Fallon Brushtail Merona;;-Squirrel

[Cressida.]

Name: Fallon Brushtail Merona
Nicknames/Aliases: Fallon, Fall
Gender: Female
Age: 23 Years and 3 months [born on September 23rd]
Species: Fox Squirrel
Occupation:

Although she tends to be more independant than others, Fallon lives deep within Mossflower with her fellow squirrels in the treetops. Along with the rest of the archers, she fights to protect their rightful land and hopefully drive off any evilhearted intruders from the forest - whether they're vermin or not. She also makes an extremely skilled scout despite her young age, and is oftentimes trusted with long, tiring missions that involve tramping about the entire forest to search for something. Fall spends much of her leisure time helping to heal the wounded and sickly in the infirmary at the squirrels' camp, thus making her a remarkably skilled herbalist.

Physical Appearance:

General -- Her species in the forest is relatively rare, for Fox Squirrels originate from the west. Her main fur is a neutral, dark gray color whilst her stomach and underbelly are a creamy, soft white color. Fall's tail, her species' unique characteristic, appears to be very similar to that of a fox's. The warm, maple-autumn color blends perfectly into the rusty-steel color of her back, which contrasts with the rusty patches on her sides. Her tail, after all being similar to a fox's, is extremely long, fluffy, and unusually feathery. The silky hairs rarely ever get caught on branches or twigs, therefore helping her increase her already-amazing speed in the treetops.

Fallon's overall frame is slim and slender - she has to admit that she isn't exactly 'muscular' or 'brawny'. Most of the time her strength is limited to swiftness and doing something in a short period of time. However, ask her to do some strenuous job and she'll give way. It's quite obvious at first sigh that Fall was never intended to do the dirty, hard work that most males were meant to do. From first impressions, she seems to be a kindhearted squirrelmaid dedicated to healing, but that can be extremely misleading. The bow and quiver slung around her shoulder say differently, and although she isn't the best archer in Mossflower, she still exceeds expectations when it comes to combat.

Attire -- It's quite obvious from first impressions that she doesn't care much for clothing, or at least she doesn't need fancy, expensive attire. When she's relaxing (which is most of the time), Fallon wears an extended, simple russet-mahogany tunic tied around her slim waist with a celtic braided twine belt. Her clothes oftentimes fit closely to her thin frame, and yet they are still flexible and she's able to move around quite lithely if necessary. Her maroon tunic is basically all-purpose for her - she can manage to fight in it if an ambush happens, but she prefers not to stain it with her opponents' blood. Thus, when she expects to fight in battle, Fall changes into a short, ebony-black tunic tied around her waist with the same celtic belt.

Basically, Fallon likes to keep herself organized. When she prepares to travel on foot and down on the forest floor, she wears her dark-red leisure tunic under a thick, gray, warm full circle cloak embroidered with plain and simple, inconspicuous white patterns. She makes sure that they don't stand out, especially at night. The cloak is considered to be her travel cloak, and she's been stopped more than once for appearing unintentionally suspicious underneath it. True, Fall uses it to mask her figure when traveling at night so as others won't be able to identify her.

Possessions:

Mentioned once before, it's easy to see that she owns an exquisitely crafted whitewood longbow with small, fine carving etched into it by only the finest bowyer. Fallon has been using her bow (she refers to it was Ather, meaning 'Sharp' in Greek) for so long that she's become rather attached to it and hardly ever lets anyone touch it but herself. Most of the time, Ather can be found slung around her shoulder over the simple, matching mahogany-dyed quiver made from common leather. Although Fallon isn't exactly skilled at close combat, she carries a plain, sheathed dagger tucked into the left side of her belt. She owns no special jewelry, and so her only main possessions are Ather, her quiver, and the dagger.

Personality:

It's quite easy to say that Fallon is an all-purpose type of squirrel. She can fight and heal to the best of her ability, but her cooking on the other hand is absolutely dreadful. Thus, the cooks kindly ask her to stay out of the kitchens unless it's absolutely necessary.

She's relatively kindhearted to all living creatures unless they admit to doing crime and breaking the law. Although she isn't exactly prejudiced, she would rather believe that a vermin is doing the dirtywork than a woodlander, but Fall is willing to believe anything to serve justice to Mossflower.

With Ather, Fallon is remarkable at fighting. She isn't outright bloodthirsty, but she enjoys practicing her archery frequently to prepare her skills for the next battle. In fact, she enjoys the feel of her smooth bow against her paw, and at the first sign of battle, she's ready to join in and help her friends. However, she is extremely obedient to the point of fault, so if ordered to do something by one of her superiors, she will obey without question unless it's totally insane. She enjoys healing others, but still prefers fighting over bandaging others in the infirmary. Still, she spends much less time fighting than healing, and so Fallon has a bold knowledge of herbs that she doesn't hesitate to brag about.

