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Botober 24: Hypothetical Staircase
On this day, the 24th of Botober, the writing prompts of the day are:
Hypothetical Staircase
The cat uncurled, stretched, and hopped out of her basket. She paced around the tower room looking for anything interesting. A small hole, but she'd cleared out the mice from that weeks ago. The human was absent. There was water in the cat's bowl, so she lapped up a little, but there was no food. She sniffed around. There was a smell of something that might be prey, but it came from the upper level.
She jumped up onto tables and shelves, but even the highest shelf didn't allow her to jump up to the top level. After a fruitless attempt which left her back on the floor licking sore paws, she looked around some more. The human had gone up to the top level before. So had that other thing, the thing that moved but wasn't alive. There was a way to go up there. Sometimes.
The cat didn't have "memory" per se, but she had some sense that sometimes things were one way and sometimes they were another way. Normally she needed the human to change the way things were. But not always.
She sniffed around to find the exact spot. There was a faint scent of flower petals, and she sneezed once, then followed it to where it was strongest. Then she looked determinedly up and jumped up to the first step. Where the first step would have been, if it were there. She convinced herself there was resistance beneath her paws, however soft, and did not look down at them. She leapt up to the next step, then the next.
When she reached the upper level, she stopped and licked her paws again, studiously not looking back to where the staircase wasn't. Then she peered around. The big not-alive thing was there, standing motionless before a large thing that gave off an unappealing odour; she sneezed again. She moved away from it looking for the other scent. Behind her she could hear the not-alive thing pick up something and drink from it, and make some human sounds; she ignored it. She had no interest in "Coffee".
Around the other side of the tower she found what she had been smelling. She examine it curiously. There was water there, enclosed but visible. Inside there was a fish. Her brain called it a fish, except that in some ways it looked like a rabbit too. This did not cause her a problem, because she could eat them both. The fish's mouth opened once to reveal large fangs, as it snapped at a passing piece of debris.
The water was open at the top. It shouldn't be hard to get up there.
"Yes, but what if I double the number m," Cadeo mused to himself as he teleported back into his tower. He immediately jotted down his stray thoughts on his slate noteboard and looked at them for a few minutes before coming to himself. "Amritha," he called. "Are you hungry?" He glanced around but didn't see the cat in her basket. A quick search also failed to turn her up. His brow furrowed. "Amritha?" he called again. Then he did a small locator spell. "What are you doing up there?" he murmured. He manifested the rose-petal staircase and climbed up. He glanced at the golem still standing before the coffee urn muttering to itself.
Amritha was sitting beatifically on top of a shelf peering down at him. On the floor in front of the shelf was the remains of the hybrid bunny-shark he'd created a few weeks ago. He sighed. "Oh, Amritha," he said. "How did you get up here anyway? Mischief cat."
Amritha purred.
- Things: Something that is both a bunny and a shark
- Concepts: The number m
- Advanced: A cat on the first three steps of a hypothetical staircase
- Terrible: A small hole
Hypothetical Staircase
The cat uncurled, stretched, and hopped out of her basket. She paced around the tower room looking for anything interesting. A small hole, but she'd cleared out the mice from that weeks ago. The human was absent. There was water in the cat's bowl, so she lapped up a little, but there was no food. She sniffed around. There was a smell of something that might be prey, but it came from the upper level.
She jumped up onto tables and shelves, but even the highest shelf didn't allow her to jump up to the top level. After a fruitless attempt which left her back on the floor licking sore paws, she looked around some more. The human had gone up to the top level before. So had that other thing, the thing that moved but wasn't alive. There was a way to go up there. Sometimes.
The cat didn't have "memory" per se, but she had some sense that sometimes things were one way and sometimes they were another way. Normally she needed the human to change the way things were. But not always.
She sniffed around to find the exact spot. There was a faint scent of flower petals, and she sneezed once, then followed it to where it was strongest. Then she looked determinedly up and jumped up to the first step. Where the first step would have been, if it were there. She convinced herself there was resistance beneath her paws, however soft, and did not look down at them. She leapt up to the next step, then the next.
When she reached the upper level, she stopped and licked her paws again, studiously not looking back to where the staircase wasn't. Then she peered around. The big not-alive thing was there, standing motionless before a large thing that gave off an unappealing odour; she sneezed again. She moved away from it looking for the other scent. Behind her she could hear the not-alive thing pick up something and drink from it, and make some human sounds; she ignored it. She had no interest in "Coffee".
Around the other side of the tower she found what she had been smelling. She examine it curiously. There was water there, enclosed but visible. Inside there was a fish. Her brain called it a fish, except that in some ways it looked like a rabbit too. This did not cause her a problem, because she could eat them both. The fish's mouth opened once to reveal large fangs, as it snapped at a passing piece of debris.
The water was open at the top. It shouldn't be hard to get up there.
"Yes, but what if I double the number m," Cadeo mused to himself as he teleported back into his tower. He immediately jotted down his stray thoughts on his slate noteboard and looked at them for a few minutes before coming to himself. "Amritha," he called. "Are you hungry?" He glanced around but didn't see the cat in her basket. A quick search also failed to turn her up. His brow furrowed. "Amritha?" he called again. Then he did a small locator spell. "What are you doing up there?" he murmured. He manifested the rose-petal staircase and climbed up. He glanced at the golem still standing before the coffee urn muttering to itself.
Amritha was sitting beatifically on top of a shelf peering down at him. On the floor in front of the shelf was the remains of the hybrid bunny-shark he'd created a few weeks ago. He sighed. "Oh, Amritha," he said. "How did you get up here anyway? Mischief cat."
Amritha purred.