#gemini bardic inspiration

[powered-universe-official]

Ayo! Idk if you've received the ask cuz you haven't anwered it yet and i know tumblr loves being a functional webbed site (/lh /s), and it's been a while so i thought i'd re-send!

What kind of minecraft mobs/hybrids do you think everyone would be? Can be "main" story and BI, or both? (<- desperate for BI crumbs /lh)

If minecraft isnt your forte this could also be extended to dnd!!

Ahhhh i’ll do both for both!!!

For the main story:

Electrode is an enderman, and a sorcerer/artificer

Virtue is a villager, and a rogue

Leto is a parrot, and a druid

For BI (and yes i get the BI crumbs):

Gemini is a wolf (duh lol), and a barbarian/druid

Airael is a bat, and a bard/rogue

Bug is a snow golem, and also a bard

Cato is an ocelot and a bard

Malcolm is a wandering trader, and a wizard/rogue

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Chapter 3

Cato gets to join in on a practice sesh of Bardic Inspiration! It goes great!

Virtue sips at their coffee as the TV broadcast plays. “Notorious villain The Disparaged Baron has finally been apprehended by A-Class hero Brass Dagger. While their fight left many without a place to sleep, many more will no longer have to fear for their lives. The Hero Agency of America has offered to help rebuild those who had their homes destroyed. My name is Daven Blockett, and this is the morning news.”

The TV then shows a short video of the end of the fight. Disparaged Baron, dressed as a Musketeer, runs at Bronze Dagger with a thin sword. Bronze Dagger sidesteps the charge, and throws Baron up 20 feet into the air. There’s a glimmer as Dagger throws something, and the footage cuts to the main news desk.

“I can’t imagine doing that.” Airael walks into the living room and sits next to Virtue on the couch.

“Doing what, Hero work?” Virtue asks as they take another sip.

“I guess. I mostly mean getting involved with Powered fights.” He clarifies. “I know my Power would technically be classified as Consumption, but it still gives me an exponential boost to my physical limits. Which means that if I got involved with a fight, no matter which side I was on, both villain and Hero would try and get me out of the picture first.”

Virtue nods along as he explains. “I couldn’t even imagine what they’d do to Gemini if she got into a Power fight, or Absinthe if they-” Virtue cuts themselves off, not wanting to finish the sentiment. Airael understands, though, and sighs.

“This shit sucks.”

“More than I could imagine.”

Gemini wanders in with a piece of toast, and she raises an eyebrow at the now glum mood of the living room. “Did the kid get into a car accident? What’s with the mood?”

“Powers.” Airael says. Gemini takes a big bite of her toast, and takes her time chewing it as she thinks over the implications of that word.

Gemini swallows, and stomps over in front of the TV. She faces the pair on the couch with a sharp glare. “We can get back to the doom and gloom of our life later. Absinthe has everything set up, so all we need is Kid Strings to get his ass over here. So get your asses in there right now.”

Virtue stands up and drains the rest of their coffee. “You’re bad at pep talks.” They note, and Gemini whacks them.

“Yeah, but I got you going so I win.”

Airael gets to his feet, and wraps Gemini up in his arms. “You’re right, we gotta go make some kick ass music.”

Virtue turns off the TV and moves to the emptied out master bedroom that has become the practice space of Bardic Inspiration. Absinthe is taking out her old beat up electric guitar and leaning it up on the wall. Everything else has been set up, there’s sheets of music that Michael left behind on the one and only table in the room.

Absinthe turns around and lights up. “Oh! Hey V, didn’t see you there.”

“Most people don’t.” Virtue shrugs as they make their way to the chair put up just for them. “It’s a gift.”

“Man, what I’d do for that.” Absinthe groans.

“For being unnoticed?”

“For having a gift.”

The familiar heavy click of the front door opening cuts through the conversation before Virtue can make a response, and they hear Gemini welcome whoevers at the door with a saccharine voice. Airael mutters something, and the voice of Cato responds monotonously.

Three sets of footsteps start to make way to the practice room, and Absinthe starts to move around.

“V, he’s here, oh my god he’s here, we get to play together, I can’t believe it, can you believe it? I’m so excited, you have no-” She cuts herself off as Gemini, Airael, and Cato show up in the doorframe. “Hi!”

Gemini slides into the room as Absinthe rushes forwards to greet Cato. She shakes his hand and drags him inside, making a wide gesture to the humble setup. “Welcome to where the magic happens!”

“Uh, cool.” Cato mutters as he steps out of Absinthe’s grip. His eyes flick around, first to Virtue, then to the drum set, then to the electric guitar harmlessly sitting against the wall. “You guys, uh, already have a guitar.”

“Told ya.” Gemini elbows Cato’s ribs, making him flinch. “We didn’t know if you only had an acoustic or not. There’s also some music for the songs we’re gonna practice today on the table, if you wanna look through them.” She gestures to the handwritten sheet music, and walks behind her drum set and drops down in the seat. She grabs her drumsticks and starts to idly rap them on the rim of the snare.

Airael makes his entrance quietly, and struts to the purple and gold bass on the stand next to the drums. As he slides it on, he glances at Cato. “Last chance to jump ship, kid.”

Cato’s hand twitches, and he storms to the guitar and slings it over his shoulder. “I’m not a kid. You guys aren’t that much older than me.”

Virtue raises an eyebrow. Airael turns around and shrugs, looking bored. “We’re all out of college, and by the looks of it you’d barely’ve started if you went. Kid.”

The pair lock into a staredown, with Airael betraying no emotion in his eyes, while Cato’s are laser focused in to catch anything. Gemini stifles a snicker, and her green eyes light up with amusement as she catches Absinthe’s eye.

Her eyes dart between Cato and Airael, and wiggles her eyebrows with a large grin. Absinthe almost chokes as the laugh tries to escape her mouth, but she holds it back. Gemini and Absinthe try to hold it in, but it’s too much, and they burst into a fit of giggles and laughter, causing Airael and Cato to stop whatever they were doing.

“What’s so funny?” Cato asks, hands gripping the neck of the guitar. 

Airael whips his head around to Virtue. “What did she do?” He asks with wide eyes. “What the fuck did she do?”

Virtue looks at Gemini, who tilts her head forwards and does an overexaggerated wink, causing Absinthe to break down with laughter. Virtue sighs, and pats Cato’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. They’re like this sometimes.”

They look back to see Airael now leaning over the drums and talking to Gemini, who’s grin has gotten larger as she shakes her head. Absinthe is leaning on a wall, trying to catch her breath, but sometimes still releasing a few giggles. They sigh again, bring their thumb and pointer finger to their mouth, and whistle. The band jump at the sudden noise. Airael clutches his bass, Gemini holds her drumsticks in an ‘X’ in front of her, and Absinthe takes an absurd looking fighting stance. Cato takes a step back.

“Get to practicing. We don’t have all day.” Virtue says, and they make direct eye contact with each band member. “And we certainly don’t have our guest here all day either.”

With that, Absinthe jumps into action. She double checks that Airael and Gemini are all good to go, and makes sure that the guitar Cato’s borrowing is in tune and works fine. Once everyone is set to go, she connects the microphone and takes out the piece of paper that has the practice “schedule” on it.

“Uh, it says we’re practicing ‘Truth or Dare’, ‘No Regrets’, and ‘Sandcastles’ today. Why does it say ‘Sandcastles’ in there, that’s a piano solo.” She looks back at Airael. “Rae, you wrote the list.”

Airael shrugs. “I thought that having your best song for our guitarist would be a good idea.”

Cato mutters something about not being a guitarist while Absinthe looks at the scribbles with narrowed eyes. Then she crumples up the paper and throws it at the table. “Okay, we can do that. But let’s start with a quick runthrough of ‘No Regrets’. We didn’t play that at the last venue, so I want to see what needs some work.”

