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blursed-ninjago-ideas · 3 years

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As promised.

So the only backstory you really need here is that there’s a huge dip in crime and the ninja are bored. Kai turns to Chirp for ideas on what to do and gets a lot of people recommending this new app called “OvK”. So he tries it out and loves it. Jay also heard about it and downloaded it and the two of them have been avid users of it since.

Pixal has concerns.

Pixal was suspicious.

It was just an app, but it was bothering her. With the sudden drop in crime, she had the time to investigate.

Something about the way Kai and Jay wouldn’t put their phones down. Something about the glazed look they had. Something about their insistence that the others try it.

First, Pixal looked at the reviews.

They were all overwhelmingly positive. Not a single negative opinion or fault to be found. Well, they would be far from the first to sanitize their app store reviews.

Pixal moved on to social media and still found nothing. Not a single person trying to hate on it. Which was just impossible. Even if the app was perfect, there would be people naysaying purely based on the fact that it was popular. Not one article trying to get hate clicks. Not one troll trying to upset people. Not one hipster wannabe trying to be “above” the trend.

It sat poorly with Pixal.

She turned to the parts of the internet that made her feel sticky and gross. She tried to do it the old-fashioned way to avoid feeling it, but got nowhere. She had to deep dive.

Even plugging herself in and digging through sketchy archives, she couldn’t find any negative opinions.

She did find holes though. Places where she sure there once was her sought after negative reviews. But they had been scrubbed. Erased. The only trace of what they were being what was missing.

It scared Pixal. These cites weren’t easy to hack and they sure couldn’t be bought. Some of them were borderline impossible to get into unless someone could do what Pixal did and immerse themselves into the code.

She was even more concerned.

She tried to look into the code of the app itself, but it didn’t make sense. It looked fine, but Pixal couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something scrubbed from there too. Something it had hidden in response to her snooping.

She didn’t like how Kai looked when he used it. It looked familiar, the expression. A blank smile with unfocused eyes. Something she’d seen on him somewhere before. It stirred feelings of concern and fear.

Jay’s expression matched him when he used the app, but Pixal didn’t think she recognized it on him.

She wanted to share her concerns with Zane, but she wasn’t sure what they were yet. That Kai and Jay had phone addictions? That the app they were using seemed too well liked?

She was considering her options while she walked down the hall, catching sight of Kai and Lloyd as she passed the open door.

Kai was showing Lloyd something on his phone, probably the OvK app she was so worried about. That wasn’t what stopped her dead though.

Lloyd had that same blank glassy smile, and she recognized it on him. Seeing Kai and Lloyd next to each other, she finally figured out what she was seeing.

Content and thoughtless. That was how they looked when Zane had microchipped them.

Pixal’s concern overflowed.

“PUT THE PHONE DOWN!” she screamed.

Kai and Lloyd both looked up, still shaking off whatever trance they were in, but thankfully shaking it off none the less.

“Pixal? What are you- HEY!” Kai yelled as she snatched the phone from him.

She thought briefly about snapping the thing in half. She stopped herself so she could exam it. But no, that wouldn’t work. The app covered it’s tracks too well. Probably because there was an intelligence behind it.

Was it Zane?

Pixal’s breathing was panicked. Good thing she only breathed for aesthetic, otherwise she would’ve been hyperventilating.

“Pixal, give me my phone back.” Kai said, reaching for the thing.

“NO!” she yelled

“What’s wrong?” Lloyd asked.

“That app isn’t normal.” Pixal said, trying to figure out how to put her concerns into words.

Kai raised an impatient eyebrow.

“You two looked…you liked like you did when Zane was all ‘Overkill’. I didn’t recognize it at first, and I didn’t recognize it on Jay, but seeing both of you next to each other, there’s no doubt.”

“Pixal, it’s just a phone app. It’s not capable of mind control.” Kai said, crossing his arms.

“I don’t know what it’s capable of, but I do know what I saw, and I know that somebody has been scrubbing negative reviews of it off the internet with the skill I think only a nindroid could manage.”

Kai’s brow furrowed. Conflict. He believed her of course, but a part of him was still trying to deny it. He was fighting with himself on it.

“Are you sure?” Lloyd asked.

“Kai?” Pixal said, ignoring Lloyd for a moment.

Kai’s clear struggle didn’t look good.

“Yeah, I just….I don’t….” Kai gripped his head.

“Kai, are you ok?” Lloyd asked.

“I….I think Pixal is right.” Kai said “I’m….I don’t feel normal.”

Kai hissed in pain. Pixal and Lloyd rushed forward to catch him as he fell forward.

“I’m….I want to argue with you about this and I don’t know why.” Kai confessed “I think….I think you’re right. Something’s gotten into me.”

“We need to get Jay off this too.” Lloyd said

“Pixal, get that thing away from me before I take it back.” Kai said, pushing himself away from her.

“Take my phone too. I downloaded it.” Lloyd said, handing his phone over to Pixal.

“Right. I’ll go get Jay’s phone from him, maybe Nya and Cole’s too for good measure.” Pixal said, turning to leave “You two….try talking to Zane. I don’t want to think that he’s behind this but…”

They nodded. Kai seemed more lucid, having shaken off the last of his issues.

Oh wow. Is Zane crazy again? Or is someone else behind it this time? Who knows!?

And wow Kai, you sure seemed to catch on to that real quick. It would be a shame if that were to....cause problems for you later. >:)

Anyways, there’s more written and a little bit more planned. IDK when I’ll post more, but engagement is nice.

-Ivy

#Mod Ivy #ninjago #lego ninjago #blursed ninjago aus #overkill au #blursed ninjago snippets

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crystalgirl259 · 4 years

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The Flame and the Dragon Ch14

Chapter 14: The Greetings

Kai awoke with a start from his dreamful slumber, temporarily forgetting where he was. He tried to sit but found himself pinned in place by a weight on his chest. His first instinct was to panic, but he controlled himself and slowly looked down at the weight constricting his breathing only to find a passed-out blue fox sprawled out on top of him, snoring loudly. Kai groaned as he gently scooped the slumbering creature in one arm, and used the other to push himself into a sitting position.

Jay really needed to start taking dieting more seriously.

Kai carefully moved the furry creature onto his lap. His back arched as he stretched his arms and back, before falling back against the soft pillows. Despite his desire to hate his new home, he couldn't recall the last time he had slept so well and it seemed neither had his companions. He chuckled noticing the sprawled blue fox on his lap. He also saw the werebear sprawled on the end of the bed, the centaur blissfully snoring on one of the spare pillows and the troll curled up in a nest he made.

Once they had found Kai's room through the endless labyrinth of hallways the elder insisted they stay with him, if only to ease his boredom.

He'd managed to worm it out of them that many of the stories surrounding the castle's former monarch were true. Each servant had a special position in the castle. He'd been especially grateful to Echo for the lovely room upon learning he was responsible for the room's décor. The three had been awake talking for an hour, by the time Ronin arrived. At first, the troll seemed reluctant to intrude on the conversation, but Kai convinced him otherwise and before long it was as if the five had known each other for years.

He hadn't recalled when he fell asleep or who had fallen asleep first, all he'd known was he never felt so accepted.

He smiled and shivered. Realizing he was naked under the blankets, he looked around for the clothes he'd discarded. Instead, he found a neatly folded pile of silk and a single parchment written in black ink. Forgetting Jay was on his lap, he leaned over and froze when the blue fox rolled over and was torn between laughing or sighing when the furry creature clenched the comforter in its little claws and snored loudly. Kai snatched the parchment and scanned it over, not letting the blanket slip from his grasp.

Dearest Kai,

I see you've acquainted yourself with my staff, though unfortunately not the ones I insisted you acquaint yourself with first. I've already told the tailor and seamstresses to meet you as soon as you awake and have provided you with some necessities. I suggest you put them on and bathe before their arrival in order to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment. I've already asked Harumi to have that coat fitted for you, I do hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely, Dragon Lord Cole

Kai was once again torn between growling in anger or embarrassment. It didn't take him long to realize the necessities his host had provided were a burgundy silk robe and a pair of undergarments. He slipped them on and tied the robe tightly, feeling the tightness against his stomach, before he lied back against the bed with his legs dangling forward, the sinking of his weight barely touching the slumbering creatures. He wondered what he had gotten himself into as he felt his eyes flutter closed.

"Ah, good your awake." A new voice suddenly said. Kai's eyes flew open and he sat up with such haste the sudden bounce of the bed, shook all four creatures into wakefulness. Kai's eyes widened as a snickering pale green-skinned woman with long white hair and pointed ears stood before him. Her arms crossed over her chest, though instead of hands and feet, talons replaced them and green wings erupted from her arms.

"I was starting the Master had to kiss you to wake you up." She snickered. Too shocked to think clearly and unsure what else to do, Kai screamed loudly. The harpy blinked, before taking in her current form and laughed brightly.

"Sorry, I forgot." She snickered before a pale green flash surrounded her, turning her skin pale pink and her previous sharp eyes into large emeralds, and instead of wings a green dress covered her form. "That better?" She smiled. Still frozen and unsure how to react, Kai nodded, mutely.

"Uh... who are you?" He asked, torn between confusion and shock.

"Harumi Jade, at your service." She smiled proudly with a slight bow in her step. "And you must be Kai, then, our new guest?"

"Yes," Kai replied, while the four creatures on the bed faded to their human forms, stretching and rubbing their eyes off the mist of sleep.

"Harumi, what are you doing here?" Nelson yawned. "Did Pixel send you?"

"Relax, I'm here because our guest needs to meet the rest of his staff and the Master wanted to make sure we took care of his wardrobe." She smiled, taking in Kai's attire. "As lovely as you look in that you can't go around in nothing but a bathrobe can you?" She asked as she leaned forward with a playful wink and made a gesture to Kai's attire. Realizing for the first time he was still wearing only the silk robe, Kai went crimson.

