Post by TIGER on Nov 9, 2012 1:37:10 GMT -5
minnowstar
[/b][/size]minnow- for her lustrous silver coat with a scaly pattern; -star for her position of leadership[/font]
[/center]AGE 32 moons
GENDER she-cat
RANK leader (unofficial)
CLAN cloudclan
LOOKS her build is tiny, small enough that she has been mistaken for a new or growing apprentice on multiple occasions, much to her chagrin. however, she has mastered the art of carrying this petite frame with dignity, looking like a regal empress more often than a youth. with long, almost spindly-looking legs and delicate paws, she is fast and graceful.
her short-cropped coat is rather plush and an entirely ashy gray color with a vivid tabby pattern of deep charcoal and soft silver and white.
her sharp and critical gaze is most often of a deep, bright olive green hue, although it ranges from emerald to gray to brilliant yellow.
LIKES her clan, feeling powerful, getting in a clever insult when arguing, soft terrain under her paws, verbal sparring, training youths, giving advice, evenings, cold rain, shiny objects, being looked up to.
DISLIKES being bested, being asked to race, being condescended to (in spite of her own naturally condescending nature), mice, bees, heat, sexism, snooty youths, slackers, physical complements.
FEARS that her clan does not think she leads well, melting in the sun, slivers in her paw pads, having kits.
HOPES to die with a legacy, to lead her clan to glory and happiness, to best everyone who defies her.
OVERALL regardless of how one may feel about minnowstar, there's one unmistakable trait that no one could misread, and that is her generous use of sarcasm. though not always biting or harsh, not even ill-intentioned, minnowstar's humor is always dark and always dry. it's rare that one of her remarks at any time is a straight answer, rather than a sharp retort which, while it does seem quite unnecessary at times, infuses every situation with humor. indeed, minnowstar is brimming with good humor, but she does an excellent job of hiding it. she feels that, as a leader it is not her job to make jokes or laugh at those of others, and it's true that coaxing true laughter out of her is quite a challenge, but in her sarcastic ways and beneath her stony expression lies a relatively good-natured feline, who rarely gets too upset, even if she seems like it. sarcasm is her defense mechanism, distracting whoever she is speaking to from her real feelings by layering on a mask of wit and indifference.
that mask, however, can disappear in an instant if she feels it may be necessary to showcase her well-known temper for the benefit of the situation. though rarely is she as angry as she may seem, she knows that upsetting her frightens enough cats that is if effective. she's not always cool-and-in-control of her temper, though, and occasionally some poor soul may just just the wrong thing within hearing distance and all traces of wit and grace disappear in the face of her fiery, overwhelming anger. it's rare, though, and over the moons she's learned to keep her anger in check. however, something that's practically impossible for her to reign in is her incredibly sassy nature. it seems to go hand-in-hand with her liberal application of sarcasm, but it is surprising at times, the way she sheds her leaderly dignity in favor of sass and impudence. fierce and fiery, she's always got a cheeky remark.
if anything, though, minnowstar is definitely a proud cat. so proud, perhaps, it makes her seem a big pig-headed, but what doesn't she have to be proud of? not a bragger, but this regal female does come off as rather arrogant or condescending at times but it's accidental. after all, it's simply her nature to display her pride, even if it rubs others the wrong way. she's a fairly independent cat, who doesn't mind being alone and, in spite of her position within her clan, even prefers it sometime, without someone chattering in her ear. these two traits mold together and create a very standoffish personality to those who do not know her too well.
the trait that definitely earned minnowstar her leadership the respect of her clanmates from a very early age is her sharp mind. in any situation, minnowstar has always been able to save her skin -and sometimes those of others- with her brainpower. as a tiny, petite warrior, she always had to make do with what she had. while she didn't have the brawn, she grew to realize she had the brains to get her by. though sometimes her motives are questionable, and minnowstar may seem even weasel-like at times in her cunning, there's no denying that she's smart. her keen sense of observance is always what lands her on top of the game, as it seems like she's bound to notice everything happening around her at once. paired with her quick thinking, this makes her a prime strategist and a clever opponent.
surprisingly, minnowstar can be an extremely understanding and caring cat. through her disguise of harshness or indifference, she is able to come off as a cool and unshakable leader, but in truth minnowstar feels a deep bond with every cat in her clan, and perhaps even every cat she meets. while she works hard to hide this overwhelming amount of affection, her true colors always show when she's able to be alone with a cat. should she find herself in the presence of an apprentice who screwed up big-time, she will punish them, of course, but she'll also relate, be sure they know that she cares about that, and explain everything. though hardly a chatty cat, minnowstar is fond of giving advice and being sought out for companionship- it simply makes her heart glow. all in all, her love of her clan is something to behold, and each clanmate holds a special place in her heart. she's no grudge-holder, and will almost always accept an apology.
