#literally did this for my design of him..

[fallout-lou-begas]

So I started playing Ace Attorney but I accidentally started with the third game, Trials and Tribulations, and played the first case (Turnabout Memories) before realizing my mistake – but I did think, at the time, that it was a brilliant and daring design choice to start you out as Mia Fey, Phoenix’s mentor, in flashback, and play has her against several condescending, infantilizing, or even outright sexist court personnel in a drama that just so happens to feature the cool lawyer guy on the box in the most pathetic and embarrassing state imaginable before you even get to play as him. But then that “first” mission dovetailed into the actual first mission from the first game (The First Turnabout) perfectly, because Turnabout Memories is more or less a fanservice recreation and expansion of that first case, but by playing them in opposite order and immediately in sequence, it comes off instead as seeing right away via timeskip just how well that blubbering idiot you helped can handle himself in a court of law now, thanks to Mia’s tutelage – which is itself a continuation of Grossberg’s, as experienced prior. And every note is there, right down to your mentor getting stressed out to the point of exacerbating a medical condition, and opposing the same loser prosecutor.

And then the second case from the first game (Turnabout Sisters), of course, is about the death of Mia Fey that was foreshadowed at the end of Turnabout Memories, making it the first case where you (the player, mechanically) and Pheonix Wright (the character, narratively) are effectively on your own. You (as Pheonix) finally meet Grossberg again, and his staunch refusal to assist in the case is only made more concerning and significant by your firsthand experience playing as Mia under his wing in Turnabout Memories as the “first’ case, and you wonder immediately about their falling out. Maya’s introduction also keeps Mia in the world (including somewhat literally) by revealing more about the Fey family and Mia’s history, relationships, and legacy, and the thing is that I do have to say that playing Turnabout Memories first and getting that experience as Mia, and seeing her as a flawed and insecure rookie fighting for the win before we see her as the effortlessly cool and confident mentor figure, made for a much more narratively satisfying death of a woman than I think it would have been otherwise. You even get a line from Edgeworth in Turnabout Sisters where he calls Pheonix out for using “Mia’s style” of cross-examination – what he calls cowardly nitpicking of perfectly fine testimonies isn’t just how Pheonix does it narratively, it’s how you (the player) do it as the core mechanic of the game, because it’s how Mia does it, and while she is your guide in The First Turnabout, playing as Mia before you play as Pheonix and doing the same thing shows you firsthand that she’s taught him so well that even the prosecution can see it.

This accidental play-order of Turnabout Memories before The First Turnabout and Turnabout Sisters shows off an invaluable amount of Mia Fey’s character, agency, and development that combine to make her feel like the main character for a perfect and holistic three-act introduction to the series, where it doesn’t feel like Pheonix truly “takes over” until Turnabout Samurai – in which he literally does, in fact, take over the law office with Maya as his assistant. It left such a massive impression on me – much more of an impression, I think, that the intended play-order would, which I don’t think does Mia Fey a total disservice at all, but definitely relegates her to a relatively more one-dimensional mentor figure in Pheonix’s shadow for almost the entirety of her short on-screen lifespan if you don’t have the experience of playing as her in Turnabout Memories first. You as the player develop a much richer relationship to Mia that makes her death in Turnabout Sisters feel so much more personal, and the stakes of cracking the case so much more significant. It just enhances her character, and her role in these two cases, immeasurably.

And I mentioned it earlier, but it can’t be said enough that the player’s relationship to Pheonix benefits from this play-order, too – it’s because of Mia that he goes from the sobbing idiot who ate a bottle of poison on the witness stand for a girl who tried frame him for murder into the hotshot rookie lawyer through which you (the player) get to ask Mia for help during the trial in the first place! And she gives you that help because she has been in this same position herself and understands completely! You (the player) were there! The First Turnabout is also, honestly, kind of an underhand toss after Turnabout Memories (it's literally the first ever case so of course it's easy), but it only benefits the pacing of this play-order to have it as a second act before the much more complicated Turnabout Sisters. And when you, the player, are on your own after Turnabout Sisters and have to start Turnabout Samurai without her help, the only way that I can describe it is that you feel ready to make Mia proud.

[twstfanblog]

Omg requests are open 🥺 okay okay so last week I had this dream that I was at a party and some random little wizard man cursed me with a spell and all of a sudden I was in just my underwear in the middle of the dance floor?? So like How would the twst cast - mainly scarabia and savanaclaw - react to that happening to their partner? Especially if their partner had a lot of scars or stretch marks and was really insecure about everyone seeing them :(

You absolutely do not have to do this ofc I just thought it was an interesting idea - no pressure!

I really really love your blog I’ve been following for agesss 🥺💛

Boys React to Lover Being Stripped

Leona

Lowkey, I don't think the spell is hitting anyway. Leona's got mad points in defense spells. So if he's standing near you and a spell is coming, he deflecting that shit.

But, if by some horrible design the spell actually hit, you're basically in his vest and halfway out of the room before you even realize what just happened. He's concerned, checking you over to make sure you're not hurt, and that's when he notices how shy you are about your marks, so he goes to get you clothing to cover up.

Now, while you're resting together, he'll just like, use his tail to play with your shirt hem. He wants to look at your body closely. Scars are a sign of pride and considered beautiful in the Sunset Savanna. He also just thinks the stretch marks are sexy. Literal tiger stripes as far as he's concerned.

Ruggie

Freaks out once he sees what the spell did. His shirt is off and on you while he's hunting in the crowd for the fucker who just stripped his lover from across the room. He gives up pretty quickly to usher you out of the room. He barely even registers the marks because he's honestly no stranger to random scars.

Afterwards, he's now more comfortable shirtless in front of you. It helps you get more comfortable seeing that he has his own scars. And better fed he is, you can still see a rib or two. He's got fucking hyena spots on his hips, your strech marks aren't even anything weird to him. Another who equates scars with something to be proud of.

Jack

Nearly kills someone. At least everyone thinks he is from how loud he growled while picking you up in his arms. He's basically covering you like that; his biceps are all the clothing you need at the moment. He's leaving immediately and you're coming with him. The next day, he's a man on a mission to figure out who did the spell because he's going to just...break someone's arm real fast.

Jack has stretch marks, I'm calling it. The boy is 16, 6'2" and ripped as hell. He's got stretch marks just from growing the way he has. Mostly understands your insecurity about them as he has his own issues with his growth spurt in middle school. But, he also starts showing his stretch marks more, just so you know he has them too. Can't talk bad about your marks without talking bad about his.

Kalim

Yelling the second he sees your bra. Blushing, taking his jacket off to cover you and calling for Jamil. Ushers you out of the room, ends the party right then and there. Yes, it is a literal investigation about what happened at the party. Yes, someone will be put to death for the crime of making you cry at one of Kalim's parties.

Doesn't really understand that you're more upset at the mark becoming public knowledge than the fact you were stripped. He's been around all of his mom's, he's seen stretch marks and thinks they're pretty, like tiger stripes. Lowkey, didn't even think people came without them after a certain age. Offers to find a way to cover the marks if they bother you. You could get tattoos like his, then you can match!

Jamil

You barely realize what's happened because Jamil's already got you covered up and halfway out of the room. He's glaring in the crowd, having anticipated something happening at the party, but didn't think it was going to be this. He thought someone was going to make an attempt on Kalim’s life.

A little peeved when it turns out you're more upset about 'flashing the crowd' than the action of being stripped. But he can pick up on the insecurity of your marks. He does tell you it's all natural with growing, that scars are a sign of strength to plenty of people in Twist. But, if you really dislike them, he will offer up some lotion that the Asim's use to stay buttery soft and smooth. It will at the very least help soften and fade the marks.

[detective-n0ir]

HOW SOTM EXPLAINED SOME OF THE FNAF LORE HOLES (major spoilers)

I feel like we need to talk about how much info on the lore and world building of FNAF in general Secret Of The Mimic has explained. Obv there is so much stuff in there that I won't be covering it all but I have a few things I would like to talk about.

1 - William Afton having a vent to Sister Loction's bunker IN HIS HOUSE (EXPLAINED)

This was probably one of craziest info back in the old FNAF days that didn't make much sense to regular person in the fandom. Because let's be real it sounded unreal, because it would mean that William's house was build next to Sister Location. But now with SOTM out, we actually have an reasonable explanation for this within the mails you can find in game.

First of all William and Henry (Fazbear Entertaiment) were one of the clients for MCM (which was Edwin's Company who made and sold designs to other companies like we see below):

Which means they knew each other pretty well, they were close bussiness partners. Now, neither William nor Henry had their home anywhere close to their creations (like the whole idea of William living next to SL) but do you know who does? EDWIN. In the game we literally enter his house that is part of MCM whole property! Now you may be thinking, okay but how does this connect the whole vent to SL thing? Well let's look at some mails:

From this mail we get info that in act of desperation since MCM was going bankrupt with Edwin not being able to hold it together, he has sold the property to Fazbear Entertaiment (William Afton and Henry). And since Edwin's house is connected to the company's land/property William (WA) send him the email where he assured the deal was fair and square and that Fazbear Ent. would not touch his family house. Okay but, if William said the house was still Edwin's, how does it contribute to the explanation?

