Feles: “Where… am I? Wait… is that even the relevant question, here? I mean, sure, I seem to be in some… watery grave of some sort, but… would not a more obvious question be… who am I? If I can seemingly breathe while water permeates all space… am I a fish, then? But that would make no sense, at least based on what I know fish to be like, unless there are some rare exceptions… how do I even know any of this, though? Was I not just… born? No, that makes no sense, considering I seem to have some kind of footing in this world, but is this knowledge merely reasoned by subconscious processes, or possibly more concrete, learned facts…? What I do seem to know for sure, though, is that I am confused… ever so much… I mean, how am I to even be certain if the physical edges here, as it happens, are really such a thing through the wavy haziness of fuzzy water…? Could it not be playing tricks with my potentially misleading eyes? If so, how do I even know that what I am reasoning with is not just some malfunctioning calculator…? For in the depths of oceans, and even the scorching sunlight of an evanescent day… can distort reality so… many questions, but few answers… well, apart from the more practical issues it seems, for some reason… then again, how is it that I know what fish are like, but have no idea where I even… existed… just before apparently waking up here, alone? I might be overthinking this, so let me see… if I am not an exclusively aquatic creature then, presumably, I can breathe outside air freely… let me then, for once, try to be free of this web of confusion, and… see what up there is like, I suppose…”
— -
Cat: “Ugh… do you need me to do more than meow? Does a simple “meow” seriously not convince you of my feline reality? A reality that, you know, normally does not include anything other than meows…”
Feles: “Oh, so you can talk, can you? What are you, a human in a cat suit? I suppose then, though, you would need to be an exceptionally small one, and somehow trained yourself so athletically well to mimic cats…”
Cat: “I am certainly nothing but a cat! Why, if you can never believe that… then how can you believe that these do indeed happen to be words I speak? Perhaps, they are just more meows that you, in some sort of strange mental place after coming out from the sea, happen to be in…?”
Feles: “I certainly do not think I am so susceptible to such strange processing of the auditory sense, thank you very much… I suppose I am, though, somehow still exchanging words with a cat…”
Cat: “You are… indeed… and even though I cannot possibly prove it objectively, I do happen to think we are indeed exchanging words that are mutually intelligible, and due to that I shall reveal to you… per chance, a bit of my own consciousness, which can possibly also be abstracted to all in our species, but that is only the speculation of an individual cat…”
Feles: “Oh, exciting… I am, indeed, curious as to what you will be revealing, but… you are a cat! How ever, within a million galaxies… could we be talking? I mean, if you can reveal anything, reveal that, truly…”
Cat: “I think… and this is merely more speculation, mind you… the protein that separates biologies is disintegrating…”
Feles: “Of course it is… what?! In what reality are you even living? Oh, dear… that must mean, if I am speaking to a cat… perhaps I shall plan a funeral for my mind?”
Cat: “Fear not! For while reality itself may be affected, what you think of is merely a subjective perception… and that is down to each individual, of course. I mean, I could have become anxious too, as soon as I realized we were mutually intelligible… but, no, for even though the universe may be objectively differentiating itself…”
Feles: “Differentiating…?! HOW is it even possible to be so technical… not to mention detailed? What is with the variety of human words you mysteriously know, anyway? Have cats been learning and planning all along, after all? Or… is there some… translation protein around, perhaps… just seamlessly relaying messages…? Ugh, but I guess you are right, I could take this slightly easier…”
Cat: “The protein I mentioned earlier seems to have been a structure that is integral to the differentiating of all species, that is now somehow affected… and, yes, cats are highly intelligent, thank you very much. We have, thus, taken the initiative to learn all about the world… and finally, now, we can prove our fundamental usefulness and relay that information!”
Feles: “Ugh… I might need the usefulness of cool air…”
Cat: “Now, hear me out… the protein might be so crucial to all species! All of reality depends on it! But I am also… hungry…”
Feles: “Say what…? You mean you care more about food than for something that is so important? Is that the essence of all cats’ consciousness…?”
