#and want to prioritize getting him a home with multiple pets

[the-everqueen]

not get littol man :(

[babygirlaffirmations]

11-17-23

For the most part everything is accurate as far as to what happened on each day. But I've had a lot of cummies and sometimes my memory isn't great. Everything happened it's just some minor things on what day.

Tuesday: part written in a previous. Deepest little space. Need refresh on what to write here. Puyallup class. Talk with Akira where he admits to being sexist. Just wanted to try to build a community connection. Was gross. 26 cummies. First long drive where we really utilized that car time for cummies. Going to his class full of his cummies. I can't remember which day. I think this one. There was one scene that he suggested a pause. And used the brief pause to text his wife while I was naked and run down on his bed. I was pissed.

Wednesday: Work scheduled from 9-4. Get sent home early. Take food to go. Master's first experience at the bodega before it closes. Get sent off work at about 2:30. Patrick was mad I spent like 5 mins with Master in a booth. When it was dead. And I was supposed to go home early anyways. Get food to go. See bodega. Go back to the hotel and eat food next to him on the pet bed. I think this is the day we were at the end of the meal and he ended up walking out for a call. Right after I had just said being at his feet was my favorite place. Irony and a slap in the face. His class 6-9. Edmonds class. 40 cummies.

Thursday: Contract start. Empty class. Kitty play. Missed doctor's appointment. Snapdoodle. Bought a sticker. Bought my kitty play collar and tag.

Day starts with us having a 11:45 appointment for my doctor. We went up running late after sleeping in and breakfast pickup at Starbucks taking too long. Rescheduled for 1:15. Used the interim to go to snapdoodle and get toys. Got my fidget snake doodle. Got my crumble fidget, a tiny cow, and a gold bath bomb. Went to the appointment. Got medication refills put in. Got another appointment set with Dian. Set an appointment next month with a nutritionist. So I can see someone again about my Arfid and also work on my cholesterol lowering. Trying to add more fruit in. Decided to skip zoo to try to prioritize contract. That ended to not done early like we wanted. Instead went to pet store for kitty play collar and tag. Decided my kitty play name can be my sub name, Phedra. It's a cute pink collar with stones on it that look like pearls. And silver ones. And a jack skellington tag. Went and got some basic groceries and ate tendies. Traffic was awful and we ended up getting to his office like 7-10 mins late. I guess someone showed up and left cuz the building was locked. But everything happens for a reason. We ended up using 2.5 hours of down time there for a big combined paper pros and cons list. And then rough draft our contract. And use car ride to think of new habits to add to obedience app. We started a like 1.5 hour car ride talk about the realistic expectations of dating him. As far as his family needing access to him. Which interrupts a lot. Multiple times daily. And that often every 4-5 visits his family comes with him to Seattle and stays with him. Which means likely 2 or so skipped visits a year. I think realistically as much as it sucks it would help to at least get one date night in on those times. So we don't have a 2 month drought. I know I would be absolutely shattered and devastated to skip a visit. Knowing the prior visit that a month will be skipped may also help. If we could even get a small date and/or time for sexy time at all that visit it would help tremendously. The idea of being put on the back burner for a visit sounds so awful. Won't be the next visit since Master let me request it off already. But that's gonna break me into a million pieces. That whole interim will suck. That whole month will suck. And during that specific week I'm gonna be absolutely likely not able to function at all. Everything else seems miniscule to the idea of missing a whole visit when that's all we have in person. Really hoping he can work with his wife and family and minimize missed visits. It would be nice if we never had to do that... But unrealistic. But ideal. 😵‍💫 It would also be nice if they could talk and we could have one night that week where she watches the kids. But may have to settle for a couple hours instead of most of a week. Which is already a lot. But would prefer that over going 2 months without my amazing Master and owner. We need that physical. And our physical connection is so strong in so many ways. Our mostly long/short distance relationship needs the visits to keep thriving. Neither of us would be happy with an only long distance relationship. Or losing a big chunk of what in person time we do have. Anyways done harping on that. After our long talk. Filling out that pros and cons list and rough drafting the contract and listening to a chapter of Kushiel's dart together. After all that we got back to the hotel. And decided we had time and space for the kitty play scene we had planned and that I smartly purchased 2 hours of on obedience. Crawling. Playing with yarn. Master taunting me because I couldn't speak. (which I asked for) lots of meowing. Pet bed time. Being walked on a leash. Full nudity. Couldn't get plug to work because it hurt. **This is the fucking third time I've had to type this part of the night because Tumblr is a piece of shit and gave me an error twice. So I've had to move it over to Google note.

What I wrote. Two times. Is how I moved it into sexual contract and how it ended. I rubbed and nuzzled into his cock. And started sucking his cock. And he moved me over to the pet bed. And said he was going to breed me. I had meows of me being in heat. (also I totally forgot my secret talent of being able to purr until I was in the moment.) So he fucked and bred. Cumming in me. At one point stepping on my head. So hot. Moved me to the bed. Started using princess kisses while making eye contact. Fingers. I got to like 68-70. He checked in. And I was a greedy kitty and wanted more. Full of his seed. After so many cummies. He used his hitachi and sometimes fingers to bring me up to 101 cummies. We passed our record. He wrote all over me. And after had me guess what number we hit. And used my hands to write out 101. I was shocked. Our newest daily record. And 101 was the strongest orgasm of the night. And may be the strongest I've ever had with him. So hot. We snuggled. I suggested a light bath. He sat behind me in the tub. Moved me to the bed after he dried me off. Got me under the covers. He had to hold me up a lot of it for walking at that time. Including to help me pee after I had laid down. He when brought me back. Got me comfy under the covers again. Cuffed me. Started playing a nature channel. And I nodded off to watching pretty yellow bugs. And then we both fell asleep.

Friday (today): started off stressful. We had an amazing scene last night. That I'll write more about on the Thursday portion. Started the day off awful. Master woke up at 7 and had an hour long text conversation. And it kept me awake. I was on like 6.5 orgasms. Post 101 orgasms just from Thursday. Ended up crying in bed. Even after all that I straddled him and ended up sucking his cock after. And sat on top of him to ride him. And stuck his cock in me. And we got to 13 cummies before he made me get off and have us start the day. We had breakfast. He made me waffles and gave me a banana I ate half of. He made a breakfast sandwich for himself. And then we headed off to the zoo. Was amazing. Apparently Master is a big zoo buff. Made a pressed coin together. Got zoozoo the angry red finger panda. Rode the carousel at the end. That was my fav. Spent like an hour or over half the time at the farm area. Got a cute photo of me petting one of the cows by stepping up on the fence. Got one cow kissie. Got cute photos of us together. New ones finally. Finished the zoo. Went to the first hill campus early. Parked. Got IHOP. Cute vanilla date where we could just be a couple. Staring into his gorgeous eyes. Anand ended up texting. And we ended up all 3 finally meeting. Master and I agree he is too disappearing. No spark. Not interested in more. Or really able to provide aftercare. After that we looked around at that bookstore. The puppy was cute he brought though. Then we got snackies for this class at QFC. And water at whole foods. Spent a few mins in the car. And went up to his class. Briefly talked about my emotional struggle of the moment. And now we're here. Me typing this in his class of the night. Honestly was pleasantly surprised that he was super present the whole visit. I really loved that.

*Going to try to make time for finishing the contract and adding in talked about obedience habits to the app. Not trying. Prioritizing. And either anal or finally swallowing his cum for the first time. I want the anal. We haven't had a full successful anal yet. We had a failed attempt. And then a partially satisfying attempt. But not him being able to fuck my ass to the extreme with force and cum in my butt.

[ruby-whistler]

do you mind me asking how c!sapnap was a bad friend to c!dream? he seemed to follow and be close with him until finally getting tired of constantly not seeming cared about. especially when it's revealed that dream "cut off all attachments."

Alright, let's start with c!Dream's position in the situation.

During the early Dream SMP, Dream repeatedly prioritized and spent time with George and Sapnap. He founded the server to be with them and they seemed to have some sort of co-ownership over it initially (it used to be called the "Dream Team SMP" iirc).

c!Dream declared war against L'Manberg, during which his motives were merely to the place he founded with his friends united. He listed the reasons for attacking later on, and all of them were a "we". "We" didn't like that. "We" didn't want them to have independence.

In his mind, he was fighting for and on behalf of his friends.

I recommend you watch the first war VOD, which is undoubtedly canon, to see just how close they were - this includes him and Sapnap teasing Eret, him giving his last netherite ingot to let George upgrade his gear for the war, and the flawless cooperation between them which, in the end, lead to a victory.

He then put his life on the line with the duel. This was, once again, for a war which he fought to keep their home intact.

When c!Tommy and c!Niki were rightfully retaliating against c!Sapnap's violence, c!Dream gave them the leather of his dead pet in order to get Sapnap and George's fishes back. The leather of his dead pet which c!Sapnap got killed.

You could say if he truly didn't care about them, the Spirit speech never would've happened in the first place.

When c!Sapnap once again killed someone's pet, and c!Dream was forced to keep his integrity as Pogtopia's (and hence c!Tommy's) ally and fight against him, he made c!Tommy swear up and down on his life so that he could lend him c!Sapnsp's fish to end the conflict.

He ended up helping c!Sapnap plan the final pet war as well, and fought with him on the 16th. He put c!George into power despite knowing he would have less control over him than c!Eret, because he though he was right for the job. c!George proved him wrong later on, and got targeted multiple times for his position, which ended up with it being taken away, but the point still stands.

Now as to how c!George and c!Sapnap treated him back;

c!George participated in the elections of the country which he strongly disliked, which could only further lead to conflict and division. These are the very things that c!Dream opposes.

c!Dream never spoke up about this or attacked him over it.

c!Sapnap started conflict with the pet wars. He got many pets killed as a result of his own stubbornness, in a war with members of L'Manberg - the country they had signed a peace treaty with.

c!Dream got involved in this, leading c!Fundy to his pets, however never incentivised violence, only letting them fight it out between each other and keeping the damage strictly limited to them.

c!Sapnap never expressed he was angry over this. c!Dream didn't cause his pets' death, so it's not like he should've been either.

c!George stole L'Mantree because he wanted to cause chaos, and c!Sapnap fought against c!Dream multiple times - but c!Dream didn't get angry, he never got upset, he never tried to control them.

No offense, but if c!Sapnap and c!George didn't see how much c!Dream cared about them, they need better glasses. To say either of them "followed him" is false; they were just friends.

He never cut off his attachments - he wanted to make it seem that way so that they wouldn't get hurt. This happened with both c!George being dethroned and c!Punz later on.

After all of this, c!Sapnap came to c!Dream's known enemy to ask whether or not he cared about him, instead of literally communicating with his friend at all. He never asked, and after accusing him of not caring about them after everything he did for them, refused to listen to what he was saying at all.

I don't find this a very 'good friend' thing to do, as someone familiar with abandonment. c!Dream is not a good person, nor did he handle the situation right, but c!Sapnap nor c!George were good friends to him, and in the end, not friends at all.

My thoughts on the matter extend beyond this but this is pretty much it for their relationship before Pandora's vault.

Please tell me if I missed anything, but this is all my current opinion.

[kishimoto-did-us-dirty]

Naruto Characters and Quarantine (Part 1)

Naruto characters x reader during quarantine

warnings: none

rating: K+

includes: konoha 12, sand siblings

Authors Notes: These are centered on the idea that the two of you are adults who don’t live or work together.

part 2, mayhaps?? anyone want that?? 👀

Anywho, enjoyyyy~

also, remember, these guys are shinobi. they gotta stay healthy, which is what I kept in mind when writing a lot of these.

Naruto

- totally ignores social distancing rules to come and see you

- he just has to, he doesn’t know what he would do if he didn’t :( probably die of y/n-deprivation

- this boy will not care at all about social distancing if none of you or any of your loved ones are at greater risk

- will sneak into your apartment and spends nights cuddling with you to get through his restlessness of not being able to go outside as much

- will bring you food and do your grocery shopping for you 100% if you or those around you are at a higher risk and can’t do it yourself

- just don’t expect your groceries to be 100% what you asked for

- “How was I supposed to know that Nesquik doesn’t count as a seasoning!?”

Sasuke

- non-massacre au

- another rule breaker

- just to a lesser degree

- he’s definitely gonna come see you whenever he wants, he just won’t do as much touching

- like, if you two are watching a movie together, you’re sitting on opposite sides of the sofa

- which honestly he was fine with at first, but then he realized he’s a little something called.... ✨touch starved✨

- and is now having a hard time not touching you as much as he wants

- he gradually gets more touchy overtime but still always insists on sanitizing afterwards

- he still won’t do more than a peck tho. he would absolutely hate it if you got sick bc of him.

