Lawn Gnome

An older vitiligo cream manx queen with blue eyes

Lawn Gnome appears to be an almost completely white cat, with a single splotch of colour on her nose. In reality, she is a light creme manx she cat with vitilligo. Her lack of a tail adds to her round, ‘lawn ornament’ physic and surprisingly she has had very few health issues through the years. More recently her back legs have begun aching, but that is likely due to her old age rather than her conditions.

Gnome has bright blue eyes and a spotted white coat interspersed with creme tabby markings and a single solid spot of color on her nose. Her markings are hard to see unless you are standing right next to her. She has no tail, which she was born without. She is rather small and can easily fit into spaces that most cats cannot – leading to her living in the foundation/basement of the house which is a safe place for her to hide from predators and mean loners.

Lawn Gnome or ‘Gnome’ is a laidback cat, who is nearly impossible to rile. She is very desensitized to noise, smells and movement. She is quite motherly to cats that she meets – cheerful and helpful, but no nonsense. It helps she has lived underneath the local ‘haunted house’ outside of town. In reality it is a historic farmstead that has fallen into disrepair, but has also become a popular location for parties and raves with the teenagers. She is affectionate to humans but had no desire to live with them, despite the best attempts of the kids to trap her.

Gnome is familiar with the clan cats and tried to be friendly with them when she finds herself near their territory. She doesn’t often venture out of her own little land; which isn’t that far from the border of Riverclan and Windclan (it is a trek from the main city) but her home is open to all who need it – which includes Clan cats and Loners alike. If anything the long grass of the unkempt yard and few fenced acres with a barn allows for quite a few cats to use the land, without crossing paths.

• In her mind, the toms of the Clans are quite attractive. She supposes that she has a thing for men with scars and strings attached; but for the most part none of them have been interested in her advances. Their loss.

• Born in the Moon of First White (2010) 010
• Their mother named them Vee during the Moon of First White (2010) 010
• Their housefolk named them Susan during the Moon of First Fishing (2011) 017
• Renamed to Lawn Gnome during the Moon of Long Sun (2013) 045

Childhood: 0-12 months

Born in the small town of Whitehart, Lawn Gnome was given the name Vee by her mother, who was a ex-street cat. Her mother was brought into a shelter and fostered until she gave birth to her litter – then adopted out when her kittens were old enough. Vee grew up around humans, and quite enjoyed them although she always longed to go an adventures, like the ones her mother would tell her about.

Vee was smaller than her siblings from birth and often had to be bottle fed by the human that cared for them. She was fond of the smaller humans that came to visit her family periodically and would tell them all about her day even though they didn’t understand her. Her siblings were much more cautious about the humans and her mother would repeatedly scold her about being too trusting. These warnings never really stuck with her.

She and her two brothers were adopted separately. Vee was given the name Susan and brought out to a rural acreage, where she lived with 2 other barn cats. Susan was pleased to be of use and was a helpful mouser, as her small size allowed her to follow rodents into areas where her companions couldn’t go.

Adulthood: 12 – Current

As she grew, Susan was introduced to her two companions, Spud and Milo. The two tomcats were slightly older than her but had lived on the Winstrate farm since they were born. The three of them got along for the most part and looked out for each other. Life on the farm was rough for the cats because there were several large dogs – some of who would have liked nothing more than to eat a cat. However, nothing came of this as Burger the leader of the farmdogs had a soft spot for the cats as he and Spud were essentially raised together.

Susan had multiple litters with both Spud and Milo as the fathers and gave birth to multiple kittens. Most of them were adopted out around 7 months of age but a few of them were kept at the farm. One of her few remaining kittens includes her son Potato, or ‘Chimera’ to those new to the farm, and her most recent litter included her daughter Ghost.

Susan enjoyed being a mother, and would have preferred to raised more of her kittens had things not drastically changed. The owner of the farm passed due to old age, and the children of the man sold the farm. They captured Spud, Milo and her other kittens and Susan never saw them again. She misses them terribly and hopes they found somewhere to live that was warm and safe.

