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Characters / Hustle Cat

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Protagonist

    Avery Grey 

Avery Grey

The customizable protagonist of the game, Avery has just recently moved to the city after being raised in a very small town. They're staying at their Aunt Wendy's apartment with their fat persian cat, Mochi. They're 19 years old and their birthday is June 20th.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_avery.png

  • Functional Magic: Avery's is trash. No, really. Their magical ability is based around manipulating garbage.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Sensibly, since Avery's gender/pronoun preference is a configurable choice, even mid-game.
  • Love Epiphany: Well, crush epiphany, anyway.
    Avery: It makes my spine tingle. It makes my heart race. [Beat] Oh. Oh god. I've got a crush on my boss.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: On Graves' route, Avery responds to Nacht's taunting by repeatedly telling him to shut up.
  • Trash of the Titans: Avery has left their aunt's apartment an ungodly mess. Pizza boxes on the floor, trash all over the place, laundry everywhere, dirty dishes piled up... It's so bad that Graves initially assumes that the apartment has been ransacked. Avery has to tell him that, no, it always looks like that. Funnily enough, most other characters visiting them are way less surprised.

A Cat's Paw

    Finley 

Finley

A Cat's Paw's resident social media expert, Finley runs the cafe's website and blog. She turns into a brown-eyed calico cat known as Jelly Donut. She's 21 years old and her birthday is March 30.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_finley.png


  • Functional Magic: Finley's spells at first appear to be themed around social medianote  but they're later revealed to be based on words that the target understands, as Finley uses the lyrics of one of Xpidercoven's songs to weaken Nacht.
  • Instant Web Hit: As Jelly Donut, a cat that does cute things with donuts (usually by having them placed on her head), Finley is internet famous. "Jelly Donut days", days when Finley is in her cat form to perform in the cafe, are extremely busy days at the cafe.
  • Magical Gesture: Fittingly, her magic requires her to make a #hashtag with her fingers.
  • Master of None: She was only ever average at best at everything she tried, so she revels in her fame as "Jelly Donut".
  • Shipper on Deck: For Avery and their love interest, whoever that may be.
  • Wingding Eyes: When particularly excited, Finley has giant 4-point stars where her pupils ought to be.
  • Yaoi Fangirl: Finley is quite... passionate about the visual novel "Bl@st Zone", and particularly one path between the player character and Keita. She is also noticably more excited when Avery is in a route with one of the males than when in Mason's or her own route.

    Graves 

Graves Serling

The enigmatic owner of A Cat's Paw, Graves hires Avery after a decidedly odd interview. His cat form is a black cat with heterochromatic eyes. He's 39 years old and his birthday is November 1. He is the secret sixth route of the game, unlockable only after you've completed everyone else's routes.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_graves.png


  • The Atoner: According to Word of God. He knew of Nacht's "newbie-killer" ways, and while Graves didn't participate, he also didn't try to stop Nacht at first — something he's trying to atone for now by taking care of "strays" with magical talent.
  • Benevolent Boss: He cares very greatly for his employees, and they all care about him in turn. Yes, he was the one who originally cursed them to turn into cats, but it was to protect them from people like Nacht by disguising them as witch familiars.
  • Big Damn Heroes: On every route except his own, he shows up out of nowhere to save Avery from Nacht.
  • Curse: He is the cause of the cat curse, but he has his reasons.
    • He himself is cursed, just not the same way the others are. In this case, it's a double-curse situation.
      • Curse #1: His second "knack" — metal magic — was stolen from him by Nacht and perverted into rust magic, leaving him with only his cat magic.
      • Curse #2: He's incapable of directly talking about magic or the situation with Nacht, and can only discuss it in a roundabout way through synonyms and euphemisms.
  • Extra-ore-dinary: His second magic, which was stolen by Nacht before the story begins. He gets it back at the end of his route.
  • Goth: He'll be the first to admit that he never outgrew the phase. In high school and college, he had long hair and wore makeup. He claims that he only stopped wearing makeup because it took too much time out of his day.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Knowingly goes into a battle he won't win in order to give Avery a chance to escape.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: His right eye, and the original colour of both of his eyes.
  • Myspeld Rökband: Used to be in a band with Nacht known as Xpidercoven.
    Avery: How do you spell 'spider' with an X?
    Reese: Sheer goth willpower.
  • Neat Freak: His apartment is spotless. Avery thinks he's just showing off because he knows that people come up there regularly, but no, he really is that much of a clean person. He is shocked by Avery's apartment when he sees it and in the 10 minutes they need to take a shower, he pretty much polishes the house from floor to ceiling.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: He's able to understand and communicate with cats. While it's confirmed in his own route, it's also obliquely hinted at in the beginning of the game when he mentions that the stray cats who want to be adopted are listed on the wall.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: His left eye.
  • Taken for Granite: This is his fate in every route except his own, and even then, he's still tagged by Nacht and ends up in the process of being slowly rusted alive instead. Granted, he always recovers when Nacht is defeated.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Coffee, especially when made by Hayes.