"Do you mind!" He snapped, though the hard blush on his face made the threat impossible to take it seriously.

"You are feisty." She smiled and patted his head, earning a growl of annoyance from Kai. "We need someone lively around here." She smiled, before walking over to the wardrobe and pulled out a large, fluffy white towel, and gently tossed it to him. Before Kai had time to question her, she grabbed his arm and pulled him with such haste he almost stumbled out of the bed much to his embarrassment.

"Hey! What are you-?" He demanded before suddenly finding himself shoved into a joint bathroom he hadn't noticed upon his first arrival.

"You get into the bath and wash up while I get the rest of my co-workers so we can get everything prepared; what kind of hosts would we be if we let you go around in nothing but your birthday suit? Now in you go." She ordered and at this point, he wasn't sure if he should be annoyed, angered, or embarrassed. Too confused to notice the room, he leaned against the door and released a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Growing up and having been raised to be headstrong and independent, the overly eccentric maid suddenly mothering him felt strange.

Techniques for dealing with domestic servants felt completely inappropriate for the eccentric staff that insisted on seeing to his domestic needs.

A loud knock made him jump.

"Kai, are you alright?" Echo asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." He replied calmly. "Just... not used to all this attention." He admitted.

"Sorry about that, you'll have to forgive Mai; she's always like this when we have guests." Jay snickered.

"She likes to take her job as head seamstress very seriously," Echo added. "Do you need any help?"

"I'll be alright." He replied, deciding to finally get down to the actual task of bathing, realizing he hadn't had a proper bath in almost two days. He placed the towel on a wicker basket in the corner. The washroom carried an identical baroque style to the room it joined. The smooth floor beneath his feet was pale gold and cream marble. His eyes scanned the rest of the room. The room itself wasn't a rectangular shape but curved slightly and had four interlocking parts.

The two side walls were pale yellow to match the floor but curved slightly to meet the front and back walls like a cylinder.

A large changing wall with bronze curtains stood against the wall with a wood table on either side lit with a dark metal candle holder. On the opposite wall hung an enormous full-length black mirror. Next to him against the only flat wall was a large black framed vanity with a glass top and a stunning silver mirror hanging above it. Several desk-like stands for a variety of brushes, perfume, and fragrance bottles, herbs, and other toiletries, a toilet sat in the far corner.

The wall was a polished black stone.

The gold and crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. A large window embedded in the stone let light into the room. In front of it, sat an enormous porcelain tub with black clawed feet that sank into the stone of the floor. It was large enough for Kai to lay out his entire body, with brass pipes coiling from the floor up the side and around a bronze wheel and over the side, for adding water. The steam rising from the murky surface and the mountains of bubbles revealed someone had already set the bath for him.

Smiling, Kai undid his robe and set it and the towel on the vanity, before climbing in and sinking into the warm water.

The soothing heat relaxed his entire body until he sank beneath the surface. His entire body felt like he was floating. He closed his eyes and let the stress he'd endured the past few days melt away. Lost in the serene, he pouted when he felt something tap his head. He shot up and threw his head back, his hair falling back like a veil, sending a wave of water behind him. He turned around and was shocked at the sight behind him. Harumi, still in her human form, and his four servants, in their creature forms, stood drenched and dripping.

Biting back a laugh, Kai opened his mouth to ask what had happened, until he remembered himself resurfacing, sending a wave of water behind him.

"Sorry about that." He snickered, watching as Jay and Echo tried to shake themselves dry. This made Jay's hair stand up like a puffball. Unable to hold it back any longer, Kai burst out laughing.

"Hey!" Jay glared, though it was impossible to see through the storm of fuzz.

"You could've warned us before you decided to get us all wet." Ronin snapped, drying himself off on Kai's towel and doing the same thing to Nelson.

"Oh leave him be." Harumi smiled, brushing her damp white hair behind her, before turning to her new guests. "The boys just wanted to show you how to get more hot water." She explained, walking over to the bronze pipes at the end of the tub and turned one of the bronze wheels. A loud gurgling echoed through the walls, followed by a wrenching stench that made Kai wince.

"What the hell is that?" He demanded.

"Natural hot springs, there's a bunch of them under this castle," Jay explained, managing to tame his fur. Before Kai could question further, a wave of hot water was suddenly uplifted over his head, followed by a sudden rush of fingers and scrubbing across his mass of hair.

"Hey! What the-?"

"Wow, you have so much hair." Harumi mused as she continued soaping him down, paying particular attention to the large mane of brown hair that had fallen up the top of his head. "Ronin go make sure the others don't go overboard, Echo go get me another brush, Jay, stop worrying about you're fur and get over here." She commanded and the second the blue fox hit the floor another wave of water-drenched him as Kai battled the woman intent on washing him.

"Hold still." She snapped.

"I can wash my own body thank you," Kai growled, only to be silenced by Harumi heaving another basin of water over his head.

"I'm sorry about this, Kai." Nelson apologized, shaking his tiny claws. "I told you Harumi takes her job seriously." He tried to soothe the growling teen. Before Harumi could attack him again, Kai stood from the tub with his hands balled into fists at his sides and was about to say something but a towel in his face silenced him.

"Have you no shame!" She scolded, motioning to the teen's naked form standing in the middle of the tab. Kai glared at her as he wrapped the towel around himself.

"Why should I be ashamed of my body? Besides, you're the one who charged in here after I said I didn't need help, thank you." He replied, trying to be civil. Harumi ran a hand through her bangs. Something between a smile and a smirk curled across her face.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day Shade was right, you are feisty." She smiled and handed him his robe. "Sorry about that, but you know I can't have our guest going around covered in grime." She answered a bit milder. "Once you're finished, the rest of my staff would like to meet you and fix your wardrobe."

"I'm fine, really," Kai replied, unused to the attention.

"You're in a towel, and the seamstresses will be crushed if you denied them a chance at a new project for the first time in years." She grinned and Kai sighed in defeat.

"Alright, alright, you win."

"I always do, but please, just call me Harumi." She insisted, flashing a playful smile.

"Only if you can convince everyone else here to just call me Kai since word seems to spread extremely fast here." He smirked.

"Of course, and you can't blame us, you're the best news we've had in over a century, now make haste!" She smiled, before dashing from the room, grabbing Echo, Nelson, and a still drenched Jay on her way out. Now he was finally, alone, Kai dried himself off as best he could, tossed the towel in the basket by the tub, and reapplied his robe. He grabbed a brush and did his best to detangle his hair. Once dry, his spikes returned to their natural shape.

Feeling refreshed he took a breath and braced himself for the chaos waiting for him on the other side.

He exhaled and with a swift flick of the wrist, he re-entered his room. His mouth nearly hit the floor. Piles of fabric in many different colors, textures, and designs covered the floors and desk and stacked in piles that almost touched the ceiling even scattered across the bed. A box of various multi-colored threads, some with needles in them and pin cushions sat on the desk and vanity. Another box full of ribbons and other fabrics sat on the dresser and in the hands of a tall girl in a bright purple and red dress with matching wings sprouting from her back.

For a second her skin was white and her hair was silver.

The second he blinked, her wings vanished and her skin was pink but her hair remained silver around her bright green eyes. He recognized Tox by her green hair. She was laughing with the girl while holding a box filled with various silver objects that looked like scissors. A boy with rich brown hair with crimson red sunglasses hiding his eyes. He wore a white and red jumpsuit and he was sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Harumi was standing in front of the open wardrobe, pulling out and tossing various things over her shoulder.

Nelson, Jay, Echo, and Ronin all sat on the rim of the bed in order to avoid becoming lost in the chaos.

"What the hell happened here?" Kai blinked, overcome by surprise to say anything else. All eyes suddenly fell on him. Tox and the other girl dashed across the room and grabbed him before he could escape and dragged him across the room to the pedestal, chattering and giggling.

"You were right, Tox, he is perfect! Oh, I can already imagine the wardrobe we can create." The silver-haired girl squeaked.

"I told you, Pixel." Tox agreed while the two gently dropped Kai on the bed, dividing the creatures currently occupied on it. Before they could do anything else, Kai threw them off.

"Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing!" He demanded.

"I'm the seamstress, of course." Pixel replied, clearly angered by his tone. "Now hold still and let us do our job." She ordered, grabbing a piece of measuring tape.

"You will do no such thing." Kai protested. "I apologize if this puts a damper on your 'fun', but given the fact this is my wardrobe you're making, I think my opinion matters far more than yours." He stated boldly although sarcasm leaked into the beginning. Pixel looked at him like a child suddenly being scolded. Tox burst out laughing.

"I warned you that he was fiery, Pixel," Harumi said over her shoulder, before finally closing the wardrobe. Pixel growled and was about to retort when the boy pulled her behind him.

"That's enough ladies; you're going to smother our guest with all this attention." He half scolded, half-joked, though Pixel pouted angrily anyway, before he turned his attention to the still glaring Kai, and offered a hand for him to shake. "Sorry about them, they're just excited, I'm Griffin, the Tailor, you've already met my apprentice Pixel."

"I'm Kai." The teen smiled, shaking his hand.

"Let's get your wardrobe started shall we?" He smiled and undid the necklaces of tape.

"Listen, I appreciate all this really, I do, but you don't have to—"

"You're wearing a bathrobe." Griffin cut him off. "Neuro said you were independent, but relax, we do this for a living, and I finally get to do something new for a change." He smirked while gently shoving Kai on top of the pedestal at the mercy of Pixel and Tox measuring every part of his body.

"Cole hardly lets us do anything for him anymore." Tox snorted and growled when Kai fidgeted away from her, glaring. "Will you hold still!"

"I can tell you my measurements myself you know."

"Thank you, but we would like to stay as accurate as possible," Griffin explained. "Now anything specific I need to know before we decide what colors and fabrics to use and what to make?" He asked as his eyes scanned Kai's body. "Although, I'm liking a wardrobe of red for you, and I'm also assuming you don't like anything too loose or tight, but something form-fitting?"

