Introduction

1. Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

It will be our first dog as an adult, growing up I had a small cattle dog cross.
2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?
We are open to rescue but would most likely end up going with a reputable breeder to get the specific breed that we're after.
3) Describe your ideal dog.
This may not exist but it feels like we're after the goldilocks zone of dogs. We'd like to have a small affectionate dog for our family and daughter (10) to have as a companion. Although we want it to be affectionate, we don't want it to have separation anxiety or be comfortable chilling out around the house without being held. We want it to be on the lower energy side, we're happy to take it for a walk almost every day, but if we miss one it won't go stir crazy. We'd prefer something on the quieter side. We don't mind the occasional bark at the door, but endless barking would get irritating. We want it to be okay around other dogs, even though we don't have any ourselves. Leaning towards the smaller / medium sizes.
4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?
Two leading contenders were cavalier king charles and a beagle. Both suit the profile of small to medium size, affectionate and good family dogs. Having some second thoughts about the beagle due to noise concerns. Cavalier king charles sounds good, however we're concerned it might be a little _too_ needy.
5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?
Basic commands / manners. Not jumping on people, sit, stay, come, quiet, drop.
6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?
No, it will purely be for family company.
Care Commitments
7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?
Our daughter will devote a significant period of time cuddling / playing. We will dedicate short training periods (10-20 minutes) combined with an evening walk.
8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?
We'd be doing an evening walk of around 4-5 km, and have the option of using a dog park if we feel it's a good environment for the dog (i.e. handles interactions well with other dogs)
9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?
We'd be happy to do basic grooming at home, and pay for a professional when required.
Personal Preferences
10) What size dog are you looking for?
Small to medium.
11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?
Shedding - We prefer lower (who doesn't) but it's not a deal breaker. Perhaps not to the extremes (i.e. a husky). Barking - Prefer very little. Slobber - okay with a little.
12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?
We'd like to have the confidence of being able to let our dog off-leash and have them return on command, but we don't have any _necessity_ for it.
Dog Personality and Behavior
13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?
Snugly dog that doesn't get distressed on it's own for a while. Both parents work from home so they will almost always "be around", but not necessarily in contact / actively playing at all times.
14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?
Eager to please would be nice.
15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?
We'd prefer them just to greet strangers / be excited. A small about of barking is fine as long as they quiet down after a while.
16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?
No, we'd prefer not to have aggression towards other dogs.
17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?
Outside of the typical they must be good with kids, etc.
Lifestyle
18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?
The dog will rarely be left alone. Two work from home parents. We're not adverse to taking the dog out with us if it's to an appropriate location.
19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?
Similar to what has been described here. The parents will be responsible for exercise / taking them out of an evening, the daughter will be responsible for cuddles.
20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?
No other pets.
21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?
Our 10 year old daughter, occasionally some nephews or nieces that are slightly younger.
22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?
We own our own home.
23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?
Australia, no bans on anything relevant to what we're looking for.
24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?
Average temp is ~22c in Summer and ~14c in Winter. It can get up to extremes of 40c in Australia, but rarely and the dog would be inside.
Additional Information and Questions
25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.
It's hard to convey in answers here, but a lot of these things are "feelings" rather than set in stone. I know every breed will have a range of behavior. No dog is guaranteed to tick all the boxes, but that's okay we're just looking to capture the majority of what we're after.
26) Feel free to ask any questions below.

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While haunting the analog social circles and Facebook pages of Woodland Park, I have witnessed various individuals, who are generally uninvolved with the cult, scoffing at and criticizing what they view as incivility, aggression, and childishness in those who oppose Wommack and the Christian Nationalist’s takeover of the community.
Without trying to understand why fellow citizens are angry and opposed to Wommack controlling poor people’s minds while simultaneously stealing their money and mobilizing them to “take over” Woodland Park, these unwitting cult sympathizers don a patina of delusional pacifism and exude a new age-y vibe of “Can’t we all just get along?”
In a word, the answer to Rodney King’s absurd question for the ages is a vehement, “No.”
We can’t get along with fascists, bigots, authoritarians, theocrats, and conquistadors because they are attempting to take our freedom away and/or dispose of anyone who does not conform to their lily-white, Christian, CIS, goose-stepping image of our community.
Search the charisbiblecult subreddit, and you will find abundant evidence of Wommack, Truth and Liberty Coalition, and Charis Bible College endeavors to conquer the Dominionist Seven Mountains.
Bad news: You are on several of those mountains and you are viewed as a demonic enemy combatant if you do not fall in line with Wommack’s totalitarian theonomic plan.
More bad news: You are most-likely not a part of the plan and, therefore, Wommack and his lieutenants must eliminate you by any means necessary, including a smothering by followers' blessings. Rest assured, they dismiss any moral or constitutional reservations that might waylay them by declaring righteousness and a prophetic understanding of these actions as “God’s will.”
In light of Wommack’s personal affinity to civil war that would “bring us back” (To God…or maybe just white masculine hegemony?), as well as his having a good laugh with the sheriff about his “arsenal” of weapons, it should be abundantly clear that the decorum of Wommack’s opponents is not at issue here. Wommack and Charis’s actions to create a theonomic dictatorship in Woodland Park are the problem.
In a sense, it is quite adorably naive that fellow citizens think effective, civil dialog will solve the broader community’s conflict with Wommack. Maybe I’ve been wrong all along.
I am not sure what I, or others like me, have been thinking. The biggest obstacle to community peace and harmony was that we were just irrationally fighting for our democracy and acting angry that a cult leader would attempt to take over our community by lying, cheating, and stealing. Golly gee willikers. If we would just circle up, sing Kumbaya with them, and peaceably beg them to be benevolent dictators, everything would be hunky dory.
Do I need to put this in here for the paragraph above?: /s For those of you accustomed to Reddit, /s = sarcasm.
In my core, I believe that meaningful dialog, information sharing, consensus, and negotiation build awesome communities. I have seen wonderful things happen when interested (even if opposing) parties truly believe in the power and ability of communities to come together and help one another for the “greater good.” Wommack and the Charis Cult never wanted that. Theirs is a winner-takes-all zero-sum-game. At the end of the day, they have no interest in pursuing time-honored Christian values of love, compassion, and service. They seek to profit and gain control.
When one party or individual aggregates power, refuses to find common ground or negotiate, and forces the majority to fall in line with their mandates sans some semblance of consensus; When previously shared values and morals such as keeping one’s word or loving your neighbor as yourself are conveniently forgotten or twisted; the citizen staring into the face of their would-be oppressor and democratic ruiner is left with nothing else but aggressive opposition.
We have spoken and pleaded for common ground with Wommack, his lieutenants, his government stooges, and his school board plants ad nauseam. They have unequivocally stated and acted according to their warlike imperatives to conquer us. Again, the problem is not civility, our attacks, or the inability to be nice. The problem is the very real threat of religious tyranny.
The unwitting cult peacenik sympathizers have fallen to conman Wommack and his minions’ bait and switch.
“See, we’re kind and caring and people of God,” they say. “We give back to the community, and we’re just trying to spread the gospel and help people.” Meanwhile, they are lying and stealing to install their totalitarian regime.
“Shucks,” the peaceniks say. “They sure are nice though…And you…you uncivil rabble rousers are not using nice words and kissing the ring…so your behavior is the entire problem.”
The power aggregators represented in Wommack, as well as the new-age-y types supporting him through their appeals to civility, are attempting to coerce their opponents into calm acceptance of a dire fate.
If only we cattle and sheep would calmly proceed through the chute on the way to the slaughter house, everyone will just have a better time. The slaughter might be real bad when it's happening, but at least everyone will get to see things as peachy-keen before then. /s
If you are one of the Charis sympathizers who still believes that, in the face of violent conquistadors, simply having a friendly, civil dialog is the answer, then I hope you will wake up and join us to drive out these theonomic totalitarian fascists and gain back the old Woodland Park we all knew and loved. Don’t fall for the hypocritical “I know you are, but what am I” facade presented to you by Wommack and Charis.
Maybe it's a function of my naive optimism that I believe you are smarter than that and you can wake up. As for the misbehaving opponents of Charis refusing, resisting, and fighting back: Keep at it. The movement is growing.

[FIRST][LAST][NEXT]
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Captain Farva
A gentle giggle rose from the foot of my bed. I curl up in my blankets at first not willing to be woken by the kids; Whatever they were up to; my mind still foggy from morning dreariness. I heard chief Donu exchanging excitedly with someone not far away in engineering speak, my tired brain could not parse. The tones of synthetic beeps, and electrical humming slowly entered my awareness. I raised my paw to wipe the morning dew from my eyes but I felt some kind of resistance to my paw. I sit up confused, I am not in my bedroom, or my quarters aboard my ship.