Well...There are two more mails regarding this matter:

And surprise, surprise...Fazbear Ent. LIED! Who would have thought that William Afton the fair and amazing bussness man had lied? Now you might be thinking, okay but first of all who the hell send this email? And why would William even want Edwin's house in the first place, the guy surely could afford better house for his family to settle in nearby!

Well this person is no one another than FIONA, or rather M1, the A.I. version of FIONA. The binary code translates to "SAD".

Now okay, but that still doesn't explain why would Fazbear Ent. want Edwin's house in the first place nor if William really did end up living there with his family...Well it actually does!

Take a look at this:

Yet again this email was also sent by FIONA (M1). Notice how she says "MY HOME". Because ladies and gentelmen the first created Mimic that was FIONA was placed in no other place than EDWIN'S HOUSE. William wanted the house for himself or rather for Fazbear Ent. because the A.I. WAS THERE!

Also the binary translates to "HOME".

FIONA is found by Arnold near Edwin's house!

Not only that, since M1 emotionally manipulated Edwin into creating M2 ("David") it meant THE SECOND Mimic who was extremly helpful for costumes (which would come in handy for Fazbear Ent.) was also in THE SAME HOUSE. And how do we know that? Well just look at this:

2- William having cameras in Crying Child's bedroom from FNAF 4 (EXPLAINED)

Yes, yes this is what you think. This is a bedroom from FNAF 4.

And this confirms the fact that William moved into Edwin's house with his family, because this used to be David's (M2) bedroom before it became Crying Child's in FNAF 4 (which would also explain the cameras in C.C.'s room, they were there to monitor M2 by Edwin and possibly by FIONA).

So to sum it up, yes William did have vents to SL in his house, because it used to be Edwin's house that was next to MCM factory that was lately probably rebuild by William and probably Henry to become Pizzerias from other games. And it also explains why the heck there were cameras in the child's bedroom.

[respectfulrebel]

Soooooo… this started so wholesome and cute— Noah and the boys, her proud moment with her designs making the wall, him showing up at the studio, the sandwiches 🥹🥹🥹 their conversation, the vibes??? And then… 🫠🫠🫠🫠 I wasn’t kidding when I said I was crying on the bus. I’m repeating myself cause I’ve said that so many times before, but the way you describe and write heavy moments like this is always so real, and always makes my heart ache 🥲

Theo squinted up at Noah, suddenly curious.

"Was that your girlfriend?"

Theo asking the real questions 🤭

"Would you want her to be your girlfriend?" Theo insisted.

What did I say? 🤭🤭🤭

"And she came all the way out here for you. Maybe she likes you!" his brother added.

I love those kids 🤭🤭🤭 they know what’s up

"Maybe she'll break up with him." Said Theo.

FINGERS CROSSED, THEO 😩

"That means I'm getting wiser. Now go, before she really comes out here with a slipper."

🤭🤭🤭🤭

Noah snorted. "Is he still alive? Or did he finally drink himself into a coma?"

😂😂😂 I mean that’s a fair question

"I'd get one of these tattooed. Easy."

Pleaseeeeee 🥹🥹🥹

You looked at him for a second, heart tapping a little faster than it should have. "No. You don't have to leave."

Noah blinked. "You sure? I can go."

Noooooo dummy, take the hint 😩

"Don't say stuff like that. I'd care."

😭😭😭😭 stoooooooooppp

Like he didn't mean anything. Like he truly believed he was disposable.

How is it possible for my heart to break for a fictional character??? 😭😭😭

Noah's hand, light but firm, curled around your forearm for just a second. He didn't say a word. Just guided you gently to the inside of the sidewalk, placing himself between you and the quiet late evening traffic.

He passed not only the boyfriend test, but the husband test, the baby daddy test, the soulmate test, the grow old together test, the choose you in every lifetime test, the I can wait for years if I gotta test… 😭

You turned toward the small grocery store on the corner, one with a flickering neon in the window and hand-written signs taped to the door.

I literally screamed internally “THE SANDWICH!!!!!” 😭😭😭

He stopped mid-sentence as the bag shifted in your hand and the rest of the contents became visible: a loaf of white bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of pickles.

I’m gonna cry 😭😭😭😭

"Because you said it was your favorite,"

MARRY HEEEEERRRR 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

"Sometimes I want to try new things. Just because they look bad doesn't mean they are."

Pleaseeee 😭😭😭

It was such a small thing, but you liked having his hand in yours, even if just for a moment.

It’s not a small thing 🥹🥹🥹🥹

"It's just... this is probably the sweetest thing someone's done for me in a long time."

Stooooooooopp it right nooooow 😭😭😭😭

You watched him chew. In your head, you could almost picture a younger version of him, swinging his legs under a kitchen table, grinning and waiting for his little sandwich. It was a strangely vivid image, and it made your chest feel weird.

It felt like the city went quiet around you. It was just the two of you on an old slab of concrete, eating weird childhood food under a sky that was slowly turning dark enough for you to see a couple of stars.

He just casually reached for the jar of pickles again while you were mid-sentence, and you didn't stop him. You kept talking while you started spreading the peanut butter on a slice for him, and you let him cut the pickles after.

And they’re cooking together already??? 😭😭😭

"Thought for sure l'd take a hit bad enough to chip them a bit. Honestly, I even kind of hoped for it. These things are way too long."

No, they’re not, they’re adorable 🥺🥺 I love that you’ve included his bunny teeth 🤭

Because it was nothing.

Right?

Mhm… sure… 😌

But you had smiled more in one hour with Noah than you had in days at home. You had laughed. And you had felt a weird feeling in your stomach, a good weird feeling. Mostly when he smiled. When he thanked you. When he looked at you with his pretty brown eyes a moment longer.

😭😭😭😭😭😭 girl, you’re in loveeeeeeeeee 🥺

So, it had been a good day. Better than he could ever imagine. He also had the chance to hold your hand a couple of times, even if he wasn't really holding it.

Sweet boy 🥺🥺🥺 I also love that we get to see his perspective as well 🥺

And when Noah closed his eyes, laying on his mattress, the dark didn't stay empty.

Because there's a field.

There's always a field.

I swear from now on I’m gonna be getting triggered every time I hear the word field 😩 I already loved this story so much, but THIS??? WHAT IS HAPPENING???? Literally was at the edge of my seat reading this last bit, heart pounding as I was trying not to audibly sob 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I could not form a coherent theory about it but I’m sooo invested in this story, it’s unreal 😭

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐇 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒 - 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

Pairing: underground fighter! noah x reader

Series summary: You’re dragged to watch an illegal fight, and after the match, you meet Noah, a fighter who seems to be battling more than just his opponents.

Tw: relationship doubt, nightmares

Series mastelist

Noah turned the corner with a grocery bag slung over one shoulder, thumb hooked through the strap. The bag wasn’t full, just a few essentials: a loaf of bread, a carton of oat milk, a couple of apples and a couple of those meals already cooked and ready to be eaten.

As he passed the intersection near the old mural wall, a half-deflated basketball bounced out into the street in front of him.

“Hey, Noah!” a voice called.

He looked up to see Miles come skidding after the ball, sneakers slapping pavement. Right behind him was Theo, younger by a couple of years, skinnier, always wearing a t-shirt too big for him.

Noah bent down, caught the basketball before it rolled too far, and turned it in his hands once before tossing it gently back.

“Hey, kids,” he said, one corner of his mouth lifting.

“Thanks!” Miles caught it clumsily, grinning.

Theo squinted up at Noah, suddenly curious. “Was that your girlfriend?”

Noah blinked. “What?”

“That girl,” Miles said, coming closer, “The one who came by last week, asking for you. Looking like she was on a secret mission.”

Noah chuckled softly. “No, she’s not my girlfriend. We… just kinda know each other.” He shrugged.

Miles exchanged a quick glance with Theo, then grinned. “She was pretty, though. You know.”

Noah laughed again, shaking his head. “That doesn’t change anything.”

“Would you want her to be your girlfriend?” Theo insisted.

“Why don't you two go back to playing ball?” He said in a way that let them know he wasn't actually mad.

Theo stuck out his tongue but didn’t move. “Because you’re our friend, Noah. We like talking to our friends.”

Noah’s smile softened as he looked at them, and he took a small step closer to Theo, he reached out and ruffled the younger boy’s hair, messing it up.

“You guys are my friends too,” he said, “But she’s still not my girlfriend.”

Theo grinned, shaking his head as he fixed his hair, like a little dog.

“Does she live around here?” The kid asked.

Noah shook his head. “Nope. She lives in the city.”

“Oh, that’s cool!” Miles said.

“And she came all the way out here for you. Maybe she likes you!” his brother added.

Noah rolled his eyes. “She lives in the city. With her boyfriend.”

Miles let out a groan of disappointment. “Aw, no!”

“Maybe she’ll break up with him.” Said Theo.

“I really don’t think that’s gonna happen. I'm sorry, kids.”

Just as the boys were turning to run back toward their game, a sharp voice rang out across the street.

“Miles! Theo!”

They all turned their heads in unison. Standing in the doorway of a small brick rowhouse just a few doors down was their mother, one hand braced on the frame, the other resting on her hip. Her apron was dusted with flour, and she had that specific tone that meant playtime was over.

“That’s enough, boys! Homework time. I don’t want to come out there again!”

Theo let out a groan. Miles dragged his feet a little, bouncing the basketball one more time, reluctantly.

“She always catches us at the best part,” Miles muttered under his breath.

