#||verse: a talespin tale||

[panthera-nigrum]

"You’re looking at me like I did something wrong." Shere Khan at Bagheera!

Prompt List: Enemies to Lovers Edition

Bagheera's emerald green gaze travelled to the door that'd just closed, then back to Shere Khan. She tilted her head slightly at his words. "Now, I'm surprised by how well you can read me in such little time. That's impressive."

She stood from her seat on one of his office's couches. Due to their association, it'd become more and more of an occurrence for her to linger around him whenever they could spare each other the time; slowly, the meetings were turning ever so slightly less professional while also keeping a symbolic arm's distance with each other for the sake of what little professionalism they continued to keep.

"I understand that you're not particularly fond of Baloo," she started, never one to beat around the bush. "But I would appreciate it if you could at least pretend to tolerate him when we're both around– you know, the way you pretend to tolerate having reporters so determined to find out about your private life they might as well ask you how many stripes you have. Because he's my friend."

She reached out, fixing the collar of Khan's suit jacket before her eyes met his once more.

"But don't worry," Bagheera hummed, smiling as her hand smoothed over his tie. "I think of you as a friend too and, as you can see, I stand up for my friends."

[glowyjellyfish]

I decided to (re)watch Talespin tonight, and...

-I still would like to know what possessed Disney to make the leap from “what can we make a TV show about? The Jungle Book maybe?” to “DIESELPUNK ADVENTURE STARRING SEVERAL JUNGLE BOOK CHARACTERS IN AN URBAN ANTHROPOMORPHIC ANIMAL SETTING AS PILOTS AND BARKEEPS AND CORPORATE EXECUTIVES AND A DETERMINED COLLEGE-EDUCATED SINGLE MOM TRYING TO RUN HER OWN BUSINESS AND A SMART-ALEC BUT NICE KID WHO USED TO BE A PIRATE AND HAS A DIESELPUNK SKATEBOARD BECAUSE 90s, AND ALSO PIRATES AND MACHINE GUNS AND AIRSHIPS AND INDIANA JONES-STYLE ADVENTURES.” Not that it was a bad decision, but... how?

-It took Baloo approximately 5 seconds of screen time to put on a skirt. It was the 90s copying a character trait from the 60s that was played for laughs in a way that would be kinda awkward today, but if I recall this show correctly he does it so often. I am just going to pretend it is a genuine character trait. Balo enjoys cross-dressing.

-It occurred to me that Talespin could conceivably take place in the same universe as Zootopia and Robin Hood, and I had to stop and deal with that thought for a moment. It is the only one of the classic Disney Afternoon shows that does, I think, because Rescue Rangers I’m pretty sure has a fairly normal human society above the rodent and small animal society, Duck Tales takes place in the duck-verse much like the various duck comics, same for Darkwing Duck, and Goof Troop is populated entirely by the barely-recognizable-as-dog-or-cat-people that Disney does. Anyway, new headcanon.

-Don Karnage is among the top 5 Disney TV-only cartoon villains, although the others on that list would probably chew him up and spit him out. (The others, including Xanatos, Demona, Mozenrath... I can’t think of a fifth, actually.)

-If I had control of the fictional multiverse, I would love to put Semi-Corrupt Corporate Executive Shere Khan, Lord Vetinari, and David Xanatos in a conference room together and... just watch. It would be amazing.

-Also, I don’t think I ever realized until tonight that it is dieselpunk. I mean... more diesel and less punk, perhaps, because Disney. But nonetheless.

[panthera-nigrum]

Our Potential Is Endless || Bagheera & Shere Khan

Plotted starter for @pocketfullofvoices

Cape Suzette was the land of opportunity for businesses, or so Bagheera had heard. Down To Earth Corp had grown steadily since she'd founded it on her last year of college, perhaps she would have been able to branch out towards Cape Suzette about three years before, but she'd been playing it safe, until she couldn't keep telling her investors to be patient, and the currently elected representatives at Cape Suzette decided to invest in upgrading their rail network, and chose her company for their more eco-friendly options.

And so the arduous job of opening a new location in the city began. Bagheera tried her best to trust her executives to make the decisions, but after getting one too many vague reports, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That way of thinking had gotten her this far, perhaps it'd been dumb of her to think it would be any different, no matter how many people she was paying to supposedly help her.

One of these new investors was the CEO of Khan Industries, she hadn't had the chance to speak to the animal directly, but she'd sure heard his opinion from a very embarrassed secretary that practically begged her to make time in her schedule to meet with the tiger in person because from what Bagheera was getting, her executives had also failed at satisfying the tiger.

And here she'd been hoping to use her time off to see the city... but business doesn't wait.

She arrived to Khan Industries twenty minutes before she had to meet with the CEO. Bagheera sat outside the office, wearing a dark purple two piece suit over a white shirt that made the markings on her dark fur stand out. The secretary entertaining her in conversation when she could and apologizing for her having to wait multiple times.

"I chose to get here earlier," Bagheera assured. "If your boss is anything like me, he doesn't like unpunctuality. Better to be here early and wait than risk being late."