Katharina Herzog's Questionnaire

Katharina lives in Heidelberg, a city in Baden Württemberg in Germany. She lives in a small one-bedroom flat near the hospital where her little brother is staying and where she is studying pharmacy. Her small room has a fitted kitchen from a DIY store with no oven and only hotplates and is decorated with medical diagrams and pictures. Her small bed is right next to a bookshelf full of medical books. The large table in the centre of the room is full of medical books and notes, a tiny space is reserved for eating, there are two chairs, one of which is full of books. The only picture in the room shows her at the age of 12 with a 6-year-old boy hugging her. It is the only picture in the room that does not show a medical procedure. The bed looks worn and it is even questionable whether it could support more than one person without breaking. The last item in the room is a wardrobe full of clothes from the second-hand shop. All are baggy and appear to have been bought to conceal the figure of the wearer.

Money is thight, as Katharina lives on a sholarship from the State and works as a shopkeeper in a little antiquary book store around the corner from her home. Most of her wake time she studies for her pharmaceutical degree from the university hospital of Heidelberg. All money she does not spend on living and her studies is spent on little gifts for her brother in the hospital and saving up for emergencys. She is not someone who will spent money on superficial things and thinks three times before she spents her money. Most Books she buys from her boss on a discounted rate and her clothes are mostly from thriftstores. She has a sweethtooth and absolutly loves marzipan but only buys it sometimes when she visits her brother in the hospital. As she lives in germany she is not responsible for any Hospital Bills.

She wants to cure her little brother, who is suffering from an unknown disease that is slowly turning his body into a panther. They have already tried several treatments on him, but nothing has worked. Even high-class magical remedies have not worked. His entire lower body has already turned into a cat. And researchers believe that in a few years he will be completely changed and lose the ability to speak. The best theory so far is that it is a retrovirus that is slowly changing his DNA into a panther, which should happen gradually throughout his body and should have no pathological effect on his bone structure. However, they see that this is different in this case, so they suspect that either a magical or highly advanced technology just based on a retrovirus is maybe the cause. There is also a heated debate about whether he will remain himself or whether his brain will also return to the intelligence of a cat. 

As he is the last relative she knows, after her parents died, of drug abuse, when she was 13, she would do almost anything to spend even one more year with him as a human, even trade her own life for it. But she has some hard limits. After her parents died and her brother was hospitalized, she was left alone in the care home and was bullied by the other girls there because of her low self-esteem. This makes it difficult for her to be the center of attention, which is why she tries to hide her beautiful body as much as possible. She would also rather sacrifice herself than ever kill another person. However, there is no problem with hurting others so badly that they are permanently marked or disabled.

3 years after she came to the orphanage because her parents died, katharina blossomed and her hobby of making pretty clothes ensured her the attention of all the boys in the orphanage. But this annoyed the other girls who bullied her and robbed her of any sense of self-worth. Since then, she has been wearing form-concealing clothes such as hoodies and old jeans. Only when she visits her brother does she dress a little more smartly, but even here she is careful not to stand out too much from the crowd because she has developed a massive fear of being the centre of attention or attracting the attention of strangers.

The most important person in her life is her little brother. Lanky 13-year-old Kevin spends most of his time in hospital as the orphanage is unable to cope with his illness. With his steely blue eyes and smile, he is Katharina's rock and she can always hold on to him. For years, he has been trying to prepare Katharina for his imminent demise, which he believes he has not yet succeeded in doing sufficiently. But as long as he does not feel that she can carry on alone, he must continue to fight so as not to let her down. His and her happiest moments are the walks through the city that they used to go on every weekend. As he started to change more drastically they can only use a wheelchair for him now and he finds that deeply depressing. 

Her second most important person at the moment is Annabeth, her old school friend from first grade. She has moved away to Hamburg and they only see each other once a year, but they video chat regularly. She has long been trying to get Katharina out of her shell and into sexy clothes. She is one of the few people who have seen her remarkable beauty when she tries really hard. 

The Last person is her Boss an old Lady around 60. Sabine is also her Landlord and took a liking to her when she applied for the flat shes renting out. She supports her in small ways like inviting her to cook together so Katharine learns all the necessary things to have her own household. Shes not sure how much trouble katharina went through but she knows enough to see the disturbing past this child had.