#also if they BUTCHER zane i will cry

[scarlettclownose]

wild

im killing the producers if cole is the onlu poc in the live action

thye should listen to me nad let me tell them what they should so

[concook20]

The Virus (AU)

Survivors

This is who survived the apocalypse, where they would have to work together to survive! I did want to not use Paisley and Rex, but I started to like the idea of them being there, so I've decided to add them!

Part 1/Part 2

Pt 1: Crew

⚠️Trigger Warning⚠️

Mention of body horror, acid like effects, cannibals, sexual assault, pregnant, and death

⚠️Trigger Warning⚠️

Martin Kratt

Age: 26 years old

Mental Status: Unstable, somewhat, but is also unpredictable

Inventory: Map, canteen, binoculars, picture of Chris and his family, pistol and ammo, an axe, bandages, CPS, and knife.

What happened to Martin?: Martin saved Chris from a hybrid monster like zebra that tried to bite at Chris (which was weird since zebras are herbivores), but something happened that, not only caused Martin's arm to be bandaged, but to also have Chris's face to be brutally ruined. They survived, but half of Chris's face is hidden with Martin's arm being blistered, while the guilt of not protecting his brother made him begin to protect his friends and the villains.

Martin, immediately, became over-protective of the group after they went on crazy adventures like running into cannibals, SA-ers, and the zom-animals, while beginning to make Martin paranoid and, sometimes, reckless, to the point he would brutally murder someone.

Chris Kratt

Age: 23 years old

Mental Status: Stable, somewhat, but has some break downs

Inventory: Binoculars, machete, picture of Martin and his family, notebook and pen, pistol and ammo, medicine, and CPS.

What happened to Chris?: Chris was the first one who saw the zebra biting Dabio, only for the monster to attack Chris. Martin saved him, but with a bad cost. Chris hated how he looks now, and has to use a hearing aid to hear now, his eye is melted into the melted skin, and Chris couldn't even look at himself without feeling sick or crying.

Chris tried his best to protect the group, but he either had PTSD or a panic attack, cause he couldn't do anything, until someone snapped him out of it. He tries his best to get over it in secret, even writing down his progress, but deep down, he's terrified of the animals...

Aviva Corcovado

Age: 23 years old

Mental Status: Stable, but very exhausted

Inventory: Voice recorder, med kit, knife, pistol, lighter, picture of the crew, radio, notebook and pen, and charger she built.

What happened to Aviva?: After she aided the brothers and saw what went down, she began to document about the monsters, what caused it, how dangerous they are, and what it does. However, she was still horrified at how the humans act during this, to the point she's disgusted by them.

Even if she hates him, Zach and her begin to work together to find the cure, even when she's asleep, he helps her out, and when Zach is struggling, she helps him out. She gets stressed and upset even more than before, but still, she's alright for now... for now.

Koki Thompson

Age: 24 years old

Mental Status: Stable, a bit, but traumatized and scared

Inventory: Tool kit, cross bow and arrows, knife, blanket, med kit, picture of her dad and brother, map, and canteen

What happened to Koki?: Even after all that happened, the thing that really scared her was carrying a baby. It happened when they went to where the SA-ers are, where they succeeded, but she got knocked up. She was now stuck debating on keeping the baby or not, scared of what would happen afterwards. No one even knows, but they'll find out soon.

Martin finds out and helps her out whenever she needs it, and keeps it a secret from her. She decided on keeping the kid, and she will protect her/him against anything... Unfortunately... Fate had another idea.

Jimmy Zane Sanders

Age: 22 years old

Mental Status: Stable, but mostly has break downs

Inventory: Snacks, butcher knife, pistol, stuffed animal, canteen, sleeping pills, and his grandparents heirlooms (a necklace and ring)

What happened to JZ?: He's stressed to the extreme after he sees the brothers in pain. He couldn't sleep, cause he thinks about blood, his body melting, and the zom-animals that tears him apart, he is so traumatized, he couldn't even be left alone most of the time he thinks about it, cause he would run out of nowhere.

Chris understands and helps him try to face his fear alongside him, even if both of them are terrified, but they know it's for the best to do it, since if they're alone and can't face them... What if they die?

Sadly... One goes missing... And two won't be around... Who would that be?

Part 2 Will Be Out! Just give me time! Hope you like my Gacha form!

[colesstar]

ROBINN SO TRUE BEST FRIEND REAL OPINIONS LEFT AND RIGHT!!

uhh okay im really bad at ratings and mt hands are rlly shaking rn (normal about ninjago!!)

