#3rd draft

[pizzat-i]

I've grown a mouth so sharp and cruel it's all that I can give to you, my dear

———————

going back to my roots drawing desduo aura farming for 3rd life’s fourth year anniversary! doubling as a redraw of the series’ first year anniversary as well.

rough turnaround & closeups under the cut

near total overhaul of my previous design, but i hope you enjoy this one better than the last

[shellyscribbles]

Reading over what I have of an outline for the 3rd draft of The Shadow of Vale and I think I fixed the beginning of the story. Looking back at it after a year of rest, it works much better than the other beginnings I gave it.

[taiistired]

i had the honor of doing jimmy, ren, and scott's character sheets for the 3rd life pilot map!! you can find it here!

[serpentface]

He slowed to a halt and looked over his shoulder for signs of pursuit. None followed, but most of the crowd still watched him, not even the death throes of the now-divine corpse sufficing to tear their eyes away. The calf appeared as an earthbound moon hovering above the shoreline, alive and radiant and beautiful beyond words. He could not know this. What he knew was that familiar cattle were somewhere close by, the breeze heavy with their comforting scent. The calf shook his bloodstained head, took a long piss, and trotted away to meet them.

[kittykatninja321]

Everybody say happy birthday Jason Todd

[remythologise]

I came this far with you. I won't leave you now.

[bunnymadeofstardust]

I like them and all their secret-third-thing-ness :3

[kkoct-ik]

desperately trying to reconnect with my 3L roots. the silly guys :)

bonus because my sketch was so cute

[jellicle-chants]

Casa Mañana CATS Show Notes

I am seriously so glad I got to see this amazing show in person! I have all of my detailed song-by-song recollections under the cut, but up top I just want to shout out @miasiegert's AMAZING costume and wig work, it was such a pleasure to see the bright colors for myself (and the wigs are just so poofy y'all wouldn't believe). Congrats to the whole cast and crew for making this show come to life, it was really something special.

Before I start, I feel like I need to preface this whole thing by saying that this was my first time seeing Cats live, period, and I also only saw this show once, so if I remember something wrong it's because half the time I was desperately trying to get any actor to make eye contact with me lmao. Also if I don't mention something you're curious about, feel free to drop me an ask or just reply with whatever your question is and I'll try to answer as best as I can! I also still haven't seen all the show footage online, so IDK what's common knowledge or not. I'll put a heading for each section so you can skip around if you want.

Jellicle Songs through Invitation

Sadly, the overture had nothing special going on :(

Jellicle Songs opened with a human worker at the stockyards being watched by the cats as they came onstage one by one, before she "turned off" the lights and left

The singing only started once she left and the lights turned back on after "can you see in the dark," which I thought was a really novel and fun interpretation of the lyrics

Since the cast was limited, Jellylorum sang all of Cassandra's lines, and Jerrie and Teazer picked up the twins' as expected. (They have Jelly listed as "Jellylorum/Cassandra" in the program but it's not a split track or anything, she's just normal Jelly singing Cass' lines)

The "flying trapeze" was replaced by some sort of leather harness(?) on a rope that the actors would stick one foot in and swing on (I have no clue what it actually is but Misto uses it during his song as well. Maybe a stirrup to cat-scale?)

The boot drop was replaced with the railroad crossing light going off, which I was hoping for ever since I saw it before the show

They made the "mystical divinity" section a bit of a national anthem analog, with the actors putting hand over heart and the two big US and Texas flags coming out

Naming went pretty much as expected. I'm not really a fan of when productions overemphasize pointing out who is who and I didn't notice it here, so that was appreciated (although I did think Skimble was Plato for most of the show, so maybe I need it more than I think lol)

Jelly and Gus had a cute moment during "some for the gentlemen, some for the dames" where they did a little bow/curtsy to each other

Victoria's solo was split up among all the girls one by one, starting with her doing an abridged White Cat with a pink cowboy hat

The hat was quickly stolen by Teazer, and they had a little fight over it which Jenny had to break up (loved the bratty vibes of this moment, which was their only big interaction I noticed)

Eventually it got passed along to Demeter, who seemed hesitant to take it, but was urged on by the other girls.

