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greetings, gathered friends. while i'm away from my parts collection and bricklink is... busy doing bricklink things, i've made the transition to digital building. being able to hop on the computer and throw together a neat little dude has proven oddly therapeutic. here is the accumulated result of several therapy sessions for your viewing pleasure. each matoran in this project uses or reuses one of two body designs, which i dislike on principle, but which was necessary to keep them in scale with each other and with larger characters. in order to help them stand out as much as possible, then, i set two main goals. the first was to give each one a unique set of tools and accessories, and the second was to try emulating the delightfully haphazard color schemes of the villagers in MNOG2. a third goal that grew from these was to design everything to be completely buildable in real life, so each part seen in these renders is available to buy in the color it's seen in. without further delay, please enjoy- a collection of various matoran hard at work. VARRO, the Dockworker NOTES: varro was the first one of these guys created, before this project even became a project. he ended up as a test dummy for various prop builds for a while- and thus helped me figure out all kinds of ways to attach props into the hands- before becoming his own character and getting some props of his own. i 'm very pleased with his color distribution; the yellow komau is one of my favorite masks of all time, and i love how it and his other yellow bits pop against the red. TARSUS, the Veteran NOTES: tarsus owes his existence to a friend, who suggested a teacher character with dark red in the color scheme. given the more militaristic bent of various fire villages we've seen, i bent the prompt a little and made tarsus a retired soldier turned strategic advisor. his "gradient" color scheme and prosthetic arm were fun to design, but his wargaming board was not- it literally took me three hours to get something i liked. its shape is based on a pixel-ized map of the coasts of ireland. CLYMENE, the Jeweler NOTES: ga-matoran tend to be a little one-note with their colors, which is a shame, because the ocean is a colorful place. for clymene, i wanted to see what kinds of colors i could add to her design to help enhance her appearance as an ocean-themed character; the idea behind the final result is that her mask is made of coral and her "apron" is made of grass. her hammer doesn't really scream "jeweler," but it was a fun piece i wanted to use on one of these guys; maybe she uses it to help her carve the jewels? PSARAS, the Fisherman NOTES: psaras came about after i watched a brilliant lego atlantis moc video on youtube, which inspired me to check out the various colors the fish piece was released in. he just might be my favorite out of the whole lot; i love how goofy he looks with the fish hanging off him, and his fishing pole is one of those props that came together exactly as envisioned on the first attempt. he's got another "gradient" color scheme, this time inspired by the colors of a crashing wave. OKUNI, the Idol Singer NOTES: okuni was one of my first real challenges in this project. those 2-long thin technic liftarms come in a lot of nice colors, but not many that go too well with mata green. i ended up choosing dark orange, to represent the wood of the trees in the various air and jungle villages. this has the side effect of not making her look as flashy as an idol singer should, but since her mask can get a little pricey, we'll say that's where all her wardrobe budget is going. MITSU, the Welder NOTES: mitsu was the last of these guys to be designed, and the hardest one to actually design. by this point, i had used all of the solid-color 2001 masks on the other matoran, and i really didn't want to use the kaukau, which looks really ugly when rendered (and in general), but i also really didn't want to reuse any masks. it literally came down to a coin flip between the kakama and the miru. his occupation was suggested by a different friend, and his red arms are meant to be protective gloves. JULA, the Athlete NOTES: jula is another one of those ideas that clicked into place from the start and didn't change much during the design process. i don't work with "sand" colors too often, but the sand blue paired surprisingly well with the metru brown. the layout of her colors was inspired by a weightlifting singlet, and the akaku was the only logical choice for a javelin thrower. in hindsight, though, i probably could have done the actual javelin a little better; those knobs break the shaping of it pretty badly. KUCHONGA, the Carver NOTES: kuchonga's design was finalized somewhere in the middle of the project, but his occupation wasn't decided on until the very end. a carver may be a stereotypical po-matoran job, but i still enjoyed designing his little hammer and chisel. the little chunks of rock he's chopped off his sculpture were also pretty fun to arrange. his colors are inspired by the colors of natural clay; his "apron" was originally dark red like the studs, but regular red helped his mask fit in a little better. FONG, the Botanist NOTES: fong is partly responsible for psaras- he was my first experiment with reusing the same accessory multiple times on the same character, and i loved the results here so much i wanted to do it again. all the stems of his mushrooms are glow-in-the-dark, even the short ones. the light gray matatu was chosen because it made him look like a shut-in who hasn't gotten any sunlight for a few... years. at the time, i couldn't think of a more specialized prop for him, so i just gave him a lightstone torch to hunt more mushrooms with. ZEIMOTO, the Trader NOTES: zeimoto is another request from yet another friend, who wanted to see a trader character with purple in the color scheme. since there aren't any purple masks besides the pakari, it's a little difficult to use it on a character without them looking like onepu. the idea behind the yellow on zeimoto's shoulders is that it's a mechanical harness he can mount his crates onto to carry around, death stranding-style. he doesn't have a psychic fetus for sale, though, just crystals and lightstones. RAUD, the Priest NOTES: raud was the second of these guys to be completed, and the official starting point of this project. he kind of set the benchmark for how colorful i could get away with making these guys while still having them be recognizable as members of specific tribes. (in my universe, the turaga are an order of matoran priests instead of a stage in their life cycle, but for those who demand slavish adherence to canon, maybe he's dressing for the job he wants?) the colors of his body are based on the character toudo from MNOG2. INGUNN, the Artist NOTES: one final request from one final friend, who asked for an artist character with silver in the color scheme. light gray is close enough to silver, right? at various points, ingunn had a white hau and light aqua instead of light gray, before i finally settled on the more subdued colors and friendlier-looking mask. her easel is the most complex prop i've designed for this project, and her painting is a partial copy of some pixel art i found of the 2001 turaga's masks. thank you for taking the time to look at this humble little collection. i had a lot of fun making these guys, and i hope you had a lot of fun reading about them. comments and feedback are always welcome, so if you saw something you liked, please let me know! until next time, be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.

Has it really been this long? Geez. Do people even remember me? When I last posted a blog entry, I had just finished college. My grandmother willed herself to live long enough to see my live-streamed graduation, and I started grad school outside of Boston rooming with my best friend from college, an organist looking to get a church gig in a big city who tethered himself to wherever I ended up going. Grad school was way more intense than I expected. It requires an enormous amount of self-motivation compared to undergraduate work, especially in the humanities. On top of that, the pandemic meant a full 2/3 of it was online—which, in music composition, was a lot of writing music and not too many performances of it. Plus, doctoral programs cut back on admissions or paused them entirely. 2020 is also when I fell in love with the woman who is now my wife, and I have many wonderful memories of our first days together at the end of an otherwise miserable and deeply scary year. Our relationship was long-distance as she was still in grad school in Boston while I moved to Buffalo to begin a PhD. Those two years were my first spent living alone, which in a lot of ways I really liked. I'd always liked the snow (growing up in North Carolina meant we only got a full, fun, sleddable amount of it once every few years), so I've come to really like western New York in a lot of ways, from city life to the suburbs, and even to small towns. So now I'm in the final year of the PhD, where the piece of music I wrote for my dissertation has been performed, and now all that's left is to defend it. I've been teaching a lot, including a class on the Beatles in the 1960s. See you in a few more years, I guess? Or maybe I'll stick around. All my Lego is still back in North Carolina and I've only taken a few small trinkets with me on my various moves over the years. Two of our three cats would be absolute menaces with the stuff.

