River had an initially turbulent upbringing, marked by lots of change. Although both of her parents were alive, she was raised by a single mother, Doe, who taught her daughter to be fully independent. Her father, Baron, was a housecat who lived nearby. Sometimes Doe would take her to visit him, but he generally didn’t want to be involved in River’s upbringing. He preferred the life of a housecat and didn’t want to be rooked into living outdoors. Doe was often busy, out hunting to support them and socializing with other cats in the area. Because she was often out, she made sure River had the tools to take care of herself, teaching her how to hunt and defend herself should something happen.

When River was still fairly young, she met the cat her mom spent most of her time with. Doe introduced him as Clay, and explained that he was her new mate and River’s effective step-dad. This was a big change that River tried her best to adjust to, but didn’t like this new cat, nor thought it was fair that she had to consider him her dad. She didn’t even know or hang out with her real dad that much, why would she have to hang around this bonafide stranger? She was also rather jealous that her mom spent lots of time with this new cat but still didn’t make much time to hang out with her. River cherished the moments that her mom spent with her, but they were few and short.

housecat life

Eventually River decided that she didn’t like it anymore, and dramatically announced that she was going to live with her dad instead. Part of her didn’t actually want to - she just hoped that this would grab her mom’s attention and something would change.

It didn’t. The mom said that she was old enough to decide what she wanted and so River went to where she knew her dad lived, and told him what was going on. Baron was bemused and not exactly thrilled by this sudden change, but agreed, as she was too young to live on her own. He introduced her to his owners, who were surprised by the sudden appearance of a new young cat, but decided to keep her.

River quickly noticed, though, that she wasn’t the best pet. She didn’t like being touched by them unexpectedly, and would easily hiss and swat. This evoked a lot of concern from the humans and Baron, especially because they had young kids. The kids often didn’t know boundaries and would try to grab her tail or ears, and River wasn’t afraid to try to claw them in retaliation. As this kept going on, River realized the owners didn’t particularly like her at all. Baron warned her against acting out, but she didn’t think she was acting out - she just wanted to be left alone most of the time. Even when she mewed for their attention, they preferred Baron’s calm, predictable nature.

After a few months nothing had changed and River often got in trouble for clawing furniture or accidentally knocking something over. They decided to adopt River out, and when Baron told her, she was upset and angry. Wasn’t he going to try and keep her here? No! She didn’t want to just be moved to a different family that wouldn’t like her, and the process would repeat. Being a housecat was so stupid! She hated it!

River ran away, more willing to risk living on her own than to be rejected once again.

hope

After traveling for a bit, River settled near a lake and slept. She was woken up by a fox, and as she freaked out and tried to fend it off, a cat came to her rescue. He scared the fox off and introduced himself as Pronghorn. River immediately admired his strength and tenacity in battle and begged him to teach her how to fight like that. Her own moves seemed so kitten-ish and ineffective comparatively!

He said he was the leader of a nearby group and offered to take her there. River agreed, hope flitting in her chest that this could be the home she always wanted. The leader clearly already liked her - there was no way that this could go astray. Pronghorn took her and another young cat that was of a similar age under his wing. This other cat was named Heron, and Pronghorn said that he thought they would get along well and grow to be like siblings. River was just thrilled with the attention and excitedly swore that she wouldn’t let him down.

River started to grow insecure, though, when Heron surpassed River in many areas of training and Pronghorn’s attention seemed to mainly focus on them. Heron was a cutesy and charming cat that many cats loved, but River began to secretly hate them, swearing it was just an act. They just had to be better at her than hunting or - or whatever they were doing. River lost sleep many nights training herself for the opportunity to surpass Heron the next day and receive praise. She was finally happy here - did Heron really have to go and take that away? They were already born into a group and family that loved and praised them, couldn’t they just leave River’s opportunities alone? They did seem want to grow close to River as Pronghorn suggested, but she held them at an arm’s length, never quite letting them in.

There was a cover on the back of a truck, and Citrine decided to jump up and crawl beneath the cover to keep dry and safe from the storm. He would leave the moment it ended, he promised himself. The storm’s rhythmic sounds eventually lulled Citrine to sleep though, and he was tired from yowling by his door.

At first, in her attempt to surpass Heron, River made impulsive and brash decisions hoping to impress Pronghorn. Nearly every time this backfired, though, so River decided to change her course; she fell back, becoming a little more outwardly subdued and perceptive. She trained with a dangerous cunning in quiet, waiting for the day that these skills she’s built up would become useful. Her demeanor became a bit more cutesy and innocent - a more pleasant cat to talk to. Cats began to confide in her with various things. She held these secrets close to her.

