DapplEwing

redwoodclan

Despite being the only kit of her litter, Dappewing is runty and small. She lacks the intimidating height of her peers. She's short and thin, with a body that's long and slinky. There's little muscle to support her body, and Dapplewing is easily injured.

Dapplewing is half white, with her entire belly and underside being white. Most of her markings are black, with only a few patches of ginger mixed in. Her tail is long and feathery, that is primarily black with flecks of orange. The fur itself is long and whimsical, with a mind of its own. She often picks up stray sticks or leaves without realizing it, and it's rare to see her without something stuck to her pelt.

Dapplewing has the soft, rounded face of her mother, always giving the illusion of a sweet docile cat. But she can be just as volatile. Her face gives away her thoughts easily, with large expressive gestures. Like her father, her whiskers act like they have a mind of her own, moving frequently to convey her feelings. Her cheeks are fluffed out by tufts of fur and a wide blunt muzzle leaves nothing to be feared. Starting between Dapplewing's eyes and reaching down to her nose is an elongated orange diamond that's reminiscent of her mother's face markings. It's surrounded by a border of white. The rest of her face is black fur with only the edges showing a bit of orange. Her eyes are her father's though, and they shine with the same amber gleam.

Markings: calico
Eye Color: amber
Fur Length: long
Build: runty
Extra Features: 55% white-spotting
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Dapplewing is creative. She loves to express herself by decorating her pelt or nest with feathers and flowers. She finds her stride in unconventional skills. She's crafty with her paws and enjoys building and taking things apart. Dapplewing does her best work when it comes to building dens, taking apart two-leg traps and gathering herbs for the medicine cat. She likes to experiment and build odd contraptions that only sometimes work.

Dapplewing is smart. She's quick to understand new things and the theory behind them. Thanks to her creativity, Dapplewing will also think outside the box and come up with unconventional solutions. Early on, Dapplewing gets a sense of how her origin makes other cats look at her strangely. She knows she's different and has more to prove than the other kits.

Getting a sense of her position in the clan instills deep jealousy in Dapplewing. She can't help but always be envious of her peers. When Dapplewing looks at the other kits, she sees what she can't have. Because of her envy, Dapplewing struggles with self-doubt. She compares herself to others, easily finding ways she's lacking. She fears being abandoned for doing something wrong or not being good enough.

Dapplewing can be impatient. While her mind can easily pick up on theory, it doesn't translate to practice. Born small and runty, Dapplewing's body can't keep up with her mind. Dapplewing struggles with physical tasks and common warrior duties like hunting or fighting. Even though she knows how to do something, her body won't cooperate. She gets frustrated with herself and the things around her when things don't work out exactly how she planned.

It was a beautiful night when Jaythroat gave birth to little Dapplekit. On the other side of the border, Tansystrike awaited to take the kit away. Before Dapplekit could see the world through blurry baby blue eyes, she had already lost her parents. They had given her up, unable to bear the weight of their secret. Instead, Dapplekit opened her eyes to see a white and ginger she-cat standing with a white and black tom. They were her parents. Ruefeather and Fayre.

Little Dapplekit, not knowing her birth parents, had a fulfilling kit-hood without them. Ruefeather takes Dapplekit out for the first time to gather herbs just outside of camp. Mind ever curious, Dapplekit is always following her parents around, eager to learn new things from them. The four she-cats in the nursery (Thymekit, Violetkit, Martenkit and Dapplekit) become quick friends. Unbeknownst to Dapplekit, her den-mates are her distant cousins. Thymekit and Violetkit are her cousins through Tansytrike and Martenkit's through Jaythroat. Her ThistleClan blood is another well-kept secret. The girls gossip about love and romance, but Dapplekit's uninterested. She'd rather hear tales of adventures, learn new herbs from Ruefeather or craft things with Fayre.

On her apprentice ceremony, Dapplepaw is apprenticed to Wolfbriar. The two head out for their first trip around the territory. It doesn't go very well. It quickly becomes apparent that Dapplepaw isn't built to be a warrior. She lacks the size and strength that RedwoodClan cats naturally have. She struggles with her lessons for moons and is never able to figure it out. Dapplepaw practices day and night for hours until her frail body gives out. Still, nothing.

When Asterstorm begins looking for a medicine cat apprentice, Dapplepaw is filled with new hope. This was it! Her chance to do something she was good at. But Asterstorm picks Blossomstep instead and Dapplepaw is crushed. She loses all hope of finding a way to help her clan. When moons of training under Wolfbriar proves fruitless, Dapplepaw is reassigned to train under Clovershade. Their apprenticeship is rocky at first, but upon remembering a lesson Fayre taught her Dapplepaw manages to land her very first strike against a tree. Her hopes of one day becoming a warrior is renewed.

With the help of her parents and mentor, Dapplepaw starts to pick up fighting and hunting bit by bit. She learns to translate her thoughts into actions and finds a way to fight that works best for her. It's a mix of rogue and clan cat styles, as Dapplepaw would say.



Dapplepaw continued her training up until her 15th moon. It took her longer than most cats, but eventually she's able to pass her warrior assessment and is named Dapplewing alongside her mother Fayre who's given her warrior name: Amberfur.

Everything is looking up for Dapplewing, but unease is brewing in the clan and as a kit born to “rogues", Dapplewing is right in the spotlight.