Post by Shad on Aug 27, 2015 0:41:50 GMT
 general info
APPEARANCE
Kei is a cat that you do not soon forget. He is not particularly large, in fact he is rather small. Nor is he exactly impressive with large muscles, instead being slim and strung with the impression of a tightly wound bow. No, it is his air that makes him memorable. He holds his head high, not in arrogance, but in confidence. Confidence that he is doing what is right. What the stars will him to do. Kits are drawn to protective aura that surrounds him, feeling safe and sound immediately when they curl up next to that soft orange pelt, marveling at the faint scars that mar his skin underneath. Females are attracted to his silent strength and resolve, the strong set of his jaw and the dark shadows that flit across those crystalline green eyes pull them in and make them want to soothe, to tame. In Kei's own opinion, he's a short, thin orange tabby with green eyes and a short tail. Not much more to tell, really.  personality
Kei is not a difficult cat to understand, and yet, in some ways, he is. He grew up in a strict, righteous household with strong morals as to what was right and what was wrong. He was brought up to be Knight, a soldier against the forces of evil and wickedness in the world, to be a Light for the people. Due to this, he has a calm, patient, and unwavering belief in doing what is right and protecting 'the innocent' while 'sending evil back to the night'. He would protect a kit with his life and slay an evildoer without a moment's thought or the slightest remorse. He is skilled in the honorable way of fighting, capable of taking down an opponent twice his size with quick, easy swipes. And yet, he is also skilled in rogue fighting. In dirty bites or kicks he is without peer. He is near fanatical when faced with 'an evildoer', whereas the Kinfolk has always pushed tolerance as far as they dare. The two sides of his personality have such a disconnect, many cats wonder what in the world could have happened to make him this way.
HISTORY Kei's blood thumped almost painfully in his veins. His whole body throbbed, like a bomb just ticking down the seconds until it exploded. He slapped his feet against the soaking pavement, intentionally scraping the pads to make the pain clear his head. "Son... you must not see that ruffian any more." A trashcan clanged jarringly as it fell to the ground behind Kei. His shoulder pulsed from where he had hit it. The young tomcat hardly noticed. "What are you talking about? He's my friend!" George Kinghand's face was heavy, a worn sigh escaping him. "Son, we have long known of the sins that viper commits, poisoning your young heart." "Father!" the tom had protested, but his father cut him off with a sharp flick of his tail, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously. "You are a child no longer! This can go on no longer! You are a protector of the people. You have taken your True Name and yet you still go by a peasant moniker and sully our family name. That brat has been caught in the gutters and beds while you defend him for the last time. He will get your vouchers no longer. He is sin, James. He is evil! Nothing more than a mewling whore!" Kei saw red at the last accusation. He had known his family did not approve of his best friend, but that last accusation...He dug his claws into the dirt beneath his paws to keep from pouncing at the tom before him, the tom that had raised him and taught him the path of the Light. He trusted his father. He had sworn to servie his father in the fight for Justice. And yet... And yet... "I- I don't believe you! You lie!" the tabby yowled in fury, turning to run from the den. It was that, or quench his anger in blood. A monster yowled at him as it fled down its path, missing his tail by inches. Kei did not slow. He could not. He had to go to Ika. They... they were liars. Why would they say such things? Ika would never do such. His friend was impoverished and received many gifts from apparent strangers, true, but he would never sully himself in such a way. Ika with the bright smile. With the full laugh and endless jokes. The tom that Kei had asked to rename him so they could share a heritage and who had given him the title of 'Kei'. The one James of the Kinfolk of the Holy Light had found in the gutter one day and shared a fish with. The one that had taught him what it was to have fun in a world of rules and expectations. The one that had showed him laughter and made his heart light when he came near. Kei darted on top of a fence, ignoring the steep drop into what he knew was a yard with a vicious dog. It was not far now. The sun had set, but he paid it no mind. Ika had told him never to come after dark. He said it was dangerous. Kei's family said it was because he had 'visitors' at night he didn't want Kei to know about. With a growl the tom dropped from the fence and picked up speed. Faster. Faster. He had to- "ARGH!" Fire blazed up the orange tom's body as something caught his tail and he slammed face-first into the ground. He clenched his teeth and spun awkwardly, his back legs barely stretching to reach the ground. Mud splattered onto his face and into his left eye. He closed it as he tried to regain his footing. He had caught his tail in the wooden boards of some human's planter. A rookie mistake. He had been to hotheaded and careless. He flailed awkwardly, each movement sending a new wave of pain through him as he cursed his stupidity. A paw splashed water as it stepped into a