#need side by side of them and my guinea babies

[chicgeekgirl89]

Thanks to @strandnreyes and @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad for the tags!

From something new that I'm working on:

Carlos walks over and pats the side of T.K.’s thigh. “Move please,” he says mildly, waiting until T.K. shifts over enough that he can get into the drawer that’s hidden behind his legs.  He extracts the spoon he needs and then taps the space again indicating that T.K. can move back, which he does, still talking. “We had a pet frog in my class when I was in third grade. His name was Sir Henry. He died on the hundredth day of school.” At this T.K. looks a little glum. Then he perks up. “But my teacher got a hamster after that and we got to vote on a name. We picked Pikachu.” “Sounds fun.” “I wonder if hamsters have a symbiotic relationship with another animal,” T.K. says, picking his phone back up again. “Hm. Nope,” he says after a minute. “But, hamsters will eat their babies if you don’t separate them. Oh! Did you know that it’s illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland? You have to have two because they’re social animals and they’ll get lonely. But then in Peru people eat them for special occasions. Isn’t that crazy how different those two countries are?” “Almost as crazy as spiders keeping frogs as pets.” “I wish I had a pet frog,” T.K. says. “Do you think Buttercup would eat it?” “I’ve seen Buttercup eat his own poop. Yes. I think he would eat a frog if he could catch it."

If you have no idea what's happening here, you and Carlos are in the same boat lol.

Tagging @lemonlyman-dotcom, @bonheur-cafe, @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut, @carlos-in-glasses, @carlos-tk, @ladytessa74, @liminalmemories21 and anyone else who would like to share!

[burstingwithbellies]

"Today, students, we are learning about--" The professor huffs, not merely because the size of his womb prevents his lungs from fully expanding, although it certainly made things ironic. "--The reproductive system." He looks out across the auditorium, the scores of students in attendance, and scattered throughout are the five responsible for his current condition. And each of them is wearing a smug expression. He tries not to give them any overdue attention; he already looked overdue as it was. His belly jutted out in front of him like an exercise ball, comparable in both sides and shape, though thankfully he was able to afford custom garments tailored to his... unique dimensions. It wasn't just his belly that was obscenely large; his entire body had changed to match, to support this incredible pregnancy. He wasn't slim to begin with, months and months ago when he took those five students on, but the rest of his curves were proportional to his belly. Thick and powerful thighs were needed to lug this boulder of a baby bump around; tremendous hips that made traditional doorways a challenge each and every time; and not to ignore the elephant in the room, his breasts had swollen to ludicrous proportions, each larger than a typical third-trimester belly. A great deal of his salary was now sacrificed to his wardrobe, in need of constant updates so to continue covering his flesh so not to risk indecently. Even so, the buttons of his vest--which could only hope to contain his breasts at this point--were straining mightily. He feared that they might pop if he moved too quickly or even breathed too deeply... which, as previously established, was a challenge. Mustering all the strength in his arms, he placed his hands underneath the base of his belly and with a great show of effort, hefted the gravid orb as best he could, before waddling over to his desk to give his aching legs a break. He really thought that he could stand for at least a minute before breaking, but that was getting harder every time... so hard in fact, that he didn't make it all the way to his chair before he had to plop his belly onto the desk for a quick breather. His ample chest heaved with every breath. "Apologies, I just need a second to catch my breath," he said into his microphone, then to try and lighten the mood, he cracked a joke at his own expense, "Who better to teach you this lesson today than an expert?" There was a low chuckle throughout the room that quickly died down, because really who could stomach watching a man struggling like this? He could name all five of them. He cursed under his breath, that day of weakness oh so many months ago, when he offered those same students--the lost performing in his class--a bump to their grades. And now he was the one sporting a bump. A ridiculously huge one. According to the last ultrasound, each of them had placed at least one fetus inside him, but he was much, much bigger than quints would suggest. He speculated they'd all taken fertility drugs ahead of time, something new and unknown to the market. Which made him a guinea pig. Wiping the sweat from his brow, instead of trying to lift his belly again, he merely pivoted around the desk before falling back in his seat, causing his whole belly to jostle. That upset the children, and he was immediately assaulted with a battery of angry kicks and punches, forceful enough to stretch his clothes. The professor, quite unintentionally, moaned directly into the microphone as the brood inside him protested their treatment. Some of the students shied away, cringing, turning to their phones to distract themselves from the vulgar sight... But five amid the crowd watched more keenly, practically on the edges of their seats, as they watched their children squirm inside the haughty professor--the professor they had given a master class to, on the finer points of human reproduction. Needless to say, they had enjoyed perfect grades for months~

i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love this i love him 😍

[kata-sans]

Raising Stripe

Chapter 24

Craig was dead on his feet. Work had been especially tiresome that day due to insufferable customers with faulty cars. Everyone in town needed last minute checkups before hitting the road for Thanksgiving holiday. He was glad to have a long break from work.

After a long day at work, Craig was ready to call it a night but his phone began to ring. He didn't even bother to check the ID on his screen before answering, “Hello…Mom!...Sorry, I didn't mean to not call you. I've been crazy busy a-and…No I don't mean I'm too busy for you I just…Thanksgiving dinner?...Sh**! It completely slipped my mind… No we don't have other plans but… Mom no don't say that of course Tweek and I still care about you…Fine we'll be in Denver tomorrow…Love you too. Bye”

Craig groaned loudly into his pillow. His mom always had a way of making him cave into her requests. He heard his husband snickering by the bedroom door. He threw his pillow in his direction which Tweek easily sidestepped.

“Was that your mom on the phone?” Tweek asked full of mirth as he made his way to his side of the bed.

“We forgot about Thanksgiving plans with my family.” Craig stated with annoyance.

Tweek froze, “What! Craig, how did this happen! Your parents are going to think we don't care about them! GAH! We need to start packing. Good thing we restocked the diapers but we might need extra formula.”

Craig suddenly sat up straight with a shocked look. “Babe! I just realized, my parents don't know about Stripe!”

They stared at each other in silent horror. Needless to say, this Thanksgiving was going to be memorable in the Tucker household.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laura Tucker was placing the final touches on her famous turkey marinade when she heard the sound of a car in the driveway. She quickly made it to door and saw her son and son-in-law climbing out of their car. Craig noticed her and had a guilty expression on his face.

“Hey Mom. I have a surprise for you. Please don't freak out.” Craig said as he moved to open the backseat.

Laura almost fell down in shock when she saw her son pull out a baby car seat from the car. She let out a shriek of excitement, “Craigory Tucker! Why didn't you tell me! Oh! THOMAS! Come here!”

Craig's father came rushing out at the sound of Laura's shouts. Thomas was surprised when he noticed his wife hovering over the baby carrier in Craig's hands. He joined his wife and clapped his son on the back in congratulations before suggesting moving indoors.

Inside the house, Laura had quickly taken the baby into her arms before confronting the couple about their surprise. “Craig, you brat! Why didn't you tell me about my grandbaby? What's his name? Are you fostering or did you adopt him?”

Craig cleared his throat, “Well umm, it's a funny story. You see, this is Stripe…”

Laura gasped, “You named him after your Guinea Pig!”

“No! The baby is our guinea pig. There was an accident and our friend Kenny turned him into a human baby.” Tweek explained.

Laura and Thomas were shocked. They could hardly believe the baby in Laura's arms used to be a guinea pig. He looked and acted just like a real baby. They spent an hour asking questions about Stripe and soon became comfortable with the situation. Regardless of the circumstances, they were going to enjoy the experience of having a cute baby in the family to dote on.

"Well regardless of how he came to be... Nana has something special in her attic for you." Laura said switching to baby talk when she addressed Stripe.

Laura immediately led the family into the attic. She instructed the men to move furniture and boxes until she found what she was looking for. Finally they found what she insisted on finding and together they pulled out into the living room three boxes labeled “Craig's Baby Stuff.”

Tweek was excited to see the momentos from Craig's childhood. Craig on the other hand was curious but embarrassed by the idea of Tweek rummaging through his baby items. The first box was full of baby clothes. Tweek gushed when he pulled out a tiny set of yellow rain boots. Laura pulled out the matching raincoat and pointed to a photo album in the box. Before Craig could grab the book to hide it, Tweek snatched it and began flipping through the pages.

“Aww. Craig you were adorable. Is this a picture of the raincoat?” Tweek asked as he pointed to the picture in the book.

“Yes, it was a gift from his grandma. He would always insist on going out in the rain just to wear it.” Laura said with a laugh.

Tweek continued to flip through the book until he found a picture of Craig standing next to a Winnie the Pooh mascot. He smirked and showed the image to Craig. “Look what I found.”

Craig frowned, “Burn it!”

Laura rolled her eyes, “Are you still holding a grudge against Winnie the Pooh? Craig that was years ago.”

Tweek perked up, “Is there really a reason he hates that bear?”

“Oh Craig used to love Winnie the Pooh.” She pulled out some toys with the cartoon bear. Stripe immediately reached out to grab the toys and Laura handed them over. “Craig would beg me to buy these for him. You can imagine how excited he was when we went to Disneyland and he met his idol in real life.” Laura laughed as she held up the picture.

