That Animated Podcast

It was the night before Christmas. In a cabin near Austin, Texas. Snow was falling down a gentle breeze. Quite loomed over the sky. No mouse was stirring. But the peace lasted shortly. A cat jumped over a fence and dashed with blazing haste. It seemed as if she was the only being not groomed into the touch of the motherly cold. Not used to the ice the pussy slipped and crashed into rubble. Whatever she was running away now did not concern her. She tried to stand up, but to her avail, the ice as if it were made out thousand needles, prickled her. Looking around the cat understand there was no way out except for walking up the rubble. In a dash and brazing display she jumped on the most flat part of it. Scanning with her eyes, she found the fastest and route upwards and away for what made her tremble. Quickly she found her way up and continued on her path onward. At the strike of the 11th hour a light turned on in one of the homes. A orange hue emanated from the window. A young couple were bickering about something. Taking a closer gander, their faces were not frowning, but displayed a pleasant smile. They were Dalton and Emi.

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(3)
Something brushed past Dalton’s hand. It was Lillie. She turned her face towards Dalton, it was her way of announcing she desired to be seen. Dalton brushed her using his phalanges, the bit between knuckle and fingernail. The gentle rubbing and calmness made it seem as if Lillie was a feline animal. The moment was so serene, as if Lillie and Dalton had become one. Both aware of each ones desire and sensations. Light breathing, slow gentle stroking. Pat, pat, pat. The quiet, faint and barely audible sounds were booming and bustling. Strangely enough, they felt comforting. The ticking of a clock in a far away room created a constant beat. Like drums in a swing style Jazz group, they provided a rhythm for everyone to follow. The slow rubbing sounded as a gentle picking of guitar strings. And the low growls of pleasure were the singing. The lights light up the musicians. A mere act of stroking a dog had calmed Dalton to a point, for the first time that day, he felt what Christmas Eve is about. Yet it weirdly lonely. A crucial part was missing…

Slam. Emi appeared in the living room. Her eyes red, with tears rolling through. The stress, anxiety and constant fluxation from one area to another had brought to her limit. Dalton fixed his posture, but Lillie still stayed near.
“I- I bro- broke o-ou-ourrr” muttered Emi.
“Breathe slowly. I am here for you” said Dalton while trying to control his inner disarray. Emi listened to the advise and tried her hardest to breathe in and out. Yet still breathing was jagged, irregular and heavy. Lillie was quietly whimpering. She understood things are not well and harmonious as they just were. Dalton did not pay attention to her. The main concern was Emi.
“I bro-oke ourr Playy But-ton,” whimpered Emi, “I am sor-r-ry…” the tears were dropping down on the floor. One of them hit Lillie’s tail. Dalton came closer and hugged Emi.
“I am here with you” whispered Dalton. Thump, thump. He could feel each heartbeat. Her body was blazing with heat. The palms were sweating. Drip. Another tear fell down on the floor. At that moment, out of all the colors red and blue lights felt most noticeable. Their blinking reminded of police emergency lights. Emi was now only panting. Palpitating heartbeats had ceased. No tears were running down the cheek. Lilly, too, seemed to have calmed down. Dalton let go of Ami. The couple were once again smiling. Emi brushed off the remaining tears. Smooch. She got kissed in the cheek too. Her face turned into saturated red.
“That trophy is not as important to me,” said Dalton, “as much as your happiness”. The already saturated blush had turned to even more saturated red. The doubt and regret in Dalton had evaporated. He felt nectarine sweetness in his tongue. He lived in the moment. It was half past eleven.

