glaring over her shoulder at him. "This is too dangerous for your level right now. Remember, none of you are chosen ones and we're not asking you to be. Wu might have put great expectations on you but there's such a thing as over achieving. Just look at the original ninja." She told them and her words did sting.

"I can't afford to waste more time here with you. There are still people to be rescued in there. Take the civilian and go. Now ." She told them sharply before floating off into the air further into the ruins of the city, pulling out a sword.

"We can't just leave! She can't rescue everyone by herself!" Nelson yelled, face red in anger.

"How about we get this guy to the evacuation point then we make a plan to help. It won't do us any good to rush into the city without one" Gene says, placing a hand on his shoulder and Nelson gave an angry sigh through his nose but nodded.

"Yeah, alright. Let's go." He agreed much to the man's relief.

_____

The Overlord turned around as Wu focused his energies, figuring out that he was being distracted for a reason. He chuckled low once he spotted Wu, spotted the golden armor he adorned.

"Son of the First Spinjitzu Master. I must say, I'm surprised you are still around while your students have all vanished. You should have vanished with them." He hissed, using his tail to flick away the pesky aircraft trying to regain his attention as he watched the old man become enveloped in the armor's golden energies.

"You should have never returned! And I will make sure you never will again!" Wu yelled, his eyes glowing gold as he urged his now fully gild dragon faster.

"By all means… Give it your best shot." The dark dragon purred, spreading his tattered wings.

That simple statement sent alarm bells off in Wu's head but he can't afford to lose his resolve. He yelled as he held his brightly glowing fist back as he got closer to the Overlord's face then threw his punch and all the energy he's mustered up from both himself and the armor, hitting the Overlord dead on. Just like the first time, there was a huge explosion of gold power, the force of it enveloping both Wu and the Overlord. Pixal hunkered down to ride it out, Chamile and Karlof doing the same in their own mechs.

At the evacuation point at the outskirts of the city, Antonia, Brad, Sally and Jake stood in awe, watching the massive explosion of brilliant energy. Jake looked around once he heard footsteps then gasped once he saw Gene and Nelson running over.

"Gene! Nelson!" He yelled, running to meet them halfway then throwing his arms around them both. "I'm so glad you guys are ok!" He says in relief and both boys smiled wearily, hugging him back.

"Guys! Sensei Wu did it!" Brad yelled as he ran over.

They looked towards the huge ball of energy and their smiles simultaneously fell, noticing it's expansion slowing down drastically- all of them paling when it began to reverse, the energy being sucked in. Inside the massive ball, Wu struggles against the sudden force sucking all of the energy he exerted in- and more. He yells when the energy left him all at once, the brightness of it swirling into the Overlord's open maw. Darkness immediately returned to the land as the Overlord chuckled, watching as Wu fell, holding a paw out to catch him but not to help. Never to help.

"I've absorbed the golden energy once, what made you think I couldn't do it again!" The Overlord laughed at Wu as the Sensei struggled to even move, feeling the exhaustion in his very core. "I've evolved past the level of golden power! Nothing you or anyone can do will stop me!" He roared then threw the old man up.

Wu weakly flailed, finding himself without tether and without the energy to summon his dragon. That turned out to not matter. He was hit hard by the spiked tail of the Overlord, the sharpness of them ripping into his side and back as he was sent plummeting to the ground. His students watched helplessly from the desert as their master came barreling through one, two, three buildings, breaking off the edge of a roof then landing with an explosion of sand further out.

"Sensei!" They yelled as they ran over, hearts pounding with fear for their teacher.

Jack got their first then gasped at the sight of him, beaten and bleeding out, his breaths coming out in harsh gasps.

"Nonono! No! Sensei!" He yelled, tears pouring down his cheeks as he tried to put pressure against his wound with his bare hands.

"That won't do. All of you, give me your hoods." Sally told them, coming to kneel next to him.

They did so quickly and she compacted 4 of them, using the other two to tie it against his side tightly, keeping her nerve as he grunted and groaned in pain.

"Hell be ok, right? Right?" Jake asked Sally as he shook but Sally kept her mouth pressed thin, not wanting to give him false hope.

"Come here." Antonia says, pulling him up and hugging him close, keeping his face away from their teacher in that state. "Wu's a tough guy. Don't worry." She whispered, glancing at him as Jake gripped her gi.

"Sensei…" Nelson whispered on his knees, holding his hand, teeth gritted tightly.

Nelson blinked, looking at their Sensei's pale lips once they moved again, trying to say something it seems. Nelson swallows down his grief then leaned over, putting his ear to his Sensei's mouth. The team watched quietly as he did, wondering what he was trying to say. Nelson's eyes widened and he sat up. He then reached into their Sensei's robe and pulled out a picture. Just then, Ash and Shade who were supervising the large escape aircraft came running over.

"Damn. He got himself banged up pretty good huh." Ash huffed as he held a cloth gurney in hand. "As it stands, he's the best chance we have of taking down the Overlord so we have to get him fixed up. Luckily, we have a whole hospital staff on that ship. They'll fix him up." He says, walking into the impact crater and they stepped back, allowing both he and Shade to load him on carefully.

"Not bad for a couple of kids but it's bet you 'ninja' leave things to the Alliance." Shade says, clearly looking down on them. "Now get on the aircraft you'll be left behind." He told them, gesturing to the flight with engines ready for take off.

"No." Nelson said as he stood.

"If you're planning on going back into the city-"

"We aren't." Nelson says, cutting Ash off. "We have our own mission to do and it's not in the city so you don't have to worry. You do your thing and we'll do ours." He told them, keeping his chin up stubbornly.

"... Whatever you want kid." Ash huffed then he and Shade took off with Wu.

"What mission? Where are we going?" Brad asked Nelson once they were gone.

Nelson gripped the picture in hand tightly then looked to the others.

"They keep saying we aren't the chosen ones… But now, we are." Nelson whispered then held the picture out so they could all see. "This is Sensei Wu's request, our mission. The golden power couldn't stop the Overlord. So now, it's up to us to find the only ones who can. From this moment on, we start the most important and crucial mission we've ever had." He told them and they all looked wide eyed at the picture of their Sensei and the original ninja after they had gotten their new powers.

"Starting now; we have to find the Six Gods of Ninjago at all costs."

