#(( shes like a tiny yappy dog

[flawseer]

Became curious based on a Smaugust piece: What are your thoughts on everyone's favorite royal suck-up, Pike? (also ofc compliments to your writing and art)

Surprise, I am still kicking. And thus my Sisyphean quest to answer all the questions in my inbox continues.

I like Pike. I used to think moderately favorably of him, but pondering this question and then drawing a bunch of pictures of and about him made me realize that, yeah, I am rather fond of him. He is funny and cute in the same way a small, yappy dog is.

I remember once talking to my partner about Pike and I asked: "Do you think the JMA staff has to deal with Pike constantly trying to sleep in the hallway in front of Anemone's room?" Only to then realize, upon re-reading the books, that this actually happens in canon. I was thrilled.

Most of the time when people ask me what I think of a character, they want to hear what my take on them is, so I'll get into that.

Background

I don't think a lot is known about Pike's life, outside him having been assigned as Anemone's (questionably) covert bodyguard. He is one of those background characters that fill out the student roster at JMA but don't get a lot of development, though he is one of the more lucky ones as he gets comparatively more lines and scenes than, say, Barracuda, or Garnet.

We don't ever hear about his home life or familial situation, but I think he comes from a common military family. Not a particularly prestigious one, but rather one of middling significance. I imagine one of his ancestors--like his great grandmother--once made it to captain and ever since the whole family has prided themselves on their military legacy and loyalty to the Seawing throne, even though nobody else really knows who they are.

Pike's parents are both bottom rung palace guards; trusted enough to be stationed vaguely near the seat of government over a remote outpost, but nothing more. As is tradition in their family, they signed up as soon as they were old enough to hold a trident. Pike was expected to follow in their footsteps, and so did the same. He is naturally eager to please, doesn't ask many questions, and knows how to follow orders, so he took to this life relatively well.

One thing immediately apparent when observing Pike is that he is very blunt, headstrong, and reckless. He is prone to self-injury and mishaps, routinely making a tail end of himself during exercises. One day, I imagine, he was out in the courtyard, practicing his combat maneuvers, when he somehow managed to trap himself underneath a training dummy in a humiliating way. Unbeknownst to him, the Queen and Princess were walking past a window overlooking this scene, and the latter happened to spot him.

Princess Anemone, starved for normal social contact due to being permanently leashed to her overbearing mother, immediately took a liking to the clumsy guard and wished to take Pike into her service. The Queen though, hated the idea. Anything she couldn't control with 100% certainty was not to be let near her only living daughter. She didn't even let her own sons approach the Princess for this very reason. So she refused.

But Anemone, sensing an opportunity to finally snatch a tiny mote of control over her own life, didn't relent. She would never overtly defy her mother, but pushed back against her in the most passively aggressive way she could muster. She WOULD have this one thing that was hers, no matter how many times she had to sigh wistfully or forget to eat.

Coral meanwhile still disliked the idea, but after some pondering figured this could work to her advantage. Granting her daughter this favor would make her grateful, and thus easier to keep in check. It was not like the boy would be able to do anything undesirable since she would always be there to watch anyway. And if he ever displeased her, a random guard was easier to dispose of without turning heads, than if she let Anemone play with one of her brothers.

So eventually, she acquiesced, and extracted Pike from the palace guard to assign him to her daughter's protection.

The news hit Pike's family like lightning. Suddenly, after decades of being nobodies with delusions of grandeur, the whole palace was paying genuine attention to them, and the new recruit who, overnight, got assigned to be the Princess' personal retainer. Pike's parents took him aside and impressed on him how important of a task this was. If he did his job well and kept the Princess content and safe, not only would the current Queen think favorably of all of them, but Anemone would remember his service and reward him once she took the throne herself. For his sake and theirs, this was an opportunity not to be squandered.

And thus, Pike shouldered this great responsibility suddenly thrust onto his wings and embraced being Anemone's personal servant and protector. Pushed forward by his sense of honor and loyalty, a desire not to disappoint his family, and the knowledge that, if he were to fail and lose the only heir, Queen Coral would surely kill him.

Day-to-day life

Pike takes his duty very seriously, both out of loyalty to his liege, and because of how much is at stake for him personally. I picture him getting up during the small hours each morning and beginning his daily exercise routine, to stay in shape for his job. His roommate Flame often wakes up to him noisily doing squats in the middle of the sleeping cave and yells at him. "Am I cursed to be tormented by a diminutive idiot Seawing wherever I go!??!" Pike is lucky that his other roommate, Bigtail, is a heavy sleeper. Otherwise the training session would likely be cut short, with Pike tied to the ceiling lamp.

After wrecking Flame's sleep, Pike usually seeks out Anemone and attempts to stay near her at all times. Initially this caused friction between him and the teachers, as he would often skip his own classes to attend Anemone's. He only stopped doing this when Tsunami made it clear skipping classes would get him sent home, and thus away from Anemone permanently.

As they spent time at the Academy, the Princess began to get better and better at giving Pike the slip whenever she got fed up with his overprotectiveness. He freaks out whenever she vanishes, which is often. To help manage his stress, the JMA staff make him attend regular seminars on inner peace and meditation hosted by Fatespeaker. He is not very good at it, but enjoys the exercises that involve listening to running water.

He began to mellow out for a bit after initial growing pains, until the History cave incident occurred. The bombing shook him back into the bodyguard mindset and he began sleeping in the hallway outside of Anemone's sleeping cave. It weirds out Ostrich whenever she has to climb over him. Attempts to get him to stop this have been unfruitful. The current policy seems to be to let him do this until things calm down and he stops on his own.

Anything else

I believe Pike may have a thing for Rainwings. He is generally hyper-aggressive and rude towards everyone he talks to, with two notable exceptions. One of them is Anemone, whom he is sworn to serve and keep safe. The other is Tamarin, whom he is uncharacteristically kind to. My personal impression is that he may have a bit of a crush on her, but keeps himself from pursuing it as to not upset Anemone.

To my knowledge, Pike never really interacts with Turtle. That is a shame, because I would like to know how they would get along. Pike may be greatly disappointed at Turtle's general un-regal-ness, but still begrudgingly respect him out of obligation. I can picture a scene where he berates Turtle for his demeanor, only for someone else to chime in with an affirmative "Yeah Turtle, you suck", upon which Pike turns around and starts ripping into them about disrespecting Seawing royalty.

Concerningly, Pike's future is very uncertain. He is actually in grave danger right now. If Queen Coral ever finds out that he allowed a murderous, seawing-hating ancient wizard to abduct Anemone, she will have some opinions on that. If Coral has one consistent character trait, it is homicidal vengefulness against anyone who fails to protect her children, regardless of circumstance, regardless even if the perpetrator IS one of her children. That means there is a very real chance she will recall Pike from Jade Mountain and try to tear him apart.

