Fernsway

### Other Relatives

Halfheart (uncle), Drizzlesnow (aunt), Mosspaw, Mallowpaw, Shellpaw, Rainpaw (cousins)

### Friends

Runningriver, Firecloud, and Sootsnow sort of

### Enemies

Mottledgorse, mostly

Ah yes, the angst of the friend-group. Don't worry, she was much more angsty in Reborn, I dialed it back some. Emphasis on "some."

TW for abuse, neglect, and mentions of trauma

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Despite her chronic Kubrick stare, Fernsway is actually quite beauteous. She has fair features, a lean-muscled body, and even proportions. She has very curly locks of hair flowing out at her shoulders bound into a tight braid. Her pelt is a pale fawn-brown, dappled with darker tabby patches and stripes. Fernsway has a firm green gaze that would probably curse you if you stared into them too long, and she has a couple of scars from past battles to protect her Clan.

### Personality

Remind me to do this fully later

[+] Logical, loyal, reliable

[=] Reserved, pessimistic, tough

[-] Uncommunicative, blunt, pugnacious

## Background

### Kithood

Fernkit was born in a litter of four in FallClan to her mother Fawnstripe, sired by a tom called Mottledgorse. And right at the moment of her birth, everything had gone horribly wrong. Now, I'm going to tell some story that's slightly drifting away from the topic of Fernsway but is still important, so buckle up.

Fawnstripe had gone out on her own to exercise because her mate wouldn't take her out, let alone speak to her in the first place. He was convinced she was mates with one of her childhood friends in secret, so they separated when Fawnstripe told him she was pregnant, believing the kits were not his and acting very aggressive and abusive. Out on her walk outside camp, she'd wandered a little too far on accident and went into labor. Unfortunately for her, not only that would be getting in her way.

Crouched underneath a log nearby the hollow she settled down to kit in, was a fox. A very hungry one at that. Fawnstripe was not only yowling in pain, but yowling to try and scare away the fox as it drew closer. Luckily for Fawnstripe, the aforementioned childhood friend by the name of Pricklewool, was out on a solo hunt and heard her frantic shrieking. He managed to chase off the fox, albeit with injury, but by the time the kits were born, Fawnstripe had lost an alarming amount of blood and was very weak. Not to mention, only one kit in the litter had even started to breathe. Little Fernkit - a fighter from the start.

Immediately, Pricklewool ran to get help. But by the time he'd returned with the medicine cat, Fawnstripe was barely holding on. The kits were carried back to camp as well as Fawnstripe and put into immediate care. Fawnstripe ultimately died and so did the three boys of the litter, leaving a single she-cat whom Pricklewool named Fernkit. He was ready to raise Fernkit as his own, but suddenly Mottledgorse wanted to be back in the picture and drove away Pricklewool, threatening him away from his only daughter and insisting on being present as her father despite the apparent hatred of his late mate.

Now, back to the related stuff. Fernkit grew up very isolated and in an incredibly abusive relationship with her father. He fed her lies, about how her mother was a liar and a trickster and that Pricklewool was the exact same. On occasion when he'd get angry, he'd blame her for Fawnstripe's death and accuse her of thinking lowly of him. Rarely, he'd even hit her - earning her a scar on her flank that she was always shamed for.

Eventually, the Clan had had enough of Mottledgorse after he'd put his claws on Fernkit and decided that he needed to take a hike. They kicked him out of the Clan, officially deeming him an exile for breaking the Warrior Code, and Fernkit never saw her father again from that point on.

Despite the queens' gentleness, Mottledgorse had made too much of an impression on her. She hated people touching her, hated loud noises, flinched at everything, and was constantly rude and aggressive toward the other kits in the nursery. On several occasions, she tried to defend her father and run away but inwardly she was just... incredibly vulnerable and devastated. Being told she was weak, being hit all the time, it hurt. But she'd pushed through it just to have a father, have the chance that maybe she could still have family. And now it was all erased. All she wanted was a happy family.

Over time, as she grew older, Fernkit understood why Mottledgorse was exiled, but it didn't make her Clanmates think that she was like her father now any less. She didn't become less aggressive at all - she was a huge hazard to the other kits and had even put a nick in the ear of one - but grew despondent as well which canceled some of it out a little. She had no one. Pricklewool had left for Orchidclan a moon or two after Mottledgorse's threats and she had no friends because of the isolation. She felt a little... lost. But she didn't really have anywhere to go or to fit into. She was the last puzzle piece in the picture and didn't fit into the last space, so she just didn't try to even after she was freed from her father's chains. If everyone saw her as a spitting image of her father, she'd give up on trying to be anything else.

Reluctantly, the leader made her an apprentice at six moons of age as per usual, but Fernkit didn't really care.

