#most of this is my own work!!!

[indeliblescarspivotalmarks]

REPUTATION EASTER EGGS

Here is my master list post of all the easter eggs I believe have been left for Reputation (Taylor's Version). If I've missed any please let me know!!! Happy Rep TV clowning!🐍🤡

112 THEORY

Via this theory, Reputation (Taylor's Version) is rumoured to be releasing on the 16th of February 2024 in Melbourne Australia on the first night of the Australian leg.

The announcement is rumoured to be 26th of November 2023 in Sao Paolo Brazil, on the final night of the Eras Tour 2023.

Now onto DATE MATH!

11/26/23 is the rumoured announcement date.

SO let's break down this date!

1+1+2+6+2+3=15.

1+5=6.

rep is the sixth album.

reputation TV would be her 15th album including re-recordings

Now let's look at the rumoured release date for Reputation (Taylor's version)....

It's rumoured and guessed to be releasing on February 16th 2024. 02/16/24.

Let's break that date down too...

0+2+1+6+2+4=15.

1+5=6.

MIC DROP!

National Cake Day!

11/26 is national Cake Day.

In the Bejeweled Music video Taylor is dressed as Marie Antoinette, who famously said 'let them eat cake.

And she gave a STRONG wink during that scene.

On Sao Paolo N1, Taylor VERY deliberately looked over her shoulder and winked at the crowd, right into the camera. It feels like too much of a coincidence with little miss nothing is ever accidental.

Taylor repeated this on N2, and stuck her tongue out.

There is also the cake in the I Bet You Think About Me Music video.

The numbers on the top of the cake are: 13, 26 and 2. 13x2 is 26, which seems to be an easter egg for 26/11! As well as the obvious 2's hinting towards the second month of February!! She also pulls her hand through the cake and creates two equal lines....a sideways 11?

Black Friday

11/26 falls on the weekend after Black Friday. Reputation's colour is Black, and Reputation being announced 2 days after Black Friday seems a small nod to her blacking out her socials and 3 days later posting a Reputation teaser...

And perhaps 2 because of...well February!

BEJEWELED MUSIC VIDEO

Danielle Haim

Taylor's casting of the Bejeweled music video interested me! She cast her friends the Haim sisters to play her wicked step-sister in the first scene, which is FILLED with easter eggs.

Particularly important to me is Danielle Haim.

Danielle was born on the 16th February 1989.

Yes. 02/16. The same date as Reputation (Taylor's version rumoured release. Now just remember this date. It becomes important later!!!

She was also 33 when the music video was both filmed and released. 33. 3+3=6..6 means Reputation

Danielle says "bye snake" as they leave Taylor. She is the first person to mention Taylor being a snake in this video

I do believe Taylor wouldn't miss the chance to use her friends as easter eggs when possible!!!

Danielle also flicks her fan 6 times during that scene. Credit to @kush07_ on Twitter for this fan one!

Laura Dern

Laura Dern interestingly is another February birthday (02/10/67) within that casting. Exceptionally interesting to have 2 people born in the second month present during a scene filled with 2's with outright easter eggs to Reputation...hmmm

Kingdom Keys

The wording of 'keys to your own castle' during the discussion of what the girls will get if they marry the prince is particularly interesting to me. It is VERY strongly reminiscent of 'I don't like your kingdom keys, they once belonged to me' from LWYMMD.

Twos

There are two candles burning to the side of Laura as she talks to Taylor. Also two lights above the sisters. There's a lot of 2's / doubles imagery in this music video.

There are two candles next to where the Haim sisters and Laura exit the room.

Danielle our Feb 16th hint is also the second person to say goodbye to Taylor. Another 2.

Alana then calls Taylor 'snakey'. This is the second time a snake reference is said, and it is the last. Another 2 of course...

In the scene with Dita Von Teese there is 2 of everything.

In the final scene of the video there are two torches on either side of Taylor. Just another 2. Just for funsies.

Exile ends 02

Taylor then receives the oyster shell stopwatch which declares "exile ends at 02". Now going back to Alana and Danielle's comments...exile ends for this SNAKE at 02. FEBRUARY.

Outfits

The next scene shows Taylor in a hooded black outfit. This is very strong imagery of the reputation stadium tour beginning outfit she wore.

In the scene where jewels begin flying to her, there is a scene alone of just her boots when she is walking. This really reminded me of the beginning of the reputation section of the eras tour.

