FIC: Angry Kitten (4/5)
Jul. 6th, 2026 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](/post-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luthienAngry Kitten (23105 words) by Luthien
Chapters: 4/5
Fandom: Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike/Jackie Pike
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Coach LeClaire (Game Changers), Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e05 I'll Believe in Anything (Heated Rivalry), Kittens, Cats, literal fluff, Texting, Minor Injuries, Minor Original Character(s), Misunderstandings, Soft Shane Hollander, Sprained Ankles, Jealous Ilya Rozanov, Jealousy, Depressed Ilya Rozanov, wanking, the three stages of vodka abuse, Fluff and Angst, Angst and Humor, tonal whiplash, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Multiple, Road Trips, Cockblocking, POV Outsider, Idiots in Love, ride or die Marly, Good Friend Hayden Pike, Good Friend Jackie Pike
Summary:
Chapters: 4/5
Fandom: Game Changers | Heated Rivalry - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike/Jackie Pike
Characters: Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov, Coach LeClaire (Game Changers), Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e05 I'll Believe in Anything (Heated Rivalry), Kittens, Cats, literal fluff, Texting, Minor Injuries, Minor Original Character(s), Misunderstandings, Soft Shane Hollander, Sprained Ankles, Jealous Ilya Rozanov, Jealousy, Depressed Ilya Rozanov, wanking, the three stages of vodka abuse, Fluff and Angst, Angst and Humor, tonal whiplash, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Multiple, Road Trips, Cockblocking, POV Outsider, Idiots in Love, ride or die Marly, Good Friend Hayden Pike, Good Friend Jackie Pike
Summary:
"If you need a cat, and you deserve a cat, the universe will make sure that a cat finds you. That's the Cat Distribution System at work," the woman explains.
"But I don't need a cat," Shane says, baffled.
"Are you sure?" the bearded guy says, looking down at the box, where Shane is still stroking the kitten's head.
"Yes?" Shane says, frowning as the kitten rubs its small, bewhiskered cheek against his finger.
Shane finds a stray kitten; Ilya not so slowly loses his mind.
Chapter summary: Shane's side of the story.
Six Sentence Sunday/Sunday Snippet
Jul. 5th, 2026 09:06 pmluthienNot remotely six sentences from the next chapter of Angry Kitten:
Shane should tell Ilya about the kitten. Why keep it a secret? Ilya's going to make a crack about the zloy kotenok [angry kitten] acquiring his own zloy kotenok regardless of how hard Shane tries to master the art of kitten management in the meantime.
"Ilya," Shane says, and takes a deep breath. "I-"
The kitten chooses that moment to start ascending the sheer curtain at the edge of the panoramic window that takes up most of the wall on the other side of the room.
"Just a moment!" Shane drops his phone on the coffee table and sprints over to the window. The kitten is swaying dangerously on the curtain, like she's in a strong wind, and Shane grabs her off it, just in the nick of time before she falls. "No, baby, don't do that, " he says, carefully detaching one last stubborn claw from the curtain before cradling her against him. He's really going to have to find a proper name for her - if he manages to save her from herself long enough that she'll need one.
Shane should tell Ilya about the kitten. Why keep it a secret? Ilya's going to make a crack about the zloy kotenok [angry kitten] acquiring his own zloy kotenok regardless of how hard Shane tries to master the art of kitten management in the meantime.
"Ilya," Shane says, and takes a deep breath. "I-"
The kitten chooses that moment to start ascending the sheer curtain at the edge of the panoramic window that takes up most of the wall on the other side of the room.
"Just a moment!" Shane drops his phone on the coffee table and sprints over to the window. The kitten is swaying dangerously on the curtain, like she's in a strong wind, and Shane grabs her off it, just in the nick of time before she falls. "No, baby, don't do that, " he says, carefully detaching one last stubborn claw from the curtain before cradling her against him. He's really going to have to find a proper name for her - if he manages to save her from herself long enough that she'll need one.
the 4th of July
Jul. 3rd, 2026 05:18 pmelaynaI was 12 in 1976, I remember the excitement of celebrating that the country was 200 years old. Everyone seemed united in joy. I don't remember specific events, I'm not sure if my family did anything, only the overwhelming enthusiasm for acknowledging the anniversary.
I don't feel any of that excitement this year. Most of the references, jokes, etc., about the 250th anniversary focus on whether we'll survive as a country. I share the stress and concern. Our government is doing many horrible things that violate what I understand to be our values.
