#none of these cats are normal

[cillyscribbles]

my modern!cats au giving me, an avid non-smoker, thoughts about smoking and self image, of all things. i will put them under the cut, but meanwhile! enjoy this 1. shameless illustration of my own fic 2. tugger not quite loving the makeup (or costuming) of his poet-murderer role. (yes a local staging of roberto zucco changed my life, very nice of you to ask!)

so smoking bad etc etc don't smoke. anyway, all three brothers deuteronomy smoke, or at least have smoked for large chunks of their lives, albeit for wildly different reasons and standpoints.

munkustrap's been smoking since middle school, his start more or less aligning with the time period when old deuteronomy falls sick, grizabella ramps up her work, and munkustrap, at the ripe old age of maybe 14, starts managing the household and finances and whatnot.

he wishes he'd never started smoking, don't get me wrong. he wishes the relief of the thing wasn't worth it. he quits and starts again throughout the years, over and over and over, climbing into the third decade of the habit without being able to break it, never moving past the numbed feeling of failure for it. it's the one crack you'll occasionally catch in that aged picture of constant steadfastness and responsibility he's got going on.

to be unable to handle it all feels to him as good as giving up entirely. he smokes behind the school. he puts away the ashtrays when he has guests over. he doesn't like smoking with company, and he hates his shame being made known. if you'll allow me a pretentious second, it's sort of like an upward climb that he wants to take on alone so nobody else sees him stumble, and no one helps him if he twists an ankle. it's fine by him because he needs to be able to handle it himself. he needs to.

so. all this, versus tugger, who started well into adulthood and barrelled into it full and consciously. tugger, who smokes to replace sleep and sanity when his life runs on cigarettes and caffeine. but nothing more. he doesn't care to quit, he doesn't care to change. cigarettes look good between his fingers. he knows how to hold them pretty, like he knows everything else about himself that builds the picture he wants.

and, on a more interpersonal level, it upsets him that munkustrap is so acutely ashamed of it, the same way munkustrap is upset tugger is so casual about it. to some degree, though, i think that's because tugger's entirely hyperaware of how fragile life is and on how small a technicality shit can go sideways and end up killing him or anyone else. it's hard for him not to think about it. but it gives him some sort of strength to look for morbid humour in the things munkustrap wouldn't let himself laugh at, i think. it's gallows humour, to be fair, but it's good humour to tugger nonetheless. he finds stakes if not thrilling then certainly intriguing.

besides, making any sort of change to himself for other people, to tugger, is like betraying himself. he's built up that resistance to outside influence, and he's built it up hard and total. he doesn't mold, he doesn't bend, he'll do and look and say whatever he wants, he associates seeking validation strictly with misery. he doesn't understand munkustrap's frustration, or desire to please people, nor does he want to.

the thing with how tugger is, i think, is that he's just prodded at enough for both the street culture he grew up in and the inclination towards self-preservation of someone visibly queer to mesh together into something that can be spectacular and unmovable, and sometimes still turn ugly. i think curiosity is easy to push into cruelty with tugger.

shame is easy to mock for someone who's overcome it and tries hard to forget how insidious it can be. i think both munkustrap and tugger can be cruel to each other without wanting to and without really transgressing toward each other in a way that would dent their relationship, primarily because it's such a strong relationship but also because they're used to some sort of cruelty from the world at least, they just know better where to hit each other verbally to mess each other up. so. self-control, boys. comes to one of them easier than the other, LOL. and again, don't get me wrong. tugger doesn't want to be cruel to munkustrap, but it's not always a thing he can push away the instinct for. munkustrap doesn't want to be cruel to tugger, but he's been making hard decisions for ages and all but expects someone to be hurt by the end of it, and tugger is manageable. so. damn

[queenerdloser]

i just finished dark heir

[red-racing-cars]

[boiledegghole]

hairier du bois and kim katsuragi

[jennicatzies]

Animals getting into situations

[dailykeiji]

what if keiji had a fairly average day. how about that guys. what if normal ask. what if idk he like adopts a cat or something 😭

anon this is so true but i just wanna let you know that the ask right below this one is This

[lycosiday]

Since Tabitha is a human sized cat would that make froufrou a cat size human that sits on her kitchen counter?

actually shes a bird

[cultivating-wildflowers]

the face of a cat who just spent twenty minutes harassing everyone and has zero remorse for her behavior

[l3irdl3rain]

I know Duncan lives a very happy, supported, and fulfilled life - you take such good care of your pets and are really receptive to their needs! But my heart still twinges when I see him fall or twitch 🥺

Does that ever get easier for you? I've never been in the position to care for a disabled pet, but I can imagine that once you get to know their personalities and moods it goes from "oh poor little thing" to "this is normal and just how things are" pretty quickly.