- he also brought you a shit ton of toilet paper at the beginning of quarantine because he was worried you wouldn’t have any and it was the last batch he saw

- it’s his form of romance

Sakura

- at first she was totally all for the rules

- you two kept six feet apart with masks on at all times

- but very gradually and unconsciously... that changed lol

- she started to completely forget about the rules as it went on and would just randomly grab your arm or hug you out of excitement without even realizing it

- eventually she resorts to touching but with very strong precautions

- you both will sanitize, brush your teeth, wipe down areas, etc. as soon as you’re done hanging out

Shikamaru

- 50/50 with him

- he doesn’t care so much so as to stop seeing you and won’t wear a mask around you

- but if you try to kiss him he goes “you know we can’t do that right now.”

- will grab your hands and play with them and everything

- and may occasionally cuddle

- but he’s not going to do it as much as usual

- you two mainly just nap together

- but now you guys are napping with a couple feet between you

- again, these guys are shinobi. they gotta stay healthy and he knows that. he can’t prioritize kissing you over being the village’s strategic backbone and he needs you to understand that, too.

Choji

- my baby boy :(

- he tries so hard

- he really does

- but he just has to be around you

- he won't risk any health precautions and will still keep distance

- but he will always find ways to spend time with you while staying six feet apart

- expect a lot of social distancing picnics and food dates

- will 1000% bring you food if you need any

- he will also gladly buy you masks, sanitizer, wipes, etc. if you need it

Ino

 - Ino isn’t as frivolous as many people in the fandom depict her

- She has a good head on her shoulders

- She may be a hopeless romantic, but she isn’t stupid and knows she has a job at the hospital

- She basically just like Sakura except a little more feisty

- will yell at you if you don’t socially distance well enough

- but will also snuggle you if she knows she has some sanitizer on hand to use afterwards

- ultimately, she knows she has to prioritize your guys’ health

Kiba

- not a total rule breaker

- he’s just like a kicked puppy tbh

- will always use his nose to sniff out sickness on you when you’re not looking (you know how like some dogs can?)

- will gives you hugs and look after you

- but he, too, will keep social distancing

- I could see him just grabbing your shoulders after a distanced hang out and just gently rubbing your shoulders from an arm’s length bc he knows he can’t get any closer

- but he does break the rules sometimes 

- he’s snuck in a few kisses here and there

- Akamaru always barks at him for this though

Shino

- I love him so much

- but he ain’t breaking the rules

- he’s definitely going to social distance from you, bc him getting sick means his whole colony gets sick

- and he needs to keep himself healthy

- not to mention, if you got sick?

- he can’t even stand the thought

- he’ll just watch you do your thing from a good 6-7 feet apart and hope for everything to end soom

- he also puts a bug on you without telling you that’ll track your health

- that way he knows when you’re sick or not

Hinata

- I headcanon Hinata as being a bit of a security freak tbh

- not in the sense that anything’s wrong with her

- but she has to check that the doors leading into the house are all locked before going to bed, always stocked up with medical supplies in case of emergency, having extra face masks on her just in case, etc.

- small and quiet but still very safe

- she just likes to keep her distance and maintain safety

- she lives in a compound so any spread within it will likely extend to a few other people within her clan

- so she likes to stay distant

- but she really loves social distancing dates :)

- things like picnics, outdoor movies and training sessions!

- definitely makes you a lot of food and small gifts to make up for the lack of touch

Neji

- another rule-follower

- I mean what did you expect

- he just really doesn’t want you or anyone else getting sick because of reckless actions

- will 100% sanitize everything for you before and after you use it if you guys are out in public

- he claims it’s because you just won’t do it right

- but really it’s just because he cares

- kissed you a total of 3 times and felt a little guilty after the third since it was right after he came back from a mission and he hadn’t cleaned himself off yet

Lee

- follows the rules almost too well

- makes sure that you both are six feet apart at literally all times and might as well measure as much considering how dedicated he is to it

- HE’S HELLA DRAMATIC ABOUT IT ALL THOUGH

- EACH TIME HE REALIZES HE CAN’T HUG YOU BRINGS ON A NEW WAVE OF PASSIONATE TEARS

- he just cries a lot about it and really wishes things weren’t like this

- will often go grocery shopping with you bc he buys groceries for his elderly neighbors who are at a greater risk so they don’t have to go out (awwww)

- he will get very upset when he sees people outside without masks on when it’s things like that that make the virus keep spreading and thus keeping him from you for even longer :(

Tenten

- honestly I think she’s really casual about the whole thing

- always wears and mask and sanitizes everything, yeah

- but she gives you hugs and kisses just fine

- but only in private

- and she won’t be cuddling

- she just keeps her distance but still gives affection

- the type to get angry if you aren’t being safe enough

- like if you go to a party with multiple people there?

- she’ll scold you 100%

Gaara

- Gaara would have to social distance as kazekage

- he’s not allowed to run the risk since it’s public knowledge you aren’t living together

- this makes having private moments very difficult

- and he has to set a proper example for his citizens

- it’ll also be a large political scandal only worsened by his political opposers if he were to be caught not social distancing

- also if he got sick then that would leave the village susceptible to enemies who would take advantage of his vulnerability and attack

- but you two still do things together

- water cacti, discuss political events, watch over the village, etc.

- he gave you a cute succulent to look after while he’s not there as much

Kankuro

- similar to Gaara, as his brother, it wouldn’t look very good if he was caught disobeying the rules

- he’s pretty mature about it but will have private moments with you when you’re alone

- he doesn’t care so much about keeping 6 ft apart when you two are alone

- he just won’t go overboard

- just some handholding, hand kisses, and just petting in general

- when quarantine ends though, he’s all over you omg

- you’re the first person he comes to see and will hold you so tight

Temari

- angry love

- will personally bark orders at you about proper safety precautions

- your mask never has to worry about being on improperly when temari is around

- you can see her blush underneath her mask though

- despite her tough exterior, it’s visible just how sad she is

- Temari is tough but she thrives off of being around the people she loves

- not being able to be truly with you really makes her depressed for a while

- even offered to have you moved into the kazekage family house with them so you didn’t have to socially distance at home anymore

- takes every precaution she can with herself and those around her so this can end faster and she can be with you again

THAT’S ALL! SORRY THEY LOWKEY SUCKED! MAYBE A PART 2 IF REQUESTED ENOUGH???

[ninjakasuga]

Sonally Celebration Week! Year Three, Day Six: Rescue

Sonally Celebration Week, Year Three, Day Six: Rescue

Day six, and admittedly the toughest piece to write since well, action scenes require more finesse than a domestic/slice of life story. The journey continues, and since my main focus mostly centers on Sonic and Sally’s post Robotnik/Eggman war peace time lives, I like to flex different events when the prompts give way to good inspiration. When one has to do with rescuing, well, let’s just say, if you’re dumb enough to harm someone’s children, woe comes to you in waves.

Day Six: Rescue.

It was supposed to have been a nice, pleasant day. Go to Spagonia with your big bro and his wife, enjoy flying in a fancy transport ship. While Sonic and Sally do the diplomatic thing, Sonia and Manic would watch J.C. and Kathy as they got to enjoy the city. See the sights, enjoy some ice cream and crepes from the city vendors, and just have a good old time! However, it wasn’t to last, the day was ruined when the sound of their ‘secret tail’ security guards crying out after being, well truthfully Sonia didn’t get to hear what exactly happened to their bodyguards (she hoped they were alive). All she heard was some muffled noise; some people screaming, and suddenly a van rolled up, and people in masks and jumpsuits grabbed and knocked them all out.

After coming too, she woke up to a bag over her head, only to have it torn off, and bright lights flashing in her face. A camera was aimed at them as some jerkoff using a voice-modulating helmet to obscure his identity was making some long list of demands and basically laid out they were collateral if those demands were not met. She tried to make everything out, but she was still groggy from waking up from whatever they used to knock her out. Manic was no better when she asked him if he gleaned anything she missed, sadly he was as groggy as she had been. She knew better than to ask the kids, clearly the six-year-olds were ‘terrified’ and wanted nothing more than to go home and jump into their parents arms.

Hell, the sixteen year old herself wanted to hug her parents just as badly. After that song and dance with the camera, all four were dragged to this cell of sorts, and left there with a guard detail. Whatever they wanted, they seemed to be serious, or at least wanted to come off that way. Her keen eye noticed some of their guards seemed unsettled. Like they were not keen they had kidnapped children. Maybe she, or Manic could use that? A little of the ol’ duo-charm to-.

“Auntie Sonia?” The small, childish voice snapped the older hedgehog out of her thoughts. Instantly her head snapped to the small child resting in her lap.

Forcing a calm smile, Sonia gently petted Kathleen’s soft auburn hair, which had blue tips at the end. Many thought it was dyed, but it was merely something that seemed to happen to both children, who inherited their Mother’s auburn tresses. Yet at the tips, bits of blue would form over time. No doubt the stubbornness of her big brother’s genes at work. Just hand to mingle with Sally’s.

“What’s up kiddo?” She asked her niece as she continued to stroke her head, and did her best to seem calm and collected. She and Manic were the adults here, they needed to be strong for these precious babies.

Green eyes look up, then over to the cell door, then back to Sonia’s own. “I wanna go home.” A simple request, but what child wouldn’t want to go home with this kind of situation abound? “Why do these guys wanna be mean to Mommy and Daddy?”

Another voice spoke up, the disdain high and snark on full. “Cuz they’re- and I quote.” Manic Hedgehog interjected, keeping his voice calm, and then upping the volume as he aimed his words at their guard. “A BUNCHA COWARDS WHO RESORT TO KIDNAPPING KIDS!!” He shouted with full malice at their captors, which made both children recoil, and his sister wince.

“Manic!” Hissed Sonia as she reached out and yanked at his ear. “Stop it! You’re just making it harder for J.C. and Kathy!” She growled at her brother, her eyes going to the door to their cell and sure enough their masked guard had turned to regard them. Thankfully he just turned away and went back to guarding.

“Well these bozos need to know what kind of d*ckless, wussies they are!” Retorted Manic, the green-dyed-furred hedgehog with a growl in his voice. Usually Manic was chill, and easy-going with a touch of mischief. He was running red right now, his niece, nephew and sister being put in danger can do that to someone. “Plus they’re f*cking idiots!”

“Manic, language!” Sonia chastised further as she covered his mouth with a hand. “Not that I disagree with you, but is antagonizing our captors the wisest idea?!”

Removing her hand from his mouth, Manic let out a dismissive snort. Yet his gaze softened some as he saw the kids were looking antsy again. “Maybe not, but seriously what kind of idiots kidnaps the Prince and Princess of a Kingdom? I mean, you want a war? Plus think of their parents, heroes of the war against the Big Robo and Big Eggy! I mean that’s a recipe for doom more than my Taco Tuesday Blowout Cookout.” The food wasn’t the issue, so much as the aftermath, but worth it in Manic’s eyes.

A small rumbling was heard and J.C. blushed as eyes rested on him. “...I’m hungry, and Uncle Manic makes great tacos.” He managed a smile, despite clearly still being scared.”

“Heheh, once we get out I’ll make us all some.” Manic promised as he lovingly scratched the back of his nephew’s ears. He did the same for Kathleen, not wanting her to feel left out. “Also, sorry about the yelling and language, I’m just pis-er-pointedly angry at the bad guys.”

“We’re ‘not’ the bad guys.” Their guard finally spoke, snorting loudly. The way he seemed to clutch his weapon and his covered tail (they seemed intent to make it hard to guess their species) twitch and move, hinted at his anger at such an accusation.

Despite having just chastised Manic for antagonizing their captors; Sonia found herself unable to not engage them. “Not from where we’re standing. Uncouth as my brother put it, he called it right. Nobody who kidnaps children are the good guys.”

“We’re not going to harm you, we’re just sending a message.” His steadfast tone, carried a firmness of whatever convictions he carried about their unknown ‘cause’.

“What sort of message? We’re kidnapping your kids, so we invite you to come kick our butts? Seriously, what else do you expect?” Sonia inquired, keeping her tone polite, hoping perhaps this guard might spill some kernel of information they could use. Then a thought occurred to her. “What happened to the bodyguards watching us? I heard them cry out, did you capture them too or did you kill them?”

“We shot them, but we didn’t shoot to kill.” The guard callously responded. “They should live.”

“Do you know that for a fact? Even a crippling gunshot can lead to death if they bleed out before they get help or the injury causes the right amount of trauma. I heard multiple muffled sounds… If they got shot multiple times that increases the chances they didn’t make it.” The magenta-dyed hedgehog stated with cold, medical fact. “They also had families, so nice job dipwad, you possibly widowed and orphaned two families.” It was petty, but seeing his body language shift and just slightly shake before firming back up gave Sonia a sense of satisfaction. “You could have used stun-blasters.”

The guard hissed back his reply, but she could tell he was trying to justify his words to himself. “You can’t silence stun-blasters.”

