#beagle gate

[artbybrutus]

Wanted to show off another au I’m writing but mainly wanted to show off the barnaby in it. He is called Cigs in the au, mostly due to how often he smokes Cigars in the writing. He is an asshole and we made him like super wealthy,

As a child he was given anything he wanted due to Ms.Beagle having many successful businesses (A chain of restaurants, found Oil on some land she bought and selling some of her food products from her restaurants) and was raised to think he could do no wrong. He is a mama’s boy and has a high sense of self, a narcissist honestly. He gloats often about his money and how he views those that are not in his circle below him. Cigs tends to treat you like shit unless he finds you useful in some way.

I still kept in him and Wally being best friends, but he is rather neutral on the other neighbors.

He also owns the company that makes his cigars and depending on the color band, it will determine if there is some kind of effect to it. I’ll explain that later on once i make the full guide for myself and friends.

I have a horrible amount of brainrot for him I love him dearly.

Here is his ref (I am gonna make a better ref soon as i need to make a full body of him.)

[potatowedges12]

I forgot to tell my two coworkers today that a loud beagle followed us around on our dog walk this morning.

He had the best beagle howl, but no collar.

[kc5rings]

Saw some discussion about it so I’ve been thinking about Arknights designs and what sets it apart for me/why it got me in the first place and I think it really comes down to the designs on the 3 star units, Beagle, Kroos, and Fang in particular. (Hibiscus too but to a lesser extent for reasons I’ll get to in a sec)

The low star units are gonna be most peoples first exposure to the games designs, especially when I first started at launch and the pool of units was just way smaller in general. I remember thinking it was cool that they all had company logo’s/ID’s etc to group them together, even if out the gate I didn’t what RI really was or did yet, they clearly belonged to the same group

Getting several three stars out the gate I appreciated seeing that Hibiscus, my first medic, was wearing the same kind of blue exam gloves that I’d used in my previous career in the medical field. It felt like a good bit of attention to detail, the medic wearing realistic gloves despite the otherwise tacticool designs, neat!

But I then remember noticing it on Fang first, and then on Kroos and Beagle as well as I gathered my starting roster, they all wore those same nitrile exam gloves I was familiar with. Now it made sense for the medic but why was my frontline Lancer wearing medic equipment?

Of course shortly after that early confusion I continued the story and learned more about what Rhodes is, a medical company first and foremost. It was very cool to me to realize that the groundwork for what kind of place RI is was laid in my mind by that small practical character detail

Rhodes Island is a pharmaceutical company, so it’s basic rank and file are reminiscent of medical first responders. Those gloves aren’t practical for wielding a spear or firing a crossbow, but they are evocative of what Rhodes is here to do so the feeling comes across and circles back around to seeming practical

A friend of mine who works in game dev occasionally says “people don’t want realism as often as they say they do, they want believable.” and I think this is a good example of that for me. Those gloves make me believe the person wearing them is here to do medical relief or give aid despite wielding a spear, shield or crossbow

They say to me “I’m here to help”

There’s been some highs and lows of designs since then, but I think that detail of the three star designs is what really sold me on the practicool vibes Arknights uses a lot and why I’ve come to enjoy it in some of their other looks

[faketrex]

Happy weekend, enjoy some cake(gate bodyswap)! As cake must fall, tensions must rise.

To be continued.

...

SHARING A SLICE... part 4

RWRB, rated T, 700 words (this part).

(click here for part 1) (part 2) (part 3)

...

Henry refuses to give Alex his phone.

“Listen, I’m not thrilled about giving you my phone, but if anybody calls you in the middle of the night, they're gonna expect your hoity-toity voice on the line.”

“Who would call me after midnight?”

“Booty call, maybe?” Alex watches Henry glance over at the window like he’s considering trying to flee. It's stupid. They're in Henry's house – palace – whatever. “Hey, if you break that window, open the curtains first. I don’t want my body getting extra time behind bars because you ruined some historic fabric.”

“It's already a crime against interior design,” Henry mutters, almost surprising Alex into a laugh.

“Seriously, what if there's, like... a royal summons?”

Henry sighs. “You have a point.”

“See?” Alex holds his phone out. “Swap, then we can both go sleep off this shitshow of a day.”

“What if you get a message?” Henry looks down, turning his own phone over anxiously between his palms. Phone addiction is a normal part of Alex's life, but Henry’s attachment seems like it might be even worse than his own.

Maybe he's got some secrets on that thing.

Actually – maybe Alex hasn’t thought this through.

“We leave them locked. Okay? No touching unless they ring.”

“Only break in case of emergency, as they say.”

“Yeah.”

They trade phones. Henry's phone case is a boring navy blue. Reflexively, Alex taps the screen to check for messages; it lights up with a selfie of Henry and Bea, grinning, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. Before Alex can look more closely, the screen darkens.

Henry clears his throat.

“Sorry,” Alex mumbles. “Habit.”

“Tit for tat.” Henry taps Alex's phone screen, then raises his eyebrows. “Is that–”

“Don't start with me–”

“The Washington Monument, Alex? Really?”

“It's none of your business.”

“Fair enough. To bed, then?”

“Finally.” He slides Henry's phone into his pocket. “Can you give me directions to the guest room or do I need an enchanted map?”

“No, no,” Henry protests. “You’re sleeping here.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I–”

“You look like me, Alex. Kensington has many, many guest rooms. There’s no plausible explanation for me giving up my room.”

“And how the hell do you explain the First Son sleeping here with you?”

“I... we're convincing everyone that we’re best mates, aren't we? Perhaps we had a few too many and you stayed to sleep it off. It has been a very long day, after all.”

“No fucking kidding.” He's way too tired for this. “Fine. Whatever.”

They get ready for bed in silence. Once Henry has had Alex's suitcase brought over to his rooms, Alex drops all his cake-coated white-tie finery in a pile on the floor and pulls on sleep shorts and a t-shirt with his eyes closed.

Hopefully, when he wakes up tomorrow, he'll be back in his own skin. If not... well, he'll burn down that bridge when he comes to it.

Alex eyes the loveseat warily. Henry's tall. It's tiny. “Are you gonna let me sleep here, or is this an antique, too?”

“We can set aside our differences long enough to share a bed for one night, can't we?”

No, they can't. They definitely can't. Still, Alex will be damned if Henry gets a good night’s sleep while he doesn't.

He climbs into Henry's bed hatefully.

While Henry has the water running in the bathroom, Alex wakes his phone once more, out of spite. The photo has changed: it's a beagle, curled up in a nearly perfect circle in an overstuffed dog bed. After a moment, it fades to black.

He taps again: the night sky over a green meadow. The ocean, from the bow of a sailboat. Another selfie, this one of Henry and a smiling man with bright pink hair and a martini glass in his free hand.

The water turns off.

There's barely enough time for Alex to set the phone on the bedside table and turn onto his side before Henry comes back into the bedroom. Henry climbs into bed and turns out the light without saying a word.

Alex keeps his mouth shut, too.

...

(Part 5)

[sedehaven]

Meter

the movement of breath over tongue, between lips, around teeth like picket fences, the rhythm of words,

bounding out like beagles galloping a gate, or the slow slouch of pallbearers shuffling to a cold, dark hole -- stepping

or stumbling, loping or leaping, the dance and pace of syllables, this thumping pulse of our songs (stressed, unstressed), beating

feet to move ideas -- we call it meter

[aftermathfanfic]

He slowly approached her, sitting down beside her. They sat in silence, neither of them wanting to talk about the last adventure. Truthfully, Dewey didn’t really know how to talk about it. This wasn’t just inter-family drama and misunderstanding, it was… failure. Dewey didn’t know how else to describe it. It felt like they had failed.