I am on a soft bed, with a soft blanket made of a finely woven material draped off my form. Around me is a curtain wall hung off of a curved metal pole which encompasses the entire bed, and I am flanked on both sides by medical equipment. Boxy screens display what I assume to be my vital signs accompanied by a strange blocky alien script. Inspecting my arm I notice an IV drip is inserted into the vein. Feeling a fading headache I reach up to my forehead where I feel a bandage covering a tender wound. Where Did I….
A sharp meep escapes my mouth. I am on the predator ship!
I quickly begin to tear at the IV line, not wanting whatever poisons the predators are feeding me to further enter my body. The room goes quiet, the curtain wall is disturbed, I focus on tearing away the bandage, panicking my coordination falters but I almost have it out when a paw reaches out to stop me. A cream colored venlil has rushed to my bed frantically batting at my arms in an attempt to stop me from saving myself.
“Captain, please let me help. I don't want you to hurt yourself!”
Not thinking, in full stampede mode I back hand the interloper with my paw.
A startle meep escapes her lips.
The IV is ripped out with the sudden motion.
Orange Blood begins to drip from the improperly removed IV.
This site further raises my heart rate.
The Venlil Recovers and I recognize her.
“Nurse Fila, What are you doing? what's going on?!”
“Farva you need to calm down, your going to be alright let me look at that arm”
“NO!”
I pulled my injured arm away. Jumping up to stand on the bed. Why was Fila working with the predators? What had they injected into my body?
“What are they holding over you! Why are you working with the predators! Where's Nyan?!”
“Captain Farva please calm down, These predators are different, they don't want to hurt us, you need to believe me”
It must have been some mind altering drug, these predators clearly have her under their spell! I needed to get out of here. I couldn't force her to come with me. I needed to escape and regroup, and pray to whatever gods will listen that I could get off this ship somehow.
I bolted from the bed crashing through the curtains, they did not move out of the way fast enough and my mass caused the curtain rods to be hoisted from their housings. I collapsed upon the floor, my movement hindered by the tangled mass of predatory linens. I struggled against the vile curtain entrapment. I had to use my claws to tear my way free of them. I looked up, predatory growls of surprise, and startled meeps echoed out from all around me.
My peripheral vision was filled with images of both predator and prey alike, I was surrounded on all sides. Nurse Fila was behind me stunned by my sudden actions. Donu looked towards me with concern, and I looked to the far end of the room to see Nyan, In the clutches of a blond haired predator. Digging her claws into his young flesh.
Donu gets up gesturing with her tail in a placating motion. “Easy now Farva, don’t do anything rash!” Donu speaks.
They have her too!
I bolt past her and the massive predator standing next to her. I go to grab Nyan, but he is pulled from my reach! The large predator turns her body to shield me from her catch.
“Hey easy now!” It barks, holding Nyan away from me.
Nyan reaches his paw out past the predator. A horrified look in his eyes.
With only the frantic strength a mother could conjure, I grasp his outstretched paw and pull him from the predator's grasp. With him once again in my arms I see the door to the pen we are in begin to open. Wasting no time, I bolt full sprint from the door. Only to be met by a large black mass. A tall impenetrable wall of muscle, cloaked in foot to shoulder black artificial pelts. Holding a colorful pink box, no doubt gaining that color from being caked in the blood of innocent prey animals. I raise my paw not holding Nyan to swipe at him, to rip my way past him. But before I can make contact my arm is grabbed by the predator's meaty digits. It holds me tight just below the paw where the wound from the ripped out IV sits. Blood dripped from the wound, no doubt triggering its bloodlust. I drop Nyan to free my other paw, I go to swipe the predator to free my arm but again I am stopped. I look to my right to see Donu restraining my arm.
“Donu let go!” I scream. “You're not of your own mind!”
“My mind is fine thank you!” She replies.
I turn to kick her away, striking her twice with quick kicks. Desperately trying to free myself from her deranged clutches. I wind up to kick a third time only for Nyan to wrap his whole body around my legs.
“Nyan Stop” I cry, my heart beating at a million light years per hour.
“Please…Don't hurt Teal’c and Donu” Nyan pleads.
I frantically wiggle my body desperately trying to regain autonomy from my traitorous captors.
“Im going to sedate her” proclaims my former ship nurse Fila.
Grabbing a Needle she stalks towards me, eager and willing to deliver me into the jaws of her captors.
“That will not be necessary” says the large predator holding my arm. He sets his package upon a nearby bed, and grabs my other arm from Donu, and then easily flips me around. And holds my arms behind my head, he then proceeds to kick my legs out from under me and forces me to the ground in a vice-like headlock.
“BE CALM CAPTAIN FARVA” It bellows “Further resistance will only cause more harm to yourself, and more worry from your crew, listen to them”
“Captain please just relax your safe, if they wanted to hurt you they could have a long time ago” Donu almost seems to try and trick me to the predator's side. But I see her glancing nervously towards the cut on my arms. Deep down I think she knows what that means. Nyan also pleads with me to listen. It's at this I begin to tear up at the hopelessness of it all. I wail out in despair frantically thrashing to free myself from the predator's death grip but to no avail.
I sit here once again, bested by predators, having failed those I love, but instead of rotting in a cattle pen or in the belly of an Arxurs stomach. They lie in a different kind of pen, their minds’ no longer theirs, as they fall victim to the predator's spell. Brainwashed to serve as the perfect compliant cattle.
Nurse Fila approaches a needle in her hand.
“I'm going to sedate her I need to look at that wound”
“Hold up a second” speaks the blond predator, she seems to be calming down.
The truth is I have no will left to fight, I have been bested time and again, there is only sorrow left and self pity. I only wish for a swift end now. I don't wish to live with the weight of this long string of failures weighing on my mind any longer. I go limp in the predator's arms.
“Please just… make it quick predator” I manage to say, sobbing making it hard to talk as I get out the words between snuffling breaths.
“It's okay Farva, please don't be sad” Nyan pleads as he clings tightly to my waist.
The predator holding me growls quietly into my ear. “I am going to release you now, do not attempt to harm nurse Fila as she is trying to help you now, do you understand?”. I tilt my ears in the affirmative, nothing happens for a moment until Donu signals to the predator who I guess whose name is Teal’c that I responded in the affirmative. My arms are slowly brought to my side. My left arm is released but not the wounded right one. Teal’c displaying some knowledge in medical etiquette seems to be intentionally applying pressure to the wound to prevent bleeding, I am led back to the bed.
Nurse Fila is about to attempt to fix my wound but is stopped by the blond predator.
“Allow me, this should go a lot more smoothly with this.” The blond predator produces a strange golden metal device, it appears like a strange wiry gauntlet, with metal claws and a strange crystal in the center. It emits a strange pulsing sound that I cringe at, but I am held firm by nurse fila, I can't look away as the strange glow it emits passes over my arms. The curtain of despair lifts for a moment, replaced by incredulousness as before my eyes the wounded artery in my arms miraculously seals itself, as elegantly as a flight suit being zipped up. My arm is left feeling slightly warm which soon fades, any sign of the wound is gone.
Fila speaks in an incredulous tone.
“It is endlessly baffling how your medical bay is stocked with simple alcohol based disinfectants and primitive bandages and sutures. Like something I'd see in a primitive yotul field hospital, while simultaneously containing healing tools so advanced they would make the finest Zurulian theoretical medical engineers sell their own tail.”
The blond predator lets out a high pitched broken chortle, which my translator pings as laughter. “I don’t know what a Zurulian is but compared to what we've seen this is nothing, this is a miniature version of the same technology used in a Goa'uld sarcophagus, which can reanimate dead tissue, bringing people back to life even after complete brain death.”
“Fascinating” Donu replied “what is the nature of this radiation”
“That technology itself is actually derivative of an ancient healing device created by our distant primordial ancestors the Alterans, which emitted subspace based healing radiation. We currently have the original device back in our home dimension being reverse engineered back in area 51” Spoke a third predator, who was standing up against the far wall.
He seemed to be holding onto himself quite fiercely, perhaps he struggled to hold in his bloodlust, unlike the two predators currently at my side.
“For predators they have such wondrous technology Farva” Donu says as she takes my paw and massages it gently in an attempt to ease my anxiety. “I almost wouldn't believe it if not for what they have shown us so far. Tell me, do you know how they got us off of our ship?”
