#sassafras and moonshine the cats

[findafight]

Okay stobin cat parent lore

Once they get settled in their own place they decide to go to the shelter and get a kitty cat. Just the one, because they've never had a pet before and don't want to be too ambitious. Robin is a strong believer in weird or silly names for pets, but Steve likes people names because he thinks it's funny for cute animals to have normal ass names.

However. They get to the shelter and wander around, some of the cats in the play area so they wander around and see if any of them want to play. Eventually they end up playing with a couple, and the worker tells them that their names are Sassafras and Moonshine (Moonshine being this massive fluffy thing, Sassafras originally I though as a calico? But then realized a naked kind would be far funnier.) but, they probably aren't a good fit because Steve said they were looking for one starter cat, and those two have to be adopted together, they're bonded and separating them would cause extreme distress.

And both Robin and Steve look at each other and realize that they can't not adopt these two cats. They're just like them!! Can't be separated!! So they leave with adoption forms for two cats. They aren't unhappy about this.

Eventually with their two happy cats whom they spoil outrageously (the amount of jingly mice under the couch is truly absurd) they decide "hey. why don't we try to take them for walkies?" so they try to harness train them. Sassafras is fine with it, he likes to go out a bit, but is very temperamental and must be in a specific mood for it or he will try to escape. Moonshine however? Moonshine loves going outside. Will meow and paw at the door until Steve gets her harness and leash on.

This leads Steve to the most logical conclusion. He goes for runs with his giant cat. He goes for runs in their neighbourhood with his giant, fluffy, harnessed cat.

He becomes a bit of a local cryptid. Local hottie spotted jogging with his massive cat. Occasionally she wears jackets too.

They send Christmas cards with their partners and their cats, dress them up in silly outfits, throw adoption day party for them etc. They are stobin's precious babies.

A few years after they adopt Sass and Moonie Steve finds a stray they take in. No tags or id number, so they get to keep her. She gets named Karl, because gender isn't real.

Years go by and eventually, sadly, Sassafras and Moonshine die. Stobin are inconsolable, but they have a very tasteful dual funeral.

After a while they know Karl is getting lonely, so they go back to the shelter for another cat. They leave with three.

There they were, and the volunteer said "oh! we call those three 'the Marx brothers' because one kind of looks like Groucho and one has kind of curl hair." And stobin looked at each other and knew. Because they are nothing if not lovers of a bit. And if they adopt Groucho, Chico, and Harpo, they'll have the Marx Brothers, and also have Karl. Which. Robin thinks it would be so funny if they had a cat that would potentially accidentally called Karl Marx. Like oh these are our cats, the Marx Brothers. And Karl.

They end up calling the cats collectively the Marxes even though Karl was not originally a Marx.

this is is all silly things but stobin love their cats and are funny weirdos about it.

The amount of stobin cat lore in my brain.... You would not believe.

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (French, 1859-1923) • Lait Pur Stérilisé de la Vingeanne (Vingeanne milk advertisement) • 1897

[cakemagemaeve]

Hello everyone. I am too tired for The Discourse(TM) today, so please enjoy this video of my cat Squeaktoy Sassafras Silkyshorts making a valiant effort to kill a gecko through the glass, with special guest appearance by her brother Moogle Moonshine.

[kimzplace]

SOME UNUSUAL APPALACHIAN SUPERSTITIONS & WIVES-TALES

•You’ll see ghost if you go to a graveyard at night. Folks always said they look like little lights floating around. A group of lights is the little children dancing and playing. Our Appalachian ancestors lived in a world of uncertainty. Their lives were lived unsure of their fate, of God's Will and of the harvest and of the hunt. Because of this they came up with ways by watching nature in an attempt to find some peace, some comfort, some control . . .

•To cure worms in people and animals, finely cut up some hair from a white horse and feed it to the ill in some cornbread.

•To cure snake bite, kill the snake and hold its innards against the wound.

•If a dog crawls with its belly on the ground while moaning, he is measuring his master’s grave.

•A shucked cob with the lost teeth of children stuck into it guards against bad spirits.

•If a rooster crows after sunset it is a sign of death.

•To ease a toothache, drink water from a colbalt blue glass (Erwin, TN)

• Never cut a babies nails before they’re a year old, bite them off. If you cut them off, the baby will grow up to steal.

