#saga: a little catty

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (19-25 May 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 Infinite Coffee & Protection Detail [pts 3-8] (owlet) - 192K total, includes main recovery fic The Long Road Begins at Home plus several shorter vignettes/episodes. My day/life/mood is always immeasurably improved by reading this series.

😊 Sorry Charlie Miller (Tanner Cohen, author; full voice cast) - Zachary Quinto is the main star of this original audio fiction in podcast format. It's a comical, catty, campy, mystery that was very entertaining. It gave me mild Hiaasen vibes and hearing ZQ play an absolute hot mess detective wannabe that's all of those above adjectives was pretty great. Much silly fun.

😍 Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction (galwednesday, silentwalrus, skellerbvvt) - reread for Stucky Book Club and it apparently has been over 2 years since my last read, so it was about time! It's the clownfish AU and it's a classic and a legend for a reason. Another one that improves my day/life/mood every time.

💖💖 +147K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

SPELEVINK (Ginny_Potter) - MCU: stucky, 9K - cute, slightly cracky little fic feat. IKEA

like heaven stood up in you (napricot) - MCU: stucky, 9K - you had your soul with you #1 - endgame fix-it with reverse time heist - genuinely zero memory of reading these which is weird because they are so good! I fucking BOOKMARKED THEM!

find a way to forgive myself (napricot) - MCU: stucky, 34K - you had your soul with you #2 - alternate 2012 timeline created during prev story

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

That '90s Show - s1, e3-4

The Unicorn - s1, e2

Game Changer - s6, e2

The Brokenwood Mysteries - s10, e4

Smartypants - s1, e3

Um, Actually - s6, e7

D20: Misfits & Magic - "The Chosen Ones" (s10, e1)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Cluck If You Buck" (s5, e1)

Dead Boy Detectives - s1, e2-4

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Ragenarok (Part 2)" (s21, e20)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Gotta Wrap It Up" (s16, e20)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

⭐ Hit Parade - Be My Baby-Baby-Baby Edition

Re: Dracula - May 19: Surely in the Toils

Working - A Much-Needed History of Queer Women’s Spaces

Persuasion by Jane Austen - Persuasion 2. | Past Persuasions

Persuasion by Jane Austen - Persuasion 3. | The Captain's Return

The Fandom Show - The Mummy (1999)

WikiHole - Pilates (with John Early, Kate Berlant and Claudia O'Doherty)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Ludlow Massacre Site

Persuasion by Jane Austen - Persuasion 4. | Perpetual Estrangement

Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #15: Hold On Tight

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep15 "Hold On Tight"

Dinner’s on Me - George Takei

Vibe Check - I’ll Dip Into Her Dark Waters

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Does IF capture the magic of its Pixar inspiration?

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Rogue Trip with Amir Siraj

Outward - Behind the Scenes of ‘Gays Against Briggs’ with Christina Cauterucci

Decoder Ring - Why Are We Still Using Fat Suits?

⭐ 99% Invisible #583 - The Lost Subways of North America

Wild Card - Ada Limón doesn't want all the answers

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - A Daring Story of Freedom with Edda Fields-Black

⭐ Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - Silent Sea

Shedunnit - The A.A. Milne Mystery

History Is Sexy #87 - Janina's Top 3 Shipwrecks

Re: Dracula - May 24: It Never Rains but it Pours

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga And What's Making Us Happy

It's Been a Minute - The Real Housewife-ification of Congress; And, 25 years of being pilled by The Matrix

What Next: TBD - Scarlett Johansson vs OpenAI

Dear Prudence - My Nonreligious Boyfriend Is Meeting My Ultra-Religious Parents. Help!

Re: Dracula - May 25: Mingle Our Weeps

⭐ Slow Burn - Gays Against Briggs | 1. A Hotbed of Homosexuality

⭐ Slow Burn - Gays Against Briggs | 2. Defend Our Children

⭐ Slow Burn - Gays Against Briggs | 3. Harvey Milk vs. the Machine

⭐ Slow Burn - Gays Against Briggs | 4. You Must Come Out

⭐ Slow Burn - Gays Against Briggs | 5. Strange Bedfellows

Under the Influence - Die Another Day: Reviving Old Commercials

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'80s Pop Party

Presenting Bonnie Raitt

Billy Joel

Rock Radio • 1970s

my Feel Good Supermix

[twilightguardian]

Well, that's your fault for blocking me when we were having that conversation, now isn't it?

I wasn't "Totes Ownzing" you as a writer, Lilith. If you wanted to know what I meant you could have just, like... asked for clarification instead of assuming malintent and starting a fight with me. That's what most people do.

It was a show of good faith, (since I had done nothing but talk about how much of a caustic, disingenuous liar you were regarding Fixing and how uncharitable you were with those you blanketed as misogynists.) reaching out to you as a fellow writer and creative, not only saying that it was an older piece of work, so you may have already fixed it yourself in your newest draft. Then saying that if you wanted to grow as an artist that the one group you went to weren't doing you favours and if you were still with them to look for a better group who would be hard on your work, because that will show where your flaws are. Critique can hurt. But critique groups aren't there to build up your pride, they're there to hone your writing skills and do away with bad habits. You tear down your old, rotting ego and build a newer, healthier one, or rather it's like building muscle. Every critique is a little wound in your writing muscles. Those wounds heal stronger and your writing muscle, like real muscles, gets bigger, better, more able to endure and will be able to work more before getting torn again. Every artist goes through this and it's the normal process of creation. I had thought, perhaps naively, that you'd understand this at the very least.

I've been nothing, if not fair to you for the most part despite using you as an obvious example in my initial callout post. But I wouldn't have had to do that if there weren't so many examples of you being toxic and attacking people and making up things about them - in some cases serious accusations.

You get back what you give. If you're someone who comes into a conversation assuming that someone has ill intent and act with aggression, people are going to treat you the same. You wanted someone to fight with so after you blocked me I gave you what you wanted: Someone to fight. I'm willing to fight back when I see injustice and I'm not afraid to be catty. But it didn't have to be that way.

I'm also a writer, and on some level, no matter whether I like or dislike you, at the end of the day it doesn't matter. I'd still be happy if you grew as an artist and became better; if you found success. I initially was going to look into Glints Saga regardless to look into it and make comparisons between your old and new work because I was curious after learning you rewrote it to see how much it changed. It was just an innocent curiosity. Then to be polite I'd give my review of the work and be honest about it, because in my mind, there's nothing worth more than honesty. So you'd get my thoughts, if I liked some parts, if I disliked others, etc. It would give you more interaction with your work.

I made that initial long post because I saw all the dishonesty about Fixing and wanted to debunk it. If you found my fanfics and reviewed them I'd enjoy that but if you just went in to purposefully bend over backwards, contorting yourself into a pretzel to pick apart every single little thing for no reason other than wanting to hurt me, that's disingenuous. No one, not even 'critics' do that... for the most part. I've seen some bs in rwde, too, let's be real here.

To answer your question about my criticism, it's about a complicated mixture of realism and cutting fat in your writing. People normally don't say your name to you unless it's to get your attention or to emphasize they're speaking to you when in a group. If someone is speaking to you, they'll say 'you' and not your name constantly at you. Because they already have your attention. But it's also about brevity and repetition. Respect your reader's time and don't use unnecessary words because it just clogs up your prose or dialogue. Saying a character's name over and over to that character is repetitive to read. You want your writing to be concise and punchy. Every sentence, phrase and word has to matter, has to be there for a reason. If you want your writing to be as good as it can be, you make the necessary changes and take criticisms from people outside your circle of friends.

This is writing advice you can find anywhere. I'm not saying anything particularly groundbreaking or niche, but it's not something that everyone knows about, either. We all become blind to our own work and need an outsider - multiple outsiders who know how to critique - to come in and look. If you only surround yourself with friends who only ever praise your work, you'll gain a false sense of what your writing is like. I also had to learn it. I've done writing in the past where a character says another's name to that character every time they speak and I had to be aware of that to avoid it. Pointing out flaws in your writing isn't an attack on you as a person.

When I said I was going to review Glints, you just saw me as Floof 2.0 (regarding the review). Honestly, I have no idea what he said about it. I've had problems with him in the past when it came to reviewing writing and I called him out on it. He may have had good points, but I also don't doubt he said some really dumb things about your work. You assumed without evidence that I was going to be just as disingenuous as him, that I was going to use your series to attack you. Based on what? Because I called you out? I didn't call you out for no reason. The reason I took those screenshots was to back up my words to show that I wasn't lying. To show this is a pattern of behaviour that I can see that leads to the type of disingenuous criticism that I wanted to talk about and debunk. You have a skewed way of looking at the world and at people, and assume intent and malice when there might not be and I was demonstrating why that is harmful, not because I have anything against you specifically. Just your attitude and how you interact with people you disagree with.

You can take this however you like. But this is my genuine attempt to reopen dialogue with you. If not, I'll continue as I had before: Debunking your poorly thought out, bad faith criticisms of Fixing and once V6 is done so am I. But if you do, I'll continue talking to you and do what I can for you as a fellow artist.

Edit: Also as for your critique of Glints, it's coming. But frankly I have more important things to do and you're not all that high on my priority list. Properly reviewing takes time and energy.

[laylacooke]

The Cat’s Meow (Pt. 2) || Regan & Layla

timing: Mid August (before Cabin Trip) [continued from here.]  parties: @kadavernagh​ & @laylacooke summary: Meow?

Layla’s heart was beating fiercely in her small compacted chest. Orange fur heaved up and down as she finally stopped running and had made her escape from Luna and Indy. But confusion still hung heavy over her mind, along with no immediate ideas of how she was going to get out of the situation she was in.

She hadn’t been able to catch a mirror on the way out, but when she had tried to speak Ariana’s name the only thing that came out was a pitiful meow. A meow that had alerted her to more than she had wanted to know in the moment.

It had to be a dream, right? No, more like a nightmare. God, was she stuck inside another nightmare? She had just escaped that reality. But then it hit her like a double headed dildo to the face...Cordy. It was the only possibility, right? She had just seen the woman the day before and pissed her off. Maybe she could go see her and this would all go away. Maybe she would be Layla again. Maybe just maybe - Screeeeeeech! “Watch it you stupid cat!” Eyes wide, the small ginger cat hunkered down in fear realizing she had almost gotten hit by a car. Focus, Layla. Or the next time you’re going to look like Binx from Hocus Pocus.

Quickly escaping from the street, before another car came, Layla realized she needed help.

Remmy? Moose might eat me.

Kaden? Uh-uh. He’s an animal catcher and a hunter for fucks sake.

I’ve got it!

Picking up one paw after the other, the small, furry animal made her way through town as she tried to avoid the temptations that were starting to overwhelm her. Fresh fish. Blagh. A large juicy rat! Oh fuck no. Chasing a bird? Maybe. No, Layla. No. Mind on the mission. Mind. On. The. Mission. It was the small child that was now chasing her screaming ‘kitty’ that put a little extra pep in her step. Stop! No! Bad child! Bad! She let out a horrific meow as the toddler grabbed onto her tail pulling her backwards, and with no choice, she released her claws and swatted at the child. Seeing him tear up broke Layla’s heart, but she couldn’t stop, especially now when his mother was chasing after her and trying to kick her away. I’m sorry!

With a huff, she continued moving forward; little legs growing tired with the occasional breaks scattered throughout, but when she looked up, she realized she had made it.

Waiting for the right moment, Layla weaved her way through the legs of the person entering the building. Maneuvering up the stairs with stealth, she finally arrived. Regan’s apartment. She had saved the medical examiner when the woman was only five inches tall, and now, it was Regan’s turn to save her.

It had become a ritual. Coming home, spreading out the case files from “The Collector’s” victims, and scrutinizing the images and autopsy reports until her eyes felt numb. Regan was thumbing through them again when she heard an insistent meow outside of her door. For a moment, she wondered if it had been a hallucination. She wasn’t sure she’d ever hallucinated a cat before, though. Maybe it was best to check. Reluctantly, she shuffled over to the door, opening it to see -- “How did you get in here?” Regan frowned down at the animal. Did Nadia get another cat? Or did Ms. Carmody? The old woman always seemed a little pleased when there were cat carcasses on the lawn; maybe she had a soft spot for them. Before she could close the door on the cat, it slid past her legs into the apartment. “Hey! Stop! Sit!” She tried to command it like she would Abel, but the animal seemed determined to stay inside. Her wings rustled in annoyance. She shut the door, at least for now, lest anyone who wasn’t Nadia walk by. It was just her and the cat, now. She studied its orange fur and bright eyes. The animal looked relatively healthy, as far as she could tell, though she wasn’t exactly a veterinarian. “Fortunately for you, cat, I’m dating someone in Animal Control. He’ll find you a good home. One that isn’t here.”

Regan had taken the bait, and Layla was in. The world, including the M.E’s apartment was so much bigger as a cat. Everything seemed to be duller and her field of vision seemed limited to a degree and made the already drab apartment seem even less exciting. However, that didn’t matter. Trotting over to Regan, the small cat rubbed across her leg continuously, until she mentioned Animal Control. Fucking Kaden. He was going to be the foil in her plot. Hissing at the idea, she left the woman’s side and ran to the nearby couch. Jumping up onto it, she started to pace back and forth, rubbing on the cushions trying to be loving. If she thinks I’m cute, maybe she won’t let Grandpa haul me away. She meowed softly; her big yellow eyes making contact with Regan’s hoping to win her over.

The cat yowled as Regan mentioned Animal Control, like the animal had some idea of what that meant. That wasn’t possible, was it? She didn’t know very much about cats, but dogs could recognize their name and some commands. Did this one actually know what that meant? Kaden surely wouldn’t euthanize the cat; it would be brought to the shelter and adopted out into a home that would be at least adequate. The cat flung itself around the apartment and ended up on the couch, coating it in fur as it rolled around. Regan frowned at it, then looked down at her slacks. Fur clung to her shins where the cat had rubbed. Great. She brushed it off, then took a cautious step toward the animal. She wasn’t keen on touching it. What if it had rabies or something else? It could have been exposed to anything outside. “Cat,” Regan announced, unsure how to address it, “this isn’t going to work. There’s too much screaming and not enough tuna here for you. I don’t know how to take care of a cat! I’ve never had any animal before and half the time I don’t even know if Abel is afraid of me and-- and this is ridiculous. I’m talking to a cat that turned up in my apartment.” She pulled out her Nokia to shoot Kaden a message: How do you catch a cat?

When Regan addressed Layla as Cat, she meowed in response, Yes? However, what the woman had to say wasn’t exactly what Layla wanted to hear. Please don’t let Kaden take me away. Please! Her eyes grew wider as she paced back and forth nervously. Maybe if I lay down and be a good cat, she won’t send me away with Captain Putain. Circling in one spot, Layla found a place to settle into and laid down. Her tail swished back and forth on its own accord as she continued to look at Regan. Meow. It was soft and welcoming. Inviting Regan over to pet her. She could be a good cat. Layla could exist peacefully with Regan, until she could figure out a way to get the woman to help her, so long as Kaden didn’t come with a cage and pole to snag her with.

Was the cat pacing? Was that normal cat behavior, or did it indicate some neurological concern? Regan really needed to get Kaden over here to catch this animal. It probably needed extensive veterinary care. Was it a stray? It stopped walking across the living room after a minute, planting itself in front of her, and all she could do was stare down at those bright eyes. “Do you want something?” She asked it. “Food? Do you want food?” It probably wanted food. What did cats eat? Tuna, of course. Right? She hadn’t purchased any since she realized she couldn’t tolerate fish anymore. Regan walked past the cat into the kitchen to see what she could find. Peanut butter, yogurt, granola, lettuce, sprouts… nothing a cat would be interested in. “Uh, I might need to ask Kaden what cats eat, and then go shopping. Not that you’re staying here. I mean, for long.” She aimed a glance at the animal. “Really, it’s a bad idea. An extremely bad idea.” Was she trying to convince herself, or the cat? She wasn’t sure and didn’t want to dwell on it. Sighing, Regan knelt down on the floor to get a closer look at the animal, nearly tripping over her wings. It had healthy, orange fur and seemed bright. For a stray, it was in good condition. She wondered if the cat was microchipped. The vet would be able to figure that out. “Do you have any owner?”