"Red is my favorite color, but I've never been picky when it comes to what I wear, I just wear what I like." He explained with a shrug.

"I got just the thing! I have a talent for knowing what people need." He smirked. Once the girls finished measuring Kai, the tailor turned to Harumi with a smirk. She smiled as if the two were speaking a secret language and set out across the labyrinth of fabrics. "Well, red is a definite for you." He said as he pulled out a sheet of scarlet silk and held it up to Kai's face. He hummed in thought and then pulled out the respective color and then choosing the fabrics.

"Silk is perfect for light weather but in this chilly weather you're going to want something light and flexible, but still warm." He said as he tossed several different fabrics over his shoulder, the objects all floated and unfolded in the air while he pulled out his scissors and cut them with smooth strokes.

"And gold too!" Pixel added, turning to Kai. "It matches your eyes, and I think it'll compliment your skin tone as well."

"And black too! The master loves black!" Tox added, pulling out a black satin material.

"Materials, ladies! Materials!" Griffin howled over his shoulder. "Do you have any specific preferences for pants, Kai?" He asked the brunette. Kai blinked and thought for a moment.

"Just as long as I can move in them, but I do like leather."

"I can do that." He nodded. "We use leather for ridding pants and coats anyway." He said grabbing said materials. "Leather to keep the cold and water out with some soft, velvet or fleece on the inside and you'll have a perfect jacket." He added and turned to Kai again taking his size into account. "I think I'll stick with a knee-length for you, it'll make you look taller, any patterns or such we need to consider?"

"Well I really liked the outfit I had yesterday; anything along those lines will work and I've always been one for the baroque style." He chuckled. Griffin looked like he was about to burst from happiness.

"This is going to be so much fun!" He said ecstatically and dashed about the room grabbing several spools of thread, and fabrics. Between the four of them the room was a tornado of colors and fabrics flying about the room to the point Kai fell back against his bed, suddenly consumed by a wave of dizziness. The four servants all dove behind him, seeking shelter from the torrent.

"Are they always like this?" Kai asked the others.

"We think it gets worse with old age." Ronin replied. A knock on the door suddenly froze the entire room. Servants, clothing workers, fabrics and supplies, and even Kai turned his attention to the door.

"Dinner!" Neuro announced, opening the door, in one hand and holding a large tray in the other. Behind him, an enormous purple unicorn with blazing fiery eyes followed. In any other case, Kai would've found the creature almost shocking but when it answered, balancing a tray of food and drink on her back and even her head and looking like it was mentally struggling to do so, Kai couldn't help but chuckle. He stood up and took the tray from the unicorn's head, and placed it on the bed.

Just in time for a starving Jay, Echo, and Nelson to devour it, while Ronin, valuing his life more than his stomach, remained on the side.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." The unicorn flashed a childish grin. A pale purple light formed around and Ultra Violet remained. "You must be Kai, my name's Ultra Violet." She welcomed, before turning to the servants. "Hey, you three!" She called and the three servants jumped. "Quit stuffing ya faces and help me, we got a guest here!" She scolded. Blushing from their rude manners, Echo and Jay transformed and each grabbed a plate from Violet.

Nelson grabbed the third and offered Kai a cup of tea.

Once her hands were free, Harumi embraced her with a powerful hug.

"Hi, sweety." She laughed proudly. Violet only snickered. Kai blinked, confused by the sudden display of emotion.

"Harumi and Violet are married," Nelson answered his unasked questions. "Don't worry about it, they're always like this."

"Another thing that gets worse with old age." Ronin teased, taking something from Neuro and handing it to Kai. The teen looked down surprised to find the clothed he'd worn when he first arrived clean and neatly folded in the boy's hands.

"Thanks." He smiled graciously and started towards the joint bathroom, with a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Jay asked as he passed by. "And don't say nothing either, because I can see through it."

"It's true, Kai," Neuro said. "Jay makes it his personal job to make sure no one in this castle is distressed."

"Unfortunately, he's had little success with Cole." Echo laughed, then stopped when all eyes turned angrily to him. The centaur shrank back. Kai exhaled and offered up a small smile.

"Look everyone, this is wonderful and I appreciate all this, I truly do, but... this all just so much to take in; I'm just not used to all of this." He admitted, hoping he didn't offend them. The staff had been nothing but kind to him since arrived and making his stay as bearable had possible. Failure to do so was the last thing he wanted them to think. He tensed when he felt someone pat his head. His first instinct was an annoyance for being treated like a child, but strangely it brought him comfort.

He relaxed when he saw Violet with a grin that just radiated happiness.

"Hey no worries, we understand, we're all just ecstatic to have ya here, besides you're our guest! What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't make ya feel welcome here?"

"I have an idea." Ronin perked up. "How about we show you around the castle?"

"Really?" Kai perked up, liking the idea of an enormous castle to explore.

"Sure, even these guys it's gonna take some time to get all this clothes stuff done, and who wants to stay cooped up in here all night."

"And we did promise to show you the library," Nelson added.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Echo jumped up. "Go get dressed and let's go!"

"Thank you!" Kai smiled excitingly and rushed off to change his clothes...

****************

Bansha swore she would lose whatever hearing she had left if she had to listen to Morro for another moment. The Duke had done nothing but scream and scrub the mud and grime from his body since his dreadful mortification at the hands of Kai's brutal rejection. Looking back, perhaps preparing an entire wedding before actually proposing wasn't such a good idea. It was such a shame that the dress would never see the sunlight again.

Though Bansha felt a small comfort knowing the seamstresses had managed to rescue and convert most of the cloth.

"How could he do this to be Bansha!? How!? How could he humiliate me!?" The Duke raved like a spoiled child who was being told 'no' for the first time. He paced back and forth furiously throughout the common room. The heels of his shoes pulled at the knitting of the carpets forming large holes. His gloved hands balled at his sides and he took heavy breathes in failed attempts to calm his raging nerves.

"Who does he think he is!?" He screeched. "That boy, doesn't he realize how lucky, how blessed he is? I would never have had to be so bold if he just got over his shyness and accepted my proposal like he was supposed to! No one says no to me!"

"Kai is a fool for rejecting you, everyone knows that," Bansha said, preparing another cup of tea for when her master's current mood swing finished. The Duke snatched the teacup from the table and clenched it so hard the fragile china almost cracked in his hands.

"Dismissed, rejected! Disgraced! Publicly humiliated!" He screeched throwing the cup into the fire watching with a dark satisfaction as it shattered into a million pieces and melted. In shock and slightly terrified, Bansha hesitated to hand her another cup.

"More tea, my lord?" She asked, trepidation seeping into her voice which made Morro smile, though Bansha couldn't see it. Whoever said it was better to be loved than feared clearly never knew the luxuries of a high-ranking position.

"No." He dismissed her request harshly. A timid knock on the door halted another howling. "Come in!" Morro demanded thundering. A servant entered the room, clearly intimidated.

"M-My lord, the e-eldest and youngest S-Smiths are here t-to see you." She stuttered.

"Did they say what for? Speak!" Morro demanded.

"They said something about Mr. Kai and that they must speak with you urgently." The servent replied and Morro smirked victoriously.

"Come Bansha! It seems Nya has finally seen the wisdom behind my request." The duke said, practically radiated arrogance as he skipped from the room, with a timid Bansha behind him. Morro practically flew down the staircase, giddy to see what Nya had to tell him, but his pride transformed to confusion once he met with the two siblings. Both were still standing on the front porch, panting as if they'd been running for hours. Their clothes were a mess and splotched with mud and their hair was a mess.

Neither of them looked as if they'd bathed or changed their clothes since they left.

"Whatever has happened to you too?" Bansha asked, clearly concerned, while Morro only looked horrified that they'd dare come see him in such a state.

"Morro!" Lloyd cried as he bolted to him before Nya could stop him. "You have to help, he-he-he has Kai! That thing has my big brother! He's got him locked in a tower or a dungeon or somewhere!" The boy blabbered his voice choked with tears and fear to speak coherently. Morro brushed him off in disgust.

"What are you talking about." The Duke snapped, though paid attention once he heard Kai's name somewhere in the babble.

"Who has Kai?" Bansha asked, placing a gentle hand on Lloyd's shoulders.

"A dragon! A cruel terrible dragon!" He announced as if the very word would bring doom. Morro and Bansha froze. Just as Morro looked as if he would burst out laughing Nya stepped in.

"It's true! While we were lost in the storm, we found his castle, he trapped us there, Kai offered to exchange himself for our freedom! He's still trapped there with that monster! We have to save him! You're the only one that can help us!" Nya exclaimed. She hated herself at that moment and for having no choice but to swallow her pride and morals and everything else her family taught her and go crawling to the one person she despised more than anything on earth.

But Kai was in danger and her pride could burn in hell if it meant Kai's freedom.

As much as she hated herself for doing so, she knew Morro's desire for Kai was the only hope they had. Morro burst out laughing.

"A dragon? I think you've finally read one too many fairy tales; now what is the real reason you're here?" The Duke laughed.

"It's the truth, Morro!" Lloyd cried in fear for his brother.

"I'm sure you're just imagining things, Kai probably just decided to follow you and got lost in the woods," Bansha reassured the boy.

"No dammit!" Nya howled, shocking everyone by the force behind her voice. "My twin brother is the prisoner of a monster who is doing God knows what to him as we speak! I would never come to you of all people if it wasn't serious Morro! Please help us rescue him!" She begged. The force and truthfulness behind Nya's voice were shocking, but Morro looked past it the second he heard the insult.

"I've heard enough of this!" The Duke thundered and snapped his fingers for his guards. "Gentlemen please, escort these two off my estate." He ordered and like toy soldiers, the two men took each of them by the arm and dragged them towards the door.

"Dammit, Morro, listen to us!" Nya roared in anger and desperation.