Over time, River watched cats from afar, noticing their slipups and interactions. She became a cat that knew a little too much, and planned to use this information when it would benefit her. She also began to dismiss the prospect of growing close to other cats simply for the sanctity of friendship - being genuinely interested in others was exhausting. Relationships would be more beneficial to her if she saw them as transactional.

retaliation

River’s intense jealousy of Heron eventually receded, but she still kept a watchful eye on the cat. She still highly wanted Pronghorn’s praise, and she started to see group life like a game. If she played by certain rules, leaned into what cats wanted and expected of her, she would win. She could beat other cats. Although Pronghorn spoke to both of them, River still had the feeling that he had a preference for Heron. Too often was the cat chosen over River in various tasks, even when their qualifications were equal.

And with her ear close to the ground, she begun to be aware of the dissatisfaction her groupmates felt about Pronghorn’s leadership.

Over the next few months she listened more intently to what other cats were saying, especially about Pronghorn. Many of them knew she was close to him, so they were hesitant to divulge information, but she got it out of them one way or another.

She spoke to another tom in the group, Beetle, quite often. He clearly didn’t want to disparage Pronghorn’s name in front of her at first, but with her open ears and enough languid convincing, he told her more about how him and a few others were unhappy with Pronghorn. They did like Heron, River found out, and then she realized: Beetle liked and trusted her. She could likely say slight lies and he would believe her. This was the game.

In one of their talks, off-handedly he made a remark about River being leader one day instead. She wasn’t sure about that idea at first, and dismissed it when he brought it up. But she continued to think about it. If he thought that she could be a leader, did other cats? If she was in a position of power, she could secure her place. She would never be rejected or dismissed again. She could control the fates of cats like Heron.

The murmurings of a rebellion begun to stir. River refused to be at the face of it - but still knew she was pulling the strings from beneath. She would nudge cats in certain directions, tell them things to stir their anger. And the dissatisfaction grew. Pronghorn gathered her and Heron together and asked what they knew about a possible rebellion - he was clearly worried about this. Heron was concerned and promised they would keep an ear out, while River feigned innocence. How thrilling that both of these groups relied on her. If only her parents and old owners could see her now.

River offered to lead an investigation to look further into the rumors, but Pronghorn denied her offer and asked Heron to do so instead. The small action made her cold.

Eventually it came to a boiling point. Beetle and some other cats decided to try and overthrow Pronghorn. Beetle told River about their plan. She wasn’t apart of it, but knowing about it was enough for her. Fighting broke out between the cats who wanted to overthrow Pronghorn, and the cats who wanted to keep him as leader. River was away from it all, watching from the sidelines. She noticed Beetle chasing Pronghorn away from the fight and secretly followed them. She watched as Pronghorn and Beetle fought, dealing mutually fatal blows by the shore of a river. While they were laying, she carefully came out of hiding to watch them. They both noticed her and asked for her help. River simply watched with slitted eyes as she weighed her options.

Pronghorn did bring her in, but constantly passed her over in favor of Heron. Beetle had been more or less a friend, but if he was dying, then he had outlived his usefulness.

Her decision was cut off by a cat attacking her from behind. It was Heron, who had followed them. During their investigation of the rebellion rumors, they had apparently seen River speaking with Beetle and others. Heron demanded reasons for it, saying that Pronghorn had taken them both under his wing and was this River’s way of repaying him?

She simply spit back at Heron, mostly defending herself from her colleague’s blows. Heron got her in a position where she could have easily dealt an injuring blow or even killed her, but the shrill call of a bird behind them distracted them, allowing River to shove them off and get the upper hand. It wouldn’t be worth killing Heron. Not only did she not want to get her paws dirty, but that left three cats of their group dead, all around River. Maybe she could spin the story in her favor but - how worthless this all was, in the end. Was it even worth staying here after this all was over?

Heron screeched at River, telling her to leave and never come back, and for once she listened to her colleague. She did leave, and followed the chirps and calls of the bird that had either saved her a scar, or her life. Eventually she saw it hopping around in the trees. It was a shrike.

new beginnings

From that day on after leaving the territory, she renamed herself Shrike. She had always been fond of the birds, from the name to their actions. They impaled their prey and their name carried a sharp sound that held a kind of power, she thought. It fit her much better than the name that carried history of her parents and that star-forsaken group. To go along with her new name, she hunted a red-backed shrike down and plucked some of its feathers. Shrike used them to accessorize the base of her tail, and continued onward in her travels.

In her wanders she found large groups of cats living near each other. One that had been newly established caught her attention - the Cloud Colony. They seemed soft-hearted and peaceful. Given its nature, she found it ironic that this was the one that pulled her in, but decided to go to it anyway. She acted respectful and innocent when the cat she met by the territory line brought her to the leader. She would be the perfect groupmate! Until it suited her otherwise, that is.

She joined as a commoner, and a few of the cats there piqued her interest - especially two in particular. Maybe they would have more in common than it seemed.