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shivasdarknight · 1 year ago

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I guess this could count as WIP Wednesday since i mean. it's midnight so okay

more editing, please look at this exchange in an echo vision:

“Considering what you know, is it any surprise that I would take offense to an Ishgardian — former or no — asking about why I sided with the leader of the heretics?” Surkukteni’s voice was quiet, hissed out in such a way that made it clear she knew too many elezen: just low enough for Melisande to hear, but not the merchant standing before them. “Is it any surprise I’d ask since you’re apparently the former ally of Francel’s attempted-murderer?” There was the venom from the other day, crystal clear and still as hard to hear as the last time. “You’ve already gotten my answer on that matter, and I know you got Francel’s. You do not need to bring that up.” A terminal tone. Surkukteni went back to the books; a quick glance at the merchant revealed a deeply awkward expression, avoiding making eye contact with Melisande. Caught in the crossfire, it seemed. But Melisande wouldn’t take Surkukteni’s answer, looking over at her for a few silent moments. “No,” she muttered in a flat tone. “But I am curious.” “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Completely ignoring Surkukteni’s exasperated tone, Melisande continued regardless. “What made you like her?” Ysayle recognized that look. The wild-eyed, spooked one with a tinge of anger — called out, and not happy about it. Melisande had struck a chord. “Chill. I’m in the same camp as you.” Melisande reached up and tugged at a cord that rested on her chest, briefly looking down at it to signal that Surkukteni follow. It was a pendant that looked like a jeweled violet, the leather cord that held it stained a very faint pink. “You’re in good company.” Surkukteni eyed the thing, her shoulders losing their tension as she shook her head. “I’m not in that. My ally, Gwen, is, but I’m not.” “No, but you know enough about it to recognize what I mean.” The pendant suddenly clicked for Ysayle, realizing she had seen it on both Melisande and Gwendoline. The targeted teasing from Melisande earlier suddenly made sense, as it hadn’t held the slightest hint of judgement: she was a practicing member of the Cult of Sappho. There were a few of its members amongst the heretics, and while she didn’t follow the doctrine, she was still very adjacent to their beliefs — as those beliefs centered around revering relationships between women and those that still loosely fell into the category. “What facet, then?” Surkukteni probed, significantly less hostile upon learning this. “Plurality,” Melisande said casually. “What about that Gwen?” “Singularity and Null. She’s even in that…upper facet of worship.” Surkukteni waved her hand in the air. “I’m not good with these terms; Common’s not my first language.” “No issue there. Keeps us from openly discussing it around…y’know.” Surkukteni just hummed in response, a dull tone that indicated how distracted she was. “...So the question?” Melisande prompted. The look that Surkukteni shot Melisande surely could have killed her.

Quick catch up around the Cult of Sappho since this is a thing I'm finally introducing after months of talking about it:

The Cult of Sappho is a legitimate cult, in the sense that it's a minor religion that's far from being state sanctioned. It's not cult as we use it, but rather cult as in its use in religious studies really. It's this really goofy idea I came up with but I really like it, but in effect it is a group of people who bond over that shared attraction they have. Their god is Sappho - the fact she appeared in Elpis makes this all the more fun - and they do say that where their god is from was Lesbos. There are three main facets of worship which are split into Singularity (monosexual attraction), Plurality (multisexual attraction), and Null (asexual attraction). You can't be in both Singularity and Plurality, but you can be in Plurality and Null or Singularity and Null. Obviously this is based on like existing identities, the language used here is mostly based on function of identity to not be exclusive. So when Melisande says she's of Plurality, she's saying she is of that facet because she's bisexual. Referring to Gwen as Singularity and Null is referring to the fact that she's a demi-lesbian.

For who can join, it's pretty much just not men? It's anyone who feels they still identify with or loosely identify with femininity as to not exclude nonbinary people who still identify with sapphic leaning relationships. So nonbinary folks who don't identify with it wouldn't qualify, but ones who do are welcome.

That "upper facet of worship" is a very specific sect that only those in Singularity can really be apart of as it's a much more devout section of it - like putting your all into these kinds of relationships and them alone. So this is where the fun terminology comes in.

