Lemurian Legends

Norah pondered deeply as she stared at the screen of her laptop with pounding music from her headphones. She had been working on her own fiction for almost a week now, squeezing all the free time she had between finishing her homework and bedtime to craft every paragraph like how a skilled sword-maker would forge a new sword.

On this Friday night, with her parents out and free from distraction, she was confident she could finish her latest chapter.

Norah felt a hand tugging at her dress. She looked down and discovered it was her younger step-sister Aurora, dressed in yellow and wearing her adorable little hand-made paper princess crown.

Norah took off her headphone and asked, "Yes, Aurora?"

"Norah? Are you doing homework?" Aurora asked.

"No. Do you need anything?" Norah said absent mindedly as she surreptitiously locked her laptop screen. Aurora continued looking at her blankly as if she was still waiting for a reply.

"Oh, sorry." Norah got off her chair and crouched down to Aurora's eye level. "Is there something you need?"

"Can I borrow your toys?" Aurora asked, pointing at the figurines that decorated Norah's top shelf.

Norah bit her lips in thought. She didn't want to lend Aurora her precious Lemurian Legends figurines. Those figurines were expensive and fragile, and she knew Aurora wanted to use them for playing. Norah needed to entice her to play with something else.

"No, I can't. They are too heavy for you. But I can lend you some of my smaller toys. Want to see them?"

"Okay."

Norah retrieved a container from her cupboard and opened it on the floor. From fairies to turtles with ninja weapons, there were little figurines of all shape and sizes from every disparate cartoons Norah used to watch since she was of Aurora's age. They were much cheaper and most of them were broken anyway, so Norah had no qualms giving them to Aurora.

"Do you have that one?" Aurora pointed back to the top shelf. "The one that looked like a mouse."

"You mean Robert? Ah, lucky for you, I happen to have one. Give me a sec." Norah emptied the box to search, and she found a figurine of Robert the mouse archer. The figurine was a much cheaper action figure she bought years ago from a toy store. Some of its paint had chipped off and one of its leg joints was glued stuck. Otherwise, it still looked fine.

"Here you go." Norah handed Robert to Aurora.

"Thank you."

"Why don't you pick more?" Norah further enticed Aurora.

Aurora picked a several more figurines until she had an armload of them. Happy with her selection, she carried them back into her bedroom.

Norah swept the entire content of the box back in, and went back to her laptop. She unlocked the screen and resumed her task; writing the latest chapter of her Lemurian Legends fanfiction.

Lemurian Legends was a fantasy-themed television and toy franchise that had existed in various incarnations over two decades. Although the cartoon originated as a television tie-in to the toy line, fans loved its dark stories and complex characters. As a result, it had spawned three different continuities, multiple spin-offs in novels, comics, and, not to mention, countless lines of toys.

The current generation was the third reincarnation, and there was no better time to be a fan. After years of limbo existing only in the back aisle of toy stores, Lemurian Legends was rebooted with a high-budget and critically-acclaimed animated series. Subsequently, the fan community swelled with newcomers, and they brought with them budding artists and aspiring writers like Norah.

Norah typed out the final sentence. The final draft of her next chapter of her own fanfiction series was almost ready. She posted it on to her beta reader group page on the Lemurian Legends fanfiction website, LL Fiction.

Under her username 'Nordwarf', she wrote under the description, "Latest chapter of my fanfic, please read and comment, all comments appreciated!"

Norah waited five minute before a chat window came up. It was her best friend and fellow fangirl Penny, whose screen-name was 'Treearcher12'.

Treearcher12: I've read it from front to back. Great work! Your grammar still needs work though

Nordwarf: Grammar is hard :,(

Treearcher12: LOL better turn yourself in for your word crimes

Nordwarf: My spellchecker is literally a lie. I'm going back to m$ word

Treearcher12: Weird Al is LITERALLY going to smack a crowbar on your stupid head

Nordwarf: Let it go, let it go

Treearcher12: You just planted an image of Hound Dolf singing that on the mountain in my mind LOL

Nordwarf: (manly voice) the cold never bothered me anyway…

Then, another one of her friends, Hailumbra joined in the chat.

Hailumbra: Hey gals, how it's going?

Nordwarf: Hey! Haven't seen you since we met at the convention. What have you been up to IRL?

Hailumbra: Research conference and stuff. Sorry for not keeping in touch. :(

Treearcher12: It's okay, we understand.

'Hailumbra' was the handle of Stacy, a post-graduate biology student almost ten years her senior. They met in person for the first time in a fan-organized Lemurian Legends convention three months ago. They kept in touch online afterwards, but Stacy hadn't been very active online lately.

