Emberglow

### Siblings

Moon (sister), Abyss (brother, dead), Broken & Sorrow (half-sisters), Shatter (half-brother, dead)

### Friends

Ashface

Emberglow may be the OG ABW character. She was the first bio made in the original RP after all and the main drama of Stormclaw and Hazel wouldn't exist without her. On the surface, she seems simple enough, polite and quiet and sweet, but she has a depth to her that cannot be reached by most cats.

TW for child abuse (but if you're on this page I'm assuming you know what you're getting into) and also death (again, if you're here I'm assuming you know what happens to Abyss)

## Appearance & Personality

### Appearance

Emberglow is a very small warrior, one of the smallest in the Clans. Standing at only 6.7 inches tall, she doesn’t have even the potential to intimidate. Her soft fur is a dark gray bordering on black and she has her mother’s green eyes. Her right ear is all black as is her left ear tip. She has a black blaze on her nose as well as black stripes on either side of her face. Her front paws and tail tip are black and there is a black pattern tracing down her back, shoulder, and tail. Emberglow’s most distinctive features are the scars on her face, three on the left side and one on the right, a parting gift from her mother Hazel. She has a fifth scar located on her front right paw pad, though that is rarely exposed and only a few cats know of it.

### Personality

Emberglow has been through a lot and yet, on the other side of it all, she still smiles. She is kind because she knows the world often isn’t and she doesn’t want anyone to suffer the way she did, even if it was only when she was young. Emberglow is strictly pacifist - she is non-violent as much as she can be and when she does have to fight she isn’t good at it. She is very shy and takes time to open up, but once she does she is a very caring and loyal friend. She is fond of kits and enjoys helping in the nursery. She loves her family (well… most of them anyway) and would do anything for them.

She also spirals really badly and really quickly. She's gotten better about managing her anxiety and trauma at home, but her road trip with Ashface has really been testing her.

## Background

### Kithood

Emberglow was born under the name Night in late autumn. She had two littermates, a sister named Moon and a brother named Abyss. Their mother's name was Hazel and she had some ✨problems✨. Not that newborn Night was aware of those yet.

She had a peaceful first moon of existence. It got colder as the days went on, but Night had Moon and Abyss and Hazel to cuddle with at night, so it wasn't too bad. She hit the regular milestones with her siblings, if not frequently a few days later. The weather was relatively good, dry and not too windy.

When she was only a moon old, Hazel started training them, teaching them survival skills. The basics of hunting were the first thing they covered and once the kits had figured that out a little bit, Hazel started teaching them fighting. The training was hard, far harder than a kit should be doing, but again, Hazel had some problems she was working through. Not an excuse, but an explanation. Night didn't like training. She got pretty easily beat when they did fighting and sometimes she got hurt in their little scuffles, so she was not a fan.

The training got harder when Night was two moons old and things in general got worse. Hazel had started punishing the kits for things they did wrong in her eyes, such as Night's hesitance to fight her siblings. That specifically earned Night her first scar, a thin cut on her right cheek. Abyss tried to protect her and got his ear clawed just as quickly.

Night liked Abyss. Like her, he was quiet and sweet. He was young, but he had a thoughtful nature and a strong sense of right and wrong. He would play-fight with Moon sometimes and he would pay attention to Hazel's lessons, but he also played with Night in the quieter ways that she preferred. Moon was loud from the start, not actively hostile but at the very least always down to fight. She was an active kit and she didn't like Night hardly at all.

One day in midwinter, Hazel sent the kits out to hunt and show her what they had learned. The air was bitingly cold, but Night and Abyss headed off in the opposite direction as Moon, pretending to go their separate ways but meeting up as soon as they were out of Hazel's sight. They went down to a small stream, which had a decent amount of fish. Abyss had a natural talent for fishing and he was able to catch a decently sized fish. Seeing as Night struggled to hunt in any form, he offered to let her take credit for his catch. It ended up being the only thing that either of them caught on the trip, but Abyss was prepared to take the L on this one.

Anyway that was a mistake, because Hazel didn't like fish. She always had hated them but they also reminded her of her ex so she was particularly mad about it. She cut Night's paw and told her to never bring home a fish again. Abyss, bless his heart, tried to intervene, claiming the kill that *was* rightfully his, but all that got him was a matching injury before Hazel left.

Abyss and Night tried to patch up their injuries and even Moon helped a bit. She wasn't completely heartless and she could, you know, actually walk and get what they needed. By the time Hazel got home at sunset, all three kits had shared the fish as well as Moon's catch, a small mouse, and fallen asleep.

