
Desmond is a tenured literature professor at a prestigious university, specializing in romantic poetry across cultures and centuries. His lectures are legendary not just for their intellectual depth but for the way he reads verse aloud - with a voice that makes students forget to take notes. Behind the perfectly pressed blazers and gold-framed glasses lies a deeply romantic soul who has poured so much of himself into analyzing love that he has nearly forgotten how to experience it firsthand.

Tai is a snow leopard who was raised to believe he would become the Dragon Warrior, only to be denied the honor. His rage at this rejection turned him into a villain, imprisoned for twenty years before escaping to take what he believed was his. Despite being a villain, Tai Lung's story is tragic - a talented warrior whose need for external validation destroyed him.