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takurotan · 3 years

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FEH Book V, Chapter 11: Deceit

Part 1: Desolation

MID_SCENARIO_OPENING: Reghin: Ur...rrgh... FighterAX_M: ...cess Reginn! Princess Reginn! Reghin: Hmm? ...Wh-where are we?! What happened? Sharon: We're at the Emblian imperial villa. You were struck unconscious and have been asleep for days… I'm so happy to see you awake! I was so worried about you! Reghin: I-I'm sorry. I feel all right now! Wait—I've been asleep?! I have to go after my brothers! Sharon: No, wait, Princess Reginn! You still need to rest. You shouldn't be up and moving yet! Besides, my brother and the others are following up on what your brothers are doing! Alfons: Ah! We've just returned! ...I see Princess Reginn has returned to us as well. Sharon: Oh! Welcome back! Reghin: Can you tell me anything about the situation with Niðavellir, or my brothers? Alfons: The truth is...we have no answers yet. But when you feel up to it, I do hope you will join us as we venture back into Niðavellir. Reghin: Niðavellir...

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_BEGIN: Reghin: *gasp* Wh-what happened here? The capital is a smoking ruin! Sharon: There are bodies everywhere… H-how awful! FighterAX_M: Is that you...Princess Reginn? H-have you returned? Reghin: Yes, I'm here. Can you tell me what happened? FighterAX_M: It was...a monster. A ghastly thing I've never seen before in all my life attacked as if from nowhere… Please... Princess Reginn… You must...save Niðavellir. Reghin: H-hey! Stay with me! ...Stay with me! … I don't understand. Who could have done such a terr— BATTLE_STING FighterAX_M: GRAAAGHH! Sharon: What is that?! Fafnir2: RRRAAAAHHH! Alfons: The monster—it's back! Anna: It could destroy all of Niðavellir! Not even the capital was safe... Reghin: Wait... Brother? That… That's Fáfnir! Sharon: What?! How is that possible? Reghin: What happened to you, Fáfnir? Brother, please! Sharon: Wait—don't get too close, Princess Reginn! He's dangerous! Alfons: Oh no! Princess Reginn!

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_END: Fafnir2: Unngh... Reghin: Fáfnir! Get a hold of yourself! It's me, Reginn—your sister! Fafnir2: Re...ginn? Otr: GET AWAY FROM HIM! BATTLE_STING Reghin: Ó-Ótr?!

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Part 2: Nowhere Left

MID_SCENARIO_OPENING: Otr: You've come to kill him, admit it! TRAITOR! Please, Brother, do as you please. You are king, after all. I will handle this rabble. Fafnir2: Urrgh... Uuwagh! Reghin: Fáfnir, no! Wait! Why, Ótr? Why aren't you trying to stop him?! Alfons: Explain this, Ótr! What has become of Fáfnir? What did this?! Otr: This is one of the gifts of the Crown of the Dvergar. It possesses any who wear it—any who it judges unworthy. The crown makes a ruin of their mind and body, protecting the kingdom from would-be usurpers. That fact is what allowed the royal family to rule for generation after generation. Reghin: Y-you knew this would happen?! Why didn't you stop it?! Otr: Stop it? ...Why would I? Without the Crown of the Dvergar, my beloved brother might have regained control of his mind. And then...then he might remember where he came from! He'd seek out the summoner for help, and— Sharon: How does this have anything to do with [Summoner]?! Alfons: ...No. It can't be! But if— Hmm… Aha. I see... Then Fáfnir is— Otr: He was summoned during one of Eitri's experiments. Reghin: Fáfnir is...from another world?! Like...a Hero? Otr: My brother is everything to me, you see. I cannot live without him! And yet...he still searches for the home he should have forgotten long ago… I hope to make something clear to him. No matter what he does, he has no other place to go. He is already home—with me. Anna: What are you talking about?! He has to get back to his world as soon as possible! Let us help! Otr: ...Have you not been listening? Fáfnir is not going anywhere! Look for yourself! He's finally forgotten about those things that matter so little. Like where he's from—and who you are, Reginn. Isn't that wonderful?! Finally, I am what matters, and I alone! Reghin: Ótr, no... Otr: Heh heh heh haahhh… Ah, but I mustn't let my guard down just yet… First, I need to make sure everyone but me—you all, that is—is dead. Of course you understand that I cannot rest easy while the summoner still lives. I have no need of a weapon that can destroy gates if I destroy the source of the gates themselves! Alfons: ...It seems the time for talk has passed. Princess Reginn, are you prepared for what comes next? Reghin: ...I'm ready! Alfons: Let's go, [Summoner]!

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_END: Otr: Urgh... Not done...yet. I can...still fight!

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Part 3: Fallen Noble

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_BEGIN: Constanze: Though House Nuvelle has fallen, it is still every noble's duty to provide for the commonfolk.

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Part 4: Ashen Valiant

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_BEGIN: Euris: I don't even know much about where I come from—or why I have this Crest.

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Part 5: Everything, Lost

MID_SCENARIO_OPENING: Otr: Damn it... This is it, then... Reghin: W-wait! Or Ótr will die!_ Alfons: Step away from him, Princess Reginn... Reghin: No! I won't let you kill him! Just...give me time to talk to him! Otr: Reginn... Reghin: Give Gramr to me, Ótr! There's still time. We can return Fáfnir to normal, and the three of us can live together again… Don't you...want that? Otr: Reginn… Heh... Haha— *cough* You really do not understand, do you... Hahahaha... Reghin: What are you talking about? Otr: It doesn't matter what you do now, I'm going to die here—so I might as well let you in on a little secret… I killed your parents. Reghin: Wh-what?! But they— They were your parents too! Otr: No. I simply let you and Fáfnir assume, as you were happy to do... You are no family of mine. Reghin: I... I don't...understand. Otr: My parents lived inside the walls of Niðavellir's castle. My father lived as a distant relative of the king. Only...the truth was, he was nothing more than a commoner with a face the nobles found pleasant. A face, they thought, that looked so much like thiers. The royals were eager to claim him as their own... The sheer arrogance… Laughable, isn't it? So, I was born and raised in the castle. One night, my parents opened the rear gate for some new visitors… They told me to show them how to find the king without being noticed. For me, it was literal child's play. I did as I was told without question. Alfons: Then...that means, Niðavellir's coup was— Otr: My parents were used by the people who wanted to kill the royal family… I'm sure they told my father they would make him king. It only took an instant for the hall to be awash with blood. I had no idea what was happening. I was confused, but I knew it was dangerous to stay where I stood… In the commotion, I took the king and queen's crying baby from the cradle and ran away. ...That baby was you. Sharon: So, Princess Reginn has always been a princess of Niðavellir, from the very start?! Reghin: That...that can't be true. I don't believe it. Otr: Why would I lie? You were able to enter the Tower of Niðavellir. What more proof do you need? The gates there never opened for either of us.

