Needleleap

Thistleclan

black longhair she-cat with yellow eyes

A tall and muscled individual, Needleleap is the kind of cat who could dominate the battlefield from a physical standpoint. The she-cat towers over her clanmates and is in possession of a strength considered herculean for a she-cat. With straight shoulders and a confident gait, Needleleap makes her Thistleclan pride known far and wide. Attention is usually drawn to the belligerent set of her shoulders and sturdy legs. Her jaw is chiseled and elegant, like any she-cat, but her jaws are always bunched in a scowl or a frown. Thankfully, her chin remains canted high with pride, daring other cats to challenge her.

The she-cat's pelt is covered from head to toe in a lustrous cascade of black. Always well-groomed and sleek, Needleleap is greatly averse to lapses in her appearance. It isn't enough for her to say she's a strong warrior, she has to show it too. Though a very austere creature, Needleleap always takes the time to groom her pelt before she returns to camp, maintaining the image of organization and composure. Despite being forced to abstain from combat for some time now, the she-cat has no shortage of scars, her leg being the only obvious blemish. Though the limb is mostly inline with her right fore-leg, there is a stiff jolt to her walk.

Needleleap's visage is generally well-controlled, but glimpses of emotion do peek through. Her jaw is often set with a thoughtful frown or a wicked snarl, emphasizing her acerbic temperament. Cool yellow eyes stare carefully from her face, always analyzing and judging the cats around her in an intense glare. Black ears extend from her head, raised in vigilant attention. Her whiskers are nearly invisible against her face.

Needleleap is a misanthropic and unfriendly cat who embodies the thorny nature of her prefix. The force of her impatience ebbs and flows like the tide; some days its manageable, others, it manifests itself in wrathful outbursts toward any unlucky cat in her way. She greets the other cats in her clan with a sarcastic one-liner or judgemental silence, waiting to see if they could stand up to her rough persona. The ones that cannot, she cares little for and tends to forget about quickly. Generally considered unfriendly, Needleleap makes no attempt to make herself appear charming or winsome to her peers. However, this also makes her a fairly honest she-cat whose words carried little artifice. She will not speak well or ill of another clanmate if she believes they have not deserved it.

A highly driven she-cat, Needleap works daily to improve her resilience and physical ability. She would rather grit her teeth and bite than willingly roll over, even if there is a good reason to do so. On top of this, the black she-cat holds herself to high, perfectionistic standards. She never trails dirt into the warrior den, and her nest is always devoid of stray bits of moss or bramble that could trail on her pelt. Filling her schedule with day-to-day activities and projecting her attention outwards, she keeps herself from dwelling on the past. Her calculated mindset also leads her to be rather direct with her clanmates. She gets her point across, but often struggles with small talk.

Needleleap may not interact much with her clanmates due to her biting vocabulary, but due to being relegated to many of the more basic (and in her eyes worthless) warrior duties means she hears a lot more than she lets on. Secretly, Needleleap is a shameless gossip, ears always picking up the latest news that spews from her clanmates' jaws.

Due to her stubbornness and emotional distance from her peers, Nedleleap has become an incredibly narrow-minded she-cat. She holds a very militant view of Thistleclan and is unafraid to push for a more aggressive and bold approach to inter-clan politics. The she-cat struggles to accept feedback constructively from her peers, and will usually strike out in a small group so that she can do things her way. Similarly, Needleleap regards the other clans apathetically at best, only showing interest when they benefit Thistleclan in some way. She is of the belief that Thistleclan should not be afraid to make decisions in their interest even if other clan leaders decide otherwise.

Finally, Needleleap is an argumentative and competitive cat who takes challenges to heart. The black she-cat is always all too happy to engage in a spar or a verbal argument. The she-cat is especially drawn to those with scathing words and dry humors. Despite her serious demeanor, the she-cat is filled with quips and irreverent one-liners. Some of these quips challenge the upright facade many cats have come to know her for.

Ultimately, cracks in the facade are few and far in-between; one would have better luck trying to woo a fox than winning her affections.

The world Needlekit observed from birth was cold and unwelcoming to the kit. The she-cat was born in a litter of two to Swiftsight and Lynxfoot, along with her older brother Nettlekit. The two kits received little parental love during their childhood years. The dark queen watched over her brood with a critical eye. During the day, she watched her children engage in their usual spats and brawls. Unlike the other queens, Splintersight never bothered to resolve conflict, believing that encouraging their fighting spirit was for the better. It was a Thistleclan custom for disputes to be settled with brutal duels. The sooner her children learned this the better. The black queen was the daughter of a rogue, and she had suffered endless ridicule during her time as an apprentice. Not only had Splintersight been unable to fight, but she'd also been completely unaware of her parents' relationship. She could still hear the taunting and mockery, still feel the burning pain on her eye.

Things would change with her kits. Needlekit and Nettlekit were both informed of their rogue heritage early on. The news gave birth to Needlekit's deepest insecurities, a curse from the Dark Forest itself. The curse that caused the scar on her mother's eye. Utterly ashamed of her ancestors and herself, Nettlekit solemnly vowed to ascend beyond what her blood dictated.

All that mattered in her eyes was her connection with Graystar.

