tallflower

[Poizuun]

Name |

Tallkit. Tallpaw. Tallflower.

Gender |

She-cat.

Age |

Twenty-seven moons.

Rank |

Warrior.

Clan |

ForestClan. MeadowClan.

Beliefs |

Tallflower considers herself a happy medium of a believer in StarClan, but she's also realistic. She understands their existence and trusts them to guide the leaders and medicine cats down the right path. She never expects to hear from them and doesn't pray to them because of this idea, but she finds comfort that they are at least watching over her Clan and will expect that if something will someday concern her, StarClan will let her know.

Parents |

Firestorm: Father (NP)
Nightstream: Mother (NP)

Siblings |

Shadewhisker: Sister (NP)
Dappletail: Sister (NP)
Gingerfoot: Sister (NP)

Other Kin |

Brownpaw: Nephew (NP)
Hawkpaw: Niece (NP)
Blackpaw: Niece (NP)
Darkpaw: Nephew (NP)
Others that Tallflower doesn't know of
(all living in ForestClan, still)

Mate |

Oakheart (deceased)

Crush |

None yet.

Kits |

Died before birth.

Apprentice/Mentor |

None yet.

Appearance |

As her name denotes, Tallflower is a tall, lanky, and leggy cat. She is long in both directions with both long legs and a long spine that just extends into her long tail. Her frame is extremely light with only lean, wiry muscles covering her body. Her body is especially built for speed and agility with little to no strength. Her paws are somewhat wide, but not wide enough that she trips over them or that they get in the way, just slightly wider than average. Her head is round with tall ears and a somewhat blunted muzzle. Her eyes are also large and round and are a dark yellow color.

Most of Tallflower's coat is white. Her eyes are covered in a black mask that extend only to her ears. The back of her head is orange. There are two small orange smudges on her muzzle that match the larger smudges that are randomly placed on the rest of her body, one specifically on her left front paw. There is one large splotch on her back at the base of her tail, followed by a black smudge and then random smudges of black and orange covering the rest of her tail. Her whiskers are extremely long and white.

Personality |

Tallflower is rather... Damaged because of her previous experiences. She prefers to keep to herself, not wanting to get very close to another cat, especially not a tomcat. She never wants to face that kind of pain again. She would definitely prefer the company of she-cats in her certain state of mind. Unfortunately, Tallflower is actually extremely mopey and depressing to be around, choosing to stay silent over saying anything at all. However, if she has to say anything, she will say as little as possible. It takes a long time and a lot of effort on the other cat's part to get past the wall that she puts up to protect herself. If you can eventually get past this depressing exterior, Tallflower is actually a warm and inviting cat that cares a lot about those that she lets in.

Outside of just being friends or socially active with Tallflower, she is loyal to her Clan and those ranking higher than her. She just short of throws herself into her work as a warrior, however, she will never go patrolling or hunting by herself or with just another cat. She always needs at least two to go with her. She never wants to be left in a vulnerable position like she'd been in with Oakheart. It is probably her biggest fear. Tallflower has also developed a "safety complex" where she needs to constantly feel safe and be sure that there is no danger about. Tallflower actually borders on the edge of neurotic with avoiding extreme danger. Really she just wants to be the best warrior that she can be and nothing more. She has no ambitions of being deputy or leader. Tallflower doesn't even really want to mentor apprentices, for fear of attachment to the young cat and the possibility of an accident.

Skills |

Tallflower has always been a fast cat. Her light frame has always been a help in that regard, however, for the lightness, she traded in her bulk that would help her in fighting. She can be quickly overpowered by almost any adversary that is even remotely larger or more skilled than she is. Her speed helps her catch the speediest of prey, along with her light paws helping her sneak up on other prey much easier. However, her speed also has its drawbacks. She can only sprint in quick bursts, at extremely high speeds. With these extreme speeds, she uses a large majority of her energy and must rest for a while before she regains her energy again. She also excels at climbing trees, though she avoids the really tall or old trees. They're more dangerous than the shorter, healthy trees.

History |

Kithood

Tallflower was born to Firestorm and Nightstream of ForestClan along with her three sisters. Their mother had always been rather frail and died a few weeks after their birth from a disease that caught her when she was at her weakest. The siblings were nursed by other willing queens in the nursery and their father, though saddened by the loss of his beloved mate, spent a lot of time with his daughters, doting on them and loving them as much as he loved their mother. Though it can be common for parents to show even the slightest favor to a child, Firestorm was sure to give each of his daughters the same amounts of care and attention. The three sisters grew up as any normal kit, close and loving to each other and their father, knowing of his pain at the loss of the mother they never knew.

Even though the four kits never knew their mother, having their father and each other was enough to keep them happy. Another factor that helped them cope was a litter of tomkits that were born around the same time as them: Oak-kit, Bramblekit, and Elmkit. The seven kits were all automatically inseparable and constantly played together. While the kits grew up, Firestorm and the tomkits' parents always talked with each other about which of their kits would pair off with who. Whenever the kits would hear this discussion, they would always dismiss it, saying that they would only stay friends and it would be strange if they were to ever pair off.

