#was this my excuse to come up with cat versions of a bunch of characters?

[legolasghosty]

Okay but consider: Cat Café AU

I AM CONSIDERING SO VERY MUCH!!!

Anddd you never said no magic involved and I'm frigging sick and tired of the real world right now, so...

Julie is the proud owner of a small cat cafe in Los Feliz. Lots of great drinks, super sweet cats, plenty of comfy places to sit. To the outside viewer, it seems like a pretty standard setup, if surprisingly well funded. What is less common knowledge is that shapeshifters are also a thing and Dahlia's Sip and Purr also acts as a sort of safe house for many.

Reggie and Alex are the main two other front employees, with Flynn working there too on the business side of things. They take turns working the front counter and taking care of the cats, Julie hopping in with either job when she can. Everything on the menu has silly cat pun names, most of them courtesy of either Reggie or Carlos, Julie's little brother. (She regularly gets texts from him with no context, just a cat pun drink name. They've gotten more frequent since he moved out for college.)

About half the cats that come through the cafe are shelter cats, who are healthy and mostly adoptable but don't have proper homes. They have a board on the wall of which cats people can adopt. Julie has a great relationship with the folks at the nearby animal shelters, cause she takes great care of the kitties and often finds them good homes after a bit!

A couple of the cats are a bit older and have just been with the gang for long enough that they've gotten attached and Julie or Reggie and Alex (they live together) have officially adopted them. Julie lives in a studio over the shop, so she just kinda takes her babies up with her at the end of the day.

And then the last handful of cats... aren't full-time cats. Shapeshifters aren't super common, but they tend to find each other. Most of them have 3-5 forms, depending roughly on age. The first two forms (human and some animal) usually are based on genetics or whatever, and the shifter has no control over what the animal form is. But when they get a grip on their first nonhuman form and start learning a second one, a lot of folks will go for some kind of domestic animal. Both because they're generally small and easy to get away from bad people, but also cause no one is gonna ask weird questions about seeing a housecat in their backyard. At least not like they would if it was like a wolf or something. So most shifters have some kind of house pet form by the time they're teens/young adults.

Given both the high percentage of shifters who have a small cat form, plus the high population density of LA, plus the fact that being a shifter isn't always genetic and often comes out of nowhere... there's a fair amount of unhoused/exhausted cat shifters around Dahlia's. So when Julie and Flynn were daydreaming about running their own cafe in high school, Julie was like, "Okay but if we do the cat thing, we gotta have a way we can help out shifters somehow."

Julie learned about all this as a kid, cause her dad is a shifter (first form was a black bear, which caused some chaos... now his most commonly used ones are a big grey cat and a raven), and Carlos inherited those genes as well (first form was a badger, these days he spends his animal time mostly as an orange and white tomcat). So while Julie and her mom didn't actually change shape themselves, it's just kinda a part of life.

Alex and Reggie are both shifters and met Julie and Flynn in college. Julie sorta found out by accident when she came into their dorm room and saw zero human boys and two cats curled up together in a sunbeam. But now they're her employees/coworkers, having a good time working and also having a safe space to cat in. (Alex's first form was actually a cat, a jet black shorthair. Reggie's first was a hampster, but he much prefers being a dapper tux tomcat). They also know all the signals and stuff to let other shifters know that it's a safe space, which Julie really appreciates.

So yeah, some of the cats in the cafe are humans some of the time. These include :

Luke, who is also best friends with the main gang but absolutely hates customer service so he splits time between the cafe and writing music for a couple of indie bands in the area. Or sometimes both at the same time.

Willie, Alex's boyfriend (yes his first form was a raccoon) and another bestie of the gang. He teaches art classes for adults, but those are mostly in the evenings when people are off work, so he'll hang out as a cat and play with silly humans in the daytime (also skate around getting into trouble but that's fineee).

Bobby, who happened in one day in their first couple weeks of business and lowkey never left. He's a security guard officially for a museum or something nearby, but he mostly works the night shift, and well... the sunbeams are nicer at Julie's cafe than his tiny apartment. So he hangs out a lot and has gotten adopted into the gang. He and Alex are great nap buddies and customers like cooing over their lil yin and yang cuddle pile.

Coming along with Bobby, we have his twin sister Carrie, who is not a shifter but was kind of freaking out about her brother disappearing so much (she knew about the shifter thing) and ended up following him to the cafe about six months after he started going. Cue drama and chaos, but eventually things settled and it all got straightened out. Flynn and Carrie are dating now, so she's around a decent bit.

She also introduced Kayla, one of her dancers who was also a shifter, to the cafe. Kayla had gone for a dog form when she was younger, but started working on a cat after hanging at the cafe a bit cause it's just so cozy.

And well... the shifter community may be quiet, but it's got its rich people too. After finding out about the whole thing, Willie's adopted dad started subtly pushing business Julie's way, along with sponsorship deals and stuff. And well, when Caleb absolutely cannot get ahold of his kid, he usually knows where to go. Even if he's not actually there, Julie or Alex have usually seen him recently and can pass along a message. (Caleb is absolutely a shifter btw.)

And well frick this got WAY too long, I'm sorry!!! I shall shush now and leave you in peace!

[veronyxk84]

Spuffy Fic Recs — March/April

Missed last month’s recs? Check this tag to catch up!

Find my Fic Recs on Dreamwidth as well

I present a list of 5 Spuffy fics I’ve read between March and April. They’re all complete, some recent, some older (I’m going through my bookshelf), and all links are for Sunnydale After Dark. (NOTE: some or all may be available on other archives as well).

Listed from oldest to most recent; see the publishing year (on SAD) before the title.

Some reviews are taken from my own comments left for the stories. I tried to make them short and not spoiler-y.

(2022) Labels on Peanut Butter Jars...and Other Stuff by sandy_s [R] one-shot

Summary: Set after “First Date” but prior to “Lies My Parents Told Me” in Season 7. The potentials are out of the house and Buffy and Spike have a few moments of peace to get to know each other. Buffy POV. Challenge: Up to two other characters – optional Tara. Has to be romantic, smutty, and involve a jar of peanut butter. There can be no Xander or Angel in the story. A/N: This was written for a ficathon on LJ a long time ago.

Review: A cute and mildly suggestive interlude for Spuffy in S7. There’s a deep introspective part where Buffy reflects on “labels” but not those on the jars. Andrew offers, as usual, some comedy relief.

(2022) Who Says You Can’t Go Home? by Slaymesoftly [NC-17] one-shot

Summary: In this AU season five AtS, Buffy learns Spike is back when Robin Wood is sent to check out Angel’s takeover of WR&H. Banner by Javajunkie247.

Review: I’m on a reunion frenzy, so I picked this story from my bookshelf because it’s been there forever. This is one of the ways AtS should have turned out, if the writers hadn’t been contractually bound to find lame excuse after lame excuse for Spike to stay in L.A. with his best pal.

(2022) Nights Like This by ashcrashed [NC-17] 6 chapters

Summary: The sun sets, and they disappear. Into lust, into loneliness, into regret. And sometimes, into each other.

Review: I really enjoyed the structure of this story. Three chapters for S6, three chapters for S7; both seasons have alternate Spike POV and Buffy POV, and the 3rd chapter for each season mirror each other in a poetic way: a break-up (BtVS S6) and a reunion (AtS S5). What they deserved.

(2025) a cat needs a name that’s particular by jewelram [PG-13] 4 chapters

Summary: or, there are cats to be named, and Spike’s just the vampire for the job. Luckily, Buffy and Dawn are there to come up with better names.

Review: A totally cute domestic scenario with Spuffy, Dawn, and a bunch mischievous kittens! All love, banter, and fluff.

(2025) To Sleep Perchance to Dream by GhostsInLove [PG] one-shot

Summary: Set in Season 4 Episode 22 - Restless There are many distractions in Buffy’s search to find her friends, but she never expected Spike to be here. Or My interpretation of a Spike appearance in Buffy’s dream sequence.

Review: A truly well-written, expanded version of Buffy’s dream in Restless. Dreams are often weird and I am a big fan of dreams! I love writing them (so rewarding) and I love reading about them. If you enjoyed Restless, you’ll enjoy this fic.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #51 – Monstress Volume 8: Inferno by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

This is the last volume of Monstress that’s currently published and (since vol. 9 is coming out in November) the second-last I’m going to read this year. Which could be either a good or a bad thing, I suppose. This is the first volume I can say I genuinely didn’t enjoy, not even grading on a curve fro the highs of the rest of the series but in general. Not awful, but not good either – by far the most ‘comic-bookey’ plot arc so far, and I really don’t mean that as a compliment.

Through a variety of contrivances involving Maika’s friends journeying to the centre of her mind to try and wake her up from her coma and finding a massive and seemingly living statue of Adara Farclaw – the previously semi-mythical ancient hero-sage of the cats – our main cast (plus the ghost of Maika’s childhood self created by the sheer intensity of her own self-loathing) find themselves on the prison world where Zinn trapped all his kin to keep them from devouring the world we’re more familiar with back in pre-history. They’ve adapted surprisingly well, adopting humanoid forms and farming for the food they need. Immortal but sterile, their history since has been dominated by an endless race war between the first generation Fallen Houses (Zinn’s peers) and the second-generation and much reduced in grandeur (but increased in numbers) Defiled. Zinn, Maika, and the fragment of the Shaman-Empresses’ mask they brought with them are a chance to upset the balance of power, or perhaps even escape – and both sides are willing to do anything it takes for that chance.

Though all that plot aside, the actual point of the volume is to a) provide great reams of lore on the Monstra in general and Zinn’s past and present relationship with the rest of their species in particular and b) give Maika a chance to work on her self-esteem issues and guilt over accidentally killing and eating her mom as a child by providing a tulpa of 10-year-old her to scream at, protect, and reconcile with. Also a bunch of stuff about cats.

I can see the version of this story that works for me, at least in broad strokes. But yeah, the one that actually exists really didn’t. The largest part of that is just allocation of narrative resources, I think? As the book goes on, it has become steadily less interested in the themes and aesthetics I find more compelling to focus on it’s deep lore mythohistory and melodrama among the elder gods, to the point of just leaving the actual setting with its fascinating politics and societies entirely for basically the last two volumes. It begins to make me question why I’m still reading. Maika as a character is profoundly interesting, but having her just clearly announce her issues to a literal embodiment of them is not, to me, particularly compelling reading.

On an aesthetic level, the strange and alien prison planet let me deeply unimpressed. It was all so..familiar. Even the two warring nations of eldritch god-monster have ended up basically human-sized and human-shaped, farming and eating and using tools and building structures in instantly recognizable ways. There’s an excuse offered, but I’m still left wondering why even bother if it’s going to be so unspectacular.

I also found myself disappointing in how...monotonous, I suppose? The aesthetics of technology are growing to be. The guns, tools and armour of these cat worldwalkers who’ve been living underground on this prison world for centuries look almost identical to what technology of the Shaman Empress and the toys the Blood Court uses and- Even if you can torture and justify it all to make sense, it just gets boring and samey eventually, you know? Makes the world feel small.

Which is related to my thematic issues with the volume, in a way. The story is clearly much more interested in the grand, superhuman drama of the monstra, the exploration of multiple worlds and lost continents, space age high technology, more species and relics and myths and just – it all piles up so much that the result just ends up feeling more generic and boring than the more focused and detailed world of the first few volumes was. This is made far worse (for me, anyway) by the fact that Zinn seems to have been personally involved with literally every major historical personage that was mentioned at any point.

The most concise way to put it is that at the start of the story Maika et al really felt like people inhabiting a world, and now it’s at Star Wars levels of the world feeling like a canvas for a specific set of people’s melodrama. Nothing wrong with that, in the slightest – I just prefer the other, and feel a bit cheated by the shift.

On a different thematic level I kept waiting for some real, like, narrative pushback or reversal about how the Defiled are treated as these disgusting morally abhorrent abominations for the fundamental crime of being genetically impure and ‘spiritually mutilated’ and...never really got it?

Anyway, pacing wise the arc is much too short to be a complete, satisfying version of the story it wants to tell, and much, much too long to be a part of the longer story it is a detour from. The story never becomes offensively bad, but I am honestly reading as much out of inertia as anything by now.

[azalea-bee]

grabs you OC TIME!!! ✨🧠🍀✏️ for all your guys!!!

OC TIME YAYY TY hehehe

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

for all of my ocs, the name is usually one of the last things i pick out when i’m creating them :P i like to get a good sense of their appearance, sense of style, gender/pronouns, personality, and the setting (ie, modern, fantasy, historical etc) they’re gonna be in first! and then i just browse baby name sites or whatever until i find something that i think goes well with all of that :D and i try to find names that i like the meaning of too even if it’s not like. directly relevant to them hehe

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

dove, cassia, micah, emrys and winnie are all a group and got created at the same time so they have pretty much the same inspo! i don’t remember exactly what my thought process was but my favorite kind of stories are about found family and close friendships/relationships that don’t really fall into the traditional family roles of parents, kids, siblings etc but still love each other a lot! so they’re my own self-indulgent version of that trope placed into a modern fantasy world setting with complicated magic vaguely inspired by a few various minecraft smps :]

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

micah— they have 100% dormant/hidden catshifter traits!! they do confusing cat behaviors all the time and nobody knows why bc they look entirely human and that’s very funny to me skdhdj. misunderstood kitty <3

winnie— she’s a regressor!! it’s not a big focus of her character in the main story i have in my head but small winnie is so so important to me..they’re just tiny sometimes.. :’]

cassia— i accidentally ended up projecting a bunch of my disability woes onto him (sorry cassia </3) so that part of his character is rly important to me!! also she/him pronouns for the win :D

dove— i love love love the way she dresses! a million accessories at all times and funky colorful patterns and a new complicated hairstyle and makeup combo every day and a hint of gothic witchy vibes to top it all off. if i was capable of choosing just one aesthetic to dress myself for the rest of my life i’d pick hers hehehe

emrys— lion!!! shifter!! he’s the only one of this group who’s able to actually fully turn into an animal and i love the way i made his shifting work in this world he’s placed in. always complicated to explain so i won’t try rn but trust me in my head it makes me very happy <3

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

agh. i have perpetual art/writing block and my disabilities make it so so hard to create anything so i basically just have crumbs. i have sketches of almost all of them and little pieces of disconnected story tidbits here and there but mostly they all live in extensive pinterest boards and a million headcanons that if i’m lucky i remember to write down on my phone skdhj. but they are rotating in my brain almost constantly trust me hehehe

tysm for asking and giving me an excuse to ramble abt them!! <33

[midnightsunnyday]

The Brothers Go To Bath & Body Works

A/N: because I was bored and like headcanons where the brothers are in ordinary situations doing ordinary things, yet because of their nature and ignorance of human culture, get in all types of trouble. Definitely counts as a crack post.