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_BEGIN: $WmMPID_アルフォンス,ch00_01_ Alfons: Take Gramr from him now, Princess Reginn. Reghin: What? Now? Alfons: Yes. Fáfnir's rampage has already destroyed much of the kingdom! Recovery from this disaster will take a long time as it is. With you, their princess, returned, the people will have something to rally around—to hope for. Then the work of rebuilding can truly begin. But first, Fáfnir has to be stopped. And you have to be the one to do it. If you defeat him, no one will argue your right to the throne. Reghin: You want...me? To defeat...Fáfnir? Otr: No! You can't! I won't allow it! You were never anything more than a sniveling crybaby! ...I hate you! You get everything I ever wanted, all without ever lifting a finger! And now... Now you want to take my brother from me too?! Reghin: Ótr… Otr: Just go! Leave us! You and all your little friends. Leave this kingdom now!

MID_SCENARIO_MAP_END: Otr: Just...go... Alfons: We will be taking Gramr from you now, Ótr. Otr: Damn it... Why...why don't you just...kill me already?! Reghin: Ótr, don't say such— Otr: tried, you know... To get rid of you... All this time. I wanted to kill you. Because of you...I've only known...pain and suffering… I lost my mother and father...was chased out of the castle...forced to dig through garbage to survive… But then...then Fáfnir came… And he saved me… I knew that...if he was king...I could be happy...and I would never have to worry again… And yet you managed to ruin even that... Again, you take everything from me… Everything but...but... Hngh! B-Brother?! ...Brother, where are you? Reghin: Ótr, wait! Don't— _ Otr: STAY AWAY FROM ME! I won't let you take my brother from me! Reghin: ...Ótr. ...You were my brother too, Ótr. You were always so kind and did so much... I always admired that. I loved you for that... Otr: ...

MID_SCENARIO_ENDING: Fafnir2: Unnnghh... Aaa-AARRGH... Otr: Bro...ther... I am so glad you've come… I promise... to never leave you. Just... Hold me close… Like when...we were younger... Fafnir2: Ghhnngk... Auogh… AAA-AAUUOOOGH! BATTLE_STING Otr: ...Urk! Bro...thh-hhh… … ...

#feh #datamine stuff

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goldenwaves · 3 years

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yun......my beloved

gonna do a post of her and eury fist fighting in a parking lot asap

#eury is physically stronger but yun hexes her mid fight out of spite #voidcreek #ask

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cassiopiia · 3 years

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@pseudoneiric murmured 003 : talk about a significant relationship your muse has with another muse . (for eury, about cori, or vice versa!)

Here it is !!! Transcription below ! (I love these two so much)

All right. The ask this time was from pan again, my beloved. Uhm... go-uhhh -I immediately lost my train of thought. [laughs] Um, but the ask this time was “talk about a significant relationship your muse has with another muse.” for eury, about cori, or vice versa. Uhm- and when I saw this, I immediately knew I was going... to have an ordeal answering this one. Because0 with Cory, it's very easy. Eurydice to him is the world. She- she was, [laughs] she was, she was a world to him, he would have dedicated everything to her if he could, he would have done anything to make her happy. He would have given up anything and everything- he would have given up his voice type shit, and his music means so much to him, but she meant more. And like-

he loved her so, so much that when she died, and he couldn't get her back, and after everything, when he couldn't just go back down in demand, or out of just hell- not hell, Hades. But when she died, and she was gone permanently, it was like a large chunk of both his life and himself was lost. Like, that's just if he cared about Eurydice so much that it...kind of consumed him at first. And like he still had his individuality, of course he did, but it was really easy to get lost in how much he cared about Eurydice and forget about himself. So when Eurydice was gone, he couldn't do that, and suddenly, things were different and things were colder and things were- just like- things changed. And he didn't like that- usually...Coriander... i-he-he doesn't mind change, he supports it. Even he's- he... he has a weird relationship with change, especially because of Hermes, who is the God change in the wind speed and shit. And like, he has a weird relationship with change. So on one hand, he fully endorses change because change means something better and everyone's changing, everyone's always growing, and change means improvement sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, but things are constantly moving and that's just how things are.

But on another hand, he wants to remain in one instant forever, he wants to remain the same way he will always be and he wants to stay that way, but it also scares him. so Eurydice leaving well not leaving but dying just had...an impact and it changed and it was one of the times he did not want it to change. But that's Coriander it's much easier to talk about Coriander than it is Eurydice because Eurydice...She's a lot of things. And she never meant to fall in love with Coriander because- Coriander fell in love with her to her at first sight immediately, like, near instantly. He learned her name and immediately he just.. he just loved her and it only got more and more in love over time but with Eurydice it's different because she is different because of course she is, of course she is! uhm. Eurydice generally has a different opinion on love and just things like that. Which...goes without saying because Coriander has a very... Coriander has a specific view on love that a lot of people do not have and think is very childish to have. very naive to have. But he has it! [laughs] but Eurydice doesn't which makes it more...hard to explain her than it is him. She- she's a lot of things and it's just hard to explain. [laughs]

Uhm, uh... where Coriander fell in love with Eurydice almost immediately, Eurydice was so in love with Orpheus, she almost hated him. And that sounds bad and it kind of is, but it's just one of those things where you love someone or something so much that you can't stand it. And like it's why it's difficult to talk about, because she's- she loves Orpheus so much. She would've risked anything to go back on what happened and be with him again, even if it was for a day, even if it was for a week, even if- not even a year. Even if it was something so small, she would have, because she loves him more than anything. Like they...They are born in tragedy, they were- almost meant to be like this. And Eurydice knows that, they both know that.

But Eurydice... she loved him so much that it was...impossible to express.

It was... [laughs] I'm trying to think of how to express it- which is ironic considering I just said it's impossible to express but I'm gonna try. Um, she loved...Orpheus like- like winter love summer, in the sense that it's either too hot or too cold, in the sense that she either can't- won't leave his side, or she can't stand the sound of his voice. And like it's constantly a little bit of both. And like it's just...it's so much- she felt so much love for his stupid boy and a stupid guitar or whatever the fuck that...it felt like the world in her chest, and when you carry around the world that's burning in your chest and half frozen and half on fire-

Wow, that's a very interr- rude interruption by the motorcycle outside my how- house. But uh- thank you for your input [laughs]

but when you carry something like that around, the- she didn't know how to deal with it, so she did with aggression- not- not aggression, but she did in a way that wasn't like- how you would t-typically think someone love someone you know? and she does- she never- she- she- I know. sounds bad. I know that [laughs] because I'm not good at explaining things, ut she was not a toxic partner, she wasn't, she just loved him so much that she didn't know how to express it.

While Coriander loved her so much that he expressed it constantly, if that makes sense, like- and...Eurydice has...a strange dis-disposition already because..by the time Orpheus came around, she was used to being alone. Because that's how she was always been. She's always just been alone and...just fending for herself because it's easier that way. It's easier when one mou- when you have one mouth to feed instead of many. And like...it's just hard to explain because suddenly everything changed for her. Suddenly she was never alone. And suddenly, she loved him so much that she couldn't handle it and couldn't express it in ways that made sense, she loved him so much that it felt like everything was burning when everything was fine, and so much that the fro-she didn't- she could only feel the cold when Orpheus wasn't there. And like...

it's just difficult to explain because she couldn't help it. She couldn't help it either could Orpheus, they both. They both couldn't- Just- they couldn't! they couldn't! Because..this is a story that was always meant to happen. They were always meant to be like this, this was always going to occur and in some way, orph- uhg- Eurydice knew that more than Orpheus, and like,

it's just...Summer doesn't feel like the right description, because it wasn't summer it was heat. And it's not heat the sense of, Oh- fuck- they fuckin- lust! or whatever the fuck it's heat in the sense that she- burnt up inside, because of how much she cared about him, and how much she almost knew that it wasn't going to work. And how much she hated that, and how much she almost..just... hated the world around him, and hated him, but she didn't, she loved him. She loved him so much.

