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rocksandrobots · 4 years

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Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 34 - Wrestlers, Boxers, and Ninjas, Oh My (Part 1)

The large indoor arena was crowded. People stood or were seated elbow to elbow. Many held homemade signs, fair food, and gaudy memorabilia that signified their support of the athletes who were to participate in today's sporting event.

Varian scooted past the spectators apologetically as he made his way to his own seat carrying a bucket of popcorn, trying his best not to spill any. Honey Lemon waved to him and rescued the popcorn bucket from his arms as he slumped into the chair next to her, relieved to not have to try and force his way through the crowd again anytime soon.

"You made it back just in time!" She chirped as she took a bite of the salty snack. "The match is about to start!"

"Yeah, first up is the Murderous Marauder vs the Venomous Vanguard!" Fred chimed in reaching over and snagging a handful of popcorn for himself.

"Wait, I never heard of them. Are they new?" Honey Lemon asked.

"Uh...no... I couldn't get tickets to a mecha-wrestling event and this is just a regular wrestling event, but it's still cool." Fred blurted out.

Honey Lemon only pouted.

"Look, it's the same thing. Just instead of mecha suits they use their own bodies to beat each other up. Who needs super awesome robot suits anyways?"

Honey Lemon raised an eyebrow. "Mole blocked you from the Mecha league didn't he."

"Yes!!!" Fred half sobbed and half yelled.

Varian rolled his eyes and then tried to move the conversation back on topic. "So what you're saying is that this is a hand to hand combat tournament."

"Yeah exactly," Fred confirmed ", along with the occasional chair."

"The what?"

Varian didn't get an answer to his question though as just then the lights dimmed and the crowd went quiet. He looked down to the center of the arena. Spotlights flooded the middle of a boxing ring and music began to blare. More lights began to swoop across the stage at the far end, all various colors, shapes, and patterns that changed in time with the music. The crowd began to stomp and clap in time to the music and Varian looked to his friends who were joining in. Honey Lemon flashed him a grin and encouraged him to do so as well.

Varain did but he couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it while he did so. He had never seen a tournament nor brawl with this much fan fair before. Oh watching a good fight was a popular pastime in Corona to be sure, but most were held outdoors; with most of the crowds gathered around standing and jeering, unless you were of nobility.

Varian himself would usually just climb to the top of a nearby tree to look on, and the only music to be had was maybe a trumpeter to single the start of the event. But then again Corona never had loudspeakers nor a state of the art LED lights display to show off.

A man smartly dressed in a business suit stepped out from behind a curtain and onto the stage. The crowd started to cheer and clap as he walked down the ramp to the ring in the center. He waved to everyone and the music died down as he spoke into a microphone.

"Welcome everyone. Are you ready tonight?." He paused as the crowd cheered back in answer. " Good. Cause, let's get ready to rumble!!!"

Everyone screamed at once. Varian just about jumped out of his skin as Honey Lemon let out a high pitched whoop right next to his ear along with the rest of spectators. The music blared back up again and the crowd went wild.

"First up tonight we have the guardian of the keep, the venger of wrongs, the noble knight of the ring, it's the Venomous Vanguard!"

Out from behind the curtain stepped a tall slender man dressed in a silver tunic and tights. He wore a knight's helmet, long boots, and a red robe trimmed with white fur on which the image of a green cobra was printed on the back. He was flanked by two pretty girls wearing matching silver bathing suits and they carried banners that held the same emblem as his robe.

The crowd cheered once more as he entered the ring and the vanguard victoriously held the sword he was carrying aloft in the air. More women rushed out to relieve him of said sword and robe and the Venomous Vanguard removed his helmet to reveal a handsome young man with blonde curls, big brown eyes, and a crooked smile that he flashed at some of the ladies in the stands. More cheers and even some whistling could be heard from the audience.

The Vanguard then took the mic from the announcer and made some grand speech about justice, and vengeance, and boastful claims about how he'd win tonight's match because of his righteous agenda and blah, blah, blah…

Varian rolled his eyes at the display of vibrato. He leaned close to Honey Lemon and whispered, "Can you believe this guy?"

"Hmm-mm" She absently hummed but seemed to barely notice Varian's presence. She sat at the edge of her seat, eyes fixed on the stage, utterly enraptured by the proceedings. Then when the Vanguard concluded his speech and raised his sword in the air once more she loudly cheered with the rest of the crowd.

Varian slumped back disheartened and a little more than jealous of the looks his crush gave the phoney knight.

"It's not even a real sword." He muttered under his breath.

He was distracted from his despondence when the music flared up once more and someone else stepped out on stage.

"Uh-oh! Here comes the Murderous Marauder!" The announcer proclaimed. "And it looks like he's out for blood tonight!"

There were some more cheers but mostly boos as the challenger made his way to the ring. Varian however studied this newcomer with interest.

He was dressed entirely in black leather, save for his massive arms which were bare. His long black hair was wild and matched his long unkempt beard. He marched up to the vanguard ignoring the jeers thrown his way and then paused for effect as the room quietened.

He was shorter than the knight but buffer and looked capable of breaking the other man in two. However, once the noise had died down, he didn't attack but instead gave a scathing taunt.

"Are you compensating for something with that big sword Sir. Hams-a-lot?"

The crowd oohed and a few booed, but Varian just laughed. He liked this newcomer and decided then and there to cheer on the challenger who promised to put the pompous paladin in his place.

Honey Lemon however was less appreciative of the Marauder's gumption. As the fight began proper she joined in with the majority of the audience in jeering the challenger.

"Boooooh! Take him down Vanguard!"

"O-oh yeah! Well…Tie him in knots Marauder!" Varian shot back.

Honey Lemon paused and looked at him in surprise and he returned the stare blankly wondering momentarily if he had done something wrong. Yet his fears were abated when she tilted her head and tried her best to unsuccessfully suppress a smile as she narrowed her eyes at him challengingly. He arched an eyebrow and his own lips slid into a smirk. Then suddenly a new competition was underway running adjacent to the one going on the ring as Varian and Honey Lemon tried to one up each other in taunts and good natured jabs as each cheered on their favored competitor.

Each flip, kick, punch, and headlock was met with jubilation and derision in equal measure as the teens watched on. Fred even joined in their game, switching sides whenever he felt like it, just happy to be there.

Varain had to admit though that he didn't fully grasp the rules of the sport. The fight was very different from any wrestling match he'd ever seen. There was far more acrobatics and punches involved then in like a grudge match in say a tavern where the combatants held on to each other tightly as they tried to push the other down and pin them to ground. Yet he didn't question this American style of combat until the Vanguard was pushed out of the ring.

Varian thought that would be the end of it but neither the referee nor the announcer called the match. Instead there was another flurry of insults and the Vanguard marched back over towards his stuff lying across a folding chair.

"Show him what that sword is really for, Vanguard!"

"Yeah! As decoration for his tombstone!"

But once again Varian was confused when the 'knight' didn't grab the plastic weapon but the chair itself. He then threw it at the Marauder while his back was turned.

The crowd cheered but Varian could barely form words as his anger overtook him. "That son- He-- Did you see that?! He cheated ! Where's the referee? Is he blind? I hope you now realize that jerk isn't a good guy.'

"Dude chill," Fred said, "it's just a prop. It's all part of the show."

"Show?"

"All of wrestling is fake." Honey Lemon gently explained. "No one really gets hurt. That's why it's fun." Then as soon as she was done with this explanation she snapped her attention right back to the fight and leaned over the railing to shout "Dig his grave!" as the Vanguard pulled the Marauder around comedically by his long hair.

It took a moment or two to process this new information and to say Varian was more than a little embarrassed for being so easily taken in by the theatrics would be an understatement. Yet his shame was forgotten as quickly as it had arrived as he watched the pretty redhead bounce up and down, face flushed with excitement, crowing with joy as her favored opponent was deemed the winner. She flashed him the biggest and smuggest grin ever and he melted. What he wouldn't do to see that smile on her face always.

-----------------------

Three more matches came and went. There was a tag team event with four lovely and scantily clad ladies, a 'spontaneous' fight backstage that spilled out into the actual ring between a team of two brothers who now wanted to go separate ways, and finally a premiere event debuting the newest wrestler to join the league.

"I want all of you to extend a big hand to El Agua!" The announcer proclaimed as a large muscular man wearing a blue and white luchador's mask walked down the ramp. He thanked the announcer and took the mic from him.

"Thank you Senor Stouffuer, and thank you WWF, for having me here tonight and giving me a second chance." His thick Spanish accent dripped with heavy remorse. "You know, I had a hard time there, a while back I got real low. I couldn't fight. I lost my sense of purpose. But now I'm back and I am ready to kick some las nalgas!"

At this triumphant proclamation the crowd cheered. Varian had to admit he was intrigued. He didn't know this guy's story but he sounded more sincere than many of the other performers. However neither Honey Lemon nor Fred seemed too impressed. In fact they looked like they were in shock.

Honey Lemon leaned over towards Varian and Fred. "Freddie... you don't think that's…" She didn't finish her sentence but instead pointed down at the ring where at, El Agua stood.

"No idea," Fred softly answered back, his eyes never leaving the wrestler as he also leaned his head towards Honey Lemon. "It certainly seems like it…"

Varain ducked his head down to where the two met to try and get in on the conversation. "Hey, why are we whispering?"

"Oh, nothing" Honey Lemon hastily dismissed, "the new guy just seemed familiar that's all."

"Yeah, he could have come over from the Mecha league or something." Fred agreed and that was the end of the discussion.

They finished watching the last match, El Agua defeated his opponent, The Sandman, and they all filed out of the arena with the rest of the crowd.

"You know, that was inspiring." Fred said as they walked out into the night air. "I know it's not real but I bet we could, like, maybe alter some of those wrestler moves into our crime fighting routine."

Fred air motioned some fake karate chops to demonstrate.

Honey Lemon stifled a giggle as she tried to be supportive. "Well, it does take a lot of athleticism and skill to pull off those moves so perhaps."

Varian snorted, "Yeah and they actually train for it."

Fred looked offended."Whatta mean!? We train all the time."

Varian rolled his eyes, "You run around and jump. You haven't the muscle to pull off those stunts where you lift and ground pound people."

Fred pouted and intensely examined his biceps. Meanwhile Varian caught Honey Lemon glaring disapprovingly at him so he hastily tried to save himself. "And I can say that cause I'm as scrawny as a twig."

Honey Lemon opened her mouth to retort but Fred stopped her.

"No, he's right HL, we could stand to work on our strength exercises."

"Well, I just meant you actually." Varian corrected but Fred didn't seem to hear him.

"Tomorrow morning we start a new training regime!" He declared, "We'll meet at the gym at five o'clock sharp!"

He marched off leaving Honey Lemon and Varian to exchange confused looks with each other.

-----------------------

"Why are we here again?" Gogo asked annoyed.

"And why are we here so early?" Hiro yawned.

The gang stood right outside of the gym as the sun began to rise, still groggy from sleep and wholly unamused by Fred's latest grand scheme.

"It has come to my attention that we are slacking in our anaerobic exercises."

"But I already weight lift.." Wasabi pointed out.

Fred ignored him. "In order to be the best crime fighters we can be, we need to explore all avenues of self improvement. Leave no stone unturned... "

"But I'm not a crime fighter." Varian interject. This too was ignored.

"...No river unforged, no ocean unnavigated.."

"Alright we get it Fred." Hiro exasperated.

"Look if you wanna "self improve" yourself go right ahead, but we're going back to bed." Gogo said.

Fred gave her the most pitiful of pleading looks, but she remained stoned faced.

"A little exercise never hurt anybody." Honey Lemon timidly encouraged trying to smooth over any arguments before they could start. "I mean, after all, we're already here."

Gogo rolled her eyes but relented anyways. She dragged herself towards the front doors with the rest of the gang reluctantly following after her save for Fred who bounded ahead like an excitable puppy dog.

"It'll be great, you'll see." He enthused.