Cato flips through the stack of papers, and his eyes flick over each page with the same sort of focus he gave Airael. Then he runs forwards, drops them on the table, and runs back into place.

Gemini raps the beat with her drumsticks, and then she and Airael jump into a hard and fast rhythm. She leans forwards into the microphone set up over her drums, and screams.

“OH MY GOD THIS REALLY FUCKING SUCKS! I STILL LOVE YOUR STUPID FUCKING MUG! GOT HIT BY A FUCKING TRUCK! AND YOU’RE HERE STILL GIVING FUCKING FUCKS!” Her voice is guttural and animalistic as her hands move wildly across the drumset. She holds the last vowel as the bass and drums stop and the sound drops away.

She closes the word harshly, and restarts her playing; albeit, more restrained. Airael joins in at the same time, playing the low and slow baseline as Cato takes a deep breath, and starts playing with everyone for the first time. 

He plays incredibly well, and although the melody he plays on the guitar is different from what Michael played, it still fits well with everything else. But Virtue already knew that Cato was good, they knew that he would fit in with the band sonically. They’re waiting for Absinthe to sing.

Absinthe looks at Virtue, and nods. She rolls her shoulders back, stands tall, and opens her mouth.

“I cried alone again today.” Her voice is the winter sun cutting through the abyssal surrounding darkness. “It’s hard to heal this heartbreak. I’d rather have loved you here, but you decided to disappear.”

The weight of grieving a love and friendship suddenly lost shoves its way into Virtue’s chest as the words lilt off Absinthe’s tongue. Cato jolts, but doesn’t stop playing as he moves his eyes to look at the singer.

“Hey, it’s me, it’s about us. You said we’re still in love. And I cry curled in my bed, about the last text you sent. Who could have guessed that this is how our story ends?” Even through the waves of heartbreak and sadness, Absinthe smiles as she lowers the microphone. Gemini and Airael play their parts with the anger they’ve always infused them with, and Cato moves his fingers across the frets. He plays a dissonant melody, counteracting the smooth major that Absinthe had been singing. Absinthe’s grin gets larger.

As they continue through the song, it’s a constant fight of three emotions. Anger, from Gemini and Airael, grief, from Absinthe, and desperate confusion from Cato. The sound gets louder and louder, everyone fighting more and more, until Cato suddenly strikes a power chord, and the drums and bass stop. Airael and Gemini are looking at Cato with curiosity as Absinthe brings the mic to her lips one last time.

“I hold no regrets.” She sings lightly. “You were my best friend. But this is the end.”

There’s a still, anticipating moment. The air holds its breath as the last of the grief fades into acceptance, and fades into nothing. Absinthe breaks the silence with a ragged gasp, and she rubs at her eyes for a moment before looking at Cato.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be our guitarist?” Her voice is no longer crystalline, but instead thick and heavy. Her fingers pick at the edge of her skirt and the jeans beneath it. 

Cato takes a moment. He looks at Gemini, then Airael, then to his own hands holding a guitar that isn’t his own. “I- uh.” He stammers, and clutches the guitar tightly. “I, I think so.”

A shuddering weight is released from Absinthe. She grins, nods, and turns to the rest of her bandmates. “Cool! So I think we did really good at the first few verses, but at the second chorus we accidentally got a little lost in the middle of everything and it took some time to get back, so let’s start around there.”

Virtue huffs a laugh and shakes their head. They knew, of course, that Cato would say yes. Absinthe is the golden apple just out of reach, the clear water you’ll never drink, but just knowing it exists is enough to sate an appetite.

[tilthedayidice]

Was wondering if I could get a character pallet for my Tiefling Bard Remine! When she was a teenager she ran away from her noble family to join the circus! She has purple skin and her hair is half pink half blue, her clothes tend to be red, white, black and very sparkly/glittery. After traveling with the circus for a few years her family sent people to get her back and they ended up catching the entire circuses tent on fire during a show. She was one of the only ones to escape. Thank you!!

Dice Envy Prestidigitation

Dice Envy So g of Rest

Dice Envy Undead Omen

Chessex Gemini Black/Starlight

Die Hard Dice Divination

Damage Dice Bardic Inspiration

HD Dice Luxury Dream

[edward-little]

What dice do you think everyone would have? You can't tell me Fitzjames wouldn't have some bejeweled gay ass dice while croziers probably been using the same set since the 80s. Hickeys are all stolen from other players while Edwards d6 isn't even a DND dice it's from Yahtzee

fitzjames has an immaculate and varied dice collection. he stores them in a fancy embroidery thread storage box, the kind with the drawers and dividers. he mainly buys custom-made dice sets from people on instagram and etsy and stuff, but he has a few chessex gemini sets from the dark early days of his dnd career. he curates a collection of 5-10 sets for each character, and considering how many charisma casters he plays, they tend to skew towards glittery.

crozier has a pound-of-dice that he carries around in its original packaging. it makes a satisfying thud on the table which is good for emphasis.

all of hickey's d6s, d8s, d10s, and d12s are appropriated from hodgson's bardic inspiration. his d4s are from mcdonald's guidance. he has a rule, official or unofficial, that any die that gets handed to him is now his. however, he doesn't have any d20s because bardic inspiration doesn't go that high, and whenever he asks to borrow a d20 someone just rolls and gives him the number on the die.

nedward forgets his dice on the regular. sometimes he has to buy a set on the way to the game, which means he's slowly accumulated a collection. most are chessex, because everything is chessex, though he lucked out with a crystal caste set that was just sort of living on a back shelf. he's got no clue how much it's worth and hickey keeps trying to borrow his dice, but fortunately nedward "tell me to make a decision under pressure and i'll burst into tears" little is playing a fighter and has no reason to give him anything.

jopson's got a nice collection too. his is much more curated, and he's the type to put together a color-coordinated set for each character he plays. he also sewed his dice bag himself, and sells them on his etsy store (jop's shop).

blanky's dice are all from the last century. by this i mean he's got dice sets he purchased in the 80s and 90s and he's also got like, vintage casino dice. nowadays he refuses to purchase any new dice sets (will go on ebay for pre-2000s singles though) and his most reliable die by far is one he found on the ground in a parking lot. he's also the kind of player who prefers rolling spicy to rolling high, and min-maxes his characters to give them the opportunity to roll a -1 on a check.

mcdonald is extremely normal about his dice. he has some sets. he doesn't mind receiving a set as a gift, and if he's around a mismatched singles tray he'll have a look. you look at him and think, wow, that's a normal guy who's regular about dice. then when he empties out his dice bag on the table it roars like a waterfall.

goodsir has four sets. the only reason he has four of them is to roll 4d6 for his stats (i know i used point buy for his character but like. can you blame me). he bought them from barnes & noble, they're all chessex, two of them are duplicate sets. he now has one set of solid white with black ink, two sets of chessex light green borealis, and one set of chessex frosted caribbean blue.

gore is one of those one-set-per-session players. he brings one of those little chessex boxes with a set and uses it for the game. crits are excruciating, but at least he's not playing a wizard.

dundy brings three sets to the table: a low-rolling set, a high-rolling set, and a wild card set. to determine these, he rolls all the d20s in his collection and picks the sets corresponding to the high and the low, and then picks whichever third set he wishes. at the table, he taps the high-rolling d20 against the table three times on its 20 face, and the low-rolling d20 three times on its 1 face. he then proceeds to mostly use the wild card set.

hodgson has no clue where all his dice keep disappearing to- oh well! just have to buy some more! like fitzjames, most of his collection is from dice makers on instagram and etsy, so it's a real shame so much of it just goes to hickey. also, hodgson is the only one at the table who uses metal dice.

