heatherjaw / vertigo

[heatherjaw`]

name heatherjaw
age 37 moons
gender female
clan vertigo
rank deputy

reason for name heather- the color of her pelt, jaw- her quiet nature and sage wisdom

appearance description

with soft, cool green eyes and a delicate gray-colored pelt, rippling faintly with darker stripes, heatherjaw doesn't always stand out in a crowd. she is rather average size, looking a bit small when surrounded by her hulking clanmates, and has a lean but graceful build, looking like she is built more for endurance than power. still, underneath her short, silken coat are rippling muscles she's been using nonstop. her underside is all a pretty cream color, and all her pads are unusual charcoal black.

quirks

• black pads and especially long black claws (which are rather intimidating)
• is thought to be the murderer of her late sister
• unable to birth kits (which broke her heart as a youngster, but inspired to pursue higher ranks in her later moons)
• a bit afraid of heights (bummer, dude)
• adores kits and young cats, her favorite clan duty is mentoring
• is particularly fond of moles as meals
• wise beyond her moons
• sleep-talks

personality

heatherjaw is a very wise feline- and sometimes it seems that she always has been. ignorance is rarely an issue for her, as she is constantly, albeit subtly, looking for new material to learn. much of her time is spent in the elders den, gathering stories and collecting wisdom from the best sources around, and she often hopes to spread what she has learned in life. not all her intelligence has come from the teachings of others, though. her knack for learning simply goes hand in hand with the rest of her personality, enabling her to see wise beyond her moons for what seems like all her life.

she is level-headed (most of the time). rather, she is only one or the other, there is no gray area for heatherjaw's temper- she's 0 or 100. most of the time, though, she is without a doubt 0. her attitude is easy-going, and she is difficult to upset because more often than not, she finds herself above petty arguments. she certainly does not have time for the nit-picking of clanmates, or taunts of enemies. such is a waste of time for the cool-tempered female. however, certain subjects are apt to piss her off, and when they do her anger is unmistakable and violent. no, she still doesn't have time for arguments, but she can squeeze a quick spat into her schedule without a moment's hesitation. she prefers to settle things the old fashioned way- with tooth and claw. during a border spat, when tension rises heatherjaw is the first to fly in claws bared. and if a clanmate is pestering her about her loyalty, she's more than willing to settle things without a word of exchange. while this may not always seen like the most appropriate way of settling matters, the she-cat has found it most efficient.

she believes in action, rather than parlay. efficiency is the name of her game in every aspect of her life. not just violence, but being sure that her clan and kin are as safe and happy as can be no matter what she has to do to achieve that. that being said, heatherjaw is a very friendly she-cat, though she is a cat of very very few words, and terribly dry humor, this does not mean she won't offer a smile to any passerby, visit expecting queens, chat with apprentices, and so on. she knows that socializing is the lifeblood of the clan, and she will (sometimes begrudgingly) do her part. still, she prefers quiet and alone time, as many do, or the gentle company of only one or two friends- she is most certainly an introvert.

family

harespring - mother - stocky gray and white tabby with green eyes.
whispersong - deceased sister - her death is currently the scandal of heather's life, as she is thought to be her sister's murderer.
crowstorm - former mentor, possibly father - handsome blue-eyed black tom. cruel in his younger years with a wild ego, but in his age he has softened slightly.

experience

harespring was the mother of heatherkit and whisperkit, two nearly identical sisters, although heather would grow up to be leggy and wise while whisper would grow up to bear stunning sapphire eyes and an empty head. the two sisters never got along from the get-go. it was rumored that they were fathered by two different toms in spite of their similar appearances, as harespring was known to bounce between a sweet old flame, rubblestep, and find herself under the spell of a mean younger tom who was undeniably gorgeous by the name of crowstorm, he was not good to her like rubblestep, but he was exciting and cruel and she couldn't stay away. the rumors may as well have been true for how differently the two sisters turned out. harespring would joke that that came out of the womb claws latched on each other's throats.

heather always seemed mature for her age. it wasn't that she was antisocial and cranky, but she didn't get quite as wound up as the other kits. she wouldn't play for as long, and she was much more apt to be found drawing patterned in bark than running in circles and causing trouble. her mother threw a fit once when she went missing, only to be found sleeping in the back of the elders den after having been listening to stories all morning. even as a kit awaiting her apprentice ceremony she was known to look after the younger kits- grooming them and entertaining them with wild stories. but she was thrilled to become an apprentice and leave behind the nursery- she was absolutely itching for time away from her family. rubblestep had become her father regardless of her true bloodlines, he enjoyed helping harespring raise her little family (when he wasn't busy being scared away from her by crowstorm).

