Post by c a i on Mar 3, 2012 7:08:52 GMT -5
d a r k f l o w e r
need to know
» clan: ShadowClan
» age: 30 moons
» gender: Female
» rank: Warrior
» status: ice queen
» mentor/apprentice: None
» description: beautiful mottled she-cat with green eyes[/ul]
deeper
Somehow with Darkflower you may be right next to her and still feel enormous distance from her, such is the magnitude of her defences. She is cool, frosty, even, with an aura of complete detachment and reserved pride that make it seem as if she wears an impenetrable shell. In actual fact she is a beautiful cat, long-legged, slim and strikingly patterned. She is not as shadowy-pelted as her name might suggest and in actual fact, her base coat is very pale. It is her markings which are the only real justification for her name, as her coat is flecked with dusky dark markings and her legs are ringed with deep brown stripes. The undersides of her paws and the backs of her ears are also dark, making a striking contrast against the near white of her coat.
Darkflower has pale green eyes, very sharp and piercing, which often bear a deeply guarded and reserved expression. It is this, along with the fact that Darkflower rarely smiles, which somewhat mar her otherwise very attractive features. She possesses the rather frosty countenance and arrogant good looks that seem to be a family trait, yet she bears herself with a distinct dignity and grace. Though there is distinctive family resemblance between her and her kin, her fur colour is unusual amongst a family of darker pelted cats. Whilst her sisters and cousins possess glossy black and deep brown fur, Darkflower's pelt is almost an anomaly. She is a very beautiful cat, yet somehow impenetrable, as if she were encased in a shell of ice.
» personality: conflicted, guarded, intelligent, morally ambiguous, frosty, loyal, purist
Darkflower is a difficult cat to read, and even harder to understand. She is a curious conflict within herself, always walking that fine line between wrong and right. She sways between having a cruel and generous heart, unable to shake off the influence of a lifetime of indoctrination but also unable to ignore the grudging kindness she still has. No one can be quite sure what she is thinking and with whom she will choose to ally herself, but at heart Darkflower is a deeply loyal and sharply astute cat. She is introspective, inward looking and creative, capable of deep love but reluctant to seek it. She has been raised on the principle of blood purity and ShadowClan's supremity, but adopts it less dogmatically than her sister.
While she acts quite frostily and is not easily approachable to most cats, to her kin and her close friends she is a strangely interesting cat to know. She has a way with words though she rarely speaks to those she does not know well, and she has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour. Her loyalty means she is very protective and fierce when it comes to her family, and as such is capable of being just as ruthless and aggressive as her elder sister if they are threatened. She sticks by Blackfeather in almost everything, but her own continued faith in StarClan is the one thing that threatens to drive them apart.
» background:
"she's light, but she will be Darkkit."
Second-born in her litter of three, Darkkit's name was not the most immediately logical of choices given her pale fur. Yet her father, always the one to call the shots in his relationship with Ravenflower, had her named Darkkit anyway, deeming it fitting for a daughter of his. Even at a young age, it was established that Blackkit and Darkkit were closest in the litter, whilst Brightkit was somewhat distant from them both. Yet Darkkit never had anything against her gentler sister, and had she not been under obligation to deride her softness and kindness, would have been just as close to Brightkit as Blackkit. But as it stood, all three were fed poisonous ideas about blood purity and from birth were taught to hate non-Clanborns and mixed-blood cats by their haughty and lofty parents. Darkkit dared not question such ideals and allowed herself to be moulded and shaped.
As they grew, Darkkit was always jealous of her elder sister's favour with their father. Dusktooth made no secret of the fact that Blackkit, the sharp-tongued and ruthless youngster, was his pride and joy, and arranged for her to become his apprentice. While he was pleased with Darkkit also, somehow there was always a disconnect between father and daughter since she felt unnerved by him, while he paid most of his attention to Blackkit. Perhaps it was Darkkit's striking yet different appearance, or perhaps it was her innate guardedness, but he did not have the same interest in her upbringing and therefore allowed her to be apprenticed off to a distant relative, Nightear.
