#literally just like edit out my muses names and put yours in and gO WILD

[xxomalley]

send my muse a name, and they’ll respond with a gif/reaction pic.

( fossey porter - mal carabosse - shakes hook - mak aidoneus - aubie mcclain - marge shadix - ritasenior - james frank silver - rex ritchi - jubilee bird - ingrid haraldsen - katzu shiranui - doc de maldonia - barney radcliffe - brandy utonium - her name - sheldon astronomanov )

[glacecakes]

Wild Hunt

Eugene isn't exactly well liked by his men, but when they want to induct him into their ranks, he's not going to complain! All he has to do is hunt down a beast that they prepared for this event specifically-

It's Varian. Eugene is accidentally hunting down Varian. Now the two have to survive the night together, while one of them is injured, against a squadron of Corona's best men.

Uh oh.

IM BACK! Kinda. Finals are due Tuesday and I wrote this instead of doing them but WHATEVER WHO CARES

This was mostly written on the Varian Hivemind server, with some lovely inputs from the folks on there, and I edited it and finished it before throwing it up here. So uh. Yea. Team Awesome my beloved

Life and Times and VVO will also be updated soon!!! I hope to have at least one if not both chapters done by the end of the month 

ANYWAY HERES 8K OF TEAM AWESOME ANGST

Being Captain of the Guards sure had its perks.

For one, he got to attend meetings with Rapunzel, finally. You'd think being the princess's future husband (probably) and Prince of the Dark Kingdom got him some recognition, but noblemen are jerks and elitists, so what can you do. Granted, the meetings were boring as all hell, but still, it felt like he was actually being respected and taken seriously. Something Rapunzel had been pushing for since the start. Personally, he wasn't all that sure he deserved it, but if she was happy, so was he.

Another was that the guards no longer gave him shit. That's not to say they did before... well, they did. Stan and Pete didn't, but every other guard called him Flynn Rider at least once or twice before begrudgingly accepting him as their teacher and now commander. He no longer had to worry about someone breathing down his back, waiting for him to slip up or commit a crime, eager to throw him back in prison.

Speaking of which...

He turned the corner to see a few guards, couldn't remember their names off the top of his head, forming a small circle around a corner. Their predatory grins barred down on whatever their target was, whichever poor soul had angered them. One of them had his hands on someone much shorter, so short he couldn't make them out beyond the red coats and gleaming gold... which could only mean it was one person.

"Don't get comfy, brat," the one hissed, pushing Varian up against the wall with an audible crack as a skull hit stone, no doubt hoisted up by a shirt collar. "One of these days the princess is gonna get sick of you, and when she does, we'll toss you back into your old cell... and we'll restart our favorite game. Ain't that a swell idea?" Varian hissed, a soft thunk of his boots scrambling for purchase against the wall.

"Hey!" Eugene snapped, having heard more than enough. "Put him down now ." His words were like fire, causing the other two to jump back and reveal the battered and bruised alchemist. His lip was split, a large scuff of dirt on his white shirt.

One of the guards snapped his head around, whacking the leader's shoulder to get his attention. The guard frowned. "Oh yea? Or what?"

Before his new position, he would've leapt into the fray, hackles raised, punching the lights out of these jerks, but now, he had a much better stance. "Or you're fired." He crossed his arms, the perfect picture of a guy in charge who knew how to keep his men in line.

Someone who was clearly not him.

The guard hummed. "You don't have the nerve." To emphasize his point, he shook Varian a little harder, the kid's toes barely scraping the floor and his hands gripping the soldier's wrists. Leather gloves creaked with how tight the pressure was.

But Eugene's glare didn't waver, hand itching for the sword at his hip, his anger radiating in waves. It was enough to get the other two to back off.

"Cmon, Aaron," one whispered. "It's not worth it."

"Yeah, it's not." Eugene agreed. "Put him down now, and I'll lighten your sentence to a week in the stables instead of a month."

Aaron's face turned sheet white, then bright red. With a huff, he dropped Varian to the ground, readjusting his gloves while Varian cried out on the floor.

"You got lucky this time, brat," he hissed.

Oh, he knew that type of speech. The Baron used it all the time. Anyone who got told that never lasted to the next month. "And all other times," he said. "Because if I see you go anywhere near him I'm taking you to the princess."

Aaron rolled his eyes, clearly uncaring, and stormed off with a huff, his buddies trailing after. No doubt they didn't like a criminal ordering them around. Or, ex-criminal. He'd have to keep an eye on them.

A sniffle broke Eugene's musings, the fog of satisfaction and annoyance quickly replaced by concern for his younger friend. Varian sat up, wincing as he did so. He rubbed his neck, feeling for any injuries and finding none except for his ruined collar. "Aw man," he mumbled.

Dad had fixed his collar for him that day, a proud smile on his face. "You need to look sharp for your first day on the job," he'd said, ruffling Varian's hair. They'd grown so much closer in the past few months, the man always seeing his son off. Today was the first day back after his kidnapping, after all; he'd spent a month recovering from a broken rib.

"It's not my first day, I've been working there for weeks," Varian had grumbled, but let him do it with a cheeky grin.

"First day of the week," Quirin rectified, placing a kiss to his baby's forehead.

A forehead now covered in dust and a bruise.

"Hey kid," Eugene offered a hand that Varian gladly took, stumbling a little as he was helped upright. "You ok? Nothing knocked outta place?"

"Just my pride," Varian joked, smile quickly fading. "I'm ok though, really. I'm used to it." He shrugged, hugging himself for comfort. Maybe he could pretend dad was here, hugging him... he always had the best hugs. Even when Varian was little, before they drifted apart. Back when he was just the weird magic kid. Back when his biggest worries were some older kids picking on him... Dad would always scoop him up into a big hug with flowery words and a book of Flynn Rider.

A warm hand wrapped around him, pulling him into a red chest. Eugene took his other hand to ruffle Varian's hair, earning a squawk of complaint.

"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean it's ok, you know that, right?" Silence followed. Gosh, this kid... say what you want about being an orphan, at least everyone around you was on the same boat. No place for bullies, nothing to bully about, when everyone was doing just as badly. "If they ever give you more trouble, you come to me, yeah?"

"Huh?" Confused blue eyes met warm brown.

Eugene smirked. "You say the words and I boot them out of the castle, goggles. Team Awesome looks out for each other."

"Oh," Varian mumbled, dazed. He'd never had a protector, never had anyone looking out for him. Cold sneers and flowery words, manipulation and secrets and ulterior motives, sure. His chest fluttered, a laugh escaping.

But then... the anxiety returned full force, maybe even stronger.

If those guys got fired because of him, good god, he could only imagine the fallout. Well, that's not true. He absolutely could. One time in prison a guard got fired for beating a cellmate within an inch of his life, and though the guy lived, the second he was out of prison he got jumped, or so the story goes. In all honesty it was probably an embellished truth, stretched out to frighten prisoners into silence, but god damn if it didn't work. No one ever complained about their beatings. A peep was all that was needed to spend a night in the infirmary for even worse injuries.

"No, no, it's fine," Varian flicked his wrist. The dial on his hand spun with each flick, the ticking grating. "Besides, we have work to do!"

"Oh, yea!" Eugene gasped. Right! The whole reason he came out to this part of the castle was to look for Varian specifically, after all.

"So, right, maintenance stuff." Varian waved his hand, motioning for Eugene to follow. "Here's what I had in mind..."

-

It was a week later, late at night, when Aaron approached him. The moon lay low in the sky, just bright enough to allow for vision without torchlight, but not bright enough that anything beyond shapes were clear. True to his word, the guard had been stationed on stable duty for the past several days, coming back to the barracks covered in dirt and angry every time.

So maybe Eugene had whispered to Max about him. Big deal.

Anyway, the captain was knee-deep in paperwork when Aaron knocked on his office door. "Sir," he said. "Finished up for the day, and I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?" Eugene put his quill down hesitantly. Aaron was his first big show of power, the first punishment he'd dished. Everything else had been a variation of "keep doing what you're doing" as he settled into his new role. Who knew being in a position of power was so stressful?

(Everyone. Literally everyone.)

"I wanted to apologize for testing you, sir." The man shifted, eyes never meeting. His face was unreadable. "I wasn't sure you were going to be as..... sharp, as our previous captain. And I'm sorry for that."

"....Ok," Eugene said. "Thanks? I think?"

"So, I uh... wanted to do something for you." The man continues. "Me and a few others. It's sorta a ritual for guards. We didn’t do it before cuz of, yknow, Cassandra and stuff. And you're one of us now, so...?" He raised an eyebrow, a quiet invitation.

Oh boy.

Knowing these guys, it was probably something really stupid. Most of the guards were pretty nice, maybe a bit airheaded, but a lot of meatheads mostly. Big fans of machismo and showing their strength, boosting their ego, stuff like that. It's why none of them were fans of being run by a criminal. And no doubt Eugene would have to clean up their mess anyway, so he sighed deeply and rose from his seat. "Alright, what did you do now?"

Aaron placed a hand to his chest. "Why, sir, we did this out of the goodness of our heart! We're just welcoming you to the team!" He laughed a bit at that last part. He pointed out the door, leading his superior down the suspiciously empty barracks, and out into the courtyard.

About a dozen or so guards were outside, waiting. One of them was holding a horse's reins, and a crossbow.

"He's in!" Aaron called, and the guards all broke into cheers and raucous laughter.

"Yea, nice to see you guys too, uh. What am I... in?" Eugene asked, shifting awkwardly.

Aaron's smile widened. "It's just a fun little game, sir."

"The game is simple, really," Aaron slung an arm around Eugene's shoulder, pulling him close, not unlike how Lance does. But unlike his larger friend, this man is wiry, more of a weaselly kind of build, with stick thin arms that hide his muscle. "See, when someone new joins the guard, we test their skill by having them hunt down a beast in the nearby forest. Once they catch it, we all celebrate together! And welcome him into the ranks!" The guards all cheered, no doubt thrilled at the prospect.

"....right...." Eugene smiled uncomfortably, cheeks pulling and stretching, a puppet controlling the strings attached to his face. His stomach swirled, bouncing all over as he was passed around.

"But see, you're not just any guard, you're the Captain," Aaron's smile took an equally unpleasant demeanour. "So we figured we'd give you some extra... challenge." Outside of their little circle, no sounds could be heard. Not a peep from a cricket, or a cry from a bird, just dead silence in the surrounding glen. Just the crackle of torches, and the rustling of men.

"The beast for this occasion is small, smart, and fast. The goal is to catch it before it reaches the wall at Old Corona. All you gotta do is," he makes a noise with his mouth to emulate the crossbow. "Hit the target, and the rest of us will finish the job."

"Finish?" Eugene echoed.

The guards around him smiled with all of their teeth. "Well yea, we're not just gonna waste a perfectly good beast, are we?"

Eugene narrowed his eyes. If Rapunzel heard about this, no doubt she'd flip. "How will I know what I'm looking for? And why should I even approve of this?"

"Relax, sir," Aaron shook him, patting his chest with a heavy fist. "We're not just killing an innocent creature. It's always something that's been marked for slaughter, or is causing problems. And trust me," his voice deepened. "You'll know."

No horse was as good as Max, but that was probably for the best, what with his gut screaming about how this all felt so goddamn sketchy. "This isn't some trap where it turns out I'm the one being hunted, right? Cuz I don't want to shoot any of you with this," he joked, brandishing the crossbow.

"No, sir, not at all! In fact we'll be supporting you! No one makes the first shot until you do." He promised, patting the horse's flank. "Rest assured, no tricks here. Just a beast already marked for capture. Or recapture, in this case. We picked this one special for you."

"That sounds like it's supposed to be flattering but it really isn't."

Aaron shrugged. "Not my problem. Good luck!" With a smack to the horse, she cried out, spurring Eugene forward.

They rode through the Capital, out into Corona proper, lush with trees. At this time of night, no one would be about, not even thieves, laden in their straw beds and cots. The only things out right now are animals, or a beast, in this case. How is he supposed to know what he's looking for? What, is it going to be some giant thing with red eyes? No, Aaron said it was small, how the hell is he going to...

Then he hears it.

It's faint, almost like a windchime, but sure enough, the clanking of chains, and a small whimper. Somewhere through the trees there's a rustling, something moving. He can't make it out, the guards didn't give him a torch, but a blob of something rushes forward, the only thing he can make out the distinctive shine of metal, a chain reflecting in the moonlight.

Ah.

Eugene smirked, the rush of adrenaline from a chase beginning to pump through his veins. It'd been a while since an adventure without any stakes, without any daring challenges or risking death. The last time must've been... gosh, probably the Herz de Sonne misadventure? And even then he and Lance had just goofed off for the majority of it. Maybe the Spire? That one was much riskier but he and Rapunzel had been so outrageously drunk during that whole endeavor that it felt more like a fun jaunt.

He shook himself out of his reverie. Focus, Eugene! Fun or no, you're proving yourself to the guards! Show them that you're a worthy Captain beyond just barking orders and supporting the princess!

He spurred the horse forward, hooves thundering against the undergrowth and disturbing the leaves below. The beast let out a shriek, shrill and shaking, rushing forward. It weaved between trees, trying to throw Eugene off. Man, Aaron wasn't kidding about how fast it was. Even on horseback he couldn't keep up very well. The chains wrapped around the beast's legs screamed in complaint, clanking and clattering with each huff of its breath.

Eugene lowered the crossbow, sticking his tongue out. Steady... steady.... he fired.

The bolt whizzed through the air, lodging into a tree just a few feet away from its target. The beast flinched but didn't slow, scampering through the undergrowth, leaping over a fallen tree towards the river.

"Hyah!" He yelled, leading his horse over the log and splashing down into frigid waters. Water rushed past his horse's hooves, dulling the sound of chains, and when he looked around, the beast was gone.

Drat.

Eugene grumbled, reloading the crossbow before urging his horse onward. If this beast got away he'd never hear the end of it! They'd be all "Yes sir, Captain! We'll catch that criminal! As soon as you catch that beast!" And then they'd laugh and he'd moan and he'd have to go catch the criminal himself which is honestly not too far off from how it is already-

Anyway.

It took a few minutes to find it again, the beast trying to muffle it's movements by shuffling, but the metal song was too alluring to ignore. There was no time to waste. With the horse at a fast trot, quieter and steadier, he fired the bolt, this time getting much closer, barely whizzing past the silhouette and lodging into a tree trunk with a chunk of hair.