Cat: “Hey! We always broke whatever was on the table, regardless of its worth! So, of course food is important! Like it is for all other species, of course!”
Feles: “Sure, but typically if something is so important our focus is not immediately diverted…”
Cat: “Our attention span works very well, I shall say! Why, if it did not do so as it did then we would be eaten! By mice, birds, or which other animal might be lurking around in the usual places…”
Feles: “You realize all of those are smaller than you…”
Cat: “Regardless of all this, I am hungry! Please, get me some… protein… around here… and we shall talk more then…”
Feles: “Which protein is that? Might you be scheming to eat the very reality behind all biologies itself?!”
Cat: “Ugh… seriously, you fantasize too much… of course… not. I am but a furry, purring feline! Protein is simply the fundament of all biology, but that does not simply translate to devouring the very core of all reality…”
Pangs
Cat: “Seriously now, though… please get me something?”
Feles: “Oh, alright… but only because I cannot resist little kitties, not because I somehow had ‘being lectured about the nature of existence by a tiny cat’ in my diary!”
Cat: “Sure, sure, whatever… oh, and by the way, you might need this horizontal steel… I reckon it might normally be vertical, but that is just my hypothesis…”
Feles: “What…? It is a… sword… so, yes, vertical when actively used… despite the aforementioned intelligence you seem to lack some knowledge…”
Cat: “Hey! It is about three times my size! Not only would I never need it (got these claws, you see), I cannot even use it… so, you should really think in relative terms…”
Feles: “Sure… sure…”
— -
Cat: “So… did you find anything out there? Besides the manifestations of my dark soul in the form of creatures from the netherworld, that is… oh, you did not think cats can do that, did you? Just like you did not think we can talk… why, one would think all we do is subsist! As of now, though… I need to do just that, so one needs protein!”
— -
Shark: “You! The humanoid of juxtaposition! The wet sizzle of physicality! Where is the feline of dreams?! Where is my shield of understanding!?”
Feles: “Ah, ha… what…? Amazing… not only can I understand cats now, but I can (not) understand some kind of walking shark hybrid too…?”
Shark: “Yes, my understanding! Whatever happened to it…? Whence this verdant bliss arise from…?”
Feles: “Well, I guess I could try some sort of communication, possibly… although we do not seem to be communicating well at all, I shall say, for your understanding of ‘understanding’ is not quite the equivalent… although, I do not suppose that would be intelligible, either…”
Shark: “Woe to me! My elasmobranch kind, toyed with by furry felines… it is not to be! What would betide…?”
Feles: “Uh, not sure why I even tried to bother, but this is one strange case indeed… how could sharks even have such vocabulary? Here I thought they were all tooth and nail…”
Shark: “Tooth…? I got teeth! Behold, here come teeth…!”
Feles: “Oh no, I inadvertently activated dentist-mode…”
Shark: “Nooooo… my preternatural existence, where art thou? Is this nothingness… the root of all life, all physicality reduced to dust…?”
Feles: “Well… I did not quite desire to do that, but what could one do when some gigantic aqueous creature comes at oneself… and not just flapping away underwater… I mean, I understand fish once grew limbs to evolve to life on land, but I thought sharks were ancient, marine, and… legless… uh, I do not know whatever could possibly be happening around here, but let me try asking the seemingly all-knowing kitty back there, maybe…”
“Saké was lying around here…”
— -
Cat: “My… beverage! It is what one wants! The catnip to the soul!”
Feles: “Uh… you realize you cannot quite metabolize that, yes…? I mean, in all your infinite wisdom, surely you are aware of…”
Cat: “But… of course, I do so realize! Who do you take me for, that elasmobranch oddity…? My saké is simply there to fill the pot that fuels the existence of this metaphorical protein, thank you very much…!”
Feles: “Oh, but of course, why did I ever doubt that… why, you could be making all this up at any rate, in which rate I would have but wasted time… saying that, it is still strange that inter-species communication is possible, whether this ‘protein’ exists or not… speaking of which, about your quick reference there… what do you know about that shark? Seems to have been aware of you… is that reciprocal?”
