#he reminded me a little bit of the even rounder red dragon from that one arc of order of the stick

[cameoappearance]

So what’d you think of the big dragon

Oh lawd he comin

[mothmanhamlet]

Backstage

Analogical/minor Royality. 3254. Band au. No warnings, minus like 1 curse word (If I’m wrong, let me know).

Roman drags Logan to a concert, and a guitarist catches Logan’s eye.

Logan knew where he was going when he saw the two tickets taped to a poster on the counter. Logan understood what was about to transpire when his all-too-extra roommate Roman Prince explained incessantly about the singer he had met two months prior. But it was not until he was painted with eyeliner, dragged out the door, and sat down in a creaky wooden chair that he really understood what an ordeal it would be. His roommate had dragged him to some anthology style concert in a run down theatre 30 minutes from their university. Not because he was a lover of up-and-coming indie bands, but because of someone who was participating.

Despite the impracticality of it all, it actually looked rather lovely. Only the first ten rows or so were filled, but they were tightly packed with people. The lights were soft and slowly switching from blue to red to green and back again, several posters and fairy lights adorning the wall. It looked slightly out of place in the classic theater with everything decorated as though it either belonged with a fairy or grungy 90’s teenager. An unusual combination, but oddly enough it worked.

Roman made his way into the row of chairs, coming back from whatever it was he seemed to be doing. It was probably chatting up strangers, knowing him. Roman had a talent for that, getting people to pay attention to him. It was an admirable trait until paying attention to Roman turned into paying attention to Logan, who much preferred being left alone.

“Hey, pocket protector, did ya miss me?” Roman said with a wink. He was the essence of flamboyance and flair, dressed in something just normal enough to not be a prince costume, red glitter spread across his cheekbones, eyes, and hair. Truthfully it was the least extravagant night time outfit in a while. Still, it made Logan feel underdressed, just wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and tie. Plus some poorly applied eyeliner.

“Salutations Roman. The host seems to have made an announcement about that band you wanted to see. He mentioned they were performing next,” Logan said in a near monotone voice. Roman’s eyes lit up at the mention.

“The one Patt’s in? Fantastic! You’ll love it Logan, and Patton is so amazing, he has the best voice and adds such feeling to the lyrics and-” Roman started to ramble, only to be cut of by Logan.

“You’ve already told me this many times Roman,” Logan said bluntly. Those speeches could last half an hour easily. Quickly Logan added, “And you call me the geek.”

“That was harsh, Microsoft Nerd.”

“My apologies, was that too ‘Savage’ of me?” Logan asked, producing a small vocabulary card from his pocket.

“I regret giving you those,” Roman laughed, rolling his eyes. The music grew quieter and all eyes drifted up to the stage. A tall man wearing a yellow button up shirt with a black bow tie and bowler hat strolled up to the front. He had an odd scar across the side of his face that resembled snakeskin.

“Thank you Dragon-Witch for your… Intriguing performance. Next up is,” The man gave the backstage a side-eye before scoffing and rolling his eyes, “The Insomniacs.”

The room blacked out for a moment, leaving thuds and light footsteps in the darkness. When the lights came back on  the stage was occupied by three men standing center stage who looked drastically different.

The first, presumably the drummer by the sticks he was twirling like a fairy wand, was wearing dark, dark sunglasses that completely obscured his eyes, and besides the lipstick, was dressed rather plainly. The oddest thing about his outfit was the shirt he was wearing, plain white with a thick black font writing “SLEEP”. If Logan was being honest, he just looked like a tiring person.

The next was slightly shorter, with rounder features. He was wearing glasses not unlike Logan’s that were sat upon freckles that were extremely noticeable, even from where Logan was sitting. He was wearing a light blue polo with a cardigan tied over his shoulders like a cape. He looked rather cutesy, bursting at the seams with bubbly energy.

Then there was the last. The final man was dressed in dark clothing, black and a purple color that matched his hair. His clothing was slightly tattered, his hair a little messy, and wearing enough makeup to surprise even Roman. Just like the freckles on the second man, the eyeshadow he put under his eyes was probably visible from space He looked a bit like a rock star: intense, chaotic, and undeniably attractive. Objectively, of course.  This had to be Patton.

