Post by `Fahrenheit on Jul 24, 2011 22:56:25 GMT -6
<---- SIXPAW
female, six moons
RANK: Apprentice[/b] Blackwhisker - a long-haired black she-cat with green eyes. She is smart and charming, and she loves listening to and telling stories.
ALLIANCE: BoulderClan
APPEARANCE: Long black she-cat with six toes.
PERSONALITY:
Sixpaw is probably the closest to a hipster a cat can get, just minus the suave clothing and attachment to liberal politics. Or, at least, what most people would consider to be liberal politics. The very young she-cat (a kitten just on the threshold of starting her journey to becoming a warrior of BoulderClan), burdgeons onto the scene, really, as an extremely analytical appreciator of the witty and creative facets of daily life. She sees art and what she quotes as being "perspective" everywhere. She'll see beauty and intrigue in a trail of ants, their black shapes following each other like a trickling stream down a sloped hill. Discoveries and adventures await in the fissures of rocks, the veins of green leaves, the ripples of icy pools, and even in the refuges of dark, recessive caves for Sixpaw; nature in itself entices her, calling her forth to taste the virtues of what's around her. Plus, she has a strong take on everything offering something up to the table, hence her love of saying, "There's the perspective we need!" Honestly, she's very quick to smell the roses and admire all that she is shown, including the mind candy that is Clan politics, not just nature. Even though she's terribly young, she's already very aware of the intricacies of BoulderClan. Her parents are to blame for that, sure, but her inquisitive brain had a paw to lend to that development. She loves analyzing and observing the Clan as it goes about surviving in the wild. The way cats interact, whether it be via fighting, loving, touching, sharing tense looks, or showing off, interests and baffles Sixpaw beyond all imagination. It's always been a thing with her, and even as she grows and starts her training as an apprentice, she tries her hardest to delve into the world of psychology. She can't help but notice that how a cat feels or behaves can heavily influence the way BoulderClan and even other Clans carry out business, and despite not knowing and fully comprehending everything that's going on around her, she loves to watch and learn.
Sixpaw, while in tune to the flow of the Clan and the warrior code, is a promoter of independence and free thinking. She deeply respects a cat who can speak aloud their thoughts, unabashed and brazen, totally unafraid of what the world might dish back out. Sixpaw is mature enough though to understand that waging revolution and acting like a whiny rebel doesn't do much, but she has a love affair with the idea of never being a sheep. She loves her Clan, and she respects the laws that tie all warriors down, but to her, being an individual is what makes the Clans what they are. After all, without inventors and open minds, who would ever change the course of history? To her, following one's heart is the most important thing in the world above all else. It even transcends what most would consider to be unbreakable limitations, beating out the warrior code and even the fear of the demons of the Dark Forest. The heart will lead one to their destiny, allowing them to find their path and then guide them down it. And while there may be obstacles, Sixpaw firmly and stubbornly believes that common sense, loving intuition, and respectable morals will never fail her. And coming back to free thinking, there's no such thing as too much. She herself loves to wonder and ask questions. While annoying to some, her deep affinity with the curious and unknown drives her to always be looking at things. If ever so persuaded, she will break open a rock to look at the insides, and she'll even dissect a leaf with her claw to separate the pulp from the stem. Inventive and free-spirited, she loves to mold and bend things with her paws. With the gift of extra dew claws, she breaks free of that norm to create new and fun ways to go about doing mundane chores. Her opinion is that her abnormality is not a curse but a gift, allowing her to travel down her specific path. With this, she's a little more outspoken than most apprentices, sharing her insight and provocations.
In this way, especially at such a young age, she can be considered the vessel for an old and wizened soul, her opinions often too educated or thought-provoking. Sixpaw spends more time with elders, listening to their stories and pieces of wisdom. Not to say that she doesn't hang out with apprentices like her. She loves talking to her denmates, liking their fresh outlook on life. Loving the many different opinions, she notices all the differences in opinion, noting how the older one is, the more his thoughts are cemented in fact and experience. But contrarywise, kits and apprentices (and even young warriors) have a sort of blissful and blunt take on things, viewing the happenings around them at face value. A lot of cats tend to think that she's just a precocious apprentice, the words and ideas coming out of her mouth sounding too brash for an older cat to really take too seriously. Others say she's just spouting propaganda from her open-minded and philosophic parents. Which is true in many ways. Her mother and father are huge role models in her life, guiding her learning and morphing her personality. They don't shelter her or inhibit her ponderings with Clan fodder or disinterested comments. They challenge her (which is something her churning brain desperately needs to stay interested and happy), and they push her to try new things and understand that what may be seen up front may not be what's real. But whatever it is, whether it's a combination of all three or she's just parroting her parents, Sixpaw is legitimately a very curious and smart individual. Even if her parents coerce her into thinking about certain subjects, she's mentally strong enough to be able to take it that step further and seriously review it, process it, and tack a conclusion to it. In many ways, even though a bit corrupted with hippy thoughts and a lack of cynicism, Sixpaw is what most would consider to be gifted. She needs to be pushed, and she needs to be given open-ended and provocative intellectual morsels. Forcing her down the straight and narrow is an awful idea, and she cannot be stifled.
