Lichenheart

[Pyro]

Name | Scotch Lichenpaw Lichenheart

Gender | Tom

Age | 147 moons

Rank | Elder

Clan | MeadowClan

Beliefs | StarClan? Oh they are the least of Lichenheart's worries, for all he believes in them. He is far more concerned with his curse: The Lichening. It has caused Lichenheart to be plagued by the coming of the full moon: a time when all should be peaceful is only a nightmare for the poor tom. A paralysis comes over him and he becomes one...with the lichen. The lichening consumes him until he himself is closer to lichen than no cat should have to be. Or so he thinks.

Parents | Clarice [f x unknown x np], Randal [m x unknown x np]

Siblings | Brandy [f x deceased x np]

Other kin | Jaywhisker [f x unknown x np]
Crowstep [m x alive x cc]

Mate | Herontail [f x deceased x np]

Kits | Godwitclaw [m x unknown x np]
Rednose [m x unknown x np]
Kite-ear [f x unknown x np]
Hawk-eyes [f x unknown x np]

Mentor | Shriketail [m x unknown x np]

Apprentice| Sparrow-whisker [f x deceased x np], Longstep [f x deceased x np]

Appearance | Lichenheart is definitely not all fur. Beneath the large tom's medium length white hair are muscles that remain strong despite his age. As a warrior he was quite intimidating: fierce, bright amber eyes, a proud stance, and a reputation for being a regular bear in battle. Even though the battle-scarred tom is getting on in years he still retains some of his old glory. Lichenheart's eyes are still bright with life, and though he doesn't see many battles these days his body is still strong.

These days Lichenheart walks with a limp. A fight with a dog left him with a badly injured hind-leg that got him sent to the elder's den. The wound as long since healed, leaving only thin scars his fur manages to hide for the most part.

Personality | In the fashion of retired generals, Lichenheart never really retired to the elder den. Sure he let himself be sentenced to the quiet life, but that doesn't mean he has to go through with it. His own regime of training keeps the limp that 'retired' him from paining him too much, but it is no less evident. A hard worker, it can definitely be said that he pushes himself too hard when both his age and injury are taken into effect. Sure he's 'healthy as a horse', but every horse has its limit.

The clan that saved him is certainly the clan that will drive him to his grave. Lichenheart is fiercely loyal to both Cedarstar and MeadowClan, and it kills him to be stuck in the elder's den. Not only is it a little bit too lonely and hum-drum for the gregarious, battle-scarred tom, but it is also too...uninvolved. Lichenheart wants to hunt, patrol, and fight damn it. Not be stuck in a den waiting for 'free meals with a smile'.

As much as Lichenheart would like to believe he retired just because of a limp, it isn't exactly the truth. The limp was only half of it. Lichenheart's a tad...cracked in the head from a crack in the head. On the journey he knocked his head against a rock and woke up believing he had turned into lichen. His name didn't really help much when his clanmates found him. Ever since then he's believed that he's been cursed to transform into lichen at the full moon. Gatherings, for this reason, make him jumpy, and he always gets a little crazier as the full moon approaches.

However confused he may be about his species, Lichenheart is not confused about the things he wants to do. He's stubborn as an ox to the point of insubordinate behavior. He's not afraid to walk right up to Cedarstar and tell him that, "I'm going on the dawn patrol. If you don't like it tough nuts. I'm old enough to be your father's father and I won't hesitate to take you over my knee, boy." His stubbornness got him in trouble as a warrior...no doubt it will continue to put him in dicey situations as an elder. But at least his heart is usually in the right place. He's stubborn to help his clan. Some cats are stubborn about not working. Lichenheart is stubborn about working hard.

Skills | Lichenheart, despite his...craziness...is far from useless (as if he'd let himself be that way in any case). He's a surprisingly good fighter, one of MeadowClan's best at one time. His hunting skills have suffered a sharp decline though since he received the injury that sent him to the elder's den. Stalking just doesn't come as easily to him anymore.

History | "Cedarclaw's leaving?"

How could Lichenheart not join him? He had come into ForestClan as a loner, left on the clan's doorstep as an older kit by parents who couldn't bear to raise the sibling of their deceased favorite child. For them, it had felt too much like just accepting the next best thing...and being kittypets cast out by their twolegs into the second best life...well...

