#space kitten invasion

[pollypocket6890]

Borgore & Sikdope - Space Kitten Invasion (OUT NOW) - SoundCloud

Listen to Borgore & Sikdope - Space Kitten Invasion (OUT NOW) by Buygore on #SoundCloud

[ftcatv]

reminder to please neuter your cats because i cant realistically feed all the babies theyre leaving everywhere

[bonefall]

"How big should a Clan territory be?"

For the dozens of people who have asked this over the last couple of years!

This question comes in a lot of forms; "How big are the Clan territories?" "How much space does one Clan need?" "How much land should I give my Clans to exist in?" The answer is a bit complicated, and depends on the type of land, what you're going for exactly, the setting, so on.

But, broadly, there's TWO particular factors at play here; How anthropomorphic you're portraying your warriors, and how productive the land is.

Factor 1: The Anthro Scale

I'm starting with this one because it could you the simpler answer. The Erins write Clan cats like humans in cat bodies, with massive social units and communal living. Realistic feral cats don't act like Clan cats. They are only semi-social, due to domestication.

See, a Clan cat will "share" territory between all of its members, and some Clans have canonically hit populations of over 50 individuals. Real feral colonies consist of "overlapping circles" of somewhere between 2 - 15 cats, most of them related females.

This is relevant because, even in densely populated areas with as much food as they can eat, truly feral colonies will have about 2 cats per 5 acres, capping out at about 15 members. Queens will hang out together and raise their kittens communally, but they will hunt and patrol in their own "circle." These boundaries are violently enforced against outside cats, especially if it's too crowded.

(Toms have circles 5x as big as a queen's, overlapping several territories. They're also considerably less social.)

So, if you wanted to incorporate some cat behavior into your Clan's mindset about how big their territory should be, while still being willing to sacrifice a bit of "realism" for groups over 15-ish members, simply take Clan population and multiply it by 2.5 acres.

30 cats = 75 acres. That's a little under 57 football fields, if you're American, or 50 football fields, if you're European.

Extra reading: How realistic cat territories work. Contains the numbers I'm referencing.

It's also very important to know; feral cat density is completely tied to food availability, the big numbers numbers are for cats whose needs are met. Cats are solitary hunters, and when they feel like they have to work for their food, they become VERY territorial. The density of cats in rural areas can be as low as 1 molly per 15 acres, even lower for toms, and they will leave if hunting is not easy.

THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT FEED FERAL CATS. Please GOD they are SO invasive, please do not give colonies food, they still hunt when they're full so you just end up concentrating a ton of predators in one place. They are not warriors with a law against disrespecting food, they are just kitty cats with silly kitty instincts

I have a suspicion that most of the people who are asking the question aren't really looking for a "realistic cat" answer, though. We LOVE our big cat Clans with their complicated politics around here. You're probably wondering how much land you need to feed your population!

Factor 2: Land Productivity

The exact amount of space is going to vary a lot, because it's more about productivity of the land to sustain a prey population than it is raw size. Remember what we learned back in Warrior Bites: Dietary Needs; a 30-cat Clan will need approximately 3 pounds of meat (10,500 calories) per day, which is about 2 rabbits, or 105 mice.

Here's some visual examples of what I mean. This one (1) acre homestead...

Has 20 patches of high-value crops, plus an orchard, AND livestock pens. This territory alone could attract enough crows, mice, rats, rabbits, and sparrows to feed all those cats daily. That's not even counting the humans themselves, who may be friendly enough to the colony to toss them kibble occasionally.

(this is why cats domesticated themselves. Even without the free food from the humans, farms are extremely productive hunting grounds.)

Meanwhile, the Edmonton Mall, which is a whopping five (5) acres...

Would be utterly barren. Best food you're going to get out of this wasteland is the leftovers humans toss out, and maybe the rats and pigeons that scavenge as well. It's 5x the space, and yet, infinitely harder to feed the same amount of cats.

So, the most helpful bit of advice I'm gonna give you is this; DON'T ask yourself "how big should this territory be?" You're starting with the wrong question. Start with a real location, and think about how you'd find 3 pounds of meat a day in that area.

It will be a LOT easier to think about the logistics in those terms, and this will lead you to the waaay more productive (and fun) worldbuilding questions. Such as;

"Where would the good hunting spots be?"

"What kinds of animals would they be eating? What sorts of beasts can threaten them, here?"

"How many of these animals would my 30 cat Clan need to hunt a day to equal about 3 pounds?"

"Where would these animals be getting THEIR food?"

"Is there enough habitat in the area for the prey to breed and nest? If not, is there more land beyond the territory that the prey is coming from?"

"Where would infrastructure like dens, walls, and dirtplaces go? What would these be made of?"

"Are there any neat spots for the cats to casually hang out on?"

"What would make for a super cool arena for my climactic narrative boss fights?"

"Does this area have unique stage hazards that my cats would have to learn to deal with?"

"Which sorts of plants and herbs would they encounter?"

If your Clan is tool-using, like BB!Clans are, then you can ask even more advanced questions. Like, where you'd find kindle for fire, what objects you can use as crafting materials, and what might make for unique trade goods.

Think about other things related to your Clan's biome-- in a tundra or desert, there will be less for prey to eat, so the territory will be large to cope with the low density. If there's a major body of water, they might have a constant supply of aquatic prey from upstream. Hunting grounds might change based on the seasons.

Also remember not to underestimate how fast small animals breed, and how many of them there can be in one area. Even using low estimates, 1 female mouse has 6 pups, 7 x 6 = 42, 42 x 6 = 252, 252 x 6 = 1,452. It takes only 4 months for mouse population growth to get exponentially ridiculous.

Finally, remember that prey can vary. A well run Clan would be able to generally understand when they've been overhunting one particular species, and start shifting gears to lift the "pressure" off that population.

(In my cultural expansions series, this management task is assigned to one of the new roles-- the Head of Hunting.)

[kurishiri]

both ends clear . . . “ a convenient, happy ‘reality’ ”

꒰ ִ ֺ ⊹ @ notice ⊹ ֺ ִ ��� this translation may not be 100% accurate or contain creative liberties due to characterization or narrative flow purposes. if you enjoy, please consider reblogging, but don’t repost these or claim these as your own!

— 🤍 both ends cleared story for alfons. this is all told in his point of view.

— cw: alcohol consumption, invasion of personal space, awkwardly translated smut; you know the drill!

—— Alfons’ POV ——

—— Flashback ——

Having thought it would be infinitely better to die on the roadside, I had left the orphanage. And on that day,

a cat was crying in an alley.

That day, my lips got cut after a beating, so I still had dried bread that was handed to me in my pocket...

Alfons: ...Want some?

When I offered the bread, the cat slowly crept toward me, and then nibbled on the bread.

Alfons: ...You want to live that much?

A: Even though this reality isn’t even kind to you...

The kitten didn’t utter a sound, only continuing to eat.

Albeit foolishly and miserably so, it tried its very hardest to live.

Alfons: And if you want to live that badly... I guess I better help you then.

—— End flashback ——

Kate: I-I overslept again——!

Alfons: Ahha! First thing in the morning and you’re in ever high spirits, I see.

Still nude, Kate’s complexion paled as soon as she woke up. At this point, I’ve seen this so often one hand was hardly enough to count.

Alfons: Now now, why so bent on this? It’s not as though you are going to die.

A: I’m more than positive that if you apologize with all your heart, you’ll be let off the hook.

Kate: Wh—you do know this is your fault, don’t you!?

K: I even told you yesterday that I had a promise to keep so I needed to get up early today, and yet...

Alfons: And yet we did such naughty things, and it escalated to the point you ended up crying out, no?

Kate: ...!

Rendered speechless, she turned away and got off the bed,

and she pulled her clothes, standing ready in this room’s closet, and began to change.

Alfons: Goodness, what a cruel one you are, Kate, leaving your lover behind on the bed for a promise you made with another man.

A: Since when have you become so wicked, I wonder?

While sprawled on the bed, I placed my elbow on the pillow and looked on at Kate, whose lips were in a pout.

Kate: Well, I promised I was going to go and get the photo I took of you before,

K: so there’s really nothing going on I would feel guilty about.

Alfons: Hehe... there’s no need to deny it so vehemently; I assure you I know. After all, you——

Kate: ...I what?

Alfons: ——Well, your body just can’t bear it unless it’s with me, you see.

Kate: ...I was a fool to even ask in earnest. I’ll be going now.

Alfons: Yes, yes, have a good time. Ahh, and I think I will be coming back late.

Kate: Ah——that’s right, today... you have a mission, don’t you? Be careful and come back safely, alright?

Alfons: Worry not, for unlike a certain someone I am quite faithful.

Kate: That’s not what I meant...

K: If you go out of your way to get hurt and whatnot, I’ll... I’ll punish you...!

Kate’s face reddened as she declared this before turning and leaving the room.

(...‘Punish,’ she says...) (O_O)

Alfons: Pfft, ahahaha!

A: Ahh... dear me, what darling words.

A: Indeed, why are Kate’s parting threats always so cute like this, I wonder.

(Like how alcohol and staying up late was bad for the body, or how if I got hurt she would punish me...)

For threats those words were much too kind, and it was quite amusing to say the least.

The reason she was going out, and her worry, I knew they were all for my sake.

And yet, that heroic side of her, as astounding as it was, was so cute, I couldn’t help but be a little mean and tease her a bit: call it a bad habit of mine.

(Such a troublesome way of caring, and yet it’s the only way I know how. And perhaps, I may someday run out of love.)

My heart, long used to throwing away any notion of hope, still whispered to ‘let it become that way.’

But every time that happened, I would hear Kate’s voice in my mind.

——It won’t turn out that way!

(The Kate in my mind would never leave me behind.)

That was my convenient delusion.

And, to me, my happy illusion.

—— Time skip ——

(Now then... what sort of interesting things is the little robin up to now?)

When I had returned to the castle after the mission, I was told by Elbie that Kate had gone to the pub.

—— Flashback ——

Alfons: Why again, so late at night?

Elbert: Because when your missions end late, you often go to the pub.

E: So, Kate said that she would wait there...

—— End flashback ——

(There is no such person in that pub who would leave a woman there so late at night alone.)

I went down the familiar staircase and slipped into the lively pub——and as expected, Kate was being pressed by a ‘friend.’

Black-haired young man: Don’t be so stuck up now. How about we two lonely people get along and have a drink?

Kate: I’ll pass. Besides, I’m not really lonely.

Like a prideful cat, she had her face turned,

but perhaps in an effort to swallow her displeasure and fear, Kate’s hold on her glass tightened.

Black-haired young man: You waitin’ for Al? Not like you made any promise with him, right?

Black-haired young man: Leave him be. He’s a good-for-nothing who doesn’t have an ounce of love in him, you know?

(A good-for-nothing without an ounce of love... indeed, if one were to ask about me at this pub,)

(not a single person would answer with something other than that, I reckon.)

While I counted the words in the repertoire of words that were used as insults against me in my mind——

Kate, for the first time, turned toward the ‘friend’ at last.

Kate: I won’t deny that Alfons is the lowest of the low, with no morals or ethics to speak of, and a good-for-nothing,

K: but he does have much more than an ounce of love.

(...) (O_O)

Black-haired young man: Pfft, hahaha! A woman who’s so easily fooled like you doesn’t come around every day either. ...But in all seriousness, you really should let him go.

Black-haired young man: He’ll make a mess of your life, and it’ll be too late to regret anything after you’ve been through it.

My ‘friend’——Craig looked at Kate with narrowed eyes, slightly saddened, as though he was seeing someone else in her,

and he quietly reached out for those shoulders.

Alfons: You sure like getting hands on with others, don’t you.

Craig: Whoa—!?

Just before his hands touched her shoulder, I stopped him with my palm,

and Craig practically flew out of his counter chair.

Kate: Alfons!?

Craig: W-what the... what’s the big deal? Not like you ever had a special someone before.