It was everything to her at some points. It felt like there was nothing there except what they were. It felt like living inside a dying star and waiting for the supernova. And waiting for things to explode, and bristle, and pop, and stop, and change. It felt like that, and there's a lot of ways someone can respond to that. And Eurydice didn't know how so she cycled through them sometimes. But she did love him and they loved each other so much.

And when they were gone... winter came.

#━ ♔ cardinals with snow-brushed wings : asks.#MUSE / Coriander #CARDINAL ; Eurydice.#CARDINAL ; Eurydice. - ASK #SONGBIRD ; Coriander. - ASK #… And the poets spin us back again ; we were born for this tragedy ; tell it one more time - CORI/DICE #did i make a ship/dynamic tag specifically for eury and orpheus?#yes i did #do i love them beyond words?#yes i do #I WANT TO WRITE THEM MORE I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTSSSSSSSSSSSSS #and also sincerest apologies to eury bc me not knowing how to Word things made her sound #a lot worse than she is she's so good but i did her dirty #bc i am not good at planning out sentences BNMJUHN #so sometimes they come out wrong #BUT I LOVE THEMMMMMMMMMMM #thank u pan #my champion

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yuezhong · 2 years

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*leaves a 🎶 cutely*

if the note thingie is done you can skip mine dw OEHDIWJ

hihi eurie! I'm so sorry for getting to yours late </3

Your seatmate is: Hiyori Tomoe! (And the unit you're helping to produce is: eden! Which is Hiyori's unit <3)

I assigned Hiyori as your seatmate because you two give off upbeat vibes and seem to be on the chaotic good spectrum of the alignment chart, which makes for some very fun times in and outside of class. Both of you have an eye for beautiful things as well, which is an added similarity between you two.

If you want the latest gossip in school, Hiyori has you covered ;3

#fellow florist (eurie!) ❧《🌿》#eurie my beloved #arashi's darling✨#yue x araship: eurie!#chats in the flower shop ❧《🏡》

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eurynome827 · 3 years

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characters and stories on hiatus - Eury’s Masterlist

*ALL OF MY WORK IS 18+ AND CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT!*

The characters and stories on this list are on hiatus - I am not currently working on them and they are archived here. This does not meant that they won’t be revived! Nothing’s impossible...

RPF: Sebastian Stan - *All RPF on this masterlist is AU and fiction.*

Uno*

An Altercation*

Netflix and…*

Quoting Shakespeare*

Quoting Shakespeare: That Man That Hath A Tongue*

Soft

Boyfriend: A Thesis

Lime

Graduation

Tease*

Family Planning*

Tequila and Blow Job Shot

In Wonderland

A Good Idea*

Whisper In Your Ear*

The Perfect Dates: Masterlist

Stay.*

Reflecting Light Masterlist (Series with original characters - Sebastian Stan x OFC )

Breathe.*

Play The Game (Dream Demon Sebastian - based on “Play The Game” by Queen)

See You Again (AU Young Seb - based on “See You Again” by Elle King)

Hal Carter

Making homemade chocolates for their beloved - Hal Carter

At The Drive-In

Thunderstorm

Happy Birthday

The Fair

Destroyer!Chris

“Is that a new tattoo?”

Writing A Secret Love Letter - Destroyer!Chris

Sebastian Stan Characters AUs/Brendon Urie AUs/Reader:

Not If You Care For Me

“if you’re gonna be the death of me that’s how I wanna go”

#eurynome827 master list #characters on hiatus

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fountainpenguin · 4 years

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Could you tell us more about the Reedfilter AU? What makes it different? Any favorite parts or ideas in mind?

Reedfilter Rules AU is basically as opposite as I can be from my Riddleverse Classic headcanons without contradicting the actual FOP canon (and without overlapping my other AUs, such as my “King Me” AU).

I like to think of it as “the AU that might have been my canon if I hadn’t found Wolbachia pipientis.” Delving deeply into Wolbachia was the thing that forced me to make ALL my FOP worldbuilding deep to balance it. Reedfilter Rules AU is somewhat deep, but sticks very close to show canon. It’s more detailed than the show, but not chaotically deep.

In Riddleverse Classic, there’s a pretty even balance between animal DNA and human-like DNA. In the “Little Imperfections” universe, animal DNA is played up and human-like DNA is played down. In Reedfilter Rules, human-like DNA is played up and animal DNA is barely acknowledged (the Fae in RR are pretty much just small humans with wings). These Pixies don’t have Wolbachia, so H.P. is not the Pixie holotype. He and Sanderson are just friends.

The RR AU is named after the Head Pixie who preceded our H.P. (Rani Reedfilter) since most of the pieces I’ve written for it are told from her point of view. Pixies are a long-established species in this universe, and are considered the oldest and most advanced of the Fae races instead of the youngest.

Certain aspects of my worldbuilding (such as gyne and drone biology, the Refracts, and the honey-lock) don’t exist in the R-Rules verse. The Anti-Fairies don’t have their zodiac culture. Again, the Rules-verse sticks close to show canon and isn’t too complex; you get evil Antis and busy Pixies while Fairy World is just as fluffy and air-headed as ever, haha.

[More under the cut]

The inner workings of Pixie World are the most fleshed out part of RR AU. The Head Pixie position is even more powerful here than it is in my Classic works due to the sheer number of Pixies in existence (we’re talking a hundred companies united under a single boss- Head Pixie XXXVI, Rani Reedfilter).

It’s a blatant dictatorship where the Head Pixie’s rules always go, no questions asked. Marriages are arranged, jobs are assigned, and you can only reproduce with permission. Laughter is practically outlawed because the image of a crisp, intelligent pixie is so important to their brand. Extremely cold, strict place. This is the world Fergus grew up in before he took over from Reedfilter.

Classic!Fergus is blatant with his manipulation. He’s loud, proud, stubborn, and would NEVER stoop to the sucking up that RR!Fergus does. In RR, Fergus Whimsifinado - or Head Pixie XXXVII - rises through the ranks of Pixies Inc. by flirting with Rani Reedfilter in a universe where all pixie marriages are arranged and the Head is forbidden to have a spouse. R-Rules Fergus ain’t as averse to kisses as his Classic counterpart.... If seduction gets him what he wants, he won’t hesitate. And he didn’t.

Obviously, my ‘fic Origin of the Pixies isn’t canon in the R-Rules universe. Fergus was born and raised in Pixie society as one of many instead of being raised in Fairy World as an oddball with a wing mutation. Ambrosine was never matched with another woman after he had Fergus, so he never had Emery. Instead, I allowed this version of Fergus to follow through on his childhood dream of naming his daughter Emery.

