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Writing Style Update

So since there's gonna be WAY too many characters to do the simple triple symbol line break for POV changes I'm just gonna make a single POV line break symbol to copy-paste and put the character name in the middle of it.

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Future Animation Webseries Update

SO you know how I'm planning on eventually turning my fanfiction into an animated series on YouTube? Well, I hired an artist to make turnaround ref sheets for the major characters, only doing the major 8 ones (the OG 4, nya, the brothers, and misako) because that's all I can afford right now. These are the ref sheets for the OG 4:

They all look pretty good, right? (Artist is named Irah Bernardo btw)

Well, I also have my art software picked out: Krita, it also has an animation workspace so instead of paying for ToonBoom I can animate stuff for free!

However, in addition to waiting until I finish writing Origins, I also need to practice my animation and get enough samples to properly set up a Kickstarter to get funding for the project. Art isn't cheap when you need a lot of pieces and I obviously want voice acting in this and voice actors aren't cheap either.

I also wanna get a proper drawing tablet so my art quality will be better (drawing with a mouse sucks) and I already have one picked out.

So I have a lot of plans for the future, I just need to get them written.

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Ninjago AU Headcanons - Dragon-Bonded/Dragon-Borns

So you know the legends of how dragons hoard things? That legend had to come from somewhere.

Sooo... since it's been established that Animal Mage Lunarians mimic behaviors/instincts of the animals they take the form of, who's to say that Dragon-Borns (like the Two Brothers) and Dragon-Bonded (like Lloyd) don't display dragon behaviors? Like, hoarding things they like.

Wu 100% hoards tea and you cannot tell me otherwise.

Garmadon most likely hoards books, which is why he's a librarian so he can be around books all the time.

Lloyd just collects whatever shiny things he finds on the ground in addition to the stuffed toys he likes making.

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Star Wars Animatic | Y-You were putting it in cold WATER???!!!

Another thing the History Crew would 100% do: - Ray, who didn’t know tea’s supposed to be hot (somehow) - Clouse, appalled he didn’t know - Maya, who microwaves tea - Garmadon, who puts his mug on the stove - Wu: “DO NONE OF YOU OWN A KETTLE?!” - Misako, who watches the chaos

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Character Voice Claims

So I've been planning on one day turning Chasing Memories into an animated project, and obviously I'll need voice acting. Of course, I'm gonna need money for that (and I need to actually finish the first fic) but for now these are my top picks for the main casts' voice actors.

Zane/Masc Zed - Kellen Goff

Kai - Clifford Chapin OR Nathan Sharp

Jay - Michael Kovach

Cole - Alejandro Saab

Nya - Erica Lindbeck

Kid Lloyd - OR3O

Teen Lloyd - Zach Callison

Garmadon - Markiplier (prolly the most unattainable goal)

Wu - can't find a good one

Misako - Amber Lee Connors

Cyrus - Caleb Hyles

Dareth - djsmell

Ronin - Chris Wehkamp (because he gives me Aizawa vibes)

Commissioner - Christopher Sabat

Joseph (OC) - AJ Michalka (because Catra)

Zaj - Luci Christian

Fem Zed - Anairis Quinones

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New chapter, new arc!

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Chasing Memories Origins Chapter/Section Titles

ARC I - ZANE

Intermission - Story of Jason and Wu ARC II - JAY

Intermission - The Runaway ARC III - COLE

Intermission - Fall of a Demigod ARC IV - KAI

Intermission - The Prisoner ARC V - SCYTHE OF EARTH

Intermission - Separation ARC VI - SHURIKENS OF ICE

Intermission - Warmth ARC VII - NUNCHUCKS OF LIGHTNING

Intermission - Punishment ARC VIII - SWORD OF FIRE

Intermission - Safety EPILOGUE - HOME

Including the preface and chapter key, there's gonna be 51 chapters in total in this one work

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Thank you for 50 likes

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Cyrus' animal form (intact). He's a Northern Lunarian Mountain Wolf, but he's a runt.

