altair

loner

Longhaired cream tom with orange eyes and a fluffy tail

Altair is a rather large cat, slightly larger than a typical cat, and this is exacerbated by his fur - long and fluffy, especially around his chest and tail. This makes Altair appear larger than he actually is, close to Vega in size, although he doesn't have the demeanour to match. He doesn't walk tall, instead choosing not to hold his head high, almost so he could bolt away at any moment. His tail is often held straight, not high, unless in greeting or around family.

As for pelt colour, across Altair's back, head and tail is a dark cream colour, flecked with occasional darker strands. The inevitable faint tabby markings are very nearly impossible to see, so much so they are insignificant. The rest of the tom's body is a brilliant white, like his mother, but the legs and belly fur are dyed a slight brown colour from months of wandering muddy tunnels, and the colour eventually stained him.  His face is mostly a combination of these two colours, apart from two bright amber eyes, brighter than his fur, that stands out from his rather large muzzle.

✔ Imaginative.
Altair allows his imagination to carry him away a lot of the time, contributing to vivid dreams, but it also makes him an avid storyteller. He can lose himself in his stories, and could go on for hours if he isn't stopped. It is certainly some form of entertainment in the dank tunnels. If only he had young cats to listen to them...



✔ Cooperative.
Altair isn't a leader. He gets on well with others, whether they are authority or family or otherwise, and therefore would find it pretty easy to get along with the rebellion, as his thoughts don't differ from their cause either.



- Pacifist.
Altair dislikes fighting, both with claws and with words. This contributes to his unwillingness to express the entirety of his emotions, in case it causes a clash. He would rather talk things out. However, sometimes conflict may be necessary, and that is a truth that Altair isn't willing to accept.



✘ Secretive.
Due to a peaceful nature and lots of nerves, Altair likes to keep his emotions and feelings to himself, as well as secrets. He is scared of how his family would react if they hear about what he thinks of their home, or his yearning to leave, or the voice he hears in his head. He'd rather avoid any clashes over this.



✘ Meek.
Unlike Ara, Altair doesn't have the guts to stand up to something that could be upsetting him. Scared of repercussions, he would rather keep the peace and have things remain the same rather than any change, so he bottles himself up and lets things run by him, even if he disagrees.

Gingerkit's past in LichenClan goes mostly unremembered by his older counterpart but the basics were obvious. He was born to Berryfur as the younger of two, alongside his sister Pansykit. Only glimpses of the past remain in the cat's mind as of now. The scary medicine cat who always seemed rather... off. The young kit that always paddled after her. The sightless kit who always seemed to spook Gingerkit.

Then, it was ripped away. The mother who had always been suffering took her kits into the dark tunnels, and never returned. She died down there, and Gingerkit grew. Pansykit and Gingerkit were names now lost to them, and under the titles of Ara and Altair, the siblings grew up in the dark, with family barely known to them.

From when he was young, Altair always found the strongest connection with the old medicine cat, Rookflower. She seemed to understand him more than the others, his anxious demeanour and longing for clan life. He found her patience rewarding. Alongside her, Cranefeather's tales really inspired Altair, and increased his dreams of clan life. They did also make him restless, though. Why was he stuck down here?

One fateful night was all it took for everything to crumble. Still not even a year old, a nightmare gripping the old grandmother stirred all those within the tunnels from their slumber, and with Egretfeather's warnings bouncing off of the walls, Rookflower breathed her last, eyes falling shut. With that, Altair's spirit crumbled. Everything he knew fell apart. The very next day, a torrential rainfall coated the island, and water broke, rushing through the tunnels and flushing the cats out from where they hid. Cranefeather didn't make it.

Everything flew into chaos, then. The two cats Altair looked up to the most were dead, his own father was in control. Altair had never looked eye-to-eye with his father nor sister. He loved them both, especially his sister... but Vega seemed disconnected, Ara seemed too perfect. He wasn't good with either of them. Anyone.

At first, Altair thought that these thoughts were what started to wake him up at night, his dreams disturbed. It was as if Rookflower was alive again. However, when the voice started persisting outside of Altair's dreams and into the waking world, Altair began to realise that this wasn't just grief presenting itself. Rookflower would always tell him to go somewhere, try to take him somewhere, yet everytime Altair chased after her voice, it led nowhere but dead ends. Sure, he had found some twists and turns that he had never been to before, which was definitely a good thing to document for later. However, it drove the tom mad. 

What was she trying to tell him?

As Rookflower's voice grew louder, Altair withdrew more into himself. He didn't want to break the fragile peace that his family had, nor stress them out about anything. So, he kept the voice silent. He started to jump more at the slightest of things, and pine more for the freedom of above ground. He didn't notice these changes in himself, though. He was otherwise preoccupied. Perhaps one day, he'd figure out what Rookflower was trying to tell him.