I have lived with Dakota Reid in my head for the past 2 years. She is an amazing woman and I wish that her play on the ice matched that same greatness.

This morning, @Grapehead came to me with a tough question. The team needed cap space soon if they ever wanted to win that championship. Koda was never exactly the best and she was tying up quite a bit of cap space. So he offered to let me chose how I wanted to go out.

When Koda was first conceived, the person who she was would've said fuck you, I'm going to continue playing.
The person who she's become reminds me of some part of a prayer in church: "Obedient to the point of death."

I feel like when faced with that decision, Koda would make the decision that would best serve her family, would best serve her team. So she chose to retire. It was her decision, not mine.

I treat Koda like a real person because she's always felt like one. If you really care about making a character that you want people to connect with, you need to make them real to yourself. They need to make the choices that you wouldn't make, they need to do the things that you couldn't do.

Sure, we're all just a bunch of assholes sitting around on the internet making numbers do things and creating our own meaning from them, but meaning is meaning. If you want to get sucked into a world, then you get sucked in. It's that simple.

So, I want to thank a bunch of people, but there are so many of them who are either inactive or whatever that it might not be enough. I want you guys to all know how much these past two years have meant to me and how amazing it is to feel so loved by a bunch of people who I will probably never meet in real life.

To the San Francisco Pride, I love all of you and you are all the absolute best. I hope that you can win our first championship.

@rowser. You're inactive now, but when you were active and we were together on the Montreal Militia, it was so much fun. You made my first sig and it's still one of favorite sigs because of the blood splatter. Les Valkyries forever.

@Cynthia. I'm pretty sure you're inactive now. You and @Winter is Coming took a chance on me and drafted me to Toronto. I was kind of left heartbroken when you two left, leading to my trade request. You were awesome and I wish that you would see who Koda's become.

@Torbvo. You did what you had to do. I get it. Thank you for one of the best weeks of my life in the NEW LR. I needed a place like that to encourage me in my guitar stuff.

@Grapehead. You never abandoned me. And I made sure to reciprocate that. Thank you for trusting me and giving me a great place to be in SFP.

@tweedledunn. Thanks for all the music tips. Maybe someday I can tour Germany and Japan too. If I ever make it to a Sporks game I hope I see you there.

So thank you all. And a special thank you to Dakota herself. Her origins were as a character in some dumb play in a playwriting class, being named after two porn stars. She's grown up into a real complete person. I've given her a family and love. It's a bittersweet ending, but a happy one. The sort of ending I love. I hope to continue her story in other ways even with her playing years over.

One story ends and another begins. But before she goes, the Queen of Chaos has one last thing to say:



<3 Koda

Now let's try to get her her trophy. One last ride.