What cats get up to at night (Aiza)

[Alea Davenport]

Alea agreed with Aiza; Frostfawn didn't sound so bad to her. Work of any kind was abhorrent to her, but she recognized the need to earn a living. Besides, Frostfawn was the best place to keep her horse out of trouble.

At Aiza's last question however, Alea stared blankly. Horses had names? "I...don't really know. Should I? I don't usually ask animals for their names." Then she remembered Aiza was a cat and become flustered, "I mean, except when they turn human. Or human-shaped." Alea decided to close her mouth tightly before she offended her new friend.

[Aiza]

Aiza nodded, agreeing with her choice. She smiled petting the horse. It would be good to get the thing out of the cold and into a building... Same for Alea. She side glanced at the girl who seemed a little confused about giving horses names. "Well, yeah, animals have names, well, humans give names... He is your horse, you should give him a name and he will respond to it. Same for your cat. She smiled and patted the cat's head. "[b]My mother said that even Kelvics will go without names if not give one, but I grew up in a human like family, I lived different than other Kelvics."

[Alea Davenport]

Alea stared. "But... giving an animal a name, that's...that's like saying it's...people!" Once again, Alea realized too late who she was talking to. "That's not to say...I mean, of course you're people, but you are different. You can talk. Animals, I mean, normal animals, aren't smart enough for that, right?"

Her horse chose that disconcerting moment to snort and stamp his hoof. The cat seemed as unaffected as ever, seeming to nap in Aiza's arms without a care in the world.

[Aiza]

Aiza frowned at Alea. It was an insult, no they weren't people, but they had thoughts and feelings... "Did you ever notice your animals have their own personalities...? Okay, so they can't speak your language, or read and write, but that doesn't mean they don't have independent thoughts." She set the cat down and looked over at the horse. "Maybe if you were a little more kind they would be willing to listen. Animals can sense things like anger or love. They react to it."

[Alea Davenport]

Alea hadn't meant to offend Aiza. It simply hadn't occurred to her that animals had feelings. She'd never believed it before when people tried to tell her; she'd always dismissed it as superstition. But Aiza had reason to KNOW what animals were thinking.

Alea felt horrible. She sat in guilty silence, pondering what Aiza had said and trying to make these new ideas fit into her world view. Animals had their own personalities? All she'd ever noticed was that animals never did what they were told. She'd always assumed that was because they were too stupid to understand... She tried to compare the animals to people. Then she realized something that should have been obvious from the start. When Alea had been young, she had never wanted to do what she was told; in fact, she still didn't. It wasn't too hard to imagine that animals had similar motivations.

[Aiza]

Aiza snorted and looked off towards the woods again. "It's alright." she said,assuimg Alea felt sorry. Ether way, Aiza didn't hold a grudge for long. "You said you have met other kelvic, right?"

She wanted to change the subject, make it better, it seemed as if that would change the mood, maybe make the night a little happier.

[Alea Davenport]

Grateful for the excuse to put complicated subjects aside for now, Alea said, "I only met one, on my second day here. And neither of us were very good at Common, so it was hard to...understand each other." She laughed, smiling at the memory. "When she changed in front of me, I was very surprised!" Suddenly, Alea yawned hugely. It hadn't occurred to her how late it must be getting, but she was awake well past when she was used to being asleep.

[Aiza]

Aiza blinked and looked up at the sky. The moon had moved ovder them, she knew this meant it was pretty late already. Alea's yawn made her yawn too and the cat in turn yawned. "I should be going back to the hold soon, I have an early shift tomorrow."

Aiza put the cat down and patted his head. She turned to the glowing horse and petted his head too. "We should get together again soon." She smiled at Alea, her knew friend. "Maybe I should cook you a nice dinner!" She laughed and turned towards the hold, she was glad Alea wasn't too far into the woods. A prickle of fear ran down her spine.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea went to sleep with a great deal to think about. She had a new friend, who had given her a new perspective on how animals thought. She would probably take Aiza up on her offer of dinner. She hadn't eat much besides fish since she'd left home (not that she'd eaten much else before). She fell asleep petting her cat's head.

The first thing she did upon waking the next morning was go into the market. She'd had the idea to buy a spare cloak, in case she met any more naked Kelvics. As she handed over the five silver-rimmed coins, she wondered how soon she would be able to make use of her brilliant idea. At the rate she was going, it seemed inevitable that she would meet another Kelvic before too long. She flung the new wool clung over her shoulders on top of her old one, and went about her business.

[Cheshire]

Character: Alea Davenport Experience: Observation +1, Interrogation +3, Running +1, Animal Husbandry +1 Lore: Kelvics (Basic), Avanthal (Basic), Holds of Avanthal (Basic) Ledger: -5 SM (Cloak) Character: Aiza Experience: Observation +1, Running +1, Interrogation +2, Running +1, Animal Husbandry +1, Philosophy +1 Lore: Gildings (Basic), Holds of Avanthal (Basic) Additional Note: Great thread! Alea, keep in mind that the cloak you bought will not be furred. The furred cloaks are 20 GM. Other than that, you are good! PM me with concerns.