“Anyways when Craig was four, we went on a trip to the zoo. Craig was eager to visit the bear exhibit because one of them was named Winnie. When we made it to the bear cave the poor thing was dead asleep. Craig really wanted to see Winnie and he began to shout and tap the glass. The bear was so mad, he charged towards Craig and scared him.” Everyone bursted into laughter while Craig turned red in embarrassment.

“Bears are stupid! That's all!” Craig tried to defend himself from his family's ridicule.

“Oh Craig it's okay to admit bears scare you.” Tweek said as he calmed down.

“I am not scared of a dumb cartoon bear!” Craig said petulantly.

Tweek kissed his cheek, “Sure, babe. Whatever you say.”

Thomas suddenly came into the room with a dusty trash bag. “I found it Laura!”

Laura jumped up with the baby in her arms. “Wonderful Thomas! Pull it out to see if it's still in one piece.”

Thomas nodded and pulled out a flat baby walker from the large black bag. He pulled it open and set it on the floor. Laura was pleased to see the bag had kept it clean and proceeded to place Stripe in the seat.

Stripe inspected his new chair. He noticed a tray full of toys in front of him and eagerly began to fiddle with each one. He had a rolling toy, a squeaky button, and a loop d’loop toy. Stripe was enthralled and began to kick his feet in joy. He ran his fingers through toy enjoying the cacophony of noise each one caused.

Tweek pulled out his phone and began to take pictures of Stripe in his new toy. Laura followed suit quickly snapping pictures of her grandbaby. She grabbed Craig's baby album and turned to a picture of Craig sitting in the exact same walker as an infant. Tweek and Laura compared Craig and Stripes' pictures laughing at how similar they appeared to be. The family enjoyed their time before preparing for dinner.

Ch23

Ch25

[ananke-xiii]

Form and Void... Hands and Hearts.

Intro + the post before this you kinda need to read them all or it won't make a lot of sense lol

Dean and Crowley's relationship is not fun.

Full disclosure here: I have no problems in terms of shipping and having fun with the characters outside of what's canon but I personally don't see Dean's canon relationship with Crowley as "fun", it's not something that I particularly enjoy watching. Like, the actors are great etc. but the actual story makes me feel... uncomfortable. I actually find it sad that Dean's still attached to Crowley because, as much as I like him as a character, the King of Hell acts like a total predator towards Dean and this episode highlights this side of their relationship in uncomfortable ways. So be warned that things get a little ugly from here.

Let's see how food is treated in the episode: Crowley is presented as "Father Crowley" while he puts sugar in his tea and calls Dean "a rather scrumptious altar boy". The image I get from this is both that of the sugar daddy and, because of the religious references, of the scandals surrounding the Vatican and its priests (I'm trying to be as sensitive as I can but the show is really not and Crowley literally makes a reference to these events later on in the episode).

Father Crowley is a piece of shit.

He will later pull up in a van and kidnap young Amara with this line:

My, haven't you grown into a sweet young thing? Want some candy, little girl?

If we consider that Amara and Dean are connected (by the mark that's above Amara's heart and that was on Dean's right arm) Dean and Crowley's past relationship doesn't look so much fun anymore (well, it never was fun to begin with as I've written although the show did its best to make it look like it was fun with the karaoke, the cowboy hats and the sex. I mean, on paper it does look like fun if we can just forget that Dean was very much Crowley's guinea pig).

In case you were wondering, Dean and Amara are bound, guys.

Crowley here is the preacher/hunter of "The Night of the Hunter". He dresses like a priest but he's hunting for demons (yeah, I know, it's a clear reference to "The Exorcist" too). He happens to find "the child that eats the souls" and proceed to kidnap her. I mean, brrrrr.

And how does Dean feel about it? He still loves him! Poor, poor, poor Dean.

While Sam went for the heart of Poor Guy with the electrocution device, the angels went for Cas' heart (and other parts too) with the angel blades, Dean goes for Crowley's heart with Ruby's knife. Unlike Sam and the angels, he doesn't finish what he had set up to do.

Dean's knife is pointed at Crowley's heart but I'm bad at taking screenshots so this is what you get.

Instead, he pins Crowley's to the wall by stabbing his left hand (the hand of love and receiving) with an angel blade. Visually, it's quite similar (not the same, similar) thing that happened to Cas at the end of S10. It couldn't be more sexual (angels blades are the dicks, also interesting choice of weapon to stab Crowley: Cas' ghost in their relationship is ever present) and more problematic: in a heartbeat Dean goes from prey to predator.

They re-used this very explicit image in S12.

Just like Dean is bound to Amara, he's still bound to his former abuser Crowley. And, I mean, from a storytelling pov it tracks because Amara is very much Crowley's and Dean's baby ("You're very maternal, Dean"). Yeah, I can hear your "ewwww" from here knowing where they went with Dean and Amara but I didn't write the show, they did and I'm picking up the things they've put down. Anyway, Dean and Crowley's relationship will be over only once Dean's not bound to Amara anymore. Or, at least, it should be but like any love triangle writers liked to milk it unti it was dry, i.e. one of the three permadied. This is why, I think, we had the echoes of the same trite trope in S12 too and if you enjoyed it good for you. For me it was torture.

Demons would be the perfect angels. Sam too.

A SPN-related theory of mine is that demons would make perfect angels. Both demons and angels are cursed with the "I get what I want" mentality. Abbadon said it, Crowley says it again in this episode. It's a very angel-like mentality, however demons are unironically more likely to put in the effort, follow the guidelines, work behind the curtains. They would be perfect angels for Chuck.

Ironically this time, angels and demons have hardly ever gotten what they wanted (hello Castiel!). They all tend to work in a certain direction only for the result to backfire in the end or leave them dead. Which reminds of a certain character named Sam Winchester.

"Form and Void" is an episode that explicity parallels Sam to the angels and to Crowley. Sam and Crowley's parallels are my everything. Up until s8 they were quite obvious while after that they're in the story's backbone rather than clearly on screen. If you care, this is one of the reasons why Crowley and Lucifer's power struggle could've been way more interesting if they had thrown in Sam in some capacity instead of doing whatever they did with Sam in s12. *breathes and calms down*

The End (of this rambling post).

"Form and Void" foreshadows how S11 would end: dark and light becoming One. It's something that US tv shows (tended to) do a lot when they deal with Christian themes: when they're going a little over the edge and very close to blasphemy they pull a "Eastern Mysticism" card to signal that they were just kidding! In SPN they did the same thing to Jack in s15. When they deal with God they use buddhist concepts as a cop-out to avoid doing things that may upset Christian believers (and no, canon bisexual God is less of a threat than canon God's older sister who's more powerful, female-presenting and holding a huuuuge grudge or than having a world with no God, no Hell and no Heaven).

Hands and hearts are a huge motifs and they signal what the characters will be doing and/or their true intention/identity. In order to see this, though, one must pay appention to the scene shown at the very beginning of the episode, a scene from the movie "The Night of the Hunter". This specific scene tells us that what we see is the opposite of what the writers mean and that the core theme of S11 is not so much God vs The Darkness but rather love. This love, however, lies in cages protected by keys and it's secret and forbidden but, as that scene tells us, love's a-winnin'. To save the day and let Love still win we've got a giant plot-twist in the form of maternal love and the resurrection of Mary Winchester. The heart's needs are met, its wants are still unknown. You can't always get what you want... SPN really did believe that.

[thegayneapigs]

Hi again! I was wondering if you could help me another time 😂 I've had my two guinea pigs for about 6 months now, and I watched this video on YouTube of the LA Guinea Pig Rescue where they said to bathe your guinea pigs at least every 4 months. I'm a little afraid that they might get sick or have a heart attack. The bigger of them, Abel, is a tad dramatic and Cain is a bit smaller in size. I have the materials to bathe them, it's just now the time to decide if I should. I've heard mixed opinions, and I was wondering what yours is.

Thank you!!!

We've been inactive for a bit on tumblr so this is probably a suuuuuuper late reply. So sorry! Hopefully it can help other piggie parents.

Bathing is such a controversial thing in the guinea pig-verse. At the end of the day, I would trust your instinct and talk with an exotic vet about your specific piggies. That being said, here's what we do.

We only bathe our piggies if we have a reason to. We don't personally feel like any more is necessary; they generally keep themselves fairly well-groomed. In the past when we have bathed them, it's come down to these reasons:

1) They stink. We have one boy (Leo) who is extremely greasy. It builds up in his fur and he starts to smell bad, and honestly it's just gross to pet him. I bathe him about once or twice a year, whenever I feel like he needs it. I mostly just wash his underside and butt area, where the grease and grime tend to accumulate. We use very gentle scent-free baby soap.

2) Moral support. When Leo's brother was alive we used to give him a mini bath too with Leo. We always found Leo was calmer and more well-behaved with a friend. Lynx didn't need it, but Leo appreciated the company.

3) Diarrhea. Kind of self-explanatory. We've had a couple sick pigs who have made a HUGE mess, and in that case we would just give them a butt bath and clean wherever was dirty.

4) Ringworm. We have a boy (Io) who had it a lot when he was young. We found that in addition to the anti-fungal cream, a bath with miconazole shampoo was very effective.

A few tips; just make sure the water is a good temp, you use very gentle soap, dry them off well, and don't get water in their eyes/nose/ears.

Also, we used to have a Silkie, and we would blow dry his hair on a low/cool setting.