“Hi! We’re The Insomniacs,” Loud cheering cut through the man’s excited voice, which was surprising considering the few people in the room, “and we are so happy to be here tonight! As always, we’re gonna play three songs for you guys, two covers and one that we wrote ourselves.”

The man with the sunglasses casually strolled over to the drum set, where a precariously placed Starbucks was waiting for him on top of the bass. How anyone could manage to balance it, Logan would never know. The man who was presumably Patton walked intently in the other direction, swinging a guitar out from behind him, while the freckled man stayed, center stage, resting his hands around the microphone.

Wait. Roman definitively said “singer”, not guitarist. How had he not noticed the strap before? Must have been distracted by something. Maybe the lights. Maybe the background noise. Maybe the man’s face. But either way, Patton couldn’t be him, unless he was both guitarist and singer, which was unlikely. Patton had to be the cutesy man standing center stage.

Sure enough, the music started playing. First, the band played a more Rock n’ Roll version of some pop song Logan barely recognized. Everyone else loved it though. Roman was right, Patton did have a lovely voice. Logan, however felt his eyes being dragged just to the left of him, to the guitarist. He looked so confident playing, like any worry of messing up was infinitesimal. He was also extremely skilled at the guitar, so there was that too.

The next song they played was different, more upbeat. It was a little older, a little more repetitive, a little happier. It also happened to make the three men dance a little. Patton did some simple swaying movements with overly flamboyant hand gestures. Honestly, it reminded him of a dad dance mixed with Roman’s personality. Eyeshadow-Guitar-Man was just bopping his head up and down, the fakest bright grin plastered on his face. It was extremely clear that he did not seem to want to perform that particular song. Even Sunglasses was doing a little bop to the tune. People in the audience even started to dance along, lip-syncing along to the lyrics.

Finally, the song ended and the room quieted. The lights started to dim even further as ukulele started to play and a spotlight was placed on Patton. Logan looked over to see Roman had leaned forward in his seat, staring in anticipation

The song was softer and calmer than the last two, with Patton’s vocals coming through clear and melancholy. Sunglasses had almost fully transitioned to being backup vocals and Eyeshadow Guitarist had quietly set down the purple guitar and picked up a similarly colored acoustic one, a rather illogical thing to do, but the song sounded pleasant. Everyone in the room started to be a little calmer than before.

Logan looked at the guitarist and saw him tilt his head to the side and then wink right near him. After a moment, Logan realized he was looking at Roman, but for a split second, he thought he winked at him. The thought put a not unpleasant feeling in his chest.

 Wait, is this attraction? 

Logan felt a slight panic at the thought. It’s fine. It doesn’t mean anything. You’ll be fine. Logan tried to reassure himself. Sure he was pretty, but that was all that it was, right?

The song ended, the lights going out fully for a second as applause flowed freely from the crowd. When the lights quickly came back on, all three members of the band were strolling over to center stage. Patton was waving, excitedly and wildly whilst grinning ear to ear. Much to Logan’s confusion, Sunglasses was  still drinking  the cup from earlier. Perhaps he simply enjoys carrying it? 

They all carried their things offstage, at least those who had things to carry, and the announcer from earlier walked back on, no happier than before.

“Great job everyone, what a  thrilling  performance,” The man said, wearing quite possibly the most forced grin of Logan’s life. Which was impressive, considering Logan had to go to  several parties with Roman’s theatre friends. “Moving on, now it is time for our next act… Joan and The Beanies”

Just as people started to wheel off the drum set, Roman jumped up and grabbed Logan’s hand.

“Alright, pocket protector, it’s time for you to meet Patton,” Roman said, giving Logan no time to argue before starting to drag him. Weaving through several people, Roman pulled Logan to an older wooden door that was slightly obscured by a red curtain.

Roman put his hand on the doorknob, attempting to twist it before giving up and knocking. Not long after the door creaked open, leaving the two men staring at the announcer from earlier who looked, not surprisingly, annoyed. This look was amplified by his scar, which gave him a surprisingly snaky appearance.

“Oh, it’s just you,” The man said, opening the door so they could enter. It was a long hallway with a table in the center, quite a few people sat around it, with some sitting on the chairs that littered the sides.

