SALTO - TIMELINE #810397730353

(Timeline Tuesday #78)

Saltos are small, multi-tentacled creatures from a distant timeline, who’ve arrived in our reality to the delight of chefs everywhere. They are approximately the size and shape of an everyday saltshaker, featuring transparent bodies that offer the basic consistency of glass. The top of a Salto appears grey and metallic, and it is covered in small holes.

Unlike traditional salt shakers, Saltos feature a single large eye upon their body and seven tentacles placed at even intervals around their base. These cream-colored appendages serve to help a Salto maneuver about the world, or to manipulate objects. Saltos also feature tiny, beaklike mouths on the bottom of their frames.

Saltos are of limited intelligence, instinctual scavengers that are constantly on the hunt for scraps. They will eat almost anything, but generally thrive on dirt, dust and tiny items dropped around their habitat. They digest their meals with powerful enzymes, which transform almost any material into a fine salt.

Turning Saltos over will allow their accumulated salt grains to spill out through the tiny holes in their heads, seasoning any food you decide to place under them. While the thought of this might be disturbing to some, especially given the Salto’s relatively unhygienic natural diet, the mineral they create is rather tasty in flavor. The salt of this creature is exactly like the naturally occurring salt of this timeline.

Chefs of all kinds have started using this creature to their advantage. The diet of a Salto can drastically change the flavor of its mineral output, causing many cooks to raise their own Saltos on very specific meal plans. There are garlic saltos, jalapeno saltos, and cheddar cheese saltos, just to name a few.