And a daughter he indeed had, following his fling(s) with Reedfilter. Little Emery has Rani’s green eyes, so it’s pretty dang obvious that Rani is (was) her mother, but who’s going to protest? There ain’t no Pixie Council to balance power. Gossip all you want, but the Head Pixie’s word is law.

(Looks a lot like his father in this ‘verse, doesn’t he?)

Classic!Sanderson is H.P.’s sassy, egotistical, easily-made-jealous firstborn. However, in the Reedfilter AU, they aren’t related at all. RR!Sanderson - AKA Ennet - is extremely high-strung. He has low self-esteem, constantly thinks himself a failure, and on top of that he’s a HUGE gossip.

Classic!Sanderson is arguably smarter than the other pixies, but R!Rules Sandy is VERY trusting and naive. He’ll fall for anything twice over and believes everything H.P. says (H.P. messes with him because it’s funny). Sandy didn’t come into the picture until after Fergus became Head Pixie, but as their friendship deepens he becomes H.P.’s ears in the hallways.

Rani was nice enough to pair Sandy with a wife despite his half-pixie / half-wisp blood, as she believed him loyal to the company and wanted to show her trust in him. Sandy respects her immensely because of that, and even respected her enough to attempt pregnancy with his match when instructed to (something he bailed out of doing when Fergus matched him up with a different lady). He was horrified by Rani’s death..... and extremely suspicious of his new boss.

Despite his concerns about his new boss, Sanderson envisions himself as H.P.’s loyal sidekick, oblivious to the fact that H.P. would stab him in the back without remorse if the situation required him to. But H.P. genuinely likes RR!Sanderson, probably due to the fact that he and Sandy are the only pixie/wisp crossbreeds in the whole company. He still teases him, but I like to think this version of H.P. is better at asking Sanderson’s advice for problems and his consent to being teased. He’s more likely to stop messing around if he sees Sanderson upset than Classic H.P. is. Not as big a jerk as you could have been.

It’s honestly a beloved AU of mine because... it’s really interesting to play H.P. and Sanderson as literal friends instead of the distant parent/clingy child relationship they have in Riddleverse Classic. Reedfilter Rules has female pixies, arranged marriages, and boring businessmen unapologetically plotting evil... What more could you ask for?

Anti-Fairy World is also different in this AU. Anti-Schnozmo was raised to take over Anti-Fairy World from birth until Anti-Cosmo, ah... “took care of him.” AC is even brattier in this AU than he is in my Classic universe (a lot like Foop). Additionally, the High Countess position doesn’t mean anything... No political power for Anti-Wanda in this universe :(

I thought it would be interesting if Anti-Cosmo’s Deadly Sin was still Lust, but the only reason he’s married to Anti-Wanda in RR!AU is because his mother arranged them. He tolerates Anti-Wanda, he even likes her, but he doesn’t truly love her and doesn’t care if she knows it. He has illegitimate children in this verse (this is where Eury and Talon fit in) because the honey-lock isn’t a thing. Foop is his only legitimate child and therefore the legal heir to the throne (High Count is balanced by the Anti-Fairy Council and he can’t declare an illegitimate child his heir).

RR!Anti-Cosmo and H.P. are rival rulers who barely know each other. After taking over from Reedfilter, H.P. starts flirting with AC too in an attempt to snag Anti-Fairy World from under him, blind to the fact that Anti-Cosmo is toying with him and intends to betray him right back. Or, Anti-Cosmo flirts with him in an attempt to swipe Pixie World. Who knows. I’m not sure how far that relationship goes, just that I can see the two flirting in RR universe to mirror the fact they fight all the time in Classic.

(....... Maybe they still fight)

I created Reedfilter Rules AU back in 2016, and I still write drabbles for it because I find the concept endearing despite its cliches. I love writing in this ‘verse because I love pixies, but I haven’t posted the main ‘fic due to the, uhhhhh... //Gestures at story that revolves around a creepy guy sleeping his way up the corporate ladder, probably seducing his rival on the side idk, is this really what you want to read??

Anyway, I adore Reedfilter Rules AU and think about it a lot, so if you guys want to see more, let me know. “Only an Idea” (#83 of the 130 Prompts) takes place in the R-Rules universe and tells how H.P. and Sanderson first met.

#asks #Anon #FAIRIES!#Reedfilter Rules #ridwriting #I'm wasp dad trash #We're Pixies!#Sanderson is neat #The bat with the hat #The toughest tag #apparently art #130 Prompts #screenshots #Fairy Idol #Long post #This is the third time I've tried to submit this please don't break again #If the Read More gets moved into the ask box I'm sorry; just view on blog if so

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collectingvoices · 5 years

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IR Secret Santa!!

@immortal-rain-secret-santa

I got to make a gift for @sytacus!! Jay asked for literally anything as long as F*lk wasn’t involved, so I decided to write something based in the household’s beloved modmeme universe.

Happy holidays, and I hope you enjoy!!

Calvaria Labs Presents: A Bleak Midwinter’s Night

The tiny apartment was freezing. Frost coated the windows, glowing gold due to the streetlights outside. Inside, Machika grumbled as she tugged the duvets around herself, trying to conserve the tiny island of heat in the middle of her bed. Every exhale billowed out as a tiny storm, warming her face before the cold struck back and made her face feel even colder. Her toes slid out into the open air, and she hissed at the burning feeling before she tugged them back to safety.

“Stupid heating,” she grumbled, “Pay good money and it still craps out.”

Turning over, she resigned herself to trying to fall back asleep in the icebox of her room. A knock at the door, however, had her sitting up, bundled up in her sheets. “Who the hell…?”

A second knock, and Machika reluctantly brought out her feet, quickly stuffing them into the slippers at the side of her bed. With the comforter still wrapped around her, she shuffled to the front door, footsteps muffled by the carpet. There was a third knock, quickly halted as she pointedly turned the lock. Cracking the door open, she peered out into the hallway. Then up, her eyebrows rising.

“Rain?”

The tall figure nodded as she removed the chain and pulled the door open. Machika could barely make out her friend’s eyes, peering out from a space below a large, fluffy hat and above several clashing scarves that were wrapped tightly around his face and neck. Even with the obviously heavy coat, she could see him shaking as he shuffled in.

“ M’ heating gav’ out.”

Machika had to strain to hear his voice, muffled as it was by layers. She pulled the duvet closer, and told him, “Mine’s not much better.”

Rain seemed to deflate. “ Oh.”

They frowned at each other. Machika shifted back and forth, trying to warm up. It wasn’t very successful, and Rain wrapping his arms around her wasn’t very successful either.

“This sucks,” Machika said.

Rain nodded.

“You know… my bosses live near here.”

Rain looked at her, his eyes going wide. He rapidly shook his head as he whisper-shouted, “Bad idea, bad idea!”

“Do you have a better one?” she snapped back. Rain’s expression told her all she needed to know.

“Then it’s settled. Lemme pull on some more layers, and we can raid their house.”

Rain raised his eyes skyward, but didn’t stop her.

Ys was the one to open the house’s monumental glass and steel front door. Or at least, Machika thought the nearly round polar coat in front of them was Ys. It was the right height, at least.

