Magdalen

A mottled steel grey and pale ginger tabico and white she-cat with yellow eyes

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.

The creature kept Magdalen locked inside the room for countless days. For a while, each and every day a horrible pellet was forced into her throat and she was made to swallow it, but that eventually stopped. The creature constantly ensured there was food for the young kitten to eat. Every day she was given some of the delicious meat stuff, which had different smells and flavours, and throughout the day there was dry pellets that tasted somewhat like meat too. Magdalen discovered a place with gravel that she could use to relieve herself, and for some reason doing so seemed to make the creature overly happy. The one thing Magdalen truly hated about this new lifestyle, though, was the creature’s insistence on touching her. Eventually though, that become tolerable and even enjoyable at times. She continued to miss her mother and sister, but she couldn’t deny that she was happier having a full belly and a warm, dry place to sleep.

A while after the horrid pellets stopped being forced into her, Magdalen was put into another box. This one was slippery and had a grated entry that allowed her to look out. She was taken once more to that acrid smelling place with all the animals, but this time she could see them. Gratitude filled the young she-kit’s heart when her creature kept the snuffling dogs away from her box, but this was soon removed as she was taken out by that same male creature, poked again and once more stabbed with something sharp that put an uncomfortable pressure under her scruff. Unlike last time, however, she was not returned to the place she called home, but taken away to another room. This one had other cats. Some quiet, some demanding food, others groaning in pain. The scent of blood, infection and illness caused Magdalen to quiver fearfully in her box. The creature carrying her stopped, placed her box down and then removed her from it and placed her into another box. This one was made of the same cold surface that she was placed on in the other room, but there was some thin fabric that she could crouch on.

For a while, Magdalen was kept in that box before she was taken out and taken somewhere else. She was given another poke in the scruff, and after a while she began to feel calm and drowsy. She lay on the cold surface she had been placed on while a creature lifted her leg and did something to it. Magdalen remembered feeling a cold patch on her foreleg, then the prick of something stabbing her. Before long, however, she fell into a deep sleep. When she awoke again, Magdalen felt extremely groggy. Her throat was scratchy and her foreleg and belly stung and ached. Time was meaningless and she had no clue how long had passed before she was placed from the box she had awoken in, back into her box and taken home to sleep in the original one. Dimly she realised that her life seemed to have become a series of boxes.

When Magdalen woke up properly the aching in her belly was more noticeable. She discovered a bald patch on her foreleg and belly, as well as cuts and the horrible smell from the building she kept being taken to. Gingerly she licked at one of the wounds but the taste had her recoiling and licking her muzzle to clear her tongue of it. The smell of food caught her nose and she instantly decided to go eat to clear the taste and then have a drink to refresh her mind. The creature she lived with visited frequently over that day, and constantly scolded her for trying to lick her wounds. Days went by like this but slowly the wounds healed and Magdalen was allowed to begin exploring more than just her one room.

Youth [6 – 12 moons]

For a time, Magdalen’s life was little more than contentment and relaxation. Her creature seemed to cater to her every will and, after giving her an obnoxious tough piece of cloth with a bell on it that she seemed incapable of removing, allowed her to go outside. Out there Magdalen remembered her mother and sister and tried to look for them. It didn’t take her long to find her old nest, but the scents of her family were long stale and she had no clue as to where they may have gone. As such, she continued to search, ranging further than she should have as she looked for clues.

During one of Magdalen’s adventures outside she wound up somewhat further away from home than she ought to have been. Unsure of the way back, she wandered the streets until she encountered a male creature, which by this point she had learned were often called housefolk, stumbling along. Curiousity overcame her and rather than backing away or hiding, she watched as he approached. Suddenly though, he began to come too close and Magdalen began to trot away. The male housefolk followed her and panic set in, Magdalen began to run but she didn’t know where she was and soon found herself cornered with the housefolk following after her with a leer on his face. Frightened, Magdalen puffed herself up and growled, taking on a defensive stance but the male housefolk kept coming toward her until he suddenly shot out a foot that connected with her leg. Searing pain flickered through Magdalen’s body in waves, but seeing the male pull his foot back again, she forced herself to run between his legs. How long or far she ran, she couldn’t say but eventually she collapsed, exhausted, her right hind-leg throbbing with fiery pain.

Magdalen awoke briefly, dazed and sick with pain when someone picked her up. She heard a gasp and cooing and assumed that it was her housefolk, although the tone and pitch was wrong. Pain swamped her again though and she let herself fall asleep once more. She woke up several times, catching glimpses and smells that told her she had been taken to the horrible smelling place, but the pain from her leg was too excruciating to allow her to remain conscious. When she finally awoke without it, she was in that cold metal box with the thin fabric to cushion her. Her foreleg was bare once more and her hindleg throbbed dully it. When Magdalen twisted to look a it, she found something bright and hard covering her leg and confusion entered her mind. Trying to flex the leg caused a spark of pain but her leg didn’t move at all. Pain being a fantastic deterrent, the she-cat turned her mind and attention to the happenings around her and dozed as the sleepiness slowly wore off.

Unlike the last time she had been in this position, her housefolk didn’t take her away. Days passed of staying in the cold box before she was finally put in the slippery one, but she wasn’t taken home. Instead she was taken somewhere that made her feel more distressed and disheartened than the last place. This one was full of cats who all seemed sad, lonely and desperate. A few chipper ones appeared, newly arrived, but the bright moods were regularly smothered by the overall misery. Magdalen found herself wishing more than ever that she could go home, but her housefolk never came for her.

