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[countthecats]

User Name/Nick: Chance
User DW: N/A
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: Plurk: omnomivore or Discord: omnomivore
Other Characters Currently In-Game: D'Vana Tendi

Character Name: The Cat King
Series: Dead Boy Detectives
Age: An incredibly vague "several hundred years"; context in canon suggests he's been alive since at least the 18th-19th century, and physically he appears around 30-ish.
From When?:

The beginning of Episode 7, when Esther Finch beats him to death with her cane, ending his third life.

(EDIT: although the Admiral usually wouldn't be able to pull an entity like the Cat King, who can reincarnate almost immediately, things went a little off-script here. Bast happened to use his death to pull her wayward 'son' (whether that's literal or just in the sense that she's mother to all cats is debatable) into a time pocket and give him a talking to about his life choices and responsibilities as a Cat King. The Admiral used this extended separation of body and soul to snatch him up before he could be sent back to the timeline we see on-screen).

Inmate Justification:

The Cat King is a cat who can shapeshift into a man, not a man who can shapeshift into a cat. As such, his perspective, behavior, and ideals are informed by his animalistic nature, and they don't always align with what's acceptable and moral in human society. Up to and including punishing those who violate the rules of his domain badly enough with being killed and eaten by himself and his feline subjects. That, however, isn't why he's an inmate.

He's an inmate because he's a self-absorbed narcissist who sees others (particularly non-cats) as playthings for his amusement. He enjoys watching people squirm and pushing their buttons and boundaries. He has limits - he explicitly will not cross the line into nonconsensual sex - but boy will he push things farther than someone who actually cares about the people he's flirting with should. He's also manipulative, using information from his spy network of cats to curry favor or reveal secrets, and even resorting to magic to force the truth out of someone.

His relationship with Edwin illustrates all of this. He flirts aggressively with the ghost boy, apparently spurred on by the fact that it makes Edwin incredibly uncomfortable. He magically binds him to the town of Port Townsend for a relatively minor infraction, despite it being actively dangerous for the ghost to stay there, and heavily implies that he'll remove the spell if Edwin's willing to sleep with him. When he's not, he gets the tedious and time-consuming task of counting all the cats in town, just so the Cat King can spend more time toying with him. He uses forms of Monty and Charles, both young men that Edwin has confusing feelings for, to get a rise out of him. And, eventually, when Edwin tells him to fuck off (well, in much more proper, British terms, but that's the general vibe), he warns Edwin he's going to 'stop playing nice'. Due to Esther Finch's interference, we never see what this means, but there's little doubt that he's willing to be cruel when his toys don't play by his rules.

He's also entirely unwilling to come to Edwin's aide when Esther captures him and straps him to a ghost torture machine. This happens after his pull point, but it illustrates that he'll sacrifice even someone he's clearly quite invested in and fond of, in his own way, if it'll save his own skin (Esther having ended his third life not long before). Edwin's friends have to coerce him with the idea of revenge before he's even interested in offering informations. And all this despite the fact that he was the one who trapped Edwin in town in the first place, giving Esther time to enact her plan, and he was the one who informed Esther that Edwin had survived Hell, making him an ideal torture subject to extract magical power from.

Arrival: Against their will (he has six more lives, it's not like he's dead-dead, what do you mean he's stuck here now??)

Abilities/Powers:

Talking: Yes, this is a power, though all cats in his universe can do it. He can talk as a cat, though whether he'll be willing to talk to humans is another matter entirely.

Magic Immunity: Due to the kind of magical creature he is, magic from the Cat King's world doesn't work on him. Magic from other worlds might or might not work, with magics that work similarly to the Sandman cinematic universe's rules being less likely to work than others, but this is something I plan to work out with other players OOC as it comes up.

Unaging/Nine Lives: The Cat King does not age, as evidenced by the fact that he's been around hundreds of years and yet is only on his third life by the time of his pull point. He's an immortal in the sense that he won't die unless someone or something kills him. He also does have nine lives, and every time he's killed he claws his way out of his old body with a new cat form, but the same human form (although how he chooses to dress and style himself may change to reflect his new feline aesthetic). On the Barge, a resurrection will just revive his third life the way it would for anyone else, instead of forcing him onto his fourth.

Shapeshifting: He has a standard human form he can change into (though he regularly changes outfits and hairstyles), but he can also transform into other humanoids nearly perfectly. The tell is always his golden cat eyes.

Teleporting: While we mostly see him use this short-range (a few feet or so), he has also appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a forest, so this ability appears to have range of at least a few hundred feet, when necessary.

Summoning: The Cat King can summon medium-sized objects at will, the largest being a good-sized chandelier. These objects appear to be magical constructs rather than normal objects pulled from somewhere else, as they're capable of doing things like hovering above him or lighting up with no power source, but most of the time they look and act perfectly ordinary.

