Allegra - Tumblr Posts

@sefu @senderidiumforuncesored drew my Borderlands OC Allegra. Tytyty vary much. I love it

IGNORE THE APPEARANCE WRITTEN DOWN BELOW, IT HAS CHANGED AND THE TOP PICTURE IS HER CURRENT FINAL LOOK

Name: Allegra Nickname: N/A Age: Early 20s Gender: Female Height: 6ft 7in Weight: 150blk

Occupation: Police Trainee (Eden-5/AGE: 16), Maliwan Security (Unknown Maliwan factory location/AGE:17), Maliwan Shipping (AGE:18), Hyperion R&D (AGE:19), Vault Hunter (AGE: 19+)

Appearance: Allegra is 6ft 7in. She has dark skin with glowing purple patterns throughout her body. Her eyes are glowing purple as well. She has white medium length hair. Her first layer of clothes are a top that looks like a bra and wrappings that cover her legs. Her second layer of clothes are something like a half shirt that’s ended by a belt. The belt has bullets on it and it’s where she has her Grenade. Her pants are ripped on the sides (That’s where you can see her under layer of wrapping) Her pants has 2 belts on it and a sash that drapes down. The belts hold her ClassMod, Grenade, and Sheild and the buckle has a Vault Symbol on it. Her Pistol and SMG is held on her side. Her Sniper, Shotgun, and Assault Rifle is located on her back.

Parents Mother: Cheif Alogana. She was 1 of the Cheif’s of Aegris. She led a small group of Savages. Her group lived in a cave for years. They have made a society from what they could scavenge from what was already inside the wreckage in the cave. With her leadership she made small advances for her people. They learned to farm and make do with their hunting skills. They learned how to make trapped. They advanced to the point that there society became like Hallow Point.

Father: Commander Jessup. He was head of the Eden-5 Police Force and Leader of the Inter Galactic Research & Exploration Federation (I.G.R.E.F) He would travel to other planets to research the different wildlife, people, and culture. His team had to make a stop to Aegris. They were going to research the bacteria and other resources of the planet in order to make better antidotes and medicines for the police force that travels other galaxies

History: Allegra was born on the planet Eden-5. Her mother was from Aegris and her father from Eden-5. At the age 3-12 she had a normal childhood. She attended private schools. She was always surrounded by wealth. Having people watch her all the time. Her mother didn’t like that but her father didn’t want her around other people. She was obviously different from the people of Eden-5, having more of her mother’s characteristics than her father’s. She was never targeted by anyone. Allegra always had good leadership abilities and she was vary smart. She had a interest in science and technology. Being surrounded by cops and researchers all her life, she took a big interest in guns and eridian research. At the age 14 she began studying Eridian Technology and later learned of The Vault. Her father began giving her tottering so she can further the knowledge. Her mother on the other hand did not understand and taught her how to use witchcraft. Allegra continued her study of Eridian research along with her witchcraft lessons for 4 years. During the 4 years she got her first job with her father on the police force and the age 16. Little did anyone know she made extra steps into her research. She began learning how to assemble and disassemble guns. Around the age 17 she left her job at the police force to work for Maliwan. She always wanted to learn how to get a elemental effect into a gun. She later learned that it involved putting crystals into weapons. Under cover she would disassemble Maliwan guns and take the elemental crystals from inside of them. Once she got the crystals she wanted to use the element without the gun. She began harvesting the crystals. She would ground them up into powder than mix them with other chemicals in order to make them into a liquid substance. She would inject the liquid elements into her body. At first her body rejected the chemicals. She would feel burning, shock and corrosion in her body for a limited time. She did this everyday for a year. This didn’t just change her body, it worked well with her witchcraft abilities. She kept this up till the age of 18. She left Maliwan because she had no more use from them. She already learned how to use elements without the guns. She than got offered a Job at Hyperion. She worked with Research and Development (R&D) there she learned and got her hands on Slag. She also found a hidden element called Cryo. She learned that Cryo was ice and involved having Methane, which could only be found on Elpis (The Moon). She tested Cryo on herself and she didn’t expect what would happen. Her veins froze and she felt cold throughout her body. She did this every 2 days for a week till the methane adapted to her body. As a scientist she knew that dangers of Slag and knew that she had to be vary careful and cautious of it. She would fill small vials with Slag and hide it in her pants. She would bring them to her office home. There she did various tests with her blood and element crystals with the Slag to see the reaction it had with eachother. She would slowly inject herself with it. Many nights she would find herself unable to move or walk straight due to all the chemicals in her body. This did not stop her. She would lock herself in a chair (Set with a timer) with tubes of Slag injected into her while she slept. She later overheard some scientists talk about going to Pandora in order to get Eridium for new guns. She asked around for information about the new gun types. She was called in by a friend of hers. She learned that the new weapons were powered by Eridium and were called “E-Tech” She relished in the information. She waited vary patiently for the development of E-Tech. She finally got some. She had 3 full stones of Eridium. Went to her room and began researching. She concluded that the needed raw - unrefined Eridium. The refine Eridium worked but it wasn’t as strong. She kept this up for a while. Later she was disassembling some E-Tech guns. She was vary sneaky about getting the guns but she was later found out and was forced to leave Hyperion. She was going to be killed but escaped by sneaking in a ship with other scientists going to Pandora. She made it safely to Pandora. Once out she checked her areas. She and the other scientists landed in Tundra Express. Celebration quickly turned into Fight For Your Life. Immediately they were surrounded by Psychos and Bandits. Allegra knew this was bad. She watched as her fellow Scientist were shot and killed by the bandits. She was being shot at too but no bullets touched her. Noticing that on the ground was corroding bullets on the ground, she knew what was happening. Her body built a protective shield around her. Once bullets came in range they would take a elemental effect and either be stored in her body or just be effected and drop. She fled the battle as quickly as she could. She made it to a old broke down farmhouse. It looked abandoned. She made her way into the house and downstairs to the basement. There she caught her breath and tried to make a plan for herself. Normally things did not scare her. This made her terrified. She’s never been shot at or attacked before. She sat there for a while. Her head started hurting and visions was appearing in her head. She kept seeing a symbol of a upside down “V” in a circle. She kept seeing pathways back and forth, on and off. Her headache grew worse. She felt the effects of the Eridium hit her. She tried relaxing for a bit. She looked around the farmhouse basement for things. She found Bedding and caned food and a computer and she saw a vending machine. She read it “Marcus Munitions?” She examined it and it was so different. She saw a fast travel. She told herself that it wouldn’t be vary good for her to leave just yet. She made herself a makeshift bed and layed there for some time. She said out loud for herself “Day 1: Welcome to Pandora” she closed her eyes and fell to sleep. After that she wakes up the next day feeling a lot better and continues her research. She trys to make the computer work. It works but it’s hard to use. She hooks the computer up to the Vending Machine. She over rides the Vending Machines programming and gets standard common guns. She gets a Maliwan Shock pistol, Hyperion Sniper Rifle, and a Tedior Pistol. Allegra starts to disassemble all three guns to make her own gun. It took her roughly 15-20 minutes take them apart and put them back together. She specially designed a Hyperion Sniper with 100% accuracy. Every time it shoots it comes out a different elements and that reloaded like a Tedior. The rest of the parts, she creates 2 more weapons. She then climbs the latter and locks the latch. She breaks into the Fast Travle system and makes it so that she can only accesses this location and transport items through there. After that she equips herself with her weapons and starts wondering Pandora. She makes her way to The Dust and finds a house covered in sand. She finds a way in and borders up all entry. She makes a fast travel only accessible by her. She makes this her home and laboratory. She leaves and continues to wonder around. Later she was hired as a assassin by people who needed protection. She worked for them in exchange for Eridium, Guns, Sheilds, or Information about The Vault. She worked for a long time. She continued her research on The Vault and she also found out many interesting things about Pandora. She learned that her Cryo powers worked amazing in Tundra Express and Three Horns Divide. Places like The Dust didn’t have good results. Every day in her research she looked into the sky and would see a floating city. Asking around she met people like Ellie and Loggins, who in fact - gave her information about the floating city and she gave her clear access to the city via Fast Travel. Allegra used the Fast Travel to get into the floating city. She learned that it was called Sanctuary. She met with other people. Talking to the citizens of Sanctuary, she learned that their leader was Lillith. She spoke to Lillith and informed her that she posed no threat to them and that she would be conducting her research on The Vault and that she would assist them with anything that they needed. She became a Citizen of Sanctuary. She still goes to The Dust and Tundra Express Farmhouse to conduct her research. She does this in secret and still tests on her body.

