Post by Kestrel on Oct 21, 2006 22:27:14 GMT -5
Name: Raven-Li
Gender: Female
Age: About 4 years
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Description: Raven-Li is a peculiar cat; dark as the midnight sky, blue-tinted, and blue-eyed, she was once beautiful, but her harsh lifestyle robbed her of that beauty. She is covered with countless scars; she has only three whiskers left; her left eye is perpetually narrow due to an inverted 'x'-shaped battle scar that crisscrosses it, and the muscles in her left ear were destroyed in yet another battle. That ear, which is encircled by deep scars, is incapable of movement; it cannot lay flat on her head, and even rotating it is difficult for her.
Those wounds alone were enough to steal away her beauty, but her worst is the x-shaped scar across her throat.
That scar marks a time when she almost died. Another cat managed to get the better of her and cut her throat, and when it finally healed it left behind the hideous black scar.
Persona: Raven-Li seems, at first, cold and heartless. Nothing seems to faze her, and she could kill easily without remorse.
Those are attributes that she projects obviously as a way of scaring away her fellow cats. She learned long ago that while cats can be kind, they can never be trusted. When she acts cruel, they stay away from her.
She believes in freedom and that she has the right to say what she wants. If you ask her for an opinion, she will give it, and gives it in her customary, brutally honest way.
She is open, she is harsh. She says exactly what she thinks without regard to others. She is cynical and sarcastic.
Once you get to know Raven-Li, she is intelligent, deeply loyal, and trustworthy. She has odd morals, and a strange way of viewing them. She'll walk anywhere, trespass on any land, but she will never raise a claw against another unless completely necessary. She has no patience whatsoever with kittens, and is prone to snapping at them with sudden intensity.
History:
Raven-Li was born to a stray cat living in a vast twolegplace. Her mother vanished not long after Raven-Li could walk, leaving her and her brother Aseph alone.
Twoleg kits used to chase her down alleys, corner her, and pelt rocks at her. Once, her leg was broken by a stone and she nearly died of starvation, for her younger brother could not hunt, and even when Raven-Li was well hunting was a challenge. She had never been taught, she she had taught herself how.
During this time, an old tom shared his food with her. When she was finished eating her share, she would carry the kill -hobbling slowly on three legs- to where Aseph stayed.
During this time, her days followed a rhythym. Each afternoon Raven-Li would wake, check on Aseph, and limp to the old tom's alleyway. She would eat, carry the food home, and wake Aseph. Aseph would eat th food swiftly as though it would attempt an escape, and then he ran and played. He was like any other kitten; he batted around scraps of twoleg fabric, swatted at flies, ran, chased mice he couldn't catch.
Raven-Li watched all of this from the corner of one eye each day; the other eye was turned away, watching for enemy cats, for twolegs, for any form of danger. Though she was not much older than Aseph, she could not afford to be a kitten.
The twoleg's land was far too perilous for a pair of kittens.
Thus, Raven-Li forced herself to grow up far too fast. Perhaps this is the reason she does not deal well with kittens. After all, she never had a chance to be one.
Her leg healed slowly. Raven-Li did not stray too far from home, and spent most of her time resting. Winter was coming on, and she worried for Aseph. She herself was tough, hardened by her difficult life, but by and large Aseph was still a soft kitten.
The last time Raven-Li went to visit the old tom, her leg had healed sufficiently enough for her to run. It looked like a difficult winter ahead, and the first blizzard had already struck. Prey was short, but she didn't realize that. She dashed into his alley, eager to show him that she could run again, slipping on the snow-slush. Since she had began coming to the old tom for food, they had grown to be friends.
But this time the tom was not at all friendly. In the twoleg city, hard winters meant less prey, and even in summer there was never enough, so the tom refused to give her food. He shouted at Raven-Li, calling her horrible things, saying cruel words, and after a short time she turned and fled.
She hid in another alley, shaking in terror, wondering why her friend had acted that way.
