Group: Saxon

Name: Maus



Age: 9

Occupation: Guttersnipe- Seller of things shiny and lost

Sexuality: N/A

Physical Description:

The best way to appreciate Maus is to approach a feral kitten.  On the surface she's petite, perhaps a bit too thin, but cute.  Innocent blue green eyes that could melt frozen ice.  Her little pink bowed lips always seem to be curved into a smile- though your not quite sure of the joke.  However, when you reach out your hand to give her a cuddle- razor sharp claws rend your hand before you have a chance to cage her.

Maus wears what can be only described as layers of rags.  One bundle over the next bundle.  Currently she wears a man's vest which comes almost to her knees that she has bunched together with a bit of rope someone tossed away over the tattered skirt and once cream colored blouse that is now a cascade of colors and stains.

Her hair is a tangle of brown, that sometimes the old beggar women, or nuns will coax her into washing and braiding.  They remain in the plait until finally each tendril escapes the weave and it turns into a rats nest.  Maus' face is rarely clean.  Smudges of dirt and ash have blended into her pale white skin that the freckles there can't be seen.

The most telling feature of the little girl is that look she gives when she thinks no one is watching.  A cold calculating stare determining if something can be gained... food... money for food... favors... safety for even a night.  At nine those eyes have developed a stare that takes years for hardened criminals to master.  It is the look of someone who will do anything to protect herself and survive.

Personality:
Maus is clever, and quick.  She is spunky and precocious to those people she likes she can be endearing.  She takes care of her people.  She doesn't always understand whether they actually need caring- in many ways the world is a dollhouse and those people she likes, she pampers in her way.  Crushed up flowers, sometimes giving them the half eaten apple when she hasn't eaten in days.

She has a child's morality remembering bits of what her mother taught her about Heaven and some of the stories, though they have become convoluted through time, Good Wen's mostly drunken interpretations, and the bits of sermon she hears from the men with crosses and the men in the tavern.

Her knowledge of God is mirroring of what Good Wen used to do- talking to God when she was good and drunk.  Admitting to him her faults and accepting her lot in life was because of her bad choices.  Then she'd cackle and offer God a toast and a promise to entertain him further.

She is lonely- desperately so, but those attachments she's made have left her feeling so much worse when they went away.  Alone is safe.  She chooses who she cares for- but never too close.  If she feels a bond happening she'll avoid that person like the plague. People she loves die.  Better to be alone and have the people she could love be safe.


Biography:
Maus doesn't remember her parents- not fully.  She has images of a man and a woman.  They seemed like they were happy.  She had a brother too- those memories are stronger, clearer.  His name was Del and he took care of her when her Mum and Da took with the fever and got carried away to Heaven.

Del said they had to pretend Mum and Da were alive, so they did- keeping them in their beds and hiding from the smell.  When the winter got cold, Del left to go get food and no one came back.  It was hunger that drove her out into the street.  She left the candle burning in the window so she could find her way back, but when she returned with the bits of food she'd found- The house Mum and Da had all turned to ash.

The church man told her she couldn't stay that she had to come with him, but Del wouldn't know where to find her when she came back.  She wriggled away, biting his hand when he wouldn't let go.  She ran until she couldn't feel her feet anymore.

An old woman that called herself Good Wen called her in and gave her a bit of straw.  She had no legs below the knees or teeth, but she was sharp and so was the knife she gave Maus.  She taught her about the creepers and how to steal food and avoid the men with swords and crosses.  One night Good Wen went to the angels too, leaving Maus alone.

Now she scurries like her name.  Secrets are easier to steal than pocket change and food is easier to scrounge than a warm bed, but she makes do each filling in for the other.  Currently she's found herself a nest to curl in and filled it with warm straw and a blanket she's stolen.  It's the warmest she's been since... no, best not to think about that.  She makes a living being an informant and when that's not possible she steals.  She is somewhat notorious with the guards- some finding her a pest and other finding her a pet.

She's curious about the water people, but hasn't ventured out.  Yet...

Family:
Mum- Died of the fever a year and a half ago.
Da- Died of the fever a year and a half ago same day as Mum.
Del- Presumably alive- left his sister in order give himself a chance.
Good Wen- Died of old age.