More cute moments with this precious pair of goofballs from my upcoming novel, Upholding the Covenant, brought to you by this week's round of #SlapDashSat Tweets. :)

1.
“What’s in your mouth?”

The kitten’s eyes went wide, her ears flattened against her head, and as she hastily scuttled under the bed, Orennian sighed. “Apparently it’s something you aren’t supposed to have.”

2.
The kitten sniffed at his mouth, and Orennian wondered if this was a sign of affection.

Then she shoved her whole head between his teeth, grabbed the candy he’d been sucking on, and fell into his lap with her stolen prize.

3.
“That,” Orennian said sternly, thrusting a finger toward the kitten’s face, “was not good.”

Kivara stared at his finger for a moment, then affectionately rubbed her cheek against it, and the scolding words died in his throat.

4.
Orennian’s favorite way to wake Kivara was to place a ramekin of pudding next to her nose. She would sniff, twitch and lick in her sleep, until she awoke and her face lit up upon seeing that the pudding was real.

5.
“Kivara, I know you’re angry at the water for making you cold and wet, but slapping it and hissing at it will only make you wetter.”

I hope you enjoyed these Tweet-sized excerpts. If you want to read more funny catgirl stories while you wait for Upholding the Covenant to come out, check out my other novel, Catgirl Roommate.

Time for some more cute, Tweet-sized moments from my upcoming novel, Upholding the Covenant:

1.
​As Orennian walked past the play pen, the smallest kitten stuck her arms between the bars and wiggled them furiously, mewing for his attention at the top of her tiny lungs.

2.
For all her bravado, Kivara could still get overwhelmed. She didn't always voice the feeling, but when the feline toddler's ears went down and she started to suck the knuckle of her thumb, Orennian knew it was time to pick her up and hug her.

3. 
Almost every day, when his work was done, Orennian went shopping. He'd forgotten something yesterday. He wanted fresher food. There was always an excuse.

His bodyguards said nothing, but they knew he just wanted to see the kittens again.

4.
​Orennian flared his cobra-like hood, watching as the kitten's ears perked toward him.

He flattened one side of his hood, and one of her ears went down. He closed the other side, and both ears dropped.

He tilted his head, and she fell over.

5.
"If you want to see my kittens so badly, you could just visit them. No need to pretend to shop."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Of course, to hold one, you must make a purchase. ...Haha, I jest. Purchase or no, Kivara will climb you all the same."

I’m doing SlapDashSat on Twitter again this week, so here a few of the excerpts I’m sharing. The first four are from the novel version of my short story, Upholding the Covenant, and the last one is from Finding the Truth, the upcoming sequel to Your Truth Cannot Stand.

1.
"Sometimes I fear that my womb is cursed."

"My love. Did your womb cause your former masters to betray you? Did it cause an ailing person to visit our city and bring sickness to our children? No. These tragedies are not your fault."

2.
"You visit the ambassador a lot, my child."

"Yeah, 'cuz, he smells bad until he sees me, but then he smells better!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he smells sad, like me when my sister won't play with me. But then he sees me and smells happy!"

3.
"Who kill your cat?" Kivara demanded, and Orennian smiled sadly at the child.

"Nobody. He died of old age. Time killed him."

Kivara snapped her jaws at the air, and he frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm biting time for killing your cat!"

4.
“You are just too precious.”

“No I’m not! I’m strong and fierce and BIG! See? I come all the way up to your nose!”

“But if I put you on the floor-”

“NOOOOO! I have to stay up here so I’ll be BIG!”

5.
There were days when the general didn’t know whether to pinch the bridge of his nose, rub his tightening forehead, or throw back his head and laugh.

The corpse in front of him deserved all three reactions.

​I've decided to get back into doing #SlapDashSat on Twitter, and I like the excerpts I came up with for it this week. I think they set the setting, tone and characters for my upcoming novel, Upholding the Covenant, pretty well.

Here they are:

1.

"I know why you're here," the Imperial ambassador said tersely. "You want to convince Karushra to rebel."

"Their allegiance is their choice," Orennian replied smoothly. "Give the same respect and protection the Empire always has, and they'll make the right choice."

---

2.

The Path-Guide accepted his offer graciously, then ordered that it be divided into two bowls. "By tradition, the guest eats first."

An act of cunning practicality, disguised as generosity. Any who sought to poison him must be prepared to poison themselves.

---

3.

A Charishi kitten bounded past Orennian on all fours. The Wandering Days, he recalled from his studies; pre-bipedal kittens went through a phase of independent exploration, with every nearby adult responsible for their safety. The child of one was the child of all.

---

4.

Screams split the air, and Ambassador Orennian lunged into a run.

He had to find the source before it was too late. He wouldn't be like the Imperial military, who ignored Charishi in distress.

He flung open the flap of the tent... and found a woman giving birth.

---

​5.

Ambassador Orennian strode slowly through the streets, head high and chin level. With every step, his back was ramrod straight, his posture perfect, his measured movements careful and smooth.

They had to be. If they weren't, the kitten on his head might fall off.

---

If you want to stay up to date on all the new excerpts and developments for Upholding the Covenant, be sure to follow me on my social media channels!

It's been a while since I turned a panel of Just Cause into a wallpaper, and this one seemed especially conducive to it. In this panel, Frisk is wondering if Flowey can wrest control of the timeline from them, and make them relive their most painful moments over and over again.

I'm not entirely happy with it; I feel like the scenes from Frisk's past don't quite mesh with the rest of the picture. They feel slapped-on to me. If you have any suggestions for making them feel more integrated, I'd love to hear them!
​

The 14-panel work-in-progress preview of page 55 of Just Cause is ready! Here's one of my favorite panels.

You can get exclusive access to this and other works in progress, and help me make new pages faster, by supporting me on Patreon.

​The work-in-progress preview for page 54 of my Undertale fan comic, Just Cause, is ready! Here's one of my favorite panels:

Supporters pledging $1/month or more on Patreon can see the full 22-panel preview here.

The 13-panel work-in-progress preview of page 53 of Just Cause is on Patreon, and Frisk is on their way toward a confrontation neither participant wants. No one is happy with this.

To get exclusive access to works in progress like this, and early access to completed art and stories, support me on Patreon.

​​I’ve held off on this for a while, because (1). it was a lot of text to reformat for the finicky web, and (2.) THERE ARE ALWAYS MORE THINGS TO TWEAK AND EDIT, AAAAH!

Despite those reservations, I decided it was finally time to let people see the fruits of my efforts.

I am happy to announce that the first 7 chapters of the written version of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, are now available on this website and Archive Of Our Own!

If you want to help me create new chapters of Just Cause faster, both the written and comic versions, please consider supporting me on Patreon so I can spend more time on writing and art.

In the meantime, enjoy the fanfic!