THESE DO NOT DETERMINE WHICH NINJA I LIKE MORE I LOVE THEM ALL THIS IS JUST RATING THEIR CHARACTER AND HOW MUCH I LIVE THEM AS A N INDIVIDUAL

Lloyd: 10/10 I HATE HIM he makes me so upset i feel really bad for him like that bowl cut was criminal </3 okay but to be serious i really love him I will defend my boy to the end i will never 100% love ANY character who has hurt him a little part of me gets a bit hm. At the ninja for lowkey bullying him at the start of s1 like it was deserved but hes just a little boy :((( and then HOLY SHIT the writers fid not go easy on him forst the green ninja then the final battle then zane dies then tofe then posession the list goes on you get my point. Also his powers have SO MYCH potential like cmon my boy can use the powers of the four golden wepons without actually having them why isnt that used more????????? Or is it because he distributed his golden power? Idk. He deserved that. ALSO LIKW HIS LITTLE LIP QUIVER WHEN HE CRIES that was a but random i think he deserves everything as compensation for everything but i also love his character i know they aged him up to make the final battle come quicker but the way lloyd matured so quickly too? Like he went from being this stupid little kid whom i love to this leader woth so much responsibility on his shoulders like goddamn get him a shoulder massage. I also think little lloyd was a dorable his little Ninja Roll!! Like GGGGGHVGI he is very sweet and i think i should be allowed to swaddle him in a blanket then throw him into a volcano

Kai!! 9/10 Hello Kai ninjago i think you are very cool please stop flirting with random girls and also stop being such an airhead okay im complaining for no reason i really like kai like HOS TRUE POTENTIAL SCENE like when he had that character development like yeah he was kinda and asshole for even DEBATING wether or not to save lloud but he did in the end and then grew from that point to absolutely adoring lloyd and not wanting lloyd hurt amd loke yeah. Hus hair sucks byw get a BARBER!!!!!!

Jay 8.75/10 okay shocking (pun intended) i know i LOVE LOVE LOVE jay btw hes is up there i hate having to put him into ninbers because its lower than i would like but the creators absolutely BUTCHERED him but he is very silly also i love his va sorta off topic but i think he is very silly and he is just like me sometimes he has his flaws and thats okay yeah sure i wish that yhey had DEVELOPED his character because i think that wouldve upped his number and also if skyboind never happened

Cole 10/10 COLE MY BOY MY SON KOLE I like cole (understatement) i domt know what it is specifically about him i know that his true potential episode is the only episode i remembered from when i was a kid before i started rewatching but i nist love him he is such a sweet little boy and he makes me want to cry i wish he had more focus because GOSH is he such a great character i cannot articulate my thoughts about him its really bothering me but jusy know he is vraiment dear to me i would hang him up above my mantle if i had one GHOST COLE GHOST COLE I LOVE GHOST COLE ASWELL I WOSH THEY HAD LOOKED MORE INTO THAT YOU DONT INDERSYAND also how was he not affected by the rain im s5 when nya first used hee piwers big time

Zane 10/10 I cant think of any flaws about him Zane really is just the writers playtou that they fucking TORTURE?!?!? Like my boy has like died multiple times and dont wven get me STARTED on the details i think he is very silly WSPECIALLY IN NINJAHO CONFIDENTIAL but he also has those small things he says every other episode that makes me squeal because its zane. I also felt very upset when they were mean to zane in s1 I think he has been subjected to the horrors i shant go into detail a out what i am thinking of purely because robin hasnr seen then yet theres alot i could say about him but Zane is one of my more internal little guys

Nya 10/10 What has she ever done wrong i love her especially when she like made samurai x i think they shoildve kept her as samuyx tbh and made Nya more relevant? Like she is not!just!the!girl!!! She gets my brain gears turning she can be so me at some points and although i preferred her as samurai x when she did become a ninja and she summoned that HUGE ASS WAVE so early on like cmon she is loyerally op and then and then SEABOUND and i cried she also downplayed SO MUCH it makes me very mad get her her own series called NYA: THE BEST PERSON EVER!!

uhh ill do garmadon tok why not:

Garmadon: ill have to agree with robin 5/10 he is like :|| sometimes im like GARMADON!! Other times i am like Garmadon. (More specifically Sensei Garmadon.) he is in the middle .

Hey besties. Heresmy uh Ratings of the NINJA 🤯🤯🤯 Except i love them all

Lloyd - 8/10 HHGOOOHHJHJG my gosh i love him . He is so so silly and so so yaes. Yass. Genuinely like i would protect him with my life HES NOT MY FAVOURITE but i still love him. how can you NOT love him

Kai - 9/10 and I'm gonna be completely honest when I say that the only reason he's my third favourite ninja over cole is because he's red (my favourite colour) and he has fire powers (my favourite element) but otherwise i like the two equally. Anyway HE's SO COOL like genuinely . Funny as hell too. Not a big fan of his haircut HOWEVER i am a zane fan so i choose not to make a big deal out of that