Inside of the gym were rows upon rows of various exercising equipment, a second balcony floor with even more exercising machines, a weight lifting corner full of iron weights of different sizes and shapes, numerous side rooms with large windows that housed other activities separate from the rest of the gym, such as basketball or a yoga class, and at the very front entrance stood a counter where two people were engaged in conversion.

Hiro at least seemed to know one of these people.

"Hey Carl!" He called out and the large man with a goatee and a red bandana wrapped around his head waved back.

In fact everyone seemed to know him but Varian.

"Hi Felony Carl!" Honey Lemon reiterated Hiro's earlier greeting as they came closer to the desk.

"Why hello, if it isn't my two lovely neighbors and their esteemed colleges. What do I owe for today's good fortune." The man calmly greeted them with a smile and a gentle, measured tone that belied his gruff exterior.

"We're here to get whipped into shape!" Fred cheered.

Gogo rolled her eyes at that but addressed Carl instead of venting her frustrations for a second time. "So how about you, did you get dragged here by Globby to "improve your crime fighting technique."

Carl chuckled "Oh no, Globs leaves me out of the superheroing gig. Says he doesn't want me getting hurt. Which is fine by me, I'm not one for the limelight. However you might say I'm here for self improvement. Since my beloved partner and I have decided to reform ourselves and enter domesticated life together, I've thought it time to enter into more respectable employment. You're looking at the newest personal trainer for this fine establishment." With this he pointed to the name tag pinned to his vest.

"That's great man, good for you." Wasabi congratulated.

"Yay, I'm so happy for you. I know you've been looking for work for awhile now." Honey Lemon added.

"Way to go, Carl." Gogo gave the man a fist bump.

"Thank you. Yup, no more shady side jobs from Yama for me. I'm here early to set up for my first boxing class. There's plenty of spots left on the sign up sheet." He held up a clipboard with a list of names.

"Sorry, Carl but I don't know if that's on Fred's agenda." Hiro apologized.

"Hmm maybe not today," Fred agreed, "but I'll put boxing down on the list of self defense techniques we'll want to learn. Today however is all about building up muscle." He then struck a pose as he flexed his biceps.

Wasabi sighed, "Fine, I'll teach you some weight lifting basics. Follow me. Bye, Carl."

"Yeah see a later Felony Carl!" Fred shouted back as he followed Wasabi.

"Ok. You kids have fun." Carl said as the gang walked away, "I'm going to go finish setting up."

As they neared the weight lifting section Honey Lemon exclaimed, "Ooh a racket ball court just opened up. Lets play a game!" She grabbed Gogo by the wrist and pulled the other girl along, who made no effort to resist as she was too tired to care.

Varian paused as he watched the group split in two and wondered who he should go with. He had felt out of the loop all morning long. He wasn't a superhero like the rest of his friends, quite the opposite in fact, and so had been confused when Fred insisted he'd come along to the training session. In truth Varian wasn't thrilled by the idea of lifting heavy objects for hours on end with no end goal in sight. At least when his dad asked him to do that with the hay bails back on the farm there was an actual purpose to it.

The racket ball game sounded far more fun but he didn't know if he'd be allowed to join since Honey Lemon had asked Gogo specifically and he didn't even know how it was played nor how many people could play at once.

Not to mention, back when meeting with the gentleman named Carl, he had been utterly lost as to what everybody was talking about, and no one had bothered to explain nor even introduce him, which made Varian feel even more left out.

So he just stood there feeling every bit the fool as his friends continued to not even notice his absence as they launched straight into their activities.

Well maybe he could just find something on his own to do until time to leave. Yet as his eyes scanned the rows of unfamiliar equipment and exercising machines he couldn't even figure that part out.

Then he saw Carl through the window of one of the classrooms. The man was trying to set what looked like a tall sandbag onto a hook on the ceiling. It also looked heavy and Varian watched as he dropped the thing on the floor and had to pick up again, clearly straining with the weight of it.

"Need help?" Varian asked as he entered the room.

"Thanks.. but.. this is real.. heavy kid." He huffed as he went to place the bag on the hook again.

Varian ignored his dismissal and went to hold the lower half of the bag so that the other man could focus better on hooking the thing.

He looked surprised at Varian's instance but said nothing, only giving a grateful nod as he finished the task at hand. Once done he said, "You know you're stronger than you look, kid. Name's Felony Carl, but my friends just call me Carl."

They shook hands and Varian introduced himself.

"Varian hun, you came in with the rest of those college kids didn't ya?"

"Yeah, we all go to school together, and I've been staying with Hiro and his aunt during the meantime."

"Ah, I see." Carl walked over to grab another boxing bag and Varian rushed over to help him lift that one as well. "I'm Gogo and Honey Lemon's next door neighbor. That's how we know each other. Well that and my boyfriend, Globby, sometimes works with them. You know, protecting the city and all that jazz."

"Oh I don't do any of that superhero stuff. That's probably why I've not met him yet." Varian explained.

They hooked the second bag and Varian hurried over to pick up two more. He slung one over his shoulder and tucked another up under his arm.

"Where would you like these?" He asked, ever helpful.

Carl didn't respond at first. He just stood there and stared at the time-displaced teen in shock, and Varian was afraid for a second that he had done something wrong. However the man quickly recovered his quits and answered, "Uh, just...just place them over there, please."

"Okay." Varian obliged and dumped the two punching bags onto the floor in the opposite corner. He then quickly got to work hanging one of them before Carl could even join him.

"You...you lift weights or something?" He casually asked as they hung up the second bag.

"Oh no." Varian replied. "I don't see the appeal honestly."

"So what are ya into? Track? Football? Pilates?"

"I...I don't even know what half of those things are." Varian admitted. "There wasn't a whole lot of time for sports back in Corona, not after all the chores were done. Once you plowed a field all day you don't feel much like running around."

"Ah, so you're a farm boy. I understand. My grandmother used to have a small farm when I was kid; real peaceful up there."

They finished hanging the last of the punching bags.

"Well thank you for the help. Now all there is to do is wait to see if anybody shows up for the class." Carl said.

"You don't have anybody signed up yet?"

"Eh, one or two, if they decide to come. Its a new class. It takes time to get these things going."

"Ah" Varian acknowledged, followed by an awkward pause where he didn't know what to say or do next. He thought for a moment he might just excuse himself and just get out of the way of the man and leave him to his class but Carl interrupted this thought.

"Have ya, ever tried boxing before?"

"Well..no…. I mean I've been in a fight or two, or twelve, but I'm not very good at actually, you know, punching people." Varian half heartedly mimed of throwing a punch as he stumbled over this explanation.

"Trouble with bullies hun?" Carl knowingly replied.

"Uuuh… you might, could say that."

"Here show me your best punch. I'll tell ya how to improve it." Carl walked over to one of the punching bags and held it steady.

Varian hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should partake in an impromptu boxing lesson when he was sure the man had more important things to do, like teaching actual paying customers perhaps, but Carl was insistent.

"Ok head hit the bag as hard as you can."

So Varían did. It was just as unimpressive as he feared.

"Awe, I know you got more strength in ya than that. Go ahead really slug it. Like if you was cornered by one of those bullies."

Varian tried to recall the one time he threw an unsuspecting punch at a guard who was chasing him. He had been trying to hide in the crowd but was soon spotted. He felt the man grab him by the shirt collar and yank him back as he tried to get away. So Varian had, on instinct, blindly bopped the man right on the nose.

It hadn't really hurt the other guy, Varian was sure it surprised him more than anything, since at the time he wasn't deemed the most wanted criminal in the land yet, but nevertheless it had held off his attackers long enough to get away.

It had been terrifying, and Varian threw the memory of that feeling into his second throw. This time he had managed to push Carl, who held tightly to the other side of the punching bag, a step backwards.

"Hey, now that's more like it. Now for your technique. Your stance is pretty good, just don't plant your feet so firmly to the ground. You gotta be able to move. So on your toes. Yeah like that, and hold your fist more like this."

Varian did as he was told and threw some more practice hits. Every once in a while Carl would throw out a new instruction or bit of advice that Varian would follow up on. Soon he found a rhythm and the action came more naturally to him as he began to loosen up.

"Now ya gettin' it kid. Try side stepping to the right."

Varian did so and threw another punch.

"Good, now the left. Ok, right. Left. Right. Left. Repeat. Don't focus too much on where you're putting your foot. Keep your eyes up. In a real fight you gotta be aware of your opponent at all times."

Varian didn't answer back. He was too busy trying to both process all of this new information while also trying to implement it and keep up the steady pace he had going. But he felt himself slowing down anyways as he began to tire.

"You're doing great," Carl encouraged, "but don't forget to make your punches count. Your hits are weakening some; don't be afraid to put some muscle into it. Don't worry you won't hurt me. I'm standing behind this heavy bag, remember?"

Finally Varian paused in his exercise and half collapsed against the punching bag. He wasn't sure what Carl meant by "put some muscle into it". He was already hitting the thing as hard as he could.

"Tired?" Carl asked.

All Varian could do was nod his head as he was out of breath.

"Alright take a break and get you a drink. I brought bottled water for the class."

Varian tried to catch his breath and relax the tension in his shoulders as he procured one of the waters. However it appeared Carl wasn't done with the lesson cause no sooner had Varian took a sip the other man was already launching into another lesson on certain techniques and the basic history of his chosen sport.

Varian did his best to listen as he nursed his bottle of water. However, he was vaguely starting to question to himself what he was even doing here. He was not a fighter. Sure he'd been in a few scrapes before.. Ok more like several life or death conflicts…but he was always hopelessly outmatched physically and usually relied on his other strengths, his quick wits and inventions, to carry him through. So far they had been more than enough...so far... or maybe he'd just been lucky. It couldn't hurt to learn a little self defense.

After a while Carl ramped down his lecture and asked Varian if he was ready to try again. Varian nodded yes.

"Okay, now imagine this punching bag here is the biggest meanest bully you've ever faced. Now what do you do?"

"Run?"

"Well usually yes, but what if you can't safely get away?"

"Fight or distract until you can get away."

"Correct, and the first thing you do when preparing to fight is to defend yourself. So here are some blocking stances in case the guy comes at you."

Carl walked him through some basic poses; arms up, on your toes, keep your face shielded etc. Confident that Varian was getting the hang of these, he motioned Varian to come closer to the punching bag.

"Now remember, the biggest meanest ugliest bully you can think of."

Varian looked up at the hanging sandbag and immediately his mind's eye flashed back to his arrest, with King Frederic looming over him as the guards men slapped cuffs onto his wrists. The imposing figure towered over him, all noble and proud, full of smug self righteousness and nothing but contempt for Varian's continued existence.

"The boy needs help. Take him away and see that he is fed and kept somewhere safe." The monarch lied.

"Food" was nothing but stale bread and water, sometimes gruel if you were lucky, for months on end. "Safe" was a dark dank dungeon cell where you were ignored no matter how freezing cold the nights got. And "help"? Well "help" was merely not killing you but letting you know at every opportunity that they could take your life away if you didn't express enough gratitude for their so-called "mercy."

Oh what Varian wouldn't give to punch the dictator right in the mouth and put a crack in the man's charitable façade.

And so he did. At least in his imagination. The punching bag swung wide with the force of Varian's connecting hit and Carl quickly stepped back in surprise. Not that Varian noticed.

He was no longer in the gym or even San Fansokyo but back in his lab next to his fathers corpse facing down the royals he thought responsible for all his misery and woe. It was like a floodgate had been open and all his pent up rage, all his sadness and hopelessness from the past two years, came pouring out of him in gushing torrents and into his fists as he feverishly pounded away at the boxing bag.

It was only when the punching bag flew off its hook from shear force that Varian snapped back to reality.

He stood there shocked at the broken equipment for a moment until he became keenly aware of Carl's eyes studying him closely. Embarrassed, Varian turned to leave, probably to run home or back to the school, but Carl stopped him.

"Hey…hey …it's ok." The man soothed. "It's just an accident. All we gotta do is hang it up again."

Varian didn't answer as his eyes darted about looking desperately for something to focus on other than the instructor's pitying face.

"Wanna talk about what happened there?"

"No."

"Alright, you wanna tell me about this bully that's been bothering you? Do you need help?"

"No."