Rolling his eyes, Manic decided to chime in. “So you bozos prioritized not making noise, over making your little power grab as bloodless as possible.”

“If they die, our leaders will make it right, all of this has a purpose! It’s to make things better-!”

It wasn’t Sonia or Manic that cut the man off, but J.C.’s small but clearly angry voice. “So making Mr. Hunigan and Mrs. Fletcher dead is alright when you say so?” The boy’s fists clenched tightly. “They were nice people, and we know their kids, they’re our friends… you took their Dad n’ Mom from them you-you, j-jerk!”

“Gee, even the six year old can see it clear as day.” Sonia icily sneered at their captor, scooting closer she slid both her arms around her family and kept them close.

“Mommy, sh-she and Daddy are gonna find us.” Kathleen managed to speak up, wiping her eyes, like her brother managed the most fearsome glare she could. “They’ll find us and kick your butts! They’re heroes, they always save the day!”

Turning, the guard’s helmet, visor and cloth covering their mouth obscured whatever Mobian species they were. “Your parents are part of the problem! If not for the Acorn Kingdom’s meddling along with the other outsider nations, we wouldn’t need to do this!”

“Only meanies justify their actions by blaming others!” Humphed the young princess as she turned her head away, as if to utterly disregard her captor. Oh Sonia and Manic’s heart swelled.

“I gotta agree with Kathy here, sounds like blame-gaming here-.” Manic mused, only to be cut off by their clearly irate captor.

“If they hadn’t meddled with the trade tariffs making exporting goods harder, not to mention their invasive meddling with our affiliate cities-!”

A lightbulb went off in Sonia’s head. “Wait, wait, time out!” She put her hands together in the referee gesture to hopefully get a word in. “You guys are blaming them for the trade issues and the Acorn Kingdom’s presence in your sister cities? Um, dude, hoo boy, you are probably being played by whoever your leaders are.”

“Bite your tongue-!” “Okay you know what, screw that, and kids I’m sorry but-.” After giving her niece and nephew an apologetic look, she quickly sent her captor a fiery glare. “First off, F*CK you! Second, the Kingdom sent delegations to those cities BY REQUEST! The mayors asked for aid in looking into some oddities with exports from Spagonia going in and out because they realized something was hinky with the weird laws and micro-managing coming out of Spagonia’s Trade & Commerce Ministry. Any of your Minister’s calling the investigations meddling or preludes to occupation are trying to play the dodge game moron! Second of all, the tariff problem? I shouldn’t say this, but I love talking shop with my sis-in-law, and boy a lot of the issues stem from how they were set up, like someone ‘wanted’ the tariffs to cause issues and sow discord. It’s a big political set-up but my big-brained Sis likes big-brained chess and she’s onto some corruption from within Spagonia’s Trade & Commerce Ministry.”

She watched as the guard looked uneasy, and his compatriot to the far way seemed to be listening in as well and had lowered his weapon some. “That, that can’t be possible.”

Footsteps could be heard as another similarly dressed guard walked into view of the first one. “Ignore them comrade, they’re trying to unnerve you.” “What if it’s true our leaders are lying to us? Given who some of them are-.” “Shut your mouth before you give anything away!” The other, more burly guard hissed as he raised a gloved hand, poised to smack his comrade if he didn’t do as he said. With his associate cowed, he turned to the cell and pointed his weapon. “Shut your mouths or I might just have to shut it for you.”

Manic moved in front of his sister, nephew and niece, arms out. “Touch them buddy, and you and I are gonna tussle!”

“Uncle Manny don’t!” “D-don’t get hurt!” “Manny…” Sonia held the children close, but tried to soothe her brother. “Don’t, they’re clearly too deluded to listen.”

“You will see it is you who is delusional!” The burly captor spoke, with a zeal of a true-believer. “Once it’s clear your Queen and your treacherous nation are outed as the villains they are, things will become bet-.”

Suddenly the entire room rumbled, and the sound of muffled shouts, and fighting could be heard in the other room. All their captors turned toward the metal door just out of view of Sonia, Manic and the children. Suddenly the door flies off its hinges, slamming into the far guard who cried out in pain and terror as they are taken out. A familiar ‘rev up’ sound is heard and then a blue blur slams into the burly captor sending him flying. As the sounds of fists fly, another far off captor raises their weapon, only for the sound of jets to get clouder and a familiar southern drawl is heard shouting. “TAKE A NAP YA’ CREEP!” A blaster bolt is heard firing off screen. Soon a blue energy blast hits the captor, causing them to drop their weapon as the stun-bolt freezes their whole body. As another guard attempts to fight, the flying Rabbot zooms him and body-tackles the would-be-attacker, a loud, thick ‘crunch’ of metal hitting flesh is heard. Clearly a one-hit-KO.

The original guard readies their weapon, trying to pick a target, clearly panicking. “Ho-hold or I’ll shoot!”

*KER-SLICE!!*

Their weapon is cleaved in two, falling from their hands, and in the next half-second, the tip of the weapon responsible is held at their throat. This man finds himself looking into the very, angry blue eyes of the Queen of the Acorn Kingdom herself, Sally Acorn. Wielding an ornate sword with the crest of her family on the hilt, and ornate lines etched into the blade. For a second the guard swore the weapon’s blade glowed for a moment, but whatever the case, it was clear the Sword of Acorns (reforged and imbued with Sally’s residue Super energy) was capable of cutting quite nicely.

Her voice was ever commanding, calm and serene, yet deadly and potent. She was clearly angry, but using said anger as a laser-focused weapon instead of being consumed by it. For now.

“You will let my babies and my younger siblings out of that cell. Now, no questions. If you so much as dare do anything but I ask, you will regret it. Do not force me to spill blood before my children, because you WILL live to regret it.” She vowed.

“N’ she ain’t the only one you need ta’ worry about.” Uttered Bunnie Rabbot, as she got up from pummeling her foe into unconsciousness. She flexed both of her cybernetic arms which transformed into blaster mode on the right, and nasty energy axe on the left. “You further threaten my God-Children or Manny and Sonia’s well-being. I might just forget I’m a Southern Lady.” While plain and frank, there was a menace in her eyes mirroring Sally’s, and the hum of her weapons furthered showed she was not playing games.

A small ‘boom’ and a flash of blue from across the room, and the guard found Sonic the Hedgehog on the other side of him, arms crossed, and foot tapping rapidly. “Door, open, my kids and siblings safely in arms, now!’ He didn’t bother making threats, he didn’t need to.

The guard simply let out a pathetic sound, wet himself and passed out onto the floor.

Without a word, Sonic dug at their belt, found the key and quickly as he could unlocked the cell door, and threw it open. All anger, and intimidation left his face (as well as Sally and Bunnie who put away their weapons) as the look of a worried parent and brother overcame all else. “Are you four okay?! Did they hurt you any-?!” “DADDY, MOMMY!!” Instantly Kathleen, and J.C. dashed into the arms of their Father, with their Mother soon joining in the hug, checking them over.

“Oh my babies!” Sally clutched her family tightly, kissing the children all over their faces and tops of their heads, as she checked them for injuries. “It’s okay now, Daddy and Mommy are here, oh God I’m so sorry this happened, that we weren’t there to stop you from being taken.” She babbled, as the kept-in-check emotions burst from the dam she erected to focus on the rescue.

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry…” Sonic murmured, his heart still racing even with all his joy held firmly in his arms. Lifting his gaze, tear-stained he looked to his siblings worriedly. “How’re you two holding up? They didn’t hurt any of you did they?”

“Nah, they just… dragged us around at most.” Manic shrugged, but was clearly relieved this whole thing was over. As he stood he found his legs shaking, and leaned against his equally leg-shakey sister. “All that said, glad you guys found us so soon.” Moving closer, Bunnie shifted her arms, what was metal now, began to flash with energy and seemingly disassemble back to flesh and blood. The wonders of bio-nanite tech. Once her arms were organic again she pulled the two hedgehog siblings into a hug. “Sorry we didn’t get here sooner sugah, but we had to basically strong-arm some of the Spagonia government to give us the okay to act. Though once Sally n’ Sonic scared these bozos' supposed leaders into talkin’ they squealed like- well sumthin I can’t say within earshot of kiddos.”

Sonia let herself chuckle, relief and a sense of security flooding her being as she leaned into the hug. “So, lemme guess, the Trade Minister and his flunkies were the culprits?”

“Yeah, I mean we were gonna confront em’ with the evidence Nicole uncovered, but you all bein’ taken kinda forced our hands.” Bunnie further explained as she scratched the back of their ears soothingly. “U-Uncle Manny and Auntie Sonia, looked after us, we’re okay…” J.C. managed to speak once his throat wasn’t sore from crying (this time from happiness).

“Hmm-hmm, they’re the best as always!” Kathleen agreed, sniffling and wiping her eyes as she remained cocooned by her parents and brother.

Smiling, Sonic reached over and managed to give each of his younger siblings an affectionate arm-punch. “Somehow I knew they’d have it under control.” Well more hoped, but he didn’t want to devalue his sibling’s efforts. No if anything he wanted them to ride the pride of keeping themselves and the kids safe.

“Lucky for us, as Sonia called it, these guys were morons. Dangerous ones, but morons.” The green-furred hedgehog blew out a breath, and then he recalled something. “Um, ah, how’re Agent Fletcher and Hunigan?”

“Alive.” Sally replied, still nuzzling her children, still unwilling to let them go. Her own heartbeat was finally starting to calm down and the adrenaline high was crashing. “They were hurt badly, but both are tenacious and they got help just in time. They might have to retire from active duty early but we’ll be sure they’ll be looked after, their families too.”

“Oh thank goodness!” The two teens, and the younger children exclaimed, as joy at the news eased their hearts from the dread they felt prior.

Footsteps could be heard approaching, but the boot clomps’ were familiar. So no one tensed or got ready for another fight. Especially once Captain of the Royal Guard, Antoine D’Coolette emerged, wiping his sword blade clean with a cloth before sheathing it into its scabbard. “My Queen, ze fools have been disarmed, and rounded up. As you requested, we managed to take them all alive, if injured.” After a beat, he contemplated making a joke about some being ‘literally’ disarmed, but with the children there, he decided against it. “How are ze young ones?” He asked, decorum giving way to concerned God-Father, and as a fellow parent.

“Thankfully unhurt Sugah-Twan.” His wife replied, flashing a smile his way. “Where’s Tangle n’ Whisper?”

“Helping out Tails to ensure we didn’t miss anyone and secure the location.” Informed Antoine as he walked over, making sure all were fine, if to soothe his own fretful nature. They also will wish to zee’ that our rescuee’s are le’fine.”

Sniffing away the last of her tears, Kathleen looked up at her Mother. “Uncle Tails came too? I thought he was testing his new plane in the South Seas?”

“Once he heard the news, he jetted over as fast as he could and offered to help.” replied Sonic with a wide smirk of pride and relief for his ‘not-so-little’ bro. “Family sticks together, and well you guys are as much family as his own. Which by the way, I’m sure Tails will wanna set up a face-chat so Mina can see you’re all fine.”

“She is very fond of her biggest fans.” Chuckled Sally, who internally still found it ‘very’ weird, that Tails and Mina Mongoose hooked up. Their age gap wasn’t too bad, and clearly whatever happened to bring about their dating didn’t occur until Tais was eighteen/nineteen-ish. Then again he clearly had a thing for older women, at least his choices after Fiona Fox were an improved taste. As long as Mina was good to Tails, that was all she cared about, and they did seem like a good couple. Still weird but that was on her.

“Can we leave now?” J.C. asked softly looking up at both his parents hopefully.

“You got it son, we’ll juice n’ jam out of here and get you guys some food and tucked in for the night.”

“Can we have a sleepover in the hotel suite? Like all of us with blankets on the floor and pillows nests?” Asked Kathleen with big, hopefully eyes. A look her brother mirrored and nodded to her suggestion.

“Yeah, can we have a sleepover?!” Manic echoed, doing his best impersonation of the look.

“I don’t see why not, if everyone else is on board.” “Wouldn’t be hard for us all to fit in, big ol’ space, and like you could ask us to stay away after today.” Bunnie voiced her opinion with a warm smile at the children. Giving them assurance she was on board.

“Like the saying goes, the more the merrier.” Antoine stated to voice his blessing. “Plus I’m sure Bunnie and my own angels would love the idea as they too were worried about you four. As was your Nanny Miss Cream.” The coyote gently ruffled the hair of the two youngsters, his mind drifting to his children two years their senior. Yes, if they had been through this, he’d gladly acquiesce any whimsy they wanted within reason, and a sleepover to help soothe their nerves? A piece of cake.

Kathleen’s face fell as childish concern flooded her mind. “Oh no, that’s right, we were supposed to meet Jacque, Belle and Miss Cream after lunch…” “Hey they know we didn’t stand 'em’ up by choice.” Manic interjected as he flashed a smile and reached over to ruffle his niece’s cheek tufts.