• Rub an apple on a newborns tongue and they’ll have a sweet singing voice.

•To cure an illness, ride a donkey backwards and feed it some of your hair, taken from the crown of your head.

• If an unnamed baby gets sick, give it a name and it will get better.

• If you get a fishing hook caught in your hand, wash the hook with moonshine and stick the hook into a piece of wood three times in the name of the Trinity so the wound doesn’t fester.

•Don’t turn a wheel backwards while greasing it or it’ll bring bad luck

•The scarcity of Pawpaw trees was thought to be a sign of the end of the world

•A rabbits foot is lucky and will protect from evil spirits. But there’s no charm to it unless it’s dipped into moonshine poured into a tree stump in a graveyard. And it’s always gotta be the left hind foot.

•If a picture of someone falls by itself off the wall, it portends their death.

•To ease a toothache, drink water from a colbalt blue glass (Erwin, TN)

•Carry a piece of coal in the right pocket to remove a curse or witchcraft. Once the coal has been crushed and turned to dust in the pocket, it has been removed and the dust is disposed of in the crotch of a willow or in a river crawling westward. (Richmond, VA)

• It’s luck to find a silver coin and put it in your left pocket.

•When fishing, always thank the fish you catch or your cabinets will be bare in the coming year or season. (Roan Mountain, TN)

•Couples who marry at Watauga (lake) in May will be blessed with brave sons and loyal daughters. (Watauga, TN)

•Feed a dog gunpowder in cornbread and they’ll be a good guard dog.

•Never marry when the fish aren’t biting and never marry on a Saturday.

•Sweep on Friday and your bread won’t rise for a week.

•Cats clean their face when they’re conjuring rain storms.

•When taking a lamp outside, stick three pins in the wic and the wind can’t blow it out.

•To bring a good lover to you, toss salt into the fire every morning for nine days.

•During labor, the after birth can be brought quickly by having the mother blow into a jug or to have her smell snuff jammed into the stem of a turkey feather. Don’t wash the baby until it comes.

•If the walnuts have thin shells, it foretells a light winter; thick shells mean a hard winter ahead.

•Trees felled during a new moon can’t fold a flame.

•Wood should be felled and chopped during a waning moon.

•If a baby smiles while sleeping, they’re being entertained by angels.

•If you look at someone through a broken window, you’ll argue with them soon.

•To ward off sickness in newborns, give them a piece of fat from deer meat to suck on.

•Place a woman’s menstrual cloth in a bird’s nest and she’ll go mad and crazy

•It’s bad luck to kill a cricket

•If a woman keeps miscarrying children or they die young, she should name her next son Adam and he will live as will anymore thereafter.

•Stopping clocks in the house of the deceased to prevent bad luck for the living.

• Closing the eyes of the deceased so that he may not choose someone to accompany him to the grave.

•If you first see the new moon in clouds, someone in your family will get sick.

• It is bad luck to burn sassafras or apple logs in a fireplace.

•Knock three times on wood after mentioning good fortune so evil spirits won't ruin it.

•Two people pull apart the dried breastbone of a chicken or turkey until it cracks and breaks, each one making a wish while doing so. The person who gets the long half of the wishbone will have his or her wish come true.

•Mirrors in a house with a corpse should be covered or the person who sees himself will die next.

•You can not swim in the river during the "Dog Days" of Summer.

•So many superstitions and wives-tales around. Some of these are familiar, some I've never heard of. Our ancestors were not only superstitious, but were deeply religious! We come from a long line of strong peoples. Strong people who found a way and they paved the way, for you, for me. We are living our ancestors wildest dreams!

~~banjo~~

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Nicola Bailey, illustrator (English, b. 1949) • William Mayne, author • The Patchwork Cat • Knopf Books for Young Readers, publishers, First Edition, First Printing • 1981

[sassafrasmoonshine]

Eileen Mayo (Australian, 1906-1994 • Spring Morning • 1952 • Color lithograph on paper

[findafight]

Okay I kept thinking about this post and Steve being a BNF of Corroded Coffin message board of the internet of yore.