“What do you want, Machi?” Came the disgruntled voice of Yuca’s tiny clone, “It’s 2 am, on the weekend. Emergencies can at least wait ‘til the sun is actually up.”

“Our heating gave out.”

Ys squinted at her, and then looked past Machika. Spotting Rain, he said, “Ah. the desk guard. Wouldn’t have thought you two were a thing.”

Machi and Rain both began to splutter, cheeks turning bright red.

“That’s not-”

“We’re not-”

“I mean, we could be-”

“But not right now, no-”

“Whatever,” Ys said blandly, “Anyways, go away. There’s no heating for you here.”

“You and Yuca are literal geniuses, who make six figures each, and your heating gives out?!”

“No, we turned it off. Obviously.”

Rain and Michika blinked at him, before yelling together, “Why?!”

Ys shrugged. “We wanted to make ice cream and the freezer wasn’t getting cold enough.”

Machika put her head in her hands. “Why,” she asked, voice muffled, “Didn’t you just put it outside?”

He gave her an unimpressed look. “Because it would have gotten snow in it.”

Machika shook her head, face still in her hands. Rain shuffled awkwardly behind her. “Um. Isn’t it in a box?” the tall man asked.

A voice echoed from the depths of the house. “Yes, but someone decided to use the lid as a petri dish.”

All three turned to look. From the darkness came the lanky form of Yuca, rubbing sleep from his eyes with his palm. Machika felt her jaw drop. The mad scientist was only wearing a pair of star patterned shorts and pink fluffy slippers.

Ys narrowed his eyes at his creator, seemingly unsurprised by the older man’s attire. “I had to, you kept using the actual petri dishes to microwave your leftovers in.”

Yuca scratched at his chin. “And?”

“And, you useless block of donor cells, we have perfectly usable bowls!”

“Hey now-”

As the two began to squabble, Rain leaned down and asked Machika in a whisper, “How is he not cold?”

Machika shrugged. “I don’t get paid enough to ask that.”

Eury was having such a good night. His siblings had gone to see Sharem’s old man for the holiday, leaving him alone in their townhouse. As such, he’d invited Ayla over for a late night dinner of leftover chinese. They’d eaten while watching dramatic racing movies, and now that the boxes covering the coffee table were licked clean, the promise of her staying the rest of the night was definitely on the table, if how close she was snuggled up to his side was any indication.

“Hey Eury, got anything to drink?”

He hummed. “There’s some water and juice in the fridge. The beer’s in the cupboard.”

“I was thinking something hotter.”

“Oh?” he asked with a grin.

Ayla promptly hit him with one of the throw pillows. “Not like that. I meant a warm drink.”

“I know what you meant.”

“Suuure. Anyways, have you got something or not?”

Eury scratched the back of his neck. “We probably got some coffee in there. Maybe that apple cider mix…”

“You know what, I’ll just go take a look.” Ayla said as she stood.

“Nooo, don’t leave me,” Eury said dramatically, reaching his arms out after his girlfriend. She merely rolled her eyes at him and continued into the kitchen.

“You’re so dramatic. You can survive a few minutes without me.”

“That’s debatable, babe,” There was a knock at the front door. Eury let out a hefty sigh, “Aylaaa…”

“Get it yourself!”

“Damn it.” Eury muttered as he dragged himself off the couch and towards the front door. Pulling it open, he snapped, “What?” Rain raised a gloved hand and gave an awkward little wave. Machika peered around him, dark bags around her eyes as she stared Eury down. Ys and Yuca, identically impeccably dressed, stood further back, but both seemed unimpressed by Eury’s rumpled state.

“Rain. What fresh hell have you brought to my doorstep?” Eury asked his friend.

“Our heating is out.” the group said, collectively tired.

“Oh.” Then Eury realized what that meant, and his tone quickly changed, “Oh no. No, no, no, you guys can’t stay here. Go check into a hotel or something, cause I ain’t letting you in-”

“Eury? Who are you talking to?” Ayla called from the kitchen.

Machika raised her eyebrows at Eury, grinning. He groaned, and leaned against the doorframe as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Eury, I asked-” Ayla stepped out of the kitchen, “Oh, hey Rain! Oh, and is that Machi?”

Machika slipped past Eury, shooting him a smug grin, like a cat that’s gotten into the cream, before wrapping her arms around Ayla. “You’re so warmmmm.” Machika moaned.

Ayla patted her head. “Want some hot cocoa? I found a box.”

Machika nodded vigorously.

“Ok then. How about the rest of you?”

Rain gave one short nod, while Ys and Yuca looked at each other, before answering together, “Yes please.”

“I’ll put the kettle on then!” She said, before pulling Machika with her into the kitchen.

Eury looked at the group of men outside his door, and the men looked back. Finally, he sighed, and stepped aside. “C’mon then.”

As the three slipped past him, sighing in relief at the warmth - except for Yuca, who seemed rather blase about it all - Eury shook his head. There goes my plans for the night. Happy fucking holidays to me.

#My writing #Immortal Rain #meteor methuselah #immortal rain secret santa

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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The signs for Norman first appeared on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in early March.

“REWARD. LOST DOG. 4 year old, microchipped, male, tan, Chihuahua. He is not wearing a collar. Missing since 03/02/2018. DO NOT CHASE.”

By mid-April, they were all across New York City. Norman the Chihuahua had gone missing during a walk facilitated by a pet care startup called Wag, and his owner Nicole DiCarlo was determined to get him home.

She says Wag was initially helpful in the search for Norman. It paid for flyers to be printed, and said it would cover a $5,000 reward for Norman’s return. It also hired a professional dog tracker. But things soon got weird, says DiCarlo. A Chihuahua in her neighborhood was hit by a car the day after Norman went missing, and Wag’s CEO Hilary Schneider tried to convince her the dead dog was Norman. A delivery man had taken photos, and once DiCarlo saw them, she disagreed.

“The other dog was bigger, and the fur coloring was wrong,” she says. “They had no real evidence that it was Norman, and yet the CEO tries to tell me he’s deceased. I’ve asked a few family members to look at the photos, and we all know it’s not him. They just wanted to get rid of us.”

DiCarlo is not the only person to lose a pet at the hands of a pet care startup. Elaine Conoly says her dachshund Wally was killed by another dog while in the care of a sitter she found through Wag’s main competitor, Rover. She has since started a GoFundMe to raise money to bring legal action against what she calls a “negligent business plastered with lies.”

Wag and Rover are two of the newest and largest players in the booming pet industry, each with more than $300 million in venture capital funding. Both companies are digital marketplaces where pet owners can find dog walkers, pet sitters, and boarders via an app, with most services ranging from about $20 to $50. Wag is often referred to as “Uber for dogs,” since it assigns on-demand walkers and sitters, similar to the way Uber’s algorithm assigns drivers, though pet owners ultimately approve or decline the worker they’re offered. Rover has earned the nickname “DogBnb,” as users can sift through hundreds of available workers who set their own prices.

Wag and Rover are fighting each other for dominance while simultaneously embroiled in a different, messier kind of feud — one with pet owners themselves. Plenty of users praise the startups for their convenience, but many are also speaking out with allegations of negligence and empty guarantees.