A wave of realization washed over me as I sat dumbfounded in the bed. How did they get us off this ship? My brain had been in nonstop flight mode since the battle. I had been so occupied with survival I never stopped to contextualize my mere presence, on this ship, in one piece, why had we all seemingly awoken in this ship's hangar bay. No wait we didn't awaken, most of us were standing. Maybe we were drugged and removed, with no memory of the lost time. But that couldn’t be right. I was looking at the countdown to the core explosion. It had hit zero. I saw the flash myself.
“I was on the bridge holding Nyan in my arms, but after that I remember being in that hangar bay, with Nyan, in the exact same position.”
“The humans have a technology that allows them to break down matter at the atomic level, transfer it via an electromagnetic molecular confinement beam, and reassemble it at a different location completely remotely!” Donu excitedly proclaimed.
“You were teleported directly from the bridge to our ships hangar bay with your crew, and Donu to our infirmary due to her severe radiation poisoning.” Commented the blond predator.
Nyan finished crawling up the bed and snuggled into my side. “They fixed Donu, Samantha fixed her with her healing glove!” Nyan excitedly brayed, his tail wagging uncontrollably.
My stomach dropped, how had I forgotten, how did I let that slip my mind, Donu was subjected to at least 3.6 standard units of gamma radiation. Her presence here was a miracle. I hugged her tightly, my guilt for my actions only increased, how could I neglect the damage done to one of my oldest friends. Was I so predator diseased that I forgot to think of my herd?
The predator whose name was Samantha spoke ”Yeh sorry it took us so long, we cut it a lot closer than we wanted, but we had to adjust our transporter lock to account for the radiation flooding the ship, the levels experienced were harmless for the most part, but enough to cause problems.”
The fear chemicals were slowly draining from my mind, my head became clearer as I started to consider the actions of these predators so far. They had offered to help my ship while risking their own vessel, they had tried for peace before throwing themselves into battle, they had little reason to help us and little reason to try and take our technology as their capabilities seem to surpass ours in many ways so far.
I looked towards the blond haired predator, towards Samantha.
“Why did you help us? What do you hope to gain?”
She responded ”Well now we would like to maybe get some intel about this local region of space, we are not from around here and frankly we could do with some help securing some parts. But with that in mind we didn't really expect anything out of you when we first got your hail. We helped because you were in trouble, and your situation sounded dire.”
“And I'm just supposed to believe that! Prey ships would be waging pros and cons before even thinking about helping another ship under attack, especially with not knowing anything at all about the other ships capabilities”
Donu squeezed my paw and interjected. "These humans aren’t like normal predators, they are pack predators, they are very social, and even appear to feel genuine empathy, they even eat plants, they have been feeding us from their own reserves!”
“How is that possible?” I ask, having never heard of such a thing.
“Well where we come from” Samantah responded ”Omnivorous life is extremely common, not just on our home planet but nearly every one of the thousands of habitable planets we have visited contain omnivorous life in some form or another, It is an incredibly beneficial evolutionary trait.”
“Thousands! How can that be, our scientist have never encountered such a thing”
“That's the thing, they're not from this galaxy Farva, they're not even from this dimension!”
Donu gets into explaining the technical aspects of the Daedalus's faithful journey to our dimension, while Nyan, an always hungry growing boy, runs off during her explanation, to approach the large predator known as Teal’c.
“Can I have another donut?” he asks, pointing to the box that I now realize is not covered in blood but instead merely painted a gaudy pink.
“You may, but only after you have completed your grooming rituals, it is important for little ones such as yourself to learn and maintain proper hygiene practices” Teal’c spoke, his growls almost seeming to take up a fatherly aura.
He looks disappointed slightly but then his ears and tail perks up as he runs behind Samantha and out of sight, he remerges with a hairbrush and plops himself down on the predator's lap. To which she responds by snarling at him intensely.
“Donu” I shriek, interrupting the third predator's speech on the volatile nature of fourth dimensional space. Shocked at how quickly the predator could go from civility to volatility so rapidly. I was quickly calmed by Donu and Fila assuring me that this was merely an odd habit of the humans. The upturned teeth baring signaled happiness to them. Samantha made it clear to me that since her jaw was not clenched it did not indicate aggression. Her explanation sounded dubious, but after further observation, her following actions did not seem to indicate she wanted to harm the boy. Nyan offers her the brush once he sees that I am finished panicking.
She gives and odd closed mouth smile. "You have an almost PHD level knowledge of physics! don't tell me you don't know how to brush your own fur”
His tail gives a meek wag. ”I like when you do it, you have such nice flat nails and warm fingers!”
He makes his eyes go wide like a pup pleading for attention. The predator’s resolve immediately falters. ”Awh how could I say no to such a cute little angel”.
Samantha begins to help the boy detangle his fur, running her long grasping appendages through his fur in combination with the brush to gently pull apart the knots. He’s already clean from the grime that was present on him from when we were back on the heavily damaged ship, speaking of which I gesture to nurse Kila.
“Kila, how is the crew? How are they holding up? why aren't they here?”
“17 survivors including yourself, the humans have set up a triage center in their hangar bay, keeping the crew together and trying to give them some space, their stable but many of them are bedridden. They're quite scared naturally but,“ nurse Kila gives a look towards the humans “but I think we are going to be alright.”
“So what happens now?” I asked, “you aren't from this dimension and you said you were having drive problems, can you fix those? What are your plans for this dimension?”
The third predator stalked out from his isolated corner to address the room in a posture that emphasized the obvious restraint that was required to contain his instincts around us. “Hi ummm.. My name is Doctor Rodney Mckay, I think I can help with that question, simply put, our drive system uses a specialized quantum subspace field generator to warp 4th dimensional space in a way that allows us to track and catalog dimensional eddies as we call them, and track their specific frequencies which allow us to…….”
------- one long boring explanation later ------
“Ah So I see, you came to this dimension by mistake and need a replacement part that you cannot manufacture yourself to return home, but you think we might be able to manufacture a replacement with our industry?” I asked for clarification from Rodney.
“I discussed with your chief engineer earlier, we should be able to reproduce the part we need at what Donu described as a hyper fabricator, the meta materials available in your dimension you use for warp travel should be sufficient to recreate the part we need”
“In exchange I believe we can help you with your little arxur problem.” Spoke Samantha, running her grasping appendages through the fur of a contented Nyan, who was happily munching away at the strange circular Staryu-like treat the human Teal'c had presented him. Samantha proclaiming it to be sourced from his personal stash.
I was taken back by the revelation that they wanted to offer further assistance, when the predators first mentioned their damaged drive system, I thought they might try to leverage our place as rescued survivors as a means to get access to the part they needed to repair their damaged vessel. But now they were offering further assistance in exchange?
“I don’t understand, you've already done so much? Why would you help us more and risk more damage to your vessel?”
“Well if you want the reason we are going to put on paper, “Samantha said, ”it's to gather intel about a potential threat, and to ensure trust and cooperation of the locals to better expedite the procurement of mission critical drive components. If you want our real reason, its that no one deserves what has been done to you, we can't stay because we have responsibilities in our home dimension, but we don't see why we can’t help you while we are here.”
“So wait, are you proposing what I think you're proposing?”
“I am, from what we learned from your crew the arxur take a large portion of their abductees as cattle, we can track your subspace trails quite quickly and we think we have a good chance of hunting down the arxur transport ships.”
Nyan angled his head to look at both me and the human. Hope in his eyes, the idea of getting my family back would normally seem like an impossible dream, but here I was being comforted by predators, offering to risk their lives for a very lopsided trade in our favor. An ember of hope for the first time in many claws went alight in my chest.
I looked to Donu, who while trying to hide it, looked forlornly in Nyans direction. He was so happy to hear about a rescue plan and excited by all the predators' incredible technology, but while my family was young and fertile enough to be taken as cattle and potentially rescued. I had little doubt that if his family wasn't eaten, or killed in the bombing of the colony, the arxur would have no reason to hold a couple of such advanced age as cattle.
While I myself was a meek prey and a hopeless failure of a military officer, these Humans, despite obviously being fierce predators, had shown off an odd compassion. If anyone could; stand up to the arxur, and hunt them in return it was them.
I would help them anyway I could, they were unfamiliar with our foe, but they have shown themselves to be quite adaptable so far. Working together, we just maybe had a chance at making up for my failures. To set things right, and to save innocent prey from a fate worse than death.