I have a son now. He was born just over two weeks ago. Just a few more years, and I can tell him about a few things that happened in the time before time…

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Hello hello! I have some files to share for MNOG II modding and revamp. Here's the link to the folder on Google Drive, and let me know if there's problems: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V3zQONRRwdxaNqEhsR3yO2J0jlKbJl23?usp=sharing Installation: Get the game from BioMediaProject. Grab the Wall of History MNOG II mod, putting those files in the "Mata Nui Online Game II" folder & overwriting the base files. Then grab my mod and drag those files into that same folder, overwriting those files. Here are my mod changes so far: Hahli walking in-world affected by speed stat (Player.swf) added variable item numbers to swim gathering (Player.swf) increased gathering numbers in Ga-Wahi (Ga-Wahi.swf) upped skill increase to 25 per game (GameTakeaRace.swf, GameRockHaul.swf, GamePoleBalance.swf, GameMahiRun.swf, GameDiscThrow.swf, GameBallThrow.swf) auto-input for no clicking (takea game, rock haul game) slowed down animations for in-world animations like seaweed, waterfall, etc (Ga-Wahi.swf, MataNuiInterior.swf, Ta-Wahi.swf) My next items to work on are expanding conversations with Matoran and making new vector artwork to add some more visual interest to each Koro, which I made a post about a couple days ago on Reddit. Also some dialogue editing to keep some sentences to a single speech bubble. Between BioMediaProject and the Wall of History modpack, lots of bugs I see people talking about are fixed. My goal is more quality of life improvements and I'll update this post as I get them done. I'm open to suggestions!

Set up in droves all around the public entrances of the Archives, these businesses thrive on selling 'authentic' historical keepsakes and other tidbits to visitors from other Metru. Common products include: Jumbo Jelly Kraata - 5 Widgets Krana Kandy - 3 Widgets Replica Coliseum - 6 Widgets 'Invincibility Robot' Action Figures - 25 Widgets Visorak Plushies - 15 Widgets Protodermic Totems - 15 Widgets Midi-scale Hau Replica - 10 Widgets Most customers don't note the 'Made in Xia' stamps on these authentic goods until they get home...

Hi everypony, I'm Doctor Bionicle. This is actually my first time using BZP. I hope you're all having a good week. I made this comic since I got that "itch" you know? I might make more. This comics features @Fritz_mocs and The.Overheating.Orange on instagram.

Realising that the G2 fans have grown up and are now adults working for Lego has aged me in a way nothing has before.

Zooming around the magma flows of Ta-Wahi in his Lava Skiff, Takere is always happy to give others a lift. As certain and agile as he is on his vessel, he is legendarily clumsy on solid land. Built for MayToran 2026!

The game is called 'MycoRelic' and it is ridiculously Bionicle coded to the point the devs must also be fans. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2624080/MycoRelic/ The game features 'Sentient fungus reanimating robotic bodies of dead machines' with a sort of tribal aesthetic, one of the early weapons are wind up disc launchers, and a core feature is swapping pieces of your body to create a different robotic frame that favors different statistics that you loot off of enemies. It plays like dark souls and is incredibly cool. I'm not affiliated with the developers in any way, I just thought it was cool as ****** and was like "This game is unknown and I feel like Bionicle fans would be into it" Enjoy.

I've noticed a tendency among younger members of my generation to treat "Fandoms" as unified entities with a moral character. It comes from a natural instinct to identify with a community which unfortunately transforms into a desire to devote part of yourself to a higher power comprised of a system of parts (people) that, in exchange, gives you a feeling of belonging, validity and purpose. Unfortunately, by merging yourself and your self worth into this egregore, you can easily experience feelings of rejection, powerlessness, and alienation. I have absolutely no desire to be a part of this. I am an individual and an artist, I claim the power of my attention, speech and production. The people who have fond feelings for the thing I also enjoy are separate from the thing, and from me. I'd wager the word Fandom has never parted my lips except in response to another person using the term to explain why they have been hurt.

Maytoran 2026 is here! One of the unlucky Matoran to be 'fixed' by Karzahni and sent to Voya Nui, Bunko's guerrilla tactics became invaluable against the Piraka and their robotic Nektann minions.

This was built for the Bionilug Slizer/Throwbot collab

Hero February, let's go! First of a trio of RPG raid party inspired heroes. This one fills the role of tank! LFM for the other two...

Things should be cleaned up now. We recently tried switching to a new verification system for registration since we were getting one or two bots a week. It seems like the new system was a lot worse than the old one, so we switched back.

Bingo. LEGO is like a ship of Theseus and it seems all the original creative voices who made Bionicle so beloved (Faber, Swinnerton, Farshtey, Thompson) left or got axed a long time ago. Lego still makes content, and unless you consume and enjoy that content, you probably wouldn't enjoy whatever slop they churned out and called G3. The most authentic way we could recreate the Bionicle experience is by making our own stuff.

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IC: Karak - Outside Celrys’ Workshop I take a moment to parse what she said and then I nod, returning the smile. Odd. “Sleep…ok. Had to share with Glatorian.” I attempt to explain, scratching at my shoulder. “She fight soon. Like me. Maybe she fight me.” I squint behind the mask. ”Del. Where is?” OOC: @Snelly

"At long, long last, I am honoured to say: Glatorian, Agori, gathered friends… Let the Games begin!" After slightly more ado than everybody would have liked, and things finally beginning to move again independent of me, I've decided to make my own contribution to that movement. If you have stuff you wanna do before the match, feel free to roleplay it as a flashback! But finally, for those of who were probably chomping at the bit a year ago and might have forgotten since, we're going to have some actual gladiatorial combat in our gladiatorial combat game.

A couple weeks ago, I got all the Bionicle boxes out of the shed. William - my oldest, who recently turned 5 years old - was instantly obsessed. First, we got out all of the 2015 sets, the Skull baddies, both variants of the Toa, all the Protectors...They learned all about Tahu, Gali, the whole gang, and about how the characters changed and morphed into different variations throughout the Bionicle story. William was mystified. The mythical island of Mata Nui is like a grand, colorful island full of mystery and adventure, and he is eager to explore it. After getting to know the characters, and the island, and the evil Rahkshi and Makuta - also the Kraata "slug," which William fancies to touch the good guys with and turn them evil - I thought it was time to introduce them to The Mask of Light. William's excitement at the start of the movie was palpable. He was trembling with excitement, and stayed glued to the screen from start-to-finish. Afterwards, he asked me dozens of questions about the movie, the story, the characters...and he and his brother spent the following days pretending to be Kopaka, freezing each other; or Tahu, riding on lava. William built a couple of Protectors, then challenged himself to build the Bohrok Kal combiner. He was so proud of himself for building the whole thing! More recently, I got together the pieces to build Takadox, which William did with eagerness. He then spent the entire evening putting Takadox in various poses, and proudly showing me each different pose. Later, we built Kalmah, and Toa Ignika. Now I've got Axonn coming in the mail, as well as a Bricklink order which will enable me to build Mantax, Carapar, Antroz, and perhaps a couple others. Last night, I spontaneously put on Legends of Metru Nui. William was so excited, he ran from one end of the house to the other several times, and was almost vibrating in his seat at the start of the movie. Matau was his favorite, and made him cackle relentlessly. Triston is a little too young to be so infatuated with the toys, but he shares William's interest, and together, we play pretend - I'm Takadox, they're Kopaka and Toa Ignika, or Tahu, or whoever. Triston likes to say "Holy Gadunka!" We have been bonding a lot over these toys, and I am actually able to share their excitement over the movies, the new sets coming in the mail, the old sets that have been disassembled for over a decade, now coming back together in the hands of a new Bionicle fan. The boys are huge Cryoshell fans, and every time one of the songs starts, William wants to know who the song is about, or for what part of the story it was made. We played some MNOG, and I even let him listen to my "Music of Okoto" album. He has zero expectation of receiving any new sets, as he understands that it's been discontinued for some time, but I am absolutely getting him Gadunka for Christmas this year!

