🐀Them Rats🐀 Enrichment

[copilai]

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Prompt Archive

Welcome to Enrichment! Here you can participate in artistic prompts to earn Cheese Coins and items. The prompts will change at irregular intervals, but do not fret! They will only change at CS Rollover regardless of how often during the week they change. Sometimes staff will see a submission so impressive that it just has to be rewarded with more than Cheese Coins. This is to incentivize participants to submit works of high quality. However, this is a random occurrence and should not be expected when you make your submission.
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▪ Submissions do not need staff approval in order for you to collect your reward unless otherwise stated in the prompt. If you are caught lying about participation in prompts to collect the rewards, you will be banned from Enrichment and receive a strike.

▪ It is a good idea to keep a personal log of your participation, but not necessary.

▪ You may participate in as many prompts as you like, but only once per prompt (identified by ID #, not contents). You may submit for multiple prompts in a single post as long as you make it clear which submission goes with which prompt.

▪ When entering your submission, be sure to include the ID # of the prompt(s)!

▪ Prompts may be reused by staff, but they will have a different ID # each time.

▪ You may only submit for "active" prompts that are listed below.

Active Prompts

#1. 20ch Reward ■ While out foraging, your rat encounters a very large and imposing cat. Cats are very dangerous for little rodents for very obvious reasons! It is possible to reason with some cats, but others are not so willing to hear out their next meal. There is no telling how this cat might react... How does your rat handle this confrontation?

#2. 30ch Reward ■ The rat pups in the adoption center are quite difficult to keep entertained. They have been causing trouble for Soup all week. They have gnawed through almost every toy available with their quickly growing teeth. It is up to you to create a toy that will both entertain the pups and provide a surface to grind their teeth down on!

Code: Select all

[center][color=#39A2CC][b]I am submitting for a prompt![/b][/color]
[b]CS Username + ID: [/b]
[b]Prompt ID: [/b] (Number listed before the prompt)
[b]Submission: [/b] [/center]

[copilai]

Any and all prompts will be listed here. This is mainly for staff to keep track of them, but you are free to take a peek through to see what kind of things to expect from future prompts. As stated in the previous post, prompts may be reused but will have a new ID each time. Prompts are not considered "active" unless they are listed on the Enrichment main page. You may not submit for inactive prompts! Active prompts may also be listed here depending on how soon I get to jotting them down here as well.

#1. 20ch Reward ■ While out foraging, your rat encounters a very large and imposing cat. Cats are very dangerous for little rodents for very obvious reasons! It is possible to reason with some cats, but others are not so willing to hear out their next meal. There is no telling how this cat might react... How does your rat handle this confrontation?

#2. 30ch Reward ■ The rat pups in the adoption center are quite difficult to keep entertained. They have been causing trouble for Soup all week. They have gnawed through almost every toy available with their quickly growing teeth. It is up to you to create a toy that will both entertain the pups and provide a surface to grind their teeth down on!

[copilai]

res (post away!)

[Stray Stranger]

I am submitting for a prompt!
CS Username + ID: StrayStranger / 972926
Prompt ID: #1
Submission: Jasper wasn't a particular strong rat, in fact, he was quite small. He wasn't particularly cleaver either. But he was nothing if not brave. It was that very bravery that had gotten him into this little misstep in the first place. And it was also going to get him out. He was in the abandoned farmhouse on his own, for it was known to be full of cats, and nobody wanted to go with him. But the warehouse had already been stripped bare of recourses, and they needed food from somewhere.

Of course, it shouldn't have been a surprise that he ran into a cat within the cat infested farmhouse. It might have been a reckless thing to do, but he acted on impulse and launched himself at the cat's face, leaving the fearsome beast utterly confused and perplexed just because of how unexpected the act had been.

