Post by dumpster on Dec 10, 2020 18:18:24 GMT -6
spiderpaw
lichenclan
long-furred black smoke tom with tufted ears
apprentice
male
10 moons
A p p e a r a n c e
As he matures further towards adulthood, Spiderpaw has begun to fill out and broaden in the chest and shoulders. Through hard work and consistency, he has begun to develop a musculature that is somewhat foreign seeming among his cave-dwelling Clanmates. He is just barely taller than average at this point in his life; with a fit and concealed musculature complementing him somewhere beneath a pelt of smoky blacks and greys melding together in a thick cowl, plumage, and a bristling tail.
Thicker than what is considered normal for his Clan, Spiderpaw boasts a double layered pelt bearing attractive hues and shadings that he will unfortunately never bear witness to. He seldom sports a tangle of any sort and is quick to address any discrepancies in his appearance that he can detect due to his constant drive for perfection in all things.
Too-bright eyes stare out at the world with a physical unresponsiveness that does little to mask the spiritual zeal hidden beneath the milky clouds that blind him. Tufted ears rotate seemingly constantly and fixate readily on the subject of his attention; barely perceptible and functionally useless pupils following suit to fix both friend and foe with an eerie stare. His jowls are beginning to form, his muzzle is already broader than most, and his whiskers are ever arching towards the next thing before him—his next opportunity.
Thicker than what is considered normal for his Clan, Spiderpaw boasts a double layered pelt bearing attractive hues and shadings that he will unfortunately never bear witness to. He seldom sports a tangle of any sort and is quick to address any discrepancies in his appearance that he can detect due to his constant drive for perfection in all things.
Too-bright eyes stare out at the world with a physical unresponsiveness that does little to mask the spiritual zeal hidden beneath the milky clouds that blind him. Tufted ears rotate seemingly constantly and fixate readily on the subject of his attention; barely perceptible and functionally useless pupils following suit to fix both friend and foe with an eerie stare. His jowls are beginning to form, his muzzle is already broader than most, and his whiskers are ever arching towards the next thing before him—his next opportunity.
P e r s o n a l i t y
self-serving, opportunistic, ambitious, driven, unsympathetic, impressionable, cynical, desperate
self-serv·ing: having concern for one's own welfare and interests before others. similar// haughty || Spiderpaw resents feeling as though he has been a mere afterthought all of his life so much that he has determined to always place himself first in all things. He places his own interests before everything in life, his Clan included. While he readily gives off the appearances of a hard-working and self-sacrificing youth, one would be poor off to assume such things were genuine within Spiderpaw. Everything that he does is, thus far, for himself.
op·por·tun·is·tic: exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle. similar// untrustworthy || Secrets are not safe with Spiderpaw. He is the sort that would trade in a lifelong friendship for the possibility of advancement within his Clan. He is not above betrayals or underpawed techniques to place himself in greater esteem than his peers. Tongues should be guarded by Spiderpaw; nothing is safe from his arsenal of either true or manufactured evidence.
am·bi·tious: having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed. similar// zealous || He feels a deep resentment of the knowledge that he's different than others. Still unable to fathom in the slightest what it is that he's missing out on, Spiderpaw has committed every fiber of his being to proving that no matter what this deficit of his is, it won't hold him back. He has dedicated himself to becoming the strongest warrior that he can possibly be.
driv·en: relentlessly compelled by the need to accomplish a goal; very hard-working and ambitious. similar// obsessed || Spiderpaw previously lived in a very idyllic world where he was exactly the same as those around him - this false reality came crashing down around him before he was apprenticed and has remained an ever present thorn in his side ever since its discovery. Because of the knowledge of his deficit, Spiderpaw is far more driven than most cats and will do anything to succeed and to further his ambitions. He has been betrayed by family before (in his own views) and has decided that he's not above abandoning those closest to him, either, if it means accomplishing even a part of his grand goals.
un·sym·pa·thet·ic: not feeling, showing, or expressing sympathy. similar// pitiless || Spiderpaw has a difficult time caring for others and is generally quite unsympathetic to their struggles and personal problems. He cannot easily place himself in the paws of others and is quick to form judgments based upon his negative opinions of motives that he does not understand.
im·pres·sion·a·ble: easily influenced because of a lack of critical ability. similar// credulous || There exists a list of cats within Spiderpaw's mind that he strives to emulate and to be like. He wants nothing more than to earn a reputation such as theirs or to become as powerful as they are. He desires to prove everything wrong in their estimations of his capabilities... particularly himself.
cyn·i·cal: believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity. similar// misanthropic || Though he adapted quickly and easily to the self-centered nature he now exudes, it was a difficult thing to have to transition to in his point of view. In Spiderpaw's youthfully warped perspective, those that he should have been able to count on were not there for him during crucial moments - this is especially true regarding his mother, Shadowface, who left he and his brother alone as kits during their Clan's mass confession. Because he finds himself capable of deceit and betrayal to even those closest to him, Spiderpaw assumes that everyone else around him is capable of and considers the exact same things... as a result, he has difficulties forming true relationships and often times assumes the worst of others.
des·per·ate: feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with. similar// defeatist || Despite his outward sense of bravado and stubbornness regarding what he is and isn't capable of, deep down - Spiderpaw fears that others are right about him and his circumstances. His greatest fear is that he will not be able to accomplish even half so much as he has dared to dream for himself. His desperation may drive him to terrible routes in achieving his aspirations.
