Nightstar ⚡

• DESCRIPTION: Long furred black smoke with low white and ice blue eyes

Even from a distance, Nightstar strikes a powerful silhouette. She's a large cat, strong, with long, silky fur and a grace that only adds to her presence. She has a similar build to a norwegian forest cat, although isn't a purebred herself. Her eyes are an icy blue, piercing and calculating. When she's trying to control her expressions, her ears tend to be the only thing giving away her emotions- a big tell, to be fair, but she never quite figured out how to make them stay still when the rest of her was trying to fool someone.

Nightstar has several scars, across her face and her body, from her years as a warrior and the fights she's been in. Her eyes and the tips of her fur crackle with electricity when she's feeling powerful emotion, most especially anger.

cunning • confident • charming • protective

Growing up the daughter of a leader, yet second-best to her brother in everything she did, Nightstar jumped at the chance at leadership for herself. In front of her clan, Nightstar is powerful, confident, and sure in her choices and herself- they need her to seem knowledgable and reliable, strong enough to protect them and to lead them, and so she meets their expectations.

However, behind closed doors, alone with Berrysnap in the quiet of her den, Nightstar is just as much along for the ride as the rest of her clan. She's ambitious, yes, and took the opportunity Moon's Gaze offered her with little question, accepted the gift of water and second chances starclan, the moon, offered her- but she had little plans to start an entire clan when she ran away, was exiled left her old clan. Now, she's figuring out how to be a leader, how to be in charge and responsible for the cats who look up to her, how to live up to the expectations of the Seer and of Starclan as she goes. Forced confidence and careful planning has yet to let her down.

She is incredibly protective of her moontouched clan, wary of outsiders and the clans that surround their mountains until they've proven themself friendly or useful- but she is almost too eager to trust other moontouched, even those outside of the clan. She finds herself feeling a little like the parent of some of the warriors, despite not yet having kits herself and although she practically raised her nephew, Littlewolf, no he doesn't count. She's simultaneously the scary leader you would not want to anger, while also the mom friend who makes sure you've eaten lunch.

Nightstar was born as Nightkit, sister and littermate to Brightkit, children of Hollystar, the leader of Sunclan, and Stormsight, senior warrior of the clan. Hollystar’s father was the previous Sunclan leader, Skystar, and her mother was an elder who still lived in the elder’s den, Daisyfang. Sunclan was a clan far to the East, in the grasslands on the edge of a thick forest. They lived near but not next to a few other groups of cats, but kept to themselves mostly.

Hollystar was a black smoke tortoiseshell, a gorgeous, long and thick-furred molly with warm green eyes. She was powerful, demanded respect but gave it in return, and was already on her 5th life from a recent history of dealing with a pack of wolves ravaging the clan. Her father, Stormsight, was a medium-long furred black silver ticked tabby with white paws and nose, long fangs, and serious blue eyes. He was regal, her right-hand man in everything but rank, and the two were very close mates.

Nightstar’s brother, Brightkit, was a red silver mackerel tabby, with the slightly short fur but strong build of her father. His eyes were yellow, bright and proud. The two were close as kits, but when they were 5 moons old, Nightkit set the nursery on fire in her sleep and almost killed her brother and the queens. Thankfully, they were the only kits at the time, and she wasn’t blamed as no one knew what could possibly have caused it- Brightkit knew it was her, though, and didn’t trust her from then on.

Brightkit and Nightkit became apprentices, given the names Brightpaw and Nightpaw, when they were 6 moons old. They trained to become warriors on barely-speaking terms, her brother angry and scared of her, and Nightpaw desperately trying to both hide and further understand the powers she discovered. Her brother found her sneaking out one night late into their training, and caught her trying to practice her firestarter magic- she was brought before the leader, deputy, and medicine cat, to explain herself. It was only by the medicine cat declaring it must be a gift- or curse, he wasn’t too clear- from Starclan, that she was forgiven for keeping it secret. She was told to control the strange powers, to keep them from hurting anyone, but even Nightfang could see the sudden fear in her mother’s eyes after demonstrating her growing power over warmth and flame for them.

When the two became warriors, it was at the same time- Brightpaw was given the warrior name Brightsun, and was a model warrior and son. Nightpaw was named Nightfang, and it was a relief to be allowed the rank at all. Brightsun rose to the top of the warrior ranks quickly, and Nightfang did her best to not scare her clanmates with her abilities (for the clan was informed, after she was discovered- many still would not meet her eyes, or gave her a wide berth). It was only helped by the presence of her best friend, Berrysnap, who seemed to have some sort of control over water, and could stay at the bottom of the pond for hours- not that she or Nightfang planned on telling anyone about that.

Moons and moons later, after Brightsun had been appointed deputy, Nightfang got a niece and two nephews- her brother had become mates with a pretty young blue-cream spotted tortoiseshell tabby, named Dapplestream, and they had kits. Breezekit, a black broken classic tabby with white paws, Harekit, a cream broken mackerel tabby, and a little runty blue colorpoint with oddly short legs called Littlekit. Brightsun and Nightfang were still on uneasy terms (he didn’t like her, didn't trust her, and made that apparent), and the deputy didn’t want his sister near his kits. She obeyed, unhappily, and stayed away from the kits. Dapplestream didn’t like her either, and would watch her warily from the mouth of the nursery when she passed by.

When everything went wrong, and Littlekit flooded the nursery in his sleep, and the wolves attacked the camp again, and Brightsun was burned alive, and Berrysnap arrived too late to help, and Stormsight looked at his daughter with only fear and anger, and Nightfang stole her nephew from his mothers side (who hadnt looked at him since he showed signs of his powers), and Nightfang and Berrysnap and Littlekit followed her mothers, Hollystar’s, orders to leave Sunclan and never be seen again anywhere near their territory, Nightfang knew it would be the last time she saw her family.

She doesn’t know how Dapplestream is doing, or how Breezekit and Harekit are (are they apprentices yet?). She doesn’t know how Stormsight is doing, what he thinks of her now, if he even thinks of her at all. She doesn’t know how Hollystar is, how many lives she has left (she had 4 left when Nightstar was exiled, has she lost more since then?). She doesn’t know how Sunclan is, and she tries not to think about them. She has Littlekit, and Berrysnap, and her new clan nestled in the comforting caves in the mountains to worry about now.

When asked, Nightstar says she has no interest in kits of her own at the moment. She is Littlekit’s only family here, and thinks of him as her own son (although she would never admit such). Berrysnap, as well, is family to her- although, in secret, in the dark of the leaders den late at night when the clan is asleep, if Nightstar dreams of being more than friends with her deputy, well, that’s nobody’s business.