If they hadn’t, that girl would still be alive.

~~~

Chanda waited in the agriculture plot of Quackmore Public, leaning against the shed wall with her hands in her pockets. Classes had just started, if she remembered the school’s timetable correctly, and there was nobody around. Not yet.

Her eyes scanned the bushels and bushes of the plot, an amateur farm about four yards across either side. Still, Chanda felt a pang of envy at it – her school certainly didn’t have anything like this.

Finally, she spotted her target, entering in through the back gate of the plot. He was a large pig boy, only a couple of years older than her, dressed in a green polo and brown shorts. His gaze was down at his phone as he walked through the plot, only looking up to notice her when he was a few feet away.

Once he did, he froze.

“Oh, God.” He muttered, taking a step back from her.

“Hey, Rhind.” Chanda greeted him. She cocked her head at him. “How’s the hand?”

The pig moved his right hand behind him, almost subconsciously. “…Fine.” Rhind replied warily. He watched her suspiciously. “…What do you want?”

Chanda was silent for a moment. She watched the older boy stew in his nervousness for a bit longer, then remarked, “I heard you were dealing again.”

“…I share a blunt or two with friends, sure. What of it?”

“Did Drake give that to you?”

“Oh, come… what, did he send you?” Rhind groaned, taking another step back. “I don’t work with you guys anymore, give me a break!”

Chanda almost cursed. Rhind wasn’t working for Doofus. He wouldn’t know anything about the statuette, or anything about his operations.

But he might know something else, she quickly realised. Deciding to play into his anxiety, Chanda stepped off the wall and approached him, asking in a low voice, “Why would he have sent me, Rhind?”

“You tell me! You’ve met the guy, anything can set him off!”

Chanda took another step forward. “Maybe he’s concerned about where you’re getting your goods from.”

“What? Wh-what do you mean?” Rhind spluttered as he stumbled backwards.

“His stash, idiot. He seems to think that’s where you’re getting your stuff.”

“Aw, come- You think I’m dumb enough to steal from that creep? He’s the one constantly spying on people, he should know it wasn’t me!”

“What wasn’t you?”

“Whatever it is you’re coming to me for!”

Chanda got right up in his face, cornering him against a row of overgrown tomato bushes. “…A couple pounds of our stuff went missing.” She lied, making herself sound as threatening as possible. “You sure you don’t know anything about that?”

“I don’t even know where he keeps his stash!” Rhind argued. “How would I steal from it?”

“You could’ve found out. You might have asked one of the other guys, cut him into it.”

“None of the other guys know where it is either! We only ever got it directly from him, he knows that!”

Chanda narrowed her eyes at him, letting him stand there, sweating nervously. After a moment, she backed down, realising he was telling the truth. Rhind breathed a sigh of relief as she let him relax a little.

“You don’t know anyone else who could have stolen it?” She questioned him, hoping to get a name out of him at least.

Unfortunately, Rhind shook his head. “No-one would be crazy enough.” He told her. “Not after what happened to Ryan.”

“Ryan?”

“…Ryan Goodfeather? The guy who got beat up by a bunch of Beagle Boys?”

Chanda vaguely remembered hearing something about that. She hadn’t paid much attention at the time, though. “What about him?” She asked.

Now Rhind was looking suspicious. “The kids who jumped him worked for Doofus, didn’t they?”

Chanda stared at him. “…Where’d you hear that?” She demanded.

“Ryan said so. He tried to steal something from Doofus, so he sic’d those guys on him. What, you didn’t hear about that?”

Chanda didn’t answer, staring into the middle distance.

“Right… you weren’t at the hospital. Too busy with your mom, or whatever.” He snorted, sounding amused. “Doofus never told you that he was in with the biggest gang in Duckburg?”

“…He probably didn’t want to scare me off.” Chanda muttered.

“Yeah, no kidding. I mean, a bunch of us quit when he heard that. No amount of money is worth working for those guys.” He folded his arms, shrugging. “I mean, it’s not that surprising if you think about it. The guy’s in the same crowd as Glomgold, Beaks… all those psychos.”

“No. It isn’t.”

Rhind looked down at her. “You want my advice? You should look at keeping your distance from that stuff too.” He suggested. “I know your mom’s important and all, but Doofus is in the middle of the Duckburg crazies. It’s dangerous shit.”

Chanda glared back up at him. “I didn’t ask for your advice.” She shot back. “And don’t go telling anyone about that Beagle Boy stuff. Like you said, dangerous shit.”

“…Sure. Whatever.” Rhind shrugged again. “So… can I go now?”

Chanda sighed reluctantly, then jerked her head towards the school proper. Rhind quickly took the hint, jogging away from her without looking back.

Chanda sighed, walking back to the shed and leaning against it. That hadn’t been a complete waste. Rhind might not have known where Doofus’s stash was, but it sounded like this Goodfeather guy did, or at least knew how to steal from him. She just needed to find him, pay him a visit, and find out what he knew. Still, this stuff about the Beagle Boys…

She shoved her hands deep into her jacket pockets, swallowing hard. Fighting high school bullies was one thing. Fighting the Beagle Boys was entirely another.

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She took it out and held it up, looking at who was calling her.

Green Dickhead, it read.

Chanda frowned, then answered it. “Hey.” She murmured into the phone.

“Did you tell anyone?”

“What?”

“Did you tell anyone?” Louie repeated aggressively.

“Oh, well, hello to you too.” Chanda muttered.

“Just give me a straight answer!” Louie hissed.

“No, I haven’t told anyone!” Chanda snapped. “How fucking stupid do you think I am?”

“Really? Because Doofus knows!”

“…What?”

“He knows! He called me last night to collect on my side of our ‘bargain’, and he knew that we were trying to get back at him! He’s known-!”

Chanda shut her eyes tight, letting her hand fall loosely to her side. He already knew. They’d failed before they even started. Frustratedly, she punched the shed wall behind her, gritting her teeth and holding back a string of curses. Reluctantly, she brought the phone back up to her ear.

“…or if he’s just… fuckin’ psychic, but he knew!” Louie rambled as she returned to the call. “And I know that I haven’t told anyone, so… like, you haven’t accidentally let it sleep to anyone who could’ve told him? Anyone at all?”

“No. Nobody.” Chanda replied. “He must’ve had someone spying on us back at the bus stop.”

“Not possible. We were alone back there. He had to have heard from someone, or-” He cut off briefly, then continued “-or he’s gone to the Karmic Court, and they’ve told him-!”

“Calm down.” Chanda told him forcefully. “You’re panicking.”

“If you had been through the crap that this asshole has put me through, then you’d be panicking too!” Louie snarled.

“Just focus!” Chanda commanded him. “Look… what did he say to you? Is your deal with him off?”

Louie scoffed. “Deal. Sure. Let’s call it that.” He sighed. “No… I managed to talk him into giving me an extra week. But whatever we do to get out of this, it has to be before then! Because if we give him time to prepare, then we’re screwed!”

“Okay.” Chanda said evenly. “So… what does this change for our plan?”

That seemed to give Louie pause. “…Nothing, I guess.” He admitted.

“Then stop panicking. All this means is that we need to be more careful.”

“Right… yeah.”

Chanda frowned. He sounded pained for some reason. “You alright?” She asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Just pulled something during while I was out adventuring. You know how it is.” Louie replied. “Or… I guess you wouldn’t. Whatever. Did you manage to catch any info on your end?”

“…Kind of. The guy I told you about, he doesn’t know anything. But he let slip someone who might.”

“Another one of his dealers?”

“Yeah. He tried to steal something from Doofus and got himself beat up for it. Chances are good that he was stealing from Doofus’s stash.”

“Perfect. Get a location from him, and whatever we find, we use it as leverage.”

“Assuming that he hasn’t moved it somewhere else.”

“That sounds like negative thinking to me.” Louie remarked. Chanda could hear the smirk in his voice. “You gotta be positive when it comes to planning, trust me.”

“…He… also told me something else.” Chanda added after a moment’s hesitation.

“What?”

“He said that Doofus gets his drugs from the Beagle Boys.”

“…What?”

“Apparently they’re the ones who jumped the second guy.”

“Oh my God, that’s great!” Louie said excitedly.

“…How?” Chanda asked worriedly.

“Gang connections? That’s excellent blackmail material! If we find proof of that, give it over to the cops, we could shut his operation for good! He’d be powerless!”

“He could easily tell the cops that he was being coerced by them!” Chanda argued.

“Won’t matter. Either way, he loses the drugs. He can’t exactly frame me for dealing if he’s got nothing to frame me with, can he?”

“I- okay, can- can you picture something for me?” Chanda said anxiously. “Let’s say we do that. And let’s say it shuts him down. He’s going to be pissed at us, right? He’s going to be pissed at me!”

“So?”

“He knows my mother’s name, dickhead!” Chanda snarled. “He knows where I live! He’ll tell the Beagle Boys, they’ll blame me, and they’ll come after my mother!”

“If he gets caught, the Beagle Boys aren’t going to give a crap what he says.” Louie rebutted. “But, fine. After we bring Doofus down, I can make sure your family’s safe. I know some people.” When Chanda didn’t respond, he added, “He’ll try to get back at you no matter how we go about this, Chanda.”

Chanda sighed, replying reluctantly, “Fine… what’s your next move, then? That Bosman guy, right?”

“Not anymore.” Louie replied. “He was bit a gamble anyway, and we don’t have time to be taking chances. But his brother – well, adopted brother – he technically works for my uncle. If anyone knows anything about Doofus’s operations, it’ll be him.”

“…Alright.” Chanda replied. “Let me know what you find out.”

“Yeah, you too. Be seeing you.”

Chanda put her phone back in her pocket, hanging up. She sighed, looking around to see if anyone could see her, then turned to leave the agriculture plot.

~~~

Whenever Webby got upset when they were younger, Dewey would be able to find Webby hiding in the mansion’s ventilation system, tucked away where nobody would find her except him. He always knew where she was hiding, and he always knew how to comfort her. He vividly remembered one time where he managed to make her laugh, her giggling reverberating off the steel walls of the vent duct and all across the house.

They were too big to hide in the vents now, obviously. She got stuck in a vent shaft when she was thirteen, and neither of them had attempted to crawl back in ever since. It had taken Dewey a while to figure out the new spot she would go when she wanted to be alone.

Alarmingly, she had chosen the roof.

That was where he found her now. He pushed up the rooftop trapdoor to find her sitting on the west wing roof, watching the sun setting on the horizon. Her back was turned to him.

He slowly approached her, sitting down beside her. They sat in silence, neither of them wanting to talk about the last adventure. Truthfully, Dewey didn’t really know how to talk about it. This wasn’t just inter-family drama and misunderstanding, it was… failure. Dewey didn’t know how else to describe it. It felt like they had failed.

If they hadn’t, that girl would still be alive.

“…Do…” Webby started to say, her voice tight. “…Do you think she had a sister?”

Dewey looked at her. Her eyes were red. She looked like she hadn’t slept at all last night.

He turned back to the sunset. “…I dunno.” He mumbled. He hadn’t seen the girl’s family. He knew that Scrooge had contacted the local authorities when they had emerged from the dungeon, but beyond that, he was in the dark.

Webby pulled her knees up to her chest. “I… I feel awful about it, but… I don’t remember her name.” She choked out. She looked at Dewey, almost begging him with her next question. “…Do you remember…?”

“Filomena.” Dewey replied, staring down at the city below them. “Her name was Filomena.”

Webby wiped her eyes, mumbling, “We- we should do something. To remember her.”

“Like what?”

“…I dunno. Just… something.”

“…We could send her family something.” Dewey suggested. “Or do something for them.”

“…Yeah.” Webby nodded. “Yeah… something from all of us.”

Dewey twiddled his thumbs, not sure how to transition to the topic he came up here to talk about. “Um… listen, Huey told us something that happened while we were gone, um… apparently he was, like, interrogated by this FBI agent about something…”

Webby looked up at him. “What?” She gasped in disbelief.

“Yeah, but Huey thinks that he was just trying to use him to get at Uncle Scrooge, or some-”

“What? What does- why?”

“I dunno. I dunno. The whole thing’s weird.”

Webby stared at him, beak agape. She turned to stare off at the horizon, stunned into silence.

“We, uh… told May and June.” Dewey added. “Well, Huey’s told them, and-”

“We saved the world!” Webby cried, throwing her hands up in a sudden burst of anger. “We beat Magica! Lunaris! F.O.W.L.! Who is this guy to treat us like criminals?”

“…Yeah. Yeah, it’s messed up.”

“My dad hasn’t done anything wrong!” Webby declared furiously. “Nothing! Whoever this agent is, he can go to hell!”

Dewey flinched. Webby didn’t swear often, and he knew to be careful whenever she did. He let her seethe quietly for a few moments before he said, “…The adults haven’t told us yet. But they’ll probably tell us that we’ll need to be careful, or that we need to lay low, or something. And with everything that happened at Galinha, they’ll also tell us…”

“…That we’re gonna stop adventuring again.” Webby finished for him.

“…Yeah. At least until they figure out what’s going on.”

“Great.” Webby muttered miserably.

“…Well, we won’t be going to school this week, at least.” Dewey added, trying to sound positive. “That’s something, right?”

“…Yeah. It’s something.”