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enyas-sojourn · 4 years

Text

A Capture on Genesian Road

(07/05/20 10:51) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ says to ALL: Enters ... (07/05/20 10:52 am) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ALL: I am forever amazed, and rendered speechless which in and of itself is a bargain for anybody who really knows me. But, alas!!! There aren't very many who can honestly say that. Not that I'm a difficult slave. Nor am I the type of slave that balks because I do not like the kiss of the whip upon the flesh of this back. It stings and though the welts are visible for days, those same welts create when itchy fabric comes into contact with it. I've had my share and I do my best to avoid being whipped. Or cuffed upside the head. Then again, the majority of the whippings were purely educational purposes only. When a slave does something wrong, punishment soon follows and the type of punishment is at the sole discretion of a slave's owner. Personal or City owned or even if the slave is being put through her paces at a Slaver's House. Indeed... sometimes lessons need to be learned the hard way. These lessons aren't always as difficult as they are challenging. I've always enjoyed challenges and look at them as pieces of a puzzle that just has to be solved. (07/05/20 11:04 am) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ALL: These proclamations are, of course, based on my own experiences. There are a few scars that stripe my back and are quite visible when you know what you're looking for. Whip me once, shame on me, but whip me twice for the same thing then it's ALL on me. It usually is regardless, but the point is, is that slavery isn't for everybody. That pitiful creature that kept whining about what to do now? I don't see her as slave material. But, what do I know? I don't have an eye for slave flesh. Except my own and I will do whatever I can to ensure that my flesh remains intact unless told otherwise. I've always been owned by an Inn or a Tavern. Once I was even part of a Camp. That didn't last very long and within 4 hand I had been sold. Back to the beginning some would have told me. But it's not going back to the beginning at all. My future owner just hasn't discovered me. Yet. (07/05/20 11:12 am) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to Absolute ObedienceEnya: grunts (07/05/20 11:20 am) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to Absolute Obedience Enya: The medium sized tarnship had made landfall to a small port middway between Brundisium and Bazi. I had some bussines inland and thusly had brought my high tharlarion with me as it was mutch faster then walking. While the crew would resply fresh water and suplies i had made the short tripp inland to meet an old friend of mine that had agreeded to serve as a "mail office" between myself and my oldest son that was the commander of a unite of mercenarys. After some proper man hugs- and some paga letters were exhanged and i was on my way back for my ship. Taking a shorter route over some knolls rather then following the small dirt road out to the main coastal road i would halt on my vantage point as a spotted a small caravan. I was some 400 yards away so might not be noticed from the road unless someone were on alert and scanned the knols and surrounding terrain. I had not been on the hunt but i was a man of Gor and more so a Torvaldslander. hmmm......i would squint...then grunt and pull out my builders glass to get a good look of the small caravan moving on the road down below. And should anyone down there have a buildersglas and spy back on me they would see a man and beast that looked something like this I was mounted atop of my high tharlarion Scar, the reins held with calm to the left hand*1*. My frame was that off 6´4. 230lbs. I was dressed in a leather tunic with a raven sewn into the chest peace over the heart. A leather cloak with the hood up tho with the helmet under it the hood held a somewhat triangular shape. Dark brown leathers and my feet and legs covered by high tharlarion rider boots. A northern helmet, with chainmail covering the neck and with the nose guard in the down position covered my head*2*.A 7 foot spear to my right hand held aprox mid haft with the tip skyward.*3* And a 3 foot round wooden center gripped Torvaldslands shield reenforced with steel band and a center steel boss held was held to my back with a thick leather strapp, it was painted with my personal crest of a crossed gladius with a northern battle axe in a circle in a background that was devided with a deep red to the left side and a deep blue to the right side.*4* Over my left shoulder the handel of a 3 foot long sword could be seen. The cloak having been pulled aside to uncover that of my left shoulder to enabel a draw of the blade that was .36 inches total length. 30 inch blade. 4 inch cross guard, 6 inch handel with a hammer shapped pommel.*5* To my right hip i held a quiver of 10 bolts for the cavalry crossbow.*6*. To the right side of the saddel there could be seen a cavalry crossbow It was positioned in sutch a manner it could easily be drawn by the right hand and with my right boot to the stearup used to drawback and make the weapon ready to fire another bolt.*7* The spear was resting across my lap while i held the buildersglas with my left hand to get a good look at the road and my current object of interest. (07/05/20 11:34 am) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ~ Warrior Of The North : The caravan was making slow progress. I was, in my own way, anxious to reach our destination and see what the future might hold for a girl like me. I didn't dwell on such things as that. I was curious more than anything and I knew that whatever happened was meant to be. I never counted on anything being the same or remaining the same because nothing remained the same. Changes took place all the time. Most didn't see it or didn't want to see it. But me? I wasn't better than any slave. I was merely being me and who I was and not just who I was but what I was, too. I sighed and peeked out the back of the wagon. I almost wanted to get out and walk along side the thing ... but just at that moment, I heard cries for the caravan to stop. I honestly think that this was another deterrent in reaching our destination sooner rather than later... However, because the wagon was beginning to slow and because it was time for the noon meal to be prepared and served ... I, as well as three other girls and two thralls, were unshackled and told that we were to begin the meal preparations ... I just grinned. Didn't have to beg to be let out of the wagon and I'd be able to stretch my legs and tease some of the guards in the process ... (07/05/20 11:43 am) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to Absolute Obedience Enya: As the two wagons stopped i at first thought it was becouse of me. But as the slaves were let out of the 2nd wagon and started to sett up a simpel camp site off the road to the east i would take my time to counte you all cuz yes i did know how to counte sens mother had been a scribe from Ar- murmering to myself- 1..2..3...4 kajiras... moste of them seemed rather plain but then there was you.....There was a Slaver and a young man-perhaps his son or apprentice... And two other men the drivers of the two wagon. and the two thralls....hmmm......I considered my options...i wasnt really looking to kill anyone this day but you were pretty so what to do...what to do......But then as i saw you breaking away a bitt from the rest of them and go behind some bushes probably to gather fire wood or perhaps for a nature call- eather way you were alone- away from the group and so with a sly sleen grin i would sett away the builders glass to the saddel bag and bring my spear down along the tharlarions right flank pointing forward. I gave a low sharp whistel and the Tharlarion would start to walke slowly sideways down the knoll towards the area were you were at. My hope was that you all were not paying to close attention to notice the dust nor myself as i made my way down the side..... (07/05/20 11:49 am) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ~ Warrior Of The North : FREE!!!! I almost laughed at the thought, but then I sobered because I was free. Freeer than most women ever imagined to be. I had been tasked to gather wood and other debris to start a fire. I was given a sack in case there were bosk chips missed or left or recently dropped. I wrinkled my nose and rolled my eyes, recalling the time I had accidentally stepped into some of these ... chips ... then I began to giggle. And the giggles turned to laughter and soon I was in a fit. Here I was, in the middle of nowhere ... really, I was somewhere between Bazi and Brundisium collecting items for a fire and recalling a time when I stepped into a mess .. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going nor to how far I had traveled from the "safety" of the wagons... Another quick glance over my shoulder said I was still within seeing distance of the small caravan ... I shrugged a shoulder. Turned my back on the caravan and continued to gather items needed... (07/05/20 11:55 am) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to Absolute Obedience Enya: Then as the Tharlarion slipped as it wasnt really built like a mounten verr but a sprinter on flat lands a small landslide of rocks and pebbels whent down the side with a clowd of dust some 200 yards behind of her. I grunted gave a sharp tug of the reins with my left hand to straighten up the beast and then wacked his right flank with the butt end of the spear and he came down the side like shoot out of a canon with a leap and a THUD he landed on even ground and sett off towards you like its ass was on fire with big long bounding stepps -this when in a larger group of the high tharlarions in full run would at times have a similar sound to thunder. The distance between us was shortened very fast as i moved the reins over to my right hand to have my left hand free while i hunched forward over the neck of my tharlarion. If she was dazed and got in a bitt of panic might not even see the man atop of the beast and simply the rather lage meat eating lizard comming at her in a full sprint..... (07/05/20 12:12 pm) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ~ Warrior Of The North : Gor, at times, is very harsh. Some might even want to call Gor cruel. Hrump! No one ever menions the beauty found here. Or the wonders of Gor. I gave a mental shrug, knowing that most are usually swept up in what's taking place with them or around them. As a slave, I didn't have to worry about that. Did I? Of course not!! THUD!!! I was leaning to scoop some dried bosk chips into the sack I had been given when I heard the noise. And rather than bring my body upright to look, I turned my head in that direction expecting to see ... what I didn't know. But all I could see was a cloud of dust. And then I heard a rumbling sound. Deep and vibrating. I looked down at the ground, thinking it was going to leap up and meet my face half-way but it didn't. It was a pale Thassa gaze that saw an enormous dark shadow that seemed to be rising out of that pile of dust and moving. Fast. It was moving very fast. I felt my jaw drop. But could I move? No, because my mind was still trying to decipher if that huge, dark shadow that was still shrouded in that dust, was real or not. The dust was clearing. And the shadow loomed. The shadow was moving. And it was moving toward me. I was unable to move. My body wasn't listening to any command I was giving it either! The dust was clearing. The dust was clearing!!!! THE DUST WAS CLEARING!!! Racing toward me was a behemoth of a beast. And astride this beast, high perched in the saddle of the Tharlarion was a man that appeared to be larger than the Tharlarion!!! I moved then. Yes I did. I moved in the direction in which my feet were facing and I didn't stop. I opened my mouth and let out a screech, that, I'm sure, could be heard all the way back in Bazi!!! But could I look away to see where I was going? No. I could not. I wasn't making as fast as progress as that beast was!!! (07/05/20 12:23 pm) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to Absolute Obedience Enya: I grinned moste pleased as she got up and ran in a straight line away from us, that be me and the high tharlarion. Her scream did catch the attention of the Slaver and the other peopel scattered around the make shift camp. First they saw her run across the road towards the sea. And then with a might leap the muscular beast leap atop of the road and they would hardly catch a glimps of my dark brown cloths in a road runner similar fassion befor she whent down the left side of the road and the tharlarion after and we were out of sight from the camp. With a small sharp whistel ones the tharlarion was snapping at her heels i would have it adjust with a diagonal stepp forward and to its right as i leaned down and to my left with my thick powerfull tree trunk arm bent and then she feelt something akin to the oar of a serpentship hit her across her shoulder blades and a paw would then secure itself to her center torso as she was HEAVED UP -off the ground as i then leaned to my right and pulled her Up and over and the wind knocked out of her as you were sett belly down across the thick next of the High Tharlarion as i layed the weight and force of my left arm across her back while a vice like paw closed in a iron gripp to her neck so she would not slipp and dropp on her head-the fall would moste likely at this speed have killed her one way or the other as two short sharp whistels would have the Lizard named Scar due to the long nasty scar running down tween its eyes from the right tempel and down to head for the coste line and the port where my ship was . The port was not far off. (07/05/20 12:56 pm) Absolute Obedience Enya -=Genesian Road=- Is traveling along the Genesian Road connecting Brundisium and other coastal cities with the south says to ~ Warrior Of The North : I can honestly say I had never been hunted. But, from my experience, there is always a first time for everything. And this, of course, was no exception. I screeched again, thinking that it wasn't doing any good, plus I believed that I was too far from where the caravan stopped to be heard above the thundering that was right on my heels. I dared not look over my shoulder. I dared not stop, either. I was already gasping for breath and the sack I had been given to collect bosk chips was still held tightly and firmly between my fingers. I grinned because I lifted my arm as high as I could, thinking that if one of the guards from the caravan could see the sack they would know where I was and come after me. Is there such a thing as luck on Gor? Because if there was, I hadn't seen hide nor hair of it. Which meant that luck didn't exist or was nothing more than a figment of the imagination. I had to know where the thing was!!! Yet, I still didn't dare turn to look fearing that to do so would cause me to misstep and fall. Or stumble. Or get trampled on. I had to know though!! So, I turned my head and all I saw were grey and green colors. I wrinkled my nose again because of the odor that engulfed me. The combination of the dust and the smell of the beasts and, I'm sure, the aroma of my own fear that mingled with those other flavors were soon put out of my mind because I felt my body plunging forward. My eyes widened. My feet left the ground, and then I was gasping for air. Again. And as my mouth opened and closed, similar to a fish out of water, I felt as if I were being squeezed and that I would be making a trip to the City of Dust ... the last thing I do remember, were my eyes closing ... (07/05/20 1:08 pm) ~ Warrior Of The North ~ Bejar Bjorntand Master Tharlarion Rider ~ ~ Hraesvelgr ~ ~ -=Docks=- At the docks, where the Thassa meets the land says to Absolute Obedience Enya: There was a rison the high tharlarion cavalry of Lara was called Shock Cavalry. I had ones upon a time been there commander. Right here and now i simply keept her like that belly down across the thick powerfull neck of the High Tharlarion with my left arm keeping her secure in this position. The beast was keept in a full run right up untill we reatched the small Port only then would i slow down and as the clicking of metal shoed claws tapped on the rounded stones of the ports streets. Only then would i relax some. I would seat myself in my usual manner of straight back. Head held high and the spear held at my right side with the speartip for the sky. Making our way down for the docks my crew was ready some of the men loitering on the docks talking and laughing as they spotted me- THERE HE IS! They would shout and then point- LOOK- He got us a gift! The men would laugh- Whatcha got there Captain??? As i halted and slided you down into the awaiting arms of two Torvie men that even with there size were rather gentel as they captured her by the legs and arms and sett her to her feet and then held her-more so to keep her steady then so she would not run away. I took a moment to look down at her dust covered self.- she had looked pretty enough from afar but now not so mutch- And what WAS That smell?!? she smelled like bosk dung- The men would wrinkel there nose and waft a hand befor there faces- WHATCHA DO WITH HER Captain? roll her in bosk shit??? - Dontcha know he likes em smelly -would the skinny looking fella simply known as nose the knife say sitting on a crate picking at his nails with one of his manny knifes- and the men laughed anew.

