The Secrets of Cats tARE, c6s3

Updated 20150630 15:42 CEST

Over the latest few days Gast has realised that his burden, the senator, has become very melancholic, not all the time but every now and then, in a way he hasn't noticed before. His burden is often troubled by financial or politic matters but usually he seems to see those troubles as challenges. Also he seems to keep this new trouble from his wife with whom he often shares thing and discuss things with. Two brains work better than one but for some reason he keeps this from his wife.

Tryggtass yesterday found out that a kid from one of the poorest families at the top floor (5th) was bordering on getting sick, something that often for a small child like this (less than a year old) means death. After some stakeout she found out that the parents didn't seems to cuddle with their child and also that the roof were leaking in water making the bad small apartment even damper, hotter in the day and colder in the night. Tryggtass decides to start cuddling the child herself, mostly during the nights, to warm the kid and hopefully get her through whatever she is almost catching. Tryggtass also engages Grå who lives across the street in this activity.

During the day Gast actively spies on his burden and hangs around where he is all day. He then finds out that this new kind of troublesomeness with his burden is connected to a certain piece of paper or two that he keeps in a small special box with a lock. This is strange, all normal human paper things are kept in two bigger unlocked boxes in the office room with just a simple sprint to keep the kids from opening them. Gast's burden also seems to almost hide this small box among other boxes not related to papers like pen boxes, ink flasks and such. The box needs to be opened but how and how should Gast know what's written on the paper?

Gast remembers that Tryggtass  an read human so he and Tryggtass start to work out a plan where they will smash the box into the wall in the office to break so that Tryggtass can read the note. There's only one problem, the sound will catch the humans' attention. After a while they come up with the idea that someone else could create a distraction e g topple a table or a floor candelabra in the dining room across the atrium. When asked Grå is happy to help. The only question is when; at lunch or dinner time when all is gathered in one place, late afternoon when the family is out at the baths and the servants are spread out in the house and in the city running errands or in the night when everyone is home but asleep except, hopefully, the door-keeper.

In the meanwhile Svansglidaren has been trying to socialise with the corvids in the area; crows, magpies and ravens, by hanging around on roofs and weird nooks and corners where birds spend time. After a while and a hurt behind leg from a fall Svansglidaren sort of becomes accepted by the corvids (advantage created) and starts to have actual talks with them about Skarpöra and his associates. Apparently Skarpöra is socialising a lot with two other churls for cats, all three of them old fighters from their looks. From a birds view combined with Svansglidaren's knowledge it seems obvious that they cooperate to take over the streets in a tactic that combines that fact that the streets usually aren't that big a part of a territory and that these three cats can frighten many cats into submission.

In the evening Gast and Tryggtass sneaks into the house when people are passing in and out while Grå are waiting until it's time and then takes the way in over the garden wall. Grå topples a floor candelabra moments after Gast has smacked the box into the wall and Tryggtass bent apart the main box and the lid. Grå then leave the house quickly while Gast keeps his ear alert while Tryggtass looks at the paper. The door-keeper enters the house to see what happens and some people stir in their beds. While the door-keeper turns to look at the obvious fallen candelabra Gast and Tryggtass sneaks away and leave the house the same way, over the garden wall at the back, as Grå. As they leave they hear the door-keep curse "the cat" and Gast feels that maybe he should keep away from the house for a while.

The paper was debt note on a, for cats, meaningless sum but obviously high debt. It was stated that the debt note was created in two copies, one for the borrower and one for the lender.

It doesn't take long before Gast realises that he is in the possession of almost exactly the true name of the human who had lent his burden the money since the humans are so sloppy with their true names and use almost exactly the true names as regular names. Most humans don't even seem aware of true names. The debt note had both lender's and loaner's full names, person name, family name and additional name. It would only take a few tries for Gast to get the true name correct enough. Gast slips away to his own corner behind a flowerbed with tall flowers. He gets into his proud and meditative sphinx-like position and drifts into the world of magic and seeks the true name of the human. He finds him in one of the great bath houses and shivers a little at the thought of all that water and jumping into it voluntarily. He realises that even though he could find the place he could not single out the human since he doesn't know his appearance. He makes another try before taking a nap much later in the night and finds the human in a house. Assuming the human has went to bed and is a house master Gast should be able to go there and in the same room only find two humans which of one will be a female and the male should be the lender.

And so another day and night passed closing in on the hearing in the cat senate now two days and one nights away.

The Secrets of Cats tARE, c6s1

The session started with everything having been calm for a while, no startling things in The Cat Senate, territories respected and no urgent grave dangers for The Burdens. The four cats Grå, Tryggtass, Gast and Svansglidaren lies on the street roof covering the street between the insula where Tryggtass lives and the insula where Grå lives. Grå and Tryggtass are on good standing with each other and have devided the area between the insulas in the middle and don’t quarrel about the exact border (except maybe sometimes just to tease the other). Tryggtass has a territory of one side of her insula (including some other cats being content with their respective apartments as territories) and Grå has two sides of his insula (also including some other cats).

It’s sunny but slightly shady because of the high building and everything is cool when a sturdy cat suddenly walks up to them or more specifically up to Tryggtass catching her attention extra by blocking out the sun for her. The group greets the new cat lazily which they vaguely recognise and can put a name on, Skarpöra (Sharpear), but that haven't been noticeable in the cat senate and is no neighbour of any of them. Skarpöra presents herself and asks what they're doing on her territory.

The group doesn't repsond well to that and simply suggests that she should leave Tryggtass territory and be done with it. Skarpöra doesn't take that well and and insulting and provocation game, involving human everyday names, begins (no dice rolled). After a while Skarpöra who is a bully used to win standoffs and fights attacks Grå who is the most provocative of the cats. A fight breaks out and soon Tryggtass is also involved together with Svansglidaren and a companion to Skarpöra, Högertass (Right Paw). After a an exchange of hits and slashes and with Gast hiding in a window alcove Skarpöra and Högertass leaves quite quickly.

At the beginning of the fight Tryggtass jumped up to a window alcove one level up and there she heard steps she didn't recognise and smelled a cat she didn't recognise. When she looked into the apartment she saw an unfamiliar cat. A human in the apartment noticed them and grabbed a broom to get them out. The other cat ran out in the corridor outside the apartments and Tryggtass returned to the fight by jumping Skarpöra from above (stunt Death from above).

Later Tryggtass applied for audience to princeps, the leader of The Cat Senate, and when approved asked about this territory claim Skarpöra did. Princeps was unsure and had to check with other cat officials before saying too much but probably it would have to be solved either in court or by fight.