#Pet Lessons

[noisyexpertobject]

A Curious Case for Cats

Are you a dog person or a cat person? No need to choose. Join me as I lay out the virtues of pet caregiving, topped off by a video dedicated to my former cat, Emily Dickinson, who inspired some precious life lessons that I still nurture today.

During my mid-30s, I shared seven years of my life taking care of, and all-around adoring, a jet black cat called Emily Dickinson. My smart, funny, and ravishingly beautiful fur companion taught me how to navigate the divide between mind and heart, past and present, helping me reconcile the knots of thoughts and emotions that arise when discovering oneself reflected anew through the eyes of…

[inhuman-obey-me]

Diavolo & The Loyalty Thing

Alrighty everyone, we're going to be blunt here -- if there is one character misunderstanding in this fandom that has always pissed us off (jk there are many actually), it is how people interpret Diavolo's deal with Lucifer after the war.

We know a lot of y'all don't like him because of that agreement. We know a lot of you think that Lucifer is magically bound to Diavolo's will because of it, as with a pact, and is unable to defy him. We know that many of you dislike Diavolo because you think he was taking advantage of Lucifer in that scene.

Well, the devs have made it plain time and time again and even more so in Nightbringer: that is not the case.

You are wrong, and here's why. (Or, to put it more nicely, please let us convince you otherwise.)

(spoilers including Nightbringer Lesson 17 below the cut)

Let's start by reviewing the situation from Lucifer's side:

Lucifer, a guest to the Devildom many times before in a diplomatic coordination context, has just led, and subsequently lost, a civil war in the Celestial Realm. The catalyst that pushed him to start this war was the impending punishment declared against his sister, Lilith. Seeing that sister get fatally wounded in said war, he flies down after her falling body, where both of them land in the Devildom.

Diavolo then shows up with Barbatos, presumably because they, you know, saw two war-wounded angels falling from the sky into his domain. Lucifer turns to Diavolo and starts shouting that he knows the prince has the power to save his sister -- and pleads with him to do exactly that.

Diavolo makes a point of telling Lucifer that it may not be in the way he expects or wants, but he agrees to do it on the condition that Lucifer swears loyalty to him. Barbatos attempts to interject against the idea, to which Diavolo responds that he's aware already that this is a big risk for him. Lucifer, upon realizing that he is becoming a demon himself as a consequence of the war, agrees to Diavolo's terms.

(OG Scene on left, Nightbringer scene on right)

Diavolo then takes Lilith before she dies and reincarnates her as a human. This then remains a secret between the three of them from that moment all the way until the events of OG Lesson 15, when Lucifer finally confesses the whole thing to his brothers in the first timeline, and then OG Lesson 16, when MC reveals it (in the second timeline).

So to recap: Lucifer started a war with Lilith's punishment as the catalyst, lost, showed up in the Devildom, and then demanded the prince of that realm save his sister from essentially the same punishment he was fighting against in the first place.

To be clear about Diavolo and Lucifer's relationship at this point, they had been communicating about diplomatic affairs, as a governmental head and a top representative respectively. They are friendly, but not close friends yet. They are not allies in this war. Diavolo is not involved at all in the Great Celestial War or the situation with Lilith. And with this rebellion, Lucifer no longer holds that diplomatic status -- in fact, as mentioned in Nightbringer Lesson 8, the brothers were essentially war criminals in the eyes of the Celestial Realm, with Lucifer as the leader.

Moreover, Diavolo's goal as prince is that he wants to establish peace and cooperation between the Devildom and the Celestial Realm. These two realms were enemies for the vast majority of history, and although there is a nonaggression agreement between them currently, it's a tense sort of truce, not true peace.

Helping Lucifer defy the Celestial Realm is in direct opposition to that goal. Taking in the brothers at all is pretty risky in terms of that goal, as Barbatos makes clear above, but there's at least a sort of implication that it is the Demon Prince's business what to do with new demons. Interfering in the Celestial Realm's punishment of one of its angels though? Well, Asmodeus and Leviathan understand right away when they learned the truth from Lucifer back in OG Lesson 15.

