Post by Tsughi on Dec 16, 2014 17:41:45 GMT -5
M o r n i n g l i g h t
need to know
» clan: Thunderclan
» age: 40
» gender: Female
» rank: Deputy
» status: Healthy
» mentor/apprentice: Wasp-paw
» description: a soft-ginger tabby she-cat with a white muzzle.[/ul]
deeper
Lithe, but by no means is she scrawny, Morninglight, at first glance, is an elegant queen. Her light ginger colored pelt gives her a delicate, almost soft, appearance that is accented by the gradual bloom of white around her mouth. The edges of her figure are rounded into sloping curves that soothe the eye, and her silhouette suggests a weaker physique. Her fur has a pleasant fluff and her ears have a healthy tuft of inner ear fur to them as well. She exudes the epitome of a pretty kittypet... until she moves.
Her noticeably less bulky muscles still ripple her pelt like any other warrior who has trained for battle, and her graceful, dainty legs, on another glance, have powerful haunches that promise a healthy kick or leap. She walks like a predator, her footsteps always soft, but her gait is powerful and ominously threatening. Her jade green eyes--that looked placid just a moment ago, as she seemed too look off in the distance--snap back onto you with a cold calculating glare that begs you to test her temper. If one would look at her longer than just a passing glance, it is clear that she is not some docile she-cat kittypet and her long claws, that she keeps rather sharp, have a lackluster gleam to them as she coyly grooms her paw.
The appearance of Morninglight is one that invites you, almost begs you to sweep her off her paws, but her every action and look in her eyes dares you to just try it.
» personality:
Habitual--Vigorous--Passionate--Ambitious--Lively--Perfectionist--Responsive--Adaptive
If a cat only had one hour to meet with Morninglight and describe their first impression of her, more than likely the first word that they would use to describe her personality is brutal. Not in the sense that Morninglight is particularly harsh, but that while her appearance is so disarming while every ounce of her personality makes up for it in being so definite and passionate that it's almost like you went to smell a flower but the flower punched you right across the nozzle instead. Some could also say that her personality is so overbearing that she can be hard to stand, but Morninglight doesn't seem to mind in the least bit, or at least not in anyway that shows.
It's almost a running joke among the apprentices that they are all glad that they didn't get stuck with her because they don't believe they could have performed well under her at all. Morninglight is extremely critical of herself, and practically the entire clan knows this as a fact. Whenever she makes a mistake, she takes it as an affront on her soul and does everything in her power to make it alright again, and then some. This could be in the form of passionate apologies and gifts of the best moss and feathers she could find, for the cat that she wronged, or it could be in the form of staying up night after night of watching the border herself after letting just one stray stumble across on her watch. Morninglight is her biggest enemy and picks apart her worst parts to brood over them before tirelessly working to rectify them. On one hand, it's a brilliant trait for a warrior to have as she is in a constant state of improvement, but on the other hand it's clearly driven a rift between her and her own clan as most don't think of her as approachable or relatable.
The truth is, Morninglight is just passionate about everything she does, and if you truly care about something, why not learn how to do it right? This attitude extends blindly to the protection of her clanmates, for while she is not exactly the most personable or the most comforting, she cares deeply for them. Her clan is her life, and she's more than okay with getting a sleepless night in the name of improvement to be able to defend her home as best as she is able. They are her family and she is prepared to ultimately do anything for them, even the ones who avoid talking to her because they are afraid she will start criticizing them despite her only being a critic to herself. She understands that not every cat is going to hold themselves to the unreasonably high standards she holds herself to, and that's okay. She knows she is being slightly unreasonable with herself, and has even had her moons of soul searching to learn if this is truly what she wanted to do with her life. That isn't to say she thinks lowly of her clanmates, or believes they can do no wrong either. Morninglight is perfectly able to recognize the level at which a cat holds themselves to and all she does is slowly nudge that bar upwards until the cat is at the best that they can be, which can be on a myriad of different levels.
It would be a lie to say that she has a maternal nature, because she definitely will not coddle anyone within any sense of the word, but she does have a heart. When cats tell her about their problems, her thought process is more along the lines of "I can fix it" than just listening. Her need to find a solution can set most cats off, especially if it's just something they wanted to discuss and didn't need fixing in the first place, but she means well. It's simply that Morninglight has a solution orientated mind. It's difficult for her to settle into anything, and she feels like she's sitting on her paws when her help is denied or futile. All she really does is just want to help make everything alright in the world and as it should be.