I don't think Anemone would allow this to happen, mind you. She has been privy to her mother dragging poor sods out to the plaza to rip their teeth out, enough to recognize the signs of it coming. If she suspected Pike's life was in danger, I believe she would prevent him from leaving.

For now though, he remains at Jade Mountain, doing the best he can with the responsibility he was dealt, acting as Princess Anemone's retainer. It is a difficult, stressful, at times thankless job, but he would not have it any other way.

"Honor, and duty."

[babygirl-riley]

The Riley’s

You surprise a new Riley in the family.

“He’s a four legged tracking machine.”

simon x reader guide

simon x reader family edition

Warnings: swearing and fluff

You couldn’t resist, you were alone for two months now. Which is pretty normal for how Simon’s job is. So you went to a couple of shelters, animal shelters. Originally it was to check out what type of dogs were out there. Simon and you talked about it before, that if there was a dog present that it would not be some small yappy one.

Simon hated the small dogs, thought they were to tiny and he could squash them by accident when walking around. Which was fair, he was a large man in stature. So just looking for ideas wasn’t suppose to have the end goal you got.

It was a loud shelter many dogs barking and howling. It broke your heart to see them, some were cowering in the corner others up against the fence. You would look at the names Sparky, Jack, Velma, Cupcake. Really odd names. However there was one that made you stop in your tracks.

Riley. You looked into the cage to find a German Shepard, at first he was cautious on when you stopped. Glaring and still. “He used to be a military dog actually,” The woman said behind you. “We might have to put him down soon cause he is getting aggressive.”

You smiled and turned to her. “Can I walk him?”

She stared at you for a minute and shook her head. “I don’t know he isn’t for sale.”

You chuckled. “No worries just one walk and if he snaps then don’t worry about it.”

The lady shrugged and walked to grab a leash. You turned back to the dog who still hasn’t moved. Just staring, you kneeled down and looked at him. Tried to read his eyes. Curious was behind them yet cautious at the same time. “Hey bud,” You whispered. “It’s alright, I’m here to take you home.”

The dog stared unsure before sitting down waiting until the door opened. You watched as the lady cautiously took the dog and handed the leash to you. You grabbed it and he walked with you, he was next to you the whole time. When you looked at him he would look away but when you didn’t he sniffed you.

It reminded you of Simon, cautious and curious. When you both started to date Simon was standoffish yet caring at the same time. You knew nothing of him until damn near 2 years of the relationship. Didn’t know his family was killed until marriage. You could tell how similar the personality between Simon and Riley really was. You guess that’s what the military can do to you. Give you horrible things to twist your mind into think no one is trusted.

Not once for the hour you were with him he was aggressive. You pulled the lady aside and talked about taking him home. She explained that he doesn’t like children or other pets. Luckily for him neither of those were there, she explained that the personality would come out and she expected for him to be back.

You negotiated and bought him, he followed you to the car, hopping in normally. The drive home was nice, he sat and watched the world go by. “Ya know your new dad is military,” You spoke looking over for Riley to be laying down. “You two will get along just fine.”

Riley was to himself a lot of the time, you would feed him and taking him for walks. He wasn’t loving at first until 2 weeks later. He would play with you and cuddle up to you when it was time for bed. Would growl if he felt someone was too close to you when walking. Eventually you tested to see how trained he was. Learned he knew the basic things but also knew how to do protection tricks.

Simon didn’t expect when he pulled home to hear a deep growl at the door when putting his keys in. He wanted to surprise you if being home early, Simon even checked if it was the right house. The growl was deep, a warning. It was dark out, late very very late. So maybe he was hearing things, it wasn’t until he heard you tell something to sit.

“Simon!” You yelled swinging in for a hug. He hugged you back but all he could see is that dog. The dog that was glaring at him for a moment.

“What’s that?”

You turned smiling before biting down on his lower lip. “So I got lonely,” You stated walking over to Riley petting his head. “I wasn’t going to buy a dog but something ironic happened.”

Simon watched as the dog scooted closer to you. Still cautious of him, Simon was just a big man, he rarely wore his mask at home. Takes it off in his truck unless he was extremely tired. “What is it?” He said again.

“His name is Riley.”

Simon was shocked, you were joking, there is no way his name was that. That would be very strange and interesting. “Really?”

You nodded and grabbed his dog tag and his name was engraved. He was a beautiful dog. He walked up to the dog, at first the dog froze then sniffed his hand. Simon let it do whatever as he growled lowly before walking away. You sucked in your lips. “He will get used to you.”

Simon hoped it would be awful to have a pet that tolerated him. For the couple of weeks he was there, Riley slowly got closer to him. Riley followed him everywhere, bathroom, back hard when mowing, on the side of his bed. All of it. Hell Riley would watch football with Simon.

Riley and Simon started to do more training. Taught him how to search, would hide little things of yours, eventually you as Riley searched. Slowly Riley would leave with Simon to the base, slowly would not be at home.

You rolled your eyes humorously. “He hated you.”

Simon scoffed. “He was shy.”

You laughed placing the noodles on each plate. You frowned. “You promise you both come back safe? Intact?”

Simon frowned as well. He knew how you felt when you both talked about what would Riley do, stay at home. That was your only thing, he didn’t need to go out and fight anymore. He did it when he was younger. However Riley has been anxious been doing things that Simon noticed that the other canines would do. Especially when they retired.

Price watched Simon and Riley together on the base. Riley was a good tracking dog and really good at attacking as well. So Price pulled Simon aside and asked how he felt about Riley joining 141. Simon said he would love to but he would have to ask the Misses.

At first you walked away from him, angry of course. Simon knew not to follow you, that he got you that upset to retreat to the bedroom. So he waited. Until you came out and asked what Riley would do. He explained that he would only go on missions that needed the enemy to be found. Capture or kill.

You would listen sit and made tea for both of you as you both negotiated on what would happen. You sighed again. “It would only be for those missions. Some I will know ahead some I won’t. Just like normally.” Simon explained holding her hands. “Ya seen him. He walks around the house like he needs something. He just got into the planets last week.” Simon explained.

You looked outside remembering him bringing in a whole bush of flowers. Dirt and a fucked up backyard. Riley would start destroying things after one paw of his stepped into the base. He wanted more. Needed more. More energy. You frowned looking down at Riley. Riley wagged his tail looking up at you.

“Dogs don’t need to fight the wars Si.” You whispered petting Riley.

Simon nodded his head. “I agree lovie, unfortunately he has already been trained it wouldn’t be his firs’. He would be a good asset.”

You watched as Riley licked your hand. Like he was reassuring you, like he was telling you it was fine. “Alright, only for those missions. But I next time Simon I am getting a yippy and you can’t do shit.”

Simon shook his head chuckling lowly. “No I don’t think so sweethear’”

Simon thought you were kidding but three months later, you brought home a tiniest dog. Yorkie of all dogs. Simon now knows not to take the dogs with him to base. Well Riley fell in love with the little bugger. Eventually Simon did as well having both dogs near him.

