Seventh Anniversary Speed Catnip

[Negrek]

Seventh Anniversary Speed Catnip​

We're bringing another round of Speed Catnip to Discord this year! It's the same review trade format you're familiar with, but lightning-quick with real-time trades that last just a few minutes. Sample lots of fic quickly and get swift feedback on your own work! It's perfect for swapping drabbles and seeing what else other people wrote for their bingo.

How it Works

Come join us in the Discord server's Speed Catnip thread under #reading-chat when the event kicks off. I'll roll random pairings between everyone who signs up, and then you'll have fifteen minutes to read your partner's excerpt and make a brief comment (three sentences tops!) on it. They'll read yours and do the same when they finish. If you've got extra time, you can chat a little bit or simply wait for the next assignment to be rolled. Once fifteen minutes is up, I'll randomize another set of pairings and start things over again! We'll play up to five rounds of this--sampling five fics in about an hour and a half real-time. Not bad, huh?

When Will the Event Take Place?

The event will take place Sunday, May 3rd at 3:00 PM EST (7:00 PM UTC).

How to Sign Up

First, choose an excerpt of a larger story, one-shot, or combination of drabbles that works out to about 1000 words. Since the speed catnip rolls will be made without regard for content warnings, please make sure your selection is PG in terms of subject matter and does not include any major content warnings--no violence or blood beyond what you'd see in a Pokémon battle in the anime, no major character death or suicide/suicidal ideation, sexual assault, or substance abuse. Post your excerpt below (or a link to it, if it's something like all the drabbles in a thread). That's it! After that, all you need to do is show up for the event.

If you have multiple fics and want to showcase more than one, you can prepare a second excerpt to offer an alternative choice for whoever rolls you to read. Since these rolls will not account for who's familiar with your story already, if there are people in the participant pool who are already caught up on your fic, it might be a good idea to have something available for anyone who's caught up on your story to enjoy. But this is all optional--to participate, all you need is one ~1k word snippet that meets the guidelines.

 

[canisaries]

Joining! Here's the first 1000 or so words of my recent bingo drabble Ancient Things:

Spoiler: Ancient Things - Excerpt

Lowtide floated on a hill overlooking a museum.

The museum, yes. She was sure of it. This had to be the building she'd heard talk of, where ancient things were gathered and put on display. There were images of skeletons on the sign outside it, which was how she was told this place was marked. Outside the human scrawlings that probably told the humans even more, that was.

It was the dead of night, though like all ghosts, Lowtide could see just fine. The museum had no lights outside one that flashed every now and then. A guard, thought Lowtide, or maybe many. She would have to be careful not to be caught. Who knew what the humans would do with her if they found her.

Well, she couldn't let that deter her.

The dreepy floated down the hill and up to a window. No guard there at that moment. Quickly, she phased through and listened for steps. There were some, but they were receding. Relieved, she began to look around.

There certainly were skeletons. Though they weren't white. They were brown and looked like rock. Did skeletons turn into rock when they got old enough? Lowtide didn't know how, but she supposed there was still a lot for her to learn about the world.

None of these skeletons looked familiar, though. She floated on to another hallway.

Here… she saw something that made her pause.

In a raised platform covered by that human thing called glass, there were the remains-turned-rock of several pokémon that she swore she'd seen before. Before before, and not in her current life.

That convex carapace with two concavities on the back… yes, she was sure of it, these were those things that crawled on the ocean floor. They molted constantly, and when they were new and soft, they were easy to eat. But the things they became when they were older were feisty with sharp, chitinous scythes.

Lowtide opened and closed her mouth, imagining biting into one of the soft crawlers. Remembering it. It felt good. It made her feel alive.

After a while, she floated to another display. This one had spiral shells. She remembered those, too. The little ones always hid inside their shells, and they were too hard to bite into, though she was told that if one managed to catch them before they could recede, they were delicious.

The large ones, however, were the ones Lowtide had to be careful around. Get caught in their tentacles and you'd be up close and personal with their four-way beaks. Lowtide shuddered.

She moved on from display to display, not recognizing everything, but the remains that were familiar made those hazy memories so much more vivid. She remembered other things. She remembered the heart beating in her chest. She remembered the breath in her lungs. The scaly touch of her own skin.

She reached another display, where she saw a rock with a dark impression of a feather. She remembered playing with those. They were so smooth and gentle against her scales --

A cone of light fell on her from nowhere. She froze. She hadn't noticed the steps approaching.

"Hey!"

She turned to see a male human in dark clothes, flanked by a boltund. The boltund growled, and Lowtide flinched. She had to get away now.

She tried to fly away, but she was all too slow - golden rings of electricity caught her, and she felt her ethereal body lock up. She was left sliding through the air until she gradually came to a halt.

The guard clicked something and spoke. "Found a dreepy here. Be on the lookout for a trainer. Over."

"Understood. Over," answered a distorted voice, though Lowtide didn't know from where. And it wasn't as if she understood anything the voices said, either.

"Alright, you little rascal, time to see if you'll go in a ball or if Benji will have to drag you," said the guard. In moments' time, a red light overtook Lowtide, and she found herself somewhere completely new - a spherical space enclosed by red-and-white walls. This had to be one of those pokéballs she'd heard about. They could be escaped, right? But she still couldn't move…

"It went in the ball? Huh…" said the guard's voice from outside, though it was muffled. Another click. "The dreepy was catchable. So it could be wild, but could also be free-roaming. We'll need an interpreter. Over."

