Hello, hello, dear reader. This is is just a bit of a brain-vomit on everything about this book, from characters to plot to theme to fun facts to fun little things I made in celebration of finishing the book, etc. Thank you all so very, very much for sticking around for this book, you have my ultimate gratitude!

(I do plan to do one more bonus chapter, which shows chunks of this story, and some time before it, from Kane's POV. But that's to come :D )

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FUN FACTS : THE CHARACTERS

Echo Yun:

-(I feel the need to preface this all with: this book has technically been in my mind since before Suicide Buddies. So, although Suicide Buddies was a very thorough character and plot brain-vomit, note, this will be even worse than that. Thank you :D)

-Echo caps at 4'11.5. Really, it's closer to 4'11

-His full language range in order of most to least fluent goes English/ Korean/ Japanese/ French/ Mandarin

-Echo is, even without the meat issue, a particularly picky eater since he didn't grow up eating that many foods. Most of what he ate was Korean anyway, so he really only eats a variety of Korean and a limited number of other types. He's allergic to cashews.

-Echo's mother was very well-educated, and so growing up, Echo was pushed to read/write a lot by her and he learned most of his elementary education from her while in Incheon

-Echo has a subtle Korean accent to his English that comes out more when he's tired or angry

-Echo eats the orange gummy bears first because he hates them

-Echo likes gummy bears because, while with Mercy, he couldn't afford to buy fruit, so he'd buy candy to imitate the taste

-Echo is naturally not a day person because he had to work very late into the nights, and so most of his activity we see when he's alone is closer to early morning or late evening

-His mysterious HELLO KITTY obsession originates from the fact he had very little money to buy clothes, and since he was small, Mercy would buy him large children's clothes for a while, and the ones she happened to buy were Sanrio-themed. He became sort of fond of the cute characters.

-Although Echo speaks and understands languages very well, his reading and writing of them is quite bad because of losing it when he lost his mom. The witches kept his Hangul relatively up-to-date, but everything else would probably be lost on him

-Echo's favorite color is blue

-Echo's least favorite color is red or yellow

-Echo's favorite food is anything sweet potato, or gummy bears, obviously

-Unironically, he enjoys the Stirling Slush

-Echo's favorite season is spring or summer

-Echo in a song...Alien Blues, by Vundabar, perhaps?

-"Echo Yun" is a character name that has been in my notes for years now, and I thought it was a cute name from that move Earth to Echo. I didn't watch it (hah) but I wanted to use it at some point. Originally, Echo in this book's early stages was going to be far closer to Kane's character, and Kane was going to be very different. However, upon writing the first chapter after the prologue, I thought I'd shift

-Echo was the most fun in terms of dialogue to write

Kane King (Kitae Wang):

-Kane clears the table at 6'0, flat

-Kane does truly enjoy history, and would frequent museums in his free time prior to, well, all that chaos

-Kane actually began initially as a port tail, but changed to front port one day just due to lack of racers. He loved it

-Kane starts the book with mildly short hair, and ends the book with quite long hair, and never re-dyes the white out of his hair. He learns to see it as a bit of a trophy of what he's survived

-Kane has a better memory than anyone of Corvus, and only matches with Kenzo in terms of its keenness

-Kane's shoe obsession came from the fact that, since his weight did fluctuate a lot growing up, Sunhee forewent getting him clothes as gifts and reverted to shoes seeing as that was the only thing that was consistent in his sizing. He later just grew to really like collecting different kinds

-Kane can cook relatively well since he grew up on his own from middle school onward, and can even bake well

-Kane's language fluency spans from most to least fluent: Korean/ Japanese/ Mandarin/ French

-His favorite color is black

-His favorite food is fruit of any kind, and he has a sweet tooth. He's allergic to raspberries, however

-He doesn't handle spicy well, and only puts half the ramyun packet in

-Since his cousins couldn't really see Kane, nor buy him many things, their only free moment were holidays, but since they were overseas, they mostly just sent him gifts. Growing up, Kane's main love language was through gifts, and he adopted the habit to a T

-Kane is consistently described to smell like soap and cotton from Echo's perspective, not really because that's just how he always smells, but mostly because after being attacked, the smell of silver on him would grow very strong very quickly.
So Kane showers daily with a lot of cleansing products and changes his clothes sometimes twice a day just to avoid it becoming overbearing. It's also a big reason why his bathroom and his closet is so expansive

-The name 'Kitae' means 'discipline' and 'training' in Japanese. Although it's not a common Korean name, I thought it fit very well with Kane's character.

-The name "Kane King" also sat in my notes for a long time, longer than you might think. It was originally going to be used for a different story entirely, and for a very different character, but upon starting this book, I thought a very, almost cliché "hero" name would be very fitting

-A good idea of what Kane can see on a daily basis is best described as looking through a keyhole, i.e, tunnel vision. Although Kane can see well facing front, his peripheral is anywhere from blurry, to black

-Kane has an accent when he speaks, more prominent than Echo's because he was never forced to get rid of it considering he always had Korean friends, and he'd return to Korea so often

-Kane has a very pleasant singing voice, but he's a terrible dancer

-Kane in a song...Drifting, by NF?

-Kane was my favorite, overall.

Kenzo Watanabe:

-(Ah, Kenzo)

-Kenzo sits at about 5'7, which isn't bad

-Kenzo has a photographic memory

-Kenzo bleached his hair on a bet he made with Zahir and subsequently lost. However, he rather liked the look and kept it thereafter

-Kenzo is noted to have been mute for much of his childhood, which is exaggerated. He was just quiet, and coming to America, he didn't understand English.

-Kenzo doesn't have much of an accent when he speaks English, only occasionally, however, his English is actually closer to that of a 10 year old because of how little he spoke it. Him and Kane are close for the lack of a language barrier reason

-Kenzo's language fluency spans from most to least fluent: Japanese/ Korean / Mandarin

-Kenzo dances quite well because of his father being a K-Pop producer. But, his singing is less than...pretty

-Kenzo actually doesn't enjoy chemistry very much, but he was good at it and he figured it was an adequate backup

-Meredith and Kenzo are the closest, aside from Kenzo and Kane, as Meredith is also very observant

-Kenzo's favorite color is gray

-Kenzo's favorite food is hamburgers

-He's mildly allergic to apples

-He likes indie rock and cartoons, but don't tell anyone

-Kenzo learned to smoke from Kane, who learned to smoke from Luan

-Kenzo, even before Poppy, actually took a notice to Kane's underlying behavioral reasons when he first arrived. He was the first to confront Kane about his behavior, not with scolding, but with a 'why'. It's partially why Kane took a liking to him as well

-Poppy was similar to a Meredith for Kenzo, someone who understood him without needing an explanation from him. Prior to losing Poppy, Kenzo was actually a lot more emotional, even if not talkative. Afterwards, he's quite blank

-Kenzo has a vendetta for the color green for no reason other than he thinks it's ugly

-Kenzo was the most challenging character, because he said and participated very little, which forced his scenes to have to be more effortful on my part

-That being said, I still enjoyed him very, very much

Zahir Gupta :

-Zahir tops everyone at 6'2. Nice.

-Zahir doesn't speak a lot of his native language and is mostly just fluent in English, mostly because he's 3rd generation

-Zahir is a very brotherly/fatherly figure oftentimes because he himself has no siblings to look after

-Zahir is a full-shift lycan, but he's actually never fully shifted save for one time when he tried in middle school. (I'll talk more about shifting)

-Zahir, although it's not as highlighted in the book, is probably the 2nd/3rd best racer on Corvus in terms of technical skill. He knew he wanted to race from a relatively early age after doing bicycle races with friends

-Zahir is a pro pianist, but he stopped playing altogether after Poppy died, because she, too, played and it brings back bitter memories for him

-Zahir's favorite food is pakora

-Zahir can't bake. But, his cooking is half-decent.

-Zahir and Diego are the only ones in this lineup of Corvus that were recruited as a sophomores, not a freshman. Zahir, after he turned the initial offer down because he'd heard bad things about Corvus's atmosphere. Edwards, however, kept her offer open for him considering he was still going to be attending Avaldi, and come sophomore year, he took the chance.

-Zahir's favorite color is indigo

-Zahir and Diego are seen together a lot in the book in terms of scene interactions and proximity. It was never explicitly stated, but the two have been dating since their first year in Corvus together. (surprise)

-Zahir has not actually shifted even slightly since his middle school shift, as his temper never really ever gets that bad, and he's always avoided it out of fear

-Zahir was my favorite in terms of him as a character overall. He reminds me of a labrador.

Diego de la Cruz:

-Diego sits at an admirable 5'11.

-Diego speaks both Spanish and English fluently

-Diego picked up square racing in his very brief time in military school—his father's doing in an effort to make him more serious about things—and kept with it thereafter. However, he was recruited sophomore year after having declined it in freshman year due to on-again-off-again family troubles.