The creature cried out again, beginning to run and renew this dance of cat and mouse, but Eugene wouldn't have it. Dexterous fingers clasped a new bolt and quickly reloaded, giving barely a few seconds for the creature to try and run before firing again.

He didn't miss.

It was almost silent, the bolt's descent. Its tip gleamed in the moonlight alongside the chains keeping his prey in place, the one thing that slowed it and gave Eugene the upper hand. Whatever this beast was was quick, too quick, and if he lost it again, no doubt he'd never find it again. So when he aimed, he aimed down, and sure enough, the bolt embedded itself into the beast's calf, sending into stumbling.

It shrieked, screamed and sobbed in agony, noises bordering on almost human-like as it thrashed on the floor. The arrow stuck straight up, bright color on the end almost a beacon for the beast's location. Poor thing. He really should've just aimed for the head and put it out of its mercy, but this was the only way to ensure a clean shot.

Eugene slid off his horse, crouching low to the ground as he readied the final blow. But as he got nearer, as the moon hung lower in the sky, providing light through the filtering trees. He hesitated.

The beast was crawling, still trying to run, front legs pawing at the forest floor and clenching the leaves beneath with hands.

Hands...?

Eugene's stomach sank, lower and lower with each passing step, heart climbing higher and higher in his throat, the closer he got, the more ill he felt.

He saw the chains first. No, not chains like that on a cattle’s neck. Prison shackles, the kind wrapped around a prisoner's legs. And they were wrapped around legs, keeping strides from being too large.

And their torso.... clothed torso..... The beast heaved, each breath causing it to rise and fall with rapid panic.

The Captain's hands brushed against the tree with his other bolt embedded in it, eyes trailing onto it, and he froze.

Blue hair, stabbed by the bolt.

"No," he breathed. "No no no no no..." His boots picked up the pace, speed walking over to his catch, to his victim. Please, for the love of god, let him be wrong. Let this be a cruel prank, just a bear or deer dressed up to fool him... don't let it be...!

The creature heard him approach and sobbed, flipping itself over on shaking hands to get a better look at its assailant.

There, lightened by the moonlight, chest heaving, tears streaming down his face and blood oozing from his leg, was Varian.

"Varian....?" Eugene whispered, tears of his own budding when his friend whimpered, scooting back and away. With each step forward Varian scrambled back until his back hit a tree, at which point he curled into a ball. Like a frightened animal. Like a cornered beast.

Oh god... this whole time, he thought it was just one of the farm animals marked for slaughter, or a meddlesome woodland critter... he thought it was an animal destined for someone's table, so why not the guards'? Why on Earth did he agree to this? Was he so desperate for approval from his peers that he would simply shrug off the ringing alarm bells, put aside his gut instinct, and dive in blindly?

Yes, his mind whispered. You would, and you did.

"Hey, buddy," He leaned down, inching closer. "Varian, goggles, it's me. It's Team Awesome." His hand shook as he reached forward, but Varian flinched violently, causing his leg to spasm. The boy hiccuped, a hand clamping over his mouth to stifle his sobs. A small mercy came from the shadows of the night, with it too dark for details, Varian wouldn't see the blood rapidly soaking his pants.

The crossbow glinted, a sharp refraction bouncing off frightened blue eyes and causing him to wince. Eugene tossed the weapon away like it burned him.

"It's me, it's Eugene," he reassured, scooting closer bit by bit. "I'm here to help. I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You did," Varian gasped, whole form shaking. "You did."

And that really was the crux of it, wasn't it? At the center of Eugene's self loathing was the spiral of guilt that you shot him, you shot the kid. He trusted you, and you shot him.

"I know," he rasped, trying to keep his voice level. "I did. I'm so sorry. Fuck, I'm so sorry." Varian sobbed, unfurling slightly if only to reach out for comfort. Even if this was the man who hurt him, who hunted him on horse and acted as the boogeyman straight out of nightmares, he was also Eugene, his friend, the one who stood up for him against Cass and Aaron, held his hand and promised he'd be there if Varian ever needed it. And god did he need him now.

Shaking, gloved hands connected in the middle, Eugene's grip gentle but grounding, a careful smile on his face. "That's it, bud. You're safe."

“Aw, ain’t that cute?”

Faster than a bullet, the smaller hand retracted, Varian’s eyes wide and horror-struck. In his attempt to comfort the boy, Eugene had let his guard down. He’d forgotten the final rule of the game.

No one moves until you make the first shot.

They were surrounded.

Aaron swaggered up to the duo with a grin, torch in hand. It flickered and sputtered, illuminating his blinding white grin amidst the darkness. The other guards formed a circle around them. Every other man carried a torch, while the rest had a weapon or tool or rope.

“The Captain has captured the beast! And in remarkable time, too.” Aaron simpered, waltzing up and gripping Varian’s cheeks in his hand. The boy snarled, teeth grit as he stared up at his bully.

From behind them came Aaron’s two buddies, the guards from before, each one wrapping an arm around Eugene’s shoulder, hauling him up and away.

For a moment, Eugene's insides were pure ice, frozen in time, unable to react despite the screaming in his mind as the puzzle pieces failed to connect. They jumbled and sloshed in his mind, the picture only half complete and the rest of the pieces strewn atop, obscuring the image from his view.

"Eugene...?" Varian whispered, thawing him.

"What have you done!?" He bellowed, anger hardening his voice. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" He strained against the guards.

"Just as we told you, sir!" Aaron mocked, forcing Varian to meet the Captain's gaze. "We captured a beast for you to hunt down! And now that you have," The grin was razor sharp, shark's fangs practically drenched in blood. "We'll dispose of it properly."

A guard from the circle threw a rope, the ends tied into a loop. Like a ring toss, the aim was true, ensnaring Varian's wrist and tightening when he pulled. Another guard followed suit, yanking the boy back and forth till his arms were spread eagle and unable to move.

Varian turned a stark white, paler than the moon that neared the horizon. He cried out, straining to try and escape, but another spasm from his leg paralyzed him. “N-no, please not again…!” He sobbed. “Let me go-!”

"Again!? Varian, what do you mean? VARIAN!" Eugene yelled. "VARIAN!"

The boy screwed his eyes shut, praying for the nightmare to end.

"LET HIM GO!" Eugene strained against the guards, lamenting once again, his own stupidity. He should've brought Max, or an actual weapon, like his sword, or something! He'd gone in totally blind, expecting that the guards were decent people and that this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. Honestly, he should've known better! After everything he's seen and done, never leave the house without a concealed weapon! You were almost executed by half these assholes!

When he gets back, he's firing everyone except Stan and Pete.

A third rope flashed through the air, this time with a loop larger than the others. It latched itself onto Varian's neck, wrapping tight and close. His eyes snapped open in pure terror, mouth opening in shock. But before the boy could protest or scream, the rope was pulled taut, and his face turned an awful shade of purple. He coughed, thrashing in place with tears of fear and hypoxia trailing his cheeks.

"Aw, the beast is scared! Doesn't he know how all animals are slaughtered?" Aaron cooed, faux sympathy marring his features. "You know, don't you? You were raised on a farm, after all." His question went unanswered, Varian too busy rasping for breath to respond.

The man with the rope pulled harder, forcing Varian's face down into the dirt where his muffled cries barely caused the leaves beneath to move. A steel boot stomped onto his head, and the cries went still.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" Eugene bellowed, the protective instincts in his mind going haywire, overheating and exploding with pure rage and an intense need to save him, free him. He let this happen, if he had been smarter, stronger, if he hadn't shot him, hadn't let his guard down, hadn't shrugged and taken the guards' words at face value… “Oh relax, it'll be painless!” Aaron hummed, producing a knife from his belt. “The beast didn’t answer the question, but, I’m sure you can figure out how animals are killed after falling unconscious.” He jokingly slashed the dagger in the air above his throat, and Eugene saw red.

"YOU ARE SO FIRED!" He screeched at Aaron. "WHEN RAPUNZEL FINDS OUT-"

"Oh?" Aaron mocked, turning around and placing a hand to his chest daintily. "When the princess finds out? You're making her do all the heavy lifting?" He sauntered up to Eugene, hips swaying with each step till they were nose to nose. "This is your job, sir. You are in charge of keeping us in line, keeping the prisoners in their place."

"Varian is NOT a prisoner," Eugene hissed, meeting his gaze with pure fury. "He is a friend, my friend, my brother."

"Perhaps to Eugene Fitzherbert, but not a Captain of the Guard." Aaron shrugged.

Eugene lowered his head. For a brief moment, Aaron grinned victoriously. Now he's getting it.

"Too bad for you, I'm both."

Aaron's face fell, the cheerful facade falling into a brutal glower. "What does that mea-"

He was cut off when Eugene slammed his face into Aaron's, hitting the bastard's nose with a CRUNCH. He staggered back, and his buddies loosened their grip on Eugene to see if he's ok. It's all the advantage Eugene needed, quickly pushing them both off him and charging Aaron. His shoulder bowled into Aaron, sending him sprawling, and Eugene only stopped to grab the dagger he dropped before sprinting for Varian's crumpled form.

"Oh sun, please be ok, come on kid," Eugene chanted, slashing the rope around his neck. It leaves a brutal ring of red around his neck, as do the ones around his wrist when they're dispatched. There was no time to remove the chains, what with the remaining guards quickly regaining their senses and gearing up for a fight.

He lifted Varian up into his arms as if he were made of glass. Dark black hair lolled against the Captain's chest as he stood to his full height, glaring down at his employees, the hazers, the conspirators.

There was no hope of taking them all on, that much was clear. Charging into battle with hands full and armed only with a knife was stupid. He'd have to outrun them, play the game, and make it to Old Corona where Quirin could protect his son and he could get actual backup from loyal men.

Perhaps this was the true game, the true test of his worthiness.

Aaron snarled, staggering up while clutching his nose. "GET HIM!"

Eugene crouched, letting the first guard try and charge him before jumping out of the way at the last second. This he was used to, dodging men who wanted nothing more than to hurt and destroy what he held dear, making a run for it to the relative safety of the familiar. He fell into the old routine without too much difficulty, leaping over heads and ducking under blows. It helped that Varian barely weighed more than a few grapes, still a stick from his year in prison. He and the others had been hard at work trying to help him gain at the very least some muscle, though Varian was a big fan of skipping meals for science.

According to Quirin he's had that habit for a while, and right now it was a minor blessing.

Huh, he thought to himself as he dodged a crossbow bolt, taking off into the trees. Captain of the Guard isn't all that off from my usual life, just with some added benefits. Another arrow nearly took off his ear. Yea, same old stuff.

His feet pounded against the forest floor, dredging up leaves and dirt alike as he ran. There was no time to cover his tracks or be discreet, there was a whole battalion after him, so it wouldn't do much good anyway. But as his steps quickened, as Varian bounced up and down in his arms, the chains still rattling, the boy stirred, groaning in pain with each motion.

"Gene...?" He mumbled, muffled through the man’s coat.

"Hey kid," Eugene grinned down, not slowing for a second. "Glad to see you're ok. How's your throat?"

"On fire..." a weak hand pawed at his throat, rubbing the soreness away.

"Sorry about that, you're gonna be just fine, ok? It's all gonna be ok."

Varian hummed, eyes glossy and not fully there. His head fell back onto Eugene's chest, a soft smile full of love that he didn't deserve. "K. I trust you."

Varian fell back into an uneasy sleep after that, his breaths wheezing against Eugene, lips stained blue and face clammy. Anytime exhaustion tried to creep into his bones, tried to sneak into his soul and drain him to surrender, he looked down at Varian and his spirit would renew.

At some point, they were hiding behind a tree, keeping to the intense darkness. A few guards could be heard not too far off, their annoyed mutterings like an alarm bell, a siren's song of false security. Just as they passed, Varian coughed, clutching at the fabric for comfort. It was an ugly sound, weak and ragged, as if there was something coming up.

When he looked down, those blue lips were now stained red.

He picked up the pace after that.

But even he couldn't run forever, no matter how light Varian was or how determined he was. Inevitably he had to stop for water, hiding Varian behind a fallen tree and drinking from a stream whose sounds hid them from view.

He just finished his own drink when Varian stirred, and the Captain was quick to help Varian get some water of his own.

They sat by the stream for a bit, catching their breaths, Eugene from exertion, and Varian from strangulation.

It was here that Varian recounted his side of the story, tears dripping and mixing with the stream below him. "I was so scared..." he whispered, voice hoarse.

"I bet," Eugene soothed, running a thumb over Varian's palm. "What happened?"

"....I got jumped," his eyes turned downcast, shame coloring his features. "T-they grabbed me when I was gonna head home. Said that they wanted to make it up to me, to... to give me "a job befitting my talents"...." He sighed. "You can probably guess what that was, huh."

Eugene's ears burned. A flame simmered in his gut, nausea falling away as his free hand clenched at the leaves below him. "Yea. I can." He bit out.

For a moment, neither spoke, unsure of what to say. What could they say? The situation was insane, it was cruel, it was... it was…

Varian hacked, more blood than before coming up and splattering on the shackles that remained.

"Oh, let me get those," Eugene hissed. "I'm sorry, shit," He fumbled for his pockets, procuring a lock pick and making quick work of the shackles. "We gotta move. We can't let them find us." His hands hovered over the bolt, unsure. "Can I... I mean, you can't run with..."

Varian turned a shade of green, barely visible. “It’s stopping the blood from coming out.”

"Yea, good point, sorry." He coughed awkwardly, the stream bubbling and gurgling a simple melody.

"Why do... why do you keep apologizing?" Varian asked, not meeting Eugene's eye for a second.

"Wh- seriously?" He let out a bark of laughter, fading when Varian's face didn't change. "Kid, it's my fault you're in this mess! Sun above, I shot you. I said I'd keep you safe and I shot you." Anger swelled in his words, but Varian didn't flinch. He knew it wasn't directed at him. "Some Captain I am, I'm being chased by my own guys."

Varian bit his lip. "Did..." he hesitated to ask. If the answer wasn't what he was hoping for, he'd never recover. "Did you know it was me?"

"No!" Eugene's eyes widened. "No, I never would've agreed if I knew it was a person, let alone you!" He ran a hand through frazzled hair.

"So..." Varian hummed. "You shot me on accident, and then saved me. Again. Even when your men tried to convince you otherwise." Each sentence was slow, filled with Varian needed to take in a breath, but he met his friend's eyes this time. "I think that's a pretty good Captain."

Eugene blinked, then smiled. "Thanks, kid."

