#I might make some posts in the future dedicated to their species when I get the energy/do some more research | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

soldmysoultootomeboys · 3 years ago

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Hi! Can I request headcannons for the human brothers accidently summoning an angel mc instead of a demon and the angel mc insisting on sticking around and helping them?

The other brothers: :) Satan: >:)

This has been in the drafts for too long. I really love the absolute mood switch between Lucifers and Mammons. And just Satans in general ig.

Lucifer

After years of religious trauma at the hands of his father Lucifer finally thought he was free of any connection to the church. Summoning a flaming seraphim at 3 in the morning was not a pleasant way to find out that he was wrong.

As for you, being summoned for the first time in your long long life was an unwelcome surprise. You were a seraphim for heaven's sake. The cream of the crop, highest of the high, and that wasn’t pride speaking only facts. You were crucial to running the celestial realm.

But somehow you’re undeniably tied to his human. You could feel where his soul became intermeshed with your very essence. How wrong it felt to be tied to something so mortal, and delicate, and free.

Any attempts to leave would surely be met with disaster.

So you stay. Lucifer is cold. You can’t blame him. Being there reopens old wounds that he’d rather have remained closed. But just ignoring each other isn’t going to work.

He’s not interested in the celestial realm, and despises any blessing you try and give him, but a fresh cup of coffee during an all-nighter seems to make him brighter than any magic you could do and when you run your hands through his hair he looks at you with more fondness than you can comprehend.

You learn to be more human. He learns to let go of the past.

And one day you find that you don’t want to leave anymore.

For celestial sake that thought should as well be treason! But it’s true.

It’s a spring afternoon and Lucifer plays celestial lullabies on his piano and you want nothing more than for the beautiful night to come so you can sweep him in your arms and remind him how he glows.

You don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore, but you know that this human is yours and you are his. To rip off your wings would be to find solace in his arms. But you can not give him that. This he knows.

So you promise to protect him, in words he can’t hear but he understands. The spread of your wings shield him from the world and you press blessings to his skin in the shape of the crescents in his back and your lips on his neck. If nothing else you’ll keep him safe. When the world seems too big and the stress of his life gets him down you’ll always be here for him to crawl back to. You can give him that much.

Mammon

That was it

You had to have been assigned the stupidest human in the world

When you were promoted to guardian angel you kinda thought it would be more ‘protecting orphans’ and ‘guiding lost puppies back home’ NOT watching a grown man spend his last paycheck on his eighth Nigerian prince scam

Seriously mammon? Did the prophetic dreams you sent mean nothing? The visions of the future he coincidentally had after hitting his head on a light post, only simple illusions? What more could you try beyond simply marching down their and clocking him on the head yourself?

...unless

Raphael would have your wings if you went to the human world. But that would be a lot less painful that having to watch whatever Mammon was going to do with all the rubber cement he just bought.

The next morning you decide to sneak down. The city was amazing, all colored light and fun machines that whizzed by you on the streets

But you had to stay focused

You were an angel on a mission

You made your way towards central park. Mammon went there every morning to swindle tourists out of their wallets. If you were fast you’d get there before the first patrol office started chasing him.

Spotting the albino you marched straight towards him, readied yourself, and smacked him over the head.

Maybe not very angel-like but it worked.

One introduction later and you're officially a guardian angel

Mammon’s actually pretty nice once you get to know him. Sure he may be a bit too obsessed with lining his pockets but for all his talk he never hesitates to try and help you out.

Consistent affection and care is good for him. He never really knows how to react when you wrap your wings around him but even with his tsundere objections it's obvious he’s pleased.

He’ll take whatever scraps of affection you’ll give him and practically beams at every little gesture you do, no matter how small or insignificant.

You do have to be careful though.

At his request you had attempted to bless him with a bit of luck. An easy enough spell for an angel like you (even if you were 90% sure he planned to go gambling after). Whatever scheming he’s doing immediately stops the moment you cup his face. He seems to freeze when you lean in, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek

You were about to congratulate yourself on a spell well done when you noticed the condition he was in. He was like a living statue, a statue with a very very red face

Before you can ask what was wrong he flails pushing you away and darting off to his room

Any attempts to speak to him the rest of the day were met with incoherent shouting.

It might be best to withhold any magic until you can figure out how humans work

Levi

Once again Levi’s dedication to anime gets him into trouble

It started with his most recent obsession, a new anime that follows a group of angels, produced by the famous company, Dove. The plot, the animation, the soundtrack, all of it was amazing so when they came out with a new limited edition item featuring the very symbol that the main character wore he just had to have it

The moment it came he was setting it up on its own altar, a handmade replica just like in the show only for- Oh no

Before his eyes burst a shining visage of light and then you

You blink in surprise, whether it's from taking a human form for the first time in decades or the strange new room you were in, only you know

The scene may be foreign but the guy quivering on the floor was not

BE NOT AFRAID

Your booming voice echoes around the room

For some reason the guy begins to freak out even more

Didn’t he see your halo? You even told him to not be afraid. Were humans really so strange? :(

Oh well. You hum making your aura as comforting as possible and slowly the guy calms down enough for you to coax him into a seat as you begin to explain.

Which might not have been the best move.

The moment it sunk in he was bombarding you with questions

Yes you were an angel, no you didn’t know what anime was, yes you had wings, no you didn’t have any secret ultimate moves...whatever those were

He ranted and raved over this and that and you let him. He seemed like he needed someone to talk to. It also let you piece together what had happened.

He seemed to be a natural sorcerer, and a powerful one at that if he could someone an angel with no training or even knowledge that he could do magic

Just a few minutes in his presence made his self loathing obvious. Mix in a bit of anxiety and envy and you essentially have Levi in a nutshell

So you decide to stay

What kind of angel would you be if you just left him here? Michael would understand.

Or he wouldn't, it didn’t really matter because you already made up your mind.

Living with Levi is an experience for both of you.

He introduces you to so many new things. He had little boxes that could control light and screens containing actual people to talk to. It was all quite fanciful

In return you act as his friend, encouraging him to go out with you and attending cons with him, even if you still weren't exactly sure what cosplaying is

Slowly he begins to open up for you

He’s still nervous to go out in public, and a complete introvert at heart.

But that was fine. You could both figure out this new world together, at your own pace

Satan

Definitely was not trying to summon a demon to lay havoc on his enemies

Nope, not him he says all while trying to casually kick away vials of mysterious fluids

...Right

You’ve been down to the human world enough to know a demon summoner when you see one

Or in this case a failed summoner

He has no excuse for why he called you and instead seems more insistent that you leave

As much as you you might like to return to the celestial realm, you cannot in good conscience leave a man that you know is going to try and raise hell on earth the moment your gone

So you stay, and it's a good thing you do

This man has anger issues like no other

You thought Raphael was bad this guy is like a demon himself

However he seems willing to try and make the best of what he considers a bad situation

He asks you a lot of questions on the celestial realm

For a guy who knows so much about the devildom he seems to really be lacking on any knowledge on the other celestial beings

He mostly asks you questions on the celestial war, which is a touchy topic at best and downright upsetting at worst

He’s very interested in your opinions as your point of view is very different from his own, what with being a different species and everything

You learn things too, mostly about humans and cats but you suppose its a fair trade

Because of this you become close friends

You really win him over when he finds out your calming aura naturally attracts the stray kittens Satan's been trying to pet for the last few months

It’s not uncommon to head out to late night coffee shops and discuss the merits of different aspects of your lives

But maybe you’ve gotten a bit to close when he starts asking you to revise his summoning notes

Asmo

Apparently a lifetime of partying has prepared Asmo for some very weird discoveries

When you're sent down to the human world you have one job, find and keep an eye on the potentially dangerous summoner who's been in contact with multiple high level demons in the past few days.

Instead you end up meeting Asmo

You were prepared for a fight, not to be tackled into a hug the moment you revealed yourself

Asmo on the other hand is squealing with excitement

Sweetie, he's been waiting for this moment! This is his first time meeting an angel after all

He immediately begins talking about everything he wants to do

You quickly find out that he hasn’t made any pacts...yet, if only because he “couldn’t bear to damage his skin with such an ugly mark”

...Well you suppose that's a reason to not sell your soul

Even thoughts he's aware of the three realms it doesn’t make him any less enamoured with you

He’s never met an angel, he’s quick to mention. He’d love to get to know you, if you get what he means ;)

Are all humans so upfront?

If you decline he still wants to see your true form, even after you explain that no, if you transform you will not just be a beautiful angel with wings but instead a glowing mass of eyes and feathers and angelic light that will probably end up blinding him

Blinded because of your beauty ;) ;) ;)

That said he’s easily satisfied when you just bring out your wings.

He loves fussing with them and decorates them with jewelry and roses whenever you leave them out

He even starts an angel trend on insta after posting a photo as if they were coming from his back instead

Claims your glowing aura is great for his skin

You’re not sure if that’s a pick up line or if he’s serious but he definitely basks in your presence

Loves when you talk about the celestial realm, somewhere he desperately wants to go

I mean it's the only place that's fit for a beauty like him right? But of course he can’t die yet, his fans would be sooo upset

You agree to bring him up there one day, even if that sounds a little morbid

Of course he asks you to become his guardian angel

That may not be your actual job but you can’t resist his puppy dog eyes

You and him go pretty much everywhere together, bar some more xxx rated sites

He introduces you to parties and bars, and while you don’t indulge it's enjoyable to see humans in their natural element. They’re so fun and free spirited just like Asmo

Maybe that's what attracted you to him in the first place

He loves life for what it is, something so admirably human

But you don’t slack off either. You take your role as Official Guardian Angel seriously. You guard his drinks when he goes to the bathroom, and hum celestial lullabies when he’s sad and escort him down dark alleys when walking home. He has nothing to fear with you around.

You’ve become very fond of this human. Perhaps you’ll stick around a bit longer than you planned

Beel

It’s rare to be assigned to a human so...mundane

But that’s exactly what Beel is. He goes to the gym in the mornings, works a nine to five, and comes back home to his dog

He even has a good relationship with this family, do you know how hard that is to find in this day and age???

The only thing even slightly abnormal about this guy is his appetite

He could put a gluttony demon to shame with the way he eats

But the point is you really can’t figure out why you’ve been assigned to him or how your supposed to guide him

Eat a little less? Stop stealing your brother's lunch?

It’s the first time in a long while you’ve been so stumped

So you do what any sane angel would, go down to the human world to meet him yourself

He’s a likeable guy and it’s easy to get close to him, more so do to your angelic status

Although it’s surprising how well he takes the whole angel revelation

To be honest your pretty sure he forgets most of the time

He tends to follow you around, especially at night when he insists on walking you to wherever you need to be. It’s sweet even though there's little that can really harm you in the human realm

You quickly realize that he’s the type to have nightmares, usually calling out for one of his brothers or his sister

It’s become habit to wake up and head to his room

Just being there seems to calm him down

The first time he wakes up when your doing this he ends up asking you to stay

Isn’t shy about sharing the bed either.

He’s easy going so goes along with whatever idea you have

Especially when he starts finding snacks in his bag, each one blessed for a good day or to stay full or whatever little thing you thought of that day

Belphegor

Humans can’t see angels. Not unless they want to be seen, you remind yourself for what must be the tenth time.

But you’re almost certain that guy is looking right at you.

Step to the left, his head follows

To the right, his eyes narrow looking at you like your some puzzle he just hasn’t figured out yet

…this was fine

You turn around pretending to just not see him in hope that he’ll get distracted by something else

...you glance back. Why was he still looking at you? What is with this creep?

Enough is enough.

You march over there ready to ask what his problem is. Instead he beats you to it.

Eh? You’re an angel right? He asks before you can say anything.

???? Shouldn’t he sound more shocked.

The guy just sleepily blinks. He doesn’t look like a sorcerer or a witch, in fact you can’t feel any magic from him at all.

You go to ask only to realize he’s sound asleep. It’s not like you could just leave him here. And at the same time a human who can just see angels is an oddity of itself.

You decide to hang around for a while. Belphegor doesn't mind. He only says something about it being "too troublesome to drive you off," and "you'd look like you'd just come back anyways"

Belphie sticks to you like glue, if glue was absolutely insufferable and seemed to enjoy annoying you at every possible moment

You would think this would be easy. I mean he sleeps all day and when he’s not sleeping he’s napping. Simple enough right? Wrong

When he was awake he was committed to pushing every single button you have

If it seemed like it might inconvenience or annoy you he was already doing it. Trying to smack your halo, pounce on you, or even jump off the roof just to see you scramble to catch him. He was like some terrible terrible cat

Luckily he was never energetic for long. When he wore himself out he’d retreat to the roof of his crappy one bedroom and wait for you to join him

He liked to look at the stars and he’d point them out to you. Orion, Polaris, Sirius, he would mutter, bringing you back to the days when Michael, who was once so fond of you, would sneak you down to the human world just to show you the stars and darkness the celestial realm could not offer

When he finally got tired you would take over reciting Celestial names and marking the sky with your finger just to show him where they’d be.

Those times were pleasant. Even if they were brief.

“I’m gonna jump.”

“Do it.”

“You’re an angel. Aren’t you supposed to stop me before I do something stupid?”

“You won't.”

“Aight. Bet.” Belphie pitches forward and you just manage to catch him by the leg before he falls off the roof.

Brat.

Always ruining a good moment.

You can’t even be mad. The moment you pull him up he’s already resting his fluffy head in your lap waiting for you to pet him.