Pocket Dimension: The room he teleports Edwin to when they first meet appears to be a personal pocket dimension of sorts, possibly on another plane of existence, as spending moments in there takes hours in real time. The room isn't large, mostly a bed and some trinkets.

Cat Spies: He can see through the eyes of a willing feline subject, and uses this to spy on people he's invested in. Most normal cats will recognize him as a figure to be respected and listened to, as well as someone who will protect them and their interests, but I'll leave how cooperative any individual cat on the Barge is up to their respective owners.

Truth Magic: With a touch of his finger down another person's lips, the Cat King can demand they tell him the truth about something, and they will be compelled to answer and answer honestly.

Binding Magic: He can create a powerful binding spell that prevents someone - even a ghost - from being able to leave his area of influence (typically, Port Townsend). Only he can break this spell, unless the person bound by it is taken to another plane of existence. It manifests as a gold bracelet with a cat's head clasp on the wrist.

Other notes: As a magical entity that's been around a long time, the Cat King has an excellent working understanding of magic and supernatural beings in his world. He also has the eyes, ears, and nose of, well, a cat, and his knowledge and keener senses make it much more likely that he'll sus out non-humans and magic users fairly easily, though this isn't an inherently magical trait.

All but his ability to talk as a cat and teleportation, limited down to 30ft (and not in or out of magically protected spaces like cabins, of course), will be sealed when he arrives on the Barge. Yes, including his ability to turn into his human form. I'm aware this would probably be allowed by the mods, I just think it's funny to have him stuck as a cat for a while, and also force him to build relationships without relying on seduction.

Inmate Information:

The first thing the Cat King's warden needs to remember is that he is not, and will never be human. He's a cat. And not any demure, refined housecat either, but a swaggering tomcat so feral he's never even taken a name. Not one that's stuck, in any case. His tiny kingdom is built on hedonism, want, and pleasure, but he will defend it from those who would harm or violate his subjects, up to and including killing for them. And, well, meat's meat, isn't it?

He has absolutely eaten human flesh.

But the bigger problem is actually those he decides against killing. If he finds a person amusing, fascinating, or simply aesthetically pleasing enough to keep around (and their crimes against catkind aren't too heinous), he instead finds ways to keep them around, toy with them, perhaps seduce them if it strikes his fancy, until he's satisfied. He binds Edwin to Port Townsend, even knowing that the ghost boy is in danger if he stays there, over the minor infraction of using a temporary binding spell on one of his cats. He also heavily implies that he'll remove the spell if Edwin sleeps with him - he claims to be 'a fair and consensual Cat King', but he isn't above using his power over someone to pressure them in that direction.

And when they don't play along with his games, he gets angry. He needs things to go his way, for people to follow the narrative he's laid out for them in his mind. He can be magnanimous and friendly and even caring when things are going his way, but ruined plans make him frustrated and angry. More than one of his toys has wound up dead. All of them leave him, eventually, once he runs out of tricks to make them stay. And, should they need his help with something that requires him to risk his own life? He leaves them to their fates. He also has a nasty jealous streak, and isn't above playing spymaster to gather information about his playthings and sabotage their relationships with others.

This has all been a pattern for as long as he's been around. He doesn't do it entirely for entertainment - he's a creature desperate for affection, attention, and stimulation that his cat subjects and tiny kingdom can't always fulfill. But his self-absorbed nature borders on narcissism, and his need to be the one always in control destroys his chances of forming real and meaningful bonds with others. He holds himself apart from them, detached, and because of this he's able to be cruel.

His pride and cowardice has also trapped himself, in a sense, spending hundreds of years in the small Washington city of Port Townsend. Here, he's a big fish in a small pond, so to speak. The only real competition is the local witch, and he believes their long acquaintance gives him some protection from her, at least up until she kills him. But in truth, he's only a Cat King, not the Cat King. For all his magic tricks, he's far from a heavy hitter in his world, and he's a careful cat. If he leaves town, looks for something bigger, something that might make him truly happy, he will be in danger. And he does only have the nine lives, you know. So in Port Townsend he stays, and convinces himself it's enough when he's honestly desperate for new places, people, and experiences, and pretends he's not miserable. His misery also makes him cruel.


Path to Redemption:

The Cat King's biggest challenges will be learning to see others as people, rather than playthings. Learning to empathize with them, and make genuine, deep connections. He also needs to learn flexibility, to accept that things won't always work the way he wants or expects. That people won't always follow his scripts for them. That some risks are worth taking, even if they risk his pretty little furry hide.

He also needs to learn to recognize and accept what makes him genuinely happy and fulfilled, and that those things are worth pursuing. Which sounds ironic, because that's exactly what he spends the entire series pushing Edwin to do, but in truth he's drawn to Edwin because he recognizes, on some level, the ways in which they're similar. He may be sexually liberated in a way Edwin isn't, but Edwin has a purpose and a passion that the Cat King lacks in his own life.