H i s t o r y
Mother: Shadowface (maxx )
Father: Yewthorn (wish )
Littermate(s): Cresspaw (Kazuko )
Kin/Half-Siblings: Larchpaw (maxx ), Acornpaw (Egotistic ), Elmpaw (Wolfie ), Aspenpaw (moony ); Featherpaw (Snow ), Swallowpaw (@dreamer ), Dovepaw (Raven~ ), Jaypaw (wish )
Mate(s): N/A
Kit(s): N/A
He used to have two brothers… back in that warm, safe place still spared of the world.
An urgency like no other had seen them into the cold wide-open realm of the birthed and two of them had cried out in confusion and hunger—but not their other brother. For a time, his form had been wedged between Spiderkit and Cresskit, but then he grew colder… then he stopped stirring.
By the morning, Spiderkit and Cresskit were the only two remaining kits tucked away at Shadowface’s belly.
The knowledge that he was different was hard for Spiderkit to swallow.
He’d assumed that his world was normal before he’d heard the whispers—he’d thought that everyone lived as he did, with alert ears and straining whiskers. “It’s because she’s so belligerent,” softly whispered spite had slipped through the shadows and into his ears, “It’s a punishment from StarClan for her blindness,” his brow had furrowed. Blindness… what was it?
He did what all curious kits would do… he asked.
“What’s blindness?” he spoke suddenly, catching a poor queen off guard.
“Well, it’s… it’s what you are,” she explained, “It means that you can’t see like the rest of us,” though her voice was lowered to a whisper, Spiderkit had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t to spare his feelings so much as it was to maintain privacy for herself. “Seeing is like… hearing things that don’t make any noise at all,” she tried again.
“That’s not possible,” Spiderkit snorted, smoky brows furrowing as he turned away from the molly he’d questioned.
“No, it isn’t… not for you,” she’d sighed.
At first he’d wanted to defend her; to object to the claims that those of his Clan made about his mother and her transgressions… but then she’d left Cresskit and Spiderkit all alone during their Clan’s mass confession.
He began to understand what the others meant when they said that his mother was blind, too, in her own way… It was something that he resented her for – and the feeling grew as the day of their apprenticeship drew nearer. He was nervous. What if he was going to be punished further for what she’d done?
He needn’t have worried, in the end… He was given to Blizzardblaze.
Perhaps more quickly than he was ready for, Spiderpaw flung himself from the nest and began to do his very best to cut ties to his family and their supposed sin—and to prove that despite the affliction StarClan had given him, he was still capable of becoming a mighty and feared warrior of LichenClan.
His first lesson from Blizzardblaze was one of patience.
Through the long afternoon and evening through failure after failure, Spiderpaw came to learn that sometimes biding his time and waiting quietly and still was a better course of action than charging in. It was a lesson that he took to heart… one that he fully intends on using to his advantage throughout the coming moons.
With time on his side, he would prove all of them wrong.
Father: Yewthorn (wish )
Littermate(s): Cresspaw (Kazuko )
Kin/Half-Siblings: Larchpaw (maxx ), Acornpaw (Egotistic ), Elmpaw (Wolfie ), Aspenpaw (moony ); Featherpaw (Snow ), Swallowpaw (@dreamer ), Dovepaw (Raven~ ), Jaypaw (wish )
Mate(s): N/A
Kit(s): N/A
He used to have two brothers… back in that warm, safe place still spared of the world.
An urgency like no other had seen them into the cold wide-open realm of the birthed and two of them had cried out in confusion and hunger—but not their other brother. For a time, his form had been wedged between Spiderkit and Cresskit, but then he grew colder… then he stopped stirring.
By the morning, Spiderkit and Cresskit were the only two remaining kits tucked away at Shadowface’s belly.
The knowledge that he was different was hard for Spiderkit to swallow.
He’d assumed that his world was normal before he’d heard the whispers—he’d thought that everyone lived as he did, with alert ears and straining whiskers. “It’s because she’s so belligerent,” softly whispered spite had slipped through the shadows and into his ears, “It’s a punishment from StarClan for her blindness,” his brow had furrowed. Blindness… what was it?
He did what all curious kits would do… he asked.
“What’s blindness?” he spoke suddenly, catching a poor queen off guard.
“Well, it’s… it’s what you are,” she explained, “It means that you can’t see like the rest of us,” though her voice was lowered to a whisper, Spiderkit had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t to spare his feelings so much as it was to maintain privacy for herself. “Seeing is like… hearing things that don’t make any noise at all,” she tried again.
“That’s not possible,” Spiderkit snorted, smoky brows furrowing as he turned away from the molly he’d questioned.
“No, it isn’t… not for you,” she’d sighed.
At first he’d wanted to defend her; to object to the claims that those of his Clan made about his mother and her transgressions… but then she’d left Cresskit and Spiderkit all alone during their Clan’s mass confession.
He began to understand what the others meant when they said that his mother was blind, too, in her own way… It was something that he resented her for – and the feeling grew as the day of their apprenticeship drew nearer. He was nervous. What if he was going to be punished further for what she’d done?
He needn’t have worried, in the end… He was given to Blizzardblaze.
Perhaps more quickly than he was ready for, Spiderpaw flung himself from the nest and began to do his very best to cut ties to his family and their supposed sin—and to prove that despite the affliction StarClan had given him, he was still capable of becoming a mighty and feared warrior of LichenClan.
His first lesson from Blizzardblaze was one of patience.
Through the long afternoon and evening through failure after failure, Spiderpaw came to learn that sometimes biding his time and waiting quietly and still was a better course of action than charging in. It was a lesson that he took to heart… one that he fully intends on using to his advantage throughout the coming moons.
With time on his side, he would prove all of them wrong.