Action Skill: Allegra’s Action Skill is called FRAMES and is unlocked at lvl 5. Her skill allows her to gain Invincibility for 8 seconds. The cooldown is 15 seconds (When activated, a purple outline will appear around her)

Skill Trees: Allegra’s Skill Trees link to her her major skills. Skill Tree 1 (Left/Green) Is called “Elemental Processing”, Skill Tree 2 (Middle/Blue) Is called “Savage Assassin”, and Skill Tree 3 (Right/Red) Is called “Infiltration”

ELEMENTAL PROCESSING: This Skill Tree focuses on Allegra’s Elemental abilities. 1. A SONG: Fire and Cryo damage increases by 30% 2. WHEN HE’S ANGRY: Slag and Corrosive Damage increase by 30% 3. TRIAL AND ERROR: Shock and Explosive damage increase by 30% 4. YOUR MOVES: Your melee attack does 50% fire damage and after using your melee you gain increases speed and jump for 10 seconds [Send your enemy’s flying] 5. XV: When FRAME is activated you and your friends will be covers by a AOE circle. If you and your friends stay in the circle, you all will gain elemental invincibility for 10 seconds [Your friends will love you for it], If 1 of your friends leave this AOE circle, you all loose elemental invincibility and enemy’s elements do extra damage for 10 seconds [You will hate them for it] 6. BENDER: When shooting with a non-elemental weapon you have a 10% chance of that bullet being a elemental shot 7. MY HERO: When using a Cryo gun, you have a 5% chance of one of your bullets getting a fire elemental effect and vice versa 8. UNO: This Skill allows you to get a Stack of UNO. For every UNO stack you get, your elemental damage increases by 5%. This can stack up to 100. If done right, every elemental shot will do 500 damage. Shooting a non-elemental gun will get rid of all UNO stacks 9. MULTITASKING: When FRAME is activated pressing L3 will release 12 bubbles (2 for each element) that bounce around and explode when in contact of a enemy, shot by a bullet, or effected by a grenade (Bubbles do 75% damage)

SAVAGE ASSASSIN: This Skill Tree focuses on Allegra’s Egridian Witchcraft and Sniping abilities 1. SOLID: Increases fire rate by 10% (Snipers Only) 2. MORTAL: For every shot with a Sniper Rifle, you get health back depending on how much damage the enemy took from your shot 3. HIT: When attacking a enemy from behind, your melee attack damage increases by 25% 4. : If a enemy gets in close range of you they will be cursed (You have a 15% chance of this happening) 5. CREED: When crouching you have a 10% chance of walking past enemy’s undetected 6. POOL: 20% chance to shoot through walls and gaps 7. SKILL: When using a Sniper rifle you have a 5% chance of getting a headshot when not aiming at the head [Its like the enemy has a bigger hitbox or something] 8. BLUE BLOODS: When FRAME is activated this allows you to see enemy’s behind walls for 5 seconds 9. HONOR: When FRAME is activated all enemy’s in your sight will be cursed for 10 seconds (Slowed down, Slagged, Health Draned, and Electrocuted)

INFILTRATION: This Skill Tree focuses on Allegra’s Hacking abilities 1. GOOD OFFENCE: Increases gun damage and fire rate by 10% 2. GREATER DEFENSE: Increases shield capacity by 20% 3. IS COMING: Action Skill cooldown decreases my 5% 4. STEADY: When shooting accuracy increases by 30% 5. ONE STEP AHEAD: Pressing L3 (When not in battle) let’s you see the enemy (Nomad, Suicide Psycho, Badass, ext) gun type, gun company, accuracy, and weapon damage 6. JUST IN TIME: When entering the first 5 seconds into battle, quickly press L3. Allegra will release a shockwave eliminating all enemy shields 7. MALFUNCTION: When in close range, all Loaders will turn on each other for a limited time 8. DON’T LET THEM HURT EACH OTHER: When FRAME is activated all enemy’s (Not Loaders) will attack each other 9. DAYLIGHT SHADOW: When FRAME is activated all enemy’s cannot use their weapons on you for 10 seconds

EQUIPPED ITEMS

GUNS - MALIWAN/SNIPER RIFLE: Volcano - MALIWAN/PISTOL: Thunderball Fist - HYPERION/SNIPER RIFLE: Invader - HYPERION/PISTOL: Logan’s Gun

SHEILD -PANGOLIN/TURTLE: Fabled Tortoise

GRENADE - MALIWAN: Chain Lightning

CLASS MOD - MALIWAN: Legendary Savage (Savage) (OC ClassMOD)

RELIC - ERIDIEN: Blood Of The Witch Doctor (OC Relic)

JOINING GAME - I am here - Looks like you need my help - Good choice

IDLE - What’s taking so long? - We need to go - Hurry up - I didn’t come to Pandora to wait for you to be done - What are you doing for so long? - Roses are Red, Violets are blue, I’m sick of waiting for you - I’m sure it doesn’t take you this long - I hope your not “Borderlands & Chilling”

ATTEMPTING TO TRAVEL WHEN OTHERS ARE BUSY - Leave them - Your friends are holding us back - I can go alone SCORING A CRITICAL HIT - Had to do it to em - Thank you for staying still - Stop, Daphne! - You cannot get your hit point back - Oh well then

THROWING GRENADE - Catch! - Grenade thrown! - Look! a whale!

AFFECTED BY ELEMENTAL DAMAGE - Not my choice of starter (Shock Damage) - Slag! - Owchy! - (Unattractive Screaming) DEALING ELEMENTAL DAMAGE - Do Et! (Giggling) (Shock Damage) - Stop! Collaborate and listen (Cryo Damage) - Up, Down, RT (Corrosive Damage) - Return to Sender! (Fire Damage) - Shrinking not included (Slag Damage) - He scours (Explosive Damage)

SPOTTING ITEM - Spare Parts? - For later research - I hope they don’t mind - Vary useful

COMPARING ITEMS IN MENU - What parts are not required? - What parts are useful - Math? - They all look so good

REVIVING DOWNED ALLY - I’m here to help - Don’t worry - I need extra EXP - Stop being so dramatic! BEING REVIVED - Much appreciated - I would have just respawned - A tactical error on my part

KILLING ENEMY - You will be replaced - You can’t be rebuilt (When killing Loaders) - Just stop already - (laughter)

KILLING MULTIPLE ENEMY’S IN SUCCESSION - Where’s your healer now? - My enemy’s always die! - They all fall! - Tango Down (With Melee attack)

KILLING A ENEMY BY RUNNING THEM OVER - No child on Pandora - GO GO - Your Uber is here - Knowledge CRASHING VEHICLE - Darn! - I never got my license anyways - Oops! - You didn’t see that!

ENTERING SECOND WIND - Not like this! - I still have so much to do! - Keep it dark - The bar is running out

GETTING SECOND WIND - You took too long - You won’t be getting a second wind - What stopped you? - Don’t run now!

OUT OF AMMUNITION - Not now! - Sheesh! - Can you not! - Looks like I gotta switch

LEVELING UP - As Expected - No stopping now - So much more to learn - Always growing - Strive for greater things - I cannot be stopped ISSUING A DUEL CHALLENGE - Let me test my new weaponry - Let me test my witchcraft - Let me test my elemental power - Its time to Duel

ACCEPTING DUEL - Challenge Accepted - Your loss - The outcome will be your defeat

WINNING A DUEL - If I had a dance emote. I’d using it - This was no curse - Let me guess… Lag? - Lagging again… bro? I’m never saying that again - Your moves were weak - 7 does not exist in my craft

LOOSING A DUEL - Never speak of this again - You got lucky - My miscalculations - Let’s just finish our mission - This was a waste of time - This was a stupid idea TYING A DUEL - What just happened? - Replay that back - Interesting - Further research is needed - Did I make a miscalculation?

