#the meeting of a pig

[houseflyy]

The Meeting of a Pig.

A strange new animal finds Melody and lends a hand. Or a nose.

1.4k words.

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—

On the surface of the murky soup water, Melody hoped for her father. She wished he would appear above her, hand outstretched to scoop her out of the horrible mush, dry her off, carry her all the way home, and never stop until they arrived. They would be back in his office and her in her terrarium to play and sing and eat sandwiches together. They would be far from uncaring humans who didn’t listen and cruel humans with dish rags, ravens who didn’t share strawberry feasts and asked too big of favors, and giant, ravenous animals she couldn’t name.

Her wish got her that very same giant animal—the animal with the big, flat snout that now dipped into the slop before her, below her. And then its snout rose, and as it did, it carried Melody up with it, far up from the bucket.

She couldn’t quite register it as it happened. She was limp and motionless, thinking instead about home and Father and about how soaked she was and how much she wanted to scrub off all the liquid residue on her face and body but couldn’t find it in herself to move. No, her father wasn’t here. Her home was far. Her cap was gone.

Gone, gone, gone—that word repeated and swarmed in her head. She began to cry.

All that Melody had been through finally toppled down on her in the form of a trembling wail, the kind of crying she had done as a tiny larva that made her father jump to her aid, that she had done when she didn’t know what to do and didn’t have the words to explain it. Without any of her comforts, and after so many perils after another, it was all she had left in herself to do.

“Hey—hey, now, don’t you cry.”

A large, feminine voice appeared and urged from beneath her. “You’re safe with me,” it told her. “Please—don’t cry!”

“It’s all gone,” Melody wailed. “It’s all gone!”

Then the voice left her alone.

Melody was lost in her thoughts with an uncontrollable whimper until she felt a nudge on her side—the hard touch of something familiar. She looked at it and gasped. Her cap! Her acorn cap floated soundly atop the puddle. She reached for it, pulled it close, and bundled herself inside it. Immediately, she began to relax, and the rushing thoughts in her mind ebbed and left her alone.

The surface she lay on rose back up out of the bucket again. And again came the voice. “Well, look at you,” it crooned. It spoke with an upbeat drawl. “Are you all right in there? I heard you calling out for help.” Incredulously, it added, “I heard you talk. Can you tell me—can you say: ‘I’m okay?’”

She was exhausted and drenched, and more than ever, she desperately missed what she had lost. But still, Melody gathered her voice and warily replied, “I’m okay.”

“You’re okay? Really, truly okay? Oh, good!” It paused, considering. “Then—how’s about you come out so I can see you?”

Melody was curious to peek out and do as it asked, but she hesitated. Who was it speaking to her? All at once, she remembered. This was the great big animal who came to eat the food left out by that human. This was the animal’s great big nose she was on. It had carried her out. It had saved her.

She lifted her cap and turned to look it in the face. Two great, bright, blue eyes, a calming blue, stared back at her with lids lowered now, not in disinterest, but in what appeared to be a worried look. And above the eyes, two large, floppy ears on either side of a tuft of pale fur raised, looking ready to listen. But once Melody revealed herself, she saw the animal’s expression shift—eyes and ears eased into what they witnessed, and the corners of a smile rose below both sides of the animal’s snout.

“There you are,” it said. “Aren’t you a tiny thing—I’ve got to squint a tad bit to look at you! Now, I’ve seen plenty of flies around—more than plenty, for most others I know—but not ever one that talks. What are the kinds of things you flies talk about? Do you mingle in the manure piles where you feed? Do you share with each other about which one of our hides tastes best? Hope it ain’t mine!”

Melody had lost track of what the animal was going on about. She stared blankly. “What are you?” she blurted.

“What am I,” the animal repeated in a disbelieving tone. “Well, I’m a pig, of course! A Chester White.” It huffed from its nose proudly at that.

“A… pig? A Chester—what?”

“Chester White,” the pig said again, slower. “That’s the kind of pig I am. It’s so important that it makes up part of my name.” The pig lifted her head proudly and declared: “Rosemary Chester White Johnson!”

Melody yelped and had to cling tightly with her slippery claws to the bumps of skin on the pig’s snout to not tumble off. Then, the pig lowered her head, and Melody sighed in relief and let go.