Lichenheart had learned not to think about them anymore, though. ForestClan became his real family, and Elkstar was the benevolent 'uncle' who took him in...and of course, Herontail was the beautiful she-cat who became his mate.

It destroyed him to see that family being torn asunder by Brownstar, Elkstar's successor, but in the end he had to accept that there was nothing he could do except leave with the part of his family that could see through Brownstar's deception and pretty words. To top it off, his apprentice Sparrowpaw was going. He had to go. There was nothing left for him in ForestClan. Although, to his sadness, there was enough left in it for Herontail. He was loathe to leave her, but his apprentice needed him.

"Injured again, Lichenheart?"

"Just a little scratch. I'll be ready to fight in an hour, just you wait."

"Do you promise to take me this time?"

"Only if you promise not to tell our aspiring medicine cats."

Lichenheart trained Sparrowpaw on the fly, teaching her through example and experience rather than theory. The two always seemed to be on patrol, always in some scrape or another, whether it was duo-pawed with a fox or in a group fighting off a gang of rogues that didn't take too kindly to the journey-cats passing through. It was not, surprisingly, in one of these skirmishes that Lichenheart cracked his head.

Starvation was always a possibility on the journey. Lichenheart and Sparrowpaw were of course right on top of things, hunting nearly as much as they patrolled. Unfortunately hunting would be Lichenheart's undoing. While hunting at night after a rain, Lichenheart slipped in the mud and fell into a rock. The tom was knocked unconscious for a while before his scared apprentice could wake him.

"Lichenheart? Lichenheart, come on, wake up!"

At first he wasn't sure where he was. Everything seemed dream-like and he couldn't move. As his vision began to clear Lichenheart began to panic. He still couldn't move...and the only thing he could see in his field of vision was lichen. Lichen everywhere. Orange, yellow...white. White lichen everywhere there wasn't mud. Had he...become lichen? Lichenheart. His name was Lichenheart and he was lichen. Oh the irony. He and his apprentice spent the night where he fell until finally, right before dawn, the warrior was able to move again. The two made their way back to the group, empty pawed for once.

Lichenheart began to fear a repeat experience. What if it wasn't an isolated incident? What if the next full moon he became lichen again? Sure enough, on the next full moon, after falling asleep he woke up to paralysis and a feeling of...lichen...y...ness. For whatever reason he had become cursed to transform into lichen on the full moon. Rather then turn to StarClan as most cats would, he turned instead to dealing with it silently. This was his problem. He would deal with it.

At the journey's end Lichenheart and Sparrowpaw went with Cedarstar. They followed him the whole journey. It was only natural they follow him to his clan. Sparrowpaw received her warrior name, Sparrow-whisker, weeks after MeadowClan was formed. She had proved herself numerous times already on the journey and Lichenheart was proud to see her join him in the warrior's den. He wasn't content with having mentored just one apprentice though. The warrior jumped at the chance to mentor Longpaw, a young loner who was interested in joining the clans. He bonded with the young she-cat very easily, having shared her experience of joining a clan after being born as a loner.

Right when Longpaw was ready for her warrior name though, she caught greencough and died. Lichenheart literally begged
Cedarstar to honor her with the name so that she could join StarClan as a full-fledged warrior. It was one of the only times he actually gave full consideration to his warrior ancestors...or begged.

Lichenheart seemed to get over her death fairly quickly, drowning himself in work like he always did. But that was really the only way he knew how to cope. He joined every patrol that he could, hunting or otherwise, even going out alone on occasion when Cedarstar refused to knowingly let him work himself into the ground. On one of these occasions there was a dog that had escaped from its twoleg nest. Lichenheart attacked without hesitation, hoping to drive it away. The dog turned on him though, and before a nearby patrol could come to help him the dog ripped open his left hind-leg. The bulk of the patrol managed to draw off the dog to allow two cats to help Lichenheart back to camp.

The ordeal was a wake-up call for Lichenheart. He couldn't get rid of his grief that way. It was quite literally going to kill him. Finally brought to his senses he resolved to start taking things a little easier, just as soon as he got better, which the medicine cat assured him he would.

The medicine cat did not mention a limp though. He did not mention the limp that would allow Cedarstar to 'sentence' Lichenheart to the elder's den for some 'well-deserved rest'.