#that cat spoke

[muaka-safari]

The idea of healing when it comes to mechanical forms is fascinating to me, because regular healing – as in, biological – is the body regrowing lost cells to a bodyplan built into the dna... but the moment you have something like inorganic bodies, that goes out of the window

Especially if you bring into play the concept of healing magic

Because biological healing magic – fine. Usually the logic is it's basically just speeding up the natural healing process. Open wound? The skin regrows to cover it. Loss of blood? Speed up the body's ability to make more blood. The body knows how to heal, it just needs time to do so

But magically healing mechanical forms? Now the onus of knowing how to undo the damage is specifically on the healer; if you leave an injury, the body will never naturally heal. Does the healing magic include producing more metal to heal an injury? Or will it thin the metal and you have to physically add more to maintain integrity? Do you have to know exactly how you want it to reform, since the metal has no memory of what it should look like?

Anyway, I've decided the simplest form of magically healing inorganic bodies to their original form is very small-scale time magic

[catsafarithewriter]

Okay so I have something in the works that maaaay be a tcr birthday bash thing, BUT it is a kind of "choose your own adventure" shebang rather than a ficlet, with Baron as the POV

The question is, would people prefer it to be written in the classic cyoa 2nd person POV ("you do this, you think that") or in a more prose-traditional 3rd person POV ("Baron does this, Baron does that")?

Example text:

So, question:

(Note: there's no guarantee this will be finished in time for the bday bash, or indeed ever. Atm I'm just following the muse.)

(Note note: Kudos if you can guess what this is based off.)

(Note note note: if you want to try making your own cyoa story, check out the website I'm using here)

[catsafari25]

After reading Challenge of the Hordika, I'm still lowkey obsessed with the implications of the Hordika not only deferring from entering the Great Temple out of reverence, but because it almost tangibly felt wrong

Imagine. You return to a place of great spiritual importance. A holy ground. Even the wild rahi seem to sense that because it's almost untouched. It's meant to be a sanctuary for you. Home. This is the place where you were changed into heroes, where Mata Nui allegedly chose you to step up into the role of Toa, where you put aside your previous life for this one

and you can't enter

You discover you are now fundamentally antithetical to the temple and everything it represents.

By now, you've come to suspect the Rahaga who work alongside you have a similar story to tell – that they were also Toa once, altered and deformed – but they can enter. The temple – not their temple, but yours – doesn't abhor them. It doesn't halt them in their steps, repulse them, detest them as it does you now

(maybe it's the Hordika venom, a corruption, as the Rahaga assume, but maybe it's something deeper, you fear. maybe the temple now knows its mistake, maybe it knows you weren't Mata Nui-chosen, but Makuta-chosen instead....)

Anyway! Yeah, I'm obsessed with the understated horror of the Toa discovering they are no longer welcome in the Great Temple and all the emotional ramifications of that!

[sardinesandhumbugs]

is there ever an explanation as to why the jailer's daughter is helping mr. toad?

In the original book: yes! It's mostly fondness and pity!

The book is actually pretty clear on this – the jailer's daughter is a young woman who's particularly fond of animals (we are informed of her various pets) and when all Toad does for several weeks is sob profusely and refuse his meals, she decides to intervene.

(Her exact words: "Father! I can't bear to see that poor beast so unhappy and getting so thin! You let me have the managing of him. You know how fond of animals I am. I'll make him eat from my hand, and sit up, and do all sorts of things.")

As you can probably tell, it's established that she feels fondness for him, but in that weird Grahame way in which the line between animal and anthropomorphism blurs. He's sort of a fancy kind of pet, or an unruly animal to tame. In another story, she's the horse girl befriending the wild stallion... at least in her imagination.

So she gets him nice food and she listens to his (many) stories about Toad Hall, and then there's a time skip. And during these many days, the jailer's daughter goes "huh, it seems pretty mean to lock up a toad for 20 years for bad driving" and organises an escape. But it's only after time has passed.