“I think I may have to take you up on your offer kind predator”
Officer Report - Captain Caldwell
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
Our interim chief engineer Dr.Mckay has successfully clamped open the 4th dimensional hole in space ; as he calls it; so we are clear to jump through this dimension freely without losing our path back to our home dimension. While my first impulse would be to jump to Earth, Unfortunately it seems that this dimension’s earth cold war went hot and it is currently a bombed out waste land. That being said carter and Mckay have struck a deal with the captain of the destroyed venlil defense frigate, in exchange for aiding in the rescue of captured civilians, they are willing to grant us access to the advanced manufacturing equipment needed to repair our Quantum drive.
While the antagonistic cannibalistic arxur are certainly an intimidating foe, they are not invincible and our ship stacks up favorably against theirs when specialized techniques are employed. The problem they cause for us is more unique. Carnivores are rare in this dimension and seemingly more so are omnivores. The Herbivore species known as the venlil are quite afraid of us, having dealt with these arxur for so long, and also due to a seemingly quite intense biological fear response, have been very wary to deal with us. Fortunately due to our admittedly unusually charismatic crew, and their admirable diplomatic efforts, we seem to have gotten them to calm down a lot since we initially transported them onto our ship. I am going to check up on the venlil crew and captain in the Medbay now, as they will be the most essential venlil to our efforts going forward.
As I walk in it seems that captain Farva is fast asleep, while Rodney appears to be using a Donut to explain the workings of a stargate to the aliens engineers.
“Okay so the stargate, you see this donut, imagine it's about 10 venlil tall, and made of metal” Rodney picks up another donut and hands it to the Child named Nyan. ”Okay first off don't eat that, secondly imagine you are a ancient alien race, and you want to get to point A to point B as fast as possible. Ftl isn’t quite fast enough so what if you could instead skip the trip and skip to the end. The stargate network allowed the ancient alternans to simply walk from planet to planet” Rodney used his finger to gesture from donut to donut in his explanation of the stargates, speaking about their functions as well as their dangers, mentioning some notable accidents associated with their use, like unwanted time travel, stellar poisoning and dimension hopping, the ladder being a large part of why we were here in this dimension to begin with. Most concerningly however, the venlil Nyan took a bite out of the donut when rodney finished his explanation.
Samantha was working quietly with nurse Fila and looked up from some chemical diagrams when she noticed I had entered the room. I asked if I could have a word, and took Her, Rodney, and Teal'c aside to have a meeting with them. We left the room due to the venlil’s exceptional hearing, as we had previously discovered when various medics made some inappropriate comments on how the venlil were “cute enough to eat '' thinking they were out of earshot.
Having taken them aside I spoke up. “I have already told this to Shepard and our medical staff in the hangar bay, and I would like to congratulate you on your remarkable progress on bridging the gap with the venlil. Going from shoot on sight in the hangar bay to literally eating out of your hands in a matter of hours represents some major diplomatic prowess.”
“Thank you captain” Samantha Said.
“There behavior is indeed most unusual” followed Teal’c
“But seemingly quite understandable given what they have been through with the wraith, Sorry! Arxur, Freudian slip.” chimed rodney.
“I would love to look at the biosphere of one of their planets, their ecology seems preposterous judging by the way they describe it. But they are a space faring species so they presumably know what they are talking about.” added Samantha.
“I myself am curious based on what you reported general, their dimension is quite odd but I suppose ours would be weird to them as well, but we have responsibilities back home.” I responded curtly. “I do have a question for you all though, The Venlil are a herbivorous species with intense emotional reactions and societal values pertaining to the consumption of meat, including animal products correct?”
Samantha answered ”We have been avoiding the subject of meat consumption as much as possible, focusing on our plant based foods for the venlil’s comfort, and they have been happy to keep that topic to a minimum after the initial introductions, but I don't believe they would respond well to the idea of consumption of…..” Samantha trails off with a worried look. “Oh god wait, please don’t tell me”
Teal’c looks confused, Rodney facepalms.
“You do know that donuts have eggs in them? Don't you.”

SORRY FOR THE BAD ENGLISH, BUT IS NOT MY MOTHER LANGUAGE
Hello, in the following true story I will tell you all my heartbreaks to see if they are of any use to you, when you read this you will realize that I need therapy (I already go, and I like it), I think that with each relationship I have learned something, and I feel that each heartbreak has made me stronger, I will use false names but I will tell you a few truths, I am a millennial, I am 37 years old (I am already an old woman), I grew up in a very dysfunctional home, I have suffered all kinds of abuse, for example about physical abuse, I could tell you who did it to me and what I felt, I have ADHD, I have my own company, but I would like to dedicate myself to something else, my profession is one of the fine arts (but I won't say which) what if one of the "protagonists has Reddit and recognizes the story", well here I go with my "first lesson"

1. "First love." This story takes place when I was 19 years old and in high school; I mean, millennia ago, to give you an idea, smartphones didn't exist, I had the motorazor pink. I was the typical girl that no one noticed (I had a glow up but not until much later), but my friends were very pretty, they were very well-groomed and very pretty, they always had hookups. One of them (let's call her Fer) was something very "happy eye", and she changed her boyfriend every week; Once she became the girlfriend of a boy (Rich), he died for her, but for her he was one of the cattle (I was friends with both of them); Well, not to make the story long, she sent broke up with him and he got very depressed and took refuge in me, we went out so he could calm down, we did homework together, etc. One day I remember that I was taking care of some cousins, it was around 10 at night, they were already asleep and he sent me a text message that he was going to come see me, I said ok, he arrived and we talked (we just talked I was a Virgin ), and he left, then I felt a strange sensation in my chest and stomach and I couldn't stop thinking about him, fck, I had fallen in love. We continued going out and having fun, one day he kissed me and I, all stupid and hallucinated, thought that we were dating (I was really very naive), I told my mother all excited and for some reason or reason I ended up fighting with her and she scolded me and He said I was stupid. Well, the next day he kissed me I saw him, I was super excited because "I already had a boyfriend", well the first thing he told me when I got into his car was that we weren't dating, that it was just a kiss, the truth is I did get very sad, but here Mrs. Dummy continued seeing him because she thought he was going to fall in love with me (it never happened), one day I remember crying that I told him that we should be boyfriends, he said ok, but the truth is I told him that I didn't want to be forced to do so. then he dropped the bomb on me that he already had a girlfriend, that she was a model, etc. There I picked up the little dignity i had and I stopped seeing him, from time to time he wrote to me, I answered him, etc. Time passed (and yes time heals) I was already 20 years old, he told me to go out to dinner and I agreed, I no longer saw it as if I wanted something with him, so we were just friends, but the truth is at that age I I already wanted to lose my virginity i ask him if he could do me "the favor" to take ir and he told me ok. I remember it was February 13, we went to the motel and what had to happen happened and the truth is I expected more, in fact I told him and asked him "is that all?" , I didn't know that that shouldn't be asked hahahaha. Time passed, he entered the university and it turned out that he was in the same university as me, I saw him from afar, I greeted him and he ignored me, and since that, I have not looked for him or seen him again. What I learned?:
2. It may be your first love, but maybe you are not that person's first love.
3. time heals all
4. student love doesn't always last
5. don't beg for love
6. have some dignity and not give everything for someone.
   This is the first story of several, I hope it helps, my stories get worse or better, what I do know is that they have all taught me something.
   

I’m not sure if this has been posted before, but here’s an idea for Johnny.
Dismantle:
Approaching a barricade allows Johnny to dismantle it. Dismantling removes the barbed wire above the barricade, allowing for HH, Sissy, and Johnny to jump/slide over.
Victims could still obviously go over them, but this would make Johnny a more reliable substitute for LF. I would have included Cook and Nancy, but they might break something in the process. I know this could be incredibly niche or just straight up bad, but there are some barricades that are just unavoidable (Ex. Family house upstairs, mill bridge, slaughterhouse cattle chute). This would also give Johnny a secondary ability, like the rest of the family.