As an apprentice, Needlepaw was assigned to the vigilant albeit stern Juniperfang, a stony warrior known for her strict adherence to Thistleclan code and politics. Her mother's words ever in her mind, Needlepaw took to her mentor's instruction like a fish to water. When her denmates approached her with dark looks, the apprentice wasted little in making her presence known. One by one, they backed off under the withering assault of her claws, grudging respect in their eyes. But while Needlepaw and Nettlepaw had no trouble settling these external conflicts, their own little spats remained. No matter how many times Needleleap dueled with her brother, he was always victorious. Their relationship remains rocky.

To make matters worse, Swiftsight became an intrusive presence during training, constantly butting in to inquire about her daughter's progress. Worried that her progress would be impeded, Needlepaw bristled and growled at her overbearing mother. The contrast between the stern queen who encouraged sparring between her children and the worried mother did not benefit Swiftsight's image.

The interruptions do not hinder her. She graduates one moon earlier than her brother, receiving the name Needleleap for her adept footwork and diving pounces.

As her warriorhood progressed, Needleleap experienced her first loss. After an unexpected storm led to a deluge of rainfall, Thistleclan's camp flooded. A muddy tide drowned the Thistleclan tunnels, submerging each corridor and den. Coughing up water with her brother, a wave of horror swamped Needlepaw from head to toe when she realized that Lynxfoot was not among the survivors. She finds his soaked body near the tunnels. With a bitter snarl, Needlepaw stepped away from her father's corpse to join the warriors, leaving her brother to grieve alone.

She'd never been close to the tom: any expressions of grief were muted. But the tide had planted a seed in her heart and watered til it germinated bitterly in her heart. Along with the rest of Thistleclan, she left their home in a journey to the Great Owl Tree. Her exasperation with Thievingstar's leadership only grew deeper when their medicine cat, Ratwhisker, dies, leaving them with only Aster. The transition left her anxious and frustrated.

There could only be so many losses in a row.

But in the place of death, there was life. As Thistleclan revitalizes its strength in the abandoned campground, Glimmergaze - a cousin of Needleleap's mother - decided to settle down and start a family. Thistleclan soon welcomed the birth of two kits: Smallkit and Tornkit, the latter named for the unsightly gash across his flank. As the siblings grew, Needleleap found herself increasingly envious on the kindness they received from Graystar's family.

The smoke she-cat watched them dart after their playmates from a distance. Why did the kits receive the childish luxuries, the warm attention, she did not? In contrast, Nettlesting watches the kits fondly, as protective as any father. Aware of his more genial and frivolous nature, the smoke she-cat shrugs it off without much comment. Their apprenticeship spars hang over her in the shadows. When Smallkit and Tornkit become apprentices, Nettlesting eagerly steps up to mentor his younger cousin. The smoke she-cat declines the offer to do the same, and Smallpaw is given Thievingstar herself as a mentor.

With bloodthirst pressed on by restlessness and anger, Needleleap joins the front-lines to battle the rogues occupying their home. Gorged on the bountiful prey provided by the pine forest, the rogues had grown fat, but also strong. It's a hard fight, but after moons of stoking, Needleleap's fury is open flame ready to burn whatever is brave enough to face it. After many moons of recovery, Thistleclan's warriors drove the interlopers from their woodland home, a display of strength long missed during the harrowing moons after the flood.

Energized and encouraged by the recent victory, Needleleap confronts her brother at last, demanding a rematch. With an era of bloodshed and turmoil behind them, it seemed only fitting to seek a conclusion to the conflicts of her youth. A chilly leafbare morning, she padded up to her brother and brusquely told him to meet her at the Great Owl Tree, a popular location for mentors to train their apprentices in combat. A fitting location, it seemed, to resolve this particular issue. The smoke she-cat barely gave her brother time to prepare before she tackled him into the hard leafbare ground.

It was hardly a surprise for her to find that Nettlesting was as formidable as ever, his blows heavy and his movements agile. Unfortunately, the recent string of wins had made him cocky. The tom made one misstep too many and Needleleap was finally able to knock him into the dirt. Vexed, Nettlesting begrudgingly concedes his rank to her before trodding off. Needleleap hoped the blow to his pride would take some time to heal.

Unfortunately, Needleleap's good fortune wouldn't last long. When the rogue threat reared its head over the dark woodlands, the dark warrior threw herself into combat without a second thought. At nearly four seasons old, she was in her prime. The warrior's recklessness would have consequences. Pinned down by two rogues bloodthirsty as foxes, her leg was horribly mangled. Blinded with pain, the last thing she remembered was being dragged to the medicine by another Thistleclan soldier.

The days after the battle were spent in a haze of poppy seeds, lapsing in and out of consciousness as as Shadepool and Meadowpaw work to save her limb. Despite their efforts however, the limb becomes stiff, no longer able to hold up her weight. DUring her time in the medicine den, Needleleap begins to hear disturbing rumors. Cats fretted that her limb wouldn't heal, while others said that she might need to become an elder.

An elder, her? At barely four seasons old? No.

She didn't want it to happen, and it didn't. The first chance Shadepool relented, Needleleap dragged her nest back to the warrior's den and never looked back. By then, greenleaf and leaf-fall came and went. Her family waged war against Lichenclan, Minnowstar, and the rogues and suffered their losses. Bitter fury freezes her heart when she hears of the losses Thistlelcan suffers. Lakefire, Graygaze, Yellowtallon. All cats that mattered to her family. All gone.


After the war, Needleleap's life slowed down and her routine shifted. With the guidance of Swiftsight and Nettlesting, the dark warrior works tirelessly to regain mobility. Their company stings at every moment, highlighting their dysfunctional family dynamics.