He may be the most troublesome human in the entire three realms, but he’s your human

#obey me #obey me hc #angel au #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me levi #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie #obey me shall we date #obey me au #angels #obey me angels

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meggannn · 3 years ago

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guerrilla does something interesting in HZD with aloy and her motivations and how they let her goals differ from the player's goals. most of the time when a main character's driving goals differ from the audience's, it means the writing has misfired and it feels jarring when you shine a spotlight on it. but it definitely works in HZD because guerilla knew what the player's immediate interests would be—they open their game with huge scenic shots of a pre-industrial community contrasted with these enormous robot dinosaurs! they want you to be sucked into the mystery of why things are the way they are—and they also knew going in that they had had to tie the player's interests to aloy's goals as a character (john gonzalez, the narrative director, talks about it a bit in this interview). and over time, the two start to bleed over as aloy starts to care about the old ones and we start to care more about her. i don't know if they'll continue this strategy in HFW, but they've set themselves up in a really unique situation with the contrast of aloy's focus on the present/future and the audience's interest (mostly) in the past.

i've been trying to find a way to articulate the ideas in this post for a while, and i am really tired so forgive me if this gets redundant or some sentences don't make sense lol. spoilers for HZD obv

in HZD, aloy, the motherless outcast, is largely concentrated on finding out the mystery of her origins. i mean hopefully we, the player, are also interested in that because it's a pretty unique set up (it's not possible for someone to not have a birth mother... right?), but i'm willing to bet that most of the audience was overwhelmingly more interested in figuring out what the hell happened to the old ones of this world (us) and why robots are wandering around everywhere, than we were about figuring out what happened to aloy's mom. (i'm aware that is a large assumption, but i think it's a pretty safe one considering the reactions i see when people finish the game usually mention APOLLO in some way, or ask if it's still around or there's a way to bring it back.)

for aloy, the status quo of robots-that-nobody-really-understands wandering around is just a constant of her life, and discovering her mother is her pressing issue. for us, this world's major differences between our world (why did we die off and why are robots now the dominant species on earth) are more fascinating. so guerrilla ties the micro and macro mysteries together so that we are also interested in aloy's journey about her origins: by making the story of her birth and the history of the world woven into the same narrative fabric

aloy even directly says "it (finding out info on the past) isn't why i'm here" and sylens replies sarcastically "of course, what's the whole of human history compared to the search of one girl?" it isn't until after aloy realizes she's a clone, that she doesn't have a traditional birth mother, when she faces the nora and decides to stop HADES because GAIA asked her to, in a sign of extreme maturity and character growth (imo), does her goal of helping GAIA by beating HADES now start to align with the player's goals of trying to "set the world right" (by helping GAIA by beating HADES).

it's interesting because if anything, sylens, the anti-hero and arguable deuteragonist, is the character whose goals most match up with the audience's own throughout HZD: he's the one who is seeking out the knowledge of the old ones, he's the one who mourns losing APOLLO the way we do. aloy doesn't really react to what became of APOLLO at all (when it's revealed what happened to it, her immediate response is sorrow over the alphas' deaths, the more human element compared to sylens's laser focus on info-hunting). sylens is... also a total asshole and might be an anti-villain in the upcoming games (i hope not; i hope he's more of a rogue agent than an actual villain, personally) so it will be interesting if the audience eventually starts feeling torn between aloy's goals (save the world today) and sylens's (recover what can be saved the world of the old ones)

for aloy, APOLLO's absence is not a loss because she's never known a world without the knowledge of the old ones. why does she care about expending energy to hunt for info on our music and art and politics and wars? how does shifting through datapoints about things she doesn't understand and tools/tech she doesn't have access to help the planet today? after discovering GAIA's origins and purpose, i'm sure she'd probably be interested in recovering APOLLO if there is anything left of it to recover—even she's only interested in it to honor samina/elisabet's memory and the effort of PZD—but a lot of the fandom (myself included) keeps hoping and speculating and wondering if APOLLO is still around because APOLLO is the audience, or rather, it's the last scraps of what's left of us. we have an interest in APOLLO but aloy never shows any interest in or sorrow over it besides to vaguely wonder what happened to it. her interests are in the here and now.

when the audience looks at her world, we see what we've lost, and we know APOLLO is a way to get some of it back. for aloy, she's definitely engaged and interested in the old ones' technology and wants to make sure PZD's work is continued and restored and rebuild GAIA, so if APOLLO turns out to be around i'm sure she'd be interested in it, but for now, she's got too many things going on to consider it a priority. and even if she did, it would have to come after she's taken care of the immediate threats of the other chaotic subfunctions; and she would have to justify the time and energy spent on APOLLO to the value it gives her world (a world that doesn't utilize focuses as much as PZD had hoped, and a world whose language has likely changed enough that they might not even understand what they were being told) because she'd have to do it for her world. her world is already here, the old ones' world is gone, and her world the one that needs saving, not the possibility of bringing the old ones' back

so guerrilla has set themselves up with something very interesting here imo where the protag and the audience have mostly aligned but largely separate primary interests and i'm very curious to see how these interests will keep aligning, or not, in the future. personally i think they'll make the main focus of the series discovering and befriending the subfunctions and restoring GAIA, while also wrestling with modern-day politics in an effort to start preparing contemporary groups of people for a more holistic understanding of nature and machines, with the hopes of preparing them for GAIA's return and a future where they 1. take care of the planet and 2. stop attacking machines for parts lol. and i think they'll drag out the mystery of APOLLO possibly still being around until the end (assuming there will be 3 or more games).

personally, when i look at what we've been given so far (everything could change when HFW comes out), i could go either way on if APOLLO is still actually around or not. it would be an interesting (if expected) twist, but i wouldn't want it as wish fulfillment; i wouldn't want it to be used as a cheat that suddenly means ted faro's harm can be negated, or brought back as a HEA in a way that implies knowledge will suddenly be used and spread equally or even easily. also we should consider APOLLO is now an AI of its own! it will have opinions and things and the will to act on them!

discounting the overwhelmingly difficult logistics of introducing APOLLO to a new world that has evolved without its involvement from its inception, if APOLLO comes back in the way the we, the audience, want it to, then spreading several millennia's worth of knowledge to several diverse, warring peoples is full of difficult challenges that you are now suddenly introducing; aloy + GAIA + co. would now be in charge of not only taking care of humans on this spinning ball called earth, but also educating them equally and fairly. it's a huge task to introduce on aloy's already very busy schedule! so frankly i wouldn't be surprised if they wrote APOLLO off and went with an "it sucks but we have to make the most of the world the old ones left us" angle—or, alternatively, have aloy (or sylens!) dedicate the rest of her life traveling and hunting down and/or spreading what remains of APOLLO'S knowledge?

idk! there's a lot to dissect here about what guerrilla is doing and where APOLLO fits in as both a possible ally/villain and a narrative tool to keep us interested (it is a carrot on the stick for the audience)! and i find it all very interesting!!

#horizon zero dawn #horizon stuff #aloy #sylens

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alpacaparkaseok · 4 years ago

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7 Secrets Drabbles

The one where Beth finds the diss track

Yes, I know. This has been pending on my m.list for a while now. However, I wanted to wish @dreamcatcherjiah (as well as all my followers) a very merry Christmas and happy holidays! I know some of you really wanted to see/requested what went down with the diss track (a kind of inside joke between Joon and Beth) so here we are. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and given my works a fighting chance lol.

7 Secrets is my baby and I just have such a soft spot for Beth and Joon. 🥺🥺 If you haven’t read it yet...just do it. Read it. It’s a good time, I promise.

Merry Christmas!! Enjoy! ⇊

In my defense, I wasn’t planning on snooping around Joon’s workspace. It just kind of happened.

We were supposed to meet up at the company building to head out to dinner with everyone. Today is a big day: it marks six months since the day we met.

Six months since I first stepped into that little room just a couple of floors above where I now sit. My heart nearly beating out of my chest and Namjoon standing on the other side of the room.

My entire future, right in front of me.

The boys have been busy the past couple of months, I’ve hardly gotten to see any of them due to their new album coming out soon. Promotions are brutal; I’ve begun to see that. Every so often Namjoon will show up at my office completely out of the blue, give me a short greeting, and promptly take a nap on my couch. He says it’s one of the only places he can actually close his eyes without worrying about someone coming to the door and seeing how the album is coming along.

Even though I wish we had more time to just be together, I think those spare minutes with Namjoon snoring up a storm while I work quietly at my desk are my favorite minutes of the week.

Namjoon’s studio is empty when I arrive, oddly enough. I’m sure he’ll be up in a few minutes; chances are he’s in a meeting with the project manager or in somebody else’s studio.

“What do we have here?” I wonder aloud as I plop down on his swivel chair, scooting forward to look at the post-it notes scattered all around his desk. Most of them make little to no sense to me, as they all consist of producer slang and half-formed thoughts.

There’s one though that really catches my attention. “Oooh what song is this?” Scrawled down on a bright yellow sticky note, Namjoon has written out, ‘decide whether or not to include first breath in the album’.

See, I would’ve been more than happy to just wonder what song he was talking about and maybe ask him about it later, but is it really my fault if he kept his laptop open and signed in?

It’s all too easy to click on his files and scroll through them until I see what song he’s talking about.

If I really think hard about it, maybe this is my way of helping him with work. If I like the song, then I’ll just tell him to add it to the album. There! One sticky note down, five thousand to go!

I can’t find any headphones, so I just make sure the volume is low before double clicking on the file.

Hoseok’s voice comes first, quickly followed by Yoongi’s. One after another the rap line begins to tell a story.

It doesn’t take long for me to realize that this is a true story.

By the time the chorus rolls around, I’m sitting on the edge of my seat, clinging to the arm rest as though it’s the only thing keeping me in reality. Suddenly the question of whether or not he should include this in the album makes sense; it’s clear that this is a very personal song. It’s about us.

About me, I realize as Namjoon’s voice flows out. There’s a bit of disdain in his voice as he raps I had to hold my breath for seven years just to make everyone happy and that’s when I put two and two together.

This is the diss track. The diss track that’s not really a diss track but in a way is a diss track because we were kept apart for so long.

Yoongi is drawling out the final few notes when I hear someone clear their throat behind me.

“Having fun?”

I slam my knee up into the underside of Namjoon’s desk, crying out as I rub it. Namjoon comes over to my side, crouching beside me and cutting the music before putting his hands over my sore knee.

“Why did you have to scare me so bad?” I whine, hissing as Namjoon’s hands ghost over my knee. He grins at me, not looking at all apologetic.

“Since when did you start sneaking into my studio and listening to my music?” Namjoon’s voice is light, but I can see that he’s panicking a bit.

Rightly so.

“That was the diss track!” I practically shout, pointing at the screen. “I can’t believe you’ve never let me listen to it!”

Namjoon shakes his head, looking a little off as he pulls me to my feet. “It’s...you ready to eat?”

He dodges all of my other questions as we head out into the black SUV. I glare at him from where I sit beside him, only wanting an answer to my question.

Namjoon looks exhausted. More exhausted than I’ve ever seen him. He struggles to keep his eyes in one place as he stares out the window, his knee bobbing up and down.

His legs instantly settle as I place my hand atop his knee. “Did you really not want me to listen to it?”

Namjoon exhales a long sigh, finally turning to look at me. “I...isn’t it a bit overwhelming? I mean, that’s what the guys said when we recorded it. It’s all a bit too much, don’t you think?”

I furrow my brows, shaking my head. Of all the things that these boys have done, this is the project that seems over the top? “Of course not. Why do you think that?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Namjoon takes my hand in his and begins to study it like it’s some sort of newly discovered species. “I mean, the entire song is about how I felt like I never even breathed before I met you. It’s basically me confessing my undying devotion. Don’t you think that’s a little hardcore? Maybe too hardcore to put in the album?”

He has a point. It’s only about five months since we went public. Suddenly dropping a song that’s dedicated to his soulmate and not to his fans would probably hurt more than inspire.

“Can I tell you what I think?”

Namjoon’s eyes are bright as he nods at me. “Always.”

“I think you’re both right and wrong.” Namjoon looks confused but he doesn’t interrupt. “It’s intense, sure. Hardcore? Maybe. But it’s how you feel. And that’s all that really matters. I, for one, think it’s pretty great. It’s nice to know that you feel like that.”

“So you think I should put it into the album?”

I shrug. “If you want to, I guess. It’s up to you. I see where you’re hesitating; some people might not take to it. Especially since it hasn't been that long since everything happened. But I do think that there are probably some people out in the world that would like it.”

Namjoon nods, taking on a serious expression as he looks back out the window. It’s quiet for the rest of the ride; something that I’ve grown accustomed to with Namjoon. It’s only as we’re arriving at the small restaurant that everyone has gathered at that he turns back to me. I wait for him to speak, playing with the ring on his finger as he gathers his thoughts.

He sighs heavily, his breath making my hair fly and making me smile. He smiles back, albeit a little uncertainly.

“Can’t we be selfish?”

I stare up at him. That’s not what I expected. “What...what do you mean?”

Namjoon rolls his shoulders. “I love the song. And I’m so happy that you love it, too. And while I think that there might be a few people in the world that might love it as well, I just...I want to be selfish for once.”

He quiet for a moment as he prepares to say the rest of his speech. Turning to face him completely, I see the bodyguards outside the back entrance of the restaurant. The others must already be here.

“You...you’re everything to me.” Namjoon fights to keep a light tone, but I can see right through him. “And I already share so much with the rest of the world. I even have to share you, in a way. We have to be so open and transparent about everything, which I get it. It’s good. I don’t mind most of the time. But just this once, I want to be selfish. This one time, I don’t want to share.”

I slide over closer to him, smiling softly as his arms automatically encircle me. “So you don’t want to include the song in the album?”

Namjoon shakes his head. “No. I don’t. I want it to be our song. Just ours. For your eyes and ears only.”

Reaching up to brush his hair away from his forehead I can’t help but laugh a little. My soulmate stares down at me, trying to figure out what’s made me laugh this time.

“What’s so funny about that?”

I shake my head. “No, I get it. That’s...perfect. Really. I would love nothing more than to be selfish with you.”

“Then...?”

Leaning up to brush a kiss against his cheek, I marvel at the way his cheeks still go a little red even after all these months. “I just can’t believe that you dedicated an entire diss track to me. I’m flattered.”

Namjoon rolls his eyes, groaning as he leans over to open the car door. “You’re the worst.”

I laugh, following after him and instantly feeling better as I see that he doesn’t look quite so weighed down anymore. “No way! You can’t say that after you just dedicated a song to me! What was it that you say in it again? My first breath after swimming or something?”

Namjoon whirls around, feigning offense as he loops his arms around my shoulders. “It’s you’re my first breath after drowning under their expectations you little punk. Get it right.”

“Oooh, that’s right.” We push the door open and follow the sound of familiar voices. “Well, since you wrote a song about me...”

Namjoon pauses, pulling on my arm as I try to go on without him. “What? You can’t just say things like that and not finish them!”

I cackle at his exasperated expression. “I can’t really say much yet, but I’ll say this. Stay tuned for a new Webtoon about a pair of star-crossed soulmates.”

Namjoon’s eyes widen, a bit of boyish excitement peeking through. “Wait...really?” I nod. “That’s amazing! It’s about us, isn’t it? When is it coming out? Did you already pitch the idea? What are their-”

I cut him off, laughing as I back away from him. “Nope. That’s all the information you’re going to get, Joon.”

“What?! Why?”

Everyone goes quiet as we near the room, and I swear I can hear Taehyung mumbling something about how we’re here and as loud as always.

Holding up six fingers in front of my soulmate’s face, I glare at him. “Six months, Kim Namjoon. You made me wait six months before I found the song. And you didn’t even show me! Consider this my revenge.”