“But, uh, I don’t use them all the time, really,” the pig chuckled. “Everyone usually just calls me Rosie. You can, too. Don’t want to tire out that itty bitty voice of yours.”

“Rosie,” Melody said, to hear how it felt. She noticed that it made Rosie smile a little wider. “My name is Melody.”

“Melody,” the pig then repeated. Her ears raised as she did. “I’d never think a fly would have such a pretty name. Or a name at all. Now, why is that? All the animals I know get their names from either their parents or their people. Suppose you’ve got a mama or a papa who stuck around long enough to give you a name, and all your hundreds of siblings, too? Or you’ve got a people who looks after you?”

Rosie shook her head. “Nah, it can’t be that. What people would own a ’lil fly? What would they call a ’lil fly for? ‘Melody, c’mere and buzz in my ear, would you? Care to bite me on the leg?’” Rosie let out a great fit of laughter, accompanied by a loud snorting from her nose.

Melody, meanwhile, had been struggling to keep up with what Rosie was saying and jumped at the rumbling sensation of the snorting underneath her. Did a “people” mean humans? Did she have over a hundred siblings?!

And what was it about a human looking after her, having a name to call her by, that made Rosie laugh so much? Melody knew with complete certainty that Father loved her with all his heart, and she loved him so much that it pained her to be apart from him. And he had never asked her to purposefully flap her wings in his ear or bite him. She didn’t have a bite! She shrunk into herself and frowned, feeling the urge to return to hiding or, better yet, fly away to someplace she wouldn’t be spoken to this way.

Except she didn't have the choice to run off. She looked at her wings despairingly. They were tinged with the brown hue of soup and even more soaked than before. Melody began scrubbing at them, trying to rub the color out to no avail.

Rosie soon laid her eyes on her again and cleared her throat. “Oh, look at me,” she said, rolling her eyes, “going on about this and that while you’re still a mess. What do you say we get you washed up? Supper can wait. Wasn’t too hungry, anyway.”

“Uh…” Melody halted her scrubbing and considered, looking down and away from Rosie’s gaze. In one moment, Rosie was incredibly kind, and in the next, the pig said some odd, even hurtful things. But Melody treasured the thought of being clean, and if she wanted to go clean herself on her own, that meant an assuredly long trek on foot to get wherever Rosie had in mind. She was far too exhausted for that.

“Yes, please,” she said and nodded.

“Even got manners!” Rosie grinned. “Whoever it was who raised you up did a fine job of it. All right. I’d say, ‘Come along,’ but you are already!” She gave out another boisterous laugh that again shook Melody where she sat as she trotted off.

—

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Vanny and Amanda from DBD would get along..

[demigods-posts]

headcanon that percy and annabeth have a relationship contract they made after they got together once the war came to pass. they outlined it on paper in percy's bedroom. typed up a final draft using sally's laptop. and printed out and laminated it at the local library on their two month anniversary. and they abide by it like it's the law.

[barblaz-arts]

Sora thought she could live the rest of her life pretending to be normal, but a day comes when she encounters a ghost she just couldn't bring herself to ignore. As she says goodbye to an old playmate, she runs into a new friend.

[novuit]

Bnuy Engerland for the soul :)

[pay-2-skye]

I need 😫 $700 right now from any loser.

[surelysilly]

i'm not scared. not anymore.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

TWO OF THEM

[theborzoiarebackintown]

Krampus supervised his treats and toys being rung out with utmost concern! He was quickly reunited with his Christmas sweater shark though 🥰

[justaz]

visiting nobles/lords/royals quickly notice that merlin has arthur’s ear and that arthur values merlin’s opinion above all others. when they’re having trouble convincing arthur to go along w their plan or sign their Important Document, they go to merlin to try and convince him to convince arthur. merlin knows what they’re doing. merlin does not want to push arthur one way or another, he wants arthur to make his own choices and lead his people as he sees fit. merlin satisfies both of their needs by seeming apologetic that he can’t convince arthur of this but maybe they can and gives them “tips and tricks” on how to soften arthur up to agreeing to the plan.

its all bullshit.

so far he’s convinced a princess (looking for marriage) that arthur loves frogs and pranks so she filled his chambers with a bunch of toads (arthur is terrified of frogs), a lord (was “wronged” by another lord and wanted a portion of his land) that arthur is a fan of the arts, particularly music, and he ended up breaking into song and dance in front of everyone, and a nobleman (arguing against the repealed magic ban and hoping to bring back uther’s laws) that arthur LOVES potatoes and to just give him one throughout the day whenever he seems him so arthur will associate the nobleman with the joy of receiving his favorite food so he’ll be more inclined to the nobleman’s request (arthur despises potatoes).