“Hey Dee, good to see you! Any words of wisdom for your pal Roman?” Roman said, being overly dramatic as usual, something that was not well received by the announcer.

“Society is a lie, Justice is a fraud, Morality is meaningless, and I have so many better things to do than talk to you, ” he said with a flick of his wrist. The movement exposed a name tag on the side of his shirt that read “Deceit” in thick block letters. 

“Excuse me, but if you don’t mind me asking, why does your name tag say “Deceit”? Is that your name?” Logan interjected, stopping the man from leaving.

The person in question rolled his eyes, as he turned to face Logan, “No, my name is most certainly not  Deceit of all things. What I asked for was D.C. however, some people are moronic staplers paired with, and I quote,” The man, D.C. apparently, cleared his throat and lowered his voice to have the tone of a stereotypical surfer who was trying to be a hippie, “Declan is like, a really hard name, and autocorrect is like, totally a bitch.” 

With that Declan turned around and walked away, leaving Roman to search for Patton and his band. The romantic theatrics seemed like overkill to Logan, but as someone who just felt attraction a few seconds ago, maybe he shouldn’t judge. Okay, that was a little extra of him, maybe he should talk to someone other than Roman sometimes.

After a few seconds of rigorous search, Roman spotted his beloved. Running after him, Roman consumed Patton in a hug, a public display of affection no one seemed to notice or care about.  Besides their drummer, who was standing all too close, and nearly dropped his drink before returning to stare at his phone.

As the two separated, Patton looked up and directly at Logan. He smiled brightly, instant recognition flashing on his face.

“You must be Logan! Oh I’ve heard so much about you!” Patton said, motioning for him to come closer. The second he got close enough, Patton grabbed his hand to shake it.

“Patton Smith, it’s so nice to meet you,” he said, aggressively cheerful. Patton turned around and called out a name Logan didn’t recognize.

“Virgil! Get your butt over here!” he shouted, waving his hands around vigorously. The guitarist from earlier casually walked over.

“Virgil? Like the roman poet Virgil?” Logan asked, turning to the man. Up close he was taller than Logan. To be fair, they were all taller than Logan, as Logan was rather “vertically challenged” or as Roman preferred to call it, “shorter than his temper”.

“Yeah, it’s a weird name, but my parents were really into literature,” Virgil said, looking almost embarrassed at his name.

“It’s a fascinating name, Virgil, not only is your namesake a poet but he is also used in Dante’s Divine Comedy in which he…” Logan started to ramble out, stopping when he noticed the look on Roman’s face, “Maybe that’s a story for another day.”

The drummer finally looked up and noticed the two newcomers.

“Oh hey girl, what’s up?” He said, winking at Roman. He turned to Logan and eyed him up and down, “Who is this?”

“My name is Logan Gray, I’m a friend of Roman’s,” He said extending a hand. Sunglasses shook it quickly.

“Fun. I’m Remy.” Remy said with a wink. Up close, the drummer had a clear undercut and smelled like the inside of a Starbucks.

“Lovely,” Logan said, as he turned back to talk to Patton. Unfortunately, Patton was already busy talking to Roman. What they were discussing Logan may never know, however, they were extremely excited about it. As he glanced back, Remy had also left to go to some unknown place.

That left him with Virgil. The man was looking down at his shoes, a pair of slightly beat up purple converse. Logan decided to break the silence.

“What is it like playing the guitar?” Logan blurted out in a tone blunter than he had hoped for.

Virgil looked up suddenly, surprised that someone was talking to him.

“It’s nice,” he said, throwing an awkward smile in Logan’s direction, “I started playing when I was in middle school, so it’s pretty much natural at this point. Honestly, it’s really therapeutic, especially when I get worked up about something and can’t sleep, just to focus my energy into one thing.”

Logan nodded along, listening intently. “You said something about not being able to sleep, does this happen often?”

“God, you sound like my therapist,” Virgil laughed, rolling his eyes, “But yeah, I guess. Patton’s certainly better than I am about sleeping, but I’m at least not as bad as Remy.”

“So none of you sleep well?” Logan asked, one eyebrow raised, “At least that explains the name.”

