Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2013 15:57:32 GMT -5
Name: Slenderleg, "Slendercat"
Age: 53 moons
Gender: sterile agender she-cat
Clan:LightningClan None
Rank:Warrior Rogue
Picture:
Description: The first thing most cats notice now about Slenderleg is their bright yellow eyes, staring down and observing other cats. Back when they was in a clan and not considered dangerous, most cats noticed their height. Even as a new apprentice, Slenderpaw was taller than half the cats in LightningClan, and didn’t stop growing until the she-cat was easily taller than the biggest tom. Born skinny, Slenderkit never seemed to fill out enough to match their height, and life as a rogue certainly hasn’t thickened them out any. During green-leaf with plenty of prey, Slenderleg grows to “thin”, and during leaf-bare when prey is hard to find Slenderleg quickly drops to “skin and bones”.
The cat’s coat is a common enough color, being a mixture of black and white. Like most, the short coat thickens during leaf-fall and thins out during new-leaf. On any other cat, the all-black tail would look much too long, but it matches Slenderleg’s long legs. The only odd feature about the black and white coat is what’s missing: scars. Despite the numerous fights and beatings, white fur always seems to grow back, covering up any scars on the skin and giving the illusion of being scar-free.
For such a tall cat, Slenderleg in near-silent when walking, and quieter when stalkingkits prey. Even when running, the long-legged cat doesn't make much noise.
Description Summary: An excessively tall black and white cat with frightening yellow eyes.
Personality: At first, second, and tenth glance, Slenderleg is a cat of evil. Exiled from LightningClan for killing a kit, being without a clan hasn’t stopped this practice. While they prefer kits, Slenderleg has no hesitance in killing any cat, from a battle-hungry warrior to a medicine cat’s apprentice to a pregnant queen. Now that they’re no longer in a clan, they have developed a tendency to kill whatever cat crosses their path, but only kits are actively sought out. The rogue has a certain fascination with kits, and those who think of Slenderleg as a she-cat theorize it’s some warping of a “normal” she-cat’s maternal instinct. At least, those who would bother to ponder at all. Most cats are content enough to just call Slenderleg evil and not think more of the subject.
Truthfully, looking “deeper into their soul” does not result in a nicer picture. Slenderleg kills because they like to kill; between the hunt, the chase, the helpless cries… Interestingly, despite liking to kill cats, the ex-clan cat doesn’t care for actual fighting. Half of the fun is the hunt and the chase, after all, and in a fight those parts aren’t there. Way back as an apprentice, Slenderpaw often stopped fighting once she got injured to any degree, but enough beatings from her mentor stopped that behavior. Once becoming a rogue, however, the behavior returned, and once spotted by more than one cat Slenderleg will usually dash off. One flaw that frequently trips them up, and indeed contributed to their exile, is an inability to plan far ahead. Hiding the corpses was never Slenderleg’s strong suit, but now that they are on their own, this is less of a problem. Life as a rogue is very day-to-day, with minimal planning ahead; so this flaw is causing less problems.
Oddly enough, Slenderleg is not completely asocial, despite the murder and their distaste for speaking. Indeed, they almost like the company of other cats. However, an inability to trust or love others combined with a distinct lack of charisma leaves most cats not nearly as receptive to putting up with Slenderleg in their old clan. Life as a loner has certainly not improved their social life, but fortunately the cat never really seemed to need the social life other cats did.
History: Rabbitleap had never intended to become a queen, so when the young warrior found herself pregnant from a one-night-stand with notoriously amorous Thunderfang, she did everything she could to cause herself to miscarry, charging recklessly into danger and not settling into the nursery until forced to by Grizzleclaw. Despite this, Rabbitleap gave birth during a moonless night to two living (if sickly-looking) kits whom she named Deadkit, in hopes that the slow to breathe kit wasn’t actually alive, and Maggotkit, in hopes that it would soon be maggot-prey. The leaf-bare winter was harsh, and so the other cats didn’t try to force the reluctant queen into renaming her kits. The two probably wouldn’t live to see warriorhood anyway, the cats thought, best to just keep the morbid names and not get too attached.