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

Lucifer: for horrid's sake it's like Asmodeus and Mammon's bathrooms exploded.

Satan: for once I have to agree with you. This place is a bit...assaulting.

Leviathan: ugh. This is just like that anime I watched: My Partner Tricked Me Into Going Shopping And Now I'm Stuck Watching Them Make Horrible Financial Decisions!

MC: that sounds way too contrived to be a real show.

Satan: furthermore, are we really about to spend an hour shopping for candles?

MC: no, I'm about to spend an hour shopping for candles. You all can wait outside *sighs* At least Asmo gets it.

Asmodeus: such splendor! Such rapture! I mean just look at it: the colors! The scents! The mini hand sanitizers! Oooh, and is that a sale? Buy three get two free, you say?

Lucifer, scanning the shelves: and what is this absurdity?  Pumpkin pecan, pumpkin apple, vanilla pumpkin, pumpkin clove, cinnamon pumpkin, caramel pumpkin...just what is it with you humans and your obsession with pumpkins?

MC: hey, don't judge my culture. Pumpkin scented and flavored products are an annual mortal tradition.

Lucifer: a tradition that should be banned, clearly.

Mammon: humans sure are strange though. I mean, why have an entire store dedicated to something so lame?

Satan: well, candles can be used for many purposes, but for most humans they're not only therapeutic, but romantic. In fact, it's customary for human lovers to light a multitude of candles around their dwelling to draw in their mate.

Mammon: to draw in their mate, huh? Ya don't say...

*loud clanging noises*

MC: Mammon...why are you scooping an entire row of candles into your shopping bag?

Mammon: oi, what are ya the candle police? Don't worry about it.

Salesperson: just so you know, all our three wick candles are--

Mammon: --buy three get two free. Yeah, yeah, we read the sign!

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

Belphegor: hey, which scent do you think smells better on me?

MC: *sniffs* ooh, I really like the lavender one.

Belphegor: good, then that's the one I'll buy. That way, when we finish taking our naps together, you'll smell me all over your sheets. And your clothes. And your pillows. And the rest of your room.

MC: sounds very...Pavlovian. Just no leashes or collars, please. 

Belphegor: I think you might have me confused with Lucifer...and possibly Satan.

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

Asmodeus: Satan dear, please tell me you aren't going to buy that just because it has a cat on it?

Satan, blushing: of course not. I was just...looking, is all.

Leviathan: you know, you're kinda behaving like an otaku who wants to buy all the latest merch of their favorite character.

Asmodeus: so like you, then?

Leviathan: hey! Otaku are a proud people who fuel their hobbies with the upmost passion and dedication. There's no shame in it.

Asmodeus: whatever you say, brother ~

Salesperson: just so you know, that's our limited edition Halloween scent, which is only around for the holidays.

Satan: hmm...

Salesperson, wearing a cheeky grin: we also have cat shaped plug ins.

Satan: where?

Asmodeus: now wait just a--

Salesperson: --did I also mention that we're having a sale on all our bath products?

Asmodeus: on all the bath products, you say?

Leviathan, rolling his eyes: normies.

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

Salesperson: excuse me, sir?

Lucifer, sighing: if you're attempting to sell me something, then I rather hear the quick version.

Salesperson: it's just that you seem a bit...tense. Do you happen to suffer from stress? If so, I can show you a few items in our aromatherapy collection.

*Lucifer, gazing over at Leviathan and Mammon*

Mammon: ok, ok, on the count of three. One, two...three!

*Leviathan and Mammon shrieking in pain as they spritz body mist into each other's eyes*

Lucifer: ...I'm listening.

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

Belphegor: hey guys, I don't think it was a good idea to bring Beel in here.

Lucifer: meaning....

Beelzebub, holding two candles and mumbling to himself: this one says banana walnut muffin and this one says warm apple pie, but it's not a muffin and that's not a pie, but it smells like one, but I can't eat it, but it's named after food, but it's not food...*falls to his knees* it's not food.

Leviathan: uh...

Beelzebub, in a trance like state: it's not food. It's not food. It's not food.

Satan: well, this doesn't look good.

Mammon, placing a hand on Beelzebub's shoulder: hey, little bro. You ok?

Beelzebub: so...the time for retribution has come? Such an ironic fate, being made to roam this chamber which torments me with scents familiar, yet unable to satiate. For centuries I've scourged the lands, devouring flesh to still the pain that naws at my being. Cursed to eat without gain. Without joy. Forever crowned as the sin of gluttony, a crown in which I sometimes find too heavy to bear. For some, I was once a god, for others a mere pest. Even so, I find myself in a hell not of my own creation, but one in which I rightfully deserve.

MC: um, Beel? I love you, but you're freaking everyone out.

Beelzebub, looking up at MC with empty eyes: ah, the mortal to whom I am bound. Tell me, are you here to guide me towards salvation? Or are you too like these wondering souls, searching for nourishment in that which is fleeting? However, I advise you make your decision with haste, as soon I will no longer be able to tell friend from prey.

*silence*

MC: ...we really need to get him some food.

Mammon, helping Beelzebub to his feet: ok, time to go, buddy.

Asmodeus: how about we get you some McDonald's. Do you like McDonald's, Beel?

Beelzebub: immortality is a curse. The only true salvation lies in oblivion.

Asmodeus: ...he wants McDonald's.

*at the food court*

Asmodeus: still, I can't believe I ended up purchasing several bags worth of lotions, candles, and body sprays *shivers* such an insidious place. I love it!

Lucifer: admittedly, this pillow mist is very soothing. Though may I suggest that next time we go somewhere less...traumatizing?

Satan, staring down into his bag full of cat shaped plug ins: *sighs* agreed.

Mammon and Leviathan, holding a cup of ice to their eyes: definitely.

MC: I just wanted us all to go shopping. How was I suppose to know scented candles would make Beel suffer an existential breakdown?

Lucifer: speaking of which, how are you feeling, Beel?

Beelzebub, stuffing his face: cheeseburgers and nuggets are my favorite food from McDonald's.

Lucifer: that's nice Beel.

Leviathan: well, that problem solved itself.

Mammon: but man, what a day. All this shopping sure gave me quite the workout *stretches his arm over MC* I think I'm just gonna head home, light a bunch of candles around my dwelling, let MC walk in and ya know...see what happens.

MC: *sighs* This is exactly the reason why I shop online.

[kyurilin]

To finish off my writing posts for the end of the year, here's just a post about my other writing projects I have going on!

Obviously Stray, the erasercloudmic story from my pinned post is being worked on albeit slowly. I have maybe a third of it written (which is still 27k words) and it's done very similarly to Mic's Bullshit Life although it does switch characters up. @shabby-blog can attest that it's a fun read as they've read what I have and are currently my biggest cheerleader in actually getting it done one day

I have. Two entire alternate versions of Crumbled Rooftops. You can blame shabby for these entirely but also me. I feed off of angst and well. These are angst. One of them (called Everything Crumbles) is Crumbled Rooftops but Hizashi dies and Nemuri lives, which after the anime made Shouta almost watch Hizashi get hit by decay became infinitely sadder. It changes the entire dynamic of Oboro coming back by like, a huge degree but hey it's great for when I wanna be REAL sad. The other is All That's Left, and in this one Shouta dies so it's just Hizashi and Oboro having to pick up the pieces. This one was an excuse to push Hizashi to his breaking point and make people scared of his power tbh. Neither of these are likely to be posted and both of them are currently VERY early stages but hey if you ever want to read them and cry hit me up

Also Crumbled Rooftops adjacent, my doc aptly titled Here Be Crumbled Rooftops Angst Snippets which is literally what the title says. Basically it was a place to dump all the little side stuff before the story that lived in my head rent free so I could get it out of my head and somewhere else.

I have a document that STILL is just called AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Which is appropriate for the fact that it's an Erasercloudmic story where Shouta realizes he has a crush on both his friends and doesn't know how to cope, Nemuri teaches him about polyamory, canonly Oboro and Hizashi make out when they're bored and AREN'T dating yet and then try to compete for Shouta's affections only for Shouta to get so flustered he tells them he likes them both. Very early stages but I have IDEAS guys it's gonna be cute and I may keep the screaming title lmao. This one (when I randomly get the desire to start it) will be posted I promise I just have to write it.

I have an entire finished story I wrote this year that won't get posted, I wrote an urban explorers rooftop gang polycule story that is absolutely the dumbest thing I could have written, it reads more like an outline than a story, but I binge watched a bunch of urbex videos in a row and knocked it out in four days. It's lovingly called I Found My Heart in the Abandoned Roller Disco and no. You cannot read it. It's staying in my Google docs. You are allowed to know that Shouta and Oboro have a moment in an abandoned roller skating rink that is the cutest shit. But unless I ever get the urge to rewrite it the way I did the original doc for matching tattoos, urbex rooftop gang polycule is staying buried.

Oh. And one last one. Shouta's adventures through joining the hero course, trying his best to ignore the two loudest idiots on the planet (and failing), becoming friends with the two loudest idiots on the planet (and the class president and an upper class student), losing one of his friends, pushing the rest away, getting tough love from Nemuri Kayama, being occasional jogging buddies with Tensei Iida, and eventually running into Hizashi Yamada again. Lovingly being called Get in the Van Shouta, There's Cats in Here based on a playlist that me and Shabby joked Hizashi would make for Shouta in high school if he and Oboro kidnapped him to give him a better life, this is the prequel to Mic's Bullshit Life from Shouta's perspective. And yes this one is started, yes it will take me a long time to write, but there's so many little Shouta stories I've wanted to write that all have to do with my rooftop gang headcanons and I've been in my feels about Mic's Bullshit Life, so I figured what better way to tie it together by taking the mentioned high school stories from Mic's Bullshit Life and adding them to these other stories I would otherwise write as one-offs.

Anyways yeah I've not written as much as I did last year and I've still yet to start a few ideas I had last year, but at least I've been writing!!!! Can't say I haven't lol.

[youandthemountains]

#5, 2, 10, 17, 20

2. what fandoms were apart of that you aren’t any longer?

I don’t flounce out as much as fandoms just die out or I get fixated on something new SO i’m using this as an excuse for a chronological fandom history. how many people will hate me when I’m done, let’s find out.

LISTEN this is possible the most annoying post I’ve ever created but was also very fun so I’m answering the rest of these in a separate post bc it got too long already.

but, you all should feel free to ask me if I was ever in one of your fandoms because at this rate signs point to yes.

Bandom is I think what I first found fic for. look, i KNOW. i KNOW. i was a child. specifically I remember reading stuff for The Libertines (I KNOWWW leave me alone. I am aware. There were some really good writers for it, everyone was doing it, idk man). and god REALLY early on, like what, early middle school? I remember a lot of those pop-emo bandom fics particularly. jesus this is embarrassing. but ry*n r*ss / br*nd*n ur*e fic. I’m sure there were others but let’s move on before the cringe incapacitates me.

House/Wilson on LJ babeyyy. Where I was introduced to hurt/comfort. Fun times. Related, Sherlock Holmes. Inescapable. All versions.

pre-MCU Marvel - fully comics based. X-Men had the best fics. I remember loving in particular - Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, anything with Jubilee, I personally shipped Shadowcat/Jean Grey before I knew what shipping or the internet or fandom was, I loved Gambit/Wolverine and I remember some really good Gambit/Nightcrawler fics. Lot of discourse on the nature of being monstrous in those that was interesting. I would read Hawkeye and anyone because he had good and totally different dynamics with so many different characters but I did have a soft spot for Clint/Bucky, Clint/Sam, and Clintasha. oh I was also into Bucky/Natasha because I did really love comics Black Widow. the less popular ones that i loved were - Sunspot/Cannonball, SamBucky, Jessica JSilk/Black Cat, MJ/Gwen Stacy, Peter/Harry Osborn, Sam/Bucky,  Elektra/Natasha, Foggy/Matt, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, Daredevil/Black Panther, the Heroes for Hire polycule, god I think Angel/Quicksilver purely bc of Marvel 1602, honestly there were a lot. This would need it’s own post because comics are a bunch of attractive people with interesting dynamics and plenty of What If? opportunities.  

Speak of comics, I was also into DC - Superbat, Booster Gold/Blue Beetle, Kaldur’ahm/Superboy (literally no one was into this besides me lmfao), was and am a huge Batfam fan, I am 100% a Damian Wayne apologist, oh was and tbh still kind of am really into Dick Grayson/Clint Barton fic. Yes I realize that’s insane but idk love the concept of carnies in love. Wonder Woman/Meera, Constantine/Zatanna, Zatanna/Wonder Woman, Constantine/King Shark now of course, Harley/Ivy, Harley/Ivy/Selina, Kate Kane/Renee Montoya, Constatine/Dream, Vi you turned me on to au teen girl Chastantine and I love that. Again, I’m sure there are more.