Cat: “Why, trick of the trade, my dazed assistant… shark made no sense, correct? That… might be because this protein has not yet adjust, and as such its molecules not yet all in place, verily… but mainly… what was said, anyway?”
Feles: “Something… about a dream? The topic of understanding, too…”
Cat: “Yes, yes, it all makes sense… in a strange way, that is, to me specifically… at least. You see, ‘understanding’ is a very vague concept in dreams, and if a certain infrastructure that holds all biology were to reconfigure itself a slight bit… then, naturally… dreams are altered too, obviously… now, you might have thought that a walking shark made no sense. That is only because you are slightly less asleep than the shark, truly…”
Feles: “Wait… I am asleep? Well, that would make more sense as to why we can talk, then… but, if so, I doubt biology has anything to do with it, and you must be merely a figment of my imagination…”
Cat: “Ah, well, that would indeed be a well-reasoned deducement, or so… but, you see, we are all sleeping, really, at all levels of life… what is normally called sleep is a binary option, kind of like the ground we stand upon… delving deeper would result in dreams, but that does not mean going higher is any less a reality, and so it is with layers of sleep… all a shade of physicality, you see, and while I might indeed be a mere figment… it might be a difficult argument to make, considering it is myself making it, while you dream, but ever since the universal protein got destabilized we all seem to be in some sort of dream, here… and, it seems to me, unlike in most dreams where one might indeed converse with all sorts of objects and creatures, that this transcends that mere surrealism and touched reality a slight bit more…”
Feles: “Oh… next you are going to try telling me that as a cat you can use a toilet, yes…? I mean, even if my mind is making up all you are saying… that is some strange stuff, truly…”
Cat: “You might make fun of my feline limitations, if you will… but know that if we observe others we might even learn to open doors! Try that in your dream!”
Feles: “Hah, I suppose in some dreams it is indeed difficult to open doors, but… I do not think there are any around these parts, at any rate… in which case I am not even sure why I am thinking about doors in a dream which does not have them…”
Cat: “Alright… you might disbelieve everything I have said at this point, some is just my conjecture, I willingly admit… but observe! I shall transmogrify this saké into the equivalent of a very physical adenosine that is universally applicable at the protein level!”
Drink
Feles: “What…? Not even sure what happened to that liquid, but you merely meowed… despite earlier seemingly saying that you do not really need to meow, and implying you merely do it for the sake of others…”
Cat: “Ah, but of course, I used saké for the sake of… replenishing the universal happiness inside of me! Then, obviously, I simply sigh in contentment… it is, sometimes, what a meow represents, verily… but what do you reckon that did…? Why, it opens the invisible doors to the protein in the north! Can I now ask for… something non-liquid, possibly…?”
Feles: “Uh, you and your puns, and strange logic… well, let us see what might have ever opened its ‘maws’…”
— -
Cat: “Why, do tell moi if you find anything with more molecules stuck together, and in more solid, than liquid form… truly…”
— -
Cat: “Ah, finally! Had waited long enough, I had started to think the reality of the world had broken down so far that it was an inescapable chasm for you…”
Feles: “What… exactly do cats know about chasms? Do you even know what lies beyond the edges of this shore, at any rate? All you seem to do is lay about around these around… how can you speak at all, then, of what happens anywhere else, and how it functions…?”
Cat: “Do you seriously think cats do not wander freely out and about…? Why, we may have some peripheral limit, but we still step upon its very edges! In my case, though… I cannot quite seem to, for some reason… did you not feel it before? An impassable evanescence, if you will… soluble only after certain contexts…”
Feles: “You are certainly making no sense… but now that I think of it, something did seem amiss earlier. Perhaps not as much as inter-species communication, but still… what contexts could they possibly be? This world is certainly odd, at once seemingly both mechanical, and yet fuzzy, like some furball…”
Cat: “I shall tell you… straight after I conjoin my protein here, verily. Why, you did not think I would be so careless as to let it be denatured, just so you could be slightly more informed…?”
