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BADGERMASK
ESTP-A
WEAPON OF WINDCLAN
though she's been through a lot, this is one cat you'll never see cower or hesitate. standing tall and proud even as the years creep by, the fire in badgermask's eyes remains strong, even if a gaze has been hardened by countless losses over the years. still a very active and vocal cat, she keeps herself moving, hardly one to consider the future and becoming an elder when she feels like she still has so much to contribute to her clan.
wearing emotions on the outside always, it's usually easy to see her sentiments at a glance, or overhear some grumble or mutter that betrays her feelings without much attempt at hiding it. you usually know where you stand with badgermask at any given time, for better or for worse. and while undeniably a cat who has only ever acted in what she perceives as windclan's best interest... her interpersonal relationships are murkier and more tumultuous. opinions of some cats seeming to change at a moment's notice or with the tiniest transgression...
badgermask exudes honesty, for better or for worse. never one to hold her tongue or quash her opinions of a situation, even if it puts her at odds with friends or clanmates, debates and arguments are frequent with her. oftentimes, she'll respect another cat sticking staunchly to their viewpoint more than a cat who caves in and agrees just to avoid a conflict. she isn't a cat who compromises on her morals or viewpoints, which can lead to severe stubbornness sometimes.
she's lost so much that it's difficult to get super close to her sometimes, opting to keep those still around more at a distance rather than risk the threat of another heavy loss. though not as affectionate and social with cats as she used to be, she'll fight just as strongly to defend those she deems worth the effort, even if she seems to operate at a distance these days.
her reception towards cats outside of her clan, especially shadowclan, is especially icy and suspicious, and one of many reasons why it's rare to see her at gatherings these days. it's hard to forgive shadowclan for its crimes, even if the main perpetrators are long dead, and she's hardly shadowclan's favorite cat, either. the temptation to still bare claws and teeth at the mere scent of shadowclan is enough that she usually won't even volunteer for gatherings.
short, stocky
sturdy, muscular
before war ravaged windclan and threw its cats into turmoil, there was peace.
warrior life was never easy, and always had its own unique challenges, but dustnose and moleclaw took each day in stride. both loyal, active cats, settling down and starting a family came later in life to the pair, though no cat was surprised when it finally happened. dustnose’s pregnancy at least went smoothly and without incident – in future moons, the tom would joke that starclan must have blessed him with ease in that regard knowing how much of a pawful badgerkit would be later in life. born alongside two brothers, heatherkit, badgerkit would gain swift reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker in the nursery. never one content to be confined within camp, it took more than one cat keeping an eye on her to keep her from sneaking out of camp. most cats, including her parents, could at least breathe a sigh of relief when the siblings became apprenticed, and were actually encouraged to leave camp instead.
she would inherit her parents’ drive and work ethic, and found the open moorland as exciting as it was comforting. working hard and playing even harder, recklessness was a trait that she was warned about repeatedly, though warnings would never truly sink in until an incident that nearly ended in tragedy.
it was just a simple dare in the moment – she had always liked to take risks, and heatherpaw and mudpaw would be convinced to take part, sometimes just in order to hear badger stop badgering them about it. venturing into a less-explored tunnel during the wet season was dangerous, but whatever reward – an exciting story to brag about, perhaps? – badger imagined was well worth the risk in the moment. the resulting cave-in was a terrifying moment, even if badger herself escaped the worst of it. mudpaw and heatherpaw both found themselves buried at least partially by rubble, and though badgerpaw’s panicked dash home would bring help as swiftly as any cat could… mudpaw was dead before any cat could get him out, and heatherpaw was largely unresponsive, on a fine line over the next few days as badgerpaw fretted outside the medicine den. her surviving brother would eventually recover, but not without incident – lingering breathing troubles would flare up now and again as a direct result of dust inhalation, and badgerpaw blamed herself for both heatherpaw’s blight and mudpaw’s death. punished with additional duties, she would work harder than ever to try to make up for her mistakes, and in expending herself with so much effort, she would find a friendship that would eventually blossom into more in pearlpaw.
her fellow apprentice was a quieter, softer cat, lacking the edge badgerpaw had and certainly more cautious by far. though badgerpaw was initially prickly when pearlpaw expressed sorrow and condolences for badgerpaw’s loss, pearlpaw was nothing if not persistent, and when it was apparent that she wanted to stick around for more reasons than just pity, badgerpaw allowed some edges to soften just a bit. they would balance each other and become quite close.
few cats would be surprised when the pair became mates after earning their warrior names, pearlshine continuing to keep badgermask’s more brusque qualities in check. neither was especially hasty to settle down and start a more domestic life – they were both still young, and there were so many things that both still wanted to accomplish. living in the moment, badger’s younger warriors days would pass by in a happy blur, even the shift in leadership to kitestar only a small blip of change amid happy memories. if life could have stretched on like that eternally, badgermask certainly wouldn’t have minded.
