Sproutsong

Ah yes, everyone's favorite tiny messenger man who has a gigantic soon-to-be wife and also took out someone's eye in the first reboot. And he'll do it again. We love that for him.

*TW: mentions of an abusive relationship.*

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Sproutsong is a tom of fairly short stature, definitely below the Clan's height average, but it at least contributes to his job as it helps add to his speed. He has short limbs and a stout figure, with a square-ish face and body shape that's mostly hidden by his fluffy, round fur. His pelt is a light, dusty brown with a paler shade bathing his face, neck, belly, and the bottom half of his legs. He has dark, fawn-brown stripes swirling across his pelt, flecked here and there with freckles of the same color. Sproutsong's fur is littered with various plants that he doesn't bother to pick out. His right ear is torn, and he has a small scar across his lip and a larger one stretching horizontally under his shoulder blades. Sproutsong's eyes are a pleasant dark forest green.

### Personality

I will do all of this later I swear, I am so bad at finding motivation to write full personalities

[ + ] Straightforward, understanding, focused

[ = ] Determined, unambitious (in terms of his current role), circumspect

[ - ] Impatient, perfectionist, frivolous (but can take things seriously if it's very dire)

## Background

### Kithood

Sprout and Acorn were born to a Clanborn father, Downyhedge, who hailed from FallClan, and a kittypet mother named Jill whom he fell in love with. It was a brief fling, but Downyhedge was willing to commit because he loved Jill and wanted the kits to have a good upbringing despite the split allegiances. However, Jill was afraid that the Twolegs would take her kits away (seeing as they'd done it before) so despite the two still being in love with each other, Jill urged Downyhedge to take the kits back to his Clan and raise them there, where they were safe. Downyhedge reluctantly complied, and the kits were taken back to Fallclan.

Sprout and Acorn were renamed Sproutkit and Acornkit and despite being half-kittypet (the clan knows this, Downyhedge came clean) they were loved fiercely. Sproutkit was very close to his brother and a very healthy, playful little kit. Their upbringing was very sweet and supportive and Downyhedge did his absolute best as a single father. Sproutkit and Acornkit loved him very much.

Something a bit worrying came up when the kits were about five moons old, not long before they were expected to be apprentices. He was a little weaker than the other kits and prone to getting sick easier. He was able to make full recoveries, which was good, but seemed to get tired and weak a lot more than your average kit afterwards. The medicine cat concluded that he'd just need to take daily herbs, which seemed to help, and Sproutkit and Acornkit were able to be made apprentices on-time.

### Apprenticeship

Sproutpaw was apprenticed with his brother at the age of six moons old to a she-cat named Marbledune. Marbledune was very similar in personality to Sproutpaw - fun-loving, energetic, and occasionally mischievous. The two got along very well, and needless to say he had a blast during his apprenticeship. Marbledune was like an older sister figure towards him and he enjoyed her company a lot. Thankfully, Acornpaw was able to recieve a good mentor too, resulting in a lot of fun joint training sessions together.

However, during battle training, Acornpaw would show a lot of physical weakness when being hit. He was a decent hunter, but wasn't able to withstand attacks or make any of his own with quite as much force as a normal apprentice would. At first, it was assumed he was just holding back because he didn't want to hurt his brother, but they'd play-fought plenty of times as kits, so they were confused and a little worried on what the problem actually was. The medicine cat upped the dosage of herbs he was taking, and it seemed to help a little, but when training with Acornpaw Sproutpaw always made sure to be gentler in case something did happen.

