Post by Ren on Nov 23, 2006 9:38:44 GMT -5
“But I did not, and you live to go to the Academy - to take a dagger in the back because you refuse to acknowledge the truth, because you refuse to see your people for who they really are.
“Or you will become one of them.”
~Zaknafein Do’Urden, Homeland
“Or you will become one of them.”
~Zaknafein Do’Urden, Homeland
Name: Heraldfang
Gender: tom
Age: 14 moons (Just over a year)
Rank in Clan: warrior of BloodlustClan
Description: Glowing rusty in the sunlight, dark as the night itself in blackness. The perfect cat for surveillance and sneaking, yet a beacon as soon as the sun shines through. A mystery indeed, and perfect among the ruthless ranks of BloodlustClan…
Ordinarily, Heraldfang is a simple black cat - dark chocolate or downright colorless, as good as invisible when it’s dark out. However, whenever he happens to step out of the shadows…his fur lights right up with a brown-coppery sheen, perfectly ordinary on one side but almost with a glow if the sun’s in front of you. Perhaps there’s something to his fur that makes it shine like it does, even more than an ordinary black cat’s, some sort of oil on it that attracts the light, or perhaps it’s just his coloring - but either way, it’s an annoyance and he rarely goes out in full daylight. His eyes, meanwhile, run the spectrum as far as cats go - while mostly a greenish-yellow, there’s a streak of coppery-gold near the pupil, and it is rimmed by a darker forest green.
He is a large, heavy-boned cat; while his body is long, his face and legs are not, and his tail is short and stumpy, leading to a looming rather than lean appearance. However, until he was near adult size he was small and delicate, and his large frame misleads one on his agility. Like many large cats he seems lumbering until it comes to a need to show his ability; no cat who has seen him in battle or a hunt will deny that he is fast and graceful as any other cat, with needle-claws and quick paws to his advantage rather than a heavy bite.
Picture: None at the moment
Personality: Understand first that he is not an intentionally evil cat. He acts as he was raised; first to survive, second to succeed, and perhaps somewhere far within to be a good cat in his sister’s sense of the word. He enjoys long runs and talks with friends; it’s true he likes chasing kittypets, but even a Clan cat will tell you that watching a stupid cat try to run is hilarious. He only trains an apprentice claws-out when they’re doing survival exercises, and he’s never killed a cat in secret just to get them out of the way. He’s…as normal a cat you’ll find in BloodlustClan.
That said, he’s not compassionate or frail-hearted when it comes to living with his Clan. He’s cold as anyone can be, he’ll strike a cat if they argue with him, he’s perfectly ready to kill in a battle if it’s that sort of thing. He rarely acts affectionate toward anycat, and sharp words come easily to his tongue. His rule in life is to succeed where all others fail, because that is what he was taught and what he believes in, and he will do that to the last.
Past: Heraldkit’s mother Forestheart was forced to flee her home Clan when the tom was only a few bare weeks old with him and his sister; the she-cat’s illegitimate daughter had returned to IceClan after many moons of pretending that she was forgotten, and Forestheart feared the consequences she and her kits might face. In her haste, she left her older son, Molepaw, behind, and StarClan alone knows what happened to him.
Forestheart died a few moons later, succumbing to a deep wound from an attack by a group of rogues.
Heraldkit and his sister, Kindlepaw, only survived by fleeing; Kindlepaw had been forced to watch her mother die as she hid her little brother in the roots of a tree, having been ordered by her mother to protect the little kit with her life. By this time the apprentice was near ten moons old - to Heraldkit’s three - and managed to survive as they moved further and further south, teaching the little kit the fundamentals of Clan - well, rogue - life.
After a time they came upon inhabited lands once more. ThornClan, the place was called, a proud forest Clan with much power, living in harmony with the other three Clans of the forest. The patrol they met scoffed as they presented themselves, for by this time Heraldkit was five moons and Kindlepaw twelve - surely they must have been away from Clan life long, to have such inappropriate names! Infuriated by their insults, Kindlepaw takes Heraldkit to do exactly as the mocking warriors suggested - go back north to the city of the rogues, where they might better belong!
A few days later, in the Twolegplace, they met up with a pair of BloodlustClan cats and were challenged for their forest scent. Kindlepaw reluctantly decides that if she’s to be like these cats, she too must abandon StarClan, and fixes their names herself: she called herself Kindleflame, and her brother Heraldpaw. The she-cat of the pair, Jadedeyes, ordered that they prove themselves if they wished to join the Clan: “You and the little brat fight me.” If they lost, Jadedeyes would kill them without mercy; if they won, they could join the Clan.
With that, the she-cat and her companion disappeared.
Through their wits, experience as rogues, and Heraldpaw’s immediate taking to city life, they managed to survive long enough that Jadedeyes decided they’d be useful; she congratulated them warmly, despite the fact that Markedface, her companion and alleged brother, had died in the test—supposedly through a wound Kindleflame gave him, but nocat actually saw him die.
