Zero waste pet ownership is a great thing to aspire to. Stick to safe, all natural toys made with renewable and compostable materials. If and only if your vet says that it's safe you can make food from scratch, or find some pet food bulk bins. If your cat is agreeable, use pine pellets for litter. Et cetera.
But it's 100% ok if that's not something you can do. My dog's favorite toy is made of polyester, and my cats only eat food that comes in non recyclable bags. And that's totally fine, because you have to recognize one thing: these animals' lives are our responsibility. Sacrificing their health, safety, or happiness for a tiny amount of difference in carbon use is not ok.
Understand that your priorities must be well aligned. This extends beyond pet care, and to all different kinds of consideration towards animals. It's fine to be vegan, but remember that all "vegan leather/wool" is plastic, and its production and degradation are terrible for the environment and the animals in it. It's great to focus on a plant based diet, but you must remember that the purchase of out of season fruits and vegetables create more waste and carbon emissions than simply buying local. There's nuance to all this, and you must have patience for both yourself and others.
Love your pets, and breathe easy. There's plenty of other aspects of living where you can prioritize a low impact lifestyle, without forsaking our beloved furballs.
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My Monarch!
Prompt: Ever since first contact, many alien races have considered humans to be primitive, to the point where we are seen as intelligent animals over our own race. Because of this, many aliens have humans as pets. You are the pampered pet of a very rich alien monarch.
Prompt Source: userSuperaptorminion ; subreddit “Writing Prompts”
Most of the time, my life is fantastic- there's a pretty big faction of us, though no one seems to agree on a name except "species traitors". I, however, am of the opinion that if I can live a life of pampered luxury, with no responsibilities, every need taken care of and the only thing asked for in exchange occasional companionship, give me the fucking collar. Fuck capitalism, fuck the grind, fuck all of that shit from back on Earth.
Some kind of Monarch bought me, too, so when I grabbed my mates of choice by the hand and bared my teeth, they laughed, called me cute, and bought them too.
They haven't the slightest clue that we aren't tame, aren't 'just copying them'; like a housecat back home. Sure, you know that your Pomeranian or fat tabby is capable of killing you, if pressed, but you never expect it, because if you treat them well, why would they?
I don't love the Monarch, not really- not like some of the other pet humans do, at any rate. I appreciate that they tend my every need and those of my mates, I pay them with cuddles for providing treatment for my mate's chronic conditions and making them able to pursue what gives them joy again, I tolerate their checks of my own person for such issues (and don't hold it against them when my mates rat out my old injuries), and I enjoy my life of ease. I speak their language- all of us do, because honestly it's funny to watch them lose their shit every time we say intelligible words to them.
Today, however, a threat came to my Monarch- and my Monarch is folding, fearing for the safety of their people and us, the pets, since the challenger is not one of the ones who thinks we are "cute".
This is not acceptable. You see, my Monarch is mine.
Sacrificing themselves for the good of their people is very well and good- but no one is allowed to steal what is mine away from me.
So it is without preamble that I get off my cushion, where I spend most days absorbed in books or writing my own, pressing a button on my wristlet to send a pre-established signal to my mates. One is down in the combat arena, as they always are this time of day, training now that their body obeys them again; the other has been studying intergalactic law, including treaties and declarations of war. In our own language, I consult with them first; I am the culture expert between us, so we have a fairly well-rounded plan when I reach into the side compartment of my Monarch's throne, remove the blaster there, flick it to 'lethal', and shoot all three aliens at the front of the enemy formation.
The clamor and the screaming is enough to give me a migraine, so I am scowling when I step forth, in front of my Monarch, and give them the same hand signal they give me when they want me to move- pointing, paired with a word. They sit.
I turn to the enemy formation, which has sloppily formed up again, though the front three spots, reserved for the leaders, are left conspicuously empty. Good- they had no contingency for if they fell, and no designated people to step into their roles, and without that being pre-established, their culture did not allow for a common soldier to seize command.
It DID allow for 'theft' of the battalion by a conquering commander, though.
"You answer to me now, by right of conquest," I snapped out in their own tongue, prepared to be challenged. The galaxy at large saw us as pets, or PESTS, not as people- someone would challenge that I had the right to claim by conquest at all.
