So I’ve been posting this Transfem Jax series on Ao3 on anon for the last couple of months, but to celebrate posting the final chapter, I decided to 1) take it Off anon and 2) make an animatic about it!!! I’ve been wanting to do something with this song for Ages and it just seemed perfect for this!!!
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s read the series and been so kind!!! And HUGE HUGE shout out to everyone who’s drawn art for it (which now that I’m off anon I can FINALLY reblog!!!)—it genuinely blew my mind that anyone would want to make something based on this thing I started writing on a whim back in September!!! I don’t know what kind of fics & art I’ll be making in the future, but this was such a brilliant experience!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 🌈🌈🌈
(Video description under the cut)
VIDEO ID:
An animatic based on the events of the ‘I Know How to Live’ series by Clatter_pillar on AO3, set to the ending of ‘Finale: The Magic Store’ from The Muppet Movie.
The animatic starts with Juniper (Jax’s name post-coming out within the fanfiction) looking into a mirror, wearing a dress and admiring the reflection with surprise, before turning to Pomni—dressed in a jacket and hat resembling Caine’s—and taking her hand, to the lyrics ‘Life’s like a movie, write your own ending’.
‘Keep believing’, as Juniper and Pomni lie in the grass, Juniper looking at Pomni with a mix of teary hope and trepidation. ‘Keep pretending’, as Kinger and Juniper talk in the darkness of a forest, before cutting to a glowing vision of Ribbit and then Pomni.
‘We’ve done just what we set out to do’ is sung to the backdrop of a compilation of different scenes: Pomni, Ragatha, and Juniper balancing on small platforms in 80s/rave-style outfits; Pomni putting makeup on Juniper; Gangle showing Juniper her sketchbook while they’re sat in the dark in the common area; Caine floating above Juniper and talking to her in her room; Juniper and Ragatha stood silently facing the hallway, turned away from the camera; Juniper laughing at Pomni on the floor as they play DDR; Juniper talking to Kinger in the pillow fort; Zooble and Juniper stuck together in an elevator—and, finally, everyone together at the beach—Juniper, Pomni, Ragatha, and Zooble together in the water as Gangle and Kinger make sandcastles and sunbathe in the background.
‘Thanks to the lovers’; a close-up of the photo of Ribbit, Kaufmo, and Juniper pre-transition together held in her hand, cutting further away to reveal all the photos on Juniper’s wall flipped back over.
‘The dreamers’; Ragatha, Kinger, Gangle, Zooble, and Caine all gathered in Pomni’s room in pyjamas, sitting on the floor and looking like they’re laughing as Caine floats sleepily above them.
‘And you’. Pomni laying down beneath blankets, hand outstretched against the mattress and hopeful. Pomni and Juniper holding each other close, Pomni’s hands on Juniper’s face like she’s something precious and both smiling like there’s nowhere else they’d rather be.
The video ends with Juniper’s final quote of the series, before a final fade to black: “yes, this is what I want life to look like.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
On the final precipice of abstraction, Jax—against all reason, against all impossibility—glimpses the view from halfway down before he gives himself the chance to jump. The fall, after all, seems much worse when you’ve been given a better sense for what happens when you hit the ground. For better or worse, Jax now has his whole life ahead of him (or, at least, whatever counts as a life for a brain scan).
But it’s one thing, to decide that you don’t want to die. It’s another thing entirely to decide that you want to live.
(Or: It takes something like a miracle to stop Jax from abstracting. Fortunately, it just takes a hell of a lot of work to get her to figure out everything else.)
Hi everyone!! I completely forgot to mention it here but I finally posted something new on Ao3 JSDFHJGSJ!!! Hope you enjoy!! 🌈🐛☀️
