Rat Creature's Journal

I've just come back from getting my three baby rats, who are tiny and adorable. They are still a bit shy, mostly hiding in one of their tubes, but they've already found the food and water and are coming out to grab bits of food only to hide again to eat it. So they are not easy to photograph yet, but starting to settle in.

In case anyone is interested, here are the answers to who my favorites are in fandoms I listed:
( if you don't want to guess )

Gacked from astridv:
1. Post a list of up to 20 books/movies/anime/TV shows/video games/bands that you've had an obsessive fannish love or interest in at some time in your life.
2. Have your f-list guess your favourite character/member from each item.

( cut for the list )

( spoilers for 1x05 )

Does anyone else have trouble with the Cascade Library site? I wanted to check something for fanlore and it didn't load right.

Right now for me sometimes pages load with the proper content, but sometimes some kind of weird spam site loads, with annoying links and I assume malicious Javascript. (I have NoScript on, and linux tends to have vulnerabilities different from Windows which is most commonly targeted by website hacks, so I don't know what it does to other computers.) Has skeeter63.org been hacked? I have the same problem with all the site's there, that sometimes they load okay and sometimes this crap loads. It might not be a good idea to go there right now if you don't have NoScript and adequate precautions enabled, but I'm wondering what is up with the domain.

Doubt, by ALEO. Gen, Don Eppes. (ca. 8,300 words)
Numb3rs/Supernatural
I recced the previous two stories in this series already (Unexplained and Explained), and this one is a good read too. The Supernatural world functions more as a vehicle for Don-whump than as equal crossover partner in this one, but it's not as if I dislike seeing Don hurt, and angst while he adjusts his worldview to the supernatural.

Unwilling Oracle, by Beatrice Otter. Gen, John Crichton, Kira Nerys. (ca. 1,870 words)
Farscape/Star Trek: Deep Space 9
This has a really cool premise meshing the wormhole mythologies.

Angels in the Architecture , by Davincis_girl. (ca. 12,000 words)
Supernatural/Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
I think the two universes are a great mix, especially when it comes to the various teenage experiences of growing up with pseudo-military training, and here John Connor travels back to 1999 and gets the teenaged Sam and Dean to help him.

Downloaded series, by Ennyousai. Slash and het, Kirk/McCoy, Scotty/Six. WIP (for the series, the stories are finished)
Battlestar Galactica (2003)/Star Trek: Reboot
I'm not familiar with BSG, but the author's notes said it would work if you just knew ST and it did work great as a Star Trek AU.

The Time Has Come to Be Gone, by Jujuberry136. Gen. (ca. 28,950 words)
Criminal Minds/Supernatural
I enjoy stories with the Criminal Minds team meeting and dealing with the Winchesters, and this one is a good action/case story.

The Mutant Problem, by Katt. Gen. (ca. 7,900 words)
Spider-Man/X-Men
This is a very cool multimedia fanfic in the form of a fictional photo essay by Peter Parker.

Pigs in Spaaaaaaaace, by Kayim. (ca. 2,580 words)
Muppets/Star Trek
How could I not love a crossover between Star Trek and Pigs in Space?

For I Have Been a Stranger in a Foreign Land, by Mortigi_tempo. Slash, Kirk/Spock. WIP (ca. 10,000 words so far)
Dune/Star Trek: Reboot
This is a very cool crossover setup. Kirk and Spock get stranded on Arrakis.

Northern Lights, by Se_parsons. Gen. (ca. 9,700 words)
Supernatural/The X-Files
In this one we get an outsider POV of the Winchester family as Mulder and Scully run into them during an investigation.

To Become Immortal, First You Have to Die, by ShadowLoverK. Gen. (ca. 3,200 words)
Highlander/Star Trek: Reboot
Kirk is an immortal and has his first death from an allergic reaction during the movie.

Abnormal Psychology (ca. 1,440 words) and A Sam Adams Moment (ca. 1,500 words), by Siriaeve. Gen, Sweets, John Sheppard.
Bones/Stargate: Atlantis
Sweets working for the SGC is just an awesome and funny premise.

A Thousand Pages, by Tartanshell. Gen, Scott Summers, Matt Murdock. (ca. 6,250 words)
Daredevil/X-Men
In this Matt and Scott were penpals fo a while as teenagers, then meet again as adults.

