Additional Pylons, from tortured mind to zen blueliner

[courtjestr19 36]

It rang, over and over, in his head.

 

“We need more pylons! You must construct additional pylons! We need more pylons!”

 

The loudly psionic night terrors have always been there for Additional Pylons, who goes by Ad-Py to his friends and family. One night he wanders aimfully as a soldier in a war on a faraway world of Aiur. In another, he traverses a brutal, stone-pocked world in a four-legged, spider-like mech called a Dragoon with his corporeal form completely hooked up to a cybernet. And of course, he’s in a vat of juice. Why does it always have to be a vat of juice? In yet other dreams… nightmares? unclear... He is a mere probe, mining crystalline resources from jutting mineral deposits in the ground. In just about all of them, Ad-Py eventually confronts the real terrors—the insatiable alien beings that reproduce in swarms—and is slammed awake in a cold sweat. Again.

 

These terrible swarming aliens—the Zerg—have been occupying a dark corner of Ad-Py’s subconscious for as long as he’s known how to use words. Who knows, maybe a distant fragment of this army-under-assault has embedded itself in his brain, or soul, or… well, better not think too much about how it attaches, anyway.

 

The important thing is that from a young age, Ad-Py has known how to leverage physicality. Every night in his dream state, there’s a battle. Every night, there’s strategy. Every night, he again goes toe-to-toe with some big, chompy, acid-spitting creatures in hand-to-mandible combat. The result? Well, what happens on the rink doesn’t ever faze Ad-Py. He might not have energy-based hand-blades in the rink, but the blades on his feet help him go fast and he knows how to throw his weight around.

 

For this reason, defense always suited Ad-Py well. From a young age as a Michigander living in the shadow of the great University of Michigan, Ad-Py looked to the intense defenders of the block M in Yost Arena as inspiration. The Wolverine lines are perennially feisty, physical, and relentless—much like real-life wolverines, which serve much the same dishes to the vast majority of the animal kingdom. Ad-Py as a kid would put the intrusive thoughts of Xel’naga scientists and the evolution of the Protoss race aside by strapping on skates and hurtling toward the boards as fast as he could. Most folks practice on ice by getting a stick working to serve pucks between the pipes. However, Ad-Py was more interested in getting football sleds on ice to push weights around. Everything from his mental to his physical work and approach was about pushing around inertia.

 

As Ad-Py grew older, his physicality became his calling card. He underwent an immense physical transformation from lanky to hulking by a combination of work, genetics, and as many sandwiches as his body had room for. This fortunately did not include the aforementioned vat of juice that continued to haunt his dragoon dreams, but was the conventional “adolescent persons grow” of the human race. What this also meant was that Ad-Py was both feared and a target on the ice. It seemed like the “smell my glove” guy (why is there always one of those?) always wanted to get under his skin and that he became a target for a lot of cheap shots by those who couldn’t square up with him.

 

Over time, though he learned to keep his head on a swivel. I mean, nightly training in his own brain where he had to fight off hundreds of gnawing, biting aliens with sickle-hands will certainly help hone this too, but his time on ice definitely contributed. As he continued, he ended up earning a captain nod for his travel team and became the unquestioned leader of the group.

 

Ad-Py’s leadership style is rooted in what he does on the ice, as opposed to how he talks with teammates. He tends toward more quiet than outspoken, but his imposing figure cannot be overlooked while skating. He abides by a strong sense of team---protecting his keeper above perhaps anything else with the mantra of “no shot gets through me”---and knows that this means playing enforcer when needed. While he does not want to cost the team by sitting in the box, Ad-Py plays physically on the boards to get his team possessions through hits.

 

While the dreams only seem to keep on coming, perhaps in greater intensity and frequency than they ever had before, Ad-Py settled into his role and responsibility as a captain blueliner. This of course changed when he had the opportunity of a lifetime after a free skate with the Miami Marauders. Miami graciously signed him to a temporary contract, letting him play a couple minutes on the back end of the defensive rotation to get his feet wet in the VHLM. Never had Ad-Py realized that this is what he’s really wanted after all this time playing hockey.

 

He can only look toward the future.

 

WC: 831.

[Garsh 1,201]

Don't let the fact that Ad-Py is 368 years older than anyone in the VHLM dull your impressions of him, he can still throw down with the best of them