Willow moved to Lune City with her mother Viola and her black cat Mitzi when she was 15 years old. Viola had bought a house there for a new job opportunity, and so the family lived in a compact but tall San Francisco-style home with a quaint design, set atop a spacious hill that overlooked the rest of the city.
Willow's father was not around for most of her life. Due to her mother's busy schedule, Willlow was left to take care of herself while attending school. While at Lune High, she met Daniella, who was around the same age as Willow and took the same classes as her. Though Willow had wanted to keep to herself and was initially hesitant about being social, Daniella approached her and the two eventually became friends.
At the time, Daniella was living with Vianney, a high school senior and friend of Klara. Daniella ended up introducing both girls to Willow, who, while extremely shy and quiet, was happy that she’d managed to make some new friends. For the first half of the semester, the girls all spent time hanging out and visiting one another.
Viola's Death[]
Unbeknownst to Willow, her home actually housed a well-hidden underground laboratory. A set of stairs leading to it was nestled beneath some floorboards that Viola kept hidden by placing one of the couches in the living room atop it. Willow's mother would carry out lots of extra work in the lab late at night, but usually told her daughter that she'd stayed late at her job. Since Willow was usually asleep, she was never around to witness her mother exiting the lab and thus had no reason not to believe her.
When Viola passed away halfway into one of Willow’s school years, Cadence started watching over her, adopting the girl as her godchild. Willow became rather reclusive, but would still try to see her friends at school so that they wouldn’t worry about her or start relentlessly asking questions. At home, she mostly clung to her cat Mitzi and would read or draw to distract herself. Meanwhile, Cadence continued to carry out Viola’s work, and so Willow didn’t see her much either.
Becoming a Mew[]
Mitzi ran off one day, forcing Willow to look for her around the house. As she was on her knees searching under furniture in the main room of her home, she spotted a crease in the floorboards. Curious, she pulled it open to find a staircase leading into an underground laboratory. As she took some steps down, her cat ran into her, having been hiding somewhere but wanting attention now. Willow picked Mitzi up and clung to her as she descended into the lab, shocked that she never knew about it. She understood immediately that her mother had been working here, and assumed either she chose this house because it had a laboratory, or she somehow had built it herself.
At the time, Cadence had gone out to see Celestia at her workplace to discuss something important, and so the area was empty. After exploring the lab for a while, Willow came across a strange pearl with a rainbow-tinted color. When she stepped closer to examine it, the pearl started to glow, scaring Willow. However, she didn’t stop until she was right before the object, hoping to get a closer view out of utter curiosity. She reached out to touch the pearl, but it began to glow so brilliantly that Willow was engulfed in light and could not see. After a brief period of stumbling around and trying to shield her eyes, she started to feel fatigued and passed out.
When Willow woke up, she found Cadence and Celestia hovering over her, trying to make sure she was okay. What they all found was that the pearl had transformed Willow and given her a new form with new, bright clothing, cat ears, and a cat tail. Willow was scared at first, but after seeing herself in the mirror to double-check that she was still herself and being told that she was okay, she took to her new form better. Mitzi was also safe, she found, and she held the cat to her chest again as the two scientists discussed the potential of this pearl. After disclosing their and Viola’s research, and the activity in the lab throughout the Roths' time in Lune City to Willow, they told her they needed to study her form. The news of all of this overwhelmed the young girl, and at her emotional height, she turned into a cat.
Surprised, the scientists tried to work with Willow and help her turn back into a human. After a brief period of time, she was finally able to calm down enough to focus, returning to her human form. The group concluded that she needed to have a handle on her emotions or else she would keep transforming into a cat. Moreover, Willow found out that she could use the pendant from the choker she wore in her Mew form to transform between it and her normal human form.
With all this information, the scientists decided to go to work on researching and experimenting more with the pearl and Viola’s prior research. In the meantime, Willow was expected to continue going to school and trying to go on normally without raising suspicion.
Forming The Ensemble Mews[]
Willow became the central draw for the rest of the group. Though she had no intentions to involve her friends into her business, she was the reason they became Mews.
Despite trying to, Willow found it difficult to keep a handle on her emotions and started regularly refraining from seeing her friends to avoid any risk of losing control around them. Around this time, the Diaboliques had established their presence in Lune City, and thus it became difficult for everyone to go out regularly. So, the group only saw each other at school, typically after classes.
One such time, Willow was confronted by everyone who’d grown worried about her since she had become so reclusive, and the sudden act caused her to become flustered. She lost control of her emotions once more and turned into a cat in front of her friends. The light from her transformation caught the eye of two members of the Diaboliques, who pinpointed and followed the light's source. Willow tried to get herself to turn back into a human, but did not have the time to before the two Danseurs found her. Seeing that the aliens were after her, the other girls took Willow away and ran as quickly as they could while trying to lose their pursuers.
The group managed to outrun the Danseur threat and decided to take Willow home, knowing that she was under someone's care and hoping that this caretaker could help her. There, the group met with Cadence and Celestia, who took the group into the lab. When Willow finally calmed down, she managed to focus herself again in order to transform back into a human, and the other girls were made aware of the situation.
