cloverspring

[attr="class","arrgenMAINTEXT"]wahoo its a personality

[attr="class","arrgenMAINTEXT"]ravenfrost and applebreeze became friends when they were apprentices. originally shy and reserved, ravenpaw was encouraged to interact with applepaw on the basis that his older sister, orchidfur, was applepaw's mentor. three moons older than the ginger tom, ravenpaw was fast on his way to becoming a warrior, but orchidfur noticed that he didn't have many friends. in an attempt to remedy this, she often had applepaw train with ravenpaw. applepaw was everything ravenpaw wasn't - outgoing, rambunctious, adventurous, loud. at first, ravenpaw was intimidated by such a small cat with so much energy, but as his warrior ceremony drew closer and closer, the two toms also got closer and closer. and when ravenpaw received his warrior name, ravenfrost - he found himself not wanting to leave the apprentice den.

as time went on and applepaw received his name as well, the toms were sleeping curled up together in the same nest, their individual nests suddenly made up into this big nest-conglomerate able to fit the two of them. hushed whispers went on as the two toms got older and older, closer and closer, until one day, ravenfrost decided to actually listen in on what people were saying about them. saying that... that they would become mates, surely. heat burned in ravenfrost's ears and cheeks now every time he went out with applebreeze, his stomach churning. he... was pretty sure he liked applebreeze. did applebreeze like him?

he was ridiculous to think the orange tom didn't. it was only a few moons later that applebreeze asked ravenfrost to be his mate, and so the toms were together happily. their happiness seemed unending until one day, ravenfrost blurted out, "i want kits."

applebreeze was taken aback. "well, we can't... we can't have kits." and then, his face lit up. "are you suggesting we... ask someone?"

ravenfrost shuffled his paws, nodding weakly. "i. i know someone."

and that was how cherrystorm, a bright red she-cat who looked like the spitting image of applebreeze, ended up carrying ravenfrost's kits. the deal was simple. she wanted to carry kits, to experience having them, but she wasn't sure if she could handle raising them. ravenfrost and applebreeze could do the raising themselves. two moons later, cloverkit and honeykit were born - two fluffy toms, one pure white and one bright ginger. they looked just like ravenfrost and applebreeze.

not long after their birth were cloverkit and honeykit quick to protest against the label "tom" and prefer just being called "cats." it was simple, just like that, and went over smoothly with no bumps in the road. happy, the two siblings found no problems growing up in the nursery - that is, until weaselbite came in with her big round tummy full of kits, and constant complaining. she takes up a lot of space, cloverkit thought unhappily, and didn't appreciate this strange intruder invading their space. however, when he heard of honeykit complaining about the same thing, cloverkit decided to change their attitude. somebody has to be nice to her.

when weaselbite's kits came, their compassion for her only grew. three out of four kits, born dead. the heartbreak that lingered in her eyes, the emptiness, was not something cloverkit enjoyed seeing. her one remaining kit, halfkit, was smaller than the rest of her deceased siblings, but clearly a survivor, a fighter. her fierce, determined mews kept cloverkit and honeykit up all night, and sometimes they found themselves sleeping closer to the nursery entrance than anything, despite how cold it was in leaf-bare. cherrystorm often dragged them back closer to her belly when they finally fell asleep.

as soon as cloverkit and honeykit were weaned off of milk, cherrystorm left the nursery. weaselbite's constant criticism of how she didn't partake in raising the kits was getting to her, and the stress of the two little kits anyways was just too much for her. she longed to be in the warriors den - it was evident. applebreeze was happy to take time off of his warrior duties in her place to watch over them and keep them safe, as weaselbite was obsessive over halfkit. she didn't let her play with cloverkit and honeykit, not at all. halfkit could only play with her mother. it was obvious how frustrated halfkit would get with weaselbite at how controlling she was. oftentimes the little white kit tried to get to cloverkit and honeykit, but a heavy paw would always land on her tail and drag her back to her nest.

one night, when cloverkit saw that weaselbite was asleep, and halfkit was awake, nursing, the kit invited her over, egging her to play. honeykit lifted their head weakly, but, only half-awake, easily drifted back to sleep. the two kits played mossball together until suddenly,

"you're not doing it right. push the ball harder. make it go faster."

unsure, cloverkit allowed them to get rougher. eventually the game of mossball dissolved and they had started playfighting. again, all was well - that is, until they felt claws digging into their shoulder. cloverkit threw halfkit off of them, whimpering softly as they felt blood start to well up at the surface of their skin. it was just a scratch, but it still hurt. honeykit never played that rough with them! honeykit never bit hard or used their claws! halfkit merely gave them an annoyed look, lashing her tail.

"why did you stop?"

"you hurt me!" they whispered, not wanting to wake anyone up.

but, cloverkit wasn't so lucky. weaselbite stirred and lifted her head. when she saw that halfkit wasn't at her side, and rather, glowering at cloverkit, she snarled, cuffing cloverkit over the ear.