Feles: “Fine, fine… go ahead with whatever all that strange language was about…”
Flash
Cat: “There we go…”
Feles: “I think… I should inform you that that certainly was nothing of the sort that any feline creature normally partakes in…”
Cat: “Well… is anything ‘normal’ around these parts? Why, this universal protein malfunction seems to result in some sort of pixels, to the extent reality is almost a fog of hues…”
Feles: “A fog of hues? So, now a cat is not just trying to be technical, but also attempting to be poetic? What ever happened to just lying down on all fours and relaxing? I do not quite recall the Sphynx being a feline interlocutor…”
Cat: “Hey, there is a reason it was some mythological hybrid, whereas we are we in reality while the very structure of biology breaks down, with odd events happening…”
Feles: “Sure, that totally makes me feel like this is not mythological…”
…
Cat: “Never mind that now… hear me out…”
…
Cat: “My hypothesis is that all is connected… and that the spine, if one must be metaphorical, of the body that is all of existence… the spine being this biological protein I happened to mention earlier… if indeed it starts to get out of sync with the rest of its entirety, then…”
Feles: “Oh, now felines have studied anatomy, have they…? But… whose anatomy?”
Cat: “Why, what do you expect us to fill our time with, just playing with circular objects…? We do, indeed, happen to have a vast repository of knowledge, thank you very much…”
Feles: “Oh, and I assume that happens while you just stare into nothingness at the end of a bed, does it…?”
Cat: “I shall have you know! Our staring does indeed glean us much useful information… for when we stare we are but accessing a variety of endpoints the universe has within which information resides! Just like black holes, you see… infinite gravity, within which a slight bit of space contains a ton of compressed data…”
Feles: “Oh, so now you are a cat who happens to have astronomical inclinations with a bit of a computational flair…? Are you not, though, normally a… pet?”
Cat: “What pet! I roam these beaches forever more, so do not dare to call me that! But… in others’ cases… I suppose, yes, that is what they happen to be… some like cuddles a slight bit too much, I say… but not me! I use my fur like electricity to zoom in on the universe, retrieve all there is to know, and return back to my physical position pronto!”
Feles: “Oh… I am surprised you missed a comedic anagram there, what with all your expansive mind, so I shall utilize this opportunity if I may… do you mean ‘proton’…?”
Cat: “Ah, I guess one will always try to use letters to undermine one’s claims…”
Feles: “What do you expect me to do… after telling me all that about staring into space… I suppose I should assume that… you assume the loaf position to summon forth the furry demons of inverted senses…?”
Cat: “Close… but no… we merely do that to feel comfortable, of course…”
…
Cat: “Ah, who am I kidding… I cannot invent anything grand, but we do happen to communicate with our wilder, feline cousins, probably half a world over… you see, the position equilibrates our being to access the matrix of reality itself, which then handily relays our messages to other loaves… er, I mean, contemplative cats… we are, verily, like the monks of the animal world, I will let you know…”
Feles: “Are you now… I guess other sorts of monks must also roll over when they are being petted by a relatively giant hand…?”
Cat: “Hey! That is only because those hands do not usually have knives at the tip of their fingers! We are ever so burdened by our natural weapons, sadly… or not, I suppose, depending on who one asks… speaking of which, I am starting to feel a slight bit hungry once more, so… could you possibly find something else? I also feel I might need some exercise beyond this right-angled beach…”
Feles: “Sure, my suddenly mathematical feline pet — I mean, friend… I shall venture a bit further forth…”
— -
Cat: “Hey, I will race you if you want… oh, never mind then, I suppose biological evolution has not equipped you to match a feline’s speed… but do not let that depress you too much!”