Striding off and leaving him in the dust, I barely catch what he mumbles under his breath, but I’m pretty sure I hear something along the lines of met my match and insufferable.

Winking at him over my shoulder, I can’t help but agree.

I’ve definitely met my match.

taglist: @mae-musicbitch @heartblackerthancoffee @agustneeds @eusticenatalie @taylorroe3 @dreamcatcherjiah

#Namjoon fluff #kim namjoon fluff #Namjoon soulmate au #rm fluff #rm soulmate au #Kim Namjoon soulmate au #joon #koya #bts soulmate au #bts soulmate fluff #bts fluff #7 secrets #bts writer #bts fanfic #bts imagine #bts soulmate

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katalyna-rose · 4 years ago

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Kat’s Rat Shopping List

I’ve gotten a few requests for a shopping list of my rat setup (tagging @collapseofthesky because they requested this, specifically, but I’ve had a few others message me), so I thought I’d give it a try and also add a few explanations for why I do some things the way I do. As such, this is going to be a very long post and is therefore under a cut. There will be a basic shopping list without all the explanations at the very end of the post under TL;DR if you don’t care about the rest or whatever.

I had a lot of fun with this and spent way more time on it than I meant to, and might be open to doing more of this kind of thing in the future.

Cage

First up, the cage. Obviously. I’ve said it before but it’s a Double Critter Nation and a Single Critter Nation with the side panels removed and zip tied together. These are sometimes sold in pet stores (the locally owned pet store I prefer has them in stock). I bought mine online because of a really good sale, but you can sometimes get really lucky and find them for resale on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for super cheap. I love this cage because the whole front opens up and that makes it super accessible and easy to clean, decorate, and get to my pets wherever they may be. It’s also huge!

US minimum for rat cages is 2 cubic feet per rat, with a minimum of two rats because rats cannot be housed alone as they are extremely social animals. No, human companionship is not enough, rats need same-age, same-species companionship at all times. Please be aware, as well, that minimums are not the ideal to strive for. Whatever space you intend to dedicate to your rats, fill it! Fill it all up! And if you don’t have enough space for a large cage, don’t get rats. My setup, with the Home Depot/Lowe’s large cement mixing tubs in the bottom, is roughly 45 cubic feet of space. If we’re looking at minimums, this means I could house 22 rats! There’s no way that 22 rats could ever actually be comfortable in my setup. It would be insane, chaotic, and extremely messy. So why would 2 rats be comfortable in 4 cubic feet? They wouldn’t. More space is always better, hard stop.

Also remember that wire cages with bar spacing of no more than an inch for adult rats and no more than half an inch for small or young rats is a must. Tanks are absolutely not recommended for rats due to poor ventilation, which will cause respiratory issues and allow ammonia to build up much faster.

Bedding

This is different from nesting. Yes, it is. Bedding is the substrate used at the bottom of the cage or on shelves to catch errant droppings and urine, and is generally left where it is by the rats because they have no interest in it.

My main bedding is pine wood horse stall pellets. They are as dust free as the alternatives like shavings or paper pellets, and combine the best aspects of both those types of bedding with the ammonia-neutralizing effects of wood shavings and the compact, easy-to-clean nature of pellets. I love them. I also get them super hilariously cheap from Tractor Supply Co, so despite it being a little bit of a drive for me (about an hour round trip) the fact that it’s half the price of the next cheapest option more than makes up for it. I buy a bunch all at once and currently have a few bags left in my trunk because I didn’t have enough closet space for them. It’s great stuff. It crumbles when wet so it helps me keep track of how much and where they’re urinating, and it’s easy to spot clean those areas in between deep cleans.

When choosing a wood, if that’s the route you want to go, remember to check what is safe to use. Pine is only safe when it’s kiln-dried, since it contains fragrant oils that can cause respiratory issues in rats, mice, and hamsters. Some people will advise you to stay away from it entirely, and that’s fine, but since pine is often the cheapest option it’s not always viable. Aspen is a safe wood, but harder to find in pellet form and slightly more expensive as shavings. I use aspen shavings in my litter trays. Cedar wood is NEVER safe, no matter how it’s treated. I don’t think cedar is ever safe no matter what for any animal it’s marketed to, actually. It’ll cause respiratory distress in rats, mice, and hamsters, and guinea pigs and rabbits should never be on shavings regardless though I’m pretty sure they’ll still experience respiratory distress. The oils naturally in the wood are not safe, do not use cedar. Also make sure your bedding is as dust-free as possible, also for respiratory reasons. If you have a small animal, their respiratory system is extremely delicate, and that’s just a fact of pet ownership that you should have learned before getting a pet when you were researching how to care for it.

Since I have two shelves in my cage and they are both shallow to the point of not even having a lip (Critter Nation’s only flaw is the trays that come with the cage), I line my shelves with fleece over an appropriately sized bath mat. Fleece makes a great shelf liner, but I don’t recommend using it in the entire cage because it gets dirty really fast and most rats will chew it up, so you’ll both be changing it every other day and going through it super fast as it is destroyed. However, it makes great shelf liners, especially when very little of the shelf is actually available to the rats like in my setup, where the shelves are mostly covered in other things. Remember that fleece must always be lined with an absorbent layer underneath because the fleece itself allows liquid to pass right through it. That’s the point: the fleece stays relatively clean and dry while the absorbent layer takes all the gross stuff away. Towels are generally not recommended for this because rats can get their nails stuck in the fabric and rip them out, which is painful and distressing for the rat and also you. Anything super absorbent with a really tight weave will do lovely here, hence the low pile bath mats I use. I get them for one or two dollars at Ikea and wash them every week. I keep several around to rotate through. The fleece I use is also a fleece blanket from Ikea for a couple bucks that I cut into four sections because that rendered it the perfect size to tuck around the shelves. This makes my bedding extremely cheap, and that makes me happy because I can spend that money on enrichment instead.

Nesting

This is the material that the rats like to push around, dig in, and sleep in. It’s important to provide soft but preferably absorbent materials for the rats to nest in because it’s enriching, comfortable, and helps them regulate body temperature. Multiple types of nesting are recommended for enrichment purposes. Rats like texture! I use unscented, unlotioned tissues as a main nesting material for within their hides because they’re cheap, safe, absorbent, and soft. I bought 30 boxes of 100 tissues each for super cheap online, but you can also buy dollar store tissues or whatever you have access to. Just make sure they don’t have scents or lotions, because those are not safe for your rats’ delicate respiratory systems. The empty boxes (plastic removed) can also be given for the rats to chew up and play in, or you can save them up to DIY some fun toys later, which is what I’m doing.

I also have two dig boxes, which will also go under the enrichment section. The bins I got for cheap from Target, but obviously you can get bins wherever you want to get bins. Just measure to make sure they fit in your cage properly. The only dig box I want to talk about in this section is the hay box, because the dirt is not actually a nesting material but rather an enriching one. So, hay. My girls love this stuff so much that they drag it all over the cage to shove it into all their sleeping areas. They build actual rat nests in the box, tunnel through it, stash food in it, shred it for fun, and generally spend as much time as possible with the hay. I use oat hay for the seed heads that provide additional enrichment and snacks because the rats have to get to the seeds in order to eat them. If you are feeding a low-quality diet to your rats, do not use oat hay because they’ll fill up on seeds instead of eating their nutritionally-balanced food and that is not good. My rats love their food so much that the seeds are a sometimes snack that I don’t need to regulate because they do it themselves. Any good quality hay will do for a hay box, however, and timothy hay tends to be the cheapest option. Just make sure it’s not super low quality, because low quality hay tends to be dusty. As mentioned previously several times, rats have delicate respiratory systems and dust is bad for them. I buy my hay from Small Pet Select because I like supporting small business, ethical business, and businesses that provide excellent products. They are, however, primarily a rabbit site. I keep hoping they’ll expand the other sections of their shop. Also, make sure your rats aren’t trying to eat the hay. This is highly unlikely because rats are smart and know what’s edible and what isn’t, and hay is not edible for rats. If for some reason your rats are eating hay, do not give them a hay box.

Other nesting options I’ve used in the past include cut up bits of fleece, cut up old clothes you might have lying around, and generally just bits of fabric. Just remember to change out/wash them regularly. Ammonia will build up, and once again that’s bad for your rats’ respiratory systems.

Hides and Hammocks

Rats are prey animals. Surprise! As such, they need plenty of places to hide and feel safe. Rats love small, dark places to rest in. Much like many introverted humans, myself included! Make sure to include plenty of hides all over the cage. Variety is excellent here for enrichment reasons. My rats absolutely love Space Pods! Lixit makes the ones I use, but there’s also a brand called Sputnik that’s basically the same thing. I’ve never seen them in stores, but they’re all over the internet. For rats, make sure you get the large size. Honestly I wish it was larger than it is, but oh well. The girls love it anyway. I kept getting sent only the bottom halves, which is why I have two half space pods in my cage. I got a refund or replacement on both because it’s not what I paid for, but, like… I received the usable half, so I’m gonna use it. The girls don’t like to sleep in them without the covers, but they’ll hang out in there and clean themselves, and they climb through them to get from one spot to another.

In addition to the space pods, I also have various other hides. Lixit also makes a pill-shaped plastic hide that I keep on the shelf over the dirt box. They used to use it a lot more than they do now, and I’m not entirely sure why. Even so, they still use it! I also have a woven grass tent that they enjoy, and a cork log. Neither of those are really for sleeping, but they do hide in them sometimes and generally like to hang out there.

Hammocks are great, and also available in wide variety all over the internet and in stores. My favorite banana hammock was just retired, but I intend to get another. The girls loved it and so did I! Hammocks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and can pull double duty as both a place to sleep and a way to break up the cage so there aren’t any dead drops where your rats can fall from a height and hurt themselves. Fill your cage with hammocks! All the hammocks! Support small creators by buying homemade hammocks! Learn to make them yourself! They’re cheap and easy! Hammocks are great.

Enrichment Part 1: Levels

Rats are climbers. Rats need vertical space as well as horizontal space. Rats are sometimes clumsy idiots who fall off of things. As such, all vertical space must be filled with all kinds of fall breakers. As mentioned before, hammocks are great for this. So are ladders, bridges, ropes, and that Ikea tie hanger I have strung across the back of my cage. If your rat falls from anywhere in the cage, make sure there’s something to catch them!

Also make sure there’s something to do on all the levels of the cage, even if that thing to do is just get from one level to the next. Rats are dexterous and adventurous. Ramps are boring because they’re easy. If you have sick or injured rats, absolutely use ramps! Accessibility matters! If your rats are of sound body, however, make them work for it. Lava ledges and bird perches make great alternatives to ramps. Screw them into the cage walls and watch your rats hop around! They love it. Ladders are also fun, especially if they’re not used the way ladders are meant to be used. Suspend them from things, put them at weird angles, just make sure they’re secure. I get a lot of my levels from the bird aisle at the pet store (or virtual pet store). Be aware that sometimes your rats are going to prefer to climb directly on the bars of the cage. That’s normal! The bars are there, so the rats will climb them. That’s all there is to it!

Climbing frames like the wooden wine rack from Ikea that I have in the bottom of my cage are also good to have. My girls love it, and it does double duty as a chew toy.

Enrichment Part 2: Chewing

Contrary to popular belief and old science, rats do not actually require chews to keep their teeth trimmed. Rats trim their own teeth by bruxing, or grinding their teeth together. This does not, however, negate the need for chews. Rats like to chew! What your rat likes to chew best is entirely subjective. Some rats love wood and sticks, some rats will always chew fabric over anything else, some rats will never chew fabric. Every rat is different! Try as much variety as you can and keep stocked up on the things your rats like best. My rats really like woven grass, and I try to keep at least a couple different kinds around for them. I keep a grass mat on a shelf that they like to pull apart, and the woven grass tent will likely have a short lifespan, as well. There’s a woven grass tunnel thing that they’ve put into the dirt box and are slowly but systematically shredding. My girls also like willow sticks, so I’ve got a couple hanging toys of willow that are very slowly being chewed because there’s so much else to chew. The wooden bridges see a fair bit of chewing, and even the lava ledges get chewed on the edges. My girls also love destroying rattan and wicker balls. I bought a bunch of them for cheap and toss a new one in there about every week or so. They love them. I also got a couple things from Small Pet Select like a pine cone, a bit of natural loofah, and a dried okra pod. So far the okra pod has seen the most action and is shredded halfway to infinity. I think they like that it has seeds inside, but the others get chewed sometimes, too. There’s enough variety in my setup that everything lasts a decently long time. Except the rattan balls.

Enrichment Part 3: Digging

As much as rats like to climb, they also like to dig. That’s why it’s highly recommended to have a dig box. Safe substrate is important here. If you’re going with potting soil, make sure it’s just dirt and doesn’t contain any fertilizer. Personally, I found potting soil to be kind of annoying a little expensive. I prefer coconut soil. I use Exo Terra terrarium soil, which is sold in compacted blocks that you have to hydrate. I use two thirds of the recommended water because my rats don’t need humidity. I use three blocks per dig box, and replace the soil every month because the girls will do their business in it sometimes, leave food in it, leave bits of tissue or hay or various shredded chews. Basically, the dirt gets dirty in bad ways and needs to be replaced sometimes. It can also grow things if left too long because of the humidity (which will be a problem regardless of the type of substrate being used). So every deep clean, both dig boxes get emptied, wiped out, and refilled.

The hay box gets an honorable mention here, since it pulls double duty as both nesting and digging. Triple duty, really, since it’s also a forage toy.

Enrichment Part 4: Misc

Yeah, I didn’t know what category to put this under, so here we are. Litter boxes! No, seriously, this counts as enrichment. Training your rats, whether it’s to do tricks or just poop where you want them to, counts as enrichment. Rats are incredibly smart! They’re at least as trainable as the average dog, especially if they come from an ethical breeder who breeds for health and temperament (let me just slide a reminder not to buy live animals from pet stores that source from highly unethical breeding mills in right here; please support ethical breeders and rescues), and will happily take to any training. Remember that positive reinforcement is the only ethical way to train an animal. Treats are great for this, and your pet will love you even more because every living thing loves food. My rats actually didn’t require much training for their litter trays. Make sure that whatever you’re lining the litter trays with is not the same as their normal bedding. If you’re using aspen shavings in the main cage, use pine in the litter trays, or literally any distinct safe bedding. I use shavings in my litter trays and pellets in my main cage. This helps the rats distinguish the litter trays from the rest of the cage and makes it easier to identify where to do their business versus where not to do so. When you first put the litter trays in, just go in at least once a day and toss any poops you see into the tray. If you see your rats using the litter tray, offer a treat while they’re doing so. Rats are extremely clean animals and they like their mess contained as much as you do. It would not be possible for me to only deep clean once a month if I didn’t have litter trays that I clean out about twice a week (or more, if necessary) to get rid of the majority of the mess and smell. I’d be deep cleaning every two weeks at least without them, so the litter trays are a great investment overall. Your rats will never be perfect about using them, because they’re still rats, but they’ll help a great deal.