A little less than a moon later, Night was woken by Hazel in the middle of the night. Hazel was trying to leave, take Moon and ditch the others. To ensure Night didn't try anything, Hazel slashed her face, giving her the final three scars. While Hazel and Moon escaped, Night woke up Abyss and together they tried to fix her face.

Without Hazel, Night and Abyss had no real reason to stay in the heather patch. They left the following morning and found their way to the little stream where Abyss had caught the fish. He was still a good fisher and with a few days of doing nothing but practice, Night started to pick it up. They rested at night in a hollow log nearby, the dusty scent of it reminding them of early nights when things weren't so bad.

This family is cursed though (not in the meme sense in the like magic sense) and nothing good ever lasts, so they were only there for a little less than half a moon before a fire started. As noted, the winter was extremely dry and it didn't take much for the log to catch fire. Night woke pretty quickly and managed to get out, but Abyss was a much deeper sleeper. Night tried to wake him and, when that failed, she tried to drag him out, but he was bigger than her and she wasn't that strong and it didn't take long for her to realize that it was hopeless. She got herself out and swam across the stream, unable to do anything but watch in horror as her home burned up.

Abyss did wake up and get out, but it was too late. He had already been badly burned and though the stream helped, he died before dawn. Night couldn't do anything but sit at his side, begging him to be okay. This was Night's first encounter with death, so she didn't really know what to do. She just stayed there until morning, when she was discovered by a FallClan patrol.

As it turns out, Night and Abyss were pretty close to FallClan territory and someone had picked up the scent of two literal babies out beyond the border, so the patrol decided to check it out. The patrol, consisting of Weepingbrook and Sorrelseed, buried Abyss and took Night back to FallClan. She was given the name Emberkit at her own request and was placed in the nursery.

Life in FallClan was extremely different from anything Emberkit had known before. She nervously asked one time when she was expected to do training, which horrified the queen she asked. None of the other kits had scars like hers - in fact, mostly older warriors and elders had any scars. Emberkit slowly got used to the peaceful existence of Clan life. She felt horribly lonely, missing Abyss and even Moon sometimes. She didn't really connect with anyone her age but it was better than being alone, at least.

There were a couple other kits in the nursery with her, Valorkit and Noblekit. Emberkit didn't pay them much attention, because she didn't really pay *anyone* much attention at this point. They were a moon older than her, though, so she would occasionally do stuff with them. That was uncommon, but it did happen.

It was during this point of her life that she met Stormclaw. He was a warrior who just liked hanging out with the kits and helping in the nursery. He had no kits of his own, but he was a chill dude. He took an interest in Emberkit because, well, she was just *weird*. She rarely hung out with the other kits, after all, as she didn't really know how to play like a normal cat. She did like swimming, though, and Stormclaw could connect with her over that.

Little details surfaced that Stormclaw found odd but Emberkit took no notice of. Hazel's distaste for fish, for example, or Emberkit's habit of properly introducing herself. However, they did bond a little bit, giving Emberkit the first meaningful connection she'd had since joining FallClan. He took her out swimming in his little pool near OasisClan that he had hung out at with his friends when he was younger. He taught her how to dive. It was fun.

She also met Sootsnow, one of MarshClan's messengers. Sootsnow was surprised by Emberkit's scarred face, but asked her to say hi to her brother Stormclaw for her. Emberkit, eager to please and of course happy to talk to Stormclaw, agreed. She took the message to Stormclaw, who told her a bit more about Sootsnow and Whitebird, his other sister. They were both higher ranked cats, a messenger and medic respectively. Emberkit asked why he hadn't pursued a similar rank and he admitted that he had wanted to be deputy when he was younger, but circumstance now forced him to admit that he wasn't right for the position.

### Apprenticeship

Emberpaw was apprenticed to Stormclaw at six moons old. She was very happy to receive someone she knew as her mentor and she worked hard in her training.

There were a few struggles, of course. She still hated fighting and dodged battle training whenever she could. Stormclaw was patient with her but it still took a lot of work and to this day she is one of the weaker fighters in FallClan. But she was good at swimming and fishing and in Clans as peaceful as these, that's usually all that matters.

In fact, hardly anything happened during her apprenticeship until the very end. She still had no friends, but she went to a couple Gatherings and hung out with Stormclaw. Since Abyss was buried outside the Clans, she found a remote island and piled stones there as a cenotaph. Whenever she felt particularly lonely, she would take flowers and talk to him. She didn't know if he could hear her - she was still skeptical of the idea of StarClan and wasn't certain if loners could even get in - but it made her feel better to maintain that connection to her only remaining family.

