C’mon, Whiskers, leave Fuzzy alone. He’s been away for a long time; he’s just happy to be home.
Are you sure? Don’t humans usually do that weird upward thing with their mouths when they’re happy?
It’s called a smile. Fuzzy does it sometimes, but most times, he’s got his own special ways of showing happiness. They’re subtle. You’ve got to watch his eyes, and the way he holds his stick.
He’s damaged, isn’t he? I’m surprised my person hasn’t killed him yet.
He’s damaged, but he’s tough. And people don’t kill their weak, anyway. You’re thinking of hamsters, I bet. Easy mistake to make, seeing as how yours kind of looks like a giant hamster. Hey, I forgot to ask: what’d you name him?
Her name is Pudge, and I like how she looks. Warm and cuddly.
Wait a minute, it’s not a “her.” You’ve got a male person there.
She’s not male! You’re trying to arureomorphize her, give her rat qualities. You’ve got to use human characteristics to judge. See: soft, smooth skin, kind eyes, and wide hips to pass out those giant pups they have.
Is your nose broken? Sniff! That’s testosterone coming off Pudge. Not as much as my Fuzzy, but still -
Damn, you’re right. I specifically wanted a female. My Mama said they give the best food.
Maybe that’s generally true, but I have to tell you, the cuisine Pudge has been handing out the past few weeks is some of the best I’ve ever had. Much better than anything Fuzzy ever gave me.
Um, didn’t you say humans don’t kill their ill ones? Because Pudge has started munching on your Fuzzy.
Hey! Pudge, cut that out! Whiskers, get your human off mine before he devours him!
Wait a sec, don’t get your nose in a twist. Fuzzy’s biting back now, and I don’t see any blood. They must be play-fighting.
Play-fighting? They’re adult humans; you think they’d have practiced enough by now.
At least they’ve stopped yapping.
Hey, speaking of play-fighting, want to wrestle?
I’m feeling pretty lazy. Do you mean wrestling or wrestling?
I mean wrestling that might turn into wrestling. If you’re lucky.
If you want to mate again, why don’t you ask me to mate instead of being so coy about it?
C’mon, where’s the romance? Besides, it’s not really mating if no pups come of it.
Semantics. How about an even less direct euphemism, then? Come on over here, and I’ll dip my tail in your food bowl.
Now I’m not in the mood any more.
Unsurprising. Are you sure you’re a buck and not a doe?
I’m sure. And speaking of that, look: we have visual confirmation that your Pudge is a boy.
Oh, you’re right. But he’s not going to be one for very long if Fuzzy doesn’t stop pulling on him like that.
Don’t worry, Pudge’ll be fine. Fuzzy’s had a lot of practice with that; he does it to himself all the time.
Really? What for?
I heard it was related to mating, but like I said, Fuzzy does it by himself, so I don’t know.
You know, lizards sometimes undergo parthenogenesis and have babies all on their own.
But that’s female lizards. We’ve conclusively determined Pudge and Fuzzy are males.
Right. I guess we just chalk it up to humans being weird, then. Who can tell what goes on in those freakishly over-sized brains of theirs?
Makes me tired just thinking of it. C’mon, Whiskers, let’s cuddle up and take a nap.
Sounds great. Pudge and Fuzzy seem to be heading toward their nest, anyway.
I wasn’t so sure if they’d be sharing that nest when Fuzzy got back. They never had before.
That’s some pretty strong musk they’re throwing off. If they’re not going to mate now, I’ll eat my hat.
C’mon, Whiskers, leave Fuzzy alone. He’s been away for a long time; he’s just happy to be home.
So, this epilogue is from the point of view of two rats who are now pets of House and Wilson. Chirp is who we know as Steve McQueen, the rat House adopted back in Season Two. Whiskers is who we know as Tuco, the rat Wilson adopted during the fic. Throughout the fic, they go by the names their mamas gave them: Chirp and Whiskers.
From House & Wilson’s point of view, when they got their pet rats, they gave them names. So from Chirp and Whiskers’ point of view, when they adopted their humans, they gave the humans names. Chirp gave his human the name “Fuzzy” on account of his fuzzy face.
Chirp and Whiskers, being rats, don’t understand human language. To them it’s just noise, and House and Wilson yammering in the kitchen is just being noisy. They’ve only had Wilson around up until this point, so they’re more used to it being quiet.
Are you sure? Don’t humans usually do that weird upward thing with their mouths when they’re happy?