She waited until night had fallen fully before returning. She walked softly, spoke quietly, called the old tom. The tom was twice as mean as before. This time, he even went as far as to attack her, and venom in the words he shouted burned as powerfully as the wounds he gave her.
She ran for the second time, leaving a trail of blood in the snow.
Her wounds became scars that reminded her that, while cats can be friends, they can never be trusted. Deep down most cats were selfish and cruel.
Maybe even she was, she realized.
Her wounds had barely scabbed when something else terrible happened.
A twoleg, not yet an adult but not a kit either, wandered down their alley. The twoleg was particularly hostile and twisted, and hated cats. He cornered Aseph and wrapped a leather strap around his neck, sinching it tight.
Raven-Li attacked the twoleg fiercely, driven by protective rage, and her fury somehow drove the twoleg away. He had decided that this mad cat was something he didn't have to deal with.
When he was gone, Raven-Li turned to Aseph, who was terrified and trembling. She struggled for a long time with tooth and claw to remove the strap, but it was too tight.
Aseph somehow managed to cope. In the few days that followed, he ate and slept and even played a bit, though he was weaker now. The strap choked him constantly, and when he ran or jumped, did anything that made him short of breath, he passed out.
Raven-Li ran her paws off from then on, working to catch enough prey to stop the growling in his belly. She wanted nothing more than to make her little brother happy, and since she was powerless to help him remove the strap, she tried her best to help him in other ways.
She perfected her hunting style and learned to fight as well as any elite tom in the city; she fought often, and in the city danger lurked in every shadow.
Aseph trembled at the mere scent of twolegs after that. Raven-Li had never trusted them, and since then, her distrust had grown into hatred.
But even she did not fear and hate them the way Aseph did.
In the night, she often woke to him thrashing and screaming, and sometimes she had to hold him down to prevent him from leaping to his paws and fleeing in half-sleeping, dream-fuled terror.
There came a time when she could no longer hold him down.
She was not much larger than him, and one frosty midnight in early spring Aspeh let out a sudden, keening cry and was, all at once, on his paws. He leaped for the entrance to their dingy little den, and Raven-Li lunged at him with practiced speed and accuracy.
She knocked him sprawling a tail-length outside the den. She pushed him down with all her strength, merely gritting her teeth as Aseph struck at her, his eyes unseeing. In his barely-awake terror he did not reconize his sister.
Somehow, he slipped away. Raven-Li dug her claws in, held him down with her claws, but somehow he slipped past her and was gone.
She was left only with the scent of his blood on her claws.
The next morning, she awoke outside of her den, hoping that it had been a dream.
When she glanced around, everything was the same, and yet all was different.
Her brother was gone.
She didn't know that Aseph had ran nearly halfway to the other end of the city before collapsing in an air-deprived faint. When he woke, he could not find his way home.
Raven-Li spent half a moon in a hollow-eyes state of despair. She hunted barely enough to keep her going. Her beauty vanished as she became thin, ematiated, even.
But after that, she suddenly got better. She hunted more, ate more, and her beauty returned.
But there was a part of her that remained hollow.
She fended for herself from then on. She made few friends and many enemies. She became highly skilled in battle, known for it in the twoleg land where she lived. Cats glared at her with hatred and fear when she walked among them. She kept her ears pricked always for a name, for Aseph, but heard nothing, ever again.
In one battle, the muscles around her left ear were ruined. In another, she lost almost all sight in her left eye.
She traces of a beautiful, carefree she-cat lingered in the graceful way she moved, shadowed her battlescarred face, but mostly she was a hardened warrior, made bitter by the cruel hand life had dealt her.
The day she left the twoleg city was not particularly different. After so long, she had stopped thinking about Aseph, but on the night before she had dreamed about him. It was the first dream she had had in a long time.
She decided, for almost no reason at all, that she was through.
She vanished from the city forever that morning.
Raven-Li travelled a fairly long way, guided by intuition, and found the land of many cats.
