Sombervalley

***Spoiler warning:** Plot and/or ending details follow.* *"...."*
**Sombervalley** is a well built she cat, with a dark tabby pelt and amber eyes.
**Sombervalley** was born to a pair of very distant parents within the clan, along with her two siblings.

## Relations

Crush:

Mate: Sharpsun (deceased)

## Interests

*Likes*

Sombervalley enjoys the early spring, where the temperatures on the prairies are still cool, yet not too cold to where her tail might as well freeze off. She enjoys partaking in patrols or spending time on her own. Sombervalley also enjoys relaxing, occasionally, whether it be by laying down somewhere on the prairies or simply laying in her nest, drifting to sleep. Sombervalley doesn’t mind company from cats, enjoying the company of cat’s she’s close with, like friends. She particularly enjoys breaking bread with others, and enjoys a variety of prey, her favorite being birds. She does enjoy eating eggs when given the opportunity.

*Dislikes*

She cannot stand when cats take her criticism and twisting it to make it seem she’s insulting or poking fun at them. She also doesn’t like it when cats try and manipulate or force her into vulnerability. Cats who demand respect with nothing to show for why they deserve it she hates particularly, alongside cats who don’t seem Interested in contributing to the safety of or maintaining the clan. Cats who micromanage she also can’t stand. She firmly believes that, if it’s not your duty to give orders, don’t bother. Cats with short tempers tend to bring out the worst in her, especially if she’s a victim of their antics.

## Skills/Faults

*Skills*

Sombervalley’s strengths include how thick-skinned and open to criticism she is. She’ll often use the criticism in order to improve her skill set, only occasionally applying this to her mental state. She’s blunt, and she considers this a good quality, using it to accurately communicate to cats where they may be lacking. The rest lay in her physicality. The amount of muscle stacked onto her makes her quite the opponent, with incredible strength she can use to overwhelm an opponent. Her strong limbs give her a powerful pounce and tackle, alongside strength to rip off opponents or pin them. She has a good pain tolerance, while likely not the best, it’s enough to be notable.

*Faults*

Sombervalley’s weaknesses mostly lie in her personality. She often pushes away potential friends or any form of company by not allowing herself to be vulnerable around most cats and not being able to associate with others on an emotional level. Her standoffish demeanor can be off-putting or discouraging, leaving her with few opportunities to connect with cats. She can be incredibly dismissive, setting aside or not acknowledging things that can become an issue if not handled. This can be wounds that might get infected, issues a cat or herself may be experiencing, etc. Sombervalley’s work ethic, while incredible and valuable, does have major downsides where th she-cat will keep herself up, well past sundown to complete a task, only to wake up early the following morning and pushing herself to complete her duties. As for in skill or physicality, with how muscular the she-cat is, she lacks quite a bit of flexibility, with movement less flexibility than the average cat.

Her neck and belly, being incredibly soft compared to the rest of her body, when slashing and clawing at/in those areas are easily fatal to the she-cat, which is why she’d rather not pin cats below her or give them the opportunity to swipe at those areas in a fight. With how thin her pelt is, it doesn’t give much protection to her.

