Hailstorm - RC Leader

[|{/Bloodrose\}|]

NAME! Hailkit -> Hailpaw -> Hailstorm
AGE! 30 moons.
RANK! Leader
GENDER! She-cat
CLAN! RiverClan
SHORT DESC.! Dark gray she-cat with white underbelly and pale green eyes.

FULL DESCRIPTION!

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Hailstorm is a well built she-cat, with slick fur, characteristic of the RiverClan cats. When times are good, she looks healthy, with a shining dark gray coat. She tries to take care of herself, knowing that it is important to keep a clean and proper appearance if she is aiming to look strong. Nothing strong about a dishevelled leader, is there? She has a relatively short coat, which easily allows the water to run down around her, rather than cling desperately to every strand as it does with cats of other Clans.

Over all, Hailstorm doesn't have the most interesting coat colors. Her short fur is primarily a deep gray, though it is obstructed by her white underbelly. The white fur reaches her muzzle, before leaving the rest to the gray tone. The one downfall she has with having such a pale underbelly is that it is easily dirtied by the ground she walks on. Being a RiverClan cat, she ofter slips in and out of the water, without a thought. However, upon exiting, if she happens to walk through a patch of dirt, the rising dust has a tendency to cling to her soaked belly fur, turning it an off white, reddish color, much to her annoyance.

Her face has an almost dainty look to it, though that is nearly completely cancelled out by her sombre, or frigid facial expressions. It is blatantly obvious that she doesn't have time for much of anything that she views as unimportant. It can be hard to judge her emotions through her expressions, as she tends to lock onto one single expression that can only be labelled as bored. Her eyes, being large, could have been perfect mirrors to show off her emotions, but over the moons she spent hardening over, she has learnt to control, command and destroy anything that might try to show in her gaze. That doesn't mean that every now and again you won't see a flash of something pass by.

As previously mentioned, her body frame is easily considered as well built, especially for a she-cat. She has muscles that have been formed from moons of swimming, and training herself. As an apprentice, she took it seriously. As a warrior, even more so. Now, as leader, she often takes time for herself to be sure she hasn't lost her touch. Her tail is thin, rather than thick and bushy, and often just snakes behind her, to and fro, almost pensively. Her eyes are a sharp, pale green, almost as though someone had sucked the color from them originally, leaving only a ghost of a color.

PERSONALITY!

Once an innocent she-cat, filled with a burning determination to be the best warrior of RiverClan, this young leader has changed considerably. Now she wears the mask of a hardened individual, one who has witnessed tragedy more than a cat her age should have seen. Her determination has cracked and shifted, no longer shining as something she must strive for, but rather something she absolutely has to do. She doesn't believe in trying. There is no "I tried my hardest" with her. There is only failure and success. You might think that such an attitude is unnecessarily harsh. The only response to this is that Hailstorm lives up to her name. She is cold and harsh, much like a hail storm.

Though she wears her air of pride, in truth it's a veil she uses to protect herself. She would rather come off as uncaring, but strong, compared to a beaten and weak leader. She'll snap at those who commit actions she views as idiotic, and just completely ignore those she views as incompetent. Incompetency isn't worth her time, so don't go around wasting it.

Deep below all the anger and chill is a young leader who feels as though the others look down upon her. Being the youngest of the leaders, and the only she-cat, she feels a pressure to perform well, to show everyone a strong RiverClan. However, her faith in StarClan has crumbled away, a smothered fire slowly sputtering out. As a nameless leader who watched her family as well as the nameless leader before her perish in agony, it becomes increasingly hard for her to remain calm and hold onto her beliefs. In her mind, StarClan failed them all. There is no point in holding on to them.

The epitome of strict, Hailstorm likes order, and will often do her best to command it from her Clan. Disorganization is something she views as a weakness. A disorganized Clan cannot fight to the best of their ability. They need order, to be able to function as a whole. Hailstorm doesn't like raising her voice. She prefers an even, steady and cool tone that commands attention. This isn't to say that she won't raise her voice, however. She can be extremely intimidating should someone require her to use the force she has hidden behind her frigid voice. Intimidation being her preferred weapon, Hailstorm will not hesitate to resort to aggression should it be required. And you don't want her to get aggressive.