[sofialeepleasepunchme]

fantasy high zodiac hypothesis let’s go (sun signs)

KRISTEN: libra for sure. ruled by venus, hates confrontation and often takes a neutral or passive stance in arguments, good at sweet talking and getting herself out of bad situations (see: every conversation with kalina), concerned with what is “right” or “good” as implied by her many crisis’ of faith. somewhat of a therapist friend, especially during freshman year.

FIG: scorpio!!! water sign disguised under the aesthetics of a fire sign. extremely emotional and moody, turns to violence when hurt, deeply loyal to her friends, extroverted and friendly but hates showing vulnerability, artistic and dreamy and has an innate magnetism to her personality (musician/poet). prefers to be independent and has lots of ambitions and goals.

RIZ: virgo. mom friend energy!! logical, practical, levelheaded, all the synonyms. loves investigation and is good at it. even in highly stressful and emotional situations, he acts with his brain instead of his heart. while he comes off as somewhat oblivious, he’s actually very good at introspection and is extremely self aware. to counter this, very self critical.

ADAINE: gemini energy 100%. intellectually driven like riz, quick witted and extremely good at cutting people down with her words (see: aelwyn, biz, her dad, kalvaxus maybe) not afraid to be brutally honest. pretends to be very cool and levelheaded but is actually one of the most chaotic and impulsive people in the group. somewhat of a pretentious little bitch.

FABIAN: textbook leo. so cliche that i considered several other options because it’s such an obvious take. deeply concerned with not only his physical appearance but how people perceive him as a whole. a lot of his personality is a performance. theatrical as fuck! he dances with silks!! in tandem with his dueling sword, and that’s fruity as hell. extroverted and sunshiny, loves parties, shows affection through public acts (giving the bad kids gifts, running his dads ship into a building for riz, bardic inspiration) and has an affinity for drama and gossip!!

GORGUG: pisces king! a little emotionally repressed in ways that can be frustrating (see: fight with zelda), gentle and soft personality, has an artistic side both in the sig figs and in his love for tech and making things, VERY generous and forgiving. his intelligence mainly comes from intuition rather than book knowledge. impressionable and easy to manipulate (aided by his 8 int, but still). gets along very well with fig, aka water sign to water sign communication.

[ask-the-bardic-band]

Intro Post

Hi! I’m Gatsby (he/they/xe/ey). This is an ask blog for the Bardic Inspiration band from my story @powered-universe-official : Bug, Airael, Gemini, Cato, and Virtue! Just send in asks or submissions!

[powered-universe-official]

Gemini

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Chapter 1: Obey the Groove

Virtue, manager of new band Bardic Inspiration, takes everyone out to relax after days of trying to find a new guitarist. Hijinks ensue, and something begins that nobody could have predicted.

When it comes down to it, Virtue thinks that Absinthe is a romantic. A fool-hearty, ridiculous, stupid romantic, but a romantic nonetheless. She’ll rant and rave up and down the halls that no she’s not and I don’t even like romance, but Virtue knows better. 

Every gesture, every gift, every heart-felt word is a sign and a treasure. The idea of a fantastical journey, even one grounded in the real world, is overly appealing to Absinthe’s soft heart, even if that journey belongs to someone else. To put it simply, every moment of Absinthe’s life is tinged gold and pink with meaning, adventure, and desire. How is that not a romantic’s view of the world?

Tonight, however, takes that to a completely new level. Whereas normally Absinthe will find cosmic meaning in what song she hears first, and that’s the extent to their fantasy, the person playing guitar in front of her has taken the toned down rose tinted glasses and shot it full of trenbolone.

It was supposed to be a relaxing night, too, which is why Virtue is so fucking annoyed at the singer. Bardic Inspiration finally got a big break, opening for a tour in a few weeks. So of course Michael decided now would be the best time to go further his game developer career, leaving the band short of a guitarist. Today was the last day of try-outs, and after a night of going out and taking it easy they would decide who would be the newest member of their little entourage.

At least, that was the plan.

Alas, the glue of the group, the poetic Absinthe Malone, chose a bar with local musicians. Secretly, Virtue was hoping that this wasn’t because Absinthe didn’t feel like anyone who tried out over the last few days was “it”. Hoping is useless when you know better. 

“Virtue, I think it’s him.” Absinthe whispers in Virtue’s ear. “I’d need to sing with him, y’know, but I’m almost positive it’s him.”

Virtue groans and rubs their hand over their face. “We just spent four days doing tryouts for 54 different people. How do you know none of them will work out?”

“You know why.” She prods them with her elbow, and Virtue almost hates that they know exactly what she means. “Besides, if this works out, and the band likes him, makes your job easier, right?”

“I don’t think you know what my job is, Sin.”

Too late, she’s already gone up to him as he finishes his song. He’s talented, Virtue will easily give him that. Almost as good as Michael was, at least on the guitar. He has Michael beat on vocal talent, no matter how easy it is to do that. 

Objectively, he’d be a good fit musically. The covers he’s been playing are in line with even Gemini’s stranger tastes, he’s clearly competent enough to learn Michael’s parts, and he can actually hold a tune.

But the biggest problem is the one that Virtue’s been having with almost everyone who tried out. One of the three band members doesn’t like them with a passion. With Gemini it’s more understandable, she’s aggressive and touchy towards almost everything in life. She’s loud and brash and gets on peoples nerves if they’re not prepared. 

In fact, that last fact was so common that a large portion of people who tried out would almost get into fights with the drummer. Granted, some of them were her fault, but nobody in the band wanted someone who Gemini could rile up so often. That fact made Virtue incredibly angry some days.

If they managed to get past Gemini, Airael was the next large obstacle. Virtue doesn’t even know why he dislikes the people he dislikes, but the fact is always loudly announced. If any person simpered or whined when told that they were an “inherently unlikeable musician” (ooh boy Virtue wanted to strangle Airael for that one), the bassist would point blank refuse to have them considered.

And most unfortunately for Virtue, it was Absinthe who took the cake in terms of most tryouts disliked. If they played fine, then Absinthe would sing with them, and then make a disgusted face and sit back down. If they didn’t play fine, she’d tell them to leave while glowering at the paper in front of her.

So overall, Virtue wishes that Bardic Inspiration was filled with anyone else right now, and wishes that everyone stop looking for the magical perfect guitarist to show up and just get on with it. Hopefully (against Virtue’s best interests), this random guy playing the guitar on a Thursday night will finally put this saga to rest.

“What’s Sin doing?”

Virtue jumps as Airael appears next to them. Considering how tall he is, it should be impossible, and yet he always finds a way to sneak around.

They sigh. “She thinks that this guy is the one.”

Airael hums in thought, and looks him up and down. “Well, he sounds good, and doesn’t look like a douchebag, so I wouldn’t mind.”

“Do you think Gems could get to him?”

Another pause as Airael looks at Guitar Guy again. “If she does, I don’t think it’d be too awful. Too early to tell, though, you know that.”

The pair watch as Absinthe moves the microphone and gets ready next to Guitar Guy. She’s almost vibrating with excitement, but Guitar Guy is chewing on his lip and shifting his feet. Whether out of nervousness or anticipation, Virtue can’t tell.

“Ooo! Is Sin gonna sing a song tonight?!” Gemini makes her way to the duo and stands in between them with a large grin. “Is he gonna be the one?”

“We don’t know, Gems.” Virtue almost sighs, the exasperation almost drowning them. Why is it that everyone they work with is so exhausting? “If, against all odds, Absinthe likes him, and Airael likes him, and you don’t kill him, then I’ll talk to him. But who knows if that’s ever going to happen.”