There was a very real risk of pissing off the Celestial Realm that he had to calculate against here, and it's a risk that threatens not only him but everything that matters to him most -- his realm, which is a responsibility he takes very seriously, and his goals, for peace between the realms.

And then there's Diavolo's own precarious political situation.

Though Nightbringer retcons this a bit with Diavolo's father falling into a slumber and leaving the realm to Diavolo more suddenly, the original OM actually established that Diavolo was in charge before the fall, with the Demon King going off to sleep shortly after giving the brothers' their titles. And Nightbringer has shown that his position as the de facto leader of the realm is very much in question.

The nobles of the House of Lords are very blatantly unhappy about Diavolo and his goals, especially in regards to the now-fallen angels. Really, the whole realm doesn't really approve of angels -- they've made a clear point of it in NB, and even well into OG's main story, approval ratings for the exchange program are mentioned as being better but still pretty low, with various references to demons threatening to eat the angels.

But more to the point, the House of Lords has power over Diavolo. Though he is the rightful heir to the throne in terms of birth, they are able to challenge that right, and they even choose when he will be allowed to ascend to the throne -- something which, even in the distant future of OG, they still have apparently never allowed him to do, seeing as he's still not the king even after all this time. And just between his goals for peace and his taking in the fallen angels, they already maneuvered to punish him with suddenly demanding he go through the Kingsblood Crucible to potentially prevent him from ever becoming king. And as Diavolo says, even if he passes, they could still decide against appointing him king.

Now imagine if they found out that he risked the safety of the entire realm to help save a dying angel. If they knew that, they probably wouldn't stop at just challenging his fitness to rule.

So, to be clear, when Lucifer showed up with Lilith, yelling at Diavolo to save her? Diavolo was NOT free to just do whatever he pleases. When he said he's taking a big risk by helping Lilith, he really was. There were so many reasons why he shouldn't, and no real reason why he should -- but Lucifer was begging him to do it anyway. So, he needed something in return. Some kind of reassurance, some kind of protection in the potential consequences.

And there certainly are consequences for helping Lucifer. Even with the Lilith deal being a secret, there are consequences. We saw that already with the House of Lords' increased animosity -- as said above, he was nearly removed from power over it. And as for the Celestial Realm?

Well, that brings us to the end of Nightbringer Lesson 17, where Raphael comes bearing a message from the Celestial Realm -- or, more aptly, a threat.

(We could go into a whole thing about why the Celestial Realm is threatening this but that's for another time)

So, here we are, at the very dangerous crossroads that Diavolo finds himself at now in Nightbringer -- the Celestial Realm coming into his domain with blatant threats of war, while the nobles of his own realm just tried to remove him from power. Threats that are being made against him over helping Lucifer and the brothers. And that's without any of them knowing about Lilith, which would only make all sides even angrier.

You know what he could really use, amidst all those threats? An ally. Someone he could depend on to have his back. Someone he could rely on to be unequivocally on his side, in that very precarious balance of powers.

So that's what he asked for -- loyalty. For all that he was putting on the line for Lucifer's request, he asked for Lucifer to stand by him in turn. What he asked was simply this: "Don't stab me in the back. Don't leave me to deal with the consequences alone. If I'm going to help you, promise me you will be there for me too."

P.S. Lucifer himself has said he agrees with Diavolo's goals. Talking with Diavolo about the peace and cooperation plan was a huge part of why he started having doubts about the Celestial Realm! He was not being asked to do anything he disagreed with; Diavolo knew Lucifer feels the same about his goals as he does. Lucifer takes the loyalty thing too far in OG Season 1, but it was never the only reason for him supporting Diavolo!

[wahroh]

Doesn't excise either.

[peaches2217]

I may not be super active today. Lucy got into some flowers and got extremely sick last night. By the time I woke up this morning, she was drooling and stumbling and just in horrible shape.