"Do you wanna learn some more self defense, or maybe even just come by and vent your frustrations on this here sack of cloth filled with sand? No judging; no prying questions; I'm just here to do my job."

Again Varian didn't answer but he did finally manage to relax enough to look the other man in the eye.

"How old are, kid?"

"Sixteen."

Carl nodded knowingly as if this explained everything. He then turned around and walked over to where he kept his supplies and pulled out a sheet of paper from his clipboard.

"This is a permission slip. You get your guardian or whoever is looking out for you to sign this and then you can come to my class regularly. I hold three boxing lessons throughout the week, you can come to as many or as little as you want, whatever works for you and you can stop whenever. Though I usually recommend coming to at least six courses if you really want to learn something."

Varian mulled over the paper Carl handed to him.

"Can... can I come again later this week?"

"Sure thing, so long as you get that form signed."

"Alright I'll get my aunt to sign it."

Just then a couple of people walked in. "Hey is this the boxing class?" One asked and Varian took this as an opportunity to excuse himself and reunite with his friends.

-----------------------

"Who's ready for my patented mumbo jumbo gumbo!?" Aunt Cass called out carrying three steaming hot bowls of soup to the table.

"I don't know what that is but it smells delicious." Varian complimented as she placed the stew before him.

She sat a second bowl in front of Hiro who let out a pitiful groan as he reached for his spoon.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"We went to the gym today." Hiro moaned after taking a bite of the gumbo.

"Oh so you got a workout today, hun?" Aunt Cass asked in her chipper manner.

Hiro closed his eyes and slowly leaned his head back in an exaggerated fashion. "Everything hurts and I want to die."

"It is normal to experience soreness when exercising muscles that you rarely use." Baymax piped in helpfully. "It is recommended to stretch before every exercise routine and participate in a cool down session afterwards. To alleviate aches and pains several remedies such as ice, heat, rest, anti-inflammatory medication, and massages can be beneficial. If pain persists past 72 hours seek a physician."

"Oh I'm sure it's not that bad." Aunt Cass encouraged.

"Yeah, he's just a ninny." Varian teased.

Hiro however was only confused by the old fashioned insult. "What's a 'ninny'? Also I didn't see you out there lifting weights. Where did you run off to?"

"I was helping Carl set up for his class." Varian explained. "Oh which reminds me, Aunt Cass, can you sign a permission slip for me? I wanna take boxing lessons."

"Hold up, wait. Who's Carl and you wanna what now?" Aunt Cass responded.

"Carl is Honey Lemon and Gogo's neighbor. He works at the gym." Hiro helpfully explained.

"He also teaches a boxing class there and I wanted to join." Varian added.

"I don't know if I want you fighting." Aunt Cass said reluctantly.

"Well, you're not really fighting anybody." Varian persuaded. "He just teaches basic fighting techniques. You know, for self defense. Plus it's exercise, it gets me out of the house, and Dr. Brown did say I needed a 'healthy way' to deal with my anger issues."

"By learning to hit people?" Aunt Cass was not convinced.

"I think they use punching bags." Hiro interjected.

His input was not appreciated as evidenced by Aunt Cass's pout. Varian however had one more trick up his sleeve. He silently pleaded with Aunt Cass with his big puppy dog eyes and she caved.

"Fine, I suppose knowing some self defense can be useful. But you're not going into a ring to duke it out with anybody, understood?"

Varian eagerly complied to this agreement, took another bite of the gumbo, and then made sure to flatter Aunt Cass cooking once more as a way of thank you.

-----------------------

Friday rolled around again and Varian arrived at the gym bright and early. Thus far he had attended all of Carl's morning classes, swinging by for the lesson before heading on to school. This would be his third class and Varian had to admit he was really getting into it.

Boxing turned out to be a great way to process his feelings and frustrations without having to talk about them. He could just get lost in the motion while allowing his mind to focus on the things he usually kept bottled up or buried under mounds of work. He could vent about everything from past trauma, to an annoying equation he was having trouble figuring out, to typical teenage anxieties about fitting in and the like all without having to say a word.

Though it wasn't as if he didn't ever talk. Carl turned out to be a very good listener whenever Varian did feel like opening up about something. He still remained guarded about his past, but it was nice to have a confidant when concerning more immediate matters. Things he couldn't necessarily talk to Aunt Cass or Granville about comfortably; things like dating, or shaving, or just what it was like being an awkward teenage guy going through life.

Carl always had an answer or an anecdote about his own experiences growing up that never failed to put Varian at ease. Even when he didn't have a straight answer for something he still gave sage advice that at least sounded wise and sensible; pointing to the heart of matters that other adults would skirt around.

Most importantly Carl never pried or pressed a matter. If Varian clammed up suddenly in the middle of a conversation or blurted out a long kept secret while rambling about something, like say his crush on Honey Lemon, Carl would only give his customary nod as if he understood and then just deftly change the subject.

In short Varian always felt like he was the one in control when boxing. In control of the conversation, in control of his mind and body, and in control of his life for once. After spending two years spiraling out of control it felt nice to be back in the driver's seat, even if it was only for an hour.

As Varian neared the classroom he could see Carl speaking with two gentlemen behind the glass. Well more like arguing. The two large men dressed in business suits and wearing sunglasses circled around Carl like vultures, clearly invading his personal space while looming over him. Varian couldn't make out what they were saying but it was clear from their body language that whatever it was meant to be taken as a threat.

Carl however wasn't rising to the bait. He stood his ground and didn't respond to their advances. There was a scowl on his face marking his displeasure but other than that he remained as cool and composed as ever.

Then one of the men grabbed him by his shirt collar. Carl calmly but firmly grabbed the man's wrist and forced him to let go. He retorted something back in an even measure and then the two men stepped away.

Soon they emerged from the classroom and made their way to the exit. One spared Varian a glance as he passed by and even though he couldn't see the man's eyes from behind the sunglasses Varian still felt his blood run cold. Whoever these men were they were dangerous. That much was clear.

"What was that about?" Varian asked after the men had left.

"Oh nothing." Carl lightly dismissed. "Just some old colleagues of mine. They came by asking me about a job but I turned them down. Told them I just started this one and wasn't looking for work."

It wasn't a lie per say, but Varian could tell it wasn't the full truth either. Which only caused more concern as Carl was usually so up front about everything. But the man respected Varian's own privacy and he could do no less for him in return. It wasn't his business who Carl conversed with or why. Still the event troubled Varian.

Carl must have sensed Varian's discomfort so he broke into a smile and changed the subject. "Why don't ya help me set up? Today we're going to practice blocking and how to fall safely when knocked down. I got a lot of yoga mats that I snagged from the back room that needs to be spread out on the floor."

And with that the matter was dropped.

-----------------------

"Hey, boss." The man in the suit stood right outside the gym as he spoke into his cell phone. "We found him."

He paused as he listened to the other person on the line.

"Yeah we know what to do." He said and then ended the call.

We have a discord now

https://discord.gg/uwq9RBxN

And a ko-fi

https://ko-fi.com/rachelbethhines

#big hero six #bh6 #tangled #varian #hiro #tangled the series

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shadowsblades · 4 years

Text

I think a lot of people underestimate just how physically tough Valeera is because she’s an elf and so young and slight, but like…

She was specifically chosen to be trained as a gladiator by Bloodeye and Rehgar. Some background about Rehgar and Bloodeye to illustrate just what it means that Valeera was bought by them:

Rehgar is depicted as being exceeding tough for an orc child ------ “Long before the normal age for an orc’s first right of passage, he made his first kill” of an ogre (which are described in Rise of the Horde as requiring ten adult orcs to kill). He was enslaved by ogres for them to train their children against, and he killed so many of them that the ogres sold him back to the orcs to fight in their arenas. By the time the Dark Portal was opened, Rehgar was so formidable that he was selected as one of the orc soldiers sent through to fight the Alliance, survived, and became a gladiator in the human internment camps. He escaped, but went back to fighting in underground contests, made a bunch of gold, then purchased Bloodeye to fight for him.

Bloodeye is a Blackrock orc (see: Blackhand, Orgrim). The Blackrocks are described in Rise of the Horde as being powerful and violent, proud and strong warriors, with legendary hunting skills that justified their forming the vanguard for the attack on Telmor. Broll describes Bloodeye as being good/the best even for a Blackrock orc, suggesting that Blackrock orcs also have a reputation on Azeroth that marks them as formidable, and Bloodeye is among the top of his class. Other gladiator masters also describe him as the “greatest gladiator”. Bloodeye was trained for three years, and then became the single Champion of the Crimson Ring (note: Varian, Valeera and Broll are not single champions, but they were only trained for three weeks before claiming victory at the Crimson Ring).

So, Rehgar and Bloodeye are seriously impressive themselves. Broll claims that the two of them pooled their winnings from Dire Maul to buy himself and Valeera to fight with Bloodeye in team combat. However, this is a lie. Broll is not a slave in the same way that Varian and Valeera are, he volunteered to be part of Rehgar’s team. So Rehgar and Bloodeye “pooled their funds” to buy Valeera specifically. This suggests two things 1) Valeera was valued highly enough by the orcs who imprisoned her that Rehgar and Bloodeye both had to exchange their winnings from Dire Maul to afford her, and 2) they saw this investment as worthwhile. Both of these are in spite of the fact that Valeera is not an orc and that she is a child. Valeera, as a child, was deemed as being worthy to fight beside an orc champion and not likely to die too soon for the gold spent on her to have been wasted.

Why? Because she was able to injure several orc guards on her own before she was finally subdued and thrown in jail. Considering how hulking orcs are compared to elves, and thus even more hulking compared to an elf child, that’s no mean feat.

Some other examples that should reinforce how physically tough Valeera is:

Her, Varian, and Broll took out three ogres, the previous Crimson Ring champions, in order to claim victory (again: it takes ten orcs to take out one regular ogre). Granted that Varian did most of the work and Valeera got grievously injured, but she didn’t die kjfhakjh

She was sold for nothing less than a fortune after winning alongside Varian and Broll

Also made everyone who bet on her a fortune

She stopped this two-handed, overhead strike from a adult human male from the Assassin’s Guild with one hand while looking bored as fuck

Fought off a bunch of naga which are also much bigger than her

Fought off some night elf sentinels

Other things I can’t be bothered to remember right now kfjheafkjh

#❛ cross me; and i'll show you how dangerous i really am. ❜ ❪ talents ❫#excuse me but it is thirsting after valeera hours #🤤#i have been sitting on this for so long and i still didn't properly finish it but w/e LMAO #and i didn't even get into how psychologically tough she is 😍#not letting kathra'natir take over her body even when he was torturing her and whispering at her #which got me 👀 about how she would deal with the void #but that is a post for another time dkjehfakjh #did i mention i love valeera #warrior in rogue leather

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awryen-nyx · 4 years

Photo

*hand DIES*

I will finish this later. I still have to draw Shalla'tor, Ellemayne, and finish the Stormwind Vanguard Polearm. Also, I know I’m missing a few lines here and there and I still gotta give Varian his scars.

*sigh*

There will also be a small ficlet to go with it. Plus the day 15 ficlet.

I need to go crash now. X_x

(this is why i rarely draw him in his armor. so. much. detail.)

edit: Whoops, wrong blog!!

#world of warcraft #world of oc x canoncraft #varian wrynn #oc: awryen #otp: indigo wolf

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isolaradiale · 5 years

Text

Lost in Space 12

Hello, Isolans! We have conducted an activity check for the month of August!

If your character isn’t on this list, make sure to check this page to see how many stars that character has earned this month! Stars can be used for purchases at the marketplace.

The blogs that were removed from the Isola Radiale masterlist are under the cut. Note that both blogs with broken links and deactivated accounts will be included both at the top of this list and in their proper categories.

If you were removed in error, please simply send a re-application message. Several different people work on the activity checks, so it’s possible there are mistakes! If this happens to you, you will be able to keep everything you previously had, you just may be placed in a different residence.

Our general activity rules regarding checks are as follows:

Make at least three in-character posts during a calendar month.

Only one drabble and/or meme response of 300+ words counts as activity.