She settled there, for the first time free of the city's black shadow.
Gender: Female
Age: About 4 years
----------------
Description: Raven-Li is a peculiar cat; dark as the midnight sky, blue-tinted, and blue-eyed, she was once beautiful, but her harsh lifestyle robbed her of that beauty. She is covered with countless scars; she has only three whiskers left; her left eye is perpetually narrow due to an inverted 'x'-shaped battle scar that crisscrosses it, and the muscles in her left ear were destroyed in yet another battle. That ear, which is encircled by deep scars, is incapable of movement; it cannot lay flat on her head, and even rotating it is difficult for her.
Those wounds alone were enough to steal away her beauty, but her worst is the x-shaped scar across her throat.
That scar marks a time when she almost died. Another cat managed to get the better of her and cut her throat, and when it finally healed it left behind the hideous black scar.
Persona: Raven-Li seems, at first, cold and heartless. Nothing seems to faze her, and she could kill easily without remorse.
Those are attributes that she projects obviously as a way of scaring away her fellow cats. She learned long ago that while cats can be kind, they can never be trusted. When she acts cruel, they stay away from her.
She believes in freedom and that she has the right to say what she wants. If you ask her for an opinion, she will give it, and gives it in her customary, brutally honest way.
She is open, she is harsh. She says exactly what she thinks without regard to others. She is cynical and sarcastic.
Once you get to know Raven-Li, she is intelligent, deeply loyal, and trustworthy. She has odd morals, and a strange way of viewing them. She'll walk anywhere, trespass on any land, but she will never raise a claw against another unless completely necessary. She has no patience whatsoever with kittens, and is prone to snapping at them with sudden intensity.
History:
Raven-Li was born to a stray cat living in a vast twolegplace. Her mother vanished not long after Raven-Li could walk, leaving her and her brother Aseph alone.
Twoleg kits used to chase her down alleys, corner her, and pelt rocks at her. Once, her leg was broken by a stone and she nearly died of starvation, for her younger brother could not hunt, and even when Raven-Li was well hunting was a challenge. She had never been taught, she she had taught herself how.
During this time, an old tom shared his food with her. When she was finished eating her share, she would carry the kill -hobbling slowly on three legs- to where Aseph stayed.
During this time, her days followed a rhythym. Each afternoon Raven-Li would wake, check on Aseph, and limp to the old tom's alleyway. She would eat, carry the food home, and wake Aseph. Aseph would eat th food swiftly as though it would attempt an escape, and then he ran and played. He was like any other kitten; he batted around scraps of twoleg fabric, swatted at flies, ran, chased mice he couldn't catch.
Raven-Li watched all of this from the corner of one eye each day; the other eye was turned away, watching for enemy cats, for twolegs, for any form of danger. Though she was not much older than Aseph, she could not afford to be a kitten.
The twoleg's land was far too perilous for a pair of kittens.
Thus, Raven-Li forced herself to grow up far too fast. Perhaps this is the reason she does not deal well with kittens. After all, she never had a chance to be one.
Her leg healed slowly. Raven-Li did not stray too far from home, and spent most of her time resting. Winter was coming on, and she worried for Aseph. She herself was tough, hardened by her difficult life, but by and large Aseph was still a soft kitten.
The last time Raven-Li went to visit the old tom, her leg had healed sufficiently enough for her to run. It looked like a difficult winter ahead, and the first blizzard had already struck. Prey was short, but she didn't realize that. She dashed into his alley, eager to show him that she could run again, slipping on the snow-slush. Since she had began coming to the old tom for food, they had grown to be friends.
But this time the tom was not at all friendly. In the twoleg city, hard winters meant less prey, and even in summer there was never enough, so the tom refused to give her food. He shouted at Raven-Li, calling her horrible things, saying cruel words, and after a short time she turned and fled.
She hid in another alley, shaking in terror, wondering why her friend had acted that way.
