Dogs: angels or whatever the equivalent is. good spirits

Cats: mystical beings from another dimension that don't always interact well with our physics. kind hearted but very confused

Birds: literally dinosaurs trapped in very small bodies

Frogs: small spirits of other frogs

Fish: ????? No idea

Snakes: former kitchen witches that left their stove on when they went to work at least twice in their life. floppy

Crabs: fae horses

Ah, yes, I did notice you listing a few fictional instances of them.

when I was a kid, the first time i saw a screamer online legit gave me nightmares for days, if I could even sleep at all. I'd see this spooky ass face staring at me in the dark and I was terrified it was gonna hurt me

until one night I was laying in bed and made the very deliberate choice to change how I saw this face. Instead of it being a threat, it was now my spooky demon protector who could keep me safe from even worse things

She had blood running down her face and unnaturally wide eyes but she would protect me from anything worse. In my head, I was friends with the spooky demon girl

This technique worked incredibly well. I wasn't afraid of her anymore and because she was protecting me I wasn't afraid of much else.

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