The King, crowned in summer

With the Equinox past, the nights are longer than the days now and the summer is definitely gone. It has been an eventful one. For my Master and me it's still as difficult as before with our communication, or lack thereof. I love him above all and everything, the beautiful Son of Satan, and I wish nothing more than to be finally able to consummate our eternal bond, and to spend my life with him. The latter I do, although sadly without ever being able to see or hear him, let alone to feel his touch.

I'd never have thought I could ever fall in love with someone else, but then it happened somehow.
So unexpectedly I encountered these adorable creatures back in spring, and I can no longer imagine my life without them. They're more than friends, they're family to me, and all too soon came the painful loss when Whitey died back in July. The fact that she had babies just before she passed surely helped to recover from it. And then soon, someone else came forward who I developed a very special bond with...

He's the most aggressive of them all. I still remember when we met on the other side of the lake, back when Whitey was still alive. I gave him carrots, but when I reached out my hand to caress his beautiful fur he snapped and bit me. I always recognized him by the little bump in his tail, for which I came to call him Bumpy. He would bite me many more times and still keeps doing so, but no longer on purpose. He's very aggressive to all other nutrias around and will often leap forward and attack them, he doesn't even spare the babies.
But in particular he hated Big Daddy, who was the head of their local group, and Bumpy would keep challenging him for dominance. I witnessed them facing off, arching their backs, menacing with their sharp teeth, and jumping at each other.
But with me, Bumpy grew more gentle and trusting. He allowed me to touch him, eventually even to touch my face to his soft fur sometimes. I knew by then he would allow it, and never attack me anymore.

With my sweet King of the Pond, who is eating a pear.

He keeps lashing out at others of his own kind, and that's the only times I still get bitten by him sometimes, when I'm simply in the way - and nutrias don't have good eyesight. I can tell he's trying not to hurt me, but his temperament remains volatile. And it seems to have earned him the crown.
I noticed that Big Daddy will no longer face off with him. Bumpy still attacks him sometimes, but Big Daddy will usually just squeal and jump away, like the others. Bumpy is king now.

King Bumpy.

The much I love the babies - and I sure don't want Bumpy to hurt any of them - but when Bumpy is absent, I feel a piece of my heart is missing. I'm in love with him. I always worry that he might get hurt himself, by getting into fights or getting in trouble with human assholes. To be clear, there are lots of awesome, friendly people, some of whom come and feed them too, but sadly I've also seen a few assholes around.

I got the idea that, since things between my Master and me are not working out the way we hoped, I've been given these creatures for company now, to finally have some physical affection in my life that I've never had before.
Now before anyone gets silly ideas: I'm asexual. Which means neither straight nor lesbian nor any of that kind - I've never had any and wouldn't ever want any of that! All I ever want is some cuddles, with a beautiful creature - not a human.
If I could I'd want to spend all of my days with them, especially Bumpy. I'd love to have him sleeping by my side, to snuggle up against his soft fur, and to wake up to his long whiskers tickling my face. That much I can't have, but at least I can have something. I also enjoy it very much when the babies climb all over me, and to have their little hands tugging on me. The adults as well. They've sometimes pulled my hair a bit, especially Bumpy. Yes, I bow my head to the King, of course. What a beautiful king he is!

The watchful eye of the King.

A kiss for Bumpy. Foreground: Little Growly,
who may well be Bumpy's son. Even when he
was much smaller he started growling softly.
Not only does he resemble Bumpy with his
color of fur, but also seems to develop a
similar, aggressive temperament.

Mommy Alice (left) with two babies.

Little white Paardebloempje with a sibling.

My sweet Bumpy, always grumpy

As always I had to check on my little family. We had some trouble lately with some homeless dude camping out there. He had been there for a while and I had deemed him harmless, but the other Saturday he suddenly snapped and came throwing a stone at my sweet animals, after which I got into a row with him, trying to make him understand that I'll not allow him to harm any of them, but he kept babbling at me in German, doubtlessly insults, and wouldn't even try to understand. He also kept saying "McFit" again and again - the name of my gym. I couldn't make sense of that bit until I remembered, days later, that I'd seen a homeless guy camping under the entrance of the permanently closed store just around the corner from McFit, where I passed by every time on my way home, so I guess that must have been him - I never really took notice then, and mostly he was cocooned in his sleeping bag then anyway. It sure makes for a weird coincidence though that he first camped by my gym and then next to the lawn where my furry family live, so that it makes me wonder who sent that dude my way. Maybe someone is having a laugh...?

Anyway, he's gone now and hopefully will remain absent. I want to know my little darlings being safe.
Fortunately I now found some people who also care for them,which is good to know, especially with the winter ahead. I'll try to keep visiting my furry kin then, of course,but I might not be able to make it as frequently, since the German winter is brutal on me too.





"Uh-oh..." It may seem at times in this video that I'm not comfortable with him being there, but that's certainly not the case. In fact, the much I love the babies, I was about to leave and go looking for him because my Bumpy was missing. At that very moment he came. I love him so much, it's just that I know he's very aggressive, on some days, like today, more than other days, and I don't want him to bite the babies. Instead, he bit me once more, not for the first time. My sweet Bumpy, always grumpy, but always my sweetheart, my beautiful King of the Pond.

Missing: Little Black Fluffy

I don't want to call this "In Memoriam" or something like that because I still hope he (she?) will pop up again, but I haven't seen him in 3 weeks now. After all, I had never seen the second white baby again in a long time, but only recently s/he popped up again, the little white one that I call Paardebloempje (Dutch for "Little Dandelion"). The difference is that Paardebloempje had never grown accustomed to me yet, only Sleepy-Eyes (the other white baby) would come to me. Only recently, Paardebloempje has started taking food from my hand, still timidly - while Sleepy-Eyes is fearlessly climbing all over me.
All the babies started out being very shy, and some grew to trust me more quickly than others.
In this little video compilation I made with what clips I have of Black Fluffy this can be seen, in the start he's timid, but towards the end of it he's walking over my leg. And I'm aware that, sadly, after having come to trust me this much it would be far less likely that he suddenly just decided to stay away.

The few photos I have of him are mostly not of greatest quality, but I'll put them here anyway. I hope I'll still get a chance to take more of him in the future, and to see him grow up.

Black Fluffy (left) and his brother Growly.

Sorry, little Fluffy, the bag of carrots is empty.

Black Fluffy (right) with Sleepy-Eyes (the white one)
& two others.

Black Fluffy with Sleepy-Eyes and another sibling.