#AND the soundboard when the sound guy isn't here

[idontdrinkgatorade]

i hope the church starts up a youtube channel before i leave because i want to be in charge of that

[iainwrites]

An apocryphal story about my dad:

When he wasn't in the wood shop, or land surveying or doing social work or the dozen and a half other odd jobs he seemed to do, he did sound for local concerts and acts.  Now, the "who" to this story isn't that important; you can hear the exact same thing across the world.  But Dad was doing sound for a local guy at a local show.  Donny (we'll call him) had his set going and was in a groove.  Each song led into the next thematically.

Unfortunately, the theme was "cry into your beer 1950's/60's country." You could see the crowd mentally checking out with each passing mournful tune.  So Dad (who was apparently a bit of a shit disturber at this time) said over the house mic between songs, "Hey Donny.  Have any happy songs?"

Now, Donny futzed around on stage for a little bit before leaning into his mic and saying, "Hey folks, I'm going to take a little bit of a break here.  Thanks for listening so far."  And then he comes directly for Dad at the soundboard.  "You fucker," Donny growled.  "I can't think of a single fucking happy song to play now."

Dad never told what happened during the second part of the set and whether Donny figured out a happy song to play.  But it goes to show: pay attention to your audience and always have something ready for that unexpected shakeup.

[racingtoaredlight]

The King of Guitars: The Gibson Super 400

I've written this exact same post before, I'm sure of it.

I own the greatest guitar I've ever played...my teacher's 1999 Brad Nickerson Virtuoso. And I've played just about every version of Gibson's great archtop lineup, from just about every decade from the 40's to today.

Of all of the guitars I've played in my life, the two that stick out as decade-long memorables is my Nickerson and a 1979 Gibson Super 400 that I played for about 30 minutes at the Dallas Guitar Show in Arlington in 2006.

1979 wasn't an especially banner year for Gibson, and even though their archtops were always made by a small, specialized crew separate from the rest of their manufacturing, it was still affected by the Norlin group's changes over the decade. This particular model was a good example of that...the back and sides were plain maple with no figure (much cheaper) and the neck showed some figure, but was pretty unremarkable itself.

Figure is purely aesthetic and doesn't mean the sound isn't there. Just because this crew had less pretty materials to work with did not mean their output suffered like the main division of Gibson Guitars. This 1979 Super 400 was ALIVE.

When you play an archtop that has the pickups and controls mounted directly on the soundboard, it essentially compromises the acoustic qualitys of the instrument. When you play a guitar with these, the first sign you have something special is if you play it acoustically and are blown away. This was the case here, even in a crowded, noisy expo center.

The electric tone was superb, as expected, and the guy running the booth let me run with it for as long as I wanted. This was probably when I was at my best as a guitarist, period...I'd been at this event for seven hours already and was totally warmed up...I bonded with this guitar immediately and the flow from my brain through my fingers had zero obstacles.

The guy was cool with me playing because I had gathered a nice sized crowd who were also checking out his other stuff. And I know I've told this story a million times before, but this is the booth where I looked up and saw John Mayer go "wow" while watching me play. The singular highlight of my non-existent career.

I was just lost in having a blast playing one of these beasts. It was such a wonderful experience that almost 20 years later, I still remember the feel of the neck, the sound coming out of the amp, the faint smell of stale cigarette smoke, the rough patches starting to form on the back of the neck where the previous owner played the most.

Super 400's are big boy guitars. The L-5 on the left is a standard sized archtop...which are already the behemoths of the guitar world...and you can see how that extra 1" on the Super 400 makes for an overall much larger instrument even then.

Midget meme jokes aside...these instruments are playable for people under 6' with shorter wingspans...but they're not very comfortable. For bigger guitarists, they're fine, but you can't escape the size issues even then. Things like "cases" and "travel" are an expensive pain in the ass with regular archtops...even more so with the Super 400.