And yet, I have to believe that we'll get through this disaster, that at some point, we'll again have a government that believes in protecting and supporting all of our people, not just the Epstein class of grifting oligarchs and pedophiles. I can't accept our future is all chaos and destruction, so my fingers are crossed and I keep writing postcards to voters.
For the love of our country and the entire world, please vote, and vote in a way that constructively stops Republican enablers of the orange felon getting elected. Please.
Anyway, my house is clean, food is ready to be prepped. There's a neighborhood parade tomorrow and I will get lunch from a food truck. Then 13 people (though my nephews are Swifties, so now 13 is a lucky number) will come to my house for dinner and fireworks. The cats will be trapped inside all day, which they won't like but will appreciate when the noise starts. It should be a nice day and I will be celebrating the future. I hope all Americans enjoy the holiday.
I don't feel any of that excitement this year. Most of the references, jokes, etc., about the 250th anniversary focus on whether we'll survive as a country. I share the stress and concern. Our government is doing many horrible things that violate what I understand to be our values.
And yet, I have to believe that we'll get through this disaster, that at some point, we'll again have a government that believes in protecting and supporting all of our people, not just the Epstein class of grifting oligarchs and pedophiles. I can't accept our future is all chaos and destruction, so my fingers are crossed and I keep writing postcards to voters.
For the love of our country and the entire world, please vote, and vote in a way that constructively stops Republican enablers of the orange felon getting elected. Please.
Anyway, my house is clean, food is ready to be prepped. There's a neighborhood parade tomorrow and I will get lunch from a food truck. Then 13 people (though my nephews are Swifties, so now 13 is a lucky number) will come to my house for dinner and fireworks. The cats will be trapped inside all day, which they won't like but will appreciate when the noise starts. It should be a nice day and I will be celebrating the future. I hope all Americans enjoy the holiday.
Survived the return to work - week 1
Jul. 2nd, 2026 08:37 pmruricI was quite good yesterday and did only work a half day from home - well maybe a teensy bit over a half day - but it was all good as I took my personal work inbox from 275 unread emails down to 20 in just over 4 hours. Everything that needed actioning was actioned and I do have a small number of things flagged our intranet I need to read (but that's info and status updates nothing critical). I'm good with that.
Today was theoretically a half day in the office. I've been sleeping weirdly the last couple of nights (heat and humidity) so I wasn't rushing to get in. Rocked up at just after 11am and sat down to battle the shared inbox down. It had just over 1170 emails (about 300 of those had been actioned by colleagues but not filed because they've been stretched covering for me and they also didn't want to eff up my systems).
Had a quick check in with people and started triaging/filing, nipped out at 1pm with the colleagues who been covering so we could sit in the sun and chat for 30 mins and the back to triaging.
Got so absorbed in what I was doing completely forgot I was supposed to be out by 3:30pm and by the time I looked up it was 4:30pm. Leaving between 4-6pm means sitting in traffic for 2 hours so I stayed until 7pm, got the inbox down to around 450 emails inlcuding actioning a chunk of things that had been issued holding emails.
I feel much better for having done that - even if two half days morphed into 1.75 days!
Left at 7pm, pleasant traffic free journey home which only took 30 mins and stopped off in Lidl to buy healthy food so I can stop feeding myself via Deliveroo - when I had no spoons to function for the first 4 weeks Deliveroo came to the rescue.
I'm on a strict promise to not turn the work laptop on again until Monday - so that means a 3 day weekend.
Tonight I'm loading the car for a tip run, quickly cleaning the kitchen and meal planning for the next 10 days, then cleaning the bathroom (deep cleaned last week) and aiming to be in bed before midnight.
Tomorrow's plan:
1. Gym at 7am
2. Tip/recycling run at 8am
3. Focus on bedroom tidy up 9am to 11am
4. Shower
5. Crochet club 1pm to 2:30pm
6. Tip/recycling run 3:30pm
7. Back to the bedroom tidy up
I hoping that by Monday I'll have cleared the bedroom enough to be able to plan a proper deep clean as well as sorting outvthe tiny front garden.
Today was theoretically a half day in the office. I've been sleeping weirdly the last couple of nights (heat and humidity) so I wasn't rushing to get in. Rocked up at just after 11am and sat down to battle the shared inbox down. It had just over 1170 emails (about 300 of those had been actioned by colleagues but not filed because they've been stretched covering for me and they also didn't want to eff up my systems).
Had a quick check in with people and started triaging/filing, nipped out at 1pm with the colleagues who been covering so we could sit in the sun and chat for 30 mins and the back to triaging.
