WILLOWBLAZE
AGE Forty eight moons
GENDER Tom
CLAN Windclan
RANK Deputy
SHORT DESCRIPTION An angular gray tomcat with sharp features.
APPEARANCE
Willowblaze is a long cat whose all edges, with sharp shoulders and bony hips that jut out from beneath his thin hide. His muzzle comes to a point and the bones in his face are strong. The grey cat's cheekbones are high up and make his eyes angle downward slightly. His paws are wide, something that would look awfully silly with his bony body if it not for the wicked claws each are tipped with.
PERSONALITY Brave, relentless, merciless; There is not much that scares Willowblaze. Maybe it has to do with the fact he thinks so much of himself, but either way, retreat really isn’t a word in his vocabulary. He will face overwhelming odds without as much as a second thought to his safety. The tom is relentless in battle, throwing himself at an opponent until sheer stamina lets him win. It’s not unusual for Willowblaze to be sporting some of the nastier injuries out of a group of cats, and he’s a frequent visitor to the medicine cat den. He just doesn’t seem to realize he’s as susceptible to injury as anyone else, and puts injuring his foes above everything else. Willowblaze is absolutely brutal in battle, and if a few more cats have died under his paws than was absolutely necessary, can anyone blame him? They were a threat to his clan!
Doting, protective, overbearing; No one can deny that Willowblaze loves his clan. He lives and breathes for the cats around him, and spends most of his time making sure that everyone under his protection is safe. Everything he does is motivated by Windclan, because they’re what matters most. He’s incredibly protective of his clanmembers and will do just about anything to keep them safe and happy…including hovering over their shoulders. Willowblaze is certainly overprotective, and for those he’s especially close to, he can be absolutely suffocating. Being told he’s not wanted is one of the few things that can truly get him down, though he tends to explain away anybody’s irritation with his hovering. He knows what’s best for them, after all.
Helpful, disarming; Helping other cats – even, occasionally, cats from other clans – is something Willowblaze absolutely loves. He can be almost charming in how he acts, like some sort of benevolent, fatherly figure that really only wants the best for everyone. However, the deputy has less some than pure reasons for helping others. Oh, yes, making someone feel better and giving them assistance delights him, but there’s a bit more to why he’ll give his assistance. While he won’t ask for favors, he gets a satisfaction out of knowing that other cats owe him, that they, in some respect, belong to him. It’s not uncommon for him to remind upset cats of how much he did for
them.
Romantic, wistful; Willowblaze likes handsome tomcats an awful lot. He’s a hopeless romantic and falls for boys fast and hard. It’s not uncommon to see him fawning over a Windclan warrior that’s been nice to him. But the deputy is far from vulgar or forceful, and shows an uncharacteristic shyness when approaching cute toms who have caught his eye. He’s as attentive in romance as he is any other of his relationships; perhaps even more. When without a mate, Willowblaze is dreamy and starry-eyed once he’s recovered from heartbreak. There’s some cute tom out there just for him, he knows it.
Vain, god complex, stubborn; Willowblaze is incredibly proud of his appearance, and spends a good amount of time cleaning himself. His vanity stems from the constant praise and lack of any criticism he received as an apprentice and his ascent in to deputyhood. He considers few his equals and none aside from his leader and Starclan his betters. Most of the time, Willowblaze thinks he can do no wrong, and often refuses to recognize others saying he’s made a mistake. If Willowblaze recognizes he’s made an error, it leads to a furious search to destroy whatever that mistake is. He can’t allow his failures to remain, because he’s supposed to be perfect. Trying to dissuade him from this belief is pretty much futile- the tom is a stubborn cat when it comes to those he doesn’t explicitly trust. Of course, if he has signed away his trust to someone, the tom will do just about anything for them.
Passionate, quick to judge, immoral; All of Willowblaze’s emotions are powerful, and he just seems to
feel a bit more than most other cats. His emotions don’t change illogically, though the intensity with which he feels them can certainly come off as mood swings. As a result of his passion for causes and cats and anything under the sun, he delivers snap judgement to those he regards as a threat to what he loves. Willowblaze tends to decide if he thinks something or someone is good or bad at a first meeting, and it’s difficult to get him to change his mind. Unfortunately, his passion and judgement drives him to do some…unsavory things. While he’s incredibly faithful and will sing Starclan’s praises, the deputy is alright with bending the warrior code a bit for a good enough reason. There are, after all, exceptions to every rule. Surely Starclan knows that!
HISTORY - Stormshade and Eaglefang were deeply in love and had been since they were apprentices. They had their first litter right out of apprenticeship, welcoming Elmkit and Willowkit into the clan at an age where most cats were still celebrating their newfound freedom.
Elmkit was a rebellious little tom who was often getting into trouble. In contrast, Willowkit was well behaved to the point of unnerving the older, more experienced queens in the nursery.
-One night, Elmkit decided to mount an escape attempt from the camp. Willowkit followed behind, trying to convince his brother to return to the camp. They made it as far as the cliffs before a misstep sent Elmkit tumbling down onto one of the ledges. The patrol sent to search for the kits found Willowkit curled beside the corpse of his brother, still trying to wake the other kit.
-Afterwards, things changed for Willowkit. It was determined that he would be apprenticed late - he had injured his legs climbing down to join his brother, and he needed time to mentally heal. His parents grew more doting and protective, his mother in particular. They would never have another litter, too shaken up from the loss of Elmkit.
- When he finally became Willowpaw, he was given to a gentle she-cat by the name of Falconheart. She was unable to have kits of her own and she was very affectionate with him, praising him often.
On a patrol, however, he was witness to her death - they were sent out with another mentor pair to chase off a young fox. The fox turned on her unexpectedly and killed her.
- Willowpaw was given time to recover from her death. When he was deemed fit to return to training, he found himself under the mentorship of Aspenfur. She was a ruthless cat, and pushed Willowpaw to be just as merciless. In an attempt to keep him on the path she chose, Aspenfur doled out praise quickly, while rarely discouraging the young cat. Willow easily takes after her in fierceness, and her attention even outside of lessons makes sure he's on that path even after graduation.
-Named Willowblaze after a spotty and long apprenticeship, he finds himself longing for more than border patrols and dragging back freshkill. He's given a purpose in Lizardpaw, a shy but determined cat that he mentors. She's quiet and he soon finds her a place in the clan; ambushing. Willowblaze watches with pride as she graduates and becomes Lizardshade.
- Her absence leaves a hole in Willowblaze's heart and he quickly requests another apprentice. The leader assigns him Jaypaw, a chipper, excited cat that reminds him of Elmkit. Things go smoothly until, on a border patrol with another mentor and senior apprentice, they run in to a group of Riverclan cats. Jaypaw is seriously injured, and Willowblaze is furious. He rips out the throat of one member of the patrol and attacks another. The enemy patrol is driven off.
- Storkstar retires not a moon after the run in with Riverclan and Ruststar is named leader. Willowblaze is thrilled to find himself asked to step in as deputy, and agrees immediately. Jaypaw recovers soon after and graduates.
- Skyclan arrives, and Willowblaze is furious. While all the clans give up territory, he feels that Windclan has lost the most. Extraordinarily wary of their new neighbors, Willowblaze remains on edge and eager to regain territory that his clan has lost, though hesitant to make any steps because of their claim that Starclan lead them here. Still, he's just waiting to capitalize on any of Skyclan's missteps.
OTHER what an awful cat just the worst