Dewey could tell it hadn’t made her any happier.

~~~

Dinner was silent for the most part. They ate stew and mashed potatoes, with half the family on one side, half on the other, and Scrooge at the head. Neither Louie nor June were at the table, still recovering from their injuries, and though they were the only ones absent, the table still felt empty without them.

Towards the end of dinner, Scrooge cleared his throat, directing everyone’s attention to him. “Everyone, listen…” He sighed, a weary expression on his face. “I know there’s enough on our consciences as it is, but… something happened while we were away.”

“The FBI thing.” May spoke up, sullenly mixing her stew with her potato. “Huey told us.”

Scrooge didn’t look surprised. “Aye… and I know the man who accosted him. This ‘Agent Nickel’, he barged into my office the day after we got back from those Phoenician ruins. I didn’t think much of him at the time, but it seems he was more persistent than I thought.”

Huey frowned. “What did he ask you about?”

“About the cloak we nabbed from those two bull-headed gods. Thought it was some kind of weapon.” Scrooge replied, taking another sip of his stew. “Then he made some allusions that he knew about the Other Bin, spat out some half-baked threats, and went on his way.”

“Allusions mean that he knows the Other Bin exists, but he can’t prove it.” Mrs Beakley interjected, her stew half-finished. “We need to ensure that we keep it that way.”

“Why do they even care?” Dewey questioned, his beak half-full of food. “Isn’t the stuff in the Other Bin, like, super dangerous?”

“Ha! That’s exactly why they care!” Della laughed sardonically. Twirling her spoon in the air as she talked, she ranted, “They think we’re sitting on a stockpile of magic superweapons, and they want all that for themselves! It’s all these guys care about!”

“I thought all these particular guys cared about was taking down mob bosses.” Donald remarked confusedly.

“Eh, they all report to the same bigwigs.” Della countered dismissively.

“More importantly, what they want is control.” Scrooge spoke up. “Ever since I first made a name for myself, I’ve had to put up with pretentious politicians and lecherous legislators, all after the same thing! My fortune, my treasures, and in the past thirty years, my land! My ownership of the land Duckburg sits on means that it’s free from the nonsense thrown around by the government, and those gerrymanderers over in Washington know it!”

He slammed his fist into the table, his voice becoming a growl. “This desperate grab at the Other Bin is just their latest attempt to whittle me down! They’ll use it to prop up some- some trumped-up charge against me and from there, they’ll move to rip Duckburg out from under us!”

Daisy put a spoonful of stew into her beak mournfully. “Funny.” She remarked. “You’d think they’d have a bit more gratitude towards the family that saved the world.”

“Bah!” Scrooge leant over his food as he said viciously, “These people don’t know the meanin’ of gratitude!”

Up until this point, Webby had been staring silently down at her bowl of untouched stew, her expression flat and unhappy. At Scrooge’s words, however, she straightened up, and turned to look at him, fierce determination in her eyes. “What do we do?” She asked.

Scrooge leant back, taking a long exhale. “Nothin’. They’re waitin’ for us to give them an excuse to seize the Other Bin. If we don’t do anythin’ reckless, they’ll never get that excuse, and eventually, they’ll have to move on.” He looked at her and added regretfully, “Which means, unfortunately… we’ll have to take a break from adventurin’ for a while.”

The answer wasn’t unexpected for any of them. But Webby still argued, “We can’t just wait for them to give up!”

“This is the federal government we’re up against.” Beakley told her sternly. “These aren’t foes we can fight in a grand climatic battle.”

“Why not? That’s how we defeated FOWL!”

“FOWL didn’t have the entire United States government behind it.” Daisy pointed out. “We have to deal with this the same way we deal with the media – keep our heads down, don’t do anything controversial, and don’t talk about anything they can use against us.”

“Which sucks. We know it sucks.” Della told them. “But it’s temporary.”

Webby didn’t reply. The frustration on her face was palpable.

“…My friends texted me a few hours ago.” Huey said in a quiet voice, prompting everyone to turn to him. “They want to know why I wasn’t at school today.”

“Oh…” Donald murmured sympathetically.

“I haven’t answered them yet.” Huey added. “I don’t really know what to tell them…”

Scrooge looked around at the other adults, and sighed regretfully. “…You can’t tell them what happened in Portugal, lad. Not with this FBI nonsense…”

“Then what do I tell them?” Huey asked desperately. “They’ll know if I lie to them, I-!”

“Just tell them that Louie and June got injured in the last adventure, and we’re just staying with them while they’re recovering.” Daisy told him. “You don’t have to be specific about it. If they press you, just tell them you’re not comfortable talking about it.”

“…Alright.” Huey agreed reluctantly. “It still feels dishonest.”

Dewey looked down at his food, staring into the mixture of meat and potato as he came to a realisation – he hadn’t gone to baseball practice today.

The first practice with Trent Bosman.

He didn’t mention it during dinner, playing it as cool as he could, but once he was back in his room, he grabbed his phone and immediately went to his messages. He wouldn’t have missed this training session for the world, and his friends knew that. His absence alone would have told them something was wrong.

Sure enough, the first message he saw on his phone was from Pete, the team’s best catcher: Hey man, it read. How come you weren’t at school today? You sick?

Dewey hesitated, then began to type out his response.

[fictionaldogcompetition]

Contestants!

Below the cut is the contestants and their matches!

Each poll will be 1 week long, and they'll go out 10 at a time. The exact date and time polls will start going up is a little up in the air right now, because I'm going out of town over the weekend. So they might begin as early as Monday 18th, but probably not later than Wednesday 20th. I'll let you know the night before.

Anyway, just think of this delay as time to write propaganda ahead of your dog's poll going up!

Ruff Ruffman (Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman) vs Muttley (Wacky Races)

Snowy (Tintin series) vs Dog (Columbo)

Maliketh, The Black Blade (Elden Ring) vs Wolfie (Until Dawn)

Unnamed Dog/The Imitator (The Thing) vs Whisper the Wolf (Sonic IDW comics)

Queen Teatinu (Healin Good Precure) vs Nigou/Tetsuya 2 (Kuroko no Basket)

Melody Amaranth (Super Lesbian Animal RPG) vs Pappy van Poodle (Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball)

Sunkist (HLVRAI) vs Dog that can Drive (Drawfee)

Hylian Retriever (Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom) vs Wolf (Minecraft)

Bee/Bay (Dragon Ball Z) vs Shadow (Homeward Bound)

Blue (Blue's Clues) vs Ein (Cowboy Bebop)

Snoopy (Peanuts) vs Clifford (Clifford the Big Red Dog)

Argos (The Odyssey) vs Barkspawn (Dragon Age)

Diogee (Milo Murphy's Law) vs Winston (Hannibal)

Good Boy (DuckTales) vs Bear (Person of Interest)

Daisy & Winnie (The Mistholme Museum Podcast) vs Heidi & Jackie (Hello from the Hallowoods) 

Missile (Ghost Trick) vs Sparky (Frankenweenie)

Bond (Spy X Family) vs Goddard (Jimmy Neutron)

Scratch (Baldur’s Gate 3) vs Iggy (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)

Cujo (Danny Phantom) vs Cujo (Cujo (1983))

Momiji Inubashiri (Touhou Project) vs Tequila/Ernesto Salas (Arknights)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes) vs Scooby Doo (Scooby Doo media)

Shrimp (The Upturned) vs Holidog (Holiday World)

Rapunzel the Corgi (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) vs K9 (Doctor Who)

Blue (Wolf’s Rain) vs Shiba-Warrior Taro (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Annoying Dog (Undertale) vs Old Dan & Little Ann (Where the Red Fern Grows)

Chou Chou (Shoujo Cosette (Les Miserables anime)) vs Porthos (Star Trek: Enterprise)

Pompompurin (Sanrio) vs Krypto (DC)

Sorry-oo (Moomin) vs Tau (Palia)

Jake the Dog (Adventure Time) vs Lesser dog (Undertale)

Noodle (Nona the Ninth/The Locked Tomb series) vs Nina Tucker/Alexander (FullMetal Alchemist)

Lucky the Pizza Dog (Marvel Comics) vs Seymour (Futurama)

Wishbone (Wishbone Series) vs Angelo (Final Fantasy VIII)

Ox (Dimension 20: Unsleeping City) vs Hewie (Haunting Ground)

Bingpup (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System) vs Elena (Spiritfarer)

Barnaby B. Beagle (Welcome Home) vs Charlie B. Barkin (All Dogs Go to Heaven)

Polterpup (Luigi’s Mansion) vs Gromit (Wallace and Gromit)

Santa’s Little Helper (The Simpsons) vs Slink/Slinky Dog (Toy Story)

Courage (Courage the Cowardly Dog) vs Twig (Hilda)

Zosimos/Zozo (The Glass Scientists webcomic) vs The BTS Wolves (Midnight Burger)

Unnamed Dog (Teletubbies) vs Shigure Souma (Fruits basket)

Dachsbun (Pokemon) vs Hector J. Peabody (Mr. Peabody & Sherman)

Inuyasha (Inuyasha) vs Frank the Pug (Men in Black)

Sam (Sam and Max) vs Barnabas (The Sandman)

Duck Hunt Dog (Duck Hunt) vs Mira (Silent Hill 2)

Fairy (Mo Dao Zu Shi) vs Shiloh (Shiloh series)

Makkachin (Yuri!!! On Ice) vs Becquerel/Bec (Homestuck)

Rush (Mega Man) vs Dogmeat (Fallout 4)

Dog (Good Omens) vs Zamazenta (Pokemon)

[aamaranthiine]

the last unicorn

“Unicorns are immortal. It is their nature to live alone in one place: usually a forest where there is a pool clear enough to see themselves--for they are a little vain, knowing themselves to be the most beautiful creatures in all the world, and magic besides.” ― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

an independent lady amalthea from peter beagle's the last unicorn, rp blog, est. 2020 but revived dec 2023. not exclusive to any fandom or rpc. expect themes of melancholy, mortality, legacy, dealing with grief, loss and regret, learning to be human, conceptualizing immortality and its burdens, whimsy, mischief, duality and the indifference of nature. semi-active // adults (18+) only // penned by lumi (31, she/they) multi verse & multi ship, currently wandering the worlds of: the last unicorn, one piece, studio ghibli, disney, baldurs gate 3, castlevania and many others. > 1. carrd // 2. memes // 3. headcanons < > 4. permanent shipping call // 5. interaction call // 6. promo <

DO NOT REBLOG THIS POST. IT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

[squigglysquidd]

Playing Baldur's Gate 3 and I can't help but think of a quote from The Last Unicorn by Molly Grue when I think of Astarion. It sums him up so perfectly for me and the angst he feels about his existence, past, and self-worth in the beginning Acts. I haven't played through the game completely but I really hope I can find some closure for my poor vamp friend.

“Where have you been?" she cried. "Damn you, where have you been?" She took a few steps toward Schmendrick, but she was looking beyond him, at the unicorn.

When she tried to get by, the magician stood in her way. "You don't talk like that," he told her, still uncertain that Molly had recognized the unicorn. "Don't you know how to behave, woman? You don't curtsy, either."

But Molly pushed him aside and went up to the unicorn, scolding her as though she were a strayed milk cow. "Where have you been?" Before the whiteness and the shining horn, Molly shrank to a shrilling beetle, but this time it was the unicorn's old dark eyes that looked down.

"I am here now," she said at last.

Molly laughed with her lips flat. "And what good is it to me that you're here now? Where where you twenty years ago, ten years ago? How dare you, how dare you come to me now, when I am this?" With a flap of her hand she summed herself up: barren face, desert eyes, and yellowing heart. "I wish you had never come. Why did you come now?" The tears began to slide down the sides of her nose.

The unicorn made no reply, and Schmendrick said, "She is the last. She is the last unicorn in the world."

"She would be." Molly sniffed. "It would be the last unicorn in the world to come to Molly Grue." She reached up then to lay her hand on the unicorn's cheek; but both of them flinched a little, and the touch came to rest on on the swift, shivering place under the jaw. Molly said, "It's all right. I forgive you.”

― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

[4kennels]

Happy Tails Grooming

Brett and Mike my “new masters” jumped out of the cab of the pick up truck and come around to the back and open the wire gate of the large pet carrier, cage.

Mike pulls out a leash and attaches it to my collar. The pull me out and tell me to stay on my hind legs until they command otherwise.