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tvdversefanfiction · 4 years

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Canary Carnage

Fandom’s: The Originals, Arrowverse, TVDverse and DC Universe.

Chapter One: Earth Blood

Warnings: I don’t own any of the rights, content or characters belonging to any of the DC content I use within the story along with not owning any rights, content or characters within The Vampire Diaries, Originals or Legacies.

15+ Rating: Moderate/Graphic displays of violence, sexual innuendos, sexually charged scenes, strong language and potentially triggering scenes.

Pairings: M/M, F/F, M/F.

Laurel Lance was a powerful district attorney within Star City, a job she had well and truly earned through dedicating her life to her work but something which wasn’t very well known as Star City’s D.A. was that by night she was someone else entirely Black Canary.

Laurel had been a meta-human her entire life without knowledge of her special DNA until the day she learned her first love Oliver Queen and her sister Sara Lance died the day the Queen family’s boat Gambit crash and sunk within the sea which is when she released her first canary cry.

The joint death and betrayals from her lover and her sister could’ve sent Laurel down a wayward path but instead she chose a path of heroism as she became the Black Canary vowing to make sure her city was safe from any further tragedies knowing her city needed saving from its dark underworld.

Laurel’s younger brother chose a very different path to his sister following the deaths of Oliver Queen and Sara Lance. Laurel’s brother Lucas Lance struggled to cope with his sister Sara’s death especially after their father Quentin Lance passed away and decided to start impacting suffering on others instead of having to feel it himself therefore becoming Red Canary.

After one too many run ins with his older sister Lucas moved to Gotham City knowing he’d have more fun there torturing the bat family and making alliances with the likes of The Joker, Harley Quinn and Bane before being ran out of the city by the bat family not long after a brief stint in Arkham Asylum pushing him towards a reunion with his sister back in Star City where a years long feud would conclude in a very unexpected way forcing both Lucas and his sister Laurel to become allies in a very different world to which they were used to.

“Why couldn’t you just stay away?” The Black Canary asked her brother the Red Canary while the two stood in an alleyway within Star City as Red Canary snapped the neck of a random man before throwing his lifeless body to the ground.

“Gotham was fun and everything I just missed my big sister I mean sure Bats and his family of do goodies are a good challenge and everything, but nothing quite beats your own family you know what I mean.” Red Canary explained to his sister while walking towards her.

“I see you’re just as psychopathic as the last time I saw your crazy ass!” Black Canary snapped at her brother while the two began walking closer and closer towards each other. “I know my brother is still in there somewhere and I know you’re the last of my family, but I can’t let you harm anymore people.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Red Canary replied as the brother and sister stopped walked as the brother and sister now stood in front of each other.

At the exact same time both Black Canary and Red Canary began to shriek releasing their sonic screams at the same time both screams in the direction of the others forcing windows, buildings and the earth itself to begin shaking underneath their feet as their screams grew louder and louder until they ripped open a dark red portal appearing in between the two of them much to their own shock as each found themselves stopping their canary cries to look on in shock.

They had each seen portals before to other worlds within the multiverse which they both knew existed but none quite like this but before they could properly examine the mysterious portal they both found themselves pulled flying into the red portal from different directions before the portal closed itself taking the Black Canary and the Red Canary to somewhere totally different to where either had ever been before.

The Black Canary and the Red Canary found themselves falling from the sky before crashing through a series of branches before eventually crash landing onto the grounds of the bayou within the city limits of New Orleans, as the two slowly raised to their feet they had no idea where they were world or city.

“What the hell just happened?” Black Canary asked her brother.

“I think we must’ve screamed ourselves a portal to somewhere...although I have no idea where.” Red Canary replied while looking around the bayou.

“Typical I tried to get rid of you once and for all and you pull me into another earth.” Black Canary snapped at him.

“Oh, please Dinah it took two cries for this to happen not just one.” Red Canary told her. “I know it’s easier for you to blame everything on me, but you fuck up just as me sis.”

“My name is Laurel.” Black Canary reminded her brother as she punched him across the face. “But it’s Black Canary to you jackass and I’m not your sister…not anymore!”

“Fine then get your own way home or not…Star City would be much more fun without you.” Red Canary replied before super speeding out of sight only to super speed back onto the same spot. “Okay that’s new…what the hell was that?”

“I guess this earth has different rules to the others.” Black Canary said before she super sped out of sight for a moment before returning to the same spot just like her brother just did. “I guess our meta-human abilities are different on this earth.”

“Cool,” Red Canary said with an excited smile on his face. “I wonder what else this earth has to offer.”

The Red Canary looked around the bayou for a moment before releasing his shriek causing his sonic scream in the process as his Black Canary cry grew louder and louder before the entire earth began shaking viciously as the wind grow more chaotic and trees began being pulled from their roots before flying and crashing into other trees the very earth itself rising as this part of bayou was left completely destroyed by his scream unearthing all dirt and destroying everything within distance before Red Canary stopped his scream.

“I guess we’re stronger in every way in this earth.” Black Canary stated while being left in shock by the carnage her brother had just created before the Red Canary super sped out of sight. “Which isn’t good for anyone on this earth with you on the loose.”

Laurel found herself back in normal clothes thanks to a quick stop/break in to a closed down clothes store on the outskirts of New Orleans managing to find something acceptable to wear before stealing a car and driving her way towards New Orleans.

She didn’t know much about this earth, but she knew if she could get to a city she could hold tight there why trying to work out if this earth’s versions of her allies could be trusted and if they couldn’t then she would just have to make New Orleans her base of operations until she worked out how to get home choosing not to think about the carnage her brother would cause in the meantime and Lucas was definitely living up to his reputation.

Just like his sister Lucas had found himself a change of clothes although he chose a much more violent approach in doing so as he attacked a man in a nearby bikers themed dive bar parking lot located within the outskirts of New Orleans knocking the man unconscious and stealing his clothes before walking into the bar for a drink expecting plenty of carnage to follow knowing by the end of first drink he was going to blow the roof of the dive bar.

It didn’t take Lucas long upon walking into this dive bar to notice that most of the people in there already didn’t like the look of him but it’s not like he cared in fact it just gave him more reason to kill them all not like he needed a reason.

“I’ll have a Pina Colada please,” Lucas ordered from the tall body builder-built bartender who laughed at his choice of drink. “Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time around…so I’ll get a little louder.”

Lucas released a canary cry aimed directly at the bartender’s forcing the bartender backwards before his entire head exploded with an explosion of blood which found itself falling on the counter and Lucas himself before the headless bartender’s body fell to the ground gushing out more blood onto the floor.

“Now is someone going to make me a god damn Pina Colada or am I going to have to kill every last one of use?” Lucas shouted to the entire bar who were shocked by his act of inhuman violence, demanding their attention. “Because honestly I do love my Pina Colada’s but killing everyone in here would give me just as much joy.”

Lucas did get his Pina Colada after a few more canary cries killing half of the people in the bar only to thank the survivors by using his enhanced canary cry to turn the bar into nothing but rubble after finishing his drink only to walk out of the rubble beyond happy with himself knowing the carnage he created as he began to love this new world he had found himself in and began feeling invincible even to the likes of a certain bat family.

Several Days Later

Rebekah Mikaelson had agreed to accompany Marcel Gerard back to New Orleans as she tried her best to convince him to give up his ties to the city forever so the two could start a new life together knowing her family couldn’t intervene due to the fact neither Rebekah, Klaus, Elijah or Kol could be anywhere near each other without the hollow which was within the four original vampires trying to escape and find it’s way back to possessing Rebekah’s niece Hope which neither she, her brothers Kol or Elijah, her mother Hayley Marshall and especially her father Klaus would dread.

So with her brothers especially Klaus no longer having control over her life or threatening to murder yet another lover Rebekah was determined it was time for her to finally have the life she had always dreamed of one filled with love, laughter and the possibility of children however she knew if she was to have it with the upgraded original Marcel then he had to give up on New Orleans a city she was once it’s queen.

This particular visit to New Orleans didn’t end well for her as the girl who fell in love too easily once again found herself drowning her sorrows within Rousseau's following heartbreak as she called time on her relationship with Marcel following his refusal to give up on New Orleans and her refusal to give up on getting him to give up on the city.

“Well if it isn’t Rebekah Mikaelson what has it been 5, 6 years since you came anywhere near New Orleans?” Hayley said after vamp speeding herself into the bar to stand next to the original woman vampire.

“Well if it isn’t my brother’s baby mama Hayley Marshall.” Rebekah replied as she stood up and hugged her friend. “What can I say New Orleans just doesn’t have the same appeal as it used to.”

“Yeah I must admit it’s a lot quieter in this city since you and your siblings left…how is Elijah?” Hayley asked her.

“Last time I heard he was a pianist in a delightful bar somewhere in France I may have visited him once or twice from a distant of course over the years. He seems happy the lucky sod doesn’t remember any of us.” Rebekah revealed to the mother of her niece.

“I hope he gets to live a peaceful life at least one of us should.” Hayley told Rebekah. “I guess by the fact you’re here means Marcel’s back in town too?”

“Yeah and he’s going to be staying here.” Rebekah admitted as she sat back down at the bar and ushered the bartender to fill up her glass. “I however intend to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Oh, I see I guess he made the wrong choice then if it helps any, I’d choose you over a city any day.” Hayley said, trying to reassure her friend as she sat down at the bar next to her. “Anybody not willing to give up everything to be by your side is a fool and we’ve both been with too many fools to suffer any more of them.”

“You are as always correct,” Rebekah laughed as she downed her drink in one go. “Tell me where I can find my sister Freya is, she still staying at the compound with you?”

“Yes and she’s still pretty relentless in finding a way of removing the hollow but getting nowhere although she’s getting somewhere in her personal life as Keelin’s moved in too between them and Hope when she’s on holiday from the Salvatore Boarding School the compound still has some life left in it.” Hayley replied while ushering the bartender to get her and Rebekah drinks. “Have you heard from Klaus? Hope really hears from him and even when she does it’s a card or present on special occasions and I’m growing quite sick of him not being a part of her life I mean sure he can’t be in the same place as here but picking up a phone isn’t the hardest thing in the world I mean at this point even Kol keeps in contact with Hope more.”

