dingofang, windclan warrior.

The question with Dingofang is really where to begin. One could start with her good traits, her loyalty, her fighting and hunting skills. Or, perhaps take the more general option, a good clan-mate, a fair worker, confident and compassionate to those around her. Otherwise, they could go toward her… lesser traits. Her obliviousness, nativity, her one-track mind, her ability to never quite realise that others are doing her wrong.

Let’s begin here, however, by thinking about how her clan-mates see her. An upbeat she-cat, Dingofang always seems to be hanging around camp, always ready to jump onto a patrol at the shortest notice and do what she can to best benefit the clan. Her loyalty is perhaps her strongest trait. WindClan mean everything to the little she-cat, and she does all she can through her skill set to help them thrive and prosper. A skilled fighter, thus her suffix, she’s fleet-footed and quick-thinking, moving on command and taking a situation she’s thrown into without hesitation. A loyal warrior, she does as she’s told, when she’s told, and follows the warrior code to the letter. She doesn’t question, she doesn’t argue. Dingofang is reliable at the key points in time, if what’s needed is a warrior who won’t think independently.

Perhaps that is really the first introduction to her lesser traits. As a warrior, she’s practical, she’s skilled, and she’s obedient. However, that’s about the extent of it. A very sheltered kit and apprentice, she doesn’t really have a grasp on the realities of the world, or that things are less black and white, and more a grey. She just thinks everything is fine and fair, and will stay that way. A naïve she-cat, she has a lot of growing to do, and a lot of innocence to lose. Tied in with that is her natural obliviousness. Dingofang doesn’t notice things. She’s not observant of situations, of emotions. The world goes past without her noticing.

As you might expect, it’s useless talking to Dingofang about emotions or secrets. She hasn’t noticed anything, nor will she ever notice. She’ll stare with wide eyes, and accept what’s said, and that’s that. One thing she can be credited for is she won’t go blurting secrets around. Why would she? Things go in one ear and out the other. She’s not really a cat who has a lot of empathy, despite being generally compassionate. Sure, no one will go hungry, no one will get hurt, she’ll pat shoulders and listen with full attention and help when asked. But if a cat needs empathy, or someone to be on their level, well, Dingofang is far from the cat for the job. She just can’t place herself in the paws of others, or inside their heads. She knows the world that she knows and that’s that. Sympathy? Sure, she’s full of that, and she does legitimately care that others are upset. Empathy is just something she struggles with when it comes down to it, however.

Now, Dingofang has, on top of everything else, a one-track mind. If you set her on a task or an idea, she’ll go from point to point without looking at anything else. Pair that with her lack of observation skills, and you’ve got a cat who really does miss a lot of important details. That isn’t the say she’s stubborn or determined though. If anything she’s the opposite. She is a follower above anything else, a good little soldier with not many real thoughts of her own. She’ll pretend to, and StarClan, she does know how to argue when she feels it’s what another cat wants of her. However, it’s never done with emotional attachment. Give her a thought, she’ll go with it, until someone tells her something different or she’s done. She’ll hop right to the next track and keep going. If there’s a rock in the way, she’ll go down a different path. Dingofang doesn’t look for complexity or deep and meaningful answers, almost… ever.

Far from a sensitive cat, Dingofang doesn’t take a lot to heart, and accepts her almost permanent state of confusion around some cats as just path of the course. She bickers when she thinks it’s what people what, she’ll laugh if others are even if she doesn’t get the joke. She’ll give cats prey or fix their bedding, even when they’ve made it clear she doesn’t have to. Dingofang likes being busy and around cats, even if she doesn’t get them. Her brother is probably the best example. Kiwitail in all his complexity is not a cat she understands. She loves him dearly, and would do anything for him, but, he confuses her with his snapping and bickering almost constantly. But, she’ll never let it bother her. She just picks him up and takes him to where he’s needed and makes sure she’s as safe as ever.

For all her good qualities as a clan cat, and as a decent clan member as well when jokes aren’t going straight over her head, Dingofang is a good cat. However, some of her… other qualities can leave her a little bit of a headache for some cats when they’re stuck handling the she-cat.

The birth of the small litter of kits came with an air of sadness. Regret and loss hung in the air, as the medicine cat bustled around Swallowtail’s form, checking on the two bundles and encouraging the queen along. However, all the she-cat could do was look at the two with sad eyes. It was a day she’d been dreaming about since she became a warrior. A day that Flamewhisker should have been there to see too. His absence was just as present at the other cats of the nursery, unspoken in the air as she studied the two.

Her attention went first to the ginger kit. As bright as her father’s pelt had been, she stood out, the bigger of the two kits by a longshot. Of course, she was the one Swallowtail attached to first. The memory of her father was painted across her pelt. Dingokit, the name the Flamewhisker had always talked about wanting to use ended up spoken against her ear, as she pulled the kit close. The other, the tom, he had her striped pelt, even if his lack of a tail matched that of his father. However, his plainness and small size had the she-cat immediately predicting a limited lifespan. Kiwikit, she decided on eventually, accepting the tiny tom, but, her energy immediately poured more into her bright-pelted daughter.

It set out the boundaries for the relationship almost immediately. Dingokit was the favoured child, the angel that could do no wrong. With her clueless stare and her happy personality, she made friends fast, and constantly had her mother fussing and worrying about her. Of course, she didn’t care at all that Swallowtail sheltered her from the other kits, from the other queens while Kiwikit got to do whatever he pleased. That was just how things were. The queen told her stories of Flamewhisker, of great warriors and good cats, of the black and white rightness of the world. Ideas that very quickly separated her from her less-sheltered brother.

Regardless of the difference of treatment, differences that Dingokit never saw, she loved the tiny tom with her whole heart, and everything he said, she agreed with or believed. Of course, much to the oblivious kit’s knowledge, most of this was done to get her in trouble. “Oh, Dinogkit! If you get all the way out of camp, the warriors will be really impressed with you!” Or, “Dingokit! Try eating this piece of moss and this berry! They’ll make you bigger.” Dingokit did as she was told by Kiwikit, and it always backfired on the tom. As far as Swallowtail was concerned, Dingokit could do no wrong.

Yet, somehow, despite Kiwikit’s growing frustration, and Dingokit’s continued obliviousness, the siblings remained… close enough. They became apprentices together, and shaped their nests to be side by side. Dingopaw found herself under the care guidance of her uncle, her father’s brother, who wanted her just as safe as Swallowtail. In return, her training was focused, but just as sheltered as he kithood. They played it safe, always talking about fighting safely, and hunting safely. They didn’t talk about the great moral issues of the world, of the warrior code. In turn, Dingopaw, while she excelled in her training, lacked the more important elements of independent thinking.

It didn’t help that Kiwipaw continued down a very different road. After the first time he yelled at her, well, Dingopaw shook it off, and wrote it off as another one of Kiwipaw’s confusing behaviours. However, it started a trend, bringing him his favourite food for his sunset meal each night, for helping keep his nest just as clean and tidy as her own. She encouraged cats to take Kiwipaw out on patrols she was supposed to be on, and did what others said were good things to do for a cat she loved. Eventually, that developed into bickering. She didn’t get the point, but, it seemed to make Kiwipaw happy, she, she bickered and fought with him about everything and anything, despite the confusion attached.

Eventually, they got their warrior names. Dingofang and Kiwitail. With their whole life stretched out before them, Dingofang is optimistic. The optimist to her brother’s pessimist.

None.