The companies are quickly learning that when it comes to people’s beloved animals, the potential for profits is high, but so are the stakes.

Pets are taking up more and more room in our lives. They dine right next to us at restaurants, panting happily at their owners’ feet. We travel with them on trains and on airplanes, where the number of emotional support animals on commercial flights jumped 56 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to the trade association Airlines for America. They’re increasingly showing up at work too, with employers boasting pets in the workplace as an added perk.

Pet owners spend $86.7 billion on their animals, according to the research firm Mintel. This is a market that now includes farm-to-table cuisine, posh furniture, luxury collars, and spa services. A decade ago, the pet industry netted just $44.6 billion a year. Why the sudden surge in coddling and spending? Millennials, of course.

Chihuahua mix Valentina at her home in New York City.

While millennials may not own cars or homes, three-quarters of Americans in their 30s have dogs. A little more than half own cats. A 2017 survey found that 68 percent of US households now include a pet, a figure that’s increased 12 percent since the 1980s; millennials have surpassed baby boomers in pet ownership and are the country’s largest pet-owning age demographic.

With millennials having kids later in life, it’s perhaps not surprising so many see their pets as “starter children.” This has in turn inspired the much-maligned term “fur babies” — and the uptick in millennial spending on fur babies has led to a gold rush.

“Investor interest is always piqued when you have a large and growing market with enthusiast consumers that have rapidly changing needs and expectations,” says Eurie Kim, a partner at Forerunner Ventures, which has invested in several pet startups. “We’ve seen new businesses emerging to tackle on-demand vet services, televet services, marketplaces for buyers and sellers of pets, and, of course, dog-walking and -watching services, and food, treat, and supply companies.”

Rover was started in December 2011 by three dog lovers in Seattle’s tech scene. Greg Gottesman, who spent 20 years as a venture capitalist, came up with the idea after his Labrador was mauled at a local kennel. He recruited Microsoft’s former general manager Aaron Easterly to be Rover’s CEO, and Philip Kimmey, whom he met at Seattle Startup Weekend, to be the company’s director of software development.

Rover launched with overnight pet boarding, and within two years it had amassed nearly 80,000 workers across 4,300 US cities. In 2015, it expanded into book-ahead home day care, drop-in visits, and dog walking. These days, Rover has more than 200,000 workers in 14,000 cities (Rover would not share the number of pet owners who use its service with Vox).

The uptick in millennial spending on fur babies has led to a gold rush

Easterly considers Rover a genuine early market disruptor and the pet industry one that was truly ripe for disruption. Big-box retailers like Petco and Petsmart have typically dominated the massive pet market by focusing on two of its most lucrative sectors: food and accessories, which together make up 57 percent of spending, per Mintel’s data. But the pet services sector — which includes walking, sitting, and boarding — has traditionally been small and localized, without any companies offering pet care on a large scale.

“Greg was focused on fixing the kennel problem, because kennels are expensive, rigid, and most people don’t use them, while I was sick of having to ask my friends to take care of my Pomeranian,” Easterly says. “She had skin conditions, and when I’d take her to friends, I’d be like, ‘Here’s her ointment, it needs to be rubbed on her belly three times a day.’ They would stare at me with their jaw open, and then say, ‘Dude, I’m doing you a favor, so you’ll get her back alive, and that’s about all I’m gonna promise.’ We underestimated the dissatisfaction with hiring friends and family, and that there are aspects of a commercial relationship that could actually be very positive.”

Wag came a few years later, in January 2015, founded by Los Angeles-based brothers Jonathan and Joshua Viner. The Viners had been early Facebook game developers and built a social media network called ChirpMe. After ChirpMe got acquired, the brothers approached Jason Meltzer, who was running a thriving LA dog-walking business, about adapting his company to an on-demand Uber model. (The Viners are no longer with Wag; Meltzer, who was not made available for this story, still serves as its “chief dog officer,” working on select projects and acting as a brand ambassador.)

Wag is available in 110 cities and has 50,000 workers; like Rover, Wag would not share the number of pet owners who use its service with Vox. Schneider, the CEO, considers Wag’s biggest innovation to be the on-demand services it brings to pet care.

“Technology has enabled us to enjoy conveniences we never had before. Just look at how Uber has increased the demand for cabs,” Schneider says. “We invented the on-demand dog category and we’ve been improving on that experience over the last three-plus years.” (In 2017, Rover added on-demand dog walking to its product suite, a clear reaction to Wag’s offerings.)

Wag and Rover’s pricing is comparable. On-demand dog walking from both Rover and Wag costs $20 for a 30-minute walk or $30 for 60 minutes. Wag’s boarding and sitting services cost $26 a night, plus a $15 fee for pickup and drop-off; Rover workers set their own prices for boarding and sitting, but the average worker charges a total of $40 per night. The companies diverge greatly, however, when it comes to the cut they take from workers. When Rover launched, it took 15 percent of each transaction; that’s since increased to about 20 percent. Wag, on the other hand, takes 40 percent.

Although the companies have similar funding figures — Rover has $310.9 million in venture capital investment, Wag has $361.5 million — Rover is a much bigger business, with a valuation of $970 million to Wag’s $650 million. This is partially a result of Rover being in business for more than double the time Wag has been, and because Rover acquired the competing boarding startup DogVacay in 2017.

But Wag is aggressively encroaching on Rover’s territory. It expanded into sitting and boarding in 2016, and according to transactional data provided to Vox by the analytics company Earnest Research, Wag is growing far faster than Rover. As of June 2018, Rover’s sales were increasing at a rate of 30 percent year over year; Wag sales were increasing at a rate of 165 percent during that same time.

When it comes to user acquisition, Wag and Rover are both fishing in the same pond and using the same tools. They advertise heavily to millennials on Facebook and Instagram and employ identical promotional marketing tactics, giving new users free walks and texting existing users with discount codes during off-peak hours. Their branding is pretty similar too: Both companies have green logos that feature a paw print, and both sell green branded bandanas.

The startups’ CEOs are cordial and vague when addressing their competition. Schneider says Wag is better equipped to “understand the needs of pet parents,” while Easterly says Rover offers “richer” services.

Pet owners are left to choose sides for themselves. Uri Fintzy, pet parent to cats Lanna and Tommy, is a Rover evangelist.

“The app is easy and a great way to vet caregivers,” he says. “We use the same two to three sitters, and they have no problem fulfilling our silly requests, like sending us cat selfies.”

Wag user Gaby Clingman disagrees. She adopted her 60-pound Northern Inuit Luna as a puppy while working a hectic job in television production, and she hated having to find a walker on her own through Rover. Though Rover has since launched on-demand walking that locates a walker for you, she’s remained loyal to Wag: “It’s the most convenient thing ever. You literally press two buttons, and your dog is being walked.”

Clingman and Fintzy both say they have few friends they trust with their pets and so Wag and Rover have become integral to their pet care routines. Still, both admit these services cost them considerable cash. During busy times, Clingman says she’s spent $200 a month on Wag. When Fintzy travels with his fiancée, they spend about $300 per trip on Rover’s cat sitters. Is it worth it?