“Niklaus is a stubborn old fool at the best of times I don’t think he’s taken this whole separation thing too well I’ve not heard from him or seen him since the day we took in the hollow he’s cut off ties from us all.” Rebekah told Hayley. “Kol’s the only brother I actually hear from and all he ever wants to talk about is his broken heart over Davina…I guess she really is Marcel’s daughter after all.”

After a few drinks in Rousseau’s with Hayley, Rebekah decided to take it to the streets to get her next drink although this one was admittedly bloodier as she found herself in a nearby alleyway fangs deep into a compelled woman until suddenly she heard a piercing scream which was met by a gust of wind sending the original female vampire flying across the air before hitting the ground breaking her compulsion on her victim at the same time who began running away as Black Canary dropped from the sky landing on both feet.

“Since when did witches start wearing masks?” Rebekah asked her as she rose back to her feet. “Oh well that doesn’t really matter since I’m about to kill you.”

Rebekah vamp sped hallway towards the Black Canary before the Black Canary let out her canary cry once more causing the entire alleyway to shake by the vibration of her powerful scream as Rebekah was put to a halt unable to move further as the scream grew louder in her ears until the force of it made her drop to her knees as blood began pouring from her eyes and ears before the Black Canary stop her canary cry and began to walk towards the original female vampire.

“Vampires are different here although it makes sense considering I’m different here too.” The Black Canary told Rebekah as she continued walking towards the original female vampire who was severely weakened by her canary cry. “Doesn’t seem to be any heroes around here however, maybe that’s why I’m here.”

“Who the bloody hell are you?” Rebekah asked the masked vigilante in between her groans of pain.

“I’m the Black Canary and I’m here to save this city heck I’m here to save this world.” Black Canary declared before releasing another canary cry this time directly aimed at the original female vampire’s head, her cry growing louder and louder until Rebekah’s head exploded in a burst of blood and guts which is when the canary cry ended. “Guess decapitation still works for vampirism in this bloody earth…hmm Earth Blood welcome to Earth Blood Laurel Lance.”

The Black Canary wasn’t the only Canary who had worked out this world played by different rules bloodier rules than any earth he had been to before but unlike the Black Canary the Red Canary loved the violence in this world with no heroes to get in his way or at least that’s what he thought until his latest act of terrorism on a little magic shop had him coming face to face with the self-proclaimed king of New Orleans himself Marcel Gerard.

“You’re going to want to let that witch go before you piss me right off!” Marcel warned the Red Canary after vamp speeding his way into the magic shop within the French Quarter of New Orleans to find the Red Canary choking the store owner.

“And just when I was starting to have my fun.” The Red Canary replied before snapping the store owner’s neck, throwing her body to the ground and turning to face the upgraded original. “Please don’t tell me you’re this city’s hero where’s your mask?”

“I think the better question is why are you dressed up like some bad BDSM Halloween combo?” Marcel asked the Red Canary while looking his red leather jacket, trousers and mask up and down before laughing at his look.

“Okay now you’ve pissed me off.” The Red Canary stated before super speeding over to Marcel and punching him across the face.

Marcel vamp sped a punch in the canary’s direction only for the Red Canary to block his punch before kneeing Marcel in the stomach and headbutting the vampire once more before kicking him to the ground.

“This city’s answer to a hero is a vampire,” The Red Canary scoffed. “I guess I’ll call this earth: Earth Blood.”

Marcel vamp sped his leg to trip the Canary up before throwing himself on top of The Red Canary and pinning him to the ground.

“What the hell are you?” Marcel shouted at him, while keeping the canary trapped under him.

The Red Canary released his canary cry straight upwards towards Marcel who due to him being so close to the canary felt the full pain of the canary’s cry as it grew louder and louder until Marcel’s head exploded within a burst of blood that completely covered the Red Canary’s face and body.

“Ugh, yup Earth Blood really does fit this place.” The Red Canary mumbled to himself as he threw Marcel’s headless body of him, throwing it across the shop floor and getting back to his feet. “I guess this means this city’s mine now.”

“Yeah I wouldn’t get too ahead of yourself there his head grows back and when it does, he’s going to be super pissed.” Hayley revealed to him after vamp speeding into the store. “No matter how cool it was your days are now limited after pissing off my friend the only reason I’m even here to warn you is because I really want to know what the hell is with your red leather style?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?” The Red Canary snapped at her. “Does nobody hide their identity in this world? Seems highly idiotic to me but hey that’s not my business.”

“What do you mean by this world?” Hayley asked him.

“What do you mean by his head grows back I thought he was a vampire? Only person I know whose head grows back is clay face and this really annoying elongated guy.” The Red Canary replied with another question.

“Okay you’re just giving me more questions, why don’t you try answering some before his head grows back and your too dead to talk to me.” Hayley snapped at the Red Canary.

“Hmm so this guy is really hard to stay dead you say?” The Red Canary said with a twisted sense of intrigue while walking towards the headless body of Marcel Gerard. “Means I get to keep killing him over and over again.”

“What have you got against him anyway? I know he has a thing for pissing people but the same could be said about anyone from around here.” Hayley asked, determined to get some answer from the mysterious masked vigilante.

“He just got in my way is all kind of like you are now.” The Red Canary replied before turning to walk towards Hayley only to be stopped by The Black Canary who super sped her way into the store and in between her brother and the original baby mama.

“We need to talk now!” The Black Canary snapped at her little brother before grabbing him and super speeding out of sight with him.

“Oh, great there’s two of them,” Hayley sighed as she pulled out her phone and dialed Rebekah’s number only for it to go to the answer machine leaving her no choice but to call Klaus whose phone also went to the answer machine but this time she decided to leave a message. “Klaus I know you listen to these so listen up there’s two god knows what arrived in New Orleans and one of them alone took down Marcel without any trouble I don’t know who they are or what they want but my guess is probably you so you should get to New Orleans and fix this mess before Hope comes home for the holidays.”

“So, I’ve got myself a bloody sore headache thanks to some bitch witch in a mask, but I think she did something else and I need you to check for me.” Rebekah told Freya after vamp speeding into her room in the compound to find her sister sitting on the edge of her bed reading a book.

“Hello sister nice to see you again too.” Freya greeted her younger sister as she placed the book on her bed and stood up to face the original female vampire.

“Sorry sister I’m beyond happy to get to see you again.” Rebekah said as she walked over and briefly hugged Freya. “Now can we get to this masked witch who blew my head up.”

“There’s two of them.” Hayley revealed after vamp speeding into the room. “One man and one woman but I don’t think their witches or at least not just witches.”

“I guess you encountered them too but here’s the thing despite the rudeness of having my head explode on me and having to grow it back giving me one hell of a headache they could come in useful.” Rebekah replied to Hayley.

“I’m glad we’re not jumping straight to bloodshed well more confused than glad how can these maybe witches come in useful?” Freya asked her sister.

“Well that’s where I need you to check for me the thing is after the literal scream from hell which blew my head right off the bloody witch may have done something right.” Rebekah revealed to them both. “I think that scream destroyed the part of the hollow inside of me which means if it did…”

“Then we have just got to make one of them do the same three more times and we finally get rid of the hollow pending of course if we can convince Marcel not to kill one or both of them beforehand.” Haley answered.

“Pending of course if the part of the hollow inside you has been destroyed which seems unlikely considering we’ve literally tried everything.” Freya stated, making clear her disbelief of a sudden cure to her family’s dire situation.

“That’s exactly why you’re going to get your witch on and tell me if I’m finally free from this bloody witch or not because if I am I’m heading to Mystic Falls to see a certain niece of mine face to face for the first time in half a decade.” Rebekah demanded.

“Look my darling sister I get this world is new and anything but I’m still playing by the same rules.” The Red Canary told his sister as the two of them stood within an abandoned building near the docks of New Orleans.

“If you put your stupid pride to one side for a minute then you would realize this earth is unlike any other there’s no doppelgangers no Star City no Gotham City nothing that is on any other earth it’s like we along with everybody we ever knew doesn’t exist here.” The Black Canary informed her brother.

“This world just keeps getting better,” The Red Canary said with a sinister smirk. “No Batman or bat family no Joker or Harley nobody gunning for me except a restorative vampire and you.”

“Okay you realize that’s not a good thing, right? We have no ideas of the dangers of this world…what do you mean by restorative vampire?” The Black Canary questioned him.

“Apparently the vampire I took down today can grow back his own head which I was about to see for myself until you took me to this hell hole which is so like you always going out of your way to spoil my fun!” The Red Canary moaned at his sister.

“Listen you idiot if we don’t tackle this cautiously then we could wind up dead very quickly now what the hell do you mean by restorative vampire?” She snapped at her brother, sick of him not taking their situation seriously.

“Wow you’re really scared, aren’t you?” The Red Canary scoffed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you scared before. That vampire I left headless back at the store according to the she-vamp who was also there his head’s going to grow back.”

“How many special vampires are there in this city because I may have blown a head or two off myself?” The Black Canary wondered.

“Who knows probably a few…you’re really worried about not getting out of here aren’t you?” The Red Canary questioned his sister.

“I guess she’s the brains of this little two masked vigilante operation.” Marcel said to the Red Canary after vamp speeding into the abandoned warehouse. “Unlike you.”

“I don’t know if we’re calling anyone stupid it should be the one who came to find two canaries alone when one canary already took them down by themselves.” The Red Canary tormented the upgraded original.

“Speak for yourself I’m not helping you for all I know this guy could be innocent and has every right of killing you!” Black Canary snapped at her brother.

“Two canaries got us here maybe only two canaries can get us home.” Red Canary replied to his sister, twisting her arm to convince her to help him

“What the hell is a canary other than the bird of course?” Marcel asked them both as The Black Canary looked at her brother, clearly frustrated to be forced into taking her brother’s side before the Black Canary and the Red Canary released their canary cries at the same time forcing the whole building to shake viciously before the ground beneath them and the roof above them began to collapse into itself.

Marcel tried to vamp speed towards them both but it was taking at his strength just to stand still where he was without being thrown across the warehouse as his ears and eyes began to bleed as he began coughing up blood and fell to his knees as the canary cries grew louder and louder.