Jay - 7/10 yeeeshhhhhh ERM i am going to preface this by saying I AM NOT A JAY HATER and i am not even a jay disliker. He is funny and he is silly and there have been many occasions upon which I have looked at him and thought 'hes just likw me fr'. HOWEVer there were certain occasions. Certain seasons even. Maybe a specific season that came after possession and before hands of time. In which he ticked me off quite a large amount that may have negatively affected my opinion. BUT I STILL LOVE HIM hes just jever been a favourite and #that season didnt do much to help

Cole - 8.5/10 like I said he's basically joint with kai apart from the fact he isn't red. But i fenuinely love so much about cole i love his design (he was basically the only ninja to have a good haircut before the redesigns icl) and i love his personality and just everything about him is Awesome. And one thing i found really interesting is when he was a ghost. And i wish that got more focus cause i would have really liked it

Zane - 13/10 HOOOOO BOY i will be brief. I could genuinely go on for days on end about how much i love zane ninjago but I Will Be Brief. Everything about his character just makes me so SO happy. His personality and his design (his haircut is cute i swear) and his story and EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM and i said that for cole as well but this is TEN TIMES MORE INTENSE every time i think about him it feels like an actual electric SHOCK through my entire body I'm so so serious. I also find him to be like INCREDIBLY relatable. There have been occasions where i literally Cried because he was Just Like Me and i couldnt TAKE it anymore. And it's not even funny and it will never even be funny and the season 3 finale left me in shambles for weeks. And to be honest i think the show needs to be nicer to him because why is he always going through something. This little guy cannot have one normal day i swear. Let zane be happy challenge imPOSSIBLE. And i know a lot of people don't like how robotic he is after season 3 and I totally get that but for me personally that doesn't really change how much i still love him as a character even if there are some changes i want to be made with his writing. Just realised i said i would be brief and then wrote a whole paragraph Um im gonna move on,

Nya 10/10 I LOVE HER!!!! Genuinely cannot think of one negative thing to say about her apart from it took the show a good few seasons to get the hang of actually writing her (as much as i adore rebooted it pisses me off how dirty they did her in that season). But she is just SO cool and i love her and i loved her in skybound and she was probably one of the only things i loved about skyboukd other than echo zane. Good lord i love nya she makes me malfunction in the brain. Whenever i drink water i think of her

n e ways thats Basically it ACTUALLY NO I WANNA DO GARMADON AS WELL LMAO

garmadon 5/10. And i dont mean that in a negative way i mean genuinely true neutral. I actually loved him in the movie he made me cry a lot but when we're talking just the actual show? Euuiwuuajajgghj. In the first couple aeasons i was really mixed on him like i think he was a really interesting character and he was silly but i had proper BEEF with him too like he made me MAD. And then seasons 3 and 4 came around and . And. Sensei Garmadon. fun fact about sensei garmadon i didnt Particularly Like him but thats ok!!!!! That is ok!!!!! I did like garmadons backstory with clouse that was very interesting i really.Really liked it. Idont know if you could tell but um tumblr user clouseninjago quite likes clouse ninjago so that made me happy tbh. Ok im actually done fr now and i would tag more people to share their opinions but i have no friends so @colesstar Hi

[lloydskywalkers]

call the police and the fireman

I have zero explanation for this except that during the rare occasion of me working on my original novel, it occurred to me that out of all the dragon characteristics Lloyd could have, I’ve been short-changing him on of the coolest ones possible. Also @ninjawhoa did not talk me down so here’s Lloyd ignoring his one brain cell. 

In his defense, Lloyd most certainly had not been trying to completely eviscerate the inside of his throat. That hadn’t been like, anywhere even remotely near the end goal. Was it something he'd wanted? No. Was it something he’d planned? Of course not, his plans aren’t that bad. Was it something he probably should have expected?

….well, maybe, but it’s too late now.

Way too late, Lloyd thinks to himself, as he finishes hiding the last specks of the incinerated fire alarm in the bathroom trash and immediately retreats to sticking his head beneath the running faucet again.

The thing is, though, smart as he normally is, Lloyd’s had it — well, he’s had it not so great, lately. It hasn’t been the easiest of times in his life, which is saying something, compared to the rest of it. So maybe he’d gotten a little too focused on the barest shred of good news he’d received during the entire thing, sue him.

You try being told you’ve actually been part-dragon your entire life, what would your first move be? And having grown up with dragons as a normal staple in his life, Lloyd’s had a whole lot of inspiration on that front.

In hindsight however, Lloyd thinks, as he tries not to cry over his poor, mutilated throat — he probably should’ve stuck with like, trying to give himself claws, or something. Or even the flying thing. The flying thing would’ve been way better.

The worst part is that it actually looked so stupid cool. Kai would lose his mind over how cool this is, and Lloyd can’t even show him, because he might lose his mind in an entirely different and much less enthusiastic way.

Lloyd tries for a tentative “hey guys”, and immediately doubles over in a bout of wheezing gasps, wishing he’d tried for the sweet bliss of unconsciousness-via-head-bashing instead.

