nouveaunovelist - Tumblr blog

[nouveaunovelist]

don't ask.

[nouveaunovelist]

The person I reblogged this from is someone I enjoy seeing on my dashboard.

[nouveaunovelist]

Even the most skilled carnivores can be gored by their prey

[nouveaunovelist]

Yall this is fantastic, give it a read

A Car Wreck in Motion

Fandom: Beastars

Pairing: Cosmo/Ibuki

Summary: After realizing she’s in love with Ibuki, Cosmo knows there’s only one course of action: leave, before he does.

AO3

________________________________________________________

The end was inevitable. That was the only thing you could count on, was an ending. Cosmo had spent so many months thinking about that, about the predetermined end to this, and dreading it, that somehow it had escaped her that it was not on her to sit around and wait for that ending. She was not tied to the tracks, bound to lay feebly struggling until the train whizzed by and smashed her to bloody smithereens. If the plane was already in free fall, she might as well crash in into a mountain and end it now, rather than continue this uncontrolled descent to the ground.

              The universe may have had a loaded gun against her temple, but there was nothing stopping Cosmo from pulling the trigger herself.

              So, she was packing. Haphazardly and hastily, throwing her things into a suitcase, tossing aside what was not essential and could be replaced elsewhere, trying to ignore the emptiness under her feet, trying not to think of the pain she was about to cause herself, and failing, utterly.

              But if she cried alone in her apartment while she was stuffing her life into a bag, no one had to know about it. Furiously, she blinked the tears from her eyes and went on packing—she had no time to stop and have a meltdown.

              It was in this frenzy that the train arrived, rapping uneasily on the front door, hanging ajar. Cosmo whipped around, in the middle of emptying her dresser into the suitcase on top of the pile of cosmetics. When she saw Ibuki in the door way, her ears flattened and her eyes burned afresh.

              “What the hell do you want?” she asked, going back to her task.

              “Are you…going somewhere?” he asked, looking around the wreckage of her apartment: coats she had given up on fitting in tossed on the floor, kitchen utensils spilled over the counter and falling onto the floor, the bedding torn apart and then left in a heap when she decided to just buy new things when she arrived wherever she decided to stop.

              “Gee, how’d you guess?” The snap in Cosmo’s voice was hampered by the hiccup, much as she tried to swallow it down.

Keep reading

[nouveaunovelist]

season two! season two!

[nouveaunovelist]

agaata​:

HE REALLY DIDN’T SEE THE BIG DEAL IN IT.   it wasn’t like he  wasn’t  washing his mane or something,   what could the big deal be?   but of course,  ibuki had to go and make it that much more personal.  he didn’t really  understand  what women had to do with this  —  hell,   he got  women  just fine.   a lot more than the majority of them,  considering he was among the youngest of the group;  and that was lacking to mention the fact that he had certain traits that were  very  desirable in a lion.  

❝   data-entry?    what do i look like,  some kind of  nerd  to you?   ❞  his sour is a little sour,  but the older was certainly pushing his luck with agata’s ever - shortening temper.   ❝  well,   what kind of stuff do  you   use?   ❞   despite his attitude going south,   he still can’t help but be curious what the  fix  to his problem is. 

Ibuki grinned smugly - he’d gotten Agata to bite. “I use an oat-milk and honey based shampoo called Abeeno, applied rigorously to the roots and scalp, rinse thoroughly, and follow it with Mane Food brand Avocado and Argan oil conditioner, applied primarily to the tips, and then follow that with whatever oils or colognes seem right for the day, but those are less important.” He digs around in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a small tube labeled *Dr. Serengeti’s Mane-tenance Cream* and a cheap comb still in its plastic wrap, both of which look like the sort of thing you’d get off some hack multi-level-marketing online store, and offered them to Agata. “I also keep this on hand in case of bad weather; helps keep everything in its proper place. After all, the mane makes the man, as they say.”

[nouveaunovelist]

ravishinglyravenous​:

In response to the question, Cosmo turned and looked back, arching her eyebrows as if to say Do they? Between the cane and the booze, perhaps she would’ve done better to let Ibuki stay seated. Even so, he managed to stagger after her out of the club–other animals parted so easily for them, she wondered what kind of look the lion was giving them over her head– coughing and digging around for his lighter.

Cosmo’s ears flicked back as the breeze blew over them, and a shiver put her fur on end for a moment. Both of them were built for warmer weather, and she couldn’t help but think longingly of the kotatsu table taking up a significant chunk of her apartment, and how nice it would be to settle herself under the quilt for dinner when work was done.

“Hm, the work?” Pulling herself from her own distracted thoughts, Cosmo leaned in, cigarette balanced at her lips, to help herself to Ibuki’s proffered flame. “I’ve done it so long now it’s just part of life,” she admitted with a shrug, drawing back to blow out that first mouthful of smoke. “I think you could manage it,” she said, folding her left arm across her chest, and resting her right elbow on her hand, keeping her cigarette by her face. “I play a role, you play a role. Different parts, same idea.” The role of gangster fit Ibuki better, maybe–or maybe he was a better actor than he gave himself credit for. 