Kindleflame watched as her brother became apprenticed to Jadedeyes and began to learn how life worked in BloodlustClan; how survival was key and if you wanted something you got it. How StarClan was a forbidden word. And she was horrified at the change which came over him as he grew from young apprentice to accomplished adult, how ruthless and…like the others he became. Not cruel, not intentionally; he just lost the ability to grant mercy, lost his understanding of what mercy was. And he survived, and he grew higher and higher in the ranks even as his body went through its final growth spurt, leaving him larger and stronger than many a cat…
It has been six full moons since he was made a warrior, and Kindleflame has long since died in some dark alley.
RP Example:
The quiet bustle of camp filled the she-cat’s ears as she nibbled on a mouse, enjoying the sweet taste of a rare catch in these northern parts. She didn’t even know the name of the cat who had caught her the tasty treat - but did it really matter? She was eating it and well although she’d caught nothing on her own patrol.
Even as a full adult, the daughter of the esteemed leader of IceClan received many luxuries and the first pick at the freshkill pile.
A sudden hush rippled through the camp, starting at the entrance to the warm cave which they called home and spreading outward as cats looked up, wondering what the trouble could be. Forestheart peered toward the entrance as well with her deep green eyes, curious, and stood when a cat moved in front of her.
A younger she-cat moved closer, a sly smile on her face. “There’s a newcomer up there,” she whispered in her friend and rival’s ear. “Begging to see your father, lady. Says her name’s…Magpiefoot.” The young warrior wrinkled her nose at the name, but a cold chill ran down Forestheart’s spine, and slowly, wordlessly, she moved to get a better view of the intruder.
She would be…eight moons now? the queen thought nervously. Not old enough for a warrior, surely? Yet, Magpiekit’s father had claimed a warrior title at the same age, or so it was said…and if she had been living as a rogue…
As soon as she caught a glimpse of the white-splotched black pelt, there could be no doubt. Forestheart went cold, then hot with something like anger or embarrassment. In IceClan, scandals were not quickly forgotten.
She dares return…
Magpiefoot glanced in Forestheart’s direction, as if the intense thought had attracted her attention; the leader’s daughter knew logically that the young she-cat had likely not even seen her, but all the same it was too much to bear. Face flushed beneath her fur, Foresheart fled to the nursery.
Every cat saw her go, but no one made a move to react.
The queen’s elder daughter was in the nursery, babysitting her younger brother - ever since Talonkit had escaped the warm caves and died from the cold, Forestheart made sure her one remaining kit was never left alone.
“Kindlepaw,” the proud she-cat snapped out, “we’re leaving. Get your brother ready.”
The small ginger she-cat jumped, then peered at her mother in confusion. “Mo—I mean, Forestheart? Leaving? The three of us? For what? Should I get—”
“Molepaw’s never any use,” Forestheart interrupted, exasperated. “Just get Heraldkit ready, and if your other brother’s not on patrol he can come along too.”
Kindlepaw peered at her mother, suspicious. Quickly she paced around to the den entrance before Forestheart - not a threatening action, merely an indication of what she wished. “Tell me why first.”
Forestheart glared at her eldest kit, but the apprentice refused to budge. Just barely past her ceremony yet so impudent…! “You remember my niece,” she began carefully, choosing to comply to the younger cat’s wishes, “the one who was thrown from the Clan with her rogue father after a…scandal.” Both she and her daughter knew it was no niece she spoke of, but appearances were importance in IceClan. “Well…it seems she has returned, and I fear things could change for us here, very quickly.”
Kindlepaw’s eyes shot wide, and she hurried to obey her mother.
* * *
Just a few more steps…
There was a sudden rustle in the bushes behind her, and she spun, scaring the mouse off.
She was promptly met by a ball of black fur in the mouth.
“Heraldkit!” sputtered the no-longer-quite-so-young apprentice, jumping back and spitting. “Why on earth did you have to do that just now?”
The kit - though by this time he ought to be called an apprentice - grinned impishly. “You said to surprise you, sis.”
Kindlepaw’s growl started out menacing, but her claws were in when she leapt at her little brother. “Little monster! Never hungry, are you!” She was laughing in spite of herself. Heraldkit was altogether too charming to be just an annoying little brother.
Heraldkit wormed free of her grasp, giggling. But, as his sibling’s words finally cut through the fog of his young mind, he frowned, suddenly solemn. “How come Mama doesn’t hunt for us anymore, Kindlepaw? I haven’t seen her in a really long time.”
Kindlepaw was taken aback by the tom’s naïveté. She regained her footing and hesitated, a glint of pain flitting across her eyes. “She…got hurt a long time ago, Heraldkit,” she tried to explain, unable to meet his eyes. “I had to protect you…” Old anger welled up in her and she forced it down. He was just a kit, after all…
Heraldkit tilted his head at her. “So she’s going to be a long time catching up?”