One-liners or minis not tagged #isola mini also do not count. This includes posts tagged as dash commentary, but not with a mini/open tag.

Please Note: If you are removed during two consecutive activity checks, you will not be allowed to re-apply as that character for two calendar months.

Additionally, anyone removed during the activity check will have a 12-hour window from the time of posting to re-claim their character. Any character not reclaimed during that period will be open to the community at large.

Please send in your reapplications from the account of the character that was removed.

Broken URLs:

Mooncancer (BB) (Fate, CONDO 430)

Cai (Original Character, HOUSE 140)

ADVENTURE TIME

Marceline Abadeer (HOUSE 112)

ANOTHER EDEN

Benedict (HOUSE 139)

ASSASSIN'S CREED

Kassandra (HOUSE 132)

BLACK CAT

Train Heartnet (TOWNHOUSE 205)

BLAZBLUE

Jin Kisaragi (HOUSE 123)

Mai Natsume (APARTMENT 316)

BLOODBORNE

Laurence (HOUSE 143)

BORDERLANDS

Rhys (CONDO 401)

BUNGOU STRAY DOGS

Atsushi Nakajima (TOWNHOUSE 214)

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD

Aichi Sendou (Aichi Sendou's House [Cotes])

Toshiki Kai (Aichi Sendou's House [Cotes])

CRASH BANDICOOT

Nina Cortex (TOWNHOUSE 206)

CRITICAL ROLE

Mollymauk Tealeaf (TOWNHOUSE 202)

DANGANRONPA

Chiaki Nanami (APARTMENT 308)

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu (APARTMENT 317)

Peko Pekoyama (HOUSE 121)

Rantaro Amami (HOUSE 134)

DC COMICS

Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) (TOWNHOUSE 213)

Komand'r (Blackfire) (TOWNHOUSE 241)

DIGIMON

Takumi Aiba (APARTMENT 304)

DISNEY

Varian (CONDO 429)

DRAGON AGE

Marian Hawke (HOUSE 146)

FALLOUT

Benny Gecko (HOUSE 128)

Yes Man (HOUSE 137)

FATE

Berserker (Cu Chulainn Alter) (APARTMENT 314)

Kadoc Zemlupus (HOUSE 104)

Kirei Kotomine (HOUSE 130)

Mooncancer (BB) (CONDO 430) *BROKEN URL

Saber (Arthur Pendragon) (TOWNHOUSE 229)

FINAL FANTASY

Alphinaud Leveilleur (HOUSE 145)

Rinoa Heartilly (APARTMENT 307)

Zidane Tribal (CONDO 431)

FIRE EMBLEM

Inigo (HOUSE 105)

Sakura (HOUSE 102)

GODZILLA

Godzilla (OUTSIDE)

Mothra (OUTSIDE)

GRANBLUE FANTASY

Cagliostro (HOUSE 141)

GUILTY GEAR

Dizzy (HOUSE 111)

INTO THE DARK

Maggie (HOUSE 119)

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE

Enrico Pucci (CONDO 433)

Trish Una (HOUSE 112)

JUST SHAPES AND BEATS

Barracuda (TOWNHOUSE 221)

Fresh/Blixer (CONDO 409)

KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN

Daemon Spade (HOUSE 119)

KEKKAN SENSEN

Black / King of Despair (CONDO 405)

KINGDOM HEARTS

Axel / Lea (APARTMENT 327)

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Kai'sa (HOUSE 117)

Rakan (APARTMENT 306)

LEGEND OF ZELDA

Blue Link (CONDO 435)

LEGO MOVIES

Rex Dangervest (APARTMENT 328)

Unikitty (TOWNHOUSE 209)

LUCIFER

Lucifer Morningstar (HOUSE 146)

LUPIN III

Lupin (HOUSE 123)

MABINOGI

Elatha (Aichi Sendou's House [Cotes])

MARVEL

Laura Kinney (X-23) (APARTMENT 366)

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG

Chloe Bourgeois (HOUSE 117)

MY HERO ACADEMIA (BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA)

Hawks (CONDO 440)

MYSTERY SKULLS

Arthur (CONDO 419)

MYSTIC MESSENGER

Rika (TOWNHOUSE 212)

NARUTO

Ino Yamanaka (CONDO 409)

Sakura Haruno (APARTMENT 366)

OCTOPATH TRAVELER

Tressa Colzione (HOUSE 136)

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS

Annastasia Miles (HOUSE 142)

Cai (HOUSE 140) *BROKEN URL

Demyan Reyes (TOWNHOUSE 210)

Kachina (Kachina's House [Golden])

Karen Sanchez (APARTMENT 327)

KYRIN-0018 (APARTMENT 337)

Opherryn (HOUSE 137)

Piper Elenmin (Nightmare Knight's House [Archimedes])

Prime Beta 003 (HOUSE 130)

Zachary Zaidan (ZZ) (CONDO 404)

OVERWATCH

Genji Shimada (HOUSE 142)

PANDORA HEARTS

Oswald Baskerville (HOUSE 147)

PANTY AND STOCKING WITH GARTERBELT

Panty Anarchy (CONDO 414)

POKEMON

Torchic (HOUSE 129)

SALLY FACE

Sal Fisher (TOWNHOUSE 238)

SENNEN MEIKYUU NO NANA OUJI

Zan Audupon (APARTMENT 333)

SKULLGIRLS

Filia Medici (HOUSE 127)

STAR OCEAN

Chisato Madison (HOUSE 108)

STEVEN UNIVERSE

Peridot (HOUSE 128)

TEAM FORTRESS

Medic (HOUSE 122)

THRONE OF GLASS

Aelin Galathynius (APARTMENT 321)

TITANFALL

Jack Cooper (TOWNHOUSE 240)

TOUHOU

Kosuzu Motoori (APARTMENT 319)

TRANSFORMERS

Tailgate (OUTSIDE)

THE WALKING DEAD

Judith Grimes (TOWNHOUSE 213)

WANDERSONG

Kiwi / The Bard (HOUSE 126)

VOCALOID

Gakupo (HOUSE 140)

YOUR TURN TO DIE (KIMI GA SHINE)

Sara Chidouin (CONDO 431)

Sou Hiyori (TOWNHOUSE 221)

#modnote #activity check #lost in space 12

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fatedroses · 5 years

Text

Faustus’ Story

Alright, because @lunarpaps asked for me to go into more detail behind the changes I’ve made for this characters story.

I’m going to make one, albeit long, post going through the timeline and actually have this written out for anyone curious on this characters story and how at least for my canon he fits into the world as a whole.

Alright, starting off are the major changes I’ve made in terms of the story I’ve already written and posted on here, or may have referenced. I may end up linking on an oc page or something similar to this post, and after I get this posted I will most likely end up drawing snippets of the events, cause this also inspired me to do so anyways.

Changes, and anything that I forgot will be added in a reblog later on:

With Liam returning for this version, Hugrim, and most of the decisions involving him, is going to be with and between him and Sarath. This is better just because him and Sarath have better chemistry with each other, and I’ll eventually get around to their stories after I get them more solidified. I’ll admit that writing the initial relationship between him and Faustus just didn’t seem to flow the way I wanted it to, and that I’m more satisfied with this direction, and it lets all of them get a happier ending.

Faustus is more of an emissary and ally to the Vanguards rather than an outright leader, I want his position as a Greyguard to be more relevant to his character and therefore Felicity is going to take his older role in the council of the Vanguards, a better fit considering her role in the Kirin Tor and her relationship with Praeragos. I guess Faustus technically takes the role as one of the adventurers due to his interactions with Genn and his tasks often delivering messages and running errands, but whatever.

Because Faustus would in turn be spending more time both between Darnassus and Stormwind, and later Kul Tiras, when he isn’t on any assignments because of his position, I plan on him having more interactions and development with Anduin, Mathias, Varian, etc. I’ve been able to affirm to myself that it’s alright writing dynamics between these characters, cause I’m a dweeb and steered away from that for whatever reason.

In turn I get to explore his reaction and interactions to the events that happened, both that he was and wasn’t there for. For example him traveling to Northrend with Felicity and a few others to learn of what happened as a person alongside his team, from a bystander’s point of view in his off time with the Vanguards. To then participating in the search for Anduin during MoP, as an active member of the alliance and as someone who would’ve went searching for the missing prince regardless of his allegiances or not. By originally putting him in a situation where he had to be in a consistently neutral environment it made him going out into these new situations difficult to write for, as it made trying to get the information for these places hard to actually write in a way that made sense.

Now seen with the “Dynamic Duo” piece that was posted before this post, Faustus’ affinity for magic and the situation with being a spellblade/mage-rogue combo is going to be something that took effect far earlier in his story. With him and his brother, and in turn his mother and his father respectively, the boys took after their parents, with Faustus showing traits of magical prowess while Pheles showed traits of druidic prowess at an early age. After the fire Faustus then later gets training on magic from Felicity, her parents, and Ashton, and he specializes in Ashton’s practice of magic which is close ranged, portals, and enchantment. However in most cases he’s on active duty he tends to focus on using it for teleportation and avoiding the long ass boat rides when he has the ability and energy to. Speaking of Pheles, I’m leaning towards making the two twins, just because the year difference really doesn’t make too much of an impact and this fits a bit better.

Krennan takes Faustus in as an adopted son rather than having him just kinda stick around the castle like it was previous planned/implied. It gives me an excuse to give Krennan more attention due to the fact I was already interested in the character beforehand. It also gives Faustus the opportunity to build his relationships with the royals and Felicity more organically than it was before.

The story behind Faustus losing his arm has been tweaked, but that’ll be explained more in depth during the story section of this post. I also plan on redrawing the pieces that went with it as well. Hex is still the main antagonist of that arc, and it’s still a decisive sacrifice Faustus makes, it’s just the events beforehand and afterwards are a bit different.

————

For the sake of having this all in one place, I’m also going to have the entire story written out. When I tagged this as a long post, I meant it. I might tweak a few things in the future, but this is what is what I’m running with for the time being. This also includes the story of his parents due to their relevance in setting up the events that happen later on.

Story:

Parents and Childhood (Ages 0-10):

Born to Ilaise and Cedius Erthwal, Faustus and Pheles’ life started out rather average, and they were planned to be raised in Gilneas. Ilaise, born and raised in Gilneas herself met her husband Cedius during a trip to Boralus. The druid was taking his monthly trip to the market for supplies to aid in his research over the cycle of regrowth and decay, driven by his fascination with the Cenarion druid circles spurred on by an encounter with Sarath as well as other traveling druids. Ilaise herself was working alongside Ashton Wythers, another mage of the Kirin Tor, in finding the limits of their magical ability, and was known in her own town of Emberstone as a rather renowned hunter that earned her a friendship with Mia before the would be queen was courted by and got married with Genn. In learning of each other’s studies they hit it off, eventually leading to Ilaise offering to bring Cedius to Gilneas, which he heartily agrees, wanting to get away from Drustvar due to some history, and family, the druid wanted to get away from.

However Cedius, in his move across the seas, was still going to need a decent size of land to continue his studies. Thanks to Mia granting them a closer audience with both Genn and his father, they were granted a section of land, a farm estate that was to be built by the two north of the city, given their own resources of the forest and whatever land they needed, so long as any food and lumber grown was produced in benefit to Gilneas and her people. Cedius took this offer gladly, as the efforts of mass regrowth of crops and ensuring that it didn’t negatively impact the areas surrounding it was a part of his research. Genn, in his curiosity in seeing that if this plan would work, brought him to investigate it frequently, eventually leading to his cordial friendship with Cedius.

As the years went on in this arrangement, in both his relationship with Ilaise and the regrowth project on the farmland, went well. Him and Ilaise got married after Ilaise returned from aiding the other human settlements against the first horde, lending her duties over to her colleague Ashton who took her place fighting so that she could settle down and eventually have Faustus and Pheles with Cedius, an act she was greatly thankful for. Genn and Mia, busy with raising their own children, and with the situation regarding the surrounding kingdoms, found themselves being able to visit their friends less and less, though they were able to visit each other during the birthdays of their children.