Full Moon

When we see the outside of the building of which the elevator is in, there is a full moon. 11/26 is a full moon. SNTV was announced on a full moon, 1989TV was the day before a full moon....

Dita Von Teese scene

In the scene with Dita Von Teese, Taylor is dripping in diamonds. Very reminiscent of LWYMMD bathtub scene.

Theres two chandeliers present during this scene. This just struck the idea of the lyric 'bass beat rattling the chandelier' from This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

Ghosted

Taylor refuses Jack's proposal. The text says...she ghosted.

When did Taylor ghost on us? Rep era! she wasn't seen, she was like a ghost!

Marie Antoniette

Taylor is dressed like Marie Antoinette in the scene where she receives the keys. Marie famously said 'let them eat cake'. National Cake Day is 11/26. This also lines up with the I Bet You Think About Me Cake theory!

Castle Crumbling

The final scene has her stood in a crumbling castle at night. Her castle crumbling overnight...hello Call It What You Want To! There is also a full moon...

KARMA MV

Devil Scene

The scene that we link to Reputation is the second scene featuring Taylor. She's dressed in all black and has a mask of the devil.

This scene starts at 20 seconds. She waves at 26 seconds.... perhaps an easter egg for the era beginning in the 2nd month and for the album saying' hello' aka an announcement on the 26th!

She's surrounded by 13 dancers at this point, the presence of a 13 normally is alerting us it is an easter egg.

The belt on her dress is very similar to a necklace she held up during the LWYMMD behind the scenes walkthroughs.

Ice Spice

Ice Spice is featured in both the song and of course the video. Her birthday is 1/1. New Years Day. And well...Taylor loves to use a birthday as an easter egg...

Island

The scene where Taylor is laying as an island has linked her to Te-Fiti, and the codename for Karma was 'Volcano'. However in Sao Paolo, there is an island called 'Snake Island'. And the outline of this island looks VERY similar to how Taylor looks as an island!

Coffee Cup

Obviously we have the most obvious one we all know and love. The Midnights coffee cup being a blue nail at 8 & a black nail at 2. 1989TV was announced in August, meaning the nails definitely meant something.

Now the black nail being at 2 could mean released in February or announced then, but I'm leaning heavily towards releasing!

The coffee cup has the hands of the clock between 11:56, indicating it is becoming close to midnight.

Midnight = 12. December is the 12th month, but she's indicating something coming BEFORE MIDNIGHT. 4 minutes in fact before midnight. Indicating reputation is coming 4 days before December. Aka November 26th!

I CAN SEE YOU MV

The only real easter egg I could find within this music video for Reputation was the use of a Getaway Car and the dark outfits.

You Are In Love Lyric Video

In the sand of this video are the letters R E P...hello reputation!

The Eras Tour

At one night of the Eras Tour, Taylor said the crowd were jumping like kangaroos. With Reputation TV rumoured to release February 16th in Melbourne, Australia, I am counting this as an easter egg for SURE.

VMAS

Hello. The Outfit. That's Reputation!

The Ring Taylor wore (and broke) is very very similar to the necklace pendant Laura Dern wears in Bejeweled. Telling us to look at Laura, who is a February birthday.

During her acceptance speech, Taylor used the words 'slithering around genres' to describe her musical journey. Well that reputation if I've ever seen her!

PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Taylor announced Speak Now with Sparks Fly. Track 2.

She announced 1989 TV with New Romantics. Track 16.

2/16...how interesting!

RIO

The choice of playing ME! as her first acoustic song ON N3 was VERY interesting to me. Her first released song that she owned. Interestingly it came out on the 26th of April 2016. Yup a 26! The music video also begins with a snake, and signified the end of the rep era, so I do think it was used as a Rep Easter egg, especially when paired with So It Goes....

It was interesting she paired a track 16 with a track 7. 16 is her rumoured rep release day and 7 is her rumoured debut release day.

Post Rio the only remaining Reputation song left for surprise songs is 'I Did Something Bad'. It appears Taylor is doing what she did with 1989 and will announce after finishing the entire album!