“I mean yeah, we don’t have much in common, and you can’t exactly name a band “Caffeine Addicts”, according to Patt at least,”

“You all are coffee enthusiasts?”

“Rem is, but I’m more of a tea guy, and Patton’s into chocolate, if that counts. You?”

“Tea is quite enjoyable when accompanying a good book.”

“Of course. Favorite book?”

“A Study In Scarlet, or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, yourself?”

“Sherlock, huh. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Frankenstein is a good choice too. I’m also into classic horror, so I guess my favorite would have to be Twilight.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that one before. I’ll have to look it up.”

Virgil blinked at Logan in disbelief. He glanced over at Roman, who was having a conversation with Patton, and back to Logan. “You live with  him, and you’ve never heard of Twilight.”

“I’m afraid not,” Logan said, “What is it about?”

“The forbidden romance between a human, a werewolf, and a sparkly vampire in the small town of Forks.”

“Oh my.” 

“Yeah, It’s something,” Virgil said with a laugh

“And this book is your favorite? Classic horror, you said,”  Logan said, clearing his throat.

“What? Oh no, sorry that was a joke,” Virgil said, looking a little bit flustered.

Logan felt a little bad about that. He knew he was too literal sometimes and he knew it made other people uncomfortable sometimes. He just… couldn’t pick up on things sometimes.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Virgil said, almost reading his mind, “So what’s your major?”

“Astronomy, how about yourself?” Logan said, stopping himself from monologuing about it. People usually get disinterested after a sentence or two.

“I study psychology, I want to be a therapist later on. But you study  space ? That’s so cool! Tell me about it,” Virgil said, getting a little bit excited.

“Well, astronomers estimate there are around 300 billion stars in the milky way galaxy alone, each of those stars having a life of billions of years. And stars are mostly just hydrogen and helium with churning nuclear forges in its core. Also, different temperature stars have different colors, with higher temperature stars having a color of blue or white while lower temperatures are usually orange or red. And-” Logan started to ramble, before catching himself, “Sorry, I’m rattling on again, aren’t I?”

“No, I’ve just never seen someone get so excited about stars before. It’s- it’s charming, actually,” Virgil said, blushing ever so slightly.

Logan, despite himself, also started to blush. Maybe his small attractions weren’t as worthless as he thought.

“Mi amor, parting is such sweet sorrow, alas, I must bid you farewell,” Roman said extravagantly to a giggling Patton and an annoyed Declan. “Lo, come on, let’s go.”

Logan turned back to Virgil, who seemed to be searching his purple hoodie’s pocket for something. After a short struggle, he produced a small white card.

“It was, uh, really nice talking to you Logan,” Virgil said, his hands fidgeting, “Here’s my number, if you ever want to talk again. I do happen to know a bookstore that doubles as a coffee shop if you ever want to read Twilight. But if you don’t that’s also completely fine”

Virgil held out the white card, waiting until Logan reached out and grabbed it. It read  The Insomniacs~ Virgil Sanders - Guitarist followed by a phone number, email, and Instagram.

“Yes, that would be extremely enjoyable,” Logan said in a manner that was better put together than he felt at the moment.

“Let’s go pocket protector,” Roman said impatiently, tapping on his non-existent watch.

Logan waved goodbye to Virgil, Remy, Patton, and even Declan. Walking back down the hall and out the door into the main area, Roman strolled next to him and leaned down.

“So, do you think he likes me?” Roman asked in an almost childish manner. Logan couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Roman, I can attest that even  I  saw that he had romantic intentions towards you,” Logan said, looking directly at Roman, eyebrows arched in disbelief. This time, it was Roman’s turn to laugh.

The two meandered out the door and over to where Roman’s slightly beat up, but still somehow bright red, car was parked. As they both got in, Roman turned to Logan again.

“Thank you for coming with me, by the way. And I’m glad you got along with Panic-At-The-Everywhere,” Roman said, surprisingly sincerely.

“It was no problem, Roman, no need to worry about it,” Logan replied, remembering the little card he was holding on to.

So Logan may have been a little apprehensive about the event at first, however it did let Logan meet a few people, including someone interesting who thought Logan was interesting as well. Someone who wanted to talk to him again.

