It was 2AM and Ami would have preferred to have been racing around the mansion. Instead, she was dangling from a climbing rope above a pressure sensor floor, entering bypass codes, with Ai whispering instructions into her ear.

There were nearly forty of them in all. Some, like Ami, created by a combination of surgery and genetic manipulation by a mad scientist, others, like Ai, were cyborgs, created from cats or young women. A few had been created by spells, and a couple had just arrived via strange portals.

Almost all of them had no memory of their previous lives. Twilly (or Twillychiss the Third if they were being formal) was a rare exception. She remembered being a beloved pet. She also remembered the car that had nearly ended her life. It had been her owner that had cast the spell that changed her and saved her. At the cost of her owner's life. And it had been Lady Miller who had set up the Trust. And, with her dying words, gave Twilly her mission.

Save any others like you.

They had had some hiccoughs along the way. Like the near disaster that had been the Desert Lab Incident, where they had made the mistake of breaking in in the middle of the day. The sunbeam that caught all three of them had been irresistible, and it was only Ginger's laser claws that had gotten them out.

Which is they were breaking into this lab at 2AM. Bethesda's hacking had identified the telltale signs of a catgirl conversion here.

There was a small beep from the console and Ami released the brake on the descender, dropping to the floor. Ai dropped from the ceiling next to her.

They opened the door to the containment unit.

Inside, two yellow glowing eyes stared at them from the dark.

"We are here to rescue you! We have ten minutes to get out" Ami spoke in a low not-whisper.

"Why?" The voice that came from the dark was deeper than they had been expecting.

"It is what the Catgirl Trust does. We save our sisters."

"Even me?" And the 300kg sphinx stepped out of the dark into the light.

She had dark eagle wings, sandy fur, and long dark hair. The claws on her paws were long enough to count as daggers, and her mouth had two massive teeth protruding from the top jaw.

Ai stared. "Up here," the sphinx rumbled.

"Ss...sorry" Ai stuttered.

Ami nodded "Yes, even you. What is your name?"

"I was Ruth. I think I still am. I was the Director's right hand. Until he decided that I was more useful as a subject."

Ami spoke into her headset "Twilly? Charges set?"

"Yes, Ami. Five minutes from your mark."

"Can you fly, Ruth?"

"I think so."

"Ai, we need a hole."

Ai looked up, and her eyes flickered and changed. Lasers shot out, and started cutting a hole in the roof.

It fell in.
"Head south, we have a van."

Ruth nodded, and launched herself into the air. Ai leapt up, and dropped a rope back for Ami.

As they fled into the night, the explosions began.

#IAmWriting #Microfic #Microfiction #tootfic #SF #SFF #Catgirls #sphinx

with the advent of ai the way we interact with our computing devices has already changed and will change further in the future. is this the end of graphical user interfaces as we know them today?

http://cogmodo.com/interfaceparadigms

#blog #writing #writingcommunity #iamwriting #ai #gui #interface #computing #touchscreen #communication #interaction

RE: https://urusai.social/@ami_angelwings/116411524044792888

Ok, you've done it @ami_angelwings . My brain refuses to let go of the idea.

Folks? I need help. I need catgirl names.

#IAmWriting #Catgirls

It is Sunday afternoon, and we are walking up the path of a house just three doors down from ours.

We are visiting the Martins. Jean and Alicia, and their adopted daughter Salla - or Sally as she prefers.

I ring the bell.

A dark haired lady answers the door, "'Ello. You are the 'Ampsteds?" She has a quite strong French accent.
"Almost, I'm Toby Allensdale - and this is my wife Charlotte Hampstead. But please, just Charlie and Toby."
"Salla says we need to talk? Is this about 'er biological parents?"
"In part. Can we come in?" Charlie says, taking over.
"Of course." And with that we are shown into a pleasant lounge room, where a brown haired man and Sally are sitting.
"Jean? This is Toby and Charlie. The people Salla visited this morning."
He frowns, and gets up "Hello. Why has our daughter decided to seek out a pair of complete strangers?" His accent is almost non-existent.
My turn. "Actually, that is something we would like to know, too Sally. How did you hear about Charlie?"
That shifts Jean's attention, and replaces his hostility with confusion.