You came home from grocery shopping and while walking in you saw the dogs and him sleeping. Riley laid at the end of his feet while Hallie laid on his chest. You scoffed, pulling out your phone, clicking the picture. You smiled as you sent it to Price stating you will have a drug locator too.

[woah-uhuh-uhuh-uhuh]

BMC characters as purebred dogs

my Extremely biased takes feel free to contest dlkfjdsklf

JEREMY: brown poodle (or doodle)

curly + gangly + get that bitch some contacts

(the squip shaves him)

MICHAEL: black shiba

hes just a sweet little guy. very round face. he also would have been all over doge when that was a thing

(if i had to cast for michael in an actual show about dogs though, he would be an old english sheepdog. thats just his archetype. a goofy tan pitbull would also work)

CHRISTINE: border collie

decently pretty but kinda average dog breed... not as silky and girly as the girls (see below). she's so full of love... definitely gets zoomies and will rip a hole in your drywall but you will forgive her

BROOKE: shetland sheepdog

beautiful flowing blonde hair but surprisingly tiny up close and actually has the sweetest little eyes. i trust her.

(alternatively shes this afghan hound)

CHLOE: rough collie

shes like brooke but huge and elegant. they walk around together looking like this

JENNA: papillon

mostly the hair but also shes somehow even smaller than brooke and everyone thinks shes yappy

RICH: bull terrier

stacked and tiny. one and a half feet of whoop-ass. i wont yield on this one actually. i'm right.

JAKE: boxer

athletically sleek. could beat up a human man. orange. what more could you want?

SQUIP:

[bonefall]

Is there a reason in your rewrite why the cats use Hound- as a prefix instead of Dog- when the cats call dogs, well, dogs. Like, is that just a quirk of translation or are there separate words for them?

There are separate words based on the general size of the dog! Clan cats don't think that hounds, collies, and toys are the same animal. You have to admit, it would be pretty surprising to learn that chihuahuas and bloodhounds are the same thing.

They experience three "species" of dog. First, there's the tiny little yappy ones, "Yarf," that are the same size as cats, usually with flat muzzles. They're almost never seen running free through the woods, It's more likely you'll see them in human gardens or kept on leashes.

Next up is the ones that get dangerous, "Rowf"-- what we consider "work dogs" like the collies that would help round up sheep, or retrievers that help with duck hunts. Usually they're focused on a task, but sometimes hiking humans let them off a leash and they hurt someone.

And the last one is "Hounds," "Bayao." Huge, coursing, baying monsters that chase and kill 'for fun'. Extremely high prey drives, sometimes let off the leash at night. Considered MUCH worse than a hog. You know the Dog Scene from Watership Down? That's what Clan cats see in their minds when they're using the word 'hound.'

Occasionally a dog will sort of 'cross the line' between the three types, but Clan cats just consider those to be outliers. There are many odd "species" of dog that the humans keep, and they aren't encountered frequently enough that they need more words than these three.

Millie's "Ability to Speak Dog" is just the ability to recognize beyond these three types. She knows a bunch of dog breeds, and the traits that each one tends to have. Big floppy ones are scent-trackers, medium pointy-eared ones are herders. Medium floppy ones are usually human-helpers. She can't actually "speak" dog, they don't have language.

[four2andnew]

May Prompt #22: Grief for @hinnymicrofic (This literally has nothing to do with the prompt, but I used the word so I'm counting it! Muggle AU. CW for language)

Harry loops Hedwig’s lead around a park bench and pours some water into her collapsible bowl he’s unclipped from her harness before working through some stretches for his post-run cool down when a yappy hairball rushes up to them, quite literally hopping with each yap. It would be funny if he didn’t think the fluffy thing could fit entirely in Hedwig’s mouth if she saw fit to bite the dumb dog yipping at her feet.

“Oi! Control your dog,” he calls out to no one in particular, unsure of where exactly this tiny dog came from.

A woman saunters up lazy like and scoops up the hairball. She’s wearing the tightest fucking t-shirt Harry’s ever seen, an electric blue scrap of fabric that proudly pronounces her to be a “Cereal Killer” in shiny silver vinyl letters straining across the most perfect pair of tits in the universe. Her jeans are clearly men’s and at least one size too big as they sag low over her hips, exposing nearly a hand’s width of taut belly absolutely covered in freckles and the tiniest sliver of the elastic of her neon green knickers. Knickers Harry has to physically shake himself from staring at when she tucks her dog into her jean pockets and the weight of it pulls her trousers down that much more. His eyes jerk to her face in an attempt to be less pervy, only for his brain to stutter to a complete stop at the sight of her flaming hair and doe-eyes.

“Sorry about that,” she says brightly, “I’m dog-sitting Pig here for my brother across the street there and this little shit used his tiny size against me to slip out the door just now.”

She pats her pocket with the dog in it fondly, clearly not too fussed at the “little shit” who is fighting to push its head out. Harry is standing like an absolute imbecile with his right leg still bent up, heel to arse for a nice quad stretch, staring completely dumbfounded at this stunning beauty. Hedwig seems to understand that his brain is short-circuiting and nudges his hip with her nose, jerking him out of his stupor. He drops his foot to the ground and thrusts out his hand.

“No problem, I’m Harry.”

She laughs, a full bodied, head thrown back laugh, and shakes his hand, leaving his tingling in her wake.

“Ginny. I think you know my brother, Ron? At least, I’m assuming you're Harry with the wicked big dog that Ron always talks about,” she says with a pointed look at Hedwig, his Great Dane. The dog in question preens under her attention, sitting regally next to Harry to allow Ginny to scratch her ears. Harry feels an irrational pride at hearing Ginny coo over his dog, even though he knows Hedwig’s beauty has everything to do with her rare white coat speckled with black and nothing to do with him at all.

“Yeah, I know Ron. We usually wind up running together in the mornings. I didn’t know he had that furball though,” he says, pointing at the fluffy face that had finally succeeded in removing itself from Ginny’s pocket.

She waves dismissively, “Ron’s aways going on about birds of prey snatching little puppies off the street. If you ask me, he’s a little ashamed of falling in love with a purse pup instead of a hulking beast like your beauty here. But the heart wants what it wants and I give him enough grief as it is. It’s my duty as the youngest.”

She ends with a little shrug and shoves Pig’s head back down into her pocket, pulling her jeans down a little more and Harry gets enough of a glimpse of her knickers stretched over her hipbone to know her freckles are everywhere. He coughs, choking on his spit and flushing furiously, sure his face is as red as Ginny’s fire-kissed hair. She’s staring at him, a polite smile on her lips, waiting for him to respond like a normal human being, but all he can do is nod and gather Hedwig’s bowl and lead and run away like an absolute coward.