He had heard of rats, much bigger than him, successfully fighting off and escaping from cats, much smaller than this one, and thought he could, perhaps, do it too. But it was still rare that a rat could fend off a cat. However, the confusion he had caused had stunned the cat long enough for him to have a chance to think. Hanging by it's fur, looking directly into it's eyes, he saw just how big and strong and well fed this cat was. It wouldn't be too vehement about making him into a meal. Perhaps it would be more interested in something else.

"Ya like cheese?" He asked plainly. The cat squinted, somehow even more confused than before. "I'm listening." She said, going from confused to intrigued. "Look at me, I'm so very very small. You can't get much of a meal out of me. But if you let me live, I can harvest all of the cheese from every nook and cranny in this farmhouse, I can get to all the small hard to reach holes you could never fit in, you'll have more cheese than you could get in your lifetime! But you can't do it without me!" He said.

"And what stops you from just scurrying off?" The cat asked.

"Ah, but even if I try to leave, how could I get past such a skilled and fast hunter such as you, I stand no chance!"

The cat thought for a bit, "Alright, but don't try anything funny" she hissed.

Cats didn't bother with cheese much, it was usually found in corners and holes too difficult to get to, so it wasn't worth the trouble. Most cats only ventured into cheese infested areas because they knew there'd be rats there. Still, cheese is nonetheless considered a delicacy among cat kind. Where did the cheese even come from? There are no humans left to turn milk into cheese. Perhaps it started to grow like fungus. Either way, the rats and cats do not care, all they know is that cheese is delicious!

Jasper worked tirelessly all day. The colony probably assumed he'd been eaten. Yet still, his friends ended up looking for him. His even smaller friend came to his rescue, but unlike Jasper, he was cautious, and moved through passages in the walls far away from where a cat could spot him. He found Jasper harvesting cheese from within a small hole in the wall.

"Jasper, what are you still doing here? You should have been home hours ago?" He asked.

"Lucky? Lucky! What are you doing here?! I thought you'd all have assumed I was eaten!"

"We did! What gives?"

"Well, I almost got eaten. But then the cat that cornered me agreed to some cheese in exchange for my life."

"How much cheese, exactly, are we talking here?"

"All of the cheese in the farmhouse."

"All of the cheese in the farmhouse! It'll take you three days to collect that all! Does that cat even know how much cheese that is?!"

"Probably not."

"Hmm wait a minute. If we take a bit of cheese off a pile that big, it'll never notice! I'll call a few more from the colony, your hair brained scheme could actually work out for us after all! Every fifth piece of cheese that you find, leave it at the hole closest to the exit towards home."

And so, the absolute madrat at least managed to secure some amount of cheese for his colony, as planned.

[silasthylacine]

I am submitting for a prompt!
CS Username + ID: silasthylacine 1103843
Prompt ID: #1
Submission:

Soda squeaks and sniffles her way around one of the dingier alleyways in the long-abandoned city, her whiskers twitching with every step. It’s been a quiet night so far – the only company she has is the buzzing of the streetlights overhead and the roaches that scurry away from her paws, and she finds herself missing her littermates now more than ever.

Don’t dwell on them, she thinks firmly to herself as she darts under a rotten wooden palette, forcing the sorrow from her mind. It won’t do her any good to rue the past – not right now, when her belly growls with hunger and her paws ache from fatigue. She needs to focus on the here and now.

Clawing her way up the palette, Soda takes a moment to sit at the top and ground herself, absorbing the view of the street. The moon washes the worn concrete in a pale, ashen blue, broken only by the flickering yellow of the glowing streetlamps; overhead, a few bats dart past, chittering and swooping about, and a crumpled old ball of paper is playfully swatted along by the wind. It’s a cold, harsh world that she’s found herself in, far from the warmth and comfort of her old nest - but there’s a sort of beauty to it that she never could have imagined.

Still, despite the familiarity of the cool night breeze she’s grown used to, she feels... off. Unease prickles under her skin like thorns, and Soda is made very suddenly aware that she’s not alone.

Something is watching her.