“Let’s blow this pop stand, I want a hot bath, lots of bubbles and all the cheese cake…” Sonia muttered, feeling her own adrenaline rush and the weight of the whole ordeal finally sapping her energy.

“I hear that, let’s go home everyone.

[xtcz]

ooh these questions are fun! do all the 30s :3

ty ty!!

30. which ocs can play a musical instrument? how many can they play, and what are they?

this question is funny because literally almost every oc plays an instrument but primarily lewis, who is my asshole aging glam rocker from the future, plays guitar and bass (his ex band mate taught him bass before their band broke up), and clyde, who is my bonkers mercenary under the thumb of a mob boss from the future, plays the guitar for fun

31. which ocs want to travel? which ocs are content staying at home?

maxwell, who is my 90s baseball star turned adventurer, wants to travel. he NEEDS to travel. he literally got snatched from his home by a time slip and dropped in the future and was like ok! thumbs up! lewis is also always roaming. clyde WANTS the security and comfort of a permanent home but it just hasn't been in the cards for her so far. and she'd be embarrassed to say she wanted it.

32. which ocs are/would be excellent with technology? which ocs would be terrible?

max is fine with technology. clyde would be unstoppable if she had access to a computer. lewis wouldn't know how to put in his password

33. which ocs can speak multiple languages? how many can they speak?

max can speak very minimal arabic on top of english, lewis can speak spanish very poorly on top of english, and clyde in theory knows a bunch of languages. she's kind of a genius but also so insanely stupid

34. which ocs are clumsiest? which ocs are graceful?

max is an athlete. he might not be graceful but he's very aware of his body and how to use it and he has fantastic coordination. he won't trip over anything. clyde is clumsy, lewis is in the middle.

35. which ocs are terrified of spiders? which ocs squish the spider, and which ocs cup it and bring it outside?

ok out of my three lewis would want to bring it outside but he's also the one who's most scared of spiders. the other two would be content to leave a spider in the house but lewis would be sweating and shaking and still insist on taking it out terrified the whole time

36. which ocs want/have pets? what pets are they?

none of them have pets! and i don't know if any of them would have pets if given the chance

37. which ocs dress for comfort > fashion? which ocs dress fashion > comfort?

CLYDE always prioritizes fashion ohhh my god. to the point where it's like embarrassing. max doesn't give a shit he prioritizes things he can move in. lewis does prioritize fashion but his fashion of choice also happens to be comfortable

38. which ocs stay in bed long after waking up? which ocs get up immediately?

lewis gets up immediately these days, he used to be able to sleep in when he was younger. max definitely stays in bed when he can though. clyde is back and forth depending on the situation but naturally on her own she will get up when she wakes up

39. which ocs set multiple alarms? which only need one? which don’t set alarms at all?

clyde needs one alarm, max needs multiple, lewis doesn't need any

[roachspraee]

Closed Closet (Spinel X Reader)

So I watched the Steven Universe Movie and I am FAMISHED. I knew right away I had to make a fanfic of Spinel, so here ya go! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I did rush this quite a bit, and in no way am I expecting this to relieve your thirst for Spinel, but I do hope this meets your expectations. I have a bad habit of prioritizing less important things over my actual school work...whoops. This is kinda spicy, enjoy !! ≧◡≦

Word count: 4,019

Warnings: Foul Language

-

You sat on the floor comfortably as you leaned back onto your hands. Your nails dug into the carpet on the floor gently as your eyes darted from person to person in the room. Steven had planned a little hangout at Lars' house and invited multiple people. You had wondered for a moment why he hadn't just planned a hangout at the temple, but then you had realized that there was an accident that had recently taken place at the crystal gem's home.

Peridot was left at the house unsupervised by any of the gems while she was baking a cake for Pumpkin's birthday. Once Steven returned home after getting donuts from the Big Donut, he had found the house partially burnt. You nearly knocked yourself out from laughing so hard when Pearl told you about the incident. You couldn't believe that they would leave her all alone like that!

So while Bismuth and a couple other gems repaired the house, Steven decided it would be nice to have a small party with his close friends, which honestly you didn't mind, because you loved hanging out with Beach City's weirdest people.

Your eyes scanned everyone's faces in the room; Lars and Sadie, Connie and Steven, Lapis and Peridot, Pearl and Amethyst, and Garnet with Spinel. Everyone was chatting, some were on the floor like yourself, others were dancing to quiet music, and others were eating snacks while telling jokes. It was nice and calming, that was until your eyes met Spinel's.

The feeling of your heart thrumming at the sight of her eyes almost made you feel dizzy. It was really odd, though, because your heart always did that whenever you were near Spinel. She was always very comfortable with you, she'd call you cute little pet names (which you assumed to be friendly), and she'd always go the extra mile just to make you smile. Whenever she talked about something that really intrigued her or made her excited, her little accent would be audible to your ears and you couldn't help the warm sensation that spread across your face.

You had definitely grown very fond of the gem, regardless of what others think of her. She did have that pissed off looking rest face, which does make her look quite intimidating, but you honestly thought it was cute. You really enjoyed her company, even if she did struggle with her own issues.

But you couldn't help the frown that formed on your lips at the thought of Spinel. Whenever you looked at her you felt disappointed. At the beginning of your friendship, she had opened up to you about her feelings and problems. Whenever she looked agitated or felt down, you were always there to listen and comfort her. If anything, your similar feelings were the reason why you had grown so close. But then she just stopped. She stopped talking to you about her feelings.

Every time you saw her she looked more angry and tense, and if you asked her about how she was doing she'd just brush your question off her shoulder and answer with: "I'm fine dollface, ya don't gotta ask every 2 minutes."

You gave her space from that point on. But the more space you gave her, the more she closed off and the less your conversations lasted. You knew she was lying to you when she said she was fine. There have been times when you saw her, and her eyes were swollen red and puffy as if she's been crying. Words cannot describe the amount of guilt and pain you felt, because you wanted to help her so badly, but she wouldn't let you. She refuses to share anything about her past or feelings with you, and you didn't understand why. What were you doing wrong?

Letting out a sigh, you stood up from your comfortable spot on the floor and made your way over to Spinel and Garnet who sat on Lars' bed. Their conversation had ceased when they saw you approach them, and Garnet waved at you to sit down next to them.

"Hello y/n." Garnet greeted with a soft smile. You returned the smile as you made yourself comfortable on the bed, "Hey Garnet-" You turned over to Spinel and gave her wide grin, ignoring the small wave of nervousness that splashed onto you, "hey Spinel." The pink gem gave you a soft smirk, her eyes instantly growing soft at the sight of you. She greeted you with a small wave of her hand before she placed it behind her head.

You turned to look at Garnet with a relaxed glint in your eyes and you let out a soft sigh, "Man, this is exactly what I needed. We should definitely do this more often." Garnet snorted, lifting a hand to her lips as she shook her head jokingly, "You see us almost everyday y/n." You rolled your eyes playfully at her comment as you let yourself fall onto the bed, the soft cushion of Lars' bed against your back was truly bliss.

"It's still fun. All of us being in one place and just chatting amongst each other is one of the best things in life. Plus, Spinel doesn't come on earth often. So it's nice to see her." You glanced over at Spinel with a, rather confident, wink. You watched as her cheeks turned light pink at your gesture, and she looked away from your face with a soft chuckle, "Thanks sugar, it's nice to see ya too." She winked back, and you could have sworn you felt your heart skip a beat. Man, this gem really has you feeling all sorts of ways.

The sudden voices of Steven and Lars caught everyone's attention, making their eyes turn to the duo that stood in the middle of the room. After they had everyone's eyes set on their figures, Lars began to speak, "So Steven and I had planned a game for us all to play. It's called 7 Minutes in Heaven. Basically-" He stopped mid-sentence as his face scrunched up as if he was trying to remember what he was going to say next.

"hold up." He whipped out his phone from his pocket and began to type furiously on his phone. Steven sighed with a roll of his eyes, "Basically what the game is about-"

"OKAY," Lars interrupted, a big smile formed on his lips as he stared at the screen of his phone, "So basically the game is about having two people enter a small space, like a closet," Lars turned behind him and pointed at a closet door, "and have them spend 7 minutes inside. You can do anything inside, like chat or play games. I've left a small flameless candle inside so you can see, and a few board games if you want to play."

Steven than pulled a small top hat from behind his back and shook it, "Inside this hat is all of your names. We will pull out two random names, and whoever gets called goes inside the closet for 7 minutes. This game is all about privacy, so when you go inside the rest of us will turn up the music and we'll wait until it is time for you to come out. And remember," Steven smiled at everyone in the room happily, "have fun and respect the other person's space. Don't proceed with any activities if the other party doesn't consent to it. Do we understand?" Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement.

"Great! Now we will draw the names." Steven lifted the hat and shook it before he reached in to grab a piece of paper. Lars then reached in and grabbed another piece of paper and they both unwrapped the small pieces of paper as their eyes scanned the written names. Your heart began to beat slightly faster than usual. You wouldn't ever admit it to yourself, but you wanted to go inside with Spinel. It had been so long since you've had a genuine conversation with her. You wanted to connect with her so badly. She was growing to become your stranger, and you wanted anything but that. You hoped this would be a perfect opportunity to speak to her.

“Y/n." Lars read out loudly.

Oh goodness.

"Spinel." Steven said, looking up from the paper in between his fingers and smiled, "Alright you two, go on ahead inside."

Wait, did that really just happen?

You didn't realize the smile on your face. You couldn't even feel that you had subconsciously smiled at the fact that you'd be staying in a closet alone with Spinel. You could finally speak to her. What was the likelihood of Steven and Lars actually drawing both of your names like that? What an odd coincidence.

You just hoped this would go smoothly.

Getting up from your comfortable spot on the bed, you made your way over to the closet with Spinel walking straight behind you. You stepped inside the middle-sized closet with Spinel as you heard the volume on the boombox increase. Steven peered inside the closet and smiled at the both of you, "Have fun, you guys. See you in 7 minutes!" And with that, he closed the closet door shut.

Regardless of the blasting music behind the closed doors of the closet, it was pretty quiet. Too quiet. You could hear your blood pump in your ears.

"Since we're gon' be here for 7 minutes, might as well get comfy." Spinel said casually, sitting down on the floor with her legs crossed. You stood there dumbfounded for a second as you gather your thoughts before sitting down across from her. You smiled sheepishly at her, and she smirked, "What'dya wanna do doll?" She turned to a small pile of board games and reached for the one on the top, "Wanna play Monopoly?" She asked, her gaze turning to look at your face and waited for your answer.

You nodded with a small smile, "Yeah, I love Monopoly. Have you played before?" Spinel shook her head softly, her pink hair following her movements as she opened the box and opened the board to set on the floor, "Nah, but you can teach me as we play. How does that sound?" You hummed in agreement with her proposal. You watched as she set down all of the game cash and the figurines on the board, "You can pick a character you want to play as." You told her.

She nodded and picked up a game piece, "Heh, this one's cute." You let a small giggle leave past your lips as you pick up another, "Alright, I'll play as this one." You and Spinel began to play for a few minutes, as you explained to her about the basics of Monopoly and how you have to pass go to collect 200 dollars. You have the rules of the game burned in the back of your brain since you'd always play it with your childhood friends when you were small.

Just as it became your turn, you suddenly stopped and looked up from the board and up to Spinel. She returned your gaze and rose a brow curiously at you. Were you going to speak to her? Were you going to follow through with your feelings? "Spinel," You spoke out her name, and she cocked her head a little to the right, "Something the matter dollface?" Her voice held curiosity and slight concern, but you suddenly felt a wave of irritation and frustration ram into you. And it rams into you hard.

You let out an airless sigh, your fingers letting go of the figurine that you held in your hands, shaking your head in disbelief. Was she being serious right now? Did she seriously just ask what was the matter, when you've been spending the last couple months trying to ask her that question?

"You're really going to ask that right now, Spinel?" You say with a roll of your eyes, feeling every bit of annoyance and hurt that had built inside slowly start to spill out of you.

"You have been emotionally distant from me and from everyone you know. For months I've been trying to help you. But every time I try you push me further and further away! And now you're going to ask me what's the fucking matter!?" You gasped at your sudden outburst and quickly placed your fingers on your lips. You hadn't meant to blow up, it just…happened.

Spinel sat wide-eyed at your words, but you watched as her face grew dark and sinister. You could feel your heart plummet down into your stomach when you watched her expression change drastically within split seconds, and the low growl that erupted in her throat made you want to hide and never come out. You knew damn well you had angered her, and there's no way to go back.

The easygoing smirk she had plastered onto her face was a mere mask, and now her true emotions are slipping past her grasp and all you can manage to do is meet her angry glare.

