#oddfoxesverse

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be my referee | friendship dynamic (angst edition)

Worried about Art's recent, unusual hermit-like habits, James goes round to check in on him (and deliver a homemade Irish Stew). setting: Art's flat in Chelsea, London, at some point in 1992 characters involved: James & Art warnings: depiction of the aftermath of a depressive episode

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sacred rites & routines | angsty-fluff

James is worried about Frank after a particularly bad hypo. setting: In a hospital in London, September 2017 characters involved: James & Frank warnings: cw: hospital setting

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a lifetime & a second (all at once) | valentine’s fluff

Frank & James' final Valentine's Day. setting: Hyde Park in London, February 14th 2023 characters involved: Frank & James warnings: none that i can think of

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get drunk, call me a fool | fluff

Follow-up to what happened after the bus shelter scene. setting: various places in London on October 15th 2016 characters involved: James & Frank warnings: none that i can think of

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we make a pretty good b-team | friendship dynamic

While Art is looking forward to his future with his soon-to-be (first) wife, Mandy, a dubious Tim is busy operating on a Jupiter-8 synthesiser. setting: Tim & Art's flat in Shoreditch, London, sometime in 1987. characters involved: Tim & Art warnings: none

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wasting time | fluff

It's James' 26th birthday -- time for a party (for two and their cats)! setting: Frank & James' house in Shoreditch, London, 9th March 1985. characters involved: Frank & James. warnings: cw: alcohol drinking/mention

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something untoward about me | untoward music video mood board

This is the sort of vibe I had in my head for Untoward's music video. The fox logo would go where the G for Ghost Files is on the right sleeve and on the breast of the jackets (that James and Frank specifically wear in the video because they're the paranormal investigators while Art and Tim are the ghosts haunting the building).

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stuck to the gum that's stuck on your shoe | fluff

James' niece Vixie comes to stay over with her first and second favourite uncles. setting: Frank & James' house in Shoreditch, London, 1996 characters involved: Frank, James, & Vixen (Vixie) Martin warnings: none

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hard to forget | martin-thomas fluff

On the morning of Frank & James' wedding, their eight-year-old daughter, Suzy, wants to know how they met. setting: Art's flat in Chelsea, London, October 15th 2014 / Frank’s retelling of March 27th 1980 at a gig venue in Manchester. characters involved: Frank & Smol Suzy / Frank & James (+ the Foxes lads) warnings: none (this one even comes with Frank self-censoring the swears and even the word cigarette/the English slang for one).

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you came by, like sun after rainfall | fluff

On their second wedding anniversary, James and Frank have a moment in a bus shelter, hiding from the rain. setting: somewhere in West London, 15th October 2016 characters involved: James & Frank warnings: none

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soft voice | angst

It's raining and all James can think about is his silly old mare. setting: James' bedroom at Frank & James' house in Shoreditch, London, Present Day (5th March 2023) characters involved: James (featuring Suzy and James' memories of Frank) warnings: cw: grief

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here in my head | angst-ish

Odd Foxes perform without Frank for the first time in the band's history. setting: on a talk show host's show, in a television studio, New York, 2023 characters involved: Art, Tim, and James (and Frank's voice). warnings: none

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SUZY + MUSIC

She's a musician, her dad is a musician, her daddy was a musician... I think it's pretty safe to say that if Suzy didn't love music, she'd be bloody miserable. While her special interest is Odd Foxes - because of course it is - she does like more than her dads' -- er, her and her dads' band. Suzy tends to listen to a lot of goth, new wave, and punk, but the she'll also branch out into post-hardcore, screamo, folk, and even 'generic ass' pop; her favourite bands include (but are certainly not limited to): Odd Foxes, Canadian Pizza, The Wretcheds (of in-world bands), 'That Mute/Mode Lot', Tears For Fears, Datblygu, Joy Division, New Order, and La Dispute. She plays multiple instruments: bass, guitar, piano, and drums. Frank taught her how to play bass once she was big enough to hold a 3/4 by herself, Art then taught her how to play guitar, Tim taught her some basics on the piano, and James started teaching her how to play drums from when she was about six years old (around the same age he was when he'd started) using the kit in the drum room, and the bass and drums remain her all-time favourite instruments to play. Suzy has also dabbled in writing her own music, but since joining Odd Foxes, she's put it on the back-burner for now - she finds lyrics particularly troublesome. She mostly collects her music in tape form, but she also has an extensive record collection - all of which she's either bought with her pocket money or been given on birthdays and at Christmas. The tapes fill up most of the bookshelf in her bedroom and the records she keeps in two separate record boxes -- all of which are currently full. It should be mentioned that she has every copy of Odd Foxes' discography, including singles and various international versions of the albums and her favourites are Odd Foxes Live In The Forest (a live album from the Forestry Tour) and Odd Foxes Prepare For Fallout.

