Bumbleheart

Bumbleheart is a large, brown, classic tabby tom-cat with a long, thick coat. He has pale yellow or maybe slightly greenish eyes.

Bumbleheart was born in Caveclan before the Great Freeze, and was made an apprentice in the middle of it (or right before the worst of it). With all the loss and tragedy, he became close with all the other cats his age, acting in many ways as the glue that kept the clan together. He was the heart and soul of the clan, which rightfully earned him his warrior name.

With recent events, he grew from one of the most socially outgoing cats to one of the most isolated.

## Personality

Bumbleheart is endlessly kind and patient with everyone but himself, [to be continued after Shadow completes the other sections]

## History

Bumbleheart's mother is Shaderunner, and his father is Hootstep. He has one older brother, Beechfall, and a sister the same age named Myrtlefire.

His kittenhood was relatively normal until the Great Freeze hit. He always tried to emulate his mother, strong and brave; his father, kind and funny; his brother, always around. He wanted to know everyone in the clan, so he did, always bothering Dewcloud for stories, asking Goldenstar how he became leader, offering to help Weaselberry with herbs, or helping the queens with their younger kittens.

He was apprenticed during winter, and trained under Goldenstar, alongside Dovepaw (Dovewhisper). Either Dovewhisper or Bumbleheart had a different mentor before Goldenstar.

Bumblepaw acted as a magnet for the cats around him, pulling them into his orbit, but his bonds with his clanmates were only strengthened during the Great Freeze. The apprentices often trained together, many of them shared or switched between mentors, and they all had to look out for one another.

Bumblepaw's closest friends were Firewhisper, Whiteheart, and Dovewhisper, but his entire friend group consisted of them, Myrtlefire, Emberfall, Wildpaw, and Maplesap. They were a family, and Bumblepaw was the common denominator that connected all of them.

Bumblepaw also grew close with two kittens in the nursery, Hawkkit (Hawktalon) and Falconkit (Falconcrest). The two were orphaned, so the apprentices took it upon themselves to take care of and keep them entertained. Bumblepaw became particularly close with the two, who looked up to him as a father figure. As nurturing as he was, he only leaned into the role he was given.

### Jackalfoot Arc - Trigger Warning

**Trigger Warning: This section contains themes of manipulation, abuse, and related subjects.**

One of the apprentices with Bumblepaw was Jackalpaw (Jackalfoot). He was the only apprentice kept out of the friend group, on account of being a bully. Dovewhisper put up with him because they were brothers, and Bumblepaw respectfully gave him a chance because of his bleeding heart, but everyone else knew to stay away from him.

[Rewrite in progress beyond this point; information should still be accurate as of 11/09/23]

Over time, Jackalpaw caught on. His cruelty only worsened with time, but he reigned it in around Bumble. The two were never very close-- even as kittens, a three-month age gap prevented any solid friendship-- but Bumblepaw took the inch he was given and inserted himself into Jackalpaw's life anyway, despite his friends' warnings that he wasn't as nice as he let on. It wasn't seamless, and Bumblepaw wasn't so foolish as to trust him completely, but he wanted to be kind regardless.

The first major incident occurred when Bumblepaw was around nine or ten moons old, before Jackalpaw had his warrior name. He entered camp with a young groundhog that he'd caught near the Fieldclan border. He caught it right as it was emerging from hibernation, slow and confused after months of starving; he never would have caught it if it was healthy, with the animals normally far too powerful in the event of a bite.

Jackalpaw approached Bumble and asked him to show where he'd caught it. The apprentices weren't allowed out alone at the time, due to high predator activity, but Jackalpaw insisted that they could go out without telling anyone; they'd just go see where Bumblepaw caught it and come right back. No catching anything, no loitering, no fuss. Bumblepaw was against it, but eventually caved when Jackalpaw asked, so innocently, for Bumblepaw to trust him.

Jackalpaw attacked the first groundhog he saw, inserting himself between the grown animal and its underground den. In the tussle, the rodent grabbed ahold of his foot, just barely, and wrestled him away before retreating. The bite crushed several bones in one of his front paws and wrist, nearly severing the two toes it latched onto.

Bumblepaw brought Jackalpaw back to camp in a panic. Jackalpaw was punished, but Bumblepaw, still inconsolable and endlessly apologetic, was met with kindness and understanding from Goldenstar, who knew that Bumblepaw wouldn't have left of his own volition; punishment would only rub salt into the wound, when the apprentice was already blaming himself.

