✏ connection | l. garmadon [[ next chapter dropping january 23 ]]

chapter two | masks and memories

Apologies for the long wait! This has kind of been on a back burner for many months now, since I had everything planned out and knew where I wanted to go with this chapter, but have had both limited time to actually write and a whole lot of stuff going on in my life as of late.

What honestly surprised me about writing this was just how devoted and attached to both the characters and storyline of this fic I've become- how quickly I have fallen in love with it and how much fun I have had writing. This is one of my favorite projects currently because it takes a lot of elements from a roleplay that my sister and I have been doing for years now, which is where a lot of Lloyd's (and the others') character development or even a few character arcs come from, and also because I'm really excited about the storyline. 

It's been a ton of fun delving into Lloyd's mindset, backstory, motives, and emotions for this chapter, and I hope that you all enjoy it.  Pay attention, this is pretty full of important details regarding the overall storylines and characters, and it really sets the groundwork for the rest of the story. Thank you for sticking with me this far, I appreciate each one of you! <33

trigger warning for mentions of both verbal and physical harassment, references to injuries, struggles with living two different lives and having two different identities, and pretty depressing vibes throughout most of this chapter (it's from Lloyd's POV- what do you expect?).

{ 🍃 • 🐉 • 🍃 }

( lloyd )

As the sun sank lower on the horizon, its fading light bathed everything in brilliant shades of orange and red, giving the city an almost peaceful, beautiful look that starkly contrasted the broken buildings, the people scurrying about as if they were scared of being carried off by some evil enemy, and the mile-long lines of cars that wove their way through an all-too familiar maze of debris, multiple construction sites, and road closures.

I could see it all from my vantage point up on the roof of one of the taller buildings in downtown Ninjago City, this particular place one that I often frequent for my patrol runs specifically because of the view.

A quiet sigh escaped my lips as I leaned my head forward to rest it in my palm, green eyes trained on the cityscape below.

No matter how many times I saw it, the view never ceased to amaze me. It was so fascinating to be able to watch everyone without them even knowing that I was here.

And with being a an outcast of sorts, it could be thought-provoking to have the chance to kind of take a step back, both literally and figuratively, and to see if things were any different without me in the picture.