Cory (Housepets!)

Evil-doer
Full Name	Cilantro
Alias	Cory Poor Humble Skunk (by himself) Obvious Huckster (by Jessica)
Origin	Housepets!
Occupation	Con artist Trinket's partner in crime (formerly)
Powers / Skills	Deceit Decent manipulation Charisma Toxic musk
Goals	Profit off of his scams. Obtain a collar to pass off as a pet.
Crimes	Con artistry Theft Selling stolen goods Trespassing Wide-scale intoxication
Type of Villain	Animalistic Con Artist

“	Cory: Say, what's a cute cottontail like you doing out in the middle of the afternoon? Zach: Taking a shortcut to Milton Manor-but I forgot the woods are different after it snows, so I'm kinda lost... Cory: Tell you what! You help me, I'll help you. The name's Cilantro, or "Cory" for short.	„
	~ Cory introducing himself to Zach, his latest victim.

Cilantro, also known as Cory, is a supporting antagonist in Rick Griffin's webcomic Housepets!, acting, in particular, as the main antagonist of the arcs "Rabbit's Foot" and "Flip That Den!".

He is a shady skunk that operates as a con artist in the woods near the town of Babylon Gardens, swindling any naive-looking critter he comes across, often with the goal of obtaining a collar so as to pretend to be a pet and be allowed in human shops. He is often aided in his scams by the magpie Trinket.

He first appeared in the strip "All There In Black And White".

Appearance

Cory is a portly skunk. His most distinguishing features are his mohawk-like hairdo and his heterochromatic eyes, as his right eye is bright green, while the left one is yellow.

Personality

Cory is the typical swindler, always jumping at every opportunity to make a profit off of people's naivete. When interacting with his victims, he'll put on a friendly, almost flirtatious facade and speak in a very sophisticated manner, but have brief slips of his true, devious nature, especially if he's offended, like when Zach innocently used the "stinky slur" on him.

Cory isn't a con "artist" as much as he is a con "amateur", his scams ranging from decent to laughable and, after years of dealing with his schemes, Jessica and most other animals in the forest can see right through him, even calling him an "obvious huckster". Due to this, Cory and Tricket will often target people who are clearly air-headed or, at least, inexperienced, such as Zach and Karishad.

Despite being infamous in the forest for the scumbag he is, he seems to be at least a frenemy to most of the animals there, to the point where he was allowed to live in Jessica's renovated den, even if he was later seen being thrown out of it.

He is implied to be an atheist, as he didn't recognize Zach as the "Opener of Ways", implying he never attended any of the ceremonies the forest animals hold in his honor, probably because he could tell Zach wasn't actually a messiah.

Although a duplicitous hustler towards most people and a mere business associate with Trinket, he seems to have a genuinely good relationship with his sister, Cassia, asking Keene and Breel to make space on their bed for her and her new batch of cubs.

Biography

Cory lives in the woods near Babylon Gardens and, throughout the years, he made himself known throughout the forest as a devious conman.

In "Rabbit's Foot", the ferret multibillionaire, Keene Milton, asked the bunny, Zach Arbelt to visit him in the Milton Manor, as, after the defeat of the demigod Pete, various gargoyles in Pete's Temple (situated in the Miltons' backyard) went out of control and Keene believed Zach could, in some way, command them, as the bunny had unintentionally become a godly figure known as "the Opener of Ways" among the forest animals after pressing a button that opened Pete's Temple.

Zach initially refused, but reluctantly accepted after Keene promised him financial compensation. The bunny tried a shortcut he knew, but it had recently snowed and Zach soon got lost. Seeing the lost bunny and correctly guessing he was naive, Cory immediately introduced himself to Zach, putting on his chummy and borderline flirty facade. he told Zach he'd help him find his way to the Manor if the bunny helped him in turn. Cory told Zach a fabricated story of how he had exchanged his supplies for the winter for a gold ring, so that he could buy ten-fold the amount of food, but he unfortunately couldn't get it appraised anywhere, as human shops didn't allow feral animals like him inside. He proposed that Zach, who was a pet, should get the ring appraised and use the money to buy food for both Cory and himself, but that's when Trinket played her part in the act and snatched the ring, to Cory's fake dismay. Cory told Zach that, being a magpie, Trinket was easily distracted by shiny things and asked the rabbit to give him the tag on his collar so that Trinket would try to get it and drop the ring. Zach had difficulty removing the tag so Cory urged him to give him the whole collar instead. Cory ran after Trinket and told Zach to wait for him there, but he had actually run off with the collar, ready to use it for his own devices.

