Hello everyone, and thank you all for your kind words. I guess this'll be the last time I post to this thread, so let me just say it has - once again - been a pleasure to write for such a gracious audience
You didn't even complain about the big delay!
Little Miss 666: Thank you
I know, about the cat thing - I was thinking about this story when I first started it, 'Hang on, there's no hot shapely Tara here, or likewise Willow, no actual prospect of kissing and gay love (unless there's some wierd pervy cat fetishists here, in which case, ew, please don't share
)'. But there's Willow/Tara love, and it was kind of fun to write a G-rated story. And it was pretty cool to write a story where Willow and Tara can lick each other whenever they want, without even having to get a room
I developed a definite fondness for Amy too (much like Donnie in Cameron's 'The Legend of Green Eyed Red' - go check it out, Donnie's not a complete dick!
), so I wanted her to end up happy, having played her part in rescuing Miss Kitty.
Grimmy: Thank you, always a joy to see your feedback
I liked the turtle dude too, but Dori was my favourite from Nemo. Whale-speak
I think Willow will adapt to being a house cat fairly well - I think the Summers household is one of those that treats its felines like small furry people, rather than pets, so Willow can still roam around her neighbourhood. No locking the cats in/out at night, or anything like that - that'd get Willow's tail all bushed if anyone tried it on her
No doubt Miss Kitty will have more adventures (big and small) - that's what being a kitten is for, after all, being adorable and excitable and doing all the stuff that, later on, a cat will know better than to do. Whatever she gets into, I'm sure Tara and Willow and Amy can bail her out of it.
Cameron: Thanks
I had this idea when I started of starting out all small-scale and domestic, but nonetheless having a 'big' adventure story - a real adventure, just eight inches tall
That's something I love in children's stories - a
real story, not just a cutesy one with no real point.
Rhiannon: Thank you Sequel...? I don't have any plans - for now at least, the feline Willow and Tara will remain contentedly well-fed, looked-after, and dozing on a rock in the sunlight whenever they feel like it, which is pretty much cat paradise Having said that, it wouldn't be the first time if another story for the 'SuperPets' crept up and jumped on me out of nowhere...
Tibbs: Thanks Lots of 'awwww' is definitely what I was aiming for with this one.
Meretricious: Thank you! Seriously, few things could be better to hear for a writer than that a story's worth paying money for. We're a greedy bunch But I'm very gratified that you found it worthwhile. I had a great time casting up the various Scoobies as animals - I found it a great way of caricaturing them, playing their most defining qualities. Kind of made me regret that I'd put Dawn, Buffy, Giles and Joyce in as humans in the first chapter, they could've been fun animals too. It's a law that there has to be a sequel? Well like I said, nothing's planned, but that doesn't mean nothing's going to happen - and if it's a law, well, don't want to get in trouble with the law...
Kajun: Thanks Yup, big message of the story - be excellent to cats. I was glad to get Willow to a loving family in the end. And I did think it fitted to make it not just about Willow finding a home, but Tara also realising that she needed Willow. As for future tails, erm, tales yeah, there'll be a few yet to come, of all 'shapes and sizes' - just as soon as I finish the others I've already got half-done
Yvonne: Thank you Of course I had to come back - really, I never meant to be away in the first place, it was just a matter of one thing to do piling on top of another... but when I'm sure a story's a solid one, I'll always get there in the end.
Jixer: Thanks I'm glad to have added to Miss Kitty's repertoire of tricks. She's a lovely kitten, and I always knew she had it in her to save the day.
Shuyaku: Thank you I really love AUs and Uberfic - it's always a challenge (one I always get paranoid about ) to keep everyone in character when so much of their history and lives change, but when it works, the whole world is there for Willow and Tara to have stories in. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
Well, that pretty much wraps it up for this story, until maybe-sequel time, when and if that eventuates. Once again, thank you all for reading, you all make it a joy to sit down and write. Just in the interests of being comprehensive, I'll leave you all with a couple of jokes I never quite got into the story, as I wasn't sure they really belonged in a G-rated fic. The first, which some of you may have guessed, is that, in this story, Cordelia is literally a bitch - I got a chuckle out of that. The other is a closing line from the scene where Willow gets adopted, which likewise didn't quite seem G-rated enough, even if it is just wordplay:
Dawn: "Hey Buffy, your cat's licking pussy."
Buffy: "Dawn!"
(Dawn points to Tara, licking Willow.)
Dawn: "Well she is. Geez..."
As I said, it was amusing for me to find a genre where Willow and Tara can lick each other as a friendly gesture Until next time (which will be the long-delayed next chapter of 'Day By Day', now two-thirds written), thanks for stopping by, and those of you who have cats, give them a big hug for me
Chris Cook
Through the Looking-glass
A Willow and Tara for every world.