They looked among each other- which was their right to do, to confer if they wanted to challenge whoever had taken out their commanders- before one stepped forward, and I kept my body loose, balanced on the balls of my feet like my mate taught me, but no challenge had been called so I kept still. This one must have been a former commander- a right hand, certainly, because despite not really being able to judge age on their species this soldier was thick with scarring, and though their march never fell out of step, there was the slightest of limps in one of their four legs.
That one knelt down, folded hands on knees, and bent forward, baring the back of their neck in the sign of obedience.
"We are conquered. We answer you."
Oh good.
"I live the life of a Queen, given everything my heart desires, tended to by my mates of choice, given entertainment, food, leisure, and all the time I require to enjoy all of these things. I will not have need of a battalion often- and you are soldiers, loyal and true, battle-tested and strong, so I would not insult you by setting you free. But I have no wish to go out and conquer more, and would not hold a good soldier back from serving honorably elsewhere, for all I can offer is drills and defense should enemies come to invade my holdings, which is rare. If any wish to leave, they are free to find a battalion that fits them better," I told them in my best formal tones. After all, conquering them for my own was only the first step- and if they wouldn't be content to stay, there was no point in keeping them, fostering resentment all along the way.
"A Queen should have guards," the Lieutenant answered, just as formally. "And should a soldier cease to function well as a guard, they may serve perhaps elsewhere."
"As they should, in accordance with their most skilled performance ability," I replied.
"I will stay. My battalion will follow, until they are drawn elsewhere."
"Then be welcome to my service. Your right and left hands?"
Two younger ones with impeccable posture stepped forth, bowed their heads, and held position in the traditional commander's triangle.
"Then it is done. Tend your wounded, honor your dead, then the hale are to report to the combat arena- that is where my right hand trains, and they will know best how to schedule rotations for guard posts. They are my shape and limb arrangement, but with a darker carapace and with the strength of a Soldier apparent in their limbs. My left hand is my shape and limb arrangement as well, but of the same carapace color, and poison-warning blue headfur. His tongue is as dangerous as his color suggests."
My new Commander dipped his head deferentially as he rose to his feet and started directing the battalion. "Understood, my Queen."
Ah. The hazards of using 'queen' with an insectoid species.
Everything settled, I turned my blaster back to stun, put the safety on, and put it in the cubby before climbing up into my Monarch's lap and laying full-body against them in the way they understood meant "I desire my hair and back petted and scratched, NOW".
"I think perhaps our opinion of human pets may be outdated," they said, even as they provided the scratches.
I smiled. "Not really. I'm just a felidae-type human. I don't tolerate people messing with what belongs to me. That includes you. That's how it works, with cats. You don't own us- we own you."
my Monarch looked a little alarmed at that.
I just laughed, and said a joke I knew they would never get until they met an Earth cat: "Meow."
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regarding your tags asking what centipedes are - my personal theory is that they're living capacitors made for powering small machinery for short amounts of time or for jumpstarting things.
them being cables, as you said, doesn't make much sense to me since they seemingly have a positive and negative end like a battery (you can see this when they kill something - they coil up in such a way where their two heads touch, allowing for electricity to pass through the creature they're holding onto), whereas cables as we know them have positive, neutral, and negative wires wrapped together.
they also seem to be found more commonly in the more industrial/mechanical regions, like industrial complex, drainage system, farm arrays, and subterranean (and sky islands/metropolis when it comes to centiwings, meaning those were most likely created with hard to reach places in mind)
red centipedes are a bit more of a mystery, but if I'd have to guess I'd say they're a sort of evolutionary dead end - an apex predator in the short term but not advantageous in the long term, which can be seen by them being completely gone in survivor's and monk's campaigns but returning in rivulet's, presumably after enough time has passed for them to re-evolve in response to the harsher climate
OH! Fascinating <3
Yeah the cables comment was more of a joke than anything , but I do love this interpretation a lot!! They're like on the go moving energy sources. Which makes a ton of sense when you account that you can literally use them as such when you play the game too. If you carry around a centipede, you can use it to charge electric spears.
I would assume aqua and centiwings evolved to be that way? Like all centipedes have a common ancestor that diverged. Ones around the communication towers grew wings and such. Kind of how the slug cat is more so a descendant than anything iirc. The cleaning slug is an ancestor.
Red centipedes on the other hand have no big changes like the former two I just think they breached containment from hell/j
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