Post by snailemail on Dec 7, 2020 7:56:41 GMT
APPEARANCE
Fleahop's pelt is a patchwork of brown tabby, ginger, and white patches. Their muzzle, neck, and portions of their underbelly and paws are all white, while the rest is an even mix of orange and brown- though somewhat heavier on the brown. Their fur is quite short and somewhat coarse, well suited to repelling the mud and muck their home got it's name for.
Large ears and large amber-brown eyes made their face seem small in comparison, an almost kit-like appearance they've grown to resent. The rest of their body is rather average, if a little on the smaller side. They're muscular due to an excess of training, but this is surprisingly subtle even with their short pelt.
PERSONALITY
With their sharp tongue and sharper wit, Fleahop is the kind of cat one would expect to hail from the forests of Thornclan, not the marshland of Mudclan. They think before they speak, and speak seldom because of it, unless around those they're comfortable with. Even then, they feel an urge to keep up appearances, but that eventually gets tiring.
That isn't to say that they never relax. Around those they are close to, they open up quite a bit. They're definitely not a very silly or playful kind of cat, but they're a decent listener and usually up for a chat- whether about the serious or trivial. They aren't the best with emotions, and tend to freeze around those who are quite emotionally, but they'll try their best to help regardless.
Fleahop wants respect. Mostly from the other clans, rather than their own. Mudclan is great- their family, their home. They admire the freedom in their clan's lifestyle, the ability to be whoever you truly are. They don't need respect from their clan- they already have it- it's the other clans that are the problem.
Stormclan and Thornclan are judgemental and full of themselves, not to mention constantly at each other's throats, and Floodclan is too optimistic and peaceful to get anything done. And yet Mudclan's the clan of fools?
It's about time Mudclan got the respect they deserve, and if Fleahop has to get their claws dirty with more than just mud to get it, then so be it.
FAMILY
Father: Unknown
Mother: Berryteeth (Adopt)
Siblings: Logfoot (Adopt)
Other: Talonskip (Former Mentor)
HISTORY
Berryteeth is the perfect stereotype of of a Mudclan cat.
That is to say, exceptionally odd.
For one, she was rather usually secretive about the father of her litter, to the point where some theorized that the father was an outsider to the clans- whether from another clan or no clan entirely.
The way she raised her kits was equally odd. One she named after a tiny pest insect, and the other simply because 'it looks like a log.' She evidentially didn't know how to act around kits, and thus treated them like any other warrior- including talks of battles and other recent events. This lead to Fleakit having a much better understanding of war and the relationships between clans than the average kit- though simultaneously making them somewhat desensitized to the concept of war in general.
One day, nearing the beginning of their fifth moon, Berryteeth figured that her kits were strong and mature enough for a little head-start on training. However, this trip took a turn for the worse when Logkit got stuck in a particularly deep patch of sucking mud. He managed to get yanked free- but not without spraining an ankle in the progress. They quickly returned to camp, where Berryteeth had to explain what exactly had happened to her kit, while a nervous Fleakit sat next to their injured brother.
Despite this, it would be hard to call Berryteeth a entirely bad mother. She did care about her kits, just in a somewhat careless, inattentive way. However, carelessness is a bad trait to have when your job is to care for kits, and as such, the other queens began to pay as much attention to Fleakit and Logkit as they might their own kits.
That is, once Logkit got out of the medicine cat den. It didn't take long for him to heal- kits in particular are resilient- but the entire time Fleakit visited Logkit for as long as the medicine cat would allow, staying with their brother until he was healed up enough to play again. Fleakit would often watch the medicine cat work while they spent time with Logkit. They had some interest in the medicine cat's work- occasionally curiously poking their nose into the medicine cat's business.
The medicine cat- Talonskip at the time- didn't think much about the kit's curiosity. That is, not until they awoke one morning to a ring of dead fleas encircling a spare nest in a perfect ring. Almost definitely a sign from starclan, Talonskip told the leader about this, before telling Fleakit. Fleakit, who'd imagined themself as nothing but a future warrior, somewhat reluctantly agreed- it was starclan's will, after all.
Fleakit drifted apart from their mother, blaming her for Logkit's injury. The rest of their kithood was rather uneventful, mainly just waiting with a mixture of anticipation and dread for the day they'd become an apprentice- medicine cat apprentice to be precise.
Finally, the day of their apprentice ceremony came. Fleakit- now Fleapaw- had no surprise as to who their mentor would be- how their mentor acted, however, was somewhat a surprise. For one, Talonskip let Fleapaw decide when and what they'd train- a method that while it didn't cause them to neglect their training, they certainly fell behind in certain aspects for a time. Talonskip also had a great deal of pride in Mudclan, a pride Fleapaw would soon inherit.
With how highly Talonskip thought of Mudclan, their first gathering was something of a shock. It wasn't obvious, but it was certainly impossible to ignore- the looks the other clans shot Mudclan as they arrived at the Stoneglade, the quiet murmurings during the Mudclan leader's announcements- as if the leader's words didn't really matter. It was a shock, and more than a little infuriating to the young Fleapaw.
They started training extra hard, after that- determined to be the best medicine cat Mudclan could have, as if that would improve the other clan's opinions of their clan. This newfound fervor lead to them neglecting certain things- such as their relationship with Logpaw. It never got so bad as to be irreparable, but they certainly drifted apart for a time.
Finally, the day came for Fleapaw to become Fleahop, alongside their sibling, now Logfoot. Their relationship with their sibling began to return to how it'd been when they were kits, with both having more free time- though, having aged and changed so much, it was of course not quite the same.
Talonskip had already been quite old by the time Fleahop became their apprentice, but as time went on, it really took it's toll. Their failing sight and memory meaning they could no longer perform their role as medicine cat. Talonskip was forced to retire, with Fleahop truly becoming Mudclan's medicine cat.
While they take their role as healer very seriously, Fleahop knows that medicine cats serve a second role- messenger of starclan and advisor to leaders. They hope they can use this to their advantage to finally repair Mudclan's reputation.