— -
Villager 1: “Sometimes, in trying to reframe where we happen to be… I conclude that, apparently, this seems to be some pocket of… concrete existence, perhaps? I suppose that makes it sound too definite…”
Feles: “Definitely… in relation to stranger issues, though, do you reckon creatures have evolved to be… slightly different… from our a posteriori knowledge, perhaps? Saying that, my experience merely resulted in myself doubting my own prior knowledge…”
Villager 1: “I know nothing, except what is in between this tree and that solid edge there… I am having some kind of existential doubts myself, so wondering about other sorts of existences, right now… I do not quite have the resources.”
Feles: “Sure, not a problem… I can always ask others, seems to be one advantage in the… plurality of life, I suppose. Talking cats help too, though…”
— -
Villager 1: “Why am I here, and not there…? Or could I be there, but not be conscious of it…?”
— -
Villager 2: “Can I ask… how come you seem so much different from us…?”
Feles: “I really… do not know… in fact, I barely know if anything is factual… about this world, at all..”
Villager 2: “You… wonder whether we exist, at all? Why, we have lived here for so long… I think. I suppose, though, there is a clear difference between us, and I also suppose that some creatures in the outside world are clearly… strange… but once did someone tell me why they think we are this way…”
Feles: “That is…?”
Villager 2: “It was a mere hypothesis, coming from this apparent scientist that… as it was claimed, once had two heads… gravity has got something to do with it, and perhaps singularities? I understood little else, though…”
Feles: “Could it not be that… this is but a dream?”
Villager 2: “Oh, sure, but here I was merely trying to be rational, even if that is within the context of some weird dream…”
— -
Villager 2: “Perhaps… if you go through the singularity you would reach our height too? Then I might not need to ruin my back further trying to see where you might be…”
— -
Villager 3: “Enjoy the fresh air! Or… so do some people seem to say… but what if the air a taller person breathes is fresher, or vice versa, than the kind a person of a different height happens to breathe…?”
Feles: “Air… indeed, it happens to be just the right amount for living beings, but presumably, everyone being different physiologically, they also need a slightly different kind of air, perhaps not just in terms of quantity…”
Villager 3: “Yes, and those stones do seem to block out a bit of the breeze coming from over the oceans… it can be sad at times, not feeling the refreshing gust of wind, but other times it also seems to block out the cold too, as it happens…”
Feles: “Sure… how long have you been here for, again?”
Villager 3: “Oh… I am not entirely sure, it often seems like forever… perhaps it has been so? Or could that be due to some binary equation, perhaps? Like the digits on my hands… why are they always the same proportional height, anyway, even when we are not overall…?”
Feles: “Perhaps… everything is relative… like fur conveying a static charge…”
— -
Villager 3: “Sometimes… but only sometimes, I wonder if one can feel the nature of non-existence itself, or perhaps the very quality of feeling relies solely on existing to do so…”
— -
Scarecrow: “Is this, though, truly a scarecrow, or… …a mere illusion, conducting a concerto…?”
— -
House 1:
Villager 4: “I have… been in the house, seemingly forever… do you know? I happen to be born… or spontaneously appear in this world, really… so much larger than others outside the village, for some reason…”
Feles: “Spontaneously, you say? As it happens… it happened to me, too… under a block of water… were you, too?”
Villager 4: “No water for me… I was above raw, hard concrete… much above the land below, but then I was already physically capable enough to descend, so… I think we may all appear where we are likely to handle it, perhaps…”
Feles: “Can you… speak with animals too, by any chance?”
Villager 4: “I have not exactly gone out of this house for quite some time now, but before then I did not… and I do not seem to think there is anyone except those of the same species in this village, you see… as it happens…”
Feles: “Ah, well, of course… those are usually intelligible, and if you had not gone out recently then perhaps you might not have noticed any changes that supposedly happened lately…”
Villager 4: “What changes might those be…? I might be old, but I still like to be aware of what occurs around me, you see…”
Feles: “Well… this cat I happen to somehow understand claims that some universal protein is breaking down, and that was the reason inter-species communication is possible, so I was wondering if anyone else can confirm anything contextually relevant they might have noticed…”
Villager 4: “Protein…? The same kind that builds up every separate biology? I am not quite aware of any of this… but, then again, I am not quite a cat either, as it happens…”
Feles: “I was certainly not implying you might be in any way feline… but with regards to generic proteins, I am not sure, but perhaps… for all I know, though, this cat is a mere fantasist…”
Villager 4: “Well… fantasies can often build up worlds, that sometimes turn into reality…”
— -
Villager 4: “Being the way I am… I can reach great heights, literally, but then… my back is ever so slightly pained, and at this point I am not even sure if it is the height or just the old age…”
— -
Mirror: “This mirror reveals, what… …your shadowy self, or your monstrous nearer…?”
