rainfoot, thunderclan warrior

gentle. with a touch like that of a feather drifting against bare skin, everything about rainfoot's disposition, whether it be through his voice or through his paws, screams caution - that is, it screams caution on his side. with such hesitance and mindfulness behind his movements, it results in only the finest of behaviors; this is a tom with very little rough-handling within his demeanor. a poke of the nose here or the faintest breath there exude a kind of softness that attracts kittens with its sway. nurturing, almost motherly in his gestures, one might wonder why he hasn't fathered kits of his own yet.

a loose translation of the language that he speaks without words is, "if you won't hurt me, i won't hurt you." not that anyone is doing any form of hurting regardless, but it's good to know that there's no unpredictability in rainfoot, that he suggests safety through a lack of desire to tear. for someone living in a dog-eat-dog world, it's a little surprising to see him not fight for survival, but rather share the grounds.

shy. it is not that friendly relations are difficult for him, per say; he grew up in a clan surrounded by clanmates, after all, cats who shared his love for thunderclan and everything that surrounds it. rather, rainfoot can be rather clammed up. easily flustered and taken aback, he's some cat whose social skills come from a place of delicacy, rather than someone who dominates the entirety of a room. indeed, rainfoot offers himself some seclusion from time to time through introversion and retrospect, but it is not out of a hatred for socialization; rather, it's in a need for silence in a world that, at times, cannot learn to stop talking.

self conscious. if it's not heavily implied already, rainfoot is not very confident in himself. although he sports the skills and the name of a warrior, he doesn't really fit the warrior shoes. he doubts some of his steps and he wonders for a little too long on his true purpose. most of the time, these momentary lapses in concentration amount to nothing in the end, as he comes to the very same conclusions of it not mattering so much as long as he tries his hardest in keeping his clan steady. still, it's certainly enough of an issue that if there is another warrior who seems more capable of a job, he's not going to attempt to steal the credit.

he takes solace in being able to provide use, both for his clan and for his friends. in that, he can rely on himself and on them. as long as he's doing his duties, such worries are temporary.

friendly & amiable. and how could he not be, when he breathes and lives thunderclan? he loves his clan. he loves everything about it, to his leader, to his clanmates, to its territory... life is good, in thunderclan. but even to those outside of his clan, rainfoot responds first with only the mildest of suspicions. he believes in the goodness of cats within their hearts, and he is willing to provide a listening ear. certainly, heightened anxiety can result from tension between himself and another, but he will set that aside if he believes it's to everyone's greater benefit. he is not manipulative about this, either; he does not secretly dislike any cats. if a conflict arises, he's quicker to blame himself than the cat he's gotten into a conflict with, even if it may be through no fault of his own.

clingy. with the ails of separation anxiety brought on early within his life, it's resulted in a neediness in attention and company. every time he experiences loss, he finds someone new to latch onto and hold. it's a defect in the way he's programmed, desiring a strong sense of togetherness that he can only accomplish through the company of other cats. he's keenly aware of the fact that this trait can bring annoyance, but it's difficult for him to help; anxiety swells whenever he has little idea of the object of his affections currently. he needs to know their location, their status, and anything else, and even then he may not be satisfied. it's a trait he actively works against, but it still brings him down.

sometimes, losing those important to you does that to you. they disappear for a few heartbeats, and you think they may as well have disappeared forever.

kindhearted. believing in the goodness of the world and the strength of the warrior code, rainfoot demonstrates a strong level of compassion for others around him, whether they be in his clan or outside of it. of course he shows reasonable scrutiny of those who wish to attack his clan, but overall he has a kind beating heart within his ribcage and he shows it readily - it breathes along his sleeve and it shows in everything he does. he likes to "pay it forward", even if it may result in no benefit to himself. in fact, it can even be considered a detriment as he's easy to take advantage of, especially within thunderclan. if another cat wants to abuse his kindness, it's difficult for him to shut that faucet off specifically for them, even if he would know logically it's bad for him.

he wants to give everyone a chance, and how can he be blamed for that? hardly, that's how. he likes to think other cats would do the same for him if they were in his position. and maybe some of them wouldn't; he hardly sees that as an excuse to stop.

loyal. once you've bonded with him once, you've bonded with him for life. rainfoot is probably the most dedicated cat there is out there, almost to the point of blindness. he places all of his emotional and physical energy into keeping thunderclan and his friends safe. he fights strongly and patriotically for what he believes in, and he never sets forth in betraying those ideals. the warrior code and thunderclan are of utmost importance to him, and he will not turn his back on either for anyone.

