Post by mortimer on Mar 29, 2017 5:56:40 GMT
[li]Name-[/li]
Snowpelt
Snow- for her white fur. -pelt for her status as an adult warrior unsuitable for suffixes that denote a skill or personality trait.
[li]Age-[/li]
34 moons
[li]Rank-[/li]
Warrior - Scout
[li]Clan-[/li]
FerryClan
[li]Description-[/li]
An intermediate white three-legged she-cat with a scarred face and a single amber eye.
[li]Appearance-[/li]
Snowpelt is average in height, with a semi-foreign body type. She carries a little fat in her belly, giving it a very cute, round quality. Snowpelt was born with only three legs, with her left hind leg being missing. When walking, running, and climbing, she is competent, but her battle skills are mediocre as she only has one hind leg to brace her weight on. Like any clan cat, she has a fair number of scars. Most notable are her extensive facial scarring. A vicious fight in her youth left large, permanent scars across the right side of her face, as well as leaving her without use of her right eye. While she has re-learned how to navigate normal running and jumping with only one eye, she finds hunting more difficult than others.
[li]Personality-[/li]
Snowpelt’s an odd one. While completely harmless, she’s very offbeat. Some cats find her strangeness charming, while others are put off by it. She approaches the world with an open heart and mind, oozing endless bubbly curiosity and enthusiasm. Snowpelt is filled toe to tip with a love for lighthearted mischief. She’s sneaky and mischievous in nature. She loves to play tricks on her clanmates when she knows that they will also enjoy them. She’s friendly, approaching every cat she sees as a friend, and is oblivious if she’s being treated rudely, or being hinted at that she’s not wanted around. This is especially awkward with non-FerryClan cats. Snowpelt brazenly approaches even RootClan cats at gatherings. A harsh downside to Snowpelt’s open heart is her gullible and oblivious nature. She’s very easily manipulated, and is often too socially dense to realize that she’s being mistreated in the first place.
While her friendliness is relentless, Snowpelt also loves to focus on her duty: being a FerryClan scout. Snowpelt is high energy; she just loves doing things! Being a scout is definitely doing things. Snowpelt often spontaneously patrols FerryClan territory on her own, keeping a sharp eye out for anything interesting to report. Her one weakness as a scout are her lackluster fighting skills; if she discovers a dangerous cat, there’s a good chance she won’t be able to take them on her own. When Snowpelt suspects potentially hostile trespassers, she always requests backup from a guard, or one of her fellow scouts.
[li]History-[/li]
A pregnant female loner petitioned to join FerryClan after catching wind of their faith in StarClan. As a young cat, she’d had an experience with the spirit of her dead grandmother that left a permanent impression on her. She also wanted to guarantee a safer lifestyle for her kits. As a loner, she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to care for her kits properly, and she had no knowledge of herbs and healing.
From the start, Laureltail was an anxious but doting mother. She gave birth to a litter of three white kits. One kit was stillborn, while the other two were small and unhealthy. To her surprise, one kit only had three legs.
The sickly kits were closely attended by the caretakers and medicine cats, but only the three-legged kit pulled through. Laureltail was greatly distressed by the deaths of two-thirds of her litter, but in turn was deeply grateful to the medicine cats for helping her one kit survive. When Snowkit’s eyes opened, she was presented before FerryClan for her naming ceremony by a fidgety Laureltail.
There initially was some concern over Snowkit’s three-leggedness, but as she started walking, she seemed to get around as well as any other kit, so worries quickly faded. As Snowkit grew, Laureltail had some trouble adjusting to the disciplined (by comparison) rhythm of clan life, but she showed promise as a FerryClan hunter.
Meanwhile, Snowkit quickly grew into a sweet-natured but rambunctious kit. While energetic, caretakers found her overflowing energy easy to channel into games and chores around the camp. Snowkit made no distinction between play and chores; if it was something for her to do, she loved it! Laureltail was initially worried that Snowkit would have trouble blending with clan-born kits, Snowkit meshed right in with her fellow kits. As Snowkit drew close to apprenticeship age, she would pester whichever caretaker was available to take her out of camp and show her the territory. Laureltail resumed full duties as a FerryClan hunter, but always made sure to stop and share tongues with her daughter every evening. Seeing that clan cats would take care of her daughter while she wasn’t there, Laureltail shed some of her anxiety, and became simply doting.
Snowpaw was a handful and a joy as an apprentice. Granted more freedom, she became increasingly hard to keep track of. While kept on a tight leash at first, she was allowed to wander after a few moons as it was clear she showed an aptitude for navigation. Snowpaw became very fond of chatting up non-clan cats, entertained by their strange stories. As she drew close to the time where she would be assigned and individual mentor, she was on familiar terms with most of the friendly cats living close to FerryClan.
Snowpaw was already well acquainted with her mentor when it came time for her to assume her training as a scout. Bricknose was a senior warrior, well respected for her experience and cleverness. An excellent tracker, Bricknose taught Snowpaw the ways of using scent to read her environment. While reading scent in FerryClan was far more difficult than it was in rural clans, there were a myriad of subtle cues that Snowpaw was taught to use to learn about dangers and important information, life if humans frequently walked their dogs in an area, or if there might be a new place where humans were putting out scraps. Everything came back to humans. Things were changing all the time with them, and it was important for Snowpaw to be on her toes, ready for the dangers and opportunities that they could present. The two bonded instantly; Bricknose was a kit at heart, matching Snowpaw’s boundless energy at every turn. The clever she-cat gave her endless constructive ways to channel her energy into training.