Food had briefly crossed Layla’s mind on the way over, but it was more temptations than anything. However, she was getting hungry. Listening to Regan, she wanted to speak to her badly. Say something other than a variation on the ever so popular meow, but it was useless. Instead, she watched the woman walk to the kitchen and listened as she rambled on about food and why she shouldn’t keep Layla the Cat and what Kaden would suggest. However, what she hadn’t expected was for Regan to come back and kneel down just to further inspect her. With the M.E that close to her face, Layla was at least able to respond to the ‘owner’ question with a swift shake of her head, no, indicating she didn’t have an owner. Did cats shake their head yes and no? Probably not, but she was no ordinary cat and not being able to communicate with words was driving her bananas. When she got out of this, she was going to have some strong words with Cordy...well, if she got out of this.

Did the cat just… did it just shake its head? Regan gawked down at the animal. It had to be a coincidence. There was no way the cat understood the question, right? Which, sure, she felt more than a little ridiculous for asking it in the first place, given that. And she was only going to feel more ridiculous now that she was continuing to verbally engage with a cat. “You don’t have an owner?” She asked cautiously, standing up again. Her wings gave a disgruntled flit and she brought her hand to her forehead. “I’m going insane,” she said simply, “that’s the explanation. And you’re going to get checked for a microchip once I get you to Kaden. But that’s… something I’ll have to do tomorrow.” She looked out the blurry window, noting that the sun was setting. “You can stay here for now, but no sleeping on the bed, and no swatting at me. Understood?”

Layla had found Regan’s reactions amusing to say the least. Erm...meow the least. Letting her golden round hues follow the woman, the cat meowed. You’re not going insane, because if you are then that means I should wake up from this nightmare any moment, but I haven’t yet, so you have to help me find my way out of this situation since Ariana couldn’t! The mews were continuous and full of inflection but resulted in nothing. Well, not what she had wanted, but Regan had given her permission to stay, so at least that was something. Hearing the stipulations, she nodded her head yes. I think I can handle that. No swats, and, fine. No bed, but I bet you’ll come around. If my little cat body is any reflection of my human cuteness, I’m going to win you over like a bettin’ man gettin’ lucky for once. Challenge accepted. She narrowed her eyes for a moment before hopping off the couch and going back over to Regan. Chirping sweetly, she rubbed against her leg hoping to be picked up.

Why was it meowing like that? Was something wrong? Was it supposed to do that? Regan grimaced down at the cat like it was a light she’d just shattered. It wasn’t broken, right? But then it stopped meowing, and-- she jumped as it leapt from the couch, wings taking her a few inches off the floor. That sent another wave of panic through her and she fluttered back away from the animal, dropping back down to the ground. It seemed intent on following her, though, and rubbed against her shin again. Why did it keep doing that? Regan reached down and gave it a quick, cautious stroke on the top of its head, then tore her arm back away from it like it might seize her. “What? I’ll get you food tomorrow. I don’t have anything that I can-- is it water? You want water?” She brought a small bowl full of water from the kitchen and set it down on the floor, hoping to retreat into the bedroom while it was distracted.

Oh, if a cat could laugh! Layla watched as Regan proceeded to freak out. If you could only see the way you’re acting, Dr. B. While getting picked up didn’t work out quite like she planned, the water now sitting in front of her was well appreciated. Moving in, she slowly leaned forward. Seeing her reflection in the water startled Layla, but once she had accepted it, she leaned closer towards the bowl of liquid. Okay, just...you can do this, Layla. Just like...Her tongue easily began lapping up the cool water from the bowl. It was refreshing, to say the least, and while she stood there consumed by the taste of the water in her parched mouth, she hadn’t noticed Regan slip away into the bedroom. By the time she looked up, it was too late. Eyes scanning the room, she let her nose lead her to the door. I hear you in there. Meows rang out sounding closely like the word ‘hello’. Hello? Helloooooo. Hello?

Regan had just brushed her teeth and wiggled into her nightshirt when she heard meowing from the other side of the bedroom door. Her arms sagged with exhaustion and she felt a little bit like screaming. Hadn’t she told the animal she wasn’t allowed on the bed? So much for it being able to understand. Maybe it just wanted to be near her. Domestic animals evolved to be in human proximity, right? She sat down on her bed for a moment, debating. Would it keep meowing out there if she didn’t let it in? Would she be able to get any sleep if she did let it in? Regan groaned, standing up. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” She opened the door, standing back as she watched the cat to see what it might do. “Remember, no bed. You can sleep on the floor. And no. Swatting.” Abel had stuck his nose in her wings plenty of times, and she could only imagine what damage a cat might do. Just thinking about the claws made her wince. Regan waggled a finger at the animal before falling back on the bed with a long, drawn out sigh. “Goodnight, cat. Tomorrow, you’re going to the vet.” 

Layla continued to say the one word she could as a cat, “hello”, until she heard the door open. With wide innocent eyes, she looked up at Regan. She listened as the woman spouted off the rules again, before she trotted into the bedroom, tail swishing back and forth. There had been nowhere to lay on the floor. And Regan would be warmer than curling up trying to rely on her own body heat for warmth. It had been a long day, and all she wanted was to sleep peacefully, especially knowing she was going to the vet tomorrow; which had caused her anxiety to spike. What would going to a vet be like? She already hated going to the doctor. She would deal with that issue in the morning, but for now, she just wanted to not feel so lonely, and completely ignoring the ‘sleeping on the bed’ rule, the small, orange tabby launched herself up onto the edge of the mattress. Slowly and cautiously walking over the covers, once she reached Regan, she curled up in a ball next to the woman. Snuggled in closely, before the fae could object, she began purring softly and closed her eyes. 

Regan flicked off the light and settled in. It was always a struggle trying to get comfortable these days, given the unwelcome wings, but somehow, it was starting to get a little bit easier. She gave the cat one final expectant look that said stay on the floor, then she closed her eyes. Regan didn’t even feel the animal soundlessly jump on the bed, not at first-- but something soft and burning hot curled up next to her, and Regan didn’t have the energy to argue with a cat. Besides… it was like having a tiny campfire right next to her, and was the purring really so bad? She’d wash the sheets tomorrow. Regan draped an arm over the animal, allowing herself to hope, just for a moment, that its presence would lead to a nightmare-less slumber.

[yanderenightmare]

A continuation to Dabi and Bakugo's cute pet kitty saga. How would they react (and punish her 👀) if she gets mad at them for having somebody else's scent on them and turns back into a hostile little kitty 👀

yandere ! BNHA thirst

goodiebag WARNINGS: nsfw, dubcon/noncon, pet-play, degradation 

part one, part two

TIP-JAR

BAKUGO KATSUKI - KACHAN

He’d nearly forgotten the sting that follows her claws.

And just how deep those long needles go once she’s dedicated to hurting him and not simply marking up his back like she usually does with those long prideful love-scratches when he fucks her like the good little breeding-kitty she is. 

He can barely believe it, but... is his little house-bound pet something as silly as jealous? 

And here he thought he was the only one who was that petty and obsessive. 

He cocks his brow.

A slight quirk playing at the edge of his mouth. Forming into an amused smirk.

He’ll gladly give her a reminder of just how fucking love-sick he is for her too. 

He shakes his head slowly. A lazy chuckle in his throat as he speaks.

“Get your bratty-ass over here, silly kitty.”

“No, don't touch me!”

He nearly staggers away. Drawn-back, but strangely entertained at the same time.

A laugh soon rumbling inside his chest. Eerily dark like raked coals.

“Don’t touch you?” 

Red eyes, dangerously playful as they looked over her little mad face curled up into an adorable frown. He licked his lips. 

“Kitty... you should know being a catty brat gets you nowhere but right back where you belong.” 

“Fuck you.” She spat. Her back arched in defence as she circled away from him. Watchful of the way he flashed his canines at her. 

“That’s exactly what I plan on doing, buttercup.”

He stepped closer. Long powerful strides toward where she backed away. 

“Eat shit.” She barked. Refusing to back down just like the true stubborn brat he fell in love with. 

“Oh, I get it... you wanna play.”

His smile cracked up even wider. 

“You just want attention. Isn't that right, pet?” 

His eyes still hadn't closed. Still holding her pinned. Wide and glinting with dangerous predatory heat. 

“Well... better run and hide, ‘cause when I find you... I’m gonna do far more than just touch you, you brat.”

DABI - TODOROKI TOUYA

That’s the cutest shit Dabi’s seen in a while.

Is his needy little collared pet angwy at him?

He can't help but smile. His fangs flashed with his smirk as he looks down at her pouty little upset face.

Her eyes narrowed to mere slits as she leers up at him.

She even has the guts to push him away once he crawls over to lie down on top of her.

Curling up on the other side of the bed. Her tail tucked away to herself and not playing with him like she usually does. 

“I sure hope my kitten knows she’s the only brat I’m willing to put up with...” He drawls. His hand spidering over the sheets to dance up her thigh. Though, receiving no response. 

She leaves him no other option but to yank her tail. Being the reluctant cold little brat she is. Acting all tough, like she has any other option but be his good little pet.

But whipping around, her face wasn't scrunched up in anger as it was before, but tear-slicked and blushed with red frustration. 

He had to sigh out in awe at that display.

His tough darling reduced to nothing but sore puffy eyes and a look of utter betrayal.

It’s way too much cuteness for his cold hard heart to handle. 

“Dumb silly pet... can your wittle nose pick up the scent of smoke too?" He teased. "You should know better than anyone that there’s nothing left but ash and charcoal."

She blinked. The hurt in her eyes dissipating.

"Are you really that owner-sick that you’re gonna be jealous of who I cremate too?”

He quirked a brow. 

“Or is my bratty kitten being difficult ‘cause she wants some attention?” 

The way she crawls over and slumps down on his chest and melts into his embrace only moments later has his heart warming.

It all makes him feel guilty for some reason. Even though it's not his fault she leaped to the wrong conclusion.

But whatever...

He can at least make sure she’ll never make the same mistake ever again.

He thought while stroking long lanky smoke-kissed fingers over the top of her head. 

Perhaps he should start showering before coming home.

TIP-JAR

[traincat]

hi! i've seen you rec gwen/mj fics, and was wondering if you had any good comic recs for a newbie to the ship, or communities/other resources/manifestos, or blogs to follow! thanks :)

I do have comic recs! In general I think it’s pretty easy to read for Gwen because, well, she’s only present for a relatively small slice of the Spider-Man pie, so to speak. I have Gwen-specific recs here. For GwenMJ shippiness in particular, I’d single out the following:

Amazing Spider-Man #47 and #48. In ASM #47, Gwen makes sure Mary Jane is invited to Flash’s going away party, noting that it’s sure to be “really swinging” with her there. In ASM #48, Gwen switches up her hairstyle; Harry notes that it looks more like Mary Jane’s and Gwen blushes.

ASM #49 sees Gwen and Mary Jane’s catchphrase: “Chase the blues away with Gwen and MJ.” (And it’s good proof that they were definitely hanging out with each other sans the boys.) There’s cute petnames in it, too. There’s a lot of interactions around this point that have been interpreted broadly throughout the years as Gwen and Mary Jane being competitive with each other over Peter’s attention, but to be honest I think that that reading is a choice and not the only one on the table -- their cattiness towards each other lacks the hostile edge that Betty and Liz’s held during the Ditko/Lee run. If anything, Gwen and Mary Jane seem to be having a lot of fun bantering with each other. They do more flirty verbal sparring in ASM #51, #53, #59, #82. ASM #83 contains the iconic scene where Mary Jane and Gwen turn kissing Flash goodbye in front of their boyfriends into a competition:

In ASM #87, MJ comforts Gwen when Peter fails to show up for her birthday party. Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 & #2 are gorgeous side stories that feature a lot of Gwen and MJ. And then, of course, famously, in ASM #122, Mary Jane confronts Peter after Gwen’s death, saying she’s real shook up about it. The recent Marvel Comics #1000 anthology offers a retrospective on this from Mary Jane’s point of view from original writer Gerry Conway, where MJ recollects how Gwen was the only one who really saw her back then -- and that it wasn’t Peter she stayed for that night. 

Spider-Man: Blue is a miniseries that offers an alternative version of Peter’s early college days and Mary Jane’s introduction into the group. In my opinion it plays a little harder into the idea of Gwen and Mary Jane seriously competing for Peter’s affection than the original canon does, but it’s a good time, and features MJ calling Gwen gorgeous. 

Amazing Spider-Man #365′s D Story, I Remember Gwen, has Mary Jane recall a time when she picked Gwen’s happiness over her own.

And then we get into Clone Saga territory. If you’re reading for GwenMJ specifically, this may be hit or miss for you -- there’s a period wherein one of Gwen’s numerous clones crashes into Peter and Mary Jane’s life at a tense moment. It’s somewhat unevenly written, with Clone Gwen going from saying how happy she is that Peter and MJ are together in one issue to insisting that Peter (who was at that point suspected of being a clone himself) could only be understood by another clone in the next. But it’s got some good moments. Spectacular Spider-Man #227 has Clone Gwen tell MJ that the original Gwen always thought of MJ as her best friend before they embrace and in Maximum Cloneage (look I didn’t name it), it’s MJ who saves Clone Gwen from falling like her predecessor.

This last one for 616 is not so much a rec so much as me waving my hand in the air like “this exists and we all have to deal with it” but for the sake of completion -- there ARE good GwenMJ moments in Sins Past (Amazing Spider-Man #509-514), a story that retcons a whole bunch of stuff from before Gwen’s death to offer up a turn of events wherein Gwen gave birth to twins fathered by Norman Osborn who, after aging super fast due to the goblin serum in their blood, have shown up to assassinate Peter. Look, I don’t think it should be canon. The actual writer doesn’t think it should be canon. It’s a strange little piece of canon nearly everyone hates, save for the people who like to use it to villify Gwen for “cheating” on Peter -- but it’s there and it is, if not a good story, then one with interesting character beats, at least, that casts Mary Jane as someone who keeps the secrets of people she loves -- this referring to Gwen, and not solely to Peter. 

I also recommend for alternative universe GwenMJ content Ultimate Spider-Man (I can’t pull issue numbers for 1610 as easily as I can for 616, sorry) and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, which are both high school takes on the Spider-Man mythos. For a very different take on the Spider-Man mythos, the Spider-Gwen universe (Earth-65; Spider-Gwen and its following series Ghost Spider) feature a Gwen who was bitten by the spider and a Mary Jane who leads the band Gwen plays the drums in. I’m not personally in love with either the worldbuilding for this series or its take on either Gwen or MJ, but it’s a fun AU continuity with extremely fast-paced, colorful action and some good GwenMJ content.

(Spider-Gwen #25)

For communities, I’m not really that great at recommendations -- I feel like tumblr and twitter as fandom hubs make the organization of resources somewhat difficult. @majiinatc does great Spider-Man edits, with a ton focusing on the women of Spider-Man, and spideyfive on twitter supports the GwenMJ agenda and is just generally hilarious. I wish there was a ship manifesto I could recommend; fandom needs to bring those back in a big way. But I hope that helps a little! 