## Personality

Often quiet and reserved, Sombervalley isn’t a very friendly cat. She only interacts with cats, speaking to them dependent on the respect she holds for them. Most of her relationships are based on respect, or start based on it. She’s not too caring, often giving cats she does, in fact care for, the ‘tough love’ treatment. She can be dismissive of mostly everything, but when something catches her attention, she couldn’t dare leave well enough alone. Whatever that thing or cat is, she gives a degree of attention she doesn’t give most else. Whether it’s a bad thing or not, depends on why it caught her attention. Sombervalley, beingnas reserved as she is, doesn’t seem to acknowledge the world around her, unless necessary. When caught up in ear duties, she has a tendency to forget. Not what she was doing beforehand, but everything. She uses this to her advantage to forget about things or cats that bother her. Things told to her during this time also don’t tend to stick as well as when told to her while not attending to her duties. While she is typically a wt of few words, if a cat persists or bothers her, she does have the tendency to snap, giving a very standoffish demeanor. Sombervalley occasionally has trouble connecting to most cats on an emotional level, opting to simply ignore it. And while Sombervalley doesn’t enjoy bottling up her emotions, she does. The only relief she finds is in gushing her heart out to another cat, though she can be picky on who is suitable for that. In return, she’s willing to spend time listening to the pains the other is feeling. While she may not assist them, she will try to comfort them in whatever way she knows how. This can be via physical affection, such as cuddling and sharing tongues, as she is not too skilled in using her words to comfort another cat. She can be harsh, often being incredibly blunt to other cats, whether it be about their skill, work ethic, or personality & faults. She has no reservations about harming another cat’s feelings, thinking it’s the only way to help a cat grow. Sombervalley is thick-skinned, often not letting the words of others harm her self-esteem. In fact, she’s quite open to criticism from others, considering it greatly to improve her skills. As for her own work ethic, she’s the type of cat to rather indulge in her duties than spend time relaxing. A workaholic, if you will. She’ll spend from dawn-til-dusk tending to her duties, if she’s allowed to. There’s been times in her life where she’ll lose sleep, patrolling the borders or assisting on patrols. While she’s not opposed to relaxing, she doesn’t allow herself to do it often. She tends to act like she always has something to prove, though whether she does is debatable considering how skilled she is in her duties as is. Sombervalley’s outlook on life is grim, while there are times of happiness and hope, she can’t help but see the gray and black of it. Her views tend to range between pessimistic and realistic, with moments of clarity to see what’s happening in the moment.

## Detailed Appearance

Sombervalley is a large, hardy she-cat. Her body is incredibly toned, with thick, rippling muscle beneath a short pelt. Her shoulders are wide-set and broad, with a sloped back with wide haunches and neck. Her neck and belly are a lot less hardy compared to the rest of her body. They’re quite soft and tender. The rest of her body is tough and structured. Her features are angular, with narrow eyes, tilted toward her nose bridge. Her muzzle is wide, with black/dark gray whiskers to match. Her fur is soft and stiff, softest atop her head, chest and forelimbs, and haunches. Her pelt is a dark gray, with light gray spread across her chest in the inside of her forelimbs. The light gray fades out into her pelt, fading into a gray before finally shifting in a dark grey. The darkest points on her pelt include her paws, hind ankles, and tail, all of which are completely black, with that black slowly fading into the drake gray of her pelt creating a subtle gradient. Her head, specifically, is almost completely black, with dark gray across her cheeks, forehead, just above her eyes, and under her chin. She has hints of gray on the underside of her head, and cheeks. Her pelt is broken up by bold, black stripes, placed in a mist marble pattern. She’s battle scarred, with a scar along the side of her belly, one on her left for limb, and one on her right flank. Her skin is somewhat dull, dark pink, becoming darker at her points. Her nose & paw pads are black, inner ears & scars a dark pink.

## Kin

Mother: Pantherclaw (deceased).

Father: Foxsnap (deceased).

Siblings: Heronfeather. Crowflight.

Daughters: Wartkit (deceased).

Sons: Silentpaw, Burntkit (deceased), Leechkit (deceased)

