#have a whiff on me

[mylordshesacactus]

Okay, I didn't want to clog up the notes of someone else's post with something tonally different because that's rude, but. I Need to elaborate some more about no-kill vs open-intake shelters because I feel like some people still don't get it.

I'm gonna use an example here: My cat, Nepenthe, came from a small municipal open-intake shelter (I don't use the term "kill shelter" because I think it's obscene and cedes ground to ARA fuckwits for no reason) in an area with a NOTORIOUSLY awful stray cat problem.

She was on the euthanasia list. She was next in line on the euthanasia list.

They would never have been cruel or manipulative enough to say it that baldly, of course, but...I can read. Status was "at rsk", with two days' grace before ticking over into "extreme risk", the red zone. The ones who have had the most time, the most chance, if the shelter ever runs out of cage space.

I have gone the fuck off on people who hear that and immediately assume I will tolerate them bashing or insulting that shelter.

Because here's the thing about Penny. She is my baby, my darling, light of my life, and if I hadn't come along, euthanizing her would have been not only necessary but an ethical obligation.

She was neurotic, traumatized, and unpredictably aggressive--not "I'm bad at feline body language and ignoring her subtle back-off signals" unpredictable, I mean "we showed footage to a professional feline behaviorist and their immediate reaction was 'oh that is NOT normal'" unpredictable. "Actual legitimate psychological problems" unpredictable. The previous three times she had met with potential adopters, she attacked them unprovoked and had to be recaptured by a vet tech wearing a bite sleeve designed for aggressive dogs. She was the textbook definition of unadoptable.

She could not be fostered. There was absolutely no way she could live in a home with small children, or older children, or an elderly person with thin skin, or anyone who would get upset if they were clawed in the face without warning every few days.

Now, here's some math for you, keyboard warrior writing up a condescending screed about how there's Never Any Excuse for euthanizing a healthy animal:

The average length of stay in that shelter, for a healthy cat, was roughly two weeks. Which means, on average, assuming fast turnover, a single cage space in that shelter can save the lives of 24 cats every year.

Penny, when I met her, had been there for 43 days. A month and a half. Three times the average length of stay.

I love her. She has improved my life immeasurably and there is nothing I wouldn't do for her. Her life is not more valuable than the lives of the other 23 cats who might have been saved by the slot she was taking up. Euthanasia, if space had run out, would have been the only ethical option.

(Yes, obviously I DID show up and I DID choose her. But frankly? I was a grad student with a psychology degree, studying to be a therapist, living alone, no plans to have kids, a private room where she wouldn't have to interact with other people or animals, de-facto engaged to a professional animal behaviorist; I was ACTIVELY LOOKING for an edge-case project cat, and could calmly and intelligently articulate my understanding of the seriousness of her behavior and my plan for helping her. You can't count on that happening. I was a fucking unicorn.)

No-kill shelters have the INCREDIBLE luxury of deciding who to save. They have the luxury of having all the time in the world to wait. And in the meantime, what exactly do you think is happening to the other animals? The ones they DON'T pick? The ones there's no room for? Do you think they magically don't need to be surrendered anymore? Does Santa Claus find them a home, perhaps?

You can't reduce the life of an animal to math. Good, ethical no-kill shelters can be wonderful resources--either taking highly-adoptable animals from open-intake shelters to free up space as efficiently as possible, or else taking in behaviorally or medically complicated dogs who need more time to find their perfect match than open-intake shelters can give.

But if you're going to shit on open-intake shelters, you don't get to be a fucking coward about it. So here. Prove how much smarter you are.

You've run out of space. Every cage is full. The cat cannot be fostered. You've filled all your available foster slots with other cats, to buy her time. The "no-kill" shelters are full--they pulled the cats they thought they could save, and the scruffy, psychologically-unsound, adult black domestic shorthair with chronic herpes? Nobody wants her. In this world her unicorn's not coming.

