Being surrounded by a bunch of performing arts kids is so fun because yes we are headcanoning who we think would do what
And I am going to yap about this (I heart procrastinating)
I want to clarify I am a musical fine arts kid so most of these are gonna be musical arts😭
Max- I think if she were in band she’d play flute and absolutely HATE band kids and think the spit valves are disgusting. Maybe she’d be in colorguard as well… perchance
Lucas- percussionist 100000% you can’t tell me he’s not
Dustin- probably also percussion??? I honestly don’t remember what I said he’d be but either percussion or woodwind. If it’s orchestra then I think he’d be a cellist :D
Will- I think he’d be a pianist? Maybe?
Jane- Probably violinist, soprano(choir), maybe a cellist as well, or she’d be in color guard too!!
Mike- Guitarist and the first songs he’d learn would be the most obnoxious overplayed songs of all time💔💔 I like to believe in one universe he’d get indoctrinated into mariachi as well (he’d be trumpet I think… maybe strings)
I also think some of them(or all of them) might be theater kids but I honestly do NOT know enough about theater to say😭😭
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
AHHHH Y’ALL ONE OF MY FAVORITE STORIES HAS JUST COME TO AN END! This is a wonderful story full of love and angst and so. much. plot. and character development and just. ARRRGH. I am so excited for the next installment, @magsgotswags! 🥰🥰🥰
Ok so. I suppose if I want to post any of my recent content I should make a formal introduction to the character involved.
So here’s me talking about Teramis, I suppose.
To make the long story of how she came to be incredibly short; she was originally designed as a fantasy version of a different OC of mine, then edited to be her own character when I realized I liked her a lot, made into a DnD character, briefly used before the campaign fell apart, and then has just been an original character since.
Her backstory is under the cut. For some visual reference, here’s a link to an adorable chibi from @pineflowerart, and here’s a link to a lyric comic from the wonderful @zaraegis. (@bondibee has also done some fantastic art of her, but I don’t know if it’s posted to tumblr)
Teramis Skoll was an only child born to the leader of a tribe in the north, destined to be the next leader when her mother stepped down. The tribe was close knit and Teramis grew up in a comfortable, loving community until the age of 10, when they were hit with a terrible winter. The tribe didn’t have the supplies it needed to survive, let alone any to trade with any neighboring groups.
Teramis, knowing she couldn’t magically change the weather, decided that if she could find something valuable to trade with their neighbors or traveling merchants, it’d afford them the supplies they needed to survive.
So, she decided to break the rules just a little bit, and, spurred on by the tales of adventures and treasure hunters, went exploring in a nearby cave that she had been forbidden to enter. To her delight, hidden within that cave was a sizable stash of riches. Golden coins, silver rings, and a beautifully jeweled crown. All collecting dust and cobwebs, but valuable nonetheless. She grabbed as much as her hands could carry and returned home.
What she didn’t know was that she hadn’t entered any old cave, nor were riches like that normally just left lying around for no reason. It was a crypt containing powerful magic, with those laid to rest not wanting to be stolen from.
As Teramis returned home and displayed her bounty, she unknowingly brought with her an army of furious undead. The tribe, hungry and weakened by illness, hardly stood a chance. Teramis’s parents told her to hide, and died protecting her.
After reclaiming their treasure and shedding sufficient blood, the violent- but not overly intelligent- undead returned to their resting place, shambling off into the snowstorm and disappearing back into the cave. Teramis, when she had the courage to appear from where she had hid, was horrified at the massacre that her actions were at fault for. Houses razed to the ground, livestock and people alike slaughtered.
There were some survivors, albeit not many. Teramis could hear the cries of the wounded echoing out into the night sky. Her parents were dead, she was supposed to be the next in line to run things. To fix this mess she made, to help people.
She ran instead. Gathering her mother’s bow and the warmest clothes she had, she ran and ran until her legs gave out. She couldn’t face what she had done, she couldn’t look the injured survivors in the eye and admit that it was all her fault. When she reached a part of the woods she had never seen before, she figured that it was done. That she would never see another trace of her old life. But there was one more obstacle in her way.
