A couple months ago, a girl, Liz, she started a journey on something that would not go as she expected. She began her journey with notions of herself and expectations of grandeur for all others, and while those expectations were met, her notions of herself turned around. From the start of the journey, she knew she wanted to put heart into things as best she could, something that she felt she had always lacked. A cold, logical thinking person is what she thought, but didn't want to be. So there begat the goal of becoming someone else, and trying something new. This journey, after all, was going to be her largest yet.

Through the first portion of her journey, through the lands of Anaira, she found herself comfortable in the people she had chosen to be around. Relationships blossomed and moulded to being something that she could use and have for the future. She helped form early groups, ther very first being between two of her best friends throughout this game. Joe and Kenny, were rocks for her early on. Something that she could rely on and trust, and just have a fun time with. They drew her into the cult of Nate, and in this cult she learned the value of going through her journey with friends. The only way to enjoy the journey is to do it with those that would make the journey enjoyable, but she didn't realize what these implications meant for the later end of that journey.

Navigating the troubled waters into a new land of NuMushu, she found herself among new peoples. An old friend in Woo came to her aid, he helped her and they worked together to create a group that could carry them all through these lands. In that group, she had Kenny, someone that helped her stay sane and calm through murky waters. She had Jeremiah, the provolone prince, someone she wanted to know more and build something with. And the last member, maybe the most important to her, she had Hope. This group stayed strong and pressed through until they were broken apart. Not without parting goodbyes did Hope and Liz leave each other, but with that came heartbreak in the knowledge that they couldn't go through the whole journey together. They went their separate ways and hoped they could that one day they'd meet again.

To the new lands of Bìángsī Liz went, and there she found old friends and quickly reconnected, sending the next stage of her journey on a great foot...or so she though. In the new band of misfits, they laid one particular fellow by the name of Oz, and Oz was a sweet man, a man who wore his heart on his sleeve, but found himself outside of the group of old friends. Liz and him connected, but it was all for naught. She wanted to protect and be with her companions and she fought for this. She wanted to make sure they weren't going to be in any danger, but so it came to pass. There she lost Joe. She lost a lot on that one night, but in that time she knew she had Kenny, and she knew she had someone who she had connected with a little before. She had Neal. Neal came with protection, an idol that had promises of safety and happiness for any peril in the future, a mesmerizing device that held its own spells. Together, they pressed on towards their final land, the one that would show the most hardships, the one where everything in Liz's past would come to a head.

It started poorly. The final, yet longest, leg started out with a friend leaving and Liz unsure of how to save the situation, so she opted for the safety in numbers. And in these numbers, she tried to find her group, the ones that she felt comfortable with, the ones that would keep her safe in the Lóng run. She found herself in her group of misfits from the land of NuMushu, plus a tag Lóng of Neal, the cold, idol-holding enigma of a man. Pretty soon after, she found herself incapacitated, distracted and gone. In her absence, she laid her trust in those that she thought would keep her safe. Those that she trusted, they wanted different things than she wanted though. They wanted an old friend to take the bullet, bite the dust, but Liz's state, she convinced herself she couldn't do anything, and maybe she could have, but she didn't, and in the end she went against a friend, she went against Jenna. Something she'd come to hate herself for for a Lóng time. This betrayal, it didn't come to fruition and she found that one of her rocks, her mainstays, Kenny was going to be the one seeing greener pastures. The cold man, the idilic one opted to save Kenny, my rock, and all three chose to strike where they believed was a jugular, the rock to many others, and there left Jaison from his journey.

From there, Liz remained incapacitate for only a Shórt time longer, but in this time she was gone, things just...fell apart. A lot fell apart for Liz in this time, and in the end she lost someone she cared for deeply and she didn't do a damn thing about it. Kenny left her and that's where she felt like she changed. Liz had been going through her journey, wanting to be with friends, but she realized that all of these connections, they were breaking, they were fluttering away and she felt like she had to restart. Restarting with all of these loose relationships, where she did not know where she stood. She was offered friendship and safety by many, but there begat a choice. To continue with those she had trusted to keep her safe through the murky waters of NuMushu, or those friends that she had gone against, the ones she cared for but still decided that it was in the best interest to go against. In the end, she went with those that she could maneuver with for the Lóng length of the rest of the journey at hand. She went against the provolone prince. She hurt him and she hurt the group of old friends that had stood with her once upon a time. She quickly proceeded to continue with the barrage of pain and went against the olive branch that had been offered from the one that she had turned against once before, and out went Jenna. The feelings from these two leaving, they hurt a lot, but it was what Liz felt she needed to do, except she had not seen how much it might hurt those two. This haunted her and still does. Those two are the most haunting of the journey. 'How do you ever make up for doing something as awful as that' is something she has wondered for a Lóng time.

