Magdalen

SHORT DESCRIPTION WILL BE ASSIGNED BY STAFF FOLLOWING APPROVAL

Magdalen has short fur and yellow eyes. Her pelt is a mottling of steely gray and light ginger fur with black striping. The way her ginger patches mix into her coat make is almost appear as though it is striped gray, ginger, black, with the odd blotch of ginger that breaks this pattern. She also has a significant amount of white fur, including her muzzle, a blaze, her throat, chest belly and the majority of her legs, although she has patches of torbie fur on her legs coloured the same way as that of her back and tail.

Magdalen is a sweet-natured cat who has had a somewhat rough start to life. This jarring beginning has caused her to become cautious in all encounters and she does not easily form trust as a result. That said, when trust has been formed, Magdalen’s more loving side makes a show and the she-cat becomes almost awkwardly maternal as she tries to guide and protect those that calls friend or family.

Magdalen can also be found to be determined and stubborn, often seeing through whatever she has set her mind to despite the difficulty of the task. This has led to the she-cat having a somewhat courageous way of being that is tempered by her learned cautiousness, keeping her from becoming too hard-headed or hot-blooded in temperamental or uncertain encounters.

Due to her difficulty in forming bonds, as a result of broken trust in her past, Magdalen becomes extremely loyal to those that do earn her trust. While she might see fault or flaws in these cats, her loving nature causes her to forgive these and she will try to guide cats to a more stable and positive path rather than outright question their methods. This can result in Magdalen doing questionable things at times for the sake of her loyalty as she tries to do what she thinks is best for every cat involved even if she personally disagrees. This may stem from a fear of losing her loved ones or causing another break in trust, although she would never admit to such motivation.

• Born in the Moon of Unnamed Blue (2019) 121

Kithood [0 – 6 moons]

Magdalen was born to a scruffy queen in an overgrown backyard somewhere in Whitehart. The litter was small, only containing two kittens. Magdalen and her sister, Isabel, had a tough start to life. Their mother was a newer queen, inexperienced and young, she struggled to manage the duties of hunting and caring for her kits. This, of course, resulted in becoming somewhat malnourished and the kits suffered as a result. Their nest was sequestered under a rusted out old monster that hadn’t woken in countless moons. While this protected them from the wind and rain, it was hardly a clean place and it didn’t take long for the small family to become flea-ridden.

By the time Magdalen was two and a half moons old, she was already weakening. Her stomach felt eternally empty even when she did eat, the itching never ceased and worst of all, a terrible cough beset the young she-kit. Isabel fared only slightly better, not having a cough herself, and with how rare food was, the stronger kitten began to shove Magdalen around, preventing her from getting her fair share. Seeing the state of her Magdalen, her mother chose to try something drastic that would save the lives of both her kittens and herself. All she needed was a whole lot of luck, which was not something that was usually on her side. As such, Magdalen found herself being carried away from the nest one day and dropped off in a only slightly overgrown garden that was quite different from the one she had known. There, her mother left her with only a wish of good luck.

Night shifted slowly into day and Magdalen remained shivering in the cold. Lost and confused, she made no attempt to move from where her mother had left her. Not even when a giant, strange looking creature appeared. The creature gasped and made a flurry of noises that Magdalen couldn’t understand. Before she knew it, the creature was picking her up. Fear caused Magdalen to swipe and hiss, she bit the creature, desperate for freedom, but while it yelped and scolded her, it never let go. Magdalen was carried into the creature’s den and, after much shuffling and sounds of frustration from the creature, a box was pulled out, emptied and Magdalen placed in it before it was closed. The young she-kit shuffled into a corner and stared fearfully in the dark as the box was lifted and carried jerkily somewhere. Doors opened and closed, and a rumbling sound started soon after Magdalen’s box was placed down.

As they traveled, Magdalen mewed in protest, squeaky and weak but determined to be returned home. Her protests were met with soothing noises from the creature that did nothing to dull the little kit’s fears, but fortunately it wasn’t long before the rumbling stopped, doors opened and closed once more and her box was being carried somewhere. They entered another location given the sound, but this place was full of acrid scents and harsh noises. Dogs barked and whimpered and a cat was growling somewhere nearby. Magdalen chose to crouch even lower in her corner, shivering with fear. She had no idea how long she listened to the noises, animals coming and going, before her box was lifted and carried once more. This time she was taken somewhere quieter that stank just as much, and the box was opened. Two creatures peered in, one cooing softly as he reached in and lifted her out of the box. Once more Magdalen swiped, growled and hissed her protests but this creature made a raucous, happy sound and set her on a cold surface before poking her body and moving about. Whether he was trying to be gentle or not, Magdalen had no clue. Malnourishment had stripped her body of any protective fats, making every pressured touch painful. Slowly Magdalen quietened down, her energy seeping away, but she continued to growl her fear and displeasure.

After what felt like days of this treatment, Magdalen was poked a couple of times with something sharp and a horrid tasting pellet was shoved down her throat. She tried to cough and spit it up, but the male creature held her mouth shut until she properly swallowed. After that she was placed on another cold surface and then back into the box. The journey back was a blur for Magdalen as she crouched in her box feeling completely violated. Questions of whether her mother knew this would happen swirled in her mind as well as the fear of whether she would see her or her snobby sister ever again. Misery fell over the little kit’s heart and she tried not to weep as the creature shuffled around her box before opening it and pulling her out.

The white-dipped torbie found herself in a large space that was closed off. There was light coming through a gap in one wall, but it was far too high for her to reach. The box had now been tipped on its side and the creature was crouching over her as it placed something soft and fuzzy inside it. It moved a couple of the flaps that had kept Magdalen inside it earlier, turning the box into a sort of enclosed space. Then the creature moved away from Magdalen and she crouched shivering as it opened something and a delicious scent filled the room. The little kitten’s dull eyes brightened slightly and her mouth watered as the creature returned and placed a dish with the wonderful smelling thing on it. Instincts tore at Magdalen as she fought with herself between fleeing into the box and tasting the food that had been presented to her. Hunger won and she gingerly crept toward the dish. Her nose said safe, but it looked like nothing she had seen before. Tentatively she licked the food and delight shot through her body. Swiftly Magdalen licked up the chunks of meat and licked the flavoured liquid off the plate. As she finished she noticed the creature once more and her flight instinct won this time sending her into the box. At first she was too afraid to notice the softness beneath her paws, but once she heard the creature leave, she began to purr and snuggle in the soft fabric. She missed her mother and sister, but this was cosy at least.

Follow Riot but have something happen to cause distrust of humans (and remake wild).

Born in Unnamed Blue (2019)

• No threads have been recorded.

Sister: Isabel, calico she-cat with lime eyes.

Fun Fact: Magdalen’s pattern and personality are based on my childhood cat, Gypsy!

Fun Fact #2: Much of Magdalen’s early history is based on one of my cat’s actual histories! Riot was born in our garage (used as storage only) alongside 2-3 other kittens. When he got too sick for his mum to look after him, she dropped him off up near the house (a good 20 metres away or so) where we later found him and caught him. He was, unfortunately, also kicked by a spiteful man which did break his leg but he recovered fully. The problems Magdalen faces in her kithood are the same as Riot’s, but where she later loses her housefolk and learns to distrust humans, Riot never did. At the time of writing this character, Riot is a very content 14 year old gib (neutered male) with two younger cats as his only true annoyance.