<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Sorry, the holiday has been difficult.  Someone in my store quit and its left everything in a tissy.  Weve had to reschedule around them.  Its been raining, which means my connection can be spotty too.  I apologize for the delay.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>No worries! I kinda expect a return from a holiday weekend to be slow. It happens to everyone once in a while. After a major holiday, I usually don't expect much from the following week.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">For Vex.<br/>I do see what you are saying.  Writing such scenes would be challenging and interesting, actually.  I kind of dont want to focus too much on that.  I want a darker edge, but not one which would cause a not for children rating.  Especially in America.  Murder can happen by the bucketloads as long as no one is topless.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I'm not entirely sure to what you're referring to here, but if you're talking about the cat's mating tendencies, I'm not gonna argue with you. Like I said, I wasn't looking for anything explicit, nor certainly not to take over the game. It just might be a neat avenue to explore, should any relationships happen to head that way, just from the amateur psychologist or sociological standpoint. But I'm not gonna push for it as a major focus. It sounds like there will be bigger fish to fry.<br/><br/>And yeah, I double your sentiment about the silly puritan standards we have about nudity here. We seem to have a confusing fixation on sex in this country, so much that it often holds our focus far more than death and violence. It's very strange.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I agree with seeing what the players want first.  I was taking Waunder's advice and letting you guys in on some of my ideas.  I wanted to just hear the kind of cats and the kind of things you wanted to explore happening and go from there.  I read the Silverford and liked the serial killer that hasnt been found and that some spooky effects have gotten worse.  That is the key to my scene.  <br/><br/>I see tiny blue flames which sprout out of unholy ground.  I picture part of cats duty around this area is kiling these balls.  The problem is with so much death these things have gotten worse.  Imagine pouncing one and proud of it as a cat strides back toward home.  Suddenly a twitch of the ear and a tilt of the head and she sees a cloud of twenty or so of those things attacking her.  She bounced one way and then another, actually banking off one tomb stone and to another before knocking off a wreath which dispearses the ghostlights.  She goes into a beserk frenzy killing almost ten of them herself before her burden walks around the corner and watches her cat jump around swatting at nothingness or at best motes of dust.  "Silly cat.  Best take you in," your burden says as she uses those trecherous thumbs of hers to carry her from her hunting grounds.  As she watches she sees a few ghostlights coaless and begin to follow her as shes being carried home.  Though she should be afraid for her burdern, the cat could only grin evilly to herself.  This promised to be a fun evening.<br/><br/>So what is happening to make things worse?  Who is the killer?  Are they related or stalking one of the character's burdens?  All of this bloodshed has made worst parts of the night even worse than before.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I think I get what you're going for. I just wanted to make sure we weren't going to focus too much on the graveyard, when Silver Lake has much more going for it, like the aforementioned serial killer. There's a whole town with strong historical roots to play with, along with surrounding wilderness, and the issues like tourists and greater county area troubles. I certainly don't mind giving the graveyard spirits special focus, but I was just hoping we'd have a chance to explore further than that.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Ideally I would like the two of you to be semi-socialable cats.  I picture adjurning territories.  Both of oyou posing with each other... watching each other, etc. especially during the say.  Once night comes you accept begrudging help from the other.  I will have lots to do for you guys seperately, but would like to overlap things often.  I will make a couple of other cats who will be friends or aquaintences.  You can make up a few names, descriptions and general qualites of what friends would be fun to have.  I will play other things other than cats.  So if one of you has a 'confidential informant' which is a rat or something, we can discuss that.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I'm definitely angling towards a more social concept, so no worries there. I'm getting a pretty good idea of my character, and while I don't quite know what Sain has in mind, based on the initial response, I'm figuring they'll work out well enough together. Cooperation shouldn't be a problem.<br/><br/>Thanks for being open to contacts and friends, though. I'll keep that in mind. Try to think of some unique personalities to pair them up with.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">So for example we make up the burdens and territory of both cats.  As well as making out  a player character sheet with all your names and aspects, etc.  There should be some deffinite defferences between the two houses to heighthen differences.  Like one is an artist with kids who slings paint on easel... and everything else, and the other is a married older couple who never had kids and keeps a tidy house... well, except for the dog.  So a lot of the tension between you two will be the enviroments you two come from.  We can design a couple of other features of the yard and neighborhood and go from there.  Like a corner store.  An abandoned house.  Maybe a small creek concealed from the road by the trees.  Id like you two to lay out what you want around you two and we will work it out.  Then your cats have not only a familar area to call home.  The main fixtures being the old, unkept up cemetary which is probably hidden behind a bank of trees from the housing development and the name of the street being Mockingbird Lane.  Though if we dont like those we can find something else more fun.  Another fun feature would be that tar pit closed attraction in Sin City with the dinosaur statures.  Imagine what kind of villian could be lurking there?  Imagine the bodies which have been 'disappeared' there and what kind of ghostlight or other such I could generate there?</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I'm all for establishing and playing up the difference between our characters, particularly with the burdens. Sain already indicated he wanted to be an ambitious fat cat dreamer who lives with young kids, so I'll be happy to go with an older couple, or something that doesn't involve the presence of children much (maybe the infamous crazy cat lady, even). I have some ideas. Territories, though, I'm a little less concrete about. I might call on a bit of assistance to pin those down, if you don't mind.