Going into the invitation/Munk's monologue, Raphe played him as serious and dramatic as ever (minus the accent), which was a departure from the other actors who tended to play a bit looser and more relaxed. (Not a slight against anyone of course, it was just interesting to observe.)

Gumbie Cat

Before the song started, Munk got a little distracted with a big spool of rope he was playing with 🥺

The same thing happened with Jenny and one of the hanging string lights on the walkway at the back of the stage during his first verse, which got a big audience laugh

As the trio were getting set up, there was a little (staged) moment where Deme fell over and had to quickly sit back up, which added to the idea that she was supposed to be a new member of the tribe and a little unsure of herself

Jenny's tap costume was SO cute, and she kept the US boots on for the rest of the show, which is a good way to identify her

I was definitely surprised that the cast soft-shoeing in their boots (instead of using tap shoes) was audible from the audience, but it worked like a charm!

Munk and Jenny had a little duet at the end (not quite a tap-off like it used to be, but from what I've seen of the recent Oasis prods Munk doesn't get to tap at all :( so it was nice to have him involved)

The song ended with Jenny going "thanks, y'all!" which I am formally requesting become the button for all non-British versions of the show from now on

The Rum Tum Tugger

The staging and setup of this song was pretty much as normal, but as with all good Tugger stagings, the real gems are from the rest of the cast's reactions

Demeter was very into it and leaned over to tease Misto a couple of times, who was very flustered and kept throwing his hands over his eyes — he delivered the "terrible bore" line like he had something to prove. (I didn't know about the cast headcanon until after the show, but from what I saw, you could read his actions as romantic or "ew Dad, gross" equally easily depending on your preferences.)

Deme almost got a moment with Tugger before Bomba cut in on her

At some point Jenny snuck back onstage to "nap" through the rest of the song

Surprisingly, they didn't go with the overexcited kitten gag — I thought it would've fit great with the setting, but I'm sure they had a good reason to cut it out

Grizabella

Rumpleteazer was the last one of the kittens to approach Grizabella (she was a little more timid, I think she was meant to be one of the youngest) and Griz delivered the first verse of her song directly to her as she was shivering in fear on the ground in front of her. Afterwards, she ran over to hide with her brother — I also saw Jenny huddled over Misto and Victoria

Old Deut made a surprise appearance to lead Griz out with a handkerchief over his hand (which I thought was about the "no touching" thing but he also did it at the end, so I'm a little puzzled about that)

Bomba put her hand on Deme's shoulder for comfort as she was leaving

Bustopher Jones

This song was literally so funny, y'all. They made up for the lack of lyric changes (none of the place names were changed) with a bunch of physical humor and gags that were pitch-perfect to the Texas vibe

Everybody was split up into little groups that each wanted to give Bustopher their food (or at least Jerrie and Teazer, who had the corn dogs, really did)

The first thing he picked up was a Whataburger cup from Munkustrap — for those not in the know, Whataburger has basically the same cultural relevance in Texas as In-n-Out has in California, except you can only get it in-state

I'm so sad I got spoiled about the Real Corn Dogs, because watching him take a bite out of them onstage(!!!) was a thrilling experience

Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer

The song started started with them coming out from behind the cat wanted posters on either side of the stage and sneaking towards the middle (including a moment where Jerrie stuck only his leg out from behind a post which was a great image)

Their solo costumes (raggedy overalls with a bunch of mismatched patches) were so cute

Behind the low wall at about mid-stage were a couple of trampolines which the actors used to do fun tricks and bounce in time to the music. I get the feeling the actors weren't as acrobatic (or the cowboy costumes/boots didn't allow that) so this was a great way to introduce some big energy to the number in a different way

