#this post brought to you by those little glass animal figurines i used to see for sale at the mall when i was a kid

[sorrcha]

glass

[ary-se]

Mankai with a cat

a few months ago, our cat scratched me right on my cheek and my first thought out of all things was "what if mankai had a cat" pls get me out of this brainrot 😣

on a side note, this got way TOO LONG so i'm putting it under the cut!! this also works as an apology since i was gone for too long without notice ��‍♀️ as always, thank you for reading!

🐾 having a pet for the dorm was a subject mankai always brought up. it definitely sounds like a good idea for a domestic setting, but actually getting a pet is out of the question. sakyo didn't allow it due to obvious reasons, and of course it involved the company's budget.

🐾 there was one time however when muku and yuki went back to the dorms with a white stray cat that had a sprain. that time, sakyo would've given them a lecture like usual, but he gave in anyways and told them that they can foster the cat and they'll let it go after its leg gets better.

🐾 unfortunately for sakyo, everyone got way too attached to the cat before its sprain healed, and sakyo also adored the cat but of course he wouldn't openly admit that. after a week, when the cat got better, it only took a few buttons to push before sakyo agreed to finally keeping the cat, under the condition that they are not getting another pet again.

🐾 no one knew who started calling the cat koko, though it just seemed so natural that everybody else started to follow suit, which was pretty convenient because they didn't have to fight over the cat's name when mankai will finally keep her as a pet. (fun fact coco is the name of our cat)

🐾 that week, tenma deadass acted like an expecting father having his very first child, it was really unnerving to see. taichi and juza would often join tenma in shopping for random cat toys after school, which usually lasts longer than girls shopping for a singular pair of heels and that already says a lot

🐾 the conversation usually goes like this

tenma: "what's the best color for this toy mouse?"

taichi: "i like the red one!"

juza: "that's fine too."

tenma, after 10 minutes: "i see, i'll just buy all 7 colors"

🐾 tenma spoiled koko a LOT. teasers? balls? lasers? plushies? you name it, and tenma literally had them in ALL available colors. he did not really care if some of the toys remained untouched, as long as koko had something to be busy with. tenma had a huge ass box of cat toys that he could open up his own damn store and he'd get a lot of profit

🐾 tasuku literally had no idea why, but koko never scratched anywhere but his legs. is there some sort of magic on his legs?? if there was, it wasn't something tasuku is aware of, and he isn't sure if he wants to know what it is either.

🐾 it actually didn't hurt or anything, it just annoyed him when he needs to go somewhere else and the cat would just pounce to his direction to scratch his legs. tasuku feels bad on walking away, so all he does is stand up and wait until koko is done scratching his leg so he can finally move on.

🐾 when a scratching post was delivered to the dorm, koko has been all over it ever since. when tasuku noticed that koko never scratched on his legs anymore, it then just occurred to him that koko used his legs as a temporary scratching post. if he was being conpletely honest, he doesn't know how to feel about this.

🐾 know the meme of people making their babies choose their pokemon starter? that's what itaru did to koko, except he used the figurines of his waifus instead of pokemon plushies. he'd carry koko to the table, and the figurine koko will knock over would determine who her best girl supposedly is.

🐾 what he didn't know was that koko wouldn't knock one figurine over, but ALL FIVE OF THEM, and they all went rolling from the table and fell down to the floor. he swore that one of the figurines easily gets broken since its glasses came off at some point, and until that moment his trust towards animals has never been tested so bad. gladly, none of the figurines broke so koko is not yet in itaru's hit list.

🐾 even with all the toys tenma showered her with, koko finds itaru's hair on a ponytail very entertaining. itaru doesn't really mind koko messing with his hair as long as his gaming stays uninterrupted, though he gets annoyed when koko pulls a part of his hair too hard. he also somehow gets pissed whenever his hairtie falls off during a crucial moment, but he doesn't have the heart to get mad at koko so he lets her off the hook for so many times.

🐾 if omi is already such a mom to mankai, he is even more of a mom to koko. there is a sack of cat kibbles stored away for weeks, but it still remains untouched up to this day because omi always whip up homemade meals for her.

🐾 there was a time when omi cooked up turkey, mashed potatoes and corn for koko's dinner, but he didn't prepare anything for the actual human beings in mankai. omi was just like, "oh haha, there is leftover curry in the fridge. we probably should finish that first"

🐾 in other words, koko isn't subjected to curry hell. never. cats actually aren't supposed to eat curry or else something would happen. even if cats were allowed to eat curry though, it is highly doubtful that omi will make koko eat curry on a daily basis. if omi is an actual mom, everyone would collectively agree that the favorite child is koko. no buts, no questions asked, that's it.

🐾 it was a given that cats don't like water, so everyone was really surprised when they learned that koko LOVES water. the first time they learned it was when sakuya went to wash the dishes like usual, only for koko to literally pounce by the sink. she waits for sakuya to turn on the faucet and everytime sakuya does, she just sticks her paw out to the water until he turns it off. it was an adorable sight.

🐾 it definitely made sakuya slower on washing the dishes, but he does not really mind one bit, he actually enjoys the company. he opted to use a bit more dishwashing soap after he noticed that koko also liked to play with the excessive foam and bubbles on the sink whenever he finishes doing the dishes.

🐾 everyone in mankai, especially sakuya, already made it a habit to call out to koko whenever they're about to do the dishes so koko wouldn't have to wait for the sound of the faucet before running to the sink. it already is a routine every after mealtime.

🐾 was it already mentioned that koko likes water? yes. whenever the boys get in the bath, koko also joins in the damn tub and REFUSES to leave. after some time, the boys already accepted it and just let the cat stay in the tub, losing their sense of privacy in the process. they also bought little rubber duckies and those bubble bath products so koko can play around with the excessive amount of bubbles and the rubber duckies in the tub.

🐾 there was one time when omi woke up super early to prepare breakfast, though he went to the bathroom first and nearly shit on his pants when he saw koko in the empty tub. no koko, he isn't going to fill the tub with water if you just stay there. get out of there and sleep in your own damn bed.

🐾 koko also follows anyone who is on their way to the bathroom, ALWAYS assuming that they'll fill up the tub every time they do get in the bathroom. sorry to break this to you koko, but taichi wouldn't get in the bathroom 8 times a day to take a bath every single time, he just really wants to pee... please give him a break

🐾 koko always joins tsumugi when he is in the garden, though it was only because she wants to drink on the water coming out of tsumugi's watering can. when there are water droplets on the leaves, she climbs up and licks them off. unfortunately, it is one of the reasons why tsumugi started to yell on a daily basis, "KOKO NO THAT PLANT IS POISONOUS DON'T LICK THAT—"

🐾 tsumugi wouldn't have to warn koko forever though, since she'd eventually memorize what plants are poisonous and what are not. sometimes, after tsumugi is done watering the plants, he'd fill the watering can with water again just so koko would get in the can and chill for who knows how long.

