#wildcat band
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youtube
A coupla nights ago I set YouTube to play some random music for me. Since YouTube knows me so well, inevitably it began serving up songs by The Beatles. And more songs by The Beatles. And then more songs by The Beatles. Of course I didn't intervene because yeah. I'm a Beatles fan.
Inevitably, YouTube arrived at the David Frost show presentation of Hey Jude. And the funny thing is—because this never happened before—is that I was suddenly reminded of Linzy's high school graduation.
Huh?
Not kidding. Linzy's high school graduation during which the school's band, The Wildcat Band, performed an instrumental version of Hey Jude that was specifically requested by the school's administration because they'd seen the band perform it at the Spring Concert.
Don't get me wrong, Hey Jude represents a pinnacle of songwriting. The Wildcat Band, however, found a different way to embody its spirit by performing a tenor sax solo over the full orchestra.
David Kim, by the way, is the young man on the sax. You can see my daughter, Linzy, in red cap and gown on acoustic guitar behind David to the left.
David, of course, pulls off a very sweet performance of Hey Jude's verses. I'm not sure how well the graduating seniors knew the lyrics. For sure their parents did. And if those parents weren't actively singing those lyrics, those lyrics were definitely singing in their heads.
It wasn't until the transition, though. You know the one. Where McCartney sings "and make it better, better, better, better, better, better... aahhhhhh" as his voice scales up, rising to the song's iconic crescendo. Well, David Kim on his tenor sax managed that same powerful crescendo landing, however, a half step below where we all knew he was going. And in that moment, a moment already filled with the full force of David's performance, he slides the note, with even more power, into place.
In the room, taking this in myself, it was as if a button had been pressed, a key turned. Something... that unlocked the audience.
Something that launched it because.
Because as that one note slid thrillingly into the next...
The crowd lost it.
Lost it?
Yeah. The graduating class seated in the middle. Their parents, siblings, family, friends sitting in the bleachers. Members of the administration sitting on stage. Even the band itself.
Unglued.
Exploded.
Jumped to their feet.
It was this wild energy, this shared emotion in that moment inhabiting the entire arena with one note informed by all the notes before it, serving as the electrifying connection literally inhabiting each of us with the same emotional experience.
I won't lie. It's a helluva thing.
Okay.
Maybe a year and a half before that electrifying moment at graduation, I twisted my daughter's arm sufficiently so that she took the stage during a talent show and fronted a rock band. During which she experienced the dance that occurs between musicians and audience.
The dance?
Yeah. Moves and countermoves. Actions and reactions. Calls and responses.
Whip out one part of the equation, the other will come calling. Lean your guitar solo into the audience and spirit fingers will always appear right in front of the guitar strings and the guitarist's hand. Sustain a moment of vocal or instrumental passion... and the energy in the room blows up. And.
Ask the crowd to do something...
They do it.
It's a truth about performing arts you can count on. Certainly it's a truth about concert gigs that The Little Lies (for whom Linzy performs keys, acoustic guitar, and Christine McVie vocals) take advantage every opportunity they can.
Every time.
It's simply this thing music and musicians can do.
And in the last few days, a human super power of which I'm being reminded.
🤯
#youtube#the beatles#hey jude#high school#graduation#wildcat band#keith curtis#instrumental#tenor sax#songwriting#performance#performing arts#passion#emotion#arena#we got this#talent show#call and response#action reaction#moves countermoves#the dance#you can count on
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The first time we met Keith Curtis, band director of the Archbishop Murphy High School band, The Wildcats, one of the first things he said to us was
"You can never have too much cowbell!"
We were visiting with our daughter, Linzy, who was promptly handed a cowbell to join along with the band on the song they were about to rehearse.
Of course that moment didn't seal the deal on our decision to enroll Linzy at the school. I just still remember it because he said it with such enthusiasm! 😉
Fast forward many, many, many many many years... and we're hanging out after the 2022-2023 Wildcat Band finished their second of two performances, the first at Disneyland and this second one at the Five Towers stage in Universal Studios Hollywood's City Walk.
They absolutely represented their school, by the way. It was a fantastic, energetic, and engaging performance that resonated with the audience. Resonated with us.
Afterward, we got to talking, doing a lot of catching up 'cause it's literally been years. 2016, basically, is the last time we helped admin and chaperone the band. And we were both delighted at his successes, the band's successes, in the intervening years. Which conjured a memory.
Seemingly out of thin air.
Once Upon A Time, the school's football team had a game, an exhibition game with a team from a much larger school with a much, much, much much much larger band. At the time, part of my gig with the band was making videos of their performances. So I was always keeping an eye on every element of the game. The individual musicians. Their sections. The director. The crowd and individual fans. Pieces of the game to which the band would respond musically. And so on.
And I fully admit. Since it was unusual for two bands to perform at a game (since neither was the home team in this case) I spent some time watching the other musicians and their director.
Now, the quality of that other band was beyond question. What I noticed right away, though, was that whenever the band wasn't playing, their director stood off to the side. On his own. Even during longer breaks in the game, especially halftime, he was physically removed from his band.
You with me?
Because on our side of the stadium, Keith was always, always, always always always engaged with his students. He was also a master of reading each play and lighting fast at directing his band in the appropriate musical response. Providing the game with its own exciting soundtrack conjured in real-time.
Always engaged, though.
During those times, whenever the Wildcats weren't playing, Keith was with them. Even during longer breaks in the game, especially halftime, he was engaged. Talking shop with some. Working with others to master their parts or simply to become better on their instrument. He was there. In the midst of the band. Talking. Teaching. Mentoring. Encouraging. Sharing freely his enthusiasm for performing, his love of music, and the absolute professionalism he brings to each rehearsal and performance.
And the other guy?
He was just standing off to one side.
Okay I'm pretty sure that's an unfair comparison. I knew nothing about the other band and its relationship to its director.
Still.
The visual comparison has always stuck with me. I mean seriously. It's been a long time and that's an essential insight that continued humming in the background of my brain as we spent a lovely bit of time catching up.
It is, in fact, it was... what sealed the deal for us. What caused us to conclude how Linzy needed to be in this band under this man's direction. So, therefore, she needed to be at this school. Which the school graciously and generously made happen.
That game, by the way, the one in the stadium with the other band, hadn't happened yet. This was still our moment visiting the band with Linzy on cowbell. We had two such opportunities to observe, in fact. And yes. I got to play cowbell, too.
You can never have too much, it turns out.
What I saw, however, subsequently at an away game at another stadium across from another band and its director...
It was all there during the rehearsals we got to observe. Enough to convince us he was the right director into whose hands to commit our daughter's time, education, and raw ability.
That stadium experience, though?
Underlined in thick black marker—
What a truly special human being he is.