**Introduction** 1)Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs? Yes it will be my first dog, I have been around dogs and know everything about training them in theory but have not done so in practice (except with my cat! She passed away so no other pets in the household) 2)Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a [reputable breeder]( http://ownresponsibly.blogspot.com/2011/07/identifying-reputable-breeder.html)? A breeder unless I can find a good match in a rescue centre, I will likely spend a year keeping an eye on rescue centres first. 3)Describe your ideal dog. Long or medium haired, red colour (browns and goldens or mix colour also welcome), medium size, doesn't require too much exercise (about 1-2 hours walk a day max) but will be happy to go on the occasional 2-3 hour adventure with me. Able to do agiligity well but non-competitively. Doesn't need too much indoor or outdoor space outside of walk times and is able to be left alone for around 7-8 hours 4-5 days a week. 4)What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why? Long haired daschund because I like their size, except their legs are a little too short for my walking and agility goals with them. I love Nova Scotia Tollers. I love all kinds of shepard dog (german, belgian, dutch and collies) but I just cannot meet their exercise requirments, and for my first dog I'd like it to be a medium to small size to fit into my small home. Something like an australian cattle dog in size and traits but that has long hair would be nice. 5)What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do? Agility, retrieving exercises outdoors, maybe scent identification/scent retrival. 6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport? All activities would be non-competitive! So no :) **Care Commitments** 7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day? 2-3 hours 8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park? 1-2 hour walk around the town and out into local footpaths and woods. Includes time playing fetch in a public park 9)How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly? Happy to brush once or twice a day. Am open to trimming hair but don't want to have to do lots of grooming at home. Professional grooming a few times a year is fine. **Personal Preferences** 10)What size dog are you looking for? Medium, or the larger side of the small catagory 11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle? Shedding and barking is fine, through lower pitch barking is preferred with only ocassional yapping as I don't do well with lots of yapping. Would like to somewhat avoid slobber but not too fussy, I accept that owning a dog comes with fur and smell and mess :) 12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area? Somewhat important for the dogs sake to be off leash in fields and parks, but for myself I'm not worried either way. **Dog Personality and Behavior** 13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space? Either is fine :) Happy to snuggle and provide lots of attention. Don't want a dog that avoids attention most of the time though, some stroking would be nice! 14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please? Eager to please preferred, but either is okay. 15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors? Not worried, don't want to wake the neighbours with huge amounts of large barking but some is fine. I'm hoping to train them to greet strangers without jumping up, but enthusiasm is welcome, as is a dog that ignores strangers and visitors completely. 16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs? Barking at other dogs is fine and anything that can be managed with training is fine, but I woold not like to have to stop my dog being aggressive to others. 17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid? Nope. I'm very keen and eager to train a dog so as long as the breed is training reciptive I'm open. **Lifestyle** 18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone? about 4 times a week. Potentially for 4-5 hours if I come home at lunchtime or work at home, and up to 8 hours a day a few times a week 19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog? I live on my own and will care for the dog on my own. 20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they? No pets. No plans for other pets, but maybe a large dog like a german shepard in around 10 years time; I will not get another dog through if this dog is happier on its own. 21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly? Not regularly. Maybe occasionally in the park and in public, but generally I will keep the dog away from children and I have no children in my life, family, frend group etc. 22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease? May rent in future, will choose the lease and landlord according to if they will allow the dog I get. 23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds? UK, Birmingham. UK laws ban Fila Brasileiros, opit bulls, Japanese Tosas and Dogo argentinos 24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live? Summer is average 225, highest 30. Winter gets down to 0-2 degrees coldest, average 5-8 degrees in winter **Additional Information and Questions** 25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant. A dog that can be trained to aid with anxiety and depressive bouts would be a bonus, but not required 26) Feel free to ask any questions below. 

I am not, in fact, dead. I am actually alive! Yes, this chapter took a while, but story of Krekos continues, less chickens today but somehow no less broken birds. Don't worry, we'll return to the chickens soon enough. For now, I just hope you enjoy~
Big thank you to NoP community for being great!
Also, obviously, big thanks to SpacePaladin15 for creating this universe and allowing fanfiction well to flow free!
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Memory transcription subject: Krekos, Krakotl Refugee
Date [standardized human time]: May 5th, 2137
I took a step out of the human ‘therapist’s office and out into the lobby and slowly breathed in. I have done it. I have endured almost an hour of time alone in room with a stranger predator without visibly panicking while also answering their incessant questioning. It was surprisingly tame, in the end, and I expected it to be worse for many different reasons.
I suppose I have to admit, idea of some equivalent of Predator Disease science among sapient predators was something I entertained since as early as I have just learned about the arxur. It always made sense to me that a sapient bloodthirsty monster would have ways of finding those who show empathy, kindness and other traits naturally inherent to prey species. Of course, voicing those thoughts got me screened for PD myself at the time, probably because it was rather weird for a hatchling in early school years to think so much about predator society, but results came back clear and I discarded the stupid thoughts at the time. Yet with arrival of the humans and their own society, I found out I was correct.
While on the ride to the session with Lena, I took the time to learn a bit more using the internet and found out that humanity did have its own medical science of the mind, and apparently they found different ways of solving the issues related to it. The methods that we use appear outdated to them, because they last used them two centuries ago! I suppose it’s far from first time a species develops radically ahead in one field, while staying behind in others, just look at zurulians. And yet, before I could learn more details about modern practices of that science, I was already in front of the office with promise to be picked up in three hours.
I was prepared for the screening, shoving away any empathy I had into far corners of my mind, channeling the small figments of rage and frustration forward and, of course, trying to imitate some sense of bloodlust. Except it seems like this was not a session that thorough, because instead of being screened, I was just interrogated about my past. I can only assume it’s the whiplash from what I was expecting to the mundanity of what happened that led to it feeling so easy, compared to last time I was being interrogated. And she didn’t even ask any strategic questions, although that’s likely due to the fact that with war already won by humans, there is no point in it.
Instead Dr. Cathaway asked more about what I’m ‘worried’ about. Obviously, I didn’t mention anything related to my natural instinctual fear of being around humans, but she picked up on that anyway. I don’t think she once looked directly at me throughout the time of the session, which was extremely welcome when it comes to human interaction. And because I wasn’t stupid enough to talk about how I mostly wanted to go back home and as far away from humans as possible for rest of my life, I talked about the more mundane worries that wouldn’t make me seem undesirable to keep around. Like concerns I have about chickens. Not the predator stalking them, or the bullying among them, moreso their... General existence. And also concerns about my upcoming attempt to restart my education.
It was surprisingly easy to talk to a human when they’re not constantly staring you down and actually react to your body language. Lena did mention this therapist worked with other refugees, but I did not expect a human to be able to grasp it. By the end of the session I almost forgot that doctor was a human at all.
And when the hour was up, she said she was glad I opened up. Did I? I don’t think I did. Maybe I should have been less talkative because she promised to be more ready for next time and have something prepared just for me. I wonder what she could mean. Bringing proper brain scan equipment? I doubt that, our further sessions were to be done remotely after all, it was in-person only for the first one. Maybe she caught onto me not saying everything? But I am very good at hiding information behind veil of meekness, I was certain.
And that brings me to now, standing in the lobby and coming to terms with reality of what I just went through and how... easy it was. Just sitting down and having a chat with a predator. If I had some doubts about it before, by now I could certainly qualify as someone sick with Predator Disease anywhere else within Federation.
Or what’s left of it anyway. It’s all run by humans now.
Pushing aside thoughts of living in the post-war world, I stepped outside the therapist’s building and onto the street. It wasn’t too busy thankfully, but even the few humans walking about their business almost instantly turned their heads towards me the moment I was outside.
The upside of having superior peripheral vision is being able to spot all of the humans staring at me. The downside of having superior peripheral is being unable to avoid looking at humans staring at me. One of them actively bared their teeth as they walked past me, expression in clear angered scowl, making me scamper out of the way. To avoid gathering any more unwanted predator attention, I start walking towards my next destination, doing my best to ignore the fact that any human that’s not staring down into their device is staring directly at me with furrowed brows and a sneer.
I quickened my pace, suppressing instinct to take flight. While it would not break any human rules for me to take to the sky, back when I still lived at the refugee camp, I was advised strongly against it due to how much attention I could draw. Although I’m not too sure it can get much worse than the attention I am receiving now...
They are all eyeing me up like they want to kill me. Not without a reason.
There is a reason that I am to meet Lena later. Both of us had our own business here in town after all. She needed to buy some supplies in preparation for her son’s arrival, while I, in addition to the first visit to the therapist, needed to take a visit and register in-person at the camp for my application to proceed. I don’t understand what is it with humans and needing to personally stare someone down before they are willing to deal with you. First the therapist insisting first session must be in person and only later ones being online, then filling out online application for education only to be asked to do that again physically. Actually, is it a predator thing, or is it just a primitive thing? I think I heard something about yotul strongly preferring in-person dealings over remote too.
“Out of the way, shitbird!”