Both the L-5 and Super 400 have necks larger than Gibson's typical short scale. You may think this doesn't matter...it does immensely. The nut width is as wide as you'll find on electric guitars (except for years 1966-1968 where they adopted a slim neck and nut before going back). This is not great stuff if you have small hands or aren't trained and precise. If that's the case...you'll struggle to get any decent sound out of these things.

The other biggest drawback? Price and availability.

Those "cheaped out" versions in the 70's with less figured woods? That's your entry point. And that entry point is five figures. $10k for the pleasure of getting the "runt of the litter." Modern models in the 80's made by James Hutchins? $12k to start.

Player-grade 60's models? $15k. Mint 60's and player-grade 50's models closer to $17,500. Mint 50's models are in the low $20k's. Any model with a sharp Florentine cutaway (below)...lol...$30k to start. Add 10% to all of those if they're natural instead of sunburst. Add another 10% to that if they have a pickguard that hasn't been destroyed by sitting in a case and getting eated by off-gassing. Yes, for a pickguard.

That's a hefty investment.

Say you want it shipped...you comfortable with the standard cases from the 50's made out of flimsy plywood? The ones that can get crushed and penetrated without much force at all? Didn't think so.

But those standard fiberglass or carbon fiber cases for $1,500 won't work...because again, the size...and you'll have to pay for a premium one that you won't be gambling on in transit. And you'll still have to pay for that other case to get shipped separately because you gotta have the original to retain its value.

Just how many downsides can I name? There's more. They feedback at medium-volumes easily. They need proper humidification at all times. They need insurance. There's no 3rd party market for most replacement parts...either they're going to be expensive to replace or the replacements will diminish the value.

By all contexts, the Super 400 is a pretty un-ideal guitar here in 2023. The reason it's so big to begin with was because it was designed to cut through big bands acoustically in the 40's...but when you put humbuckers on, you don't really need that size anymore.

All that doesn't matter because it's the sound. You don't NEED that extra size, but it definitely impacts the sound compared to an L-5. It's deeper, richer, more complex. And that's really all that matters in the end...the sound.

There is no ideal sound I'm going for. Currently, I have archtops with a floating humbucker (Nickerson) and a floating fat, high output single coil (Guild Artist Award)...a built-in humbucker sounds totally different, and that's what I want to fill out my stable.

Go to 1:16 in the video below.

Like I said, that sound is all that matters.

Well, and the looks.

I'll have one in the next 3-5 years.

[cicelythereaper]

Sing to me, o muse, of the impossible hard in wrath of the druids

THIS

FUCKING

"HARP"

[taking a deep breath]

so i am not an expert on period instruments. i am but a simple modern harpist (lapsed) who has also seen illustrations of early medieval harps

SPOILERS: THIS SHIT AIN'T EITHER OF THOSE.

when you first look at this it looks as like it's meant to be concert-harp-shaped but tiny, which is [pause to break into hysterical laughter] FUCKING WILD, if those strings are meant to meet the soundboard (the big chonky bit they're going down towards) then she's gonna have trouble actually getting her fingers in to pluck some of them. harps do not scale down like that. SIR.

anyway, that was originally what i thought and was furious about, and then i was googling images for this post and realised i had been wrong!

as we can see here (ignore the face paint, do not think about the face paint, do not think about the cross brooches on an anachronistically-non-christian character), the strings actually come down PAST the soundboard. in fact the harp looks like this:

BRO WHAT THE FUCK.

now the thing is, the strings coming down over the soundboard to the bottom of the frame is actually pretty accurate to at least some medieval harps! here is a 1774 illustration i nicked off wikipedia of some medieval harps:

you can see that in addition to the triangle-shaped harp where the strings come down THROUGH the gap to MEET the soundboard, there is also a more lyre-like harp where the strings come down OVER the gap and are drawn together ACROSS the soundboard. and yes, this illustration is from 1774, but we do see these two varieties of harp reflected in medieval art:

that first image is from an 11th-century irish reliquary and (i believe) is thought to be the earliest extant depiction of an irish harp; the second one is from the vespasian psalter, an 8th-century english manuscript.

also both are being played by religious figures, the first by a cleric and the second by king david, no i'm not bitter about how extremely invested ac:valhalla is in depicting ahistorical levels of popular paganism in the 9th century why do you ask

so based off these images it looks like the wrath of the druids designers wanted to make a classic triangle-shaped harp (with as much curviness and celtic-looking knotwork as possible), but they also wanted to have the strings come down past the soundboard like they do on the NON-triangle-shaped harps, because..... ""historical accuracy""? I GUESS?????

and then, crucially, they forgot to ask how this harp would actually make a noise.