“Stop!” Rebekah screamed as she sped into the crumbling warehouse vamp style, stopping the two canaries crying at the same time. “We want to offer you both a deal pending of course you stop trying to kill us both.”

“Yeah not interested.” The Red Canary stated before super speeding out of the still crumbling warehouse, as Rebekah helped an injured Marcel to his feet.

“What kind of deal?” The Black Canary asked the original female vampire, eager to find any ally she could trust more than her brother.

Klaus Mikaelson hadn’t been back to the city he called home since he was forced to say goodbye to the hollow following the spell Vincent Griffiths cast to expel the hollow from his daughter Hope and store parts of it in him, his sister Rebekah and his brothers Elijah and Kol and a part of him wondered if he’d ever return to New Orleans over the years but all that changed when he listened to his baby mother Hayley Marshall’s voice message and the several later left by Rebekah who promised a way to get rid of the hollow forever.

For over half a decade Klaus had lost hope in ever seeing his sisters, brothers or daughter even again but now he had finally been given a chance at reuniting his beloved family and he was heading home to do just that not allowing anything to get in his way and god help anyone who wasn’t cooperative with the original hybrid’s plan.

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theminafournier · 4 years

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THE LAST STRAW // SELF PARA

Who: Mina Fournier, Jordan Clark, Louis Fournier, Ana Fournier, Dr Grove What: The day Mina lost the baby Where: Toronto, Canada / Hospital / Parent’s home. When: Friday 11th May, 2018 Mentions: Caleb Whitmore (sorry bout it!) Trigger Warnings: Domestic Abuse, Violence, Miscarriage, Mentions of Cheating, Trauma Word Count: 1,979

Today was supposed to be a happy day. Mina was officially 12 weeks pregnant which meant the chance of a miscarriage significantly dropped and it was now the right time to tell people. She knew how Jordan felt about the pregnancy about his parent’s traditional views on it but she couldn’t keep this news in any longer. She shouldn’t have to. While he was out, she’d spent time trying to make the perfect photo. The baby scan, a chalkboard with the due date (23rd October) and a small teddy bear comforter that was ready for when they were born. She’d had a feeling from day one that it was going to be a boy. She even picked out a name. Aaron. Aaron Finlay Clark. She was so excited... enter Jordan.

It had been a long day at work for him. He was a builder and he’d been outside on a fairly cold spring day in May which usually put him in a bad mood anyway. This didn’t bode well for Mina but she tried once more to convince him. “Hey! Look at this!” She began, coming up behind him and planting a kiss on his cheek while she moved her phone in front of him. The picture was prominent.

“It’s too early.” Jordan grumbled while he stepped out of her grip and took off his jacket. He threw it on to the back of a chair and turned back to her.

“Nope. Twelve weeks today. Come on, babe, we can’t hide it forever! The bumps starting to show and I can’t wear oversized tops forever. We have been together since we were thirteen, I’m sure your parents are going to understand all this. They love me and they’ll love our baby. Trust me.”

“It’s like you don’t even know my parents. Where’s our dinner?”

“I do know them and I think they’re a lot more forgiving than you give them credit for.” She sighed. “I’ve not made it yet. I was finishing up editing the picture and then I was going to start it.”

“You said it would be done when I got home.”

“Time escaped me...”

“Always does.”

Mina stared at him. The arguments had been getting more frequent lately and honestly, there was a breaking point inside her. “What is your problem?”

“You! You and that damn baby of yours is the problem! I keep telling you and you keep doing nothing about it. I tell you to get rid of it and you keep it. I tell you that nothing good comes from having this kid and you don’t listen to me. You never listen to me and that’s the problem.”

“You can’t just expect me to get rid of our baby! We’ve been together for so long. It’s not like this is some kind of controversial move. I’m not some fling that you knocked up in a one-night stand! I am your girlfriend since we were thirteen.”

“I wish you were the fling. At least the others would listen to me when I told them to get rid of it.”

Mina blinked and scrunched her eyebrows. She didn’t think Jordan even knew what he just said. What he just confessed to. “I’m sorry... are you telling me there are other girls?” He remained silent and opened a beer from the fridge. “No. You don’t get to say that and then silent treatment me.” Her chest felt like it had been punched. She snatched the bottle from his hand and stepped back. “Use words, right now.”

“Fine, yes. I’ve cheated on you. I can’t believe you never saw the signs.” He snatched the beer back out of her hand and took a long drink. “I cheated on you years ago. Megan. Lucy. Renee. Remember them people you called friends? They fucking loved me and would do anything for me. I said jump, they said how high. They would have got rid of a baby like it was nothing.” He stayed close and keep his eyes locked on hers. Tears forming in her eyes. “And you know what? I stopped. I thought ‘you know what? I got something pretty good at home’, I’ll stop. Then this happened and god, I found the first girl at the bar and fucked up in the toilets. All those beers with the boys? Excuses that you didn’t see in that brain of yours.” He poked her head. “But, I don’t think I’m the only one. I think that kid isn’t even mine.”

“Are you serious right now? You just confessed to cheating on me for so long with so many people and then you accuse me of cheating? Who in the hell would I have even slept with?”

“Caleb.”

“You and I both know we haven’t seen him in, God, eight months? Nine months?”

“I haven’t seen him in that long. You? I don’t know.”

“Jordan, you made me sign in to my phone and show you all of them texts. You are so fucking paranoid! You read every text and check every call I ever make to make sure I’m not doing something that you apparently kept doing to me! I have never slept with Caleb! I wouldn’t ever do that to you... but clearly you can.”

“How am I supposed to not be paranoid when he was openly flirting with you? How everyone flirts with you? You’re mine!”

“I was always yours but clearly, so were other girls. What the fuck Jordan! That’s so... That’s so fucked up!” The brunette let out a loud groan and walked away from him, running her fingers through her hair with tears running down her cheeks. “I trusted you. I loved you. But this? I can’t forgive this. I can’t forgive my entire relationship being a lie built on infidelity. I sacrificed so much for you. I could have gone to college and done something more than social media jobs. I didn’t leave because you didn’t want me to leave. I stayed for you and this is how you repay me? Fuck you, Jordan!” Mina stormed in to the bedroom and slammed the door, clear she didn’t want to see him right now. Jordan instead downed his drink and got another. Mina screamed in to pillow to try and release some of the stress boiling beneath her skin. She pulled her travel bag from under the bed and began to pack things. Clothes. Toothbrush. Hair brush. Makeup. Not everything but enough to see her for a few days. She could be here right now. She couldn’t even look at him. She’d texted her dad to come and pick her up. Once she had enough stuff, she walked back in to the living room with Jordan who was now two and a half beers deep.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

“I'm going to my parents – not that you deserve to know where I go.” Her eyes never looked at him just heading towards the door.

“No you’re not.” He grabbed the bag out of her hand and threw it to the couch.

“Jordan!”

“You’re not leaving me. You don’t get to leave me.” His hands grabbed her by her wrists and pushed her up against the wall. She’d never known him to get physical with her like this. Argumentative, sure. This wasn’t normal. “I’m in control here, not you, so you’re going to listen to me. Got it?” His voice was more like a growl. A angry and harsh growl.

“Jordan, you’re hurting me.”

This only tightened the grip on her wrists when she pointed it out. “You drove me to cheating on you! You being such a god damn perfectionist. I can’t ever live up to those damn expectations of romantic movies you watch. You’re the problem here. You want this stupid fantasy of a kid and a marriage and a house with a garden. I can’t give you them but you know what I can do? Give a girl an orgasm. Isn’t that enough?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” She tried to fight back and push back to try and get him off of her but this only prompted him to throw her on to the couch he had previously thrown the bag on to and climbing on top of her to hold her down.

“You’re such a damn perfectionist! You make me feel like I’m not good enough and you know what? You’re the one who isn’t good enough. You’re not good enough for me.” His hands grabbed at her throat to hold her down but in a bid to escape, Mina kicked him right in the balls and managed to push him off of her. She grabbed her bag quick and made it to the door to start making her way down the stairs to escape the apartment building but he had got back up and grabbed her by the shoulder and again, pinned her to the wall at the top of the stairs. Her bag dropped down the stairs.

“Jordan, this isn’t you. Please, just let me go!” She screamed out loud, maybe a neighbor would hear and help her. A cold laugh escaped him. “Fine.” He pull her again but this time, it ended with a push on her back. Head first down the stairs. Mina remembered hitting her front against a stair corner and then her head hitting the very last step but knock her out. Darkness.

Mina’s eyes were focused on the dripping tap in the corner of the room. There was a muffled sound of the doctor talking. She could feel her dad holding her left hand and her mum’s presence next to her. She could sense that her mum was crying but all she did was stare at this tap. Drip. Drip. Drip.

“Do you understand, Miss Fournier?” The doctor asked which drew her attention back to him. He came in to focus but she just stared at him for a long moment.

“The baby’s gone.” She answered in a flat voice. Her voice sounded numb but every fiber of her being beneath her skin was clawing at itself. Her hand still rested on the smallest bump as if something was there but there was nothing but a pit of emptiness inside her where the space of a baby once was. Her fingers clenched in to material of her slightly blooded shirt.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” That was the next thing she heard in between the gaps of medical mumbo-jumbo before he took his leave. Her parents pulled her in to their arms but Mina just stayed staring straight forward. He got what he wanted. That’s all she could think. He wanted the baby gone and now it was. Her mum was just crying. Her dad stayed silent but there was a pain in his eyes that he was trying not to show. He always was the strong type and that’s probably why Mina didn’t react at first.

“You should’ve told the police everything. You should have charged him! He took your baby away.” Her mum was angrier at the situation than Mina was. Mina just felt tired and numb. She didn’t know how to comprehend her grief for something she could never hold in her hand.

Her parents took her back home – their home – and left her in her own bedroom where she lay on her bed. Her arms were wrapped around the bump until she finally fell asleep from the exhaustion of the day. She didn’t remember her nightmare. She didn’t know what it was. Whether it was a recreation of what happened. Whether it was a reminder of the loss. All she remembered was waking up screaming and crying. Her parents were with her in seconds and holding her while she cried. This happened for four consecutive nights. Screaming and crying. Screaming and crying.