Secret Space Baby-For BZP’s 24th fest! A birthday baby to bestow to BZPower! I wasn’t sure what to draw this year, but was immediately inspired by the new GWP set beautifully designed by staff @Nukaya. Though I fear my quality could never do it justice! Never drawn stars before! 🙈Galaxy-size gratitude to @xccj for art aid, advice, tolerance of a lot of questions, and backup posting/storing! A thanks to the site and all on it for being beyond nice! The wrappings and such. A few little ✉️ for a few BZPers there too, hopefully to arrive in their possession one day! 🙏❤️https://www.flickr.com/gp/189713610@N04/Ei6Zad3aRE A silly side note: Sketch is also somewhat of a representation of the glee felt by small-era me when joining the great big BZP galaxy ( my first ever internet-interaction location!). The happy times here broadened my horizons far more than I could have imagined. Thank you to each and every staff & friendly face I’ve encountered in this space!! 🪐🔭🚀👩‍🚀 Happy birthday BZPower! My immense apologies for not having much to give to the site this spin around the sun, hoping handmade🧸things for the place can come in future horizons. 🙏🧵🪡 8x10” mechanic pencil, fixative, watercolor paper. Drawing time: ~32 hours” 🎶Yo,LEGO VIP, let’s kick it Space, Space Baby Space, Space Baby Nukaya’s Space Baby Nukaya’s Space Baby Nukaya’s Space baby @Nukaya’s 🎶

The best 2025 surprise. The broment has come. Bro moving home! His first time living at Misfit Meadows! After 9+years of school, study, work, internships, PhD to poker pro, now he can work online from home! 😭🙏❤️ 2025 has brought overwhelming happy changes, I still very much hope to infodump real actual updates and creations here soon (kind of fell off the wagon of IG photo sorting to bloggers a bit ago, but hey only three months behind now 🙈), some of the biggest being: My health/quality of life is a lot better/more stable now. No more 12+hrs a day of GI fluid loss. I actually sleep every night from 7-8 to 4-5 thanks to a lot of herbs, haha. And in my own room, I’m not couch roadkill anymore. Changes overs were marked after I went reluctantly vegan Plantbased, primarily “alkaline” diet, refined sugarfree, caffeine free, vinegar free, wheat/gluten free, oat free, peanut free, lowfat & no oil, got off chronic max use of painkillers and all my prescriptions except plaquenil, and very recently got off artificial sweeteners (dole drink sucralose & the stevia we bought had maltodextrin, we’ve switched to pure allulose). Been an overwhelming lot to learn and implement, some of these changes just over the past few weeks. I haven’t been to a Dr since October 2024 because they offended me and couldn’t help haha. My next appointments are at the end of Sept with Endo and rheum. My blood sugar is still unexplainably awful and metabolism isn’t functioning no matter what I do, but I have grown 1/4” in stature since the diet change(hypo pituitarism mystery). Lowkey concerned because I have some things going on pointing to heart, liver or lung issues… but two months isn’t that far away from labs. I’ve hypoxia, cyanosis, and appear to have abdominal fluid buildup. It’s just that it’s so hard to connect the dots on my diseases. But anyway I feel much better now regardless of what’s internally happening there. I got to go to Dollywood with family in April which is crazy compared to last year. Been over a year now since I almost gi bled to death and drs never figured out why. So grateful to be here! And we finally after a lot of discount grocery shopping and FB marketplace water bottle finding, have a nuclear war level emergency supply stash hahaha. And been doing tiny updates to the homey, and trying to get back into art and such. Not much time when I sleep more hahaha. This week’s chaos included the fridge breaking when bro was here and I’m so grateful mom got a new one and it has shelves that aren’t broken which makes my life a dream especially because bro is home and I leave him food offerings in there (he’s awesomely grateful and loves all food except cabbage and soy sauce😆) Right now my mom’s getting bro a saw at her work to take back to FL in a few hours and chop up his ikea bed and cram its remains into trash bags then a dumpster because he doesn’t “have enough valuable stuff” to haul home in something bigger than his car. EXCITING Wish I could go too but I’m 👵♿️ Anyway that is the current ✨JOY✨ update that I’m still in disbelief over because this is news as of one hour ago. HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE ☀️ Hope to be back in ze blogs soon ❤️ (Random 2025 pics to prove my existence….that are probably massive because I’m posting from IPhone and offer my utmost apologies)🙈

Originating from Po-Wahi, these simian Rahi became frequent stowaways on merchant caravans travelling south. Over time, they became even more frequent in the lush jungles of Le-Wahi than in the harsh, rocky canyons they came from.

Sort of Slizer inspired robot. More on the way!

Unfortunately a fellow BZPower member is facing a tough situation right now where they may end up evicted from their home. If you are able to contribute to their GoFundMe or spread the word to others, please consider helping. Every little bit counts!View the full article

IC: Karak - Ready Room, Arena Skyra in tow, I lead us both inside, clutching my javelin launcher tight. I see the beady eyes of the Skrall glance my way, or I think I do. Mine certainly go to them, daggers of hate spewing from my gaze. I envision a thousand ways of their death. Their gear seems largely unchanged from when we were at war. I have not a doubt that their flesh disrupting devilry has evolved along with the people we now both stand in the midst of. And yet I wonder if any of them would even recall the tale of the Blood Tribe. "You..be here before?" I ask of Skyra, distracting myself for the time being. "You are good fighter." OOC: @Snelly

Sumiki Investigates. All this and zero mention of the legend of Sumiki's Dad. Like what is AI even doing at this point

And on the Lunar New Year of the Horse, the Promised One hath returned... Glad to hear you've been doing well, man!

Day 1 Went onto the biomedia project’s page, and searched the news archive. Got a lead to PRP.inc. I might have found the website, a 2011 page for a recording studio in Colorado. Tried calling the number, but it didn't work. Sent an email to the owner of the studio. Owner is now my main suspect Day 2 Called lego customer support. They didn’t answer. Searched an old bzpower topic for leads, none to be found. Looking for phil regas on linkedin. 4 results. Locations don’t match. Moving on. asked bionicle fans what tv channels commercials aired on so i could call them. Day 3 Some responses from reddit. Found that a korean producer is credited for the piraka rap on genius, but it seems unlikely that this person made the rap, as the soundcloud description lists them as a kid when bionicle came out. Extremely unlikely. After this I did what I probably should have started with. Emailing advance advertising with a query on their involvement with 2006’s marketing and asking for possible leads.went to rocketreach.co and looked up advance, finding emails for employees. Next I need to find employment dates on everyone to find who would be best to email. Concept director Zdenko Santini seems like a good person to contact. Day 4 Found the name of the producer! Finally, some progress. It has hidden away on an old mask of destiny site. I’ve found a list of his phone numbers. Currently calling them all. However, I missed an important site. Linkedin. Messaged him, I'm hoping that’s the answer. Day 5 Waiting for a linkedin answer. No one responded when I called the company the producer works for. Got a response from lucus, he didn’t make it.

Hahli mahri mosaic i made a while back, thought I'd share it here. Sorry about flash being on, it looks way better without it

Rounding out the series I started a couple of years ago of 20th anniversary pictures for the Miramax movies! [MoL] [LoMN] I think one of my favourite things about WoS is that after Vakama falls to the 'dark side', it's specifically Matau who goes to the extra lengths to bring him back. Matau, who has spent much of the first half of the movie being a major jerk to Vakama; and yet out of all the team he's the one makes the effort to make up for that. Even if the movie perhaps didn't give it as much time as it might have, it's some really nice character development for him, and that's a big part of what makes me love this pay-off moment for that so much that I wanted to draw it. I will say, this was NOT an easy scene to figure out! I'd actually kind of wanted to draw it back in '22, the last time I rewatched the movies for nostalgia's sake, but struggled to find a way to depict it so that both Toa's faces could be seen clearly... the movie, I should note, doesn't even try on that count and just cuts between close-ups of them for the entire scene, so that wasn't much help! But when I was thinking about what I could draw for the anniversary, I remembered my attempt here and decided to try again; and I was hit by the realisation that if I moved the point of view of the shot to the opposite side of the characters, it allowed both of them to fit in more clearly without their respective arms obscuring their faces ^^ I'm also sure the movie style makes the Hordika's designs way more complicated than they are in the sets, which was the other thing I struggled with here! But in the end I'm really happy with how they came out, Matau especially. In any case, yeah. Happy 20th, Web of Shadows! (And yes, unlike last year's, I actually made sure to post it on the right day this time...!)