When she was about 10 moons old, an apprentice named Valorpaw started training with her and Stormclaw a bit. He was Weepingbrook's apprentice, technically reassigned to Sorrelseed now that Weepingbrook was in the nursery, but he ended up hanging out and training with her for about a moon. Emberpaw was a little nervous around him, but he had been nothing but polite to her since she had first joined, when he'd also been a kit in the nursery, so it wasn't too bad.

But then the end came and, when she was 11-12 moons old, on an otherwise normal hunting trip, Emberpaw mentioned Hazel by name after Stormclaw asked her a bit more about her family. This was a bit of a bombshell to Stormclaw, as he had been in a relationship for Hazel that ended shortly before Emberpaw would have been born. Emberpaw was unaware of this. She just added that Hazel was the source of her scars and Stormclaw just kind of had to deal with this like it didn't change everything about the last eight moons of his life and his entire relationship with Emberpaw.

She found out soon enough, though, when Stormclaw told her what he had discovered. He apologized for what Hazel did to her and her siblings, admitting that he was partially at fault. He hadn't known that Hazel was pregnant and if he had known he wouldn't have left. He admitted that his relationship with Sorrelseed was empty and that she was his attempt to forget Hazel. And Emberpaw was angry at him. She felt betrayed that the one cat she had learned to trust was the root cause of all her suffering and she was furious about it. But he was just that - the only cat she really had a decent relationship with at the time. And he may have been the reason for Hazel's anger but he wasn't at fault. Emberpaw chose to forgive him.

They went to MarshClan so that Emberpaw could meet her aunts, Stormclaw's sisters Sootsnow and Whitebird. Emberpaw was a bit apprehensive, especially with how similar MarshClan is to the moors she was raised on, but she was happy to meet more of her kin. They ran into Sootsnow first, who recognized her from their brief meeting when Emberpaw was a kit.

In MarshClan's camp, Emberpaw was introduced to Whitebird. Stormclaw filled his sisters in on the situation and Emberpaw added what he couldn't. Sootsnow and Whitebird shared some funny stories, such as why the entrance to MarshClan's camp has boxwood by it. And a little bit about their parents, Darksplash and Fernfrost, and how they met. Stormclaw, at Emberpaw's request, talked about how he met Hazel. Emberpaw was fascinated by every story and she quickly took a liking to her aunts. Sootsnow was fun and Emberpaw liked her and though Whitebird was a little more rough, she still earned Emberpaw's respect.

After getting some honey from Whitebird, who was happy to share her stash with Emberpaw but not so much her siblings, Stormclaw and Emberpaw headed home. She was very grateful to have been accepted so quickly by her father's family

### Warriorhood

Having passed her warrior assessment without a hitch, Emberpaw was granted the name Emberglow. She was incredibly proud of her new name and was excited to share it with Sootsnow and Whitebird the next time she saw them.

    She remained close with Stormclaw with the added layer of "wow this is my dad I actually have a dad" on top of their already close relationship. They went fishing frequently, just to chill and chat. She loved hearing stories about his kithood and apprenticeship, which he had a lot of. He asked her about Moon one time. Emberglow said she didn't really care what had happened to Moon. The future will prove that this is false.

She also talked to Sorrelseed, her now ex-stepmother. They were pretty chill. Not particularly close, but Emberglow liked her well enough. Sorrelseed asked her about Stormclaw and a little bit about Hazel, but Emberglow didn't answer about Hazel. Which is fair and valid.

As a warrior, Emberglow started actively trying to make friends. She had been rather isolated as a kit and apprentice and now felt a little more confident and willing to meet new cats.

Around 13-14 moons, Emberglow met Ashface. Ashface was FallClan's mediator, a quiet former kittypet with synesthesia. Despite Stormclaw's dislike of Ashface (specifically her love of dogs), Emberglow found her intriguing. Ashface asked about her mother, which is a bold move for a first convo with Emberglow, but she was gentle about it and Em had already been talking to Stormclaw about that very subject, so Ashface got some answers. Good for you, Ashface. It took all of one (1) conversation for Emberglow to think that maybe, just maybe, Ashface could be her friend. She tried to teach Ashface how to fish and while it didn't go well in the teaching department, they did become friends and that's what really matters.

    Around fifteen moons, she met Larchflight. He was one of FallClan's messengers, hyper, outgoing, and friendly. He wasn't at all put off by Emberglow's shy nature and was willing to hang out with her even when she didn't talk a lot. He could certainly talk for the both of them. Emberglow found him amusing, a bright spot in her day whenever they hung out. They went hunting together a couple times and she discovered that his favorite food was bluegills. After that, she always made sure to look out for bluegills when she was fishing to catch for him.