Time passed in a blur for the she-cat but eventually she the thing encasing her leg was removed and she was able to use her hind-leg again. It was weak and stiff at first but pacing her metal box helped strengthen it slowly. More time passed and eventually she was placed in a slippery box once more, but when she was let out the housefolk den she was in was not her own. To make matters worse there were smaller housefolk who were loud and rough with her. They pulled her tail and ears, and when they managed to pick her up they held her in such a painful way. Anger filled Magdalen’s heart and she began to growl and hiss at the small housefolk which made the big housefolk yell and swat at her. The torbie she-cat was utterly miserable.

Magdalen loathed the housefolk she now lived with. Over time the small ones had stopped trying to harass her for the most part but they had turned mean. She rarely felt safe and only ever left the corners or high spaces where she hid in order to get food at night. Unlike in her old home, the dish her food was on and the tray where she went to relieve herself were rarely cleaned and were disgustingly kept near each other. Magdalen watched and waited for a chance to escape but the housefolk were very careful not to let her out. Things only got worse when they brough home a young dog. It was loud at first but after a similar treatment it quietened down. The housefolk rarely took it out for walks, and shoved and yelled at it when it was in the way. It didn’t take long for the dog to start taking its frustrations and boredom out on Magdalen, chasing her around with teeth bared.

Young Adult [12 moons – present]

How long life went on like this, Magdalen couldn’t say but on one miraculous day a chance appeared and she took it. The smaller housefolk got into a screaming match with each other and when the larger ones got involved, so did the dog. The dog got excited and began jumping up on the housefolk which annoyed them and after several scoldings and refusals it was grabbed and dragged toward the back door. Magdalen’s eyes lit up and she moved quickly, slinking to a shelf near the door. As soon as it was opened and the housefolk was too focused on wrestling the dog who was refusing to go out into the rain, Magdalen rushed out. Screams and shouts came from behind her but even as the rain battered her body and soaked her short pelt, the she-cat didn’t stop.

Magdalen didn’t stop running until she was feeling weak with exhaustion. At that point she found some minor shelter under a bush in a back yard and crouched under it, shivering. How awful her life had become. The tabby and white she-cat thought back over her life and a deep frown etched her muzzle. She had initially planned to try to find her old housefolk, but what was the point? She had never come for her. What’s more, housefolk in general seemed cruel and uncaring. Magdalen vowed to avoid them at all costs. To do that though, she would have to learn to live as her mother had. Oh how long ago it was that she had last seen her mother and sister. Magdalen sighed and promised to learn how to hunt. She would take things cautiously. Cats would be defensive of their spaces and there were countless dangers to face. There was no way she was returning back to a housefolk though.

Learning to live outside wasn’t easy for Magdalen, but luck seemed to be more or less on her side. Slowly she worked out how to carry her weight carefully when stalking and to check which way even a minor draft was blowing to stop her prey discovering her whereabouts. At first, the torbie relied heavily on what she could scrounge from bins but as her skills improved, she was able to leave even those behind. The torture and torment she had endured in the last house had Magdalen determined to break all ties and connection to housefolk that she could. As such, she wandered ever further from where she lived, trying to find land that was untouched by housefolk, as unimaginable as it seemed.

For moons Magdalen wandered and honed her skills. She even began to learn the basics of fighting as she inevitably crossed paths with cats who were less than friendly. After one such encounter, Magdalen was left with a raging infection from a bite wound in her left-foreleg. She hobbled her way from place to place, licking the wound when she could but increasingly feeling worse as the days passed. A fever set in and the she-cat was forced to curl up in a bush against a wall. She didn’t know it, but she had achieved her goal of getting to more wild areas than she had known. A fortunate turn of luck, as it put her directly in the range of a cat who could help her.

Delirium had set in and Magdalen was hardly aware or understanding of what was happening to her. Her injury wasn’t so severe that recovery would be impossible, but she needed access to medicines and this cat that had turned up was willing enough to help her. Carefully he fed her plants and applied poultices to her injury, bringing the fever down and soothing the swelling as well as fighting off the infection. It took days but when her fever broke, Magdalen finally sat up and thanked the tom for his help. During talks, it became apparent to Magdalen that she ought to pay the tom back for his efforts. Not only had he given her herbs to heal her injuries and illness, but he had had to hunt for her to ensure her strength returned. He seemed busy, distracted by something, and as soon as Magdalen was well enough to care for herself once more, he was gone.

Determined to ensure that she could one day show her gratitude to the tom for saving her life, Magdalen decided to stay within the area in which he had found her. There was a river and some semi-wild land nearby. Scent told her that there were large groups of cats taking up the majority of the wild lands and so the now sleek she-cat decided to stick to the borders of the housefolks’ dens and gardens. She had become adept at avoiding their attention and the cats who still chose to live with them no longer seemed to be much of a threat for the most part. Very few had fought or even had the desire to fight.

For several more moons Magdalen wandered around this area, hunting for herself and occasionally fighting to defend herself. She has grown proud of no longer relying on housefolk for anything, but she still wishes to find the tom who saved her life so that she might repay him somehow. How she would do that, she has no idea, but she’s willing to try anything.

Eventually Magdalen did stumble upon the tom by pure chance. A discussion with him led to her learning that his name is Kosmo and that he had big, strange plans. These plans left the she-cat feeling unsettled and uneasy, not understanding how his trust in a raven could be so complete, but she still felt the lure of his promises and combined with the debt owed, she couldn’t find it within herself to refuse. As such, for the time being, she has chosen to go along with Kosmo, at least until she feels that her debt to him for saving her life has been repaid.

• No threads have been recorded.

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

Mother – Chocolate Tortie, Low white

Father – Seal Classic Tabby, Low white

Kosmo – Acquaintance. Magdalen owes him a life debt and is currently seeking to repay this debt, although she hasn’t yet bumped into him again.

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.