Having completed the morning gratitude song, Absinthe makes his way into the room-with-lots-of-light. Sometimes there is warm light coming in to the room and it makes a nice spot to lay down in, but today there is no sunlight. One of the yackyacks that lives in his territory is sitting and watching the light box.

What was that! Something in the light box comes out of the corner and tries to hide. But he has seen it and he jumps up to the light box and attacks it. He watches carefully for a moment and it would seem that he has scared the creature away. Then, one of the yackyacks picks him up and makes noises and thanks him for scaring the creature in the light box away by rubbing his belly. That feels good. But then, after a minute, there is just too much thanking going on! Absinthe jumps down off the yackyack.

It is time to patrol the room-with-the-cold-floor anyway. First Absinthe checks to see if food has appeared in the food dish, but no. The yackyacks are lazy creatures and rarely think to fill it—hardly more than once or twice a day. He stares at the food dish. It smells good. Maybe there’s something to eat on one of the high platforms. There are no yackyacks around to stop him, so he leaps up on the yackyack-sitting-platform and then up to the high platform.

Just then one of the yackyacks appears from out of nowhere! He hates it when they do that. The yackyack predictably picks him up and puts him roughly on the floor, grunting at him all the while. He sits and ponders the yackyack. He is beginning to suspect that they do not like it when he is at eye-level with them. But then, of course. Because then it would be much easier for him to kill them. If only there were some way to communicate to them that he won’t kill them as long as they continue to serve him. He rubs up agaist the yackyack’s leg, but after a moment the yackyack walks away. Oh well. Bunch of meatlamps. It is best to tolerate them for the moment and go patrol the back of the territory.

Read the whole thread: Incunabula

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