I rushed her into the vet still in my pajamas and they recommended hooking her up to an IV and getting her rehydrated. As of last update, she’s doing okay: calm and resting but alert. I’m expecting a call with more details here shortly after the doctor comes back from lunch.

Please keep us in your thoughts, or pray for her if you pray. Her middle name is Athena because she’s my brave little warrior. I’m praying she pulls through now as well.

[youmagnificentbeast]

Rhys Darby petting a shelduck, for reasons (✿◡‿◡)

[sambartika]

UNLIKELY FASCINATION

PART III: "Forever and Ever"

It was Sunday—the laziest day of the week. Waking up at 9, I strolled past my front balcony, heading straight to the kitchen for breakfast. Then, I opened my computer to work on my project.

The clock struck twelve. As I prepared for a bath, I felt something queer. Did I forget to do something? I wondered while opening the door to the balcony.

"Oops! How could I forget this?" I mumbled.

I placed the bananas on the cupboard behind which the civet stayed.

Yes, it has been quite a few years. It grew older, and I grew up.

I really grew up. Actually, that’s misleading. Nothing much changed about me—I just became mature enough to realize what reality is. I grew from a child eager to make friends, to a teenager traumatized by friendship, to a mature person afraid to make friends.

Have any of you ever experienced living in an environment, studying in a school with your agemates, and realizing that no one—absolutely no one—thinks like you? No one understands your sense of "friendship." No one understands your definition of "loyalty." No one understands your idea of "happiness." At that point, you may feel you are innocent. And yes, I admit I was innocent, and I want to remain unchanged for my entire life.

Sometimes you will be framed. And then you may call yourself a fool, but you are not. You are just not experienced enough to understand who deserves your friendship. Friendship requires trust. Trust demands loyalty, and—

LOYALTY is an EXPENSIVE thing that you cannot expect from CHEAP people.

Hence, now I’m afraid—maybe I won’t be able to distinguish the rich from the cheap. It requires skill to distinguish a diamond from moissanite. It requires even more skill to identify a rich heart from rich apparel.

Hence, now, I am truly petrified—of friendship... with narcissists.

But don’t think I’m devoid of friendship. I do have friends, and I’m genuinely happy with them.

I’m proud to say that I’m an animal lover. I love all animals. To me, they are my best friends. Whenever I see them, I feel an eternal, inseparable bond existing between us—something rare, beyond profit, beyond ulterior motives, beyond any conditions—so natural, so resolute.

As I was placing the civet’s food, it came out, only to stare at me for a few obsessed moments. Earlier, it was introverted—it restrained itself from appearing in front of me, yet secretly watched me. That’s hypocrisy, though. But I loved how it changed. Seeing its change, I asked:

"It has been so many years, and still you haven’t answered me."

It looked at me cluelessly.

"What? Did you ever answer me whether you want to be my friend or not?"

It picked up its food and took a bite.

I smirked and walked away.

At this point, both of us knew the answer to the question. I reminisced about our sweet memories—the time when our eyes first met, that dining table incident which still gives me goosebumps, and how I developed an unlikely fascination for a civet cat, a wild, supposedly nasty species, even though I hated cats.

Oh, there’s something I must tell you all. Civet cats are not cats. Yes, the scientific name of the house cat is Felis catus. Thus, all cats are generally part of the Felis genus, although their species may differ, like Felis chaus (Jungle cat) or Felis bieti (Chinese Mountain cat). But civets are not one of them. Civets belong to the family Viverridae, and they don’t form a monophyletic group.

In West Bengal, we generally find Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Common Palm Civet) or Viverricula indica (Small Indian Civet). And believe me, I found this out on the last day of my Class 10 board exams—coincidentally, the day I studied biology for the final time for exam—since I pursued Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Computer Science as my main subjects in Class 11.

So my fascination wasn’t that unlikely, as it’s really not a cat. I know it may sound melodramatic and cheesy; it may even resemble a mistaken identity plot. It might seem like an attempt to romanticize the idea—love is all perfect and ideal—even though the shape of Earth isn’t—but for God’s sake, believe me, I didn’t make it up for the story. It’s damn true.

