A/N: My many apologies for my many month absence. I must admit there are a variety of things that fed into it, but I think now I am past most of them.
To start, there are the basics of having multiple jobs, schoolwork, and facing illness constantly that have kept me from writing much at all, but that honestly is not all of it.
If I am to be honest, this site killed its charm for me over the past year, a major aspect of why it has been difficult to write. To explain what I mean, picture this: seconds after you upload a chapter you have two new dislikes. Nobody could have read your story in that time, and someone saw fit to downvote it and forever mark it in a way people will take notice to. In and of itself this may not be bad, but when every week, every chapter you upload this happens, seeing your dislikes increase due to people who aren't even reading your story and are either prejudging it or just doing it for some other trollish reason, it is hard to get excited about updating a new chapter since in doing so you actually will be harming your story.
Case and point, over a few weeks and chapters I doubled the amount of dislikes on this story in this manner. I updated, got near instantaneous hate while I was on the front page (featured and all), and now when I update I don't get on the front page anymore. My ratio has been damaged so much that something I once took pride in no longer happens. Seeing myself on the front page really helped motivate myself since it made me feel validated, especially since it allowed me to bring in new readers. Now, I don't get on the front page due to the actions of these people, and there is nothing I can do about it. Publish more chapters? Get punished by people who seek to just downvote for the seeming hell of it. Publish a new story? Have a brigade of people downvote it who even admit to having not read it. Try to publish another new story? Have a moderator not like the speaking quirk of a character who is robotic and not allow it to be published.
I thought we Bronies were all about Love and Tolerance, but all of my recent experiences have been with our more vile members who basically drive me away from the community. Not helping is that I have not been a fan of this most recent season, meaning instead of being inspired each Saturday I don't even tune in anymore.
The only reason I've tried at all to do anything these past few months, albeit failing until now, is because I care about you all though. You readers and commenters help a lot, and are the reason my writing muse hasn't been killed off entirely. I have felt so guilty about not updating for you that I have continually tried to put something together, but part of the problem is one of the upcoming chapters (which I have pushed back to being after this chapter or the next) is gigantic. As in, dialogue alone is about 4,000 words meaning the final product will likely be around 10,000-15,000. Hard when already barely hanging in there to finish something like that.
So instead I am giving us all this smaller chapter to ease myself back in. I am so sorry about the wait, but I felt the need to inform you all about why this has been the case. I have honestly been trying, it just has been difficult for me and I am sorry to have not been able to create more content for you. I am back now, though only time will tell if I once again face the slow week to week drain of being punished by people who don't even read my stories.
Sunset seemed to come early the first day of Trixie's travel after they left the Monastery, their destination being to the East in a territory known as the Western Plaguelands (to differentiate it from other Plaguelands, of course). There were Scourge, Scarlet Crusaders, and many other things they could deal with there according to Reuenthal, though Trixie's mind was set on going to a place known as Scholomance in a ruins located there known as Caer Darrow. Inside she heard there were Necromancers, mages, and other magic users who she intended to steal from after defeating their Scourge army. A rumor that they were currently experimenting on extracting power from dead dragons to fuel their Undead army also caught her interest, as Trixie liked the idea of harnessing said power for herself...or saving the dragons, if they happened to be alive.
Preferably the first though, if she was being honest to herself. After all, the dragons were probably already dead, right?
She was feeling arrogant and powerful after settling into the memories she recovered during the siege on the Monastery, for with them came techniques and magical arts she had not previously even known could be done. She kept this hidden to the others, however, as she had yet to put the "new" magic to the test. She did not wish to boast this time before knowing she could pull off the arcane techniques in her mind.
While not naturally possessing the power to use these techniques liberally, she was aware now of the power hidden within her that was separate to her own. If she could tap into it, she could harness techniques that she was sure could match even those of that Grand Crusader Dathrohan they defeated. A man whose weapon happened to have been looted by their group's new Priest healer...who kept making sure everyone knew he wasn't specialized in healing. But still, being able to mend some wounds was better than having no-one capable of doing so, right?