🐾 koko is attached to muku for obvious reasons (he picked her up when she was injured!!) so koko is often in their shared room with kazunari. sadly, there was a time when muku took a break from reading the shoujo manga to grab some water, and when he got back, koko was already tearing it into pieces.

🐾 muku did not get angry at koko, but the cat knew something was wrong when muku was trying to stop himself from crying that koko already knew not to tear any of muku's books in the future. koko still felt really bad about it even after muku bought a new copy of that specific volume.

🐾 whenever kazunari is rushing an art project that is to be passed the next day, muku holds koko close to him so koko wouldn't be able to somehow ruin the painting. there has already been an instance wherein koko stepped all over the painting when muku and kazunari wasn't in the room, and that better not happen ever again.

🐾 gladly, kazunari was calm about it and found a way to fix the blue pawprints all over the white paint, but only god knows what will happen once koko messes up the painting again when kazunari is getting SO close to breaking down because of the deadline.

🐾 there are times when kazunari prefers to eat bread with charcoal and drink his paint water than having koko step all over his artwork, and muku better make sure kazunari does none of that

🐾 banri is unfortunately one of those people who pretends to be a dick around their pets. more often than he would admit, he'd act like he is about to throw a punch to koko, only to actually give it gentle pats on the head. banri throwing the cat mid-air and catching her is already a common sight, too.

🐾 he finds it funny scaring koko in all sorts of ways, especially when it comes to heights. banri would carry koko up high, and pretend to drop her just to catch the cat again. sakyo has reprimanded him a lot of times regarding this situation, but he brushes it off.

🐾 there was one time however when banri just carries koko up high and stays that way. the cat was literally scared shitless of being high up on mid-air unmoving, she literally had no choice but to piss right on banri's face. ever since that time, banri toned down his tendencies of teasing the cat

🐾 koko ALWAYS sleeps with hisoka. it doesn't matter where, will it on top of the sink? on the tree? below the table of the living room? you name it, and you see koko and hisoka stuck to each other like glue. somehow it feels like koko became a replacement of penpen. the poor stuffed toy probably got messed up by the cat, waiting to finally get fixed in yuki's room

🐾 koko got hisoka's habit of sleeping literally everywhere that it became really concerning. there was a time when tsuzuru noticed that koko was nowhere to be found, and everyone went batshit looking at her all over the city. even sakyo got mad at everyone because they weren't keeping an eye out of the cat while everybody else is gone. after how many hours of searching, turns out the cat was just sleeping inside the fucking washing machine

🐾 funny enough, taichi and koko have the SAME eyes. like, actual striking blue. taichi usually carries her and parades around the dorm, announcing the news to everyone even though he has said it for like the 83rd time that day. nobody really minds though, the coincidence is still too unreal. the quote "like pet, like owner" doesn't really apply to koko and taichi though, because if anything, it feels more like comparing a cat to a puppy

🐾 taichi is also the one who plays with koko the most, which solely meant that he also used the cat toys tenma bought as much as the cat herself did. at this point, it wouldn't be wrong if they said that the toys were bought for BOTH koko and taichi because even taichi sometimes finds entertainment in using the teaser by himself whenever the cat is being held by somebody else.

🐾 as much as yuki refuses to admit it, he actually gets concerned when koko climbs up in all sorts of countertops, because that would mean koko would also NOT hesitate to climb up to his sewing machine. he is already meticulous when it comes to his materials for sewing, but even moreso now.

🐾 every after yuki finishes sewing, he tightly encloses the sewing machine with a case so that the cat wouldn't get to touch it and potentially get hurt. yuki also used to just leave his sewing materials on the desk, but nowadays he actually keeps them into somewhere secure so as to not harm anybody. he can't have koko's paws bleeding just because of some damn pin that rolled on the floor

🐾 yuki also somehow feels bad when he drives the cat away from him by force every time he is working on the costumes for the next play. he doesn't know what the cat is thinking, but he hopes that koko knows he is just trying not to actually make her bleed over some needles. as a repayment, yuki lets koko bother him all she wants whenever he does his homework with muku.

🐾 since masumi always used to be alone at home, he always thought of the possibility of adopting a pet cat that would keep him company. that constant thought he had already dissipated when he started living in the mankai dorm, so when they decided to take koko in, he remembered the specific reasons why he wanted to own a cat.

🐾 he never let anyone willingly in his personal bubble except for the cat, which he accepted pretty easily. masumi also found it kind of amusing to blast songs on shuffle from his phone because koko had her own way of showing if she likes the song or not. if she likes it, she doesn't do anything. if koko doesn't, she taps her paw on his phone a lot of times as if telling him to change the song. most of the time, masumi obliges.

🐾 every time tsuzuru opens the fridge really late at night, he has to double check if koko is inside the fridge or not before he closes it. there was one time when he didn't notice koko get in the fridge while getting energy drinks. the cat pretty much stayed in there for hours and hours until omi opened the fridge to make breakfast. tsuzuru was lectured by sakyo that morning because he would be ultimately responsible if the cat died in the fridge from freezing her ass off

🐾 whenever tsuzuru gets in a writing frenzy, koko keeps him company late at night. unfortunately for tsuzuru, if he stops typing for at least 10 seconds, koko takes that as a sign to pounce on his keyboard and just lay down there. tsuzuru already knew better than to carry her away from his keyboard since the cat will be insistent enough to return to his keyboard, so he usually gives up and goes to bed, saving the ideas in his head for the next time he wakes up.

🐾 because of that, every time tsuzuru finishes a script for the next play, his tendencies of passing out right after handing the script to somebody else significantly lessens. tsuzuru doesn't know if the cat is just trying to be annoying or if she just wants him to get some sleep, but either way he doesn't really mind because he gets to stop himself from overworking. well sorta

🐾 juza almost never approaches koko. like never. it feels like he is openly avoiding the cat for some apparent reason, and nobody knows why, but in reality he is just scared as shit of the damn cat. what if koko gets mad at him? what if she suddenly gets aggressive and scratches him? honey you're way bigger than her, and koko wouldn't hurt you... really it's okay

🐾 juza's way of offering affection to the cat is to give her some portions of his meal during dinner, sometimes breakfast. he tries to be sneaky about it, but he legitimately has no idea that everyone knows. it becomes more obvious when koko already made it a habit to sit on the chair behind juza every meal time to get more food. that still happens even after omi just filled up her fucking bowl. nobody comments about it though, they find it hilarious

🐾 koko always tries to test homare's patience, but for some reason homare literally doesn't give a single fuck. every time he is writing something down, high chances are koko would spread the ink all over his paper. sometimes she'd try to crawl her way in his coat sleeve, and homare, he just....... doesn't mind.

