#rueprance

[catsofwillowclan]

"An Apprentice By Any Other Name"

"Pipitstar stands above the clan and proclaims that Thriftpaw shall now be known as Thrifteye, honoring their zeal"

Thriftpaw asks Rueprance a very important question.

-----

"Hey, Rueprance... could I ask you a question?"

"Mmm... sure, what's up?" Rueprance hums, still focused intently on the river rushes she's been weaving together into a small makeshift basket for the fresh kill they'd caught earlier. She's been fiddling with them for half an hour now, braiding the fibers together while she and Thriftpaw sat on the warm river stones to soak their feet in the cool, clear water.

There's a long pause. The river burbles to fill the space.

"It's... sort of a big thing to ask. You don't have to listen, if you don't want to," The boy says, much more nervously than usual. The odd tone makes her look up from her work to see Thriftpaw's big silver eyes were looking at her more seriously than she thinks he's ever been, at least as long as she's known him, and she shifts to sit up straight.

"No, no, you can ask!" she says quickly, trying to reassure him from whatever doubts that must be racing through his mind and setting the basket aside. "We have plenty of time til they'll need us back home."

Thriftpaw scrunches his nose and looks back at the rushing water, his silver eyes tracing the shape of the far bank and trying to avoid catching Rueprance's gaze again.

"Well..." he starts, toes fidgeting with the loose stone in the riverbed, "My warrior ceremony is coming up soon, y'know, and... I'm gonna need someone to give me my new name. Lilacspeck and Oakshade scare me, and Pipitstar is really busy, so I don't want to bother her - and she'd probably give me something weird, anyway," He laughs. Nervously, which sounded wrong coming out of Thriftpaw's mouth. "And you're, like, the closest to my age, and we hang out a lot, so I thought that maybe..."

"Of course!!" Rueprance exclaims, interrupting before he can even formally ask the question. She can't contain the rapid butterflies growing in her stomach - her big blue eyes are wide as the moon, the basket laying entirely forgotten by the cottontail rabbits they'd caught as she leans forward.

He's asking her to name him? Her? The biggest question an apprentice can ask, and he isn't picking his mentor - does that mean she was his best friend? Or, well, best warrior friend, she supposes, giving a sly thought to Auburnpaw, but that doesn't matter, because only a warrior can name an apprentice anyway.

"Of course, I'd be honored to, Thriftpaw!" She says again, scooting to sit right next to Thriftpaw, who's now looking at her with surprise and a not-insignificant amount of relief plastered all over his face. "I can't believe you'd ask me, this means so much... do you have any ideas? I'm sure you've thought about it. I mean, who hasn't thought about what they want their warrior name to be?"

"No, I haven't - didn't. I don't want to tell you what to do for it or anything," Thriftpaw says quickly as his gaze darts away, tucking his hands under his legs. "I mean, isn't the point that you get to pick it?"

Rueprance shrugs. "I mean, yeah, but also no. Sometimes people ask because they have something in mind and it's really just a formality. One of my friends back in Tarnclan wanted to be named Eaglewing so bad she got her mentor to do it in exchange for taking their night watch duties for a whole year."

Thriftpaw snickers. "That's stupid," he says, and his shoulders are much further away from his ears now. "Cool name, but like... is it worth double night watch for a year?" He fakes a grimace, but Rueprance raises an eyebrow.

"Hey, with some of the names people get stuck with, you better believe she'd put up with no sleep. So you better be grateful when I give you something that's not stupid." She turns up her nose, mock-haughtiness cracked with a playful grin, and Thriftpaw scoffs, his eyes flashing with mischief.

"If you give me a stupid name, I'm gonna tell Pipitstar about every time you dodged patrol to go hang out by the lake instead."

"As if! Then I'll just snitch about how many times you took extra cloudberries from Quiverpelt's stash."

"They're good!" He exclaims, throwing up his hands and splashing Rueprance in a shower of river water.

