Skire Scoop - Proudest Accomplishment

Proudest accomplishment, huh? Although I have plenty I'm proud of, there's one that led to me changing lives, including my own.

When I was younger, I got bullied many times for not looking like the rest of the Nautipods. Tusks? Looked stupid. Another set of teeth? Was called "lamprey" and "Crook" a lot despite never seeing those in the city. On top of that, I wasn't the most approachable because of my choice of appearance and all of the negativity made me go downhill. I wasn't accepted anywhere no matter how polite I was, then began to solve things with intimidation, aggression, sometimes even spite. None of those I'm happy about and I wish I could fix it, but, if I did, I wouldn't have went on the path to be a better man. For a short while, I was in a local gang that only used me for my strength; they treated me as one of their own which wasn't enough for me. Not when they threw away their morals.

I'll only say that was the last straw before my decision to fix my life. I couldn't keep living a lifestyle that involved harming others out of anger and hate, and the first step to getting my life together was doing things I liked. It sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

This is where my big achievement starts. I was sitting on a train to Brooken with a backpack full of books and a few trinkets of mine. I remember I saw an ad for a two story house that had a price drop; big enough to the point it seemed too good to be true and I wanted to take that risk if it meant kickstarting the healing process. The train ride was nice once I ignored the fact everyone gave me odd looks. Their eyes didn't hold any fear, thankfully. They were more curious about a 7 feet 6 inch tall Nautipod taking a train to a city known for its huge car culture. We're amphibious, yeah, but we could enjoy things that were strictly for land, too. I took a quiet deep breath as I reassured myself it wasn't because of my notoriety in a town far away from my potential new home. When I didn't look their way, they carried on with their business. A nice little contrast to what I was used to, I'd say.

From the train station to the house was a lengthy walk, especially in the cold weather I wasn't warned about. As a creature who has a moist layer of skin, the cold was miserable for me. The surface of my vibrant yellow body felt like ice as I trekked down the sidewalks of the city. The tall buildings that loomed over Brooken didn't help either; they created wind tunnels that made my soul shiver while preventing the sun from warming me up. I had to pick up the pace before I became a Podsicle, not caring if the stuff in my backpack would be jumbled up by the time I reached the house. All I could think about was needing a faster way to get to the house, then I found the perfect thing. A bus stop. There wasn't a time in my life where seeing that spot made me so relieved until then.

I would've sat down, but I took up space with my size and there was a woman who reached the bust stop at the same time. I'd say she was a bit older than me at the time, fair skinned, dark horns, silky blonde hair with dark brown streaks, a leather jacket, jeans, pretty cool piercings on her face and a nose ring, too. She was stunning, but I was too shy to compliment her, fearing she'd judge me for it or my looks…or both. I stayed standing next to the bench which she sat on and we waited in the cold with winds that made it freezing. Ten minutes felt like an eternity for me. She, on the other hand, wasn't bothered by it. Something did bother her, though, and it was me standing and shivering next to the bench. While I didn't catch much of her face, I could tell she was concerned.

"Sir," She spoke with a soft and sweet country accent, like a motherly Southern Belle speaking to a lost child. "I can get up so you can sit and be comfortable."

It was a nice offer that I refused to accept, shaking my head to decline it. "Ma'am, please don't. I don't want a woman to sacrifice her comfort for mine." Granted, it was weird for a booming husky voice to talk in a chivalrous manner. Paired with my looks, it must've been strange to her, yet it wasn't.

"Hm.…I don't see many guys like you around. Most here don't think twice about being considerate, let alone do anything good. All they want is being top dog; it's a stupid and arrogant mindset if you ask me." I heard the bitterness in her voice from that statement along with seeing her grimace at it, even her cow tail swished in annoyance. For that moment, I asked myself if I was going to the right town for me since I had enough being around that kind of energy. Reluctant but needing to know, I looked at her with an important question.

"Then would you say this place is ideal for newcomers? I moved here to get away from that and it'll be disappointing if my journey ended this soon."

She looked me in the eyes, thought about it for a second, then shrugged. It wasn't the visual answer I hoped for, but the verbal one did give some hope. "Depends. If you can show people who runs this city, great. You'll be left alone while adding to the problem."

I quickly replied, "I don't want that sort of life. I want one where I can live peacefully by myself."

She shrugged again before moving her gaze to the people across the street. "You could do that here, but you can't ignore the major flaws this city has. It's a place where people with big egos come to flaunt whatever they think will get them more money and attention. It'll drive you mad before you get settled in."

Well, it sounded bad to me, and I did want to turn around to get the next train until a thought came to me. No matter where I went, there would be something bad about a place. As a newly formed Nautipod, I didn't know about how the world worked, and my previous home made me think it was only that city that had horrible problems. Turns out, every city, town, village, and neighborhood had their own flaws. It didn't mean everything was bleak; it was how the world worked and I had to find a way to be comfortable in it. I went quiet for a minute to think about the options I had. There weren't many, but there was a new one I thought of.

"Nothing says I can't bring positive energy to the table," I spoke outload which caught her attention. She looked back at me with a raised brow as if I said something far-fetched and she liked the sound of it.