I would also recommend to be mindful about where you bathe them - after a few years of trial and error, we use a shallow pan of water in the kitchen sink, and a cup to rinse them off with. (When Leo was very young, he jumped clear over the side of our bathtub. Sara just barely caught him midair. No more bathtubs for us lol.) Make sure the environment is calm and quiet, and use a soothing voice. The calmer you are, the better.

[mj-iza-writer]

SP Special Containment part 3. Human Weapons Whumpee

Caretaker did a quick peak into Whumpee's monitor room to see if everything was okay.

This was a small room off to the side of Whumpee's room. There was several monitors connected to the cameras monitoring Whumpee. Plus one monitored the room quality, and with a click of a button it monitored a new device. Whumpee allowed themslf to be the guinea pig for this new device, it was a bracelet that tracked several health stats. Heart rate, blood pressure, body temp, plus other health stats could be monitored continuously.

Caretaker didn't see anything concerning so they continued on, they had a meeting with the director.

"I spy with my little eye something red."

Caretaker stopped dead in their tracks and backed up.

They saw Whumpee wandering around the room pointing at something.

"No that's not it Whumpee", one of the guards smiled.

"What's going on in here?", Caretaker stepped in.

The guards stood at attention, "good morning."

"Good morning, at ease", Caretaker took a closer look.

"I'm sorry Whumpee, Caretaker just stepped in. What was your answer?", one of the guards listened to their head set, "yes you got it, let me help Caretaker, then we can continue if you'd like, its your round next."

"What's going on in here?", Caretaker asked again curiously.

"I'm multitasking Caretaker", the guard blushed, "we had to test the new two way speakers, Whumpee was bored and had low health stats, so I was trying to entertain them with a game of eye spy. They're pretty good at it."

Caretaker smiled, "that's a really good idea, I appreciate you doing that for them."

"Yes of course", the guard grinned, "do you want to watch a round, they get to spy now."

Caretaker smiled, "of course."

The guard clicked the speaker so everyone in the room could communicate and hear Whumpee.

"Okay Whumpee, do you want to play more? Caretaker is watching."

"Yes", Whumpee plopped on their bed, "I have a hard one for you."

"Bring it", the guard grinned.

"I spy with my little eye something blue", Whumpee leaned back pleased with themself.

"Hmm, you don't have any blue in your room", the guard glanced at the screens, "wait is it your cookie wrapper in the trash bin."

"How did you see that?", Whumpee sat up, "I purposely hid it."

"I'm just that good", the guard laughed.

Caretaker laughed, there was something so funny about a dangerous weapon playing eye spy. Caretaker loved when Whumpee's human sides showed.

"Hey Whumpee, can they hear me", Caretaker tried, "I don't know how these things work.

"I can hear you Caretaker", Whumpee grinned.

"Great, I've enjoyed watching you, but I have a meeting with the director", Caretaker spoke, "I'll be in later to talk with you, and I'll have lunch."

"Okay", Whumpee looked closely into one of the monitors.

Caretaker laughed, "have fun."

Caretaker sat in the boardroom with a few others. This was a meeting amongst staff in charge of the human weapons.

They all talked about their experiences with the weapons. Caretaker just had to tell them about the eye spy game. They all laughed and shared the goofy things they had seen and dealt with.

The director entered and listened for a few minutes to everyone talking before starting the meeting.

"Hello, happy late morning to everyone. This will just be a brief meeting regarding an issue that has arisen in our facility, and others that have the human weapons.", the director explained, "that is showering."

The group collectively groaned.

"Yep, has anyone here attempted to shower their case?", the director looked around the room.

Everyone laughed sarcastically, it was a collective no.

"You saw what happened when I took Whumpee to close to the showers", Caretaker spoke up, "we've been spot cleaning with baby wipes, but I know they are in desperate need of a shower, I can tell they're getting uncomfortable now."

"I got a report from a different holding facility, a guard was accidentally, but seriously injured when a human weapon was in the showers", the director pulled out the document, "we have to figure out something as it is a health concern for the weapons, but we have to be smart about this."

"How about we shower them at the same time or sedate them?", one of the guards questioned.

"That's smart, put them all in the same room, they either fight each other, or team up", another guard spoke up.

"Caretaker I think you've made a lot of headway with Whumpee, and have helped with the other two weapons as well. Do you have any thoughts?", the director looked at them, "I don't think fully sedating them would be good, they could develop trust issues and continue to have bad experiences with the showers."

Everyone agreed.

Caretaker thought for a minute, "Whumpee has been really good about telling me when a blackout happens, and telling me things. The trainers they had were pretty much merciless. They were almost weapons themselves. I can try to talk to them and see if they know a way to make this easier."

Everyone seemed to agree.

"That bracelet seems to be doing well for Whumpee, I looked at the results before coming in here", the director looked up, "maybe we can see if the other two would be willing to try out the bracelet monitors as well, maybe mention it to your case, get an idea of how they may feel about it."

A few questions were asked in response to the bracelet, nothing of major importance.

"We have one more means of business here. Uh, it seems one of the trainers evaded capture, this one was Whumpee's trainer", the director looked up sadly, "all facilities are on high alert in case there is a break in."

Caretaker suddenly felt faint, "wh-what do you mean?"

"After the raid, somehow Whumpee's trainer escaped capture, I just found out. They've gone through the records. He's definitely missing", the director looked down sadly, "again the facilities are all on high alert, I will give you all information as it comes, and please do not tell the weapons, they do not need to know about this risk."

"So what, just don't tell Aramais, he's going to know something is up the moment he sees me", a different weapon caretaker, Andy, spoke up, "they can sense stuff like this."

"Whumpee will ask about the meeting as well, they'll know I'm hiding something", Caretaker sighed.

"We will have to try our best for a few days, they're hoping something was missed, I don't think scaring the Human Weapons is a good idea", the director waved his hands in surrender, "actually that would be dangerous."

Caretaker sighed when leaving the meeting. They smiled at the other two caregivers, "good luck."

"You too sir", they replied.

Caretaker gulped as they carried the food tray to Whumpee's door, and waited to be buzzed in. He forced a smile, and entered.

Whumpee waited until Caretaker had sat in his normal spot. They eyed the food, then Caretaker.

"How was the meeting?", Whumpee approached the food, "can you talk about it?"

"It was mostly about trying to find ways to shower your three, a guard got seriously injured at another facility", Caretaker felt his throat tighten, "everything else was boring though. No need to worry."

Whumpee examined the food closely, "is that why your heart is pounding out of your chest?"

Caretaker panicked, "huh?", was all he could say.

Whumpee stepped in front of him, and examined him, "I know something is up, I haven't heard your heart race like this since we first met", they smiled, "I know it wasn't just about the showers."

Whumpee went back to the food and started to eat, "it's okay, we can get to it on your time sir."

Caretaker felt like they had just been sucker punched in the gut.

"I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to discuss farther. Please trust me, it's for your best interest", Caretaker choked out. There was something more intimidating when Whumpee stared at him like that. This was the weapon. This was the danger.

Whumpee finished eating, then retreated to their bed. They watched Caretaker pull out two packs of cookies, and lay them on their table.

"Is there anything you'd like to say or talk about?", Caretaker stood.

Whumpee looked past him at the wall, "thankyou sir for the food and treats."

Caretaker sighed, "your welcome, let the guards know if you need me, I'll be in my office. Okay."

Whumpee pulled their knees to their chin.

"Yes sir", Whumpee looked at him sadly.

Caretaker stopped by the monitor room and took one last look at Whumpee.

One of the guards that was at the meeting looked back at him, "that was intense, sir."

"Your telling me", Caretaker leaned on the door frame, "I'm not normally that tense around them, but man that was bad. Let me know if I'm needed."

Caretaker looked into the monitor room of the Human Weapon Aramais. He noticed the caregiver Agent Andy watching the monitors, holding a bag of ice to his head.

"How did it go?", Caretaker stepped in.

"He's refusing to eat and threw his slippers at me, I had to get a rescue from the guard", Andy rubbed his head, "he's got good aim."

"Oh no, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, he's communicating right now and has apologized", Andy smiled weakly.

Aramais said something into the speaker.

"Sorry Aramais say that again", Andy spoke into the speaker.

"I'm not hungry, but can I have some water please. I'm sorry again for throwing the slippers. Are you okay?", Aramais then looked into one of the cameras.

"It's okay, Aramais, I'm fine. I know you were frustrated. Next time, please don't aim at my head though", Andy laughed a little, "it's fine if you don't want to eat, we can try at dinner, I'll get you some water."

Andy sighed, "how did yours do?"

"I didn't get hit by slippers, but definitely intimated", Caretaker smiled weakly, "I think we should go to the director and mention what happened."

"I agree", a reply came from the doorway.

Agent McGee, how did yours take it?", Caretaker replied.

"She chucked her food at the cameras and told me to leave", Agent Mcgee stated in exasperation, "then she went insane, this is not safe for us or them", Mcgee sighed, "the guards had to sedate her. Just enough so they could restrain her to clean the food up."

"Should we go now?", Andy questioned, "I need to give Aramais some water first though."

Andy grabbed a water pitcher, then went back to the door to be buzzed in.

"Alright where are the slippers?", they peaked their head in.

Aramais sat on the floor, leaning against their bed, "exactly where they landed after hitting you", Aramais held up his hands, "I'm not armed."

Andy poured the water in Aramais's water bottle, "you're always armed."