Unbeknownst to them, Rabbitleap was hoping the kits would die. She missed being a warrior, and the squirmy gross things that other cats cooed over repulsed her. With the kits nearing a moon and getting stronger every passing day, their mother decided drastic measures were necessary. Under the cover of a pitch-black night, the queen lead her kits out of camp, switching between carrying one and having the other walk so she could cover the most ground. Eventually, the trio reached the Star Field, and Rabbitleap dashed off in another direction. Naturally, her two kits stumbled after their mother, but it was useless. Deadkit and Maggotkit huddled close together for warmth against the cool night air, and before long the kits fell asleep.
Once she returned to camp, the kitless queen began the next part of her plan: convincing LightningClan a badger had taken and killed her kits. She destroyed part of the nursery wall and left a trail of her blood leading out of camp and weaving in every direction before finally going into one of the tunnels. After continuing down the tunnles for some time, Rabbitleap put a stray cobweb on her scratch and dashed back into camp, yowling about how her kits were missing. Since it was now dawn, a search party instantly organized and began searching for either the badger or the kits, only to find neither. Some of the elders grew suspicious, whispering how now Rabbitleap was interested in her kits, but their mutterings were ignored by most cats. By sunhigh, most cats had given up, and the now ex-queen managed to keep up the appearance of remorse for all the sympathy wishers.
Four days later, a tom who was on his way back from sharing a nest outside of camp with his StoneClan lover stumbled (almost literally) across the bodies of two kits on his way back to camp. While not entirely interested in kits himself, he felt obligated by the warrior code to at least check if they were still alive. One kit wasn’t, certainly, and the tom initially thought the other kit dead as well before its ears twitched in his direction. Deciding they were likely a rogue queen’s kits left to die, the tom named the living kit Slenderkit, as the black and white thing seemed to be only skin and bones. He then carried the half-conscious kit back to LightningClan, where he “introduced” the Clan to Slenderkit. Most of the other cats noticed that this kit looked suspiciously similar to Deadkit, but a clever solution came up where they could both keep the kit’s new, less morbid name and punish Rabbitleap, whose milk hadn’t dried up yet. The young she-cat who thought she had become an ex-queen was given her previously thought dead kit to nurse and raise once more.
Thus Slenderkit’s true, recallable life began: the unwanted surviving kit, raised in the near-empty nursery by a mother who would rather the black-and-white kit went the way of their sibling. Normally, the caring of this single kit could have been delegated to a different queen, but the only one in the nursery at the time had already weaned her three kits. Between being the only nursing queen and whispers against her, Rabbitleap was all but forced into caring for her renamed kit. As soon as the kit was weaned, she would have moved out of the nursery, but by that time the other queen had moved out, which would have left the den empty. This, of course, was not allowed, and for too many moons the nursery only held the two cats. Now hidden in plain sight, the unloving queen took out her frustrations on the only option left: her surviving kit. During the night, Slenderkit was lucky to only fall asleep to words of hate, but during the day Rabbitleap went through all the motions of caring for the black and white she-kit. If others noticed the kit drawing away from her mother, or a patch of fur missing, none commented, and Slenderkit refused to speak out, or even talk at all.
This life continued until, one morning, Rabbitleap was found dead in the nursery, throat shredded and Slenderkit sleeping soundly beside her. Since the five-moon-old kit had ended up soaked in blood, the she-kit was taken to the medicine cat, as the pregnant queen who discovered them thought Slenderkit might have been injured as well. Once all the blood was cleaned off, however, the kit was revealed to have no injuries. The Clan never found Rabbitleap’s killer, although after a moon without another incident they moved on; the young warrior hadn’t been very popular, and most still held suspicions regarding the supposed “badger” attack. After spending the night in the Medicine Cat’s den, just to make sure the kit was alright. Strangely enough, Slenderkit didn’t seem to be too bothered by her mother’s tragic death, and the next night the older kit moved back into the nursery with the queen who had found Rabbitleap’s body. Four days before becoming an apprentice, the queen had her litter, and the previously apathetic Slenderkit came to life. Yellow eyes watched the squirming tufts of fur with a burning curiosity, almost seeming to pay them more attention than their mother on occasion. This behavior was actually encouraged by the queen, especially when the previously silent kit was overheard muttering to one of the newborns. True, Slenderkit was scolded when they pawed one of the newborns away from the group and “tried to play” with it, but even then the overall perception was that the reclusive and “shy” kit was opening up, which could only be a good thing.