Anyway, aren’t you eager to know the answer to the question from earlier? Well, it was—

“Forever and Ever.”

[shadowpusen]

While I play piano, Shadow comes into the livingroom from where ever she is and lies down and relax the whole time I play. She is so precious 🐈‍⬛🩷

[tinyclowndancer]

Part 2

This is Doctor Casper Darling, formerly of the Federal Bureau of Control. I think this signal is coming through now, are you receiving me?

Something shifted, the previously observed interference disrupting my broadcast is gone. A fluctuation in gravitational forces. Either something moved out of the way, or my relative position to it changed the alignment, and or the condition of this whole plane spiraled to a more favorable position.

The ordinary rules of reality do not apply here. The best I can describe this place is as a dreamscape. But who is the dreamer?

And how do you wake up from this dream?

[fairycosmos]

love my dog to death but one thing she's taught me is that i sincerely could not handle having kids

[whomeidontknowthem]

Stitched lips

Content warning: slavery, implied sexual slavery (no actual discussion of any of it here but it is what it is), torture, body modifications, dehumanizing language.

Shout out to @whump-in-the-closet for giving me motivation to finally write this scene down with their wonderful prompt.

“…you can go fuck yourself! You, and your fucked up fantasies and your bitch of a wife, you can all go fuck yourself! Fucking monsters in a human skin, when I get out, I’ll make sure you survive for years until you fucking beg me to stop and then never listen, you pieces of fucking despicable shit!”

Ayzan panted, gasping for air after a tirade that was met with heavy silence and an even heavier gaze. It hurt — everything did — their jaw from being forced open with a gag most of the time, their throat from how each word felt like shards of glass across too dry and overused skin, their back and left arm where patterns of cuts and burns coiled around their skin, still fresh, crossed out by chaotic lashes made by a less caring hand, their knees from kneeling and joints from being forced to bend too far for far too long. It hurt, and had hurt for so long they could barely remember the before.

Emrose watched, face contorted in deep displeasure. He tilted his head when no more words came and Ayzan felt the belated panic rise up in their throat, chocking whatever they could add before they even attempted to speak.

The lord didn’t touch them. He only turned around and left, not sparing a single word of explanation or a threat, and it was so much worse. Ayzan thrashed in their binds the moment the door closed, testing the ropes to the new jolts of pain from where they dug in their skin, grating it red and raw. Nothing gave. They whimpered, overwhelmed by fear, helpless in the face of it. Whatever was going to happen, it was too much. They couldn’t go through that. They just wanted to go home — why had Kiris still not found them? Why, why, why, why?!

They heard the voices before the steps before the creak of the door. Feedali’s tilting phrases, sweet and light as they always were, urging the lord to think again. She begged him to reconsider. To not do to Ayzan whatever he was planning. They thrashed again even as it led to nothing but more pain.

“Please,” they begged the moment the couple came in. “Please, I didn’t mean it— I’m so sorry, I won’t speak like this again, please, I didn’t— I’m so— please don’t hurt me again, please please please—”

The lady spared a quick stroke down their cheek as the two passed them by, and Ayzan leaned into the touch. They hated it usually, hated the fake comfort she always gave before sliding a knife across their skin, how she always wiped their tears when the burning pain got too strong but never stopped no matter how they screamed and begged. They needed it now. Needed her to convince Emrose to change his mind. They felt like they were drowning, body fighting for breath so hard they chocked on the air.

“Dear, you see how scared it is. It really knows what it’s done wrong!” Feedali chirped, following the lord. “Perhaps something less permanent is a better idea? You can lash it as much as you’d like! You know how much I love when it sings for me.”

“I’m tired of it’s incessant talking,” Emrose cut her off. He brought a small table closer and placed something on it. Ayzan craned their neck, pleading words falling from their lips without ceasing. No use.