Sally blushes - her embarrassment threshold looks to be low even for a teenager. "Um, there was this kid in first year. He came up to me a few days ago and said that there was someone who could help me. And gave me their address."
Charlie and I look at each other. "Gavin" we say together.

"'Elp you? But what is wrong?" Alicia is getting worried now, while Martin is looking even more puzzled.
He cuts in "And why these strangers and not us?"

Charlie takes over now "It is to do with her biological parentage. Have you ever had something unexplained happen around Sally?"

Martin scoffs "You sound like something from some fantasy book. What? Is she a witch?"

Charlie grins her brightest smile "No, she is not a witch. I am, though. Tell me, does Sally like practical jokes?"
"Oui" replies Alicia, "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, as you know at least one of Sally's bio-parents was of Japanese descent."
"Oui..."
"But what you did not know was that the mother was not an ordinary human. Sally, can you change please?"

Sally starts to object "But...", only for Charlie to give her a Look. There is nothing magic in it, just a lot of stern. "OK."
And then there is a fox standing in her place, three tails almost tucked in.

There is a silence. Then Alicia reaches out and holds her hand near. Sally licks it, and whines. With that the fox is gathered into a hug by her mother and there is a stream of French that I cannot keep up with. After a few moments Jean joins in, and then Sally changes back.

He turns to us again "But why seek you out? And what is our daughter?" Tellingly, he has not released the hug.

Charlie smiles softly. "I can help train her a little, and maybe help find some other kitsune to help her out. And give advice about being a bit more different than most."

#CharlieAndToby #SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting

It is early in the morning on Sunday, and I am opening the back door to see if there are any ripe lemons on the tree.

Instead I almost tread on a fox. Curled up and asleep.

Now, you have to understand that ever since Europeans settled here, we have had Japanese immigrants as well. Some by choice, some ... less so.

This is why I am not too surprised to see that the fox has three tails. My opening the door has not awakened it, so I step over and continue on to the lemon tree. There are two ripe lemons this morning, which suits me just fine.

I have another look at the fox on the way back, just to make sure, but there is no sign of any injury. I step over again, and leave the screen door ajar.

Charlie is still asleep upstairs as I start putting breakfast together. I am cooking pancakes, and I know the smell of them will wake her up. Eventually.

I'm on the fourth one when I feel a nose in the back of my knee. I look down at the fox, and nod towards the crockery cabinet. "Can you get some plates out please? The medium ones." I ask.

The fox looks at the cabinet, back at me, back to the cabinet, and sneezes. The young woman standing in its place sticks her tongue out at me "You're no fun" she says in a broad accent.

"I'm Toby, Charlie's husband. A kitsune is fairly normal by my standards. Now, do you want bacon on your pancakes?"

"Sally. Your wife, Charlie? She's the witch?"

"Yep. What's the problem?" As I speak, I put some bacon on as well.

"Um, I need some help finding Mum."

"She's missing?"

"Yes? No? Sort of? I was adopted. And, well, I had no idea what I was until a year ago."

"Are you in trouble?"

"No, but I don't know what I should do. I um, I like this guy back home, but there's also my best friend, and they don't know about me and I don't know what to do."

The last came out with a bit of a whine, and she blushed, clearly embarrassed by it all.

I smiled a sympathetic smile "OK, I'll get Charlie, and let's get you sorted. If I know how these things go, it will not be too bad. But first, breakfast. Tea or coffee?"

"Um, do you have hot chocolate?"

"Of course." Plus the smell of chocolate will get Charlie down here even quicker than the coffee and pancakes.

#CharlieAndToby #SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting

how to resize a window on your screen to fixed pixel dimensions? here's a solution using the keyboard maestro app and the "resize a window" action on your mac

http://cogmodo.com/resizewindowstofixeddimensions

#blog #writing #writingcommunity #iamwriting #macos #howto #keyboardmaestro #automation