The Essentials

Name: Tarantulahop
Prefix Meaning: Tarantula- because his tufty fur is a light ginger.
Suffix Meaning: -hop for his strong hind legs and ability to leap high
Sex: Male
Age: 43 moons
Sexuality: Asexual
Rank: Warrior
Role: Daywalker
Adopt Thread: N/A
Last Character: ivynose

The Body

Base Coat Color: Red + silver  = red cameo
Markings: Red tabby stripes.
Eye Color: Dark amber eyes.
Body Size and Build: Large and muscular.
Fur Length and Texture: Long, thick fur.
Additional Physical Traits: Large ears, long whiskers, long legs, long tail.
Health and Scars: Healthy.

The Identity


Positive Traits: Adventurous, adaptable, self-reliant, firm, practical
Neutral Traits: Dramatic, experimental, proud, spiritual
Negative Traits: egotistic, unpredictable, vain, meddlesome, temperamental

Loves: the stars, night time, his brother, snakes
Likes: taking walks, praying to the gods, hunting, testing to see how high he can jump
Dislikes: being woken up, the sun, the heat, the sensation of falling
Hates: scorpions, being stung, the Cursed
Fears: going blind, having a heat stroke
Secrets: nothing you should be privy to
Dreams: have a family of his own, find territory beyond DuneClan, the extermination of the Cursed

Strengths: speed, hearing, flexibility, jumping
Normals: stealth, hunting, eyesight, smelling
Weaknesses: climbing, swimming, defense, attack

The Past

kithood

As the eldest of two kits and two stillborn, Tarantulakit was immensely protective of his little brother, Stagkit. Despite his other two siblings being stillborn, Tarantulakit still felt the loss of all of their siblings and aimed all of his mother-henning as a young kit towards his brother. Tarantulakit was a particularly vivacious kit, but he was unpredictable which settled for the base of his personality as he grew. He was easily excitable, over-exaggerating everything he saw and flip-flopping between an explosive anger, depressive episodes, and over excitement as he transitioned from kit to apprentice. His mother-henning grew worse over time, playing into his dramatic side and eventually causing Tarantulakit to meddle in things that he thought could use his help. He never really grew out of these traits, but eventually the wish to help others genuinely slowly morphing to something that would increase his ego in size. His brother was the calm to his temper, the mediator to his meddling. They were opposites in everything, but they were immensely close for brothers who were destined to go to separate paths. One, towards the Nightwalkers, and one towards the Daywalkers. 

His mother being a smoke tortoiseshell and his father being a black silver tabby produced the two, their stillborn siblings being the same tortoiseshell as their mother. Often, Tarantulakit wondered what it would have been like if they had grown up alongside him and Stagkit. As rather close brothers, Tarantulakit somewhat grew to resent his parents and their wish to not have another litter. He could have little sisters! Sisters that he could teach and grow to love.

apprentice

With becoming an apprentice, came the inevitable fear that that he and Stagpaw would be separated from each other due to their different coloring. Despite having other kits to play with when he was younger, Tarantulapaw had much preferred to play with his brother and thus grew dependent on Stagpaw for company. Becoming an apprentice was the start of their relationship to become more distanced. They trained day and night, exhausting themselves and when they weren't training, they were talking with the other trainees, attending to chores in the camp, or sleeping to regenerate some of their energy they had expanded. Tarantulapaw became more interested in the other trainees, talking with them and coming to enjoy their company. He still talked with his brother, wanting to keep their relationship close as he was still afraid that Stagpaw would no longer have time for him when they were warriors. 

Tarantulapaw grew to love the training they had at night, enjoying the coolness of the night and the stars in the sky that he thought represented their infinite gods and the souls they so preciously guarded. He began to worship Mayank, Ahnay, and Ara almost religiously, setting aside some time during the days or night to pray to each of them. The gut feeling that he felt while praying to them made him set more and more time aside to pray to them, eventually increasing his praying time to an hour and a half nearly every day. Inevitably, when he started to run out of things to pray about, he started conversations, which sometimes ended up with Tarantulapaw screaming nonsense at the sky. Which would end up with other cats screaming back at him 'SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP!' The first time he got caught screaming at the sky, he was caught by the current prophet, who was watching him both curiously and disdainfully.

It was found he had particular skill in jumping when he chased a snake down a hole, leaping down into it and wriggling around until he came out the snake clamped in his jaws and absolutely covered in sand. He particularly liked learning how to jump higher to snag lowflying birds out of the air. This skill also earned him his warrior name when he reached 12 moons old. 

warriorhood

Moving into warriorhood was hard. He was separated from his brother for one thing, who had become a Nightwalker upon becoming Stagbeetle. Tarantulahop didn't like being a Daywalker. He preferred the night and it's coolness, not the heavy heat during the day or the sun glaring down oppressively on the warriors. He was lost, homesick, and missing his mother, brother, and father. All three of them were Nightwalkers, him being a Daywalker. He was often looked down on for being from an 'impure' bloodline, but he tried not to let it get to his head. He tried talking with the other warriors, but all he got was curt words and a curiously disdainful stare when they looked upon him. He was not a part of the Cursed cats, who weren't allowed to gave their own families, but to be the only light coat among his darker pelted family.. it kind of hurt. Despite loving the night more and wishing he was a Nightwalker, he liked his pale coat and that it turned silver in the starlight. 

It was a bitter taste on his tongue, but he hoped that over time their distaste for his impurities would fade and instead focus on him as one of them. So he worked hard at being a warrior, going far out into the desert to bring back prey and practicing his jumping to greater heights. He experimented with the different ways he could dive into holes after the snake incident as an apprentice, wriggling out of the sand before he could get caught in it. He was still coated in sand though, but he didn't mind it as long as he brought back the prey. He worked from when the sun rose until it set, wanting to catch his brother and still have that closeness they had as apprentices and kits. It was harder than he thought to trail after Stagbeetle, often pouting at the other's back as he nestled down in the sand while the other rose to do his duties. 

Eventually Tarantulahop got used to sleeping few hours during the night, taking his prayers far from camp and screaming his frustrations out when his praying session ended and came his time to vent his frustrations. Most of the time, it was the frustration that he could hardly catch Stagbeetle or his parents so that he could talk to them. Some nights he wept bitterly, the fierce loneliness sweeping through him. It wasn't until thirteen moons after becoming a warrior that he first started to hate himself and the light coat that separated him from his family. Then came his masks, an adventurous tomcat who tried to seek the edges of the desert and adapted swiftly to situations that required it. He became self-reliant, firmly following his beliefs and training all the apprentices that sought his help to increase their jumping skills with firm guidance.