Daniel "Oz" Osbourne meets Bran "Marrok" Cornick
So, Lita_of_Jupiter pointed out that there are simply not enough good Oz fanfics out there. I entirely agree. (And am currently pestering her to write a Hackers crossover with Oz. Please?)
I have also been reading Patricia Brigg's series of Mercy Thompson books.
For those of you who don't know them, a brief bit of background: In the books, Mercy can turn into a coyote. Something that she apparently inherited from her absent father rather than her more flighty youth mother who wasn't quite sure what to do with an infant child who was occasionally a coyote cub. So Mercy was fostered with a werewolf pack. In fact, THE werewolf pack, because this particular pack is led by Bran Cornik, who is the Alpha werewolf for North America.
Being an alpha means more than just being able to beat up anyone who challenges you, it's also about having a type of Pack Magic that lets the Alpha command obedience from those beneath them, which is actually a good survival tool all around because some of those lesser werewolves need to be commanded to stay in control and not to eat the local pedestrians. And while most Alpha werewolves look as dangerous as they are, Bran looks like a college student. To all appearances, he's laid back and soft spoken.
A few more interesting facts about Briggs' universe: #1. Werewolves in wolf form look like actual wolves. Big, vicious wolves about to eat you, generally, but wolves nonetheless. #2. The presence of a demon affects werewolves' self control. They get vicious and crazy around demons. #3. Female werewolves don't have children because they miscarry the first time they shift, and they are forced to shift every full moon. (Bran's first wife managed to hold off the shift for the full gestation period, but she had magic and it wound up killing her in the end anyway although the child survived.) (Briggs' doesn't bring up the possibility of staying wolf the entire time, possibly because the books are pg-13 at most and she didn't want to deal with beastiality issues)
Now consider Oz: #1. When Oz shifts to wolf, he's like a wolf-man, so to insert him into Briggs' universe, something would have had to warp his form pretty severely. But, lucky us, we have a reason in #2. Oz was infected while living on a Hellmouth and surrounded by demons for the first year of his change. (I don't think any werewolves in the Briggs' universe have survived ongoing contact with demons like that.) And finally, we have #3) Oz can control his own change, to the extent of not changing during the fullmoon and not growing weaker because of the lack.
So I think it would be an interesting story to have Oz approach Bran.
Oz can control his beast even at full-moon which Bran would appreciate learning (as would almost all of the female pack members). However, Oz really does have a beast rather than a wolf, and he could ask Bran for help getting his wolf into better shape. Can the demon taint be cleansed?
Plus, they both like music, they're both quiet, and they're both a lot more than they first appear.
I have also been reading Patricia Brigg's series of Mercy Thompson books.
For those of you who don't know them, a brief bit of background: In the books, Mercy can turn into a coyote. Something that she apparently inherited from her absent father rather than her more flighty youth mother who wasn't quite sure what to do with an infant child who was occasionally a coyote cub. So Mercy was fostered with a werewolf pack. In fact, THE werewolf pack, because this particular pack is led by Bran Cornik, who is the Alpha werewolf for North America.
Being an alpha means more than just being able to beat up anyone who challenges you, it's also about having a type of Pack Magic that lets the Alpha command obedience from those beneath them, which is actually a good survival tool all around because some of those lesser werewolves need to be commanded to stay in control and not to eat the local pedestrians. And while most Alpha werewolves look as dangerous as they are, Bran looks like a college student. To all appearances, he's laid back and soft spoken.
A few more interesting facts about Briggs' universe: #1. Werewolves in wolf form look like actual wolves. Big, vicious wolves about to eat you, generally, but wolves nonetheless. #2. The presence of a demon affects werewolves' self control. They get vicious and crazy around demons. #3. Female werewolves don't have children because they miscarry the first time they shift, and they are forced to shift every full moon. (Bran's first wife managed to hold off the shift for the full gestation period, but she had magic and it wound up killing her in the end anyway although the child survived.) (Briggs' doesn't bring up the possibility of staying wolf the entire time, possibly because the books are pg-13 at most and she didn't want to deal with beastiality issues)
Now consider Oz: #1. When Oz shifts to wolf, he's like a wolf-man, so to insert him into Briggs' universe, something would have had to warp his form pretty severely. But, lucky us, we have a reason in #2. Oz was infected while living on a Hellmouth and surrounded by demons for the first year of his change. (I don't think any werewolves in the Briggs' universe have survived ongoing contact with demons like that.) And finally, we have #3) Oz can control his own change, to the extent of not changing during the fullmoon and not growing weaker because of the lack.
So I think it would be an interesting story to have Oz approach Bran.
Oz can control his beast even at full-moon which Bran would appreciate learning (as would almost all of the female pack members). However, Oz really does have a beast rather than a wolf, and he could ask Bran for help getting his wolf into better shape. Can the demon taint be cleansed?
Plus, they both like music, they're both quiet, and they're both a lot more than they first appear.