As they tug me we walk across the parking lot toward the front entrance of a business called the “HAPPY TAILS GROOMING.” Brett and Michael chat and chuckle along the way as I follow silently behind looking straight ahead, ignoring the murmuring from the milling shoppers who notice our arrival, as best I can.

But come on... this is easily the highest level of humiliation I've ever experienced. I am dressed in a black leather dog collar, a pair of daisy-duke denim shorts, a t-shirt with DAWG printed in large letters. Thevt-shirt has been cropped off just below my pecs, i am wearing flip flops. I am being lead by a noisy silver chain leash.

Then a shout from my left takes the humiliation to another level,

"J. C. Webster? I can't believe my eyes!

J, C. is that you? What happened, dude, bad batch of weed?"

I don't want to look, but it's a reflex thing and I turn my head to the left, effectively confirming that it is indeed me...

Mike says “…yes, it's J.C. Webster almost naked in girl's jean shorts that are so small they don't even cover his bush, dog collar around his neck, and lady's flip flops complete his outfit; lovely!”

I'm also the only individual who isn't wearing a normal shirt or top of some kind. And normal masculine shorts.

Brett: “Yes, it's him... say hi, J.C.”

Oh God! I'll never be able to show my face in Atlanta again. The guy who shouted to me is Neil Bankers, my former next door neighbor at my pre-bankruptcy home. He's shorter than me so I always beat him at one-on-one basketball and afterward I wasn't a good-sport about it either, taunting and mocking him and so forth. So, oh yeah, he'll definitely be happy to spread the news in my old neighborhood about the new me.

He's with his buddy, Dwayne Jackson, who calls over, "Woof, woof, grrrr!" and people, that none of us know, laugh out loud and point me out to those who haven't spotted me yet. That's followed by other mocking catcalls, but my eyes are burning from the heat of my face and there's a hollow echoing in my ears, so I don't register much of what is yelled in my direction. When we finally walk into the dog grooming shop everyone laughs even louder... me wearing a dog collar going into a dog grooming shop...

ha, fucking, ha! Ya know, I can't ever remember seeing Mike enjoying himself this much... ever!

Inside Happy Tails Grooming there are a number of people talking among themselves waiting for their groomed dogs to be brought out to them. All talking stops when we walk in, silently everyone openly stares at me. My entire body is blushing and there's no place to hide. It's deafeningly silent now and I get the most intense urge to adjust my package, but don't dare. In the silence time crawls to a standstill and all I can hear is my heart beating and a noisy- nose-breather who turns out to be an old guy standing to my right.

This old fellow finally touches my shoulder, and asks, "What are you?"

Good question.

I ignore him as a huge bear of a man comes out from behind a door to my right, he's leading a beagle and a collie on leashes. Both dogs obviously have been recently washed and groomed. A booming voice from the man, "Here ya go, Robert. Snooky is beautiful again."

He hands the dog's leash to the rude old man who'd asked me what I was, then the Bear of a man booms out, "Here ya go girls, Icetea is ready to go home," and hands the leash of the beagle to two butch looking ladies who smile and give Barry a thumbs-up. "Please pay at the register ."

Then, to the remaining woman, "Pearl is ready too, I'll get her for you."

Turning to us, He speaks loud enough so everyone can hear, "Let me guess... which one of you needs a wash and a cut," and he laughs in a boisterous, but friendly way, as Brett's saying, "I'm Brett Knight, remember me; Junior's brother?" He takes hold of the leash attached to my collar, and now in a whisper all could hear,

"How could I forget you or your brother, buddy! You boys brought that long haired man to be groomed. Your doggie play is right up my alley. What is your pup’s name?”

Not having named me or called me anything but DAWG, Brett and Mike consider and exchanged options.

Finally Brett said “Fido.”

The big man continued, “This one will take about twenty minutes. Do you want to come back... or do you want to wait."

Brett says, "We'll be back," and they leave.

Barry grins and orders, "Down boy and I'll walk you into the washing station."

I'm so used to getting down when told to, I do it and the person waiting for Pearl gasps, as the big man, who's apparently Barry, is saying, "I'm kidding with you, boy! Get up."

I get up pretending I was kidding too, and follow him inside. Well, what the fuck... he does have me on a leash.

Inside the grooming space there's that unmistakable smell of dogs, and that unpleasant strong smell of the perfume in dog shampoos.

Barry says, "Strip, and I'll lift ya into that big tub at the end so you can soak."

There's a medium size dog in the tub next to the big one, he's looking at me with his ears pointing up.

Naturally I hesitate... I mean, "Get undressed, are you shitting me?" I'm smiling, like I get the joke, but he's sincere this time, and says,

"No, Fido... this time I'm not kidding. Unless bathed properly, I won't groom a dog, no matter from the human species or canine species! And, no offense, but you smell like a toilet."

That goddammed dirty rag Mikey used on me earlier! Still, I'm hesitating because this is so far from real life experiences that it boggles my mind.

He's nice about it when he says, "Make-up your mind, buddy... I've got a lot of grooming to do before eight o'clock tonight. I'm good with this kinky stuff, I'm down with and my boyfriend and I dabble in it ourselves. You'll either go along with Brett's wishes, or you won't... I don't force anything on anybody. You need to want me to do it, before I'll do it. Okay?"

What can I do? Brett and Mike have already gone, maybe Brett didn't know about this naked bath... what the fuck, I'm not going to give him an excuse to whip me again. Resigned once more to my fate, I pull off the flip flops and peel off my t-shirt, saying, "Yeah, let's do it."

Barry takes over and starts to unbutton the daisy dukes. I impulsively attempt to stop it, but he is in control, saying laughingly , "Don't worry, I've seen penises before, on you dogs and even a man or many and, frankly, penises aren't much different from breed to breed."

His eyes briefly get big when he checks me out. This unbelievably embarrassing situation has shrunken my dick to the size it was when Brett swatted it with the fly-swatter. He bites his lip, then real quietly murmurs, "Okay, we got ourselves a real little puppy/baby boy here."

As the color of my blush darkens and spreads to my chest, he puts a large hand at the back of my neck, then stoops down to gets his forearm under my knees and picks me up like I weight five pounds.

'Humiliating' simply doesn't cover it.

Without any noticeable strain, he holds me away from his body and then a boy comes in the backdoor... Barry stands there holding me, smiling at the boy. He's about twelve, a shocked expression on his cute face as it registers that a five foot-eight-inches-tall man with a tiny dick is naked in Barry's arms. There's no apparent fucking end to my humiliation... 'humiliation?" there has to be a stronger word than humiliation to describe this stuation. My whole body turns red.

Barry says, "Oh, hi, Roy. Just a sec, buddy..." as he's taking three steps to the big tub and then sits me in the doggie bath of luke warm water. Roy stares at me like he's just seen a space ship land from outer space, but I can't look back at him. The water I'm sitting in smells strongly of dogs and that peculiar cloying smelling dog shampoo I mentioned earlier. Now I'm surrounded by it as I sit on the bottom of a large dog's bathtub with my knees up and out of the water, water reaching up to my nipples. There are soap suds and other unidentifiable matter floating in the water making it too cloudy for me to see to the bottom. Many different kinds of dog hairs float on top of the water sticking to the suds and to me. The skanky water, the dog hairs, plus the small matter of a twelve year old boy gawking at me sitting naked in a doggie bath, combined to have me on the verge of puking, but I pull myself together. Gravel or something like gravel on the bottom of the tub is prickling at my buttocks, and it's totally gross!

Roy, still staring dumbfounded at me, says, in a monotone voice, "I'm collecting for the newspaper, Barry."

Ignoring Roy, he says to me, "Would ya stand-up for a second, buddy? I gotta grab that bungee cord down there somewhere."

I slowly stand up and Roy gets a second look at my shriveled dick. He looks up at me and I look away, then glance back to see him pointing at my penis, then pulling his hand back to cover his mouth, laughingbquietly. I'm surprised my fucking head doesn't burst into flames I'm so embarrassed.

Barry is clueless, he pulls a bungee cord up from the bottom, saying, "I'm busy now, Roy; can ya ask Steve at the register for the money, I'd appreciate it, honey."

Roy says, "Um, sure... why you washing a man in the big dog tub?"

Barry laughs, and says, "He just wanted to try it, honey... you run along now."

I glance over at him and when he sees me looking he points to my crotch, and then back at me holding his fingers an inch inch apart and I again avert my eyes gasping.

Roy giggles... I hate giggling! He leaves the shop walking out the door Molly and I came through a couple minutes ago. I can hear him saying to someone, Molly's grooming a tall naked man with a one inch teenie weenie." Tears of rage form in my eyes... how much humiliation can one guy take?

Barry is humming a soothing sound, unconcerned about the interruption, he quietly says, "Let's get you secure in here so you can enjoy your soak."

Pulling a thick bungee cord from the other side, under my knees, and then pulling on the cord raising my knees further out of the water, she attaches thebcord to this side. Elevating my knees like that would have dunked me backwards under water except Barry anticipated that and got his big hand behind my neck just in time. He then strings another bungee cord lower, just in front of my ankles, pulling my ankles back and I'm pretty much secured in place.

My face is still hot and red from my encounter with Roy, but logic tells me I'll never see him again in my life so I'm willing myself to put it out of mind. Barry's oblivious to my distress; he sweetly asks, "Can you hold onto the sides for a few minutes yourself, puppy? I'll be right with ya soon as I finish Lance. You just enjoy soaking in there for a while, okay?" He's being very nice about everything, but "COME ON!!" I'm naked in a fucking dog bath, for christsakes, and this place is as busy as Grand Central Station!

Lance is apparently the poodle in the smaller cage. Barry carries him to the grooming table and hooks a slip collar around the pouch's neck, then a bungee cord is stretched just under his belly in front of his hind legs. The dogs been washed and dried already, his white hair very clean looking and fluffy. Barry wastes no effort, everything is done efficiently, but not in a hurried manner.

He likes what he's doing, I guess. Music plays in the background although Barry himself is mostly silent except for calming sounds he makes as he handles the dog. He cups the poodle's snout to manipulates the head as he uses clippers to groom the dog in a typical poodle cut. First the bare clippers get the belly and back and parts of the leg etc. Then, a clippers over comb method is used to evenly cut the longer hair areas. It's a silly looking cut if ya ask me, but it's what the dog's master wants.

Brett left instructions for my grooming too, "Not shaved Barry, but down to the scalp. A buzz cut."

He'd said, "You got it, buddy!" So that's that; and, ya know what... after a while you can accept just about anything. It's like I told Mike..."Boys like Me, who get bullied all the time, begin to accept it and even think they somehow deserve the bullying. Nothing specific, just that they deserve to be dominated and humiliated." That's pretty much where I am now, I guess.

Brett just overwhelms my senses, one outrageous humiliation after another. It's never over and now there's Mike to contend with too, a tag-team match... and as a result, here I am getting groomed at Happy Tails Groomers.

Barry takes about ten minutes with Lance. While he's grooming him, me and the pointy eared dog in the bath next to mine, watch his every move. As I said,

Barry's a large man. He's almost a foot taller than i am and almost three times as wide as I am, with huge hands and thick wrists. Done with Lance, he pets him and is tender with him, cuddling with him like i wish i had someone do me. Lance, contented and happy, yips a couple of times and is then put back into a cage where he immediately lies down and goes to sleep.