THE GAP IS NECESSARY YOU FUCKING FOOLS. THE GAP. IS NEEDED. FOR THE STRINGS. TO RESONATE IN. THE GAP IS WHAT SEPARATES THE PLUCKED STRINGS OF THE HARP FROM THE VIOLIN PIZZICATO SOUND. AND SOME OF YOUR STRINGS DON'T EVEN CROSS THE GAP MY GUY YOU HAVE NOT DESIGNED A MEDIEVAL HARP YOU HAVE INVENTED A SHITTY GUITAR AT BEST*

*IF the harp's frame is hollow, which i can't tell: the metalwork on the frame suggests it might... be...? if the harp's frame ISN'T hollow then the player is absolutely shit out of luck but if it is hollow then it will at least make some sort of noise. so i am told by my friend who knows more about instrument construction than i do.

also those strings look so tightly fitted to the body of the harp you're gonna bash your fuckin fingernail on the wood of the frame when you try to pluck them. IF you can even pluck them at all. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO GET YOUR FINGER UNDER THE STRING. YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO GET YOUR HAND INTO THE GAP HOW IS THIS DIFFICULT

the shape just doesn't make any sense!!! it doesn't make any sense at all!!! the triangle-shaped harp is shaped that way because the pitch of the strings is determined by their length (and also how tightly they're wound around their pegs). on a triangle-shaped harp the soundboard is at an ANGLE so each string coming down from the top of the frame will hit it at a DIFFERENT POINT and thus be a DIFFERENT LENGTH. but that's not how they've attached the strings to this harp so why the fuck would you make it that shape!!! now you have an ASYMMETRICAL GAP with STRAIGHT STRINGS and you're going to hell!!!

actually now that i'm looking closer at the strings it REALLY looks like they have tried to make them the same shape as they would be on a concert harp, wavy at the top and diagonal at the bottom, but that doesn't actually match the shape of the harp they've made and IS ALSO NOT HOW STRINGS THAT GO OVER THE SOUNDBOARD WORK, HOW ARE YOU TUNING THIS, HOW ARE YOU CREATING PITCH WITH THIS, AMERICA CANADA EXPLAIN -

(while i was making this post i went to go look up what instrument they actually used for the song she's performing and i assume it's this one - einar selvik calls it a lyre:

- which as you can see looks NOTHING LIKE the mess we got in the game on account of it has to actually work and make sounds.)

anyway. this harp is stupid and would make a stupid noise and as a harpist (lapsed) i am embarrassed on behalf of this game that they thought this was a believable instrument. thank you for inviting me to yell about it.

[joshstambourine]

What Friends Do pt. 1

Warning: Cursing

Word count: 2854

Synopsis: Josh and Jake are surprised when an old friend stumbles back into their lives, taking their world by storm with old feelings, new feelings, and problems they never would have expected.

Josh Kiszka x Fem!Reader x Jake Kiszka

“And that looks like time.” Danny sighs, eyes having glanced from the clock to the sound board that Josh and Jake were still fiddling with. “Let’s pack it up.” He tells the room with folded arms.

Josh began to shake his head, fingers pushing through his curls. “Am I gonna have to re-record that again?” He inquires looking at Jake with an annoyance in his eyes, seeming to have ignored Danny. Josh could really get into the zone when it came to his own portion in a song, nitpicking even the smallest thing he did wrong; this perfectionism of course came from a good place, Josh just wanted everything to be as he envisioned it.

