Firefang;; Courage doesn't always roar

[glowlynose]

Firefang

Name |
Flare Firefang

Gender |
Tom

Age |
Thirty-seven moons

Rank |
Warrior

Clan |
PineClan

Beliefs|
Firefang has a very minimal level of faith in StarClan. Essentially, he believes in StarClan's existence. He does send up the occasional prayer of thanks to the sky, but that is about all he does. He does not believe that StarClan have any powers or even that they can walk in a cat's dreams, and that superstition about StarClan sending signs is complete hogwash. After all, StarClan is made up of a bunch of dead cats who have made their way there. He believes that a dead cat cannot communicate with a living cat in any way.

Parents |
Stripes, father, NP; Raindrop, mother, NP

Siblings |
Briartail, DC; Snowy, NP

Other Kin |
Not played.

Mate |
Not yet

Crush |
Not yet

Kits |
Not yet

Apprentice/Mentor |
Not yet

Appearance |
Firefang has a very large, muscular build. He couldn't be further away from his brother in this respect even if he tried to. He stands about a half a head taller than most toms. His shoulders are broad with well-toned, frequently used muscle, and his hind legs are quite muscular as well. Every time he moves the raw power that he possesses is obvious.

Like his brother, he has a classic tabby pelt. That is the only physical similarity between them. His base coat is a pale ginger, and orange stripes overlay that. He always keeps his pelt well-groomed so that it shines in the sun. His ears are a darker orange than his tabby stripes are. There is an especially pale spot on the tip of his tail that is devoid of stripes.

His eyes are the most interesting feature about him. They are a piercing green for the majority of the iris. His pupils are ringed in a deeper green color, and his eyes have several metallic-looking golden flecks in them.

Personality |
Firefang is, to put it in the simplest terms, one of those socially awkward, more silent types. He tends to sort of keep to himself. It's been really difficult for him to adjust to clan life, and even after an entire leafbare, he still is unsure of himself when faced with starting an actual conversation. If somebody comes up to him and tries to talk to him, he will make conversation, it's just going up and talking to somebody that he has troubles with.

Firefang has devoted his entire life to making sure that he does not end up like his father did. He saw what it did to his family, and he doesn't want that to happen to any other cat. He strives to live a virtuous life and help others from falling into the same abusive trap that his father did. If he sees an injustice, despite his fear of starting conversations, he will do everything within his power to see that it comes to a stop. He's not afraid of standing up for somebody else, just talking to them, you see.

Firefang is a very stubborn tom. This would come as a surprise to most of his clanmates, since he rarely says anything, but he can be incredibly pigheaded sometimes. This especially happens in circumstances when he feels that the other party is not getting the message. He tends to resort to mild violence in these cases. Of course, he tries not to think about it, since it's exactly like what his father would have done. He sees it as the one part of his father that he will always, unfortunately, carry with him.

Firefang's protective impulses have never really gone away, and now that he's safe in the clan, they can come out in full force. His only problem is finding somebody to protect. For now, he has settled on protecting his clan, but if he ever got an apprentice, he would do whatever it took to protect them. He'll never forget how he just stood by and let his father beat his siblings, and he's sworn to himself never to let something like that happen if he had a say in it. With his father gone, he can let himself be brave again, and he has.

Firefang only has two fears, talking to people and turning up like his father. His fear of talking mostly springs from his belief that if he lets somebody get to know him, they'll find out about his father. Then, once they know about his father, they won't see him as himself anymore, they'll see his father instead. His mind is in a constant state of war with his desire to become more a part of the clan and his fear of becoming close to others again. He also fears losing them once he gets to know them. After all, he's lost every other cat he's ever known.

Skills |
By virtue of his size and strength, Firefang is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He is also strangely good at giving advice, and he would make an excellent mentor for any young cat who could deal with him.

Like the rest of his clan, Firefang is not incredibly swift or agile. He tends to rely more on his brute strength in battle, which works well for him seeing as how he has so much of it.

History |

Kithood
Firefang was born to a pair of friendly loners named Stripes and Raindrop, and he was the largest in the litter. Surprise, surprise, eh? He grew quite quickly for a little kit. Since his brother, Briar, was so small, he tended to hang out with his sister more often. They formed a very close bond early on, and he felt very protective of her.

His father worked hard to instill a sense of pride and honor in him from the time he was able to comprehend such concepts. Flare spent all of his time either playing with his sister or learning how to be a respectable tomcat from his father. Little Briar rarely crossed his mind, and he felt little guilt for it.

The Death of Mother
As soon as the kits were ready to handle a long journey, Stripes and Raindrop took their kits to a new territory. It took a longer time to get ready because Briar was too weak to travel. Flare found himself resenting his brother for it even though they were kin. By the time they reached their new forest home, Flare had managed to let his anger swell to such a point that he would get physically sick every time he looked at his brother.

A few moons after they had arrived, Raindrop got sick. Briar started being away from home longer and longer. Flare rarely associated with his smaller, inept brother, but sometimes he found a strange warmth toward him when he brought home herbs for their mother. At least he was trying to help, which was definitely more than Stripes was doing. Stripes spent all of his time with Raindrop and Flare got jealous of that. There was no time for the lessons anymore, so he spent entire days with his sister. When his mother finally died, things quite literally exploded in the family.

Stripes went certifiably insane. He would wallow by himself for days at a time. Every time Flare's brother or sister crossed his path, he would beat up on them. Flare got so sick of it that sometimes he would lash out in defense of his siblings. It was about this time that Flare realized that he was a favorite of his father's; he never got beat upon.

The period after his mother's death was a time of confusion for young Flare. His father was contradicting everything he had ever taught him, and it scared him. Eventually he stopped standing up for his siblings and just let Stripes shred their pelts. He was so disgusted with himself that he almost ran away several times. The only thing that kept him around was his sister, who would come to him for comfort after Stripes had had his ways with her.

Briar Runs Away/ The Death of Stripes
One day Flare and his sister went out hunting. Briar had not been home for a few days, so the hunting was left to them. When they returned they found Stripes dead outside his den. Flare found himself feeling something he'd never felt before: relief. The monster was gone, and now he could take care of his sister and brother. After searching for Briar for a quarter-moon he finally found the very faint scent leading away from their home. He gave up the search and assumed that Briar would be happier wherever he was.

Flare and his sister never buried their father. They left him out as food for the crows and scavenging birds, then left. They never looked back.

While the two siblings were out journeying through the countryside a tragic thing happened. I will not describe the whole gruesome sequence of events, but in short the siblings joined up with a group of rogues and Snowy, Flare's sister, was killed in a battle. Flare was distraught and left the group of rogues, feeling as powerless as he had when Stripes would claw his siblings.

Flare Finds the Clan
Flare had been wandering aimlessly for moons with no purpose and feeling utterly powerless when he quite literally stumbled across PineClan's camp. A light flicked on inside his head for the first time since Stripes's death. Those cats looked so incredibly powerful, so sure of their purpose. It was exactly what he had been looking for, and he joined up before any cat could say "Mouse."