Maybe Roman’s theatrics weren’t so bad after all.

[cruelangelstheses]

red jenny needs a rhythm guitarist!

fandom: dragon age rating: T characters: sera/female inquisitor, sigrun, charade words: 2k additional tags: modern au, punk rock band, first meetings, fluff description: one night while performing with her band, the red jennies, sera spots a beautiful girl in the crowd. a/n: this was supposed to be done for yesterday - @serappreciationweek day 3: headcanons/aus - but i was delayed due to having to evacuate for hurricane dorian lol. anyway this type of au is my fav thing ever and sera said gay punk anarchist rights

read it on ao3

—

The air thrums with anticipation. Backstage, Sera can hear the buzz of the crowd as she finishes applying her eyeliner, fucking it up on purpose because she loves the way it looks. She laughs and sticks her tongue out until it touches her septum piercing. Everything about her calls for chaos: old sneakers with holes in them, ripped skull-patterned shorts, spiked cuffs, tattoos on her arms, a black tank top hand-painted with the anarchy symbol, and a myriad of piercings in both ears—some studs, hoops, a chain, and an industrial piercing. One good thing about being an elf, she’s found, is that she has more space for them.

Behind her, Sigrun whistles the opening of one of their songs. “You about ready?”

Sera spins around in her chair and grins. “Frigging right I am.”

“Well, good,” Charade adds as she makes her way toward them, her bass guitar slung over one shoulder, “because I think they’re getting antsy out there.”

“Dagna said they were almost done,” Sigrun says as she takes a look in the mirror and smudges her eyeliner so that she looks a bit more...dead inside. Her knife earrings, black fingerless gloves, black jeans, and combat boots add to the “don’t fuck with me” look, complete with a black leather jacket that she’ll probably take off halfway through the set so she doesn’t die of heatstroke. Still, her dedication is inspiring.

As if on cue, Dagna, the band’s audio engineer, appears in the doorway of the dressing room. “Everything’s all set up,” she says with a smile. “Whenever you’re ready. Knock ‘em dead.”

Sera jumps to her feet and claps her hands together, grabbing her black-and-yellow guitar from off the floor. “Yes! Okay!”

In the center of the room, the Red Jennies form a tight circle. They’re a three-piece group, a “power trio,” with Sera as the lead singer and guitarist, Charade as the bassist, and Sigrun on the drums. It’d be nice to find a rhythm guitarist so Sera can focus on lead guitar, but they make it work. Charade has her hair tied back into a bun and is dressed in her usual getup: jean shorts, a t-shirt from the thrift store, and a plaid flannel, this one red.

Once they put all their hands in the center, Sera starts their chant. “Never mind the rich tits!”

“Never mind the bullshit!” Sigrun adds with a smirk.

“Never mind the bollocks,” Charade says, laughing.

Then, together, throwing their hands up in the air, they shout, “Here’s the Red Jennies!”

Sera leads them out of the room and up the stairs. The music playing inside the bar stops, and the crowd roars in excitement. They know what that means. It’s a relatively small venue, but it still packs a decent amount of people, and the show tonight is sold out—sold out for them. The Red Jennies are the main act. The idea makes Sera’s head spin.

Sera is the first person to step onstage, and the crowd cheers louder as the band takes their places, Sera and Charade plugging in their guitars and Sigrun sitting down at her drum set. Then Sera grabs onto the microphone with one hand and shouts, “Make some frigging noise, Wycome!”

As the crowd yells, Sigrun taps her drumsticks together four times to count off, and then they jump into their opening song, a politically-charged anthem aptly titled “Eat the Rich!!!” It’s one of their more “screamy” songs, which is why it’s first: perfect to pump up the crowd, as well as remind them why they’re here.

As Sera takes in the crowd, she notices a pair of bright purple eyes shining near the back of the venue. The fact that she can see them glowing all the way from the stage is enough to tell her that they belong to another elf, though she could’ve figured that out by the pointed ears poking out from underneath the girl’s mop of brown hair, as well as the distinctly Dalish tattoo that surrounds her left eye. She’s sitting at the edge of the bar with a drink in hand, watching the show with interest and looking as though she’s never seen the Red Jennies before.

