Post by ♏aple♢ on Sept 16, 2015 10:47:36 GMT
 Dots general info
APPEARANCE
Young, strong, and handsome are a few words that one might use to describe Dots at first glance. He has good bone structure, well-built muscles, and strong legs. Exactly what you would expect out of a mountain cat. Well... minus the massive, overpowering size. Nope, he's just average there. But he doesn't really notice or mind. Honestly, Dots could care less about his appearance. He doesn't see what the whole big fuss that cats put over how a cat looks is about. But that's neither here nor there! His coat is a unique one. Well, not unique per se. But certainly rare. A snow charcoal bengal, his body is an off-white almost tannish creamish color, with deeper chocolate spots and swirls throughout. His face is masked darkly, and his muzzle is spotted with almost freckle-like dots at the base of his whiskers. Regrettably, its on the shorter side. Not a good thing for a mountain cat, but what can you do? The eyes are an interesting feature of his. Weeeell, they don't really stand out, but the fact that they're so pale they almost blend with his fur is notable. An incredibly light and pale green, rimmed with yellow and usually found with a bit of a dazed expression. His nose is dark brown, and his pawpads are a slightly lighter shade.  personality
Dots isn't a difficult cat to wrap one's head around. No dark backstory, no hidden motives, no secret weapons. As soon as you meet the tom he lays all the cards on the table, despite the fact that he may be a few aces short of a deck. But with such a charming smile and warm eyes, its hard to fault him for that. A product of his raising, Dots is a friendly tom but not the most intelligent. His vocabulary isn't anything fancy, and he doesn't know much other than basic fighting and hunting. He loves to learn- relishes in it even! But he can never seem to retain the non-instinct things. They all turn to mess once inside his head, getting all muddled together and mixed up or forgotten. But that doesn't stop him from trying. Determined in everything he does, Dots isn't a cat to give up easily. At anything! What does he want in life? To find a purpose. The life of a loner isn't for him. He doesn't like the violence, the war, the hurting and killing and trickery and mindless pain. Its terrifying and sickening, and he knows that there has to be something out there better than... this. He wants to find something greater than himself to live for. He wants to learn, and to be able to make himself proud. He wants to prove Embry and everyone else who ever doubted him wrong.
HISTORY If you asked Dots, he'd say he had a good upbringing. Family of four, two loving parents and a fun sibling. His youth was spent tumbling through spring hills, splashing through creekbeds, and chasing crickets. Just like any other young kit. His parents loved both one another and their kits. For a time. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. During Dots youth, things were carefree and joyous, and Dots wouldn't have had it any other way. Things were good and dandy- until Dots started to fall behind Spots in learning things. Hunting, Fighting, and basic education weren't things that Dots took easy to. The words would get all mixed up in his head, not making a lick of sense. He tried, honest! But with such a short attention span and how... messy everything got... it was just... Hard. He didn't know why Spots learned so much more quickly than him, or why his father began to prefer spending time training his sibling than Dots. Even though the training games were just so fun, he still tripped over his own paws and couldn't remember which crouch was for a bird and which one was for a rabbit. But he just needed to work harder, his father said! And so he did! Now, Frosty hadn't been the brightest star in the sky either. So she didn't notice too much. She loved her son just as much as his sibling. It was Dusty who really found himself frustrated. He'd been able to handle his mate's ditzy behavior, and it was even cute on her. But his strong little boy? He'd wanted him to be smart, powerful, and brave! But instead of that, he'd gotten a son who couldn't do a simple hunting crouch and seemed to barely understand half of what he'd said. He was a young parent. Rash and inexperienced. What was he supposed to do about it? Throw him in the river like his parents had done his sister? Dusty wasn't that harsh, and Frosty would never allow it. They loved both their kits- even if the spectrum was beginning to tip in Spots' favor. Little Dots trained day in and day out. Half the time it turned into play, but he really did want to learn just as well as his sibling. He wanted to hunt and climb and fight too! But with his father spending more and more time teaching his sibling, as time went by a lot of Dots' training was left to himself. He asked Frost to teach him, once. But his mama said that she 'couldn't even teach a crow'. Dots was dejected, but would not