[elliepassmore]

The Last Hope Review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: sci-fi, space opera-esque stories, LGBTQ+ characters, multiple POVs, mythology, futuristic I liked The Last Hope more than The Raging Ones, though the plot was definitely stranger and more out-there than the first book. As much as I liked this one, I do feel the weird direction the plot took brought me out of the story somewhat and ate away at the suspension of belief that's so critical for stories like this. I suppose that if it had been set up in The Raging Ones I would've had less trouble with it, but from what I can tell, the main goal and reveals in this book belong almost 100% to this book. The reveals and goals that do connect across the two books are, I feel, not as big a deal as the ones that are not (that's not to say finding out why Mykal, Court, and Franny are linked or why humans are so rare isn't important, but considering everything else that occurs in this book, those things certainly take somewhat of a back burner). In this vein, there was also a comment at the end of the book re: Franny and Zimmer that I think would've made far more sense at the end of Raging than at the end of this one, as their relationship and interactions were more developed in the first book than in this one. Court is a lot nicer in this one, which is definite improvement from Raging. I don't know if it's because of how things played out at the end of the first book or his relationship with Mykal, but his attitude has had a wildly positive adjustment. One thing that was nice was that he included Mykal and Franny more in his planning and is more conscious of them and their feelings. A lot of the chapters in this one were from his POV and I enjoyed getting to dig into his head a little more and understand his motivations and feelings, as he was largely the 'push' character in Raging and in one of the major reveals he continues to be a push character. I also enjoyed learning more about Mykal, especially in light of the fact he meets his adoptive brother. We already know he's protective of Franny and Court, but it was an interesting dynamic to see him protective over his brother (who is the same age as him) while also attempting to connect his brother to their father and the Greenpale culture. Franny got less narration in this one than in the first one, though we see enough to get to know some of the other humans and to understand part of why she's so desperate for answers. She's still rather naive and there are times I question why she makes certain decisions (not necessarily bad or dumb, just curious why Ritchie went that direction), but I would say she's grown from who she was at the end of Raging. A new character, Stork, enters the picture and is the one to set them on the track of the baby. Stork gets a handful of narrative chapters (three, I believe) and turns out to be rather relevant at the end of the story, but for a rather large portion of it he acts as the trio's trainer and as a secret keeper. Because humans are endangered and the Saltarians are trying to hunt them down, and because Stork himself is an Influential raised by humans, he's rather desperate for the trio to agree to help him find the baby to hide the planet. In his narration, it's clear he feels somewhat guilty for hiding the trio's past from them, but his actions toward them in the beginning are mistrustful and catty (and sometimes downright childish). Despite this, he's a character you can't help but like the further into the story you get. Though, like Franny, I felt he held a rather minor role for someone who plays such a big part in the last big reveal. Gem, Kinden, and Zimmer all come back and become relevant sooner in the story than they did in the first one. All three, and Gem's older sister who was also in Raging but whom I have only slight memories of, come to find Franny, Court, and Mykal and agree to help them find the legendary baby. The sequences with all seven of them are very reminisce of the training for Saga, but for blending in on another planet instead of going into space. The lot of them are actually quite funny and are good characters to help move the story forward. Of course, being side-characters, they don't get off scotch-free, *SPOILER* Gem gets get an eye mauled and Zimmer dies, and that's after the humans make them test their loyalty by going to the brig for a hot minute *SPOILER END* but they seemed to integrate into leaving the Saltare system relatively well. Seeing Saltare-1 was super cool and fulfilled the wish I had at the end of Raging that we could see more of the other planets. Saltare-1 is a water planet, so we get to see Stork teach most of the Saga 7 to swim and then we get to see them all interact in a floating city surrounded by croc infested waters (I'm sure there's other stuff down there and there are probably safe areas, but we get to see a mutant crocodile, so that's what I'm mentioning). I liked seeing the differences between Saltare-3 and Saltare-1, especially in light of how certain cultural things were so similar, despite other obvious differences. It seems the Influentials and Fast Trackers each live in relatively the same way no matter which planet they're on. Plot wise...so it's a good concept. We already have Saltarians, endangered humans, giant spaceships, and links between people, what's a little teleportation, right? I don't even mind that the person who has the ability to teleport things is a baby or a different, it's whatever. As already mentioned, there's Saltarians and there's humans and then there's hints that there are other species, so the baby not being Saltarian or human isn't that huge of a deal. But it's parentage and 'home'...I have a bit of a problem with that. *SPOILER 1* Maybe I'm just being a huge stickler, but how, exactly, does the timeline for all of this work out? Furure!Court and Future!Stork send Zima back in time in hopes of creating a new timeline, which succeeds. But now that there's a new timeline where earth was saved...do they still send the Zima back? Do they need to? Has anyone considered that if they keep sending this baby back she will never grow older than 3? And that if they don't send her back, then they risk the future getting altered? Like...it's a mess, in my opinion, but again, I could be completely wrong about this and overthinking it. I also thought it a bit strange, though plot-convenient, future!Court and future!Stork to reveal that Zima is the daughter of *SPOILER 2* Stork and Franny *SPOILER 2 END. They wanted to find the parents and make sure taking Zima was okay, but at the same time, revealing the future to people in the past is generally a big no-no. *SPOILER 1 END* I still love the book and enjoyed the plot, but the last third was just very very weird.

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing (20-26 January 2019)

GW Tumblr Fandom,

Here’s your weekly round-up from the folks at TWIGW!  Be sure to show your creators some love.  <333

–Mod LAM

Fanfiction

Arbiter WIP by @ransomedbard​

Read Arbiter on AO3 (Chapters 3/10 posted) 

Pairings: N/A

Characters:  Duo Maxwell

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: Resurrection, Supernatural

Work Summary:  After an accident in space, Duo learns that he cannot permanently die - but every resurrection comes at a terrible cost for those around him. As he learns the extent of his powers, he struggles with the temptation to misuse them, and to find meaning in his devastating ‘gift’. His secret drives him away from the other pilots, even as he comes to realize his own loneliness and need for their friendship.

Dare to be Different (Secret Magic AU) by @terrablaze514​

Pairings: 1x2, OPT5

Characters:  Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Odin Lowe

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: coming out, sex education

Summary: The group freezes at odds when Heero’s words slip. Thankfully, Mr. Lowe steps in and offers assurance.

Rudimentary by @noelleian​

Pairings: Trowa x Quatre

Characters:  Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner

Rating: EXPLICIT

Tag / Warnings: canon-compliant, post-canon, PWP/smut, light BDSM and rough sex, restraints, choking, spanking, but also fluff and schmoop

Summary:   It's nearly impossible to get one over on Quatre, but Trowa's always up for the challenge.

Penumbra WIP by @gundamwing-ellesmith​

Pairings: Trowa x Heero

Characters:  Sally Po, Heero Yuy

Rating:  Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: some medical stuff (ref to blood, pain, etc)

Summary:  Sally conducts a medical examination

WIP Wednesday by @noirangetrois​

Pairings: Duo x Relena

Characters:  Dorothy, Relena, Catherine

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: snippet is safe, AO3 work is EXPLICIT

Summary:   A little snippet from the next chapter of the 2xR fake wedding on a cruise ship AU, Waves and a Wedding

Distracted by @doctormegalomania​

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters:  Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings:  Hurt/Comfort, gunshots

Summary:   Some serious distractions can be seriously distracting.

Our Stupid Ordinary Life by @doctormegalomania​

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters:  Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy

Rating: MATURE

Tag / Warnings: Suicidal Thoughts

Summary:   All we have is our stupid ordinary lives.

Straight to My Head (ch. 4/?) by @miss-m-muses​

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Characters:  Heero, Duo, Lady Une

Rating: MATURE

Tag / Warnings: Light Angst, confused!Heero, Awkward Romance, some smut

Summary:   Heero's yearly Preventer evaluation is usually an annoying formality. But this year, it is much more complicated due to a certain Duo Maxwell...

Thursdsay 300 WIP by @lemontrash​

Pairings: Duo x Wufei

Characters:  Duo Maxwell, Wufei Chang

Rating: General

Tag / Warnings: N/A

Summary:  Duo delivers a sandwich and chocolates

Tequila (Ch 11/?) by @anaranesindanarie​

Pairings: Trowa x Duo, Meilan x Hilde, Cathy x Abdul, Solo x Dorothy

Characters:  Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Meilan, Hilde, Catherine, Abdul, Rashid, Sister Helen, Father Maxwell, Solo, Dorothy

Rating: MATURE

Tag / Warnings: past relationships, bad break-ups, tequila, weddings, car problems, military, fights, hostages, injuries

Summary:   It's been four years since Trowa and Duo broke up, and now Trowa is back in town.

LAM!verse Snippet by @lifeaftermeteor

Pairings: N/A

Characters:  Trowa Barton and co

Rating: Teen and Up

Tag / Warnings: N/A

Summary:  Heero shares a story from Trowa and his shared past to illustrate the true power of hating catchy pop songs

Fanart

Two by @gundayum​

Duo and Catty (daughter OC)

Duo and Heero to the rescue

Two by @gundamboy55​

Tallgeese I, II, and III

Other Gundam busts

Heero Yuy by @xardion​

Two by @duointherain

Suited!Duo

Duo and Heero

A few by @lemontrash​

Grumpy Tengu!Heero

Tengu!Heero, Troll!Trowa and a Sheep

The original sheep saga

The sheep saga continues

Duo, Wufei, and Hair

Other Fandom Works (Cosplay, Gunpla, Scans, Headcanon, etc.)

Quotes continue to knock our socks off over at @incorrectgundamwingquotes​!  Some examples:

Dealing with too many people and not enough chairs

Motivation to get through these meetings

Wufei and the Hyenas

“Can I have a word?”

Radio Meteor, Episode 4 by @lemontrash​

Post-Conflict World Building (master post) by @lifeaftermeteor​

Musical Accompaniment by @christianmswanson​

Gunpla

MG Endless Waltz HeavyArms by @itsagundam

Wing WIP by @christianmswanson

Deathscythe Incoming by @christianmswanson​

HeavyArms modeled by takeda shared by @rx-79bluedestiny

MG OZ-00MS Tallgeese by MOYAMOYA shared by @rx-79bluedestiny

A “Deathscythe Problem” by @gundayum

GoL Scan: Lucrezia Noin and Quatre by @moonlightsdreaming​

Headcanon: Heero and Social Media by @lifeaftermeteor​

Twitter Exchange between Duo and Heero by @lifeaftermeteor​

GBoys being GBoys, pt 2 by @incorrectgundamwingquotes

Thoughts and Discussion

Pilots’ Responses to their Chibi Gundams by @nashiil-and-kiilan​

Episode 44 Epiphany by @terrablaze514​

Fashion Over Function (aka Relena in Siberia) by @peachandbetty​​

The Horrors of Epithets initiated by @swingsetindecember​

Calendar Events

Cocktail Fridays with @gwcocktailfriday​​

Post responses on Friday between 3-5PM

Gundam Wing Valentine’s Day Event is a go (pillowfort mirror)!  Schedule is as follows:

Sunday January 13th - Saturday January 19th | “Sign-ups”

Sunday January 20th - Saturday February 9th | Make your thing(s)

Sunday February 10th - Saturday February 16th | Post your works

Next GW Discord Meet-Up will be February 2-3, 2019!

You can find details on how / when / where to join over here

[realhousewives-fan]

6 Wannabe Comeback Kids

Kenya Moore (RHOA)

Daaaamn, I miss Kenya Moore! RHOA needs more Moore. I really miss her this season, it’s painful at this point. I loved to hate her when she was on the show and now I just miss her so goddamn much! Please, come back, Kenya!

Brandi Glanville (RHOBH)

Brandi was the housewife I loved to hate. She said a lot of mean shit and it easily got super dark with her drama on the show. But I guess she won’t be back unless Lisa Vanderpump quits. I want her back though.

Phaedra Parks (RHOA)

This one is a little controversial perhaps but I want her back. Thankfully I’ve never believed a word she’s saying – but it’s not right to keep Porsha Williams and fire Phaedra. And I miss the catty mess, not the ugly nastiness though.

Shereé Whitfield (RHOA)

I can absolute like Shereé on the show but she really shot herself in the foot on season 10. Being Kim Zolciak-Biermanns yes-man and fighting NeNe Leakes becuase of Tyrone wan’t any good moves. She was not fun that season.

Eileen Davidson (RHOBH)

Oh my God, I miss Eileen! I love her so much, words can’t even discribe it. She’s surtainly the most normal wife in the whole franchise, but her arguments is always on point. I want her back, but she probably never will.

Jill Zarin (RHONY)

This may be a really bad idea, but RHONY is the only series I want to watch from season 1 and throughout – The Frankel-Zarin Saga sure wasn’t boring. Maybe I’ll want her back as a friend and see how it goes. There’s always drama.

[mcarfield]

What would you say to someone that is feeling icky against their will about RPF? I’ve been enjoying all your content but in the past few days I’ve been second guessing myself about real people who are alive right now. Of course I get that lots of fiction is RPF, especially historical fiction. But there’s something about the people being alive right now that holds me back even though I can understand it’s not much different than the Crown, for example. Basically, how to feel better about this?!

RPF isn’t a thing that needs justifying. It’s just not. It’s just… not a thing you have to feel better about. There’s just, literally, zero substantial difference between teenage you fantasizing about going on a date with the teen heartthrob you had a crush on when you were thirteen, and you making up stories about that teen heartthrob falling in love and writing them down. Both of these impulses are natural human impulses, which is why RPF is literally the oldest form of fanfiction there is. 

Look. We live, in a culture that is completely, entirely addicted to fictionalizing the lives of real people. And I’m not just talking about the huge and hugely popular phenomenon of turning the relationships of real people into single entities (Bennifer, Brangelina,  Kaylor), or literally turning real lives into drama via the lens of reality tv ala the Kardashians or Be Good Johnny Weir etc, or treating celebrity dynamics like they’re real-life soap operas to be dissected and culturally analyzed through the lens of “plot twists” and “epic saga”. I’m not even just talking about all that plus the completely pervasive fictionalization of the lives of real people while they’re still alive and among us, from Sully to The Social Network to South Side With You — all stories that fabricate scenes and dialogue and turn their characters into slightly distorted versions of what they are in reality, because that’s always what happens when you fictionalize real historical narratives, and that’s seen as not only completely entirely acceptable, but laudable, good, worthwhile, prestigious writing.

I’m also talking about the way we completely overwrite the reality of people’s lives whenever it suits us. We have, throughout time, developed collective cultural impressions of real people that deliberately erased and obscured and overlooked facts that didn’t fit into our narratives of them. P.T. Barnum was an animal-killing literal slave-owner; we turned him into the embodiment of the American dream. Errol Flynn was a child rapist white supremacist; we turned him into a swashbuckling hero. Sid and Nancy were co-dependent, mutually violent trainwrecks whose love has become romanticized and valorized. Norman Mailer stabbed his wife multiple times and ordered his friends to “leave the bitch to die” and in response we culturally trashed her autobiographical attempt to talk about that moment, painted her as petty and catty, and rewarded him by uplifting him as an edgy macho poet whose violence was just quirky and fun. Earlier this year, his own official biographer literally stated that Mailer had never been violent towards women, completely forgetting the time he tried to kill his own wife. 

Tonight the internet is full of praise for Burt Reynolds, and very little memory of the fact that both his ex-wives accused him of beating them. We spend literally every day battling over competing narratives of what kind of man Donald Trump is. It takes us decades to circle back around to accepting a woman’s experience of her own sexual assault and predation by a famous man because we just conveniently ignored it and dismissed it and demonized her the first time around. And then there are the Weinsteins, the Allens, the Polanskis, the Spaceys, the Mel Gibsons — the people who manipulate and profit from our collective ability to just,… overwrite reality and erase large swathes of their personalities whenever it might benefit us to do so.

Our culture is completely built around this pattern of fabricating, fictionalizing, ameliorating, distorting, and manipulating the “real” personas of public figures. 

And given all of that, given that i am completely immersed in this society where I’m told every day that the lives of celebrities are there for me to dissect and analyze and scrutinize and commodify, and also that the lives of victims and the voices of the marginalized can be erased and disregarded and written out of history whenever it’s convenient; given all that, then i’m going to write about real people in a way that feels positive, and especially a way that feels restorative to me. 

My fictional version of Andrew Garfield is never going to stop having to be confronted with questions like “why the fuck did you work with Mel Gibson?” and “why is it okay for you to play a gay man on broadway when you’re straight?” because I can’t confront the real Andrew Garfield with those questions, but I can absolutely make sure I write the change I want to see in the world, including making him have to deal with those questions, on whatever level I can. My fictional version of James McArdle is going to angst and sweat and suffer through the red carpet, but he’s never going to fail or run and hide in Glasgow or sabotage his career, or be anything but sweetly in love with his co-star. Because when I write them, I get to write them in a way that feels positive and hopeful, and I get to reclaim these two straight dudes who played gay on Broadway, I get to reclaim those performances and those actions for the queer people whose narratives they appropriated. And I get to explore how lived queerness intersects with celebrity, and how it intersects with performed queerness and straightness, and how it intersects with theatre, and how it intersects with this play, and my own experience of this play, this production, and these actors. And all of that, to me, is completely and entirely acceptable, and laudable, within this culture that treats the lives of famous people as fictionalized public personas who belong, collectively, to all of us.