[fishandmenthol]

Baby Bird

Summary: Anya tries to recover, but the pressure of living day to day after the events of the Tulpar are just too much sometimes, when even the tiniest things are stark reminders. Sometimes all it took was one small memento mori to remind you how close you got.

CWs: Dead animals, canon typical blood, mentions of unwanted pregnancy and miscarriage [AU where the Tulpar crew survive, Anya's failed suicide attempt the turning point]

-----

Winter used to be Anya's favorite season. And it still was, but not for the reason she used to like it and that honestly made her kind of sick. She had once loved Winter because she loved Christmas, loved the snow, would get pictures sent to her from Curly of his ski vacations, would send Christmas cards to Swansea and his wife, and one year had even gotten a cheap bottle of Jack Daniels to Jimmy since she couldn't afford much. That was the first year she had met him, before…..well….Back when she thought Jimmy was just a prickly man with a hard exterior.

Now Winter was her favorite season because it was the perfect excuse to not leave her house, and even when she had to or chose to she could rely on good 'ol Jack Frost to make sure she was covered head to toe; the less skin, the better. The nip of the chill air ensured nothing could be seen beyond her white puffy coat and thick sweats, a scarf pulled up to her nose leaving only her dark eyes exposed to the chill morning air. And how chill it was, leaving her convinced she had frost hanging from her eyelashes. A winter storm blew through the night before, leaving the roads icy and the neighborhood mostly dead.

Unfortunately snow or no snow, it was errand day; her apartment was bare of food aside from a few slices of cheese and an old bottle of wine, and she even needed to grab a bag of chow for her cat. Psychologists recommended pets to all of the Tulpar survivors and Anya had abided, falling in love with a one eyed tortie at the shelter whom she had named Marigold. Swansea had a dog, Curly would need a service dog, Daisuke had come to the shelter with her when she adopted Marigold, but didn't click with a companion like she had. He didn't strike her as a cat person, even though he played with the kittens. Daisuke made Anya think of puppies, particularly the small yappy ones with the silly teddy bear haircuts. She herself liked cats better, and while she had initially planned to bring home a kitten, six year old Marigold had climbed into her arms and didn't let go.

She was getting lost in thought again as she walked, shaking her head so as to not get too far off track. She just needed a few groceries, little enough to walk back to her apartment with but enough to last her until the snow melted. Her car was in the shop; setting up in the elements for two years meant it needed repairs worse than she did (and that was saying something… she did nearly overdose!) But it didn't matter much since it'd be almost impossible to drive in this weather anyway. She trusted herself to be able to walk home with some bread, lunch meat, and cat food at least.

She walked under some trees, her path to the store taking her through the very edge of the city park, when she noticed a flitter of movement. A bird, small and red- a cardinal flicking by to reach a higher branch. In her time working for Pony Express, Anya had missed seeing the small glimpses of wildlife while she was in space, so now that she was earthbound even tiny encounters like this made her smile. The bird seemed antsy, likely due to Anya's own intrusion.

"Don't worry, don't worry." she uttered to the bird, playful. That's when she noticed more movement, but this time it wasn't lively like the little red bird. Something was laying under the tree she was passing, and Anya couldn't fight her curiosity to see what it was as she stepped closer to inspect it. Small as it was, she wished she hadn't had done that. Death wasn't unusual in her field of work; she was a medical practitioner after all, but when she wasn't in her element to expect it, she could never quite shake the feeling it left in her throat.

In a small fluffed up pile beneath the branches, a fledgling cardinal sat frozen, the wind blowing its fluffy down this way and that. Its head was tucked downward as if it was trying to protect itself from the wind as it had died. Anya frowned as she knealt, searching the small animal for any meager signs of life and finding nothing but frost; one eye stared back at her.

One small glossy eye.

One blue quivering eye.

Groans of pain as she waited for him to die, waited for the sign that she wasn't even good enough to save their captain. One blue eye darting this way and that as she tried like hell to give him his pills painlessly, his sobs mixing with her own that she tried to push down. She wondered why they were doing this to him; she hated that she was mad at him, because no one deserved this and they didn't deserve her anger on top of this. Why didn't he die? Wouldn't it have been kinder?

She reached into the snow, her mittens cupping the tiny frozen body. It was a baby. It must had been trying to fly….

Pills shook in her hands, Curly groaning and gasping next to her as if pleading in any way he could. She needed freedom, she couldn't handle it any more. Don't go breaking down over something small, the dead pixel had jeered, but this was the biggest decision she'd ever make.

It's feathers were jostled, as if it had landed far too rough in the wind. Maybe it had fallen out of its nest before and tried to pick up flying from there, only to be mercilessly beaten down by the elements and left to freeze in the snow…

Her hands pressed firmly into gore, staunching the bleeding best she could and ignoring what she could only imagine was viscera and torn muscle tissue under her palms. A young voice screamed in pain as she pressed and cried apologies. A pile of vomit and undigested pills, her own nose bleeding as her blood mingled with Daisuke's on the dirty floor beneath them.

The red bird flittered around the branches above her, chirping and flapping. She wondered if it knew its baby was dead, or if it still had hope that it was still alive, its frantic chirps an attempt to drive her away.

Swansea was slamming a fist into the door, frustration mounting as he messed with the lock from the other side. She didn't want either of them in here; she knew Swansea meant well, but the dead pixel was out there too, and she hysterically remembered a fun fact in the back of her mind that swans killed their young if they were injured. Swansea wouldn't hurt Daisuke any worse, she knew. But she didn't know what Jimmy had done to cause all of this. Her nose continued to bleed.

"I'm sorry." Anya said out loud, lifting the baby bird in her hands. The cardinal above continued to chirp and flit about. "I'm sorry…" she repeated. "It was just a baby…"

The relief made her feel sick as the doctor of the medical vessel spoke, sympathetic. "A miscarriage is hard on the body and the mind." they said, and she couldn't argue. They theorized it had happened shortly after her attempt; stress and pills and malnutrition, her body focusing on itself and not the seed planted in it. Her relief made her feel so so sick. It didn't ask to be there, but she didn't ask it to be either.

"Anya?" This voice was not in her memory. This was someone behind her, following her path and watching her mourn a dead bird. Anya jumped to her feet, holding the baby bird to her chest as if her protection would do anything for it now. In front of her stood none other than Swansea, big brown coat and black eyepatch leaving him an interesting sight in this weather. "You alright there?"