For a short, weird moment, Sera feels...exposed? Judged? An age-old fear grips her, that she’ll be looked down upon—like always—or seen as uncivilized, crazy, a traitor to elves, perhaps all of the above if she’s unlucky enough. But then the girl looks right at her, right at her, and smiles, a snaggletooth grin that transforms her whole face, and those fears wash away, and Sera is herself again.

Alright, pretty elfy girl, she thinks. I’ll give you a show.

The concert is a whirlwind of jumping and sweating, of starting mosh pits and screaming her lungs out to a room full of strangers. It’s wild and cathartic, and no matter how many times she does it, she never gets tired of it—of reaching fans new and old, of hearing people yell her own words back to her, of music so loud she can feel it in her chest. When she’s surrounded by the wailing of her guitar, the heat of the stage lights, Charade’s voice on backup vocals, the rapidfire drums...that’s when she’s home.

Sometimes they hang out after a performance, and sometimes they don’t. Luckily for Sera, they have a day off between this show and the next, and they’re not planning on leaving Wycome until tomorrow, so they have some time to mingle. The girl at the bar only seemed to get more and more into the performance as it went along; Sera will be damned if she doesn’t at least speak to her.

She practically leaves her bandmates in the dust, as she heads back out into the bar barely ten minutes after the end of the show. “Sorry! Have to catch a pretty girl!” she calls over her shoulder. “Updates later!”

It takes a little while to get to the bar, since the crowd still hasn’t really dispersed. Since she’s small, it’s not difficult to weave through people without them really noticing, but she gets caught more than once by a fan. They’re wonderful, though, so she doesn’t really mind. Normally she loves talking to fans, and she still does; it’s just that tonight she has someone specific in mind.

It’s her lucky day. When she finally reaches the bar, she finds that not only has the pretty girl not left yet—the seat next to her is empty. Taking a deep breath, Sera pulls herself up onto the barstool and says, “Hey.”

The girl jumps a little and turns around, her eyes widening. “Oh. Hey!” she says, and Maker, her voice is so nice. “Great show, by the way!”

“Uh. Thanks,” Sera replies, already feeling her face heating up. The girl is even prettier in person, all tan skin and kissable lips and eyes like starlight. Sera doesn’t normally go for elves—too afraid they’ll think she isn’t elfy enough, and besides, a lot of them are too skinny and bony for her taste anyway—but this girl’s arms are more toned than most elves’, and her face is rounder and fuller. “I’m Sera. If you didn’t know.”

The girl giggles a little, rubbing the back of her neck. “I didn’t, actually,” she says sheepishly. “I’d never even heard of you guys until a few days ago. My brother bought two tickets and gave one to me. Don’t know where he is now, though.” She shrugs and takes a sip of her drink. “I’m Rana. Rana Lavellan.”

Her name sounds like music. Sera nods. “Saw you when I was up there, yeah?” she says, gesturing to the stage. “Your eyes are really...wow.”

Rana smirks a little. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

For a moment, they both just kind of stare at each other. Then Sera clears her throat and says, “You ever listened to any punk before us?” She smiles mischievously. “Or did we take your punk virginity?” She says the last bit in a more dramatic voice.

Rana laughs. “Unfortunately, no, you did not,” she says, “though that would’ve been something. My brother invited me because he knew I liked your kind of music.” She deepens her voice in order to impersonate him. “‘Rana! You have to check out this band! They’re a bunch of punk rock lesbians singing about eating the rich! All your favorite things!’”

They both laugh at that. Then Rana adds, “Sometimes I think I’d like to be in a band. But I don’t usually get along well with other people. I have to really click with them, or see something in them that makes me want to talk to them.”

Suddenly, Sera feels immensely honored to be having such a fantastic conversation with her. “Oh!” she says. “What instrument do you play?”

“Guitar.”

Sera swears that the stars align right then and there. “Wait,” she says, trying not to get too far ahead of herself just yet. “Can you play rhythm?”

“Yeah, definitely,” Rana replies immediately, and then it starts to dawn on her. “Oh, yeah, I noticed you’re the only guitarist—”

“Want to join the Red Jennies?” Sera blurts. She can feel her heart pounding in her chest.