Gemini’s grin only grows sharper. “Cross my heart hope to die, I won’t cause any major problems.”

“That doesn’t help with anything.”

“C’mon, Virtue. She’s so cute she’d never hurt a fly.” Airael bends over towards Gemini and gives her a peck. “Look at her.”

Virtue groans. “Flies are not who I’m worried about and you know it.”

“Look at her!”

“Ahem.” The group turns to look at Absinthe standing at the front of the small stage with a big smile. Even a year later, Virtue can’t believe how perfect she looks with a microphone in her hand. “I thought you all should get a little bit extra on this beautiful night! So a little change in vocals for this song!”

She looks back at Guitar Guy and mouths a countdown. He starts to play the beginning of Absinthe’s little brother’s favorite song, and Virtue decides to watch him play instead of watching the crowd like they normally do. 

Absinthe starts to sing, and the familiar wave of unending care, love, and excitement rolls through Virtue. The dirty secret of Bardic Inspiration’s success, their singer’s ability to push their emotions out into the world using music, literally. A secret held only by her three bandmates, and one ex-bandmate. 

Virtue watches as Guitar Guy relaxes, and then tenses his shoulders. He takes a deep breath while playing, closes his eyes for a moment, and his body relaxes again. When he opens his eyes, they follow the crowd, and slowly find Virtue’s gaze. To his credit, he doesn’t flinch. He’s probably played here a few times, if a stranger’s stare isn’t startling.

Their shared gazes hold for a few seconds more, and he goes back to scanning the people who are likely looking at the stage with a new reverence. Virtue can understand their reaction. It’s similar to their first time hearing Absinthe sing. The pure force and genuinity of the emotions sent out feels like touching divinity in so many ways. 

The more that Virtue studies Guitar Guy, the more they see how subtle his reaction to the Power is. His face didn’t change, other than the initial tensing it’s not apparent what happened, but he’s truly relaxed now. The tensing in his legs is gone, he isn’t sitting perfectly straight in the chair anymore, and he’s actually looking at the crowd.

The singing stops, and there’s a taunt silence as everyone realizes that the music isn’t playing. They clap, Absinthe does a dramatic bow, returns the microphone to its stand in front of Guitar Guy, and she skips over to everyone. 

“I think he’s the one, guys.” She grins. Airael holds out the drink she’d been sipping at earlier, and she shakes her head. “I’m already on cloud nine. That was better than any time I sang with Michael.”

Virtue starts to corral them over to a table to talk as Absinthe gushes over the feeling of being on stage with Guitar Guy. She can barely sit still, and Virtue orders some food for the table.

Airael puts a hand on Absinthe’s shoulder, and she stills. “Sin, we need to talk to him first.”

She turns bright red and leans over so her candy green hair hides her eyes. “Sorry, sorry, yeah, of course. We do this together. I know that.”

Gemini cackles and ruffles Absinthe’s hair so it starts to stand up. “We know, Sin, you’re just excited.”

Absinthe whines into her hands and puts her head on the table. “Leave me alone to die of embarrassment.”

Virtue hums as the food arrives. “So I shouldn’t bring up you essentially bullied a random stranger into letting you sing one song for their set.”

There’s a muffled scream, and Virtue knows that she’d be banging her head into the table if they weren’t in public. Everyone laughs, and Airael pats her back sympathetically.

“Can someone kill me please?” Absinthe begs, and everyone laughs again. Virtue turns to watch the rest of Guitar Guy’s set absentmindedly.

“Also, what’s his name? You never told us.” They ask, and get another muffled scream in response.

Next chapter

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Chapter 4: Coming to You Live

The Bardic Inspiration tour starts

“I don’t think I can do this.”

Cato paces back and forth behind the stage, wringing his hands. The heavy black and green boots accentuate every step with a dull thud as the speed starts to pick up. Virtue closes their eyes to push down their annoyance.

They grab Cato’s elbow and force him to stop. He looks at them with surprised eyes, then quickly looks away. Virtue tugs him around so that he’s facing them. 

“A few things. One, you’re here anyways, so you have to do this. No backing out. Two, you’ll be fine. And three, you’re going to ruin the look if you pace to the point of sweating.” Virtue gestures to Cato as a whole at the last point.

And they’re very serious about point three. It wasn’t easy getting a last minute creation for Cato’s inaugural concert, but they managed to get it just in time and damn it they’re not putting all that effort down the drain.

The custom neon green lightning design on the boots, the black jeans with handmade goldenrod patches sewn in the same bright green, and the dark green vest with accents of gold. 

The colors were Airael’s idea, “He’s new and shiny, green and gold work very well to say that. And black because he’s moody, like an emo teenager or some shit like that.” Making those colors neon was, as it always is, Gemini’s hand.

Absinthe hits Virtue’s shoulder. “You’re the worst at this.” She chastises, and gently removes Virtue’s hand from Cato. “Look, dude, it’s going to be terrifying the first few times, but you’re not alone. So even if you want to literally show your ass to the crowd and stare at Gem the whole time, we got you. Or stare at my new ‘do.” She dramatically flips her newly dyed, newly shaved bright blue undercut over to the side and strikes a pose. “Since, y’know, I’m the best looking person on the stage.”

“Arguable!” Airael yells from further backstage. Cato huffs out a laugh, and Absinthe stands back up in a more relaxed position.

“But seriously.” She puts a hand on Cato’s shoulder, and smiles kindly. “We’re here to help you. Rae, Gem, and I are all used to this live show environment, even if the touring part’s gonna be new. You’re new to all of it, and we want to support you however we can. Okay?”

Cato’s face breaks into a small smile, and he nods. “Okay.”

“Good.” She squeezes his shoulder, and turns back to Virtue. “You’re the worst at this.”

“And you’re not.”

Absinthe sighs, shakes her head, and leaves to find the rest of her band. Virtue looks back at Cato, who’s staring at the space Absinthe once filled. 

“Do me a favor, kid.” They say as they grab his guitar. They shove it in front of him, making him look into their eyes, startled. “Don’t get starstruck with your own bandmate.”

Cato’s face turns from awed, to afraid, to confused faster than Virtue ever thought possible. “If you say so.” He shrugs, and takes the guitar. “You’re the boss.”

He runs off in the same direction as Absinthe, and Virtue laughs under their breath once he’s out of earshot. Virtue’s not the boss, just the manager. He’ll figure it out eventually, they just hope he’s not too close to the sun when he does.

Overall, the first concert’s pretty good. Cato finally figures out how to fit the groove by song three, and looks much more relaxed by the end. And the reception to him replacing Michael was pretty good, from what Virtue saw while at the merch table. 

The lead band, Moneyz, is pretty good too. Good group of people, which Virtue had made sure of when setting up this whole tour in the first place. Once the venue had emptied of people and all the sound set up had been safely put away, and instruments secured in the van they’d be taking across the country, Moneyz invited Bardic Inspiration to a diner for some food and relaxation.

When everyone got their drinks and figured out their order, Moneyz frontman, Lim, leans in towards Virtue. “I’ve never seen a band manager so involved in the actual band itself.”

“We’re not a very typical band setup.” Virtue leans in as well. “They make all the music, and produce it. I do everything else.”

“And sometimes they play the fiddle.” Absinthe adds absently as she sips on her coffee, then returns to the conversation she was having with Gemini and the Moneyz’s drummer. 

Lim hums. “Fiddle, ey?”

They shrug. “I learned some violin in high school. They’re technically the same instrument without the bridge.”

Lim hums again and leans in closer. “So how good are you, Virtue?”

Virtue sits back and clutches their mug close to their chest. “I’m not going to join your entourage. Get another fiddler.”

Lim groans and flings backwards into the cushioned seat. “I wasn’t asking for you to join, just to play on this tour with us.”