Jake rubbed his chin, “I’m not sure… I don't know if it's you or maybe if Danny just started a touch too early there.” He mutters, “Maybe if we move this back a little?” He lightly asks, starting to fiddle with a few of the slides.

Sam chimed in as he stood up, “I think Josh will have to re-record it, I think it's just the inflection he used.” He simply points out, patting Jake on the back, “Anyways, we do actually have to leave on time today, guys…” Sam reminds them as he throws his jacket on, knowing that his brothers would stay hours over time if no one was behind them for recording.

“Oh shit… yeah I forgot that they have someone coming in today.” Jake muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’ll leave it for now. Maybe we’ll see if we can re-record that line again when we come in next.” He shrugs, it was frustrating but unfortunately all part of the job. Revisions were almost always going to need to be made, a track rarely came together on the first few tries of mixing. 

Josh lays his head back over the back of his chair, letting out a loud sigh, “God I just want this one to be done.” He groans loudly, his hand rubbing his eyes briefly before moving to get to his feet. “I feel like we’ve been stuck on it forever.”

Danny slipped his hands into his pockets starting towards the door, “I honestly think it’s fine, I don’t know if we really need to change it.” He admits, “I think you’ve just listened to it so much you’re getting in your own head about it.” As any artist could, when reading, staring, or in this case listening to something you’ve made for a long time you’ll always be on the lookout for something to correct… even if it's fine to begin with.

Josh shakes his head, “No we gotta change it.” He mutters, tucking his phone into his back pocket, “Sam’s right, it’s the inflection... it just doesn’t feel right there.” Josh simply admitted, unhappy that he would have to record this second yet again, but it had to be done.

Jake nodded as he began to put things back into their places, and grab their things they needed to bring with them. “We’ll fix it.” He simply sighs,

Josh had begun toward the door still shaking his head in disappointment, “God I just wish we didn’t have to fuck around with it more.”

Sam held the door open as the rest of the guys shuffled out of the room, “Just wait Josh we’ll have to screw around with the next one a lot more.” He informs with an exasperated laugh, knowing just how much of a mess the original takes were. The track was bad enough that they continuously pushed off working on it, not ready to take on the head ache quite yet. 

“Don’t!” Josh sternly says, “I really don't want to even think about that one yet.” He laughs weakly, a slight pain shown in his eyes just from the mention of the track. Josh’s fingers pulled back his curls loosely once again as he and the others stepped out of the room.

“I better go and talk to Mark to make sure we’re still booked to come in Wednesday.” Jake tells the others, as they had begun down the hallway. 

Mark was a partial owner of the studio and was also in charge of bookings, it became a ritual to make sure things hadn’t changed or been moved around for their next session. The others nodded, seeming to have expected as much, making their way to the office area of the building. They didn’t have to look for long as Mark, an older gentleman with a cleanly trimmed greying beard and a rather laid back style of dress, was standing in the main area chatting with his secretary.

“Uh, tell him I’ll call him in an hour, I have to head down to studio three and check and make sure things are running smoothly.” Mark says, before looking to the group of men and giving a warm smile. “Ah, I’ll be back in a little bit Angela, I gotta chat with these fellas.” He says respectfully. The woman simply nodded and returned to her desk, after giving the boys a friendly smile.

“Hello gentlemen!” Mark happily called, as he began over to them offering a handshake to each of them. “How are things going? Getting things figured out?”

Sam was one of the first to take the hand shake, “Not yet, this guy can’t quite get his bit right.” He laughed with a head nod to Josh,

Josh shook his head rather aggressively, “I dunno what it is man, I’ve tried it a million times and it just isn't fitting.”

Mark nods seeming to understand, “Eh, you guys will get it soon. You always do.” He muses, “I assume you guys need to be booked back in?”

Jake nods, “Yeah we’re supposed to be in on Wednesday, does that still work?” He asks,

Mark seems to think about it, “Hm… I’m not sure. I’d have to check the log,” he mutters, honestly not quite sure if he remembered to book them in the last time with things being so hectic. “Actually if you guys have a minute I’ve gotta head down to studio three anyways, I can check the log while I’m there for ya?”

