Crisp

[roscoe]

"Battle is so unnecessary. Words can do so much more."
~ Crisp

Name
Crisp

Gender
Tom

Age
21 Moons

Rank
Loner

Clan

Beliefs
StarClan? Sure he believes in them. It’s a peaceful thought, knowing that there’s something waiting for you when you die. It provides a nice bit of justice for the ones that have proven themselves worthy of it. Of course Crisp could never bring himself to worship StarClan or even admit out loud that he believes in them. It’s just a nice little thought he keeps in the back of his head.

Crisp’s beliefs in other things are common of a loner. He believes in independence, believes in justice, and believes in the fact that he can do anything just as well as a cat in a group. He’s never really seen the need to be a permanent part of anything. Maybe join with someone for a cause, but never for a permanent settlement.

Parents
Ashen (father , deceased) x Mori (mother , deceased)

Siblings
Koma (brother , loner)[NP] x Felicity (sister , kittypet)[NP]

Other Kin
Gin (cousin , loner)[NP] Tonic (aunt , deceased)

Mate

Crush

Kits

Apprentice/Mentor

Appearance
The most noticeable thing about Crisp is his size. He’s not much larger than an apprentice and has no future of growing a head of him. His muscles never filled in, unlike with his brother, so he’s rather thin and frail looking.

His tail is the only part of him that’s average size. But because it’s average size on his small body, it looks huge, and makes Crisp look even smaller. Not that he minds, his tail has come in handy for him numerous times. His paws are also average size, and like his tail, look too large for his body.

Crisp’s fur is short all year long. It’s like it’s never heard of the term “winter coat”. The base is a soft cream color which covers his whole body. Only on his stomach and his chest does the color change to pure white, stopping shortly before it reaches his chin. The bottom of his paws are also a different color, dark brown, the same color as the pattern on his fur.

Crisp’s is a tabby which can be seen from the dark brown stripes on his tail and his legs. Across his sides, though, the stripes change slightly to more circular shapes, rather like splotches. They return to being more stripe-like across his back, but are light in color.

His eyes are bright amber, practically orange in the right light. His whiskers are long and droopy, curling down from his thin muzzle.

Personality
Crisp can easily be described as a pacifist. He’s never had a taste for blood or violence, and just the thought of killing for fun or amusement sends shivers down his spine. And when he is made to fight, he tends to end the battle quickly, if that means losing, then fine. He’d rather lose than greatly injure the other cat. Even the slightest damage he could cause can send him into a pool of regret.

His tendency to avoid battle often gets him called a coward. Overtime he’s managed to put up a shield of sorts to help him deal with any insults he may get, whether it is by ignoring the one who insulted him or by replying to them in a civilized way that makes him feel better about himself for being the better cat.

The only time Crisp does find it appropriate to fight is when he is fighting for something he believes in. As long as he is defending something that is important to him, he can let it slide that he is shedding blood. It’s rare that he ever finds something like this though, so far only two things (other than family) have brought him out of his pacifist shell to shed the blood of other felines.

Another thing about Crisp is how calm he is. He’s never found it difficult to keep his head cool in a time of crisis. And seeing things clearly and free of bias is something that comes naturally. Rarely will you see him insult another cat, let alone snapping at one.

Crisp can be extremely understanding at times. Sitting and listening to another cat is not only something he’s good at, but it’s become a hobby of his. He’s never been one for hanging around others cats for too long, but Crisp would never turn down the opportunity to listen to a cat explain their woes. And if he can offer advice, he sure will.

An important part about Crisp is justice. He believes that justice should be given to everyone and that decisions should be made based on the previous actions, not the consequences from the actions. Defending justice is one of the few reasons Crisp would willingly go into battle.

A final note about Crisp is that he can be rather blind. Not in a mental sense, in a literal, physical sense. His accident with the tree damaged his eyes in a way that causes his eyesight for the day to vary. It’s never been bad, he’s still managed to hunt and mingle on even the worse days. But it’s not hard to tell when he’s having a bad day.

On bad days Crisp does lose his patience ever so slightly. His usually calm demeanor cracks slightly and he would be more prone to getting mad at a cat. He still manages to keep himself calm, but it’s not hard to tell when he wants you to shut up and go away on these days.

Skills
Despite his pacifist nature, Crisp is a fairly good fighter. When he was younger he felt the need to get stronger if only to protect things he cared about, which led to serious battle training. While he has no bulk to back up his brute strength, he does have wits and speed, which can put him at an advantage.

Crisp is an adequate hunter. He can hunt well enough to keep himself happily fed for a day and perhaps even feed more. Once again his size helps him out here, especially when he needs to race across an open field to catch a hare.