Virtue glances at the rest of the band. Even though everyone seems to be talking to someone else, Absinthe’s shoulders tense, and Cato’s eyes flick to the side where Virtue is sitting for half a moment. 

“Only for the tour.” Virtue says. “And I get paid $300 at the end.”

“You’re underselling.” Lim narrows Lim’s eyes.

“I’m not meant to be a commodity for the stage. The 300 is for making me be one.”

“You got a deal.” Lim holds out a hand. Virtue grabs it, and they both give one firm shake before retreating back to their drinks.

Virtue falls back into their silent observation as Lim turns and starts a conversation with their lead guitarist Emen. In general Moneyz seems to have a good rapport with one another. The drummer Kuovi, while not the most bright, is incredibly earnest and clearly the emotional heart of the group. Emen is the primary songwriter and the lead guitarist, and his ingenuity shows even when just talking to others. The bassist, Shanty, is the youngest by far, just turning 18 a few weeks ago, but she has a lot of spirit and spunk for someone her small stature. And Lim, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and frontman of it all, terrifies Virtue.

While Kuovi’s enthusiasm melts all but the coldest of hearts, and the creative twist of Emen’s speech can get most to open up, Lim is the only one who truly understands how to manipulate a conversation to Lim’s benefit.

There’s the slightest hesitation before every sentence, a brief breath to make sure the just right words have been selected and put together in the just right order to get what Lim wants. If it wasn’t for their old obsession with speech and behavior patterns, they probably wouldn’t have even noticed. They didn’t even notice until watching Lim talk to Gemini and get her to soften up just a little on Kuovi. 

At least Emen, for all his charm and suave words, was just a flirt.

Food comes, and is enjoyed, and then everyone says their goodnights. Virtue herds their band towards the van, Lim does the same, and when they make eye contact, Lim smiles.

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Chapter 2: Diminish the Chord

Virtue follows Guitar Guy out, and they strike a deal that changes the fate of the world. Or, at least, their lives.

As Guitar Guy starts to finish up his set, Virtue begins their move towards the stage. He strums the last chord with a small smile on his face. Some of the brown hair on his forehead is sticking from the ambient heat of the bar, and he moves it back before leaning into the mic.

“Thank you all for listening tonight.” There’s a few whoops from the crowd, and his smile gets a little bigger. “I’m Cato, here every Tuesday and Thursday, have a good night.”

Guitar Guy, Cato, turns off his mic and starts to put his few pieces of equipment away. Virtue steps up next to him, and helps him. 

“So, Cato.” They start, and Cato hums slightly as he closes the guitar case. “I first want to apologize about Absinthe earlier. She’s very insistent when she wants to be, and forgets what it means to be polite at times.”

Cato hums again, standing up and stretching. “So that’s her name.”

Virtue wants to shake the neon singer until she reassembles sense in her brain. “It is.”

There’s a huff of a laugh, and he turns to face Virtue. He’s shorter than them, but not by much, with light brown eyes and hair to match. He grins up at them with his packed equipment in his hands.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed the set. I need to put these in the car, if you don’t mind-” He starts to move past Virtue, and they follow beside him.

“It was really good. You’re very talented, clearly.” Virtue says as they move out of the band, and they can feel the band’s eyes watching their exit. “Actually, we wanted to talk to you after you finished up.”

Cato puts the guitar case down while unlocking the back of an old car. “I’m not interested in a record deal.”

“It’s not a record deal.” Virtue watches him put everything in the trunk, and refuses to flinch when he slams the door shut and spins around in their face.

“You,” Cato points at Virtue with narrowed eyes, “are a manager. I can tell from the way you watched me in the bar, and how you followed me out. So let’s drop the shit and listen to me when I tell you I’m not interested.”

It’s Virtue’s turn to hum. “Fair enough, you don’t want that. Great news, I’m not affiliated with any sort of record company so that’s not really a thing I can offer. I am, though, a band manager. Absinthe is the lead singer of that band, and took a real shine to your guitar playing abilities. Which is good, seeing as how we’re short of one, and nobody likes everyone else who tried out to be a replacement.”

Cato’s eyes narrow further, and a scowl starts to pull at his mouth. “I’m a solo act.”

“Clearly.” Virtue almost smirks at him, but has enough forethought to not. Cato’s already surly and defensive, no need to give him more reason to pull away. “But if you want to continue to get better at your craft I’d suggest you talk to people going further in the industry, even if that’s not what you want to do. Especially Absinthe. For all her outward airheadedness, she’s incredibly musically competent.”

Cato continues to scowl, but he looks off into Virtue’s shoulder, deep in thought. “I’ll talk to them, but only about that.”

“Absinthe might try and recruit you anyways, but it’s your choice at the end of the day.”

Cato and Virtue walk back into the bar, and Virtue notices that Airael is sitting in Gemini’s lap, with Gemini’s head popping out underneath her girlfriend’s arm. There’s two empty fry baskets, with Absinthe holding the last of a third in her hand.

“No, you guys don’t get it at all. Malcolm’s my only sibling. Rae, you’re an only child, and Gem, you’re the middle child of twelve.” Absinthe points fries at both of them, and then shoves said fries into her mouth.

“I just don’t understand why you call him every night.” Gemini groans. “He’s not a kid, Sin.”

There’s an uncomfortably familiar shadow that falls over Absinthe’s eyes, and Virtue steps in between the two and picks up the fry baskets. “I think that’s enough on the taters, kids. You’re barely legal, lay off.”

The shadow disappears, and Absinthe giggles. “I’m 23, V, I think I can handle a few fries. Maybe even some tots.”

“Liar!” Airael sings from Gemini’s lap, and Absinthe flips him off. “V, she had one tot and started getting sleepy!”

He yelps as Gemini pinches his side. “Shut up you two, we have a guest.”

Everyone turns to see Cato, who’d been awkwardly watching the argument go on from behind Virtue. Absinthe looks at Virtue with teary eyes, and Virtue smiles at her.

‘Thank me later.’ They mouth, and Absinthe nods.

Virtue carefully stacks the fry baskets up, and sits down on the other side of the table. Airael offers his seat to Cato, and the talk officially begins.

“So,” Cato starts. “My name’s Cato. And so we’re clear, I’m not here to join your band or whatever.”

“Why not?”

Absinthe’s question takes him off guard from the way he startles and stares at her. Or maybe it’s the fact that she asked it with no judgment, or the way she leaned in with clear interest in the answer. It’s not clear, Cato clearly thought she’d be a lot more belligerent. Which is understandable.

“I, uh, I don’t really want to be a part of a band.” He stammers, and flinches when Gemini grabs a hold of Airael and leans forwards with a vicious smile.

“Is it because you’re comfortable in this little solo act, or you think you’d disappoint everyone by not being up to our standards?” She asks, and Cato clearly bristles. Airael’s arms go around Gemini’s, and Absinthe moves so her body is facing away from the table.

“I don’t think band life is one that I’d be happy with. Especially touring, if you guys end up doing that. I like the place I’m in now.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try.” Airael puts in, and Absinthe nods. 

“Exactly. Look, Cato, I really think you’d be a good fit, more than you’d expect. Don’t ask how I came to that conclusion, that’s a band secret, but I do know that you’re not only talented, but adaptable. If you’d be down, I want you to come to a few practices, try it out. If it feels right, join the band and go on our tour with us. If after the tour you’re out, we’ll just get another guitarist. But I really want you to try it.”

It’s always mesmerizing for Virtue to watch Absinthe switch from Public Absinthe to Professional Absinthe. In all honesty, they have no idea how she does it. It could be because of the Malcolm situation a few months ago, but they’ll never know for sure.