It’s called a smile. Fuzzy does it sometimes, but most times, he’s got his own special ways of showing happiness. They’re subtle. You’ve got to watch his eyes, and the way he holds his stick.
I enjoyed the thought of Chirp noticing that House expresses happiness in ways other than smiling.
He’s damaged, isn’t he? I’m surprised my person hasn’t killed him yet.
He’s damaged, but he’s tough. And people don’t kill their weak, anyway. You’re thinking of hamsters, I bet. Easy mistake to make, seeing as how yours kind of looks like a giant hamster. Hey, I forgot to ask: what’d you name him?
Whiskers hasn’t seen House until the day of this fic, but he can tell there’s something wrong with House’s leg. Chirp explains that the leg damage doesn’t mean that House is weak.
I had originally thought that rats killed their weak/diseased the way that some animal species do, but my rat beta fallen_arazil set me straight. She said I was thinking of hamsters... so I put that in Chirp’s dialogue. Anti-hamster prejudice or fact? For the purpose of the story, it didn’t really matter.
You need to remember that this story is set in mid-Season Three, when Wilson had gained weight from Season One and was looking, well, pudgy. Not fat, and I doubt he was actually overweight, but he had more flesh on his bones than before. And with the soft brown hair and brown eyes and round face, under certain lighting, he rather did look like a hamster.
Her name is Pudge, and I like how she looks. Warm and cuddly.
Wait a minute, it’s not a “her.” You’ve got a male person there.
She’s not male! You’re trying to arureomorphize her, give her rat qualities. You’ve got to use human characteristics to judge. See: soft, smooth skin, kind eyes, and wide hips to pass out those giant pups they have.
“Warm and cuddly” - hee. Of course first impressions can be deceiving, as Wilson isn’t particularly cuddly or touch-feely in his actions in canon. But hee.
“Anthropomorphize” means to ascribe human characteristics to non-human items. I wanted the rats to have an equivalent term, for giving rat qualities to non-rat things, so I did a little language digging. “Anthropo-“ comes from the Greek word anthrōpos, which means “human being.” “Arureos” is the Greek word for “rat,” so that lead me to “arureomorphize.”
The “wide hips” reference was because, well, in Season Three particularly Wilson seemed to have “birthin’ hips,” as my friend called them.
Is your nose broken? Sniff! That’s testosterone coming off Pudge. Not as much as my Fuzzy, but still -
Rats have a keener sense of smell than humans so they’d use scent evidence as much as visual evidence. Whether they actually can smell testosterone, eh, I don’t know. It was just funny. (Also, Fuzzy/House has more testosterone because he’s the dommiest of the dom.)
Re: DVD for "Looking Out" - Part 1chocolate_frappNovember 8 2009, 15:50:21 UTC
Actually I sort of like the idea of rats being somewhat prejudiced against hamsters. I LOVE "arureomorphize". Big linguistics geek here. I did call my first House fic "Iatroeco-oxyglossophilia", after all.
DVD for "Looking Out" - Part 2deelaundryNovember 7 2009, 17:31:25 UTC
Damn, you’re right. I specifically wanted a female. My Mama said they give the best food.
Maybe that’s generally true, but I have to tell you, the cuisine Pudge has been handing out the past few weeks is some of the best I’ve ever had. Much better than anything Fuzzy ever gave me.
Um, didn’t you say humans don’t kill their ill ones? Because Pudge has started munching on your Fuzzy.
Hey! Pudge, cut that out! Whiskers, get your human off mine before he devours him!
:D The rats have misinterpreted. :D
Wait a sec, don’t get your nose in a twist. Fuzzy’s biting back now, and I don’t see any blood. They must be play-fighting.
Play-fighting? They’re adult humans; you think they’d have practiced enough by now.
And they’re still misinterpreting, but they’re closer. :D I imagine Wilson and House’s “play-fighting” is quite spirited.
At least they’ve stopped yapping.
Hey, speaking of play-fighting, want to wrestle?
I’m feeling pretty lazy. Do you mean wrestling or wrestling?
I mean wrestling that might turn into wrestling. If you’re lucky.
If you want to mate again, why don’t you ask me to mate instead of being so coy about it?
The humans aren’t interesting enough to keep the rats’ attention. XD
C’mon, where’s the romance? Besides, it’s not really mating if no pups come of it.
Semantics. How about an even less direct euphemism, then? Come on over here, and I’ll dip my tail in your food bowl.
Now I’m not in the mood any more.
Unsurprising. Are you sure you’re a buck and not a doe?