"So, you're not really a healer, right?"
Sitting around a campfire set up to keep them warm in the cold night's air, the group of two Elves, their Stormwind Knight Lavitz, former criminal Vanessa VanCleef, hired muscle Karl, and most recent joiner Priest Dirge wound down as they prepared to sleep for the night. They agreed to watch the night in shifts to keep those with ill intent away, though all were awake for the moment. Their bodies still ached from the intense battles and did not seem to improve any more with pure healing, so taking time to rest was necessary.
The Human man with some Elvish features shook his head to Trixie's question, "No, not truly. It is not where my talents lay, but I can do basics and patch up certain wounds."
"What are you good for then?" Vanessa snorted. She did not trust having a former Scarlet Crusader among them, for unlike her he had betrayed his allies while she had come to join them after losing her own comrades and to repay a debt she felt she owed her former enemies. Still, he had been nothing but polite so she could not previously voice much of her discontent, so now she opened up with a way of demeaning him.
Dirge took it in stride and formed what appeared to be a ball of swirling shadows in his hand, "Some might call it dark or shadow magic," with the flick of his wrist it disappeared completely, "One does not have to be evil or bad to use it, but it is an...inhumane way of doing battle. The Scarlet Crusade uses Shadow Priests and their ilk to torture their captives, almost always to death and only sometimes for an actual reason."
Trixie frowned, beginning to feel validated in her defeat of this most recent enemy beyond what she already knew, "How did the Crusade come to be such a horrible organization?"
"It had noble beginnings, being a brotherhood of Paladins, Priests, and other servants of the Light who would fight against the tide of Undead rising in our land thanks to the actions of the traitor Prince Arthas. With time however our nobler members have died off or left us, leaving us with fanatics who draw no boundary between types of Undead," Dirge explained knowledgeably. It made sense he would know the history of the group after all, given that until a day ago he was one of them.
"That man we defeated, Dathrohan, he was the Grand Crusader, correct?"
Dirge nodded, being wholly familiar with the Grand Crusader, "He and Br-Lady Abbendis are the leaders of our organization. Following the death of her father, Abbendis has become a radical element who would see every Undead being slain, be they Scourge or the more sapient ones led by Sylvanas Windrunner after she broke free of the Scourge's hold on her."
Trixie continued to piece together the situation based off what she had heard elsewhere by then, "She died fighting against the Scourge I think."
"Yes, and to torment her Arthas, now known as the Lich King, brought her back as one of the beings she had died to protect her people from. Unlike some who enjoy this new lease on life, she appears to resent the cursed existence she now lives, though she also seems fearful of returning to whatever Hell existed for her after death."
Trixie averted her eyes, a memory of a place many would call Hel dancing through her head, "I would not want to either."
Beside her, Kael shrugged in indifference, "If my time comes, I suppose there will not be much I can do, but I do not intend to go before my time."
"You're not allowed to die. I won't allow that," Trixie replied with a small punch to his shoulder, which she followed up by pulling herself in close to him. Lavitz smirked and Karl gave a positive grunt as the man in red was wearing his cheeks like his clothing.
Unlike the two adults who were in-on the betting pool concerning the Elves, Vanessa was actually ignorant of what Kael and Trixie were at this point. She had seen just how close the two were, doing things and acting like she remembered married couples doing, so she thought to clear up the ambiguity presented before her, "So, are you two..." she looked down away, embarrassed by her own question, "You know...involved?"
Trixie rose her brow in confusion as she continued to hold Kael's arm and kept her position up against him, "Kael is my partner. We wake up together, spend our days together, and go to bed with one another. If that classifies as 'involved', then yes we are."
Kael closed his eyes as he fought to keep exasperation from his voice. Just how sheltered was his partner that she had this little experience with normal relationships? "I think she meant if we were dating."