The Social Network also on LJ babeyyy. Of course Markwardo, but there were some great writers that made a really compelling case for Sean/Eduardo.

Heroes - specifically Matthinder which was ICONIC and still deserves so much more attention. They RAISED A CHILD TOGETHER. Honestly I was into Mohinder/anyone though.

MI-5 which was me and like 4 other people. Adam/Zaf is still my all time favorite ship that has zero engagement whatsoever. I know in my heart that Zaf faked his death and met up with Adam who let him retire with him in secret and safety. For something even more obscure that I care about way too much - Vik/Jez endgame and Vik/Rob as friends with benefits from Spooks: Code 9. I have a very detailed story in my head about them but maybe 7 people total watched that show before it was cancelled. Rob is probably the most villainous character that I’m into. 

Torchwood - yes Janto, also Owen/Ianto again purely because there were some really good writers for it.

If we’re getting into my obscure fandom phase - Primeval: New World. Mac/Evan and Mac/Connor. I could talk about this forever, I think it’s such a fascinating and tragic story but I won’t because no one will have any idea wtf I’m talking about 

Of course Doctor Who. Come on man. I was a sucker for Nine/Rose, Nine/Jack, Eleven/Rory/Amy, and Amy/Rory. Martha was my favorite companion but I didn’t really like Ten and he was a dick to her. 

Dear White People -  Sam/Coco, Sam/Jo, Troy/Lionel, Jo/Reggie, Reggie/Lionel (did this make sense? no. did I think it’d be hot? yeah.) GOD LIONEL/SILVIO UNTIL SILVIO WAS EVIL. 

Xena and Gabrielle/Xena

White Collar - Neal/Peter & Neal/Burkes

The Get Down - Shao/Zeke, Pretty Dizzee D/Thor, god these kids!!! 

MASH - Hawkeye/BJ

HP but literally the tiniest corner of it, had a mild interest in Ron/Draco & Ron/Harry so I barely checked it out bc that was pretty niche

the Gene Wilder multiverse. oh also the Gene Kelly multiverse. both the Genes always give themselves a boyfriend and a girlfriend that are gorgeous and hilarious.

I still haven’t seen Jurassic Park III but I think Billy/Dr. Grant are in love

Indiana Jones - I read. Every single one of the novels. I watched Young Indiana Jones. I adored him. 

The Flash TV - this one I did actually leave. I was in it for Cisco, Wally, and Iris. I think Iris/Barry are sweet, and I also liked Cisco/Barry, Cisco/Wally, and Iris/Cisco. I just lost interest in the show. 

Legends of Tomorrow - Sara/all her girlfriends throughout time

Dragon Age - yeah I love Anders/Fenris & Dorian/Iron Bull. I think Cullen/Dorian has the occasional good fic but it’s definitely hit or miss. 

Star Wars - oh star war. how do i hate thee. let me recount the ways. No I still love Hanleia, Landoleia, Han/Lando, Hanluke, Leia/Mara Jade, Mara Jade/Arden Lyn, Luke/Mara Jade, FinnPoe (My LOVES), uhhh that’s it. I do also love Black Squadron and Rapier Squadron. Jess/Kare Kun was underrated although Kare/Snap is also fun. I saw Rose/Kaydel Ko and that was real galaxy brained.

Mad Men - I really did love Don & Betty’s dynamic post-divorce. Also him and Peggy - not romantically at all but just something cold and sharp.

Firefly - Mal/Simon, and Kay/Inara. I’d read Jayne/Simon bc there was more of it but it was not my fave at all

Community - Trobed my beloved

GLOW - everyone on this show had a great dynamic AND i love my brown lesbians <33

Game of Thrones - but I never got past the first book so. Theon/Robb and Theon/Jon, Sansa/Marjorie Tyrell, I do like the occasional Theon/Sansa

The Exorcist (TV) - Tomas/Marcus was SO good man. 

Glee - Brittana supremacy, Finn/Kurt was nice at first, and weirdly so was Puck/Kurt when written in a very specific way. 

Shadowhunters - listen I’ve only seen like 3 episodes of this but I like the fandom and Magnus/Alec are gorgeous

Rogue One - Bodhi/Cassian my beloved. Also love your Kes/Cassian stuff

MCU - listen I do still maintain ca:tws was a samsteve meetcute. 

United States of Tara - this was just a great show

okay have I alienated everyone yet. I’m sure there are more but this has been a LOT already.

[popculturebuffet]

Porky Pig Black and White Birthday Special!

H-h-hello you happy people! And it’s time for my first birthday special for  Looney Tune! While I covered some with Tex’s birthday last week, this is the first of these specials i’ve done to cover one of their stars.. and it’s apporirate it starts with their first big one: Porky Pig! 

Yes for those of you who didn’t know, and until a few months ago that included me turns out Porky wasn’t always a second banana who still had an iconic habit of closing out shorts with his signature “T-t-that’s all folks!’. He was Warner Bros first big star and mascot. Like Daffy would do in Porky’s own shorts he started out  as a sidekick in shorts for Beans the Cat

No one Brak, that’s why eventually Beans, who was a diet Mickey outside of his first short, which we’ll get to in a moment, got the boot while the stuttering adorable pig got the starring role instead. Porky was the studio’s big headliner for years and years.. but most wouldn’t know it. Outside of Porky in Wackyland, none of his shorts without Daffy or Sylvester really got a lot of play on Cartoon Network or other repackages, likely because most were black and white and for whatever reason they didn’t mix them in. But after seeing oh so many in the menu for Looney Tunes on max I was super curious, and thus super excited for this day to come so I could take a look and see how they held up, holding off watching them so they’d be fresh. And outside of three shorts: his first appearance, one suggested by my friend Blah and one picked by my Patreon Emma, as one of the perks for my patreons is getting to pick a cartoon when I do one of these 10 cartoon specials, I just went with my gut, what sounded interesting or what have you, avoidnig the ones where he was Daffy’s sidekick and what not to focus soley on porky hamself to see how he stacked up alone. 

How’d it turn out? Well join me after the cut for a nice pile of ham, bacon, sausage and other pork products as we dig into everyone’s favorite pig. Well almost everyone I have my own favorites. 

Yes yes you are sweetie. Reviews of 10 Porky Shorts, all but one in black and white, under the cut.  Trigger warning: One of these shorts involves attempted suicide Yes really. So if that’s a trigger for you, please avoid this review entirely or if you want to just avoid that specific entry, the one on Porky’s romance. Thank you. 

1. I Haven’t Got A Hat (1935): Bope A Dope A Dope Dope

As I mentioned Pre-Porky, Warner didn’t have a star to compete with Disney, and given Disney was so character based, and a lot of these shorts were coming out at the same time Disney was spinning Donald off into his own series giving them TWO huge stars, it was clear Warner needed at least one to complete. So they came up with a plan: a knock off of Our Gang, aka what would later be dubbed The Little Rascals, starring a bunch of animal kids to see if one or all caught on. As you can tell one did but as the intro made clear it took them a few shorts to realize it. 

The short is about a school recital to raise money for the teachers, just in case you thought them being underpayed was a new thing. So it’s really an excuse for four diffrent segments of hyjinks following a diffrent kid or kids each. Our first is the reason this one is here, porky’s introductoin where he stutters, and struggles throught he midnight ride of paul revere. It’s alright mostly do to his animated actions like the above seen simulating hi mriding his horse. Not bad but like a lot of Porky jokes it relies on his stutter which wasn’t funny to me as a kid or now as an adult, and comes off pretty inesnitive in hindsight, especially as the stutter was a medical condition of his voice actor that forced him to retire and be replaced by Mel Blanc after “Porky’s Romance”, which we’ll get to.

The other three bits are likewise decent: Kitty, a small cat, nervously makes her way through mary had a little lamb next, whic is fine enough. My faviorite is after here, Ham and Ecks, two puppies performing the title number, which is mostly funny because they sing like normal kidddies.. except after saying the title name with Ecks suddenly going in very low. it’s not bad. 

Finally we have Beans and Oliver Owl. Beans wants to get back at Oliver for not sharing Candy so he puts a dog and cat in his piano. It’s colossal, it’ stupendous.. it’s mediocre! As is the whole short, not bad bits, but only the title track is super memorable. It is easy to see why Porky stuck out the most though with his stutter and neat design. As mentioned it would take warner a few shorts to realize his appeal but once he did he was off to the raises and the next three shorts are all from the very next year. 

2. The Blow Out (1936): Insert Silly Jig Music Here

This one is simple but it works: A mad bomber, what bombs in broad daylight, is setting up time bombs and being hammy. Meanwhile Porky, whose still a kid in this one, wants a big old soda float and only has half the money, but after helping a guy pick up his cane on relflex, starts helping people pick up their items. You can see where this is going and the climax is damn fun as you’d expect from Tex Avery. The runner of Porky doing a silly little dance with a catchy musical sting as he trops the pennies he gets in his pocket is also pretty neat. Not the best he’s done, given I did a whole birthday special last week he’d get much better, but still some fun silly stuff. 

3. Plane Dippy (1936): Spin It! Even better, with a simple premise: Porky joins the army, we get some hyjinks as he does the tests and then he’s assigned to dust a remote plane that Kitty ends up accidently directing when talking to her dog. There’s some really fun screwball stuff here, though the ending is a bit weak, everything else is pretty strong. The pattern for the last three holds: not the best thing i’ve seen from Disney, Warner or MGM, but pretty neat. 

4. Porky In The North Woods (1936): Turtle Paddlin

This one’s a disney style picture as Porky sets up an animal refuge, only for an egotistical hunter to outright ignore his signs and presumed legal right and set up traps then try and kill Porky for daring to. undo his traps.. in an area outright labeled as an animal sanctuary. I’d say just hunt somewhere else but as the modern republican party has proven Stubborn assholes afraid of change won’t just go away or obey the law. The animals return Porky’s kindness by kicking hte guys ass, the best bit being some turtles grabbing some paddles and giving him what for, to the point I screencapped that bit specically.

But other than the Climax it’s just alright, but the hammy villian does help elevate this one. 

5. Porky’s Romance: I made a Huge Mistake

This one was one I picked out I knew wasn’t on Max but curious about Petunia’s first apperance, I added it to the rotation anyway. 

I’m not sugarcoating it because this short dosen’t deserve it: This is the worst of the shorts i’m covering here today. It is pure awful distlend into 7 LONG minutes. 

As some of you may recall, back when I did my first shortravaganza for Donald Ducks birthdy, I reviewed Donald’s Diary, the last Daisy short and one with some pretty cute Donsy stuff but ends with him reconsidering proposal like a jackass because he asasumes marriage will be terrible and she’ll turn abusive and “GASP” make him do chores like a responsible partner. It’s one half a good short, and one half a really bad short. 

You want to see the truly terrible version of that done years earlier, on less of a budget and only satisfying at hte very end? No. Well I didn’t either but that’s what I got. The short starts okay, with a bit introducing Petunia in am eta way. But the short itself after that little meta bit?

The short has Porky lovingly picking out choclates and a ring for Petunia. Petunia in this short.. is a horrible monster who dismisses him out of hand and only lets him court her to get his choclate, her dog barks at him trying to get some, so their all assholes, and she outright laughs at his proposal. 

It’s here where I needed a trigger warning, as Porky tries to kill himself over it. So we have a woman using a prospective partner for finacials and her real intentions driving him to suicide. I.. why would you put this in here. How is this funny? or entertaining? Or anything I want to watch in a looney tune? I don’t want to watch Porky get depressed and try and hang himself. No one wants that and if you do, please get some help. 

He hten has a dream, hence the comparison, of an awful wedded life with Petunia where he does everything, and she GASPS puts on weight.. even though...

He wakes up, finds Petunia likes him now but leaves, takes the choclates and kicks the dog. Haha he’s sitll not a good person. 

As you can tell, this short is throughly miserable. It’s not funny, it’s not tearjerking, it uses sucicide for some reason and takes a dark tone, and is VERY sexist saying “Well women be like this you know” it feels like. It also makes VERY light of domestic abuse, and while that was the style at the time it dosen’t make it any better. Tackling either suicide or domestic abuse is fine, their very important issues.. but don’t put them in your looney tune, for god’s sake. I do not get the tone they were going for but I hate it. I HATE THIS ONE. Do not watch it it bad. Let’s please move on. 

6. Porky’s Garden (1937): It’s A Me! An Itallian Sterotype!

My good friend Emma, whose now one of my patreons, picked this one mostly because it popped up on youtube when she did a youtube search. ironically she herself is itallian and i’m 100% convinced she had no idea what this cartoon contained: Porky versus an itallian sterotype for a county fair prize. Now is this the worst thing Looney Tunes has done? Nope the censored eleven exist, Porky’s Romance exists and Loontics unleashed exists, so i’ts not the worst but it’s still just very cringe inducing that the only joke the guy has is “laugh at the evil foreigners funny accent” It’s not very good, not worht your time, and has weird popeye joke for some reason. 

7. The Case of the Stuttering Pig (1937): The Creampuff in the Third Row This one could’ve been done for Halloween, as Porky deals with a lawyer turned into a monster stalking him and Petunia.. whose possibly his sister here which somehow makes Porky’s romance even worse but given the unviersal adaptor cast of the looney tunes, i’m assuming it wasn’t. That short is horrible enough own without that little chesnut. The short is dripping with atmosphere but on the whole is just okay, though the runner about the villain insulting a guy in row three only for that guy to get even at the end and save the pigs is pretty great not going to lie. 

8. What Price, Porky? (1938): Daffy!

I purposefully chose not to have as little of other looney tunes as possible, in order to make this Porky’s day. As you can tell for the most part that’s been a mistake but even the one with Daffy is just okay, but at least has a creative premise. Porky is a farmer, a surprisingly common theme, and some local ducks are stealing his Chicken’s corn. So while he tries to ask them nicely not to, the general, played by daffy, attacks. Sadly he’s barely in it but we do get some neat gags and it’s far more of a ride than the last few. The ending is bad, the ducks win despite being the antagonists, but still pretty fun. Thankfully we’ll be getting more Daffy in April. 

