About

Dove and her three brothers were born to an ex kittypet and an ex clan cat. Their father, Rushclaw, had met their mother not long after everything went wrong. The newly made ex kittypet was struggling to survive on her own, having been declawed by her owners. Times were terribly hard, but Rush couldn't leave the dying she-cat on her own. He was alone anyways, something he'd never experienced before. Life was... Hard, even with the two of them. Lily struggled to accept the way the world was, and didn't care for killing much, even though they needed the food to survive. Rush took to calling her Softheart because of this, and while it started as a slightly affectionate jab, the she-cat eventually took it to heart and took it to her being.

As the two managed, surviving about as well as they could, they fell in love. They found comfort in each other that the devastation had tried to forcibly rip from them, and the two grew incredibly close. It was a risk, they knew, loving that deeply in a world that tried to strike them down at every turn, but that only fueled their determination to not only stay together, but to live life to the best they could. They were an optimistic couple, for better or for worse.

The two kept moving about until they heard the voices. They petrified Lily at first, the she-cat desperately trying to convince Rush to go the opposite way of the voices. It was the first either of them had heard from another cat in so long, the small cat unwilling to believe such a place could exist that wasn't some trick to lure potential meals. It took much convincing from Rush, many days carefully leading them in the direction of the mentioned haven for Lily to tolerate the idea. The pair muttering each other late into the night, debating over plans and back up plans and back ups for backups. It was decided that Rush would scope the place out, get the first look, and if he deemed it safe he would return for Lily. If she didn't hear from him before the end of the next day, she would run as far away as they could. Lily cried into long into the night.

The kits were, admittedly, a surprise to the two. Especially a litter of four. This greatly slowed their travels, and made taking care of the family almost impossibly harder, but they did their best. The pair loved their kits with everything they were. One, a copy of the maine coon / japanese bobtail father, bulky and fluffy, who they named Ash, or Ashkit in clan terms due to his dark gray marbled pelt. He was the biggest of the four. The second was small, a singapura / japanese bobtail, his colors muted gray-browns like their mother, who they named Sky, or Skykit, for his watery blue eyes. He was born blind. The last two kits were twins, though while one was a bit bigger, and fluffier, a maine coon / singapura / scottish fold, the second was extremely small, with almost downy soft fur, a singapura / scottish fold / japanese bobtail. The male was named Thrush, or Thrushkit, his chest speckled with brown markings much like a bird their father used to hunt, while the small female was named Dove, or Dovekit, her colors very close to a bird that nested on the windowsill of their mothers old home. Dove was the runt of the litter, and her parents were constantly afraid for the tiny kit.

Rushclaw and Softheart did considerably well, despite the circumstances, for a while. Until the sickness hit. Sky was the first to be hit by it, the strange illness wracking his tiny body in shakes and causing his stomach to reject any food his parents tried desperately to give him. The two could only watch as the kit suffered for days like this, his body growing weaker with each passing hour. It pained the two greatly, and Lily cried endlessly while Rush did everything he could to gather food, to get something into the small kit. One icily cold night, the shivers hit Ash, too, shocking and terrifying their parents. Out of all of them, Ash was born the largest, and the healthiest, and it didn't bode well for the others. Both kits succumbed to the sickness that night, as Lily wept and ashy snow fell from the sky.

Dove and Thrush were as close as any set of twins. One was never far from the other, and the small kittens slept curled in a ball together. When one of their parents would stop to hunt, the two would keep each other company as their other parent kept watch. The twins enjoyed tag, and batting stones back and forth, no matter how many times they played that way. It wasn't uncommon for them to get under the paws of their watchful parent, running circles around them until the older cat couldn't help but laugh. When it was Lily's turn to hunt, Rush would often tell the two stories of his days in his home clan, of the battles he saw and the prey he would catch. He told them how he was sure if the world hadn't gotten so messed up, he would have been leader some day. Thrush was always awestruck by this idea, tiny stars bright in his eyes reminding Rush of how things once were. Dove wanted to know every detail of everything from Rush's old life, from the prey to the plants to the cats of his clan. Some days the tom couldn't help the fond tears from escaping at the memories. The twins always found a way to make him laugh when he did.