All too soon for Slenderkit, the time came to become an apprentice of LightningClan and move out of the nursery. Slenderpaw, a seemingly shy and slightly off she-cat was given to the fierce warrior Iceclaw to mentor. While on the younger side, the tom had already successfully mentored another apprentice, and so he felt more than ready for the challenge of a strange cat. Slenderpaw did not feel nearly as optimistic, and visited the nursery frequently during their first moon of apprenticeship to “play” with the kits. Iceclaw told them to stop once he found out, saying that she was an apprentice now and could have her own kits later. However, it wasn’t until he started physical punishments that Slenderpaw started listening to him. Figuring he was onto something about a way to deal with and train the unresponsive cat, Iceclaw continued this extra-aggressive teaching method, and was pleased with the results: his apprentice had stopped running away from fights and hadn’t missed a catch since he started clawing her for every escaped prey. To Slenderpaw, it felt as if nothing had changed from the time when it was only Rabbitleap and Slenderkit in the nursery.
The gangly cat excelled at hunting off the bat, and enjoyed it far more, so naturally Iceclaw had them practice fighting longer and more often. He was a warrior of some renown, after all, and couldn’t have his apprentice be useless on the battlefield. During sparring, he frequently switched between sheathed claws and unsheathed claws, just to ensure Slenderpaw wouldn’t start trying to take it easy. A few other cats wondered if the training was too rough, seeing the apprentice returning from training lessons with a sullen look and patches of fur missing, but the elders just scoffed and insisted that apprentices these days had it easy, and the apprentice in question never complained, although they didn’t talk too much in general. Despite now sharing a den with others closer to their age, Slenderpaw didn’t try reaching out to peers, preferring to eat their prey in silence rather than the endless chatter that seemed to happen among other cats. Instead, Slenderpaw played with the nursery kits. The older ones loved having an apprentice for a friend, and the queens just smiled amongst themselves and thought here’s one that will join us soon. True, the apprentice did still play too rough for the kits sometimes, but by now, the still-skinny orphaned she-cat was thought to be… not the brightest star in the sky, so the other cats didn’t scold her as sternly as the other apprentices. Shortly before Slenderpaw became a warrior, the kits that had been born in the nursery while Slenderkit was in there became apprentices. It was the first time Slenderpaw had spoken up at any sort of clan meeting, calling out the names of the new apprentices.
The time came for Slenderpaw to become a warrior, and unlike their earlier transition, this one was much more eagerly anticipated than becoming an apprentice. The morning after Slenderleg’s vigil, Iceclaw was found dead in his nest, throat shredded. When asked, the new warrior claimed to have not seen any cat enter or leave camp that night. As Iceclaw had been favored by the clan, and a notoriously skilled warrior, his sudden and violent death shook the clan. After a day of finding no clues as to who murdered the tom, suspicion began to rest on Slenderleg. After all, it was a known fact that the mentor and apprentice hadn’t gotten along, and the new warrior didn’t seem affected by their mentor’s death. In fact, this reaction was near-identical to Slenderkit’s reaction to Rabbitleap’s death. Some cats even noticed the identical way both cats close to Slenderleg died, and started wondering if the black-and-white she-cat had made herself an orphan. Most cats, however, were reluctant to even consider a she-kit killing her mother, but all excluding the nursery queens were willing to admit Slenderleg was certainly a contender for the killer of Iceclaw. However, when asked, Slenderleg denied killing Iceclaw. Combined with a general lack of evidence and the fact that the new warrior didn’t appear to act guilty, the leader of LightningClan decided against punishing a cat who both denied their crime and couldn’t be proven otherwise.