☺️
#Wildcat Band#Keith Curtis#AMHS#Archbishop Murphy High School#band director#music#band#professionalism#teacher#mentor
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i know things like the dataset and model and stuff but after struggling for a few minutes to get adobe express to generate a simple black and white drawing of a baseball with the correct placement of laces for this dumb AI in the classroom course I took I've decided we definitely got too excited too fast about AI. like we should have left this to the nerds a little longer
#badger rants#the course was fine but honestly I don't trust AI outputs with being halfway decent yet#its like oh use it to write curriculum! and then spend the same amount of time rewriting it to be normal sounding#or its like you can generate a cool picture of your mascot playing the trumpet for the band fliers! it will look like its never seen a#trumpet or a wildcat though.#like its just. not great yet.
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Welcome to the Lube Chute!
Some We're-A-Package-Deal Summer Job Stobin crack, dedicated to @griefabyss69. Also shout out to @wynnyfryd who said the Lube Chute sounded like the location of Stobin's next fail summer job after Family Video got destroyed.
"No, I'm telling you, Steve. We have to say it every time."
"We have to say, 'Welcome to the Lube Chute, where our main goal is fillin' all your holes,' every time?"
"Every time." Robin shrugged her shoulders. "It's the whole 'ocean of flavor' thing all over again." She'd started at the Lube Chute a week before him, owing to his need to hover over Eddie while his body knitted itself back together.
By the time Steve had decided Eddie could get to the fridge and the bathroom on his own, she had been deemed competent enough to show him the register and inventory procedures.
"Yeah, except 'ocean of flavor' was about ice cream," Steve said. "And this is about, you know, rubber dicks."
"That's the way of stupid retail, huh." Robin sighed dramatically and hopped upon the counter. Next to her sat an open box of flavored lubes. She picked up a pricing gun and started affixing them with stickers.
A few minutes later, the door dinged with the sound of someone pushing their way into the shop. A regular-looking latino man in jeans and a faded Zeppelin tee stepped into the shop.
Steve gave Robin a pleading look, and she pulled her lips thin in sympathy and mouthed, "sorry, your turn."
God. Welp. He may as well rip off the Band-Aid.
"Welcome to the Lube Chute," Steve said flatly, "where our goal is fillin' holes."
The guy snorted softly and went on his way, moving toward a rack of adult video tapes. Meanwhile, Robin kept her head down, looking pointedly to where she'd slapped a $.3.99 label onto a bottle of Maxxx Slick Strawberry.
"Like obviously I don't care," she said. "But it is 'where our main goal is fillin' all your holes.'"
"Ugh." Steve rolled his eyes up at the ceiling. "Why is it, like, so long?"
Curling his chin back around, he found the customer at the counter holding Dr. Lovesmuscles's Foot Long Schlong. The customer looked between it and Steve before raising his eyebrows.
Shit and fuck. For the first time in literally ever, Steve wished he was back in those tiny Scoops shorts.
"I wasn't... I didn't mean the... I..." Steve stared at the guy over the counter and then gave up on trying to explain, punching things into the register as fast as he could so he could end the interaction. "So for the video and the toy, that comes to $18.39 with tax."
Steve made made change for a $20, put the guy's things into a nondescript brown paper bag, and then bit back a groan when he realized he had to embarrass himself one more time before it was all over.
"Thank you for visiting the Lube Chute. Remember if the base ain't flared, it doesn't go up there. Have a nice day!"
Next to him, Robin coughed into her elbow. When Steve looked over, he found her reading the back of one of the lube bottles, this one watermelon flavored.
"What do you think potassium sorbate even is?" Robin asked. "I mean, I know what potassium is. I passed chem and got into college—go Wildcats. Just... potassium sorbate. What does it even do?"
Steve stared at her for a long moment and then snatched the pricing gun from her hand.
#
It was late July. August loomed and with it so did the end of possibly their last summer job together.
After this, they were both slated to leave Hawkins. Robin to Northwestern, Steve to Chicago to be near her (and because it made sense as a base for Eddie to work on growing his music career.)
On this particular Wednesday, they had a huge shipment of video tapes to go through.
Other than the scantily clad and sometimes fully nude women on the covers, it felt a lot like being back at Family Video. They quickly priced and stocked the tapes that were for sale, and then they worked on storing the covers for the rentals and putting them in the rental cases and then into the system.
"God, Steve, I am just, like, so gay," Robin whispered under her breath for the fifth or sixth time as she stared wide-eyed at a VHS cover. On it, a redheaded woman stared into the camera, her breasts exposed, her hand disappearing down the front of her very thin white panties.
"You do know you can just, like, check one of these out, right?" Steve asked. "You're an adult. No one would—"
Steve cut himself off when the bell over the door jingled. Jumping at the sound, Robin almost dropped the tape, fumbling with it several times before Steve snatched it from the air and handed it back to her. She was blushing hard when she went to put it into the computer.
One crisis averted, Steve turned toward the door to find one of the owners coming in.
Shit.
Steve had slacked off on the welcome and goodbye phrases over the course of the summer because, well, he didn't want to say them. And now he wasn't sure he even remembered them properly. Shit, shit, shit.
He smiled and nodded as the owner approached the counter. Stephanie was a sleek, blonde woman who looked nothing like the kind of person you might expect to own a sex shop.
"Order come in okay?" she asked.
"Oh, uh, one damaged tape so far," Steve said. "Definitely an improvement over the last order."
'If the base is too...' No, that wasn't it.
"Love to hear that since I spent 3 hours yelling at the distributor after that incident."
'Where we fill holes for...' Definitely not.
"Yeah, right, sucked for us too beca—" Steve froze as a customer walked into the shop. He looked over at Robin, hoping to catch her eyes for a save, but she was laser-focused on sorting another box of tapes into alphabetical order for processing.
Fuck. Steve smiled at the incoming customer. Okay, he could do this. Deep breath, winning smile.
"Welcome to the Lube Chute, where our main goal is fillin' all your holes."
Robin inhaled a deep gasp right around the same time that Stephanie burst into raucous laughter, throwing her head back and exposing her slender throat. In another life where he wasn't already tits over ass for Eddie Munson, he would've had to fall a little in love with her.
"Oh my God, that is too good." Stephanie wiped tears form her eyes with her thumbs and then giggled a few more times. "Jesus, Steve. Did you come up with that on your own?"
"Wha—?" Steve snapped his eyes over to Robin, who had her teeth set in grimace that would have been comedic at any other time. Shoulders pulled up around her ears, her eyes bled with apology.
Steve clenched his jaw and turned back to Stephanie, slipping into the most suave persona he could muster under those conditions. "Oh, you know, just thought you'd get a kick out of it."
"Well, you were right about that." Stephanie shook her head and grabbed the money bag to take it to the bank. "'Fillin' holes!" She laughed again on her way out the door.
Steve watched like a hawk as her car pulled out of the parking lot and then rounded on Robin, voice low as the customer browsed the "New Videos!" display.
"You told me we HAD to say..."
"Oh my God, I was gonna tell you after, like, a week, but then you stopped doing it on your own, so I just kinda..." Robin made a wobbly gesture with both hands, and Steve sighed deeply.
"You're walking home today," he said, but they both knew he didn't mean it, especially when his lunch break rolled around and he saved her half his orange as usual.
#
It was still July, and they could see the customer approaching from the parking lot.
"Steve," Robin said. "Steve, please."
