Sylum Clan

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Sylum Clan

National Reptile Awareness Day

National Reptile Awareness Month!

Yes it’s a thing.

Godzilla. Reptar. Yoshi. The Geico Gecko. These are just a few of the famous reptiles we love. But on October 21 it’s National Reptile Awareness Day, a day we celebrate the most cold-blooded of our slithering friends. This day is observed to educate and raise awareness of threats to their natural habitats that our reptilian friends face.

For More Information: National Reptile Awareness

Fun Sylum Snippet in honor of this day, under the ‘read more’

Read more“National Reptile Awareness Day”

Sylum Archive: Likes & Login

As we know there’s always a few kinks when opening new things!  Especially something as big as the Archive.

If you’re having trouble logging in, the password doesn’t reset or the link has ‘timed out’.  Part of the problem could be the server itself timing out, or the system glitching.  Reply to any of the Archive Threads and I’ll work with you to get a new password set up, so you can access the Archive.

We also noticed that the ‘Like’ Button wasn’t showing up on the stories.  After some glaring, cursing and really?  It’s been fixed.  So while you’re roaming around the Archive, make sure to click those Like Buttons!

 

 

Sylum Blog: Information (Social Media Login)

Update on Social Media Shenanigans on Sylum!

For those who use Social Media to log into the blog, I’ve removed a few of them – specifically: Facebook and Google.  They coding was screwed up after we updated sylumclan.com to https.  Trying to fix it has been nothing but headache after the next, so we got rid of those, and added another.

To login to the Blog you can use the following Social Media Logins: Twitter, WordPress, Yahoo, Instagram & Tumblr

Yes, this does mean I kept my Tumblr – I’m not liking to really use it, but I will keep posts going to it for those who do follow Sylum that way.

For those who want a Facebook group, considering Facebooks Shenanigans and their security issues, I’m having doubts.  But I’m still thinking about it and wanted to know what would you like us to use it for?  Conversation? Posts via Facebook?  Comment below …

Afternoon Fic: Save the Mutant Save the World (Part Seventeen)

 

Part One

Part Sixteen


“Charles do not argue with me!”  Erik glared down at him. “You aren’t the General, Logan here knows, leave this to those of us who know what we’re doing.  And if we do this right you never have to think this way, and can be happy surrounded by kids reading them The Once and Future King.”

“God, I love you.”  Charles gave him a sappy look, filled with devotion.

“Geeze do they ever stop?” Logan looked at Hank, who shook his head smiling.  “So what’s your plan bub.”

“Irony, it’s the kids plan.”  Erik gave Hank the side eye. “We know Trask is going to showcase his Sentinels off at a Press Conference in DC, which there is no way Mystique is missing out on that opportunity.  Hell, I wouldn’t pass it up.”

“At this moment we know the Sentinels have metal running through them, thanks to Erik and Azazel’s trip to Texas.”  Hank added to the conversation. “This is a good thing, if Trask new what Erik’s Mutation actual was, they would’ve likely be plastic or some other material.”

“Can you control them?”  Logan asked impressed.

“Five will be rough, but I’m stubborn.”  Erik smirked at him. “You, Charles, and Hank are heading to DC via private jet.  Charles I need you to find Mystique as fast a possible … if you can take her out.”

“I will do what’s necessary, but I still hold onto hope that we can all walk away.”  Charles gave him a half smile.

“Logan – if he has a hair out of place.  I’ll hunt you down.” Erik gave him a glare that would send most people screaming for the hills. Logan shrugged, he had his mind swept by The Professor and right now he didn’t have a metal frame Erik could fuck with.

“Alex and Darwin, are with me.  We’ll be showing off your X-Men Charles.  I can’t believe I’m actually wearing this…”

“At least it’s not yellow this time.”  Alex pointed out, with a smile. The all black sleek look was much nicer, than the original concept.

“How are you getting there?”  Logan asked.

“Azazel Air.”  Erik nodded towards his friend, who gave a salute and waved his tail.  “Charles will let us know the exact moment we should show up. Here’s the thing.  We need to save the humans, make sure they understand who stood between them and the Sentinels.  We all know they are going to do exactly what Trask designed them to do, the problem is there are a lot of Mutants hiding in plain sight.  If these things start attacking children.”

“Trask looks like the bad guy.”  Hank glanced at Erik, the two had discussed options before everyone had gotten up.  

It had been a habit they started years previously, both being early risers.  One day Erik had found Hank wandering the halls, he grabbed him and forced him into a morning run, afterwards they sat with coffee to discuss building works, Cerebro, and other new techs.  Years later they still followed the same routine.

Hank and Erik’s adventure in Paris scared people, but if they became more scared of the government, the sentinels – they had a chance.  “We need to make him look like the bad guy, just not for ourselves, but for the world. It’s the only way the government isn’t going to take up his idea and run with it.  If it looks like they can’t handle the Sentinels, that they are seen attacking children … they’ll shut Trask down.”

“Sean is staying behind to make sure the two kids don’t do anything stupid.”  Azazel and Erik stared hard at Kurt and Peter. Then back to Sean … “I’ll hold you responsible.”