give up! What this divulged into was imitating his parents, watching his siblings' training sessions, and making it up as he went along. Not the most... effective, but he tried! It was around his sixth moon that Dots met Embry. He'd wandered a ways out of their family nest one Autumn morning, trying to learn how to stalk. And that was when he found her. Now, he hadn't met many cats outside his family up until that point. Just the passing loner or old family friend. He'd learned to be friendly and trusting and warm as the sun- after all, all the cats he'd met in his short life had been good! Surely all of the other ones had to be too. So when he met this she-cat for the first time he was all smiles and excitement. Another cat his age! It was wonderful! He'd only ever had Spots to play with, but now maybe he could make a new friend! And she was excited to meet him too, he liked to think. She smiled a lot, and had the brightest orange fur and eyes that he'd ever seen. They reminded him of the fallen leaves. They jumped in puddles and raced under roots all day long. When the sun began to fall, Dots told her where he lived. So she could come visit! They said their goodbyes, and Dots found his way back home. His family, of course, questioned the scent of a new cat on him. Dots had excitedly told them that he'd made a new friend. Dusty had given Frosty a wary look that Dots hadn't quite understood, but they didn't say much else. Other than that he shouldn't let a she-cat get in the way of his training. He didn't get what her being a she-cat had to do with it, but Dots promised that it wouldn't! Hey- did that mean that his father was going to start training him more?! As it turned out... not really. Things stayed about the same in fact. Sometimes he would get to train with Spots and Dusty, sometimes he wouldn't. And on the times where he wasn't allowed, he would go play with Embry. She taught him a whole lot of things. Things that he'd never been able to understand from his father now made a little more sense when explained by a cat his own age! He loved hearing all the things she had to say, and slowly.. he began to feel more comfortable around her than his own family. He wasn't sure why, and wouldn't truly understand it for moons to come. But for now, he was happy. It was around his tenth moon that things began to fall apart. The switch wasn't a night to day one. His father had been growing more agitated, and his mother more nervous over the past moon. Never having been good at picking up on emotions, Dots hadn't noticed at first. It was only when the war broke out that he finally saw. Up until his tenth moon, Dots hadn't experienced much hurt or pain. Fear was still just about a foreign thing to the tom. But he would learn all about it in the seasons to come. Cats in the south- those big groups that had settled seasons ago- they'd begun fighting, Dusty said. Why, Dots had asked? Because that was what cats did, Dusty had said. He'd never met a cat who enjoyed fighting or had any reason to do it other than for training before. It didn't make sense. Why would someone like hurting others? And why had his father told them so little about these groups before now? He tried not to think about it too much- it made his head hurt. It made him question things. But what hurt worse was when the first attack came. Late at night, when he and his family were sound asleep, cats had invaded their home. It had been impossible to tell, through misty memories and old wounds, how many there had been. But they had ambushed them. His first real fight, and it wasn't a fair one in the slightest. Dusty and Spots had flown into action. But Dots? He was dumbstruck with fear. He didn't have any advanced battle training. He barely had any battle training at all! He fought where he could, but in the end it was Dusty and Spots who had saved them. And in his wounded, bitter, angry state, Dusty had been sure to remind him. They weren't even involved, and yet time and time again over the course of the next moon they were dragged in and out of fights. Time and time again Dots found himself unable to fight. Time and time again Dusty blamed Dots for their wounds. Frost tried to soothe her mate, but Dusty was paranoid, running on fumes, and looking for someone to blame for this mess. So why not the kit who had 'done nothing for this family. nothing but eat our food and make us a bigger target'. Dots didn't understand what he'd done to earn his father's wrath. He even said that Dots was probably the one telling all the beasts where he lived, just like he'd done with that stupid she-cat. No common sense, he said. Dots didn't know whether he meant the words or not. But they hurt. He kept meeting with Embry. She still understood him, and she had to be just as scared of all of this mess as he was, right? Their meetings grew more often. Every few days turned to every other day. And then every night. Dots wanted to be away from home, and there Embry was when he needed