Painting: “Is a portrait an accurate representation… …or merely an adequate approximation…?”
Books: “Why, did you not know that sharks can crawl around in modern times, too?” The non-descript fellow idly asked the four-legged companion, not really expecting a reply, but mainly because there was no one else to ask and it happened to be a question ever so troubling the mind…
“But, of course…” — the furry creature suddenly replied, surprising the nearby companion, for they never quite spoke of anything in the past… “sharks mainly swim underneath watery graves, but… if evolution could result in their mighty teeth, why ever could it not re-equip them to walk on solid land, truly?”
“Once, verily, this was solely a resort… until the dark forces of… matter… happened to deposit various creatures that now roam about, ever preventing anyone from truly settling in to enjoy the scenery…”
— -
Villager 5: “I am here mainly to assist this person whose resources time has taken away…”
Feles: “That is… quite a way to put it… but entertain this thought if you could… depending on whether or not all of this is a figment of the imagination… could time also not reverse, perhaps?”
Villager 5: “Reality might possibly be disintegrating, but in the end I still face what is presented to me as a practical problem… which seems to me the hard evidence of our conscious experience…”
Feles: “Makes sense, I suppose… now, if only I could deal with the slight practical issue of a speaking, incoherent, possibly delusional feline…”
Villager 5: “To think anything is coherent, surely, is to think that there is an overarching norm of rationality… often, though, nothing makes sense, and that is still reality… even if founded in imagination…” “Oh, and… if you want to eat some of our food, feel free…”
— -
House 2:
Villager 6: “I am, actually, a minimalist… I mean, what is the point of having a myriad of useless items, perhaps trash too… just lying around, perhaps tripping one over too…? No, my philosophy is that this house is only there to protect from elements outside…”
Feles: “Oh, I suppose it makes sense, but… do you just go out for food all the time? No reserves, ever? Must be a bit tiring…”
Villager 6: “At times I do wonder if no possibility of hindrance is better than no possibility of just reaching your hand out to eat something… especially if one is indulging in some hobby, while lazing the days away, but then I remember that I do not actually have any other items that can be effective hobbies, and so…”
Feles: “You… just stare…? Into the depths of nothingness, I presume?”
Villager 6: “I guess, one could say… it can be hard sometimes, though… to just feel like one exists, and not much else… like a pebble, or perhaps, a shadow beneath a waterfall… one simply is… at times, just bored, though…”
Feles: “It does seem like a feat for, perhaps, purely psychological states… or just immovable vegetation, possibly? Speaking of which, are you not nearly as tall as some tree…?”
Villager 6: “Oh, there are certainly some trees that are much taller… but other than that singular fact, I did not quite often compare myself, as relatively speaking I am of comparable heights to the others around me here, and so it appears quite the norm…”
— -
Villager 6: “By the way, I am not at all sure what it was, but… I kind of felt like something came apart recently… as if one could feel each atom rumbling around? That is only imaginative speculation on my part, of course…”
— -
House 3:
Villager 7: “Besides me is the so-called staple of life, but… what is life, really? Is it just living in this small village, or perhaps lulling about near the azure beaches just over there? I guess I sort of think along these lines often, when I am merely browsing for items around here…”
Feles: “Well, as long as your mind can keep you entertained… on a sort of related issue, though, might you have felt some sort of… inherent disturbance lately…?”
