Graves Serling

***SPOILER ALERT!***

Keep in mind that this page could contain spoilers from several routes.

Graves Serling is a dateable character in the game Hustle Cat- however, all other routes must be completed before his route is unlocked.

Graves is the owner of A Cat's Paw, and hires Avery Grey, along with the others who work at the cafe. He lives on the third floor of the cafe, but he's rarely around. He has a cat named Dracula who is 19 years old.

## Personality

Graves is very eccentric and even creepy at times. He's dramatic and talks as if he's putting on a show. Additionally, his speech is very decorous and he has a "goth" style. However, Avery later on describes him as extremely charming and capable of entertaining a crowd, as well as a huge nerd. He mentions that he's been called opaque from even before he was able to speak.

## Appearance

Graves is a tall man with slightly graying black hair. He is heterochromatic and his left eye is blue while his right eye is gold. He wears a black pull-over with brown padding and a white dress shirt underneath. His pants and shoes are black. Additionally, he wears several silver accessories.

Although his hair is short now, as a young man he had very long hair and wore a lot of make up. According a sketch the co-creator did, his hair was pushed back and he had several piercings along with a cross necklace.

As a child, he did not have heterochromatic eyes. Both his eyes were blue, but once his magic developed one of his eyes turned gold. Avery notes that he looked shockingly "normal."

As a cat, his exact breed is unknown but he has black fur with the same eyes he does as a human.

## Background

As a child, Graves was "too frightened to talk" so he was enrolled in a program where he would read to cats in hopes that it would alleviate his fear. The program was immensely successful and he has felt indebted to cats ever since. He commented that the reason he had opened up a cat cafe was perhaps to give back to cats. He had his first cat when he was eight years old, whom he named Midnight. Graves based his cat form off of Midnight.

In high school he had a Dracula's Rondo group (a roleplaying game), and he has a very elaborate Dracula costume from it that he wears every Halloween. The game is where his current cat, Dracula, got her name from.

In college, he was in a band named Xpidercoven with Nacht. One of their songs was named "Rose Baptism" and was partially in French. When Avery asked how spider could be spelled with an X, Reese replied with "sheer goth willpower." He attended college with Reese's father and Reese's father met Reese's mother at one of Graves's concerts.

Graves found out about his metal-based magic while he was salvaging scrap metal for a living.

Nacht and Graves dated for a while, but they had several fall outs and their relationship was never stable. Eventually, Graves had enough of feeling abused and unloved, so he left Nacht. Sometime during this, Nacht cursed Graves so his speech was limited and took away his metal magic. Whenever Graves tries to say the words or phrases he's been forbidden to, a coughing fit is triggered. That is why he's not able to tell Avery much about the cat curse or the drama involving Nacht. Furthermore, Nacht's magic was originally paper-based but once he tried imitating Graves's metal magic, it backfired and turned into rust.

Graves turned all of his employees' at A Cat's Paw into cats so they could pass off as familiars and be safe from several witches who kill new magic adepts for fun.

## Magic Abilities

   Graves has metal-based magic and can create extravagant sculptures from metal. The sculptures at A Cat's Paw and his apartment were created by him. He wields a sword concealed in a cane. He can transform himself and other people into cats. Additionally, he's skilled at ward magic.

According to Reese, Graves is the most powerful witch in the city.

## Relationships

### Avery

Avery is one of Graves's employees. Avery is immediately put off by Graves's eccentric personality. They hold a grudge against Graves for most of the game because of the cat curse and his secrecy, however they come to respect Graves's dedication to protect everyone at A Cat's Paw.

In Grave's route, Avery slowly comes to trust Graves more and more as they get to now him personally. Although they view him as a huge nerd, that's part of what makes him endearing to Avery, along with his elegance and gentleness. Graves is exceedingly grateful for how far Avery goes to help him, and claims that Avery's impulsiveness is something he adores about them. Nevertheless, he's appalled by how messy Avery is, and mistakes their littered apartment for a break-in.

### Nacht

Nacht and Graves were in a band together, and had a relationship that was hinted to be abusive. Eventually, Graves broke up with Nacht for the last time and left him. Nacht holds a huge grudge towards Graves for being left so intense that it becomes murderous. Graves has difficulty hurting Nacht even after everything Nacht has done because he still hopes Nacht's good side will come out.

### Reese

Reese is Graves's apprentice and one of his employees. Reese has unending admiration for Graves, more than anyone else. The co-creator mentioned that Reese has a crush on Graves, and whether the crush is as a mentor or romantic is up for interpretation. Graves was afraid when he saw Reese imitating his father's magic like Nacht was imitating Graves's magic, so he took in Reese as an apprentice in order to protect him and lead him down the right path. Since his father and Graves are college friends, Reese knows Graves very well.

### Landry

Landry is one of Graves's employees. Graves saved Landry's life from a curse by overriding it with the cat curse, so Landry feels indebted to him. Graves compliments Landry on his talent for building several times.

### Finley

Finley is one of Graves's employees. Finley enjoys teasing everyone, and Graves isn't an exception. Finley's Jelly Donut videos are the reason for the popularity of Graves's business.

### Mason

Mason is one of Graves's employees. Graves took in Mason after she ran away from her grandfather.

### Hayes

Hayes is one of Graves's employees. Graves adore's Hayes's coffee and mentions that he doesn't know what he did before his coffee. Hayes is thankful for Graves's cat curse since it helps him cope with anxiety.

### Dracula

Dracula is Graves's current cat. She has been his companion for nineteen years. He has great respect for her, referring to her as "Countess Dracula."

### Mochi

Graves quickly becomes friends with Mochi, largely due to his ability to clearly communicate with cats. He listens to everything Graves tells him to do.

## Trivia

* Grave's voice would sound smooth, deep, and rehearsed, and although he wouldn't have an accent, there's a chance he might be hiding one.
* Graves is vegetarian.
* He once named a white cat "Rainbow."
* Graves doesn't like children.
* Graves's last name is Serling, as confirmed by the co-creator.
* Graves is an only child and he's horrible at keeping in contact with his family.

## Reference list

1. ↑ Co-creator's tumblr
2. ↑ Co-creator's tumblr.
3. ↑ Co-creator's tumblr.
4. ↑ Co-creator's tumblr
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Co-creator's tumblr.