IVYPAW, windclan apprentice

[. s p o r e l e t t ♪]

n a m e : Ivypaw
a g e : 10 Moons
g e n d e r : She-cat
c l a n : WindClan
r a n k : Apprentice
s t a t u s : Fighting Fit
m e n t o r :
l o v e . i n t e r e s t : Cloudpaw

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

Muscular . Big . Brown Tabby and White . Short Fur . Green Eyes

Ivypaw looks very different from Morningfrost, so much so, in fact, that one might doubt that they are even sisters. If it wasn't for the obvious fact that they had the same mother and do in fact share a few telling characteristics, it would be easy to conclude that the two aren't kin at all. Large and muscular, Ivypaw looks more like a ThunderClan cat than a scrawny WindClan apprentice. Her large, powerful build is one of the most noticeable features that sets her apart from her small, thin-boned sister. She has strong haunches and broad shoulders for a she-cat, meaning that this apprentice excels in battle, though her hunting skills are not the best. Ivypaw isn't as fast as many of her Clanmates, but she makes up for it in stamina and power. With her stocky frame and well-developed muscles, it is clear that she will be a powerful cat when she is fully grown.

Ivypaw's pelt is short, like most WindClan cats', but it is thick, and protects her effectively from wind and cold. Much of her fur is pure white, and this she makes sure to keep clean and spotless. It wouldn't do to have the rest of her Clan thinking that she's sloppy or slobbish, after all. Her back, head, and tail are covered in large, light brown patches of tabby fur. Her stripes are thin and straight, widely-spaced and easily distinguished from one another. It was this unique trait that earned her name as a kit. Her eyes are pale, minty green, and are truly the windows to her soul. When Ivypaw freezes up in silence because of anger, shyness, or shock, it is her eyes that will tell you exactly what she is thinking.

Her tail is only half the length of any other cat's, and ends abruptly, without any tipping or tapering. This is not due to an injury of any kind; no, Ivypaw was born with only half a tail, and it is this defect that is the most telling sign about her heritage. Like her sister, she was born with an obvious and permanent defect. Though not anywhere near as crippling as Morningfrost's blindness, this abnormality serves as a permanent reminder to Ivypaw of exactly who she is related to. It used to be a sort of common bond between them; they were different from the other kits, special in their own way. Now she views it only as a hated symbol of the sister she wishes she never had.

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

Stubborn . Tenacious . Selfish . Derisive . Jaded . Belligerent . Childish

Ivypaw has gone through a great deal of suffering in just a few short moons of her life. The tom she admired and loved since kithood died very suddenly, and then her only sister disappeared from the Clan--after over a moon of receiving nothing but revilement from Ivypaw. As if adolescence wasn't already hard enough. With no known kin left in the Clan, and no friends after spending most of her apprenticeship being an extremely unpleasant individual, Ivypaw did the only thing she could think of to do--she blocked everyone out and treated everyone who spoke to her like dirt. She didn't want sympathy from her Clanmates, and she certainly didn't want pity. She didn't have anything even remotely resembling companionship anymore, damned if she would give up her pride as well.

Unfortunately, her stubborn isolation from every cat who might want to speak to her does nothing for anyone, but she refuses to do any different. Some cats deal with their grief by drowning in other passions, but Ivypaw... Ivypaw just became childish and nasty. It's not really clear why she continued to live among Clanmates which she so obviously despises. Perhaps she simply can't bring herself to abandon the last reminders she has of the only cats she cared about.

h i s t o r y .

Ivypaw's story starts long before her birth, with the lives of her mother and her two brothers. Quailheart was a young, quiet warrior. She didn't speak very much, but she was very sweet to her Clanmates, and was completely loyal to WindClan. She and her brothers, Gingerface and Blackspot, were very close, and spent a lot of time together. The two toms were very protective of their sister, who had very delicate health, and had been a frail cat since her birth. They were very close, even for siblings. Closer, in fact, than siblings should be. Close enough that, when Quailheart's first litter came to be born, no toms in the Clan could possibly have been the father. No toms except for two.

The birth of Quailheart's kits was not an ordinary affair. Though there were only two kits to be born, the delivery was long, and was very taxing on the queen's delicate system. Eventually she gave birth to two she-kits, who seemed relatively normal except for the fact that one was very small, and the other had a short tail. She lived just long enough to name her daughters before succumbing to blood loss, leaving her kits in the care of a foster queen.

