Lute

A mostly brown, chocolate mink tortie she-cat with a narrow red blaze, white toes & blue eyes

Lute is a sleek, medium sized she-cat whose lithe frame speaks of quick reflexes. Their short velvety fur bears the distinctive chocolate-toned warmth of their Tonkinese heritage, deepening in color at their ears, mask, paws, and tail. Splashed across her face is a narrow blaze of ginger that starts at the tip of their nose and runs upward between their eyes tapering as it nears their forehead. The tortie mottling in her points creates subtle swirls of brown and ginger.

Their paws are tipped with neat, crisp white toes, the pale fur standing out against their darker legs. Lute’s eyes are a bright sky blue. They have a wedge shaped head and gently rounded cheeks with a posture that carries the faintly aloof confidence of a cat who belongs to both a warm hearth and the open wild.

Lute is a spirited and free-roaming soul, always eager to follow the next flicker of movement or unexplored trail. Her curiosity is boundless often pulling her into situations before she’s fully thought them through – whether it’s squeezing into a tight gap just to see what’s on the other side, or trailing strangers. While not reckless in a self destructive way, her impulses tend to outrun her planning, leaving her to improvise her way out of trouble with mixed results, which usually always starts with some banter.

She’s quick to speak, often filling the air with a running stream of commentary, idle musings, or enthusiastic observations about whatever’s caught her interest. Conversations with Lute can leap from topic to topic without warning, as though her thoughts move just as swiftly as her paws. This tendency, paired with her bright eyed demeanor, can make her seem airheaded to more grounded cats – though she rarely minds the impression.

Hunting is where Lute’s scattered energy sharpens into keen focus. She delights in the chase and the sound of tiny paws on leaf litter. Yet she’s just as quick to abandon a catch if something more exciting grabs her attention, leaving behind partially eaten kills or simply losing interest in carrying her prize home. To a disciplined clan cat her casual wastefulness could be seen as disrespectful – but to Lute it’s simply a byproduct of living in the moment.

• Born in the Moon of First White (2019) 127

Lute’s earliest days were spent in the tangle of brambles and old sheds that made up her birth colony, a loose knit group of cats who survived on scraps, skill, and a shared understanding of the land. Her mother raised her among her full sister, Loot, half-siblings and distant kin who came and went as seasons turned. Lute never knew her father beyond the stories whispered by her mother. He was a pampered purebred domestic from a decent part of town. Whether the stories were fond memories or gentle warnings Lute couldn’t tell.

She grew fast, learning the hunt from her mother’s example. Life changed when she was six moons. She and her mother were trapped in the colony’s latest wave of human rescue efforts while being separated from her sister. Lute’s first instinct was to fight, claws and voice sharp, but the strange scents, steady hands, and warmth of the enclosed carrier dulled her fear. She found herself whisked away from the only home she’d known, first to a shelter, then into the orbit of a human unlike any she’d met before.

Adopted out, their new human was a 22 year old recent college graduate and was eccentric in the best way. The young woman had just moved to Whitehart, her small house cluttered with mismatched furniture, trailing plants, and figurines in every room. She spoke to Lute as though the cat were a roommate, not a pet, and encouraged her wanderings with an open window and a small cat door leading to the balcony after she knocked over one too many figures. Loot eventually found her way back to her miraculously and together they live still.

For Lute this was perfect. She could curl up in the sunbeam of a lived in home one moment and disappear into Whitehart’s back alleys, gardens, and fences the next. The colony’s survival skills stayed with her, but the safety of her new life gave her room to indulge in her curiosities, adventures, and flirtations with street and domestic cats alike. She’s still learning the edges of this new territory but still prone to chasing excitement wherever it appears.

• A Lute is a Loot (15FF'21)

Shares a distant relation with Otterwhisker, as they share a grandsire through Reedstorm’s mother (Half-Cousins)

Sire: Lilac Mink Tonkinese (carries mcmc)

Dam Genetics: Seal Ticked Torbie Point Siamese Mix with white mittens (Mcmc, carries spotted Sp)

Lute carries spotted (Sp), classic (mcmc), and has white gloves (wgwg)

Extra character slot use.