SAO PAOLO

They used a new reputation era photo from the Taylor Insta photoshoot for a welcome banner in transit areas. After scouring the internet and my swiftie sources I couldn't find it anywhere, so I am presuming this high quality image was provided to Sao Paolo to use from Taylor's team... a rep era picture..hmmm

In TaylorNations post from pre Sao Paolo N1, they say they are 'wonderstruck'. This is from the song Enchanted. Enchanted has a run time of 5.53. 5+5+3= 13. Funny them using a 13 song to talk about Sao Paolo...seems important right!

In Sao Paolo there is an island called Snake Island. I think this is important as mentioned in the Karma MV section.

There are 6 shows in Brazil. 6 again that's REP CODED!

N3 will be her 13th international date. It will also be her 66th show overall.

N1

Taylor's opener Sabrina Carpenter came out in an outfit very reminiscent of Taylor's rainbow dress from the Reputation Stadium Tour. Taylor's openers have been in on announcements in the past, Haim knew about 1989TVs release!

Taylor looked over her shoulder and winked right into the camera. This is very similar to the wink she did in Bejeweled whilst dressed as Marie Antoniette!

For surprise songs on Sao Paolo N1 Taylor sang Now That We Don't Talk for the first time. This song has a run time of 2:26. Taylor is insane enough to do this....2=February. 26= Announcement date,.

She also played Innocent. Innocent is track 11 on Speak Now. So by using Now That We Don't Talk and Innocent she easter egged both the numbers 2, 26 and 11. February and the 26th of November!!!!

Innocent is also sampled in LWYMMD. It is also about the same person. Innocent was also first played on 12/09/10. 1+2+0+9+1+0=13! Sao Paolo N1 was also a 13 date (11/24/23 - 1+1+2+4+2+3=13)

N2

Taylor stuck her tongue out a LOT this night. I think she knows we are clowning and is playing with us. Also...snakes do stick their tongues out constantly so...

Taylor did a sideways Dolphin body roll in Midnight Rain. She doesn't normally do this. We saw her do this move during the BTS clips of Reputation being made and recorded.

SURPRISE SONGS

Surprise songs were Safe and Sound and Untouchable. An interesting pairing. As Safe and Sound technically wasn't on an album release, it's a track 0. Untouchable is a track 15.

Reputation (Taylor's Version) will be Taylor's 15th album including rerecords.

Safe and Sound was released on the 26th of December 2011.

Untouchable was released on the 26th of October 2009.

Safe and Sound is all about protection from the outside world, and Untouchable is about dreaming of something you feel you can't have. During the Reputation era/events leading to Rep's release Taylor went into hiding to protect herself from the outside world, and dreamt of the public releasing she was right about the phone-call and the Kimye situation all along, but she felt they wouldn't believe her.

There are lyrical parallels in both the surprise songs to Reputation songs. Credit to @taylorslavender and @lightupfloor on twitter for these!

TRIPLE HIGH NOTE

Taylor did a triple Don't Blame Me high note on N1. The only surprise song left from rep is track 3. This triple note was done once in Rio, N3 in Atlanta, once in Tampa, Glendale once and finally Sao Paolo N1. This means she has done it 5 times. She did not sing that note in the rep set N2 in Sao Paolo. If she does it N3 she would bring the total of triple notes during tour to 6...aka rep's number!

Photographer

A black and white photographer named Damon Baker (@damon_baker) who has previously worked with Taylor, posted her on his story on 11/25 answering a question box asking 'last thing that inspired you?' answering 'my next creation'. Now with Reputation TV being rumoured to release on 11/26 and likely with a black and white photoshoot makes for an interesting situation. He also posted a story saying his next project was coming 'tomorrow' aka 11/26...

Reputation Merch

In the holiday merch drop, Reputation appeared to receive the most new merch. In the VERY limited edition drops, most of the old pieces sold were Reputation Merch.

The Black Friday sale timer ends on 11/26.

Instagram

As of 11/26, Taylor's Instagram is currently aligned, and has a clear darker theme to it. We saw this when 1989TV was released that her feed became bluer.

The Surprise Song Countdown.

It is theorised Taylor is using her rerecorded albums to count down to Reputation's release using her surprise songs. TaylorNation shared a countdown video for the Black Friday Store sale

Now That We Don't Talk (4th rerecord)

Innocent (3rd rerecord)

Safe and Sound (2nd rerecord)

Untouchable (1st rerecord)

It is theorised she could do a song from Debut as this would be album 0 as the rerecord hasn't been announced yet, or perhaps Glitch. Then we think she will do I Did Something Bad and announce Reputation (Taylor's Version).