Apprenticeship

The kits all received their apprentice names on the same night which gave them the opportunity to stick together. Every day they helped each other with chores and even practiced their training on each other, so none of them would be left behind. After a few moons into their training, it became apparent that feelings were forming between the sisters and brothers. Shadepaw and Bramblepaw were the first ones to admit it and eventually spent less time with the five other apprentices. At first the siblings were hurt by this, but as their trainings intensified to prepare them for their futures, they had less time to feel hurt and spent more time throwing themselves into training.

Tallpaw soon turned out to be the fastest of all of the apprentices, shining through with her speed, though she fell horribly behind in her fighting skills. She was always easily overpowered, even by her younger sister, Dapplepaw. Tallpaw slowly lost confidence in herself as she continuously lost sparring matches with the other apprentices. Her mentor eventually took her aside and began giving her extra lessons at hunting and tracking.

During their apprenticeships, tensions had been growing between ForestClan and a neighboring Clan called MoutainClan. A couple of warriors returned to camp one day, scratched up pretty badly, saying that they had been ambushed by a MountainClan patrol that had crossed their borders and were stealing prey from ForestClan. In the last few weeks of their being apprenticed, the tension came to a head in the form of a fast, heated battle between the Clans, in which all seven apprentices were involved. They all stayed together in order to help each other with their opponents, though Tallpaw was quickly overpowered by a MountainClan warrior. She cried for help and the first one to help her was Oakpaw, who drove off the opposing warrior.

Oakpaw helped Tallpaw to her feet and she thanked him for his help. It was in those moments that she saw something in his eyes that she didn't quite understand at the time. Something about it made her slightly self-conscious and before he could say anything to her, she ran to help her sisters.

Warriorhood

Soon after the battle had ended, the problems that the two Clans had been having were resolved and there was peace once more in the forest. It was shortly after the peace was restored that the apprentices earned their warrior names: Shadewhisker, Dappletail, Tallflower, Gingerfoot, Oakheart, Bramblefur, and Elmfang.

As soon as they could, Shadwhisker and Bramblefur became mates and were expecting their first litter. Soon after Dappletail and Nettlefang also paired off. Gingerfoot had no interest in a mate or having a family, instead devoting her time to her warrior duties and looking out for the Clan, which left Tallflower and Oakheart the only ones of the original seven that were still friends. And only friends. At first, Tallflower had no feelings except those of friendship towards Oakheart, but she could tell by the way that he would look at her that he had many more intense feelings for her and she would avoid conversations that may have lead to his confession. Though as time passed, she also began to feel something more than kinship towards the tom. After a few days, he cornered her and confessed his feelings for her, which she admitted she felt the same about him. The two announced their plans to their families that day, which received many congratulations and well-wishings.

One evening, Oakheart invited Tallflower on a patrol. Just the two of them. While they were walking the border between ForestClan and MountainClan, they were ambushed by a small group of rogues that had been living under both Clans' radars for seemingly quite some time. Initially they were only going to kill Oakheart and steal Tallflower in order to breed with her and strengthen their group to create stronger numbers and eventually start a Clan of their own. They were infuriated, however, when she fought back. They decided to kill both warriors for the rejection. A large tom quickly overpowered Tallflower, pressing a paw to her throat. Oakheart was able to fight back for a few moments until he was also taken down. He begged for the rogues to let Tallflower go and he would let them do what they wanted with him and he wouldn't fight back, so long as Snowfoot was allowed to return back to camp, safely.

The rogues agreed and quickly slew Oakheart right in front of Tallflower. She struggled beneath the large tom's paws and after a few moments, he let her up. She stood in disbelief, looking at Oakheart's blank gaze until the rogues began to close in. She quickly ran back to camp, her mind unable to erase the image of her beloved, dead.

She spent the next few days in the warriors den, unable to force herself out and to do her duties like nothing was wrong. Thoughts of killing herself were often playing across her mind. After the fifth day, she went to the medicine cat, complaining that she wasn't feeling well. As the medicine cat looked her over, she found out that she was pregnant with Oakheart's kits. Though her heart still ached with the loss of Oakheart, the prospect of kits allowed her hope to be restored and give her new reasons to live. Her lost mate would live on in these kits and she would care for them with all of the love she was unable to share with him. Her happiness was cut short as half of the Clan was seceding with Cedarclaw. Her decision to leave took only a few moments, as she realized she would never be able to move on from her loss if she was in the place where she and Oakheart grew up and every place she looked she was reminded of him.

The journey was long and hard, even for those cats not providing for new lives not even born. Food was not always plentiful and she barely got enough to calm her hunger. Two weeks into the journey, after yet another day of almost no food, Tallflower awoke with a heavy pain in her stomach and blood all around her. An older, experienced she-cat quickly diagnosed the pain and blood with the loss of her kits. Just when Tallflower was beginning to become hopeful in her new life with her kits, they were taken from her. The she-cat helped her heal and they moved on.

The rest of the journey was a blur for her and many times she felt she could no longer move, her emotional injuries too much to bear. Her Clanmates stood by her, though, not letting her give up so easily. They kept her going and tried to keep her spirits up, though she was emotionally shredded. When they reached the new territory, Tallflower tried to slink away from her Clanmates and retreat into herself in order to mend her broken heart on her own, though the cats wouldn't let her. They stuck by her, trying to keep her happy, and eventually she began putting on a mask of happiness to make them feel better. After enough time, she couldn't wake up without putting on the mask and now doesn't know what to do without it.