Poem: "The Length of a Sleeping Cat"
Jan. 14th, 2022 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the April 6, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from kelkyag and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Vulnerabilities" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to the Steamsmith series.
"The Length of a Sleeping Cat"
The sweaters helped, as did
the raincoat and wellingtons,
but Farasat was still a cheetah
in Britain, and usually cold in
the harsh autumn weather.
He spent most of his time
curled into a tight ball, rarely
relaxing into a meatloaf.
Maryam and her staff
had to watch to make sure
that he didn't lie so close to
a fire that he singed his fur.
On the worst days, Rori
made up hot water bottles
and warmed bricks for him, but
they never lasted long enough,
and Farasat growled whenever
she tried to change them.
"What he really needs is
something that would stay
warm longer," said Rori.
"Hmm," said Maryam, and
disappeared into her workshop.
She spent days trying to devise
a way to create low, steady heat.
Everything either didn't produce
enough warmth, burned too fast,
or worse, actually exploded.
So Maryam went to her friend
Sophronia Jones, who focused
more on the chemical than
the mechanical in steamworks.
"I've tried working with arche,
but it's too hot and volatile.
I've tried amis but Farasat
dislikes wet heat," Maryam said.
"Most of my other efforts have
proven ineffective, unstable,
or both. I need some way
to temper the heat a bit."
"The Hot fuel has nothing
to moderate it, and steam isn't
solid enough," Sophronia mused.
"If there were a way to combine
the heating aspects of aer and pyra
with the cooling and stabilizing aspects
of ge and hudor, that would help."
Maryam shook her head. "I tried
jade, but it's too balanced -- it
won't release energy as heat."
"Maybe we could get the elements
to cycle somehow," Sophronia said.
It took them a few weeks, but
eventually they figured out
how to bond each fuel with ge
to create a granular form.
When mixed together,
the two interacted, but
the ge slowed it down
so that the heat was
released very gradually.
When they filled a mattress
with the stuff, the heat
lasted for a whole week.
Farasat stretched himself
out his new bed and melted
into a wide puddle of dappled fur.
"The real measure of a day's heat
is the length of a sleeping cat,"
Rori said with a laugh.
* * *
Notes:
Sophronia Jones -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long straight chestnut hair. She is tall and rangy. Sophronia is an alchemist who favors the more chemical side over the more mechanic side of steamworks. She is friends with Maryam Smith and helped develop an alchemical heating pad for Farasat.
* * *
"The real measure of a day's heat is the length of a sleeping cat."
-- Charles J. Brady
Cat Thermometer
Among the four basic fuels in alchemical science is:
arche -- blaze; the Hot fuel, consisting of one atom of aer (Air) and two of pyra (Fire); it quits working if exposed to hudor (Water)
Among the two exalted fuels in alchemical science is:
amis -- steam; one atom of pyra (Fire), one atom of hudor (Water), and one atom of aether (Quintessence)
kelkyag and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Vulnerabilities" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred, ng_moonmoth, janetmiles, and edorfaus. It belongs to the Steamsmith series."The Length of a Sleeping Cat"
The sweaters helped, as did
the raincoat and wellingtons,
but Farasat was still a cheetah
in Britain, and usually cold in
the harsh autumn weather.
He spent most of his time
curled into a tight ball, rarely
relaxing into a meatloaf.
Maryam and her staff
had to watch to make sure
that he didn't lie so close to
a fire that he singed his fur.
On the worst days, Rori
made up hot water bottles
and warmed bricks for him, but
they never lasted long enough,
and Farasat growled whenever
she tried to change them.
"What he really needs is
something that would stay
warm longer," said Rori.
"Hmm," said Maryam, and
disappeared into her workshop.
She spent days trying to devise
a way to create low, steady heat.
Everything either didn't produce
enough warmth, burned too fast,
or worse, actually exploded.
So Maryam went to her friend
Sophronia Jones, who focused
more on the chemical than
the mechanical in steamworks.
"I've tried working with arche,
but it's too hot and volatile.
I've tried amis but Farasat
dislikes wet heat," Maryam said.
"Most of my other efforts have
proven ineffective, unstable,
or both. I need some way
to temper the heat a bit."
"The Hot fuel has nothing
to moderate it, and steam isn't
solid enough," Sophronia mused.
"If there were a way to combine
the heating aspects of aer and pyra
with the cooling and stabilizing aspects
of ge and hudor, that would help."
Maryam shook her head. "I tried
jade, but it's too balanced -- it
won't release energy as heat."
"Maybe we could get the elements
to cycle somehow," Sophronia said.
It took them a few weeks, but
eventually they figured out
how to bond each fuel with ge
to create a granular form.
When mixed together,
the two interacted, but
the ge slowed it down
so that the heat was
released very gradually.
When they filled a mattress
with the stuff, the heat
lasted for a whole week.
Farasat stretched himself
out his new bed and melted
into a wide puddle of dappled fur.
"The real measure of a day's heat
is the length of a sleeping cat,"
Rori said with a laugh.
* * *
Notes:
Sophronia Jones -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long straight chestnut hair. She is tall and rangy. Sophronia is an alchemist who favors the more chemical side over the more mechanic side of steamworks. She is friends with Maryam Smith and helped develop an alchemical heating pad for Farasat.
* * *
"The real measure of a day's heat is the length of a sleeping cat."
-- Charles J. Brady
Cat Thermometer
Among the four basic fuels in alchemical science is:
arche -- blaze; the Hot fuel, consisting of one atom of aer (Air) and two of pyra (Fire); it quits working if exposed to hudor (Water)
Among the two exalted fuels in alchemical science is:
amis -- steam; one atom of pyra (Fire), one atom of hudor (Water), and one atom of aether (Quintessence)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-15 03:24 am (UTC)man.. I would pay a pretty penny for a mattress like that. Best we got in this world is an electric blanket, which has it's drawbacks.
Mind you, if we did have something like that. I'd probably not leave it for the whole of winter. I feel for Faraset!
Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-15 03:36 am (UTC)There are "self-heating" cat mats, with filling that holds and reflects the cat's body heat.
The concept in this poem is based on the kind of thing used for some handwarmers, it just lasts a lot longer.
>> Mind you, if we did have something like that. I'd probably not leave it for the whole of winter. I feel for Faraset! <<
My sympathies.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-15 05:38 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2022-01-15 09:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-15 04:17 am (UTC)Plus, happy kitty. XD I understand that a contented cheetah will purr like a house cat. I'm now imagining Farasat purring like an anachronistic outboard. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-15 06:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-15 09:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-15 11:24 pm (UTC)Not knowing what the "basic" and "exalted" labels for the fuels reference (footnotes), I might imagine that the basic fuels are easy to make and inexpensive, while the exalted ones are more complicated and expensive -- and that's before modifying both of them for the slow burn. Proportions of the two aren't specified, though, so it might favor the basic & not be so expensive. Or those names might have nothing to do with difficulty of production or cost. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-16 04:44 am (UTC)If possible, I suspect someone will try, given the recycling culture of the Victorian Era. People looked for Item Drops in sewers and used old tea leaves to freshen carpets...before sweeping them up and reselling them!
I suspect they components would need att least some 'recharging,' unless the physics makes a perpetual motion machine possible, in which case separating and remixing might do it.
Are the steamworks machines perpetual-motion or do they need winding / recharging / 'new batteries?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-01-16 12:27 am (UTC)