9. Porky’s Hare Hunt: Halfway To Bugs

As you can tell this day ended up being kind of a disapointment: Porky just isn’t the most intresting leading man and ended up working better as a straight man.  I still genuinely love the character, but it’s clear there was only so much you could do with him in the lead and by the end here, he was either being sidelined so Chuck Jones could do something else like the last one or made the foil to someone goofier often daffy but our last two, and today’s two best, this one being secon dbest, prove whyt hey’ve stuck to that since. 

This one has him hunting a Rabbit whose a bit nuts and utterly delightful, a prottype for bugs.. and for woody woodpecker, whose va he shared, and Screwball Squirreel. THANKS...FOR...THAT... but unlike screwy, this rabbit at least is being hunted, so we get a fun breezy short with some goofy antics and a loveable protgangsit going up against Porky as the antagonist. Good stuff. 

10. Porky in Wackyland: Ending on a High

As I said this ended up being kind of a slog. I wanted to honor Porky by showing his solo career and instead found it dated with a few good shorts.. but only a few really held a candle to the disney stuff going on at the time or the warner stuff to come later like Porky’s Hare Hunt and the Blow Out. Otherwise it’s pretty standard outside of the previous entry.. and there’s only one true masterpiece. This one. Porky in Wackland. 

Porky in Wackland is just Bob Clampett going nuts for 7 minutes and it’s glorious to watch. Porky is hutning for the last Dodo and ends up in the utterly deranged and wonderous wacky land. The only bit that does not work in this entire 7 minute orgy of weirdness is a refrence to the jazz singer with a creature screaming mammy that’s a slight caracture of a black person. I’ve seen much worse but i’ts still eesh. But unlike some shorts, that dosen’t slow it down for long and it’s almost etnirely just fun, utterly batshit stuff and a great chase with the dodo himself at the end and one hell of a warner brothers logo gag. Check this one out, it’s admired for a reason. Tremendous stuff. Should be on max with.. that bit.. edited out. 

So that was a look into Porky’s solo career and yeah, I can see why he’s better as a straight man. I still love the guy though and he has lasted as long as his brothers while others from this time were forgotten> He’s still a good character.. he’s just better paired with Daffy or someone else, part of a team. As a solo act.. he’s just okay but as part of a group.. he’s sensational. 

If you liked this review, reblog it, follow me for more and join my patreon. Until then...

[magicflowershop]

one day kitty; Kita version

《inspired by movie A Whisker Away》

✿✿ you wished to be with the person you like and wish granted. whiskers, button nose, tail, four legs and ears on top of the head; you turned into a cat. with this, you are given the opportunity to be with the person you want to express your affections to. but as a cat. and only in one day.

― haikyuu characters x cat!reader imagines!

❀ masterlist ❀

the wheel of names have spoken.

kita was having a good time by himself in his grandmother’s rice fields, feeling the breeze like the precious farm boi he is,,, when he saw a cat sleeping on a wet patch in the middle of the field

gathering concern for the little cat, he brought him home and decided to clean it up 

then you woke up

you felt something scrubbing your back when you open your eyes you see a guy aiming a hose at you 

you scream bc obv, but that scream translated into a screech leaving your mouth and you see your hand

homie that was a paw

why do u have a paw?????

"stay still, you might hurt yourself”

and why is there a Kita Shinsuke spraying water at you lmao

you see that he’s kinda annoyed that you’re moving so much while he’s trying to clean you up but at the same time you arent sure since he isnt easy to read and that don’t know him too well rip so you let yourself be cleaned for free ig

but yo what the hell??? so you’re a cat now????

you try to remember what happened before all this and how in the world you suddenly turned into a cat and magically wake up in Kita’s place 

you dont know the exact location of his place so you have no idea how to get back home from here

Kita pulled the cat closer to him, and wiping the wet fur with a towel as generously as he could that the cat soon found comfort from his gentle caresses

okay maybe you could stay for a while yk huehue

“you’re having fun”

you hear a familiar voice from a mile away, you look back and see a fat, creepy cat standing on two of its hind feet

o wait

you saw that cat last night when you were watching the shooting star outside,,, you thought it’d be cute if you suddenly wished for something so you did then that thing appeared outta nowhere promising you that he can make your wish come true than compared to a stupid star

so he forced the wish outta you

that you wished to be closer to a guy you admired,, and you had a lot of crushes in your school ykyk,,, just that Kita takes the entire cake

“you have until midnight to remain as a cat. be sure to leisurely fulfill your desires, y/n.”

and so he vanished

while knowing full well you’re basically Cinderella now, you take consideration of your leisure time with Kita-sama

do you stay or do you go home first to check on your household

“oh what do we have here?”

Kita’s grandma entered the scene and you think that okay maybe this development is a little too quick since you weren’t ready to face his relatives yet

“i found this cat in the fields. it looked like it could get sick so i cleaned it”

o yea you were a damn cat

also Kita calls you freakin “it”

:) 

pennywise who

you chose to stay in Kita’s place bc grandma thought it’d be lovely to let you stay there for a while,, and that you looked like you were starving when you saw the food on the table

thank goodness you were a cat bc jesus were you actually drooling

so you spent time in Kita’s place big deal

but his place isn’t what you’re aimed for no?

“i’m leaving”

Kita says putting on his shoes, ready to leave and he’s wearing casual clothes,, you don’t think he’s going to school for volleyball practice

IS HE GOING ON A DATE????????????

lmao

as if thats actually true cmon Kita doesn’t even hang out with girls that much,,, even though he prolly has a bunch of admirers like the other Inarizaki Vball bois

but what if he swang that wae?

??????????

so you followed him right?

you wanted to find out where he’s headed also that he looked good in casual clothes you just want to keep looking at him like this 

Kita went to the grocery store

ah

and apparently he was buying ingredients to make food

ahh

so you begin to think that you were foolish for lowkey gate-keeping him

like sis cmon you’re a cat rn keep your head in the game,, what do you do with those paws of yours that cant even grab his hand and pull him away when he was about to bump into a girl as he was about to grab a bottle of tomato paste

heck you cant even get inside the damn grocery store and walk in between them cause you’re a fcking cat!!!!!!!!

you watch their mouths say sorries to each other

the girl was blushing

hm?

Kita looked worried that he couldve hurt her since the hag was coverin her face

hm

nani k

n̸̢̪̜͚͑́̾́̑̋ á̴̠̜̳͖̼̃͗̚͘͠ͅ n̵̼͙͇̻̹̓͜͜ i̷̥̲̻̪͈̞̙̩͛̾̅̓͝͝͠ ̶̨̡̜̞̟͆̿̈́͜ḵ̶̂̓̀̚ o̶͎͛̋̋̊͋̊̅̈̅ͅ r̶͙̮̱͊̎͠ ę̷̺̪͎͈̗̖̯̣͍͒͊̒͆͂̈́͛́̒̃

you started tapping the glass windows like mad SKSKD

and ofc since you’re a stray animal ppl wont let u get away with absolutely anything so one personnel saw you tapping the windows and shouted at you from inside the store

Kita and the hag saw you and yea that was enough embarrassment for the day, you ran away and let your feet take you wherever 

its a bit boring that since its a weekend there’s nothing to do,, you never expected that Kita’s weekends would be this boring too :(

so the creepy cat appeared

“what’s wrong you dont seem to be enjoying yourself anymore”

“turn me back to human i need to finish my homework”

maybe thats not the most liable excuse you have but it is true that you need to finish an assignment

“but i gave you a chance to be with the person you admire, no? is this not enough?”

“yea well its-”

“here you are”

you feel someone pick you up and you see that it was Kita:0he must’ve looked for you since you dont even know where you are

oh my god Kita Shinsuke looked for you ma’am eye- or mayhaps you took the route back to his house without knowing since you were busy staring at him when you were stalking him earlier ye

you watched how he looked at the creepy cat you were talking to and and judged it from head to hind feet lmao Kita

“do you have the same owner as this cat?”

he asked you and you gave out every ounce of your energy to shake your head as a no as well as to let out the most disgusted and disapproval meow you ever could-

“the hell would i want to be acquainted with that thing!”

a

what

no way did u just speak

so Kita stared at you for the remainder of the time but decided you speaking isnt physically possible and that he could’ve been real tired since he saw the Miya twins along the way

he took you back home since his grandma seemed to be real happy seeing a little animal in the house with them

but you didnt miss to see the little knowing smile from the creepy cat from earlier, you just knew from that alone that he was messing with you since as you said you were bored 

it was wrong of you to talk to that lil disgusting thing

since that moment you refused to speak with your mouth every again, if you were going to speak thought you would probably just purposely say meow only to not make anymore mistakes

also you’re spending a lot of time with Kita’s grandma than Kita himself

“i wonder what your future spouse is doing at this moment, Shin-kun”

Kita looked like he wanted to roll his eyes so bad lmao since he always hears things about his grandma wanting to see his wedding before she dies :c

and yk it makes you sad too just hearing about this

and you want to help 😔

and you would offer help 😌

they heard the cat speak and now you’re running away bc they heard you talk about wanting to marry Shinsuke 🤡

the day ended and you managed to go home before the sun set basically nothing happened and your transformation was all for nuttin, you were bamboozled by a demon cat you randomly saw one night

the next day you were back to your human self and it was a school day so ofc you have to live on normally in school as if nothing happened, as if you didnt just stalk a guy from your school but we’ll get to that

see, you’re friends are friends with a few of the guys from your school’s volleyball team,,, so you’re within vicinity of Kita’s attention 

when you explicitly did not want to see him atm

BUT THEN YOU REMEMBER YOUR FRIENDS KNOW YOU LIKE KITA

WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO NOW

you decided to run away but you realize that’s useless bc you’re all going home together :D

now you weren’t the crowds type of person,, you had no idea how it come to this, you’re used to hanging out with your girlfriends yes but they were having fun altogether like this it was fun just watching them goof off and whatnot

“hey”

when i told you you’re almost dropped the second you hear Kita calling to you, you best believe

you said hey but in a different tone of voice bc it was too early for him to notice you had the same voice as the cat he saw yesterday,,, then you both walked in silence

you couldnt take it anymore and decided to go to the nearest convenience store since you had something you want to buy,, you went and whispered this to your friends but when they were asking you to let your voice out, you were deadass croaking

but then you clown yourself sum more bc Kita was concerned of you acting like this and asked if you were alright

now you’re stuck with him in the convenience store bc your friends and his friends thought it’d be a great idea for him to go with you :D

“you should eat something warm before going to sleep, and take a warm bath too”

:((((((

okay now you feel bad for actually making him worry lol

your alibi of getting sick works really well with not speaking at all around him so you used this till the end thinking you can escape him with this until it rained and you dont have an umbrella with you

aight y/n you’re one hell of a clutz

Kita was enough of a gentleman to buy an umbrella for you until its actually out of stock

you guys stayed in the convenience store for the time being

you were losing your mind

how much longer will you stay with him

you thought of an alibi to save you from the embarrassment so you told him you gotta jet and go back to school bc you forgot to bring your notebook with you 

but now you realize you realize you didnt have to tell him bc he’ll still follow you as if his life depends on taking care of you :(

after you randomly stormed out of the convenience store, he caught up to you and pulled you somewhere where there’s a roof over

“are you usually this reckless? or do you just like getting yourself sick?”

homie does not hold back

he pulled a spare shirt from his back and put it on your head,, proceeding to wipe your wet hair with it until he realized he’s subconsciously invading your personal space

he looked right at you, so you two were standing there,,, staring,, his hands on both sides of your head,,,,, both of y’all are wet hunni

he let go and turned the other way,,, the darkness wasnt dark enough to conceal his red cheeks and hunni you made him blush aight

“you reminded me of a cat i saw yesterday im sorry about that”

“you dont have to apologize”

o sis you did it now

you s p o k e

so Kita was beyond surprised to hear that voice again,,,, and this time from yOU,, ALL NORMAL,, NO FROGS

“i, i can explain”

he looked at you confused, hell was he so confused, that you sounded exactly like the voice he randomly heard yesterday which made him think that came from the cat,, he didnt think that was physically possible bc yk but the embarrassment from your face was enough for him to guess

“did you really say you’re willing to marry me”

gOD

“i mean,,, i don’t mind”

“grandma would be glad”

stay tuned for more!

[heckyeahepithetswitched]

candaru liveblogs reading her own writing: episode 5

redwood arc let’s go

for some reason I remember spending a really long time on this intro; like, the words weren’t coming out right and I couldn’t even think of an opening scene (not that what I ended up with was great)

...but this whole page is my favorite scene xD

it also took a while but when I realized “wait this is the swap version of my brotp” I knew I just needed to dig a little to find a golden dynamic and then boy did I

these two are idiots and I need to talk about them more often

the change from “preferred extracurricular activities” was changed to “astronomy signs” since... let’s face it... most of Percy’s dialogue could remain untouched and still fit swap!Sylvie, so I tried to find excuses to at least change the flavor to be sleep-related when possible

in another screenwriting book I read about how change in location can make a scene much more interesting

so everybody thank the author of that book for the birth of boxer!Molly (because I wasn’t sure where she lived yet and this was a good vague way to dodge showing her room)

(very mild tw below)

this was supposed to just make her vague and mysterious (like how Ramsey is originally shown in silhouette) but I think I accidentally just made her even more attractive

whoops

not as good as the line “well, I do have an... EYE for these things,” but the joke here is that Zora is an antique.

once again I love lines that are like “wait hold on—” and nope we’re just continuing into the scene, never gonna address that again

it actually took me a while to decide which of Molly’s girls got to take Fred’s role; at first I felt it should be Phoenicia or Trixie since they are her best friends, but later on I knew that whoever it was would have to get themselves stuck in the woods somehow, and since the “car crash” joke isn’t funny without— well, Car Crash— I had to find another way to basically leave them immobile for Detective Sylvester to find. Not knowing much about Trixie and Phoenicia, it was hard to come up with a way to do that without involving a bunch of other people (which I’d then have to get rid of before Sylvie came in), so I ended up going with Death Cap since

1) I needed someone with an epithet,

2) I already had the idea that she had mushrooms that could knock someone out via spores, and

3) Jello was probably joking about the “mushroom girl is the final boss” thing so he’s not gonna invalidate my made-up epithet

...on a related note, “Fiona Boss” is a lame pun on “final boss.” You’re supposed to say it with an Italian mobster accent.