Anya wanted to say something, a greeting, anything. But all that came out was a small whine. She didn't know what exactly she wanted to tell or ask him, and she certainly didn't know how to explain what she was doing. Swansea's eyes- eye- moved from Anya's face to the small corpse in her hands and Anya immediately felt a sense of shame. She was an almost 30 year old woman, crying in the snow over a dead baby bird that she didn't even kill, and now here she was in that position being confronted by her old coworker. Granted, the remaining Tulpar crew members were close at this point, Anya's apartment was down the street from Swansea's house, Daisuke was in the same complex as her across the way, the assisted living home Curly was in was only a stones throw away... (The halfway house Jimmy was in was across town, far away)... and it was really no surprise that if anyone was going to find her standing in the snow over a dead baby bird, mourning and having flashbacks and almost hyperventilating-

Swansea put a hand over her hands along with the tiny corpse. Anya didn't notice she was breathing quickly until the warmth of his hand through her mittens alerted her to the world around her. Wordlessly, Swansea lifted the bird from her hands- it was so tiny, and his hands so big, it sat in the palm of one- and stepped toward the tree that the parent bird had long since quieted in.

He knelt down and motioned for Anya to join him, which she did silently. He reached down to the ground, his free hand scraping back some of the snow from the base of the tree. The ground was far too hard to go further than the surface but he still attempted to scoot some pebbles out of the way. Anya watched, feeling like tears were freezing on her face. Swansea took the little bird in both of his scarred hands and set it down at the base of the tree, nestling its little body between two roots that stuck out. And then he proceeded to scoot the snow around it, a small frozen mausoleum for a small frozen life. At this point, the father bird had flown away, in acceptance or grief Anya couldn't tell. It was a bird, there may have been nothing there at all.

But she felt tears fall, and when Swansea stood up he held a hand out to help her stand as well. Both had been silent for the entire burial, so it was almost a relief when the old man spoke up, "Shit's been pretty rough on you, huh?" he asked, more of a statement than a question. "I get it. Winter's kind of fucked up for all of us. Daisuke's hanging out at our house right now; said the snow made things too quiet. He said we should go visit El Capitan when the weather gets a little better. You should come too- he'd be glad to see you."

Anya made a noise of acknowledgement. She didn't mind the idea after her errands were done…She recalled the quivering blue eye and how over time- with each visit- it was starting to look a little human again. She remembered how they had all laughed when Swansea complained about his depth perception. She remembered how Daisuke joked that his scars made him look badass. "Maybe, it could be nice."

"You on the way to the store?" Swansea asked. "I'll walk you; The old ball and chain was sending me out for milk and eggs in this shit, can you believe that?" he laughed, and Anya chuckled herself. The pair continued on the same path, Swansea filling Anya in on what's been going on the past few days and how his family was dealing with the winter storm, how Daisuke wouldn't leave, how Jaxson kept getting snowballs stuck in his fur. He asked how Marigold was and offered to pay for the bag of cat food.

In her mind, Anya imagined a small fluffy cardinal, warm and safe in its nest.

[atlasnolan]

Does your muse have any pets?

“No. I had a dog once though for almost two weeks. Found her eating out of the trash near the motel we were living in at the time and almost passed her right by thinking she was a rat. Turned out she was just dirty and weird looking. Tiny little yappy thing, she could fit in your hand. She reminded me of Scottie so I brought her home.

We were real good with her too. We washed her, fed her, hid her from the motel manager. We held her up and let her kick her legs and think she was swimming in the bath and she slept on Scottie’s pillow some nights and on mine other nights. Even Nina thought she was alright. Then she got a new boyfriend who didn’t like ratdogs and we didn’t like him.”

“I don’t know where Tiny ended up after that, but we were stuck with him for four months until he realised he didn’t like kids either.” @scottienolan

[ofblitzd]

┊┊cerberus corp has been watching AIYANA MORENO.  some of the public has dubbed them BLITZ because of LIGHTNING MANIPULATION gifted by FIRE CAUSED BY LIGHTNING STRIKE. having been an extra ordinary since 2017, they’re doing a good job at hiding OUTBURSTS CAUSED BY STRONG EMOTIONS & SCORCHING THEMSELVES. when they aren’t working their day job as a BARTENDER, they are fond of WORKING ON VINTAGE CARS and are never seen without A BRACELET MADE BY HER SISTER. at first glance they seem CHARISMATIC & TENACIOUS, though their close friends know them to also be RUTHLESS & VENGEFUL.  they consider themself a VILLAIN. ┊┊ baz. she/her. 30. cst. n/a.

TW : fire, death.

001.  GENERAL

name : aiyana sekai moreno. nicknames : blitz, yana, na. age : thirty. date of birth : october 30th, 1993. zodiac : scorpio sun, taurus moon, capricorn rising. place of birth : new york city, new york. current residence : brooklyn, in a one bedroom, studio apartment above the bar she bartends at.  gender : demi woman. pronouns : she/they.  sexuality : pansexual.  occupation : bartender.  faceclaim : khadijha red thunder height : 5’9”.  tattoos : lightning strike down their left side, her sister’s initials under her left collar bone, a patchwork sleeve from her right shoulder to wrist consisting of at least 20 random tattoos, spiderwebs on the backs of their knees, a snake wrapped around a dagger along her spine, a medusa on their left calf and jellyfish on the right, their tentacles wrapping around to her shin.  piercings : triple pierced lobes and double helix on her right ear, triple pierced lobes, double helix, and tragus on her left. septum, and left nostril.  distinguishing features : freckles covering most of their face, burns along their left thigh and hip from their nde, and a three inch scar on their right calf, just above their ankle from a childhood bike accident.  positive traits : charismatic, tenacious, loyal, hard working.  negative traits : ruthless, vengeful, sarcastic, reticent.  labels / tropes : tall, hot, ruthless villain with fabulous hair!? idk tbd on a real answer lol.  likes : snakes/reptiles, weight lifting, obscene amounts of vaping, vodka sodas, thunderstorms, loud music, collecting sharp objects (mostly pocket knives, but she does own throwing stars, too), double dutch, a lacy bodysuit, jasmine tea.  dislikes : emotions, acrylic nails (they always end up melting off when she calls the lightning), tiny yappy dogs, sherpa jackets (the texture gives her the ick), peas, coffee (especially the sugary kind).  fears : suffocating, trusting the wrong people. again.  hobbies : knife throwing, mixology, working on her charger, lifting, thinking of fun new ways to ruin the men and women who disappoint them, window shopping.  habits : twirling pens, straws, and coins (whatever she can get her hands on tbh) along her fingers, cracking her joints (hands, elbows, neck), sucking their teeth when they’re annoyed. 

