Post by Elena on Jan 18, 2009 10:54:54 GMT -5
Name: Dawnpaw
Rank: Apprentice
Gender: She-cat
Age: 19 moons
Clan: JayClan
Beliefs: Dawnpaw has only even heard of StarClan recently, and has no reason to believe in them. Her only opinion on them is that the Clan cats need to stop imagining things and having false hopes. However, if asked about what she believes, she'll only give a vague mumble or motion, as she doesn't feel like offending anyone when she's already a newcomer.
Mentor/Apprentice: Bitternstripe
Kin: Rose, mother, status unknown. Finch, father, status unknown.
Mate: None... open? o:
Appearance: Dawnpaw is a heavily built cat, naturally larger than average with a thick, muscled frame, and her short fur does not try to hide this. Her head does not have the same kind of delicate points as some cats have, and her tail seems somewhat short for her, although not extremely so. But despite her rather un-feminine build, there is no doubt that she is a very pretty she-cat.
The majority of Dawnpaw's fur is a coffee colored brown. It is covers the white of her pelt inconsistently, allowing white streaks to pop up here and there. They're never completely distinct from the brown, but do lighten the color of the fur where they do show and mix in. This makes her back appear to be a mosaic of pale frosted brown, light cocoa colors, and solid dark patches. Here and there on her back, a small spot of unnaturally bright peach-gold stands out from the rest of the fur. As the color extends to her tail, small gold patches are more frequent, mixed with pale gray, faint white, and black splotches. This coloring also goes up to about her shoulders, then curves smoothly down to the sides of her chest, where it drops down her front legs, giving her the appearance of wearing a jacket. The 'sleeves,' which have more black and gold to them, stop at her paws, which are pure white. On her back legs, the coloration ends earlier, closer to the 'knee.' Her belly and chest are completely white, and the snowy color stretches up her chin onto her muzzle, then wraps around her neck until it reaches the back of it.
Her head is also a mix of frosted white-browns and darker cocoas. A large strip of black on the right side of her face extends from her forehead down to above her nose, where the white meets it. The left side of her face has a large patch of the pale ginger color, and it covers just about all of her left cheek, coming from the side of her face, bordering Dawnpaw's deep blue eyes, and climbing slightly onto the bridge of her nose. Her whiskers are short and white, and her pink nose is bordered slightly by the light buff color.
Although it might seem that Dawnpaw is meant for fighting with her powerful build, she has very little experience in doing so. She can brute-force her way out of a wrestling match, but she knows few techniques or tricks to use in battle, and is somewhat clumsy and not very agile. She is better at hunting, but has never learned exactly how to do things, causing her to seem awkward when stalking something. Her mother's genes also inhibit her senses, making her have below-average sight (especially during the nighttime) and somewhat sub-par hearing, although it's hardly deafness.
Personality: Dawnpaw absolutely craves company, but oftentimes it's very hard to see past her difficult exterior. Easily irritated by small discouragements, Dawnpaw resents how she is so far behind cats much younger than her as an apprentice and in general skill. As a former loner, she's not used to having others being more capable than her, and she is often stubborn in her opinions, hating being wrong and trying to avoid admitting it. She can be absolutely vicious when moody, but as she's hardly perpetually angry, most of the time she's just a bit wary, and at times open and quite sweet to others.
When she does have a friend, Dawnpaw expresses the other side of her, which is unfortunately somewhat clingy and needy with others, being a bit of a pain that no one wants to have to push away. She has yet to really integrate into Clan life, and remains a bit self-conscious of herself when she's not in a mood, constantly wondering how small things give opinions of her. She does not always understand what the Clan cats are talking about, and is a bit unreliable with the warrior code, seeing it as "optional." Deep down, Dawnpaw does have a lot of willpower and mental strength, and could be a martyr for others, but as she's more focused on her current situation - which she thinks of as unfair, being born as an outsider - it's still waiting to be expressed. She has the potential to be a very strong and likable character, but she has yet to allow herself to do that, not wanting to admit that she can change things for herself.
History: Dawnpaw's mother was a kittypet named Rose. Not that she resembled a rose, with her seal-and-cream Siamese pattern, but her owners thought it was a nice name for their little female kitty. Newly adopted from a shelter after her old owners were unable to continue caring for her, Rose delighted the seven-year-old girl who had just gotten a pet for the first time. Her best friend down the street already had a cat, and the two children decided that their pets should meet, and maybe become as good friends as they were.
