#anyway. i actually really do want to do the animation thing so I guess I have to start learning that NOW

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 5!!!

[phagodyke]

dating an art student was so crazy I'm just thinking abt that one birthday I had where my ex got me stickers from the etsy of the person they were cheating on me with....

[desert-anne]

me, writing a fanfiction for an 8-year-old video game: what if I illustrated EVERY CHAPTER. what if I TAUGHT MYSELF TO ANIMATE. what if I composed a symphony

[zebrafiz]

#thinking about how weird it feels to have the career ive wanted my entire life actually be within my grasp now

[inbabylontheywept]

The Motherfucking Lizard King

No one at work trusts my boss. 

He's smart. He works hard. He's not trustworthy. He hasn't actually fucked anyone at work over, but he's ruined his last two marriages with affairs, and got dumped by his third fiance when he wouldn't sign a prenup. The fact that we all know this is just a hazard of working in a small town. 

Anyway: The thought process of the people in the lab is that if he screwed over his first wife, and his second wife, and was probably planning on screwing over his third wife, it would be insane for him not to screw us over. After all, what kind of idiot treats their employees better than their spouse? 

I dunno. His kind, I guess? He's had a few chances to fuck us over, and he hasn't taken them. Opposite really. When our parent company was doing furloughs, he stayed in the office almost a hundred hours, talking and talking and talking his way up the corporate ladder. And in the end, no one at our site got furloughed. 

He's pulled strings like that before. And it baffles me, right? Because it really does make zero sense. He'll move the heavens and the earth for us, but his wife and kids are afterthoughts. It feels like any moment, he's going to look into the mirror and realize how stupid that is. It feels like I'm betting on him making the same stupid mistake again, and again, and again - like it would be less cynical to believe he was, eventually, going to stab me in the back. But he hasn't yet, and as far as I can tell he's been making that mistake for close to fifteen years, and it's already cost him everything it can. If he was going to learn, he would have by now. 

So my position on him is that if he wanted to date someone I cared about, I'd warn them off. I don't trust him there. But I tentatively trust him to be my boss. Maybe one day he'll stick the knife in and twist, and everyone will say Ah, Babs, we warned you, but for now, I accept that he's doing a very predictable, very irrational thing, and I've made my peace with it. 

---

My job has glue traps. 

No one likes the glue traps, but we don't have a lot of options. Poison's banned by state law, spring traps are banned by company safety, and several non-lethal options tried in the past failed to work. The mouse problem can get pretty bad if it's ignored, and there's some real health hazards in that. Our site has never had a positive hantavirus test, thank God, but the big base about a half hour away has. That guy's gonna be on oxygen the rest of his life. 

If a mouse gets caught, we just euthanize it. But more than mice get stuck. Lizards can wander into those traps too, and the people working there have different feelings about the lizards. They don't pose nearly the same kind of risk mice do. They're chill little guys, and they keep the moths away, and they're just 

You know. They're friendly. There's something to be said about walking into a room, and hitting the light switch, and seeing two little guys on the wall start to do pushups as soon as they see you. 

People used to just euthanize the lizards too, but I had pet leopard geckos as a kid and I couldn't take that so I wound up googling how to free animals from glue traps. Now, when a lizard gets stuck in a trap - which happens once or twice a week - I get some vegetable oil from the breakroom, and a little plastic fork, and I'll spend fifteen to twenty minutes just kind of gently prying the little guys out. 

I have a team of technicians that help me operate one of the larger machines. They're real blue collar guys, ex-airforce, and they make me look like a little kid. Being an engineer means they'll look to me as a leader sometimes, which is a wild experience. And I started helping the lizards for my own conscience, but one of the crazier consequences of it has been that it seriously boosted my leadership cred. Because those guys see me, and they go: Hey. If he's willing to fight for a lizard, he's gotta be willing to fight for me. 

I cannot overstate how nice that is. Most engineers that want to make a change to a maintenance practice, or try an upgrade, they have to work their asses off to get the techs to buy in. But I can just ask. They already trust me to do good. They know I'm new, and they know I'm not the smartest engineer in the building, but they also know I'm the one who gets lizards out of the glue traps. 

And just because of that, they're willing to follow me. 

---

My boss has a meeting every month or two. It's typically basic house cleaning stuff - reminders about routines we've gotten lazy on, and updates on future projects. Maybe some warnings about problems coming from higher up in the company.

People are, in my opinion, a bit too cynical about the meetings. It stems from people not trusting our boss, which again, I understand, because it would make so much more sense if he wasn't trustworthy. It's a testament to the man's incredibly unhealthy priorities that he is. But as we made it to the end of the meeting, one of bullet points was: 

Do NOT mess with animals in the building. 

So I looked at my techs, and they looked at me, and when he got to the point, he was so scathing I actually just wanted to crawl under a rock and die. He said basically that he'd heard some reports about someone in the building handling animals that found their way in and got stuck, and that he just wanted to emphasize how insanely inappropriate that was, not to mention dangerous, and that if he needed to speak to anyone about it again, there would be severe consequences. 

I was willing to just take the shame and move on. I was. But one of my techs is old. Old enough he could've retired two years ago. And his actual literal goal is to one day get angry, yell at someone, and storm out. That's how he wants to retire. So instead of biting his tongue like everyone else, he stood up and said: I hate the glue traps. You hate the glue traps. We all hate glue traps. But we've all sat here for years, ignoring the little things that get stuck in them, watching them die, and then Bab's comes in, and he is the first person in decades to give enough of a shit to start pulling the lizards out. And I don't want him to stop. 

Get humane traps or shut up but we are not going back to the old way of just letting things starve. 

And my boss actually froze up. He got all wide eyed and stared at Marc, and then the other techs jumped in, and there was a very small but intense rebellion in the meeting and my boss kept trying to interrupt while getting absolutely bowled over by this gang of angry middle aged air force vets, and eventually he just went 

I will speak with Babylon about this afterwards! After! And then he will speak with everyone else, but I have more points to cover. 

So they went silent, and my boss rushed through the last five minutes, and we all adjounred. The techs really didn't like that I was going in alone - they thought our boss was going to try and shout me into compliance. Marc in particular was like, Look, if he tries bullying you, stand your ground, and if he threatens anything, just come get us, and we'll give him hell. 

So armed with that, I went to my boss's office. I sat in the chair across from him, and he kept his composure for maybe five seconds before just flopping back into his chair. 

I had no idea you were saving lizards, he said, but I'm glad you are. I always hated seeing them die in the glue.  

I wasn't expecting that. I was about to ask him what the comment from the meeting was about then, but he answered that before I even got the chance.

A snake got into the building last week, and - someone picked it up and chased a coworker around. Turns out that coworker was severely afraid of snakes, and now it's a shitshow. We're a small site, and now I can't ask those two to work together anymore, to say nothing about how the snake fared after all that. Being upset about that is a reasonable thing, right? 

And he gave me a look like he actually wanted an answer, so I said Yeah, totally, chasing a coworker around with a snake is a dick move. Especially if that coworker is already afraid of snakes. 

And he said Exactly! and then we sat there a few moments longer. He looked so incredibly tired that I did, actually, feel kind of bad for him. And then he somehow managed to sink even further into his chair, and said

Look, I know I'm not a good guy. But I'm not evil. I'm not some sort of crazy asshole that's going to demand that everyone watch lizards starve to death. When you go back downstairs, could you try to pass that on? That I'm not evil? 

I said Sure because it wasn't a hard request, and he looked relieved. I actually made it halfway out before I realized I had a question. 