Larchflight was quick with a compliment and surprisingly flirty. He was sincere, though, and optimistic. Emberglow liked being around him, more than she did most cats. They were together as often as Larchflight's messenger duties allowed, hunting or exploring the territory. One time when she caught him a bluegill, Larchflight brought her some flowers as thanks. Then he took her to the island where he found the flowers. It was sweet.

When Emberglow was 18, tragedy hit the Clans. A plague began in MarshClan and, over the course of a few moons, it spread to every single Clan. It was deadly, claiming the majority of those who fell sick. It wreaked havoc across all five Clans, but particularly MarshClan and FallClan, as it killed both Minkstar, leader of MarshClan and Milkweedstar, leader of FallClan.

Emberglow couldn't have cared less about Milkweedstar, since one of the plague's early victims in FallClan was Larchflight. The death of her close friend, not only a friend but the start of something else, hit her hard. She buried him with a few lilies and told him she loved him as he was buried.

Ashface also lost her sort-of boyfriend, Pikenose, and the two cats came together in their grief. Ashface was the only friend Emberglow had left and she was terrified that something would happen to her. She was also deeply concerned about Sootsnow and Whitebird, as both of them had jobs that but them at significantly more risk than others. Stormclaw, at least, was safe. Emberglow was fairly certain that anyone who could willingly deal with Hazel for moons could survive just about anything. She did panic a bit any time she heard him even slightly cough.

She tried to make herself useful during this time, doing things like bringing prey to Silkfur, but it all felt empty. Hollow, even. Life lost some of its vibrancy without Larchflight. A slow buildup toward what was in fact romantic attraction all coming crashing down does hurt a bit. She found herself drawn back to Abyss's cenotaph more frequently, as well as building one for Larchflight too.

On one such visit, Stormclaw spotted her and joined her on the island. She explained what they were, particularly Abyss's. She then asked him about Hazel, what she was like when he had first met her. He shared a few stories, which Emberglow found fascinating. The disconnect between the cat she'd known and the one he'd loved was stark and in a way intriguing.

She asked if he wanted to help her gather some flowers for the cenotaphs. Stormclaw hesitantly agreed. It was cute. We love Dadclaw. Emberglow then decided she wanted to go look for Moon. She had no idea of where to start, but in light of recent event it felt important that Moon not die without at least meeting her father.

So, at the age of 23 moons, Emberglow and Ashface left FallClan. Not forever, but just long enough to find Moon and hopefully bring her back to the Clans. Their first stop was Hazel's heather patch, where Emberglow had lived for the first few moons of her life. Emberglow had a bit of a panic attack as they approached, but they stayed just long enough to confirm that Moon wasn't there. Afterward, Emberglow continued having a mental breakdown while she and Ashface tried to find something to eat.

When she was 26 moons old, some drama was going on back home. Emberglow and Ashface were not aware of it, but Hazel returned to the Clans with her new kits (Emberglow's half-sisters!), Sorrow and Broken. She came bearing news of a cat named Ruby and the army said molly was building and she gave that news to Stormclaw. Emberglow was not aware that her parents had reunited and had no idea about the coming danger for her home, but it is important to the greater narrative that I record this here.

Anyway! By 27 moons, Emberglow and Ashface had made it to a small town in their search for Moon. This town marks ABW being officially set somewhere in Europe, because we have to make a choice somewhere. They found a house with a cat that they could ask for information, a chatty nine-moon-old Scottish Fold named Muffin. Upon hearing that they were looking for a black cat, Muffin showed them the bakery, which was home to a group of aggressive, territorial black cats called the Crows. Muffin then dipped before any of the Crows could show up.

Emberglow and Ashface ended up talking to one of the Crows, a tom named Onyx, who pointed them toward another cat named Dodger, saying that he didn't know who they were looking for but Dodger might. Thanking him, Emberglow and Ashface headed to the edge of town, where they eventually tracked down, not Dodger, but Moon herself, who was tending to a very sick Dodger. Dodger ended up dying right then and there, and Moon reluctantly talked to them.

Moon was fairly unimpressed by news of Stormclaw, stating that if he wanted to meet her he shouldn't have left Hazel. Emberglow pleaded with her to give him a chance and Moon promised to think about it overnight. Emberglow decided that was good enough, especially considering Dodger's death.