After getting off the trampoline, they did a bit sitting on the edge of the wall where they stacked their legs threaded over each other (I'm bad at describing it but it's like when you and a friend try to stack your fists/hands alternating between each other)

At the end they pulled out a barrel and laid it on its side — both my sister and I thought they were going to walk around on top of it, but instead they made a seesaw with it which was also fun

The barrel ended up having some kind of illusion from which they pulled two big foam cowboy hats (in Texas colors of course). Honestly I'm still not sure how they pulled it off

Surprisingly, there were no loot bags (I think they were supposed to be more like rascals or kids goofing off and trespassing than actual thieves), so they skipped the playoff entirely

I think this was one of my favorite songs of the whole show. I really like this song when the actors are doing something every beat, and I honestly don't mind big props/gimmicks like these as long as they don't take up the whole song. This version threaded that needle really well and it was a great time!

Old Deuteronomy through the Jellicle Ball

Not much to say about Old Deut's song. I did notice a lyric change to "married nine wives" but I think that seems to be par for new shows post-2019?

After the pre-ball Macavity scare, Misto and Vic were huddled together downstage right and Sillabub downstage left to segue into the Song of the Jellicles

Tugger got the line "Jellicle cats are rather small" because there was no Alonzo, but otherwise I didn't make notes on who got which line

The ball had a lot more partner dancing than usual (no lifts unfortunately), which fit the theme really well! I don't know much square dancing lingo but I definitely saw them do a grand left and right at one point, I'm sure there was a lot more but I was too awed to really be picking things apart lol

They did pantomime tipping cowboy hats (which I hate a lot less than the weird crown pantomime Andy came up with, mostly because it's already a thing in Western dancing)

I think at one brief pause there was a small Skimble/Victoria moment? (This may have contributed a lot to the Plato mixup lmao)

There was a whole section where Old D stepped down and everyone was trying to reach for his handkerchief as he waved it around (and yeah, still don't know what was happening with that whole thing, sorry y'all 😅)

At the end of the ball (I think at the "Ecstasy" cue if you're familiar with Gillian's choreo names) the lights swept up over the audience like a field of stars and it was honestly the most magical moment ever

Memory (first time) through Moments of Happiness

For some reason in my program they have "Grizabella: The Glamour Cat" listed as "Entry of Grizabella" and Glamour Cat moved down to where this first Memory iteration goes, which gave me false hope that they were going to do the Jelly reprise. Very mean >:(

Before Griz came out, Old Deut almost presented Victoria with the pink cowboy hat from the white cat solo (which I think means she was about to be the Choice), but then she saw Griz coming and everyone got scared away

I feel like there was an extra 8 or 16 counts of dancing music for Griz before the song started, during which she did part of the partner dance choreo from the ball by herself :(

They used "silence" instead of "midnight" which I'm so mad about (ALW I'm gonna get my revenge one day just you wait old man)

Korie is such a beautiful singer, like he really fits the role to a T. Very old-school brassy bari/bass voice, a lot like Ken Page

Since there were no twins, Sillabub just got up and sang on her own, but it wasn't that jarring

At the end of the song, Rumpleteazer got a little sad and slid over to snuggle up at Old D's feet

Gus the Theatre Cat

Before you ask, yes, I did cry a little at this song (knowing that Michael had played Gus before back during the first Broadway run made me tear up, ok?)

Before the song started, Jelly gathered all of the kittens in front of her (unfortunately with the way the blocking ended up Gus was right between us and her for a lot of the song, but he had a much bigger stage presence than replica Guses so it wasn't a big loss)

As Jelly was beginning the first verse, Gus came onstage with a guitar, which he fake-played throughout his verses

Munk got to be Gus' friend at the pub, and they had real beer bottle props which was literally the cutest thing ever

During Gus' verses Michael sang with a much more lyrical tone than normal (as in he was really singing, not talk-singing), and the country accent really fit well with his song

