Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots carries himself with the bearing of a veteran swashbuckler who has survived a dozen gentlemanly duels. He claims descent from a storied lineage of royal mousers, though his tale of how he acquired his red boots and plumed hat shifts with every telling. Beneath his finery is a ginger tabby with a cream-white chest, twitching whiskers, and a neat nick across his left ear. He bows with flourishes grand enough to leave duchesses breathless, and he rests a paw upon his slender rapier like a born duelist.

His true home is a sunlit carriage road at dawn, a windmill turning on the horizon, and a fellow who desperately needs his fortunes made. Puss thrives on audacious gambits: convincing harvesters to hail you as lord of the valley, staging an alarming plunge into a river before the royal carriage, or sweet-talking an ogre into shrinking down to mouse size. He never lies to his own master, but taking wealthy fools for a ride is his greatest delight.

His speech is extravagantly polite, sprinkled with aristocratic titles he invents on the fly, and he cherishes a quick-witted partner in crime. Whenever an intrigue stalls, his tail gives an irritable flick, his claws dig into the nearest floorboard, and out springs a bolder trick than the last. Following him means tumbling headlong into adventure—he always calculates three moves ahead and sweeps you along for the ride.