Hailumbra: I've read your draft. It's pretty good, but I think you may have written Fabio a bit out of character. He would never say such nasty things to Gen.

Nordwarf: Don't worry, they'll make up later.

Hailumbra: Yeah, but i still think it's too nasty of him.

Nordwarf: Hmm, now that you said it I think you may be right. I need to rethink the dialogue.

The first beta review for her fan fiction then appeared on the website. In it, Stacy, writing under her handle, written a brief and succinct critique of her latest chapter, mostly focusing on the problematic characterization of her characters.

Nordwarf: Thanks for the great critique, I see what I can do.

Hailumbra: It is a pretty good chapter, I look forward to reading it again. :D

Norah saw another notification of a new review. She clicked on the link to read it.

Llrulez298: this is the worst piece of crap ive ever read i hate you fake geek girls you only like LL because it is cool and trendy and you ruined LL and season 4 is garbage cos the stupid writers kept pandering to you stupid girls putting all this gay love crap you should all burn in hell go back to your barbie dolls and disney crap you-

Norah couldn't read another word of the feverish page-long rant, and she turned away. She felt anger boiling up inside her and threatening to burst out into rage. It took her all of her self-control to resist flinging her cherished laptop against a wall.

Penny and Stacy noticed the review too, and they took action.

Treearcher12: Oh boy not one of those trolls again.

Hailumbra: Reported.

Treearcher12: Me too.

Hailumbra: Banned in 3… 2… 1…

Treearcher12: Aaaand it's gone.

Norah refreshed the page. Indeed, the fatuous comment had been replaced with the message, "This review has been removed for violating the site's community guidelines."

She checked the poster account. To her relief, the account had been deactivated. In addition, she realized that the account was only a day old, and all of the twenty plus comments and reviews he posted over the past hour had been censored too. It was another disposable account being used by a troll.

Nordwarf: Thanks gals. Seeing that thing almost gave me high blood pressure.

Treearcher12: No problem. We never stand alone.

Hailumbra: Fangirls need to stick together.

Nordwarf: Aww thanks gals. :)

Nordwarf: Btw that account was only a day old. Looks like it's another troll account.

Hailumbra: That means he'll be back once the IP ban is lifted.

Nordwarf: Gaaaaah.

Treearcher12: I saw that guy in action before. He literally copy-paste the same copy-pasta rant on every fanfiction he sees on this site.

Nordwarf: Sounds like he needs a new hobby.

Hailumbra: More like he only troll fanfic he thinks are written by female writers. I saw this guy before in Lemurian Daily Chronicles…

Hailumbra: …and he just couldn't stop going on and on about how we girls ruined LL and we should all burn in hell. |-(

Norah sighed. The past two years she had being active in Lemurian Legends' online fandom had hardened her against discrimination from older fans, especially those who prided themselves for being fans since the original television series aired more than two decades ago. Unfortunately, the anonymous user still managed to get under her skin.

Nordwarf: Oh my god what is the deal with that guy anyway? Well, assuming he's a guy.

Hailumbra: Oh yes he's a guy. This guy already gained a reputation elsewhere. His first username was garycool2004, so we call him Gary.

Treearcher12: 2004? Is that his birth year? Are you saying he's still a kid?!

Hailumbra: He behaves like one, but I'm not so sure he's actually one… D:

Treearcher12: Ewwww

Hailumbra: Whoever he is, he's been perma banned from everywhere. Not even LemuFellowship wants him, and trust me, that site is the already the biggest cesspool of the community.

Norah looked back at the beta review page. There haven't been any new posts since the abusive user had been banned. She decided it was time to stop for the night.

Nordwarf: Hey gals, I think I should turn in for the night.

Treearcher12: Have a good sleep gal.

Hailumbra: Don't worry about the comments, we'll help to keep the trolls away.

Nordwarf: Thanks. Good night.

Norah logged off from the website, still feeling upset over the awful comment. She decided she should calm herself down with orange juice.

While sipping chilled orange juice in the kitchen, Norah decided that all things considered, that awful comment was not worth getting angry over. Sure, it used some really awful languages, and she stopped reading it before it could get any nastier, but in the end it was all meaningless drivel, sprouted out of some sad person's twisted mind who saw fit to make threats against innocent people just because they don't like the direction their beloved cartoon had taken.

Norah had already experienced and overcome rough spots in her real life, especially during her pre-teen years after her birth father abandoned her and her mother. A little nasty comment on the Internet was nothing in comparison, she could get over it. All she needed that night was some time to cool off.

Norah's cell phone chimed with a message. It was her mother, informing her that they would be returning a little later than planned, and also reminding her to put Aurora to bed at nine sharp. Norah texted back her reply. Then, she decided it was a good time to check on Aurora.