With this here, there are both lesbians and Lesbians. Lower-case lesbians are anyone who would qualify under Singularity and how we use the term wrt sexuality - eg, Satomi and Altan are lower-case lesbians. Upper-case Lesbians are that upper facet of worship in relationship to where their god Sappho is said to be from. With this, only Gwen is both a lesbian and a Lesbian.

Surkie understands it as a hierarchy, but that's because she's not in the Cult. The different Facets along with the Focus are more horizontal rather than a vertical hierarchy. Not one group is above the other, they just serve different functions. Establishing hierarchy of one Facet over the other is grounds to get you expelled - including if you're in the Focus. The point is the reverence of that shared experience, not to hold yours over your fellow believers.

This means that the terms sapphic and lesbian appear pretty naturally in this. Upper-case Sapphics are the worshippers, lower-case sapphics are what we use to refer to sexuality since it got adopted on a broader scale by people not in the cult (which honestly they're not complaining - helps to have that unifying language). Upper-case Lesbians and lower-case lesbians were explained above.

Words like bisexual, pansexual, asexual, aromantic etc still appear, they're just more found in broader queer groups. Folks within each Facet do still identify by them, but tend to say their Facet identity before their broader identity as it is both personal sexuality and religious affiliation. They often view Facet as more important than the broader label as the Facet unifies experiences and brings a sense of community, along with tying their identity to their spirituality.

so yeah that's how i figured out how to turn Sapphic and Lesbian into religious terms for a small sect of lady likers .w. and yeah, the pink cord with the purple violet - that's all very intentional.

#ffxiv writing #wip #wip wednesday #ffxiv fanfic #wol #fic wips #original #writing #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #surkukteni #melisande #surkie #mellie #worldbuilding #hi im a little crazy but i really love this idea #and yeah the reason why melisande said that it was ''for the best'' is in part because it's not an openly talked about thing for #safety reasons? but also because they don't talk about it around men for the most part. men they know? sure. men they don't? god no.#i really love this idea especially with how gwen ties into it

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randomestfandoms-ocs · 5 years ago

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wbw for elpis?

B A S I C S

full name: Elpis Bradbury-Mikaelson

gender: male

sexuality: bi

pronouns: he/him

O T H E R S

family: Evanora Rist-Bradbury (mother), REDACTED (father), Davina Claire & Kol Mikaelson (temporary guardians), Freya Mikaelson (adoptive mother), Hope Mikaelson (cousin), Klaus & Elijah & Finn & Henrik (uncles, deceased), Rebekah Mikaelson (aunt)

birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana

job: student

phobias: losing his family, spiders/insects

guilty pleasures: kids’ movies, musicals, bad horror movies

M O R A L S

morality alignment?: chaotic good

sins - lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath

virtues - chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice

T H I S - O R - T H A T

introvert/extrovert

organized/disorganized

close minded/open-minded

calm/anxious

disagreeable/agreeable

cautious/reckless

patient/impatient

outspoken/reserved

leader/follower

empathetic/unemphatic

optimistic/pessimistic

traditional/modern

hard-working/lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

otp: El x Lizzie, El x Faith ( @iceandwaterfairytail)

ot3: n/a

brotp: El & Hope

notp: El x Josie

Send me “World Building Wednesday” and an OC and I’ll tell you

#ask #answered #ofbadchoices #elpis bradbury mikaelson #about elpis *wednesday

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years ago

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Fl4k Fl4k Fl4k Fl4k Fl-

i didn’t die i just fell in love with that skill tree creator and have done nothing for the past few days but make skill trees and sleep for 3 hour intervals. im very excited for the gameplay on Wednesday but oh man oh me oh my i gotta catch up on a lot of posts lol

tl;dr: Fl4k is a badass. Stop misgendering them or I’ll show up at your home at 3am local time every time and then eat your spine. Bonus: Mr. Chew being an ‘Eridian skag’ is probably due to some funky mutation from eridium/slag/eridian stuff. Kinda like how Threshers have the ability to make singularities because they are native to Elpis, which is a big ol’ Eridian base (which i totally addressed in this post lol). I also gave my opinion on Fl4k’s skills in general, if you’re interested in that. Overall, a very awesome trailer! Definitely lived up to the hype.

i said it before, this trailer was one of the best ones. definitely #2 for me, Zane is still at #1 because i actually laughed during it. the music in this one is definitely the best out of all 4 tho. seems like they’re all variations of the same song, i like this one best. I need this soundtrack sooo bad.