Also under this section are forage toys! Do not feed your rats from a simple bowl, it’s boring and encourages stashing, which means you’ll never know when they’ve actually run out of food because they’re just going to pick it up and take it somewhere else and have a great big hoard that you’ll find on deep clean day. You can definitely scatter feed, that’s enriching as well because it makes the rats go looking for their food, but forage toys are the ultimate way to feed your rats, I think. I mostly don’t get my forage toys from the small animal aisle. I do have one that’s small animal specific, a little ball that they roll around the get the food out. I also have some marketed for cats, and some marketed for birds. Having multiple kinds is really helpful. I’ve also noticed that while some stashing still occurs, it’s greatly reduced. I refill the toys as they empty and everyone’s happy.

Food/Water

What you feed your rats is extremely important, obviously. Many commercially available pellet foods marketed for rats are actually extremely not good for rats. The same is true cat and dog food. It is a sad fact that the companies that make these foods tend to be far more interested in their bottom line than the health of your pet. As such, do your research! Always do your research! Know what’s in the food and what your animal should be eating, and try to match those two things up as closely as possible. In the UK rat owners typically will avoid pellet foods and prefer homemade mixes for these reasons, but making your own mix is not always feasible and can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Most US rat owners tend toward pellets because it’s a lot harder to mess up the balance of nutrients when it’s done for you. Also, the UK does not have Oxbow, which is one of the most popular brands of healthy rat food. It’s the brand that I use, and my rats adore it. Mazuri is another popular and healthy option, but my rats prefer Oxbow over anything else. I kind of want to try making my own mix at some point, but I’m not sure I ever will. Like with most of my rat supplies, I buy food in bulk because it’s cheaper. A 20 lb bag of Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food runs me about 40 bucks. Be careful to buy adult rat food, even for baby rats, because any food that says Young Rat and Mouse is not going to have the appropriate balance of fat and protein even for young rats. Adult food will do just fine for babies, too. If you want to add some extra protein to their diet, try a boiled egg or bits of meat every now and then, but it’s probably not necessary as long as they’re getting enough food and some extra fruits and veggies now and then. If you want to try making a mix, do so much research before you try it, and make sure your ingredients are good quality.

Rats should also receive other foods in addition to their pellet or main food. Rats are omnivores and love fresh veggies, fruits, milk, eggs, and meat! Make sure you research safe foods before giving them to your rats, as not everything is safe. If you adopt your rats from an ethical breeder, they should have resources available to you on what’s safe and healthy. If you rescue, you can still reach out to established ethical breeders for tips and tricks, or find lists online as you do your research. Some veggies are only safe cooked, some parts of certain plants are unsafe while others are safe, and some foods are only safe for males or females but not the other sex (citrus and mango are the ones I remember that fall into that category). Just do your research and try to keep processed foods away from your rats. Sodium is also not good for them. Any raw meat or fish should be frozen and then thawed before being fed to your rats to kill any potential contaminants. Like always, do your research first!

Rats obviously require water, as well. Water bottles tend to be the most widely accepted way to give rats water, because they don’t evaporate and are easy to keep clean. I, however, have a terrible time with bottles, and they always leak or break. Thus, I have opted for water bowls instead. The girls love them more than the bottles I’ve used in the past, and they’re a little more enriching, as well. The only downside is that I have to wash them out daily. But since I spot clean daily anyway, I don’t mind at all.

First Aid Kit

Any responsible pet owner should always keep a first aid kit around, no matter what kind of pet they have. Pet owners who have particularly vulnerable pets should especially be careful to make sure they have a well-stocked first aid kit. This should include single-use sterile syringes without needles, gauze pads, vet wrap, infant/toddler ibuprofen or acetaminophen, medical tape, cat nail trimmers, and probiotic powder like Benebac. But most importantly, it should include the phone number and location of a vet that will see and treat rats. Have a vet picked out that you have confirmed will see and treat your pets BEFORE getting pets. If an emergency arises and you’re suddenly scrambling for a vet last second, not only do you waste precious time getting your pet the help they need but you may find out too late that the nearest rat-friendly vet is too far away. That means your pet will suffer unnecessarily and you are an irresponsible pet owner. Hard stop. If there is no vet within reach that will see rats, do not get rats. Rats will require a vet trip at least once in their lives, since all rats are extremely prone to respiratory illness. Sometimes this happens for no reason at all, because all rats possess a bacteria in their respiratory systems called mycoplasma. There’s no way to get rid of it and nothing you can do about it except make sure your rats live in a clean, well-ventilated environment with safe bedding and materials. Even with all this, sometimes your rats will get sick. That’s normal! Just make sure you can take care of them when it happens. As such, make sure you have a vet fund at all times of at least a couple hundred dollars, in addition to a well-stocked first aid kit and the name and location of an appropriate vet.

It’s also beneficial and enriching to syringe train your rats. What this means is putting a liquid treat like baby food, yogurt, or apple sauce into a syringe and giving it to your rats. This teaches the rats that the syringe is a good thing so that if you ever need to give them medicine from the syringe (rat medicine tends to be oral and dissolved in a liquid solution, so those needle-less syringes will be necessary) they’re more likely to take the medicine with minimum complaints.

Storage

Maybe it goes without saying, but you also need places to put all of the things for your rats. Keep your first aid kit in a box to itself so you always know where it is, and organize your supplies appropriately. I really like Ikea bins for my bedding and food and other dry bulk items, and I keep a lot of my smaller stuff on a shelf at the foot of my bed. Work with the space you have, and plan appropriately.

And thus concludes this extremely long explanation of the bare basics of healthy rat living. Really, this is the bare basics and not even remotely comprehensive of the options available. Be creative when shopping, and definitely look outside of the small animal aisle at your local pet store because it will not contain anywhere near all of what you need.

TL;DR: A Basic Shopping List of My Specific Setup

-Double Critter Nation

-Single Critter Nation

-Zip ties

-2 Large sized cement mixing tubs from Home Depot/Lowe’s

-Pine wood horse stall pellets

-Low pile bath mats, enough to rotate while washing

-Fleece blanket, cut in quarters to fit shelves, enough to rotate while washing

-Bins to hold digging substrate

-Oat hay from Small Pet Select or Oxbow

-Exo Terra coconut fiber terrarium soil

-Lixit Critter Space Pods, large

-Lixit Small Animal Hideout

-Woven grass mat

-Woven grass tent

-Woven grass tube

-Rattan/wicker balls, lots

-Willow stick hanging toys

-Natural loofah

-Sanitized (and therefore safe) pine cone

-Dried okra pod

-Dog ropes

-Wooden bendy bridges

-C-clips, both the kind meant for shower curtains and smaller ones marketed for kids, for hanging things

-Hammocks. All the hammocks. From everywhere hammocks are sold.

-3 (sometimes 4) Ware Scatterless Lock-n-Litter Small Animal Litter Pan, Regular

-Ikea tie hanger

-Ikea wine rack

-Ikea storage bins

-Forage toys

-Oxbow Essentials Adult Rat food

-Ceramic (and therefore tip-proof) water bowls, and/or bowls that can be attached to the cage

-Sterile single-use syringes without needles

-Gauze

-Vet wrap

-Medical tape

-Infant/toddler ibuprofen/acetaminophen

-Cat nail trimmer

-Probiotic powder like Benebac

-The phone number and location of a rat-friendly vet

-A vet fund of at least a couple hundred dollars

A final note before the end: Always remember to do your research before getting pets, do not get pets if you cannot provide a good life for them with MORE THAN the bare minimum requirements for safe and healthy pets, do not buy live animals from pet stores unless it’s part of a rescue program, don’t take the word of just one person as law, don’t be afraid to ask questions respectfully, and always seek new ways to improve your pet care. This has been a PSA from your friendly small animal enthusiast.

#fancy rats #pet rats #my rat setup #rat care #rat care advice #pet care #long post

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grizzlee30 · 3 years ago

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Hey y’all. The following is from a writing prompt I did a little while ago. Posting it here for posterity. If you’d like, let me know what you think!

TRANSMISSION: OPERATION ALEXANDIRA IS UNDERWAY.

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Being a Cataloger is no easy task, though it is an honor. Many beings from across the galaxy wish they could have the honor of knowing everything there is to know about their homeworld. Being a Cataloger means that no secret is too great, no business that isn’t theirs. They have absolute freedom and authority to investigate and record all that happens on their planet, and no government or organization is allowed to keep anything from them. Their motto was: “Posterity is the most important tool of hindsight.”

Antherumberbane, a Froxin of a more variant lineage, found the task to be perpetually exciting. The Froxins had forgone government and borders some millennia ago. The fallout of a war that nearly glassed their planet brought about the kind of perspective about self-control that one might get when you feel your balance tip just a little too far off a steep cliff. The consequential guilt that had formed in their collective consciousness brought them to a silent and official result: Anything they did, they would do for the greater good of the planet and their species. The discovery of their planet by the Collective Alliance of Planetwide Sentiance (Or CAPS for those who needed to save a minute) also helped to shift that global perspective, as that day, the world grew to an unimaginable size. Keeping home tidy seemed like a logical priority. This led to a renaissance of sorts, as every Froxin dedicated their life to the pursuit of science and the arts. Weapons and the arms race became a fleeting memory and the planet of Flotilla became a beautiful eutopia.

Antherumberbane was no different from the other Froxins. They too believed in the pursuit of a better world, which is why he agreed to the lonely job of Cataloger for CAPS. Antherumberbane did not take the decision lightly, as being a Cataloger was a lifelong commitment, not one easily broken. They had a nice life on Flotilla, for a while. They had a lovely partner that they love more than anything. But even in a world as advanced and as generous as Flotilla, sickness still existed, and tragedy was not unheard of. After their death, Antherumberbane decided to leave his post as a scribe for the scientific community and took the offer to become isolated, for that‘s what Catalogers were.

The purpose of Catalogers was not to gain intelligence to spread to other worlds. In fact, Catalogers were to take a vow of silence with anyone except other Catalogers. This was to prevent any secrets from other planets from being divulged to their home planets. Instead, Catalogers were tasked with creating a sort of galactical time capsule. Should CAPS ever fall or its members go to war, an indestructible data hold on a remote comet flying unpredictably through the stars, known to the Catalogers as “The Remnant” would be the only remains of the alliance. The records inside of it would be sealed whilst the citadel of CAPS remained to function, unsealing only in the event that the alliance had truly fallen.

Antherumberbane had questioned the method of storage privately many times in-between their duties. They understood the sentiment behind it: Create a record of every success and failure of the most advanced systems in our time so future alliances could learn from them. They were comfortable enough with the functioning of the citadel being the key to the files being sealed. It was the most defended structure in the galaxy, and no one planet could take it without serious consequences. It was even unlikely that a group of planets would have the resources to take the vessel, as it acted as its own sovereign territory governed by multiple representatives of each planet. It had its own artillery, military, software, and hardware defenses. It even had its own armada, made up of 20% of each of its member’s fighting force. It was certainly possible for the citadel to fall, Antherumberbane did not kid themselves, but it was a slim chance that anyone would ever want to. Even the warrior race of the Chibathons, who valued strength above all else to rule, saw the importance of a strong alliance within the galaxy and were able to rationalize that true strength came from such agreements.

No, what Antherumberbane took most unnerving was the location of the data. A comet kept the vault moving, surely. But it was unpredictable in its movements. There was no way to be certain it would not crash into some random asteroid and break apart, or for it come into contact with other debris or even another comet! And the Remnant itself was supposedly indestructible, sure, but Antherumberbane was pretty certain no one ever tried throwing it into a sun. Tens of Thousands of years of data could be lost in an instant, all because someone trusted the path of a frozen chunk of rock hurtling through space. The idea made Antherumberbane feel queasy like he stood up too fast from meditation. Still, he had been assured by the powers that be that, while the schematics for the vessel were vague to prevent tampering, it was unlikely that anything short of complete atomization could all out destroy the Remnant.

An alarm beeped on a device strapped around their third appendage, and Antherumberbane gave it a tap with his fourth to answer it. A message played, at first quietly in a language they could not possibly understand, followed by an automated translation in the same tired inflection and tone as the one speaking it. The recorded message played directly into their auditory bone.

“This is Stephanie Martins of Earth. I am calling an emergency assembly of the Catalogers. Please be in attendance at Primary stardate 17-85-1800.”

Hi Reddit! Rest is here:

Antherumberbane listened to the message again. Human emotion had always eluded them. Humans had the benefit of experiencing emotion brought about by chemicals in the brain, thus allowing for the evolutionary advantage of their emotions affecting the state of their body, turning anger and desperation into uncharacteristically amazing feats of strength, speed, and creativity. Many theorized this was how they became the apex predator of their planet without showing any outward traits of a common one. They had not so much fought their way to the top, but survived and out-maneuvered it. Still, there was what Froxins would describe as… sadness? No, more like exhaustion. Stephaniemartins- No, Stephanie Martins, humans had separate names instead of combing them. They could never remember naming customs of all the different planets, a weakness on their part. They had always instead defaulted to stating each members’ full name and title to be safe. Stephanie Martins had always had an air of defeat each time she discussed her home planet. Antherumberbane could understand why. They were still a primitive species when CAPS found them. They reminded them of the Froxins before the Atom Wars, petty and prideful, yet capable of change and great things. There was much to be desired of Earth, though he doubted Stephanie Martins would see it in her time. Give it a century or two, Antherumberbane thought, surely they will come around once they are comfortable with their new galactic neighbors.

Antherumberbane boarded Their private starship and activated the slip drive. They set their destination for the citadel and watched as the stars and planets warped into unfamiliar shapes and sizes. As the slip drive bend the space around it to appear next to the citadel, Anterumberbane gave pause to the message they had received. An emergency assembly was not uncommon, at least they had experienced a few. While it is true that Catalogers mainly work for posterity and they were not allowed to share information with their home plants, it did not mean that the information collected was never used. Catalogers were sometimes tasked with solving galactic issues that no combination of planets could solve. By pooling knowledge, classified and not from each planet, they could privately come up with a solution without involving politics or risking cross-contamination of government secrets. They would present the solution but not how they got there, and it was a very efficient system. Plagues were stamped out in a matter of months, treaties were drafted, and even advances in technology were spawned from these meetings. What trouble Antherumberbane is what problem Earth could have that would warrant an emergency meeting. Earth was a part of CAPS, but they still very much kept to themselves, determined to solve their own problems with no outside help, much like the impulsive adolescents they had on Flotilla. Yes, young and unabashed pride seemed to be a universal trait in sentient beings.