002.  EXTRA ORDINARY

NDE

aiyana grew up on the streets of brooklyn with their sister - enola - seeing more than two young girls ever should have bore witness to. yet, they survived. hell, they thrived. the two had grown into competent, independent women that took a relatively shitty childhood circumstances and turned their lives into something to be insanely proud of.  the tiny, fixer upper they’d bought had only been theirs for six months when the storm rolled in. it was the height of summer and dry lightning split the sky, threatening to unleash a torrent of rain. aiyana wished it would have. a crack of lightning struck their home, setting it ablaze as if it were mere kindling. it took seconds for the sisters to become trapped and smoke to fill the tiny space, smothering them.  yana was ready to all but drag their baby sister out of the house when a piece of the roof caved in, landing on aiyana’s left leg. she was trapped. more debris continued to fall, further trapping aiyana and enola. all yana could think of was staying alive long enough to get. her sister. out. she couldn’t die under this stupid fucking house. she wouldn’t. not if it meant losing the one thing that held her together in the moments that yana felt like she was being ripped apart at the seams.  the sirens had just come within earshot when aiyana finally managed to shove the fiery debris off of her leg. painstakingly slowly, yana crawled her way to enola, but it was too late. she would later find out that the smoke inhalation had been the thing to kill their sister. fucking smoke. still, even if the rational part of her brain knew enola was gone, yana wasn’t letting go. she could still save her somehow and refused to die until she did.  yana lost consciousness before the firefighters were able to pull them and enola from the rubble and, while her sister was pronounced dead on scene, aiyana was loaded into the back of an ambulance and rushed to the nearest hospital.  days later, yana came to - groggy and confused. as the events from days prior slowly came back to her, an unfamiliar heat coursed through her limbs and energy crackled at her fingertips. panic and pure energy swirled in the pit of her stomach, forming a tight ball of anxiety until a nurse finally broke the news that enola never even made it to the er. a wail ripped through aiyana’s already shredded throat as a crack of lightning split the otherwise clear sky just outside her window. the very lightning that shattered aiyana’s whole world, gave them the power to shatter everyone else’s. and shatter them, she would.

POWER

aiyana’s abilities are limited to charged particles in the earth’s upper atmosphere. she cannot manipulate electric appliances or draw from electric currents used to power them. will she summon lightning to make them explode for dramatic effect? absolutely. every single time. she’s extra af and wildly unapologetic about it. but! it’s easiest when they’re outside to call the lightning. depending on the building, and what was used to build it, can make it more difficult to do so. yana’s abilities may also be amplified by large quantities of conductor in her near vicinity, but it has to be a significant amount. a lake, river, mass amounts of high conductive metals - they’ll all get the job done. the same goes for grounding materials like rubber or plastic - in large amounts, they may stifle her abilities.  her abilities also require a significant amount of control - both physical and emotional. the use of their powers quickly drain aiyana, causing massive fatigue and, oddly enough, dehydration. that’s the main reason they started hitting the gym as hard as she does. it took practically no time after her powers manifested to figure out she wasn’t physically up to par with their newfound abilities.  flashes of strong emotion of any kind can cause aiyana to lose control of her lightning, both putting others and herself in danger. they’ve always been good at schooling their emotions, but the loss of her sister took a little of that control with her. aiyana has had to shut off any empathy that may have remained in the years since her nde in order to keep those more pesky emotions at bay. emotions too strong can cause aiyana to draw too much power and burn out.  it took yana a solid year before they had any real control over the lightning. their grief was still too raw and she’d yet to figure out how to fit it in the tiny little box in the back of her mind. once they figured out how to compartmentalize her emotions and stow them away, aiyana was off to the races. in the past six years, yana has - for the most part - mastered their abilities. 

VULNERABILITIES & DRAWBACKS

use of her powers, especially when yana uses significant amounts or for longer periods of time, causes static electricity. she’ll accidentally shock people for days afterwards. it’s easily one of their least favorite side effects of being an eo. there’s also the exhaustion and dehydration, though they’ve come to combat those fairly easily in the years since their nde.  occasionally, when an unexpected emotion hits - which is rare these days - and she’s holding any sort of device that requires electricity, she’ll short circuit it. yana has burnt out a few too many iphone components for her liking, if we’re being honest.  over the years, aiyana has come to feel at home with the slight hum that her powers bring. being cut off from the lightning now would almost feel like cutting off a limb. any sort of eos power with the ability to smother or overload them with electricity would be detrimental and, though she’s loath to admit it, terrifying.

CODENAME

aiyana hates the whole codename thing. theirs was bestowed upon them by some geeky superhero blogger that decided she needed some whack moniker as well. she prefers to go by her given name, but has accepted that there’s less than nothing they can do about the codename. though, get her in the right mood and she may give ya a little zap. 

003.  EXTRA

honestly…if you made it through all that mess, bless you. 

stats. pinterest. wc.

there will be a full wanted connections page, but until i get my shit together and get that finished, have some more mess. 

fellow baddies! give me a gang of just…the best of the worst. let them be hot! do crime! wreck all the havoc humanly possible. i really just want shenanigans, tbh.

uhhhhh someone to remind yana she is human? and has emotions? and they’re not the worst thing to have? they’ll hate it and i’m really living for it. can be platonic or romantic or somewhere in between. i’m truly not picky. just make them feel the things, pls. i beg.

i also beg for found family type ish. aiyana is v much on her own and she’ll never admit it but she capital h Hates it. it would have been a JourneyTM to get to the familial point, but she needs it. their love language is bullying, though, so uuuuhhh sorry?

hook. ups. yana is so insanely sex positive and they are not shy about it. 

perhaps an ex? long term relationships haven’t been yana’s jam in years, but it’s possible she has at least one. mayhaps two?

literally anything. throw it at me. i'll eat it up.

[thotsforvillainrights]

And last one for now! The puppy phase 

As kids most of us probably went through an animal phase and wanted to have a cute little puppy to care for. Tomoko is not exception, she is restless with her demands for a puppy. Please just one tiny little puppy she promises to walk it and feed it and give it all the things a puppy needs! Skeptic, of course, replies a simple No every-time, because puppies are a big responsibility (and he knows he’ll probably end up caring for it)

But then of course - of *course* his dear co-workers would - get her a puppy (you can decide who can give her it). Now Skeptic is not only having to raise a human child, he’s having to raise a puppy. It’s yappy and loud and it’s just learnt how to howl, it eats anything it can get its little jaws on (his expensive shoes are a delicacy), it’s getting dog hair on the furniture, and worst of its?? The little rat had the nerve to weasel its way into his heart 

One night Tomoko sneaks her way into his bed and sleeps with him. He of course heard her come in but instead of carrying her back to her room, he just pulls the covers over her and goes back to sleep. In the morning he wakes up to Tomoko and the furball curled up by his chest, sleeping soundly. Tomoko is cradling them like a teddy bear and the puppy’s itty bitty paws are twitching in its sleep- oh the puppy yawned, that was adorable. Why did he think that was adorable? 

