To The Untrained Eye...

[jeopardy]

To the untrained eye, he is nothing more than a muscular tom with a white and black pelt. But to those who knew this tom for what he is, he is so much more than that. This tom was Raptorstar, leader of ShadowClan, the Clan know for the strength they must have to endure the least prey rich and the least favored territory; the left-over. As far back as anyone knows, or cared to know, ShadowClan had always been given the marshy territory covered with pine trees and where very little prey scurries among the brush. ShadowClan territory was nothing more than the unwanted piece of a mouse, shoved off to let the eagles eat it...and the ShadowClan cats were the eagles, feding off of that last pieces of mouse. This tom was named after such birds, the hunters of the sky, the birds that lived off the prey of other living animals small enough for them to carry in their talons and the feature that gathered such a name for him? His pale yellow eyes.

To the untrained eye, his eyes might seem like nothing, nothing at all. To them, they might just seem like the faded colors of a lily petal and nothing more. But to others they knew the truth about what lurks within those deep, yellow depths and so many of them try to avoid looking at them at all costs. Those yellow eyes held the sharpness of the look of a predator on a hunt...and they never ceased that look. Cats that looked into them, most of the time get a shiver down their spine as they wonder what...or who he wants to hunt and that one little thought, always gets to Raptorstar's heart when he remembers the past. As the leader padded over to the stream that cut through his Clan's territory and gazed within its depths, he noticed that in his eyes held the one look he always hated to see in himself; guilt. When he was alone or with someone he trusted, that one little emotion was filled the sharpness, almost taking some of the chill away. It was uncalled for and unneeded for a ShadowClan leader to feel, but he always felt it.

To the untrained eye, this leader was a hard rock of steel that wanted nothing to do with kindness and love and resented anything that had anything to do with it. But those who knew him for what he was, realized that there was a deeper meaning to those bits of time when he was a harsh leader only thinking of the game of survival. They knew that at a time in his past, he had been in love. They knew this long lost love was the reason he resented these things. They knew this love was the reason he became who he was today. That one little love made him the leader that he might never have gotten a chance to be. The leader before him had many enemies and the love he had felt was towards the leader's only daughter. Raptorstar's own mentor had killed the daughter, using him to drive her out of the safety of the camp. It was only thanks to the old deputy that his mentor had not gotten away without being killed, but Raptorstar's love was long gone by that time.

To the untrained eye, Raptorstar lived his life with no regrets. He never hesitated to throw elders out of the Clan when their time came. He never hesitated to punish a cat harshly for breaking a rule that might cause the Clan its survival. However, to those who were close enough to know him, they knew that he had more regrets than he might let show. He regrets not being able to save Rosepaw, his love. He regrets having to drive out his parents from the clan not even a day after becoming leader. It was after all these regrets that he realized that he had to become stronger mentally. It was because of all this regret and hatred that caused him to become cold as stone and not allowing any cat to get off the hook too easily. Anyone who broke a rule in his Clan, would pay the consequences because he did not want to feel anymore regret about taking it lighter on some cats then others. He did have a heart, even under all that black, thick and long furred pelt...it was just hard to get at.

To the untrained eye, Raptorstar had come out here to hunt. And you know what, that was where the untrained eyes was correct. Raptorstar had come out here to hunt, but now that he was at the stream, he started to remember how his Clan should not know how to fish. That was a RiverClan trait, but after the foxes drove the Clans here and the Clan of the fishing trait joined with ShadowClan, they offered a new way to get prey and this source had helped his Clan survive time and time again through the last two generations. The leader himself had some RiverClan blood in him, but only one fourth, he was mostly ShadowClan. He sat beside the stream and waited to see his chance, the fish swimming in the soft and gentle flow. Finally, he noticed that a fish was trying to swim upriver and when it got close enough, the tom reached forward and popped it out of the river. With a smirk, he bit the fish to end its life. Prey...aren't we all prey for some larger animal? At that moment, he thought he had heard a rustle nearby and turned his head towards the sound.

Credits
Count: 947 Words; 5 paragraphs.
Character(s): Raptorstar of ShadowClan
Created by: Jeopardy
Repliers: Open
Comments: It was okay I thought.