Dancer Instagram Story

One of Taylor's dancers posted this image of a snake wrapping round legs statue...what do they know!!!

[genericpuff]

Tbh at this point you should just make your own webcomic app/website because it would probably be 100 times better than whatever going on with webtoon right now.

hahaha it wouldn't tho, sorry 💀

Here's the fundamental issue with webcomic platforms that a lot of people just don't realize (and why they're so difficult to run successfully):

Storage costs are incredibly expensive, it's why so many sites have limitations on file sizes / page sizes / etc. because all of those images and site info have to be stored somewhere, which costs $$$.

Maintenance costs are expensive and get more so as you grow, you need people who are capable of fixing bugs ASAP and managing the servers and site itself

Financially speaking, webcomics are in a state of high supply, low demand. Loads of artists are willing to create their passion projects, but getting people to read them and pay for them is a whole other issue. Demand is high in the general sense that once people get attached to a webtoon they'll demand more, but many people aren't actually willing to go looking for new stuff to read and depend more on what sites feed them (and what they already like). There are a lot of comics to go around and thus a lot of competition with a limited audience of people willing to actually pay for them.

Trying to build a new platform from the ground up is incredibly difficult and a majority of sites fail within their first year. Not only do you have to convince artists to take a chance on your platform, you have to convince readers to come. Readers won't come if there isn't work on the platform to read, but artists won't come if they don't think the site will be worth it due to low traffic numbers. This is why the artists with large followings who are willing to take chances on the smaller sites are crucial, but that's only if you can convince them to use the site in favor of (or alongside) whatever platform they're using already where the majority of their audience lies. For many creators it's just not worth the time, energy, or risk.

Even if you find short-term success, in the long-term there are always going to be profit margins to maintain. The more users you pull in, the more storage is used by incoming artists, the more you have to spend on storage and server maintenance costs, and that means either taking the risk at crowdfunding (ex. ComicFury) or having to resort to outsider investments (ex. Tapas). Look at SmackJeeves, it used to be a titan in the independent webcomic hosting community, until it folded over to a buyout by NHN and then was pretty much immediately shuttered due to NHN basically turning it into a manwha scanlation site and driving away its entire userbase. And if you don't get bought out and try your hand at crowdfunding, you may just wind up living on a lifeline that could cut out at any moment, like what happened to Inkblazers (fun fact, the death of Inkblazers was what kicked off the cultural shift in Tapas around 2015-16 when all of IB's users migrated over and brought their work with them which was more aimed towards the BL and romancee drama community, rather than the comedy / gag-a-day culture that Tapas had made itself known for... now you deadass can't tell Tapas apart from a lot of scanlation sites because it got bought out by Kakao and kept putting all of its eggs into the isekai/romance drama basket.)

Right now the mindset in which artists and readers are operating is that they're trying way, way too hard to find a "one size fits all" site. Readers want a place where they can find all their favorite webtoons without much effort, artists wants a place where they can post to an audience of thousands, and both sides want a community that will feel tight-knit. But the reality is that you can't really have all three of those things, not on one site. Something always winds up having to be sacrificed - if a site grows big enough, it'll have to start seeking more funding while also cutting costs which will result in features becoming paywall'd, intrusive ads, creators losing their freedom, and/or outsider support which often results in the platform losing its core identity and alienating its tight-knit community.

If I had to describe what I'm talking about in a "pick one" graphic, it would look something like this:

(*note: this is mostly based on my own observations from using all of these sites at some point or another, they're not necessarily entirely accurate to the statistical performance of each site, I can only glean so much from experience and traffic trackers LMAO that said I did ask some comic pals for input and they were very helpful in helping me adjust it with their own takes <3).

The homogenization of the Internet has really whipped people into submission for the "big sites" that offer "everything", but that's never been the Internet, it relies on being multi-faceted and offering different spaces for different purposes. And we're seeing that ideology falter through the enshittification of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. where users are at odds with the platforms because the platforms are gutting features in an attempt to satisfy shareholders whom without the platforms would not exist. Like, most of us aren't paying money to use social media sites / comic platform sites, so where else are they gonna make the necessary funds to keep these sites running? Selling ad space and locking features behind paywalls.