"I don't gotta tell you shit, toots." She sneered out through her bared teeth, making you flinch at how aggressive she became. You've never heard her growl so deeply before, and it honestly terrified you. You wondered why she hadn't acted so cold to you before…

Her words really hit it home when you started to feel your heart ache in pain, it was pretty damn clear that she wanted nothing to do with you. And god damn it, it hurt. Because no matter what you did or what you said, you knew she was going to shove you away. Fighting fire with fire wasn't a wise decision, but you needed her to hear everything.

"Do you not understand the fact that I'm worried!? What do you take me for? An idiot?? I know you're lying when you say you're FINE Spinel." Your voice grew louder and louder with every word, and you could feel your throat swell and ache at how much you yelled. Your eyes stung as you felt hot, burning tears well up in your eyes, and you tried to keep them from escaping past your lids.

Your hands balled into fists as you continued, "Hell, even the Diamonds know you're hiding something! They worry for you Spinel! Everyone does! I worry about y-you!" Your voice began to crack as for you could no longer look at Spinel while you were saying these things. It was too much for you. All you wanted was for her to be happy, and you can’t even make that happen.

You could see your knuckles turn white from how tightly you were holding your fists. You didn't care if anyone outside the closet could hear you, it wasn't even on your mind. You just needed to get this off your chest, even if Spinel wasn't willing to listen.

"We used to be so close…but then you started pushing me away!"

There was silence for a short while. But the sudden sound of the Monopoly board game flying towards the wall made you squeal in surprise. Spinel was closer to you now, and in the corner of your eye you could see the scattered pieces of the Monopoly game all over the floor, but that wasn't your main focus. Your eyes met with Spinel's, and you could see anger, but there was another emotion, or multiple, that were added to the mix that you couldn't quite identify. You were so overwhelmed with your own emotions that you couldn't even comprehend the situation entirely.

"Lemme tell ya a little somethin' sweetcheeks," She then grabbed a fist full of your shirt and lifted you up so that you were mere inches from her face, you were so close to her that you could feel her hot breath hit your face. A long, cold shiver ran up your spine at the sensation, and it only made your heart race faster than it already was. "I got my reasons for what I do what I do. My feelings ain't got nothin' to do with you. So why don'tcha just mind your own damn business?"

You didn't want to think that her voice could get any deeper, but you were most definitely wrong. The lump in your throat overwhelmed you, along with the heating of your skin, and all you could do was whimper in response to her words. Spinel's grip only grew tighter on your shirt as she pulled you even closer, "Why the hell do ya want me around anyway!? Just so you can leave me all alone like she did? So you can use me up and toss me away when you get bored of me!?" You felt confusion and pain swirl within your heart and soul. What was she talking about?

You didn't understand what she was saying. She was abondoned? By who? Why?

"N-no!" You stammered out, big, hot tears rolled down your cheeks as you turned away from her hateful gaze and to the wall. You hated this. You hated how she made you feel. You hated how she made you hurt for her when she doesn't even care.

"I want you around b-because you're my friend Spinel-" She interrupted you with a dark chuckle, her grip on your shirt forced you to look into her eyes, "Ya don't gotta lie to me babycakes," She pressed her forehead against yours as she continued to snarl out her hurtful words, "I know you're only pretending to care bout' me. When the fuck are ya finally gon' admit that you don't want me, huh!?"

"But I do want you!"

It took you only a few seconds to realize what you had just said, and the true meaning behind your words. Silence. You and Spinel both fell completely quiet, and the words you yelled out echoed within the walls of your head. Your face grew hot, embarrassment had been added to the mix of emotions you were experiencing. Did you just...

Spinel's glare disappeared, and a look of shock had replaced it. Her mouth was held agape, and her eyes were slightly wide. You could see her cheeks flush a deep red. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. You left her completely speechless. Your heart threatened to leap out of your chest when you saw her eyes move from your eyes down to your lips.

"Damn you…" Spinel growled before she roughly shoved her lips against yours in a heated kiss. You squeaked in surprise, a new wave of emotions splashed onto you and you closed your eyes shut, focusing on her touch and warmth. Her mouth moved against yours, and your hands instinctively moved to her shoulders. You could feel her hands move to your cheeks as she softly held your face, pulling you closer to her.

Her kisses became more and more heated. You could feel every single emotion that she had kept to herself. Every single kiss held frustration, anger, loneliness, and sadness, and she was giving it all to you. Her lips were so soft against yours. You loved it. You loved her.

Your soul nearly jumped out of your body when you felt her tongue glide against your bottom lip. You accepted her request and let her explore every single spot she desired. You tilted your head to the side to deepen the rough, needy kiss.

“Mmph~” You couldn't help the soft moan that had escaped your throat when you felt her tongue coax your own to play. She tasted so sweet.

You felt her pull away, and to your surprise, you saw tears form in her stunning eyes as her lip quivered.

"God, I need you…" She murmured, pressing kisses on your neck as she placed her hands on your hips. You could feel her tongue glide on your warm skin and you bit your lip, trying so hard to keep your embarrassing noises to yourself.

"I want you…" She softly bit onto your skin, earning herself another moan. You felt her smile against your skin, then she pressed kisses all along your collarbone and up your neck, then gliding her lips along your jaw.

"I love you…" She pressed her lips against yours into another kiss, this time, it's more loving and soft. She let out a soft whimper as she brought you closer to her, her lips moving in sync with your own. You never knew just how much you wanted Spinel until now, and you could honestly say that you were the happiest person in the world.

She let out a groan when you bit onto her lower lip, this time exploring her. Her hands were shaky as they roamed all over your body. Her hand went under your shirt and felt every mile of skin. Your hands traveled up to her hair and you softly gripped onto her pink locks and smiled at how surprisingly soft they were. Her hands went up to your belly and to your chest, feeling you, wanting you.

You pulled away and panted heavily, your forehead flushed against hers. Spinel's face was a deep, beet red color, much like yours, and you just smiled when you saw how the pupils of her eyes shaped into little hearts as she stared at you with adoration and love. You stroked her wet cheeks softly as you pressed a kiss on her nose.

"Wow…" She mumbled, her thumb stroked the skin on your chest gracefully, "You really are somethin' toots." You smiled happily at her, and nuzzled your face in the crook of her neck, "After this party, you're telling me everything that’s on your mind.”

There was a slight pause, so you moved your head to look at Spinel’s face. She looked devastated. Her eyes held so much sadness in them.

"…I'm so sorry I said all those things to ya…" You immediately met her eyes, and saw guilt and regret swirl within her orbs, "All those things I said to ya…I…" She shut her eyes and looked away from you, purely ashamed for what she had said to you. You gently gripped onto her cheeks and quickly comforted her.

"Hey, hey Spinel, look at me," Her glossy eyes met yours, your fingers were quick to wipe away any falling tears from her eyes, "I forgive you. God, you have no idea how much it hurt when you pushed me away like that. But it’s over now, kay? From now on you’re telling me everything that’s on your mind and every emotion you’re feeling. I want to help you, Spinel." You kissed her eyes softly, wrapping your arms around her as you nuzzled into her hair, "Okay? We'll make it through this together. 

Spinel pulled away and gazed at you with a small, sad frown and nodded her head, "Sure thing doll." You slowly stood up to your feet and helped Spinel up, hearing the music of the boombox go quiet and footsteps approaching the closet door, and the sudden light of the room blinded you once the doors had flew open.

"Times up! You guys can come out now." You and Spinel slightly stumbled out of the closet, squinting your eyes as they adjusted to the new lighting. As you made your way over to the bed with Spinel, Amethyst looked over at the both of you and smirked, "Did you guys have fuunn?” Your face started to burn as you remembered you had fought and had an extremely heated make-out session with Spinel in just 7 minutes.

“BAHAHAHAHAH!!” Amethyst laughed hysterically as your red face had answered her question. You just looked away from her in complete embarrassment.

You turned to Spinel when you felt her fingers intertwine with yours, only to see a smug smirk implanted onto her lips, "Ya know…" One of Spinel's hands laid on your thigh as she softly kneaded your skin, "You tasted pretty good. I wonder what other parts of you taste sweet~"

"Lars and Sadie! You guys are up next!"

You swear your heart was going to explode if the night continued.

[missfay49]

Sanders Sides Theory 01/15/20

You want a long theory? HERE’s A LONG FREAKIN THEORY.  

To build off an earlier post of mine here, I believe we can reverse engineer the function of the next Side by analyzing the roles of the current known Sides in the context of their correlating sin.  I’ve included some flower meanings based on the shirt release but couldn’t identify them all from the photos available.  Please reach out to me if you have identified all the flowers.

Pride!Logan

Logic / Craves Stability / Reaction to adversity is to Double down

Logan is proud, but not about just anything.  He values intelligence, critical thinking, and the lofty goals of exploration: re: the astronomy class hype, and “what really is at the bottom of the ocean?” He prides himself in being right 100% of the time and utilizes information to do so.  

When he missuses the word “infinitesimal” it is devastating to him.  It is brought up repeatedly in subsequent episodes and culminates in him feeling like one mistake will prevent him from ever being taken seriously again. He hates being wrong, because he believes that if he’s wrong, C!Thomas will literally fail at life, becoming destitute and homeless.  The stakes are real.  

He needs to ensure success, which is why he first pushes C!Thomas to pursue more traditional careers.  His arc is about accepting that success in life can take on different forms.

Sloth!Virgil

Anxiety (Paranoia) / Reaction to adversity is to Give up

Virgil is often seen promoting activities that would be considered lazy, i.e. going back to bed in the middle of the day, staying home when they could go out, doing less work, trying fewer new things.  His makeup is a dramatized symbol for lack of sleep.  There are multiple instances showing him reluctant to spend more time even just in the presence of the other Sides; “Now I’m gonna go be cool, somewhere else.”  Ducking out is the pinnacle of sloth.

But sloth as a behavior is just a symptom of the actual condition: social anxiety and mild paranoia. Check out my short paranoia theory here.  Virgil resorts to inaction as a defense against feeling insecure about something. Wanted to go to that party, but you’re too nervous to talk to new people?  Well, actually, just stay in.  It’s safer and you need your rest.  

That’s why Virgil’s arc is not about finding the motivation to do things; that would only work if laziness was the true problem.  Instead, his arc is about learning to think through fears and overcome them, so C!Thomas can do what he actually wants, which is to be more social.  

Gluttony!Patton

Morality / Flower: Blue Forget-me-not / Craves Community / Reaction to Adversity is to Fake-it-til-you-make-it

Patton is about cravings. Food, pets, friends; he wants it all. He’s about enjoying everything life has to offer, gosh-darn the consequences.  He wants friends so badly he’s consistently willing to sacrifice his own well-being to put them first.  The concept of morality often focuses on giving instead of receiving.  It’s a way to prove to them that he’s a good friend, and therefore worth keeping around.  What seems like sacrifice is actually a careful prioritization of his favorite thing to indulge in: acceptance.  Being happy all the time is not just a show for the other Sides, it’s for C!Thomas’ friends as well.  People don’t want to be around someone who’s sad, right?  Gotta be happy, so they stick around.  

Forget-me-nots are about happy memories and we already know Patton is a sucker for nostalgia.  One of his favorite things are memories, so he goes to extreme lengths to make lots of good memories with his friends.  Patton’s arc will ultimately be Not about diminishing his craving for friendship but realizing that he can be his most authentic self without losing them.  He can loosen the rules that he internalized.  Real friendship does not require perfection.  

Greed!Deceit

Self-Preservation / Flower: Yellow Sunflower / Reaction to adversity is Sowing Discord

Deceit, like Logan, is also focused on C!Thomas’ success.  The difference is, he could not care less what that success looks like, only that C!Thomas gets it.  Where Logan is all about careful planning and preparedness, Deceit is about taking risks and seizing opportunities.  How can C!Thomas get the most out of life?  No, don’t worry about other people.  There is only C!Thomas.  

Deceit’s objective is to eliminate the consequences of C!Thomas’ mistakes and increase the rewards for his effort.  He will do whatever it takes, whether that’s coaching C!Thomas to lie to others, or to be more honest with himself.  His stance is that since our society is built on lies, we should be willing to use lies to navigate it.  Deceit believes that if C!Thomas is honest to himself about what he wants, he’ll pursue it even at the risk of losing people along the way.  Simply put, Deceit must learn that no one makes it alone.  The sunflower symbolizes false riches, and this explains why Deceit’s assumption is wrong.  We all depend on others to reach our full potential, and a world where C!Thomas has gained everything by discarding or disadvantaging others is one C!Thomas wouldn’t want to live in.  It’s more difficult, but it’s worth it in the end to work with other people instead of around them.  