### Apprenticeship

Fernpaw was apprenticed to a she-cat named Lilycedar at the age of six moons old. Fernpaw was a horrible apprentice. She rarely attended training sessions and more or less went off to go do her own thing most of the time, preferring to train herself alone. Which, was a bad idea because she had no idea what the training curriculum was because she wouldn't attend Lilycedar's sessions. Eventually, the leader got fed up with this and had enough of her aloofness - yes, Fernpaw had gone through a lot. But at this rate she wouldn't even be able to be a warrior of the Clan if she didn't get her act together. She was given a stern talking to, about how important it was to attend sessions and if she didn't there would be consequences. Fernpaw was close to smacking someone, but hesitantly agreed on the account that she was secretly afraid of being punished. Punishment was something her father hadn't taken lightly, which made her think that punishment always resulted in getting hurt.

Fernpaw then attended Lilycedar's sessions but it didn't mean she suddenly liked it. Despite Lilycedar being very patient with Fernpaw and somehow kept her cool when she lashed out, Fernpaw thought of her as a meek, soft excuse of a warrior and was more often than not cold and rude.

At the age of ten moons old, Lilycedar gave Fernpaw her first solo mission. It was supposed to have happened moons ago, but despite Lilycedar trying to believe Fernpaw could do it, she couldn't help but worry that Fernpaw would run off and do something stupid. Which wouldn't have been wrong at the time, considering Fernpaw still hated her guts - she hated everyone's guts, mostly - but now that Fernpaw was older and had seemed to miraculously chill out a little, she finally trusted Fernpaw enough to give her a solo mission. Fernpaw was happy about not having to be monitored over the shoulder all the time and went on her way to catch prey while LIlycedar assessed her under cover. Fernpaw found a nearby river and thought it would be the perfect place to start, until of course something tragic had to happen. While trying to catch a minnow she'd seen, she got her claws stuck in something on the riverbed and fell in. Very graceful, Fernpaw. The current was particularly strong today and started to sweep her away, much to Fernpaw's dismay, but not to worry - Lilycedar was there to come to her rescue.

Fernpaw, soaking wet after Lilycedar hoisted her out of the river, as very confused on why Lilycedar hadn't just left her. Didn't everyone hate her? She hadn't expected anything other than her mentor only sparing a glance at her as she started to drown. But she'd saved her. Why? Fernpaw was very confused. Lilycedar informed her that not everyone was out to get her. The world wasn't as bad as she thought. Safe to say, Fernpaw had a lot more respect for her mentor (though she would *not* be caught showing it) and seemed to mellow out a little from then on. She became much less hostile with others, albeit very slowly and gradually, but was able to make it through her last two moons of apprenticeship and become a warrior.

### Warrior Life

As soon as Fernsway earned her warrior name, she had a lot she wanted to do. Firstly, she wanted to make sure she was on good terms with Lilycedar, which took her a little bit to work up the courage to do, and then she wanted to make her peace in Fallclan and then leave. As much as Fallclan was her home, Fernsway had a lot of bad memories here and wanted to try something new for a change. Just to see how she liked it - if she hated it, she'd go back to Fallclan, but staying at a different Clan was worth a try. Lilycedar recommended Horizonclan to her, and she set off on her way.

Once she'd gotten to Horizonclan, despite the outright lack of welcoming and the wary looks everyone regarded her with (she'd been quite the aggressive one at Gatherings), it was pretty peaceful there. She was happy everyone left her to do her own thing and didn't really pay attention to much else, but tried her hardest to be an active member of the Clan.

One day when she was around 16 moons or so, she bumped into another cat. Or rather, he made it a point to bump into her so he could socialize with her. He was a ginger fluffball of sunshine that introduced himself as Firecloud, and gave her a warm welcome to the Clan. She'd been living in Horizonclan for a while so it was strange that the greeting was so belated. She was mildly amused at his antics but otherwise didn't really care and sort of just allowed him to follow her around and chat away. And over time, she responded - and eventually, just started spending time with him. Baby's first friend, I could cry.

Eventually, Firecloud introduced Fernsway to Runningriver, his other best friend. Fernsway thought he was very meek and soft-looking and did not understand at all why he acted like that or why he seemed so scared of her, but over time as they spent time together through Firecloud they started to become friends - Fernsway's aloof, distant demeanor melting away around her new friends and Runningriver becoming less intimidated and more comforted by Fernsway's presence.

So cool! She isn't really up to much at the moment. She's 21 moons old right now I believe and is kind of just existing.

## Other

### Trivia

* I think this backstory is way better than the last one because it kind of just deals with Fernsway dealing with trauma instead of being smothered with trauma after trauma. I have no idea if I told this story well even now, but I could go into detail about Fernsway for hours. I love her.
* I'm trying to make her more of the chill, stoic character with an aggressive side rather than just a ball of anger who yells at everyone. Seriously, the outbursts at Thistlespring in Reborn were so odd considering like none of the Clans are ever hostile with each other.
* Unrelated but should I make Pricklewool or Lilycedar actual characters? I like their names and they sound cool.

### Quotes

* *"Yes, Firecloud is my friend. More like pestered me until I gave in. He calls it his irresistible charm, I call it annoyance."* - to Sootsnow (1/30/23)