To all the BZPower members, staff, and readers past, present, and future, we wish you a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and an amazing holiday season! Hopefully you're spending time with family and friends regardless of how you celebrate. Here's to 2026 being better than 2025!View the full article

This is why I tend to ignore a lot of Greg's statements, given that they often actively contradict details in the books he wrote. (As an aside, I personally headcanon that the back spines are something that Ehlek's species do naturally possess. Given that they come from the same island that the Skakdi do, I like to think they're cousin species who share the trait of organic spines).

Pul' Ohob A dark green and gold deity of abundance based on Euripides' torso. The creature is surrounded by all kinds of treasures and goods, such as fruits, gold, diamonds and marble statues. 15/12/2024

... huh. Missed my anniversary by almost a month. It's been such a long time, feels quite surreal. I still very much miss the golden days of recurring server messages and popping virtual bubble wrap. But hey, this is one of the last places on the internet I know that lets me use old-school emoticons in peace , so that alone makes it worth coming back from time to time. That, and the memories, most of them really fond ones, even.

Bleed like me Just a mosquito nurse ready for a blood transfusion. 26/02/25

Hi helloooo so I wrote this half happy halfish hopeweary hunk of happenings a couple of days ago. And i didn't post because always 🐌and too tired to proof read (sorry for zero quality here these days, surVIBING) .I then had two consecutive days of new Dr appointments, so logically had scheduled about 8hrs of crying while outdoors time (bc the woodlands animals don’t judge and I think dying in front of people would be less awful than crying in front of them) after each. To my surprise, both went AMAZINGLY (how is this possible?!). Duke Lymphedema PT- got me the prescription for compression stuff and explained how to coerce the fluid buildup from my limbs. Local new PCP dr-Listened to everything, was pretty radical in terms of trying to solve my issues, get accurate diagnosis, and “let's get you fixed” goal. instead of the more prevalent treatment plan of ”lie to patient, give runaround, prescribe pills because it pays my bills”. Thinks my new liver enlargement and enzymes are possibly gallstone related given med history, mentioned getting HIDA scan. Referred me DIRECTLY to GI SURGEON for carcinoid syndrome and the recurrent telescoping intestines (small bowel intussusceptions) that just sent me to ER screaming on Saturday, and to test/look at/possibly remove my gallbladder. Actually laughed at UNC digestive for withdrawing/kicking me from care once I found out they lied to me. “I love it hahaha! They hate it because they don't know how to find carcinoids. the pet scans, EGDs and colonoscopies never show them”. Said I didn't need a GI provider! Apparently PCPs had these direct referral powers all along. IM FLOORED. The surgery office called a few hrs later and scheduled my consult on Tuesday! The same day our house is getting insulated. CHAOS haha! So happy bro is here to help, a lot of these appointments would be impossible because momwork and I can't drive. Stuff I wrote before last two appointments: traumatizing my family again Because would it really feel like home if there were not agonized screams around midnight? Warning, discussion of medical stuff, TMI, guts, etc. So..A month ago, first Dr visit in 10-11 months. Er x2 in one night, first for severe bloating CT preliminary read saw nothing , I go home w/gas x as told. 2nd ER run, two hrs later, woke up screaming in LUQ abdominal pain; am told I am constipated and sent home w/ lactulose. After I'm discharged, The final ct read rolls thru: I'm faced with the devastation of my super strict diet not healing me. -I start caffeine animal products and etc again because all of the food restrictions add to the suffering and I'm barely able to eat anyway so I might as well have the favorite foods in small quantities. Sept 4, disaster GI PA appointment that went like this:I have the above ER ct printed showing the issues. I'm immediately told by this PA that my ct was read twice and the final read showed nothing wrong, all normal.I am so shocked and confused and holding the ct read showing enterocolitis, mild bowel wall thickening, prominent fluid and ileus. I don't argue with her. I realize as this person is denying all of my diagnoses and worsening symptoms that my words are useless. I get lactulose prescription from ER extended and get the heck out of there. I go home and cry bc the lactulose isn't even helping. Then the Visit notes came through in mychart. I read them and was in disbelief. Her notes stated" 9/2/2025. 2 radiodense on the CT scan. First read shows no acute intra-abdominal pathology. Normal appearance. Second read shows mild wall thickening of the loops of bowel with prominent fluid throughout, nonspecific, which can be seen with enterocolitis with diarrheal state. Prominent caliber loops of bowel can be seen with ileus related to the above. No evidence of high-grade bowel obstruction.". I was floored to see that she admitted that the second read showed the issues, as per she defended the very opposite at the appointment. A second time in the notes she said "possible bowel wall thickening", citing while downplaying the issues of the very CT read she stated was invalid. Then I look up this person's heath grades reviews and see the horror stories of this other PA’s ex patients/victims, and am surprised to realize this wasn't a personal hatred toward me. yes, this was after days of crying and raging to the trees + woodland animals over her crimes. Sept ?? Fam vacay at Myrtle beach. First in hundreds of years. So grateful, piers and shells, chasing crabs in the dark and going to aquarium, petting wondrously slimy sting rays etc pretending I'm not getting actively sicker but feeling like Beth March at the seaside.“It's like the tide going out” vibes, unfortunately. Returning from beach -at this point I'm 26lb heavier than pre-ER day but literally barely eating, have weeping/fluid leaking edema/lymphorrhea in my elbows and legs and am covered in spider veins from rapid skin stretching. Whole body balloon like. Sept ?? Cardiologist visit to rule out cardiac/heart failure cause of fluid retention/rapid weight gain +evaluate ongoing hypoxemia and hypotension. Dx'ed with sinus tachycardia and given as needed midrodine for low bp. A big win for correcting medical records:(message sent to cardiologist and their reply) Sept 24 I see endocrinologist again and he runs tons for NET tumor/carcinoid syndrome/cushing disease and and such bc my fasting glucose is up to 115-125 in spite of hypoglycemic herbs and starving level food intake, trying different diets and being so swollen with edema. And of course the postprandial face flushing, cramps and episodes of throat constriction continue. My CgA level has gone from 47 in 2021 to 100.5. Both thermofisher labs. This is a NET tumor lab but can be elevated in other conditions so it's not solely diagnostic. Knowing most carcinods are dx'ed on autopsy doesn't exactly create a warm fuzzy feel. My thyroid TSH was normal but t3 and t4 were low. My cortisol wasn't high this time. Thingy typed then:”I'm so grateful that my Chromogranin A (main blood test for NET/carcinoid cancer) has come back elevated for the first time, meaning I am SO CLOSE to diagnosis and hopefully treatment. My thyroid labs look like i have euthyroid sick syndrome, and I also got dx'ed with sinus tachycardia +cardiology gave me a rescue med for severe hypotension. All classic carcinoid syndrome problems... I'm a bit in shock, I highly suspected/self-diagnosed (from scouring med research paper DDX's) with carcinoid tumor syndrome half a decade ago; when I started going into pseudo-anaphylactic carcinoid crisises that were triggered by dental Epi, food, etc and worsened by Epi pens. So many dr's have ridiculed me over this, while unable to solve my case, while my disease progressed so violently over the past two years I'd basically resigned to slowly dying from it before ever getting diagnosed. And the most recent carcinoid crisis in 2023 was stopped when I told ER to give octreotide, further supporting my hypothesis. I can't believe the endocrinologist reran the CgA at my request. I'm waiting on other labs and heart echo next, but what a vindicating adventure I didn't expect. I'm so grateful , but questioning my joy and sanity over the situation of: My reward for intense research = having neuroendocrine cancer?” Sept 27?? Certified letter requiring my signature from aforementioned dishonest GI provider office (unc blue ridge digestive) saying they were withdrawing entirely from my care (AKA throwing me out). This was after I complained of the PA lying, left a Google review detailing how she lied, and asked to see a different Dr because of that. Strangely, a slinky snake was on the wheelchair ramp that day after we got back from the post office. It felt like an extra cursed rainy day.. I'd like to be one of those people who✨ doesn't care✨ . But instead im just going to cry about it and feel like everything is my fault. So ✨ i have no GI care now✨ Sept ??? Endocrinologist messaged, He prescribed levothyroxine and lab redraw in 6weeks. I thought the labs meant I had euthyroid sick syndrome, but he thinks I have Central Hypothyroidism instead. Which is caused by pituitary/hypothalamus issues, re:”I have the hormone/FSH levels of a toddler/grandma and ?primary amenorrhea+hypopituitarism” but the January MRI couldn't locate the tumor when (ordered because my cortisol was high last year). Sept 29, another big win after seeing that infamous misdx on my recent ER UNC records. This was supposed to have been removed years ago, and I couldn't see it in my health aummary but it was in there. For context I sent the same explanation message story sent to cardiologist in the mychart portal. Then I got a call. Was scared I was going to be aggressively questioned, but they were very nice instead and just had to confirm via phone call. Stoked! 