Who grabbed the snake? I asked. 

Not supposed to talk about it, he said. But whoever comes to mind first is probably right. 

ThatGuy? I asked. And he looked me in the face, nodded his head yes, and said No. 

---

The techs seemed a little disappointed that they didn't get to storm the boss's office, but were otherwise in good spirits. They were actually a little bit embarrassed to hear about the snake story - apparently, it wasn't much of a secret. It'd just slipped their minds because it happened three weeks ago. 

We did maintenance after that, the same basic repairs we did every week. The meeting had been stressful and it was a relief to work with my hands. When the parts were reinstalled, everything cleaned and smooth and ready to go, Marc found me again. 

You know what the lesson of today is? he asked. And there were quite a few answers to that that I could have taken - from don't assume the worst of people to be careful with how you spend your trust - we all need it more than we think. 

But instead I said what? because I wanted to hear what his answer was going to be. 

That I got your back, he said. Then he clapped one very, very large hand on my shoulder, gave it a good squeeze, and walked back to dosimetry lab.

---

The next day, Marc gave me a package and told me to open it in my office. I was suspicious, but I followed the request.

Cardboard gave way to a small baggie, obviously full of fabric, which opened to reveal a t-shirt that read

"I Am the Motherfucking Lizard King."

I looked at it, I loved it, and then I got an idea. I went to my boss's office and knocked on the door. When he opened it, I asked him if he would be willing to allow something very unprofessional to happen for morale building purposes.

How unprofessional? he asked. I held the shirt up in answer. He gave the shirt a short look over and snorted.

You can wear it on weeks without customers, he said. Which just so happened to include that week.

I'll pass on that it came with your blessing, I replied, and he looked oddly relieved.

Thanks, he said. And then I went downstairs.

---

The techs were very, very happy to see the shirt. And while my boss's reputation remains in tatters, and probably will be until he moves (or dies), the next time there was a meeting, there was quite a bit less complaining about how mere presence. Which is, I guess, a start.

We'll see if he squanders it.

[mayushiis]

honestly golden time would be a way better show if the opening and ending themes weren't entirely centered around banri and koko. by making koko the sole focus of the show, they make it seem as though there isn't even a slight possibility that banri could choose linda over koko, which really diminishes the effect of the emotional cheating drama when banri's feelings for linda resurface and koko witnesses it happen. really, i'd be all here for ghost!banri trying to ruin his present self's relationship with koko if the theme songs had just made the outcome a little more ambiguous! focusing on only one of the two love interests either makes it obvious from the beginning that the one girl wins, or it just ruins the ending if the other wins and it turns out that the intro/outro animations were a fake-out the whole time :|

[aphrodites-temple-ajourney]

(Credits to @Pulse.fm on Tiktok for coming up with this originally)

Anyways, enjoy my probably terrible rant about Aphrodite and her connection to Girlhood and that great feeling of childhood innocence!

(Yes I should be asleep, how did you guess?)

The first time I saw this, I didn't think much about it I see a lot of this on my Pinterest regularly. But I stumbled upon this again while working on something else and it really resonates with me.

Probably, because yeah, I relate to this. I went through puberty very, very young and I didn't know what was happening and it wasn't explained until those awkward talks at school did I actually learn what was happening.

And every day since I actually became aware I'm growing up, I've wished I could go back. I still do. I wish I could be a little girl again, but I can't, I don't have the option to go back. I can do things, that make me feel like a little girl again but I will never be a little girl again.

I think this is something every girl can relate to, growing up too fast. We were always expected to grow up fast and be the mature ones at school,

"Girls mature faster then boys."

It's not just a coincidence or a random thing people say, we do because it's expected of us. Girls are expected to be responsible somewhere around elementary school, boys don't have to care until middle school, because that's the appropriate time to grow up.

I think this entire thing allows girls to connect with Lady Aphrodite. She probably understands, growing up too fast, being forced to take on the weight. Struggling with a new changing body, a new world, eyes staring from every corner, aware, and unable to be a little girl again.

She understands that struggle, she understands that we can't go back to being little girls, but she wants you to help feel like a little girl again. She gives you the feeling again.

When you find a cute stuffed animal, when you do a new makeup look for fun, when you rediscover a picture book you used to love, when you play in the bath... Anything that makes you feel like a little girl again.

She's there and she understands

She loves when you feel that childhood innocence again, when you experience childhood joy again, when you go back to that feeling of innocence, that's what she loves!

Sorry this was so long, I should be asleep but this just made me so passionate that I felt like I needed to type this up now. So anyway what do you guys think about this? Also please remember this is my personal interpretation based off of the photo at the top.

[hellsslibrary]

hi so ive been binging ur works lol I love that u write for blue lock and specifically the male reader !!! Sosoo I'd love to request a shidou x mean top male reader ? Like shidou keeps acting out so reader puts him in his place?

I do three things on purpose. I make you cut onions so I don't cry, I cling to you during horror movies because you get too focused, and I bend over in front of you during training because you're a dirty dog (real quotes from my husband as titles day one).

MASTERLIST is here.

#a.n. : You two humiliating a non-existent guy for the size of his dick........ Basic Tuesday for any gays, I guess.

!!Warnings: tom!dom!male!reader, sub!bottom! Shidou, overstimulation, time before the first selection, so you fuck in a room full of other people at night..... So, humiliation of a guy for a dick actually (not in his face tho), sex on a futon, Shidou without hair gel (I heard that someone didn't like Shidou without gel and cried hyperbolically), he calls you 'cupcake' one time.

One hundred and seven times.

You've thought about killing him so many times. Strangle him. Take his head off. Castrate him. Burn him. Drown him... Anything, really. Why is this idiot even more annoying than usual? Who knows. Well, obviously not you.

Your eyes watched him praise a player again. Of course, this is not surprising for him, he is very respectful to good players, but now? Fuck, this is out of bounds.

You can see perfectly well how his hands stay on this guy for too long. And the way his eyes look at you from time to time. It's been repeated too many times today.

Does he want you to crack? But no. He's going to do it today. And it won't just crack, it will come apart at the seams.

The sound of the futon moving can be heard in an almost empty room as your body bends over his, while his face is buried in the pillow, trying not to moan too loudly. Not that he cares about it, but you do very much.

"I'm s-sorry, cu-cupcake, please—!" he exhales raggedly, clutching at the thin fabric, trying with all his might to stabilize himself and his body from your obviously not gentle thrusts, which seemed to knock his soul out of him piece by piece.

A rhetorical question escapes your lips, and an almost animal grin appears on your lips, seeing his condition. "Now we're just barking, right? You forgot how to bite pretty quickly."

Shidou just whimpers, feeling his body twitching from your thrusts inside his sloppy hole. His curls are disheveled on the bed, and some are stuck to his cheeks or neck from sweat. He just couldn't look into your eyes as usual, knowing full well that he would break even more... He dug his own grave after all.

"That guy couldn't have brought you to this state, you know? He definitely has a dick smaller than my little finger," you reason, lowering one of your hands from his waist lower, feeling the muscles of his stomach tighten as you slide over them, reaching his v-shaped line, and then his crotch. "Don't you agree?"

"Fuck, yes! Def-definitely, yes... Probably th-the same size as an a-ant," Ryusei giggles, swallowing his saliva, arching his back harder, which makes you hiss, feeling like he's become a little tighter.

Although his giggles immediately fade away when you grab his overexcited, spent cock. You immediately slap the hand that's trying to stop you, grabbing his length, making him choke on his own sob.