As it is, it makes Morninglight perfect for her role as deputy. It's the position for all which she ever strived for in life. She's happily mated to her job and to her that's all the "mate" she'll ever need.
» background:
Morninglight has had an akward life ever since she was kitted. Due to complications in the birthing process, when Morningkit greeted the world her mother said farewell. Brindlecloud was already sick when she had given birth to her, and it's a miracle that Morningkit herself was born relatively healthy, but she never had the pleasure of really knowing her mother. Her father, too, was out of the picture as he had died in the moons during Brindlecloud's pregnancy. Being devoid of a family to take care of her, she was tucked into a litter of moons older kits whose mother, Milkflower, was willing to take her in. Being obviously too young for the litter, they ignored her at most times, even when she had started to open her eyes, to walk, and to speak. She was too little for their games, and they were out of the nursery before she even knew it. It was okay, though. She only felt a minute glimmer of sadness when they left; she never felt like she belonged with them anyway. Milkflower stayed with her in the nursery, but as much as Morningkit had appreciated the queen, she never felt like the she-cat was her mother.
Instead, Morningkit seemed to attach herself to a certain she-cat who always seemed to be not very far from the nursery. She became closer to her aunt, Fawnheart, than she had her adoptive mother. Whenever she became old enough to venture out of the nursery, Morningkit actively sought out the warrior. It wasn't long till they were very close, and who could blame Fawnheart for that, given the she-cat's past with her own kits? Of course, becoming close to Fawnheart meant that Morningkit inevitably would see a lot more of Foxstar, but the little kit never quite could get over the fact that Fawnheart's mate was the clan leader. When she was younger, and didn't really realize his importance, she did play with him or maybe had climbed over him to bat at his ear, but the closer she became to apprentice age the less the did that and the more she kind of looked at him with a sort of awe. In the times she did get over that starstruck feeling, she felt obligated to show him how great she would be as a warrior- "Foxstar, look I've been practicing my hunting crouch just like an apprentice!" Apparently, he saw something in her harmless kitten eagerness to please. At her apprentice ceremony, she was floored with the fact that Foxstar named himself as her mentor.
Morningpaw worked relentlessly as though she had something to prove. She absolutely couldn't let Foxstar down after he had chosen her. Developing a particularly bad habit in comparing herself to other apprentices, she strived to be the absolute best. She never got tired of practice, because she knew that perfection was to follow good and long practice; and she took every suggestion or pointed-out-flaw to heart. Quickly, Morningpaw learned that the approval of her mentor was hard won and only the best warranted her the gentlest nod of his head. But, how grand was the day she did earn that small nod. That was a true reason to hold her tail high. As her apprenticeship went on, she ended up going to Fawnheart to tell her about her day, rather than her adoptive mother, to gush about the fact that she had earned a nod over her squirrel hunting technique that morning. It was almost like she was weaning herself off of the Queen who had taken care of her, and, though Morningpaw regretted the fact that she never felt close to her, she and Milkflower eventually became as close as you could be to strangers and still be in one clan. It was also further along in her apprenticeship that she realized she looked to Foxstar for a lot of guidance other than just being a warrior as well. Her mentor became her spiritual guide, and whether he knew it or not, her fatherly figure. She knew she could look to with the same trust any other cat had with their own father.
She slowly began to realize that she saw Fawnheart and Foxstar more of her parents than any cats had been, they were the ones who guidance stuck with her. Before long, she showed their personalities and beliefs within herself. She harbored Fawnheart's love for the clan and took pride in being a steadfast protector just like Foxstar. For every night that Morningpaw spent restlessly practicing by herself to better impress Foxstar when the morning came and for every evening she spent sharing tongues with Fawnheart talking about everything in her heart, her love for them strengthened and in her soul Morningpaw couldn't deny that she felt like they were her true mother and father. It was something she could never say allowed, however. How could she put the two cats she cared about the most in pain because then she would only be a reminder of what could have been with their own kits?
