#mayorofcattown

[owletstarlet]

Ordered The Very Coziest Sticker from @mayorofcattown. The size is perfect, the quality is really nice, and it took a week(?) less than the eta to get to me. Thank you so much 💚💚💚

[bonusdragons]

July 16, 2021:

Spring Tertiary, Fae, Toxin.

Nageki of Mayorofcattown's clan!

[owletstarlet]

Ooh I have to request tanuma and 20 for the ask meme

[From this ask meme. “20: Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?”

Alright, this might be beyond the scope of the question, but for starters, I have some Thoughts on how his tenuous health functions in general. All the series really gives us on that is he’s sensitive to the presence of youkai and often sick for that reason. I’d frame it as more of a (lowkey) physical incompatibility with the world of ayakashi. And that’s of course a hell of a conundrum when they exist in the same ‘world’ as you, and they were there first. So that’d probably have chipped away at his health in a pretty multifaceted way. In addition to being prone to illness generally—I’m sure he’s reliably caught every bug that was ever going around his school and then some, and had more than a few colds or fevers turn ugly fast—I think he’d have wound up with a few more longstanding health problems as well. I could easily see things like a heart murmur, asthma, and/or (almost certainly) a weakened immune system, all things that would just shave years off his poor father’s life, I’m sure. That’s in addition to probably just contending with vague exhaustion and a constant low-level headache most days, though that in particular noticeably improved after he met Natsume. It’s not that proximity to Natsume can necessarily fix the root of the problem, not entirely anyhow, but I do think if he hadn’t met Natsume he ultimately wouldn’t have lived a very long life. 

 Okay so as to one specific instance of a childhood illness. I’d had the idea that, very occasionally, and usually in the event of a high fever, the “veil” between what Tanuma can and can’t see becomes a whole lot thinner, and things that used to be unnerving shadows at the edges of his vision might look a whole lot more solid. And in much the same way as the anime-only version of the “To The Ephemeral Ones” story where Natsume’s remembering being sick and having no idea if he’s seeing a youkai or dreaming/hallucinating it, this would be both confusing and terrifying. And on one memorable occasion, when he was little and resting in a room where all the screen doors were left open to help cool him down, he saw something. And whether that something was really as frightening as his fever-addled brain made it out to be, or whether it meant him any harm, he got out of his futon and ran, and did not stop running until he’d collapsed under a tree in the nearby woods. And even in broad daylight, it took a very harrowing hour or so for his dad to find him, convince him he was safe, and bring him back.  Needless to say, his dad would make sure everything was thoroughly shut and locked up tight if he ever had to leave him in a room alone even for a minute or two the next time he got sick like that. And he would be particularly thorough about cleansing the grounds, and the house itself, so nothing’s getting in or out—  

Also, @taizi mentioned to me the prospect of Tanuma allowing himself to become sick or hurt intentionally if he thought his own boosted sight could help Natsume in any way…which. Ow. So if that happened, I could see him having some ordinary cold or the like, and it coinciding with Natsume dealing with some stressful youkai bullshit-du-jour. And he’d probably go about it incrementally, nonchalantly, mostly just testing the outer edges of a theory, and he figures a couple hours of missed sleep here or a few missed doses of a prescription there aren’t going to kill him, if he’s still going to school and functioning almost normally. And it’s working—the usual sight of shadows detaching themselves from the walls or shapes hovering at the edges of his vision have grown just that much sharper and clearer. But it goes about as well as you’d expect it would; that is, pretty well in his own estimation—I can do this for him, this is fine, this is easy— until it’s the ground that starts looking fuzzy and his legs won’t quite hold him up anymore. And while Sensei’s poking around inside his bag to try to find his water bottle, he comes across the little paper prescription bag, with the date printed on it and not enough pills missing from the blister packs… You can draw your own conclusions about just how well that would go over with Natsume. You’d best believe he’s in for some aggressive mother-henning from not one but four other fiercely kind teenagers plus a disgruntled cat every time he’s ill, until they’re all thoroughly convinced that he’s making every effort to take care of himself.