Harry Potter

House Colours, by Sarka. Slash, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy. (ca. 12,800 words)
This is a Slytherin!Harry with Gryffindor!Draco AU, and I really enjoyed it, not least because it had a Ron who was first friends with Draco and then Harry, rather than the Ron-bashing that is so depressingly common in Slytherin!Harry stories.

Stargate: Atlantis

Snakeheads: A Love Story, by Leah. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard/OMC. (ca. 17,600 words)
I never really expected to read a John/Rodney/Goa'uld threesome, but this was written by Leah, so of course I gave it a try, and wasn't disappointed. This one was far more fun than you'd expect with this setup.

The Little Sister, by Martha. Slash, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard. WIP
I like film noir AUs, and ever since Vegas I like seeing Sheppard as down on his luck detective even more, but what makes this AU great is that the alternate reality is still based on Stargate. The setup is really intriguing, and I like that in it the Goa'uld were smarter in their take over of earth, smart enough that the majority doesn't even think of them as bad guys.

Strange Aeon, by Slybrarian. Slash, Sheppard/Mitchell, Sheppard/Lorne. WIP (ca. 32,000 words so far)
How could anyone resist a mix of Lovecraftian space monsters and with Stargate? The series is still a WIP, and I'm really enjoy how this is subtly different from canon, and the world building and hints of mythology so far have me hooked. And I like Cam in Atlantis.

To the Wide Outposts (ca. 7,490 words) and The Known From the Unknown (ca. 12,000 words), by Vain_glorious. Gen, Ronon Dex, John Sheppard.
I've recced the other two stories in this series (Where the Ways Divide and In the Nights When I Am Lone) already, but in case you missed these two that have been posted since my last recs update, it doesn't hurt to point the 'verse out again. In it Sheppard has been made a runner by the Wraith and is found and taken in by Ronon and his Satedan squad.

Star Trek: Reboot

Open Up My Eager Eyes, by June. Slash and femslash, Kirk/Spock, Uhura/Gaila. (ca. 15,000 words)
This is a fusion with Pump Up the Volume that was written for reel_startrek. I really enjoyed this, even though I'm not particularly into high school AUs or into making Spock a human/loosing the SF elements in Trek fiction.

Lensflare Lover, by Leftarrow. Het, Pike/Enterprise, Pike/Number One. (ca. 7,300 words)
This has a cool premise in which the spaceships have avatars.

In Truth, by Mint_amaretto. Slash and het, Kirk/McCoy, Spock/Uhura. (ca. 3,570 words)
This is a really creepy, twisted AU, as any mix with the Dollhouse concept (not the series itself, more the basic premise) should be.

The Sky Was Made for Us Tonight, by Waketosleep. Slash, Kirk/Spock. (ca. 5,500 words)
In this AU Vulcans decided to supervise humanity more closely, and Kirk and Spock are delinquent rebels together after meeting in a holding cell and staging a prison break. I enjoyed this scenario a lot.

Supernatural

Untitled SPN Snippet, by Cofax. Gen. (ca. 1,300 words)
I wanted this to be longer and an apocafic epic rather than a snippet, but the world building was still interesting.

Teufelshunde, by July. Gen. WIP
In this AU Sam and Dean grow up with a foster parent after John has been arrested. I really like the OC and the structure with the flashbacks here works for me, even though flashbacks aren't my favorite things.

Rain Falling Down, by Maychorian. Gen, Bobby, Castiel, Jimmy, Dean, John. WIP (the series, individual stories are finished, ca. 20,000 words so far)
In this AU Castiel travels back in time to prevent the apocalyse, but things go wrong and he gets stuck in his host as a kid without his full powers, and lots of angst and h/c ensue.

And Burn the Long-liv'd Phoenix in her Blood, by Tabaqui. Gen. (ca. 6,800 words)
In this AU Mary survives, but they still hunt. I enjoyed the setup and look at their lives.

( technically a spoiler for CSI 10x04, I guess, but not for the plot )

( spoilers for SPN 5x05 Fallen Idols )

The aim to make your tv series appear "dark" or "edgy" or "gritty" or whatever does not mean that the screen has to be literally too dark to make out anything. I get that there are mood lighting choices, and atmosphere through colors and so on, but it completely defeats any kind of purpose if your viewer can't see or follow what's going on. It is not all that sinister if you have to squint and guess what is happening. Seriously, things can be dark and edgy even if there is a lightsource somewhere! (This was brought on by me trying to watch SGU, but really it applies to a lot of series.)