🐾 if homare is actually busy however, he'd take out his necktie from his vest if koko doesn't want to leave his lap. most of the time, she actually plays with it like it's a teaser. homare is fine if the necktie gets destroyed, he has a lot of neckties in his closet and some of them are specifically for the purpose of koko messing with them

🐾 not to mention that he also finds it really amusing that koko gets overly excited when it comes to lasers. homare is curious why this would be the case, so he usually uses the laser to play with koko when he has free time. he doesn't think of where he points the laser though, so his wooden desk ends up having a lot of scratches. again, he knows and he doesn't care in the slightest.

🐾 misumi adores koko so much. her ears are triangles, her paws are triangle, her nose is triangle. she is a fucking triangle. with the help of kazunari, he already has a whole album of koko's best pictures in polaroid films. most of them are in a photo book so that everyone has a physical copy to look at, while some of them are taped on misumi's wall. the ones on misumi's room are particularly the ones where her ears are especially prominent.

🐾 at least twice or thrice a week, misumi brings koko out of the dorm and brings her to other groups of stray cats that misumi deems trustworthy. nothing bad happens to koko gladly, because only god knows what would happen once misumi's instincts tell him something horrible is about to happen to their pet cat, and they're always spot on

🐾 citron has ZERO sense of personal space when it comes to koko. citron would literally touch koko anywhere, thinking she is fine with it. unfortunately, there are times when citron pets koko on parts she doesn't want to be touched, particularly the tail and the area around it. citron's hands always end up covered in scratches. over time, he memorized where he should and shouldn't touch like the back of his hand

🐾 citron made a koko jr. which was completely intended to be for display purposes. the cat saw it as a new mouse toy however, so it didn't take a whole day for koko jr. to look like a ball of messed up wool. it doesn't look like a damn cat anymore, though it passes as an extremely fluffy and distorted alpaca

🐾 sakyo never shows affection to the cat. no pets, no strokes, nothing. the most he does to koko is spare her a glance, and sometimes he even glares at her from a distance when sakyo gets too absorbed in his thoughts... despite that, everyone wonders why every time sakyo comes home, she gets more energetic greeting him compared to how she'd greet the rest of the boys when they come back to the dorm

🐾 azuma knows. he would sometimes stay up for late night talks with sakyo, and through their conversations that's when azuma learns how much sakyo cares. azuma often helps sakyo out on trimming koko's nails when they're getting kind of long, trying to be as careful as possible so as to not hurt her.

🐾 azuma is also amused at the fact that sakyo tries to ignore koko resting on his lap, or when he pretends not to notice the cat trying to slip in the pockets of his coat. knowing sakyo, he'll definitely complain about the white fur on his black coat later on. as funny as it is, azuma knows better than to say a word about it.

🐾 before kazunari realized it, his camera roll is pretty much filled with random pictures of koko. most of them are just derp pictures, though... kazunari captures her weird quirks, like how she likes to fall asleep with all fours spread out like a starfish, or how she constantly make noises on the door stopper if she wants to get in the room. the picture with koko's most horrified face on it was when banri threw her high up mid-air, and that is never going to get deleted.

🐾 they find everything the cat does very adorable, even though she is just drinking water from her bowl. or when her tongue gets stuck on the ice tray omi brought out from the fridge. or when she yawns and taichi sticks a finger in her mouth and she doesn't know what to do next. or when she squints her eyes at homare when he gets in a blabbering rampage. literally everything.

🐾 at some point, kazunari thought it'd be a good idea to have those cat tunnels mounted on walls so there will be more room for koko to play. he just said it out of nowhere, but everyone agreed on that idea. after a week or two, the whole dorm is basically a cat playground with a crapton of shelves, slides, and tunnels on the walls, save for the practice room, bathroom, and the bedrooms.

🐾 did sakyo said that they are never, ever getting another pet after koko? yeah right, there's no way that's actually happening. high chances are they got more cats so that the cat playground they all built together will get utilized. the more, the merrier!! even though sakyo complains a lot about the expenses, they all know he isn't against the idea, though they better not tease him for it or sakyo will definitely take it back

[ghostlylorekeeper]

Prompt 5 &6 “Misplace and Silence”

*Note- This is part of a longer project. The other things I post here may also be.

It started out so slowly I wasn’t sure any thing was wrong. We bought a new-old house! I told Lauren I had always wanted to live in one of those sprawling old mansions. I loved to dream about them as a little girl. I was shocked when she laughed and smiled back.

           “Why not?” She answered.

           “Well because it’s so expensive dear. I only bring it up because you told me to dream a little.”

           My wife reached for my hands and turned me to face her. I loved looking in to her eyes. Her green eyes always take my breath away, even after being together for so long.

           “Cynthia, darling! We won the lottery! Its ok to dream. We aren’t getting any younger.” The wrinkles around her eyes crinkled as she smiled at me.

           “I love old houses too! I read too many mysteries about them. Let’s do it.” And that was how we came to own Palewood Manor.

           The day we bought the place I wondered from room to room like a child caught up in a day dream. There rooms where huge and I lost count of how many there were. I loved every rundown, ridiculously ornate, piece of it! It really is no wonder, looking back, that I didn’t notice anything at first.

           I guess the first moment I did start to notice was when Lauren and I began to misplace things. It didn’t really seem that strange. I am forgetful and everyone loses things sometimes. I only noticed it with my keys. I had set them down on the kitchen counter when I came in that day. I remember because they were next to my morning cup of tea. Lauren was going over a list of things we needed to do today for the renovations. Despite being old the middle section of the house was livable and really hadn’t required much work. I was planning to go into town and pick up some paint and things later so I had just sat the keys down and when I got the shopping list from Lauren and looked back they were gone!

           Most of the time when one misplaces things they are simply forgetting where they put them or, rarely, their kids, partner, friend, whoever moved them, but this wasn’t like that. They were there one moment and gone the next! Of course, Lauren helped me look, but we went over the whole counter and floor around it. No keys anywhere.

           “Are you sure you brought them down with you?” She asked, looking around the base of the counter for the third or fourth time.

           “Yes! Absolutely!”

           In the end there wasn’t anything else to do about it. I had to use Lauren’s set to drive to the store. I am almost sure she thought I was being silly and didn’t want to admit I had just left them upstairs, but she gave me her set without much comment. It wasn’t till that night when her favorite book mark went missing that she began to get concerned.

           For the first few weeks that’s the only thing that happened. Not every day but every week a handful of items would go missing and turn up in the most unlikely of places. Places we both knew they had never been. The keys were found inside a drawer in the living room. The bookmark was under a pot out by the back garden. Glasses disappeared from a table and reappeared on top of a book case. A cute figurine that sat in our curio cabinet went missing for almost a week before we found it broke in half in the bathroom one morning.

           It would almost have been comical if not for the rooms. Lauren and I loved working on our house but it was a big undertaking. Even if we could live in the main part of the house without much renovation we both wanted to fix up the rest of the building. We knew it would take a real construction crew to make the left and right wings of the house livable but we figured, with a little help, we could at least work on clearing out any debris and junk before hiring a main crew. We both agreed that having a few local teens come help out would be a good way to get involved in the community. We put up an ad in the local paper asking to have some teens contact us and agreed on an amount to pay them.