Dark voices shouted across the clearing, words incomprehensible. Varian jolted, hands flying up before doubling over hacking. Each cough shook his body so hard you’d think the boy was trembling with fright.

“Woah, easy,” Eugene’s hand rubbed over his back. “Deep breaths. Come on goggles. You got this.”

“You would think,” Varian rasped. “But I do not.”

Finally, with one final hack, his coughs ceased. Each gulp of air felt like heaven, or at least it did for the first few seconds. Then it was replaced by a searing hell, leaving him scrambling again.

God, what is the culprit?

As his breathing quieted, as the burn turned to a small simmer, Varian’s eyes trailed to the forest floor beneath him.

Stained with blood.

Varian’s eyes widened, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks as his entire world focused in on the blood. The dark blues of night left it hard to see, more a black shine than the vicious red, but there was no denying what it was.

“What-oooh,” Eugene hissed, grabbing Varian’s shoulders for support. Shit, this was bad. He made a mental list of symptoms for the inevitable doctor visit: raspy voice, struggling to breathe, coughing up blood... all signs pointed to the noose as the culprit. Whichever guard had tried to strangle Varian was getting fired and arrested.

No, screw it, all of them were.

“Focus on me, hair stripe,” he warned, shaking his brother slightly. “Are you ok to move?” All he got was a weedy moan.  “I’m taking that as a maybe.” With no preamble, he scooped his arms under Varian’s knees and back, pulling him into his arms as he stood in one fluid motion. “I’m gonna try and make a run for it, ok? We’re almost to your dad. I just need you to stay with me.”

Silence, and then a faint nod moving against his coat.

Each step sent vibrations up Eugene’s spine, tingling and thrumming in his veins and pounding in time with his heart. The sun would be rising soon, it had to be, with the dew that is forming at his feet.

At some point Varian readjusted, shifting so that he could see over their shoulders. He couldn’t run, couldn’t fight, but at least he could keep an eye out.

And it’s a good thing he did, when he beats wildly at Eugene’s chest in a signal. The captain was about to duck behind a bush, but the forest’s edge is within sight! Maybe if they made a break for it...?

An arrow grazed his side.

The pain looped through his system, joining the adrenaline for a joyride through his mind and it sent him sprawling. Varian rolled out of his arms, collapsing at the forest’s edge.

Eugene groaned, raising his face with the sun to see Aaron’s smug grin glowing in the upcoming dawn.

“Well, look what I caught! A daddy beast and a baby beast!” He said.

Eugene gaped. “Could you be any creepier? Really, gotta go for the weirdest shit to say, don’t you?”

“Eh,” Aaron shrugged, crossbow in hand. He stepped past his boss (Er, ex boss), boots crunching on leaves and leaving nothing but dust in their wake. “I’m a weird guy, I guess.”

“Yea, a real weirdo. Kidnaps a teenager and has the captain hunt him for sport. A nice quirk, ain’t it!” Each word is angrier than before until he is spitting acid.

Aaron doesn’t even argue; he’s too caught up in his victory. Varian shook as he struggled to sit up, arms quivering with effort. Just as he raised his head his eyes met the gleaming tip of an arrow, aimed right between the eyes. “Say goodnight, kid. Don’t worry. I’ll make a fine trophy out of you. Hang your goggles over my mantle.”

“Would you knock it the fuck off!?” Eugene wheezed, scrambling up. His feet gave out near instantly, but he leapt forward, colliding with the guard and driving his aim up. The arrow whizzed overhead, harmlessly lodging into a tree.

“Varian, run!” Eugene yelled, still on top of the other.

“I CAN’T! What part of arrow in my leg don’t you get!?” Varian yelled, immediately followed by coughing.

Eugene went to answer, only for the butt of the crossbow to whack him in the face.

Aaron laughed, loud and manic, the sound like nails on a chalkboard. It was quickly stopped by a punch to his stomach from the furious man above him. If the others found them, it’d be game over. Literally.

Whether or not Eugene would be killed was unclear. While he didn’t always need Rapunzel to save him, her good graces granted him immunity from most local threats. But they’d definitely kill Varian, and that was the bigger concern to him.

Unfazed, Aaron slammed his skull into Eugene’s, sending him tearing back. The guard quickly flipped them, crossbow still in between.

“Face it,” Aaron snarled. “You’ll never be a true captain. You can’t control your men, can’t protect a kid, can’t even protect yourself. You just got the job because you saved the lost princess.”

“In my defense,” Eugene wheezed. “Your previous guard couldn’t do that either.” That only angered him more, digging the crossbow into Eugene’s Adam’s apple.

The two men wrestled briefly, Eugene finally getting a good grip on the crossbow, and kicking Aaron off of him. He scrambled to Varian, fully prepared to scoop him up and begin the dance again, just for a little longer, but Aaron just yelled out in anger, drawing a sword from his belt. As strong as Eugene was, he couldn’t outrun him with Varian in his arms. He would know, he trained his men to match him in speed and strength.

Varian moaned in pain. He had to do something, he couldn’t just sit here! Eugene had spent the whole night running around, working his ass off to keep him safe after the initial mistake, he couldn’t let him down...

But the arrow scraped against his bone, pain sending stars across his vision any time he stood…

The captain’s hands clenched down on wood, eyes calculating. He looked into Varian’s eyes, then down at his leg. Then up again. And down again. He hissed between teeth, kneeled down, and clenched his fist around the arrow. It sent a pulse of pain through Varian’s leg, the boy wincing, but understanding.

“Do it,” he hissed.

And yanked.

The pain was so sharp, so intense, that for a moment Varian was certain he was dead. There was no way anyone could survive with this much pain, he must surely be dead or dying. White hot agony stabbed into his leg, and he bit so hard on his lip he broke skin. It took everything in him not to scream.

Aaron laughed again, shadow blanketing them. Eugene turned to see him looming over them, sword above his head. “Say goodnight, Sir!” he shrieked.

Fwip!

Thunk!

The man’s grin vanished in an instant, replaced by sheer shock at the arrow sticking straight into his throat. Blood trickled down the wound, looking more like an impulse tracheotomy. Suddenly, he pitched forward, face hitting the forest floor with a sickening shick as the arrow went the rest of the way through his throat. There wasn’t even a struggle, no death rattles or cry of pain, just the sounds of a morning dove in the coming dawn.

Eugene’s shoulders slumped, and Varian leaned back into the cool grass.

“You doing alright there, Goggles?” Eugene called.

“My lungs are on fire, I can’t feel my legs and I’m sweating in places I didn’t even know I could sweat. I’d say I’m in the mood to die, but I literally just spent the whole night trying to prevent that.”

“...fair enough.”

-

The weeks that followed were, for lack of a better term, a total fucking nightmare.

After pulling themselves together, the brothers managed to hobble to Varian’s house in Old Corona, just in time to greet Quirin at the door. Imagine the poor man’s shock when he was headed out to work only to be greeted by his son’s blood and the captain’s exhaustion. Suffice to say, they got a proper tongue lashing the whole cart ride to Corona proper, the father fussing over them both while he rushed them to the infirmary. And then they had to get chewed out by Rapunzel, and Lance, and pretty much everyone else, despite their repeated insistence that it wasn’t their fault this time.

“What did you expect us to do? We were being hunted!” Eugene whined at Rapunzel while a nurse cleaned up a cut.

“Uh, I was being hunted. You were hunting me .” Varian hoarsely piped up from his own bed, leg propped up in a cast. He paused at the frantic stop motion Eugene was making, and the paling faces of his father and princess. “Oh. Was I. Not supposed to say that.”

“You’re not supposed to be talking,” Rapunzel chided lightly, though that was clearly not the problem. The doctor had been pretty quick to explain Varian’s breathing issues were just from the throat trauma, and would heal with time and supervision.

“I didn’t know! In my defense,” Eugene held up his hands as if to shield from Quirin’s murderous face, but if looks could kill he’d be a pile of bones. “I didn’t know.”

“How do you…” Quirin pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to remind myself that you saved my son’s life and ignore the part where you endangered it in the first place.”

“Yes, please do,” He said, shifting under the glare.

And then came the paperwork.

Trying to figure out who among the guards was part of the hunt was hard enough, seeing as outside of Aaron and his cronies, no one was going to say a word. All they had to go off of were the men who saw Eugene off, and the ones who initially captured Varian. And since they hadn’t run into anyone else directly, no one could be properly accused and charged. But Eugene wasn’t going to take any chances, and therefore anyone who he saw at least once was fired, and if they wanted to dispute it they could come to him and explain why they were willing to throw his little brother to the wolves.

Suffice to say, no one did. Which left Eugene with only two thirds his original squadron. He spent a good while of his recovery vetting new recruits and creating incentives for others to try out, and while he was able to replenish his ranks, they weren’t nearly the same elite task force they’d started with. And considering the threats they faced on the regular, that was a serious problem.

It was after a long day of training and interviews that Eugene finally stumbled into the castle library, ready to destress with a nice long binge read of Flynn Rider. He grabbed a few books off the shelves as he walked, headed for his favorite couch and the cozy fireplace at its side, only to stop dead in his tracks.

Varian lay spread across the couch, foot propped up on the armrest as he glossed over some scientific text that Eugene had no hope of understanding. His eyes flitted up and down the page, clearly not actually reading and more just staring at the words.

“Hey,” Eugene called, and Varian barely reacted. “Oi, kid, that’s my spot. Scooch it.” “I got here first,” Varian said, not looking up for a second.

“Older brother gets first dibs.”

“Little brother gets his way.”

Oh he was gonna play it like that was he? Eugene smirked, plopping his books down at the floor before collapsing directly on top of Varian, making care to not crush the injured leg. Varian squawked in protest, limbs flailing.

“Get off! You’re heavy!” he yelled, trying to push him off. When that failed, he resorted to whacking at him.

“Never!” Eugene laughed. “Your little punches feel like flowers!”

“I have an iron deficiency!” Varian responded, cheeks red but smiling slightly. The captain finally stopped suffocating him, but didn’t get off, instead wiggling in close so they could share. “Mean,” Varian whined, a pout on his lips, but didn’t complain.

“Oh hush,” Eugene chided, grabbing a book from the floor. “You know you love me.”

Varian simply hummed, buck teeth peeking through a tiny grin. “So, what did you grab for today?”

“Ah, glad you asked!” Eugene held up the cover, which Varian oohed in appreciation. “One of the older ones, came out when I was your age.” He wrapped an arm around Varian, pulling his brother close, the warmth of his side and the fire combining to create a heavenly cocoon. “You want to read, or should I?”

“Your turn,” Varian responded, stifling a yawn.

The book creaked in protest, Eugene gazing down at his little brother with a smile. He leaned his cheek on the boy’s hair, deep voice dripping with fondness as he started to read.

Being Captain was fun, but being a brother was even better.

[honeybeesiness]

an unholy holiday.

word count: 2k.

slight nsfw warning! dw tho, there’s absolutely no smut and it’s 97% fluff. it’s just the reader being a tiny bit of a thottie ;).

‎

‎

two limited edition sucre frenzy tickets.

The next day was your day with the beloved otaku Leviathan. Based off the kind of person he was, you figured that he would want to watch some anime with you or take you to a convention somewhere in Devildom (or the human world if you’re lucky). Binging the TSL series in the beginning of the year for the quiz against Levi proved beneficial to you (aside from being able to make a pact with him), as after that you became quite invested in the series to the point where you would want to name your pet Henry too. You knew Levi liked how you were fond of the series, because it wasn’t every day where he met someone that shared the same interests as him and didn’t put him down for it. With that being said, you were perfectly content with watching TSL or any other series that Levi chose today.

After breakfast that morning, you had gotten a text from the boy in question, who had not shown up for the meal.

💞weeb husband💞: meet me in my room

💞weeb husband💞: wear ur pajamas

You began to grow excited, as your suspicions were seemingly correct. It seemed like you were quite good at guessing what the boys had planned so far, given how you knew what Beelzebub was planning yesterday as well. Were you a psychic? Maybe you just had really good intuition. Or maybe you just knew the brothers so well that guessing came easy for you. Either way, you were smiling like a madman as you typed out a reply.

You: aight fam, i’ll be there asap

You: want me to wear my tsl jammies

💞weeb husband💞: yes

After his swift reply, you slid your phone into your hoodie and bid the others at the breakfast table a farewell. You headed on back to your room to swap into what you called your “TSL Pajamas”, which was just a worn-looking oversized brown t-shirt with the TSL logo on it along with a pair of comfy grey pajama shorts. After you got dressed, you slid down the hall and knocked on Levi’s door.

“Come in.”

And you did, shutting the door behind you. You grinned giddily at Leviathan (who was situated in his bathtub) before turning your attention to the rest of the room. Surrounding the bathtub that was Leviathan’s bed was a large array of snacks and drinks, most of which were your favorites. You didn’t think Devildom had human food like this, and you wondered if Levi went out of his way to get you these things. You were grateful, and you sent him a cheeky look, also deciding that it would be funny to tease him just a little. Embarrassed Levi was one of your favorite Levis, after all.

“Did you get all of this for me~?” You batted your eyelashes, slowly and sensually bending over to pick up a bottle of banana flavored ramune, which you examined while still being crouched. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see the bluenette’s face flush a scarlet color, and that was enough to satisfy you for the moment. “Thank you.”

“LOL, they’re not all for you, you know!” He squawked, still mildly embarrassed, but soon his face returned to its normal hue. “Believe it or not, there are some foods from the human world that actually taste good!”

You rolled your eyes, picking up a packet of chocolate pocky (a classic) as well as another favorite snack of yours before sauntering over to where Levi was sitting in the bathtub. “What’re we doin’? With all these snacks, I would assume you have something in mind.”

“You and I are going to be having an anime marathon.” He jabbed a finger in the direction of one of his PC monitors whose position he changed so the both of you could watch. “I wanna watch TSL and I don’t listen to normies who say no.”

“No. We literally watch TSL EVERY time I come to hang out here! Let’s try somethin’ new for once.” You said defiantly, earning a huff and a mini pout from the boy in return. You were clearly contradicting what you had thought to yourself earlier, but we don’t talk about that.

“FINE. What do you suggest?” He grumbled, pulling his keyboard closer to his lap so he could bring up his Softbun account. You put one foot into his bathtub and his head immediately shot over to look at you, his expression a little bit wild. “What are you doing?!”

You put another foot in. “Getting comfortable, of course, so scooch over! Your fatass is hogging the tub.”

