Acorntail

redwoodclan

short-legged and longhaired black classic tabby molly with mid white and green eyes

    The first thing one notices about Acorntail is her short stature. Her legs are much, much shorter than the average cat's, meaning she barely stands at 6 inches (15 cm) at the withers [May 2022 Spring Cleaning contest rare trait]. Though her height lacks, her body and frame overall is large like a typical Redwoodclanner's. Her main handicap is when it comes to jumping, for she is not able to leap very high. She is deceptively heavy, at about 9 lbs (4 kg).

    The next most noticeable thing with Acorntail, or the thing you notice in conjunction with her height, is the length and bushiness of her tail. The measure of her body and nearly the same thickness, it fluffs high above her head when extended. Her coat is long and dense, done up in chestnut classic tabby swirls. White bibs her paws and underbelly, crawling up her face but leaving a patch on her chin untouched.

    Acorntail has a soft, round face, with a chipmunk-like ruff connecting her cheeks to her neck. She has round green eyes, usually highlighted with a joyous twinkle. Her nose is splotched dark red and lighter pink, completing her welcoming visage.

    The short molly smells a little bit spicy and woodsy, and her voice is confident with a slight drawl. In conversation, Acorntail will commonly perch up on her hind legs in a squirrel-like fashion. Many find it amusing, but those who have known her for a long time simply see it as the usual. Her numerous battle scars are all hidden beneath her coat.

+ outgoing, stoic, collected
    Acorntail is the definition of an extrovert. She's a friendly, confident face and loves talking to and being around others. In the sea of less enthused Redwoodclanners, she is welcoming towards the introduction of refugees to her clan. She does her best in patrols to make sure everyone is included, and loves learning things about cats she didn't know before.
    After living through many moons of hardship, Acorntail is a stoic individual, despite her cheery personality. She is able to weather any storm in a calm manner, and not much surprises her. Though many would read her happy-go-luckiness at face value and dismiss her as air-headed, there is a knowing, capable cat underneath every smile.

- zany, staunch, casual
    Anyone who has spent time with Acorntail would note that she's a rather quirky individual. She has an odd sense of humor, loves to play pranks, and has odd little habits and hobbies her clanmates don't share. She's an acquired taste, but a best friend after she's in your corner. Because boy is this gal loyal. It is in some ways a positive, but just as many a negative—she tends to turn a blind eye to a friend's faults and follow them until the end.
    However much Acorntail loves and is committed to Redwoodclan, she does have a fairly blase opinion on what change can actually be made. If anyone was able to defeat Lichenclan, it would have been the Redwoodclan warriors of old. They're just fighting back the monster until it regains sense. Fate has plans for everyone, and sometimes you hope you can change it, but in the end it isn't in your paws. It's in Starclan's.

loves: Hanging out with Woodfrost, chasing rabbits, the smell of fresh grass.
likes: Sunsets, teaching, pillbugs, gentle rain.
dislikes: The sound of running water.
hates: Lichenclan >:(
secrets: She's an open book, obviously.
fears: Nothing she does will ever amount to anything. Losing Woodfrost.
dreams: To live her life out helping Redwoodclan, and maybe (read: she very much wants to) settle down.

    Acornkit. The sole kit of her litter, born to a quiet queen named Morningshine. Strong, but her legs are half the length of other kit's. And as she grows, it only becomes more evident that she will remain short-legged her whole life. In a clan of giants, being small is looked down upon, no matter the promise the young molly shows. Morningshine is assured that her daughter will lead the same life as any other Redwoodclan warrior, but the new mother is protective of her kit.

    Whenever Acornkit left the nursery, she noticed the stares of the warriors. She heard their whispers. "That one won't last long in the real world," they said. Eyes looked to a certain tabby tom when around her, and the rumors quieted. This was Acornkit's father, and her resemblance to him was striking. Oakclaw never aired any opinions about his daughter, pretending as if she did not exist.

    Acornkit did not care for fathers and warriors at that age, she had two best friends, sisters Daisykit and Larkkit, and spent every waking moment at their side. There was no care for size differences between them. Daisykit was pretty little for a Redwoodclan cat too, and Larkkit tempered the adventurous pair with her serene energy.

    Acornkit was upset when her friends were made apprentices before her, fearing them abandoning her. But every night they came back, tired from their lessons, to teach all they learned to Acornkit. She is fully prepared by the time she is made an apprentice, to towering tomcat Aspenblaze.

    He was the perfect fit for young Acornpaw. She asked him to treat her as if her legs were as long as his. He laughed, and agreed—saying he'd never planned not to. Jolly and easygoing, he nurtured and believed in her. With his help, she was determined to become not just a Redwoodclan warrior, but a great one.