"I want to point out that it's your own fault that you have to do this now, officially, as part of company policy. Because Stephanie liked it so much."
"Steve, but..."
Steve jutted his hip out against the counter and crossed his arms, waiting. With the same put-upon sigh he'd grown used to at Scoops and Family Video, Robin drew herself up taller and slapped her hands down on either side of the register.
Through the front door, a fat woman with curly brown hair stepped into the shop. Robin beamed at her.
"Welcome to the Lube Chute! Where our main goal is fillin' all your holes."
#crack treated seriously#stobin#this started as a joke on the Discord and then I was told I needed to put something on tumblr for the masses#when you embarrass your bestie for the bit and it backfires
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Mossflower has so much going for it, like I’m not even being biased because my blorbo is in it. I will die on the hill of it being Best Redwall Book for several reasons.
-It’s as early Redwall as you can get without actually being Book 1. As such, it avoids a lot of subjects and patterns that would later become repetitive tropes... but it also avoids the Book 1 jankiness of horses and human structures and the implied existence of Portugal. The world as we will come to know it feels more or less fully realized here. The abbey’s not here yet, but its foundation literally is- and we also get our first look at Salamandastron and the extent of Mossflower Wood as a whole.
-It has some of the most solid protagonists around. The legendary hero Martin is here, but he’s at a low point for most of the story and has to work his way up to that legacy! And this is where he does it, this is what future Redwallers remember him for, not the events of Martin the Warrior. Also, Gonff is here? Hello? Maybe the single most charismatic character in the series? Not to mention Dinny, how often does a humble mole actually get to go on a quest in these books?
-This isn’t even getting into how badass all the rest of the woodlanders are, too, but... they absolutely are. This is a small band of rebels that’s been driven from their little houses, they don’t have the luxury of those huge sandstone walls to protect them, but they’re still fighting like hell and outsmarting their enemies to boot. Some of them are seasoned fighters, but some of them are just ordinary families, all banding together to take back their homeland. And they keep it up the whole time! They’re not just waiting around for a guy with a sword to tell them what to do!
-The villains are probably the most nuanced in the whole series. Seriously. There are four whole wildcats here (don’t forget Sandingomm!) and only ONE of them is unquestionably evil. It’s absolutely implied that Verdauga was a fearsome warlord in his day, but if nothing else, he raised ONE kid who turned out to be about as Lawful Good as you can get, and he actually scolds Tsarmina for being mean to her brother!! I wish we could have spent a little more time with Verdauga, honestly, I have so many questions for this man.
-There are a decent handful of morally grey characters here, actually. Chibb spies for the woodlanders, but he’s not the most dependable and is motivated by payment more than sympathy to their cause. Snakefish allies with our questing heroes, but he minces no words in warning them that he’ll just as soon eat them if it comes down to it. Even Argulor is really just out here looking for a bite to eat and can you really blame him, because ashleg is a snack
-Tsarmina herself is irredeemably cruel, but even still there are multiple facets to her. On one hand, she’s scary- big and powerful and ready to rip into anything/anyone with her bare claws. At the same time she can be a clever strategist when she wants to be- poisoning her father and framing her brother, and later manipulating two of her obstacles, Argulor and Bane, into taking each other out. And still yet it can be kind of funny to watch her in action, as she gets humiliated by the resistance on multiple occasions. And maybe there is even a little pathos there, as we see her mind start to slip, and get some glimpse into the deep fear and paranoia that completely overtake her at the end.
-There are just great supporting characters on both sides. Mask is amazing, Fortunata is fantastic. And yeah, Blorbo Supreme Ashleg is here, and I don’t NEED to write a whole essay about him to promote Mossflower as a whole but... having him here is nice! It helps!! May we all follow his example and pursue happier lives for ourselves!!!
-Mossflower laid the foundation for so many events and characters of later books. I mean yeah, it’s a prequel. It’s there to support the first book and by extension, everything that comes after. But so many other great titles in the series have a direct line to Mossflower, from Outcast to Long Patrol to Lord Brocktree and more. Did you enjoy those books? You’re welcome. The threads were already there, just waiting to be expanded upon.
-at one point a wooden leg gets used as a projectile weapon and if you don’t think that’s the best thing ever, I don’t know what else to tell you buddy
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Desolate Autumn 🍂
Eris refuses his father's order to kill Lucien's lover, Jesminda, and faces severe punishment. Lucien flees the Autumn Court.
In canon, Eris states that he wasn’t present for the execution. I explored what it might have been like if he had been there. I can’t stop making my fave Vanserra brothers suffer. 😭
🍁 Eris & Lucien POV 🍁
Can also be found on ao3 here!
Hope you guys enjoy 🥹 eternally grateful to anyone who chooses to read it all the way through 🫶
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Eris
Eris had long since learned to dread being summoned to his father’s throne room. He had only unpleasant memories of the place, and chose to avoid it as often as he could. As the eldest son of Autumn, that was not often enough. His footsteps echoed off the marble beneath him as he made his way through the Forest House. His mind was consumed with thoughts of last night’s patrol, the sentry who had been reported missing near Winter’s border without explanation. Eris pondered the problem as he turned the corner and the grand entrance to the throne room came into view. The arched hall was decorated with intricate carvings of golden vines, interspersed with rubies that sparkled in the afternoon light. He had always held the belief that the beauty of the Autumn Court was in stark contrast to the ugliness of the people who called it home.
Eris’s steps faltered as he entered the throne room, the scene unfolding before him. Lucien, a gag of fire between his lips, was restrained by his brothers, Jasper and Orson. He struggled against the grip they each had on his arms. A lesser faerie female was bound and on her knees before his father. Tears streamed down her face as she turned her pleading eyes towards Eris.
He stopped abruptly, his stomach sinking as understanding dawned on him as to why he had been called here. What he might be required to witness. He glanced around the room taking note of his father’s loyal sentries standing watch along the walls. His other brothers, Alix, Arden and Conall stood to the side with knowing smirks on their smug faces. Mercifully, his mother’s chair sat empty beside his father’s throne. At least she would not be here to bear witness to whatever horror was soon to unfold.
“You called?” Eris forced himself to say with a drawl. He flicked an invisible piece of lint from the lapel of his emerald green jacket. He kept his face cool and indifferent—it had become a near-permanent mask, here in his father’s court of snakes.
“Eris.” Beron’s voice thundered through the room. “We were just about to begin.” Jasper and Orson turned at his name, and both gave him a slight nod before quickly averting their eyes.
“Oh?” Eris glanced at Lucien once more, who thrashed against his brothers like a wildcat caught in a trap. His russet eyes so wide and pained as they met Eris’s from across the room. The band of fire around his mouth prevented him from speaking beyond frantic grunts and moans. Eris slid the practiced smirk on his face and tried to disguise the slight tremor in his hands as he clasped them behind his back. He tried to think of something he could say to prevent the impending violence, but his mind came up blank.