SKINS ORIGINAL: Allegra’s Shroud ORIGINAL: Savagery ORIGINAL: Avatar ORIGINAL: Hacker ORIGINAL: BM121 BANDIT: Burning Sensation BANDIT: Danger BANDIT: Apocalypse DAHL: Hunter DAHL: Shadow DAHL: Commander HYPERION: Personnel HYPERION: Leader HYPERION: Legend JACOBS: Old Time JACOBS: High Noon JACOBS: Showdown MALIWAN: Fear MALIWAN: Power MALIWAN: Respect TEDIORE: Classy TEDIORE: Lady Like TEDIORE: Common Courtesy TORUGE: Crash and burn TORUGE: Pedal To The Metal TORUGE: Need For Speed VLADOLF: War Crimes VLADOLF: Bear Wrestlers VLADOLF: Detonation VAULT VETERAN: Seeker VAULT VETERAN: Been There, Done That VAULT VETERAN: Victorious HEADS ORIGINAL: Allegra ORIGINAL: 021959 - Prime - Healer - Seeker - Sender - Dismantle - Tiki - Egridian King - Solidarity - Cosmos - Hijacked - Prototype - Molecular Atom - Commandant - Blade - Nutshell - Pearl - War Crimes VAULT VETERAN: Krom Stabber

Quick Draw of Allegra (Phantom Of Pain) and Wave (Soft Baller) in New heads

Borderlands OC Manufacturer Skins (100 Challange Complete)

Havent drawn in months. Allegra

Old but still relevant

Wor Cheef (Wave) and Maliwan Ghost (Allegra)

My Borderlands OC over the years

Left: Drawn in 2017 ( Borderlands 2 )

Right: Drawn in 2020 (Borderlands 3)

Allegra: The Scientist

Wave: The Midget Psycho

Harh: The Siren

guys who are in fucking eskew

"one must imagine Sisyphus happy" has taken on a whole new meaning to me tonight and i am trying not to cry about it

my cat keeps trying to bring me her mouse-toy on a string, like she normally does to "show me what a good hunter she is" by dragging her cat-wands over to me for some rewarding coos and pets. but this new toy is attached to the opposite side of the room as me, im stuck on the couch due my health, and my cat can never bring her toy all the way over to me because the string doesn't extend that far and she's forced to go get it again just to try and fail to bring it to me once more :'(

maybe one must imagine Sisyphus as an earnest, eternal optimist; completely devoted towards what he has to do. because i grew up being told (an apparently unusual form of the story?) that Sisyphus and Hades made a deal; if Sisyphus can accomplish his impossible punishment, Sisyphus can rejoin the form of the afterlife where his loved ones are surely still waiting for him to arrive (because he wasn't truly doing evil things; he was a cunning trickster, fucking with the gods like how the gods fuck around with humans. that's balance, baby. maybe Hades admired his moxie)

Sisyphus has people he loves that he'll see again once he gets that boulder up the hill. tomorrow is a new day, the past was a good attempt. he has an eternity to get this done. the boulder has to fall down the hill every time in order to stop Sisyphus. but he only needs to get it to the top once. and then, much like the end of a brutal marathon, all this hard-work will be worth the pride, loving rewards, and victorious security he will also "have to take on for an eternity". therefore: one must imagine Sisyphus' dedication as a sign of having lived a life where he's been very well-loved ♡

video transcript and further context (+ product link) if desired is below:

transcript (or transcript + context, i guess?) of the sounds within the video: the news is playing on the tv in the background. the cat's many bells are jingling with every movement (we are hard-of-hearing and her many bells help us figure out where she is as she likes to be sneaky). my mom was muttering sympathetic encouragement about my cat's goal to give me the mouse on the string even before the video started and the cut-off-beginning plus the part the video did catch was something along the lines of "[She's going to do it, she's going to get it—] to you, go back, oh no!" as my cat is forced to let go of the toy-mouse due to how the toy retracts and drops and retracts the mouse. you can hear my voice much more clearly than my mom, and i am cooing at my cat "Oh-ho-hohh" in sympathy as she loses the mouse and i try to comfortingly say "It's okay, Allegra, Sisyphus is very happy!" and then i giggle-squeak at the last syllable. then the video ends and loops over again (much like Sisyphus really when you think about it lmao rip)

context of "who is Sisyphus": Sisyphus is a figure from Ancient Greek lore. to over-simplify his story to only the most relevant parts here: Sisyphus caught and chained up the Ancient Greek version of the Grim Reaper during his life to stop any deaths from happening, and when Death got free and later on Sisyphus was supposed to die— Sisyphus then used some more tricks to get to live a longer life with his family. and he also did some other stuff to fuck with the Ancient Greek gods, bc he's of the cunning trickster archetype, even before he even caught the not-the-Grim-Reaper-but-basically-the-Grim-Reaper Death guy. and when Sisyphus did finally for sure die with no take-backsies, he had to go to the underworld's An Afterlife Of Eternal Punishment Section. his punishment was to push a huge boulder up to the top of a hill, but the twist is that he can never make it to the top of the hill as the boulder always finds a way to roll back down, thereby making Sisyphus have to re-start a ton of hard-labor from square one again and again for eternity. part of how i personally was told the story of Sisyphus was that Hades (who is the God of the Dead, but not the "Ancient Greek version of the Grim Reaper" Sisyphus chained up) had motivated Sisyphus to want to do this eternal punishment again and again without stopping?? was all because Hades told Sisyphus that Sisyphus could go be with Sisyphus' loved ones in the afterlife once he accomplished getting the boulder to the top of the hill. (which i took with the same ambiguity as the classic conundrum of "Did Hades know Orpheus would inevitably fail when Hades and Orpheus made that deal? Or did Hades give Orpheus as fair a shot as Hades could for a task that, on basic principle, HAD to be something Orpheus would have to struggle terribly with to accomplish?") so Sisyphus' eternally rolling the boulder up no matter what then becomes a sentiment to how dedicated and loving he is. that's not the version most people apparently grew up hearing about Sisyphus apparently tho, as i have learned the hard way back when EVERYONE in one of my bigger college classes (where we were discussing Camus) turned towards me VERY CONFUSED when i compared Sisyphus' form of loving devotion as a foil to Orpheus' lmao

context for the "Sisyphus is very happy" and "one must imagine Sisyphus happy" lines: there was a famous philsopher Albert Camus who said, in regards to the aforementioned story within Camus' essay "The Myth of Sisyphus", his conclusion is "one must imagine Sisyphus as happy". to which Camus means, in his own interpretation of Sisyphus, the moments when Sisyphus is (temporarily) unburdened by his punishment as he walks down the hill and knows tomorrow what he will do but that for now he has freedom from his tormenting chore— those moments of levity from the absurdity matter, the relief matters and keeps him going, and makes Sisyphus happy. to apply this to real life, if you have an awful and physically draining job with a terrible commute both ways, sure, you could mope around in bed and rot with exhaustion everyday. but going out with friends in spite of your bone-weary tiredness, enjoying a really good book or show, laughing over your pet being silly? those absurdities give life meaning. even if your job and commute are terrible, those moments where you have a bit of freedom and can forget about your metaphorical boulder and hill due to sheer and blissful relief you feel? that's Sisyphus' happiness. that's why people quote that line so often: "one must imagine Sisyphus happy", it's very iconic. there are other interpretations of what Camus meant, im sure, but this is the one i have and it is ergo relevant to the logic applied for what i am saying within the video and whatnot

context to me and my cat (why am i not meeting her halfway, why do i have this toy, and more): i am disabled due to chronic illness/es involving being in some level of pain 24/7. sometimes, i am in too much physical pain to play with my cat (who is named Allegra, which i did not know was a real name; i named her after the allergy medicine, and thought i was doing the equivalent of naming her Claritin). but she needs stimuli. so ive been experimenting with automatic toys for the days where i can't play with her. one of those toys is this rechargable door/edge-hanger toy that has a string you tie a toy to. for 15 minutes, it changes both height and pace as it makes the toy attached on the string go up and down, and it even does short pauses to mix things up and keep the cat interested; then it takes a break for 5 minutes; and then it starts up for another 15, before finally shutting off. it takes 2 hours to charge, and then is good for 4 hours of play. (my only complaints are that it came with a charging cable without a plug included; and that the toy doesnt retract when it shuts off, i have to roll the string back up manually. still a 9 or 9.5/10 so far tho) it's basically an automatic cat-wand; and it comes with three mice-toys to optionally tie to the string (that are advertised as having catnip but i doubt that lol) and a back-up string. it's a great toy for my cat, who fucking LOVES cat-wands and normally hates automatic toys that don't need a human hand involved