           We had about five answer our ad. They seemed like a lovely bunch! It did surprise a few of them that we were both women but none of them seemed too bothered by the idea. Mark was a big friendly guy, with brown hair and a sunny grin. It seemed like nothing upset him. Neil was as far from him as you could get. Always dressed in all black, he was skinny as a rail and had one of the worst dye jobs on his hair. He was a hard worker but like to fashion himself a brooder, but when he forgot himself his laugh was musical. Gina was quiet and shy, all glasses and long reddish-brown hair to hid behind. She was a little plump, which added to her shyness but once she opened up she was a delight to talk to. Tia was a tall lanky girl with an easy smiled and laid-back personality but passionate about her grades and animals. Casey was short and cute as a button. She looked like a tiny pixie and was so excited to meet us. She was a writer, just like us. Oh, we loved meeting all of them.

           We showed the kids what we wanted them to do. It wasn’t too complicated but it was a long process hauling out all the trash and debris. We would collect a pile in a few rooms then carry it all out to a big dumpster we were renting. It was hard to find your way through all the dirty, old, rooms. Some were so covered in trash and dust that it was hard to tell what they were meant to look like. We all used to laugh about getting lost and having to follow each other’s voices back to the main rooms we were working in. I didn’t think too much about it the first few times one of the kids mentioned it but it started to be somewhat odd.

           Mark wandered into a bed room we were working to clear with the oddest look on his face. He scratched his head but shrugged and started to get back to work when Tia asked him why he looked so funny.

           “I was coming back from the bathroom and I was positive I had somehow got turned around. You know that room with the roses on the wallpaper? I passed through there and I was positive it was nowhere near the bathroom. I was sure it was at the end of the left wing not near the middle.”

           “It is.” Gina called. “I know because it has those big windows that look out toward the field.” She looked apologetically at Mark like she was sorry she had to correct him.

           “I could have sworn I passed through there on my way here.” He shrugged again and gave Gina a winning smile. “It doesn’t matter. I probably just passed through a room I thought was it.”

           We all returned to work without thinking to much about it. A lot of the rooms in the house did look similar. A few days later, I started to get a little puzzled when I walked in on Neil and Casey having a truly confusing conversation.

           “How could you possible get here at the same time as me?” She was asking.

           “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense, unless your pulling something on me.” He asked with a suspicious look on his face.

           “Why would I?” Casey asked in bewilderment. “You know I don’t pull jokes much Neil and even if I was its kind of an odd joke to pull.”

           When I asked what the problem was they both turned to look at me with odd expressions, like they weren’t sure how to explain it. After asking a few questions, I determined that had essentially been on opposite sides of the house and had, somehow, reached the same point at the same time.  Casey had been half a house away, while Neil had only walked a few rooms over for them to both meet at the same time in the blue room. I suggested that Casey has started walking before Neil, but they were texting each other at the time. Casey swore it was like the rooms were rearranging.

           I tied to shrug it all off but this was even more unsettling. I began to hate being alone in the place. Even in the bright warm lights of the main livable part of the house, I didn’t feel safe. I tried not to let Lauren know. I knew she had been so happy to find the house for us. I didn’t want to ruin her wonderful find. I didn’t know she had been having her own problems.

           I had been out buying groceries, one morning, the kids weren’t coming to work today. Casey was coming over later to share some of her writing with us but Lauren had decided to sleep in instead of grocery shop with me. When I drove up to the house I thought how is looked peaceful and silent, then shivered. The silence in the house was overwhelming. I often wished there was more noise. Sometimes, it felt like you could be only a room or two away from someone talking or the tv on, and yet not hear a soul. It was eerie and uncanny.

           As I unlocked the door to the house to bring in the first bag, I called out to Lauren, letting her know it was me. I was surprised to see her come running to the front door. I almost dropped the bags I was carrying when she hugged me.

           “I am so glad your home.” She breathed out as she hugged me.

           “What’s wrong?” I asked looking confused but hugging her back anyway.

           “Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t sure what was wrong?” She asked trying to laugh, but it echoed hollowly.

           I am sure my face must have looked really odd because Lauren immediately began trying to explain.

           “You know how it’s always so quiet here? At first, I thought that was relaxing but the more time we’ve spent here the less I like it. It’s become eerie, but today when you left I kept hearing things. It sounds like a group of people talking or whispering just a room or two away. Like someone left a tv on. I have been all over this house and can’t find any reason for it.” She shook her head as I finished unloading the groceries. “I know it sounds crazy but I swear there is something wrong with this place.”

           We were both one edge after that day. Lauren and I weren’t sure what to do. We tried to not be alone in the house. We tried not to leave others alone either. Instead of running errands by ourselves, we always went together. We tried to watch the kids more but of course we couldn’t keep them in our site all the time maybe that’s why it happened. Maybe that’s why she went missing. Misplacing your keys is one thing, misplacing an entire person is something else.

I am getting ahead of myself. I am trying to tell this all-in order.  

[avenger-hawk]

Tagged by: @someone-who-is-there, @shisuicune and @eeliiii

Thanks to all of you ✨🐰🐙🐟🐣🐦🐬✨

(veeeery long post under the cut)

@someone-who-is-there‘s questions:

1. Name three people you admire. 

Margherita Hack, an astrophysicist, animal rights supporter, political activist and self-proclaimed atheist (but when she talked about space you could see how spiritual she was). 

Samantha Cristoforetti, astronaut, the first Italian woman who went to space, he first person who brewed a coffee in space, also the first person who cosplayed in space (she’s a Trekkie, she brought her Star Trek uniform with her)

Giordano Bruno, philosopher and cosmological theorist who hypothesized many planets, star systems and universes (a sort of multiverse as it’s called today), in the Renaissance, when they still believed that everything rotated around the Earth, who believed in reincarnation and pantheism and who was burnt alive for heresy in Rome.

2. Using one word, how would you describe your friends?

Noisy. Sometimes I forget why we’re friends, even~

3. What is the sound you love the most?

Birds chirping, it makes me happy.

4. What fictional character do you wish you could meet?

Uh I’m not sure, I could go for an obvious Naruto universe character but wouldn’t it be too obvious? Also which one would I choose? There are too many..from the Uchiha clan and outside, like Team Taka. So I’ll choose Data from Star Trek Next Generation, an inspiring positive universe and a very human android.