Stuffing a towel in his mouth so the rest of the team doesn’t hear him hacking like a chronic smoker, Lloyd wonders 1) how long it’s going to take the green power to fix his throat, 2) how long he’s going to be able to get away with not speaking, and 3) how much of this he can blame on his great-grandmother before she vaporizes him.

He comes to the conclusion that he’s just gonna blame the whole thing on her.

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

Despite the circumstances they’d met under, Lloyd likes his great-grandmother. She’s pretty cool, as far as family members go, and he enjoys talking with her, even if ninety percent of their conversation ends up devoted to lecturing him about what “an absolute scumbag your great-grandfather was, child, truly the spawn of *garbled dragon curses*."

Actually, all their conversations tend to end that way, but Lloyd doesn’t mind too much. It’s kind of like if his great-grandparents has just divorced like normal people, instead of being otherworldly, immortal god-like beings who went to war with each other.

He hasn’t been talking to her for that long — it’d taken a lot of finagling the means of reaching the First Realm from his uncle, for one, and then he’d had to make sure he could get back home, of course. The whole thing ended up being pointless anyways, since his great-grandmother ended up coming to visit him, because he’s the only family member she hasn’t considered barbecuing at some point, apparently. (Yet.)  

“—and you do look just like your father, back when he didn’t take after your thrice-cursed *garbled dragon cursing* of a great-grandfather,” she had said, inspecting him with her large eyes. “I was quite fond of him, you know. He was a true terror, as I’m sure you are. Or perhaps not, you have a sweeter look in your face. It’s the cheeks, I think, you’re not nearly as threatening as he ever looked.”

“Um, thank you,” Lloyd had awkwardly replied, as he’d had little to no reference point of whether or not she genuinely liked him at the time, and was being extra-cautious, because certain recent familial encounters had left him with the mindset that it was best to believe everyone related to him probably wanted to murder him.

Fortunately, his great-grandmother was not one of those types.

“I don’t know about the wings, little one,” she’d informed him as he’d dangled upside from her tail, eyeing him mournfully. “You seem to take too much after your mother’s side.”

Lloyd had been less than thrilled with that response, but he’d swallowed his disappointment the best he could.

“Now the teeth, though,” she’d said, her eyes gleaming. “Those, we can work with.”

That was how the fire-breathing had come to be in the first place — which, as you should note, was entirely his great-grandmother’s idea. She’d reasoned that since Lloyd not only appeared to have manifested most of his dragon characteristics in his mouth, but also had a direct connection to the element of fire, he might be able to both successfully breathe fire and survive the attempt.

“Wait, there’s a chance I wouldn’t survive?” Lloyd had asked, blinking.

“You’re exhaling fire through your little mortal throat, hatchling. Of course there’s a chance you wouldn’t survive. A very small one, mind you — I happen to like you a good deal, and it’d be a terrible shame if all I was left with in the world was the rest of your *garbled dragon cursing* family.”

She had also reasoned that since Lloyd seemed to have an excellent handle on both languages — even if Dragon did sound like butchered yowling in his accent, she bemoaned — perhaps there was a connection with the throat there. At any rate, they had both agreed that Lloyd would be far more likely to breathe fire from his throat than he would be sprouting wings anytime soon.

Lloyd had deliberately mentioned absolutely none of this to his team. If Kai ever learns that he’d been warned dying was an option and continued to try it anyways…

Well, it’s breathing fire. Lloyd’s staking his hopes on Kai being so impressed with how cool it is that he totally forgets about all about murdering his reckless little brother.

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

While his great-grandmother gives him all sorts of throat exercises he’s supposed to do — apparently the actual fire’s supposed to come from his chest, but the throat will take the worst of it — he doesn’t get the chance to actually test it out until a week or two later, when he’s walking home alone from the grocery late one night.

All he’s picked up is an extra-large bag of M&M’s and like, four things of cereal, so Lloyd’s in good spirits as he crosses one of the older alleyways. He’s also relaxed enough for the first time in about three months to let his guard down a bit, so it’s a real shame that he immediately gets jumped by thugs the second he does.

“Hands up, kid, nice and easy,” the biggest guy says, waving his gun at him. “We don’t want any trouble, just your money.”

Lloyd bites back a retort. Yeah, sure, they can have all fifty of his cents he’s got left. Lloyd’s a real billionaire here, in his training shorts and Zane’s old sweatshirt, who’s even teaching these guys how to pick targets—

“He said hands up, kid!” the second guy barks at him, his own gun leveling out somewhere wildly above Lloyd’s shoulder. “And drop the bags, too!”

That has Lloyd scowling. He spent the last of his junk food money on this, he’s not leaving it on the city streets, gross. He sighs, shifting his arms and beginning to call up his power, when an idea hits him. Lloyd’s mouth curves into a deliberate smirk.