"Please! Helo Kai!" Lloyd cried out all the way until the guards slammed the doors in their faces. The guards then bowed to their master and left.

"I wonder what could've happened to cause such a scene." Bansha wondered aloud.

"They've gone mad! Why else would they go about screaming about dragons?" Morro snapped.

"But they sounded so scared, and it isn't like Kai to run off and cause his family such distress; he'd do anything for those two." Bansha countered. Morro snorted at the remark, determined to remain angered. Even if the Smiths were telling the truth, it was only fitting he refused them. They were, after all, the only obstacle between him and his precious Kai after all. A dark realization suddenly filled his mind, making him pause.

"My lord?" Bansha asked, noticed her master's sudden change in demeanor. A shiver froze her to the core as she caught the duke's smile.

"You're absolutely right, Bansha," Morro spoke with a dark, almost malicious laugh. "Kai would do anything for those two."...

#The Flame and the Dragon #beauty and the beast #ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #ninjago lloyd #ninjago nya #ninjago morro #ninjago jay

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that-was-anticlimactic · 6 years

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Five Times Zane Was a Troll and One Time... Wait No He’s Always a Troll- Prologue Thingy lol-

Hello, young pupil.

If you’re reading this, that either means I have passed or my students convinced you to help them rummage through my stuff, the second one probably being the more possible reason.

Since I doubt I am deceased, I ask that you smack whoever convinced you to read this upside the head for me.

You were all probably expecting some childhood stories, perhaps a journal of some of the great feats the team has accomplished, but this is not what you would expect at all.

You see, pupil, Zane, Jay, Cole, Kai, Lloyd, and Nya are all intelligent people who have endurance, love, and talent even the First Spinjitzu Master would envy, but despite that, no matter how many times they have saved the world and each other and despite how intelligent all six are, they are very, very, stupid.

I consider all six family, and because of that we all know much about each other. In fact, I know many things that none of them know I know, it’s a great feeling. But sometimes, being the one who knows everything is lonely, I can’t just tell all of the ninja what I know, that would lead to complete and utter discord. So, I wrote some of the things I saw down, and it may very well be the most precious thing I own.

I like to think of this as a book of stupidity, or perhaps a book of gossip.

Whatever you do, young reader, you must never let the ninja read this. It can be our secret! And, when whoever asks you what was inside, just slap them across the head again. That’s what they get for snooping through my stuff!

And now, get ready, pupil, to read some of the most idiotic, the most stupid, the most hilarious things you have ever read in your entire life!

This first one is one I like to call “Five Times Zane was a Troll and One Time… Wait No He’s Always a Troll”.

Not many people know this, but Zane Julien, the Nindroid, white ninja, master of ice, is a troll, and a good one at that. I like to believe that Nya, Zane, and myself are the biggest trolls on the team.

He does not deal with stupidity or unnecessary things, and when he does sometimes he likes to get a little revenge.

And now, young reader, get ready for Fed Up, Boredom, Past Promise, Impatience, and Sleep Deprived, the five sections of this book.

Your Sensei,

Sensei Wu

———

A/N: one of my friends drew the cover and framed it and then we gave my friend, who the story was a present for, a printed out and staples copy of the entire “book”!

This was a prologue type thing, like for her to read when I gave it to her (because the three of us went to dinner together) so she’d know what it was about before she read the rest of it the next day!

Side note, I can’t write Wu for trash. Luckily, this is the only time he’s in it so it’s fine lol

LASTLY, the five sections thing are each one reason why Zane was a troll, and one for each ninja. The first one, Fed Up, for example, is about why Zane trolled Kai: because he was fed up with something? Sorry if this sucks haha I just keep forgetting it exists and then I find it when I scroll through google docs and freaking screech !!

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #five times zane was a troll

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yoolee · 7 years

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Ye Massive Tag-back Post

I have been tagged in stuff. I am slow. Apologies for anyone tagged in this XD

5 facts about me that literally know one needs to know

(tagged by @saizoswifey)

I get weirdly nervous in grocery checkout lines: I have no idea why. I don’t know if it’s like, the feeling of being trapped in a narrow space (if there’s someone behind you and ahead of you), or the like, awkward social chitchat that I am SUPER BAD AT or what but I get weird. I HAAAATE that the nearest grocery store to me does not have self check-out, and I put off grocery shopping to the last minute. I can improvise a speech in front of a crowd of hundreds, I can jump off high ladders, like, I’m not a naturally nervous person I swear I’m not. But grocery stores...

I once broke into an Irish autorepair shop: Sort of. It’s kind of a long story, but when I was a student in Cork like…8 years ago, they told me to stick to the flatlands and I took a wrong turn and got lost up in the hills and I kinda felt like these two guys who kind of showed up behind me were following me. I did the whole ‘take a couple of right turns’ and it went from two to four guys and I was getting more and more lost and just like NOOOOPE. And then there was trash can on fire and so I like, half-slid down a little cliff, and snuck through/over a chained shut fence and into what turned out to be a repair shop. There were three older guys sitting there eating pizza, and they just blinked at me so I burst out that hey, there was a trash can on fire (like that’s a reasonable reason to bust in, right?). They asked me if I was the one who set it on fire, I said no, they gave me pizza, we waited for the fire brigade. GOOD TIMES. That was the start of a super, super weird 72 hours.

I despise bananas in smoothies: DESPISE. They POLLUTE them, CONTAMINATING everything with awful, horrid, banana-ness. They are smoothie-ruiners. RUINERS. AWFUL, HORRIBLE, TERRIBAD INGREDIENTS OF EVIL. I like banana bread, and my mom’s banana cake, and can sometimes tolerate a banana-nut muffin, but they have no place in my strawberry-raspberry smoothies and they are intolerably smushy on their own. SHUDDER.

I have done a lot of super random jobs at least once: I’ve been a chemist, taught ballet to 6 year olds and figure skating to teens with special needs, charity auctioneer, corn shucker, lighting booth operator, teaching assistant, princess, storyteller, tutor, dining hall worker, medical transcriptionist, editor, corporate recruiter, automated tutorial/phone recording voice, corporate trainer, historical docent, term paper writer, contortionist, martial arts event coordinator, bookseller, video game voice, snake venom analyst (really that and perfumer were subsets of being a chemist, but, worth the callouts), there’s more but like, the list is long and random.

Last time I was in the airport a kid told me I was eating string cheese wrong. I told him that’s how string cheese is eaten on Mars. I recognize none of this make sense, it was 5 AM.

I’m gonna tag @han-pan, @karalija, @mylittlecornerofotome aaaand @jane-runs-fast! No obligation >>;;;

2017 Creator Tag

(tagged by @dear-mrs-otome and @wonky-glass-ornament)

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below (say why if you want) to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2017. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works. <3

Six Wins and Draw This mostly gets to be here because it had a bunch of characters I had never written before! It was fun to write just a quick few paragraphs (if that) for them. I’d like to do something like this again, because it was much easier than trying to force something standalone for a group I’m not as comfortable with the characterization on.

Compliments I really like fluff. I like communication, and silliness, and sweetness. @juniperotome helped tremendously with this piece, but it really turned out to be one of my favs. I actually prefer this to Burn Down, which was fun and which I do like and was the other contender for this slot, but when I put them side by side, I like this one.

THE WAFFLE COTTAGE CHRONICLES (there’s more) This had been rattling in my head since 2016, but I didn’t post this until January 2017. This was my first headcanon shoving ALL OF THE LORDS into a single story. I recognize that it is very American-mindset-centric, but the sheer satisfaction of brain-dumping the beast was cathartic.I wrote 5000+ words in bullet point form in One Single Sitting and just, it was fun. I still think this is hilarious, even if it has issues.

Lick Your Wounds I still have lingering problems with this piece. And there’s a sort of dual fact thing going on - it could be so much better, but it is also the best that I have done, imo. Those are both facts to me. At this point, it’s a very frustrating piece to deal with XD but even when I am not entirely happy with it, I am very happy and very very touched by the response it has gotten, and so it gets a place. #makepuppyhappy

Scraps UGH THIS FIFTH SLOT. I mean. There’s no question this goes to a Kai group piece. I love writing the Kai group, it’s the most comfortable and it comes the most easily. I don’t like writing modern aus but they just sort of vomit out with these characters in a very love-hate way (I love that they have the opportunity to be happy without the specter of history looming, that’s about it – it’s complicated to explain).

IkeSen Tag

(tagged by @dear-mrs-otome)

Top 3 Warlords in order: Sasuke Nobunaga Kenshin

Favorite Moment in the game so far OH MAN. HMM. I am going to be unoriginal and echo Mrs O – Nobunaga being a matchmaking troll is A+, but I do also love KEnshin and Shingen’s letter to Nobunaga in the ES where MC starts with them but falls in love with Nobu and they are basically like, be nice to her and let her come visit or DEATH TO YOU

Who has the best hair Masamune (Shingen & Hideyoshi have the worst /sigh)

Which voice do you like the most? MRS O I SWEAR I AM NOT COPYING but Kenshin/Mitsuhide are flat tied. Whispery and low, swoooon

Who do you think you are most compatible with? None of ‘em. I enjoy watching their romance unfold with story MC, but as actual self, there are zero combos that would work out favorably for both parties based on what I’ve seen so far.

Which warlord appeals to your aesthetics? Sasuke. Dude. Sasuke.

Which warlord makes you the most frustrated? Hmmm! Tough to say. Maybe Kennyo? Only because it’s seems from what we’ve seen that he is very much going against himself for some reason, and it’s hurting him and that is silly. Don’t do that.

Who would you swear loyalty to, the Oda forces, the Uesugi-Takeda forces, or Third Party forces? NNNNNGH. Oda. If I HAD to. Only because there’s a stronger sense of long-term stability and history. But ideally, none of the above. I would be NEUTRAL TERRITORY opening up a little seamstress shop somewhere in the middle that also serves tea and everyone is welcome to come have snacks, tea and fittings but only if they don’t fight XD (or at least take it outside, and no one dies)

BONUS: Mrs O’s Q: If you had to tell one warlord what happened to them in your own original timeline, who would it be and why? Nobunaga. Because what happened to him can’t yet come to pass in his timeline, so it’s moot. He’s shown to accept knowledge with aplomb so I don’t think it would send him into an existential spiral. He could handle it.

