[color=green][b][u]Drums of Authority[/u][/b][/color] ---------------- Leo the Patriotic Lion here. Working as the UN Secretary-General is my number one priority, but just as was the case when I was President of the United States, I always have time for music. My home in Patriot's Village (as well as the homes of Tom the Patriotic Tiger and Judge Marcus) takes note of this, with our master bedrooms doubling as music rooms, allowing us to practice whenever we can. Even though we have been gifted by the supernatural with the ability to march and perform for long periods of time without injury or fatigue, we do still take breaks. Still, it is nice to be able to do my important duty to the world as a G-52 and as the UN Secretary-General and still have time to beat a drum. Thank you to the UN for allowing me to work from home via telecommuting, since Wildcat City will always be my true home. (I know that sounds crazy coming out of my mouth when you consider just how Neo-Luddite the old me was, but CNG doesn't exist anymore, so there's no reason for it or anything to control me like a puppet.) I therefore might bore you to death because I am also on the list of animals that like to live barefoot (although we always take other cultures into account that frown upon padding), and I am always drumming when standing on my bare paws (or seated at a drum set, or whatever). When I perform, I generally have two wardrobe choices: my drum major uniform, or a green suit-and-tie combination with dress pants to match. Both these carried over into my time as President and as UN Secretary-General, although it was also to help the audience identify me easier, so to speak. My drum major uniform has been updated several times in order to match the uniforms worn by the lions in the military band that made me famous, the U.S. Lion Corps Band, associated with the U.S. Army. (Likewise, the U.S. Tiger Corps Band, Tom's lot, is associated with the U.S. Navy. Insert your own rivalry joke here, but Tom is my best friend.) The current design is a traditional dark green jacket with gold accents and trim (the accents referring to the epaulettes, stripes across the chest, etc.), but the pants are white. The right leg has a red stripe going down its side, while the left leg has a blue stripe going down its side. The shako is a green shako with a gold stripe across the bottom (not counting the black rim), and the emblem on it is a traditional harp symbol, also in gold. Not just any lion can wear this uniform, believe me; you have to earn it. (The day Donald Trump hosted my retirement party, I said to him, "Just remember that this uniform I am wearing costs more money than the most expensive suits you own." And it does.) ---------------- Some recent additions to my percussion collection actually were thank-you gifts from the U.S. Army, of which I made sure I said a big thank-you to them for the gifts. People may not realize this, but I had a proper Army career prior to leading the U.S. Lion Corps Band, or USLCB for short, as the chief drum major. (Tom's stint as chief drum major of the U.S. Tiger Corps Band, or USTCB for short, happened right around the same time, and that's how we first met. We've been best friends ever since.) While I auditioned on the snare drum and the timpani, or kettledrums, I ended up playing the glockenspiel for the most part, which is fine, because someone's got to do it. (I also played the bell lyra quite a lot.) The new military field drum (rope-tensioned snare drum) that the Army gifted to me has a pair of white drumsticks to go with it. The drum has a green shell with gold rims, and white ropes to tension it. The drum has a golden lion's face as the emblem. This is a drum I am very proud of, and I am grateful to the Army for it. The Army had also gifted me a set of four timpani, handcrafted right here in the USA by the finest creators with the finest materials. (There is a chance that the constructors were Krieglandonian; they love music more than anything.) While the drums here are still traditional copperhead pedal timpani, the rims around the drums and the stands they sit on are also painted green, and on each drum, there is another image of a golden lion's face against a green backdrop, with the green backdrop in the shape of a shield. This was based on a design George Higgins used (and still uses) in his comics, in which I serve as the Galactic Emperor of the Universe, my parallels are kings of their domain, and the Commander (Super C) is one of my top advisors and strategists. (Thus, in real life, there are times where if the public does anything rash, they answer to him.) ---------- This leads me to mention another question people ask me: "If you're now the UN Secretary-General, are you still able to do things for the musical payroll system?" The answer is yes. It was true of me when I was POTUS, and it is true of me now. (The same is true of Tom; he was my vice-president, but still had time to play his trumpet, bugle, fife, piccolo, and flute. He rotates between