🥲❤️‍🩹 Last week, Tuesday echo/heart ultrasound done, showed truscupid regurgitations and thickened mitral valve leaflets and such, but nothing bad enough to be causing fluid overload and my EF is 60-65% (good). Yay! Narrowing it down. Wednesday Duke rheumatologist, ran autoimmune labs which showed my c4 complement has dropped from 9 in 2022 to 7, meaning my UCTD disease has progressed I guess. Also low uric acid and low ceruloplasmin (copper related). She referred me to Duke PT lymphedema specialist for compression leggings fitting/etc because of my leaking edema legs. Wednesday- I also started taking the levothyroxene because the pharmacy finally got it in stock. Friday night. Woke up screaming at 1130pm in severe LUQ abdominal pain. The worst pain I've ever experienced in my medically traumatic life. Screaming so hard I'm telling my mom idk if I can make it to the ER. She ♿️ rolls me to the car. I'm still psychotically screaming and clutching random objects to cope. I tell her to take me to the infamous Mission hospital bc it's closer (something locals here know you would only say if having a full blown near death experience). I stop screaming enough to make the longer trip (like 40 vs 10mins) to UNC blue ridge ER. We arrive at 1230, I finally get er room at almost 3 am. Then the major plot twist. My liver enzymes and PT INR time come back elevated. AST 319, ALT 180. They were both 14 last month. They ran hepatitis panels and etc bc of this. Preliminary CT read showed constipation, redundant sigmoid colon (I selfdx’ed with this from imaging and symptoms 1.5yrs ago, am satisfied to have it confirmed), and HEPTOMEGALY. ??? I was still there at 7-8am and the liver ultrasound confirmed hepatomegaly without specific cause and they discharged me saying go to PCP and find a new GI provider asap. Said stop taking senna, turmeric and CBD sleep med in case they had caused acute liver injury. The ER drs and nurses are like “I try to tell people to travel for med care, send people to Winston Salem” and “if you were my kid we'd be traveling for good doctors”. So then I'm hanging out at home on 3hrs sleep passing blood. The final CT read came through that afternoon: The infamous symptomatic transient small bowel intussusception that first was documented in on Duke CT 2021 has made a more violent reappearance. The one Duke got away with ignoring because I had nonceliac TTG IGA elevations at the time. The doctors wouldn't listen to me when I told them it didn't match celiac,it matched carcinoid, but years of suffering later- it's baaaack! Thankfully my tTG numbers normalized so that can't be blamed this time. .. I'm SURE this is the same pain that woke me up screaming last month after taking gas-x. But it had never hurt so severely as on Friday. I dread the fact that it's likely to recur. I'm barely eating given the nausea and appetite loss of all this currently, but have a horrible feeling that it's going to telescope with a vengeance when I'm able to eat more. Im not afraid it's going to kill me, I'm afraid it's going to NOT KILL ME and just make me beg for death in telescopic agony. Over and over again. On Friday all I ate was ½ pancake and bullion with okra. “I was like I'm not hungry at all but afraid it's worsening my thyroid function to not eat” then 8hrs later I wake up with the screaming and apparently with guts telescoping. I officially Don't Know How To Exist. Like I have known for years of screaming into healthcare voids, intussusception in humans of my age is due to polyp/tumor/underlying thingy in 90% of cases, and surgery is typically needed to rule out a lead point/malignancy. Mine keeps telescoping in the small bowel, and that is the most common spot for carcinoid/NET tumors. I've had carcinoid syndrome symptoms for 5 years (including the unsolved almost GI bleeding to death last year+ 12 literal hrs a day of postprandial GI fluid loss) w/ multiple crises provoked by epinephrine and successfully treated with octreotide. Now my CgA is elevated over 100 but none of the other specific NET biomarkers are, so it's still uncertain. And I have ✨no current GI provider✨ to further evaluate it. We called the Atrium GI people and without “an urgent referral” the soonest appointment is March.🙈 Thankfully the alphabet hepatitis tests were negative. Idk if that tests for autoimmune hepatitis too?. The mystery of the big liver lives on. (The only alcohol I've ever ingested and will ever ingest is vanilla extract in baking BTW 🙈). I'm guessing/hoping? it is an acute healable liver injury, probably/maybe from high dose senna? I've not taken pain meds daily in over a year. The only other changes besides eating animal products (with much higher fat lower carb content than the lowfat higher carb vegan diet I was trying) were: I stopped taking 10+tb psyllium husk and 8tabs daily berberine for 2-3weeks to see if my GI issues improved. Both of these things are hepatoprotective, so maybe that's why the sudden liver damage? The ascites and +20lb fluid weight only began just before Sept 2 when ct showed enterocolitis, bowel thickening, fluid, ileus, etc, so I wonder if whatever caused that damaged my liver at the same time. I also started taking beef liver capsules as per my mom said they were better than iron pills ( refractory chronic RBC anemia) last month. But not an excessive dose. And tomorrow morning, I have the Duke Lymphedema appointment and have no idea what that entails. ✨ ✨ WOO roadtrips w/mom✨ And the next day is appointment with new PCP provider because the last one had changing interns all the time so wasn't ideal for me. Also the one evil Dr lady there who for some reason claimed I didn't have Ehlers Danlos, autoimmune UCTD, small fiber neuropathy, etc and tried (unsuccessfully) to refer me to a mental health clinic (why I avoided drs for 10+ months, too traumatized and ticked off.). I need an urgent referral to Winston Salem Atrium GI, apparently. I'm thoroughly medically traumatized and the local medical care here is sketchy…so I hoping the new PCP visit doesn't end with crying once I get home🙈I can always get a different one…😬 😭The new normal post-appointment ritual is getting emotional support coffee afterwards. My toxic coping mechanism at this point is “I don't want to live long, I want to live happy”.)🙈 -current disease tally: 5 at least, apparently. EDS, UCTD, SF neuropathy, dysautonomia, central hypothyroidism. ✨i have overachieved✨ It's so awkward when the drs are like” so you're in school,right?” Then having to explain “my health has been an active dumpster fire for the past 5-8yrs and I was instead forced to get on SSI/Medicaid” 🫠 Or when the very young assistant radiologist asks if they can ask what brought me here, and I reply “Ehlers Danlos and a lot of unsolved GI issues” and he replies (genuinely meaning it with kindness) “believe it or not, I was in the same place a couple years ago and finally outgrew it” “for me it was anxiety”. Me: “Oh wow…I'm sorry..” *Me internally shattering and sobbing in medical PTSD, he thinks I'm mental, just like they all did* That is the most triggering thing someone could say to me, and I have guilt over feeling so because it was said in total sincerity, like he was genuinely thinking it could help me. In moments like this I get the crushing reminder that I'm like a freak of nature. How I wish this were all in my head, not every cell of my body. Louisa May Alcott accurately relates the alienating nature of youth chronic illness via Beth’s lines: “when I saw you all so well and strong and full of happy plans, it was hard to feel that I could never be like you, and then I was miserable, Jo." Strangely the key to my own happiness is isolating myself in my wonky world at Misfit Meadows, where there's nobody to compare with my reality. I'm free with a plethora of friends though many are imaginary. I used to hate the Little Women book because it was heartbreaking, until illness personally overtook me. Then it became a favorite, because Beth the hermit sickly probably-autistic seamstress misfit-dollkeeper was the only character I've ever been able to relate to. 🎶On my little island, there's no one to please No one can hurt me, and nobody leaves I won't be a burden, can't be insecure And there's no one that I have to be I sure won't be cryin' on my little island Evergreen trees Temperatures always at 73° Alone and I'm happy 🎶-My little Island by Lyn Lapid So yes. Spooky season indeed. Crazy to think Helene havoc was here a year ago. I feel like I've lost all concept of time.In happy misfit meadows news, it's awesome having Bro around! He likes it here a lot especially given he can pro poker at Cherokee often and stays days at a time. The leaves are changing colors here, I've gotten the fall decor up way early this year (but haven't had energy to take pictures yet). Working on art and sewing holiday stuff but can't say I'm at peak productivity given the body at the moment. 🫠and we've unexpectedly gotten to do so many of the sticky note bucket list adventures like going to the beach, the mast general store, the fair, etc! Mountain glory festival was on there and we didn't go last year bc Helene canceled everything. bro planned to take me this year, but that was the 11th, the ER telescoping intestines and overgrown liver day. Maybe this means I'll get to live another year to go, haha. That and one other thing are all that's left on my bucket list. Hoping one day soon I'll be well enough to not traumatize everyone around me. Partying hard at the ER a little too often.🙈🙏❤️‍🩹. I hope this doesn't sound like complaining, I'm quite happy things are actually becoming diagnosable/more clear. I think I have more energy after 6ish days on the thyroid drug. So much good stuff has happened lately too, like getting to go to the mountain state fair! it's just an overwhelming lot of medical progression at the same time. The medical care in the ER was far better after getting that old misdiagnosis removed. It was like they genuinely tried to help/figure out the problems this time. Sorry for this medical traumadump update that nobody asked for, thank you for allowing me to therapeutically type into the void (hopefully allowed)Love to all, happy fall! Also random pictures I guessssssss 🫶🫶

