A Bored Libertine

So Magick is bored.  Extremely bored.

Few things aggravate Magick more than monotony. There's a higher-than-chance probability that this is directly relevant to a certain poker game that took place not long ago.

It's not entirely clear why Magick is with this delegation at all.  There's some sort of mystery surrounding it.  We more than suspect that he's involved in covert operations (although everyone is too polite to inquire directly), but from hints that some of the others (mostly Nicky) have let slip, we've concluded that this does not explain why he is here as opposed to somewhere else, because there seems to be some sort of scandal connected with his current job.

This explains a number of things, actually.  Magick likes challenges and action; this sort of job, which mostly limits him to hanging around a group of colourful but largely sedentary characters, is clearly not well-suited to his temperament or abilities.  Sure, Murchison is here, and they clearly have a working history of some kind, and it's probable that Murchison's presence is a partial explanation for Magick's... but only a partial.  Magick is quite obviously wasted here, and he knows it.

From what Nicky's let slip, we suspect that there's a female involved here.  Magick's reputation with the fairer stuff is quite notorious.  Not that this is surprising, given his rank, his looks, and his innumerable talents.  According to Sir Tristan, female felines have never been able to resist Magick, and he's never been able to resist them either, even the ones he really should resist.  So our current working hypothesis is that he got a bit too intimate with the wife of the wrong cat.

If females are indeed the source of Magick's current exile, he's paying for it now, because there are virtually no females here, and definitely no available ones.  Lady Faraday is his best friend's girlfriend, and anyway that boat has long since sailed; there's no interest on either side.  Sithri is quite firmly attached to Skandar, such that it would likely require surgery to detach her, and Skandar gets pretty possessive whenever Magick is around.  Magick and Sithri actually have some sort of history together, although it's not clear whether he was involved with Sithri herself or with her sister-cum-rival-cum-best-friend Smitra or with both of them; whatever happened appears to have ended badly.  I don't really know what would have happened had Skandar not been around to keep Magick away, but from the sound of it, history is unlikely to repeat itself.

This leaves Skwidjit the grey cat, who spends most of her time on AJD's window, often on top of the A/C.  She's not really his type at all, but she's the closest thing to an available female cat on the premises, so Magick can often be found checking her out anyway.  He's been here long enough without putting any moves on her that I don't think he's going to, but checking her out appears to alleviate his boredom somewhat.  She doesn't seem to mind; he's not her type either (she told me once that she fancies ginger toms), but she finds the attention flattering.

This arrangement is less satisfying to one member of the Wild Republic, for whom one really must have sympathies.

Poor Mahler.  He's had a crush on Skwidjit ever since he got here, and seeing Magick - his idol and hero - with her apparently in his sights... well, that's shot all his hopes to pieces.  Never mind that he's much too young and callow for her, nor that she showed no signs of returning his interest before Magick got here... nor that in all honesty Mahler's reasons for being interested in her are probably not that different from Magick's, in that he's a horny adolescent and she's the only available female around.  Mahler is all gooey over Skwidjit in the way that only adolescent males can be.  He probably writes her poetry in secret and everything.  So he's been pretty mopey over the whole thing.

The only other female around here is me, and, well, I'm not a cat, so the chemistry just isn't there. 

Magick and I get along pretty well, I have to say, and he has a lot of the qualities that attract me in a man, and I appear to have a lot of the qualities that attract him in a female... but I'm not a furry and Magick prefers his females fluffier and with more pairs of breasts, and these are obstacles neither of us can get past.  If he were a guy or I were a leopardess we'd totally run off together, but we're not.

So the upshot of this is, Magick is really bored, and much as I love having him around, I do hope for his sake that whatever scandal he's been sent away to avoid resolves itself with due haste so that he can get back to doing things he finds more fulfilling.

Romance in the Wild Republic; or I Am Slightly Pathetic

There's not much in the way of romance in our particular chapter of the Wild Republic.  This is partly because the denizens of our chapter are predominantly male (by which I actually mean that they're all male), and partly because I am not a furry, and therefore I'm not particularly inclined to speculate about the sex lives of my stuffed animals.  It just seems wrong.

This is not to say that there is no romance at all.  I mean, Skandar (the white tiger) and Sithri (the Siamese cat) have been together ever since I brought Sithri home four years ago, and they've barely come up for air since.  But their romance just sort of made sense to me.  Skandar's this tough, scrappy, bad-ass tiger, and Sithri's this pampered, blue-blooded, opera diva Siamese, and I just sort of knew they were made for each other.  It was all very Lady and the Tramp, and I've always loved that movie.

Also, I've always kind of suspected there was something going on between Casper and Seymour, but since Casper and Seymour are both highly reserved, private individuals, as well as consummate gentlemen, I've never been entirely sure, and it seemed impolite to ask.

But these four are all private citizens, not citizens of the Wild Republic.  There hasn't really been any romance in the Wild Republic proper.  Not here, anyway.  However, there have been two offstage romances, so to speak, and both of them have recently borne fruit.  I'll almost certainly devote an entire post to both of them at some point, so I won't go into any details now, but I should at least allude to their existence.

First, there is the tragic romance in Alfredo's past.  Alfredo is the leader of the local chapter of the Wild Republic, which is appropriate because he is an alpha wolf.  He's also a widower.  His wife, Laura, died tragically and heroically in the line of duty a few months before Alfredo was sent to us, and he's still grieving because they were very much in love.  Wolves are devoted to their mates that way.  He'll probably never love again.

I felt so guilty about doing this to Alfredo that I went to great lengths to reunite him with his son, Giuseppe, whom everyone calls Beppe.  Beppe arrived here exactly a week ago, having spent the last few months competing in some highly prestigious singing competitions.  He has his mother's eyes.  It's very sad.  But Alfredo is much happier now that his son is here.

The second romance involves Sir Tristan, the emissary from the Wild Parliamentary Monarchy.  See, he has a girlfriend - she's a serval - who is also highly ranked in the Wild Parliamentary Monarchy, and so when he was posted here about a year and a half ago, she couldn't come with him because she had an important job of her own to do.  They do write lots of letters to each other, which sometimes goes horribly awry because Plouie is still postmaster general.  Sir Tristan has missed her terribly.

But all will soon be well, because I felt almost as guilty about separating Sir Tristan from his beloved as I did about Laura's death.  In other words, the Wild Parliamentary Monarchy, delighted with the success of Sir Tristan's mission, has decided to send some of his colleagues to join him, and - hurrah! - Sir Tristan's girlfriend will be among them.  So they will be reunited before too long, and hopefully everything will be happy.

"Hopefully" is apropos, because of course she will be the only female member of the active set, and I'm not sure what this will do to the group dynamics, particularly among the adolescent cats.  Also, two of the other members of the new delegation are adult male felines. One of them is Sir Tristan's best friend, but the other is an unknown quantity, and I'm not sure what either of their relationships to her are like.  I hope there's no rivalry involved, genteel or otherwise, because I'd rather the romantic elements of my animals' lives remained low-key.

But yes, I worry so much about my stuffed animals not being happy enough that I shell out money to bring other animals in to make them happy.  I know.  You don't have to say it.