She squeals, trying to turn away against the watery attack while splashing her feet in retaliation. Thriftpaw laughs, ducking away from Rueprance's own barrage, but she doesn't care if she gets wet - not when she's been entrusted with such an important job.

"Don't think just because I asked you to name me that you get a free pass from water fights!" he says, his eyes glinting sharp in the midday sun.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Rueprance replies, warm as the sun on the rocks, before she dumps another splash of water right on his head.

[catsofwillowclan]

Clan Origins

The founding cats of Willowclan all hail from different backgrounds, bringing with them the customs and traditions of the clans they're from and places they've been.

Pipitstar, Quiverpelt, and Lilacspeck are from Locustclan in the forests to the south - a clan that no longer exists. Wiped out by misfortune and disease, they left after burying the dead to find a new start in the wilds to the north.

Oakshade, Mossyrush, and Rueprance all came together from Tarnclan in the glacial foothills to the north. They were called by visions to head off together and find a clan under the weeping willows in the wilds to the south.

Thriftpaw and Auburnpaw were both from Mouseclan in the grasslands to the west. They were lost during a dust storm and wandered their way to the eastern woods before being found.

Brownfur was a wandering rogue with no allegiance, making her way from clan to clan and territory to territory in an attempt to scrape by.

Dustypaw was an abandoned rogue kit, taken in to be raised communally by the adults of the clan after being found by Brownfur.

Russetpaw was a previous apprentice of the clan that had lived in Willowclan's territory. He died young many, many moons ago, and his spirit was interred in the willow tree.

[catsofwillowclan]

Cat Guide

A total guide of every single cat in the clan, all their current and previous names, and their general appearance - skin tone, markings, hair, and eye colors - in order to help you keep track of them all at a glance.

Cats are added in the order they joined the clan.

Italics indicate a deceased cat.

RUSSETPAW - Willowclan's permanent Starclan guide. Perpetually 12 years old in appearance. Pale skin with dark freckles, black hair worn shaggy around the shoulders and tied back on the top, bright blue eyes like sunlit glacier ice.

---

PIPITSTAR - She/her. Leader. 9/9 lives. Short, slim, with pale freckled skin, ashy blonde shoulder length hair, and bronze brown eyes. She has many moles scattered across her body.

LILACSPECKLE - He/him. Deputy. Shorter than average, fit, with light tan skin, ash blonde long hair, and heterochromatic eyes - one heather blue and one emerald green. A large scar cuts across his face.

QUIVERPELT - She/her. Medicine cat. Average height, with dark skin that has light vitiligo patches, natural black hair that's silver at the roots, and pale yellow eyes.

OAKSHADE - She/her. Warrior. Very short, curvy, with tan skin that is heavily tattooed across her face, shoulders, and back, long salt and pepper black hair, and sage green eyes.

BROWNFUR - She/her. Warrior. Average height, muscular, with warm brown skin, dark brown hair cropped short, and red-copper eyes. Her features are delicate.

MOSSYRUSH - He/him. Warrior. Tall, built like a strongman, with tan skin with tattoos running along his face, shoulders, chest, and full back, medium length black hair, and shadowed hazel eyes.

RUEPRANCE - She/her. Short, with a dancer's build, with tan skin covered in tattoos on her face and shoulders, long dark silver hair, and vivid blue eyes.

THRIFTEYE/PAW - He/him. Short, fit, with dark skin tattooed on the face and lower back, black shoulder length locs, and silver eyes.

AUBURNPAW - He/him. Average height and frail build, with light fair skin, short sandy blonde hair, and cobalt blue eyes.

DUSTYPAW/DUSTYKIT - He/him. Average height, chubby, with light tan freckled skin, long dusty brown hair, and green-yellow eyes.

[catsofwillowclan]

Teamwork and Trouble

As Pipitstar and Lilacspeck set up training for the day, Thriftpaw sneakily convinces Auburnpaw to set up a prank for their mentors.