Everyone seems to agree, they begin back down the hallways again. “Whose recording in there right now?” Josh asks curiously, knowing that they had recently signed a few more artists on at the studio.

“Oh yeah, is it that new guy? Uh… Kenneth?” Danny inquired, “He showed us a bit of what he was working on --- really talented guy.” He continued, Jake nodded in agreement knowing that Kenneth was also an excellent guitar player.

Mark quickly shook his head, “Nope, someone new, think she’s only been here a couple weeks now, she’s been working on her first EP.” Mark explains, turning another corner before stopping at the said studio room. 

Mark gives a small knock as he led the group into the room, as soon as they stepped in they could see a man sitting at the sound board with a headset on, he held a button, turning on the overhead mic for the studio room, “And you’re good to start again in three, two--” He lightly pointed toward the glass ahead of him, a cue to tell the artist to begin whatever section they were at. 

It was surprising, but the voice coming in overhead felt all too familiar to Josh. His brows furrowing as he looked to Jake, lightly pointing up as if to ask if he recognized it at all. The woman singing had an absolutely gorgeous voice, one anyone would envy upon hearing it. It was almost hypnotizing just how beautiful it was.

Mark smiled in a proud way as he looked into the studio room, “Clearly things are going smoothly in here.” He says to the man at the soundboard, the man nodded in agreement.

“You were right, she’s a natural.” He says with a smile, clearly making his job a lot easier.

The rest of the group carefully stepped into the room more, trying to peek into the studio room. As soon as Josh was able to see through the glass his eyes began to narrow; Jake too had a strong reaction as he looked wide eyed through the glass, he could only let out a small laugh in disbelief.

Mark waited a couple more seconds until the woman had finished the line to wave her to come out of the studio room. It only took a moment for the door to open and reveal a beautiful young woman, she was dressed in a business-like top with loose flowing pants. She didn’t seem to hold as much of a strong reaction to seeing Josh or Jake, just maintaining an almost cocky grin. 

Mark pointed to her from across the room, he beginning to look through the log book, “Boys this is---”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N).” Josh says, eyes still narrowed.

The woman’s eyes were slightly hooded, adding to the air of cockiness she had, “It’s good to see you again, Kiszka.” (Y/N) cooed, in a slightly condescending tone. She clearly knew that her presence would get this kind of reaction from him. “Been a long time~” She continues.

“Oh?” Mark says with furrowed brows, “You two know each other?” He asks lightly,

Sam couldn’t help but start laughing, "They went to high school together.” he says with a clearly amused smile. 

(Y/N) clearly had changed a fair amount since they were in high school, as most people tend to do, but one very prominent thing that Jake could see was that she was much thinner than he remembered… but just as beautiful. Josh and (Y/N) were in many of the same classes during high school, and in every single one they shared they found something to be rivals over. Though they often bickered and called each other names they were really good friends and had been all throughout their time together.

“I wasn’t aware they accepted sirens at this label.” Josh says with a serious expression,

“Why wouldn’t they? They accepted a hobbit.” (Y/N) responds calmly, this making Josh smile rather widely and roll his eyes.

“It’s been too long, (Y/N).” He coos, moving to wrap an arm around her in a friendly way. 

(Y/N) returned the small hug as she glanced at the others, “It definitely has!” She softly responds, “Man, Sam you’ve certainly changed since I saw you last!” She quickly says after having pulled back from the hug. (Y/N) not long after graduation had moved away to go to college, which meant the last time she had seen Sam he would have been fifteen. 

Sam laughed a little, “Yeah… puberty does pretty wild things.” He mused, (Y/N) laughed at the response as she came to give him a small hug as well. It was strange but as soon as she came close Sam recognized her smell, it immediately brought back little memories. (Y/N) hung out at the Kiszka home rather regularly when she was still in Frankenmuth, Sam could clearly remember her helping him with his homework, playing card games with him and his brothers, and just her singing along to the music his parents would have playing in the home all the time.