My question for anyone who does this – Which lord would make the best roommate?

Music Tag

(tagged by @skullbygloy100 @dear-mrs-otome @wonky-glass-ornament)

I only have two ways of enjoying music – passively not even noticing what’s on in the background and actively listening to the same song for literal and actual hours on repeat

Passes by Helen Jane Long – I literally listen to this on repeat for hours. HOURS.

Blood // Water by grandson

Cows on the Hill by Jay Ungar

Nowhere to run by Boga

Todo Comienza En La Disco by Wisin ft. Yandel & Daddy Yankee

Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn ft. Sia – but basically, anything with Sia

Shark in the Water by VV Brown – this is my Yukkin song lolol

Waterbound by the Fretless ft. Ruth Moody

Wait for It by Leslie Odom Jr

Clair de Lune by Debussy – performed by literally anyone

ANYONE WHO WANTS TO DO ANY OF THE THINGS just tag me <3 And those of you who tagged me - thank you thank you! This was fun

#about lee

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njawaidofficial · 7 years

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YouTube Grows Up: Inside the Plan to Take on Netflix and Hulu

http://styleveryday.com/2017/10/09/youtube-grows-up-inside-the-plan-to-take-on-netflix-and-hulu/

YouTube Grows Up: Inside the Plan to Take on Netflix and Hulu

With a veteran television exec, talent like Demi Lovato and Google’s $86 billion in cash, the platform known for skateboarding videos and tween vloggers wants to join the battle to become a prestige TV player. “I want our shows to resonate in a big way with audiences,” says content head Susanne Daniels. “And once that happens, we’ll be on that list — like it or not.”

Days before Morgan Spurlock debuted his anticipated Super Size Me sequel at the Toronto Film Festival, the documentary already was drawing buyer interest. Netflix made a play for Spurlock’s poultry industry exposé, per sources. Hulu and CNN also were said to be in the mix, but a surprising distributor quickly rose to the top: YouTube. The lights had just dimmed on Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken‘s Sept. 8 world premiere when THR reported that the streamer would pay $3.5 million for the documentary, committing to a theatrical release and a hefty marketing spend. “YouTube made the most sense for what I wanted to accomplish with this film,” says Spurlock, who is said to have left millions on the table to work with the Google-owned video hub and its 1.5 billion monthly viewers. “You don’t make movies to sit on a shelf and collect dust. You want them to actually be enjoyed by as many people as you can. And their plan is to make this a noisy partnership.”

Indeed, when Super Size Me 2 debuts on YouTube Red, the company’s $10-a-month streaming service, in 2018 after a run in theaters (a distribution partner hasn’t been chosen yet), it will front a small but growing slate of films — among them a documentary from rapper Warren G and a special starring Katy Perry — that YouTube global head of original content Susanne Daniels is hoping will help turn the world’s biggest repository for web video into an arbiter of taste and culture, a player in both the Oscar and Emmy races. “I want the movies that we’re buying to be buzzy and have something provocative to say,” says Daniels, a career television executive who joined YouTube in 2015 to lead its original content push. “It’s easier to support films the right way when they have a really loud and strong point of view.”

That YouTube execs were trolling Toronto for the next big indie hit says a lot about the rise of streaming video services over the past few years. An arms race among cash-rich new players — led by Netflix and Amazon and now including Hulu, Apple, Facebook and, yes, YouTube — has electrified the content business as legacy distribution models continue to fracture (see the 25-year low in box-office attendance this summer). The shift is redrawing the hierarchy of the television industry, where all five broadcast networks saw a decline in total viewers last season while the streamers committed about $20 billion to programming delivered without a cable subscription. This summer, Apple poached Sony TV’s top execs Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht to help it spend $1 billion making the kinds of shows (The Crown, Breaking Bad) that they once sold to networks. Netflix snapped up uber-producer Shonda Rhimes from ABC with an estimated $100 million deal. And Facebook announced its new video destination along with deals with dozens of production and publishing companies.

If there’s one thing that Netflix’s House of Cards, Amazon’s Transparent and Hulu’s drama series Emmy winner The Handmaid’s Tale have shown, it’s that it only takes one big hit to earn Hollywood’s respect and, in many cases, a subscriber’s credit card information. “If you can offer talent the same level of fame and exposure and pay them the same — if not more — than they get elsewhere, you can get access to anybody,” says BTIG media analyst Richard Greenfield. “There are no barriers anymore.”

Perhaps, but for every Netflix or Hulu, there is an Xbox Entertainment Studios or a Yahoo Screen or an Intel Media, all of which were scrapped after pricey launches. Even YouTube has been here before with its short-lived initiative to offer as much as $5 million up front to everyone from Ashton Kutcher to Jay Z to create their own “channels.” But the latest investments have the Hollywood talent community salivating. “The commitment of resources seems to indicate that this is a long-term game,” says Joe Cohen, co-head of CAA’s TV department. “It’s the most exciting time we’ve been in because of how much opportunity there is.”

There’s certainly not room for half-hearted programming plays in 2017. With nearly 500 scripted series expected this year, breaking through all that clutter isn’t easy. A common refrain as these new buyers take meetings is that each is looking for its Game of Thrones — an all-audience, brand-defining megahit. What that means for each platform is starting to come into focus. While Apple has been on the hunt for a big-budget drama from the likes of A-list creators Ryan Murphy or Vince Gilligan, Facebook is taking a more measured approach — saving Nicole Byers’ MTV comedy *Loosely Exactly Nicole from cancellation and ordering low-budget series from such longtime partners as BuzzFeed and Refinery29.

Where does all this leave YouTube, the site that launched the streaming age in 2005 with user-generated cat videos but now wants to be taken seriously as a prestige subscription destination? During a recent visit with THR at Google’s Mountain View campus in Northern California, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki laid out her multipronged offensive: a slate of ad-supported unscripted originals from such names as Demi Lovato (see sidebar), Ryan Seacrest and Ellen DeGeneres, coupled with a scripted push for YouTube Red that combines existing IP (including Step Up: High Water, an offshoot of the dance movie franchise, and The Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai) with projects fronted by its homegrown digital stars. Among the shows in the works are a musical comedy with Rudy Mancuso (3 million YouTube subscribers) executive produced by Avengers: Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo, an Anna Akana (1.9 million) drama executive produced by Mark Gordon and a Liza Koshy (11.7 million) vehicle. It even launched its own version of a skinny bundle, YouTube TV, offering access to channels including FX and ESPN over the internet for $35 a month. “Television is changing a lot, and there are opportunities to reinvent parts of it,” says Wojcicki. “We’re going to continue to invest more in it.”

YouTube and Hollywood haven’t always been so chummy, of course. As the original digital video disrupter, the site was a pariah during its early years when uploaded clips made up the bulk of its database. Viacom sued for $1 billion over copyright infringement of footage from The Daily Show and South Park (it was settled in 2014), and the company still regularly wars with the music industry over royalties. So three years ago, when chief business officer (and Netflix alum) Robert Kyncl began to plot the launch of a service that would give users the best of YouTube without the advertising, he knew how important it would be to get Hollywood on board. “YouTube Red was something the creative industry always wanted us to do,” says Kyncl. “I’d been on the receiving end of those calls pretty much every week.”

Enter Daniels, who had spent years tapping into the minds of teens at WB Network and later MTV. Early YouTube Red offerings starring the platform’s biggest stars (think a reality series with PewDiePie) drew eyeballs but not much notoriety. Now that strategy has changed. This summer, YouTube Red went head-to-head with Netflix, Hulu, AMC and Amazon to land Sony TV’s Karate Kid reboot, set 30 years after the coming-of-age classic, with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their roles. Most involved expected the half-hour Cobra Kai — from Harold & Kumar duo Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg and Hot Tub Time Machine writer Josh Heald — to land at Netflix. But Daniels’ aggressive 10-episode straight-to-series offer sealed the deal. Why? “Netflix is breaking a show every other week,” says Macchio. “With the passion that YouTube and Susanne Daniels have, this show is not going to get lost. They want it to be that first big show that puts them on the original content map.”

YouTube isn’t really part of the prestige TV conversation yet, and Kyncl declines to disclose how much the company is willing to spend on its originals business. But sources indicate it’s more likely in the hundreds of millions annually, nowhere near the $6 billion that Netflix pledges. (EMarketer estimates that YouTube ad revenue, which Google doesn’t break out in its earnings reports, will be about $3.5 billion this year, and Google had $86 billion in cash on hand in 2016.) While YouTube is willing to spend like any cable outlet (around $2 million an episode for dramas), say people familiar with its deals, it’s not quite ready to stretch beyond the $5 million an episode of some premium dramas, except for a handful of marquee projects.

YouTube also is said to have beat out others to land the Mancuso project, which has Pitch Perfect‘s Jason Moore attached to direct the pilot. But for other pickups, Daniels and her 30-person staff in the company’s Playa Vista office have had to get more creative. She landed the series reboot of Step Up after running into Lionsgate’s Erik Feig at a New Year’s Eve party. “Whatever was in the champagne that night, the call came in Monday, and it was like, ‘Let’s figure out how to do this,’ ” recalls Lionsgate Television chairman Kevin Beggs. Meanwhile, she piloted the Doug Liman-produced Impulse, based on a novel in Steven Gould’s Jumper series, before ordering it to series. “It’s my preference always to do a pilot,” says Daniels. “But in this crazy, competitive environment — more competitive than I’ve ever seen it before, ever — I don’t always have a choice.”