And this is especially true for a lot of budding sites that don't have the audience to support them via crowdfunding but also don't have the leverage to ask for investments - so unless they get really REALLY lucky in EITHER of those departments, they're gonna be operating at a loss, and even once they do achieve either of those things there are gonna be issues in the site's longevity, whether it be dying from lack of growing crowdfunding support or dying from shareholder meddling.

So what can we do?

We can learn how to take our independence back. We don't have to stop using these big platforms altogether as they do have things to offer in their own way, particularly their large audience sizes and dipping into other demographics that might not be reachable from certain sites - but we gotta learn that no single site is going to satisfy every wish we have and we have to be willing to learn the skills necessary to running our own spaces again. Pick up HTML/CSS, get to know other people who know HTML/CSS if you can't grasp it (it's me, I can't grasp it LOL), be willing to take a chance on those "smaller sites" and don't write them off entirely as spaces that can be beneficial to you just because they don't have large numbers or because they don't offer rewards programs. And if you have a really polished piece of work in your hands, look into agencies and publishing houses that specialize in indie comics / graphic novels, don't settle for the first Originals contract that gets sent your way.

For the last decade corporations have been convincing us that our worth is tied to the eyes we can bring to them. Instead of serving ourselves, we've begun serving the big guys, insisting that it has to be worth something eventually and that it'll "payoff" simply by the virtue of gambler's fallacy. Ask yourself what site is right for you and your work rather than asking yourself if your work is good enough for them. Most of us are broke trying to make it work on these sites anyways, may as well be broke and fulfilled by posting in places that actually suit us and our work if we can. Don't define your success by what sites like Webtoons are enforcing - that definition only benefits them, not you.

[jasminebythebay]

aquarium park 🐠🦑🐟

[spinaart]

hey leader!!!

[dapurinthos]

forever annoyed at the lack of non-woven jedi garments. excuse you, fibrecraft is the basis of society. where are they getting their cloth from? are they weaving it themselves? are they spinning it themselves? where is the knitwear. you cannot tell me that there are no sweaters in the jedi order. there are probably hideous sweaters made from fourteen different colours of yarn because they're made from the wool leftover from other projects. all of the colours manage to clash. and embroidery is just too good for teaching patience. hand-sewing in general is good and meditative.

these people are going to be darning their own socks, patching holes in their robes. they are going to have needles and thread in their survival kits and know how to hold the cloth tension just right with the force so they can re-weave the bigger holes by using tiny, straight sticks to hold the warp in place.

[bixels]

The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

[im-still-watching-anime]

trucy: hang on polly you have a hair on you—oh, it’s long and…blonde. again.

apollo, internally: oh my god they’re all going to think i’m STRAIGHT and that i’m sleeping with a WOMAN

trucy, athena, and wright all thinking: oh that’s for sure klavier’s :/

[ping-ski]

drew DCA in my irl clothes hehe (half-assed colored ver. under the cut)

guys i tried SO hard to pick outfits with colors for this but literally most of my wardrobe is black/dark colors

[hinamie]

second years designs :D only have a few more characters left to do this has gone so quick ,,

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

[starflungwaddledee]

from: @starflungwaddledee to: @post-it-notes7

message from santa: "happy holidays post-it-notes! 🎄🥳 i know you very politely only wished for a few modest things- characters high fiving, or struggling in christmas attire- but i hope you'll still enjoy this given that i kinda went the opposite direction entirely! i'm an enormous fan of your work and most times you post anything i wind up browsing your art tag from tip-to-tail in enraptured delight. as such, i thought it was only fair i give back something a little more significant in gratitude for all the joy your work has given me. i knew i wanted to do a comic, so i was thrilled you already had a whole storyverse for me to work from!! this scene seemed the most obvious choice (chapter 8 of "wishful thinking" on ao3) given that i enjoy a dramatic fight scene 😂 i tried to stick as beat-by-beat to the writing as i could and worked in as many details as possible; i hope it'll be fun to see it envisioned this way! merry christmas! ~starflung 🎀🔔 "

[ruporas]

tri-trans! happy#tdov 💘

[gallusrostromegalus]

Ta-Ashi Neko (Many-Legged Cat)

A fun little Yokai to live in AEIWAM's Spirit World. Warnings for: Long Post, Animal Death Mention, non-graphic discussion of Carnivory

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Ta-Ashi Neko (多足猫) or Many legged Cat

The Ta-Ashi Neko is a Monstrous Cat that grows to enormous size and intelligence, and has multiple pairs of legs. It's more elongated and stoutly built than a domestic house-cat, with a thick and plush coat. While extremely rare, the Ta-Ashi that have been observed come in a variety of coat colors that also occur in Domestic Cats.

