Shrewfur

RedwoodcLAN

tall tabby she-cat with green eyes

When Shrewfur was born, her mother said that if she was colored a bit differently, she would have had a name like “Deer” or “Fawn”. Even then, she could envision the longer, more flowing stature Shrewfur would gain when she got older. Shrewfur ended up a littler taller than most of her generation, and stands at 16 ½ inches from top to bottom. It’s enough to go noticed, and enough to get in the way of some tasks. Her legs are a little more slender and bony-looking than others in the clan, and they mesh into her thicker shoulders. Because of this, her body looks a little bit squashed toward her hind legs. Compounding that fact, Shrewfur is more of a fighter, so her front legs have a bit more build. That build extends into her chest, easing the squashing effect at profile.

Her given name is apt, as the markings and gradient of her fur make her look like a common shrew when she lowers herself, as she often does to hunt and fight. Her fur is predominantly dark brown, with splotches and stripes of of lighter brown along the sides closer to her belly. Her belly has a white streak that runs up to mask the area around her nose. The amount of fur she has on her is about the same as everyone else, but her doesn’t poof out in glorious manes and bushy tails. Hers is denser and straighter, and is prone to matting. She will often need to be reminded to undo this before facing a social encounter

Her face is diamond-shaped and angular with median whiskers. Shrewfur’s muzzle is short and jutting, and features a small cinnamon nose with a black outline. Her ears are more centered toward the top of her head, and they are long with pointed tips. Her eyes are emerald green with narrow pupils, and they are good at portraying (or betraying) what she feels.

Those that don’t know her well, would have difficulty understanding just how she manages to get by, or how she passed her apprenticeship. Other might ask how she can tell tall tales like an elder, or why she always seems to mix her words up but still have the right thing to say and sometimes...just how she thinks of these plans that are crazy enough to work.

The answer lies in her greatest strength. Her mind.

Shrewfur is bright. Able to intake, analyze, and sort information into patterns quite quickly, she is able to pick up a situations many details, and make good determinations about the next course of action. Her senses are the same as her clanmates, but she’d like to think that she pays a bit more attention to them, especially when talking. She will often relegate herself to the listener role, in an effort to understand the speaker better. Inside her head, she’s constantly ticking away at something whether it’s breaking down a situation, spiraling into anxiety, or mulling over a conversation she just had. Spending so much time in her own head has allowed her cultivate a hearty imagination. Since kithood, she’s loved to make up and tell stories about any old thing. Meshed together, these traits allow her to make up for deficiencies in hunting, make plays on the battlefield, and come up with new and unorthodox solutions to problems, proven valuable more than once. The feeling of a challenge fazes her easily, so it helps her to redefine a challenge into something more of a puzzle with hidden answers. If things get too much, she knows to take a step back, regroup, and try again.

Another thing that stood out about her is her earnestness. Shrewfur, when mindful, seeks out people, places, and actions that have meaning to her, and when she engages in an endeavor, she will give it a try and a half to get it done. To her, intent is the building block of the honor warriors gain through a life by the code, and she will try to present herself genuinely whenever possible. When she listens, it it to understand, not to respond, and when she fights, it is because of something she believes in. She won’t say things she doesn’t mean, unless it is by accident, which happens frequently. Usually this excludes mischief but she can be pressed into it if the correct buttons are pushed

There is a more sinister side to her brand of intelligence, and it comes in two parts. Having a fast mind is great for a lot of things, but sometimes it can be too fast for Shrewfur to handle, and the ride isn’t always smooth. A lot of the time, when something is amiss, it appears not as a neatly filed situation report, but as a vague fog of “something’s wrong’ that tugs, or pulls. She knows how to clear it up a bit and investigate it, but to explain it to others is another matter entirely. This can lead her to act on her own, and throw a wrench into group operations. While most of the time, people can understand what she says, when she has a break in focus, she can miss something and say the complete wrong, thing, or fumble a sentence entirely. There can also be too much detail (or too much energy expended) sometimes, so she’ll retreat into the privacy of her own head. Not really thinking about what she’s doing gives off the impression that she is ditzy. And she is. She often neglects to take care of her appearance, is bit clumsy, and tends to wander. She also has trouble acquiring skills that aren’t as intuitive, leading to patchwork knowledge of some things. She tries to see patterns in things, and tends fixate on the wrong thing, or gloss over things thats don't seems to matter. For instance, she insists she’s a bad hunter because she has trouble securing the kill, ignoring the fact that she is fantastic at finding them in the first place.