At the Firefrorefiddle part Munk came back and handed Gus an actual fiddle, and how has NOBODY done this before??? It was literally so perfect y'all (I don't think the instrumentation was even changed but it just felt like the exact right thing)

I remembered to check back in on the kittens during their little moment, Rumpleteazer was aptly offended/embarrassed

One of the best lyric changes was definitely "in the days when Hank Williams reigned," I have a feeling if they could have changed more they would but alas

Between the end of the normal song and the lead-in to P&P, Gus ate up the applause (there was a lot!) and sang the next verse like it was an encore

Pekes and Pollicles

Not sure if this is as expected, but Gus sang "the awesome battle" instead of awful (and there was the "heathen" to "foreign" change that I've discussed elsewhere)

Before getting into full Rumpus Cat gear, Gus was dressed as a football referee (complete with real working whistle that he used a couple of times). He also did a coin flip during one of the early verses to decide which cornhole team would throw first

Yes, the actors were really playing cornhole onstage, and they were quite good at it too! I assume a lot of practice was involved lol

During the first barking sequence, Rumpleteazer was on her hands and knees playing one of the dogs and literally jumping off the ground barking, it was so silly-looking

Jenny played the police dog, complete with beer bottle. I think she was off to one corner fake-drinking for most of the song

I think the whole Little Tom Pollicle section was cut, including the bagpipes section

When the Rumpus Cat came out, the "dogs" flipped up the cornhole boards to hide behind. I also spotted Jenny as the police dog with a white-knuckle grip on her beer lmao

All in all, it was a very fun version of the song and I didn't even mind so much that it was moved out of its original spot in the show because it was SO goofy silly

Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat

This staging was a little less dynamic than the normal, they made the fake train very early on in the song and then just basically stayed there the whole time. Skimble was bouncing around as normal though

The train's "smokestack" spouted real steam at one point, which was really cool

Misto and Jelly were the card-players, complete with real oversized cards. At one point Skimble stopped to look at both of their hands and swapped some of their cards to complete the game, which I think is just *chef's kiss* perfect characterization for him

Instead of the fake train falling apart at "Skimbleshanks would help them to get out," there was a gag where Jelly was almost falling over and Skimble had to rush over and help her catch her balance

Macavity (scare, song, and fight)

Macavity used a literal lasso to kidnap Old D

This was totally just a personal thing, but I was definitely thrown off at first by the hard-T American pronunciation of Macavity

I can't remember if this happened here or somewhere else, but I feel like I should mention that at one point Bomba slid into a split so smoothly that I didn't even process it was happening until she was all the way down in it 😅

The fight was much different than normal — everyone got in on fighting Mac. I remember Bomba got a big moment getting him in the stomach before he got away

Instead of the jumper cables, Mac swiped at the "Cattlemen" sign and took out all of the lights except the ones that said "Cat"

After the fight, Deme and Bomba took a beat to clean each other off with some casual acrobatics

Magical Mister Mistoffelees

One change I thought was really sweet was at the beginning of the song, the rest of the cast were really disbelieving of Tugger and rolling their eyes at his claims, which I think pairs well with the cast headcanon

For our performance, Misto was not wearing the brown jacket he had in the promo videos — he may have had a black vest on or just his normal chorus outfit, but he still had his sheriff star :)

They had a couple of cans for Misto to knock over as part of his sharpshooting bit, but no squibs or anything onstage

During the "curled up" line, Misto went and cuddled with Vic for a second

There was a moment post-conjuring turns where the actor did a one-handed cartwheel with the toy gun still in his hand and I was just the tiniest bit afraid for his life (he pulled it off though!!!)