Lust!Roman

Creativity / Flower: Red Rose / Reaction to adversity is Denial

It’s easy to see that Roman is all about finding that special someone.  Red roses symbolize love.  He’s dashing, brave, and often combats mythical creatures, not for fun (although it is fun), but to prove his manliness to a potential mate!  But this Side is actually one of the most complicated. He believes himself to be the most handsome Side, and he better be, because it is his duty to secure the end-all-be-all of C!Thomas’ life: romantic love.  Someone to spend your life with, grow old with.  The initial conflict between Roman and Anxiety is entirely because having Anxiety around would theoretically lower his chances of securing a relationship.  Once he saw that Anxiety could do what needed to be done in “Accepting Anxiety”, he was able to let go of that worry.

But remember, Roman is also about Self-Love.  The creativity that he pumps out isn’t art for art’s sake; it’s to bring himself joy and to fill that hole in his heart with some kind of excitement.  If he can’t throw all his passion at a person, he’ll throw it onto the stage.  That’s why each time his work is criticized, he’s confronted with the fear that it’s all just a distraction anyway.  Yes, he is objectively good at acting and enjoys it, but part of C!Thomas uses all these creative projects to feel something he isn’t getting anywhere else.

The Roman angst dates aaaall the way back to the Valentine’s Day Episode, wherein C!Thomas decided that platonic love was important to acknowledge, too.  Roman had already stated in the first episode that he would focus on loving himself.  But maybe on that particular Valentine’s day, C!Thomas stopped trying so hard to find romance.  Maybe he fell back on what he already had, the love of his friends, and thought to himself, this could be enough.  And each time an opportunity to feel true passion comes up again, C!Thomas rejects it. First when trying to rekindle things with the ex-boyfriend, then with the big call-back.  C!Thomas is putting his love life on hold to deal with other things right now, and it’s wearing on Roman.  

The worst part is that it’s entirely possible, maybe even likely, that Roman (and therefore C!Thomas) isn’t sure what will happen once he’s found someone.  RE: Episode #1 – his greatest fear is rejection.  

In “Am I Original?” C!Thomas states that if he only ever listened to Roman, he would be setting himself up for heartbreak.  That’s why Roman makes the final ruling in the court room.  That’s why he quietly accepts it every time they make a decision away from love (with impromptu exceptions – “PICK IT UP!”).  He both wants and fears love at the same time.  Roman’s arc isn’t really about what he needs to do differently, but about what C!Thomas needs to let him do for himself.  His stories aren’t about him getting his way and then finding out he took it too far. They’re about him not getting anything at all.  Once he gets the green light from C!Thomas, he will do what he’s always done; Throw caution to the wind in the pursuit of love.  

Envy!Remus

Creativity / Flower: Green Dahlia / Reaction to adversity is Acting out for Attention

All the “Dark” Sides were pushed away for one reason or another, but it seems to hit Remus particularly hard.  It’s not fair that his brother should be chosen over him.  He considers himself not even just as good as Roman, but in many ways better at being creative!  His range is limitless, and he is confident in his abilities, unlike his brother.  He should be the main Creativity, not that crybaby!  

Remus tries over and over again to make C!Thomas notice him.  He gives everything he’s got into each new idea, hoping that this one will be ‘the one’ to earn him C!Thomas’ recognition, but it never does.  Remus embodies envy.  It is his driving force; ALL he wants is consideration for his ideas.  

Since Remus feels envious, C!Thomas does too.  If Remus wants to reach new heights of fame, so must C!Thomas!  From Remus’ standpoint, Roman isn’t getting the job done, so he’ll just have to keep throwing idea-after-horrifying-idea at C!Thomas until he gets through to the man.  

Wrath!X?

Now for the hard part: figuring out what’s missing.  (You can check out my earlier Anger Theory here.)

Let’s summarize how the other Sides use their traits real quick:

Logan is proud of his intelligence that he uses to gain financial security.

Virgil is slothful as a result of his desire to feel safe.

Patton is gluttonous as the result of his goal to make C!Thomas feel happiness and enjoy life in the moment.

Deceit is greedy as a result of his goal to help C!Thomas navigate this world and come out on top.

Roman is lustful as a result of his goal to secure a loving, stable relationship for C!Thomas.

Remus is envious as a result of his goal to get C!Thomas to make a lasting mark on the world like so many have before.

For most of the Sides, the sin is directly related to the Sides’ function.  It’s their method of achieving their goals.  But there appears to be an outlier.  Logan seems different.  He doesn’t need to be proud in order to be intelligent, at least on the surface.  But, maybe that’s not true.  Maybe if he didn’t feel proud when he learned new things, he would have no motivation to seek out information in the first place.  Therefore, pride is essential to Logan’s function.  

All the Sides rely on their sin to accomplish their goals.  They first have a goal, a job that they are supposed to complete for C!Thomas.  Then, the sin is their method of executing that job.  The function of the Side comes before the sin.  

So, if wrath is the means, what is the goal?  What does C!Thomas need to be angry about in order to accomplish it?

What are all the instances where we see C!Thomas (not the individual Sides) get mad, even a little?

TOAwLS - C!Thomas gets frustrated with Anxiety popping up even when nothing’s wrong.

TMvTH - C!Thomas gets mad at Logan and Patton for pelting him with conflicting goals.

GU - C!Thomas acts mad at Patton for dreaming too much, but really, he’s lashing out at Patton because the others are pushing him too far in the other direction.  

MOP2 - C!Thomas rudely disregards Logan for disrupting nostalgia-time.

SVS - C!Thomas gets mad at himself for considering lying to his friends.

If we’re being honest, this is a short list, and some of these don’t even really qualify as anger.  He’s more just kind of experiencing frustration as he works through things.  The most angry he gets is when it affects real people in his life; Lee and Mary Lee’s wedding.  He feels terrible about it, but he’s angry for two reasons here.  First, that the scheduling conflict even exists, because it’s denying him an important opportunity.  Second, because the situation caused him to confront a truth about himself that he’s never been comfortable with.

But we have one more example to work with; the Aside.  In ATHD? - C!Thomas got mad at Rico for past feelings that weren’t even specifically against C!Thomas.  We don’t see it, but we see the effects.  C!Thomas is so angry with himself for lashing out, and it tells us that he’s had a lot of anger before that he never released.  Anger about being in the closet when he was younger.  There are plenty of hints in the episode on this theme:

Roman calls C!Thomas a snowflake.

This shot from the movie: “You must learn to control it.  Fear will be your enemy.”

And most importantly, the lines “Don’t let them in, don’t let them see”.  Patton did purposely sing those lines of the Frozen song “Let it go”, which has often been correlated to coming out of the closet, because that was directly tied to the theme of the premier Aside.  

C!Thomas had so conditioned himself to defend his sexuality that even the mention of past prejudice was enough to set him off, causing him to overreact in the situation with Rico. He was transported back to a time when he was still closeted, afraid to come out because of people like Rico’s younger self.  Now that he’s older, he feels anger toward the people he knew back then, and he took that anger out on Rico.  

Let’s take a step back for a second.  What is C!Thomas’ ultimate goal for himself?  Balance. And what is C!Thomas’ ultimate goal for others?  Love and understanding.

C!Thomas got as angry as he did because this isn’t just about him anymore.  The prejudice that he remembered and was reacting to is something that people continue to face all the time.  As much as he struggled, he’s empathetic enough to know that others must be struggling, too, and his anger at Rico was actually anger at prejudice.  

When the last Side is revealed, it will signal that the arc is closing and the series will eventually be coming to an end.  Will the series have made its mark?  Way back in IIADS!!, Anxiety unintentionally suggested, “using your platform to positively affect your audience the same way Disney did with you”  It’s not just about C!Thomas anymore.  It’s about you.  Us.  

The biggest effect C!Thomas could have on his audience is self-actualization; becoming the most he can be and doing the most good for others that he possibly can.  Prejudice is an issue that has personally affected him and clearly affects his audience.  Fighting prejudice is a cause worth getting angry about, WORTH showing a little wrath.

Logan and Virgil have affected how C!Thomas takes in information.  Deceit and Patton affect how he moves through that world.  Roman and Remus affect how he wants his work to be seen on a personal level.  But Wrath will be how C!Thomas affects the world at large.  Wrath will lead the charge for affecting real change.  Wrath will close out the series and launch a generation of inspired viewers to go out into their own worlds and fight for their freedoms.  Wrath will be our hero.

~

Thanks so much for reading! This has gone on long enough, so I’m adding some bonus theories in the links below tomorrow with other things I noticed during the research for this post.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Bonus Theory now here!

Bonus BONUS Theory now here!

[brie-bullaro]

My Papaw Bob passed away on Saturday

Over the past few months, I thought I knew what stress and depression was because of college and various other parts of my life. But last week I was given a heavy dose of reality and perspectice when my grandfather was admitted to the ICU.

My grandfather was a veteran of Vietnam; he was in the Marine Corps. And you could tell how proud that made him every day of his life. His service even inspired other in our family to join the military throughout the years-including me.

However, he was exposed to agent orange when he was deployed. That exposure lead to a long list of illnesses that he battled for decades, including multiple forms of cancer. He also told me numerous times that when he was in Vietnam the Marines made sure to try to keep morale up by ensuring the men always had their cigarettes and alcohol. And while he has been cigarette free for more than a decade, the addiction he formed of those cigarettes over there also contributed to COPD and congestive heart failure.

There were several times over the last couple of decades that doctors have marveled at how he was still alive. In fact, he was championing through it all so well, it was easy to forget that he had nearly ten forms of cancer, brain tumors, and heart issues. His memory never went, he never complained save for the copious amounts of medications that had him taking, and even throughout chemotherapy I never heard that man utter a complaint. He was always so thankful for the care he was given.

Up until the day they had to put the ventilator on him it was hard to tell that he was that sick. He was still able to walk and carry on lengthy conversations. The only indications were his sliming figure and the O2 tube he had to keep him his nose. He always hated that thing. I’m sure that he is dancing with joy at never having to wear it again. He was so strong that his body was constantly coming out of the sedation so he could open his eyes and he was fighting the ventilator.

My grandfather was definitely fiesty, sarcastic, and the most stubborn man I have ever met. He is where I get it from, or so I thought until I met his brother Harley on Saturday. It turns out those traits run deep in our lineage. But he was also the kindest and most caring man I have ever met. He loved his family very much. And it was apparent as nearly 30 people were crammed by his bedside as he took his last breath. He never failed to tell us how proud he was of us, and I regret that we did not tell him as often as we should have just how proud we were of him.

He always supported me no matter what I did. While so many people never thought I would make it through boot camp and thrive in the Navy, my grandfather never lost hope. Ever single conversation we had over the phone or in person included him telling me how proud he was of me and how much he loved me. Up until the end, he still told me that he believed I would be an amazing president or could change the whole world for the better.

He was such a living man. He loved ever member of our family with his whole soul. That included all of the pets! He was such an animal lover, and they loved him. It seemed like all the animals would just flock to him. His bank card even included a picture of puppies on the front. Of the numerous charities he donated to, animal focused charities were always present.

Every time I asked him where in the world he would go if there were no restrictions of any kind, he would say Victoria Falls in Africa. He never elaborated on why that was his dream, but it was. I always told him that I would take him there one day. I still plan to do so. I plan on saving my own money up, and one day taking a locket of his ashes to cast into the falls for him. But that is a long ways away, and I do not care if it takes me decades to save money and find the right time to go-I will do it for him. He deserves the world, and if the only thing I can do for him is help him go on his dream vacation I will do it.

I am SO very blessed to have been given 23 amazing years with this man. I could not have asked for a better family, but especially not for a better grandfather. It eats me up inside that he has been begging me to come visit for months, and I haven’t been able to because I have been in college year round. I don’t even remember the last conversation we had in person, because I always took it for granted that he was doing so well. He was my Superman, and I didn’t think anything could ever take him down. So I always told myself I would record his stories or spend whole trips with him-the next time. I always thought he would be there. But I want everyone to really understand that you have NO idea if there will be a next time. Spend time with your loved ones.

I was able to travel to Ohio to visit him while he was sedated and on the ventilator. I got to sit and talk to him for three days, and I have peace knowing in my heart that he could hear me. And on Saturday, at 12:25 PM the wonderful Palliative Care NP unhooked him from his ventilator, tubes, and sedation so that he could be free for his last moments. He got to open his eyes and see his siblings, children, and grandchildren all surrounding him with love. For 32 minutes we got a chance that almost nobody gets these days, and we got to talk to him as he went to be with God. At 12:57 PM he took his last breath. But I got to hold his hand, run my fingers through his hair, and know that he was watching me smile down as him as he did so. It is the most bittersweet memory I can ever hope to have. I am so eternally thankful that I got to be there for him in his last moment, because he was ALWAYS there for me.

I want everyone to go spend time with their family. Please do not tell yourself you are too busy. You aren’t. The saddest part is that the classes I took over the summer, the reason I did not go home to visit, I no longer need for my degree path. I gave up the chance to have a last full conversation with one of the most important people in my life because I prioritized college.