See every member of her leader of the tribe’s bloodline had something in common. At birth, they would be given an animal guide, much like a familiar for magic users in other parts of the world. Often their appearances at their person’s side were only if they were needed for guidance, for comfort, or to teach a lesson.
That was how young Teramis found herself facing off with a massive wolf. Her guardian, blocking her path. It gestured with its snout back where she came from, pushing her back home. When Teramis still tried to push past and run, it attacked her, branding her with a scar across her face that would never let her forget that she had decided to run.
In a moment of desperation, Teramis took one of the arrows she had grabbed alongside her mother’s bow, and rammed it into the neck of the beast, killing it and severing her last tie to her tribe.
While it is uncommon for one’s guide to die before them, if it occurs, tradition dictates that you wear their pelt in a sign of respect, and allowing them to still aid you with their warmth even in death. Teramis did just that, wearing the fur of this wolf a la Hercules with the Nemean Lion.
From there, Teramis kept running. She couldn’t go to any neighboring tribes, they’d know who she was. And even if they didn’t, she didn’t deserve their help. She didn’t even deserve to be alive when so many others perished, so Teramis confined herself to life in the wilderness. She struggled and starved and nearly died, but miraculously, she survived.
Months turned into years and she trained herself to be stronger, quicker, quieter. She turned herself into a fine hunter, and learned to survive on her own. But she wasn’t content. Guilt gnawed away at her every day, and she knew she couldn’t live out the rest of her days just keeping herself alive. She needed to make sure that what happened to her would never happen to anyone else.
She would rid the world of the undead, restoring order to the way of the world and the wills of nature by hunting down the unnatural creatures that defied it.
So that is where she finds herself, traveling the world on the hunt for rumors of necromancer activity, old crypts with suspicious noises within, or hordes of skeletons and zombies waiting to ambush the innocent.
-----
Teramis has never truly forgiven herself for what she did, no matter how much time has passed. She doesn’t have the heart to go back and see what became of the ruins of her tribe, to find out if the survivors rebuilt it or if they eventually perished as well. This guilt haunts her, and influences the way she often makes life harder on herself than it has to be.
Similarly, she refuses to carry anything of wealth. She won’t accept any sort of coin, and won’t so much as touch jewelry. She has nothing to her name but the clothes on her back, and despite the discomfort this causes, she insists.
Teramis avoids society for the most part, even as an adult. She’s spent so long alone in the woods that her social skills are abysmal. She rarely speaks, and her skills in reading and writing are at a beginner’s level at best.
She stands at 6′4″ and is well built with muscle and the needed fat to survive in the often taxing environments she finds herself in. Her imposing stature makes her out to be far more intimidating than she truly is, however. Her gruff exterior does little to hide her fondness for nature, and despite it all she wants nothing more than to have a family again.
While her booksmarts are lacking, she’s gained impressive wisdom throughout her travels, gaining an insight to the world that aids her in seeing the true intentions of people, as well as exceptional handling of both wild and domestic animals.
“You’re so lucky, Ranran,” Reiji was slumped on the bar counter, his chin bumping erratically against the polished surface. There were tears in the corners of his eyes. “I want a Y/N too.”
Ranmaru, his brow furrowed in deep thought, was trying to figure out since when he had ordered two of everything in front of him. “Eh, you can’t have mine,” he mumbled possessively. He unsteadily reached out for one of the glasses and almost ended up knocking Reiji’s drink over as well. “Go get your own.”
“Not allowed to. There’s res-restrict--” His face scrunched up as he furtively sought the word he thought he meant. “Something. Starts with ‘r’. Manager-san would yell at me. Don’t like it when he yells. Hurts my ears.” The realization of something hit him and he punched Ranmaru’s arm, earning him a glare in return. “If I can’t have Y/N then you can’t either. Gimme.”