Everything that she is now can be linked back to the tragedy that plagued her young life. Her cold exterior is a form of protecting herself. She's terrified of opening her heart to others, afraid she'll end up losing them to the grips of this so called "StarClan" as well. If she doesn't care, she can't hurt. At least, this is what she leads herself to believe.

HISTORY!

Hailstorm has lived her whole life without fully knowing StarClan.

Born Hailkit, the only evidence she ever had of StarClan's existence were the tales told to her, of a time not too long before when the medicine cats had been able to communicate with StarClan, when the leaders of the Clans were given nine lives by StarClan. The idea that a cat could be fatally wounded, succumb to death, and then stand back up again was something surreal to the young she-kit. There was no kit in the nursery that could rival the fascination Hailkit had in the idea of StarClan. Her brother, Frostkit, couldn't seem to wrap his head around such an idea, needing proof of the existence before he was likely to begin to believe in such a thing. Hailkit, however, young and innocent of heart, welcomed such stories, binding them to herself as though they were her lifeline. Those stories were something to believe in, something to strive for.

The young gray and white kit was frequently asking her parents, Sharpstrike and Dewfall, to tell her more of this StarClan, and the powers they once held, before the four Clans lost contact with them. Hailkit wanted to grow up and bring them back, to find a way to renew the connection so that the four Clans of the forest could once again thrive beneath the reign of StarClan. Such tales were woven into dreams, dreams that pushed the young she-kit forward until they were beaten down by darkness.

Hailkit became Hailpaw alongside her brother, now Frostpaw. She was apprenticed to a proud tom by the name of Shiverstorm. Admittedly, young Hailpaw had a slight crush on the big white tom, and probably tried a little too hard to impress him. She wanted to do everything right, hoping that Shiverstorm would pay her a little extra attention. In a way, her plan worked. The tom was proud of his young apprentice, but wasn't aware of her feelings towards him. He was much older than she was and didn't think that an apprentice could have those sorts of feelings for him. In fact, it was absolutely absurd to him. And yet, her feelings never changed. 

Hailpaw continued her training, pushing herself to every limit she could find. She and Frostpaw were in a bit of competition, trying to decide which of the two was a better apprentice. No matter how strongly she felt about her mentor, she was a little jealous of her brother, and his mentor. Not only was the mentor in question a handsome tom, but it was Hawkwing, the leader of RiverClan. Why did her brother get the huge tabby tom as a mentor and not her? She quickly became obsessed with her training, one part to catch Shiverstorm's attention, two parts to show the Clan leader that she was the better of the siblings.

The gray and white she-cat excelled in her training, quickly gaining approval from both her mentor and her brother's mentor. The two siblings were both of age of becoming warriors, and would have had their ceremony, had Hailpaw's mentor not fallen violently ill with a case of rabies. The tom soon died, leaving RiverClan in shock. They'd watched a RiverClan senior warrior pretty much go mad.

Shiverstorm's death was the very first spot of ice on Hailpaw's heart. She found it hard to believe StarClan could allow something as horrible as that happen to the Clan.

Watching her mentor fall to the rabies disease felt, to Hailpaw, as though someone were driving an icicle through her heart. For days she did nothing but lay curled up in her nest in the apprentice's den, weeping. Slowly, she began to piece her heart back together, but damage as large as what she experienced can't all be fixed like it's no big deal. On the day the Clan was called together, to welcome two new warriors to RiverClan's ranks, the dark gray and white she-cat felt no satisfaction, no glory. She stood stock still as her brother was named Frostpath. When it came time for her to gain her warrior name, Hailpaw stared up at Hawkwing and interrupted him. She requested to be named Hailstorm, taking the same suffix her mentor had had.