Tears began to form in his eyes, lingering on his blond eyelashes, and then trickling down his cheeks. He couldn't take another round! He wanted to, but probably couldn't. You're huge, you tease him, you fuck him, you humiliate someone for the size of his dick... Did I mention that you're huge? Anyway, it's fucking Hell! He's a fucking puddle under you, even though he wanted to stay under you like that, because that's actually what he wanted.

Maybe you'd be more gentle if your count of murder methods stopped at about sixty.

"Still fucking want me like this, huh? How many times did you cum?" you ask rhetorically, realizing that he won't answer, just smiling, and then slapping his ass, which makes him squeak, and you enjoy his sounds, because you can't see almost anything.

"Don't worry, I'll do it over and over again until you don't even have the thought of leaving me anymore, do you understand?" Ryusei nodded, and his cock jerked in your grip, forcing you to enter him up to the hilt, and then pull your dick out of him, which immediately turns around to look at you. "Or maybe I need to make it so that you can't stand at all without help..."

Shido pales almost immediately, sensing the sincerity in your voice, and then moans too loudly when you thrust into him again. Your hand tangles in his hair, pressing his face back into the pillows so that he doesn't wake anyone up and so that he stops making silly excuses about how he wants you to pull out your dick.

He looked like a black hole right now, honestly. So he'd better not pretend to be a clogged pipe right now.

[remxedmoon]

(you worked yourself to death.)

yeah i wasn’t kidding when i said these would be coming soon. <- haha funny joke marshall. so!! remember when i said that this post would be coming out last weekend? guess whose tablet broke a few days after saying that! so sorry for the delay!! this is long overdue. here’s a link to the drive, as always! everything in this part of the update should be in the miscellaneous folder (outside of the menu icons, which are in the menu folder. wauaua).

unedited versions below the cut, plus some notes. fair warning 90% of this is just ui stuff lol

so! all of this was already done by the time i posted the enemies. the delay isn’t *entirely* because of the tablet issues, i just managed to get distracted by making: even more redraws! i’d say new update soon but after what happened last time i shouldn’t jinx myself. but! almost All of the art for the initial mod release is done!!!! exciting!!!!!!

please be nice to me (silly) this is my first time doing frame by frame animation in… give or take 5 years? i followed the original animations pretty closely, so they don’t look Awful but i am Aware of the jank. i’m not an animator!!! they’re Good Enough for my purposes.

hey did you know that the original teleport map is slightly off center. did you know that. that’s not the case for the redraw for the record but it did make things a little harder. despite that, i think you can tell i was having fun with the dormont part of the map. i would’ve put more detail into the house, but we never really get a more detailed look at it??? and i didn’t want to make assumptions. so that part’s just traced from the original 👍. anyways shoutout to the clocktower being Curved for whatever reason

outside of those, all of the added art is actually just spritework. i didn’t know this at first, but there’s a TON of copies of sprites from the icon set. Basically Everywhere. so those are added now! and should work properly! also added a few sprites that were Missing from my original batch. not going to put them all here, but a few Important ones (which i actually had to make new art for) are the rock paper scissors cheatsheet, the Larger versions of the craft signs (used in the calamité fight and. probably somewhere else idk), and the craft signs for the tutorial kid fight!

aaaand i think that’s it! for stuff from this update. yeah no there’s more coming buddy. my tablet already broke one time this week there’s no way it’s happening twice. i’m not working on portraits Just Yet (though the temptation has been There), but i’ve got the title screens, a few backgrounds, and the ending cgs done! along with a few other assorted cgs sketched out. because im out of my fucking mind. so, uh, see you soon!! enjoy!!

[redpenship]

/r/stationsquare

I am at war with Sonic the Hedgehog

No, the title is not clickbait. I got a really nice hammock around two months ago and was having a great time using over the summer. It's one of those fancy ones with pillows and drink holders, so you can imagine that I was making great use of it.

Last week, I went to use it in the morning and found that it was covered in blue quills. Before you flame me in the comments, hear me out: I KNOW the city has an unofficial rule stating that you have to let Sonic use your lawn furniture whenever he wants. I KNOW he's saved the world a bunch of times over. Honestly, when I saw all the quills, I wasn't even mad. I pulled them out and carried on with my day.

But then it happened again. And again. And again. Guys, he sleeps on my hammock at least four times a week. I know he doesn't have a house or whatever (does anyone know why he chooses to be homeless???), but why does it have to be MY hammock all the time? It's really pissing me off.

Anyways, I've started to Sonic-proof my hammock, but nothing I've tried is working. I tried taking it down and putting it in my shed overnight, but I found quills in it again the next time I took it out. I think he literally set up the hammock and then put it back in the shed when he was done with it.

That wasn't the only thing I've done. I've left it covered in water (I guess he's only scared of actually drowning because that didn't work), mud and leaves (it came back clean?), and one time even covered it in crumbs so it would get infested with bugs (I think he just ate them). I'm out of ideas and I don't think he plans on stopping anytime soon.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm going insane. Everything about Dr. Eggman is starting to make sense to me and it's terrifying.

edit: can the mods please tell people to be civil in the comments? edit 2: how is joking about eggman inappropriate? i didnt realize this sub was full of small animals. edit 3: what do you mean his fox friend is a mod here? does he even live here?

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Sorry if you've already covered this, but I was scrolling socials and saw that the San Antonio zoo got a large donation to expand their savanna habitat. The only thing that jarred me as I read through their expansion plans was apparently they're going to be outfitting some 'safari' vehicles so guests can be taken into the habitat to feed and interact with the animals (from within the vehicle). I was always under the impression that this kind of interaction wasn't necessarily good for either the humans or the animals-- is there a way it can be done ethically?? Anyway, I just thought it was interesting!

Ooo, okay, your question aligned with a thing I've been chewing on for a while, so let's talk ~ethics~ and ~philosophy~ aka this is gonna be a bit long. I do promise I'll answer your question, though!

The first thing I want to note is that you're really asking about two different things, which are almost always conflated these days when it comes to talking about animals: welfare (is the animal happy / healthy / safe) and ethics (is what's happening good / moral / acceptable). It's really important that we distinguish between the two, because welfare is an objective measure of physical and mental wellbeing, and ethics are a human construct that involves subjective interpretation.

A useful but highly oversimplified example of this is the bothering of cats for online videos. Pestering a cat to get a funny reaction once in a while may not impact their overall welfare. Welfare is the cumulative impact of an animal's experiences, which means that single acute moments may not weight heavily on the entire balance. If the cat is healthy, fed well, enriched, and has a good and positive bond with their humans, those momentary irritations for videos might not matter much. That doesn't mean that you or I, as viewers, might not still find bothering an animal for internet clout ethical. We can believe that humans shouldn't ever unnecessarily put their pet through negative experiences, and we can think that doing so just because it brings the human money or fame is distasteful. But! We have to recognize that as used in this example, those ethical stances aren't inherently tied to the animal's welfare state. Many people I know who dislike cat-bothering don't care if the animal has good welfare outside of that situation - they don't like that the situation occurs at all, ever.

So, back to your question. You're wanting to know if it's okay for a zoo to have a drive-through aspect of an exhibit where people get to feed the animals. You're asking if it's safe for the humans and for the animals (which is a welfare question) and if that type of interaction is ethical. I could just tell you that of course it's fine, San Antonio is an AZA zoo and their accreditation only allows them to do "good things" but that's now how it works here (nor is it the reality of accreditation).