Got so absorbed in what I was doing completely forgot I was supposed to be out by 3:30pm and by the time I looked up it was 4:30pm. Leaving between 4-6pm means sitting in traffic for 2 hours so I stayed until 7pm, got the inbox down to around 450 emails inlcuding actioning a chunk of things that had been issued holding emails.
I feel much better for having done that - even if two half days morphed into 1.75 days!
Left at 7pm, pleasant traffic free journey home which only took 30 mins and stopped off in Lidl to buy healthy food so I can stop feeding myself via Deliveroo - when I had no spoons to function for the first 4 weeks Deliveroo came to the rescue.
I'm on a strict promise to not turn the work laptop on again until Monday - so that means a 3 day weekend.
Tonight I'm loading the car for a tip run, quickly cleaning the kitchen and meal planning for the next 10 days, then cleaning the bathroom (deep cleaned last week) and aiming to be in bed before midnight.
Tomorrow's plan:
1. Gym at 7am
2. Tip/recycling run at 8am
3. Focus on bedroom tidy up 9am to 11am
4. Shower
5. Crochet club 1pm to 2:30pm
6. Tip/recycling run 3:30pm
7. Back to the bedroom tidy up
I hoping that by Monday I'll have cleared the bedroom enough to be able to plan a proper deep clean as well as sorting outvthe tiny front garden.
LJ and recs and things
Jul. 2nd, 2026 11:46 amdonutsweeperAbout a week or so ago livejournal seems to have cut access to its platform from certain locations, the US included. By using firefox's free VPN I can access it depending on the country I set it to (France seems to work best for some reason) but thankfully I had basically grabbed everything I wanted to keep from it a bit back and I don't use it much so it just means I'm not perusing my flist there much anymore which doesn't matter much since most folks are here as well. Still though. End of an era. sigh.
The less said about the weather this summer the better. Ugh. Very glad I finished working on that blanket when I did.
For months now there's been accusations of AI usage and pushback (against the usage and the accusations) in different fandoms, particularly swirling around certain Heated Rivalry authors. There were a lot of AI "tells" but recently it was discovered that Claude (and others I think) left specific html code in a work if it was C&Ped directly from the AI to AO3 and there's been ao3 skins created to find it (for example this one that combines the reversi skin and the detection things), a lot of info about all this has been compiled into a googledoc "Fandom has a Hidden Generative AI Problem" (backed up on the internet archive here) and there's an AO3 user, i_hate_ai_fics, bookmarking all discovered AI works (both by using the html finder and fics that left AI prompts in and other basic tells) that can be found here.
Have a ton of![[community profile]](/post-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
recthething recs. A bunch of art recs from tumblr (and one vid) and also quite a lot of art recs from doodle4doodle
doodle4doodle is still in anon phase but artists will be revealed tomorrow I think (there's lots more great things than what I recced, over 200 actually, peruse the rest of the collection here):
Object and Concept Anthropomorphism:
- Forced Vacation. Summary: Art of Clippy and Coppy at the beach! (very cute and clever)
Original Work:
- [Art] At the Weyr. Summary: It's said that the bond between a dragon and their rider is the most powerful in the world. (beautifully detailed dragon and rider)
- Delinquent Penguins. Summary: Dyeing their hair and making a racket. (Or maybe they're just regular crested penguins.) (absolutely delightful trio of penguins)
- [art] Snide and Snejudice Summary: A snake takes a break from working on her snake magnum opus, or snagnum snopus. (amazingly detailed, love this sleepy snake)
- [art] White-Breasted Nuthatch (wonderfully detailed rendition of a nuthatch)
- [art] Space Whale (whale constellation, very cool)
- [ART] The Subroboticon Summary: The thrilling conclusion to Roboctopus versus Warlocktocon!! A fake cover of two octopuses with no chill for Spring 2026 Doodle4Doodle. (incredibly detailed, really an amazing fake cover for a comic)
- tiny snake says "i love you <3" Summary: pet tiny snake. hold tiny snake. cherish tiny snake. forfeit all mortal possessions to tiny snake. (adorable)
Tetris (Video Games)
- [art] Tetris Museum of Modern Art. Summary: Tetriminos in iconic paintings. (really clever tetris-ish recreations of the paintings)
Tumblr Lore:
- [Art] Neil banging out the tunes. Summary: Neil banging out the tunes April 13, 2006 (great sketch of Neil and his piano)
- Piano Rat. (cute Neil and his little piano)
- [ART] Bang It, Neil. Summary: Neil banging out the tunes, as he does. (adorable art and animated gif)
tumblr recs:
Daredevil
- A World on Fire (amazing tapestry project)
Merlin
- Merlin and Arthur (gorgeous)
Nirvana in Fire
- mei changsu (love the way Lin Shu is shown on the strips of the bandages as they unfurl)
Rivers of Lonson
- Leyendecker Styled PC Peter Grant and DCI Thomas Nightingale (really excellent Leyendecker rendition of these two and The Folly)
Massive fandom video:
- Only the Horses: A fanvid about horses. On tumblr here and AO3 here
(fandoms are: Xena Warrior Princess, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Walking Dead, Hot Fuzz, John Wick 3, True Lies, Leverage, Doctor Who, The Fellowship of the Ring, Hidalgo, The Witcher, Due South, The Lighthorsemen, The Man from Snowy River, The Return of the King, Mulan, Ladyhawke, Bob's Burgers, Brave, The Princess Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Black Beauty, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dances With Wolves, The Black Stallion, Centaurworld, The Neverending Story, Tangled, The Postman)
Hope everyone's doing well and staying comfortable whatever weather issues you're facing!
