Firfoot

Thistleclan

longhair, bicolour seal point tom

- Despite not being perhaps considered the strongest kit of his litter in his youth, Firfoot is one of the largest of his siblings. He isn't built like the powerhouses that Cherry and Juniper are, his pelt hiding a stature honed more for speed, but he is tall with a narrower build. He has large paws that perhaps allude to the hard-hitter he might have been, if not for his body type being unsuitable for endurance.

- Firfoot sports thick, long pelt, well-kept (for the most part) and layered. Its length makes it appear coarser than it feels - to touch, it is rather silky. Its colouration is dark with the classic markings of a colourpoint, though he has a white chin, ruff and mittens. His whiskers are long and white, and the fur around his neck, having grown longer, gathers into a mane-like appearance.

- His face is broad and square, with strong, angular features. His brow is pronounced, with a slightly shorter muzzle than most compared to his head size. Overall, he has a rather rugged appearance, a look that has garnered him a lot of attention over the years- apparently a fair amount of she-cats are fond of a "rougher" sort of appearance, the exact look that Firfoot has seemed to refine.

+ Firfoot's main personality trait (and the one he falls back on the most) is his charisma. He has a way with words that he would argue rivals his brother Yewthorn's, though due to his quieter nature, he was unable to prove this until he became a warrior. Nowadays, as Yewthorn has fallen from grace, Firfoot has taken the opportunity to really show off his own silver tongue. He is a practised wordsmith, capitalising on a soft sense of humour and a natural ability to befriend. Whilst he perhaps couldn't be considered an extrovert due to his preference to let others approach him, and a very laid-back nature to go with it, he enjoys holding conversation - and considers himself good at it.

+ Sentimental and loving to those he cares deeply about, Firfoot could also be described as an affectionate character. He is often found making little gestures for his loved ones, such as bringing them their favourite prey, or leaving pretty petals in their nest. He takes time to patiently learn everything he can about other cats, and uses their preferences to make their days brighter in the littlest ways.

- He hides a very judgemental side, one he only shares more in-depth with his siblings; if approached by a stranger wishing to know his stance on things, you would be lucky to gain more than a shrug and a smile if the topic is trivial. However, he is known to be opinionated, and can rant for a long while if left uninterrupted on topics he feels strongly about, or if he is correcting you on a bad stance. It's perhaps for this reason that he enjoys intellectual debate, though he inwardly gets rather grumbly if he doesn't win someone over to his way of thinking.

- Kept even more secret is his vainer, sly side. After his brother's tomcatting was exposed to the wider Clan, he began to believe himself to be better than Yewthorn, perhaps even a better version of Yewthorn, and he used this to his advantage. He spent his earlier warrior days playing with she-cats, as he got rather a lot of attention that he entertained before turning away- yet, he still preaches to his brother on the few times that they do clash that he is a stain on their lineage, thus exposing the inner hypocrite in Firfoot.

Even in his youth, Firkit was a thinker.

Sprucekit was always the quiet one, though- Firkit went along with his brother Yewkit for the most part, the other tomkit leading the litter for much of their younger moons. However, his brother's early discovery that he could manipulate attention onto him with his words annoyed even a young Firkit; this would be the beginning of the feud that would develop later in their lives.
As Yewkit expanded his horizons, Firkit observed, developing and honing his own skills in charisma in his brother's shadow.

The mentor he gained upon apprenticeship, Alderwing, helped him to explore his conversational skills - if he could avoid a verbal altercation with some clever deflections, Alderwing always said, either your opponent would get tired of your antics and leave, or they would strike first, wherein you could claim self-defence. This was perhaps the beginning of his manipulative nature. Though, Alderwing's teachings weren't all bad, of course- she taught him to be quick on his paws, to dodge your enemy until you could hit them where it hurts, and his affinity for agility eventually earned him the name Firfoot.

But we are not at that point in his story, yet.

Teaming up with Sprucepaw and Yewpaw to drive a fox from the nursery, none of them noticed until it was far too late that a kit had been injured and killed. Whilst he is unsure to this day whether any of his brothers made their condolences to the mother, Firpaw beat himself up about it for moons. He would leave little trinkets in the queen's nest when she was out, for instance, to try to make up for it.

As he grew older, and became a warrior, and his brother continued to throw himself into the limelight, it was not made a secret that Yewthorn had earned himself a name amongst their peers. Their parents' death crushed Firfoot, he hadn't even been there when he could have helped, but again, as Birchsong flocked to Yewthorn's side to comfort him, Firfoot felt the old jealousy well up in his chest. As Cherrybite and Spruceshade suffered, Firfoot felt jaded, again shadowed over by Yewthorn, the great tomcatter.

He would not, could not live in his brother's shadow again.

He refused to follow in Yewthorn's pawsteps. Whilst he enjoyed the frequent female company he found himself in, as one got attached, he cut them off, and found that he liked doing that. No, he would not become Yewthorn, with a new molly in his nest every night. He openly chided his brother to Cherrybite in particular.

His first apprentice could in no way be described as an easy run. Rushpaw was a whirlwind, only ever wanting to fight and claw and rip and tear and the such- typical aspirations, Firfoot supposed, for a new apprentice, except it just didn't subside. Teaching Rushpaw to mellow was the biggest challenge Firfoot had ever faced. But he managed it- Rushtail, now, is perhaps one of the most laid-back toms one can hope to meet.

His second apprentice, though, taught him much further restraint. Crescentpaw taught him a lot of things, more than he felt he could ever have taught her. She was a dedicated girl, clingy from what he could only suppose was a sudden change in relationship with her siblings (as most apprentices find upon beginning their training, Firfoot guessed), but his favourite thing quickly became making her smile. She nearly got held back, however, and from the moment that was brought up as a possibility, Firfoot redoubled his efforts to make sure she graduated on time. That she did- Crescentwing became a warrior alongside the other apprentices her age, and he couldn't have been prouder of her.

Of course, it humoured Firfoot to learn that taking on a second apprentice so quickly had broken Yewthorn. He added this to his growing list as to what he had achieved that Yewthorn could never, and cut the other tom off almost completely.

He would not allow such a stain on his shadow so close. Not just as he was getting on his own paws.