Knowing that the Diaboliques would now start to hunt for her, Willow's friends decided they wanted to help protect her. Seeing this as a good opportunity to create a force to fight the Danseur threat, Cadence and Celestia infused the girls with animal DNA and power from the Rainbow Pearl, and the Ensemble Mews then formed.
About
Personality[]
Willow is initially extremely shy and quiet, and next to Daniella, she is one of the youngest members of the group. Willow typically wears loose, baggy, and generally comfortable clothing because she prefers to be comfortable and isn’t one for pursuing fashion or generally girly things. She tends to hunch over a lot and fold her arms if she’s feeling nervous, and becomes easily uncomfortable in social situations. Her astrological sign is Cancer.
Willow is relatively to-herself but can be ambitious and cares often for other people when she gets attached to them. She is very hesitant initially, but later on she becomes more dominant and strong, learning to be more in control of her emotions and courageous, unafraid of approaching things. However, she goes from one extreme attitude to another—instead of being timid, she shuts people out, afraid of hurting them. It is not until she meets Marianne, the last girl of the group, that this changes.
Preferences[]
Willow likes cats and other feline animals, having been attached to them since she was very young and had Mitzi as a pet. She enjoys sweets, especially creamy things or baked goods. Willow loves to write and draw, having dreamt of becoming a professional writer someday. While she is unable to go to school because of the events in the series, she does constantly write and has various journals full of story ideas.
Willow dislikes the taste and feeling of sour foods. She is afraid of heights and dislikes water, so doesn’t like to swim all that much. She also hates sad movies, since she wants to try to bring positivity in her life and feels like watching sad movies will just make her even more sad.
Mew Form
Powers and Weapons[]
1/6
Willow becomes Mew Parfait after being infused with the power of the Rainbow Pearl. Her associated food is Strawberry Parfait. She is infused with the DNA of a Black Cat, and is one of the only Ensemble Mews who can actually transform into her animal because of the direct contact she had with the Pearl. Willow's Mew Mark is a red cat’s head with ears and whiskers, located over her chest. This mark is visible in neither her Mew form nor her civilian human form since Willow prefers to cover herself up quite often and her Mew form does not expose her chest.
Mew Parfait fights with sound and healing elements, using her weapon, the Sonorous Strawberry Triangle to channel them. Mew Parfait’s power is activated by bravery and courage, and because these traits are so weak in her when she is younger, she is not particularly powerful at first.
Fighting Style[]
Mew Parfait has two attacks: Ribbon Parfait Resonance, a passive healing move, and Ribbon Parfait Ring, her main offensive attack. Both are long-range, since Mew Parfait prefers to fight from a distance. She'll usually end up staying behind the other Ensemble Mews and letting them take the lead when in battle. It is only later on that she starts to fight more offensively and gets in closer proximity to her enemies, using her main attack at a medium to close range.
While her teammates have joint attacks with one another, Mew Parfait only has two combined attacks. One is Ribbon Pearl Ensemble, which is with her entire team, and the other is Ringing Dance of Light, with Marianne.
Musical Themes
See the series song list for links to and elaboration on theme music.
Willow's associated instrument is the Triangle, which is also her weapon as a Mew. It is not a very cherished instrument, usually overlooked despite being so integral to so many pieces of music, both classical and modern. This instrument's reputation as something of a background piece is meant to reflect Willow’s nature and her tendency to be overlooked or left in the background despite her important role.
Willow's main theme is “Serenade for Flute, Violin, Viola and Triangle, (B. 15bis) – Largo” by Antonín Dvořák (see above).
Role
The Ensemble Mews[]
Willow fights more passively when she is younger and part of the original team. She acts as support compared to her other team members because her offensive attack is so weak. She mostly stays back, acts as a lookout, and heals her team in the case of injury using her triangle. Because of her passive role, Willow felt useless as a teammate most times and felt even worse knowing that her friends always had to protect her.
When the Rainbow Pearl was lost to Étoile during the Ensemble Mews' last battle with the Diaboliques, Willow grew extremely frightened and pessimistic. She ran away instead of helping her team, both out of fear and because she felt she wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway. She never saw her friends after that final fight, hiding somewhere away from her home until later on when the team had already dissipated.
After Split[]
After the team split up, Willow returned to Cadence and Celestia to try to find a way to beat the Diaboliques, hoping that doing so would make up for her running away to begin with. While the three went into hiding in Viola’s laboratory, Willow began training to strengthen her body and Mew form,even learning to voluntarily transform into and out of her cat form.
She learned to better control her emotions from Cadence, who had experience with this prospect after Viola’s death and had since learned to control her emotions in order to work with the pearl, hoping to avoid another incident like before. To keep her identity safe and be able to walk among other people, Willow had Celestia help her cut and dye her hair to a completely opposite color.
Using her cat form, Willow started to sneak into and out of places in order to steal supplies or spy on other people for information on the outside world under the Diaboliques’ rule. Food, water, medical supplies, and scientific supplies were stolen from various places by her.