The less said about the weather this summer the better. Ugh. Very glad I finished working on that blanket when I did.
For months now there's been accusations of AI usage and pushback (against the usage and the accusations) in different fandoms, particularly swirling around certain Heated Rivalry authors. There were a lot of AI "tells" but recently it was discovered that Claude (and others I think) left specific html code in a work if it was C&Ped directly from the AI to AO3 and there's been ao3 skins created to find it (for example this one that combines the reversi skin and the detection things), a lot of info about all this has been compiled into a googledoc "Fandom has a Hidden Generative AI Problem" (backed up on the internet archive here) and there's an AO3 user, i_hate_ai_fics, bookmarking all discovered AI works (both by using the html finder and fics that left AI prompts in and other basic tells) that can be found here.
Have a ton of
recthething recs. A bunch of art recs from tumblr (and one vid) and also quite a lot of art recs from doodle4doodle doodle4doodle is still in anon phase but artists will be revealed tomorrow I think (there's lots more great things than what I recced, over 200 actually, peruse the rest of the collection here):Object and Concept Anthropomorphism:
- Forced Vacation. Summary: Art of Clippy and Coppy at the beach! (very cute and clever)
Original Work:
- [Art] At the Weyr. Summary: It's said that the bond between a dragon and their rider is the most powerful in the world. (beautifully detailed dragon and rider)
- Delinquent Penguins. Summary: Dyeing their hair and making a racket. (Or maybe they're just regular crested penguins.) (absolutely delightful trio of penguins)
- [art] Snide and Snejudice Summary: A snake takes a break from working on her snake magnum opus, or snagnum snopus. (amazingly detailed, love this sleepy snake)
- [art] White-Breasted Nuthatch (wonderfully detailed rendition of a nuthatch)
- [art] Space Whale (whale constellation, very cool)
- [ART] The Subroboticon Summary: The thrilling conclusion to Roboctopus versus Warlocktocon!! A fake cover of two octopuses with no chill for Spring 2026 Doodle4Doodle. (incredibly detailed, really an amazing fake cover for a comic)
- tiny snake says "i love you <3" Summary: pet tiny snake. hold tiny snake. cherish tiny snake. forfeit all mortal possessions to tiny snake. (adorable)
Tetris (Video Games)
- [art] Tetris Museum of Modern Art. Summary: Tetriminos in iconic paintings. (really clever tetris-ish recreations of the paintings)
Tumblr Lore:
- [Art] Neil banging out the tunes. Summary: Neil banging out the tunes April 13, 2006 (great sketch of Neil and his piano)
- Piano Rat. (cute Neil and his little piano)
- [ART] Bang It, Neil. Summary: Neil banging out the tunes, as he does. (adorable art and animated gif)
tumblr recs:
Daredevil
- A World on Fire (amazing tapestry project)
Merlin
- Merlin and Arthur (gorgeous)
Nirvana in Fire
- mei changsu (love the way Lin Shu is shown on the strips of the bandages as they unfurl)
Rivers of Lonson
- Leyendecker Styled PC Peter Grant and DCI Thomas Nightingale (really excellent Leyendecker rendition of these two and The Folly)
Massive fandom video:
- Only the Horses: A fanvid about horses. On tumblr here and AO3 here
(fandoms are: Xena Warrior Princess, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Walking Dead, Hot Fuzz, John Wick 3, True Lies, Leverage, Doctor Who, The Fellowship of the Ring, Hidalgo, The Witcher, Due South, The Lighthorsemen, The Man from Snowy River, The Return of the King, Mulan, Ladyhawke, Bob's Burgers, Brave, The Princess Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Black Beauty, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dances With Wolves, The Black Stallion, Centaurworld, The Neverending Story, Tangled, The Postman)
Hope everyone's doing well and staying comfortable whatever weather issues you're facing!