“Excuse me?!” Levi sounded offended, but he was smiling as he (hesitantly) moved over. You plopped yourself down, hanging your legs over the rim of the tub. It was a small, Levi-sized bathtub, and you eyed the boy as he blushed fervently at your close proximity.

“Hey, have you watched Beast Assassin yet?” You asked, pointing at the series on the monitor in front of you. The show was in Levi’s library, but you couldn’t tell if he watched it or not.

He gave you a look that told you that you had asked a stupid question. “You mean the hit series where the protagonist’s sister gets turned into a beast and the protagonist must go on a journey to find a cure for her? OF COURSE I watched it! What are you, some kind of pleb?”

“NO. Shut the hell your mouth, we’re watching Beast Assassin, but we’re skipping to the part where Airitsu first appears because he’s the best.” You snatched his keyboard off his lap and placed it on yours, reaching your hand over the side of the bathtub to move the mouse (which was placed on the floor next to the bed) over to Beast Assassin.

“What are you saying?! Are you crazy?! We can’t just start on the second episode without watching the first! It’s called “Episode 2“ for a reason!” Levi attempted to take the keyboard away from you, but as soon as he laid his fingers on it, the entire room went pitch black.

You were the first to react. “Eh?? Levi-san, it’s so dark! H-Hold me!” But you, in fact, did not hold onto him. You could hear the boy, scoff, though. “Are we havin’ some sort of blackout? Has this ever happened in Devildom, or—?”

“This is SO unfair,” Levi grumbled to himself, and you felt him move beside you. “Just as I was going to click on the first episode of Beast Assassin!” You aggressively shoved him on the arm for that comment, sending him stumbling out of the bathtub and flat on the floor. Since you couldn’t exactly see him, the only way you could tell that he was on the floor was through the sound of skin hitting the tile that was the floor of Levi’s bedroom. “Hey!”

“What, I didn’t do anything!” You “harumph-ed” and crossed your arms, but you were generally curious as to what Levi was up to. And, as your eyes began to grow used to the dark, you could make out his silhouette approaching his desk where the rest of his monitors sat. “What’cha doin’?”

You watched somewhat blindly as he reached over the screens to the shelves that sat behind the desk, grabbing something that you couldn’t make out. You, too, got out of the bathtub, and you stumbled over to where Leviathan was standing. As he sensed you approaching, he turned away from you and hunched over slightly so you couldn’t see what he was holding. You shoved him again, but much more lightly this time.

“If you don’t stop, I won’t be giving you any of these glowsticks!” Ah, so that was what he was holding.

“Glowsticks? You have glowsticks??” From your spot behind Leviathan, you could spot a faint glow coming from his frontside. He turned around to face you, his face lit up by pink and red glowsticks, but still remaining shrouded by the surrounding darkness. He gave you another incredulous look that told you that you asked a stupid question. “Don’t give me that look! I thought that you used them all at the last concert you went to!”

Leviathan squinted at you. “Bold of you to assume that, since I’ve taken you to all of the concerts I got tickets for in the past year!”

That was something that had completely failed to cross your mind. It’s not that you didn’t remember Levi taking you to all those pop idol concerts before (you did), but you were always more invested in the music and the choreography rather than what the audience was doing or even holding.

“Well, I’m sooooorry that I forgot! It’s just-”

“Enough of your excuses, woman.” Leviathan interrupted you with a flick on your forehead. “An otaku never is without their glowsticks.”

“You can’t say that ‘cause glowsticks aren’t even used for anime! ...Unless it’s of Lyricoids. You like Lyricoids, right? You better. Who’s your favorite?” You reached out your hand to grab at the pink glowstick, hoping to distract the bluenette with your chitchat, but he moved his hands away.

“Of course I do! I like Muka. Her voice is so melodic and graceful, and her songs are so beautiful and meaningful. The settings of her music videos are always so detailed, especially with the backgrounds and how the plot of the song is portrayed through the visuals. Muka also always looks amazing in any outfit since her figure is naturally curvy and mature, and the musicians and animators never fail to make her draw the audience’s eyes. I also really like how—”

“I like the OG queen herself, Riku, thanks for asking.” You interrupted somewhat sarcastically, having another go at trying to acquire one of Levi’s glowsticks. “She’s so bubbly and her voice is so versatile that she can sing and sound nice in literally any genre.”

“I agree, but,” Levi moved the glowsticks out of the way once more. “Muka is—”

There were several knocks on Levi’s door, and both of your heads swiveled in that direction. You also took that moment to swipe up the pink glowstick, and Levi glared at you.

“What if a serial killer busted the lights and is out to kill us.” You mused, scratching your chin. “He’s being awfully polite if he’s knocking on the door, though.”

You were on a roll with your stupid statements today, for Levi gave you another look, this one being much more annoyed. He didn’t bother to correct you, and instead said, “I hope he kills you first because you’re being so annoying.”

Your reply was immediate, and the knocking was heard once more. “Jokes on you, I actually want to die.” Pink glowstick in hand, you marched to the front of the room and opened the door. “Stab me, daddy.”

“...What?”

You blinked several times and held up the glowstick to the person’s face. It was Satan, and you shuffled awkwardly in your spot. “Oops.”

“I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.” Satan surveyed the room, and his stiff posture relaxed— if only a little. “Good, you two aren’t the only ones whose rooms are affected by the blackout.”

You leaned against the doorframe. “This happened to you too?”

Satan nodded. “And the rest of us as well. It is unusual, is it not? This never happened before.”

“Well, I hope it gets fixed soon, because Levi back here,” You jabbed your free thumb in the man’s direction. “is being the biggest prick. He said he actually WANTED me to die! And for what, being annoying? Sheesh, how harsh.”

Satan smiled a little bit, glancing back at Leviathan, who he was only able to see thanks to the glowstick he was holding. Upon hearing your words, Levi marched up and slammed the door shut.

You held up your hands in front of yourself in mock surrender. “Let’s just agree that we’re both being annoying.”

“But YOU’RE the one who’s being annoying!”

“Agree to disagree?”

“...Fine.” ‎‎ ‎‎‎

i have a headcanon where Levi uses crackhead/internet/gen z humor so i decided to incorporate that into the story :”). had a lot of fun writing this!

also, if y’all forgot, Levi legit sleeps in a bathtub 😤.

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and yes that is a Sayaka Maizono/Danganronpa reference in the beginning ;)

‎‎‎

Beast Assassin = Demon Slayer. Airitsu = Zenitsu.

Lyricoid = Vocaloid. Muka = Luka Megurine. Riku = Miku Hatsune.

taglist: @wetleafwrites​ ::​ @midnight-moodlet​

[loren-velazquez]

Is that LOREN ‘LV’ VELAZQUEZ? Wow, they do look a lot like PRISCILLA QUINTANA. I hear SHE is a NINETEEN year old FRESHMEN who are studying BUSINESS AND MARKETING at Luxor University. Word is they are a ARISTOCRAT student. You should watch out because they can be FAKE and IMPULSIVE, but on the bright side they can also be AMBITIOUS and SOCIABLE. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself!

hello hello, this is my new college demon, loren. this intro got way out of hand, so there is a tl;dr at the bottom for those of you with short attention spans like myself! 

STATS

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Loren May Velazquez

NICKNAME(S): LV or Ren

DATE OF BIRTH: March 28th, 2001

AGE: 19

ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

OCCUPATION: College Student

HOMETOWN: Brooklyn, NY (Cobble Hill)

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Luxor Academy

NATIONALITY: Dual American/Swiss Citizenship

ETHNICITY: Half-White, Half-Mexican

LANGUAGE(S): English, Spanish, French, Italian

GENDER & PRONOUNS: She/Her

RELIGION: Catholic but non-practicing 

POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Liberal Democrat

DISCLAIMER: Priscilla Quintana’s ethnicity has not been confirmed, though it is believed she is half-white, half-Mexican, and I casted FCs for her family (and drafted her backstory) accordingly. If she comes out and confirms her ethnicity, I will take it into consideration and make any appropriate edits.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

FACE CLAIM: Priscilla Quintana

HEIGHT: 5'5"

EYE COLOUR: Green

HAIR COLOUR + STYLE: Dark brown, usually worn blown out 

TATTOO(S): TBD

PIERCING(S: TBD

GLASSES: TBD

PERSONALITY

MBTI TYPE: ESFP

POSITIVE TRAITS: Ambitious, Sociable

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Fake, Impulsive

GOALS/DESIRES:  Loren wants to be both of the Bush twins wrapped up in one. She wants Jenna’s gig as a news anchor, and Barbara’s political/philanthropic/activism endeavors, with a dash of, like, socialite/influencer thrown in.

FEARS: TBD

HOBBIES:  TBD

HABITS:  TBD

SMOKES?: uses a juul bc of course she does

DRINKS?: yes

DRUGS?: occasionally

FAMILY - to be added

LUXOR UNIVERSITY

Major: Business & Marketing

Minor: Politics

Extra-Curriculars: 

Debate Student Council Ballet (Soloist)

SOME FUN FACTS

only child which explains a lot of her ~ issues ~ 

her parents picked out the name loren for their kid regardless of gender, which is why she’s loren and not lauren or laurel or something similar/more traditionally feminine

loren’s father is a semi high-profile politician. he worked in local new york government for awhile and then when she was 13 (6 years ago) he became a senator for new york. his goal is to either become mayor of nyc or governor of new york, and hopefully make a presidential bid at some point

loren’s mother is part of the manesse family (loren’s cousin is zelda reese) and she lost part of her inheritence when she married her father, which doubled the pressure on loren, since it comes from her father’s political ambitions and her mother’s familial obligations 

her family is definitely upper middle class, though not extraordinarily wealthy, but loren is still a bit of a snob. she puts a lot of weight on people’s careers and standing and ambition. 

loren grew up in brooklyn and has spent her whole life in the city. she attended a private high school in nyc as well. 

she took a gap year to do philanthropic work (it looks so good on her resume!!!!) before enrolling at luxor university as a freshman, so she technically is a year older than your typical freshman

she is very much a fake human being. she will pull the regina george ‘oh my god i love that skirt’ and then turn around and ‘that is the fugliest skirt i’ve ever seen’. she acts to everyone’s face like she is the nicest sweetest person and then turns around and talks some  s h i t  if you are in her inner circle 

loren is very outgoing, extroverted, sociable, whatever word you want to use. she has a politician’s charisma from her father, and really can charm the pants off anyone if she wants to. 

she is a big partier, she drinks, occasionally uses drugs (weed/cocaine at most, she typically wouldn’t do things much harder than that)

because of who her father is, she loves to give fake names when she’s out partying and meets a stranger. she’ll invent a whole character rather than give any real details about herself

in fact she doesn’t really give too many details about herself even when she’s not playing a character. she is intensely private about her feelings/thoughts/emotions/anything personal. partially from her father’s career, partially from her being a fake bitch

once you’re one of her friends, she’s ride or die, yo

she is wildly impulsive. she literally can be talked into any stupid ass scheme or plot or idea if you suggest it to her in the right away, and will not pause for a single second to think any sort of aftermath through. 

loren is a ballerina and was fairly dedicated to it through high school, and even though she’s continuing in college, she never considered it more than a hobby as her parent’s expectations made it obvious that was not a viable career path

she idolizes the bush twins even though they’re republicans and her father hates george w. bush. she’ll literally go out buy every single book recommendation on jenna bush hager’s book club and her goal after college is to work with the global health corp (that barbara bush founded). 

she absolutely loves louis vuitton (because she is extremely vain and has loved that their logo is her initials since she was a little girl and she didn’t really understand WHY it was her initials) and she wears it as much as she can, hence the nickname her friends have given her of LV. 

CONNECTION IDEAS

CURRENT CONNECTION: PROXY DEALER - Loren uses but she is SUPER secretive about it. Her father is a politician, so obviously it would be a big deal if something came out about her drinking or doing drugs. This would be a student she trusted who essentially acted as a middle man between her and a dealer because she wouldn’t want to go to one herself

CURRENT CONNECTION: SHOCK VALUE - This could be romantic or platonic! Loren often has moments where she likes to shock her parents, so this would be someone she would bring around that she KNOWS they would disapprove of, just for the shock value and to get a little giggle to herself. TBD if your muse would be aware of this element to their relationship or not.

CURRENT CONNECTION: ARM CANDY - This could be romantic or platonic! This would be someone Loren would bring around her parents when she knows she needs to be on her best behavior/impress them for whatever reason. It most likely would be someone she doesn’t actually enjoy being around all that much, but she keeps that to herself to be able to use them for these situations. TBD if your muse would be aware of this element to their relationship or not. 

CURRENT CONNECTION: FWB/HOOK-UP -  Loren has two significant exes - her high school sweetheart and then the rebound. They both burned her badly, so she’s not about to start dating someone right away. Instead, she just does the casual FWB/hook-ups.

PAST CONNECTION: HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART - Loren had a high school sweetheart that she broke up with at the beginning of senior year. Most of this would be TBD depending on the muse that was filling the connection. 

TL;DR

loren is a high profile politician’s daughter, with a lot of familial pressure to succeed, which in turn makes her an expert at disappointing her parents. she grew up in brooklyn, went to high school for nyc, and took a gap year before enrolling at luxor university as a freshman. she still has a lot of ambition, even with her insanely impulsive wild child side, and personality wise, she’s a complete regina george. do NOT trust her. 

[spaceskam]

I Never Quite Let You Go

For @michaelguerinweek day 3: favorite michael dynamic (yes i stole this from the edit prompt, idk if this fits the fic prompt)

Summary: Everyone is struggling to deal with Michael and Rosa being friends.

ao3

Maria had no idea what she was going to find when she followed Michael’s hysterical directions.

It was all fine whenever he was playing the guitar and then he lost it. Something in him just snapped and he started freaking out, struggling to find his keys through his tears. Maria thought it was insane that he wanted to drive like that, but he insisted he had to go, so she offered to drive. Now, as they drove into the desert, she was regretting the offer.

She regretted it even more when he made her skid to a stop in a random place and jumped out while the car was still moving. She put the truck in park and ran after him, hoping to make sure he didn’t do anything too stupid.

A cave came into sight that he was barrelling towards and was able to catch up just as they stumbled inside. Maria froze as she saw a giant purple-blue glow with none other than Max Evans inside. What the hell?

“Papi?” The voice was unmistakable and Maria was again thrust into shock as she turned towards it. Rosa stood alive and breathing with a blanket in lieu of clothing. Before she could make a move, Michael ran to her. Rosa seemed to have no caution for modesty as she wrapped him in her arms, pulling him down to tuck his head under her chin. “You’re so old and scruffy, what the fuck.”