Sudden yell snapped me out of those thoughts, as I remembered where I was and scampered out of the way of the human in front of me. The street had more than enough space, this one could have just stepped to the side... But I guess that’s not the point to make here.
The point is that you’re not welcome.
The human kept the eye contact as they kept walking down in opposite direction. I could hear them muttering something that sounded like human curses, but the sound was too incoherent for my translator to pick up. Abandoning my musings about cultural aspects of primitive societies, I focused on the road, intent on giving any further humans along the way a wider berth.
That’s what they warned me about when I still lived at the camp and why the only time I stepped foot outside of it was when I was responding to the job offer. That I personally would likely be a target for harassment and shouldn’t be alone. Well, not like anyone at the camp was willing to escort me even if I had wanted to explore the town. And while Lena and Reginald showed willingness, they were busy and it’s not like I could ask them unless it was already along the way, like today was for Lena.
The rest of the walk was thankfully devoid of more human run-ins, although definitely not devoid of every human passing by shamelessly staring me down. Any sense of calm I felt after meeting with Dr. Cathaway was as good as gone by time I reached the administrative building by the refugee camp.
The receptionist, surprisingly but thankfully, was a venlil who dismissively pointed me down the hall. I found the correct office quickly, but seems like there’s already a bit of a line there. Waiting outside of it in one of waiting chair sat a gojid, tapping idly at his holopad to pass time. I was glad for non-human company even if experience told me this isn’t likely to be the friendliest interaction, so I sat next to him. He, in turn, only acknowledged me for a moment before his spines bristled in frustration and he returned his attention back to his device.
Still, I knew I was safe from more physical forms of harassment while here, so I decided to push my luck. After all, if he’s here, he must be part of the education program too. I wonder what sort of course he’s going for. Well, I should try the conversation at least.
“Uhm. Good day. My name is—”
“I already know your name, deserter,” gojid responds with an aggressive grumble in his voice. Well, this isn’t off to the best start.
I suppose he’s one of the ones that supported extermination, if he’s calling me deserter and not traitor? And it kind of makes sense that I’d be known at the camp. It was mostly the gojid that decided to stay for one reason or another even after there were new settlement opportunities provided. There were also a few people from other worlds that opposed humans, like tilfish and harchen. But krakotl? I was the only one, and it was made clear to everyone that I’ve gone through human justice system and came out clear.
But I wasn’t going to give up on small talk so easily.
“Then you have me at disadvantage...” I trailed off, waiting for him to give me his name.
“...Bakir. What’s it to you, Krekos?”
The way he said my name was almost dripping with contempt. I felt temptation to stop attempting friendly talk, but this is first time I’ve seen a non-predator in weeks, and being able to chat even with unfriendly face was something I’ve been craving for a while.
“Nice to meet you, Bakir! I just wanted to get to know you you. We’re both in education program, so we could end up studying together. It’s good to know potential fellow students.”
Gojid’s spines visibly twitched. I found myself sinking into my feathers as I realized I was pushing a bit too hard.
“I fucking hope not. Listen, I get you’re trying to act all friendly, but I simply don’t care. I’m glad I wasn’t in one of the camps on other side of the world that you lot vaporized along with the human cities,” Bakir put his pad aside and started leaning towards me, actively staring at me head on, like a predator would, as he continued and pointed his claw at me, “and while humans may say you personally are innocent, I don’t believe it. Whatever lies you told those gullible false predators won’t work on me, got it, krakotl?”
I simply twitched my tail, along with a nod I picked up from human gestures to indicate my understanding. I never lied, but I doubt he’d care either way if I were to try pointing that out.
“Great. Now shut up and let me wait in peace, you—”
“Bakir, are you picking fights again?”
In my focus on the gojid, I didn’t notice the office door opening and someone stepping out of it. Said someone being another gojid, a woman, who now was looking at Bakir with frustrated look.
“What? He kept acting all friendly! I had to tell him off!” Gojid man responds, trying to excuse himself.
The gojid woman eyed me with clear suspicion before grabbing Bakir by the arm and leading him off.
“You should have just ignored him, what if you got in trouble? How will we stay together if your application gets denied for behavior?”
Bakir simply let out a frustrated grumble and led his mate? lead him out of the waiting room. Wait, out? Was he not next in queue then?
Oh. He was probably just waiting for her to be done. I see. That means I’m next. I hop off the chair and enter the office.
As expected, it’s a human. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up after seeing a venlil receptionist.
“Oh. It’s you...” The human instantly seemed disappointed as he clutched his forehead. “Come on in, have a seat, Mr. Krekos...”
I followed the order silently, sitting in clearly less elaborate chair across from the official’s desk.
“Alright. So. I won’t lie, I hoped that once you moved in with that family I wouldn’t have to deal with you but I was wrong. Medical education program, correct?”
“Uh... Yes. Once I am signed up, you won’t have to see me again though, right?”
The human grumbled.
“God, I wish. And don’t get me wrong, I know of your acquittal, but believe me when I say this, the security concerns around your constant presence are going to be my continuous headache for years to come,” he said as he started tapping something on his keyboard.
“I don’t cause any trouble. I... I never wanted to be a part of it...”
“I’m not talking about security measures against you. I’m talking about your security. Do you know how many calls I had redirected to me today about potential ‘loose war criminal’ in town? Way too many. But nevermind that. So. The program. So far we’ve got three classes shaping up, engineering, social sciences and medical. And there’s single-digit participant count in each. You’re in luck because three out of five medical course participants are from the local camp, the others will relocate here and you won’t have to move or study remotely.”
“That’s... good? Are they all also...”
“Yes, they’re all aliens too, it’s all about easing you guys in with alien-only classes. To see how your education compares and how we should approach integration in future. Anyway...” he pulled out a piece of paper as well as a pen, pushing it towards me, “Your waiver. Sign it and you’re in.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to sign it blindly, so I took out my visual translator. Human rolled his eyes in exasperation, but didn’t say anything so I ignored him as I actually read the clauses of the document. And... it seemed normal. It explained that I’d be enrolling in special nonstandard class, that I’d be obliged to be respectful to all classmates and educators regardless of their species, extra clauses regarding forbidding anti-predator rhetoric... Basically don’t insult the humans or else you’re out. Got it.
Pen was a bit annoying to pick up with how thin it was compared to Federation average writing implement, but once I had it, I quickly put my signature down. The moment I was done, the human official snatched the piece of paper away from me and put it into a small stack on table behind him. I assume that’s Bakir’s and his mate’s waivers there.
“That’s that. You’re free to go, I’ll send details to your email or whatever it is interstellar version of it is called when we have concrete schedule, but we’re looking to start about two weeks from now. On the way out, tell the next person out there to come in if there’s any.”
“W-Wait!”
Before the human could return to tapping at the computer, something inside me compelled me to speak out. He actually looked back at me in surprise too, like he didn’t expect that. To be honest, neither did I, but I guess now’s better time than ever...
“I... needed to ask something. I didn’t know where, or who to ask, but... I h-heard there were... More cattle releases. From the... a-arxur. And... my father was on Nishtal when the raid happened, s-so...”
The human sighed, dipping their head. Oh, Inatala, I am stupid to ask them that, of course they don’t care and want nothing to do with it.
“Give me a minute. Your biometrics are already in the database, so it should be a quick thing to look it up.”
Huh? Wait, is he actually looking it up? Is it as easy as tapping a few more keyboard buttons?
“...sorry to say, no close DNA matches among the entries that we have. I will say it’s possible there are still people not yet put into database, or even medically processed, so I’ll put a notification in for if matches show up, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. I’m sorry for your loss.”
...it was a vain hope anyway. I even basically accepted his death already anyway, why did I even ask? I knew it, I knew he’s been killed and torn apart and devoured by the arxur just like we deserve for all we have done.
“I see. Th-thank you.”
I get down from the chair and step out of the office, not even glancing at the human at the desk again. I still don’t even know their name, but it doesn’t matter. I accepted it. I am not torn up about it unlike him.
With that done, my business is finished. Checking local time, I still have a bit to go before I am supposed to meet up with Lena again, so once I am out of the building, I just begin wandering the streets. Getting lost isn’t among my concerns thanks to navigation applications on my pad and I could use something to distract my thoughts. And my thoughts trying to push in would, in turn, distract me from constant gazing of predatory eyes. It just works out like that.
As I walk down the street, I avoid actual eye contact with humans staring me down, instead actually looking around the town. Architecture is surprisingly nondescript. It’s definitely no Federation urban center, but with a bit more technology and cleanliness, it could pass as a decent town on a world of one of less influential species.