Of course, the rumors still circulated, and almost the entire clan gave Slenderleg something of a cold shoulder. Almost, excluding the kits and apprentices they had befriended earlier. While becoming a warrior hadn’t stopped Slenderleg from visiting the nursery to play with the kits, the newer queens were more suspicious of the black-and-white she-cat, and never left them unsupervised with the kits, lest they return to a kit with a shredded throat. Some kits picked up on the queens’ attitude and didn’t play as much or at all with the young warrior, but most either didn’t notice or were won over. Many of the kits leaving the nursery asked if Slenderleg could be their mentor when they became apprentices, but between continued suspicions of both the yellow-eyed warrior being either a murderer or an idiot (some claimed both), Slenderleg was never assigned an apprentice. Instead, their life developed a certain stability: wake up, hunt (while eating the best catch themselves), play with kits and apprentices, sleep, and repeat. Only rarely was Slenderleg told to go on patrols, and it was always with at least two other cats.
This stability in the young warrior’s life was broken by none other than Slenderleg. For the first time, one of the kits escaped his mother’s watch and followed his warrior friend on a hunting trip, eager to learn and be the best warrior ever. Slenderleg noticed, of course, but instead of telling the kit to head back, a different idea formed. The kit kept up with his tall friend determinedly, but quickly lost sight of her. Looking back, the kit realized he was lost, and meowed pitifully. He was relieved when the tall cat appeared, and asked if they could play. The black and white cat purred back “Of course,” and suggested playing a game of hide and seek. As soon as the kit took off, Slenderleg crouched down and began stalking. The little tom-kit hid for a while, and just as he was starting to wonder if this was his friend’s way of brushing him off Slenderleg tossed the kit out if his hiding place. Not entirely pleasantly surprised, the kit cried out as he flew, but landed on his feet mostly unharmed. The next sign to the kit something was wrong was when, instead of hiding, Slenderleg batted him around a bit, like the older kits did with fresh-kill. Just as the kit was thinking perhaps he should have stayed in the nursery, Slenderleg disappeared. Taking this as StarClan’s hint to never wander out of camp, he dashed off towards the direction he thought the camp was…
Only to be pounced upon by Slenderleg once more. This time, however, the warrior’s training kicked in too soon, and with a bite to the back of the kit’s neck, his chord snapped, and within heartbeats the kit was dead. Before they could figure out what to do with the body, a patrol of warriors, drawn by the kit’s earlier cry, ran into the scene. Upon sight of the dead kit dangling from Slenderleg’s mouth, three of the cats attacked instantly, while the fastest warrior speeded back to camp to report. When this fourth cat returned, leader and deputy and two additional warriors in tow, the scene awaiting them was a bloodbath. Three warriors and one kit lay dead, all but the kit in pools of blood, and in the middle sat a slightly-injured Slenderleg, calmly licking the blood from their coat. Instantly, the leader of LightningClan banished Slenderleg, from any clan and any territory, and the twenty-moon-old cat was chased out of the valley. However, a sense of shame stopped the leader from warning other clans of the threat during the next Gathering, and the other LightningClan cats were forbidden from mentioning anything regarding the she-cat’s crimes. As Slenderpaw had only been to one Gathering, and Slenderleg to none, other cats didn’t ask questions.
Life in the mountains compared to the valley required a lot of adapting for a cat that didn’t take to change well. The first moon saw Slenderleg end up in the Oasis, looking for water and finding a clan of loners and rogues. Curious about these cats, the ex-clan cat stayed with them for a moon or two, learning about Demon and the dangers a lone cat faced that a clan cat didn’t worry about. However, before long Slenderleg decided to be bored with these cats, who seemed just as bland as clan cats, and the rogue left the oasis after fully recovering. While curious about this “Demon”, after watching the giant bear-cat kill and eat two clan cats, the black-and-white rogue decided not to risk their luck and avoided the lynx.
Known best as the starter of the famous kit-tale "Slendercat". Queens tell their kits that if they stray out of camp, Slendercat will pounce on them like prey and gobble them up. While the eating part is an elaboration (since no cat has seen this one take kits), Slenderleg is responsible for quite a few disappearing kits over the past seasons...
The long-legged rogue has built themselves a nest in the mountainside, taking the abandoned den and turning it into something of a sanctuary / trophy room. The burrow has a small entrance, barely big enough for Slenderleg to enter, but it opens up nicely, and the black and white cat can actually stand up in the den area. The nest they used is lined in suspiciously soft fur.