She's had three times as long as every other cat here. You have given her every chance, wrote her a lovely bio, moved other cats to other shelters to keep space open so you didn't have to make this choice; but she mauled someone else today and there's a sweet, cuddly, highly-adoptable tabby with no problem behaviors being checked in right now. If you can't put that new cat somewhere it's going to be euthanized without even being given a chance, even though it is extremely adoptable and would likely find a new home within a week.

You don't have a magic wand. You can't wish a conveniently empty second shelter into existence. Every option has been exhausted.

Look me in the eye, and tell me which one dies.

[welcometogrouchland]

I love Steph's origin as told in the Secret Origins 80 page giant- I just overall think it strengthens her character by giving her a lot of pathos and adding to her heroism (which isn't something writers were focused on in her actual intro in detective comics #647 since she was just meant to act as a plot device back then) BUT there is one tiny detail in it i will begrudge, and that is the portrayal of her having a minor love at first sight moment for tim

Secret origins 80 page giant, ID in alt

(or well, technically this was their second meeting in that story (the brick was the first) so...love at second sight?)

Mostly because Stephanie showed no interest in her introduction and only showed romantic feelings towards Tim AFTER this moment here:

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Straight up the progression here goes:

The adventure in 'tec where they first meet -> Tim investigating the same crime scene as Steph -> she beats him up not knowing it's him at first, apologizes but says he shouldn't have scared her -> he remembers her/the moniker she goes by -> they talk about plot for a few pages -> Stephanie starts flirting

Robin (1993) #4, ID in alt

Which...is so fascinating to me and says so much about Stephanie. She highlights the fact that Tim "remembered" her. Like. Steph. Girl. This is our bar? It's sweet but kind of speaks to how much Stephanie is ignored at home/how little and sporadically she's shown interacting with her peers (and rarely ever the same kids twice). Her idea of peak romance is just...being on someone's mind even when you're not there.

Kind of also adds layers to Steph's proclivity towards jealousy later on, a manifestation of her insecurity and loneliness (though don't get it twisted, she's not written this way bc Dixon and co think it's an interesting character flaw, they wrote it bc they think it's an inherent character flaw of (particularly young) women/girls, which is very apparent in how he approaches Ariana's character as well from what I've read)

Also the fact that Steph becomes so smitten for Tim almost immediately after this is (a few issues later she aggressively flirts with him during AN ACTIVE HOSTAGE SITUATION. WHERE SHE'S THE HOSTAGE) again is kind of a mixture of kind of funny and sad. One boy is nice to her once and she's fully ready to wife him. Girl you are deranged (affectionate) (concerned)

[unexpectedbrickattack]

Okay so i know this is your askbox and everything but I want to say that i feel like the bosses would start to hate pizzahead after peppino tells them what he was planning on doing, because as far as I know they were simply hired to guard the keys and look out for peppino.

I have some very minor tweaks to this but for the most part i agree!

put under a readmore bc i dont wanna clog up any potentially Non-Exploded pt tags lmao

-Pepperman, the eccentric man that he is gets shown 1 (one) image of a fucked up drawing of peppino and hes like ‘yes yes fat little human man, got it.’ And continues sculpting as if he hadnt heard pizzahead at all. Hes the MOST startled when peppino enters his arena bc he literally forgot he had to fight him 😭 hes like WHO is this little sweaty human in my fucking ART STUDIO????!! and then immediately gets stomped.