Kindlepaw swallowed a painful lump in her throat and had to stretch the truth, for her own sake.
“Yeah. Maybe a really long time.”
* * *
“You’re asking to join our Clan.”
The voice was mocking; the tom looked down at him and his sister, taunting and sarcastic. He flinched and looked away. How come cats had to be so big…
His big sister looked at the older cat steadily. “I am,” she answered as calmly as she could, but Heraldkit could detect a tremor in her voice. Trouble. “I really think we could be an asset to your warriors—”
The big Clan-cat laughed, loud and booming. “A little she-cat and an even littler tom, who’ve been out of Clan life so long their names don’t fit anymore? You think you could help us? Get out of ThornClan, runts! Go to the Twolegplace up there, with the other rogues, where you belong!”
Kindlepaw glared at him, fire in her eyes. Even bigger trouble, Heraldkit thought uneasily. Sis usually struck out when she got that mad.
But all she did was spit, “I will,” and turn on her heel, Heraldkit trailing with many backward looks.
There was a long time when they were silent, the ginger she-cat seething, the black tom uncertain. But after a while traveling in the uncomfortable hush, Heraldkit started thinking, and it was never a good thing when he was thinking and Kindlepaw wasn’t. Particularly when he had very little idea what a Twolegplace was, and Kindlepaw was leading them. But the supposing niggled and niggled in the corner of his mind, till he was physically shaking his head to be rid of it, and he had to ask.
“How come it matters that our names are different, sis?” he dared, half flinching when she looked at him. When the older cat made no response he went on, “I’m supposed to be Heraldpaw, right? And you’re Kindle…Kindle…”
Kindlepaw shook her head abruptly, cutting him off without words. She was quiet a little longer, cooling off, then informed him, “It’s for StarClan to decide our names, Heraldkit. They’d give sign if we were to have different ones, and don’t say otherwise!”
“StarClan,” he answered reflectively, reflexively, without thinking. “I never heard them before, Kindle. What makes you so sure it’s StarClan that does all that, not just the cats who say they hear ’em?” Immediately he ducked his head, embarrassed to use such sarcasm, then rushed on, “And how come you don’t tell me anything about StarClan, and Clans, and Mama? I should know, shouldn’t I?”
Kindlepaw shot a glare at him and moved a little faster, putting some distance between them. “Call her Forestheart, not Mama,” she said in a clipped voice. “You’re too old for baby things. And it’s not for an apprentice to tell you about Clan lore, understand?”
Heraldkit didn’t like the answer, but there was too much fire-ice in Kindle’s voice and gaze. He nodded wordlessly and concentrated on his feet, mumbling, “I understand.”
* * *
“Aw, look! It’s a pair of little kitties, lost from their homes!”
A quick whirl and two cats halted their reluctant progress through the filthy, winding alleys, twin streaks of chocolate and dusk-splashed silver, glinting claws on their feet and pure mockery in their eyes.
“Lost, Markedface?” sneered the brown one, giving Kindlepaw and Heraldkit a sharp-toothed smile. “Their scents tell a different tale!”
The tabby tom returned his companion’s leer with a slow smile, and he slowly came close to Heraldkit, pointedly nosing the little cat’s fur. Kindlepaw bristled, her own claws unsheathed, and only the brown she-cat so near to her kept her fiery temper in check as she bit back a protective yowl.
“Why, I agree, sister,” Markedface purred, eyes glinting maliciously at Heraldkit. The little tom whimpered, frightened, and pressed himself into Kindlepaw’s fur. She did her best to comfort him without dropping the tabby’s gaze. “These little kitties don’t smell of housefolk. It’s forest I scent here.”
“Little ones,” the brown she-cat took up smoothly, “do you know what we do to forest cats, here?”
Kindlepaw turned to face her, and found her heart was pounding and her throat was dry. She swallowed, took a deep breath, locked eyes with the she-cat, and whispered, “I want to join the rogues.”
The she-cat blinked. Understood after a moment, gave a quirky one-sided grin, and waited for more. Markedface made no move.
Kindlepaw cleared her throat and tried again. “I—I heard there was a, a rogue Clan here. I, we, we want to join it.”
The brown cat giggled. Markedface relaxed his threatening stance some, amused, and moved so that Kindlepaw didn’t have to whirl every time a different cat spoke to her. “Who’s asking?” he inquired, lazily licking a paw.
Heraldkit was staring at her, scared what might happen if she said the wrong thing, and the ginger she-cat remembered the day ThornClan had refused them, what she had told her little brother. They said rogues didn’t worship StarClan…
“I am Kindleflame, and this is Heraldpaw,” she responded clearly.