I also decided (...back in the Museum Arc but shhhhh) since there’s no canon voice for mushroom girl, it would be cool to have her be mute.

and I was right. it IS cool. mute characters are awesome.

my beta reader thinks swap!Bugsy and Arnold are more interesting than their original counterparts and... I actually kinda have to agree

then again Bugsy and Arnold are my least-favorite canon characters so I may be biased

this ongoing bit is probably one of those jokes that was more fun to write than to read, but I really did have a fun time writing all their constant bickering

yeah I debated whether or not I was allowed to use this gimmick for a LONG time and eventually decided yeah, heck it

kid!Zora is largely responsible for how involved I got with this fandom; I have literally never been this active in any fandom, ever, with people latching so hard onto the ideas that I put out and then making their own works out of them and continually spinning this bigger and bigger web of fanworks and love for these characters

what was I talking about I don’t remember

So, there’s actually quite a bit to this line! In the original, Ramsey says:

“The make alone is pretty nice. ‘Bout 60 years old— Eh, 65, give or take. ‘Prolly worth at least a few thousand bucks.”

As you’ll notice, Ramsey was correct in his estimation— but Zora is even more accurate, because her Epithet lets her tell the age of an object down to the minute. She rounds to half a year for Molly’s sake. And the use of “pesos” rather than “bucks” (slang for American money) was 1) to imply that different forms of currency still exist in EE, and are slowly merging together like the languages did, and 2) as a small shoutout to the ethnicity headcanons of my Zora friends (before Jello actually confirmed her ethnic makeup publicly).

this is code for “I’ll decide Molly’s motivations to join the BB later”

*puts my hand to the screen longingly*

ms lockhart you’re one of my favorite characters and you weren’t even in the show

I’ve stated this on record NUMEROUS times but I can never say it enough

Eros is Percy’s weird uncle figure

I tried REALLY hard to stick with characters’ canon powersets, but in some instances it was absolutely necessary for them to fulfill their roles (i.e. here and with swap!Percy in the museum). anyway people seemed to really dig Daydream so that’s cool

Mela is a reference to Doctorsleepytime’s blog but he never read the scripts :”)

before I had a deadline it was really hard for me to find motivation to work on the scripts and VP Gorou ended up being my sole biggest motivator because I knew batsy would love him and I also knew batsy would actually read the scripts

thanks batsy

the Banzai Bees all having Howie’s disposition but a fierce loyalty to this big soft donut man is probably one of the purest things in the Redwood scripts, if not the purest

we never actually see Molly go fully feral in the museum scripts so it’s fun that we get to here. in my head she’s got the frazzled hair, the foaming at the mouth, all of it. do not mess with Molly.

to take the place of the mildly-customized Banzai Blasters, I needed some mildly-customized Worker Bees

so

I ended up using the OCs I created once on a whim

I died when I realized I had an excuse to make mistew wamsey canon

I had to add the Jenga tower because I realized Ramsey never fired a gun for Sylvie to hear hgksdaflghdsf

would you believe me if I told you I almost had Zora turn into a kid (and then continue pretending to be one for the majority of the scripts) to convince Sylvie into letting her go

you all know I hold the highest respect for Mr. Blaber as an incredibly skilled creative writer but even legends make mistakes and this is me calling him out on a poor choice of analogy

yes I see how it’s related because it’s about saving/catching the many vs saving/catching the few but STILL

zora: wait you can be a cop and also a good person?? wack

at first when I realized “wait, banzai VPs are supposed to work in pairs,” I was worried that I’d have to find another character to accompany Gorou

but then I realized having a partner who made him do all the dirty work and never went out with him was the most Gorou-like solution possible

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE LINES THAT’S FUNNY IN CANON BUT THEN THE SWAPPED VERSION IS SO MUCH WORSE

I wanted to emphasize how swap!Sylvie’s just a little bit less pure than canon!Percy. Percy immediately refers to Ramsey as “partner” once they start working together, even though he’s a criminal, whereas Sylvie at this point still very much sees Zora as a means to an end. It’s a small difference, but it’s there.

oh yeah I forgot to talk about how I ended up with an uneven number of characters to swap so instead of doing some weird three-way swap with Howdy, I just gave his role to the cat

and honestly that was one of the best decisions I ever made on the Redwood scripts

[enthusiasticmusicalquotes]

QUESTION OF THE DAY #6: Send me your most unpopular theatre opinion. Something that might make someone want to fight you. Please don’t be offensive (racist, misogynistic, etc.), but other than that…go as hard as you want. Spill all the tea.

MY ANSWERS: 1) The Pretty Woman score fucking slaps idek, 2) Come From Away (or even Bandstand...) should’ve won the 2017 Best Musical Tony, 3) I prefer the West End Heathers cast album to Off Broadway, 4) Shows shouldn’t sweep the Tonys just because they’re Best Musical worthy...shows that aren’t too critically acclaimed but have really impressive elements should get recognition too.

SUMMARY: Out of 37 responses: 5 were about Dear Evan Hansen, 3 were about Hamilton specifically, 2 were about: Rent, ALW, Wicked, In The Heights, Be More Chill, etc. etc....if your favorite musical is one of these and you get easily offended i wouldn’t read these.

NOTE: I agree with some of these, I highly disagree with others. I do not endorse any of the things that were said, I am simply sharing them with you all. These were what was sent to me. I’m going to number them so if you want to complain about or agree with one you can send me an ask with the number you’re referring to. 

1. howmuchchildrens said: unpopular opinion: i really liked the 2012 version of les mis. i liked russel crowe as javert.

2. Anonymous said: Unpopular opinion: Bootlegs harm to local theatre communities, though I do not believe anyone intends for that to be the case. While it's possible to bootleg responsibly (and I might even say it's beneficial to do so), those who may not know the intricacies of theatrical copyright law or who haven't heard the horror stories from a theatre that's been hit with legal action DUE to a bootleg may record or watch a show irresponsibly, which can greatly harm other routes of theatre accessibility.

3. Anonymous said: Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are mostly terrible. He only got and stayed popular because a lot of other musical creators and taste makers died in the AIDS epidemic

4. Anonymous said: Almost all musicals using the songs of one artist are cash grabs with no plot or point.

5. Anonymous said: If your musical only has 1 woman OR the women only get sad/romantic songs you need to do something else with your life.

6. nerdshrimp said: Unpopular opinion: Next To Normal does a better job of portraying the effects of mental illness than Dear Evan Hansen does. N2N also doesn't romanticise mental illness & excuse shitty behavior like DEH tries to

7. Anonymous said: Hadestown is a lesser show on Broadway. I fell in love with the live album, and I was so excited for it to come to Broadway. I was so disappointed to see the changes they made. Orpheus and Eurydice's relationship is less interesting and more generic. The changed lyrics are often sloppy and not as good as the original. They fucking wrecked Epic III. Also, no hate to R/ee/ve, but he's just not a good enough singer to convince me that he could soften the heart of Hades. His high notes are awful.

8. Anonymous said: opinion: we are the tigers deserves a broadway run or at least a proshot

9. bimystique said: e/c is NOT A GOOD FUCKING SHIP. the ENTIRE PLOT OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is christine trying to escape erik's abuse. WHAT FUCKING PART OF THAT IS ROMANTIC TO YOU PEOPLE.

10. Anonymous said: unpopular theatre opinion(s): Dear Evan Hansen is Very Bad for its handling of mental illness, Hamilton is overrated and praised too much, and high school/college musical theatre programs can be just as good as Broadway. (also, musical movies would be better if they hired broadway actors, but that's not an unpopular opinion)

11. Anonymous said: I don’t like Lin Manuel Miranda and Hamilton is overrated

12. Anonymous said: I don’t like dear Evan Hansen..... at all. I think it’s kind of boring and really overhyped.

13. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion: in the heights is far better than Hamilton. both are good but ith hits different yknow

14. Anonymous said: The bring it on and legally blonde musicals are BAD! The movies are 100 times better

15. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion? wicked is the epitome of white feminism. it's preached as super great for representation but we literally got the first black glinda in 2019?!?!?!? and before that woc could only play elphaba who's villainized and deemed evil by the whole city

16. Anonymous said: Not so much an opinion as a reaction, but of all Lin's works (ITH, Bring it On, 21 Chump Street, Hamilton), 21 Chump Street gets the biggest emotional reaction of all the cast recordings. The second Justin is like "I don't want your money" (And then later on with the "...what the heck did you.... dooooo", I am a complete goner. Worse than Abuela Claudia and Philip Hamilton's deaths combined

17. Anonymous said: Whenever Je.ssie Mu.eller hits certain notes, she sounds like Tommy Pickles from Rugrats.

18. Anonymous said: aotd6: not everyone knows what im talking about, but the cats 2016 broadway revival choreography was WAYYYY better than the original. the original had a lot of creepy uncomfortable moments and the new one looks way cleaner and up to date

19. Anonymous said: raoul is better than the phantom in every conceivable way

20. Anonymous said: I hate Anastasia so much. it's such a boring show and the music is uninteresting. I wanted to like it so bad but GOD is it boring.

21. Anonymous said: In the Heights.... Overrated.

22. Anonymous said: I do not know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but here is my opinion: Musicals that are entirely or nearly entirely songs (Hamilton, Hadestown, In The Heights, etc) are the most valid bc I can understand the plot without using wikipedia (I'm looking at you, Jagged Little Pill, I love you but what is your plot????)

23. Anonymous said: I'd rather have a bad film adaptation than no film adaptation

24. Anonymous said: Rent sucks and while it was a stepping stone for more ""controversial"" topics to appear on Broadway it's actually biphobic and features several generally terrible people doing generally terrible things and doesn't actually address the real crisis at all; it's all performative wokeness. The only real good it did was cast a bunch of "nobodies" for the time and make theater somewhat more accessible.

25. stardust-and-seas said: Dear Evan Hansen doesn't properly address mental health despite being about mental health and resolves nobodies character arcs satisfactorily. It's another show that reaches its hands around the throats of marginalized teenagers saying "look I'm relatable!!" The songs taken out of context are significantly more powerful than when placed in the context of the show, which gives us exactly zero evidence of Evan's work to improve and also never resolves Evan's u healthy goals in the first place.

26. stardust-and-seas said: Be More Chill is a raging dumpster fire and the only decent song from it, Michael in the Bathroom, reads as a whiny rich white boy whose potential social anxiety and depression is left ambiguous, which is exactly what it is. When taken out of context it better exemplifies the othering that happens to marginalized groups but lets be real here: bullying/cliques don't happen to "just anyone"; it's the marginalized groups that are othered and abandoned for not being "normal"

27. stardust-and-seas said: There's a difference between shows that don't take themselves seriously because they're meant to be fun and light and shows that pretend not to take themselves too seriously but want to be taken seriously by the audience and the latter always ends up mediocre at best

28. redueka said: i think that dear evan hansen handles every issue it presents badly. i also think that beetlejuice was badly directed

29. Anonymous said: Well I don’t EVER condone cheating, I’m team Jamie in the last five years. He tried so hard to make their relationship and life good, and Cathy gave him nothing in return

30. youcanlolyoucansayohwell said: The answer of the day- I don't get the BMC hype. I'm out of the age bracket it's meant for that might it be. I enjoy it but I don't think it's the greatest thing in the world like some theatre fans do.

31. Anonymous said: i like the rent 2005 recording better than the obcr

32. Anonymous said: unpopular opinion ? : the music of wicked just like isn’t that good. like it’s good but it’s not like, Good, yknow. it’s pretty standard it doesn’t stand out to me. kinda boring

33. Anonymous said: mari.ah r.ose fa.ith is not a good regina george. everything she says sounds monotonous and while i understand she's trying to play off the ""whatever"" teenager (she does this a lot with her teenage characters), 90% of the time she sounds and looks like she doesn't want to be there; her voice is great but most songs feel unnatural and forced and she changes them too much. she's just not selling regina to me as a believable character (this is all from a technical point of view)

34. Anonymous said: Unpopular Opinion: as much as i like musicals based on movies (like waitress), i think not every movie needs to be a musical.

35. Anonymous said: Unpopular opinion (?) the emojiland musical Kinda Slaps

36. Anonymous said: as one of my high school tech theatre teachers once said: "Andrew Lloyd Webber is overrated"

37. Anonymous said: sorry to whoever likes it but Seussical is an absolutely nonsense crackpot plot disguised with okay-to-good music, like I don't even know where to start. I was in the show and didn't even know there was an entire secondary plot line featuring sending children to war until we were halfway through rehearsals

[longinglook]

I’m answering a bunch of asks about this episode under a read more to avoid spoilers/spamming everyone’s dash with a ton of posts, so if you’ve sent me an ask and I haven’t answered it yet, it’s probably down here!!!!

angry fighter looks hot af but at what cost 😔

they could have kept it. i’m ready to give up angry fighter and naked showering fighter if they take back what they did

not at how i'm more invested in fighter and tutor's relationship than my own but to be fair me and my boyfriend have been together for like 6 years lol and thankfully we know how to communicate

goals omg... where do i get a long lasting relationship with someone who can communicate and is okay with me caring more about a fictional couple than anything else please tell me your secrets

"i don't love you anymore" hurt us more please

I felt so numb at that point I didn’t even register the pain... 