“Dude if they out smart me, which they will, it’s your genetics not mine.”  Sean held his hands up in defense. “We’re your back up plan, if it all goes to shit.”

Both kids gave everyone the most innocent looks.

“This is going to go shit.”  Erik sighed, pinching his nose trying to stop the headache.  His hand was pulled down. Without even having to open his eyes he knew it was Charles, he felt his calming influence. “For the continued existence of this world, don’t die on me Charles.”

“I can say the same thing to you.”  He pulled him down for a kiss. <<By the way you look hot in that outfit.>>

<<After this is all over you can literally peel me out of it.  Hank made them a bit tight!>>

<<Your ass alone will be enough to convince humans to like us.>>

<<Are you pimping me out.>>

Charles chuckled and kissed him one more time, then stepped back.  “Okay let’s get this show on the road. No one get dead. Or shot.”  He hugged Alex and Darwin. “Please stay safe.”

“We’ll protect dad.”  Alex assured him, making Charles smile.

“If something comes up, I’ll go straight into your head to talk to you.  Don’t be alarmed by it.”

“We’re good with it.”  Darwin shrugged. “You can’t advocate for Mutant Rights if deny someone else the use of their mutation.  I never understood how we can fight for equality for blacks, but not latinos. Or fight for women’s rights, but not for the queer community.  It’s all or nothing.”

“Says a very wise man.”  He gave them a salute then made his way to the car.  

As Hank drove out of the school, Logan looked back studying it intently.  

“What are you hoping for?” Charles asked.

“I’m hoping to keep this in my mind, to remember it’s home.”  Logan looked at him through the rearview mirror. “My life won’t get better for a while, not until I find you.  I can’t wait to meet you back in the future.”

“We could save you,” Hank suggested.

“No.”  Charles turned in the seat looking at him with shock.  “You were right, back in Paris. The man who is sitting here … to be him I need to go through some shit.  The idea that I’ll be going home to a better future, makes what I’ll go through worth it.”

“Your a good man, Logan.”  Charles gave him a grin. “Despite the asshole we met the first time.”

“Well your boyfriend slammed me into a wall!” He pointed out, with a slight disgruntled smirk.

“We actually met once before, you told us to go Fuck ourselves.”  Charles gave him a wicked smirk. “It was good advice.”

Logan laughed loud and open. “I’m the cause of this lovey dovey bullshit?”

“Maybe.”  He turned back in his seat, enjoying Hank’s questioning looks and Logan’s unbelievable stare.  

What he won’t tell them, was that they had started their relationship soon after meeting Angel, Charles couldn’t get the idea out of his head of Erik in fishnet stockings, and he kept staring at his legs, which caught Erik’s attention.  The man had no shame, so next time he came out of the shower, he dropped the towel and let Charles have as much as he wanted. He was on his knees in front of him so fast, it was embarrassing, the man had a cock that was made for worshiping.

Sylum Archive: Information

Now that you’ve had some time to go explore!  And if you haven’t go to this Post – read the instructions and enjoy!

A few interesting facts:

At this moment: 8 Series.  33 Anthologies.  6 Writers. 177 Posts (Note: CSI: Anthology is 2 Posts but 45 Stories) … reminder this is only the ones that have been updated, there are still more to come!  (If someone wants to calculate the word count – go for it. Let me know what it is when you’re done!)

Each story has an individual Title Banner – so a big thank you to taibhrigh for their hard work!

I’ll be slowing going through the blog, and updating links on stories to the new archive.   This will take time, once done I’ll make an announcement, don’t ask me until then.

We’ve added a Sylum Archive slider on the top of the blog, for easier access.  The Archive link on the side, will still lead to the old Archive.

The old Archive will not be disappearing any time soon.  We’ve still have a few stories that need to be transferred.  (Fics that have been moved will be deleted from the old Archive).   Please note that  AU & Non Canon stories will not be transferred so if you wish to keep those – get them now.

Reminder:  All these stories have been updated.  So you should start to see the small changes and details thrown in that enhance the Sylum Universe storyline.  (For Ex: Carry On My Warward Son Series and Burn Notice Series)

All Throwback Thursday will now link to the new Archive.

This took us a year to accomplish.  Figuring out a new platform, setting up the security, new artwork/banners, then editing and uploading the stories.  A Big Thank You to taibhrigh and Gil for the help and hashing out ideas.  And to my other half Timothy Quinn for patience, tea, and dealing with my OMG What the Fuck is wrong with it NOW moments!

It’s not done – as we still have more stories to edit and upload – let alone new ones being written all the time.

We will not be adding the Sylum Twitter account to the Archive for privacy reasons.  So if you haven’t – subscribe to the archive to get updates!

Note: Despite having a username/password and labeled as a subscriber – you will not get an email when new stories are posted. This is a flaw with wordpress, hence you need a separate notification system.  You will need to actually ‘Subscribe to the Sylum Archive’ – this is very similar to subscribing to the blog.  This is the only way you’ll get an email when a new story has been posted. The Subscribe box is on the ‘Welcome to the Sylum Archive Page‘.

