Post by Cloudbat on Jul 1, 2011 6:07:06 GMT -10
Name | Junco, Juncopaw, Juncoclaw
Gender | she-cat
Age | 10 moons
Rank | apprentice
Clan | Pine
Beliefs| Juncopaw thinks that StarClan may exist; she has no proof either way, really. But for now, she doesn't believe in them. It makes sense in a way, but it's also kind of far-fetched to her. Like, maybe it's possible, but it's probably not, to her. Besides, she's not a Clanborn cat, so she has no ancestors in StarClan anyway, right? So why would she have anything to do with them?
Parents | Sefri-mother-NP Leaf-father-NP
Siblings | Owl-brother-NP Raven-brother-NP Finch-brother-NP
Other Kin | Brightnose-aunt-DC (played by me) Birchtail-aunt-DC (played by me) Falconpaw-cousin-DC (played by me) Cinderpaw-cousin-DC (played by Kelly)
Mate | not yet
Crush | Crowpaw (played by Glowy)
Kits | not yet
Apprentice/Mentor | Aspenheart (played by Pyro)
Appearance | Juncopaw is a small, stocky she-cat; little in size, but heavy in muscles. Her eyes are pale blue, and her face is rounded at the edges but angular. Her ears are normal sized, but their curving, rounded shape makes them look taller than they are. Her whiskers are medium length and white, and her tail is just a bit short.
The base color of her pelt is a light silver, which lightens a bit around her muzzle and chest so that it's almost white. She has long, thin stripes that go from dark gray on her back and head to think black stripes on her tail. Her fur is short and soft, but she doesn't take a lot of time for grooming; the bare minimum is enough for Juncopaw. Her pelt thickens dramatically in winter and sheds lightly in summer. She can't be fat, of course, as a Clan cat, but her shape is more of a rounded, bulky sort than her lithe, petite friend Willowpaw - whom she secretly envies her size and shape.
Personality | Juncopaw is made up of two very different things: what she wants to be, and what she is.
Juncopaw wants to be the perfect cat, the one who's friendly, loving, always knows what to say and do, makes funny jokes, and excels in everything. Though she knows it's not realistic and she'll never be perfect, she can't help but hold onto that dream; or she thinks it'll redeem the bad things she's done in her life, like leaving her mother. It was the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel bad about it sometimes.
She actually is friendly in general, and rather forward when it comes to making friends. She thinks that if they can accept her as she is, then they are a true friend; if they can't, they're not.
However, she's also a very scared cat. In one way or another, Juncopaw is scared of just about everyone. Scared of being rejected by her fellow apprentices, scared of failing in training because she's lazy and her mentor yelling at her, scared of Crowpaw finding out she likes him.
So when it comes to arguments and debates, Juncopaw is not one to join in. Fear of looking stupid or immature stops her from voicing her opinions very often.
She doesn't get angry very easily; annoyed, yes, but it takes a lot to get Juncopaw truly angry. She tries her best not to be blunt too much, and not always say what she thinks. Usually when she's irritated she'll just try ignoring the cat at first, but if they don't go away she'll snap, then leave. She usually feels bad about it later, though, and tends to blame herself for not being perfect and losing it.
Deep down, Juncopaw walks a fine line between utter despair and pure happiness; she loves appreciating the joy and wonder of the world, but is almost torn by the utter hopelessness and imperfection of cats and life. Depending on how she feels every day, she leans towards one side or another.
Most days she's happyish/average, but she does have pessimistic, mournful, quiet days. It's mostly her, in her mind, thinking about about good things like what she has to be grateful for and that she knows how to be humble and kind and that there are flowers and prey and good stuff like that. On the other side is her realizing how flawed every cat is, how there will always be fighting in the world, how much beliefs are fought over, how hard love is, and how hard being with (and without) your family is.
She feels that one day, she will ultimately choose a side, and then she'll know who she really is.
Perhaps it's this which has fueled her attraction to the cheery medicine cat apprentice; she yearns to be on the side of pure happiness, but things hold her back and perhaps her subconcious has figured that Crowpaw is the best way to convince herself she can get there.
Or maybe she just thinks he's cute and nice and likes flowers like she does.
Whatever the reason, she finds herself thinking about him often; occasionally offering to pick herbs with him when she's brave enough. Juncopaw hopes her affection for him will last, though she does not trust her own heart and wonders if she will choose another tom in the end.
Skills | She may have the muscles for fighting, but she finds it quite boring to have to learn all those moves and practice them all the time. Most times when she has to practice she forces herself to pay attention and do it. She's sure she'll enjoy it eventually, but it's just a lot of dull practice until then. The tabby's also (although she'd never admit it) a bit scared of fighting. Stupid, she knows. Yet some tiny part of her revels in the idea of battle, of adrenaline and action and pain and causing pain. She fears that part of her, so much that she's managed to shut it down almost completely, for now. She's kind of slow in general, getting exerted easily because she's a bit heavier than average.