-Diego is a damn good cook, but he's actually quite lazy about food since he grew up with it all being cooked for him and only cooked out of necessity. Because of this, he only cooks if asked or if no one else will

-Diego's favorite color is green

-Diego gets along the least with Kenzo, more just out of misunderstanding on both sides. However, the two do respect each other in racing terms.

-Diego has a tattoo on his shoulder.

-Diego asked Zahir out first. Their relationship is never explicitly brought up because everyone but the new recruits know about it, and they themselves never saw the reason to let them know, although it does break the "no dating within the team" rule, but that's hardly of any concern, tbh.

-Diego is quite well-read and performed extremely well in school, but racing was always his number one enjoyment and he never even really thought of doing something else with his life. Ergo, liberal studies.

-When it's just them two, Diego and Ramos will talk in Spanish.

-Diego and Poppy were actually never very close just due to personality differences. Diego never really became close with anyone who wasn't his speed, and in an ironic way, him and Kenzo are very similar in this sense. However, post-Poppy's-death, he did a bit of a 180 and attempted to become friendly with any and every new person, which is how he appears in the book now

-Diego has too many favorite foods, for obvious reasons

-Diego hates sweet things, but likes chocolate

-Diego is a terrible singer and dancer, but he does both the most out of all of Corvus. Funnily enough.

-Diego is close to Zahir's mom, and Zahir is close to Diego's dad, and the four of them form a bit of a haphazard family because of it, seeing as Zahir's father left before he was born, and Diego's mother left when he was young

-Diego once dyed his hair green, and was forced to wash it out by Rosalie for its heinous color.

-Diego and Rosalie, although they bicker a lot, are the closest friends out of all of Corvus. The two regularly go out together, drink together, and meet up during vacations. They simply get along on a deep level very well, and terribly on a surface level.

-Diego was one of the most fun to write.

Rosalie Gossard:

-Rosalie is actually taller for a woman at 5'9.

-Rosalie was originally to be named Rose, but, you know, Rosalie was just more fun

-Rosalie is a pretty typical Alpha, as is Kane, seeing as they're both very domineering and stubborn, and tend to want things their way without being ashamed of it. Initially, this drove Rosalie and Kane to be the worst of enemies on Corvus in the first year

-Rosalie is a no-shift, which is rarer than a full-shift, meaning only her eyes change color, but nothing else will. For a while, this was a big insecurity

-Rosalie can play ukulele, but she refuses to tell anyone

-Rosalie was the second closest to Poppy besides Kane. This is actually partially why her and Kane got so much closer after her death.

-Rosalie went into finance because she had a basic understanding of business thanks to her parents. However, she, like Diego, doesn't really want anything as a career but racing, and can't see herself doing anything else

-Rosalie loves K-Pop, but only Diego and Zahir know seeing as she doesn't want Kenzo finding out as she knows he'll poke fun

-Rosalie is highly allergic to pineapple

-She has the most creature prejudice than anyone in Corvus, partially because she grew up in such a lycan-only environment

-Rosalie is a terrible driver, ironically

-The nickname "Rosie" came about via Meredith, and stuck ever since.

-Meredith and Rosalie are quite close as they balance each other very well. The two see a similar dynamic in Zoe and Wynter

-Rosalie's favorite color is burnt orange.

-The first time Rosalie and Kane made an effort to actually be friends, it was on a shopping trip to the mall after their first Diamond Prix match. It sparked weekly outings of them to the mall, where the rest of Corvus eventually joined. It eventually formed their friendship.

-Rosalie and Kane, although often at odds, are very similar in their thought processes and when it comes to logistics, can usually agree. Her initial harshness to Echo was rooted in the same logic as Kane's.

-Rosalie loves sweet things, but isn't a big fan of chocolate.

-Rosalie has several random monologues memorized because of her father's acting career. Sometimes, if she gets bored enough, she recites them to fill the time, and if drunk enough, to all of Corvus.

-Rosalie had some of my favorite dialogue in the book.

Meredith Russo:

-Meredith caps in at 5'6.

-Meredith is not fluent in any language but English, but knows pieces and chunks of languages ranging from Dutch to Italian to German to Spanish because of how often she traveled.

-Meredith's long family history of racing set her up to naturally be a racer. However, although Meredith loves racing, she wouldn't be dismissive of a career in teaching either.

-Meredith's favorite color is yellow.

-Since Meredith's family is so integrated into the racing world, she knows quite a bit about the dirtier politics that happen behind the scenes, especially with Drachmanns. Her connection, and Kenzo's connection, gave them both an understanding

-Meredith is actually the 2nd to suspect Echo's lies after Kenzo, but having witnessed Kane's rise and fall, she doesn't pressure him and always thinks the best.

-Meredith's favorite food is any fruit smoothie

-Meredith is fairly observant, just as much as Kenzo, although she is far more friendly and empathetic. She's also the only other one who knows about Kenzo's sister.

-Meredith was the only one in all of Corvus when they first joined to be nothing but nice with Kane. She, almost similarly to Poppy, never treats anyone unkindly until she deems they're just unkind. For a while, Kane couldn't talk to her comfortably, because he was very unnerved by it.

-Meredith is one of the only ones who keeps in regular contact with their former upperclassmen.

-Meredith was probably the most mature in terms of attitude, in my opinion.

Wynter Truong:

-Wynter is at admirable height at 5'8.

-(Wynter, and Zoe, didn't get as much page time as I initially planned TT so theirs will be more brief.)

-Wynter can only speak licks of Vietnamese, and isn't very fluent, as she's 3rd generation.

-Wynter is quite abrasive, but she has a very soft heart and cares very much for her friends

-Wynter can play bass.

-Wynter chose CS as a backup, as she was prepared to have to give up racing after college, seeing as the gap between the Jackdaws' ranking and Corvus's ranking, despite being in the same school, was astronomical. That being said, if given the choice between CS or racing, Wynter would choose racing in less than a heartbeat

-Wynter was never a great racer partially because of her coordination. However, she's very fast, and she thinks very quickly. Her hand-eye coordination though, is where things get tricky

-Wynter's cousin is actually an IPRA racer, but a Class I, and always looked down on her. It made her a bit bitter to be in the Jackdaws.

-The Jackdaws are not very close of a team, mostly just because of their rank and their lack of vigorous regime. So Wynter was only close to Zoe due to their original dorming arrangement being near each other, and Nia since Nia took a liking to her early on

-Wynter has no siblings, so Zahir became a bit of a brother figure to her being in Corvus.

-Wynter can't cook, and will burn any and everything in sight.

-Wynter's favorite color is red

-Wynter had some seriously fun dialogue, if I have to admit.

Zoe Davenport:

-Zoe reaches the acceptable height of 5'5, making her the 2nd shortest next to Echo.

-Zoe is an art and design major, so her artistry is most definitely skilled, however, she'll later switch to liberal studies to ease her workload and focus more on racing instead.

-Zoe came to America specifically for racing, as do many kids since it is the most lucrative, but also very cutthroat. It's actually not uncommon for racers in the more high-ranking teams to be either foreign exchange students or immigrated students

-The Eval does differ from country to country, so Zoe was actually one class higher in England, but you are immediately admitted into a new country as Class III no matter what. The Padmore Eval is only once every two years

-Zoe isn't very fast, but she's got very good reflexes and hand-eye coordination, making her a good centerback

-Zoe's favorite color is purple

-Zoe is allergic to hazelnuts

-She loves anything spicy or cheesy, but doesn't have much of a taste for candies or sweet drinks

-Zoe is quite sweet and oftentimes very good-hearted. Wynter often tags with her, for fear this will be taken advantage of. She is relatively wary of Echo because of this at first. Rosalie is similar, and takes Zoe under her wing a lot, partially because her sweet nature reminds her of Meredith

-Zoe was a favorite of mine just because of her heart.

Jasmin Ramos & Emeline Edwards:

-Ramos and Edwards are basically the backbone of Corvus. The two stand at 5'5 and 5'8, respectively.

-Edwards was a business and finance major, and raced for IPRA's San Francisco team for a while. However, she stopped abruptly and decided to go into coaching instead

-Ramos was initially going to become a full-blown surgeon, but she had to forego that extra schooling due to lack of finance. However, with all the education she did in an effort to get there, she's technically as knowledgeable as a doctor, but has the title of a glorified nurse.

-Initially, Ramos was going to be an assistant coach, but I felt that was too many people in charge, and made Ramos the nurse instead. In a way, it's a very stereotypical role for an Omega to be in, but I think with the way she goes about it, she really shines. However, after Echo is a few years out of college, Ramos does quit being a nurse and re-pursues being a surgeon once more.

-The story Edwards tells Echo about why she chose Kane and Poppy for captain is very crucial to her personal story because it ultimately led her to coaching instead of continuing to race. Edwards felt racing wasn't good for her, and if anything, made her a worse person. Coaching, she could indulge in racing logistics, but force herself into a more mature standpoint on it.