but, yeah, Allegra is very clingy to me as "the emotional support human to an emotional support animal", because she used to be a stray who stalked me until i adopted her (yay, cat distribution system). she's been with me for several years now and is very happy. she just also likes to show-off to me and "give me food" from her "hunts" (it's only ever her cat-wands. it's never something that was once alive lol), likely because she is concerned for my health mixed with her being anxiously attached to me and my praise. i love her very much ♡

also, after this video i did try to sit by Allegra so she could give me her toy. but she was fully uninterested in the toy BECAUSE i was there and i could be giving her pets instead. i was in too much pain to stay there for long, because i needed to elevate my legs on the couch to get some pain-relief after accidentally over-exerting myself earlier that day. also, the toy cannot be hung closer to me because the toy's clamp you use to hang it? it cant open very far and our walls are WAY too thick. in the video (i think you can see it even), it's actually hanging on the side of the closed door of this set of double-doors. also, this is a very new toy for her; this was the second time we had ever brought it out. and this video was taken on the first day my cat tried to bring me that mouse-toy, though the video is not of her first attempt of said day. Allegra tried to bring me that mouse-toy, i think, about six or so times overall that day lmao i feel/felt both very loved by her and also very bad for her. she is just the sweetest cat lmao ♡

my cat has now, officially, fully stolen my lapboard

by which i mean, shes been using it as a bed for MONTHS to my great reluctance. meanwhile, i looked up for cheaper lapboards that has the qualities she would like (blue is her favorite color being the most optional but also it's the easiest color for cats to see, esp against our red/brown couch so she can see "ah yes safe place to jump to" as my lapboard (when not being used) rests on a mountain of red/brown throw-pillows, so i get why it being blue would be both a favorite part for her and would be a practical detail for a cat in general; she likes the stuffing being kept in place rather than the stuffing pushed around → having "flat" spots → and needing to be re-fluffed; it's big enough that she can do long stretches on it; and, unlike cat beds, the lapboard having a flat side is perfect against our mountain of throw-pillows i put my lapboard on, the cushion's shape isn't molded and fucked up by the said pillowy-mountain underneath it and the closest cat-equivalent i could find was people putting cat-beds in a basket which isn't quite the same or quite as solid a bottom) and... everything i've found has been the same price-range as this new "oversized" lapboard i got. ive been looking for a big old lapboard that perfectly suited my needs as something to use for schoolwork/to bring on-campus bc of my body stiffness needing comfy chairs but also needing a desk. and the pre-exisiting thrift-store purchased ones my parents have are too small for what i want and also i feel bad constantly stealing them, bc my parents use them to eat on lmao rip so i wanted one that was "mine". but now i also feel bad taking back my lapboard bc its "her bed" she uses to sleep, right next to me, on the couch. bc my poor health means i usually am laying on the couch so i am still social but also got my feet elevated and everything, and i think she likes to be near me in general but esp likes being near when my symptoms are worse than usual out of an anxious kitty sense of concern. and that's so sweet! but!! also! so unhelpful!! so super unhelpful for me trying to not meltingly give into her big ol' pleading eyes to let her keep my own fucking lapboard lmao rip and what is with all the alternative-lapboards thatd fit either all/most of what i assume she likes so much about that lapboard (bc she does ignore my parents' lapboards) being the same price, $2 less, or $15+ more?? like?? wtf

so, like. at that point? might as fucking well buy the same $60 lapboard. AGAIN. and just let her keep this one she's already claimed. I GUESS. but if i really go through with saving up → buying a second one of these, it's not going to be ANOTHER bed for her, she has several in addition to the lapboard already, her claiming a second lapboard is NOT allowed lmao rip

first one in this series, woo-hoo lol ● if the "table of contents" post isnt showing you all of the links as is in connection to this post, then you gotta click on the "table of contents" post itself (as in "go to its notes" if that clarifies what i mean lmao rip) and leave this reblogged-section behind for a quick bit. then the "table of contents" post will show you the most updated version of itself with all its links ...yeah, idk why tumblr is so broken either, fam :/

this is my cat's collar. and i think it has a lot of aspects to it most people will likely be inspired by and some things y'all may even want (and ill link where i got everything, even the tangential aesthetic things not related to the point of this post)

the main really cool things here are that all my information is hidden (great for not having to censor every picture of my cat that shows her tags; great anti-stalking tool for anyone with that fear) and that her tags+key-rings can be taken on/off without the key-rings hurting my hand or breaking any fingernails thanks to a little accessory i was able to add to it

as a brief aside: my cat has pill-themed stuff on her collar because she was named after the allergy medication, Allegra. i didnt know that was a real name, i thought i was doing the equivalent of an "obvious joke name" as if naming my cat Claritin lol

tldr;; the holographic tag-protector (or "tag silencer") is by StitchByIssaDesigned on etsy (product listing here). i put all of Allegra's tags in there that could be used to stalk/doxx me, so i don't have the censor all my pictures of her or worry someone else is trying to take photos of her for the purpose of reading her tags → knowing my information when i take Allegra out with me. the accessory that helps my hands with her tags+key-rings is available on Amazon as of writing this, and is a re-purposed "Nite Ize S-Biner MicroLock" (it's usually for holding your keys. hence "re-purposed" lol) (product listing here) which is a mini-carabiner shaped like an 8/S that has a locking mechanisms, resulting in a carabiner with two "sections". one section that locks to her collar and one that locks to her tags (and charms + bells, since my family and i are hard of hearing and need Allegra to wear a ton so she is noisy enough for us to hear her). so i just unlock the S-biner, and unhook the section of it connected to her collar, and i can easily and immediately transfer all her tags to a new or seasonal collar; or i can unlock the section that connects to her tags so i can remove an outdated/busted tag from the collection; all without hurting my fingers or breaking my nails in trying to fuck around with any key-rings and whatnot lol

other parts of Allegra's accesories, as well as in-depth explanations with lots of details about her tag-protector and repurposed microlock S-biner and other said accessories associated with her collar/in the picture are below the Read More ✌️

how i got my information hidden was through searching the internet for what is called a "tag protector" (sometimes called a "tag silencer"). from what i can tell, most people use these for animals that tend to scratch or otherwise incidentally destroy their tags (mainly, big outdoors-y dogs). hence the name, "tag PROTECTOR". (though the "tag silencer" type are made bc the person hates the sound of jingling tags. i personally can't relate to that, im hard of hearing and so is most of my family; so Allegra has a TON of charms and bells on her collar, lots that aren't even pictured here, so we can hear where she is in spite of our hearing loss)

the one i specifically got is by StitchByIssaDesigned on etsy; i got the small tag-protector, with artic blue stitching and rose-gold holo fabric (which the fabric being holographic helps lessen my anxieties about Allegra getting out, being such a dark cat out at night-time or out in the day-time in a shaded area, and possibly getting hit by a car; as well as comforts me that is more likely people will be able to find her, bc she has a holo tag that can be picked up by flashlights even if her reflective eyes are closed or looking in another direction). make sure you measure your tags in size AND quantity, Allegra's tags fit in size but were pushing the protector's limit at, i think, 4 or 5 tags being held inside it. there is a larger size sold by the same seller, and i would go there if you have 4+ tags or bigger tag-size than the product listing. the seller is super great, i loved her, she has a lot of custom pet-stuff she'll embroider for you (a big part of her market are service animals), she's got a loyal customer for life in me should i ever desire another one of her products, she is so quick to reply within 24 to 48 hours along with being extremely accomadating. very much recommend her, go support her, she's so great lmao