He is definitely indifferent to pizzahead; he didnt really care about this weird man and even postgame hes like well. This sly dog led me straight to my muse so I cannot be too angry with him 🤔

-Vigilante is like ‘hmm. Never seen this man round these parts; whatd he do?’ And pizzahead is like if you need a reason; its no longer just a simple request; its a bounty. And Vigilante it like ‘well... A bountys a bounty; if he wanders into my town he aint comin back out’ and pizzahead is like great! Fantastic! Im holding you up to that 🧡

Vigilante is probably the one most angry about pizzahead. Hes not exactly lawful good but he does Not like being used as Hired Muscle. He hunts down Bad People; not a human some weirdo has a personal vendetta against. He doesnt know exactly WHAT that vendetta is but its not worth his time and its not worth getting his cheesy ass handed to by Peppino again 😭

-The Noise craves violence and destruction. Hes a little menace! He also likes money. LOTS of money. And lucky for him, Pizzahead had seemingly Infinite Funds. Funds that he used to hire the Noise; to utilize this brats WEALTH of questionable tools and contraptions in case Peppino climbed his way through the tower. The noise was like ‘ur hosting this shitshow on TV? give me a 40/60 split from whatever ur filming and you have a deal’ and he does NOT find it troubling at all that Pizzahead is so eager to accept this.

He never figures out that the recorded content was never actually hosted anywhere. He eventually tries searching it up, asking his agents to look up anything recent with his face in it but they all come up emptyhanded. When asked about a name or title or scheduled tv slot and publishing, hes a bit sheepish to admit he never asked. Thats not his job! Thats his agents job! Hes so weirded out though; Pizzahead gave him a Ton of money. Obviously not alot by the Noise’s standards but more than what most people could even remotely afford. Weird. Well he got money and Peppino doesnt try to kill him unless he ignores the restraining order placed on him so its okay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

-Fake peppino cant really comprehend hate. But he does comprehend…distrust. A man comes up to him, gives him a picture of some human, asks him to make sure this human does NOT make it to the top of the tower- ‘nononono. Listen to me. He does NOT make it past you. Do you understand that? I am serious. If you see this man come by your sorry excuse for a shop, kill him. Maim him. Eat him; i dont care WHAT you do as long as he does Not get this fucking key.’

And Fake Peppino just nods. But hes so wary despite his dopey expression. Hes got little goosebumps prickling along the back of his neck as the man hands him the key and a picture of the human. A human that looks like him. JUST like him. In the back alley of his poorly lit pizzeria. Just like him…Hes a bit taller than the man in the picture but…just like him… just like him just like himjustlikehimjustlikehim- ‘Yeah, yeah, just like you, but listen- listen; hes messin' with My business and you gotta understand that, right? You have a business too! Whatever this…*gestures weakly* is. You would be. Sad. If someone destroyed your business. Right?’

A slow nod.

‘Exactly! See? Right on the same page! Thats why im countin on you!’

When Fake Peppino gets to see that Human Peppino has his own Pizzeria; a pizzeria that almost got destroyed (a BUSINESS just like his...) everything seems to click into place at once. Hed probably maul Pizzahead like a chimpanzee 😭 WHAMWHAMWHAM BASH THAT DOUGHY FACE IN !!!!!!! Peppino doesnt need the manpower, but its Nice to have the equivalent of a bulldog guarding his shop

[xxplastic-cubexx]

You should become a streamer

once upon a time i tried that

[rainbowtransform]

We need to gatekeep d20

[hatosaur]

if/when we get tlou3, what would you want to see happen? realistically OR your total dream scenario, either way...where do you see ellie's story going? what would you love to see and what would you hateeee to see go down?

realistically speaking, i imagine tlou3 would be what wraps up the franchise. if there's ever going to be more games after part 2, i pray to god naughty dog doesn't milk the franchise and make a billion games. people like to say "well, what if they focused on characters other than joel and ellie?" to which i say, shut the fuck up, you don't understand the last of us, you just want a sad zombie game, and i'm much smarter than you. because tlou IS joel and ellie's story; without ellie and joel, without even the idea of them, it isn't the last of us.

i'll be honest, i don't have any specific plot points that i'd for sure want in part 3. maybe it would be ellie's long journey back home after who knows how long. maybe the ending of part 2 was her deciding she needed to stay out of people's lives but circumstances drag her back home. abby and lev are just a part of it now -- it'd be weird to have them for one game and then just forget about them lol -- so they could share the focus. i'm not a big fan of firefly plots but that's their through-line if ellie crashes into abby and lev's path or vice versa. whatever, i kinda don't really care about the nitty-gritty.