5. What’s the worst thing you did as a kid?

I’ll choose a worst-funny thing. When I was baptised I was a little older than other kids (my mom wanted to wait but she was pressured and eventually she accepted) and I never had sweets because my mom was attentive to healthy food. But I was restless during the ceremony and it was a collective baptism with random kids, in this huge ancient church with catacombs, so some random lady gave me a candy to make me shut up. I went on a sugar high and when the priest took me in his arms and put my head on the baptism water tank (how is it even called haha) I freaked out and thrashed and yelled at him to put me down saying things like “let me go I’ll kick your ass”...something that my parents didn’t teach me, but kids are sponges so how knows where I learned that from~

6. What’s the toughest decision you made this year? 

Shave my head on new year’s day, to get rid of the hair pulling impulse with a shock treatment and let hair regrow properly. Stress comes in many ways, and when you bottle it up eventually stuff will happen. Currently they’re super short except for a couple of bangs in the front. The toughest thing was to say it, not to do it, as it was regarded as an irrational decision while to me it was completely rational, although hard. I suspect the hardest part will arrive in summer, when I won’t be able to wear beanies and hats or a wig. And uh, I’m mentioning this in detail for the first time, so it’s kind of important I guess.

7. What makes you nostalgic? 

I’m not very nostalgic of the past, I’m more nostalgic of things that haven’t happened yet, and probably never will.

8. What superpower would you most like to have? 

Mind reading/manipulating, including animals so I could communicate with them. Basically the sharingan, plus animals.

9. What do you want new people you meet to think about you? 

Uh I don’t really care but sure I don’t want them to think I’m stupid or incompetent.

10. What’s the moment you left childhood behind?

Sometimes I feel like I haven’t left it yet, sometimes I feel like I never was one, as I always overthought things.

@shisuicune​‘s questions:

1. Your favorite childhood memory?

I’m not sure if I have one favourite. But when I think about my childhood what first comes to mind is me playing in the garden with tiny toys, making up their adventures in my head, the grass and flowers as a forest. Also I have a memory of me playing in the garden of some cool elegant house, knowing that inside there is a party. I remember the garden very well and the other kid vaguely. But my parents said they never took me to such place so~

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?

I don’t like tea and I take my coffee dark and bitter as hell~

3. Favorite books?

The Little Prince (A. De Saint Exupéry), Fictions (J.L. Borges)

4. Which fictional character(s) do you see as a role model, or has influenced you significantly in your life? :3

I tend to admire characters who think independently, have strong feelings that run deep, have visionary ideas and aren’t afraid to to whataver it takes towards their goal.

5. If you could change the ending of any work of fiction, which would it be and how would you change it?

Naruto of course. This is what I’d do more or less~

6. If a genie granted you 3 wishes, what would they be?

To have their powers myself so technically I’d have unlimited wishes~

(oh and world peace and no more animals killed)

7. Do you have any pets? If so, what are their name(s)?

I have 2 dogs called Toffee and Paolino, 1 cat called Mordicchio (like Futurama’s Nibbler), 1 occasionally visiting cat called Matisse (I didn’t name him, I prefer Van Gogh haha), aaand I set up a table in my garden for birds to come by and eat, I consider them my pets as well since they call me if I’m late in giving them food. 

8. If you could live (or regularly visit) any place in the world, where would it be?

So many places, Japan, Northern Europe (uh watching Vikings kinda made me dream of those places), Prague again, the UK and not just London, also New Zealand and Australia. 

9. Your favorite movie(s)?

Dark City, Cloud Atlas, Interstellar, Moon..there is definitely a pattern that has to do with (un)reality.

10. If someone were to write a biography about you someday, what should it be titled?

“Reality isn’t real”...or, something taken from an AFI song.

@eeliiii ‘s questions:

1. What are your hobbies?

Reading, writing fanfictions (also an original story-not a fanfic), making sugarpaste figurines, taking walks and watching birds. Oh and thinking about..everything. Just 20 minutes ago I tried to direct a fly towards the open window but it was stuck on the glass and wouldn’t realize that the real open part was close to where it was, and I thought it was a metaphor for reality. Luckily the fly found its way, in case anyone’s wondering.

2. Going to repeat but I’m curious~ Who are your favourite fictional characters?

Sasuke, Itachi, Madara, Shisui, Karin and Team Taka from Naruto, Renji and Byakuya from Bleach, Sesshomaru from Inuyasha, Light Yagami from Death Note, Takagi from Bakuman, Arya Stark from Game Of Thrones, Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica.

3. How do you think we’ve come upon to existing in this world?

Well I do believe in evolution but I also agree with those theories saying that human evolution was “boosted” by an alien civilization's contribution. Also, these “aliens” might be the creatures that ancient humans considered deities and mythological characters. 

4. You have a week to live– what are you going to do?

Say goodbye to who matters, probably say sorry to those I owe it, and spend the remaining time enjoying the weather, my pets, trees and flowers, birds and the night sky to which I’m sure I’ll return. 

5. What songs do you sing/hum~?

Anything that pops in my head. If it’s a metal song I just hum the melodic parts tho. Speaking of which, I was humming Roman Sky by Avenged Sevenfold. Which is about Giordano Bruno, so that’s why I had that song in mind.

6. What type of weather do you like most?

All except for excessive heat. I live in a sunny place and I enjoy that, and I also enjoy a gray day with a light rain.

7. What are your favourite colours?

Dark ones, like blue, green, grey.

8. If you get to pick what sort of world to live in– What’s your ideal kind of world would be?

Star Trek TNG world: a future where the Earth is no longer plagued by world hunger, poverty and wars, where the first encounter with an alien race put everything -different races, orientations, beliefs, cultures- into perspective and humanity united under one peaceful flag. No longer driven by materialism and violence, no longer in need to work for enriching themselves or corrupted companies, humans’ use their intellectual abilities to improve themselves through arts and science and knowledge. They build spaceships that allow them to explore the universe, devices that replicate food and objects they need and allow them to communicate with people from other planets, hologram decks where they can create AUs and scenarios from the past, wear costumes and live adventures from books or anything they want.

9. Favourite Artist?

Escher! I love Escher. Also Italian Futurism, Surrealism, and Pre-raphaelites (except for D.G. Rossetti).

10. What are your sinful pleasures?

Writing and reading fanfiction, especially darkfics, especially rare pairings darkfics~

My questions:

1 What was your favourite childhood game?

2 What character would be easier for you to cosplay, as for physical resemblance? 

3 What’s your favourite moment in Naruto?

4 What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

5 Other than naruto what’s your favourite anime/manga?

6 What’s the most expensive thing you ever bought?

7 What’s your pet name, if you have/had one, or how would you call it if you had one?

8 How would you decorate your house/room with no budget (or logic) limits?

9 What’s the weirdest thing you told someone during an argument?

10 What’s the thing you dislike most in fanfics?

I tag:

@admiral-izusasu, @wynillustrates, @renamon15, @tsukiko-hibiki, @eeliiii, @lusciousitachi, @komiya-kun, @kakashitachi, @loonelybird, @verrottweil, @diaboluslapis, @rockabelle and whomever wants to do this~

[twdmusicboxmystery]

7x10: General Analysis

Good Morning and Happy Monday! What did everyone think of last night's episode? I liked it a lot. I'll admit that, as an episode, I liked it less than 7x09, which surprised me because I thought I'd like it more. But in terms of what it means moving forward, I'm super excited. Let me start by saying that there is a gazillion (totally a number) callbacks to S4 in this episode. Let's dive right in, shall we?