Upgraded Form[]
As Celestia and Cadence studied Willow's Mew form over time, they found that it evolved. As she grew in the two years between leaving her old team and obtaining a new partner, Willow’s Mew form adapted to her older body, with a slight alteration in appearance. Moreover, Willow found that her weapon was much stronger now that she was more in control of her emotions, and that she could fight more offensively than before.
Willow tried to face Étoile once more on her own after growing stronger but ultimately failed to beat her. She was only able to chip off a shard from the Rainbow Pearl in Étoile's possession and run away with it while narrowly avoiding being caught by the Diaboliques.
When she meets Marianne, just over two years has passed, and Willow is now 17. She goes undercover as a student back at Lune High but steals supplies from the school’s labs and offices after classes are over. When Marianne catches her transforming into her cat form and causes a scene, she has to protect her. Officers working under the Diaboliques find out about the incident and threaten to take the girls to them for questioning. When hearing this, Willow “kidnaps” the Marianne, stealing a car and driving it home to hide her in the laboratory there.
Knowing that Marianne would be in danger if left alone, she, Celestia, and Cadence let her stay with them. She ends up having to protect her later, after she is captured by two of the Diaboliques, who by now had heard of the two runaways and started seeking them out. They manage to catch the girls during one of Willow’s supply runs, where she, after some convincing, brought Marianne along. When her inexperienced partner fails to run away, Willow decides to act. She knows she wouldn’t be able to fight off the Danseurs alone, so she turns into a cat, runs home, and steals the pearl shard from the lab. She finds and brings the shard back to Marianne and throws it at her in desperation, knowing it would react to her as it had before. The pearl shard then becomes embedded into Marianne's body, its power surging through her. She turns into a Mew, and the two girls partner up to fend off the two Diaboliques before running away. They become partners afterward, continuing to the fight against the Diaboliques. In the meantime, Willow decides to train Marianne and prepare her to face Étoile and her subordinates all together.
⛔SPOILER:⛔
Willow eventually resorts to calling the other members of her old team, and it is Klara who answers first and starts helping Willow to train Marianne. The others do not show up until a little while later.
Relationships
Viola Roth: Willow had a difficult relationship with her mother. She loved her, but felt like Viola wasn't there enough to really feel close to her. She tried to be understanding of her mother's business and of the fact that she was simply trying her best to make things work, but felt her lack of presence was taxing and difficult to ignore. She only truly got to connect with her mother and learn more about her through the work she left behind.
Cadence Harper: Willow was actually quite threatened by Cadence at first. Despite later coming to know her because of her mother, and subsequently because Cadence had to foster her after Viola’s death, she still felt uneasy around Cadence's upfront and cold personality. Willow knew Cadence cared about her, but found she lacked the same warmth that others in the group had. However, after the original Ensemble Mews split up, Willow was actually taught by Cadence how to control her emotions, and she valued her input much more than before. After spending more time with her, Willow finds that Cadence is very responsible and can be gentle and kind when she lets herself get attached to someone.
Celestia Sweet: Celestia's quirky and lively nature is a little off-putting to a shy, reserved Willow when she is younger, but she soon finds the woman to be very caring, understanding, and easy to talk to. While Cadence is Willow's official caretaker after Viola's death, Celestia is the one who takes care of Willow more actively. Later on, Willow and Celestia's relationship is like that of a big and little sister. When the original Ensemble Mews split, Celestia cut and dyed Willow's hair to help her hide her identity, as she regularly did so to her own hair and knew how to change up her appearance.
Klara De Jongh: Willow is both a little jealous of and idolizes Klara for being so laid back and casual about things. She finds comfort in her tranquil nature and is happy that Klara is understanding of her, knowing when to give her space and when to actually confront her about an issue. Of the original group, Klara is the one who gives her the most comfort and understands best how to handle her.
Daniella Gillespie: Willow is more accustomed to Danny simply because she met her first, but she gets easily exhausted by her energy at times. Despite this, the two are quite fond of one another, and Danny helps Willow to be more social when she would more than likely sit at home and do nothing.
Vianney Soubrette: Willow is not quite a fan of Vianney's flamboyant nature at first, but is also happy that she is so kind to her. She’d always had an image of rich girls being utterly spoiled, but Vianney shattered that image and always treated Willow with kindness and patience, very much like Klara. Vianney, like Danny, always tries to get Willow to be more social, sometimes to an overwhelming degree because of how outgoing she is.
Marianne Richardson: Like the above two, Marianne is very energetic. However, Willow is attached to her because, like Klara, she understands her situation and feelings quite well. Marianne has gone through similar circumstances and serve as a model for Willow. Marianne is someone who has gotten themselves out of hardship and who Willow admires. Though she initially rejects Marianne regularly when they first meet due to a colder and hardened personality developed after the events that occurred with her previous team, Willow eventually comes to truly love the girl's company. She becomes very open with Marianne who cares for her and shows interest in her writing.
Trivia
Willow's cat, Mitzi, was named after a character from The Cat Lady, a game that features black cats extensively.
Willow's design was intended to be drastically more different in her older age, but I opted for a simpler modification.
