Shortwhisker

[Ten]

Role player| Ten
_____

Name| Shortwhisker

Gender| tom

Physical Description| He has stocky limbs, light-brown eyes, and a black pelt splattered with white markings. A black splotch covers his muzzle.

Views| Shortwhisker is dedicated to creating a Clan. He has always been a follower, favoring security over freedom. He insists that the perfect life is one in which every heartbeat is planned and prearranged with precision. He is stubborn and tenacious about his ideals, for a Clan was his parents' dream, and his parents were always right.

Kin| Blackpelt (father) and Icefang (mother) are both dead, while his two siblings are still living.

History| Shortwhisker was born last in a litter of three to a pair of proud parents. This was the first and last moment that they were ever pleased with him. While Blackpelt was submissive and agreeable, Icefang was a strict mother who was dogmatic in her opinion that a Clan would improve everything. She dragged her mate around the enclosure, starting and participating in debates. Anyone who disagreed with her was either crazy, stupid, or evil.

Icefang expected her kits to learn everything they could about Clanhood. She spent more time telling them about the old ways than teaching them to hunt or fight. Out of the three, Shortkit was the least skilled. His mother often punished and belittled him for his incompetence. However, she did at last give him the warrior name Shortwhisker, for his high sensitivity. He was devastated when she died.

Shortwhisker was quick to join the leadership experiment (Woodstripe's creation) when he learned of it. He treated the group of participants like a real Clan and the temporary authorities like royalty. The first day of the experiment, he joined a rat hunt with his new comrades. Foolish mistakes on his part coupled with Speckledclaw's quick reflexes left him feeling not only like a useless part of the team, but also resulted in Speckledclaw wounding him on accident.

In low spirits, he had to find a puddle to wash his bleeding back (he couldn't reach all of it himself) and after doing so he encountered a she-cat by the name of Hailpaw, who approached him with a request to make kits with him. Although he was slow to understand her choice of slang, she was the first cat in a long time to show him something resembling kindness, and when he realized what she meant, he decided, in his naivety, that it would be the perfect way to prove his usefulness and create more Clanners.

He accepted and together they procreated. Afterwards, Shortwhisker asked her to confirm that she would raise the kits as proper Clanners. He was shocked to find out that the cat he had just mated with was, in fact, a con. Feeling violated and corrupted, he refused any reasoning or negotiation from her and ran off.

He confessed his sin to the first cat he came across -- Dottedfoot, a crippled new member of the experiment. They talked for a time, Shortwhisker at first willing to trust her, but as he listened to her more and more he lost confidence in her sanity, for she supported Patchfur's radical ideas. At last he decided to leave -- but Dottedfoot was frustrated by his stubborn and irrational behavior, and wanting to get his attention so she could reason with him further, she limped after him and bit his hind leg. This set him off. He was horrified that a fellow experiment member would "attack" him, and he dashed away to report the attack to Spiderstripe, the experiment's leader.

Picture|