someone to talk to. As long as she was there, everything would be alright. Until it wasn't. One night, he went out to meet her as per usual. They'd talked, played, and worried about the war. And then- well and then, it had started to rain. It rained heavy and hard, and they found themselves trapped in the storm before they knew it. It was too dangerous for either of them to go anywhere, and so they stayed together. Spending the night in a hollowed out log. And when he'd gone home the morning after, plodding through the rain and drizzle back to the family nest, he found it empty. No trace of where his family had gone, each and every scent washed away by the rain. And Dots was dumbfounded. Had they been attacked? Had they just moved again? Had they forgotten him? Dots had no idea. He searched, but to no avail. And days later when he returned to Embry with dropping ears and dull eyes, she'd comforted him. She said that it wasn't his fault. That maybe they'd been chased off! Or maybe they would come back. But they never did. And Dots was left alone. Well, except for Embry. She was still there. And after a few days of Dots' looking, she made a suggestion to him. "Why don't we just live together?" That wasn't something that Dots had even considered. But... It sounded nice. Great, even! Wonderful! It would be like their nighttime visits, except all the time! Immediately he'd accepted the idea, and so their life had begun. And it was wonderful, at first. Dots loved spending time with her. He loved her smile, and her autumn eyes, and how she always seemed to know just what to say. Soon, he realized that he loved her. Embry had always been there for him. Embry had always believed in Dots, no matter how his father didn't. And she was kind, and seemed to know just about everything. One morning, just a few short weeks after they'd begun living together, he'd told her as much. And Embry, well Embry didn't use the same words as him, but she told Dots that she cared about him too. And thus began their relationship. Things were not easy for them. Two cats, just barely a year old each and one with very little skills of any sort. With the war going on and uninvolved cats always being caught in the crossfire, they had to be careful. Something that Dots wasn't exactly good at, but they made it work. Both of them ended up with more than a few scars though over the moons. Physical and emotional. But they pushed through. Dots was convinced that, despite the war, everything was going great. He had a partner. He was young. He was alive. But he didn't see the stress that had begun to weigh on Embry's shoulders. The wounds were clear enough, but not the ones on her mind. He didn't notice the double edged words that began to bleed in with the regular. For him, spending more time with her was lovely. But for Embry, she began to understand Dots' father's frustrations. Spending a few hours with the tom every other day was different from spending every waking moment with him. His hunting skills were poor at best, despite all their training. And fighting? May as well have been nonexistant. In her eyes, he would smile and talk happily about what little he'd managed to do that day. If anything at all. She felt that she was left doing all the heavy lifting. And it began to wear on her. Dots himself was working as hard as he could. He wanted to be a provider. To build a life for he and Embry. To be able to give her a home and maybe someday, kits. But every leap forward for him was just an inch in the eyes of others. But when Dots had reached his 17th moon, he finally began to notice something odd. Embry began coming home later from hunting. Sometimes not at all. He would wait up all night, fretting and worried until she came home with tired eyes. Sometimes smelling like other cats. He would ask what had happened, where she had been, but it was something new each time. She'd gotten into a scrap while hunting. She'd met a kindly old loner who had shared his catch. She'd stumbled upon a group and had watched them from the shadows. Dots had no reason to disbelieve her. Why would he? She was his loving mate, and he adored her. Even if he did worry sometimes. When Embry left him a moon later, it came as a complete shock. He loved her! They had been friends since they were kits! They were going to have a family of their own! Why, why was this happening? He couldn't believe it at first when she finally slammed her cards on the table. She'd always been so sweet and kind.. But her orange eyes were irritated and hard, and her voice had an edge to it that he'd never heard before. And the words she said... She called him a lost cause. Said that she'd wanted to help him, but there was just no hope in it. Asked him if he even cared that she'd been seeing other toms. He hadn't even known! He'd trusted her! In a fit of rage, she told him that she could see why his family had left him all alone. She said that all of this had just been a waste of time- that he'd wasted her youth. And