Neither Bricknose nor Snowpaw expected the dog. While exploring an alleyway close to Dumpster Alley, a large dog came barreling around the corner. The loose human pet spotted Bricknose and Snowpaw, and was upon them before either cat could react. The dog grabbed Snowpaw by her head, shaking vigorously. It released when Bricknose attacked, turning on her instead. Snowpaw struggled to move, to help her mentor, but blood filled her vision, and she soon passed out.
When she woke, Snowpaw was in a totally alien world. There were no scents of greasy human food, no sunlight, no gulls and sparrows hopping about on pavement. She was surrounded by metal, and a harsh light, whiter than sun or moonlight, shone constantly. Her face felt funny, like it had something all over it. She pawed at it, but it refused to come off.
For the first time in her life, Snowpaw was scared. She called and called for Bricknose, but only received irritated growls from unfamiliar cats that she couldn’t see.
”Kid, you’re in a shelter. If you’re in here, it’s cuz you’re sick or injured.” A cat with a gruff voice explained to her in exasperation.
”I don’t want to be in a shelter,” she mewled. ”I have a clan! I have my mom! She thinks I’m dead!”
”Ain’t my problem. Quit your crying for, Bricksnout or whatever her name is. Some of us are sick here!”
Snowpaw really hated seeing the humans. She valued them as being interesting from a distance, and as food sources, but they weren’t her friends. She tolerated them at best, but they were putting their hands all over her! She hissed and growled, arching her back as she backed up against the wall of her cage, but they didn’t listen to her.
When she woke up again, her face and right ear tip both felt horrifically itchy, and there was a weird scar on her belly. Worst of all, those humans had put some weird plastic thing on her head that kept her from itching at her horrible, itchy face. She needed that stuff off! She could only see out of one eye with it on.
She lost count of how many days she spent in that creepy, cramped cage. After a while, the plastic and bandages came off, but she still couldn’t see out of her right eye. Were there scars? No one could see her up in her cage, so she couldn’t ask. But things suddenly got so much better- a human walked in, holding a sleepy-looking Bricknose! There was something weird on Bricknose’s leg, but she was alive! Bricknose was placed in another cage. While they couldn’t see each other, the two managed to have a tearful reunion with just words.
In a few weeks, the humans took them to a neighborhood close to FerryClan, and they were released. Snowpaw and Bricknose pelted away from their captors. They didn’t stop running until they reached the FerryClan border, collapsing in a purring heap. Mentor and apprentice held each other close, grooming each other for a few solid minutes before any words were exchanged.
They compared scars. Bricknose confirmed that Snowpaw simply didn’t have a right eye anymore; the place where her eye should have been was sealed up, and the whole right side of her face was covered in scars. They both were missing the tips of their right ears, and Bricknose had also gotten a weird scar on her belly. Her legs and chest had been mauled when the dog attacked, but they both agreed that her scars just made her look impressive.
The reunion at camp was joyful. Bricknose’s extensive family dogpiled her, and Laureltail was hysterical when she spotted Snowpaw again. Humans and dogs had done bizarre things to her kit, but Snowpaw herself was already adjusting. The worst part had been being cooped up in that cage; her fellow apprentices thought her scars looked cool. She looked scarier than any of the guards! Except for ancient Brokenjaw, Bricknose’s father, but everyone knew he already had one paw in the grave.
Snowpaw and Bricknose had been gone for almost two moons, and this delayed Snowpaw’s naming ceremony concurrently. Still being Snowpaw while younger apprentices received their names was grating, but the respect and curiosity about her experiences in a human shelter that she received from her clanmates made up for it.
Snowpaw resumed her former social life, catching up with old loner friends that she’d missed. An old tom who’d moved in during her absence noticed her notched ear, and asked about her belly scar. When Snowpaw explained what happened, the old tom gently told her that the humans had changed her; she no longer would be able to have kits of her own. Snowpaw had had no plans of having kits, but the realization still left her feeling empty; she could have one day wanted her own kits, but that chance was gone now.
Eventually, Snowpaw was made into Snowpelt. While she still struggled with hunting, Snowpelt had all the skills she needed to be an excellent scout. She had a strong-willed, plucky nature, and could keep going long after less energetic cats needed a rest.
While Bricknose was able to complete Snowpelt’s training, she never seemed to fully recover from her injuries. Her old wounds would pain her, and she slowed down significantly a few moons after Snowpelt became a warrior. Bricknose’s previously energy and agility deserted her, and she retired as an elder. While Bricknose maintained an active role in the clan with caretaker duties, Snowpelt still felt saddened. Bricknose was her best friend, and she’d been looking forward to sharing many moons as scouts together, but it wasn’t to be. The dog had taken that away.
Still, Snowpelt leads a very fulfilled adult life. She gets into all kinds of mischief while attending her duties, pestering clan cat and loner alike. Laureltail was flourishing in the FerryClan lifestyle, and was contemplating trying for another litter.
”Just think! You’ll be a big sister.” Laureltail exclaimed. Privately, Snowpelt thought of the idea as a way for her to experience raising kits of her own, even if they were just little siblings. Laureltail so far has not gone through, but the possibility remains open.
Still young, Snowpelt looks forward to a long future in FerryClan. She couldn’t imagine choosing any life other than that of a FerryClan scout. She has many friends in and out of FerryClan, and while she has taken no mate, she enjoys flirting with cats of all genders. For now, she’s content to just flirt.
[li]Family-[/li]
Mother: Laureltail, former loner, now a FerryClan hunter
Father: Unknown loner
Siblings: N/A
Mate: N/A
Kits: N/A
Extended: N/A
[li]Genetics-
100% white spotting, intermediate body type. Carries brown.
[/li]
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