You’ve probably lost track of who’s who in the dialogue by this point, but Chirp/Steve has the personality that’s a little bit more like Wilson’s, and Whiskers/Tuco has the personality that’s a bit more like House’s.
I’m sure. And speaking of that, look: we have visual confirmation that your Pudge is a boy.
Oh, you’re right. But he’s not going to be one for very long if Fuzzy doesn’t stop pulling on him like that.
Getting Wilson partially naked in the kitchen! W00t!
Don’t worry, Pudge’ll be fine. Fuzzy’s had a lot of practice with that; he does it to himself all the time.
Because of course House doesn’t care about Steve being in the room when he masturbates. :D
Really? What for?
I heard it was related to mating, but like I said, Fuzzy does it by himself, so I don’t know.
The rats don’t know what the deal is with masturbating, because they just go directly to partnered sex. I actually have no idea whether it’s true, that rats don’t masturbate, but my rat-beta didn’t tell me I was wrong so...
You know, lizards sometimes undergo parthenogenesis and have babies all on their own.
But that’s female lizards. We’ve conclusively determined Pudge and Fuzzy are males.
Right. I guess we just chalk it up to humans being weird, then. Who can tell what goes on in those freakishly over-sized brains of theirs?
Whiskers/Tuco is also like House in his affinity for scientific facts. But you see that Chirp/Steve is able to keep up with him.
Human beings really do have very large brains as a percent of body weight compared to other animals.
Makes me tired just thinking of it. C’mon, Whiskers, let’s cuddle up and take a nap.
Sounds great. Pudge and Fuzzy seem to be heading toward their nest, anyway.
W00t! House and Wilson are heading for the bedroom.
I wasn’t so sure if they’d be sharing that nest when Fuzzy got back. They never had before.
That’s some pretty strong musk they’re throwing off. If they’re not going to mate now, I’ll eat my hat.
You don’t have a hat.
Figure of speech. Sleep tight, Chirp.
Sleep tight, Whiskers. It’s good to have everyone home.
Awww, House and Wilson are off to mate, and Whiskers and Chirp are going to cuddle up for a nap. Awwww.
The “You don’t have a hat” joke is a pretty classic straight-man, wordplay joke, but I like it. :D
Epilogue - Looking Out
They’re annoyingly noisy, aren’t they, Chirp? Yours especially.
C’mon, Whiskers, leave Fuzzy alone. He’s been away for a long time; he’s just happy to be home.
Are you sure? Don’t humans usually do that weird upward thing with their mouths when they’re happy?
It’s called a smile. Fuzzy does it sometimes, but most times, he’s got his own special ways of showing happiness. They’re subtle. You’ve got to watch his eyes, and the way he holds his stick.
He’s damaged, isn’t he? I’m surprised my person hasn’t killed him yet.
He’s damaged, but he’s tough. And people don’t kill their weak, anyway. You’re thinking of hamsters, I bet. Easy mistake to make, seeing as how yours kind of looks like a giant hamster. Hey, I forgot to ask: what’d you name him?
Her name is Pudge, and I like how she looks. Warm and cuddly.
Wait a minute, it’s not a “her.” You’ve got a male person there.
She’s not male! You’re trying to arureomorphize her, give her rat qualities. You’ve got to use human characteristics to judge. See: soft, smooth skin, kind eyes, and wide hips to pass out those giant pups they have.
Is your nose broken? Sniff! That’s testosterone coming off Pudge. Not as much as my Fuzzy, but still -
Damn, you’re right. I specifically wanted a female. My Mama said they give the best food.
Maybe that’s generally true, but I have to tell you, the cuisine Pudge has been handing out the past few weeks is some of the best I’ve ever had. Much better than anything Fuzzy ever gave me.
Um, didn’t you say humans don’t kill their ill ones? Because Pudge has started munching on your Fuzzy.
Hey! Pudge, cut that out! Whiskers, get your human off mine before he devours him!
Wait a sec, don’t get your nose in a twist. Fuzzy’s biting back now, and I don’t see any blood. They must be play-fighting.
Play-fighting? They’re adult humans; you think they’d have practiced enough by now.
At least they’ve stopped yapping.
Hey, speaking of play-fighting, want to wrestle?
I’m feeling pretty lazy. Do you mean wrestling or wrestling?
I mean wrestling that might turn into wrestling. If you’re lucky.
If you want to mate again, why don’t you ask me to mate instead of being so coy about it?
C’mon, where’s the romance? Besides, it’s not really mating if no pups come of it.