We begin with the Kingdom meeting the Saviors for a pickup. A walker shows up and Diane kills it. 

This sequence is suspicious to me. I'm not entirely sure what it means yet, but I'm side-eying it. I've already talked about (I think) how the Greek goddess Diana would be an apt template for Beth, especially where owls are concerned. And in this scene, she refers to her sister several times. I will also say that in some ways, the goddess Diana equates better with Maggie than Beth, because she is the patron of pregnant women. But again, there's that sister reference, and Diane in the show has a bow. I also noticed that she spoke of her sister and Richard said, "Don't think about it." Then the Saviors arrived. Then, as soon as they left, Diane returned to her sister again. 

Just kind of bizarre, but I’m sure it's purposeful. Will have to think about it some more. Oh, I also googled to try and find out if the Greek goddess Diana has a sister. She doesn't. She has a twin brother, but that's a theme we've seen before too. Twin bridges. Plus, Denise had a twin brother, so it's obviously all connected.

Next, this isn't specific to this episode, but I think I've had ten people ask me in the last week if I'd noticed the blue feather in Ezekiel's hair and what it meant. 

I still think blue is the color of imprisonment (Beth wore blue scrubs constantly at Grady). So I'd say it's a symbol that Ezekiel is imprisoned to the Saviors through his deal. It will be interesting to see if the feather changes color or disappears once that's no longer the case.

The leader of this Savior group foreshadowed his own death. He threatened Ezekiel and specifically Richard: "This has got to stop. Things might need to get a little visceral." But I think he's the one that will die.

And Morgan lost his stick, just like Daryl lost his bow, and Rick lost is gun before. Definite theme going on there as well.

Then we move on to Daryl and Morgan. Their scenes together are gold. The air crackles with angst and emotion when they glare at one another. Loving it! I thought it was interesting that when Morgan said Carol had left specifically because she didn't want to kill anyone, Daryl gives this little disbelieving laugh. 

I don't think he entirely believed Morgan. Or at least, he didn't understand to what extent that was true of Carol. She's never said that to him before, and despite trying so hard to leave in 5x02, she still saved them at Terminus. This scene was, of course, a setup for their later conversation, and I think Daryl was genuinely surprised at Carol's state of mind.

Daryl getting his crossbow. This was another interesting sequence. He pauses for quite a long time and then this melancholy music starts. My very first thought was that he was thinking about Beth. He may have also been wondering at Richard's intentions or imagining shooting Dwight through the throat, but still. It was the sad music that really caught my attention. At the very least, this is a red-letter moment for Daryl, and I think I know why.

I'll do a TTD post, probably tomorrow, because a lot of important things were said in this episode. But one thing that completely dropped my jaw was about the crossbow. Did you guys see TTD? It said that this is actually the third crossbow Daryl has received. Um…I don't think anyone knew that. No one my FB group did anyway. Apparently, he got a new one in S3 when Rick brought one from Morgan's loft. You know, the place where all the suspicious stuff was written on the walls? Of course, most of us didn't start paying attention to these kinds of details until S4, and by then he already had the second crossbow.

But that's not even the point. Third crossbow? Rule of 3's? We are perfectly poised for Beth's return. (And you know, Daryl looked super sexy wielding that thing with passion. ;D)

Then Daryl goes with Richard. There's an interesting sequence right when this part starts. First, we see the sun coming through the trees, much as it did in 5x10 when Daryl cried for Beth. 

Then we see them at Richard's secret fort. He has stuff in glass jars to make Molotov cocktails. Not sure if it's alcohol or gasoline, but both are recalls of Still.

Plus, we have the glass jars (moonshine) and they're in an RV (time reference). Then, as they head out on their journey, they pass a cemetery sign. 

It felt like a symbolic sequence of S4. First sun (at the prison) then Still, then death to follow. I know that doesn't sound particularly hopeful, but we had a serious reunion vibe in this episode. Who did Daryl find among the actual cemetery? Carol. I'll get to why that's important in a minute.

(Random detail, but did anyone else notice the name 'Katy' on the backpack in Richard's closet? No idea what it means, but it felt like a purposeful detail to me. Any ideas?)

The mural on the truck behind Daryl and Richard was important, but I'll leave that for my TTD post since they talked about it there.

Okay, the Daryl/Richard scene. I had to watch this scene like seven times to absorb all the nuances. Richard's plan is both intelligent and complicated. He wants to kill one group of Saviors, in order to piss off the others, so they'll kill Carol, and then that will piss of Ezekiel and he'll finally join the war. Basically, he's manufacturing a reason for Ezekiel to join TF. Daryl asks him why the fire, and Richard simply says that it needs to look bad. In other words, it's not necessary. They could have just used the guns. So, the fire becomes highly symbolic.

We also have another callback to S4 here. Burning bodies is what Carol did at the prison to Karen and David. Not only is that super relevant to this episode because it's a Carol-centric episode, but it's a callback to what happened at the prison in S4. Once again, those events are still relevant in a very real way.

I thought it was interesting that Richard had already guessed that Daryl knew Carol. Here's the thing about Richard, guys. His true character is finally starting to be revealed, and it's not as good as it seemed at the beginning. Yes, he wants to kill the Saviors. Awesome. But think of it this way: Rick and TF would never kill another man's potential love interest (by that, I mean Ezekiel, not Daryl) just to start a war. It's twisted and Governor-ish. I've said from the beginning that Richard reminds me, physically, of the Governor. I'm wondering if this is why. I don't think he's evil like the Gov was, but he's willing to do very questionable things to get what he wants, and that feels Governor-ish to me.

We also get a very in-your-face death omen for Richard here. "I would die for the Kingdom." Daryl: "Why don't you?" Yeah, Richard is probably gonna be toast pretty quick here.

Let's go to the junkyard. First, we see figurines of a rooster, a cat, and a pig. 

The rooster means two things to me: it crows at dawn. So more of the dawn theme which we've seen a lot this season. Dawn of a new day, a new chapter, a new story. A new ending, perhaps? Also, the rooster is a very blatant biblical symbol. More than that, it's a part of Christ's death story. It has much more to do with death than resurrection, but that's okay. I'm actually super excited about this symbol. The cock crowed three times (rule of 3s) before morning, showing that Peter had denied (i.e. betrayed) Christ three times. This was before Christ died. So, 1) the rooster is a symbol that the junk yard group will betray Rick and TF. Also keep in mind that sequentially, the rooster and the betrayal happened before the resurrection. Just saying.

