SkyClan High Rank Auditions

Forum Username:
Litten
Discord Tag:
xcaliel#0304
Desired Role/Rank:
Head Leafclaw
Character Name:
Shellshade
Character's Age:
~35 moons, ages on 4/7

Short Personality Description:
Shellshade is almost the definition of a wallflower: soft-spoken, reserved, and even a touch awkward at times, depending on the situation. When he does converse with another, it's normally through clipped, to-the-point sentences: one will never catch him rambling on about something, or even initiating a conversation. Despite his lack of social skills, however, he's a fine leafclaw and takes his duties seriously (for the most part, anyway), even if he's not the best of the best and he knows it. He doesn't let this fact get him down, however: once he finds something to work for, or even to protect, he will strive to better himself in whatever way he can. This mindset shows that beneath his reclusiveness, Shellshade is quite the steadfast individual, perhaps even responsible if you push it.

Brief History Overview:
Shellkit was born to Softjay and Magpiemask one calm evening, the only kitten in his litter. He was a strong kitten, benefiting greatly from the extra milk he was able to suckle (having no competition certainly had its benefits, after all) and grew quite quickly; perhaps even a bit too quickly. He was always a bit mature for his age, and distant from his denmates- sure, he might've wrestled once or twice if they poked at him enough, but he'd never truly befriended any. Such remained the case until his apprenticeship, and he was assigned to Mapleblaze for him to look after and teach the ways of a leafclaw. 

Shellpaw's training was quite uneventful, nothing too astounding occurring throughout. Aside from one thing, at least: Shellpaw grew close to Mapleblaze, finding a friend in the older tomcat and growing to respect and admire him greatly. Shellpaw graduated on a sunny day during leaf-bare, a rare occurance, after passing his three assessments with flying colors. He was named Shellshade, both for his rather shy personality and his commendable stealth while performing the sky-ambush.

Unfortunately, not all good things last. As the Loner's Blight swept through SkyClan, Mapleblaze, Softjay and Magpiemask all fell ill with the mysterious disease. None recovered, and all three succumbed to the Blight, leaving Shellshade alone and broken. The unfortunate incident simply made Shellshade recede further into his 'shell' of sorts, simply observing from afar and never bothering to get too close with any others.. should the same sad fate befall them, too.

Role-Play Sample: After almost an entire week of nonstop downpours, the angry, cloud-filled sky was finally clearing up. Thunder, lightning, and harsh winds had plagued the territory alongside the rain, making hunting or patrolling almost unbearable: one could barely step outside their den without getting soaked, let alone leave the camp! The leafclaws especially were affected by such an event--strong winds meant extreme danger while branching or skimming the boughs of the skyway, and the rain-slicked branches only added to that. For once, the leafclaws had to rely on the fernclaws to bring in land-prey, much to their contempt. The brawny bush-dwelling brutes were all so smug about it, too: they didn't let the tree-faring cats go one minute without knowing where their food came from, and it had begun to get on their nerves. Now, with the storms gone, such a thing wouldn't happen any longer.. or so Shellshade had thought.

Clearly, he was wrong.

Astertail had first informed him of the issue, and then a slew of other fernclaws like Hemlocknose and even Cottonsnarl had approached him and complained of it. The issue was nothing that the fernclaws themselves couldn't fix, but obviously it was the leafclaws faults that the storm had rid the Skyway of a few of the heavier, older branches, ones that had been splintering and on the verge of falling for quite a while now. It was unsurprising that the winds had knocked them down at last, but was it really a problem for the leafclaws?

Well, no. It wasn't, or normally wouldn't be--that was what Shellshade thought. But, after the fernclaws had provided for them for so long.. this was an opportunity to force the land-dwellers to stop being so smug, he supposed, and even out the score. After all, without the help of the leafclaws, the fernclaws would lose their best hunting spot. 

So, resigned and, quite frankly, annoyed by all of the reports, Shellshade went and gathered a patrol. Skipperclaw, Cloudjumper, Silvernettle, Kiteleaf and Shellshade himself were all dispatched to the meadow, trekking through the mud and wet undergrowth until they finally reached the site of the fallen branches. From there, it was easy (but taxing) work to break off into twos or threes and heft the debris onto their backs, depositing them elsewhere. Somewhere out of the way. Well.. maybe not completely out of the way--just enough to not block off anything, but still positioned to annoy the fernclaws a bit. Just a little. A nice little prank! 

Job done and companions snickering over what they imagined the fernclaws reactions to be, the patrol began to meander home, though a few broke off to play in the trees or hunt along the Skyway while they were out. Shellshade chose not to, instead heading home and reporting to both Fennelsky and Astertail to inform them that the task was complete. He left out just where they placed the branches, however. That could be a nice surprise for the fernclaws later on.