[owletstarlet]

Oooh I'd love to see tanunatsu with Almond Chocolate Coconut

From the lovely ice cream flavors headcanon meme. Almond chocolate coconut is a touch headcanon. 

Aaah, good choice! Touch and physical reassurance would be so important for both of them; Tanuma because he’s anxious and Natsume because he’s deeply touch-starved. You can see it in the way they both tote Sensei around--Sensei’s got at least a vague sense of why they’re doing it, and he certainly doesn’t hate being held, but he always makes sure to make a big show of griping about it nonetheless ;)

Especially at the beginning of their relationship, it’d be awkward for them. I think Natsume might startle or freeze up a bit at an unexpected hand on his shoulder or touch to his back, as a learned response to hostile youkai or his crueler guardians, and Tanuma’s always unsure if he’s messed things up or crossed a line, etc., etc. But Natsume would end up seeking it out, even subconsciously, because he needs it so badly--reaching out to lace their fingers together or tug at Tanuma’s sleeve, or letting his head rest on Tanuma’s shoulder. And Tanuma is really, really good with providing empathetic touch if Natsume’s been shaken or upset by something, especially if Natsume is unable/unwilling to articulate the problem. Tanuma would think, essentially, I know a Really Long Hug is not a substitute for actual words, but you need one, and I need to physically feel that you’re alive and breathing right now.

As to smaller, more specific headcanons--

1.)  they both like their hair played with. And, because Tanuma used to braid up pieces of long grass and flower stems when he was little and bored, he will idly put dozens of very tiny braids in Natsume’s hair whenever he plays with it. And Natsume either doesn’t realize it or forgets they’re there, and they stick out of his head at funny angles for hours afterwards. 2.) When they fall asleep, Natsume always, always ends up with his nose squashed against Tanuma’s chest and his head under his chin, and Tanuma ends up with his arms and legs all tangled up around him, and he wakes with pins and needles in at least one limb where it got trapped under Natsume all night. 3.)Whenever it storms, Natsume is practically glued against Tanuma’s side, sometimes for hours on end, face pressed into Tanuma’s shoulder like he could melt right through Tanuma’s skin if he tried hard enough. Meanwhile, Tanuma cranks up the gentle touches by a factor of twelve, tracing his fingers up and down Natsume’s arm, tickling his back, and putting roughly 50 little silly braids in his hair. 4.) I talked a bit about this when I did the pets headcanon, but at some point Tanuma absolutely gets a very large, very calm dog for emotional support purposes--it’s hard to stay on the brink of a panic attack for long with both your arms wrapped around a Very Good Boy, who also gives very good drooly kisses. 

[owletstarlet]

Ooh I gotta ask for natsuyuu + animals/pets

Aaah, good prompt, my guy—it’s long so it’s under a cut but I touched on the Fujiwaras, Natsume, Tanuma, Taki, and Natori! [From this ask meme! Askbox is always open!]

So I vote Touko most likely character to take in frequent strays—and certainly not limited to people’s lost dogs and cats, if her fondness for her crow visitor is any indication. But lost dogs and cats are probably the most common guest in the Fujiwara house, and Touko makes it her mission to get them back to their homes—she becomes an unstoppable force of nature, going door to door and making flyers and making sure everyone and their mom knows that a Friend Has Gone Astray. This has been going on for years before Natsume came into the picture, and when Natsume brought Sensei home, there was already a kitty bed and some catnip mice tucked away in a closet. (Side note, she’s known at the local pet store as That Weird Lady who called one time about how to take care of an injured lizard, and Shigeru’s known as Weird Lady’s Husband who showed up 20 minutes before the shop closed, clearly on his way home from his own office job, to buy a tank and heat lamp for aforementioned injured lizard. The lizard made a full and comfortable recovery). Meanwhile she is making sure to spoil the daylights out of the lucky critter. And Natsume is always foremost concerned about Sensei being a dick about sharing food and living space and even the kitty toys he never really plays with—which he always is, but as loud as Sensei grumbles about it and swats and hisses he also tacitly makes sure the critter never gets messed with by whatever Youkai of the Week Natsume’s attracted to the house.