On the other hand, the fact that Earth’s Cataloger had called for an emergency meeting could show a sign of good faith. The humans were finally making use of the shared resources that CAPS had to offer, the first step into trusting the other planets of the alliance. This excited Antherumberbane and they became suddenly determined to put forth their best efforts to prove to Earth that they were there to help.

Slipping out of the Stream, Antherumberbane docked at their private port for Catalogers. They gathered their materials from their office on the ship and made their way to the meeting area. Along the way he met with another Cataloger, Grzx, and they walked in tandem to the meeting room. More accurately, Anterhumberbane strode on his tentacles whilst Grzx propelled himself forward with his fins using a backpack-like device that his people created to simulate swimming on air. The Yoliths were strictly an aquatic species, sporting no legs and many fins on their torso area. Though they had developed a pair of small limbs for manipulation, Antehrumber could not help but think that Yoliths had done the most effort in acclimating to an alliance filled with mostly land-based beings. Though he did appreciate their naming customs. One name, pure and simple.

“Morning keep you,” Grzx said, a traditional Froxin greeting. Antherumberbane always appreciated the small efforts Grzx would make to appeal to other species. They returned the favor.

“Good currents to you as well my friend.” Antherumberbane tilted their long neck down in appreciation and respect. “Do you have any inkling as to what Earth may be calling on us for?”

“Only that it is about time that they ask for it.” Grzx’s translator made his speech sound garbled as if he was actually speaking from underwater. “My home planet was becoming anxious in the face of Earth’s reluctance for collaboration”

“Many Froxins agree with that sentiment, though personally, I feel their reluctance is not unwarranted. Not two human lifetimes has passed since they made first contact. They are allowed some caution.”

“Regardless, their isolation bodes dark tidings. I understand their reluctance to put forward their own cooperation, but refusing it from the rest of the galaxy? That doesn’t seem natural.”

Anterhumberbane gave a slight pause before saying, “Collaboration is not something that can be easily undone. Once you invite another’s culture into yours, it is very hard to separate the two.”

“They have already chosen to enter the alliance. We did not force their hand in this matter.”

“Perhaps not, but we forget what it was like being the only sentient beings known to our homes. The prospect of such a discovery could shake the foundation of any culture.”

“True, it still perplexes me though.”

“It has also been a long time since CAPS has discovered a new sentient species. Many thought we had dried out our galaxy of such phenomena. The remote Sol System had been out of the way for many travelers, and it was a miracle they were discovered before they made it out of their own solar system. But these things take time, my friend. How long till the Yoliths came out from their watery abode.”

Grzx gave thought to that, then added pensively, “We had three generations of rulers before we officially gave our efforts to the cause. It took two more to agree to one of our own being a Cataloger.”

Antherumberbane gave a please expression. “And the humans have offered their own Cataloger in just one generation. Give them time, Grzx.”

Grzx gave a small grunt, conceding the argument. “ I supposed it does not matter now. Earth has asked for our help. Perhaps the solution we can provide today will finally allow them to come out of hiding.”

Antherumberbane gave a small girdle of approval. They headed to a large room with a large black reflective floor. In the center was a gold round table, hollow in the center making it look like a large crescent moon. In the center of the table was a small circular podium, where holograms could be displayed showing diagrams, maps, and other visual aids to assist during such meetings. It also acted as a place for Catologars to make speeches or present arguments, allowing them to turn 360 degrees to address all of those present equally. A large dome topped the room fitted with one-way glass that allowed them to see the stars dotting the expansive space that lay beyond. Many were told this room was designed so that Catalogers could always look out and remind themselves why they do this. Antherumberbane loved that idea the most out of his fellow Catalogers. It made them feel a mixture of inspired and nostalgic.

The other members had already arrived, making a total of 28 representatives of different species, humans making the 29th. Stephanie Martins had not arrived yet, her chair noticeably empty. Not surprising, however, as humans still preferred to travel at light speeds rather than using the more expedient slip drives. After giving proper greetings and asking around, it was speculated that the human should arrive any minute, as light speed was still an impressive speed and would not cause much of a delay from Earth.

Antherumberbane was speaking with Asarith, part of the small psionic Britewave species, when the doors slid open and Asarith gestured with one of its many waving policies, saying, “She is here.”

Humans were not an unusual species if unusual still existed amongst the diverse species of CAPS. While their skins could be many different tones, Stephanie Myer’s was pale, dotted with some specks of darker tones known as “freckles.” Her hair was a bright red, and her optical nerves gave a soft hue of… what was that color again?.... Ah, “hazel.” Antehrumberbane wondered why humans had a color that was only used in reference to their optical nerves, but every culture has its quirks. Everyone politely sat down, unsure as to whether to give a cheerful greeting or a more concerned one, given their unfamiliarity with human culture and the reason for this meeting. Stephanie Martins gave restrained nods of greeting as she took her place at the podium.

Antehrumberbane took his seat next to the reptilian Hamargin name KethelIkori. Harargins and Froxins shared the similar feature of having their names combined instead of separate ones or titles. He leaned over to Antherumberbane and whispered “The human seems to be in unusually low spirits.”

Antehrumberbane worried about Kethelkori’s use of the term “human” instead of her given name. That attitude did not bode well for the positive and helpful attitude that both they and Grzx had discussed earlier, but he did not take offense to his analysis of Stephanie Martins. She looked drained of all emotion. She had a great deal of moisture on her brow and was seemingly shaking. Atherumberbane tried to remember what shaking meant in human body language. They knew that could easily mean she was cold, though the EVO suit that the human was wearing should provide their preferred environmental temperature. It also could mean anger, as they remembered some of the human literature they had tried to consume in order to understand them better. The phrase “shaking with anger” had been a common one throughout. Perhaps the emergency was cause for such outrage? Though her brow was not pointing down, as is a common trait of angry humans. No, this wasn’t anger. Perhaps…

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I have a message from my homeworld that I have been instructed to read to you now.” Stephanie Martins said.

The translator mimicked her tone and emotion. Antehrumberbane put it together now. It was not sadness they had heard on the recorded message and it was not anger or cold that caused Stephanie Martins to shake so. Her voice quavered in a way that was not unfamiliar to them. It was the same inflection they had when their partner was diagnosed and the severity of the disease was revealed to them.

It was fear. Fear that was about to give way to despair.

Patreons above, this must be worse than they thought. Antherumberbane showed their full attention, as did many other who came to the same conclusion. Each was prepared to listen intently, offering any information they could provide.

Stephanie Martins took a long pause, acknowledging the shift in the room. She breathed deeply before saying, “First I want to thank you all for your help and companionship. You have become some of my closest friends and I just wanted to say that-” she trailed off, and Antherumberbane heard something unusual. For a split second, he thought he heard a high pitch tone that faded just as Stephanie Martins finished talking. He looked around. Others who had similar auditory processing showed their concerns. Antherumberbane was about to speak, but Stephanie Martins began talking again, this time with more determination to prop up the fear.

“This meeting has been called for those present to witness this declaration. For too long, Earth has felt the cold oppressive heal of CAPS and the pressure to become one with its members. For too long, Earth has been expected to give up its valuable resources to an organization whose values are heavily skewed. You talk of peace and posterity, yet you neglect the now. You talk of those who come after us and pay no mind to those who are here now. Your alliance is built on the flimsy foundation that all species should agree with you and do whatever you say. No more.”

The room was stunned silent. Many species showed anger and confusion on their faces and scoffs. Others showed concern. Antherumberbane did not know what to think. What could be gained by such insults? The CAPS has not asked for nearly as much as this speech would suggest. And oppressive? This does not make.

“As for the Catalogers, you find yourselves in a position above us. You observe all the galaxy’s secrets yet do not share them. You only use that knowledge when one of your own deems it necessary. You stay in your Ivory towers, deeming where and when you can use this power. No more.”

This broke most of the Cataloger’s calm and composed demeanor. There was a terrible uproar from those who firmly believed in the Cataloger’s purpose. Grzx was one of the most vocal, stating his discontent loudly. Antherumberbane still didn’t understand. Was this some ill attempt at humor by the humans. Stephanie Martins had moisture in her eyes now, a biological response to stress known as “crying,” Antherumberbane recognized.

Stephanie Martins continued, trembling even more. “But now we know your secrets.”

The room fell silent.

“We now know where you hide that knowledge. We will find it and we will spread it. All will be revealed for the galaxy to see. No more secrets. No more false promises. No more.”

Before anyone had a chance to react. Stephanie Martins looked up and yelled as loud and as fast as she could “THEY ARE ATTACKING THE CITADEL THEY ARE TRYING TO FIND THE RE-”

Just as soon as she had yelled, Antherumberbane heard the high pitch tone again. And as it grew to its highest note, Stephanie Myer’s head exploded, showering the gallery in viscera and broken glass from her EVO suit. Many cried out in shock. Antherumberbane shot upwards, now full-on all of his tentacles. What could this mean? Did the humans really mean to…

There was a loud scream as one of the Catalogers, a Canine-like Urgunnian, yelled and pointed at the dome. Antherumberbane looked only for a moment and realizing what he had seen, he turned on his communicator, broadcasting to all channels. Before the dome was breached by incoming fire from the unmistakable human armada, and before everyone in the meeting room was sucked out into the terrible vacuum of space, Antherumberbane broke his vow of silence and spoke a final message.

“Earth has declared war. The Remnant is not safe.”

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TRANSMISSION: OPERATION ALEXANDRIA. PHASE 1 IS A SUCCESS. PHASE 2 IS UNDERWAY.

#long post #long #ok to rn #ok to reply #writing #writing prompt

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cassthepilot · 4 years ago

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Cass Background & Lore

Decided to finally make a dedicated post to a large part of Cass’ story. Definitely a bit of read but it’s finally a little more streamlined & less chaotic than her age old about pages now I think. Anyway, for those who are interested, here goes, Apologies in advance for the long read.

CASS’ STORY

Cass was born & raised into a colorful life navigating the trailer parks, hollers & eventually prison system of West Virginia. Having never known a life outside of abject poverty & limited opportunities, Cass dreamed of a future where her & her mother could be free of demanding labor & the occasional early death from black lung that came with a toilsome career in mining. From a young age Cass assisted with supply runs for the local miners & her mother who helped oversee them and used the local rivers to transport whatever equipment they needed (as well as the occasional trafficking of moonshine which she brewed on the side.) The work was dirty, chaotic & about as hellish as you’d expect an open fiery mouth in the belly of the earth to be but there wasn’t a person there who wouldn’t shove a pick axe right up the ass of the devil himself for one another. To Cass it was the closest thing to family outside of a prison riot & a time she misses terribly.

Sadly after an tragic turn of events involving robot prototypes, the devil & a significant amount of property damage, Cass unexpectedly found herself both alone in the world & in prison where she was sentenced to do time before eventually going on to do some brief work for Amelia Earhart’s Hot Dog Service through the prisons work release program; F.U.N (Felonious Unemployables Network). This might’ve been a salvageable opportunity had she been allowed to use the delivery plane but apparently air travel is restricted if you “don’t have a license” & are a “felon serving time.” - who even comes up with these rules right? Alas working to repay a debt to society isn’t without a processed meat blunder or two - the biggest being an accidental delivery to the funeral of a burn victim from the great weenie blaze of Mason County. Exasperated by the hours of public apologies & PR campaigns she now had to look forward to, Amelia exploded at Cass; berating & screaming at her to get lost before storming off. Fed up & determined to escape what she considered a lifelong sentence in hot dog hell, Cass simply replied to herself “No, why don’t you?..” while proceeding to punch the exact coordinates into her plane where she could go do that.

Finding herself now on the run from state & federal authorities and in need of someone who could saw off a thick set of shackles, Cass took refuge in the wilds of Appalachia. Moving steadily down the Appalachian trail into Tennessee, she finally rejoined civilization and went on to use the identity she “borrowed” from Amelia to stumble her way into a pilots job for Elvis as his personal food delivery service. After being briefed of the king’s mission to eat one of every animal, she soon found herself en route to a remote island in search of the world’s most endangered (& presumably tastiest) species. Or at least she would have, had a series of entirely preventable circumstances not landed them both in the middle of the ocean. Instead she now found herself stuck in the Bermuda Triangle where she spent the next half decade of her life before escaping (again), spending some more time on the run as a fugitive/drifter, and going on to finally (finally) work as a cargo pilot for Mann Co.

BERMUDA TRIANGLE

In the duration of time that she was stranded in the Bermuda Triangle, Cass spent a lot of that time hatching poorly thought out escape plans in a desperate bid to escape the island & her situation. Having such limited resources and opportunities ended up leaving her with the remarkable ability to improvise so she always made the most of what little she had. A couple of these attempts included; harnessing a flock of island birds together in an attempt to create some kind of skyraft and utilizing the abundant radiation in the area in hopes of growing a coconut large enough to sail up to 10 people. There were also a number of attempts made during the occasional time slips that occurred there but nothing that ever held up. These slips were almost always generated by old, experimental transporter technology that had been tested in the ocean in that region years ago.

Pretty much all of of her efforts to escape from the island, however, ended in failure and in some cases landed her and her crew more lost then when they began. Still, she worked hard to continue to find a (sort’ve) solution and while, in itself that wasn’t a bad thing, it did eventually develop into an unhealthy fixation of sorts. It wasn’t until nearly losing bigfoot in the center of the earth that she accepted that maybe this problem was just a little bigger than her and that it might be in everybody’s best interest if they just stuck to trying not to die. Relinquishing all hopes at any kind of rescue she went back to her usual survival routine of punching crabs in the face & harvesting coconuts for food until one day opportunity finally arrived during an unexpected pit stop from Howard Hughes.

Turns out Hughes became disoriented at some point during his round the world flight. Needing to re-fuel, Hughes looked to Cass’ ability to improvise for help and a mutual agreement was established. Fascinated by the group, Hughes thought it would be an incredible press opportunity for himself but after realizing they would all track sand into his plane he went back on his word and initiated plans to continue solo. Hitting her breaking point, Cass settled this debt by tearing off the plastic bags from his hands and face and then jacking his plane while he was busy screaming hysterically & suffering a full mental breakdown over germs. It wasn’t what she had in mind but that’s what improvisation all about right?

