Rosepaw

Rosepaw is a long furred, relatively small russet she-cat with bright blue eyes.  She has darker markings on her paws, tail tip, and the backs of her ears. She has a generally lean figure, and she is slightly smaller than most of the apprentices her age.

## Personality

Rosepaw comes off as a friendly, talkative, bright, and excitable young cat with a very forgiving nature. In some ways she is seen as naive, as she seems blind to others obvious flaws and tends to hide her true feelings. She also has a tendency to hyperfocus on things that she feels passionate about and lose track of time. Thus, she is often scolded for becoming distracted and failing to finish her duties.

### Strengths

Rosepaw is extremely friendly and won't hesitate to help out if she's asked. She's very enthusiastic and loves to try her best at new things. She's also very supportive of those she finds closest to her, and won’t hesitate to speak up for the well-being of others. She enjoys helping her clanmates more than anything, usually spending most of her time assisting the elders or her fellow apprentices in any way she can.

### Weaknesses

Though Rosepaw wouldn’t hesitate to speak up for her clanmates, she finds it very difficult to speak up for herself. She tends to suppress her own feelings in order to best serve others. She often tries to rationalize other cat’s rudeness towards her, and places the blame on herself or makes excuses rather than reacting harshly towards them. In the case of Snakefang, Rosepaw refuses to acknowledge his obvious flaws and chooses to only see his good qualities. She tries to see the best in everyone, which often leads to her downfall.

## History

### Past

Rose was less than a moon old (around four weeks) when Flicker brought her to the clan. After leaving Heron at the Cloverclan border, Flicker brought Rose and Goose to Fernclan and was confronted by Needlestar. After some argument and violent hissing from the surrounding cats, Heathercall eventually speaks up, stepping forward and pulling Rose closer to her. Flicker reassures her daughter that she’ll be safe in Fernclan before padding away from the camp with Goose following behind her.

Rosekit is raised for a while under the care of Heathercall, who grows increasingly neglectful of the kit as she starts getting older. Rosekit is often told to go play by herself and stop being a nuisance, so she finds refuge in the elders’ den instead. Rosekit finds herself to be as fond of the elders as they are of her, and thoroughly enjoys listening to their stories and eagerly doing small tasks for them. Sometimes, she’d even meet Birchpaw during his regular visits with Blackbird.

Rosekit is soon apprenticed and placed under Amberpool’s mentorship. Rosepaw is eager to get out into the forest and learn what she needs to do to become a warrior. She looks to Amberpool as an example and tries to do her best during battle training sessions, even though she dislikes the thought of battle. One day Amberpool shows her how to catch prey, demonstrating the hunting crouch and soon pouncing on an unsuspecting hare. But as Rosepaw stares at the limp and bloody body of the once vibrantly alive hare, she begins to have a panic attack and is unable to continue training. This fear continues to persist throughout Rosepaw’s apprenticeship, making it extremely difficult for her to catch and sometimes eat prey. This causes her to fall behind the other apprentices, and her warrior ceremony gets delayed. Despite this fallback, she remained loyal to Fernclan throughout her life, never questioning her heritage but looking to the future for what it might hold.

### Since

Though Rosepaw was never mentioned during the battle between Cloverclan and the Rogue Alliance vs. Fernclan, she was likely involved in that battle along with most of the Fernclan cats available at the time. This event occurred only a few moons after Rosepaw became an apprentice, and she was likely unprepared for the sudden and violent battle. She most likely hid under some ferns for most of the battle, but was inspired when she saw the very young apprentice Snakepaw leaping confidently into the fray and showing no fear as he faced off with cats nearly twice his size.

Rosepaw makes her first official appearance when Snakepaw makes an effort to meet the other apprentices for the first time. At the time, he is stuck in camp until he can clean the elders' den as his mentor requested. Most of the other apprentices react sneeringly, pretending not to recognize the younger apprentice and mocking him for having to sleep in the nursery like a kit. Before Snakepaw can respond, Rosepaw speaks up in his defense.  Once the other apprentices back down, Rosepaw apologizes to Snakepaw for their rudeness and ends up offering to help him clean the elders’ den.

