Afterword - Feliformia - Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Please do not read this before reading Feliformia - Chapter 11 as it contains spoilers.

Soooo… It looks like we are pretty much done with Syr's arc. At the time I'm writing those lines, the story has not been published yet. (I have a visitor at home this week, and I cannot do any writing or Patreon stuff, so this is a scheduled post, and I don't know what your reaction to the chapter was... I do not own a DeLorean. ;) )

Where to start with this afterword? I guess the first thing I need to talk about is how weird Syr has been so far. Her roleplaying and odd fantasies… they had to come from somewhere. When not acting, Syr is socially inept, and it had to hide something bigger.

If you read Rubbercat Tails 4, you may have noticed a very small section when Syr mentioned that she didn't have parents. Most of you surely understood that I added this to the discussion for a purpose. And now you know why…

That was the first element… The second one was something that I needed to resolve. I didn't want Syr to be into girls, but I also needed to find a credible way to install chemistry between Syr and Kitty. They could definitely be friends, but how?

When I drafted the chapter, after I cried because of Syr's sad story, I realized that Kitty and Syr's lives weren't that different. They both had a somewhat tragic past, and there was surely something that could be done about that. 

Kitty was at a more advanced stage in her reflection. She found happiness with Mark, and she even started to stop acting like a cat regularly. (and more of that is coming in chapters 12 and 13) … However, Syr is very much still stuck in her fantasy world to avoid anything related to her past. One could think she is nowhere near ready to change.

But this little exchange in the workshop around the teddy bear was something I was pleased with. What Kitty explained applies to all of us… we all have things in our life that we dislike, and very often, we are acting or pretending so we don't think about those unfun things… But at some point, as we get older, we need to address those issues, and our friends and family can help us with that. Kitty's life lesson enlightened me for sure… I have a lot of crap that I need to deal with. Perhaps writing is my way to introspection.

As for Mark and Erika, they amused me. I know some of you told me that you didn't like Erika, but I adore her. I find her funny on so many levels. She is impulsive, rough, direct, borderline abusive… But at the same time, she is funny, friendly, sarcastic, dedicated, generous, and doesn't take crap from anybody.

I made her addicted to deep-fried cheese curds because it is my favorite pub food… if you never tried those, you must! Google it… they are so good—absolutely high calories.

Erika's little scene in the hotel hallway, with the bad guy, was something I added at the very end. It was not supposed to be there at all. But after the sex scene between Mark and Erika, when she changes from dominant to submissive on a whim, it got me thinking… Initially, I just didn't want her to shred Mark to pieces all over again… but then I asked myself why… and that is when I realized that maybe she didn't like hurting the people she loves… perhaps she likes inflicting pain, but only to people who deserve it. So I got that idea for the bad encounter… and of course, she won the fight… She showed how cruel she could be and how natural it was for her to punish the douchebag.

The flow of the story was always in motion. Started funny with Mark and Syr carrying the crate… then romantic … then super dramatic … then happy again … then dramatic again … then entertaining … then scary … and concluded peacefully.

I hope it was not too much to endure. :)

Anyway, it was one of my favorite chapters so far, and there is nothing in it that I regret. I now have a solid family to work with for the next chapters. If you had told me a few months ago that Feliformia would end up like this, I would not have believed you.

I don't want to whine more than I usually do, but writing a 22000 words chapter on top of the regular schedule and all the extra Animal cafe stories… it was a LOT of work … Writing is really a full-time job on top of my full-time job. I must be insane for doing this. ;) (But I love it)

Thanks, everybody, for reading the chapter, and I look forward to continuing this story… I will take a short break from Feliformia to work on other things, but it will soon come back. I can't live without Kitty, Syr, Erika, and Mark… (well, i don't care that much about him actually. ;) )

I hope you enjoyed it.

TS