“Lucien here thinks to sully himself by marrying a lesser fae whore. He has deluded himself into believing she is a worthy match for a High Lord’s son,” Beron spat, his lip curling as he snarled in Lucien’s direction. Beron met Eris’s gaze once more and smiled viciously. “You shall eliminate the problem for me, Eris.” Beron delivered a swift and brutal kick to the female’s ribs and she curved in on herself with a pained cry. Lucien screamed.
“I am sure Lucien will come to see reason, eventually.” His smile was cold and harsh as he looked down at his youngest son.
Eris started at the command. That Beron would truly have Lucien’s lover executed in front of him…He was well acquainted with his father’s penchant for violence, but this seemed uniquely cruel, even for him. Eris knew he’d been stupid to hope his presence had been requested merely to oversee courtly business, or to deal with his ever-scheming younger brothers, always at each other’s throats. But an execution? To be carried out by Eris himself?
“No.” Eris’s heart raced. He had never once uttered that word to his father. Had not once, in his long life, disobeyed a direct order. The silence that followed was deafening. Beron jerked around at the outright refusal. His brothers gaped at him.
“What did you say to me, boy?” Beron seethed. The rage on his face was enough to send lesser males running. But Eris held his ground. He would not cross this line—would not be the one to break Lucien so thoroughly, so ruthlessly, that he might never recover from the pain and loss.
“I will play no part in this,” Eris shrugged. He fought to keep his tone measured and aloof despite the storm raging inside of him. His gut churned at the slight glint of hope he spied in Lucien’s eyes. Eris hated to give him that hope—knew that Beron would see this done with or without Eris’s involvement. Beron glared at him, and Eris held his gaze. Let it wash over him in all its fury. Seconds, maybe minutes, passed in silence. Then—
“Get out. I’ll deal with you later,” Beron sneered. Eris turned to leave and Lucien began screaming in earnest then, struggling wildly against Jasper and Orson as his other three brothers looked on with varying degrees of amusement. He screamed as if Eris had been his final hope—had come to save him from this hell he was now trapped in.
It cut Eris deep—to turn his back on Lucien and walk away. To burn that remaining sliver of hope to ash. When he reached the throne room doors, he heard his father unsheath the blade. Heard the sobs of the female on the floor. Heard as Lucien, the gag now removed, begged, “Jesminda! NO, FATHER, PLEASE! PLEASE!” And as Eris stepped into the hallway, he cringed at the wet thud that sounded as Jesminda’s head toppled to the floor, his stomach lurching in response. Lucien’s agonized shrieks rang loudly in his ears and he felt his heart splinter in two.
Eris barely made it to his chambers before he was violently sick upon the patterned carpet. With a wave of his hand he winnowed the mess away and stumbled towards the oak desk in the corner of his opulent rooms, eyes and throat burning. He had only minutes to see this through. Prayed that he was correct in thinking Beron would want Lucien to suffer for at least several days before finally ending it. Ending him. Eris found a spare bit of parchment and began hastily scrawling the urgent message to the High Lord of Spring. He did not sign it nor leave any indication of who it was from. The message vanished in a puff of smoke. He grabbed a second page, his handwriting sloppier with each frantic word he wrote. Just as the second note disappeared, there was a loud pounding on his chamber doors.
Eris knew what was coming then. He steeled himself as he opened the heavy wooden door, revealing four of his father’s most trusted guards. He did not ask them to explain themselves. Eris merely raised his chin, stepped into the hall, and closed the door behind him. His heart pounded with every step he took as the guards led him down, down, down into the coldest depths of the sprawling Forest House. Eris tried to clear his mind, tried to remain calm as they arrived in the frigid dungeons. With a deep breath in, he let himself be guided into the familiar cell. It had been worth it, he told himself. He prayed he was right.
Lucien
Lucien stirred. The first things he heard were the low cooing of a morning dove, the steady trickle of a fountain. A warm breeze that smelled of spring wrapped itself gently around him. And then he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head. His eyes remained closed. Suddenly, memories came flooding back to him in a violent rush. Jesminda, executed by his father, the unlocked cell door, fleeing through the forest, Orson dead by his blade, and Tamlin, Jasper—The scenes flashed in his mind.
Lucien was dragged to an empty cell near the stables outside and tossed roughly to the ground. No better than a caged animal. He sat numbly in the cold, hard dirt, trying to block out the memory of Jesminda’s cries, her pleas to his father, to him, to spare her. The sound of the blade withdrawn from its sheath. The glint as his own father angled the sword back, and—The opening of the cell door shook him from his thoughts. A plate of stale bread and water was placed on the ground. As the unfamiliar sentry left, Lucien did not hear the click of the lock sliding back into place. He rose and made his way to the door on silent feet. Unlocked. He glanced down. There upon the plate, concealed beside the bread, was a dagger. He did not question his luck. He palmed the dagger and opened the door.
And then he was running. Barreling through the brisk Autumn forest. Red and gold and orange streaked by him as he sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him south. His chest heaved with every step, until he tasted blood on his tongue and his lungs burned painfully. He could hear his brothers in pursuit of him, crashing through the branches and leaves scattered about the damp forest floor. They were close–their taunting jeers sounded loudly in his ears. He blocked out their words, pushed himself to run harder and faster. The air began to warm, and the reds and golds blossomed into greens and pinks and—a deafening roar cleaved the land. Tamlin. Dumb luck, or perhaps fate, that he was here when Lucien needed him most.
The beast appeared before him in a flash of fur and sharp fangs. Lucien ducked quickly and he heard the squelch of claws stabbed through flesh. Heard Jasper howl in pain. Lucien whirled as he brought his dagger up, just as Orson slashed his axe down upon his head. Lucien twisted at the last second to dodge what was surely a death blow. A wall of flame rose up between them. He let his sorrow and rage fuel him as he pushed that fire outward towards Orson. His brother roared in pain as the white-hot fire lanced his exposed side. Arden stepped up and met Lucien’s flame with a flare of his own. Metal and fire blasted and collided. And then Lucien was moving again, twisting low, angling that dagger upwards—steel met skin as the blade sunk deep into Arden’s throat. He choked, blood gurgling from his gaping mouth, and then collapsed. Dead.
It happened too fast. Lucien heard Tamlin roar in warning—he made to turn, but wasn’t quick enough to avoid the blunt edge of the axe that clobbered him in the back of the head. A flash of pain—and then darkness swallowed him whole.
Lucien was fully awake now. He cracked his eyes open against the soft light. Tamlin sat in a wooden chair to his left, a grim expression on his handsome face as he gazed back at Lucien.
Jesminda. No—Jesminda…she was dead. Murdered, as he watched uselessly. Lucien squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the image of her head rolling across the floor. He tried to breathe but the air was trapped in his lungs. He was suffocating, gasping for breath, choking on the pain that wrapped itself around his heart. Lucien wept.
