HERONSTRIKE
AGE 50 moons
GENDER tom
CLAN riverclan
RANK deputy
SHORT DESCRIPTION a large lynx pointed tom with blue eyes
APPEARANCE If you asked Heronstrike to describe himself, he wouldn't be able to pass up calling himself
striking. Irritating name puns aside, it isn't a bad description. He towers over most cats with his long, almost graceful legs and can squash them too with his broad paws and massive shoulders. There's just one problem. Heronstrike looks, well, unfinished. He has those powerful shoulders and a barrel chest to back them up, but it's like the rest of his body never go the memo that he was supposed to be a bulky cat. He's a skeleton king among tigers, eye catching if only because of how wrong and unnatural he looks. His hips ride high and sharp out of his pelt and if one was to run a hand down his back, the knobs of his spine would make the experience quite unpleasant.
He's quite handsome in the face, though. His eyes are deep and blue, usually set in a condescending expression. One ear has a slight notch in it from a fight with a shadowclanner and the same fight gave a long scar running diagonal across his face - but he gave the guy worse. Nearly drowned him, Heronstrike will brag. More scars run down his sides and chest, including a large, noticeable one across his hips from his apprenticeship. Sometimes, he jokes that he should have been named Heronscar but that it was too close to Heronstar and everyone got confused.
PERSONALITY Heronstrike is not a nice cat. It's easy to mistake him for one, though.
laid back, humorous; He's laid-back to the point of appearing lazy. If he's got free time, expect to see him in a warm spot in the camp. Preferably sprawled out with some attractive company. Very little bothers Heronstrike and he mostly responds to insults with a wide yawn or a chuckle. He's a cat of good humor and there's nothing he loves more than a good joke to go along with his afternoon nap. He especially loves puns - which doesn't fare well for the new warriors to pass through his paws should he become Heronstar someday. The queens will have to be after him to make sure that he doesn't give their children any punny names.
affable, paternal, casual; He is quite friendly to most cats, even those outside of the clan. He greets everyone around him with an air of familiarity and casual friendliness, as if he has known them forever. Every warrior is his best friend and every apprentice is his own. Kits? They might as well belong to him with how he fusses over the 'little brothers and sisters and other siblings.' He is a cat that freely dispenses wisdom to those younger than him and he regards the young of the clan as those to be protected. One of the few things to truly enrage him is the abuse of apprentices and kits.
protective, loyal, ambitious; Heronstrike is an extremely loyal cat. That, however, doesn't quite describe him. It would be better to say he is obsessed with his clanmates and their safety. He believes that he was put on this planet for a divine mission - to protect and guide his clan. To him, betraying the clan that he was born to is anathema. Any cat that does so is beyond saving and must be put to death for their own good and the good of the clan. The clan is more then a group of cats to him - it is family, duty, and his responsibility. As such, he strives for the rank of leader someday - he believes that it is from this lofty rank he will best be able to protect the clan.
dogged, patient, scheming; Heronstrike is an extremely patient cat. He tends to work off of long term plans that he prefers to keep to himself or to one, extremely well trusted confidant - and his plans generally take moons to see fulfillment. He is steady in pursuit of his goals and simply does not go up - when Heronstrike has a plan or a goal, he will pursue it to the ends of the earth. He will generally go to any end to see his goals fulfilled, short of sacrificing his clanmates - but any other cat is perfectly expendable in his eyes. Including himself.
religious, zealot; Heronstrike is absolutely devoted to Starclan - to a frankly terrifying point. His devotion to the ancestors is whole, and he seeks to please them in his every action. Some cats don't please Starclan. Those cats
gotta go. Once upon a time, Heronstrike considered walking the path of the medicine cat to be closer to his ancestors - but his love for fighting kept him firmly on the path of a warrior. Still, he feels close to Starclan and longs for the chance to speak to them. This is part of his driving ambition to become a leader, as he believes that this will finally give him the chance to do so.
bigot, warmonger; Heronstrike has no love for those outside of the clans, as friendly and casual as he may act with them. Loners must conform and assimilate or be chased away. The other clans are necessary, but he is sure that Riverclan is favored in the eyes of the ancestors - especially over those newcomers, Skyclan. Heronstrike craves violence between the clans and his favorite excuse is half-clan cats - he firmly believes that any half-clan cat with Riverclan blood belongs to Riverclan. He will happily go to war over them, believing that they will only be truly happy safe in Riverclan's arms.
domineering, malicious; Heronstrike adores throwing his weight around. While he is as meek as a lamb around his clanmates, he takes on a considerably more sinister note around those outside of his clan. He enjoys looming, pushing, and generally throwing his weight around. He also enjoys fighting - nothing really gets his blood going like fighting. He is quite friendly in the fray, throwing around grins and shouting out compliments to his enemies.
