Silverpaw: Thunderclan

[venus]

Name: Silverpaw
Rank: Apprentice
Clan: ThunderClan
Gender: She-Cat
Age: Eight Moons
Picture: flickr.com/photos/eleda/215273580/sizes/l/
EDIT: Edited version: img524.imageshack.us/img524/830/silverpawcopyeu8.jpg
Physical Description:

Silverpaw is a brilliant silver cat with a lighter patch on her forehead. Up to her heels/knees, the fur is somewhat darker, and her ears and tail are tipped with dark silver. Her fur is long and thick. Her tail is always bushy, even in summertime. It trails on the ground if she doesn't lift it up. Her fur is soft, though she has to groom it more often than most cats to keep it mat-free.

Silverpaw's body shape is long and slender, and a little shorter than an average cat. Although she's slender, her flanks and shoulders are prominent, which gives her a slightly horselike shape. The shoulders are high and elegant, and moderately muscled. Her lower leg is longer than the cannon of some cats, and her legs overall are long. Her neck is long and curved elegantly. Her muzzle is medium-long and slim, and her ears are rather large. Silverpaw's paws are somewhat large, though proportional to her legs. Sharp and long claws are deadly in battle, though she has to be careful to make sure they don't clack when she's stalking something. Her fangs are also long and sharp, and she takes meticulous care of them to keep them in top condition.

Silverpaw's eyes are almond-shaped and medium-large. One is amber while one is blue, and they always seem to have sparks with the fire of her spirit. When she's angry, fire seems to burn across them, and when she's happy, they sparkle like stars. Overall, she's a very pretty cat, but don't let that stop you in battle.

Quick Description:

Slender silver she-cat with odd eyes.

Personality:

Silverpaw is a very independent cat who is bit of a diva, with a little bit of a snappy, “I don’t care what anyone thinks of me” attitude. When presented with something new, whether it be a person, idea, or bit of information, she will be somewhat cautious around it at first until she knows what it is and what it’s like. With those she knows, she is a fun, outgoing cat with a lot of fire. Due to her personality, she has a bit of trouble controlling her temper and her words. More than once she has bit her tongue trying to hold back a retort that almost spilled out. She also has to be careful not to be too snappish to the leaders of the Clan, and has gotten into trouble sometimes for failing that. Despite that, though, she has a burning desire to make her Clan leader and her mentor (once he/she's chosen) proud. She likes to playfully tease those that she knows well.

One thing that you'll want to take note of before getting into an argument with Silverpaw is her stubbornness. When she knows what she wants, there's no prying her from it, and she'll always think she's right unless someone can wholly convince her otherwise. If she believes that what she's doing is right, she's not afraid to go against the warrior code. Given her fiery temper, her words can get very pointed with you if you get into an argument with her. She only really starts shouting when she's stressed, however. But once she's stressed... Watch out. She can completely take leave of her senses and take her anger out on her friends and even her betters when she's stressed.

Despite her snappy, slightly cautious attitude, she has a softer side, and if she saw something hurt, after assuring herself that it’s not a trick, she would do anything to help it out. If someone did something for her, she would go to any length to repay them, but wouldn’t want to be repaid for something she did for someone else. Her temper flares when someone insults or hurts those she cares about, she sees someone being the victim of cruelty, or a well-thought insult is thrown at her.

Silverpaw is an intelligent cat, though sometimes over thinks herself. When doing something like solving a riddle, she'll try to think outside the box. As a result, she can skip over the obvious answer and thus over think herself. In battle, she can think quickly and on her feet. However, sometimes when there is too much going on around her, she'll get distracted and get hit.

She is not vain, but still cares about her hygiene and appearance. Even though she is careful with her hygiene balance, she likes to get dirty, as long as she can become clean again afterwards!

History:

Silverpaw was born to a pair of loners. However, her mother died while giving birth to her, so she never knew her. Her father, Moonpelt, knew that she could not survive if she did not have a mother to nurse from. Brokenhearted, with only his kit, he went to the Twolegplace and asked a nursing mother if she could nurse the kit for him. Though it was not his intention, he scared the kittypet mother so much that she agreed out of fear for her own life. Silverkit experienced an odd life while her eyes were still shut: she was nursed by a kittypet, but otherwise lived with a loner male. Even while she was still a kit, she knew she was different; the others in the litter kept well away from her, and the mother nursed her only resentfully, not giving her the loving care that she did the rest of the litter.

Once they could open their eyes, they all kept even further from Silverkit. They were afraid of her wild scent: every night, Moonpelt and Silverkit's foster kittypet mother met out at the fence, and the foster mother gave Silverkit over to Moonpelt for the night, so she still had the smell of the wild on her. Silverkit's foster mother nursed her for only three days after their eyes were opened, then flat-out refused to do it. She had apparently gathered up enough courage to face Moonpelt, because on the third night, she spat in his face and told him she wanted nothing more to do with the brats of wild scum like him.

Silverkit wasn't yet weaned, so her growth was stunted a little bit. She would never grow to be quite as large as the rest of those her age. By then, she was old enough to understand the difference between a loner, a Clan cat and a kittypet, and she resented her kittypet mother for what she had done to her father. Meanwhile, Moonpelt kept a close eye on Silverkit for every second of the day, never letting her do anything that seemed remotely dangerous. Since she was all he had left, he was completely unwilling to let her go. She also resented this close eye always on her.