It works, and with their teamwork Pipitstar ends up hanging by her ankle from a tree while the apprentices add 'scolded by the leader and deputy at the same time' to their list of achievements.

---

"I dunno, Thriftpaw. It's just - won't we get in a lot of trouble?"

"It'll be funny! I bet they won't even know it was us," Thriftpaw whispers to Auburnpaw as the two trail behind their mentors on their way to the sand pits for training. Auburnpaw scrunches his nose and fidgets with the edge of this tunic, peering at the older warriors who seem to be engrossed in some kind of deep conversation about the clan.

Pipitstar and Lilacspeck were pretty important... and messing with people that important would be bad, right? But Thriftpaw is giving him his biggest, silveriest puppy eyes, and Auburnpaw trusts the older boy implicitly, so...

"It depends on what you wanna do, I guess," Auburnpaw says, wavering, and Thriftpaw goes from pleading to scheming in a matter of seconds.

"I think we could use a snare on one of 'em," Thriftpaw explains, pointing to the vines tangling up the woods along their path. "Rueprance taught me how to do snares, with the vines and things you find in the woods, and I bet I could make one strong enough for Pipitstar at least, since she's so small."

Auburnpaw nods and watches the two mentors to make sure they aren't catching wind of the boy's plan. Lilacspeck is explaining something to Pipitstar, whose face is serious with thought. Both of them are totally engrossed in the conversation, even missing when a few tiny birds startle overhead. Which is perfect for the plan, even if it's maybe not so great for a warrior to be that distracted on patrol. If they just keep talking...

"Hey!" Thriftpaw hisses, distracting Auburnpaw from his intense focus on the adults, "You're gonna have to distract them."

"Me?!" Auburnpaw exclaims a bit too loudly, clapping a hand over his mouth before he gets too loud and checking to see if either of the mentors noticed. Lilacspeck tosses a glance over his shoulder, but doesn't seem to pay the two apprentices much mind beyond checking to see that they're alright and quickly turns back around to give his attention to his leader. "Why do I have to? They're talking with each other already."

"Because I have to make the snare! And they're totally gonna notice if I'm making something... unless you ask them a question and make them focus on you instead of me."

"I--" Auburnpaw starts to protest, but after thinking for a second, Thriftpaw is right. If they make too much noise the mentors will definitely want to see what they're doing, and they'll notice if Thriftpaw disappears to set up the trap if Auburnpaw doesn't get them to talk to him instead.

Auburnpaw wilts. Thriftpaw looks elated.

"You'll do great, kid," he says, slapping the younger boy (quietly) on the back. Auburnpaw groans.

---

It turns out, asking the clan's most skilled warriors for advice on how to best locate prey in the woods keeps them so focused on finding birds that they don't notice the other apprentice sneaking off to set up snares further along the path.

While Auburnpaw keeps the mentors distracted, Thriftpaw quickly sets up a vine snare further along the path by the sand pits. He tosses sand and loose leaves over the snare's loop, scuffing up the area on top and nearby to hide any footprints or mess he may have made, and slips right back next to Auburnpaw before Lilacspeck even finishes explaining the nesting habits of sparrows.

"Wow, super interesting!" he pipes up, making sure the two are very aware of him being there, and Pipitstar turns to raise her eyebrow.

"You're never this interested in birdwatching when I try to teach you, Auburnpaw."

"Well, maybe Lilacspeck just does it more interesting than you," he says back with a coy shrug. Now BOTH of Pipitstar's eyebrows are in the air, but the short woman doesn't seem to want to press the issue - not with so much of their training session left to get through, and not enough patience left to deal with a fight. Instead she sighs, stepping out from the trailside brush and taking the lead down the path again.

"Well, you'd do well to pay attention anyway," she starts, as the little group heads out again. "You should listen to your mentor even if the lesson isn't interesting."