Alright so way back in the nineties Suzie hooks everyone up with the internet, yes? Yes. Eddie and Steve got together in '92 after some mutual pining and a few disastrous relationships that couldn't handle 1) Steve and Robin's general QPR clinginess 2) Eddie's intensity 3) the secrecy required if having multiple years of monster fighting and subsequent NDAs and the trauma associated therein. They're older and more settled and ready for an Adult Relationship.

Corroded Coffin is gaining traction and doing really well and the internet is still a brave new frontier, so Steve says to Eddie something like "I'm going to see if there's some message boards about you 🥰" and find them he sure does. So he makes accounts and posts under the username EddiesOnlyGroupie because he's hilarious and also the mods banned him from using EddieMunsonsHusband (he figured it was fine on the internet because nobody actually knew who he was but APPARENTLY NOT homophobia lives on in the digital age). He gets pretty well known in the Corroded Coffin fandom, most assuming he's a woman because he will go off on how hot Eddie looked at a gig. Like. Saying unhinged internet shit because 1) true and 2) he and Eddie think it's so funny. Everyone kinda believes the groupie thing too because of all the performance pics he's able to post and how he'll sometimes offer tidbits if knowledge about the band.

When they transition from chatrooms to livejournal etc he follows, with the same username. He's kind of a legend by the mid aughts. EOG is the acronym people use when discussing theories on his identity, and he's like "guys I'm literally his only groupie it's self explanatory. Guys why don't you believe me Eddie hasn't slept with anyone but me since 1992. We're basically married". He goes "it's not a mystery we literally are in love and Jeff and I go to Cubs games and cry when they inevitably lose together. Gareth is Godfather to my cats" (Eddie is still offended that he was not named Sassafras and Moonshine's godfather when Steve and Robin adopted them in '89). No one believes him.

Possibly because he still thirsts after Eddie and whenever someone posts a new Eddie pic those in the know wait for him to pop up with comments like "I want to bite his neck omg" "he has no ass but nobody is perfect I'll settle between his thighs anyway" and "literally a crime I am not married to him right now what the fuck" As twitter grows he swoops in to grab his handle, and follows a bunch of other CC fan accounts (some of them old friends, some of them new to the scene)(EOG 100% has his own fanlore page, which also has speculation on who he is and how he gets all the bts pics. It also doesn't believe when he says what it says on the tin. He's Eddie's only groupie.)

tumblr and tiktok come round and Steve is like. Openly horny on main. He's seen some shit go down on the internet but he's still commenting on Eddie fan edits that are title shit like "why am I attracted to this middle-aged white man" and "retro cc fancam" with things like "I'd let him lick the inside of my ear and only bring it up to tease him on special occasions" "his FINGERS" "back in '89 Jeff and Howie and Claire staged a mutany over this song because they were 'sick of Eddie only writing about biting bats' lmao" and "Jeff is my favourite member of cc"(just to stir the pot)

Eddie comes out in the 2010's and he's like "yeah I've been in a long term relationship with someone who is usually mostly a man kinda (gender is fucky) for the past twenty years, lol. His name's Steve. I love him a lot even if he mocks me online." and of course EOG comments "the mods of that old message board should have let me keep my original handle of EddieMunsonsHusband. When're you gonna make it reality, Munson? smh" and everyone is like Huh?? EOG is a MAN? And he's like yeah? Sometimes?? Not always?

(He 100% thinks this is him telling people he's Eddie's Steve. They don't get the message)

Anyways life goes on Steve continues to thirst under pictures of Eddie, he has his pronouns and name in his bio on twitter (Steve, he/him, she/her, Eddie Munson's first and only groupie 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ ) and continues to post behind the scenes photos that shockingly few people question (she always says "because I'm his groupie" though. He and Eddie think this is VERY funny and also true. Robin groans. They've been making the same joke for two decades.) and people believe it because Eddie has interacted EOG sometimes, liking photos or videos, commenting sometimes. (Steve has a more professional realname account that he rarely uses but Eddie usually tags Steve there)

And THEN Internet user EddiesOnlyGroupie says he's taking a few weeks off for her honeymoon because "I'm finally marrying the man of my dreams!" And people are happy for him but also bummed because Eddie is also taking a two week hiatus but EOG promises wedding and honeymoon photos. (Face reveal! Sorta!)((he doesn't get why people are excited because he's pretty sure he's been in a lot of Eddie's recent pictures, but whatever)

Imagine the Internet's surprise when Eddie Munson posts a collection of pictures spanning '86 to his 2016 wedding of him and Steve, including one of Steve looking seriously at an old desktop computer, captioned "Steve starting his internet career" and tags EOG.

