Tallwillow

Tallwillow is a tall, very dark smoke-gray, almost black tom with orange eyes. He has a white patch of fur on his chest.

## Personality

Tallwillow is generally a fairly open and amiable warrior, willing to help out his Clanmates if ever they need something, and offering his assistance to anyone who seems to be in need. He tends to be quite levelheaded as well, not one to lose his temper easily. He can be a bit close-minded towards cats outside of MeadowClan, distrusting them on principle and being slow to accept outsiders that are accepted into MeadowClan. He keeps a stoic mask up around cats from outside MeadowClan, and tends to treat anyone he doesn't trust with a slightly distant, businesslike attitude. With Clanmates he does like and trust, however, he will go out of his way to help them out and show them kindness, even if they aren't the nicest of cats or don't return his courtesy. He's intelligent, able to pick up on skills or details rather easily, and being fairly perceptive when he puts his mind to it. He's a decent strategist, but his real strength comes in his moral compass, as he's very loyal to his Clan and believes in adherence to the Warrior Code, yet still understands what exactly might motivate others to break the rules. Though moral, he's not self-righteous, and is actually quite humble, not one to boast his skills or abilities, and tending to bow out of taking credit for things in favor of remaining out of the spotlight. He's a good leader, capable of organizing groups and managing different tasks with a calm sort of focus, plus he can herd somewhat unruly cats into following a plan. However, even beyond his humility, he doesn't actually have the best self-esteem; due to some of his past experiences, he worries that he isn't strong enough to protect his Clanmates and loved ones, and fears losing them. Even worse than the fear of them being killed or injured, however, is the fear of them leaving or betraying him; he values trust and honesty very highly, and being betrayed or abandoned would at least temporarily break him, and he would be unlikely to forgive anyone who did something like that. He has a hard time getting close to cats because of his fears, and because he doesn't value himself as much as his Clanmates, fretting that his ambiguously half-Clan blood makes him weaker or unworthy, even if no one in the Clan knows about it. He works hard to be accepted by his Clanmates to "make up for" his "impure" blood, but half-expects most cats to turn their backs on him the moment he fails at something, even if that's unrealistic. Perhaps his biggest flaw is that he can hold a serious grudge, uncompromising once someone has betrayed his trust, and sometimes breaking his usual calm demeanor in favor of anger if others start mimicking those same actions.

## History

He was born to Brightsong alongside his brother Longkit. They never knew who their father was, though their mother told them he had died before they were born. Tallkit and Longkit weren't particularly bothered in their youth, and grew up fairly happily, though Brightsong was always cagey about talking about their father. When they became apprentices, the pair grew more curious, and began to pester Brightsong more often about their father. Brightsong snapped at them and refused to answer their questions. One day, Longpaw and Tallpaw followed her when she left camp, and they saw her in the distance with a mysterious tom - someone Tallwillow doesn't know to this day, but who they both knew wasn't MeadowClan. However, this was also when they were attacked by a badger, and Longpaw was killed. Tallwillow was furious and blamed his mother for lying about their origins, believing it also led to Longpaw's death. His relationship with his mother was pretty much destroyed after that. They never really spoke again after Longpaw died, not even when Tallpaw got his warrior name, Tallwillow. He stayed distant from his mother even when he found out she was pregnant again; he could only feel apprehension and bitterness, wondering if the new kits were from the same mysterious tom as he and Longpaw presumably had been. However, when Brightsong died during kitting, her older age complicating the births, Tallwillow decided to set aside his grudge against his mother to try to take care of his younger siblings. He was the one to name his younger siblings.