Mae Borowski

"I will unlock your ass!"

— Mae

Margaret Borowski
Character Info
Nickname(s)	Mae Mayday (by Bea) Killer (by Possum Springs' youth, especially Lori Meyers.) Nightmare Eyes (by self) Queen of Possum Springs (by self) Trash Mammal (by self) Mayor of Possum Springs (by Stan) Kitten (by Stan) Hermit (by self) Key master (by self) Bandit Queen (by self) Duder (by Gregg)
Age	20
Gender	Female
Species	Cat

Margaret Borowski, better known as Mae, is the protagonist of Night in the Woods.

According to Longest Night, her sign is Mundy.

Appearance

Mae is a cat with dark blue fur and dyed red hair, which has faded since she applied it and now appears to be dark red in color. She has large red eyes, which she dislikes and refers to as "nightmare eyes." Her right ear is also notched from a dog attack, and Mae can be seen flicking this ear frequently throughout the game while idle.

Her attire consists of an orange shirt with long red sleeves, with a slashed zero design in the center. Mae also has dark grey jeans and wears boots that are described as "cheap green-ish knock-off Doc Martens".

Mae is noticeably shorter than others in Possum Springs and considers herself to be overweight. Her grandfather called her "sturdy," an assessment that Mae ultimately agrees with, and worries that her style of clothing accentuates her "roundness".

Personality

Mae Borowski has a troubled past, primarily with depression and anger issues. She was instructed to "repress" these issues by Dr. Hank. Her emotional turmoil is later revealed to be a byproduct of dissociation. She's snarky and, what one could consider to be, disrespectful to those around her, even referring to herself as "a jerk." As the game progresses, her more compassionate side is revealed. One example of this is when she comforting others, especially her friends, during emotional moments. She seems to worry about Bruce and appears to genuinely care for her "rat babies" once she discovers them, even stealing pretzels from the pierogi stand in order to feed them. She greatly loves and cares for her friends, and isn't afraid to express this.

Possibly due to her depression, Mae is rather nostalgic and often reminisces about Possum Springs as it was when she left for college. She often reflects on how much has changed since she's been away.

After being prescribed to do so by Dr. Hank, Mae keeps a journal.

Mae is known to be energetic and agile, enjoying to climb things whenever possible. Her close friends and family (and the police) reference her habits of climbing electrical poles, tightrope walking on the power lines, and general running around and jumping.

Mae is pansexual; when asked what her ideal date is she states "girl or boy", but cites specific personality traits she would like them to have. The game's creator later clarified that while Mae might not be aware of the term "pansexual", if she knew what it was that's likely what she'd identify as.

Background

Mae was born in either 1996 or 1997, being age 20 in the year 2017. She is the only child of Candy and Stan Borowski, whose families worked the coal mines in Possum Springs for generations. Since the mine closed the two parents worked and saved money to enable Mae to be the first member of the family to attend college. Mae went for three semesters, dropped out, and moved back into her parents' attic.

Mae has always been a bit troubled: dissociation, depression, no direction and recently, a connection with what she believes to be paranormal activity in the town. When she was in high school her dissociation caused an incident, leaving her with a bad reputation in the town. She has no idea how to cope with these feelings, but through sheer chance she begins to notice something dark going on in town, a trail of clues leading up into the woods.

Young Mae as seen in one of the Night In The Woods supplemental games "Lost Constellation"

In Lost Constellation Mae is shown to be younger and was asking her grandfather about robbing a bank at a young age, but they then enter into a conversation about jail, where Mae asks her grandfather to tell her a ghost story. This then leads to the main storyline of the game, with Mae interrupting the story to comment on certain portions of the story.

Relationships

Mae used to be in a relationship with Cole back when she was in high school, but they have broken up since. She has been canonically confirmed as being pansexual by Scott Benson's Curious Cat page, which can also be seen in the graveyard scene with the three weird teens sitting at the gate asking both Mae and Bea questions. When asked what their dream dates would be like, Mae refers to her dream date as "they" and states that she is not picky between a boy, girl or any other gender when asked for clarification by Britt, the teen sitting on the lower roof. After Gregg complains about how he and Angus are the "only queer people in town," Mae objects by saying she's there too, further indicating that she is a LGBT+ individual.