At the age of nine moons old, a ten-moon-old apprentice and a two-moon-old kit migrated to Fallclan named Fawnpaw and Halfkit. Sproutpaw and Acornpaw were intrigued by the two newcomers and started trying to spend time with her, which worked out great because Fawnpaw was very sweet (and very lonely) and they enjoyed playing with Halfkit, her little brother, a lot. They learned she'd moved to Fallclan from OasisClan after her father's death, bringing her brother with her. Over a moon or so, (Sprout and Acorn being 10, Fawn being 11, and Half being 3) Fawnpaw introduced one of her other friends, the very sweet and friendly 11-moon-old Pricklepaw. They quickly became a very tightly-knit friend group, and somewhere along the line Fawnpaw introduced them to a family friend of hers, Sootsnow whom Sproutpaw absolutely loved and inspired him to want to be a messenger like her in the future.

When Sproutpaw and Acornpaw were eleven moons old, Pricklepaw and Fawnpaw were made warriors, Pricklewool and Fawnstripe. Sproutpaw and Acornpaw were very happy for their friends (and teased Pricklewool relentlessly for his developing crush on Fawnstripe). However, things changed when Fawnstripe met fifteen-moon-old Mottledgorse. Mottledgorse had that aura of a person that very few people actually liked. He seemed very self-interested all the time and was mean in a way you couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He seemed to have a soft spot for the gentle Fawnstripe and she fell for his charm. Sproutpaw didn't feel like teasing Fawnstripe over it like he did Pricklewool because something felt... off about it that he just couldn't place. Neither he, Acornpaw, Pricklewool, or Halfkit liked Mottledgorse, but they toughed it out for Fawnstripe because they knew she loved him.

Eventually, Sproutpaw had to focus on his training for a while since his assessment was coming up. Luckily, he passed his assessment and so did Acornpaw, miraculously with his weakening strength. They both ended up becoming warriors at 12 moons old.

### Warrior Life

Sproutsong and Acornsprig got their names at 12 moons old. They were very excited to be warriors and free from the limitations of apprenticeship, which meant they could goof off more with their friends and just do whatever they liked. Very quickly did Sproutsong want to pursue his desires of becoming a messenger, so he started looking into that a little bit.

However, he was quickly distracted from that when things started to get serious. Thirteen-moon-old Fawnstripe became mates with sixteen-moon-old Mottledgorse. Sproutsong felt extremely bad for Pricklewool, who had feelings for her, and started getting sort of angry at Mottledgorse for that but all Pricklewool wanted was for her to be happy so he assured Sproutsong that everything was alright and that there was no need to get angry. Except, soon, there was.

When Sproutsong was thirteen moons old, things started becoming more apparent between Mottledgorse and Fawnstripe (especially since he would start hanging around them more now that they were together). They'd be at odds more often than not and bicker a lot, but Fawnstripe just seemed very resigned and Mottledgorse was very stubborn on being right. He'd want to go do other things when Fawnstripe would want to hang out with the friend group and end up being swayed to go spend time together on their own. Sproutsong was very concerned for Fawnstripe, but wasn't very sure what to do. So, he sort of just dropped it, seeing as Halfpaw had just become an apprentice and he wanted to give him some tips and spend more time with him now that he was out of the nursery.

Unfortunately, things didn't seem to get much better for Sproutsong. When he was fourteen moons old, things started acting up with Acornsprig again. Sproutsong was horribly worried for Acornsprig because it was starting to get more severe, to the point where he had to be confined to the medicine den. Furthermore, things weren't getting better with Fawnstripe and her mate - she'd stopped frequenting the friend group now despite her efforts and was only really able to hang out with Pricklewool. Sproutsong was just very stressed for a little bit, despite Halfpaw and Pricklewool trying to make him feel better. Of course Sproutsong tried to be humorous to stop them from worrying, but since they'd known each other for so long it was basically second nature to detect when Sproutsong was upset.

A moon later, when he was fifteen, Acornsprig unfortunately passed away. The whole friend group was crushed, especially Sproutsong. He and his father were there when he died and it was a very emotionally jarring moment for the both of them, and the friend group was in a bit of a gloomy point in their life. Acornsprig was a very kind, lively spirit amongst them all and always knew how to lighten the mood, so without him it was awful. But unfortunately after Acornsprig's death, things just rolled downhill.