Aside from those skills, Crisp is also quite the planner. Schemer might actually be a better word. He does have a mischievous side to him, which shows when he develops plans of action. Not necessarily battle action, of course, but more like a plan of what to do in life.

History

~birth

Crisp’s past is not a confusing one. He is only 19 moons, still plenty more to live through before he can outright say he has a past. What is there in his history though, starts on a foggy winter morning, just days before the thaw came to release the forest from the locked in winter.

His parents were Ashen, a large gray tabby tom, and Mori, a small black she-cat. His brother Koma, a large orange tabby, was born first, followed by Felicity, a gray she-cat, who was his sister. Then Crisp was born, the obvious runt.

His parents weren’t too worried about Crisp as the winter would be over soon and the cold would end. And his father was confident Crisp would grow and shake off the runt label he had as a kit.

~kithood

Koma, Felicity (often called City for short) and Crisp lived happy, normal lives as kits. They were raised has wildcats by their parents, taught to fight and hunt as they grew to the right age. At the time, Crisp was quite eager to learn the ways of battle. He picked up the moves his father taught them quickly, with the exception of the ones that required more brute strength.

When his father finally gave into the fact that his son would be small for the rest of his life, around Crisp’s seventh moon, he gave the task of training the hyper kit to his mate, Mori. Despite her size, Mori was a fierce, snappy she-cat who knew the best ways to use her size to her advantage.

Koma, Crisp’s brother, felt insulted by the fact that Crisp had to be taught by their mother, just because he wasn’t large enough. Felicity felt the same and they both confronted Crisp about it. But Crisp didn’t care. All he wanted to do was learn to fight his best, and having long since accepted his size, he understood his mother would be best to teach him how to fight.

~young cat

As a young cat, Crisp soon outgrew his thirst for battle. He passed off his previous interest as merely an interest, a quest in learning how it’s done. He had never truly fought with the intent to kill or the intensity to severely hurt someone, so it was not a surprise to him when he decided he hated battle.

It was around this time his mother died from sickness. Crisp took the worst of the depression of all his siblings, being (as he liked to think) closest to his mother. But he soon moved on, choosing to live for her as well. Of course he never could live for his mother; she was too violent and liked battle more than Crisp ever could. But because of his resolution to live for her, Crisp learned to fight for what he believed in and fight to protect things he cared about.

As he hit his twelfth moon, Crisp began to take an interest in traveling. He would sometimes spend days away from his father and siblings, just going farther into the forest and meeting new cats. During one of these trips he found a nice place that the local cats called “The Ranch.” He stayed there for a while before heading back home, keeping the nice ranch in his mind. Perhaps his family would like to move there.

It was when he returned that he heard from his siblings (as well as his cousin Gin, who he had only met once before) that Ashen, his father, and his Aunt, Tonic, had been out hunting when they were killed by a hungry badger. At first he thought he would not take it as harshly as he did with his mother. But when they told him it had happened the day he left, the weight of guilt struck Crisp. In a way, he felt that if he had not left, he might’ve done something to have prevented the two from hunting.

A few days passed before Crisp returned to his normal self again, if a little bit more reserved. He spoke to his family briefly on his plans to return to the ranch and spend the rest of his life there because he felt like he belonged there. Having no reason to stay where they were, Crisp’s siblings and his cousin announced they would go with him.

~not too long ago

Crisp was 15 moons when the group left for the ranch. It took almost half a moon to reach the place, but when they arrived, the group was glad for the trip. The ranch seemed even greater than Crisp recalled it being, a light in the middle of his darkness. He quickly settled with the few other cats that lived there, keeping his distance from all but his family.

The first one to leave was Felicity, his sister. She was out hunting when she had met a lost kittypet named Teddy. She helped the kittypet get home, but along the way, fell for the tom and joined him in living with twolegs.

Next was his brother Koma. Near the ranch there was a group of cats who had formed what they called clans. At first Koma had taken an interest into the clans, but after spending a few days with them, his interest turned to dislike, and he hurried to get as far from them as possible. Occasionally he returns to visit Crisp, normally during late Leaf-Bare, around the time of their birth.

Gin left shortly before Crisp reached his 19th moon. Just being a cousin, he hardly felt kinship for Crisp and decided he needed to find life away from the remains of his family. He left in the middle of the night without a word.

~now

Crisp lives alone in the ranch now. He stays solitude, rarely speaking. Only when his brother visits does Crisp come out of his solitude and return to his previous self. The tom’s eye is always on the clans though, wondering what it would be like to join them.

Of course with the arrival of more cats to the ranch, Crisp’s interest in the clans and the thought of maybe joining them are diminishing. He rather likes some of the personalities of some cats living at the ranch now and wouldn’t mind getting to know one or two of them better. It would give him something to do with his life; if he had a cat he could call a friend.

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