[Editors note: Please be aware that English is Fox's 2nd language, so there may be errors in grammar and other technical aspects. I've left small notes including extra context about Gemlord, but I want to leave his words unedited.]
Hey everyone, Fox here!
Sorry I haven't made a post in a while, Castiel and I have been on the road, enjoying our summer. We're doing pretty well money wise, so we figured we could both take a month long break from work. We did a lot of traveling, Jello included. I was lucky we were able to put everything in the trunk of the Dawn [Camaro], it doesn't have a ton of space. I also feel really lucky we didn't lose Jello along the way, since he'll disappear for a while and teleport back randomly. Thought I'd share a few highlights from our month long road trip. It's a mixed bag of stories, I hope you like them though!
Emaravia [August] 1st:
The trip actually started in the last week of Rairvia [July], since the 1st is the Founder Festival for Founder Jade. Founder Festivals came around early in Gemlord's histroy, as the first of each Gem Type (nicknamed the Founders) passed away, their communities gathered to celebrate their lives. The Founders were very involved with the Clan Wars that made Gemlord the way it is today, so we still honor their memories to this day. The second Diamond King made each Founder Festival a national holiday, one where employees could take the day off with no consequences. Not everyone attends every Founder Festival, there's more than 100. But as a Jade himself, Cas wanted to perform on the big stage, as he deserves. The Festival usually focuses on up and coming artists in the music industry, while Founder Emerald's Festival in Javia [June] is for the big names, but because that's where the band I manage and Cas first performed their biggest acts, they were happy to have Cas again. He did all the introductions and announcements, except for his opening act, which their normal host did.
I was sitting back stage before Cas was set to go on, and saw that Jello had left our hotel room and was pawing at Cas. I tried to grab Jello, but he just kept sitting on Cas' shoulder. We gave up, and Cas performed his entire set with Jello on his shoulder. It was only three songs, one of which was brand new, but most of the buzz was about how calm Jello had been, and neither of us minded it.
After the performances, Jello disappeared back to the hotel, I assume. It was just Cas and I, so I drove the Dawn to the streets where the rest of the festivities were. We got recognized pretty quickly, I didn't have the top down or anything. It probably helps that I have a vinyl decal of my signature on it, which Cas gifted me for Sapphire's Day [New Years/Christmas] last year. But most of the people were pretty chill, giving us space to play games and eat street food. One game that happens at 90% of Founder Festivals is a charm collection game. You get a bracelet when you enter, and going to certain vendors, games, and events will earn you a charm. The goal is to collect all the charms from that year. Cas and I wore ours from last year, which we hadn't completed, but we managed to complete ours this year! The festival celebrates Jade culture, so there was plenty of stunt performances going on, food from the Lower City of Emerald City, and the unplanned event of getting caught in a real gang fight. Honestly, I hadn't been attacked like that since I was a kid, so I was pretty scared. It's not uncommon for Jade gangs to come out of the woodworks at Founder Jade's Festival, mostly to celebrate. But it seems like there was a big conflict happening between gangs and when they found each other at the festival they just started fighting. Lots of citizens were caught in it too, although everyone just defended themselves or others. Cas had met a lot of the gang members before, and he told me by defending us from them, he'd settled scores from years back. My fighting skills are less than his, so I really did need his protection. It was kind of romantic, like in a movie. Law enforcement came to calm things down, but that was a crazy night.
Emaravia 12th:
After the Festival we did a few overnight stays in parks and cities we'd wanted to visit. We were making our way to The Quartz District to visit my family, and just did all these small things we'd wanted to do. When we reached my parents' place, we were greeted by my siblings first. Reese, my youngest sister, always give me a very tight hug. I ran away from our home in the City of Shards before she was born, so I think she's making up for all the lost hugs we never had. Cole, my second eldest brother, never has much to say in terms of greetings. He was more interested in Jello, as always. Jello perched on his shoulder, staying there most of the day. Nat, my eldest brother, had to critique the video of Cas and I fighting the gang getting passed around online. Cas did well in his eyes, and they spent a while discussing their gang experiences from when they were growing up. I talked a lot with Nat's boyfriend, Griffin. Nat has never been very good at romantic commitment, but it changed when he met Griffin. They've been dating for a year now, and it's nice to see Nat so happy. Griffin's always got some interesting story to tell, and I could chat with him for ages.