The brothers themselves found friendship in each other and the other children of Emberstone, which was nearby. They had met the Greymane siblings beforehand, but due to the distance and the ever nearing conflicts they didn’t really have the opportunity to get to know each other well. Faustus found at a young age that he had an affinity for the arcane trying to save a vase that tipped off the table. This was much to his father’s amusement having to leap after his son and the vase to actually save the situation, only for Ilaise to run in with a very confused dirt covered Pheles from their trip to their own private garden, discovering that the boys had the affinity of the opposite “preferred parent”, a joke among the two. This led to the boys getting some rather rudimentary training alongside their education, turning the rather mischievous pair even worse in their tricks as it helped Faustus honed his ability to blink short distances, which made him almost impossible to catch, and Pheles had a rather special focus on growing roots that often led to Cedius tripping and landing face first in the dirt, as well as jumpscaring both parents as he found his natural talent in the bear druid form.

Unfortunately Cedius’s history ended up catching up to him as his brother, known only to others as Hex, had hunted him down to Gilneas alongside several members of the cult. With Hex’s intention to either force his brother to use his druidic prowess in strengthening the reach of the blighted lands back in Drustvar and bringing about the return of Gorak Tul, or die. He started a fire at the base of the house, which was first discovered by Pheles, who ran to get his father to alert him about it. With the aid of his accomplices the fire spread quicker than usual, making it difficult for Ilaise to try and put it out as everything she tried to do only seemed to come back tenfold. This only got worse as the roof started to collapse, which ended pinning Faustus under a beam. Cedius had went off to try and find the source up until he encountered his brother, refusing his offer almost immediately and trying to call upon some wicker constructs to defend himself, and while Ilaise had managed to keep the fire from burning Faustus, he was too panicked in his young age to try and blink out from the debris until Ilaise was able to lift the beam a bit and Pheles pulled him out. As they tried to escape the house Ilaise pushed the boys away from more falling debris, sacrificing herself and getting herself pinned so that the two could escape by Faustus blinking both of them away, and they started to run to get help. Hex elected to leave his weakened brother to his colleagues to chase after the boys, believing that if they were in immediate danger Cedius would agree. Instead Cedius watched on as Pheles tripped Hex with roots along the dirt path, knocking his mask off so that they could both run away and so that Faustus could nail Hex in the nose with a rock, catching him off guard so that Pheles could attempt to carry his brother off on his back. One important piece that both Ilaise and Hex didn’t realize was that Pheles had taken his father’s very important research journal with him as well.

This only enraged Hex more, knowing that even if his colleagues succeeded in their attempt to now assassinate Ilaise and Cedius that the brothers would become issues later on. So he gave chase. Pheles found that drawing the pyromancer into the city was a bad idea, and threw Faustus off his back, electing to attempt to maul Hex’s legs before running off in another direction, while Faustus ran off in another direction. Hex went after Faustus however, as he was still injured by getting pinned. Pheles ran off towards the harbor, catching the attention of one of the Kul Tiran vessels that had their own druid working up in the crows nest. The crew took Pheles in, and sent their druid to go help his brother. This druid, Silvio, managed to catch up to Hex, clawing at his face in his bird form and giving Faustus enough time to run into the city of Gilneas and hide before Silvio himself flew off, leaving Hex to deal with his wounds and return to the burning home before he could manage to get caught by any city guards sent his way.

Hex and his colleagues made sure that Ilaise and Cedius were dead before returning to Drustvar, not knowing however that before their deaths they had bound themselves to the hearth, making their spirits remain on Azeroth and defeating their purpose of making them useless in death. Pheles joined the crew on their voyage back to Kul Tiras, much to the captain’s chargin but that aside he would eventually be taken to Ulfar by Silvio to learn the ways of the Thornspeaker, and gave Pheles an opportunity to learn more about his father from his old teacher before eventually returning to that vessel to join the captain in learning to become one. Finally Faustus went into hiding, becoming paranoid that Hex would be able to find him again, or that those around him could give him up to him, and isolated himself, finding his life as stealing food from stalls and blinking away before anyone noticed and hiding away in the empty unused water pipes that surrounded the city. Genn was alerted to the fire by his guard, leaving Liam and Tess in the care of Krennan before they went to investigate, only to find the home and farmland in ash, all of Cedius work was gone, and the now-king himself found Ilaise and Cedius inside the home, hand in hand with each other, and realized as because he couldn’t find the boys that they were still out there somewhere.

Adolescence and the Greyguard (Ages 10-25):

Faustus spent a couple months in hiding, avoiding anyone he deemed as untrustworthy, which due to his paranoia from the entire situation beforehand and being separated from his parents and brother, was just about everyone. Genn, Mia, Krennan, and Krennan’s charge and family friend Felicity would try to go looking for him after getting a letter from Kul Tiras stating that Pheles was found and safe. Felicity herself found that she could get glimpses of Faustus and the directions he went off to, but due to him using his arcane abilities to get away, and for him himself discovering he could hide himself using magic, making him difficult to hunt down.

After awhile, as Genn, Mia, Tess, and Liam were taking a trip through the city, Liam finds that the bracelet given by his mother was gone from his wrist. Knowing that it hadn’t had fallen he looked around, spotting Faustus backing up and running away from the group. Offended at the theft of his heirloom, Liam went after him, Tess immediately following her brother and making Genn and Mia panic for a moment before running after them. The siblings managed to chase him into an alleyway, and nearly succeeded in cornering him had he not tried to blink away. He was quickly caught by Genn when he and Mia caught up, and with Mia’s help they managed to calm him down enough to be able to bring him to Krennan. There the siblings and Felicity stayed with Faustus as the adults talked, and for the first time in a while, thanks to three cracking small jokes trying to get Faustus to at least laugh, they actually succeeded, and while they couldn’t get him to talk he at least accepted staying close to them. Faustus gave Liam his bracelet back as a silent apology, and after a bit of discussion Krennan came to him offering to take him in and adopt him. Faustus gave it some thought, grabbed Felicity’s arm and nodding with a quiet yes.

Faustus had a relatively normal rest of his childhood, though he continued to have paranoia and nightmares about Hex. This also started his and Felicity’s close friendship after they started living in the same house, Felicity thought that she was basically chosen after Faustus agreed to stay, and they bonded over their studies in magic, which Felicity was able to share her resources about it with him. They both also bonded with Krennan, often helping him around with his alchemy by going to the market to get herbs and having him teach them both their general education and alchemy. These two also spent time with the royal siblings thanks to Krennan often visiting Genn for both personal and professional reasons, Tess herself found it fascinating that Faustus was able to pickpocket Liam without anyone noticing, and Liam himself wanted to learn about Faustus more, as he often remembered seeing Cedius come to the manor once in a while but never really got the chance to talk. Felicity herself already knew the siblings well due to the amount of time she had already spent with Krennan beforehand.

As time went on, with Faustus reaching his teens, the four became a very tight knit group. Liam trained under his mother in becoming a hunter, finding after a good amount of training that he was quite a remarkable marksmen. Felicity decided not to focus her studies towards the offensive uses of magic, and instead aimed to one day improve the kingdom itself through her own inventions and such. Faustus found that he had a mark for design and engineering, often helping Felicity with her plans, but he also aimed to become a Greyguard after having an opportunity to watch them train, as well as him watching Genn and Darius train with each other several times before. Genn agreed to help Faustus train, as well as introduce him to some of his spymasters so that he could learn the ways of a rogue, considering how he was built he was suited for it. This also led to Faustus passing off the knowledge he had to the younger Tess, helping her start down her path of roguishness without, for the most part, Genn knowing, until she started training down that path as she got older.

Faust devoted himself to earning his place among the Greyguard, as with the more time he spent with them he found his own purpose with them. As the Greymanes had given him their time and effort to look for and out for him, he found that the only way to repay that in a way he would be satisfied with was to devote his life to giving them the protection that he was never able to give his parents and brother because of his inexperience and young age, In that way he could set aside the feelings and failures he felt as a child and instead had the opportunity to spend time with those he really cares about and be at peace with himself. His devotion eventually earned him the position of being Liam and Tess’s retainer, passed off by his main mentor Sibran, and it gave him the ability to just hang out with them while helping his superiors out on their duties when he could as a decision made by Genn so that the boy could still have a generally normal youth without having to worry about issues that brought him into constant danger or away from those close to him. Liam and Faustus also started getting even closer around this time, often found training with each other, working together to create new weapons and rifles, or were out hunting and patrolling around Gilneas.

There were issues however, as after Genn made the decision to secede from the Alliance and wall off Gilneas from the rest of the other kingdoms issues began to arise that actually called Faustus’ attention, starting with an event that happened not long after the construction of the wall started and in an attempt to get everyone's mind off of it they held a winter banquet, where an angered objector tried to get retribution for losing his land to being on the other side of the wall by attacking Liam, as he was the first Greymane he saw. Faustus managed to take the hit instead, earning him the scar across his eye and a scar on his left shoulder. This started the trend of Faustus having to watch around him more often than before, especially after the rebellion started taking more of a hold and the scourge started attacking the finished north gate wall. In addition due to his talents Faustus was also tasked with trying to root out the rebellion members and finding out who was leading them, in which his attempts tended to get him in a lot of trouble when he got too close.

Though despite all the struggles that came with this era Faustus and Liam found solace in each other, a couple close calls including the attack on at the banquet pushed Liam to actually admit his feelings to Faustus, feelings Faustus shared and that they had both developed from the time they had spent at each other’s side. At first they kept it hidden, in one part knowing that if any of the opposition knew it would be easy for them to use Faustus against Liam, and by extension the other Greyguard and Genn, in another part due to general royal upbringing Liam wasn’t entirely sure how his parents would really feel about the relationship due to the standard of marrying for political benefit and the state of Gilneas’ political climate was difficult to read at the time. However, Genn and Mia are neither foolish or oblivious, and were quick to understand their situation, leading to Genn having to pull Liam aside and quell his worries that he had married Mia out of love, not out gain or political pressure, and that if he truly found that he loved Faustus that he should go with it, especially since with Gilneas isolated there wasn't really much to get political gain for. Even if their relationship didn’t become public, some still found the pair as quite an intimidating duo, as Liam was a natural born leader and a major inspiration to those who came in contact with them, and Faustus became known as a creative inventor with a knack for detective work, who got the title of being an anti-assassin.

The scourge continued to become more and more of a problem, more so than the rooted rebellion as attacks would get collectively worse, leading Genn to call in Arugal for a solution, which came to be reawakening the worgen. Faustus, Sibran, and the other greyguard found themselves as the last line of military defense against the undead. An experience Faustus almost immediately regretted when he first came in contact with an abomination, but when the worgen came to aid them, and ended up turning against the front line, Faustus ended up getting bitten in the process. Not knowing that the curse was spread by the bite, he was cleared by Sibran to return back into the city, only to fall ill and turn once he got home. Felicity was able to restrain him, and Krennan was able to make him drink a potion to knock him out, but they only had a little time to bring him to Stormglen and restrain him, away from the city in a way to keep him from hurting other people or getting himself killed by the guard or hunters. Felicity had to keep a close eye on him, and after admitting to Genn why Faustus had gone missing the three worked towards trying to find a cure or aid to the curse, their working going double time once Genn was also bitten, but with the help of Krennan and Belyrsa found ways to keep him from turning.

Faustus was thought dead due to his absence and the fact that if they couldn’t restore his will and mind he would basically be such anyways. Liam, though distraught, wasn’t entirely convinced, and had a hope in his mind that he was still somewhere out there. Instead he put on a brave face and told others that Faustus had instead fallen very ill, which many of the Greyguard were skeptical about, but kept quiet for the sake of their prince. One day however, Tess and Liam trailed Genn and Krennan to Stormglen, waiting until they left the abandoned building they were frequenting to try and find what they were hiding, only for them to get tracked down by feral worgen. Faustus, upon hearing Felicity call out for the siblings, as well as hearing them yell out, broke from the chains keeping him from escaping. He managed to intercept the worgen before he could attack the three, holding them off until Genn was able to handle it himself. They found that after the attack was deterred, that Liam and Tess could actually calm Faustus down enough to get him to focus on them, though even if he could focus and understand what they were saying he had no way of communicating back with them. Liam and Tess, however, were relieved to find Faustus alive, even if this experience changed him in the long run.