-Edwards never marries or has kids out of personal choice, and frankly feels as though Corvus are her kids, same with Ramos.

-Ramos understands Echo in a way no one else does, because she herself is a mediocre-ranking Omega. I debated on going this route as it felt stereotypical for her, but I think it was good in the long run because it gave Echo someone who understood certain things no one else did.

-Edwards's favorite color is purple.

-Ramos's favorite color is gold.

-Edwards loves fruit. Ramos loves desserts. Fruit tarts are a common compromise.

-Edwards doesn't have much family, as the ones she does have are very estranged. Ramos got into the habit of throwing potlucks and dinners and hosting very often because of her. Ergo, why she invites Echo and Kane over during breaks.

-Edwards and Ramos are definitely some favorite characters of mine, just with how much they cared about the team, and the effort they put into their jobs. That, and their conversations were some of my favorite to write.

Mercy:

-Mercy clocks in at 5'10.

(I would've liked to talk a lot more about the fae and their dynamics, but I lost time to discuss logistics beyond lycans TT)

-Mercy is roughly 105 years old. Fae live roughly 1.5-2x the lifespan of a normal human, but stop visibly aging at age 30. She's younger for a fae, in that sense, but she's very developed.

-Mercy's real name is Merces Toussaint. She hails from Marseilles. For sake of code, she's been Mercy for about 30 years. Most of the Bengals don't even know her real name.

-Mercy's main characterization is through her connection to Echo as a very cruel boss, who ends up being more morally ambiguous than anything by the end of it. She's a very interesting character for that reason, being that she sort of does things for whatever reason she wants.

-For that reason, I'd say Mercy isn't a good person, but isn't a vindictive one either. I think she sees everyone as ambiguous as well, and her lecture to Echo about choices and chances sort of shows her whole character off in one go.

-Mercy was fun to write just because she had so much fun with such dire issues, and she was very smart while being very simplistic. I think Echo specifically, was a prime example of how Mercy doesn't take anything very seriously, and rather just takes them all as they're given to her: work.

-Mercy comes from a long line of gangsters, and have been closely intertwined with Drachmann royalties for a very long time. She has no living family, however.

-Mercy hates sweets.

-Mercy originally took Echo in out of spite and nothing more. However, she held onto Echo out of curiosity, and ultimately, helped him hold onto the life he'd built out of satisfaction. I think the main reason Echo survived was Mercy's own distaste towards his family, a jab, if you will. That being said, she did have a bit of a personal fascination to him.

-Mercy's favorite color is green.

-Mercy hates pop and hip-hop. She enjoys jazz.

-Mercy hates racers and racing alike. She thinks it's frivolous and shallow.

-Overall, Mercy was enjoyable to write, maybe because she wasn't all that good of a person.

GENERAL & RANDOM QUESTIONS

SMALLER QUESTIONS:

Favorite scene? Least favorite scene?
Favorite scene to write was probably the beach scenes in Korea with Kane and Echo. Favorite scene to read? I enjoy where Kane is sick, as it's very intimate and calm for such a chaotic book. Least favorite scene to write was probably the reveal of everything at the end for Echo, it was very angry. Least favorite scene to read? The first few chapters. They're a bit cringe 🙈

If you had to choose one character to be friends with, who would it be and why?
Diego or Meredith. They just seem like a lot of fun, and a lot of sweetness.

What is one thing you'd change?
-So much, haha. This book is in dire need of major and minor edits, it really is quite messy when you look at it with a magnifying glass. I think I changed my mind about the book's overall theme and plot progression so many times in the beginning/middle-beginning that I'd rework a lot of the first 15 chapters. -I'd change Kane's initial impression, and I'd change their initial interactions. I'd probably add a lot more of the Elias/Echo plot to build the tension more.

What was the hardest part and the easiest part of this story?
-I think characters have always come easier to me. They're easy for me to form in my head and make a tangible person because I always gun to make my stories dependent on their actions and their dialogues, and all of my stories up to this point have either surrounded or depended on the relationships they form with other characters.
-The hardest part is always 1) length and 2) plot clarity. Every story I write, the general plot and path to get there is usually outlined by the 10th or 15th chapter. But I tend to go on a lot of side quests to eventually lead them all back like a confluence.
-This book was so jam-packed with stuff, the plot was so large-scale, that I think things got a little lost or messy at points, and it was hard to balance every aspect while still veering towards the main road.

Are Kane and Echo officially dating?
-This story, frankly, is both very similar to the two books I did before it, and very different.
-The main relationship in the past two stories were defined pretty clearly on and had pretty set lines and were really only tumultuous from personal issues, rather than interpersonal.
-Kane and Echo are very different in that sense because their relationship has a lot of blurry lines. They never say they're dating, they never say they're not. They're physically and emotionally intimate, but they're also very secretive and even dishonest.
-In my frame, I felt the two characters—especially Echo—dealt with such extreme circumstances and pasts that domestic things like "dating" and "boyfriends" just weren't of concern to them.
-So, in shorter words, yes. And no.

What came first, the characters or the story?
Technically, the story. I have a notes page of about five dozen different story ideas, and No Dogs Allowed was one that occupied a large amount of the space. In its dozen different renditions, the story is pretty much the same: A skilled kid is in debt, and joins an elite group of that said skill to repay it. Echo and Kane were both characters of completely different stories, that just ended up being the stars in the end.

Do Kane and Echo ever establish their relationship?
-Yes, but it takes some time.
-I think this relationship is the most tumultuous one I've ever written because of how much is going on in the story, and how much the characters themselves are balancing at the time. Domestic things like "dating" and "boyfriends" weren't really on their radar, definitely not Echo's, all things considered.
-Kane and Echo don't return to anything very physically romantic for a while. They're both relatively occupied with trying to regain their footing in the world and get their life stabilized. In my eyes, they go up and down a lot, but never really acknowledge what they are.
-But in a handful of years, Kane eventually confronts it and Echo eventually comes to terms with the idea that he can have something like that. They come to a consensus. But they never really use explicit labels, and mostly just say they're together and that's it.

What's the song that Kane always hums?
-Every Moment of You by Sung Si Kyung! It's my favorite K-drama OST, and I felt the lyrics were very well-aligned with Echo and Kane's relationship.
-The drama it originates from is called My Love From Another Star, and it surrounds the story of an alien whose time on Earth is fast-running out, but meets a woman he comes to fall in love with. The drama is cute, but it ultimately has a very melancholy tone to it that the song conveys hoping the memory of you will stay with that person, even when you are no longer there, and that you are thankful to have been able to love that person even if not for a long time.
-It feels reminiscent of the ticking clock that sits above both Kane's and Echo's heads, but their determination to be as meaningful as possible to each other and to the people around them, and are thankful for that chance. That they changed each other's lives enough to stay with them even if not physically.

Any alternate endings/plots?
-It was a debate on whether or not Kane would return to racing. On one hand, I had a full plot for him not being able to ever race again, and on another, I had an equally fine plot for him being able to just fine.
-It was also a debate on whether Echo would face his father. I ultimately decided against that one due to both time and lack of necessity. His beef was really with his brother, more than his dad.

If you could see this book as a movie, a show, a cartoon, or another medium, what would it be and why?
-Probably an anime! I think the overall vibes of everything, the melodrama and action and dry humor, would be best represented in a sports anime of some sort. How fun :)

BONUS BLABBERING

-The title of the final chapter is from "Crows" by Sera Cahoone and Tomo Nakayama, which is a song I felt encompassed the theme of NDA the best. It's about the singer staying beside her friend through the good and bad, and how they'll hang onto hope until they see "the crows go flying by".

-I forewent stating anyone's sexual orientation mostly because with all the chaos of this story's world and the story itself, I felt the last thing that would be on anyone's mind would be whether someone liked girls or guys, so for this world, I felt it'd be nice if that just wasn't an issue at all. If only, haha.

-I actually went to Korea over this past summer! It was definitely very surreal to see it with my own eyes, and I got to see both parts of the countryside as well as the big city of Seoul. A lot of things Kane and Echo did were things that I also did while there! Although I never got to go to Busan, I hope one day to and do all their activities as well.

-The yakgwa that Kane and Echo ate in Gangnam is a real shop in the Hyundai food court! It's as delicious as described.

-Echo's original birthday is the same day as my good friend's birthday. So I could remember it as the story went, haha.

-This story originally began with Echo's name being Saylor, which was from an earlier draft of NDA. Perhaps I'll use it later.

-The place that inspired the bingsu place Echo and Kane went to in K-Town and during his birthday was Sul&Bean in LA's K-Town. If you ever go, get their sweet potato latte and thank me later.

-I have a HELLO KITTY phone charm, which is what prompted me to give Echo a HELLO KITTY obsession in the first place.

-I used to tutor kids for chemistry, and was doing so while writing the first 40% of this story. Since I had to keep my knowledge up to date, I figured it was a good idea to give Echo a chem mind to pseudo-study myself

-There are several K-Pop references in here. If you got them, you got them ;)

-There are several Suicide Buddies references in here, too! Many of you caught the Camp Cowbell one. I wonder if the two universes overlap...