"Oh," Trixie thought for a moment. Would she mind being Kael's girlfriend? She had a feeling the answer would be no, but at the same time she didn't exactly want to deal with relationship drama and the like. Things were fine right now, right? No need to deal with kissing and holding hands and jealousy and babies right now, "No, though I doubt much would be different if we were now that I think of it. I haven't had a boyfriend before. Haven't had too many friends either..."
Spiriting her thoughts away, Trixie noticed Vanessa still appeared bashful and nervous, so she decided to tease her slightly with a wink.
"Why, do we appear to be a couple?"
Kael found himself fortunate to have noticed that their fire was dying, and that the forest clearing they were in did not have much in the way of keeping it going. As a result he stood up and drew attention to it so he could be done with the conversation that was making his face run red.
"Great. The fire is dying, and this clearing does not have much to use to kindle it," he looked to Lavitz and Karl, who were the other two largest members of the group, "Mind helping me?"
The two men wordlessly accepted, though it was obvious to every single person except Trixie that Kael was subverting the discussion at hand. Instead, she looked at the fire and thought about how nice it looked...especially compared to the literally chilling flood of thoughts she now had mixed in with her new ones.
"Vhen vill you date girl?"
As they gathered wood a few hundred feet away from the camp, Kael turned to face Karl who was not even bothering picking up any wood. The man understood why they actually broke away from the main group, but had no desire to pretend to go along with Kael's disguised reason for doing so now that they were out of sight.
Kael picked up some branches that would be usable as he looked to Karl, "Trixie?" he began to break off extraneous pieces that would make carrying them difficult, "When she is ready to admit our relationship is anything but platonic."
Lavitz, who was being helpful and also picking up fuel for the fire despite knowing Kael's reason for doing this was only half-true, chimed in as a stick in his arms slipped and poked his armor, "We'll be dead before that happens at this rate. Anything we can do to expedite things?"
Kael could not believe the metaphorical mutiny he was facing. When would he be left alone to do as he pleased? Wasn't he technically the one in charge, yet here he had his partners all trying to get him to get in a relationship with someone against his own will, "I doubt many other princes are harangued by their soldiers about who they should and should not become romantically involved with and when to do so."
"Should try direct approach. Kiss girl," Karl suggested.
The terse man with an attitude did not strike Kael as a ladykiller, though that may have had to do with the fact that the man looked like a clone of himself if he were a Human being. Kael did not imagine himself as successful with women if he just was a bit rougher around the edges, "What do you know of wooing women?"
"Former secret agent. Honey trap viable solution to big problem."
So the former spy slept with people...and then killed them or otherwise dealt with them as a threat. Wonderful. At least back then Karl was allegedly a good guy who he ought ton have been dealing with bad people.
"Oh, right. Why did you leave SI-7 anyways?"
Lavitz turned around to face Karl as Kael asked the other Human this, being quite curious himself. After all, Karl was a former citizen of Stormwind just like him...though he had no idea where that accent came from.
"Brother was on zheir hit list for supplying Defias with Stormwind resources and technology taken from corrupt Noble. Left Nobleman's head as resignation letter."
Simple, yet brutal. Kael had a feeling that a lot of what he could ask Karl would have similar results. Staying on the man's good side would be important, especially as Karl had proven himself the toughest physically on their team during the siege despite being a ranged combatant. He had after all faced Mograine by himself and nearly won through sheer endurance, so it made sense to Kael that this indeed was a former spy/assassin.
Lavitz shook his head and sighed, "I remember hearing about some kind of commotion like that. Fortunately we are allies now or I would have to bring you in to face justice for your crimes."
Having seemingly not cared that Lavitz was speaking, Karl had turned his attention off to one side where he would soon point a finger.
"Enemies."