C: So this time wouldn’t be any different from a whim of a relationship before fading right out, right?

Kate: ...

For a moment, Kate’s expression wavered with a bit of sadness.

Seeing that left a bad taste in me, and before I could think, my mouth moved first.

Alfons: ——Why, I beg to differ?

A: She’s such a darling toy, one I could hardly leave behind. After all, I very much am one with much more than an ounce of love.

Kate: ...!

Alfons: But putting that aside, Craig,

Craig: ...What is it?

Alfons: At least on the anniversary of your wife’s passing, I hope you may spend the rest of this night in a good mood.

I removed his gloves, and then gently touched the back of his neck.

Alfons: ——Tonight, shut yourself out those self-condemning notions, and go to sleep back home after another drink.

A: “And perhaps, you may see a nostalgic dream, rivaled by none other.”

—— Time skip: night city ——

Alfons: Goodness, to think you would go out to play at night and seduce another man... you naughty one, you.

Kate: No, it’s not that! I was thinking you might come by here, so I was waiting for you.

K: Like, maybe you would come for a drink after a mission so you wouldn’t feel as weary and whatnot.

K: And I wanted to be there too, if possible...

Alfons: None the more noble, I see,

A: as your partner is a man who gets told things like how ‘this is on a whim before fading right out.’

Kate: But I don’t think that.

Alfons: Even though you seemed rather saddened for a moment back there?

Kate: That... is because, I thought how even among your friend circle, there are those that misunderstand you.

Alfons: Aha, but it’s not a misunderstanding? I really am someone who will turn down nobody who comes to me, nor will I chase after anyone who leaves.

A: For you see, I’m but a piece of trash who would fade right out if things become troublesome.

Kate: But the people you spend time with are always those that are suffering, right?

K: So, even when you ‘fade right out,’ that is also for other people’s sake, isn’t it?

K: I can’t think of that as loveless. After all...

K: What else could the feeling of wanting to help others be called, if not love?

Alfons: ......... (O_O)

—— Flashback ——

Alfons: And if you want to live that badly... I guess I better help you then.

—— End flashback ——

If her words really were true...

Then what I had felt at that time was ‘love’——at least, that may be the case.

A single word from her was enough to make such a convenient interpretation feel like reality.

Kate: Before, I was really happy. When you said straight up how you wouldn’t leave me.

K: And the fact how, after that, you showed Craig an illusion...

K: In the end, I really do love you, Alfons.

Instead of falling out of love, she said such a thing with a casual smile.

(...To think that, more than this happy illusion in my mind and whatnot,)

(the Kate in reality is so much more convenient to me...)

Alfons: ...You are just full of surprises, aren’t you.

Kate: Huh? What was that?

Alfons: Goodness, you weren’t listening?

A: I said that tonight we’re going to do so many naughty things you won’t know what’s what anymore.

—— Time skip: Alfons’ room ——

Kate: Ahh...

Like a cat, Kate’s waist was lifted as she lied face down on the bed,

and when I pulled away from her, she jumped a little.

After climaxing again, she shivered at the lingering sound of her wet entrance.

When I inserted a finger in that stirred up area, she lowered her hips as though becoming frightened.

Kate: N-no more...

Alfons: Really? Because the inside of you seems to think otherwise around my fingers. ...See.

Kate: no, I—ah, ahh——

While kneading the swollen bud with my thumb, I moved my two fingers inside.

I went for the place she loved the most, where she squeezed my fingers, and together with a lewd sound, she squirted.

Alfons: Hehe... to think teasing you just a little was enough to make you come, your body has become quite the naughty thing, hasn’t it.

Kate: I... I wanted to look at the photo... together with you though...

The envelope she received, which contained the photo that had just been processed,

was left unopened on the side table.

Alfons: You can look at photos at any time... so how about looking at the real me here?

Kate: ...ngh... uh...?

I took her limp wrists and pulled her up,

And Kate, her eyes seeming to melt with intoxication, went along with being pulled.

(As usual, she’s quite defenseless, isn’t she...)

When would she realize that shaking her head the moment she finally realized that the place she was taken to was in front of the mirror

would have the opposite effect, I wonder?

My hand made its way behind her knee before lifting her leg up.

Kate: no... ah...

Alfons: See now, look here, won’t you. ...So that you won’t ever forget.

Kate: ...!

When I murmured those words, Kate tried to bear any sense of shame she had.

Alfons: How lewd it feels with my cock in your mouth.

Kate: hah... haa... ah, ahh——

Alfons: ...And also,

A: in what ways I love you.

Not wanting to forget me even after I died, she would record me,

and look straight forward while pushing down her embarrassment, engraving them into her memory.

(Kate, truly, what a pitiable, darling soul you are.)

(All that effort, even when I have no intention of dying before you.)

But, I had no intention of saying that to her either. In all likeliness, it would remain my secret for the rest of this lifetime.

(After all, seeing how your mind is filled to the brim with me, and how hard-working you are, brings me no end of amusement.)

(And, even if you were to find out this secret of mine——)

(I’m sure you would be exasperated and angry, but still you would love me after that.)

This may not necessarily amount to a convenient delusion,

but those teary eyes that looked at me through the mirror let me think that.

After we indeed felt so good we didn’t know what was what anymore,

Kate fell asleep, with me holding her. And suddenly, I felt a nostalgic rush from the silence of the night.

I remembered that very night, when I had fallen asleep while holding a small warmth I had found in an alley.

That was the first night I had ever felt such serenity in the silence.

masterlist🪞 ╱ ko-fi ☕️

NOTE: thank you to everyone who has kept up with this translation and supported me (especially those who have commented or reblogged)! it means the world to me and makes these more-than-two-months worth it if you enjoyed it 🥹🫶 i plan to translate his side stories as well if i can, though they may be out of order.

꒰ ִ ֺ ⊹ @ tags🏷️ ⊹ ֺ ִ ꒱ @drachonia @.comment, send an ask off anon, or dm to be added or removed!

[rodolfoparras]

a thought to fuel me delulu

imagine— you're the tough soldier that even if you're lower rank (or especially because you're a higher rank) at the base, you're the type of guy to not hesitant to say shit to someone if they're being invasive/rude or something— one of the reason price started to love you

one day you had to carry him piggyback style (either cuz he's too drunk for some reason or cuz he got injured) and he's like mumbling

"You know I like you right?"

One, you must be oblivious to this or two, you just thought it's just drunk talk when he didn't see any reaction from you

then he eyes the space between your ear and your neck, hidden behind the army scarf or something, and he suddenly leaves kisses gently there, and while you shiver from the contact you nonetheless continue to walk

that is until he started to give kitten licks

"Stop ignoring me, please..."

-🪂

Okay but make price the younger recruit and you the older soldier of a much higher ranking and I’ll be on my knees for the rest of my life 🧎🏻‍♂️🧎🏻‍♂️🧎🏻‍♂️

[sylusmistress]

Run Kitten... Run

Chapter 3: Fire and Desire

“Have you heard from her?”

“If I had, do you think I would be wasting my time speaking with either of you humans?”

“Watch it, Rafayel. All of us care about her and there’s no reason to take your frustrations out on me or Xavier.”

Stubborn tapping can be heard throughout Zayne’s medical office as Rafayel sits in one of his wooden arm chairs across his oak desk and lets his annoyance with this current situation be heard loud and clear. Meanwhile Xavier sits to the right of Rafayel with a calm demeanor, but Zayne can see past the façade and knows that Xavier is on edge the same way the other two men are. You were expected to return from your mission three days ago and your absence has caused the trio to gather in an effort to try and locate you. After interrogating Tara and doing some digging with ‘unethical’ sources of information, Rafayel and Xavier made their way over to Akso Hospital to inform Zayne about the dangerous mission Capitan Jenna sent you on.   

“That wicked captain should have never sent my beloved to find this King of the Wanderers fellow by herself. She’s just a rookie hunter! I should have placed a tracker on her when I had the chance.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose before taking a much-needed deep breath, Zayne does his best to calm his nerves before addressing Rafayel. Between the three of them Zayne and Rafayel are known to constantly bump heads because of the differing methods they choose to use when it comes to loving and protecting you. “I have told you this countless times before Rafayel, you cannot place a tracker on her because that would have been an invasion of her privacy. My patient is not a piece of property, and we do not own her. We have no right to keep track of her location 24/7.”

Out of the three of them Xavier is typically the sensible one that agrees with Zayne and his perspective, but for once he actually agrees with Rafayel’s proposal. It has been hell not knowing where you are or if you are okay and it is driving him crazy. He hasn’t eaten, hasn’t slept, and his heart has constantly been aching knowing that you might be in danger he can’t protect you from. Shifting in his seat he looks between Rafayel and Zayne before speaking up in a calm but detached voice. “That’s actually not a bad idea Raf, when my universe returns, we should definitely place a tracker on her. I can simply mark her with –,”

Swirling his head to the side, Rafayel directs his aggression towards Xavier before glaring at him with his blown-out pupils filled with possession. “You mean when my muse returns to me. And you will NOT be the one marking her. I will!” The sudden shift in Xavier’s energy isn’t lost on Rafayel as he abruptly stands up from his seat and prepares to land an attack on the man sitting next to him. Even though Rafayel and Zayne are the main ones who bump heads and argue, Rafayel and Xavier are the main ones who provoke each other enough to engage in physical battles that typically leaves them needing medical assistance from either Zayne or you.

Noticing what might happen next, Zayne also stands up from his seat and Xavier follows as all three men begin breathing heavily with their Evol energy flickering in the air. It is a miracle that neither one of them have succeeded in killing one another because every time the three of them are all together in a closed space their egos and obsession for you forces all rational thinking to leave their minds. “That is an INVASION of her privacy, Rafayel!” Zayne can feel his resolve slipping and he wants to do nothing more than put Rafayel in his place. Your history with the other two men doesn’t matter to Zayne. You are his patient and his to keep safe. You belong to him. You are his to keep. “She is my patient, and she will not be receiving any trackers, modifications, or marks on her body without MY approval.”

Feeling his Evol energy prickle beneath his fingers, Rafayel swiftly climbs over Zayne’s desk until the two of them are face to face with mere inches separating them. “Who the fuck died and left you in charge? You are nothing but a hypocrite. Didn’t you just say that she isn’t our ‘property’, and we don’t ‘own’ her? Or does that only apply to me and Xavier?” Pausing, Rafayel smirks with malice intent before lowering his voice to a murderous tone. “If it wasn’t for my beloved caring about your pathetic life I would’ve killed you already with a simple song. Your human body is so fragile that you stand no chance against me, doctor.”

Squaring his shoulders to make his body look bigger than life, Zayne lowers his voice and stares deeply into Rafayel’s eyes. There is nothing but icy animosity in his expression and after a year of having to share you with the other two men Zayne has grown accustomed to Rafayel’s mirrored feelings of hatred towards him. “Save your threats for someone who actually gives a fuck, fish boy. Put your childish behavior aside so we can work together to find her. Three heads are better than one… even if one of the heads is a hotheaded brat.”

Scoffing and rolling his eyes, Rafayel returns to his seat and plops down with an aggravated huff before looking over at Xavier who has also returned to his seat. “Lumiere, tell Zayne all of the information we found out about this King of the Wanderers fellow and how he’s been searching the black market for a specific Aether Core.”