Rana blinks a few times, somewhat taken aback. “I...didn’t realize you guys were looking for a new member.”

“Well, we’re not, like, putting up ads on Craigslist,” Sera says, speaking quickly, “but we think it’d be nice to have a rhythm person if we could find one, ‘cause then I can do more cool shite on lead.”

Rana seems to think it over for a few moments, and then she nods. “If the other members will have me,” she says, “I’d be honored.”

“They will!” Sera says, finally allowing herself to get excited. “Really. Sigrun looks scary, but she’s lots of fun. And Charade’s a sweetie. Kind of have to work to get on her bad side. It’ll be good! Promise!”

Something twinkles in Rana’s eyes, something like amusement or endearment or pleasant surprise. Her face breaks into that beautiful snaggletooth grin again, and she says, “Then I would love to join the Red Jennies.”

Sera has to cover her mouth to stop from yelling with joy. Holding an index finger up, she pulls out her phone and sends a text into her group chat with Sigrun and Charade: I GOT US A RHYTHM GUITARIST!!!! SHES CUTE AND COOL AND LIKES PUNK AND HATES THE RICH AND I THINK SHES GAY???? DSJFDKFLKSJKD

Charade replies with some shocked and happy emojis. Sigrun says, pics or it didnt happen

Sera tries not to laugh. “They want a picture!”

Rana raises an eyebrow, but there’s a good-natured smile on her face. “Alright.”

Sera opens up the front-facing camera and holds her phone up so that both of their faces are in the shot. Sera does her standard pose—putting a peace sign up to her mouth and sticking her tongue out—while Rana just stares into the camera with a serious face, like she’s posing for a fashion magazine or something. Sera wonders if it’s possible to die of gayness.

When she sends the selfie into the chat, Charade says, Ahhh Sera that’s amazing!! Can’t wait to meet her!!

Sigrun writes, oh she’s definitely gay

Sera grins and turns to Rana, who is watching her expectantly, as if she’s expecting Charade and Sigrun to hate her. “You’re in, Buckles!”

Rana cocks her head. “Buckles?”

Sera nods. “Right. Buckles. That’s you. Said you’re not too good with people, yeah? Like a boot buckle. Serious. But take the boots off, and there’s the softness.”

Rana stares at her in awe for a moment. “You came up with that just now?”

Sera shrugs. “Well. Maybe a few minutes ago.” Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she adds, “I can change it if you think it’s stupid.”

Rana shakes her head and smiles warmly. “I don’t think it’s stupid. I like it. I think it’s kind of brilliant.”

Sera tries not to blush and glances down at her phone, where she sees another message from Sigrun. This one reads, Go get her, tiger.

Sera grins. “Well then, Buckles,” she says, “welcome to the Jennies.”

[theanimeview]

HTTYD3 Review: I’m Disappointed (SPOILER WARNING)

By: Peggy Sue Wood | @peggyseditorial​

I’m going to be honest and tell you all that I was disappointed with this final installment of the HTTYD Animated Universe. 

SPOILER WARNING. 

Starting with just the basics, did anyone notice how Valka went from brunet to a red-head? Or how Stoick went from having red hair to brown in this movie? Because I did and that’s weird. Also, for some reason, the characters seem to look younger than they were in HTTYD2, despite a year having passed for them in-universe. I mean, granted their hair has grown, but their faces are rounder and more youthful looking than before. It’s odd. Hell, even Valka seemed to be missing wrinkles. 

Character development took a nose dive for anyone who wasn't Hiccup. Snotlout is as obnoxious as always, but now his character development has fallen back to what it was in the early seasons of HTTYD's show (and first movie) where he thinks he'll be chief if Valka likes him. I mean, hasn't he already established himself as one who trusts Hiccup as a leader via the show? Isn't he loyal enough--and, dare I say, intellectually developed enough given the time he's spent growing in the animated series and HTTYD2--to have earned a seat on Hiccup's council in this movie? And what about Ruffnut? Ruffnut has proven herself to be smarter than her brother and one who knows when to set aside the fun/insane/personal for the betterment of the group. At the start of HTTYD3, she seems to be holding this up (despite her new-found narcissism) until she lets the antagonist follow her back. At first, I thought she had some in-depth plan, NOPE--turns out she's lost all her wit in the last "year" between movies 2 and 3. Which reminds me, Barf and Belch have shown to be almost impossible to ride without two riders at one time, nice to know that this is conveniently forgotten in order to leave Ruffnut behind. 

