Post by IRONCALL on Jun 9, 2013 12:48:05 GMT -5
IRONCALL
STONECLAN x MEDICINE CAT
[BLUNT] ● [LOYAL] ● [STUBBORN]
General Knowledge
AGE: 49 Moons
GENDER: Tom
BREED: Russian Blue/Unknown Mix
SEXUALITY: Homosexual
REASON FOR NAME:prefix Iron -- the deep, dark rich silver of his pelt. It is untainted by any white or distracting shade, unlike his littermates.
suffix Call -- named such for the rough bark of his voice, a rasping harsh timber. The kind of rich tone you wouldn't expect to croon, or to be capable of gentleness.
Appearance
Perhaps the first thing you notice about Ironcall would be the sharp, strong lines of his features -- as if he was forged with just a few strong strokes. His nose is strong and broad, ending in a black cap of nostrils -- while his cheekbones are well defined and rimmed with the small fringes of his fur. His age lends him a wiry body, with slim shoulders and something of a gaunt frame, but by no means is he weak. His ears stand tall and erect on his head, gently sloping, their insides a paler grey, but only just. His whiskers are short -- equal with the width of his shoulders, not much distance at all.
Ironcall was named aptly, for the deep silver shades of his pelt. They had been lighter when he was a young kit, but darkened over time to a solid silver. No other shade mars it's perfect surface, although his eyes could be lined on kohl for all anyone else would know. He is relatively slim for a cat -- mostly leg when it comes to push and shove. The width of his shoulders does not compare to most Stoneclan cats, and he lacks the true bulkiness that their best warriors possess. However, there is a wiriness to his body. His short fur is underlain by surprising strong muscle -- and it's not unusual to see him move warriors with ease, whether it be from his constant badgering or the extra strength he provides.
Slim shoulders lead to slim legs and small paws, with which he boasts surprising dexterity. His nose, pads and claws are all inky black -- matching the lining around his eyes and the shade of his lips. A long, rippling tail completes the mix -- a wild thing that always seems to broadcast his emotion. His eyes are perhaps his most striking feature. Large and almond shaped, they are a bright pale yellow. Once, they were ringed with a deep stripe of green, but as he aged it has lessened, ending at only a pale swath of light green around the pupil, then sliding slowly into yellow.
Personality
Earnest ● Ironcall is a cat who does not do things by half. He invests his entire self into each action. Though his is growing older in years he has not stopped viewing the world around them with wonder, and seeks to instill this behavior into the younger cats. Life should not be monotonous, it's an adventure!
Passionate ● There is nothing besides his duties that Ironcall loves. The way of the Medicine Cat effected his life at such a young age that he never really cared for anything else. The will and interpretation of their ancestors, and the act of saving those that need it are all that drives him. He can perhaps at times, find himself too invested, drawn into a situation he knows is futile. He put his whole self into the role and looses a little each time he has failed. He views his life, and his everyday jobs each like a battle, to be won or lost. He can only hope that when he finally joins the ranks of starry cats that he has more wins then losses beneath his belt.
Blunt ● There is honesty, and then there are the three steps beyond honesty where Ironcall sits. Lies and deciet are not the way of a cat who clings to the sacred life, in his opinion. There is no point in filling his patients or their families with false hope. If it is the will of Starclan and he cannot save them, so be it. In a way, over the years of his life he has resigned himself to such things. Marbleleaf was never a cat to pretend she knew what she didn't and her devoted apprentice took this in stride and held it close to his heart. He can at times, under the right balance of pressure and panic be snappish and rude, too forceful with others, but it is rare and hard to come by.
Stubborn ● His major downfall, perhaps -- is that he hates to ask for help, He hates the fact that he falls short on things, that he would have to resort to asking another. He does not, in many ways, like dependency. 'Depend on no one too heavily in life because even in darkness your shadow will leave you behind' He does not like to change the way of things, and could for all intents and purposes, find a very comfy home in the Pineclan Medicine Cats den, with his love of traditional methods. Marbleleaf was the risk taker, the one to come up with interesting and new effective treatments. Ironcall sticks to the things she taught him like glue, by the book. They are effective and so he will not change them. That is that. He will not change his mind easily, or often. Quick and strong in his decisions this could spell disaster at times, though he may be able to swallow his pride and do what is right if the situation is dire enough.