__________________________________

Desire and temptation fill the thoughts in your head as you let Sylus led you to his private master bathroom. Just like his bedroom you can tell that no expense was spared, and this man enjoys the finer things in life. To the left you take note of a lavish walk-in shower that could possibly fit ten people inside, to the right there is a white agate vanity attached to his and her sinks and sitting directly in the middle of the bathroom is an amethyst bathtub that calls to you. Taking calculated steps towards the tub you hold back a small sigh when your bare feet touch the warm marble floors. Of course, this man would have heated flooring in his bathroom. Leaning against the bathroom sink, the red eyed devil of seduction watches you with a calculated expression as you walk closer and closer to his bathtub. You can feel his analyzing red orbs staring past your physical form and deep into your soul, causing you to suck in a tight breath. One. Inhale. Two. Exhale–

Red sirens are going off in your mind and you know that your focus should be placed on finding a chink in his armor or exploit any of his weaknesses to arrest him but right now you want nothing more than to be cleaned and pampered as promised. Who would have guessed that almost a week outside alone in the wilderness would have such a drastic impact on your body and mental stability. A tense silence befalls between you and Sylus as he continues watching you struggle with turning the correct knobs on the faucet to his tub. He knows you are struggling, and you know you are struggling but there is still a part of you that is too prideful to ask him for help. You are already breaking every rule a hunter swears their life to and to keep some semblance of your dignity you refuse to ask your captor for help.

Captor? No that’s not right… Frowning to yourself you faintly shake your head and get lost in your thoughts. Technically you haven’t been kidnapped and Sylus has informed you that you are free to leave whenever you want. He even took the time to show you where the exit was before leading you to his private bathroom. No, you made a choice to be here because you feel that you can still complete this mission. You aren’t a captive and he is not your captor. Instead, Sylus is your fugitive, and you are his lawful huntress that will bring him down no matter what.     

Another agonizing beat of silence passes, and Sylus has finally had enough with watching you attempt to turn on the water to fill the tub. After all, he was the one that promised to pamper you and despite him being a criminal he is a man of his word. With nothing said, Sylus straightens his frame to his full height and walks behind you so that your back is pressed against his clothed muscular chest before reaching around your waist and turning on the faucet to his tub. The movement is small, but you can feel heat collecting in your lower stomach as you become tipsy on the closeness between you and him. “Remove your clothes princess. Unless you plan on bathing in that filthy uniform.” The low treble this man speaks in almost causes your knees to buckle beneath your weight but the cockiness in his tone is enough to bring you back to your senses… for now.

Putting much needed distance between yourself and Sylus you place your hands on your hips before turning around and glaring at him with a fire that doesn’t truly reach your eyes. “You need to leave the bathroom so I can get undressed.”

“No.”

His reply is so simple, short, and final that you swore you heard him incorrectly. It takes a moment before you realize Sylus has denied your request and before you can open your mouth to yell at him about respecting a woman’s privacy your jaw hits the floor when he begins peeling away his clothing. With that smug smirk on his face Sylus pulls his sweater over his head revealing his sculpted abs before tossing the article of clothing somewhere on his bathroom floor. Next, he reaches for his belt buckle and slowly begins undoing it while holding eye contact with you. You feel your throat grow dry when he tosses his belt next to his discarded sweater and then trails his fingers down to the button and zipper of his pants.

Feeling your face flush with embarrassment you quickly turn your body away from Sylus and stare at the wall in front of you. While trying to stop this growing need that’s festering in the bottom of your stomach you think back to the three men that are waiting for you back home. As someone with three boyfriends you shouldn’t feel shy about undressing in front of a fugitive. You are a hunter and it’s not like you are attracted to him in a sexual kind of way. Right? Pushing aside the possible outcome of Zayne, Xavier, or worse Rafayel finding out what you are about to do your mind drifts over to the thought of a possible promotion if you succeed in completing this mission. After moments of stillness, you decide that playing along with whatever game Sylus has planned for you is just something that needs to be done for the greater good of the mission and your lovers will understand. You know they are unstable and will NOT understand.  

Scanning your eyes through the massive bathroom you locate a towel rack and figure out a loophole to this challenge. Quickly you discard your vest and shirt before wrapping the large towel around your chest and once you are covered you hastily remove your pants and underwear. Once you are free of your clothing with just a towel covering your frame you turn around to face Sylus and notice that he has already settled into one side of the steaming bubble bath and is patiently waiting for you to join him.

Quirking up an eyebrow Sylus grins mischievously when his eyes drift from your face and settle on the towel that’s wrapped around your body before leaning back against the edge of the tub and letting his arms drift on the sides. Closing his eyes he releases a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in as he allows his muscles to relax under the water.

You may be oblivious sometimes and miss social cues here and there, but you are able to read his quiet gesture loud and clear. He is giving you an opportunity to enter the bathtub without him looking and you take advantage of the opportunity as you slip into the other side of the bath before removing your towel and letting it sit on the pile of clothes nearby.

For a long moment you sit in the shared bath with Sylus and take in his Greek god physique without an ounce of shame. With his eyes closed and his head tilted back it is a lot easier to get a good look at the man before you. The King of the Wanderers. Originally you expected to find a man who looked like a beast or even a weird looking old guy that shouldn’t be within 5 feet of the human population. Never in a million years would you have ever guessed that the one who has been pulling the strings to wreak mayhem in Linkon City would be a man that looks as if he should be on the front page of a fashion magazine.

You have questions you want to ask but you also don’t want Sylus to stare at you right now. The bathwater is therapeutic, and you can feel every knot in your muscles loosening up the longer you sit in the warm water. You also genuinely wish to wash away days of grime you’ve accumulated while in the woods trying to track this man down. Biting the inside of your cheek you reach for a nearby loofah and bath soap before you start quietly cleaning your body. First you begin with your hair and face, to your surprise there’s items used to moisturize and detangle your knotted hair with little to no effort. Next you focus on cleaning your arms, chest, and stomach but you avoid your sternum with fear of applying too much pressure and triggering your Aether Core since you are still unsure what has been the cause of your attacks. After, you place your focus on your calves and thighs before shyly holding the loofa over your untouched mound.

“Go ahead and ask your questions, Kitten.”

After twenty minutes of silence, the man before you finally decides to speak and reopen his eyes as he stares intently at your flushed face. The heat of the water in combination with being under his penetrating stare is enough to cause a subtle red hue to peak across your cheeks. He is fulfilling the second part of the promise he made earlier and is giving you the opportunity to ask him whatever questions you may have but you feel your throat constrict with nerves. It was easy to sit naked in this bathtub with a man who is your enemy when his eyes were closed. But now… Now that his sweltering red glare is on your face and drifting down to the hand you have under water that is still hovering over your untouched mound you feel like a deer caught in headlights.

You don’t want to appear weak, or at least not weaker than what you currently look like as you take a deep breath and then open your mouth to speak. It is not lost on you that Sylus eyes have drifted back up to your face and are zoned in on the plumpness of your lips. “Explain what you meant when you said I am a pawn in a game I do not know the rules to.”

More silence passes between the two of you and for a moment you think that maybe you weren’t loud enough for Sylus to hear your question before he lets out a disgruntled scoff and you watch his chest dramatically rise. “I know your Captain very well. She is a persistent thorn in my side that has been tracking me down for almost a decade and has never come close to finding me.” He pauses before reaching out to grab your arm that’s still ducked underneath the water. Before you can protest, he grabs the loofa from your hand and twirls his finger around, motioning for you to show him your back. “She has never come close… until now. You are – hmph… How do I put this lightly?… You have something that I want but I am not willing to return with you as a prisoner to Linkon City to get it.”

Furrowing your brows together in confusion you comply with his request and turn around to show him your back before biting back a whimper when you feel his hands washing your spine with the loofa. “What do I have that you want?”

Your question hangs in the air as Sylus chuckles slowly before returning to his quiet monk state and continues washing your back. It is impossible to not feel distracted as his calloused but gentle hands slide up and down your back to ensure that every inch of you is clean before sliding the loofa lower down your body until he reaches your tailbone. The moment your body stiffens, and you think he is going to slide the loofa down lower you suddenly feel his breath hovering over your left ear and your back is pressed tightly against his bare chest. Gripping your wrist lightly, Sylus places the loofah back into your hands before placing his hands on your bare waist and dropping his voice to a tantalizing whisper. “What I want from you hasn’t been cleaned yet. Finish, Kitten.”

As the words leave his devilish lips you feel your mind turn to literal mush. Your skin feels hot and not just because of the steaming bathwater the two of you have been sitting in. Suddenly you can feel your nerves shift to a heightened sensitivity and your mind is fighting between running away from the man holding you or staying and seeing where this goes. Like a veil has been torn away you can now feel every breath Sylus releases onto your skin, the expanding of his broad chest behind you, how his fingers are gripping your waist as if he’s done this with you a million times before. And you begin to stiffen up when realization hits you that you are sitting on his lap… his bare lap… with little to no space separating the two of you. And the specimen sitting beneath you next to your core is quite large.

Shifting his thighs wider, Sylus hooks your knees over hip and positions your bodies so that you are completely exposed while sitting on his lap. Grabbing onto your delicate wrist he guides your hand down to your chest and hovers over the one area you refused to clean. You feel confused when he places your hand on your chest and not your untouched cave of pleasure. There is nothing in between your chest that he could possibly want since no one, but your trio back home knows about the Aether Core in your heart. Instead of questioning the red eye devil of seduction you decide to allow him to continue since this is for the greater good of the mission. How he knew you skipped over this part you are unsure since his eyes were closed, at least you thought his eyes were closed. “Tell me when you’ve had enough, and I’ll stop.”

Carefully he guides your covered hand up and down your sternum to wash away any lingering flecks of dirt the bathwater hadn’t washed away. You can feel your breathing shift from small pants to irregular gasp each time he guides your hand to brush over one of your perky nipples before returning to between your chests. Technically he isn’t touching you and is leading your hand on where to touch on your body, but it still feels as if you can feel the heat of his fingertips.

Eventually the loofa in your hands is tossed somewhere in the bathtub as Sylus begins lightly nibbling and licking along  the flesh of your exposed neck as he continues to silently instruct you where to touch on your body. Every controlled flick of a finger, every calculated rub of a thumb, every little thing this man is doing to you is driving you crazy and you want more. You need more.

“S-Sylus… Please…” The desperate need in your voice catches you off guard for a moment. You knew you were feeling like a kitten in heat, but you didn’t know how intense your feelings were until you opened your mouth to beg. To beg your enemy and your fugitive to touch you more to ease the rising tension in your lower stomach.

When you decide to beg for more Sylus simply smiles and bites down onto your neck in a way that will leave a pretty bruise. You have no idea how you are going to justify your actions to your trio back home but that’s another problem for future you to deal with in the future. At this point the future version of yourself might create a time machine just to punish the past version of yourself and all the reckless choices you have been making.

“You haven't finished cleaning yourself, Kitten.” While still guiding your hand, Sylus leads you down your stomach back inside of the bath water and past your belly button as the anticipation grows stronger. Inch by inch you can feel yourself become wetter even though you are sitting in a tub of water and Sylus is able to tell as well when he inhales a strained groan the moment your controlled fingertips brush over your folds.

Although Sylus has tried to not directly touch your skin and to only guide your hand where he wants you to be touched, you can feel his fingertips slide away from your hand to brush against your heated skin each time your fingers travel along the needy heat between your thighs. The breathing between the two of you is in sync and is filled with lust and desperation. There is no more denying the physical attraction you two feel with each other as you feel his hardening member that’s now been shifted between your plump ass cheeks twitch each time his finger brushes along your slit.

Biting down on your lower lip you watch through the now murky bathwater that’s finally started to grow cold as Sylus teases you to the point you are now wiggling around in his hold eager for more. He’s finally given up on controlling your hand and has decided to touch you with his own fingers. Each touch from him is too much but also not enough as he purposely avoids touching your sensitive pearl.

Before you can open your mouth to complain Sylus swiftly picks you up and carries your naked body with him back to his bedroom. Because of his lengthy height it only takes him a few strides before reaching his bed and  you are gently tossed down onto his four-poster bed dripped in silk sheets.

While laying on your back and staring up at Sylus with a heated gaze he wastes no time with talking before lavishing your neck in kisses and bites. It’s as if he wants to mark you the way an animal would to prove that their mate belonged to them and only them. All the way down your neck Sylus ensures there isn’t an inch of your skin he hasn’t claimed for himself before shifting his attention to your unattended breast. Taking the left one into his waiting mouth and rolling your right nipple between his thumb and pointer finger you can’t believe you are already close to the edge from just light teasing and nipple stimulation. You want so badly to finally reach your peak, but you don’t want to finish with just this as you place your hands on his head and gently push against him to signal you want him to go lower.