-The Stirling Eval is the only Eval that takes place every year. The rest are once every 2-3 years. The one that's most sparing is the Drachmann Eval, which takes place once every 5 years.

-The Alpha/Beta/Omega birthmarks are said to be on the hip, which is typical, but can also be on necks, backs, ankles or even wrists. All pack brands are on the hip and are burned on at the age of ten or older. The only pack brand that is on the back is the Fahrhaus brand.

-Sunhee's name means "goodness and gentleness" and I thought it very fitting as she is probably the most mature character on the cast

-Shifting to one's furthest point is rarely ever featured here because it's often very frowned upon by lycans and considered "primitive" and incorrigible. It's kinda like if you were to strip naked in the middle of the street to have an argument with someone.

-Both Kane and Echo are ambidextrous, but originally left-handed

-Echo's mother was actually quite well-educated and could speak English, Korean, and Mandarin fluently

-This originally started as one book, but I split it into two parts come later because I figured there was too much for one book. However, it's already been written as one book, so it'll stay that way, but in post-edit and eventual post-publishing, it'll probably be two!

(This next part gets very long, so feel free to leave here if you're not into my blabbering :D ).

WHAT IF ECHO HAD NEVER JOINED CORVUS?

-If he failed the tryout/didn't go to the tryout, he probably would've just gone about his life as it was: working for Mercy, street races, the Splinter, etc.

-I definitely think he would have lost to his brother, permanently. Which would've led to a far more bitter ending for him. It would've also meant his brother would end up on top where his father was, the racing champion, and Echo would be forgotten.

-I also think, without him there, Kane would have not survived the silver, as he would've had 1) no one to push him to get the 607, and 2) no one to negotiate him time to stop racing to recover. Which would have been a bitter ending for him, too.

WHAT IF KANE HADN'T BEEN ABLE TO RACE AFTER THE 607?

-In the ending I thought of where Kane didn't return to racing, he finished school, worked at SPERO, and eventually would go into coaching instead. I think there's still an aspect of leadership that Kane performs well, so coaching for racing seems like the best option in terms of still connecting to racing.

-Corvus would have been very mournful, but it's important to note they still did fine without him. The morale would have been very low, however. I think, even though Kane made peace with the notion, he would've still been very hurt for a very long time.

WHAT IF KANE HAD BEEN ABLE TO RACE, BUT TAKEN LONGER TO RECOVER?

-I think that could've bee negotiated, but Echo would've suffered more for it.

-The Red Diamond victory and Echo's job money covered a lot of the costs for Kane's income because he's so heavily sponsored. That all runs out by the end of the year, so if Kane needed an extra year or something, Echo would've either had to do some street racing, pick up a lot more shifts at La Grande Couronne, or figure out some other way.

-That being said, I think the ultimate ending would've been the same in that Kane returns all good and well, happy ending for all.

WHAT IF KANE HAD NEVER LEFT KOREA?

-I think he would've been a lot happier in some areas, and a lot more miserable in others.

-Korea plays a really big role in this story, for both characters, as its a place of origin and innocence to them. However, it also holds a lot of bad memories and early traumas.

-For Kane, I think he would've been a lot more of a carefree kid, and been more like he was when he was younger: sweeter, a lot friendlier, a lot less serious. That being said, staying in Korea would've either meant he would have to go into Janchi, or he'd have to make it in racing there. Neither of which would've been easy.

-In that sense, I think he would've had a lot less friends like Corvus, and probably would've even befriended Elias. In that way, he wouldn't be very happy.

-So, pick your poison, I guess, haha.

WHAT IF ECHO HAD BEEN A GOLDEN CHILD ALONGSIDE ELIAS?

-Elias and Echo both have different personalities from the get-go, and I think Echo has always had a very questioning, authority-adverse side to him, which is very different from the more conforming, sneaky, spotlight-seeking personality of Elias. So, even if he was picked as a golden child, I think Echo would've still held a lot of resentment for his father and brother.

-The two would've both gone into racing, which I think would have still fueled a lot of tension between them, which ultimately would've led to the same outcome of a duel between them.

-Elias's point actually does hold true, in that it was always going to be either him or Echo. There's just not enough room for both of them to succeed side by side in the environment they grew up in.

-In a different world, I think they could've been great friends, and raced side by side. But probably not in this one.

WHAT IF ELIAS WAS THE OMEGA, ECHO WAS AN ALPHA, BUT ECHO STAYED WITH HIS MOM?

-The choosing of who would go with who was primarily based on subspecies, so the roles actually would've been reversed from the get-go, and Echo would've gone with his father, Elias with his mother.

-In that case, I think Echo would've really resented his life. I think his inherent nature is not similar to Elias's, and he would've been a lot of trouble for his father to handle. That being said, he would've likely been as successful as Elias, if not more than.

-Elias likely would've broken under the pressure a lot earlier and faster than Echo. I don't think he would've had any initiative to join Corvus either. I think he would've ultimately lost to Echo in a different fashion.

-Elias is actually more of an Omega stereotype than Echo, in that he hinges on approval and being regarded more than Echo ever has.

-Echo depends more on the personal aspect and the introspective gain, along with more practicality in his ambitions. Elias is more driven by the feeling of attention and the external gain, while being very tunnel-vision in his plans.

-However, if for some reason Echo did stay with his mother and Elias stayed with his father, Elias likely would've never entered racing due to prejudices and would've gone into the business side of things under his father.

-Echo would've been helped in racing a lot more, and likely would've been kept in the family name as a racer. He probably wouldn't have worked for Mercy.

-The subspecies factor is definitely the deciding factor of their fates though.

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION TO WRITE THIS BOOK?

-As I mentioned, this book has technically been in ideation long before Suicide Buddies. However, I chose to write Suicide Buddies both because of where I was at that time in my life, and also because I wanted to write something very different from the book before it, Planet B.

-However, when I tell you I was utterly lost on what to write post-Suicide-Buddies, I was utterly lost. Every story I hopped to I lost interest in fairly quickly. I remember going through a crisis. I can't write, I thought. I used up all my words and I can't write. It led me to writing a short story, but even that didn't help push me out of my slump. I got worried I'd lost my words, and I wouldn't be able to write again.

-No Dogs Allowed has actually gone through more variations than anything I've written on here. The initial plot points were the same: skilled kid in debt. Elite team of that skill. Big competition to pay said debt. However, they hopped between everything from motorcycle street gangs, to baseball teams, to ice racing, to ice skating, to cyberpunk, to fantasy, I could go on🙈

-Kane's character has been a character I've long wanted to write, and initially, much of his story was going to be used in a different book altogether. So, in a way, he's been building in my head for many years now, too.

-I really loved the sports aspect integrated with light disk in Planet B. I really enjoy reading sports fiction and watching shows about it, too. The tension and passion of competitive sports has always fascinated me, and since Planet B was now nearly four years ago, I figured maybe I could try the sports aspect with a more experienced hand.

-I was invited to become part of the Creators program some time ago, which was an unimaginable achievement that I am forever proud of myself for. As a Creator, I'd often get emails about different prompts or genres they would want a story to surround for that month. At some point, they asked for mafia romance, and in another, they asked for werewolf.

-I had never tried my hand at tropes prior to this. But I'd always enjoyed a good cheesy supernatural story or a overtly cliché mafia romance. I'd always especially liked werewolf stories. And I'd always wanted to try writing a motorcycle story. Being in such an intense writing slump, I figured maybe I needed something very challenging to get me out of it. What was more challenging than trying to do all three?

-A mafia, motorcycle, werewolf sports romance is definitely not anywhere near what I was used to, and just the sound of it is so hefty and oblong. Along with it, the tropes in each of the genres were so strong that I wanted to pay tribute to them, but I also didn't want to follow them. I wanted to have a new take on each one altogether. Along with such hefty genres and a packed plot line, I'd never written a relationship like Echo's and Kane's either. It was a lot more emotionally intense, and a lot more sexually charged, the latter being a lot newer to me. However, it combined everything that I wanted to try, and it made me think about writing a lot differently than I'd thought about it in Suicide Buddies or Planet B. In a way, No Dogs Allowed is a combination of the two.

-The more introspective themes of Suicide Buddies and the broader, more statement-like themes of Planet B sort of tie together in No Dogs Allowed. The macroscopic plot of Planet B also is featured in No Dogs Allowed, but the deeper, more integral, interpersonal relationships that shaped the story like in Suicide Buddies are also featured.

-So, when I laid it all out like that before me come the 15th/20th chapter where I had the whole plot planned out, it was most definitely, a challenge. Haha.

-However, I'm very, very glad I did it.

WERE THERE ANY INSPIRATIONS BEHIND THE CHARACTERS?

-The period over which I wrote this story was one where things were changing, very drastically.