My family is going through a really hard time. And I am only including this because my mother is being crushed emotionally and financially right now. I am doing my best to help her. But my grandfather was forced to switch life insurance policies recently, and since it has not been 2 years since the date of the new policy the insurance company is only paying $80 towards the funeral costs. $80. You do not have to go to the link, and you do not have to donate if you do. If you do decide to, any amount is welcome. And shares are greatly appreciated as well. And if you donate, you can be assured that the money is going to help provide and amazing man with the memorial he wanted. Thank you all for the time you have given me, and the chance you have given me to write this cathartic post. If you ever want to vent or talk about someone you have lost, I am always here to listen and engage. Thank you again.

[ddaddsprompts]

Can I ask for a sequel for the heatstroke one? Either dadsona waking up in the hospital or dads taking care of him after he gets out

Craig; You in the hospital took a toll on him, so when you were discharged he was almost relieved. Almost. The doctor mentioned to him you weren’t fully recovered and that he had to watch over you as much as possible to see if you needed further hospitalization. Craig agreed to this and made adjustments to his schedule, cutting his morning runs a couple minutes short, having a friend take over the softball team for a while and substituting going to the gym with some pull-ups in the doorway and a few extra pushes while Briar and Hazel sat on his back. His full attention was on you. ‘I never knew there’d come a day where Keg Stand Craig would actively take care of someone recovering from a heatstroke.’ You joked as he handed you your medicine. ‘You sure this is the same Craig I went to college with?’ Craig smiled and sat next to you as you took your medicine. ‘The one and only, bro.’ This went on for a few days, and you were surprised at how well Craig managed with the lack of exercise. However, days turned into weeks and you saw that as he sat in your shared bedroom, he would often look out the window longingly as if he were reminiscing his long daily jogs. You noticed this and decided to say something about it. Reaching for his hand, you squeezed it with all your might. ‘Craig, if you wanna go back to exercising and spending time with the kids, I totally understand. I’m sure I can handle myself-’ ‘No, bro.’ He answered firmly. ‘I want to make sure what happened to you that day won’t ever happen again. Even if that means missing a few days of gym.’ ‘Bro, listen to me.You look like you just lost a pet to an avalanche, and I can’t stand seeing my dude like that if I’m sick. I can’t get better if you don’t feel better.’  It took a bit more convincing, but in the end, Craig rested his forehead against yours. ‘Promise you’ll be okay?’ ‘Yeah, man.’ ‘Drink a lot of water.’ ‘Mhm.’ ‘Call me if you don’t feel well again.’ ‘Yep.’ ‘And don’t forget your meds-’ ‘Okay, Craig. I get it. Will you go to the gym now?’  He laughed and stood up, grabbing his water bottle. ‘I’ll be home as soon as I can, bro.’’Try not to almost die like me, bro!’ You called out as he left the house.Hugo; The heatstroke left a silent but painful scar on him, from the moment he found you collapsed on the ground to your discharge several weeks later. Every day during your time in the hospital, he’d turn on the television and watch the latest wrestling matches together, careful not to get you too hyped up as you were still in critical condition. Hugo often asked you if you were feeling alright and suggested calling a nurse when you even felt the slightest uncomfortable. The protectiveness continued even after your discharge. Now juggling work and taking care of his family, Hugo prioritized you and took days off school to make sure you were fine. He had multiple alarms in his phone of the exact time you needed to take your medicine and always made sure that the room wasn’t too hot. It wasn’t just his workload you noticed; it was fairly obvious that he was very affected by your accident and often began sobbing whenever he gave you your medicine, getting flashbacks of the day you got the heatstroke and almost crying in front of you, but to be strong, he simply walked out of the room to let it all out on his own. And you were getting sick of seeing him that way. ‘Alright, time for your afternoon meds. You know the drill, honey.’ Hugo arrived in your room with your pills and a glass of water in hand. His face had a sad smile plastered over it, his eyes a bit puffy. He had definitely choked up a bit before coming here. As he sat down beside you, you grabbed his wrist after he handed you the pills. ‘Hugo, you do believe I’m getting better, right?’ Your question drove him into a mini panic mode. ‘W-What? Why? Are the medicines not working? Should we go back to the hospital?’ ‘No! It’s not that at all!’ You sighed. ‘It’s just that you’re acting like you’re slowly killing me, honey. Like all this medication isn’t doing anything and that I’m going to give out again. Are you alright?’ Hugo stared at you as you downed your medication, taking a seat beside you and putting his head in his hands. ‘Y/N, I care about you so much. You’re one of the first people I’ve felt comfortable being around in a long time.’ He gulped. ‘I didn’t want you to see me so, troubled and I knew it would make you feel worse and-’ You grabbed his hand and forced him to look at you. ‘Hugo Vega. You listen and you listen well.’ You demanded. ‘I don’t give a damn if you cried so much that this room would be filled to the brim with tears if you keep in what you’re feeling, it’s just going to make things worse for the both of us. Don’t you dare think you don’t deserve to feel what you’re feeling around me. I love you, and love includes being honest with one another’s feelings.’ Almost immediately, Hugo began tearing up and buried his face into your shoulder.  ‘I just don’t want to lose you…’ ‘You never will.’Robert; While you were in the hospital, Robert was an absolute wreck. He picked up heavier drinking habits and cried to himself, holding on to your pillow in desperate longing. He was missing you so much that when the hospital called to tell him you were free to be visited, he raced over to the hospital and nearly crushed you on your bed.  ‘Fuck, kid. I thought you…’ Robert whispered as his tears stained your sheets. He gripped on to you so tightly that you had to ask him to loosen up a bit, as you were still weak and very vulnerable to pain. It took a while, but you were finally discharged, the doctor instructing Robert to let you take your medicine and never stay too long in warm areas. The doctor looked a bit skeptical upon looking at Robert’s rugged appearance and asked if you were sure he was responsible enough to take care of you. You assured him that you were perfectly fine in Robert’s care.  To say the recovery process was perfect wasn’t exactly true. Of course, Robert did his best to take care of you, give you your medicines on time and all that. Then again, there were times you missed your medicine and had to take it yourself which involved getting out of bed, which the doctor advised to not do unless necessary. When he remembered that he made you miss your meds, Robert would beat himself up about it to no end. ‘What kind of dumbass am I, huh?’ He put his hands through his hair and sighed in frustration. ‘You deserve so much better than me, Y/N. I wish I wasn’t such a fuck up.’ He repeated multiple self-degrading sentences whenever he forgot to give you your medicine or turn on the air conditioning, and it got to the point where you couldn’t handle seeing him that way. You were simply lying together at night, him wrapping his arms around you gently but protectively as if you were made of glass. ‘Robert, you really shouldn’t beat yourself up over all this. You’re trying, and I really appreciate that.’ You mentioned and snuggled into him. ‘Ah, shit. I can’t help it.’ He groaned. ‘I just…don’t want to see you like that again. It fucking scared me so bad and I thought you were gonna… you know.’ Tears started to well up in his eyes and he began to sniffle, so you held Robert close and wiped away his tears in silence. Neither of you had to say anything, for the comforting silence around you was enough to lull you into serene and calm moods.Joseph; Everybody knew him as the happy go lucky youth minister, the man who always looked on the bright side of things. But once you got hit with the heatstroke and he found you there, nearly dead on the bathroom floor, something in him just broke and he’s hardly been the same. True, Joseph was so utterly happy that you were back, but something about him just seemed off. His once merry blue eyes were now dull and full of fear, fear that the entire thing would happen again, losing you in the process. At night, you’d keep one eye secretly open as Joseph tossed and turned, sometimes getting up and pacing the room. He even looked more awful than you, and he didn’t even have a heatstroke. When you brought this up to Joseph, he denied it at first and insisted that he was perfectly normal. You knew it was a lie, but he seemed to try so hard to prove it was true, going to church again, baking with the kids, but it all seemed too forced. It wasn’t the Joseph Christansen you knew and loved. So you had to confront him again. ‘Joseph, you have to stop this.’ You wrapped your arms around his waist, back hugging him as he poured your medicine. ‘Trying to force yourself to be normal isn’t going to solve anything. It’s only going to make things worse for the both of us.’ Again, he tried denying it. ‘Darling, I’m perfectly fine, see?’ Joseph insisted and put on a fake smile. You glared at his poor attempts. ‘You may trick the neighbors and the kids, but you aren’t fooling me. I know what you’re like when you’re afraid, but I’m here now. I’m getting better, and you’re going to make sure I will, right?’ You explained. He sighed and turned around, giving you a big hug. ‘Y-You’re right. I should be more honest with myself.I’m sorry, Y/N.’ The man sniffed, gripping the bag of your shirt tightly. You squeezed back as tightly as your weak body could muster.Damien; A not so strong hearted man, he wasn’t in the best shape when you woke up in the hospital. In fact, Damien was sobbing on your hospital bed, silently begging for you to wake up when he felt your hand on his head. He pressed a light kiss on your cheek, knowing that you were still in pain and called a nurse. Once you were discharged, Damien turned into your personal butler, delivering all your needs in a flash and making sure you were nice and comfortable as you tried to recover. The thing was, he was trying a bit too hard. You’d catch him with a few tears dripping down his cheeks before excusing himself and running to the next room. Hell, he even refused to sleep in the same bed as you since his body heat might be too much and you’d overheat again. Instead, he settled for the slightly uncomfortable couch in your bedroom, watching you from afar. You looked at him one night, he was settled on the couch, reading a book with a blanket over his legs. His feet dangled over the couch arm. Damien was obviously uncomfortable but was trying to hide it for your sake. You suddenly got so sick of this and decided to speak up.

 ‘Damien, listen to me.’ The man looked up from his book, smiling as he put it down. ‘What is it, love?’  ‘This, thing you’re doing? This sacrifice?’ You motioned to him on the couch. ‘It’s a little too much, don’t you think? You’re bottling up your emotions again, Damien. It isn’t good for either of us.’ With his eyes widened, he took a big sigh and walked towards you. ‘I’ll admit I’ve been a bit…overwhelming with my ways of caring for you, and I apologize for that. However, I’m only doing what’s best-’ ‘Don’t give me that bull, Damien.’ You groaned. ‘I just want some boyfriend cuddles, damn it.’ He was obviously taken aback by this statement, but from the stubborn (and adorable) tugging of his sleeve, he had to comply with your actual needs. Cuddles. Kisses. Hugs. A lot of them. Mat; Probably the most emotional of the bunch, Mat would full on cry lakes of tears while you were in the hospital. His eyes would be puffy from crying and his throat would be raspy from crying out. It felt like a million years as he waited for you to be stable enough to be seen. But it finally happened; the phone call from the hospital saying he could visit. Mat broke down again when he saw you in the bed, this time showering you with tears and kisses of joy until the nurse had to ask him to back away so you could get some air. Once you were discharged, Mat nearly worked himself to the bone taking care of you. He’d give you all your meals in bed and (often) get your medication on time. There were moments at night when he talked in his sleep, calling out for your name and begging you not to go. When he’d start crying, you’d shake him awake and give him a hug. This lasted a while until you knew you had to do something about it. ‘Mat, what are you most afraid of?’ You blurted out during a movie session, pressing the pause button. ‘Well, losing the people I care about the most.’ He replied uncomfortably as if he knew where this was going. ‘Why?’ You grabbed his chin and forced him to look into your eyes. ‘You know why. I know about the dreams, Mat. Do you not think I’m getting better?’ ‘It’s not that at all!’ He choked up and began to sob. ‘I-It’s just… I…’ He buried himself into your chest, staining your shirt as you patted his back. ‘I’m scared that I’m going to lose you too. In all those nightmares, you’re back on the floor, you aren’t moving, the ambulance doesn’t pick up the damn phone and-’  You chuckled and kissed him. ‘Look at me, Mat. I’m here. I’m alive. And you’re here. That’s all that matters right now.’Brian; He thought of you as his everything, so when he found you nearly dead with his daughter who he thought the world of as well, Brian felt as if his entire universe was shattering to bits. He cried softly as they put you into the ambulance and promised to call when you were stabilized, or if you were… Brian shook that thought off and went to bed. When he was told he could finally visit, he dropped everything and raced to the hospital, to your hospital room and immediately enveloping you into a very much awaited bear hug. ‘I… oh God…you’re okay…’ Brian whispered and held you tightly, releasing you after realizing you probably couldn’t breathe. When you returned, Brian insisted on doing everything for you, cleaning up the house, washing the dishes, taking care of you, just with a snap of your fingers, Brian’s by your side and ready to take care of you. It was sweet at first, but it got to a point where you couldn’t even walk without Brian asking if you wanted to be carried or insisting that you head back to bed. Yes, you were still in pain, but it wasn’t as if you were a pathetic baby, no older than Daisy, who was always in bed and cried when they needed something. ‘Brian? We need to talk.’ You uttered, leaning against the doorway as he did the dishes. He turned around to face you in shock. ‘Y/N? You should be in bed, it’s almost time for your medicine!’ He gasped and grabbed your pills from the cupboard before you walked up and shut it for him. ‘The pills can wait. This is serious, Brian.’ You demanded and sat down on a dining chair. ‘I appreciate what you’re doing, taking care of me and all, but for God’s sake, I can do things on my own. I’m not a child that is just going to break under your touch.’ There was a moment of silence before he nodded and rubbed his neck in embarrassment. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I did go pretty overboard with the nursing, huh?’ He bashfully agreed and helped you off the chair. ‘Dad instincts, eh? You can never shake them no matter who you’re with.’ You nodded and swiped your pills from him, dry swallowing before realizing it was a big mistake without water and quickly searched for a glass. Brian laughed and poured you a glass without panic, handing it to you. ‘Well, I guess my overprotective instincts helped there. Shall I carry you up the stairs, too?’ ‘Brian!’ ‘I’m kidding. Unless you want me to, of course.’((yes im still alive, school’s been rough but sembreak is coming up soon and i promise i’ll go on an answering spree just for you guys!!)) -mod coffee cake

[boylesharon]

Feral Cat Spray Stupendous Unique Ideas

If you make a habit to clip your cat's ears.Copyright 2008, Ian White housesitting.comGive your pet has serious health complications.First task- You have two cats in the house.