<br/><br/>A tar pit could be neat. But, those are pretty rare, aren't they? I'd think, if we had one in Silver Lake, it would be pretty big deal, not just some side attraction. I'm not necessarily against it, I just think that would change the setting quite a bit. Heck, I'd argue that might actually be of a larger supernatural consequence than the graveyard you were expecting to feature would be. You're talking about souls of millennia old entities there. I'm not really sure why the graveyard would even compare. We should probably have one or the other.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=232163.msg11436664#msg11436664">Quote from: Modern Fairy Tale on July 09, 2015, 12:14:23 am</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I am of course interested in whatever you want to explore in this unique take on the world.  Would breaking friends out of an animal shelter be fun?  What if the animal control officer is abusive?  What if a child like to torment animals?  What if there were wierd scientists showing up and trying to trap strays in the areas?  What if someone knew about the secrets of cats?<br/><br/>I look forward to more discourse from both of you on we are going to play here.  I picture historic houses which are inhabited by medium to lower income families.  Its probably been spruced up recently... upping property values and maybe stirring up secrets.<br/><br/>What are both of your reactions to this so far?<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>I think all those ideas could be fun. We're playing cats, after all, much smaller creatures who have to make their way in a human-dominated world, especially when said dominant creature doesn't even see them as worthy of respect. There are lots of matters that could be considered mundane to humanity that would be of a great concern to cats. That could be fun to explore. Just as well, the misunderstandings between the two species cultures could be interesting to play out (how does a cat understand something like the iPhone or a computer? Are they able to discern the rules of how cars operate? Or why human young are all sent to a strange location, where cats are not allowed, and are left under the supervision of people their parents hardly even know?).<br/><br/>Thusfar, the setting sounds fine. I imagined Silver Lake as a relatively small, fairly rural town with some historical elements, so older homes and buildings make sense. It also gives you a lot of opportunity to play with the nearby woods, lake, and the town's past for sources of intrigue, so I'm for it.<br/><br/>Anyway, it seems like, at the moment, it's just going to be the three of us. So, with that in mind, I have two cats I'm working on, and I can go with either. I don't normally do this, but I rather liked two concepts in particular, a Dutiful Warder, and the aforementioned Roguish Shaper, and I thought they might actually make an interesting contrast with one another. I might even be willing to play both, if you're up for it. I think that could be fun. If you prefer I stick with one, which is fine, I'll probably go with the former.<br/><br/>The first is a Warder who's a bit on the curious and astutely traditional side seems to fit this particular setting a little better. I'm thinking a white cat, maybe an Angora or something, but I could see a black cat working too. Tends to stick by the lessons taught to her by her elders and to the traditions of the Parliament rather firmly, as she holds wisdom from her elders important, and spends much of her time either playing a bit of local politics or being the dutiful guardian of her burdens and territory. Fancies herself a bit of a sophisticated cat and know-it-all, obsessively cleanly and definitely a bit on the uptight side about the rules, but does put her observation nature to use in collecting useful bits of lore and investigating curiosities that strike her as important. She can be charming at times, but can also rub other cats the wrong way at times with her insistence. She generally means well and takes her responsibilities seriously. Her burden is likely an older widow, but not the crazy cat lady, just a kindly old woman who adores her cats as companionship and treats them like her grandchildren. I see her living with an elderly cat, likely an experienced and well-recognized Warder or Seeker, who's on the last stages of their life. In fact, she was originally brought into the home as a kitten because the older couple expected their older cat to die soon, but it ended up living a fair bit longer than they expected.<br/><br/>As for the other, I see her as a stray, likely a tabby, or a calico, or maybe even a Chausie breed, like a bengal or a savannah, something more in touch with it's wild side. May even claim she's descendant from tigers, cheetahs and other great wild felines, but she's the sort who exaggerates, so who knows what the truth really is. She's a sneaky and playful sort, the type of cat who's always testing her boundaries and testing others to see what they'll allow her to get away with. In many ways, she's the opposite of the Warder, a feline who doesn't think much in terms of abstracts and theories and lives off of personal experience and practicality. A natural hunter, a conniving trickster, and a bit of a sneak-thief who sometimes cuts corners when it comes to others territories when she thinks she can get away with it, who often uses her Shaper talents to disguise herself and cause a bit of chaos for the Parliament, who don't see her very kindly. That said, although she can be a bit annoying in her assertive trickery and pranks, she generally knows when to put the games aside and be serious, and most who know her understand she's never going to do anything too harmful to her neighbors and comrades. She might have quite a bit friends in unlikely places, and is likely to have a few contacts outside her species, likely a wild rodent of some kind, but I can also see her having intelligent canine whom she has a bit of a frienemy relationship with, likely to taunt on the top of a fence while they chat. As for burdens, I imagine she has a few from different places, namely humans that have treated her kindly. I could see a young girl who gives her milk, or a teenage boy who slums with his friends at an abandoned place, a bit of a rebel himself, who has taken to her.<br/><br/>I could see Sain's chubby kitty working well with either, although the dynamics would be different depending on which one. The Warder would likely appreciate his hunting tips, for instance, as she does need to hunt to offer sacrifices for her barriers. That said, if he's as young as she is, she'd probably be a little annoyed be his arrogance. She'd definatelly be interested in meeting this owl companion for herself, and prying what knowledge she could out of him. The Shaper, however, likely won't be taking any tips she gets from him seriously. She might play along with it, however, if just to mess with him, and eventually show him up, though, unless he's a genuinely good hunter, in which case she might compete with him, or even occasionally take his prize. I could see them having a more playful relationship, although she'd likely keep teasing his weight.<br/><br/>Any thoughts? Preferences?