Hailheart

redwoodclan

lanky and longhaired seal mackerel tabby colorpoint tom with sky blue eyes

    Apprentice aged, Hailpaw is on par with most Redwoodclanners as well as his parents in size. He is built tall and lithe, with slim long legs putting him at a solid 11 inches (28 cm) tall for his adult size. As a young apprentice he'll look notably more gangling, but his shape will even out as he builds muscle. Even then he'll stay slim and inherit his mother's long and graceful form. Rather lean, he's on the lighter side of the scale at roughly 9 pounds (4 kg).

    Hailpaw also sports a long coat, once more taking after his mother. It is akin to the downy fluff of a baby bird, wispy both in youth and adulthood. The undercoat he has is thick and will keep him warm in the cold moons to come, but offers little protection after he gets wet. A ruff will grow to encircle his head like a lace collar as he grows older, and his long tail plumes out like a bottle brush.

    One of the biggest things that can instantly attribute him to being Loudstorm's blood is simply the color of his coat. A lynx point like his father, he has dark tabby extremities and no spots of white to hide it. He was born entirely white, his name likening him to the paleness of hailstones, but he developed color as he grew like all points. His sides are faintly tabby striped, but what really gives him away are the bands on his legs and markings on his face. He will mature to have a rust-colored spot just over top his nose reminiscent of Dawnlight's coloration, but otherwise be painted in shades of deep browns and greys.

    Hailpaw's ears are wide-set with pointed tips, but he also has a wide muzzle, giving his face a very round and innocent look. This is accentuated by his big round eyes. Though many kits' eyes change from blue to another color, his will simply deepen yet remain a brilliant baby blue. They are darker in the centers than around the edges, like the color of the sky as it meets the horizon. The tom has a feather-light step, though he'll stay clumsy until he masters his lengthy legs. He has no scars, and he smells very sweetly of milk and like he's just rolled in autumn leaves.
   

+ serene, cooperative, wise
    Though he is the spitting image of his father, Hailpaw didn't inherit his rowdier attitude, instead he is an oddly calm cat. He rarely gets upset or throws tantrums, only ever getting into trouble when he's roped into it by his denmates. He is the eye of the storm, and able to stay surprisingly level-headed even as chaos erupts around him. If anything he works better in that state, as he often has an exact plan for things going wrong.
    In addition to his placid nature, the tom works well with others and never hesitates to lend a paw to a cat in need. At worst it can come off as him being bossy, as he often tries to take the lead in groups to better execute his vision. Overall he can be trusted to be a team spirit, and very dedicated to the Redwoodclan cause. Hailpaw also portrays a wiseness beyond the moons he's been alive. His brain works to make connections between things that other cats may not see right away or may not expect such a young cat to conclude, and he has a certain sense of maturity that sets him apart from his peers.

- literal, pedantic, impassive
    Despite his keen mind, Hailpaw has trouble comprehending things past their literal sense. Unless he sees it, he can't be sure it's real and actually exists. This causes him to doubt certain stories and also struggle with concepts such as Starclan. He may also not understand certain jokes as well as the tones of cats (especially sarcasm) as he tends to interpret words at face value and not take into account how they were said.
    A bit of a perfectionist, the tom is very obsessed with rules and doing things as the warrior code has decreed it. He has trouble bending or breaking those rules and holds himself to very high standards. Playing back to his evident serenity, Hailpaw can read as inexpressive. He doesn't particularly know how to best handle his emotions and express them in the right ways, so he tends to come off as mellow, or at worst uncaring when he simply doesn't know how to react.

loves: TREES! Mint, stories, and his family most of all.
likes: Dragonflies, crackly leaves, cloud-watching, eggs.
dislikes: Scraping his paws, being bossed around, rule-breakers, small feathers.
hates: Getting wet, jokes he doesn't get, Lichenclanners.
secrets: None yet.
fears: All the usual kitten fears, especially large animals and thunderstorms.
dreams: To make his parents proud!

    Dawnlight and Loudstorm had a love that developed like the falling of an old tree rooted in unsteady ground—slowly until gravity could bear its weight no longer and the giant came crashing to earth. They had agreed to take things slow, but it soon became obvious that the pair were better suited together than apart. Though the mates were both wary to bring kits into the world at such an uncertain time, they agreed to give it a try. Hailkit and his brother Reedkit were the product of that, born at the very end of greenleaf.

     Despite the circumstances of the clan being full to the brim with instability—tensions with Lichenclan have never been higher and leafbare is lurking at the edges of everyone's minds—Hailkit's family is anything but. Loudstorm was unsure of how good of a father he could be, but by the time his sons were born, that prospective spark was lit inside him (and everyone's sure he'll start cracking dad jokes soon). Dawnlight was overjoyed to have a pair of kits to raise, though she's worried for what exactly life will spell for them in the moons ahead.

    Both parents are committed to making their children's kithoods as carefree as possible, keeping them sheltered from talk of the war for as long as they can until they inevitably find out. And Hailkit, as the eldest of his and three other litters born into the clan's nursery around the same time, is ready to take the clan by storm.