The LineTV version will be worse but we saw how it will end so I can finally breathe a sigh of relief I knew Tutor would push him away at least they got that right and his response hurts so much but after what Fighter did in that scene it makes sense "If you ask me rn I don't love you anymore"

Yup the linetv version was indeed worse. I found it interesting how Fighter stopped because of Tutor’s words and not because he was pushed away. Apart from the whole bed scene which I hated and I will talk about it more in a different post, I also disliked A LOT how Fighter doesn’t apologize. He cries sure, but he’s crying about the breakup, he doesn’t seem to regret or realize how bad what he just did is.

tutor gave him the necklace back but he still has the nametag and string maybe it was a mistake to watch the episode after all

honestly nothing of this episode made sense from a narrative standpoint

electric chair for fight's dad i don't even care at this point just k word him

agreed, it’s all his fault he deserves to rot but also make sure he hasn’t disowned Fighter yet before he d words

Right, I'm sitting down with a large, very strong margarita (which my girlfriend made me, rolling her eyes and saying "what the hell is it with you and these Thai boys"?) and opening the LineTV subbed link. See you on the other side!!

[adele voice] hello from the other side! I wish I had alcohol or a girlfriend to keep me company thoughout this mess

now that deleted scene makes more sense, it explains a bit more why fighter would completely lose it when tutor uses that kid to make him jealous. tutor's plan and the whole scene following it was bullshit but series add some random shit for drama all the time so why am i even surprised. at least he stopped, they talked and tutor told him off. still don't get why it was necessary. him just breaking down in front of tutor would have been enough.

IT WAS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHAT MAKES ME MAD THE MOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS CLEARLY JUST AN EXCUSE TO CREATE MORE DRAMA IN A CHEAP TASTELESS WAY! oh my god you guys I am so upset, I will write more in another post but. I can’t believe they thought this would be a good idea. It completely ruined the rest of the episode for me. The conversation they have right after could have worked just fine without the ab*se, it was a good conversation, Fighter telling Tutor that he has liked him since day one, that it took him a lot to take down his walls and come to terms with his feelings. ALL THAT SHIT BEFORE WAS NOT NECESSARY. NOT GOOD. 

let's be real zee deserves a fuckin' oscar for his performance in the last episodes and todays saint too i was crying like a baby

zee was incredible. last week saint was mvp for me, but this week zee was insane. the scene with his father was so well done. I dodn’t cry because I was extremely upset, and still am, and I didn’t enjoy the episode at all. But I can recognize the amazing performances that Saint and Zee gave us today

the author said she talked to the director and he wants to re-shoot many scenes because he want to emphasize on more pain for both couples??? sir i think we had enough pain thank you very much

the only thing that I want them to shoot is a fucking apology video for thinking this was a good idea

fighter telling his father he sucks at love and that his wife literally ran away from him to be with another man made my day lol like why are you trying to judge someone's else love life when you suck at your own dude

that was amazing! while I was watching the unsubbed broadcast I was praying he’d come out or use the word gay. This wasn’t exactly it, but it still was a very very good conversation that I would have enjoyed more if part 1 hadn’t happened.

zee's acting was so good but i still hate they took that route for fighter like i'm super glad it wasn't romanticized and tutor did kiss him back at some point but that scene could have had the same impact if they just talked istg

yup! zee you’re doing amazing sweetie i’m sure it’s not your fault they made fighter do this. the scene was so incredibly pointless. no words

I know many people are talking about Part 1 as they should for obvious reasons but let's also talk about Part 2 because that was FighterTutor I know and love. Plus Saint was acting so cute like a cat it was adorable and all the little touches between them I just want them to be happy.

I... hated that scene I’m so sorry to disappoint. It felt so out of place after part 1, it made zero sense to have Tutor act that way after what he had said to Fighter and what had just happened. I’ve noticed that fevers tend to be used a lot in bls to show the sick character that this other person is sweet and caring and it’s just so out of the blue and a clear plot device to get Tutor to rethink... It honestly was so unnecessary considering that Zon talks to him after and I’d like to believe that’s what convinces Tutor to maybe fight some more for his happiness. Idk I found the whole chest rub insanely uncomfortable after everything that happened, Tutor was sick and feverish, idk. Also the joke at the start of that scene about Fighter taking advantage of him was AWFUL. WHAT THE FUCK.

no you are right the part with zon was kinda weirdly translated plus the whole text conversation which fighter was reading on part 2 (or was part 3?) isn't translated

the texts say something along the lines of “How are you? I saw you were very sick. I thought about P’Fight’s father. Can I suggest something? I say talk to Fight about his father. There should be a better soultion” (provided by google translate)

fighter reminds me of that one friend i had in college he would just suddenly disappear for days and then come back just to disappear again

I was that friend in college... you can’t just be emotionally available all the time, sometimes you gotta bounce

whyru season 2 with dew and his boyfriend but this time dew will run off all the time leaving fighter on his own

I agree with this

[fallingin-like]

november 23

the real folk blues by @annawrites [requested by @allforthebee]

see which other fics i’m reviewing this month! / my review request post!

this absolutely amazing and captivating fic that has the foxes as space bounty hunters and neil who is, as usual, and exceptionally skilled runaway. set away some time to read this fic as soon as possible, because once you start, you won’t be able to put it down until you finish.

this is such an entertaining, fun fic and you did an amazing job at balancing the softer moments with intense, action-packed scenes. at all times i was fully immersed in the story, you handled everything so well. i’m always a fan of your writing, so it’s not a surprised that i had a wonderful experience rereading this.

bits that stood out to me:

”counting stars has become a habit, something to subdue the memories” ah this is really cute and i can totally imagine canon andrew, lying on the roof of some building counting stars instead of trying to sleep

”renee cracks a chicken bone smile in the corner of her mouth” i have never heard this phrase before but i love it!

”there’s a collective intake of breath - andrew, who remembers every single bounty ever placed, can’t remember it ever being this big” for some reason, i love when this kind of thing happens. it feels so cool, knowing someone wants that character that bad and gets me excited for what kind of skills the hunted person has, to be able to evade the people looking for them (reminds me of john wick lol)

”nathaniel wesninski alias neil josten is a hacker, con artist, engineer and pilot” BLESS HIM FOR BEING SO CAPABLE AND SKILLED

matt’s infamous bell peppers and beef with no beef!!! that’s funny and i think about it surprisingly often

”renee pulls up a few more photographs of neil wesninski on the hologram screen. she deals them out like cards until they fan out in a neat timeline of faded hoodies and various iterations of the same polished smile, a mouth sharpened to cutting perfection… the eyes, in contrast, look consistently hunted” holograms and just this space tech is SO cool. i love seeing how the foxes view neil before they meet him. it’s interesting how many sightings they have of him, but also how blank he seems, when we all know that there’s so much personality under that surface

”the ISSP are a bunch of corrupt, incompetent idiots” LOL

”’tone down the optimism, day,’ andrew drawls. ‘we might start overestimating our chances’” agh i love your characterization of all of these characters and this is a great example of why! and i like that you used drawls, it feels very andrew-like

”andrew waggles his fingers lazily in the air” yeah this is andrew

woah i have never seen the art for this fic (i guess because i have the fic downloaded and i just read that version instead of going on ao3, the pictures must not have downloaded) but it’s great!

gasp, i love the idea of the foxes Dressed Up

ALLISON BEING BANNED FROM PLAYING!! “her former alias - lady luck, also known as poker alice” oh this is great. for some reason, them having reputations like this really excites me

”it’s in my blind spot” ANDREW this is so funny

ahhhh i can’t believE you added the “better luck next time” line in!!

okay so the whole action part of this scene is so intense, love andrew throwing the poker chip as a diversion, and neil pretending to give up for a moment before ACTIVATING HIS ARMED SHIP AND SHOOTING EVERYONE. ugh, hearing about neil being so good at what he does (steering, hacking, while taking off his jacket) makes me love this scene so much

”vowels rolling like a pair of dice” this is so good on its own, but paired with the casino scene that precedes it? stunning

”kevin values his ship, and his life, in that order.” i can imagine. i wonder, is there competitive racing in this au? i can imagine kevin being obsessed with that

thank goodness riko is dead, one less thing (on a list of many things) to worry about. whoop and i see that easthaven has passed, good.

KEVIN DAY WITH A METAL ARM AND A TRANSMITTER PLATE THAT COVERS HIS TATTOO YEAH

oh dang limb regrowth tech in this au? wild

”’minyard and the monster, how lovely to see you again.’ neil greets him through the once more hijacked comm. they’ve been playing this game for weeks now, racing each other across the milky way like starved lovers. even allison is starting to run out of lewd jokes” i find it so interesting hearing about this relationship that’s being built between them even though they basically never meet in person, the joking from neil’s side

these hints of andrew’s eye mods are really great, i definitely didn’t notice them as much as i should have when i first read this fic, but every time after that, i appreciate little details like these more and more

RENEE WITH A KATANA YES PLEASE

”andrew shakes off the last dregs of sunday sleepiness that cling to his lips like the skin on warm milk. neil wesninski might have become a game by now, but the malcolms still mean business” ohhh boy, even knowing what comes next i get nervous hearing this. i love the contrast between the softness of what sundays mean with the conflict to come, especially when you jump right into the action

”renee pants, her voice cool and slippery like broken tiles amid the crackle of static” oh i love this description

LOL i can’t believe that andrew got matt’s dessert rations and gets to invite neil to be a part of their crew

”missions are slow and neil’s face keeps showing up on big shot, though not for lack of people trying to hunt him down.” i don’t know why but i really like this!! you go, neil!

oh oh thank you so much for the way that you describe neil alone on his ship, his hoodies, gloves, “one sad-looking sock”, “the one sock he’s wearing has holes”, talking to himself, “yet he’s still inexplicably trying to shield his robots from andrew’s gun” so cute!

”eyes like the gleaming insides of a wire in the dark” this!!!!

the! cats! neil made his robots cats!!

NEIL HACKING INTO THEIR COMMS I LOVE HIM

”neil is like a live fish under his hands, constantly wriggling and sliding out of his grip, fingers twitching back toward his abandoned project like flies caught in a spiderweb” ahh squirmy neil is super cute, “neil shivers under the touch like he’s not used to being touched at all” this doesn’t surprise me. even if i didn’t have an idea of what his childhood might have been like (with mary and nathan, i imagine there was not very much affection), he’s probably been alone for so long, when would the last time someone would have touched him? i don’t think i would be able to handle it

ahh barefoot neil is always cute

SCARS no matter how many fics i read, i always love moments when neil’s scars are revealed

NEIL RUNNING LAPS IN HIS TINY SHORTS AROUND AND AROUND AHH

”neil slinks into the room late, looking tousled and a little sticky around the edges like he’s just woken up from a nap. he freezes when he sees andrew, stuck standing right in the middle of the projection, and only moves when dan throws a cushion at him” your writing actually paints scenes in my head which for me, a person really bad at visualizing things, is really impressive. it makes the experiences of reading exponentially more interesting, and doesn’t happen that often.

renee as praying mantis!! what a perfect nickname. is she religious in this au as well? i can’t remember if any religions even exist in this au (whoops i know nothing about cowboy bebop)

”she looks stiff and faded like old newspaper in the light of the kitchen lamps” what a gem of a sentence

me: sees the nickname gorilla and gets excited because i know some action is going to go down

”the three of them would just  about reach his head if renee sat on andrew’s shoulders and lifted neil up” THIS IS AMAZING. i mean, andrew and neil are tiny but they are not that tiny

”andrew begins tonelessly, tracing patterns into neil’s skin” if we ignore the fact that andrew is telling a terrible terrible story, this is so soft

”his breathing is viscous now, like syrup in his lungs. his left eye aches and the corner of his mouth twitches painfully into the ghost of a manic grin. he bites his tongue and it tastes like the word please” i am speechless but i really wanted to acknowledge this sentences lakjsdf

NEIL WINNING THE BET ABOUT BEING ABLE TO STEAL THINGS FROM THE VENDOR AND ROBBING THE MAN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. uGH you do such a good job of integrating humour like this into your story and having it fit the tone and pacing of the fic effortlessly.

excuse me how is it possible that you followed such a lighthearted scene with something so devastating as andrew explaining his past to allison and neil and have it still flow??? “because… i did not mean for you to get hurt” ANDREW YOU’RE SO GOOD

”he’s smoking outside and watching the dusk unfurl like an exotic flower when there’s a crash inside the store” this description is so gorgeous

what in the world, andrew i don’t even know how to describe you. he really just helps catch the robbers with his headphones on while choosing things to buy, killing a dude, then checking out, no big deal???? i understand neil’s attraction to him a little bit more now…

andrew and renee sharing clothes is now canon, please and thank you

oh no, lola is Bad News, especially when it comes to threatening neil’s family

NEIL PACKING ANDREW’S LEATHER JACKET AHH

”the bebop crew are basically overgrown children and react very well to the little sugary rewards for good behaviour” yeah this is very true haha

”’your blatant flirting woke me up,’ matt grins weakly. ‘can i have a lollipop too, neil?” i remember this whole scene so well, the second the infirmary was mentioned i knew it was lollipop time. matt, is basically how i feel right now HAH

woah wymack taking care of bonsai trees? i didn’t know i needed that in my life so badly. just like neil and the twins, so tiny :’)

uhm so, the tape that nicky sent to andrew? it’s actually making me cry (which is super rare for fics) “i hope you know that i love you”, “things aren’t so easy at the moment, and maybe they still aren’t easy for you watching this ten years from now, but i’ll always be there for you, and for aaron, too. i hope that one day we can be a family. happy birthday, my little piyoko, don’t eat all the cake by yourself!” i love this so much, and it makes me so sad and happy. this nicky is so good, and as much as i think andrew needed to see this, i think that i needed to read this more. thank you

nicky calling the twins his little piyokos, his lucky birds ;-;

the reunion scenes are so good, i really don’t think i can write anything that sufficiently describes how i feel. the way that nicky acts, the new relatives, older aaron, it all feels so right, so real.

andrea minyard deserves her own bullet point

neil just goes and makes all the police ships crash by controlling them remotely just for andrew to be hit by a moon rock?!?!?