Hawkwing was more than a little stunned, but he nodded his head, naming her as Hailstorm, a full warrior of RiverClan. It wasn't long after this, however, that RiverClan learnt of the origin of the deadly disease that had caused them so much grief. An attack was launched upon the origin, which happened to be another Clan. RiverClan attacked WindClan, in the hopes of driving them out, so that the danger might be eliminated. The consequence of this, however, was horrible. Not only did RiverClan fail to drive WindClan out, but they lost many warriors in the process. Some were killed in battle, others contracted the disease that had sparked the fight, and perished soon after.

Among the cats lost in the battle were Dewfall and Frostpath, Hailstorm's mother and brother. On top of this, Hailstorm had to watch her father fall victim to the rabies and perish only days later. Hailstorm's belief in the tales she'd been told of a power that lay high in the stars began to crumble around her, leaving an emptiness within her.

Hawkwing gave Hailstorm an apprentice at the age of 18 moons. It was true that she herself was still fairly young, but with the amount of cats RiverClan had lost, there wasn't much choice. Hailstorm didn't react to getting an apprentice. Where pride would have usually swelled, there was nothing. She had no one left, what was the point? Still, she began to teach her apprentice, Wrenpaw, as best as she could. For RiverClan, if nothing else.

When the day came where Hawkwing was to call Wrenpaw forth and give her her warrior name, Hailstorm sat by and watched, listening to the words her leader spoke. They rang hollow in her ears, speaking of ancestors looking down upon them. How could they stand by and watch as tragedy after tragedy swept the Clans? The only answer? They weren't there.

She'd never voice this aloud, however. How could she? She was a Clan cat. She was surrounded by those who believed in those tales. RiverClan's leader, Hawkwing, believed in them, even after everything they'd been through. RiverClan didn't need more trouble. Not from her anyway.

When Hailstorm was 20 moons old, tragedy struck RiverClan once again. Webbedsoul, the RiverClan deputy, fell ill and died, the verdict drawn once more as rabies. The Clan didn't recover quickly from something like that, though tradition pushed Hawkwing to name a new deputy before long. A quiet she-cat by the name of Jaystripe was chosen. It seemed like an odd choice, but no one dared question Hawkwing, not after Webbedsoul's death.

Jaystripe's deputyship was shortlived, however. Only three moons later, Jaystripe fell victim to whitecough. The only consolation was that it wasn't rabies. Once again, Hawkwing was forced to name another deputy. The tom was aging. It was because of this that he made the decision to appoint Hailstorm as deputy.

This stunned the distant she-cat, but she wouldn't question Hawkwing's motives. She accepted the position, and vowed to serve him as long as she could. As it turns out, this wouldn't be very long at all.

Four moons later, Hawkwing and Hailstorm were out with some apprentices, showing them the territory. Hawkwing was a strong believer in taking an active role in the Clan as high positioned cats. He wanted to be thought of as family, not someone who reigned over them. It was on this journey that they ran into trouble. A fox had ventured onto their territory, infected with the rabies virus. It attacked without provocation, driven mad by the disease.

Ordering the apprentices to get back to camp as quickly as possible, Hawkwing and Hailstorm fought side by side, desperately trying to push the fox back, to convince it to leave. One of the apprentices, however, had frozen in place, unable to move, staring wide eyed at the scene unfolding before them. Realization dawned on Hawkwing part way through the battle, and he ordered Hailstorm to take the apprentice and flee back to camp. They would not win this battle. They wouldn't be able to hold off until reinforcements arrived to help them. At first, Hailstorm refused to leave his side. But then he yelled at her, really yelled. Never had he ever raised his voice towards Hailstorm, until that day. She staggered back, wide pale green eyes catching his amber ones as the fox was momentarily distracted by a scratch on it's nose. Hawkwing told her one last time to run back to camp, to get the apprentice back safely, and to rally a patrol of strong warriors to chase the fox off the territory.