The next day, she meets Snakepaw by the elders’ den. Snakepaw offers to handle the mouse bile for the elders’ ticks if she’ll change their bedding and keep the elders' attention away from him. Though Rosepaw notices his bad attitude, she believes that he’s trying his best under the circumstances. Later, when Snakepaw is taking out the last of the dirty bedding, Rosepaw is the first to notice Scorchpelt and Scarletflame bursting into camp in a panic. She watches as Snakepaw’s hurt expression turns to cold anger, and he goes storming off towards the nursery. Rosepaw feels sympathy towards him and wishes there was something she could do to make him feel better.

The next day, Snakepaw returns from a training session and is confronted by Rosepaw. She compliments his skills and begins to say that she had so much fun cleaning the elders' den, but Snakepaw promptly slaps his tail across her muzzle, causing her to cry out in pain. Scorchpelt reprimands his apprentice, but it is no use.

A few sunrises later, Rosepaw is on patrol with Scorchpelt and Scarletflame. Scorchpelt gets a thorn in his pad, asking Scarletflame to remove it for him. Scarletflame refuses, instructing Rosepaw to do it. Rosepaw is squeamish, happily backing out at Scorchpelt's order.

The night after the battle between Rainclan and Cloverclan, Rosepaw wakes to find blood pooling around her nest. To her horror, she realizes that it is coming from Snakepaw sleeping in a nest nearby. Panicked, Rosepaw ventures out of the den to find Scarletflame and Scorchpelt rushing towards the scene. Though Rosepaw is traumatized by the amount of blood pooling around the speckled apprentice, she does her best to follow Scarletflame’s orders despite her inner panic. She is able to hold cobwebs on Snakepaw’s wounds until he can be carried to the medicine den.

A while after Needlestar's disappearance, Rosepaw is seen picking out prey for Snakepaw (who was injured during the battle). She meets with Birchfire, who is also in camp at the time. Rosepaw passionately chats about Snakepaw and his amazing skills, scolding Birchfire for putting crowfood under Snakepaw's nest. Birchfire joins her as she brings some prey to Snakepaw, but the apprentice reacts bitterly, saying that he wouldn’t care if he died. This causes Rosepaw to fret. Birchfire attempts to make Snakepaw eat the prey Rosepaw has generously offered him, but it is to no avail. As they leave the den, Birchfire remarks on Snakepaw's grouchy behavior. Rosepaw reluctantly confides in Birchfire about her feelings for Snakepaw. Birchfire tries to console her, suggesting that she tell Snakepaw her true feelings. If he doesn't feel the same way, she should leave him. Rosepaw reluctantly agrees, though she's terrified of what the outcome may be.

Rosepaw is heading to the elders' den with some moss in her jaws when she hears a thump, discovering a very wounded Needlestar lying near the camp entrance. She quickly cries for help, attracting the attention of Scarletflame and some other clan members. Needlestar shrieks at them, telling them to get back. Before long a mangy rogue appears from the shadows, attacking Rosepaw as she is an easy target. He tells the clan to bring him Yewpaw, or else Rosepaw will die. Rosepaw cries in terror as the clan, having no other choice, attempts to find Yewpaw in all the confusion. At this point Firetail emerges, demanding to know what the commotion is about. Immediately spotting Jagged, he lunges for the rogue, freeing Rosepaw. Rosepaw quickly rushes for the cover of the medicine den, knowing that this isn't her fight. Before long, one of the younger cats in Jagged’s group enters the medicine den and begins tearing through the herbs, pursued by a very distraught Scarletflame. Rosepaw presses herself to the corner, watching Scarletflame battle the apprentice. But the former medicine cat is soon pinned down, barely managing to free herself. She shrieks to Rosepaw, telling her to go for help. Rosepaw obeys, racing out into the forest in search of the patrols, Scorchpelt and Snakepaw among them. By the time the patrols arrive, Firetail is dead and most of the clan injured.

Rosepaw makes her final appearance at Snakefang's warrior ceremony, an event leading up to Rosepaw's Sorrow.

## ♫ Songs ♫

Irrelevant - Lauren Aquilina

You Don't See Me - Josie & the Pussycats

What Hurts The Most - Cascada

Tourner Dans Le Vide - Indila

## Related Links

Rosepaw's Sorrow

Snakefang's Grief

Snakefang

Birchfire

Heronbreeze

Briar