but what i do want, over anything in the entire world, is ellie finally getting a happy ending. now this only works if part 3 is actually the end of the story, which again i hope it is. the game would be shit if ellie gets another bad ending or dies in the end (though her dying could be done right, i'd just prefer her death not be a tragic, depressing one). to me, the point of the games isn't the darkness of humanity or the futility of hope the way people say. it's about love, from beginning to end. it's love that drives joel to disastrous ends all for ellie, it's love that sends ellie on a revenge mission lamenting her chance to reconcile with joel, it's love that causes dina to follow ellie and then to ultimately leave the farmhouse with jj, it's love that forms abby and lev's duo and gets them as far as they do. no one wants to see it, because it's "corny" or whatever, but it's true.

ellie dying a tragic death or losing everything again or ending up somewhere in a depressive state doesn't round off any themes, because if the point of the games where that humanity is shit and love doesn't prevail, things would have been much, much darker.

ellie is a symbol of hope in the first game and a symbol of doom in the second, and i would love it if the third game could just allow her to be a person without any heroic or self-destructive sense of purpose. make her come to a point where she sees that her value lies in something beyond being a cure or an avenger; and maybe that's just being a person. being there in her loved ones lives. being a mom and partner, or a valued member of her community.

there is no point to be made in ellie reaching a new low -- she reaches rock bottom at the end of part 2 -- because there's nothing to say there. saying "everything is shit and horrible and everything good in the world dies" directly clashes with the moral of the first game, that even in a hellscape of monsters, infected or not, you can find purpose. ellie is joel's purpose in part 1. revenge is ellie's "purpose" in part 2. what about part 3?

again, it's "corny," so people won't want it, but what if it was just...her family?

it makes the most sense to me, the series begins with joel's loss of family, so why not end with ellie gaining hers back?

[enhanced-operatives-division]

A 4th IEYTD game won't be enough I need starstuck to have a canon interaction

[heynhay]

you do not want to do that OP I promise

[unsettlingcreature]

I personally find it a little strange that none of the four organisers for Dashcon 2 have any form of social media presence besides some LinkedIn profiles. I know we aren't owed those things but considering they are aiming for some transparency, the fact that if this goes horribly wrong they could just disappear into the ether is... hm.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

the fact that they didn’t include this whole Fyodor memory sequence in the s5 finale, while obviously likely due to lack of time, is suspicious because it occurring here implies that it could potentially lead into some major reveals about the ending of this arc, like that Fyodor intended to “die” the whole time as part of his plan and that he was never actually fooled by cosplaying vamp Chuuya, but more specifically maybe even some shenanigans with the Book explaining many of the plot holes and strangely ooc moments, tying into super saiyan Fukuchi at the end that seemingly comes from another world, because they wouldn’t want to put this setup in the finale if it’s leading into stuff like this; it makes perfect sense for it to be the opening scene of season 6 instead, leading up to everything being explained— *am taken out back and silenced*

[strictlybecca]

i know google has gotten worse and we all know it but nothing proves it more to me than the fact that i cannot find a fic i read that i actually remember more than one thing about

[alibonbonn]

Kittens season just started and I've got 2 new foster babies to raise!

Meet the wretched beasts, Dilly and Dally

[spinnysocks]

Do u ever get the urge to rapidly sniff stuff out of curiosity? Like in a curious critter sorta way

yes!!! if there's a nice smell it must be discovered >:3 but yeah, absolutely! especially when i'm in a forest, i see animal tracks and have such an urge to follow them and see where all the animal-made trails lead. the curiosity is an instinct :]

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

tonight I go to bed grateful not to be in my bnha phase right now

[haganez]

me when i put on perfume and people tell me i smell nice

[feliciadraws]

HI THANCRED HELLO HI