Bracing his other arm on the bar counter, Reiji drunkenly raised himself upwards and draped the upper half of his body on to Ranmaru. “Gimme gimme gimme…” He continued to chant, both arms now wrapped around the wide expanse of Ranmaru’s chest.
Surprisingly enough Ranmaru made no move to push him off, although this could be because he himself was beginning to sway slightly in his seat. Using Ranmaru ’s shoulder, Reiji pushed himself up so that his lips lined up with his ear.
“Hey, Ranran.” he whispered. Ranmaru’s eyes were beginning to glaze over, the multiple glasses in front of him a solid testimony of how long the two of them had been drinking so far. “Does Y/N’s voice make you cum?”
This question pierced through Ranmaru’s drunken haze like a laser from above. His face rapidly ramping up to crimson, Ranmaru was about to roar at Reiji when the lip of a glass smashed suddenly against his mouth. Reiji held it steady, one hand gripping Ranmaru’s mouth open so that he was literally pouring the drink down his throat.
“Bottoms up~” he cheered, emptying the last few drops into his own mouth and pushing the glass away across the counter. The bartender caught it as it whizzed towards him. He was a little concerned for the customer who had just had the majority of a concoction that was said to be strong enough to put down a horse forced down his throat, but he figured that since Reiji was there as well there shouldn’t be any problem. Probably, anyway.
Reiji had been to this place enough times by now to have his own tab running. The bar was discreet enough for celebrities, although it was the first time the bartender had seen Reiji bring this customer in.
Taking the pink paper umbrella from his own glass, Reiji delicately slid it behind Ranmaru’s ear.
“Perfect. So pretty.” Throwing both arms over Ranmaru who was beginning to do a passable imitation of the hand of a metronome at this point, he rubbed his cheek against his. “Can’t have Y/N, Ranran. I don’t deserve someone like that. I’m no good, no good at all. People go away cos of me.” His voice grew thick with tears. “They go away and never come back again.”
Ranmaru finally turned to face Reiji and answered him with a resounding headbutt straight to the forehead. Reiji shrieked, both their bar stools teetering dangerously in circles as he frantically clung to Ranmaru to avoid falling over.
He pushed his face right up into Reiji’s. The bartender could practically see the fumes rising from Ranmaru’s mouth as he growled.
“Fuckin’ idiot,” he slurred.His voice was loud enough to make Reiji try to lean back, only to be stopped by Ranmaru’s arm around his waist. “Who says you’re no good, huh? Who’s the bastard who said that? Lemme at ‘em, I’ll show ‘em who’s no good!”
Reiji’s arm shot up and waved. “Me!” he announced, like a diligent student answering his teacher’s question. “I said that! Cos it’s true!”
The last dredges of Ranmaru’s logic that hadn’t been drowned in alcohol at this point told him that he probably shouldn’t punch the lights out of the same person he was trying to defend. He settled for giving Reiji a sharp cuff around the head, followed by hooking an arm around his neck to pull him closer.
“You listen here,” Reiji grimaced as he boomed into his ear. “You listen Reiji, you’re-you’re okay. You got that? You’re fuckin’ noisy and run off when you shouldn’t and don’t know when to shut up and get into so much shit that I dunno why the boss hasn’t fired your ass yet--”
Reiji was openly blubbering at this point.
“But you!” He jabbed a finger into Reiji’s chest, making him yelp in pain through his tears. “You got us together. You’re a-a magnet, yeah?” He jabbed a few more times for emphasis. “You pulled us all together. No wait, you’re glue. That’s right, that’s what you are. You’re what’s sticking us together, so you’re glue, Reiji!” He crowed triumphantly. To celebrate this discovery, he called for another drink and slammed it back the second it arrived.
