Tiltshoulder

### Family

Whisperfrost (mother), Scorchface and Cliffwhisker (siblings), Singewhisker (father, deceased)

## Appearance

Tiltshoulder is a mottled gray-and-white tom with turquoise eyes. He has short fur and a long tail. His left foreleg is bent and scarred, and his right shoulder sits higher than his left. He has a few scars on his face as well.

## Personality

He is calm and gentle, and believes that every cat has good in them somewhere, and that there is a peaceful solution to every problem. He loves kits, and desperately wants kits of his own - and a mate who feels the same way.

## Story

#### Kithood

For the first six moons of Whitekit's life, everything was great. His parents were Whisperfrost and Singewhisker, and his siblings were Scorchkit and Cliffkit, and they were all just a big, happy, loving family. Lovely.

#### Apprenticeship

Except thennnn, Whitepaw decided to spend some time with his dad, and they went hunting. An avalanche was kinda starting to go on, but Singewhisker insisted they had time. Famous last words at their finest. So anyway, Whitepaw was stalking a rabbit, and then a hawk swooped in and plucked it up. Well, Whitepaw was not having any of that, so he went chasing after it, and, uh, because he was looking up at the sky and not down at the ground.... he ran right off a cliff. Good job, buddy. And Singewhisker found himself smack dab in the middle of an avalanche. The good news was, he managed to catch both the hawk *and* the rabbit. The bad news? He was tossed right off a cliff with a whole bunch o' falling rocks.

Singewhisker's funeral was held while Whitepaw was still unconscious. Scorchpaw left for OasisClan that night.

When Whitepaw woke up to hear what had happened, he was devastated. Not to mention he could no longer properly use his left foreleg. So one night he just up and left the Clan, feeling like he was going to be useless anyway.

#### Loner Life

Because of his injury, Whitepaw could not hunt. Instead he followed vultures and ravens to their meals. He decided that he should have nothing to do with the Clans anymore, so he started calling himself Tilt.

A somewhat starving Tilt stumbled across an abandoned barn one day, and thought it looked like a good place to rest.

He was found by a cat named Sparky, who showed him that the barn was actually a home for wayward loners (and also his family).

The barn was run by Dusky and Rafter, Sparky's littermates, and there were some cats who lived there permanently, like Zeus, Rafter's mate, Sara, Dusky's mate, Zeus and Rafter's kits Falcon and Current, and Owler, Sara's brother. Cloudy and Lake, however, were not born in the barn, and had come in at another point. There were also some cats who had lived there for a while but were gone now, like Inkblot and Chameleon (and their kits, Talis and Sovelai), Kyle, and Lake's son Frostpaw. Plus, there was Oaktail, Clay and Willow, who had died. Oaktail had been Lake's mate, but had been murdered by a cat called Hiker, who had been kicked out. Willow died giving birth to her kit, and Clay, her mate (and the brother of Sara and Owler), died falling off the roof of the barn shortly after.

Then Tilt met Sky, Clay and Willow's daughter. Sky was a beautiful and sweet she-cat, and Tilt fell head over heels for her. (Which is weird, if you think about it, because your head *should* be over your heels. Otherwise, you're either doing a handstand, or I'm seriously worried that you have some anatomical issues going on there.)

Anyway, Tilt and Sky spent a lot of time just hanging out under the willow tree outside the barn. They were a little young to become mates, so they didn't, but that didn't stop the other barn cats from teasing them about it.

Lake hated him though. Lake hates everyone. Including her sons, Frostwhisker and Lichenspring.

Tilt was outside one day and found a rose, which he picked for Sky and trotted off back to the barn. He found that she was out hunting. Oh well, he'd just wait here for her - gosh, it was hot out. It also got hotter when, ah, the barn caught on fire. Whoops. Sky walked in right about that moment, and Tilt basically just bundled her outside with all the other cats.

Or most of the other cats. As it turned out, Sara had been trapped in there. Zeus stayed in to save her, and Rafter went in after them after a few minutes. They didn't come out, and after the fire burned out, the rest of the cats went looking for them. Zeus and Sara had died, and Rafter was gravely injured.

After that, the barn cats sort of fell apart. Dusky couldn't take the loss of his mate, so he left. Sparky left in search of his old friend (*totally* not boyfriend, c'mon sparky you're not fooling anyone <3) Kyle, Owler left to go back to the place he was raised, and Cloudy decided to leave as well, saying that he would probably come back some day. Lake just skedaddled.

Rafter told Tilt he needed to go back to the Clans, and that he or Sky had to take her kits so they wouldn't witness her death here. Tilt asked Sky where she was going, and she replied that she was going to stay until Rafter died, and then go travel or something. Tilt knew she would never fit in with the Clans - but the Clans were what he needed. So they bid a tearful farewell and Tilt left. Falcon and Current struck out on their own instead of coming with him.

#### Warrior Life

Anyway, Tilt marched on back to the Clans, arriving when he was thirteen and undergoing an extra moon of apprenticeship. He moved to MarshClan, where he didn't have to climb to get around the territory, and received the name Tiltshoulder.

An owl had attacked Scorchface and Cliffwhisker was in FallClan now, but otherwise his family seemed fine.

Currently he just exists.

## Other

#### Trivia

* He gets sort of nostalgic at the smell and taste of crowfood, after his time as a loner. Other cats generally find this gross. He just tells them it's an acquired taste.
* In the old ABW, I wanted to put him in MarshClan but it was full. Now he gets to be in MarshClan. :)