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open your eyes | platonic hurt-comfort/angst

Art's in some serious trouble, Frank helps him out. setting: A hotel room, half-way through Black Dogs Tour, in June 1985 characters involved: Frank & Art (featuring James). warnings: tw: overdose (implied) , cw: mention of vomit, cw: mention of throwing up

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ODD FOXES + MUSICAL ABILITY

Here's a little breakdown of each of the Foxes' musical (including vocal + other skills) abilities and an idea of how they ended up with the sound they have.

ART

All of Art's instrumental ability is self-taught - he bought an acoustic guitar from a music shop when he was about ten (after saving his pocket money for weeks), and found a chord book at the library and taught himself. The tin whistle and harmonica came a little later when he was about thirteen, after acquiring both at a market in Basildon and teaching himself how to play them. His vocals came naturally and is a touch lower than his baseline voice tone. He'd practised singing by learning his favourite songs and singing along. Once he felt he was good enough at playing guitar and singing, he tried his hand at songwriting when he was fifteen with his strongest skill being his lyricism. Reg wanted him in Odd Foxes' original line-up because of his songwriting and vocal skill but was pleasantly surprised to learn that Art could also play guitar. His main influences are: punk, blues, and general rock music - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

FRANK

Like Art, all of Frank's instrumental ability is self-taught. Unlike Art, it was due to him having access to all three instruments at home and learning how to play folk songs (specifically Welsh folk songs). He started with the violin, which is rarely used on Foxes' songs but it is used, it's him playing it, then moved on to the guitar after becoming obsessed with Top Of The Pops and wanting to be a 'cool guitarist'... The bass became his main instrument because he preferred the sound of it and he was gifted one for his thirteenth birthday, so it was his most practised instrument of the three. Frank learned how to sing early because of his family encouraging it and teaching him old Welsh folk songs, and the tone of his voice matches his normal speaking tone. His only other skill is related to singing, which is his ability to sing in multiple Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish, Scots, etc.) - the others don't know the languages at all, while Frank grew up in a Welsh family and eventually learned other non-English Celtic songs as he grew up. His biggest proficiency (obviously) is in Welsh. His main influences are: punk, blues, folk, and funk - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

JAMES

Of all the Foxes, James has the most musical ability - not that people would really know that. He's been playing the drums from the age of six, having lessons through school, but he also had private piano and violin lessons - both of which, he's graded in (grade 3 piano and grade 2 violin). He learned the guitar, bass, flute, and harmonica for fun in his late teens. Vocally, James is a tenor, which is just a touch higher than his normal speaking tone and this skill had been hidden from Foxes fans until after Frank's death and they released Polaroids as a single - on which, James sings the second verse. His other skills all revolve around the studio-end of things: production, arrangement, and composition. He is self-taught in these skills, having learned them over time whilst making records. His main influences are: punk, blues, prog-rock, folk, funk, thrash, and general metal - all of which he actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

TIM

In the original line-up, Tim was the most qualified musician, but since James joined, they're the second-most qualified. Synth keyboards are his favourite instrument to play, but his ability comes from a transferable skill in the form of his grade 1 piano - which they'd had private lessons for as a child until his parents couldn't afford the lessons anymore, but they kept at it. Guitar he picked up at Frank's and taught themself to play, while the melodica he had bought at a toy shop and purposely learned to play "properly" so that Foxes could use it in their music. Tim's vocal ability was something he learned from growing up in a relatively musical family and being around Frank and his family from the age of about eleven - they're a higher tenor than James is and it's higher than his normal speaking tone. They are the highest vocal tone in the Odd Foxes line-up. His songwriting skill they picked up whilst helping Art writing the original Odd Foxes songs early in the band's life, production and composition he learned similarly to how James did - on the job while making records. His synth programming skill, however, comes from Tim's obsessive special interest in synthesisers and learning exactly how they work and why - it's his most proficient skill in the studio. His main influences are: punk, blues, funk, disco, pop, prog-rock, and glam rock l - all of which they actively listens to on a near-daily basis.

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drum in my head | band dynamics

James' audition for the role of Odd Foxes' drummer. setting: Rehearsal space, somewhere in London, August 18th 1980 characters involved: Odd Foxes (second line-up) warnings: none