as it turned out, heatherpaw would be mentored by crowstorm. he was extra hard on her thanks to the rumors surrounding them, and because of him she learned patience with herself and kindness. perhaps not because of him, but thanks to him. he could be cruel and heartless, though nothing too severe- he was by no means a kind or loving mentor. they struggled to form that bond that apprentices and mentors often strive to achieve, though in his old age he is easier to love and respect. all in all, heather was grateful for his teachings, for the handsome and cocky warrior was an incredible fighter. she learned all she knows about efficiency and acting upon instinct from him, and some say his cruelty trickled down to her through his training, and that is why she is apt to get in so many fights. at this time in her life, it seemed that she and whisperpaw were in a constant altercation, and always physical. perhaps it was because of crowstorm egging her on and heatherpaws desire to please him, but she couldn't kep her claws off her sister. and whisperpaw was by no means weak- her mentor often punished her for getting in fights as crowstorm never would, but that didn't stop either of them. they were dangerously close to ingraining a hatred within each other. of course, others tried to step in, but eventually cats close to them simply tried to keep the sisters separated- they couldn't stop antagonizing each other on their own.

training, though, was going swimmingly. heatherpaw was dying to learn everything the world had to offer, and when crowstorms morals failed her she sought out others- her mother, rubblestep, the elders, anyone who would share conversations with her would find themselves being observed almost to a point of discomfort. not only that, but heatherpaw spent every spare minute in the nursery. kits were her passion. in her young age she couldn't wait to grow up and have about a bajillion litters of her own to care for and raise, in between fighting valiantly for vertigoclan of course. in those days, she thought she could have it all, in spite of whisperpaws taunting and haresprings careful advice against wanting it all. heatherpaw's dreams were important to her, though not ambitious. she just wanted to make others proud and become a mother.

at last she became a warrior, earning the name heatherjaw for her quietly wise nature, and crowstorm's first apprentice had turned out alright in spite of his shitty attitude toward her- he was proud, though at the time he'd never admit such a thing. on the same day, whisperpaw became whispersong. the sisters had grown up a bit, and since they hadn't spoken in a moon, harsh congratulations were coldly exchanged before they parted separate ways once more. one moon later, they fought in the forest. it would always start with whispersong trying to get her sister riled up- and it never worked at first. she'd egg heatherjaw on again and again, for days sometimes. she never expected the claws since she really didnt know her sister as well as she thought she did. she kept telling harespring that crowstorm's training did more damage than she thought, trying to turn her mother against heatherjaw. whispersong relished spreading rumors and it was easy for her because of her social, meddling nature. she wanted to make pretty she-cats (and heatherjaw) feel inferior, and she wanted to manipulate toms into doing her bidding (which honestly wasn't hard, with her looks). she wasn't evil, just bored. where heatherjaw entertained herself with learning and observing, whispersong entertained herself with using others.

of course, that was until she became pregnant. whispersong didn't particularly want kits, and was exceptionally reckless to attempt to get rid of the burdens growing inside of her- and it worked. she snuck into battle one day and the following day she miscarried. heatherjaw was shocked and appalled. everyone in the clan mourned the kits, assuming whispersong was only overcome with the desire to defend her clan, or had gotten caught in the melee on accident. but her sister knew, and again they fought in the forest. after all, they now knew to keep their spats between one another. it was then that heatherjaw realized how desperately she desired to become a mother. after all, she was over 20 moons old and ready to mature. she went to harespring for help and was directed toward several bachelor toms- the type who often fathered litters and never claimed them. the clan knew this, but it was accepted, and heatherjaw didn't mind. she courted a tom named fallenberry, whom she had found very handsome in her younger moons, and as it turned out he was rather interested in her as well. however, for moons nothing came of it. fallenberry admitted he had fathered litters before, so the problem was not him. heatherjaw was simply shocked.

for several moons, she had slipped into an incurable mood swing. she was more irritable than anyone had ever seen her, and said almost nothing during the entire episode. she was terribly sad, of course. half of her life's ambitions had slipped through her claws by chance. she was convinced starclan hated her for a long time. but something clicked inside of her eventually, and she realized that motherhood was not where she belonged afterall. starclan had other plans for her- she was to walk among the stars with them as vertigoclan's leader. she grew a million moons old during this time of cynicism and ambition. learning her true place in the clan meant everything to her. during this time, whispersong had become pregnant again and had given birth to a young only son. she did not love him nor did she want him, but between harespring and heatherjaw the kit was well taken care of. it was only four moons after the tom's birth that whispersong was pregnant again. as soon as she discovered this, she wandered off into the forest. heatherjaw was close behind, upset with her sister of course and with every intention of smacking some sense into her. but she was too late- she had been trailing whispersong at quite a distance to remain undetected and followed the trail all the way to the cliff where her sister had thrown herself to her death, unable to bear what life was giving her.

heatherjaw immediately rushed back to camp to report what she had found- but her voice was too cold, her eyes too unfeeling. it was immediately assumed that they had gotten in yet another fight and a jealous heatherjaw had pushed her sister over the cliff. this, of course, was completely untrue, but heatherjaw could not make herself mourn for her sister, and vertigoclan saw this in her as guilt.

but not flamingstar, who heatherjaw had always been close to as they had been in the nursery at the same time. the leader saw through the rumors and it suddenly became clear that this wise young gray tabby reminded her distinctly of a leader long past- lynxstar, flamingstar's former mentor. in this realization, heatherjaw became vertigoclan's deputy only four moons after her sister's suspicious death. during that time heather has been spending time raising her sister's son and looking for opportunities to look after vertigoclan.