“So if you did all those tryouts, why me?” Cato’s eyebrows are furrowed in intense confusion. “That makes no sense.”

“I’m with you on that one.” Virtue mutters, and Airael kicks them from under the table. 

“They don’t fit. It wouldn’t work right.” Absinthe answers. “I’m willing to settle if I have to, but I’m a perfectionist when it comes to the fit of BI.”

Cato does a double take, and Virtue wants to slam their head into the table. Nobody told him what the name of the fucking band is.

“They named the band Bardic Inspiration, BI for short.” Virtue cuts in, and Cato covers his face.

“I think you’re the fit.” Absinthe adds, and Cato groans into his hands.

Everyone looks at each other as the brunet sits still at the table. ‘Is he okay?’ Gemini mouths, and Virtue shrugs. 

“Fine.” Cato’s muffled voice comes out. “I’ll do the test trial.”

Absinthe cheers and stands up. “You won’t regret this! I’ll text you the details!” And she skips out of the bar. Virtue scribbles their name and number onto a napkin and slides it to Cato.

“You’ll get used to it, if you stay.” Virtue smiles as they stand up. Gemini and Airael are already following after Airael, leaving just Cato sitting down.

“If you say so.” He murmurs while staring at the door.

First chapter

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

The three year anniversary of my original story, The Powered Universe (or TPU for short) is coming up in a couple of days (may 2nd) and so if people could send in asks about the story or characters or writing prompts I'd really love and appreciate that.

I have the whole shebang over on @powered-universe-official so if you want to read it go over there (i also have the first few chapters here under the tag #the powered universe), but if you wanna ask about characters I have the original three: Leto/Zephyr, Virtue, and Electrode. The original Bardic Inspiration: Cato, Virtue, Bug, Airael, and Gemini. The new four: Leto/Zephyr, Virtue, Electrode, and Malcolm. The new Bardic Inspiration: Virtue, Absinthe, Airael, Gemini, and Cato.

If you wanna know more abt a specific version of a character that is both old and new, pls specify! But I'd super appreciate it, this project has been so important to me and I've been working on it a lot behind the scenes so sending in any asks about it would be wonderful and lovely, thank you.

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

I'm intrigued please tell me more

Absinthe, lead singer and front woman of fictional band Bardic Inspiration, is killed alongside her drummer (Gemini) and bassist (Airael), leaving behind a younger brother (Malcolm), and two surviving members of her band (Virtue and Cato).

This death is the catalyst for two characters who are not the main characters of the story, even though by all means they should be.

Malcolm is stunted for the rest of his life because he refuses to acknowledge her death, and that he never actually understood his sister when she died. He is cold and an asshole through and through. Even though he is supposed to guide and protect Leto, the true main character, he fails time and time again because he doesn't understand either of those concepts for others. He dyes a piece of his hair green, wears his sister's band's t-shirts, hoping to keep a piece of her with him, but he doesn't linger on memories of her, or remember her as she was, only the idea of what a bond between them should have been based off normal sibling relationships. He's desperate to be a little brother again, and in his self hatred he stops himself from becoming anything but a cruel, cold adult.

Cato, now Electrode, connected to Absinthe and thought of her as a light in their life of darkness and misery. A lifetime of abuse, poverty, loss, death, anger, she was the first bit of perceived true kindness, and the violent, sudden loss that they could have prevented, mixed with a completely uncertain identity meant that they tried to keep Absinthe alive by becoming her. They dye their hair the same shade of green, take on the same over-enthusiastic personality, the same taste in music and presentation in a desperate hope to keep that feeling alive. The anger that festers because you can't keep alive what is already dead makes Electrode go from wanting to do genuinely good radical change to taking any means necessary for their end goal.

And poor, poor Leto, who never met Absinthe, never knew her or her band, is stuck between the pulling forces of these two separate tragedies who try and use her through the excuse of giving her something. Strength, perceived autonomy, a listening ear, while restricting all of those things because they don't know they're trying to fill something that's long gone, a wound never scarred over.

Aofuqjgjqovahf

[powered-universe-official]

Draft 2, Part 1: Virtue; All Signs Point to Lauderdale

A celebration of graduation

Virtue stands in the corner of the backyard, slowly nursing whatever was in the cup that Michael had handed to them. The party is small, only a few friends and family from each of the band members. Well, except Gemini, she flat out refused to invite any of her eleven siblings or her parents, and said something about her cousin being unreachable.

Airael is talking to some of his friends in the other corner, Michael is laughing with his moms, and Bug is somewhere inside raiding the snacks. Virtue watches them all have fun and celebrate their graduation from college from a distance, not knowing most of the people there.

It had been a few years since they had finished their college experience, and there had been no party to celebrate their graduation. It’s a strange feeling, being here, seeing this. They feel like a stranger watching through a window.

“You look depressed and lonely.” Gemini sidles up next to Virtue with a strange grin on her face. She has a cup in her hand, half full of something that smells sweet. “What’s up?”

Virtue sighs, and leans back until their shoulders hit the wooden fence. “Nothing, really. I graduated a while ago, with a degree I never use, and I am only here because I work with you, Airael, and Bug. So…” They shrug and look at their mostly full cup.

Gemini hums, takes a sip of her drink, and lets her eyes wander around the backyard. “You know, it’s funny. I’m the sixth child of twelve, I have two loving parents, they never really ignored any of their kids, but. I dunno, I always felt closer with my cousin, who’s younger than me, and lives in New York as far as I know.” She takes another sip. “That’s to say, even if you feel semi-translucent and like a secondary character, you’re the protagonist to somebody.”

“Wow, waxing poetic much?” Virtue teases her. They feel a small smile creep onto their face as Gemini gasps and gives them a scathing look.

“Excuse you! I only wax poetic for my beloved and handsome Airael!”

“I don’t think making out counts, Gem.”

Virtue and Gemini stare at each other, their eyes slowly growing in size until they both descend into laughter.

Gemini reaches up and pats Virtue’s shoulder. “This is why we like you, you’re both organized and fun to be around.”

Virtue watches as she skips off and heads inside, passing Bug who has about three different bowls full of different foods. He looks at everyone talking, and walks over to Virtue.

“You know, people usually have more fun when they don’t sit in the corner and drink…whatever you’re drinking, what even is that?” He looks judgmentally at Virtue’s cup while eating out of a bowl full of some kind of trail mix and popcorn. 

“It’s the unsweetened tea.” Virtue takes a long sip while staring at Bug, who is more interested in his snacks.

“Gross.”

“You don’t have coffee.”

“That’s a you problem.”

Bug shuffles around his bowls and digs into his jacket until he pulls out an envelope. “And this is for you.”

Virtue takes it, and sees their name in Michael’s loopy handwriting on the front. They open it, and take out a card. On the front is a clipboard, and when they open it, it’s full of four different messages. One from each of the band members. 

They can see Gemini’s small and messy scrawl in one of the corners, Airael’s careful and straight lettering all across the center. Michael’s is across from Gemini’s, and at the bottom is Bug’s familiar cursive. Virtue looks up, tears threatening to make themselves known, and smiles.

“This is for me?”

Bug nods. “We wouldn’t have been able to actually do something with this band without you. Because of you, we have a mostly functioning social media presence, we’ve been able to have like, five gigs with lots of success. We have merch, dude!” Bug gestures wildly with the one arm that isn’t holding food. “We never thought we would actually go somewhere with this, and it finally seems possible, because of you!”

Virtue blinks back tears. “Oh.” Their fingers grip the card, and they hold it close to their chest. “Well, thank you. That’s probably the nicest thing someone has ever done for me. I think.”