also i know probably no one else following this blog watches one piece but like

that first footstep with the studded boot and the sound effect immediately flung me back to katakuri. god katakuri was a badass. i was so excited to see that fight animated.

mr chew spinning around is my favorite thing ever. i love that you can tell the personality of the pets just from watching the intro.

i know fl4k is like a real badass in this trailer, but i get the feeling they’re going to end up being at least a little soft for their pets. i mean... they have stuffed animals of them ffs.

so... we’re near Sanctuary-III in this trailer? I gotta keep my eye out then. i also want to see if that one claptrap area guess i had is correct or not... this looks like an entryway for the garage so im guessing i wasn’t, but let’s seeeee

there is a raised bit up and to the left

also im wondering if this means we’re going to have to rescue ellie from the CoV.

hmmmmmmmm

hmmmmm i don’t think the signs match up.

mr chew is the goodest boy. im so glad we can pet/interact with him!! i want to know what the names of the other pets are

also, a bit off topic but

i could have sworn fl4k’s jabber was cryo/shock. it was blue, wasn’t it? i wonder if they changed it or if it’s skill upgrades change its color. i thought the upgrades just gave it better guns.

yeah it was! i guess possibly upgrading it with the guns gives it a new color scheme? maybe? this could be the gunslinger upgrade!

it looks like their jabber went through the most design changes out of all of the pets. that or this is yet another upgrade (since each pet has 3 states). maybe this is the beefcake version.

‘bitch’. i love how expressive fl4k is with just the eye. very well done.

ohhh you know what that building is in the back?

[we’re near the intro to the game!]*

and tbh i don’t think this place has the building for Ellie��s Scrap in it... i don’t see it anywhere. maybe this is the actual scrapyard and the building is on the other side?

not quite sure tbh. but at least we know this place may also be near sanc-iii, just maybe not the same area as the actual Ellie’s Scrap.

i mean... there IS a shitload of cars everywhere. i wouldn’t surprised if it’s near her garage cause it looks like a scrapyard.

but also where in the fuck are all these ‘normal’ looking cars coming from?? it’s not like we see them being used on pandora. all the ones we see in bl1/2 are clearly dilapidated and rusting. big thonk. at least the vans/busses kinda make sense.

oh yeah that is definitely the same building. [it’s the recruitment center!]*

this scene with the rakk is my favorite out of all the trailers. so fuckin cool

i do hope the jabber goes back to being blue at some point. i like the red design too, don’t get me wrong, but i much prefer the glowy blue. it’s my favorite color and you guys know i love glowing things 👀

<Huge Selection!!!> lol

cat/doggo/monkey. mr chew is my favorite pet but i love the jabber panting like a dog lol

i never knew this is where spiderant mouths were

i always assumed they were below that... f r e a k y

“he likes to chase cars”

fl4k probably took them to the scrapyard for this exact reason ngl. fl4k being a big softie to their pets confirmed

(also, notice how fl4k uses ‘he’ for mr chew. it’s almost as if they understand the concept of gender, chose their own pronouns, and your argument that they only are nonbinary only because they “don’t understand yet” is invalid! Fl4k is canonically nonbinary and uses they/them/theirs pronouns as confirmed by both SungWon Cho and their in-game skills.

Now that you know, use they/them/theirs for Fl4k or get off my blog. Because by not doing so, you are disrespecting the devs’ wishes for this character AND the nonbinary people who find representation in them and I won’t support that. if you feel like arguing your reasons to purposefully misgender them even after knowing this, please DM me so I can block you. thanks!

For those of you out there actually making an effort: mistakes happen, especially if Fl4k is the first NB person you’ve learned about. Just make sure to correct yourself then move on, and we’re okay. Everyone has to learn sometime and it’s better to put in the effort than not care at all. It will become second nature.)