The other characters in our main five didn’t really get any further development. Except maybe having Astrid get a bit more involved in talking to Hiccup thanks to Valka pushing her to--but that felt really awkward because it made Astrid go from an active character to a passive character. 

And, what about Toothless? Why is everyone so sure that Toothless would abandon Hiccup for the female Nightfury? Toothless, I was sure, would come back to Hiccup and he does, I know Hiccup went to the Hidden World and made him come back early, but Toothless doesn't immediately turn back once he's arrived at New Berk with Hiccup. He stays, and that shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. Toothless and Hiccup are extremely close--closer than anyone else is to their dragons (which all of Berk knows)--so why are they assuming Toothless will forever abandon Hiccup now that a female Nightfury has arrived? It is, therefore, no surprise to me that Toothless comes back with Hiccup and stays there, leaving his new mate-for-life behind initially (until we find out she follows them). 

Oh, and for clarification: Lightfuries are Nightfuries-- they’re just females. The antagonist, a Nightfury (hunting) "expert," tells us so. I was mad about that at first, but I started rethinking that as the movie continued. Given how white can easily blend into the clouds even without the camouflage, it makes sense to me that white would be a good color for their evolution. It's the most reflective, so if they didn't camouflage (which maybe they can't in youth), white would make sense. White can also easily blend into a night sky as stars appear white, the moon is white, and clouds appear white under the moonlight, etc. Males of most species tend to have more colors, it's to attract danger way from females. While black is excellent for hiding at night and in the shadows, a black dot is going to be way more visible in the day, so, again, it kind of makes sense that the males of the species are black. However, this careful thoughtfulness invested in design seems to die the minute we see the multi-colored offspring of Toothless and his mate at the end. Why? Well, unless the baby Nightfuries are genderless at birth or just getting their colors to define what sex they are, it doesn't make sense for them to be two different colors (particularly if white=female and black=male). Also, the idea that camouflaging is something they learn as they age goes right out the window when we see the little ones going in and out of visibility as the family is flying at the end of the movie. 

Side note, the antagonist is not a great Nightfury expert. He says that Nightfuries have a short flight span and can't stand weather that's too cold. Odd considering that Berk snows 9 months out of the year and hails the other 3, right? (They're pretty far North is what I mean). Also odd since Toothless has the longest flight time of any dragon on the island. Someone's facts aren't exactly at Fishlegs' quality, are they? Also, his tracking is sh*t considering he couldn't find New Berk on his own and had to use Ruffnut. 

Look. I am a massive fan of the HTTYD animated series (and the books). I really wanted to love this movie. Heck, I dressed up, braided my hair like a Viking, and carried three dragon plushies around my neck in a hand-made ribbon harness as I went to the earliest showing I could find for this movie (6 PM EST, FEB. 22).  I hoped that this movie would give me closure after I'd been obsessing over it and telling people how well written everything from the first two movies to the specials and shows are--only to have the end of this beloved series feel like an empty promise. The design was weak. When there were promising starts to story elements, the writing seemed to half-a** the endings. The movie left a sour taste. 

Of the movie, there are three scenes I have absolutely no fault with: 

1. The council meeting BEFORE Tuffnut speaks. 

2. The boat scene where Toothless and Hiccup reconnect, and Hiccup introduces Toothless to his children. 

3. The final moment as the whole family flies into the sunlight. 

I wanted to add the two moments we have with Astrid and Hiccup alone that slightly reflect the individual scenes from HTTYD1+2 respectively (cliff side, and cliff tops), but the new-found hesitation between Astrid and Hiccup's coming marriage put a dent in that.

That's it. Out of a 1 hour and 44 minutes runtime, I have three genuinely memorable scenes that felt grand, and everything else was so-so. 

I still recommend seeing the movie because you get some closure. But, if you're as big a fan as I am, I think you should prepare for some disappointment in this final installment.