Friends

• Gregg - Gregg is Mae's best friend from high school. The two were well known for being troublemakers around town, and often committed acts that they vaguely refer to as "crimes". Gregg seems to have calmed since high school, but is re-inspired to do similar things to what they did when they were younger when Mae returns, a fact addressed in the game by Angus.
• Bea - Bea was Mae's former best friend from 7th grade and the grades before, but eventually grew apart. They were once in Scouts together. They stopped hanging out when they were in seventh grade, though they have varying opinions on the reason why. Mae refers to it as "having a big fight when they were twelve," though Bea just sees it as Mae finding herself too cool to be seen with Bea. She says that Mae had just stopped sitting with her at lunch and hadn't returned any of her calls all of the sudden, and was always with Gregg instead of her. Near the beginning of the game, Bea resents Mae, due to Mae wasting her opportunity to go college by dropping out, while Bea was unable to even go to college, due to family circumstances. They've have made up with each other, however, and appear to have reformed their bond from their childhood via the events of the game.
• Casey Hartley - Another one of Mae's close friends who, shortly prior to the events of the game, disappears without a trace, a fact later discovered to be due to the cultists which are the game's main antagonists. Casey played drums in the band before going missing, later to be replaced by Bea, and did "crimes" with Gregg and Mae.
• Angus - Mae wasn't originally close to Angus and was initially acquainted with him through Gregg, as he is Gregg's boyfriend. Throughout the game, however, Mae and Angus become close friends, Angus even sharing very personal details of his childhood with Mae. They also play in the same band together.
• Selmers - Mae's neighbour and friend. Selmers likes to bounce her ideas for poems off of Mae, and believes herself to be a better poet because of Mae's willingness to listen.
• Mr. Chazokov - At the beginning of the game, Mae states that while she enjoyed the constellations in Mr. Chazokov's class, she didn't enjoy school in general. Throughout the game, Mae can view constellations, or "dusk stars", through his telescope on Selmers' roof every two days.
• Lori Meyers - Lori becomes close to Mae, if she visits the roof where Lori hangs out in Towne Centre. Lori will take Mae to visit the tracks a couple times to hang out, and Mae comforts her through her lack of self-worth.
• Germ - Germ and Mae also become very close friends if they hang out with each other. Germ seems to understand Mae and the problems she goes through. Mae sometimes doesn't understand Germ or his family but she tends to get along with him and finds him rather interesting and peculiar. Mae even visits his home and family, something not even Gregg has done.

Family

Mae's parents and her Aunt Molly are central characters in Night in the Woods. Her Granddad passes away before the events of the game, thus never making an appearance in the actual game and is only known through characters mentioning him or through supplemental games.

• Candy Borowski - Mae's kind and caring mother. She has maintained a good relationship with her daughter despite Mae having been away from Possum Springs. Her and Mae have an argument about Mae having left college despite the family making extensive plans for it. It is implied through this argument that her and Mae's father put a lot of pressure on Mae that she had to succeed.
• Stan Borowski - Mae's friendly but forgetful father. He forgets which day Mae is expected to arrive at Possum Springs and doesn't go to the bus station to pick her up, which Mae expresses annoyance for, but they both agree to pretend that Stan remembered the correct day of her arrival.
• Aunt Molly - Nicknamed "Aunt Mall Cop", she is strict and professional despite being a policewoman in a small town. She first meets Mae at the closed-down playground where Molly picks her up, threatens to arrest her, then takes her home. Her and Mae are generally amicable, but Mae is slightly angry at her for not believing her throughout the game.
• Mae's Grandfather - Mae and her Granddad had a very close relationship. He would tell her ghost stories when she was little to help her fall asleep. After his death, Mae remembers him in a positive light, fondly reminiscing over the apple crate of horror books he left her.
• Anselm Borowski - Mae's ancestor who died in a war. Listed on the memorial statue in town, the name Anselm can be derived from "ans" for god and "helm" for helmet/protection.

Events

Spoiler warning! This article contains major plot details about the game.

(WIP)

Day/Night 1- The game starts off with Mae reading off white dialogue on a black screen. The full dialogue reads as this:

In the year Granddad died

We had the worst flood since 1998

Gregg was trapped on top of a dog house

The power was out for two days

Casey Hartley came by in his dad's boat

And I laughed when I saw him

Granddad left me an apple crate of books

He loved ghost stories

And quoted them to himself on the hospital bed

"They went looking for the gods

and died in lonely places."

on his last day

he sat up suddenly

and stared bug-eyed through the window

at the old train

from somewhere else

he turned to my dad

eyes still wide

"this house is haunted"

he said

and died.

After the dialogue, you start off as Mae on a train. The train is heading towards her hometown, Possum Springs. You can look around the train at different things. On the left, you will run into a TV. When the TV turns on, it will switch to a show named "Garbo and Malloy".

If you go farther left, you will run into The Janitor. He'll ask you to get him a Fiascola, which you have to get from the Fiasco Fox Vending Machine in order to progress the game. After aquiring the Fiascola, Mae gives it to the Janitor saying, "One freeasscola.". The Janitor then lets you through, and you end up at the Train Station.

Mae was expecting her parents to be there, but there is no one to be found. She then has to hike through the woods to get back home. In scene after the Train Station, Mae has to climb a failed log load. While doing so, one of the logs break and causes the rest of the logs to tumble down with it. She is then able to climb over the rest of the logs and into the next scene.