Northern Lunarian Mountain Wolves are typically 10-12 feet tall on all fours while the Southern variant are around 8-10 feet tall. Cyrus' wolf form is 7 feet max. He's a runt for both subspecies.

Wolf Cyrus is usually super chill. He acts more like a domestic dog in this form. Also, he is very used to small children climbing on him in this form. He'll just lay there and pretend to sleep while actually keeping an eye on them to make sure they don't hurt themselves.

He's also a police tracking dog... he gets mixed results. A lot of the time the criminals he brings back to the precinct aren't exactly in one piece 100% of the time... his dad is very exasperated.

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Finally, out of the OG 4, is Kai. I know, I know, he looks the most different out of the cast but you gotta admit he looks so cool.

First you have all the scars he has, then you have the freckles (as shown on young Kai in Hands of Time), and the androgynous facial structure and outfit.

The scars took a lot of work to do because he has so many.

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Next up is Cole. He's tall and incredibly muscular, which makes sense for his powers. Kind of a punk/grunge aesthetic for him. He's supposed to be wearing flannel but the hoodie was the best the website had.

Also he is NOT supposed to look that old. This is supposed to be a teenager/young adult not an older adult.

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Continuing my updated Heroforge Ninja designs, here is Jay.

Made him relatively short, stocky, and awkward. He's a nervous person, especially when it comes to his powers. The scar on his eyebrow is a lot more prominent now and his hair's a bit lighter.

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ACT ONE Finale published

also, happy birthday to me~ I'm 21

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i can't help but imagine the History Crew doing this (minus pig and pikachu)

History Crew: Misako, The Two Brothers, Kai/Nya's Parents, Clouse

Ooooh the new background looks amazing!

thanks XD

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Little character detail

CM!Ray (Kai and Nya's father) can use blue flames. However, his fire resistance isn't strong enough to withstand them, so he has some burns on his hands like Kai does

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Current and Future Pets of the Characters

So something I decided ages ago is that the Ninja and Co really need some animal companions to add a little more flavor to the story and flesh out the characters a little bit.

As of now, I've only introduced Garmadon's cat, Battlecat, who is currently at the Monastery with Wu after its owner's fall to the Underworld. Battlecat is a very old grey tabby that's missing an eye, part of its ear, and several patches of fur including on its tail. Garmadon found Battlecat during the Serpentine War and formed a familiar bond with it, which is why Battlecat is still alive in the modern day despite living much longer than is normal for its species, let alone breed.

Zane's falcon will still be in the story, but this time it'll have an actual name: Feather. I got this name from a really old Ninjago fic series I read as a kid, I can't remember the name of it but it was on FF.net and had 4 installments at the time (one for each Ninja; and they had an animal associated with them). I also got Chitow City from that series (Cole's installment, actually), so if anyone knows what fic I'm talking about just comment it.

In the Chasing Memories continuity, Feather was based on Zane the First's pet falcon they had as a kid, a female black falcon who Zed was really proud of... until she was mistakenly shot by a hunter when they were 15. The original Feather was stuffed and later buried with her owner after their own death months later.

Mrs Benedict the Lightning Chicken will NOT be in this story, sorry. I love chickens, but honestly this one felt kinda ridiculous.

Instead, Wu will eventually get an emotional support ferret named Slinky. It hides in his beard. CM!Wu had always wanted a ferret but was never allowed to when the FSM was still alive and he never got a chance to get one himself until the Ninja got Slinky for his birthday one year.

Now, onto the characters who don't canonically have pets or have them in Chasing Memories yet (the Ultra Dragon doesn't count here).

First up, we have Cole. CM!Cole loves rabbits and he used to have one as a kid, but it was killed by one of his classmates when he was 5. Presently, Cole is scared of getting another rabbit because of his super strength; he doesn't wanna hurt something so small and fragile.

