Post by Kaeldra on Mar 8, 2023 10:14:41 GMT
Name: Dawn
Desired Name: Undecided
Allegiance: Solitary
Rank: N/A
Age: 60 moons
Birth Moon: Wind Moon 2016
Sex: Queen (she/her)
Appearance:
Dawn is on the larger side, her tall frame and big paws combining with her long fur to give her quite the intimidating first impression. Her fur is a beautiful white colour, and it covers her entire body except for one small patch of grey tabby fur on her head. Her eyes are a cool, icy blue, though she is not afflicted with deafness like some cats with her colouring. Her nose and inner ears are a soft pink, as are her paw pads, though the latter are tough and scarred from moons of travelling through Twolegplace and running across thunderpaths. Her tail is long and plume-like, reminiscent of a feather.
Personality:
Dawn is a cat that holds strong to her values, no matter what anyone else thinks. She will do what she believes to be right, consequences be damned. Once this she-cat’s mind is made up, it’s extremely hard to change it. You’d have better luck convincing a fox to put on a collar and prance around for twolegs.
Before her mind is made up, however, Dawn is very prone to overthinking. She’ll spend days, moons even, agonizing over which choice is the right one. As she’s grown older she’s gotten better at going with her gut when necessary, but she still prefers to carefully analyze all potential outcomes of a situation before acting. She has always known her choices shape her future, so she wants to choose wisely. This she-cat always has some sort of goal she’s working toward. In the past, her goals had been lofty things, but right now all she wants is a safe place to call home with her remaining kit.
Having grown up in an organized group, Dawn highly values family and community. Even if expectations were high and her superiors could be cruel at times, Dawn understood that it was their way of making sure everyone was cared for. The only reason she left was for the sake of her kits, as she was unwilling to have them meet the same fate as her brother. They were and are her number one priority in life, and she often wishes she could have done more for them.
History:
Dawn was born into a group of rogues in Twolegplace under the leadership of a tom named Stone, along with her brother Crow. The two were initiated into the group at five moons old, as was customary, and began their training.
Shortly after their initiation, a kit a few moons younger than her was brought into the group. He had apparently tried to steal prey from a hunting party, but rather than drive him away to a certain death, they decided to give him a chance to prove himself. The young tom was given the name Patch, and Dawn looked forward to meeting the unusual kit who had escaped Stone’s harsh punishment.
As the moons went by, the group of young cats training under Stone’s rule began to grow close; though he was the youngest, Patch became the head of the group, always the one with the plans. When it was just the four of them, Patch often spoke of the future, when he would be strong enough to overthrow the corrupted old tom. Stone ruled with an iron claw, granting no mercy to the weak. Many cats perished under his harsh governance, and Dawn hoped that one day life under Patch’s leadership would be more forgiving.
Despite all the hardship, Dawn thinks of those moons as some of the happiest of her life. It was hard, there was no doubt about that, but she was comfortable, and cared for in ways she didn’t realize until it was gone. She trained hard, learned a lot, and got to spend time with the cats she cared about most. Whether it was roughhousing with Crow, strategizing with Patch, or hunting with Rat, she always had someone to keep her company.
While she loved them all, there was something special about Rat. It took time to get past his walls, of course; he wasn’t one to easily let other cats in, and he was stubborn as any badger she’d ever met (nevermind that she could be just as bad). But she admired his rational way of thinking, his no-nonsense attitude toward the world. If something needed to be done, he did it, but he never compromised his own morals in doing so. He was one of the cats who had taken pity on Patch, risking his own standing in the group at just eight moons old because he couldn’t turn a starving kit away.
Before long, she found herself falling for the handsome ginger tom. By the time Dawn was fifteen moons old, the two were mates, and she couldn’t be happier. Unfortunately, that happiness would be short-lived. Two moons later, at the age of seventeen moons, Dawn’s brother Crow was killed.
Oh, others would say it was an unfortunate accident, but she knew better.
The two littermates had been assigned to a raid patrol, attacking some other rogue cats for their territory and prey. They had underestimated the enemy’s strength, and one of their adversaries managed to give Crow a nasty gash on his shoulder. When they returned back to their camp, Dawn requested a medic for her brother, but was denied on the grounds that the wound wasn’t serious enough to warrant it. Their medics were very busy, you see. They didn’t have time for little scratches.
Within days, infection set in. Dawn watched helplessly as Crow grew weaker and weaker, until one day he went to sleep and never woke again. Dawn buried her nose in his fur and wailed, the stench of infection overpowering her brother’s comforting scent.
After that, Dawn knew they had to get out. What if the same happened to Patch? To Rat? She couldn’t handle losing another cat she loved, and Patch wasn’t old enough to even think about overthrowing Stone just yet. She asked the two to run away with her, to start a new life somewhere together, but they refused. Patch’s refusal she had expected; he had goals, and he wasn’t the type of cat to give them up so easily. But Rat’s refusal stung.