And he told her she'd need to be strong for RiverClan, as their new leader.

He shoved her back into the bushes with the apprentice. But Hailstorm didn't run to begin with. She was too stunned, and watched as Hawkwing bravely turned to face the fox, tail lashing and teeth bared. She was also watching when the fox struck out at just the right moment, ripping open Hawkwing's stomach, all the way to his throat, ending his life almost immediately.

It was then that life surged back into her limbs, as though Hawkwing had given her his life. She screamed at the apprentice to run, shoving him forward, keeping herself between the apprentice and the fox. The red devil was too distracted with it's kill, however, to really notice the fleeing cats. By the time a distraught Hailstorm burst through the camp entrance, pushing the apprentice, the Clan had already heard, and a patrol was already forming. The gray she-cat couldn't summon up the voice to explain what had happened. All she could do was stare at the ground.

But everyone seemed to know Hawkwing's fate.

The patrol set out, to find the fox, but no trace of it was found on their territory. The scene of the attack was found easily, given away by the incredulous amount of blood found in the grass, but Hawkwing's body was never found. It is assumed the fox dragged it off, out of RiverClan's territory, wherever it might have gone.

Now 30 moons old and RiverClan's leader, Hailstorm lives with an emptiness nagging in her heart. She still has nightmares of Hawkwing's death, and sees it over and over again in her sleep, but she hasn't spoken to anyone about them.

RP EXAMPLE!

A sudden tug on her tail had the old she-cat jumping to her paws, neck turning so that she could glance behind her. There was a flash in her eyes as she prepared some scornful words for the kit who'd pulled her tail, until her pale yellow gaze landed upon her apprentice, Dustpaw. Immediately, there was a softening in those eyes and she chuckled slightly, shaking her head as she moved to face the younger she-cat. "You certainly did get me that time." With a purr, she added, a playful warning ringing in her tone. "But don't get too used to that, you hear?"

Her white tail flicked from side to side, enjoying the movement again after having been assaulted by the apprentice. Fallenleaf pulled her tail around, resting it over the apprentice's shoulders to guide her towards the entrance. It brought a gentle, motherly smile to the old she-cat's face as her apprentice suddenly threw out question after question that seemed to have nothing to do with one another. Waiting for Dustpaw to finish, Fallenleaf's ears flicked and twirled, focusing on both the apprentice as well as the surroundings as the pair slipped out of the entrance. Once silence was finally allowed a chance to reign, Fallenleaf turned her seemingly all knowing gaze upon her apprentice.

"We are doing some training today, that I can tell you. I was thinking of beginning with a bit of hunting, to get those muscles warmed up, and then transitioning into some battle techniques." She shifted her weight, purposely butting Dustpaw softly, before continuing in a voice that almost seemed uncharacteristically gentle for what could be a hot-tempered senior warrior. "Well... When I think about the difference between like and like," She grinned at her apprentice, emphasizing the second one. "I think of it like this. The former is when you consider all your friends. You like your friends, I'm assuming. I hope you have some room to like you're good old mentor, hm?" She teased her, before pushing on. "When you like someone, they make the world a brighter place. They're always there for you, willing to bring you out of any dark pit you might fall in to. They stick by your side, because you have a strong bond with them."

As she spoke, her yellow gaze ventured away from Dustpaw, to the path before them. Her paws were confident in their movements as she strode forward, tail flicking lazily to and fro behind her. "When you like someone though, that just adds a whole other level to it all. They become your world, so to speak. They make you feel as though you were walking on air. There might even be the trace of little butterflies fluttering about in your belly. It makes you feel like a kit all over again, giddy and carefree. As far as what I know about liking, really liking others is that it is perfectly normal, and that there is nothing to worry about. Don't go around thinking I don't know what I'm talking about, you hear?" She flashed the younger she-cat another grin before finishing.

"I've had 50 moons of fluctuating emotions. I've liked my fair share of cats."

[tails//]

/doesn't know why she hadn't accepted this yet.