”something irritatingly warm rises and swells inside andrew like yeast dough and he plunges his fists into it and kneads it into submission, twists it until all that remains is sticky, frothy anger” and “andrew sits down on a crate and prods at the yeasty mass still fermenting in his insides. the sudden bloating of anger has subsided to the usual starchy nothingness, but there’s a sugary residue of unease that he doesn’t want to examine any further right now” as much as i adore your jokes and beautiful descriptions of scenes, sentences like these ones that blow me away completely are why you’re one of my favourite fanfic authors. these are the kinds of sentences that i carry with me even after i am finished reading

”i can’t decide if you two are more like toddlers or like an old married couple… either way, it’s really bizarre to see andrew having feelings other than hate and destruction” LOL

thea is the coolest person ever

”kevin makes a noise like a dying dog” me too, kevin

NONONONONO ICHIROU AND JEAN AND EASTHAVEN

thank goodness neil is here

apparently i am very fond of the words “juice pack” and think it is cute. why? i also do not know

huh, riko naming his identity kevin king?? feels… not good

oh boy, lola is back

ANDREW CAN PICK OPEN HIS HANDCUFFS THANK YOU FOR THIS

is it bad if i am happy that all these people are dying (proust, lola, etc.)

NEIL AMPUTATES NATHAN’S HAND WITH A CLEAVER WHILE HE’S HOLDING A CLEAVER AND THEN KILLS HIM LDKSJFLK

oh dang, it’s stuart (i trust him)

andrew’s eye! thank goodness, because although it kind of sucks, it also Really Does Not Suck

”it’s stiff and awkward and neil quickly wriggles out of it. kevin must be really shaken up, because he tries andrew next. andrew waits passively until he’s close and then steps to the side at the last moment, smothering his amusement in a cough when kevin walks straight into the wall with open arms. serves him right for thinking even for a second that andrew would let him” LOL i love you, anna, so so much

money!! woohoooooo (or should i say woolonghooo okay sorry that’s like the world’s worst pun)

BELL PEPPERS AND BEEF WITH ACTUAL BEEF AND NO PEPPERS YES! what a great way to bring things full circle, even though it’s small

sweet dumplings filled with fruit? i am intrigued

THE SHIRT

i can’t not acknowledge the bit with the key, neil is too clever for his own good

we finally get to see bee! ugh i love the relationship between bee and andrew

”they may be marks of destruction, but they are still andrew’s; still proof of his existence” yeah (like a good yeah)

interesting about andrew’s memory not being as good without his left eye. does he have eidetic memory in this au? maybe it’s better if he doesn’t

i remember the first time i read this fic, in startling detail. this fic was so good then, and it has been just as good, if not better, every time i have reread it

it’s kind of embarrassing, but one of the things that i remember distinctly (among a lot of other things) is the noodles! reading this fic never fails to make me want to eat instant noodles

so one thing about me is that i am actually really bad at visualizing things. when i read stories, i can never imagine what a character looks like, i just see the feature that is being highlighted at the moment, and the second that sentence ends, that image is gone. like i just have a magnifying glass to someone’s face but i can’t piece together the parts. it makes it so that i often struggle with the visualization of stories. but something about your writing makes it easy for me to pictures scenes happening. everything is so vivid, and real (hence, the instant noodle cravings lol) and i love that so much. it’s so special.

the flow of this fic is amazing, the characterization is incredibly authentic and really helps with carrying the plot. you integrated lighthearted scenes with pure angst and awful things (easthaven) and i’m honestly curious as to the cowboy bebop episodes you took inspiration from. this fic was so well written, you are so skilled at introducing characters, locations, plot points, although i’m not familiar with this universe i wasn’t confused at any point. you explained everything without me noticing. this was just a breathtaking fic. thank you so much for writing this!!

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2019 Part 3: High on Concept

If you wait long enough, you’ll find something good to say.

Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue / My Roommate is a Cat

What: Misanthropic mystery author picks up tough stray cat, both get healed.

✅ The cat acts like a cat, the misanthrope acts like a misanthrope.

✅ The approach of telling the same simple story from the perspective of two characters that can’t really communicate effectively is interesting.

✅ This is very basic, but it works. I like both characters, and it's generally inoffensive. Pretty much Barakamon with less of a focus on telling you exactly what to feel. Might watch more of this.

❌ I see we’re now at the point where shows get localized titles that sound like lazy translations of bland Japanese names even when the Japanese title is not that bland to begin with. Lovely.

Dimension High School

What: A bunch of kids press XXX and YYY and are sucked. Wooow.

✅✅ The wraparound segments look extremely realistic. If there was more lensflares and shots of feet I’d almost say someone has finally beaten KyoAni in making anime look like a cheap, egregiously overacted J-Drama.

❌❌ Sadly, the puzzle dimension they end up in just looks like homemade MMD animation, because it is. I mean, at least it’s mocapped, but apparently with a Kinect.

❌❌ E.g., they make jokes about clipping and they kinda have to because everything clips into everything else all the time.

❌❌ Did I mention that all they actually do is solve lame puzzles and fail to be funny about it? It’s really getting to the levels of the dreaded “barely animated voice actor improv podcast” at these points.

♎ Suwabe’s in it, and that’s never an outright bad thing. He’s voicing the quizmaster, in the process proving he’d do anything for a paycheck. I wonder if he has a fiverr acocunt.

Domestic na Kanojo

What: Highschooler loses virginity to one night stand, finds out that it was the sister of the teacher he has a crush on. Incidentally, the mother of both also just married his father. Zany!

✅ This is presented like a low-key, slow drama, and it’s not even bad at that. Some good directing going on here, at least in the beginning.

❌❌ Really just too bad that it’s impossible to take seriously with a setup as contrived as this, not to mention taking it as seriously as it apparently wants to be taken. It’s also not exactly original.

❌ I’m not gonna say that sketchy relationships can’t work (it worked fine for KoiAme, for example), but embedding your suddenly also incestuous pupil-teacher affair in the setting of a harem comedy, complete with other sister walking in on attempted drunk blackout kiss, is not giving me confidence that this has the chops to pull it off.

❌❌ The show this reminds me the most of is Love and Lies, and that’s a real bad calling card to have.

Girly Air Force

What: Girl-shaped fighter jets fall in love with a dude.

❌❌ It’s just another military-hardware-is-cute-girls-actually show in the vein of Strike Witches, the kind where they think that having a few plane CG models is already thrilling content.

❌❌ But then it doesn’t even turn out to be that in practice, because most of the episode is taken up by lame “worldbuilding” (i.e., coming up with excuses for why your fanservice show has to be the way it is) and trying to make your bland harem lead interesting, which is a futile endeavour.

❌ The most interesting part is still the CG dogfighting, such as it is. It’s not great either. Also, girly planes are pink.

♎ Honestly got a laugh out of them randomly picking a Gripen as heroine unit  in addition to actual JSADF hardware, because that’s a sleek-looking plane. The biggest prank the JSADF ever pulled on the otaku industry is buying the chubby F-35, which is nowhere to be seen here.

Go-toubun no Hanayome / The Quintessential Quintuplets

What: Empoverished highschooler is hired as a tutor for some rich quintuplets with large breasts.

❌ This is a blatant harem setup that would make a 2003 bishoujo VN blush.

✅ However, in practice it’s much better than it sounds. It knows it’s a wacky romcom with a dumb premise and it does not pretend otherwise.

✅ So it’s lighthearted, but it’s also surprisingly classy. In fact, it’s classier than Domestic no Kanojo, which is a show that’s actually trying to look respectable and failing.

✅ The relationships are also very feisty, with an energy that a comedy needs. There’s a lot of sass to go around here. Probably the best of these I’ve seen in a while, so I’ll give it three eps.

Kemurikusa

What: After getting pulled off the sequel, the Kemono Friends crew made their own version. Presumably there are blackjack and hookers in this show’s future.

❌ If you are a fan of KF’s “charms”, fear not, you would not be able to tell these people made another anime before. It's still total amateur hour.

❌❌ It’s not even the “looks”, though those certainly are not a highlight. The design is okay and the animation is bad, but I’m not incapable of enjoying shows with bad animation. What really kills it is the editing. I usually don’t comment on editing because that’s almost always competent and only very rarely great, but Kemurikusa has uniquely lazy and badly timed editing. Every shot being seconds longer than it needs to be is already an annoyance in low-key dialog scenes, but the alleged action is laughable and allows you a long, unblinking stare at every frame of bad animation. I really do wonder why they even bother with it when it’s so terrible.

✅ The setting seems alright, even though it’s just a reskinned Kemono Friends. At least it’s not gijinka nonsense this time (which makes one wonder where the gimmick characters are supposed to come from, but I digress), and it’s more upfront about what it actually is too. I’d call it mildly intriguing.

❌ I don’t mind mystery and certainly prefer it to exposition bombs, but instead of that this episode quickly establishes the most basic facts... and then repeats them over and over and over some more. Combined with non-editing, this makes for horrible pacing. 

♎ I had no opinion on KF’s longer-term qualities, because the first episode was so boring I never got any further. I won’t have an opinion on this show’s long-term qualities for the same reason.

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

What: Magical girls are tragic, shoot gun’s.

❌❌ Yo bro, what if magical girls but dark? Surely such a thing has never been attempted.

❌ The particular source of grim here is that these girls are war vets and fight with semi-realistic weaponry, so there’s a fair bit of the ol’ milwank in this one as well.

❌ The best part of the entire show is that the enemies they originally fought looked like cute teddy bears. Of course, this is dropped in favor of just slicing and dicing some random terrorists in the main narrative. I guess “dark magical girl” is still too outlandish a concept, gotta go with ripping off The Punisher again.

❌ The characters so far are nothing special, you got your PTSD Rambo and the generically cute tomodachis she swears to protect. Such contrast!

❌❌ If you must make these 80s action movies with some otaku gimmick pasted on top, would you mind making the action look good at least? Because I don’t care how many gallons of blood you paint in your dramatic but conspicuously non-moving pans.

Meiji Tokyo Renka

What: Spiritually sensitive lonelygirl gets kitsuned to the Meiji era, which is full of delicious beef and some handsome men too I guess.

✅ This isn’t an outright comedy, but it goes all in on everyone’s fabulosity level to a degree that it’s really already three quarters to Dame x Prince.

✅ Similarly, the lead is not quite as unimpressed with these hams as Ani was, but she certainly has a lot more interest in roast beef than in these guys always trying to pull her into sparkly chin-holding poses &c.

✅ Meiji Tokyo Renka doesn’t seem to be anything special, but it gets the tone right and is expressive enough to not become boring.

♎ While certainly watchable right now, with these there’s always the chance that it decides to launch into real drama in the long run, which in turn almost always goes wrong.

Yakusoku no Neverland / The Promised Neverland

What: An orphanage’s happy daily life gets upended by the realisation that they’re just pizza rolls for some demonic entities.

✅ I watched this right after Kemurikusa and let me tell you, it sure helps if you’ve got professionals on the team. This is a highly competent show as far as cinematography and editing is concerned. While there isn’t any reason to go all out on the action sakuga, this show looks real good.

❌ I’m not feeling the character design, to be specific I think everyone’s chin is too big. This sounds like a real assholy nitpick, but be aware that this will impact around 90% of the time you watch this. 

✅ The premise is workable for a shounen manga, even if hardly original (remember Owari no Seraph?) At least it’s not kids with superpowers spamming beams at each other while discussing the nature of heroism, and seems to be going for a more mindgames-based approach in the vein of Death Note. The characters are just barely good enough so far. In the end it’s not so much the premise, but how well the production values are able to sell it. And that’s what Neverland is good at.

❌ It’s specifically a Weekly Shounen Jump manga, and that is huge red flag. Sure enough, while the visuals and mood deliver, the dialog writing justifiably assumes the reader is a moron. Almost every line in this is either straight universe exposition or someone reading someone else’s character sheet back to them. It’s insane and not even necessary because their actions establish all of this just fine, but hey, WSJ readers amirite?

❌ Also, since it’s a successful WSJ property, don’t expect an ending or be prepared to watch this show for years. Most likely both.

♎ This seems like it could be entertaining once the exposition is out of the way and the real meat of the narrative starts. Then again, at that point pacing would come into play, which is yet another achilles heel of WSJ-style shounen manga. Against my better judgement, I’ll probably have a look how this develops, but I don’t expect much.

[aoimitsu]

What you don't know won't hurt you

Genre: General

Characters: Kitamoto, Natsume, Tanuma, Nishimura, Sasada, Shibata, Taki, Nyanko

Series: Natsume yuujinchou @natsumeweek

♡Natsume finds himself surrounded by friends for the weekend, and finds out out how much they care for him.♡

Cross posted on Ao3

Part 1 of 2

♡♡

As the chime rang out throughout the school to signal the beginning of lunch, Sasada hurried to Natsume’s desk. He was just in the middle of standing, when her hands slammed down onto the surface. The sound left Natsume startled, while Nishimura tilted his head to better look at the class president.

“Natsume!”

“S-sasada.”

“What are you doing this weekend?”

Natsume barely managed to form words when Nishimura spoke up for him. Their plans were going to be together after all.

“We’re going fishing by the-”

“There’s more to life than wasting away by some river.” She cut her classmate off, though her eyes never left Natsume’s. The two boys shared a look, Natsume’s gaze wary.

