Catherine "Cat" Bisset

RP Blog for @redwoodwv-hq

[catherine-bisset]

I'll be the calm, I will be quiet.

Stripped to the bone, I wait.

| Soundtrack | Living Space | Style

| Basic Info |

Age | 40

Bday | Aug 29

Originally from | Aravaipa Ranch, Arizona

Previous community | The Reavers

Previous job | Lived off book / appearance / movie money

Community job |  Raider / Rancher

Living Arrangements | Cat has relocated to The Ranch, where she stays in the main house. Yes, still booby-trapped.

Family | Nora (deceased mother), Brother Sparrow (deceased father), multiple siblings, (status unknown)

Identity & Orientations | Cis Woman, Aromantic Pansexual (Celibate presently)

| History |

TW: Mentions of cults, abuse, kidnapping, violence & murder.

~Before the Virus~

If you paid attention to the news 25 years ago, you may remember the story of brave little Harmony Sparrow. After going missing for 8 years, Harmony emerged, having escaped her abductor. Unfortunately, the reward for her escape was to be sent back to a family more in line with Koresh than Brady.

The press went absolutely mad for her second escape the following year.

She got her siblings out and ensured Brother Sparrow wouldn't hurt anyone ever again - the prison time supremely worth such results. Having been tried as an adult, her sentence spanned years, losing all siblings to the foster care system. But strangers often visited - for various reasons - from curiosity to adoration. Harmony was sent books to read, money for the inmate commissary, cards and gifts at the holidays. And letters - so many letters.

After several visits from her maternal grandparents, Catherine Bisset was born in some lingering hope for normalcy. Unfortunately, she brought all of Harmony's anger, brainwashing and trauma with her.

Many urged Catherine to turn her story into an empowering (and profitable) tale. The world was crazy for true crime stories, for "heroic survivor" tales. Catherine played along for a time; taking interviews, giving motivational speeches, and seeing more of the world than she ever thought possible. For better and worse.

The movie was barely based on a true story, but Jenny Ortega did an alright job.

People kept telling her the world was a good place, that she'd see that in time, but Catherine never did. She only saw the meat grinder named Capitalism. Even her horrors had been turned into profit. Humanity was a series of cruelties running down an inevitable clock.

Since the people in power were only looking out for themselves, Cat learned to do the same. All the while alienating the many people who'd expected her to be a sweet and repentant survivor who had killed out of desperation. A palatable broken girl seeking the light of redemption. Nobody liked the real Catherine. Which was fine; she didn't like them, either.

~After the Virus~

The clock ran down, the virus broke out. Zombies were an absolutely fantastic outlet for Catherine - who knew? It was therapy of the most physical variety. What combat skills she'd learned were suddenly very handy - so-called paranoia paying off.

The Reavers were stumbled on entirely by accident in those early days. They didn't play coy. They took people in unpredictable blitz attacks - to join or to serve - without pretense of some noble mission to rebuild society. They reinforced her feelings about humankind, sure, but it also helped to have someone watching Catherine's back when she was able to sleep.

By the time Isaac joined, Catherine had truly come to see the Reavers as representative of all society. The weak were used and discarded, the strong petty and scheming. Something seemed so familiar about Isaac's behavior, however - familiar enough to make Catherine nervous for the first time in years.

She kept an eye on him, circling like a skittish cat. He kept talking to her, trying to engage and not giving up in the wake of her silence. Her first attempts at conversing were closer to blurted interrogations, but it was a start.

By the time they decided to invade the farm, Catherine was unwilling to let him go without her. For the first time in her life, someone appeared to enjoy her macabre company; appreciating her without demands for conformity.

When he turned against the Reavers in 2040, Catherine had chosen her side. Isaac believed in Redwood, and she believed in Isaac. The Reavers, alas, didn't believe in either of them. The day of the invasion, Catherine was ambushed and taken deep into the mountains by a few particularly resentful Reavers.

It took a while to escape this time, but Catherine had survived worse.

| Headcanon |

She's never apologized for her so-called crimes - for doing what the adults in the Family were too weak to do. For being strong.

Brother Sparrow didn't believe in therapy, and was far more concerned about what the girl may have said to authorities after away from his indoctrination for so long. Catherine's brief return to her parents was near round-the-clock effort to reprogram her and arrange an appropriate marriage for the teen as quickly as possible.