RADIATION & STRANGE WEAPONRY

Abandoned long before modern 1960’s technology, the tropical waters surrounding the island were (accidentally) discovered by Cass and her crew to have been somewhat of a graveyard for nuclear & old teleportation testing. Nobody really knows why but it’s speculated that (at the time) so little was known about teleporters or how they functioned that these classified prototypes & the surrounding area must have been discarded when energy reached unmanageable levels. This seems the only likely explanation anyway given the sheer amount of radiation in the area, saturating the waters like some kind of surreal oil spill. It’s certainly a mystery as to why they’re in this region or how they’re even still functioning. Overcharged & churning eternally on the ocean floor, they create quite an impressive sight; manifesting on the surface of the water as a massive field of black vortexes. (akin to this except 100 million of them). Stranger still, they seem to have a bit of a weather system all their own too. The charges building up until they create what can only be described as a timephoon. Like the clouds that roll in before a thunderstorm, the time slips on the island usually began with small ripples in the tide until eventually things intensified and the very fabric of the area was disrupted & ripped apart. For Cass & her crew it was like watching a living history lesson..except.. all at once…and in the rain.

The waters in the area yielded quite an array of strange weaponry as well. Having salvaged what she could from nearby shipwrecks, it wasn’t long before it was discovered that these weapons had developed a bizarre form of sentience that, when used, seemed to exhibit a passion for keeping track of anything it killed. Fascinated by these guns intense craving to end human lives, Cass made it a point to secretly cache away as many of these affected weapons as she could whenever she came across them. This would later prove to be a wise move as she is now responsible for the regular procurement & trafficking of them for Mann Co.

#tf2 cass #cass lore #that's her story & she's stickin to it

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slightly-nerdy-rambles · 4 years ago

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Robstar Week Day 3: A New Life (Prompt: Tamaran)

And now we come to this year’s Royal Family Verse prompt! For those of you unfamiliar with it, this is a special story ‘verse that I set one Robstar Week story in each year; not exactly an AU, but a bit of an unusual interpretation of events that happen post-Tokyo. You’ll see what those events are in this fic (It’s set right at the beginning of the overarching story), but if you’d like to see a bit more, just take a look at the “Royal Family Verse” tag on my blog.

I’d really been hoping for a prompt that would allow me to write something set around the beginning of this storyline, and “Tamaran” ended up being perfect. The following scene is something that had been floating around in my head for quite some time, and it feels good to finally have it set down in the official ‘verse!

A New Life

It was not supposed to end this way.

Galfore was a good ruler. He had spent most of his life in the capital, and he had been one of Emperor Myand’r’s closest confidants. He had taught Starfire – Princess Koriand’r, back then – and her siblings almost everything they knew about guiding, aiding, and defending their people. He was intelligent, thoughtful, loyal, and dedicated, and in the short time since he’d been declared Grand Ruler, he had dismantled the seeds of corruption that had allowed Blackfire to take a stranglehold on Tamaran and brought to it an age of peace and security that the planet had not seen since before the Gordanian invasion.

What he lacked – directly, at least – was an heir.

Starfire had received the news two days ago: Galfore had been attacked by an assassin, and though he’d avoided serious injury, a poisoned blade had managed to cut deep into his thigh. The poison had been discovered and treated immediately, but it was potent, and at the time it was unknown whether he would even survive. The uncertainty of it all was almost worse than the news itself, and she had a lot to think about while she waited for an update. The other Titans had respected her space in this time, while still giving her what comfort and encouragement they could.

Now, though, it was time to talk to them. And she started, had to start, with Robin.

The two of them sat facing each other cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom. Robin watched her patiently, waiting until she was ready to speak. Starfire’s knee bounced a little with nervous energy, and she found herself looking almost anywhere in the room but him.

Finally, she let out a low sigh. “I received another transmission from Tamaran this morning.”

Robin nodded. “I heard. Is… Is Galfore going to be all right?”

Starfire bit her lip, still looking a little to the side. “He is… for the most part. He is alive, stable and fully expected to recover, but the poison has already done some irreparable damage. He will never have full use of his leg again.”

Robin winced – he knew how much value Tamaraneans put on physical strength. “I’m glad he’s… mostly okay, but that still has to be hard. I’m sorry.”

Starfire sighed again. Now came the hard part. “That is not all. If it was, I would have simply considered it a blessing for how much he will recover. Galfore is very resilient, and I know that he will handle the setback well. But not everybody is going to view it that way.”

For the first time, she let her gaze meet his. “My people are warriors, Robin, and the Grand Ruler is expected to defend the nation personally. That is why we allow physical challenges for the throne, such as you saw when I overthrew Blackfire. In his condition, Galfore will have no end of challenges, whether from people who view him as weak and unfit to rule or those who simply see a chance to take the crown for themselves. And though the Grand Ruler does not have to accept every challenge, denying too many of them will lose him the support of the council.

“Galfore is very strong and skilled, but he cannot risk a power-hungry fool taking advantage of an obvious weakness to overcome him. To prevent such a thing, he has chosen to abdicate his role as Grand Ruler… and appoint a successor in his place.”

Robin straightened up a fraction, his eyes widening slightly. “…And you’re the successor.” It was less a question than a statement of fact, a realization of just where this conversation had been leading him.

Starfire gave a shallow nod. “He intended to find another suitable candidate to name and train as his heir, but that would require time he no longer has. I am already trained and proven in the people’s eyes, and I am the only member of the previous dynasty still eligible and available. Tamaran has been through so much turmoil in the past several years… I cannot turn down the crown again.”

Again, she found herself unable to meet his eyes. Slowly, regretfully, she unhooked her communicator from her belt and placed it on the floor between them.

“I am sorry,” she said, her voice soft, “but I must leave for Tamaran soon. It seemed only right to tell you first, especially since… we cannot be together any longer.”

Robin didn’t say anything for several moments. From the corner of her eye, Starfire saw him reach for the communicator and grasp it in his own hand. He held it there for a few seconds, as if afraid to do anything more with it, and then he finally spoke up.

“Take me with you.”

Starfire jolted at that, wide eyes snapping up at him. “What?”

Robin’s own eyes seemed to have widened under the mask, and she got the sense that even he was a little surprised by what he’d just said. Taking a deep breath, he set her communicator back on the floor and went on.

“You’ve already had to leave behind the life you knew before. I… I know what that’s like, and I don’t want you to have to do it again alone. I want to go with you.”

Starfire couldn’t believe what she was hearing right now. “I… I will still have Galfore, and accepting the crown will be me returning to my old life. You are suggesting you move to an unfamiliar planet and leave everyone else you know behind for my sake, and I cannot accept that. What of the other Titans?”

Robin let out a hollow, humorless laugh. “They’ll already be losing you – the team’s going to have to rebuild itself either way. And even though you’re technically going back, you know it can never be the same as it was when you were a kid. You wouldn’t have been so openly upset about this if it could. If I have to leave someone I care about, at least let me do it on my own terms.”

Starfire shook her head and stood up. “Robin, you will be an outworlder. You would need to prove yourself on the testing grounds to be considered anything more than a guest who must stay under heavy guard anytime you are in the palace.” She began to pace the floor, running through the scenario in her head. “And you already know that Tamaraneans do not court for as long as humans of your country. If you come with me, my people will expect nothing less than marriage.”

“…Okay.”

Starfire froze in her tracks and turned to stare at him again. Robin’s face flushed red, and he stood up and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Look, I… You’re right, I do know how Tamaranean courting works. I know how hard it is for your species to give up a loved one and find a new partner. And I know that you’re going to need to get married and eventually… produce heirs of your own, and that you’d want to even if it wasn’t necessary.” The red in his face deepened. “And… I’ve been thinking about it a while, even before Galfore got attacked. It’s a little earlier than I was planning, but I already knew that was the direction we were headed. Both of us.”

Starfire searched his face as his thoughts spilled out in an increasing ramble. She could see no hint of uncertainty or false confidence in his expression, and she murmured a gentle, “Robin…”

With a deep breath, he went on. “I… I know I can’t really propose to the future empress of Tamaran, but if it’s what you want, then so do I. I just… don’t want to lose you.” With a nervous little laugh, he added, “Besides, I seem to remember you saying that Tamaraneans confessing their love to one another is practically how they get engaged, and we’ve already kind of done that.”

Starfire was speechless at first. Of all the responses she’d imagined him taking to her news, this was one of the few she had not dared seriously consider. A part of her, the part that had never lost its ties to her original culture, had been ready to marry since they first affirmed their love for one another a year ago in Tokyo. She desperately wanted to ask – no, beg him to marry her, to join her on Tamaran as consort and be with her always.

But she still wasn’t certain that he would not regret it.

“And… The other Titans?” she asked hesitantly, folding her arms tight against herself. “I know what you already said, but you are their leader, and together we make up nearly half of the team.”

Robin rubbed his arm. “I’ve thought about that too. After you found out about Galfore and I realized you might need to leave, I mean,” he admitted. “But honestly? The Titans have come a long way since our team first came together. I think Cyborg can take over as leader – though that’s up to him, Beast Boy and Raven – and if they need more help, I know a few honoraries are looking for a team to join full-time.”

So this had not been an impulsive decision. Robin had seriously thought about it, and had already made up his mind – and not in that stubborn and single-minded way he could get when chasing some villain he considered his specific responsibility to stop. Even so, some part of Starfire still thought she should say no, that this was her responsibility now and that he would be giving up too much just to stay with her.

But then she remembered when she first came to Earth, scared and alone and lashing out, and the boy who had risked life and limb to calm her down and help her. As a core member of the royal family, she was the one meant to aid and sacrifice for her people. It was one of the first times that someone had gone out of their way for her, not out of duty as a guard or another royal but just because they wanted to help.

She truly didn’t have to do this alone. Yes, the responsibilities of Grand Rulership would be hers to bear – the man she chose to marry would only be an emperor consort, after all – but she could still have someone by her side to support her all the way. And Robin had offered to be that someone. He wanted to.

Starfire didn’t realize she’d started crying until Robin stiffened in alarm. “Star!” he shouted, rushing to her and clasping her arms with a firm but gentle grip. “I-I’m sorry, I came on too strong and you’re already dealing with a lot, I shouldn’t have said anything yet, just forget I –”

But Starfire cut him off by throwing her arms around him and burying her head in his shoulder. Despite all the pain and uncertainty of the past few days, she found herself laughing, just a little, though the tears.

“Do not apologize,” she murmured into his shoulder. “I am… overwhelmed with emotion right now, but for the first time, some of that emotion is good.”

She could feel Robin’s muscles relax as he returned her embrace, and for several moments the two of them just stood there, clinging to each other like lifelines.

Finally, Starfire pulled back and let her forehead rest against his, giving him a watery smile.

“Robin…” she murmured. “…I love you. And in case you are uncertain, I do mean that in the full Tamaranean sense of the phrase.” Her smile broadened. “If you will have me, I believe you will make a wonderful emperor.”

Robin returned her smile with one of his own, and he answered her unspoken question by leaning forward and catching her lips with his own. And for the first time since Galfore’s injury, Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran felt that everything was going to be okay.

#Teen Titans #Robin #Starfire #robstar #robstarweek #writing #prompt #fanfiction #Royal Family Verse

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your-turn-to-role · 5 years ago

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new opinions of the cerberus assembly (etgw spoilers!!)

somewhat inspired by the conversations the other day, bc it’s reminded me i have a lot to say about these motherfuckers

let’s start with the obvious:

Master Trent Ikithon, Archmage of Civil Influence (Chaotic Evil Human)

Book Text: [Trent is respected as the acclaimed Propagandist of the empire and the third oldest member of the assembly. Once an instructor at the Soltryce Academy, he only returns every few years to collect young students for his experiments in the mental conditioning that he calls “awakening.” Many of these students go mad and are locked away, but those who endure become zealots for the assembly and join the Volstrucker, an elite group of arcane thugs commonly known as Scourgers, who perform the assembly’s dirtiest work under Trent’s direction.]

Most of this we knew. I hate this guy. Though, as a point of interest - Caleb’s for sure not the first person this has happened to. They account for a certain number of aspiring Volstrucker never completing the program, Caleb was just another statistic. Which means somewhere in Vergessen is a lot of other people with the same backstory who never managed to escape. That’s, something worth looking into, maybe.

Martinet Ludinus Da’leth, Archmage of Domestic Protections (Lawful Evil Elf)

[Ludinus is the oldest and only original member of the assembly, as well as the master of warfare and conflict. Charged with overhauling the military structure of the Dwendalian Empire, Ludinus directed the construction of the garrisons on the Xhorhasian border and often oversees their maintenance. He was one of the mages who survived the destruction of Molaesmyr and fled to Bysaes Tyl, but he saw the opportunity to achieve greatness within the empire and left his culture behind to continue his arcane pursuits. Wise, if emotionless, he bears a deep hatred for the Kryn Dynasty and spares no effort gathering information on their weaknesses and secrets. Ludinus spends most of his time developing arcane weapons of war and shoring up the military might of the empire, while subtly challenging the leadership of Crown Marshal Damurag.]

This guy’s old. That's the scariest thing about him really. Like, this guy's been in the empire since it was half its current size. This guy saw the destruction of Molaesmyr, and knew many of its residents. But he also rejected that society, purely for his own ends. He's at least 400 years old, more likely at least 500, and for the past 3-4 centuries has been focusing entirely on magic and warfare. That's a long time to hone those skills. Ludinus may say it's hard to compare power in the Assembly, but if I had to pick one of them for an end game boss, it would be him, no question. Trent's more of a wild card, sure, but he's only like 60, 70 years old. He's a baby compared to Da'leth. Keep an eye on this dude, and under no circumstances trust him.

Lady Vess de Rogna, Archmage of Antiquity (Neutral Evil Half-Elf)

[A public recluse for most of her life, Vess is both a brilliant mage and dedicated historian. She assumed this post after replacing her criminal predecessor, Lady Delilah Briarwood. As an instructor at the Soltryce Academy for over two decades, Vess has studied and unraveled a number of historical mysteries and pre-Calamity riddles — and hoarded some of the spoils for herself. Always eager to pursue forgotten lore and artifacts of eons past, Vess has been known to quietly vanish to Xhorhas for weeks at a time, returning with fewer guards and more uncovered secrets.]

Canon confirmation that this is who took over from Delilah Briarwood, and from what we’ve seen, they’re rather similar people. They're both scientists and historians, ruthlessly efficient, far more concerned with what they can learn and what they can do than what's good or safe for those around them. Liable to be found breaking the law in the name of science and progress. At least Vess has lasted longer than her predecessor.