Steve qrt with "I told yall. I'm his only groupie, and they should've let me keep EddieMunsonsHusband even if they WERE homophobic. Because now it's TRUE"

Niche internet community drama chaos ensues.

[findafight]

I want a "Steve thinks he's out but everyone missed the memo" fic where Robin and Steve are disasters together fully believing they've come out successfully to a welcoming and supportive Party making queer little jokes together about their eventual shared home and ugly rescue cat ("Sassafras and Moonshine don't deserve your scorn, Buckley" "hey!! We agreed the first cat would be Lord Fuzzy Butt, Gargle, or whatever fucked up name the shelter gave them and would be the most grouchy and ugly bastard they had. Sassafras and Moonshine are our sweet babies and come later" "ah shit, you're right. How could I forget about Lord Fuzzy Butt.")

Except. Because everyone is still under the assumption the two are Straight none of these conversations do anything to dissuade the group from thinking they're dating, many actually encouraging that thought process to only lead to more confusion when Robin and Steve get really annoyed when asked if they're SURE they're not dating? Like yes??? Obviously this is platonic life partner planning!!

Idk how it would be Revealed but I want Eddie slowly dying because he's getting the most mixed signals of Steve maybe flirting with him and then actively planning domestic bliss with Robin who also seems to be really close with that Vickie friend of hers who sometimes joins in on the domestic bliss planning... And Steve is like idk Robin do you think Eddie actually likes me back sometimes he seems really into flirting with me and others he just gives me a look like I said I ate ants as dessert?

[findafight]

Kinda want to write a one-sided ronance post S4 au (within a fix it obvs) where the older teens start actually hanging out and Stobin (eventually + Vickie)confuse literally everyone. They greet each other with cheek kisses, call each other babe (or "Stevie Baby". Listen. Robin calls him bud or buddy or bub or bubba or babe and it's like why so many B's?? Argyle is vibing with it though and joins the bud train) and one time at two in the morning had a coordinated ramble about the names of the cats they will eventually get. (Sassafras, moonshine, and Garborator)

Nancy and Steve haven't really talked about anything, other than Steve saying "hey. I'm sorry if whatever I said weirded you out. I was definitely a bit delirious and Robin and Eddie AND Dustin were all making comments about winning you back or whatever which is stupid, you made it clear where you stood with me. Which wasn't with me. That's fine. and like. Okay yeah when we were together I'd daydream about you being beside me in the motorhome but thats-- it was a daydream. I was sort of thinking I was gonna die and. I wanted to share a little dream that made me happy. And then got everything confused in my head and made it weird and I'm sorry. what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry for being weird and making things uncomfortable. I'm over you. I loved you then, and you were my first real love, and maybe if things were different I could love you like that again but. But neither of us want that or the same things out of life. And we'd crash and burn again. Plus you and Jonathan are together which is a non-starter. Cannot believe I forgot that when it was happening. Jesus. So. Yeah. Sorry for being not a great friend and hitting on you in the Upside Down." And Nancy had nodded and told him not to worry about it. He had been sort of bleeding out and planning on going back into the upside down. They could both be normal about it.

Sometimes Nancy and Robin try to have "girl time" at Nancy's suggestion because they're the only girls in the older group (sometimes. But Robin is not going to let that slip out) but it's awkward without a buffer. Robin is too nervous and rambles and Nancy is too annoyed by it. But they do get on well in group settings, and Steve and Argyle are actually the keenest to smooth over any awkwardness.

Robin laughs more with the group, and grins at Steve and smirks at Eddie and has a sharp tongue Nancy can admire. She's more comfortable with Steve around, insisting he sit beside her or on the ground in front of her so she can play with his hair. (And Nancy is shocked the first time she sees it, because Steve was notoriously protective of his "best feature", but she'd asked and he'd hummed quietly as she takes her fingers through his hair and put tiny, lopsided braids in it.) It's nice to see Robin less jumpy, and wonders what it would take to see more of the side of her Nancy only sees when Steve's around. She just wants to get closer to Robin. Wants a friend.