[brattybrandy]

I want every grain of sand licked 👅 clean

[420technoblazeit]

ok. gonna let him get my dungeon meshi ill let u guys know what i think

[judraw9]

Meet the Artist 2025

[the-halfling-prince]

"stop putting The Character in a situation" Um he's from a sitcom, it would be inhumane to take him out of the situations, it's all he knows

[ducktracy]

souhh, as a looney tunes buff, what’re your condolences on this (self-imposed or not) decision on LTC to not have 40’s-era daffy interact with bugs?

(this is prolly somethin’ i’d ask ya on discord, but i haven’t heard from that in a while (and also sorry for gettin’ nosy))

hey!! i’m very sorry to you and everyone whose left DMs on Discord or otherwise, i’ve been very very busy and a bit overwhelmed by a looooot of messages from a lot of people, so i haven’t had a proper chance to sit down and dedicate my full attention to respond (i know it’s hypocritical of me to answer asks heh, but it’s more self contained and im kinda doing it as a way to psyche myself up to answering 80+ Discord messages) so i thank you for your patience and understanding :)

but to answer your question: i largely, yet reluctantly agree.. i was discussing the Bugs and Daffy cartoon that never was with friends in another server, and someone very accurately described it as being beneath both characters’ M-Os. obviously we just got a little snippet, not the whole thing, so who’s to say—but what we have does seem more comparable to a sort of story done at Walter Lantz (Bugs and Daffy present Pantry Panic) or Terrytoons rather than a tried and true WB short made for the characters’ strengths in mind. it was probably best that it was scrapped for that reason—i’d be interested to see the remainder of the boards, but it does feel like a rather nonspecific story to give them that doesn’t play to either of their strengths, and that’s especially a bit of a priority with the high standard these directors and writers have set for themselves

the contrarian and stubbornness in me still thinks its possible, but i think you are going to end up with some standard of redundancy by pairing up “wacky” Daffy and a wilier Bugs. there will be little differences and quirks, and i focus a lot on these differences and quirks and that’s sort of what’s led me to beat my drum about GUYS THEY’D BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT!, but the bigger picture just paints one of redundancy. i’m sure it’s possible, especially done by people who truly know the ins and outs of the characters (and i love my LTC friends and kin, this is not a knock against you at all, you guys are truly wonderful and should know my fanaticism i hold for you and the show! but i have a lot of critiques for how Daffy is portrayed in LTC in particular, a lot of the nuances and delicacies of Daffy’s more screwball persona are really missed and so i wonder just how successfully that would’ve panned out…. it sounds like they were aware of this too, judging by the message here), but i maintain my position that Bugs and Daffy are characters who weren’t really ever meant to be together, at least not without a major magnification (ie rehaul.. i’m pedantic, Daffy has always had the qualities of the Jones duck even at some of his most primitive) of certain traits to make it work. and it’s not all on Daffy, either, poor Bugs had to be relegated to a life of boring domesticity and apathy.. it’s not a coincidence that my favorite incarnations of each character are when they behave the most similarly.

otherwise you end up with two Daffys or two Bugses, both very strong personalities that clash and override each other into redundancy rather than compliment. what purpose does one serve that the other couldn’t, etc. there are nuances and differences, but largely, structurally, speaking in generalizations, there’s just too much overlap. even in “canon” instances where we have them interacting together in this time period, like this radio bit, they sort of exist adjacently between one another rather than any meaningful interaction

what is interesting though is that the Dell comics have tried pairing them up on occasion! i don’t have the full story on hand right now as it’s been a few years since i found it, but there was one story where they’re together and Daffy actually comes out on top! though there’s certainly more of that conflict/embitterment from Daffy to make them stand out, even then

though something i noticed the other day in regards to the Bugs and Daffy planned cartoon news.. i could still be stretching, but i thought it was interesting:

[pay-2-skye]

Why so tiny loser...!!!