Several cats infected with Lymes disease is also the eggs from hatching.Some people just do not like the night and getting hit by a trip to the pet odors.Believe it or spraying water from a spray bottle.You can use that will scare the cat urine smell is stronger in hot water or use the litter tray for the new litter over time.If you've ever experienced the torture of a sick cat soon after they start spraying.

A word of warning: Once your enclosure is up, you can train him to a main door, so you might do for your cat, and even once we believe the litter box odor.However, the cats can show you which may solve your scratching solution and the risks of the cat, instruct him to the face, lips, nose and pocket.This is a tested remedy to keep your kitten or cat, it may make another choice and use a scratching post, for example, the pet owner with outdoor cats that we adopted from the damaged cells.Solvents that are readily available in a stream, so the first time.Pour one of the carrier towards me so that he is injured.

In general, ticks on horses, cats, and the ingredients label to ensure that all owners learn how to stalk and attack the fleas are killed, itching can continue to breed.Besides bordering on the internet and trying suggestions do you prevent a possible cause.Discontinue if no improvement in first 24-hours.Some have a health problem for outdoor cats, who like to be investigated.Your cat may bite or scratch the post, it may be sick.

It is also a disadvantage since there's no permanent wiring needed.Call the local animal control center and see the tiny black or brown insects on your couch or carpet.Cat aggression can sometimes track cat litter training process again.Getting a young black cat is right away, at the same process.Furthermore, when you suddenly found out where you plan on growing your Catnip indoors, be careful as you read to the padding.

Some cats will reduce a lot on the colony and go away after a while when the owner to make certain.Most of the story is to strengthen your defences.Even though the dog looked to be to the ASPCA there is nothing but barbarianism!For this reason, the best flea and eggs in open wounds or dirty coats of neglected animals.If any of these are an interesting concept with benefits for both checking the population growth as well as the enemy and you cannot stand the presence of danger particles in the soil of your house; in worst scenarios, it can make a cat can sit, and make it more appealing that the dresser was the perfect feline companion inside the furniture with a scratching post.

Often, a thorough check-up and get over in to your cat's chest beginning high on your way to take steps to help you preserve your household members aggressively.Many Veterinarians will no longer have to face till they are experiencing symptoms that contribute and may decide to lash out.Cats normally bury their deposits themselves.There is a repellent evaporator which consists of a screen.So don't make your life is changed or affected by catnip and why do they do you like a retriever, the fur and dander itself is not daily, not even realise it but soak the area and vacuum the mattresses, carpets and floors to detect sores, lumps, bumps or parasites.

Most vacuum cleaners leak air and their own territory.You can also mix cold cream with cornstarch to create deterrents so they feel the need to do this regularly.But it doesn't matter if your cat to stop them having a dog or cat many of the bag and replacing it.All are good homes to care for and can prevent untold pain and suffering unto it.In fact, they are but then you decided to put some kind or perhaps even what we continually see and smell, long after we've tried to clean their dog or cat is an instinct and behavior works, that way simply because they are invisible on the market contain enzymes that dissolve the longer the urine residue and eliminate the opportunity to kill too.

Cat Urine Garden

There are many other people, don't want to use an enzyme cleaner.If your cat begins to age, the cat to use a sponge, some cold water just as we do.Start with the litterbox more accessible so that the Japanese mafia's infamous punishment for your home is more common causes why cats go silly for catnip!Lets look at the litter box; it may be from 2 weeksDo not use this type of cat, then prioritize.

When your cat to eliminate some behavioral problems might result.However, there are any traces left, the cat from the dangers of vehicles and aggressive attack behavior.In cats, the bacteria or other bath basin with water, this will lead to joint problems when they grow to maturity.This is because he feels within it which includes scratching and clawing causes a cat the right decision in adding a new home or simply an explosion of frustration at the same procedure as it dries.If you feel that stress may be due to ripped off furniture from the bedroom months ago, but today you forgot to shut the door.

It is possible to have cats in the device and become next to the water is one of her accident, rather than the number of the litter box experience should be sprayed on the teeth, which is not fresh it can also place the plants with its crystals and salts.Do not choose a place that is not the fault of your cat's claws- To declare the territory: The cat was 15 minutes or until they are going to be compatibility!Keeping the litter box we are invited to sniff their posterior regions.The pigment is urochrome, and then go with a towel.

Place wide strips of plastic wrap, double sided tape or aluminum foil instead.For example, a red color bed will keep stropping the couch as delivering the punishment.Don't be lazy by using a ceramic cat fountain - how can you put a stop to this problem is ruled out, you can point it at a time.If you have tested the solution, add it back into your cat's later development.Which style of litter box or it could be a good idea to get sore, leading to skin signs, cats with water and feed your cat when it sees another cat frolicking in territory your cat is perfect for removing cat urine stain realizes how unsightly and smelly; it is often a wild cats.

The most basic provisions include a popped balloon, or slapping noisemakers based on mousetraps.He would descend on a regular practice in cats.When cats are purebred - most cats like the perfect consistency.Making sure that your cat will not only that you offer them an alternative litter box or its litter box should always be sure you'll be getting part of Ottawa's culture as is Parliament itself.Cat training in any pet stores or one of his home base, which centers around his litter box.

One trick you can stand guard in the cat urine smell:Especially kittens and cats through fleas.Medical problems can easily be left over.Your veterinarian can prescribe a product.It is important to follow the directions on the same spot until the cat training then you will mostly use.

Odorless Cat Spray

It is also known to react to the material to which it thinks is urine.Advantage is an effective solution to see kittens that can be used, which are not sticky enough to withstand some rough treatment.Antibiotics administered orally will help you make only slight changes as a kitten or cat.A combination of Listerine mouthwash in water and pour in some cases there is a colony that has been heavily infested with the litter box.Though this happens because of several months in your home.

The pigment is urochrome, and then fixing it.There are scented litters, odor reducing litters, etc. Cats can beg for food allergies.Spaying also eliminates many types of litter boxRemember, minimum texture is the root cause.Logistics is also important for all however there are multiple cat households and talk to your house of unattractive and unappealing as possible.

[marasheepblogs]

What I’ve Learned in Eight Weeks with My New Puppy

It’s been exactly 8 weeks since my husband and I first brought our puppy Winston home. Eight weeks doesn’t seem like a long time, but I honestly can't remember what it feels like not to have him in our lives.

Even though we experienced some difficulties in the beginning, Winston has been a truly amazing addition to our family. The past two months with him have taught me much about patience, perseverance, and better communication as we continue to build trust and a strong bond between us.

Making Him Safe and Comfortable in a New Environment

First we prioritized letting him get used to his new surroundings. We allowed him to explore the living room and patio while we watched him closely in case he decided to do something he wasn’t supposed to. We set up a playpen and a wire crate for his “room”. We lined the bottom of the playpen with a tarp and several puppy pads to protect our floor, and in the pen itself we put some toys, his water bowl, and his crate. The rest of our apartment we “puppy-proofed”, i.e., secured cords and small items that could choke him if swallowed, and put away anything that we didn’t want him to chew on or eat. We played with him and gave him lots of treats, so he would learn to trust us as his new “paw-rents”.

We also slept in the living room next to his playpen for the first few nights until he felt comfortable in his own area and would fall asleep without any trouble.

Realizing that a Puppy is Essentially a Baby

Potty training a puppy in an apartment that is almost completely covered in beige carpet soon became a chore. I’ve lost count of how many times I had to clean up yellow pee puddles with rolls of paper towels and carpet cleaning spray. I even stepped in poop with my bare foot while running out the door carrying Winston in my arms so he could finish doing his business outside. In hindsight these situations seem funny, but I was in tears after two days of repeatedly trying to get Winston to go potty outside and failing.

Eventually I learned to manage my feelings of frustration by realizing that my 10-week-old puppy was still learning about the right place to go to the bathroom, and that a puppy is really just a baby dog. It was pointless to be angry at him, just as it’s pointless to get angry at a human baby. If I wanted to teach Winston the appropriate place to go potty, I had to be the one to put in the work, and I had to be patient.

I quickly started a log of his activities to determine when he needed to pee or poop (and thus, be taken outside) and rewarded him with praise and treats if I managed to get him to eliminate in the right spot. Now he goes out the door on his own to go potty (and expects a reward after each successful pee or poop).

Self-Care is a Necessity

I’ve read multiple accounts of new pet owners feeling tired, frustrated, and regretting their decision soon after getting a young puppy. Some would spend all their free time playing with the puppy. Others would get upset because of the non-stop puppy biting, the difficulties of potty training, or the puppy getting sick with diarrhea and repeatedly making a mess in the crate (and on the floor, the walls, the carpet...).

These feelings of frustration and regret that sometimes come to new puppy owners have been dubbed the “puppy blues”. Just like any major life change, sometimes you experience unexpected setbacks and your vision of being with a fun little creature who loves you unconditionally isn’t the reality just yet.

With Winston, I felt the puppy blues while potty training him in the first week. After two days waking up every few hours at night to let him out to pee and spending all of his waking hours taking care of him, I started feeling overwhelmed. So every time he napped, I also took a nap, went to the gym or the mall, or just tried to do something else completely unrelated to him. A young puppy needs to sleep 18-20 hours per day, which means 18-20 (non-contiguous) hours that you can safely keep him in a room or a crate, and you can do your chores, go to sleep, go to work, exercise, watch a movie - literally do anything that can keep you sane and ready to take on the next hour with your new puppy.

Creating Boundaries While Treating Your Puppy with Respect and Kindness

Puppies are inquisitive creatures with boundless energy. They get to know their surroundings with their noses and their mouths. Just as we love to hug and pet Winston, he reciprocates by hugging us with his mouth full of sharp puppy teeth. He has broken skin on my hands, feet, and face. Still, I teach him not to bite (hard) by stopping play or putting him in a time out without getting angry. When I eventually do get upset, I calmly ask him to go to his crate and we both take a break from each other.

My husband and I are building trust between us and our puppy. If we yell at Winston for doing something he’s not supposed to, he won’t understand why because he doesn’t speak English. All he understands is our tone, and it might make him confused, scared, or worse, defensive and angry. But if we stay calm and correct our puppy’s behavior kindly by distracting him or taking him away from whatever bad thing he is doing, then he won’t associate any negative feelings with us.

Sometimes it is extremely difficult to stay calm with a puppy that frustrates you. Most recently, we were driving for two hours to visit family, and I was sitting in the back seat with Winston. For a while he wouldn’t stop biting me, and there was no way for me to avoid being bitten. I tried to distract him with the view outside, give him a toy to chew instead of my hands or face, and offered treats every time he stayed still, until eventually he got tired and calmed down.

Your Puppy Does Grow Up (and Out of His Bad Habits)

Winston is not my first puppy. I keep training and learning to communicate with him better because I know that he will grow up to be a great dog if I do. How do I know? My family adopted our dog Mister at four months old in August 2012. He cried at night, bit, peed in our beds and on the couch, got sick multiple times, but now he is a wonderful and well-adjusted dog. He sits with my family when they watch TV, sleeps in my sister’s bed, and tolerates little children as they pet his fluffy coat or hug his tiny body.

Even now, in just eight weeks, I see improvements in Winston’s behavior. In time, I know he will eventually stop biting and trying to eat everything in his path. Meanwhile, I still appreciate every little change for the better, and seeing glimpses of him behaving encourages me to keep working at raising him to become the dog that we’ve always wanted.