“How are you alive?” Maria whispered and Rosa just smiled, opening an arm for her. Maria easily molded into the hug, not even bothering that Michael was just a blubbering mess as he clutched onto her. She gave him an arm around him as well.

None of the made any sense but she was willing to accept it if it meant Rosa was here and hugging her.

-

“I can’t believe you.”

“Excuse me?”

Isobel shook her head as she watched Michael sip his coffee, going back and forth between giving her full attention and texting Rosa. It was so strange seeing him actually having a normal friendship with someone. They’d both insisted they were close in high school, but just no one noticed. Isobel feels like she would’ve noticed and that now they were just being more open about it rather than sneaking around.

“For a decade, you thought I killed your friend and you never said anything,” Isobel scoffed, shaking her head. She tried not to focus on how bad it hurt that he never mentioned it and was never allowed to grieve properly because of it.

Michael shrugged as if it didn’t matter. It mattered. “Look, there was nothing I could do. I knew you weren’t in your right mind and since she was dead, you and Max were all I had left. I needed to protect you, I couldn’t put my own feelings first.”

Her chest felt a sharp pang and she looked down at her own coffee. She hated that she never noticed. God, how had she never noticed?

-

“Rosa, seriously?”

Liz couldn’t help but be confused as Rosa watched Michael bend over the hood of the old car he’d found for her.

“What?” she laughed, “He got hot.”

“I can’t believe I never knew you two were even friends, much less close enough that you let a white boy call you 'Mami’,” Liz scoffed, shaking her head. Rosa shrugged and tilted her head as if it would give her a better view of his ass in his faded jeans.

“I keep good company,” she said and a smile broke out on her face, “Besides, it’s really funny when he says it.”

“Mami!” Michael called as if on cue, coming closer with sweat dripping down his bare chest. Liz couldn’t help but cringe as she heard Rosa sigh happily. “I forgot to tell you, I heard some old lady talkin’ about you.”

The two women raised their eyebrows in intrigue. “Do tell.”

“Apparently, the similarity between Elena Valenti and Rosa Ortecho has not gone unnoticed,” he grinned, leaning over her chair. Liz scrunched up her nose as they got close without a thought. She hated when they did that. She felt like she was intruding even though they insisted it was nothing more than friendship. “Heard that there’s a big theory that there’s some affair in the Valenti bloodline. No one even thinks it’s fishy.”

“Then it looks like Alex’s idea is working,” Rosa mused. Michael smiled wider at the name.

“Are we surprised?” he asked before dropping a kiss to her head which caused a smile. “Gonna go shower.”

“Are you sure it’s platonic? You know you can tell me,” Liz said seriously once he disappeared into the airstream. Rosa groaned, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, Liz, it’s nothing,” she insisted, “Michael is extremely into Alex and I have my eye on someone a little shorter and a little more woman. I think it’s bullshit that two people can’t be affectionate without it having to be something other than friendship.”

“I guess,” Liz said, though she still had her suspicions. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of the weird relationship between them. Still, Rosa shook her head.

“It’s not really a guess situation, Liz. That’s how it was when he was 16 and had never had anyone touch him that wasn’t violent. He deserves someone who doesn’t have ulterior motives and I don’t,” Rosa insisted, “Besides, I don’t have to defend my friendship.” Liz nodded despite remaining skeptical.

“Okay, you’re right.”

-

“Get out!”

“I am too fucking old to be thrown out of a girl’s bed by her dad, Valenti! Fuck off!”

Kyle was fuming as he watched Rosa laugh and Guerin hold a pillow over his head. All he was doing was trying to do his brotherly duties and wake her up so she wouldn’t be late for work, but he instead found her in bed with Guerin which was absolutely not okay. Rosa had no pants on and Guerin had no shirt or pants on and he did not approve.

“She is too young for you! She is 19! Get out!” Kyle yelled again, snatching the pillow away from him. Guerin made a face, rolling over.

“He literally stays over all the time, Kyle, calm down,” Rosa laughed. That did not calm him down.

“She is nineteen, Guerin!”

“We’re not fucking, holy shit.”

“You’re half-naked in her bed!”

“It’s 102 degrees outside!”

“I don’t care! Doesn’t give you the right to be in bed with a teenage girl!”

“I didn’t do anything! And if I did, multiple people, including my boyfriend, would probably skin me alive so leave me alone!” Guerin shouted, crossing his arms over his head. “And, by the way, no one said anything when she was 18 and I was barely 16 and sleeping half-naked in her bed, so I feel like there’s some double standards here!” Rosa pouted in adoration, reaching out to rub his back.

“You alright, Papi? Bad wake up call?” she cooed. Guerin simply whined in response. Kyle was about to lose it. “Also I’m technically 30, so…” Rosa said, giving him a wild smile. Kyle huffed and turned to storm out.

He was going to tell Alex about this.

-

“They’re friends, Kyle.”

“I’m annoyed by how calm you are.”

Alex chuckled, closing his laptop and sliding it into his backpack. He and Michael were going very slow and working their way to being solid friends before they did anything too crazy. They had had a long in-depth talk about how they wanted to go about things after Rosa and Maria had pressured Michael into making them actually talk. After that, it was super easy for Alex to stop feeling like either of them were a threat. Not that he liked that he felt that way in the first place, but he will admit that he did.

“They’re both consenting adults on top of it. Even without her literally dying, she’s almost 20 and she’s been through a lot. I think they’re good for each other,” Alex decided. At first, their relationship was a little uncomfortable, but Alex was probably the first one to realize that they related on a level Michael was lacking. It was good for him.

“I don’t like it, she’s my sister and he’s… Guerin,” Kyle said, looking disgusted. Alex smiled, shaking his head.

“He’s not that bad.”

“I don’t trust your judgment when it comes to him,” Kyle said. Alex shook his head, but let him continue to ramble. “He called you his boyfriend by the way.”

“Yeah?” Alex asked, a small smile pulling at his lips. They hadn’t really given anything a title, but they had agreed not to see anyone else while they tried to work with each other. The fact that he was considering a boyfriend made him feel a bit better.

“See, this is why I don’t trust your judgment!”

When Alex got home that night, he found both Michael and Rosa on his couch which had become pretty common these days. Alex had missed Rosa a lot, she was the first person to make him feel like he could be himself and say fuck it to whatever other people thought. He found it funny that while she was being that person for him, she was also that person for Michael. They could’ve so very easily been together earlier if Rosa’s two worlds had collided for a moment.

“I heard Kyle tried to throw you out this morning,” Alex chuckled, easily falling onto the couch between them.

“Which is why we’re on your couch and not his,” Michael noted. Alex smiled, shaking his head as Rosa tucked herself into his side.

“You’re just in time, though, ‘cause Papi made popcorn and it’s spooky movie season,” Rosa stated. Alex relaxed deeper into the couch with a nod, hearing his front door lock itself with the assistance of Michael’s brain. When Alex looked to him, his eyes went from Alex’s shoulder and back to his eyes. Alex threw his arm around the back of the couch and Michael took it as a go-ahead.

Alex ended up smashed in between the two of them, feeling each of them jump when lame scares would come on the screen. It was oddly comforting and he decided that this could become his normal and he didn’t think he’d mind.

Actually, he believed he loved it.

[dcvereux]

* ╰    VICTORIA PEDRETTI┋have you met CLÉMENCE “EMMY” DEVEREUX ? she reminds me of a single star peeking through a cloudy sky, hesitant soft touches, a delicate golden pendant rested upon prominent collar bones, messy beds covered with half read books, windswept daisies dotted throughout a green meadow, soft velvet  bows securing wild hair,  stormy white capped seas,  internal battles that seem never ending  &  smiles hidden behind fingers. a  twenty year old ninth year hufflepuff, the intangible concept is known to be compassionate & observant, yet skeptical & reticent. that explains why they’re majoring in care of magical creatures. rumour has it, emmy is siding with the neutrals in the solemn war that blazes just beyond the horizon. 

hey, hi, hello!!! i’m bronny, i’m 22 and from new zealand ( probably one of the worst timezones but ) and i’m so excited to be here?? i’ve missed playing my daughter emmy (also goes by clém but it’s mostly her family that calls her that, they ain’t a fan of the name emmy ) and i’m so happy to be here and writing her again!!!

anyway, you’re probably not here to listen to me rambling. you’re here for my smol slytherin turned hufflepuff kiddo. i won’t list everything here though because i have a full about page for her here with a bio up ( RIGHT HERE ) that has everything you need to know about her and even though it’s long it’ll really help you understand her!!

extras: this edit is really all that matters!!! there’s also a spotify playlist but you may need to @ me for that if you want to hear it bc i’m pretty sure last time i linked it on tumblr i got hacked, rip.

BUT I’LL GIVE YOU A LITTLE INSIGHT INTO HER PERSONALITY RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW:

basically she appears to be a very optimistic and positive and lowkey just like a lil ray of sunshine and for the most part it’s who she is?? only wants the best for people and tries her hardest to not judge no matter where the person comes from or who they are??  but underneath it all she’s actually quite a conflicted and lost person??  

she’s grown up in a family that is somehow the complete opposite of her and even if she’s tried to keep a hold of who she is or at least who she wants to be, there’s no denying that there is a part of her that fits in with her family and it does come out every now and again bc listen….even if her parents love her, there’s no denying that they attempted to try and drag the more ‘slytherin’ side of her out more whenever they got the chance bc they can’t help but think she’s weak??

but when she’s upset or angry, the harder/darker side of her comes out?? she can almost do a 180 on her whole personality if something pushes her a little too far, like the light you can probably see in her features just switches off and she gets this darkness to her and will do and say whatever she needs to get herself out of the situation and she lowkey hates it. which is why she prefers to try and keep her emotions at bay the majority of time?? she kind of just needs to learn to figure out how to use that darker side of her for something good??  bc even though she feels as if she’s a true hufflepuff ( even if she still has her moments bc how can i be a hufflepuff when i have this darker side of me that would do anything to survive ), all her life she’s been brought up in a household full of slytherin’s and it’s all she’s known and quite a few of the most important people in her life are slytherin’s and all are death eaters/followers of voldemort and it pulls her bc…she’s loyal to a fault but she knows deep down she doesn’t agree with anything her family does but if she leaves them, it means she loses her family and she’s not sure if she’d be able to handle that??

basically voldemort rising and her family returning to his side makes it feel like her worst nightmare is coming true!!!! because she knows one day she’ll ended up having to decide between either the life she’d created for herself at hogwarts and abandon her family or chose her family and abandon her friends and possibly even who she truly is?? help her SHE’S JUST A TERRIFIED AND LOST KID, HELP HER BEFORE SHE DOES SOMETHING IDIOTIC ( someone just convince her to pick a side honestly ).

majoring in magizoology ( i’m just an idiot who put care of magical creatures instead of magizoology on her app ) which her parents aren’t the FONDEST of, they’d prefer if she was majoring in literally anything else and they haven’t been afraid of speaking their minds about it, but it was the first time she put her foot down for something she WANTED and she hasn’t been happier.

currently one of the neutrals but who knows what’s going to happen!!

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

any of the plots below can be expanded on or changed slightly!! so feel free to use them as a guide and we talk out any changes you’d possibly like to make!!

we come from the same side, i know you; it's always been the two of them. they were the shining light during the family gatherings and events growing up for emmy. they were the one person she could always count on no matter what and no matter how different they may appear at times they brought out the best in each other. the day emmy was sorted into hufflepuff, and them in slytherin, was something she'd been hoping and praying wouldn't happen—they were meant to be her rock and her theirs and as time went on, emmy always expected them to pull away from her like many had. but they never did. they'd always known she was different to many slytherins before they were even officially slytherins, nothing had changed for them and emmy couldn't be anymore grateful for them sticking by her side. losing them would have to be one of her worst nightmares, especially since danger has been brewing. they're the only person that truly knows her and she’d do anything for them no matter what. ( open to a slytherin )

offended that I walk the line; for all emmy’s life, they’ve been there by her side. maybe it was their families that first put them in front of each other but for the first 14 years of their lives they were deemed best friends. but the day emmy was sorted into hufflepuff was the day they began to lose each other. though emmy desperately tried to keep their friendship, it was impossible for them to wrap their heads around the fact emmy was a hufflepuff and beginning to show qualities they’d been taught to never display. with every passing year, emmy drifted further and further away from the life they were both meant to be mixed up in. it was obvious to them that emmy no longer held the same beliefs they and their families had and it’s a struggle for both of them to accept the fact that they no longer stand on the same side. ( open to a pureblood and/or slytherin )    

to help me see myself clearer; meeting them was the first step in emmy slowly beginning to turn away from everything she knows. all her life she’d been taught to be one thing, act in a certain way. but meeting them made her rethink everything. they showed her that the way she was wired, the way she was different to her family, was okay. who she was, was okay. though in return, emmy showed them that the world wasn’t just black and white. she came from a world full of darkness but she still managed to let the light in. they both taught each other something they never thought was possible, nothing is straight forward. ( open to anyone but a slytherin )

so I wait at the gates of your fortress; they are the one person that showed her what it’s like to feel loved and truly cared about. they are the most important person in her life but emmy can’t even begin to think about getting them mixed up in the nightmare that is her family. she’s done everything in her power to keep them away from her family but as the threat and danger grows emmy wanted them nowhere near the world she may eventually be dragged into when the time comes to make a decision. after a year or so of dating, emmy broke things off. she left a lot of things unsaid and hardly gave them an explanation about why she was breaking up with them. all she gave them was a “it’s for the better, trust me, you deserve so much more than what I can give you,” as she left them standing by the great lake. but she couldn’t let them go completely, they’ve stayed friends but it’s almost impossible for them to be in the same room. it’s clear the two still love each other but emmy refuses to let them put themselves in the line of fire. ( open to anyone but a slytherin and/or a pureblood )  

Emmy’s looser plot ideas can be found here!!

i’m all for plotting, so if you’re interested in any of the above plots or the looser plots on her connections page, just let me know by im-ing me ( i’m the worst, please don’t be afraid to do so, i’ll love you ) or giving this a little like!! i want to attempt to plot with you all!!! i also have discord, so if you’d rather plot there i’m up for that as well

i’m also in the process of developing another muse ( caoimhe “kiv” walsh , a northern irelander muggleborn, gryffindor order member ) but i’m making/waiting to see if anyone makes resources for the fc ( emma mackey ) i have in mind for her before i bring her on in officially!! if you’d like to know more about her...i....won’t pass up the chance to talk about my new emerging kid.

i think that’s enough rambling for now, i can’t wait to get started and write with you all and bring emmy to life again :’)

( p.s. i forgot to add, if anyone would rather plot on dis.cord, my # is bronny#0752 !! )

[rainkilled-a]

Alright fam. Buckle the fuck in because this is my DAY. This is where I get to do my very best screaming about my very fucking favorites. My soulmates. My babes. And I mean both characters and muns. Writing OC’s is a pain in the damn ass. I know this- I write two. And what very few of you know is, I actually tried to break into indie with Cordelia, but I had such a tough time getting willing partners, that I had to pick up a canon and make myself known before I managed to get people to play with my OC’s. Writing OC’s is a damn job sometimes. Its pouring everything you have into a character and hoping other people will accept it and love it. It’s constant criticism- both from others and yourself. Is my character too much? Is she to boring? Do people like her? The anxiety that comes from writing OC’s is strong. I used to think it was just me, until I met other people who wrote them and it turns out-- Its not. It’s just how the game goes. OC’s take so much passion and commitment and love. So lets give it the fuck up for these dedicated beauties who I adore. Also, go follow them right now if you aren’t. And to you guys, my sweet sweet babes. Click on your Muse’s name below, and you’ll find a download link to 10 Icons. These are now yours, do with them as you please.