heads up, the seller does give you tiny key-rings so you dont have your tags loose in the protector. if you need an even tinier key-ring, youll have to get one yourself. my order? she was so embarrassed that she forgot to send me the tiny key-rings, she only remembered to send the big one with my order. Issa is so sweet, she offered to send me the missing tiny key-rings at no extra-charge asap. we only found out bc i messaged her asking "are the tags supposed to be loose inside the protector, or...?" (they were not supposed to be loose lmao). i ended up turning her offer down bc i had then-recently been gifted(? i dont remember if this was a gift/who gifted me it, but i THINK it was a gift?) this "split ring plier"/key-ring plier set with a case of tons of key-rings in varying sizes. so i just asked what size she usually sent people so i could do the same size or smaller. worked out great for me! i was very happy lmao just know you are supposed to get key-rings if you order from her, dont hold it against Issa that i personally didn't get any tiny key-rings from her bc that had been a one-off accident AND i ended up turning her down in her frantic offer to fix the issue anyway. she's still a 5/5 star seller in my book lmao

the reason why i got it is that i personally have a history of having been stalked as a teenager multiple times, and i also have a perpetual fear of being doxxed thanks to me having a dream of working in animation yet seeing Steven Universe storyboarders get doxxed for benign reasons (as far as i remember anyway, but i digress). so a very important thing to me, especially but not exclusively when posting online pictures of my cat, was doing my best to censor my cat's tags whenever possible since her tags have my phone-number and my family's address. i was also, rather irrationally but still, scared of someone taking a picture of my cat when i'd have her out of the house with me (for vets, for a fun day-trip, whatever) for the purpose of reading my cat's tags → find my information through their photo. so i wanted a tag-protector to reduce the labor of me censoring, as well as rid myself of the anxiety of "but what if someone undoes my censoring somehow" and "what if someone takes a picture of her tags from afar without me noticing in order to know my information" (there's less convoluted ways to stalk a person, i know, but i still get creeped out to the point of nausea about it)

the reasons why i went with a tag-protector "instead of xyz": i will first of all admit that Allegra is an indoor-only cat who has daily medications + a speciality diet, so a lot of this has the fear of "but what if she gets out?? i have to set her up so anybody who finds her can help her come back home asap" added to it tangentially. a lot of people use a microchip in their pet with no collar for said pet to wear (or dont include an owner-contact tag, and just have the tags be vaccines and whatnot) so the owner can reduce of any stalking/doxxing fears, especially since many pets can lose their break-away collar; but ive heard stories of "we found this pet but nobody thought to read their chip until 3+ years later and now the pet and owner are finally reunited", so i do have both a break-away collar AND a microchip for Allegra. but i also dont feel comfortable always/often having her collar off in case she somehow gets outside. i want people to go (if she hasnt lost her break-away collar in this hypothetical), "oh, this cat has a collar. let's go contact their owner asap" and "asap", to me, means an owner-contact tag since not everybody has 24/7 access or any access to a microchip reader. so a tag-protector felt necessary to me. and, just to super communicative with this hypothetical stranger, i commissioned said tag-protector to read "Allegra's tags" so they know automatically to look there. also, a tag-protector was necessary for its initial usage as i have had to replace 3 of Allegra's tags over the past 5 years due to her scratching herself inadvertently making some of her tags gradually unreadable. so that was a bonus too, id rather replace a custom-under-$10 tag-protector in the next 5 years than multiple tags that are $10+ each lol

the accessory that helps my hands with her tags+key-rings is a re-purposed Nite Ize's S-Biner MicroLock i got from Amazon (it's usually for holding your keys. hence "re-purposed" lol). the company does have a larger variation specifically made for dogs, specifically larger medium/large dogs; but i wanted something smaller since my cat is pretty petite, which is why the one i did end up using for her is called a "microlock" as that's their smallest size. the dog-oriented one would have likely been too big for her, but eyo now you know it exists if you needed a larger size for your own needs lol i don't know another company that makes these, personally. so i am not brand-loyal to these Nite Ize guys specifically. but if you can find a S-biner elsewhere, i think it'd be good to try! my cat has yet to accidentally unlock it herself, and the reviews of the dog-variation are similar for their respective dogs. so it's nice both knowing my cat's tags are secure and that i dont have to hurt myself in fucking about with the key-rings all her shit is attached to lol

the reason why i got it is, yes, due to the key-rings fucking with my hands, that is a large part of it. i'm disabled with chronic illness stuff, and my muscle weakness makes my hand-grip... unideal. (though i will shout out that i have, long after purchasing/benefitting from the microlock S-biner, been gifted this "split ring plier"/key-ring plier that has also been lovely in any key-ring scenario) i was breaking finger-nails and, due to my disability including a lot of chronic pain and overactive nerves, really hurting myself even though i know my injuries were not at all serious. my nerves just have a tendacy to over-react and put me in "crumple into a fetal position on the floor" levels of pain whenever i mildly hurt myself. like, i need someone else to grab me Advil or other pain-medications whenever i stub my toe as i just sit on the floor and try not to cry. overactive nerves suck lmao so i REALLY needed to figure out a way to make Allegra's collar not be the worst fucking task of all time for me specifically with all its key-rings and annual updates. and, i just happened to find a Nite Ize's various S-biners somehow and i searched through their catalog until i found the micro size that would be ideal for Allegra. i just had to suffer one more time in getting all her tags/charms/bells' key-rings in order to get off her old collar (fuck, that shit hurt lmao rip) and then very painlessly hook all said items onto her microlock S-biner. ive since had a WAY easier time with replacing her tags for vaccinations and whatnot, since attaching any key-rings to the S-biner is so easy for me. the unlocking/locking was sticky in the beginning, but it got easier to unlock/lock (without ever accidentally becoming unlocked) over time pretty quickly. then, upon recieveing this self-accomadation, i was able to invest in seasonal collars for Allegra! as of writing this, she just has a winter one (it's made to look like holly with felt leaves and three little red bells lol) and her usual pill-themed one, but i do plan to get more here and there now that it's super accessible for me to interact with her collar and all its key-rings! so that's been a bonus reason, albeit one i only realized after-the-fact lmao

the reasons why i went with a microlock S-biner "instead of xyz": honestly, i looked and looked for how to make my cat's collar more accesible to me and my overreactive nerves, and found very little. i was looking up carabiners at one point, and i think either i stumbled onto Nite Ize's various S-biners from that directly in my search-results or else Amazon recommended it to me after i searched and searched through carabiners on there. but i didnt, and still dont, trust non-S-biner carabiners on my pets' collars. my family tried it once on one of our past dogs, i think, and it is so easy for a pet's self-scratching to break a carabiner into never being able to close again (thus risking the carabiner and all attached tags/charms/bells dropping onto the floor and, like, HOPEFULLY, you find it again) or for the pet to accidentally pinch their paw in the carabiner. i like the S-biner's locking mechanism, and that even if the switch is "unlocked" that you then still have to push into the lever to open/close either end of the S-biner. so it's way harder to break and for any pet to pinch themselves. the only alternative ive seen that i have liked is the key-ring plier, but that was someone i believe i was gifted(?) years later and was not something that came up in my "how to painlessly remove a pet's tags and key-rings" search-results at the time. saying that, i find the process of undoing a collar by each individual key-ring with these pliers tedious (though painless otherwise, again, i do recommend these pliers overall) and prefer the convenience of the microlock S-biner in combination with the pliers (especially in cases where i am handed a tag/charm/bell and key-ring seperately and have to attach them to one another myself before i even approach my cat's collar). it's just way more convenient to unlock then unclip one thing with the S-biner, as opposed to use the pliers on every key-ring to unattach them to the collar. so i say, if you can, get both. if you cant, you can choose if youd rather get the S-biner first or the pliers (and then!! get the other later!!! bc, again, these two are such a great team-up, HIGHLY recommend you get both)

ALLEGRA'S OTHER COLLAR-RELATED ACCESSORIES, BOTH WHAT IS FEATURED IN THE PICTURES ABOVE AND NOT FEATURED IN THEM:

please do feel free to ask me for updates on what i use for my cat, in case i ever change from what i listed in this post. there is also plenty of other stuff (cat-trees, carriers, toys, etc) that isnt listed here that are cat-related but that i still have opinions and recommendations/warnings about; feel free to ask about those too lol but no worries, im no expert, i have no expectations on entitlement that anyone will ask me anything. i just want you to know you can @ me in a general cat-product questions if you want me to speak about it; just remind me of the existance of this post, and ill go "oh right, i did agree to be asked about this lmao" and answer at my nearest convenience

