Briarshade

***Spoiler warning:** Plot and/or ending details follow.**"I will run until my paws bleed.”*
**Briarshade** is tall, dark Abyssinian molly with white-spotting on her chest and front paws, with yellow-green eyes.
**Briarshade** was born to a kittypet named Hero and a Sunlit Prairies molly named Willowtail. She never knew her father, and her mother passed away when Briarkit was four moons old. She has served under Valleystar's and Dawnstar's Reigns.

## General Information

### Scent:

Sheeps’ wool and myrrh, with undertones of dry grass and lavender.

## Relations

Crush: Adderfrond

Friendships: Dawnstar, Adderfrond, Lichensnap

Enemies: Carrionsaunter, Risinghawk, Stoatslaughter, Bulrushpounce

Mentors: Mourningdovecry (npc, dead)

Apprentices: Tarragonglaze, Stripedpaw

## Interests

*Likes:* Running, being in an open moor, the sun on her fur, hunting, having others be proud of her, feeling wind in her fur, soft moss, stars, white fluffy clouds.

*Dislikes:* Untidiness/messiness, getting wet, mud, being cold, having cats of high rank being disappointed in her, irritating cats, rats, being sick, being taken advantage of.

## Skills/Faults

*Skills*

Running/hunting (she is built rather perfectly for her job and excels extremely well). Determined (if she starts something she will finish it). Hearing (with her large ears she can hear very well). Ambitious (she wants to be the best of the best, even dreaming of becoming deputy). Honest (Briar is rarely one to sugar coat anything and says it as she sees it). Trustworthy (tell her a secret and she will take it to her grave). Intelligent (she has a smart brain behind her looks and cranky attitude).

*Faults*

Dealing with her emotions (she prefers to just ignore them and push them down; this doesn’t always end well as you can assume). Stubborn (not easily swayed and will fight fiercely when she thinks she is right). Creature of habit (not fond of going outside her usual routine, and finds newness uncomfortable). Insecure (while she tries her best to hide it, she is rather insecure and doesn’t believe in herself much at times). Rude (she often comes off as rude when speaking to other cats, aside from very high ranking felines whom she tries very hard to impress). Cranky (easily angered and bitter af).

## Personality

Briarshade is a rather sharp-tongued lass who struggles with being accepted. Because of her upbringing she never wants to feel useless or unwanted again, and will often go to great lengths to prove her worth to her superiors. She can be blind sighted by pride and consumed by the hunt, so is often not a favourite to all her clanmates. Briarshade can be awkward at times, and her fear/sadness easily morphs into irritance/anger. When in camp she’s quiet and shadowy, sticking to the edges and trying not to catch anyone’s eye unless necessary. If a cat of superior place asks something of her you can bet she’ll do it, and do it well with speed and vigour. A cat of lower rank however? Expect her to be spiteful and challenge the remark. She does things with purpose and prowess—never to have to redo it. A ‘measure twice cut once’ type of person, with an almost pessimistic attitude. She also tends to think she’s one of few cats who can do things right, just due to lack of faith in others. If she’s not hunting or aiding her superiors, she’s grooming and enjoying her lonesome. This is a cat who’d give up her life for her clan despite not liking to spend quality time with them, simply because that’s her view. She’s a provider and a protector, placed there for the clans benefit—but she will not be taken advantage of. She can be grumpy and even cruel at times, a tricky cat to deal with. Deep down, she just wants to feel the love her family never gave her, though refuses to outright ask for it.

## Detailed History

*Dawnstar's Reign*

Briarshade debuts in a short scene in the wildflower thicket with Frostytiaga, post badger attack. The molly is lost in her own thought and guilt, feeling like she failed her clan and leader. Upon finding her, Briarshade asks Frostytiaga if Dawnstar has recovered yet after loosing her life (Briarshade has found herself unable to return to camp until she does). *The scene is cut short there, with the time skip.*

**Moon 2**

Briarshade begins moon 2 with an upgraded rank. She begins her day be leading a patrol (Snowthistle, Gingsengpaw, Tauntingtear) to discard spoiled prey in the marigold tread. The patrol is successful, and not much happens. The molly is lost in her own thoughts for much of the outing.

Immediately after returning to camp from the prey discard, Briarshade is approached by Adderfrond, who asks if she would like to accompany a fellow council member out to check some farthermost boarders. Despite the rain she agrees, explaining that her paws are always itching to move (plus, she knows her duties have grown now). The two make their way towards the Western Forests, and their friendship grows considerably. Adderfrond is able to bring Briarshade out of her shell, and the farther from camp they move the more the molly forgets just why they're out. Remarkably, she finds herself not just smiling, but laughing and even playing as if she were a kit. Unfortunately, the storm grows dangerous and the two are forced to head back despite not wanting to. While crossing a stream, Adderfrond slices the pad of his paw. Back at camp, the council members part ways, and Briarshade realizes that she has feelings for the tom (she is worried this will impact her ability to be a good warrior).