Eventually Sarath, Hugrim, and Drulos came to investigate Cedius and Ilaise’s disappearance, as Sarath and Drulos hadn’t heard from them in a while. They found the farm, and Ilaise’s spirit ended up guiding them to Faustus where Cedius was already waiting in Stormglen. After gathering enough energy due to the direness of the situation, Cedius and Drulos were able to call upon and bargain with Goldrin. If Faustus managed to prove himself to Goldrinn, and Cedius and Ilaise agreed to act as agents of Goldrinn as they continued to traverse the mortal plane, the wild god would agree to aid Faustus in returning to being himself. As Goldrinn tested Faustus, though the man had a strong will, he found himself unable to keep his own fear and rage in check when faced with visions of Hex and the Scourge. Sarath pleaded to Goldrinn that they didn’t just leave Faustus to himself like this, and though the wild god wasn’t going to do so in the first place, he instead allowed Ilaise to separate Faustus’ rage and fury into another section of his mind and make it temporarily dormant, giving Faustus control over himself again and allowing him to return to his human form, as well as letting him have a more intimate control over his worgen form. However, as a side effect Faustus had to constantly manage his rage, as due to this separation this feral anger could manifest in both forms instead of only his worgen form, which when he was armed made him highly dangerous. The solution wasn't perfect but it gave Faustus the opportunity to one day, possibly, be at peace with himself and learn to control that fury where it mattered, rather than letting it control him.

Before going on their way to hold their end of the deal, Drulos and Sarath were able to say their final goodbyes to their old friends, the three remained to help care for Faustus as reverting from worgen form, as well as the general exertion he went through over this period of time, left him rather weak and disoriented. After they made sure their technical ‘charge’ was cared for, Sarath flew the two out the way they came, but not before Faustus came to, learned of the situation, and made Sarath promise to one day teach him orcish due to meeting Drulos and learning what the druid and two shamans did for him that day, out of respect and thankfulness.

Felicity found him not long afterwards, surprised to see him suddenly back to himself, and was in fact rather skeptical about it at first. But after finally getting himself situated, and Felicity retrieved him some clothes for him, he was finally able to return to Gilneas, luckily being able to pass off his disappearance as an illness he had to be taken to Dalaran/be under Felicity’s family’s care for. As time went on he understood how this other side of himself started to manifest, namely that it tended to appear if he couldn’t control his emotions in general, or if he went too long without giving it control. He struggled to keep it under control at first, and knowing that he was struggling with it he found himself both talking less and keeping himself away from anyone that wasn’t the royals, Sibran, or Felicity and Krennan.

Liam was a major factor in helping Faustus get back to normal, and it helped that the other side of Faustus was still Faustus at the end of the day, and even as ferocious and hard headed the beast was he still cared deeply about the same people, and will take control if he feels the way Faustus acts normally is ill-equipped to handle protecting them. Liam was commonly the person Faustus was able to vent to besides Felicity, and when Liam knew it had been a while since a manifestation he and Faustus would often go hunting, whether it would be deterring worgen or just hunting normally to bring resources to the market. It also helped that the other side also respected Liam and his ability to remain calm in the face of adversity. Eventually Faustus started meeting with Sarath and Hugrim out in the old abandoned far, and from there he started to build connections with the Vanguard, and he learned to start meditating as a way of communing with himself and starting to pull himself back together.

Years went on, and the north gate rebellion came and went, Faustus did what he could to prevent as much bloodshed as he could, but the uprising and battle took a heavy toll on both sides. Faustus himself was heavily injured when he came into contact with two of his old childhood friends from Emberstone, Elicia and Jean, who had sided with Crowley, and though he was heavily injured, he was able to get them to put down their weapons and let him help them leave the battle under the promise that he wouldn’t get them arrested, and learning that though Faustus didn’t agree with all of Genn’s actions, that he understood the king was stuck between a rock and a hard place due to his pride, his stubbornness, and the pressure of the surrounding events. This injury, an axe wound to his side, did end up restricting him for a while. It required a lot of bed rest and he was designated to playing messenger while Sibran took his role as retainer back for the meantime. Afterwards, besides the small scale worgen attacks, things went back to normal and Faustus was able to return to his duties. That was until the large scale attack on Gilneas, and as the city fell and anyone not turned was pushed back into the outskirts, it took a heavy toll on everyone involved.

Faustus was tasked with helping the Greyguard get back on track, and as Krennan actually put together the potion that was meant to aid the feral worgen, he was also tasked to aid in capturing what many came to realize as their own friends, family, and peers. Liam however took the fall hard, feeling as though he had failed his people, and with Faustus’ near constant absence, he turned to drinking away his problems (as seen in the game, holy shit Liam why), something that Faustus and Tess tried to steer him away from but the prince was too caught up in his own head to listen. Felicity herself was occupied and gone from Gilneas from helping Dalaran alongside Ashton where she could during the events in Northrend and the ensuing aftermath, and the start of the cataclysm. After the Horde’s attack on Gilneas, and Liam’s subsequent bounce back onto his feet after being in a position to help his people again, Faustus stayed by his side and supported him where he could, the future of their city looking up. Until Liam took the arrow for Genn.

Losing Liam twisted something within Faustus, and though he and the separated side of him came together enough to cooperate, he gained this silent rage and ferocity that took a while to ever go away. The anger at the attackers, and the anger at himself turned him into a ruthless machine, pushing him to retaliate hard against the forsaken not long after the initial battle. He found refuge in Tess’ sympathy and hope, and with Felicity gone and busy elsewhere she was all he had left to bring him back down to earth. It was under her guidance that he came to focus his anger towards what mattered, pushing him towards the path of becoming one with himself again. He also had help during this journey thanks to his encounters with Anduin Wrynn, who he had initially met before the summit of the alliance in Darnassus. They got along, and were able to bond over learning about the events that had happened that they were unaware of. Anduin found that Faustus was a person he could vent his worries to without judgement of ability, and Faustus found Anduin as someone he could both look up to and protect. Though Faustus struggled with the loss of someone so close to him, and the loss of his homeland, he was able to find others that would help guide him back onto his feet, and push him to keep fighting for was he thought was right.

The Alliance and Azeroth (Ages 25-Present):

Faustus mostly found himself at Genn’s side after joining the alliance, and when he wasn’t, he was running messages and errands thanks to his affinity for teleportation and portal creation. He busied himself, and almost never gave himself a break initially in order to keep his mind off the events that had happened prior. Upon some of these errands he came across people who he would aid and build connections with. He reconnected with Elicia and Jean during and after the battle for Gilneans, helping them come to terms with the worgen curse. He met Baltor, a priest known for aiding the lost and wayward spirits, when they encountered each other in the rest area of an arena ring, after Faustus was captured by pirates during a trip back to Stormwind with some of the other soldiers. Finally he met Tyraanas, a Draenei paladin, on the front against garrosh’s horde in Ashenvale. This was also the time Faustus was introduced to the Vanguards, their leader Enahlien, and the figures that led the multiple sectors of the settlement. The era of the Cataclysm was primarily providing rushed aid to the front fighting Garrosh’s horde, protecting Stormwind when needed, and providing a connection of the alliance to the Vanguards as a defacto emissary.

It was around this time that Faustus started to form his own squad, with himself, Tyraan, Baltor, Elicia, and Jean. This team was some of the first sent to look for Anduin during the start of Mists, mostly due to personal request on Faustus’ behalf (because he was both incredibly worried and anxious know that Anduin could have been in danger). It was in Pandaria that Faustus was forced to pull himself together, as at that point he risked being consumed by several of the sha, and due to his determination to work alongside his anger and be at peace with it, rather than wrangle and control it, it gave him better control over himself in general and let him aid his team in combating the influences of the sha as well. The only time this nearly fell apart during the expeditions was when he discovered Anduin’s injuries after being crushed by the bell, his doubt and anger nearly getting to him until his team was able to, in payment for him helping them in the first place, help him calm himself to prevent the sha from manifesting.

From there Faustus and his team continued their work while Anduin was recovering, but knowing that Varian was already fretting over his son Faustus instead decided to support his decision to continue to encourage his people and his allies, being overbearing was likely only going to be a detriment anyways. As the events in Pandaria progressed, Faustus bounced between aiding the front with his team where he could, and introducing his team to the Vanguards and beginning to integrate himself with them more afterwards, building connections with Adonis, Hugrim, Hugrim’s family, as well as his crew aboard the allegiance who offered to aid the efforts in Pandaria so long as they weren’t caught up in the war itself in the process.

The issues in Draenor and all the events that take place during that time was actually the period where Faustus takes a break from the front and works on his connection outside of the horde and alliance. He was able to meet the horde emissaries, a forsaken monk who merely introduced himself as Ederi, and a goblin shaman named Glekkle. A lot of what this community was working on combating was the rising influence of Hex’s cult, as well as the threat of the Legion invasion that was starting to be known as an inevitable event. Hex wanted to pull apart the Vanguards, knowing that the cult would be destroyed upon them learning of their efforts to extend the reach of Thros. This issue for Hex became even more apparent when he discovered Pheles had started working with Felicity, Sarath, and Hugrim to combat the reach of the cult, and Tul’s own covens, in Kul Tiras itself.

So, taking this opportunity now that several of the major Vanguard leaders were absent from the citadel itself Hex waged an all out attack against the citadel, catching everyone within off guard and forcing a large scale evacuation that drove the citizen’s living within to Dalaran, and brought Faustus, Ederi, Enahlien, Verelyn, an undead priestess that constantly worked with Sarath and Hugrim known as Ainade, to stay behind and attempt to prevent the cult from taking over the citadel. The position within Arathi and the research that could be used to breach the blighted lands into Azeroth was far too important to the vanguards to just give it up. After the five were swarmed with aberrations and found themselves in a losing fight, Ederi and Ainade locked themselves within Hugrim’s garden/research building, and did what they could from keeping the thankfully fireproof building safe, the other three were urged to leave and gather their strength until they could reclaim the citadel once more. In their attempted escape the three were captured, Hex himself was the one to do so personally as his members were tasked with raided the other buildings and preparing themselves to settle there. Hex’s use of fire and wicker abominations gave Faustus little time to get the other two out before they were seriously injured, and knowing that the Vanguard needed their leaders he elected to use most of his strength to break out of the construct’s grasp, and sacrifice his arm in Hex’s attempt to behead Enahlien so that Enahlien and Verelyn could gather enough of his strength to break free and run away.

Faustus used whatever time he had thought he had left, as he was bleeding out and knew that he likely wouldn’t have enough time to escape, was able to take his pistol while Hex was distracted by the two running and shot him in the knee so that he couldn’t chase after the two, before killing him for killing his parents, ruining a large part of his life, and attempting to break apart a people whose entire foundation came from pulling together through the turmoils of separation, loss, and exile. He knew, from the fact that his father persisted after his death, that this wasn’t going to be the last of Hex, but he was dying knowing that he was either going to combat him himself if he was unable to move on, or that he had broken the Cult’s leadership down enough to give both his team and the rest of the Vanguards enough time to regroup and mount a full attack against them to get the city back.

But it wasn’t like the Vanguards to leave their allies behind, and as Praeragos and Sarath managed to temporarily drive the cult from the citadel, giving them enough time to let Sarath rescue and take Ederi and Ain to Dalaran, Praer brought the remaining three to Stormwind where there was just a slim enough chance that Faustus could be saved. After magically locking the gardens, the mage tower, and the keep so that important information that was already guarded by other means couldn’t get tampered with further, Praer had carried and flown them back by opening a portal after he broke free of the cult’s vain attempts to restrain him with briar thorns. Baltor had felt the surge of energy from the portal from his room at the old town inn and from Praer’s spirit, and urged the rest of the team to follow the dragon as he landed in the fields not far from the keep, the team keeping the guards from targeting the blue dragon as they found they had to prioritize stabilizing Faustus and figuring out what the hell had happened to have caused this in the first place.