The next morning, Moon arrived just as Emberglow and Ashface were having breakfast. She told them that she'd go back with them, and they left soon after that.

## Other

### Trivia

* Emberglow has an almost perfect memory
* Sootsnow is her favorite relative. She loves all of her Clan family but Sootsnow is her favorite
* Emberglow very rarely uses Hazel's name. She was always Mother and while she's slowly started using her name more often, it's still usually Mother. This is a trait she actually shares with Hazel, who has never once in her life called Swan by her actual name and only ever called her Mother.
* Stormclaw and Hazel have both noted that she has Hazel's eyes, but the color I used in her reference is from when Stormclaw had green eyes
* Her brother's name was originally Void, but I decided to change it because I like the sound of Abyss better. It's kind of wacky because Void has been his name since... I want to say 2017? But regardless, Emberglow's brother's name is now Abyss.
* Emberglow has a distinct distaste for rabbits - the associated memories aren't good and no matter how much she loves her MarshClan family she won't ever agree with them about rabbits. Her favorite food is fish, specifically trout. She's also fond of bluegills, as they were Larchflight's favorite.
* Not Stormclaw calling his and Hazel's relationship a "brief fling" in his first RP strand lolll to be fair we hadn't fleshed out the details of the relationship yet but still XD
* Emberglow really likes snow
* Emberglow has a somewhat unique fishing style to the rest of FallClan. She can fish the traditional way too, but she was mostly taught by Abyss, who was making it up as he went, when she was a kit and Stormclaw, whose way of doing things was already unconventional. It's kind of weird and anyone who's been on a hunting trip with her agrees that it's kind of weird, but it works so she keeps doing it.
* Emberglow feels responsible for Abyss's death
* I lowkey forgot about Emberkit's habit of very formal introductions when I was doing the HazelStorm thread, but that was also passed from Swan to Hazel to Emberglow
* Emberglow doesn't really believe in StarClan. She respects other cats' belief but lacks her own faith. She does believe in *something*, though. She just isn't sure what.
* Emberglow has occasional bouts of insomnia. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse
* Sootsnow's suggested names for Emberglow were Emberheart, Emberblaze, and Emberflame. Emberglow said she wanted something "less dramatic" but they were nice names
* Emberglow is fond of white flowers, specifically daisies and lilies.
* Emberglow has no idea that Hazel has returned to the Clans nor that Stormclaw talked to her
* Emberglow hides her face when she sleeps and she sleeps curled up very tightly. It's comforting to her and makes her feel less vulnerable if her scars are less visible. At least, that's how it was when she was a kit. Now it's purely out of habit.
* Emberglow finds bees calming. They remind her of that time in MarshClan when she met her aunts and Whitebird gave her honey.
* If I were to name her today, I'd likely call her Embersprout or Emberdusk as a tribute to either her growth and character arc or her kit name.
* Emberglow is canonically a Scorpio

### Playlist

* Somewhere Only We Know | Keane | *sat by the river and it made me complete* | It's just giving Emberglow vibes, I can't explain it, but I feel like it fits her
* Older | Sasha Alex Sloane | *my parents aren't heroes, they're just like me* | This is very Emberglow, particularly young Emberglow when she was still new to the whole "having a loving dad" thing
* 8 billion people | Kiran + Nivi | *stop saying i'm pretty, 'cause pretty girls don't spend friday nights alone in the kitchen* | She may have her family + Ashface but Emberglow still feels extremely isolated and kind of lonely most of the time. Also she's super insecure and it doesn't matter how many cats reassure her, there's a part of her that's never going to believe them
* All Too Well | Taylor Swift | *and you call me up again just to break me like a promise* | Despite TS being HazelStorm's jam, I actually have thought for a very long time that this song, specifically the bridge, is Hazel + Emberglow, being Em's POV
* See You Again | Wiz Khalifa | *we've come a long way from where we began* | Specifically the no rap version. Anyway, this is Emberglow & Ashface. I also have some old old old art that uses this song for Em & her siblings
* Toothache | Westislonely | *and i'll break all of my bones if it would only get it through to you* | Honestly just makes me think of baby Night trying so hard to be what her mother wanted but failing every time

### Quotes

**New RP**

* **Moon:** *"So? He still left. If Abyss is dead, as you say he is, he... does he even know? Does he know about Abyss? Does he know about me?"* **Emberglow:** *"He's the reason I came looking for you, Moon."* - Moon and Emberglow, Woods and Moors and Mountains (9/10/23)
* *"Life's too short for this."* - to Moon, Woods and Moors and Mountains (9/10/23)