When he arrives on the Barge, despite being there against his will, one of his first goals will be to get a warden as quickly as possible to get his powers back. And, of course, he'll have a plan for how this will go - he'll pick someone he can seduce and manipulate, get back to his full-powered glory, toy with them a little bit, and then do whatever the fuck he wants once they're too smitten with him to reign him in.

He needs a warden who won't fall for his bullshit (or at least figures out what's going on and reigns it in), and who can weather the absolute tantrums he'll throw when he realizes his brilliant strategy isn't working. Someone steady enough to not get too hurt by his fickle nature and attempts at manipulation - or even physical violence - and who's willing to set and enforce boundaries.

In some ways, someone who's willing to stick with him no matter how he treats them, no matter what bullshit he tries to pull on them or others, will be a huge step towards Cat King understanding that it's possible to connect with others, and for them to connect with them in turn. But he's also going to need someone willing to call him out on his toxic, antisocial, and/or self-destructive behaviors, and implement consequences when he crosses the line from 'lovable furry asshole' to 'raging narcissist'. This may involve coordinating with other character the Cat King has inevitably grown fond of, so he can't go running to another person to get validation.

History:

We know four things about the Cat King's pre-canon life:

- He's hundreds of years old.
- He's lived in Port Townsend for a long, long time - possibly since colonial times.
- He's only lost two of his nine lives before Esther Finch ends his third.
- He rules over and protects the cats of Port Townsend, a court currently numbering 146 (excluding himself), and likely has for as long as he's been in the region.

He's alerted to the presence of the Dead Boy Detectives in his town when one of his cats comes to him with a complaint - Edwin used magic to temporarily bind him and force him to give up information on the witch Esther Finch. The Cat King, not caring about the reasons why Edwin did what he did, sends his court to block the trio from leaving town and bring them to his base in an old warehouse on the docks. Not particularly impressed by Edwin's protestations that it was for a good cause and that he "doesn't see the harm in one little spell", but fascinated by Edwin himself, the Cat King decides an appropriate punishment would be to bind Edwin to Port Townsend until the ghost boy can make him "happy". Since Edwin rebukes his sexual advances, the Cat King demands that he count all the cats in Port Townsend in exchange for his freedom. Edwin does tell him, at the time, that being forced to stay in the town is dangerous for him, but the Cat King is unmoved.

After that point, Edwin almost always has a pair of cats tailing him wherever he goes, both reporting back to their King and allowing him to see through their eyes. When he next summons Edwin, the Cat King uses that information to tease him more, changing into his new friend Monty and his best friend Charles to flirt, knowing Edwin has complicated and suppressed feelings for both of them. He also uses a truth spell to force Edwin to tell him why his cases matter so much to him, making him admit that he's trying to do as much good as possible to be able to make a case for leniency if he winds up getting caught by Death or the Afterlife and is at risk of being sent back to Hell.

Since Edwin doesn't have an accurate count of the town cats at that time, the Cat King dismisses him with the binding spell still intact.

The next time the Cat King comes looking for Edwin, it's in the forest outside of town. He's used his spy network to suss out Monty and Esther's plans for the boys, and takes what he sees as a great personal effort on his part to track them down among all the (ugh) trees to warn Edwin. He takes great pleasure in revealing that Monty is Esther's crow familiar transformed into a human, and he lured the gang into the forest with a false story at her behest. While the Cat King wouldn't normally interfere in Esther's business, he's likely spurred on in this case because Monty stole Edwin's first kiss.

When Edwin, instead of gratefully fussing over the Cat King (ideally with a kiss for his noble efforts), brushes him off, telling him that the binding spell is all he is to Edwin. The Cat King responds with anger, shouting after Edwin that if the ghost boy walks away now, he'll stop playing nice.

But he never really gets the chance to follow through. Not long after, an agent of the Afterlife catches up to the boys, and her meddling results in the Hell creature that's laid claim to Edwin's soul finding him and dragging him back down into its depths. The Cat King's magic is powerful, but not more powerful than that fiend, and his binding spell is forcibly removed in the process, much to his dismay and annoyance.

This is when Esther Finch pays him a visit, furious at his interference with her plans in the forest. He lets it slip that Edwin has survived Hell once before, which piques Esther's interest. It's possible to torture ghosts for power, but most ghosts are too frail to withstand the process long. Edwin, however, with his soul tempered in Hell, might be able to provide her with a huge amount of power without dematerializing. Despite the good news, she isn't willing to let the Cat King get away with his meddling, and knowing he's immune to magic, catches him while his back's turned and beats him to death with her iron cane.

Sample Network Entry: Here

Sample RP: As a cat and in human form, for good measure.

Special Notes: None that I can think of!