[NETWORK] An Announcement

[landing_lights]

Who: Ade Bennett
Username: ade37
Warnings: Vague references to animal cruelty


Hi everyone. This is Ade. Just a quick announcement to expect some new faces around the office from here on out.

[ Here, he has attached a photo of three albino rats cuddled up in a little hammock inside their cage. It’s the cutest, most photogenic picture he could take with his limited photography skills. ]

These guys came from ADI’s medical labs, so it’s safe to say they’ve been through a lot. I thought I’d give them a well-earned retirement. Couldn’t get ADI to waive their no-pets policy in the apartments but they did say I could keep them in the HQ itself, so… here they are. I’ll be handling their upkeep, so no one else has to worry about it.

A few notes: please don’t feed them any junk food. They can eat fruits or vegetables sometimes as treats, but other than that, they should be sticking to rodent food from the pet store. Also, be gentle if you handle them, and don’t forget to make sure the cage door is fully latched when you put them back in. I’ve heard they can be real escape artists.

Finally, I hope nobody needs to hear this, but just in case: don’t be an arsehole. If you have a problem with the rats or don’t want them here, talk to me and I’ll work something out. Don’t take it out on them. Don’t manhandle them either. They’re animals, not toys. If you want to handle them and don’t know how, ask me and I’ll show you.

I’ll be hanging out here for a little bit, so if you want to come meet them, now’s a good time. Also: I don’t have nicknames for them yet. I still haven’t figured out how to tell them apart so I’ve been putting it off. If you can think of some good ones for three boy rats, go ahead and drop them here. Thanks.

Comments

[landing_lights]

I think they'd like that. They were really curious when I was walking around with them for the first time. Poor buggers probably never saw anything but the inside of a lab before.

They're across from the water coolers in the second-floor offices now. Figure it's a good spot for people-watching.

[lowficharm]

That does sound nice! At the very least I bet we could get them some of those little tubes I've seen hamsters in before. You know, so they can move around a bunch. I'm sure there must be some that are rat-sized... or we could make them, though I'm not sure how much ADI would want their time and resources going to that.

[landing_lights]

Might be a fun project. Though I think the tubes would have to be pretty roomy. I'd be worried about them getting stuck.

It wouldn't scare anyone to just take them out for a stroll every once and a while, would it? Not like there's a entity of rats or anything.

[lowficharm]

I'm sure someone must have done something like it before and put it online. Youtube should surface plenty of fun ideas.

Technically speaking though rats fall under the Corruption, I think. Any kind of, you know, 'creepy crawly', which I think could easily include bugs and mice if you were scared of diseases or things like that. They're broad categories, after all. Hard to fit everything anyone could be afraid of into a couple of options.

[landing_lights]

Really? Does that mean if someone is scared of them, it'll feed the Corruption?

[ Ade sure hopes not. Nothing about the Entities is fair, but it seems to add an additional layer of cruelty to have animals fall under their purview. ]

[lowficharm]

It's... well, kind of, but it's more complicated than that. It depends why they're afraid of them, really. But any kind of fear feeds the Entities no matter what. It's unavoidable to give them power because they're... well, all fear forever.

Or at least, that's how it seems to be. Anything that can be scared must have fear.