Obviously, I can’t tell you how to feel, but I just, I will never, ever, feel an ounce of shame for writing RPF. 

[thecodewordis-snail413]

The Signs as Characters from Anything

Aries - James Roach Indiana Jones

Arsces - Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony)

Arrius - Mulan

Ariborn - Houdini

Arittarius - Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Arpia - Aradia Megido

Arza - John Watson (Sherlock)

Arga - Harley Quinn

Aro - Dirk Gently    

Arcen - The Abominable Snowman (Rudolph/that vine)

Armini - Peeta (Hunger Games)

Arun - Cameron Poe (Con Air)

Arist - Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)

Arsci - Sherlock Holmes

Arnius - Tulio (The Road to El Dorado)

Aricorn - Princess Luna (My Little Pony)

Arittanius - Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Arpio - Zebede Tongva (hs)

Arra - Miguel (The Road to El Dorado)

Argo - Misa Amane (Death Note

Arlo - Moka (Rosario + Vampire)

Arcer - Arthur (Merlin)

Armino - Danny (Bravest Warriors)

Arus - Griffin McElroy

Taurus - Peter Pan

Taurist - Jake (Adventure Time)

Taursci - Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas)

Taurnius -Mr Krabs (Spongebob)

Tauricorn - Nala (The Lion King)

Taurittanius - Wallow (Bravest Warriors)

Taurpio - The dad from American Dad probably

Taurra - Guru Pathik (Avatar The Last Airbender)

Taurgo - Molly Hooper (Sherlock)

Taurlo - Ross Geller (Friends)

Taurcer - Justin Timberlake

Taurmino - Amelie (Amelie)

Taurun - Ava (Ex Machine)

Tauries - Donkey Kong

Taursces - Steve (Minecraft)

Taurrius - Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

Tauriborn - Aro (Twilight)

Taurittarius - Bender (The Breakfast Club)

Taurpia - An Alien from Alien

Taurza - Prof. X (X Men)

Taurga - Travis McElroy

Tauro - Nana (Elfen Lied)

Taurcen - Light Yagami (Death Note)    

Taurmini - Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Gemini - Neo (The Matrix)

Gemun - Cady Heron (Mean Girls)

Gemries - Pepper Potts (Iron Man)

Gemsces - Oz (The Wizard of Oz)

Gemrius - Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)

Gemiborn - Merlee (Super Paper Mario)

Gemittarius - Iroh (Legend of Korra)

Gempia - Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

Gemza - Rose Diaz (Brooklyn-99)

Gemga - Mario (Mario)

Gemo - Simon Willis (Mortal Instruments)

Gemcen - Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc.)

Gemino - Rick (The Walking Dead)

Gemus - Todd Chavez (Bojack Horseman)

Gemrist - Ponyboy (The Outsiders)

Gemsci - Bee (Bee & Puppycat)

Gemnius - Dwight Schrute (The Office)

Gemicorn - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Gemittanius - Lost Boys (Hook)

Gempio - Link (The Legend of Zelda)  

Gemra - Jarvis (Iron Man)

Gemgo - The Giver

Gemlo - Joy (Inside Out)

Gemcer - Wonder Woman

Cancer - Hitch (Hitch- Will Smith)

Camino - Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow Marvel)

Canus - Clint McElroy

Canrist - Spiderman

Cansci - Mercy (Overwatch)

Cannius - Charles Boyle (Brooklyn-99)

Canicorn - Artemis (Greek Mythos)

Canittanius - Alice Pieszecki (The L Word)

Canpio - Capt. Holt (Brooklyn-99)

Canra - Hades (Greek Mythos)

Cango - Luigi (Mario)

Canlo - Doc Scratch (hs)

Cancen - Ultron (Avengers)

Camini - Bruce Banner

Canun - Mayor Dewey (Steven Universe)

Canries - Puppycat (Bee & Puppycat)

Cansces -Persephone (Greek Mythos)

Canrius - Zhu Li (Legend of Korra)

Caniborn -  Hela Goddess of Death (Thor Ragnarok)

Canittarius - Padme Amidala (Star Wars)

Canpia - Heimdall (Thor)

Canza - Bob the Builder

Canga - Frankenstein

Cano - Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls)  

Leo - Princess Carolyn (Bojack Horseman)

Lecen - Mufasa (The Lion King)

Lemini – Deanna Troi (Star Trek: TNG)

Leun – Monk Gyatso (Avatar The Last Airbender)    

Leries - Bowser Jr

Lesces - Strawberry Shortcake

Lerius – Undyne (Undertale)    

Leiborn – Ruby Gloom (Ruby Gloom)    

Leittarius - Grillby (Undertale)

Lepia - Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Leza – Skurge (Thor Ragnarok)    

Lega - Takashi Morinozuka (Ouran High School Host Club)

Lelo – Ice Bear (We Bare Bears)

Lecer – Capt. Kirk (Star Trek)

Lemino – Salem (Sabrina the Teenage Witch)

Leus – Poe Dameron (Star Wars)    

Lerist - Bowser

Lesci – Choose Goose (Adventure Time)    

Lenius – Kelly Kapoor (The Office)

Leicorn – Firelord Ozai (Avatar the Last Airbender)    

Leittanius - Bravery Soul (Undertale)

Lepio - Garnet (Steven Universe)

Lera – Taako (The Adventure Zone)

Lego – Gary (spongebob)    

Virgo - A dark, dark, dark god. Secret Ruler of All Dave Strider (Homestuck)

Virlo – Korra (The Legend of Korra)    

Vircer – Ben Wyatt (Parks and Recreation)    

Virmino – Aphrodite (Greek Mythos)

Virus - Marceline (Adventure Time)

Virist - Chris (Bravest Warriors)

Virsci – Tracer (Overwatch)

Virnius - Star Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Viricorn – Deadpool    

Virittanius – Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)    

Virpio - Sapphire (Steven Universe)

Virra – Odin (Thor)    

Virga – Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon)    

Viro – Jet (Avatar the Last Airbender)    

Vircen – Dev (Master of None)    

Virmini – Nastasia (Super Paper Mario)    

Virun – Tin Man (The Wizard of Oz)    

Viries – Mother Gothel (Tangled)

Virsces - Beth (Bravest Warriors)

Virrius – Dib (Invader Zim)    

Viriborn – Monica Geller (Friends)    

Virittarius – Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

Virpia - Ruby (Steven Universe)

Virza – Dr. Steven Strange (Dr. Strange)    

Libra - Two Face (Batman)

Ligo – Shaun Murphy (The Good Doctor)    

Liblo – Jack Crawford (Hannibal)    

Licer - Charlie Kelly (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Limino – Fiona (Shrek)    

Libus - Frisk (Undertale)

Librist - Lorraine Broughton (Atomic Blonde)

Libsci – Avatar Aang (Avatar the Last Airbender)    

Libnius – Cdr. William Riker (Star Trek TNG)    

Libicorn – Sugilite (Steven Universe)    

Libittanius – Glados (Portal)    

Lipio – Bonnie&Clyde

Libza - Will Graham (Hannibal)

Liga - Donkey (Shrek)

Libo - Marina and the Diamonds

Licen – April Ludgate (Parks and Recreation)    

Limini - Flynn Rider (Tangled)    

Libun - Sans Undertale

Libries - Napstablook (Undertale)

Libsces – Coco Pommel (My Little Pony)  

Librius – Joker (DC)    

Libiborn – Mr. Pringle    

Libittarius – Mushu (Mulan)    

Lipia - Rapunzel (Tangled)

Scorpio - Capt. Hook (Peter Pan)

Scorra - Greg Universe (Steven Universe)

Scorgo - Princess Peach (Nintendo)

Scorlo - Poison Ivy (DC)

Scorcer - Vision (Marvel)

Scormino - Meg Griffin (Family Guy)

Scorus - Nicolas Cage

Scorist - Lucien Bloodmarch (Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator)  

Scorsci - Regina George (Mean Girls)

Scornius - Morpheus (Matrix)

Scoricorn - Tris (Divergent)

Scorittanius - Katniss (Hunger Games)

Scorpia – Kuzco      

Scorza – Edward Cullen (Twilight Saga)

Scorga - Popplio (Pokemon)

Scoro - Lucy (Elfen Lied)

Scorcen – Carlisle Cullen (Twilight Saga)    

Scormini - Batman

Scorun – Korg (Thor Ragnarok)    

Scories – Zuko (Avatar The Last Airbender)    

Scorsces – Molly Weasley (Harry Potter)    

Scorrius – Azula (Avatar the Last Airbender)    

Scoriborn - Loki (Marvel)

Scorittarius – Trini (The Power Rangers)    

Sagittarius - Bojack Horseman (Bojack Horseman)  

Sagipia - Elphaba (Wizard of Oz)

Sagiza - Howard Duttle

Sagiga - Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Sagio - Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony)

Sagicen - Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)

Sagimini - Guzma (Team Skull Pokemon)

Sagiun - Genji (Overwatch)

Sagiries - Aragorn (Lord of the Rings)

Sagisces - Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Sagirius - Gordon Ramsay

Sagiborn - Hulk (The Incredible Hulk)

Sagittanius - Rarity (My Little Pony)

Sagipio - Kya (The Legend of Korra)

Sagira - Kindness Heart (Undertale)

Sagigo - Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)

Sagilo - Catty (Undertale)

Sagicer - Heather Chandler (Heathers)

Sagimino - Orisa (Overwatch)    

Sagius - Darby (Thor Marvel)

Sagirist - Eevee (Pokemon)

Sagisci - Cronus Ampora

Saginius - Neytiri (Avatar 2009)

Sagicorn - Justin McElroy

Capricorn - Vanilla Ice

Caprittanius – Sokka (Avatar The Last Airbender)    

Capripio - Pearl (Steven Universe)

Caprira – Zim (Invader Zim)

Caprigo – Appa (Avatar the Last Airbender)    

Caprilo - Amethyst (Steven Universe)

Capricer – Sylvanas Windrunner (World of Warcraft)    

Caprimino – Meek (Thor Ragnarok)    

Caprius - Hawkeye (Marvel)

Caprist - Cardamon (Bee & Puppycat)

Caprisci - Owen (Jurassic World)

Caprinius – Kyoya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club)    

Capriborn – Junkrat (Overwatch)

Caprittarius – Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)    

Capripia – Nine (17776)    

Capriza - Toph Beifong (Avatar: the Last Airbender)

Capriga – Gaz (Invader Zim)

Caprio – Aquamarine (2006 movie)

Capricen – Ice King (Adventure Time)    

Caprimini - Party Wolf (Adventure Time)

Capriun - Jasper Cullen (Twilight Saga)

Capries - Ellie (Jurassic Park)

Caprisces - Glenda (Wizard of Oz)

Capririus - Bella Swan (Twilight)

Aquarius - Shrek (Shrek)

Aquiborn – Percy Jackson      

Aquittarius – Violet (The Incredibles)    

Aquapia - Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal)

Aquaza – Rufus Scrimgeour (Harry Potter)

Aquaga – Jim Halpert (The Office)    

Aquo – Merlin (Shrek)

Aquacen – Ryan Howard (The Office)

Aquamini – Geordi La Forge (Star Trek: TNG)

Aquiun – Jake Sully (Avatar)    

Aquaries – Pocahontas    

Aquasces – Piper (Piper)    

Aquanius – Rose Lalonde (hs)    

Aquicorn - The Great Red Dragon (Hannibal)

Aquittanius ��� Alice Cullen (Twilight Saga)    

Aquapio - Alana Bloom (Hannibal)

Aquara – Faye Chamberlain (The Secret Circle)    

Aquago - Merlin

Aqualo – Lil Hal (hs)    

Aquacer – Princess Cadence (My Little Pony)    

Aquamino – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On    

Aquius - Dr. Grey (Grey’s Anatomy)    

Aquarist – Finn (Star Wars)

Aquasci – Oscar Martinez (The Office)    

Pisces - Catbug (Bravest Warriors)

Pirius – Grayble (Adventure Time)

Piborn – Hatsune Miku    

Pittarius - Tony Stark (Iron Man)

Pipia – Princess Belle (Beauty and the Beast)    

Piza – Al Elric (Full Metal Alchemist)    

Piga - Gumball Guardian (Adventure Time)

Pio - Jasmine (Aladdin)

Picen – Kim Kardashian    

Pimini – Finnick Odair (The Hunger Games)    

Piun – Jaden Smith    

Piries – Toralei Stripe (Monster High)    

Pisci – Lucian Buttwatcher (The Adventure Zone)    

Pinius – Mavis (Hotel Transylvania)    

Picorn – Teresa (Maze Runner)    

Pittanius –  Ana (Frozen)

Pipio - Lady Rainicorn (Adventure Time)

Pira - Uncle Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Pigo - Princess Bubblegum (Adventure Time)

Pilo - Caterpillar (Alice in Wonderland)

Picer - Steven Universe

Pimino – Guinan (Star Trek)    

Pius – Zaheer (The Legend of Korra)

Pirist - Thor (Marvel)

�

[ramajmedia]

Twilight: 10 Vampire Logic Memes Only True Twi-Hards Understand

Oh, Twilight. Some people absolutely loved it, some people absolutely loved to hate it, but it was a cultural zeitgeist unlike anything else that had ever been on the film or book series scene before. This saga authored by Stephenie Meyer was both silly and soulful, and these romance novels for a modern era set the hearts of girls and women of all ages on fire for quite a long time.

RELATED: Twilight Characters Sorted Into Hogwarts Houses

Understandably the fervor for Twilight started to fade after all of the books and movies had been released, but clearly there are still a lot of hibernating Twi-hards out there in the world just waiting for their comeback to arrive. And as it happens, Twilight has had a bit of a resurgence as of late, at least it has in the meme community. Twilight is the kind of project that was made to be memed, and here are 10 of the best Twilight memes out there.

10 Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda

And to be honest, this could be applied to like every single member of the Cullen family. Yes, presuming that any of them is intelligent enough to figure out the cure for cancer is assuming a lot, but it's not assuming a lot to say that they could use their billions of accumulated dollars to legitimately save the world. I mean, congrats on not eating human beings, but you're really setting a low bar for yourselves, fam. At the very least they could have repeated college instead of high school, high school is like the worst possible portion of school to do even once, let alone over and over again for an eternity.

9 Felt Vs. Sparkles

Edward and the rest of clan Cullen has figured out ways to keep themselves a secret despite the fact that their skin is sparkly, but if the Cullens decided to live anywhere even slightly sunnier then Count Von Count might sincerely have an easier time blending into society.

RELATED: Twilight: 10 Most Underrated Supporting Characters

Also here's a little interesting tidbit about the Count. Old vampire lore said that vampires would obsessively count things, so if you wanted to evade a vampire then just throw grains of salt at them and they'll be compelled to count them. Which means that Count Von Count is probably more faithful to vampire lore than Twilight.

8 How Do I Begin To Describe Edward George

So I guess Edward Cullen is the Regina George in this scenario? It's kind of hard to see, but I guess as the only single sibling of the Cullen squad he accidentally fell into a bit of a leadership position, and we all know that he can be catty as hell too. But if we may add a few critiques here and there.

First off, Jacob being the one to say that Edward is flawless? Hard to believe. And secondly, James? Kind of underplaying the interaction between you and Edward dude, he punched you in the face and then ripped your body apart and set it on fire.

7 Cedric Reborn, But Sadder

Okay first off, everyone noticed him in Harry Potter. Cedric is an icon and deserved a better ending than being collateral damage in one of the many showdowns between Voldemort and Harry.