"True, I'm sorry again", Aramais looked down, "you didn't deserve that."

"It's okay, I thought it was kind of funny afterwards", Andy eyed the food tray, "I'm gonna take that. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Not hungry, just wish I knew what the big secret was", Aramais looked up, "your radio was still on. Go talk to the director. If they want to keep secrets from us, they need to come down and tell us that themself. Not send you all to do their bidding."

Andy looked at him in shock.

"Tell them when Human Weapons get cornered they become even more dangerous, they have three of us to deal with. Tell them I will be waiting, and I will refuse to eat until they meet with us. At. The. Same. Time", Aramais warned.

Andy stood their visibly shaken up.

Aramais smiled, "don't worry I'm not mad at you, thanks for the water."

Andy forced themself to nod, and quickly went for the door.

"Remember I'm not eating until that director talks to us", Aramais reminded once more.

Andy hurried out the door, and into the monitor room.

Caretaker and agent Mcgee stood their in shock.

"That's a problem", Caretaker frowned, and looked at one of the monitors, "he's looking right at it, like he's looking at me."

"This is not good", McGee frowned, "what do we do."

"We tell the director what happened, and what Aramais said", Andy frowned, "he is going to have to be the director, there is no way around it."

Caretaker frowned, "I felt bad when Aramais said they felt cornered. I can only imagine."

"Okay let's go", Andy started for the door, "Aramais has spoken, and I'm sure he is speaking for the other two as well, and I for one don't want to tick them off."

I bet you want to know what happens next, me too. Part 4 is in the works and will come out soon. -MJ

Taglist. As always please let me know if you want to be added or taken off. It's not a problem at all. @villainsandheroes @the-beasts-have-arrived @sacredwrath @porschethemermaid @written-by-jayy

[msfcatlover]

AT LAST! THE ZOMBIE TIMELINE!!!

Huge thanks to @666imgoingtohell, whose suggestions finally gave the creative side of my brain the kick it needed to work out Steph’s timeline! Here’s what I’ve got so far.

(Warnings for all things Joker, implied torture & experimentation, disease, death, suicide, eye trauma, asphyxiation, overdose, isolation, depression, drinking, self-sacrifice… fuck, I am definitely missing a few, but that’s all I can think of for now.)

(…yeah, they all come from dark, depressing futures where everyone they cared about died, but Steph’s is definitely the most fucked up.)

.

The Joker captures both Tim & Damian. Joker thinks it’ll be extra funny if he can make a Robin corrupt themself, so Damian is used as leverage. (Damian hates it, hates every second of it, but especially hates the guilty way Tim glances at Damian before acquiescing to Joker’s orders. Make this, do that, eat this, take a deep breath off this inhaler we all know is horribly poisoned while Joker cackles like it’s the funniest shit he’s ever seen. Every free moment, Tim looks for an escape. Every chance Tim gets, he works in some sort of message or sabotage to whatever he’s made. Even as Tim’s face sets in a permanent smile, even as he becomes increasingly bright & cheerful about following orders, Tim keeps at it. Even as the orders switch to using Dami as a guinea pig—Tim blinks rapidly, cheeks twitching, and says with a sort of happy confusion, “That wasn’t the deal.” Joker says the other option is Robin dies right now. Damian can see the horror in Tim’s eyes when the first needle slides in; Tim’s twisted lips form a silent “sorry” in the moment Joker can’t see it.—even then, Tim keeps antidotes and medical supplies as close as he can, scrambling to fix whatever he’s done in the aftermath.)

(Once, after Tim started to change but before the deal changed to match, Joker had to go fight Batman and left both of them handcuffed to the same pipe overnight. “Robin,” Tim whispered into the dark, “I need you to promise me something.” “What is it?” “Joker’s not curable, everyone knows that. If I become like that—” “No!” “It’s already happening.” Tim giggled. “I can feel it.” “Absolutely not! How dare you, ask me to—” “It doesn’t have to be you. But I need you to make sure.” “No,” Damian says again. It’s a little less forceful, a little more desperate. “I know what happens when I go bad, Dami.” Tim sounded almost giddy, though his words were grim. “That’s without Joker-fication. I—we can’t let that happen, okay?” “Stop being an idiot.” “No.” Tim laughed, but it was quickly muffled, like he was biting down on something to bottle it up. “Contingencies, baby bat! They’re important. If I go bad, I need you to make sure I can never hurt anyone again.” A pause. “We both know locking me up won’t be enough.” “It’s doing an impressive job so far.” Damian yanked his own handcuffs, so they rattled against the pipe. “If something as pathetic as this can hold you, you really think you stand a chance with Arkham?” “Arkham doesn’t have my baby brother in a death collar.” Tim’s voice went soft and distant-dreamy. It was the most serious he’d sounded in a long time. Damian swallowed. “I won’t let you hurt anyone. I promise.” “That’s the spirit!” The giggles were back as quickly as they’d left. It was awful.)

It took 2 months to find them. Damian was rescued, but the Joker just barely escaped, dragging a breathless Tim behind him. Damian had to be sedated, he was fighting so hard to go after them.

.

People started getting sick, seemingly at random. What started as lightheadedness bordering on dizziness turned to giddiness, and things escalated from there. Damian knew about Tim’s little rebellions and told everyone; the micro-doses of Joker venom worked to burn the virus out of their systems, but more victims just kept popping up.

(The fact it was so obviously Tim’s handiwork left the whole family shaken.)

The Bats kept searching for Tim.

.

They found him alone in a lab, Joker’s body laid out on the floor and left to rot. It was obvious Tim had been dipped since they last saw him, his skin bleached by the chemicals that first made the Joker. During the fight, one of the tables got overturned and Tim’s mysterious science setup got smashed.

“It’s out,” Tim whispered, almost reverently, before bursting into laughter. “It’s out! You can’t put it back, I can’t stop it anymore, because you let it out!”

(The fight ends with gas in the air and Steph’s hands around Tim’s throat, a too-wide smile creeping onto her face, before Damian drags her off, snapping at her that she’s not herself, and giving her an extra dose of antidote. Tim scrabbles back to the wall, one hand at his throat. The hoarseness from the choking almost drops Tim’s voice back to its normal register. “You promised. Dami, you promised.” Damian shakes his head. “It’s not too late—” “It is!” The cackle was just a horrible, rasping cough. Tim’s voice takes on a sing-song cadence once he gets his breath back. “Can’t come back from where I’ve gone, can’t fix what I’ve done! Red Robin’s gone, long gone. Make it stop.” The giggle is nearly silent, more of a shudder. “Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!” Tim’s voice cracks back to laughter, like he’s telling a joke so good he can’t get out the punchline, and tears run down his cheeks.)

(It goes further, but the point is: Steph watches Damian drive a scalpel from the table into Tim’s eye, watches him twist until the twitching stops. Tim’s hands come up on instinct to grab Damian’s in the first moment, but Tim doesn’t fight it; he just holds on. Damian stumbles back and sits down hard on the floor.)

.

When Batman asks what happened, Steph speaks up before Damian can. “He killed himself.” Damian looks at her incredulously, but Steph plows forwards without hesitation. “It looked like he had a moment of lucidity. Tim asked us to kill him—his exact words were ‘make it stop’—” Her voice cracks, but she keeps going. “—and when Robin said we wouldn’t, he…” Steph swallows, and mimes jabbing herself in the eye. “Da— Robin tried to stop him, but Tim was… he was laughing, but he seemed really upset.”

Batman looks at Damian, who’s staring down at his blood-stained gloves (less blood-stained than Tim’s hands, which all but covered Damian’s.) “I promised,” Damian whispers, “that I wouldn’t let him hurt anyone. When we were both prisoners, I promised.” He looks up at Bruce, eyes full of tears. “I was going to break it! But he—”

Bruce places a hand on Damian’s head. “It’s alright, son. It’s not your fault.” (Damian doesn’t say anything else, just bursts into tears in his father’s arms. Steph wonders how long the can maintain the lie.)

(It’ll turn out she shouldn’t have worried; they’ll have much bigger problems soon, and you know what people say about keeping secrets.)

.

Here’s what they don’t realize: the Joker virus couldn’t survive outside of the human body or near-lab conditions. Transmission was near-impossible, and all victims up until this point had either been part of one of Joker’s schemes or subtly injected in crowded spaces; almost nobody caught it from anyone else.

Tim’s new strain (which he had been fighting with himself not to release, getting into a perfectionist loop as a distraction from the urge to just let it loose) as it turns out, is highly contagious. It can survive for a good few hours in open air, and rapidly colonizers any surface it lands on.  Tables. Floors. Clothes. Skin. Hair.

Steph & Damian rode back to the Batcave and underwent thorough decontamination of themselves, their gear, and the car alone. They took their shots just in case of exposure, and played cards while waiting out the hyperactive high a micro-dose of Joker Venom causes. Bruce came back, decontaminated, and sat down to run tests (because otherwise he’ll have to face the fact his son died tonight, and he’s not ready for that. Tim’s not dead until Bruce processes it, and you can’t make him.) 

Bruce did not realize he needed to take the shot too.

.