Kael reached for his sword only to realize he had not remembered to grab it in his frustration. Karl, who had been the one who would be first on guard duty with Lavitz, had his crossbow with him, and Lavitz had brought his own spear leaving Kael as the only one without a weapon. They had a large bag of stolen weapons and loot from their invasion of the base, having taken what would assist them in leaving this dangerous territory and nothing more, but that was useless at this moment for Kael which irritated him.
Observing the half dozen figures in the distance, Lavitz drew his spear and sighed, "Undead. If they leave and report us to their superiors, we may have an army bearing down on us before the night is through."
"What is dead can die again," Karl noted as he pulled the trigger on his weapon. A moment later, one of the Undead lost an arm as its shoulder was pinned to a tree by the bolt.
The others drew their weapons and rushed forth, their rotting flesh barely covering decrepit bones that only held together with the aid of twisted magic.
"For Sylvanas!"
Realizing he would have to wield magic in this encounter, Kael prepared himself to launch the largest fireball he could: he had no idea just what level of strength these enemies were, and he would rather ask forgiveness later if he happened to slay what were technically allies to the Blood Elves instead of dying at their hands. He would indeed not go out before his time, for he had a good few thousand years he intended to live...with a certain clueless silver-blue haired Elf if possible.
As Lavitz moved forward to block and intercept the Undead beings with their rotting flesh, yet a glow to their eyes that belied intelligent thought unlike those at the Monastery, Kael saw that one of the ones charging at them stopped as they saw and recognized him.
"Kael'thas?"
Kael blasted away the closest Undead soldier, his attack charring their armor and knocking them down without really cutting into their flesh. This first volley completed, he prepared another attack but held it at bay to answer this particular enemy's question with one of his own.
"Do I know you?"
The former Human growled as he hurled himself at Kael, "You killed me when resisting Garithos's forces! Now I will make you pay for-"
At the mention of Garithos, the man who caused the death of his father, Lavitz twisted in place from his encounter with the other Undead and speared this one through the torso, piercing armor and flesh both. As he did this he landed a kick against the gut of another, then spun on his one planted foot to swing the impaled former soldier of Garithos into the other Undead.
Kael blasted away the last standing enemy as Karl instantly set upon those on the ground and began to bind and tie them up to remove them as threats. While brutal, he had come to accept that his leaders did not wish to slay others when possible, something he would abide until it at all threatened to cause their own deaths.
The former Garithos soldier tried to remove himself from where he lay on the ground, howling in pain as he thrashed about. Kael watched him with some pity, but kept himself from caring too much given that this man still appeared to be the bigot he had been in life. How ironic that now he was cursed with living as a member of the Undead...if only Garithos himself could be so cursed.
"You are alive, in a manner of speaking, so I will spare you this time."
Kael sighed as he realized that, in order to get away from an awkward conversation he had just had a minor battle. Why were these Undead even here though? This was their territory, but didn't they have anything better to do?
At the camp, Dirge noticed something of his own as he sat on the log they had moved to be by the fire, "I see a few fleeing Scarlet Crusaders. I should take care of them, lest they draw attention to us. This is still the territory of the Forsaken, and I do not believe our varied party will be very welcomed by them."
Trixie called after the man as he stood to deal with the problem. She trusted that he would win the encounter but was less trusting in their newest member's ability to not kill people, "Remember, no killing!"
Now alone with just their youngest member, Trixie decided to get up and sit down next to Vanessa, who spent most her time sharpening her blades or curling up in a ball and avoiding all socialization.
In an attempt to get her attention, Trixie prodded the girl's shoulder gently, "Vanessa."
Vanessa did not say anything, but she did glance up at Trixie. When she realized she was being smiled at Vanessa looked away, once again bashful. Despite this Trixie kept talking to her, letting the girl know once more that she was appreciated.
"Thank you. If you hadn't helped us, I don't think we could have made it through the Monastery."