However, Edward is undeniably the most emo vampire to ever emo, and it would make some sense if he was just Cedric Diggory who was killed and sent to this hellish world where he's the saddest immortal on the planet earth. But thank god sad little Cedward managed to find love in the unlikeliest of places, and perhaps the sudden joys that life provided will make him ease off of his emo attitude.

6 Dream Big, Aro

Aro is such a gleefully nutty and bizarre character that it almost feels like he belongs in a completely different film. What We Do In The Shadows maybe. But we do know that for all of Aro's hilarity and unpredictability, he does love a good vampire superpower.

RELATED: Twilight: 10 Hidden Details About The Costumes You Didn’t Notice

It's presumably the only reason that he let Bella Swan live, because he hoped she would have an exceptional power and hoped that he would be able to add her to the Volturi vault at some point. And honestly it's not that hard to believe that he might be rocking out to Carly Rae Jepsen in his down time either.

5 Do Not Besmirch The Good Name Of White Chicks

Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight saga, is Mormon. And while everyone has their own personal passions and tastes, it's safe to say that vampire lore and Mormonism aren't two things that feel like they go together very well. So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise then that the Twilight vampires seem like they're vampires in name only.

Yes, they drink blood, but pretty much all of the other Twilight vampire mythology is a completely random hodgepodge of abilities and weaknesses (if you can consider being sparkly a weakness). White Chicks is an absolute masterpiece of film making, though.

4 It's Awkward Cause It's True

Savage, but true. It's fair to say that Bella really couldn't do anything even when all of the drama was going on, because while she was caught up in shenanigans with sparkly stone vampires and werwolves the size of draft horses she was a regular human.

RELATED: Twilight: 10 Facts About Esme Cullen They Leave Out In The Movies

Actually, an exceptionally weak and un-athletic human. But realistically speaking, most of Bella's experience in her relationship with Edward was kind of her just waiting for him to do things and just reacting or hoping that it all went well. Thankfully Bella got into the fray once she became a vampire, because watching her stuck on the bench while everyone else played was a bummer.

3 It Would Have Been A Much Shorter Movie Then

Granted, the Cullen family and maybe the Denali clan were the only vampires in the Twilight universe that actually didn't deserve to die, but things would have been a whole heck of a lot more interesting if there were some Blade-style hunters in the Twilight universe.

Blade clearly would have been pretty conspicuous if he had shown up in Forks, but it seems unlikely that any vampires could have gone toe to toe with them. Also it's pretty weird that when you think about it, Blade and Renesmee Cullen are basically the same species, or the same type of hybrid at least.

2 Twilight Is Eternal

Well, it's called a renaissance for a reason. For quite a while there it looked like the whole Twilight saga and the Twi-hard fandom was permanently dormant if not completely dead, but suddenly Twilight made its glorious meme comeback.

It shouldn't come as a huge surprise in the end though. Twilight was a wildly popular series when it was released, but more importantly it's one of the most meme-able franchises in the history of books and film. Twilight was always completely unashamed to be it's totally bizarre self, which is probably why all of its fans were completely unashamed to love it too.

1 That's Not Because You're A Vampire, It's Because You're A Person

Who of us can't relate to that. And while Jasper is presumably so constantly uncomfortable because being surrounded by walking blood bags 24/7 kind of stresses him out, it's also safe to assume he's a pretty awkward dude no matter the circumstance.

I mean, if he wanted to avoid the discomfort of blood in his presence then he could just, you know, not go to high school anymore. However, he keeps going. And maybe it's because he wants to chill with the rest of his family, but maybe he is just the kind of person who is uncomfortable with merely existing.

NEXT: Twilight: The 10 Worst Things Edward Has Ever Done

source https://screenrant.com/twilight-vampire-logic-memes/

[laylacooke]

Putain De Meowde || Regan, Kaden, & Layla

timing: mid august (before cabin trip) parties: @kadavernagh​, @chasseurdeloup & @laylacooke summary: Putain de meowde.😾

There was nothing Regan wanted more than a freshly de-striped Kaden coming over, and especially staying the night, but the frantic yowling from behind her bedroom door was going to be… a problem. Twice, Regan peeked her head through the narrowly opened door, told the cat to be quiet, and then closed it again. Peace only lasted for a few blessed minutes. Fortunately, the cat seemed to have calmed down for the time being just as Kaden came knocking. She half-expected to see mime make-up covering his face, but no, it was just his regular skin. Her eyes fell to his neck, his arms, his hands. No stripes, not a single one. Regan fluttered a few inches off the ground and wrapped Kaden in a hug, pulling him into the apartment. “You’re not a mime! I mean, not that you were an actual mime before, but, you know, you looked like one and you don’t anymore and-- and how did that happen, anyways?” Before he could answer, Regan pressed a kiss against his regular-colored lips and smiled. “Okay, now you can tell me. And, uh, thanks for answering those questions I had. You know, the cat-related ones.”

It was so nice being able to leave his apartment again without having to cover himself with scarves and gloves and whatever the hell attempts he’d tried with makeup. Kaden felt like a weight had lifted off him when the stripes disappeared and hell if he didn’t deserve a nice, normal evening with Regan. Really, he’d take semi-normal. Or even just mimeless. He didn’t think his smile could get any wider, then she opened the door and pulled him into a hug. Was she taller than normal? Then he saw the wings, outstretched and rapidly flickering. Huh. He didn’t get a chance to get a word in before her lips were on his. “First off, did you just hover? Off the ground?” he asked once he was finally able to speak. Sure, he’d seen her fly when she was five inches tall, but he wasn’t even sure she was able to do it at full size. It was strange, but far from the strangest thing he’d seen this week; not after the cookies and the stripes. “Anyway, it’s funny. You’re going to laugh. I got on Wu’s motorcycle to chase after a mime, with a helmet,” he emphasized before she interrupted. “Nearly fucking died about five times but I screamed my head off and look.” Kaden held his arms out and ran his hand over his forearm. It was all his skin, no stripes, just as he remembered. He shut the door behind them and was about to lean in to grab another kiss when his forehead creased in confusion. There was a noise. An extremely familiar noise. He could pick that out anywhere. If he had to guess, he’d say that was the sound of claws against wood. “Uh, you want to tell me what that was? Is there something here?” Of course, the cat related questions. Her sudden interest all made sense. “Regan, did you get a cat?”

It felt so indescribably good to have Kaden back to his old self. He could actually live his life again and didn’t have to consider that his only career path would be as a literal mime or, worse, a literal mime at that strip club. Or was it stripe club? Regan shuddered at the thought. “I--” She looked down at her feet, which were both firmly on the ground now. “Sorry, I was excited.” Regan was just about ready to check every inch of his skin to make sure it was stripe-free, when the explanation rolled out of Kaden’s mouth. No, she wasn’t going to laugh. “A motorcycle!? Didn’t we just talk about-- okay, fine, so you wore a helmet, but it’s still incredibly dangerous!” Though it sounded like Kaden hardly had a choice in the matter. Regan didn’t know Wu well, but she was a strong personality with no sense of self-preservation. She shook her head as she tried to process what Kaden was saying -- had the motorcycle ride cured him of the stripes, somehow? Or had the screaming worked in a literal sense? How had any of this even happened in the first place? She really hated this damn town. “Putain,” she said with a sigh. That was about all she could muster. “I’d still like to know exactly how all of this happened, but right now, I’m just glad you’re no longer, uh, stripey.” A clawing noise came from her bedroom, and she winced. Maybe Kaden would just think it was… rats, or something. Not that she had rats or ever mentioned having rats before. Crap. Well, she was going to tell him about this anyways so he could assist. “That was just an… animal?” True, technically. Except it was in her bedroom. “Okay, okay, fine, I got a-- well, I didn’t get a cat. The cat just showed up, and I don’t know what to do with it, and it slept on the bed even when I told it not to, and what do I do? What does it eat? Do I need to spay it? Uh, not that I’m keeping it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not exactly planning on getting my own. Or getting on one ever again.” Kaden was pretty sure his stomach was still left behind somewhere on that ride with Wu. Still a small price to pay to no longer be mistaken for a mime. He still hadn’t told her about the humiliating exchange with the tractor, but he was going to try and make sure he never had to. He bit back a laugh at her cursing in French. Guess he did say it a lot, huh? “I mean, me, too. But I’m not sure I care too much so long as it never happens ever again.” Right. He should probably warn Cece, give her a heads up. He wasn’t sure if Regan knew about her toxicologist but that was Bishop’s bridge to cross, not his. 

The scratching got louder, and he was pretty sure there was a distinct meow type howl coming from the direction of Regan’s bedroom. “An animal, huh?” Kaden crossed his arms in front of his chest and shot her a look. “A cat showed up and you didn’t think to call me about it? You know how often you remind me you’re a doctor? Do I have to remind you what I am?” Look, if she could chide him about stitches, he could take a shot about a stray cat living in her house and sleeping on the bed. He shook his head and headed towards the bedroom. Damnit, he didn’t have his work truck with him, none of his equipment. And cats were slippery. Still, maybe he could come up with a makeshift slip lead. Hell, it’s possible he had one in his car. “Do you even know if it’s had its shots, Regan? You know how easily cats can give you ringworm? Come on, Regan.” 

Layla didn’t appreciate being locked in a room. All she had wanted was to be able to roam around and enjoy herself, since currently she had no idea how she was going to get out of this mess of being a cat. So, when Regan forced her to stay inside the bedroom, she tried every way in Hell to open the door with her tiny bean paws, but couldn’t. If I can’t open this fucking door myself, I’ll make- Wait was that Kaden’s voice? Oh fuck no. I don’t want him here. With Kaden lingering just in the other room, Layla knew there was a good chance he would try and snatch her up and haul her off.

Anger welling up inside her tiny body, the small, furry ball of fury took off around the room. Yowls came from her lips! She jumped on everything she could, knocking over things that shouldn’t have been knocked over! She ran across Regan’s bed and rolled around on it to get fur all over it! However, when she finally realized that everything she was doing was out of spite, she stopped. If Regan came into her room and saw everything was a mess, Layla was screwed. She’d never want to keep her. Crap. Crap. Crap. What have I done!? Stupid cat brain. Stupid cat instincts. Quickly getting away from the door, she crawled up under the bed and made her way to the very back. I’ll be damned if Animal Control is taking me in.

Regan’s eyes roamed all around the room as she could feel Kaden looking at her, scrutinizing. She wasn’t sure why she was trying to sneak around the fact there was a cat residing in her apartment, but she felt silly for it. She knew Kaden would find the cat -- heck, she planned to tell him about it and get his help -- but, well, okay, maybe she’d grown a little bit fond of it and didn’t want it wrenched out of her apartment so quickly. Crap. It wasn’t right to keep it here, though. Not only because she wasn’t equipped to care for an animal, but the screaming was a problem. A loud one. “I know, I know, believe me, I know,” she held her hands up in defense. “I feel like an idiot for taking this animal in. It probably has fleas, and now it’s rubbed itself all over my bed and couch and -- can you help me catch it?” Fine, so she was afraid to pick it up. “Um, it’s in the bedroom right now. Scratching at the door, I think.” Regan tiptoed toward the door and listened in. She wasn’t exactly sure what was happening in there, but it sounded like… chaos. Things falling and flying. Her eyes ticked over to Kaden’s. “...Should we open the door?”

Kaden continued to stand there with his arms folded in front of him as she tried to explain. “Next time I do my own stitches, you don’t get to complain.” He was certain that wouldn’t stand but he was going to remind her about this instance many many more times in the future. “Alright, alright. Have you even fed the cat? Putain.” Kaden made his way to the bedroom door and waited a moment in front of it, listening. There was no more scratching at the door. For now.  Kaden looked back to the living room and grabbed a blanket, just in case he was wrong. He looked over to Regan and held his finger up in a sign to wait and be quiet. He pulled open the door a crack, holding the blanket in his hand, ready to drop it in case a cat darted out. He waited and-- no cat. Okay. He slipped in quickly and pulled Regan inside with him and shut the door. “Did the cat look mangey at all?” he asked, looking around for any sign of the animal. Beyond the toppled, uh, everything, there wasn’t much to see. “You don’t want to keep it, right? I should probably take her to the shelter. This could be someone’s missing pet for all we know.”

Layla stayed huddled under the bed. She wasn’t coming out for anything. Instead, when she heard the door open, she forced herself back even further, until she couldn’t anymore. Maybe if I can just sneak out and make it out into the living room...She wasn’t exactly sure what her plan was going to be, but she needed to escape. If Kaden caught her there was no getting away. He was trained as both a hunter and an animal control specialist, and she didn’t want to take any chances. Patience was key though. She couldn’t make any rash decisions. It was quiet, except for the low conversation between Regan and Kaden. Hey! I’m not mangey, so you can shut the putain up! She would get Kaden back for that later, whether it be peeing on his shoes or biting him. Layla would figure something out, but until then, she would lie in wait for her chance to at least escape from the bedroom. Once out there, she’d have to come up with the rest of her plan to escape the apartment completely.

Regan rolled her eyes at the stitches comment. He had a point, but there was no way, under any circumstances, that she was letting Kaden do his own stitches. “Point made,” she grumbled, “and no, I haven’t fed it. I don’t know what it eats. It’s only been here a day.” She watched in silence as Kaden scurried back into the living room and returned with a blanket. Okay, she’d watch the expert at work and remain quiet. She could do that. “It doesn’t matter what I want,” she replied after a moment, “I can’t realistically keep it. You know why.” Even besides her job, it wouldn’t be fair to the cat. Not with how loud she was. She didn’t even think it was fair to Nadia and Ms. Carmody, though neither of them ever indicated that the screaming was a deal breaking issue for living in this building. Sometimes it only felt like a matter of time. “It should go to the shelter. You know, in case it already belongs to someone. Maybe it has a microchip.” As Kaden opened the door, then pulled her in with him, her mouth dropped at the mess the animal had made of her room. “Cat!” She yelled, “What did you do? I told you to be neat! You--” Right. It was an animal. And there went their element of surprise. Where was the cat, anyways? “Uh, there was a cat here. Under the bed, maybe?”

“Didn’t even feed it?” Kaden shook his head as he tried to look around for the cat, still occasionally clicking for it. Not on top of anything, What about in a corner. “I know you can’t keep it but then why didn’t you call me? Or--” He paused, thinking he heard the cat a moment. And did… Did he feel a chill down his spine? No. He was pretty sure his werewolf senses were broken. Hell, they kept going off when mimes were around. And there was no way he could sense mimes, that’d be absurd. “I just don’t get why it would stay here when you wouldn’t feed it.” He paused a moment when she started talking to the cat like it was a person. Kaden wasn’t sure why he was surprised; it wasn’t that different from how she talked to Abel. And it was still kind of cute. Entirely ineffective. But cute. “Alright. I’m going to have the blanket ready over here,” he said in a whisper, like the cat could-- Alright, maybe she wasn’t so off base. “You uh, check under there on the other side and try to scare it. Okay? On the count of three. One-- Two-- Three!”

Oh jeez. Get a room. Wait..no. Not in here. For a moment, a look of disgust came over her small round fuzzy face. Blagh! But it soon shifted to concern. Layla heard the pair conspiring against her. A way they could lure her out under some blanket. She was smarter than that though. Hunkered down, she looked to see where they were standing. If he was on one side and she was on the other, there had to be a free side, and that’s where she would head. She just needed to make a break for it at the right moment. Waiting patiently, her tail swishing back and forth in anticipation, she finally got her cue at the count of three. Running out from the side that didn’t have anyone waiting, she quickly zigged and zagged passing right by Kaden as she made her way out into the living room area. Finding a new hiding spot in some dark shadowed area, which wasn’t hard in Regan’s apartment, she waited for the next opportunity. The opportunity to make a break for the door.

