Username: dragoness129
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HereFounder name: Nilashe [nil-leh-sheh]
Founder pronouns: She/Her
Founder special story:
All cats are born with their eyes closed. It wasn't until it came time for Nilashe to open hers that her mother noticed something was off. Nilashe opened her eyes, eager to discover more about the world she was born into. When she did, she only saw continual darkness. She opened and closed her eyelids several times, but it did not help. She moved to the scent of her mother to ask what was wrong.
"You have failed me," was the harsh reply she was given by her mother, who moved away from her, taking her brothers and sisters to a different part of the den. She scooted to follow the scent of her family, managing to continue getting a small amount of milk in the weeks that followed. Even she she was walking, she kept getting pushed away, her mother very clearly wanting nothing to do with the young kitten.
Once she was old enough to not need the milk, her mother left her to the woods. Luckily for Nilashe, an older cat took her in and taught her how to survive. She managed to hunt well enough to survive. She was not able to do well when it came to most plants that needed sight for identifying what they were. Some she could pick up on scent. She raised her speed as best she could while not being able to see where she was going. She found she was really good at fighting, using her instincts to help her dodge a lot of the blows. As she grew, she encountered a lot of wildlife that thought she would be easy prey. While she may have acquired a new scar or two from the fights, she managed to show them that she was not going to go down without a fight.
Even with everything she had gone through in her earlier years, Nilashe did not let that darken her spirits. She remained a caring cat, sometimes honest to a fault. While she could not see the look on her mentor's face when she said something that struck a cord, she could feel the emotion in the air. It made Nilashe smile. After many years, the older cat passed from old age. Nilahe was alone in the world once more.
By not having sight, Nilashe spent a lot of her time reflecting inward. She reasoned out the best chances she had of surviving, the best course of action should she run into specific enemies, and other such insights. She could imagine herself as a leader, telling other cats what needed to be done and sharing all she had learned. She let her sense of smell lead her to, as far as she could tell, a good place to start her own group. She vowed that she would not shun or reject any cat who was different. She would help them become successful, just as her own mentor had helped her. No cat should be left to the wilds just because they were born blind, or deaf, or missing a leg, or any other ailment.