PAST minnowstar was born to a litter of, get this, eight kits. after all that work birthing so many kits, no one was particularly shocked to find the mother bled out and passed away. while they weren't surprised, the cats of duskclan mourned together for the young mother. the father was never known, but there was suspicion that it was a tom from their rival clan, cloudclan. unfortunately, the clan did not mourn only for the mother, but for her enormous litter, now without a source of milk or warmth, and it was assumed they would simply die.
however, one young duskclan warrior, whose heart seemed warmer than the hearts of her clanmates, decided that she would not stand by and allow this tragedy to occur. instead, she snuck across the border to cloudclan. she pled with the patrol to allow her to talk to the leader and, surprisingly enough, they allowed it. following them to their camp, the duskclan warrior explained the situation, and asked with hope brimming in her gaze, if cloudclan had any nursing kits. a miracle! only days ago an aging mother had lost her single kit during birth, and her milk had not yet dried. the duskclan warrior wanted to know if the queen would come nurse the big litter and cloudclan's leader laughed in her face, but told her that if she brought the kits to him he would do what he could for them.
returning to her home, the duskclan warrior sought out her leader and told him the good news. he, however, took it as defeat. no way would they give eight potential warriors to his enemy! he would rather they waste away in duskclan. but, despite her leaders wishes and, with no fear in her heart, only a sense of what was right, the young cat snuck out the litter, leaving them at the border for a cloudclan patrol to find. upon learning of the litter's disappearance, duskclan's leader immediately ordered that the young she-cat be punished, so her claws and her tongue were cut out leaving her helpless and lame, spending the rest of her life in the elder's den with no regret in her heart.
however, these kits would never learn of their rescuer's brave and sad tale, for they were raised blissfully ignorant of their lineage until they were at least of apprentice age. somehow, all but one of these kits would manage to survive offof the old cloudclan queen's milk, and she took them on as her own litter. she named the three living girls minnowkit, shadowkit, and flickerkit, while the four toms would be known as troutkit, fogkit, antlerkit, and nimbuskit. cloudclan was wary of the kits at first, but most superstition wore off as the kits grew and claimed the hearts of their clanmates. some, of course, would never trust the duskclan-tainted kittens, but that was rarely of consequence.
these kits would grow into small cliques. the boys would fight with the girls and always win, until the girls grew crafty and pulled incredible pranks. once minnowkit even directed them into finding a frog and trapping it in fogkit's nest and were more likely to be left alone after that unpleasant surprise in the middle of the night for him. minnowkit often bossed her sisters around, while troutkit seemed to lead his brothers around by their tails. it was all good fun though, and there was rarely any upset among them.
time passed, and all the kits were soon apprentices. this is when they, unfortunately as most kits do, grew apart. each young cat was coming into his or her own personality, and wanted little to do with one another besides gossip about training or brag about the latest move they learned.
minnowpaw herself was apprenticed to the leader, who was a wise and reasonable tom. he taught her well, but she couldn't help but internally criticize his leadership. she liked him well enough, and they would become friends, but she found him infuriatingly conservative and not nearly aggressive enough to counter duskclan's cruelty. her training went well, though again and again she became frustrated by her tiny stature. her mentor assured her she would keep growing, but moons kept passing and nothing about her was changing.
that is, of course, except for her mind. by the day she was growing more sharp, and more keen to her surroundings. her ideas and grand schemes were like fairy tales- she used to keep her siblings occupied for hours on end by spinning tales out of her own thoughts and sometimes even telling them of dreams and visions she had. of course, it was all fun and fanciful but her leader was beginning to notice this strange habit, and the brainpower she exerted in everyday life, taking in everything around her and using it to her advantage. he didn't like her frequent aggression and pert, cheeky, disrespectful attitude, but he saw endless potential in her and, as her mentor, did his best to use it to her advantage.
