November Rain, or the Ultimate Origin of Jade Ring · 6:10am Feb 7th, 2020
Fate's a funny thing. Some people believe that it doesn't exist. Some people use it as the guiding point for their entire lives. Me? I'm of two minds when it comes to the subject of fate. As a whole, I think the idea of the universe coalescing significant events together like so many dominoes is absolute nonsense. But from time to time, something happens that changes my mind, even if just a little bit.
I believe I was fated to meet my wife. She had been talking to a friend of mine while I was stationed in South Dakota, but their flirtations ceased when he got back with his ex-girlfriend. She asked if he had any friends she might find interesting, and he suggested me. She sent me a Facebook message that, for all intents and purposes, read exactly like one of those fake messages you get from fictional accounts. I almost deleted it at once, but I decided to save it for my buddy to laugh at with me when he came in to work. Upon seeing the message, he confirmed that she was real. I responded, and now I'm sitting here almost ten years later with her sleeping in the next room and our son in the room beside that.
Fate? Perhaps.
The origin of Jade Ring actually goes back much further. In high school, circa 2004-2005, Teen Titans was my jam. I had a whole circle of friends who were totally devoted to the series, and after the series ended we continued to bond over what we considered to be one of the greatest cartoons of all time.
(I still do consider it the best action/comedy cartoon of the 2000s. Nothing's changed there. #Season6When?)
While the series ran, and for a while after the cancellation, my circle and I entertained ourselves with our first clumsy attempts at serious fanfiction. I had dabbled in the past with Pokemon and Dragonball Z stories, but my Titans stories were the first time I attempted to tell full, character driven narratives. This resulted in two major works; 'the End,' an alternate (and significantly darker) version of the Season 4 finale, and 'World At War,' a major three act novel that was to be my ultimate send-off to the original series. 'World At War' was never actually written, but the notes and the outline are still in my possession. 'The End' was written completely by hand over a period of eight months, then posted in installments on the now defunct and deleted 'Robin and Starfire Shrine' message board.
After high school, I left Titans, and fanfiction, behind. I joined the Air Force, and in the crushing boredom of my deployment to Iraq I found a group of like-minded individuals who bonded over our love of old cartoons. One of these was Titans, and a common point of discussion was our displeasure with the abrupt ending of the series. I began to brainstorm a new ending, and in seeking inspiration I stumbled upon a bizarre series of Youtube videos called 'Beast Boy's Magic Voices.' It was one, a video set to Guns 'n Roses' November Rain, that provided the kick my brain needed to craft a story titled 'the Call,' a story that would act as both the conclusion to the Teen Titans series and a fun crossover with the Cthulhu mythos.
There was one chapter that was written solely in the hopes that the creator of the 'Beast Boy's Magic Voices' series would see it and do something with it. That's how entwined my story was with this person's own projects.
In a way, I'm still doing things like that sometimes. Like name-dropping PresentPerfect every few blogs to see if he'll drop a comment.
'The Call' was ultimately abandoned in the midst of the third act, and I've left it standing as a monument to how far I've come as a writer and a storyteller. I won't link to it, as it's not very good. I also sometimes cannibalize the best bits from time to time for my stories here. Can't steal from yourself, right?
So what's the point of all this? What does any of this have to do with my so-called ULTIMATE origin?
Because the creator of 'Beast Boy's Magic Voices' is one DakariKingMykan, author of the critically maligned 'My Brave Pony' series of stories. Something I had no idea about until just recently.
One poorly animated video with true passion behind it drew me back into the world of fanfiction, which ultimately led me here. Without that video, there is no 'Call,' there is no 'Morning Glory,' and there is no 'Dear Sweetie Belle.' In short, there is no Jade Ring without DakariKingMykan. And here we are, ten years later, writing stories on the same site.
Fate? Perhaps.
If you've read this far, then I thank you. I have these moments from time to time that drive me to write about them, and sometimes they may seem a bit silly, but if I don't get them out they stay crammed in my skull and block the stories from coming out.
YOU DON'T CONTROL ME! D:<
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