Noah grinned. “You heard her. Better listen to your mom.”

Miles sighed, then called over his shoulder, “Okay, we’re coming!”

Their mother spotted Noah then and lifted a hand in greeting, as she gave him a small smile. He lifted his hand back in return, a little wave of acknowledgment.

As the boys started trudging back toward the house, Theo paused and looked over his shoulder.

“Hey, Noah?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time, can we come over and punch the big bag again?”

“Maybe,” he said, shifting the grocery bag on his shoulder. “But only if you actually do your homework today. Like, really do it.”

Theo squinted. “Even the math?”

“Especially the math.”

Miles groaned again. “Ugh, you sound just like our mom.”

Noah laughed. “That means I’m getting wiser. Now go, before she really comes out here with a slipper.”

The boys took off in a run, jostling each other as they scrambled up the front steps of their house. Their mom gave them both a light smack on the shoulder as they passed, more affectionate than stern.

Noah lingered for a second, watching them go in, the door swinging shut behind them. The street quieted again, he just smiled to himself, and kept walking.

You were wiping down the last of the counters and fixing some artwork that was not in the right place, closing time approaching.

Nick stepped out from the back room, where he kept some tools, pulling off his gloves and tossing them into the trash.

“Hey,” he said, “did your friend like the butterfly?”

You looked up from where you were stacking ink bottles. “Oh yeah. She loved it. I think she posted, like, five hundred pictures on her stories.”

Nick laughed, grabbing his hoodie from the hook near the door. “I know. She tagged the shop in every single one of them.”

"Well, that girl has a lot of followers. Maybe she gave you free advertising."

"In that case, I'm glad she posted so much about it." He said with a smile, then looked at the clock on the wall. “Listen. Think it’s cool if I head out a bit early? We’re done for the day, and you’ve pretty much got the place spotless already.”

You gave him a nod. “Yeah, of course, no worries. I’ll finish up and close.”

“Seriously, thanks. I owe you one.”

You waved him off. “Just go before you fall asleep while driving.”

Nick laughed again, zipping up his hoodie. “You're the best! Have a nice evening!”

The door jingled as he stepped out, letting in a quick gust of cooler air, and then it clicked shut behind him, leaving you alone.

You went back to wiping down the last chair, checking the needle disposal bin, straightening a few art prints on the wall that had been slightly knocked down by the day’s traffic.

Your eyes landed on a specific corner of the wall.

A few days ago, after Nick had caught a glimpse of one of your sketches when your notebook hit the floor, he had asked you to see more.

You didn’t expect what came next. He told you they were beautiful, different in a way that would stand out, and that someone, probably more than someone, would want them on their skin. Then he offered to clear a spot on the wall and hang a few.

You hadn’t known what to say at first. You weren’t even sure your work belonged up there. But you’d said yes.

Now that section of the wall held your designs: a crescent moon tangled in lavender, a dagger wrapped in ivy and thread, a black cat mid-stretch, its tail curling like a question mark, a skeletal hand holding a blooming peony, a moth with eyes on its wings, a pair of koi fish circling in opposite directions.

You still thought they weren't that special. But they were yours. And now they lived here, in this space where people came to choose what they wanted to carry forever.

Seeing them on the wall still felt a little unreal. But it also felt good.

Outside, the sky was burning into that deep orange-violet that always made the city look absolutely beautiful. The front windows glowed softly with it, throwing reflections of the hanging flash art onto the tiled floor.

You were reaching for your jacket, keys already in hand, when you heard the soft jingle of the front door swinging open. You didn’t even look up at first.

“Sorry, we’re closed. If you want to book a consultation you can—”

You turned as you spoke, and stopped mid-sentence.

It was Noah.

The words evaporated off your tongue, replaced by an involuntary smile. He stood just inside the doorway, the hood of his sweatshirt still up. He pulled it back as the door closed behind him, brushing a hand through his hair, trying to smooth it down.

“Damn,” he said, brow arched. “I gotta have an appointment just to have a conversation with you now?”

You let out a laugh, shaking your head. “Noah, what are you doing here?”

“Can’t I just drop by because I wanted to say hi to you?” he asked. “The place you work at sounded pretty cool when you told me about it. I wanted to check it out.”

You smiled, folding your arms as you leaned back against the counter. He wanted to say hi to you. “So, verdict?”

He glanced around. “Yeah, it’s very cool. Way better than some of the places where I got my tattos. I got one of them in the back of an Indian restaurant, once. The artist was great, but I smelled like curry for a week.”

You laughed, shaking your head.

He sat down on the stool across from you, resting his elbows on the counter. That’s when you noticed his knuckles, scraped and a little swollen.

You nodded toward his hands. “Did you at least win this time?”

He nodded, slowly. “Yeah. Covered my groceries for the week. A lot of pre-cooked chicken and sad pasta salad.”

“Definitely better than the stuff Kole tries to cook sometimes.”

Noah snorted. “Is he still alive? Or did he finally drink himself into a coma?”

You shot him a look, even though you were already trying not to laugh. “Noah.”

“What?” he said, raising his hands like he was innocent. “Last time I saw him, he looked two beers from it.”

You rolled your eyes. “He’s fine. Nothing an aspirin and a day at home couldn't fix.”

“Impressive,” Noah said, leaning forward a bit.

Noah glanced past you, his eyes landing on the display wall behind the counter. His expression shifted, brows lifting slightly, mouth tilting with something like surprise.

“Those are cool,” he said, nodding toward the framed flash art. “Really cool.”

“Thanks,” you replied, almost on instinct.

But then he looked at you more closely, like something had clicked. “Wait...did you make those?”

You hesitated for half a second, then nodded. “Yeah.”

“No way!” He leaned back slightly, clearly impressed. “You didn't tell me you could draw.”

You shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. “It never came up, I guess.”

Noah stood, walking over to the wall to get a better look. He tilted his head, taking his time with each piece.

“These are sick.”

You smiled, warmth creeping up your neck. “I didn’t think they were anything special. Nick made me put some up.”

“Well, Nick was right,” he said, still facing the wall. “I’d get one of these tattooed. Easy.”

You laughed softly. “You’re just saying that.”

“No,” he said, turning back toward you. “I’m really not. You should draw more,” he added. “Seriously. I mean it.”

You wondered if he would’ve said the same thing if he’d seen the pages of your sketchbook, pages filled with his face, his bruised hands, all the details you couldn’t seem to stop drawing.

You thought you'd rather die than let him see them.

You didn’t say anything for a moment as watched him, standing in the fading orange light, surrounded by your own art. It felt so right. And you couldn’t help but think he was so beautiful.

You cleared your throat. “I was just about to close up, I—”

Noah turned to you quickly. “Oh, yeah. Of course. I’ll get out of your way. You probably wanna go home and crash or whatever, long day and all.”

You looked at him for a second, heart tapping a little faster than it should have. “No. You don’t have to leave.”

He looked at you, trying to understand.

“It’s still kinda early,” you added. “And Kole’s not gonna be home for a while anyway.”

Noah blinked. “You sure? I can go.”

Dumbass. I don't want you to.

“Yeah. Come with me. There’s something I’ve been meaning to try.”

That made him pause, uncertain. “Try?”

You smiled, locking the register and grabbing your bag. “You’ll see.”

He followed, curious now, his expression both amused and confused as you shut off the lights, twisted the key in the lock, and stepped out into the dusky orange haze that had settled over the city.

The parking lot was mostly empty. Sunset reflecting over the glass windows of the few cars there.

“This is how horror movies start,” Noah said, pretending to be suspicious, as he adjusted the sleeves of his hoodie. “Girl says ‘Come with me,’ guy follows without asking questions. Next thing you know...boom. Missing persons poster. Not that anyone would actually care if this really happened.”

You stopped walking for half a second, just enough to glance at him. The way he said it, lightly, like a joke, didn't change its meaning.

“Don’t say that.”

He looked at you, almost like you caught off guard. “What?”

“You know what,” you said, serious this time. “Don’t say stuff like that. I’d care.”

Noah blinked, like he hadn’t expected you to respond at all, let alone seriously.

“Not if you’re the one who murdered me in a tattoo shop parking lot,” he said, trying to keep the tone playful.

Eventually, you let out a little laugh, because it was easier. But the way he said it still hurt you.

Like he didn’t mean anything. Like he truly believed he was disposable.

He kept following you.

"You gonna tell me where we're going?" he asked.

You gave him a sideways glance, your expression just shy of smug. “Just wait. You’ll see.”

You crossed the street and reached the curb on the other side of the road, and then you felt it.

Noah’s hand, light but firm, curled around your forearm for just a second. He didn’t say a word. Just guided you gently to the inside of the sidewalk, placing himself between you and the quiet late evening traffic.

It happened so quickly, so naturally, you almost didn’t have time to register it. You glanced at him, but he didn’t meet your eyes, and he was already looking ahead.

But your heart was doing something it definitely wasn’t doing before.

And your mind was thinking that that little gesture was something that Kole never did.

You reached the edge of the sidewalk and came to a slow stop. You stood still for a second, and Noah slowed beside you, glancing around like he was trying to guess the next move.

You turned toward the small grocery store on the corner, one with a flickering neon in the window and hand-written signs taped to the door.

Noah looked at it, then looked back at you. “…This our destination?”

You smiled, adjusting your bag on your shoulder. “Not exactly. Can you wait here for a few minutes?”