Soon his body was shaking with the force of his sobs, and an agonized moan crawled its way out of his throat. He heard screaming—excruciating, gut-wrenching screaming, and realized it was coming from his own lips. He tore at his long hair, attempted to peel the flesh from his bones so he might not be forced to live within his own skin. He wished he were dead—tried to smother himself in flame and burn away the remaining scraps of his withered soul. Strong, callused hands stopped him before he could do any damage. He thrashed and fought against them—wished those hands would grow claws once more and lodge themselves deep inside his chest. But instead, they gripped him firmly, an anchor to the world he so desperately wished to leave. Tamlin said nothing as he held Lucien tightly. Lucien could smell the salt of his own tears and felt like his heart had been cleaved in two. The pain was unbearable—he begged for someone, anyone, to end him. He sunk deeper into despair—let it drag him down, down, down, until he was drowning in it. He sank deeper still, where the screaming was quieter. Until he heard nothing but the frantic beat of his own wretched, cowardly heart.
Eris
It was not the first time Eris had found himself locked in the darkened chamber beneath the palace. His knees dug into the cold stone of the dungeon floor, his hands bound to each side at an uncomfortable angle. The restraints dug painfully into his wrists as he clenched his hands against the numbness that had slowly taken hold since he’d been chained up the evening prior. His ears strained to pick up any sounds outside the room, but all he could hear was the quiet trickle of water on the slick stone walls. Eris tried and failed not to let his mind wander to thoughts of Lucien’s escape, whether he had made it to Spring unharmed, if Tamlin had received his warning to haul ass to his northern border and await Lucien’s arrival. Eris prayed the note had reached him in time. That the second note had found its way into the correct hands. Before he could truly spiral, he heard several sets of footsteps growing louder in their approach.
Eris’s heart began to race as he heard the door swing open, those footsteps echoing off the cell’s damp walls. His father’s face appeared before him and rage glowed in his muddy brown eyes.
“You’ll be pleased to know your traitorous brother made it beyond Spring’s borders. With two of your own brothers killed in the fight,” Beron snarled at him. Eris said nothing–waited for the guilt to come. Instead, he felt relief. Brothers they might be, he held no true affection for the lot of them, save for Lucien. He wondered who had landed the killing blows. He hoped it had been Tamlin, so as to spare Lucien from further violence. He knew his brothers had been following orders, but they had always done so with such glee, seeming to enjoy the pain they inflicted on their father’s behalf. Eris did not ask who, specifically, had been killed. He did not want to know.
Sharp pain lanced across his face as Beron struck him once, twice. A punch to his gut stole the air from his lungs. He could taste the coppery tang of blood on his tongue.
“What will it take for you to learn that you are only useful to me if you obey?” Beron mused. Eris said nothing, gritting his teeth against the rage that coursed through him. He had never denied his father anything, save this. He was as loyal and obedient as his favored hounds. A dog to command. His father glared down at him a beat longer, a cruel smile forming on his lips. Beron jerked his head to someone behind him and Eris heard the familiar clink of a weapon being removed from a belt chain. He glanced briefly over his shoulder to confirm his suspicions.
Though he had long since learned how to pace himself, to weather the pain, it did not stop the dread from pooling in his stomach as his father’s sentry unfurled the whip at his side. Eris faced forward once more, began tunneling deep down within so as to hide from the pain of what was to come. Cold sweat started to bead on his forehead as one of the guards stepped forward and tore Eris's shirt, exposing his back to the chilled air. He braced himself against the searing sting of the whip against his flesh, but it did little to lessen the blow as the leather slashed through the skin on his back. He grunted at the pain that sliced through him, but swallowed the scream in his throat.
“Again,” Beron commanded.
The whip cracked again, and Eris jerked, hissing through his teeth. He did not regret refusing his father’s order to kill the female. Jesminda, Lucien had screamed. His long life had taught him that doing his father’s bidding served him far better than rebelling ever would. But this—what had been done in that wretched throne room—Eris was right to take no part in it. He could still hear the sound of the female’s head as it tumbled to the floor with a wet thump. Could still hear Lucien’s agonized cry as he was forced to watch. No—he did not regret it. Only that he hadn’t been able to stop it.
Again and again, the whip tore into his ruined back, retracing scars from previous punishments. Eris arched against the agony, panting through clenched teeth. He felt the blood dripping down his sides, along with a sharp throb of pain with each beat of his shredded heart.
The whip cracked again, tearing his skin down to the bone, and Eris finally screamed. He heard the sentry step back and sagged slightly against the chains. Beron gripped Eris’s chin roughly and forced him to meet his eyes.
“Consider this a warning, boy, should you think to disobey me again. Next time I'll have your head. Or perhaps I'll allow one of your remaining brothers the pleasure of ending you.” His father released him and strode out of the chamber.
Eris hung there, limply, his body trembling from the pain. He choked down the sob building in his chest, hating his father, his brothers, his life. Himself. The magnitude of his misery, his loneliness, washed over him in waves.
He should have been accustomed to it by now—the punishments, the beatings. Eris had spent much of his time growing up trying to protect his brothers, Lucien especially, from his father’s wrath. He had shielded them as much as he could, often taking the brunt of it himself. He had loved Lucien dearly, and still did. But that love terrified Eris to no end. He had quickly learned that caring for anyone in his father’s court was a weakness. That those he loved would soon be turned into weapons to be wielded against him. So Eris had shut Lucien out—treated him like trash until he was sure Lucien despised him, as he did the rest of their brothers. It hurt Eris—to see the warmth slowly disappear from Lucien’s gaze whenever their eyes met, day by day, until none remained. But it had been worth it if it kept the full force of Beron’s rage focused elsewhere, for a time.
The sentries, momentarily forgotten, shuffled forward and unclasped the chains encasing Eris’s wrists. He slumped forward, his arms too numb to catch himself as he face-planted on the hard stones with a grunt. Neither male addressed him as they exited the cell, though they left the door open. He was free to leave, it would seem. Yet he remained facedown on the ground, his hands tingling as they slowly regained feeling. A single tear traced a path down Eris’s cheek, mingling with the blood pooled beneath him. He breathed deeply, the musty air thick in his lungs. Seconds, minutes, hours later, perhaps, he finally rose, his back screaming in protest as he pushed himself up from the floor.
It would not do to dwell on things he could never have. He was a pathetic fool to even let himself consider what it might be like to see their friendship restored. To have Lucien once again look at him with admiration and light in his eyes. As Eris slowly limped out of the chamber, he swore to himself he would never show such weakness again. Lucien had made it to Spring safely. Eris didn’t let himself consider the emotional state he might be in. He was safe. It was enough.
#I’m so bad at titles sorry y’all#Lucien pov#Eris pov#Eris vanserra#Lucien vanserra#Eris Vanserra pov#Lucien Vanserra pov#eris#lucien#Eris acotar#Lucien acotar#acotar#Eris fanfic#Lucien fanfic#sjm#elucien#acomaf#acowar#a court of wings and ruin#a court of mist and fury#a court of thorns and roses#a court of silver flames#angst#suffering#Tamlin#spring court#Eris oneshot#soft Eris Vanserra#vanserra brothers#sarah j maas
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Zosan Modern Au Fic Recs
This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)
One Heart [For The Two Of Us] by curlystrawhat - Rated T
“Who are you?” Zoro asked, because he really has never seen this guy in his life and he’s pretty sure neither Koushirou nor Mihawk know him, so why the fuck was this guy leaving flowers on Kuina’s grave?