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(5)
Although the bedroom was quite spacious, all the clutter made it feel cramped. On the floor laid various clothes: shirts, jackets, jeans. Each with their pocket sacks sticking outside. To the left of the door were bunch of shards and the aforementioned silver Play Button. To right there was a ceiling reaching wardrobe. Its doors were wide open. The sides of the wardrobe were plastered with colorful posters. Largest of which was of Ika Misume. A double bed sat at the most left corner. It faced the wardrobe. The left side of the bed was dotted by various size plush animals. The sheets too were colorful. On them were various ornate flowers. A cornet window was above the bed. To the right of it a long table. Two office chairs, one black and the other had lines of alternating magenta and black. There were in total 6 monitors, 2 pairs of 3. One at the middle and two at the sides. The table had myriad of sticky notes with doodles. There were 2 pairs of keyboards and regular mice. To right side of the table hanged up stood another Play Button. Besides it there hung a single nail in the wall. Yet, to remind of its past glory, there was a slight outline of a rectangular shape. To the right of them was displayed a katana hanging on the wall. To the right of it was a plain, boring wall.

Dalton came with a broom in hand, while Emi had a large scoop. They began work by lifting up slightly tattered clothes. They appeared to have been worn over the years. Once they finished with the wear, Dalton broomed the glass shards into scoop held by Emi. By the act of moving the glass some dust had lifted up from the floor. As Emi was closest to the ground, it had accumulated in her nose. The moment when Dalton swept the last shards Emi sneezed and flinched, throwing few out. The shards fell on the ground, breaking up into smaller pieces. For a moment stood silence. Laughter. Dalton swept them into the scoop and ventured to the kitchen.
In it Lillie, through all the elapsed time, still sat looking at the reflection of herself in the water. The scene was oddly human, quite noir for such a usually energetic dog. Upon the sight of Emi, Lillie jumped on her with paws lifted in the air. This time she her claws were retracted. Emi motioned away from the dog. Lillie instead ran circles around her, waiting for a prime opportunity, as the hazardous glass was being carried to the bin. There were no signs of annoyance with Lillie by the couple. Emi scratched Lillie’s belly. Dalton joined the diversion by scratching her ear. The dog rolled on the ground, swinging the hips from one side to the other. The tail was wagging in harmonic motion to the scratching. Pleased and satisfied with petting Emi walked to the bedroom. The Play Button laid on the floor. Without much hesitation she picked and grabbed it. Hidden under the Play Button, there was a tiny glass shard. In rash motion she cut the tip of the index finger. Blood bubbled up. A high pitched scream echoed throughout the rooms. Dalton with haste ran towards the source of it. Emi was kneeling on the ground, left hand’s index finger was lifted up. From it a small droplet of blood fell down on the floor. It was 12 o’clock, Christmas.