Vanessa kept her own eyes away from Trixie's, still uncomfortable with being around someone who had forgiven her of so much, "I owed you, and now I've repaid you. That's all there is to it."
Trixie sighed, understanding what it must have been like for her own mentor to deal with her once upon a time: a young girl with little in the way of normal social skills who had a lot of emotional baggage with her. It was obvious to Trixie though that despite Vanessa's claimed indifference that she cared about the people she now found herself with.
"I was lonely and standoffish once too, you know. I grew up alone after all," alone was a nice way of putting 'grew up on the streets', but Trixie didn't want to depress the teenager. She looked ahead at the fire and sighed, "Back then I thought it would keep me from the pain, but I realized later that it had been killing me day by day. That I may have given up hope without the people who gave me a family."
A family she still had trouble remembering given the brevity of her time with it in her memories...but a family all the same. Perhaps when more of her mind returned to her there would be more for her to rejoice over. She hoped there was more than she remembered of Luna...of the foreign man from another world they had taken in who could do so much...and who went through Hel with her.
Come to think of it, Trixie wondered, she was not of this land herself...perhaps her memories of a displaced God had something to do with her current location?
"I have no hope," Vanessa stated with complete sincerity, having lost everyone and everything she had cared about prior to now save a single pet. Hearing this, Trixie put her arm around the girl and brought her into a hug that Vanessa did not resist, "Not anymore."
"As befitting of a low class cutthroat whose only aspirations are to thieve and kill."
Trixie and Vanessa both jumped to their feet at the sound of a third, new voice not belonging to any of their companions: only to come face to face with an arrow drawn and ready to fire.
"Master Engineer Telonicus, report."
"I apologize my Lord, but our agents have failed to defeat the Pretender."
"After all the technology and aid you granted those fools, you would think they could have accomplished their simple task. What of the Sunwell?"
"She continues to travel with the Pretender, my Lord. They have just brought the Scarlet Monastery to heel under a rogue force of Blood Elves."
"Master Engineer, I gave you what I believed to be a simple task: kill a man pretending to be me, and capture his weak little friend. Easy group to find. Man who looks just like me. Woman who makes a spectacle of herself wherever she goes. And yet now they have risen from barely handling bandits to defeating Scarlet Crusaders. One must wonder, what use do I have for someone who fails so miserably at confronting and defeating them that they come from it stronger than before and now wield an army."
"They have had help, my Lord!...And they remain isolated. The army marches on Outland!"
"Very well, Telonicus. We will deal with the coming fools. You had best bring me that man's head, Master Engineer. Don't let them slip from our grip again, or there will be consequences. I had better not hear that they manage to escape you once more, lest I believe you are being distracted by that woman's bosom and hips. Thrice now is it you have lost them? Now begone. I have matters to attend, but remember: I want those Elves."
...Still no killing...Trixie, If you don't want to kill, fine. But don't force others to be the same.
As for the author's note...I joined this fandom, and after a while, has accepted all that is the brony fandom...There are bright parts and there are dark parts. But, generally, people tend to follow the 6, or at least 3/6-4/6. Except for a few oddballs that didn't get the memo.
Haters are everywhere, man. They are a part of the internet. Brony fandom isn't oh so special and holy that some dicks won't create accounts on brony sites just to dislike everything and cause arguements.
Same as The Cloppers phenomenon. They are actually just regular people who watch and make porn materials. They are nothing special. Rule 34, 35, and all that entailed.
Both exist since the dawn of proper Internet.
Also...Season 6 currently holds some of the best episodes and yet you say it is worse than the previous seasons? Strange.
Really happy this is back. Looking forward to the next chapter. Hope you're doing okay and you get through all the problems you mentioned in the author's note. I also hope that the community members that you mentioned can get over themselves and stop being such major assists.
Have a good one man.
who he ought ton have been
1. To.
Any kind of respite after such a battle is definitely welcome seeing how exhausting it normally is. Though with a minor skirmish added with the respite, one has to wonder if it is a respite at all. Then again, it's probably a breeze for them to handle it after what they went through.