IC: Aenia (Tajun, Ready-Room) As her competitors came filing in, Aenia stood off to the side, arms folded. Watching. Listening. A few were louder than the rest – a group, interacting with an imperious Skrall. She recognised one of them, a Glatorian from her old tribe. She didn’t know him by name, and she didn’t know the ugly cybernetics stuck roughshod into his head either; no doubt the golden boy had been playing god again. He looked, and sounded, typically arrogant. Another would-be Second, most likely. She smiled to herself. With any luck, she’d get to dash those hopes personally. One Jungle Glatorian would be as good to take her anger out on until the next. Until she got to fight Vastus personally. He’d have the first fight of these matches, and again in Tesara and possibly Vulcanus. She doubted he would fight at all in Iconox, without another Prime to go against. He didn’t much care for anyone below his weight-class. All the better for her – she wanted him to see her coming. Watch her pummel every fighter in her way until she finally got the chance to face him herself in the tourney proper. And then she would fucking kill him, right there, for all to see. And it would be glorious. OOC: Aenia open for interaction.

IC: Skrall - Tajun Arena, Ready Room Skrall felt the knot in his stomach change shape, as the watchful gaze of Atakus that they had labored under was suddenly replaced with that of the entire South. He swiftly proceeded to the ready room under the arena, where they had been told the fighters were awaiting their matches. As he moved, he heard his compatriots' footsteps clacking against the stone steps behind him. Striding forward at the front of the group instead of lurking in the back went against his every instinct, but Tirveus' proclamation weighed heavily upon him, and he feared that at the end of this excursion, he would be either Entitled, or discarded like the Scout that had so recently served as their cargo. This was one place where success would not be seized from the shadows. The Southerners' had a phrase; 'making a name for oneself'. Skrall was applying it somewhat more literally than he suspected had been originally intended. When they reached the hypogeum, its shabby state was almost a relief. The stinking, dingy chamber made it easier to hold onto the feeling of Skrall superiority. He surveyed the room, his expression guarded, knowing that they had been tasked with learning about their soon-to-be opponents, but uncertain how to go about it. Skrall didn't walk up to people and start friendly discussions about how hot it was or how rough the road had been. They were warriors, here to conquer the South and remake it in their image. And the Southerners *knew* it, too. They weren't going to accept the Skrall playing at making nice. But to stay in the corner, isolated from them, Skrall would be forfeiting an opportunity to glean information about the competition. Perhaps, he thought, there was some way to get these Glatorian to lower their guards. Perhaps, there was some common language that he could speak to them. His gaze passed across the waiting fighters until one of them met it with their own. He approached, calling upon everything he knew about Southern culture. "Hail," he offered. "The food they sell outside the arena is slop. Where might I find something more appetizing, when my match is won?" OOC: Skrall is open for interaction.

IC: Skyra Daring - Outside Celrys' Workshop, Tajun - Skyra yawned as her arms poked out of the back of her car as she stretched, rubbing her eyes as she sat up and looked around Tajun. She smiled as she stood up and leaped on the hood of her car, taking a big breath. "GOOD F**KING MORNING TAJUN!" With that she dusted off her hands as she hopped off the top of her car. "Hmmm, what should I do today? I suppose I should see what Del is up to." Her train of thought was interrupted by her stomach growling at her. "Dang I'm hungry...and why do I feel like I'm forgetting about something?" She tried to think, but her stomach interrupted her again. "Mmmmm yeah I can only think about food right now..." What a pickle. @Techn0geist @Morgan Yu @a goose