Barry pets the pointy eared dog sitting in the bath next to mine and murmurs comforting sounds to him before finishing with, "I gotta do this big puppy first, hope ya don't mind, Butch ," as the dog focuses on Barry's every word, looking alert. Then, before he can begin washing me a bell sounds and he goes out front to see what's up. He's a loud talker out there and I can hear him talking to the owner of her next grooming appointment.

A minute later Barry's back leading another medium size dog, of unknown breed, into the cage next to Lance's. Lance immediately wakes up and the two dogs go about smelling each others asshole through the bars.

Barry plucks the sponge from the tub he washed a dog in earlier, squeezes doggie shampoo onto it, and drops it into my bathtub, saying to me, "Pinch your nose closed, puppy, I'm dunking you under." With unhurried, smooth movements, he places his meaty hand partially behind my neck leaving his thumb over the front of my shoulder, I got my nose pinched closed as he knocks my other hand away from the side of the tank and firmly pulls my torso down dunking my head, shoulders, and chest and stomach into the yucky water. I'm submerged from the top of my head to just above my dick with my thighs, knees, and most of my calves out of the water draped over the bungee cord. I'm holding my breath for all I'm worth with eyes tightly closed. Barry's using the dog-bathing sponge in his left hand to scrub my face and head, then behind my neck and shoulders. Long strokes under my arms and down my sides. He manipulates my body with the one hand shoulder grip and at one point my head comes up near the surface for a second and then is forced down again as the sponge forcefully scrubs my chest. I desperately need to breath and try sitting up using the bungee cords for leverage, but my stomach muscles are no match for Barry's hold on my shoulder. The dog hair and germ infected soapy/shampooie water feels almost greasy and I force myself not to think about it. Barry methodically wipes the sponge over my torso, then reaches under to get my back. A few more swipes over my head and she pulls me up. I come out of the water gasping for oxygen, sputtering and spitting out water that slipped past my lips, "How many dogs get washed in this water before he changes it, anyway?"

But, oh man, it's so wonderful to be able to breathe again. My whole body, covered in dog hairs, is tense as my heart pounds and my chest heaves, but at least there's oxygen available to breathe.

Barry continues to be unconcerned about any of my many distresses; apparently dogs get panicky too and he's used to it. Being sure of his skills he remains calm, quietly making soothing noises and then soothingly says, "You're fine, puppy... no worries. Oh, did Barry keep ya under too long? If I did I'm sorry. Arms out in front, please... and don't worry so much, I've got ya, you're safe."

He squeezes the back of my neck and continues with, "This is fun for me, doing you boy puppies, I mean... and especially one as cute as you. Never fear though, I'm not going to hurt you." He adjust his palm behind my head supporting me and that, plus the way he talks, has a very calming influence on me and there's something trustworthy about him too, so I loosen my death grip on the sides of the tub and hold my arms out in front of me as he requested. Barry uses the sponge to wash up and down both arms, then extra scrubbing on the palms of my hands which are dirty from walking on all fours. Leaning over me he reaches the bottle of doggie shampoo and squeezes another good amount on the sponge, all the time easily holding my head out of the water with his other hand. He says, "Relax, okay? What's your name, cutie?" Falling under his control I all of a sudden feel like a little boy, I squeak out, "J.C. Webster," sounding like a little kid. He goes, "Well, relax, J.C., or maybe i should call you FIDO. I've got control of everything, can't ya tell?" I mumble, "Yes, sir, ah... do you expect anyone else to come through? It's kinda embarrassing." He goes, "Probably not, but what's to be embarrassed about. Roy's seen naked males before, I'm pretty sure."

I'm thinking, "Getting washed and groomed in a dog grooming salon? I don't fucking think Roy's seen that a lot!"

And he says, "What's to be embarrassed about?" Is he out of he fucking mind?! Anyway, he doesn't appear to have a mean bone in his body, plus he has a calmness about him and he's nice, so I lay back against his hand and let my arms float among the dog hairs and, whatever else is floating there, and more or less just surrender myself totally to his care. "Good puppy" he purrs, "Let Barry take care of you. Okay, puppy?"

Now I'm in one of those trances, feeling like I'm in a dream, like I'm floating on air. I'm also getting kinda used to the strong odor of the dogs and their shampoo by now too so I let myself drift off into Barryworld, mumbling, "Sure, it's okay, thanks sir. This is nice." And, this mood he's put me in is nice... he has such a calm manner about him, it's no wonder dogs instinctively trust him. It's peaceful knowing he'll be kind to me too; so different from the way I feel when I'm under Brett's or Mike’s control. Using the sponge, freshly covered in doggie shampoo, he washes my groin area with me opening my legs wide giving his full access to my little pecker and long scrotum, she murmurs, "Good boy, let's get your hiney now, okay?" I go, "Okay, Barry," as he's reaching under me running that sponge back and forth in my crack, them he's rubbing the sponge all over both my bubble butts, then the back of my legs and up to my knees. A few more swipes over my asshole, Barry smiles, and in baby-talk, says, "Let's make sure Barry cleans your bumper real good." I smile back at him as I drift off into space.

He moves to the front of the tub to finish washing me so I again hold onto the sides keeping my head above the dirty water. He washes my calves and then my feet. "You have nice big feet and long toes!" he quietly says, as he's wiggling my big toe. I smile at that too; it's wonderful being under the control of someone who's nice, who's kind. Barry drops the sponge into the tub and takes large nail clippers off a side table. Holding my foot out of the water by cupping the heel in her palm, she cuts my toenails down to the quick. The nail clipper looks like a regular one only stronger with a spring to help cut through tough dog's nails. They cut through my toenails like cutting through nothing at all. Finished with the nail clipping of the first foot, he massages it, digging his thumbs into the arch until it almost hurts, but not quite. When the water presses against the top of my toes it feels funny. I've never had my toenails cut down this far before; the sensations of the water against new toe areas is strange. He finishes with my other foot and is now holding one of my wrist in his large hand cutting my fingernails the same way he did my toenails. After he cuts them, my fingernails are so short only the pink part remains, looking like they have pale pink nail polish on them.

Finished both hands, he unhooks the front bungee cord and casually picks me out of the water, his arms under my knees and his other meaty hand behind my neck; I like the way Barry's carrying me. It's like I weight nothing at all and I feel like putting my arms around his neck the way I did with my daddy when I was a toddler... but I don't.

Looking back at the tub and the dirty water, I see my finger nails floating on top of the water mingling with the dog hairs. Dog's toenails are probably dense enough to sink slowly to the bottom of the tub and could be the prickly things I sat on when first put into the doggie bathtub. "Pinch your nose again, puppy. We've going for a dip in the rinsing tank." It's a large deep plastic container that looks like a small above-ground pool. I pinch my nose with both hands, squeezing my eyes shut tight, like a three year old might do before being dunked in the pool by his mommy, "Wheeeee!" He dips me in, totally submerging me with water up to his muscular shoulders. Then up out of the water, then right back down into the water again. Pulling me out entirely now, me dripping with water, still some dog hairs clinging to me, but cleaner ones this time. Thinking this wasn't all that bad, I wipe the water out of my eyes and open them to see two girls and a guy come in the same back door Roy used. All of them are about twenty years old, maybe a year or two older. The girl points at me, and says, "Oh my God! What the hell, Uncle Barry? Ya taking in the homeless now?"

They all laugh nervously as Barry's setting me on the drying table. I'm on all fours because that's the way she set me down. My dick shrinks even more, to a bare nub, and my face is glowing red, the heat on my shoulders is uncomfortable... all from my blush. The three unexpected guests slowly walk around the tank to get a better look, as Barry says, "Oh, hi, Cheryl. Cover your eyes, honey, or you'll embarrass FIDO."

Barry's hooking me up the same way he did with the poodle; a slip collar around my neck, pulled tight. I'm comatose by now and anything anyone says sounds like a repeating echo. I look straight down at the table top without moving a muscle, hoping perhaps if I don't move no one will notice me. Barry's movements continue to be unhurried and efficient, and as he stretches a bungee cord under my belly down near my groin and another one over the back of my knees, he says,

"He not a homeless person, just one of you college kids goofing around with some friends... a dare of some kind. A kinky dare and you know me and kinky, don'cha, Cheryl. We go together like bread and butter."

I can't move forward or backward, completely immobilized and my brain is frozen, while my body's on fire. Each second feels like an hour!

Molly takes what looks like a Q-tip, but larger, and swabs inside each of my nostrils, I try to move my head but the collar just tightens on my neck, my head barely moves.

He goes, "It's okay, relax, FIDO," then to Cheryl, "What can I do for ya, honey?" Cheryl's beside her uncle now; to entertain her two friends she's straining her neck taking an exaggerated look under me at my almost non-existent dick. Without answering Barry, Cheryl directs a question at me instead, "Did you have an accident with your penis, or something? And your bag of nuts, what do ya call that? It's long." One of the boys says, "Scrotum, Cherly... it's the god-damnest scrotum I ever saw." The boy and the other girl come over to peer at it. The other boy says, "I knew a kid in high school who had an infantile penis like this, but not this small." Then to me, he asks,

"Whadda you do, lay across the toilet when ya gotta pee?" Barry's like, "Shhh, enough of that naughty talk! You'll hurt his feelings." In my head I'm counting to one thousand as fast as I can blocking out whatever these horrible college students are saying. Around one hundred I lose count and hear the first boy say,

"Uncle Barry, come on, we wouldn't embarrass anyone for the world, but that scrotum is destined for the carnival. You know, pay an extra dollar to see the world record holder for longest scrotum behind the curtain." Cheryl's persistent with her question, and she reaches over to poke my one inch dick, asking me again, "What happened?" I couldn't talk, I'm only capable of making whiny sounds as Barry says, "Okay, Cheryl your friends are embarrassing him now. Stop it! Look how red he is right down to his bumper. What can I do for you?"

As he's chastising Cheryl for embarrassing me, he inserts a thumb into my mouth and pinching either side of my jaw bone with her other hand forcing my mouth to open, then plugs it open with a rubber stopper and checks inside with a penlight. The three college students snicker and talk quietly behind their hands, then laugh in bursts. Barry clicks on a large electric tooth brush and brushes my gums and teeth with it, as Cheryl's going, "Ewwwww. Do you use that on the dogs?" Molly says, "Enough, Cheryl! Why are you here?" Cheryl giggles, then asks, "Can we borrow your Jeep for a few hours? We'll have it back by the time you close." Cheryl's right... the toothbrush is undoubtedly the same toothbrush she uses on the fucking dogs; why would she have one for humans? This, the college kids and the doggie toothbrush, is really too much and puke rushes up from my stomach. I gag stopping the puke at the back of my throat as

Barry recognizes the situation and forces my head back and up at an awkward angle, stopping the vomit from getting into my mouth. "Now you've upset him, Cheryl. Don't be such a bitch, okay." He said it in a sweet way though, not angry, as he continues the dental hygiene part of my grooming. As the big dog toothbrush twirls on my teeth at the back of my mouth, near my throat, I gag repeatedly but he has my head totally immobilized and, as usual, ignores my discomfort. "Okay Cheryl, you know where the keys are," then to the boy "Artie, would you hold his head in this position for me a second, I need to get a tool to scrap some tartar off his back molars. Artie laughs, but says, "Yeah, sure," and grabs my head twisting it further up, neither of us speaks as Barry scrapes my back teeth with something that feels like a chisel, then sprays water from a bottle into my mouth and a doggie mouthwash refreshes my breath.