Cat earned a GED and studied college level courses while imprisoned. Never chased a career with any of it, however.

The Bisset family desperately wanted Harmony in their lives as some last echo of Nora. They were miserably disappointed in the weird, angry young woman they found, instead.

@fleetsummers was in the movie based on her life.

Quiet by nature, Cat needs time to warm up to real conversation. Mostly she sticks to as few words as possible, and feels perfectly content coexisting near someone in silence.

Catherine didn't befriend any of the other Reavers, unimpressed by their political games when it was beyond pointless. Everyone was screwed, it was just a matter of degree.

From a practicality standpoint she understood why they wanted her gone the day the Farm was invaded.

Still doesn't quite understand all the letters she'd been sent over the years. Why people felt she should be the receptacle for their stories and traumas - let alone the marriage proposals.

Vacillates between feeling misanthropic about society and desperately, instinctively longing to be accepted by it.

Much of her misanthropy is informed by cult indoctrination, which inclined her to interpret things in an antisocial way. She's never put sincere effort into combating that thinking.

Since the Ranch opened up, Cat has spent almost all free time cleaning the place up to make it a working ranch. Very protective of the Crop Field.

Spars with Ares regularly, though neither have told Ike about it.

| Wanted Connections |

Siblings (0/2): Unlikely but not impossible, Cat had multiple siblings and half-siblings. They were put into the system years ago and could have ended up anywhere. It's be fascinating to see how they turned out.

Reaver (0/1): How did you feel about the one that didn't care about hierarchy or maneuvering within the group? How about her finally picking a side and it being Isaac? (Please consult with @isaacapatow for Reaver HC)

Silent Companions (1/?): Someone Catherine can just exist quietly around without feeling like conversation is needed. @orioncarnell

[catherine-bisset]

Do you have nightmares? Good dreams? What are they about?

Yes. No. The past.

[catherine-bisset]

It is Friday.

[catherine-bisset]

Which Member of a Doomed Space Crew Are You?

Pilot Right up until the last, you'll be cocksure and steady. It's what you're for. This ship won't fly itself. Into peril or out of it, it doesn't quite matter. What matters is that you're in control. At the end of the day, the ship will obey you, and beyond that nothing else matters. You're going to save the day. You're going to save the day. You're going to

x

[catherine-bisset]

Where would you go if you could travel back in time?

I would find Brother Sparrow in his infancy.

[catherine-bisset]

Why did you move to the Ranch?

It needed work done, and physical exertion is helpful to me. I was raised on a ranch and am familiar with that lifestyle. I was able to secure the exterior and interior myself. I could have fewer neighbors.

[catherine-bisset]

It is Friday.

[catherine-bisset]

It is Friday.

[catherine-bisset]

Hurt/No Comfort

you are satan's favorite, most specialist soldier, and I live in fear of you

What is your Ao3 tag?

[catherine-bisset]

Walk & Talk

ft. @aresmelaina | In which Cat and Ares meet (February 2043)

CAT

He went for short walks outside the clinic. Cat observed Ares on two such walks, caught at random during her loops of the territory. Had to ask Isaac who he was by description. The final Raider. Nicki's chosen partner, Cat remembered.

And so she waited for another walk, casually falling into step beside him. Without fanfare, Cat offered what she'd found at his home. "You've been needing this," Cat punctuated her greeting with a wave of Ares' hairbrush.

ARES

"Oh, hey?" Needless to say Ares was surprised when a woman he hadn't really seen before suddenly appeared right beside him and handed him a hairbrush that looked exactly like his. Or rather, it was his. "Thanks?" Most people in Redwood didn't lock their doors, and he and Lucien weren't an exception, so there was no question as to how she'd gotten it. Also, he did need a hairbrush (and a haircut, honestly), so the why seemed an open enough answer. Still, he was thinking about why as he realized he'd been standing there holding the hairbrush, just looking at her. He shook his head.

"Uh, hi. I don't think we know each other. I'm Ares, but something makes me think you know me. Hope you only heard good things."

CAT

He stopped, she stopped. "I know who you are." Had to in order to locate the correct brush."Isaac named you a raider. Nicki's chosen partner. Wounded presently." Facts rattled off in neutral observation.