And somehow, beyond Nancy's notice, Steve and Robin's friend Vickie slowly joins the group. She wasn't involved at all in the spring, but has been hanging around Family Video and a movie night or two often enough that when she settles more permanently in the group it isn't a very big surprise. Eddie and Argyle welcome her in with open arms, Jonathan is only his normal amount of weary of new people, and obviously Robin and Steve are excited for their friends to be friends.

But it just doesn't sit right with Nancy. She can't pinpoint why, it just doesn't. When she sees Robin and Vickie giggling together, or having some back and forth banter that seems to feed into both of them smiling, or Steve throwing his arm over her shoulder, or Vickie leaning into Robin's space as they talk. She always sits beside Robin, Steve on the other, with Eddie beside him. It's usually a tight fit for whatever couch they're on, but the four seem happy as clams to not have any personal space. Once Argyle decided to lay across all their laps, and they just...let him. Finangled themselves so everyone was mostly comfortable.

Nancy figures she is uncomfortable with it because she hasn't ever had a close friend since Barb, and was possibly hoping she could be close to Robin along those lines. So seeing her so close with the others and mildly uncomfortable around her hurt, and seeing her and Steve incorporate someone unversed in the Upside Down into their little trauma club also hurt. Because what did Vickie have that Nancy didn't? That made Steve and Robin and now Eddie stick to her like glue? That made them want her there when she didn't know anything about what they'd been through and could probably never understand?

What made Vickie Summers so special that she's taken what should have been Nancy's place beside her friends? Because that's what really bothered her. It wasn't that Vickie didn't know, it's that Nancy felt she took her place. That Nancy wanted to be where Vickie was, and she didn't know how to ask for it. Asking, trying to talk about how Steve and Robin had bonded so well after Starcourt while she ignored them and then how they bonded with and absorbed Eddie halfway into their bizarre dynamic after vecna, would feel too much like begging or admitting that she isn't quite sure how to make friends.

Nancy is jealous. Jealous that she isn't friends like Vickie and Eddie and Steve and Robin are. That she isn't the one making Robin smile and giggle so cutely. So. She tries harder. Tries to be the friend that Robin and Eddie and even Steve deserve. She tries not to be annoyed by Robin rambling (it really isn't that bad, just. Not relevant. She likes heading Robin's voice, but thinks she could really work on having a filter.), or the way Steve always asks clarifying questions when he should really have known better, or Eddie talking half in different character voices. She thinks it's getting better, her relationship with them. But, still, Vickie is always there, glued to Robin's side almost as much as Steve is, and that always annoys Nancy. Niggles at her brain, that she doesn't deserve to be there because she didn't know what Robin had lived through and fought. Nancy did.

Eventually, Nancy figures out that she wants more from Robin. Doesn't want to be a friend she smiles at occasionally, wants to be the reason she smiles all the time. And that's terrifying. Because Nancy had never considered liking girls, never thought liking girls was a thing she could do. It was something other women did, not Nancy. She liked boys and always had, but. But maybe she always liked girls...too. maybe it wasn't something she that was one or the other. Being different in a town like Hawkins puts a target on your back, being queer in a town like Hawkins even moreso.

She's leaving Hawkins in the fall. But she thinks she wants someone to come home to. She wants Robin to come home to. Robin and Steve seem to be okay with it, from what she can glean of some veiled comments they've made that she's only caught now she's looking for them. They've made some remarks around the kids that make it seem like they'd be safe to come to, no matter what. And sometimes, some of the comments Robin makes about actresses seem a little...well. admiring.

They probably, hopefully, wouldn't hate her for this. And now Nancy and Robin have a friendship, she thinks she can. It's early July, and Nancy is going to ask Robin out.

She gets her alone, bites her lip, and asks Robin in no uncertain terms to go out on a date with her. Robin stares, mouth agape.

"oh," she says.

Nancy smiles, a little. "Yeah. So. What do you say?"

Robin blinks, and takes a shuddering breath. "Oh my god. I. Nancy I'm really flattered but I'm no-i dont- uhg. I'm dating someone." she groans, rubbing her hands over her face.

And oh. Nancy read the situation wrong "oh. Steve. It's fine! You don't like girls, thats--thats totally fine! Id just, um. That is,-"

Robin waves her hands. "No, no! I'm not dating Steve! You clocked me correctly. Definitely gay! Don't worry about that! Hah."