Other: Triple A: agender, asexual, aromantic. Will be using "they" pronoun for now. Feel free to have your cat spread rumors / stories / have their sibling be abducted, just ask~
Age: 53 moons
Gender: sterile agender she-cat
Clan:
Rank:
Picture:
Description: The first thing most cats notice now about Slenderleg is their bright yellow eyes, staring down and observing other cats. Back when they was in a clan and not considered dangerous, most cats noticed their height. Even as a new apprentice, Slenderpaw was taller than half the cats in LightningClan, and didn’t stop growing until the she-cat was easily taller than the biggest tom. Born skinny, Slenderkit never seemed to fill out enough to match their height, and life as a rogue certainly hasn’t thickened them out any. During green-leaf with plenty of prey, Slenderleg grows to “thin”, and during leaf-bare when prey is hard to find Slenderleg quickly drops to “skin and bones”.
The cat’s coat is a common enough color, being a mixture of black and white. Like most, the short coat thickens during leaf-fall and thins out during new-leaf. On any other cat, the all-black tail would look much too long, but it matches Slenderleg’s long legs. The only odd feature about the black and white coat is what’s missing: scars. Despite the numerous fights and beatings, white fur always seems to grow back, covering up any scars on the skin and giving the illusion of being scar-free.
For such a tall cat, Slenderleg in near-silent when walking, and quieter when stalking
Description Summary: An excessively tall black and white cat with frightening yellow eyes.
Personality: At first, second, and tenth glance, Slenderleg is a cat of evil. Exiled from LightningClan for killing a kit, being without a clan hasn’t stopped this practice. While they prefer kits, Slenderleg has no hesitance in killing any cat, from a battle-hungry warrior to a medicine cat’s apprentice to a pregnant queen. Now that they’re no longer in a clan, they have developed a tendency to kill whatever cat crosses their path, but only kits are actively sought out. The rogue has a certain fascination with kits, and those who think of Slenderleg as a she-cat theorize it’s some warping of a “normal” she-cat’s maternal instinct. At least, those who would bother to ponder at all. Most cats are content enough to just call Slenderleg evil and not think more of the subject.
Truthfully, looking “deeper into their soul” does not result in a nicer picture. Slenderleg kills because they like to kill; between the hunt, the chase, the helpless cries… Interestingly, despite liking to kill cats, the ex-clan cat doesn’t care for actual fighting. Half of the fun is the hunt and the chase, after all, and in a fight those parts aren’t there. Way back as an apprentice, Slenderpaw often stopped fighting once she got injured to any degree, but enough beatings from her mentor stopped that behavior. Once becoming a rogue, however, the behavior returned, and once spotted by more than one cat Slenderleg will usually dash off. One flaw that frequently trips them up, and indeed contributed to their exile, is an inability to plan far ahead. Hiding the corpses was never Slenderleg’s strong suit, but now that they are on their own, this is less of a problem. Life as a rogue is very day-to-day, with minimal planning ahead; so this flaw is causing less problems.
Oddly enough, Slenderleg is not completely asocial, despite the murder and their distaste for speaking. Indeed, they almost like the company of other cats. However, an inability to trust or love others combined with a distinct lack of charisma leaves most cats not nearly as receptive to putting up with Slenderleg in their old clan. Life as a loner has certainly not improved their social life, but fortunately the cat never really seemed to need the social life other cats did.
History: Rabbitleap had never intended to become a queen, so when the young warrior found herself pregnant from a one-night-stand with notoriously amorous Thunderfang, she did everything she could to cause herself to miscarry, charging recklessly into danger and not settling into the nursery until forced to by Grizzleclaw. Despite this, Rabbitleap gave birth during a moonless night to two living (if sickly-looking) kits whom she named Deadkit, in hopes that the slow to breathe kit wasn’t actually alive, and Maggotkit, in hopes that it would soon be maggot-prey. The leaf-bare winter was harsh, and so the other cats didn’t try to force the reluctant queen into renaming her kits. The two probably wouldn’t live to see warriorhood anyway, the cats thought, best to just keep the morbid names and not get too attached.