This plan seemed overly tactical for catching a cat, but Regan hadn’t been able to do it herself, and she couldn’t argue that Kaden really was the expert here. But as the cat bolted out from under the bed and slipped out of the room like butter, she gave Kaden a defeated look. Not tactical enough, then. “It just showed up in my apartment, okay? I was planning on telling you. Really.” And she was. So why did she hesitate so much? Was it because she wanted to think the screaming wasn’t so much of an issue that she couldn’t even have a cat? That was too much psychoanalysis. Smelled like Al. Regan trailed Kaden out of the room in hot pursuit of the animal, but she didn’t see where it had darted off to. It couldn’t have gone far. By the look of Kaden standing in the middle of the living room looking around, he hadn’t seen where the cat went, either. Regan scanned around the room, checking each corner, and even-- there, against the window. A squirrel. Regan didn’t think, she just acted. The screech flew out of her mouth, unfocused and undisciplined, before she even remembered the squirrel was behind a window of thick, scream-proof glass. It couldn’t get her. And-- shit. What had she just done? Regan twisted back toward Kaden, an apology ready on her lips, but then she heard the yowling coming from the other side of the room.

Shit, the cat ran out the other side. Putain. Kaden should have prepared for that. Cats were such assholes. He turned to Regan and tried to shout at her “Close the door! Close the--” Too late. The cat had run out. He ran out after it but it was fucking fast. He didn’t see it, but he paused to listen, slowly, quietly, pacing the room. There was no reason that Kaden could explain, but he could feel himself getting closer to the cat, his hunter senses got stronger. It didn’t make any sense, but it was working, and he wasn’t going to question it, just follow the path that brought the chill deeper down his spine. The corner, he was sure of it. He was one step away, blanket in hand when-- “Putain!” He couldn’t decide which was worse, the banshee scream, or the cat’s. He was used to both but not at the same time. He winced and went to cover his ears, but he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity, not if he could help it. Jaw clenched, blanket in hand, he turned to see the cat as it leapt out from its hiding place. Not today. He threw himself across the room, tossing the blanket over and around the cat and tackled the corners of it together. And his whole-body fucking hurt as it slammed against the floor. “Did I get it?” The angry mews told him that he did. He crawled over, careful to keep the corners of the blanket together, slowly bringing his hands closer to the cat’s torso. “Shh, shhh, it’s okay. I got you.” Kaden made sure the blanket was firmly wrapped around the cat, mostly it’s claws, and then wriggled its little head out. “Hey now, it’s going to be alright, we’re going to take you to the shelter and see if you have a family missing you, okay?” He put his hand out for the cat to sniff and, hopefully, maybe let him pet it. “Uh, you think you can drive us over?” he said, turning to Regan, cat burrito still in hand. “My hands are a little full.”

All that had transpired over the course of the next few minutes was like a flash of lightning during a heat storm in the middle of summer. As soon as it started it was over. Layla had made a break for it, but Regan’s deathly scream left her disoriented and stumbling around aimlessly. It also gave Kaden the opportunity he needed to catch her. Meowing non-stop under the darkness of the blanket, the orange tabby squirmed around trying to break free from her blanket prison but couldn’t. When Kaden finally helped her release her small head, she noticed his hand right in her face, PUTAIN DE MERDE! LET ME GO, YOU SON-OF-POLTERGEIST! She released a low, deep and threatening growl, before sinking her sharp little fangs down into his hand making sure to draw blood. If she couldn’t get free, she’d at least get even, and with that, she turned her head the other way. The safety and hope she had felt with Regan were gone, and so was her trust that the woman would help her escape this cat prison she was trapped in. Now, it would be up to her to figure a way out of this mess or forever be cursed as a cat. But first, she was going to have to escape from animal control, and that was going to be a task in itself.

[naomitess]

Yuletide 2017

Dear Yuletide Author, Thank you so much for writing a story for me! Yuletide has become one of my very favorite parts of Christmas; I love that we come together to tell each other stories and celebrate creativity together. It’s pretty amazing.

Things I love, in general: witty dialogue. Fic that gets the voices right. Everyday moments that mean more than they seem to on the surface. Characters who initially hate each other but come to love, like, or reluctantly respect each other. Female friendships. I like crossovers and AUs. (The Yuletide FAQ suggests mentioning that.) 

Things I’m not wild about, in general: Female characters being catty for no reason other than “girls are just awful.“ Mpreg stories are also a really hard sell for me. (Not completely out of the question, just a hard sell.) Rape, torture, dismemberment are generally not what I’m looking for in a Yuletide story. 

Specifics for the fandoms (and all optional details are optional; as a Yuletide writer, I love getting fairly specific requests for prompts, but don’t feel like you have to stick with mine):

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I loved Fangirl for all the reasons I love Yuletide, and my prompt for this one is, “Cath does Yuletide.” Because you know she has wanted to do Yuletide since she was TWELVE, but was too much of a rule-follower to just set up a fake AO3 account and claim to be eighteen. (And then her freshman year of college she was so stressed and distracted she forgot to sign up -- but now it’s her sophomore year, and she’s doing it.) 

Cath can't write a Simon Snow story for Yuletide (because in her universe, her stories alone probably disqualify it!) so maybe she offers some favorite book from her childhood (feel free to use a real fandom, a made-up one, or a made-up surrogate for a real one) and then runs into ... problems. Maybe there were only three books when she stopped reading this series, and now there's 36. Maybe these books got visited by the Suck Fairy (The Suck Fairy: https://www.tor.com/2010/09/28/the-suck-fairy/ ) and now she can't un-see the racism/misogyny. Maybe the fandom, or the request, is forcing Cath to confront her unresolved issues with her mother, her worries about her sister, or her role as caregiver for her bipolar father. Maybe she offered fic about that one Folger's Commercial and doesn't realize until it's too late that she accidentally signed up to write incest fic. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. I am not hung up on any of these specifics, but I would really love a story about Cath as a first-time Yuletide writer (and hey, what does she request? Does she love it?)

Alternate prompt: Levi gives Wren a ride. One of the things I love about Levi is that he is that person who will give you a ride no matter how wretched or inconvenient the circumstances. And Wren is Cath's sister, so she falls within the category of "people who would feel like they could ask for this favor" and "people Levi would move heaven and earth to help, if necessary."  Situation can be as dramatic or mundane as you want.

DNW: I really liked that Cath did NOT reconcile with her mother in Fangirl -- that she offered her mother an olive branch and her mother blew it. I’m not unilaterally opposed to a reconciliation story, but I don’t want cheap or easy reconciliation. 

Young Wizards by Diane Duane

Prompt: Kit & Nita vs. THE COMMON APP ESSAY.

College essays are already basically the worst, but the Common App essay manages to be be in the sweet spot for misery: it’s incredibly high stakes, the prompts are so open-ended as to be useless, it’s too short to tell a really good story, and it has this amazing way of making you feel like everything you’ve done is going to sound incredibly mundane and boring. And that’s when you’re not in the position of not being able to talk about the 46 times you’ve saved the world (or someone else’s world, or the universe). 

(Kit and/or Nita is actually fine; the story doesn’t have to include both if you’d prefer to write about just one. And feel free to include any other characters you want.)

But imagine trying to write an essay about your accomplishments when you can’t talk about any of your accomplishments directly -- you have to find a story you can tell that has no magic in it, or where all the magic can be handwaved away and reinterpreted. Time to crank out 650 words (or fewer, but not TOO MANY fewer) on “an obstacle you've encountered" or "an accomplishment that sparked a period of personal growth" or "topic you find so engaging you lose all track of time." When you've faced down angry aliens, how hard can one essay be, right?

Alternate prompt: Kit and/or Nita in college.

DNW: The resolution to be “oh, turns out there’s a wizard on their admissions committee!”

3. The Chalion saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

Things I love about the Chalion books: the theology; the characters; the intricate plotting. Things I love about Penric and Desdemona specifically: Desdemona's snarkiness; Penric's loving respect for Desdemona. I specified Penric and Desdemona but in fact just about any of the characters would be fine. I love all the interesting people Penric has met in these stories, including Nikys and Adelis, Ingliss kin Wolfcliff, all of them.

I would love a Penric & Desdemona adventure during Penric’s Rosehall days. We know that he didn’t have to spend a whole lot of time studying, thanks to the expert demon hanging out in his head, which probably left him a lot of time to find ways to occupy himself that his professors weren’t thrilled about. Did his expertise make him in demand explaining stuff to other students? Did he have friends? Did Desdemona talk him into anything fun? If you’re not up for college adventures, any other period (time studying with the Shamans, his time after his misadventure in Cedonia, old age...) is fine. (I’d have considered requesting a story about Penric and Nikys, but it could get jossed while you were still writing it, which might be a little frustrating.)

I got Desdemona fic last year and it was awesome; I'm requesting more because I can't get enough. Also, I requested Penric and Desdemona but one of my favorite stories last year was a modern AU with a Temple in Central Park NYC; a modern AU version of the World of the Five Gods (with any of the characters -- from any of the Chalion books, actually) would be really cool.

EDITED TO ADD:

Okay, wow, just read “The Prisoner of Limnos,” the newest Penric & Desdemona novella (released today) and it is FILLED with amazing new characters and if you’ve read it and are feeling inspired, I would also be perfectly delighted with a story about Tanar and Nikys, Tanar and Bosha, Tanar by herself doing pretty much anything, Bosha and his sister Hekat, Bosha on his own pre-Tanar or pre-story, the relationship between Idrene and Lady Florina, the story of Ikos reconnecting with his mother once he’s of age -- basically, every single new character in this book was AMAZING and I love ALL of them, although Tanar in particular filled me with absolute delight. (I have to say, I don’t think Adelys is good enough for her and kind of like the idea, floated by Bosha, that maybe she should run off and become a pirate queen instead, so if you were also caught by that and want to write a story about Tanar the Pirate Queen, that would be outstanding.) Basically -- obviously all of this is optional, you may not have even read the book yet, but if you’re an obsessive Bujold fan like me and thought “oh dang I wish this had been out before Yuletide nominations" as you were reading about how Tanar met Bosha, please feel free to disregard ALL my character requests and write me whatever you want about the new crop of characters! 

One DNW for this fandom: I do not want a story in which the ancient demon Ista sends back to the Bastard in Paladin of Souls turns out to be Desdemona. (A story in which Penric and Desdemona encounter that demon in a sorcerer from their era is perfectly fine -- I just don't want a story in which Des turns out to BE that demon.) Edited to add: I’d also prefer to avoid a story about the death of the Princess-Archdivine. Mentioning and even setting during that time period is fine, I’d just prefer it not be the focus of the story. 

Thank you! Yuletide is one of my favorite parts of Christmas!

[laylacooke]

Sex Toys Don’t Make Good Cat Toys || Rio, Cordy, & Layla

timing: Late August. parties: @3starsquinn, Cordy [ @kadavernagh], & @laylacooke summary: Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of...A Little Catty.

Layla wasn’t entirely sure how she had managed to pull off communicating with Leah, but she had. It was a miracle, and now she was trotting down the sidewalk headed towards Pandora’s Boxxx, where this had all started. It hadn’t taken her long to process that the witch from the shop had done it. It had been the last place she had gone, before waking up with orange fur covering her miniature body. However, her only regret, now, was putting poor Orion through yet another one of her mishaps; this seemingly the worse, since there wasn’t really much context behind her wanting to meet him there. Not only that, would he know it was her when she looked up and greeted him with a meow. She would soon find out.

Coming to a stop, just outside the entrance, she found a spot near the outside wall of the building waiting for him to show. And if all went well, she would walk in a cat and out a human (well almost human) again.

Orion was uncomfortable. Of course, he’d do anything for Layla. Even if that involved a sex shop, which Rio was definitely not confident enough to force himself inside of. Rio and Winston didn’t even sleep in the same bed, how was Rio supposed to casually stroll into a sex shop? But Layla had needed him, and he supposed he could brave the embarrassment if it meant doing her a favor. On his way towards the doors of the shop, a cat popped onto a bench and cutting his path off from the store. “Hey there buddy!” Rio swooped down, running a palm against the cat and scratching behind its ears, “I can’t hang out too long. I gotta go embarrass myself inside of this shop for a friend of mine.” He continued petting the cut for another few seconds before standing back up and side stepping the cat to walk into the store.

Layla sat patiently waiting for Rio, when she finally spotted him. Leaping onto a nearby bench, she meowed as she felt his hand come down on her ears. Ear scratches are the best! Agh. Focus, Layla. Rio’s words had made an odd noise come out of her small cat body that resembled a laugh, before she hopped down and slipped inside the door once it was open. I promise I’ll make this up to you, Orion. I don’t know how, but I will. She wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to work, but as she entered the store, she set her eyes upward, looking around for Cordy. At least with Rio there, she felt safe. Otherwise, a cat facing a witch alone was going to be a major task.

Welp, there was the bell. Customers. Eugh. Cordy uncrossed her legs and gave her hat a tilt up to properly see who came in. Why was there a kid in here? “We should really just hang up a sign that says Mime E. Stripes is next door. Wrong building, kid.” She went to tilt her hat back down, but she saw a cat tail waltzing across the store. Presumably attached to a cat. Cordy sighed and peeked over the display, looking down at the orange tabby that’d slipped inside. “Look what the you dragged in. That you, Cherry? Think you could use a shave before you try and get back into your jorts.” Cordy snickered and turned her attention back over to the kid. “Lemme guess, belly button stickers? Or are you here for a nice banshee ball gag? There’s been a lotta screaming around town lately.”

There was a lot that Orion was not comfortable with as soon as he stepped inside the store. His best bet at finding Layla was probably just to ask someone. She was memorable, right? He was vaguely aware that the cat had followed him inside and hoped that the cat was some sort of store cat or… y’know he got the joke about a cat being in a sex shop. Clever. He used the palms of his hands to block either side of his vision and made a beeline for the counter. On his way, he bumped against a display of phallic objects and the entire thing shook, Rio reaching out to try to stabilize it before realizing what he had been reaching out for and jerking his hand back. “This is torture.” Rio mumbled to himself, realizing that the woman had already started talking to him and… the cat(?) before he even made it to the counter. “Uh- no. Neither of those things please. I don’t scream.” Rio paused for a minute as he reflected on his choice of words before deciding to pretend that he never said them and continuing on, “I’m looking for a friend of mine. Short. Red hair. A quirky sassiness that makes her lovable? Please tell me that rings some bells.”

Cherry. Cordy knew exactly who Layla was, and as soon as she heard the woman’s voice, she trotted over to the counter and leaped up onto it. Pacing back and forth, she hissed at the witch who had done this to her. Scratching her eyes out wasn’t exactly an option, but making her displeasure known was well within the cat’s rights. You did this, and you’re gonna fix it, Witch! However, Rio’s words caught her attention. Turning to face him, she watched as he nearly knocked over an entire display of penis shaped objects, and the embarrassment present in his voice and actions made Layla realize just how much she was going to owe him, but first she had to somehow let him know it was her. It’s me, Rio! I’m right here! Meowing and pawing at him, she had hoped he would figure it out.

Oh, this was gonna be fun. Cordy’s mouth stretched into a wide smile as she watched the teenager tumble around the store like a child lost in a shopping mall. “Torture? Nah. Those are dildos. If you want torture, it’s in the last aisle to the left,” Cordy said, pointing with her thumb. He didn’t strike her as the type, but maybe Annabel would’ve seen something in him that she was missing. “Wasn’t saying you were the screamer, but I think anyone could scream with the right persuasion.” She winked at him, just to watch him squirm. His description rang some bells alright, and Cordy had to wonder if the kid had any idea that the cat that’d hopped up on the counter was probably the friend he was looking for. “No redheads in here,” Cordy said, straightening up the display case of penis candy that the cat swatted at. She shot Layla a glare and turned her attention back to the blue-haired teenager. She needed to get him outta here before he caught on. “Anyways, haven’t seen your friend. And don’t mind the store cat. She acts out whenever a virgin walks in.”