Something in Nancy twists. "Oh?"

"yeah. Yep. Not only am I a lesbian in a small town, I'm a lesbian in a small town that somehow also has a girlfriend." Robin says the word dreamily. Like she still can't believe it. Nancy's brain fills with static. She was too late. Too caught up with how she missed so many chances in the past, that she missed her chance now.

But Robin keeps talking. "And, like. Even if I didn't, I don't think it would have worked between us anyways. Too different, y'know?"

"what?"

Robin gestures with her hands between them. "Well, like. I like being your friend. But, I mean, I wouldn't date you?"

"why not?"

Blinking, Robin tilts her head. "Because of Steve?"

Something bubbles hot in Nancy. "What the fuck does Steve have to do with wether or not we would date?"

"Nancy. Steve's my best friend." As though that explains anything.

"yes? And?"

Robin looks uncomfortable, shifting sideways. "listen, Nancy. You're a good friend. And I've just rejected you. Maybe we should just. Ah. Leave this? I'm really sorry. I'll give you some space, just find me when you're ready?"

"no. What do you mean that we couldn't date because Steve is your best friend? Why would that have any effect on how you date?"

"it doesn't! Not really! Just. Nancy, you broke his heart. His soft, squishy heart! You kinda sorta cheated on him-details very unclear-and then just. Moved on. Pretended like nothing happened. I couldn't do that to Steve. Dating a friend's ex is a bad move. Dating an ex that broke a friend's heart is just cruel." She sighs. Looks sad. As though she isn't the one rejecting Nancy and tearing her apart for how a relationship ended almost two years ago. What did that matter, now? "You're my friend, Nancy. I like you! But even if Steve has moved on, forgiven and forgotten, and if things were a bit different given his full support for us dating if that's what I wanted, I think I'll always remember how he-- how much it hurt him."

"oh"

"I'm. Nancy I'm really sorry. I know how scary it is to put yourself out there, especially like this. It's not fair. I'm just sorry. But. It was true. Steve's the most important person to me. I couldn't ever hurt him. Not like that. Not even if he said he was fine with it."

Nancy stands and walks away. She doesn't cry until she locks her bedroom door.

[cakemagemaeve]

My cat Moogle Moonshine, his mama Parker Peridot, his sisters Squeaktoy Sassafras Silkyshorts and Kipo Pixie-Paws (RIP), and my girl Maya Miette (who I got at a used car lot a year before Parker and her brood showed up) are all members of the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.

His brothers Bilbo Buttercream Baggins and especially Big Bubba Kupo (now home after roughly 8 months) and my dad's cat Miss Chi, however, are too Lorge and/or Chonky to qualify as itty bitty kitties, so instead they're members of the Hefty Natural Kitty Committee.

[cakemagemaeve]

Anyone remember the cat that had kittens in my back yard last year? We still have the mama cat (named Parker Peridot, because she's a thief but also very loud and raspy. She has a lot of emotions and she is going to make them your problem), as well as three of the five kittens (the remaining girl is named Squeaktoy Sassafras Silkyshorts, and the two boys are Moogle Moonshine and Bilbo Buttercream Baggins). This past March one of the two female kittens, Kipo Pixie-Paws, somehow got into the sewing kit and ate a length of string, and despite our best efforts to save her, she ended up dying in my arms a week later. Needless to say, it was completely devastating and honestly, I'm still not over it.

A few weeks after that, we gave the largest of the litter (seriously I swear his father is a panther), Big Bubba Kupo, to a new home. This was also pretty emotional, but at least I knew he was still alive and had a chance at happiness. I was still worried though, because he went from living in a house with six other cats and which almost always has at least one human around to play with him and give him attention to living in an apartment with one other cat and an owner who's rarely ever home at all.

Turns out I was right to be worried, because surprise surprise, he's been lonely and bored as hell and has been tearing up his new owner's place and trying to get outside. So he's coming home tomorrow, and honestly it's the best news I've gotten all year (it's been an awful, awful year). I missed him so so much and I can't wait to see him again. Now if I could only master necromancy so that I can bring Kipo back, too (along with my aunt Beth, my horse Sharif, my dogs Sokka, Bongo and Mac, and on and on)...