-I had moved to a completely different place, with different people, a different lifestyle to adopt, and many challenges I had to learn to overcome. It was very difficult for me, because I kept thinking: this is my blank slate, and I don't want to mess it up. I don't want to be a nobody. I don't want to lose out on this chance.

-I think it got in my head a lot at first, the pressure to be someone people liked. I think a lot of this influenced the overall story's theme, and Kane and Echo. Similar to their journeys, I was in a constant battle of letting go of things that had been with me for very long, adjusting to a very different life, and trying to be someone better in this next phase of my life.

-I think there's a big emphasis on "glow-up" culture these days. Glow-ups are all over social media. Hair glow-ups, closet glow-ups, body glow-ups, even room decor or vehicles. There's a pressure to be in constant upward growth and look good doing it.

-Kane really emulated a lot of my perspectives and my fears. I, too, underwent a lot of changes in my life to become someone not only better, but better for other people. I think a lot of those changes were rooted in my need for approval, as it's easy to get caught up in that attention.

-However, I think about 1/2 into this story, I really reconciled with it and sat down to ask myself why? Why did I care so much? What was I so afraid of? It made me cut back on those thoughts a lot, and in turn, want to push Kane forward in his own journey.

-Echo was a largely inspired by my younger self, who often fell into habits that I deemed were "unshakeable". I often did things because I thought I had to, or labeled myself because I figured that's how I was always going to be. I accepted hardships as inevitabilities. I accepted judgments as facts.

-However, growing up more, I realized that no one gets a say in who you are or what you become but you. You're the one in control, and no one gets to make you anyone you don't want to be. There's no harm in trying, failing, and moving forward. There's no harm in change.

-Past the serious stuff, there's actually no other inspo for these kids but my own brain worms, haha.

WHAT ARE YOUR TAKES ON THE "TROPES"?

-I like the tropes of the mafia/motorcycle/werewolf genres, but they all have their own flaws.

-Mafia romances oftentimes skim over the real repercussions that such gruesome work has on someone's psyche. Motorcycle fiction often disregards just how dangerous gangs can be. Werewolf romances/supernatural stories can be very stereotypical and have a lot of flat character design that doesn't really shape someone beyond their Alpha/Beta/Omega label.

-In a way, Echo's and Kane's roles are very reversed. Typically, the more domineering one is the mafia boss or the colder, brooding type. Or the Omega is sometimes defiant, but accepts their disadvantages without doing more to work around their biology. I sort of liked that Echo was the one doing the bloodier work, and Kane ended up being the one with a softer heart.

-I think it was very important in the first half that Echo grappled with the work he was doing for Mercy, because no matter who you are, that kind of work will haunt you forever. It was important to me that it interfered with his everyday life, that it was an impeding thing, because it put pressure on the true gruesomeness of his work, but also forced him to learn how to fight back against his circumstances.

-It was also important to me that the werewolf trope was as scientific as my brain could get it to be (I'm no STEM junkie though, believe me). The trope simply seemed more believable with more realistic biological parameters, and it also gave me a lot firmer of a framework to go off of when writing, i.e, like why lycan Omegas can't race, because naturally, they can't heal as fast or as well as Betas or Alphas. Or, Kane can't go in the sun for long periods, because of the heat inducing a reaction in his silver poisoning. Or, things like "heats" and "ruts" being genuinely debilitating issues that change the person's health drastically. Things that put reason to action.

-I thought it'd be fun to take the motorcycle trope and make it unnecessarily large-scale. The gang idea was fun, but the idea of a sport was too enticing, and I figured it was a funny image of gritty motorcycle racing being turned into an elite, almost high-brow, professional sport.

-Taking the pack idea and turning them into large-scale populations was also a lot of fun, as it was an idea that sort of turned the story towards magic realism. It was enjoyable to put a lot of politics and economical logistics into an otherwise-simplistic idea.

-Lastly, for a lot of this book, even if only subtle, Kane struggles with eating. He often eats salads, or doesn't eat at all, or opts for healthier options like granola bars, breakfast bars, fruits, etc. instead of eating what he wants. Initially, I think many regard it as an athletic choice, in order to maintain a good physique and health. But as time goes, it starts to physically show on him that he's not well.

-Kane, in some ways, is a very typical Alpha in the werewolf trope world. He's a leader, he's stern, he's dominant in many conversations or settings, he's decisive, he's unabashed about his opinions and wants, and he comes off a bit abrasive or tactless. I think the interest I had in Kane was how he appears as the story progresses.

-Kane, for being a typical "Alpha", actually deals with a lot of things that are more often given to softer/meeker/or more vulnerable characters, such as eating disorders and domestic violence or abuse. At face value, I think many would assume it'd be Echo who deals with Kane's issues, and vice versa.

-Maybe I just like being extra.

SO, WHAT HAPPENED TO ELIAS?

-Elias is taken to Korea and basically reduced to Echo's level of work, and lower. His Drachmann brand is burned off of him, and he's forced to undergo some brutal training such as anatomy memorization and weapon training. He cleans up victims, takes care of victims, and harvests. And that's basically his entire life now.

-From then, he's locked in the Red Rooms. If he ever goes outside, it's out of absolute necessity, which rarely happens. Some work their way up into gangs like the Bengals, but he doesn't really handle it well enough to ever get there.

-In my mind, Elias can't handle the failure, and he eventually gives into the sheer misery of being locked away, and loses his mind in a similar fashion to his mother's. Without much use for him in such a state, he's taken care of accordingly by Mercy. Eventually, people stop looking for him, and he's deemed a cold case for the history books.

DID YOU FIND SOMETHING CHALLENGING YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU WOULD?

-Frankly, some of the spicier scenes.

-If you've read anything I've done outside of this story, then you'll know any sexual content that is in my other works have never really been that spicy at all. They're more flowery, if anything. I wanted to try writing less flowery and more physical, just for the challenge of it.

-Initially, I think I struggled to tow the line between raunchy and spicy. I didn't want to be overly explicit, but I didn't want to get wordy about it either. Props to some of you who write these scenes regularly. They're harder to write than they read.

IS THERE A MEANING TO THE CROW?

-Crows are very loyal creatures, and very clever. They tend to stick by each other until death. They also, unlike ravens who travel in pairs, tend to travel in groups. That being said, they also hold grudges very fiercely and remember faces well. All of which is very Corvus.

-It also seemed a little funny, calling a group of lycans "birds". The animal puns in this book might've gotten out of hand.

WHAT WAS THE ENDING? WHAT IS THIS BOOK?

-This one will be long, maybe I do just like being extra. We'll go in parts.

1. Twins/echoes/choice/chance.

-Throughout this story, the idea of "twins" appears a lot.

-In one sense, it's very literal, with Echo and Elias being actual twins. In another sense, however, it's in the "twinning" of stories and choices.

-Echo and Elias are twins in blood, something that grapples Echo to him no matter what. Echo is an echo of Elias. Echo is an echo of his mother. By blood, Echo is a mirror of both of them, and in a way, never his own person.

-By being Elias's twin, and even being named Echo as a reminder he is really only someone else resurfaced, Echo is chained to his family. He isn't anything without them, because he is them. Because of this, throughout his life, even physically away from them, he carries them with him. Elias's torment haunts him. His mother's distress motivates him. Everything is an echo of something someone else either already had or already did. Echo is a living rendition of his brother's foretelling and his mother's fears.

-The integration of biology is actually quite important in this theme as well, because autonomy starts at the literal sense: the physical body. Echo's action of harvesting organs from corpses is a direct mirror of what is happening to him: he's nothing more than a body with everything inside him either being taken, discarded, or replaced. None of which because he wants it to be, but rather he feels he has no choice.

-Just like his mother remained trapped, and just like his brother follows his father, Echo acquiesces as though his fate is sealed.

-However, there is another twin, in when Echo meets in Kane.

-Kane and Echo, although they led very different lives, actually have a substantial amount in common. Both Kane and Echo were born into a set mold that neither fit, and therefore were cast to the side until they learned how to fix it. Both Kane and Echo are mirrors of people either before them or beside them. While Echo is an echo of his mother's defeat and his brother's cruelty, Kane is an echo of his family's control and his so-called friends' approval.

-Kane and Echo both strive to be someone worth wanting, worth betting on, worth being proud of. Kane strives to be "Kane King", a persona he's made in his head of an always-successful adult who has made a name and comfortable life for himself all on his own dollar. He wants independence, and self-satisfaction, and to be proud of himself.

-Echo strives to be his own person, someone with autonomy and freedom, who can live without the burden of debt—literal and emotional—or the guilt of who he was before. He wants independence, free will, and to have ownership over his life and what happens in it.

-In this sense, the two are very similar: trying to get away from their former selves, and trying to be a better someone. They both fear something so badly though, that it's their biggest blockage from making that change. Kane fears he'll be a failure, a "loser". Echo fears he'll be worthless, a "no one".

-The main solution that comes about in the end is: choice.