The safety aspect is one I'm not worried about. It's actually a pretty common thing for reputable facilities to do some sort of vehicle tour in savanna habitats, whether in the guest's vehicle (safari parks) or on a hay-ride type vehicle (zoos). Many of those allow guests to feed out specific parts of their animals' diets. Offhand, I know Tampa and Fossil Rim both have feeding tours like this in a staff-driven vehicle. It's not specified from the zoo's press release, but I can guarantee you that guests will not be driving those vehicles - which means the interactions will be proctored by staff and what people are feeding out will be carefully regulated. The habitat is going to have rhino, giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and antelope/gazelle, and I'd guess that the drive-through is going to stick to those latter two and maybe additional species. Those are animals where a car is an appropriate safety barrier.

As to if it's ethical to do? It's spiny question, because it depends very directly on the ethical perspectives of the person you're asking. I think it's fine - you may not. Let's break down the different things that come into consideration on the ethical side, and my responses:

"The zoo is commercially exploiting animals by letting people pay to get closer." If the issue is that people paying to get closer to animals is using them for money, well, that's the business model of a zoo (non-profit or not, they still need revenue to operate). So IMHO it's not like it's "less ethical" than anything else the zoo is doing, using that framing.

"Zoo animals should be allowed to be wild and undisturbed by guests driving in their habitats." Zoo animals aren't wild, and their entire lives revolve around humans and the human work schedule. As long as a vehicle entering the habitat doesn't have a negative welfare impact (e.g. they're not scared of it), it's not very different from the rest of the routine of managed care.

"Feeding zoo animals will encourage people to try to feed wild animals." Thanks to obnoxiously viral content creators, people are going to try to feed wild animals no matter what. Doing it in a proctored situation where a staff member can try to do some education at the same time is probably the best possible scenario.

"People just do those tours to get close to cool animals." People are always going to want to touch the animals. If being able to pay for a tour keeps them from jumping the fence to try to pet a rhino, great.

There's one more that I want to talk about separately, because I think it's where a lot of confusion gets generated. It's this idea that "Humans shouldn't be interacting with animals at all, any interaction is unethical and bad for the animals." This is a welfare crossover, but not one actually informed by welfare science in a captive situation. And I think it's because the internet lacks nuance. Yes, it is absolutely correct to say that with wild animals, you should never ever try to feed a deer out of your car (or similar). It is incredibly harmful to those animals on both an acute and chronic timeline. But thanks to the rage-bait algorithms on social media and people endlessly justifying doing stupid, dangerous, bad things (and getting pushback for it), there's been a lot of bleed between the public's understanding of what wild animal welfare is and what captive animal welfare is. Combine that with the reality that captive animal welfare cannot be assessed or diagnosed from a single context-less clip, and that people with strong beliefs and no practical experience with the field/species/individual will pass judgement loudly to their audiences...

The result is almost a reflexive believe in many sectors of the internet that any human-animal interaction that isn't couched as a "rescue" is inherently unethical, for reasons people often can't articulate. Which is why, I think, so often people want to support certain aspects of captive animal management but feel guilty for doing so. I see this a lot in the questions the blogs gets, and I'm glad people feel comfortable asking, because it's important to think through not just the individual instances but the patterns leading us to question them.

So yes, I'd say that a staff-led experience in a vehicle chosen for safety is an ethical way to proctor an interaction between guests and certain savanna species. It will vary by facility - I'm always more wary about guests driving, although many drive-through safaris are fine - and by setup. I think what San Antonio is doing will be fine, though, and will be interested to see / hear about the setup when they start up.

If you've got a question about ethical captive management, I'm always happy to talk about it - but I'd invite you to poke around in your head a little and send me not just your question in the ask, but your thinking about why or why not something might be concerning. It's great practice for understanding why you relate to animal ethics the way you do, and where those beliefs come from.

[loonarmuunar]

Hey I did some speculation on the forgotten island’s geography..!!!! If you want you can use this for writing purposes perhaps. I dunno

Things that have been confirmed in game or otherwise:

island is north of Vaugarde. We can see in the map that most mentioned countries are very close to the equator, but the island is the closest.

It has TALL MOUNTAINS and BLACK SAND. This is IMPORTANT!!!

ANDDDD the country is really hot during the day and cold at night.

(Also the island is inspired by guadeloupe but I won’t be pulling anything from there)

Equator: the island is going to be hot, of course. It’s… honestly a toss up as to how humid the island would be. winds would also have an impact on this. It just depends. Lush, humid island, or dusty, dry island. You can pick your favorite! I like a very pretty green island…

All noted countries in the game (aside from ka bue) are close enough to the equator to be impacted by the tropical rain belt! (Which… isat planet *should* have? It would be strange if it didn’t.) Since the country is south of the equator, from October to March they would have a wet season, and a dry season for the rest of the year.

Mountains: depending on how big and tall the mountains are, there may or may not be a rain shadow? I think winds also have an impact on this… I like to imagine the islands mountains as very very tall! “Closer” to the stars, if you will. Anyways, there could be a desert or shrub-land or something like that on part of the island. Do what you want with this.

Flora and fauna: because of island syndrome (island species are smaller) we can guess that if the island has any species native to the island, they’re somewhat smaller to their mainland counterparts. I also don’t think the island would have large native predators. Islands can cook up some strange things! Might have some interesting kinds of plants and animals…

Black sands: two possibilities… actually three?

1. Placer deposit. Placer deposits are collections of (valuable) minerals from a specific source rock. You know those streaks of black sand you might find at the beach? Those are placers. You CAN have a beach that is entirely placers!

2. Volcanoes! Basalt, self explanatory. This is popular, especially since it can tie into the mountains, but… I’m not a fan. I’m REALLY not a fan! See, these kinds of black sand beaches are usually short lived. Hawai’i keeps their black sand beaches by making it illegal to remove the sand. If you want your island to have black sands from lava, you could say they have frequent eruptions, or nobody can take the sand, orr the currents replenish the black sands back.

3. Wish did it.

I lean towards placers because that’s the easiest answer to me.

Culture and economy: oh man there could be a lot of money in selling off the theoretical island native plants and animals. Not saying that’s good or bad… but there’d be money in it!

In tropical mountainous regions it’s more common for people to live in higher regions, BUT I think being so close to so many other countries would make it more profitable for some to live on the lower coast, where ships are going to be coming in and out.

There’s going to be more money rolling around on the coast, would probably be more urban to suit all the people coming in and out. All the people coming by also means that they’re going to be bringing over different beliefs, practices, etc etc. They’d be more accepting, and open to new things. If Siffrin was living on the coast, they would be a city kid!

Meanwhile those who stick to the higher ground would have more rural communities. Could possibly even be more faithful to the Universe belief? Closer to the stars, and farther away from all the foreigners on the coast, they’re going to have less exposure to different cultures and beliefs. They may be more stiff in their beliefs, and possibly more faithful. At least, in their eyes maybe?

The darkness of the sands, the sea, the sky….. seeing the moon and stars reflected in the water….. you get it you understand. I think living in this specific area didn’t necessarily CAUSE the universe belief, but I do think it made them more pre-disposed to possibly having a connection to the stars and sky.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Cheshire behind the cut; “Billy adopts Conner and it actually goes pretty good!” (( chrono || non-chrono ))

He takes a moment to lean down and neaten Tawky’s bowtie and sweater for him to make sure he still looks like a proper gentleman, since Lynn squished him kinda hard a couple times in there and there’s the whole lack of opposable thumbs issue making it a little harder for Tawky to fix himself up, and Tawky purrs appreciatively. Normal tigers don’t actually purr, but Tawky isn’t particularly interested in being normal, he always says. And it’s super-cute, so Billy’s not gonna tell him to. Like, he wouldn’t either way, but double-definitely he isn’t gonna. 