Semantics. How about an even less direct euphemism, then? Come on over here, and I’ll dip my tail in your food bowl.
Now I’m not in the mood any more.
Unsurprising. Are you sure you’re a buck and not a doe?
I’m sure. And speaking of that, look: we have visual confirmation that your Pudge is a boy.
Oh, you’re right. But he’s not going to be one for very long if Fuzzy doesn’t stop pulling on him like that.
Don’t worry, Pudge’ll be fine. Fuzzy’s had a lot of practice with that; he does it to himself all the time.
Really? What for?
I heard it was related to mating, but like I said, Fuzzy does it by himself, so I don’t know.
You know, lizards sometimes undergo parthenogenesis and have babies all on their own.
But that’s female lizards. We’ve conclusively determined Pudge and Fuzzy are males.
Right. I guess we just chalk it up to humans being weird, then. Who can tell what goes on in those freakishly over-sized brains of theirs?
Makes me tired just thinking of it. C’mon, Whiskers, let’s cuddle up and take a nap.
Sounds great. Pudge and Fuzzy seem to be heading toward their nest, anyway.
I wasn’t so sure if they’d be sharing that nest when Fuzzy got back. They never had before.
That’s some pretty strong musk they’re throwing off. If they’re not going to mate now, I’ll eat my hat.
You don’t have a hat.
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I called this “Looking Out” because the two POV characters are in their cage, quite literally looking out at House & Wilson.
They’re annoyingly noisy, aren’t they, Chirp? Yours especially.
C’mon, Whiskers, leave Fuzzy alone. He’s been away for a long time; he’s just happy to be home.
So, this epilogue is from the point of view of two rats who are now pets of House and Wilson. Chirp is who we know as Steve McQueen, the rat House adopted back in Season Two. Whiskers is who we know as Tuco, the rat Wilson adopted during the fic. Throughout the fic, they go by the names their mamas gave them: Chirp and Whiskers.
From House & Wilson’s point of view, when they got their pet rats, they gave them names. So from Chirp and Whiskers’ point of view, when they adopted their humans, they gave the humans names. Chirp gave his human the name “Fuzzy” on account of his fuzzy face.
Chirp and Whiskers, being rats, don’t understand human language. To them it’s just noise, and House and Wilson yammering in the kitchen is just being noisy. They’ve only had Wilson around up until this point, so they’re more used to it being quiet.
Are you sure? Don’t humans usually do that weird upward thing with their mouths when they’re happy?
It’s called a smile. Fuzzy does it sometimes, but most times, he’s got his own special ways of showing happiness. They’re subtle. You’ve got to watch his eyes, and the way he holds his stick.
I enjoyed the thought of Chirp noticing that House expresses happiness in ways other than smiling.
He’s damaged, isn’t he? I’m surprised my person hasn’t killed him yet.
He’s damaged, but he’s tough. And people don’t kill their weak, anyway. You’re thinking of hamsters, I bet. Easy mistake to make, seeing as how yours kind of looks like a giant hamster. Hey, I forgot to ask: what’d you name him?
Whiskers hasn’t seen House until the day of this fic, but he can tell there’s something wrong with House’s leg. Chirp explains that the leg damage doesn’t mean that House is weak.
I had originally thought that rats killed their weak/diseased the way that some animal species do, but my rat beta fallen_arazil set me straight. She said I was thinking of hamsters... so I put that in Chirp’s dialogue. Anti-hamster prejudice or fact? For the purpose of the story, it didn’t really matter.
You need to remember that this story is set in mid-Season Three, when Wilson had gained weight from Season One and was looking, well, pudgy. Not fat, and I doubt he was actually overweight, but he had more flesh on his bones than before. And with the soft brown hair and brown eyes and round face, under certain lighting, he rather did look like a hamster.
Her name is Pudge, and I like how she looks. Warm and cuddly.
Wait a minute, it’s not a “her.” You’ve got a male person there.
She’s not male! You’re trying to arureomorphize her, give her rat qualities. You’ve got to use human characteristics to judge. See: soft, smooth skin, kind eyes, and wide hips to pass out those giant pups they have.
“Warm and cuddly” - hee. Of course first impressions can be deceiving, as Wilson isn’t particularly cuddly or touch-feely in his actions in canon. But hee.
“Anthropomorphize” means to ascribe human characteristics to non-human items. I wanted the rats to have an equivalent term, for giving rat qualities to non-rat things, so I did a little language digging. “Anthropo-“ comes from the Greek word anthrōpos, which means “human being.” “Arureos” is the Greek word for “rat,” so that lead me to “arureomorphize.”