He blinked. “Uh. Yeah. Sure.”

“I’ll be quick.”

He leaned back against the wall without question, hands in the pockets of his hoodie, and nodded once. “I’ll be right here.”

You pushed through. Inside, the air was cooler and it smelled like a mix of all the food they sold there.

You found the pickles first, then the jar of peanut butter. The bread took longer, Noah hadn’t said what kind, and you stood staring at a few options until you just picked the one that looked closest to what a grandmother might buy. Fresh and soft, but with a cruncher crust.

At the last second, you grabbed a small, cheap plastic knife from near the deli counter, because you needed something to cut the bread and pickles.

Unexpectedly, the cashier didn’t even look at you funny.

When you stepped outside again, Noah was exactly where you left him, leaned back against the brick, one foot braced against the wall, head tilted toward the darkening sky like he’d been watching the clouds shift.

He straightened when he saw you, eyes immediately dropping to the grocery bag in your hand. Then they landed on the knife, partially visible.

“Ah! I knew you were gonna kill—”

He stopped mid-sentence as the bag shifted in your hand and the rest of the contents became visible: a loaf of white bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of pickles.

His voice caught. The grin faded, just a fraction, and he blinked like something in him had gone soft all at once.

“…me.” he finished, barely above a whisper.

You held his gaze and smiled. “What?”

Noah’s eyes flicked from your face back to the bag, his posture subtly shifting like he didn’t quite know what to do with the warmth rising in his chest.

"Why’d you buy that?”

“Because you said it was your favorite,” you said simply. “You told me your grandma used to make it. And that you missed it.”

His lips parted slightly. You could tell he didn’t know what to do with that. Because he wasn't used to things like that.

You wondered how he could be so sure that he wasn't a good person, that he didn't deserve to stop fighting, to have a real job, a real house. How he could hate himself so much when his expression became so soft just by looking at the ingredients of a sandwich.

“I remember you said it sounded gross,” he said.

“It did,” you agreed, “but I still want to try it.”

“…Why?”

“Because…” You hesitated. Then shrugged. "Sometimes I want to try new things. Just because they look bad doesn’t mean they are."

Noah stared at you for a long second. There was something incredibly soft in his face now.

For a moment you just wanted to hug him. Tell him he wasn't alone, and if he had been, he wasn't anymore. That you cared. That you bought all that stupid things for him because you cared and hoped to make him happy with them.

He looked down, ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Jesus,” he muttered, not at you, more at himself.

You stayed in silence for a moment. Then bumped his arm with yours.

“C’mon,” you said, lifting the bag slightly. “Let’s find a place to test this culinary masterpiece.”

That earned you a breath of laughter.

“Lead the way.” he said.

You and Noah made your way back to the parking lot as the sky started growing darker.

There was a low concrete ledge near the edge of the lot, probably part of an old loading dock, just high enough to be a little hard to climb onto but perfect to sit, chat and eat for a while. Noah got there first and pulled himself up with a soft grunt, the soles of his shoes scraping against the cement. Once settled, he turned and offered you his hand without a word.

You looked at it for a second, then at him and you took it. It was warm, a little rough from old bruises and healing cuts, but his grip was careful as he helped pull you up beside him.

It was such a small thing, but you liked having his hand in yours, even if just for a moment.

You sat down next to him, and he leaned back on his hands, long legs stretched out in front of him. You pulled the brown paper bag into your lap and started unpacking everything.

“I wasn’t sure what kind of bread you meant,” you said.

“It's perfect.” he answered immediately.

You started slicing into it. “And important question: pickles. Slices or strips?”

Noah shrugged. “It’s not that deep.”

“No, come on. I want to make it the right way.”

He exhaled, giving in. “Slices.”

“Good,” you said, fishing a few out onto a napkin. “Because I don’t think I even know how to cut them into strips.”

He let out little laugh.

You kept working on the sandwiches, careful with the knife, placing each ingredient with quiet precision. You felt his gaze on you before you saw it. You glanced over, catching the way he was watching you.

“What?” you asked.

Noah blinked. “Nothing.”

You gave him a look. “Noah.”

“What?”

“Tell me.”

He hesitated, starting playing with the hem of his hoodie. Then he said, a little quieter, “It’s just… this is probably the sweetest thing someone’s done for me in a long time.”

Your fingers paused for a moment on the bread. That ache again, low in your ribs.

You didn’t know what to say, exactly. So you handed him a sandwich.

“Well,” you said, keeping your voice soft, “your grandma gets the credit. I’m just copying.”

He took the sandwich from your hands and looked at it for a second before glancing back at you. Then he took a bite.

You watched him chew. In your head, you could almost picture a younger version of him, swinging his legs under a kitchen table, grinning and waiting for his little sandwich. It was a strangely vivid image, and it made your chest feel weird.

While you waited for his verdict, you took a bite of yours.

“So?” You asked.

He gave a slow nod. “It’s perfect.”

“You already said that about the bread,” you pointed out.

“That’s because it is,” he replied. “It’s exactly how she used to make it.”

You took another bite and before you could say anything else, he was smirking at you.

“That’s your second bite,” he said, nodding at your sandwich.

You glanced down. “So?”

“So, that means you like it.”

“Actually, it’s kinda disgusting,” then added, “but I’m starving.”

He laughed again. And every time you managed to pull a laugh from him like that, it felt like a win.

It felt like the city went quiet around you. It was just the two of you on an old slab of concrete, eating weird childhood food under a sky that was slowly turning dark enough for you to see a couple of stars.

You took another bite. And maybe… it really didn’t taste so bad after all.

You stayed there a while longer. Long enough for Noah to eat not one, but two more sandwiches.

He just casually reached for the jar of pickles again while you were mid-sentence, and you didn’t stop him. You kept talking while you started spreading the peanut butter on a slice for him, and you let him cut the pickles after.

You found yourself talking more than you normally would, and he listened more than most people ever had. There was always something about the way he looked at you when you spoke, like nothing you said was boring, like he was hearing all of it and would remember every word.

At one point, you nodded toward the other side of the street.

“That record shop over there? The one with the neon sign half-burned out?”

Noah turned to follow your gaze.

“They’ve got a bunch of old vinyls and music gear. I’ve been a couple of times with my best friend. She left me in the metal section for like an hour and went off to search through Harry Styles stuff.”

Noah gave a short laugh. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I swear, she could spend hours just flipping through vinyls with his face on them. Meanwhile, I made friends with this Jolly guy behind the counter. He's funny and I ended up talking to him for like two hours while she hunted down some limited edition single or something. We ended up talking about tattoos, and I told him I work at the tattoo shop across the street. From that day on, he got all his tattoos done by Nick. You would like him, I think."

He nodded and kept chewing on his sandwich, reminding you of a squirrel, in some way.

You pointed again, down the road this time. “Folio’s got a mechanic shop down there. Took my car in once when it stopped working. Turned out a cat peed on the engine or something. He also got some tattoos by Nick.”

Time passed, and you stayed there until the sky turned fully dark and the moon was hanging high above. You didn’t really want to leave. It felt good, just being there with him. Even though you knew Kole was probably already home by now.

You found yourself watching the way his Adam’s apple moved when he spoke, not too prominent, but there, shifting slightly with every word and making the tattoos on his neck seem to come alive.

“It’s kind of weird I’ve never lost a tooth,” he said at some point.

You raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, with all the punches I’ve taken over the years, you’d think at least one would’ve gone flying. A molar. Something. But nope. Still all intact.”

“Ouch.” you muttered under your breath, wincing at the mental image.

He smirked. “I always figured it was just a matter of time. Or that maybe I’d at least fix these bunny teeth or something.”

“Bunny teeth?” you echoed, laughing.

“Yeah,” he said, “These two front ones.” He reached up and ran the pad of his thumb lightly across them. “Thought for sure I’d take a hit bad enough to chip them a bit. Honestly, I even kind of hoped for it. These things are way too long.”

You smiled shaking your head, and for a second, you caught yourself watching the movement of his mouth more than you should’ve, how his teeth showed just slightly when he laughed.

They were kinda cute, actually. You didn’t say it.

Eventually, you both had to go.

He hopped down first and, like before, offered you his hand to help you down. You took it.

“Thanks.” You murmured.

He pointed toward a car parked not far from yours. “That’s mine for the night. Well, technically not mine. Borrowed it from the kids’ mom.”

You said goodbye.

"Thank you for... you know. Everything." He said.

"Anytime."

And you meant it.

You would have done it again as many times as he wanted.

He said "see you soon" and you hoped you were actually going to see him soon.

It was only once you got into your car, that you noticed your phone screen lighting up. One missed call. Three messages from Kole.

The house was quiet when you walked in. You dropped your keys onto the table by the door and hung your bag.

Kole was in the living room, standing halfway between the couch and the hallway, arms crossed. You didn’t even have time to take off your jacket before his voice cut through the silence.

“Where were you?” he asked. “It’s late. You never get off work this late. I thought something happened.”

You paused, blinked, let the door click shut behind you.

“I’m sorry,” you said. “I didn’t see your texts.”

He didn’t respond, just stared, waiting for more.

You exhaled slowly. “Noah stopped by. You know, Noah? From the fight club?” You tried to keep your voice even and casual, like it really was nothing.

Because it was nothing.

Right?

