A small black and gray mottled tom with many scars.

Ospreytalon is a small yet sturdy tom. His black and gray mottled fur is long and thick, slightly disguising his size. But even with the fluff he's visibly shorter and smaller than most clan cats. His is muscular, but it's hard to see under his coat. He bares many scars across his face and pelt.

"Such a large litter, there was bound to be a runt." 

A sympathetic queen gazes at the five bundles, one clearly smaller than the rest. In the sea of fluff and fur he disappears as the newborns try out their limbs for the first time.

Mossfern and Smokepatch agree, glad that at least four of five seem healthy. Starclan had granted them five kits, who were they to complain one was smaller than the others?

Mossfern calls her son Littlekit almost as a joke, but it sticks. There are four other kits to name after all, and it does fit the youngster.

Shadekit, Cloudkit, Dustkit, and Badgerkit all grow fast under the watchful gaze of their parents. Littlekit bounces in and out of the medicine cat den, while he seems healthy the slightest sneeze or cough and Mossfern hurries him out of the nursery and away from the others. Better to be safe, she insists.

Littlekit grows as well, but slower than his peers. When its time for the litter to be apprenticed his ears barely touch Badgerkit's shoulders. 

Mothleap is a young warrior, nervous but eager for her first apprentice. She wouldn't have picked Littlepaw if given the choice, but she accepts her duty and quickly begins his training.

Littlepaw throws himself into his training, happy to have a chance to grow and change and prove himself. While his mentor prides herself on her hunting skills, Littlepaw adores fighting. He flings himself into every fight with the viciousness of a cat with something to prove. 

His favorite cat to fight is Elmpaw. 

The other apprentice is a few moons older and significantly larger than his sparing mate. Everyone expects he'll be a guardian one day. But he takes Littlepaw seriously and gives the younger cat advice. Even better, he never holds back like the others do.

Elmpaw quickly takes Littlepaw under his wing. He keeps the other apprentices from bullying his friend, and the two move their nests side by side.

And it's Elmpaw who introduces Littlepaw to hawk hunting. The tiny tom watches from afar one day as Elmpaw and his mentor finally get a chance to fight a hawk. It's a tough struggle but the two are victorious. 

That night as Elmpaw admires his newest hawk feather trophy Littlepaw dreams of fighting a hawk on his own. It's all he can think about, and Mothleap is horrified when he declares that he wants to be guardian.

While it takes some convincing Littlepaw begins guardian training alongside Elmpaw.

The two grow and train together, fighting to see who will be the better guardian.

After a few moons of hunting Littlepaw finally gets the chance to fight his first bird of prey, an osprey. A proper guardian is there to help him, but he knows that he must do as much of the fighting as possible to prove his moons of training have paid off.

It's a short fight, but it's the most intense experience of his entire life. The thrill of the fight, watching the fear in the osprey's eyes as it realizes this tiny cat is what finally kills it. 

He spends the next few moons chasing that high, the thrill of being locked in life or death combat, of being dangerous and in danger. 

Elmstrike gets his naming ceremony before Littlepaw gets his second fight. While he clears and calls his friend's name loudest in the clan, he also knows that the next few moons will be quite lonely. 

The only comfort he has left in the apprentice den is his prized osprey feather. 

He connects a bit more with his littermates, namely Badgerpaw, but it's still a lonely time. His siblings still treat him as the runt, the weak one, despite training to be guardian. They go easy on him in fight training, even when he refuses to do the same.

Then all four of his littermates are named. Shadetail, Cloudpelt, Dustfern, and Badgerheart.

Littlepaw remains an apprentice as he needs more time to continue his guardian training. He's lonelier than ever, and throws himself even more into training.

His second fight against a bird of prey occurs not long after. It's a hawk this time, aiming its talons at a fellow apprentice.

The fight is even more intense than the last. He walks away victorious but covered in scars. He wears them with pride and offers some of the hawk feathers to Starclan that night, his face covered in cobwebs and poultice.

A moon later he receives his name, Littlehawk. His puffs out his chest with pride, the suffix is an honor he always wanted but worried he'd never be granted.

Once he finished his vigil Elmstrike surprises Littlehawk with a nest right next to his own. They place their trophies on the same shelf. 

Elmstrike is a little different now. He's grown close to some other warriors, ones with big aspirations for the clan. They're fervent in their belief of Starclan, of Ridgeclan's superiority above all else.

