Destiny (cat)

Destiny is a boisterous domestic cat of no specific breed who would probably explode if he could not go outside and explore for a long period of time.

Destiny with a mostly-healed scar on his nose.

Physical characteristics

Destiny's body is primarily covered in black fur, except for a small patch near his groin that is solid white. Destiny also has stray white hairs at roughly the midpoints of his front legs.

Destiny's body has no other unusual or particularly notable physical characteristics. Being an indoor/outdoor cat, he has a high level of general physical fitness. He would be considered 'larger than average' in terms of physique/build.

Personality and behaviour

Destiny enjoys both being in the company of his pack, and striking out alone to patrol and explore the surrounding world. Based on data from Destiny's GPS collar, he rarely travels more than 300 metres from home.

Destiny regularly participates in family activities, such as bedtime story time for eip mini and family playtime in the playroom. Destiny has learned the sound of eip mini's bedroom door in specific and will wake up from wherever he is in the house to come participate in storytime. During playtime, Destiny will sit as close to one of the adults as possible despite the stuffed toys constantly being pegged around, and often hitting him.

He is forgiving towards eip mini and eip micro, as he seems to understand they are young and stupid and should be given leeway accordingly. He is equally loving towards eip and eip's wife, and will often lie stretched across eip's chest and shoulder and purr loud enough to rattle windows while receiving gentle butt smacks. These are, inexplicably, his favourite form of attention.

Destiny has developed a close bond with eip mini and often stays in her room after bedtime story time. Once he deems that she is sufficiently close to sleep or asleep, he will silently get up on her bed and curl up near her feet. In this way, Destiny is actually the most reliable indicator that eip mini is seriously attempting to sleep.

Destiny, like many domesticated cats, has learned that humans have a very limited capacity for conversation in the cat native language. He has however adapted to suit and responds to various cat-like sounds by humans, especially eip and eip's wife. He can be summoned by a kind of purr/meow mix referred to as a 'chirp', which is unusual for cats. This is emblematic of the close personal relationship he has with his family.

Early life

Destiny was born in an apartment to a very confused human caretaker who was assured she had purchased two male cats. Due to his birth in an apartment, and the human caretaker's lack of planning due to incorrect information, a spare litter tray was not available for the kittens so Destiny was trained to use drains as toilets. He is now technically litter trained, but prefers to use drains or the outdoors where either are available. This is mildly gross, but at least bathroom floors are easily washable.

Adoption

eip and eip's wife (who, at the time, was engaged to eip and not married) were going to take a trip to Melbourne to celebrate their engagement. However, COVID happened. eip and eip's wife decided instead to use the funds for that trip to have a staycation-style celebration at a ritzy hotel, co-located with an apartment tower, in their local area instead.

On the last night of their stay there, the toilet in their room decided not to function. They decided, instead of calling the front desk, to go down there and politely ask for a plunger. This is because they are both chronically anxious and people-pleasing and would rather not bother housekeeping despite it being housekeeping's literal job.

Destiny's then-current human custodian had Destiny down at the front of the shared lobby. She was reportedly trying to offload him to another human, who said no. eip and eip's wife remarked about the woman 'carrying a hat' (notable because it was currently evening), but as she got closer, it became evident to eip that it was in fact a cat. eip asked to hold and pat the cat, and the request was granted. eip and eip's wife fawned over the kitten, which led the woman to offer for them to keep him. eip and eip's wife laughed, thinking the woman was making a joke, but she informed them she was in fact serious. She also informed them of the circumstances outlined above, and made clear that she did not have the resources to keep all of the kittens.

eip's wife indicated she would be going back to the room to use the toilet. by the time she left the toilet, eip had returned with the kitten.

Name

Destiny's name was chosen in respect of the multitude of seemingly random factors that had to align for eip and eip's wife to adopt him:

1. eip and eip's wife had to have planned, and saved for, a trip interstate
2. Said trip had to be cancelled, and funds still available
3. A hotel staycation had to be booked in a specific date range (that being, when the original custodian was seeking to offload the kittens)
4. The toilet had to be out of commission on the last night of said staycation, leading eip and eip's wife to go to the lobby
5. The original custodian had to be in the lobby at that time, trying to offload Destiny specifically

The massive and unlikely odds of all these factors aligning at the same time led eip and eip's wife to believe that "it must have been Destiny" that brought them all together, and he was so named.

Notable events

• Destiny frequently attempts to escape outside after he has been brought in for the night. On one occasion, he escaped outside while a storm was rolling in. Based on his normal behaviour, he was likely at the local park when it hit. The storm hit incredibly hard, incredibly fast, and Destiny wasn't present. eip stood on the balcony calling for him through the heavy rain and loud thunder. He eventually came sprinting home, where eip met him at the door. He was soaked and a bit shell shocked, and clung to eip for about half an hour after receiving a gentle towelling and cuddles. This was a notable event that established trust and support.
• Destiny once informed eip and eip's wife that Kismet was stuck in a tree. He did this by hanging around the outdoor patio area at dinnertime, despite being offered food and coaxed inside. He escaped again, but instead of jetting off to explore, he again sat at the edge of the outdoor patio area - essentially 'pointing' to the tree that Kismet was stuck in. It took eip and eip's wife some time to realise that Destiny was helping, instead of being an obstinate little shit.
• Destiny has been known to alert eip and eip's wife to problems he believes are outside of his scope or capabilities - most recently, eip micro was crying in another room and Destiny got eip's attention then attempted to 'lead' eip to the room that eip micro was in.
• eip's wife was significantly unwell during her pregnancy with eip mini, in part due to issues unrelated to the actual pregnancy. When Destiny noticed eip's wife was unwell, he would often sit a short distance away from her for hours at a time, preferring to keep her company instead of going outside to explore even though the external doors were open, and despite his extreme enjoyment of being outside.