Sixpaw adores all sorts of humor, and she tries to be very open-minded and free as a bird. This touches back on her desire for independence and appreciation of free will, but her adoration with optimism gives it wings. It's very easy to get her to laugh, and she understands most types of cats. She's very much a flower child, choosing to live and let live than pick fights and be nasty. While she isn't entirely miss sweetheart, she tries her best to consider all sides in an argument. Despite her laid-back disposition and genuine will to be fair, she tends to look a little too uppity and pompous to warriors. Because, in fact, she is a show off and a know-it-all. She states the obvious way too much, and she always likes to flaunt her knowledge and start off sentences with "Did you know...." Sixpaw likes to mess with her claws in front of cats who may not have previously known she had extra dew claws (although it's a tad bit obvious even from afar just by glancing at her awkward-looking feet). She also can appear to be very abstracted sometimes, harboring the tendency to be more interested in a flower getting pollinated by a bee or a cat snapping the life out of a bird. This is frustrating, and she gets frustrated and insulted by cats trying to push her along and force her to do something else. It takes a very patient and strong-minded cat to make her do things she doesn't like to do (but to be fair, there isn't much that she doesn't want to try). Her mind has its own agenda as well. It thinks as it will, and if one doesn't have her attention and isn't fulfilling her needs as a high-maintenance gifted apprentice, then he or she can just give up on trying to get through to her. A cat wanting to do something with her must present it in an interesting and creative way. This isn't all to insinuate that Sixpaw is a difficult cat to get along with. She knows her manners, and she won't trouble a cat too much. The only time she really asserts herself is when she knows the cat she's dealing with. But, in the end, she does annoy and intimidate her peers, speaks out of turn with warriors (of the full mind that she's capable of discussing matters that aren't for warriors-in-training), and presses too much on leaders and deputies.
REASON FOR NAME:
The "six" prefix was given to her by her mother when the queen was startled to find that her first and only kit had six toes on her forepaws. The "paw" derives from her being an apprentice, her paws following a path toward warrior hood.
FAMILY:
Father: Beetleflight - a passive-aggressive tom with black fur and green eyes. He's very much a family man.[/ul]
HISTORY:
It is really, really late at night when Blackwhisker goes into labor. The stars shine brilliantly in the sky, barely a silver cloud to intercept the celestial bodies' twinkling light. The air in itself is hot and sticky, the wind nonexistant and the camp still. At least, until Blackwhisker's mate, Beetleflight, zips out of the nursery to alert BoulderClan's medicine cat. His black pelt is on end, the fur on his back and tail so puffed out that he looks twice his size. He slips into the den, talking a mile a minute, shoving at the cat's fur and making frantic motions toward the herbs. The medicine cat awakens with a jolt, and He and they both head for the nursery in a matter of seconds, all the while Beetleflight jittering and jumping in circles. This completely disrupts the quiet in the camp, warriors and apprentices poking their disheveled heads out of their dens to stare bleary-eyed at the two cats. Crickets chirp loudly and create a steady din, the sharp croak of a cicada breaking the monotone. The crescent moon glows in the black sky. Heading on into the nursery, the medicine cat orders Beetleflight to stay outside and wait, despite the tom's obvious anxiety and worry. They both know that they can't afford the soon-to-be father getting in the way or making Blackwhisker upset, so Beetlewhisker reluctantly complies, sitting himself smack dab in front of the nursery with perked ears and a twitching tail. Meanwhile, a small audience grows, their concerned faces looking along with Beetlewhisker into the darkness.
Blackwhisker is sprawled out on her side, her pelt blending in so perfectly with the darkness of the den that the medicine cat has to fumble around a bit before finding her, although it isn't as if her yowling isn't helpful enough. Dropping the messily put together parcel of herbs at her side, the medicine cat begins working on her, encouraging her, and preparing. The moon is high in the sky, and the night reaches its peak before the birthing even comes close to starting. And as the labor pains continue, the night slowly wanes into a vary pallid morning, fog rolling in along with stratus as thick as coarse bedding across the sky. With the arrival of dawn, most of the cats retreat to their dens or begin their morning duties, the deputy already perched at the head of the camp to deliver orders. Beetleflight remains, though, antsy and pacing in jerky circles. He occasionally pokes his head in the nursery, whiskers shaking. The medicine is always quick to shoo him out, spitting at him and hotly telling him to stay away. Of course, this makes Beetleflight terribly nervous. What if his mate dies? What if the kit dies, too? He could not understand why it was taking so long, and even though he was exhausted with frayed nerves, he keeps close to the nursery. It's not until the sun has chased away the mist and heated the earth that the medicine cat finally calls him in. Beetleflight practically scrambles inside, eyes wide and jaw parted slightly. He finds the medicine cat and his mate, the former sitting complacently beside Blackwhisker as she nurses a single black kit.