There was even a park! A park! A year ago the idea of a predator relaxing in a park would have been completely laughable. Now I was wandering into a park made by predators, for predators, to relax there myself. Or try to at least. Despite there being no predator eyes constantly staring down at me among the pathways, there were other reminders of my bleak situation. Such as all the trees being so alien. Sure, the shape was tree-like and colors were close, but one look in detail and it’s clear those are not trees from home. Some are too short, others have wrong leaf shapes, bark color is just off...
And then there’s the birds. Krakotl cities don’t usually have birds living there, but over today I’ve seen these small blue-grey birds all over, flying around, sitting on power lines, scavenging near trash cans. Completely unafraid of predators all around, with said predators just passing by, ignoring the stupid prey in turn. Birds back on Nishtal always took off at first sign of anything larger than them. It’s basic survival instinct. Though I should know by now, that on this planet, birds don’t really have that.
You included.
In my idle musings, I wound up walking deeper into the park, following the direction I saw a small group of town birds fly. Curiosity to see where they were flying was leading me on, and although I was tempted to take flight myself now that there was nobody looking, I suspected doing so would change that and draw attention. Streets weren’t that far away, after all.
Following general direction of the small group I saw fly earlier led me through the park pathways to a small opening, a circular area lined with benches, though only one was occupied. A single human sitting on the bench and at his feet there was an entire flock of the town birds. The human seemed to be holding a plastic bag containing a loaf of some sort inside. Regularly, human would reach inside and take out a piece of that loaf, crunching it up with their spindly fingers and throwing it down into the chaotic mass of birds for them to eat. Scene was bizarre, to say the least, though not too unlike what I’ve experienced at the cattle farm.
Whenever food is there for those bloated beasts is present, they swarm it ravenously, even though it’s clear they are not starving, eager to fill themselves to excess. I was concerned that they were being rationed and kept weak when I first learned that I should only give them a specific minimum amount of food twice a day, but after seeing their reactions to it, how much they keep gorging on the pasture, and how obese they get even with the limited nutrition, I believe it is correct to prevent those things from getting more food than necessary. Maybe it’s because they were kept for their egg-laying that they weren’t allowed to keep gorging? I imagine any creature being kept to harvest its flesh would be allowed to fatten itself up for sake of predator’s hunger.
Even now, this man was herding these birds together, feeding them as they fought and shoved for crumbs of the loaf. I suppose it makes sense that parks, places where peaceful animals can have refuge in what is otherwise a bustling city, would be a place where predators can raise cattle in an environment where it can thrive. Even now I could see more birds flying in, gathering around for the feeding. Maybe that’s why they are tolerated on the streets, because they haven’t been fattened sufficiently.
“You want some?”
Human growling snapped me out of my musings and forced me to realize that I’ve been standing out in the open as I observed and contemplated the scene. Abruptness of coming back to reality did affect my ability to respond articulately.
“Huh?”
“You were standing there staring at me feeding the birds for a while, and while I’m not good at reading alien expressions, you did seem enraptured. So, uh...” the human took a large rectangular chunk of the loaf out and outstretched it in my general direction, “do you want some?”
He... He sees me as one of the meat birds!
“I’m not one of your cattle!” I yelled, not caring for agitating it. I had to make it known that I was one of the accepted ones.
The human stared at me for a bit before starting to laugh with its barky noises.
“Hahah... You thought that? Hahaha... God... You guys... Never... Hah! The weirdest! Hahaha!”
He just kept laughing and laughing, as my fear was replaced with confusion and then frustration.
“What’s so funny?!”
“You aliens... Hah... It never gets old. You think I’m raising pigeons for meat? Really? God... That’s just... Hahah...” Human takes some time to wipe his face and recover from the laughing fit. “No! Of course I’m not. They’re pigeons! Who eats pigeons? Oh, well, maybe French—Actually I shouldn’t say that but—Uh. Answer is no. They’re not my birds and I’m not feeding them for meat.”
While I had many questions in regards to things the human just said, I decided to get answer to the main one before proceding further.
“Then why are you feeding them? For someone else to eat?”
“No! I feed them just to feed them. They don’t get much to eat just scavenging scraps and trash, so I just. You know. Occasionally feed them. Especially when bread gets a tad stale and I don’t want to eat it, but also don’t want to let it get moldy.” He took another piece out and crushed it in his hand, before throwing the crumbs to the birds. Indeed, that was human bread I grew familiar with over my time with Lena and Reginald, not fresh, but far from bad. “So. You want some?” he asked again, shaking the large piece he offered me again.
I hesitated. Refusing a gift offered was considered very rude in many cultures, and it clearly was just human bread. I had it before, it’s nothing too special. So, with healthy dose of hesitation, I approach the human’s outstretched hand. As I come closer, the flock of dirty birds at my feet splits and moves further away, though remaining focused on pile of crumbs. So they have some semblance of avoiding creatures larger than them. It just only applies when they are in grabbing reach. I could just lunge and take hold of a few right now! What stupid birds.
Why am I thinking about that? It’s predatory.
Once within reach, I extend my wing and grasp the piece of loaf with a claw. It was just slightly crusty. I’m pretty sure Lena once ate a loaf that was crunchier than one I was handed. Perhaps it’s a different type of bread from one she usually used?
The human gave a few slaps to the spot on the bench beside him. My legs were rather aching from excess of walking I did today. Krakotl were built for flight after all. Still, when I hopped onto the bench, I did it on the very edge, perching as far away from the human as possible. Once my legs felt relaxed, I turned my attention to the bread in my wingclaw.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a bun, I heard bread’s safe for you. I always buy brioche in whole packs, but I keep getting a lot and then not eating any. And once they’re no longer soft and fresh they’re no good for me, so I feed it to the birds,” human explains, crushing up more crumbs and tossing them in front of him to celebration of the hungry flock. “Guess today it’s not just pigeons though,” he adds with a laugh.
It really does seem like normal piece of bread and looking at where it was torn from larger loaf, I don’t see any pieces of flesh embedded in it. After a bit of hesitation I took a peck. The taste was... not great. It had a clear bitterness to it, though it was disguised by what otherwise was normal flavor of bread, if sweeter than what I’m used to. Yeah, sweeter yet more bitter bread. Perhaps some humans enjoy the bitterness?
“Heh, I knew it’d work for ya. Worked for those guys,” the human happily kept tossing more and more crumbs to the birds. “Name’s Bob by the way. What about you?”
“...why are you doing this?” I asked, incredulous at the attitude this human is showing.
“Well, if you mean asking you, it’s because that’s a polite thing to do, ain’t it? And if you mean feeding the birds... Well. It feels nice. I know some of you guys still aren’t really accepting it, but we do feel bad when we see others struggle. Empathy and all.” Human takes a pause, looking at the swarming birds. “And yeah, krakotl and whatnot. I heard that there is one at local shelter, and if you were there, well. You’re not one of the bad ones, I bet.”
Empathy and all... He is just feeding them because they struggle to feed themselves within the city. Not because they are useful or delicious. I went past several small flocks of these birds today and the only things I felt were contempt at their stupidity and disgust at their visible lack of hygiene. Even animal should know how to groom itself, after all. And not once have I felt any strong pity towards them, despite it being obvious that in this predator-filled town, they probably survive only on meager scraps from their tables, with no vegetation to be seen outside this park.
Why didn’t I feel pity? Why didn’t I feel bad for them? Am I losing my empathy? Am I more of a predator than an actual predator?
I bite at the piece of bread aggressively. The flavor is bitter, but it feels right. A feeling creature would have better food, and I scarcely qualify as one anymore. If I had any decency left, I’d ask for travel to closest herbivore world and get myself institutionalized in a Predator Disease facility for everyone’s sake. If even humans feel more compassion than me, then what am I?
A monster that shouldn’t be around people.
Bitter taste burns my throat as I swallow a large chunk and realize I’m done with the piece I was handed. Uncertain on when that happened I looked up at human in confusion. He was just smiling back at me, thankfully without showing teeth.
“Heh. I thought you’d take a while pecking that bun apart, but you demolished it. So, uh, gonna tell me your name, or?”
“Krekos.” I answer absentmindedly. Realization that this predator was showing more compassion than me was still shocking, so I didn’t process that I just gave him my name.
“Nice to meetcha! But, just to make sure, you’re a girl, right? I, uh, have the translator, but still not good at alien gender thing.”
“What?! Of course not! I am a man! Why do people keep assuming I am a woman?!”