she left. Dots was stunned. He'd... never heard such things from her before. And each and every word hit home. They sunk into his mind, curling their thorny tendrils around his heart. Why hadn't she told him before? He... he was trying his hardest, but he could have tried harder! He just... Maybe she was right. Maybe he would never be good enough. He finally took a step back and looked long and hard at things. And what he found... wasn't pleasant. For another moon Dots reflected on his life. On his family. On Embry. He felt horrible about everything, and blamed himself for his family's struggle and his mate's disappearance. Why would they tell him these things if they weren't true, after all? But a lone attack in the middle of one night shook the spiderwebs from his head. He'd been out hunting. Trying his best to provide for himself as he could. The struggle to survive alone was sharpening his skills. Without the haze of others in his head, instinct was taking place. And a lone wanderer, attempting to strike him down for a mouse, proved that to him. Hungry and starved as the creature was, it attacked fiercely. But Dots- he fought them off. He fought with everything he had, and beat the beast back into the darkness. And then, he realized something. He could do this. Dots had fought that cat off all on his own. He... he wasn't worthless! Sure, it had been hungry and weak, but he could fight. And he had caught that mouse himself. He could hunt. He might not be the best or the strongest or the smartest cat in the world... But he had worth! He had potential! And he could do better! Determination flared anew in his chest and hope had glowed in those green eyes. He might not have learned much under the guidance of his father, and Embry's teachings had only gone so far. But he'd gone into instinct during that fight. It was like, without others around, his body knew what to do on its own. He... he could do this. Dots could learn on his own, and he could become something. Someone. A cat who was brave and strong, and a good hunter and fighter. Maybe he could even become smarter, if he tried hard enough. Oh, it was worth a shot. They'd said that he was nothing but a burden. But Dots would prove them wrong. But... was this how he wanted to do this? Seeing and fighting the half-starved cat had awoken something else in him. He'd hated the war from the first day he knew of it. But now... every cat was suffering. Struggling for prey, struggling for land, struggling for survival. Why were they fighting eachother? Why did this battle never end? Why did cats strive to hurt one another so badly- why did they break eachother? Nobody cared about... anything. What was the point? What was the purpose? Why were they alive, if it was just to die like this? It was horrible. It was disgusting. It was... something that Dots didn't want any part in. There had to be something better than this. Better than this... war and betrayal and hurt. There had to be a better life out there. And he would find it. Dots began to look for ways to better himself. He began training day and night once more. Climbing the tallest cedars and hunting the most ambitious prey. He stayed away from fights unless he had to, but even there he began to try to figure out better ways of doing things. He listened. To the world around him, and to the whispers of loners. He searched for some kind of awakening. Some kind of new life. And eventually, he began to improve. It was slow at first. No cat can become perfect over night. First his pawsteps began to get less clumsy. Then his hunting crouch improved. Soon, he could jump from one low treebranch to another. And before long, he could snatch birds out of the sky mid-flight. Dots became a hunter. Dots became a climber. Dots became someone. Dots was not a cocky cat, but he felt pride at his accomplishments whenever he did something new. Nobody was there to judge him. Nobody was there to call him stupid. He could do things at his own pace, and he would become better. If for nobody else, then for himself. Still, there was a... hollow, in his heart. He reached his 23rd moon feeling empty victory. Even if he enjoyed training alone... He was lonely. He'd been raised a friendly, open cat. He would die a friendly, open cat. Friendly, open cats did not fare well on their own, he'd realized. And this war, it still raged on. He came across new bodies every day, and it hurt his heart. Where was the better life? He knew there had to be something greater than... all of this. There had to be. So when he heard rumor of two groups of cats forming in the basin- living peaceable lives and trying to end the war... Well, Dots didn't waste a moment in making his way South. THREAD TRACKER This section is not necessary, but is provided if a member wishes to keep track of the threads that this character participates in. | ooc info  ☆ NAME☆ Maple ☆ OTHER CHARACTERS☆ STARLINGFUR Stone TURTLEFROST TORNPELT MISTLEKIT ROSEKIT CHERRYKIT hawkkit WOLFKIT SNIPEKIT |