#el serpiente

does it ever drive you crazy

BIG FAN of the school fight actually, idc that it's overdramatic and long

me when capcut made outline text a pro feature RIGHT when i started making this edit (so excuse it looking a little whack, i was learning how to do it myself)

1.2 | 4.6

Give it up for our boy Miguel, who has:

worked hard to recover from a paralysing injury to reach the semi finals of the All Valley Tournament and almost do a tornado kick

learnt to fix cars and drive

developed brand new defensive skills in Miyagi Do, doing well enough to earn Daniel's respect and The Headband of Defense™️

dealt with all the dojo drama, a 35 year old feud between Daniel and Johnny, and tried to keep the peace between them

gotten straight As all semester

AND managed to stay on top of his extra curriculars!!!

This is all while he's been struggling with the stress of not feeling worthy of dating Mr Larusso's daughter, not having enough money to go to his dream college, relationship drama with Sam, pressure of winning it all for Eagle Fang, not letting Johnny down, and dealing with his sensei banging his mum.

Aaaa this is going to be so lame, but I still haven’t decided on very many details yet.  I definitely in the market for fun ideas (see the cool notes people added to this post) but for now here’s some random tidbits:

-Lorenzo, leader of the Arizona coven, is Maria’s arch-enemy, the one who killed her mate. There had already been an ongoing feud between his coven and Maria’s, but this time the Arizonas had the upper hand and killed pretty much everyone except Maria.  I’m considering going with the headcanon that Lorenzo is actually already dead, but Maria doesn’t know that.  At some point the Volturi did a clean-up and decided it was important for Maria to keep up the energy of her vendetta, since she’s such a stable element in the Wars, so they instructed the new leader of the Arizona Coven to adopt Lorenzo’s name.  The two armies hardly ever risk open battle, so it’ll be a long time before she realizes what’s happened.  (again, not sure about this… just a thought)

-While Arizona is the official rival of the Mexican Coven (because of her mate and Monterrey), Maria actually spent most of her time fighting off the Guatemalan Coven.  In 1918 El Serpiente (no one knows his real name) assassinated his creator and took up the leadership.

-possible Bayou Coven? (I want underwater battles out in the Gulf so… I guess they battle for hunting rights on boats and such????)

-most coven leaders wait for thunderstorms to wage battle, same reason as the Cullens’ baseball tradition

-Maria (unbeknownst to Jasper) spread Jasper’s reputation as a fearsome empath who could strike paralyzing fear into his enemies (he can’t actually do this during battle lol) and it’s turned into this whole urban legend of “The Immortal Terror”.  When he disappeared in 1941 it destabilized the entire region because Maria couldn’t maintain control of her army in the weeks that followed. The Guatemalans swept in and Maria was forced out of Monterrey. She’s tried again and again to start up a half-decent army but without Nettie, Lucy, Jasper, or Peter she isn’t really all that good at it.  (hence her little trip to Calgary to try and “talk” Jasper into returning)  Things have calmed down by now but she still hasn’t able to get back into Monterrey.

-most coven leaders have the same habits as Maria, in terms of keeping the newborns until they begin to weaken.  (which ends up being more like 15-18 months; since they’re so well-fed their body is slow to deplete its own blood)  Ideally two batches are created per year.  (Maria has this charming habit of referring to each batch by the month they were created in)  For culling time, I have the usual plan spelled out in narrative form in the Charlotte two-shot, first chapter.

-most leaders have tried to have a permanent lieutenant now and then (like Jasper’s position) but betrayal is so rampant that it generally doesn’t work out.  They’ll often have a 2- or 3-year old veteran (more like Peter’s position) but it doesn’t usually go beyond that.

-nobody ever called Jasper “Major”, that makes zero sense you guys

-The Volturi need the Southern Wars to continue, at least until the next big Threat comes around.  They generally need *something going on to serve as a reminder to the vampire world that The Volturi Are Important.  They’ve occasionally come in to get rid of the riskier covens, but sometimes they actually help even the odds so that the more stable covens can stay in power. Caius is very much aware of the sticking power of their personal vendettas and totally meddles with the Southern Wars politics now and then. (as in the first note) He’s not happy about having to let the Wars continue, but it soothes his pride to be involved like this from time to time.  Since reliable communication circulates so rarely between the coven leaders, there’s not much risk of them coming together to figure out that they’re being played.  But for the most part, the vendettas are real so it might not matter.

-I haven’t yet decided whether the Volturi have ever met/assisted Maria’s coven… maybe back in her creator’s day?