(Gonna be completely open right now: we are NOT going Batman-Who-Laughs. Mainly because he relies on several of my least favorite interpretations of Bruce’s character to make anything resembling sense, but if you need a different reason… Tim’s strain is much less about re-creating the Joker a million times over, and more about twisting how people emotionally react to the world around them; everything makes the happy-chemicals, and the stronger the emotional reaction ought to be, the higher that rush. While not inherently a degenerative condition, the ever escalating self-destructive behavior this leads to means it might as well be. For example, some of the infected are probably going to seek out fear toxin just to get that high, but just because their happy chemicals are going nuts doesn’t mean the fear isn’t under it, and doesn’t mean they’re safe from heart attacks.)

(It’s just not funny if everyone is telling the same jokes, is it? If everyone has the exact same sense of humor? Wouldn’t that get boring after a while? Obviously. Big J was just too self-absorbed to realize Timmy’s joke was better.)

.

The early symptoms can be easily mistaken for sleep deprivation & too much caffeine. The secondary ones can be chalked up to grief. It takes a little over a week for the infection to become obvious. The incubation period is only a couple of days.

Wayne Manor: compromised.

The Batcave: compromised.

Literally everywhere Bruce went before he realized what was going on: compromised.

(Wayne Enterprises, city hall, the public funeral, the Watchtower: all compromised.)

(Bruce locks himself in quarantine as soon as he realizes, but here is another problem: the micro-doses of Joker Venom are not a vaccine. They burn through the bloodstream like a secondary immune system, wiping out the J-virus specifically, but they do nothing to build up immunity. Re-exposure is always a concern. Bruce is perpetually contaminating everything in the room, and no sooner has the Joker Venom left his system than the infection sets in again. His blood work is never clean for more than a few hours.)

Heroes infected. Allies lost. No matter how hard they try, there’s not enough Joker Venom to go around, but oh, oh do they try.

.

The family falls apart.

Alfred’s heart can’t handle the treatments. 

Babs goes into complete lockdown. 

Damian feels so guilty, he throws himself into helping as many people as he can, taking only the bare minimum of shots so that there’s more for other heroes & civilians; when Damian gets sick, those borderline suicidal tendencies mesh with the J-virus in truly horrifying ways. 

Cass is the one who finds Damian’s body, barely managing to choke out her message to the other Bats as the gasses start to take effect. She manages to drag Damian almost to the window before she just can’t do it anymore, gasping laughter over the coms as her lungs give out, with backup still several minutes away. 

Jason (not yet reintegrated into the family) goes from a not entirely trustworthy, usually distant maybe-ally who would at least reliably back them up in an emergency to a usually hostile, paranoid mess, spiraling even deeper into his own depressive tendencies & terrible coping mechanisms as the virus spread, the shelters fell, and his trauma compounded on itself by the day.

(Once, Steph found a stash of liquor while searching for survivors. She, Jason, Dick, and Cass (who wasn’t dead yet) proceeded to get absolutely plastered that night, each talking about how they’d want to go out and making promises about what they’d do if the others died. It was the closest thing to relaxed any of them got since Tim & Damian first disappeared, and it would be the last they had together ever.)

(Here is why Jason is unrecognizable to Steph: he’s been a hostile loner for as long as she’s known him, pushing others away to protect himself, never abandoning them but never lingering any longer than he had to. He made it very clear he was helping because he “had” to, not because he wanted to, and even when they became closer after the world had fallen apart, Jason was still gruff & distant even at the best of times; even when they got along & liked eachother, the paranoia of never knowing if one of them might actually be sick was a constant wedge keeping them from getting too close. A Jason who doesn’t just occasionally let people stick around but seeks them out, whose insults are more affectionate than razor-edged, who grabs on and says, “This person is one of My People(TM), and anything that wants to mess with them has to do it over my dead body,” is an alien concept to her.)

Dick died evacuating some survivors from a 3rd floor apartment. Purely reflexively, he tried to give them a reassuring smile. Purely reflexively, they shot him in the face. (Steph, on the building just across the street keeping lookout, heard the shot and saw Dick fall. Whether he would’ve survived the gunshot is irrelevant when hitting the pavement practically head-first.)

One rescue mission was almost a clean success. They got the survivors all the way to the escape vehicle before realizing there was a kid still in the building. Jason’s jaw set, and Steph barely had time to scream for him not to go, don’t do this, don’t leave her like this, before he was running back in. (The kid made it out. Jason did not.)

Steph broke every promise she’d made about not giving up, about fighting to the end, about going out in a blaze of glory, after being cornered by a swarm. She chose to go out on her terms, though, refusing to give them the satisfaction of her pain or of her becoming one of them. All Steph’s cures would be unusable by the time help came, either smashed or tampered with by the Joker-zombies, but she had enough for the Joker Venom to do its original job.  She took all of them, and died laughing at her own ultimate failure.

.

.

.

(And then she wakes up.)

[bexsua]

changing seasons. feat. @bexjae

she’s going to owe jae so much for being her guinea pig– on stream, no less. it’s going to be something new for her, something to spice things up a bit. sua might not be confident it will all turn out okay– but that’s content baby. she’ll try, for jae’s sake– but it’s also a learning experience for her. makeup hasn’t been the hardest thing anymore for her– not with how much help she’s gotten from her friends lately. she can trust herself on doing her own makeup, but this is a new thing to attempt: and it’s live, for everyone’s viewing pleasure. 

“-- and you can totally talk to chat, if you want.” sua says distractedly, going over everything with jae as she sets everything up. she adjusts the monitor screen, chat pulled up off of view of the camera so they can both see it as sua works. “they like the attention. and you can tell them to shut up if they’re being shitty or annoying. my mods should be keeping an eye out for that though.” sua casts a side eye to her chat, already pilling up with things. 

she steps away from the screen, satisfied with how she’s set it up, and moves back over to jae. she unpacks everything she brought, things she looked up herself or asked her friends about what is needed for a full makeover. she’s going to do it blind– and see if she can do it without any assistance. 

“okay. any questions? not you, chat.” she adds absentmindedly, not even glancing over at the screen, but looking to jae instead. “you can give me a kind of…style you want, jae, and i’ll do my best to get you there but…no promises.” she jokes, corner of her mouth quirking into a half-smile.

[leahm2000]

Journal Entry

July 13, 2023

It’s my dad’s birthday week. A big one too. And I am not able to celebrate it with him. No he isn’t dead or anything like that. He, like the rest of my family, live several hours away. On top of this I found out some really impactful news that affects my family but they are all hours away. I feel like you all may need a back story for this. I am the oldest of several children. I have been and always will be the Guinea pig child. Because of this my ‘first’s are also my parents. I was the first to have a serious relationship. I was the first gen college student.I was and still am the first and only child to move out of my parents house (despite only a five year age difference between me and my youngest sibling). I not only moved out but I flew far away and intend on keeping it that way.

But sometimes, in the mist of my busy and wonderfully fulfilling life, I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I am so far away and that I miss so many things with my family. Yes I know everyone is happy for me and glad that I have ‘spread my wings and found my own nest’ but I’m still feeling guilty. My future children will not have the close relationship with my side of the family as I would wish them to have. The aunts that they are closet to will not be their biological ones but rather my best friends that I found all on my own.

I will not be there when/if something happens to my family members while on a fire call (we are all firefighters and have been for years). I will be the one who gets a phone call randomly to get some life altering news. Growing up I watch my cousins all slowly disappear out of my grandmothers life and how much it broke her. I watched them all have babies that are now double digits and she has only met once or twice despite countless attempts. I promised myself I would never do that to her, that she would know her great grand babies just as well as she knew me growing up. But here I am, several long hours away from her. ‘

No one talks about this guilt. No one talks about the mixed feelings you have when you look at your life and love everything about it but hate that your family is so far away

[starryseth]

It's been a minute since I posted something so here's some cute head cannons for my favorite DSMP boys <3

Jschlatt

Okay so Jschlatt is 100000% a secret romance kinda guy. He loves the mystery and gets a thrill out of keeping a secret. He may seem like an open kinda person but when it comes to his s/o he likes to keep it private. That's probably why his fans and friends didn't know he had a partner until they got married

He used to be on a community baseball team and each game he would give you his hat to wear because he believed that you were his good luck charm. So when you were sick for the big game, he quit because he wouldn't have any luck and he would feel like the reason they lost.

He finds it adorable when he ends a late night stream and he crawls to the bedroom and finds you cuddled with Jambo.

He can't say no to you. Like at all. So when you ask to do his hair and makeup he agrees. He loved the way you looked so happy with your work and he wouldn't mind letting you do it again just to see you have a sense of accomplishment. Don't ask him about it though. He'll deny it.

Sapnap

Sapnap loveesssss to show you off. Like legit. In the group chat with the rest of the boys sap is constantly talking about you. They are tired of it

I believe he is a Pyro. Like anything and everything to do with fire and he's in so you constantly have to keep an eye on him. Granted he is very safe with fire but still. (Don't play with fire it's very dangerous)

He is actually very neat and organized. He has all of his and your clothes arranged in order of colors. In rainbow order of course. He also has the same hoodie in several different colors.

He gets frustrated easily so he is constantly doing things that he likes. One of those things is coloring. H loves to sit down with you and just be a kid again. You guys have a drawer in your room filled with kids coloring books and coloring supplies.

Karl

Karl loves when you play with his hair. Original I know. But it just makes him melt when you start to braid his hair or just testing new hair styles on him.