She waited until night had fallen fully before returning. She walked softly, spoke quietly, called the old tom. The tom was twice as mean as before. This time, he even went as far as to attack her, and venom in the words he shouted burned as powerfully as the wounds he gave her.
She ran for the second time, leaving a trail of blood in the snow.
Her wounds became scars that reminded her that, while cats can be friends, they can never be trusted. Deep down most cats were selfish and cruel.
Maybe even she was, she realized.
Her wounds had barely scabbed when something else terrible happened.
A twoleg, not yet an adult but not a kit either, wandered down their alley. The twoleg was particularly hostile and twisted, and hated cats. He cornered Aseph and wrapped a leather strap around his neck, sinching it tight.
Raven-Li attacked the twoleg fiercely, driven by protective rage, and her fury somehow drove the twoleg away. He had decided that this mad cat was something he didn't have to deal with.
When he was gone, Raven-Li turned to Aseph, who was terrified and trembling. She struggled for a long time with tooth and claw to remove the strap, but it was too tight.
Aseph somehow managed to cope. In the few days that followed, he ate and slept and even played a bit, though he was weaker now. The strap choked him constantly, and when he ran or jumped, did anything that made him short of breath, he passed out.
Raven-Li ran her paws off from then on, working to catch enough prey to stop the growling in his belly. She wanted nothing more than to make her little brother happy, and since she was powerless to help him remove the strap, she tried her best to help him in other ways.
She perfected her hunting style and learned to fight as well as any elite tom in the city; she fought often, and in the city danger lurked in every shadow.
Aseph trembled at the mere scent of twolegs after that. Raven-Li had never trusted them, and since then, her distrust had grown into hatred.
But even she did not fear and hate them the way Aseph did.
In the night, she often woke to him thrashing and screaming, and sometimes she had to hold him down to prevent him from leaping to his paws and fleeing in half-sleeping, dream-fuled terror.
There came a time when she could no longer hold him down.
She was not much larger than him, and one frosty midnight in early spring Aspeh let out a sudden, keening cry and was, all at once, on his paws. He leaped for the entrance to their dingy little den, and Raven-Li lunged at him with practiced speed and accuracy.
She knocked him sprawling a tail-length outside the den. She pushed him down with all her strength, merely gritting her teeth as Aseph struck at her, his eyes unseeing. In his barely-awake terror he did not reconize his sister.
Somehow, he slipped away. Raven-Li dug her claws in, held him down with her claws, but somehow he slipped past her and was gone.
She was left only with the scent of his blood on her claws.
The next morning, she awoke outside of her den, hoping that it had been a dream.
When she glanced around, everything was the same, and yet all was different.
Her brother was gone.
She didn't know that Aseph had ran nearly halfway to the other end of the city before collapsing in an air-deprived faint. When he woke, he could not find his way home.
Raven-Li spent half a moon in a hollow-eyes state of despair. She hunted barely enough to keep her going. Her beauty vanished as she became thin, ematiated, even.
But after that, she suddenly got better. She hunted more, ate more, and her beauty returned.
But there was a part of her that remained hollow.
She fended for herself from then on. She made few friends and many enemies. She became highly skilled in battle, known for it in the twoleg land where she lived. Cats glared at her with hatred and fear when she walked among them. She kept her ears pricked always for a name, for Aseph, but heard nothing, ever again.
In one battle, the muscles around her left ear were ruined. In another, she lost almost all sight in her left eye.
She traces of a beautiful, carefree she-cat lingered in the graceful way she moved, shadowed her battlescarred face, but mostly she was a hardened warrior, made bitter by the cruel hand life had dealt her.
The day she left the twoleg city was not particularly different. After so long, she had stopped thinking about Aseph, but on the night before she had dreamed about him. It was the first dream she had had in a long time.
She decided, for almost no reason at all, that she was through.
She vanished from the city forever that morning.
Raven-Li travelled a fairly long way, guided by intuition, and found the land of many cats.
She settled there, for the first time free of the city's black shadow.