Even though her parents had told her not to take Rose out of the house, she had seen her friend's cat outside before, and thought it reasonably safe. However, her new pet was skittish after the move from the owners she had had her entire life, and when one of the neighborhood dogs came up to greet her, Rose panicked, wriggling from the girl's grip and dashing off. The dog followed her, curious as to what the new creature was, and she kept running even after her pursuer had long since stopped. Eventually, she realized that she was lost, and (having never been outdoors for more than a minute) had no way to find her way back home.
Eventually, after wandering for a long time, Rose found a colony of cats in the city. They weren't awfully impressed that she wanted to go back to being a kittypet, but they didn't exactly shun her, and helped her survive, teaching her to scavenge and hunt to a certain degree - things she had never done before. While she was there, she began to grow close to a tom named Finch. And within a moon, Rose was expecting Finch's kits.
It was around this time that cats began to vanish. The city seemed to be slowly emptying of cats, and no one knew of any who were choosing to leave. Soon, however, it was clear that the Twolegs were trapping the ferals, and definitely not returning them. Rose was faced with two choices - stay and take her chances, or leave the main city that held the only other cats she had known, which could be just as dangerous. She chose the latter, but waited to find Finch first.
Unfortunately, Finch had begun to regret ever taking Rose as a mate, finding her shallow and needy - which she was, admittedly. He avoided her, and with her lack of tracking skill, she was convinced that he was gone. Leaving the main city on her own, she realized how much she had been dependent on others.
It was winter, and the weather, which had stayed fairly light before, began to grow worse. By attempting some hunting, scavenging, and begging off of passing cats and humans alike, Rose barely managed to survive the winter in the areas of the town farthest from places with lots of Twoleg development. Finally, when spring came, she gave birth. One of the kittens was stillborn. The other two she left unnamed at first, feeling utterly lost and not able to find a suitable name for either she-kit.
Although spring brought more food, Rose still found keeping herself and two kits fed a challenge. Eventually, one of her offspring died, leaving just the other. As cynical as it may sound, Rose found it much easier afterwards, and gradually things grew less daunting. As the snow began to vanish, she named her last kit (who was white with a few dark spots) Melt. Although the name might sound a bit harsh to others, Rose saw it as a symbol of new beginnings and the disappearance of pain. Interestingly enough, as her mother's purebred genes came out, Melt's coat gained more and more dark coloration, as though the white in it was vanishing just like the bitter snow.
Within a few months, Rose taught Melt everything she knew, which wasn't terribly much. But not having lived in a Twoleg house before, her wild-born daughter was able to pick things up considerably faster than her mother had, and become a significantly better hunter - although this wouldn't have been considered much by Clan standards, and the two she-cats still struggled. Insisting that their odds might be better completely beyond the Twolegs, Melt eventually convinced her mother to leave the city in its entirety, eliminating any humans from helping them, but hopefully bringing the chance of more in the country.
Within a year, the two had wandered an immense distance. The first weeks had been difficult, often without food, but through trial and error the two managed to catch more and more. They were never extremely well-fed, but they could survive more easily. Such a life did not leave either of them untouched. Both gained scars from small scuffles with other cats or animals, and Rose developed a limp after an unexpected fall. It was a miracle that neither of them ever died from an infection (although Rose had, admittedly, taken inocculations who knows how long ago). Soon, the two wandered within a mile of JayClan and PaleClan's territories.
After bedding down to rest one night, the rain began. Soon the storm was making sleep impossible for either she-cat, and then it grew far far worse. As the twister began to wreck the area, mother and daughter separated in their panic. Melt ran to find any safe place, but no such thing existed. After several minutes, she was knocked unconscious. When she woke, many hours into the next day, she could not find her mother.
Melt never even considered the fact that Rose was dead. She continued to search the area, and when she found nothing, she assured herself that her mother had simply taken a different direction. Eventually she encountered the Clans, who were leaving. Not wanting to be alone, Melt joined them, abandoning her mother in her mind and insisting to herself that if Rose was with her, she'd wish her to take an opportunity. In reality, she was covering up her sheer desperation to not be on her own. Without much protest from Brindlestar, she hovered around the PaleClan cats, trying to contribute yet not drawing too much attention. She was well aware that many Clan cats did not appreciate strangers joining up, and doubted that she would have been let in in normal times.
After a bit of traveling, Melt was given an unofficial apprenticeship ceremony to a warrior, and renamed Dawnpaw after her pelt, which was now brown and white, with large spots of sunrise-bright orange. It wasn't done by the leader, and she supposed that in the "eyes of StarClan," she was still just Melt. Dawnpaw didn't quite see the value in changing a cat's name all the time, and felt like a Clan name was wrong for her so soon, but she didn't exactly reject it. Nineteen-moon-old apprentice was better than loner.