As the two kits grew, it became apparent that their health was not as it should have been. Ivykit remained well throughout most of her kithood, unbothered by her half-tail, but Morningkit was always sickly. When the two sisters began moving around and exploring their world, something else became apparent about the smaller, frailer kit; Morningkit was deaf in one ear, and completely blind.

Still, neither kit let it bother them. Morningkit remained content with her lot, and Ivykit diligently assisted her sister without a shred of resentment toward her. When the kits reached six moons of age there was some debate about what would happen to the both of them; in the end, Morningkit's name was changed to Morningfrost, and she moved to the elders' den. Ivykit became an apprentice, and started her training with a promise to her sister that she wouldn't forget about her even for a moment. She made sure to see Morningfrost every day, excitedly telling her sister what she had learned that day and listening to the other elders' stories, just as they had when they were kits.

Ivypaw was a lively, outgoing cat. She was energetic, sassy, passionate, and was constantly getting into anything and everything. It wasn't uncommon to see her running around camp with untamed enthusiasm, getting into all sorts of trouble in the process. She was joyful and spirited, and had her own way of doing things that sometimes left her mentor frustrated, but she was undoubtedly a lovable young cat. Though the small she-cat had no trouble making friends, she was always closest to Morningfrost. She and her sister were connected by blood, and they had grown up together. She guided and helped her sister, encouraging her to explore even though she could not see. But there was one cat in the Clan who she said almost nothing to, though she watched him often. Her fondness for Cloudpaw wasn't well-known, but for her it brighter and bolder than anything. She lived for the day when he would look at her and tell her that he felt the same day.

She never imagined that her world would be torn down around her.

About a moon into her apprenticeship, Ivypaw noticed that Cloudpaw was spending more time around the elder's den, often accompanying her when she went to visit Morningfrost, and sometimes going to see them when Ivypaw was busy as well. At first she wondered if he was trying to make a good impression on her, but the truth soon became clear. For the first time in her life Ivypaw felt jealousy for her sister, as she realized that her crippled, defenseless elder had managed to win the affections of the tom that she had admired for as long as she could remember. She struggled at first between acceptance and betrayal, but she wasn't conflicted for long. The budding romance came to an abrupt close, in a way that no one had anticipated.

One day, when visiting Morningfrost, Cloudpaw noticed that she was looking ill. The next thing anyone could remember, both apprentices were in the medicine cat's den, suffering from a sudden bout of mysterious illness. Morningfrost eventually got better; Cloudpaw did not. The young tom died after a week of care, leaving Ivypaw devastated. The shock pushed her over the edge, towards the side of her that had begrudged her sister's happiness. After all that she had done for her, Morningfrost had first stolen her love, then robbed him of life. It was irrational, but it was something that she could never forgive her for. Suddenly the sister that she had cared for and loved for so long was also the cat whom she hated more than any other.

Her bizarre routine of determined harassment continued for moons, until one rainy night when Morningfrost vanished from her nest in the elder's den. The following morning the moor was scoured for signs of her, but the Clan's warriors were completely mystified as to what could have happened to the tiny, blind she-cat. Ivypaw flew into a rage, pacing the camp and territory for restless days until she finally called together a group of apprentices early in the morning. This was not her sister's fault. This was the disappearance of her only kin, caused by the negligence and incompetence of her Clanmates. Ivypaw set out with her inadequate helpers and made a last-ditch effort to locate her errant sibling.

What she found was a stinking, unidentifiable carcass by the side of the road. It was the right size to be the young she-cat, and what little fur remained was white. Convinced of her sister's death, Ivypaw returned to the Clan to announce Morningfrost's demise to the rest of camp. But she has treated them all with contempt since that day.

m o t h e r / a u n t : Quailheart
f a t h e r / u n c l e : Blackspot
u n c l e : Gingerface
s i s t e r / c o u s i n : Morningfrost

o t h e r .

Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park

When this began,
I had nothing to say,
And I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me.
I was confused,
And I let it all out to find,
That I'm not the only person with these things in mind
Inside of me.
But all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I’ve got left to feel.
Nothing to lose.
Just stuck hollow and alone,
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own.

I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real.
I wanna let go of the pain I’ve felt so long.
Erase all the pain till it’s gone.
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real.
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along.
Somewhere I belong.

And I’ve got nothing to say.
I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face.
I was confused,
Looking everywhere only to find,
That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind.
So what am I,
What do I have but negativity?
’Cause I can’t justify the way, everyone is looking at me.
Nothing to lose,
Nothing to gain, hollow and alone,
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own.

[Yoko]

accepted. :3