The blonde bit his lip and took his time to answer.
Zoro was getting impatient, he opened his mouth to say something, but the blonde beat him to it.
“I’m Sanji.” he said, staring right into his eyes, “Kuina gave me her heart.”
or
Two boys, one heart connecting them, a meeting by chance, a friendship by choice. Falling in love along the way? Well, that just happened all on its own.
To Have and To Hold by eflo - Rated T
Sanji just woke up from surgery to see some guy in his room.
A Trip Down Memory Lane by Kaiisan (orphan_account) - Rated G
Sanji recognises a familiar face on the train.
((AU based off of the cute couple sitting in front of me on the train a few days ago))
Minutiae by LibbyLune - Rated T
Normally Zoro would hate to find a stranger picnicking at his favorite secret photography spot, but there's something special about this blond chef.
In Lieu of Payment by Harubo - Rated T
Sanji spends an afternoon trying not to ogle the mechanic fixing his furnace. He does not succeed.
Just Need this Love Spiral by three_days_late - Rated T
When beloved Hollywood star Sanji came back from Bora Bora after three weeks of being off the grid, no media, no paparazzi, no contact to anyone, the tabloids went insane.
The fact that he came back with a husband was the icing on the cake.
The fact that no one had ever even heard of this husband before was the cherry on top.
The one question on everyone's mind: Why?
Two Left Feet by Harubo - Rated T
Zoro is forced into taking dance lessons for his sister's wedding. It turns out better than he expected.
Love You Better by 8ball - Rated M
“What about you?” The cook had asked. “Any BDSM or anything?”
Zoro had stared blankly at Sanji, trying to remember if BDSM was the name of a band. It sounded like a fighting style, maybe related to MMA.
“I thought you practiced savate and kickboxing?”
Needless to say, he’s blown his cover pretty quickly. And thus, the list.
Point and Click by modeoheim - Rated M
Sanji Black, Executive Chef and owner of Le Tout Bleu, successfully defends his restaurant and its customers from aggressive paparazzi one evening with style. A video of the fight goes viral, though, and one of the celebrities in the center of the whole mess develops quite the intense—and public—crush.
Grounded by Hazel_Athena - Rated T
Sanji stares up at the screen that lists all inbound and outbound flights, his heart catching in his throat when he spots the little flag that says ‘canceled’ next to his own.
Double Play by auspizien - Rated T
After a horrible car accident a year prior, Sanji finds himself wheelchair bound and a little lost. When his sister forces him to go to a baseball game, he really isn't expecting much from it; until a certain green-haired baseball player makes it his mission disrupt all of Sanji's carefully thought out plans.
Zoro's Boyfriend, Who Lives In Canada by donutsandcoffee - Rated G
Everyone knows Zoro has the perfect boyfriend—tall, blonde, and handsome. He cooks Zoro’s bento every day, fights as well as Zoro does, and has the clearest, bluest eyes mankind has ever seen.
Wildcat by Harubo - Rated T
Captain of the soccer team Sanji Black gets recruited to be a replacement kicker on Thousand Sunny High School’s American football team. The problem? An unfortunate crush on star running back, Zoro Roronoa. Oh, and Sanji has no idea how this sport works.
Steady, As She Goes by auspizien - Rated E
Zoro Roronoa is a retired black-ops agent suffering from PTSD; after moving to a small town and getting married in hopes of leaving that life behind him, a chance meeting with a smarmy, blond paramedic changes all of that. Thus ensues a summer of tempestuous desires, heart-wrenching decisions, and unforeseen espionage.
[Modern AU. ZoSan. Slow Burn.]
blue by adietxt - Rated T
Zoro doesn’t see it, until he does.
One moment everything seems normal — Sanji meeting him at the back of the gym building, passing Zoro his bento before the Kendo club starts like usual — and then Zoro sees it, the way Sanji stands with a weird slouch on his shoulder, his body leaning to the side, like he’s favoring his left. Zoro always thought the slouching was just an act, a way for the stupid Love Cook to look ‘cool’ and impress the girls in their school, but a different thought crosses his mind for a second.
A different, terrible thought.
keep playing that song (hey mister dj) by adietxt - Rated G
Usopp isn’t scared.
The stranger might be a tall, burly dude with one eye, two large scars, and muscles that could rival a god’s, but Usopp is not scared. Nope. Sure, the guy could probably crush Usopp’s head if he does so much as flex, and the scars seem to indicate that he’s trained in some kind of deadly martial arts, and even without all those things he’s still big enough to be able to beat Usopp up into a pulp through sheer strength, and —
Okay, so Usopp might be a little scared.
#veryace recs#zosan#one piece fanfiction#one piece#zosan fanfic#black leg sanji#roronoa zoro#modern au#modern setting#strawhat pirates#straw hat crew#ao3 fic recs#fanfic recs#ao3
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okay gonna make a list of the animals that inspire the appearance of each of the ghouls (starting with current band ghouls because i have been a fan for a year and a half so my grasp on the older ghouls is tenuous at best lol) in my head. they aren’t exactly 1:1 of these animals; it’s more so bits and pieces i mix to make their image.