“Hey kid, we said — hey, stop that creepy grinning, we’re pointing a gun at you—”

Lloyd just grins wider, opens his mouth, and breathes an explosion of streaming flame toward their faces.

If he were his father, Lloyd would call out something terribly impressive, like “may my hellfire vanquish you back to the eternal pit of misery you crawled out of, foolish scum” — but he’s not his father, so he’s been figuring he’ll end up saying something along the lines of “stop right there, sucker” because he was raised by a bunch of teenagers with the combined schooling level of mid-high school.

Unfortunately, all he ends up actually saying is a bunch of strangled screaming, because he’s currently forcing a miniature bonfire through his throat, and wow, he definitely did not calculate how much this was actually going to hurt—

It does the trick, at least. The thugs’ faces lose all their color faster than he can blink, and they jump back screaming in terror, dropping all their guns in their haste to escape.

Lloyd would be cackling like he hasn’t since he was about nine, but he’s too busy trying not die inhaling smoke through his scorched throat.

“Son of — hngh—”

Smoke is billowing out from between his teeth now, and Lloyd sucks in a strangled wheeze, his eyes tearing up as the smoke stings against them. He feels like he’s swallowed a blast from Kai, his throat hurts so bad, but it doesn’t feel deadly. He can already feel the buzz of green power doing it’s job, and the pathetic whining noises he’s making reassure him that his vocal chords are still there, even if it feels like he’s flambéed them.

“Worth it,” Lloyd croaks through his abused, raw throat, before collapsing on the street and nearly passing out.

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

The next morning is awful. If Lloyd hadn’t developed such a high pain tolerance as he has, he’d be in serious trouble right now.

Not that it makes it any better, he thinks to himself, trying not to whine as he accidentally swallows, his throat vengefully reminding him that he tried to charbroil it last night.

“Morning, Lloyd,” Cole says cheerfully. Lloyd gives him a weak smile in return, adding a little wave for flair, and hopes it’s enough.

“How would you like your eggs?” Zane asks him. Lloyd jerks a shoulder up in a shrug, trying to look as tired as he can. If he can convince them that he’s just exhausted, instead of slowly dying inside because he breathed fire through his throat last night—

“I want scrambled,” Jay says through a yawn, saving Lloyd from Zane’s quizzical gaze. “Make ‘em all scrambled, Zane, with that cheese you use.”

“A ‘please’ would be appreciated once in a while,” Zane mutters, but he’s already reaching for the fridge again.

Lloyd grits his teeth, trying desperately to ignore how much his mouth tastes like ash. Like, actual ash, which is disgusting. Lloyd’s never gonna be able to eat burnt marshmallows again, which is a true tragedy.

The price you pay for being a badass, Lloyd thinks to himself mournfully.

Kai comes in about then, still scrubbing at his eyes, yawning as he sits next to Lloyd. “Sleep alright?” he asks, words mangled through the yawn.

Lloyd nods, then tries to hide the wince that runs through him as his throat twinges. He’s apparently unsuccessful, because Kai narrows his eyes at him, suddenly looking much more awake.

“Hey, are you okay?” he says, sounding concerned. “Talk to me, bud."

Lloyd bites his lip. If Kai keeps asking, the others are gonna start looking over, and then that’ll be more suspicious. Maybe he can just tell him he’s got a cough? Yeah, he can do that. Just one small sentence, a few little words. He can handle that.

“I’m—ngh—”

Lloyd’s voices catches on the first word, squeaks like a broken recorder, and then coughs a burst of bright fire across the breakfast table.

A chorus of high-pitched screaming rings out across the breakfast room, Cole and Jay jumping back from the flames as Nya and Zane rush toward him, quickly putting out the fire that’s caught the wooden table. Kai’s dancing around Lloyd as he doubles over in hacking coughs, sounding two seconds from a panicked breakdown.

“—coughed up fire, that was fire, Lloyd what the FSM was that?!”

“M’a dragon,’member?” Lloyd wheezes, as he’s stared down by his family’s terrified faces. He coughs again, waving at the tiny puff of smoke that comes out, before giving them a shaky grin. “S’cool, right?”

He’s met with five blank stares.

“Oh dear,” Zane finally says, looking like he’s come to the conclusion that Lloyd is going to kill himself with this. Which is rude, Lloyd can’t be cool as heck if he’s dead.

“This is worse than the lightbulbs,” Cole says, faintly.

“Lloyd, how,” Nya breathes into her hands.

“Dude that’s sick!” Jay bursts out in excitement, immediately cementing his place as one of Lloyd’s favorite people ever. “You can breathe fire, what the heck!”

Kai shakes his head at him in awe, his voice reverent. “That’s so cool, that’s not eve—ennn oh my god he’s dying—!”

Kai’s excitement turns to a horrified shriek as Lloyd coughs up a mouthful of blood.

“S’okay,” Lloyd croaks, waving everyone off they crowd him, wiping at his mouth. “S’normal too. Throat’s just raw. It heals up after a bit.”