Unbeknownst to them, Rabbitleap was hoping the kits would die. She missed being a warrior, and the squirmy gross things that other cats cooed over repulsed her. With the kits nearing a moon and getting stronger every passing day, their mother decided drastic measures were necessary. Under the cover of a pitch-black night, the queen lead her kits out of camp, switching between carrying one and having the other walk so she could cover the most ground. Eventually, the trio reached the Star Field, and Rabbitleap dashed off in another direction. Naturally, her two kits stumbled after their mother, but it was useless. Deadkit and Maggotkit huddled close together for warmth against the cool night air, and before long the kits fell asleep.
Once she returned to camp, the kitless queen began the next part of her plan: convincing LightningClan a badger had taken and killed her kits. She destroyed part of the nursery wall and left a trail of her blood leading out of camp and weaving in every direction before finally going into one of the tunnels. After continuing down the tunnles for some time, Rabbitleap put a stray cobweb on her scratch and dashed back into camp, yowling about how her kits were missing. Since it was now dawn, a search party instantly organized and began searching for either the badger or the kits, only to find neither. Some of the elders grew suspicious, whispering how now Rabbitleap was interested in her kits, but their mutterings were ignored by most cats. By sunhigh, most cats had given up, and the now ex-queen managed to keep up the appearance of remorse for all the sympathy wishers.
Four days later, a tom who was on his way back from sharing a nest outside of camp with his StoneClan lover stumbled (almost literally) across the bodies of two kits on his way back to camp. While not entirely interested in kits himself, he felt obligated by the warrior code to at least check if they were still alive. One kit wasn’t, certainly, and the tom initially thought the other kit dead as well before its ears twitched in his direction. Deciding they were likely a rogue queen’s kits left to die, the tom named the living kit Slenderkit, as the black and white thing seemed to be only skin and bones. He then carried the half-conscious kit back to LightningClan, where he “introduced” the Clan to Slenderkit. Most of the other cats noticed that this kit looked suspiciously similar to Deadkit, but a clever solution came up where they could both keep the kit’s new, less morbid name and punish Rabbitleap, whose milk hadn’t dried up yet. The young she-cat who thought she had become an ex-queen was given her previously thought dead kit to nurse and raise once more.
Thus Slenderkit’s true, recallable life began: the unwanted surviving kit, raised in the near-empty nursery by a mother who would rather the black-and-white kit went the way of their sibling. Normally, the caring of this single kit could have been delegated to a different queen, but the only one in the nursery at the time had already weaned her three kits. Between being the only nursing queen and whispers against her, Rabbitleap was all but forced into caring for her renamed kit. As soon as the kit was weaned, she would have moved out of the nursery, but by that time the other queen had moved out, which would have left the den empty. This, of course, was not allowed, and for too many moons the nursery only held the two cats. Now hidden in plain sight, the unloving queen took out her frustrations on the only option left: her surviving kit. During the night, Slenderkit was lucky to only fall asleep to words of hate, but during the day Rabbitleap went through all the motions of caring for the black and white she-kit. If others noticed the kit drawing away from her mother, or a patch of fur missing, none commented, and Slenderkit refused to speak out, or even talk at all.
This life continued until, one morning, Rabbitleap was found dead in the nursery, throat shredded and Slenderkit sleeping soundly beside her. Since the five-moon-old kit had ended up soaked in blood, the she-kit was taken to the medicine cat, as the pregnant queen who discovered them thought Slenderkit might have been injured as well. Once all the blood was cleaned off, however, the kit was revealed to have no injuries. The Clan never found Rabbitleap’s killer, although after a moon without another incident they moved on; the young warrior hadn’t been very popular, and most still held suspicions regarding the supposed “badger” attack. After spending the night in the Medicine Cat’s den, just to make sure the kit was alright. Strangely enough, Slenderkit didn’t seem to be too bothered by her mother’s tragic death, and the next night the older kit moved back into the nursery with the queen who had found Rabbitleap’s body. Four days before becoming an apprentice, the queen had her litter, and the previously apathetic Slenderkit came to life. Yellow eyes watched the squirming tufts of fur with a burning curiosity, almost seeming to pay them more attention than their mother on occasion. This behavior was actually encouraged by the queen, especially when the previously silent kit was overheard muttering to one of the newborns. True, Slenderkit was scolded when they pawed one of the newborns away from the group and “tried to play” with it, but even then the overall perception was that the reclusive and “shy” kit was opening up, which could only be a good thing.
