text: [Themes: Slice of life, outdoor, cat, nonhuman protagonist, animal protagonist]
  
  > Go downwards
  You enjoy curling up in the blankets' warm folds. Light streams down through an eastern window. A mingling of faded scents lure you northward.
  
  You can see a strip of kindling here.
  
  > check your inventory
  You carry a red balloon, its string between your teeth. You are also sated (though not satisfied), and covered in pale ash.
  
  > drop all
  (the red balloon)
  The balloon floats up to the ceiling.
  
  > look
  You enjoy curling up in the blankets' warm folds. Light streams down through an eastern window. A mingling of faded scents lure you northward.
  
  Hovering against the ceiling is a red balloon.
  
  You can also see a strip of kindling here.
  
  > go north
  You duck through the flap in the front door...
  
  A tree stump pokes through the otherwise unbroken blanket of soft, powdery snow. A slatted fence traverses the snow to the north, while the cottage entrance lies southward.
  
  You can see a pile of wood, a sizable piece of bark, a buzzing log and a hole (which is empty) here.
  
  Splinters fly as the Provider splits wood with an axe.
  
  You hear high-pitched laughter beyond the fence.
  
  > Inventory
  You carry nothing between your teeth. You are also sated (though not satisfied), and covered in pale ash.
  
  > go south
  A shadowy, east-west path snakes through a tangle of gnarled oaks and elms. Somewhere in this ancient forest, your Rival makes his home. You can't help hunching your shoulders, and bracing for a sudden attack.
  
  Your Rival crouches in the snow.
  
  > Go southwest
  It's not so easy to traipse past your Rival.
  
  Your Rival growls menacingly. You'd better leave soon.
  
  > Go west
  Here the Provider divines food from the cupboard's magic containers, and prepares it on the ledge above you like only a Provider can. It seems that all roads lead to your food bowl: there's an alcove to the west, a small flap northward, a lumpy mountain to the east, and a pile
  
  > Go north
  of blankets southward.
  
  On the floor, lies your food bowl, full of hard food.
  
  You can also see a morsel of hard food and a yellow feather here.
  
  > Go east
  You duck through the flap in the front door...
  
  A tree stump pokes through the otherwise unbroken blanket of soft, powdery snow. A slatted fence traverses the snow to the north, while the cottage entrance lies southward.
  
  You can see a pile of wood, a sizable piece of bark, a buzzing log and a hole (which is empty) here.
  
  The Provider is resting on the stump.
  
  Overlooked by a high window of the Provider's cottage, a trail follows a north-south stream through a grove of aspens.
  
  > go south
  A shadowy, east-west path snakes through a tangle of gnarled oaks and elms. Somewhere in this ancient forest, your Rival makes his home. You can't help hunching your shoulders, and bracing for a sudden attack.
  
  Your Rival crouches in the snow.
  
  > check what you're carrying
  You carry a red balloon, its string between your teeth. You are also sated (though not satisfied), and covered in pale ash.
  
  Your Rival growls menacingly. You'd better leave soon.
  
  > hit the balloon
  Violence isn't the answer to this one.
  
  Your Rival charges, grazing you with his claws!
  
  > hit the balloon
  Violence isn't the answer to this one.
  
  You falter in the face of your Rival's ferocious charge. He pins you to the ground, mauling your face and underbelly. You struggle, but are helpless beneath him. You're dimly aware of him as he saunters away, leaving you for dead in the reddening snow. You only hope you freeze to death before the vermin and insects arrive.
  
  > Go west
  To the east, icicles hang like fangs within a giant maw of snow. A large pair of matching tracks lead out of shadows of the snowy mouth and to the west. A path loops north and south.
  
  Your Rival arrives from the Rival's Wood.
  
  > Go south
  A shadowy, east-west path snakes through a tangle of gnarled oaks and elms. Somewhere in this ancient forest, your Rival makes his home. You can't help hunching your shoulders, and bracing for a sudden attack.
  
  Your Rival arrives from the Snowy Maw.
  
  > go to the north
  The Provider's cottage is that way, but you can't enter it from here.
  
  Your Rival growls menacingly. You'd better leave soon.
  
  > Go west
  To the east, icicles hang like fangs within a giant maw of snow. A large pair of matching tracks lead out of shadows of the snowy mouth and to the west. A path loops north and south.
  
  Looking back, you notice your Rival has abandoned the chase.
  
  > Go north
  A tree stump pokes through the otherwise unbroken blanket of soft, powdery snow. A slatted fence traverses the snow to the north, while the cottage entrance lies southward.
  
  You can see a pile of wood, a sizable piece of bark, a buzzing log and a hole (which is empty) here.
  
  > go south
  You squeeze the balloon through the flap in the front door...
  
  Here the Provider divines food from the cupboard's magic containers, and prepares it on the ledge above you like only a Provider can. It seems that all roads lead to your food bowl: there's an alcove to the west, a small flap northward, a lumpy mountain to the east, and a pile of blankets southward.
  
  On the floor, lies your food bowl, full of hard food.
  
  You can also see a morsel of hard food and a yellow feather here.
  
  > get Food
  (first dropping the red balloon)
  The balloon floats up to the ceiling.
  
  You gingerly pick up the morsel of hard food with your teeth.
  
  The Provider arrives from the Lumpy Mountain.
  
  > go to the north
  You duck through the flap in the front door...
  
  A tree stump pokes through the otherwise unbroken blanket of soft, powdery snow. A slatted fence traverses the snow to the north, while the cottage entrance lies southward.
  
  You can see a pile of wood, a sizable piece of bark, a buzzing log and a hole (which is empty) here.
  
  > go west
  To the east, icicles hang like fangs within a giant maw of snow. A large pair of matching tracks lead out of shadows of the snowy mouth and to the west. A path loops north and south.
  
  > drop Food
  Perhaps some unfortunate critter will enjoy it more than you.
  
  Your Rival notices the hard food morsel, and swallows it whole.
  
  > give Food to Rival
  He snatches the morsel from you, and swallows it whole.