9 hours earlier…

Between the aftermath of festive food comas, leftover chaos, and the hopeful promise of a new year, Wandsie sat at her computer with a cup of freshly brewed coffee—ready to tackle the important task of feeding her royal feline overlords...

*Opening browser*

The browser’s homepage always displays a selection of articles recommended just for the users. (The not-so-subtle power of cookies—helpful or creepy? …thoughtful? Or suspicious??? Hmm… the jury is still out!)
Wandsie’s eyes light up,

“Ooooo!!!!!!! That looks interesting!!! I wander what that was about…”,

clicking on the link to the article on “Learn to Speak Cat in 2025 – the Secret Language of Felines”.

“Holly!!!!!! Imagine being able to have a real conversation with you!!!!”

Wandsie, beaming with excitement as she tells her cat, Holly, who was grooming herself on her “Cat Tree Throne”, the vantage point overseeing her “kingdom”, gave her an “seriously???” glance, flicked her tail dismissively and carry on with her “royal groomie” session.

She’d seen this energy before and had zero faith in it herself, not planning to waste an extra second on Wandsie’s yet another “exciting ideas”. Afterall, she has seen far too many that had been and gone.
Oblivious to Holly’s lack of enthusiasm, Wandsie dived into the article,

“O! Feline communication!! Let’s see…”,

*New tab, search*

“How do feline communicate with each other”,

“AH! There!”,

*click*

“Aww, these cats are so cute!”,

*New tab, opening Facebook cat group*

“O my-! How does this fluff do that?”,

Wandsie laughing out loud as she watched the video of a cat switch lights on and off...

“I wonder if you can train your cat to do things…O!!!!! Service cat!!!!”,

*New tab, search*

“Can you train your cat as a service cat”,

Holly and her sister Lily both looked up with another “Really?? Hoomin???”

as they heard “service cat” …

They exchanged an annoyed look,

“Don’t they know we are Gods?”

*thinking of their great ancestor – Bastet

“O! Service dogs! They are sooooooo adorable!!!”

Lily and Holly,

“yea…that's right!! Take the dogs…they need a job to earn their keep!”

*New tab, search*

“Best service dogs” …

And so, one idea led to another, from “The Science of Feline Behaviour”, “Neurobiology of Cats”, “Can Cats Understand Philosophy?”, and then somehow to “Top Funny Animal Memes of 2024” (how did we get here!!)

---

The Sun has already travelled halfway across the equator.
Toie, Wandsie’s twin sister, came by to check on Wandsie during her tea break from her reading session on “What’s beneath the iceberg? — how to critically analyse compliments 2025”.

“Annnnnnnd…here we go again! Hundreds of tabs opened… what on earth are you digging your rabbit hole into?”

Leo, the in-house rabbit raised an ear as he heard Toie.

“Not you, Leo! You know what I mean!”

Toie explained, noticing the judging ear in the air.

“I am researching!! Can’t you see?? NEW YEAR RESOLUTION! New Year! New Me!!”

Wandsie enthusiatically proclaimed.

“...more like New Chaos!”

Toie retorted.
Wandsie offended by the interruption and the sarcasm, huffed,

“It’s called being inquisitive!”

Wandsie shot back, crossing her arms.

“Right, … I can see … with like a hundred tabs opened inquisitive…”

“Not A HUNDRED!”

closing a tab as Wandsie protested.

“O! My bad, only ninety-nine tabs … now!”

fired back at Wandsie along with Toie’s signature eye rolls.

“What do you know, buzz kill! I am onto something groundbreaking here!”

Wandsie returned fire.

“Of course, you are — like the last “groundbreaking ideas?”

Toie snapping back, adding a dramatic air quote,

“Let’s see… DIY cat furniture, bake your own rabbit treats…O, and let’s not forget… “How to read and write Egyptian hieroglyphics”...”,

throwing in another eye rolls with an extra touch of “yea…I’ve heard that before” on her face.

“Humph! You never know!!! This could open a whole new approach in feline study, cognitive research… animal behaviour…”

Wandsie drifted off to the land of ideas — the “WANDSIE WONDERLAND”

“How did you even get onto something like this anyway?”,

had enough of Wandsie drifting away, attempting to bring her back to present,

“And… “cats got mesmerised by spinning frying pan”...”

reading out the tab currently on screen as she leans toward the monitor to see what Wandsie was REALLY up to,

“How does THAT related to your “groundbreaking idea” ?”,

air quoting while eyes zoning in on the open tab of the cat video.

“That’s context!”

she protested weakly.

“Context for what, exactly? Are you publishing a feline hypnosis dissertation this New Year?”

“O…actually… that sounds like an exciting research idea!!”

Toie face-palmed as she sighed in defeat… Wandsie realised she got busted, trying to divert the subject.

“But look at those kitties!!!! That IS funny!!”,

pointing at the cat video playing in loop.
Toie, much as she tried to keep her straight face to prove her point, she couldn’t help but to agree, the cats were funny.
A tiny hint of a smile reluctantly emerging from the corner of Toie’s lips, an internal conversation ensues…

“Get it together!
Don’t show Wandsie any weakness!!
Don’t give in to the cute kitties!
Aww…they are cute!!!
Nope!
Can’t give Wandsie the satisfaction nor encouraging her “all-over-the-place” mind!!”