tensions between shadowclan and windclan had begun to escalate, but no one in windclan could have anticipated the beginning of true war until it was upon them – badgermask and her parents were all prepared to fight as strongly as any windclan cat after shadowclan’s blatant taking of their territory. and fighting would certainly be something every cat got accustomed to – though heathertrot wasn’t as keen on baring teeth and claws, badgermask would throw herself into the war efforts wholeheartedly.
her parents would both fall in battle as the war dragged on, though badgermask’s grief was tempered by pride. her parents had at least gone out doing their very best for windclan, and she hoped that one day, she too could say the same, even if she was in no hurry to meet starclan. kitestar’s sudden, surprise appointment of lightningspark sparked some concern in badgermask, who had never personally thought lightningspark to be much of a loyal clanmate, let alone leadership material. but kitestar hadn’t led windclan astray before, and despite her doubts, she wanted to have faith. and despite her misgivings, lightningstar would prove more capable than she’d thought, with strategies that kept windclan afloat in a war that seemed to only get worse by the day.
pearlshine’s pregnancy wasn’t planned – and the timing was certainly inopportune, in the middle of war, though with windclan’s turning fortune badgermask dared allow herself to hope that the tail end of the war might be upon the horizon by the time their kits were born. reassuring pearlshine and giving her all to the war effort, when their kittens were born, badgermask understood more than ever why windclan was so worth fighting for.
CONTENT WARNING. KIT/CHILD DEATH/MURDER IN THE FOLLOWING SECTION, PLEASE SKIP TO THE END OF THIS SECTION IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ.
when shadowclan raided their camp one night, badgermask couldn’t have imagined what their true target was. fighting the warriors that had pushed into their camp, she had at least believed that shadowclan held some tiny semblance of honor. their deputy, wolfcatcher, slipping into the nursery was unfortunately unnoticed until it was too late, the eerie wail of a queen cut short enough to freeze badgermask in their tracks. though haste would be made to the nursery, it was already too late – and the cruel scene of so many little lives snuffed out before they’d even known what was happening shattered something within badgermask, the loss of both her beloved and their children too much for any cat to bear.
SECTION END.
grief might have drowned her, had rage not festered and grown alongside it. no longer a matter of simply windclan vs shadowclan, it was personal now, and badgermask’s own mission simple and singleminded: to make shadowclan suffer and atone for every bit of suffering inflicted upon windclan. though wolfcatcher, the perpetrator, would remain frustratingly out of her reach, she would endorse graytalon’s more underhanded tactics of poison and pitfalls, wielding lethal toxins on her own claws and surging into fights with zero regard for who met her. even apprentices couldn’t escape badgermask’s wrath – a mercy that kit-killers simply didn’t deserve, she would argue. if shadowclan wanted to eradicate windclan fully, then surely the only way to avoid that was to do the same to shadowclan first. she hardly cared what injury she attained in the skirmishes, or even if she ended up perishing, too hellbent on taking out as many shadowclan cats as she could before that became reality.
the end of the war wasn’t something she ever thought she would live to see, but the night that lightningspark returned to camp with a bloodied shadowclan warrior and news of wolfcatcher’s death brought that reality to the horizon. the sight of wolfcatcher’s own son within windclan borders filled badgermask with undeniable anger, whatever plans lightningstar had by keeping the warrior ‘hostage’ seeming small and insignificant behind the bloodied legacy of his kin. facing off against lightningstar, her temper got the best of her, and she was only thrown out of the moment by lightningstar’s own retribution. bearing a scar inflicted by her leader for her transgressions, she would depart from windclan camp for some time without fully leaving the clan behind, making her home in the nearby barn and still dropping off prey while re-evaluating things. visits from her brother as well as a few other cats broke up the monotony of solitude, and eventually, though her feelings on fogstone and the sudden end to the war remained conflicted… she would return home. windclan was where she belonged.
moons would pass more rapidly the older she got – though she was never comfortable around fogstone and kept away from gatherings, she would resume as normal a life as any cat in windclan could. but windclan wouldn’t remain peaceful, trouble even within its own borders manifesting in lieu of war. ashjump’s murder of her apprentice, mothbelly, sent badgermask into another spiral, anger and hatred towards her forward clanmate lingering even after her exile. she vowed that if she ever managed to get ahold of ashjump, she would surely regret it. and more loss came when her other former apprentice, snowsong, was also killed from complications associated with an attack from a shadowclan cat. uncertain how much more she had left to really lose, badgermask’s perception of shadowclan returned to its icy standard. though wolfcatcher had perished and the war was over, it was clear that they weren’t to be trusted – and even now, as shadowclan changes before every cat’s eyes, badgermask can’t help but be leery.
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