Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

On the other hand I can't pretend I'm not having a great time on Birdsite debunking TERF talking points while making fun of them. I'm practically HOPING one of them will misuse "ad hominem" at me.

And if he ever returns, he will be Umbra The Bold and I am gonna curtly inform our neighbor that he is OURS now and I'm gonna put a collar, GPS tracker, and possibly a Mad Science satellite uplink on him, connected to an AI that will incinerate anything that tries to hurt him.

And if he does not, I'm gonna give him a hell of a flattering Parallax cameo because I don't know what else to do for the little guy and if I don't do anything at all I'm gonna cry.

I am trying to see it in my heart that my neighbor lives differently than me, in different economic and cultural world, and this is normal to them.

I am still holding onto a shred of hope that a five-month old cat who's used to the outdoors can fend for himself, and we might even see him about someday. But I gotta move on.

And I guess I will be more careful about bonding with the remaining cats. And someday Peg and I will have a cat who is OURS and will be cared for properly

No sign of Umbra. I don't have much hope that they're coming back.

I'm dealing. I'm coming to accept that these cats were always basically treated like strays that hung around our neighbor's house, and Umbra was always likely to meet the same fate as his three sisters that also just kinda... wandered off, and it wasn't my fault for letting him chase me.

Still mad at our neighbor. But he was a street cat and I'm choosing to believe he'll be fine. I did everything I could.

@hummingrain I mean, basically, our neighbor is very poor, of somewhat doubtful mental integrity, and grew up on a farm. Their family of cats is all descended from a stray, and she's basically raised them all like strays. This is not the first time she's let a batch of them all just kinda wander off—it's just the first time I got a chance to bond with one of them before they did. :( I'm so fucking pissed at her right now, but I don't have the heart to lecture her.

@hummingrain Yeah. It ain't lookin' good. I think they'll be OK, NOLA is a pretty decent place to be a stray, but... they deserved better than this. They only disappeared like three blocks from home so they might wanted back, but I've looked for 'em six times now—while the neighbors have done jack shit—and I dare not get my hopes up. :|

Epilogue: They could not have possibly gotten my order more wrong. :) I tried to minimize the damage and stick to beans and chicken, and got someone else's nachos and beef tacos.

I ate it anyhow. Apparently the gods just don't want me to eat healthy tonight. I mean, I DID promise Satan he could have a year off my life if he brought our neighbor's kitten back—maybe this is the means by which he's doing his dirty work. :p

I did it. I ordered the goddamn Taco Bell. 'Cause just... fuck. Whatever.

Didn't get any work done today, either. Will probably take some PTO. Luckily, I have the sort of boss who will take "neighbor lost their kitty; am sad" as a perfectly valid excuse.

So depressed over Umbra still being missing that I'm thinking of ordering from Taco Bell.

Perhaps I will turn back from the abyss and perhaps not.

Ultimately, I am coming to terms with the fact that all along, I was essentially loving a stray, and I was lucky to have him so close to me, and to give him a night of comfort and warmth, just once.

It's the only way I can deal with the high likelihood I'm gonna have to let go.

@Phorm *hugs* Thank you. I'm not turning down any offers right now. Shit, if Pazuzu likes kitties I'm willing to strike a bargain. -_-;

But I could still just about strangle our neighbors for treating them like this. Been bracing myself since day one for something like this to happen—I just didn't think it would happen so damn soon after we let Umbra in for the night and I started developing Parental Feels for the little bastard.

Peg has cast spells for his return. I have promised him the noblest of titles should he return, perhaps "Umbra the Wanderer" or "Umbra the Bold."

I would just love to see him again.

Peg and I have been consoling ourselves with tales of kitten heroism, e.g., "We're gonna get up one of these days and he'll be testifying before the Senate."

I've also consoled myself with the fact he was five months old, a virtual teen in cat time, and was the fastest, cutest, and smartest of his litter. And New Orleans admittedly is a fairly cushy place to be a stray—warm, full of prey and handouts, full of good hiding places and soft-hearted old ladies.

Still no sign of the little bugger, after five search expeditions. Their ostensible owners know, and haven't really done much.

I've at least stopped guilting myself out over the fact they were following us when they got lost. They're an outdoor cat, left unsupervised night after night, and if it hadn't been us, it would've been something else. Evidently, three of their sisters "wandered off" like this, too.

No sign of the neighbor's kitten, after they wandered a bit too far after us yesterday.

I'm really mad at my neighbor right now for having outdoor cats with no collars or tags. I was just starting to bond with little Umbra, and I'm gonna be heartbroken if we never see him again.

Spent 20 minutes this morning scouring the neighborhood shaking a food box and calling his name, so at least *my* conscience is clear.

Not sure what triggered this—maybe it was awarding a coworker "extra points" for using the word "portmanteau" in a task review—but you know what I'm really missing today?

Academic trivia competitions. Like, College Bowl/Quiz Bowl/Knowledge Master Open kinda stuff. All the bar trivia around here is, like, "What was the name of Ross's monkey," "How many regional branches hath Dunder-Mifflin," and "Hodor hodor, hodor hodor hodor hodor?"

=(>)_(<)=

vaguely spiritual #moodsnapshot courtesy of The Entity Formerly Known As Olly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1c-FiU9Jc

@mmsword That sounds fuckin' rad though, I hope you have a blast! :D

Oh, and a dash of cayenne. Which only makes it more Peggy-like. <3

Oh, shit. @mmsword, we gotta get you down here to try one of those Chaos Theory drinks. It's cold brew, ginger, cider vinegar, turmeric, tonic water, lemon juice, and morello cherry juice.

I'm not sure yet if it's good, per se, but it's fascinating and provocative. It's the single most complex thing I've ever tasted. It's changing flavors 3-4 times a sip. I think it's growing on me.

God, it's as if Peggy were a coffee drink. It would only need a dash of purple/gold/green edible glitter. :D