Barry looks inside my mouth with the penlight again, as Artie says to no one invparticular, "This is without question the oddest goddamn thing I've ever seen," and everyone, including Barry, has a good chuckle over that. Just when I'm positive my ass is going to catch on fire with humiliation Barry tells Artie he can let go of my head, he gives one painful final push up and then releases me.

I've a pounding headache now and the vomit's right at the back of my throat. Barry says, "Hey, he's just a curious kid who wonders how a dog feels getting groomed. Go on all of you now, let me finish up with this big boy." Then it all caught up with me and I did throw up in my mouth... not a good thing. Little by little I swallow the puke at the back of my throat as Barry pets my head making some of those soothing sounds he'd made while grooming the poodle, as the three uninvited guests leave, giggling and laughing out loud, Barry says, "Sorry about that, J.C., but you don't need to be embarrassed. You can't help it if you have a one inch dick." As if that's accurate or is all there is to it! Good grief, he's awfully nice but out of touch. Come to think of it, I guess he'd need to be out of touch to dog groom a college student.

Molly, with me still secured to the drying table, goes through a series of massages and rubs that, along with her soothing voice, manages to calm me down. They're nobody here but me and Barry now and that's such a relief! Barry murmurs, "That's a good boy,"as he goes back to work, this time swabbing my right ear with one of those big q-tips, then the other ear. Throwing the swabs away, he gets a larger one, dips it in some cream and walks behind me to swab out my asshole. My body jerks, and he quietly says, "Almost done," as the swab twirls inside my hole,

Then further up until it's twirling on my prostate making my dick twitch and was really arousing me. I was breathing heavily

“With puppies we have to expess the dogs anal glands. Is puppy okay?

I was starting to drooling and approaching an orgasm when out comes the swab and into the trash it goes.

It's all so mind-blowingly bizarre, but it feels good and we're along so I fall back into a serene trance... so grateful I'll never see any of those college kids again. It's peaceful and I'm grateful for that. Ripping open a sterile pad, Molly pours something from a brown bottle on it, then reaches under me and pull back the foreskin of my little cock to wipe the head with the pad. I hop a half inch off the table and he gently pats my ass, making those calming sounds again.

Turning his finger over, he wipes inside my foreskin all the way around, the liquid feels cold. "That's a good puppy," he coos, as she tosses the sterile pad in the trash. Patting my head, he quietly says, "I'll get you dry and then you're ready to be groomed." Flicking a switch on what looks like the world's biggest hairdryer causes it to nosily blows a huge amount of warm air over me. It's like being in a wind tunnel. As my body dries, the doggie hairs stuck to me dry as well and are, one by one, blown off my skin and up against the back wall to drift down joining other dog hairs on the floor from earlier washings.

As I'm being dried, Barry washes Butch, who has patiently waited in that medium size tub next to the one I was in. Butch observed every move Barry made while washing me and when he picked me up and brought me to the rinsing station the dog moved to the other side of his tub and watched every move Barry made there too. Butch now gives all his attention to Barry as he's bathing him. The dog's infatuated with Barry apparently, and so am I. He washes him just like he did me except the dog is only about one sixth my size and he doesn't tense-up like I did, so it went much faster. Then Butch is dipped in the rinsing tub and hooked up next to me in a similar manner to the way I'm hooked up. As soon as the dog is set down he shakes his body spraying me with rinse water, but the wind tunnel soon dries that too. I'm quickly as dry as I've ever been in my life, but the warm air continues blowing on me as Barry's busy doing something else. He's carrying a large sheep dog from the end cage to the washing tub, basically doing everything the same way he'd handled me; the dog and I weigh about the same. Barry sits him in the same larger tub I'd recently been bathed in, then hooks him up with two bungee cords so he can't jump out; he's just as immobile as I'd been. Only the top of his back, his tail, and his head are out of the water as he stands docilely, with an expression of almost embarrassment on his face.

My turn again... the wind tunnel is turned off and a smaller version of it is turned on for Butch. Barry unhooks me, picks me up with one arm under my buttocks and the other across my chest and again without apparent effort, carries me to the same grooming table he'd groomed the poodle on. Same routine of a slip collar around my neck tightly, then one bungee cord stretched under my belly near my dick, and one across the back of my knees. I'm totally immobilized once again. Snapping on the same clippers he used on the poodle,Barry takes hold of my jaw and easily manipulates by head this way and that as he runs the doggie clippers over my head. First across the front above my forehead and the half inch long hairs from there fall past my eyes followed quickly by another bunch of short hairs sheared to the scalp by the clippers.

He bends my head way over to the side and shears the very short hairs from there down to the back of the head. Bending my head to the side and to the left he runs the clippers up one side of the back of my head, then again, and again as I feel the short clippings falling on the back of my neck and shoulder. He goes over all areas on this side of my head one more time, pressing the clipper tightly against my scalp. Running his fingers over half my shorn head he goes back over a number of spots with the clippers, just to be sure. The same procedure for the other side of my head and I'm as docile for him as the sheep dog or poodle had been. Satisfied, the clippers snap off and he brushes the clipped hairs off me using a big soft brush that smell strongly of... what else, dogs.

"Okay, puppy, you've just got a shadow of hair left on your head. I could lather it and take the shadow off with a straight razor but Brett wants it like this for now." He's unhooking me as he's talking, then picks me up the same way as before; I'm as docile for him as I've ever been in my life. He says, "It will upset the dogs if you're standing around while I wash and groom them so I'll put you in a cage until Brett comes for you, it won't be long," and he. opens the door to the cage he just took the big sheep dog from and I crawled inside, my dick peeking out from it's hiding place as I get more comfortable with being under Barry's control. My long scrotum hangs down as I look out through the bars of my cage watching Barry wash the sheep dog. He's calmly and quietly murmuring many of the same things to him that he'd murmured to me.

Lance is two cages down, he picked his head up momentarily when I went inside my cage, but then he went back to sleep. I actually feel like a dog, wish I was one and Barry was my owner.

Much longer than 'just a few minutes' passes as I watch Barry finish the sheep dog's bath by dipping him in the rinsing tank. After hooking him up in front of the drier, the front bell sounds. "That'll probably be your mast..., er, I mean, Brett. He's come for you FIDO, let me check. When Barry's in the reception area he's much different than back here with us dogs. Here he's quiet and calm, out front he's loud. I easily hear him say, "Of course he's ready, honey. He was ready twenty minutes ago... I've got him in a cage. That'll be twenty-five dollars, pay the cashier."

I'm thinking, "Twenty five dollars! I gotta pay for this?" I'm out of my trance now and feeling claustrophobic in this cage.

In the lobby, Barry's saying, "He's got a lot of razor nicks on him. I could shave him and groom him professionally for ya weekly, without razor nicks, but that'll cost forty-five dollars."

I can barely hear Brett ask, "Every week?" and Barry's like, "Yeah, I had a regular customer pass away so I got this time spot open, but it needs to be every week or it's not worth it to me." Brett asks Mike, "What do you think? We'll deduct the money from his paycheck of course. Barry could bath him, groom him and shave him every Monday." Mike’s like, "Awesome idea! And while he's at the groomers, we can go to a movie.”

Brett like, "Sure, Mike,"

then to Barry, "Book him in for Mondays at four-thirty."

He's saying, "He's a doll or I wouldn't accept him as a regular, but with him it's doable."

So, my fate's sealed for this treatment every week, more then this treatment, he'll be shaving my legs and balls, and whatever. The word 'mortified!' doesn't adequately describe my state of mind right now. But, what’s new.

Barry comes in and lifts me out of the cage and then without thinking he starts carrying me outside, and I scream, "My clothes!" As he's putting me down, he laughs and says, "Oh, I forgot. Most of my clients don't wear clothes. Hope you enjoyed your spa treatment. And guess what... you're gonna be a regular!

I'll see ya next week." He's expecting I'll be thrilled about that. Oh, what the hell, he's a nice person so I'm not taking it out on him, it's not his fault. I say, "Yeah, that's really something," and he looks at me funny, like I'm not appropriately enthused, so I add, "You did a wonderful job. Thank you!"

He looks pleased now and my eyes get a little teary because he's gentle and nice to me and nobody else has been either of those things lately. I turn my head away and start over for my clothes, but Barry takes hold of my arm, and says, "Could you let me check something before you get dressed, honey?" I go, "Ah..." and I look at the door leading to Brett, and ask, "Ya think it'll be okay with with Brett?" He waves at the door, and says, "It'll only take a minute or two, he can wait. Let me get you up there on the table a sec, okay?"

Before I can answer, he casually picks me up with a hand under each arm pit, saying, "I wanna see what kind of a razor situation we have here so that I'm ready for you next Monday." He holds me over the table in a way that makes me bend my knees and I just naturally get on all fours. He smacks my ass saying, "Can you get over a little, honey?" I crawl over thinking, "He don't know his own strength. Jesus! That smack on my ass was harder and stings more than a paddle hitting me!" He mumbles "I'll make it quick, sweetie," as he's putting the slip collar over my head again and adjusts the bungee cords, immobilizing me. Force of habit, probably.

It's amazing how incapacitated a few taut bungee cords can make you. Barry's behind me spreading my buttocks and feeling between my legs, "Just want to see how extensive the shaving areas are." His big hands wrap around the front of my thighs, up next to my dick, "Feeling for stubble," he says, and I go, "But I don't shave there". His hand travels down my thigh then back up. He says, "I can feel you haven't been shaving here, but there are fine, almost invisible hairs here that need to be shaved if one's to do the job properly; I'll get them for you, I'm a professional." Then he's spreads his fingers wide and feels along my back and shoulders and then down my sides until fingers on either side of me are traveling down my dick, then back up lifting it as a finger feels along the underside of it. He then goes back to spreading my butt cheeks, saying, "I'll shave around your heiny hole too for the same reason; fine hairs."

A shudder goes through me then as the realization of how little control of my life I have... he telling me what he's going to do, not asking if I want it done. Barry's a very nice person, but it's apparent he's aware of the master/slave relationship that Brett and Mike have me in and that's the reason he's so comfortable taking control of me; that reason, plus he's used to always being in control of his dogs. But, come on, this is abject humiliation of the worse kind, and with Barry I don't even get to enjoy the sexual action I get from the boys when they're abusing me. But, as always, I come back to this:

"What the fuck can I do about it?" The answer to that question, at this time is,

"Nothing!" except make the best of it and cooperate so it goes as easily as it's possible to go under the circumstances.