#p: The Last Straw #tw:miscarriage #tw:domestic abuse #tw:violence #tw:trauma #tw:mentions of cheating

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

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Spider-Man: Life Story #4 Thoughts

*graons*

Positives out of the way.

Bagley’s art+Bagley’s rendition of Morlun+the armoured looks of some of Tony’s squad.

Okay now onto the negatives.

I think I might’ve figured out what the REAL premise of Life Story is.

‘What if Spider-Man didn’t have the illusion of change and therefore everything was terrible so readers will now just accept the illusion of change forever’.

Seriously that makes the most sense at this point.

The illusion of change isn’t there and so everyone ages and everything falls to shit.

Spider-Man gets divorced, his child dies, his brother dies, etc.

But if that wasn’t the point then Zdarsky continues to make Life Story a total clown show.

He is consistent in only the following regards.

a) Events from Spider-Man history happen randomly differently from how they happened in canon even though that wasn’t how the series was advertised to us

b) Superheroes have a more realistic impact upon the real world except not really, it’s basically as realistic as Zdarsky wants it to be because fuck world building and consistency I guess

c) Real life history is toxically inconsistent within the context of a world of heroes where things are different

d) The story is inconsistent even in and of itself

e) Peter Parker is an irresponsible, dumb asshole

f) Various elements of the story have no intersection with one another. Remember how Flash died in Vietnam and this had...nothing to do with Miles Warren cloning Gwen????

Lets kick off with two things that can be looked at as bad points of the story but arguably forgivable...arguably.

So firstly...Morlun is in this story and then dies!

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm...Wasn’t there not one but TWO massive Spider-Man event crossovers (one as recent as LAST YEAR) which firmly establish that there is in fact just one version of Morlun in the entire Multiverse? This story is royally contradicting that. Now in fairness...that was always bullshit because we have had What Ifs and other alternate universe stories before Spider-Verse clearly depicting more than one Morlun in the multiverse.

Secondly...Civil War....fucking Civil War.

I loathe and despise the original Civil War storyline from 2006. You guys have no idea how much I honestly wish that story never existed.

A big part of that is how it wrecks the verisimilitude of the Marvel universe before and after it. Civil War was unsustainable as a status quo shift long term for the Marvel Universe and it made no sense given it’s established history. It took the realism of superheroes too far and consequently forced writers and readers to wilfully ignore it after it was done so things could go back to normal. If you do a Civil War style story it needs to either be set in an AU or end your universe and that’s it. A change of pace simply cannot work without wrecking everything.

So seeing it again is gross buuuuuuuuut, given Life Story’s mission statement of taking things more realistically and being an AU itself it actually fits better in this story than in 616 Spider-Man. The same can be said of Spider-Man’s identity being unmasked although this too wrecks the idea that this is Spider-Man aging in real time. If it was about that then the ramifications of the unmasking wouldn’t stick around any more than they did in 616, because that had nothing to do with a sliding timeline or whatever.

However the idea of Civil War fitting better in Life Story because it’s more realistic is utterly destroyed when you consider that in this universe where superheroes have a more realistic impact upon the world, where the military has Tony Stark level weaponry, where intangible nuclear missiles are a thing...9/11 still happened...

...I’m going to repeat that.

In a world where there has been near Star Trek level technology since the 1960s...a handful of terrorists with conventional weapons (not even the most high tech weapons and technology available in the real world in 2001!) are able to fool airport security, hijack some planes and destroy the Twin Towers...in New York city...where ALL THE SUPERHEROES LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look...in the Marvel or DC universes 9/11 happened. You can choose to interpret the 9/11 Spider-Man issue as canon or not canon, but it is a fact Spider-Man lives in a world where the 9/11 disaster happened. He didn’t stop it, the Avengers didn’t stop it, the Fantastic Four didn’t stop it.

Even though they definitely could have. Collectively all the superheroes of New York have weapons, technology and resources which would’ve enabled them to have intelligence on the hijackings, possibly before they even happened, probably during the hijackings and definitely as the planes were incoming. And they sure as hell had the ability to avert the disaster.

Are you telling me Al Quaeda could trick or stall or fend off the Avengers! Get the fuck out of here no they couldn’t.

The reason that 9/11 still canonically happened in the Marvel universe is simple. The Marvel universe’s realism doesn’t stretch so far as contorting the real world into something unrecognizable to the world of today. The Marvel universe has always been our world but superheroes are there. Their realistic social, political, economic and philosophical impact though isn’t. It’s why Christianity is still the dominant religion in Marvel’s America even though Thor is a thing. 9/11 being such a globally changing event means that the Marvel universe needed to retain it occurring in order to continue to reflect a relatable world to the readers.

More poignantly, just how during WWII superheroes didn’t simply end the conflict by flying into Germany and killing Hitler, to have had superheroes realistically avert 9/11 as they could have would’ve been deeply insulting and disrespectful to the real life witnesses and victims of the tragedy and their loved ones.

Zdarsky didn’t have that constraint though. He could’ve imposed it on his story had he wanted but just as with so much of the real world history his grossly mishandles (a reminder everything after issue #3 is bullshit because the world should’ve been consumed in nuclear Armageddon) he cherry picks what will and won’t be affected by superheroes existing and whether their effects will be realistically and logical or if they’ll be...whatever he randomly wants.

Case in point superheroes existing means nuclear missiles are intangible now, but superheroes existing doesn’t mean airport security is any different from what it was in 2001!

*head desk*

The ONLY way 9/11 happens in this Marvel universe is if like HYDRA did it instead of Al Quaeda or if the latter had backing from super villains.

But just like with all the altered real world history Zdarsky doesn’t explain anything. He’s lazy as a world builder. Thus we’re left to presume 9/11 happened as it did in the real world even though Tony Stark has already created technology that ended the Cold War by America beating Russia’s ass.

I mean for fuck’s sake, GALACTUS has invaded Earth and New York specifically, you telling me Tony or Reed or Hank Pym or someone hasn’t created at least some sort of alarm system to alert them to incoming threats. WTF was Doctor Strange doing!

Let’s stick to Tony for the moment. So in this issue...he’s the villain. He’s been on the wrong side ever since issue #1 really. This is another case of something bad that is arguably defendable.

See back in Civil War if you were reading Spider-Man you experienced a Tale of Two Tony’s (not my turn of phrase by the way I stole that).

You didn’t need to read Spider-Man to follow the main Civil War book but if you were reading Spider-Man you did need to read the main CW book to follow the story as pivotal events happened in the latter that were then followed up upon in the former. The most famous example would be Spider-Man unmasking which was only built up to in ASM but actually depicted in Civil War #2. However another more relevant example would be how when Spidey decided to switch sides Tony attacked him in ASM and was clearly painted as outright villainous, but then the action continued into the main Civil War book where Tony was written more conflicted and sympathetic, before the action cut back to ASM where he was very much a villain. The characterization wasn’t consistent at all, and the Spider books were not alone in this. Sue Richards’ break up with Reed happened very differently in the pages of Fantastic Four than they did in Civil War.

This is relevant to Life Story because the Tony in this book is very much the Tony of ASM era Civil War, the villain on the side of the law and the fact that Zdarsky planted the seeds for this back in issue #1 is I will admit commendable. Too bad it took until issue #4 for him and Peter to interact but whatever. I also confess that seeing the polar opposite of the Iron Dad relationship gives me life at the moment.

However given how Zdarsky’s convoluted M.O. with this book seems to be to reflect a wider real time aging Marvel Universe and not just Spider-Man’s story this characterization is fundamentally broken. Because Iron Man...was totally out of character in Civil War. Even in the main series where he was written more sympathetic he was out of character and in ASM it was truly ridiculous. So Zdarsky is again being inconsistent and terrible at characterization. He’s even being awful in how the story tries to remix elements from the 2000s era Spider-Man regarding Tony (and other stuff we’ll get to).

If you are going to factor in Peter’s unmasking and Iron Man into this story shouldn’t the once friendly relationship they had or his Avengers membership play a factor? I mean Spidey being an Avenger was such a huge deal in the 2000s that when Marvel made variant covers for his 50th anniversary showcasing something from every decade of Spidey his being an Avenger was used to represent the 2000s.

Getting back to the Civil War elements though, something mind boggling is that Iron Fist is on the pro-registration side when he was very much NOT in the real Civil War event. Making this matter worse is his best friend Luke Cage being on the anti-registration side. Even without giving anyone any lines Zdarsky srews up characterization. Compounding this is Iron Man’s claims that young heroes fell in line with the registration act...what?

Let’s ignore how bowing to the government isn’t typically what teens like to do...you telling me that the opinions of most teenage heroes was to sign up with the government? Bullshit, even in the original story their views were more mixed. There is also the implication that somehow...9/11 was the thing that prompted the SHRA...hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow??????????????????????????????

Finally Tony tells Peter he could be arrested for not registering with the government that he was a hero because...his spider sense is like insider trading.

I need to explain how stupid this is.

To begin with the SHRA wasn’t enforced when Peter was running Parker Industries so he was literally not breaking the law. If a law is passed that wearing a watch is illegal you can’t go to prison because prior to that law’s passage you wore a watch.

Secondly...no....no the Spider Sense is really not like insider trading at all. Let’s presume it could warn him about dangerous business deals...that’s not insider trading at all, that’s literally Peter having better business instincts than everyone else. That’s not cheating or illegal it’s just having a natural advantage over other people.

Thirdly...Captain America is leading a resistance group....again.

This is the dumbest damn idea in the original Civil War story and for some reason even though Zdarsky wants this series to be ‘more realistic’ he replicates that stupidity.

Captain America’s plan in the original Civil War boiled down to going on the run, recruiting other superheroes, attacking the registered heroes and then....somehow this would repeal a law designed to keep heroes in check.

Let’s say that this is a more realistic world and the Registration act is totally reasonable. Putting aside how framing it as a bad thing does not then make any damn sense, Captain America’s method for fixing the problem is utterly nonsensical, especially for a guy who could be president by merely running for office. He’s Captain America for God’s sake he’d win and could repeal the law from within!

