#caranthira

Actually, question, are there any real life cities that have Eskew vibes?

This is technically from a while ago, but I think---in all honesty, in all earnestness---all cities have Eskew vibes.

(Yes, even that one. Yes, that one too. And that one. And---)

I think it is impossible to create a city that's not a little fucked up, that doesn't have a gaping maw at the center of it. I've lived in a lot of cities, personally (Chicagoland, Detroit, Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago again) and can attest to their very heart being something deep and consuming. A city wants to swallow you whole, and turn you into food and fodder; that's what a city is for. To turn you into something it can use. The idea that there are some places that exempt themselves somehow, doesn't make sense.

It's much easier to believe that instead, every city has its preferred mode of consumption...

Behind the scenes at the zoo while I was docent training years ago, I got to handle a skin taken from a snow leopard in his prime when he became infected with a prion disease and had to be euthanized. It was tragic, they lost half their big cats to it and the big cat keepers were genuinely traumatized, but they kept this guy’s pelt to respectfully honor him in death and allow him to keep educating people about his species so they could educate others (yes, docents get asked ‘how soft are they’ a lot). I didn’t finish the training due to health reasons, but I am glad I advanced that far.

As soft as you think they are? As soft you want them to be? I am delighted to tell you, friends, they are exactly that soft. It was like petting a stormcloud. Unforgettable. The big ones, like this guy was, are about the size of a small adult human, so, they probably aren’t as big as you think. The pelt was so heavy.  I’ve handled all kinds of pelts and hides, and they are generally pretty light, but this thing had incredible heft to it, with very thick skin and the densest fur I’ve seen on anything not a chinchilla. The fur had almost no nap, it stood out nearly completely straight from the body. The tail was so thick and heavy, like an ARM, and you could feel how useful it would be in balancing.  The paws, with claws, were massive and you could feel that they would have been very squishy when alive. The claws were big and bitterly curved, but not as big as I had expected. And how tender the fur on the forehead was, dense and soft and sprinkled with spots in the pattern of which was faintly visible the \M/ of the household tabby.  I cried a little at that bit. He had been real and breathing and beautiful, and while I don’t know that he had ever been kissed on his forehead by a human, he had been loved.  Prion disease is just terrible.

If only we could have thousands like him, snuggling us in our homes.  Such beautiful creatures. Can you imagine looking into these eyes every day? All cats are gifts, but snow leopards are positively divine.

you’ve only been there for like a day though? let yourself get over the jetlag at least