Quoll

A snow mink bengal tom with pale blue eyes

Quoll is a Snow Mink Bengal.

His fur, for the most part, is an eggshell-white but his markings are an orange tinted brown that both fades into his white and stands starkly against it depending on where on his body the markings sit.

Quoll has an almost orange, brown nose blaze that merges into his tabby markings on his forehead. These markings are more gray-black than the rest of his markings. He also has some thin stripes on his cheeks and above his eyes that are in his normal brown marking colouration. His legs are tabby striped, while his flanks have rosette spots with darker rings and paler brown centers. The striping continues down his belly and on his shoulders and chest, growing paler the further away from the spots.

His tail is also tabby striped, but contains rings of black near the tip, making for a stark contrast to the rest of his body and markings. His paws are the same orange-brown as his markings and he has pale blue eyes.

Quoll is a sweet and enthusiastic tom who enjoys life and all that it has to offer. Curious and bold, he loves to learn and isn’t afraid to explore the world around him, fearlessly talking to anycat that he meets. He could be described as somewhat over-confident as even in the face of a hissy-spitting fury, he would be likely to ask questions rather than unsheathe his own claws. That’s not to say Quoll would never fight, but he would much rather talk things out and deeply believes words are the key to peace.

This love of words and chatter, however, can make Quoll a bit obnoxious. Coming from a far-off land, his own speech differs enough to make him difficult to understand at times, and he has a tendency to correct the pronunciation of words, thinking he is helping others speak better. As he becomes used to those around him, however, he will begin to show acceptance of the differences and while he may always instinctively voice corrections, he will become apologetic.

With how talkative Quoll can be, he has a tendency to overshare information. The tom wears his emotions plainly and will voice them eagerly when asked. This openness of emotion leads to Quoll occasionally getting hurt when he ought not to, but he tends to try to laugh things off in order to keep the peace. This in turn has resulted in the tom being somewhat pessimistic about himself but hiding from those negative feelings by trying to turn himself into a kind of joke. As such, some may view him as a bit of a birdbrain who doesn’t think too much about what he says or does and while this is true to a point, Quoll very much does spend time reflecting, regretting and attempting to correct how is perceived in hopes of becoming truly loved and accepted by everyone.

• Born in the Moon of Cheetah's Flight (2020) 138
• Registered as The Wintersong Spotted Quoll during the Moon of Long Sun (2021) 148

Kithood [0-6 moons]

Quoll was born as a part of a litter of three to first-time queen, Nala. Born a Bengal, his first few days were a mess of being poked and prodded, placed on cold objects and held by creatures he would later learn to be called “Fur Changers” or “Furs” for short. This treatment taught the young tom to be cautious of Furs and he would snuggle closer to his mother and sibling whenever they approached.

As Quoll grew bigger, he, his brother, Bilby, and his sister, Roo, were able to explore somewhat. They were kept in a small, enclosed area and it seemed that a Fur would frequently be there. Over time, the poking, prodding and other uncomfortable activities the Fur put them through became somewhat normal and less frequent. There began to be times where the Fur would simply sit with them, making noises that their mother said was talking, and rubbing their bodies when it could grab them. Trust began to form, although Quoll never did grow to like being held.

When the kittens reached about three moons of age, things changed again. Once more Furs came around. Some stared, some tried to hold them, others to entice them to chase feathers on string. Quoll hated all of it and it took quite a bit of coaxing from Roo before he would join in, rather begrudgingly. This new routine had just become somewhat accepted as the new normal when Quoll found himself being placed into a grated box. He had been in one before when the main Fur who watched over them had taken him and his siblings to the bright place where even more poking and prodding happened, but never had he been alone in it before. Instantly Quoll took to mewling his distress and trying to claw at the grates, but he was ignored and carried away to the rumble room.

How long the travel was, Quoll had no idea, but he was tired, hungry and miserable by the time the grated box was lifted out of the rumble room. The rooms they proceeded to enter looked nothing like the bright room, and the little tom’s heart sunk even further. For whatever reason, he was now completely alone. No mother, no brother and no sweet little sister. When the grated box was placed down and opened, Quoll refused to leave it, hoping the Fur would take him home. Instead, it eventually got impatient and pulled him out of the grated box and sat him on some soft bedding that was fluffy like his mother’s fur had been, but longer and smelt all wrong. Instantly Quoll tried to run back to the grated box, but he was stopped by the Fur and the box was removed. Slinking back to the bedding, Quoll crouched and stared around him, the room completely unfamiliar and huge compared to home.