(Y/N) looked to Danny and smiled politely, to which she soon offered him a hand to shake, “I don’t think we ever met. Danny right?” She inquires.

Danny smiled as he gently took her hand, giving it a small shake. “Yeah, it’s nice to meet you.” He tells her in a warm tone of voice.

“The pleasure is mine!” (Y/N) hums, she finally looks at Jake in a gentle way. “You can’t escape it!” She tells him as she simply opens her arms for one last hug, Jake smiles a touch as he moves to hug her back. “Good to see you Jake.” She utters lightly to him. Like Sam, her smell brought back memories, some good… and some bad. Unfortunately it also brought up certain feelings, feelings that he was certain he buried in high school. 

“It’s good to see you too, (Y/N). You look…” Jake starts, seeming a little unsure how to finish the sentence, “...well?” He weakly finishes, with a crooked smile.

(Y/N) pulls back with a warm look in her eyes, “I would have accepted anything except fatter.” She muses lightly, seemingly able to tell that he had struggled to find a way to end the sentence. “Well from you at least.” She continued glancing back over at Josh in a knowing way,

“Hey, you know our mom taught us better than to make fun of a woman's weight!” Josh responds, before grinning, “Which is why it's perfectly fine, seeing as you aren’t a woman at all; rather you are nothing more than a she-devil!” Josh says pointing in something of an accusatory way.

(Y/N) snickered a little, suddenly remembering just how much she missed his antics. “Sounds sexy~” She hums, as she pushes her hand through her hair lightly, “Anyways! I should get back to it! But um… hey leave your numbers behind if you want. I’d love to get together and hang out again sometime. Catch up a bit?” (Y/N) said in a sure way.

Even Josh could tell that since her time away (Y/N) had become far more confident, it showed in the way she held herself and how her eyes looked over everyone. This fact made Josh smile a little, ‘Good for her.’ He thinks lightly to himself, knowing how much she had struggled with her self-confidence when they were young. “Can do!” He tells her, “I’ll make sure they use as much auto-tune as they can to keep your voice sounding so top notch.”  He continues with a thumbs up as she opens the door leading back to the studio.

(Y/N) just shakes her head with a smile, “See you guys!” She waved lightly.

Jake lightly lifted his hand to wave back but the door was already shutting behind her. Mark soon was at his side, “Well that certainly worked out nicely! I guess it is a small world.” He mused, “Anyways, you guys are booked in for Wednesday, the time is a little later than usual though, hopefully that's alright.”

Jake wasn’t really paying attention, he in the back of his mind was still pushing back the feelings he had done so well locking away. Josh chimed in on his twins behalf, “Yeah that's fine.” Josh tells him, “You got a pen? I’m gonna do as that harlot asks so she doesn’t burn my house down later.” 

Mark nods, handing one over as he walks back to the door. “I’ll see you boys later I’ve gotta check on a few more things still.” He says as he waved and exited swiftly.

Josh had already begun to scribble his number onto a napkin that had been sitting on one of the side tables in the room. As he finished he held up the pen to his brothers, though Danny took it before either of the other two could. “Hey now, what are you doing? She wanted our numbers?!” Sam laughed,  “She has no idea who you are.”

Danny simply raised his brows, “Perhaps… mine was the only number she actually wanted.” He says as he raised his brow in a teasing way, Sam knew full well that Danny was only giving his number as a friendly gesture. Sam quickly took the pen from him not long after.

Jake stayed watching as she returned to the mic, returning her headset to its place on her head, not really noticing as Josh came and wrapped an arm over his brother's shoulder, “Definitely still pretty, huh?” Josh mused quietly. Josh had always known that Jake had a crush on (Y/N), and felt it was his job to tease him as much as he could about it.

Jake quickly looked to Josh with furrowed brows and a small smile, “Yeah I guess so.” He lightly laughs, seeming surprised by the question.

