Moonster Monster - Snippet

Moonster Monster - Snippet

Rating: General audience Description: Remus's Lions and university worlds start to bleed into each other with a little prank welcoming him into the league as a player. Thanks to @lumosinlove, @noots-fic-fests, @hazelnoot-analyst for their general awesomeness.

"What the heck?" Remus pulled the hard, thin object out of his suit bag. Flipping it around, he saw the bright primary colours of Dr. Seuss, and the classic Dr. Seuss font. "Give us a read", shouted Nado, seconded quickly by Walker. "Marvin K. Mooney, will you please go now!, by Dr. Seuss", started Remus, before adding, "feeling really welcome right now, guys."

Moody and Arthur walked in, saw the players circled around Remus, and grinned.

Moody barked out, "That was an instruction! All of you, GO NOW. There's a traffic jam en route, and we are already running ten minutes late. Story time can wait until we're on the bus."

Once on the bus, however, Talkie started pulling books out of his bag and stacking them on the seat next to Remus.

"It appears you've been holding out on us a lot more than we knew, Loops. Or should I say, Moony? Quite a few former Badgers have started sending me these - he plonks down a pile of books and starts reading off titles - Goodnight Moon, Moony Luna, The Magical Drawings of Moony B. Finch, more than 10 different books titled Moon Monster, and, AND you haven't even noticed that I've been scattering them around the rink for the two weeks!" "Geez! That was what was going on? I thought we were having another book drive!"

"And the donation bin is your stall? So. Are you Moony, or are you Loops?"

"Loops." "Yeah?" "Yeah. Moony doesn't fit me anymore. I like Loops, it feels good."

"K, Loops." Kasey pipes in from the seat behind, "Kay Loops. We still want story time though." Remus sighs, and grabs the first book off the pile. "Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by Clement Hurd." "In the great green room, there was..."

First Frost

Rating: General Audience, no ship unless squinting General description: Leo finds out what happens when a sidewalk frosts over. Cast: Leo Knut, Finn O'Hara, Remus Lupin Thanks to @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @lumosinlove for such lovely characters to play with. ---

“Awww, yikes!”

Leo goes down, grabbing onto the railing as his gangly legs flail out from under him. He starts pulling himself back up, his legs dancing on the slippery pavement as he tries to find traction. Failing, he gives up and scoots on his butt to sit against the railing’s post. Finn collapses with laughter in the doorway.

“Is this why you wanted to get up early and go for a walk before practice, Knut?”, Finn asks as he regains his breath.

“It looks so pretty out, like everything has been etched over by tiny lutins. I forgot elves are also known for being dangerous, luring unsuspecting travelers to their doom,” Leo drawls, looking out over the frosted over shrubbery that lined the path sloping down to the sidewalk and road. “I had read about this, but never seen it before. Our sidewalks are different kinds of booby traps down in Nola.”

“This is your first ever frost? That does explain how a professional hockey player can’t manage to walk on a tiny dusting of ice,” Finn teases as he helps Leo lever himself up off the ground and shuffle back to safe ground. “Grip with your toes, grip with your toes.” Finn twirls the car keys around one finger. “Tell ya what. I’ll drive us to practice and park in the outdoor lot instead of the spot in the garage, and you can practice on a flat surface.” He throws his arm around Leo’s waist and starts steering him towards the stairwell. “You’ll get plenty of opportunities to see frost up close and personal this winter here in Gryffindor, I promise.”

Leo leans in to the support Finn is giving him, hoping Finn can’t feel his heartbeat speeding up at the casual contact initiated by his shorter teammate. He blows lightly on his palms, happy he had had the forethought to put on his light knit gloves before venturing out onto the treacherous pavement. The last thing he needed was scraped up hands, he’s still getting used to his new Lions blocker and glove.

In the car, Leo presses his forehead to the window, watching the frosted landscape pass by, marvelling as they pass through the park across from the arena.

Finn pulls into an empty space in the near-deserted parking lot, about halfway between the subway station exit and the arena’s entry. Hopping out of the car, he yells out to the lone walker leaving the subway, “Loops! Come watch a baby deer learn to walk!” He dashes around the hood to open Leo’s door before he can do it himself.

Remus comes striding over, and offers Leo a hand to get out of the car. “Oh right, I guess you aren’t used to walking on frost yet. It’s a vital skill up here, especially if you aren’t planning on getting your own car.”

Leo leans lightly on Remus, gripping his forearm tightly as Leo’s feet threaten to betray him on the slippery concrete. “Thanks Loops. I haven’t got the trick of it yet.”

Finn butts in, “I told him the trick is to grip with your toes.” Loops joins in, chanting with Finn, “Grip with your toes, grips with your toes!”  The two look at each other, give a high five, “Ya man!”.

“I am so lost right now”, comments Leo, still struggling to find his footing while Remus shakes with laughter next to him.

“Kiss my lucky egg?” Finn asks.

“Some people say you know you can’t believe”, Remus starts off, with Finn joining in for “Hey Jamaica, we got a bobsled team.”

Leo looks at them both, completely bewildered. “I am definitely missing the reference. Seriously, how do I do this?”

“Aw, sorry Knut. Here, for now, practice sliding your feet along as though you are skating, just with smaller strides.” Finn steps out in front, demonstrating, then Remus slowly slides one foot forward and waits for Leo to copy him.

“You got this Knut, you are a professional hockey player, you can skate. It’s just like skating,” Remus adds, guiding Leo into another step forward.

The three make their way slowly to the rink’s entrance, Leo chanting the whole time under his breath, “I’m a hockey player, I can do this. I’m a hockey player, I can do this.”