The cat plays into Daryl's arc, for the most part. We have yet another callback to S4, when Joe Claimer told Daryl, "There's nothing sadder than an outdoor cat thinking he's an indoor cat." I remember wondering what the hell that meant and if Joe wasn't a little crazy. I started to understand the theme in S5 with Buttons the horse. Daryl said, "the more they stay out here, the more they become what they really are." This is Daryl's civility/humanity fighting with his animal self. It's been a part of his internal struggle since S4. (Really since the beginning, but it's Gimple that has made it a functional part of the story.) Shiva and Daryl becoming friends also plays into that, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Finally, the pig. Well, we've seen the pig symbol many times. First, the pigs at the prison in S4. (Another S4 callback.) And then also this season when the Kingdom gave pigs (that had fed on walkers) to the Saviors. I think there were other times too but I don't remember specifically what they were.

Yeah, the Scavengers in the junk yard are creepy. They formed themselves into a double circle around TF and then the leader kept waving her hand in a circle. 

Not sure what that means, other than that it seems to be symbolic of this group somehow. I couldn't help but be reminded of Teletubbies, though. They talk in fragmented sentences and all seem to be freakishly tall. Just…yeah, creepy.

Let's talk Father Gabriel for a minute. First thing I noticed is that he is wearing a white shirt. 

I've said before that he's been used as a parallel to or symbol of Beth. And in the most blatant times (like 5x16) he was almost always wearing a white shirt. I think the white shirt signifies the parallels. Gabriel certainly isn't ALWAYS a parallel. Now let's look at him here. After last week's kidnapping parallels, it turns out he was taken to another community by a group that very much resembles both Grady and the Saviors. Then a small group of TF (not Daryl this time but still a handful of them--in fact, the same number: 5--people from TF figure out where he is and come to rescue him. I also noticed that FG took care of Aaron medically. And then there's that speech about hope he gives to Rick at the end:

Rick: "You didn't just hope. You got us here."

Gabriel: "I was beginning to lose faith, but then I saw you…just the fact that you searched and found me… We will set things right, but things are going to get very hard before that time. We have to hold on. I will. Thank you."

Tell me that doesn't smack of Beth.

Then Rick fights Winslow the Walker. While doing it, he steps on someone else who might have fallen to Winslow. And I'm a little confused about this part bc Jadis said they weren't sending anyone else into the pit as they did Rick, but it's obvious that other people have died at this walker's…teeth. I guess she was just lying?

While fighting, Rick receives an obvious Christ-wound in his hand. I'm assuming he'll now be wearing a bandage around for a while, just as he did in S4, and just as Beth did in S5. He also hurt his leg, which wasn't like Beth's hurt ankle. He was cut farther up on the leg, but he still was limping around, much like she did in 4b.

Rick and Michonne continually looked at one another down long tubes. Could have been dark tunnel symbolism. It was very light at the end where Rick was, which symbolically showed that he'd live, and he did.

So the dark tunnel stuff, the injuries, and even being thrown into a scary walker pit where he really should have died but didn't, all feel like possible Beth parallels to me.

When he climbed out (which could symbolize Beth saving herself) the camera focused very obviously on Rick's watch. It's hard to tell, but I think it reads 3:05. 

Yeah, no idea what that time portends, but it almost seems like we might have seen it before. I'll have to research it.

Then we had another instance of the number 3. Jadis wanted half of what they won from the Saviors. Rick insists on 1/3. If you ask me, 1/4 would have made more sense because there will now be four communities fighting. But he said 1/3 like six times during the convo, so more rule of threes stuff. Then Rick goes to shake her hand and she uses the left bc she doesn't want to touch his blood. Not that I particularly blame her, but someone about that felt symbolic. Like the handshake was wrong somehow, twisted, opposite. To me, it just shows once again that this group will betray TF eventually.

Rosita: I knew something was up with Rosita. I really didn't like the way she treated Sasha last episode. And yes, I get that she's still grieving Abraham. (Sasha and Maggie are having the same grief and not acting that way. Just saying. But it's also true that everyone deals with this kind of trauma differently.) But something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. Now we have this. She's taking on a very Negan/Scarlet O'Hara mindset. No matter what she has to do, even kill, she'll do it. Not good, Rosita. Not good at all. This worries me a lot.

Can we take a Richonne appreciation moment? SO much Richonne sweetness in this episode. Gave me warm fuzzies. :D

Back to Carol and Daryl. Ezekiel arrives, apparently by accident, saying that they'd come out to clear away the dead. Except…that there are no walkers anywhere around for them to kill. Nice try, Ezekiel. You're totally coming up with excuses to go visit Carol. But we're cool with that. :D

Jerry! Cobbler! Need I say more? Look at that smile! So adorable.

Carol seems to be reading a book called Denim Dreams. I looked it up, and while Amazon does carry a book by that name, I don’t think it’s the same one. The cover is different at least. But whether the book is real or not, I’m pretty sure she’s reading a romance novel. (Kind of an out-of-character choice for Carol, if you ask me.) And yes, I get that some will take that as a sign that Daryl and her are a romance, but keep in mind that she was just talking to Ezekiel right before this. The romance novel comes between the two men, which is admittedly a bit murky as to who it refers to, but I think we all know the answer to that.

Also remember that Daryl and Beth had a “damn romance novel.” This just shows that they’re using the same symbolism with Carzekiel.

Okay, so this post is already long and I'm not going to go into tons of details about the Daryl/Carol scene. I'm going to do an in-depth analysis of it later this week, as the FB peeps and I have discussed it at length and some of them have come up with ridiculously awesome insights. For now, just know that Norman confirmed on TTD that Daryl and Carol's relationship is mother/son. Daryl turned into a scared little boy asking why Carol had left him. It was so sad! Poor Daryl! 

When she hugged him, he actually pulled away at the end. (Notice how he didn't do that with Beth, even though their hugs were both more awkward in their own ways.)

In the cabin, Daryl sees how broken Carol is and lies to her about what happened in 7x01. He is, no doubt, protecting her the only way he knows how. But contrast that with him telling Carol in Consumed over and over again that Beth is tough and saved herself. He doesn't think Daryl can handle the truth (and he's not wrong) but there's such a massive difference here between his relationship with Carol and his relationship with Beth.

Then they sit and have dinner. Here's what I noticed: there are seven candles in the room (which are probably simply to show that this is S7). But on the table where they eat, there are only 4. I think this is another callback to S4. But guess what, guys? We only saw two dinner tables in S4. One was Carol and Tyrese in 4x14, and I think that's the most relevant here. I said this after ep2, but Carol has returned to a cabin just like the one Lizzie and Mica died at because she's not past it yet. She's returned to her own personal hell to do penance, and she will stay there until she works through these issues. I feel this was yet another callback to S4, and Carol's arc there. But the other dinner table we saw? Yeah, Beth and Daryl in Alone. Just saying.