@waldenborn -- Helo Morris

We know, Rachel. You love Helo Morris. You Love Lilly. We’ve heard. NO BUT LISTEN. Helo Morris is the most fleshed out Original Character I have ever seen anyone portray? Every single day I am inspired to do more for Peter, just to keep up. I write more head canons, I do more edits, I am so inspired by this boy? And by Lilly herself, I mean what the hell, what a perfect writing partner who I have the very most chemistry with and I just?? Love everything about her. I could listen to her talk about Helo for houuuuuuuurs. In fact I do. All the time. 

@louisofthe100 -- Louis Warren

Hi I am Rachel and I love this fighty little monster right here. Britt does such a good job letting him be a monster, but letting him have good qualities too and making him lovable. Despite his horrible temper and need to create chaos. I adore Louis aaalmost as much as I adore Britt, who is one of the most talented writers I have the pleasure of writing with. Writing with Britt, specifically with Louis, I constantly am laughing AND having my heart strings pulled all at the same time. 

@dcncewithme -- Bree Carter

Yes, Hi, I might a little bit be cheating because like? Bree IS canon. But her part in Canon is so smol that Sammie has had the same work and but in the same love as an OC. I love Bree so much, she’s the most adorable but also so capable of standing on her own. She’s the very very most important thing to Peter in the world and damn he just loves that girl more than his own life. (literally he got locked up for protecting her and also he has volunteered his own life for hers, okay, I’m not kidding.) 

@noukru -- Kostia Kom Trikru

Again, I cheat. but same goes. Chaz has put so much into Kostia that she’s basically an OC. And let me tell you a thing about Kostia. She’s so. fucking. important. to. me. And the reason is because Chaz and I were in the same boat. Kostia and Peter are so alike in the show’s canon. We were given a name, and how they died. That’s it. And from that, built a character. I love Chaz for being on that same journey as me. I love reading Kostia’s threads and actually feeling like she was there in the show. I just-- Guys. Chaz and Kostia mean a lot to me, okay?

@motherbuilt -- Louisiana Chambers

Louisiana is such a good character because of Jenni’s dedication to her background and the integrity of who the character is. She’s soft and warm, a mother, a lover, but also damn strong. She’s not a soft little flower, NOR is she stony and cold. Jenni is able to portray her in this way where she’s a really intense mixture of both. Like this girl has been through some shit, and its toughened her up, but she’s still warm and I love that so much.

@tempercd-- Verity Williams

I love Verity so much. I haven’t even been playing with her for that long but we went in with this idea that our muses were gonna be bros, and then the next thing we know we’re writing a damn love story. And I’m talking “It’s two thirty am and I’m crying over my laptop so hard I might wake my husband and have to explain that I’m sobbing over fictional characters.” That is fucking TALENT on Lor’s end. I love how brash and brazen Verity is. She’s been through hell and Lor does not sugar coat that. But she also doesn’t close her off entirely. Its a really interesting characterization in which she’s closed off, but can learn to be open. 

@motherlcss -- Nina Wilde

Last but not least is Nina and I don’t know who is the cuter bean, Nina or Abby. They’re both cute adorable adorbs. I love Nina’s story so MUCH and I love Abby for being will to take a risk with her? There’s a huge stigma in the community about OC’s who are relatives of Canons, and it can sometimes make people shy away from that which sucks because I think its a super interesting opportunity. Also, I just Abby and I will follow her on any blog I just HAPPEN TO THINK NINA IS THE CUTEST.

[lanadelreyfiles-blog]

Dreams Unwind: Lana Del Rey in conversation with Stevie Nicks Lana Del Rey muses with collaborator and self-proclaimed 'witchy sister' Stevie Nicks about the forces that shaped her anthemic new album—and her very own lust for life. Pre-order V108 here. "It's just time," whispers Lana Del Rey on her end of the telephone. "Time has brought me here." When Del Rey returned with 'Love' this year—the first song from her fifth album, 'Lust For Life', out July 21—a tonal shift was immediately apparent to anyone familiar with the singer’s notoriously dark discography. Beginning with her first record, 'Born To Die', Del Rey’s previous four releases have been rife with references to ill-fated romance, tragedy, and betrayal. This song, however, resonated with a new note: hope. In the accompanying video, Del Rey serenades a generation of kids who are quite literally reaching for the stars, cooing lines like, “The world is yours and you can’t refuse it” and “Don’t worry baby” (the latter being a nod to the 1964 Beach Boys song) as she beams from ear to ear. Time itself is an ever-present theme in her work, though how she interacts with it has changed on her new album. With 'Lust For Life', she revisits sounds and visuals from her early work with a mature perspective while bridging the past and the present both personally and politically. “Coachella—Woodstock in My Mind,” a song that draws parallels between two musical gatherings set against times of conflict, is a perfect example of this. It is only fitting, then, that the inquirer on the other end of the phone line is Stevie Nicks, fairy godmother to Del Rey’s genre of enchantingly romantic pop rock, who was on her way to becoming the voice of her own generation when Woodstock took place nearly five decades ago. As it turns out, time—and a series of seemingly unrelated events throughout the courses of their lives—is also what brought these two kindred spirits together.

STEVIE NICKS: Helloooo? Is this you? LANA DEL REY: It's me! SN: How are you from your little perch in the 'H' of the Hollywood sign? LDR: [laughs] Oh, I'm good. I'm sitting comfortably up here. It's a clear evening, so I can see what everyone is getting up to down in the City of Angels. Thank you for asking. SN: I was wondering, do you think that maybe I could rent the 'W'? LDR: You know it is so crazy that you're asking me that because I was thinking you would actually love to move into the 'O'. SN: Well, the reason I picked the 'W' is so that I could have an A-frame place, with a big, high ceiling. So, now I've decided that if I'm going to live in the 'W', then we're going to be like witchy sisters, so I have taken on a new name: Marina Del Rey. But wait, it gets better! You know the little Yorkie we brought to the studio? Her name is Mana. She's gonna be our witchy Yorkie and her name is gonna be Mana Del Rey. LDR: [laughs] Oh my God. It wouldn't be right if we didn't have a little witchy guard dog. SN: So, let us start here on your new record. But let us first touch on the fact that your first record was called 'Born To Die'. Now this [record] is 'Lust For Life'. In between that, what is it that affected you enough to go from 'Born To Die' to 'Lust For Life'? Because 'Born To Die' is pretty dark and 'Lust For Life' is pretty light. If you have a lust for life, that's a pretty strong statement. LDR: Yeah, they're complete opposites, and it's funny because when I chose the title, I didn't think about it right away. It was the title of the first song I wrote for this record. But there are so many things that have gotten me to the point that I'm at now. One of them is just time. And because I do write everything myself, I just wanted to chronicle how I was feeling honestly, in the moment, for each record. So, I had a lot of stories that I wanted to tell that I hadn't told yet up until this point. And now, through the last four records, I got out a lot of those stories and a lot of those feelings, and for the first time, I've caught myself up to real time. And now, I'm at this place where I feel like I'm really present, and when I'm reading the news, I'm really reading it, whereas before I was a little bit in my own head. So, there's definitely been a feeling of freedom and lightness being in the present moment. That brings on that lust for life feeling, when you don't have all of those feelings about the past weighing you down. I remember an interview that you did once where you said, "Around every corner there's an adventure waiting to happen," and I'm kind of in that zone right now. I just feel like whatever each day brings me is something that I need and I want. It's just time. Time has brought me here. SN: The way that we write is like we're writing a diary as our songs go. If I listen to all the songs from 'Bella Donna', and then I listen to all the songs from 'Wild Heart', all the songs from 'Rock A Little', and then I get to 'The Other Side Of The Mirror'...I was just thinking about this one song called 'Doing the Best I Can (Escape from Berlin).' It goes [begins to sing] "It's all right, baby, I'm doing the best that I can." I named it that because of this idea of escape. Something horrible was going on in Berlin, and I was also finding my way. I was in a drug-filled fog at that point, fighting for survival. I look back on it and go, You were really trying to survive in 1989. And then I actually went to rehab in 1994 to get off that horrible tranquilizer, Klonopin—from there, I start watching my life come back around, starting with a record I did called 'Sweet Angel', which was about the aftermath of rehab and coming back into the real world. And from then on, my path started to go up. And if I had not written all those songs, even reading all my journals from that time, they wouldn't have really told the story, but the songs really told me the story of how bad that whole thing was. And I could watch, through the songs, my life start to come back to me. I think that we put out this running commentary on not just what's going on in our lives, but what's going on in the world at the same time. It's a parallel thing. So, I see you doing the same things I did. LDR: It's a delicate balance because you're chronicling your own story and then you're also reflecting back what you see. It can take work not to let your world get too small, so that you're still in both worlds. You've got your world with your own inner dialogue and your own narrative and the way that you write, and then there's everything else. It's funny, it's been a minute since I've gone through my records, but I did do it recently and I hear so much of my own self and my own stories, but I don't  get as much of the outside world as I thought [I would]. This record is really different. When there were the women's marches, I was writing about that. There was enough space in my mind to really absorb everything. I think I was very much in the mix of culture in California over the past five years, but it feels good to feel more connected to a wider world. SN: I think we're all much more connected with what's going on right now. LDR: That's true. Regardless of where someone is at personally, the current landscape jolts you into being present, if you're not crazy. If you're a normal person, you're suddenly aware and watching everything. SN: And you're getting up every day and waiting to find out what new thing has happened. I have never been that way before, ever, until the last two and a half years. LDR: It's a very different time for everybody. Because there is something new every day that you read and you're like, Oh my God, is that real? SN: My mom used to always say to me, "You're on a mission here. People out there who are hurting or are sad or have something horrible going on in their lives, when they walk into your house of love or your house of music, you are going to take them on your own little adventure that's going to pull them out of their life for a minute. And hopefully, when they leave you, they're going to take a little bit of you with them and they're going to feel better the next day." LDR: I love that. SN: I think as songwriters right now, there's a lot of songs I'd like to write that wouldn't be very nice songs, but I'm not going to do it because we're not going to help anybody by doing that. Then we're just going to be in with the masses and we're not going to be above the fray. Write your songs, but remember that we're the ones that are here to lighten, to lighten life, to light the lanterns and the little fairy lights, and try to keep people going. We have to have hope. We have to believe that this will all end up okay and that we'll all end up okay. Because we don't do it, then who the hell is gonna do it? LDR: You're right, there's no other way. As far as I'm concerned, there's really not another way to sensibly think about it. I was never a huge self-editor—I wrote songs and then I felt like, Okay, well that's that. And now, I've found in the last two years that I've really been editing some of the language of some of the songs in light of the political landscape, [because] I don't want to be a part of anything that adds to that negativity. SN: And your record, do you have favorite songs? Do you have ones that have your biggest messages or ones that you think are the most helpful to all the people that love your music? All the old women like me and the little girls who are listening? LDR: I knew that the first song I wanted to put out was 'Love' because of everything you and I have been talking about so far. It's just the age-old thing: love is all there is. And I really was feeling that way. I made a lot of records for myself, chronicling my own stories, and I've played so many shows now, I've seen all the same kind of kids and grown-ups coming to the shows, and I really wanted to make a record for them. And then, I've been friends with Abel [Tesfaye] from The Weeknd for a long time, and I knew I wanted to put the title track, 'Lust For Life', out second because we have so many mutual fans and I knew they would love it. And then 'Coachella—Woodstock in My Mind' I wrote on my way home from Coachella when things were getting hostile between North Korea and U.S., and all those failed missile launches, which happened the day after the first night of the festival. I feel lucky to be able to speak my mind through music right in the present moment. I think one of my favorite tracks on the record is called 'Yosemite.' The chorus is [begins to sing] "We did it for me, we did it for free, I did it for you, you did it for me, we did it for the right reasons." SN: I love it. LDR: And that's been the theme of my record: being in touch with what it takes to do things for the right reasons. All the actions that you need to take beyond just all the words and all the decisions I knew I wanted to make this year. And that song is special because it's really a song about surrounding yourself with people who put their art and love first, who did it for the right reasons, not just the money. And I have a couple of songs like 'God Bless America,' and another song called 'When the World Was At War We Just Kept Dancing,' which is about what we've been talking about: trying to stay positive and just believing that things are going to be okay. And if it feels like they're not going to be okay, we'll try to make them okay individually and then together. SN: I have not heard all these songs. LDR: I want to play them for you the next time I see you! And I'm so proud of the song that we did, 'Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems.' I just love your performance on it. The people reading probably don't know that you know my longtime producer Rick Nowels from high school, basically. SN: I've known your producer since he was 13 years old. LDR: He loves you so much, you know. SN: I do. It's because we've been through so much together. My friend Robin [Anderson] died of leukemia and her brother got this terrible brain tumor, so Rick, Lindsey [Buckingham], and I are the survivors of those five people. And then, Rick went on to be this totally famous producer and songwriter. He started with me in 1985 on 'Rock A Little,' when Jimmy Iovine dumped me and the record into Rick's lap and said "Goodbye, good luck." LDR: Which is so full circle because he ended up being the head of Interscope, which I'm signed to. There are so many full circle moments. SN: I think all of these little things, in a really fairy tale way, lead me to you and lead you to me in a strange witchy way. It's set up, like all of these things that happened with my friend Robin, and her brother, and Rick, and everyone moving down here, me being Jimmy Iovine's girlfriend from 1980 to 1984, then him giving the record and me to Rick, basically saying "Here, take them both and go." All of this led to me meeting you and singing on your record. The butterfly's wings flap in Africa and something is achieved by that butterfly across the world. That's this story started, I think. LDR: I don't know if you said it in the same interview I mentioned earlier, but at some point you said that sometimes you wonder, Does anyone even notice? Sometimes you wonder when you put something out, Does anyone even notice? But it all matters. Every little thing that each person does in their individual life, even when it feels like it's not a big decisions or not a big move, matters. Just being open to beautiful things happening creates them. SN: That sentence was about how sometimes over the last 10 years I would say, "Does anybody really notice that I'm a really good singer now? How much better my voice is than it was 20 years ago?" You have a beautiful voice and I've already learned things to add to how I sing from you. Working on your song has changed me forever because I've learned from you. We are witchy sisters and that's it. That's where 'Beautiful People, Beautiful Problems' comes from, because we are trying to ride above all the problems and have hope in everything else, but it's still a world filled with problems no matter how hard we try to change it. LDR: That's what the song is about. It was such a special moment. It just goes back to my favorite song on the record, 'Yosemite,' and doing it for the right reasons. Here we were in the studio, and when Rick and I were talking about who the other singers should be on the record, you were the only person we could both think of because of your intention and [how] that always comes through in all the music. That really closed the door on the record in the right way. It was the perfect last moment, so thank you for that. SN: Well, I am so happy that the butterfly wings flapped at the perfect time and it made it happen because I think that, in our lives to come, we'll be able to work on many more songs together, because you know I don't just want to sing with anybody. I just want to sing with the people that I think can make me better and make something that's better than both of us singing by ourselves. That's the only reason for solo artists to sing together. LDR: Amen to that. SN: You know, I think I told you this, but as I travel around the country [touring], I do get to sit down in between [shows] with my friends and hold their hands and laugh about the past, and my one friend that I wrote my first song about—the 'I've Loved and I've Lost' song I told you about—his name is Steve. I always dedicate the song to him because I was so crazy about him when I was 15 and a half; my parents gave me this guitar and I wrote this little song about him. And I can honestly say that I was as in love with him as I have ever been in love with anybody. LDR: That's such a beautiful thing to say. I feel the same way. Obviously when you're at different stages in your life, things hit you harder, or just in different ways, but the way I love has always been the same. I don't know if that's just wholeheartedly or maybe you're only attracted to a certain kind of person, so when that type of person comes around, you really feel it, but when these 15- and 16-year-olds are going through heart break, I really feel for them, because it's real. SN: It's totally real. And what I was going to say to is that it's funny, because this guy knows it, and I know it, and his wife knows it, and it's fine because it doesn't mean anything except that real love never dies. LDR: It's making me smile hearing you say that. Because that's what makes life beautiful. Just having that open heart and letting it be exciting in the moment, just having that energy between two people. SN: Every time I see this guy he goes "You need to come and visit us because we don't have a lot of time. We're both in our 60s, and time doesn't go on forever." So I'm living in the moment. I just jump on a plane and I go and do this, and I go and do this, and I come back and I do this. And I'm like, Why don't I get a day off? But the thing is, if you stop, you stop. LDR: I know. It's such a big decision when you decide to become an artist because once you're in it, you're in it. And then there is a certain level of momentum that you want to keep. SN: It's a very big commitment. You know, Lana, my dad used to always say about me, "She's never going to get married." And I'd look at him—I was in my 30s—and I'd go like, "Why would you say that, Dad?" And he'd go, "What you do is too important to you. And you are never going to be the kind of girl to have somebody say 'You can't,' or 'You're not going to go back on tour, are you?'" LDR: Do you think that the fact that he said that switched something in you and made you think, I'm not going to get married? SN: I think that my dad knew me really well. And for me as an artist, I was always going to want to follow my muse. And that muse was writing songs and going on tour. And so for me,  I tended to say, "Well, I'm not going to be able to [get married]. I will have love affairs and I'll meet many great men in my life, but I probably won't commit to a relationship." Look at me. I'm 68 years old and I just finished 48 shows—two-and-a-half-hour shows—which were preceded by 220 three-hour Fleetwood Mac shows. What kind of relationship could somebody like me have? LDR: You know what, though? There's billions of people in the world, but there are a handful of people that have that special, strong relationship with their own muse. For some people, it's the biggest part of their life and the biggest relationship: following that energy, that muse, and the serendipitous twists and turns of life. The amazing thing, too—and not just with romantic relationships—is when you find other people who know exactly what that life looks like, you know? That it's just not going to be straight and narrow. It's such a blessing when you run into people who don't color within the lines, that do the same things you do. SN: I want to add, having said all that, I would never believe that it is not possible that coming right around the corner is the man of my dreams, at 68 years old. It's possible, and I accept the possibility of that completely. LDR: A hundred percent. And you know, life is short, but life is long, too. And there are so many things for everybody that have yet to come. SN: Because after everything we've talked about, if we can honestly say that love never dies, if my heart can still flutter when I see my boyfriend from when I was 15 and a half, I cannot honestly say that there is no chance for real love in my life somewhere in the next 15 or 20 years. Because I believe that there's always that possibility. I never want people to think that I'm some cold woman who thinks that love may have existed all those years ago when I was younger, but doesn't exist in my dreams now, because it does exist in my dreams now. But I'm also really good not having it because I'm not lonely, I'm not bored. I have so much to do that I can hardly get three hours of sleep. LDR: You have a beautiful relationship with yourself. SN: I do. And I never get tired of it. I know people who are bored stiff, and that'll never be me. I could never be bored in this world. Because of what we do, whether you have a relationship or don't have a relationship, you balance it. I have to say that there have a been a few men in my life that have liked what I do, and have liked my friends, and have liked the fact that I like to stay up late and sit at the piano and light the candles, and were happy to lay on the couch with a book while I was doing that. They were few, but they were there, they did exist. And sometimes, I thought that the great loves of your life are the ones that just make you crazy, and say they're coming to your house and don't show up, and the phone doesn't ring, and you just want to kill yourself. And then there are the ones who actually just dig what you do and who you are, and you put them in the second category of great loves. And then the nutcases of your life are the ones that were in the first category of your great loves, but they're the ones you could never have lived with! LDR: Absolutely. There are two different types of lovers. There are the crazy ones and then there are the ones who are really there. SN: Exactly. And I still know all of my loves—all of them. I'm like Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger with all the vampire boyfriends. LDR: [laughs] I can't picture you getting into a relationship with someone who, on some level, doesn't have an extremely strong connection to you or a strong commonality that wouldn't span decades or eras. I'm still dear friends with my first boyfriend, and we didn't have it all in the moment, but he was the world's nicest guy and he's still in my life. And that's been the same with a lot of my boyfriends. I feel like, for me, it wouldn't make sense to get involved with someone who I didn't think could be either some type of really close confidant or someone who just really got me on some level. SN: I think you'll find, as years go by, that some of those men will matter to your more down the line, because they're the ones who really seem to know you. So, it's good. Lana Del Rey, I think we've filled up their entire magazine by now. LDR: You're amazing and I can't wait to see you. Maybe it'll be when you move into the 'W'. SN: That's definitely going to happen soon, like next week. LDR: That's the dream. SN: That is our dream and we make dreams come true, so it's going to happen. I can't wait to see you, too. I hope when people read this interview they know that kindred spirits find each other along the way and that love never dies.