"are you my sister or hers? you can't be both"
Darkpaw's mentor was a deeply suspicious and paranoid cat, full of jitters and conspiracy theories. However, she was also a very competent warrior, despite her peculiarities, and so Darkpaw excelled. She stayed close to her sister Blackpaw, who encouraged her to become ever more prejudiced and ruthless, making no bones of the fact that she would do anything, including ruin other apprentices, to become a warrior faster. Meanwhile, their third sister Brightpaw was becoming estranged from them as she did not have the same cold streak as they did and was never in favour with the family. Brightpaw was disgusted by Blackpaw's corrupting of Darkpaw and had a deeply troubled relationship with their father, who considered her soft. Darkpaw, however, was always fond of their third sister, who was the only cat who seemed to see the lighter side of her, and it pained her greatly to choose between Blackpaw and Brightpaw.
Though the three sisters all resembled one another with their dangerous, dark elegance, their hearts were in different places. While Blackpaw and Darkpaw were pushed by their cut-throat father who demanded excellence, cunning and beauty, Brighpaw quarrelled endlessly with him. Blackpaw derided her, while Darkpaw was somewhere in the middle, proud and cool but lacking the black fire Blackpaw had. Yet there came a point where Darkpaw could not continue to be close to both sides of her fragmented family, as whatever she did to try and appease her sisters inevitably ended in argument. Eventually, Blackpaw began to pressure her to cut ties with Brightpaw.
"you aren't pregnant. what's the problem?"
At 11 moons all three sisters were made warriors. Dusktooth, fastidious in his grooming of his daughters and with a keen eye for beauty, saw to it that Darkpaw became Darkflower, for her mysteriousness and her queenly potential - for that was Dusktooth's plan for his young daughter. Ravenflower, who had failed to produce any more kits since her first litter, died of a mysterious illness one leaf-bare, and Dusktooth began to organise his family's future. Blackfeather, more dominant than her father by this point, was never expected to become a queen, while Brightpool steadfastly refused to do as he said. This left Darkflower, the beautiful middle sister, as Dusktooth's bargaining chip. Never able to stand up to her father, Darkflower did as he requested, even when that involved him choosing a high-ranking tom for her at the age of 14 moons, one who was 38 moons her senior.
Brightpool abhorred this treatment of her sister and begged her to break with them too, but Darkflower could not. Too entangled in their political machinations and emotionally trapped by Blackfeather, she refused to follow Brightpool's example and burn her bridges. Blackfeather, though genuinely fond of Darkflower, whom some said was the only cat she has ever really cared for, did not see the problem with what Dusktooth had done since Darkflower bore no kits. Darkflower began to create a frosty, untouchable persona for herself, distancing herself from almost everyone, unwilling to be the vulnerable youngster any longer. Dusktooth, now older and almost scorned by Blackfeather, has not sought further the arrangements for Darkflower, but there still exists the problem - who will carry on his bloodline?
"do you think faith will keep you safe? has it so far?"
Brightpool began seeing a RiverClan tom when she was around 20 moons old, and her secret affair was quickly discovered by her treacherous family. Blackfeather, half-incensed and half-eager to take the opportunity to attack her erstwhile sister, delivered her terrible retribution, drawing Brightpool into a bloody, deadly fight. Darkflower, horrified by the sight of her two sisters set to kill one another, intervened at the last minute, saving a badly-hurt Brightpool's life.
When StarClan ceased to speak to the Clans, Darkflower had her doubts while Blackfeather's tenous faith in them broke quickly. Yet Dusktooth, more superstitious than he had seemed, continued to believe in the old ways, angrily chastising Blackfeather's lax and disdainful treatment of the Code. Ever more locked into herself, Darkflower made little comment on her own personal beliefs and gave the guise of going along with the new leader and Blackfeather's ways, but inside kept a low-burning flame for hope that StarClan would return.
[/ul]
immediate kin
» sons: ---
» daughters: ---[/ul]
extended kin
» mother:
» brothers: ---
» sisters: blackfeather, brightpool[/ul]