The two butted heads for a long time, arguing constantly over whether to stay or go. Dawn argued for the future: she didn’t want to grow old here, to raise kits in an environment where their wellbeing could be tossed aside so easily. Rat argued for the present: here they were safe and fed, and had the protection of the group. They had no kits, and if they were on their own, survival would be that much harder.
After three long moons of talking in circles, Dawn was forced to make her decision. She found out she was expecting Rat’s kits, and suddenly the future she had worried about was here. She considered telling Rat, but she was so tired of arguing. She doubted they would change each other’s minds, anyway. She had to do right by her kits, and if that meant leaving him behind, so be it. At just 20 moons old, Dawn left in the middle of the night without a word to either of her closest friends.
The next moon, she gave birth all alone in a hollow in the woods. She had three kits, two toms and a she-kit. She named them Dusk, Twilight, and Aurora, and they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She vowed she would do everything in her power to keep them safe.
Being a young mother was difficult in ways she hadn’t imagined. As cruel as Stone’s rule could be, she had grown used to having the support of other cats. Now she had only herself to rely on, and three young kits counting on her. The bounty of greenleaf kept them afloat, but once leaf-bare arrived things grew dire. The smallest of the litter, sweet little Dusk, ended up passing at just six moons old.
Dawn blamed herself for his death, her head full of “what if”s and “if only”s. What if she had caught that hare that got away? What if she had stuffed their nest with more moss, and gone out hunting sooner? If only Rat had come with her, he could have kept them warm while she hunted. If only she had stayed with Stone’s group, maybe Dusk would still be alive.
But then she remembered how Crow died, imagining the same happening to her kits, and that steeled her resolve. She would keep fighting, for their sake.
The next tragedy came eight moons later, when her kits were fourteen moons old. Without realizing, they had crossed into the territory of a group of bloodthirsty rogues. Twilight was young and eager to show off his skills, and after he brought down a particularly fat squirrel the family was surrounded by angry claws and sharp eyes.
Despite their protests of innocence and offers to give up the squirrel and leave, the rogues were not happy. They decided to make an example of Twilight, separating him from his mother and sister and tearing out his throat as they watched in horror. Dawn tried to shield Aurora from the awful sight, but she knows it’s left its scars regardless.
Once they had gotten safely away, Dawn began to spiral. She had given up so much for her kits, sacrificed her comfort for their safety, and yet she had lost two of them in barely more than four seasons. Perhaps they would have fared better in Stone’s group after all, she thought bleakly, but there was nothing to be done for it now.
At this point, Dawn became incredibly protective over Aurora. She refused to let the other she-cat out of her sight, terrified something would happen to her too. She couldn’t lose her only remaining kit. The two of them traveled together for a long time after the death of Twilight, and never stayed in one place for more than a couple of moons. Dawn longed for a place to call home once again, to give her daughter that same sense of security she’d had growing up, but nowhere felt safe.
Just a few moons ago, their travels brought them back to the Twolegplace where Dawn grew up. She wasn’t surprised to hear that Stone had been taken down, and smiled to herself at the thought that Patch was leader now. Perhaps they had found a place to stay at last. But Patch was gone too, supposedly chased out by another group soon after claiming leadership, and there had been no word of him or his supporters since.
Aurora was disappointed, as she had been looking forward to learning more about the father she had never known. She knew he had grown up here,just as her mother had, but Dawn was never very forthcoming with details. She hadn’t wanted them to get attached to a cat they would never know, but now she realized that her kits had deserved a chance to get to know their father. She would never be able to set her mistakes right with Dusk and Twilight, but she could still do this for Aurora.
Pushing aside the worry that Rat may have already passed on himself – they weren’t exactly young anymore, and she knew all too well how harsh Stone had been – Dawn decided to seek out information on where Patch had gone after his departure. If she knew anything about her old mate, he was loyal, and so where Patch was, Rat would be too.
Mother: Unknown
Father: Unknown
Full Siblings: Crow - tom, deceased at 17 moons old
Offspring:
Dusk - tom, deceased at 6 moons old
Twilight - tom, deceased at 14 moons old
Aurora - she-cat, living, 38 moons old
Timeline:
Wind Moon 2016 - 0 moons - Dawn and her brother Crow are born.
Worm Moon 2017 - 5 moons - Dawn and Crow are initiated into Stone's group and begin training; Patch joins the group.
Star Moon 2017 - 15 moons - Dawn and Rat become mates.
Snow Moon 2018 - 17 moons - Crow dies.
Flower Moon 2018 - 20 moons - Dawn finds out she's pregnant and leaves Stone's group.
Prey Moon 2018 - 21 moons - Dawn gives birth to three kits: Dusk, Twilight, and Aurora.
Shadow Moon 2018 - 27 moons - Dusk dies of starvation at 6 moons old.
Fire Moon 2019 - 35 moons - Twilight dies at the claws of a rogue group at 14 moons old.
River Moon 2021 - 56 moons - Dawn and her remaining kit Aurora return to Twolegplace.