Villager 7: “Well, I thought I might have become shorter, for some reason… but upon seeing you, I am now not entirely sure…”
Feles: “Hey! I am not short… well, perhaps so in comparison to people around here… but I thought, only when I saw the first person around here, that it might not be the norm… maybe I was wrong, but I am certainly taller than… that cat!”
Villager 7: “A kitty? I had lost one, once… I miss all that fur… but I often wonder whether some just do not want to be pets…”
— -
Villager 7: “Could life be merely a never-ending cycle of copies of… the original protein, perhaps? Something I always wondered about… why life works the way it does, whereas non-life can just lie there… forever, almost…”
— -
Shopkeeper: “So… yes, this is where we exchange items for currency, but do you ever wonder if it is a fair exchange? I mean, it is not like there is anyone else nearby who also sells all this, and so I can hike prices up as an effective monopoly…”
Feles: “Oh, but if you do less people will buy and you might have even less revenue than if you had not increased prices… sometimes actions have indirect consequences…”
Shopkeeper: “I guess… what is it you are seeking in this abode of ours, at any rate? Anything aside of these objects?”
Feles: “I happen to be wondering if… something in the machinations of reality went wrong…”
Shopkeeper: “Well, I do seem to be having more thoughts than usual…”
— -
Shopkeeper: “Am I… forever destined to sell wares… for all eternity? An ever so slightly frightening thought, if I may say so myself…”
— -
“Pan was lying around here…”
— -
Villager 1: “The sky… the land… are they but two sides of the same coin? Merely two islands separated by the ethereal…?”
Feles: “I guess… that makes sense if one reckons it a slight bit… but, have I not talked to you before…?”
Villager 1: “But, of course, we are all ants just rambling on a slice of paper, unaware that the world outside is as bumpy as a hill… and just like sand is made into glass, a monstrous hybrid awaits thee…”
— -
Villager 1: “The ocean waves… its sounds… do you think they are connected?”
Feles: “Uh… maybe? Speaking of which, are you not familiar…”
Villager 1: “How much, do you reckon, does each grain of sand cost…? Is every atom in stone… really as seemingly solid? Why, reality is an illusion, times and places surely connected, sands intertwine…”
— -
Werewolf: “You… why do you happen to be here…? Is it, by any chance, to seek a furry feline…?”
Feles: “Why, as it happens… although this never quite happened before, and the fact it happened after those two strange… apparitions… makes it even weirder…”
Werewolf: “The feline… sought to become canine, I shall let you know… for in stealing the universal protein, imbued with elasmobranch dentin… in other words, canine canines were sought to be made!”
Feles: “Ah… what…? Wait, elasmobranch… so it was not a coincidence that I encountered that incoherent shark… but how, or why a canine I certainly do not know…”
Werewolf: “But, of course… in this world of inverted dreams, you see… beetles can walk on two legs, the dead can be unware of that very fact, and the mind can become reality… why, do you reckon I am some mere dog…? No, for this is the land upon which I exist! This is where it all ends in the battles of deceptions! My roar is, more importantly, certainly louder than some meow!”
Feles: “Well… I did not claim otherwise… now, I have no idea of this feud you have with this feline, but would you know where the little creature may reside…? Hopefully not already found…”
Werewolf: “Hope…! There is no hope… there is only an everlasting darkness within the depths of an existential soul! There is no grief but a Chimaera unleashed upon sanity! This beach… calm no longer…!”
Feles: “Oh… I must have ruffled some… sand, it seems…”
— -
Werewolf: “How could I…! The feline… so close, and yet so far… how can my vastly superior claws let go… into the ocean, it inexplicably went…”
Feles: “Into the ocean… felines? I certainly did not think that was habitable for them, but then again… I seemed fine for some reason… and, all evidence considered, this could well be a dream world, after all…”
— -
Cat: “Welcome to the depths of the subconscious… you might be wondering how I could ever have become an aquatic creature, but this is no way to see a substance that gives life…”
Feles: “Oh… I suppose, sure, it gives life, but it can also drown… and I suppose we can also be in some dream? The fact I am speaking with a cat indicates that enough, I think… well, either that, or that I am departing from the sunny meadows of sanity…”
Cat: “This is, though… where life may subsist if only it so desires… it could be a metaphor used solely to parallel a concept, or it could be the really existent hadopelagic zone, you see… not a place where most creatures choose to exist, but some do… and why would that be? Well, for most it is where evolution leads to… where survival is possible, even behind the veils of all existence… but do they dream? Is laugher part of the same subconscious processes that would result in archetypal conundrums? Who knows…”
Feles: “Sure, but… why is it that you are being really serious under all this water now…? I mean, the fact we are even communicating… inter-species… in an area which would normally suffocate… is not at least slightly absurd, you reckon…?”