Letting out an annoyed growl Sylus eyes flash to a dangerous shade of red before he pushes your hands away from his head and positions himself over your body while tightly holding your wrist down against the mattress beneath you. “If you wish for us to continue there are a few rules you need to follow, Kitten. Break them and I’ll escort you and this needy little cunt of yours out of my home. Understand?”

The sudden switch in behavior causes you to nervously swallow as you stare up at Sylus. You are used to your trio of men dominating you in their own way in the bedroom and find comfort in submitting to them. But something about submitting to the red eyed devil of seduction seems like it would bring you more than comfort. Something is clawing inside telling you that submitting to this man is second nature to you and you should do it before he becomes annoyed and refuses to touch you. Staring deep into his glowing right eye you bite your swollen bottom lip before nodding shyly. “Yes, sir. I understand.” 

[oceanlipgloss]

TV

SYLUS.

+ warnings: light hues of melancholia (layered with vivid shades of domestic sweetness).

A soft invasion: perhaps the softest of its kind in the black-bruised history of the blood-red world.

Not love, that curse inscribed as a sweet sickness of the heart, not the destiny weaving together hearts; he had loved her for so long, been bound to her for so long. How would something so sacred in all cultures be a malady? Rather, the issue was the cottonlike prizes that spread out over her sofa like a colourful plague.

Was movie night supposed to make people feel so malaise?

Annoyingly crowded. A sofa coated with plush toys absurd in number: the frosting of a glazed donut, or helpless soldiers he and his sweetheart had captured. Their queen sat right in the middle of the throne: a much bigger, lovelier doll.

She.

One time, she had awoken from a most ludicrous dream. Told him that he lacked hospitality. Between the two of them, she was now the one being unreasonably rude.

He knew.

Cats like to tangle yarn.

His destiny likes to mess with his heart.

She was his destiny, and she was, once again, messing with him.

If only he didn’t adore her the way he did. If only he deemed those little antics of hers not so endearing. For her, he would put up with it. For now, he will entertain her silly fantasies of winning. Soon, he will be taking her into his arms. Objections temporarily forbidden.

Boring movie. Cinema these days is often quite absurd: unlikeable, yet hard to make.

The throbbing TV splashed its glow against her face. Light floated above her head. A grand halo. Gold and blue, silver and red. She was happy. Her lips gleamed with innocent excitement. Cool light rebounded off her teeth.

There was barely anywhere to sit, but when his eyes zeroed in on her he suddenly didn’t mind how stitched toys fluffier than kittens were ‘more important,’ greedily occupying much needed space so as to take his place—because, in her welcoming apartment, their ‘comfort’ mattered. She was only being...hospitable...to them; perhaps teaching him a lesson?

So cute.

She was so cute.

He thought about how much he liked the way she loved to annoy him. If he told her, she would rejoice in secret. His childish, childish lover. Greed for his attention would devour every territory in her heart.

Did she know that her sweet, sweet plans always ended up spoilt like mouldy old fruit?

Because he enjoyed her attempts, he never got irritated to begin with. As long as they’re together.

Frame after frame, the odd movie rolled out on-screen, smoother than a Swiss roll and its Chantilly cream, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. The televised scenes were sometimes entertaining, no one could deny that—but watching emotions play across her pretty face was much more so.

His fingertips pulsed warmth against his cheek as he admired her. His soft lips were smiling. His senses were dreamily unknowing.

Something about the way her feelings glittered made memories flicker through his brain, like scarlet flashbacks in a film old colourless, like meadows gemmed with droplets of blood and petals.

Little did she know, their history is sad—such a perfect tragedy—but...it doesn’t always have to repeat itself. Yes?

It’s better.

It’s better to just leave everything to the future: in the palms of their fates, in the embrace of the enamoured hearts in their chests, in the tangle of their bound souls, in the hands of their future selves.

Once is enough.

+notes: overripe-banana WIP #1000 makes its grand debut. Wrote a little more, gave it a slight makeover, fic is over.

+ MASTERLIST

+ AO3 POST

©𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨

[charmwasjess]

you know what this is about. so, without further ado: i'll let u pick between

Jocasta + tikken (tooka kitten)

and

Rael + shrimp cocktail

RAEL + SHRIMP COCKTAIL IT IS

Furthering my beloved "Dooku wouldn't know SHIT about fancy rich people stuff in his Jedi era" agenda. I got the idea for this because I literally watched a friend do the thing at the end.

*

“Finally.” The two Jedi crash into the backseat of the airtaxi, tangling as a pair of very long legs and two shorter, albeit slightly more intoxicated ones try to find room in the tight space. The droid driver acknowledges their Temple destination coordinates, and, with a lurch and swoop, they join the Coruscanti traffic and leave the heat and noise of the event behind them. 

“What an utter, unconscionable disaster,” Dooku, usually the architect of such disasters on missions, announces before Rael can even put his standard distracting-him protocols in place. “A complete farce.” 

“Aw, Master, it wasn’t so bad…” 

Rael’s both lying and stalling, of course, trying to figure out which point of failure Dooku is even so upset about. If it’s related to Rael’s own misbehavior, or some social misstep of Dooku’s, or both. 

“Really?” Dooku’s voice rises incredulously. He’s going wide: his internal targets expanding beyond the particulars into the concept itself, his exhaustion warring with his need to deliver a scathing monologue about the very existence of such fancy political events. “An egregious waste of taxpayer resources with no purpose but pageantry, overindulgence in liquor and ego in equal measures. And both tedious and invasive! For a Jedi of my position? The delegation from Mandriss clearly felt they were entitled to my entire life story.”

“Hmm.”

“And,” Dooku’s tone is aghast now, detailing the worst of the worst, “why do they even have that fork?” 

Rael’s been doing the dutifully-listening Padawan bit, since it seems Dooku is just upset in general, not mad at him specifically, but the fork thing makes him snort. Too bad he wasn’t there to see whatever Dooku did with the fork. 

“And you?” Dooku rounds on him. “Where were you? You left me trapped with that governor!” 

Whoops. Distraction protocol. “I thought the whole thing was that you needed to talk to the governor. Fact-finding stuff. I was giving you space to work your magic!” 

“Talk to him? Yes. I needed a single piece of information from him. But our good governor would simply not…” shut up is the sentiment that flashes like heat lightning behind Dooku’s clouded presence, but of course, his dear Master would never say such a thing, so he simply groans into his hands and continues his internal combustion. 

It’s a little funny, or would be, if Rael didn’t actually feel bad for Dooku. Tall and elegant with a holostar’s velvet voice and a legitimate family connection to royal governance on Serenno, his Master makes an obvious choice to represent the Order at the occasional high-end political function. Except Rael knows Dooku’s heart is made for the battlefield, not the banquet hall. He actually loves that about him.

“I feel wretched,” Dooku admits, massaging his temples. His righteous outrage seems to be collapsing into ennui. 

Odd. When they first started together as Master and Padawan, Rael thought Dooku was a complete stoic: an unfeeling mountain. Once you got to know him though, it was actually amazing how much bitching the man was capable of. Maybe it was that Dooku treated Rael differently now than he had when he was a little kid. There weren’t actually so many years between eighteen and twenty-nine. 

“Yeah, yeah, you feel bad ‘cause you didn’t eat hardly anything.” Rael doesn’t have to guess: Dooku has that exact flavor of cranky that has the aftertaste of emptiness and unacknowledged need that always just made everything worse.

Dooku glowers at him. 

Rael slings an arm around his shoulders, affection –or possibly the several atomic sting shots he’d taken with the bridesmaids - bubbling up in his chest. Hell, he loves this old man.

“Here,” Consoling now, Rael fishes into his robe pocket. “Want some shrimp?” 

“Shrimp?”

He holds out the upsettingly pink offering for Dooku. Five nice, plump cocktail shrimp. Only a little warm from his body heat. Better that way, really. 

Dooku is quiet. 

“Got the cocktail sauce in the other pocket.” 

Rael can’t decide if it is awe or horror dawning in his Master’s eyes. Hell, maybe it’s both. 

“They weren’t… even serving shrimp?” That deep, polished voice of Dooku’s is oddly faint. 

Yeah. Maybe not at the event Dooku was at. Now, at the wedding party taking place on the event space’s lower level, on the other hand… Rael fixes on his widest, most appealing grin. 

A Master may keep a few private secrets, Dooku is sometimes fond of saying, usually about something totally obvious to Rael, like the source of the occasional mark on his collarbone, the one that's always the exact same size and shape as Sifo-Dyas’s mouth. 

Well, Rael figures, a Padawan can keep some too. 

Dooku glances between his open palm and his smile, calculations happening behind his eyes. 

It doesn’t matter. Rael already knows he’s going to eat the shrimp.

[lars-n-drix]

Nectarine

CW/TW — NONCON [DDDNE]

AO3 link

Back when Jason was still Robin, he ends up getting separated from Bruce during patrol by one of Gotham's villains. Getting tied up in an empty warehouse, hanging on a hook by his wrists. 'C'mon little birdie,' lightly slapping his face to wake him up.

In a panic, Jason starts thrashing in his binds when he feels the villain unbuckle the snaps previously holding his leotard closed at the crotch. 'So naive, not even a dance belt?' They muse, cutting off his tighty-whities at the waist.

Jason halted his movements when he felt the blade of the scissors brushed against his thigh.

‘What? Too scared to fight me off? Eh, a smart choice.’ Hands grabbing his thighs to pull over their shoulders. The gentle kitten licks to his shaft paired with the degrading words confused Jason. Allowing for a fog cloud over his mind as an aphrodisiac gas filled the warehouse.

Moans echoing as the villain bobbed their head up and down on Jason’s tiny cock. ‘Such a sweet docile little thing,’ lightly slapping his ass. Laughing when he clenched around their head, trapping them between his legs. Hollowed cheeks suctioned onto the tip.

Jason's fight renews as his orgasm creeps up on him, kicking his legs. Hard thumps land on their shoulders but the villain ignores it, having sustained far worse injuries than what the little boy could dish out. His body fills with dread as the warmth in his stomach compounds onto itself.

The villain, comfortable in their invasion of Jason's personal space, notices all of this. Anticipating the brief second before he came. Immediately removing their mouth, Jason cried out as he felt the white liquid stain the red of his uniform.

'Of course you've never experienced a ruined orgasm. Poor thing.' Letting him stand on shaky legs. Left to hang on his tiptoes as he waited to be rescued. Not that it would take long, the villain having broadcast the video to Bruce live.

'Come collect your charge, Batsie. Never know what bad things can happen in Gotham.'

[dungeonofthedragon]

24XX: Flexible Rules-Light Roleplaying

24XX is a trpg system based on Jason Tocci's 2400: a low-fi sci-fi rules light game. While it originated in science fiction, the system has since been adapted to tell all manner of tales.

24XX reflects character strengths with dice of different sizes. A character who is skilled in hand-to-hand combat may have a d10 in this skill, while an unskilled character has a d6. When they are both rolling to beat the same target number, of course the character with the d10 die is more likely to succeed

If you understand this, you're most of the way to playing a 24XX game.

24XX is great for one-shots, or adventures of just a few sessions. Most games are designed to be printed and folded up as a small pamphlet.

Below the cut is a showcase of the many, many different types of games published using the 24XX system. Many are free or PWYW. Pick one you like, have a read, and you're set for your next game night.

80s Action Movies

Alien Invasion

Ancient Apocalypse

Arthurian Romance...IN SPACE!

Cybernetic Vampires

Grimdark Fantasy

Heroic Kittens

Insect Adventurers

Medieval High Magic

Supernatural Small Town Mysteries

Neanderthal Survival

Neo Noir

Office Drama

Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

Roman Intrigue

Supernatural Coffeehouse

Supernatural Investigators

Survival Horror

Three Musketeers

Vampire Hunters

[ask-kanetsugu-naoe]

What if kittens were everywhere?