From that moment, Bumblepaw's guilt ate at him, for being the reason Jackalpaw was injured and for getting off scot-free. Despite not being very close with Jackalpaw, he stayed by the tom's side. His guilt made him easy to manipulate; if Jackalpaw wanted company in the medicine den, he could just remind Bumblepaw of his injury and the younger tom would ignore his own desires to keep Jackalpaw company.

It was bad from the start, but hopefully temporary until Jackalpaw healed. Goldenstar was always sure to get Bumblepaw out of the den, and to keep him out longer than needed so he could still see his friends.

In this time, he befriended a Fieldclan cat named Bluepaw. The two saw each other on border partols before they officially met at a gathering. They became fast friends, or perhaps just meaningless teenage crushes used to distance themselves from the realities of their home lives, and agreed to meet up at the borders. It was fine, for a while; even if Bumblepaw felt guilty for leaving Jackalpaw in the night, he always came back before he was noticed. It was nice to be away, even if his insides squirmed when he thought too much about why.

When Bumbleheart became a warrior, and when Jackalfoot eventually healed and followed suit, there weren't apprentice duties or training to easily excuse separating the two, and Jackalfoot's control over Bumbleheart only worsened, using whatever he could to distance Bumbleheart from the cats who loved him.

When Dovewhisper, Jackalfoot's brother and one of Bumbleheart's closest friends, died, Jackalfoot manipulated the situation again so that Bumbleheart felt the need to spend time with him-- but also used Bumbleheart's own grief against him, claiming that he was the only one who understood, etcetera etcetera.

It continued like that for a while, slow enough that Bumbleheart didn't notice when he almost stopped seeing his old friends entirely. He stopped meeting Bluepaw (now Bluefeather) at the border when Jackalfoot started questioning his absence. By the time he next thought to sneak out again, it had been too long; he didn't even try, afraid to find no one waiting for him or afraid to see yet another cat that felt like a ghost.

Somewhere along the line, it went from emotional manipulation to abuse. Physical or emotional is unknown, but as soon as Goldenstar had proof that it was worse than they thought, he put his foot down and exiled Jackalfoot.

The first night without Jackalfoot, after it all sunk in, Bumbleheart went out to the territory and wailed, overflowing with grief and guilt. It had been so long, he hadn't noticed how distant everyone became. He was so used to bearing the guilt for Jackalfoot's mistakes that he shouldered blame like a hot-iron brand, his fault for gettign Jackalfoot kicked out. He cried, because everyone still loved him so much, but they had all grown up and moved on without him. They still showered him with endless kindness he didn't deserve, because he abandoned them and he was the cause of so much of their hurt.

Despite still living in the same camp, he hardly even knew his own kittens anymore. They grew up without him, they didn't need him anymore. If they had questions or concerns, they looked to anyone else before they looked to him.

He was the scum of the earth, he was filthy, he was broken.

He's trying.

After Jackalfoot's exile, Whiteheart jumped on the chance to spend time with Bumbleheart again, even if the latter had changed, even if he made it difficult by trying to avoid everyone.

Whiteheart still saw Bumbleheart as the same cat they were when they were younger, and Bumbleheart never explained what exactly happened between him and Jackalfoot. He asked Bumbleheart out not too much later; panicking, Bumbleheart said yes. Whiteheart later realized that Bumble wasn't comfortable being in a relationship, despite never speaking out against it, and took a step back to take things slow and give Bumble more space. They are still friends, even if Bumble still struggles mentally to make time for Whiteheart (or anyone else, for that matter).

.

### Bonus Events/History Trivia/Things to be organized or added later

* Goldenstar and Dewcloud's deaths
* Wildpaw's death
* More about literally any of his friends; all but Hollypaw and Wildpaw had at least SOME development (or just discussion, in Emberfall's case).
* Technically, Bumble's first crush was Dovewhisper when he was a really young apprentice. Kid fell for cats way too easily when he was young, always chasing that romance dream. Thankfully, it didn't go anywhere; Bumble does NOT need even more romance drama in his life. Kid hasn't even been alive for two years, as of writing this.

## Trivia

* Bumbleheart is played by Shadow
* For time and recordkeeping purposes: Bumbleheart was first created at eight months old, inserted into the RP right after the Great Freeze time skip to move the forum to the server.