I believe that he loves being your Guinea pig for new recipes that you make if you like to cook. Anything you make for him is made from love. He genuinely almost cried when he was sick and he tried some of the soup you made and it tasted just like the soup his mom made him when he was younger

He lives to be around people. All day everyday it is energy but during the peaceful moments you guys go out and play mini golf or go to cafes to try new things. He loves your little adventures.

Karl adores playing games with you. His two loves in life are you and video games. He had you help him out with the tales of the SMP so it would be fun. It was actually inspired by a stupid convo you guys had over a dinner date.

Wilbur

Wilbur will absolutely sing you to sleep. Personally I have nightmares and I can certainly see him just being like "oh love, it's alright. Come here and just close your eyes." And he just hums and sings everything he lives about you while you fall back asleep

Every gig he doesn't with the band he has you in the front row or off to the side of the stage so when the band needs water, you can give it to them. Everyone loves you from the band and appreciates your company.

Tommy is like Wilburs younger brother. Everyone knows this. You are like the peace keeper between the two. They often squabble and when they do you grab one ear of each and make them apologize. They immediately do because they know if they don't they'll be put in the get along shirt.

Wilbur can be kinda insecure. He doesn't believe that he can be good enough for you so on those days you baby him. He taught you to play guitar so you sing to him. Even if you may not sound the best while singing, he enjoys the love that you both have.

Charlie

During days when he's doing chuckle sandwich he makes non stop dad jokes. Like it's bad. It's like it's his ritual to get ready. Like take his little book of jokes away from him.

He is a giant goofball all the time. He loves making people laugh and enjoys seeing you smile along at his dumb attempt of making a new language called "slimenican"

When he was doing gen loss you thought his slime monster character was just an evil version of his Minecraft character and picked on him for it. He didn't understand what you meant until he saw the first episode and then it clicked.

[tonitheloftwing]

Hopefully this isn’t considered derailing because I’m still being positive and on topic 😅but, this doesn’t just apply to cats!

Obviously, there’s puppy bias with dogs, too. And most animals, unfortunately, will be overlooked if they have a disability, or special care requirements, or even just look different.

This is where we get into my story!

I’ve had guinea pigs for almost half my life. They’re so important to me. They’re also social critters, so you should always have two or more!

In late March of this year, my beloved Baby Pig unfortunately passed away. She was five years old, so she lived a good piggie life… although it was very sad to see her go. This left my younger piggie, Pepper Popper, (who is 3), on her own. I could tell she was depressed from losing her friend, so I wanted to get her a new buddy ASAP.

I looked at my local shelter, and… no guinea pigs. So I went on Petfinder to look for female guinea pigs that needed homes near me.

This is when I saw Peanut. (This is one of the photos that was on her listing!)

She was almost 7 months old, and was born into the shelter as a foster (mom was preggo when she was surrendered). Her mother and her sisters had already been adopted out… Peanut was the only piggie at the shelter. Because, unfortunately, she was dealt a bad hand when it comes to adoption.

As you can see in the picture, she has a little protrusion under her eye. This is called pea-eye, and was something she was born with; it means there’s just a buildup of fat under the conjunctival sac (AKA, her inner eyelid) that causes it to stick out like that. It doesn’t affect her health at all! The only thing I’ve noticed is that she struggles to close that eye all the way, but that’s not a huge issue because guinea pigs rarely close their eyes beyond occasionally blinking anyways. But, it makes her look different.

It’s harder to tell this in the photos, but Peanut also has dark red eyes. (They only really appear red when light hits them) I didn’t even know this until after I’d already adopted her and was trying to look up what color her eyes would be considered, but apparently, there is a STRONG bias against small animals (bunnies, guinea pigs, rats & mice, etc) when it comes to adoption if they have white fur and red eyes. People think it’s creepy, I guess?

But, those two things didn’t deter me at all. You honestly barely think about her eye after a bit, and she’s wicked cute. So, we drove an hour to the shelter to pick her up, so she could go home after being a shelter pet for literally her whole life.

It took a while for her to warm up to everyone, except Pepper Popper who she got along with after an hour of figuring out who was boss. Out of all the piggies I’ve had, these two have the strongest bond. They’re the only ones I’ve known to sleep together, and I literally can’t get pictures of Peanut without Popper in them, because Peanut is always by her side. They’re double trouble.

Anyways this is my plea to please think about adopting a pet who is older, or looks different, or who has a disability, or who may otherwise struggle to get adopted. They will love you just as much as any other pet, if not more for finally taking them home :3

(And also, when it comes to small animals, please consider adoption. If you really want a young animal, look to ethical breeders. Don’t go to a pet store)

This was meant to be a quick warm up, but it turned into a comic that I’ve wanted to draw for a while. This is something that is extremely important to me, and I appreciate it if you read it.

A while ago, I heard a story that broke my heart. A family went a cat shelter to adopt. The daughter fell in love with a 3-legged cat. The father straight up said “absolutely not”. Because he was missing a leg. That cat was that close to having a family that loved him, but the missing leg held him back. Why?!

Many people have the initial instinct of “nope” when they see an imperfect animal. I get it, but less-adoptable does NOT mean less loveable. 9 out of 10 people will choose a kitten over an adult cat. And those 10% that would get an adult cat often overlook “different” animals.

All I want people to do is be open to the idea of having a “different” pet in their lives. Choose the pet that you fall in love with, but at least give all of them a fair shot at winning your heart.

Don’t dismiss them, they deserve a loving home just as much as any other cat. They still purr, they still love a warm lap, they still play, they still love you. Trust me, next time you are in the market for a new kitty, just go over to that one cat that’s missing an eye and see what he’s all about!

[exactlyimportantpatrol]

You gotta hear me out on this one. The Herta has kids. It sounds farfetched I know. But you gotta hear me out.

Disclaimer this only for fun and a headcanon. This may not be in the game.

The Herta Space Station was built to house curios that Herta had collected over the years. But what curio started it all? Madame Herta had used some of her own DNA and did the whole mad scientist thing and made a human without a man. Thus the Space Station was created to house such a curio. It would be funny to see the space station which is all metal and a few rough edges turn into a child's paradise. The water fountains (if there is one) dispense different kinds of milk (strawberry, banana, chocolate etc) and juices (orange, apple, etc.) and of course water. The floor and walls would be lined with foam. Herta's office would have a baby lock. Maybe an AI system specifically to watch over while Herta is away. A huge playroom I imagined that one of the labs used to be a playroom like with those plastic slides, foam pit, ball pit, twists and turns etc.

I think the kid could still be part of the Genius Society with Herta's genes coursing through their veins. Not to mention Herta's connection with Nous. So she could put a little word in or that Nous is interested himself.

I kinda think Herta would be strict but cool at the same time? If you get what I'm thinking. Like she's strict about certain things dress code, wasting food, nap time, no means no. Though all those things would mostly benefit herself. If the kid follows the proper dress code that Herta had a set then they won't look like they aren't a creation of hers. If they start to waste food Herta would probably give them the silent treatment. When the kid finally falls asleep for nap time then that's when Herta gets to work in peace. The cool thing about Herta is that she isn't around often. So the kid doesn't really need to fret. They can do whatever they want and they can disable the AI system from updating Herta. Why? Because they felt like it.

Would I think Herta would be a good parent?

NOPE. The Genius Society despite being an organization of geniuses are cold blooded. One of their own tried to kill other geniuses. Somehow, someway their ideals (sometimes) align with humanity. Mostly because it's the cold truth.

Herta would be there so to say. Like present but never really present in a consistent motion. The kid is nothing but an experiment. A lab rat. A guinea pig. Perhaps the only reason Herta isn't discarding them yet was because they were interesting to create. Not to mention the psychology side of things. Since there was no other DNA but Herta's which she could have modified to create them and gave them different traits just a tad bit different. The kid could start to think they were Herta or that they were an extension of Herta. Why? Because their genes are exactly the same. But if Herta was feeling generous she'd modify it. They'd feel nothing but a clone.

It doesn't help that the kid might develop things that Herta likes unknowingly. The kid would hate the things Herta hates unknowingly. A clone. A clone with a mind of its own.

Well that's all :). Thanks for reading and minding my crazy idea.

[spicebiter]

Watch List- English Language Movies (Latest Update Nov. 6, 2024)

My extensive movies list. Not numbered because tumblr has a character limit in blocks of text that affect numbered lists apparently, but fyi before you open the read more there are 300+ entries in this list.

Because of the sheer number of things I want to watch I’m separating my watch list posts into four categories. I keep them separate primarily for organization so I can decide what to watch based different variables (mood, time, language, etc)

I’m pretty much constantly adding things to all of my lists- hence why I’m amending when this was last updated to the title itself- and will update this post anytime I update the wheel I use to randomize my next choice, which usually happens after I’ve added or subtracted a significant number of options.