It's hard seeing animals struggle, and it's actually a source of anxiety for me when I consider adopting a disabled pet myself. Like, I'm worried it would be really emotionally difficult to watch my pet fall over on their way to get attention every day, even if I knew they were fine and that was normal for them, yknow? I guess, have you found it gets easier when its your pet?

Also thanks for sharing these little guys' lives and answering questions! It's a joy to see them thriving and it's awesome to see what caring for animals with specific needs actually looks like!

I’m not gonna lie, Duncan can make me sad at times. I can tell he’s happy and he’s not uncomfortable but it’s sad in a way none of my other special needs cats have been for me. I feel bad that he isn’t ever going to be able to do the things a normal cat can do. However, I also trust myself to know when it’s time and to make the decision to euthanize. And I know if I wait too long Doc will let me know I’m being unfair to Duncan. That makes it easier.

All that sad stuff being said, it’s not like it’s something terrible that weighs on me everyday. Like you said, I see him every single day, so I recognize this as normal for him. Things like seizures are obviously always going to be awful to witness because it’s awful for him to have to go through that. But things like falling over? He doesn’t care, he’ll just get back up and try again.

Also! Don’t let severe cases like Duncan completely scare you off special needs pets. I’m not gonna lie, owning a cat like Duncan isn’t for everyone. He’s an unbelievable amount of work and he is far more emotionally taxing than the average cat. However, there are pets with special needs that aren’t nearly as extreme. As an example, Maccready was extremely easy to own in comparison. Speaking in regards to both the actual care but also the emotional aspects.

[good-beanswrites]

Summary: A lot is said, none of it out loud. Just a little Fuuta-Amane friendship snapshot.

Playing around with some thoughts on the voices, and also I'm a sucker for actions speaking louder than words, especially for characters like these!

[idiaa-shroxd]

Im so excited to see what kinda cat Floyd has. In my heart i want it to be just as insane as him. But also I want him to have a cat he can just swing around in his arms.

Floyd’s cat occupies my mind rent free! <3 he has a little sphinx cat and he adores how “weird” his cat is (his words). he started by making fun of this different looking hairless cat and eventually fell in love with the kitty, because the cat has the audacity to be hairless and exist in cute clothes!! Prune gets to wear all the clothes and is bathed regularly by Floyd who you have to remind to not take on eel form and yo get out your bathtub.

I will stand by this, no matter what anyone believe… floyd and jade absolutely love “different” animals, and floyd would adore a hairless breed. he thinks they’re such weird funky little guys and would ABSOLUTELY bully the cat. the cat has no clue what he’s saying but he’s bullying a cat and then bites the ankle of another student who dares say the same, like one of those only i bully you type. o(｀ω´ )o

he eventually learns from you more about the breed, and Prune is his cat now. he is surprisingly gentle at bathing the cat, the breed needing frequent washes, and despite his own body temperature being cooler than most he likes to dress Prune up in outfits and hold her!! his kitty is relatively relaxed and does allow arm swinging and Floyd to just have a mood swing and cuddle, very soothing and calm presence in her sweater. however other times she gets kitty zoomies and floyd gets so excited and matches her mood!! fair warning: run. furniture may be demolished. ∑(ﾟДﾟ)

honestly could ramble for ages.. about my own cat dynamics i haven’t written and adore. especially want to write a longer fic style maybe in august about the first years working at the cat cafe! would anyone be interested? ace, deuce, jack, epel, ortho, sebek, grim :)) centric?

[forcedhesitation]

stop fucking flirting with me, you rancid little man

[autism-corner]

ok.2

[gaylittlewizardcat]

Liam Mower - Ibn Snell - Tibor Kovats

Pierpaolo Scida - Sam Bateson - Zachary Downer

Marvin Engran - Julius Sermonia - Jonathan Mercer

Revised version of this :]

[danielnelsen]

i forget it’s not canon that hawke’s just roaming around skyhold with his definitely-not-shapeshifted-husband cat, it’s just how things are

[esleep]

percival is a bit of a velcro cat, which i'm not super used to. he usually wants to be Touching Me in some way when he naps beside me and will even shift positions until he can press a paw or forehead or nose into my arm. on the other hand, ivy usually prefers to just hang out in my vicinity without being touched, like an orbiting moon. she will sometimes nap in my lap, especially when she's cold, and she will ask for pets and affection sometimes, but she only wants a few head scratches and i have to watch her body language to determine when she hits her overstimulation threshold or else i'll get a hiss and swat (without claws, mostly, because she likes me) - sometimes it's right away, sometimes it takes a few forehead rubs, but it's always fairly quick. meanwhile i think i could pet percival for the rest of his life and he would never stop purring about it. i adore both of them, it's just so fascinating to see percy's personality develop and be such a contrast to the strange little alien cat i've been used to for the last seven years.