"i told you you're not allowed to play with halfkit! stay away from her!" she hissed, strutting across the den to pick halfkit up by the scruff and drag her back to their nest. cloverkit could hear her whispering to the white kit, watching as she roughly groomed her.

needless to say, cloverkit was plenty eager to get out of the nursery when the time came. cloverkit was now cloverpaw, alongside their sibling, honeypaw. ravenfrost and applebreeze called their names the loudest at their ceremony, while cherrystorm looked on fondly. she wasn't their parent, no, but she was their mother, and she had bonded with the kits when she was in the nursery. cloverpaw was assigned toadcall as a mentor, while honeypaw had yarrowtail. their first few training sessions were spent alone until both cats had developed their sets of skills, and then, the two cats were able to start training together.

everything was fine for cloverpaw until halfkit joined them in the apprentice den. she was only three moons younger than them, but already was she bickering with honeypaw about nest placement and who deserved to sleep where. to make matters worse, weaselbite came in and said that halfpaw should be able to sleep wherever she wanted, that it shouldn't be such a big deal. cloverpaw didn't exactly appreciate her nest being right next to theirs, but they bit back their tongue and didn't say a word.

cloverpaw mostly ignored halfpaw. she was further behind in their training so there was no reason for them to train together. except, halfpaw had latched onto cloverpaw, for some reason. she insisted on following them around, on being put on the same patrol as them, everything. the only escape was training, cloverpaw found, until yet again weaselbite opened her big mouth and decided that halfpaw would learn battle training better from a fellow apprentice, someone more experienced than her but not as overly experienced as a warrior. cloverpaw hated that it had to be them. halfpaw was mean. she had latched on, sure, but she was like a leech - she criticized cloverpaw's every move and complained about whatever she could to them. she was bossy and tried to lead patrols before she even knew as much as the territory right outside of camp. once, she even tried to question the medicine cat and doubt their knowledge. it was kind of horrifying.

most importantly - halfpaw still hadn't learned. even when her mentor told her to keep her claws sheathed, she sometimes forgot, resulting in cloverpaw spending a quarter-moon in the medicine cat den after a scratch from her got infected. they were furious, but still no words left their mouth. they didn't want to upset halfpaw even further. speaking out against her would just... well, who knows what would happen?

relief finally came when cloverpaw passed their warrior assessment, receiving their warrior name cloverspring, alongside honeywhisper. finally they could be free of halfpaw. they wouldn't have to train with her because even when she became a warrior, they could switch patrols easily. they could go out whenever they wanted. they wouldn't have to help her anymore, and put up with her sour attitude. cloverspring was free.

cloverspring spent plenty of time with their family during their first few moons as a warrior. they decided to patrol with cherrystorm often, to get to know their birth mother a little better. cloverspring went hunting with honeywhisper often, as they'd graduated around the end of leaf-fall and were determined to keep the fresh-kill pile stocked throughout leaf-bare. being a warrior was so freeing. once, applebreeze decided to take his mate and his kits out for a patrol with orchidfur, their aunt. it was nice.

even when halfpaw became a warrior, named halfcloud, cloverspring didn't have to deal with her. it was easier to ignore her, to avoid her. cloverspring had even found a she-cat they were starting to develop feelings for, a she-cat named heathernose. she had joined shadowclan when she was an apprentice after learning her mother was of shadowclan descent, and felt like she would belong more to shadowclan as opposed to windclan. she was still an apprentice when cloverspring was, but nearing the end of her training, and so she graduated before cloverspring had gotten a chance to know her as an apprentice. they bonded over the next few moons, but halfcloud had her ways.

one day, heathernose came up to them. "i... i didn't know you were mates with halfcloud," she stammered out. cloverspring blinked, too stunned to say anything. "why would you just lead me on like that, cloverspring? and - and flirt with me and be all romantic and stuff when you already have a mate?" it was clear heathernose was hurt, but cloverspring was livid. they'd finally had enough of halfcloud and her bullying. so they asked her out on a hunt, to confront her.

halfcloud was clearly pleased, but she covered it up with a snort of disgust as soon as cloverspring asked. they withheld from rolling their eyes, and the pair went out. when they were far enough away, cloverspring snapped, tired of being so pent up after all these moons.

"why did you tell heathernose we were together?!" they snapped, tail lashing. "we aren't. we never were. you've always been so mean to me, halfcloud, what makes you think that i'd want us to be mates?!"

halfcloud paused, tail twitching anxiously. "i - you - i didn't mean to hurt you," she said hurriedly. cloverspring sighed exasperatedly, clearly in disbelief. when they turned to walk away, she cut them off, eyes big and pleading. "no - no, please don't go. you don't understand, cloverspring, you're the only cat that's ever been nice to me. weaselbite... she - she's obsessive. she never lets me do anything. you're the only one who... makes me feel free."

cloverspring paused. this show of emotion was strange coming from halfcloud, but as they stared at her, all they could see was the tiny little kit fighting for her life from day one, and compassion filled their heart. sighing, they hung their head. "if you stop being so... mean, i'll. we can talk, and go on patrols together and stuff. i didn't know you... felt alone. but we aren't mates, halfcloud, so you have to tell heathernose you lied."

and that was that. over the course of the next few seasons, cloverspring found it within their heart to forgive halfcloud for all the maltreatment they put them through. they were blind to see how much progressively worse halfcloud had gotten, though. how obsessive she was over them, the way weaselbite was over her.

in newleaf, honeywhisper was pleased to announce that they and dahliafur were expecting kits. just short of greenleaf did they arrive, two little bundles of fur named squirrelkit and kestrelkit. cloverspring was proud to be a pibling (gender neutral term for aunt/uncle, sibling of parent), and while they didn't overstep, they wanted to be involved in squirrelkit and kestrelkit's lives. when the two kits were apprenticed, cloverspring busied themself more with warrior duties again, and thus lives on.