CatsCast Ep. 341: Bargain

[Languorous Lass]

CatsCast 341: Bargain

• Author: Sarah Gailey
• Narrator: Trendane Sparks
• Host: Laura Pearlman
• Audio Producer: Peter Behravesh

"Bargain" first appeared in Mothership Zeta, December 2015.

Click here to listen to CatsCast Episode 376

Malachai loved his work. He loved wandering among the trappings of enormous wealth and influence, seeing the baubles that humans excreted to express their status. He especially loved watching those wealthy, influential mortals tremble before the might of his inescapable superiority.

Malachai worked exclusively with those humans who had found themselves at the limit of how much power they could possess. They called him to bend the rules of time and space around their whims, so that they might be even more feared and loved by the other mortals. Their desires were predictable—money, knowledge, talent, authority. These were the kinds of people who hunted down ancient parchments with the Words of Invocation inscribed upon them. These were the kinds of people who did not concern their consciences with the compensation Malachai required for his services.

They appreciated a bit of theatrical flair.

[Álex Souza]

This story didn’t work for me, I’m afraid.

I liked some of the comedy, like the smoke/steam part, but I just don’t understand the hype. A furry character failing to be bad-ass (and looking cute instead) is… OK, but it’s not enough for me. I can see this being loved by furry aficionados though (which I am not).

I think this story would work much better in visual media. It would be much more suitable for a comic or an animation or a game than prose. The cat reminds me of anime and manga furry characters, like Chopper or  and there’s one in particular, Bchuler, from Defense Devil, that is pretty much Malachai. And maybe that's why I didn't like this: I've seen it countless times before, in medias that are much more suitable for this kind of story than prose.

[wtadams4]

episode was fire