As I contemplate my humiliating situation, Barry's adjusting the bungee cords, then he gets both hands on my hips and turns me over onto my back. The slip collar tightens around my neck for a second, but he adjusts that, then spreads my legs wide so that each ankle is held in place somehow by the bungee cord arrangement. Next he spreads and tucks my arm under bungee cords and I'm spread eagle on the table feeling totally on display. As he lifts my cock, he says, "I'll be shaving you on your back like this for the most part, and finish the job with you on all fours. In order to insure you don't make sudden movements causing me to nick you with the razor, you'll be secured like this." Everything he says is in a matter of fact manner, knowing neither the dogs nor me will complain or contradict him. He's totally in charge of us. "You'll find it's a pleasant experience. I have had it done to myself by a friend a few years ago, so I speak from personal experience." With a couple of fingers he's feeling around my dick, then down my scrotum to lightly squeeze my balls, then his fingers are under my balls, and finally he pulls my scrotum up, and says, "I see Brett's stretching your scrotum for ya. If you want I can pierce this and insert a nice ring or stud. You think about it, okay. That'll cost eighty-five dollars, but is well worth it." I make a noncommittal grunt because I don't want to hurt his feelings; he's nice, but the last thing I want is a stud in my stretched scrotum. I'm going to be enough of a freak having a foot long scrotum as it is. That's how long it'll be by the time Brett's through with me. After rubbing all around my belly and chest, Barry starts unhooking the bungee cords, saying, "You don't have much noticeable body hair, just the fine ones everybody has, but I like you so I'll be giving you pretty much a full body shave. Once you see how it feels to be shaved you'll want to do it all your life." I say, "Not my head though, right?" Barry lifts me down, and says, "That's up to Brett, honey... not me. If ya ask him nicely, maybe he'll let you keep the fuzzy hair you got on your head now." I feel my scalp and can just detect a fine sandpaper feel... boy, it's short alright. As I get dressed he turns his attention to the sheep dog. I say, "Bye. Barry," as I'm leaving, and he goes,

"Bye, puppy. See ya, next Monday."

[lumaxramblings]

stranger things daemon au (part 1: the party)

mike and sophronia

as i dont really think about mike much, i haven't really thought about it much, but i feel like she'd settle somewhere during the events of s1, possibly after. most of the daemons, especially the kids' daemons, settled due to trauma. but considering mike's relationship with his himself, i feel like she'd have struggle settling. if any of you have a better idea for what his daemon would be, i'd love to hear why and i might implement it in a fic or two :)

will and althea

no, he's not a raven! he's a pheonix, but when her and will aren't... yk, dying, or when althea isn't regaining her feathers from dying, she's black. his daemon would 100% settle during the upside down. another option i had on the table was the dudu deer. i thought a pheonix would fit more as they stand for renewal and rebirth, but i deers would also be symbolic for will, especially how they're considered feminine, so it could be even more reason for the town to think he's gay. i prefer pheonix but they're both good picks!

dustin and syretia

(syretia pronounced sigh-ree-sha)

syretia flits from form to form, changing a lot just as dustin does. during season 1, while in school, she usually stays in small forms to avoid getting targeted by bullies, forms that can fit in his pocket, usually some kind of mouse. while with the party, she usually goes into a monkey form because they're tinkerers and like having the extra hands. and while at home, she usually stays as either a beagle or switches between domestic cat breeds. in season 2, she's slightly overcome her fear of getting bullied, starting to perch on his shoulder as a bird or follow his heels as a cat. when fighting, she changes into the biggest form she can manage - a jackal, somewhat imitating steve's delmira. in season 3, she's much more comfortable in larger forms, usually monkeys or even a few different lizards. in season 4, she goes back into smaller forms, but still sticks with something bigger. when eddie dies, however, she finally settles. she's a raccoon, and doesn't speak as much as she used to, even though she always said she'd boast whenever they would settle.

lucas and fidelia

a groove billed ani for lucas. i have a feeling he'd settle second earliest of the boys, after will. fidelia had been gravitating towards bird forms for a while, and then they saw this bird while researching what daemon forms mean in a school project, and the form just... stuck. he got a lot of flack for it, especially as he's already bullied for being black. lucas takes it better than he probably would've done before he found out about the upside down, but he still wishes that fidelia had changed into something that didn't look so much like a crow or raven, both with bad reputations. she likes matching with will after althea regains her feathers, though.

el and amias

el and amias's relationship is a little complicated. taken and immediately seperated at birth, amias is locked in the cells where the other kids' daemons are, and she doesn't find out what a daemon even is until she meets mike, dustin and lucas. she only manages to reconnect with amias - who'd been named K, the eleventh letter - at the end of season 2, when she returns to the lab to close the gate, and is named by hopper's daemon. i feel like amias wouldn't settle for a LONG time, especially as people's expectations of her keep on changing. amias settles after max's death and subsequent revival, but even though everyone says you're supposed to understand yourself more after you settle, el just feels more lost.

max and hercules

in my version of the au, hercules has heterochromia (because it looks cool) and a torn ear (because of billy) no matter which form he takes. he's always liked furry forms max can curl up with because they're both deprived of warmth so often, but before he settled, he used to sometimes turn into a bird to match fidelia, or a dog to chase syretia, or a maine coon to annoy sophronia. but as they ran into the main part of the mall, only to freeze at the sight of billy and ulysses fighting back against the monster, hercules shifts into the small cat form, cowering against max's legs. when ulysses, whose powerful jaw has bitten him and whose large claws have given him scars, falls to the ground, hercules can't bring himself to get close to her, opting to stay cowered to the ground, trembling and scared. this is what hercules and max feel most guilty about, that they weren't able to 'comfort his soul' at the last moment, despite how much they've both tormented them over the years. their relationship grows slightly more rocky as the months pass, and by s4, they don't talk as much as they used to, and max often digs her nails into hercules's fur, of course hurting herself too, although she tries to stop this because she doesn't like hurting him, even though he feels like he deserves this.

will do the teens next, i love them <3

[howl224tgeundying]

once i kept a big new zealand white rabbit, which is the rabbit breed used in animal testing (you see this kind on animal welfare cases. this is the lab rabbit). she was the kindest soul i have ever known. she lived freely indoors, was very clean, used a litter without having to be trained. loved to be hugged and carried. slept on my chest in the sun each day. she had a soft panda toy she carried around in her mouth. was intelligent enough to understand hinges, unlatched storage boxes to open them. i cannot ever in my life fathom doing harm to this creature, for any reason ... that cruelty is so much more demonic than you could ever know

That's absolutely precious anon, thank you for sharing.

They say the best indicator of whether or not a person has a good heart is to see how they treat animals. Some of the stories I've read like the beagle gate stuff with Fauci just horrified and sickens me, and the way they're just essentially tossed away like refuse is just abominable.

And most of this testing doesn't actually lead anywhere, it's not only excessively cruel but also just wanton slaughter that doesn't even advance science most the time. It's insane that no one seems to even talk about it too, I just had a thought upon seeing lab rats in a post, but the more I think about it the more I feel like this is one of the greatest evils of humanity and science and no one seems to care.

Anyways sorry for all the gloom and doom, at least your rabbit got a good life, I'd like to think one day humanity will stop committing atrocities in the name of progress but I have little faith in humanity and less each time I read about human history.

[scottpetersen]

Compare/Contrast of Huey, Dewey and Louie And Anne, Sasha and Marcy

Ok. Here I’ll be doing a compare/contrast between Huey, Dewey and Louie from the DuckTales (2017) TV series and Anne, Sasha and Marcy from the Amphibia TV series. It occurred to me that those 2 trios have quite a bit in common but are also a bit different. Also, Spoiler Alert for the DuckTales (2017) TV series and the Amphibia TV series. With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Both trios have a member who was self-centered and had good skills in persuasion. For Huey, Dewey and Louie, there’s Louie. And for Anne, Sasha and Marcy, there’s Sasha. As shown in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, Louie wanted to be “shamelessly spoiled” and he was also able to persuade the Beagle Boys to get along. And as shown and stated in the episode ‘Reunion’, Sasha had statues of herself made and she was also able to help trick all of Wartwood into falling into a trap in order to have Hop Pop executed. The difference between them there, though, is what exactly they wanted. As shown in the episode ‘Storkules In Duckburg!’, Louie wanted to use make a profit and to found his own company called Louie Incorporated. And as shown and stated in the episode ‘Dinner Party’, Sasha wanted to use her skills in persuasion to regain the control she once had over her friends Anne and Marcy. So, Louie wanted money and found his own company whereas Sasha wanted control over her friends. Another similarity between them there is that they both learned that their self-centered ways aren’t worth it. As shown in the episode ‘The Richest Duck In The World!’, Louie realized that he wasn’t ready to be the richest duck in the world which stopped Bombie because he earned humility which was the one thing the richest duck in the world didn’t have which Louie explained by saying that: “Owlson was right. That’s the thing the richest duck in the world needs to earn: humility. Being able to admit that you can’t do something.” And as shown in the episode ‘Turning Point’, Sasha learned to put aside her desire for control and helped Wartwood stop a group of robots since, as she said: “Oh, Anne. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have tried so hard to be in control again. In the end, where did it get me? Well, that ends now. I wanna be someone better. Someone that deserves you. I know what I have to do.”

Also, another similarity between Louie and Sasha is that they both had a parental figure who shared their worldview and who also grew to care about them. For Louie, there was Goldie O’Gilt who, as shown in the episode ‘Happy Birthday Doofus Drake!’, was conniving and wanted to get more and more just like Louie. But as also shown in the episode ‘Happy Birthday Doofus Drake!’, Goldie saved Louie from Doofus Drake even if that meant giving up the gift bags of jewelry she wanted to get. And for Sasha, there was Captain Grime who, as shown in the episode ‘Prison Break’, was strict and wanted control just like Sasha. But, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, Grime sacrificed himself in order to save Sasha from Darcy even though that meant he could’ve died in the process.

Both trios have a member who is very smart and also get very excited by certain things. For Huey, Dewey and Louie, there’s Huey. And for Anne, Sasha and Marcy, there’s Marcy. As shown in the episode ‘The Depths Of Cousin Fethry!’, Huey was smart enough to tell how many leap years a tree experienced based on how many growth rings it had that were the exact same distance apart and it was also something he was excited by since he called it amazing. And as shown in the episode ‘Marcy At The Gates’, Marcy was smart enough to tell that Hop Pop was from a farming community by doing a thorough examination of his head and she was also excited about how Anne was found by a frog family since she loved the found family trope. The difference between them there, though, is what kinds of things they’re more excited by. As I said before, as shown in the episode ‘The Depths Of Cousin Fethry!’, Huey was excited by how many leap years a tree experienced since it was a fascinating scientific analysis to him and as shown in the episode ‘Marcy At The Gates’, Marcy was excited by how Anne was found by a frog family since she loved the found family trope, a trope in works of fiction back on Earth. So, Huey is more excited by the scientific things in life whereas Marcy is more excited by the fantastical things in life.