Headmaster Oremid Hass, Archmage of Cultivation (Lawful Neutral Earth Genasi)

[The current headmaster of the Hall of Erudition in Zadash, Oremid is tasked with watching and grooming the next generation of mages and arcane specialists outside Rexxentrum. While he himself is a gentle soul who adores animals, he puts on the façade of a strict man with no sense of humor, which is further enhanced by the elemental influence of his earth genasi blood. He teaches students that failure is not an option, and that emotion is a barrier to one’s true ability. Equally feared, respected, and privately loathed by the students (and some instructors), Oremid personally dismisses those who break under his school’s curriculum and heaps joyous praise on those who endure their training.]

So, I've had teachers like this. And they stick in your mind, because, even a decade later, I still have a hard time getting over their instilled fear of failure. I can believe that, in general terms, Oremid's not a terrible person. I think he looks the other way on a lot of things, which precludes him from ever qualifying as good in my books, but he hasn't committed any major acts of torture or murder himself. Still though. You don't teach like that if you view your students as people. You teach like that if you view your students as potential assets. So like.... not as bad as some of his colleagues. Potentially someone they could work with if they had to. But still probably someone to stay away from.

Headmaster Zivan Margolin, Archmage of Conscription (Lawful Neutral Human)

[Zivan Margolin inherited the position of headmaster from his father, the late Jorma Margolin. Zivan has been the headmaster of the Soltryce Academy in Rexxentrum for nearly twenty years. Calm, patient, and quietly imposing, Zivan walks the halls of the Academy with a keen eye for talent. He is in charge of the curriculum and also watches for any latent powers that may be worth grooming as future allies of the assembly, dangers to be monitored, or prospective minds for Ikithon to conscribe into the Volstrucker. Zivan has rarely had the opportunity to demonstrate his full power, for he is typically busied with keeping the peace between the feuding members of the assembly. Those who have witnessed his true might, however, now know that his words are backed by some of the most powerful magics within the Cerberus Assembly.]

I think @lostsometime said it best, having the archmage of conscription be in charge of your elite magic school really sums up everything wrong with the empire. Like, if that's out in the open, your problems are unfixable. Get a new government. Jeez.

Master Doolan Tversky, Archmage of Dysology (Chaotic Neutral Gnome)

[The second-oldest member of the assembly, Doolan is in charge of the study and understanding of abnormal creatures and deviants of arcane creation that might threaten the empire’s way of life. She is an absentminded yet brilliant gnome who is obsessed with all beasts, aberrations, and creatures of legend. Doolan imports creatures from around the world to study, disassemble, and use in her attempts to revolutionize magical practices. She resents the Library of the Cobalt Soul, as her reputation has caused them to bar her from their facilities. She wishes to catalog the unstudied horrors of Xhorhas and has covertly obtained the services of the Myriad to retrieve new specimens.]

Now, Doolan is fascinating to me, not because I think she's a good person, but because she's just so delightfully weird. She's probably done some evil as fuck shit but she's also a gremlin of a gnome who loves weird fucked up arcane experiments and magical meteors that created eldritch ducks and all sorts of bizarre things like that. I'd love to see more of her, because there's always room in fantasy stories for more weird morally ambiguous old ladies who are banned from libraries on the grounds of "is about as likely to eat the books as she is to read them" and "last time we let her in here she somehow combined five forbidden rituals and created a new species of demon that haunts the halls of the rexxentrum archive spreading toxic slime everywhere and we can't figure out what it wants or how to make it go away".

Lord Athesias Uludan, Archmage of Diplomatic Union (Neutral Good Human)

[Athesias’s charm and bombastic personality serve him well as a diplomat. His duty is to foster a positive relationship with people of power both within and beyond the borders of the empire. He was originally one of the most effective instructors at the Soltryce Academy, but his penchant for spectacle and his rampant narcissism made him a difficult ally to trust with state secrets. When the office of Diplomatic Union opened, he was quickly and quietly reassigned. Athesias finds great pleasure in ruining or usurping the plans of his counterpart in the Crown’s employ, Emissary Lord Zeddan Graf.]

We’ve talked a bit about Uludan already - the Gilderoy Lockhart of the group for sure. Though I’m sure he has layers to him, so I’d be interested to find out what exactly they are.

And, saving the most interesting for last,

Baroness Jenna Iresor, Archmage of Industry (True Neutral Doppelganger)

[One of the younger members of the assembly, Jenna is known for her business acumen and her extravagant lifestyle. By hiding her nature as a doppelganger and using memory-altering magics at a young age to fabricate a false past, Jenna constructed her human persona from the ground up, leveraging her powers of deception to essentially write herself into history as a Clovis Concord expatriate. She helps oversee central guild business in Rexxentrum under Guildmaster Kai Arness, and helps Exchequer Aethia Drooze organize the collection of tithes through starostas across the empire.]

I am, insanely curious about how a doppelganger ended up in the Cerberus Assembly. She’s definitely ambitious for sure, doppelgangers already have a fair bit of innate magic - they’re natural shapeshifters and have a fair amount of psychic powers (like reading minds of anyone who happens to be near them), but to get here she had to be extremely committed. Which means she probably has plans for this position, or had plans that she’s already put into motion. Very interested what those are, especially for the archmage of industry.

#cr2 #cr spoilers #explorer's guide to wildemount #cerberus assembly #trent ikithon #ludinus da'leth #vess derogna #oremid hass #jenna iresor #athesias uludan #doolan tversky #zivan margolin #cr thoughts #text #meta

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zephyrthejester · 5 years ago

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Steven Universe Future: A Predictive Wish List

The future is now. And by that, I mean that the debut of Steven Universe Future is at hand! A super special "limited series" (whatever that means) that will ultimately wrap up the greatest cartoon to grace television this decade. Indeed, all good things must come to an end. Regardless of what the Future holds, it is doubtless that I'll love and continue to love this show forever... So! Let's have a good ol' chat about what we want to see in the upcoming episodes!

I'm going to divide this wish list into two distinct sections, both of which should be self explanatory. Things that I "need," that my heart burns with desire for, and things that I "hope," that would be cool if it happens but it's no big deal if it doesn't.

This is going to be a loooooong post, so click Keep Reading to see it all!

What I NEED to Happen

Lars needs closure for his three ongoing story arcs. From Lars, I hope we see him expressing how much he and his life has changed, and how he's dealing with the return to tranquil life on Earth and his zombie status. Secondly, he and Sadie need to have a good, long chat. Their relationship was in turmoil at the time Lars got abducted by Aquamarine, and since then Sadie has redirected her life with a self-empowering attitude. There is a lot that remains unsaid between the two of them. Thirdly, Lars and Ronaldo were once childhood friends and had a feud as kids that lasted into their teens. I hope that gets touched upon, even if it's something as simple as the two apologizing to each other.

When it comes to Jasper... I don't want the show to handle her story in Future like a "redemption." Being redeemed is not what her character is about, and it's not what she needs. No, Jasper has lived her entire life clinging to an ideal and the perception of her strength. Both those things were ripped away from her. What Jasper needs is to learn acceptance of her reality, to embrace that even someone who is "flawless" can be fallible, and to become responsible for herself. The happiest ending for Jasper, I think, is not to become friends with the Crystal Gems or even to like Earth, but to accept herself.

On the subject of Jasper, the last thing I want are any positive interactions with Lapis Lazuli. In the best case scenario, the two won't interact at all. They were each other's mutual abusers and were both responsible for the most painful days of their lives. Some might say you need to confront the past to move beyond it, but Lapis already has and Jasper can learn to do the same. To cut someone toxic out of your life and move on without them should be celebrated. Could you imagine if Greg tried to reconnect with Marty? Yuck, right? That's how I feel about Lapis and Jasper.

Fusion Experiments and especially the Cluster need to be formally dealt with. While bubbles can keep them in stasis for eternity, Steven's not the sort of person to abandon those who suffer (unless you're a Ruby floating in space). The question is, how? Can he repair the shattered? Or will he give them the best lives they can get in their state? And how could the Cluster be removed from inside the Earth?

Speaking of those who remain in solitude... Pink Diamond's Zoo needs to be dealt with. There are dozens of Zoomans, a skeleton crew of Quartzes (including Holly Blue Agate, most likely) and most importantly of all, the entire Gem population of Rose Quartzes. REAL Rose Quartzes. We've never actually seen a real Rose Quartz, and it's high time we do. What do they sound like?! Dude, it’d be super funny if the real Rose Quartz voice sounds super distinct and Steven would wonder how Pink Diamond’s disguise fooled anyone.

We need an episode dedicated to Nephrite! She's technically been in the show longer than Lapis and Peridot, debuting in episode 01, and she's represented the entire Corrupted Gem plotline! We need to learn more about her! See her interact with people, including Steven! If not a whole episode for her, than at least some hearty screen time!

Spinel and the Diamonds need some screen time. It's a safe bet since they were all in the new intro, so to take a riskier request, I'm going to hope that the Diamonds come out and directly admit how horrible of monsters they've been. Their crimes are infinitely cruel, in both number and scale. And so far, the only thing they've done about it is to make an effort to... not commit more crimes against humanity. Err, Gemanity? Perhaps in their experience with a free Gempire they can actually get context for what they did, recognize the night-and-day difference between suffering and not-suffering, and get a little introspective about themselves.

Pink Pearl... Just, Pink Pearl. Like, hot dang, dude. If anything, make her the poster child of the above point about the Diamonds' crimes. Simply for wanting Pink Diamond to be happy, White overwrote Pink Pearl's individuality, even scarring her form, and kept her that way for thousands of years. How does Pink Pearl feel about that?! How will she deal with Pink Diamond being gone? What's next for her?

This last one tows the line between the two categories and might even be a bit selfish, but... I hope we see Mystery Girl again. I know Pearl's been "playing the field" since she met her, but it'd be cool to catch up with Pearl's relationship(s). It's not something we need to see, but just a quick line or two to reference it would be cool. Although, there is the unresolved hint that Mystery Girl might be Kevin's ex...

What I HOPE Will Happen

It'd be a crime not to introduce a fusion that involves Lapis, Peridot, and/or Bismuth. And, well... My take might surprise you. I'm hoping that Peridot will remain fusionless, because she is my oh-so-precious Ace representation. As for Lapis... I dunno. Is fusion something she desires? Could there possibly be a threat big enough to warrant fusing for combat purposes? It's hard to imagine either, though it would be sweet if fusion could become something more than Malachite for her. And that leaves Bismuth! To that I say, HELL YEAH! We heard tell of Bismuth once fusing with Garnet back in the Rebellion, and I can only dream how incredible that would be. Alternatively, maybe Bismuth and her best buddie in the whole world, Biggs, would make a good pair.

I want an episode that's a good ol' Space Adventure. Hopefully with Connie along for the ride! There's a massive galaxy out there ripe for exploring. The possibilities are endless! An episode of this nature would be a good excuse to see more of certain Gems such as Nephrite, Emerald, the Zircons, and maybe Lemon Jade.

It'd be cool to see some characters from the games, even if only as background easter eggs. I'm talkin' the Prism, Hessonite, Squaridot, those new garnets from the recently announced game I forget the name of (Unleash the Light?)...

At least one episode to meet and greet the Little Homeworld denizens, specifically Bismuth's big three (Biggs, Crazy Lace, and Snowflake). But especially Snowflake Obsidian. She looks super cool.

Finally, I'd like to see some light shed on the many, many unexplored mysteries. I'd be surprised if we got any of the following, but I can dream: What is the origin of Gem Species and/or The Diamonds? What is the deal with the Crystal Heart? What is the Geode? What's up with the space outside Warp tunnels? What's the latest on Watermelon Island? What are the rooms in the Temple like for most of the main cast Fusions, + Ruby and Sapphire's rooms? What has become of Pink Diamond's palanquin in Korea? Can Steven kiss up the Kindergartens to heal it like he did for Beach City in the movie? What's the deal with Rose's lion pride in the desert near her leg ship? And most importantly: WHAT WAS IN THE FREAKING CHEST?!?!?!?!?!?!?

WHAT WAS IN THE CHEST, SUGAR?!

...Okay. That’s it. That’s everything I want to say. Hmm. Looking back, I’m surprised how little Amethyst, Garnet, Connie, and Greg figure into my desires. I guess I’m totally complacent about their current status in the story.

So, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow when we take our first look at Steven Universe Future! Until then... Check out my analysis of the new Opening, if you haven’t already!

#Steven Universe #Steven Universe Liveblog #Steven Universe Future #Steven Universe Future Liveblog #Steven Universe Spoilers #Liveblogging #Liveblog

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asktherevivalcrew · 5 years ago

Photo

|| █ Personal Info █ ||

█ G e n e r a l;

Full Name: Annabeth Packet Raymond

Nickname(s)/Alias(es): Anna, Ann, Annie, Beth(rarely), Chestnut(Fell!), Ribbon(Swap!)

Age: 14

Species: Human

Soul Trait & Color: Cyan of Patience

Birthday: February 12

Gender: Female

Sex: Female

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

█ P e r s o n a l i t y;

Personality Traits: patient, resourceful, polite || openness, generosity, casual || panicky, worrying, easily distracted

Likes: cooking, knitting, medical books

Dislikes: slugs, rowdiness, messes

Fears: slugs, people abandoning her

Special/Significant Belongings: Faded Ribbon, Toy Knife, Silky Ribbon

█ R e l a t i o n s h i p s;

Family:

Parents and/or Grandparents:

She got along very well with her father, in the times when he actually visited his family that is. Even as a child barely out of her toddler stage at the time, she understood that her father had to work overseas to provide for her sister and grandmother. But like her older sister, she wanted her father by his family's side and not always out there to be worried about the possibility that something might happen. Thankfully, her father comforted his daughters by sending them souvenirs and gifts from places he's been to for work and to assure them that he will be fine.

As for her mother, she died early in Anna's life due to an incident that her father, grandmother, and even her sister wouldn't tell her since she was so young at the time. Though at one point she had heard that before she died, her father did in fact did live with them and had a good job. In her vaguest memories, she had looked up to her mom's hard-working persona that was instilled into her from her own mother, Anna's grandmother. Which explains one of the reasons she's dedicated to being patient and resourceful when time calls for it.