The following morning, the molly finds herself waking late. She blames last nights outing, and feeling guilty immediately scrounges up a hunting patrol. She finds no Moor-Runners in camp, so she approaches Carrionsaunter who agrees to hunt. The tom spots and demands Bulrushbounce and Foxclaw join them (neither seem all that thrilled). From the beginning Carrionsaunter asserts his dominance; he questions Briarshades choices and the molly grows irritated. Eventually, once they reach origin of spring, she can no longer stand the older tom's picking at she snaps at him. It is clear neither cat is fond of the other.

During the flooding event, Briarshade scrambles to find Adderfrond. Having found him, the pair swim to a drowning elder’s side and rescue her. Not built for such movements the molly grows tired, but she refuses to give up. She repeatedly asks where Dawnstar is and if she is okay. Adderfrond corrals her in, and the pair swim into the deflated nursery after the medicine cats remove Ceciliazeal and the other queens. Briarshade finds Batkit left behind, injured and hidden in a pile of debris. It is then that the cats hear Wishwander’s call, and begin moving to safety. To climb up the Tall Rock Briarshade gives the kit to Adderfrond, then climbs up after him. Near the top, an avalanche of cats plummet towards the ground and Adderfrond pushes Briarshade and Batkit out of the way, and in turn gets shoved down against a rocky ledge, rendering himself unconscious. Briarshade drops Batkit and falls to hysterics.

Post flood, Briarshade busies herself with countless hunting patrols. She hunts what she can, and spends days on end out in the moors and forests refusing to remain in camp. Briarshade brings a piece of prey to Skyrose who sleeps below the temporary leaders den, as the white molly looks very ill. Ill herself from lack of sleep and food, Briar is in an awful mood and very defensive. The two touchy she-cats get into an argument, and Briarshade stalks off back into the moors. She continues to work, refusing to eat and wrecking her body. She misses the deputy’s death, as well as the naming of the new deputy (Elegantcinder), and the naming ceremony of Snowthistle, Shardpaw, and Petaldance.

Realizing she’s been ignoring her apprentice since the flood, she takes Stripedpaw out to try to hunt. He immediately notices how unwell she is, but doesn’t say anything. It’s nighttime, but they don’t find anything till dawn.

## Detailed Appearance

Build: 13.5". She is rather beautifully lanky, with long, slender, yet well muscled limbs. She can easily tower over other cats her age and even those older than her, though is thin and sylphlike and not all that imposing physically. Her tail is thin and long, her paws petite so to not get in the way but built to grip and pull. Her skull is slender and rather graceful, carved with beauty and jaw strength in mind. Ears are wide set and round, for funneling in sound. Eyes are large and slanted, sharp and angular. She has not a stitch of anything extra; every muscle and sinew is there for use and is used well to make her body exactly what it needs to be. Her face holds a resting expression of irritance, sharpness, and cold intelligence.

Coat Color: Akin to her Abysinnian sire’s heritage; a soot-heathered garnet red that's darker along her spine, tail, and forehead. Tail tip is black, hind paws are near black. Front paws are white, along with a large spot on her chest that almost looks like a bird’s spread wings, in which the ‘wing tips’ end on the flat of each sides’ deltoid.

Coat Condition: Fine, dense, close-lying, and silky to the touch. There is however a longer, almost spikey patch at both the base of her tail and base of her neck. Always well groomed.

Eye Color: A striking chartreuse green.

#### Scars received

The following is a list of all the major injuries/scars chronologically received by Briarshade;

* Deep and wide scar across the bridge of her nose from a spat with a fox.
* Thin slice trailing the inside of her left forearm.
* Deep puncture wound delivered during the badger attack that scarred over after she failed to receive treatment for it.
* Slash on her chin from being shoved into the Tall Rock during the Flooding event.

## Kin

Mother: Willowtail

Father: Hero

Sisters: Unknown she-kit.

Brothers: Unknown tom-kit.

## Backstory

TW, talk of parental emotional abandonment, stillbirth, and problematic birthing.

Briarshade was born in the clan and has known nothing but. She fit in relatively well at first, though was always rather prickly, and nothing seemed too out of place. She was born first as Oakkit, as her kitten fur matched the colour of the leaves when dead, but the name did not last long at all. This seemed to be the first obvious view of Willowtail's resentment towards her.