She does mention that Toad will need to bribe her aunt for the washerwoman clothes, but this is clearly not because she wants the money, but rather that it's the easiest way to get her aunt to agree.

(Again, going back to the horse girl movie analogy, this is the point where the fearless heroine releases the stallion back to the wild, because wild animals should be free and wild, and all that. Nevermind the fact that Toad owns a manor house and did grand theft auto.)

Adaptations follow this to varying levels: the 2017 musical implies it to be mostly pity at the severity of the punishment, while the 1996 live action makes it more about bribery. The 1995 animated version (as usual) is the most faithful that I can recall, and even that skips on the "pet" viewpoint

[basoogil]

we had to trap him in a sock because he kept trying to star the trek 💔💔💔

[royalarchivist]

In case you missed it, Jaiden posted a new YouTube video today about her cat Tostada! If you're a cat lover and/or a creature enjoyer, I highly recommend it, it made me laugh out loud multiple times.

[bumblydumbly]

insane how people act like charles is ‘the jealous one’ like edwin didnt spend the whole first episode screaming crying throwing up every time charles looked at crystal and not him

[marragurl]

Not the first to say it, but damn can’t believe Galladay really went from toxic yaoi to doomed tragic yaoi.

Alright fellow Galladay trash, where’s the modern AU fix-it fics?

I need to see Gallagher single dad with Misha plus their dog/cat Sleepie falling for entertainment company CEO Sunday. Don’t ask me how they met, fuck it, throw in bodyguard AU Gallagher who works part-time at a bar, boom there that’s how they meet, idk I’m making this up on 3 hours of sleep.

You’ve heard of slow burns, now get ready for Galladay blaze it.

They’re speedrunning the relationship from hate -> annoyance -> mild disgruntlement -> weirdly vibing -> ok wow never knew I needed that in my life -> Sunday is way too ok with spoiling Misha -> ok so we got married -> alright we’re dismantling the government now -> Sunday went to jail for 5 minutes for attempting “peaceful” world domination, don’t worry we (Gallagher) forgave him -> Sunday’s stepping down as CEO to run a coffeeshop idk look someone get him some therapy -> Robin is president now while she still goes on tours -> Misha won an engineering competition while this was all going on

Bottom line: Robin is out living her best life while Sunday is in the back somehow having the most insane week of his life. I have no other notes for her here except that she is happy, and successful, and is Sunday’s last remaining brain cell. She and Misha are having some fun Aunt/Nephew bonding times while Galladay are accidentally-on-purpose committing multiple war crimes.

No, we don’t have time to unpack 2.2 and all its trauma, we cope with modern AU :)

[l3irdl3rain]

How did you deal with Chloe’s death? If I came home and found my cat already dead I would be absolutely RUINED.

I did not handle it well, anon! I can promise you that. It was as unexpected as it could be considering her age / health. I had a lot of scares with her over the years but she was actually doing pretty well at the time she died. It was also made worse by the fact that she was literally right inside the front door. We're talking one more step and I would have stepped on her.

But as awful as it is to find your cat deceased there's also some benefits. You don't have to make the decision for them. And there's no final vet visit, they get to go in the comfort of their own home and on their own time.

[nikoisme]

That bit when Athena reveals herself to Odysseus after he washes up on Ithaca and basically says "you fucking liar /affectionate"

[muaka-safari]

May I ask, did you get around to writing that essay about ga-matoran in Metru Nui and their connection to the Great Temple? Not expecting anything! Just curious!

Oh, I think I wrote a bullet-pointed list on ga-matoran and their connection to the Great Temple, specifically looking at how it affects their concept of gender here, but I never wrote anything long-hand.

If a quick rundown is what you're looking for, follow that link. If you do enjoy long(ish), rambling essays from someone making far too extensive headcanons for fictional worlds, read on.