puddle. Kei froze. He looked up to see three males advancing on him. Their faces filled with sickening leers. Kei curled his lip. He knew these types. Bullies. They were exactly the kind of cats the Kinfolk policed. "Well, welll, well, Ika, quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into. I wonder, exactly what payment would you like for your services tonight?" one male purred. The other two seemed to think this immensely funny but Kei, painwracked and half-blind, was in no mood for jokes. These three seemed to know Ika, enough to mistake the two of them, but he still didn't trust them as far as he could toss them (although, that was still pretty far). "I don't want to serve you. Now help me or be on your way. I have things to do," Kei snapped, still trying to get himself free. His back legs started to quiver from the effort of holding himself up by the tips of his toes. One of the tom's swiped his face, drawing blood. Kei hissed and snarled. Some 'friends' these were. If he wasn't stuck he would- "Respect your betters, whore." Again with that word. The fire in Kei raged anew. "I'll be sure to do that when I see them, now get out of here, trash." This time one of them jumped up on their back paws and slammed the orange tabby against the wall, knocking his back feet out from under him and leaving his back end suspended by his tail straining. Agony tore down his spine and sweat broke out over his body to keep from crying out through the sheer pain of it. Damn tail! While he tried to bite the one shoving him another tom went behind him. He felt... Kei's throat went dry and his heart thudded for the first time in fear. He felt... "I'm not a shecat, you demonspawn!" he yowled in fury. They all had a good laugh at that. Kei cursed them with all he had in him. He cursed and writhed and never once cried out for mercy. But as the minutes dragged on, and his body was abused with bites and kicks and... worse things, as his coat and tail were blooded, he slowly stopped cursing. Stopped writhing. In fact, he stopped moving altogether. "Oi! What are you lot doing?" Kei swam at the edge of consciousness. Everything was black. Had they blinded him as well as kicked his ribs in? No, his eyes were just closed. Funny. He didn't remember doing that. "Let him down. C'mon boys, wouldn't you rather hang out with me anyway?" A chuckle by his ear. He hated that noise. He hated that voice. He wanted the other one. Ika. He had come to see Ika, but not like this. God, what must he think of him now? A disgrace. Broken. Filthy. "Oh come now. Leave that poor creature be. Come play with me instead. Just let him down and we'll go." A blurry Ika came into view. He looked scared, nervous. Kei tried to tell him to run, but one of the demons had broken his jaw, a mangled noise came out, but Ika ignored him. The orange tabby turned around, showing the four cats his hindquarters, he swayed his tail in a way that made Kei's cheeks heat embarrassingly. He had never seen his friend act this way. Especially when he should be heading for the hills. The three males clearly were not embarrassed. "Alright. We'll let the twin go. He wasn't any fun anyway" Kei screamed in agony as a sharp white fire tore through the hazy cloud of pain and he dropped jarringly tot he ground, his blood mixing in the mud. Ika swallowed, but his face never changed from its playful indifference as he clucked disapprovingly, like a mother hen lecturing a child. "Really. Did you have to bite off his half tail? So crude. Now lets just go some place." "You know, I think here is fine," one male purred, eyeing Kei with a grin. If the orange taabby had been conscious enough to curl his lips into a growl he would have. As it was, he only gave a long, slow blink, trying to process what his pain-addled brain was showing him. It didn't make sense. And yet, at the same time it made too much sense. And things were only made clearer in the next minutes. Kei saw exactly what it was. What Ika -sweet Ika, his best friend- truly was. He tried to move, to at the very least turn his head away, but his strength had abandoned him. He could do nothing except watch the truth be made clear to him in perfect detail. Eventually, Kei could take no more and he closed his eyes, giving himself up to the Blackness. At least he wouldn't have to see Ika there. Ika the whore. Kei woke in his family's infirmary days later. He had a fuzzy recollection of speaking to Ika after the incident, but nothing more after blacking out. Honestly,the things before blacking out had been quite enough. He was fed and promptly evicted from the only home he had ever known. Such sin as what he had clearly partaken in did not belong in the Holy Lights. He left the town. He left everything. He had lost everything - because of damned men. Men who sought unholy pleasures. Men who soiled others and left them to rot. Without his birth name any longer, the orange tom kept the name Kei, he kept it as close and strong as his hatred, so that he would never forget a demon's power to deceive and destroy the unvigilant. And he would never forget the one that had fooled him all along and forced him down this path. Or the debt he had yet to pay back. It was one Kei intended to pay in full... References Hellfire from The Hunchback of Notre Dome Dulce Et Decorum Est - Poem by Wilfred Owen Charge Of The Light Brigade - Poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson THREAD TRACKER ---- | ooc info  ☆ Shad☆ "Bite Me" ☆ OTHER CHARACTERS☆ n/a if none |