No one is quite sure what causes a Ta-Ashi to form but rather than the product of Ta-Ashi Neko mating, new Ta-Ashi are born in domestic cat litters. When born, the Ta-Ashi resembles an ordinary kitten save that it has no legs at all, and sort of wiggles around for the first 11 years of it's life, during which it will feed itself by suckling from any animal EXCEPT cats.

On it's 11th birthday, it suddenly sprouts a pair of legs- Like human handedness, 90% of Ta-Ashi sprout their forelegs first, and 10% their hind legs. It can now crawl around more effectively (or in the case of the hind-leg ones, walk about), and continues to do so for 22 years, when it sprouts it's second pair of legs, and goes about looking like a normal, if unusually large and somewhat elongated house-cat.

33 years after that, it's third pair of legs sprout in the middle. 44 years after that, the 4th pair, 55 years after that the 5th pair, and so on. As it develops more legs, it also grows: a 3-pair Ta-Ashi is about the size of a large dog or Lynx, a 4-pair the size of a Lion or other Big Cat, a 5-pair the size of a Horse, and a 6-leg the size of a small bus. Foreleg Ta-Ashi will sprout their 4th pair between their fore and middle legs, then their fifth between the middle and hind legs, alternating thusly. Hindleg Ta-Ashi alternate as well, but start on the middle and hindleg gap.

If a Ta-Ashi manages to live to be 1,001 years old, it will have 13 pairs of legs, and become a full Kami.

The Ta-Ashi is exceptionally intelligent from birth, and by the time they have 2 pairs of legs, they fully understand human speech, but usually don't talk before their third legs grow in. A Ta-Ashi with over 5 pairs of legs is at least 231 years old, and of superhuman intelligence, if peculiar feline priorities.

They are incredibly stealthy, and it's believed older ones learn to become silent and invisible at will, but the Ta-Ashi's greatest weapon is it's speed. Even a 3-pair Ta-Ashi can outpace a Shingami's Shunpo, and as it ages, it only gets faster and better endurance. Hayai Tatakai, a 6-pair Ta-Ashi that lives in the distant districts of the Rukongai, is said to be able to make a complete circuit around the outermost borders of the Rukongai in just under a month.

Ta-Ashi are exceptionally rare, due to both their apparently niche spawning criteria, and the fact that humans have a bad habit of 'mercy killing' what they think are 'deformed' kittens. Even if a Ta-Ashi makes it to Adulthood (The onset of it's third pair of legs), it still faces major challenges: Humans will hunt them out of fear, or for Trophy Animals, and it's diet is peculiarly limited:

The Ta-Ashi eats Other Cats and the Occasional Hunter.

It's a mystery* WHY Ta-Ashi only eat other cats and seemingly random game hunters, even to the Ta-Ashi themselves. Hayai described his desire for feline flesh and not hunger per se, but as an act of rage. The mere scent of another cat would send him into an irrationally furious fugue which would not be assuaged until he had hunted down, killed, and devoured his nemesis. In fact, he rarely felt hungry at all, at least not since he'd been weaned, but on the rare occasions he did, his craving was for milk and cheese, not catmeat.

This has caused some speculation that the Ta-Ashi is not a Cat-spirit at all, but a sort of ironic Vengeful Spirit against cats- not only does it's compulsion to devour include house-cats, but also big cats, bakaneko, two-tailed cats, catfolk, and in one particularly catastrophic incident, a member of the Shihoin clan.

(*The Secret is that Ta-Ashi ARE an Ironic Vengeful Spirit- When the Beast God of the Wilderkin cursed the Shihoin to live among the humans for killing for sadistic pleasure instead of having respect for their prey, the Beast God also created the Ta-Ashi specifically to antagonize them. The Shihoin clan took, and continues to take, immense pride in their strength and speed, so the Beast God created a Feline Yokai that would be faster and stronger than any Shihoin could ever hope to be, and that would spawn anywhere Cats or Humans were hunting without respect for their prey. Even if they don't originally spawn there, Ta-Ashi Neko are drawn to places with an overabundance of cats, or where trophy hunting takes place. This has lead to the peculiar phenomenon that Ta-Ashi are found in either the ass-end of nowhere where some idiot has introduce house-cats or taken a hunting party, or smack in the middle of cities where poor pet and livestock husbandry abounds.)

