NAME: Zane

AFFILIATION: Loner

IMMEDIATE KIN:
Bethan (mother)

BASIC APPEARANCE: Brown tabby tom with green eyes.

DETAILED APPEARANCE: Zane's appearance is relatively inconspicuous, with a plain brown tabby pelt and dull green eyes. He's lithe and skinny beneath his short coat, with a tall stance and lanky limbs.

PERSONALITY & DESCRIPTION:
A thin frame and thinner coat speak more than words of the life Zane has found himself living, a perfect example of how hard it can be to escape the circumstances of one’s birth. He remembers little of his mother and had no siblings to grow up with, so by the time he could catch mice by himself he was already alone in the world. As a young adult he came across a group who had banded together out of lack of family to guide them, and in his desperation to be included by these streetwise and self-confident cats he was willing to try anything to make himself seem more interesting. There was nothing to be done about his unremarkable brown tabby pelt and dull green eyes, but when his meek personality left him side-lined he started to create an alias that quickly won him more than the odd second glance. Pretending to be a former member of the larger rival group gave him the attention he craved from his lonely kithood, and soon it became easier for him to live as the made-up Aleksey along with his history of daring rebellion spun from countless lies. But Aleksey’s lies eventually became Zane’s downfall; a clash between his group and their rivals put his false skillset to the test, and in a bid to preserve his invented reputation he ended up killing another cat over a few foxlengths of extra turf. While the act left him in an even greater social standing than before, the guilt ate at him constantly until he couldn’t face up to his lies and fled the life he’d created. However this hasn’t stopped Zane from making the same mistake again, as the thrill of making himself seem grander than reality has left him almost addicted to telling lies about himself. Though Aleksey is long buried there are many more false names in his roster for him to pick at random with every stranger he meets, to the point where only one cat knows him as the name he was born into. Zane met Ara properly at a low point in both their lives though they had been acquaintances long ago, and a mutual understanding not to ask what happened has left them comfortable companions for a number of moons. His docile nature in the wake of Ara’s assertiveness means they work together well, and he is happy to go along with her plans solely for the sense of security she gives him so long as they don’t leave too many more stains on his greying morality. Zane’s not a bad cat at heart, just a child who fell in with the wrong crowd and is still paying the price countless moons later.