Tag: Battlecry Series

emeralddodge:

Ben: hmmm my brother is pretty big and bad. how should I fight him?

Ben: I could shoot at him

Ben: I could throw something at him

Ben: oooh maybe I’ll set him on fire and chop him to pieces or something

Ben: no

Ben: wait:

Ben: I’LL MAKE FUN OF HIM

Ben: and since I actually have backup for once

Ben: it’s time to let it alllllll out

emeralddodge:

I’m in such a good mood, here’s a whole paragraph from Mercury:

Reid sat in the dingy vinyl chair next to my hospital bed. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, watching me with exhausted wariness. My head ached as though I’d been hit with a heavy object, but the heat was gone. I moved my head to the side and immediately groaned. “What happened?”

A little bit of insight into my process, and a Mercury excerpt!

emeralddodge:

An insight into the kind of research I have to do when writing my series:

Benjamin’s family actually does own an HR consulting firm! It’s a front business for their real business, but for tax reasons they keep the front up and running, and it pulls in about half a million dollars in profit a year. It’s called Trent Solutions, and they hire trained HR specialists to deal with the problems that people contact Trent Solutions about. This is the company that Janice was referring to when she offered Jillian a job in Ignite.

There’s a part in Mercury where we read a newspaper clipping from 1979. In it, it mentions Mr. Trent’s company. Here’s the tricky part: “Trent Solutions” is a very 21st century name. So instead of slipping in a slight anachronism, I called up my parents, who were my age in the 1970s, and asked them what such a business would be called. 

—

Article in the Washington Post’s Style section, dated March 11, 1979.

Janice L. Lewis Marries Henry B. Trent

Janice L. Lewis of Middleburg, Va. and Henry B. Trent of Annapolis, Md. were married on March 9, at the historic Oatlands Plantation located in Loudoun County, Va. The Reverend Scott Laarson officiated.

Janice, 24, is the daughter of the Dr. and Mrs. John Lewis, also of Middleburg. She is a graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where she studied Journalism. She is the granddaughter of Mr. Benjamin Lewis, noted D.C. businessman and founder of the Lewis Foundation, and his wife, Leah. She is also the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Stanhope, of Manassas, Va.

Henry, 28, is the son of the late Mr. Franklin Trent and Mrs. Eleanor Trent, also of Annapolis. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he studied business. Henry is employed in his family’s business, Trent Consultants.

Clara Lewis, sister of the bride, served as maid of honor. Bridesmaids were Erin Lewis, sister of the bride, Alexandra Edge, Ashlynn Peery, Danielle Snider, and Amber-Jean Hensey. Flower girl was Katherine Lewis, cousin of the bride. Michael Lewis, brother of the bride, and Franklin Trent III, twin brother of the groom, were best men. Ring bearer was Adam Rowe, a friend of both families. Janice wore a custom-designed wedding gown by Chanel, and carried a bouquet of cream and red roses. 

The rehearsal dinner and reception, hosted by the groom’s parents, was held at their home. 

The couple will honeymoon in the UK, France, Switzerland, and Croatia, then reside in Annapolis.

emeralddodge:

Finally, Jillian.

Jillian Johnson is six feet tall with her boots on. She is as muscular as any professional athlete (think Olympic tennis or gymnastics), and it is one of the first things you’d notice about her if she were in shorts and a tee. She has thick–thick thick thick–dark brown hair. Her eyes are dark brown, as are her eyebrows, which dominate her face. She doesn’t pluck or wax them (ain’t nobody got time for that), so they’re a bit wild. Her nose is a little bit crooked from a long-ago training accident, and she has faint scarring on her chin and cheeks–mementos of Patrick. The rest of her scars are mostly hidden beneath clothes, but she has dozens.

Jillian is as thick as a bowl of oatmeal. She has a generous bosom that requires three (3) sports bras when she’s patrolling, and she never has to wear a belt–her ample back bumper keeps things firmly in place. Because she works out so much, her waist is quite trim. Until she met Benjamin, who goes into positively lewd detail about how much he likes her curves, she was unaware that she has an attractive shape. 

For all of Jillian’s muscles, she’s a girly dresser. She almost always prefers skirts and dresses in her downtime, and if there’s florals in her outfit, all the better. She loves brushing her hair and experimenting with various hairstyles and accessories. She doesn’t have time for makeup anymore, but she appreciates it and loves any chance to try some on. 

She can never find pretty shoes that fit. It’s her cross to bear.

emeralddodge:

Forward, to Marco!

Marco St. James is 5′6. Much unlike his brothers-in-arms, he is solid as a brick. He has bulky muscles–though not grossly so–and very little fat anywhere. He has large, dark brown eyes framed by long eyelashes. His smile is rather wide because of an usual jawline. Unfortunately, his teeth, though clean and healthy, are very crooked; Benjamin has privately counseled him on possibly getting braces. He has two noticeable battle scars on his scalp and neck.

Marco is still in the late stages of puberty, and has no yet sprouted a beard or much body hair. He has light brown skin, and tightly curled black hair that he trims extremely close. Jillian cuts his hair every three weeks, at his request. 

Marco would claim that he has no real style, but he unconsciously incorporates styles and fashions of other teenagers. Specifically, whenever he’s undercover or keeping a low profile, he tends to choose clothes he sees on local black teens in Saint Catherine. From time to time, he has donned sneakers, skinny jeans, a graphic tee, and a snapback and spent time at Varina Davis Park, shooting the breeze and playing basketball with his peers. 

emeralddodge:

Next up: Ember!

Ember Harris is 5′10. She is willowy; non-trainees were generally underfed at Oconee, and she’s accustomed to not eating much. Moreover, she loses her appetite when she’s stressed, which is often. Her curves are fairly unremarkable, and she wears pushup bras when in civilian garb to make up for it. (Reid approves.) 

Her hair is auburn, leaning heavily on the red side. Her eyes are warm brown, and her face is freckled. Her eyebrows are light brown, and she keeps them plucked and gently arched. She has an aquiline nose that gives her a distinguished air. Her lips are slightly fuller than one would expect on someone her size. She wears little to no makeup.

Ember’s personal style is the most un-camplike. She often wears her hemlines above the knee, and shorts that would get her sent to the principal’s office if she were in middle school. She doesn’t wear jeans often, mostly because of the Georgia heat. She likes loose, roomy tops that drape nicely. She doesn’t care for hair accessories or fancy hairdos. She’s not much of a jewelry person, either. She has seriously considered getting a discreet tattoo, probably of an animal-themed quote. 

emeralddodge:

Sorry about the delay! It’s time for Benjamin’s description.

Benjamin Philip Trent is just a hair under six feet tall. As our heroine is fond of noting, he has hazel eyes, dark blond hair (”sandy blond”), and generally fine bone structure. He has pale skin with a spray of faint freckles on his face and shoulders. Due to wildly out-of-control acne in his teenage years that required Accutane, he also has acne scarring on his cheeks. His eyebrows are dark, and on the thick side. His teeth were straightened to Hollywood levels by orthodontia. He has a slightly deviated septum that causes the bridge of his nose to be just slightly off-center.

Benjamin wore his hair a little long after high school, but it is now appropriately short for his line of work. Jillian’s hack job grew out eventually, and he looks quite distinguished.

He’s not thin or frail, his genetics will never let him attain the bulk he desires–the bulk he associates with Manly Superhero Men. He has medium body hair growth, and will probably never have a large amount on his chest. His torso, thighs, and a few other places have stretch marks from when he was younger, and severely overweight. He lost the weight when he was 13-14 by growing six inches in one year. He has very large feet and used to trip over them when he was still growing.