Bug bumps his shoulder against Virtue’s. “Well, start expecting this shit, the four of us like to make sure people know we like them.” He winks. “Now, I’m off to get some of that whatever you have. Tschüssie!” He gets a mouthful of trail mix and popcorn, and saunters off to find the tank of unsweetened tea.

Virtue looks at the card, reading over all the words and messages made for them, and thinks that maybe, just maybe, this is what they were meant for.

-

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[powered-universe-official]

Draft 2, Part 1: Virtue; Hollow Moons

Virtue gets a text.

I won’t be at practice today. Sick.

Virtue reads Gemini’s text once, then twice, then a third time. They check that yes, she did send that directly to them and not to the band’s group chat, where everyone would be able to see that she wouldn’t be there. A mixture of worry and concern circles around Virtue’s heart, trying to wiggle inside and make room inside its chambers. 

Virtue grabs their keys, swings a jacket onto their arms, and only barely remembers to lock the door behind them as they leave.

It’s funny to Virtue how they prefer their car to be silent when driving considering they currently manage a band. The silence isn’t intrusive or awkward, but a welcome reprieve from all the noise that they live around. When working with Bardic Inspiration, at home where the neighbor’s raucous laughter filters through the thin apartment walls, and every park or hole-in-the-wall shop they go to has people filling the corners. It’s all noise.

Here, on the drive to Gemini’s small apartment she shares with Airael, it’s quiet. The silence fills the car, and centers all of their thoughts, giving them much more ease to go through most situations and figure out reactions and plans. 

It gives them time to think over everything, and start to make various different plans. If Airael is out for any reason, contacting him if the severity of the situation is that bad, or getting Gemini things if she’s just sick. A branching out decision tree over one text. Mabe Virtue is getting paranoid over the band. That wouldn’t be the worst evolution, they think. BI can be chaotic to their own detriment. 

They park their car in the parking lot in front of the complex, and their footfalls are silent on the metal staircase that leads them up to Gemini and Airael’s apartment. The loudest thing in the hallway is the knocking of Virtue’s knuckles on worn wood.

At least, it is until the sound of something crashing to the floor rings out from inside the apartment. Virtue waits one second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds after the sound fills their ears and causes them to flinch. Five seconds, six seconds, seven seconds and the lock clicks out of place and the door swings open to reveal Gemini.

She’s visibly disheveled, with her hair sticking up in every conceivable direction, and her body is visibly more slouched and caved in than Virtue has ever seen. Her eyes are wild as they scan Virtue up and down, and Virtue watches as she starts to visibly pale.

“Hi, I promise I’m fine, no need to come inside, I should be better in a few days, goodbye!” Gemini says quickly, grinning widely as she starts to close the door. Virtue moves enough to put their foot in the doorframe, and ignores the spark of pain as the door pins it. 

Virtue looks at Gemini with a steady gaze. “I need you to tell me what I need to get for you.” They say. “Let me help you.”

Gemini’s eyes widen minutely, and a heavy moment passes between them before her body tenses, and she runs further into the apartment. Virtue pushes the door back open with their foot, and walks inside. 

They push the door closed behind them, and look at the apartment. Multiple things are on the floor, some shattered, some not. The single couch is flipped on its side, and some of the pillows have tears in them. The fluff floats in the air and litters the ground, intermingling with pottery shards. 

Virtue looks at the mess all over the ground, and sighs. They flip the couch upright, and start to scour the apartment for a broom.

The sound of porcelain scraping against the worn floor is the only sound in the unnaturally silent apartment as Virtue sweeps up the broken shards. They make sure none have punctured the garbage bag that the pieces were put into, and double check everything is where it needs to be. As they pick up some of the fallen figurines, the sound of something clacking on the floor comes from behind them.

Virtue turns around to see a very large wolf with blond fur and dark green eyes staring at them. Its ears are pointing back, and when it sees that Virtue has noticed it, it tenses up. 

The pieces of today float around Virtue’s head as they carefully watch the wolf, slowly slotting together into a blurry picture. Gemini’s strange behavior swirls around, and clicks to bring it to a full image.

Virtue looks the wolf over one final time, and sits down on the newly cleaned floor. They pat the floor next to them, and attempt to give a disarming smile.

“Come sit, Gemini.” They say. “I just want to tell you some things.”

Gemini, the wolf, takes one wary step, then another, and eventually pads over to where Virtue is sitting. She looms over Virtue, and looks them over for a few slow seconds before laying down with her head firmly in Virtue’s lap.

Virtue’s fingers quickly find a rhythm moving through Gemini’s clean and unmatted fur. “I want you to know, I won’t tell anyone.” They start. “No matter if you end up being a villain or not, I’ve heard stories about people who are unregistered. I won’t put you through that.”

Gemini exhales, and moves to be closer to Virtue, who continues to pet her head. “Second thing, would you like me to stay?”

Gemini chuffs this time, and lifts her head up to give a gentle lick to Virtue’s face. Virtue finds that they have to concentrate less on making their smile look unalarming. “Okay, we’ll just sit here until you either change back, or you want me to leave.”

Gemini puts her head back down, gives Virtue a grateful look, and the warm silence wraps around them in a blanket of contentment.

First    Previous    Next

[powered-universe-official]

Draft 2, Part 1: Virtue; Grenadine

Virtue meets the rest of the band

The next day, Virtue drives to the designated ‘practice room’ of the band. It’s a small house in a quiet neighborhood, and Virtue sees that they really did live as a garage band. What looks to be thousands upon thousands of cords come out of various outlets into extensions, and to the various speakers. 

In the back is a set of drums, with the front of the bass drum painted to show a detailed painting of a microphone; its cord turning into detailed cursive reading Bardic Inspiration. Leaning against the wall is a bass guitar, dark purple in color with specks of black. Next to that is an electric guitar, this one warm brown and gold colored, with black crows wings spreading across the body of it. And finally, sitting in the center of the garage, are three mic stands with an unplugged microphone in each one.

“Well, this is the place.” Bug crosses his arms, a confident grin set upon his face. “Everyone else will be here soon, but Michael. This is his moms’ house, and also his but really it’s his moms’.”

As if summoned, the door to the inside of the house opens, and a young man awkwardly shuffles sideways out into the garage. On his back is a pair of large black wings, the highest arch of them easily resting a good six inches above his short black hair, and the tips of the lowest feathers are barely above the ground.

He rolls his shoulders back, wings shaking slightly, and he smiles while walking towards Virtue with a hand out. “Hey, I’m Michael.”

Virtue takes Michael’s hand, giving it one firm shake before stepping backwards. “Virtue, your new manager.” They introduce themselves, and Michael’s grin grows larger. 

“Sweet! Well, Gem and Airael are on their way right now, and should be here within the first few minutes.” He shakes his arms slightly, then goes up to Bug. “We are gonna play some music today, right?”

“Of course, Virtue here has to know how epic the band that they’ll be managing is.” Bug assures, and a car pulls up to the sidewalk. 

Out of it comes a very short woman, with her curly hair tied back, and a very tall guy who has purple hair and an open back shirt, showing off detailed tattoo art of devils wings spanning across his shoulder blades. 

The woman grabs Virtue’s hand in a very firm handshake. “Hi, I’m Gemini, the drummer. You must be Virtue, right?” She lets go of Virtue’s and and gestures to the person next to her, who is over a foot taller than her. “This is my girlfriend, Airael.”

Airael nods at Virtue. “Hey.”

Gemini moves towards Michael and starts to talk to him about some of their previous performances, while Airael looks at Virtue. He doesn’t say anything, only looking them up and down, and goes towards the microphones. He moves one to be on the left side of the garage, and the other to be over the drum set.

“Alright, we ready to play some music?” Bug stops everyone’s various talking (or staring). “Or at least get warmed up real quick?”