What a strange question. I suppose if Kasugayama was to be overrun by kittens, perhaps Lord Kenshin would be benevolent enough to take them in. But there are already so many rabbits everywhere as it is, so there might not be enough space.

Why do you ask? You aren’t planning to launch a kitten invasion, are you?

[gith-egg]

I still have no finished art of my lil gith dude but I want to share him with yall so fuck it I'm making a post about him anyway

Drik ▪︎ Githyanki ▪︎ Ranger

Pronouns: He/They

Age: 22

Height: 6'0 / 184cm

Build: Scrawny, even by Gith standards

Alignment: Chaotic Tired™

Weapon: Heavy crossbow that looks comically way too big for him to use (and almost is)

Companion: Barley, his "cat"*

*half-undead half-gremishka half-cat

Long backstory below cut

In a crèche nestled deep in the Sunset Mountains, a young githyanki was condemned to death. Barely into its fourth year of living, the child had been frail and sickly almost from the start, and would not have been coddled even this long were it not for a particularly lenient custodian. It had become clear the child would not be fit to work, much less fight; to cull it now was as much mercy as it was pragmatism.

And then the child disappeared.

The ability to skim the boundary of the Astral Plane to achieve feats of great mobility is hallmark of githyanki warriors. This is a skill honed through years of disciplined training. Little wonder, then, that the toddler accidentally accomplishing it for the first time in the sheer panic of impending slaughter did so directly into a freezing river.

Perhaps a greater miracle that a dwarven merchant caravan was passing close enough for the sorry thing to be retrieved still alive. With no common language and no knowledge of the nearby crèche, the traders did the only thing they could and took the child along with them.

By the time they reached the next destination on their route - the city of Scornubel - it had become plainly apparent this would not be a permanent addition to their family. Even if the open road had been a suitable stage to raise a young one, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 one ate enough for three and kept getting into places that should have been impossible. Everyone knew the stories of "lost" fey children finding their way under a friendly roof and effecting utter chaos. The child had to go.

Conveniently the issue proceeded to solve itself: the child, again, disappeared.

* * * * *

Almost a decade later, a headstrong adolescent prepared to seek his independence. He was weary of life in this city - tired of the hostile gazes and quickened strides he was met with on a good day, while the others his age found work and opportunities. Drik (as his caretaker had dubbed him: a bug, a meager and invasive crawling thing, how astute) was keenly aware he was not welcome here.

Aishnak, the designator in question, seemed to regard this as a matter of little importance. The kindly old baker assured him there was no need to attain a job or an apprenticeship as there would always be space at his table. This was patently untrue - it seemed like every other week a new orphan showed up on his doorstep - and also, beside the point. Drik did not want to stay in a city that did not want him.

Just give it a few more years, said the old man, you'll find your niche. Just be patient. You're not ready to fend for yourself yet, you're still a kid, the wilderness is no place for one so young, you take the safety of civilisation for granted. Drik had heard it all. He'd also been training with a crossbow for a whole year now, and he knew how to butcher an animal and how to cook and follow a map and, not to be vain, but he was really very good at staying hidden when he didn't want to be found. Better than anyone else he knew. He was ready, and he wouldn't hear otherwise.

Within a week he was back at Aishnak's door. In Drik's defense, which he was very ready to give, this was not because he lacked the skill to keep himself alive. It was because he'd been careless with the life of another.

A feral cat, shot for dinner without difficulty. A litter newly born, discovered after the fact. A heart much less hardened than he'd given himself credit for. Now here he stood with an armful of kittens and a faceful of tears, begging relief from consequences like the child he was.

Aishnak had the grace to refrain from stating the obvious. He promised the kittens would be cared for - save one, as he picked out the runt, the tiny creature already limp and unresponsive. Keeping it with the others will make them ill, he explained; there's naught to do but bury it.

Drik understood. It was a miracle any of them had survived, being so small and left untended. He asked to take the dying kitten back, put it to rest himself. It was only right. Aishnak let him go.

He bundled it against his chest, walked it all the way back out to the place he'd found it, the nest its mother had made in the remains of an old farm shed. He dug a hole, deep enough so that only the worms and plant roots would have the body. He held the sad little scrap of meat in his hands, over its grave. And he cried. He cried and cried and he curled up on the dirt and cradled the thing he'd come here to dispose of and he couldn't do it.

Of course, there was really no alternative, and eventually he had no tears left in him to shed. He had no choice but to pick himself up and finish his work. It was then that he became aware of two things: firstly, that standing up was proving difficult, which was frustrating but not especially out of the ordinary. Secondly, and much more unexpected, the lump of fluff enclosed in his hands was wiggling and making quite a bit of noise.

Drik chanced a peek at the dead kitten and immediately confirmed it was not, in fact, dead, by the metric of it being able to prise its way past his fingers and stumble mewling across his thorax. He didn't have a chance to consider what to do about this though because the next thing he did was fall unconscious.

* * * * *

Another decade come and gone. Lounging in a forest clearing, Drik admired his most recent prize in the morning sunlight: a lavishly jewelled pendant, sparkling not just with the lustre of the gold and stones but with the unmistakeable radiance of magic. Barley corroborated his assessment with greedy scrutiny from where she perched atop his knees. The traveller they'd filched it from hadn't seemed anyone special at a glance, but that just went to show the folly of judging books by their covers.

Offering Barley a quick mental apology - for disturbing her seat and for denying her custody of this latest find, to both of which she shot back a tepid psychic grumble - Drik rolled to his feet and pocketed the necklace. It'd be worth a small fortune, to the right buyer. He was due for a visit home.

[notanothersongaboutlovebracket]

HIIIII!

Warning! This was a lot of work so sorry for any errors and I do know that many songs could be moved to other categories, but I tried to balance everything and that's why the list looks like that!

No pics yet, but here are songs that:

Automatically go into The Ultimate NOT Another Song About Love Bracket (44 songs):

100 Gecs - I got my tooth removed (aka Dental Work Song)

Ado - Usseewa (aka Shut Up Song)

Bill Wurtz - At The Corner Store (aka Corner Store Song)

Bryant Oden - The Duck Song (aka Prank Song)

Danny Gonzalez - Bag Tho (aka Youtubers Song)

Maxwell Anthony - Aromantic moodboard (aka Aromantic Song)

Joan Jett - Bad Reputation (aka Bad Reputation Song)

Paul McCartney - Band On The Run (aka Band Break-Up Song)

Cavetown - Boys will be bugs (aka Boyhood Song)

ERA - Ameno (aka Dog Latin Song)

The Academic - Not Your Summer (aka Summer Song)

Dropkick Murphys - Rose Tattoo (aka Tattoo Song)

Psychostick - We Ran out of CD Space (aka What if? Song)

The Eagles - Hotel California (aka American Culture Song)

Kero Kero Bonito - It's Bugsnax! (aka Bugsnax Song)

Saint Motel - Honest Feedback (aka Criticism Song)

Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (aka The Devil Song)

Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards - Gestapo (aka Fuck Donald Trump Song)

Owl City - Fireflies (aka Insomnia Song)

Bo Burnham - Welcome to the Internet (aka The Internet Song)

They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (aka Istanbul Song)

Tom Cardy - Hey, I don't work here (aka Sudden Alien Invasion Song)

Lemon Demon - Spiral of Ants (aka Animal Metaphor Song)

Satellite High - The Bus Is Late (Waiting For The Bus In The Rain) (aka Late Bus song)

The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (aka Lucy Song)

sidney gish - persephone (aka Mispronunciation Song)

Jorge Velosa - La cucharita (aka Spoon Song)

Jhariah - DEBT COLLECTOR (aka Problems Song)

jimmy dean - big bad john (aka Sacrifice Song)

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues (aka Regret Song)

The Narcissist Cookbook - Sugar In My Coffee (aka Food Metaphor Song)

Echosmith - Cool Kids (aka High School Song)

Car Seat Headrest - It's Only Sex (aka Asexuality Song)

Lemon Demon - Amnesia was her name (aka Amnesia Song)

The Doors - People Are Strange (aka Alienation Song)

Tally Hall - Banana Man (aka Food Song)

Jessica Law - This is Not a Place of Honour (aka Devastation song)

Mermaid Sisters - Galactic mermaid (aka Frustration song)

Pinnochiop - God-ish (aka Modern Culture Critic Song)

Owl City - Peppermint Winter (aka Christmas Song)

Green Day - Longview (aka Boredom Song)

Bastille - Daniel in the Den (aka Betrayal Song)

AsapScience - Periodic Table Song (... you get that one, I think)

Pete Seegar - Oh Freedom (aka Freedom Song)

Are part of Mental issues Song Bracket (8 from 75):

AJJ - Body Terror Song

AJR - Karma

Ashnikko - Panic Attacks in Paradise

awfultune - Redesign

Cg5 - Freak Out

Cg5 and The Living Tombstone - 4get

Chameleon Circuit - Nightmares

Creep-P - Exorcism

Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppe, Jack White - Two Against One

Eden Epinosa - Waiting in the Wings

Eve - Dramaturgy; Literary Nonsense; Tokyo Ghetto; How to Eat Life

Fin Argus - Ship in a bottle

Fish in a Birdcage - Fish in a birdcage

Florence + the machine - free; falling

Gabby Young and Other Animals - In Your Head

grandson - In Over My Head; Despicable; Identity

Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Guchiry - Abnormality Dancing Girl

inabakumori - Lagtrain

Jack stauber - Dinner is not over

Jamie Christopherson - Only Thing I Know for Real

Jhariah - Flight of the Crows

Jhariah, Luis Chavez - These 4 Walls

Junie & TheHutFriends - The Consequence Of Imagination Is Fear

Kero KERO boni - toId rather sleep

Lemon Demon - I’ve got some falling to do

MGK - 9 lives

Miracle Musical - Labyrinth

mitski - a burning hill

Neru - Lost One's Weeping

Pale Waves - Noises

Patrick Stump - Explode

Qbomb - Everything is fine

Raghd - Pressure

Rainbow Kitten Surprise - It's Called: Freefall

Red Vox - In the Garden

Shayfer James - Your Father's Son

sidney gish - sin triangle

Simple Plan - Welcome to my life

Sufjan Stevens - I Want to Be Well

syudou - Bitter Choco Decoration

The Arcadian Wild - Tell It Like It Is

The cast of Next to Normal - Wish I were here

the crane wives - hollow moon; nothing at all

The Eagles - Desperado

the mountain goats - up the wolves

The score - Strange

This Could Be On Broadway - Just My Luck

Toh Kay - With Any Sort of Certainty

TUYU - I'm getting on the bus to the other world, see ya!

wilbur soot - since I saw vienna

Will Wood - Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave; BlackBoxWarrior

will wood and the tapeworms - red moon

half alive - What's Wrong

Wowaka - Rolling Girl

The Weakerthans - Plea from a Cat Named Virtute

Cavetown - Home

Marina and the Diamonds - Are You Satisfied?

The Amazing Devil - The Old Witch Sleep and The Good Man Grace

the police - synchronicity ii

Eminem - Stan

Tears For Fears - Mad World

Gary Jules - Mad World

Jessica Darrow - Surface Pressure

Katherine Lynn-Rose - Price of Perfection; Top of my school

Kimya Dawson - Tree Hugger

Are part of War/History Song Bracket (2 from 24):

10000 Maniacs - Gun shy

Don Mclean - The Grave

Dropkick Murphys - Green Fields of France

Sting - The Russians

The Amazing Devil - Elsa's Song

The Cranberries - Zombie

The Mechanisms - Rose Red; Our Boy Jack; No Happy Ending

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

Thirty Seconds to Mars - This is War

Nena - 99 Luftballons

My Chemical Romance - Mama

Bastille - Pompeii

pigwiththefaceofaboy - Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Melody of Tetris

the buttress - brutus

Ghost and Pals - Aura

Weezer - The British Are Coming

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

Jayli Wolf - Child of the Government

Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Paul Brady - Arthur McBride, or The Recruiting Seargent

Sabaton - The Attack of the Dead Men

Charming Disaster - Radium Girls

Are part of Revenge/Confrontation Song Bracket (4 from 36):

100 Gecs - Sympathy 4 The Grinch

Alice Francis - Shoot Him Down!