Lily spent endless nights crying her lost kits' names to the fallen stars. Rush was eerily quiet, his usually booming voice silent when she did. Rush often had to save Dove and Thrush from the sight. Holding his remaining kits close to his chest, allowing Dove to bury her muzzle there and cry, Rush spoke softly to them. He explained that Sky and Ash had been sick, and that it was their time to go. Rush told Dove and Thrush that while it was okay to be sad, and that he was just as sad as she was, that death was an unfortunate part of their life that they'd never be able to escape. He promised that although they wouldn't be able to see them, hear their voices, that Ask and Sky would always be with the two of them, and with all of them, and that his spirit would guide them. Protect them. It was a lot for her, but Dove eventually calmed down with this explanation. Part of her even swore that that night, as her parents curled around her and her twin brother closely, that she could feel her lost siblings' bodies pressed against hers. She cried to herself that night.

Terrified of losing their remaining kittens, the two ran as far as they could with the twins. They rarely stopped, only pausing to eat when they could. Lily's growing paranoia caused their travel speed to be far too much for the young cats, and they were carried much of the time. The freezing weather slowed them down, the icy wind blowing right through Dove's tiny body, her shivering causing her parents innumerable scares, fearful of her suffering the same fate as her brothers. Despite this, however, the kit continued to live, her personality never wavering from its playful manner when they took time to eat, or to recuperate, and in her games one evening the tiny kit even managed to discover a Dove feather, tucked away and hidden in a hole in a tree stump. With large paws more delicate that you would imagine, Rush wove tall strands of grass into a necklace to hold the feather, placing the delicate thing around his daughters neck. Despite all else, Lily made sure to smother her kittens in love, and Rush kept the entire family's spirits up, his never-ending optimism and many stories keeping the small family close. Thrush started to shiver, but he had no trouble holding down food, thankfully. This gave the pair of cats some hope.

The four spent many long days and nights on the move as they made their way to the Safe Haven. Meals were skipped, and rest was kept to a minimum. Much of the little food they caught on their travels went to the kits, Lily refusing to eat until the twins had. The evening before they would have seen the great walls of Haven for the first time, everything went to hell. Spider-like ashen with scorpion tails swarmed them in the night, blocking off all means of escape. Escape was impossible, and despite Rush's attempts to fight it was in vain. The small family was captured by the creatures, Dove's panic going from panicked crying and kicking to petrified silence. Much of the way to the pits was a blur of her own shaking and crying, and the sounds of her parents desperately trying to fight their way free.

Dove couldn't pinpoint when her and her brother were separated from their parents. The tiny kitten was already so mentally traumatized that she blocked out the memories as they came, and the only thing that brought her out of this daze was being dropped into the pit of young cats, followed by her brother. Terrified out of her mind, Dove spent her time there pressed as tightly to Thrush as she could manage, shaking as much in her waking state as in her sleeping one, which for the first time in her life were a storm of unending nightmares about her siblings, and the fate of her parents as she kept the feather around her neck close to her heart.

Despite the horrible state of the pits, and the knowledge of the fate that would eventually befall her and her brother, Dove unconsciously tried to make the best of it. Any cats that happened to be alone in the pit, or seemed utterly lost, Dove tried to call them towards her, to let them hide with her and Thrush. She knew it was, at best, a temporary way to pretend things were going to be okay, but it was all she could do. She took note of any cat she knew, even those who were never given names, she always called something when she thought of them. She watched new cats enter, and old ones be taken away, never to be seen again. She never wanted to forget them. She couldn't forget them. If she didn't remember them, who would? It hurt to think nobody would remember her, after she was gone.