When he was sixteen, a fight broke out between the friend groups. Mottledgorse became very hostile with Fawnstripe and Pricklewool, accusing him of siring Fawnstripe's kits that she hadn't gotten a chance to announce to everyone else yet. He acted very cold toward them and broke off the relationship with Fawnstripe, leaving her heartbroken and with kits to raise so young, all by herself. Sproutsong was devastated and tried everything he could to support her alongside Pricklewool and Halfpaw.

Things just... simmered for a while over the two moons that Fawnstripe was expecting her kits. Things seemed to calm down a little but the friend group was very on edge still, especially conscious of Mottledgorse acting so aggressively toward them from time to time. Sproutsong tried to lighten things occasionally, but with the heavy weight of his brother's death still on his shoulders and the seriousness of Fawnstripe's situation, nothing would be the same for a while and it made Sproutsong very sad, but he continued to support Fawnstripe and hang out with Pricklewool and Halfpaw.

Another devastation hit when Sproutsong was eighteen moons old. Fawnstripe, unexpectedly, went into labor outside camp and Sproutsong didn't know this until Pricklewool rushed into camp with Fawnstripe, weakened, and her four kits in tow. It was a long time before Sproutsong was able to hear any news about it, but he eventually learned that Fawnstripe had passed away shortly after the birth, along with three of her four kits. Sproutsong was absolutely horrified, but it took the hardest toll on Halfpaw, her younger brother. Pricklewool seemed to be avoiding the two for some reason as well - they assumed he was just upset over Fawnstripe's death, seeing as he still had feelings for her - and Sproutsong spent his time supporting Halfpaw through his grief and helping him through the loss of his older sister.

Over the next two moons, things changed. Halfpaw became a warrior, Halfheart, and Pricklewool sat Sproutsong and Halfheart down and told them he was moving to OrchidClan. Sproutsong and Halfheart were greatly upset by this, especially since Pricklewool seemed insistent on them staying in Fallclan and avoidant on the reason why he was moving in the first place. Sproutsong was a little hurt on why Pricklewool would keep secrets seeing as the three were so close, like a trio of brothers, but supported Pricklewool's decision to move and helped him along the way. This gave Sproutsong the push he needed to finally become a messenger, and when there was an opening, he took it straight away.

Luckily, being a messenger, Sproutsong was able to visit Pricklewool a lot still in Orchidclan. He tried to keep tabs on Fawnstripe's daughter Fernkit, especially after Mottledgorse's exile, but his work caught up to him and he wasn't able to keep track of her much, or interact with her at all seeing as she'd adopted Mottledgorse's hostile nature. He was sad to see her move from Fallclan to Horizonclan when she became a warrior, Fernsway, but happy that she mellowed out a bit. Sproutsong was also happy to see Halfheart take a wonderful mate of his own, Drizzlesnow and have four wonderful children with her.

Over time, he himself mellowed out a lot too. Sproutsong is a respectable warrior of Fallclan and does his best every day, now 39 moons old, to serve as their messenger.

## Other

### Trivia

* Sproutsong's kittypet lineage is the reason why he is so small. It's likely he has Munchkin in his blood.
* When Halfheart started crushing on Drizzlesnow as apprentices, Sproutsong thought it was very funny and teased Halfheart relentlessly for it. It was just his way of showing his support - he thinks they are very cute together and is happy that their life is going well.
* Sproutsong thinks of Halfheart and Pricklewool as brothers and of Marbledune as an older sister figure.
* In extension to the last bullet point if you want to play Marbledune or Downyhedge hit me up and we can decide on the specifics. Seriously I adore them both
* Sproutsong excels at fighting more than hunting, and was actually one of the best of the apprentices of his time
* He uses humor as a coping mechanism and grew to enjoy dad jokes over time especially since one of his best friends is now a dad.
* Sproutsong's voice claim and partial inspiration is Leo from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, Shiba is a TMNT fan.