Picture: farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/2357235802_8e82b468ae.jpg?v=0
farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2439491565_7845bb0bd0.jpg?v=0
Rank: Apprentice
Gender: She-cat
Age: 19 moons
Clan: JayClan
Beliefs: Dawnpaw has only even heard of StarClan recently, and has no reason to believe in them. Her only opinion on them is that the Clan cats need to stop imagining things and having false hopes. However, if asked about what she believes, she'll only give a vague mumble or motion, as she doesn't feel like offending anyone when she's already a newcomer.
Mentor/Apprentice: Bitternstripe
Kin: Rose, mother, status unknown. Finch, father, status unknown.
Mate: None... open? o:
Appearance: Dawnpaw is a heavily built cat, naturally larger than average with a thick, muscled frame, and her short fur does not try to hide this. Her head does not have the same kind of delicate points as some cats have, and her tail seems somewhat short for her, although not extremely so. But despite her rather un-feminine build, there is no doubt that she is a very pretty she-cat.
The majority of Dawnpaw's fur is a coffee colored brown. It is covers the white of her pelt inconsistently, allowing white streaks to pop up here and there. They're never completely distinct from the brown, but do lighten the color of the fur where they do show and mix in. This makes her back appear to be a mosaic of pale frosted brown, light cocoa colors, and solid dark patches. Here and there on her back, a small spot of unnaturally bright peach-gold stands out from the rest of the fur. As the color extends to her tail, small gold patches are more frequent, mixed with pale gray, faint white, and black splotches. This coloring also goes up to about her shoulders, then curves smoothly down to the sides of her chest, where it drops down her front legs, giving her the appearance of wearing a jacket. The 'sleeves,' which have more black and gold to them, stop at her paws, which are pure white. On her back legs, the coloration ends earlier, closer to the 'knee.' Her belly and chest are completely white, and the snowy color stretches up her chin onto her muzzle, then wraps around her neck until it reaches the back of it.
Her head is also a mix of frosted white-browns and darker cocoas. A large strip of black on the right side of her face extends from her forehead down to above her nose, where the white meets it. The left side of her face has a large patch of the pale ginger color, and it covers just about all of her left cheek, coming from the side of her face, bordering Dawnpaw's deep blue eyes, and climbing slightly onto the bridge of her nose. Her whiskers are short and white, and her pink nose is bordered slightly by the light buff color.
Although it might seem that Dawnpaw is meant for fighting with her powerful build, she has very little experience in doing so. She can brute-force her way out of a wrestling match, but she knows few techniques or tricks to use in battle, and is somewhat clumsy and not very agile. She is better at hunting, but has never learned exactly how to do things, causing her to seem awkward when stalking something. Her mother's genes also inhibit her senses, making her have below-average sight (especially during the nighttime) and somewhat sub-par hearing, although it's hardly deafness.
Personality: Dawnpaw absolutely craves company, but oftentimes it's very hard to see past her difficult exterior. Easily irritated by small discouragements, Dawnpaw resents how she is so far behind cats much younger than her as an apprentice and in general skill. As a former loner, she's not used to having others being more capable than her, and she is often stubborn in her opinions, hating being wrong and trying to avoid admitting it. She can be absolutely vicious when moody, but as she's hardly perpetually angry, most of the time she's just a bit wary, and at times open and quite sweet to others.
When she does have a friend, Dawnpaw expresses the other side of her, which is unfortunately somewhat clingy and needy with others, being a bit of a pain that no one wants to have to push away. She has yet to really integrate into Clan life, and remains a bit self-conscious of herself when she's not in a mood, constantly wondering how small things give opinions of her. She does not always understand what the Clan cats are talking about, and is a bit unreliable with the warrior code, seeing it as "optional." Deep down, Dawnpaw does have a lot of willpower and mental strength, and could be a martyr for others, but as she's more focused on her current situation - which she thinks of as unfair, being born as an outsider - it's still waiting to be expressed. She has the potential to be a very strong and likable character, but she has yet to allow herself to do that, not wanting to admit that she can change things for herself.
History: Dawnpaw's mother was a kittypet named Rose. Not that she resembled a rose, with her seal-and-cream Siamese pattern, but her owners thought it was a nice name for their little female kitty. Newly adopted from a shelter after her old owners were unable to continue caring for her, Rose delighted the seven-year-old girl who had just gotten a pet for the first time. Her best friend down the street already had a cat, and the two children decided that their pets should meet, and maybe become as good friends as they were.
Even though her parents had told her not to take Rose out of the house, she had seen her friend's cat outside before, and thought it reasonably safe. However, her new pet was skittish after the move from the owners she had had her entire life, and when one of the neighborhood dogs came up to greet her, Rose panicked, wriggling from the girl's grip and dashing off. The dog followed her, curious as to what the new creature was, and she kept running even after her pursuer had long since stopped. Eventually, she realized that she was lost, and (having never been outdoors for more than a minute) had no way to find her way back home.