● i mentioned Allegra has a winter-collar that looks like holly and has 3 red bells on it within this post. it is this specific collar. it is not sold any more as it was seasonal/limited-time only, so i can only link you guys a picture and then send you off on your own to go try to find it if you want it. i forget if it was at Pet Co or Pet Smart, but the collection line is called "Merry and Bright" and i got it in 2023. i got it for sale as i accidentally happened to be looking at it on Black Friday online; so i got a really high quality collar for, like, $4 or something. i forget what size i got Allegra, but i did measure it to fit her as they had multiple sizes and, i think, had this in both "break-away cat collar" and "dog collar" forms?? some of the collars they had both, some were only one or the other, idk

● Allegra's pill-themed collar she is pictured with is from Pugs2Persians on etsy. the same pattern also is available in other colors, but every color has its own product listing so youll have to search "medicine" or "pills" within this shop to see all the available colors. most of Allegra's stuff has been trans-flag colors pink and blue, in part bc her eyes are blue and i like pink, so i liked the pink-blue version! it is slightly glittery, but the glittery is in the weaving and doesn't fall off and make a glitter trail on the floor at all, so it's perfectly fine! we've had the collar for i think 2+ years now, and in spite of Allegra's scratching and relaxed/furious bathing, the blue gem on the buckle is still attached to Allegra's collar. also, Allegra hasn't destroyed the threading or anything so far with her scratching and everything, which is very lovely as well. the seller was perfectly fine, we didn't need to communicate (except i did ask that they attach the charms to the collar for me in advance due to my muscle weakness; and idk if that is standard or not for them to do, but they did do it for me upon my request if such isn't standard), and i have been very happy with my purchase and the speed of shipping and all that lmao i got this collar bc Allegra's former daily-use collar was getting torn up after many years of service, and had been curious on if then pleasantly surprised that there was a pill-themed collar i could get for her as a replacement lol it def helps that this collar is SO cute lmao

● Allegra's pill charm and music charm and blue bell is pictured as having are all from Pugs2Persians on etsy. some of the charms came with the collar, others i added to my cart with the collar. seller was perfectly fine, i liked them, i would order from them again if i wanted anything from their stock. more on my feelings about Pugs2Persians as a seller is in the "pill-themed collar" bullet-point above ✌️ but yeah, i got Allegra a bunch of charms and bells to help her make a lot of noise (esp after purchasing her tag-protector as it silenced all said tags put inside it) because my family and i are hard-of-hearing and want to be able to hear where she is (in part to keep her from getting outside, since she is an indoor-only cat; but also we just like to hear her in general). but also?? these charms are so fuck wtf i love them. but Allegra has peeled off a lot of the blue on the blue bell. but i care much more about her being noisy than if her charms/bells have all their paint (but her music and pill charms do still have all their paint, as far as i can tell)

● the thimble-looking charm Allegra is pictured as having is a remnant of her former daily-use collar; which came from Pettsie as a gift from one of my bffs, and it was part of a matching pet's collar × owner's bracelet set. unfortunately, bracelets tend to overstimulate me now so i never got to match with her. but this collar lasted us many years and is very good quality, held up really well to daily wear-and-tear from Allegra, her scratching, and whatnot. my only complaint is don't depend on the ID Tube to hold your pet's information. Allegra p quickly was able to accidentally untwist it fully (thereby losing the note and bottom tube-half sonewhere) after a couple weeks of scratching (which is what i predicted and is why i didnt put my info in there). do a microchip and/or owner's contact information tag (with an optional tag-protector for said tag, as ive babbled about the benefits of already ad nauseam; but, in case it bares repeating, i recommend doing all of the above in getting a microchip, a owner's contact info tag, AND tag-protector). but yeah, hard-of-hearing, needs bells/charms to make noise, thought "might as well keep it and carry it to any following collars" (in part bc im overly sentimental and im like "omgggg i should keep this half of the ID Tube with Allegra bc i love my bff who gave us this" lol i say that like i dont have Allegra's ratty Pettise collar with my unused bracelet together in my Memory Box already). but yeah! very good collar, if Allegra's pill-themed collar got ratty too quickly, i planned on getting a second Pettsie break-away collar. they're really good and last a long time! and, yes, the link above is the exact patterned print i had; it just doesn't have a name as far as i can tell, since almost all of these matching collar × bracelet sets are floral

● the silver bell pictured on Allegra's collar is from one of Allegra's very first collars. there was a period where i couldn't afford a high-quality collar (and was poor enough where i was like "what if i waste my money buying a more expensive one and it gets ratty just as quickly as these shitty ones im already buying??" as Allegra is my first cat so i had no idea if this was the norm or not) so i would get a new break-away collar every month or so from Dollar Tree or something. again, they got ratty VERY quickly, like they were getting torn up within the first or second week or so with just some mild scratching?? hence why one of my bffs gifted us an aforementioned expensive collar from Pettsie (in an above bullet-point), so the gift was both the matching collar × bracelet and taking off the financial debate from my plate. but the Pettsie collar doesn't come with a bell?? so i took the bell from the last cheapo $1 break-away cat collar as i prepped the Pettsie collar to become Allegra's then-new daily-usage collar. and that bell has now followed Allegra to her current daily-usage collar. there's no link bc i dont recommend those collars, and im p sure the break-away collars Dollar Tree currently sells are not the exact same as then anyway lmao

● Allegra's bone-shaped slide-on dog tag is from Wintoshop on etsy. on line one, it reads: "INDOOR CAT". line two reads: "Shouldn't be out. Is microchipped". and line three reads: "Digestive issues; Medical". i got size Small, in Black, with the B15 pattern. the seller was fine, i didn't need to communicate with them. i think they MAY be the middle-man in a drop-shipping thing from China since they have a review that accused them of such, but i have yet to find the og service and this is both unusual enough + their product photos are all of actual tags being photographed, rather than the usual edited-fakey images drop-shippers use, that i don't mind this?? i usually am anti-drop-shipper. but id order from this person again, sure, why not. im not loyal to them. but sure, id buy from them again unless someone introduces me to some new and alarming facts on the matter. i digress. this item is likely fine for dogs. but Allegra is very petite and wears the smaller sizes of cat collars, and even the size Small of this slide-on bone-tag doesn't fit on her collar reliably. id look for a variation that has both ends of the slide-on tag fully enclosed if you want a slide-on tag for your own small cat (example from Wintoshop's product listings, albeit not one i have tried myself so idk if it is of quality). thats what i plan to do at some point. just fully replace this one, so i dont have to twist my cat's collar kinda weirdly for the bone-tag to stay on consistently. which is sad, bc my sense of humor is v much putting dog-themed stuff on a cat. and the fully-enclosed slide-on tags dont usually have funny shapes, like bones. alas. but this has stood up really well the past few months to her scratching as is though. ill just be replacing it pre-maturely for individualistic needs; not bc of any poor quality reasons from the product itself

● uh this one you can only kind of see, but ill include it anyway. Allegra's tag that has her owner's (my) contact information (and is hidden in her tag-protector) is from LLPetBoutique on etsy. i have no idea if this one is also a drop-shipper or not, but i couldnt find the original shipper at the time if it is; so i ordered from here and have been perfectly fine with my order. i got the tag in Silver with the pattern D2. it says "Allegra" in the front, and has my contact info in the back. it's perfectly fine, and is nice and small lol the seller is fine, i didnt need to communicate with them or anything, id be fine with purchasing from them again, i guess, sure lol

● similarly, you can barely see this one, as it is covered up by her tag-protector, but i thought id include it anyway. in my defense in advance, i got this one way before her tag-protector, just for pure context; and i only keep it in case someone would rather read her microchip info from here than on a chip-reader. but Allegra has an "Microchip Alert" cat-tag from BlackDogEngraving on etsy. i had the back of mine read Allegra's microchip number and the chip company's phone-number to call to find out the information i put in her chip (which includes not only my personal info, but also information about Allegra's medicial needs and her usual vets). i am sort of positive this is another drop-shipper tag lmao bc ive since seen it around so often on unrelated sellers' product-listings. or else this is a tag you can buy and use your own engraver on. regardless, at the time i bought this many years ago, it was the only one i could find that looked like this and i wanted something red and eye-catching in an "alarm, alert" way lol but yeah, the seller was fine enough. id buy from them again, i guess, sure. as ethical as a drop-shipper can be, they're fine enough