He’s met by five of the most unimpressed stares he’s seen all month.

“I’m making you a doctor’s appointment,” Zane sighs, tapping at his phone. “And you’re going over this with Sensei Wu.”

“And you’re not breathing fire anymore,” Cole scolds, eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“Without us,” Jay adds. Cole elbows him, and he scowls. “What? C’mon, this is super cool.”

“Jay,” Nya says, a warning in her voice.

Jay laughs nervously. “I mean, super dangerous, haha! Real, uh, really dangerous. You’re coughing up blood, that’s bad.”

Kai hovers by his shoulder, still looking torn between dreadful concern, overbearing overprotectiveness, and most importantly, an vicious kind of curiosity.

As Lloyd had hoped it would, curiosity wins out. “D’you think it’d work with me?” he finally asks him, a gleam in his eyes. “Since I can control fire, do you think I could breathe it too—”

“No,” Zane says, quickly.

“Absolutely not,” Nya says flatly. “Not a chance. Neither of you are going to try anything else with fire. If I catch you coughing up smoke, you’re both toast.”

Lloyd and Kai both nod dutifully.

“Of course,” Lloyd assures her, through a creaking rasp.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Kai echoes.

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

Nya storms out of the monastery at one a.m. that night to find both Kai and Lloyd in the middle of the training field, half the dummies burning down and both sprawled out on the ground. Lloyd is still hacking smoke up, having been responsible for the flames on the right side. Kai is on his hands and knees, his face pale and sweaty, responsible for the fires smoldering on the left. In terms of breathing fire, he’s only been able to trigger his gag relax about seven times, but in terms of enthusiasm, he’s contributed to the blaze on the whole by boosting Lloyd’s flames by eighty percent.

Nya spends about forty-five minutes alternating between yelling at them and dousing them with twin jets of water from her hands. Neither Kai or Lloyd mind getting sprayed by that point, but the yelling definitely doesn’t do wonders for the headaches they’ve both got from smoke inhalation.

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

After that fiasco, Lloyd is officially banned from breathing fire, influencing anyone else to try and breathe fire, or even mention breathing fire.

Lloyd declares that this is a prejudiced offense against him being half-dragon.

“You are a prejudiced offense against the entire health world on the whole,” Zane glares at him, tying off the last of the bandages he’s been wrapping around his throat. Lloyd makes a face at him. The bandages are overkill, and Zane knows it — all the damage is on the inside, anyways.

Next to them Nya is still chewing out Kai, who’s steadily chugging at the glass of water Cole forced on him. “I don’t care if you think you’re fireproof, and I don’t care if you—” she stabs an accusatory finger at Lloyd. “Have special elemental powers that’ll heal you eventually. If I so much as see a spark of fire from either of you, anywhere near your mouth, I’m going to super-soak you with the illegal water gun Jay built last summer.”

Kai and Lloyd pale in unison. Kai speaks up hesitantly, “Wouldn’t it just be easier if you hit us with your powers—”

“No,” Nya hisses, her eyes flashing murder. “Because it’s making a point. It’s the water gun of shame.”

Kai and Lloyd exchange commiseratory glances.

Cole and Jay don’t say much until Nya and Zane have wandered from the room, at which point they surge forward, eyes gleaming.

“Tell me you got video of it,” Jay whispers.

Kai grins. “Duh. Wait ’til you see what he did to the balance beams.”

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

After that, unfortunately, Lloyd really does have to stop breathing fire. Mostly because he’d like to be able to speak again without doubling over in wheezing coughs, but also because Nya’s legitimately terrifying with her water gun.

Also because Kai’s too scared of Nya as well, so Lloyd’s lost his claim to a bad influence.

Ah well, Lloyd mopes to himself. It’s a nice card to have up his sleeve in a pinch, he guesses, but clearly it was never meant to be a natural thing. He’s just too human. (Or too Oni — maybe that’s influencing it? He’ll have to ask his great-grandmother, next time she goes off on another rant about them.)

The important point is, he has every intention of not doing it again. Every intention.

But then he visits his father in prison again, because his dad’s chatty like that now, apparently. Which isn’t a terribly bad thing on its own, because Mr. Self-Proclaimed (or was it Harumi-proclaimed?) Emperor Garmadon has at least mellowed out a bit since the whole “wreck half the city in a rage” thing. And Lloyd’s been called here in person to check out the new security measures they put up, so he does have a good reason.

No, the breaking point comes when Lloyd’s trying to leave in peace, and his terrible dad of a father decides to make some snarky comment about how “boringly quiet you are today”, like Lloyd’s supposed to be his entertainment, or something.