“You guys,” Reiji sobbed, his tears and snot creating damp patches on Ranmaru’s shirt. “You guys wouldn’t work with me at all---” The last word ended in a drawn out wail. Ranmaru had to awkwardly pat him on the back before he continued. “I wanted to give up so many times! So many! Times!” Each word was punctuated with a much weaker headbutt of his own into Ranmaru’s now very wet chest. He finished by sniffing loudly and slumping his head on Ranmaru’s shoulder.
Ranmaru wasn’t sure when he was supposed to stop rubbing Reiji’s back, but the repetitive action was weirdly soothing in its own way to him as well so he continued.
“But you stuck it out with us, yeah?”
Reiji nodded miserably and hiccuped. “I had to. I-I wanted to see it out to the end. The end…” he trailed off, the words nuzzled into Ranmaru’s neck. “I don’t want things to end like this… Don’t wanna...”
The fact that Reiji had stopped talking took a few minutes to make its way through the sea of alcohol currently sloshing around Ranmaru’s head. He looked down at the mess of brown hair occupying most of his chest. Getting no response despite how much he pushed Reiji’s head around or hollered at him, he took a look at his surroundings, at the impressive collection of glasses that both of them had managed to amass-and forbidden the bartender to clear, for some reason- and decided muzzily that it was probably time to leave.
It was a testament to Ranmaru’s alcohol tolerance that he had downed a second of the potent mixture that Reiji had poured into him just minutes ago and was still upright. Or vertically balanced at best. Well, balanced enough to need only one hand on the bar counter to stand up, his other arm occupied with supporting Reiji who had regained some consciousness and was now weeping noisily into his collar. The world whirled and he sagged for a moment.
He stared blearily at the bartender who shook his head and indicated with his chin towards Reiji, who was now beginning to resemble a koala clinging onto to the last eucalyptus tree left in the forest, the tree in this case being Ranmaru. Taking it to mean that he didn’t have to go to the extra effort of remembering where his wallet was (he was pretty sure that he had brought it, he just wasn’t very sure where on his person it was at the moment. Come to think of it, seeing as how Reiji had been the one to bring him here, he wasn’t sure where he was at the moment either), he nodded back in acknowledgement.
He turned to go, and continued turning. The damned place didn’t seem to have a door for him to exit from. After watching him angrily stomp around in erratic circles for a while, the bartender finally took pity on him and spoke up.
“Taxi?” he asked quietly. Ranmaru glared at him but he remained unfazed. He met Ranmaru’s heavily inebriated glower with a level gaze of his own and asked the question again. His brain still trying its best to work despite the fumes practically rising from his head, Ranmaru nodded again, rasping out a rough thanks before gratefully collapsing onto the nearest bar stool.
It was a good thing that he wasn’t sober enough to feel much pain at the moment, because he missed the chair completely and ended up crashing spectacularly onto the floor instead. Reiji, vaguely aware that they had gone horizontal very suddenly, took the opportunity to wrap his legs around Ranmaru’s waist and stayed there.
***
Barely managing to give coherent enough directions to the taxi driver, Ranmaru had just closed his eyes to doze the rest of the way home when he heard Reiji mumble his name. He rumbled sleepily in response, one hand landing heavily on Reiji’s head.
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault that I’m like this. So it’s okay if-if you wanna go,” Despite what he said, his hands tightened around Ranmaru’s back, wrinkling the material of his shirt. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want any of you to leave. But I’ll understand if you want to.” His voice cracked into another sob. “But you gotta promise that you’ll tell me first. I’ll listen. I’ll pick up the phone this time, cross my heart…” He fell silent again, his tears slowly soaking into Ranmaru’s chest.
Ranmaru tilted his head back and sighed.
“Idiot,” He drawled loudly. His head swayed forwards with the movement of the taxi. His fingers hooked into the back of Reiji’s collar and tugged on it halfheartedly. “Couldn’t get rid of you even if I tried. See? So just shut up.” He went back to awkwardly thumping Reiji’s back. “I’m stuck with you now. Better get used to it.”
He didn’t know if he was telling that to himself or Reiji currently tearfully dozing off in his lap, but it sounded right to him.