Cory never returned and, hours later, it got dark and Zach was tired of waiting and went around looking for the skunk, accidentally tripping and almost falling into a pit as he did. Zach's cries for help were heard by Jessica, a possum he had befriended before, and she tried to carry him back to safety, but the branch they were clinging to couldn't support both of their weight and they both fell, slid down the pit and ended up in a trap Keene had set up for the gargoyles and the bunny broke his ankle. Zach had a key he was given should he unintentionally fall into a cage, but it was in the collar Cory had stolen, so he and Jessica could only wait it out, caged out in the snow. Zach muused over his terrible luck but, after he explained to Jessica how he lost his collar, Jessica noted that Cory was obviously untrustworthy and, realizing his mistake, Zach understood that, that time at least, he had brought his misfortune on himself. Zach and Jessica would, later, be freed and nurtured by Keene, after Zach saved them all from a gargoyle with a light-casting spell he had learned in Pete's Temple, and Jessica, who was now Zach's girlfriend, promised he'd find Cory, beat him up, and get Zach's collar back.

Jessica kept her promise, as, the next time Cory was seen, he had a black eye and, when the wolf "Four Finger Discount" Jack sold him a collar he had conned the dog Bino out of, Cory worriedly asked if there was any possum looking after it.

Cory later returned in "Flip That Den!" when Rock Milton had the fox Karishad renovate Jessica's den so it would be filmed for Rock's titular reality show, despite the possum's protests. When the building supplies arrived, Cory understood they must have been valuable so, that night, he and Trinket went to steal them, since the wolves Rock had hired as security were told to do whatever they wanted since "nothing ever happened at night". Cory had difficulty carrying the heavy wooden boards and bricks, but refused Trinket's advice to get help, as he didn't want to split the profits further and, though hard work, he had managed to steal half of the supplies the following morning, along with Karishad's buzzsaw.

He then sold the stolen supplies back to the apparently unwitting Karishad and the fox paid the skunk with one of the many credit cards Keene had given him. Since neither Cory nor Karishad really understood how credit cards worked, the fox just let the conman keep it. To ensure the card actually worked, Cory gave it to the racoon Truck, who bought ice cream with it. Seeing that the card worked, Cory tried to use it as well, but was quickly arrested by Animal Control.

Luckily for him, Trinket freed him with her lockpicking skills and, as Jessica's den was now finished, Cory and his partner broke in to steal some furniture and sell it, but, inside, there were the racoons Falstaff and Truck, who wanted to destroy the house with thermites so that "gents" wouldn't be attracted by the new house and a fight broke out between the two duos.

Karishad had turned Jessica's bare-bone den into a multi-story house and the possum was beyond overwhelmed, feeling guilty that she'd live in a palace while her friends in the forest slept in treeholes and ditches. Upon seeing Cory, Trinket, Falstaff and Truck in the building, Jessica decided she'd use her new house to harbor all of her friends in the forest, as long as there was no stealing, breaking, spraying or predating in the house. Cory would, later, be seen being thrown out of the house by Jessica, but it's unknown if he was permanently banned.

It's possible that Cory and Trinket had a falling-out off-screen, as they were never seen with each other again after Cory moved in with Jessica and Trinket would, later, make Herman Steward, Keene's former steward turned badger, her new business partner.

Cory would, later, go to a mall where Zach and Jessica were having a date and, much like the possum, he snuck into the building by wearing a (presumably stolen) collar and leash and posing as a cat; as the situation was demeaning for both forest critters, they agreed to keep their mouths shut. Cory was later arrested by Animal Control again as, when a worker at a perfume stand sprayed him with perfume, he instinctively sprayed back, contaminating the whole area.

Cory was last seen at the hot springs Keene had ordered for himself, his boyfriend Keene and all the other animals to enjoy. When the Keene and Breel trying sleeping, various forest animals invaded their bed, including Cory, his sister Cassia and the five cub she just had.

Trivia

• Cory is one of two named characters in the comic to be heterochromatic, the other being the farm dog Rufus.
• "Cilantro" is the Spanish word for "coriander". Ironically, coriander is an aromatic herb, while Cory is a literal skunk.