She'd have to see one first, but yeah.

"Darn it, left mine at home," says Kate, smiling. "We've got a place out in the boonies, we don't make it to church every week it's such a long way. Lots of yard though. Little hobby farm."

She does like being outside.

"Flora said you like cats, we've got a barn cat but he's not very friendly," says Kashvi. "And a dog, she's a lot friendlier."

She might like dogs. She hasn't seen them as much as cats, she's not sure what they're like.

"They're kinda needier and clumsier and more social," says Kashvi. "They wag their tails when they're happy."

That sounds all right.

"Dogs are great," says Kate. "Also we have chickens, for the eggs, they're not really pets but you can pet 'em anyway if so inclined."

She doesn't really know anything about chickens.

"Very dumb birds," says Kate. "They'll keep the bug population down real good, though. We've got mostly Orpingtons and one Sebright who looks real out of place - Orpingtons are kinda caramel colored and fat and Sebrights are white with black outlines on their feathers and trimmer."

Sounds neat.

Is there anything they want to know about her? - she doesn't want to talk about where she was before, it's upsetting.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" suggests Kashvi.

"What's your favorite game?" Kate asks. "Sport, video game, board game, whatever."

She doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up; she's looking forward to finding out what her choices are. She hasn't gotten to play many games but she likes board games okay, the kind where the pieces go around on a track.

"Maybe you'd like backgammon," says Kate. "It's very old."

"That's Kate's way of saying that you should try more kinds of games," says Kashvi, looking fondly at her wife.

She probably should, yeah.

"I don't think Thaumaturge Flora has any," says Kate disparagingly.

"Forgive me," says Flora, amused.

"Deck of cards?" says Kate.

"Oh, there's probably one somewhere. You can go look in my room if you like."

Kate starts to, but Kashvi says, "Maybe Janet can make cards with her utility spell."

They might be weird. She tried a book and it was weird.

She tries it anyway.

Kate starts trying to deal cards, face-up so she can explain the rules as they go, but discovers a second two of hearts and says, "I'll check Flora's room, shall I," and goes to do that.

She shrugs and dismisses the cards.

"I met Kate," says Kashvi, "at a board game night in college. She bribed me to substitute for someone who was leaving a game of Diplomacy, where everyone pretends to be countries in Europe and tries to take over everything. I was terrible at it but she coached me and we won."

That's neat.

(Kate is pushy. She's not sure when she started seriously considering any of these people but Kate is right out.)

Kate comes back with the deck of cards and deals again for three-person cassino, explaining as they go what the sensible move options for each player are.

It quickly comes up that she can't handle the cards very well; she has trouble keeping a hand of them in place and can't pick one up if she drops it without putting down the rest of her cards, which she then can't pick up again.

Well, as long as they're playing open handed Kate can move her cards for her. "When I was five my grandfather made me a block of wood with slits cut into it to hold cards," she says.

She could probably do something like that but this is fine for now. She picks it up quickly, both the rules and the basics of strategic play.