Instead of having a volunteer, they just had two people hold an old blanket that they used to cover Old D from one of the wings back to center stage

Misto looked away like he does sometimes after the Old D trick, but sadly they didn't get to hug after :(

During the final chorus Rumpleteazer got back on the trampoline and was bouncing along to the music

Rather than slowly making the spotlight disappear like in some productions, Misto shot it out before making his exit which was a cute touch

Memory (Reprise)

After Munk's monologue, Old D was ready to make Gus the choice, which this time was represented by a spotlight casting a circle on the ground. I was ready to be disappointed about the whole "wrong cat died" situation, but I was pleasantly surprised when Gus stepped back and invited Griz into the spotlight to make her case, it felt like a really good resolution to the issue some people have with that point

Right after Gus gave up the spotlight, he and Jenny had a little mimed conversation where she seemed a little upset/confused at what he did

Jackie did great as Grizabella — you could definitely tell she had played Elphaba in the past too lol

Interestingly, there were a couple of moments where it almost seemed like Skimble would be the first cat to touch Griz after her song, but he ended up backing off so that Vic could give her the pink cowboy hat :)

Journey through Ad-dressing

My sister and I were speculating before the show started where Griz was going to leave the stage (there wasn't a lot of infrastructure up above the stage itself so we were curious), and it ended up being the piece of scaffolding with "Mule Alley" written on it! Totally unexpected

I wish I had caught more of the cast interactions during this song, but I did definitely notice Bomba and Gus arm in arm

Old D was much more lively and light-hearted during The Addressing of Cats than normal (again, really reminding me of Ken Page's Deuteronomy, but even more jovial. I think there's footage of this so if you haven't gone to check it out definitely do!)

Not quite a lyric change, but the address in question was changed to something pronounced more like "aw, cat"

And that's about it for the show! Like I said at the top, feel free to send me asks if there's any part of the show you'd like to know more about! I tried not to assign romantic/platonic designations to any of the pairs throughout the show because it went by much too fast to tell one from the other (which is basically my way of saying go wild with it, y'all — the cast certainly sure have!).

[alcohol-331]

Snow Globe.

Then you grew fainter and fainter, and I told people about you like a story by the fire. In the dimly lit room, I grew sleepier and sleepier... and sleepier and sleepier... and I slept and never dreamed of you again.

[ohimsummer]

⭑ ࣪ ˖ sum’z notes.ᐟ mb I couldn’t figure out how to continue this LOL

satoru loves to spoil you, his new, adorable puppy hybrid. he gets you anything you want. you don't even have to say the word, sometimes he can just tell. just like he could with this latest gift. your eyes lingered a little too long while he was showering. it's his own fault, really. of course any pup would be incomplete without a ball or two to play with.

"go on.", satoru encourages with a hand on the back of your head.

the tail behind you wags and wide, eager eyes are locked onto the prize before you: satoru's heavy set of balls, pretty and tantalizingly close. they've piqued your interest recently. you never pay them much attention besides a half-assed massage as you're swallowing your owner's cock. but yesterday, they just happened to catch your eye as you gazed over satoru's sculpted body in the shower.

you glance up at satoru one last time. he gives you a toothy grin as he guides you a little closer, so close your lips brush his balls and the groan he lets out causes an ache between your legs. you think you're being sneaky as you slither a hand down below, but satoru notices. he notices everything about his pretty puppy, but he doesn't mention a thing.

his scent fills your head, more intense due to your stronger sense of smell. it surrounds you, gets you drunk off the favorite smell of your owner until you're opening your mouth and begin happily running your tongue along his skin.

[shuyis]

[draconicdeityarts]

The suit he had in the desert in Twilight Gemini was a great look for him. I wish I saw more specials and movies experiment with the colors of his suit or even different looks more often!

[endlesslytired]

[softinvasions]

I Go First • Nov. 2023

It is beyond our concept to recover. The hole goes right through our exposed nerves, and below it lies a thin layer of ice that anesthetizes the wound.

Skin intrudes into skin. Cities topple off of glaciers into the sea. For months we fed on the damage as the melt threatened total collapse.

We drill to the break. When the water arrives, I go first. I melt into my suit and gloves, take our last freezing hour, dive through that unstoppable opening.

Poetry assembled from a National Geographic article on melting glaciers.