RAINPETAL
AGE 18 moons
GENDER she-cat
CLAN skyclan
RANK warrior
SHORT DESCRIPTION sleek gray tabby she-cat with striking green eyes.
PERSONALITY positive - clever, compassionate, brave, polite, not easily angered, selfless, compliant, cares deeply for others (especially those she deems family) and would give her life without thought, dedicated
neutral - sensitive, cautious, self-effacing, not a risk-taker by any means, does not give up easily once she puts her mind to something (whether for good or for bad), very strong belief in starclan, analytical, gentle, speaks in a quiet tone (but is not entirely a quiet cat)
negative - meek, hesitant, sometimes too easily yielding to others' whims, tends to overthink things, indecisive, anxious, too soft-hearted, puts others' wishes and needs before her own to the point of causing herself unhappiness, dislikes violence and thus falters in combat, somewhat lacking in presence (the type of cat who might be easily overlooked by others), tendency to feel lonesome and even bitter when left by herself
HISTORY it was no secret among skyclan that wrenfeather's kits were half-kittypet. that was the term thrown around, at the very least - though in fact, the litter's father, ayden, had been a loner, though the collar he wore did denote a life once spent within a twoleg garden, even if those days were long behind him. of course, compared to the clans they would eventually come to join, skyclan
was fairly lenient in regard to those things - in truth, it was likely more the fact that the kits' father refused to parent a litter half his own that caused such scandal. alas, however, that was the choice that ayden had made when wrenfeather had told him of the coming kits. ayden had always been a wanderer, and had only been in skyclan's area for a few moons at the time anyway, having caught wrenfeather's eye on a solo border patrol and gotten the better of her through his flirty nature. their whirlwind relationship was, as it turned out, not at the top of ayden's priority list at all, for as soon as the news of the kits came, he was gone, just as quickly as he had come to the territory. wrenfeather would have to raise her kits alone.
she had always been a headstrong cat, and very proud. so when the rest of the clan asked her, harmless though their curiosity was -
yes, but wrenfeather, who's the father? she reacted to their friendly inquiries and curious smiles with defiant bluntness. wrenfeather made certain that every cat knew the truth; she would not be ashamed of what had happened, nor would be ever be ashamed of her kits. she was as strong-willed and defiant in the face of their surprise as ever, even as some of them still looked at her with sympathy instead of disdain at the knowledge that her litter's father had simply walked out of their lives.
but single mother or not, she would not be alone in raising them. for wrenfeather had another cat quite close to her who was more than willing to be a part of her kits' lives - sagestep, her littermate, and whom she had always been close to, ever since they had been kits. though sagestep, ever the rule follower and advocate of unwavering loyalty to the clan and the warrior code, was somewhat disappointed in his sister for her choice in mate, he would love the kits she bore with all his heart, simply because they were his littermate's kits. he was there beside her during the kitting - and there when she had to bury one of the three kits, a stillborn son who she named stormkit. though their brother would never join them in the world, the other two kits were strong and lively little ones nonetheless - two she-kits, whom wrenfeather named jaykit and rainkit.
the two sisters were very close growing up - though in many ways they defied the usual expectations of a pair of littermates so inseparable. while some might have expected the two to be troublemakers, or otherwise a pawful, egged on by each other's presence, this was not the case. both young cats regarded the clan with wide-eyed interest and careful observation, and both were very polite and obedient kits - though rainkit, the meeker of the two, perhaps a little more so than her slightly more outgoing sibling. wrenfeather was immensely proud of the fact that her kits were so well-behaved, of course; she seemed very pleased that the two, resented, even if only a little, for their 'kittypet' heritage, looked to be growing into such fine and responsible skyclan cats. and their uncle, sagestep, would always dote on them especially - bringing them bits of honeycomb to lick or taking extra time out of his day to tell them stories or give them badger rides around the camp. while the sisters were fairly subdued normally, their time with sagestep was when they truly laughed and smiled, appearing at their most innocent and kit-like during these playtimes.
but no kithood can last forever; before long, jaykit and rainkit had reached their sixth moon, and were named jaypaw and rainpaw. jaypaw received sagestep himself as a mentor - a bit of a surprise, considering their relation, but one that both cats were very pleased with nonetheless. sagestep proved himself a fine mentor to the young cat, as well - he showed almost no bias when it came to her training, and did all he could to make sure she would grow into the best warrior she could be.
rainpaw, on the other hand, had been apprenticed to a she-cat by the name of mothblaze - daughter of hawkstar, and, unbeknownst to the clan at the time, a future leader of skyclan herself. while rainpaw was neither exceptionally small nor exceptionally large for a skyclanner, her somewhat slender frame made her better suited for agility and speed than for brute strength, something which her mentor did well to capitalize on. as mothblaze herself had a similar knack for grace instead of force (though, admittedly, much more of one than the young rainpaw did), she focused a lot on improving this portion of her apprentice's skillset, and teaching her to utilize her agility to better climb trees and even improve her combat skills. rainpaw never truly excelled at combat, though she was decent enough at it - her hesitance when it came to excessive violence, however, meant that she might never truly reach her potential. jaypaw, on the other hand, was not at
all hesitant when it came to her training - rushing head-on into all facets of it, including combat, and seeming to shine at them all. rainpaw never had any reason to feel jealous of her littermate; she was never boastful, after all, and always willing - and eager - to lend a paw to help her sister out with her own training. though the two would grow a little more distant as they began to travel down different paths, they would always have the bond they had formed through kithood, even if the line that connected them might grow more stretched over time.