The Decemberists - Mariner's Revenge Song

Ryan Scott Oliver - Leave, Luanne

Aviators - Red Water Dreams

Bring Me The Horizon - medicine

Da games - Moving up in the world

Dalton Deschain & the Traveling Show - Devil's Night

Death Note the Musical - Playing His Game

Fish in a Birdcage - Four Aces

grandson - Bury Me Face Down

dead end paranormal park - My Frankenstein

I don’t know how but they found me - Choke

Jeremy Irons - Be Prepared

Jhariah - Whose Eye Is It Anyway???

Miles Luna and Benjamin Zecker - Better Than You

Naethan Apollo - You’re Not Welcome

Nightmare Time - Yellow Jacket

Olivia Olsen and Ashley Tisdale - Busted

Poor Man's Poison - Hell's Coming with Me

Queen - Death on Two Legs

Scene queen - The rapture (but it's pink)

steampianist - black hole

The Crane Wives - Take Me to War

the living tombstone, eliemonty - die in a fire

Vane Lilly - Perfectly Sweet

Warren Zevon - Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

StarKid (Twisted Musical) - No One Remembers Achmed

Lord Huronthe - World Ender

Lestat the Musical - After All This Time

ponyphonic - the moon rises

Schell Games - I Expect You To Die

Set It Off - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Martina McBride - Independence Day

Bruce Springsteen - Death to My Hometown

Gaelic Storm - The Night that I Punched Russel Crowe

Are part of Animal Song Mini Bracket (1 from 12):

DaniwellP - Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!

Djjack - Pink Elephants on Parade

GWSNRecipe ~ For Simon

Hullabaloo - Mama Llama

Kila - Howls the wolf

Subwolfer - Give that wolf a banana

Nickel Creek - The Fox

Lemon Demon - Jaws

Thurl Ravenscroft - Everybody Wants to Be a Cat

Jonti Picking - Owls

Will Wood - Tomcat Disposables

mewithoutYou - The Fox, The Crow And The Cookie

Are part of Family Song Bracket (4 from 40):

ABBA - Slipping Through my Fingers

AJR - Dear Winter

Alex Benjamin - If We Have Each Other

The Crane Wives - Never Love an Anchor

Belle - Gales of Song

birds of tokyo - my darling, my son

Brotherhood of man - Save your kisses for me

Cat Stevens - Father and son

Clyde Rabatel (from No Straight Roads Soundtrack) - DK West Encounter 3

Conan Gray - Family Line

Daði freyr - Think about things

Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn

Gregory & The Hawk - Boats & Birds

Johnny Cash - Boy Named Sue

Kacey Musgraves - Mother

Kodaline - Brother

lucy dacus - my mother & I

Of monsters and men - King and Lionheart

Starkid - When the World’s at Stake; The Power in Me

Passion Pit - Take a Walk

Phineas and Ferb Cast - Us Against the Universe

Radical Face - Always Gold

Set It Off - Dad's Song

Stromae - Papaoutai

Tayc - Qui

beetlejuice the musical - dead mom

twenty øne piløts - My Blood

MGK - Last November

Jessie Shelton (36 Questions Musical) - Our Word

Sasha Alex Sloan - Older

Marina and the Diamonds - The Family Jewels

Mitski - Class of 2013

The Amazing Devil - Welly Boots

Laura Shigihara - Jump

The Mechanisms - Once and Future King

Vienna Teng - Grandmother Song

Sleeping at last - Heirloom

surfjan stevens - should have known better

Rammstein - Dalai Lama

Are part of Friendship Song Bracket (2 from 28):

ABBA - Chiquitita Ross Lynch - Can't Do it Without You

BB Bean - Two Best Friends

Bears in Trees - Little Cellist

Beetlebug - Overgrown Garden

Catherine Warwick - Bein' Friends

Cavetown - Lemon Boy

Conan Gray - Best Friend

concrete blonde - take me home

harumaki gohan - cobalt memories

Julie and the Phantoms cast - Flying Solo

Kimya Dawson - Loose Lips

Louie Zong and Brian David Gilbert - Breezy Slide

Madison Reyes, Jadah Marie - Main Thing

Peach Pit - Tommys Party

Radical Face - Summer Skeletons

Sea Wolf - Old Friend

Taylor Swift - seven

The Scary Jokes - Friends With You

Toby Fox - His Theme

Varsity - Krissy

Wicked - Defying Gravity

Laufey - Best friend

depeche mode - never let me down again

Ghost Mice - Free Pizza For Life

Taylor Swift and HAIM - No body, no crime

The Chicks - Goodbye Earl

Gang of Youths - Achilles, Come Down

Are part of Crime Song Bracket (2 from 28):

Anthony Warlow - Alive

Jhariah - Knives Are Dangerous, Kid, So Cut the Theatrics!

Creature feature - The art of poisoning

Crooked Still - Wind and Rain/Twa Sisters

Danny Gonzales - I'm gonna kill Santa Claus

Death Grips - Beware

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks

Kanannon - The Riddle Solver Who Can't Solve Riddles

KuragePChururira - Chururira Daddadda

Lemon Demon - Sweet Bod

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Sodikken - people eater

steampianisti - feed

Teddy Hyde - Terry's Taxidermy

The Beatles - Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

The Cranberries - The icicle melts

The Garages - Firewalker with me

The Protomen - The Hounds

Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

Warrant - Uncle Tom's Cabin

Yugami-P - Alice human sacrifice

The Stupendium - Fiend Like Me

Eliza Carthy - Mrs Dyer The Baby Farmer

George Ezra - Drawing Board

The Mechanisms - Lucky Sevens

The Crane Wives - Curses

Louis Armstrong - Mack the Knife

Panic! At The Disco - Time to Dance

Are part of Addiction Song Mini Bracket (1 from 12):

AJR - Weak

Linkin Park- Breaking The Habit

SIAMÉS - THE WOLF

Dresden Dolls - My Alcoholic Friends

Eric Clapton - Cocaine

Florence + The Machine - Morning Elvis

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses

grandson - Overdose; Pain Shopping

Jack Stauber - Coffee

Ringo Starr - The No No Song

The Living Tombstone - Drunk

The replacements - Here comes a regular

Are part of Fame Song preliminary poll (1 from 7):

Albert Hammond - It never rains in southern California

Bug Hunter - Disco! in the Panic Room

Grand Commander - Fuck you im going underground

John Douglass aka jacksfilms - We're all just assholes talking to a camera

Måneskin - Gossip

The neighbourhood - Wires

Taylor Swift - Long Live

Are part of Supernatural Song Bracket (4 from 36):

Heather Dale - Black Fox

Lord Huron - Dead Man’s Hand

Alex Brightman, Sophia Anne Caruso - Say My Name

Lemon Demon - Cabinet Man

Ludo - Lake Pontchartrain

Alex Brightman, Sophia Anne Caruso - Say My Name

Bear Ghost - Necromancin Dancin

Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla

Bobby "boris" Pickett - monster mash

Charming Disaster - Wishing Well

Creature feature - The Greatest Show Unearthed

David Bowie - Magic dance

Feuerschwanz - Untot im Drachenboot

Single File - Zombies Ate My Neighbors

The Darkness - Black Shuck

The Longest Johns - Moby Duck

Weird Al Yankovic - Jurassic Park

Periphery - Reptile

steampianist - to our colorful scintillating future

Nancy Kerr - Fragile Water

The Hush Sound - Lighthouse

Cave mouth - Hecate

Kurt Elling - Nature boy

S. J. Tucker - Cheshire Kitten

The Living Tombstone ft. BSlick & Crusher-P - 1000 Doors

Jessica Law - Raising the Dead!

the forgetmenauts - charlatan in red

Everything Everything - Leviathan

The Searchers - Love Potion Number Nine

Tenacious D - Tribute

Thoushaltnot - The Haunted Phonograph

Heather Dale - Changeling Child

The lab rats - Devil's train

The Mechanisms - The Riddle Of The Sphinx

S.J. Tucker - Song of the Witches

Bug Hunter - 2 Bed, 2 Bath, and a Ghost

Are part of Piracy/Western Song Bracket (1 from 16):

Fish in a Birdcage Rule #23 - Birds of a Feather

Alestorm - Drink

The Longest Johns - The Last Bristolian Pirate; Wellerman

Master Bones Jangle - The Derelict

Brillig - The old captain

The Arrogant Worms - The Last Sasketchewan Pirate

Stan Rogers - Barrett’s Priveteers

The Longest Johns - Off to Sea

Brian David Gilbert - Pumpkin Cowboy

glen campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy

Jim Croce - You Don’t Mess Around With Jim

Charlie Daniels Band - The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Marty Robbins - Big Iron

Tom Cardy - The Ballad of Smokin' Joe Rudeboy

John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads

Are part of Positivity Song Bracket (4 from 52):

AURORA - Running with the wolves

Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up

Bon Jovi - It's My Life

Brent Morgan - Gonna Be Okay

Caleb Hyles - Amber and Rain

Chip Skylark - My Shiny Teeth and Me

Colbie Caillat - Try

Death - Let The World Turn

Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires

Delta Rae - Dance in the Graveyards

dodie - Secret for the Mad

Elsa - Show Yourself

Florence and the machine - daffodil

Go! Child - Outro

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes - Wake Up Everybody

I Fight Dragons - Disaster Hearts

Jeff Williams - This Life is Mine

Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want It

Kenny Loggins - Footloose

Lord Huron - Until the Night Turns

Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

Måneskin - Zitti E buoni

MARINA - Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land

Mother Mother - Infinitesimal

OR3O - Living on

Paloma Faith - Upside Down

Rachel Platten - Fight Song

Rhett and Link - I'm On Vacation

Rhythm Heaven - Beautiful One Day

Rise Against - Tragedy + Time

Something Else Yt - I’m Something Else

Sonic adventure 2 - Escape from the city

Stan Rogers - The Mary Ellen Carter

Steam Powered Giraffe - Malfunction

Steppen Wolf - Born The Be Wild

Surfaces - Sunday Best

Tamino - Indigo Night

The Black-Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

The Cog is Dead - Weird

The Crane Wives - Volta; Turn Out The Lights

The Crüxshadows - Quicksilver

The Mowglis - Bad Dream

Thomas Rhett - Be a Light

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz - I'm Me

Jack Johnson - Upside Down

VHS Christmas Carol - Christmas Electricity

Frank Sinatra - My Way

Tank and the Bangas - Black Folk

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

The Stupendium - Shine Through

Are part of Mortality Song Bracket (4 from 54):

AJR - Bang!

Bears in Trees - Doing This Again!

Beth Kinderman - Refusal of the Call

Bowling for Soup - 1985

Coldplay - Viva la Vida

Dan Deacon - When I Was Done Dying

Dayglow - Junior Varsity

Death Cab for Cutie - Gold Rush

Ed Sheeran - Castle on the Hill

Eurielle - City of the Dead

House Phone - Drinking Song

Jeff Williams feat. Meredith Hagan - Contact Redux

Lord Huron - Frozen Pines

Lorde - Ribs

Madilyn Mei - Have I Outgrown Minecraft?

Megadeth - Time: The Beginning

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade; The Foundations Of Decay

No, really - Beginning of the end

Oingo Boingo - Dead man's party

Rusty Cage - The Hearse Song

Orla Gartland - Souvenirs

Pale Waves - Act My Age

Peter, Paul, and Mary - Puff the Magic Dragon

Pim Stones - We Have It all

Radical Face - All Is Well (Goodbye, Goodbye)

Saintseneca - How many blankets are in the world?

