"Cam, these are Ravenpaw," tailflick at the darker cat, "and Barley," tailflick towards the whiter, mustachioed cat.  "Ravenpaw, Barley; Cam."

"Delighted to meet you."

"Onewhisker said you had - questions?  Requests?  For us."

"I'm trying to learn more about how talking cats currently interact with Twolegs and you're sort of in between the ferals and the pets! How does that work out for you?"

"Pretty well.  The barn is warm and has plenty of mice, and the Twolegs don't bother us very much."

"When they do bother you what do they do?"

"They mostly just come out to take care of the animals.  Sometimes they give us food."

"They're old," adds Barley.  "It's not really bothering even when they come out; they're quiet folks."

"They don't take you to the vet or anything?"

"No."

"Do you think things would change in any important way if they knew you could talk and maybe had a way to have conversations with you?"

"Probably not.  S'pose I wouldn't know if they had something to say to me all this time."

"If they're old do you know what will happen with you when they die?"

"No."

"Do you have relatives they'd be able to help you see?"

"Nah."

"Not as such."  Ravenpaw entwines his tail with Barley's.

"Okay. Then probably things wouldn't change that much for you guys."

"That's good; it's a good life.  Maybe being able to talk to each other will mean more Twolegs will want barn cats, or more cats will be okay living - next to them, instead of with or away from them."

"Quite possibly, I think reasons to not want barn cats would probably include things like not being able to ask that they avoid certain areas or be sure they won't scratch or things like that. Though I don't know how the supply of barns is around here."

"Being a barn cat doesn't strictly require a barn per se.  I think there are less barns around here than cats who might specifically want one, but still some.  And they can probably share."

"What situation would you see as a barn cat without a barn?"

"If a cat has a warm place in a Twoleggy spot to make a nest, and can come and go as they please, and catches their own food but sometimes the Twoleg gives them something extra, and the Twoleg doesn't touch them or pick them up without permission, then that's pretty much a barn cat.  Even if the nest is in one of the wooden caves that Twolegs walk on in front of their homes, or a shed, or some other place."

"Cool. I can see that working reasonably well except that a lot of people are not used to needing permission to pet cats."

"Then I assume they're used to getting scratched, if they're trying that with cats who aren't kittypets?  I don't mean talking permission."