Skeptic grumbles, swearing that this is the ONLY time the dog will sleep on the bed 

(The dog slept on any of the beds in the house at least three times a week)

(Oh the puppy phase is so real I swear. Skeptic strikes me as the type of dad to not want a dog but then treat it like a baby once he gets close to it)

~The New Puppy~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

As parents, there are a few phases you two are well aware of coming on the horizon. The 'where do babies come from' phase is going to be the most dreaded one of course. The 'can I join a sports team', yet the child may not stick and end up quitting way too soon. Even more so, you expect the 'can I have a puppy' phase to come before anything else with the way Tomoko is towards animals. Surely enough, the two of you were right. Your sweet girl was ruthless at it too. She was consistent, unyielding, NOT EVEN CLOSE to giving up asking any time soon. You let Skeptic handle this one considering he was better at saying 'no' to her than you were, She's gotten up in some age and he's had plenty of time to break free from spoiling her as best he could. He's managed to say no to her successfully many times in the past few weeks, but you can see his resolve starting to fail sooner or later.

The sneaky little thing even tried to trick Curious or Trumpet into getting it for her one day, had Skeptic not stepped in to say no just in time.

He sits her down one day and sighs, opting to have a deeper conversation and hoping to reach her through it. "Puppies and dogs in general are a large responsibility kid. It's not just something cute you can hang out with or take picture of. You need to clean them, feed and water them, take them on walks, take the to the vet and groomer, train them, and so much more." He's telling her all this but knows in the back of his mind that big responsibility for her will actually be a big one for him instead. She'd pouted afterward and he was sure she'd be right back at it later in the week.

It's unfortunate for him that he ended up bringing her to work on a day that his stubborn coworker would be there. This was a woman he'd describe as having so restrictions. No matter how angry he was, this was the first worker that actually didn't cower away from him. Perhaps he was annoyed he didn't have any control over this woman any more than the other higher-ups did. Worst of all, he hated how she'd go directly against what he was trying to teach his daughter. One day he caught Tomoko with a pocket full of half eaten candy after he specifically told her to wait until dinner time before sweets. It wasn't a question as to who gave it to her. It was precisely this very same coworker that took an *ahem* early lunch break and returned from the pet store with a small yapping rat. Now unfortunately for him, he was stuck having to raise not only a kid but also this damn dog as well.

The thing stinks, it smells like a bag of dirty pennies. It never shuts the fuck up. It shits and pisses all over the house rather than on the puppy pad, and it destroys EVERYTHING (including his most expensive pair of shoes). Woe is him...While you were supposed to take his side with this, you ended up falling for the thing rather quickly. Now it was two against one and he was stuck with it. Even worse on him, he began to find himself growing slowly interested in the little thing as well. He began calling it by it's name (puddles) and actually taking some extra time out of his busy day to help his daughter care for it. He hated every bit of how easily he tended to fall for cute things. Perhaps that's why you had him wrapped around your finger when the two of you first started dating years ago?

One night Tomoko had snuck her tiny self into your shared bed and fells asleep. He woke up to some muffled feet on the carpet and obviously knew he heard her come in but instead of carrying her back to her own bed, he just pulled the blanket over her and went back to sleep. That very next morning he woke up to Tomoko and the pup curled up near his chest...sleeping soundly. His babygirl is cuddled up closely against him with the small creature, its small little paws twitching in its sleep...When exactly had his heart gotten so warm at the sight? Oh well, nonetheless this was a one time thing. That dog (no matter how cute) would have to sleep in it's own bed after tonight.

At least that's what he said a week ago. The puppy has been sleeping in beds ever since.

[sangrefae]

FFXIV WRITE 2023: DAY TWO [BARK]

link to the ao3 post for my entries | day one | day three | day four

bark [noun] - the sharp explosive cry of certain animals, especially a dog, fox, or seal. - wolzero implied, sometime in endwalker patches. 560 words.

Zero stares at the little creature wordlessly, something between curiosity and horror in her gaze. 

In contrast, Remember moves about the space of the room with no acknowledgement of its incessant cries, merely nudging it aside gently with their foot as it tries to paw at their legs. 

"Yappy little thing," they mutter, continuing to ignore it as they sit down next to Zero on the Hannish chaise lounge. Despite their tone and the harshness of their words, they don't reject the little beast when it leaps onto the lounge and deposits itself on their lap. Zero blinks. 

"What.. is it?" Remember turns to look at Zero, expression unchanged except for a single eyebrow raise. 

"What, this monster?" They reply, lifting a hand to point at the aforementioned thing; which, much to Zero's surprise, begins to gnaw on their finger. She quickly looks between them and the thing, wary of possible danger.

"Is it hurting you?" She inquires, slightly alarmed at the nonchalance Remember holds themself with as the attack continues. They scoff at her words. 

"He doesn't have much in the way of teeth to hurt me with," they reply, easily wrenching their finger back from the little beast's jaws and revealing their healthy, unblemished skin. "He's barely a pup, and still teething. The only threat is his bark and him seeming determined to make us all deaf." 

Zero processes their words slowly, staring at the little thing as she does so. Studying it more carefully now, she can see the similarities to the hellhounds she oftentimes avoided on the Thirteenth—although in this greatly diminished form, it doesn't strike as much fear into her heart. 

She tells Remember as much, who immediately sputters and begins to laugh. They hold the beast close, making sure it doesn't fall or otherwise injure itself; it begins to chew on their hand once again in its thanks.

"His ancestors may be ferocious, but this little thing is not," Remember answers after a good few moments, wiping away mirthful tears with their free hand. "Besides, I'm only watching him for a bit while Elinor does 'business' in the Twelveswood. He'll be out of here in a few days, and then we'll finally be left in peace again."

Zero acknowledges their words with a soft hum, continuing to focus on the little beast as it wrestles with Remember’s spoken hand on their lap. She watches as it growls at their fingers before snapping its tiny jaws, yelping and barking as it swipes its paws. The attacks are relentless, and yet never seem to be intending to injure; somewhere in the back of her mind, Zero recognizes that it's playing.

She startles both Remember and herself by reaching her hand out, then, tentatively moving to the creature. 

The first attempt to touch it is thwarted by it rolling its head back to try and bite at her, Remember sternly reprimanding it as they lift it up off their lap and hold it in the air. In this position, she successfully makes contact with its head; it's much softer than she expected, warm, and the sensation lingers even once she pulls her hand away and Remember lowers the creature back onto their lap. It's like nothing she'd ever felt in the Thirteenth, distant memories stirring faintly in the back of her mind at the familiar touch.

[budddywells]

what is something you regret? and something you are proud of?

"I regret switching up on my best friend and cutting her out of my life like she meant nothing to me. That was never the case. I think I realised that she meant too much to me at a time when everything else around me was already too fucking much. Like one more thing that I had to think about, even though it could have been a good thing, was going to shatter me when I needed to hold it together for my dad. That's the thing about feeling like you're drowning, do it for long enough and it gets easy to miss a lifeboat. Still keeps me up at night, if I'm honest."

"I don't have much to be proud of these days, except Jack Jack. He's a four month old miniature Jack Russell that I walk now, but it nearly 3 weeks to even make that happen. He was scared of everything. The other dogs, car horns, buses. His whole body would shake when I tried to get him to step off the stoop. The world's just a little too big for something that small. But I didn't give up on him, and it's probably stupid but when he finally stepped off the front steps it made me feel like I'd actually done something that mattered in a way. He's a yappy little asshole now though, he's the pack's tiny troublemaker. He's dope."