The gall! Those humans really do lack any senses at all! How are they even predators with eyes so blind?!
“Hah! Relax, man, it’s hard to tell with birds. Plus, you’re all blue and... You know. Pretty.” The human gestures at me! Gestures!
“I’ll- I’ll have you know, majority of krakotl are blue!”
“Yeah! That’s what makes it hard. All of you look all bright and colorful. And when I see a bright and colorful bird, my brain just goes ‘girl bird’. But don’t worry, I know better now with you.”
I couldn’t even manage out a response beyond an offended squawk at that. I opened my beak, prepared to launch into a calm and reasonable explanation, but a ping from my pad interrupted that train of thoughts. I quickly checked it to see a message from Lena asking where I am and that she’s ready to pick me up.
“Finally... I’ll be going now, human.”
“Just call me Bob, but sure, bud. Ever need someone to talk to, I visit this park regularly enough. And I bring bread regularly too.”
The human waved at me as I hopped off the bench and rushed towards the park entrance, while sending the location pin to Lena.
I didn’t have to wait too long there before the familiar looking vehicle arrived. I quickly approached, escaping the stares from humans passing by. Today has left me exhausted. Just rushing to the entrance left me short-breathed and at this point all the staring made me feel sick. Idea of coming back to my little nest in the attic of the house never felt more appealing. I climbed into the back seat of her vehicle, letting myself sprawl on the soft cushions. I felt exhausted and still short-breathed.
“So, I won’t ask about the therapy, privacy and everything, but what about that visit to the shelter? Did you get approved for education program?” Lena asked, starting to drive along the streets, not even turning her head towards me.
“Yeah... They said they’ll... Send schedule soon...”
Speaking was surprisingly hard. I think I overworked myself with all the walking today. I tried to take one extra deep breath only to be sent into a coughing fit. I let it happen but after a few coughs I realized it wasn’t stopping... I tried to force myself to stop the coughs, but taking a breath inbetween wheezes and coughs felt impossible.
“You alright back there—Shit!”
I saw that car suddenly veered and even felt something lurch as Lena parked on the side of the road, but for some reason I didn’t feel like I stopped moving even after we were still. I was still floating forward, carried by my fit of ragged breaths. Vision started going blurry as I saw Lena’s huge form looming over me, having entered the back of the vehicle.
“What did you even eat? Epipen, where’s your epipen?!”
Her voice rings a bit too much in my ears as I struggle to respond between breaths.
“My... what...?”
“You had one in your—Fuck! Hang on!”
Her shadow disappeared as she rushed back into her seat. I tilted my head to look over and saw her begin driving again, as she took her communicator out. Or at least I assume that’s what she did. Everything is growing faint to see.
“I am bringing an alien over. Allergic reaction, severe, get prepped. No, I don’t need an ambulance because I’m already on the way! Just find an alien expert and be ready!”
She seems angry... I wonder why. Allergic reaction? I haven’t eaten anything weird, have I? Maybe it’s just Inatala’s wrath finally striking me down for all the crimes against the teachings. I wish I actually knew them... Would be nice to at least know specific tenets I broke. All of them if I had to guess...
Lena is saying something again, but I barely hear it. I think she’s addressing me. Maybe she’s asking if she can eat me when I die? I would allow her. She’s nice enough to deserve my life.
More than I do by now.
Her voice keeps ringing, but my translator seems to no longer keep up. My lungs are on fire, and my throat keeps trying to grab more air and failing. And despite it all, I just feel weak. And tired. The edges of my vision grow dark and darkness quickly spreads, taking everything over, and delivering onto me peace at last...
[Memory stream interrupted. Cause: Loss of consciousness. Fast forwarding transcription to next point of consciousness.]
First thing I felt upon waking up is pain. Like everything inside me was stabbing everything else inside of me.
Second thing I felt upon waking up was disappointment at realization that I couldn’t even die properly. Is Inatala’s smite not strong enough to overcome modern medicine?
Third thing I felt upon waking up was hunger. Intense and ravenous. I don’t remember feeling that hungry ever before in my life, to the point where for a bit I was afraid I finally awakened my predator instinct and bloodlust.
Fourth thing I felt upon waking up was queasiness. That came as result of momentary consideration that I’d have to subsist on flesh now that my bloodlust has awakened and made me feel like puking. Except, of course, I was so hungry I just gagged instead.
Finally, I dared to open my eyes and look around. Seems like a hospital, though scale of equipment makes it obvious I’m in a human hospital. I can see that it’s already dark outside through the window, and the only light is the artificial one. Other than me, there’s only one other person in the room, sitting in a chair and scrolling through her pad with what seems like anxiety in her body language. That’s Lena.
I tried to shift a bit and take a better look around without disturbing her, but moving reminded me of how much my insides hurt and caused me to let out a groan, which instantly got her attention. She, in turn stared at me, before stepping to the door and beckoning someone from outside to come in. Quickly, she was joined by another human in a labcoat. Great.
“Ah. The patient is awake. You shouldn’t try talking, just nod or shake your head for now. Well, first of all, I’d like to congratulate you, young man. If not for your host’s speed, things might have been much worse. As it stands, you suffered no permanent damage as result of the allergic reaction, although the reaction was surprisingly severe.”
The doctor paused as if waiting for me to react. I felt too tired and pained to actually think about what he said, so I just nodded.
“Alright. So, obviously, you should carry an epipen on you at all times, the shelter should provide them for free. I believe they have but you didn’t realize what it’s for? Well, now you know. You were given an IV but we can’t really feed you after flushing your digestive tract, so you’ll need to bear with it until morning. By then you should be good to go, all you really need is rest and after that, a good meal. Don’t worry, no contaminants or ‘flesh’, we have our hospital food adapted for alien—”
“So, did you figure out what caused the reactions? Another doctor said they’d run a test.” Lena interrupted the doctor’s explanation. That was surprisingly rude for someone who should know medical command chains.
“Ah, that. Best we could gather it was some bread with a ton of animal protein in it. Pretty sure it was brioche, and that has a lot of eggs in it, so—”
You did it, you committed the worst sin, you consumed something made out of eggs.
I vomited. Somehow. There were no chunks or slush, just a small drizzle of stomach acid, but I had to expel something after that revelation. Even if none of that horrific bread actually was digested by me properly, the very fact that I consumed it... I vomited again. My throat burns and my insides hurt even more, but the nausea is receding somewhat.
As I refocus my senses, I see the doctor standing a good distance away, while Lena is wiping the aftermath of my attempt at vomiting with a towel.
“I think that’s a good sign that patient needs some rest,” human doctor suggested, motioning towards the door. “Now that he’s awake, we shouldn’t have to make any more exceptions for you to stay here.”
Lena nodded at him and turned back to me.
“Don’t worry, Krekos, I’ll come pick you up in the morning. You can explain then how the hell you even got your hands, or, well, wings on that stupid bread, and you’re also definitely getting a lecture on allergy safety, got it?”
Her stern tone. She isn’t messing around. Still even if I wanted to show more submission and try placating her, best I could manage is another weak nod. My throat hurt too much.
“Alright. Have a good night and don’t agitate yourself.” Lena said, as she stepped out of the room. The doctor simply nodded at me, before turning the lights off and following after, leaving me alone in the darkness of the hospital room.
I simply did my best to not think about the egg bread or the pain in my stomach, and focus on how exhausted I felt despite just waking up. Yeah. More rest sounds nice... Even if I am laying sprawled rather than properly nested... A rest sounds nice.
...hopefully Reginald was notified of me not returning tonight and remembered to herd the cattle for the night. I didn’t care for them, but I did care for them being my responsibility.
Just another thing to fail at.
As tiredness slowly took over me, I managed to slip into sleep once more, this time without suffocating to death. Yeah, this is definitely a much nicer way to pass out... Why did I even think otherwise...?
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My mother has an awful lot of unprocessed grief. So much that the whole house is depressed.
The thing is, i was the one to sponge it all in my childhood. When i moved out, i miraculously healed my chronic eczema - and she got more and more depressed, eventually delusional. She basically birthed and groomed me into her surrogate "feeler". I took it all in, because she refuses to even cry. It's ridiculous and appalling.
I have distanced myself now, but still i channel this stuff, all day and all night. I've tried locating and cutting cords. I've tried communicating to her that she needs to grieve and she needs therapy. But nothing works. I see her thoughts every day. I dream through her eyes every night.
Wtf can i do? Wait for her to die? I would like a life. Now i am like psychic cattle. :(