Something metal glistened in the lord’s hands as he pulled it out of the box. He put it at the table and took something else instead. “Open your mouth,” he threw an order. Ayzan immediately clenched their teeth. The ropes didn’t let them back away no matter how much they wanted and tried. “Open,” Emrose repeated. Ayzan shook their head, trying to catch Feedali’s eyes, to beg her silently to please please please please stop this. Emrose pinched their nose shut and painfully squeezed their jaw with another hand.

“Dear, you wouldn’t spoil all of my fun like this, would you?” Feedali hugged him from behind.

He shook her arms off, “Shut up, you too. It’s not like I’m stopping you from playing with it. It just needs to learn its lesson first.”

Ayzan saw her nose crinkle in disappointment at that as their lungs contracted in search of oxygen. They blinked back tears and clenched their jaw tighter even as Emrose’ fingers dug into the skin around it with bruising strength. Feedali stepped closer, brushing hair off of their forehead. “Come on then, pet. You’ve heard your master — you need to learn your lesson. It would only be easier for you if you relax. Come on.”

They didn’t. They held on, through the growing burning and the black spots before their eyes, through the pain and terror they refused to relax. They didn’t want a lesson. They didn’t want to know what was in store for them. They wanted it to end. Needed it to end. Gods, why couldn’t it already be over?! They couldn’t couldn’t couldn’t go on like this any longer!

It felt like they blacked out, and the moment their grip on their body faded just a bit, it acted against their will, gasping for breath. Fresh, tasty air finally flooded their chest, and immediately after they felt their jaw forced wide open something pushed inside their mouth, filling it and pressing their tongue down.

They couldn’t breathe again — they gagged, throat spasming to push the intrusion out, but there was no use as now their mouth was kept shut by the same unrelenting hand. Their lungs tried to suck in air again, and the fingers finally lifted from their nose. It only made the gagging worse. Half-delirious, they felt Feedali’s fingers on their cheek, caressing and tagging on something. They heard her voice, low and soothing, “Shhhh, you’re okay. You’re okay, just breathe, come on. Come on.”

Ayzan did, or at least tried their hardest, with slow and careful breaths, trying to force their body to relax. They felt fingers on their nose again and panicked, but Feedali only helped them blow it. They sobbed, grateful for her gentleness and overwhelmed by it. Tried opening their jaw, only to feel something hold it in place. Some sort of a strap? Was this it? Was it over?

The hope shuttered the moment Emrose stepped into their field of view. Ayzan saw the glistening of metal. They jerked back and whimpered and struggled and failed to speak. Feedali cooed at them. Emrose was not impressed.

They didn’t manage to see the instrument clearly before the lord was lifting their chin up and pressing something cold to their skin. Ayzan couldn’t get away — they couldn’t get away, couldn’t even beg them to. Tears streamed down their face and were brushed aside. They struggled to breathe through their nose.

The needle pierced through their lip with no warning.

Ayzan’s eyes flew open, Emrose tugged and demanded, “be still,” and they felt a string move through their flesh. The second wave of piercing pain came all too soon, as did the third.

“You’re not doing it evenly!” Feedali complained.

“Then do it yourself,” the lord snapped.

Ayzan barely processed the shifting before them, the pain and fear pulsating through their body. Their head was momentarily released and they desperately shook it, groaned and prayed to be understood. They’d learned their lesson. Please, they had, it was not necessary, please please please, why couldn’t they just let them go.

“Hold it for me, dear, won’t you?” Feedali asked and Emrose obliged. Ayzan stared at her as she smiled and turned the needle around before their eyes. “Hold still,” she addressed them sweetly. “We wouldn’t want to do it all over again if you thrashed around too much, would we?”

They didn’t want to do it even the first time. They hated it. They needed it to stop. Gods, please, why couldn’t it just stop.

Feedali cooed and smiled and talked comforting nonsense at them as the needle went through their lips mercilessly, up and down and then tug until it’s tight, and tug again to secure it with a knot. Up and down and tug, up and down and tug, and in the end they had no strength to even whimper, just crying in silence, body shaking with each puncture.