She had wanted to go through a game with friends, something that would create an enjoyable and fantastic experience, but there was a realization of not being able to go far with all of these friends. Sacrifices were going to be made, for better or worse, but mostly worse. This all hurt her, but she knew it hurt them more and she wanted to do something that would make some of that hurt go away and she turned on someone thought to be the king. The one running people, and there left Hunter. This was something Liz saw as her own personal vindication for the awful things she felt she had done. She knew it didn't make up for anything she had done, but it was enough to help her have motivation through the rest of the travels. Then things became not okay. Hope left. Hope, someone that had given Liz a lot of willpower and determination in the game. Someone who embodied Liz's mantra of friendship and enjoyment. Liz chose to keep quiet, to slink down into an area where she could slide by and not be a decision-maker. In this, she had hoped she had friends on her side, and she did, but these friends...they had their own thoughts on how things could work. Liz knew she could not trust those that her friends trusted, she warned Woo of the dangers that lie ahead in trusting the one that caused everything to not be okay. She knew she couldn't trust Rachel. Liz didn't press on it though. She wanted her friends to know she trusted them and she was with them for the Lóng haul, but this trust and hope that things would be okay was for naught. The thing Liz feared would happen, the thing she damn near knew would happen, well it happened and Hope left our journey. At this point, Liz's despair set in. She had lost the most important person to her. The one that had been through so many emotions with her, from the highs to the lows. From feeling separated to feeling a growing apart between them. That was the second worst night of Liz's journey. That was the third big loss in this journey, but Liz was never going to quit and she was going to do her damnedest to get far.

Liz worked, and she did what she could to make Rachel feel comfortable with her. Even though Liz knew she would cut Rachel in a second flat for what she did, Liz saw her as the answer to the end of the journey. This answer included her, Neal, Woo, and Rachel. Woo had always known that Liz was doing whatever she could to get them far, and this meant lying to Rachel, and giving Woo the knowledge that the deals and agreeances between Liz, Neal, and Rachel were for naught. They existed to further our journey. From there they moved on, they pressed forward and the plan worked. Natalie had left her journey, to the chagrin of others, but to the celebration of Liz, Neal, and Woo. It was not something that was a celebration for Natalie's leaving, but rather the survival. Following this, Nick left swiftly, leading into the penultimate step of the journey. Personal sacrifices were made and the remaining members fought hard, three of the five going over 20 hours straight of gruelling, alarming torture. Liz fought and stayed in it, but knew that she had been just a bit too late and had to hand Neal the glory. In this glory, though, well there came another side. This side was one that has not been mentioned in this story, but is important to the entire journey. Rita. An old friend. Someone who had been there for Liz in harder times, someone who wanted to be there as well but fell short. Liz turned against her in the graces of her trust and hopefulness in those that she had laid a bastion in. Liz didn't know how to reconcile that, and she convinced herself that talking to Rita would only reveal a hatred, even though Liz knew that she should get over herself and do it. In the end, this was Liz's flaw. She couldn't get over her own emotions to bring herself to be able to talk to Rita and try to make things okay and it's something that Liz will have to live with. Maybe one day it will be okay, Liz hopes, but she doesn't know.

Finally, in one of the final parts of her journey, the toughest night came. This is what she had worked for, the group that remained. She had her own goal in mind. Neal had his, he was afraid of Woo for the final test, but she wouldn't do away with that. She wouldn't follow along. She would work her ass off and do what she could. 38 seconds. 38 seconds changed a lot. Liz still toils on every single little mistake she made that night, how she could have made up those few moments, how she could have pulled it out in the end, but she didn't. She didn't pull it out, and there laid a decision. Neal or Woo. What do you choose, Liz? How do you choose? How can you choose between two people that have had your back, two people you feel such an assortment of feelings for? This decision gave way to the hardest night of the journey. She knew she was hurting someone and she didn't know how to decide. Her mind went back and forth and back and forth. There's logic and there's emotion. What wins out in the end? There's logic in both decisions though, there's emotion too. She felt an outpouring for both of them and in the end she made a decision that felt worse than most anything in this game to make. Now she sits at the end. Judged by all those that were lost on the journey. For better or worse, she is here. What happens next is something that she doesn't know. The ending to the story is not written yet, but one thing she does know is that she made it to the end of the journey. That is an accomplishment in itself.



Anyways, not saying things in a story format for a sec to end this off. I know I went through this game as an emotional person. That's kind of new for me. I'm not used to being like that and everything about this experience has made me realize a lot about myself. I put a lot into the game and probably more than is normal for a person. I cared about it and I shoved things off in real life over and over again because this is what I wanted to do and be apart of. I know people say this in any FTC speech, but you all mean a lot to me even if it seems like I'm just some cold hearted ass of a person. I want to just be apart of the group and enjoy my time with you all. I know there are some things that I have to talk about with all of you and stuff we should smooth over and that's just a big thing I want out of this FTC. I just want everything to at least be okay between us all. That doesn't mean voting for me or anyone else, this is besides that all. I don't want to sit here and ask for votes, you'll give them to who you think deserves them I'm sure of it. I appreciate all those who read what I've wrote here. Thank you for so much to so many of you. I'll go ahead and stop rambling now!