“An apprentice,” the brown cat mused, eyeing Heraldkit - Heraldpaw’s diminutive frame doubtfully. Markedface laughed.
“Jadedeyes, let’s be away from here. Perhaps these aren’t forest cats after all, to try such games!”
Jadedeyes flicked out her tail, halting the larger tom. “You were little too, when you were an apprentice, brother dear.” She gave him her pointiest smile. “But Father doesn’t let me push you around anymore, does he?”
Markedface swallowed, getting the message, and stood still here he was.
Jadedeyes turned her emerald gaze on Kindlepaw. “You and the little brat fight me,” she told the younger she-cat coolly. “My brother and I are the best fighters the Clan’s got, and if you want to survive around here you gotta be able to hold your own against even us, being the warrior and apprentice you are.” Her eyes were sharp on little Heraldpaw. “If you lose, you die.”
Kindleflame swallowed.
“If you survive…” Another pointy grin. “Well, then, we’ll welcome you right into BloodlustClan.”
With that she had disappeared into the shadows, Markedface at her side.
Kindleflame took a deep, shaky breath, turned to her little brother, and began in her softest whisper, “All right. This is what we gotta do…”
* * *
“Heraldpaw! Get back here!”
Heraldpaw glanced back at his mentor and gave her a cool look. “I need to talk to Kindleflame, Jade!” he called back, and padded off without waiting to get claw-marks for his lack of respect with Jadedeyes’s name.
Jadedeyes was startled by his sudden authority, but it was to be expected. After all, young warriors-to-be more often killed their mentors than obeyed them, and there were times she could hardly counter his quick strikes, no matter how much a revealing shadow his now-looming bulk gave. “Heraldfang indeed,” she murmured, thinking of the warrior name she had suggested for him, and with a quick glance to see no one would be expecting her soon she slipped away from the other training cats after the young tom and his sister.
“You don’t usually ask to see me anymore,” was Kindleflame’s remark as the pair moved away from prying eyes and ears. If it was meant to sting, Heraldpaw didn’t realize; it was a true fact, after all, and there was therefore no reason it shouldn’t be said. He shrugged, and answered with the same bluntness.
“We haven’t got anything in common anymore and there’s no news you don’t get before me…”
Kindleflame waited patiently for him to finish, knowing he teased her by drawing it out but not really minding. She was not like these other cats, and even if he had changed, he was still her little brother.
“…except that my warrior ceremony’s going to be tonight!” the apprentice crowed, rearing onto his back paws in victory.
Kindleflame’s eyes snapped in a way so familiar to the cat she had raised from a bare few moons old, and she whirled on him. The black cat tensed, expecting to be pounced on helplessly with an explanation for how he had erred breathed in his ear, but she just brought her face inches from his, teeth flashing. “When did you find out?” she demanded.
He took a step back, bewildered. Fiery as she was, Kindleflame was the last BloodlustClan cat he would expect such a random burst of temper from. “Just now,” he explained in confusion, “Jadedeyes just told me and I thought you’d want to be first to know…”
Kindleflame bit her lip, looking around wildly, then leaned in close to him. “Heraldpaw, for StarClan‘s sake be careful,” she hissed, near to panicked tears, “This Clan, they—even after all these moons—if they hurt you in the ceremony—”
Suddenly Heraldpaw went coldly furious and drew away. It was the sudden suggestion of kinship, she knew, but she couldn’t help herself. “Heraldpaw—”
“You will not speak of StarClan or disgrace the Clan in this way,” he told her grimly. “I will survive, as you and Jadedeyes taught me to. I will rise in the Clan and prove myself. I will make my family and my mentor proud even as I leave them in my wake.” It was a common saying in BloodlustClan, often spoken with sarcasm or mockery, but all that was in his voice now was frosty sincerity. “Do not concern yourself with me, Kindleflame.”
“Brother—”
His eyes narrowed, and he swiped a claw at her incessant mouth. She flinched, tasting blood, and her heart twisted that he would treat her so; but he didn’t even blink.
“You will speak no more of this, Kindleflame.”
He showed, felt no remorse, no pity, only cool anger and frustration that the fool cat still carried on with her hopeless ideals. There was no reason he should not strike at her; it was a simple way of silencing somecat, startling them out of whatever foolishness they indulged in.
This was the way things were done in BloodlustClan.
Hidden behind a garbage can, Jadedeyes’s eyes gleamed. What a fine warrior this tom would be.
Heraldfang indeed.
((Yayyyy. A second character. I wanted Inuit to ok this before I start playing him since she’s leader of BloodlustClan. I know the example’s long, but I was going to use it for both that and his past till I realized how confusing and holey it is…>-<
((The quote might be off a little. I don’t remember what it said to the word, and my copy of Homeland is currently floating off in the middle of Wherever Items Go When They Do Not Wish To Be Found. XDD))