In the next scene, Mae is found at the old abandoned Sawmill Park. She is able to interact with the broken ship, saying that it's "just a thing for weird animals to eat and have babies in.". To progress onto the next scene, Mae must 'triple' jump from the ship onto the branch, then jump and walk on the wire. Once she reaches the far left, she will fall onto her stomach and be caught by Aunt Molly. She will tell Mae that she found her "in the very off-limits playground" and will tell her to "get in the car.". Mae will say no to this, and Aunt Molly will respond, "Do you want to spend your first night back in jail, Mae?", with which Mae replies with "No."

After getting in the car, Mae will arrive at her house. Stan Borowski is seen sitting on the couch, and Mae will go to talk to him. She mentions that he was not there at the train station to pick her up, and Stan replies with, "I thought you were coming home tomorrow night!", which Mae replies with, "You thought wrong!". Stan asks Mae if she said 'hello' to Aunt Molly for him, which she says, "I say hi for no one. Eff the cops!". She then says she will go to bed, and after the last dialoge, the first journal entry is made, reading, "". She will then go to bed, triggering the end of Day 1.

Endings

Spoiler warning! This article contains major plot details about the game.

Gregg ending

To get the Gregg ending, all you need is to:

• Hang out with Gregg till the last playable band practice

When you enter the location you will enter it with Gregg. You will start to have a conversation, but then there will be choices if you will tell Casey's parents about his death. Mae will also ask Gregg if she can move to Bright Harbor with him and Angus. He politely refuses, but says she's welcome to visit any time she wishes. After the conversation, Angus and then Bea will come in.

Bea ending

To get the Bea ending, all you need is to:

• Hang out with Bea till the last playable band practice

When you enter the location you will enter it with Bea. You will start to have a conversation, but then there will be choices if you will tell Casey's parents about his death. Mae suggests to Bea that they go on a road trip together to get out of Possum Springs for a while, telling Bea that she's "home enough", and that an episode of derealization wouldn't occur if the pair stuck together on the road. After the conversation, Angus and Gregg will come in and then throw a funny insult to Bea and Mae. If you throw an insult to Gregg and Angus, Angus states that he and Gregg haven't been insulted in forever.

Quotes

Spoiler warning! This article contains major plot details about the game.

"And iz not my fault I'm a total trashfire!"

"I'm a total trash mammal!!"

— While drunk at a party

"Remember to water and feed him. If you ever hurt him I will kick your ass into the ground. He was mine first."

— Talking to Angus about Gregg

"No, like when your body is like 'Uh whoa I almost died,' and you get all hyper because you're filled with dolphins."

— After managing to escape from the collapsing mine with Bea, Gregg, and Angus

"Obviously the world is seriously screwed up, but we're all gonna die if we don't keep living."

 "Just because that online test said that your best chance at being happy is a situation where everyone already likes you, but they mostly leave you alone except when they're delivering food to you . . . that doesn't mean you can hide in your room and wait for that to happen. That's how Hermits are made, Mae, and they die alone in the middle of Winter, waiting for pizza from friends they don't want to see."

— While talking to herself in the mirror before the party.

"That's me. A miracle."

— While talking to her mom when her mom thought Mae was pregnant.

Trivia

• Mae hates beer, and only got drunk during the party in the beginning of the game because she was nervous.
• Mae is pansexual, meaning that she can be attracted to others of any gender or regardless of their gender.
• She's a virgin, regardless of whether the player picks "yes" or "no" when asked about it.
• Mae plays the bass guitar in a band with her friends, who make her play even though she doesn't know the band's songs (due to being out of town at college). However, if the player "plays" the songs perfectly, Gregg and Bea comment on her skill, and she replies simply, "All in a day's work."
• Mae cannot drive and doesn't own a driver's license.
• Before the Build #118 update, Mae appeared to have three shoes upon waking up in her room.
• She claims that eyes have evolved to notice movement, like dinosaurs. So if she were to stop moving while shoplifting, employees will not notice her commiting the crime. Her ability to avoid detection by being motionless is not shared by Bea.
• She barely knows that whales aren't fish.
• During the time she spent in college, Bea was said to have done Mae's bass parts on her computer. Bea states, "I understood them as bass parts," before she says that she will turn them off.
• Mae had attempted to take a paleontology class on dinosaurs, but the class was full. She explains that this is a popular class that fills up fast.
• Mae's grunts can be heard when she is about to sleep or if she jumps three times. This voice was provided by the game's sound designer, Em Halberstadt.

Gallery

Mae's costume for Harfest

Mae and Gregg in the Snack Falcon

Mae in the Possom Springs Bus Station

Interior of the Party Barn, where the band practices

Mae, dissolving into shapes at the end of her dreams

Mae Running

Earlier version of Maes room from the kickstarter trailer

Mae balancing on fence, wire or bridge.

Mae's appearance in her astral dreams.

Mae when you miss a note during the band practice mini-game

Mae during band practice mini-game

Mae picking her bass during band practice mini-game

Mae riding bike with Gregg

Mae is skeletonized during the hardest part of Pumpkin Head Guy