3096 Days

48 Hrs.

8MM

A Bucket of Blood

A Fistful of Dollars

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

A Tale of Two Sisters

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

All About Evil

All Eyes

All of Us Strangers

All Hollows Eve

Alyce Kills (2011)

American Guinea Pig

American Mary

An American Crime

Antlers

Apostle (2018)

Area 51

Arrival

Artemis 81

Asylum of Satan

Audition

August Underground

Baby Driver

Bad Boy Bubby

Bad Influence (1990)

Basic Instinct

Bathory

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Being Human (US)

Below (2002)

Beyond the Black Rainbow

Bird Box

Black Sheep

Black Mountain Side

Black Narcissus (1947)

Blade series

Blade Runner

Bleed With Me

Blood Quantum

Blue Velvet

Bones and All

Brain Damage (1988)

Brand Upon the Brain

Buffalo ‘66

Bullet Train

Butchers (2020)

By Any Means

Byzantium

Cabin Fever

Campfire Tales (1997)

Cannibal

Cannibal Apocalypse

Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter

Cargo

Chained (2012)

Chernobyl Diaries

Cherry Falls

Christopher Robin

Cobweb (2023)

Cohasset Snuff Film

Cold Skin

Constantine

Crank (2006)

Crash

Crowsnest

Cujo

Curfew (1989)

Cut (2000)

Dark Harvest

Dark Places

Day of the Dead

Daybreakers

Dead Birds

Dead Body (2017)

Dead Calm

Dead Ringers

Dead Silence

Dead Snow

Deadstream

Deathdream

Deathwatch

Dementia 13

Detective Pikachu

Devil's Advocate

Diabolique

Dig (2018)

Digging Up the Marrow

Don't Worry Darling

Dragonslayer

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Duel

Eden Lake

Electric Dreams

Eraserhead

Estranged

Even Lambs Have Teeth (2015)

Eve’s Bayou

Ex Machina

Extracurricular (2018)

Eyes in the Dark

Eyes Wide Shut

Feed

Feral (2017)

Fertile Ground

Flatliners

Flowers (2015)

Found (2012)

Fox Trap (2016)

Frankenstein

Frankenstein’s Army

From Black

Funny Games

Gaia (2021)

Ganja and Hess

Gentleman's Agreement

GetAWAY (2020)

Ghost Ship

Girl in the Bunker

Glass Onion

Godzilla series

Good Time

Goodnight Mommy

Gray Man

Grotesque

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

Hacksaw Ridge

Hard Candy

Hatchet (2006)

Head Count

Headless (2015)

Hear No Evil

Hell House

Her Name Was Torment

High Tension

His House

Home for the Holidays (1972)

Honeydew

Honeymoon (2014)

Hotel Hell

Hotel Inferno

House of Flesh Mannequins

House on the Hill

House That Jack Built

Howl (2015)

Humanoids From the Deep

I Am Elizabeth Smart

I Saw the TV Glow

Identity (2003)

Imperium

Imprint (2006)

In Her Skin

In The Mouth of Madness

Inception

Infinity Pool

Inland Empire

Interview (1998)

It Comes at Night

It's Such A Beautiful Day

Jack the Bear

Jacob’s Ladder

Jaws

Jug Face

Juice (1992)

Just Before Dawn

Kill List

Kissed (1996)

Lake Nowhere

Last House on the Left (1972)

Last Shift

Leave

Legend (1985)

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

Leviathan

Life (2017)

Lisa Frankenstein

Little Deaths

Little Monsters

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Longlegs

Lord of the Rings

Love Exposure

Love Lies Bleeding

Lovely, Dark, and Deep

Lovely Molly

Mama

Mandrake

Maniac (2012)

Marionette (2020)

May (2002)

Mayhem (2017)

Megan is Missing

Melancholia

Memories of Murder

Mister Creep (2022)

Mockingbird Don’t Sing

Monkey Man (2024)

Mukavemet (2022)

Murder By Numbers

My Own Private Idaho

Need for Speed (2014)

Night of the Creeps

Nocturnal Demon

Nope

November (2017)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Only Lovers Left Alive

Orphan

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

Pearl

Phantom of the Opera

Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom Thread

Phase IV

Pig (2010)

Poltergeist

Poor Things

Poughkeepsie Tapes

Predator

Premium Rush

Primer

Prisoners (2013)

Psycho Goreman

Rabid (1977)

Rawhide

Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves

Requiem for a Dream

River’s Edge

Roadhouse

Robot Dreams

Rope (1948)

Rose Red

Safe (1995)

Satan's Servant (2020)

Scanners

Sea Fever

Seasoning House

Seed (2007)

Serial Mom

Session 9

Shark Side of the Moon

Shrew’s Nest

Silver Bullet

Small Soldiers

Smokin’ Aces

Snatch

Sole Survivor

Some Like It Hot

Sometimes they Come Back

Sonic the Hedgehog

Splice

Splinter

St. Maud

Star Time (1992)

Star Wars series

Still Breathing

Stoic (2009)

Straight Edge Kegger (2019)

Student Body (2022)

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat

Sunshine (2007)

Super Dark Times

Suspiria (1977)

Swallow (2019)

Swiss Army Man

Talon Falls (2017)

Tank Girl

Terrifier

Terror Vision

The Abyss

The Atticus Institute (2015)

The Awakening

The Babadook

The Beach House

The Beyond

The Block Island Sound

The Boston Strangler

The Breed

The Burrowers (2008)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The Cave (2005)

The Color Purple

The Dark

The Deeper You Dig

The Devil's Carnival

The Divide (2011)

The Dunwich Horror

The Dyatlov Pass Incident

The Endless

The Evil of Frankenstein

The Girl With All the Gifts

The Gracefield Incident

The Happening

The Haunting (1963)

The Invisible Man (2020)

The Killing Kind

The Lair of the White Worm

The Last Broadcast

The Last Exorcism

The Last Unicorn

The Lazarus Effect

The Lords of Salem

The Machinist

The Matrix series

The Menu

The Midnight Meat Train

The Night Flier

The Old Ways

The Omen

The Others

The Passenger

The People Under the Stairs

The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

The Pit

The Plague Dogs

The Quarry

The Red Shoes (1948)

The Reflecting Skin

The Relic

The Resurrected

The Serpent and the Rainbow

The Slayer

The Sleep Experiment

The Tall Man

The Tank

The Thaw

The Thief and the Cobbler

The Tommyknockers

The Triangle

The Triplets of Belleville

The Usual Suspects

The Void (2016)

The Vourdalak

The Wickerman

The Wisher (2002)

The White Reindeer

Thelma and Louise

They Live

Tigers are Not Afraid

Tombstone

Total Recall

Tremors

Triangle

Trilogy of Terror

Tron

Turning Red

Tusk

Twins of Evils

Underwater

Unearthed

Unhinged

V for Vendetta

Vamp

Velvet Buzzsaw

Videodrome

Violation

Virus:32 (2022)

Vivarium (2019)

We Are Not Alone

We Are Still Here

We Need to Talk About Kevin

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair

Wendell and Wild

What Josiah Saw

White Snake

White Zombie

Willow Creek

Wolf Creek

X (2022)

X-Men

You'll Like My Mother

Zodiac

Zombie (1979)

Zombillenium

[dooksofearl]

Greetings from Dooks of Earl Ferret Sanctuary,

How have you been? What's been going on here? We are so glad you asked. (I still say we meaning me, the fuzzies, and Justin because I know he is watching over me and all these precious babies from heaven.)

We have had several of our hospice care ferrets pass on to go be with Justin. Undoubtedly, they are biting his toes and making him play endlessly. We have only had to take in 11 emergency surrenders this month which is really a low number for us this time of year. That's a good thing. The next couple of months we will get lots of calls about bunnies, chickens, ducks, and oddly, guinea pigs. However, we have already established a group of fosters and other rescues in which we trust and network with to cover the influx so that these precious ones receive the proper attention and love. We are very excited about expanding our partnerships with the other rescues and fosters. Their support helps me continue to do God's will without putting more on me than I can handle.

I currently have in my care; 107 ferrets, 2 bunnies, 1 hamster, 1 sugar glider, 1 three legged turtle, 2 cats, and a very large puppy. They are as much a blessing to me as I can be to them. Most of these ferrets have been with us for years and I expect to lose a great number of them this year. I am so grateful for the few young ones that will help me through that tremendous grief along with my cuddle bunnies.

Our Fund raising goal for this month is unfortunately steep (needed before the last day of the month) is: $1854.00. Any part of that you can help us raise would be a monumental blessing.

Normally I am able to get some grants in, even small ones, but that has not been the case this month.

That will cover:

The rescues regular bills like housing ($729) , utilities ($280 on average since our HVAC is still out), and pet foods ($488)

We also spend an average per week of $65 on produce for the vegetarian and omnivore animals.

And a total of $97 on medicines and wellness. I have managed to raise enough to cover the other bills and supplies. And of course, none of this is for me personally nor do I get paid for the work I do. It's not about me, it's about these animals and making their lives amazing for however long they have left.

Other needs that the rescue has not included in this list are:

11 small cage locking food dishes. Unfortunately many of our smaller and older ferrets have trouble with dishes that are too deep for them to just put their heads in and eat. If they have to put their paws on the side and lean in it causes discomfort for their joints.

30 bags of Pine pellets from tractor supply company. We go through a lot but it's important that everyone have a clean litterbox to use. Not only does it help me see if their bowel movements are healthy but it keeps down the risks of bacteria or parasites.

5 water bottles from rent a coop with plastic bowls.

I have created a short wishlist with links to these items on Amazon. The pine pellets I just listed tractor supply gift cards because they don't sell them through Amazon for delivery. If there was a bulk pack or other options I listed those as well.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/63ZMinE?ref_=wl_share

We also really need an extra large dog house and outdoor dog kennel (or left over fencing supplies) if anyone can by finding one used or a really good deal on one and bless us with that, we'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you so much for sticking by us, loving us, and supporting us. You can't imagine what that means to me as I struggle with my grief from losing Justin and while I am getting treatment for my medical situation.