Immediately pressing his head to his mate's, he murmurs some words of endearment. Blackwhisker shrugs him off, but her eyes are warm. Although tired, they both take a long moment to ogle over their kit, her small body tucked against the queen's side. Her little paws knead into her belly, and Blackwhisker chuckles at the odd feeling. Being a first time mother, she feels very awkward and very unsure of herself, looking down upon her new duaghter with adoring yet slightly frightened eyes. As the mother and father continue to admire their kit, Beetleflight starts a bit and bends down, sniffing at the kit's damp fur and nudging her back. Blackwhisker frowns and asks what's the matter, her heart lurching just a tad. Her mate seemed surprised about something; if he didn't tell her what, then she'd claw him a new one. He expresses concern over her claws, saying he saw something weird as the kit pushed into Blackwhisker's stomach. This alerts the medicine cat to come over and have a closer inspection, the cat leaning over the queen and her one-kit litter. The medicine cat gingerly turns the kit over, and the kit's spike-like claws quickly reach up to swipe at the paws manipulating her. After staring hard, the medicine cat jerks his head up and flashes a perplexed expression, but after a moment's pause, he relaxes. Meanwhile, Beetleflight and Blackwhisker share worried and confused glances. The medicine cat shakes his head and laughs.
"She has extra toes," the medicine cat explains, bemusedly watching the young couple's expressions change from bewilderment to concern to fear to excitement to confusion again. "An extra dew claw on each foreleg. It's no big deal, but it might take her a while to start walking right." The cat nods his head and lets the kit get back to nursing, kinking his tail.
Beetleflight and Blackwhisker are astounded; never before had they heard of such a thing, and yet there's their daughter, an abnormality. But it isn't an apparent threat to her, and in a fit of inspiration, Beetleflight convinces his mate to name their little daughter Sixkit, honoring her little quirk. As the morning stretches on, they are granted the blessing of no visiters until sunhigh, Beetleflight with the permission to go get some rest, and Blackwhisker with the ability to shut her eyes and have peace for a bit. The inquisitive eyes and swishing tails came later, everyone in a buzz over the news of a brand new kit in the nursery. They are even more so excited when they see and hear about her six claws, apprentices craning their necks to see it and warriors' eyes widening at the thought. The couple receive their due congratulations; the medicine cat emphasizes how Blackwhisker needs her space, a sleep-deprived Beetleflight running around bragging about his new daughter, and the queen and her kit getting visits the entire duration of the day. When the cats coming in starts to ebb and die to a lonely and quiet solitude within the nursery, the night finds Blackwhisker and Sixkit cradled in their nest. Exhaustion weights down their eyes, and the two fall asleep. The following morning reaches the camp with lazy, golden tendrils of light, and life within BoulderClan carries on as usual.
As Sixkit grows, she does indeed have issues with walking. Her eyes are open, her tail is twitching, and she's speaking like the rest of them, but her paws always fumble and slip all over whenever she attempts to stand. This results in the young kit working out a wriggling and slide technique, worming her way around the nursery like nothing Blackwhisker has never seen before. Whenever Beetleflight drops by to visit (which he does frequently), she voices her concerns, but her mate doesn't think much of it. Nor does the medicine cat for that matter, seeing her creativity as character development and improvement. But, to Sixkit's frustration, moving around so much often got moss and debris stuck in her two dew claws, making her cry and carry on to the point that Blackwhisker would shuffle her in. Pressed to her flank, Blackwhisker took the oppurtunity to calm her daughter by telling her stories about the outside world. This is something that never fails to fuel the kit's working mind, she always becoming so enraptured in the tale that her sorrows over leaves in claws are all forgotten. This is the way it is for nights and nights, Sixkit trying her hardest to walk and her mother always having to console her with a story, but the day eventually came when Sixkit finally got her footing. Using a bit of ingenuity and zeal, she got props to hold her up and support her, and with her father by her side, she manages to take a few clumsy steps. Slipping, she starts to grasp the concept, and in merely a couple days, the kit is walking like she wasn't delayed in the slightest.
With her body up and her paws free, Sixkit starts to show signs of unusual dexterity that her fellow clanmates do not possess. She plays with things in a very interactive manner, and she's even been caught gripping objects with her weak, little toes, the extra dew claws gripping like a Twoleg's hands would. This weirds her parents out, but it's not too long before their daughter makes them more proud than anything else. Excited and optimistic for her upcoming apprentice ceremony, the days slip on by as she grows into a kitten sizable enough to begin training. On the day of her ceremony, the sky being a rich cerulean and the leaves a crisp golden-brown, Sixkit stands with a clean pelt and bright amber eyes before her leader. She is given the name Sixpaw. As her mentor approaches to touch noses with her for the first time to finalize the teacher-student bond, the black she-cat feels a giddiness so strong that she feels ready to bounce out of her skin. Proving to be a very curious and nosy charge with a fetish for touching and messing with everything that moves, she aniticipates bright days and a wonder-filled apprenticeship.
PASSWORD: [admin edit][/size][/blockquote]