Speaking of her grandmother, since her father was mostly at work he sent both of his daughters to live with their grandmother to be raised by her. And although Anna's grandmother was more than happy to spend her elderly days with her beloved grandchildren, she wasn't happy that their own father isn't willing to raise them himself. For a woman in her late 80s, widowed, and has no other relatives to confine in her area, this was understandable. Either Anna or her older sister would hear her lecturing their father on the phone after a long day from school or helping around their home. Despite this, her grandmother was one of the best role-models that Anna had besides her studious sister. From teaching her basic skills like knitting and cleaning to practicing first-aid with bandages and treating people with colds(her grandmother was a retired nurse).

Now in the present she loves Toriel as her newly adopted mom since Anna didn't have a mother figure after her grandmother's passing. She's known as one of Toriel's better behaved children and as such she loves to help around the house with her.

Siblings:

- Half-sister : Natalie P. Raymond

Being the one left to take of Anna until their father comes home, Natalie was a very stressful sister that always tried her best at anything to help, especially when their grandmother passed away. Although she wasn't as resourceful or level-headed as Anna, she was very smart and even tried teaching her little sister some of the things she learned from school. Funny enough, Natalie looks up to Anna for her patience and resourcefulness, which is a reason why the sisters rarely fought.

- Adopted Siblings : the other six souls

I'll post that later.

Friends:

- Will update in the future as well.

█ B a c k s t o r y;

Shortly after her mother passed on when Anna was still a baby, she and her older sister, Natalie, were living with their grandmother in Mt. Ebott's shoulder as her father went to work overseas. At the time, Anna's sister was the only one who went to school in the nearby village, but even when Anna became old enough to attend kindergarten she still was home schooled by her grandmother. She never minded it, in fact the one thing she was truly bothered about was about her father's absence in her family's life. Especially since she saw how much that affected her sister and grandmother to the extent, at that point she taught herself patience that one day her father will come and live with them again.

But one day on Anna's 10th birthday, her grandmother couldn't wake up and the family's life went downhill from there. With no one else besides a few family friends to raise them, Anna called her father and told him what had happened. In response, he made up his mind to go back for his daughters to raise them again, it'll be a while for him to go back since he was working far from home. Her older sister had almost dropped out of middle school to raise Anna, but Anna herself protested to her sister that idea. The both of them continued to live in their grandmother's house while waiting for their father as they accepted gifts and essentials like cooked food from family friends. As days went on, Anna continued to notice her sister's anxiousness everyday increasing everyday, to this Anna kept being the more mature one to ease her sister's worries. But even she gets worried so she would sometimes go up to the peak of the mountain late at night to gaze at the stars until she feels tired. This habit makes Natalie worry, even though sometimes she does come with Anna to stargaze, because of the rumors of people disappearing into Mt. Ebott. Although grateful for the concern, Anna still continued to stargaze at the top of the mountain.

But on one fateful winter's night Anna went up to stargaze as usual, an earthquake happened when she was trying to get back to home that caused an avalanche. Anna in a panic took shelter in a cave that kept Anna from being under the piles of freezing snow. But because of the earlier avalanche the cave was dark and since she didn't have any source of light she tried to traverse through the cave but accidentally fell into a chasm that was hidden by the dark.

Centuries later she was revived and taken in by Toriel and her new family.

█ B a c k s t o r y; (Fell!Anna AKA Chestnut)

Anna wasn’t the same after her grandmother died on birthday, she started being a bit aggressive and becoming distant from others, including her own sister. She blames this fortune on her father even after he wanted to come back, saying that the damage was already done. However beneath her exterior she was still a bit kind, since she doesn’t blame her sister since she saw her as a victim of their misfortune as well. She still kept her habit to stargaze at the mountain's peak to let off stress and she ended up falling into chasm when a avalanche came.

After being revived she lives in a humble yet chaotic home with a single mother, her anxious child, and six idiots(AKA the other Fell souls).

█ B a c k s t o r y; (Swap!Anna AKA Ribbon)

She lived with her sister on the streets until she went to Mt. Ebott out of her own curiosity about the stories she heard from the townsfolk.

After being revived she was taken in by Asgore and the rest of the revived children.

#patience #oc #profile #abovetale #abovefell #aboveswap

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ckret2 · 5 years ago

Note

What are your thoughts on mothra?

I've seen...... nnnine (?) Godzilla movies, four (?) of which feature Mothra, and I am wholly convinced that she is the only motherfucker amongst the kaiju that has ANY sort of moral compass at all.

It's kind of precious/hilarious, imagining this responsible protector goddess trying corral these big bunches of unruly obnoxious monsters into either leaving the humans alone, or helping her protect the humans from even more unruly monsters. Especially when she's doing it as a larva! Picture a toddler strapping on boxing gloves and squaring off against a bear. That's Mothra constantly.

Favorite Mothra scene thus far is when poor little larva Mothra is trying to rally Godzilla and Rodan to go kick Ghidorah's ass, and they're like "but the humans bully us!" and "I'm not going until Rodan/Godzilla apologizes to me!" and she's just like "GET OVER IT and COME ON!" Like guys. She's like, one year old. She should not have to act like y'all's mom.

Honorable mention to any time she kicks ass with silly string, because 1) lol, and 2) it really fits her character as a "protector" that her most effective and versatile fighting technique is basically a non-damaging crowd control move. It can very effectively slow down or even completely take out enemies, but it's harmless to them. It suits her.

I think her like, overall life cycle is neat, the "switches back and forth between larva and moth" + "dies and reincarnates via egg" thing she's got going. It's unique and leaves a lot of room for interesting questions. Like, is it a soul reincarnation, meaning she remembers each time she died? Or is it indeed "genetic memory" like the KOTM director said—meaning she only remembers her past life up until the point when she laid the next egg, and thus even though she might remember hundreds/thousands/millions(?) of lives, when she dies she will always be facing death for the first time? Are the eggs capable of hatching while imago Mothra lives, or do they only hatch once she's died—either of which would bring up more questions of the mechanics of her reincarnation? What happens if the latest imago dies without laying an egg—are their fallbacks and failsafes, spare eggs? When does she lay an egg—when she's getting old, or before going into battle, or as soon as she comes out of her cocoon, or once every few years as imago, or?? If it's soul-based reincarnation, what does that mean when there are twins—is only one of the twins the "true" Mothra, or is the soul split between them, and if it is do they get a telepathic bond or something? Regardless of whether reincarnation is soul-based or gene-based, in twin larvae is one ALWAYS doomed to die? Or is it possible for both to make it to adulthood and both be Mothra together? Do they have a psychic bond then? What would it be like to grow up from larvae with someone who is literally the exact same person as you with all your memories shared until the past couple of years? Do surviving adult twins get quadruplet fairies?

I'm a fan of her fairies too. I didn't think I would be when I first heard about them—I was like, "Okay, I know I've gotta be ready for goofy stuff in Godzilla movies, but that sounds TOO goofy to not throw me out of the movie when I see it"—but I actually do like them. They're cute, and they're SO earnest, and it's nice every time these giant humans treat them as very serious and respectable Mothra representatives/ambassadors. And any actresses that can say the exact same lines at the exact same time with the exact same intonation while ALSO emoting in the exact same way are talented as hell.

It's too bad about the uh, racist "native" caricatures of her worshippers. The only two movies I've seen featuring Infant Island were from the 60s though, I hope that later movies improved the portrayal of the island? IDK though, I haven't looked into it. It'd be cool to see Infant Island developed into a, like, realistic and respectful culture, beyond "feather-wearing brownface 'natives' that apparently have nothing better to do with their time than constantly bow to their goddess and/or follow around visitors grumpily."

I think MonsterVerse tried to get around that by going "oh no, Mosura specimens were ALL OVER the place, we only just happened to find one in China," but tbh I prefer the idea that Mothra has a permanent designated "home base" where she lives cooperatively with a specific human society. It was an interesting thing that set her apart from other kaiju that just roam around, and she loses a unique and compelling aspect of her character if she's changed to a wandering kaiju whose reincarnations can pop up randomly in any culture. I just. Want her island to be portrayed better, that's all.

I DID like KOTM's suggestion that Mothra's "fairies" are successive generations of human twin girls that dedicate their lives to Mothra in some way or another. It seems appropriate that Mothra and her human(oid?) representatives all go through a reincarnation cycle together.

Not sure if ship Godzilla and Mothra. I saw a post that briefly outlined their earliest rivalries and gradual cooperation up through their crowning as king/queen in KOTM and concluded with "Mothzilla is a 35-movie enemies-to-lovers slowburn" and that idea delights/amuses the HELL out of me—and all the fanart is, 100%, without question, precious as hell—but I think I'd prefer them to be characterized as extremely close platonic friends rather than romantically and/or sexually involved? There's room to enjoy multiple spins tho and I'm not going to stop going "awww ♡" at art of chibi Godzilla and Mothra in a wedding tux and dress. Variety is the spice of life.

In the same way, I like KOTM's "they're intrinsically linked together as symbiotic species" for one continuity—but I'd rather it not become the default/only interpretation in fandom or for all future movies, because I like the idea that they didn't know a THING about each other but gradually got to know each other & get along over time. ... Plus throw in the occasional movie where they're enemies again. As soft continuity reboots and whatnot allow for.

Out of the kaiju I know so far, Mothra's probably my #3, after #1 Ghidorah and #2 Godzilla. But Godzilla's working real hard trying to keep ahead of Mothra.

#mothra #godzilla

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etrax3000-19 · 5 years ago

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My personal code of ethics and developing as an interpreter

When I think of ethics, I think about the various business courses I have taken and how a business will have a code of ethics. However, I have never really thought about what my own personal code of ethics would look like. My understanding of ethics from business class would involve parameters for appropriate behaviour based on morals. My personal code of ethics would then act as guidelines for my actions based on the morals I hold. There are many moments in life where I have to choose between two alternative and my own code of ethics plays an important role in the decision I make. Especially as I develop as a nature interpreter my personal code of ethics will impact the groups that I am guiding on interpretive walks or programs. This makes developing my personal ethic very important.

Photo from colourbox (2019).

I think that my personal ethics have developed since I was a child from learning and discovering the world. These are also constantly evolving as I continue to learn about the world and become an adult. There are four ethics I would like to talk about in this blog post: honest and integrity, hardworking and sincere, respect and be prepared.

Honesty and Integrity The truth matters to me. I think it is important to stand up for what is right and just. As a child my parents taught me important values such as honesty and compassion. I quickly learnt the importance of these values because my actions had consequences as a child such as getting a time out. Today as an adult this is still true only the consequences are different. As I develop myself as a nature interpreter, I think that honesty and integrity becomes even more important because the actions I make set an example for others. For example, as a nature interpreter it is important to me that natural landscapes be protected for future generations. To encourage others to be mindful of their own impact on the environment I need to show this to lead as an example for others. It is my responsibility as a nature interpreter to not only provide accurate information on the subject of climate change but also to stand up for the protection of the environment as various issues threaten the conservation of species and landscapes.

Hard work and Sincerity I am hardworking and sincere. It is important to me that I am dedicated to the activities and tasks that I am doing to fulfill my ambitions. I am developing this with each challenge I am met with in my life. Especially since attending university I have been able to over come many challenges and work hard to achieve success. This has made me not afraid to take on difficult tasks. I think this becomes more important as I develop as a nature interpreter because it can be challenging to relate the subject of nature to the variety of peoples live in an audience to offer a “spark” (Beck & Cable, 2011). I have received this “spark” from other nature interpreters that has made a lasting impression on my life. Now as a nature interpreter myself I need to develop this skill of offering the “spark” to others. This will take hard work to develop and practice as I improve in nature interpretation. It is my responsibility as a nature interpreter to understand my audience and what they are interested in to relate my message to the knowledge and experience of the audience and provide an engaging and meaningful experience. This includes catering to different types of learners in the audience such as active and reflective, sensing and intuitive, visual and verbal, sequential and global learners.

Respect I think it is important to be respectful. This ethic has been with me since elementary school and into high school. I developed this because my elementary school motto was: “treat others the way you want to be treated” and in high school the motto was: “respect: give it, get it”. This has stuck with me ever since, highlighting the importance of respect and treating others fairly. As I develop myself as a nature interpreter and communicating to a wide variety of audiences it is important to be respectful to everyone. Especially as everyone carries their own invisible backpack. Being aware of this as a nature interpreter means respecting everyone regardless of what someone might have or not have in their invisible backpack (McIntosh, 1989). It is my responsibility as a nature interpreter to be aware of the privileges I have in my life and not assume things about other peoples lives. This way I can be inclusive to everyone as a nature interpreter.

Be prepared Another important motto I carry with me is from girl guides and that is “be prepared”. In girl guides this meant that guides are ready to cope with anything. I think that as I develop myself as a nature interpreter being prepared means planning for interpretive activities and programs. I also realize as a nature interpreter there are risks in any activity or program. Despite every effort to be prepared incidents can still happen. I carry with me as a nature interpreter the lemon theory to avoid accidents when be prepared isn’t enough. I am still developing my skills as a nature interpreter to manage risks in outdoor activities. It is my responsibility as a nature interpreter that my priority is everyone’s safety when engaging in various outdoor activities (Hahn, 1960). There is an element of being prepared with planning to avoid risks however as a nature interpreter I need to develop my ability to risk manage because accidents are not planned and can be out of my control

My approach to nature interpretation is rooted in my love for beauty in the environment and being able to help people see this for themselves. Because beauty is subjective, and nature is dynamic there is always some aspect of nature that everyone can view as beautiful it just might not be obvious at first. I express the beauty I see in nature with my creativity in photography, so my approach to nature interpretation would involve photography to help others see the beauty in nature for themselves. By helping people who might not see the beauty in nature be able too perceive this beauty can help others understand the intrinsic value of nature to encourage the protection of landscapes and species. I am passionate about protecting the environment and as a nature interpreter my approach is not only to get people engaged with nature but also call people to action to protect nature and be mindful of everyday actions that impact the environment.

Photo of me taken by my sister, to remind myself that my personal code of ethics will help me inform my decisions and help me develop as a nature interpreter (2018).

My personal code of ethics will always influence my decisions and actions when I am faced with a dilemma. Some aspects of my personal ethics are influenced by how my parents raised me and values that have been instilled in me through experiences I had as a child. Other aspects of my personal ethics I am still developing as a nature interpreter and as adult. Because of this my ethics will adapt with my personal growth as a nature interpreter. I value the many lessons and experiences this course has offered me to developing myself as an adult and a nature interpreter.

References

McIntosh, P. (1989, July/August). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom, 10-12.

Beck, L., & Cable, T. T. (2011). The Gifts of Interpretation: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture. Urbana, IL: Sagamore Publishing.

Hahn, K. (1960).Six social declines of modern youth. Retrieved from: http://www.kurthahn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-obt1960.pdf

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