Eventually, after wandering for a long time, Rose found a colony of cats in the city. They weren't awfully impressed that she wanted to go back to being a kittypet, but they didn't exactly shun her, and helped her survive, teaching her to scavenge and hunt to a certain degree - things she had never done before. While she was there, she began to grow close to a tom named Finch. And within a moon, Rose was expecting Finch's kits.
It was around this time that cats began to vanish. The city seemed to be slowly emptying of cats, and no one knew of any who were choosing to leave. Soon, however, it was clear that the Twolegs were trapping the ferals, and definitely not returning them. Rose was faced with two choices - stay and take her chances, or leave the main city that held the only other cats she had known, which could be just as dangerous. She chose the latter, but waited to find Finch first.
Unfortunately, Finch had begun to regret ever taking Rose as a mate, finding her shallow and needy - which she was, admittedly. He avoided her, and with her lack of tracking skill, she was convinced that he was gone. Leaving the main city on her own, she realized how much she had been dependent on others.
It was winter, and the weather, which had stayed fairly light before, began to grow worse. By attempting some hunting, scavenging, and begging off of passing cats and humans alike, Rose barely managed to survive the winter in the areas of the town farthest from places with lots of Twoleg development. Finally, when spring came, she gave birth. One of the kittens was stillborn. The other two she left unnamed at first, feeling utterly lost and not able to find a suitable name for either she-kit.
Although spring brought more food, Rose still found keeping herself and two kits fed a challenge. Eventually, one of her offspring died, leaving just the other. As cynical as it may sound, Rose found it much easier afterwards, and gradually things grew less daunting. As the snow began to vanish, she named her last kit (who was white with a few dark spots) Melt. Although the name might sound a bit harsh to others, Rose saw it as a symbol of new beginnings and the disappearance of pain. Interestingly enough, as her mother's purebred genes came out, Melt's coat gained more and more dark coloration, as though the white in it was vanishing just like the bitter snow.
Within a few months, Rose taught Melt everything she knew, which wasn't terribly much. But not having lived in a Twoleg house before, her wild-born daughter was able to pick things up considerably faster than her mother had, and become a significantly better hunter - although this wouldn't have been considered much by Clan standards, and the two she-cats still struggled. Insisting that their odds might be better completely beyond the Twolegs, Melt eventually convinced her mother to leave the city in its entirety, eliminating any humans from helping them, but hopefully bringing the chance of more in the country.
Within a year, the two had wandered an immense distance. The first weeks had been difficult, often without food, but through trial and error the two managed to catch more and more. They were never extremely well-fed, but they could survive more easily. Such a life did not leave either of them untouched. Both gained scars from small scuffles with other cats or animals, and Rose developed a limp after an unexpected fall. It was a miracle that neither of them ever died from an infection (although Rose had, admittedly, taken inocculations who knows how long ago). Soon, the two wandered within a mile of JayClan and PaleClan's territories.
After bedding down to rest one night, the rain began. Soon the storm was making sleep impossible for either she-cat, and then it grew far far worse. As the twister began to wreck the area, mother and daughter separated in their panic. Melt ran to find any safe place, but no such thing existed. After several minutes, she was knocked unconscious. When she woke, many hours into the next day, she could not find her mother.
Melt never even considered the fact that Rose was dead. She continued to search the area, and when she found nothing, she assured herself that her mother had simply taken a different direction. Eventually she encountered the Clans, who were leaving. Not wanting to be alone, Melt joined them, abandoning her mother in her mind and insisting to herself that if Rose was with her, she'd wish her to take an opportunity. In reality, she was covering up her sheer desperation to not be on her own. Without much protest from Brindlestar, she hovered around the PaleClan cats, trying to contribute yet not drawing too much attention. She was well aware that many Clan cats did not appreciate strangers joining up, and doubted that she would have been let in in normal times.
After a bit of traveling, Melt was given an unofficial apprenticeship ceremony to a warrior, and renamed Dawnpaw after her pelt, which was now brown and white, with large spots of sunrise-bright orange. It wasn't done by the leader, and she supposed that in the "eyes of StarClan," she was still just Melt. Dawnpaw didn't quite see the value in changing a cat's name all the time, and felt like a Clan name was wrong for her so soon, but she didn't exactly reject it. Nineteen-moon-old apprentice was better than loner.
Picture: farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/2357235802_8e82b468ae.jpg?v=0
farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2439491565_7845bb0bd0.jpg?v=0