"I'll handle it. Over," answered yet another distorted voice.

That was the last thing Lowtide heard until the paralysis wore off. The moment it did, she bolted for the walls and rammed them with her head. The first couple of tries didn't yield any results, but eventually one part of the wall gave way and she was released. She looked around. She was in a lit white room with one glass wall looking out into a room closer to the rest of the rooms in the museum. The guard from before was sitting on a chair by the wall, watching her.

She let out a distressed wail.

"Don't worry," the guard said, and Lowtide got the feeling it was supposed to calm her down somehow. "You only need to stay here until we get an interpreter and find out if you're a thief or not."

Lowtide looked at the back wall. She had a feeling they would have done something to make it impossible for her to phase through, but she tried it anyway. Her first thought was correct.

She lowered herself onto the floor and curled up. She didn't know what would happen to her. She didn't know if she would ever be free again. She didn't know if they'd even let her continue this unlife she had.

 

[MegaAbsolOfDespair]

Here's my exerpt for my one on one speed catnip with @Negrek ! It's taken directly from Chapter 1 of my fic, A Shadow In A Foreign Time, in case anyone's interested!

---

Juliana woke up in the morning, the rays of the sun gently shining from the window onto her face. She was excited, since today was the day she was going to start her first day in Naranja Academy, the famous and well known school in Paldea. She quickly put on her hat and her bag before walking down the stairs.

Juliana entered the living room with an excited and joyful smile on her face. “Good morning, mom!”

Her mother, who was sitting on the couch, looked up to her with a proud gaze. “Good morning, Juliana. Do you know what day it is today?”

Juliana nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I know! Today is my first day at Naranja Academy!”

“That is true, but don’t hurry just yet. I was told a visitor from the academy would be coming to meet us for something important.”

Just as her mother said that, the doorbell rang. Juliana went to open the door, seeing an old man with light gray, almost white hair and professional-looking glasses. He was also wearing the uniform of Naranja Academy.

“Greetings. My name is Clavell, and I am the director of Naranja Academy. Pleasure to meet you.” The visitor spoke with a professional tone.

“Greetings, director Clavell. Pleasure to meet you too, what brings you here?” Juliana’s mother asked.

“Could you follow me outside for a little bit, Juliana? I have something important to show you.” Clavell requested.

Juliana followed Clavell outside to the yard, intrigued to see what Clavell wanted to show her. She was quite curious as to what it could be, but she hoped it was something good. Outside the house in the yard, Clavell showed her a suitcase with three pokeballs inside it. He started by sending out a pokemon from one of them.

The pokemon that came out of the pokeball was a cute feline pokemon with light green fur that looked like leaves of willow trees in spring. It purred and adorably rubbed its paws together, releasing a pleasant flowery aroma.

“This is the grass type pokemon, Sprigatito.”

Next up, Clavell sent out the second pokemon. It was a crocodilian pokemon with bright reddish-orange scales and a bright yellow flame atop its head. It waved its tale at Juliana, possibly as a gesture of greeting or excitement.

“This is the fire type pokemon, Fuecoco.”

Finally, Clavell sent out the third pokemon. It was a white and teal duckling-like pokemon with fancy feathers resembling a hat on its head. It made a fancy gesture on its wing that looked like it was trying to show off its cool hat.

“This is the water type pokemon, Quaxly.

Juliana looked at the three pokemon in awe and excitement. She had seen images of these pokemon on the academy website due to them being the standard beginner’s pokemon for students, but it was way more fun to see them in person.

“Wow! These are so awesome!”

“Indeed, but you may only pick one.”

“It’s such a hard choice…”

“I’m afraid I must go now. Come visit me at that house over there once you’ve made your decision.” Clavell pointed at a nearby house just down the road.

At the house, Juliana saw Director Clavell alongside another student, seemingly close to the same age that she was. The student was a girl with long dark brown, almost black hair with streaks of lush green styled in a ponytail. Her bright orange eyes gazed at her with excitement.

Director Clavell began to introduce the two to each other. “Miss Juliana, this is Miss Nemona. She is a student and the youngest champion-ranked trainer at Naranja Academy.”

“Nice to meet you, Nemona.” Juliana greeted.

“Miss Nemona, this is Miss Juliana. She is a new student who is about to begin her journey by picking her first partner pokemon.”

“Hi Juliana! It’s awesome to meet you! Would you like to have a fun battle after you’ve picked your starter pokemon?”

Clavell looked at Juliana thoughtfully. “Now, Juliana, which of these starter pokemon would you like to choose? It is an important decision.”

Juliana thought carefully before making eye contact with the Sprigatito, seeing it purr adorably in response to Juliana’s gaze.

“I would like to pick Sprigatito.”

Clavell handed Sprigatito’s pokeball to Juliana. This would be the start of a great journey through the Paldea region.

Suddenly, Nemona replied: “Can I pick one too?”

“Don’t you already have your champion team, miss Nemona?” Clavell inquired.

“Yes, but I’d like to pick one in order to have it grow alongside Juliana. We can’t really be amazing rivals if my team is too strong for her to defeat, after all!” She responded eagerly.

“Understood. You may pick one of them.” Clavell stated.

Nemona gazed at Quaxly, deciding that it would become her partner pokemon. “Awesome! I’d like to pick Quaxly!”

Clavell recalled Fuecoco back into its pokeball, deciding to take care of it.

Nemona looked at her Quaxly, and then at Juliana’s Fuecoco. There was only one thing left for the two to do. “Now let’s have a fun battle!”