“He just came by to say hi. We started talking, and I lost track of time. That’s all.”

His eyes narrowed. “Noah?” A beat. “Sebastian?”

You nodded. “Yeah.”

He didn’t say anything for a second. Then just: “Hm.”

You were about to say something else when he finally looked up again.

“Are you cheating on me?”

“What?” you said. “No. Of course not.”

He stared at you, unmoving. “You sure?”

“Kole,” you said, taking a step forward, trying to catch his gaze, “please. I’m not cheating on you.”

He didn’t answer right away. Just ran a hand over his face. Finally, he muttered, “Okay.”

That was it. Just okay.

You stood there in the middle of the room, your jacket still on, your heart still racing, as he walked to the bedroom.

And it was true. You weren’t cheating on him. You hadn’t crossed any lines. You and Noah hadn’t even touched if not for your hands when he helped you up and down the concrete ledge.

But you had smiled more in one hour with Noah than you had in days at home. You had laughed. And you had felt a weird feeling in your stomach, a good weird feeling. Mostly when he smiled. When he thanked you. When he looked at you with his pretty brown eyes a moment longer.

You weren’t cheating. But still...

Is it cheating if your heart goes to someone else?

You stood in the dim light, alone now, and for the first time in a while, you weren’t entirely sure what the truth was anymore. Or what you were supposed to do now.

Noah hadn’t expected much when he drove over. Hell, he’d almost turned back twice. 

He wasn’t even sure why he was doing it. He just really wanted to see you again.

He had told himself you’d tell him to leave, for sure. That it was late, that you had to close up and head home. That maybe he was being inappropriate, overstepping.

So he was almost surprised when you didn’t.

And he was definitely surprised when you ended up buying the ingredients for his stupid sandwich.

You had listened when he told you. And you had cared enough to give it to him.

It was such a small thing, eating weird sandwiches in a quiet parking lot in front of a tattoo shop and chatting, but to him, it had felt like the closest thing to peace he’d had in a long time.

You’d made him laugh. You were probably the only person on earth able to make him do that, right now.

So, it had been a good day. Better than he could ever imagine. He also had the chance to hold your hand a couple of times, even if he wasn't really holding it.

But that didn’t mean anything, not really. Not once the sun went down.

Because nights were different.

And when Noah closed his eyes, laying on his mattress, the dark didn’t stay empty.

Because there’s a field.

There's always a field.

Endless. Silent. He’s driven for hours to get there, through roads that twisted and disappeared behind him. He’s alone, and he made sure of it. No one knows he’s there. That’s the point.

The moon is high, but everything is dim, grainy like an old film.

He can't breathe.

He feels like he's drowning.

He is kneeling on the dry grass.

There’s a weight in his hand, metal, cold, pressing into his skin. His arms are shaking. Tears streak across his face.

It's all his fault. He will never forgive himself.

No one’s around. No one can hear.

A sob comes out, then another, until he’s bent forward and his shoulders are violently shaking.

He folds in on himself, curls down to the ground like his body is trying to disappear into the earth. The grass scratches at his skin, but he doesn’t feel it.

He cries. Loud.

He cries until his voice is hoarse, until his chest feels like it’s being crushed by some invisible hand.

He cries until the sky begins to change, shifting from black to bruised purple to soft, aching blue.

He can't stop.

The nausea comes next. His stomach turns. His head throbs. His eyes burn.

The sun is high now. It’s morning.

He forces himself to get up, to stand on legs that barely hold him.

He turns once, just once, to look back at the field. At what he’s leaving behind.

A part of himself, probably.

He stumbles to the car. The door creaks. The seat is cold.

He grips the steering wheel.

His hands are shaking.

His hands are covered in blood.

And he can’t stop crying.

Noah woke up drenched in sweat. He wasn’t crying, but he was shaking, and not just because the nights there were always cold.

He sat up on the mattress, his breathing shallow. Alpine, who’d been curled up on his chest, stirred with a soft meow, slipping off his legs and stumbling groggily to his side. The cat settled there again, pressing close like she knew.

Noah stayed still for a moment, elbows on his knees, head resting in his hands. His fingers curled against his temples. He focused on breathing in, out, in, out.

It was just a nightmare.

Except it wasn’t.

It never was.

It was a memory. It really happened. He let it happen.

Outside, it was still dark, but he knew he wouldn’t be sleeping again that night.

There was no point in trying.

Quietly, he stood. Wrapped his hands, tight.

He crossed the room and reached the punching bag.

Then he started hitting.

Tags: @anything-more-than-human @ladyveronikawrites @iloveyoutodeathbutimdrowning @fadingangelwisp @xmads-omensx @iwasntstable @thisbicc @pathion @flowery-mess @into-the-grey @lacy1986 @tosoundlessdarkistare @stardustsirenmelody @thewrstinme @hurricanesfollowyou @ichoosetenderomens @chey-h @alwaysfightforwhoyouare @follow-me-down-to-wonderland @missduffsblog @pandora-08 @geminigirlfromfinland @bloody-spades @rumoured-whispers @astronoids

Fresh bruises tags: @1toreyouapart @respectfulrebel @dragoncopper @overmydeadbodysblog @fear-its-beauty @xslavicprincess @concreteangel92 @super-btstrash-posts @pipidoll @pipidoll @bluehairpunklol @tktstomydwnfall @jesuisunchaton @brutallysoftmuse @acatatonicpeace @spookieolson

[aimasup]

Wonder if you seen the new digital circus episode, was really good full of silly stuff and insight into the characters

Caught it the minute it came out babeyyy it was a very pleasant Saturday surprise!

I'll take the chance to combine this ask with watchblogging

TADC EPISODE 5 live notes, spoiler warning, longass post and my personal magnifying glass vision analysis rambles:

Is it just me or is the animation somehow even better. The lighting is gorgeous and the expressions and body language are stellar as always. We should be watching this in theaters and yet it's for free

I kind of miss the uncanny 2000s 3d look but it's not really meant to be a horror show, just character-focused and kind of edgy, so it makes sense!

Opening with Zooble, fantastic start already. Love your new look

I assume they had to be in the ocean for a long period of time, which is good because they can't drown but bad because they can still feel like they're suffocating

Ragatha is still trying to become closer to Pomni! Is it because of Kaufmo's recent abstraction? She's so nice but that's it. Not good not bad just nice and trying. Such a fascinating and realistic character

I wonder what's up with the mannequin, Pomni's noticed it by now

It's not just me right - something is up. Caine's adventures are getting darker and darker.

Love his poses still though. I don't know if I've talked about this but despite everyone in this show being cartoony, the humans don't move like cartoons unless the situation calls for it, but every little gesture of Caine is dramatic and showy and stretchy. the subtle differences are very cool

Tell a good story? Caine I thought this was about making the humans happy 🤨. I know you mentioned your 'craft' in earlier episodes but you can't have both all the time man. Wow his ego is more fragile than we thought - hope he loses it and goes full AI meanie soon

Sex appeal

Caine is. So angry at Zooble. Zooble is literally just sitting there. Amazing that he now sees her as a blight and expresses murderous rage towards her normally only reserved for Bubble lmao. He does not love all his humans equally and he has no idea what he's doing

I feel like the fact that he likes them isn't the only thing holding him back. Might be the circus' systems leashing him as well

Premise of this episode is fun as hell, roller coaster mixed media let's fucking go

Yeah figured Jax would suggest this

Bowling alley screen animation ha

Jax did you make everyone a fursona

Wait do I like Jax now. Is he a charming rascal? Is he a cute bastard? What is happening

Pomni is so underqualified help her

I love how her mind keeps wandering off when distracted and she isn't the best at holding conversations

THEY BROUGHT BACK LUCID KINGER AND MADE AN ORAL JOKE THIS EPISODE RULES

You know what I like Jax now. He's actually fun to watch for some reason here. I like it when bastard characters are stupidly commited to being a bastard, look at Jax doing his funny Australian accent and flailing his arms around and making Zooble go splat. He's invested! What the hell! This is fun!

Yeah they're really nailing how useless Ragatha's cheer comes across now huh. It's rare seeing a show have someone be super nice and not have it be the solution to everything but also not make it a mask for their 'secretly evil real self'.

Anime segment threw me I love this show. I can't wait to browse fanart

Zooble just KNOWING it's Gangle's suggestion

Yeah Kinger you would be a language teacher huh

Yeah Jax you would hate slice of life huh

you know what I'm starting to see the relationship between Jax and Pomni now. Jax talks to her like. A lot. He is constantly trying to gossip with her and she calls him out but keeps her distance emotionally so she can still hold a conversation with him given the chance.

Love the anime figurine being our designated noodle incident

Stargazing is canon :'O they made the stargazing end credits screen canon I'm gonna sob

they're on a fucking picnic. OH. BE STILL MY MUSHY BEATING HEART

Jax is way too chill here. I was as shocked as Pomni when he started getting all sleepover-talk-like. Have all the rapid fire adventures worn him out?