Fl4k is such a badass, they really are way different than i expected (personality-wise), but i am not complaining. gearbox knows me better than i know myself, so i know i’m going to end up loving Fl4k anyway. ProZD did such a fantastic job, i honestly did not recognize him at first! i can tell with certain words now, but wow i am blown away.

i hope we’re able to climb that bird’s nest lookin’ thing in the back. it would be perfect for sniping and/or placing ur clone for maximum coverage.

seriously, what a badass.

idk i feel obligated to give my opinions of Fl4k over here since they were recently released. I am digging them 100%, tho i was kinda surprised (not in a bad way) they’re not as... i guess soft as i was expecting from their character design with the plushes and the face on the backpack and the smiley face pin, but i imagine that’s different when they’re interacting with their pets. im super curious to see how this VH group’s dynamic is going to go.

mechanically, their skills seem perfect for people who loved sniper Zer0 and in general Mordecai, with a splash of Salvador tossed in for good luck. I am a dirty melee Zer0 main and i prefered Phasewalking over Bloodwing (altho i still play mordy bc he’s best bl1 VH) so, while I am definitely going to give Fl4k a go, they’re not my main bl3 Vault Hunter, that’s reserved for Zane and his lovely ability to befuddle enemies and run around. Funnily enough, I’m not even a fan of pet classes, so Fl4k being second in my play order is pretty funny. Tho, yeah, Amara being last is also pretty weird. I guess I don’t necessarily enjoy melee, I just enjoy messing with the bad guys lol

ohh, also, I am most interested in the upgrade for mr. chew that gives him the ability to create singularities and is called ‘Eridian Skag’.

so I’m not saying my theory that the threshers on the moon were connected to Eridians was right, I’m just saying they’re the only form of wildlife we know that has a singularity ability (outside of Mr. Chew, apparently).

im just saying gearbox, you should hire me to write your deep lore for you cause i’d do it for free

im wondering if we’ll be seeing skags with wormhole abilities in bl3. maybe the constant exposure to slag is starting to mutate them further beyond just elemental bonuses (on badass skags). We know Maya’s phaselock has a singularity ability (so does Amara’s phasegrasp), and that is sorta ‘occurring naturally’ (you know, as natural as siren powers can get) unlike the singularity grenades we encounter which use our known technology. plus, uh, whatever happened to the destroyer’s eye in TPS that made it create a singularity/wormhole by injecting it with a fuckload of slag. that probably has something to do with this as well.

but geez i really hope mr. chew is okay with being all slag/eridium-ed up. i guess being badass elemental skags doesn’t appear to hurt them, just make them more powerful, unlike humans. maybe that has something to do with sentience, if slag/eridium/eridian stuff actually is driving bandits crazy. could explain why/if the jabber doesn’t get an element like the skag (eridian skag) and spiderant (fire) do, since they’re described as semi-sentient...

anyway.

Fl4k is cool. Definitely a neat trailer- my second favorite for sure- and the skill tree drop blew me away because i was not expecting it. im expecting a lot of Fl4k mains in the first few weeks of gameplay because they look like a lot of fun!

EDIT: i was wrong, in the newest IGN vid, it turns out we ARE near the recruitment center, because that IS the recruitment center

they gave them little orange flags! good to know!!

#fl4k #borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #fl4k is nonbinary #fl4k uses they/them/their pronouns

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abastardcoatedbastard · 5 years ago

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17 Cats and How I Became the Crazy Cat Lady

Yes, 17 cats. You read that correctly. I own SEVENTEEN cats. All of which are indoor cats.

How the hell did I end up with so many fur babies? Other than my sheer lack of self control when it comes to animals?

August, 2015

To start with, there was Mia first. She was a one year old, medium hair (not quite a longhair) cat with both calico and tabby patterning. Her original owner (Carissa, a girl I have known since the second grade) needed to rehome her and asked if I wanted her. This was shortly after my previous cat (Loki) had passed on. Initially, I was going to be taking a kitten from her cat, Luna’s, litter. But she knew I wanted something asap because I did not like being home completely alone. I was still going to take one of Luna’s kittens though as I worked a lot and Mia had never been an only cat.

This, unfortunately did not come to pass as Luna’s entire litter grew ill and passed.

September, 2015

Enter Echo.

The same friend and her oldest daughter had found this little grey classic tabby outside. Her markings were nearly identical to the kitten from Luna’s litter I had had my heart set on. The name Winter had been tarnished by the death of that litter, so I decided to go with Echo as she was one of my favorite stories in Greek mythology. So, she had called me, asked me if I wanted her. Naturally, I said yes and she brought me this cute, wild child kitten a couple days later.