Also, another similarity between Huey and Marcy is that they both wanted the other 2 members of their respective trios to follow their lead and help them fulfill their dreams but later on came to terms with the fact that their friends won’t always follow them like that. As shown and stated in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, Huey wanted his brothers Dewey and Louie to help him get a promotion in the ranks of the Junior Woodchucks but after seeing how 2 Beagle Boys he befriended blindly doing what he said led to disaster, he learned that having people who do everything you say isn’t always a good thing. And as shown and stated in the episode ‘All In’, Marcy wanted Anne and Sasha to follow her dreams of adventure but, while she was trapped in a fantasy world by The Core, Marcy realized that forcing your friends to follow your dreams is wrong and therefore rejected the fantasy world The Core created. The difference between them there, though, is under what circumstances they learned that lesson. As also shown in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, Huey’s situation with the Beagle Boys happened in the real world. And as also shown in the episode ‘All In’, Marcy’s situation happened in a fake fantasy world created by The Core that she later rejected. So, Huey had a painful but healthy dose of reality whereas Marcy rejected a fantasy world and learned to embrace reality.

Both trios have a member who is very stubborn. For Huey, Dewey and Louie, there’s Dewey. And for Anne, Sasha and Marcy, there’s Anne. As shown in the episode ‘Escape To/From Atlantas!’, Dewey stubbornly decided to go across a bridge that was rigged with fire traps despite his uncle Scrooge’s warnings against doing so. And as shown in the episode ‘Family Fishing Trip’, Anne stubbornly wanted to parasail despite her mother Oum Boonchuy not wanting her to do so. The difference between them there, though, is that how exactly things went down with their respective relatives who tried to reign them in. As shown in the episode ‘Woo-oo!’, Dewey as well as his brothers Huey and Louie got off on the wrong foot with their uncle Scrooge at first before they warmed up to each other. And as shown in the episode ‘The New Normal’, Anne was happy to reunite with her mother Oum Boonchuy as well as her father which likely means that while Anne did see her mother as a buzzkill sometimes, she still always loved her.

Also, another similarity between Dewey and Anne is that they both had a loved one who kept a dark secret from them which almost caused them to sever all ties with them. As shown in the episode ‘The Last Crash Of The Sunchaser!’, Dewey’s Uncle Scrooge kept a secret from him as well as his brothers about how their mother Della disappeared because of a ship he built for her called the Soear Of Selene and, after they found out, Dewey as well as his brothers were furious with Scrooge to the point that they moved out of his mansion. And as shown in the episodes ‘After The Rain’, Hop Pop secretly buried the Calamity Box that was Anne’s key to getting home and, after she found out, Anne became furious with Hop Pop to the point that she almost left his family. The difference between them there, though, is how they came to forgive them after finding out. As also shown in the episode ‘The Shadow War Part 1: The Night Of De Spell!’, Dewey forgave Scrooge after Beakley told him and his brothers that the loss of their mother left Scrooge broken and that he almost got himself bankrupt because of it and also after Donald told him and his brothers that Scrooge needs them and they need him since their family has been apart for too long and also because, as Dewey told Scrooge in the episode ‘The Shadow War Part 2: The Day Of The Ducks!’, “And maybe we should’ve realized that when we lost our mom, you lost her, too.” And as shown in the episode ‘After The Rain’, Anne forgave Hop Pop after he told her about how while he was away from Wartwood, his grandchildren’s parents were killed by herons and that ever since then, he swore that he wouldn’t let his family down again which is why he decided to hide the Calamity Box since he thought it was a danger to his family and he also told Anne about how foolish it was since Anne is his family too and also after being given enough time because, as Anne told Hop Pop after he asked her what it would take for her to forgive him for his mistake in the episode ‘The First Temple’, “I don’t know! I just need time.” So, Dewey forgave Scrooge because of how he reacted to losing Della whereas Anne forgave Hop Pop because of why he hid the Calamity Box and also because she was given enough time. Another difference between them here is that in Dewey’s case, there was only 1 dark secret kept from him by someone he loved whereas in Anne’s case, there was another dark secret kept from her by someone she loved as revealed in the episode ‘True Colors’ where it was revealed that Marcy was the one who got Anne as well as herself and Marcy teleported and stranded in Amphibia but Anne seemed more sad and distraught at that revelation than angry probably because Anne already went through a similar situation with Hop Pop and, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, she reconciled with Marcy. Another similarity between Dewey and Anne is that they usually don’t think things through before charging into a situation. As shown in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, Dewey tried shooting a toy missile to take down Doofus Drake. And as shown in the episode ‘Wax Museum’, Anne fell into The Curator’s trap to get her frozen into a wax sculpture for his exhibits despite the fact that, as The Curator said, he was being pretty obvious about it. The difference between Dewey and Anne here, though, is how they work around this weakness of theirs. As shown in the episode ‘Escape To/From Atlantas!’, Dewey’s go-getter attitude allowed him to swim down and remove a diamond which then deactivated Atlantas’ water death trap and save his family. And as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, Anne was able to look past her usual recklessness and come up with a plan to defeat the toad army. So, Dewey works around his weakness by making his recklessness work in his favor whereas Anne works past her weakness and her recklessness when the situation calls for it.

The 3 members of both trios do quarrel but at the end of the day, they still love each other. As shown in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, Huey, Dewey and Louie got into a fight with each other but, as also shown in the episode ‘Day Of The Only Child!’, they all happily agreed to be brothers again and worked together to defeat The Beagle Boys, Doofus Drake and a rampaging robot. And as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, Anne, Sasha and Marcy had a relationship that was complicated to the point that Sasha’s betrayal and Marcy being revealed to be the one who got them stranded in Amphibia in the first place ultimately led to Anne getting stuck back on Earth while Sasha was still stranded in Amphibia and Marcy was seriously injured but, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, Anne, Sasha and Marcy all reconciled despite everything and worked together to stop The Core.

Well, that’s all for this post.

See you all next time.

[alexiusgoesrogue]

Status Update: Melbourne, Delays, and Wellington

The longest ride is done. It felt horribly long, yet I was surprised how quickly it was over. Probably because of the naps I took. If I remember correctly, we were served three meals during the whole 12h flight, as well as the occasional drink offer of course. But I was too tired to write anything down about them, nor did I take pictures. So no food review for this flight.

In itself, the flight was fine. But the hefty delay under which it started had stressed me. My ticket to Wellington stated the gate opens at 7:15am, leaving 45 minute to board, and another run through TSA, because of course. By the time of landing, I was losing all calm I had. I was close to crying because the disembarking took forever and I was becoming more overstimulated. But as it later turned out, the plane was waiting for us. I rushed through TSA (minus the confusion of the staff when I asked to hand search my Polaroid film), and nice employees directed us to the gate at every corner.

We waited for all passengers, and again, I had an empty seat next to me, aisle this time. But I didn’t find it necessary to switch over to that seat. And due to technical difficulties, we ended up with a total delay of roughly 40 minutes until takeoff.

As of the time I was writing this, I was watching the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie with shitty (but somehow better) headphones, and eating a Werther’s Original thanks to the lovely old man I sat next to.

The flight was nice and short (compared to the two previous ones), and surprisingly, we were served breakfast. I had the choice between omelette, baked beans and sausage, or a fruit platter. And although I’m not a big omelette fan, I chose that because I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect on the fruit platter.

Food Ranking:

Omelette: 5/5, absolutely tasty on its own already, I think it contained a bit of cheese. But sprinkling a tiny bit of salt on top made it taste even better

Potatoes: 3/5, a bit weird to handle (they were a bit firm, but brittle), and the taste was just fine

Baked Beans: 5/5, never had baked beans before, and these just killed it. Great flavour, no weird texture, and the sauce was great as well

Bacon: 4/5, decent bacon, meaning fine flavour and not completely burned or soggy with oil, it just had lost some of its original feel due to the reheat I think

Muffin: 3/5, fine dessert, not really sweet, but I was just too stuffed to really enjoy it, and the flavour was fine, but just not good enough to stuff myself full with

***

The plane landed a bit chaotically on the runway right by the beach, but all went fine. We [the passengers] disembarked and headed for the luggage carousel to pick up our suitcases. Except mine didn’t show up, as well as several others. The first thing I got to do in New Zealand wasn’t going through border control, it was filing a missing luggage form along with about ten other people.

With that out of the way, the border control went by super fast. I handed them the form and keys to my luggage, and since my declaration file was made online as well as my NZeTA, the woman only needed my passport to check. I was actually a bit disappointed that she didn’t ask for my return ticket as proof, since I had made sure to print it out. After that, I was told to follow the line past the biosecurity checkpoint and a small beagle dog who was working there.

I was now officially in Wellington.

Bee was already waiting for me, and after a quick hello, we headed into town with the bus, ticket sponsored by him. We found our hostel and checked in. Unfortunately, not the same room, or the same floor. But we manage.

We did some shopping for foods I should try, took another break in the common room, and then got small bit of dinner at the McDonald’s next door because we were both too exhausted to bother cooking.

[syn4k]

update 2: artemis and our beagle Maddie are staring each other down. baby gate installed. it is unclear if they are vibing with each other so far or not

[firstprince-ao3feed]

Fake It 'til You Make It

Fake It 'til You Make It https://ift.tt/enJ2vp7 by PixieDust294 Damage control after cake gate up to the Children's hospital from Henry's POV Words: 2671, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 3 of Henry's thoughts Fandoms: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston, Red White & Royal Blue (2023) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Alex Claremont-Diaz, Nora Holleran, Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, David the Beagle (Red White & Royal Blue), Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Shaan Srivastava, Zahra Bankston Relationships: Beatrice Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor & Shaan Srivastava, Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, Alex Claremont-Diaz & Nora Holleran, Zahra Bankston/Shaan Srivastava Additional Tags: damage control, Press and Tabloids, Henry's thoughts, Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor Loves Alex Claremont-Diaz, Henry is not subtle, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Bea is rooting for Alex and Henry, Shaan is observant, I'm Bad At Tagging via AO3 works tagged 'Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor' https://ift.tt/BwHYK8y October 19, 2023 at 03:40PM