Everyone makes valid points here. I love seeing this!!! No one is the bad guy in this specific conversation they just say and do horrid things that cross the line and their actions just happen to conflict - does that make sense? Arguably Jax is the bad guy - he's a right jerk but he's in the same cage as everyone else and clearly just needs someone to meet him where he's at, not reform him. Crazy. I care about him now, weird

Touchy subject for Jax. Ragatha definitely didn't mean it that way, she just can't stop putting her foot in her mouth

Pomni laughing at Jax's quips. I don't think we've seen her casually chuckle in a conversation before?? Huge stuff

Caine >:( Caineeee you insecure mf

Ooh yeah Jax definitely had a frog friend that abstracted before Kaufmo. The hallway door during the intermission, the confirmation from Gooseworx, the fact that Pomni's design used to be a frog (designs mean things, that's why Jax always talks to Pomni, habit probably)

BARTENDER ZOOBLE BARTENDER ZOOBLE BARTENDER ZOOBLE

Now this is nice and relaxing, love everyone giving their stories here, the dialogue is super fun, just the best, give me two more episodes of just this

Zooble bartender and tattoo artist confirmed. I can see why he's such a good listener. So many things are getting confirmed HOORAAAAY

Oh that makes a lot of sense for Ragatha, both her upbringing and that she actually shares a lot of her trauma even if she doesn't mean to. She is not that great at hiding her emotions! Damn!

Dude Jax and Ragatha are plain fighting over Pomni at this point. I think they do want to connect with Pomni genuinely, but they're sort of using her as a prize in their rivalry, smugly jabbing at each other, trying to knock each other down from their perceived pedestals.

There's a lot of clearly pointed words here, it feels manipulative and I don't mean that in the 'evil!! They're evil and smart and plotting!!' way, I mean that just literally. They're trying to play to their advantage here, the both of them. You can genuinely care about someone and also want to use that relationship to your personal benefit, because good relationships are supposed to help you right. Super unhealthy shit

Jax being afraid of corn is fantastic dude we love seeing him be brought down to earth. But on a serious note I like that there's shots of him being quiet of contemplative. He is clearly not going to open up a lot that easily so we have a collection of him throughout the episodes looking to the side with furrowed brows. That's cool

Yeah Caine is getting really antsy lately huh. He's no longer as jovial, he's SALTY that he isn't the reason they're having fun. Because that might mean he is the reason they're unhappy. That is salt on my screen right there

Evil team is great. Love this entire sports segment and the beginning part from episode 4 was brought back. Was this Ragatha's suggestion? Interesting

Kinger being constantly placed into authority figure roles is so neat. He earns it by seniority alone

Evil Pomni is literally just Pomni if she was careless as hell and super dexterous. That's funny

I adore Evil Ragatha with all my being. I love her so much

Evil Zooble was absolutely Caine's doing. he does not like their perceptive ass

Holy shit maid outfit canon. hell yeah

Zooble and Jax's rivalry brings me so much joy. Her throwing his words back in his face duuuuude

Kinger's collection of the most random knowledge on things continues

Ragatha being so hard on herself is expected, unfortunately. I like how not everything is resolved with one Pomni talk, it's that Pomni reaches out in the first place that changes things at least a little bit

Jax getting along with Evil Pomni makes a lot of sense tbh

My god these bitches fighting. Good for them

Love that Pomni is acknowledging both of them not really thinking about her when fighting with each other. It's not exactly about Pomni, is it you two

Ragatha GO OFF GO OFF

AND she apologised for that out of pocket comment about Jax's friends. This is a change for them, certainly. Jax's eyes dilating are so intriguing ooooh.

Cat Jax

Love small moments like these. Gangle doing great because Ragatha gave her advice, that's so sweet

Zooble just punting the opponent is great. He is so tired of this bs

Kinger is so unconditionally supportive, the way he spun her around and the others came to celebrate her, that felt meaningful somehow. Yeah it's because Caine doesn't know how softball works, and it's kind of awkward because it was kind of anticlimactic, but I feel like Ragatha getting a plain win without doing anything and without having to live up to some huge expectation is pretty significant.....Maybe I'm reading too much into it

Heheheheeee love the vegan joke

Meanwhile Caine's still had that going on for him in the background. Man I love how much more we see multiple characters progress in such a short amount of screentime

Dawg Pomni has a mean streak and Ragatha isn't a fan. Probably because to Ragatha it's reminiscent of being a Jax, the worst possible thing someone could be, since she is terrified of becoming a jerk. ITS SO MESSY. EVERYONE IS STRUGGLING AND PROJECTING. GOOD

Look at Jax here, the way they can communicate what he's thinking without changing how he carries himself is just peak

He had fun with them. That's like a massive deal. I don't even like Jax that much and I found this episode to be so good for his character. This exchange makes me feel warm inside my chest

Unexpected friendships let's go

Ragatha is just the phrase 'people pleaser but no one is pleased' damn

[buggutzzz]

The answer to the question:

"How did you come up with the concept of Doorg?" -By @thatguythatarts

What the text says under cut

1- He actually was a different version of Soup my last "Fursona"

⭐ Also fun fact! Soup is also a variation of an even older "Fursona" which never got a name until I de-canonized it as my sona and now they're WizBangs! Evil little fuckers!

2- He started as just Soup with a dog head (and no long tail)

Dec 23 2024 - Doorgs birthday

3- And then he kind of evolved into his own thing

⭐ Funnily enough I forget how to draw him more than any of my other OCS even though he has more art than everyone else.

4- FD came next! I struggled with drawing full anthro characters for awhile but after I did one of those "Draw your OCS in this" challenge things (shout out to my friends that helped me out with it) I created him!

⭐ He was a late Christmas present

Dec 26 2024 - FD's birthday

5- I'm still kind of struggling with his design, he's gone through a lot of redesigns because I'm not happy with what he looks like

Added extra: Btw I've been lying to you, I only have the earring holes, I'm getting the septum piercing for my bday lol-

6- Also he's kind of a way for me to explore my gender and the way I present if he can be called him while also not binding and physically looking female, then I should be able to be called that, also he has my body type which is nice to draw and look at

⭐ (I feel bad for Krillern because he looks like a Twink next to FD, I literally had art scrapped because I accidentally made Krillern look like a character from Hazbin Hotel)

Added Extra:

Also to clarify FD and Doorg are the same person, he runs through the Werewolf rules

Instead of turning into a terrifying feral beast, he turns into a small dog with too much anxiety.

And his name originated from this:

Proof of the question.

[alaskan-wallflower]

YES to your last few posts, especially about Ponyboy also getting hurt which might get even more ignored than Johnny and Dally’s injuries (which still get ignored all the time). Dally hits Pony so hard to put the fire out that he literally knocks Pony out. When they meet again in the hospital Dally even says that he was worried he’d killed Pony from hitting him too hard. That’s super dangerous and could likely result in brain trauma (I know it was done to stop him getting burned but like it was a lesser of two evils situation: serious burns or serious concussion?)

no seriously like? and i know that coupled with the world of delusion pony was living in after johnny and dally died wasn’t doing him much good either. nobody talks about any of the injuries they’d sustain. or any of the gang had sustained. dally literally did concuss ponyboy. he knocked him out. he, dallas winston was worried he had killed ponyboy with how hard he had hit him. and adding on, before that when pony was jumped by socs at the movies what, days prior? they concussed him. there’s no way with that, added onto whatever brain injury he attained when dally knocked him out, that he doesn’t suffer some sort of consequence.

back to the latter, i NEVER see johnny’s canonical, “hard to look at” eye scar that goes down to his cheek in fanart. i never see any scars on johnny from the socs hearing his face. with metal rings nonetheless. i never ever ever see anyone talking about the burns, the scars, the bruises these children (because that’s what most of them are. children.) have. i never see any fanart of these characters with any real “flaws” to them. whether it’s a simple slip of the mind or its in favor of “perfect sexy men clones” (because that’s what happens when the majority of the characters in a story are teenage boys, they’re romanticized beyond the point of recognition) or they just don’t wanna discuss/add it, i don’t know, but there is absolutely no way any of the gang walks around with perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect clothes…look at them. they’re greasers. they’re hoods in the 1960s living in poverty in one of the most controversial towns with one of the messiest histories in the united states. nobody gives them scars or remembers their canonical ones for that matter. johnny has abusive parents canonically. steve’s implied to as well. (the latter is more so up for speculation i suppose though). curly and pony played chicken together with lit cigarettes. johnny’s eye scar. dally’s nature to get into fights. work injuries that darry’s most definitely sustained. soda being impulsive and getting his nose into things he shouldn’t be. soda and steve working on defective cars, they’ve probably sustained work injuries from used oil and such too (don’t quote me on this idk much about cars). two bit being himself and doing stupid things under the influence. in my opinion they’d all have scars or (for lack of better terms) “defects”.