The arcadian wild - The graduate

the cast of Adventure Time - Time Adventure

The Crane Wives - Keep You Safe

The Gregory Brothers - The Last Goodbye

The Kingston Trio - Where Have All The Flowers Gone

the mountain goats - pale green things; bleed out

the replacements - birthday gal

They Might Be Giants - Am I Awake?

Too Small the Limelight - Anatomy of a Car Crash

Will Wood - Cicada Days; Euthanasia

Yorushika - Say it

Alec Benjamin - Outrunning Karma

Anthony Warlow - I Need To Know

half.alive - creature

The Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr A

The Hush Sound - That's Okay

Judy Kuhn - Just Around the Riverbend

The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

The Mechanisms - Losing Track

The Audreys - Sometimes the Stars

Eve - Fight Song

John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change

Jukebox the Ghost - Fire In the Sky/Where are all the Scientists Now?/A Matter of Time

Jessica Law - Six Years

The Highwaymen - Highwayman

Are part of Morality Song preliminary poll (1 from 6):

Alec Benjamin - Outrunning Karma

Anthony Warlow - I Need To Know

Yorushika - Say it

Twisted the Untold Story of a Royal Vizier - Twisted

The Oh Hellos - Dear Wormwood

Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world

Are part of Alter Ego/Duality Song Mini Bracket (1 from 12):

Anthony Warlow - Confrontation

grandson - The Ballad of G and X

Eden Espinosa and Jeremy Jordan - Nothing Left to Lose

Brasma - Oh, Funny! (How The Sea Goes Round)

Jessica Law - Jekyll & Hyde 4eva

The Amazing Devil - Farewell Wanderlust

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Let It Out

Will Wood - Dr Sunshine is Dead

Billy Idol - Plastic Jesus

Hozier and Bear McCreary - Blood upon the snow

NF - HOPE

Street People - Facade

Are part of Music Song Mini Bracket (1 from 14):

Billy Joel - Piano Man

Bob Seger - Old Time Rock n Roll

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode

Death - David's dream

Heaven Pierce Her - Altars of Apostasy

Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D minor

KEYGEN CHURCH - Tenebre Rosso Sangue

OMORI - not-so-empty house

Saint Motel - A Good Song Never Dies

Tally Hall - Welcome to Tally Hall

Wild Cherry - Play that Funky Music

Don McLean - American Pie

Sarah Bareilles - Love Song

Kenny Loggins - One Small Voice

Are part of Dance Song preliminary poll (1 from 7):

ABBA - Dancing Queen

Caramell - Caramelldansen

dArtagnan - Tanz in den Mai

Loosey Laduca - Let Loose

Miriam Makaba - Pata Pata

The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian

The Spinners - The Rubberband Man

Are part of Sci-Fi Song Bracket (1 from 20):

Basset - Perfect Human

Brendon Small - The Ocean Galaktik

Bryce Dessner, Sufjan Stevens, James McAlister, Nic Muhly - Jupiter

Heather Sanders - Call the Navigator

Portal - Still alive

Qbomb - 1000000 ad

Steam powered giraffe - Brass goggles

Heather Dale - I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing?)

TWRP - Starlight Brigade

Brad Sucks - Lonely

Mili - String Theocracy

Cepheid - Goddess

The Mechanisms - Lost in The Cosmos; Alice; Redeath; Frankenstein; Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser

Train - Drops of Jupiter

The Killers - Spaceman

Alderon Tyran - Dawson's Christian

The Hound + The Fox - The Paradox

Are part of Social issues Song Bracket (2 from 44):

A perfect circle - Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drum

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire

Bo Burnham - Channel 5 News

Bob Marley & The Wailers - I Shot the Sheriff

concrete blonde - god is a bullet

Eddie Grant - Electric Avenue

Geoff Berner - Daloy polizei

grandson - Dirty; Is This What You Wanted; Bills; Blood // Water

Harry Belafonte Day OIskwe - Little Star

John Lennon - Working Class Hero

konstrakta - in corpore sano

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows

Les Misérables Cast - Do You Hear the People Sing

lovejoy - the fall

Megson - Generation Rent

muse - explorers

Newsies Cast - Watch What Happens

Poor Man's Poison - Feed the Machine

Shayfer James - Weight of the World

Shinedown - Planet Zero

Steampianist - Dream Eating Machine

Steven Sondheim - Another national anthem

Suzanne Vega - Luka

The Beatles - Black Bird

The Black-Eyed Peas - Where is the Love

The Crane Wives - The Hand That Feeds

The Strokes - The Adults Are Talking

Tikkle Me - Blow My Brains Out

Tom Morello, Shea Diamond, Dan Reynolds, The Bloody Beetroots - Stand Up

Arcade Fire - We exist

Vienna Teng - The Hymn of Axiom

Froukje - Groter Dan Ik

Simon and Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

James Currier - A Fertile Wood at Heart

Bring Me The Horizon - Happy Song

Ralph McTell - The Streets of London

Ren - Money Game 2

Hozier - Eat your young

Greek Fire - A Real Life

Rare Americans - Love Is All I Bring

Penelope Scott - Dead girls

Are part of Biographic Song/Character Theme Mini Bracket (2 from 18):

Boney M. - Rasputin

Don Mclean - Vincent

TeamFourStar - Alexander Anderson

The Cast of Centaurworld - The Nowhere King

They Might Be Giants - Doctor Worm

Tom Lehrer - Lobachevsky

Sabaton - The Unkillable Soldier; White Death

Leonard Nimoy - The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

Sonya Belousova - Toss a Coin to Your Witcher

Sabaton - Father

Mili - Salt Pepper Birds and the Thought Police

Weird Al Yankovic - The Jedi Song

The Doubleclicks - Wonder

Rare Americans - Brittle Bones Nicky

Jim's Big Ego - The Ballad of Barry Allen

The Mechanisms - Hereward The Wake

Sabaton - A Ghost in the Trenches

Are part of Creativity/Tropes/Games Song preliminary poll (1 from 7):

David Bowie - Life on Mars?

Foster the People - Best Friend

Waterparks - Mad All the Time Nicholas Karr and Scott Wozniak - Stupid Nintendo games

Jason Charles Miller - Your Turn to Roll

the mountain goats - wage wars get rich die handsome

Will Wood - The Main Character

Are part of Faith Song Mini Bracket (2 from 18):

Arcade Fire - Here Comes The Night Time

concrete blonde - tomorrow, wendy

Eric Clapton - Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Ghost - He Is

Joan Osborne - One Of Us

K-modo - You will believe

Lemon Demon - Ask For Nothing

mewithoutYou - The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate

Moon walker - I'm afraid I'll go to heaven

the crane wives - the garden

the oh hellos - passerine

The Rare Occasions - Notion

Ben Caplan - Birds With Broken Wings

GHOST - Honey I’m Home

The Dear Hunter - Wait

The Narcissist Cookbook - Apple

Therapy? - Turn

Tub Ring - Impress Your Creators

Are part of Gender Song preliminary poll (1 from 11):

green day - king for a day

Mother mother - Verbatim

Penny parker - Metamorphosis

She/her/hers - Gender is boring

Shea Diamond - I Am Her

teniwoha - Villain

Will Wood - I/Me/Myself

Christine and the Queens/Red Car - Christine

the replacements - androgynous

Ezra Furman - Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 From Goodwill

The Doubleclicks - I'm Winning

Are part of Womanhood Song Mini Bracket (1 from 12):

Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

Emilie Autumn - Thank God I'm Pretty

Little Simz - Woman

LOONA - So What

Queen - Killer Queen

Florence + The Machine - King

Donna Summer - She Works Hard For The Money

The Crane Wives - Ribs

Veruca Salt - Seether

Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn

Reba McEntire - Fancy

Seanan McGuire - Wicked Girls Saving Ourselves

Are part of Travel/Journey Song preliminary poll (1 from 6):

The Beatlesøns - The Yukon Song

Byrds - 8 Miles High

The High Kings - The Rocky Road to Dublin

The Mountain Goats - Parisian Enclave

Shakushain - Wednesday Campanella

Hadestown Cast - Wait for Me

Are part of Greed Song preliminary poll (1 from 6):

The 88 feat. Lorax Cast - Biggering

Lemon Demon - Redesign Your Logo

Patrick Stump - Greed

Pink Williams - The Devil is Real

Dire Straits - Industrial Disease

The Oncler - How Bad Can I Be?

Are part of Dystopia/Propaganda/Preconceptions Song preliminary poll (1 from 9):

The Stupendium - The Fine Print

The Stupendium - Rest Employed

The Stupendium - And So We Fall

The Stupendium & Dan Bull - It's A Joy

Crusher-P - Propaganda!

Hadestown Cast - Why we build the wall

Encanto Cast - We Don't Talk About Bruno

Connor Spiotto - The Villain I Appear To Be

Raye Zaragoza - They Say

Are part of preliminary Nature Song poll (1 from 4):

S. J. Tucker - Firebird's child

Eddie Rabbitt - I Love A Rainy Night

John Anderson - Seminole Wind

Cosmo Sheldrake - The Moss

Are part of preliminary Marriage/Divorce Song poll (1 from 4):

Cécile Corbel - Le bal de chats

The mountain goats - No children

AJR - My Play

Cavetown - Devil Town

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

is there anything in particular that inspired you to write sea glass gardens?

(I love it so dearly btw its a masterpiece)

It was the Frankensteined result of a few different things actually.

Megumi’s storyline with the Zenin actually wasn’t originally created for sea glass gardens. I had a fic where Junpei and Megumi ended up at the same middle school that Megumi’s current conflict with the Zenin featured prominently in (only instead of approaching it from the back end and dealing with the aftermath, it approached it from the front end because Junpei was at the middle school when Naoya came to take him away). That story ended up going through so many evolutions that it became the fic where Fushiguro is unleashed in Junpei’s high school by gojo like an invasive super predator (that I discussed here for an ask game not too long ago), which I liked much better, but that meant that Megumi’s storyline with the Zenin was now orphaned because it only worked if it happened pre-Season 1. But I liked it too much to give up on it, so I put it in a box like an abandoned kitten and set it aside for when I could find another story it worked with it better.

After that, it came down to my thoughts about Yuuta and Maki colliding with my thoughts about the Fushiguro siblings.

Maki and the Tsumiki (the one that lives in my head at least) act as each other’s foil in any story I write them both in. I had another story I was obsessing about over at the time sea glass gardens started to percolate, wherein the Zenin took Megumi and left Tsumiki behind, and the fushiguro siblings spend every day after trying to get back to each other. It included a confrontation between Tsumiki and Maki, because I really did think that Tsumiki and Maki acted as inverses of one another.

Both of their characters are defined in large part by their relationship with their sibling. However, Maki had to leave Mai behind to become who she was meant to be, and the Tsumiki that lives in my head refuses to leave Megumi behind to the denial of her own self. So Maki ends up growing and forging her own place in the world, but it’s not one that her sister can be with her in. In the span of that story, however, Tsumiki completely rejects every opportunity to build a life without her brother (to the detriment of her own fulfilment) and struggles to instead make her own space in whatever world lets them be together. I find Maki’s character endlessly fascinating and I really wanted to make her interaction with tsumiki happen in a fic, so it also went in the box.

Then I watched JJK 0 like seven times because I simply love Okkotsu Yuuta that much.

The thing is that while Maki and Tsumiki are foils in my mind, Yuuta and Megumi are parallels who are marginally out of sync with each other. It would take wayyyy too long for me to break down all my thoughts on Megumi as a character, but I think he exists in Season 1 in a mental place that parallels where Yuuta was in JJK 0.

Namely the fact that they’re both legitimately suicidal.