● the rest of Allegra's tags inside her tag-protector are her vaccine verification tags and her pet-license proving i paid the city/county for the right to own her, giving her certain legal protections from hypothetically complain-y neighbors and whatever else. so nothing i can link you guys lol

● Allegra's primary name-tag (that also happens to be pill-themed) that she is pictured with is from KawaiiPetTags on etsy. (also there is a mini version of the tag from this same seller you can purchase) i got mine in blue and ordered it to just be the same, front and back, with the pill-bottle print and her name "Allegra". i absolutely love this seller, the tags from here are NOT drop-shipped, the seller is the artist behind every one of these and makes them. i saved up and then i messaged her after seeing she had SO MANY niche designs for pet-tags to ask if a pill-themed tag would be added to her product-listings soon or if i could commission her to make a custom pill-themed one for my cat. and she agreed to design one asap, no commission necessary, as she loved the idea and loved that my cat was named after an allergy medicine. she messaged me once the product-listing was up, and i ordered it right away. (i had seen this seller and the tag-protector both in my "save up" jar at almost the same time. the order had gone: asked my pill name-tag question on if it was coming soon/could be a commission → was awaiting seller to say the product-listing was up → saw tag-protector → saved up for the tag-protector → ordered the tag-protector → pill-bottle themed name-tag's product listing is up and i can personalize it to my liking. plus, with Allegra's tag-protector, i had already messaged the seller if embroidering "Allegra's Tags" was okay even though it was one letter over the limit. which, i was never going to back-out of the pill-bottle themed name-tag after i had already saved up and set up the expectation that i would be purchasing one upon the product-listing's eventual reveal; but also i rationalized the pill name-tag as a safety-net in case the tag-protector couldn't say "Allegra's Tags" due to being over the limit and would instead have to just read "Tags". but it WAS allowed to read "Allegra's Tags". so now Allegra has a tag reading "Allegra" and "Allegra's Tags" and it looks so cute lmao anyway, i digress. my point is that i knew when i was ordering the pill-bottle name-tag that Allegra wouldn't need her pill-bottle name-tag to have my contact info on the back; so i just ordered the pill-bottle print + her name on the front and back. besides, no way would it have fit in the tag-protector. so she just gets to have a fun tag for, well, fun lmao) but yeah, i am so glad i could afford to have one, she deserves every penny for her designs (tho the shipping costs from Australia to the USA did make me sigh, but that's in no way the seller's fault, that's common with overseas shipping). i'd love to order a back-up in case her shop ever closes (heaven forbid) bc i love the tag so much. it's such a fun design. but also? it's upheld so well since i purchased it; no scratches or anything despite Allegra's daily wear-and-tear to it. super awesome product, love it so much, ill def try to order any hypothetical future pets' tags from KawaiiPetTags. i definetly encourage you to buy from her any of your cats' name-tags (and/or owner's information tags if you aren't worried, like me, about getting stalked/doxxed by such a tag and therefore need a tag-protector and ergo owner's information tags to fit inside said tag-protector lol)

● Allegra's blue (cat-?)harness (note: has a handle AND is reflective 👀) she is pictured with is from Barkbay, which i got from Amazon. i think it's usually for small dogs lol but it works so great for my cat. the product-listing has really unconvincing cats photoshopped wearing the harness (just scroll down to all the reviews' pictures, which are real cats actually wearing the harnesses lmao), but the harness IS actually really good, i really really love it. i really wanted a reflective harness with a handle snd buckles, and i optionally wanted it to be a blue that matched Allegra's eyes if such was possible; and this harness was EVERYTHING i wanted and is absolutely perfect. so much so that i actually bought it twice. i bought a smaller size when Allegra was, well, smaller and i had realized she HATED her first harness (it was the kind you slip over their head like too-tight thermal underwear, and Allegra didn't like her head getting pushed into that which is understandable; so i looked for one with buckles and a few other details, and i found this; and then she out-grew that one and needed the next size up) and the buckles on the XS-sizing really hurt to unbuckle. but i could bear it, despite the annoyance. the buckles on the Small-sizing have been WAY easier to unbuckle, no pain at all. my cat will never fully be a fan of harnesses, but she does tolerate this one and i really love all its utilities. once, Allegra happened to go outside after dark while wearing this, and the reflective parts of the harness were super helpful at finding her with our flashlights, and the handle was fantastic for helping grab her (especially with my loved ones that helped me look for her who were unsure how to pin down a cat to not struggle, much less pick up and carry one). super great stuff, my favorite harness for cats i have seen so far for sure ♡ it also comes with a leash. it's just fine. i would personally replace the leash with something stronger, but it's a perfectly adequate leash

● not pictured is the bunch of bells i ordered for Allegra to make her collar a lot louder (not pictured bc they were the last item to come in. and they make Allegra's collar look messy, so no reason to aesthetically take photos. the two photos above (i THINK?) were for the etsy reviews of tag-protector and pill-bottle name-tag, so i tried to get good pictures of those as i was passionately adoring of both sellers. but these bells hadnt come in yet as of the time i was leaving those reviews so they aren't in the pictures 🤷) as my family was complaining they had to strain to hear her (and i wasn't doing much better than any of them) due to all of us being hard-of-hearing yet trying to keep auditory track of Allegra, both in general and in case she got too close to a door leading to the outside while any of us were coming in/going out. i tried to find plain bells, bc the bells' appearance didn't matter, but all i could find was things like "here's a pack of 30 bells for $8". which is way too many bells. so i looked for cheap singley-sold bells (that were someone at least re-selling (semi-)ethically, and not someone trying to be a scammer in taking that aforementioned 30 pack of bells and selling them singularly for $3 or something). the seller i found that i went "good enough" to was Catcher Club on etsy. i bought the "Blue Scrump" and "1 Cat" from this product listing; i bought the "Cat Kitty" from this product listing (this one was HUGE, i did not expect its size lmao rip im so poor with measurements); and i bought "No Face Ghost" from this product listing. their appearance didn't really matter to me, i just wanted "cheap but not a scammer", so i just picked my favorite individual bells from this seller (that were available anyway, many were sold out already lol) + ones that, as long as the paint lasted, would look nice with any of the seasonal collars i have bought/may buy for Allegra (white/black felt the safest, and anything that matched her eyes also sounded good by me). their paint is already well on its way to chipping as of writing this. which is fine by me. i care about the sound for practical hard-of-hearing reasons, not the look of the bells. but yeah, you wanna buy some "fair enough" prices for an individual bell that looks p good by a re-seller?? bc you are willing to pay a dew dollars more so long as you dont have the chore of "what do i do with these 20+ other bells??"? i def recommend CatcherClub. but yeah, if youre not hard-of-hearing, you almost definitely dont need as many bells/charms to click-clack-and-chime for your cat as Allegra has lmao rip

the end lmao thank fuck

please tell me if this has been useful to any of you, id love to feel like my work is validated and appreciated. but yeah, if you read all the way down to here?? that's so thorough and awesome of you lmao thank you ♡♡♡

i think im gonna start a series called "Kaiden-Shenandoah's random life tips" bc there's just some odd things i do that make my life easier/more enjoyable. that. like. i dont think make me special?? but most of my loved ones i babble to, when i mention them, will look surprised and be all "damn, that's clever. that's an issue i never thought about, but yeah, i can see how thatd help others/myself. ill have to remember that"

so. this post is all JUST IN CASE it helps someone, even just one person, then the effort will have been entirely worth it. bc sometimes living life is hard and sometimes you just need to hear someone say "oh, what about this possible solution?" to help you out by applying such to your routines or use that suggestion as foundational inspiration for something more customized to your own life or whatever else— just to make living life that little bit easier. and if me sepcifically needing a lot of "oddball" solutions and pre-cautions helps others??? that makes me feel awesome (and less alone), so hell yeah, ill do my best to remember as many tips as i have and be consistent about posting them within this thread. just in case and all that jazz ✌️