Despite their fearsome appearance and distressing diet, Ta-Ashi are surprisingly gentle and playful spirits. The vast majority of people living within the territory of a Ta-Ashi never notice and are untroubled by it's presence. Some like to rush by as a sudden gust of wind to tease unwary travelers, or play with laundry left out in an unattended line. When not being actively hunted, some have even proved to be gentle and protective of human children, going so far as to return lost children to the nearest village. They are notably fond of all canines, especially dogs.

Because Ta-Ashi are so stealthy and reclusive until they know they can trust the local humans, the strongest indicators that a Ta-Ashi is in the area are:

A sudden surge in the local population of songbirds, reptiles and frogs (the mice are no longer being hunted either, but the snake population also massively rebounded)

Sudden changes in weather including more intense storms and windy days (the Ta-Ashi traveling about At Speed)

Strange miasmas of absolutely rancid sour odors with no discernible source, especially on remote stretches of road (the Ta-Ashi Marking the borders of its territory)

Some exorcists have attempted to divine the presence of Ta-Ashi Neko by interrogating other local Yokai, especially Tanuki and Kitsune, who can be plied with Sake. However, this method isn't very reliable- given that Kitsune and Tanuki are both canine spirits that are often harassed by Bakaneko or Yokai Trophy Hunters, and often favorite friends of Ta-Ashi, they usually choose to keep the presence of their Good Friend Leggy Boi a secret.

If a Ta-Ashi appears in your area, the best thing to do is keep your cat indoors- Ta-Ashi are extremely reluctant to go inside of any kind of human construction, and it also limits how far the scent of your cat travels. Also, you should be keeping your cat indoors anyway have you SEEN the foxes around here? Not even the Kitsune, the regular ones!

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Yushiro Shihoin used to love visiting his Uncles Jushiro and Kaname and going Birdlistening (on account of Kaname being blind and Jushiro being utterly hopeless with the binoculars, they rarely saw the birds, but did have a good time listening to their songs) out in the Greenbelt of old Noble House Land Holdings in the middle of the city.

He came to visit in the mid 1970's after several years away at school at Jushiro's word of improved bird populations, only to feel an awful, intense paranoia that he was being stalked by something. Concerned about assassins, the two captains quickly retreated with him from the wilder parts of the Ukitake clan holdings to the main compound. He hasn't been back since, and soon after even visiting Auntie Soi Fon's heavily forested 2nd Division training grounds gave him a similarly awful case of Heebie-Jeebies.

Unbeknownst to nearly everyone, Mayuri Kurotsuichi had commissioned the capture of a live Ta-Ashi Neko for analysis. In 1973, bounty hunters arrived in the city with a three-leg Ta-Ashi who went ballistic at being exposed to even the faintest hint of Shihoin Reiatsu, broke out of the cage she was being kept in, and has been lurking in the Greenbelt and 2nd Division training grounds since.

Since her return to Soul Society in 2001, Yoruichi thinks that she ought to bond with her Surprise Baby Brother, and that a good way to do that would be for the two of them to sneak into the Kuchiki Compound in the middle of the Greenbelt and camp there while pranking Byakuya until caught.

Kazetsumi, as she calls herself, is over 110 years old now. Her fourth pair of legs has grown in nicely and she has spent the last 27 years learning every. square. inch. of her territory.

>:3c

[somnimagus]

My page for @kairizine. It was such a huge honor to be part of this wonderful book with everyone, I had so much fun!

[id in alt!]

[fatedroses]

I offer the frankly hilarious scenario of zenos and estinien having to work together (probably because of tataru) and a little bit of headcanon-ing I have in regards to the one main issue they run in to when theyre a duo.

[ikeasharksss]

hey im curious

feel free to rb & explain your answer in the tags!

[ink-the-artist]

holy shit I did NOT realize how popular my "I will remove my teeth, for I want to remain kind despite my anger" quote is. I just googled it for fun to see what would come up, a bunch of people are quoting it not knowing who its from, an artist called Kuma made an album titled that, so bizzare