The “wide hips” reference was because, well, in Season Three particularly Wilson seemed to have “birthin’ hips,” as my friend called them.
Is your nose broken? Sniff! That’s testosterone coming off Pudge. Not as much as my Fuzzy, but still -
Rats have a keener sense of smell than humans so they’d use scent evidence as much as visual evidence. Whether they actually can smell testosterone, eh, I don’t know. It was just funny. (Also, Fuzzy/House has more testosterone because he’s the dommiest of the dom.)
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I LOVE "arureomorphize". Big linguistics geek here. I did call my first House fic "Iatroeco-oxyglossophilia", after all.
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Maybe that’s generally true, but I have to tell you, the cuisine Pudge has been handing out the past few weeks is some of the best I’ve ever had. Much better than anything Fuzzy ever gave me.
Um, didn’t you say humans don’t kill their ill ones? Because Pudge has started munching on your Fuzzy.
Hey! Pudge, cut that out! Whiskers, get your human off mine before he devours him!
:D The rats have misinterpreted. :D
Wait a sec, don’t get your nose in a twist. Fuzzy’s biting back now, and I don’t see any blood. They must be play-fighting.
Play-fighting? They’re adult humans; you think they’d have practiced enough by now.
And they’re still misinterpreting, but they’re closer. :D I imagine Wilson and House’s “play-fighting” is quite spirited.
At least they’ve stopped yapping.
Hey, speaking of play-fighting, want to wrestle?
I’m feeling pretty lazy. Do you mean wrestling or wrestling?
I mean wrestling that might turn into wrestling. If you’re lucky.
If you want to mate again, why don’t you ask me to mate instead of being so coy about it?
The humans aren’t interesting enough to keep the rats’ attention. XD
C’mon, where’s the romance? Besides, it’s not really mating if no pups come of it.
Semantics. How about an even less direct euphemism, then? Come on over here, and I’ll dip my tail in your food bowl.
Now I’m not in the mood any more.
Unsurprising. Are you sure you’re a buck and not a doe?
You’ve probably lost track of who’s who in the dialogue by this point, but Chirp/Steve has the personality that’s a little bit more like Wilson’s, and Whiskers/Tuco has the personality that’s a bit more like House’s.
I’m sure. And speaking of that, look: we have visual confirmation that your Pudge is a boy.
Oh, you’re right. But he’s not going to be one for very long if Fuzzy doesn’t stop pulling on him like that.
Getting Wilson partially naked in the kitchen! W00t!
Don’t worry, Pudge’ll be fine. Fuzzy’s had a lot of practice with that; he does it to himself all the time.
Because of course House doesn’t care about Steve being in the room when he masturbates. :D
Really? What for?
I heard it was related to mating, but like I said, Fuzzy does it by himself, so I don’t know.
The rats don’t know what the deal is with masturbating, because they just go directly to partnered sex. I actually have no idea whether it’s true, that rats don’t masturbate, but my rat-beta didn’t tell me I was wrong so...
You know, lizards sometimes undergo parthenogenesis and have babies all on their own.
But that’s female lizards. We’ve conclusively determined Pudge and Fuzzy are males.
Right. I guess we just chalk it up to humans being weird, then. Who can tell what goes on in those freakishly over-sized brains of theirs?
Whiskers/Tuco is also like House in his affinity for scientific facts. But you see that Chirp/Steve is able to keep up with him.
Human beings really do have very large brains as a percent of body weight compared to other animals.
Makes me tired just thinking of it. C’mon, Whiskers, let’s cuddle up and take a nap.
Sounds great. Pudge and Fuzzy seem to be heading toward their nest, anyway.
W00t! House and Wilson are heading for the bedroom.
I wasn’t so sure if they’d be sharing that nest when Fuzzy got back. They never had before.
That’s some pretty strong musk they’re throwing off. If they’re not going to mate now, I’ll eat my hat.
You don’t have a hat.
Figure of speech. Sleep tight, Chirp.
Sleep tight, Whiskers. It’s good to have everyone home.
Awww, House and Wilson are off to mate, and Whiskers and Chirp are going to cuddle up for a nap. Awwww.
The “You don’t have a hat” joke is a pretty classic straight-man, wordplay joke, but I like it. :D
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and House doesn't give a rat's ass if he's being watched, ba doom boom.
thanks! :)
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