## Backstory

Sombervalley, born to Pantherclaw and Foxsnap, alongside her littermates, Heronkit and Crowkit, had an interesting kithood to say the least. Her parents were both present and were tough on Somberkit and her littermates. The pair gave them tough love, dismissing their issues to help them become resilient and strong. The kits ended up being distant from their parents, who seemed to want to control every aspect of their lives. The ranks they became, the mates they chose, the kits they had. It wasn’t until her apprenticeship she noticed. Somberkit, in response, avoided them and their enforced ‘suggestions’. Somberpaw learned autonomy at a young age and wasn’t sure who to open up to about her struggles. Despite it being the mental medicine cats’ duties to assist cats with their mental struggles, she avoided all advances made by them when they tried to help her. She always reasoned that it would sort itself out. It didn’t. The issue got worse, until they two died. Up until then, Sombervalley had been miserable, dealing with Pantherclaw and Foxsnap. The pair dying felt like one of the best things to happen to her. Sombervalley didn’t attend the two’s burial, staying back in camp. This occurred when she was around 17 moons. The two, according to the medicine cats, died of greencough. Afterward, she lived her life, completely independent from any family. Hersomfeather and Crowflight went their separate ways from her. Though it was soon brought to her attention Crowflight, one of her littermates, had left to the Lambent Enclaves and never returned. While she didn’t mind it, it was a bit frustrating to see cats question why Crowflight left. While she couldn’t understand why herself, she did miss the feline, no matter how distant they two were. Moons later, a tom came up to her, by the name of Sharpsun. She heard brief mentions of him beforehand, having been on patrols together, though she never bothered speaking to him. The tom seemed to come to her with the intention of getting to know her. Somehow, they found common ground, and got along well enough. This friendship lasted for several moons until Sombervalley began to feel quite fond of the tom. She didn’t say much, simply going along with her day-to-day while also spending time with Sharpsun, when she could or had the energy to. For all she knew, the fondness was mutual. And the day Sharpsun had invited her out to the Conifer of Passion for the first time, she had mixed feelings, but still went. She had a lovely time with the tom as they spoke. She’d never expected to be so fond of a cat as she was with Sharpsun, but there she was, sitting in the Conifer of Passion, and not a tinge of hesitance during. The two visited there occasionally, and during the thrived visit was when Sharpsun asked Sombervalley to be his mate, of which she happily said yes to. After a few long moons, Sharpsun had come to ask for kits. Sombervalley was, for once, hesitant. She had no plans to settle down, and never wanted kits in her life, up to that point. It took persistent asking and requests from the tom before she gave in. Though she was pleased with the idea of Sharpsun taking over once the kits were weaned. She’d be out of the nursery in three moons, rather than six, and she could return to her duties sooner. About a moon later, they were expecting kits. Sombervalley, due to the nature of her duties, wasn’t allowed on patrols, and was cooped up in camps for moons. She was relieved when her kits were born, though she didn’t feel attached to them as she expected most mothers to be. She let Sharpsun name them, and while some of the names were odd, she didn’t question him. Within the first couple moons, Burntkit and Leechkit passed away at her side in the nursery. The night before, they seemed alright, but the following morning, when she attempted to wake them, they laid there limp. That’s when she realized she’d lost two of her kits. Surprisingly, she handled it well, shortly grieving for a few days before moving on. After Wartkit and Silentkit were weaned, Sombervalley left the nursery shortly after, visiting every so often to see her kits and mate. While Sombervalley desperately missed seeing Sharpsun out of the nursery without kits following his every paw step, she did enjoy knowing that he was in camp, safe alongside their two kits. Eventually, somehow, their daughter, Wartkit, died. While Sharpsun never explained the whole story to the council, he did explain it in detail to Sombervalley. According to Sharpsun, he was punishing their duaghter or disobeying him, but Sharpsun had been too rough and snapped Wartkit’s neck. Sombervalley didn’t know what to think. On one paw, it was an accident, on the second, who would punish their kit in such a way? Sombervalley did worry about Silentkit, going forward, visiting the nursery more often, though she didn’t cut down on her duties. This left her sleep deprived. This lasted up until Silentpaw was only half a moon away from his apprenticeship. She finally was able to relax in those few moons, resting briefly and able to catch up on sleep she’d lost. When her only living kit left had turned of age to become an apprentice, Sombervalley was relieved. While she did look out for her kit, she did continue spending time with Sharpsun, outside of the time spent with Silentpaw. Then Sharpsun was killed and Sombervalley was left grievestriken. She saw for herself as cats continued their days like nothing had happened, and how Dawnstar held up her chin, letting a shadow be cast on his death. Sombervalley was furious. Afterward, she didn’t associate much at all with the council, Dawnstar, and the medicine cats. Most of the cats she did associate with were cats also furious about the mistreatment of a dead clanmate. She knew that Sharpsun hadn’t died of wounds, as not one laid on his body, and there didn’t seem to be signs of blunt force trauma anywhere. Her suspensions turned toward the medicine immediately as she tried to look for an answer as to who did it and why. She’s still trying to find out who did it, and doesn’t plan to rest until she does.

## Links

Theme Song/Voice Claim

* Ambessa Medarda [From Arcane the Netflix Series]