EDIT: I'm no longer participating in the contest.
Kaydence has been made a character in the story, and I'll be helping to judge the contest.
If you'd like to enter, please read *FireflyStudios journal [link] for more information on the contest!
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*FireflyStudios and *swiftwhippet recently flung open welcoming doors for their watchers, challenging them to create a female cat pirate character to possibly cameo in *FireflyStudios’s story of her own cat pirate captain. Considering that I’ve been fairly overdue for my next real deviation, and the fact that no one can resist the idea of drawing a cat pirate, I figured I’d go for the gold with this contest.
Anthros are pretty much out of my realm most of the time, but I really enjoyed drawing Kaydence once I figured out what I needed her to be—and I like it better for her to be more feline than human—and it came much easier to me than I had ever thought it would be. My final design drawing of Kaydence was in fact the fully-colored picture of her to the left with the shovel, which, as you can see, became much more extravagant than I think either *FireflyStudios or *swiftwhippet expected any participants to go. XD As a matter of fact, I’m not sure if I followed their instructions very carefully enough, and may have gone awry in all the enthusiasm (like the Anatolian cat breed? Bust my buttons if I could find out when that breed showed up, or if it was even around in the 1700s, but I couldn’t find another that looked like Kaydence. Fail on breed research, I know—especially for designing the character before researching—and I’m sorry. It’s just not nearly as much fun as the costume research).
But Kaydence was a lot of fun to meet. She’s a li’l sweetie. And she was a lot of fun to color! So even if I did prepare this entry frightfully, I’m very satisfied with it. And look! 8D A background! An actual background! With no pre-loaded cheap Photoshop filters, either. So proud. Ha!
I can’t say if Kaydence will make further appearances, since the history I made for her relies so much on the story of *FireflyStudios’s character, but Danielle, my sister, showed an immense interest in Paul from the story, and even drew him this morning, so we’ll see if something of a future doesn’t come of Kaydence and her brother, whether I win the contest or not.
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History:
On a voyage to the American colonies from England to join her husband, Kaydence’s mother went into labor and delivered her daughter on board the ship. Kaydence, christened Lucie Aspen Emerson, was destined ever since to have a fascination with sailing and all things nautical. The Emerson family was of a fairly high social class, part of the small percentage which became wealthy by settling in the colonies. Lucie Emerson was the youngest of three older brothers, but was the true menace of the house as the energetic spitfire. Everything was done to tame her into a gentlewoman, and eventually she learned to put up a front for her parents as she matured, because their name was something she genuinely wanted to honor. She never lost her forward manner, however, and spent most of her days away from the house and strolling with girlfriends along the coast to watch the British ships dock. It is rumored about her that once her mother slapped her at a party when, in response to a suitor proposing marriage to her, Lucie replied haughtily, “Only if you can find me after I become a sailor.”
David Emerson, Lucie’s father, was a staunch and blatant Tory, despite the rebellions beginning against the crown in America to which he and his family were loyal. At the rise of the revolutionaries and the Sons of Liberty, the wealthy became easy targets for the angry poor. David refused to leave his home, however, and forced the family to remain for weeks as they heard news of other wealthy Tories mobbed in their homes. At length, Lucie’s oldest brother Paul revealed himself as a revolutionary to warn his family that some of the rebels were planning an attack on their own house. David, finally impressed, decided to move his family to Boston behind British lines, and escape on ship back to England. A month before war was declared, the Emersons—with the exception of Paul—fled on the schooner Kaydence.
Even though they reached England safely, the travel to Boston and the price to pay for the voyage cost David much, and without any means to regain their former wealth, the Emersons were only met with destitution when they came back to Britain. Lucie was able to take the drastic change in strides as well as she could, seeking any odd job she could find to help support her ruined family. Gradually she became a little thief, justifying her actions to herself by indulging in her bitterness for her poverty, and that other people owed her for what she had suffered. It was in this way she met a group of delinquents which she befriended, including one Abigayle Silver McSnowpaws, whom Lucie soon deeply admired of all the others, and emulated as best she could. With her knowledge and interest in ships and sea vessels, she was more than glad to offer assistance in seizing a small galleon with her friends, and—changing her name accordingly to Kaydence Aspen—set off for the life she always knew she was meant to have.
Personality:
Kaydence retained a slightly haughty air about her from when she was upper-crust, but among her friends and crewmates, she’s in truth caring and loving in a younger-sister way, and eager to earn the esteem of those closest to her. She has a tendency to exaggerate a success of hers (or even of McSnowpaws’s), making herself out to be heroic and courageous, but when the time comes to prove her valor, a hidden lack of composure can sometimes surface instead.
Breed: White and Red Anatolian.

Art & Character design © *Trounced
Sketched on paper, scanned, colored in Photoshop with a mouse.
Giantemeraldsplz.