“Do you think Lynn’ll want a bedtime story?” Billy wonders. Tawky looks thoughtful. “I know, yeah, we did get a lot of books, maybe that’d be like . . . overwhelming? To pick from, I mean? I guess I could pick out a few he could pick between, but . . . well, maybe just if he has trouble, you think?”

Tawky purrs approvingly. Billy beams at him, then neatens his fur a little more and straightens back up. He knows it’s way harder for Tawky to talk when he’s a stuffed animal, but he’s always a great listener no matter what and really pays attention. 

“Cool, yeah, I think it’s a good idea too,” he says, figuring he’ll pick some out in his head first and then just separate them from the others if Lynn needs some help narrowing things down. “Did you like the salmon? I thought it was so good, oh my god. Um–gods. I never know if I should say ‘god’ or ‘gods’, it’s not like I’m really religious or anything, you know, it’s just that I know some gods, so like–” 

“. . . are you talking to me?” Lynn asks warily from the doorway of his room, and Billy brightens reflexively and looks over to him. Lynn’s wearing a pair of dark blue pajamas with the top unbuttoned and pulled on over his T-shirt like an open jacket, which–hm, maybe Billy should tell him that it’s not really meant to be worn like a jacket? But also that seems warmer anyway and he would definitely want to be as warm and, like, cozy and stuff as he could if he’d gotten raised in a lab run by total assholes who didn’t even tell him stories, so . . . 

Also . . . well, the world is this brand-new big and scary place full of strangers and stuff he doesn’t know, so maybe Lynn feels a little safer with the “S” on, come to think. Billy, like . . . gets that idea, really. 

He definitely gets that idea. 

“Oh, no, sorry, I didn’t mean to, like, interrupt you while you were getting changed or anything,” he apologizes. “I was talking to Tawky. He’s a great listener!” 

Lynn looks at him for a long moment, then flicks his eyes down to Tawky and looks at him for a long moment. 

“. . . right,” Lynn says slowly, just barely raising an eyebrow. “Uh. I . . . bet, yeah.” 

Billy beams at him. He’s just so glad Lynn and Tawky like each other. Or like . . . have a good impression of each other, at least? Like–that’s really great, that they like each other. 

“Definitely!” he agrees cheerfully. “Do you like the pajamas? Like, they’re not scratchy or anything, right?” 

“. . . they’re linen,” Lynn says. 

“. . . um?” Billy says, wrinkling his nose in confusion. Linen? That sounds, like . . . kinda expensive, maybe? Is linen actually expensive or does Solomon just think it is ‘cuz he’s from like a few thousand years ago? ‘Cuz Solomon has opinions about purple dye. And black dye. And, like–cinnamon and stuff like that. “. . . I think Batman maybe has a shopping problem.” 

Lynn looks down at his sleeve and eyes the cuff of it skeptically. 

“The tag said ‘Frette’,” he says. “Is that a brand or something?” 

. . . Billy pulls his new phone out and just . . . googles that, real quick. 

. . . . . . Billy puts his phone back and decides to never google anything ever again. 

“I think Batman definitely has a shopping problem,” he says, still feeling a little lightheaded from the price listings he saw. 

Um. Maybe he wants to sit down for a sec, actually. Or, uh . . . a minute. Or so. 

“Does Batman buy everything?” Lynn asks, looking skeptical again. 

“Well, the Justice League paid for everything, we’ve got like, grants and donations and stuff, but Batman was the one who made me fill out a requisition form and did all the ordering and everything and picked out the apartment,” Billy says with a shrug. “I didn’t really know what to ask for, though. Like–the windows, but not all that much else, really. Oh, and comfy furniture and a big enough kitchen for both of us. And the beanbag chairs ‘cuz those are cool and I thought maybe you’d think they were cool too? Though I didn’t know the apartment was gonna be this big, I just wanted us to be able to eat in there and stuff. Like, um–you know, dinner and all. Meals.” 

“‘Meals’?” Lynn repeats, his eyebrows just barely furrowing, and Billy feels kind of embarrassed to outright say it, but also he doesn’t wanna, like . . . not say it, so . . . 

“Like family meals?” he says. He kinda said it before, but he also kinda just phrased it as “hanging out” at the time, he thinks. Well, they were about five minutes into knowing each other, so yeah, that’d felt less . . . presumptive, he guesses he’d thought? “I just think it’s better to, um, have those. Like, at least when we can and stuff.” 

“. . . oh,” Lynn says. 

“Do you wanna pick out a book for bed?” Billy suggests. Lynn stares blankly at him for, um . . . yeah, Billy’s definitely lost count of how many times Lynn’s stared blankly at him. Well, Lynn just kinda does that, it seems like, so yeah. 

“A book,” Lynn says. 

“I mean, we got so many,” Billy says. “And it’s easier to go to sleep if, um, you wind down a little bit first? And reading’s usually good for that, y’know?” 

“. . . sure,” Lynn says, still staring blankly at him. 

“I mean, you don’t have to,” Billy says sheepishly. His parents did it for him, so . . . “Just I thought maybe it’d help?” 

Lynn stares at him some more. Billy smiles as encouragingly as he can at him. Lynn, um . . . stares some more. 

Yeah, he definitely just does that, Billy thinks. 

[shalomniscient]

“dearest, you really should be sleeping.”

arlecchino murmurs, fingers idly stroking down your side. her eyes are half-shut, face illuminated by the pale glow of your phone screen as you scroll away. her nose is half buried in your hair, inhaling the scent of your shampoo. your legs are tangled together beneath the sheets, and she’s so very close to dozing off.

you make a small noise of protest at her words. “just a minute…”

“you’re worse than the actual teenagers in our house,” she adds dryly, pressing a lazy kiss to your temple. “pray tell, what is it that has captured your attention so?”

“just this thing i saw on twitter,” you reply, distracted. “it says that the first animal that comes up when you search ‘animal’ is what your partner sees you as.”

arlecchino arches a brow at that. she’s not one to indulge in these online trends—she’s often simply far too busy. she knows they exist in a peripheral sort of way; the kids, especially the twins and somewhat surprisngly, noe, follow them with an unexpected faith. she doesn’t really understand the appeal, in truth, but she lets them do as they please, so long as it isn’t of any concern to their safety.

“oh? and what did your search yield, hm?”

you crane your head to look at her, nose wrinkled in slight distaste. “a bat.”

you show her a picture, and she snorts. it’s not a… terrible picture, but it certainly isn’t the most, well. flattering, in a sense. the unamused look on your face deepens, morphing into almost a pout.

“don’t laugh,” you say petulantly, lightly smacking her arm. she chuckles, a low rumble in her throat.

“it is quite amusing, you must admit,” she replies, drawing circles on the skin of your stomach, slipping beneath the oversized t-shirt—her t-shirt—that you’ve chosen to wear to bed. she pauses briefly, then adds, “and fitting, too, if you ask me.”

“fitting?” you ask incredulously, and she nods, a lazy smirk tugging on her lips. there’s an almost offended look on your face, and it makes her want to kiss you a little. well, a lot, really, but that would lead to other things and she really is too tired after a long shift on her feet at the wards to put you through the mattress tonight.