-Mercy tells Echo at some point that there is no chance, only choice. As if to remind Echo that nothing is set in stone, and there is no "second" chance or "optimal" chance. There is a constant chance. It's the choice you make that is the real risk.

-This idea of chance v. change is the big roadblock that ultimately breaks this "twinning". To Echo, he has no choice but to go along with his brother and father's games, he has no choice but to ultimately be a ghost because that's what he'll always be. To Kane, he will always be Kitae, a scared little kid with no confidence, skill, or name for himself, and he has no choice but to carry the burden of who he used to be, a "loser".

-But it's slowly realized by both of them that this independence they both strive for is not a chance, but a choice.

-Ultimately, you are not your circumstances, your family, or your pain. Echo loses autonomy because of how he is born and how he grew up. Kane loses it from external pressures and fear of failure. Both feel trapped in what others have told them they should or shouldn't be or feel, but really, it's their choice to accept that fate or not.

-No one can ever truly take away your freedom to choose who you want to be, what you want to pursue, and who you are to yourself. There is always a choice, even if it's difficult. The end of the story shows Echo breaking away from this "twinning" and undermining the fate his brother sentenced him to, as well as freeing himself to live the life he wants with success unlike his mother.

2) Ownership and control/being somebody/names

-Another big theme in the book that aligns with this is the idea of "owning" something or someone. Controlling or holding power over something/someone.

-Throughout the book, there's a constant lack of ownership Echo feels over himself or things in his life. He constantly says that nothing is his or ever will be, and Mercy reminds him of that as well: a nobody can own nothing. They're not even a person to begin with.

-Echo is a "ghost", a discarded person, a loose end, a nobody. His life is dictated by his need to survive, which is only granted to him by other people. Upon joining Corvus, and having relationships, having people's time and efforts, feeling proud of achievements, even just having basic things like nice clothes or shoes, is all a slap in the face with that same reminder: it's not really his.

-This mindset fuels the aforementioned "twinning" and the feeling that he has no choice in the path his life takes, which then takes away Echo's control over his life. Everything Echo does, although it is his own choice, he does with the mindset that there is "no other option" and he has no control over his fate.

-This all leads to the biggest issue between Echo and everyone else, because this hopelessness leads him to make dishonest decisions and miss chances with them, as he feels his fate is locked in. However, whenever Echo is honest with someone, it's never taken with anything except empathy and understanding, showing that when Echo chooses to make himself a tangible person to someone, he is someone worth loving and wanting.

-Another big theme in this book is names. In Echo's case, his name in itself strips him of ownership over his identity. "Echo Yun", as in, "an echo of Yun", as in echoing the Yun family. He is simply a derivative of his family, specifically his mother.

-Echo's mother is what Echo could have been: a ghost, tossed to the side, relegated to being nothing but someone else's possession with no life of their own. Just by being named "Echo", he's sentenced to his mother's life. When he's referred to as Yun, it's a similar concept, as he's more addressed as his family's shadow.

-Although it's small, being called Eko and being called Banhyang note this difference in perception. Eko is his name in his native tongue. Banhyang is an object, a common words, and therefore, not his.

-The use of Echo's first name is important, and when Kane says he is "just Echo" to him, that emphasizes it more. As Echo, he isn't echoing the Yun family, but rather, owns his own name and makes a person separate of his past because of it. Many times, characters address him by his first name when they want to drive something home to him, because they see him for who he is and acknowledge that. To them, he is "just Echo".

-This is also seen when Mercy finally calls Echo by his name, relinquishing "Ghost" for good. It shows that he is no longer "nobody", no longer just someone destined to disappear. He is his own person, who owns his name, his persona, and his place in the world. It's his first step to becoming someone with a footprint in the world.

-This is a similar journey Kane undergoes.

-From the start of the book, Kane is regarded as a very prominent figure in the collegian racing world, many going for the low-hanging fruit and calling him the racing "king". Because to the world, that is the place he's made for himself. He's a king.

-In a way, Kane and Echo both undergo the same development, but in opposite directions. Where Echo starts out as a ghost who learns to own his name through his successes and make himself a champion not only to the world, but to himself, Kane starts out as a king who learns that being a champion to the world means nothing if you're not a champion to yourself, and has to lose everything that made his name in order to learn how to own it.

-Kane's journey is far more internal, and a little more relevant to the everyday person. As a kid, he was Kitae. He was overweight, didn't display many conventionally attractive features, had no friends that weren't his cousins, had no skills or interests, was average in school. When he looks back on it, he feels he was a loser. But not because he truly was, but because the influences around him told him that's what a loser looked like.

-Leaving to America, especially at such a vulnerable age, it left Kane subject to befriending anyone he could. But considering he never had friends prior, his social skills were poor. Luan befriending him was, in his eyes, a miracle.

-From the get-go, Kane never views Kitae as a person who's worthy of anything, let alone love or understanding. It's only when he conforms to what people want from him—losing weight, fixing his features, performing well in school, winning races/victory money, smoking, drinking, partying, and fighting—that he feels like he "belongs".

-Although Kane wants nothing more than to be someone better than his younger self, this is the precedence that sets up Kane King, and it's not a positive one.

-It's one that's hungry for approval, validation, and the idea that if he is "successful" in other people's eyes, he is a success, and therefore, can be loved and wanted. Even his own parents instate such an idea by making his very existence contingent on his racing success.

-All of this is rooted in fear. Fear of failure, of disappointment, of losing, of stopping. Kane lives his life in pure fear. He doesn't own Kitae Wang or Kane King. When we meet him, he is still in the midst of a battle between the two, and owning neither. They are the world's.

-Echo glorifies Kane as someone who was able to do what he never did, make a place for himself and avoid becoming a ghost. However, this glorification fades over the course of the book, because Echo comes to realize the gore behind the glamor of being owned by the world, that Kane is trapped.

-Luan is a huge factor in this mindset, because he implores it the deepest. He was the first non-family relationship Kane had, and a deep one at that. But his love was like everyone else's: contingent on what Kane could do for him. Kane, too, fears becoming a "nobody" for these reasons.

-Coming to own his own name means losing. Kane has to fall from grace, has to stop racing, has to come to terms with the fact there is a chance he'll never race again. By being stripped of the thing that made him the "king" he is, losing public eye, losing the ability even move around comfortably on his own, he is forced to face himself in the most honest and vulnerable state.

-Jamie tells it best, in that he has to learn to be okay with himself no matter the state he's in. He has to realize he isn't hopeless or useless or unwanted without racing. He's still Kane all the same.

-I think every character has their "pivot" moment in stories. Their point in which they must learn to reconcile with something/someone, or lose it completely, and teach themselves how to go forward.

-Kane learns that he is not nobody without racing or its success. The world isn't going to end without it. He can feel hurt without feeling worthless, and he can lose something without being a loser.

-Kane ultimately faces this fear head-on, and it's seen especially in the final 1/3 of the ending chapter, especially when he faces Luan. No one gets to take away or change your identity. That is your choice and your choice alone.

3) Biology/class/predispositions

-Echo's perspective involves a lot of anatomical or chemical references—hopefully accurate, you'll have to excuse me if they're not TT

-Although this is also just from the fact he grew up with it so ingrained in his head, as his job, and then as his major, it's also an emphasis on where he starts the story: everything is as it's determined.

-It re-emphasizes the mindset Echo is trapped in, that is ultimately perpetuated by the world he is in. Pack names, Class rank, and subspecies is all anyone needs to know to make an entire identity of you, without even meeting you. Two of those are things that people can seldom even change, and one of those is nothing more than a single test score. However, it's all it took to shape Echo's entire life and its trajectory.

-In the first part especially, Echo often reduces many things to their science. When he feels a strong emotion, he often pushes his hand into his heart, and that's his way of stating what he feels. It's very physical. This also serves to strip him of his emotions at all, and re-emphasize the fact to himself that he is not really a person, but a body.

-It's not until the second part progresses that Echo loses a lot of medical terms and starts to talk more about what he actually feels in regards to situations, sad/angry/afraid/etc. He's slowly starting to see himself as a dimensional person, someone with feelings, with thoughts, which deserve to be acknowledged. Which matter.

-Kane is a "born winner". He's a Drachmann. He's an Alpha. He's got a high-ranking family with money. To the world, he's simply set up to win in life; biology has worked in his favor to set him up with relatively favorable predispositions. Echo is a "loser". A Stirling. An Omega. And a ghost. Biology hasn't worked in his favor.

-But Kane still loses things, still makes many great mistakes, and still doesn't feel like a winner. Echo still wants and wins, still feels things, and isn't a perpetual loser. Both have won and loss in some sense or another, despite what they were born into.

-Ultimately, just because society or biology is favorable or unfavorable to you, doesn't mean you can't still be someone you want to be, or fall victim to being someone you don't want to be. It's simply a matter of chance. But it's your choice to choose you ultimately become and what you achieve in life.