That competition will only become fiercer as Apple, Facebook and perhaps someday soon Snapchat or Twitter or Instagram get into the premium video game. While a meeting with Netflix, Amazon or Apple may be a creator’s goal among the streamers, persuading a top writer or producer to make the trek to Playa Vista — YouTube’s Hollywood outpost — isn’t as easy. But Daniels hopes that’s changing as she starts to make more high-profile pickups. Agents say the streamer’s hybrid approach of working with both YouTube celebrities and more traditional TV talents has led to some confusion over what the outlet is looking for. However, developing a “brand” of shows is a notion that Daniels pooh-poohs: “Short of choosing a really specific lane to play in, how do you really define ‘brand’? How is Amazon’s brand different than Netflix’s brand different than HBO’s brand different than Showtime’s brand?” She does acknowledge that she is focusing on the 18-to-34 demographic with youthful but edgy fare. On her wish list is a family show with religious overtones (she recently met with Touched by an Angel scribe Martha Williamson), and sources say she also is looking for a broad, multicamera comedy, a female ensemble in the vein of Girls and an action drama that would appeal to YouTube’s large gaming community — in other words, something for each of YouTube’s core demos.

While nearly all of the streamers are competing for awards recognition and prestige, only Facebook, with its 2 billion monthly users worldwide, and YouTube truly can duke it out over sheer audience scale. For now, YouTube has a clear head start on video, with more than 1 billion hours watched daily throughout the world. But through Watch (which currently is only available in the U.S.), Facebook is gunning for a larger slice of the $11.7 billion in ad dollars expected to flow into the digital video business this year.

Already, the two have gone head-to-head on programming. Facebook also considered working with Katy Perry on her 96-hour live stream, but YouTube ultimately landed the ambitious project, which drew more than 50 million views in 190 countries. (Per sources, MTV also bid, but the show would have aired only in the U.S.) “I’m so glad we swung for the fences on that and tried it,” says Daniels. “We need to be thinking about community and interactivity and live and international and all the things that we are that a TV network isn’t.” Witness was the first in a small slate of unscripted originals that YouTube has developed separately from its Red programming and will release outside the paywall in the hope of attracting blue-chip advertisers. “One of the things that I grew uncomfortable with was the fact that we were not creating original content for our biggest partners,” says Kyncl, noting that he’s hoping to tap into the demand that has been created by the nearly 20 percentage point drop in ad-supported originals in the traditional TV business over the past five years as subscription streaming services have flourished.

Plus, there’s the assurance that an ad on a Kevin Hart or Ryan Seacrest show won’t run alongside anti-Semitic, violent or other controversial videos often found on YouTube (and that prompted an advertiser revolt dubbed the “ad-pocalypse” earlier this year). So far, L.L. Bean and STX Entertainment have signed on for DeGeneres’ behind-the-scenes series Show Me More Show. The rate card for the series, which has averaged around 500,000 views per video since its Sept. 19 launch, is said to range from $500,000 to $1.5 million, though other shows have packages that are more expensive. Ulta Beauty is on board for Lovato’s Simply Complicated (Oct. 17), and Johnson & Johnson is the exclusive sponsor of the Seacrest-produced singing competition Best.Cover.Ever.

Talent, meanwhile, has been lured by the potential to reach fans no matter what country they live in. “YouTube is the O.G. of video content on the internet,” says Lovato, the 25-year-old pop star (for those over 40, she’s referring to the “original gangster”). “When they came to me with the idea, I just couldn’t say no.”

But as YouTube sets its sights on higher-profile projects, it risks alienating the community of digital talent who came to fame on its platform (and subsequently helped raise production values and CPMs), especially because projects like the Logan Paul-fronted sci-fi film The Thinning and Joey Graceffa’s reality series Escape the Night are said to be some of the most popular on Red.

Creators are watching YouTube’s moves closely. “It makes sense for them to do both,” says Rhett McLaughlin, one half of hosting duo Rhett & Link, who have both a YouTube Red series (Buddy System) and an ad-supported show (Good Mythical Morning). “This is ultimately a battle for people’s eyeballs.”

Facebook already is exploiting the tension, offering upfront deals to digital influencers to post their videos on Watch, though the social network says it eventually wants to stop funding content altogether in favor of a revenue-share arrangement (the split is the same as YouTube’s, with 55 percent of ad revenue going to the creator). YouTube execs, however, say they won’t abandon the site’s homegrown stars. “We focus on both YouTube native talent and Hollywood talent,” says Kyncl.

Of course, there are quirks to working with a technology company. At YouTube, the main challenge is its uniquely annoying platform architecture, in which each original series must live on a designated YouTube channel. For Step Up, for instance, YouTube is creating a whole new channel, which it will fill out by licensing the original films and offering collections of dance videos. “Some of these things are really new to us and require a whole different approach,” says Lionsgate’s Beggs. “A lot of people who are not normally in the same room together have met multiple times over at YouTube to compare notes.”

One benefit of having all those engineers working behind the scenes, though, can be the troves of data about the intimate viewing habits of billions of people. Daniels came to the Cobra Kai pitch armed with the knowledge that Karate Kid videos had yielded more than a billion views on YouTube. And platforms that rely on advertising typically aren’t as precious about data as Netflix or Amazon. Although YouTube doesn’t release subscriber figures or ratings for Red (the only number that executives have shared is that its first 37 originals have been viewed 250 million times — or an average of about 6.7 million views per show), creators with channels on Red receive monthly reports detailing how long people have watched their videos (important since YouTube shares subscription revenue with its creator partners) and other performance metrics.

In the subscription space, no one seems poised to catch Netflix, which has a five-year head start and series slate that included 43 scripted originals in 2016. But as Netflix and others look to own more of their shows, YouTube (and Apple) could get a boost. “Netflix wasn’t even in the original programming game four years ago,” says BTIG’s Greenfield. “If Apple wants to be a major player, if Google wants to be a major player, this is the beginning.”

Sitting in her Playa Vista office in August after her weekly production update meeting, Daniels contemplates just what it will take to turn YouTube into the kind of platform that gets mentioned in the same breath with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. “I want our shows to resonate in a big way with audiences,” she says with a gleam in her eye. “And once that happens, we’ll be on that list — like it or not.”

This story first appeared in the Oct. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

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crystalgirl259 · 4 years

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The Flame and the Dragon Ch13

Chapter 13: The Cursed Castle

The staircase led to the first floor and Kai was back in the front hallway. The enormous locked doors to the front mocked him as he passed by. He snorted and growled trying to navigate his way through the labyrinth of chambers. His stomach refused to silence. He turned down another hallway but every corridor appeared the same. They were made of stone and lit with candles, but each was decorated in a different manner. This only made it more difficult to decide where to go.

Two oak doors blocked the end of the hallway.

A light leaking from the bottom caught Kai's attention. He turned the handles and shoved the doors open a crack, preventing any noise. His eyes widened as he scanned the enormous dining room Even in the darkness, the room was stunning. A smooth, green carpet covered the floor, while a red carpet stretched from the entrance, up too small steps, and to a large platform where a gold and silver table sat. Matching chairs in a similar fashion lined the walls opposite the ends of the table.

Behind the table, three windows covered almost the entire wall, shaped like the top of an octagon.

They were lined with maroon curtains tied with a gold cord. The darkness outside told him it was still night. A crystal chandelier lit with many candles hung from the ceiling on a thick chain, while candle holders lit with cream-colored candles rested on the oak tables. A huge fireplace framed with black stone rested in the opposite wall where a huge mirror rested above the mantelpiece. There was no ceiling. Instead, there was a balcony. Kai recognized as one of the ones he'd traveled when Cole showed him to his room, branched from one wall to the other.

Kai shivered to wonder what the room must have looked like during the day, with light spilling in from the windows.

In the far corner, lights danced behind another door, diverting his attention. He slowly approached the door and gently pushed it open. A short stone hallway lit by orange and yellow lights led to the kitchen where he could hear voices. Caution and curious, Kai pressed his back against the opposite wall, keeping himself in the safety of the shadows, before silently sliding towards the kitchen entrance. He carefully leaned over to peer inside. The kitchen was full of bright lights though he could only see a few candles and enormous wheel-shaped chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

In the corner was an enormous brick structure that Kai could've mistaken for an alter if not for the black smoke pouring out the brick tower.

There was blazing yellow and orange fire burning wildly within it. The kitchen was huge. It was an entire room made of stone and glass and the floor was made of a sandy-gold stone. The fire pit, contained by the enormous brick stove, rested in the far corner embedded in the wall. A line of black tools hung from the wall around the stove, so they were within easy reach. A tall man, taller than Kai with short black hair and ghostly pale skin stood before the fire pit.

With a wave of his arms, the fires roared to life, before calming with the flick of the man's wrist.

He carried jars of spices from the mess upon the huge wooden table in the middle of the room and rearranged them in the towering spice cabinet next to the stove. Servants moved about, two he recognized as the man and woman in the tower, scurried about the kitchen carrying plates of little cakes, baskets of apple and fruits, and trays covered with silver tins. They placed them all on a huge wooden table in the middle. The table was full of knives and cutting boards and overcrowded with apples, peppers, carrots, and other vegetables.

The servants gathered them all in baskets before relocating them in either the huge icebox in the corner of the enormous pantry, so large it covered almost the entire wall.

Over a large silver sink, Neuro scrubbed pots beneath a faucet of running water. Steam rose when the hot water touched the cool, gray water. Nelson was sat on one of the countertops drying plates. Tox and Ronin who Kai recognized from the tower were carrying large pots, struggling with large towers of plates and cauldrons of water. The two placed the objects on the table before a flash of turquoise and green surrounding them. A green naga and a short troll stood in their place.

They then relocated the dishes from the countertops to the cupboards above the counters.

They were carved from wood but each one had a glass window so people could see where each one went. The raven-haired man in the corner turned around, barking orders, revealing his true face. He had a few inches on Kai and pale, almost grey, skin and onyx-colored eyes. A strong hand wiped the sweat from his brow. He wore black gloves and a sleeveless black vest with silver shoulder braces, a silver wolf symbol with red eyes, and in front of a blue area on the chest.