Natsume doesn’t really consciously consider himself to be good with animals, but we’ve seen how caring and empathetic he is to all manner of “strays” throughout the series, and fiercely protective of any being weaker than him or dependent on him for its safety. I think any visiting pets can generally sense that Natsume is a Safe Person and will often be affectionate towards him/sleep with him/at the very least tolerate him if they’re standoffish. It would bother him a lot more than he’d ever admit if a stray didn’t like him, and I think this has its roots in his childhood. He could never get close to the families he was staying with, but I think when the families had dogs or cats, he would spend a lot of his time/affection on them (sneak them snacks, talk to them about his day, sleep cuddled up with them) and generally become very attached to them, and when he would have to leave they’d be the only thing he’d really miss. So when the Fujiwaras say goodbye to the dogs and cats especially, Natsume has to make a visible effort not to look broken up about it, and holds Sensei extra close on those days. He’d never ask for it, but the Fujiwaras would adopt a hundred pets in a heartbeat if they thought it would make him happy.

Tanuma once won a goldfish in a festival game when he was in kindergarten, much to his father’s quiet apprehension. He felt very responsible for making sure his fish had a nice home, and got a book from the library about how to care for it, and spent an hour at the pet store picking out a nice tank for it. And when the fish died a week later (due to the fact that it was a festival fish), he cried and cried and was too scared to buy another one in case it died too. This formative experience had left him generally too nervous to want to keep a pet since, because however irrational he’d got it into his head that if he can’t keep a fish alive he certainly couldn’t keep a cat or dog alive. Temples often look after cats, though, so I’d imagine that he liked to seek them out and sit with them and pet them growing up, because even when they didn’t particularly like him it was easier being around them than being around people. I think Tanuma would do well with a large, calm dog, because wrapping his arms around a Big Warm Friend who licks his face sometimes and looks at him adoringly would do wonders for his anxiety. We know in canon that Tanuma likes to hold Sensei as often as possible, and in no small part that’s a soothing/security thing just like it is for Natsume. I like to think that Tanuma and Natsume get a big ol’ doggo a few years down the road, and Sensei’s quite vocal about how much he dislikes the thing but also sleeps beside it semi-regularly because, as stated above, it is warm and shaped like a friend.

Taki may love cute animals in part because she’s never really been able to keep one in a house with so many precious family heirlooms and papers. She would never turn away a stray pup or kitty they needed a place, but it would stress her out having to look after both an animal meandering through the house and the safety of her grandfather’s life’s work.

Natori tried to keep a cat once, because they can be good sensors of the supernatural and I think often kept by exorcists for this reason. She was a pretty, dainty tabby named Hina, and she was a complete asslord whose hobbies included biting, shredding up furniture and peeing on important exorcism documents. But incidentally Hina could sense and was very fond of Urihime and Sasago, and would purr so loud you could hear it in the next room when they were near. Natori eventually had to give her over to a clan that was willing look after her, and Matoba has gleefully never let him forget about the whole thing.  

[owletstarlet]

Okay but @mayorofcattown what about Natsume acquiring a Nokia brick-phone from either the Fujiwaras or from Natori to keep in contact in an emergency—and it proceeds to become an incredibly effective projectile weapon against hostile youkai...something tries to eat him, and he just chucks his indestructible phone at its face.

[bonusdragons]

June 2, 2019:

Taupe Secondary, Wildclaw, Firefly.

Sorey of Mayorofcattown's clan!

[authoratmidnight]

mayorofcattown replied to your post: So, something got me thinking about my ‘Natsume...

I’d recommend checking out the manga version of this ep (it’s special chapter 12 I think?) cause the anime made a lot of changes/filler to it. the manga chapter makes it p clear it doesn’t work, there’s actually several shots of natsume still sick in bed for days after taking the potion. The filler the anime added was great but it kinda messes up the timeline quite a lot.

See I have read the manga but I couldn’t remember if this episode had a manga counterpart or not(since some of them do not).

And if it’s from around chapter 12 then it’s no wonder I don’t remember it, cause it’s been a while since I read that far back.

I’m probably (over)due for a reread of the manga tbh. I caught myself up on it a few months ago but it’s been a while since i read the earlier stuff.