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Travis Scott: Hip-Hop's King of Chaos

We follow hip-hop sensation Travis Scott on tour, as he masterminds wild shows, works on new music in his bus and FaceTimes girlfriend Kylie Jenner.Ahmed Klink/ © Sunday Afternoon

Travis Scott bursts into his dressing room on a scooter, trailing assorted entourage and radiating the rich aroma of good weed. He makes for a catering table lined with Fruit Roll-Ups, Honey Buns, Lucky Charms and – for good measure – two bottles of Don Julio 1942 tequila. He's at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, about to face a sold-out crowd. "Let's get this bitch turnt!" he yells at no one in particular, letting the scooter fall to the carpet. Scott's manager, David Stromberg, brings Scott's attention to a dry-erase board, tucked behind a curtain, where a basketball play has been diagrammed in marker. Oracle is home to the Golden State Warriors, and Stromberg says that the Cleveland Cavaliers used this space as their locker room during the finals in June. The diagram, titled "BRON ISO," contains LeBron James–centric directives such as "KYRIE PASS IT" and "JR GET THE FUCK OUT THE WAY." "This is, like, the last thing Tyronn Lue wrote," Stromberg says, referring to the Cavs' coach. Scott, taking it in, laughs hard. " 'Get the fuck out the way!' " he cries.

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He's winding down a 20-show tour opening for Kendrick Lamar. Originally from Houston, Scott rolled into the Bay Area early this morning, following a show in Vancouver. He spent all of today holed up on his bus, he tells me, working on new tracks that might wind up on his next album: "Just chillin', recording. Formulating a story, the picture I'm trying to paint. It's fun making music on the road – I got a whole studio bus." He plops down on a couch, gets lost in his phone. "The energy's been a little strange show-to-show on this tour," Stromberg says. "I mean, Travis brings the energy, but there's been seating at every show. He wants to get his fans onstage and get them to stage-dive – but there's chairs." He theorizes that "it's a numbers thing – I think you can sell more tickets when you do seats than when you do general admission." Scott says, "I can't speak to that," but confirms that he prefers the unmanaged vibe of a big, chair-free pit, where crowds can more readily cut loose: "Pffft," he says. "I'm never doing a tour with seats again." "Travis' fans are a little younger," Stromberg continues. "Kendrick's are a little older, and they're here for" – he throws up air quotes – " 'real hip-hop.' "

Stromberg is drawing a distinction between Lamar's dense, classicist virtuosity and what Scott does best, which is different: deliver simple, beguiling phrases about partying and drugs in an Auto-Tuned singsong over hard-edged, low-lit beats. It's a style you hear everywhere in hip-hop these days, from Migos to Future. It's also a style that Scott – whose debut mixtape, Owl Pharaoh, came out in 2013, the same year he worked behind the scenes with Kanye West on Yeezus – helped pioneer.

Scott has been on a roll ever since. He's dating Kylie Jenner. (And, it turns out, having a kid with her, according to TMZ reports published after our interview.) He has co-written or co-produced songs not only with West but also Rihanna (whom he's also rumored to have dated) and Madonna. His albums Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing Mc-Knight mix pop impulses – honeyed, hypnotic hooks – with irregular structures and droning flows that verge on avant-garde. Both are platinum, and they've both produced platinum singles, like the narcotic "Antidote" and the Lamar-assisted "Goosebumps."

Scott has also become known for a live show so raucous that – if you believe law enforcement, anyway – it's literally criminal. He was arrested this past May, after a show in Rogers, Arkansas, on charges of inciting a riot for encouraging fans to rush the stage. Police say that several people were injured, among them a security guard and a cop. (Scott, who pleaded not guilty, faced similar charges in 2015 following a concert in Chicago.) Shortly before the Arkansas show, Scott encouraged a fan at a New York concert to jump down from a second-floor balcony, before ordering audience members to form a human net to catch him. A different fan fell from the third-story balcony and reportedly wound up with a broken leg, but charges weren't filed.

When I ask Scott if the Arkansas incident has changed his behavior onstage, he answers without a moment's thought. "It hasn't," he says. "People gotta understand, sometimes shit gets out of control. I'm not trying to cause no harm – I just perform." He thinks for a second, then muses about a potential solution: getting even more popular than he already is. "I think I just gotta get into bigger spaces, have more space to get it in. Try to prevent some of that shit. I just wanna bring the stage to, like, the masses. I feel I have a show for the masses. It's probably at a point now where your uncle might know Travis, you know?"

Scott with girlfriend Kylie Jenner.Bob Levey/Getty Images

On one hand, Scott has taken such troubles as a publicity opportunity. After the Arkansas arrest, he sold fans a limited-edition T-shirt printed with his mug shot and the slogan "Free the rage." (Scott likes the word "rage," whether he's describing a cathartic onstage outlet or calling his devotees "ragers.") But there's an element of the negative attention that he doesn't like, too. "I wanna be recognized for some of the good shit I do," he says. Such as, he goes on, the enormous animatronic eagle that he had commissioned for his live shows, which looks a bit like a Henson creation, and which he rides above the stage, wings beating. "Man, I got a flying bird out here!" he says. "Name someone that's 25 doing that shit."

There's something childlike about Scott. The Rodeo album art and the music video for his single "90210" featured a poseable Travis Scott action figure. (In an un-childlike detail, it engages in some graphic action-figure boning before the video's through.) You can buy the action figure yourself, although the original run sold out, which means shelling out hundreds of dollars for one on eBay.

Scott says he was inspired to make the animatronic bird after he paid a visit to Legoland in San Diego. He's a big theme-park fan, to the extent that he's also been to the Denmark Legoland and titled his next album AstroWorld after a now-defunct park he used to visit in Texas. "It had a Dungeon Drop, Greezed Lightnin', Superman," he recalls. "It was a way of life – fantasies, imagination." AstroWorld doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but Scott says that whenever the accompanying tour happens, he wants his concerts to double as bona-fide amusement parks, with rides encircling him as he performs. "I don't know why it hasn't been done already – I think people just don't do shit. Who makes stages these days that are cool?"

Scott was born Jacques Webster – his stage name was inspired by an uncle – and grew up in Missouri City, a middle-class Houston suburb. His father was an entrepreneur, his mother an Apple employee. When Scott was three years old, his dad bought him his own drum kit, which he played, as well as the piano, before quitting the latter, deciding that it couldn't help him get girls, whereas drum skills, which translated to beatmaking, would. As he puts it, "I was trying to fuck bitches, make beats, get fresh."

In high school, Scott acted in a local theater troupe. "I was a thespian, bruh," he recalls. "I was in this play Kiss Me, Kate – you heard of that? I did Oliver! I love that type of shit. I love drama." Scott's current DJ, Chase B, tells me they have been friends "since we were nine," adding that Scott "was a super-creative kid. When he acted in plays, he would always be the lead – that charisma was already showing through."