each element in my head corresponds to specific families of animals. ghouls are humanoid, but very much not human in my hc. very predator coded (i am in love with every author who writes murder ghouls, you guys get me)
fire- reptiles, serpents, very dragon-like (cliche, sue me), these ghouls are all wicked sharp claws and fangs. they may have a laidback, leisurely air about them majority of the time, but they are ruthless hunters. capable of remaining preternaturally still until their prey comes into range, then striking quicker than the blink of an eye. some fire ghouls are capable of producing venom
earth- ungulates (especially bovine, deer, goats), large wildcats, most commonly hooved though some may have paws. thick, heavy fangs, vicious claws. these ghouls are excellent persistence hunters, they may not strike as fast as fire, but their stamina is unmatched and they never lose a scent- they will chase you down until you physically can no longer run
water- fish, marine mammals, amphibians, aquatic reptiles. these ghouls have many very sharp fangs, and their claws are barbed/serrated to keep their prey pinned while they tear out chunks with their razor sharp teeth. sleek and lean, these ghouls are made for speed, land or water. the serration is universal, whether the ghoul is more fresh- or saltwater aligned
air- birds, especially raptors and corvids, bats, insects. basically any creature capable of flight. these ghouls rely more on their claws/talons than their fangs- but don’t underestimate their bite! air ghouls can be the most aggressive of all elements. they are frighteningly light footed, you’ll never hear them coming. they can move effortlessly from treetop to treetop, rafter to rafter, dropping down like an angel of death onto their prey. air ghouls also have little care for if their prey is dispatched or not before they begin eating, they will simply dig in as you thrash and scream, pinned by their talons
quintessence- hardest to pin down, due to the unknowable nature of dark matter/quintessence they can appear with the most variation in characteristics. most commonly they’ll have ursine, canine, or feline features. quints are the most prolific hunters of ghoulkind. while many of them can end their prey with a thought, they often draw out the hunt, relishing in the fear. quints will stalk from the shadows. you’ll never know they’re coming until it’s too late. they play with your mind, slowly feeding into your fear. it’s like when horror movies use extremely low frequency sounds; you can’t hear them but you feel it- that creeping sense of dread that gets bigger and bigger the closer the killer gets, until suddenly you’re panicking and you can’t breathe and oh my god did that shadow just move? and-
mountain: red deer, lion/mountain lion, goat
rain: shark, alligator, axolotl
dew: blue-tongued skink, horned viper
swiss: (hc as a multi, every element) texas longhorn, jaguar, griffon vulture
phantom/aeon: (he’s an earth/quint hybrid to me!) jacob sheep ram, alexander archipelago wolf, vampire bat
aurora: (i hc her as an air/water hybrid) loon, jewel beetle
cumulus: barn owl, bumble bee
cirrus: raven, yellow jacket
sunny: red-tailed hawk, bearded dragon, fire ant
aether: grizzly bear, i love the idea of aeth having tusks but there’s no specific animal i feel like i draw that from it’s a hc i’ve poached lol
#the band ghost#nameless ghouls#mountain ghoul#phantom ghoul#dewdrop ghoul#aether ghoul#sunshine ghoulette#cirrus ghoulette#cumulus ghoulette#rain ghoul#swiss ghoul#ghost headcanons#wow this is the closest to actual writing i’ve ever gotten lol#this was a fun thought exercise! for some of them it was instant and i just knew#some of them i had to research a bit and really mull over the feel/appearance they have in my head#this is the closest i’ve gotten to anything substantial about my ghouls
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Okay it is Infinity Inc. propaganda time it is time to show off the niche kiddos
Infinity Inc. propoganda under the cut
The day is Christmas Eve, 1983, and the JSA are having their annual Christmas Eve meeting, and Hawkman (blissfully unaware that his family is about to come to him) suggests adjourning the meeting so that all of them can get back to their families, and Green Lantern (blissfully unaware that fate is about to kick him in the balls... TWICE.) retorts that he doesn't have a family, this is kind of dickish of Alan but like... it's ALAN lol. Suddenly, the old men are being tormented by waves of stupid children, all demanding to be allowed to join the team... and also one of their villains children doesn't actually ask to join the team but he does... for some reason go "when I am asking for help from my father's enemies, the thing to do is to illusion myself to look like my father, and then tear a hole in their wall, wait, why are they trying to arrest me?! RUDE!!! I am sulking now!"
Thank you for your input Henry.
Anyway, since the old men respond... somewhat reasonably to whatever the fuck that was, their kids decide to band together and make their own superhero team, where they get PAID! (less than minimum wage).
Infinity Inc. is an interesting team series that I mostly enjoy because of the characters, a lot of the time in team books the characters all feel the same, and are all at each other's throats constantly, Infinity Inc. presents the reader with characters who all have very defined personalities, even if most of them do share the character trait of "stupid", and by the end of the series you feel like you genuinely love all of the characters and want to spend more time with them.
DC notably decided that all Infinity Inc. characters should spend the next decade dying or going evil btw.
BUT THEN THEY GET BETTER. The Infinitors are kind of notable in that there are entire arcs of JSA 1999 where the old men try to rescue their kids, and all of them end up being considered JSA kids, including Hank who is being chased around the planet by Jay Garrick holding adoption papers (uncertain if this is continuing now that Jay has Judy tbh I do not trust Geoff Johns)
(context, Wildcat hits Hank with the 'kid of a supervillain' stuff well after he thought the JSA was fine with his general existance, my favorite scene because all of the Infinitors are instantly protective, and all of them give vibes of being really close, even if DC refuses to allow a full team reunion)
Honestly in my years of getting people to read Infinity Inc. it's notable that every single time someone has come out with a different fave, and I think it's a testament to the characters being really good, ESPECIALLY HECTOR AND LYTA who are JSA characters and NOT Vertigo characters and Vertigo shouldn't be allowed to stop them appearing in JSA comics.
Also the boys do this in hallways for unknown reasons
What was meant by this?:
Read Infinity Inc. today so you too can be convinced that Hank King should be the next character DC makes gay, unless they decide to do Norda first...
Tbh if I'm being honest they should probably just pull a Young Avengers and make every Infinitor gay.
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Talespin Headcanons: Favorite music genres
(note, the series takes place 1939, and this post will reflect that)
Baloo: Jazz
Louie: Scat, Jazz, Swing, and Calypso. He loves to party!
Kit: Is open to just about anything, but mostly listens to swing since it's a popular genre
Don Karnage: Mostly Rhumba, though he also enjoys a little Calypso
Rebecca Cunningham: Big band and sometimes a little bit of Country
Molly: She hasn't really developed her own taste, yet, but she learned Square dancing once and loved it, so she'll probably get into country
Shere Khan: Tango and Classical
Colonel Spigot: Mostly Thembrian military tunes. He makes everyone around him listen to them, too. Most other genres are banned.
Wildcat: He likes everything, really.
#1920s music#1930s music#disney#don karnage#talespin#disney afternoon#Baloo#rebecca cunningham#kit cloudkicker#shere khan#jungle book#molly cunningham#headcanons#headcanon#Wildcat
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Courtesy my friend who attended it: Northwestern University ‘Wildcat’ Marching Band played the sting from MEGALOVANIA on September 30, 2023, during the Northwestern vs. Penn State football game. We weren't expecting a Megalovania jumpscare at a college football game, but here we are.
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My shameful crush was a girl from my high school. Shameful because she was so freaking stupid. She told me once that elephants were reptiles. She was our school mascot. It was supposed to be a huge secret but I was in the marching band and they did a stunt where she grabbed my cymbals and started smashing them so she had to ask me about it first. Anyway she could do a cartwheel and I remember once I found out who she was I stared at that big old wildcat costume cartwheeling and tried to picture the girl inside doing the cartwheel, but accidentally pictured her naked. Then I really did see her naked later because she wanted to jump out from behind a wall in the gym locker room and flash her friend but she accidentally scared me so bad I fell on my ass and she told me it was fine because "your ass doesn't have any bones." I was in love, but again. She was so goddamn stupid.
No she's right your ass doesn't have any bones
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Blind date Catradora Au
Where Glimbow and Scorptrapta set up tinder profiles for Catradora without telling them. Cue them both getting Catradora’s personality totally wrong but still managing to settle on a date.
Think Adora’s profile has Glimbows interests and mannerisms and Catra’s has Scorpia’s and Entrapta’s.
They convince Catradora to go on a date but are immediately put off by each other once their friends show them the tinder texts/personality.
They both still show up though, wanting to let the other person off easy. Surprise surprise though, they’re both super into each other and are confused by how different they are in person.
So they’re both trying to talk to each other based off the tinder profiles but they’re both just very gay and confused.
Exhibit A:
Scorpia: (Trying to list Catra’s interests) Wildcat likes rock, right? What’s her favorite band again?
Entrapta: Statistically, it’s most likely the Beatles
(Later on in the date)
Adora: So uh, the Beatles , huh? :)
Catra, who only likes death metal: Uh, what?
