Crow Meets Cat

In front of Crow now stands a small and fluffy white fox with two floofy tails, big yellow eyes, and curious pink markings which seem alive in the way their color ripples like the mirror's surface. The tips of her tails are pink, and pink covers her legs like stockings; with pink spots on her back, tail, and three above each eye; as well as adorable, pink, heart-shaped tufts of fur on the tips of her ears, a heart emblazoned on her forehead, and one at the back of her neck. That is a lot of pink. Encircling that neck is a pink (!) collar with a large, shiny gold bell.

"Hi!" the fox looks up at Crow and says with a cheerful yap.

"Ahh!" Crow caws, surprised by the sudden appearance.

The fox giggles, "Ha ha! You're so silly! When someone greets you it is polite to return the greeting, not squawk at them in surprise."

"Who are you?" Crow asks.

"I'm me, silly-nilly! But I'm curious, who is it that you are? Are you the protector of this castle; its caretaker?"

Crow recalls all the times he has repaired broken faucets and doors, mended torn curtains, battled fungus in the gardens, and cleared away hornet nests from the eaves, among other things. He never really thought of the daily routine fulfilling his duties as him being the castle's protector, but he supposes he is.

"Why, yes, I am! I've saved it many times."

"Perfect! Then you're exactly the person I need! I emerge to protect the castle when it is in danger and I need your help. But let's have fun while doing it! Do you trust me?"

This fox seems nice, and it does have two tails, which is fascinating, but Crow knows to be cautious around strangers, so he says, "Well, no, I only just met you."

"Correct-o!" She jumps up to pat his beak with her paw. "Boop! I wouldn't have expected you to trust me so easily. That would've been weird if you had. The real question should be: Can you learn to trust me?"

"Yeah, if you prove trustworthy, I suppose."

"I like it!" she says. "Not only are you so brave and amazing at what you do, but also smart!"

Crow is startled. "Hey, that's what I had my cat puppet say just before here; that I'm brave and amazing. You said the same thing."

"You mean Knitten the kitten? Well, of course! That's why she looks like me."

His puppet, apparently now named Knitten, shouts, "I so do, right?! I told daddy he made me into a wonderful likeness of you."

Crow lifts the cat puppet out of his pocket, slips it back onto his hand, and tells it, "What? I'm not your dad. I just created you with cloth and thread. And I gave you a voice... Okay, I guess you wouldn't exist without me, but that doesn't make me your dad. Not really. Hey, how are you talking? I didn't say that for you."

Before waiting for an answer, he puts that topic aside and asks the fox, "So, are you implying that you're a kitten? You look much more like a fox to me."

She turns to see her reflection in the mirror, but gets distracted by the bell on her collar and creates a jingling noise by batting at it with one paw. "Nah, I feel like a cat, so that's what I am. Meow! In fact, you can call me 'Cat' since I'm a cat. And I'll call you 'Crow'!"

"That is my name actually. At least, it's what people call me," he tells her, then considers the possibility of, "This has got to be all in my imagination."

Cat twitches her ears a few times before asking, "Hey, Crow, do you want to play a game?"

He says, "Ooh, I do love games, but don't we need to save the castle first?"

"Oh, yes, you're right, but let's play a guessing game before that. I'll think of a number between one and three-infinity -- No, that's too simple. How about I give you three guesses as to what the hypotenuse of an ostrich in a snow storm is?"

For one disorienting moment, Crow's head feels like a rattling jar of cogs and sprockets from his workshop and he gets the confident urge to speak in a loud and joyful tone as though he were the ringmaster addressing a large circus audience, "Hah! Easy! That's the quasi-left rear axle of a quintuple-decker tax bracket slime sandwich filled with buttered transistors and motion-activated marbles!"

"Wow! You got it on the first try, Crow. You're amazing!"

"It's all in the wrist, Cat. You just have to learn how not to fall off the size of thirty-eight and two hundred fifty-two one-thousandths atoms while singing the words to hoverchair instructions!"

Crow barely understands half of the words that he is spouting. One moment earlier, a flood of strange facts and concepts that he never before knew pinballed around in his brain, and now he is voicing them in a jumbled mess.

Cat says, "You're really good at games, Crow, but I'm not sure we said all the lines right. We might have to roll back the footage and try filming that again."

"What in the world do you mean?" The new knowledge drifts away from Crow's mind like a fleeting dream and he feels closer to his ordinary self again. "W-What just happened?"

She says, "I'm not sure, but it was thrilling, wasn't it? Let's play the game again soon!" Cat floats off the floor and twirls several times in the air before settling back down.

Such a display though goes overlooked by Crow as his thoughts are elsewhere. "I didn't really like that game. I mean, it was exciting, kinda. And there was a moment when so many possibilities made themselves known that I couldn't quite grasp all the concepts but I'd love to see it all again and figure out how to apply the knowledge to my inventions so that --"

"Just admit you loved it!" she interrupts, "I can tell you did. I felt like we had a connection there, getting our new partnership fine-tuned, I'd say. It was lovely and I hope we do play again!"

"Well, maybe, but just not that game."

"We'll play a different one then! Promise me we will?"

"You've got it, Cat."

Knitten rejoices, "Oh, yay! I can hardly wait to try games!"

Cat smiles with an outburst of glee, "Okay, I'll do it! I'll work to prove myself worthy of your trust, Crow, you'll see!" Cat's yellow eyes gloss over and glow for a moment before returning to normal. "There's trouble in the service passageways! Someone is stealing the castle's food. Follow me, Crow!" she calls out as she phases right through the door out of the hidden room. "The criminal is this-a-way!" her voice sounds muffled from the other side. She then steps back in and says, "Oops, you'll need to open the door yourself to exit, Crow. I forgot to tell you that I can move through objects. Pretty neat, huh?" and then pops back out.

Crow stares at the door in stunned disbelief for a second while the fingers on his hand wearing Knitten begin touching together, simulating her clapping, and she says, "Yay! Let's do it, daddy. Let's follow Cat and save the day!"

Crow is a little offput by his fingers having moved on their own, but he shrugs it off as an involuntary muscle twitch. Nodding his head and smiling in response to Knitten's comment, he straightens his cap and says, "Indeed, this is turning out to be a very interesting day. Adventure awaits, so let's show it what we can do!"