    Hayes 

Hayes

A Cat's Paw's barista, Hayes is extremely timid and easily startled — and he's a bit of a coffee snob. His cat form is a Siamese with blue eyes. He is 22 years old and his birthday is February 21.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_hayes.png


  • Apologises a Lot: Avery has to tell him to stop. He then tries to apologize for apologizing too much.
  • Introverted Cat Person: Gets along fabulously with the cats (and even goes into cat form to cuddle Junta when the kitty won't stop crying). Human beings? Not so much.
  • Magic Misfire: Due to a case of nerves. While confessing his love for you and willing rose petals to appear out of nothing, he nearly overwrites out of existence both himself and Avery with static.
  • Nervous Wreck: The slightest thing makes him jump, and his anxiety level is generally at about a 8 out of 10 on a good day.

    Landry 

Landry

One of A Cat's Paw's waitstaff, Landry is cheerful and welcoming. His cat form is a brown-eyed Maine Coon. He is 25 years old and his birthday is April 30.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_landry.png


  • Beware the Nice Ones: Landry keeps his temper under tight, tight wraps. Do not make him lose it.
  • Berserk Button: He has three: Hurt his friends. Hurt his lover. And witches.
  • Curse: Like the others, he is cursed to turn into a cat upon leaving the premises. However, he's also under a second curse: Landry got into a fight with a young witch, Kaz, who cursed him to make his heart explode if he ever got too angry.
  • Curse That Cures: Allowed himself to be put under the cat curse to cure him of the 'exploding heart curse'. Which was... never a problem in the first place. Landry's discovery of this leads to the below trope.
  • Rage Breaking Point: When he finds out that his second curse — the one that would make his heart explode if he got too angry, the one he feels ruined his life — was just a prank that gave him heartburn for an hour, he loses it, activates his magic, breaks the cat curse, and scares the hell out of Kaz.
  • Shock and Awe: His magic.

    Mason 

Mason

A Cat's Paw's head (and only) chef, Mason is a woman of few words and fewer displays of emotion. Her cat form is a crooked-tailed orange tabby. She is 20 years old and her birthday is January 2.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_mason.png


  • Action Girlfriend: Pick Mason and she isn't afraid to sucker punch a magic user.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She typically keeps her emotions to herself, and while she hardly becomes melted, if her route is followed Avery slowly grows on her until she's more expressive and kinder.
  • Playing with Fire: Shoots blue flames from her hands when she activates her magic.
  • The Quiet One: Barely speaks, and when she does, it's usually just a few words. Does more talking in her own route, but she's still very direct.
  • The Stoic: Rarely shows emotion.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: While every love interest is protective of Avery, Mason stands out due to how quickly she resorts to violence when Avery is threatened by Nacht, even knocking him out cold during their first confrontation. As Avery puts it, Mason's first resort for intimidation is violence.