romantic, flirty; Perhaps surprising considering his behavior, Heronstrike is a true romantic. He often chases away would be mates with his bigotry and zealotry, but even a short courtship can be a true whirlwind romance. He is attracted to toms, she-cats and everyone else - if someone is attractive or just plain interesting, Heronstrike is likely to flirt with them. Unfortunately, his manner of flirting is slightly crass - he's likely to call out flirts from a lounging position in the camp - "Hey, sugartail, nice job on the hunting patrol today!" If someone responds badly, he's always apologetic, but if they respond well, he just comes up with more and more absurd nicknames. His current best is 'cutiebuns' for Swallowfrost.
HISTORY Heronkit was born in a litter of two, alongside a little seal pointed tabby that their mother dubbed Minnowkit. She was much smaller than him, but by the time they were walking well had already asserted herself as the boss. Their mother, Salmonsplash, never announced the name of their father - there were some suspicious clanmembers, though. Elders gossiped that it must have been a loner who had been poaching from the clan for moons, a crafty old tom that they just referred to as Thief. Salmonsplash denied it all.
Minnowkit grew into a horrible bully. She was a vain and greedy little kit who demanded the best of everything, from food to sleeping places. She quickly enlisted her brother to aid her in terrorizing the nursery. Their mother did nothing to stop this behavior, believing it would make them better warriors in the long run. It really just spoiled them, as the pair rapidly became used to sleeping in a pile in the best sunning spots and having the fattest fish.
When Heronkit became Heronpaw, he was assigned to Vultureclaw - one of the suspects of his parentage. Vultureclaw was horrified to see how much of a rude little bully the kit had become, and quickly set to whipping him into shape. He soon found that the little brute wasn't just used to throwing his muscle around - he had learned over his six moons how to outwit his sister to get what he wanted. Vultureclaw focused on that aspect of the apprentice rather than his size, shaping that into the warrior he wanted.
Despite enjoying warrior training, however, Heronpaw found himself drawn to the medicine cat den. He wasn't interested in healing, but he was fascinated with starclan. He was constantly asking questions, and when his mother unexpectedly fell ill he only became more obsessed with the stars. Her death spurred his obsession with the starry clan, and he quickly became fanatical. Vultureclaw encouraged his obsession, using it as a way to ensure his loyalty to Riverclan.
Meanwhile, Thief had become an increasing problem for the clan. When the loner became bold enough to venture further from the borders and in fact sleep on Riverclan territory, Heronpaw hatched a plan and brought it to the leader. They would set up a false cache and ambush the loner when he went to retrieve it. The plan worked, but the loner was unfortunately killed by Minnowpaw when he tried to escape through a river. No one mourned him, and both apprentices received their names that night - Minnowmask and Heronstrike.
Heronstrike received his first apprentice not long after. Smokepaw was a shy little she-cat who would have rather been medicine cat than a warrior. He capitalizes on that, teaching her that she didn't need to be a medicine cat to have a tight bond with starclan or to help her clan mates. She leaves his care nearly as devout as he is, fanatical in her loyalty to the clan. She is named Smokeheart.
It was during this mentoring that he became interested in Maplepool. She was a pretty calico and he was immediately taken with her. He set too wooing her immediately and they became mates after a scarce few moons. They had a single kit - Pikekit. It wasn't long after Pikekit was born, however, that Maplepool became more and more disturbed with how Heronstrike was mentoring Smokepaw and she eventually leaves him.
He does not mourn her when she is killed by a fox a few moons later. He regards it as an act of starclan, killing the nonbelievers. Pikekit becomes very close to her father and aunt, her only living family members.
He is given another apprentice, Shellpaw, who shared the nursery with Pikepaw. Shellpaw is a withdrawn and sullen tom. Still, Heronstrike is faithful that he will be able to turn the apprentice into a dutiful member of the clan. He doesn't come out quite as perfect as Smokeheart. Heronstrike would have liked to keep him for another moon or two, but he's still satisfied that Shellpelt is a loyal clanmate. Pikefang, on the other hand, is an even greater success than Smokeheart and he is very proud of his daughter.
He is announced deputy for his great skill in training apprentices, his loyalty to his clan and his skill in battle. He accepts the position proudly.
Shortly afterwards, he and Swallowfrost engage each other. The relationship isn't serious, and Swallowfrost is just as enraged as he is overjoyed when she has two kits. Dovekit is deaf, however, and Swallowfrost rejects the two kits. Heronstrike takes them himself and they are nursed by clan queens. Vultureclaw dies of a wasting disease just as the pair leave the nursery.
OTHER anything else?
