stoneheart;;

[rixyfish]

s t o n e.heart;

Name |
Stoneheart

Gender |
Tom

Age |
40 moons

Rank |
Loner

Clan |
None

Beliefs|
Stoneheart was raised by two warriors, both extremely loyal to StarClan. They taught him about StarClan from an early age. The stories always fascinated him, stories of cats that walked on the stars and watched over them. He’s seen first-hand that StarClan does /not/ have full control over the fates of the cats they watch over. Cats die of sickness and disease, sometimes in battle, and then they join their ancestors to rest in the sky. He believes StarClan would do all they could to stop something if it were going to hurt the Clans. The things they stay out of are the ones you can learn from, and nothing happens without a reason.

Parents |
Both long gone.
Mother; Finchtail
Father; Grayfoot

Siblings |
One brother, Blackstorm, who stayed in ForestClan

Mate |
Once, a she-cat named Sandclaw. She died before they made it to the new territory.

Crush |
None

Kits |
All died before they were born, un-named

Apprentice |
None now; mentored Mouseface while on the journey when she was an apprentice

Appearance |
Stoneheart is a fairly strong, well-built cat. He’s a steel-gray tabby marked with thick black stripes down his back, fading to lighter and thinner stripes on his legs, head, and black-tipped tail. His fur is short and smooth, usually groomed clean and soft. Though he’s no longer in a Clan, he keeps up his training and fitness on his own, hunting for himself respectfully outside of Clan territory and practicing his old battle skills when he gets a chance by himself. His power is in his forelegs; he relies on his claws and hits hard with his paws. Though he’s not fat, as no forest cat should be, but he’s stocky and pretty heavy. He’s definitely not a fight-or-flight cat, as he can’t run very fast. He uses his weight to his advantage when he needs to, easily knocking cats over or overpowering them, though sometimes the smaller and quicker ones get the best of him.

Personality |
Stoneheart’s extremely loyal. When he was still in a Clan, he always put them before himself and was willing to help anyone who needed it. He’s not fierce or vicious, though he is brave and won’t easily back down, even if he does feel intimidated. He’s pretty social and had a lot of good friends in ForestClan. He had a hard time deciding whether or not he wanted to leave, but he’s always been interested in adventure and new places. Plus, Sandclaw was going, and he had recently taken a liking to her.
Stoneheart’s got a real big heart and is constantly finding that new cats have worked their way into it. His deeply rooted loyalty was given an early start by his two elderly parents, loyal to each other and to their kits. He always knew his parents were old, and their love for each other touched his heart. He promised himself he would always take care of them, until they left to join their ancestors in StarClan. Growing up around so much kindness and love did its number on him, sculpting him into the big-hearted cat he is today. His loyalty seems to have no limits, no exceptions. Once someone's proved themself to him, he won't turn their back on them even if everyone else has.

Skills |
When it comes to fighting, Stoneheart targets the bigger enemies first. He’s fairly large himself and can usually bring them down. He tries to avoid fighting small, agile cats. That’s when his size becomes a disadvantage and usually their quick blows and maneuvers get to him. He’s not fast and has a hard time keeping up with those who are.
Swimming comes easily to Stoneheart. He doesn’t particularly like or dislike it, but his powerful legs allow him to better fight currents and he can swim easily for quite some time before growing tired.
His ability to hunt depends on the environment. In places where the trees are thick and there are a lot of crunchy leaves or brittle sticks scattered around his paws, it can be hard for him to stay quiet and chase down prey. He does most of his hunting where there are fewer trees and less stuff to step on.

History |
Stoneheart was born to two older warriors in ForestClan with one brother. His parents got started late in their lives, both nearing elderhood when he and Black-kit were born.
He spent his days as a kit playing and exploring. Often, he would leave the camp to find adventure and his father would have to drag him back to a panicked mother. She scolded him every time he wandered off, but he never stopped until he became an apprentice. One he was given a mentor, he decided it was time to get serious about becoming a warrior. He listened intently to everything his mentor had to say and did his best to get everything down perfectly. He only complained to his fellow apprentices about the boring tasks, never to the warriors or other older cats.
Even though he was trying hard to become a great warrior, young Stonepaw still had the curiosity of a kit. When he had any free time, and even once or twice while on patrol, he would slip away from the other cats to explore. By the time he was ready to become a warrior, he knew the territory as well as he knew his own brother—who was, in fact, practically his opposite.
Stoneheart and Sandclaw met on his first night in the warriors den. He remembered her vaguely from around camp and the short amount of time that they were apprentices together, but he had never really spoken to her before about anything other than Clan business. They grew close over the next moon, finding that they had a lot of interests and opinions in common. What really won over Stoneheart, though, was Sandclaw’s love of adventure. They discovered that the reason they never saw each other much in those three moons that they should have been working together as apprentices was that she, too, was frequently out of camp exploring.
Stoneheart was just 22 moons when he heard that some of his Clanmates were leaving. He wanted badly to go with them, but he knew his brother would never agree to leave and both of his parents were too old, probably too weak. Sandclaw came to him one day and told him she wanted to go with the cats that were leaving; this was just the opportunity they needed to see new places. “There’s so much out there,” she told him, “and we haven’t even scratched the surface.” His mother died that same night. He was feeling seriously conflicted and decided he needed to talk to Grayfoot and Blackstorm. Grayfoot told him to go for it and that, once he made it to StarClan, he’d be watching over both of his sons.
"Go for it," his brother told him after hearing what their father had to say. "I'll see you again someday." That settled it for Stoneheart.
They were about three moons into the journey when they found out Sandclaw was going to have kits. Both she and Stoneheart had mixed emotions about this; kits were a blessing, but they would have to put off their plans to see as much of the world as two cats could until the kits were old enough.
Shortly after finding out that they had kits on the way, Sandclaw and Stoneheart took in the now-orphaned Mousekit. She started to really look up to them and was even a little excited about the thought of new kits on the way.
The kits were definitely doing a number on the she-cat. When they were passing through an area where prey was practically absent, she just couldn’t support her own life plus those of who-knows-how many kits. She died before the journey was over.
Sandclaw's death did quite a number on Stoneheart for several weeks. He realized quickly, though, that he had Mousepaw to look after now and, if he let her see how he felt, she might worry or become upset, too. So he tried to shake it off, at least until they reached the new territory.
When the cats finally picked a place to settle, Stoneheart realized that they didn’t intend to stay together. It pained him to see so many friends being split up, and he was horrified at the formation of PineClan. Though his best friend and kits were now gone, he still had his mind set on adventure. It didn’t take him very long to make a decision on which Clan to join: he wouldn’t. For the first few nights he stayed at the old ranch, then on the fourth day in the new territory he took some time to familiarize himself with where each Clan was, where its boundaries were, and what territory had been left unclaimed. He went on his first real adventure after just a week and returned almost a whole moon later. Things had changed since he left, he discovered; the Clans were larger, and some of the boundaries had been altered a little. He decided to wait a while before he left again.
Sometimes Stoneheart thinks he should give up his dream and join one of the Clans. Life might be easier that way, and he could quickly fall back into his old warrior routine. It’s something he’s seriously considering.