Eventually my parents got back from a meet and greet my mother was at. As soon as she got near, Cas stood up and challenged her to a race. He had secretly used auto pilot to bring his Addax [Impala] here. Nat, Griffin, and Reese were quite amused, but my father, Cole, and myself? Not so much. I was mostly concerned because they're both reckless drivers, but at least it was legal this time. Cas packed pretty much everyone in his Addax, I took Reese in my Dawn, and my parents took my mother's signature Dawn. She led us to an empty track, all the passengers filed out and took their seats. There was nothing we could do to stop my mother from racing anyone. If you know anything about my mother, you could probably already tell that Cas lost pretty badly. But he was leading for a minute straight, which is impressive, but my mom could've been going easy on him. I was pretty surprised how fast the Addax could go, for a sport sedan. It's not a small car. Then my mother came up to me and asked if we could race our Dawns. It's my mother, I couldn't refuse. We agreed on three laps, just like the pervious race, and we lined up the Dawns. I'd raced my mother a few times before and lost, but I've been upgrading my car. I assume she wanted to test my skills. And to everyone's shock, I beat her. I'm not sure if I just got in my zone, if she passed some genes onto me, but Sapphire [god] damn it, I felt competitive. I only won by a second, I had been matching my mother's speed the entire race and speed up rounding the last corner. Shocked, she tried to pick up speed, but my reactor [engine] just fires faster than hers since it's new. She's a progressive person don't get me wrong, but she's an all classic racer. She paid for us all to have dinner as a celebration of my win. Even Jello got a nice plate of chicken. I made Cas send the Addax home, though, because keeping track of two cars is too hard.
Emaravia 18th:
During the Founder Festival, I'd reached out to Cas' siblings, who he'd never really met. When I asked him about it, he always shrugged and said he'd get around to it. I asked our friend Zen, who we both talk to a lot, if he'd ever mentioned his siblings. Zen told me he talked quite often about his siblings, but never wanted to take up my time with it. So, I found their socials and contacted them to see if we could meet somewhere. We decided on The City of the Founders (or just Founder's City, as we say). I didn't tell Cas why we were heading there, just that we were going to the national park dedicated to Founder Pearl, one of the most beautiful.
His expression when he saw who was waiting, it's not something I can describe. Cas' love is limited to certain people due to the neglect he faced as a child, but there was genuine love in his eyes that day. Something I've only ever seen when he's feeling lovey with me. All his family loved Jello, and the cat took turns rubbing on everyone and begging them for food they didn't have. Cas is the 3rd of 4 kids just like me, although they all have different mothers. Cas' father was not a great man, to put it nicely.
Anyway, Justice is the only of Cas' siblings to share the La Cour last name, and has a very interesting story. Like Cas, his father tried to train him to be a warrior, which failed. At 12 he was sent out of the City of Shards to a foster home, which turned out to be abandoned. [The Children of Shards Relocation Program, CSRP, was a government program intended to help control the population of Shards, since it was a prison city. Often, the Diamonds worked on outdated information out of carelessness]. Justice built up a life on his own, acing school, and running into his now husband Kazimir when he stumbled into Justice's home. They did a lot of spying for the Amethyst Revolution, which was only a year ago or so now, and married once the revolution was a success. They live in the Quartz District now so Justice and pursue his dreams of being a racer. He wants to race a different class than my mother; not legal street races, but stock car racing. Cas and I joked that if he didn't race for Warrior [Chevrolet], we'd be pretty disappointed, but he told us he was working on getting into a Warrior team, which is pretty exciting. Someday he'll run into my mother and there'll be chaos. He and his husband were just a delight.
The second oldest, Abigail Raven, was taken out of Shards by her mother at a very young age and passed around foster homes until she was 18. In middle school, she got in a fight with a Garnet, who burnt her face pretty badly, and she couldn't get medical attention in time for the Pearls to leave her face scar free. She usually covers the top half of her face with a mask, but took it off because she was visiting family. Cas' first thought, of course, was to get his makeup from the car and give her a nice look, which she really appreciated. The La Cour siblings are quite achieved, Abi is a popular actress in a long running fantasy series where the mask is perfect for her character. She admitted she hadn't talked this much in years, since she's normally very quiet off set.