So. Ga-Metru. The metru of the ga, the metru specifically for the ga, that metru. Now, I could launch straight into the impact of Ga-Metru being Mata Nui-favoured... but this is my essay, so I'm gonna roll this a bit further back and delve into a possible reason of why Ga-Metru is favoured.

Because I have a personal headcanon that Ga-Metru's favoured status was very much a byproduct of the natural resources.

Look at it this way: You need to build a protodermis purification facility on Metru Nui. You've already built the forges and furnaces; now you need to be able to source the building material for these smithies. So you need somewhere with a lot of liquid protodermis readily at hand - somewhere, for example, like Ga-Metru.

And then, because you probably shouldn't put all your important masks in a place full of burny, melty fire, you store your kanohi mask here (instead of Ta-Metru) as the other major building in this budding metru.

So, ta-da, you now have your second major site in Metru Nui, and over time that becomes Ga-Metru, home to the Ga-Matoran. Second-eldest metru, not out of any holy significance, but because it provided an important resource.

Time passes, and your purification/storage facility becomes a place of spiritual importance. I mean, it makes sense. It's an old, vital building, storing items of power, and isn't the hot, noisy space of Ta-Metru, plus the act of purifying carries a kind of holiness to it.

So, the next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is home to the temple of your god, then - obviously - god must like this metru best.

Next, next logical train of thought: if Ga-Metru is the favoured metru, then those who live there must be Mata Nui's favoured matorans. Or, at least, they are spiritually closer to Mata Nui, living basically on the doorstep of your connection to him.

By this point, matoran have certainly been granted sentience, and with that comes all the messy irrationality of thinking for yourself. What a lot of religions like to do is recognise those singled out, spiritually, with a title. Father. Reverend. Back in the medieval era, catholic priests were called "Sir" the same way a knight was.

Regardless, the point is: you need a name or a title to recognise that Ga-Matoran are different. And (headcanon going strong here) because Matoran weren't programmed with a sense of gender, they only really have "he/him" for daily use, with "brother" as a title of respect.

So language does what it always does in these circumstances - it adapts. Except, well, the Matoran may not have a concept of gender, but the Great Beings who created them did. So, somewhere in that pesky programming and superfluous data, there's a not-memory of "sister" being an equivalent title to "brother" - they don't understand how it relates to gender, they just know it feels right. And with "sister" comes the pronouns "she/her" so suddenly you have a whole metru with their own special pronouns and titles.

And, ta-da! Matorans have now accidentally ungendered gendered pronouns.

I also think it adds an interesting sense of irony for any (head)canons that Ga-Matorans consider themselves above or better than other Matorans (because then their importance is built on a coincidence, rather than actual Mata Nui favour) but that's for another day - or for other people to take a crack at, if they'd like. (I know I've certainly seen some interesting posts about Ga-Matoran self-importance!)

I personally was just fascinated by the fact that the "female" Matoran are the "holy" Matoran, despite gender being nonexistant, and examining one possible reason for Ga-Metru gaining its favoured reputation. (What can I say? I love clawing my way into the cracks of existing world-building.) Feel free to agree, disagree, whatever, but these are my personal headcanons and I hope people enjoyed reading about them!

[catsafarithewriter]

Guess who slammed her foot into a wall and possibly broke several toes in the process!

On the plus side, I'm actively researching walking with a cane now 😂😭

[catsafari25]

Desperately want to write, but I've also just discovered my deputy manager is staging a coup behind my manager's back and, understandably, my brain refuses to word properly now

[sardinesandhumbugs]

Guess who's going to see Oliver! (starring our very own Ratty) in Chichester this summer!

[mysterycitrus]

i rescued a cat in january and he’s like…. definitely cat shaped. but also he looks a bit like a xenomorph. or a profoundly creepy giraffe. sometimes he stretches and just keeps getting longer like this:

he has a lot more neck than u would expect

[baicalpascal]

Help, Mr. Spock is too much fun to draw :((( 💙✨