"Isaac has chosen me, as well." This. This was not neutral. This was pride, dangerously close to bragging. "I wanted to meet the team." A pause and she added, "I chose Catherine but people keep saying Cat, instead. So, choose as you please, as well, Ares."

ARES

He blinked, a bit surprised but quickly adjusting to the way she responded. Short, quick and to the point, like she was cutting anything unneccessary away from what she was saying. "Gonna go with Cat, since that's shorter. Nice to meet you, Cat."

So far, this whole thing felt mildly overwhelming, but Ares adjusted quickly, giving her a friendly smile. "So... you know Ike? Or do you just get along that well that he asked you to join the raiders?" His voice was playful, and he thought about nudging her with his elbow, but he wasn't sure if she wanted him to touch her, so he resisted. "How long have you been in town, anyway? I wasn't here for a couple of weeks, so I think I might've missed some stuff."

CAT

The nod was perfunctory. "Yes," she answered the question about Isaac simply. "We spent time together. Before Redwood."

She considered. It had been so long since tracking time's passage with accuracy had been possible. In the end she chose the time marker everyone else used. "I arrived after the Ranch confrontation."

With no information that Ares would have missed otherwise, Cat left it there. "Is the medical staff here competent?"

ARES

Time together before Redwood? And they were close, too; even if she'd only been here shortly. His brain worked with the information, like it did when he was out on raids.

"What?" Her question pulled him out of his train of thoughts, a sudden change in topic that he didn't really expect but followed. "Uh, yeah, I'd say so. I mean, they fixed me back up." He gestured at himself with the hairbrush like a piece of evidence and a smile. "Renee's a pretty good doctor, Val's good too. I don't know about Frank, he's new, but I think he probably is too." He regarded her for a moment, then looked around and lowered his voice a little.

"You don't gotta answer if you don't want to. But - were you one of the Reavers?"

CAT

Renee. Cat's eyes narrowed, hands fisting at her sides. The cause of Isaac's pain. The terrible scar. Not to be trusted. Buzzing drowned out Ares' other answers.

The alternating of volume was all that pulled Cat back. Pointedly relaxing her hands again, she shrugged. "Yes." It was news spreading as it would, no point in lying. "Does this bother you?" He'd worked it out quickly enough, there were more gears turning than his aw shucks facade implied.

ARES

Her answer was open, not really casual but also not ashamed. Matter of fact, really, the same way Isaac talked about his time. Ares still blinked, a bit surprised, though he should've been used by that. And then the question if it bothered him.

"No. No, that's not what I meant. I mean, even if it did, not much I could do. You're already here, aren't you?" Ares smiled, careful but hopefully encouraging. "I mean, you're not part of them now, so it's all good. Ike probably wouldn't have made you a raider if you were." They were slowly making a round on the clinic perimeter. Ares blew out a breath. "So... how do you like this place?"

CAT

He spoke so much; filler words. Uncertain scrambles to be understood. To be pleasing. Isaac would use that. On raids, Cat reasoned, Ares would be quiet.

"You understand more quickly than others." An offer, an assurance, experiment in praise. Ares had, after all, tried very hard to explain.

Somewhere there was a braying, then a child's laugh. "I haven't decided." Isaac said there could be a place for her here; yet he'd gone beyond the wall. The residents were of passing interest. Few offered novelty. "Do you?"

ARES

"Oh, uh, thanks!" Ares lightened up a little a the unexpected praise. He felt like he was starting to understand her slowly. Bringing him his hairbrush was her way of being social, trying to get to know people. She seemed closed-off, but she was new here, she didn't know anybody, aside from Ike.

"I like it here. The people are nice, I got a place to sleep. I got family here too. Lucien, the librarian, if you've met him. He's my brother." He looked at her for a moment. "It's was kind of hard to settle in at first, when I came from out there. I guess it's been like that for you too?"

CAT

She grunted faintly at his gratitude. The majority of her attention was ahead of Ares' steps; scanning for what could impede his progress. Permitting him to trip and fall wouldn't be acceptable.

He just handed information over in a manner a stranger might mistake for gormless. No, Cat could see the shape of him; imagine the violence applied by those hands. It was good Isaac was aiming such a force.

She would have to visit the library.