There’s various cheers of agreement, and Virtue watches as everyone tunes their instruments (or in Gemini’s case, vigorously banging on some drums before nodding with a pleased look). Michael strums a few chords before doing his own nod, and Airael plays a few small riffs, then stops and waits.

Bug looks at everyone, smiles with an almost nervous energy at Virtue, and nods at Michael, who double checks his speaker is indeed on. He starts to play some almost sinister feeling chords that begin to dig into Virtue’s skin, and then Bug starts to sing.

“What a big heart I have, I’ll be your savior now.” The thrum of anxious excitement hits Virtue’s heart. “What a real catch I am, all the more to pull you down.”

Airael and Michael play a few riffs as Gemini moves to the beat of her drumline, and suddenly the energy of the room changes from mild anxiety and nervousness of playing in front of Virtue alone into pure confidence and a decadent sense of the power that comes with being the main attraction.

“I’ll be the king of it, the queen of it, the god of it, all of it.” Bug looks at Virtue as the thrall of the song is channeled through him, and the sticky, syrupy feeling of desire to be a part of the oneness that the group exudes. “Eat your heart after I lick it clean, tastes of blood and grenadine.”

Virtue loses themselves to everything that the band is playing, the feeling of power, excitement, hints of nervousness and waves of joy of doing this, and they feel almost woozy when it stops. A degree of awareness returns to them, something they hadn’t even realized that they lost, and they see the four college students thrumming with energy.

“Well?” Bug asks, the same confident grin dripping off of his face. “What did you think?”

“I think.” Virtue begins, still trying to rapidly grasp onto the words to express whatever the fuck just happened to them. “That all of you have the potential to go very, very far.”

Everyone has a mini celebration. Bug spins around to face Virtue, face alight with excitement. “You really think so?!” He asks, and everyone in the band waits eagerly for the answer.

Virtue laughs. “Without a single doubt.”

As the cheers and yells of excitement fill the small garage, Virtue leans against a wall and looks at them. Yeah, they think, they’ll be just fine.

-

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[powered-universe-official]

Draft 2, Part 1: Virtue; Devil’s Point

The band has their first concert

Maybe if this was a normal band, the night wouldn’t be going the way it is right now, with Virtue trying their best to hold back the growing number of people from the band. But this isn’t a normal band. This is a band made of twenty-somethings finishing up their various majors who just so happened to have started a band that’s growing in success. So this is how it’s going.

And how it started? Well, Virtue got them a booking to play at a local restaurant, just something to start getting their name out away from the college-centric circles. The owner seemed to be more than happy to help them out, absolutely ecstatic in fact. 

Nothing happened when they started setting up everything, and nothing happened still when they had started, even though half of Bug’s face was covered in medical bandaging. Just people enjoying their dinners, and each other's company, and every once in a while clapping once a song finished. No, things started to happen when Bug pulled them aside, looked Virtue straight in the eye, and asked “You play violin, right?”

“Uh, yeah, why?” Virtue glanced over to Michael, who was pulling something up on his phone. “You don’t have a violin with you.”

“About that.” Bug moved and took something from behind Gemini’s drum set, and revealed a violin case. “Ta-da.”

Virtue stared at the case, then turned back to Bug and glared at him. “I’m not going to play without music.”

“I found it!” Michael grinned and moved to stand next to Virtue. He showed them the screen of his phone, which had the sheet music for a song whose title was conveniently hidden.

“Please?” Virtue glanced at Bug, who’s only visible eye was gleaming with hope. “Just one song?”

“Just one?”

Bug nodded eagerly, and Virtue sighed. They grabbed the case, clicked it open, and took out the violin and bow. “I have no time to practice?”

“Eh.” Bug shrugged. “Most of us haven’t practiced this one that much. It’s more of a ‘let’s see how this goes’ sorta thing.”

Virtue sighed again. “Okay, okay yeah. Give me a few minutes to warm up, but I’ll do it.”

Bug and Michael silently cheered, pumping their fists in the air, with Bug doing a little wiggle and jump in there too. “Okay, you do that, we’ll play another two songs and then you get to come up.” Bug told Virtue as its grin got wider and wider. 

Virtue watched the pair skip back to the stage, and left to the back to warm up.

It was early evening by then, just before the dinner rush started to pile in. As Virtue warmed up their fingers and tuned the violin (never before have they been so glad they kept up playing after high school), the door leading back inside let some of the whispers of the music playing inside out. Virtue, feeling confidence start to swell up inside them, stretched and walked back in.

There were more people sitting down now than there before. Looking at the small stage the band was set up on, they saw that there was another music stand with Michael’s phone on it, lit up with sheet music on it. The last chord played out, there was a small amount of applause, and they went up to the stand.

“This is our amazing band manager Virtue.” Bug gestured to them once the applause faded away. “They’re gonna help us with this next song.”

Virtue heard light tapping on the drumset behind them, giving the tempo. They took a deep breath, looking at Michael who started the song with them, and nodded.

It started somewhat slowly, with a riff from Michael, then Virtue joined in over top. Gemini added some light percussion, and the sensation of waiting for the ball to drop filled the room.

“Go!” Gemini yelled, and the tempo increased, the energy was set alight, and Virtue played.

The moment Bug started singing, any sense of self or time that Virtue once had was lost within the swell of all the sounds going on around them. They could barely register them reading the music on Michael’s phone, occasionally switching to the next page. They don’t remember what the lyrics to the song were, only hearing Bug’s voice as he sang them out.

Well, that wasn’t true. They remember the last lyrics.

“What do you do when the Devil offers you a drink?” Virtue remembers looking at Bug, who was looking at the crowd with eyes that glowed with fascination. A pause. “Well you buy the next round.”

One last riff from Michael, and the silence that permeated the restaurant was heavy.

“More!” Called someone from the back.

“Yeah, give us more!”

Virtue looked at the band, who stood there confused. Then, growing in the crowd, a chant. “More, more, more, more, more!” Louder and louder until it was nearly deafening. 

Bug shook a little, put on a smile, and took the mic. “Thank you all for your time.”  It said. The chanting didn’t stop. “It means a lot to us. Now we gotta head out.”

The chanting stopped, and as the band was putting everything away, it seemed normal. At least, until they had finished packing up Gemini’s drum set it did. 

“I think we’re ready to head out.” Gemini cracked her neck and stretched. “That was a success.”

“Definitely was.” Airael hummed. “I had fun.

“Agreeing to all of your points.” Bug said. “But Michael has a coding project due in two days so we really need to leave.”

“Could you do just one more?”

Everyone jumped and turned to see a young man standing there. “One more, please?”

“Sorry, no.” Virtue cut in before anyone could say anything. “They finished a while ago.”

“I know, I know. But I just, you guys were so good. Just one more song?”

Another person appears. “Yeah, one more?”

More people stepped up to Virtue, asking for another song. They gestured to the band members behind them to leave, knowing the back door was behind them. 

Noticing that the band was leaving, the group tried to push past Virtue, but they held their ground. They weren’t going to let anyone pass, at least not for another few minutes.

And that’s where they are now, holding back a slowly growing group of people who decided that, for whatever reason, they needed more Bardic Inspiration. 

“Hey! All of you!”

The group of people turn around to the voice of the restaurant owner. “Get back to your seats or you’re all banned!”

That seemed to snap them all out of their stupor. Faster than they had appeared, they left back to enjoy their evening.

“Sorry about that.” The owner apologizes to Virtue. “You all did very good.”

Virtue takes a deep breath. “It’s fine.” They assure. “You don’t control your patrons.

The owner hums. “Well, in any case, you lot go home and enjoy a nice long sleep alright?”

“Yeah.” Virtue smiles. “No problem.”

-

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