With his hulking form only barely illuminated in the cheap neon of the club, he certainly still cut an intimidating figure, even with the cane, even months removed from the Shishigumi. Or maybe that was her prey instinct talking. (Even Cosmo couldn’t pretend that was what had her watching his hands with the cigarette and the lighter and imagining the scrape of those claws through her fur).

“I’ve been here eight years, you know that?” She let out a hiss of breath and tipped her head back, up to the dark and starless sky, snorting out a breath of smoke. Eight years sounded like a lifetime. It was longer than she’d been anywhere, since she left home. “Rex. Sometimes I think it’s time to move on.”

Ibuki leaned easily against the brick wall to take the weight off his aching leg and nodded along to Cosmo’s explanation. The chill felt good on his face, but bad everywhere else; still, the company was preferable to hunching over a typewriter in his warm apartment and working. She was right - roles did get natural, over time; he had sobering experience with that simple fact of life. It was easy to become something; easier still to stay whatever one was. He rested both hands on his cane and allowed himself a slight slouch, focusing on the taste of the smoke in his mouth and how it complemented the texture of her voice - he was glad he’d been re-cast (Rex, given the state of his internal monologue, maybe Louis had rubbed off on him more than he thought).

“Move on?” The words jumped out of his mouth more than he said them - a momentary relapse of the same incredulity that ended his last life. He leaned away from the wall so that he could better turn his head to get a look at her posture - the cant of her ears, the angle of her shoulders, neither of which betrayed a joke: she seemed sincere (nevermind that his height advantage and the state of her dress gave him ample opportunities to look at other things). “Hm,” he murmured, resting back against the wall thoughtfully, “I’m not sure I can imagine you without a spotlight any more than I can imagine Louis-san without one.” Then again, there was a time he couldn’t imagine a lot of things. “Maybe you’re right,” he said with a shrug - he wasn’t in the business of persuading willful herbivores to avoid change anymore. “Eight years... I bet you hold a record for herbivores living in this neighborhood,” he joked. He noticed her shiver, and carefully pulled his coat off his shoulders to offer it to her. “Have you given much thought to what it would take? Moving on, I mean.”

[nouveaunovelist]

[nouveaunovelist]

There they are!

[nouveaunovelist]

Happy new year!

I swear im not dead, just demotivated. Going to try and get back in the saddle this month and get the year to a good start.

[nouveaunovelist]

Extremely accurate

I… thought about threads I  have with @nouveaunovelist and honestly  I had to draw their dynamic at least once!!

[nouveaunovelist]

pollyannastic​:

    Jack’s eyes stayed focused on the ground as Ibuki spoke—his gaze momentarily flitting to the smoking cigarette, that was soon smothered under Ibuki’s shoe.

     The advice about handling the fellow employees sounded tempting; however, in his heart the thought of giving them a TASTE of their medicine, only seemed to perpetuate a harsh cycle of resentment. At least in Jack’s eyes.

      But the lion’s words still reached to him as his gaze went up to the other. A small flicker of determination coming to him.

       “You’re right Ibuki. I always thought… doing nothing would somehow help keep things professional, and cordial. And that it would be the fix-it all solution.”  He begins, that flicker beginning to turn into a flame within his chest.

       “But, just sitting back and doing nothing…it’s just as bad as if I had done something about it.” With that stated, he was finally up from his sitting position, that good-natured determination back in his heart.

        “I’ll find a direct way to confront them and let them all know this behavior isn’t okay! I have to do something!”  The previous air of hopelessness disspaited, as Jack’s tail happily wagged and a smile came to his face once more.

        With a contended hum, Jack’s eyes drifted up to the sky filled with light pollution. It always made looking to the stars hard, but Jack liked to pretend the lights were in their own way like a star.

        “This was nice.” Jack remarked with a satisfied smile.

        This whole night was considered nice to him. Some people may become upset about losing 20 dollars to a con-cashier, to having time interrupted by an intrusive fan, or the concept of work troubles bleeding into a conversation; however, to him this night was still one he’d happily remember.

       “Oh! Before I forget! I still wanted an outside photo with the moon, for my scrapbook!” Jack exclaimed—beginning to dig through his pocket for his phone and selfie stick.

Ibuki watched the retriever intently while he spoke, and couldn’t help the wry smile that curled his lips as Jack resolved to tackle his problems and his detractors. It was a wonderful process, and he was at least 95% sure that Jack’s “doing something” would look a lot different than his “doing something” had at the same age (his involved more gunpowder and a garotte). He stopped watching the dog when Jack broke eye contact with him, turning to look up into the near starless sky, dipping his eyes to scan across the city skyline: millions of artificial stars twinkled their own across the skyscrapers and highways, the vibrancy of the lives they hinted at very much reminding him of his newest fan’s personality. 

It’d been a good way to spend an evening.

