Vulturefall

thistleclan

thick-furred black molly with golden eyes

Vulturefall has a build well-suited to ThistleClan's turf. She's smaller than average and on the cobby side of the spectrum - having a compact body, deep chest, shorter legs, and somewhat broad head shape. But she doesn't find that her body type hinders her ability to navigate the thick forest floor, probably because she isn't a very hulking, broad-shouldered cat. That, and her medium-length black coat blends beautifully into the pines - as well as provides some extra padding against thorny brambles.

Her bright, golden gaze compliments her dark fur very well, though it doesn't tend to reflect her emotions much. The only thing her eyes give away is that she always seems to be thinking, calculating, piecing bits together. Otherwise, her expression can be hard to read.

There's a lot to Vulturefall that doesn't meet the eye. Over time and experience and self-reflection, she's only grown more and more nuanced. This isn't to say she's inconsistent, or that she switches her personality based on whims or situations. She has many idealistic goals, such as supporting a stronger belief among her Clan-mates while still holding true to their value of individualism. These motivations are at the core of her character but, for a long time, they were set aside and she settled for less fulfilling ventures.

She contains a flame of ambition, idealism, and natural leadership qualities. But these traits have been smothered by Vulturefall's self-doubt and anger throughout her life, never quite letting them shine. It wasn't until later in life that she realized she needed to listen to these parts of herself more often.

After this personal growth and a change of circumstances, Vulturefall has challenged herself to become more adaptable. She's taught herself more discipline, bending and breaking negative habits, forcing herself to be willing to do what's right for everyone.

She consistently focuses on improvement, for herself and for the whole. She makes valiant efforts to face challenges, pivoting away from distractions and seeing things through. She uses this approach in day-to-day as much as she does on a grander scale. Once she's able to keep a forward momentum, it drastically improves her mood and increases her incentive.

Despite her desire for improvement and her idealistic schemes to achieve it, Vulturefall is still jaded from her past. Her anger may not be as volatile as it once was, and she may not prickle at the slightest offense anymore, but there's one thing that she's yet to recover from: a broken heart.

Vulturefall has no faith in love, firmly believing that she'll never find happiness in another and that she must only rely on herself. She's grown hyper-independent in this regard, feeling no need for deeper friendships or connection with others - and even going so far as to self-sabotage when she does get close. Oftentimes it's not even intentional, and she only realizes what she's done after the fact.

Vulturefall also has a general distrust for others. It's something she can't quite seem to shake, those quiet little doubts in the back of her mind that question another cat's true intent. It may not even come down to intent but reliability. Because she can't simply know others will remain steadfast and true, it's very hard to earn her trust because she usually decides it isn't worth the personal (or otherwise) risk.

Vulturekit and her siblings were born to a single mother, Duskflower. Growing up, Vulture never knew her father but that didn't seem to bother her too much. If she suffered in some way because of his absence, she never gave him that credit. Ashkit and Dark-kit, her sisters, were very different from her. Where they wanted to bask and play, Vulturekit wanted to engage with warrior life from the start. But, given how cumbersome a kit is beneath working paws, she settled for learning all that she could from the stories the elders would tell.

Her interest in the clans' history began at a young age, finding it interesting - if not fascinating. She listened to the elders with curious ears and inquired with an insightful mind on what it meant to be a 'real' ThistleClan warrior. She became especially fond of the origin story behind each Clan, how each of them believed in something different. And she knew that ThistleClan was the best because they knew that times would change and the code, the old traditions - they could not encompass every possibility, they couldn't survive the ebb and flow of time or change. At least, that's what the elder Blue-eye told her.

Blue-eye passed in his sleep late one night, but Vulturekit would remember his stories and wisdom forever. He'd made quite the impression on her young mind.

Her later moons in the nursery were spent vowing that she would be a great warrior for her clan; she would make her ancestors proud and hold true to ThistleClan's values. These sentiments only grew with time, blossoming into more complex motivations and dreams.

When she became an apprentice, her mentor was the queen Minkfang. She was known for her several litters, but in her older age she had decided to stop having kits. And outside of the nursery, Minkfang was a fierce warrior with a great deal of expertise. The pairing was not made lightly. Vulturepaw's love of learning meant that all of the knowledge and experience Minkfang had to offer wouldn't go unappreciated.

At first, her mentor was critical and short with her. But, in the early days, Vulturepaw quickly proved why they would make a good match and Minkfang was soon pleasantly surprised. She would be taught the basics just the same as any other apprentice, and on top of those she was given extra lessons.

Minkfang taught a mixture of valuable subjects - such as the rogue plight that haunted the clan's borders, the age-old feud between LichenClan and RedwoodClan, how to navigate the stars at night, weather predictability, animal patterns, and so much more. Even still, Vulturepaw continued to share tongues with the elders to learn more of the island's rich history and listen to their gossip of current events.

All the same, Minkfang was a warrior with her own biases and flaws. She instilled in Vulturepaw a keen distrust for anything beyond ThistleClan's borders - and even cautioning her against trusting most cats in general (including her own clan-mates). With plans of retiring, Minkfang worried for Vulturepaw's success in life as a warrior. Thus, she molded her apprentice to be able to rely only upon herself.

