HORNETPAW

THISTLECLAN

A long-haired, brown tabby and white she-cat with green eyes

Character Stature: Described as being on "the small side" of average, Hornetpaw looks more robust than she actually is - she's mostly fur, but stretches out to be quite long. She's rather lightweight, with dainty paws and lengthy legs and tail. This makes her appear almost wispy when she's not all bunched up and bristling over one thing or another.

Character Pelt: Hornetpaw's fur is long and plush, and she actually does make the attempt to keep it well-groomed and under control even if it doesn't always look to be the case. Brown tabby patches in various shades mar the majority of her body, while the rest of her - mostly her undercarriage - is white. Her paws are white, as well as most of her chest and chin, and a little extra streak of white zips up through her right eye.

Character Face: A diamond-shaped face is made more pronounced by fluffy cheeks, and Hornetpaw's muzzle is short with a just slightly upturned nose. Her yellow-green eyes are large and more oval than round. Her ears are about average in size - not too big or too small - but they're fairly pointy at their tips and have a lot of long loose strands of fur sticking out of them.

+ Steadfast - Or "stubborn", depending on who you ask. But one thing that can be guaranteed about Hornetpaw is that she will not give up on something she's dedicated to, and sometimes she makes this everyone else's problem.

+ Valiant - She's always been fairly hot-tempered, but at least she's not all talk. Hornetpaw is hard to intimidate and even if something (or someone) does truly rattle her, she does her best to smother it and display as much outward bravery as her little body can muster in the moment.

= Ambitious - The she-cat has high aspirations, spurred on by a need to control the one and only thing she's capable of entirely. This can be used against her or to her benefit, drastically dependent on the situation in which she finds herself.

- Abrasive - Hornetpaw is often outright and scathing with her words, subscribing to brutal honesty even at the cost of somebody else's hurt feelings. This is not ideal for a variety of reasons, but she simply does not have a good handle yet on when to wield it and when to keep that tongue of hers under control.

- Vindictive - Perhaps the flip-side of her stubborn nature, Hornetpaw is not great at "letting things go" and if she takes something personally, she is more than willing to try and get even with whomever or whatever was unfortunate enough to slight her.

Kithood: Then-Hornetkit remembers very little of her mother. The she-cat was injured rather grievously during Thistleclan's battle with Lichenclan towards the end of leaf-bare, and never fully recovered, though she continued her duties in whatever capacity she was able. At some point she rendezvoused with an unknown tom - perhaps against her better judgement, given her condition - but she was so certain he could give her the strong litter of kits she had always desired.

Her wish was granted, sort of. She bore a single kit and named her for her ferocity, already prevalent the moment she entered the world. The strain of childbirth was too much on her already frail body, however, and her health rapidly declined before she finally succumbed when Hornetkit was not quite a moon old.

Yewthorn and Morningmist, raising their own litter around the same time, stepped in to look after her, and they're appreciated even though their ward is not so great at expressing such sentiments. She was never the friendliest of kits, and often withdrew from the others if she wasn't out looking to pick a fight. Play-fights among kits were just that, though, and she became more and more restless as she neared her sixth moon and the cusp of her naming ceremony. Surely her mother would be watching over her, watching her only daughter grow to be a powerful warrior. She had everything to prove.