“Just try not to do what my Leon would do,” he laughed and clapped the dog heartily on the shoulder. He didn’t think Jack would interpret his advice as take bloody vengeance on his lazy coworkers, but it never hurt to be sure. “Sure thing - I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a scrapbook before,” Ibuki mused with a smile before lowering himself to strike a friendly pose for the photograph, standing close for the photo but with his hands respectfully clasped around the head of his cane. “It should be a novel experience.”

[nouveaunovelist]

agaata​:

  yea ,   he’s  completely  lost on this one.    he’s never been very good at understanding things that have to do with self care.  ❝   don’t you just use  3 - in - 1,   it’s so much easier.   ❞   the long term effects of …  well  anything are never thought through by him.   he would much rather just use something convenient  &  cheap,   regardless of whether he has the money for  higher end  self care products.  

❝   i’m. sure it can’t be that bad,   right ?   then you can use it for the rest of your fur too.   ❞

“I. Hm. No, you - hm.”

Ibuki wasn’t sure if he should be concerned, dumbfounded, or horrified. Probably all three in some combination. He scowled, suppressed the urge to smack the dumb kid (because as of now, if Agata actually fought back, Ibuki would DEFINITELY lose), and leaned his weight on his cane. No, that wasn’t the way to solve this - he had to be smart. Had to hit Agata’s pride. “I guess you could just use the 3 in 1 trash,” he conceded in a low voice, “if you aren’t interested in attracting females. You could certainly pull off the desk-jockey look with it; I hear data-entry doesn’t need good hairstyles.”

[nouveaunovelist]

ravishinglyravenous​:

“If you wanna show up looking like a pimp!” she cackled with a delighted laugh, breaking off in a hoarse squeak. “Gonna get us kicked out for sure.” But she didn’t sound especially worried about the possibility. They were going to stand out enough, an okapi showing up with a lion, and with Cosmo’s own questionable dress choices and rough-edged behavior, without Ibuki going around in a bright red suit. Still, red was one of his colors.

She was sure he was right about the show, though. What was the fun in a production like this without oodles of bright red faux blood that looked more like children’s paint than actual blood?

“I’m going for a smoke,” she announced, sliding off the table and withdrawing a cigarette from the waistband of her skirt, the only place she could have plausibly tucked it in the get-up she was wearing. “Coming?” The word was thrown over her shoulder, her body already turned towards the club entrance and a step and a half from the table.

Normally, she made an effort to be surreptitious about smoke breaks, because it was often when more insistent animals would try to push boundaries they weren’t allowed to when she was under a manager’s supervision (this was a lesson she had learned years ago). But if she had a lion in her shadow, she doubted anyone was going to give her much lip, so there was no need to slip out the back.

Besides, it would be quieter outside, which made it easier to talk and– no one would be watching her behavior outside. As comfortable as Cosmo was being observed, it was still nice to catch her breath with a moment of privacy during shifts.

“But that’s one of the ones I didn’t do,” Ibuki mumbled, a little confused by the suggestion he’d look like a pimp. 

He only stared a little bit when Cosmo slid off the table, and eagerly followed her casual invitation like the word was a leash. His hip bumped the table and rocked it to the side as he stood, the alcohol making him clumsy as he went for his cane to steady his stride while he followed Cosmo out of the club’s front door. “Do my legs still work?” Ibuki laughed in response to the question of whether or not he was coming, although he recognized that with a bullet wound and the alcohol in his blood, he wasn’t making a very convincing argument for a solid “yes”.

He couldn’t help but watch the twitch of her tail as she walked, and he also couldn’t help but notice any too-forward glances she attracted from the patronage. One in particular - the boar from earlier - made to get out of his seat and follow, but Ibuki cast him a sufficiently withering glare that he thought twice about it: natural predators, and all. 

The fresh air outside hit him like a slap in the face and he coughed at the sudden chill in his lungs while he found a spot to lean against the wall and fished his lighter out of his pocket. “Easy to forget how much warmer it is in there than out here,” he mumbled, clicking the lighter to life and politely offering it to Cosmo for her to light her cigarette before he kissed the flame to his own. Ibuki smiled and shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it; the acting. I certainly couldn’t.”

[nouveaunovelist]

me: zones out for three weeks

me: ah fuck

[nouveaunovelist]

Re-entering society, Ibuki has to struggle with the way bureaucracy and product pricing works. Because of this, he’s very quick to believe anything he reads accusing various types of products as corrupt corporate moneymaking schemes, so long as they “sound believable”.

[nouveaunovelist]

“It’s a quite literally toxic corporate moneymaking scheme - cheap shampoos are loaded with parabens, which damage hormone function, sulfates, which make your hair brittle and short, silicone, which makes your mane look like a soggy newspaper over time, and worst of all water, so you aren’t even getting all the shampoo you pay entirely too much for.”

@nouveaunovelist​  :  ❝   Store brand shampoo? Shameful.   ❞

❝   what’s wrong with it ??  ❞  – !?