MOTTLEDLEAF, thunderclan queen

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

n a m e : Mottledleaf
a g e : 40 Moons
g e n d e r : She-cat
c l a n : ThunderClan
r a n k : Queen
s t a t u s : Healthy
a p p r e n t i c e : None
l o v e . i n t e r e s t : Scorchclaw None

d e s c r i p t i o n .

Strong . Slender . Russet-Brown Tabby . Short Fur . Green Eyes

Slender but strong, Mottledleaf is the epitome of the female warrior cat. Her build is long and lithe, with powerful legs and a flexible spine. Her paws are slim and delicate, but there is considerable strength in them. Her voice is low and soft, and she moves with fluid grace. Mottledleaf's pelt is a rich russet brown, dappled with black tabby markings. Her tail is long and furry, tipped with black, and hear ears are well-formed. With her light, forest green eyes and reddish tabby coat, it's easy to see the resemblance between her and her grandkit Spottedkit. While her pelt is not broken into neat spots like his is, almost every other aspect of her is the same, from the russet-coloured pelt and slender build, right down to her green eyes and soft white muzzle and throat.

p e r s o n a l i t y .

Quiet . Watchful . Shrewd . Sweet . Protective . Motherly . Dishonest . Vindictive

Quiet is a good word to describe Mottledleaf. Watchful. She notices everything that goes on around her, taking it in with those deep green eyes of hers and storing it away. She seems shy at a glance, for she isn't the most outgoing or bold of cats, but there is a fire in her, hiding beneath the surface. Despite the quiet, there is a steadiness about her, a calmness. She has a plan for herself, for her life, and she intends to see it through in the end. She's quite sweet--unashamed to show affection if it's deserved, although she gives it in her own gentle way.

And despite the sweetness of her, it takes nothing more than the wail of a kit in danger for her claws to come out, sharp and ready. Mottledleaf has a protective side, one that would dare any trial for the sake of the young or weak.

But although quiet and kind, she is no pillar of virtue. Mottledleaf is, in a word, a liar. She lies about her thoughts, about the things that she has seen and the things that she has been told. Sometimes she doesn't even mean to--she just does, for convenience or just because she can, because the truth is so much more unpleasant than fiction. If words could make worlds, Mottledleaf would live in one of colour and vivacity, and be all the happier for it. Truly, all she wishes is for the world to be a better place.

Oh, and to rip ShadowClan down around Scorchclaw's ears--she wishes this as well. But for now we'll stick to the dreaming.

It's much safer that way.

h i s t o r y .

Mottledleaf was born one rainy night in the middle of newleaf, along with two younger brothers. All three kits were brown tabbies, like their parents, though they varied a bit in their shade. Thrushkit was the smallest tom, golden brown in colour. Bark-kit was a bit bigger than him, and a darker, more earth-coloured shade. Mottledkit, smaller than both of her brothers, was named for the contrast between her russet-brown pelt and dark tabby stripes. All three kits were strong and healthy, and their parents worked hard to raise them.

When she got a little older, Mottledkit realized just how lucky she was to have two parents that loved each other deeply and both cared for their kits. Some of the other kits in the nursery at the time had no mother, as the queen had died giving birth to them. Though the three toms were two moons older than herself and her brothers, Mottledkit felt a bit sorry for them sometimes. She made sure to spend lots of time with all of her family, and as newleaf turned to greenleaf, grew up content and with the company and support of a whole family of loving cats.

Mottledkit was apprenticed at the beginning of leaf-fall. Already a precocious kit, she was off to a good start before she was apprenticed to an experienced senior warrior. Mottledpaw worked hard during her apprenticeship, putting every ounce of skill and focus she had into becoming a warrior. Her calm patience and focus resulted in her being one of the best apprentices in the Clan by the time she met Scorchpaw. One night at a gathering, when she was nine moons old, she was approached by a large, fluffy, dark-coloured tom from ShadowClan. He introduced himself as Scorchpaw, and proceeded to talk to her for the entire gathering.

Though Mottledpaw didn't give any thought to the older tom after she got back from the gathering, they began to see each other more often. Bumping into each other by the borders, meeting at gatherings. Soon they were arranging to meet each other at the borders, and Mottledpaw realized rather abruptly that she was falling in love with a tom from ShadowClan. Scorchpaw was obsessed with her; he snuck onto ThunderClan territory almost every night, meeting with her for just a short while before they would part once more. Her training slowed, her skills slipped. Mottledpaw knew this wasn't any good for her Clan, but what could she do? She couldn't stop seeing Scorchpaw; she was in love.