but that line would eventually be severed completely. rainpaw and jaypaw did not get to finish their training in the territory they were born - later into their apprenticeship, prey gradually began to grow scarcer, until finally skyclan was in talks about the possibility of leaving the territory to find another. before the decision could be made either way, the clan's deliberation was forced to end - as the especially dry season caused a terrible fire to break out across skyclan's territory. in the resulting chaos, wrenfeather became trapped among the flames. when the rest of the clan was ready to flee without her - and the rest of the cats who had not yet made it out - jaypaw, always too selfless for her own good, had rushed back to find them. rainpaw had just about gone right after her - but sagestep had stopped her. when rainpaw refused to go on without her sister and mother, sagestep instead made her promise to do so as he instead went back for them. reluctantly, she joined the rest of her bedraggled clan in their flight from their burning territory, singed but alive.
sagestep rejoined the clan soon after they had regrouped - and he dragged an unconscious and barely breathing jaypaw with him. grimly he told rainpaw what had happened; wrenfeather had perished in the fire, and jaypaw had collapsed in her attempts to drag her mother's body out. though the medicine cat tried, among all the other cats that needed treated, to rouse jaypaw, she also ended up dying that day, having breathed too much smoke. rainpaw was devastated - but she knew that there was no time for it. the clan was moving on to a new territory, following a dream sent to the medicine cat promising a new land - and rainpaw, too, would have to move on.
the journey was not by any means easy. not all of the cats who set out on it were to survive; even skyclan's deputy, silvertooth, soon perished, bitten by a snake that had tried to attack an elder named speckledcrow. in the wake of silvertooth's death, rainpaw's own mentor mothblaze was named the new deputy of skyclan. in the coming moons, she would prove herself a worthy choice when she would step up in the face of her father's increasing lack of stability.
it was during the journey that rainpaw met flarespark - then simply flare, a loner. off on her own in a desperate attempt to bring back
some sort of meal for their remaining elders, rainpaw suddenly found herself cornered by a fox, her concentration on the hunt having caused her to not notice its approach at all. malnourished and weak and facing a full-grown fox all by herself, things looked grim for rainpaw - but she did not run. it was simply not her nature. instead, she stood her ground and prepared to fight - and to fight to the death, as she knew it was imminent.
before either creature could strike the first blow, another cat suddenly surged from the undergrowth, yowling a battle cry. caught off guard, the fox seemed surprised enough by the cat's sudden appearance that both rainpaw and the newcomer were able to chase it off. in the ensuing silence, the two looked at each other - then began laughing. they had survived. rainpaw, breathless and surprised to even be alive, introduced herself shyly to the other cat, who introduced himself in turn as flare, a loner who was living with his family nearby. the two spent the day talking and hunting for prey for skyclan - as flare had offered to help in any way he could once he had heard of rainpaw's clan's troubles.
when they returned to the clan's temporary camp, both carrying a fair amount of prey, the clan was practically overjoyed by the gift of freshkill - even if they were not so happy to see a stranger among them. by the time flare had left, he had made a surprisingly good impression on the apprentices, at least, however - and, apparently, even on hawkstar. the next day, he took mothblaze - and her apprentice - to go invite flare to join their clan. his parents, violet and jay, came with him. that name, of course, stirred up some grief in rainpaw - but she would never tell flare just why she seemed so sad about it. she had decided to move on, and she would not go back on that decision for anything. she had loved jaypaw deeply, and missed her perhaps even more, but she would not allow herself to be upset over something as simple as another cat's name. (in a way, she almost wondered if it was a sign - that jay, and by extension, flare and violet, were meant to join the very same clan which her sister had died for.)
soon before the end of their journey, hawkstar died suddenly, leaving mothblaze as skyclan's new leader. she named the warrior cedarstorm as her deputy. when skyclan finally reached the new territory and joined with the other clans, mothblaze received her nine lives and became mothstar - and upon returning to the new camp with her new name, she carried out another ceremony, at the private suggestion of sagestep. rainpaw was made rainpetal, for her compassion and her gentleness as well as the care she showed for all of her clanmates - and as the first warrior to be made in their new territory. mothstar was sure to mention the sister who should have been at rainpetal's side when she named her, and rainpetal realized then that to move on did not mean that she had to forget. she would always love jaypaw, and would never forget her - but she could also learn to love jay, violet, and flare, too, as cats she could come to consider part of skyclan - and part of her family, as flare was truly her best friend now. she would honor jaypaw's memory in being the best warrior she could be - and though she would never allow grief to hold her back, she would also be sure to never let herself forget her littermate, either.
FAMILY
littermates:
Jaypaw,
Stormkitparents:
Wrenfeather,
Ayden (status unknown)
uncle: Sagestep
OTHER anything else?
