{"id":7946,"date":"2016-12-28T04:33:37","date_gmt":"2016-12-28T04:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/12\/28\/manyblinkinglights-roachpatrol\/"},"modified":"2016-12-28T04:33:37","modified_gmt":"2016-12-28T04:33:37","slug":"manyblinkinglights-roachpatrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2016\/12\/28\/manyblinkinglights-roachpatrol\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

manyblinkinglights<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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roachpatrol<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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sapphicaquarius<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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tsfennec<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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roachpatrol<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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prokopetz<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve seen a lot of videos going around of urban-dwelling critters coming to humans for help with various problems, ranging from boxes stuck on their heads to young trapped down a storm drain, and it\u2019s gotten me to thinking:<\/p>\n

On the one hand, it\u2019s kind of fascinating that they know to do that.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, setting any questions of how this sort of behaviour must have arisen aside for the nonce, does it ever strike you how weird<\/b> it is that we\u2019ve got a whole collection of prey species whose basic problem-solving script ends with the step \u201cif all else fails, go bother one of the local apex predators and maybe they\u2019ll fix the problem for no reason\u201d?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

well, come to think of it, we\u2019re at the top of the food chain but we almost exclusively hunt and kill prey\u00a0out in the country<\/i>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

raccoons and possums and foxes and crows all succeed in an urban environment because they\u2019re opportunistic and observant. and almost none of them would have observed us pounce on one of their species and then start eating it, you know?\u00a0a lot of them would have observed that we scream and chase them out of wherever we don\u2019t want them to be, but other animals are territorial too. but there\u2019s a number of situations where humans feed whoever\u2019s bold enough to take them up on the offer, and we do<\/i> tend to pull garbage off of other animals as soon as they slow down enough for us to catch. \u2018a human got me but nothing bad happened\u2019 is a much more frequent thing than \u2018a human got me and tried to eat me\u2019. \u00a0<\/p>\n

anyway like, we\u2019re masters of our environment, we make weird shit happen all the time, we have lots of great food and sometimes we share, and we almost never eat someone. it makes sense for urban animals, over the last century or so, to just keep an eye out for opportunities to use us, and to pass the habit on to their kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It really is a weird, funny thing. Like yeah, technically they\u2019re predators, and they get pretty screamy, especially if you try to take any of their stuff\u2026 but given the chance it seems like they\u2019d rather help us out and sometimes they\u2019ll just randomly give you food, so???<\/p>\n

I mean, I guess in fairytales and myths we\u2019ve got our fair share of stories about dangerous people\/creatures who might well kill you or otherwise ruin your life, but to whom people nonetheless turn for help in desperate circumstances. So it\u2019s not like the perspective is exactly a foreign thing to our own mindset, really\u2026 It\u2019s just that, y\u2019know, we can\u2019t actually<\/i> go make a deal with the faeries when there\u2019s something we can\u2019t figure out.<\/p>\n

(Which brings me to an interesting thought about the ubiquitous rule about never eating the faery food lest you find yourself forever unsatisfied with anything in the human world – and the potential parallels to the dangers of feeding wildlife human<\/i> food lest they become addicted and too tame and dependent to be safe for either themselves or us. Hmm.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Okay, but that last bit with the Fae\u2026makes almost perfect sense.<\/p>\n

Of the stories I\u2019ve read, the food of the Fae, its origins and effects, are often strange and\/or obscure.- Just like our food to most animals.<\/p>\n

The Fae are strange beings that seem to know weird things that give them power or an edge over us.- Just like us to animals.<\/p>\n

The Fae work and live by strange rules also often nonsensical or obscure to us.- Just like us to animals.<\/p>\n

The Fae can easily obtain vast amounts of things we consider rare\/precious\/desireable, and have no problem with dishing it out wantonly for no other\u00a0reason than amusement.- Just like us to animals.<\/p>\n

The Fae sometimes are amused by having us around, but only on their terms and IF it amuses\/intrigues them.- Just like us to animals.<\/p>\n

GUYS, I SENSE A PATTERN\u2026.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

-they have arcane social conventions and the punishment for not paying the correct respects right is banishment, if you\u2019re lucky, and death if you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

-they have wild and unexpected parties where you\u2019d least expect to find them, but if you\u2019re bold enough to entertain them they\u2019ll feed you and caress you and play with you all night.<\/p>\n

-time runs strangely in their realm. their homes are summerlands: warm and bright, no matter the season. there is always fruit on their tables. but not everyone who comes in from the cold is let back out again. \u00a0<\/p>\n

-their games are cruel and complex and unfair, but if you can beat them by their own rules you will access riches beyond imagining.<\/p>\n

-sometimes they just fucking fuck with you, the fuckheads.<\/p>\n

-they will absolutely steal your children away. when your children return\u2014 if they ever do\u2014 they will come back strange. they will have magic earrings or necklaces or bracelets. they will know things they shouldn\u2019t. they won\u2019t know things that they should. your strange children might survive, might even prosper, might take wives and husbands and have children of their own. but they will always be marked by their time away from your world.<\/p>\n

-the price for pissing them off is always death. sometimes just you. sometimes your whole community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

-if you are very good, and very smart, and very brave, they will grant your wish.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

#we don\u2019t have fairies anymore #we\u2019re the fairies<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

manyblinkinglights: roachpatrol: sapphicaquarius: tsfennec: roachpatrol: prokopetz: I\u2019ve seen a lot of videos going around of urban-dwelling critters coming to humans for help with various problems, ranging from boxes stuck on their heads to young trapped down a storm drain, and it\u2019s gotten me to thinking: On the one hand, it\u2019s kind of fascinating that they … Continue reading <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3147,742],"class_list":["post-7946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-keepers","tag-reference","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}