Then the Haven cats arrived. Dropped in like any of the other cats, but these wielding magic unlike anything Dove had ever seen. They terrified her, in a way, but they claimed to be there to defeat the Tyrant. To free them. Dove felt hope spark in her heart for the first time in a long time, because that meant someone knew they were there. Somewhat had actually come to help them. She watched over the cats from afar as they rested, too afraid to shut her eyes in case she found herself to be in just another nightmare and would find the cats who were to help dead before long.

While the cats didn't cease to exist, nor turn out to be part of an elaborate nightmare, an explosion rocked the pit not long after. The world turned into a blur again, cats rushing about in attempt to flee, the Haven cats grabbing kits in attempt to escape with them. In the chaos, Dove was grabbed, wrenched away from her brother as one of the cats fled with her, bringing her out of the pits she thought she would never escape. Dove could only panic for a moment, yelling for someone to please save him, too.

Once out, though, all Dove could do was focus on surviving. She was a tiny kit, mere inches tall due to her singapura blood, and lacking in the strength normal sized kittens would have. What she lacked in size, though, she made up for in speed, agility, and general tactics picked up from watching her parents back before the pits. She didn't need to eat much, couldn't really, but Dove fought on with everything she had. Her parents had been survivors, and it was passed down to her. It was in her blood to keep fighting, no matter the situation.

If you had asked her back in the pits, Dove may have told you she never believed she'd see Haven's walls. When she arrived at the refuge with the Haven cats, though, Dove felt determination grow in her like a weed. Determination to survive, to aid these cats who had saved her life, at any cost. In the time spent at the refuge Dove rested, her sleep still sporadic and short at times, but she recovered fast. Her and her brother had spent nearly no time in the pits in comparison to most cats, and for that she was grateful, even if her heart ached for them. Their eyes had so little light left in them, that at times Dove wasn't sure some of them were truly there at all. She wondered if her own eyes seemed that way to the Haven cats.

Once the siege ended, Dove finally found herself within the walls her parents so desperately wanted to find. Everything was imposing to the tiny kit, the walls taller than anything she had ever seen, and each cat powerful in a way she couldn't put words to. She met the Monarchs there, cats by the name of Hopflight and Lynxtail. The two in charge of Haven, it would seem. Dove watched as the pair gave names to all the nameless cats, and when it came to her own turn her tiny, quivering voice requested to keep her name. To be Dovepaw as her father told her she would be at 6 moons.

Dove was shocked, to say the very least, when the Monarchs opened her ability to use powers. She had psychic powers apparently, which slightly terrified the young cat. It's a little shocking to see yourself emit pink light, she discovered. Her first power she discovered slightly by accident; Detect Life. To suddenly pinpoint all the cats around her, and just how powerful they were, it was a lot to Dove. Despite how much it startled her at first, Dove found comfort in it. Comfort in being able to check who and what was around her.

Much of the days after their arrival were a blur for Dove. There were so many cats, so many new sights, smells, and sounds, and it was extremely overwhelming. Cats were constantly coming and going, rushing about all around. Dove spent much of this time hiding nearby, crouched down as her eyes tracked the movements. She recognized the cats who had come to save her, and did her best to memorize the other cats who called Haven home. There were a lot more than she expected, really, but the chaotic passing of them all was better than sitting in a pit waiting for her next nightmare.

It took a few weeks for Dove to get used to the area. With slowly growing confidence, the small kit ventured further and further from her hiding place, mapping her new home and trailing behind cats to hear what they were talking about. She loved to hide nearby as cats returning from outside the walls reported what they saw or experienced, especially when the Espion's returned from lengthy trips. They always held so much information, knew so much about the world, and Dove was utterly fascinated. Dove would sometimes even stay close to the wall, occasionally using detect life when she could manage, to sense when the cats were returning before they actually did.

Dove was growing, now fully old enough to become an apprentice, but something in her changed. She, too, grew a bit quiet, focusing more on the things around her than speaking. She wanted to go outside the walls, she wanted to learn. To learn all she could.