[××sσυι]

[ S T O N E P A W ]
bring more color into your life

There wasn't much to do when it came to being a young cat. You hunted for the clan, you waited on the queens - for they held the future of the clans, and perhaps you wandered after your clan leader when you are really really bored and have become much to excited for your apprenticeship. Soon, perhaps in the next few days, Stonekit would become part of the Clan’s future, a warrior’s apprentice. But for now, at six moons the young kit didn’t have much of sense of belonging…her mother, Minnowfur – a descendent of the former RiverClan Cats, was desperately ill with Greencough…and the medicine cat, Raveneye, could do nothing for her. So here she was, a kit in the middle of the marsh, and not for the first time, by her own lonesome self.

The sky was clear, at least from what she could see of it. A perfect day for hunting! (If at least for an actual warrior). The she-cat loved to pretend, something that often would get her started boasting to her brother Reedkit about her wicked hunting and fishing skills - which were imaginary, but to her they were as real as any other cats. Now fighting, that was a different story. Playing with Reedkit had left her with the very basics, when you can't win - run. But her mother had forbid even the play fights with her siblings since the death of her father... well, that particular story was something she didn't want to think about.

The gray she-cat appeared surprisingly calm for how terrified she was at the moment. Her body, the type all of the cats her age held – bulky and clumsy while they were growing into their paws and ears – was held with such a way that it showed hints of a fluid grace the she would hold with time. Her head was held fairly high, ears flicked as she caught unsuspecting sounds of the world outside of the camp for the first time…her sky-blue eyes watched wearily for some sort of disturbance in the world around her while she remained on high alert for predators and more importantly – prey.

She pawed at the ground with a cautious step, but slowly moved forward following the faint scent of a cat she knew she could recognize – for he carried ShadowClan’s scent – but she just couldn’t place it. Placing her nose close to the ground she sniffed at the scent, it seemed to head off in the general direction…well, she didn’t know…but it was definitely away from camp.

Daring to break even more rules, she followed. Soon the scent of fish and cat filled the air…more specifically it would seem that she would at least recognize the scent because it filled her head with a buzzing warning that she was about to find herself in an awkward situation. Now approaching the stream where this mysterious cat was hiding away for a chance to enjoy his catch she picked up the pace. A caw of some crow or other bird called overhead and startled the young cat, with a squeal she headed straight into a small marsh bush and crashed through to the other side.

What she found there only added to the adrenaline in her system, RaptorStar.

Uh-oh., the thought screamed loudly inside her head. ”H-Hello R-R-RaptorS-s-s-t-t-tar.” She managed with a squeak as she picked herself up to face the clan leader.

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Ooc;
count; 568(?)
notes; It's been a while since I've roleplayed. ; excuse the ugly post.

[jeopardy]

The tom's ears flicked and his tail wrapped around his paws as he saw the small cat pop out of the bushes. Normal cats who had even the slightest bit of humor might find it amusing that the little kit was afraid of the sound of a flying predator on a hunt. After all, wasn't it a natural thing? But this tom, it was not a funny thing. Raptorstar could not help but stare at the kit for a minute, his eyes as emotionless as every, and yet so sharp as well. There was a voice in his head telling him to lighten up a bit, it was after all, just Stonekit, but then he reminded himself, that this she-cat was pretty close, if not, apprentice age already. She should have had her ceremony already. I'll have to keep that on a "need to do" list of mine. Among that list were...not many other things that needed to be done. Though, before he could do the ceremony, he needed to find a warrior. After all, it was only the most unlucky apprentices that got him as a mentor for he did not go too light on them, just like his mentor never went too light on him from even the beginning. A small, unnoticeable shudder went through his body at the thought of the warrior he had known as Stonetorm...Stonepaw...he shook his head. There is a major difference here, one in personality and two, in gender. He had no right to be doing any comparison, just because of the similarity in beginning of names. Stone was, after all, pretty commonly used these days.

”H-Hello R-R-RaptorS-s-s-t-t-tar.”

A small chuckle disguised as a chill went up through Raptorstar's body. It seemed kind of funny to him, that she almost seemed to stammer his name like she was looking up at a fox. His tail flicked flicked away from his paw and rested straight out behind him now. When he looked at the cat again, he remembered that if the Clans were still going by the code that they had in the old territory, then the kit would be in trouble for leaving camp, but not now. These days kits were just as important as apprentice and warriors when it came to hunting...even though they had to learn the techniques more on their own unless a warrior was free to help them out a bit. Besides, even if they were on the old code-which he had learned a bit from his parents as a kit and they had learned of it from their parents-he would not be strict on that and saying that was saying a lot. After all, Raptorstar did not go easily on those who showed any type of disloyal...not after he knew what could happen if the leader was not given the loyalty he needed. Loyalty and strength are two of the only things that the tom required of his warriors and loyalty to him...not necessarily to the Clan itself though he would never admit that bit out loud.