New definition of gritty reboot: the story is exactly the same, but one main character has been replaced by Gritty.

📖The Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (@cbbag_bookarts) is inviting kindred spirits to participate in a juried, travelling exhibition! Share your connection to "Maud" and register now! For more information, visit www.cbbag.ca/ Kindred_Spirits.

— LMM Institute

Tumblr artists and friends: in case you haven’t heard of this opportunity! I’ve seen sooo many gorgeous Maud works on here, it’s actually quite staggering! You’re all immensely gifted. If you’re interested, there’s an open call for art (they’re looking for any and every kind, just a big old variety being sought) surrounding any of Maud’s current public domain (see: HERE for art submission ideas and guidelines) novels, essays, and short stories. I believe they’re looking for book covers and bindings, especially!

Sugar Rush - snippet

Rating: General audience. No ships. Juvenile diabetes, bullying, racism, and sexism. Incorrect medical advice. Excessive use of commas and run-on sentences.

General description: Remus helps one of his summer Cubs navigate how to continue in sports after a diagnosis of Type 1A diabetes. Thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for the prompts and cards, and @hazelnoot-analyst for their archive work :)

Remus sifted through his inbox, which was usually pretty quiet during the summer months before training camp kicked off. There would, however, sometimes be the odd e-mail from a parent related to the Cubs teams he coached, so he continued to check his Lions' e-mail everyday. Sure enough, today, he had two e-mails, one from the ice manager about when the Cubs were expected to arrive for their special arena tour the coming week. One from - hmmm - one from the administration forwarding an e-mail from Mr. Sanchez, father to one of the more gifted Cubs Remus has coached in the past three seasons. Lucía had joined their program as a seven year old, and now, at nine, was one of the best skaters and players on the ice. She had worked hard to catch up to the kids who had grown up on the ice, learning to skate as soon as they could walk, and she showed an instinctive grasp of hockey tactics and reading plays on the fly. She had missed last week, and he hoped this wasn't bad news. Remus clicked open the e-mail, scanned it quickly, then let out a breath. It wasn't good news, but it certainly wasn't as bad as he feared. Lucía had just been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, and was afraid that she couldn't play hockey anymore. Remus fired out a response, inviting Lucía and her father to a meeting before the next practice. Then, he hit the books. Well, he hit the internet, collecting resources from reliable sites he already knew of and sniffing out some sites with information that might be more accessible to an 8-year old, and some resources in Spanish, just in case. Then he called his buddy Jake, a former NFL tight end Remus had met during his courses at Madison. Jake, a Type 1A diabetic, did a couple of sessions at the university each year for aspiring trainers on how to assist athletes with diabetes, and Remus had stayed in touch. He also fired off an e-mail to Luke Kunin, who had started working with the Madison sports trainers in high school while Remus was finishing up his program, even though Kunin's freshman year was after Remus' graduation. The following Tuesday, Remus felt ready to go. He met Lucía and Mr. Sanchez in the lobby, and ushered them through to his office so they could be assured of privacy. It broke his heart a little to hear Lucía look so defeated when she declared that she couldn't play anymore. Diabetic Mexican girls have no place on the ice, her doctor said. At that, Remus shot a look to Mr. Sanchez, whose jaw had clenched so tight, Remus was afraid he might crack a tooth. "But, you are from Honduras. Lucía, don't believe anything someone says if they can't even get that right once you've told them. Your doctor is very, very, very wrong." "The school says it too, and other players. Only some girls can play hockey, and not brown girls, and not sick brown girls. They say I will get a sugar rush and fall down whenever I skate fast. And they say I will get too fat to skate, only fat Mexicans get diabetes." "I am sorry you had to listen to that. None of what they say is true. I will keep a stronger ear out for that kind of bullying and ask the other coaches to do better too. That kind of attitude does not belong on the ice, in the locker room, or anywhere."

Then, point by point, Remus demolished the false statements, explaining that diabetes is different from a sugar rush, and that with careful management, Lucía can not only play any sport she wants, but excel at it. He shared the tips from Jake and Luke about how to wrap Lucía's new continuous glucose monitor and pump so that they were protected without impeding movement or insulin flow. He talked about nutrition and managing diet in the sense of being aware of how your body was feeling, and learning when and what to eat ahead of expected activities, and how to recognise a low. He shared his stories of working with Kunin, and how the whole World Junior team kept jelly beans in their pockets and on the bench, just in case Kunin needed to quickly raise his blood sugar. He talked about how the discipline and awareness of how her body is feeling that Lucía will develop while managing her diabetes might help her with the work needed to become a professional athlete, if that is a goal she decides to pursue (although nothing can guarantee anyone will make it to a professional, - and doesn't Remus know all about that, he thinks silently to himself - but diabetes certainly shouldn't stop her).

An alarm started to ring from the desk, and noting that it was almost practice time, he gave Lucía a handful of the temporary tattoos Jake had courriered over to him, some a simple blue circle, others the circle with the words Insulin Dependent written underneath. Then he sent Lucía off to change into her gear, but asked Mr. Sanchez to stay behind for a second.

"What your doctor said to Lucía was incredibly inappropriate, damaging, and incorrect. Is there any chance you can switch doctors?"

"I have already started the process to transfer Lucía to a pediatrician who specialises in juvenile diabetes." "Good. If that doesn't work out, please reach out to us here, and we will try to share more resources and make some connections with organisations the Lions work with regularly. Also, if I may be so bold, please report that doctor to the state board and the US Department of Health and Human Services. I have to head to the ice, but, please, don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any other questions or concerns about Lucía playing hockey. I can set up another meeting like this anytime this summer. Lucía is a gifted player and a great leader on the ice, hockey would be worse off without her playing."