All explanation on Crescent in the notes! I'm just jumping straight into the story this time. Story: Crescent moved among his cats, his usual cold, indifferent look on his face. They all gave some form of acknowledgement and Crescent returned them with a flick of the ear, a dip of the head, a flick of the tail or by saying the name of the cat. Crescent's cats, the cats of Ral'Makai, a dense forest in the center of Falcippia, led simple, rather peaceful lives. A group of strong cats was always patrolling the edges of the forest for dogs, or stray cats from one of the other kingdoms. They had plenty of food and the large, soft, grass covered clearing where they made their camp had wonderful views of the stars at night and amazing basking spots during the day. It was a far cry from being a slave in Malsaiya, that's for sure. Crescent closed his eyes as anger swamped him. Malsaiya was the kingdom of desert cats. They loved kidnapping cats from the other realms, Rilssiea, Taur'nuquian and Sim'silvia, to use as hostages, prisoners or, most common, slaves. Of course, Crescent's new kingdom was on the list too. And he was not going to let any of his cats get caught. "You look busy." A familiar voice snapped the huge black tom from his thoughts. He looked around to see a Cythera, the lithe, russet she-cat who had helped him escape Malsaiya. She blinked her green eyes at him friendly. "Just thinking." Crescent rumbled. "I keep expecting an attack from Malsaiya." He shot a worried glance towards the nursery. "Serila's kit's are easy grabs..." "You worry too much, Crescent." Cythera purred. "They haven't made any moves." "You know Malsaiya." Crescent grunted. "They like to strike at the most unexpected times." Cythera grunted agreement. "What's with the gruff look?" "I'm afraid that's the only face I have." "No it's not. I know you have a smile. A rather cute smile, if I do say so myself." Crescent arched a brow. "Are you feeling alright? You aren't usually this... playful." Cythera laughed and rubbed his shoulder. Crescent, shocked by this leaped away, eyes wide. "What are you--" "Right, yeah, forgot. You don't know affection." Cythera gave him an apologetic glance. Crescent flattened his ears a bit. "Sorry. It's just..." He broke off with a sigh. "Whenever a cat touched me, it usually meant pain. I'm still getting used to that not being the case." Cythera smiled at him gently. "Take your time. It hasn't been long since you escaped." Crescent sank onto his haunches and flicked his tail. "In a fight, it doesn't bother me. I know the enemies intentions. But among my own cats I just... freeze up..." "It's because you don't know what they are going to do." Cythera sat near him. "That's all." "Mm..." Any further conversation was cut off as one of the border patrols crashed into camp and sprinted for Crescent. "Crescent! Crescent!" The lead cat yowled. "Grasail! Slow down!" Crescent leaped to his paws and flicked his tail as Grasail and his four cats caught their breath. 'Is this the attack I was fearing?' He thought. "Dogs." Grasail blurted. "We have dogs coming in from the Malsaiya border!" He paused to catch his breath. "Oh." Crescent relaxed a bit. "Dogs? Easy." "Not just dogs. Cats too." "WHAT?!" Crescent stared at the blue grey tom before him in stunned horror. "Malsaiyan cats." Grasail finished. "So... I was right to expect an attack. But how in Silvaiya's name did they get the dogs on their side?!" Crescent lashed his tail. "What do we do?" Squeaked a smaller voice. Crescent looked down to see Grasail's trainee, Fulmera, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Cythera. You're the tactician. Work your magic." Crescent turned to his tactician expectantly. She gave him a look. "I need to survey the battle field first, Crescent." "Then lets go. Grasial, you and your patrol are going with me. Fulmera, you wont be. I want you to alert the camp." The white she-cat nodded and sped off. Crescent turned back to the patrol, a cold, determined look on his face. Squaring his broad shoulders he growled, "Let's go."
lakeheart This is the first cat I've made that really has no feelings for whatever he just killed. No remorse, no sadness, no nothing. This is Crescent, the leader of the cats of Ral'Makai (Ral--Ma--kye). He changed his name to Crescent after a dog gave him the big, crescent shaped scar over his left eye. This tom is NOT someone you want to cross, or get on the wrong side of. If the large size, nicked, notched ears, notched, dog tooth studded collar, cold amber eyes and numerous scars tell you nothing, go make him mad. This being said, he is extremely loyal to his cats and rules out of trust rather than fear. If you mess with his cats though... Let's just say it won't end well... for you. He usually attacks dogs that try to sneak into the camp, but every now and then, he'll fight cats. The scars over his right eye, the nicks and notches in his right ear, the scar across the bridge of his nose and the scars across his neck came from cats. So, originally, Crescent was supposed to be a lot darker and more evil. But then my inner writer took over and came up with the finished version of Crescent. And by 'my inner writer took over' I literally mean it took over. His whole personality just flowed from me without a single thought. (I love it when that happens.) So instead of him being dark and evil he turned into dark and mysterious. I love how his eyes came out!! I was not expecting that to come out as well as it did! But I love it, and may have just found out my new way of doing eyes. And the shading on this is rather good too. His scars are okay. The ones on his ears are not my favorite... the cat claw scars across his right eye are probably the best ones of the bunch. Over all, I'm rather happy with this one. Pronounciations (In order of appearance): Ral'Makai---(Ral-Ma-kye) Falcippia---(Faul-cipp-ia) Malsaiya--(Maul--say--a) Rilssiea---(Rill--sea--a) Taur'nuquian---(Taur--new--qui-an) Sim'silvia---(Sim--sill-via) Cytherea--(Cy-there-a) Serila---(Sir--illa) Grasail---(Gra--sail) Silvaiya---(Sill--vai--a) Fulmera--(Full-mera)