#catradora#shera#she ra#spop#catra#shera and the princesses of power#fanfic#fanfic prompt#fic prompts#au#catradora au#spop au#shera au#text#text post#txt post#txt
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Gepard thoughts/Hcs (feat. Me attempting to explain my crack ship to people)
- His in game stories imply he did privately question the orders he was getting, he just doesn’t think he is “allowed” to think that way, he has to be the perfect shield because that’s his responsibility.
- He’s a lot smarter than most people think, it’s just his older sister has a literal phd and he just sorta got used to being the “dumb muscle” of the family, and he also thinks being a shield is really all he’s good for.
- Workaholic who constantly puts his duty over his own well being. He rarely takes the time to do things because he wants to.
- Is actually a pretty good bass player. Serval talked him into learning when they were younger, and she would love for him to be in her band. He refuses because he’s too busy (and he freezes up when he knows people are watching him play)
- So my thought process for the ship is I made a joke about Gepard being Yanqing’s dad bc Yanqing needs to be protected if you want him to do good damage, Gepard is probably the best character to do this with, and they’re both blondes with ice powers. My next thought was Gepard is married to Jing Yuan because he is also Yanqing’s dad. Then I sorta fell in love with this family dynamic??
- They both are associated with wildcats, are both very accomplished in their fields, are both very protective of their homes and the people they care about, and both have a self sacrificial streak.
- Jing Yuan is very much a “work smarter not harder” type of leader who knows how important relaxing is, yet is absolutely a capable fighter who is pragmatic enough to do what’s best for the people and takes his job very seriously when it’s needed.
- Jing Yuan also has definitely gotten his lion to just sit on Gepard so he takes a break from work.
- Very comfortable and domestic relationship, these two aren’t the type to be super affectionate in public. People might not even realize they’re a couple unless they’re told ahead of time. (It’s because they’re both secretly very sappy people and would be too embarrassed to do that stuff in public)
- Both of their love languages are quality time and acts of service. They spend a lot of time just quietly existing in the same space as each other. They keep an eye on each other and make sure they’re both adequately rested and aren’t overworking themselves.
- They’re both a little overprotective of Yanqing, like they aren’t helicopter parents but they both do not want him getting hurt and think he is a bit too reckless at times. Gepard 10000% is always shielding his son if they’re in battle together.
- They’re both very tactile people when alone. Lots of leaning on one another, napping together (when Gepard lets himself take naps), they’re both the sort of partner to hug their spouse from behind and put their chin on their shoulder. They also both do the cat slow blink of affection without realizing it because I think it’s funny.
That’s pretty much it, I have developed brain worms about these two and I need this quality domestic content
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Hey could you please tell us about your OC Dela?
I don't want to give away too much of her backstory because a lot of it is spoilers for The Story, but here's what isn't classified:
In 1975 (Systems Alliance Calendar), an abandoned shuttle was discovered by salarian wildcat miners orbiting the planet Raisaris.
There was nothing left on board but a crib containing a screaming infant asari. The salarians took her in, naming her Dela Raisaris after her unofficial homeworld, and she lived with the family for two salarian generations - over 60 years - and then moved to Illium to work first as a security agent for a transportation firm and eventually as a dancer in one of Nos Astra's many bars.
In 2076, Dela was involved in a [REDACTED] and left Illium with [CLASSIFIED]. They travelled together for half a century, during which time Dela expanded her biotic skills, her impressive piloting ability, learned to fight with a traditional asari sword, and [REDACTED].
After the tragic [REDACTED], Dela became a mercenary/sex worker, travelling all over the galaxy in search of purpose; or failing that (in her own words) 'a good fight or a good lay'.
In 2177, she was working with a small asari mercenary band subcontracted by the Eclipse Mercenary Corporation to fight in the Anhur rebellions against a consortium of batarian and human slavers known as the Na'hesit. When she learned that her companions were planning to switch sides for better pay, Dela assassinated their leader and sabotaged their ship. In exchange for a clean slate, she gave their location to an asari huntress team and traded in her mercenary identity for a military uniform.
After basic, she was assigned to the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission in the krogan DMZ as an interceptor fighter pilot. Only her unusual surname suggests there's more to her story than any other maiden serving on the turian ship THV Severum, but nobody asks and she doesn't tell.
Dela Raisaris is sharp-witted and funny, with a bawdy sense of humour that gets her reprimanded by her superiors, along with her cheerful disregard for protocol and preference for reckless flying. Quick with her affections, both emotional and physical, Dela is very popular with her crewmates - though her open sexuality often sees her entangled in love triangles. Despite her platonic love for her friends, Dela has had very few long-term relationships and nothing more serious than flings since she joined the asari military.
- REPORT FILED BY VERAPIA BESCUS, ST&R, 2184 -
#mass effect#asari#original character#asari oc#fanfic#writing#character profile#I swear I will name this story eventually#more of these to come maybe#dela raisaris
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If Black Canary ever got her own solo series again
Ideas: Black canary is always on teams it'd be cool to see have her own long ruining series.
Art by: Otto Schmidt
Her solo comics don't seem to sell well but also they really didn't seem like they knew what to do with her in the long run.
The comic runs of:
Green Arrow, Birds of Prey, Justice Leaque, JSA, Deathstroke Inc. , Bloodspell
For Black Canary II since the re-establish her old origin story. Read Infinte Frontier.
Batman Urban Legends issue 6:
The singer/band: Now the band thing was more of Dinah Drake for Rebirth ( band) but it did slip into Dinah Lance origin which was cool felt like a play off of her name. Cool that from her golden age you see her singing. The story ... till this day I barely get it but the concept was cool. I see them still mention it in other comics & webtoons. ( Was a graphic novel Ignite & some other light novel.)
JSA : Since Dinah & her mom has ties to the JSA it pretty fun to see them interact with the old gang. ( JSA 1999, Like old issues but she was there for a short time.)
Wildcat (Ted Grant) love to see the bond between them. Ted was her first teacher & her Uncle telling her old stories about JSA & her mother.
The bond between Family: The fact her family is from Gotham. Could show us her relationship with her parnets. Being a daughther of a cop & a superhero. How her mother didn't want her to follow in her footsteps. -birds of prey (1999) #100
Scream Queens: Gather all the other sonic screamers in DC and have them battle it out. ( Even though we see a snippet in action comics)
Leaque of Assassins: She is a street fighter so of course she will be seen fighting them every now & then. Also the Rah Al 's "sugar daddy' incident shit is so funny. ( Talia & Angel Breaker & Shiva)
Sin Lance: I mean why not the brought back Conner & Lian but not her feels like Bullshit to me.
Red Canary: She has a somewhat of a student called Red Canary hopefully we get to see them bond more.
Enemies : I really need for her to have people bring her down to the absolute worst moments ( Beside longbow hunters). Making her question her belife or methods of fighting. ( Other than Lady Shiva)
Duo comics: Be cool to see duo comics with some of her friends or new people. Like Huntress from JLU or lesser known characters it could be fun with a good writer.
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