View source for Cat: Toccata and Fur in A Minor

This was a lot of fun. Cats, as T. S. Eliot knew, have 3 names. We only wrote down the first two: what humans called the cats, and what other cats called them.

Jae Walker -- GM

Geroncio Gallcia -- Chewey / Clint

Me -- Princess / Shiny Cat

Andra Steyer -- Bella Blue / Trouble

Matthew McFarland -- Horace / Teh lol cat (polydactyl), claimed to be the original lol cat

? -- Fluffy / Tailwhip

? -- Sascha / Jack

Lisa Guerrero -- Ghostly / Windigo

Kenneth Box -- Max / Ashoker Flufftale

Matthew talked us through the simple character generation as the gm dealt with non-game stuff. The gm talked briefly about squirrels, not mentioned in Cat, but defnitely a part of a cat's life.

Matthew (after listening to the gm's infodump): Hopefully, you not fight a squirrel, cuz, evidently, they are connected.

It was afternoon. The sun was shining brightly on a humid, warm day. The cats were relaxing.

Then, a moving van arrived, and the cats went to investigate.

Clint: The moment any human lays a hand on me, I turn into liquid.

Someone: Salvdore Dali cat is melting.

Clint (as movers try to dodge him and not hurt him): I gotta cat in his face.

Someone: You know, that could become literal.

Someone: Clint! This might not be the brightest move you've made this year!

Clint: But I haven't seen this one before!

Overheard from elsewhere: Isn't there any other way to get souls? Cuz this sucks!]

LoLcat: How long has that house been empty? I measure time by how many posts on lolcats.

GM: Oh, it's been empty forever!

Someone said that lol cats gets about a page and a half worth of posts a day.

GM: About 6 months.

Clint got possessive of the boxes inside the movers' truck.

Clint: My boxes! I'm rubbing my face all over them.

Various cats examined and curled up in boxes. Shiny Coat tried to flirt with Jack. This was not successful: Not only was she not in heat; she had been neutered.

The new inhabitants of the house were an angry man, a sad girl, and -- a dog!

Now, every cat knows that a sad child means bogins, horrid creatures humans can't see. And the angry man might also be afflicted by bogins. But, the cats needed more information.

Someone: Must interrogate field mice -- we got ways of making them talk!

Things got a little chaotic, what with various shennanigans and cat magic. I think Lolcat got in the way of movers, making one trip on the steps, but keeping the poor guy from getting hurt via his "I has an invisible ___" to have an invisible matress. I think shoelaces may have been tied or untied. Poor movers. They tried so hard to do their job without hurting the cats.

Out of Context Quote:

Jack: Tailwind, sounds like they're in trouble!

I remember three cats using magic to avoid either the father or the dog, jumping in and out of boxes.

Me: 3 Cat Monte!

Tailwind managed to get on the dog's back and ride him.

Someone: Lone Kitty rides a dog!

Someone: Okay, I'm impressed.

Tailwind: Woohoo! It's a new record!

Lolcat: That was more than 8 seconds! It was teh awesome!

Someone: We've got a Persian riding a Doberman.

GM: The dog stops, drops, and rolls.

Meanwhile, out of character, a woman dropped by with her pet rats.

Someone: You brought 2 rats to a game of Cat. That's kind of warped.

Someone: She thought we might need a snack.

In the game:

Lolcat: I count the cats in the immediate area, which I can do, cuz I has fingers. And, unlike rabbits, who can only count to 5, I can count to 6.

Squirrel quotes:

Uh-oh! Squirrels!

This is worse than dog!

No, it's not. We can eat it!

If you don't want to swallow that whole, drop it!

The gm told us that squirrels throw 2-handed. I've never seen a squirrel throw something.

Jack: So, Trouble, what's the trouble?

Many cats snuck into the little girl's room and proceeded to delight her.

Lolcat: I has an invisible piano!

Clint: I snag the heck out of her shirt, and she's going to think it's the Cutest Thing Ever!

GM: If she's wearing open toe shoes, you could be a Mighty Hunter of Toes.

The cats spotted a huge boggin attached to the girl's back.  It hissed at them.

Lolcat: Teh boggin -- toboggin -- It's a boggin ride!

The cats dodged the father and decided to regroup and plan, one meowing silently at the girl.

GM: Oh, the silent meow!

Lolcat: We have to have Cat Summit! I summon Cat Summit!

Other cats: Cat Summit!

Lolcat: Cat Summit happens on the roof!

Other cats: To the roof!

Later, on the roof:

Lolcat: We has only small assets!

The others listed several things.

Lolcat: Okay, we has -lots- of assets!

They decided to recruit Killer, the dog. But, they knew he wasn't very bright.

Someone: We make chart for doggie!

Out of context quote: Because you smell and he is dog.

Lolcat said only 2 cats should talk to the dog.

Someone: Cats for the win!

Shiny Coat: Just two! My chief strategist said just two!

Tailwind and Jack went. Tailwind completely terrorized the poor dog. Then, she managed to make him understand that the cats wanted his help against boggins.

Dog: Bogginses? What's bogginses?

Jack: Show him the chart!

Someone: How boggins are made --

Someone else: Well, when a mommy boggin and a daddy boggin love each other very much...

Dog: How do -you- say hello?

Tailwind: Hello.

Dog: I could sniff your butt.

Meanwhile, the girl and her father went out for dinner. The other cats played with dust bunnies in the little girl's room.

Someome: Dust bunny hockey!

Someone else: No, make decoy! Dust kitties!

All the cats and the dog gathered and planned. Lolcat had the dog place a paw down and put one of his own paws down on either side.

Lolcat: This most sacred oath between cats and dogs.

Shiny Coat was impressed with her chief strategist's wisdom. Why, she had never heard of this oath! The cats were pleased with their alliance with the dog, who also did not like squirrels.

Someone: That could be our next campaign. The war against squirrels!

Someone Else: Behold! They ride upon wolves!

The humans returned, and they spotted Trouble as she jumped into their car. The girl wanted to keep her.

Girl: Killer likes her!

Father: Killer thinks it's a snack!

He got the girl to agree that the cat had to be left in the car overnight and then taken to the vet in the morning. He actually planned to release or drown the cat later, hoping his daughter would forget about it by the morning. Trouble slipped out of the car behind him.

Trouble and Killer attacked the many small boggins on the man, while the other cats attacked the nasty large boggin attached to the now sleeping girl.

Someone: It's Caterday!

Lolcat: I has an invisible lobster snatcher! I also has 7 Style points to burn.

The boggins were destroyed. The man was furious with the dog, but Lolcat helped the dog look good. He told the dog that there was a juicy steak outside. The dog ran after him at once. This looked like he was chasing the cat out of the house.

The cats gathered in the girl's room. While still sad at her mother's death, she slept more easily now that the bogins were gone. The father came in quietly to check on his daughter.

Lolcat's player: I'd like him to see me and bow. (pantomimes the kind of bow one sometimes gives an equal one respects)

The gm said that was fine. She explained the title of the event: The little girl played piano. Hence a toccata. In A minor. With fur, because of the cats.


Aftem the game, Josh,Julian and I got a cab to the airport. Josh got confusing email that claimed that the plane left over an hour later than scheduled, but still landed on time. And, it took the lady checking us in a while to find us in the system, but she did. As we got to the security checkpoint, Josh realized he needed to check something else, so we dealt with that. Then, we went to our gate and confirmed that the flight would take off -and- land late. Julian's flight was delayed as well. But, eventually, all planes, including the one Beth was on, loaded, took off, and landed safely.