(next time for sure, though.)

“mm, fitting. you sleep at such atrocious hours, my dear, you may well be nocturnal,” she drawls, and you huff, bunching your shoulders stubbornly. “tell me, what time is it?”

“…almost one in the morning.”

she smiles. “my point exactly.”

“yeah, well,” you huff again, the slightest bit flustered. “it’s not like i stay up of my own volition every night. sometimes you’re the one keeping me up.”

she snorts at that, shifting lower to nose at the nape of your neck, warm breath spilling over your sensitive skin. “you’ve never complained before.”

“you—“ you stammer, flustered, then groan, dropping your phone on the bed. you don’t refute her though, and her smile broadens against your skin. “ugh, anyway— still, a bat is… i don’t know, weird? i guess? i was expecting something cuter.”

arlecchino hums for a moment, savoring the warmth of your body. she kisses the smooth skin there, over one of the many moles adorning your back like little constellations.

“perhaps they are not cute,” she agrees, “but i quite like them.”

you pause, turning your head to look over your shoulder at her curiously. “really?”

“they serve a vital role in their ecosystem,” she points out, eyes tracing the arch of your cheekbones, the slope of your lips. in the dark, she’s not really sure how much of you she actually sees and how much she simply knows to be there from years of drinking in the same sight of you. “insect control and the like. we would be worse off without them, no?”

“well, yeah,” you admit, lips curling upward. you’re so easy to convince sometimes—it’s terribly cute. “when did you learn so much about bats anyway?”

“you talk about them,” she answers simply, and you go still for a beat. she notes the way your breath catches ever so slightly before you let out a small, almost bashful sounding laugh.

“you remember?”

she almost rolls her eyes. what a silly question.

“it’s you. of course i do.”

something flashes in your expression, and then you’re turning in her arms to snuggle up against her, chest to chest. she lets you into the gentle castle of her arms with familiar ease, tucking your head beneath her chin as she runs her hand up and down your spine.

“smooth talker,” you say, voice muffled against her collarbone. she only hums in response, finally letting her eyes drift shut. she could stay like this forever.

“only for you, my dear.”

[thebearme]

TIME TO ANSWER QUESTION ABOUT FAMILY!!!

The meeting up was more of a surprise visit than anything planned, but it when well. Donut's interactions with Petey was pretty normal... well as normal something could be in the dogman universe. A couple of dumb invasive questions but overall Donut means well, but it is draining Petey's patients.

"Yes, I was the world's most evilest cat."

"No, I won't get into the nitty-gritty of how that happened."

"Yes, Lil Petey looks exactly like me because he was made in a cloning machine."

"No, I won't explain why my tail is shorter than his."

"Yes, me and your brother are parenting him together."

"NO, WE AREN'T MARRIED!"

"NO, YOU DONT HAVE TO BE MARRIED TO PARENT A CHILD!"

"NO I WONT EXPLAIN THE WHOLE DUMB SOCIAL CONSTRUCT THAT MAKES PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT THE ONLY WAY A CHILD CAN BE RAISED RIGHT IS WITH MAN AND WOMAN MATRIMONY!!"

"Yes.... I can get you water."

Swoopy interaction with Petey was quick and short. He doesn't talk/bark... or sign.

Cocoa never talked to a cat before, let alone TWO. So if there's any sibling that going to embarrass Dogman, it's gonna to be her. Asking if it true that "cats have nine lives" or that "cats have a more sophisticated taste than other animals" or "do you have like, a billion different degrees. Oh what am I talking about, you probably already at the trillions, aren't you?" While Petey funny enough never even went to college. AND dropped out of high school when he was younger as well... But hey, even though all of those are dumb cat stereotypes he DOES enjoy being called smart.

Donut is a fun uncle to Lil Petey, telling him fun stories from when he was a pup, teaching him how to bake and all types of silly stuff.

Swoopy is like Ice bear from we bare bears, so it's a gamble if Lil Petey and him would have a normal day if you left them alone.

Cocoa (I admit I thought more in-depth about) would try to impress Lil Petey with her "travels around the world". Tho this is a big lie, she has been living on a milk farm. She doesn't think any of her REAL stories about how they make almonds into milk is really that interesting, at least to a city boy like Lil Petey and she just wants to be seen as the cool aunt! Eventually with enough pestering from Dogman, told the truth to Lil Petey and was surprised by the fact he was ACTUALLY INTERESTED in how it's like working in a farm. Anyways, Cocoa is definitely the aunt you invite if you're playing pretend or something.

Oh most definitely! I feel like he wants a sibling since he met Molly and all her brothers and sisters. Even though the household is completely chaotic he still wants a sibling.

Now don't ask me for some Detey fankid design because I don't do good in making things like that. Idk why but with all my years and different fandoms and ships I've been into, I can't imagine fankid designs for the life of me. Never had but kudos to the people who can.

Yup, If anything I think they would adopt. Idk it just feels in character, they just home a kid for a bit until uh oh- we accidentally planned a college fund- I guess we're gonna have another kid now.

Well I'll try explaining how the beginning went. It definitely was a surprise for Dogman's parents. Lil Petey had this all planned out before hand so when Petey and Dogman were getting groceries thats when Lil Petey went to get his grandpa- which was easy because the security in cat jail is crap. "Can I take my Grandpa for a night, we're gonna have a big family dinner." and a thank you note left for the Warden, went he notices after his long monolog about how he can't just let Gramps leave. 80HD was the only to grab Maggie and Joe, They all eventually met up at the house.

LP apologizes about the abrupt napping of the two and gives a proper introduction. "Hi I'm Lil Petey, your grandson!" "We kinda met before but I didn't get to say hi, so.. hi!"

The pair are still in a daze of confusion over what's even happening and HOW could this kitten be their grandson? Looking over to the old feline next to him they can guess that he's the grandfather... he kinda looks like that one cat that was with them in the first visit to the ranch. Was he the father? Does that mean-

Before the two can spiral into their next conclusion LP starts up again.

"We you two like to stay for dinner? Papa and Dogman should be coming home with the groceries soon."

With abit of distain in their face at the name "Dogman" they surprisingly nodded a silent yes to the question of if they'll stay or not.

This immediately supports Lil Petey's hopes in the situation. I was right, They do still care! They just need to talk with each other and actually talk. And maybe soon Dogman can have his parents again and we can be a big family! Plus- If it annoys Grampa enough maybe he'll admit he's wrong and start actually caring for once!

The kid is abit too optimistic because this is Grampa we're talking about and just because he's been good recently doesn't mean he's been tamed.

Grandpa has no interest in playing along with the kid, he may have not act out recently- all because that big loaf of a purple cat wouldn't let him anytime he was outside. But this time he eat what he wants, say what he wants, take what he wants and DO what he wants.

Of course Gramps can't try to steal everything in the house but 1) the house is endless. 2) he'll be robbing from a cop, and Gramps is smarter then THAT! So he sticks with playing along, at least act like he cares... but he'll make sure the dinner isn't COMPLETELY boring. The best/worst thing about Gramps is that he can read people and read them well. Seeing from the two dogs expressions and body language, there must be some tension between them and their son. Some tension, ey? That's fun.

Sorry for no drawing with this but the answer for how the interactions went was... something.

They are tense about the whole thing but they do ask Lil Petey more about himself. And of course LP gladly tells them and even shows a little comic he made before hand with them in it. It's about them and Dogman forgive each other and become a big family- LP isn't sneaking ok but he's trying.