This was Orion’s nightmare. Worse than his nightmares actually. At least in those he was just being chased by monsters and killed or something. This was way worse than that. “Oh. Ha ha. Yes. Right.” He didn’t even know which part of the worker’s sentence he was replying to. The cat was meowing and pawing at him again, and Rio scratched at the cat again absentmindedly. “Hey kitty,” he spoke aloud but was more focused on the worker and hopefully on finding Layla. Unfortunately, there was no such luck. Either she was running late, or Rio had gotten the wrong address. He was pretty sure he preferred the latter, actually. Maybe he should try calling her again and- Did that employee just call him a virgin?? Rio immediately broke into a stream of nervous giggling at the accusation. It was true, but was it really that obvious? “Your cat can’t actually do that can she?” Rio looked down at the cat again. That had to have been a joke, right? Unless it was some sort of magic not cat. No, it was a joke. “That was a joke. I realize that now. Um.. okay. Well I guess I will just sorta… wait for her to get here then.” The cat wouldn’t seem to leave him alone, “Your cat seems to really like me.”

Are you shitting me? Rio! It’s me!!! It’s Layla!!! She meowed louder as she listened to the two humans in the room talk. How was she going to make him know it was her? Looking back at Cordy, she knew she would have to somehow get the woman to show her cards. She could easily convince Rio that Layla was just the store cat, and in knowing that (and seeing it working), she opted to do something really stupid. Well, hopefully this will make some kind of difference. Otherwise, dying as a cat might actually happen...Giving a nudge into Rio’s hand one last time, Layla turned around, and without any warning, she took off running towards Cordy. With her claws out, she launched herself off the counter and onto the woman’s face and shoulders. Hissing and yowling, she sank her teeth down into Cordy’s head. Would a store cat do this you evil witch!?

“She can, actually!” Cordy chirped, the lie coming easy and guilt-free, “No joke, don’t know how she does it. Maybe it’s like those cats who predict when people are gonna die, except so much better.” All the blood had drained from the kid’s face, and Cordy chuckled. It didn’t matter that Layla was capturing his attention; the cat had no way to communicate. So why not have some more fun? Cordy tilted her head and crossed her arms. “You know, if you don’t believe me, you could always test it out. Go find yourself a pitcher and come back later. Besides, not like your friend is here right n--” The sharp ball of furry fury pounced on her head before she could stop it. Cordy shrieked as she felt sharp claws digging and teeth digging into her scalp. Magic, dumbass, use magic. But that was the drawback of tapping into concentration and meditation for her abilities -- there was no concentration to be found right now. Gaia, her ma would’ve just blasted the damn feline off her skull. “Get off! Get off right now! Don’t make me turn you into a toad next!”

Orion remained suspicious, but this was White Crest. For all Rio knew this could be some weird sort of fae or like a magical, cursed cat. It didn’t seem entirely outside the realm of impossibility. Rio was so perplexed by the cat that he didn’t even have time to be offended by this worker clearly making fun of his virginity. He knew it was obvious that he was but still. Rude. “Intriguing.” Rio murmured; eyes trained on the cat still. It was better than looking at anything else in the store right now. “I uh- a what?” Rio questioned, thinking through the limited knowledge he had of sports, “Uhh… I don’t play baseball.” He never got any clarification however, since the cat leapt at the woman’s face and attacked her. “Oh my god!” Rio yelled, immediately going into panicking mode. He started to move towards the woman but stopped when he heard her. Turn you into a toad next? Rio froze, staring at the scene unfolding between him as the puzzle pieces slowly fit into place in his brain, “Holy- Layla??” Rio called out to the cat. What the heck was going on? Why was Layla a cat? “Did you turn my friend into a cat?”

The small, orange cat continued her plot of revenge hoping it would pay off, and when she was able to train her eyes on Rio and see the gears turning, she knew it was working. It had also felt good to sink her teeth into the head of someone so spiteful and without letting go, she began gnawing on the tight skin and hair, releasing a low growl in the process. But when Rio spoke her name, she released Cordy’s noggin and looked up. Yes!!! It’s me! It’s me, Rio!!! She did turn me into a cat! Help me!!! All she had wanted to be was a human again. Though seeing the world through cat eyes made her look at life differently, it was becoming way too easy to forget details about her human and werewolf life, and that could only mean one thing. That if Layla wasn’t freed from the curse soon, she would be a cat forever. 

“The cat’s name is Fleabag!” Cordy yelled, as Layla teeth sank into her skin again. Ow, maybe she really should’ve turned this girl into a toad instead. Both virgin and feline were persistent though, and she knew it was too late to truly convince him the cat wasn’t Layla. One of the cat’s claws pierced her cheek, and she’d had enough. She pushed through the pain and closed her eyes, picturing a barrier surrounding herself, it didn’t have to be strong. Maybe Annabel had been right about that sanctorum spell being a good idea. She clapped her hands, a weak, invisible barrier wrapping around her, and Layla the cat went flying onto the counter, repelled by it. “Try that again, Layla, and I’ll have animal control come and euthanize you,” Cordy said through gritted teeth. Okay, so maybe that’d be harsh even for her, but-- she pushed her hat back onto her bleeding scalp and head of messy hair. “Not like I pulled your fur.” She crossed her arms and glared at the cat and the boy. “It’s permanent, anyways, so guess you’re outta luck. Find something else to do today.” It was a lie, and Cordy couldn’t help but look past the leprechaun-print thongs, over to the double-headed dildo imbued with magic. 

Apparently, this woman was a liar. Which was rude given how awkward she was making things for Orion, but downright cruel when considering that she knew that Layla was a cat and deliberately hadn’t told him about it. Had she been the one to turn her into the cat? How was turning a human, er- werewolf into a cat even possible? It only made magic even more terrifying. But the woman’s magical abilities became apparent when something sent Layla flying off her and back onto the counter. Rio jerked backwards at first, afraid from the sudden change but then took a step forward, “Hey!” Rio called out in an attempt to sound more threatening than they all knew he was, “Be careful. Don’t hurt her!” The woman claimed it was permanent, but Rio knew better than to trust the woman now. She glanced away from Rio and Rio followed her gaze towards to try to get an idea where she had been looking. Rio began walking over towards it, trying to ignore the fact that he was staring at an alarmingly large display of dildos. But he had no idea what he was looking for. “How do I fix this?” Rio spun back around to look at her, a scowl deepening on his face. He didn’t like the idea of trying to threaten her. He knew he wouldn’t be any good at it. The only idea he had in his mind was appealing to her less than motivated side. His only chance of getting any information from her was to try to appeal to something she may not want to deal with. Rio picked the spot closest to where he thought she had been looking and picked up one of the packages. He didn’t even want to look at the thing that he was holding, but in one move he ripped the packaging in half and tore the dildo into two. Nothing happened, so he figured he hadn’t gotten lucky on the first try. “Just tell me please. I don’t want to do this anymore than you want to clean up the mess.” Rio discarded the trash he had been holding and grabbed onto the display carrying an assortment of… he had no idea what those ball shaped things were. But he twisted his wrist, snapping the wood frame of the shelving and sending the objects down and scattering the floor. “I just want my friend back.”

Getting flung back onto the counter had knocked the wind out of Layla, but before long, she was back up on her feet. Shaking off the trip through the air, she snarled at Cordy, until she noticed what the woman’s eyes were staring at. Turning her head, she spotted it. The huge double headed cockasaurces that had smacked her in the face and started all this mess. And she also watched as Rio made his way over to the display and shelving and began breaking dildos. Awwww, Rio. You’re breaking dildos for me. That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done. Realizing they would be there all night, considering Pandora’s Boxxx had an alarmingly large number of dildos available, Layla hopped off the counter and trotted over to the products. Looking up at Rio, she meowed, before standing up on her hind legs and swatting at the dreaded cursed item. This one! This is the one that made me like...this!

The employee was not being helpful in the slightest. Orion crossed his arms in a pout and considered his next options. He had reached the max capacity of being threatening to no avail, she still refused to give him any hints as to where to find whatever he was looking for. Until Layla jumped down from the counter and found Rio, swerving between the pile collecting on the floor and climbing up until she was swatting at an uncomfortably large phallic symbol that Rio had not yet gotten to. After all this, and Layla knew which one it had been the entire time? “Uh, oh? You knew? Yikes. Sorry abou-” Rio scratched at his neck nervously and began apologizing towards the woman behind the counter before stopping himself, “Wait! Never mind. You’re mean. So I’m not sorry.” As far as Rio was concerned, that was a win in his book. “So, I just break it?” Rio questioned, grabbing at it nervously and feeling strange holding it in his hands. He waited for confirmation before he squeezed his eyes shut and ripped the thing in half.

Layla watched Rio. Why are you still apologizing to the witch!? She was relieved when he had come to his senses though. But what brought her more relief, and in the most awkward of ways? Orion holding the huge hulking dildo that had gotten her in this situation in the first place. Break it! Break the dick!!! Layla watched longingly as Rio snapped the double headed cockasaurces in half. The pop had been one of the best sounds she had heard in a long time. However, once it was separated, nothing seemed to be happening; at least not quickly. And then it hit. A sharp pain had caused a shrill, loud yowl to escape her small snout. Panting fiercely, Layla stumbled forward. Everything hurt. Her small body was burning up, and she felt much like how she did after changing on a full moon. With little legs carrying her away from Rio and towards the back of the store, the teenager lost her balance before everything seemed to go black. And when her eyes opened again everything felt...different.

Her eyes betrayed her. She knew the kid saw exactly what she was looking at. Too much movement would break her barrier spell, and Cordy didn’t want to risk getting mauled by a pissed off cat again. Although... even that was probably better than getting mauled by a werewolf. Would that make her one, too? Shit, that werewolf-cat bit her scalp. Did that mean she was about to become a werewolf? Or a cat? Or-- the thought of losing her magic made her freeze, and she stood there in terror as the boy followed the cat over to the dildo. What if it wasn’t too late? She’d taken too long to make up her mind -- the dildo was in his hands and-- “Stop!” Cordy shouted, leaping over the counter. She could feel the barrier shattering around her skin, but that didn’t matter right now. She was not about to let them break her merchandise and, in the event, that she wasn’t already fucked over and going to grow fur on the next full moon, she needed Layla to stay a cat. “That’s a custom item! You can’t break it! The nymphs will--” The popping noise filled the store, and Cordy could feel the magic spilling out of the dildo in a stream, and as the cat screeched and scampered away, she knew the spell was breaking. “I’m boned, aren’t I?” If these children weren’t about to murder her, then Annabel certainly would. 

As soon as the dildo was broken, Orion dropped the pieces on the floor and hopped away from it. He had touched more phallic objects in the last twenty minutes than he had in his entire life. More than he ever imagined that he would touch in his whole lifetime. Layla ran off to the back of the store, and Rio thought about following her but eventually decided against it. He had no idea how she would return to human form. The whole thing seemed too intimate for Rio to be a part of. As if this entire situation weren’t far more intimate than Rio had ever wanted. “Is that a sex thing too?” Rio questioned before sighing. It was totally a sex thing. “I don’t understand what you could possibly get from turning my friend into a cat. Was it just some sick joke to you?” Rio scoffed, the mere thought of someone finding something like that funny made Rio nauseous. “You’re messed up.” He crossed his arms, unsure where they went from here. He couldn’t exactly call the cops on her. What would he even tell them? “Layla?” Rio yelled back, sure that if she was a werewolf again that she could hear him. If she could talk, he’d hear her too. If his hearing wanted to cooperate. “You okay back there?” He didn’t want to take his eyes off of the salesperson. He didn’t trust her.

Layla sat up rubbing her head...with her hand? Looking down she noticed she had two hands. Two legs! Two feet and no orange fur!!! Climbing to her feet in excitement, she began to move forward, but stumbled slightly, “Whoa! Wait...I said whoa! I spoke! I can speak!!!” Hearing Rio call for her, the teenager ran back out into the store frantically, “Rio! Rio, I’m me again! I’m not a cat!!!!” Running towards him with tears of joy, she wrapped her arms around him jumping up and down, until she realized one thing, she was stark naked, “Oh God. I don’t...I’m…” Pulling away from him, Layla’s cheeks revealed to be as red as her hair. Scanning the area, she grabbed the closest thing she could to cover herself up, which happened to be a pair of assless jorts while her arms lay across her chest, “Oh c’mon!”

[laylacooke]

A Little Catty || Deirdre & Layla

timing: Mid August [Continued from this.] parties: @deathduty& @laylacooke w/ special guest, Anya summary: Layla finds herself some competition. Meow-Meoh.

She had somehow managed to escape the White Crest Animal Shelter. It was a Houdini type feat, but now she was outside in the dark. While her cat eyes had given way to so much more in the darkness, than her human eyes ever could (unless it was a full moon), Layla was still scared. It was a big world and she was a tiny cat. Things that went bump in the night kept her on edge and as she wandered the streets of White Crest, she finally stumbled upon a house. One that looked familiar, so familiar, until she realized exactly where she was at. Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.

Rolling her large black eyes, she sauntered up to the back patio of the house. While she was almost hesitant to go in, the smell of something good had lured her closer and closer, until she was standing at the back door looking in. She was already here and considering she didn’t feel safe going back to Regan’s place or home to be with Ariana and the dogs, Layla decided to try and make her way inside. At least for the night, she’d be safe considering she had just seen another cat dart by inside the house. And with a long and lonesome meow, she wailed out into the night hoping Deirdre would hear her.

Deirdre had one, embarrassing secret: she cooked for her cats. She did it when Morgan wasn’t home, and rare enough that the cats thought of it as a treat, but she still cooked for them. And that, itself, was embarrassing. But she took pride in her intricate, cat-friendly fish dishes and lovingly presented them on her nicer plates. “No, Anya, you get less because you’re getting kind of chubby. Don’t look at me like that, you’re the one that found the bag of treats.” Oh, yeah, and she always talked to her cats like people. But she wasn’t embarrassed about that, she spoke to all animals like they could understand her, it was a habit she never grew out of.  Naturally, Deirdre still asserted that she hated animals. “Moira?” Anya, Morgan’s black cat and ex-familiar, sat patiently in her chair. But Moira, their white kitten, wasn’t there. Instead, her mewing broke the silence of her house. “What is it?” She approached the cat with concern, kneeling down until she spotted the orange tabby she was looking at. Slowly, Deirdre reached up to open her back door and let the cat in. “Are you a stray?” She asked. No collar. She tilted her head and extended her hand slowly, to let the cat sniff her fingers, still stained with the smell of fish from plating up the cat’s food. “Do you want to join us for dinner?”

As Layla continued to yowl, she noticed Deirdre had taken so much pride in feeding her other cats. Despite all she had gone through chasing a dog around the house, the teenager could tell just how much animals of the feline type meant to her. And that was somewhat surprising. But it was also reassuring knowing she had picked the right place to go to. 

Seeing the movement in the kitchen, followed by Deirdre walking over meant that Layla had caught the woman’s attention. Success! As the door was opened, a burst of cooked fish came wafting out of the house and into Layla’s face causing her to lick her lips. Cautiously moving forward, she began sniffing the woman’s hand and without thinking tried to lick off whatever remnants remained from the meal Deirdre was cooking. With a soft meow, she trotted inside and began rubbing up against the nearby leg of a chair. Sweet George Clooney, what the hell am I doing? Her reactions came naturally. Being a cat had come naturally, which was somewhat alarming. But the longer, she remained a cat, the easier the lifestyle had become. 

Deirdre lacked Morgan's knowledge about cats, she couldn't tell age by size, or intention from actions. She watched the orange cat curiously, just as Moira did. The white cat mewled, walking around with a lack of learned cynicism. "I'll take that as a yes then." She smiled and stood, making her way back to the kitchen to scoop the extras from what she shaved off Anya's portion to a separate plate for their new friend. She returned and presented the plate, putting it down by the chair leg. The cat seemed acclimated to the surroundings of a home, and unafraid of the other cats. She wondered if that meant the cat was just lost or had simply slipped out of its house and into another to scheme its way to more food. She thought about asking Morgan what she thought as soon as she was home, she knew cats better. "It's fish," Deirdre explained, "it's probably a little bland. Cats can eat anything with real flavor, it seems. But it's very fishy, which I suppose you'll like." Deirdre eyed the cat like it was a critic dining at her restaurant, even as she told herself that the last opinion, she cared for was some animal's. "Are you lost?" She asked it. "Do you want to stay here?"

