34: PetPaper
This is a response to this great prompt by @octopus-reactivated. Thank you for the inspiration! 💐
CW: institutionalised slavery, dehumanisation, box boy universe
Lydia walked sleepily down the staircase, aiming for coffee. Coriander was already dressed and awake. He was crouched down on his pillow and was busily writing on something on the floor.
“Good morning, love.” Lydia said. “What are you up to?”
He looked slightly nervously up at her from underneath his bangs.
“It - it is a magazine. It came in the mail and it is for pets. Was… was it all right for t-this pet to use it?”
“Of course! I’m glad you did.”
When the coffee was ready, Coriander had gone out to the garden to see if there were any strawberries that had reddened during the night. Lydia thought with satisfaction that Cory really was making a lot of progress, daring to take his own initiatives and everything. She metaphorically patted herself on the back, he was really improving.
She picked up the glossy magazine with idle curiosity. It was wrapped in a paper jacket with an offer for a subscription. On the front page, in round, colourful, friendly-looking letters was the title: “PetPaper”.
The cover image had three young boxies, two male and one female, sitting in a wicker basket on a green lawn, looking smilingly up into the camera. They all wore leather collars and cutesy velour jumpsuits with hoods with ears. One of them was dressed like a bunny, one like a brown dog and the third like a cat.
The headlines of the articles ran:
“Advice for getting an autumn pet.”
“Pros and Cons of allowing your pet human food.”
“15 ways to discipline your pet that helps keep you fit.”
“Which whip to choose - in-depth review.”
Feeling faintly sick, Lydia turned over the magazine without opening it.
On the very last page was a picture of a happy female boxie on a leash waiting outside a fruit grocers on a sunny day, the dotted line clarified that it was meant to be cut out and tacked to a wall. The other half of the page was filled with a simple cross-word puzzle that Cory had solved. It spelled out the word: ‘Companion’.
The question for the second to last letter was: What are happy pets? (8 letters) with the answer pre-printed to explain the exercise: “Obedient”.
The very last question said: What do bad pets deserve? (4 letters).
Cory had filled it in with blue ballpoint ink in his neat, rounded handwriting: “PAIN”.
Tag list: @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-em @whumpzone @wh-wh-whu @neuro-whump @carnagecardinal @cowboy-anon @whump-me-all-night-long @redwingedwhump @myst-in-the-mirror @haro-whumps @eatyourdamnpears @bloodsweatandpotato @pinkraindropsfell @whumptywhumpdump @theydy-cringeworthy @whump-in-progress @whumpsy-daisy @nicolepascaline @whumpcreations @briars7 @shiningstarofwinter @whumppsychology @alex-ember @miss-kitty-whumptastic @whumpy-writings @in-patient-princess @youtube-fandoms-bands @goblinchildindabog @mazeish @distinctlywhumpthing @inpainandsuffering @canniboylism @icannotweave @incoherent-introspection @kim-poce @broken-typewriters @the-monarch-whumperfly