Strengths:

Although she isn't the best in all Mossflower at archery, she is still relatively skilled with the bow, especially Ather. It has been proven in the past that her skills tend to wilt when using a bow other than her special whitewood longbow. She barely exceeds expectations with a dagger in melee, but can still manage. After all, no squirrel is a true warrior without knowledge of both close-combat and longrange. Fallon is also very knowledgable with herbs and healing. Thus, she is a valued nurse in Mossflower.

Weaknesses:

She is positively dreadful at cooking, and so she prefers to stay away from the kitchens and pots. Fallon, although extremely street-smart and full of ommon sense, she lacks the normal schooling that others received. This means that she doesn't have the ability to read or do complicated math unless it relies on common sense. Although this never seems to bother her, it always becomes a sore spot when riddles or problems come up involving tough, high-level thinking and long, inticate words. She also tends to be a bit obsessive and has an unnaturally addictive personality. This is shown in her protectiveness over Ather - those who even try to touch it will find themselves in much deeper trouble than he or she bargained for.

History/Background:

Someone would normally assume that Fallon was born in Mossflower, what with her attachment to the forest and its inhabitants. However, that is completely false. Fox Squirrels are relatively rare near Redwall and the forest (except for the few squirrels that came with her when she departed from her tribe. Originally, Fall lived in the west with the Merona Tribe, which was a group of fierce warrior-like squirrels who defended their territory with the utmost pride. It wasn't a coincidence that Fallon just happened to be the leader's daughter. Her father, Grudin Merona, was one of the most powerful leaders of the tribe for a long time. He rose the tribe from the ashes and brought them to a new ground; it was obvious that all the members lookede up to Grudin.

Her mother was a kindhearted, young squirrelmaid by the name of Linwood. She was the one who gave Fallon such a gentle side to contradict her mate's warrior-like personality. Linwood, usually called Lin, was much admired by the females in the tribe. She was both a skilled healer and a talented cook, much unlike Grudin. The two were so completely opposite that they seemed to complete each other. Lin was a timid, peaceful young creature while Grudin was brawny, loud, and strong. However, the two of them were both bighearted and both believed in justice.

The Merona Tribe itself was a relatively laidback tribe, quite opposite of their enemies, the Giorna Tribe (pronounced jee-or-nah). Fallon grew up during a huge time of war between the two battling groups. Of course, it was the Giorna Tribe that made the first actual attack when Fallon was only three years old. Pushed together with the other kits while the warriors fought for their lives and territory, it was then in the beginning of the war that she made her first friend - Lope Merona (in the west, everyone had the same last name according to the tribe.. O___o). The two befriended each other simply by clutching fearfully at each other's arms and accepting each other's help and sympathy.

The deaths of the first attack from the Giorna Tribe was devastating. Obviously the Meronas were much weaker and weaker than the other, and so the number of deaths wasn't as shocking as it could've been. Unfortunately, among the many carcasses being buried after the first attack was Linwood. Frozen and utterly shocked by her mother's death, it wasn't long before the six year old squirrel kit began practicing with a bow secretly on her own. She was determined to put an end to tall this fighting so that people like Lin wouldn't die. Obviously her attempts failed, and the war ended tragically.

There were probably five survivors in the war, all of them young kits like Fall. Now that the Merona territory was taken by the Giorna Tribe, the survivors were forced to move off to a different place. Fallon and Lope were basically the leaders, comforting the little ones in their time of need. By now, Fall was barely eleven years old, and had some skill with the bow. Thus, she also served as the protector of the survivors. They traveled east, escaping vermin every now and then. The five survivors soon swelled as more and more innocent woodlanders joined them for protection. By th etime Fallon and Lope discovered Mossflower, they had at least a score of woodlanders in their ranks.

As barely alive as they were, the squirrels stumbled upon Redwall Abbey and lived there for quite a few years, taking the shelter gratefully after what had happened to their homes. However, Fall felt that such a peaceful atmosphere would never suit her, despite her kindhearted personality. Thus, with Lope at her side, she left Redwall and wandered Mossflower until they came upon the tribe of warrior squirrels in the treetops. The two joined willingly and began to hone their fighting skills at the age of sixteen. Lope took to hand-to-hand combat while Fallon fell in love with archery.

Since then, the two have been training side-by-side.

Other:

Sorry it's taking so long to finish. I'm rapidly losing muse, my brain is dead, and I'm too lazy to run upstairs to grab my writing notebook with all the names of her clan members. Also note that I created the Merona Tribe way before I came on here. It's really ridiculous, but it might just be the only thing that can get me an at least three paragraph long history at the moment.. or... in the future. :]

Blah.
Lame.
History.
Sucks.

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[Ashstripe]

Approved.