The youngest, Lane Lord, came with his mother Layota. She kept Lane's dad out of their lives as much as she could while filing a lawsuit against the Diamonds for her unlawful imprisonment. She was released, so she and Lane have been living free for a while. Lane is a talented artist, and his landscape pieces have been used in a few small video games. He's put all that money towards going to a good art college. See what I mean when I saw all the La Cour siblings are achieved? Credits in a video game at 16!
I know I had a really great day meeting the family Cas still has around, and I want to meet up again soon. But as Cas and I got back to the car, he hugged me close and buried his face in my chest, starting to cry. He expressed how happy he was to finally have connected with his family, a piece of him had felt empty, and a bit jealous of my family's bond. I comforted him, reassuring him that my family had already accepted him as one of our own. But I also understand that desire to be with your own family. It's a special feeling, and I'm glad Castiel finally has it.
Emaravia 23rd:
The last notable day, since we did a lot of beach trips on our way back to Emerald City. We were invited to address the Council [Gemlord's governing body established after the Amethyst Revolution] about some issues I'd asked Reed to bring up about the corruption in the music industry. Reed is the lead singer of the band I produce for, but was revealed to be the last Painite not frozen in ice by Sapphire. Aka, he's actually an immortal demon, but the nice one. As per Council rules, one representative of each Gem Type must be present. Reed has had a blast with it honestly. The Council had decided to hold a meeting addressing those issues, and we were personally invited by Rev, the woman who organized the Revolution and defeated the Queen and King. She was voted as Council Head by the population, a position she'll hold for 8 years. Knowing her, she won't run again; she was actually written into office overwhelmingly.
Cas and I dressed our best, we wore our favorite matching dresses [dresses and makeup are worn by all genders on Gemlord] and did each other's makeup in purple to honor the revolution. That didn't go unnoticed by the Council. Rev started the meeting by asking us to introduce ourselves and our topic. I had prepared for a very formal presentation like the ones I'd failed in school, but it was much more relaxed. Still a professional proceeding, but Cas and I were able to talk as we normally do. The members of the Council often rose their hands to ask questions about how we knew our information, or to express apologies for some of the treatment we'd received. A short summary of Cas and I's points;
The Hills [where the richest Gems live] and the establishments within it's gated community are being supplied by the black market, and has been for many years. This leaks into the music industry and causes unsafe conditions at parties and concerts.
The Lower City of Emerald City has had issues with producers recruiting naive artists and trapping them in barely legal contracts that restrict their freedoms. Cas spoke about his previous producer and the horrible contracts he made with his artists.
Lastly, the abuse that happened to me happens to lots of other artists, often ruining their lives.
While these are big issues to us, it's something that Gems living outside of the city would never see. I'm not allowed to share information on the plan they made, but it's quite solid.
There was a small reception afterwards, since the meeting lasted 3 hours and were all quite hungry and feeling stiff from sitting so long. Rev spoke with us personally, although it wasn't her first time speaking with Cas. He'd gotten my Firebird [there were only 20 Firebirds made on Gemlord by a luxury car company who mimics human cars] from her by paying a good sum of money, but in much needed information about people in Emerald City who were scheming against her. She was sad we hadn't driven the Firebird and I said next time we see her, I'll give her a ride. The representatives for Serpentine Jades and Azurites also made a point of speaking with us both personally, which I really appreciated. Cas isn't really big into politics, and my knowledge is limited, but the fact that they cared enough to say hello was really special. The Azurite representative had been listening to Cas' music for quite some time, and took the opportunity to take pictures with us. It's nice to run into fans in the most unexpected of places; but also to see the Gems in office are friendly. Lots of other representatives took the time to talk with us too, they were all delightful. We said hello to Reed of course, who had lots to add during the meeting. We were tired after all that, but I'm happy to speak to the government if it means I can prevent others from experiencing the pain I suffered.
Wow, I guess highlights means 15,000 characters of stories. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a good rest of your summer. I'll see you in my next post.
XO,
-Fox Alfred
[Image by Paolo Nicolello]