Shrewfur is also quite impatient and is easily vexed when things don’t line up with how she envisions them. Sometimes it’s no big deal, but other times, it can turn into frustration. She can often find herself arriving at an idea, and waiting for others to get there, or expecting others to follow the same logic as she. She often needs reminders that hers is but one perspective among many.

Shrewkit wasn't born to any sort of unusual circumstances, simply the product of love between two warriors. She was born along with two brothers, Graykit and Vinekit, and a sister, Forestkit. Of her siblings, she was the most hard to reign in. Almost immediate, Shrewkit began showing an interest into the makeup of her surroundings. In the early days, she would always be found examining different bugs or plants, and was never in the same place twice. She was the first of her siblings to be able to speak, and when she would, it was always about how she found something or did something new that fascinated her. One night, an elder came into the nursery to find some of the kids still bursting with energy. He began to tell a story in order to settle them down, a very old story about the founding of Redwoodclan. Shrewkit was immediately captivated by he bravery and gallantry of warrior life, and soon began asking all the warriors about their experiences outside the camp. This was when she really started turning the gears. When she relayed these tales to her family and friends, she would begin to add or subtract little details, and soon she could make up her own tall tales. Some of the kits thought it was cool. Others, most notably Graykit, thought it was really weird. As she began to figure out more about her clanmates, the clan, and the forest, she started to think only of the warriordom that awaited.


The moons passed, and she passed into apprenticeship. Things were rolling pretty smoothly at the beginning, and she was quickly outpacing others of her age. She had been noted for her adaptability when sparring, and had even figured out how to keep herself lowered to keep others from getting under her ever-growing legs. At this point, Shrewpaw had gained a few friends, was enjoying her training with her mentor, and still found the time to keep up her old habits.


However, 3 moons in to her training, as things began to get more complex, she began to have problems. Certain things seemed to be harder than they should be, or unattainable. Knowledge seemed to be splintering, as certain parts of some things made sense for others didn't. Tracking prey remained easy, but making the final kill was considerably more difficult. It took her 3 weeks to learn how to kick properly, but her overall technique got sharper. Her mentor had patience through all of it, but he could see that Shrewfur was taking these challenges very hard. To make matters worse, some of the apprentices took to ragging about it. Perhaps some saw it as justice for her earlier performance, or genuinely wanted her to shape up. Either way, this worsened things for her. Her performance dropped, and sometimes she would skip training altogether. Of course, this behavior didn't go over with the leadership. After much deliberation and lobbying from her mentor, it was decided that she was not to become a warrior until after 8 moons, both as a punishment, and to allot her the extra time her mentor thought she needed. Eventually, she took to it again, and she found herself improving, slowly, little by little. The same issues were still eluding her, but she was now facing them with an increasingly thicker skin. Halfway through her seventh moon, she and her patrol were caught in a skirmish after a meeting with a Lichenclan patrol turned tense. In the battle, Shrewpaw was injured, but not before managing to do some damage to her attacker. During the battle, things seemed to slow down a little, enough to where she could breathe and think without worrying about if she was going to mess up a technique or make the wrong choice. Shrewpaw's mentor got caught in a vital area, and did not live much longer after that. It was then decided that Shrewpaw would stand vigil, and take her warrior name.


Shrewfur had finally completed her vigil. At that moment, it felt as if a large cloud had drifted away from her head, and the sun shone through to her, at long last. As she returned home, and saw the clan smiling in congratulations, she felt as if she was headed for a future that wasn't defined by what set her back. As she began to take on the duties of a warrior, she soon found that she would have to find different, more personal solutions to the tasks at hand. It took awhile, but she found ways to deliver results, even if they were unconventional or took time.


Shrewfur demonstrated this when she was pressed to look for a way to help replenish the supply of food after a hard leaf-bare. She had noticed over time, that by the bear stones, where they would sometimes make their New-Leaf appearances, the prey would vacate the vicinity around them to avoid being eaten. She got the idea to start tracking the bears and soon got an idea of how they moved about. Armed with knowledge, she was able to make good guess about where prey would be more highly concentrated. Sometimes, she was wrong and the effort would suffer. But other times, the efforts paid off, and the hunting parties would come back with the spoils.


Her hope, is that someday she'll earn more respect among her peers and be someone that can truly be relied upon. Until she feels that has happened, she knows enough now to at least keep looking for the solutions to all the puzzles of warriorhood.