"Oh? What could a one Pod do to make Brooken better?" She questioned while a smile slowly appeared on her face, leaning towards me with interest. Despite my opinion of it being a small idea, I replied with,

"I want to do good deeds around here. Giving food to the hungry, planting trees, helping wildlife, but…I don't know if I could do it on my own, and what if people still don't like me because of how I look?" I expressed my concerns and it caused her to chuckle. It wasn't in a mocking way, though.

"Honey, don't let that little fear keep you from doing what you think is right. Not everyone is gonna like you, that's just life, but there'll be plenty more who admire you. It'll outweigh all the toxicity that comes your way." She had a great point; of course it was natural to not be adored by everyone. What mattered were the ones who acknowledged the good things I was doing. I took this to heart, making it one of the things I lived by to this day. Her words placed a smile on my face and I forgot I was freezing my tentacles off, but I was still shaking like a leaf. She had to have known the weather wasn't ideal for me, so she suggested, "Let's head into the café. I don't want to find out if a Nautipod will freeze out here. By the way, do you have a name?"

I nodded, then held my hand out to her for a shake. "Yes, ma'am. I'm Baker."

"I'm Torah," She replied as she took my hand and shook it. I never thought that was the start of me becoming a better man. I assumed we would just be strangers, but we became friends since then. I found out Torah had the same desire to improve Brooken in order for people to fully enjoy what it had to offer.

It's safe to say I cancelled meeting the owner of the house I wanted to buy by then. She took me to her home, a giant mansion, where we took months to plan and discuss various things and how to do them. It started out with us giving food to the homeless, gifting essentials to the poor, and picking up litter, then it grew once people took notice of our actions. They saw the good intentions we had and some approached us with volunteer work. We loved the path we went on because it allowed us to be ourselves by doing what we wanted to do. Occasionally, there were assholes who'd tell us we were wasting time while we did the volunteer work, but we just ignored them and carried on.

We were still going after two years without any signs of slowing down. Around that time was when Torah decided to teach me how to repair motorcycles. Her own steel horse had stopped working in the middle of nowhere and I didn't have a clue on what to do when she looked for the problem. It was nice that she could identify then fix the problem, but I felt like I needed to know how to fix one as well. I was living in a city the revolved around car and motorcycle culture; there wasn't a doubt if I had to learn how to fix at least one type of vehicle.

I can recall the two of us in the garage of her mansion, two years after we first met. It was one of our relaxation days so we'd have energy for the upcoming week. The same week we began to feel like every new job we took was getting too big for us. I was seated in a large foldable chair, sipping on my daily dose of sweet tea. Torah was next to me and drinking her favorite cherry flavored soda. We both looked around the garage full of awards and trophies for various things before we turned our attention to each other. We could see the bags under our eyes, the tired expression on our faces, and the exhaustion was horrendously visible. Two people doing mountains of work in two years wasn't ideal at the slightest.

"You're looking a bit shriveled there, buddy," Torah commented at the newly developed creases on my face and arms before chuckling. "I can't have you dry up on me now. We're just getting started."

A single, yet thunderous, laugh came out of me. Drying up was the least of my worries when she looked drunk from the lack of sleep. "We both look aged, Torah. It's a hefty cost that's worth it in the end. Imagine all the lives we've changed throughout these couple of years."

"Yeah, but we can't do much if we're dead tired. We gotta think of some way to ease the load, you know?"

"What would you suggest? We're still quite new to the city and I wouldn't call supporters close friends we could share the work load with."

Torah took the time to think of an idea that would work. Her eyes slowly scanned the garage while in thought until they landed on her two-wheeled steed. It didn't come to her right away. Once it did, though, she had a big smile and her tail swung side to side.

"We create a biker club!" She exclaimed. "If we do, there's so much more we could accomplish! We could provide shelter, or do our own charity work, or just give people a space where they can fit in. It'll be perfect!"

Her enthusiasm convinced me on the spot; I loved the thought of giving people a place to stay. With the huge mansion she inherited, it would be the perfect biker hangout. The recruiting would be a challenge, but we were ready to take on anything. I smiled brightly, then got up from my seat and stretched my body.

"Let's begin, then, Torah."

The two of us went through so much to get what we needed to establish our biker club, recruitment was slow, but rewarding, and it grew from there, becoming the well known club called Warriors of Thor. A fitting name for a large group with thundering engines, hard workers, and the want to keep Brooken's worse from hurting people in any way. Everyone, even now, did their own kind of work to help the city. We opened our doors to anyone needing our services, or assisted those on the streets.

This club became the very thing I needed to be a better version of myself while still opening up hundreds of doors for me. One of those doors led to encountering my lovely wife when she struggled to make her dream come true. Another took me to save my adopted son from a life of misery, regret, and life-threatening situations. Maybe I'll tell those stories later down the road. As for Torah, she's still in the club. She had given me full ownership of the club and mansion once she felt like I was ready to lead them. Every now and then, I still get motherly advice from her.

Moving to Brooken, meeting Torah, then forming Warriors of Thor did wonders for not just me, but the town as well. I get to make a difference with other people and I gained a huge family from it. At the same time, I gave them a home and a loving family. This is, and forever will be, my proudest accomplishment.