one afternoon, she and her mentor had been training when cries rang out in the territory, piercing enough for anyone to hear. they knew it was duskclan up to something, but what? minnowpaw and the leader raced to the source of the sound, and found shadowpaw and flickerpaw surrounded by a full patrol of duskclan cats on cloudclan's side of the territory. enraged, the mentor-apprentice pair sprang into action, and knowing she was ready for this, minnowpaw blossomed. she practically took the situation into her own hands and she left the fighting to the leader whie herding her sisters to safety, then ordering one of them to get help while asking the other to have her back as she jumped back into the fight. they were heavily outnumbered and took many hits, but soon backup arrived and the duskclan cats had no choice but to flee.
after that instance, minnowpaw and two of her brothers, antlerpaw and troutpaw, earned their warrior names. out of seven cats, there was no way they would all reach important points of their training at the same time, so the other siblings grew bitter as minnowpaw became minnowflash, anterpaw became antlershadow, and troutpaw became troutscar.
eventually, though, the others caught up to them, and in pieces the big duskclan litter became a full-fledged group of cloudclan warriors: shadowstream, flickerflame, fogwhisker, and nimbusclaw.
by then, minnowflash was mentoring a young she-cat by the name of coldpaw, whose name matched both her looks and her personality. she was sharp, mean, and proud. perhaps the leader had been hoping to smooth minnowflash's own sharp edges out by having her deal with this young cat. though at first it seemed that all they did was bicker and fight as minnowflash complained of her apprentice being a real nuisance, the friendship between them came on slowly but steadily. minnowflash begrudgingly admired the way coldpaw lead on young males with her beauty, manipulating them with expertise that was surprising for a cat of her age, and she was so proud and self-loving and confident, minnowflash couldn't help but look up to her little apprentice at times. coldpaw, of course, was slower to take to her mentor, but the more they trained she saw her mentor's sharp wit and incredible agility and knew someday she wanted to be like minnowflash.
and that was that, suddenly the two were inseparable. to this day they continue to be good friends, but coldrain has done her best to distance herself from the older she-cat and minnowstar is often far too busy to socialize. their bond in their younger days was a strong one, though.
time was passing and minnowflash was generally enjoying herself despite the havoc continuously being wreaked upon them by duskclan and upon the same day that coldpaw became coldrain, there was another ceremony held. the former deputy had been killed in a dispute with duskclan only days before, and minnowflash herself was still feeling stinging wounds from the battle, and she knew her brother antlershadow and her sister flickerflame were both residing in the medicine cat's den because of it. why did the other clan always fight so dirty? she grimaced, and when her name rang out and she was hailed as cloudclan's new deputy she was not shocked, but she was happy.
at last! she could have a say in the conservative, cautious manner in which her leader ran things, and some day, she could reverse them altogether! duskclan would be kissing her toes one day.
minnowflash was given another apprentice- a big tom called stonepaw. he had big, imploring green eyes, and was older than the other new apprentices from serving out a punishment he had earned as a kit and, in spite of herself, minnowflash thought she had a little crush on him. she was sure he'd never return the feelings for an old, scarred up lady like herself, so it was not distracting. training was hard for them, being opposites. every time minnowflash used her biting tongue on him he took personal offense, and through this she learned to have a bit of a softer side- with him, anyway. not only that, but he was huge and strong while she was tiny and nimble. they worked through their issues though, and they were close friends.
minnowflash suspected her former apprentice coldrain and her current apprentice stonepaw were having some sort of affair together, and that made her mean and bitter, much to stonepaw's confusion. she never had a chance to make things better with him though, because suddenly there was duskclan cats flooding into camp- more than she had ever seen. they had surely enlisted rogues to help them! they were ravaging the camp, she knew they'd take no prisoners and have no mercy. something had to be done!
before minnowflash knew what she was doing she began to herd cats discreetly away from camp, hushing them and pointing them in the direction to run: south. south they went, when she gathered everyone she could, fending off vicious duskclan warriors as she went. she spied stonepaw, dead, and would later learn that the cat who had raised her also died, along with the leader.
shaken to her core, but plastered to her sense of duty, minnowflash numbly led her clan away from the scene of tragedy, wondering how starclan could possibly exist while allowing one clan to drive another out. where was the order in this chaos?
through the journey she took on the name minnowstar when her clanmates began occasionally calling her that, though she still has not claimed her lives. after all, she's not entirely sure she really believes in those anyway.
OTHER n/a