    She remembers the first time she saw Woodfrost. Aspenblaze had taken her to spar with other 'paws. He was hulking, like a shadow, just as big as her mentor despite half his age. Her mentor noted that he was impressive for one so young—he'd beaten the deputy on the eve of his twelfth moon. He was likely watching for when he mentored his first apprentice.

    Acornpaw fought extra hard, because she felt his eyes on her. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to impress him. Covered in dust at the end of a match Acornpaw had drawn to a stalemate with an older apprentice, Woodfrost approached her. He offered to teach her some moves. She accepted.

    Little did she know she'd just met her better half. Best friends, they made one another better. Acornpaw taught the stalwart tom how to to loosen up a little, and he helped hone her skill, her loyal friend through it all. She is even made a warrior a moon early with Daisypaw and Larkpaw. They are named Daisystorm, Larkwhisker, and Acorntail. For her balance and climbing skill, but mostly for her big, fluffy tail.

    Acorntail flourishes as a warrior. She enjoys the rush, of battle especially, and is part of border tussles with Woodfrost, Daisystorm, or Aspenblaze by her side. They had all learned how to fight alongside her, and compliment her—they worked impeccably as a team.

    Coming up on her second year, she is pulled aside by Aspenblaze. Solemn, he explained how he had been seeing her mother, and that they would like to start a family together. He wished for her blessing, and that she might accept him as her father. Acorntail was astounded, but overjoyed. Of course, he could be her dad—it was perfect.

    Two moons later, a pair of kittens are born—Sapkit and Duskkit. Acorntail instantly falls in love with her little siblings. All was good until Morningshine's health begins to decline, and her family has to say goodbye before her children's eyes even open. Aspenblaze and Acorntail leaned on each other greatly during this time—raising the two little kittens they loved so kept them going.



    Acorntail became their big sister-mom from then on. It is raising her two little siblings that made her realize she'd like a family one day. Some cats her age were already settling down, but she saw no reason to—though she joked with Woodfrost if neither got a partner they'd settle together. She was sure that the handsome black tom would find someone else by then, and besides, there was someone she had her eyes on.



    This someone was Larkwhisker. She loved the way she could make the other molly laugh, and how she blossomed like a flower when in her element. Larkwhisker put up with Acorntail's antics with a smile. It was hard not to crush on her. Acorntail was worried that revealing her feelings might ruin their friendship. So she pines, bittersweet in Larkwhisker's presence.



    With her siblings nearing apprenticehood, Acorntail mentions to Woodfrost that perhaps he should ask to mentor one. Her friend, though flattered, refused. He already had an apprentice set up—Rowankit.

    To her cheerful surprise, Sappaw is apprenticed to Daisystorm, and Duskpaw to Larkwhisker. Aspenblaze meets her astonished look with a smile, and she knows that he had a paw in this. Acorntail tags along with both of her best friends (and Woodfrost with his apprentice Rowanpaw) on many of their training escapades. She finds Rowanpaw a little stuck up, and likes to poke fun at him. As he ages, their rivalry continues—perhaps fueled by some jealousy on the younger cat's part.

    The apprenticeships blaze past like a forest fire, and before Acorntail knows it, she is chanting the names of the young cats she helped train. Sapheart, Dusknose, and Rowanflame. She is so very proud of them.

    On a patrol with her kin, bar Dusknose, hunting rabbits where the trees thin at the border with Lichenclan. Too late, unfamiliar scents prick her nose. And then she hears it—a yowl.
 It was an ambush.

    The enemy Lichenclan cats leap for Sapheart. Determined to protect his son until the end, Aspenblaze roars in. He takes a fatal blow. The valiant warrior fights until his very last breath, bleeding out on the battlefield, with Acorntail watching his back. The Lichenclan patrol flees, and Acorntail chooses to help her brother back to camp rather than carry her father's body home. Knowing Morningshine was waiting for him in Starclan was a small comfort.



    Upon returning to camp, Sapheart is whisked off, the medicine cat concerned for the infection already started in his wounds. Aspenblaze's body is retrieved, and a powerful warrior is mourned. Acorntail falls asleep at his vigil, and before she drifts off, she swears she sees him and her mother in the stars. She opens her eyes to the grim face of Woodfrost. He tells her that Sapheart died in the night—succumbed to his wounds.



    Distraught and furious, she demands to know why she hadn't been woken up—he insists she needed the sleep. She storms past him to where her brother's body lies in the medicine den. She finds Daisystorm and Dusknose, the latter with bristling fur and snapping eyes. When Acorntail's sibling sees her, she watches as their face contorts further. They shoulder past Daisystorm and round upon their sister.


    Blaming her, for Aspenblaze and Sapheart's deaths. Accusing her of not caring, of not fighting hard enough. Already on the edge, Acorntail cannot keep her temper. She'd done her best, she'd done all she could do. "Maybe if you were"—Dusknose starts, but Acorntail cuts her off with a snarl. It did not need to be said—she knew what Dusknose was going to say, and it hurt just as much. That is the last time she speaks to Dusknose. Acorntail loses all three of her kin within the span of a day.