Thanks to Baltor’s, and later some assistance of Anduin’s, healing, Faustus had survived. However his injuries had forced him to retire from his position in the greyguard, as he had to focus on his recovery, and any extensive use of magic was out of the question due to his weakened state. He instead found himself staying in Stormwind, using the empty barracks next to the embassy to organize his own team on their missions, giving them aid in the only way he was able to at the time. This barracks was also used as a temporary gathering place for the Vanguard leaders, who either worked to be granted pardon or disguised themselves so that they could walk around the city easily. From here on Faustus, his team, and the vanguard’s worked to reclaim the citadel and also prepare for the impending legion invasion once they got word of Gul’dan’s freedom. Under Faustus’ and Enahlien’s planning, the efforts towards reclaiming the citadel was a success and they were able to start pushing their efforts towards rebuilding and reinforcing their position to prevent anything like this from happening again.

About a month before the invasion several of Faustus’ peers, a gnome named Lania, Felicity, a dark iron mage named Yvena, and Ainade proposed their latest work, which was a prosthetic arm meant to be attuned to his own abilities with magic, most of which he was able to use due to actually taking the time to recover and then train himself, making sure that he was still on par in that way while also learning to defend himself with only his left hand. While it was difficult, Faustus was lucky that he was left hand dominant anyways, and after giving it some thought he accepted getting the prosthesis. He also accepted the risks of getting it, as there was a chance that his body would reject it, and the impending realization that it would hurt, and he would have to give himself time to recover again. He trusted his team however, and he had gone a long way to trust Ainade, giving that she was known within the Vanguards for her research and talent with prosthetics and replacement given her situation as an undead.

Faustus played a similar role to before after he did what he could to aid Anduin’s ascension to the throne, ignoring his own feelings to losing Varian until he was away and able to express such without impacting others. His primary contributions came from sending aid to wherever him and his men were needed, and he spent a lot of his time fighting the legion in Stormheim, while working alongside Genn during that campaign for multiple reasons, Val’sharah, aiding the druids, his brother, and Sarath against the emerald nightmare, and on Argus, fighting demons head on once he firmly established his ability and the improvements granted to him by his new arm. Faustus proved to be an accomplished leader among his friends, and his ability alongside Enahlien’s own tactical prowess made their group a force to be reckoned with against the Legion. Upon the legion’s fall and things started to settle down, Genn welcomed Faustus back into the greyguard now that Faustus was back on his feet, and he proved to be more open, happy, and out there than he was before.

Yvena, Tyraanas, Baltor, and Elicia urged Genn to name Faustus as the commander as their slowly growing team started to expand into a small army, and as the war with the horde started to pick back up, he considered it. It wasn’t until the war of thorns, and Faustus and the Vanguard’s efforts to aid in the evacuations, that Genn considered it and accepted it once the Vanguard’s pledged their aid against, and see specifically, Sylvanas’ path of destruction.

Getting off the topic of Faustus briefly, it was also around this time that Liam was resurrected by Alonsus after Calia herself was resurrected. As Alonsus was standing on neural ground, but saw what Sylvanas had done during the gathering, he saw it fit to send some of his priests, Baltor, Ainade, Jean, and several others, as well as several aiding paladins, to recover Liam’s body to prevent him from being used against his own old friend and the alliance as a whole due to Jean’s accounts of the prince’s marksmanship itself. A pleasant surprise however came in the form that for one reason or another Liam’s body had not decayed since his death, and whether it was true or not, Jean had proposed that it may have been from the extent of the prince’s faith in both his people and the light, while Ainade proposed that like Calia, it may have been for the purpose of the light still needing them, and that his faith itself powered that. Liam went into a form of hiding after Faol had him ensure that he would return should anything go wrong, he rejoined the alliance, making himself known to aiding the soldiers as just merely being ‘the traveler’, a masked bowmen who seemed to appear in a time of need.

Back on topic, Faustus led said group during the battle for lordaeron, offering routed support as well as acting as the extraction soldiers for the horde prisoners. They also led the retreat once the main group had went to go confront Sylvanas. Upon returning to Stormwind, Faustus set out to help set up the Vanguard’s outpost with his friends, and they were organizing their supplies and working up until Nathanos had set fire to the city and the group had to turn their efforts towards putting the fire out. An attempted assassination on Enahlien turned into a near death experience for Faustus, as he had taken an arrow meant for him by one of the diversions, but due to the amount of aid the worgen were giving to the alliance, the most arrows in the assassin’s quiver was tipped in wolf’s bane. The assassin got away, and Faustus made his team focus on putting out the fires before he almost succumbed to the poison, narrowly getting saved by Liam as he had worked with Baltor beforehand over the possible issue of wolf’s bane being used against his friends and family. Liam left Stormwind for a while after that, getting too close to being caught before his evaluation of his situation was complete. The last thing he wanted to do was give those he cared about a false hope of his return if something suddenly went wrong.

Faustus instead went with Genn to Kul Tiras as he recovered, reprising his role briefly to work as an advisor to his team, to Genn, and to his brother as the alliance worked to bring the admiralty back into the faction. After a while after the incident and Liam was cleared to be alright for the time being, he returned to Faustus and his family to reveal his resurrection, Faustus being more than ecstatic to have an old friend and long time love back, and Genn quite frankly just being glad that he can, in fact, hold his son at least one last time before anything else happened. From there Faustus and Liam became a rather terrifying due who worked together to help clear the turmoil where they could, and Liam joined the Vanguard’s and became a major inspiration and leading force against the darker reaches of the time, working instead to fight against Azeroth’s deterioration and against the horrors of the deep.

———

So, there is everything I have so far, anything else as the story progresses will be updated onto this document, and I’ll have works, stories, and art pieces to go along with all this. If the read more didn’t work, I’m sorry, but I just wanted to have this all in one comprehensive place for my own reference as well. Thank you for reading :D

#writing #wow #Oc: Faustus #backstory #long post #a bit of a happy ending because im weak to shit like that #but hey #au #i guess #because liam isnt my character and what #goes on with him if anything isnt in my control in the actual canon #i do play him as a hunter tho #and i do admit that its fun running around as him #god this took forever #about... four days roughtly #maybe five #but I'm happy its done #woot

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liongoatsnake · 6 years

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Therian Questionnaire

Original post by Ulfrivf at Therian Nation. The post on tumblr post can be found here.

1) What is your Screen Name/Therian Name?

We go by our multiple system's collective name, House of Chimeras in the therian community.

2) Are you a Standard Therian (one therioside) or Polytherian (multiple theriosides)?

Roughly 60% have one species identity, while roughly 40% have more than one.

3) What species is your Therioside/Kintype? List multiple if you have more than one.

[Not a complete this of everyone's species identity in our system, just those willing to participate in this]

Single species identity people:

Andraya is a harbor seal

Arron is a vampire

Beornsby is a black bear

Cavern-Risen is a werewolf

Cloudtail is a gray wolf

Crimrr is a bobcat

Dante is a black domestic dog

Darahagh is a southern live oak

Earth Listener is a aelurdon

Ebony is a thestral

Felicity is a shorthaired tortoiseshell domestic cat

Frith is a Orcinus citoniensis

Gale is a barn owl

Galetea is a unicorn

Grizzly Ears is a gray wolf

Hazeltoes is a gray wolf

Hiet is a blue-tailed lizard

Holo is a wisewolf/wheatwolf

Knives is a Cabalos

Kota is a Texas longhorn

Lacunae is a sphinx

Leonis is a eastern cottentail

Lucus is a dove

Luki is a coyote

Lunatani is a feral dog

Marcus is a American crow

Maya is a jaguar

Miushra is a Named

Nen is a red fox

Nightlegs is a gray wolf

Nosey is a stripped skunk

Nychus is a tawa

Oreo is a dalmatian domestic dog

Prowl is a Smilodon fatalis

Raina is a koi

Ravi is a tiger

Sage is a black-headed spider monkey

Sunfur is a gray wolf

Tanka is a American bison

Titus is a red dragon

Uruk is a ichthyostega

Vatrith is a Pernese dragon

Yamir is a wild horse

Zephyr is a snowy owl

Two species identities people:

Aquasarius is a New Zealand longfin eel & Nothosaurus

Dash is a Rüppell's fox & oriental shorthair

Ereigo is a African lion & sphynx cat

Ghaith is a Akhal Teke & mute swan

Ocean Touched is a blue glaucus & frilled shark

Quatz is a emerald tree boa & resplendent quetzal

Pypaath is a green anaconda & black caiman

Spiridon is a bluebuck & Hoplitomeryx

Three or more species identities people

Kardegray is a brown hyena, perentie, & vanguard

Pantairin is all species of deer (cladotheerian)

Varian is a polymorph

4) Are you able to make the vocalizations of your Therioside/Kintype?

Some of us can, some of us cannot, and some of us have species that don't make sound.

5) Are you a Spiritual Therian or Psychological Therian or Both?

Both.

6) What is the origin/cause of your Therianthropy? (ex: soul is an animal)

Mix of: multiple incarnated spirits, walk-ins, trauma, thoughtform creation, and who knows what else.Specific people in our system have specific causes/origins to themselves existing as well as parts of their identity.

7) How long have you been awakened?

Since childhood (at least age 7) so about 22 years.

8) What shifts (if any) have you experienced?

None. No shifts.

-Mental (constant)

-Phantom (constant full body)

-Dream (species identity form is default/rule)

-Sensory (constant)

-Astral/Spirit/Aura (species identity form is default)

-Cameo (Yes, usually caused by other system members)

- Other ["out-of-body experiences not into otherworld" (species identity form is default)

9) How did you discover/conclude that you were a Therianthrope? It’s okay to say you are still learning/questioning.

Never identified as human for almost all of us. Nonhuman body image. Nonhuman in our innerworld. Experiences relating to being nonhuman while fronting.

10) What does Therianthropy/being a Therian mean to you?

Not being/identifying as human in a non-physical way. Being an animal in a non-physical way. Always walking a sort of dual-life especially because of our added plurality) of being internally different than the external phyical body.

11) If you choose to, share one embarrassing moment due to being a Therian.

One time, Miushra decided to help Yamir mow our mom's yard. Yamir had only pulled up the garage door high enough to get the mower out and he had just ducked his head. Miusrha wasn't paying attention / forgot her height wasn't cheetah height and ran right into the door. She actually managed to knock our body out for a split second. Ever since then it has been a warning tale for everyone in our system to beware they don't forget the dimentions of our phyical body because of confusion from their phantom body while fronting.

12) What hobbies do you enjoy?

As a general whole most of us tend to enjoy: reading (so much!), watching documentaries, being outside (hiking, camping, working outside), writing (fiction and non-fiction), and playing video games.

#therianthropy #therian #therian questionnaire

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deanndotson · 4 years

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Gov. Polis Announces 2020 Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medals

Governor Jared Polis today announced the recipients of the 2020 Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medals. an annual award stewarded by CiviCO on behalf of the sitting Governor of Colorado to recognize top community leaders from around the state. The 2020 recipients will be honored during a private ceremony in November with the Governor to comply with current Covid-19 guidelines regarding large gatherings.

Created by Executive Order in 2015 and supported by all living Colorado Governors, the Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medal is one of the highest honors bestowed upon citizens and organizations of Colorado for their significant contributions to communities across the state. A special virtual program paying tribute to this year’s recipients will be streamed online Thursday, November 12, 2020.

“Colorado has a unique opportunity to set the bar for leadership in this country. These eight remarkable leaders have paved the way for community advancement and put Colorado on the map for how individuals and organizations serve their communities and make statewide impact,” said Governor Polis. “The Governor’s Citizenship Medal is the highest honor of the state and I am honored to select and recognize these outstanding leaders.”

Along with the traditional five medal categories, Governor Polis announced the recipients of the COVID-19 Hero Medals that will be given to two individuals and one organization who have displayed tremendous acts of resourcefulness and courageous efforts during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 Medal categories and recipients are:

1. Vanguard Legacy: Polly Baca, President & CEO, Baca Barragan Consultants – This award is given to a business leader who has made transformational contributions to the community throughout his or her career.