One of the other downsides to being Minkfang's apprentice was that Vulturepaw's hard work and talents weren't identified nearly as much as her shortcomings. Minkfang's praise was often cold and brief. Whereas Vulturepaw learned to brace herself for lengthy lectures and constant berating. One the outside, Vulturepaw seemed unfazed by these things after a while, able to navigate the harsh rebukes to actually take away from them constructively. But it created a deficiency in her self-confidence; no matter how well she did, there was always better or something else she had done wrong.

At the age of twelve moons, Vulturepaw was given her warrior name Vulturefall. Her sisters were named Ashtail and Darkfeather beside her, and they held their vigil together. It was during their vigil that Ashtail broke the tradition of silence in asking what her sisters thought of StarClan. Were they really watching over everyone? Did they really exist and, if they did, were they powerful enough to control the fates?

Darkfeather seemed to hold a similar stance to their mother, having a more agnostic view of StarClan. Vulturefall, on the other paw, had come to accept the role of StarClan in the clans' history - how they'd drowned out the cats in their anger, blotted out the stars at night, pulled the waters back from the creek. These and so many other events had led to StarClan's disapproval and punishment, and Vulturefall didn't want to see her Clan fall victim to their wrath again.

But her strong beliefs were unusual for a ThistleClanner and her sisters looked upon her with confusion, judgement. Vulturefall realized right then that her views were not widely shared by her Clan-mates, as she had initially thought. She began to wonder if it would result in ill fate once more but, whenever she tried to speak on this, she was oft met with dismissiveness or disdain.

It didn't take long for her to give up, wondering and questioning things herself. Still, to this day, she tries to be faithful and devoted to StarClan - in what ways she can. Her beliefs, she won't push on others anymore, but she hopes that she can lead by example.

While Vulturefall was still young, she grew close with another warrior. His name was Vervainfoot; he was warm, honest, and dedicated to ThistleClan. They made fast friends. At this time in Vulturefall's life, she still had a healthy admiration for Minkfang and her mother, Duskflower; she wanted to be a queen and have kits, she wanted that to be her contribution to the Clan because she thought it was the best one she could give as a healthy, strong young she-cat. And, not to mention, she liked teaching and playing with kits even as she grew older.

So she vied for Vervainfoot's affections, aiming to charm him and win him over as a mate. He was a fast warrior, talented in hunting - which brought them together in the first place. They would hunt as a team often, scouring the territory for every morsel they could get their paws on. Vulturefall thought that he would be a great father and that their kits would make great warriors. Things went well, they began 'officially' courting and Vulturefall thoroughly enjoyed the chase.

However, at some point during Vulturefall's beginning days as a warrior, Minkfang (who had by then retired) died of an unknown cause. It was determined as internal, but what kind of internal struggles she had no one would ever be able to know. It seemed that she'd suffered in silence, as was the proud queen's way, until the day she passed.

Having looked up to the once-powerful warrior, Vulturefall fell into a state of grieving. She sought the comforts of her mother and blamed the medicine cat's ineptness and negligence for Minkfang's unexpected death. She battled with the frustration and sadness for several weeks, to such a point that Vervainfoot began to grow distant. He'd been inable to provide her sufficient comfort and, for that, he felt unappreciated. He also felt that perhaps Vulturefall deserved someone better than him, since he didn't know how to navigate this troubling time with her and was only growing weary of it.

But instead of telling her these things, he silently pulled away - and it wasn't until Vulturefall saw he was in another molly's nest that she realized. It broke her heart to find out like that, to see him so 'in love' with another. She stooped to a very low point in her life because of her rattled emotions, even going so far as to beg Vervainfoot to come back to her. He refused, of course. It only sent her deeper into her spiral.

She grew so hostile and frustrated with anyone that tried to get close to her, feeling as though everyone judged her, looked down upon her. She bristled at the slightest provocation, and became altogether unpleasant to work alongside. Not even her family could worm their way back into her heart. And as for Vervainfoot? He and his mate were too busy raising their new kits to pay much mind.

Eventually, Vulturefall's behavior earned her reprimands and punishments. Once, she was made to do all of the apprentice chores for a moon. These instances were enough to tone things down, humble her, remind her of the bigger picture. She grew less hostile, more begrudging, but there was still a deep-rooted, unresolved pain that she couldn't let go of.

So, instead of her clan-mates, she took it out on the rogues. It gave her drive and purpose; defending borders, chasing them from ThistleClan's territory. For several moons, she kept up a routine of it and had nothing to do with much other inter-clan politics that would arise over her lifetime. She was never assigned an apprentice when the opportunities arose, and that was fine by her; she didn't want to mentor anyone, didn't want to risk caring. There were others better-suited for it, anyway.

It wasn't until the rogues took the forest from ThistleClan that Vulturefall had to reassess her approach to life. She realized she'd been wasting so much of her time and effort being angry and short-sighted, betraying the principals which she once wanted to encompass as a warrior.

Her change of heart has been slow, but steady. She wants to advocate for her clan-mates, help them succeed, but where her sights truly lie is in the future. She wants a better life for her Clan, and she never ever wants to lose their home again.