The final problem with this plotline in the issue is how it really has NOTHING to do with the other plotline, and how t weirdly hijacks the issue and becomes the main plotline when initially the book presented something else as the main thrust of the story; not the first time Zdarsky has basically superglued two plotlines together even though they have little-nothing to do with one another

That thing of course was Morlun. This opens up a whole other can of stupid we need to talk about.

So first of all Morlun shows up in 2006 not 2001, further fucking up the idea this is Spider-Man aging in real time. Morlun DID appear in a 2006 story of course, the Other, but that was his return not his debut. Why is Morlun debuting 5 years later than he should be? Because Zdarsky wants to include the most famous villain who debuted in the 2000s but actually wants to make the story about Civil War which did happen in 2006 that’s why.

Speaking of Morlun, I might be wrong here but...a fucking tree? That’s how he dies? I’m not even complaining he doesn’t come back in a clone body, I’m talking strictly about how a tree stabs him like he’s Mystique in Dark Phoenix. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m preeeetty sure he could survive that unless Life Story’s Morlun is pathetically weaker than his mainstream counterpart.*

More egregiously is Peter’s handling of Morlun. He explains Ezekiel showed up to warn him about Morlun’s coming.

In the original story these two events happened close together, Morlun appeared shortly after Ezekiel’s warning. Let’s say we let Zdarsky slide on the timeframe and even the fact that Morlun actually was looking for Ezekiel not Peter...why did Peter do nothing about this warning.

In the original story Ezekiel offers Peter a bunker to hide out in. Presumably he did the same in Life Story. But instead of taking advantage of this or warning Ben Reilly or his potentially spider empowered children Peter...ignores him?

WHY?!

Peter didn’t disbelieve Ezekiel, he just rejected his offer of sanctuary because he had responsibilities to live up to. In this story Peter has even bigger responsibilities and a family potentially at risk and he just...did nothing?

And low and behold his elderly wife and daughter have to flee for their lives whilst he dicks around in New York and his brother and son straight up DIE.

That’s 3/3 relatives named Ben who are dead because he was a selfish dickhead!

And before we dive into Peter’s character I just want to take a moment and lament how piss poorly Mary Jane has been treated this whole story.

Issue #1: She is little more than a background character

Issue #2: She is totally out of character, and just drunkenly yells unreasonably at Peter then gets unreasonably yelled at by him

Issue #3: She gets shit on by Peter, inadvertently Aunt May and is left being pregnant and giving birth to twins with a senile old health hazard for company, then gets yelled at for suggesting getting her health, then is tasked with going out alone in a dark and stormy night to potentially kill her super powered husband

Issue #4: She shows up at the end and just welcomes him back as her husband and the father of her kids no questions asked apparently

Issue #5: We continue to never get a word about how she feels about their general lives, of Peter and her reconciliation, of their children. She just waits and worries in front of the TV or runs away from Morlun. How the Hell does her daughter get more agency in this one issue than she has pretty much this whole series?

Anyway back to Peter....yeah this is not Peter Parker.

You know how Peter Parker is all about with great power there comes great responsibility....well Life Story Peter Parker totally isn’t.

He abandons his company, employees and superhero duties to an untrained, underprepared, equally old clone of himself who has to quickly learn how to pretend to be him, how to run a company and fight more experienced super villains whilst fending off a corporate takeover by the secretary of defence for the United States of America. And then he gets murdered by an indestructible (except to wood) mystic vampire that Peter neglected to mention to him.

Ben Reilly DIED directly because Peter was an idiot.

And selfish, don’t forget that. He moved his family out into the woods in a secluded area so that he wouldn’t interact with too many people and thus not feel the need to intervene. Let’s ignore how he was able to resist this urge in Spider-Girl for a moment. You are telling me Peter Parker abandoned his great responsibility by finding basically doing the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears, closing his eyes and yelling “lalalalalala If I can’t see or hear anyone in trouble I can’t be responsible for not helping them lalalala”

FUCK OFF ZDARSKY!

This is toxically against the entire premise of the character at this point and getting older wouldn’t change that. Apparently all it took to snap him out of this funk was Ben Reilly dying and a pep talk from his friggin teenage daughter!

All in all this is another beautifully drawn shit show of an issue in a string of beautifully drawn shit show issues.

*Oh and let’s not forget that Morlun just...knows where the fuck Peter lives. That isn’t one of his powers. He needs to make contact with his target in order to track them down anywhere they go. He can’t just generally sniff them out. It doesn’t even make sense if he was tracking his kids.

Not to mention this story claims you can hurt Morlun when he’s feeding. But that’s not his weakness. Radiation is something he’s vulnerable to. If you can just kill him or the Inheritors by attacking when they are feeding then Spider-Verse and Spider-Geddon wouldn’t have been as dangerous it’s not that difficult to kill them.

#Spider-Man #chip zdarsky #mark bagley #Peter Parker #Ben Reilly #Iron Man #Tony Stark #Morlun #Ezekiel Sims #Civil War #Civil War 2006 #Marvel Civil War #avengers #Captain America

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fcrvcnt · 5 years

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( alex fitzalan, cismale, he/him ) i just saw KIERAN WALSH walking down the street’s of provincetown the other day playing LOST by DERMOT KENNEDY out loud. rumor has it that the TWENTY-TWO year old is +ATTENTIVE, but can also be -DISTRUSTFUL — overall they’re an INTANGIBLE CONCEPT. they remind me of A GENTLE BREEZE RESURRECTING A HOT DAY, STORMY WHITE CAPPED SEAS, SMUGED FINGERPRINTS COVERING WHITE PAPER & RESTLESS NIGHTS .

hey, hi, hello!!! i’m bronny, i’m 22, i’m from new zealand ( possibly one of the worst timezones to be in but we learn to survive!! ) and i’m so excited about this group and being able to write kieran again ( with an fc change bc alex?? newest love of my life, who does he think he is ?? ) ?? i’ve been missing writing him and been looking for a place but just haven’t found the right place.....until now!!! enough rambling about me though, lets get onto what you’re here for......

KIERAN WALSH

for the first 12 years of kieran’s life, you could say that his life was pretty happy and smooth sailing?? the walsh family were nowhere near rich but they were comfortable middle class. his father was a builder and his mother worked part-time as a kindergarten teacher. his childhood was nothing spectacular but it was full of love and happiness and that was the only thing kieran really cared about??

***ALCOHOLIC & ALCOHOL & ABUSE MENTION ***

but when kieran was around 13, his life took a turn no one really saw coming. whether it was the stress his father put on himself or it was old demons rearing their ugly head, kieran’s father turned to the bottle to self-medicate the darkness growing inside him.

it started off with small things. kieran’s father overreacting to tiny inconvenience at home and him coming home late at night. raised voices became the usual in the walsh household after that and kieran & amelia would both end up in his room attempting to shut it all out by going over the little cartoon strips kieran would create for amelia - eventually there was enough to make a whole little series.

slowly the walsh family drifted from middle class to lower-middle class thanks to kieran’s father losing his job and his mother retreating into herself.

kieran was 15 when he really took on the role to support amelia & his mother as best he could. kieran couldn’t care less about what happened to his father.

at 15 kieran grew up far quicker than any 15 really should. he got his first job and began trying to keep things at least just scraping by, because if he didn’t there was a real chance that he, amelia and his mother would be kicked out of their family home.

his mother did manage to help him out as best she could but his father’s actions and behaviour was taking a toll on her.

he was hellbent on not allowing amelia & his mother from suffering the full brunt of the storm their father and husband had created.

kieran thought that this would be his life forever. juggling school, work and trying to keep his whole life and family from completely collapsing but one night, one action taken too far that left kieran with a black eye given to him by his father, was all it took for kieran’s mother to kick kieran’s father out. *********************

kieran was in his last year at high school and 18 when his father left and to say kieran’s upset about not knowing where he went would be a complete lie. seeing the back of him was a blessing because even though their lives had taken a dive and it would take a lot to get back up to where they were, at least he wasn’t in amelia & his mother’s lives anymore.

but before we can go any further, there’s one thing you need to know !!! anything creative had been kieran’s saving grace over the course of his teenage years. drawing, painting, photography, music, creating, it helped settle all the emotions that raced through him, it grounded him when nothing else could and if there was one thing he knows, it’s that his ultimate dream would be to become a concept artist for films both live-action and animation but for all his life that’s just what it feels like it’ll always be—a dream and since college wasn’t exactly something on his radar—mostly because he was damn sure he couldn’t afford it and his grades weren’t good enough to get a scholarship—it felt even more out of reach.

but he wasn’t exactly going to give up on his dream that easily, especially when his younger sister wasn’t going to let him let it go that easily either, so as graduation came and went and everyone started to leave to go to college, kieran walsh stayed in provincetown and started to enrol into online courses for concept art and illustration via the online college of digital art & animation, cg spectrum and as a whole he studied three courses over the course of 3 years.

there are sometimes where he wishes he could have gotten out of provincetown and gone to college—just to experience that #collegelife. but he knows he couldn’t ever bring himself to do that because you see, even though his mother got a new job and started trying to return back to some sense of normal when kieran was 18, kieran can’t bring himself to leave?? the thought of leaving amelia and his mother on their own is too much, he’s terrified of his mother retreating back within herself and leaving amelia to look after herself—he can’t bring himself to leave them after more or less supporting the whole family for almost his whole teenage years. but he knows eventually he’ll have to go out on his own and he is in the process of it!! he’s managed to move out at least into an apartment of his own when he was 20, though it’s not all that far from his family home. but it’s a step.

though he’s still procrastinating on the finding a steady job thing, in the mean time he’s doing a lot of freelance things here and there for adverts, small indie animated videos/short movies, designed a couple things for some big name youtubers and even has helped on the illustrations for some children’s books. but he’s still holding out for his dream to come true.