All too soon for Slenderkit, the time came to become an apprentice of LightningClan and move out of the nursery. Slenderpaw, a seemingly shy and slightly off she-cat was given to the fierce warrior Iceclaw to mentor. While on the younger side, the tom had already successfully mentored another apprentice, and so he felt more than ready for the challenge of a strange cat. Slenderpaw did not feel nearly as optimistic, and visited the nursery frequently during their first moon of apprenticeship to “play” with the kits. Iceclaw told them to stop once he found out, saying that she was an apprentice now and could have her own kits later. However, it wasn’t until he started physical punishments that Slenderpaw started listening to him. Figuring he was onto something about a way to deal with and train the unresponsive cat, Iceclaw continued this extra-aggressive teaching method, and was pleased with the results: his apprentice had stopped running away from fights and hadn’t missed a catch since he started clawing her for every escaped prey. To Slenderpaw, it felt as if nothing had changed from the time when it was only Rabbitleap and Slenderkit in the nursery.
The gangly cat excelled at hunting off the bat, and enjoyed it far more, so naturally Iceclaw had them practice fighting longer and more often. He was a warrior of some renown, after all, and couldn’t have his apprentice be useless on the battlefield. During sparring, he frequently switched between sheathed claws and unsheathed claws, just to ensure Slenderpaw wouldn’t start trying to take it easy. A few other cats wondered if the training was too rough, seeing the apprentice returning from training lessons with a sullen look and patches of fur missing, but the elders just scoffed and insisted that apprentices these days had it easy, and the apprentice in question never complained, although they didn’t talk too much in general. Despite now sharing a den with others closer to their age, Slenderpaw didn’t try reaching out to peers, preferring to eat their prey in silence rather than the endless chatter that seemed to happen among other cats. Instead, Slenderpaw played with the nursery kits. The older ones loved having an apprentice for a friend, and the queens just smiled amongst themselves and thought here’s one that will join us soon. True, the apprentice did still play too rough for the kits sometimes, but by now, the still-skinny orphaned she-cat was thought to be… not the brightest star in the sky, so the other cats didn’t scold her as sternly as the other apprentices. Shortly before Slenderpaw became a warrior, the kits that had been born in the nursery while Slenderkit was in there became apprentices. It was the first time Slenderpaw had spoken up at any sort of clan meeting, calling out the names of the new apprentices.
The time came for Slenderpaw to become a warrior, and unlike their earlier transition, this one was much more eagerly anticipated than becoming an apprentice. The morning after Slenderleg’s vigil, Iceclaw was found dead in his nest, throat shredded. When asked, the new warrior claimed to have not seen any cat enter or leave camp that night. As Iceclaw had been favored by the clan, and a notoriously skilled warrior, his sudden and violent death shook the clan. After a day of finding no clues as to who murdered the tom, suspicion began to rest on Slenderleg. After all, it was a known fact that the mentor and apprentice hadn’t gotten along, and the new warrior didn’t seem affected by their mentor’s death. In fact, this reaction was near-identical to Slenderkit’s reaction to Rabbitleap’s death. Some cats even noticed the identical way both cats close to Slenderleg died, and started wondering if the black-and-white she-cat had made herself an orphan. Most cats, however, were reluctant to even consider a she-kit killing her mother, but all excluding the nursery queens were willing to admit Slenderleg was certainly a contender for the killer of Iceclaw. However, when asked, Slenderleg denied killing Iceclaw. Combined with a general lack of evidence and the fact that the new warrior didn’t appear to act guilty, the leader of LightningClan decided against punishing a cat who both denied their crime and couldn’t be proven otherwise.