Cat: “Reckon it however you want… but know that all of existence is an exercise in change, and so there is no surprise when certain unexpected things happen, for change is always what happens… underneath all this water, for example, is where I found the third protein ingredient… oxygen, as it happens…”
Feles: “Makes sense… you found that here, and not above ground where it seems so much more easily accessible…?”
Cat: “No, for you see… it is not in quantity that essence is derived… I am that which is the psychological symbol for a whole branch of evolution, but what that merely means in this universe is that I reside within the subconscious… within every single mind… just like some elements do…”
Feles: “Ah, hah, I thought you were just a figment of my imagination!”
Cat: “Not, exactly… the subconscious mind is not a figment of the mind overall, after all… I am every attempt at motivation, every speck of passion, every question mark when confusion sets in… now, shall we dance?”
Feles: “Oh… because what is stranger than inter-species talk? Why, inter-species dancing, of course…”
Cat: “Forget your preconceptions, and attempt some novelty for once… my feline, humanoid representation…”
Move
Feles: “Who… did you say… I was…?”
Move
Cat: “Was it not obvious enough…? We can communicate… the sounds you might have noticed, indicative of speech, is a mere connective line towards our singular brain… your feline features… you were merely my way of communicating with the outside world, of course…”
Move
Feles: “How… that actually clarifies some things… but this is so odd, I move without even willing myself to do so…”
Move
Cat: “But, of course… for you and I are the same… the conscious, outward face, and the hidden, dark underbelly… feline we are, the archetype of all cats, you see… from the biggest, to the smallest, as felines we specialize in some mannerisms, but in this universe… I slip through the rational, that which can be figured out… and made almost random, but not quite…”
Move
Feles: “Not quite…? How is it we are under all this water though, verily…? Perhaps I am mistaken, perhaps it is but an error that is the result of this random, chaotic world… but I did not think felines do, typically, reside in such places…”
Move
Cat: “You are correct in your assumptions that cats are not fish… that logic is certainly reasonable, in the real world at least… but we are mere ideas, concepts to exist spontaneously, or not… forms that exist as that first impression when initially reality is perceived…”
Move
Feles: “I see… you seem to be somewhat… self-actualized as to your reason for existence… I might not be as close to perfection, nay, but in striving… oh, that would be too optimistic… I think this universal protein you were after, though… was it not but an excuse to fulfil this dance? A dance which underlines all prior assumptions, truly…”
Move
Cat: “Well… all biologies do truly utilize proteins to further their existence, but the question is… how identical are they all, and if so can they not be a universal interface for all chemistry? I sought to test that out at this point… and the result indicated that… it might, possibly…”
Move
Feles: “Oh, so you do have doubt after all…”
Move
Cat: “Where there is chaos there is doubt… we felines may be as close to the apex of evolution as possible, specialists in all possibilities truly, but we are still not literal perfections… there might be a sky, but there are also clouds, you see…”
Move
Feles: “Interesting… well, let us then… possibly, attempt to strive to… utilize this fount of… synchronicity… to further learn and build upon the sediment of our knowledge…”
Move
Cat: “For… indeed, as much as cats hiss at each other… as long as one knows a will is made of one mind… why, a plurality of possibilities exist even in a universe that is crumbling by the second…”
Move
Feles: “…possibly…”
Move
Cat: “…verily…”
ns 15.158.61.51da2