IC: Atakus & Skrall Warband [Tajun] The emissary hadn't let himself relax until his convoy finally exited Sandray Canyon. It was the last choke point between him and the next objective Tirveus had assigned to him; the last potential surprise. The Skrall trip had been uneventful - the trading routes between Atero, Vulcanus, and Tajun were bustling with traffic ahead of the tournament, which kept the route clear of ambushes from wildlife or opportunistic scavengers. In fact, it had been the southern merchants who benefited the most from the heavily armed Skrall Caravan. Agori and Glatorian kept their distance, but didn't mind following in the wake of a route cleared by a section of Skrallic cavalry. It was hard to tell if they considered the Skrall presence or the wildlife they warded off as the bigger threat. Nevertheless, that was all behind them. The massive metal "Knee Island" that shaded parts of Tajun from the hot sun and harsh desert winds was growing on the horizon. ~~~ There were few Agori or Glatorian manning the city walls. Those that were still on duty during the opening of the tournament whispered to each other out of earshot of the Skrall. Atakus was late enough as it was, but after a short wait with many wary glances directed at party, the Water Tribe opened the gates. The guardswoman on duty had wisely chosen to avoid creating a diplomatic incident at the start of Bara Magna's most important tradition. Atakus knew the roads well, but such directions were unnecessary - his chariots followed the flow of the crowd, which naturally parted to give the warriors a wide berth. It had been a long time since many of the residents had seen a Skrall, if ever, so this many was unusual. The fact that one of their chariots housed a Glatorian-sized cage was not lost on them either. They knew what Skrall used those for, and it was a visible reminder to stay out of their way. The convoy soon arrived at the stables built into the side of Arena Tajun. Agori who were maintaining the facility for the tournament warily took the reigns of their Spikits, taking great care to double check the knots tying the growling beasts of burden to their hitching posts. After everyone had dismounted, Atakus addressed the group of warriors. "Do not disappoint Tirveus," the rock agori ordered. "More than you know depends on your victory, and dishonor would carry a heavy price." "The hypogeum is through that corridor," Atakus said, pointing to a large tunnel lit by torchlight. "Take note of your opponents weaknesses while you wait for your match to begin." The Skrall could hear the thrum of the crowd reverberating through the stone above them. The speeches were ending, the tournament was about to begin. Atakus looked up, knowing it was time for him to do his job. "May the best Skrall win," he addressed his soldiers, before the diminutive representative of their state marched proudly up a staircase to another level of Arena Tajun. ~~~ The ready-room of the hypogeum was a cross between an armory, a hospital, and a janitor's closet. Various equipment, both for fighting battles and cleaning up after them, were littered in racks across the edges of the large circular room. Directly beneath the arena, the hypogeum had many support columns. The tiles of the ceiling showed the ingenuity that made this a place worthy of tournament fights - the entire structure was clearly modular in order to be configured in different ways. Benches and stretchers lined the walls, and the sounds of the roaring crowd filtered through the barred ventilation grates above. The air stank of sweat and manure - many spectators didn't know that the glamor of the battlefield above did not extend to the rest of their champions' lives. The chamber had six equally spaced doors around its edges, where lifts operated by Agori could raise warriors or beasts up to circular gates in the walls of the arena. Glatorian were free to climb up staircases next to each lift, which followed the curved walls of the hypogeum up towards front row seats right at the walls of the arena. The spectators who arrived earliest or bribed their way to the front of the arena could see this "pit" area where the warriors could watch the fights from ground level. Some superfans used these seats to reach for autographs from their favorite warriors, or jeer at their tribe's rivals. ~~~ The tribal leaders had the best seats in the house - close to the edge of the arena, where the action was most visceral. From the raised platform, shaded by a well-dyed tapestries of the Water Tribe that matched the many banners presented on flagpoles around the arena. The symbol of the tribe at the center of each banner was a water droplet - the precious resource that so much blood had been spilled for over the centuries. Atakus passed the guards to take his seat with the other tribal leaders. Skrall knew this was merely out of tradition, since Atakus was officially just a vessel for the full power of Tirveus's Skrall empire. He did look comfortable in the thronelike seat, however. In fact, he was very comfortable, despite sitting in the seat normally reserved for the Iron tribe. Since Skrall had not participated in such tournaments in recent memory, the seats reserved for the southern tribes were far more permanent. Staking his claim was as much about symbolism as it was comfort. OOC: Tournament fighters, feel free to put your characters in the ready room to mingle with each other or prepare for the fight, or stand and watch the fights as they progress from the front row seats of the pit. Trash talk is encouraged in this locker room.

IC: Once a year, Tajun was flooded. A great tide poured through its streets, an overflowing river of people all bound for one destination: the Arena Tajun. It began as a trickle in the early morning, tributaries gathering mass until they turned into streams and then finally broke their banks altogether. By midday, roads and paths were entirely indiscernible; there was only the throng, that great ocean that was the crowd, within and without the Arena itself. The heat of the day didn't matter, not here, nor did the fact that neither the opening ceremony nor the inaugural matches would begin until a few hours hence. It was important to find one’s place early. As for Scodonius, well, he had always known his place. All his life he’d been fighting to make it here, and as of this morning, that fight was over. He was the unchallenged ruler of all that he surveyed. It was all that he had ever wanted. It was an unalloyed success. His old arena partner would never again snatch defeat from the jaws of their victory. Never again. Never again. It hadn't sunk in yet, that was the problem. He had identified Kirbraz’s body himself, and still, out of sheer habit, he found himself anticipating what his rival might do to undermine him at the opening ceremony. Habit, he was quite certain, was at the heart of all his current troubles – after all, it would take time to adjust to this new status quo, after so many years spent quarrelling with Kirbraz. Once it felt real, once he had finally broken all those habits, his victory would feel real too. This hollowness he felt was merely a transitional phase. In the meantime, Scodonius had people to greet, the representatives of each village who had arrived in advance of the opening ceremony; typically, that meant the Tribe’s leader, but Raanu was staying in Vulcanus to await word from the Ferrum expedition, and Ackar alone had made the journey. He was one of only two Prime Glatorian to make the trip – the other, naturally, was Strakk, who hovered over Metus’ shoulder wherever he went. The brute was more mercenary than champion, but Iconox paid well. Naturally, after Scodonius and Tarix, the Iconox delegation were the first to arrive. Metus’ grin was almost as wide as Strakk’s as he approached him, and shook his hand. The hunchbacked brute lingered behind him. “I was so very sorry to hear about Kirbraz,” Metus said in mock sympathy, with a knowing glint in his eyes. “But I suppose the show must go on.” “People shouldn't see us talking,” Scodonius whispered. He didn't like this, being out in the open with him – not even with his own Prime Glatorian nearby. “The peanut gallery aren't here yet, Donnie. It's just you, me, and the dumb muscle.” Scodonius glanced over at Tarix, who was sitting in the stands, staring anxiously at his feet. “But I get it. I won't keep you for long. Not this time.” With Scodonius’ hand still trapped in his, Metus leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Whatever he said, Scodonius blanched. “I- I didn't know-” He relaxed his posture, but not his grip, nor his toothy smile. “That’s okay, Donnie. We all make mistakes. And hey – try to enjoy the games. I bet poor Kirbraz never even knew when he was watching his last. Might not have appreciated what he had.” Finally, Metus released him, and walked away without another word. As Strakk followed, he deliberately shoved into Scodonius, laughing to himself. “Oops,” he monotoned, grinning all the while. “You should watch yourself, little man.” Shit. Well, at least that was the worst of the arrivals dealt with. He had already forgotten about the Skrall. ***** It was one hell of a turnout, considering. Between the trouble in Ferrum and the new participants, Ackar hadn't known quite what to expect. The opening ceremony itself would be easy; as reigning Champion, he was obliged to say a few words, and then Scodonius would take it from there. The matches would begin in earnest afterwards, though he never took part. Exhibition matches were for the young, those seeking to make names for themselves. What had really troubled him was first arriving, and speaking to Tarix – the young Prime Glatorian was troubled, deeply troubled, and understandably so. Just last night, they had both been witness to something they did not fully understand, and that the powers that be did not want to be understood. Kirbraz's death, it had been decided unanimously by the Tribe leaders in attendance, was nothing more than tragic misadventure, the product of drink, drugs, and a cold Tajun night. Ackar lacked Raanu’s authority, the Rock Tribe delegation was late, and Somnii was… It wasn't right. Ackar knew that, and Tarix knew that, but there was nothing they could do. As Linnea so loved to point out, there were rules to be followed, laws to be upheld. Such strictures were the foundations upon which civilisation rested. It wasn't his place to question them; he was just the entertainment. “And now, to introduce this Grand Tournament, we have the man to beat – our Grand Champion, Ackar!” The show must go on. It sickened Scodonius to see how the crowd cheered for a frail old man, so long past his time. Ackar wasn't to blame, not exactly – certainly, he should have retired long ago, but that wasn't what angered Scodonius, nor was the total incompetence Vulcanus had shown in finding a successor (that this was, in no small part, Scodonius’ own fault did not occur to him). No, it was the fact that Scodonius’ own glory was finally about to begin, and that snake was going to cut it short. He and Metus may have founded their fragile little alliance in order to get one over on Raanu, but the vitriol with which Scodonius greeted his pale colleague was far from fraudulent. He just happened to hate Raanu even more. But now, here he was, victorious, and Metus was ready to tear it all away from him. And for what? One mistake? So Kirbraz’s death hadn't looked like an accident. So what? Why did that matter to Metus, when it would never be traced back to him? For far too long, Scodonius had been taking that snake’s orders, doing as he said, and he had gotten nothing but money and power and the deaths of his enemies in return. Well, that wasn't good enough for him, not anymore. He was done with Metus’ little games, and if he was going to be punished for one botched assassination regardless of whether he covered it up, then he was going to take the route that would irritate benefactor most. Kirbraz was dead, and that was supposed to mean the end of Scodonius’ life spent in the shadows. This was his moment. “-And lastly, I would like to wish the best of luck to all the fighters who have come out to take part in this Tournament. It's easy to forget, sometimes, just how important these Games are – as Glatorian, it is our job to fight for those weaker than us, not only to protect them, but to keep us all from a war that none of us could afford. We come to see our neighbours as rivals, sometimes even as enemies, and that's particularly true when you're in the arena. We all do what it takes to survive in the Wastelands, but we cannot do it alone, and the games are our biggest reminder of that. This is the time of year when we all come together, when we fight not for survival, but for sport. To me, the Tournament isn't about the fight itself – it's about the moment after, when you shake hands and bow, pat each other on the back and compliment each other's form. It's about kinship, about camaraderie. It's about reminding us all that every one of us is a person, making our way in the world, and that we're all in this together. I look forward to the fights ahead, to the friends new and old that I’ll meet in the arena. Most of all, though, I look forward to one of you bastards beating me, so I can finally get a year off from writing a bloody speech!” He paused for the laughter, for the applause, and smiled. “Now, I know what you're all waiting for, and yes – I am going to shut up. But first, I'd like to welcome Scodonius up onto the stage, so that he can get this damned thing started already and I can finally sit these old bones back down for the rest of the exhibition matches.” Scodonius forced himself to smile as he approached the podium, taking the microphone from Ackar. “Our Grand Champion, everyone. I don't know about all of you, but I would’ve thought that after giving so many of these speeches, he might be better at it by now.” He allowed a tasteful beat for Ackar and the audience to laugh, and then continued. “He is right, though – the Tournament may look like a competition, but what it's really all about is coming together in celebration. In brotherhood.” He paused, his eyes seeking out the shape of the Tribe leaders’ box in the stands. “I had a brother. Like brothers, we rarely saw eye to eye, but I am still heartbroken that he can't be with us this year. And he's not the only one: this year, we fight in honour of all our absent brothers and sisters from Ferrum, and for the brave heroes who even now are making their way through Iron Canyon to learn the truth of what has happened to them, and help them if they can. And though there is no noble party acting on his behalf, I know that the truth of Kirbraz’s death, too, will out, and that his murderer will face justice.” He forced himself not to smile as he heard the ripple of shock and consternation in the crowd, and imagined Metus' face up there in the box, smug grin finally wiped clean. “But for now, let us set those sad matters aside, and focus on what is ahead of us. At long, long last, I am honoured to say: Glatorian, Agori, gathered friends… Let the Games begin!” OOC: slightly overdue, folks, but let's have some fun!