4) Eyes + color

-The color red is often used in this story at points that are very visceral, intense, or frightening. It's both the color of passion, but also the color of blood. Red Diamond, or Red Rooms, for example. It brings up a lot of trauma for Echo. But it's very important, as it when it's used, it's often used to reference something that requires Echo to look into the deeper nature or truth. The "blood and guts" if you will.

-The color silver is heavily used, as silver is often associated with second place. Something some people call the "first place loser". The metastasis of silver in Kane is symbolic of him being consumed by this fear of losing, and sickened by it.

-Eyes are constant focus in this story. Echo often describes them, notices them the most, and notes their changes or emotions. Eyes are referred to as windows into the soul, and most people say if you want to know if someone is lying, you look at their eyes.

-When someone looks at Echo in the eye, he takes note of it very quickly. Dishonesty is a survival tactic, but also a killer of his second chances. Eyes are both Echo's greatest asset, and his worst fear. It can reveal everything about him he wants hidden, but also enable people to understand him better.

-For Echo, Kane looking him in the eye, despite the fact his vision is not clear, shows that despite Kane's traumas, he still chooses empathy and understanding for Echo's circumstances. Although he gets angry at Echo when the truth is revealed, the course of the final chapter shows him coming to terms with it. As the chapter progresses, this is seen when he begins to look at Echo more and more, for longer and longer.

-For Kane, when his eyes are overtaken by silver, it shows that Echo can see that fear of his plain and clear. He can see the true nature behind Kane's motives, and how much of him is consumed by fear of failure. He sees the truth.

-However, Echo, like Kane, chooses to understand, and to will Kane to be more than it. He wills Kane to look past those fears and the hardships he's undergone. Silver is also reminiscent of mirrors. So, in a way, when Echo wills Kane to move forward, he is also willing himself to at the same time.

5) Hope/fear

-One of the biggest lines in this book is one Echo's mother told him. Don't fear something more than you want it. Fear will kill you faster than hope ever will.

-Fear is one of, if not the biggest roadblock in Echo's and Kane's journeys.

-Fear keeps Echo from being free from his family's leash, and fear keeps Kane from letting go of all his past mistakes or pains. They think it's what keeps them safe or motivated, but really, it's their biggest anchor.

-Hope is a pretty common thing in most of my stories, I think it's one of the easiest catalysts and a fairly simple solution to many conflicts. I think what makes it unique to each person or story is whatever mental game they have to play to have or hold onto it.

-For Echo, it's a game of choosing to make his life how he wants it to be, rather than listen to how other people tell him how it should be. It's a fight against biology, against social opinion, against his past.

-For Kane, it's a game of choosing his motivations and his goals, and letting go of guilts or doubts. It's a fight against putting other people's words into his mouth, hanging onto whom he used to be, letting other people trap him in a person he isn't happy with.

-In a way, the two give each other hope.

-A very crucial scene in the first part is where Kane and Echo are on the kitchen floor, and Kane recounts everything Echo has done, negative or positive, before ending on the emphasis that no, he is not no one. He's Echo. And to Kane, Echo is most definitely someone.

-Kane is the first person to acknowledge Echo as someone worthwhile, as someone who deserves respect. Even Echo says, upon hearing Kane, that "it was hope". It's a realization that maybe Echo really can be someone of his own.

-The first part of the story is primarily about Echo's past, what happened to him, and what it does to his new relationships, as well as what those new relationships can do for him. The second part is actually a lot more about Kane.

-A big scene in the second part is where the two are in Busan, and Kane confesses much of his past to Echo. It's very vulnerable, and Echo often describes Kane as seemingly "reverting" back to being a kid, because in a way, he hasn't been able to grow past those traumas since they happened. In some way, he is still that scared and hurt little kid.

-When Echo tells Kane that he "can let it be over" and that it's "okay to move on", he gives Kane an outside perspective, an acknowledgment of his mistakes and his problems, but also the push to be more than them. When he turns the tables to tell Kane he, too, is not "no one", he tells Kane that despite all the bumps of his past, he is still Kane. He still has the choice to be Kane, whoever he wants that to be.

-When Kane bets a Hail Mary on Echo, it serves as an ultimate hope. Even if Echo has no hope for himself, Kane does. Which, in turn, makes Echo realize that perhaps he is not hopeless after all, and still has the chance to turn his life around and make it his own.

-Hope is a choice in itself as well. Although the two both give each other an insight into what that can look like, they ultimately have to make the effort to go after it.

6) Home/family

-The idea of "home" and a family is something initially foreign to Echo. In some ways, it's very ambiguous to Kane.

-Echo never had somewhere he felt he belonged, never had a place he could call his own, as he owned nothing. Corvus scared him by giving him an insight into what it could be like if it really was his.

-Throughout the book, Echo never calls the Talon, or any part of Avaldi, home. When it's mentioned to him by Coach, he even questions it, confused about what she means. Even the room in the Talon or the phone given to him by Kane is described with a possessive.

-The phone is the first catalyst of Echo finding a home with Corvus. It's a statement that says he not only is he someone people can call, but he has people to call, too. People he has there for him if he needs. It's the first string that ties him and Corvus together. Because with a home, comes a family. Comes a place and people that Echo can return to, in any state, at any time. Somewhere safe just for him.

-Hyung and other familial honorifics are fairly common in Korea for obvious reasons, but they're not as casual in Korean-American context and, in my experience, are usually reserved for either siblings or people you're very close to, love, or respect.

-Hyung is technically so-so when used by Echo to Elias, because they're not more than a few minutes apart, so Elias isn't really older than Echo. But, in this context, it's more of a power trip. It identifies Elias as the higher up, the one who deserves the respect in their relationship, the one who should be heeded or listened to. In this way, it's imbalanced.

-But, when it's used between Echo and Kane in certain situations, it's an act of closeness, an acknowledgment of a deep connection.

-The idea of the "first rule" in Corvus is very integral. The idea that Corvus goes nowhere alone. Initially, when taken literally, it's a bit ridiculous, and kinda creepy. But as time goes, it proves to be about more than just going to the grocery store together. It's about sticking with each other through the worst and best times, as a family does.

-Kane has a lot of experience in being alone, as does Echo. Both underwent periods of being very shunned and isolated. Whereas Echo became apathetic about it, Kane became hyper-vigilant.

-Kane knows how Poppy's efforts to be there for him, even when he didn't deserve it, changed his life and his openness to people. I think it's why, although him and Echo can butt heads very often, he slowly begins to make those same efforts to try and do for Echo what Poppy did for him.

-"First rule" starts to act as an assurance by the end, a sort of way of telling the other person that no matter what happens, no matter where they go, they will be there for them through it. No one should have to be alone.

-At the end of the book, when Echo says "let's go home", it's very significant, as it shows he's come full circle. He feels like a person, someone who can own himself and the relationships he's built, someone who can have something for himself. He finally feels secure in the Talon and with Corvus, ergo, he finally has a "home".

7) Debt

-Debt is a consistent beast to Echo.

-Throughout the story, Echo feels guilt over anything given to him, either because he feels he doesn't deserve it, or because he feels it immediately prompts him to owe something to that person, as everything he's been given has come with a price.

-Corvus are the first people to give gifts to Echo without wanting anything back. Kane especially. Kane grew up very similarly, and in his relationships with friends, their gifts or gestures often came with contingencies or simply because he gained them something, status, money, bragging rights, etc.

-Many times, it's emphasized to Echo that he doesn't owe them anything for a gift, because it's just a gift. It's given to him because of who he is to them, not because of anything he can give them in return.

8) Bets and victory

-Last but not least: what does it really mean to win?

-From start to finish, this is a question that plagues a lot of the characters. Not only what it means to win, but also what it means to be a winner. Square racing itself is steeped in bets, money, and victory. Naturally, its racers are equally obsessed with such. Even the opening line of the story starts with discussing winning, and what it means.

-I think this is probably the most subjective theme of the book, because there really is no clear answer. The best one that you could probably take away is: nothing.

-There are no winners, and there are no losers. There is no winning, and there is no losing. There's just: the continuous racing.

-Echo is in a race against his brother's vengeance, his mother's echo, his father's threats. He's in a race against the world's expectations, the world's disdain, the world's disregard. He's in a race against his biology, his social standing, the cards he's been dealt from birth. He's in a race against whom he thought he was and wants to be, what he feared and what he hoped for, what he wants to hold onto and what he wants to let go of.

-An important scene is between him and Edwards, where she tells him that "nothing is ever not worth it". Because, as she explains, you will always lose something, and you will always win something, no matter what choice you make. That's why there are no winners, and no losers, in life. There's no points and there's no 'champion' and there's all kinds of almost's.

-The champion is ultimately determined by you.

-You get to determine what a win is, what a loss is, and what those are going to be. If you feel like a winner, then you'll be one, because that's the perspective you've chosen. If someone else is, then they'll be one, etc, etc. It's your choice.