Flicking his tail again, the leader stood up and faced the she-cat more, his back to the river now. After a moment's pause he mewed, "So, what are you doing out here?" He had tried to make the question sound a but more gentle than usual, just to make the cat calm down a bit about being around him, but after hearing it himself, he doubted it would seem like he made much effort...which in truth her really didn't. Instead, the question seemed to be as emotionless as the rest of him, just smooth without much thought put in behind it. Being around kits made him a bit uncomfortable, seeing as he thought of them as apprentices even though they were not always fit to do the things he would require of an apprentice. For any cat that would look at him now, they could probably see that; after all a leader with a black and white pelt and a muscular frame, who in fact, was also a bit taller than the average warrior standing next to a kit that was just the youngest, reasonable age for an apprentice. Small and large, it even seemed to represent the two biggest things in life, the start of a journey and a cat who has seen a lot of stuff, some of which others might not even wish to know about. It bothered him a bit that he had to look down to see cats like Stonekit, but not enough that he would voice those complaints. His ears flicked as he waited the kit's response.

Credits
Count: 780 words; 3 paragraphs
Character(s) Raptorstar of ShadowClan
Created by: Jeopardy
Comments: Eh, it was okay.[/blockquote][/sup]

[××sσυι]

[ S T O N E P A W ]
bring more color into your life

Of course there was nothing about RaptorStar that would frighten a kit who was just reaching the time of her apprenticeship…his stern, and mostly unforgiving expression, that muscular frame that rippled with both power and one-hundred percent complete control of everything that was going on around the clan leader…the way he could silence one cat with just a single look, it was madness – complete and total madness – but it wasn’t something that bothered the senior warriors of the clan. The members of the clan often took pride to have such a strong leader, a leader who laughed (well, who would laugh if he could show any ounce of emotion) in the face of danger. The kit/to be apprentice stood there, half sprawled on the ground, more startled than scared, but regardless it was no way that a ShadowClan cat should act!

Her back was arched slightly; the hair along her spine raised in a cautious manner, with her tail puffed and ears back. Her sky-blue eyes wide with mild surprise as she recovered and the light tan fur settled back down with the softest falling motion she could manage as she inched her way back to her “normal” state. She let out a huff and then a small sigh as she turned in a circle to collect her thoughts and though up some …civilized…way to reply to her leader…a cat she respected very much.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Awkwardly she looked back toward the way she came, eyes flickered with a thoughtful expression before she turned back to face the black and white tom, who clearly showed some form of disapproval of her being out of camp. Once she supposed it would have been against the code to let a kit out of camp, but things had changed since the fox attack – and the great migration of cats for the second time in only a few years. This was the survivor code they followed now. ”Hunting.” she purred with some satisfaction in the act. She had actually caught a small finch with a broken wing when she had first started just before sunhigh. ”I caught a finch too!” her face displayed the pride of an apprentice on their warrior naming ceremony in that moment as she spoke. Guiltily she thought about the birds poor wing and her head bobbed as she sulked, ”…well its wing was broken when I caught it….” she mumbled with her eyes still downcast, ”But it’s a very fat finch! It would feed a couple of mouths!” she exclaimed looking back up at RaptorStar, defending her prey with whatever dignity she had left.

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Ooc;
count; ...440
notes; Sheesh. I'm having trouble with length. D: Sorry for the shortness!

[jeopardy]

Most cats would be proud of a kit's accomplishment like this. Most cats might even congratulate the kit on a job well done. Most cats would make any sign of pride that a cat of the next generation of the Clan could be doing so well already and that there might be hope for a stronger and more powerful wave of warriors yet to come to battle anything that might try to drive them out again, like the foxes. Well, as most cats know, Raptorstar is not most cats, and he never has and most likely never will ever pretend to be such. The kit seemed to be proud of her accomplishment, and of course she could never hide it. After all, wasn't that one of the things about being a kit? Growing up and never letting anything bug you that might bug a warrior or even an older apprentice? Not having to deal with the pain of losing those close to you before you were swept away into the tide of responsibility that came with age, and for some such as himself, power? Raptorstar was not one of the types to hide in the past, thinking about what life might be like if something never happened. No, he believed things happened and that is they way it was suppose to be. Was he happy Rosepaw died in front of him? Of course not, but he didn't dwindle on it either wondering what-could-have-been...there was just no time, no need, and no place for any of those weakened thoughts.