Loyal ● There have been moments where his knowledge and skill have failed him, and his body feels like breaking down -- all that drives him is his loyalty. His loyalty to Marbleleaf, the cat who had taught him everything he knew, the cat he had loved. His loyalty to Stoneclan and to his family, who he had studied for, who he had trained and cared for. His loyalty to Starclan and the duty he had undertaken. He does not but a limit on the scope of what he would do for his clan,for the life they have given him.
Expressive ● He is as easy to read as clear glass. There is little need for him to school his features and with his blunt honestly always raging -- he doesn't find the time to be manipulative. That being said, he is not one to soften the blow of his anger or frustration. He is a cat who feels completely in the moment. Too easily invested, to caring to trusting. Also too jaded and spurned at times. His bitter feud with Red Bite will not end with his lifetime, of that he is sure. He wears both his heart and his scars on he sleeve for all to see.
Tolerant ● Patience may not have been something he possessed as a young cat, but Marbleleaf was sure to drill it into him. Sometimes sitting him for hours in one place before he could sort through her stocks for the day, or waiting until sunhigh to leave camp, but not distract himself with other things. It is a virtue that he as come to value, and one he believes that all who do service to the clan should possess. He is not easily annoyed, and certainly not the type to grumble and grouse unless he finds himself at the end of his rope.
History
FAMILY:mother
Silverstrike (A lithe silver she-cat with large golden eyes. known for her quickness and stealth.)
father
Whitebeam (By contrast, a large - mostly white tom with a black 'cap' and tail. Green eyes. Noted for his thick strong limbs and strong personality.)
Sisters
Littlewire (A small white she-cat with mile-long limbs and sharp features. Odd eyes.)
Grayfeather (A grey she-cat with faint tabby stripes and green eyes)
Brother
Blackfang (A large black tom with golden eyes and a long tail. The only surviving kit from his parents' following litters. Survived the Mosquito sickness, but bore his apprentice name far longer than he should have because of it, and is by clan rule unable to procreate.)
Ironcall and his two sisters, Littlewire and Grayfeather were born in the wake of the great flooding (Year six, Moon 11) They spent a large majority of their young lives aware of the threat that water possessed to them, and to this day Ironcall does not find himself very fond of it. Ironkit was the eldest and largest of the three kits born on that rainy day, followed by Graykit and lastly Littlekit. Their parents were young, barely warriors themselves -- and largely unprepared for the task of kits. However, They raised their young cats well, and it wasn't that long before they were fit to take their apprentice names and begin the training of Stoneclan warriors.
All went smoothly until their seventh moon of life, When Littlepaw contracted Red Bite and fell seriously ill. Marbleleaf -- The clan's medicine cat at the time had developed a working cure for the disease long before the kit's birth -- but Ironpaw's sister was so small that the disease lay a brutal claim on her body. It spread so quickly it looked as if she wouldn't last a week. It was then that the young cat had his first exposure to the true work of a Medicine cat. Marbleleaf was cool and calm in the face of his sister's impending doom, considerate to the young tom who'd attached himself to Littlepaw's side and wholly combative to the disease she had seen claim so many lives. It was like she was fighting a battle, and it was there that Ironpaw realized that his passion was not with the rough and tumble tactics of warrior training -- but with the hard and fast commitment of the Medicine cat life. Marbleleaf saved his sister's life, and Ironpaw felt he had to repay her.
He became her apprentice.
His studies under the old Medicine cat were largely practical. Marbleleaf believed that you couldn't learn without doing. As such, Ironcall has an extensive practical knowledge, just as his mentor wanted him to. Only the most uncommon of sicknesses has he not yet seen or helped to cure and prevent. He would not receive his full name for quite some time, Grayfeather and even the still weak Littlewire were granted theirs, as is custom. Red Bite continued to plague the cats of Stoneclan, and although Marbleleaf's cure was widely effective in helping to ease the pain and suffering a cat endured, the number of case they saved was diminishing.
