Catherine Durante

Coding credit goes to LittleRedCrazyHood.



Kit Durante is a Thunderbird seventh year.

Appearance
Kit is 5'6" tall and fit. She likes to wear lots of colors and usually has a pair of sunglasses on hand in case she goes outside since she finds squinting annoying.

Biography
 Catherine was born in Portland, Oregon and adopted by her mother's oldest brother, Peter, and his husband, Ajay, since her mother was in no way ready for a child. Peter was an accountant for a media company, Ajay a police officer, and her mother Elena went on to college to become a political consultant. Peter and Ajay were unequivocally her parents, but Elena did remain close to her, only as more of an aunt.

It was very important to both Peter and Elena that time was set aside specifically for Kit, since that was something neither of them had much of. As such, Peter and Ajay made Kit a priority, and though Elena wasn't ready to parent, she was more than happy to babysit. Kit was a fairly easy baby, but very curious and prone to exploring everything she could--a trait she never lost. Kit wasn't much for primary school; she much preferred being outside to sitting in a classroom. She wasn't a bad student, just...preoccupied with the outside world, and very invested in hands-on activities moreso than arithmatic. So her parents started taking her camping as much as they could, hoping to expend some of her restless energy on the weekends so she would cooperate a bit more in class. Ultimately they worked it out so that if Kit did well in school, they would go camping somewhere new, and that proved to be extremely effective. Kit...milked it a bit, and convinced her dads to take a camping vacation over summer break if she could go the rest of the school year without getting in trouble...all one month that was left.

She managed to uphold her end of the deal, and so the three of them and Elena rented a camper and went down to Yellowstone, where they spent six very nice days and one...not so nice one. It was this particular camping trip and the amazing views of the night sky through her dad Ajay's telescope that gave rise to Kit's space fixation. However, it was also this particular camping trip that left Kit with her werewolf...affliction.

Very early in the morning of their seventh day, a Tuesday, loud howling nearby woke the group. They knew there were wolves in Yellowstone but didn't expect them so close, and little eight year old Kit went bounding out of the RV to try and catch a glimpse. In her excitement, she dashed right into the woods following the sound of the howling, seeing running shadows in the light from the full moon that filtered through the trees. She came to a sudden stop when one of the wolves seemed to just appear in front of her, growling. Kit froze, terrified and wholly unsure of what to do, for several seconds, then turned and ran as fast as she could the way she came. She could see three bobbing lights in the distance, and she headed toward those--but she didn't make it very far before the wolf pounced on her, sinking its teeth into her leg and pulling her backward. With a yell of pain, she pushed her hands at it, and a bright flash of light made it release her. The flash of light also brought her family to her, and Peter quickly scooped her up and beelined back to the RV while Ajay and Elena watched for any other wolves. They quickly decided to go to the nearest magical hospital, where it was confirmed that Kit had been bitten by a werewolf.

Kit was more bummed about having to take it easy while she healed and not being able to roam around like she usually did than she was about...being a werewolf. In fact, she enjoyed it, once she got used to shifting, and her parents were quick to make sure she had and took her wolfsbane potion, so for her the worst part about it is having to stay home while the moon is full. Her parents fed the lie that she had a chronic illness to the school to excuse her absences, and things went pretty quickly back to normal. The experience should have taught her to be more careful before jumping headfirst into things, but her logic was that she'd already experienced the worst case scenario for the situation, so...she couldn't get much more werewolf. She didn't hesitate to pester her dads about camping again either--if anything, her love for the outdoors grew.

Just before she turned twelve, she was off to Ilvermorny, where she was sorted into Thunderbird, much to the suprise of exactly nobody. She enjoyed most of her classes, especially astronomy, but really struggled with the flying lessons. Being terrified of falling meant she wasn't keen on learning how to fly around in the air, but with much coaxing from the teacher and a lot of low-altitude practice, she found that when she and only she was in charge of making sure she didn't fall, flying on a broom wasn't too bad. That summer, her parents decided to fly with her back to Portland, and she found out that flying in a plane was very, very different from flying on a broom, and she didn't like it one bit. She thought that maybe if she was flying the plane, it would be okay, so she started working toward getting her pilot's license, slowly but surely.

All through school, her favorite class was Astronomy, with Charms a close second. Despite being a common face in detention, she was a strong student. She played beater on a recreational quidditch team, and after a rather harrowing visit to the Grand Canyon, she took up rock climbing. Summer after her sixth year, she finally got her pilot's license, which she celebrated by doing the only barrel roll she will ever do in her entire life.

Personality


Kit's an optimistic nihilist--if this is all there is, why not make the most of it. That is, she yolos pretty hard sometimes, and sometimes it gets her in trouble...as has her "do no harm, but take no shit, but if you're in the process of not taking shit maybe a little harm is okay" attitude. She's not above dishing a hit if someone starts talking shit, and it has definitely landed her in detention a few times. She's kind to pretty much everyone at least to start, but if she isn't fond of someone she usually makes it pretty clear.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">She's tenacious, and while she usually knows when to stop, she often opts to ignore it in favor of pushing herself until she can't, at which point she starts thinking about how she can improve so she can go further.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">She's absolutely petrified of heights, except under a few specific conditions. She likes to be up high, but she's terrified of falling, and as such rarely ever goes out on balconies, stays away from the edges of rooftops, and will not fly unless she is in control of the method of travel. She tries pretty hard not to let her fear get the best of her though, and pushes herself where she can: she got a pilot license, she plays recreational quidditch sometimes--but only as beater, since they are less at risk of being knocked off their brooms, and she's taken up rock climbing.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Kit loves space, loves looking at it, loves studying it, and loves dreaming about one day exploring it. She really is an explorer at heart, and while she enjoys traveling on Earth, she wants to take it a few million steps further.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">She likes to be outdoors, especially far enough away from light pollution to see the Milky Way. It's calming for her to be in the wilderness where it's quieter, and less rushed, and more free.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">She mostly goes by Kit, but she'll roll with just about any name: Catherine, Cat, Kitty, Kit kat, Catty--just not Cathy. She's not freaking old.

<font size="5" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Skills and Magical Abilities
<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Kit is good with constellations, as well as charms, and is a werewolf, so some of her senses are enhanced. She also has a muggle pilot's license and is a decent rock climber.

<font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Trivia

 * <font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Kit's model is Briana Venskus.
 * <font size="2" color=#FF9AAC face="Times New Roman">Kit is gay as hell.