I'm already having many people tell me they felt like the goodbye between Daryl and Carol was ominously final. I agree, but I don't think Carol is dying just yet. I don't think that's what the hug was about. But I DO think it was a goodbye. I think this is a goodbye to what Daryl and Caro's relationship has been for a long time now. They've lived side by side since S1, and I don't think it will be that way anymore. Daryl will be wherever Rick, Maggie, TF and *coughs* Beth *coughs* is for the day to day stuff. Carol, on the other hand, will be where Ezekiel is. So this is a goodbye to what their relationship has been thus far. They'll remain friends of course and will probably still see one another a lot. But this is a major change. A major crossroads. Things will be different from here on out, and that's good for TD.

Speaking of crossroads, check this out. Total credits to @thegloriouscollectorlady for this. I don't think I'd have noticed it on my own. 

Yeah, another S4 callback to Daryl's state of mind right after he lost Beth. We've come full circle in that way, and once again, Daryl is at a crossroads.

Me and my FB peeps have talked at length about how Daryl and Shiva fit into the symbolism. @thegloriouscollectorlady said it best: Shiva is the definition of an outdoor cat that's been made into an indoor cat, so Daryl understands her very well. Of course, he's struggled to remain an indoor cat. He often slips back into his wilder mindset. The only one who every came anywhere close to taming him was Beth. As I said after 7x02, Ezekiel, the hopeful, gentle character, represents Beth. He tamed the wild animal (Daryl/Shiva) and will tame Carol as well.

This episode is very much preparing us for Beth's return, y'all.

When talking to Morgan, Daryl says, "Whatever you're holding onto is already gone." That's heartbreaking to me. He feels that way about Beth, but there's also Denise and Glenn. He also says, "you don't know shit about me," which was Noah's line at Grady. Let THAT sink in for a minute. Beth saved Noah. Beth fought Dawn (*coughs Negan parallel*) for Noah. Daryl shot Dawn for hurting Beth. Hmmmm.

It was also pointed out to me by @thegloriouscollectorlady that right after Morgan says, "we're all holding onto something," Shiva licks Daryl's hand, as if to remind us that he's still holding on like hell to Beth. All together now: Awwww.

Bottom line: this episode is very much preparing us for Beth's return. All the pieces are moving perfectly into place.

I'll shut up now, but I have a LOT to post this week. A lot more to say. Tomorrow I'll talk about all the TTD clues (there were tons of them!). On Wednesday I'll finally post the Jadis theory I've waited months to post, because I wanted to wait for the episode to air. Thursday I'll do my deep Daryl/Carol analysis. If I have time, I'll also try to get a Carol/Beth master post written. No promises on that one, though. So, what did you all think of the episode?

[mc-odysseyabroad-blog]

Time Flies

13 July

How is it possible that my trip is almost over already?  I can’t believe I have only a few days left!

I’ve been busy since my last post, with both touristy things and my project.  I went along on a few cat-trapping expeditions, with some success, but we were also thwarted a few times by people over-feeding the colonies where we hoped to trap.  Cats with full tummies are very unlikely to be interested enough in food to be trappable.  We’ve had a bit of a lull in the strays brought in to be sterilized at the clinic, partly because it’s been so hot recently that people are less interested in going trapping and cats are less interested in coming out of the shade of the shrubberies.  But on Tuesday, I did my first spay by myself, which was a very exciting milestone!  I actually did two spays and two neuters alone that day, and almost felt like a real vet (who needs those last three years of school, anyway?).  This is my second spay (the first was taken home before I got a chance to take her picture):

I’ve also been working at the bakery where I had so much fun three years ago.  Instead of taking the time to teach me new things, since I’m not here for long and can only go for an hour or so in the morning before I go to the clinic, they’ve been having me make A LOT of baklava and another phyllo-layer dessert.  Between that and the clinic, I feel like my Greek is improving in leaps and bounds (at least my understanding; I still can’t speak it well at all).  I wish I had more time left to put it to use!

On the 4th of July, instead of watching fireworks (there weren’t any), I went to an open-air cinema next to the Acropolis to see an Italian comedy called L’Ora Legale.  In Greece, foreign movies aren’t dubbed, just subtitled, so the audio was Italian and there were both Greek and English subtitles.  That all messed with my brain a little too much, so I tried my best to just ignore the subtitles.  The movie was great fun, especially watching it with Athenians at this time; there were so many little things that either resonated strongly with the experience here (a solid 20 or so minutes of the movie made fun of overflowing dumpsters and related matters) or struck me as hilariously Italian.  I recommend it when it comes out in the US (it’s only been released in Italy and Greece so far).

Last week, I decided to be a ridiculous tourist and ride the Happy Train which I have mocked in my head so very many times, both when I was here studying and this summer.  I felt so silly riding it, but I’m glad I did.  I also took the tram all the way out to and along the coast and back to see the many beaches, although that was less enjoyable (very hot and crowded).

The First Cemetery had been on my to-see list when I was here before, but I never actually ended up going there at the time.  It has graves of lots of famous people (although I didn’t actually find any of them), and lots of fun architecture and sculptures.  It wasn’t anything like cemeteries I’m used to in the US; I’d almost call it urban with the rows of mausoleums and few flowers.  Ground space is very limited, so there aren’t many individual graves, just family mausoleums.  After walking around it for awhile, I found a bench by the entrance to read, and was surprised when a summer class group from CYA (the program I studied with here) came in, taught by a professor I knew, if not well (she didn’t recognize me) - small world!

I’ve also been doing some more museuming, both revisiting old favorites and seeing new places I’m surprised I missed before.  One of the new ones was the Numismatic Museum, which is housed in Heinrich Schliemann’s house (he’s the archaeologist who excavated Troy, and didn’t do a very good job).  There were lots of fun coins from all eras up to the present day and all over the world, and the rooms’ decorations had been restored to what they were when Schliemann’s family lived there.  The wall/ceiling paintings were mostly unremarkable, but there were a few amusing ones (I liked this cupid’s glasses):

After I finished there, I went to the National Archaeological Museum, because it seemed like a crime to be in Athens and not go once, and I do enjoy looking around it, especially all the animal figurines/statues.  I’ll spare you the million pictures I took and just put a few favorites:

Last but not least, I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy the Hellenic Motor Museum, which I’d never even heard of.  I don’t even consider myself much of a car person, but it was a lot of fun to walk through the decades of old cars (with fun old music in the background).  I took tons of pictures, but here are some highlights:

the first production car with front-wheel drive (1935):

the first production car with 4-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system (1969):

a 1937 Chrysler Royal that was used in ‘Captain America - the First Avenger’ (both as a passing car in the street and then as a police car), complete with a certificate of authenticity from Marvel Studios:

and some funky 3-wheeled cars:

It was kind of funny to walk around and see steering wheels mostly on the “wrong” side; the majority of the collection was acquired through auction in the UK (although one was found submerged in a riverbank, and some were being sold as scrap - all beautifully restored)

Although I will be happy to see my family again, it will be hard to say goodbye to Athens next week!!