“I guess so?” Josh asked quizzically, “I was expecting a resounding yes from you.” He mutters, giving him a small squeeze, as he pretends to look saddened by his answer. 

Jake lightly shrugged his arm off, “What can I say? Maybe she isn’t my type.” Jake says quietly, before going to take the pen from Sam. He considered not giving her his number, though it was brief as Jake didn’t want to make it seem like she had offended him or anything. With a small sigh, Jake wrote out his number and placed the napkin back on the table.

“Hey let her know where it is, would ya?” Josh asks the man on the soundboard who simply nodded.

With that the boys began to exit the room, Jake was the last to leave, he wanted to take one more look at her, taking this brief moment to give a small sad smile. ‘...I missed you.’ Jake thinks, before leaving the room.

[the-kings-tail-fin]

I have one more background-character ask that I couldn't quite fit into the first one: What about Aimee Harding, Lynda's sister? There's a really old mention of her on this blog, (for some reason, she can be found by searching 'sister' but not her name. Tumblr is weird.). Apparently, because the circumstances of Strip & Lynda meeting are different outside of Conflict, Aimee doesn't trust Strip "because celebrity". She doesn't appear in The Overlook or Diamond In The Rough, but... (Part 1/2)

Oh man, this is a deep cut ask - BUT I'M GLAD YOU ASKED XDDD

Right, so Aimee is one of those weird characters that has been with my version of the story since the very beginning. Why did I feel like Lynda needed a sister? Idk. It just felt natural, and in the event that I want to dive deeper into Lynda's childhood and life growing up, Aimee presents a soundboard and alternative perspective through which to tell that story. Unfortunately, I have not taken the time to really dive into that here in the public forums.

Within the Conflict AU, it's Aimee's relationship with Wayne that form the circumstances necessary for Strip and Lynda to meet. She helps form the more down-to-earth small town family vibes this group of young adults end up forming. Some time ago, I had a side-story arc that involved her more directly, a drama filled fiasco created by my teenage brain that wanted her to create some angst when she first found out what Strip really is. BUT that was self indulgent and frivolous, and obviously didn't end up making the final cut XD

So to your ask - what's she like in my version of canon? I have no plans for future fics at the moment (maybe one day I will learn how to take a vacation and use it for something I actually want to do - like sitting on my butt and typing away at a computer), so I will dump everything I can remember here for you to do what you will with XD

Aimee, though technically not any older than Lynda, is the protective older sister. Growing up, she was the one that felt the responsibility to make sure Lynda had the best childhood possible. They didn't have bad parents by any means, but they were constantly away working to help provide for the family, or home sleeping. As such, when Lynda decides she wants to take up derby as a fun job and additional source of income, Aimee isn't completely on board. She knows what eventually happens to cars that constantly trash their bodies. But on the contrary, she wants Lynda to be happy, and hesitantly supports her. This gets better when Aimee learns more about the sport and starts advising her on how to race smarter, not harder. That combined with Lynda's natural talent is part of what made her a local superstar.

Now when Lynda meets Strip - it's the same mama bear mindset that Aimee initially has. It's an 'oh no, this guy is a high profile celebrity, he's going to use her and ruin her life' train of thought when she finds out. Obviously as things get more serious between the two, Aimee does get to know Strip personally and realizes he's just a normal guy who happens to have a stellar career in the spotlight. And from that point on there's no tension or anything. It's all just the inherent responsible-older-sister paranoia that she's got to deal with.

BUT I feel like I should clarify, as I read through this and realize she's sounding like a stick in the mud - she is not all serious all the time. She loves to let loose on the weekends, partake in the social libations, karaoke night, and hang out with her friends. She largely lets Lynda go out and do the same things as they grow up together, and they do a lot of it together. When they're older, Aimee and her family come with Strip and Lynda on their bigger vacation trips that they take, and they are all very close as a family. All the holidays are spent together, they attend all of Strip's biggest races together, it's a package deal. Aimee and Lynda will forever be best friends.