Layla continued to rub back and forth along the chair leg, until the food was brought over. Layla, you don’t eat fish what are you- Trotting over to the plate that was now on the floor, she began to scarf down the meal. The strong fishiness of the dish was so much better than her human vegan mind ever imagined. And it didn’t take her long to lap up the meal. Once she was finished, and had thoroughly licked the plate, she looked back up to Deirdre. No, I’m not lost. You just had food, and I would love a place to stay. Anything to get me away from Animal Control and dogs that want to eat me. Her words, of course, had come out as meows. No indication of it being a human turned werewolf turned cat. Sitting down, she pulled one of her back legs up and started scratching behind her ear. When she had finished, she looked back up to Deirdre and meowed softly. Pick me up?  

The meows were unintelligible to Deirdre, but she nodded along all the same. It did feel strangely like a real conversation, even if she couldn’t understand what was being said. This cat seemed more intelligent to the things Deirdre was saying than Anya and Moira had ever been--the stares felt, just a little less blank. Or maybe that was her imagination, sometimes she could have sworn that Anya understood her and just chose not to listen. Speaking of Anya…. Deirdre glanced around for the black cat, whom she knew would take less kindly to their strange intruder, but there was no sign of her. Deirdre turned back, reaching out to pet the cat just behind its ears. It looked up and meowed; that was a sign Deirdre knew. Moira gave it to her often enough. She reached over and----Shrieking cut through the air. Deirdre turned and slowly approaching was Anya, back curved up and ears flat. She hissed. Moira skittered under their coffee table. Anya lunged.

Layla was just about to be in the warmth of Deirdre’s arms when she heard shrieking. Ah crap! I thought you guys liked me! Before she could react, the orange tabby felt claws go into her soft, fur ridden flesh. Letting out a loud yelp of pain, she scurried away from Anya and behind the counter. She had needed a breather. Just a few moments to catch her breath, but before she was settled, she could hear the deep vocalized approach of the other cat. Feline instincts taking over, Layla felt her own ears go back and her back arch. A low, deep moan came from her own throat as she began to slowly inch out from behind the counter. You want to go, bitch! Let’s go! Moving closer, she started to do a slow methodical dance with the other cat. Not approaching just yet but trying to suss out the situation and the best way to gain dominance of the house and Deirdre.

Anya was unquestionably the dominant cat of the house. She circled the orange tabby with unease and pounced again. Yet, as amusing as it was to watch cats fight, one of those cats was Anya and the other she didn’t really care about but figured she should, and so Deirdre broke up the spat. She scooped Anya into her arms, speaking gently to the soft black cat.  “It’s okay. It’s just a stray.” She thought. Or maybe Anya knew something she didn’t. “It’s okay,” she assured the cat again, shifting her in her arms until she was settled better. Anya continued to squirm, there was some dominance she needed to assert, and it was dominance she couldn’t while stuck in Deirdre’s arms. Deirdre didn’t know what to do, were cats like chickens? Did she allow them to establish a pecking order---or, in this case, swatting order? She stared down at the orange tabby. “I’m going to put Anya down, and you need to be nice to her. She’s a valuable member of this household. She contributes dead animals sometimes.” This, she thought, would soothe over any bad blood between the cats. She gently lowered Anya to the ground, who promptly, and swiftly, began to chase the orange tabby. 

Layla yipped when the black cat struck again pulling claws through skin. But before she could take any of her own swats, she found her opponent being scooped up in Deirdre’s arms. Looking upwards at the cat and the woman, Layla hissed, before limping away from the pair. She had to put some distance in between herself and Deirdre, or she was tempted to take a swat at her rather than Anya. Seriously?! I should have listened to my human side and stayed away from this stupid place. But I just had to let my hunger for fish, of all things, take over. She was managing to catch her breath. However, before she could fully lower the hair on her back, fucking Anya was chasing her through the house. Luckily, Layla had remembered the lay of the land and zigzagged in and out of rooms, before settling under Deirdre’s bed. Backed in a corner, she let a low growl escape her tiny cat body as she began to swat at Anya who was trying to force her way up under the bed with Layla. I just want to be human again. Please Cat Gods! Please! If cats could cry, she darn well was doing it with tears welling up from her round black eyes.

“No! Anya! Bad!” Deirdre chased after the two cats, sliding around corners and bumping into her walls and furniture with much less grace than the two cats. At another time, with any other creature, Deirdre might have respected this gusto from Anya. If this was Anya hunting down prey, far be it from her to intervene. But it was another helpless cat, and even Deirdre thought that was a little unfair. She caught up with the cats in the master bedroom, dashing across the carpet to scoop up Anya before she could crawl under the bed and get involved with a scrap Deirdre couldn’t reach and couldn’t protect them from. “Anya!” She picked up the black cat and made it look her in the eyes. “Bad! Well, not bad. But not good!” Fates, she really hoped she never had to become kind of disciplinary in her life. “I said the cat was okay, you remember me saying the cat was okay, right?” The cat did not respond on account of it being a cat. Deirdre continued to explain to her. “It’s okay. I promise you it’s okay. No one is going to steal your food, or your spot in this house. It’s probably just passing through. Okay? Okay. I’m going to let you down now and I need you to leave the cat alone. Do you think you can do that?” The cat, again, did not respond. Deirdre let Anya down on top of the bed and crawled down to look at the tabby. “You can come out,” she told it, she extended her arm out. “She probably just didn’t like you eating her food and rubbing up on the furniture. I don’t know, I don’t really understand cats. Will you come out from there?”

Layla’s tiny little heart was pounding harder than before. She was terrified. Deirdre scolding Anya didn’t even make her feel better. Instead, she pushed herself back further into the shadows of the bed. She just wanted to be left alone and to not be chased or threatened by anyone or anything. No! I’m not coming out! You let your cat attack me! Her meows held a tone of panic and fear. And as Deirdre’s arm came towards her, she swatted at it. Barely nicking it with her small claws. Away you devilish woman! Away! She could still hear Anya walking around on the top of the bed; fear lingering of the possibility of another attack waiting on her from the beloved black cat.

Deirdre didn't flinch as she was swatted, she'd certainly gotten worse hits from such Marge larger things, but it was clear to her that this cat was terrified. "Okay," she sighed, "wait here." She pulled herself up and scooped Anya into her arms. She took the black cat downstairs, letting her comfort Moira and offering another shred of fish as an apology for the whole debacle. Then she found the dried catnip and took a pinch with her back upstairs. This time when she laid down, her head turned to watch the tabby, she held her outstretched arm with the catnip a little closer to her. "It's okay," she cooed, "you can come out. I won't let Anya hurt you anymore, I promise." She wasn't sure why exactly she was offering promises to a cat that couldn't appreciate them, but she did so anyway. "I'll let you into the cat room and you can play with all the toys, or jump around or sleep, even. And then we'll figure out where you need to be, okay?" As much as she dreaded a trip to animal services, she couldn't deny the possibility that this was probably just someone's lost cat.

The small animal stayed hunkered down. A little relief came when she could smell that the other cat had been taken out of the room and that Deirdre was gone. Relaxing just enough to not be so tense, Layla had considered running out of the room and trying to find her way back outside, but before she could, the woman was back, and this time she had something that smelled enticing with her. What-What is this crack you hold between your thumb and forefinger? She was more so curious than before and couldn’t restrain herself. Inching forward, now, with only catnip on the brain, she began eating the small, green dried herb out of Deirdre’s fingers. Instantly, she began to feel more relaxed. What is this stuff? Everything’s so heavy. And, I could just...Layla yawned...go to sleep right here. She moved in closer to the woman and began purring, just wanting someone to snuggle up to so she could go to sleep.

What was the moral ethics behind drugging a cat with catnip? Deirdre considered this, then found the orange tabby purring in her arms. It was fine, she concluded, because the cat seemed happy. "Uh, hold on, I need to pee." The cat, however, didn't want to move. "I can't go to the toilet like this. You need to sleep in a bed." And still, there was nothing. She sighed, relenting, and crawled into her large bed, holding the cat close to her. "Fine. But just for now, okay? Just for now." She began to pet the cat, the way she learned cats like best, and sang her a lullaby softly. Cats, it seemed, weren't so bad. 

Layla’s little cat body was comfortable and seemed to melt into a pile of fury goo in Deirdre’s arms. She didn’t really know what was happening, but at that moment it didn’t matter. She just wanted to sleep the night away, and that she did. Dreams plagued her tiny cat mind. Fantastic dreams of dancing fish hopping right into her mouth. Mice swimming around her. Balls of yarn rolling around. It was in bright, flashy colors, while distorted music played. Some big production from a Disney cartoon from back in the day. And by daybreak, the orange tabby had felt hungover and thirsty.

Crawling out of Deirdre’s arms, Layla hopped off the bed and went to find water. Once she had cleansed her dry pallet, she cautiously made her way downstairs watching out for Anya and Moira. She had to escape. She couldn’t stay here another night. As the memories crept back in slowly of being attacked and then being drugged with catnip.

At some point, petting the cat and singing softly, Deirdre had also fallen asleep. Her dreams were filled with stabbing people, dead bodies drifting down rivers, and Morgan (who was not exactly related to death, but as a zombie, fit right into Deirdre’s macabre dreamscape anyway). It was a good slideshow of nonsensical images, the kind that lulled her in deep and pulled away the worries of her waking life. Eventually she fell over, dissolving into a more comfortable curled up position and she drifted off to a slumber deep and uninterrupted. 

Anya wasn’t so lax in observation. She sat atop her cat tower, surveying the house. When the orange tabby crept into the room, her eyes focused on the foreign creature. Her tail swung back and forth, observing. Waiting. Threatening. Your move. 

Layla slowly crept along, until her sharp senses picked up on the other cat. Stopping dead in her tracks, the orange cat looked up to the top of the cat tower seeing her nemesis lying in wait. Not this shit again...Letting out a huff and not waiting any longer, the cat took off running towards the kitchen, except this time, instead of staying on the ground, she leaped up onto the kitchen counter to wait on Anya. She would pounce when the time came. Hunkering down, she waited quietly, her own tail swishing in anticipation.

Anya jumped down each level of her cat tower slowly, pausing to stare. She had a look that said 'I could kill you' which wasn't much different from her other looks, but even so, this wasn't Morgan's Anya anymore. She had been weathered by time, loss, and smaller dinners because she was 'getting fat'. Was it her fault the treats were so easy to reach? And Moira was often too excited to even finish her dinners? Anya was, what humans liked to call, food motivated. But if she had enough of a brain to argue, she'd say everything on this planet was food motivated. She hit the last perch, watching the orange cat. Then she dropped to the ground, slowly stalking up to her. The back door hadn't been closed, an error in Deirdre's judgement but one that worked for Anya's gain. This was the cat that took her food and then her cuddles, and soon, Anya imagined, her throne. She stared up at the cat on the counter. Then she jumped up to join her. And slowly, calculatedly, she tapped a glass until it wobbled on the edge and shattered across the ground. Then she bellowed, as if injured, and jumped back down—the blame could only go in one place. And who would Deirdre be willing to think was the culprit? Her sweet Anya, or the dirty stray? 

Layla was readying herself. She was going to pounce on Anya and make her feel just a small fraction of the crap she had put her through the night before. However, things didn’t go quite as she had planned it. Instead, the orange cat watched as Anya casually made her way into the kitchen. She had already known where Layla was waiting, before the new cat had any chance at getting revenge. But what happened next was not expected. What? What are you doing? Backing up slowly as the cat joined her on the counter, she was surprised by the black cat’s actions. Oh, you sneaky bitch. Knowing that Deirdre would believe Anya over Layla any day, she didn’t want to stick around to see what would happen, especially now that the other cat was on the floor feigning an injury that didn’t even exist. Until next time, Anya. Until next time. She hissed at the larger cat as she quickly hopped down from the counter and headed for the door. She wanted to be long gone, before the woman made it downstairs, knowing good and well how Deirdre would react.

Deirdre sprang to life, half-awake and staggering as she sprinted to the site of the crash. Without accessing what was wrong, exactly, she scooped Anya up and searched for injury. Relieved with the absence of them, she turned to the crime. "Aw, I was going to put flowers in that vase." She frowned, then glanced around for the orange tabby, the obvious culprit—to which she wouldn't be mad, just disappointed. But as she looked, the cat was nowhere to be seen; the backdoor was left open, leaving a cat-sized crack. Anya settled happily into Deirdre's arms as she worried quietly for the new stray. The black cat, by comparison, had little care. With her throne secure, and all further threats to fish dinners eliminated, she found sleep happily and with ease. Wherever that orange tabby was, she'd know better than to come back here.

[laylacooke]

Purrison Break || Solo

[continued from here.]

Got so much to lose Got so much to prove God, don't let me lose my mind

LET ME GO!!! Just wait until the next full moon, Kaden! You’ll really experience a bite!!! She squirmed and fought his grip, even as she was being accepted into Animal Control, she continued to yowl and whine. This had been a million times worse than the jail cell she was thrown into a little over a month ago. It was colder, and the sounds of whining animals just looking for their forever home brought tears to her eyes. Was this what her life was destine to become? She didn’t want to be stuck as a cat forever!

Her screams had soon died out though, as Layla knew they weren’t just going to let her go. And as desperate as she was to break free, the tranquilizer shoved into her hip caused her to grow weak. Meow. Meow. Meow. Her meows soon started to fade as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When she had awoken many hours later, the small feline had found herself locked in a tiny cage. While there were blankets around her and a small bowl of water, Layla felt suffocated by her surroundings. Her head hurt and the fluorescent lights overhead had caused her eye pain. Please. Somebody help me. Anybody. As she tried to climb to her feet, everything began spinning, and she went down again, into the soft, blanket, unable to make it to the tin of water without falling asleep again.

The tranquilizer had struck her rather hard. Layla hadn’t felt much like eating or moving, despite being so thirsty. Mustering up what little strength she could, she crawled slowly to the bowl and began lapping up the water. This went on for nearly ten minutes, before she curled back up into a small orange ball. Kaden...Regan...I’ll never forgive you. I thought you were my friends. Tears seeped from her eyes as she drifted back to sleep.

“KITTY!!!! Kitty wake up!!!” The loud voice, followed by small fingers brushing the fur of her back softly caused Layla to jump up. It had felt like days that she had been confined to the small cage, but as she turned, she noticed a child staring back at her excitedly. “Sweetie, be careful. We don’t want to scare the kitty, now do we?” My name’s not Kitty. It’s Layla. Pitiful meows came from her weak, furry form. “Mommy, it meowed at me!” Meow. That’s all I do. Looking at the child sadly, she sighed and turned back around curling into a ball. Leave me alone, Kid. I just want to sleep. “Awwww, Kitty’s being mean. I don’t like that one.” Hearing the kid scamper away gave Layla some peace as she drifted back off to sleep.

“Hey. Wake up. Wake up, little one.” A sweet voice began to lure Layla out of her slumber. Frankie? Opening up her eyes, she raised her head up and began to look around, but before she could see what was happening, she felt someone reaching in to grab her. Meow. Meow. More pitiful meows escaped her mouth as she was being hauled out of the room. “I hear you’re a little feisty, but I’m sure we won’t have to use that old nasty shot on you again. I told them, you were probably just scared.” Climbing from the stranger’s arms and up onto her shoulder, Layla frantically looked around. Where are you taking me!?

When they reached their destination, she noticed a large tub with a pole attached to a collar. A bath. Layla loved baths, but not at this moment. Her days of being cramped up in a cage had given her enough time to realize she didn’t want to go back, and when the woman sat her down on a nearby table to examine her, Layla made a break for it. No, I’m not going through this shit again!

Running as quickly as her paws could carry her, she weaved in and out of legs. Fearlessly escaping dogs, cats, and other humans of varying sizes, Layla finally made it out a side door. She was out of breath and sore from being cramped up in the same spot for so long, but she was free. Her heart broke for the other cats and dogs that remained locked up, and she knew that one of her first goals when she returned to human form, was to break in AC at night and free them all.

With her four little paws carrying her as far as she could go, she soon found herself in a neighborhood. One that had seemed so familiar. Maybe someone here could help her.