She whirls around, peering frozen and trembling into the inky blackness of the alleyway – but nothing’s there. Safe for now – she can make a break for it. With one last check over her shoulder, Soda hurries back down to the safety of the ground, hoping to find a hole or nook she can curl up in for the night. Going without food again will be rough, but it’ll be better than getting devoured by some monster lurking in the dark.

Her eyes dart every which way as she scampers along the wall, trying her best to keep out of sight. She knows her red and white fur will stick out like a sore thumb in the cool blues of the night, and she doesn’t need to attract any more attention than she has to.

Then – score! There’s a crack in one of the bricks on the other side of the alley that she reckons she might just be able to squeeze into. It’s not going to be the most comfortable place to sleep, but that’s the last thing on her mind right now. It’ll be safe, and that’s all that matters.

Without hesitation, Soda darts across the alleyway, skirting past puddles and pieces of old trash. She’s nearly there, she’s going to make it-

And then a shadow swoops down from above, a massive paw slamming onto her back with a terrible whoomph!

A strangled squeak escapes her lips as Soda flails and struggles under the weight, but she’s pinned in place. With wide, terrified eyes she looks up to see-

Oh. Oh, no.

This is one of the creatures that her mother warned her about: demons of the night who prance and prowl and stalk, who can wipe out entire families overnight for fun, whose keen sense of smell and sharp, ever-watching eyes never let their prey go unseen.

She’s been caught by none other than a cat.

“What have we here?” the cat purrs, plucking Soda up between its gleaming claws by the scruff of her neck. “A tasty little morsel, running straight into my paws...”

The cat’s wiry fur is pitch-dark, rippling over a lean and sinewy body, and Soda watches in terror as its tongue flickers over its crooked teeth, bone-sharp and deadly. Its piercing blue eyes gleam with hunger and malice, and dread sinks like a stone in her belly.

“Leave- leave me alone!” she yells, trying her best to squirm free of its grasp. If she can just reach her head around enough, maybe she can bite it... “I’m not worth it, please!”

But the cat seems undeterred. It settles back on its haunches, letting out a rumbling mrrr of amusement.

“Oh, little morsel,” it croons, shoving its muzzle closer with a sneer. Hot, fishy breath fans over her, and Soda snarls in disgust. “Why would I let you go now? I’m ever so hungry. It would be so easy to just eat you up, in one delicious, tasty bite...”

It punctuates its words with a quick snap of its jaws, the awful clicking of its teeth sending fear rolling through her in waves. But something about its smug, smarmy attitude flares something else inside her, something that consumes her terror in a burst of scorned fire – rage.

With a squeal of defiance, Soda darts her head forwards, clamping her teeth down onto the soft skin of the cat’s nose with all her might. A terrible, screeching yowl tears from its throat as it rears back in pain, and in a dizzying rush she’s dropped to the ground. The cat recovers quickly, though, holding one paw to its bleeding nose as it whirls on her.

“You’ll pay for that, you little-”

But Soda isn’t sticking around to listen – she sprints full-force towards the crack she spotted earlier, straining her body to the fullest, streaking across the alleyway in a red and white blur. Nearly there, nearly there... yes!

With a cry of relief, Soda flattens herself into the gap, heart pounding and chest heaving as she presses herself as far from the entrance as possible. She made it by the skin of her teeth – a moment later and the cat would’ve had its claws in her tail.

The cat isn’t content to let her get away that easily, though – because of course it isn’t. Nothing is ever simple. It lets out another yowl, this time borne of frustration, as it tries – and fails - to wriggle a paw into the gap.

“Silly morsel,” comes its hissing voice a moment later, one furious eye pressed to the hole. “You think I can’t wait you out? You have nowhere to go. You’ll have to come out sooner or later.”

Oh, she knows. Soda is dreading the moment she’ll have to make a run for it; this cat seems like the sort who’ll play tricks on her, lulling her into a false sense of security before making its move. But for now, she resigns herself to grabbing whatever snatches of rest she can as she waits for her trembling body to calm down.

It’s going to be a long, long night.