Irony is as always a theme favourite for you by including such an Undead under Sylvanys' ranks. Somehow I think this irony is going to someday he translated to our heroes. Call it a hunch from seeing how you write.
So it's now obvious that the other Kael is hunting our Kael and somehow knows about Trixie's power to boot. Everyone has to wonder how he knows of it in the first place. This makes me wonder again, maybe he was supplying the Defias from earlier on? If so, he must've known about it much earlier than expected.
One other question popping up which has me wondering is who is the one that is hun- wait. It can't be. Surely it can't be her since the other Kael made that snide remark of being distracted by the Great and
BountifulBossomfulBeautiful Trixie.On a last note, try not to mind those people as there will always be those people for every story on this site. There are those who prey on the insecurities of others especially with the MLP tagline of love and tolerance. Unfortunately we can't get rid of them bit think of it this way: this is one way a fight that is translated from your story to your life. Though, I'm not your Kael'Thas, I'll definitely be your Lavitz. Wow that got awkward real fast. Innuendos keep popping up. Dangit Trixie, you're too hilarious to get out of my head.
Lavitz: "My name is Lavitz <insert family name here>. You worked for the guy that killed my father, now prepare to die."
7381890 Thanks It's good to be back, especially with all of your support. Hope you'll enjoy the chapters to come!
7381967 Our dear heroes get some respite, but it seems like it will not be that way for much longer! Somebody's shown up after all, arrow pulled and ready to fire. They may have had a minor fight this chapter, but really it was so minor that none of the characters even broke a sweat.
I love me some good ol' irony, you're right about that, though in this instance it is more of a narrative tool to remind everyone about Garithos...so that if anything were to happen Garithos related it would still be something kind of fresh on everyone's minds. However, being able to tie it into my liking for irony just takes it all a step further.
To clarify some things about evil Kael hunting Kael: he has one of his top aides, Grand Engineer Telonicus, literally hunting and tailling Kael...but who has failed so far because he has been doing so in an indirect manner (hiring mercenaries, supplying the Defias, etc, etc) despite having the power to take them on himself. The villains in Outland are notable for basically sitting back and having their minions do everything for them, something demonstrated here by Telonicus thinking he would be fine just outsourcing the job he had been assigned.
They also know far more about magic than Trixie's group, so by tailing them they have come to understand the power Trixie has better than she has on her own. At first it was just a desire to hunt down and kill a "fake" Kael, but upon learning that Trixie is carrying her own personal Sunwell they are actually more interested in that.
Who do you mean by "her"? The one hunting Trixie and Kael right now is Telonicus and he is failing at his job. He hired the previous Huntard, the mercenaries, and the Defias. As for bad Kael referencing Trixie's appearance, that is more an indication that she's just as appealing to both Kael's, highlighting their similarity in some regards.
To go along with your speaking about innuendos, many fans of The Legend of Dragoon think Lavitz is gay since he has two extremely strong relationships with other men and a plot point is made that he hasn't settled down yet and his mother still wants grandchildren. However, the game only ever gives us a tiny hint in the opposite direction, so it's up in the air. I actually have, to keep things in-line with the original game, kept from really delving into that side of him here and whether or not he's straight or gay. Won't really matter for him, though I always find it irritating that just because two guy characters are friends people assume they are gay: however, as nothing really says he's straight either I am content just not addressing the issue. Besides, his mother sort of got her wish...
7385302 I actually have to look back and see if I used his normal last name of Slambert or made his connection to the Saldeans stronger by also naming him one...oh well. Starts with an S either way, thus my own forgetting.
You'll get a better Inigo Montoya bit when the Garithos plotline is continued.