Susan managed to hide herself, Potato and Ghost underneath the farmhouse and evade capture – the three have been living there ever since. For some reason, the land was never developed and Susan stayed put, continuing to hunt on the land and live in the house. It fell into disrepair – attracting more rodents and she found herself with a lot of spare time on her paws with Ghost providing more food than they could eat and Potato helping with chores. She spent this time exploring the nearby moors.

This is when she had her first run-in with a clan cat. Thankfully they were an apprentice; she never got a name from the young cat before they chased her off, but her interest was piqued. She continued to explore and learn about the clans (much to the chagrin of her children). As she grew older she stopped her exploration for the time but is still interested in their lifestyle – albeit not in joining. They were too strict for her.

Lawn Gnome was given her most recent name by a group of drunken teenagers who started using her old farmhouse as a party location. They came up with ‘Lawn Gnome because a) alcohol, b) bad nighttime decisions and c) because she looks like a garden ornament when she sits on the front lawn of the house, watching them leave. She is affectionate towards the young humans, but never lets them catch her – something they tried to do for a while.

With the warming of the season, she has decided to continue her explorations and return back to the Clan territory for short periods of time – although mostly in Windclan and Riverclan territory. Hopefully bringing prey with her will persuade them to talk with her rather than immediately attack – but only time will tell.

• Home on the Range (23LG'20)

Siblings:
_____: Male Cat
_____: Male Cat

Friends:
Milo: Male Silver-Orange Barncat, with white socks and mask. He was sent to an shelter, and adopted out. However he had a habit of wandering and eventually didn’t go home and lived as a semi-feral cat within the city. He was eventually struck by a car and passed away on the way to the vet.

Spud: Male Tawny-Brown Barncat with missing ear-tips, due to frostbite and a perpetually sad-looking face. He was adopted out in Whitehart and is living a life of luxury as a spoiled ‘rescue cat’ with a social media platform.

• Both Milo and Spud were parents to most of her litters, as the three of them agreed that was the best way to avoid competition between them – which would affect their mousing jobs. As a result both toms acted as fathers and helped care for all of Gnome’s litters.

Burger: A large Anatolian Shepherd that defended the farm’s herd of goats. He was very chill around the cats and would often let them join him while patrolling the land. He also kept the other dogs in line, so no accidents ever befell the barncats.  He left with the farmer’s children.

** Willing to have more of Gnome’s children live with her

Gnome’s Home:

The Winstate Farm is a historic farmhouse that fell into disrepair and disuse after the owner died. The children of the owner sold the land to another farmer in the area and removed all – or almost all – animals from the area when they moved away from Whitehart. This land is unkempt, with grass allowed to grow long and herbs running wild. The fencing has slowly rotted, leaving rusty barbed wire hidden in the dirt, and rotting wood scattered the length of the property. Rabbits, songbirds and rodents can be found in abundance.

Set in the center of the land is a two story wooden farmhouse. The siding has long faded to dark brown, and the shingles have peeled, curled, and let water into the house. The upper floors have fallen in on themselves, the floorboards and insulation rotting and decaying – creating high ceilings and skeletal frames of the upper floors. These provide a high vantage point to the resourceful cat, if they know where to step. Here, birds roost and mice skitter through gutters. The attic is still intact and although it is mouldy and damp, it is the perfect location for a restless cat to find shelter.

On the main floor hidden beneath large, blue tarps is electronic speakers used by teenage self-proclaimed ‘rebels’, to host parties out of sight. The front door, kitchen and windows are intact, yet they have a special sort of dampness and rust. The glass panes are thicker at the bottom, and frail at the top. Here rodents, bugs and the occasional lizard can be caught.

The final floor is one not many people, or cats can reach. Hidden in the foundation of the house is a small series of tunnels created from rotting wood, and foundational cement. The area is like a maze, with few safe passages. The only current safe route is a tight squeeze underneath the sagging front porch. Here is the home of the matriarch of the land – a nest full of moss and soft materials that is cut off from the outside world. It is a safe place from larger cats, wild animals and the elements. Very few cats are invited here.