(just wanna add on before people get defensive and mad, im not saying everyone has to draw or add the gang’s scars. im not asking you to analyze that deep. im just saying it’d be nice to see some like…diversity. something different. especially in the “everyone lives” aus. adding burns and scars would certainly be more interesting. and more true to what would have happened to them anyway. there’s no way they’d walk out without some sort of disfigurement or anything. some diversity and differences in design would be nice imo)

[misakiyama]

evil tadc ❌ opposite au???✅

Am I the only one who noticed this or what ??? I mean the resemblance is SOOO CLEEEEAR JUST LOOK

evil pomni and opposit pomni :Well well… there's a color difference , Evil Pomni wears red—fitting for a villain while opposite Pomni is kind so blue is better (apparently) Their personalities are obviously different too. (They’re literally opposites… sooo wait—if Evil Pomni is the opposite of Opposite Pomni, and Opposite Pomni is the opposite of the original Pomni, then doesn’t that make Evil Pomni... the same as original Pomni?? No wait so oipposit pomni is not the opposit of orginal pomni and evil pomni is ùmore oppositif but opposit pomni is the opposit pomni they are not the same —what am I saying??) (I like Evil Pomni more ngl.)

bazooble and opposite zooble: what did they done to my girl 😭 opposite zooble is MORE SMART then this and there's no similarity between these (except they both are chill with their body) heeeey opposit zooble care about jax now that new (i love it)

evil raggy and opposit raggy : There are some differences like the design, the color of the dress is different, and the opposite Rag's hair is longer, and the evil Ragatha… how can …. Idk.. how to explain it … um..she is more evil.. in a weird funny way, maybe because she is an ai… while the Opposit Ragatha is more serious, and tbh I like the opposit Ragata more, ( that DOES'T mean that I HATE the evil Ragatha.) cuz she fell more serious and more opposite

Evil jax and opposit jax : they are THE SAME PERSON , LOOK The only difference is the color. I mean, are you kidding me? They are the same person. Why is his name eViL jax? This is KIND JAX (May God have mercy on him .. i wish that he's fine and jax didn't kill him … wait what i'm saying caine can return him) THIS GUY BECAME MY FAV NPC AND THE ONLY (Also… I kinda liked Opposite Jax’s color more. Idk, Evil kind Jax’s color just didn’t sit right with my eyes—it felt kinda pale? But at the same time, every time I see the opposit I remember Banzo from Poppy Playtime, but they are both good.)

coach dictatore and opposit kinger: The only difference is the design and the name, the rest is similar. There is a very simple difference, the evil one is more massive and controlling,(cuz it's an ai of course) while the opposite is more realistic.

opposit gangle and [redacted] : WHYYYYYY 😭 😭 😭

I wanted to see the evil reeeealy gangle (But it kinda makes sense that she isn’t there…Maybe it has something to do with her personal struggles or identity crisis. Or maybe we’ll find out more in future episodes.)

but i loved opposite gangle she is so cute when she's mad

so that's all what i have ... Also, just to be clear—this AU isn’t mine. I honestly don’t remember who created it, but whoever did… they were creatif

[wistfulnightingale]

The Little Dance (Made for Angelic Flair?)

Shorter excerpts from Only One Angel Dances (It Began with an Apology)

Crowly said, “I don’t do the dance.”  Why, in all this time, has only Aziraphale done it?  We hear from Aziraphale, rather angrily, that “[he] did the I Was Wrong Dance in 1650, 1793, 1941…!”  At that, Crowley complies. This dance must be extremely meaningful -- a Gift from one to the other. A deeply sincere gesture. And Crowley's time has come due.

Aziraphale’s tight anger when Crowley resists the full apology suggests that “the little dance” is meant to be (at least a little) humbling.  Did Crowley, with a dash of demonic mischief and a lot of  imagination, compose the Apology Dance for his Angel, centuries earlier?  It’s easy to imagine Crowley wanting to tease and aggravate Azi a bit after an argument. 

Bonus points that it would also nudge the angel towards another human “indulgence” that’s actually FUN!

The Apology Dance ends with a deep curtsey.  In the bookshop, Crowley does it with such sassy grace, it looks like a deep bow, but that lovely extended back foot is definitely a curtsey, similar to -- but even deeper than -- those typically expected of women before British royalty.

(Personally, I think Crowley exaggerated the movement by, um, just a bit! Adding his own dramatic emphasis, what?)

Think of it, though! When Aziraphale performed this "little dance" in the past, he was curtseying to Crowley as if he were royalty!

And when Crowley does it with an excess of grace and no small amount of resistance, he doesn't bow his head -- he maintains defiant eye contact. Crowley may have done the "little dance" because of how he cherishes the Angel, but his pride will only let him go so far...!

Yet Aziraphale has done this dance at least 3 times, curtseying to Crowley in apology for something he "was wrong" about. I do suspect that Aziraphale, the mannerly angel aware of rules, standards, and good manners, would have bowed his head -- just as I suspect Crowley choreographed him to do!

Based on what Aziraphale was wearing in 1601 (breeches, hose, and small heels), even a lesser curtsey would have shown his calves to fine effect back in 1650!  I have no doubt that whoever made up the Apology Dance had that in mind while designing the choreography -- I imagine Aziraphale would have been quite conscious of his clothing as he performed the delicately graceful motions.

Silly hand movements to make those 17th Century outrageous lace cuffs flop around... Literally raising a bowed and heeled shoe gracefullly pointed... A pivot to make the angel a little off-balance, physically and metaphorically!

Seems to me a very Crowley thing to do!

And I love how our Angel continued to lean into that look when we next see him in Paris 1793.  Those shoes!  Those stockings!  That excess of lace!   

(Just a demon and an angel stying to impress...! Nothing to see here!)

Yet another Apology Dance was performed in 1793, presumably at this time. I feel rather sad that Aziraphale changed his outfit before they left the prison. I'm sure Crowley would have appreciated the flair of this particular costume for the pivot and the curtsey...!

Brioche and crepes, anyone?

Or perhaps a Ball?

(I'd LOVE to see fanart of Aziraphale doing the Apology Dance in one of these eras, lace cuffs, stockings, and all! If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd be oh-so-very Grateful!!)

*****

If you'd like to read the full post with my ideas about the origins of the "I Was Wrong" Dance, you can find it here.

Thanks for having some fun with me on this little ramble!

[lizzie-wendigo]

Remember when Tami was a kappa? Well, now she's a kitsune! This design was one of my experiments when it was still in the making, so I decided to recycle it for aesthetics and because it's important. I did a lot of research on kitsunes, and THERE'S A LOT OF INFORMATION AND VARIATIONS ON THESE CREATURES.

So I only took the most important and relevant elements and incorporated them into the character.

Template created by @kittpunk144

Extra facts about her:

Tami is the heiress and, to date, the last descendant of the Tomizawa family.

The Tomizawa family is a family of kitsunes dedicated to a chain of casinos in both the human world and the yokai cities. Therefore, they are a family with a lot of power and influence.

The mere fact of being kitsunes gives them status in the yokai world, as kitsunes are also seen as deities in some areas of Japan. This also applies to dragons and tengus.

Tami has four tails, which, given her young age, makes her a prodigy in the family. Very few kitsunes achieve so many tails so quickly, thanks to their disciplined magical training. Her tails can only be displayed in her divine form.

Tami, having four tails, and at her age, has powerful abilities, the main ones being shapeshifting: she can literally transform into ANYTHING and deform at will (such as changing her height or fur color); And the will-o'-the-wisp: This allows her to light and damage at will. She can control what she lights, and when she can damage others, sometimes her fire literally doesn't do any damage.

Being a shapeshifter, she has several to coexist in any situation. She has about six recurring ones (I'll draw them in the future).

The Tomizawa family symbol is a will-o'-the-wisp flame.

She got engaged to Miguel Angel after 7 days of dating. In fact, they had love at first sight, an aspect that no one takes seriously. In fact, Michelangello received some complaints from his family for daring to take such an important step in such a short time (no one understands).

They are mushy with each other, sometimes making others around them uncomfortable.

A yokai in the form of a fox-like animal is not the same as a kitsune; they are very different (for starters, the natural power they emanate).

Leo, in particular, isn't very fond of Tami, since her situation with Mikey is coincidentally the same as Splinter's with Big Mama. He fears that Tami could do the same to him and that she's just using Mikey for another purpose.

In her neutral form, Tami is twice Mikey's size, in fact, she's taller than Raph.

She's fluent in English, but her native language is Japanese (obviously).

Although she doesn't have perfect control over illusions, she can still master them with great concentration (especially if emotions are involved). She often uses them for self-defense.

She dislikes tanuki, as kitsunes and tanuki are enemies by nature, but she particularly has a personal grudge against all cat yokai, which she strongly hates them, such as bakenekos, nekomatas, neko musumes, or kashas. When she sees them, she has no patience for them and acts cold and distant. If they bother her, she can't help but growl and show her teeth.

When Mikey pets her, she can't help but twitch her tail or lightly tap it against the floor. She also makes whimpers and light fox sounds (she is a canine, after all).

Sometimes she transforms into a turtle yokai to please Mikey, but he doesn't mind at all; he loves her in any form.

Because of their natural shape-shifting power, kitsunes don't need a camouflage brooch.

Her parents wouldn't approve of Tami's relationship with Mikey, due to the fact that he isn't a yokai, but a mutant, and on top of that, he lives in a sewer in New York. The only reason they approve is because he is the genetic son of the Hamato clan. Furthermore, being the son of the great Lou Jitsu gives him an advantage, and they could have strong and powerful offspring.

Another reason Tami's parents approve is because he emanates powerful magic, enough to be worthy of being paired with a kitsune.

Big Mama is now a maid for the Tomizawa family, as she owed them certain debts, and to pay them off, she now has to work serving them.

Her favorite food is udon in almost all its forms.

When she met Mikey, she was encouraged to try pizza. Ironically, her favorite is the vegetarian pizza (just a personal preference). Whenever Mikey buys a pizza to share, he orders half pepperoni and half vegetarian.

Something they have in common is that they love to cook. Cooking together is an activity they both love to do.

When they sleep together, Mikey has a habit of hugging her tail; he loves how fluffy it is.