One night, when she was six moons old, Silverkit left Moonpelt. She wanted to live a life of her own, away from haunts of the past and Moonpelt's eye always on her. First, she visited the Twoleg dwelling. For a few days, she sat in the shadows, living off what little she could catch and carefully observing the habits of her mother. She wanted to give her the fright of her life, thus avenging her father for the terrible treatment she had given him. Silverkit observed that her foster mother always went out at midnight for a bathroom break. The fourth night, she waited in the shadows, watching for her chance. When her mother came out, she leaped lightly on her back. Though her claws were sheathed, she got the fright of her life, especially when she saw Silverkit. She had neglected to take care of her pelt, so she looked wild and unkempt. She said nothing, but hissed while advancing on her. Her foster mother wailed in fright and raced inside.

Her revenge had been achieved, though she wanted a life past that. For a moon, she wandered around the lake, living off what little small prey she could catch, observing the different Clans. She narrowed her options down in her mind until she was between RiverClan and ThunderClan. In the end, she decided ThunderClan was the best option. Silverkit renamed herself Silverpaw, washed all trace of kittypet scent off herself, then approached. Hopefully they would take her in.

IC:

Silverpaw crouched at the edge of the Moonpool stream. The sun was just coming up, covering the sky in a gray color. As it rose higher and higher to its throne in the sky, it tainted the water with crimson and gold radiating from the center of the life-giving disc in the sky. The trees were like an assembled army, and the Ancient Oak was their general. Between the trees, Silverpaw could just barely make out the gap where the Thunderclan camp was nestled.

And then they appeared - what she was waiting for. The cats of ThunderClan appeared, laughing children running between the legs of the soldiers marching down the streets to the battlefield. They were searching for prey to feed the kits and elders of the camp. And then Silverpaw noticed what looked like a mentor with their apprentice. At the sight of this, Silverpaw felt a pang of envy and longing. Oh, how she wanted to be a part of that! How she wished she could be like that apprentice, out hunting not only for herself, but for the Clan that she would be loyal to until the death. It was just like a family - the family that she never had. She had had a mother and a father, sure, but they weren't anything like this. Her mother died at birth, and her foster mother hated her. Her father, meanwhile, made sure she couldn't do anything fun.

However, it was time to leave that behind. As the sun ascended further, the cats went back to camp, apparently having gathered enough food to feed their beloved Clan. If everything went according to plan, then this would soon be her Clan. For a moment, Silverpaw had a fleeting thought. What if it doesn't go according to plan? What if they outcast me? A pang of fear hit her chest, and she vowed to not let that happen. If she had to grovel before the Clan leaders' paws to get into this Clan, she would. She would do whatever it took to know what a real family was like.

First, and hopefully hardest part of the plan: Cross the stream. After several days, Silverpaw had decided that this was the only way she could do it. Besides, it would wash off any trace of Twoleg she still had on her. Well, it was now or never. Silverpaw took a deep breath, tensed her muscles, and threw herself over the edge. The moments of contact were truly terrifying. Silverpaw floundered for a few seconds in the quick current as she splashed, desperate not to sink too far beneath the surface. And then it was done. Silverpaw hadn't had much experience swimming, so this would probably be the hardest thing she'd ever do. She remembered what her father had told her: Swipe with your forepaw, then kick with your back paw. Taking a determined breath, Silverpaw swiped, then kicked. Swipe, then kick. She was doing it slowly enough that she wasn't making enough progress. With a frusturated yowling noise, she sped up her swiping and kicking.

It took her a few moments to realize that the reason she wasn't getting anywhere was probably because she was basically flailing in the water. Don't panic, she told herself firmly. Swimming is just like walking. You need to lift your foot up while you bring it forward. That was it! Swipe, kick, then lift. Swipe, kick, then lift. It was working much better than it had before. Her success encouraging her, Silverpaw sped up, being careful not to end up flailing like she had before.

Apparently she had been at a spot where the current was not as hard, because she suddenly felt herself being carried into a section where the current was much faster. It was hard to swim against the dangerous current, and she found herself beginning to be pulled under. She began cursing herself for her stupidity. Why couldn't she just have gone with RiverClan? They were closer to her. Silverpaw firmly stopped herself before she drowned. Think, Silver, THINK! What could she do? If the current was too strong, what could she do? Go with it! she realized. At that thought, she merely focused on staying afloat, and let the swift current carry her to the lake.

Eventually, the current carried her out to the lake, where it would be easier to swim. It was time to keep going. She looked up to see that the current was much weaker here, if not nonexistent. Silverpaw gratefully swam the rest of the distance to shore and clambored out of the water. The sun was high in the sky by now, and Silverpaw looked much worse for wear. As she looked at her reflection, she realized she looked rather like a drowned rat. She certainly felt like one. Would this make her come down with greencough? She certainly hoped not. Wanting to look presentable for the leader of ThunderClan, she shook off and looked at her reflection again. Not dry enough. She shook off yet again. Better. Satisfied with that part, she sat down to give herself a quick catbath before moving on to the camp. Would the leader accept her?

Codeword: *Chammy eats*
Other:

Silverpaw is mostly built for speed, agility, flexibility and silence. She can get very fast, and has moderately good endurance to partner that. Her turns are always on a dime unless for some reason she's particularly clumsy. She's pretty good at squeezing into tight spaces. However, the one thing she's lacking in mostly is strength. In battle, if she were to get into a wrestle based purely on strengths, she would probably lose. When stalking, she just has to watch to make sure her claws don't clack, but she can sneak up on pretty much anything. Her sense of smell and ability to feel vibrations are particularly good, given her larger ears and contact with the ground.

[&Willow]

Accepted.