    The molly is subdued for moons, but she at least still has her friends. Even if she gets on Woodfrost's nerves sometimes, and she and Daisystorm have their disagreements, she knows they care for each other. Acorntail becomes more and more invested in the war against Lichenclan. Her feelings for Larkwhisker grow when the molly asks for help to become a better fighter.

    Wary of her heart, Acorntail waits, trying to simply be a good friend to Larkwhisker. It's a little awkward, different, and she fears she's making it weird. At some point she spills all the feelings she's been hiding for moons to Daisystorm. Her best friend laughs and tells her to tell Larkwhisker. Like, immediately. She says Acorntail's got it bad, and no matter what happened, it'd be better than things are now. However it ended, Daisystorm would be beside her.

    The next day, Acorntail leads the molly to a firefly-lit clearing with the promise of a surprise, and confesses to her in the balmy night. Larkwhisker is silent, and Acorntail continues—saying they can stay as friends, of course. But she's cut off by the other cat leaning over, pressing their foreheads together, whiskers brushing. Larkwhisker admits she'd been feeling the same way for a while now. They agree to try things out, slow and easy.

    Larkwhisker is a little tentative around other cats, but oh so sweet when they are alone. She is hesitant to reveal the relationship, and however much Acorntail wants to show off, she does enjoy the secrecy a little bit. Only Daisystorm knows, though Acorntail hates to keep secrets from Woodfrost, the chilly tom had always unsettled Larkwhisker.

    Larkwhisker's love helped bring the life back to Acorntail. During a particularly nasty battle, both she and Daisystorm are outwitted by stronger warriors, and have to be towed back to camp to heal. Daisystorm dies in the medicine den, taking her last breath beside her best friend. They had bitten off more than they could chew, and paid the ultimate price. Daisystorm tells her to keep fighting. There was no hurry—she'd wait.

    Larkwhisker enters the den. Acorntail is so, so worried she'll be blamed. They embrace in silence, until a broken Acorntail asks if Larkwhisker blames her. Larkwhisker, aghast, explains that she doesn't—of course she doesn't. Her sister would have wanted no one else by her side until the end. Her sister would not have wanted her death to tear them apart. Acorntail drifts off to sleep with Larkwhisker's calming purr in her ears.


    In the morning, Larkwhisker's half of the nest was cold. Acorntail waits for her to return, but grows nervous as the sun climbs in the sky. Orchidshade has not seen her yet today. Though nowhere near healed, Acorntail finds Woodfrost to ask him to keep an eye out for Larkwhisker for her. He appeases her, but says she should go back and rest.

    There is still no sign of her friend, her love. A search party is sent out at Acorntail's insistence, but they find nothing. They report their findings back to a heartbroken Acorntail. Larkwhisker wouldn't leave her—no, something had happened. As soon as she is healed, she goes off looking herself. She goes to the land by the gathering place, and looks. She hears a voice behind her.

    Larkwhisker. Acorntail, overwhelmed, asks her where she's been. That she's been missed—the whole clan was looking for her! Larkwhisker admits that had chosen to leave. It was too much for her. The war, losing Daisystorm... how everyone looked at her. She did not blame Acorntail because she blamed herself. She was not fighting by her sister's side, she was not good enough, and the guilt ate her.

    She liked being alone in the forest, hunting for herself. She was going to move to rogue land soon. She turned to Acorntail and asked for her to join her. Acorntail's jaw dropped. She... could never leave her clan. She shook her head wordlessly. Larkwhisker asks that at least they might see each other again. Acorntail agrees.

    They meet like that for a moon or so. But then a clanmate jokes about how many walks she's been taking recently, and she knows it won't last forever. The next time they meet, she tries to convince Larkwhisker to return. It doesn't matter whether the clan needs her, the clan does, but Acorntail needs her. Her plea is met with silence. The decision is made. Acorntail nods, rises silently, and steps back onto Redwoodclan soil.

    That is the last time she saw Larkwhisker. She wonders, more often than she would like, what her old love is doing and on dark days, whether she is still living. Acorntail moves on. She trains her first apprentice, becomes closer with Woodfrost, whose solid presence she appreciated through everything. She does her best to enjoy every day. With tensions growing between the clans, she worries more and more about the darkness on the horizon.

    Recently, a mishap during a hunting incident has landed Acorntail in the medicine den with a broken leg. She claims that Woodfrost sat on her and his big fat ass broke it—and he is the only one that really knows. Woodfrost lets the story live, saying it'll scare the apprentices. Acorntail is enjoying some time to rest, but with the fall of Thievingstar and rise of a bloodstained moon... she's ready for this damn leg to heal, so she can get out there and help Woodfrost figure out what the hell's going on.