His legs were designed with gray pants and black boots.

His white cooking apron was blotched with soot and stained red. Kai ducked behind the wall hoping he wasn't seen. His heart hammered in his chest in confusion and excitement, as he pondered who, or rather what, they were.

"UGH! I can't believe this! I slave all day over a hot stove, quite literally and what!? It all goes to waste!" He hollered as he raised his hands in protest. The other servants and the boy on the counter jumped. The only one unafraid of the cook's temper was Neuro, who was still doing dishes.

"Oh, stop your grousing! It's been a long night for all of us!" Neuro told him. Shade rolled his eyes but said nothing else. Not a moment later Jay, who Kai also recognized from the tower, bulldozed into the room through the opposite door, panting heavily. Echo ran beside him, looking just as exhausted as Jay.

"Sorry guys," Jay panted, before glowing in a dark blue light. A blue fox took his place. Kai's eyes almost bulged out of his skull. He couldn't look away as Echo closed his eyes and in a flash of gold, only a brown centaur remained. They had intended to continue their search for Kai, but they noticed how much work the others had to do since dinner was canceled and it wasn't like Kai could leave the castle. Wasting no time, Jay, in the form of a Raijū, grabbed a stack of plates clearly too heavy for him.

The tiny creature struggled to use his powers to float but managed to lift it and made his way towards the pantry.

"Jay let me help you," Echo begged his companion.

"I got it," Jay grunted until finally, he faltered as his body fell, sending plates scattering around him. Without thinking Kai dove and slid across the floor to catch the falling creature in his arms. Plates rained around him, as Kai pulled the shaking fox in his arms. Everyone, who had moved for the same reason, froze and stared at the boy on the floor. Kai blinked in surprise until his eyes widened in remembrance.

"Oh, you're there," Jay said. "Echo and I wondered where you disappeared too." He smiled. Kai reacted quickly. His entire body jumped and he fell backward until he was in a half-sitting, half-lying position. His eyes were wide with shock and awe. The action sent Jay flying into the air, forcing him to use his powers to float. The cook crossed his arms and smirked at the teen on the floor. Jay rubbed his head with a paw before blinking at his savor.

He smiled brightly and extended a paw to Kai, who stared at him with a mixture of shock, confusion, and amazement.

"I'm Jay, please to meet you."

"Uh, hello," Kai replied as he shook Jay's paw with two fingers.

"I apologize about this," Neuro said as he leaned forward slightly so his eyes met Kia's bewildered ones. "My name is Neuro, and before you ask, no you are not in any way mad, and I do hope our presence didn't shock you; we didn't expect to meet you formally until tomorrow, otherwise we would've made your acquaintance already but now that you're here, we'd like to welcome you, Master... Kai, is it?" He asked. Kai nodded, still shocked.

"Sorry about before." Tox hissed as she slithered over. "We didn't get to introduce ourselves, the name's Tox." She smiled before there was a flash of green. When it faded again a green-haired woman landed on her heels and offered a hand to Kai.

"Hello," Kai replied, a bit breathlessly, and shook the offered hand. Tox took the opportunity to pull him to his feet.

"Sorry, about earlier." Echo smiled sadly before reappearing as the brunette boy with gold eyes a moment later. "I hope all of our transforming back and forth didn't scare you." He smiled sincerely.

"It's alright, I don't mind." Kai smiled. "I'm assuming these are your cursed forms?" He asked gesturing to Jay's fox form.

"Only if we want, it's just exhausting to stay human and easier for us to move like this," Jay explained.

"But the Dragon Lord is a mix of man and creature, so how come none of you are?" He asked, wondering why they were suddenly switching between their human forms and the monstrous forms he recognized from the fairy tale. They all shared uncomfortable looks so Kai thought it'd be best to drop the subject.

"I'm Ronin." The troll smiled from the counter. Kai nodded with a small smile.

"Easy there, lads, you don't wanna shock the boy anymore than he already has been shocked tonight." Shade teased before narrowing his eyes to the teen in front of him. Kai stayed still as Shade's hard eyes, void of emotion and impossible to read, scanned him over critically. "The boys told me you're the reason the Master was throwing a fit this afternoon, is that true?" He asked and Kai raised an eyebrow.

"If he threw a tantrum because I refused to obey him then that is no one's fault but his own; I made myself perfectly clear when I said I refused to become another one of his servants just because we made a deal." He answered. Everyone froze for a bit, then Shade did the last thing anyone expected, he laughed.

"You got guts, it about time someone deflated the oversized ego of Cole's! He needs to learn to lighten up a bit." The cook laughed in such a way, Kai wasn't sure if it was good or bad until the noirette smirked. "Welcome to the hellhole, I'm Shade, the cook here and Neuro's husband, at your service."

"My name's Nelson." The boy he'd seen earlier jumped from the counter to greet him with a bright smile on his face. "You've already met Jay." He said and gestured to the blue fox floating in the air, knocking Ronin off the counter. The troll growled and began a chase. Kai ducked and moved, hoping to avoid the crossfire. Soon Tox and Echo both returned to their human forms and joined in the play.

"Don't mind them." Neuro chuckled. "They're always eager to see a new face; now, if there is anything at all we can do to make your stay more comfortable, please do not hesitate to ask."

"Yeah, we haven't had any guests here in ages!" Jay smiled, stopping in the air, causing the other three creatures to crash into him.

"Well, I am a little hungry."

"You hear that? He's hungry!" Neuro instantly beamed as he turned to Shade.

"Start the fire!" Shade smiled as he spun around and waved his hand. The oven erupted in flames. "Pull out the spices, break out the china!" He ordered and not a moment later, everyone did as commanded. The spice cabinet flew open and various jars of different colored herbs were removed and drawers opened, revealing the forks, spoons, and knives.

"Wait!" Tox countered. "Didn't the Master say-"

"Until I die, not a soul in this castle is going to bed hungry!" He declared, boldly. Kai almost blushed at the attention.

"Really, you don't have to-"

"Shut it!" Shade cut him off he dropped the two huge pots he'd been carrying on top of the roaring stove. Before Kai could blink Shade flew in front of him making him jump and stumble backward. Shade circled him, scanning him up and down then pinched his arm making Kai growl, and snatch his arm away

"What the hell are you doing!" He demanded angrily but Shade didn't seem to hear him.

"I've got my work cut out for me." The chef shook his head both in disappointment and in excitement at the new challenge. "Not to worry, when I'm done with you you'll never eat again! You need it, you're way too thin for a normal seventeen—"

"I'M NINETEEN!"

"That's even worse! Do you ever eat?! You're nothing but skin and bones!" Shade gasped in horror. Before Kai could answer, Shade started running around the room gathering ingredients. "We are going to need chickens, chestnuts, and broth for stuffing and plenty of hazelnuts!" He started shouting randomly, grabbing a basket of apples from the pantry, and began slicing through each one like butter. "Three cups of flour, six eggs, and a quarter of milk… MOVE IT!" He roared.

The servants scurried throughout the kitchen as the dook randomly shouted what he needed.

The chef darted from the icebox to the pantry or the table. He was grabbing, slicing, and throwing food over his shoulder into pots, on pans, or plates. The whole process was so quick and complex, Kai suddenly felt dizzy watching him work.

"TOX!"

"HERE!" The naga answered while Shade placed a tray of sliced cheeses and crackers and assorted fruits in her hands.

"Bring that to the dining hall and don't spill a single one or I'll skin you alive!"

"GOT IT!" She replied, before jumping off the counter and dashing towards the dining room. When Kai felt something pull on his sleeve, he looked down and found Nelson tugging on his sleeve.

"You'll love it, Shade's a great cook." He reassured the brunette. Smiling, Kai scooped the small boy into his arms, making him yelp, and walked towards the dining room. He shoved the doors open, so Tox and Ronin could get in and place the food on the table. He gently placed Nelson on the table and turned around just in time to see Jay fly in. The blue fox struggled to carry a huge bowl of gravy on his head as he panted exhaustedly. Taking pity on him, when Jay started to slowly fall to the ground, Kai took the pot of Jay's head and carried it to the table.

"Hey! That's our job!" Jay moaned in annoyance. Kai chuckled at the pout on the fox's face.

"What? So now I'm not even allowed to help? Fuck that! Listen, guys, I appreciate all this, really, but I can take care of myself, I really can't stand being waited on all the time." He insisted. The servants just nodded and retreated back to the kitchen before coming back with more food, putting up no resistance whenever Kai offered to help. When Shade finished, all things delicious and imaginable were spread across the table. Kai noticed they'd only set one plate for him, but looking at the display before him, he knew there was no way he could ever hope to eat all the food.

A basket full of ripe, red apples arranged next to a basket of bread and rolls that sat next to a plate of butter.

The centerpiece was a huge chicken stuffed with chestnut stuffing, next to a bowl of hot, buttery gravy. Wheel-shaped plates of cheese and crackers that were hemmed by pieces of ham and beef served as appetizers. A single, large golden goblet was filled with rich, burgundy wine. For dessert, there were plates of fruits. There were strawberries smoothed with cream and dusted with brown sugar, raspberries coated in chocolate, hazelnuts dipped in honey, and over a dozen tiny cakes filled with cream with light pink frosting.

Kai couldn't say anything as his mouth began to water at the sight of all that delicious food.

"I take pride in my work," Shade smirked, before gently shoving Kai into the dining room. He turned to leave but Kai stopped him.

"Aren't you having any?" He asked. Shade paused and raised an eyebrow, before remembering this was only Kai's first night here.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I literally can't, I can't leave the kitchen, I'm bound to it." He replied, sounding angry and almost sad. The noirette didn't give Kai time to answer and turned to leave again, but Kai jumped in front of him. He blocked the door before turning to the rest of the confused staff.