Her tracking is good, maybe even a little over average. Juncopaw just likes finding things, which is why she likes tracking. She stalking and pouncing over it, though.
History |
Juncopaw was born as just Junco to two madly in love kittypets in a backyard one hot greenleaf night. Sefri and Leaf were delighted with their large litter of four, but alas, their joy was not to last very long.
After the kits had been born, Sefri moved them back into her Twolegs' nest where she lived. Leaf left for his nest, promising to visit the next day. He did so, but after then his visits became fewer and further in between. He visited only four times before all of his sons were old enough to be given away, and they were.
When Leaf came back after Raven, Owl, and Finch had been taken by Sefri's Twolegs, the black and white she-cat demanded an explanation as to why he came so much less nowadays. Leaf was evasive and defensive about his reasons, which led Sefri to believe he had taken up with another she-cat. They had a snarling, vicious argument while their remaining kit watched with wide blue eyes.
After her father had gone, never to be seen again, Junco asked her mother a question: Why had the Twolegs taken her brothers away? It was so confusing. The Twolegs, her mother had said, were the ones who gave them the life they had: food, shelter, toys, beds - everything. So why would such good beings do such an awful thing? In fact, the only reason Junco had been kept was that the Twolegs had missed having another cat after Sunny had run away, but didn't want to keep the whole litter.
Sefri, still simmering from the harsh words exchanged with her former mate, snapped at her daughter and told her never to question the Twolegs unless she wanted to be one of those vicious, dirty wildcats who lived in the outside all the time like savages. After all, the fat black-and-white she-cat said, that's what her sister had become, and she'd never seen her again. And good riddance, Sefri said, sniffing disdainfully at the memory of her odd calico littermate.
Junco flinched backwards, and stammered a promise to never question the Twolegs again.
She was glad, though, when her mother deemed her old enough to go outside. The world was so fascinating - so much to do every day in it! Sefri would only let her outside for a certain amount of time, so she didn't get "dangerous ideas" in her head. Still, Junco treasured her precious moments out of the Twoleg house, though she developed the habit of stuttering whenever her mother snapped at her for small mistakes, and from all these criticisms formed the conclusion that life would be better if she were perfect.
As the moons passed, Junco found herself longing to know more of the world around her. Oh, she didn't want to leave the Twoleg nest - she could never do that. Not only did her mother forbid her from leaving, but the Twoleg house was safe and warm, and had food. Her mother had told her frightening tales of the world outside the garden, how terrible things like monsters, foxes, and badgers could kill her if she didn't stay safe. But the young silver tabby wished she had somecat to tell her what the world beyond the fence was like, at least. She wished her father was still with her - she'd never seen him since that day long ago, when she was so young she hadn't even understood why he'd left. Her mother had never spoken of it.
But she remembered him - remembered how his pelt and hers matched almost perfectly except that hers was more silvery than his dull gray pelt with its irregular stripes like fallen leaves on the ground, and her eyes were not yellow but pale blue. Maybe she was meant to be like him and explore outside, she mused. It was possible, wasn't it? Still, Junco knew she would have no idea how to survive in the wild, and didn't know anyone who could teach her.
So she bided her time, and waited for something to happen.
And it did, eventually. Rumors reached her ears of an enormous group of wild cats who'd come to the nearby wilderness to settle into these "Clans", they were called. Junco was excited. Surely they could teach her to survive, and it sounded like they were looking for volunteers to join their Clans that they were making. Surely, there would be place for her in one of them, right? True, she was a kittypet...but from the rumors, these cats needed all the paws they could get. So she might as well try.
Still, there was the matter of Sefri - she could never tell her mother that she planned to leave. The rather fat, lazy, perfectly contented she-cat would never understand, Junco sadly knew. It pained her to think of leaving her mother, but the attraction of fresh adventure was too strong to resist.
So, at seven moons, Junco departed the Twoleg nest forever.
Working on the rumors and advice from kittypets and rogues she met along the way, the silver tabby made her way out of the Twolegplace in two days - hungry and tired, but triumphant. She didn't have far to go before she found MeadowClan territory - and was asked why she was trespassing. Scared and pressed for an answer, Junco could only stutter that she'd come to join the Clans. She was taken to Cedarstar, but after seeing the unappealing underground camp, decided she didn't want to stay.
She was warned of the other Clans' territories, and told a bit about them. From the small amount of information about the other three Clans that she'd heard, Junco decided to join PineClan. The whole StarClan business just seemed too awkward and uncertain for her - and she wouldn't have to deal with it there.
Thus did she find her new home - and become Juncopaw, apprentice of PineClan!
But that certainly wasn't the end of it. For when she was accepted into PineClan, she was given a mentor, Barktail. But she also met...Crowpaw. He just seemed like a nice cat at first, but when Juncopaw got to know him better he was so sweet, kind, and happy it was hard to believe. Much as she tried to stop herself, the blue-eyed apprentice developed a bit of a crush on the black tom.