7385538 By 'her' I would be referring to yes, the Huntard but my mind went off thinking she was the one directly hunting them with orders from the Big Bad. There goes my imagination yet again
So it seems my assumptions so far were (mostly) correct. Now comes the question of when our heroes are gonna meet up with the (undoubtedly mislocated) others (from Equestria) because let's face it, we're dying to know what's going to happen when they meet. Though there is the possibility of characters coming from their neighbour instead...
7385718 Yeah, Huntard's on a break right now: her role as recurring mini-boss has been taken by someone else who has a more personal reason for wanting to defeat our protagonists. Better than just having a simple cutthroat as the one to get screentime, since I can actually weave plotlines with their meta-replacement.
I mentioned awhile back that it would be a bit before our Equestrian cast met our protagonists, but not to worry: a good part of that "it'll be awhile" has already gone by. It's just that while they are being tracked on the one hand, our protagonists are moving erratically and so have been throwing off the pursuit of those following them...something both good and bad as it has kept them alive, while also keeping them from meeting up with the people they don't know are looking for them (Jaina, Aria, and
redacted).Next chapter is going to be a bit different in that it is going to be another "side" chapter that mainly serves to fill in the setting, but it will have a good deal to do with my first point in this particular comment about a recurring antagonist...as well as someone from Equestria.
Well first of thankyou for still writing since its a great story you have and it would be devastating for your fanbase if you stopped .
And for the chapter
Yay plan's are made to get Trixie to recognice the relationship.
And Damn those unbearable minions yougive them one task you could do blind with both arms behind your back, and what are they doing failing. If you want something done you have to order it yourself...
7386007 Well, relationship plans weren't really made, but everybody but Trixie at this point is kind of "in on it" and wants them to get together. The chances of them getting together happening soon is seemingly low though based on how our characters think they will be dead before that ever happens!
And yeah, sometimes people ought to just do things themselves rather than delegate it to someone else, but Evil Kael is delegating to someone who is delegating to others. Lazy villains, but alas this is how they are in-canon!
I'm concerned over how this might sound, so I'll try to state this clearly. I hope you don't think I'm just saying "suck it up." I speak from experience when I way that anyone who undertakes a creative work and releases it will wonder what they did wrong when they get only the vaguest of negative feedback. Just try to keep in mind there's a lot more of us who do enjoy your writing if you see downvotes without explanation in the future.
For a lot of writers, the point of fan fiction websites is to improve their writing by using established characters and settings that they enjoy. And while it's difficult to improve with only positive feedback, the people who downvoted with no given reason apparently didn't think it was worth their time to try to help someone out. So, I don't think they should be worth your worry either.
It may be callous, but... "do unto others" can cut both ways.
7394275 It's less so the unknown nature, but rather the simple fact that they came from people who couldn't have possibly read it in the five seconds since it was updated that irritate me. If someone doesn't like it, I don't need them to give me a detailed essay why, but people just doing drive by down votes the moment it gets updated (and thus is on the front page where people can see it) is annoying, especially week after week, story after story of this happening across a span of multiple years. It's a trend I noticed across my stories when I would update them, that the majority of dislikes don't come from a few hours, days, or weeks after updates, but rather in a near instantaneous few seconds after before anyone new could have read.
I get what you mean though, it's just that having people who have so blatantly not read my work act in such a way over such a long period of time has been draining and has made the act of updating contain a tinge of fear that I will actually damage it further.
In any case, it's not really something I care to talk too much about. Just something I wanted to explain since it has played a part in my absence. What drew me to this site was the ease with which I could talk about stories with people compared to say fanfiction.net, and it remains my primary interest. I'd rather focus on story related matters now that I've given my meta reasons for my absence.
Addressing the header: there will always be hecklers (trixie knows this better than anyone) but what you have here is a beautifully written story with proper three dimensional characters. Let them miss out on a great story if they so choose but your readers such as myself will continue to support you.
Addressing the story: "OH COME ON" the ship had a chance to sail! Jeez someone needs to have "the talk" with Trixie; I nominate Vanessa!
