felpsederation

[felpsederation]

can you help me convince mike to let me and richas get cats - @packedtazer

ok

[felpsederation]

It's kind of great having a face.

Felps kind of took it for granted, for a long while there. He can emote! There are muscles in there and he can move them to, like, look like he's happy. Look interested. Look normal.

He looks normal, now. Run-of-the-mill. Isn't that great.

Anyways, he's been spending most of his time digging. A big square, out in the savannah-- and it is digging, because he has to get rid of the dirt before he can begin paring away at the stone. But when he's not digging, he's hanging around in the Favela aimlessly.

But now he has an aim. That's also nice. Right now, he's cooking. He has rice set up on the stovetop, and cuts of chicken on the cutting board, and a nice knife in his hands. Good music playing on low throughout the place, too. He hums along.

[felpsederation]

dig 👍

[felpsederation]

[felpsederation]

math is very important filho

why do my parents need to know their exact percent of custody over me they’re raising me together

[felpsederation]

well it adds up to 100% it has to come from somewhere

[a message to the favela gc]

Pactw: I caved

Pactw: we should give him more custody

[felpsederation]

There is a capybara in his bathroom.

A big one. Has “stout” been used to describe capybaras, yet? It comes up to about hip-height— really, it’s like a chunkier miniature horse. It wears a jaunty purple wizard’s hat.

A helpful name tag designates this capybara as one Mr. Mustard. Felps lets the tag drop from his fingers, reaches up to start gently scratching at its cheek.

“Are you lost, bro?” asks Felps, as if this capybara will understand Portuguese. “Are you taking a shit in my bathroom?”

To both questions, Mr. Mustard shakes his head.

“…Well, I’m not gonna take a shit either,” he says. Mr. Mustard has no outward reaction. “I was just, uh— gonna try and fix my face, yeah?”

Mr. Mustard opens his mouth. Canned applause comes out. Yeah, alright.

“So I’m gonna do that, if that’s okay?”

Mr. Mustard gives one stoic nod.

…Yeah, alright. He’s glad somebody’s here, at least— the house being empty was giving him the damn chills. Felps straightens up, faces himself in the mirror, and:

Well, there’s no face to face, right? There’s nothing there. He has a jawline, the sides of his face, stubby flat little human ears— but there’s just black tar where the face should be. It sort of looks hollow.

Felps, experimentally, pokes a finger in. There’s a little resistance, the kind of give you’d imagine a cheek would have, and then the finger sinks further, and further, and… yeah, he gets the picture. He takes his hand out of his face. Where’s his manners.

Okay. How do faces look, again? It’s easy to get the basics down. He knows anatomy. He knows how a skull is shaped; he forms one. Bone at the high point of the cheek, about a fifth of the nose until it becomes cartilage, two pits for the eyes, the upper and lower jaw.

Well, now there’s just a skull staring at him in the mirror. That’s kind of metal. Or unsettling. He turns to look at Mr. Mustard and gets a stock gasp.

“Good?” He asks. His teeth clack together. Oh, he’s got to get used to having teeth again.

Mr. Mustard tilts his head upwards, to the side, peering at him with both of his eyes almost like the capybara’s making a joke of it. Mr. Mustard makes a canned applause sound again.

“Well, I’m not done, hold your applause,” says Felps. “I need skin. And eyes. Hey, do you remember what I looked like?”

For a second, it feels unignorably weird. He doesn’t remember what he looks like, he should, and he’s asking a fucking capybara about it. Something sticky and sad clogs his “throat”.

…Until the capybara gestures his head to the closed toilet, and Felps sees his damn face on a missing poster that’s just there now.

“Have you seen this man? Please call Cellbit.” Well, damn. He’ll have to ask Cellbit if he got any calls. It’s helpful, though— he snatches it up, props it up between the faucet of the sink and the lip of the mirror.

Felps starts scooping his face into shape.

[felpsederation]

do you ever wake up and think i’m a girl and the next day not. thats universal i think

[felpsederation]

In 1982, quite by accident, a zookeeper at Izu Shaboten Zoo in Shizuoka Prefecture discovered that capybaras absolutely loved soaking in hot water, and the practice of providing them an onsen, or traditional Japanese hot spring, was born. Source Massimo; video @yu_haradakei.

[felpsederation]

eu também

qué importancia tiene mi rodilla? puedo deshacerme de él?

[felpsederation]

Aw, man. Did people know he was eavesdropping just besides the door for all of that. Well, it's too late to deny it now. Felps ducks into the house. He looks to Richarlyson first: clung to Pac. Then, he looks to Cellbit, who looks maybe like a cross between a man who has re-remembered life is nice and a cat experiencing the worst rejection of his life. Then to Pac, beckoning him over. He doesn't even really say anything past "oi". He takes a moment to move to Cellbit, rests his head atop xirs in a moment of cat-like comfort. And then, over to Pac's other side, like he'd been asked. He settles in, tries to smile and can't, opens his arms.

There is a certain level of anxiety that settles over Cellbit as he walks back to the Favela with Felps. He does his best to school his expression, keep his tail still and his ears from flattening against his head, but he is sure it is obvious. Especially to Felps.

This is for Pac, though. Cellbit can't just tell them no. This information involves them just as much as it does xem. They don't deserve to be alone to deal with this.

He tries to drag his feet the best he can, even though Felps doesn't really let him. Dread curls its way around Cellbit's esophagus with every step. What is Richas decides to show up; what if Cellbit is suddenly left to explain all the worst parts of himself to the child that, just days ago, was wrapping her little arms around his middle and chattering on about her drawings?

Cellbit doesn't know what xe will do if xe loses Richas. Being away from him was the hardest part of being within the sterile white walls of the Federation, and now xe might lose him again. What does Cellbit do if Richas never wants to see xem again? What does xe do if his lip curls with disgust, if he signs declarations of hate with little fingers that would typically curl around Cellbits'?

What does Cellbit do if xe loses xir family?

He shakes his head, the houses in the Favela beginning to slowly come into view. It won't happen. It can't. If- if Cellbit explains everything and gives enough time, then maybe there will be a way to preserve his relationship with his pombozinho.

With a final breath, like stones heavy in his lungs, Cellbit knocks on the door and lets himself in.

(@footballpigeon)

[felpsederation]

Get your ass up, we are going back to the Favela to see Pac - @catboyarg

VAMOOOOOOOOO

[ LET’S GOOOOOOOOO ]

[felpsederation]

é verdade

[ it’s true ]

i can be trusted with sharp objects

[felpsederation]

:D

pac estou muito feliz

( - @felpsederation )

Oh??

com o que você está feliz?

[felpsederation]

what do i do with all this joy

is it gone

[felpsederation]

🙂legal

is it gone

[felpsederation]

is it gone