He had studied under Marbleleaf for more than eighteen moons and the sickness continued to best both of them. It wasn't until Gorsebelly that they made another attack on the numbers killed by the Red Bite. It was an elder that Ironcall was familiar with, Gorsebelly who fell ill one Leaf-bare. Marbleleaf, busy with the influx of White and Greencough had entrusted the elder (Her uncle in fact) to Ironcall. The Medicine Cat apprentice did not leave his side for three days, nursing him with the ingredients he knew by heart, and still seeing the old tom's condition deteriorate. He couldn't eat, and his harsh yowls were keeping half the clan awake. Ironcall, is his desperation, gave the old cat more honey, and mashed the prey as if he would for a sick young kit. For the first time in days, the old tom had food in his belly, and he quieted -- able to sleep at last. His throat no longer on fire. When he awoke several hours later, the grey Medicine cat apprentice dozing at his side, Gorsebelly felt better than he had the entire time he'd been in the den. Ironcall fed in the same way again, less honey this time, and yet again he ate. The old cat continued to improve, and Ironcall left him for the night, only to find his condition had deteriorated to the same position as before.
After that, he took to feeding the cat once an hour, if not more -- even if he complained of lack of hunger. His condition did not fail again -- and the old cat, despite the odds survived. This method is still used today, and while not all cats can be saved -- his new discovery has aided in that rising number.
Ironcall recieved his full name beneath Starclan the half-moon after Gorsebelly had walked from his den a healthier cat than he had arrived. Marbleleaf would pass three moons later. The young cat (barley 22 moons) felt as if he was a kit again, lost without the old she-cat's guidance. He still struggles with her loss, nearly twice as many moons later. She was still so young, and truly a great cat to count among Stoneclan's number.
And so it was that Ironcall took the position of Medicine Cat. Just around this time -- his now aging parents had another litter - four bouncing young toms: Crowkit, Black-kit, Ternkit and Snowkit. They were proud as were Ironcall and his siblings -- but the age gap was really too far for Ironcall, Grayfeather or Littlewire to feel any sense of true kinship. It was also this time -- that Ironcall took his first apprentice, a lively young she-cat by the name of Quailpaw. Their water sources begin to creep up on them with the leaf-bare melt, and the rain before an extremely wet new-leaf brings flooding along with the up-cropping of a new Mosquito sickness.
Cats would come in with bites, and fall mysteriously ill. Nothing Ironcall tried would work -- and it felt as if this was the new Red Bite, a stronger and more sinister illness to take their lives. Kits and Elders fell easily ill -- along with cats that rested too long on the edges of a slow moving river or lake -- who woke with an assortment of new bites and a churning in their bellies. Ironcall's new siblings were among those to fall ill. Snowpaw and Crowpaw were the first, followed by Ternpaw and then finally Blackpaw. Three would not live to see the end of this New-leaf. Blackpaw, however would. At ten moons he had fallen beneath the cusp of this sickness and did not fully resurface until well into his eighteenth moon. He finished his warrior training, and received the name Blackfang -- but because of the illness that thrums in his veins and then untimely nature of his sickness, Ironcall and their Leader were forced to make the hard decision. So few had survived and they did not know the long term effects on the body, as they had discovered with Red Bite -- that he would not be allowed to pass his genes onto the next generation. Not that he minded much anyway. Quailpaw too, was lost. It hurt Ironcall deeply, to see such a young and bright cat burned out before his eyes -- and he wondered of Marbleleaf, had her own experience with this. He has seen his fair share of death in his lifetime, but it has yet to become easier.
The moons continue to drag on, and he has not taken another apprentice. The time has not been right -- and Starclan has sent no sign. Few young cats have shown any interest, let alone the kind of passion he hoped he would see, as he had once felt while he watched his mentor do her life saving work. He supposes he has become cynical in his age, grumpier than he perhaps once was -- but all things weather with time, and even Iron is not excluded.