"Yes." Sidelong, Cat observed him in return. Difficulty settling was a way to say it. "I feel safer outside the wall... Understand it more." Cat watched the ground ahead of Ares again for several yards before asking, "How did you adjust?"

ARES

He hadn't expected that. Most people didn't want to stay outside of the walls, let alone feel safe out there. But then again, the raiders probably weren't most people. "Yeah, I get that. Kind of. Because of the fighting and the surviving, right? You're more used to that?" Maybe she was so used to being with the Reavers that she couldn't imagine much else.

"Badly. Kind of." He thought about it, staring up in the air above them, watching his own huffed breath dissipate. "I mean, I wanted to be in Redwood because hey, it's a safe place in the middle of the apocalypse. I was alone for a while before Redwood, and I didn't like that." He paused, considered, biting down on his bottom lip and letting it slip out between his teeth before he continued. "Before that I was in prison. And after that with a scavenger group. They were nothing like Redwood. It was hard settling. I don't know, it felt like I was treading water the whole time. It didn't feel like I really... fit in. I think I do now, though. Feels like it, at least." He turned his attention back onto her. "Why are you staying here when you want to be out there?"

CAT

Raider, Cat reminds herself. Of everyone here, Cat expected they were the group Isaac most wanted her to bond with. "Yes. Instinct. Survival without politics." No demand to tolerate the weak and the threats. "No walls."

He stopped watching where he was going, prickling Cat's spine. "Why do you believe it's safe here?" Because it felt like a place to belong? Isaac had told her she could have something similar. Cat wondered if he hadn't told each Raider that story.

The prison admission gave her pause. Opportunity for exchange. "I was also imprisoned. Years ago." She didn't avoid his eye as she shared. Cat felt no shame over this fact.

She shrugged at Ares' final question, as though it were obvious. "Isaac is here."

ARES

"You're a con too?" Was that why she didn't like the walls? Because it made her feel like being back in prison? He couldn't blame her for that, really. Prison wasn't an easy place to be. Though, she still wanted to stay, for Ike.

"You and Ike are really close, huh? If you're staying for him. Ike... yeah, he kind of has that effect, right?" Ares couldn't say he was staying for Ike, or that their relationship had always been great, but right now, it was good. Comfortable. He was the head raider, and Ares was one of his. Maybe it was the same for Cat.

"I mean, nothing is really safe, but it's safer, right? The walls keep walkers and people out, and we've got medicine and weapons, and everybody looks out for each other. I was... I traveled alone for some time, before I came here. I didn't like it, and the town seems so much better. I got people here I love, and we look out for each other. So it's safer here. Or at least better."

CAT

"Yes." Decades of instinct demanded she not share more, but the idea had been to bond. "I killed monsters, Ares. They put me in a cage, because I was dangerous."

Close. "Yes. We share an agony." As did Orion, it seemed. One soul across several physical forms would explain the vacant expanse inside. Pour into it as she did, nothing would ever suffice short of reunion. "I would burn the stars to keep him warm."

Love was an alien concept, not meant for her. Still, Cat understood it was a desirable connection for most people. "I've never enjoyed the price of community."

ARES

Ares hadn't expected that. "So you killed somebody and they locked you up for it?" It reminded Ares of the story Mike had told him, though for Mike, it'd been an accident. "Did they hurt you? The person you killed?"

Talking to her left Ares with Ares with some questions. It was as if Cat wanted to answer questions, but not give too much away at the same time. So she just told the bare gist of what'd happened, the things that were important. Maybe she wasn't comfortable with sharing more. "The price of community? You mean the walls?" Ares turned to look. He could see the watchtowers dotting the walls, always manned. He thought about it.

"Do you regret it? Killing them?"

CAT

Nodding, Cat's hands curled inside the hoodie pocket. "Children. They hurt children, Ares. I did what nobody else would." And half the world had called her monster.

Cat stared at the walls when Ares mentioned them. "Walls, rules, catering to the whims of those who misuse the power they hold." Alone it was Cat's choices and consequences alone.

The final question. The constant question. Even for court, even for money, Harmony hadn't and Cat wouldn't lie. "No. Never."

ARES

"Shit. That's bad." And she'd ha to deal with that on her own? Ares wondered whether he should ask more. Cat was being vague, always just telling the gist of what happened. She probably wasn't comfortable with more.