    Reese 

Reese

The assistant manager of A Cat's Paw, Reese's father is old friends with Graves. Reese also serves as Graves' apprentice. His cat form is a Japanese bobtail with green eyes. He is 19 years old and his birthday is May 31.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_reese.png


  • All Love Is Unrequited: Reese has a crush on Graves. While Graves may be aware of itnote , he shows no sign of reciprocating Reese's feelings.
  • Art Initiates Life: Reese's magic. Actually, it's his father's magic, and he's been emulating it. His true magic revolves around sewing.
  • Guilty Pleasures: As it turns out, Reese is a fan of trashy romance novels.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: If playing through Graves' route, Reese is clearly jealous of Avery for getting so close to Graves, though he doesn't do anything about it besides getting a bit snotty.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Once he gets a handle on his true magic — sewing — it turns out he can use a seam ripper to tear open seams in the fabric of the universe.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Acts like he knows a ton about magic... but he hasn't figured out how to break the curse, uses his dad's magical skill instead of figuring out his own, and when he's up against an actual witch he's completely outmatched. That said, he turns out to be a good teacher.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: What he wants to go on after Graves apparently dies. In his own route, he manages it, viciously dumping Nacht into a void, albeit not for keeps.

Other Characters

    Asmodeus 

Asmodeus

A goth witch met on Reese's route, Asmodeus comes looking to take Graves' territory for his own.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_asmodeus.png


    Kaz 

Kaz

A young witch met on Landry's route.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_kaz.png


  • Big Damn Heroes: Shows up near the end of Landry's route to help in the fight against Nacht, which gives Landry and Avery the chance they need to beat Nacht.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: He is a little snot, though not without his good points.
  • Glamour Failure: It didn't work on Landry, and Kaz was kicked out the bar when Landry pointed Kaz out to the bartender.
  • The Prankster: That curse he put on Landry? The one Kaz said would make Landry's heart explode if Landry ever got too angry? Yeah, that only gave Landry heartburn for an hour.

    Nacht 

Nacht

Known as the 'rust witch', Nacht is the main antagonist of the game. His (unwanted) cat form is a Bengal cat. He is 39 years old and his birthday is October 23.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hc_nacht.png


  • Death Glare: Gives Avery an absolutely terrifying one on Graves' route when it becomes clear that Graves has feelings for Avery, and that he's willing to outright fight Nacht in their defense.
    Avery: The look Nacht gives me burns my soles, freezing up my wobbling legs, raking into my back and clawing over my shoulders, tearing into my heart.
  • Forced Transformation: His fate at the end of Graves' route; Graves turns him into a Bengal cat. However, Graves assures him that he'll regain his human form once he's far enough away from Graves.
  • Functional Magic: Nacht's is rust. Or not. It's actually paper; the rust magic was once metal magic that he stole from Graves.
  • The Corruption: Of a sort. Nacht was always a jerk, but it was stealing Graves' metal magic that led to him becoming the person he is now. Stealing the magic of others leads to mental corruption.
  • Curse Escape Clause: Graves gives him one that will allow him to break the curse that turns him a cat whenever he's around Graves, but he tells Nacht he'll have to discover what it is for himself.
  • Karma Houdini: Only on Graves' route does he receive any real comeuppance. On the others, he just leaves and implies he'll be back.
  • Meaningful Name: His name is Dutch for 'Night'.
  • Not Good with Rejection: Much to Graves' displeasure, Nacht does not know how to take 'go away' for an answer.
    Nacht: You left!
    Graves: That was the point.
  • Ominous Walk: He's very good at these.
  • Paper Master: Although it never comes up in game, this is his true magic.
  • Power Parasite: Nacht stole Graves' metal magic and perverted it into rust magic, leaving Graves with only his cat magic.
  • Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: To Graves.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Toward Graves.
  • Taken for Granite: What happens to people who are afflicted with his rust magic.

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