Scott's mug shot from this arrest in May.Rogers Police Department

Today, Scott directs his own music videos, a predilection he ties to a lifelong love of auteurs like John Hughes, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. "My favorite movie was The Breakfast Club," Scott says. "You ever seen Spy Kids? Nigga, that shit is crazy." When it came to music, his early hip-hop influences were flashy New Yorkers like Mase and Cam'ron. They gave way to Kid Cudi and West, who pushed contemporary hip-hop's emotive and melodic quotients into overdrive and eventually inspired Scott to bring grit, pain and darkness to his own music. (He also lists Portishead, Björk, Coldplay and the Sex Pistols among his favorite acts.)

Describing a category-busting creative ambition today, Scott says he wants to try his hand at architecture. He has a dream of studying it at Harvard. Which architects does he admire? "I honestly check for no one," he says. "I'm a master of my own imagination. I go off my own shit. I'm not into deep study – all that, like, reading? That's how shit ends up looking like someone else's shit." He smiles. "You ever see pictures in your head? I be having that all day. It's like a museum. That's why I don't do too many drugs, because my brain would explode. I'm my own drug. If I bleed and someone licked my blood, it's like liquid MDMA – know what I'm saying?"

You get a sense of what he's talking about when he takes the Oracle stage tonight, mounting his eagle and soaring high above the crowd, and shrieking, "My name is Travis Scott, and I like to fucking rage!" Stromberg, standing beside me in the center of the floor, says that in their ideal version of the show "the bird would be flying directly over the crowd," though the insurance logistics have proved insurmountable. Still, Scott likes pushing up against the constraints he's been given: "Security, we not stopping the fans from having fun tonight!" Scott bellows. "It's time to stand on top of these motherfucking chairs!"

Back in his dressing room some 45 minutes later, he tears his sweaty T-shirt off and stalks the floor, revved up. He walks over to a fridge, cracks a Powerade and chugs it. Stromberg pops his head in the doorway to announce a visitor. "Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, would like to say hi." Dorsey, dressed in a Bieberish ensemble of skinny jeans and extra-long T-shirt, enters. "I didn't think I'd ever meet you," Scott tells him.

"f I bleed and someone licked my blood, it's like liquid MDMA," Scott says.Christopher Polk/Getty Images

"Thanks for your music – and for using Twitter," says Dorsey.

"What you got going on tonight?" Scott asks.

"This," Dorsey replies.

"Nigga, Kendrick be going brazy," Scott observes.

"... Yes," Dorsey tentatively agrees.

After Dorsey leaves with some complimentary merch, Scott FaceTimes Jenner. The two have kept the details of their relationship under wraps, but butterflies seem to be part of it: They both got matching butterfly tattoos; his newest single, which makes numerous seeming allusions to Jenner, is called "Butterfly Effect"; and he recently bought her a reported $60,000 diamond chain, shaped like the insect, for her birthday.

Her face pops up on his iPhone screen, nestled into a pillow. "I just got offstage," he tells her. "I miss you. I love you."

"How was it?" she asks. "Good. I'm tired. I smoked a lot of weed."

Members of Scott's entourage start loudly poking fun at Stromberg – apparently there was some sort of pushup challenge earlier, and some of the guys have jokes about his abilities. The clowning distracts Scott, who puts Jenner on mute so he can more fully partake. "Did you put me on mute?" she asks. "Nah, I didn't put you on mute – it was just a sound delay," he says, chuckling. Someone likens Stromberg's pushup style, absurdly, to that of Mr. Potato Head, at which point Scott cracks up, falls to the floor, drops the phone, keeps laughing – and then seemingly forgets about the call. A minute later, he stuffs the phone into his pocket. I can see that Jenner is still connected. He directs his crew to the tour bus. It's a nine-hour drive to Las Vegas, site of tomorrow's show. "Let's roll out!" Scott cries, and they're gone.

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[somefunnyshits]

We follow hip-hop sensation Travis Scott on tour, as he masterminds wild shows, works on new music in his bus and FaceTimes girlfriend Kylie Jenner.Ahmed Klink/ © Sunday AfternoonTravis Scott bursts into his dressing room on a scooter, trailing assorted entourage and radiating the rich aroma of good weed. He makes for a catering table lined with Fruit Roll-Ups, Honey Buns, Lucky Charms and – for good measure – two bottles of Don Julio 1942 tequila. He's at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, about to face a sold-out crowd. "Let's get this bitch turnt!" he yells at no one in particular, letting the scooter fall to the carpet. Scott's manager, David Stromberg, brings Scott's attention to a dry-erase board, tucked behind a curtain, where a basketball play has been diagrammed in marker. Oracle is home to the Golden State Warriors, and Stromberg says that the Cleveland Cavaliers used this space as their locker room during the finals in June. The diagram, titled "BRON ISO," contains LeBron James–centric directives such as "KYRIE PASS IT" and "JR GET THE FUCK OUT THE WAY." "This is, like, the last thing Tyronn Lue wrote," Stromberg says, referring to the Cavs' coach. Scott, taking it in, laughs hard. " 'Get the fuck out the way!' " he cries. RelatedWatch Travis Scott's New Short Film Featuring Kanye West, Puff Daddy Seth Rogen, Migos' Quavo, producer Mike Dean and more make cameos in 'La Flame' He's winding down a 20-show tour opening for Kendrick Lamar. Originally from Houston, Scott rolled into the Bay Area early this morning, following a show in Vancouver. He spent all of today holed up on his bus, he tells me, working on new tracks that might wind up on his next album: "Just chillin', recording. Formulating a story, the picture I'm trying to paint. It's fun making music on the road – I got a whole studio bus." He plops down on a couch, gets lost in his phone. "The energy's been a little strange show-to-show on this tour," Stromberg says. "I mean, Travis brings the energy, but there's been seating at every show. He wants to get his fans onstage and get them to stage-dive – but there's chairs." He theorizes that "it's a numbers thing – I think you can sell more tickets when you do seats than when you do general admission." Scott says, "I can't speak to that," but confirms that he prefers the unmanaged vibe of a big, chair-free pit, where crowds can more readily cut loose: "Pffft," he says. "I'm never doing a tour with seats again." "Travis' fans are a little younger," Stromberg continues. "Kendrick's are a little older, and they're here for" – he throws up air quotes – " 'real hip-hop.' " Stromberg is drawing a distinction between Lamar's dense, classicist virtuosity and what Scott does best, which is different: deliver simple, beguiling phrases about partying and drugs in an Auto-Tuned singsong over hard-edged, low-lit beats. It's a style you hear everywhere in hip-hop these days, from Migos to Future. It's also a style that Scott – whose debut mixtape, Owl Pharaoh, came out in 2013, the same year he worked behind the scenes with Kanye West on Yeezus – helped pioneer. Scott has been on a roll ever since. He's dating Kylie Jenner. (And, it turns out, having a kid with her, according to TMZ reports published after our interview.) He has co-written or co-produced songs not only with West but also Rihanna (whom he's also rumored to have dated) and Madonna. His albums Rodeo and Birds in the Trap Sing Mc-Knight mix pop impulses – honeyed, hypnotic hooks – with irregular structures and droning flows that verge on avant-garde. Both are platinum, and they've both produced platinum singles, like the narcotic "Antidote" and the Lamar-assisted "Goosebumps."Scott has also become known for a live show so raucous that – if you believe law enforcement, anyway – it's literally criminal. He was arrested this past May, after a show in Rogers, Arkansas, on charges of inciting a riot for encouraging fans to rush the stage. Police say that several people were injured, among them a security guard and a cop. (Scott, who pleaded not guilty, faced similar charges in 2015 following a concert in Chicago.) Shortly before the Arkansas show, Scott encouraged a fan at a New York concert to jump down from a second-floor balcony, before ordering audience members to form a human net to catch him. A different fan fell from the third-story balcony and reportedly wound up with a broken leg, but charges weren't filed. When I ask Scott if the Arkansas incident has changed his behavior onstage, he answers without a moment's thought. "It hasn't," he says. "People gotta understand, sometimes shit gets out of control. I'm not trying to cause no harm – I just perform." He thinks for a second, then muses about a potential solution: getting even more popular than he already is. "I think I just gotta get into bigger spaces, have more space to get it in. Try to prevent some of that shit. I just wanna bring the stage to, like, the masses. I feel I have a show for the masses. It's probably at a point now where your uncle might know Travis, you know?"Scott with girlfriend Kylie Jenner.Bob Levey/Getty ImagesOn one hand, Scott has taken such troubles as a publicity opportunity. After the Arkansas arrest, he sold fans a limited-edition T-shirt printed with his mug shot and the slogan "Free the rage." (Scott likes the word "rage," whether he's describing a cathartic onstage outlet or calling his devotees "ragers.") But there's an element of the negative attention that he doesn't like, too. "I wanna be recognized for some of the good shit I do," he says. Such as, he goes on, the enormous animatronic eagle that he had commissioned for his live shows, which looks a bit like a Henson creation, and which he rides above the stage, wings beating. "Man, I got a flying bird out here!" he says. "Name someone that's 25 doing that shit." There's something childlike about Scott. The Rodeo album art and the music video for his single "90210" featured a poseable Travis Scott action figure. (In an un-childlike detail, it engages in some graphic action-figure boning before the video's through.) You can buy the action figure yourself, although the original run sold out, which means shelling out hundreds of dollars for one on eBay. Scott says he was inspired to make the animatronic bird after he paid a visit to Legoland in San Diego. He's a big theme-park fan, to the extent that he's also been to the Denmark Legoland and titled his next album AstroWorld after a now-defunct park he used to visit in Texas. "It had a Dungeon Drop, Greezed Lightnin', Superman," he recalls. "It was a way of life – fantasies, imagination." AstroWorld doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but Scott says that whenever the accompanying tour happens, he wants his concerts to double as bona-fide amusement parks, with rides encircling him as he performs. "I don't know why it hasn't been done already – I think people just don't do shit. Who makes stages these days that are cool?"Scott was born Jacques Webster – his stage name was inspired by an uncle – and grew up in Missouri City, a middle-class Houston suburb. His father was an entrepreneur, his mother an Apple employee. When Scott was three years old, his dad bought him his own drum kit, which he played, as well as the piano, before quitting the latter, deciding that it couldn't help him get girls, whereas drum skills, which translated to beatmaking, would. As he puts it, "I was trying to fuck bitches, make beats, get fresh." In high school, Scott acted in a local theater troupe. "I was a thespian, bruh," he recalls. "I was in this play Kiss Me, Kate – you heard of that? I did Oliver! I love that type of shit. I love drama." Scott's current DJ, Chase B, tells me they have been friends "since we were nine," adding that Scott "was a super-creative kid. When he acted in plays, he would always be the lead – that charisma was already showing through." Scott's mug shot from this arrest in May.Rogers Police DepartmentToday, Scott directs his own music videos, a predilection he ties to a lifelong love of auteurs like John Hughes, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. "My favorite movie was The Breakfast Club," Scott says. "You ever seen Spy Kids? Nigga, that shit is crazy." When it came to music, his early hip-hop influences were flashy New Yorkers like Mase and Cam'ron. They gave way to Kid Cudi and West, who pushed contemporary hip-hop's emotive and melodic quotients into overdrive and eventually inspired Scott to bring grit, pain and darkness to his own music. (He also lists Portishead, Björk, Coldplay and the Sex Pistols among his favorite acts.) Describing a category-busting creative ambition today, Scott says he wants to try his hand at architecture. He has a dream of studying it at Harvard. Which architects does he admire? "I honestly check for no one," he says. "I'm a master of my own imagination. I go off my own shit. I'm not into deep study – all that, like, reading? That's how shit ends up looking like someone else's shit." He smiles. "You ever see pictures in your head? I be having that all day. It's like a museum. That's why I don't do too many drugs, because my brain would explode. I'm my own drug. If I bleed and someone licked my blood, it's like liquid MDMA – know what I'm saying?" You get a sense of what he's talking about when he takes the Oracle stage tonight, mounting his eagle and soaring high above the crowd, and shrieking, "My name is Travis Scott, and I like to fucking rage!" Stromberg, standing beside me in the center of the floor, says that in their ideal version of the show "the bird would be flying directly over the crowd," though the insurance logistics have proved insurmountable. Still, Scott likes pushing up against the constraints he's been given: "Security, we not stopping the fans from having fun tonight!" Scott bellows. "It's time to stand on top of these motherfucking chairs!"Back in his dressing room some 45 minutes later, he tears his sweaty T-shirt off and stalks the floor, revved up. He walks over to a fridge, cracks a Powerade and chugs it. Stromberg pops his head in the doorway to announce a visitor. "Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, would like to say hi." Dorsey, dressed in a Bieberish ensemble of skinny jeans and extra-long T-shirt, enters. "I didn't think I'd ever meet you," Scott tells him."f I bleed and someone licked my blood, it's like liquid MDMA," Scott says.Christopher Polk/Getty Images"Thanks for your music – and for using Twitter," says Dorsey. "What you got going on tonight?" Scott asks. "This," Dorsey replies. "Nigga, Kendrick be going brazy," Scott observes."... Yes," Dorsey tentatively agrees. After Dorsey leaves with some complimentary merch, Scott FaceTimes Jenner. The two have kept the details of their relationship under wraps, but butterflies seem to be part of it: They both got matching butterfly tattoos; his newest single, which makes numerous seeming allusions to Jenner, is called "Butterfly Effect"; and he recently bought her a reported $60,000 diamond chain, shaped like the insect, for her birthday. Her face pops up on his iPhone screen, nestled into a pillow. "I just got offstage," he tells her. "I miss you. I love you." "How was it?" she asks. "Good. I'm tired. I smoked a lot of weed."Members of Scott's entourage start loudly poking fun at Stromberg – apparently there was some sort of pushup challenge earlier, and some of the guys have jokes about his abilities. The clowning distracts Scott, who puts Jenner on mute so he can more fully partake. "Did you put me on mute?" she asks. "Nah, I didn't put you on mute – it was just a sound delay," he says, chuckling. Someone likens Stromberg's pushup style, absurdly, to that of Mr. Potato Head, at which point Scott cracks up, falls to the floor, drops the phone, keeps laughing – and then seemingly forgets about the call. A minute later, he stuffs the phone into his pocket. I can see that Jenner is still connected. He directs his crew to the tour bus. It's a nine-hour drive to Las Vegas, site of tomorrow's show. "Let's roll out!" Scott cries, and they're gone.Let's block ads! (Why?)Posted from: this blog via Microsoft Flow.

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