At the time, my friend Brandi was living with me. She had just moved in with a few cats of her own. Elderly and finicky Miss Wednesday, round and angry at the world Sunshine, and Ninja, a cat she was fostering. All was well in our little group, the cats all got on well, Echo slotted in easily. She would alternate between sleeping with me or sleeping with Brandi.

Brandi moved out not long after, taking hers with her and leaving Mia, Echo, and I to our own devices. All was great, I was content, I did not want any other cats.

November, 2015

Enter Eris.

My former co-worker and friend, Catlin, had been telling us about this litter of kittens that her mother had rescued. Two little girls and one little boy. The momma cat had been a barn cat from across the street and she had abandoned her kittens in their yard. So, in a fit of merciful compassion, Cat’s mom bottle raised them. She decided to keep the boy, a playful little orange ball of fluff. As for the two girls, she wanted to make sure they went to good homes.

I initially said no. I had two, that was enough. Catlin was determined though and showed me a video of the girls playing together. These two gorgeous little long haired calicoes. My determination to say no faltered and she saw it in my eyes and went in for the proverbial kill. She had really wanted the one but could not take her as her one dog played too rough and he would hurt the kitten.

I sighed, she smiled in triumph. She knew she had me then and there. I mean, how could refuse such a sweet little girl?

It was a rocky start. Echo initially did not like her and the very first thing Eris learned to do upon coming to live with me was to hiss. This, thankfully, only lasted a few days before Echo decided Eris was her baby (despite them only being a few months apart in age) and nothing could change her mind.

By this time, it was November and kitten season had come to a merciful close with no other cats brought into my home.

March, 2016

At the time, I was working fast food, specifically Wendy’s, and the gm I had at the time was a wonderful woman named Corie. Corie and her significant other, Kelly, had to move in with Kelly’s grandmother. The woman was having difficulties and was leaving the house to them, but she wanted to stay there as long as she could.

The only problem was Spook. Corie’s giant black cat. Kelly’s grandmother was deathly allergic to cats and so, tearfully, Corie begged me to take her beloved cat. I agreed. It was a hard situation and she needed to make sure the cat was cared for.

But, of course, the universe did not want me to have that black cat. Spook did not like other cats. At all. She had come from a house where she was the only cat amongst dogs. It made her aggressive not just towards the other cats, but to me as well.

In a stroke of luck, and old co-worker from when I was a waitress said he was looking to get a cat. Chris lived alone, had no other pets, and he was a little lonely. I offered him Spook. It was love at first sight for the two of them and she was happy.

Of course, around this time, Carissa’s cat Luna had had another litter of kittens. Including a beautiful black and brown classic tabby and I was instantly in love. I said if the kitten was a girl, I would take her. There was another black and brown tabby in the litter as well, a little mackerel one. I said if she was a girl, I would take her too.

Just my luck, they were both girls.

May, 2016

Enter Elpis (the classic) and Nyx (the mackerel). These two were actually ill when they were brought to me. Both of them had upper respiratory infections, but I had caught it early enough to keep them away from the other three. We did breathing treatments where I turned the bathroom into a steam room multiple times a day and it worked.

Soon, I was able to start introducing them to the older three. Mia took to them right away while Echo and Eris were not all that fond. Eris came around within a few weeks, but Echo was a problem child. She took to Elpis eventually, but it took months for her to start accepting Nyxie as part of the group. Even still, 3 years later, she’s not too terribly fond of Nyx.

I was done. DONE. Five was more than enough. Five was more than I had ever bargained for.

Of course, I didn’t get much say in the matter.

October, 2016

Enter Chloe. Chloe was from yet another one of Luna’s litters. She and one other kitten were the only two that survived. A friend of mine, Courtney, had recently gone through a tragedy and was looking to get a kitten. So, I got her the lone mackerel tabby girl. Chloe stayed with me for a few weeks to make sure she was healthy and to give Courtney the time she needed to make sure she had everything ready for a kitten. While she was with me and the girls, Nyxie had taken a shining to her.

When Courtney came to meet her kitten for the first time, she nearly cried. Tabbies have a little M on their foreheads, it’s a signature of the marking pattern. Courtney’s son had been named Mason. It helped make the void in her heart a little more tolerable.