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(7)
Upon Emi walking to the living room, Lillie jumped in excitement, but she quickly got overturned on sight of the cat. Due to Dejiko being washed, her natural feline odor was overshadowed by the sweet shampoo scent. As so Lillie came to be the grumpy latecomer. She barked and howled at the alien. Going as far to leap onto Emi, who was at that time holding the cat. Dalton took Lillie to his grasp, separating her from the visitor. Sitting down on the couch, both still were tightly gripping the animals, Dalton spoke:
“When I was outside, some of the snow was hot as hell.”
“But snow is cold.” decreed Emi. It appears the last time she was not paying to what Dalton spoke.
“It could be something else. The cat must be involved somehow…”
“You say Dejiko make snow blister.”
“I don’t think so. I simply find it strange a cat ended up in our backyard and the snow was hot.” Dalton stroked his beard. The room was quiet, both of the animals were struggling to escape. The television was still producing sound, depressing the silence. The house shook, swaying longer and harder than last time than before. One of the strings, holding the pom pom of the Santa hat, ripped. Dalton picked up the TV remote, in turn releasing the cat. Some of the fur fell on the wound Dejiko had made. Dalton changed to the local news channel, but it simply aired a rerun of a melodrama. He turned off the TV. Emi was still holding Lillie. Angered by the sudden release of the cat, Lillie tried her hardest to elbowed her way out of the grip of Emi. Instead Emi gently patted her. In long and slow motions, the blizzard seemed to have been mumbling words in a foreign language. The trees were tipping down and down, then springing back to their prior position. Unused to the frigid gale, in the darkness they appeared to be miserable. A blaring wail echoed. It was deep and inhuman in nature. Dalton jumped, causing Lillie to yelp, and ran towards the window, to the side of the television. Emi had a gut urge to follow, but composed herself, sitting at calm and fondling Lillie. The noise was eminating from the backyard. Muffled by the wind, it was unclear how exactly far away the source of it was. Dalton scampered to the bedroom, leaping towards the hanging katana. In rash move he ran towards the door and slowly opened it. Even to himself it was not clear why he took the blade. But with the injury, snow and the cat, his thoughts were seemingly galloping over logic and critical thinking. The snow was being plowed by the wind to a point, where anything not relatively close by came to be unclear and hazy. Black and white, snow and darkness. White snowflakes replaced black space and white snowflakes were replaced by black space. Darkness and snow had each other’s part in them them, but were the opposites. It was yinyang. This time Dalton wore an additional layer of clothing and regular shoes. As he had put them on in haste, they were not properly tied and thus left undesired room in the foot.
He crept inward to the gloomy backyard. Looking around the strange grumbling had ceased, but he still felt unnerved. Dalton was clutching the katana with both of his hands, as so he was unable to use his phone’s torch. Unnerving thoughts came from the sounds coming up from the roof. Dalton appropriately looked up, eyes wide open, scanning the roof. Snow had slid from the roof to the ground. As Dalton was staring up, some of the snow got trapped in his eyes. Everything became fuzzy, dots of light appeared. He spun hearing the mumbling coming from every direction. He saw bright dots, obfuscated by the snow. From them emanated heavy, deep curmur. An outline of a figure appeared. It had long claws. The fingers were elongated and almost human-like. The entire body was covered by a thick layer of snow. From the head there were pointy ears. Almost lynx in appearance. The head only a few strands of hair left. Face was asymmetrical and had no even part. The nose exerted out of the face, as if it was plastered clay. The lips were swollen and blue in hue. The creature pointed its claws and in sullen pace inched closer and closer toward Dalton. Dalton raised the weapon, priming for an attack. Closing the distance, in swift motion he hit the beast. The blade shattered into pieces, leaving a stump. It was made out of stainless steel. The creature growled from pain and froze. Dalton ran to the house. Just before he was able to close the door, the creature managed to grab the side of it. Lillie was whimpering, but Emi managed to calm her down. No longer was it standing, grappling the door with one of hands, it slowly crawled towards the room. Dejiko was cowering in the bedroom, under the bed. Dalton’s heart was filled with the desire to protect his loved ones. In a brutal display, he kept hitting the beast’s hand with his katana. Shards flew to all the directions. The blade shrunk and shrunk. The wind had breached into the room, swirling and turling its cool all around. The beast did not let go of the door. Only the handle of the katana remained. Even with it, Dalton relentlessly smashed the beasts hand until it finally let go.