This is all before Dogman and Petey enter the house.

Im sorry that's what yall giving off /j

anyway- I never planned out the full dinner. So even if wrote it out instead of illustrating it, I still wouldn't have much. I'm sorry guys.

I only got these bulletpoints.

Quiet dinner till someone talks first.

Dogman's parents don't have a good bias towards cats. So this is making Petey REALLY irritated. Which cycles back to this REALLY not being a good idea.

LP leaves for a second to make a little phone call

Petey prays that some kind of monster or villain of the week shows up to stop the dinner. But no it's even worse-

Molly should up to help LP and soften the tension.

But the tension finally blows when Gramps decides to spill the ONE big open secret that everyone but him promises to not bring up. "If you hate how your son looks so much then you got Petey to really blame. It is his fault that the old Greg and Knight you knew are gone."

Plates were smashed and food was flying all before dessert.

Gramps was sent back to jail no duh and 80HD took Molly and Dogman's parents home. Petey and Dogman comfort and clean up Lil Petey and tell him- "Although what you did was bad we understand why you did it. But Lil Petey, sometimes there are families that can't reconcile with. No matter how much you want them to, no matter how much you try, it's doesn't mean it will work and that's okay."

"I wish my parents could be in my life, to see us grow and change and cherish everything around us but they can't... I've accepted that, because if I have to choose a family I'm only attracted to by birth that doesn't want me for me OR a mitch-match of misfits that care about each other through thick and thin. Then I'm choosing my misfits no matter what."

I probably made you cry, oops! If this inspires anyone to make something DO IT!! I love creative so go crazy.

[beloveddawn-blog]

Call Out Doom! Aika Has a Sleepover!

Fandom: Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl

Rating: PG for swearing

Summary: Akia and Zira have a sleepover. Evil has other ideas.

Word Count: 2500

Notes: This is for @kianamaiart's amazing new project! The idea came from @shroudtailor in an ask. Sorry for stealing it, but I just fell in love with the idea. Also this might be wildly OOC considering the pilot isn't out yet, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway!

“You could tell me how accurate it is! Wouldn’t that be fun?”

No, that would be the last thing I’d find ‘fun’ Aika thought, but when faced with Zira’s excitement all that she could actually say was, “Sure. Does Thursday work for you? We’ve got a Pro-D day on Friday so we’ll have some extra time.”

“That would be awesome!” Zira cried, vibrating with excitement. “I just gotta check with my Mom, okay? I’ll get back to you by the end of the day! She doesn’t answer my texts at work.”

Aika did her best to hide her wince at that. It was going to be a loooooooong weekend.

*

19:00

Zira’s house

“Thanks so much for coming, Aika! I hope you don’t mind that we’re watching it in the basement. It’s all set up for Dad to have his football buddies over, so at least it’s comfortable. It’s a bit away from the bathroom and kitchen, but we’ll have privacy. If we were in the living room Mom and Dad would be… well… they phrase it as it’s my house and I can go where I want and I guess they aren’t wrong but also, like, I don’t wanna hang out with them today? They’re my parents, they’re embarrassing, and they don’t even like Moon Sailor so I don’t know why they’d wanna watch anyway…” 

“Sound like my kinda people.” Aika muttered under her breath as she followed Zira down the stairs.

“What was that?” Zira asked, turning almost completely around on the stairs in a way that made Aika reflexively reach for them, her training shining through like it always did.

“I said it’s their loss.” She fibbed, basking in the way Zira’s face lit up at that.

“It is.” They agreed. “But that’s okay. I can share it with you now!”

Aika melted at that, her trepidations about the plan leaving her as her resolve hardened. It was just an anime. She reminded herself. If Zira likes it this much, how bad can it really be?

*

19:23

Zira’s House

“Don’t touch that cat!” Aika yelled at the screen, stuffing popcorn in her mouth. “That cat is bad news! Walk on by, girlie!”

“That would make for a very short show.” Zira replied wryly, sitting primly on the edge of the couch to avoid Aika’s animated limbs.

“It would make for a very happy show.” Aika insisted, inspecting her next handful of popcorn critically. Zira had no idea what she was looking for, but it appeared she found it as she stuffed that one in her mouth as well.

“Then it would just be a show about her failing her math test. Who’d watch that?”

“Excuse you, Azumanga Daioh is amazing.”

*

20:52

Zira’s House

“Dooooooooooon’t. Don’t do that. Just don’t.” Aika was hiding behind her hands like she was expecting a jumpscare. Zira shifted towards her in concern. The mist and the computers were a little creepy, but this still wasn’t really a scary episode. For someone who fought for real at times, Aika was being a bit of a baby about this.

“Don’t just declare her your friend, you only just met her.” She continued, her voice so soft Zira had to strain to hear it. The main girl embraced her new teammate, and Aika hid behind her hands with a squeak.

You’d have thought it was Jason with his chainsaw, the way she was acting.

*

22:22

Zira’s House

“Have you ever been on a cruise ship?” Zira asked, curious about the way Aika was scoffing.

“No. But do you hear those two? Ridiculous! She should have taken her night off and let her so-called friends deal with this nonsense. A long bubble bath would be way better than fighting a sea monster, and they said they didn’t want her there!”

*

22:45

Zira’s House

“Wait, they actually have character deaths in this show? I thought it was for kids!”

“... He’s a bad guy.”

“Still.”

*

00:39

Zira’s House

“She’s so stupid. So stupid. Why is everyone so stupid?”

“She’s in love.” Zira replied softly, taking some offence at Aika’s sarcasm for the first time.

“She’s still better than that. She can’t be making mistakes like this. Not this late in the game. Not with this much riding on them… And not when it’s so obviously a trap. Be honest, Zira, don’t you think you’d hesitate on the One True Love thing if it turned out they were flirting with every girl in town? Don’t you think she deserves better than a love like that?”

Zira paused, then nodded. It caused Aika to tug slightly on their hair from where she was styling it into two buns (“So we’ll match!). Aika let go then, and her voice dropped even softer. “She deserves her own future. Not just what everyone says fate has in store for her.

Zira didn’t know how to answer that, so she just laid her head on Aika’s knee in comfort.

*

03;17

Zira’s House

“Zira… I’m sorry to say this but I need to go to sleep.” Aika had curled up against the arm of the sofa almost two episodes ago, and now she was starting to do that jerk-startle thing that made it clear sleep was imminent.

Zira pouted. They couldn’t help it! This had been… This had been nice, even if Aika did take everything the characters did a bit personally. Halfway through the second villain arc she’d actually developed some sort of rubric and was giving all of the main characters scores like they were figure skaters and Zira had laughed so hard at some of her commentary that their sides still hurt.

They just… Didn’t want this to end.

Aika jerked awake again and Zira nodded, acknowledging that her friend-they were friends-was at the end of her rope.

“Alright. Pop up for a moment. The couch pulls out.”

Aika groaned dramatically and flopped herself over the arm of the sofa, landing in an undignified heap on the floor. Zira couldn’t help smirking at that, especially since it was so obviously on purpose. “‘S all yours.” She slurred with a slight wave. “Have at.”

Zira laughed again, then quickly set up the bed. As fast as it had been, Aika had still almost passed out on the floor. Zira had needed to help her up and tuck her in.

“Not much of a teenager sleepover.” She teased, though truth be told all of their information on sleepovers was theoretical. “I thought we’d aim for sunrise.”