(and, even tho this likely DOES NOT need to be said out loud, ill say it anyway as my own proverbial "Bill of Rights" style just-have-it-written-down-in-case-the-worst-happens-in-the-future (but hope for the best) PSA: if these dont apply to you?? or if you think "wtf, people need help with this?? our generation/the next generation is doomed"??? maYHAPS THIS POST ISN'T FOR YOU. this is applicable only to people with lifestyles and/or brains that are similar to me and my loved ones. if you arent of that lifestyle or brain-typage, then thats that lol of course you cant relate. it's an "apples and oranges" thing, y'know. not better/worse or special/normal; just different. it's not something you need, and that's super okay. just don't be rude about the difference. if youd like to be kind and reblog anyway in case any followers or loved ones of yours could be helped by any of this?? that's so fantastic. some of this stuff has some really bad internalized shame about it, or else people have been conditioned to just "keep that to themself; don't talk about it", and either way some of these topics (not all, but still) have people who are hiding their struggle from others as best they can. you don't know what you don't know; and you don't know what people don't tell you. so it's very generous of you, as someone who cant relate to some/all of this stuff, to reblog just in case one of those silent strugglers follow you and/or are a part of your inner-circle. thank you so much for sympathizing with struggles you know your life as is doesn't share and thank you for being kind ♡)

i dont expect this to be helpful to EVERYBODY, and def feel free to just screenshot what is valuable to you and abandon this actual post (just pls dont crop my name out, esp if you end up re-posting your copy to your own blog or on different social-media elsewhere. bc credit is nice lol) bc i assume this will become a long/repetitive post as i update on/off. and most people dont like long posts lmao rip so you dont gotta reblog it if you hate long/repetitive posts or are worried about your followers disliking any long/repetitive post (besides: ill sometimes make one-offs not attached to this post, probably. esp since im forgetful and tumblr is broken/i lose things easily. but ill try to reblog this one for most of them, since thats easier organization for my brain 🫶 lmao)

(but yeah i only have three ideas i wanna do today, but ill come back to this whenever i remember another one ive done thats been helpful to me and/or that i created alongside a loved one that helped them lol)

also pls note that i am dyslexic and do not plan on editing any of this too seriously. so forgive me for mispellings, for forgetting an entire word, and so on. this is me being very casual, so ill inevitably miss some mistakes i make and whatnot

hugs and kisses xoxo best wishes see you later babe

trigger warning: i speculate on if a cat i rescued has suffered from two different tools of possible animal abuse within this post (water squirting primarily, with a bit about plastic-bags at the end). there is no graphic depiction of any event

my heart broke today, finding out someone in my cat's past probably squirted water at her 🥺

i started using a squirt-bottle to add water to the wet-food for my cat, Allegra (named after the allegery meds bc i didnt know it was a real name related to music, thank you), since it's summer and we live in southern California + most of cats' water-needs are met through their meat/wet-food, hence why many (but not all) cats who eat wet-food don't often use their water-fountains (apparently. and also my cat is one of them). i just wanted to make sure my cat isn't getting dehydrated since it's so hot and she's fully stopped taking a liking to fountains since being switched to wet-food. she's a Siamese Cat and her coloration makes it obvious that still has her winter coat on. my concern makes complete sense, like, yeah, sure, add some water to her meat, why not, can't hurt and it's a good idea

and, so far, i have ended up doing this when Allegra was nowhere around. and i just never noticed that before. so im like "just gonna use this squirt-bottle without any problems, much less any bad reactions from Allegra" in my ignorance as i fail to process the fact that my cat hasn't even realized i have been using one on her food. she's been elsewhere. every time. having no idea, probably sleeping soundly. and id just go find her and show her that her food is ready for her and now it has had extra water mixed in, and confirm she's eating it; all as i continue to not process that she missed the squirt-bottle entirely

and for additional context, my cat was a stray. i dont know for how long. but with how friendly she has always been and how scared she was of certain outdoor stimuli, i assume when i first found her that she'd been newly abandoned house-cat of a largely indoor variety rather than one of our neighborhood's regular cats (both outdoor/semi-outdoor and feral) that patrol the block or so around us, much less a socialized feral-cat. but she was approximately 2 years old when she started stalking me to demand i adopt her. so there are a number of years where i have no idea what what she was up to or experienced

and, as part of her being my first cat ever, i watched a lot of videos to research how to take care of Allegra (including "how do you pet a cat" lol i didnt want to get anything wrong!!), mostly by Jackson Galaxy. and i agree with his plea to not use squirt-bottles on cats as it just makes the cat fearful of their owner holding said squirt-bottle, rather than be scared of the bottle itself or learn from the "bad cat" action they did or whatever. i had been taught similar by past trainers with my family's dogs as such could instigate said dog to bite/attack someone to get the squirting human to stop using the bottle against them, so i was in immediate agreement that the same logic would apply to cats

so when Allegra followed me today to see if i would refill her bowl and heard me spritz a couple times into her bowl-- she RAN off and hid. and my cat p much always comes out when she's realized she is being called, she does not like me not knowing where she is nor does she like it when i completely walk past her in search for her. she always at least cries in a "Marco!"/"Polo!" fashion for me to be led to her hiding spot -- that is, if she's not already doing what more usually happens: where she is just straight up meowing "I'm here! I'm over here!" while she hurriedly trots after me to correct my having completely missed her in her said hiding spot, utterly abandoning her previous stealth. the only times she hasn't done EITHER of those things was when she first getting to know me (makes complete sense; completely grew out of that long-since by now) and when she'd hear the fire-alarm (we are working on getting her to NOT silently hide under the bed where i can't reach her when she does that). but my point is: it rarely happens these days. and, after hearing the spray-bottle, even though it wasn't pointed at her: she ran away and hid silently where i couldn't find her for like 15 minutes as i walked through every room of the house, calling her name, only to be greeted with absolute quiet 🥺🥺🥺 that's not like her at all, the poor baby

so now i know Allegra has a history with spray-bottles... in addition to my pre-existing knowledge that she is scared of a couple of other concerning things that i am HOPING are just her having not been socialized with them as a sound rather than that she was abused with them (the most worrying one of those being her fear of plastic-bags/trashbags. she bolts whenever she hears me change the trashcans' bags. but she stopped hiding as part of learning to trust me. now, she'll run into the other room at most but she won't hide in there; usually she just flinches and watches with Big Eyes to make sure i dont approach her with the bag, and then relaxes as she sees i'm just changing the trashcans, and goes back to her bathing or napping or whatever. again, it could just be a lack of being socialized leading to her fearing them and the noise they make. but it also could be abuse. ill likely never know for sure. but im happier hoping its a lack of socialization, even though i have no evidence to support that over the other option)

(plus! you add in the fact that she was clearly dumped by my house at some point in her lifespan since she has a micro-chip that, and i quote, had its information "deleted"— not "never finished putting in their info" or "accidentally erased due to some micro-chip subscription's lack of payment". but both the Animal Rescue person who scanned her chip as well as the person on the phone i called to put MY information into her said chip, aka: two very unrelated people, said her previous owners "deleted" their information. that doesn't sound great of her past owners' character. who the hell dumps a cat rather than surrender them to a shelter?)

and sure, maybe she reacted like that similarly because of a lack of socialization with a squirt-bottle. one that barely made any noise. and wasn't even pointed at her. and didnt get her wet in any way. but also? this dramatic of a reaction to a squirt-bottle?? and considering how stereotypical it is to squirt water at a misbehaving cat?

i'm a shitty fighter, but more and more as Allegra gives me sneak-peeks into her past before we met: id pay someone off of Craigslist to give her past owners' two black fucking eyes, i'll tell you what

I’ve beaten the game two times by now, but I’m never getting tired of fighting her.

ALT text under the cut

[ID: The image shows a digital painting of two women sitting in a café/club setting. The characters depicted are the leg trainer names as Allegra and the female protagonist of the game Ring Fit Adventure. The nameless protagonist is is depicted with caramel skin tone and blue eyes. She wears a cropped top with black and purple colors, dark red boxer shorts and white sneakers. She is enjoying a purple smoothie while resting her muscular legs on Allegras’ lap.

Allegra wears her usual royal blue outfit and ponytail which points straight upwards. She is slightly hunched over. Her left arm is clutched to her chest while her right hand almost hovers over the others’ leg. Her expression is not easy to read: She vaguely looks in the direction of the players smoothie, her left eye twitched.

Background: Walls with a golden angular swirls pattern, mostly covered by the light green corner sofa the characters are sitting on. In the foreground is a low round wood table, partly covering Allegras’ legs. End ID]

Quantic kids in costumes from the horror game Five Nights at Freddy's SL