#all the same

Okay, so I watched this series on YouTube, and I've been analyzing every cat I ever see ever since. Including fictional cats. Including these ones. I'd recommend the videos if you want in-depth info on what all of this means, because otherwise this readmore would be Five Miles Long, BUT I have transcripts (easier to format than in alt text) and also a bunch of extra thoughts, so those will go here.

Finnley (F): Wd/W -> All white (carries none) l/l -> longhair o/Y -> black base ?/a -> carries solid ?/b -> carries chocolate ?/d -> carries dilute Mk/mk -> munchkin

Dizzy (D): W/S -> low white (Unless--)* L/? -> shorthair o/O -> Tortie a/a -> solid B/b -> black, carries chocolate D/d -> carries dilute mk/mk -> normal legs

Moira (M): W/W -> no white o/O -> Tortie a/a -> solid b/b -> chocolate (lilac) d/d -> dilute mk/mk -> normal legs

Blair (B): W/S? -> white chest? or W/W no white O/Y -> ginger D/? -> fullcolor mk/mk -> normal legs

Fiona (F(S)): W/W -> no white o/o -> black base a/a -> solid B/? -> black D/? -> fullcolor Mk/mk -> munchkin

Ainsley (A): W/S -> low white o/o -> black base a/a -> solid B/? -> black D/? -> fullcolor Mk/mk -> munchkin

Now look upon my rambly notes, ye mighty, and despair!

These are based off of the descriptions within the fic and any asks I could find with more details, so I could totally be wrong, and there's definitely stuff that's just never mentioned. Such as!

Nobody's fur length is explicitly brought up; Dizzy gets described as "sleek" and Finn as "fluffy", so I guessed that corresponded to short and longhair respectively, but the kittens are up in the air as far as I recall. They're teensie little babies, anyway, so it could be hard to tell.

No idea what RJ's stripe pattern is; I doodled mackerel here, but who knows? He does have to HAVE one, even if it weren't stated in text, and even if Finn were solid under his white, because ginger says it's Always Time For Stripes (though Dizzy and Dusty I think are too brindled/black-dominant to see their pattern). Tabby coats also have lighter chests and bellies, hence me overthinking whether or not RJ has a white patch on his chest or just a white/pale chest. I guess we also don't know if Dusty's a torbie or solid? But it seems like the nickname would indicate solid, so.

There are a lot of gaps in Finn's genome, since the white covers up everything else, but they ARE most likely black-based! Well, I am kind of assuming that Luna's Gender Consideration was a result of them not being cis, thereby implying that the other kittens are cis, which I guess could be wrong. But if Spooky's a cis girl, then she needs a No Ginger from both parents! He's black under there!

Or chocolate. Or cinnamon. Both Dizzy and Finn could be hiding either under there. There are so many ways you could assign alleles to ensure that Dusty stays lilac. I didn't want to fill in any unknowns, but I would up doing it anyway, because writing it at all means some kind of assumption. It's a ~mysteryyyy~.

Munchkin legs are dominant, and also associated with various health problems. I assumed that Cait Sidhe just ignore all that, because magic, but considering LAOFT's usage of "magic as disability", maybe it could go a different direction. Pallas's cats also kinda look like their faces are smushed, but I think that's a cold temperature adaptation and not a source of breathing issues for them or Finn. But this is me thinking too hard about worldbuilding in a setting that isn't mine. Speaking of which!

The only "design change" required here is that Dizzy needs some white, though I never recall her being described as having any. Finn needs a W under his dominant white, because otherwise, all the kids would either be all white or have some white. But if that's the case, then Dizzy needs at least a little white, or Luna (and RJ?) wouldn't get any. I interpreted this as a little spot on her chest, since the markings kinda line up that way. You could... probably just handwave this as Cait Sidhe being European wildcats and also Magic and Weird (a la Collie having faer grandfather's eyes despite no biological relation), and also genetics just like being Weird sometimes (my solid cat seems to have tabby hairs in his undercoat?? How did he get those, why does he have them).

*OR! You can be excessive :).

In the vast majority of folklore depictions of Cait Sidhe I've been able to find (apart from one likely very unreliable source claiming royal cats were white, an idea that I stole for my own stuff anyway), they are all large black cats with a white spot on their chests. (This is likely at least somewhat connected to the Kellas cat, which appears to be potentially melanistic, but otherwise not genetically documented, but that's besides the point.) Obviously, LAOFT is playing with this more loosely, BUT Luna (and possibly RJ) both have their white spots on their chests. So MY unhinged proposition is that Cait Sidhe have some them-specific gene for white chest markings that is relatively common in their population, but not in normal cats. It's recessive to Wd, W, and S, much like (the proposed models for) Birman gloving and Salmiak, but it's ALSO dominant over these two genes. So! Finn carries this gene under their white. Dizzy's carrying wg (or wsal, somehow) and doesn't express any white. She gives the W to Dusty and Spooky, but the wg to Luna and RJ.