Aika snorted. “Past m’bedtime. By… lotttttttttt… Hoshi g’n’a fight ‘bout it. “Mind me a… smother…” The last word trailed off in a soft exhale as she passed fully out, a surprisingly loud snore her next noise.

Zira tamped down on the wild urge to coo about it and instead got herself into the other side of the bed. They’d switched to pjs shortly after midnight with this in mind. And, as much fun as it was to tease Aika, she was also fading fast.

Between one breath and the next, darkness came.

*

06:23

Zira’s House

“Hmmm? Whazzat?” Zira muttered, a strange noise pulling them from sleep.

“Don’t worry about it.” A soft, familiar voice replied and Zira smiled. “It’s just the star shard.”

Zira hummed and fell back asleep.

*

10:03

Zira’s House

Zira was awoken suddenly by a loud thump. She shot up in alarm, only to blink dazedly at Aika. Aika, who was wearing her work uniform. Aika, who was staring at the floor in confusion as she tried to figure out why she was lying on it.

Zira blinked and went with the obvious question. “Are you alright?”

Aika turned her gaze up, then grinned when she saw Zira. “Oh good. Right basement this time.”

Zira turned that over in her mind for a moment before disregarding it. That wasn’t a question they needed answered right now.

“Do you need a hand?”

Aika waved her own around. “Got TWO!” She proudly announced, followed by a pitiful, “Owwwwwwie,” as she brained herself with her own staff.

“Have you been…” Zira hesitated, not quite knowing how to phrase this. “Out?”

“Growth ray got tested on a Chiuaua.” She confirmed, flopping down onto the floor. “Didn’t want to hurt the dude, ‘s not his fault, but the downtown was a mess. During rush hour too!”

Zira nodded, not quite sure how else to acknowledge that. “So… you definitely need a nap. Did you want breakfast first? Mom got this whole Dutch… thing for us to have. There’s bread and like four types of cheese and these weird chocolate sprinkles. Her uni roommate used to feed it to her on the weekend.”

Aika shook her head petulantly. “Nooooooooo. We had a… a plan. To watch the thing. Your thing. With the magic girls. I’m fine. I’ve had like… four redbulls. They’ll kick in in a moment.”

“Aika… You’re in no shape to watch Moon Sailor right now. You won’t even be able to pay attention.” They got out of bed and stretched. “Besides, I’m hungry. I’m gonna go grab us breakfast, kay? Just wait here.”

Aika gave her a thumbs up and a grin that held just an edge of mania to it as Zira passed… and was expectedly asleep on the floor upon return. Zira shook her head and hoisted her friend back onto the bed. Aika’s transformation had faded as soon as her conscience did, and Zira made sure to place the star shard carefully on the side table where Aika could see it as soon as she woke up.

It was precious, after all. It was what allowed Aika to transform.

*

15:37

Corner Store Near Zira’s House

“I’ve told you like a dozen times that you don’t need to apologize.” Zira insisted, snagging some gummy worms off the display. “Now pick a candy so we can go look at whatever dubious cheeses they have paired with the pepperoni over there.”

“For now.” Aika replied glumly. She perked up afterwards, but Zira could tell it was just a mask. Those words turned themselves over and over in her mind, but she put that away as well.

For now she would honour Aika’s unspoken plea and match her energy. They still had a whole weekend together. There was no sense in ruining it now.

*

16:53

Zira’s House

“Don’t eat too many of those pep ‘n’ cheds.” Zira warned. “Dad’s doing a BBQ tonight. You’re gonna want room for burgers.”

Aika stared critically at the snack in her hand, completely ignoring the show in the background. “I’m not sure if I’m tasting the cheese or just the spices from the pepperoni. I’ll have to give Monterey Jack another try some other time, I think.”

“Sounds like a plan.” They replied, tuning back in to the show just in time to watch two of the heroes make utter fools of themselves in front of a guy who already had a girlfriend. She winced. Aika probably had the better idea.

*

21:33

Zira’s House

“Thanks for being such a good sport about that.” Zira commented softly, eyes boring holes into the second fake male lead in as many days. “They… ah… have been worried. About the no friends thing. So they’re… A bit overdoing it. Thanks for not making it weird.”

Aika laughed, followed by one of the groans she’d been periodically letting out since her fourth burger. It had not stopped her from having a fifth. “Dude, don’t even worry about it. Your Mom brought seven types of cheese home with her. Seven. Then made a cheese platter while your Dad was cooking! I’m just glad I didn’t make it weird myself by asking to be adopted on the spot!”

Zira laughed at that, ignoring how weird an adoption would make… things. “I’m pretty sure you’d want to go home eventually. Their overwhelming parentness really starts to grate after a few days.”

Aika hummed, sounding unconvinced. “Why do people keep falling for the fake dude? Can’t any of these airheads tell it isn’t him?”

Zira let herself be distracted, as ready as Aika to drop the subject.

*

21:43

Zira’s House

“He fell for the fake too?? Never mind, those dumbasses deserve each other!”

*

23:58

Zira’s House

“They enrolled in Princess school?!? How do they keep getting dumber every episode? That’s it, they all fail this episode. All of them. And what sort of Finishing School teaches frisbee anyway??”

*

02:07

Zira’s House

“SHIT! Shit, don’t panic!” Aika sprang from the couch in a manner that completely belied the way she had been dozing mere seconds previous. Her star shard was pulsing and vibrating in a way she knew very well, but had been hoping wouldn’t happen for at least a few days (forever).

“Again?” Zira asked, and Aika flinched at the implied criticism in the question.

“Sorry.” She replied, staring down at her most hated possession and wishing it to the depths of the ocean. “I’m really sorry. I know we’re on the finale now and the timing is terrible…”

“Fuck the timing.” Zira replied with fervor. “Aika, you’ve had like nine hours of sleep across the last three days. You can’t go out now!”

Aika gave her a grin, but there was too much darkness in it to lighten anything. “That’s just how it is, Zira. I don’t get movie nights, I don’t get family meals, heck I don’t even get birthdays off. I’ve snuck out of both of the last Christmases. Even most on-call jobs you can schedule some important time off, but not here.  I have to answer, so I’m never going to get to have anything that’s mine again. That’s what being a Magical Girl means. We just saw two of them die, and it’s supposed to be sad but I was jealous. They don’t have to answer the call anymore.”

That was entirely too heavy for Zira to manage at this time of night, so instead she just said the first thing that came to mind. “There’s four more seasons. They come back.”

“OF COURSE THEY FUCKING DO!!!”

*

03:15

Zira’s House

Aika was fairly certain this was the right basement and she wasn’t going to have any more incredibly awkward encounters. She was proven right when she was Zira, still waiting up for her, and she smiled.

“Sorry ‘bout… that.” She said, covering a giant yawn that appeared in the middle. “I was as quick as I could be. Let’s finish off this finale.”

Zira eyed her critically, then shook her head. Aika felt her heart drop to her feet. One more who can’t take it…” She thought, but was surprised when Zira just came over to wrap her in a blanket and hand her a cup of milk. She blinked at it, caught totally off guard.

“The internet said the fight was over.” Zira admitted, fidgeting with the edge of the blanket. “So I got you some milk. We’ll watch the finale tomorrow. For now, I think we could both use some sleep.”

Zira led her towards the bed, and Aika followed in a complete daze. She wasn’t sure yet if this was the first step to acceptance or leaving… but for now she’d take it. She’d take it.

For some reason her teammates had never been as lonely as she was.

She felt asleep with the warmth of a friend beside her, and her last thought was maybe I don’t have to be any more.

She’d forget it before she woke.