The apprentices are careful to stay behind Pipitstar, though they don't hang back as far as they were while concocting their little scheme. Lilacspeck follows after, watching the apprentices with some amusement as they approached the sand pit clearing and rolling his shoulders in preparation for the sparring to come.

"Hey, I won't complain about him being interested in what I have to say, as long as he's learning it," he says.

The clan leader just laughs in response - or maybe she was planning to say something, but she doesn't get the chance. The second her foot touches the leaf-littered ground in front of her, it's pulled away as Thriftpaw's snare snaps up into the branches of a large ash tree.

"Stars!" she swears, tripping and falling flat on her behind with a leg in the air, before her struggling is drowned out by Lilacspeck's bark of disbelief and Thriftpaw's shrieks of delight. Auburnpaw isn't quite sure what to do - between the joy on his friends face and the rage on his leader's, he can't quite tell if what he did was exactly good or bad.

---

The apprentices got the earful of a lifetime from a clan leader and a deputy at the same time, and with Pipitstar is still favoring her ankle the two weren't likely to have heard the end of it yet, either. Between the prank going incredibly right and the plans for the day's training going horribly wrong, Auburnpaw is feeling deflated as the group heads back from the sand pits and their distracted sparring session.

Pipitstar is making Thriftpaw stay right next to her in the front of the group to keep an eye on him on the walk back, so Auburnpaw is stuck next to his own mentor, too, scuffling at the ground and kicking rocks as they walk. Despite his initial laughter at the prank, Lilacpaw had been quite stern with both the boys during training and given them loads of extra laps and drills to run during the session.

But now that the sparring is done and Auburnpaw is clearly wracked with guilt, Lilacspeck sighs and lays a heavy hand on the boys shoulder.

"Listen," he starts, trying to seem as not-mad as possible when the boy turns his big watery blue eyes to him, but the moment he opens his mouth again Auburnpaw looks like he's about to cry.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm not going to be mad at you again, we already did that." He pauses, letting the boy take a few deep breaths to even out.

"Better?" The boy nods sullenly, and Lilacspeck sighs. "It was... good teamwork. Even though you shouldn't use your teamwork for that, specifically. Though between you and me," The man leans in, like he's telling a secret, and adds with a grin, "If it weren't for the fact that it was Pipitstar, and that I'm her deputy, I'd probably say that it was pretty funny."

Auburnpaw looks shocked and vaguely horrified at the confession.

"But wasn't it mean to do? I helped do something bad!"

Lilacspeck laughs again, big and booming and enough for Thriftpaw to try and turn around and Pipitstar to scold him for getting distracted.

"No one got hurt except for a couple of bruises and some lost pride. Though I don't remember you being taught that snare trap from either of us," he says lightly, and the boy smiles.

"Rueprance taught him!" he whispers dramatically, trying not to get anyone else in trouble with Pipitstar but also wanting to brag about Thriftpaw's newfound skills.

"Did she now?" Lilacspeck says, like he's saving that information for later.

Auburnpaw smiles, chattering about the cool things the young warrior has been teaching the apprentices, and the the four head back from sparring no worse for wear, but with some valuable lessons learned.

[catsofwillowclan]

Willowclan: Origins

Pipitstar, the leader, is charismatic, confident, and quick. She is determined to help her clan make a fresh start in this new world, and will lead them to a prosperous future.

She is 28, slight and small, standing under 5', but makes up for it with spunk, personality, and an unwavering conviction in herself. She has very pale fair skin, shoulder-length silver hair, and big brown eyes with a bronze tone. She has many moles.

Deputy Lilacspeck is more insecure than Pipitstar in his abilities to lead, but is daring and brave and reliable in a fight. He is completely faithful to Pipitstar and will do whatever is asked to support her.

He is 48, 5'7 and fit but lean, holding himself like a fighter even when casually doing tasks around the clan, and his facial scars make him intimidating to some of the younger cats. He has light tan skin, ashy hair worn long and tied back in a low ponytial, and heterochromatic eyes (one a heather blue and the other a vivid emerald green.)