Her mother didn’t show her much affection, too distraught over her other kits’ deaths and her own problematic birth to really give Briarkit the love and attention she deserved. Perhaps that’s where most of her issues arise. Nonetheless, Briarkit didn’t see this as an issue or even as irregular until another kit pointed it out. Armed with this new information, Briarkit questioned her mother. Willowtail explained that the two other kits in her litter had been born dead; “Life was cruel and the earth lacked love”. Though Briarkit failed to truly understand. What earth would steal such a young creature, before its life had even begun? And how did that explain her emotional neglect? As she aged she began to understand. Willowtail would never forgive Briar for living while her siblings had to die; shunning, ignoring, degrading, acting like she was never good enough. Briarshade would never be enough in her mother’s eyes.

Overall, she never grew too fond of her mother, internally craving what she wasn’t giving her and disliking her for it. Without a sire either, Briar felt rather… alone. She grew used to that feeling, the feeling of being alone. When Willowtail succumbed to persistent infections from her birth, four moon old Briarpaw shed barely any tears and continued on like nothing was different. She felt no more alone than she had when her mother was alive.

Her apprentice time went rather quickly, learning and excelling with impressive speed. She passed her assessments with flying colours, and was a Moor-Runner before she knew it. Probably due to focusing so much on her practising rather than paying any attention to the other apprentices. She didn’t want friends, as what good were they. It was not irregular for the molly to be out of camp from dawn till dusk practicing, even forcing her mentor to teach her more and more, refusing breaks. When her mentor would not, or simply needed rest, Briarshade was out training alone. Her fellow apprentices knew her as a ghost, and grew used to her nest being empty at night because even then when the kit could not sleep she would sneak out of camp to practice in the moonlight. Brairpaw found friendship in her mentor, Mourningdovecry, as it was the first time an adult was paying attention to her; she reveled in the feeling of somecat working on her and working with her, trying to help her and make her into a good warrior. The old molly became in a sense the mother Briarpaw never had. While Mourningdovecry was not a talker and rarely gave outright praise, Briar could tell when she made her mentor proud and worked hard for it. She was an easy apprentice, always doing what was requested of her. Her only moments of strife were when she wanted to continue working and the elderly mentor needed to rest. Mourningdovecry often said that Briarpaw was working her to death. The molly passed peacefully in her sleep a half moon after Briarshade’s warrior ceremony, and she wept more than she ever knew was possible.

Briarshade spends her time now hunting and running to her heart’s content, wanting to prove to her leader that she can be everything she needs her to be. She takes everything on like it is a test and she must win first place.

## Trivia

* Briarshade’s obsession with Dawnstar isn’t because she’s Dawnstar—she doesn’t even necessarily agree with her morals. Briar is just incredibly loyal to her leader, whoever that may be. She acted the same way with Valleystar, and would act the same way with different leaders. In some way, she’s mentally replaced her clan leader with her mother, forcing herself to make her leader proud to replace the fact that she was never able to make the spotted molly proud.

## Quotes

*"There is no freedom like soaring over the moor; it is then that you lose track of everything and get lost in the simple liberation of your paws carrying you where your heart aches to be."*

*"As for what I know of hunting? How dare you doubt me, and publicly at that. You know very well it was Dawnstar who selected me as Head Moor-Runner. It was her decision. When you doubt me, you doubt her! I do well and you know it, regardless of my moons."*

-Briarshade to Carrionsaunter after the tom eggs her into an argument.

*It burned and flickered like a fire, one that roamed the woods and ate up the dry matter in its path—but in her body, the flame’s fuel was Adderfrond’s words. Even with a growl in his voice Briarshade swore on Silkstar she had never been told something so gentle and tender. As delicate as the bones of a mouse kit. Afraid to touch it or it would break.*

-Briarshade about Adderfrond.

*Why aren’t you protecting us anymore? Where is your mercy?* Her chest felt heavy, like a stone was laid to rest in it. Emotions coiled around it, curling and twining. She didn’t know what to feel. Sad, angry, dissatisfied, let down. She just wanted things to go back to the way they should be. She wanted to be back in the moors, with her clan strong. And Adderfrond, *oh Silkstar she wanted him to be okay.* Briarshade settled her unforgiving gaze on Icyviens as the crowd dispersed. There wasn’t a stitch of trust for the pale cat despite her crippling wounds. Briarshade only moved when the large snowshoe took her away, and she was out of sight. Then, her petite paws moved her out of camp and towards somewhere she could run until her chest hurt and her brain made sense.

-Briarshade after Icyviens is brought back to camp.

## Links

Theme Song/Voice Claim

* https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6iTtRwNYylWEV5sWiGqA8y?si=DqG9XVw0REqo2zz0YofpEA

Voice Claim: The lead singer of The Crane Wives

*End of spoiler warning*