“Is something the matter, Sasada?”

The girl adjusted her glasses and smiled, clearly waiting for the inquiry to be made. She looked pointedly at her hands on the table, and when Natsume looked as well he saw a sheet of paper covered in text. It was a computer print out but he couldn’t make out most of the words with Sasada’s hand splayed over the words.

“I just found gold!”

[[MORE]]

“Oh! Where’s that?” Nishimura’s full attention was quickly given to the girl.

She chuckled and planted her hands on her hips. “This group that I’m in was talking about mysteries, and strange occurrences, and-” 

Nishimura sighed, attention now lost. “Come on, Natsume. Kitamoto will be waiting for us ...”

Natsume chuckled a bit self-conscious of the situation, but he gathered his bag to stand as well. 

“Wait, wait.” Sasada moved to block his path. He could feel as much as hear Nishimura’s sigh from behind him. “It’s also a campsite, we could hold a bonfire too!” 

“What makes that better than fishing? Beside, Natsume’s friend is visiting from out of town. He’s coming along too.”

Nishimura was right. And there would be no way that Natsume would forget that Shibata would be coming to spend the weekend with them. He opened his mouth to let Sasada know, but she cut him off once more. 

“He can come too.” A pause. “Everyone’s invited. You’ll come won’t you, Natsume? Please.” Sasada held her hands clasped in front of her chest. Her face leaning in too close, and Natsume had to move back.

“Okay. If everyone is okay with it.”

“Yay!” Sasada’s excitement overtook her as she bounced a bit on the spot. She caught herself soon after. After adjusting her glasses once more, she let the two boys know that she looked forward to the weekend, and exited the classroom. Natsume let out a sigh.

“You could tell her no, you know.” Nishimura chided, looking at Natsume by his side.

It was easier said than done, since Natsume would have been the one to give the rejection. But, if it was Nishimura, he probably would have had no problem. But Natsume didn’t want to turn the girl down so easily, it would probably end up being nothing, and he would simply spend a weekend with his friends. He only hoped for the best.

____

The weekend came about quicker than expected. Natsume had no chance to forget about the inevitable trip as Sasada would remind him every day. Every time she saw him. Even during classes she would turn in her seat to give a smile or thumbs up. In the halls if they weren’t close, she would yell over to him several versions of “Don’t forget this weekend, Natsume!” Natsume could only try to escape dying from embarrassment as they garnered looks, and he caught whispered wonders of if they were dating. 

It was one of those times in the hallway that Tanuma had learnt about the plans. 

Natsume covered his face as Sasada ran down the stairwell after her latest reminder. Tanuma turned to him.

“Oh, what plans do you have together? You don’t look too happy?”

“Sasada wants to have a bonfire. And I think there are spirits involved ...”

Tanuma frowned. “You could say no if you’re not okay with it, Natsume.”

Natsume let out a sigh. “Maybe nothing will happen.”

“Maybe I can come along in case something does.” Natsume hesitated, and Tanuma rushed to continue. “Or not. I don’t have to come if you don’t want me too. I just thought it would help. Maybe keep the others away if something did.”

“Thank you, Tanuma. I hope nothing happens, then I can just spend a weekend with my- friends.” 

Natsume looked down. A spot of colour tinted his cheeks. It was only a little sad that he had to hesitate before saying something like that. As if he was surprised he could say it, and maybe still couldn’t believe it. 

At that moment Taki exited her classroom down the hall. “Maybe we should invite Taki as well.”

That was how the seven teenagers ended up together on the weekend. Joined by Natsume’s fat cat, who seemed to cling to Natsume for dear life as Taki eyed it excitedly. Nishimura looked at her in much the same way.

“Is this everyone?” Sasada asked as if she was about to tick off names for role call of a field trip. Natsume looked over the small group- Nishimura, Kitamoto, Tanuma, Taki, Shibata.

When they got onto the bus heading into even more secluded parts of Hitoyoshi that trains could not take them, they sat in the back for more room to accommodate their group.“Wow, I can’t believe how many friends you have now, Natsume.” Shibata spoke up from beside him.

Nishimura leant forward from his position on Natsume’s other side, to stare at the boy. A scowl on his face. “You’re not trying to pick a fight with Natsume are you.”

Shibata laughed, throwing his arm around Natsume’s shoulders. “Of course not. After all, I’m one of Natsume’s friends too. And I met him first.”

“Ha! You are picking a fight. Kitamoto and I are Natsume’s best friends!”

Kitamoto gently knocked Nishimura and the top of his head. “Leave me out of this.” Though he didn’t dispute his friend’s claims.

Sasada let out a mysterious laugh from her seat in front of them. “But I understand, Natsume.” She beamed at him, and he pretended not to see. But it was enough to make Nishimura recount all the various times that they had shared together, like teaching Natsume how to ride a bike, or them going fishing, the pillow fights, and everything in-between. 

Taki and Tanuma looked at each other, sharing a secret smile, before they looked back at the boy, cheeks flushed, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Wha- What’s wrong, Natsume? Why are you crying?”

The boy in question couldn’t really tell who it came from, as all the voices blended in concern. He shook his head, but the tears didn’t stop. His heart feeling light and happy.

_____

When they got to the campsite, everyone divided roles and split to set up. At least they tried to. Nishimura, Kitamoto, Shibata, and Natsume were supposed to go fishing for food. But everyone came by to cheer them on. Taki took a turn, and managed to catch a decent sized fish. Nishimura praised her adoringly, and she used her catch to lure Nyanko into her arms.

They all scattered around the campsite gathering dry, fallen branches for their fire. And when the fire was on its way they all sat around to watch their meals cook.

As the sky became darker, and their fire burned brightly, Sasada drew her knees to her chest and sighed. 

“What’s wrong?” Taki spoke up first as she gained everyone’s attention. 

“I thought that we’d see something tonight. But I guess it was all stories, afterall.”

“Something?” Shibata looked to the girl to Natsume, then back again.

“Today was a fun day, regardless, wasn’t it?” Kitamoto wanted to know.

“I-” She looked around at the group. Their faces glowing orange in the firelight. “Yes, it was.” Another sigh. “But next time, I’ll definitely fine something. Right, Natsume?”

The boy chuckled reflexively, and leant back. His face toward the sky. “The stars are really beautiful out here.”

At that the group turned their gazes upward to admire the sight. 

Something shifted in the distance and caught Natsume’s attention. He looked over to see a man standing in the distance staring over at the group. At that, Natsume’s defenses rose, and he looked over his group of friends in concern. No of them seeming to realise the man was there.

He began to shift to his feet, about to excuse himself to lead what he was beginning to think was a spirit away. Especially as it got closer.

“Natsume?” Natsume turned to see Tanuma looking at him in concern. He looked up to scan the area, and Natsume realised his eyes caught something and didn’t look away. Natsume looked back over to see the man was much closer to their group now. 

A small crack cried out in the silence as the man stepped on a stray twig. 

“I didn’t know that there would be people out here today.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sasada spoke up, and Natsume looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t know if we had to make reservations for the area.”

“Not at all. You look like a good bunch of kids. Just be sure to keep the place clean, and put out that fire before bed.”

“Right. Thank you.” Kitamoto stated first, and the others thanked the man as well.

Natsume’s face still held traces of surprise as he realised that all of his friends saw the same person. When he looked back, he saw that the man’s focus now rested on him. The two stared at each other for another moment, before Nishimura spoke up.

“Is there something else? Ow.” Kitamoto looked at his friend, and shook his head.

The man laughed. “No. You kids continue to enjoy yourself. Goodnight.” He retreated back the way he came, all of the friends calling out “good-nights” in a show of respect. 

Once the man was gone, they all looked at each other, but soon brushed it off. Natsume looked over to Nyanko seeing the cat-like figure look around in confusion, before trying to sneak away some of the left over food. 

“Hey, you oversized furball. Where do you think you’re going with that?” Sasada tried to swat the cat away from stealing her food. 

“Sensei.” Natsume warned.

“Are you sure that think is a cat, Natsume?”

“I think he’s cute!” Taki reached for Nyanko once more, hugging him tightly to her- rubbing her cheeks in his fur.

“Where?” It was a sentiment that the others shared. But they didn’t dear break the girl from her delusions.

____

When they all parted ways the following day, Natsume was in a really good mood. He had gotten to spend the weekend with his friends, and nothing bad had happened. It was a rare occurrence for him not to bump into a spirit, especially somewhere as open as where they had stayed.

“What’s the matter, Sensei?” Nyanko had been quiet most of the trip. Which was not unexpected. He couldn’t speak in front of half of Natsume’s group of friends. But he’d remained quiet even when it was just the two of them, which was unusual. 

“What was the thing you were talking to?”

“Thing?”

“At the campfire.”

Natsume thought over the events of the weekend and the only other person he or anyone had spoken to was the man who had come out to warn them about being safe.

“You mean that old man?”

“Old man, huh?”

“Did you see something else?” Natsume grew anxious.

“No. That’s it. I didn’t see anything.”

Before Natsume could ask anything more, Touko called out to him welcoming him back. She was making something in the kitchen by the sound and smell of it, and Nyanko bounded off in the direction, possibly hoping to be a taste tester. Natsume stared off after his bodyguard, the weight of his words still settling. All of his friends were able to see the man. Only Nyanko wasn’t. That meant either the man had some sort of charm that left him invisible to spirits. That or the man was a spirit himself, who could possibly make himself visible to others. Natsume had encountered others like that as well. But then, why couldn’t Nyanko see him as well? 

But since no harm came to his friends, he was okay with it. Sasada got her wish after all.

He smiled, and headed into the kitchen.

[jelliclesong]

So... Cats, right?

I’ve been asked to share thoughts about the Cats trailer that just dropped, because I’ve been slightly invested in the show since forever. (no, really. I’ve been roleplaying Rumpleteazer online since like 2008.) So. In only sort of a particular order, after having watched the trailer several times (under a cut, because this is going to get longish. Sorry mobile.)

-”Memory” is not the only song in Cats, people. I swear it’s not.

-Really though. How am I supposed to properly pre-judge this if I don’t get to hear anyone else sing? It’s a perfectly decent cover of Memory, I’ll grant you, but that’s really not one of the songs I was worried about...

-Yes, it’s very Uncanny Valley. It’s not reading as too creepily so for me, at least, but it’s definitely Something.

-That being said, costumes+dramatic makeup definitely work better for me.

-Not least because the makeup in particular goes a long way toward the suspension of disbelief. Cats that are clearly people dressed as cats parse as less Off than the weird blend of person-face and animated Everything Else that they’ve got going here.

-And on that note. The ears and tails don’t move correctly, and that seems like a fairly big oversight to me? It’s definitely not helping with the sense of something being Wrong, too.

-So, a fun fact about me. I’ve watched enough versions, and watched the filmed one in particular enough times, that I can on-the-fly identify each individual cat by both name and role based solely on colouring and pattern. That said, I have No Idea who’s supposed to be who in this trailer. I had to look up the cast list to figure out most of them, and I’m not sure I /believe/ the cast list on all of them.

-Part of the problem I’m having is that all of them appear to have had their colours desaturated/blurred, and in a couple instances changed from the source entirely.

-Judi Dench’s Old Deuteronomy, for example, very much reads as Grizabella to me. (this is, to be fair, partially down to casting. But also, I think, because of the giant fur coat she’s got.)

-Taylor Swift as Bombalurina is... a choice. Not remotely the choice I’d have made, but a choice nonetheless. This is nothing against Ms Swift (I have exactly no feelings about her, good or bad), but Bombalurina as a character is definitely written to be a smoky jazz sort of sexpot, and that is... not how she’s coming across here. Doesn’t help that she got the worst of the “Blending into obscurity” treatment vis-a-vis colouring.)

-Ian McKellen is adorable and I’m into it.

-I appreciate that they cast an attractive person as Rum Tum Tugger. Anyone know if he can sing?

-Rebel Wilson is the worst thing about all of this and I’m standing by that. Jennyanydots is a lot of things, but I would argue she’s not the “Ha ha look at the fat woman” caricature that this particular casting is inevitably going to make of her. 

-I am, however, cautiously optimistic about Idris Elba as Macavity. The design looks like it could be fun, based on the three seconds we see of it. 

-The sets are proportioned in a very /strange/ way. 

-I think? They’re trying to pretend this has a plot? Which is /weird./ Cats doesn’t have a plot. This is both why I love it and why people feel the need to hate it.

-Along those lines, there is a Lot of implied Victoria/Mr Mistoffelees happening in this trailer. Setting aside that every fandom corner I’ve ever wandered into pretty heavily shipped Rum Tum Tugger/Mistoffelees, I’m slightly weirded out that they seem to be trying to make this whole thing about Victoria. 

-Like. It’s not a Romance, it’s just a bunch of cats doing questionably cat things. It really doesn’t require an ingenue, I promise. 

-Speaking of. It seems, based on this, that they’ve dropped Quaxo entirely and just left Mistoffelees as the magical cat full time? In a top hat, for whatever reason.

-Most of these people sure aren’t dancers, huh? A lot of what’s skeeving me out about this thing is that no one is moving correctly, I think...

-Correct me if I’m wrong, but they just flat out gave Teazer’s necklace to Victoria, yes? Excuse me while I am full of salt about that forever.

-Based on the IMDB cast list, they’re including Growltiger and Griddlebone in this. I’m down for it, really I am, but that song is Super Racist y’all. That’s why we ended up with the Pekes and the Pollicles in the original film version, and frankly I’d have loved to know what the CGI would have made of the Great Rumpus Cat.

So like. I’m still gonna see it, because this is one of those things that I’ll take Content for regardless of that content’s quality. Most of the concerns I’ve got right now can arguably be chalked up to personal preference/having had a decade to build up my own lore and characterization from what was essentially Nothing. In summary: not super optimistic, but not as horrified as I expected to be? So that’s something.