Elder Quiverpelt is insecure, always feeling unappreciated and like she's being overlooked or disliked by the others in the clan despite her great amount of knowledge and her connection to starclan. She is by far the oldest of the group, and isn't confident she can keep up with so many younger cats.

She is 52, 5'6 and stout but healthy, with kind eyes and hands made sharp by time and practice. She has dark skin with lighter patches, short natural black hair going silver at the roots, and vivid pale yellow eyes that seem to pierce the heart and soul of whoever is looking at them.

Oakshade is one of the clan's warriors, and she holds that title with great pride. She can seem uptight, but her charm and genuine care for others means that she can act as a good role model for young kits even when making them run drills or do their chores.

She is 36, and like Pipitstar she is incredibly small, standing under 5', but she is formidable and gives off an aura of authority far larger than she may seem. Her skin is tan and marbled with many dark tribal tattoos, her salt-and-pepper hair is long but worn tightly back out of the way, and her sage green eyes are observant and sharp.

Brownfur is incredibly competitive and jealous, often comparing herself to others in the clan and picking at their flaws to make herself feel better. She hates to lose and will always take a challenge to prove herself to the others, but is grounded and reliable for her clan through and through.

She is 33, standing 5'6 and fairly strong and muscular. Her skin is deep brown, her dark brown hair cropped short in a military style and her red-copper eyes always on the lookout for someone else slipping up. She has very delicate facial features and small hands and feet.

Mossyrush is a lonely fellow, always sticking to the outskirts of the clan and watching from afar. He has a melancholic nature, always quick to moan about the worst possible thing and convinced the universe is conspiring against him, despite his keen observational skills obviously telling him otherwise.

Mossyrush is 32, standing incredibly tall at 6'4 and built like a strongman. He has mid-toned tan skin with a dark tribal tattoo running all the way down his head and back, medium length black hair often worn loose around his face, and hazel eyes that are generally in shadow.

Rueprance is young and still childish, only recently becoming a warrior, and her positivity and playfulness are nigh infectious. People around her can't help but become excited over little things, and she loves to teach kits about everything she's learned and pass on knowledge where she can.

She is 20 years old, standing 5'3 and built like a dancer or acrobat. She has fair skin covered in tribal tattoos on her body and face, long black hair with silvery tones she likes to wear in a long braid, and vivid dark blue eyes like an ocean jewel.

Thriftpaw is a young apprentice of the clan, one of two, and is quite troublesome and a bit insufferable. He's always causing mischief, getting into things he shouldn't or doing things he was told not to and questioning the authority of the warriors and leaders of the clan in that oh-so-classic middle schooler sort of way.

Thriftpaw is young, 12 years old, standing 4'9 but hoping he'll grow much, MUCH taller (he won't, ending up at a final height of 5'1). His skin is dark tan (and will later have tattoos on the face and lower back), his black hair is shaggy and scruffy, and his silver eyes always flash with mischief when Rueprance is around.

Auburnpaw is the charming and sweet second apprentice of the clan, and one with great promise to become a storyteller due to his active imagination. He is incredibly young and still approaches the world with wonder and confidence, much to the joy of his mentor.

He is 9 years old, standing 4'7 (but eventually shooting up to 5'8) and much frailer than his fellow apprentice Thriftpaw. He has light fair skin, sandy blonde hair cut short, and cobalt blue eyes that shine when he's spinning a particularly interesting tall tale.

Dustykit is the youngest of the clan, only a baby, and is doted on by just about everyone. He is a bit insecure and nervous, often requiring reassurance, but the warriors try to boost his confidence by play fighting with him as much as they can and encouraging him to come out of his shell.

While a baby at 7 and a half years old, only 3'11, he will eventually grow up to be 5'11 and incredibly strapping. He has light tan skin, dusty brown hair worn loose and long around his shoulders for ease of running around and playing, and his green-yellow eyes are big and bright.