Back to work
Jun. 30th, 2026 11:21 pmruricHaving had 6 weeks off after brain and body went "this far and no further" I start a phased return tomorrow.
Half days Wednesday (working from home 8:30 to 12:15pm) and Thursday (office 8am to noon or 10am till 2pm) then I'm off Friday. Plans for the time I'm not working between now and Monday include finishing tidying the bedroom,tidy the front garden and start getting the allotment back into shape.
Next week will be 2 half days and a full day and the following week 2 full days and a half day so by 20 July I should be back to normal. Still will be splitting time between. Working from home and office.
Priority for tomorrow is to triage my personal inbox (250 emails), fill out return to work forms for occupational health and update my car insurance and put in an expenses claim.
Thursday I need to start triaging the work inbox which has some 1100 emails which collgeagues have either partially dealt with,fully dealt with or which need my input. They look like they've done a decent job trying to colour code and tag them so the ones which are ticking can be prioritised.
Then next week its back to inspections - one of my colleagues has booked some in for Monday, Thursday and Friday so I guess those are the days I'll be working.
There are promises that things will be different on my return - I'll be interested to see if those are watertight!
Also why does it feel like its a billion degrees in my flat this evening? Both my phone and weather forecast say its 18C but it feels like 29C. Grrrr.
Half days Wednesday (working from home 8:30 to 12:15pm) and Thursday (office 8am to noon or 10am till 2pm) then I'm off Friday. Plans for the time I'm not working between now and Monday include finishing tidying the bedroom,tidy the front garden and start getting the allotment back into shape.
Next week will be 2 half days and a full day and the following week 2 full days and a half day so by 20 July I should be back to normal. Still will be splitting time between. Working from home and office.
Priority for tomorrow is to triage my personal inbox (250 emails), fill out return to work forms for occupational health and update my car insurance and put in an expenses claim.
Thursday I need to start triaging the work inbox which has some 1100 emails which collgeagues have either partially dealt with,fully dealt with or which need my input. They look like they've done a decent job trying to colour code and tag them so the ones which are ticking can be prioritised.
Then next week its back to inspections - one of my colleagues has booked some in for Monday, Thursday and Friday so I guess those are the days I'll be working.
There are promises that things will be different on my return - I'll be interested to see if those are watertight!
Also why does it feel like its a billion degrees in my flat this evening? Both my phone and weather forecast say its 18C but it feels like 29C. Grrrr.
Fannish 50 2026 #22: Dream the Deep
Jun. 30th, 2026 09:52 amelaynaA friend of mine, who I met thru fandom (in person! in the 80s!) and also is fanfic writer, is launching her new book today. To quote her blog:
"Feeling the end of Pride Month blues? Have you ever (like me!), sought solace in the superbly queer TBR pile you accumulated over the month others call June? If so, have I got a book for you. Join me in celebrating the last day of Pride with my new book:
Dream the Deep launches today!
Happy Pride!
Dream the Deep brings you a neuroqueer protagonist, cephalopod dreams, cliffside coastal living (in 2139), and chosen family forged amid disaster, chips, and chocolate!"
To read the whole post with many interesting links, visit:
https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/dream-the-deep-launches-with-pride/
"Feeling the end of Pride Month blues? Have you ever (like me!), sought solace in the superbly queer TBR pile you accumulated over the month others call June? If so, have I got a book for you. Join me in celebrating the last day of Pride with my new book:
Dream the Deep launches today!
Happy Pride!
Dream the Deep brings you a neuroqueer protagonist, cephalopod dreams, cliffside coastal living (in 2139), and chosen family forged amid disaster, chips, and chocolate!"
To read the whole post with many interesting links, visit:
https://clarawardauthor.wordpress.com/2026/06/30/dream-the-deep-launches-with-pride/
LiveJournal?
Jun. 30th, 2026 09:20 amelaynaIs anyone getting into LiveJournal? I've been getting an error message for the last day, so tried to look up the LiveJournal status page, and am getting an error message on that. I don't use it for much these days but do still check a few communities.