It took a fight with her mentor to make Mottledpaw realize that she couldn't neglect her apprentice duties any longer. The young she-cat picked up her act once more, working hard during the daylight hours so she could justify seeing Scorchpaw at night. She sacrificed sleep, but she was determined, and passed nearly a moon this way before she was finally made a warrior at the age of eleven and a half moons.

But less than a moon later, the newly-named Mottledleaf discovered that she was carrying Scorchpaw's kits. It was wrong, so wrong for this to happen! But she was a warrior, so it would be alright. No-one had to know who the father was. The next time she saw Scorchpaw, she told him that she was carrying his kits. They agreed that they would keep it a secret that he was the father; what could it bring them but trouble if others new? Then she moved to the nursery, and didn't see him for moons afterward.

Mottledleaf was overjoyed when she gave birth to three beautiful little kits. The two she-cats, a tortoiseshell and a little black kit, she named Emberkit and Dusk-kit. The tom was black and russet brown, and he was called Foxkit. For a few moons after they were born, Mottledleaf raised them contentedly in the nursery. At first she missed Scorchclaw, but her love for her kits began to replace the passion she felt for him. They were more important now. But though she loved the kits more than anything, she did not expect Scorchclaw to turn on her.

One night at a Gathering, when Mottledleaf had left her kits with the other queens and come with the ThunderClan patrol, Scorchclaw confronted her and asked her to give her kits to ShadowClan. Mottledleaf refused, stating that the best thing for her kits was to be raised in the Clan they were born in, so they would never feel torn between two Clans. But Scorchclaw didn't agree, and announced that he was the father of her kits in front of the entire gathering. Furious beyond words, Mottledleaf flung herself at him with murder in her heart. The clearing broke into chaos, and the gathering ended without anything getting resolved.

The next gathering, ShadowClan threatened war if ThunderClan did not give up at least one of their kits. Sick at heart, Mottledleaf gave her only son to ShadowClan, and hoped that he would be accepted there. Less than a moon later, both of her other kits caught a bad cough and died within days of each other. Mottledleaf returned to her warrior duties a hollowed-out shell of her former self, her only solace being the fact that her son was still thriving across the thunderpath in ShadowClan.

Eventually, Mottledleaf healed from the wounds that had been inflicted on her heart. She returned to being a dedicated warrior, mentoring her first apprentice, a bright young tom called Rabbitpaw. Rabbitpaw became Rabbitheart, and life progressed once more at its usual pace. Mottledleaf eagerly followed the progress of her son at gatherings, rejoicing when she saw him for the first time as an apprentice, and then later when he was made a warrior. It wasn't until, moons later, she heard that Foxfur had made the same mistake that she and Scorchclaw had made that she knew she had grandkits. What would the future hold for them, born in WindClan but with the blood of all four Clans running through them? Would they grow up peacefully in their mother's Clan? Or would Foxfur follow his father's example and bring them to another Clan to raise there?

In the end, it seemed as if Foxfur decided to follow in his father's footsteps after all. When Rivermist's kits were three moons old, the ShadowClan tom brought up the issue of moving some to live with him. Specklestar made a formal request of WindClan at the gathering, and three days later, the decision was made. But in a stroke of trickery, Ravenstar, WindClan's leader, decided that two kits would be sent to each of the four Clans because their blood was split four ways. ShadowClan was enraged, and everyone else was simply shocked. But on that day, two formerly-WindClan kits, Spottedkit and Stonekit, were taken from their home to dwell within the rich forests of ThunderClan. Mottledleaf was one of the warriors who went to bring them home, and upon their return she made the decision to move into the nursery in order to take care of her grandkits while they settled in. With no other queens in the nursery at the time, it seemed all she could do to ensure her kin's health and safety.

b r o t h e r s : Thrushpelt . Barkclaw
d a u g h t e r s : Emberkit . Dusk-kit
s o n : Foxfur
g r a n d s o n s : Stonekit . Spottedkit . Swiftkit . Stormkit
g r a n d d a u g h t e r s : Sandkit . Streamkit . Shadowkit . Silverkit

o t h e r .

Flawed Design by Stabilo

'Cause I lie,
Not because I want to,
But I seem to need to all the time.
Yeah, I lie,
And I don't even know it.
Maybe this is all a part of my flawed design.

[Amber]

Geez. Another sad history. Spore is gonna make Amber cry.

Mottledleaf is ACCEPTED.