From a philosophical standpoint, Yuuta and Megumi are actually opposites. Yuuta spends all of JJK 0 trying to justify his own continued survival. Megumi, meanwhile, spends all of Season 1 having accepted the forfeiture of his own life and extremely angry about it. He is a character who was sold into a career with an enormously high mortality rate at an extremely young age who is marked by the fact that he does not understand his own ability to survive in this world. Like, fucking Sukuna was the one who had to tell him he easily had the potential to beat special grade curses following an aggressive and oddly horny murder attempt. The man was like “megumi you enchant me why are you wasting your talents” and fushiguro was profoundly confused and bleeding from the head like “wat.” He spent all of Season 1 approaching every inconvenience with “I’m calling time of death on this entire situation and summoning Mahoraga.” He did it in almost every fight. Yuuta spends his entire movie trying to make it okay that he’s still alive and meanwhile Megumi will not stop trying to die.

So, from a mentality approach, they’re very different characters. But if you approach them from positions in their own narratives, they’re very similar.

Both Yuuta and Megumi start their respective stories as very powerful people whose youth and lack of understanding of their own ability is taken advantage of. Yuuta is one of the most powerful shamans of the modern age. However, he was also a child who had no idea he even had power, and the higher ups took advantage of that and made him complicit in his own execution. Megumi, meanwhile, possesses one of the most powerful techniques in the entire JJK universe, though he’s stymied by his own self-defeating mindset. He’s taken advantage of as a child and is effectively sold into indentured servitude to the jujutsu world, which honestly may as well be a death sentence in itself. Like, this job’s mortality rate is brutal, and Megumi is sitting there in episode 6 or something talking about how he’s had people die on missions with him before. He’s probably known for a while that this job would kill him one day, and he’s never had the option to quit. So you have these two characters at the inception of their narrative with the potential to be really powerful, but their inexperience and misunderstanding of their own potential leads them to be cooperate in their own death sentence.

Both of their narratives also follow one of personal growth through friendship (Yuuta’s just much less grumpy about it than Megumi). Yuuta unlocks his potential at the end of the movie due to the ways his friends teach him and out of a desire to defend them. Megumi, meanwhile, was initially inspired by Yuuji’s growth to ultimately unlock his own potential while exorcising the bridge curse to defend his sister. So they’re both spurred along very similar arcs even if they carry through it with different attitudes.

And also they’re both completely suicidal.

Self-sacrifice is huge in both Yuuta and Megumi’s narratives. Yuuta opens his movie trying to kill himself to protect other people. He spends his entire movie trying to make it okay that he’s not dead, only for him to walk into his climactic battle like “IM SACRIFICING MY LIFE LETS DIE TOGETHER RIKA” despite Rika showing literally within the first five minutes of the movie that she did not want Yuuta to die and go with her. However, by the time the main series is underway, he has reached that point of self-actualization where he does want to be alive, and his potential explodes into making him one of the most powerful characters in canon.

Megumi opens his interaction with the jujutsu kaisen world through an act of self sacrifice. He’s told that he’s been sold to the Zenin clan and he can either go with them or stay with Gojo and be indebted to the school, and his only concern is which life his sister will be happy in. He cooperates in being a jujutsu sorcerer, but his entire outlook on how the world is fundamentally unfair and full of people who will take advantage of others suggests he’s deeply resentful of what happened to him.

But he thinks he’s already fucked and will not. Stop. Trying. To sacrifice himself. Literally anything happens and he’s like “EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE WAY IM SUMMONING MAHORAGA.” It’s like watching someone personally hurl the same grenade that they then throw themselves on. However, by the end of season 1, he’s started to be greedier and recognize himself as someone who can survive, in no small part through the influence of his friends. And then his potential starts exploding and he’s suddenly unlocking a domain expansion and finding all these new uses for his abilities.

As a result, I kind of view Megumi starting in season 1 in the same place that Yuuta just left in the span of his movie. Megumi’s just a few steps behind him on the path to personal growth, and I really, really wanted to have a fic that featured Yuuta recognizing his own past self in Megumi and striving to help pull him out of that mindset and grow. Sort of like Yuuta being to Megumi the person he needed to have not too long ago. And then I remembered that I had that one old Zenin plot line sitting in a box and dusted it off for sea glass gardens. It fit so well with the events of JJK 0 that it just clicked from there.

The last thing that I patchworked onto sea glass gardens was how mentally not okay I am over the fushiguro siblings.

I’m just a sucker for siblings doomed by the narrative and I am so obsessed with them. I just keep rotating their relationship and shoving it into different stories. I basically have one "master" backstory for them that I keep using for different stories and I will take literally any excuse to cram it in somewhere.

Like, the bit where Tsumiki talks about how Megumi used to sleep outside her door to keep a monster (which turned out to be a curse) away? It's a scene from the story mentioned above where the Zenin take Megumi and leave tsumiki behind. It also present in a time travel story I have where the season 1 trio end up getting booted back in time to 2006 during the star plasma vessel disaster and proceed to be the worst fucking time travelers imaginable (I desperately hope I get the time to write this one because I actually love it even more than sea glass gardens, and I really love sea glass gardens).

The bit about where Megumi had to go no contact with the Zenin following some undisclosed incident in childhood is also a reference to the time travel fic, and I honestly don't know if I'll ever reveal what made him go no contact in sea glass gardens. I'm a firm believer in keeping some plot details unrevealed because of the natural limitations of a narrator, and I'm not sure yet if Yuuta would ever find out about what happened with that.

Sea glass gardens ended up giving me a chance to have another take on the fushiguro siblings where Tsumiki wasn't cursed yet (since the trio comes from the canon timeline, she's cursed in the present day in the time travel fic) but still with Megumi alongside all of the tensions of his deal with jujutsu tech (which wasn't possible in the fic where they were separated as children). It let me play with new tensions on their dynamic that I won't get into because we haven't got into that part of the plot yet.

Which is a very long way of say that I stapled a bunch of things I wanted to talk about together until sea glass gardens resulted.

[sonicasura]

Rescue Bots: Showside

Here we are with the other half of Weretoons and Transformers Aligned combo. This is primarily focus on the Rescue Bots such as shenanigans to possible plot changes. Also some additional worldbuilding since Weretoons interact with the setting more than Prime's iteration. Enjoy.

The best place to start is with Griffin Rock itself. Over 8% of the population are Weretoons while 10% have said heritage. Some own a few local businesses while others work at different establishments such as the zoo. Greene family alongside the Burns are major Weretoon supporters.

These particular Weres can easily see through the Rescue Bots' machine facade(playing pretend is something Toons tend to do.) All of them support the group and usually offer a helping hand in some way. Either for a mission or someone to talk to. (The Rescue Bots deserve a bigger support group during their incognito days.)

Multiple ideas were implemented to make sure any knowledge of Weretoons don't reach the mainland through tourism. These involve little public skits with any toon shenanigans marked as advanced holograms/holoforms. Any footage of Weretoons are uniquely scrambled into a cartoon setting on the respective recording device once it leaves the mainland.

Now that's out of the way, we can get to the main point: the story. Cody is the Rescue Bots major introduction to Weretoons. Although Optimus and Bumblebee aren't aware of said presence until later. (They think Miko is the only one.)

All the bots had their own reaction to Cody showing his Weretoon nature.(Happens on the first episode with the T-Rex.) Chase's processor definitely took a bit longer to understand the insanity that comes with a subspecies who generally breaks multiple universal laws. (He adjusted better once given a book about Laws of Cartoon Physics.)

Heatwave takes it better although he now wonders how WEIRD this planet is gonna get. Absolutely holds Cody like a baby bird or kitten even if the kid ain't in toon form. This bot is a major softy around kids so he's less bothered by younger Weretoon shenanigans.

Blades accepts the knowledge quite easily although he's a bit nervous around the more chaotic members. Cody assures him that the only thing he has to worry about is cream pies, water squirting flowers and the occasional hand buzzer. Weretoons on Griffin Rock are more chill with their antics.

Boulder just finds the whole thing fascinating. He does ask questions but nothing invasive and has watched classic cartoons for research. The least to get pranked by Weretoons as Boulder is too nice to warrant it.

Griffin Rock's public skits, Showside, are an event the bots tend to 'participate'(get dragged in) frequently. What happens through each one is random as improv holds more interest than a simple script. This has led to: Boulder taking the Genie role for an Aladdin scene, a ballerina Heatwave ending up in a dunk tank thrice, Blades tapdancing against a Leprechaun Weretoon for chocolate coins and Chase medieval jousting with a T-Rex.

Bumblebee nor Optimus are safe either once they find out. You can bet Prime ended up in a clown costume trying to play hoops but Bee interferes with water balloons and shaving creme pies. It's overall dumb nonsense yet manages to be silly fun either way.

A personal escape for Cody whenever he feels lonely or a hassle. Despite his gryphon like toon form, any attempts to help his family get shot down just like in canon. Trust me when I say buried emotions don't mix very well when it comes to a Weretoon. It is gonna get pretty ugly once Cody reaches his breaking point.

Thus he tends to cling to the bots. None of them mind Cody showing up to help especially if the situation is really bad. His Understudy troupe does wonders too as he can temporarily copy the Rescue Bots' respective skill set.

Need to put out a fierce blaze? Mimic Heatwave and summon a high pressure water hose from his hammer space. If Cody can't find the right ability then Frankie sends a video that could help. Otherwise he uses his ability to fly and intense strength. A good chunk of situations aren't that bad thanks to being a Weretoon.

Dr. Morroco brings in the real danger once he shows up. When you consider the fruit loop profits from the black market, think about potential clients and who else lives on Griffin Rock. Shit is gonna get dark like how Who Framed Rodger Rabbit traumatized kids with the infamous Dip scene. If Prime is getting sillier then Rescue Bots will receive some messed up moments.

Speaking of that, both sides of this insanity aren't gonna stay isolated. The cast from Rescue Bots will meet their Prime half. Miko and Cody get to be gremlins together as Heatwave goes mother hen mode. (He really doesn't want kids anywhere near active warzone!)

Ratchet grills Optimus for hiding such information(Weretoons and Rescue Bots respective existence). Cody might accidentally end up on the Nemesis bewitching Vehicons with his kind nature to avoid Megatron. Breakdown is gonna quit at some point and drag Knockout with him(Blades' fault).

Can't forget the Team Prime getting pulled into some Showside skit shenanigans should they visit Griffin Rock. Blackmail and teasing all around as they need a break from the seriousness of war. What do you guys think?

[moonfeatherblue]

Hello! A pre-emptive Storytelling Saturday for next week: Describe your WIP in bullet points so my ADHD brain gets it quickly!

Okayokayokayokay!

Umm...

MC Kaz is beaten to a pulp

Space cat Ahn witnesses Kaz being beaten to a pulp

Oh no, here comes an alien! It's attacking a crane game arcade!

Ahn gives Kaz a temporary contract so he can transform into a fire-gauntleted magical boy, rescue his siblings, and beat the alien to a pulp

Ahn explains to Kaz WTF

Kaz settles into his new sparkly career of beating alien monsters to a pulp on the regular - and hey, he's pretty damn good at it!

But whoops, Kaz makes a few mistakes along the way - on the battlefield and in his personal life. Keeping all these secrets from his family is hard

Whoops, sorry... just realised that's more a synopsis by bullet point than describe-your-WIP by bullet point. I should probably not keep going with that and reveal too much.

Let's try again.

Ummmmmmmmmmm...

Loving homage to 90s magical girl anime

Superhero fantasy

Elemental magic

Near-future Alternate Earth

Cheesy evil alien-monster invasion (until wait, no, less cheesy, this is actually kinda dark)

Magical urban warfare

Former delinquent MC

Uptight and so-damn cute space kitten mentor

Odd-couple mentor/mentee relationship

Sibling relationships (and more family drama)

Secret keeper woes

Struggles and successes in the magical workplace

Oh so many communication (and self-worth) issues

Confronting the past and finding out where you belong here and now

And for goodness sake, take care of yourself!

... are these two lists helpful in any way to your ADHD brain, @amaiguri? I hope so... I also hope so much you have been rendered somewhat intrigued ~