7394503 Thank you It's very much appreciated.
Our cast right now, as you so aptly put:
Trixie herself basically confirmed the ship this chapter when she realized that, outside of the bells and whistles of a romantic relationship, nothing would change whatsoever if she and Kael were to get together. However, at the same time, she doesn't exactly want the bells and whistles of a relationship right now and so Kael is stuck in the platonic zone, and the others are all like Sweetie Belle above! Something major is going to have to happen to change Trixie's mind, so stay tuned on that front.
Funnily enough, I DO have a scene planned precisely where Vanessa and Trixie have "the Talk"...with Trixie being on the receiving end of the information to Vanessa's irritation/horror. Expect it sometime in the near but not immediate future in terms of chapters!
7394520 I honestly meant that as a joke but oh man an assassin teenager who had no time for romance...giving the future queen the birds and the murlocs talk that'll make the books. Keep up your brilliant work
7394532 Hahaha, well great minds think alike I suppose! I thought of it awhile ago as a funny gag, since Trixie here has basically no idea about that sort of thing and nobody has really informed her...and having a teenager be the one to explain it to her fits into the irony I do so enjoy, especially with her: in fact there isn't a character who has more irony tied into their story arc. The person she's hunting in revenge for her father? He's now an ally through Trixie and Kael (Reuenthal), a fact our main protagonists are loosely aware of except for her. Tries to do something "good" and repay the people she feels she owes her life to, forsaking her quest for vengeance against Stormwind? Kills people close to someone who in turn now seeks revenge on her.
Hell, that's not even half of it, but Vanessa's life is so trench deep in irony that her giving a reverse-Talk to Trixie is really just icing on the cake!
And who said Trixie's gonna be the future queen? I mean, other than Chromie, the main cast, and the epilogue to We Remember Everything?
Ouch that authors note at the start. Can't say i have felt that but that sucks. Though if this only has 18 disliles that says somehing is very good. And i actually really enjoyed season 6, but to each his own i suppose.
And wow, this is waaaaaaay worse than it was in WRE with the in story shipping. Everyone is just like "do it already damnit."
Uh oh.
Admittedly, there are times where I think people just downvote and run. There are rare occasions where people have explained why they downvoted, but in one case, they weren't worth my time or energy, and in the other...well, they had legitimate issues with the story and explained them to me in a way that actually helped me to improve.
Still, the sad truth is that people are jerks and they enjoy being jerks. And there are a lot of hypocrites out there. Collectively, they're bastards, and you shouldn't let them win.
I've longed for that feature box. For comments to help me or give me strength. Not much has been done. I've honestly given up on trying to achieve the box or beg for feedback. Admittedly I don't write as often as you do and it plagues me more than getting attention to my writing does.
Also Kael... Trixie... JUST FUCK ALREADY! LOL
"memories of a displaced God had something to do with her current location?"
WAAAAIT are you talking about the theory that there's some kind of Old God in Tirisfal Glade?
Also the undead said "for Sylvan as" yet I suspect they are not aligned with her or perhaps they pretend to be. Or they actually are and the fake Kael sent people after Trixie and Vanessa.
Btw normally resurrection isn't that easy. Varian Wrynn was subjected to resurrection by his son Anduin and the description I read was truly a special thing. It generally seems like resurrection lore-wise doesn't happen often.
There is only another instance I remember where resurrection or returning to life is possible and I mean past the demons that are only killable in the Nether. I'm talking about the Demon Hunter starting quests where in one it's asked of the player to make a choice to sacrifice himself or the box for something. Illidan then tells the player that it's interesting they have an eternal soul just like him. And since the new story wow has revolves around the player not "heroes" it seems that according to the lore only "the player" exists.
I could be wrong but then again I just wanted to point out something like resurrection shouldn't be abused in a story because it deprives from the emotion of loss.