#zippy

@argyropoeiaa went "how do rocky do pushups question?" the other day and I couldn't stop thinking about it

[ID: fanart gif of Zippy from Three Houses and Rocky from Project Hail Mary doing pushups/end ID]

For context, you may wish to read "Zippy," available on my DeviantArt gallery. One year ago, Zippy left me.

From Zippy by p.b. wells

I wasn't looking for a home. I had the street. it had rhythm and rot. it had the kind of silence only empty bottles and late-night drunks understand. but then you showed up with your hands full of worry and that dumb soft voice, like you were talking to a ghost, you hoped would listen.

I watched you for days. you smelled like coffee and deadlines. you walked like you had bricks in your pockets. but you looked at me like I mattered. so I walked in. simple as that.

I picked the spots I liked. didn’t ask. didn’t explain. top of the dining table? Mine. that beat-up recliner? Mine too… once you were in it. I’d sit on your lap, just long enough to remind you the world wasn’t all bills and regrets. you needed a heater. I was warm. we had a deal.

that window at night? that was my cinema. no plot. just cars slicing the dark, the occasional deer running from headlights or a raccoon running from nothing. you’d shuffle through the house like a ghost, mumbling to the walls, and I’d wait for you to settle so I could come do my job: silent company. soft purring. the whole goddamn spa treatment for a soul I knew was tired.

you scratched behind my ear like you meant it. not many humans do things like that. not without wanting something back. but you just… did it, like it was the only way you knew to show love, without asking for anything in return. I liked that.

I felt it coming. the end. the slowing. the stillness behind the stillness. my legs stopped listening. the dark got darker. but I stayed until I couldn’t.

and now you sit in that chair like you’re waiting for a ghost. you stare at the window like I did. you shuffle through the house like you’re made of sleep. but I was there. I was there. and you were good to me. better than most.

don’t let the silence fool you: I didn’t just vanish. some part of me is still purring right there, between your damn ribs.

remember me.

More Creature Con art, this time featuring Zippy from @emptybeb, Lapis from @writingravencove and Mikey from @the-most-neon-leon with what I lovingly refer to as the Sheet Beast