Post by icy on Dec 18, 2014 19:49:23 GMT -5
s h r i k e s t a r
need to know
» clan: shadowclan, pro-starclan
» age: sixty-four moons
» gender: male
» rank: leader
» status: conflicting emotional struggles
» mentor/apprentice: tawnypaw - apprentice (before split), none currently ;
» lives:
» description: lanky silver tabby-and-white tom with green eyes.[/ul]
deeper
first and foremost, he's not on the large side of things. he's smaller than the average tomcat, thin like a windclan cat, and downright narrow in most of his features. with decent proportions all around, however, shrikestar is quite fast on small, nimble paws, with a medium length tail to keep mediocre balance with.
secondly, his fur is pretty darn short with only a few stray, longer hairs poking out of his stomach from missed washes. whenever it bristles on the back of his neck, he looks almost like a grey shaved lion, along with extremely long whiskers. seriously, does he need that many on his maw?
the fur is quite pale, enough so the white seems to blend in with the silvers, starkly contrasted by the deep tabby stripes running across his body, making partial rings around his scruff and forming band-esque markings on his limbs. lastly, with a bright red nose and narrow, stern green eyes, many parts of his appearance contradict with one another. on one hand, he looks pretty cute, but otherwise- he seems dangerous.
well, he certainly is dangerous.
» personality:
you might not meet another cat like shrikestar, to be completely honest.
deeply ingrained in his soul was the existence of starclan, the lack of mothering influence, and the belief of him becoming a dedicated individual to the point of losing sight of the more important instances of life. from day one, he appeared to have a vendetta against the societal norms, to a climax of wishing death to those he didn't care for. well, he wasn't the only one disliking the popular kids, but we get the point.
devotion to multiple causes at once questioned his sanity quite often, being his forward love intentions, keeping the clan together, and making sure starclan would never be forgotten- and failure in all three has left him in a consistent state of despair.
shrikestar believes he is so certain, so into clan life and politics, but the unfortunate part is his lack of appearance for these things. family was always something dear to him, sure, and finding a mate was on his mind since he was named shrikefang, warrior of shadowclan! in lieu of the rising tensions and harsh battles, he discovered a lapse in good judgement, withdrawing more into himself than ever before.
there's absolutely no one he can trust anymore.
at least, that's what he says, even though it certainly isn't true.
manipulation is key in times like these, where pity can assist in keeping allies and emotional outbreaks can rally support for a similar cause. he kept his family with him, save for the kits, as well as some of his closest friends. so- he has cats he can trust.
he just doesn't know which he cannot trust.
» background: the day dawnclaw discovered she was pregnant, silverstripe was made a warrior and called the father. the first litter contained a single kit, palekit, who would eventually become the medicine cat known as paleberry in twenty moons from then. it would be after paleberry turned thirty-three moons did dawnclaw become pregnant again, moving into the nursery to give birth to a litter of three this time: shrikekit, comfreykit, and thymekit.
from day one, it seemed as though the little shrike wouldn't amount to anything, not containing any love from his parents; dawnclaw loved her only daughter, and silverstripe was proud of the large comfreykit that took control in the three. no, he wouldn't gain any attention by his siblings, either- save for the older one. yes, for some reason, paleberry checked on the kits often, and he specifically sought out the thin silver tabby.
by the time the three would become apprentices, paleberry ingrained in adderstar's mind of him wanting to mentor shrikepaw and teaching him in the ways of a medicine cat. being oblivious to the stark contrast between the two options, he meekly shied into the position of medicine cat apprentice. it would be the two brothers that would heal the clan- at least, this was the older tom's thought process. it took a moon of training for shrikepaw to realize- this isn't what he wanted.
he marched straight up to adderstar, asked to talk to him in private- and he confessed his disdain in the role of a medicine cat's apprentice. he wanted to become a warrior, and that was final. the ceremony for him to switch to training under batstorm came soon after, leaving a heartbroken paleberry in the dust, and a different future for the tom in store. it would start with his mother falling ill with greencough in the winter and passing, leaving silverstripe in a panic of being a single father. he would hide away into himself, rarely speaking with family unless needed.
however, he ignored his technical loss of both parents and focused heavily on his warrior training, being able to catch up and surpass his siblings within three moons' time. his sights were heavily influenced by fighting and hunting, almost appearing brutal in his work. it ended up with his eventual warrior name being shrikefang, alongside his siblings comfreyleaf and thymefang.
in a twist of fate, the belief of starclan was deeply ingrained in his thought process, similar to his medicine cat brother. he claimed his eventual love would be godly, worthy of mention in starclan for eons to come. it wasn't a matter of if he was getting a mate- it was a matter of when.
