held it up. A red plastic ball and yellow feather hung from a long piece of wire. Lulu batted the little ball with her finger. A bell tinkled inside the ball. [<- Holy shit, why is this toy being described so meticulously? Are we really supposed to muster any fucks to give?] “He’ll have fun with this,” [Pawnee croaked moistly.] The girls rode back to the Crandals. [<- Needs an apostrophe. Get your shit together, Betancourt.] Anna went to the kennel room to see the cat. She held the toy above his head. He reached up with two paws to [cast a particularly noxious spell]. When the bell rang he jumped back. Then he tried to [communicate to Anna with his unfathomable eyes that he would immolate her in sulfurous flames if she startled him in this fashion again. Anna was oblivious. She thought this creature to be merely a rank-and-file minion of Hades. This underestimation would eventually prove fatal – and worse. Later on, at the end of it all, Anna would think back on this exact moment. How innocent they had all been then. Especially Pawnee. Dear, sweet Pawnee. She deserved all of this least of all, Anna would think in that abstract future moment, when Anna, Pam, and the whole world were poised on the edge of— then again, perhaps Pawnee deserved it more than any of them.] There were six other animals in the clinic. Brandy, the German [soldier of the Great War], was sound asleep. He had a big bandage around his belly. [“He looks so peaceful curled up around his Gummimaske and clutching his Luger like that,” Anna whispered to herself. “And the little spike on his Pickelhaube is adorable. Oh, look at that diamond-shaped sunburst pip on the cord of his strap; that means he’s an Oberstleutnant! Good for him!”] Anna lifted the cat out of his kennel and carried him outside. Acorn was [reciting the names of the Old Gods in order of least to most tentacled] near the clinic. When he #DetectivePony