Dixie

With Don Gutierrez:

* Catalina Gutierrez
* Einar Gutierrez

**Dixie** is a tawny furred queen who is Punkin' Puss' mother. Hailing from the small town of Hog Holler, Arkansas, she came from a poor family and was married off to Peter “Paw” Punkin’ Puss, an irate tomcat hailing from deep in the Ozarks, to pay off a debt. After spending four years trapped in an abusive marriage, Dixie made her escape, though she was chased off by her husband before she could rescue her children. She retreated deep into the mountains, and was nearly killed by her husband’s family for her assumed “betrayal”, but was rescued by a Spanish hero-for-hire named Joaquin Gutierrez, who stumbled upon the scene. Their eventual romance resulted in a daughter, Catalina, and they married shortly after, though the marriage was marked with a few troubles from her ex-husband’s family. Years later, she would reunite with her children from her first marriage, namely Punkin’ Puss, whom Don rescued after the feud between his family and Mushmouse’s nearly claimed his life. Throughout the rest of the series, Dixie, Don, Punkin’ and Catalina help to repair the breach that her ex-husband created.

Debuting in *Blazin' Trails Redux*, she is one of the integral characters in season 4.

## History

### Relationship with Don

In spring 1837, Don’s life would be upended again, but this time in a different way. En route to taking a short vacation from hero work, he stumbled upon a horrible sight: a queen being beat upon by four other men in a ravine below, who were kicking her in the stomach and face. Spurred into action, Don ambushed the men, killing two of them and forcing the others to flee—the perpetrator, Moses, swore that he would get revenge on Don for “gettin’ in between his affairs” as he retreated. With the men gone, Don turned to the injured queen, and took her back to his cabin to treat her for her injuries.

Things proved somewhat complicated at first. The queen, Dixie, reacted to him initially by scratching him across the face, only to be halted in her escape due to her broken bones. Even after reassuring that he wasn’t a threat, Dixie didn’t trust him immediately and refused to divulge any information on where she’d come from, just that she needed to get out of the mountains. Initially, he’d been frustrated by her closure, though he had enough sense to recognize that something awful had happened to her, yet he didn’t know what.

He would learn some of the truth, however, when she attempted to escape the cabin again, and ended up in the hands of one of the men who’d hurt her; now intent on finishing the job, Moses’ brother, Lincoln, claimed that she and her “worthless brood” would be reunited in death. The news stunned Dixie into shocked silence, and Lincoln took advantage of it by breaking her ankle so she couldn’t flee. Don, infuriated, wasted no time in quickly ambushing and disposing of her would-be killer. His hardened heart would be softened when he heard her cry out in the middle of the night for her children, lamenting not escaping with them as she’d planned. The next morning, she told him everything: how she’d been forced into marriage with an irate tomcat, who’d abused and raped her during their marriage. His family, namely, his brother’s sons, decide to “punish” her for escaping by killing her—and with how remote the mountains were, they were going to do it in a way that would ensure she would never be found. Don openly wept upon hearing the tale. After Dixie was cleared by the doctor, he told her that in no circumstances was she going to head back there alone, not without help. He promised that as soon as she was healed, he’d head back to her town, bring her husband in, and reunite her with her children—and refused to allow her to pay for it, either, as in his opinion, a service like this should be done from the goodness of his heart.

For the next few months, their relationship would change from barely wanting to do anything with each other, to slowly, but surely falling in love. They initially traveled to a few towns due to Don’s hero work, before eventually settling in the small town of Swallowtail, Arkansas, where much of her family lived. Her family was wary of Don at first, but warmed up to him when they saw he wasn’t cut from the same cloth as Peter. They made Swallowtail their permanent home after Don’s last house “mysteriously” caught fire; thankfully, the mountain folk came together and built him a new one deep in the woods.

Reunited with her family and healing from her injuries, Dixie decided to make the decision to formally divorce her husband, and drafted up the papers. She also started to open up again, and her no-nonsense, spitfire personality drew Don to her like a moth to a flame. Likewise, she was drawn to his charismatic, yet honest and caring personality. Not long after they confessed their feelings to each other, they consummated their new relationship, and she moved in with him about two days later. What followed was a passionate love affair. A few months later, Dixie would reveal she was pregnant. Don was shocked at first, but was elated, and couldn’t wait to be a father to his new kitten.

## Trivia

* Dixie is a character lifted from Iheartgod175’s *Temporary Truce* series, and makes her debut in the unposted sequel to that story, *A Hillcat’s Requiem*. In the original draft to that story, she did remarry after divorcing Punkin’s father, and had a daughter with him, but the names of both her second husband and daughter were different, and it’s even mentioned that her second marriage didn’t last long because of his death. One thing that remained consistent in both of her appearances was that shortly after she escaped Peter, he made his children believe that she was dead.
* Her love story with Don was inspired by Kallen Kaslana and Yae Sakura’s story. Whereas Kallen and Yae’s story ended in tragedy, Joaquin and Dixie would get their happy ending.