( spoilers for 2x02 and 2x03 )

( just a quick reaction )

As the Archive of Our Own is doing performance testing of the new servers, I was doing random searches, but this reminded me why I normally don't do this. I saw explicit Joseph Ratzinger RPS. Yikes. Just when I thought I couldn't be surprised anymore.

( spoilers for SPN 5x03 )

( spoilers for Merlin 2x01 )

As You Are, by 13empress. Slash, Kirk/Spock. (ca. 10,700 words)
I don't often rec PWPs, but this one has a really cool perspective, in that it is alien-kink, but from Spock's POV, so the humans are the ones looked at through the xenobiology lense. The AU premise (though I guess it could converge with canon) is that before Spock attends Starfleet Academy he wants to have a human sexual experience, as he has heard all kinds of things about human sexuality. So he spends a day with rentboy!Kirk. It's not humor, but not extremely angsty either.

Emil
8.3.2007 - 11.9.2009

I had Emil put down this afternoon. The vet said that with this rapid a decline it was most likely a tumor inside, and that there was no sense to try antibiotics further in the bad condition he was in. And he had been suffering the last few days. (I even thought for a moment earlier today that he had died on his own because his body was so cold when I checked on him and he didn't react anymore, but after a moment I saw and heard that he was still breathing.)

Anyway, I cuddled with him for a while at home to say goodbye, hoping that even though he didn't seem very aware anymore he maybe still enjoyed being with me and lying on a warm body when his own wasn't even maintaining body temperature anymore, and then I brought him to vet to end his misery.

I hope I helped make the two and a half years he had a good life for him. He was only sick for a short time, barely two weeks, and he had never any health problems before, so he was luckier than many of my other rats. Though of course today it doesn't feel lucky.

( some photos of Emil )

For the first time in years I am without rats. It feels very lonely.

I called the vet this morning to ask whether there would be any sense in bringing Emil in, but they don't have any results yet on the cultures from the nasal swap, and they would not be able to do anything to help. Meanwhile Emil has been awful. If I wasn't clinging to the small chance that an antibiotic might help yet (though the vet thinks with his rapid decline and his apathy there might be an internal tumor as well), I would have taken him to be put down today.

Instead I'm trying my best to provide sick care, ( cut for bodily fluids, sickness details. )

Emil is much worse. The second antibiotic hasn't been doing anything, except maybe have side effects, because he's been getting more and more lethargic and eating less in a much more rapid decline than I'm used to seeing with such a lung problem. Today was an especially bad decline. He hasn't eaten anything or come out of his house at all that I have seen. :( :( :(

Meanwhile I had brought him to the vet yesterday (then he wasn't quite as bad) because the antibiotic wasn't working, and the vet did a nasal swap to grow cultures and test antibiotics on them to see which might still work (if any). But of course the results aren't in yet. And the vet told me to give the previous antibiotic until then so that's what I have been doing, though with the rapid decline I'm now suspecting that side effects may have made him worse (Ignatz had a similar decline due to an antibiotic once though that was a different one). But of course I don't know for sure.

I still hope there'll be an antibiotic, and that he'll hold on until then, but he's been awful today. He has not even groomed himself, so his nose and eyes are crusted over with snot and the red stuff that comes from rats immune systems when they are sick.

My elderly rat Emil (now two and a half) who had a remarkably robust health until now, has started to develop the usual awful breathing problems of older rats. He's now on the second antibiotic, after the first did nothing, and we've been playing out a daily drama with me trying to get the disgusting stuff into him.

The first antibiotic was at least only a small amount (0.2ml) but with the second I have to give 1ml. Supposedly this one is designed to be given orally to pets and tastes okay, but it smells disgusting. I have never given this before, and I got a drop on my t-shirt that Emil spit out in his struggling, and the mere smell is horrible. Sort of like a fake not-vanilla, only chalkier. It's really hard to describe. As this is a rat who notices fruit starting to go off way before me, it's not wonder he's resisting. Yesterday the vet got it into him, but that was with two people, i.e. the assistant immobilized Emil, and the vet squeezed the antibiotic into his mouth. Living alone I don't have that advantage, and Emil is also much less intimidated with me. On the bright side he didn't pee on me like he did with the vet's assistant either, so in that sense less terror is good.

Still, I got a reasonable amount of the stuff into his mouth and held him upright a bit afterwards so he had to swallow instead of being able to spit it out or wipe it off, and I hope it'll be enough, and that it works.