Over the next several days, Quoll slowly began to explore the room he now lived in and discovered that he had access to multiple rooms. Curiosity peaked, the young tom slowly forgot his misery and loneliness in order to explore what he was coming to understand was his new home. At first all the smells were wrong and the only saving grace that Quoll felt in his new situation, was the fact that this Fur seemed content to leave him more or less alone. It ensured there was food down and would occasionally check on where he was, but there was no attempts to pick him up or pat him.

After some time, Quoll approached a flap that was in one of the movable walls. In the days prior it had appeared like a little see-through wall for just him, but today smells seeped around it along with a light breeze. Cautiously, the small spotted tom approached it and when he pressed his nose on it to sniff at one of the smells, he jumped back with fright when the wall gave way. Gathering his courage, Quoll attempted the same thing and found that he could push this wall completely out of his way. Beyond it was a world he had seen but never touched. Smells of nature flowed to him, quickening his heart. Then, another smell that made him even more eager, and he was out of the door.

Following the scent to a tall wall that seemed to end only with the faraway blue ceiling, Quoll was shocked to see something actually sitting on top of the wall. Certainly he had been following the scent of cat, but the idea that you could sit on a wall was baffling to the young tom. The cat greeted him warmly and the conversation that followed taught Quoll much about the outside world. Every day after, he would leave the inside world to explore the outside one. Some days he talked to that cat, other he talked to different ones or simply enjoyed charging through the shrubbery and flowers in his little patch of outside.

Days passed with this youthful fun and Quoll was just beginning to be able to claw his way up the fence, as he had learned the outdoor walls were called, when he found his exit barred one day. Stuck in the indoor world, he tried to find another way out and only slowly noticed that the Fur he lived with was bustling about, moving the boxes that had appeared in recent days. Then he found himself scooped up and placed in the grated box. More bustling occurred but rather than fear and misery, this time Quoll tried to watch what was happening with curiosity. Eventually other Furs appeared and started removing some of the boxes before Quoll’s was picked up.

A short journey in the rumbler brought him to a bright room that he had been frequenting since his relocation to his newer home. As had been usual, he was poked and prodded before being returned to the grated box and then the rumbler. This time, however, the journey was not so short and Quoll began to feel himself getting extremely tired.

Apprentice Age [6 moons – Present]

When Quoll awoke, he was in a dark room full of the noise of other animals. Groggy, he felt no inclination to interact with the others and instead pulled himself up to pad over to drink from the bowl of water in his grated box. Once his thirst was satisfied, hunger panged in his belly and he turned his attention to the food. It was dry and rather tasteless but soon made him feel full. After a while the room turned bright and a Fur began approaching Quoll. It turned to address something near him first, talking in a low soothing tone before tipping what sounded like water toward the thing. Quoll couldn’t see but he quickly surmised that there must be other grated boxes stacked on and around him. When the Fur approached him, the same process was conducted and his food and water topped up. Once the Fur was done, the room turned dark again and quiet was returned.

As Quoll sat, bored in his box, he slowly realised he could hear a consistent rumble, fainter than he was used to in the rumbler but more forceful. As though there was a giant rumbler nearby. His boredom grew and he tried to start a conversation with a cat he could smell, but either they weren’t awake or had no desire to talk. Time moved on, and Quoll began to fall asleep out of sheer boredom. When he awoke once more, the Fur had returned but it only spoke to him for a moment before moving on since he hadn’t touched the food or water since it was last around. Again he slept, but this time when he woke it was because the rumble had suddenly got far louder and sounded more like a scream. Soon after, grated boxes were being lifted and moved and then taken out of the now bright dark room. As he was brought closer to the exit, Quoll pressed his ears to his skull as the sound became intolerably loud. Quickly, where he was placed began to move and young tom saw something enormous he had no words for. He soon realised it was the source of the noise and that he had been in it, and he decided to call it a giant rumbler.

Things moved in a blur for Quoll as he was relocated from one room to another and then yet again to another. His food and water was topped up regularly but there was no Fur approaching him to talk anymore. Eventually a familiar Fur appeared and took him and the grated box away from all the strangeness. Back into a normal rumbler, but unfamiliar one, and a decently long travel before finally Quoll was taken into a room and let out. The smells were unfamiliar and the rooms were all empty, but it felt safer than the past however long.

Days passed and turned slowly into moons. The rooms filled up and items similar to what had been back home appeared. Quoll built a routine and was extremely grateful when the day came that his movable wall smelled of the outside world. The smells were both familiar and extremely different. Intrigue pulled at Quoll’s mind and when he stepped outside for the first time in moons, he was greeted by a patch of outside quite unfamiliar to the one he had known, but he felt calmer than he had since he was first trapped in the indoor world.

• No threads have been recorded.

Sire Name: Shere Khan

Dam Name: Nala

Brother: Bilby
Sister: Roo

Quoll was born in Australia and thus carries a traditional Aussie accent. He’s still young and has much to learn.