-The idea of betting is prominent, and ties in with the theme of hope. When you bet, you take a risk, but it's a risk of hope, a risk of faith. This is a repeated gesture from one character to the other, a boost of confidence, and a show of certainty in them that they might not even have in themselves.

-When Kane bets a Hail Mary on Echo, and in turn, Echo bets his second chance at life on Kane, it's probably the biggest show of hope in the whole book. Both are willing to bet everything on the other, because they have faith they won't lose. Neither one of them are a "losing dog". They're champions.

THEN, WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM?

-Yay, happy ending.

-For starters, the final chunk at the end of the book is of Corvus altogether during the following summer at a dry practice, simply having fun in the midst of the Diamond Prix. Summer holds the best memories for everyone throughout the book, and I thought it a fitting moment of time to end on.

-Kane returns to racing, however, he doesn't return to his starting position, but is actually a sub for his fifth year. He's good to race, but being a sub was a contingency in his clearance to prevent any too-harsh injury. Irony, hah.

-He does, however, return to his captain position, but Rosalie is made co-captain and takes some of the load off of Kane's shoulders. They work surprisingly well together.

-(Kane and Echo's relationship has been ambiguous from the start and has always been label-less. I think for the final chapters, foregoing the more obvious romantic things like kissing or cuddling or sex was important to give them both space to let everything sink in.

I think Kane will still need to time to really trust Echo again, and Echo needs time to get his footing in the world as a functioning person, haha, so for a good 1-2 years, they're more just very close friends.)

-Kane has to stay an extra year or so because he took so much time off. Zahir and Diego graduate, and both get recruited to the LA Angels and the Atlanta Black Mambas, respectively.

-Rosalie and Meredith eventually graduate as well to be recruited to join the San Francisco Danes and the Atlanta Black Mambas, respectively. Echo, Zoe, and Wynter all take to their forefront positions, with all new recruits. Coach recruits another Class III with potential, and Echo butts heads with them like no other. But, eventually, they're all family as well.

-Kane graduates and gets recruited to the Bullet Ants, alongside Vann. Echo goes to watch his first match.

-Echo is appointed captain when they all leave and only him, Zoe, and Wynter remain. He's the first Omega captain in NCAA history. Kane goes to watch his first match as captain. By then, he, Zoe, and Wynter have plenty of solo sponsorships and are about as high-ranking as their former upperclassmen. Arguably, more so.

-However, even when he has enough money to retire twice over, he still drives Kane's Corolla until it can be driven no more. He just buys a nicer Corolla.

-The recruitment of Stirlings as well as Class II's and III's grow bit by bit over the years. Echo graduates by the skin of his teeth with biochem and gets recruited to the LA Angels. Zoe joins Kenzo in New York with the Yankees. Wynter joins Rosalie with the Danes.

-By then, Echo and Kane have reconciled their history, and are together together. Yes. It's like finally that. No one in Corvus is surprised. Kane is eventually traded to the Angels, and the two move in together. Corvus comes together with them every Christmas and Thanksgiving, including Ramos and Coach.

-Echo learns the value of personalizing decoration and goes a little out of his mind at first, but Kane lets him because he knows he's never gotten to decorate his room before. He draws the line at the closet, however.

-Kane and Echo visit Korea every summer, and when they go pro and have a less continuous season, every spring as well. Sunhee is more than happy to see them every single time. She always has a new HELLO KITTY trinket for Echo to take home. He eats so much yakgwa every visit he can never eat more until he goes back.

-Kane donates a regular sum of his salary to SPERO, and they eventually are able to open several locations with even nicer facilities. He still visits Jamie from time to time, and the two even race together every now and then. Just for fun.

-Echo buys his mother a gravestone in Korea, the nicest one he can find.

-He never finds out what happened to Elias, nor does he ever see or hear from him again. It's released that he simply retired abruptly, and fled to live in secrecy on the countryside. Echo doesn't ever question it.

-He never attended his father's funeral, nor does he ever visit his grave. He does eventually return to Incheon, and finds the house he stayed in with his mother when he was young. Someone else is living there, blissfully unaware of its history. Echo watches the moon-shaped window, and never goes back again.

-Diego and Zahir eventually tie the knot and all of Corvus visits France. Echo brings Lapine with him so she can see her hometown. With Kane, Echo, Lapine, and Rosalie there, they navigate the place just fine, and it's an excessive wedding just for the fun of it, per Diego. It gives Kane the idea to travel about Europe with Echo for a summer, which they do. With lots and lots and lots of photos.

--Echo never dyes his hair again.

-Ian, Nia, and Echo regularly meet for lunch, talk shit about all the pompous lycans of the world. Nia gets recruited to an IPRA team in Massachusetts, and Ian becomes a full-time physical therapist.

-Echo helps the witches renovate the Audrey and even open a location near Avaldi. They decide to set up an entire aisle of breakfast bars, which Kane gets a kick out of.

-Echo donates a sum of his salary to homeless youth centers and clinics. He still returns to the Splinter, and even helps others there renovate things they might need help with, too. He never asks them for anything in return, but some gummy bears.

-At some point, Echo makes an actual pamphlet, and Coach gets it framed in the lounge.

-Kane never returns to smoking, which takes adjusting. Echo decides to quit as well, and supplements with a lot more gummy bears. Although, along the way, Kane switches him onto fruit for sake of health and a new obsession blooms. Too much fruit, now.

-They all eventually agree to buy Poppy a little poppy statue for her grave. They visit her for her birthday every year, no matter where they are.

-Kane is recruited for the USA Olympic team. They win gold.

-Echo is later recruited alongside him. They win gold. Again.

-Echo never does eat meat, but he does work his way up to eating fish eventually.

-Kane never sees Luan or any of his goons again. He does, however, keep in touch with Aster.

-Echo never sees Mercy or D or the other Bengals again, so he thinks. However, there's a moment he swears he sees JJ getting some beer at a convenience store. He blames his eyes. It's not his eyes. But, time.

-Time goes, and Corvus race to their hearts' content. They promise to call each other whenever they can. Kenzo keeps his promise to call them, too. Even if he seems like he doesn't miss them, he very much does. They all become great racers, performing well on their team, carrying many victories throughout their careers.

-Rosalie retires and becomes a coach. For Oregon University's Ducks, ironically.

-Diego retires with Zahir and the two live out the rest of their days hopping from coast to coast across the world.

-Meredith travels the world with Zoe, who retires to become a traveling artist, and see every strange corner of the world they haven't been able to.

-Wynter grabs a spot in Zahir's mother's tech company, and works quietly in the background until she's ready to spend her peaceful days in the suburbs of Southern California.

-Kenzo retires and returns to Kyoto. Rumor has it that he reunited with his sister there, and the two escaped to reside quietly in the mountains there somewhere.

-Ramos leaves Corvus and becomes a surgeon at the DMC. She works until she can't. Coach continues with Corvus until she can no longer handle all the stress they give her. The two retire peacefully in the Amalfi Coast where Corvus visits them as often as they can.

-Echo and Kane stick together throughout. They go through their ups and downs, they fight, they argue, they make up, they move on. Kane learns to be happy with him, his body, his name and way of life. Echo learns to be proud of all he does, and even buys himself his own trophy shelf to prove it, and never answers to "dog" again.

-Eventually, he and Kane retire. They buy a quiet house in the hills, not too big and not too small. They keep a motorcycle around, just for some fun every now and then. They bicker loud enough for the neighbors to complain, but remain connected at the hip and never go anywhere alone. None of their neighbors can figure out what their deal is. They find it funny.

-Every now and then, they'll all still meet up at Nancy's at the Birdhouse, watch some Corvus matches on TV, reminisce on the utter chaos that the team was. They'll reminisce on what a family they were and are. They'll talk about the crazy roads they took to get to where they are.

-And above all, they'll be Corvus. They'll be champions.

Thank you all so, so, so very much for being here for No Dogs Allowed. This book will likely be the note I stop at on Wattpad for a little while, just to take a nice, long break.

You all really have no idea how long this book has been swimming in my head for, and so seeing it come to life, to fruition, being able to be featured by some Wattpad Ambassadors, getting shortlisted in the Wattys 2023, it's all so surreal, but such a privilege. It makes me believe in my writing in a way I never thought I would.

And none of it would've been possible without you readers. So, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you, for making me feel like a winner.

______________

(Some bonus stuff I made for this story!)

alternative covers!

instagrams (i forgot to do everyone's, here's some of them😬)

playlist! (for funs)

APPLE MUSIC
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-crow-cult/pl.u-RRbVVkWt32W5D6m

SPOTIFY
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Np7hlGBTe6ufncaZvYu0a?si=ECPZVF3LSSmX_A9vaQZW4A&pi=u-YCFakcN3T2SL

alignments (for self-indulgance)

logos!

pack logos

drachmann

huang

hawthorn

rothrock

fahrhaus

padmore

stirling

kane/echo doodles!

Thank you for reading No Dogs Allowed.