Hunter's Woods Writing Prompts

   Okay, well. They were on a raft now.
   Actually, no, raft was being a bit generous. Raft implies that the object can be propelled or otherwise moved, with a sail, or maybe an oar, or being tugged downstream. This was not exactly that. This was closer to an admittedly sizable piece of driftwood. One that was currently floating aimlessly in the ocean.
   Great! That's great. Oh, just... so great. Okay, well, where to start...?
   Well, they had some experience with being on the ocean. Which life had it been, again? Fifth, sixth? Sixth, they thought. Yes, the one where their fur was orange and they hunted rodents for the lobsterman... No such mice and rats here, they feared. But they had been on the ocean on occasion back then. Their owner had pulled up little cages from buoys on the sea, plucked the crustaceans from their traps, put a bit of fish inside, and tossed it back into the water. Hrm... They didn't have anything that could make such a trap, they didn't think. Even if they did, what would they use for bait? And how would they get at the meat beneath the creatures' shells? Were there even lobsters here? They dipped the tip of one of their tails into the water - Not especially cold, not lobster water.
   Then, what else...? Could they fish? Er, no, not really. No line, no bait... and they weren't exactly a strong swimmer.
   Actually, thinking about it, did they actually need to eat? They were a tree, technically, though they didn't like to think about it. And that tree wasn't exactly trapped on a chunk of wood on the ocean. Not exactly a carnivorous plant, like those fly traps... Trees gain nutrients from the soil they're planted in. Did they need to eat, or would their other body sustain this one? What about drinking water? Salt water wouldn't do - If anything, it would make things worse, dehydrate them or make them sick, and they didn't exactly have a way to boil the salt and bacteria out of it.
   Oh, god. Now that they thought about it, could they die at all if their tree was still alive? The former gods of life and decay had burned themselves to the ground, they knew that, but what if their trees had survived and and their feline bodies hadn't? If this body drowned, would they still be alive? What would happen to their cat form? Would they be trapped in a deteriorating corpse, conscious yet unable to do anything about it? Would their body continue to live, even if its mortal vital functions ceased? Would their consciousness be pushed back into the tree, living and sentient, but unable to act? Oh. Oh, these were all nightmare scenarios. They needed to stop thinking about that right now, before they had an anxiety attack. That wasn't going to help things at all.
   Okay, think, Berkeley, think. About something other than that. We can't swim, there's no land in sight, and even if we could, that stump on their back wasn't helping keep them afloat. Er, was it? Wood floats, now that they thought about it. Maybe it would work? But their flexibility was so limited with that stiff thing on them, and they weren't exactly built for swimming even without the growth on their back impeding their movement. Okay, so... Oars. They didn't have thumbs, let alone any oars to paddle with. But perhaps... hmm, the water wasn't too terribly cold at all, perhaps they could... hook their front claws into the wood and stick their hind legs into the water and paddle with those? Use their three tails like a propeller, almost? It wouldn't be very fast, but assuming they couldn't starve or dehydrate or exhaust themselves - Good lord, Berkeley, stop thinking about that - it could work. They would have to watch the sky, figure out what direction they were going... East? Or west? One of the two, travel too far north or south and they would only end up in a frozen wasteland, they were fairly sure. But far enough east or west, they were bound to hit land at some point. Africa, or Europe, or Asia, Australia, maybe one of the Americas? Or an island, maybe. They'd seen the maps that humans had made of their world during a few of their old lives... that one where they were a tiger, that zoo had had displays for the visitors with maps. They would have to be in quite a location to travel infinitely east or west and not find some landmass.
   Yes, that would be what they would do. They would pray they didn't need to eat or drink or sleep or anything like that, normal, mortal, bodily requirement sort of things, and they would paddle their way ashore, wherever ashore was.
   Let's be honest, it was sort of the best plan they had. Still not a good plan, mind you, but it was a plan nonetheless.