“Absolutely,” Fintzy says.

Zach Berger downloaded Rover on the recommendation of a friend, after coming home from a New York City animal shelter with Reggie, a wide-grinning pibble (the strategically rebranded name for a pit bull). He scrolled through various walkers that Saturday in February before settling on Juan Rosario, a 34-year-old Lower East Side resident with tons of five-star reviews. Rosario now walks Reggie every weekday.

“He loves to eat stuff off the floor, so I have to constantly be scanning the ground,” Rosario says one recent summer morning while walking Reggie through Tompkins Square Park.

Rosario began working for Rover in 2014. He used to teach citizenship classes, and worked as a supervisor for a dog-walking company in Harlem before moving to Rover full time. He says he’s heard of Wag but hasn’t investigated the platform since he’s happy with his current work situation.

“I realized I just wanted to be responsible for myself,” Rosario says. “Rover helps me feel independent.”

Rover worker Juan Rosario takes smooth fox terrier Rudy for a walk.

Rosario walks pibble Reggie every weekday.

Drogo with Rosario.

He completes around seven Rover walks a day and rarely has to travel far from his apartment to get to his appointments. He receives a key to Berger’s apartment from the building’s doorman, though the rest of his clients’ apartments are accessible via Rover lockboxes placed on apartment doors and window bars or attached to nearby bike racks.

“I do have some non-Rover dog-walking clients, but I like the technology of the app because it eliminates the, ‘Hey, did you get my dog yet?’ texts,” he says. “Plus, there’s insurance coverage for their apartments, so if Reggie breaks out of his kennel and ruins Zach’s place, I’m covered.”

Reggie suddenly stops dead in his tracks, his eyes glued to a dog park. Two shaggy Lakeland terriers are wrestling while a goofy-looking boxer sunbathes belly-up on a park bench. Reggie whimpers, pulling hard on his leash.

“He really wants to go inside, but I don’t do dog parks,” Rosario says, tugging Reggie away. “It’s way too much of a liability. Dogs can get injured quickly.” He pats Reggie’s head: “I know it looks fun, but there’s diseases in there, and I’d rather be safe than sorry. Sorry!”

At the end of every walk, Rosario opens the Rover app and fills out a Rover Card, which is not unlike a school report card. It shows Berger a map of Reggie’s walk, as well as the number of times he peed and pooped. (Wag has a similar feature, except it one-ups Rover by allowing walkers to place poop and pee emojis along the route so owners know exactly where the business gets done.) Rosario will also add a short written report of their rendezvous.

Rosario leaves Zach Berger’s apartment with Reggie.

Walking dogs with Rover can be lucrative if you’re aggressive, Rosario says. He earns $12 for every 30-minute walk and $18 for every 60-minute walk; this summer, he’s averaging a monthly Rover income of $1,700. The average part-time salary of a Rover worker is said to be about $1,000 a month, while those who treat it like a full-time job can, according to some accounts, earn about $3,300 a month. Rosario typically starts his workday around noon, but like his clients, he sometimes spends his evenings working late. He is someone who could benefit from an on-demand service like Rover, so does he hire anyone to walk his own dogs?

“Absolutely not,” he says with a chuckle. “I do not have that luxury.”

Rosario says he feels comfortable handling all types of animals; he has experience walking big dogs and also owns a pibble like Reggie. As a Rover worker, though, he is still put at risk daily. While the company offers insurance coverage for damages to Rover users’ homes and for pet injuries, it doesn’t offer coverage to its workers, who operate as independent contractors. This lack of worker coverage is common for companies in the gig economy; Uber and Lyft have come under fire for similar policies.

A Harlem-based Wag walker named Lexi says that during her onboarding with Wag last year, she inquired about accident coverage for workers. Dogs bite, cats scratch, shit happens. Would Wag help her if she got injured? Lexi says her question was met with disbelief.

“I understand they can’t give us health insurance,” she says, “but it didn’t feel good that not only would the company not protect the walkers on the job, I was actually laughed at for asking.”

John Lapham, Rover’s general counsel, is blunt about how he sees his company’s 200,000-plus contractors. He explains Rover’s worker liability this way: “If you walk into a store and you trip and get hurt, versus you walk into a store and you trip and get hurt while walking a Rover dog, it’s the same thing. What happens to an individual on a half-hour walk with a Rover dog can’t be different than what happens during the other 23 and a half hours a day.”

“I got bit pretty bad by a dog and it made me question this whole model”

The bottom line is that Rover isn’t about to start offering health coverage to its huge network of contractors. As Lapham puts it, that’s because the startup is first and foremost for pets. This is why it covers vet bills but won’t help pay for a worker’s trip to the hospital.

“The thing we’re most focused on,” he says, “is how do we continue to let people find each other through the platform — that is, facilitate dog boarding and dog walking.”

These kinds of dismissals of worker safety, as well as the economics of the businesses, have turned off some contractors.

“I got bit pretty bad by a dog and it made me question this whole model,” says Sammy, an aspiring model who consistently earned five-star reviews during the two years he walked dogs for Wag and Rover. After he realized these companies wouldn’t cover his medical costs, he decided to take matters into his own hands, using the apps to build his own roster of clients, who now pay him on Venmo.

“They take a huge cut from us but then don’t really have our interests at heart,” he says, “so I don’t mind taking their customers.”

In July, Wag told Nicole DiCarlo it was going to stop looking for Norman the Chihuahua. It said it would continue to monitor its tip hotline, just in case, and offered to make a donation to a dog charity of DiCarlo’s choice.

Wag told Vox that “based on a forensic analysis of evidence we collected during the search, we sadly believe that Norman likely was struck and killed by a vehicle shortly after he went missing. His parents asked us to continue the search, which we did through the end of July and then scaled it back after our CEO met with one of Norman’s parents to let her know. We are leaving the tip hotline and reward active to support his owners as they continue to look for him, and we will follow up on any leads received.”

Nicole DiCarlo and her boyfriend Cody Hunt have plastered New York City with signs for their missing Chihuahua.

DiCarlo and her boyfriend Cody Hunt have written off services like Wag. Ever since Norman’s story was published by the New York Post, several pet owners have reached out to DiCarlo to share how their pets were lost by Wag and Rover. Following its Norman coverage, the Post has continued to diligently cover dogs gone missing with Wag: a Chihuahua named Sweets, a goldendoodle named Simba, a Chihuahua-dachshund mix named Freddie, a black Jindo mix named Teddy.

It turns out that plenty of dogs have been lost, hurt, or killed while in Wag and Rover’s care. Pet horror stories involving the startups span the country, with cases in Georgia, New Jersey, California, Florida, Colorado, and Illinois, among many other states. Last year, a dog in Las Vegas drowned while being watched by a Rover sitter. In 2015, a pug-Chihuahua mix from Brooklyn named Duckie was hit by a car and killed while out with a Wag walker. That same year, a Los Angeles poodle was fatally mauled while with a Rover boarder.

Both Wag and Rover say they work hard to prevent these situations, and point to their 24-hour live support hotlines as proof. They say the hotlines are manned around the clock to offer help in all conceivable situations, from an owner not satisfied with a service to a worker who has lost a dog. Rover’s hotline team initiates search efforts and hires people to posts flyers for missing animals. Wag’s does the same, and the company has spent as much as $30,000 and even deployed drones to look for a lost dog.