Polly Baca was born in Weld County, Colorado, and has long been a pioneer for women and the Latino community. Polly served in both the Colorado House of Representatives (1975-1978) and the Colorado State Senate (1979-1986). She was the first woman to hold the office of Chair of the Democratic Caucus of the Colorado House of Representatives and the first woman of color elected to the Colorado State Senate.

Polly led an esteemed career in both state and national politics with 12 years of service in the Colorado State Legislature. Polly was the first Latina to co-chair two National Democratic Conventions. Polly served as Vice Chair of the National Democratic Party for eight years, from 1981 to 1989. She was also Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton for Consumer Affairs and Director of the United States Office of Consumer Affairs.

Polly Baca has spent decades advocating for the people of Colorado through her service in the legislature, her work in national politics, and her roles in nonprofits, both as Executive Director of the Colorado Hispanic Institute and President and CEO of the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA).

Currently, she is the president and CEO of Baca Barragan Consultants, a consulting firm specializing in political campaigns, multicultural leadership development, diversity training, motivational presentations, policy analysis and development, and government relations.

Polly Baca has been included in the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame (2000) and the Colorado Latino Hall of Fame (2018) and was named one of the original 14 members to be inducted into the National Hispanic Hall of Fame (1988).

2. Emerging Community Leader: Ananda Birungi, Northglenn, Thornton High School, Entering First Year – Harvard University – This award recognizes a young community leader who has demonstrated excellence and made a positive impact on his or her school and community.

Ananda Birungi is a recent graduate of Thornton High School and is a Freshman at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Ananda served as Student Body Vice President, French Club President and Vice President of the “Women of Color” project to support other young women of color.

In 10th grade, Ananda was selected to participate in Access Opportunity, a 6-year college and career access program for high-achieving, low-income students in the Denver metro area. Since being accepted for the program, Ananda has taken advantage of every opportunity presented to her and has proven herself to be an incredible leader in the AO community and beyond.

Ananda also served on the Colorado Youth Advisory Council for District 24, participated in an internship at City Year Denver and started a “Girl Up” Club Chapter at Thornton High School which is a nationally recognized organization that partners with the United Nations to empower young girls. A Ugandan immigrant, Ananda is a shining young leader who has initiated projects with significant impact in her under-resourced school and broader Colorado community. Most recently, she helped organize the first annual College Bootcamp at Thornton High School to help rising seniors successfully navigate the college application process. She is an advocate for empowering women through education.

3. Growth & Innovation: Kent Thiry, Senior Advisor, KKR & Former CEO & Executive Chair, Davita – This award is given to an entrepreneur or business leader who has led with exceptional ingenuity and growth while inspiring and creating new possibilities for others.

Kent Thiry (KT) was CEO of DaVita from 1999 to 2019, a Fortune 400 Company with 65,000 teammates across 12 countries. KT stepped down as Executive Chairman in June, 2020. During this time DaVita:

Grew revenues from approximately $1 billion to the current $11 billion

Emerged as the leading clinical innovator in the kidney care community, and a leader in clinical outcomes generally

Became known for a distinctively engaged culture with physicians and teammates

Became known for developing well-rounded general managers and leaders, leading to many becoming CEOs at other companies

Grew equity market value from approximately $150 million to approximately $9.3 billion, and a stock price of about $.70 to about $80 at the time he departed

Grew its international business from a standing start in 2012 to approximately $600 million in annual revenue currently, and has achieved leading clinical outcomes in virtually every country

DaVita is known for a distinctively engaged culture and for developing well-rounded general managers/ leaders. DaVita has been the subject of leadership and culture case studies written by both Harvard and Stanford. Kent is regularly invited to speak on these subjects at top business schools, companies and not-for-profit leadership groups. KT made a public pledge in 2015 that DaVita would be one of the first Fortune 500 companies to have a Majority Diverse board, and fulfilled that pledge in 2016.

In 2016, he led Let Colorado Vote, a group that passed two statewide ballot initiatives, one that re-established the presidential primary and a second that opens Colorado’s primaries to unaffiliated voters. In 2018, Kent co-chaired the campaigns of two more successful statewide initiatives (Fair Maps Colorado), in this case reforming the congressional and state redistricting process, eliminating gerrymandering.

Kent serves on the global board of The Nature Conservancy. He also founded and chairs Colorado Thrives, a group consisting primarily of large Colorado Company CEOs, which is focused on advancing economic mobility and the general well-being of Colorado and all its citizens. Kent is also the founder and chairman of AdvanceEDU, an innovative hybrid college and is chair of the Colorado Gap Fund, a $25 million fund focused on small businesses with historically poor access to capital, in particular those owned by women, minorities, veterans…or those in rural areas.

KT co-founded The Aspen Group with Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle, a group dedicated to non-partisan healthcare reform. He is also a founding board member of Colorado Endeavor, a chapter of Endeavor Global, an international venture capital network.

Earlier in his career Kent served as chairman and CEO of Vivra, a NYSE health care service company; and partner at Bain & Company. Prior board seats include the Harvard Business School Advisory Board, Oxford Health Plan and Varian. Kent is currently an advisor to KKR.

Kent earned his B.A. in political science from Stanford University in 1978, with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Kent received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Denver Corporate Citizenship in 2013. In 2016 he received the International Bridge Builders Award from the University of Denver.

KT is married to Denise O’Leary, has two children and is an enthusiastic mountain biker and backpacker.

4. Public & Community Service: Rosemary Rodriguez, Executive Director, Together We Count – This award is given to a government or community leader who serves the public with innovation, operational excellence and progressive vision.

Rosemary Rodriguez is a Colorado native, a proud mother and a long-time civil servant. Rosemary attended Metropolitan State College (now Metropolitan State University), where she studied Political Science. From 1997 to 2002, Rosemary served as Denver’s clerk and recorder. During her time in this position, Rosemary fought to create a more transparent, accessible and equitable process for all of Denver’s voters regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status. Her passion for improving Denver through democracy led to many positive changes and to the implementation of new procedures that protected every voter’s right to cast a ballot. In 2001, Rosemary chaired the 2001 Colorado Reapportionment Commission, a constitutional body that was responsible for redrawing legislative districts after the 2000 Census. Rosemary served on Denver’s city council from 2003-2007, including serving as city council president from 2005-2006.

Rosemary Rodriguez has spent her lifetime serving the citizens of Colorado in a number of critical roles. Her goal has always been fair representation and government responsiveness to citizens. Prior to founding Together We Count, a nonprofit organization meant to promote fair participation in the 2020 census, Rosemary was the State Director for Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado. She also served as a commissioner on the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and chaired the commission in 2008.

5. Corporate Citizenship: VF Corporation, Denver – This award recognizes a Colorado based company that has made a significant positive impact in the community.

Founded in 1899, VF Corporation is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies connecting people to the lifestyles, activities and experiences they cherish most through a family of iconic outdoor, active and workwear brands including Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland®, Smartwool®, JanSport® and Dickies®. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, VF is a purpose-led company committed to powering movements of sustainable and active lifestyles for the betterment of people and the planet. Through the company’s independent grantmaking arm, the VF Foundation has contributed more than $20 million globally over the past three years to non-profit organizations that protect outdoor spaces, promote the value of trade work, and contribute to a world that prioritizes equity and belonging for all people. Barron’s magazine recently recognized VF as the top company in its list of Most Socially Conscious Companies, and VF continues to have a positive impact on Colorado communities since moving to Denver last year.

COVID-19 Hero Medals: At the discretion of the sitting Governor, the COVID-19 Hero medal is awarded to individuals and organizations who provided extraordinary effort and impact in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

6. COVID-19 Hero (Individual): Dr. Rachel Herlihy, Colorado State Epidemiologist & Principal, Population Health Solutions, LLC

Dr. Rachel Herlihy is a preventive medicine physician and the State Epidemiologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. She has been with the Department since 2011. Her position resides in the Department’s Division of Disease Control and Public Health Response where she oversees the Division’s Communicable Disease Branch and serves as the Principal Investigator on CDC funded Emerging Infections Program and Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grants. Dr. Herlihy is currently leading COVID-19 surveillance, case investigation, and outbreak response activities for Colorado.

Dr. Herlihy earned her MD and BS in Bacteriology and Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin. She completed an internal medicine internship at the University of Virginia and a preventive medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University. Previously, Rachel was the Deputy State Epidemiologist for Utah, and the Deputy Director for the Department of Defense’s Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Program.

7. COVID-19 Hero (Individual): Pat Myers, COVID Innovation Response Team, Constrained Medical Supply Team Leader

Patrick Meyers is owner and CEO of PEM Enterprises, is the former Chief of Staff to Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado, the Chief Operating Officer for the Hickenlooper 2020 presidential campaign, the Chairman of the Hickenlooper 2020 Senate campaign, and is now with the State of Colorado on the COVID Innovation Response Team. Patrick is a graduate of the University of Colorado (Denver) and the University of California (Hastings) School of Law and clerked for the Hon. William Erickson of the Colorado Supreme Court. Pat served as a clerk and intern for U.S. Attorney’s Office (Civil and Criminal Division) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division, San Francisco. He served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service.

Pat has led the Innovation Response Team as the Constrained Medical Supply Team Leader and has been instrumental in sourcing PPE and other supplies to the state.

8. COVID-19 Hero (Organization): Colorado Health Foundation, Denver

The Colorado Health Foundation is a long-time statewide philanthropic organization focused on bringing health in reach for all Coloradans by engaging closely with communities across the state through investing, grantmaking, policy advocacy and regularly convening Coloradans to discuss and explore tough and complex matters and solutions related to inequity. For more than two decades, The Foundation has focused on improving the health of Coloradans, with a specific emphasis in recent years on achieving health and racial equity.

Led by President and CEO Karen McNeil-Miller, The Foundation believes that keeping equity at the heart of our work will lead us to better health because every person is different than the next, and there are countless drivers of health, many stemming from oppression and exclusion, including poverty and racism. Because of this, it is essential that every step we take creates fair opportunities for those whose health is furthest from reach. The Foundation’s work is centered in three cornerstones that ensure all the organization does is in service of equity, community-informed and serving Coloradans who are living on low income or have historically been without power and/or privilege. With approximately 65 staff headquartered in Denver, regularly working and engaging with Coloradans on the ground is a critical aspect of how staff cultivate relationships with and learn from communities in every corner of the state. For more information, please visit www.coloradohealth.org.

“The 2020 Medal recipients embody what it means to not only be a successful leader but more importantly, a significant leader for our state,” said Jennifer Landers, Executive Director of CiviCO. “CiviCO is dedicated to shaping the best community leaders in Colorado and we are honored to partner with the State, Governor Polis, and former Governors to honor these esteemed medal recipients. We strive to bring a sense of hope through their stories as we continue this valued tradition even through these trying times.”

The eight medal recipients will also be represented in the “What’s Your Story?” exhibit at the History Colorado Center. This interactive and immersive exhibit honors the legacy of Colorado leaders and engages visitors by allowing them to learn about their leadership traits, as well as share in the passion and impact from so many of Colorado’s great influencers.

“CiviCO is honored to continue the legacy of this unique exhibit by honoring the great citizens of our state who created opportunity for all of us to flourish in Colorado. These stories and their values need to be told to new generations of leaders who can become better versions of themselves for a better Colorado,” said Ryan Heckman, Co-Chairman of CiviCO and the primary benefactor of the exhibit.

The Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medals and all associated events are generously sponsored and presented in partnership with the Office of the Governor, J.P. Morgan Chase, The Boettcher Foundation, Endeavor Colorado, University of Colorado School of Public Affairs, Mile High United Way and the History Colorado Center.

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withered--s0uls · 3 months

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There hasn't been any Trans varian posts in the tag since mine last months so

Seeing as it's still pride month: Y'ALL GIMME TRANS VAR HCS!! GO GO GO!! Transmasc, Transfem, Transneutral it doesn't matter!!

#trans varian #tts varian #vat7k varian #varian and the seven kingdoms #tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #rta varian #headcanons #askbox open #varian tangled #//#Varian VanGuard

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frankmwilliams25 · 4 years