the five. Today, he's the appointed U.S. ambassador to the UN, but special arrangements were made to allow him to work from home, since he now lives next door to me in Patriot's Village.) It's just a part-time basis because of my main job. The part-time basis is what allowed Judge Marcus to try it out while he was serving on my staff as U.S. Attorney General; since the end of that stint, he's now a full-time member. --------- Tom, Judge Marcus, and I are still learning about how our instruments have magical powers, too; it's not just us. For example, my intention this morning was just to rehearse a timpani solo I was to record myself playing for the payroll. It involves just two timpani, and its intentions are to give the listener images of soldiers marching off to war, knowing they will come home victorious. When practicing it, though, I began to notice the strange golden glowing aura that was coming off from the timpani, because it was the timpani that was gifted to me from the U.S. Army. "Strange," I said. "I wonder if the Commander knows about this?" I set my mallets down and then contacted Super C. He replied, "I am aware of this because I got a report from the Colton Brothers that their circus is experiencing the same phenomenon, and so are the Martinson Sisters. It began with Circus Delights. You can see the gift they gave me here to cheer me up." He then showed me a live camera feed of the bass drum they gifted him, with the banner that read, "THANK YOU, SUPERCAT!" above it. The drum was modeled after the actual military bass drums (rope-tensioned bass drums) that the circus band uses when they march in parades, and so the shell of it was green with golden ropes to tension it, while the heads on each side of the drum read "CIRCUS DELIGHTS" in green, with a star in between each word. "When they did give you that?" I asked. "The day after that asteroid assault." "Oh. Right." "Anyway, all three circuses noticed this glowing aura sometimes pops up while they are performing. We know that this is proof that they're guaranteed to do what they do forever without ever getting injured or tired. What we're not sure about entirely is if this aura has anything to do with your instruments having powers, but I am sure that it is." "I wouldn't be surprise. This morning, I was practicing a timpani solo to perform for the payroll, since I am on there part-time to keep the income coming in. Next thing I knew, it started glowing, and it was causing some outside event. I didn't intend for it to cause an outside event." "Do you know what the outside event is?" "No." "Oh, dear; this is going to be a problem, then." ------------ The Commander later stopped by my house, and I showed him my timpani and my field drum. "I agree that it was very generous of the Army to gift that to you," he said. I then played a solo on my field drum, and the same glowing aura began to shine again. The C.I.D.F. had soldiers with the Commander, and they took notes. Then they let me know what the outside event was: a different group of tabloid terrorists (these are not the ones trying to kill Levi the Mountee Lion) had arrived to rob WNB (Wildcat National Bank) and kill all the tellers inside. When I began drumming on the timpani, all their vehicles and weapons suddenly self-destructed (without exploding, however), and there was nothing they could do but surrender to the police. It did not help that the police officers making the arrest had said to them, "The Emperor has spoken, and he is not happy with you." (They also said this because there was a car wreck that resulted, but all the cars involved were just the terrorists. The glowing aura had warned the innocent public about their plots via various methods of communication, and so they wisely managed to find detours to take so that the wreck would happen without any innocent lives being taken, or at least, threatened.) "Does that Emperor mindset still bother you?" one soldier asked me. "It sometimes does, but I found it better to just go with the act," I said. "It saves all of us a lot of headaches. It's teaching me to bite my tongue, but people shouldn't be putting words in my mouth. That's really what was making me cross." "That was making me cross, too, because sometimes people do the same thing with me. Not as much as you, but still, it's annoying." "That it is. I just hope we have no more car accidents." "I do, too. However, it was not your fault. Your performance was just the supernatural acting as if that was its cue to start doing what it did." "Understood." We agreed that it was best for me to just go ahead and continue drumming, and let the rest take care of itself, because the supernatural was protecting the innocent. -------- Meanwhile, Circus Delights received news that the city of Macao, China, wanted them to perform there, as well as receive invites from all over Europe (in particular the UK and France), as well as the Toppet Kingdom. Prior to that, though, they paid their respects with some recent deaths in the family, complete