Nyxie, on the other hand, was quite upset to lose her new friend.

November, 2016

Enter Eros.

I came home from work one night, closer to 3 in the morning and there was a cat in front of the door. There was a blanket and some milk left out (I was living on the third floor of an apartment complex) and I figured he had gotten out and belonged to the people across the hall. I took the cat into my apartment, set him up in the bathroom with food, water, and a clean litterbox. I wrote a note and taped it to their door.

I woke up the in the afternoon to find a note written in a child’s handwriting telling me he was a good kitty that needed a home that would love him and that I could keep him if I made sure he got lots of love.

My heart fucking broke.

I tried to rehome him but could not find anyone I trusted to take this giant tuxedo baby. After a few months, I eventually gave up. He was a sweet boy, lived up to his name beautifully. He and the girls did not get on well and he was unfixed at the time, so he was kept separate from them. Things were working well enough, I supposed, but it had me solidly at 6 cats now.

May, 2017

Enter Katniss, Claudia, and Q-Tip.

Carissa was going through a messy divorce. The soon to be ex husband had the house and the pets, Carissa and the kids had moved in with her parents. Mikey was not taking care of the cats. I got a call asking if I could take the two girls and find a home for the boy. We agreed that the girls would just be a foster until she was back on her feet. Mostly because giving up pets is always hard and then add on that Q-Tip and Claudia were Nyx and Elpis’s little siblings.

Q-Tip went to my friend Ciara and her daughter, Clover. The timing could not have been better. Shortly after this, their older cat passed and Q-Tip was there to pick up the pieces of broken hearts. He bonded wonderfully with his new family and even now, him and his baby human brother are the best of trouble making friends.

As for Katniss and Claudia, they were staying with me for hell only knew how long.

Katniss was a beautiful 4 year old dilute calico and Claudia looked a lot like a mini version of Elpis. Katniss and the other girls did not seem all that fond of one another, but the twins took right to their little sister.

There was just one little problem. Claudia, as it turned out, was not a little girl. By this point, not only had the twins’ bonded with the kitten, but so had I and Carissa had already agreed that he could become a permanent fixture of my home.

So, Claudia, whom I had been calling Dia for weeks, became Dionysus. Better known as Dio the Monster Puss.

November, 2017

Eventually, Katniss and the rest of the girls needed to be split up. The fighting was just too much. So, Katniss took up residency in the bathroom and Eros was moved to the bedroom.

When Dio began to come into maturity, I initially put him in with Eros. All seemed well.

Around this time, Eros took ill. We had ended up with a bad flea infestation and, while I had managed to get the rest of the brood clear and clean, I was struggling with Eros. Most of the medications I could get from the store would not cut it for a cat of his size.

And then we took a bad turn. He had a bad reaction to one of the topical treatments and within 36 hours of application, he was gone. He passed peacefully, wrapped in his blanket and purring. One of my claimed family members helped me bury him under a lovely pine tree.

So, under the impression that Katniss was fixed, I moved Dio in with her as he had never been on his own.

Nature finds a way is a great little quote and, unfortunately, it is an accurate one.

Katniss got pregnant. As it turned out, Carissa had not gotten her fixed the year prior like she had mentioned wanting to do.

May 18, 2018

The birth of the Gremlins.

I had woken up early for work and could not get back to sleep. I just had a feeling in my gut, like something was happening. So, I got up and went to check Katniss to find she was very much in nesting mode.

So, I moved Dio back into the bedroom. Right before I left for work, Katniss’s water broke. Because of course it did.

I came home to 4 tiny little kittens. Two orange and white little boys, a little cream colored boy, and one lone female, the runt of the little, a little grey bean.

Eliot named one of the orange boys and the cream boy. Rabbit and Lex. As for the other little orange boy and our one lone female, I named them Orion and Vega.

We charted their every little milestone from open eyes, to climbing me, to their first birthday, celebrated with wet food and gremlins that were not happy to be wearing party hats for pictures.

When the kittens were around 3 or 4 months old, Katniss went back to Carissa. That still left me with 10 cats as I was far too attached to the Gremlins. Don’t get me wrong, they were cute as hell and people wanted them, but they were ours and Eliot and I were not about to part with them. You could not have made us.

And by all accounts, I absolutely meant no more cats.