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(9)
“Why did we bicker?” asked Emi. The wiper blades were brushing off the falling snow. Movement of the blades was clearly marked, as the places they did were unable to reach was covered up by snow.
“I think it had something with Lillie.” answered Dalton. He squinted his eyes and concentrated on remembering what were they livid over.
“No, it was something else…” uttered Emi. Dalton spontaneously began laughing. Infective laughter spread, praying on Emi as well. They laughed for a good minute until they remembered they had sleeping animals in the vehicle. Swipe. Wiper blades wiped snow off the window.
“Where are we we going?” asked Dalton.
“I thought you knew.” responded Emi. “Why are we driving?”
“To temporally find shelter for Lillie. Our house was not built for so much snow… There was an another reason, can’t remember.”
“Maybe we should move to Ohio. Servers running AI must have wrecked Texas climate.” spoke Emi.
“Hold on, let me check the weather forecast” stated Dalton. He turned on his phone, a bright light flashed in his eyes, causing mild disorientation, before darkening. The background of the lock-screen was of him and Emi smiling together. She had a bright cyan wig with ponytails. Her stare was slightly off center from the camera. Swiping with his thumb through the patternlock, the phone vibrated showing the homescreen. Background of the homescreen was a picture of Lillie, taken of her sleeping with her belly tilted upwards. The apps were jotted without much apparent organization. Dalton opened the web browser application and searched information about the weather in Austin, Texas. His attention was piqued by a video posted not more than hour ago, about the “fire” snow. Dalton clicked on the video and was met with an advertisement. Lowering the volume to not disturb the animals, he placed the phone on top of the dashboard. The video announcer spoke in a blend of news broadcaster and an energetic tone:
“The ongoing war had unforeseen consequences. From September until December the U.S. military used new weapon named Zayin, causing critical damage to enemy combatants. North Atlantic cyclone had picked up the powder and carried it to the Southern states, causing the temperature to drop in covered areas. The amount is still non-fatal, but it causes permanent mutations. Long-term effects are not known. There are relief programs available, allowing impacted individuals to get shelter from Zayin. Anyone living in the area of impact has free access to them, as long as they are a U.S. citizen. If you live in any of these areas, go to the description and fill a form for the bunker program. Do hurry, there are limited free spaces. Like and subscribe for mo-” Dalton stopped the video.
“The monster, who attacked me, was infected by this” exclaimed Dalton, while holding a clenched fist in the air. Not understanding why did he act in such a strange matter, with shy demeanor he placed his hands on his lap.
“I hope this Saiyan snow doesn’t hurt Lillie.” growled Emi.
“It’s Zayin.” corrected Dalton.
“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.” shouted Emi. The couple was laughing. Dalton’s request to seek refuge in bunker was approved. He looked at pictures of what to expect. There were many pictures of the inside. Bunkers were large and luxurious. Some even had underground pools and jacuzzi. ‘All this without paying anything’ thought Dalton. There was doubt whether the images were created by artificial intelligence. If they were, who would do it? Suspicion swiftly faded. Why worry about the future, when you have your family. They were happy, merry and gay. Lillie was sleeping sound. Dejiko too. Emi even sung and danced few Hatsune Miku songs. They were headed towards the closest bunker. The wiper blades were brushing off the falling snow. Screech. The wheel were slipping on ice. Emi stopped singing…

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(11)
Bright light shone on their artificial chasm. It was warm. Dalton opened his eyes, snow had hardened, making any movement difficult. Before him was saw something bright green. ‘A bush’ thought Dalton. He wanted to touch it, but could not feel his hands. He opted for slithering towards the object. Upon touch, it moved. It kept on moving until it had fully turned. Glaring at him were large square glasses. They were on what appeared to be canine reminiscent face. It was round and covered in green fur. On top of the head, there stemmed a large two-leaf clover. To the sides were large, Labrador shaped ears. There was no visible nose, in its place covered by the fur were small holes. The lips formed a pronounced, silk-like “W” shape. Compared to the head, the body was short and minute. Extruding were stubby and bulbous hands. Clutched fingers gave the appearance of molding into one hold. Twice as long, but still short were the legs. The feet had tufts on toes. They were slightly dented, with the fur covering them up. The toes were not large. They were slightly flat and had an ellipsoid shape. There was a tail growing out of the tailbone. It extended and ended in a round, trimmed bush shape.
“Good morning.” softly spoke Emi. She appeared to have been awake for quite a while, and got used to her and Dalton’s change in appearance.
“Good morning.” shook Dalton. He was still in disbelief of what he saw. He himself was as well furry*. Although his fur was far longer, in comparison to Emi’s, and color was vermilion red. The hue certainly gave off an aura of feline regality and blue blood. The entire body was a blend of human and feline features. The head had elongated and more sharp features than that of a regular human. The ears protruded out of the head. They were pointed and triangular in shape. The cheeks were densely covered with long fur and had few dark strands of hair. They stuck to the sides of the body, further extrapolating the eclipse proportions. Eyes were large, while the pupils were rotund. Mouth covered a sizeable proportion of the lower half of the face. It had fangs protruding off to the sides. The nose was timid and dark, it was of feline quality. Three whiskers were dotted in a triangular shape. The discernible aspect of the body was the general lack of hands. Legs were proportional to the body. The paws had both human and cat qualities. Three large toes were tenderly separate, yet the fur covered the split. The tail was long, it had bush-like qualities and covered up to the chest. It had long strands hair.

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