He decided he should show some sort of pride in the she-cat's catch-which she made sound really good for any type of ShadowClan territory at any give time-though that was hard for him to do. All he could manage was a dip of his head, acknowledging the fact that he had heard her and mewed, "Good job," though as it was before, his voice was hard and without any soft emotion, which might make it hard for any cat outside of the boundaries and awareness of ShadowClan's members that he had meant them at all. Raptorstar might be a hard punishing leader, but he knew the only way to hold loyalty was to keep his word in little times and make it a habit to lie only in the times of great needs. After all, all those legends about the evil cats of either of the old forests, they all had one thing in common; they all lied far more times then here were stars in the sky, some lies were not even needed to make their goals come about. It seemed to be a trend though, the more evil a cat was, the more he seemed to have lied in his life and the more secrets he had held within his mind and claws-of course there was also a correspondence between the number of lives he took, the number of lives he threatened, and the deeds that he did that would have been considered "evil."

With a flick of his tail, the black and white leader stood up again, his muscles rippling underneath his thick pelt; something he enjoyed about his pelt, seeing as not many cats could see the small movements of his pelt as it tried to hide such movements. His ears pricked as he heard a small sound, but lightened up again and shook his pelt as he realized it was only a mouse looking for food on such a nice, shadowy day in the territory. Looking up at the sky, you could see bits of blue here and there, telling you it was a cloudless day...or at least mostly cloudless. Looking down on Stonekit again, his pale eyes looking her over, he felt like there was a question in the back of his mind he could not get over. As he thought about it, there were not many things he knew about this she-cat...but he could not quite think of what it was...he just knew it was there someplace. Finally, just to brake the silence that seemed to drag on forever, he flicked his tail and mewed, "Are you looking forward to being an apprentice?" He remembered Rosepaw and he had looked forward to their apprentice ceremonies together, only to split apart a tad and did not gain that close bond again until the day she died, when he had tried to save her...and he wondered if he really was trying to save her for her, or if it was because she was the leader's daughter, or because he felt guilty about leading her into a trap he didn't know was existing at the time...it was a combination of the three for sure, but which one over-ruled the others? He shook his head, not wanting to think about it at all.

Creadits
Count: 802 word: three pragraphs
Character(s): Raptorstar of ShadowClan
Created by: Jeopardy
Comments: Begging was pretty good, middle sucked, and the ending was okay I thought. xD

[××sσυι]

She was quite proud of herself in that moment, the one that had her clan leader saying something as kind worded as "Good Job.". A silly grin washed over her face with delight as she stood proudly admiring this great cat with a jealous sigh. He wasn't afraid of anything, at least he didn't show it. There was something about Raptorstar that thrilled her, not in the way that would lead to anything but a loyal to the bone clan cat and her clan leader, but still there was something there. Her innocent gaze held a hint of hope, perhaps one day she could make her leader see something more of himself, but these thoughts were much older than her own knowledge. Her daintily little over-sized paws pranced at the idea of becoming an apprentice, one that would surely set her in the right direction of her path. Are you looking forward to being an apprentice?" Her face lit up with his comment, and slowly, biting back the urge to scream and dance and cry aloud, she replied with a small, smoothly spoken - "Yes, sir."

For a moment, she just stood there, waiting silently with a thousand questions running through her head, Who would be her mentor? When was she going to become an apprentice? What was she going to do when she did become one? What about her siblings...well, whatever happened to them. She wondered many of these things, all while watching her leader with a bright, intelligent blue-eyed stare.She gnawed at her tongue, trying to keep still was fairly difficult when the young kit of six moons had yet had any of her questions answered. "Raptorstar...." she began with a pause, "Does that mean I get to be an apprentice soon?" There, she said it. With a slight jump forward in excitement and the need for knowledge, she eyes still trained on the elder male, the one who held her future in his paws. "If its not to much to ask sir, do you have any idea on who is going to mentor me?" The young she-cat twitched with regret as she spoke those words, of course he would, but he couldn't tell her...it was in the code -wasn't it? Or was it just one of those unspoken rules? Either way she suddenly froze, keeping very still were she now found herself sitting. Maybe that wasn't the smartest idea.

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