compliant & hardworking. as part of the loyalty that he divines upon thunderclan, he's not a slacker by any means. he hunts every day. he listens to his leader. he reads signs from starclan and hails their divinity. rainfoot is someone who believes strongly and integrity, and he believes true integrity starts at the heart. and so he wrote, and thus he spends much of his time either hunting for the clan or trying to keep the borders safe from harm. he can work himself even to the point of exhaustion, and though it might have seemed to be to prove a point when he was younger, it continues to demonstrate itself well into his adulthood, when he's able to have kits and mentor apprentices of his own. in that case, he's willing to devote as much time and effort into the maintenance of his home.

thoughtful & spiritual. with his introversion comes thought. with thought comes spirituality. rainfoot is a strong believer of starclan, and it will likely never waver. he believes that they have allowed him to come as far as he has, and he sees any cats he becomes attached to as starclan's gift. he sees prey this way, too. he thinks to himself about what the meaning of life is, what the meaning of clans is, and then he settles on not needing to know too much because starclan clearly does. he keeps them in his heart and in his mind, and he keeps his claws sharpened on what he believes them to desire from him. after all, that's his purpose, isn't it? that's why starclan allowed him to be born.

kithood. the loving portrait of the typical, perfect family - that's what rainkit started out with.

or at least, half of it.

a proud thunderclan queen, silverflower held herself in high prestige for being the best mother to take care of kits ever, and as a result she found herself not caring that her mate up and ditched her in her time of need. so she went, taking care of a litter of kits, with rainkit, graykit, and fallowkit being the lucky ones to come under her belly. already, a hierarchy found itself firmly established among the kits: fallowkit proved himself to be the bravest, graykit being the one most disinterested in keeping with typical kit stuff and instead wanting to focus on becoming a strong warrior early on, and rainkit, the timid, gentle tom who waited his turn patiently before he acquired his mother's teats. of course, silverflower quickly found herself favoring the latter given the adorable nature that surrounded him and how low-maintenance he became, though she took care of all her kits with a stellar sign of love only a mother could show. and for a while, this worked fine for all of them.

her concern for rainkit grew when he demonstrated an inability to really connect with other kits - an this concern grew exponentially when his siblings showed that they really did not want anything to do with him, fallowkit because he was too boring and graykit because he was too meek. she tried to nudge him off in order to grow attached to his fellow clanmates, but he stayed close to her, unwilling to draw himself away from the comfort that her warm body provided. after a while, the she-cat gave up in trying to get him to distance himself, instead enabling the behavior by favoring him while the other kits played.

she only hoped that she would become a tough, strong warrior someday.

apprentice. apprenticehood found itself to quickly be a good stop within rainkit's - rainpaw's - life.

heronfur, the cat assigned to him, took on a very stern, hands-on approach with dealing with their apprentice. while not unkind, it was clear that heronfur did not want slacking or for rainpaw to find himself crawling back to his mother, and this kind of tough love proved itself to work after some time of whining and begging. rainpaw quickly threw himself into his duties, and over time became acclimated to the idea of impressing his mentor, forming a close bond attachment to them which heronfur allowed, even if their actions demonstrated something mechanical.

the mentor kept close track of rainpaw's progress, encouraging him to keep a mental log of what he excelled at and what he needed to improve at. giving him so much to focus on proved to be very healthy for him, and soon he found himself rocketing past his siblings due to their immaturity. heronfur also very much preached the importance of starclan, and rainpaw followed that belief.

with so much of this positive influence allowing him to grow, it made his time of becoming a warrior easier, and perhaps even a foregone conclusion. silverflower could not be prouder.

warrior. tragedy struck shortly after rainpaw earned his warrior name, rainfoot.

a fight broke out between thunderclan and riverclan. naturally, it's expected for those casualties to happen and rainfoot was dutifully prepared for it. it's not, however, part of his regime to expect someone close to him to be lost.

when silverflower was carted back into the clan, he found himself unable to leave her side for a night, not even returning to the warrior's den for rest. he didn't talk about it with anyone, but with his mother gone he was reminded of when he was a small kit again and his siblings stood over him, mocking him about how he wouldn't go anywhere, about how he was too meek, about how he proved to be useless. silverflower loved him for who he was - probably the only one who did - and now, her life slipped away.

his strong attachments and his bonds to other cats became readily more apparent. again, he threw himself into work in the wake of his grief, but he also found himself trying to make sure his clanmates didn't wind up in the same trouble. a part of him blamed himself for not being on that patrol, and he found himself haunted with thoughts of if he might have been able to prevent it. his siblings weren't as affected, but with rainfoot, the scar remained with him, a bleeding wound that still, to this day, remains fresh.

he found himself trailing after his mentor more and more, but he couldn't bring himself to impart on them that grief. he knew that they had better things to worry about than some cat who couldn't keep himself up on his paws.

but he still needs someone to talk about it with. every day as a warrior ticks by and he remembers her face, knowing that he must've failed her. she didn't even get to see a true legacy from him, what he promised.

she deserved that much, at least.