Normally Lloyd would just ignore it and storm off, but his throat’s been killing him this whole time, and the vein in the upper right corner of his forehead is throbbing just a little too much. So instead of leaving, he whirls on his father, eyes flashing as he growls. Garmadon’s teeth bare, prepared to snap at him, and Lloyd opens his mouth to snap right back—

And promptly breathes a campfire’s worth of bright flames at him instead.

Lloyd claps a hand over his mouth in horror as the flames blossom out against the glass barrier, before doubling over in ragged coughs, smoke streaming through his fingers. A clamoring of alarms goes off, and that’s the only warning Lloyd gets before the emergency sprinklers come on, soaking both him and his father. At least they’ll hide the brimming tears from the smoke in his eyes, Lloyd thinks miserably, watching as his gi soaks through.

Garmadon is dead silent. He stares at him with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. He closes his mouth, blinking twice, his jaw working. Then, finally— “That is undeniably unfair,” he growls. “She taught you how to do that? I’ve been begging her since I was six.”

Despite the intense agony his throat is in, Lloyd beams. “It’s so cool, right?” he says, his voice sounding like a malfunctioning blender. “Totally awesome. No idea why she wouldn’t teach you. Must suck to be—”

Lloyd doesn’t get to gloat much more than that, because he starts wheezing again and the security guards come drag him out “for his own safety”, but for the look on his dad’s face?

So worth it.

[ginnyzero]

Motivations to Write

In my last discussion post, Ideas, Squeaky Toys of Doom, I touched upon a few motivations of why people write. And I guess, it’s the next natural thing to talk about, once one has an idea, there has to be some sort of will to go forward with it, other than tossing it in the bin as useless. As in all things, from going to the grocery to store, to committing a crime, one must have a reason! And if you want to sound sinister (or overly legal) we call it motive!

Before I start meandering, the dictionary describes motive as an inner drive or impulse that causes one to act. A motive is an incentive. It’s the stimulus that gets us out of our chairs (or into them) and doing something. They are the reasons that provide us with the stress to change our ways. (Yes, I said stress. There is positive stress and negative stress, just like there is positive criticism and negative criticism.) Motivations affect us and can be as varied from “I need to eat” to “I have a dream.” Eating is something solid, dreams, are the exact opposite, ephemeral. And having both is important. (I’ll just leave this here.) Motivations are what take you from where you are now, to the future of where you want to be if you want it.

And motivations, these reasons, are as varied and broad and different as the people that come up with them. These are a few I know it. Whether or not the writers you know fall under them may or may not be the case. Just like there is no bad idea, there is no wrong motivation to write. At least, I’m not holding any judgements. And all of these can be combined and used to fuel each other.

Basic Motivations: Money, Fame (Power), Love

Firstly. Let’s get these three fundamental motivations out of the way.

Money, everyone wants to write a book and get rich just like JK Rowling. They want their own house, a swimming pool and a private jet. (Hey, don’t we all want to be rich. No judgement.) Or, you’ve got the other writers, who want to make enough money just to pay their bills and live comfortably. Money is a big motivating factor. The world seems to go around on money and it’s hard to do anything without it. We’ve all got to eat. We need roofs over our heads and as a society we’ve become very dependent on this thing called electricity.

Fame, and I lump fame with power. Writers, just like everyone else, want to be known. They want to be recognized. They want to leave behind a great body of work that people can come back to over and over again. This is a way to become immortal. Fame also brings other perks. Fame can bring television or movie deals. Fame has public appearances and interviews. Fame has people coming to you instead of you going to them. Fame gives you influence and power. Influence and power can change things. Some people like the idea of it.

And love, there are writers that actually just enjoy writing and want to do what they do. They love to come up with ideas, string together plots, hack through scenes and what characters grow and change. I feel, and this is just my feelings and opinions, that all people should love what they do in one way shape or form. And if writing is what makes someone happy and that’s what they like to do above all others, then that love can be a great motivation.

Now, there are five other motivations that I have thought of/remembered and there are probably many more, but these are ones that I see talked about by other writers.

Motivation: “I like this.”

These are the writers who just plain like a concept. I don’t think Louis L’amour and Zane Grey would have wrote so many westerns if they didn’t plain just like them. (Err, that was unintentional, and I’m leaving it. Homophones!) These are writers who will take their idea and just pound it into the ground until you have to wonder if they ever had another idea in their head. Brian Jacques wrote 21 Redwall novels before his death. Mercedes Lackey has written 30 tales in Valdemar (and as far as I know is still writing in that universe.) Jim Butcher is on his 16th Dresden File (of a proposed 28, I think.) And Anne McCaffery’s son has taken up where Anne left off in Pern. And that, ladies and gentlemen is just in science fiction/fantasy. To write that much material for one universe or genre alone takes dedication. Formula writers (by which I mean the structure of their story is the same for every single book/trilogy they write,) genre writers and romance writers can fall under this motivation.

But then there is the opposite.

Motivation: “I don’t like this. I want to see this instead.”