Just as Toie was arguing with herself and Wandsie trying to get Toie off her back,

“Uh-O! … I forgot what I was here for… wait… something… something that is…important…I think…”

panic bubbling up in Wandsie as she mutters.

“O! For neurons’ sake!! What did you forget this time?”

Getting fed up with Wandsie’s “daily crisis” and “the mystery of forgotten task”....

“I…I don’t know!! Something…?”

Wandsie squeezing out an awkward smile trying to downplay the chaos while switched into full-on panic mode.

“May be your “New Year New Me Resolution” should be “not being so forgetful” !” .

---

“Afternoon, girls! Any of you seen Nez? She ran off again…”

asked the Landlady, as she popped in, searching for her overreactive Pomeranian.

“That overreactive, sneezy fluffball went off again?”

“Well, I was trying to do some cleaning, like dusting… and she just…got …triggered…”

the Landlady helplessly shrugged her shoulders with a “Well…what can I say…” look.

“Dust just isn’t her thing.”

“No kidding,”

Toie muttered.
Landlady noticed Wandsie muttering to herself in the corner, radiating “anxious chi”,

“What’s going on with Wandsie? She forgot something, again?”

Toie gave the Surprised!....Not!" look, to the Landlady

“Let’s see… Did you forget to feed yourself?”

Getting fed is very important where the Landlady comes from.

“YES!”

“Ai-ya! How can you forget about something like this!?”

“I know! But NO! It wasn’t it…”

“Have you forgotten to pay for any bills?”

Toie followed up,

“You better not forget paying our water bill!!”

“NO! That I do remember!”

“Good! Or else…”

“… I think…”

“…!”

“Did you also forget to feed Leo?”

“O! Wait! … NO! I fed him!”

“Good!”,

a sigh of relief from the Landlady, while Leo peeking up from afar upon hearing his name...

“Did you forget to refill the prescriptions…AGAIN?”

“O! That! I shall put it on my to-do-list…”

“YOU…!”

Toie is ready to strangle the life out of this forgetful sister of hers for forgetting to order repeat prescription, AGAIN!

“I KNOW! Calm down!! OK? But it’s still not THAT!”

Wandsie’s frustration is now through the roof.

“Did you forget to water the plants?”

the Landlady giving it another go.

“Plants? What plants? She killed every plant we have in the house!!!”

Toie snapped with an even more fed-up tone.

“What? How?”

the Landlady is baffled.

“Forgetting to water the plant is rather incompatible with botanical lives!”

The landlady rubbing her forehead in defeat

“… right…“

“Ooooooo! What was it…!?!?!?!?!?!”

Wandsie scratching her head in panic, then suddenly brightened,

“O! But have you seen this capybara video??? They are Sooooooo CHILL!! I wish I could be that chill...”

“WANDSIE!! FOCUS!!!”

both the Landlady and Toie are getting frustrated.

“O… right…”

Wandsie smiled sheepishly.
Just as the Landlady and Toie were actively trying to help Wandsie solving her “yet-another forgotten task mystery”, and Wandsie’s head was just about to explode, Holly, deployed her secret weapon – “The Paws of Intervention”.

*Producer’s Note: The Intervention Paws – the only approved “writer’s block” (literally) for more fluff titbits – visit the Mighty Fluff Barrack *

As Holly landed on the laptop and smoothly switches it off…

*scream*

“O! No! No! No! No! Noooooooooo!!!!”

Wandsie now looking like Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”.

Everyone went quiet for a brief second…focus turned to Holly, as she gets herself comfortable on the keyboard…

“Aaaah—HA! I GOT IT!!!”

barked Wandsie, jumping out of the chair in excitement, pointing dramatically at Holly, startling everyone— except, of course — Holly.

“I remember what I forgot!!!!”

The Landlady and Toie both leaned in, eyes wide with anticipation,

“Well?”

they asked in unison.

“I was going to order food for Holly and Lily!!!!!!”

Wandsie proudly declared, as if she’d cracked the mystery of the century.

Both the Landlady and Toie rolled their eyes, as they learned of the “mystery” and exactly how that happened.

Meanwhile, Holly and Lily gave Wandsie the disapproval stare, and a “don’t even talk to us” hiss, walked away to get on with some beauty sleep and birdwatching.

With the crisis adverted, and panic over, the Landlady heard a faint sneeze from a distance.

“O! I think I heard Nez! Right, girls! Be good! Try not to wreck the house or set anything on fire! Bye”

As the Landlady walked away, Wandsie and Toie rolled their eyes and muttered in unison under their breath,

“Well… we are not you…”

Wandsie and Toie can hear the Landlady from a distance,

“Ai-ya! Nez! What are you doing there?? I have looking all over for you!! Yai-yai*!!

*production note – again* “Yai-yai” is an endearing way to “reprimand” a child who has been mischievous.

Toie handed a note pad to Wandsie,

“Next time, put those ideas and “research” on paper!
At least there won’t be hundreds of tabs opened and lost, or more like you “got lost”
*air quote*
…I’m going back to my reading… good luck, and don’t forget to get the food this time!”