Never gamble with her in any game, because not only does she have luck on her side, but she also knows exactly how to bet and when to fold. After all, her family runs casinos.

The Tomizawa family is also in the lending business. They can always do business with certain powerful people and lend money and collect it when necessary, just like Big Mama did.

She's rather withdrawn and somewhat shy, due to her family's standards of strict manners and elegance. But when she is with Mikey, she can feel understood and be herself and experience new things.

Despite her shy nature, if you provoke her enough and push her boundaries, she can become very explosive and even frightening.

She is inspired by Lily Munster from The Munsters.

--------------------------------

Recuerdan que Tami era una kappa? bueno, ahora es una kitsune!! Este diseño era una de las experimentaciones cuando aun estaba en proceso de creacion, decidí reciclar este diseño por estetica y por importancia. Investigué mucho sobre los kitsunes y HAY MUCHA INFORMACION Y VERIONES SOBRE ESTAS CRIATURAS.

Así que solo tomé lo más importante y relevante y lo plasmé en el personaje

Datos extra sobre ella:

Tami es heredera y hasta ahora ultimo descendiente de la familia tomizawa

La familia tomizawa son una familia de kitsunes dedicados a una cadena de casinos tanto en el mundo humano como en las ciudades yokai. Así que son una familia con mucho poder e influencia

El mero echo de ser kitsunes les da estatus en el mundo yokai, ya que los kitsunes tambien son vistos como deidades en algunas zonas de japon. Esto tambien se da en los dragones y tengus

Tami tiene 4 colas, lo que para su corta edad la hace una prodigio en la familia, muy pocos kitsunes logran tantas colas tan rapido, esto gracias a su disiplina en entrenamiento magico. Sus colas solo las puede mostrar en su forma divina

Tami al tener 4 colas, y a su edad tiene habilidades poderosas, las principales son el cambio de forma: literalmente puede transformarse en CUALQUIER COSA y deformarse a voluntad (como cambiar sus estatura o color de pelaje); y el fuego fatuo: esto le permite iluminar y dañar a voluntad, ella puede controlar lo que ilumina y cuando daño puede hacer a otros, aveces su fuego literalmente no daña.

Al ser una cambiaformas, tiene varias para convivir en cualquier situacion, tiene alrededor de 6 recurrentes (las dibujaré en un futuro)

El simbolo de la familia tomizawa es una flama de fuego fatuo

Se comprometio con miguel angel a los 7 días de salir, de echo tuvieron un amor a primera vista, aspeto que nadie se toma en serio, de echo migel angel tuvo ciertas quejas de su familia por atreverse a dar un paso tan importante en tan poco tiempo (nadie lo entiende)

Son melosos el uno con el otro. Aveces incomodando a otros a su alrededor

No es lo mismo un yokai con forma de un animal zorruno a un kitsune, son muy diferentes (para empezar el poder natural que emanan)

Leo en particular no le tiene mucho cariño a Tami, ya que la situacion de ella con mikey es coincidentemente la misma que splinter con gran mama, y teme que tami pueda hacerle lo mismo y que solo este usando a mikey para otro proposito.

En su forma neutral, Tami es el doble de tamaño que mikey, de echo es más alta que rafa Domina a la perfeccion el ingles, pero su idioma madre es japones (logicamente)

Aunque no domina las ilusiones a la perfección, puede dominarlas con gran concentración (sobre todo si hay emociones involucradas). A menudo las usa para defenderse.

No le agradan los tanukis, ya que los kitsunes y los tanukis son enemigos por naturaleza, pero ella en particular tiene algo personal contra todos los yokai gatos, los repudia mucho, como son los bakenekos, nekomatas, neko musumes o kashas. Cuando los ve, no les tiene paciencia y se comporta fria y distante y si la molestan ella no puede evitar gruñir y mostrar los dientes

Cuando mikey la mima, ella no puede evitar mover la cola o golpearla ligeramente contra el piso, tambien hace gemidos y sonidos ligeros de zorro (después de todo ella es un canino)

Aveces ella se transforma en una yokai tortuga para complacer a mikey, pero eso no le importa en los absoluto, el la ama sea la forma que posea

Debido a su poder natural de cambiar forma, los kitsunes no necesitan un broche de camuflaje

Sus padres no aprobarían la relacion de tami con mikey, por el echo que el no es un yokai, si no un mutante y encima vivir en una alcantarilla en nueva york. La unica razon por la que lo aprueban es porque el es hijo por genes del clan hamato. Además ser hijo del gran lou jitsu le da ventaja y pueden tener desendencia fuerte y poderosa

Otra razon por la que los padres de tami lo aprueban es porque el emana magia poderosa, la suficiente para ser digna de ser emparejada con un kitsune

Gran mama ahora es sirvienta de la familia tomizawa, ya que ella tenía ciertas deudas con ellos, y para pagarlas ahora debe trabar sirviendoles

su comida favorita es el udon en casi todas sus presentaciones

Al conocer a mikey se animo a provar la pizza, ironicamente, su favorita es la pizza vegetariana (simple gusto personal). Siempre que mikey compra una pizza para compartir pide la mitad de pepperoni y la mitad vegetariana

Algo que tienen en comun, es que aman cocinar. Cocinar juntos es una actividad que adoran hacer

cuando duermen juntos, mikey tiene la costumbre de abrazar su cola, adora lo esponjosa que es

nunca juegues a apostar con ella en cualquier juego, pues ella no solo tiene la suerte a su favor, si no que sabe perfectamente como apostar y cuando retirarse, depués de todo su familia maneja casinos

La familia tomizawa tambien esta en el negocio del prestamismo. Siempre pueden hacer negocios con cierta gente con poder y prestar dinero y cobrarlo cuando es necesario, como lo fue gran mama

Ella es más bien algo retraida y algo timida. esto debido a los estandares de su familia que ella tiene modales estrictos y elegancia. Pero al estar con mikey, ella puede sentirse comprendida y ser ella misma y experimentar cosas nuevas

A pesar de su naturaleza timida, si la provocas lo suficiente y cruzas sus limites, ella puede llegar a ser muy explosiva e incluso dar miedo.

Ella esta inspirada en Lily Munter de Los Munsters

[suja-janee]

I’ve been losing my mind over these guys recently

[br3adtoasty]

personal hermes design….

[royaltea000]

I love Bai Long Ma he truly don’t gaf

[miasiegert]

So glad you had a great time! I’m really hoping for video but nothing received yet! I might have to text marketing and be like, “hey! About the equity archive…” lol

With licensing, there can be no replicas (generally for choreo and costumes, which is why we get hired since we take that shit way more seriously than anyone else)) but it *absolutely can be set in a Junkyard.* The change was made the day after we were hired. Cowboys was the producer’s idea.

Costume-wise, we did a rental and the day before opening at midnight sent a wig-styling tutorial since it seems there was some confusion so thank you for kindness there. We had nothing to do with the cowboy gear pulled and sent our full rental set, which had alterations made, so we don’t know if anything was actually used. Possibly Gumbie—grizz’s faux fur stole was ours so many will recognize that. Grizz’s wig was not ours—we sent one of our faves with ears styled in and earrings but they elected not to use it.

We found out from social media that we were credited for costume, hair/wig, and make up design at least through stage management. I have no clue what’s in the program. I think a friend is sending me an extra.

It’s super common for costumes to change from promo to opening. Not surprised at all there.

Skimble used David’s Admetus/Rumpus, which originally was a Carbucketty design I made influenced by an old Australian production. I think maybe Plato confusion if that was Skimble was because at the Fulton, Plato is in an orange color palette.

Tumble’s costume was my favorite in the Casa lot—we almost never get to use it so with the theme and sunset colors, we went for it. Love how bright it is. Our Mungo/Rumple were very standard by our designs—they will always have a Mohawk and braids.

Most of Deut’s costume was custom but right before I went to make a new unitard, David reminded me of Katie Gray’s Grizzabella from Interlakes 2022, which was used only 2 weeks plus tech. It literally looked like it was made for him. I’m a bit bummed he didn’t get to use the custom coat I made him but I understand their fear with the Macavity trick. Still kind of a bummer since that was 44 hrs of work on his coat and with the deadlines it was tough. My hands are pretty destroyed now.

Korie and Henry are absolutely sweet as can be, Jackson too. I didn’t meet the whole cast, but they stand out a lot (I always notice when I get thank you notes). Korie’s dream role was Deut and he never had the chance to meet Ken so I was able to tell him genuinely that Ken would have been so proud of him. Because he would have. It was also Korie’s first show back from a horrific injury.

I couldn’t have done this show without the help of @cryptidvoidwritings who stepped in graciously when I was about ready to jump out a window with my hands and some things that happened. She took directions and feedback like a champ, and her Macavity warmers are now at the Fulton should Sammy go on u/s Macavity because she earned it. I’m looking forward to this fall—another show TBA.

Thank you so much for your show report!! You had a dynamite cast that was pretty stacked and some newcomers! Wish I could have been there but The Fulton! :)

I’m so glad you enjoyed the show and also liked the costumes!! :) thank you for sharing!!!!! That means a lot!

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!).

[petorahs]

[5-pp-man]

Here's all the 10 years later designs I nabbed from the website under the 2025ver. tab

Unfortunately all they've got for En on there is his homeless design, and not the one after he gets a cleanup