Sooo Jay and Zane team up and find him a pair of rabbits of a unique breed that Cole wouldn't be too scared of hurting: Medusa Rabbits!

Medusa Rabbits look like Flemish Giants in both coloration and size, but with the added ability to turn themselves into stone when injured or threatened. Cole gets two of them since rabbits need socialization and he names them Sandy and Mossy due to their colors.

Then we have Lloyd's cat. Well, technically it's a panther but it's his witch familiar and he (and his father) initially mistook it for a cat until someone points out that it's green and has two tails. Panthera Luna Verte, or the Lunarian vertini, is actually illegal to sell and own in Ninjago and has been since the 1860s, however Lloyd's vertini, Jewel, escaped from smugglers before coming across him and Garmadon on the street as a kitten.

Lloyd only gets away with keeping Jewel because it's a familiar and a familiar bond can't be broken.

Cyrus Borg, on the other hand, has three normal cats: Cloud (a fluffy white ragdoll), Smoky (a grey tabby), and Socks (a tuxedo cat with white feet). They were all strays he brought home.

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So apparently this is gonna be a thing now

My characters have taken control of the story again. I had a dream about the aftermath of the FSM's death, and I just... so it goes like this:

The year is 1955 AC. So the FSM attacks Garmadon during an argument, Ray and Maya show up, Ray burns the FSM (who's just a flesh puppet for a pair of malevolent dragon spirits) to death, and that was what I already had written down.

BUUUUT the dream I had added more context to WHY the fight started as well as what happened after.

So when Wu was younger, he had a very emo/goth/punk/dark style. Ear piercings, dyed hair, dark clothing with band t-shirts and ripped jeans, stuff like that. Well, one day he and FSM (or more accurately the dragons controlling his dead body) got into a fight and it resulted in Wu's piercings getting violently ripped out of his ears courtesy of the Elemental Power of Metal.

This is when Garmadon steps in. He sends Wu inside, and then he blows up at his "father". Long story short, when Garmadon walks away, the dragons don't take too kindly to that and send a wave of ice his way, impaling him and nearly killing him.

Cue Ray and Maya coming over to pick the brothers up, as they'd made plans to do something. Of course, they walk in and see what happened to Garmadon and Ray, the reckless man he is, attacks Ninjago's equivalent of God... and turns him to ash.

Ok, you still with me? Coz this is where the dream picks up again.

So Garmadon's in the hospital after all this, and it's been a couple days since everything went down. Wu is sitting in a chair next to his brother's hospital bed, and he is very much not happy. I mean, it had been a wild couple days. His ears are mutilated, Garmadon's comatose and missing a lung, and their father is dead... and the Monastery ended up catching fire during the fight (thanks Ray).

So Ray and Maya come to visit them and end up taking Wu home with them.

Now, Wu's asleep on their couch (after crying himself to sleep because he is NOT okay) and Maya kneels next to him and brushes his hair out of his face while Ray tosses a blanket over him.

And this is where the dream starts taking a slightly unexpected turn. So it fast forwards a tiny bit and shows different scenes of Wu and the Smiths... except for the oddest reason they're less "friend" moments and more "ship" moments.

It was really cute, too. The Smiths have Wu move in with them so he's not alone, and over time they become more than just friends.

Still baffles me, though. CM!Ray and Maya have been married since the 1920s and after about 30-some years they decided that "Hey, let's involve this traumatized emo demigod in our marriage!"

It works somehow. Kai and Nya (who are born in the 1990s) still refer to Wu as their "uncle" but that's because they aren't old enough to fully remember his relationship with their parents.

Fun fact: the siblings also don't know Garmadon and Wu as Garmadon and Wu at first. They know the two brothers as Donnie and Alex (the latter since Wu's middle name is Alexei and he goes by that when not on official business) and don't learn otherwise until after the Skulkin attack.

BONUS: I should also note that both Ray and Maya are taller than Wu