[oddlies-a]

What is Daphne's least favorite animal? (And no saying she likes all of them, that's cheating.)

Least favorite? I think she dislikes those tiny, yappy dogs. People assume she’d adore them, but she thinks they’re annoying and a lot of them are vicious. No thanks.

Bigger dogs like Scooby are more than welcome, though! She also hates roaches, but who doesn’t?

[witchbiitches]

𝙾𝙵𝙼𝙲𝙲𝙽𝙻𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃 𝙰𝚂𝙺𝙴𝙳  :   26, 43, and 59 !

26. AND HOW WOULD THEY INTERACT WITH OTHER DOGS IN THE PARK ( IF THEY WERE A DOG )?  :  pansy wouldn't be at the park in the first place because she would be a very small, yappy little dog that got that way because her owner spoiled her absolute rotten and only ever carries her around in a ridiculously expensive ( for dog carrying purposes ) handbag. if she was at the park, you'd know something horrible had happened, and i'm going to be honest - in dog terms, she'd probably be the one getting bullied. tiny dogs get bulldozed constantly by the bigger guys, and she'd deserve it.

43. IF THEY WERE A PERIOD IN HISTORY, WHICH WOULD THEY BE?  :  oh boy... i'm not sure. i think i am gonna say the roaring 20's as my one true answer ( though i can make arguments about a few others ) because of the absolute insane levels of hedonism they're defined by. that really covers the vibe of the slytherin gang as it was envisioned by us, i think !

59. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING THEY WANT TO KNOW FROM NEW PEOPLE?  :  it feels like a cop out to say 'nothing', but pansy doesn't wanna know anything from anyone ! she doesn't need to know anything about anyone - i suppose it does sort of count to say she usually forms her first opinion based on the everything about their overall look, but since she's that quick to decide what she thinks of someone, she doesn't tend to waste time if she's decided that they're not worth it.

𝙳𝚄𝙼𝙱 & 𝙻𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝙳𝚄𝙼𝙱 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚀𝚄𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂  »  currently  accepting  !

[ms-demeanor]

Also by the way Tiny Bastard is not a bark-y dog, which is notable because she is half chihuahua (known for being pretty yappy) and half dachshund (known for having a bark like an icepick). When she *does* bark it tends to be a piercing, repetitive alert bark telling us that there is something she would like to go murder in the yard (usually at 4am).

Even though she is not a bark-y dog we have taught her to bark on command and rewarded her significantly for it because *THAT MEANS WE GAVE HER AN OFF SWITCH FOR WHEN HER ICE-PICK 4AM KITTY MURDER BARKING* (which is not a thing that happens all the time but it is spring and there's a feral cat colony on my neighbor's property so cats are screaming around the yard all fucking night right now)

She understands "sing" as her "bark now" command, which means that when she starts getting fixated we can break her out of it by giving her a "sit" command (physical movement getting her out of her alert stance), then a "sing" command (having her vocalize on command and not out of a reaction to stimuli), then something quiet and settling like "shake" or "lay down" in her bed to get her to get back into "it's bedtime now not sing time" mode.

Like with recall, this doesn't work 100% of the time for her because her prey drive is wayyyyyy overdeveloped and sometimes she just can't look away from the thing she's alerting on or trying to attack, but for anything less than two cats trying to kick each other to death three feet away on the other side of the sliding door (something that happened last week and that I had to carry her outside for to keep her from charging the door while I turned the hose on the cats to break them up) it is at least a good short-term way to get her to forget about whatever she was murder-focused on in exchange for treats so she can then go back to sleep.

Large Bastard doesn't usually eat breakfast but if he's making breakfast and I'm in my office he'll see if I want some so a few minutes ago he came up to my desk with a bowl of hash and eggs for me and a bonus tiny plate of eggs for Tiny Bastard.

She's such a good little dog and he's such a nice giant man.

[teefa85]

So this is an exerpt from a Sidestory of my Warrior Accademy, set around the second project.  Leon ends up in a group with the most entitled brat in their dorm, along with another no-nonsense character and someone who doesn't like her due to how badly she treats her cousin (who is his friend).  She tells them she is not doing any "tedious" work.  Unfortunately for her, Leon is not the type to keep his opinions to himself...

Highlights:

“I don’t enable adults who are less reliable than the children my sister cares for!  At least they clean their rooms.”

(as the other two watch them) From the little they knew of Leon, he was like a tiny and very yappy guard dog.

Also, much to his delight, Leon turned back to her to say how, if she didn’t do her part, he would turn in an extra page on top of his saying that this was what she refused to help with and it wasn’t his job.

[into-wonderland-caroline]

03/29/23 A kitten called Chaos

Tonight has been a little hectic and unexpected. My family & I got absorbed watching a movie on Netflix called The Good Nurse. We were all in the living room and so my father got up to let our dogs out in to the backyard for a final potty of the evening, the movie was still going. The dogs hadn't been outside more than 10 minutes when we could hear barking and commotion on the back porch & so I got up and went out the sliding glass doors to the back deck to see what was going on & there was a tiny kitten curled up between some of the bikes on the porch! We have nicknamed her Chaos because of the the whole ordeal with the dogs.

We've brought Chaos in to the house because she is so small, alone and it is still too cold out for this little baby but we are not keeping her, mostly because my father and oldest brother Theo are VERY allergic to cats...I am allergic as well just not as bad. Also we have 8 dogs and while I doubt they would hurt a cat...we don't & have not ever had cats so they are not socialized with them....cant risk that. Anyway, my mother has a friend who takes in cats and kittens and her husband is vet tech or something so mom called her and they'll be here in an hour to take miss chaos.

I am glad I went out to see what the dogs were causing a commotion over now...I could just tell from the sound of the barks I was hearing before I went out that something was going on. Does that make sense? I feel like it's a normal dog person thing where you know the different tones of your dogs barking whether something is really going on or wrong etc plus the fact that in the Greyson house the amount of barking was abnormal - like it's pretty normal for Hank(English bulldog male) to be barking [especially since there is a raccoon that likes to tease the dogs for shits and giggles and Hank has a serious vendetta against the raccoon for being a tease]. Its normal for Jewel (basset hound beagle mix) & River (male golden retriever) to be yappy when they are outside but tonight even our doberman, Captain, Zues(German shepherd husky mix) and Rosie(female English bulldog) were barking and those 3 rarely do & not with out a reason. The other 2 dogs, Ava(female golden retriever) and Stella(French bulldog) can go either way with the barking. As I am typing this I am thinking probably it is not a normal dog person thing to study, analyze, understand and ramble about my dogs barking 🤦‍♀️ smh