Specimen
catfihonfone, designation CATFIHFONE. Logged under studio light against a bare backdrop, weight and grain fully on record. Catfish body, cat face, posed on a single indoor rock as though the rock were furniture it chose. Whisker tips carry a faint blue cast off the screen glow. The eyes track exactly one plane: the glass in its own hands.
Status
The field advances on its own schedule, no urgency in the type: Lost → Still lost → Deeper → Lost deeper. No alert tone attaches to any state. No eye contact is logged at any state. The field moves forward. The specimen does not.
Last Ping
Timestamp resets to “just now” on every glance. Hold the control below and the phone's surface ripples under simulated contact; a thin tremor runs up into both forefins. The face registers almost nothing, then resumes scrolling. Status drops one notch deeper on release.
Press and hold. Nothing else improves.
Log: baffling behaviors
- Sits on an indoor rock, unprompted.
- Ignores tank, room, and caller ID alike.
- Swipes with fins, inexplicably accurate.
- Blinks off the beat of every notification.
- Reopens the same app it just closed.
- Lets bubbles stack under its chin, unnoticed.
Set-List: screen time/min
A rolling counter tallies minutes of attention spent on the glass. It climbs while this page stays open. It rolls past its own limit and climbs again. The number keeps its appointment. The specimen keeps missing everything else.