Sripati, etc. update. I really can’t call these guys my #spacekittens anymore — they’re pretty obviously adolescent #spacecats now. Anand slept in the guest room with Sri last night; his idea, so Sri wouldn’t be lonely, which was very sweet (though if he hadn’t, I was going to).
And then in the middle of the night, Anand woke up and got scared, as happens sometimes, so he came and climbed into our bed, which was VERY crowded with me, Kevin, Arya, and Ellie. We have a king-size bed, but somehow Kevin gets one half and everyone else is in my half. Hm. So I was pretty happy to decamp to join Sri in the guest room. The bed arrangements can get complex around here, even when poly isn’t relevant. 
I woke up early, at 5:30, so I closed Ellie and Arya into the bedroom with Kev and Anand, and then let Sri out to explore the house for a while (also closing the dog door, so he couldn’t get outside). We spent about an hour with him wandering about, exploring in the way he loves to do, and then I brought him back to the guest room.
Anand was up by then, so came to join him for 30 minutes of video game playing (Anand, not Sri). I closed that door, let Ellie and Arya out of the master bedroom, opened the dog door so they could do their business in the yard, and gave them breakfast. There is much management of doors here today.
The animals are clearly fascinated by each other — Arya and Ellie are lurking a lot outside the guest room door, and Sri periodically puts a paw under the door for Arya to bat at. I brought Arya in again for a bit, and there was much sniffing and no hissing or sharp claws threatening from Sri, so that’s already a big improvement from initially yesterday.
I’ve ordered a Feliway diffuser (two of them, actually), which is supposed to decrease tension in cats, because it replicates the hormone mother cats release, I think? I’m guessing it won’t have any effect on Ellie! But Ellie hasn’t been aggressive towards the cats at all.
There’s some confusion, when Ellie tries to play with Arya — there’s a play-running-towards-you that our old dog does (she can’t keep it up for very long), and Arya just blithely ignores Ellie at this point, which doesn’t give Ellie what she wants, but is at least better than swatting at her, which was what used to happen. Arya seems to have figured out that Ellie is profoundly not scary. Hopefully Sri will also figure that out quickly!
I’m going to mostly try to work in the guest room with Sri today, keep him company and give him lots of snuggles and scritches. He’s clearly wanting affection — he’ll get up and wander around the room, but then come back and stick his head under my hand, demanding petting, then snuggle up pressed against my leg. Affection needed? Can provide. That is within my power.
And that’s the state of the #spacecats, #earthdoggo, and #hoomins at #serendibhouse. All’s well.