"You guys can't expect me to eat all that by myself, right? I assumed you were making enough for everyone?" He asked and Shade blinked. Kai's determination refused to falter. Again the cook smirked and crossed his arms.

"You got a good heart, but even though we can, we don't need to eat; it's part of our curse."

"When was the last time any of you actually enjoyed your own cooking?"

"Over a hundred years ago." He answered flatly. He resisted the urge to urge to snort at the stunned look on Kai's face. Instead of questioning him, Kai strolled back to the table and sat down at the table.

"Come on, the food looks delicious, and I already know there's a possible way I can finish all this by myself, so feel free; I'd don't mind, I like company."

"Sure." Jay shrugged as he hopped onto the table and grabbed a cake before plopping it in his mouth. Shade plucked the blue fox by his tail.

"At least have the decency to wait, I didn't go through all the trouble of cooking just so you could eat it all in five minutes." He scolded, while everyone else either grabbed a chair or followed Jay's example and took a seat on the table. Shade dropped Jay next to Nelson and leaned against the table, before grabbing one of the cakes and took a bite. "So, Kai, what would you like?" He asked. Kai's eyes scanned the mountains of food again, already feeling his stomach begging.

"I'll just have a bit of everything." He finally said. Kai had never cared much for the laws of physics, but whoever said the matter couldn't be created or destroyed clearly never met Jay or Ronin before. In the span of a few short seconds, the two creatures had devoured over half the food that was leftover, after everyone claimed their meal. They made all that food vanish in less than a few seconds. Kai could only stare at them in shock.

"Don't think about it." Someone suddenly said. Kai jumped and turned to Echo, who was standing next to him, munching on a cake and a strawberry. "Ronin and Jay are eating machines, Shade says the day he leaves either one of them in the kitchen unattended is the day he lets us all starve to death." The centare laughed before eating his strawberry. Shade nodded at this, sinking his unusually long canine into an apple. Kai chuckled before stealing another cake, while the two boys fought over the last of the cream-filled sweets.

He couldn't believe how much he was enjoying himself.

Everything unhappy and frustrating about the previous evening just seemed like a bad dream. Once everyone had eaten their choice of food, they'd began bombarding Kai with questions about himself, each one of them curious to learn everything about their new guest. He'd given up trying to persuade them not to call him Master Kai and decided it was just something he'd have to get used to. The younger staff and Nelson were all careful to avoid anything that related to his siblings, which he was grateful for.

Despite his unusual happiness, the ache of never seeing his family again left a heavy hollow weight in his chest.

"So, you like books?" Nelson asked, sipping a glass of orange juice.

"Lloyd and I used to spend all our time in the bookstore whenever we got a chance." He nodded. Jay perked up and let go of the cake he'd been holding, sending Ronin, who was trying to take the cake, flying backward and almost off the table.

"We should show you the library then, right Tox?" He asked, turning to the naga, who was busy licking the last of the chicken off a drumstick.

"Of course, it's on the second floor."

"You have a library? Where is it?" Kai asked, excited.

"We'll show you tomorrow, we've gone through the whole day already." Echo replied. Kai blinked before looking around for some form of a clock in the room. An antique grandfather clock in the hallway, chimed to life, alerting the staff it was already 9 o'clock.

"Wow, I guess time really does fly when you're having fun." He chuckled and continued to socialize with the younger staff. Tox, Jay, and Nelson all asked Kai questions about himself, especially when he let it slip that he liked to write. It rather surprised everyone else. It was almost too impossible to believe this guy was the same rebellious and feisty teen who'd all but sent their Master into a fury the night before. Ronin suddenly stopped eating and jumped from the table.

In a flash of turquoise, he returned to his human form and grabbed a large tray, and began piling it with enough food for at least two people.

He clenched the silver handles and turned to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Kai asked curiously.

"The Master didn't come down for dinner, so he must be hungry." He answered flatly. A sudden rage filled Kai and he snorted, remembering the argument they'd had earlier. Ronin turned to the new guest and offered a small smile.

"He's really not bad, except when he's in a mood, but really, he's not bad; you'll forgive him when you get to know him and until then, have a good night." He smiled before exiting the room and strolling up the staircase Kai hadn't noticed before. Kai's ever narrowed but he said nothing.

"You'll have to forgive him, Kai." Neuro sighed. "It's just been so long, and he hasn't really interacted with people for quite some time; sometimes he forgets what it's like to be kind and I'm sure you can understand, haven't you ever felt so out of place it was like everyone was against you for reasons you could not understand?" He asked and Kai almost choked on the wine he'd been drinking. He couldn't answer, but Neuro's words echoed in his mind like a guilty conscious smacking him for an act of stupidity.

He didn't answer and instead just looked at the floor.

For a moment he wondered if it was Cole or him Neuro had been talking about. The last chapter of the fairy tale repeated in his head, and for the first time in two days, he had to remind himself it wasn't just a fairy tale, but a true story. A true story about a hundred years of isolation. He shook his head and tried to dispel the thoughts. He didn't want to think about that right now. He didn't want to spoil his good mood with those thoughts. He didn't regret his and Cole's argument earlier.

Tragedy or not, he reacted the way anyone would, he told himself.

Kai sighed and stood from his chair, causing everyone in the room to stare.

"I'm going to head to bed if that's alright." He said with a small smile.

"We'll go with you." Jay volunteered, floating up and resting on Kai's shoulder. Kai chuckled before offering an arm to Nelson. Nelson took advantage of the gesture and took hold of Kai's hand.

"Are you three coming?" He asked, Shade, Echo, Neuro, and Tox.

"No thank you," Tox replied.

"We should clean this up, and don't you dare volunteer to help, this is the only time of the night Shade and I get to be alone." Neuro smiled, teasingly, though the smirk on Shade's face suggested a few not so innocent intentions. Kai shuddered, before turning to Echo.

"Coming?"

"I have to help the others; the rest of the staff will want to meet you tomorrow." He replied and Kai nodded, before leaving the room, and asking his new friends the quickest way to the East Wing. No one noticed the shadow standing on the balcony overlooking the dining hall, or the green eyes transfixed on the smiling form of their new guest and the equally laughing faces of his staff. He retreated to the safety of the shadows hoping to let them have their moment of happiness, undisturbed...

****************

No one but Ronin noticed the flash of black retreating towards the West Wing. Ronin stopped outside a familiar door of dark wood, engraved with the stunning carving of a dragon. It stood tall and proud as beautiful as it was dangerous, powerful wings twice its length flexed to its full length empowering the border of the doors. Ronin shifted the weight of the tray to one hand and used his free one to knock the silver door knockers. Without an answer, the doors unlocked themselves with a loud click and the shifting of gears like a clock.

Swiftly, but gently, Ronin turned the doorknob and gently pushed the large doors open.

He was met with darkness, lit only by the crack of light from the hallway.

"Master?" He called gently, before entering the room and carefully closing it behind him. Only the bright glow of a large red candle in the corner lit the room. Shredded tapestries hung from the walls, and tattered orange curtains covered the glass doors leading to a balcony. A table covered in white cloth sat on the raised platform. On the table sat the Master's most treasured items, which Ronin dared not touch. The once-grand room was caked with dust and cobwebs.

The only thing untouched by the dust was the huge canopy bed in the corner.

The frame made from iron and the comforter and pillows were shades of black, red, and amber. The curtains around it were tattered and faded with age, but they'd done their job keeping age from touching the bed. The curtain was open and Ronin could see his master sitting there, wrapped in his enormous wings.

"Master? It's time for dinner." He called again. The Dragon Lord finally acknowledged his presents and opened his wings. Ronin gave him a small smile, before setting the tray down on of the broken tables. Of all the servants in the castle, Ronin was one of the only two allowed such familiarity with their Master. He wasn't sure if it was because he'd been there the longest, or if it was because Cole was the one who brought him there and offered him sanctuary.

Ronin accepted that gift with pride.

He made no effort to take advantage of it. Cole smiled and rose from his seat.

"Shouldn't you be making sure our guest doesn't get lost?" He teased.

"Don't worry, Nelson is with him; I'm not foolish enough to leave him alone with Jay, even you wouldn't do something that cruel."

"You put too much faith in me, all of you do." He chuckled lightly. "Anyone else would have, should have, given up on me long ago; I'd have already given up on myself by now."

"Don't say that!" Ronin said, too outspokenly, but it was too late to stop himself. "You don't have enough faith in yourself, you're one of the strongest people I've ever met! I refuse to believe that man who saved me can't be saved himself." He finally choked out, though it hardly measured up to what he wanted to say.

"You really think I don't want to believe that?" Cole asked rhetorically. "Do you really think, I hadn't thought of that when three strangers literally dropped on my doorstep? I hope and I pray and yet instead of an angel I get this brazen, obnoxious boy who can't hold his tongue or keep his temper." Cole chuckled, but Ronin knew it wasn't humorous. "I'm done and I won't pretend to be anything other than what I am." He sighed. Ronin opened his mouth to protest but Cole just smiled.

"Go to bed, I'm sure Kai would enjoy the company." He said and Ronin didn't argue. He just nodded and before leaving his master alone. When the troll was gone, Cole turned to the tray on the table, and with the weave of his arm, it crashed against the wall with the loud clang of metal and silver. He scowled to himself. They all placed too much faith in him. It would only be disappointing when he failed. He growled with disgust at himself before turning to the table in front of the balcony and gazed at the crimson red candle as the bright purple flame flickered back and forth.

One hand braced the rim of the table, the other covering his face with his black scaled paw.

The peace was married to the memory of those who'd given up everything for him. The ones he had lost. The ones he failed to protect.

"It's hopeless."...

#ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago cole #ninjago kai #ninjago jay #ninjago tox #ninjago ronin #ninjago shade #ninjago neuro #The Flame and the Dragon #beauty and the beast #ninjago fanfiction #lavashipping #steampunkshipping #violentshipping

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