This motivation is often reactionary. This is the cry of disgust from every reader who has thrown a book across the room, got up and went to their computer and sat down and tried to write it better. There are also things that some writers just don’t want to see or write in their novels, so they don’t.

This writing can often be derivative. But you say, what writing isn’t? That’s a real good question. But this motivation uses a lot of things in the public domain such as Jane Austen, Sherlock Holmes, fairy tales and legends. Historical Alternate universe can also fall under this, such as ‘His Majesty’s Dragon,’ by Naomi Novak. In fact, I feel almost anything considered ‘historical’ can be considered this. A ‘I don’t want to see the battles of the war of the roses, I want to know about the love lives of the nobles instead!’

I also find that this motivation can also be used as sort of a research tool. For instance, when a writer likes things from two or three different (but similar potentially or even not) novels, but doesn’t like how any of those novels actually used their ideas. So, the writer takes the ideas they like, combine them into one thing and wah lah, they have their own universe to play in.

“I don’t like this, I want to see this instead,” is a huge motivation in fan works. A huge amount of fan work is either exploring romantic pairings that wouldn’t happen in canon, expounding upon things that weren’t seen in canon or even changing the setting completely and seeing what the characters will do. Continuations, prequels and the children of the main cast are all very common stories that happen in fandom. Given how huge fanfiction.net, mediaminer.org and AO3 are, plus the stuff on journaling sites, private sites (including forums) and tumblr and so on. This is a huge stimulus for people of all ages to write.

Motivation: “I have a story I want to tell.”

The ultimate, “I have something I want to talk about.” By golly, these people have something to say and they’re going to say it, whether you like it or not. They may have a message to get out there.

There is the personal side of this. These are the autobiographies, biographies and ‘based on a true story,’ writers. They’re using their story to spread a message or theme that they think everyone should hear. Which isn’t a bad thing, everyone who writes has a message whether or not they know it. These writers are just more aware of it than others.

Then there is the not as personal aspect of this motivation. These are writers that have a story in their head that they want to tell. And they’ve looked on the shelves and it’s not there, or it’s there in similar form but not how precisely they would do it. They see a void in the market place that they want to fill. Or sometimes, they just have a story in their head trying to get out and they need to get it out so they can move onto something else! There is usually a heavy dose of ‘I like this,’ involved in this type of writing.

Motivation: “I want to help others.”

Ah, the selfless motivation to write or the pretentious one depending on how you look at it.

This can go hand in hand with “I have a story to tell.” These writers hope that by telling their story that they can inspire, help or warn others. Stories about overcoming adversity. Stories about reaching out to others. Stories that show the bad side of life. Or conversely, the stories that show the good side of life. These writers want whoever reads their story to take away something from it, something that will hopefully make the reader a better person.

I have to say that a lot of Christian fictional literature falls under this heading. I’ve read quite a bit of it and not a lot of it has stayed with me, because there isn’t a lot of Christian fictional stories (or at least not when I was reading them) that focused upon walking the life of a Christian. They were usually much more focused upon converting the reader and if you’re a Christian already it feels like they are preaching to the already converted (aka the choir.) Or they were trying to show what a good Christian marriage was with varying degrees of success. Pick one.

And lastly,

Motivation: “I want to feel better.”

This motivation is where writing hits the pure emotional level. This type of writing is cathartic. It releases the feelings inside the writer and gives them a voice. A lot of emotional writing comes from a place of anger and despair. How the writer chooses to translate that anger and despair in their writing is up to them. There are those who will through the guise of writing graphically describe incidents that happened to them so that they can use the characters as a method of coping. They take back their power and control in their writing and use the fictional world as a cipher of the real world to change things. There is also the opposite, those who take that anger or despair and write silly happy things as a way of making themselves feel happier. It’s a way to make themselves laugh while in the undercurrents of the writing they are also often dealing with the deeper issues in their life. In emotional writing, an audience isn’t necessary and may or may not be helpful.

Emotional writing can go along with “I have a story I want to tell,” and “I want to help others.”

Now on the other hand, some people write dark, angry, disturbing stuff because they like writing dark angry disturbing things. And other people write funny silly things, because they like writing funny silly things and they don’t need to feel better. (So, I don’t recommend you call out anyone on the motivations for their writing if you feel it’s coming from an emotional place, because it may not be and you shouldn’t assume anything.)

A lot of these motivations for writing are the same as the motivations for publishing. There is a huge difference between writing something and publishing that something. Just because a writer creates a story, doesn’t mean that they will want to or are going to put it out there in a public manner. That’s their choice and no one should try to take it away from them.

Motivations are tricky things. They can change over time or be joined by other incentives. If you desire to write, there is no wrong reason to do so! They’re your reasons and no one has the right to call them bad ones. It might be because of one of the reasons I posted here or because of others. Whatever the reason is, we writers have to feed those Squeaky Toys of Doom and keep on plugging away.