PERSONALITY

an actual soft boy!!! loves his little sister & mother more than anything in the world and has literally put his own happiness and life to the side to make sure they’re happy and thriving after the shit they’ve been through. he loves with his whole heart and it’s both a blessing and a curse.

but he’s so use to being the one to take care of everyone else that he’s never stopped to take care of himself?? and to imagine someone caring about him and loving him is something he cannot get his head around??

a very private person. maybe comes across like he’d be a bit of an asshole but he’s actually relatively friendly?? probably that person you think you know everything about but in reality you actually don’t know nothing about them??

he finds it hard to let people get close and finds it hard to trust others??

may have something to do with the fact that he’s terrified of becoming life his father?? but really is far more like his mother, he just has a bit of a hard time showing it??

hasn’t ever really touched alcohol that much and doesn’t intend on doing so any time soon, he terrified of turning into his father!!!!! we love that

a little rough around the edges and takes a while to break down his walls but once you’ve managed to weed your way into his heart you’ll be there forever and he’ll love you with his whole heart.

loves the snackpack with his whole heart, his dumbass energy really comes out strong around them because YOU KNOW he’s a complete idiot underneath that hardish exterior.

proud of his friends that got out of provincetown and went to college, but also a little salty about being left behind �� we don’t talk about that though

if anyone would like to plot a little something, my ims are always open, i’m also up for plotting via discord, and i’d love to plot a little something!! i swear i don’t bite so please send me an im if you’re up for something, but honestly if you give this a like i’ll come to you!!

but if you are interested in plotting, i have a plots page with loose ideas here!!

#snackpackintro #we out here falling for fcs that have hardly any gif icons #love that for me!#watch me start to make my own gif icons

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kittykatknits · 6 years

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Hi! So I came across (several) posts stating how Sansa is "removed" from everything Northern and how Lady's death means she's less of a Stark and that she doesn't fit in the North arc as her arc is completely different from her siblings (which is magical),the Northerners won't accept her,SR destroying snow castle means she'll never return to WF etc. My question: Do you think Sansa will return North? Do you think she'll ever reunite w/ her siblings and stay in WF? Thanks

Oh yes, to both questions. Easily. I’d also say Sansa will be the first Stark to cross the gates into Winterfell and it’s quite possible she’ll serve as a focal or rallying point for her siblings.

As for the rest, Sansa suffers from a negative POV bias in the first book, and honestly, I’m often left with the feeling that the old adage is true, first impressions matter. I’m not going to get into the narrative structure of Sansa’s chapters or character in this but we can tackle the rest of it.

I’ll go through those comments, point by point, below. This is long because I don’t know how to shut up.

(1)First, Sansa isn’t removed from everything Northern. She happens to be the only Starkling born in winter, and as we know, winter is a time for wolves. Not only that, much of her story line is about her ties to the north, it’s why she’s being used for her claim. It’s also important to note Sansa’s claim is not just over Winterfell, it’s about her name. Sansa is a Stark, she’s descended from a line going back several thousand years. That matters a lot in Westerosi politics, where name and status mean so much. The girl has power and her story is very much about her learning to wield it.

Her strongest desire is to go home, back to Winterfell, back to the north, to the place her family has lived in and ruled over since Bran the Builder. She also has the distinction of featuring snow and winter imagery in her chapters. In fact, the prominence of both only increases as the books go on. I’d say of the Starklings, she shares it with Jon the most. Here are a few lines from aFfC below:

So lovely. The snow-clad summit of the Giant’s Lance loomed above her, an immensity of stone and ice that dwarfed the castle perched upon its shoulder.

The small diamond-shaped panes of the window were obscured by frost. Alayne rubbed at one with the heel of her hand, enough to glimpse a brilliant blue sky and a blaze of white from the mountainside. The Eyrie was wrapped in an icy mantle, the Giant’s Lance above buried in waist-deep snows.

Old snow cloaked the courtyard, and icicles hung down like crystal spears from the terraces and towers. The Eyrie was built of fine white stone, and winter’s mantle made it whiter still.

Shards of ice and snow rained down on them, and the oak creaked and strained. Robert gave a gasp and clung to her, burying his face between her breasts.

There are lots more I could mention but let’s focus on that last one. Shards of ice and snow are raining down on them. Literally, winter is falling in that quote and Sansa is the one leading Sweetrobin down the mountain. Remember what she said in SoS? She’s stronger within the walls of Winterfell. She’s stronger when winter falls. If that isn’t Northern, I don’t know what is.

Beyond that, this girl is a wolf, or more accurately, she can sometimes be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. However, Sansa never forgets who she is and she lets her fangs show at times:

A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, “Maybe my brother will give me your head.”

She would name them Eddard and Brandon and Rickon, and raise them all to be as valiant as Ser Loras. And to hate Lannisters,

When Sansa had first beheld the Great Sept with its marble walls and seven crystal towers, she’d thought it was the most beautiful building in the world, but that had been before Joffrey beheaded her father on its steps. “I want it burned.”

Let his sword break and his shield shatter, Sansa thought coldly as she shoved out through the doors, let his courage fail him and every man desert him.

We also get one of my favorite exchanges in the series:

“…Harrenhal has withered every hand to touch it.“

“Then give it to Lord Frey.”

-Alayne I, aFfC

None of the above are words or thoughts from a character that should be perceived as meek or passive. Sansa is one the most empathetic characters in the series and one of the kindest but she can be fierce too.

Now, as to Lady, the discourse tends to focus so much on whether Sansa got her wolf killed, even though the entire answer isn’t so simple. What happens after often gets overlooked:

When it was over, he said, “Choose four men and have them take the body north. Bury her at Winterfell.”

“All that way?” Jory said, astonished.

“All that way,” Ned affirmed. “The Lannister woman shall never have this skin.”

- Eddard III, GoT

So, if the wolves are representations of the Stark children, then Sansa is currently the only Stark to have a piece of her soul within the grounds of Winterfell, none of the rest can make that claim. More than that, let’s look at what Ned is saying here, it’s foreshadowing. The Lannisters tried to lay claim to Lady but, ultimately, they failed. It’s the same with Sansa, they had her as a prisoner but they never got her skin. Ned also says that Lady will be taken north, all that way, with four men to act as an honor guard. Sansa is going to go north, with an army of men, and she will be able to do it, in part, because of the relationships her father built so long ago. Lady connects Sansa to the north.

(2)I’m really not sure what to make of her arc as being different from her siblings because of the lack of magic. For starters it’s horribly reductive, for all of them, not just Sansa. Jon’s arc is just as much about politics, negotiation, diplomacy, and leadership. Heck, part of his story in Dance is to count hams. Where’s the magic in that? It’s the same with Arya. Her arc also includes themes of leadership, identity, and justice v. vengeance. All of that matters as much as the magic.

Sansa is also a warg, just like her siblings. She’s mentioned by the Ghost of HH which connects her to magic. She has magical stories being told of her. And you’ll rip my Sansa is an empath theory out of my cold, undead, wightified hands. I’ll grant that magic is not as prevalent in her story line but completely devoid? Nope.

She also happens to have very similar story lines to both Bran and Arya. They start the series secure, are held prisoner, forced to hide behind false identities, have taken up with mentors that all have…well…dubious motives. All three are moving towards a point where they will somehow outsmart their teachers, reclaim their identity, and make their way home.

(3) I’m not going to break down the entire snow castle scene, its been done many times before and I don’t have much new to add at this point. However, as it relates to her, it’s the symbolism that matters.The giant managed to knock over a couple of tower roofs and part of a wall. The giant didn’t destroy WF, Sansa stopped him. Even more, the snow castle scene gives us this line:

She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.

Not only that, we get this gem later:”You were bold enough in the snow.“

Lysa says that to Sansa just before trying to shove her out the moon door but it’s a heck of a line. Snow makes Sansa bold, she’s stronger where winter falls.

(4) The northerners are fighting to save The Ned’s little girl, so not sure why this would not also apply to Sansa? The challenge with her is that no one knows where she is or how to get to her. The whereabouts and “identity” of Jeyne Poole are well known.

Sansa was forced to marry, just as Jeyne was. If Sansa and Tyrion returned north, under similar circumstances, it would only be a matter of time until Sansa was made a widow. Not only that, it’s made explicitly clear why northerners are fighting:

"Ned’s girl,” said Morgan Liddle. He was the second of three sons, so the other wolves called him Middle Liddle, though not often in his hearing. It was Morgan who had almost slain Asha in the fight by Deepwood Motte. He had come to her later, on the march, to beg her pardon … for calling her cunt in his battle lust, not for trying to split her head open with an axe.“Ned’s girl,” echoed Big Bucket Wull. “And we should have had her and the castle both if you prancing southron jackanapes didn’t piss your satin breeches at a little snow.”

..and later (in one of my favorite passages in the entire series)…

That seemed to amuse the northman. “I want to live forever in a land where summer lasts a thousand years. I want a castle in the clouds where I can look down over the world. I want to be six-and-twenty again. When I was six-and-twenty I could fight all day and fuck all night. What men want does not matter."Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned’s little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that. As for me, I am old. This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue.”“Aye!” shouted Morgan Liddle. “Blood and battle!” Then all the hillmen were shouting, banging their cups and drinking horns on the table, filling the king’s tent with the clangor.

-The King’s Prize, aDwD (bold emphasis mine)

What about the above would lead the reader to believe they would not care about Sansa? They are fighting for Ned’s girl and House Stark, they don’t care about a crown or the Iron Throne.

Let’s switch gears to Manderly now:

“The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”

-Davos IV, aDwD

Manderly got his son back and now he’s honoring his promise, because he remembers. He wants his liege lord back and he’s at Winterfell, making it pretty clear to us, the readers, that his mission is a suicide mission.

Also, let’s not forget the Umbers, they remember as well. Whoresbane is repeatedly described as old. Not only that, the Umber forces are divided so the green boys are with his brother while he has the old men. Whoresbane is planning to turn his cloak and go down fighting, exactly as described earlier.

With all of the above, I’d sooner think Sansa, the girl who is believed to have killed Joffrey, will be welcomed home.

Sansa is a Stark and a Wolf. She’s going home and she’s going home soon. If I’m wrong (and I’m not), I’ll eat my hat.

#Sansa Stark #sansa stark meta #house stark #house stark meta #ASoIaF #asoiaf meta #anon asks #feel free to ask #feel free to ignore #my meta

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