"Well, it's not really like that here. Especially as a raider. The rules are pretty easy, and you only really have to listen to Ike. He kind of deals with everything." And she probably didn't mind that part. "Maybe you'll even like it here."

His grin faded when Cat turned his own question back to him. "Oh. Yeah. Some of it." Being kicked out. Going to prison. What he'd done before Redwood. "Can't really change it, though. It happened. I don't think about it a lot anymore." He breathed out slowly, watching white whisps dissipate. "Must be nice to not regret anything."

CAT

Bad wasn't a big enough word. There was no word large enough to hold The Family inside of it. Even reduced to ash all people summoned for an urn was tragedy. Interviews and books and articles and the movie and still language was found wanting. "Yes."

Unsettling that Ares said they had to listen to Isaac. Compulsory obedience, not loyalty. More troubling was Isaac being framed as sole authority in Ares' eyes. Brother Sparrow knows your path. Listen. Trust. Love. Obey. Isaac must have known this was how Ares saw things. Why permit it?

That he thought Cat could ever be happy under another thumb was a cold reminder of the gulf between her and other people. When she spoke, Cat was careful not to sound as withdrawn as she felt. "Regret is a performance, Ares. It doesn't change the past, and God isn't here to impress with self-flagellation anymore."

[catherine-bisset]

It is Friday.

[mndvx]

SOFIA BOUTELLA as KORA REBEL MOON – PART TWO: THE SCARGIVER April 19th 2024 | dir. Zack Snyder

[oliveoomph]

Sofia Boutella as Kora

Rebel Moon - Part 2: The Scargiver (2024)

[catherine-bisset]

It is Friday.

[zackastor]

"Fucking hell." Zack muttered, eyes fixed on the impaled animal, it's guts unspooling towards the ground from where it's body was ripped in half. The sense that something was wrong pricked at his neck, though Cat named it before he could. The blast would've provided an easy explanation, but it hadn't been the blast. Shoved onto the branch.

Zack's face hardened and he lowered himself, scanning the ground for tracks. One thing was clear. If someone, or something, had done that, they would need to deal with it. And chances were, it was still in the area. And there it was. A trail of broken branches and spatters of blood and gore. Leading towards where the explosion had been.

"Let's go. We gotta get an idea of what we're dealing with." They wouldn't want to be surprised by what could slam a blackbear down onto a tree.

[catherine-bisset]

One silent drop from the tree and Cat was at his side. There hadn't been marks of consumption, not on the half found. Violence for violence's sake was not the answer Cat desired, but her wishes rarely had any impact on reality.

Shrapnel of steel and glass littered the ground, peppered tree trunks like birch polypore. The amount increased exponentially as they followed their quarry. Its tracks hadn't been obscured by debris. At least birds were active, something Cat always marked as a good portent, if only by personal superstition.

When the first toppled sycamore came into view, Cat stopped again. A crouch assumed on instinct, but she didn't draw a weapon. If their target were still in the vicinity, it wasn't where she could see or hear it. If it could see them, she didn't want to present first aggression.

Slowly assured, Cat stared up into the canopy as she stood. "High view." If Zack wanted to climb, he was surely capable, but Cat lacked the lower body strength to jump to even the lowest branch of these trees. "Will you boost me?"

[catherine-bisset]

What’s the strangest place you’ve had sex?

I don't participate in sexual activity.

[catherine-bisset]

Starter for @zackastor en route to the explosion site.

In the absence of Orion and Isaac, there had only been one option left for Cat. They'd left within hours of the explosion, a brief conversation on his porch and an even briefer touch base with those staying behind.

Hours later, the debris started and Cat stopped. No look to Zack, who was likely stopped somewhere nearby, as well. When there wasn't any reaction to her, Cat pulled herself up into a tree dripping dark fluid.

The source was revealed quickly enough. Most of a black bear was impaled on a thick branch. Cat remained crouched where branch met trunk, trying to make sense of the sight. Tried to spot where the rest of the bear may have landed.

Eventually, Zack circled around, and Cat spoke low to indicate her location. "Black bear. Impaled. Still losing blood." Recent death - not blast damage. Cat eased out further, spotting numerous bent-back branches pressed into fur. "Shoved onto the branch."