┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑ ❉ self roleplay ❉ ⁀➷ “A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.” - Oscar Wilde Another tally etched into the wall. How many had he left now as he traveled? Sincere had lost count. Really, this was just routine, a way to keep a small part of him sane while the darkness of the cave consumed him figuratively, and literally. He was cold. He had been cold for a long time, weary, for a long time, and hungry too. The cave had (barely) managed to keep him fed, and, by sheer luck, had some stagnant water sources for his thirst. This is what had become of Sincere. From a young ShadowClan warrior to an old feline dwelling in the infinite shadows. It is said curiosity killed the cat, and in fact, curiosity, while it did not kill him completely, it did trap him. He had only wanted to explore, and upon his return to the entrance of the cave, he panicked to find it had disappeared, and with it, his clan, his family, and his future. From time to time, Sincere wondered what his family was doing now. Were they dead? Alive? Did he have any nieces and nephews? Did they stay in ShadowClan? Leave? He didn’t know, and the unknown hurt him. Sincere longed to escape, but the cave had become his home. A permanent residence. But he felt like dying would be a sign of weakness. And, although it seemed like all hope had been lost, Sincere always carried a little piece with him, because Sincere never stayed still for too long. The cave was big, huge, even. Every time Sincere had thought he reached the end it just kept going and going. A never-ending darkness filled with twists and turns and many dead ends, a cold that never ceased, a loneliness that formed permanent brambles around his heart. But regardless, he kept walking. He walked until his paws ached at times, until he felt like he was going to physically collapse. But there was never light at the end of the tunnel. Until one day, there was. Sincere had been walking for who knows long when, he had reached the end of another tunnel he had been traveling through. The peachy rosetted feline stared at the pile of rubble before him in dismal, scowling quietly to himself. “For StarClan’s sake! Just get me out of here!” He yowled helplessly, unsheathing his claws. But there was nothing for them to dig in. With an aggravated hiss, he turned tail and started to walk back. That was until the sound of a rock dropped. It rolled slowly across the ground till it stopped at his stilled paws. With care, Sincere turned his head. Another rock fell. The earth beneath his feet began to shake. With a startled gasp Sincere bolted in the opposite direction, not going too far, but far enough to be safe from whatever it was he was witnessing. The loose rocks tumbled one by one, aggressively clashing against each other. A beam of light! Sincere hissed, immediately shutting his sensitive eyes. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t think for a split moment that he was about to die, and this was the light at the end of the tunnel. But he continued to breathe. Shallowly, but full of life. At last, when he squinted his eyes again, and the dust cleared from the air, he saw it. He saw it… he saw the sky. A gust of wind blew in his direction, familiarly cold, but from it a tear formed in the corner of his eyes as he stared, static, and in disbelief. Eventually one paw moved after the other, at first in a walk, and then into a burst of freedom as he ran out of the cave as fast he could. The leaf-fall winds whipped his fur around as his tail streamed behind him. He was tired, he was weak, but the air tasted of liberation and hope and that kept him going. He wept as he ran. Sincere took deep lung filling breathes as if they were his last. He could smell everything, the dying grass, the colorful leaves, the crisp, fresh air. All these sensations he had felt many moons ago and never thought he would feel again. But here he was, against all odds, Sincere was out of that cave. Sincere was alive. --- Long story short, Sincere is alive and eventually finds his way back to the clans.
❉ additional information ❉ ⁀➷ - Yeah, so I never killed Sincere off and I had the opportunity to do the funniest thing! Bring him back. Now he is 76 moons old, and I want to try and give him an interesting rest of his life. Plotting with him is encouraged if you have ideas and want a really mean pink cat to help you execute them. - Sincere would have been a young warrior when he got trapped in the cave so he could logically (barely) survive (i.e. hunt prey, defend himself, etc). - Being trapped in a dark cave for the majority of your life is bound to have both psychological and physiological effects. For Sincere this means: o He will likely avoid dark, closed in spaces. These kinds of spaces will likely lead to him having extreme fight or flight responses. o His circadian rhythm, or internal clock, will be all sorts of out of whack for a bit due to light exposure being a significant factor in it. Meaning he will have a distorted sense of time, be low-energy, and have a weakened digestive track, leading him to eat less for a bit. These will eventually go back to normal likely after a couple of moons o Physically, he will be frail and bit gangly looking. The caves were sometimes kind with food while at other times it was not. He never knew what he was going to eat next and when. This will lead to a subconscious habit of making sure the cats he loves have ate enough/are eating properly. He will be weak for a time until he can recover his strength. o His vision, due to being in the dark for so long, will make the world naturally seem darker and he will be sensitive to light. Luckily, this should not be permanent damage, and his vision will make a good recovery. o The dark has made him hypersensitive to sounds and sometimes he will imagine shadowy movements, leading him to be paranoid in darker environments. o Sincere might have a distorted sense of self and develop depression as a result of his extended isolation. ❉ Credits ❉ ⁀➷ - Song: The Cave by Mumford and Sons - Random image from google - All writing is done by yours truly. ┕━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┙