the first goal was a molly by the name of honeyclaw, with a personality (he thought) like his own. it took moons to try and win her over, and in that time, he was given two apprentices he only partially gave attention to outside of training. however, at thirty-five moons, he finally got her attention and became some sort of thing. she wasn't completely into it, since her sights were also upon the shadowclan deputy- blacktooth. that was enough.
that was enough.
he made a decision then and there- blacktooth needed to go. he needed to get out.
so, he got the deputy and his best friend, eaglestrike, out on a patrol to the carrionplace. when the two least expected it- shrikefang shoved eagle into the dump, 'accidentally' into a rat's nest, and chased after the soon-fleeing blacktooth. it would be a quick fight, but in the end, the brown tabby was dead. the deputy was dead.
he needed to blame it on the rats, where eaglestrike eventually died from the many rat bites.
by the time he returned to camp, bloodied and battered by the struggle, he broke the news of death of being from rats on both toms, and specifying they planned this from the get-go. they were going to die to hide their homosexual love.
at least, that was what he said.
and shrikefang was named deputy on the spot.
it was safe to say- he wasn't expecting that.
he stood near the bodies of the two toms for hours, maybe an entire day, as he quietly mourned in shock of his new position. oh, he certainly wasn't close to the deputy or his friend at all, but being named in--
he took his new position with a vow. he would devote his attention to the clan first, and honeyclaw as second, though she suddenly took off five moons later. she would eventually be found dead outside the carrionplace, almost at highstones, with her throat being crushed by another cat's paws. shrikefang was in ruins- the love of his life- gone in the flash of a romance they shared.
at least- he thought honeyclaw was his love. until hazelstorm came into the picture. by the time of his admission into the role of deputy, she was still an apprentice, but by her warrior's ceremony, he found a spark. an attraction to her personality and the way she hoisted herself. not to mention- she was adderstar's daughter.
it had to be starclan's destiny for the two shadowclan cats.
so- their relationship bloomed, far too quickly for other cats' liking, and the secret eventually got out to the leader's prying ears. it was said he lost his last life by illness, though if the couple had anything to say about it- it was shock.
at forty-nine moons, shrikefang stepped up as shrikestar, and named his deputy before setting off to highstones with paleberry and his apprentice, [name]. he knew paleberry was getting to the age of retirement, and soon the apprentice would step up as the new medicine cat, so he was somewhat glad about becoming leader with his brother at his side.
once the dream began, though- no starclan cats showed up.
he was alone for about five minutes before the nine began to show up. adderstar, the one before him, dawnclaw, silverstripe, the medicine cat before paleberry- yet, there was also the ones his stomach dropped to see.
blacktooth, eaglestrike, and honeyclaw were also there.
oh great.
he could see the malice in their eyes as they gave him three lives- honesty. loyalty. honor. each were received with sharp warnings tacked onto them, and the final cat to give him a life was the deputy before blacktooth. the ceremony ended, and he woke up as shrikestar. leader of shadowclan.
he had everything he needed, now. a mate, the rule of a clan, a deputy, and- well. paleberry bit the dust two days after the ceremony from an illness he kept secret. it was almost like a slap to the face- how on earth could he carry on with a completely new set of leadership at the next gathering?
at the least, it wasn't too shit. it wasn't terrible until thornstar took over as riverclan's leader- and then the silence began.
oh, how he loathed the silence of his ancestors.
it was then he began indulging more into his relationship with hazelstorm, to the point of becoming true mates with kits on the way by the battle of fourtrees.
he fought in the massacre, losing two of his lives in the brawl but taking three cats with him- two being from other clans, but a third being a shadowclan cat who opposed his leadership from the get-go.
the warrior would be put down as being taken down by another leader, unspecified as to whom.
once returning to camp with fewer numbers than before, his morale was low, temper was flaring, and his faith in the starry ancestors was starting to fade quickly. he kept a feign by exploiting his kits as the blessing of starclan, the love between him and hazelstorm as being close to starclan itself-
suffice to say, it was fooling him enough to believe in starclan, even though his lives lost were never greeted by another starry warrior.
the split and battle of the rebels took him by surprise, slipping out of his stupor by his mate's outright denial of the ancestors, and they certainly fought. he lost his third life in this, and once getting up and the rebels departure was finished, he turned to his remaining faction with hardened eyes.
he told the rest of the clan about how starclan was there. he told them they would be returning once the rebels were wiped out.
including his former mate.[/ul]
immediate kin
» sons: hawkpaw
» daughters: tawnypaw, juniperpaw[/ul]
extended kin
» mother:
» brothers:
» sisters: thymefang
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