October, 2018

The Spook Squad.

As previously mentioned on the bit about Spook, I had really wanted a black cat. Just one. All the cats I had owned prior to Mia had been black. From Lucky when I was a mere child to Loki, they had all been black.

Even my old dogs had been mostly black.

Pam had found this kitten on her porch and had spotted a momma cat and two other kittens in the general area she lives in. The little girl kitten went to a friend of hers, but it was October and near a busy intersection, she was worried.

So, me having absolutely no self control, offered to come over and help her catch momma and the other two babies. I figured I could rehab them and then rehome at least the kittens, while keeping momma because I wanted a black cat.

First, we got the kitten. And then we got momma. Of course, we found another cat. And then we found two more. So we caught them too.

I took them home, got them situated. The momma we were gonna call Persephone, and, as for the boys, the kitten was going to be Morpheus (as suggested by Eliot), the biggest of the boys Epiales, the other two (since they were caught together) were going to be Phobos and Deimos.

But, as I was looking at Persephone sprawled out and content, it occurred to me that she did not look like a cat that had a kitten that would match the age of Morpheus and his sister. So, I picked her up and turned around only to come face to balls with the proof that she was a boy. So, he was promptly renamed Hades and deemed the best brother/uncle/cousin/dad because we are still unsure as to what sort of genetic relation he is to Morphi.

I went to bowling, knowing we still had one more kitten to catch. We hadn’t been able to find the other kitten from Morpheus’s litter. Pam managed to snag the other little girl while I was at bowling and a friend of her’s begged for her. So, she went on to a good home and Pam got a call from a neighbor about yet another kitten caught in one of the live traps.

So, I agreed to take him on as well. Turns out, he was a couple months older than Morpheus. So, he was given the name Ikelos.

Now, mind you, the original plan with these boys was rescue, rehab, rehome. I think you can already guess where I’m going with this.

They had been badly abused and then tossed outside as if they were trash. While this did not seem too obvious with Morphi, Ike, or Epi, it was very evident with Deimos, Hades, and Phobos.

It’s been months and I can still barely pet Phobos. He is still afraid of people. Hades is not as skittish anymore and Deimos has packed on a good amount of weight, but there is still a deep desperation for love from him and Morpheus especially.

It broke my heart to think they could ever possibly end up in another situation like that. To the point that I sobbed my heart out. I knew I could not give them up. After all, I am the best home I know.

So that put me solidly at sixteen. But, I had no regrets and I definitely learned to be careful what I wished for since the universe was clearly tired of me asking for a black cat when it threw six at me.

November, 2018

The baby.

I was still with Wendy’s at this point. It was a damp and chilly Sunday afternoon. One of my work kids, Ty’Aisia, started yelling for me while I was doing my weekly inventory counts. There was a cat in the drive thru.

I assumed it was one of the alley cats that hung around, so I was going to go and chase it out of the drive thru. I poke my head out of the side door and see a tiny mackerel tabby kitten that could not have been more than 5 weeks old.

I bolted out that door going “oooooh baby come here!”. He let out the loudest little cry he could muster and wobbled to me as quickly as he could. Someone had very clearly tossed him outside.

He spent two hours in a box in the office with my crew fawning over him the entire time. I text Eliot telling them we had a new baby and sent them a picture. I couldn’t just leave him to die and they agreed, although they were about to lay down the no more cats edict.

I took him home and Nyxie immediately began to fuss over him. She adopted him rather quickly. He adjusted into the group a lot faster than the rest of the cats had. We named him Hex as we had initially thought he was a girl and were going to call him Hecate.

He was lucky number 17.

I say lucky number because, as a child, my lucky number had been, yup, you guessed it, 17. So it seems only fitting that my brood is at that particular number.

There has been one other cat through my door since taking in Hex and that was Azazel. He was only with us for about two weeks before he went on to his forever home with a wonderful guy named Chris who has him spoiled absolutely rotten. This was in January of this year. Eliot says that’s the only way more cats can come into the home until I have a bigger place and I’ve been doing my best to abide by that.

But, there you have it. The story of how I became that crazy cat lady with no regrets and more purring snuggles than I know what to do with.

#cats #kittens #rescue cats #crazy cat lady #cat rescue #cat lady #my life with 17 cats #yes this is sie #long post

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