 

If you’re enjoying the new Archive and stories please consider donating to our Hosting Company to keep Sylum moving forward.  All money donated to the Hosting Company goes directly to paying for the server – which hosts: The Blog, The Wiki, and The Archive.

Please leave comments and likes on the stories.  There are over 200 stories on the archive, with many more to come – we do this out of love for Sylum and the enjoyment of writing.

Thank You.

Bj Jones.

Welcome: New Sylum Archive

This is it!  This is the day the new Sylum Archive opens!

Why are we moving to a new Archive?

A) The old one was no longer supported by the developers and was starting to fail.  Coding wasn’t working, skins were failing, and you might have noticed it didn’t like foreign languages – it would replace accents on foreign words with a ‘?’ – annoying when you’re trying to Demons & Angels.

B) The old Archive was extremely basic, clunky, and was not intuitive.  It was hard to navigate as a reader, let alone trying to upload a story.

C) It was a good way to update older stories, and clean out those that were not part of Sylum Canon.

A few more things before, you scroll down and hit the link!

Seriously!

Stop Scrolling.

Stop.

Read first – then click.

I get your excited …. but read the instructions first.

Read more“Welcome: New Sylum Archive”

Sylum Inspiration: Ching Shih

Shogun: Hunter

Madame Ching or Ching Shih also known as Cheng I Sao, was a prominent pirate in middle Qing China, who terrorized the China Sea in the early 19th century. She personally commanded over 300 junks manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates —men, women, and even children. She entered into conflict with the existing empires of the time, such as the British Empire, the Portuguese Empire, and the Qing dynasty. She was one of the few pirate captains to retire from piracy and is considered to be the most successful pirate in history.

She married Cheng I who belonged to a family of successful pirates who traced their criminal origins back to the mid-seventeenth century. Following his marriage to Ching Shih, “who participated fully in her husband’s piracy”, Cheng I used military assertion and his reputation to consolidate a coalition of competing Cantonese pirate fleets into an alliance. By 1804, this coalition was a formidable force, and one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China; by this time they were known as the Red Flag Fleet.

On 16 November 1807, Cheng I died in Vietnam. Ching Shih immediately began maneuvering her way into his leadership position. She started to cultivate personal relationships to get rivals to recognize her status and solidify her authority. In order to stop her rivals before open conflict erupted, she sought the support of the most powerful members of her husband’s family: his nephew Cheng Pao-yang and his cousin’s son Cheng Ch’i. Then she drew on the coalition formed by her husband by building upon some of the fleet captains’ existing loyalties to her husband and making herself essential to the remaining captains.

Since Ching Shih would have such a large force at her command, she knew she needed someone to assist her in managing the Red Flag Fleet’s day-to-day operations, but remain loyal to her and be accepted by the low-level pirates. She believed there was only one man for the job, Cheung Po Tsai.

Finally, in late 1809 and early 1810, her fleet suffered a series of defeats inflicted by the Portuguese Navy at the Battle of the Tiger’s Mouth, upon which she accepted an amnesty offered by the Chinese government to all pirates who agreed to surrender, ending her career that same year. She kept her loot and opened a gambling house.

For more information contact the Vampire Council Library

In 1810 she ended up meeting Lady Blossom, who told her about a new chance at life.  Like the pirate she was, she took it.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

I know there are those who have been touched by Breast Cancer on this blog.  Some who have fought and survived, others who had family or friends who fought and survived, and those who mourn the loss of a loved one.

Each year at Sylum Vault – we donate 10% of our proceeds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  It’s a little something we can do to give back.

To those who have fought and won – I salute you.

To those who have lost someone – I mourn for your loss.

To all of us – fight and stand strong.

Random Post: Astronomy Day

Astronomy Day!

Astronomy Day is a holiday which is celebrated not once during a calendar year but twice a year – once in spring and once in fall. The springtime celebration falls on the Saturday closest to the first quarter moon (which is around April or May). The fall time celebration of this holiday falls on the Saturday closest to the quarter moon (which is around September or October). The purpose of this holiday is not only to celebrate astronomy and all of its contributions to society but also to bring the general public together with astronomy professionals and groups.

More about Astronomy!

Astronomy Magazine!

 

Afternoon Fic: Save the Mutant Save the World (Part Sixteen)

Part One

Part Fifteen


Charles didn’t hesitate, he was up and out of Cerebro in seconds, leaving behind Logan who looked a bit shell shocked at what he had witnessed.  

By the time the elevator dinged, letting him out on the main floor of the house, he was anxious.  He needed to see Erik, needed to feel him. Make sure he was real, and still by his side. He recognized the feeling, he had the same anxieties after Erik had been shot, which intensified after he yanked the metal out of his chest.

“Liebling.”

The voice was soft and comforting.

But he didn’t want that.

Charles pulled him down into a heated kiss, tongued demanding entrance as he pushed his body into his embrace.  <<Need you.>>

<<I got you.>>

Read more“Afternoon Fic: Save the Mutant Save the World (Part Sixteen)”