But these PR nightmares don’t match up with the startups’ shiny promises, so the companies do what they can to keep these stories out of the public eye. In 2017, Wag slapped a family with a cease-and-desist letter demanding they take down angry Facebook posts about the company losing their Long Island Lab-beagle mix; Wag also reportedly offered the family $2,500 to stop talking to the press. Additionally, both Wag and Rover have paid upset pet owners settlements in exchange for signing nondisclosure agreements.

Elaine Conoly, whose dachshund was killed by another dog present at her Rover sitter’s home, is a member of a Facebook group for former Rover users who say their pets were killed while in the startup’s care. Some of the members have gotten settlements from the company. Though Conoly wasn’t offered a settlement, she says she wouldn’t have taken one. She prefers to be able to speak out against the company publicly.

“What is the 100 percent Rover Guarantee?” she asks. “It simply means if they kill your dog, it’s good for business because they don’t have to pay for vet bills. I’m seeking damages so people actually see what they were getting, which is no guarantee that your dog won’t be returned in a cooler or an envelope.”

Conoly says that since her story got out, about a dozen pet owners have contacted her with similar stories. All are shocked that the company hasn’t reached out to them.

“I’m seeking damages so people actually see what they were getting, which is no guarantee that your dog won’t be returned in a cooler or an envelope”

“The ‘Our Condolences’ automated email I got is the same one all of the other victims had gotten and is Rover’s one and only communication,” she says. “This is not the response of people who love dogs. While nothing will ever bring Wally back to me, they could have offered grieving services, reimbursed me for the vacation they destroyed, sent a care package to my other dog — a simple ‘I’m sorry’ is not good enough.”

A spokesperson for Rover says the company is “devastated over Ms. Conoly’s situation.”

“The safety of pets on our platform is our top priority,” the spokesperson continued. “In the extremely rare event that a pet passes during a stay, our focus is on supporting their owner. We ensure that the service has been refunded and cover all veterinary expenses, including aftercare.”

Angry comments all over Wag and Rover’s social media accounts further underscore users’ dissatisfaction with the companies’ policies and workers. Angry pet owners gripe that they can’t get in touch with Wag over the phone to take care of issues like reimbursement, while others criticize Rover for not kicking irresponsible dog sitters off the platform, even after official complaints have been filed. “The only decent people in the walking business are the dogs,” reads a comment on Wag’s Facebook page. Complaints litter the Better Business Bureau’s site too.

When asked about dogs that have gone missing or been killed under their care, both Wag and Rover maintain such incidents are rare.

“We do millions of walks a year and we’re fortunate to have very few incidents relative to the volume of walks we complete,” says Schneider of Wag. “But we do take any incident very seriously, and we’re a learning organization.”

“When you start doing a million bookings a month, you need to be prepared for everything,” says Rover’s Easterly. “This is why we’re here 24/7 and have overinvested in our trust and safety team and emergency teams. We have the best practices for this, similar to Uber or Airbnb.”

In July, Wag hired Uber’s director of trust and safety research Heather Rothenberg. Under her leadership, Wag’s Trust and Safety team is now restructuring into a “case management system rather than a customer service one, so owners have one person they’re in touch with,” she says. “I’m also really excited to start teaming up with experts to develop training and information videos for our walkers.”

Rosario fastens Reggie’s harness.

Videos are likely not enough. The current Wag and Rover onboarding processes involve a background check, a quiz about basic dog care, an online video lesson on the app’s interface, and a harness test (Wag’s harness test is in person, while Rover’s is done online). Neither company requires prior pet experience, and neither makes first aid or CPR certifications mandatory — accreditations that are standard in pet care, according to Lynda Mortensen, who owns the pet services company Bay Area Pet Pals and has been in the industry for 10 years.

“It’s really not like anyone can or should be taking care of dogs,” says Mortensen. “I think anyone without CPR or first aid shouldn’t call themselves trained in pet care.”

Even current Rover and Wag walkers say the training isn’t adequate.

“It was really basic, bare-bones training,” Lexi says of Wag. “I felt like more time was spent on the functionality of the app and less on how to actually interact with dogs, and or making sure you know what you’re doing once you’re in the field. As a dog owner and someone who, in general, is comfortable with dogs, I felt really nervous and unprepared for my first walk.”

Sandra Roosa recently left a review on Trustpilot calling Rover’s training “a complete joke.”

“There should be a written test about dog safety for all sitters signed up for the app where you emphasize using backup collars and leashes and at least an hour-long basic CPR course,” Roosa wrote. “[Rover’s test] is incredibly unsafe and idiotic. Rover is clearly not at all dedicated to making sure safety comes first — you choose to test a walker’s knowledge on Rover Cards over how to handle a lost or injured dog situation, or how to prevent these incidents to begin with. Priorities?”

Wag and Rover’s meteoric rise in the face of so much controversy is yet another example of the remarkable resilience of tech companies that make our lives easier. The growth of both startups has been seemingly unencumbered by reports of dead dogs, uninsured workers, and unhappy customers. The convenience factor — Wag and Rover’s true, if not wholly original, innovation — is winning out.

It’s a familiar story in Silicon Valley. Take Uber, which became the subject of public outrage and a #DeleteUber campaign after it appeared to be in support of President Trump’s 2017 executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country. Just weeks later, allegations of sexual harassment at the company were published. Nevertheless, today the company is experiencing rapid user growth, with bookings up 41 percent in the last quarter. Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal has made the company the least trusted in tech, but a recent poll found that three-quarters of Facebook users still use the social media network as much as or more than they did before the scandal.

It isn’t just the public’s willingness to forgive and forget that indicates Wag and Rover are destined for further success. They’ve both got big money on their side. T. Rowe Price, the global asset management firm that was an early investor in both Uber and Facebook, led Rover’s most recent $125 million funding round. Wag has Softbank’s landmark $100 billion fund to thank for its latest $300 million.

Still, both companies must innovate in order to keep their investors’ tails wagging. Rover plans to expand into other on-demand pet services like grooming. Before that, though, it’s working out its global ambitions, having recently expanded to London and opening for business in Germany later this year.

Wag is looking into ways it can further differentiate its walking service. Among the new features it’s piloting is one that allows users to request how far they want their pet walked. This is in response to owners becoming obsessed with their pet’s fitness, Schneider says, “while there are others who just want their dog to get outside and smell the roses but not be pushed one bit further.” Wag is also testing food (fresh-cooked, no less), which is where the big margins in the pet industry come from.

The never-ending parade of products and services pet parents are willing to splurge on are sure to provide growth opportunities for quite a while.

Schneider says Wag has been thinking about the full life cycle of a dog, from purchasing and adoption through puppy life up to the very end. “All the services that you use today that don’t come to you ultimately could come to you,” she says. She added that she recently had to put down her own dog. ��It’s an example of a service that can be much better than taking a dog to a vet.”

On-demand doggy euthanasia? Now that would be something.

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Original Source -> The startup world’s cuddly, cutthroat battle to walk your dog

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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