A Bikit Khib is a combination of a cat cafe and a community center. They range from small buildings in poorer neighborhoods, to grand structures in rich ones. All are home to Bikit, though the poorer neighborhoods attract strays instead of purchasing cats. All Bikit Khib provide entertainment such as board, dice, or tile games, and sometimes also provide music or live shows.
What is a Bikit?
The word Bikit means both a small, maned cat and a peg-board game played with dice.
Bikit cats are suprisingly docile and friendly around larger creatures, and even strays are considered a part of their local community and cared for the by denizens. This makes them very trustful of Elis, who in turn use them for comfort and companionship. Most Bikit strays are mixes of common breeds, while the rich often have purebred Bikit with special patterns and traits that have been bred over many generations. These purebred Bikit have recorded pedigrees that may go back hundreds of years.
The game Bikit is, at it's essence, a game where you roll two six-sided dice, determine the result from one of the various rulesets, then move a peg on a pegboard however many spaces the rule says to. Whoever reaches the Bikit carving at the end first wins. There are various rulesets for Bikit, with various themes, from silly ones for kids that include things like "wiggle your ears and move two spaces," to social ones for adults, that include things like "share your favorite food and move back one space."
Bikit Khib Buildings
In poorer neighborhoods, Bikit Khib are simple, sand-brick buildings with open windows covered by fine netting. The various booths are seperated by straw curtains, if at all, and the Bikit are usually strays and allowed to roam freely between inside and outside. The Bikit are provided with offcuts and leftover food. Some buildings also have straw mats and woven straw baskets for their Bikit.
In the richer neighborhoods, Bikit Khib are made from stone blocks, the windows have glass panes that swing open, and netting to keep the bugs out and the Bikit in. Booths are seperated by fabric curtains, the Bikit are not permitted to leave the building, and there are often fancy patterned rugs. The Bikit within are often purebred with pedigrees, and are treated like royalty, eating only the best foods and resting in hammocks and baskets lined with soft cloth.
Entertainment
Bikit Khib in poorer neighborhoods often have little more than some hand-made boardgames, communal dice, and occasionally a local bard.
Bikit Khib in richer neighborhood often have gaming sets made of fine or expensive materials, and usually have a small stage in the main room for bards or other performers. They often also have a theatre either attached to the main building, or in a garden outside, for larger performances.
In the central Bikit Khib maintained by the city, which is more of a complex than a single building, there are multiple smaller theaters, as well as a absolutely massive outdoor theater that can seat several thousand.
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