Moons passed, and Morningpaw was named Morninglight. Her warrior's ceremony was one of the proudest moments in her life. This was as though she was getting every single minute nod from Foxstar and every brilliant smile from Fawnheart all at once. Her training was all for that moment, to make her become a warrior, and she was happy. As silence fell over the camp that night she practically radiated her own warmth with the unending pride she felt in her heart. A warrior was truly what she was meant to be, and she was right where she belonged. Morninglight knew that if she had been born in any other place in the world, she could not have been as joyful as she had been in that moment where the dawn crested the treetops overhead and the sounds of the clan beginning to wake tickled her ears. She settled into her own nest to rest after her vigil the happiest she had ever been.
As she became more solidified in her position as a warrior, Morninglight was given an apprentice, Hailpaw. Training an apprentice was probably her hardest challenge yet. For the first time the success wasn't just measured by how much effort she put in- but by how much another cat learned. At that time, she couldn't understand that not every cat was willing to work themself to the bare bones like she was willing to. Those first few moons were strenuous on both cats and they had even gotten into a few arguments as well, but, slowly and eventually, Morninglight learned. It was okay that other cats weren't the same as her. They no doubt pushed themselves just as hard, but on their own level and at their own pace. The apprenticeship began to look up and Morninglight glowed with pride for her apprentice as Hailpaw flourished. Towards the end of his apprenticeship, Morninglight was gifted the rank of deputy and with another esteemed nod from her former mentor, she took on the task with vigor, but never shirked her apprentice. The balance seemed to come naturally to her, and she had already proven as an apprentice that she functioned well on less sleep anyway. Her life was grand, and with Hailpaw's warrior ceremony coming just around the bend, Morninglight was comfortable.
But that wasn't to last. The silence of Starclan stuck her hard. Morninglight was at an utter loss in her faith. How could their protectors abandon them and grow silent to their cries? The unease within her grew as the silence stretched, just like the relations between the clans as. Without Starclan to cover the moon to cease their fighting, the Gatherings seemed to end more and more on sour notes. She hardly batted an eye as their medicine cat was dismissed, she had much the same belief as Foxstar did--they did everything right so how could Starclan just leave them unless it was their medicine cat who was plaguing them? But, the silence continued and things took a turn for the worst.
On that last full moon and the night of the Last Gathering, disaster struck. Some cat said something, and then before anyone could bat an eye, claws were out and pelts were flying. The result was chaos. The Four clans erupted into battle, enemies were on all sides and everything was a flurry of claws, teeth, and death. Fear inevitably stuck in, not only for herself but for her clanmates, for her apprentice. Too late did Morninglight realize she had lost track of her apprentice's pelt in the fray. When he resurfaced into her site, he was surrounded. In a mad dash that carried her over cats and yowling as she squeezed beneath others, she tried to make it to his side, but by the time she had reached it he was gone, lying in a growing puddle of his own blood. Anguish drove her courage that night, and as she limped home with a good many wounds that--thankfully--were not serious enough to warrant more than the meager care from a warrior attempting to fill the empty medicine cat's role.
Her pelt eventually covered her new scars so they were only something she was reminded of when she groomed herself too long, but the scar on herself from the loss of Hailpaw never quite healed. She couldn't possibly blame anyone else but herself, and she carries his death on her like a silent invisible burden that she hasn't quite shaken off, and nor does she particularly want to. Sitting through the warriors ceremony that her apprentice should have been a part of was excruciating, and she could hardly look his mother in the eye.
The moons continued to change and Morninglight could not abandon her duties as deputy, she never even entertained the thought for even a moment. She had thrown herself into her duties, shutting out the care and comfort from even Fawnheart and Foxstar. Comfort she didn't feel like she deserved. Even now, she feels like his body in weighing down over her shoulders, despite her taking a new apprenticeship with grace. It's only been a moon that she has had Wasp-paw under her care, but as much as she compares him to Hailpaw in her mind, she is fiercely determined to not let the past repeat itself. Wasp-paw better be prepared because Morninglight is going to be anything but soft on her newest apprentice.
[/ul]
immediate kin
» sons:
» daughters:[/ul]
extended kin
» mother:
» brothers:
» sisters:
» aunt: Fawnheart[/ul][/font]