Of course, the rumors still circulated, and almost the entire clan gave Slenderleg something of a cold shoulder. Almost, excluding the kits and apprentices they had befriended earlier. While becoming a warrior hadn’t stopped Slenderleg from visiting the nursery to play with the kits, the newer queens were more suspicious of the black-and-white she-cat, and never left them unsupervised with the kits, lest they return to a kit with a shredded throat. Some kits picked up on the queens’ attitude and didn’t play as much or at all with the young warrior, but most either didn’t notice or were won over. Many of the kits leaving the nursery asked if Slenderleg could be their mentor when they became apprentices, but between continued suspicions of both the yellow-eyed warrior being either a murderer or an idiot (some claimed both), Slenderleg was never assigned an apprentice. Instead, their life developed a certain stability: wake up, hunt (while eating the best catch themselves), play with kits and apprentices, sleep, and repeat. Only rarely was Slenderleg told to go on patrols, and it was always with at least two other cats.
This stability in the young warrior’s life was broken by none other than Slenderleg. For the first time, one of the kits escaped his mother’s watch and followed his warrior friend on a hunting trip, eager to learn and be the best warrior ever. Slenderleg noticed, of course, but instead of telling the kit to head back, a different idea formed. The kit kept up with his tall friend determinedly, but quickly lost sight of her. Looking back, the kit realized he was lost, and meowed pitifully. He was relieved when the tall cat appeared, and asked if they could play. The black and white cat purred back “Of course,” and suggested playing a game of hide and seek. As soon as the kit took off, Slenderleg crouched down and began stalking. The little tom-kit hid for a while, and just as he was starting to wonder if this was his friend’s way of brushing him off Slenderleg tossed the kit out if his hiding place. Not entirely pleasantly surprised, the kit cried out as he flew, but landed on his feet mostly unharmed. The next sign to the kit something was wrong was when, instead of hiding, Slenderleg batted him around a bit, like the older kits did with fresh-kill. Just as the kit was thinking perhaps he should have stayed in the nursery, Slenderleg disappeared. Taking this as StarClan’s hint to never wander out of camp, he dashed off towards the direction he thought the camp was…
Only to be pounced upon by Slenderleg once more. This time, however, the warrior’s training kicked in too soon, and with a bite to the back of the kit’s neck, his chord snapped, and within heartbeats the kit was dead. Before they could figure out what to do with the body, a patrol of warriors, drawn by the kit’s earlier cry, ran into the scene. Upon sight of the dead kit dangling from Slenderleg’s mouth, three of the cats attacked instantly, while the fastest warrior speeded back to camp to report. When this fourth cat returned, leader and deputy and two additional warriors in tow, the scene awaiting them was a bloodbath. Three warriors and one kit lay dead, all but the kit in pools of blood, and in the middle sat a slightly-injured Slenderleg, calmly licking the blood from their coat. Instantly, the leader of LightningClan banished Slenderleg, from any clan and any territory, and the twenty-moon-old cat was chased out of the valley. However, a sense of shame stopped the leader from warning other clans of the threat during the next Gathering, and the other LightningClan cats were forbidden from mentioning anything regarding the she-cat’s crimes. As Slenderpaw had only been to one Gathering, and Slenderleg to none, other cats didn’t ask questions.
Life in the mountains compared to the valley required a lot of adapting for a cat that didn’t take to change well. The first moon saw Slenderleg end up in the Oasis, looking for water and finding a clan of loners and rogues. Curious about these cats, the ex-clan cat stayed with them for a moon or two, learning about Demon and the dangers a lone cat faced that a clan cat didn’t worry about. However, before long Slenderleg decided to be bored with these cats, who seemed just as bland as clan cats, and the rogue left the oasis after fully recovering. While curious about this “Demon”, after watching the giant bear-cat kill and eat two clan cats, the black-and-white rogue decided not to risk their luck and avoided the lynx.
Known best as the starter of the famous kit-tale "Slendercat". Queens tell their kits that if they stray out of camp, Slendercat will pounce on them like prey and gobble them up. While the eating part is an elaboration (since no cat has seen this one take kits), Slenderleg is responsible for quite a few disappearing kits over the past seasons...
The long-legged rogue has built themselves a nest in the mountainside, taking the abandoned den and turning it into something of a sanctuary / trophy room. The burrow has a small entrance, barely big enough for Slenderleg to enter, but it opens up nicely, and the black and white cat can actually stand up in the den area. The nest they used is lined in suspiciously soft fur.
Other: Triple A: agender, asexual, aromantic. Will be using "they" pronoun for now. Feel free to have your cat spread rumors / stories / have their sibling be abducted, just ask~