God bless you.

Love and prayers,

Shelly Breeden-Conner

Executive director

Dooks of Earl Ferret Sanctuary Inc

731-326-0690

Tax ID 88-0945277

Donations can be made in our app

https://www.jotform.com/app/213234930973154

Zelle and PayPal

dooksofearlferretsafehaven@gmail.com

Venmo @DooksofEarl

Cashapp $dooksofearl

Checks or money orders to

Dooks of Earl Ferret Sanctuary Inc

4826 US Highway 70 East, Brownsville TN 38012

***If you are receiving this through a post or from a friend and would like to keep getting our newsletter and updates monthly, please text me your name, email address, and say "mailing list". We won't sell or share your information.

[themomsandthecity]

What the Kyte Baby Drama Reveals About Paid Leave For Adoptive Parents

Last month, the popular baby clothing brand Kyte Baby came under fire for denying a new mom's request to work remotely while her adopted son was in a neonatal intensive care unit hours from her home. Marissa Hughes, who qualified for two weeks of paid leave, was initially fired for not being able to do her job on site, per a since-deleted TikTok her sister posted - until an online uproar led the CEO, Ying Liu, to reverse her decision. Parents everywhere were incensed, and the debacle ignited a larger conversation about adequate leave and reasonable accommodations for new parents. Adoptive parents in particular related to the mom's frustration: many know all too well how easy it can be for employers to ignore the importance of adoption leave. On a national level, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires companies to offer 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave to birth parents and adoptive parents alike. But it's estimated that only 56 percent of US workers actually qualify for FMLA, according to a 2018 US Department of Labor survey (the most recent statistics available). Others work for small companies, are part-time employees, or - as was the case with Hughes - joined their company less than a year ago, all factors that can prevent them from qualifying. Paid family leave is even more rare; it was available to just 23 percent of unionized and 27 percent of non-unionized, private-sector workers in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The United States is the only wealthy country in the world without a national paid leave policy (the others included in this group are small island nations like Papua New Guinea and Tonga). Thirteen states and the District of Columbia mandate some form of paid leave for qualifying employees, and any company can choose to offer it as a benefit for their employees. Natalie Shaak, who last year led a team from Drexel University's Center for Hunger-Free Communities on a brief that made the case for paid family leave, points out that many of those plans don't cover quite as many weeks for adoptive parents. "The reason why is because most paid family leave is done through disability-related insurances," Shaak says. "So it's more about the physical side of it. Even the amount of time that you can take is based on, 'Oh, did you have a vaginal birth or did you have a C-section?'" Related: How Much It Costs to Adopt a Child, According to Experts Sometimes, companies simply haven't considered adoption. But while it's not explicitly written in many benefits packages, employees can request it, says adoption and family-building attorney Elizabeth Vaysman, Esq. That said, adoptive parents may encounter hurdles like being asked to show a birth certificate, which can take months to get in adoption cases, Vaysman warns. "The need for it is on steroids." The good news: a 2023 survey from the Society of Human Resources Management found that 34 percent of employers now offer some form of paid adoption leave, up six percentage points from the previous year. That's an important acknowledgment of why this time is crucial for parents to spend with their kids. Although adoptive parents aren't recovering from labor and delivery, many argue that the time off may be even more critical. "The need for it is on steroids because of that original separation that is inherent in adoption," says adoption educator Lori Holden, coauthor of "Adoption Unfiltered." No matter their age, a newly adopted child has just "had a ginormous transition in their lives," says Samuel, cohost of "My Two Dads: The Adoption Podcast." (Samuel is being identified by his first name out of concern for privacy of his son's birth family.) "Imagine if someone [turned] up at your door and said, 'OK, you're coming to live with us now and we're in charge of you.' And then they just disappeared off again and you had no idea what was going on," Samuel explains. Holden, an adoptive mom… https://www.popsugar.com/family/kyte-baby-paid-leave-controversy-49335084?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[aestheticvoyage2023]

Day 53: Wednesday February 22, 2023 - “Montessori Orientation”

This post contributed by Audrie after William’s two observation days before starting Montessori school, a big step for them both:

William is starting preschool next week.  So this week we got to have two orientation/observation days.  Originally my mom-heart had intuited that we wouldn’t be ready for this step until he was closer to age 2 -- 24 months when your child is more toddler than baby and talking and assertive and opinionated.  But the right school and program takes time to get into, and openings are limited.  And last year when a resource opened up for our family I started the search into what would be the proper placement and fit for our sweet, funny, loving, bright son.  Quick searches showed that there were only a small handful of Montessori Programs that accepted children as young as William that were here on this side of town.  I was a montessori child and my parenting style has been very montessori from birth--respecting this child as an individual that has needs, wants, and desires and the ability to express them and be heard and understood in all his own uniqueness from the day he arrived.  One major montessori principal is to move at the child’s speed and pace, let them set the tone, and allow them the space to set boundaries of their own and make choices-- of course with some direction and structure for safety and co-regulation by loving and knowledgable adults. Montessori teaches that our children and babies are not here to be compliant and obedient; to be bent to the wills of the more powerful and capable adults around them.  Rather, children are here to learn, grow, and discover the world around them, and unfold themselves into it.  When we allow children to have autonomy, choice, value and respect, we end up with adults that are autonomous-- who value and respect the world and others around them, and are secure with themselves and in relationship with others.   So if William was to start a school/daycare program that was to be outside of our home and outside of the care of his family members and natural caregivers, I felt strongly it needed to be a Montessori Program.  And when the slot opened, I had to really evaluate if he was ready, at this stage, before age 2, closer to 21 months than 24.  And my mom heart had to agree with the universe’s push down this pathway, that indeed Willam was ready. We are all ready, and need to step into the open doorway and take a leap.  

Casa Niños School of Montessori seemed to check all the boxes, at least online and in pictures and reviews.  But openings are slim, especially for the younger age groups.  So after a few months of calling and leaving messages and phone tag and no tours due to RSV and COVID and Flu being rampant in our community this winter, when they called and said we could tour last week, William and I jumped on it, and we went to check it out.  What a beautiful space.  Warm, full of thoughtful design and mindful people.  Each classroom has animals in it, and they overflow into the hall ways, William’s favorite was the “Bunny” rabbit named Phoenix.  In his room there is a gerbil family that recently had babies, and a guinea pig.  There are birds, and snakes, and outside there are a small handful of desert tortoises that vary in size all the way up to the 150 lb massive one.  Every week the children are emerged in art, music, science, math, reading, dance, physical activities, and the natural flow of child directed learning.  And after getting the full tour and seeing and hearing and meeting all the people and observing the organized easy going happy kiddos that filled the classrooms and hallways, I just knew this would be the home of William’s next step in his learning and growing; growing upward, outward and inward too.  

Day one this week of observation wasn’t quite what I expected or understood, as I was under the impression that I would be there to stay and observe William in his new environment, but then got the hint that observation was for Staff to see how Willam would fit and do in their program. Ouch, but I left, to the tune of a screaming sad baby, and when I returned it was more of the same, but got updates that there were happy moments in between.  Not so easy on the heart, but my mind knew it was a stage he needs to just get through and the success of this will give him more security and confidence, while also growing our bond and connection.  He will learn that we are always there for him, and always return even in new places and with bigger space between us.  It was tough picking him up with tears streaming down his face, hearing his tired hoarse voice from his big cries, and seeing him do his huffing breathing trying to calm his over drawn system.  For a few moments on the drive home, as I looked back at him in the rearview to see my happy child’s face flat in affect and brow furrowed, I thought I broke my perfect baby.  But through the night and the next day we continued to talk about school and he would recall the “bunny” and “Becca” one of his teachers and he wouldn’t break into tears.  And he slept fine, and he woke fine, and he was his normal happy self.  So the next day, I returned my unbroken child for his second observation day.  Had to hand him off at the classroom door this time to Miss Becca, and walk out the door hearing his screams all the way to the car and feeling them echo in my heart all morning until 11:25 when I returned 5 minutes early to peer into the tiny classroom window to find a happy child, sitting at the table with all the other kiddos, new lunch pail open, smiling, interacting, observing, and going with the flow, content and comfortable. The knot in my heart that reached into the lump in my throat untangled and I was able to swallow and absorb some oxygen for the first time since 9:45, and when he beamed his smile at me but didn't hurry over, I knew we were were not only at the right place--in that instant I felt the shreds of doubt melt away from my being, and I know that this is also indeed the right time.  

School is closed for Rodeo tomorrow and Friday, so we start back next week on Monday for a full week of integrating this new normal.  William talked about Becca and the bunny and the babies that are at school when you ask, and he never got upset or scared or cried or acted shy.  And after our 4:00 pm official orientation with the director of the program, and William’s two teachers, a little more instruction, and some supplies to pack up, I now feel ready for Monday.  And I feel we are all ready for this next step in our family growing upward, outward, and inward, together.                           

Song: Ryan Harris - Same Sun

Quote:  “Children have an absorbent mind. They absorb knowledge from the environment without fatigue. [...] This is the moment in the life of man when we can do something for the betterment of humanity and further brotherhood. ” ~Maria Montessori