At first Littlehawk is a little cautious of the group, but Elmstrike supports their beliefs. What other clan would be brave enough to hunt hawks? Aren't they as guardians evidence of the clan's strength and devotion? Eventually Littlehawk begins to agree.

After a few moons of getting used to each other once again Elmstrike and Littlehawk officially become mates. They're a formidable duo, often assigned to hunting patrols together, always waiting for the next threat to dare show it's face.

Cloudpelt also takes a mate, and after a few moons announces that she's expecting. But when the time comes for her to give birth, everything goes wrong. Neither she nor her kits survive.

Littlehawk and his family are deeply shaken by the sudden death. Dustfern is inconsolable, the two sisters had been closer to each other than the rest of their litter. When she disappears less than a moon after the death, it only gets worse. 

As the only three remaining Shadetail, Badgerheart, and Littlehawk grow closer. In silent solitude they often visit Cloudpelt's grave, and they dig an unofficial one for Dustfern. 

And then it's war. Littlehawk doesn't see it coming, even though he agrees with Wolfstar's logic. He's eager for a good fight, a way to take out his rage and grief. War can't be any scarier than hawk hunting after all.

He's wrong.

The battle is brutal and bloody. He and Elmstrike try to stay together but are separated once the wave of Praireclan cats arrive to defend Mistclan. It's hard to tell who's friend or foe, and it's only when a retreat is called that Littlehawk finally sees Elmstrike's body lying limp on the forest floor.

Littlehawk drags his mate across the bridge, uncertain if he's alive or dead. In the medicine cat den he stays by Elmstrike's side as they wait to be treated. 

Badgerstrike is there too, waiting. Littlehawk is the first to notice when his brother stops breathing. Later he learns that their mother, Mossfern, also died in the fight.

Eventually Elmstrike pulls through. At first Littlehawk is thrilled, he might've lost much of his family but at least his mate is alive. But Elmstrike is not thrilled. His front leg had been torn to shreds in the fight. He can no longer use it.

The implication is clear, it will be difficult for Elmstrike to continue being a warrior, much less a guardian. It strains their relationship, and while they stay mates they aren't as close as before. Elmstrike retreats into his own world, hardly responding or taking care of himself.

How can this be? Wasn't Starclan on their side? Wasn't Ridgeclan special, chosen? Hadn't they seen all the offers the clan left for them, all they sacrificed? 

Not long after the battle he came to a harsh conclusion, Starclan never cared about Rdigeclan. If they're even really there at all. How could they let this happen if they did care? How else could they let the clan lose so many warriors, how else could they let him lose so many family members? 

Littlehawk felt burdened by his name and position in the clan. A guardian of an unloved and fundamentally broken clan. Looking up to Starclan like a kit looks up to their parents, only Starclan never looked back down at them with love or affection. 

What was even the point? He still found the occasional thrill in hawk hunting, still felt alive as he made the kill. But in the moments between there was no comfort. A broken family and a distant mate. A clan in shambles slowly trying to fix itself but unsure how.

Even moons after the battle Littlehawk struggled to put the pieces of his life back together, and began to doubt that it was worth the effort. When Laurelfern offered him a new chance in a new group, away from Ridgeclan, he agreed. When the time came he turned his back on Ridgeclan and left to join the Kingdom.

Not long after the Kingdom split off, an encounter with Ravenheart, Wolfstar's daughter, reminded Littlehawk of how burdensome his name was. The 'hawk' was of Ridgeclan, given by Wolfstar, and the word 'little' had haunted him all his life. He decided to pick a new name for himself, Ospreytalon. A new way to represent his skills while distancing himself from his past. 

Pre-Plotting: Ospreytalon best fits the ladybug in the Kingdom adoptables. He hates Ridgeclan for what it did, what it took from him. While he doesn't want to fight with Ridgeclan, preferring to leave them in the past, he wouldn't be entirely opposed to it, and could potentially be persuaded to take action.

Family: Ospreytalon always had a complicated relationship with his family. As the runt and the baby of the family he struggled to fit in with his family and get along with them. After Cloudpelt died and Dustfern disappeared he briefly became closer with the rest of his siblings. But after Mossfern and Badgerheart died he's once again struggling to find a place in the devastated family.
Friends: Ospreytalon struggles to make friends with cats who aren't fellow guardians or thrill seekers. 
Romance: Leaving Ridgeclan has seperated him from his now likely ex-mate, Elmstrike.
Rivals: It would be easy for Ospreytalon to have many rivals for many reasons.