IC: Lutenus (Outskirts of Atero, Training Ground) - The Boys Are Back in Town (To Kill Help You) “Thank you, but no, that will not be necessary.” Lutenus responds, before sighing. “A ‘good fighter’... what else could I be, hmm?” A flash of anger comes across his face. “What else would I be? Carpenter? Thespian? Accountant? No, no, I am Glatorian, after all. ‘Tis my lot in life to bleed and bleed others in turn for the glory of Tesara… and the amusement of paying spectators.” More sounds of machinery escape him, and his bitterness fades as easily as it appeared. “Ah well. Tesara is a nice place to live.” Far nicer than any of the others, at any rate. “It is only right that I do my part to ensure it remains so.” More than that, it was only right to ensure it became the only ‘nice place’ left. The pointless, ridiculous Games would only continue until either one stood supreme, or all crumbled to dust. No other settlement in Bara Magna was worthy of inheriting the paradise that he knew would come. If either Iconox or Roxtus won, an unfortunate precedent would be set, as he warned Lorqua. And if Ferrum won, it may be enough to draw them back from the brink. But how precisely could they win, with no champions? Del. Glatorian of Ferrum. Possibly the only Glatorian of Ferrum left. And if his Lord’s will be with him, the last. @Techn0geist @oncertainty IC: Vraek (Tajun Arena, Hotel Reception) - I Don’t Want This Other Path, Either It looks as if Vraek really is going to try and make good on her threat. But then her gaze turns to the frightened receptionist. Then, back to her spear. Her eyes widen for just a moment with fear and familiarity, before she returns to a calmer composure. “Were it not for the laws of this land, I would slaughter you like the beast you are,” she hisses, her voice as cold as Iconox itself. “But I am willing to compromise. Your ‘tradition’ prevents you from treating me as an equal and accepting my unwarranted generosity, but MY tradition refuses to let you sleep in the street. Therefore, we must…” she gags, disgusted by the very prospect. “Share the room.” @Alex Mason @a goose

/

"Thy Will Be Done" by Hillary Scott. Because I was promised "healed" and "hope and a future" but right now, my body is screaming things that look more like "malignancy" and "heart failure" and I await answers. I've been weeping as my whole body edema weeps from my skin (Lymphorrhea). It's been devastating to see that all my efforts to heal only delayed this, but I'm clinging to those promises though they now make no sense. 🙏 "I know you're good But this don't feel good right now And I know you think Of things I could never think about It's hard to count it all joy Distracted by the noise Just trying to make sense Of all your promises"

@JAG18 Hope your next chapter of life is one to cherish! Wish you a beaming birthday, may it be filled with books, music and your favorite treats (and perhaps a cheesecake shaped like a magnificent wheel of cheese? Or an edible art of a giant PopTart! ) Thank you beyond words for your friendship here, I still am honored and forever grateful for the custom birthday book you wrote for me in 2024! I’ve been wanting to tell to the world of this stupendous & noble deed for ages, but hadn’t a chance due to life’s chaotic prance🥹🫶Thank you again! An artgift for you, and an apology for my inability to make one for you last year/before now (I so wanted to, but alas)! I wasn’t sure what to draw, so drew a knight that reminded me of your Lawbringer book cover. So, so sorry it’s a bit rushed quality 🙈 (because current happychaoslife, haha!). https://www.flickr.com/photos/189713610@N04/shares/U43Hb9538V

Hey everyone, I hope it's alright for me to announce this here. I'll likely be starting to slowly sell the protos I found around 2 years ago, starting with the Trident. I will be doing so through Bricklink, so if you're interested please make sure you have the parts on your wanted list alerts. Unfortunately I will not be able to sell the parts to US residents since the DHL stopped all private shipments to the states above 800€ as a response the increase in bureocratic hurdles as a result of the tarrifs. The other shipping company I used to use downright stopped all shipments outside the EU earlier this year. I also don't see any of this changing in the near future, so I'm sorry for that. If you have any questions feel free to msg me. ~Owls