“Leave a gap for it to drink,” Emrose advised. Feedali agreed enthusiastically. She went to the very edge of their lips, tugged and tied it and Ayzan thought it was over. They hoped it was over, it had to be over, it had to.

The needle pierced them again, farther from the edge. “It’s a better pattern like this, isn’t it?” Feedali commented cheerfully. Emrose said something Ayzan couldn’t catch, but he also sounded satisfied. Ayzan cried and prayed for it to be over.

It went on slowly. It ended abruptly. They couldn’t remember half of it, and came to only when Feedali patted their cheek and praised them. They moved their mouth a bit and were met with a sharp pain. They cried.

“It must be thirsty,” the lady guessed. They didn’t catch the discussion that followed after. They heard laughter.

Something pressed to their lips — hurt, hurt, it hurt so much — past it, pushing them apart — hurt — just enough to squeeze through. “Open your teeth,” Feedali asked. Ayzan tried to. Their lips moved and it hurt. “Suck,” she encouraged them. They tried to — it was hard, with their mouth still filled so they couldn’t move their tongue even a bit. They gagged again, and they coughed when the water went down the wrong way. It hurt. They couldn’t even drink. They struggled to breathe. They hated it, hated it, hated hated hated hated it.

They barely felt the ropes around their limbs loosen and would have fallen over if not for someone’s arms lowering them down gently. “Look at it,” Ayzan heard Feedali coo above them. “So exhausted! I must admit, it was an ingenuous idea, dear. They’re so cute like this! And the gold looks so nice. I will definitely miss their voice, though.”

Ayzan’s hands were free. They moved one up, to their face, and felt thick blood caped around their chin. They moved further, to the lips. Ran a finger across them, pausing at each stitch and barely conscious of the pain that came with each movement.

Their lips were sewn shut. Barely a gap to press anything through anywhere but in one place, and even there barely a bigger straw could fit. They tried to force them open, and then tugged at the metal thread, scratched and tried to force the gag out, and wailed, and pulled so hard something tore, warm blood pouring in their mouth and down their chin both.

They felt their hands pried away from their face and tied together behind their back once more.

They curled up, crying helplessly, wretchedly, wishing only for this to be over. Clinging to the last bits of hope that it could be over, one day. That Kiris would find them. That they could survive until then. It had to end. It had to, had to, had to, had to. They needed it to end. It hurt so much.

A lash fell heavily, cutting across their back and their tied arms, and a few times more.

“Bring it to the dungeon until it remembers how to act,” Emrose demanded, voiced overflowing with disgust.

Ayzan felt something crack in them. They didn't resist being dragged away.

[badscientist]

the fact ive missed out on 5 mainline pokemon games bc ive gotten priced out of the series is so.

[schizononagesimus]

so my bank account decided to charge me a fee which overdrew my account, i happened to have 3€ lying around so now im not negative anymore but i have 2 USD in my bank account which isnt enough money for me to get the train to work for the week! 🥲 i get paid on the 24th but in the meantime my commissions are open and my ko-fi is here if you're able to help out at all ❤️❤️

[prettycatboy]

Dairy heaven and intolerant hell, a very effective system

indeed.... 😔😮‍💨

[blackberryjamboree]

TW: Mentions of animal abuse/murder

Someone get 4Chan on this shit, I ain’t letting cat abuse slide

[arrowheadedbitch]

My biggest pet peeve is people who refer to the 2000s eras wrong. It's just like every other century, guys! 2008 is NOT early 2000s, fuck you! That is LATE 2000s!!! 2000-2005 is EARLY 2000s, then 2005-2009 is LATE 2000s!!! (Oh bUt WhAt AbOuT tHe OtHeR yEaRs???) THE 2010s ARE A *DIFFERENT DECADE*!!!! 2010-2015, say it with me! EARLY 2010s!!! And then 2015-2019??? LATE 2010s!!! And now we're in the early 2020s!!!! And next year, guess what??? We'll start to transitions into the late 2020s! LIKE EVERY OTHER DECADE!!! Get it right.