with muffled drum rolls and bugles playing "Taps." (I don't know if the Canadian military uses that or not, but the circus itself uses this method, based on U.S. military procedures as seen in YouTube videos they watched, to salute the departed icons of Circus Delights.) The original ringmaster, a liger named Harold Lyons, had died at the age of 58 from various health issues. Here, though, the circus had lost a border collie serving as one of its tightrope walkers when he suffered a heart attack, although he had retired from the circus for unrelated health reasons. He was 69. (The current tightrope walking act consists of a brother and sister duo of white tigers named Ivan the Incredible and Irene the Incredible.) Another circus performer that had died was a red wolf that was the original high diver for the circus, and he was tragically killed in a car crash that also killed the driver that started it. He was 44. (He was replaced by Willie the Wolf, whom the Commander inducted into the organization as Daring Diver.) Both the red wolf and the border collie were involved during the fifth and final show where Levi had to be a clown as punishment for his sins, which became the most watched broadcast in the history of world television. Yes; world television. You cannot say that lightly. Levi returned to Canada briefly to pay his own respects as well, and was given the task of playing "Taps" on his bugle after both Mortimer (Tenacious Timpanist) and Benjamin (Snare Bear) playing muffled drum rolls on their field drums. (Mortimer usually plays bass drum when he marches in parades to maintain a balance of sound, but he does own a field drum, and he does play it every so often for the payroll.) Then all the circus performers gave the three graves (since they're right next to each other, as the cemetery in question reserved a lot for the circus) the correct military salute. It was a rare case of the public seeing Landon the Labrador shedding tears, since he was usually jolly, charismatic, happy-go-lucky, and outgoing. "No need to worry," the band reassured the civilians. "He'll be happy again in no time." The way the circus chooses to do the military salute follows the rules of specific other personnel that salute: bringing the right hand up to the forehead, with the palm facing downwards, and the fingers fully extended. The tip of the second finger should align with the outside of the right eyebrow, touching the edge of the headdress if worn. The arm should be held at a 45-degree angle, and the elbow should be in line with the shoulder. Levi and Furious Fox, by contrast, had previously served their country as officers of the R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), and so they typically salute the way the Mountees do, which is based on how the British do a military salute; this is done by having the palm face outward instead of downward. The same glowing aura began to shine as the drummers un-muffled their drums, played another drum cadence, and began playing "The Maple Leaf Forever," Levi's favorite song, which doubled as a way to bring hope and comfort to the civilians and families of the performers that were weeping. Levi could not sing the song because he was playing his trumpet, so Landon took the liberty of singing the lyrics. --------- The next morning, Mortimer was back to playing his bass drum, while Benjamin continued to play his field drum, and the two took their morning march around the neighborhood they live in, marching on their bare feet while wearing the uniform. The glowing aura was at work again, because it was working to keep a positive environment and keep the public calm and happy. The public showed respect to the animals, though, by just letting them march by, even if they did stop to watch. Children played happily in their front yards, while the parents watched them do so. Some kids even tried to draw Benjamin and Morty with chalk. (They just tried the faces, though.) --------- Bit by bit, we were starting to see a shift in the supernatural, and for once, it was working in our favor, instead of against us. We hoped and prayed that this would be the beginning of humanity's redemption, because IC3 (which is still out there, by the way) claimed that humanity as a whole failed and will never be forgiven because of the Super Bowl rioting. ("You'd think it would have chosen all that soccer rioting down in Argentina," I thought to myself.) One could only hope that IC3 would learn its lessons in the end, but I wasn't ready to bet money on that just yet. One thing was for sure, though: we still had lots to learn about being the chosen ones to play what supernatural science (yes, there is such a thing) calls "magical music." Just look at the sheer number of animals involved in it, especially when you consider that the Drumbums are the fastest-growing organization in the world. Meanwhile, all of us wished Circus Delights all the best as they prepared to travel internationally for the very first time. --------- [color=gold][b]THE END[/b][/color]