Oddly Targeted Container

[eternally_aggrieved]

The island is deserted, save for the statues.

And now, a rectangular brown paper package. It rustles and rocks, then tips over onto one side and stops moving.

Comments

[endragoned]

...

That is new and different and unexpected.

A tall demon, winged and tailed and horned and taloned, approaches the package cautiously.

[eternally_aggrieved]

The package sits still for a long moment, then miaows muffledly.

[endragoned]

What.

He very carefully pokes a talon into an unoccupied-looking corner of the package.

[eternally_aggrieved]

The package goes still.

Upon closer examination, there's a noticeable lack of air holes.

[endragoned]

Hmm.

Rather than attempt to unwrap the creature by hand, he frees his talon, touches the side of the package, and reshapes it with his magic so that it opens up like a flower.

[eternally_aggrieved]

A dark-furred cat lies on its side inside the package. It narrows its eyes at the red-skinned humanoid standing over it. It squirms and claws, then emerges from the wreckage with a definite air of satisfaction. Flicking a shred of brown paper from its head with one ear, it paces slowly away, turning its head to survey the local landscape.

[endragoned]

"Where did it come from, my love?" murmurs the demon, probably to himself.

[eternally_aggrieved]

The cat looks up at the demon.

"It came from Fallen London, it has a name, and it is not best pleased."

[endragoned]

"You speak!" the demon exclaims. "How did you come to my island, and for what purpose?"

[eternally_aggrieved]

"Of course I speak, have you never seen a cat before? I was mailed. By a woman with frizzy black hair and no sense of fashion. Somewhere. Where are we, exactly? Do you happen to have a mirror?"

[endragoned]

"We are on a nameless island far from all other speaking creatures. I have no mirrors. I could make one. What do you want it for?"

[eternally_aggrieved]

"I would like to cease having been mailed. A mirror would help, though the unknown geography certainly doesn't. I may need to find somewhere that exists on a map."

[endragoned]

"I would not like to bring you near to other people. They would likely try to kill me, and I would not like to be killed. But I can make you a mirror."

He sits on the ground and puts his clawed hands on a rock, reshaping it into a perfectly flat smooth polished surface.

"Is that mirror enough? Or must it be metal or glass?"

[eternally_aggrieved]

The cat somehow manages to make a 'tsk' noise.

"I'm afraid silvered glass is necessary. I may be staying here with you for some time, I'm afraid. At least until I can complain to the postal company."

[endragoned]

"Glass is easy. Silver may be harder to find. I advise you not to eat any small creatures without fur while you are here."

[eternally_aggrieved]

"Why? Do they carry muskets? Also, why are people so eager to kill you?"

[endragoned]

"Most people want to kill me because I am Endarkened. The other Endarkened want to kill me because I am not enough like them. I have changed most of the things that live on this island, and to suit my whim I made many of the small creatures without fur poisonous."

[eternally_aggrieved]

The cat looks up at the 'endarkened.'

"... Most anarchists I've met do not have red skin. Or horns. Or claws. Or a tail. Care to explain how the Liberation of Night managed to do that to you as well?"

[endragoned]

"...I think you do not understand what I mean," he says consideringly. "I certainly do not understand what you mean."

[eternally_aggrieved]

"The only people I know who would describe themselves as 'Endarkened' are a group of anti-establishment sorts who tend to bomb things. The vast majority of them have a few less limbs than you do."

[endragoned]

"Then I think you do not know what the Endarkened are at all. Strange."

[eternally_aggrieved]

"Perhaps to you."

The cat paces a slow circle around the Endarkened's legs, then hops up onto a nearby rock and sits facing him. After a moment's contemplation, it speaks again. "Would you happen to know which direction the mainland is?"

[endragoned]

He points.

[eternally_aggrieved]

The cat stares out over the water.

"... Do you happen to have a direction with a little less ocean in it?"

[endragoned]

"No."