The time spent with mother and her littermate seem so far away now. Teakit was born in a den far from the Cliff nursery saguaros, nestled in featherdown and animal fur to a mother she can't even recall the name of. Small and under the care of her parent, alongside her older brother when he was able, her first moons were honey-sweet, though Mother grabbed both her and her sibling to take them elsewhere soon after. When she first beheld CliffClan's camp, she regarded it as merely a new place that Mother was taking them to play, full of colorful animals and toys to pounce upon. Some she even managed to catch for a moment!

She's old enough to know the faces and garbled names of some in the camp that her unsteady paws had grasped at. To hold the guilt and knowledge that her night of fun was one of terror for her now-Clanmates. That Mother and Brother killed and stained the dirt with the blood of cats who didn't deserve to die.

Teakit was still ignorant of that fact for a while, though, playing in Tallstep's den and digging up his garden with her littermate, playing hide and seek in the dens, blissful and unaware of the cat bones in camp that were just as sapient as her, once. They were just toys, annoying sometimes, scary from time to time, they couldn't hurt her.

Right?

--

She remembers Mother's howl, her pleas to them both as she tucked them into the medicine den when the fire came and smoke flooded her new home. Brother securing them before charging forward with a snarl, her Auntie following after him, thunder crashing in the sky and tears streaming down her face from smoke and fear. Even as she tried to huddle away from the blaze, she was compelled to try and find the form of Mother in the chaos as the small lions screamed and scattered.

The image sits in her nightmares. She looked away and hid herself alongside her littermate at the back of the den, wheezing from the smoke and trembling like a leaf, but unwilling to go outside for anyone or anything. Thunder shook the earth and she cried for her Mother, but at least the terrible sound took the fire away with its arrival. Her new home was charred but...mostly standing. Now she just had to wait for Mother or Brother or Auntie to find them!

None of them came. The small lions did, though, ones that smelled of cold stone wrapping her terrified form in soft fur and giving her the first sip of water she'd tasted in hours. One smelled vaguely of Mother's scent, in a way, a wisp of milk on the air, but the others were alien to her nose. Not unwelcome, though. A small lion she recalled from the first night was there, angry-looking and full of hisses, so she kept herself tied to the Stone Lions, tail clasping her sibling's whenever she was able. 

Until they were taken apart, carried by separate small lions, and Teakit could only let out sounds of dismay as the friendly Stone Lions left her with the others, with the Sun Lions. A small, fluffy, black and white Sun Lion carried her back and all she could think to do was cling to her, a rasping mewl the only sound she was capable of making. She'd never see any of her blood family again, but the saguaro she was taken to was warm, the Sun Lions curled up with her kind, and she was very tired.

As the moons have passed, she's started to understand her new Clanmates more, though her grasp of speaking cat is still unsteady. The nursery cats are Ivoryfrost and Jitterbug, the kind molly is Skunknose, and this is CliffClan. Her name is Teakit. The guards listen to her ramble in half-broken cat-tongue about her favorite colors and her mud paints. They are there because her family did terrible things. They were killed for it, the Clans started the fire, and not everyone likes the fact that she's here.

Somehow, it feels like so much of that is her fault.

She has to make sure she doesn't grow up bad. She has to do everything she can to make it up to everyone who is scared and sad because of her. At least the largest among her clanmates, Cicadasong and Mesquiteshade, seem to understand her like Skunknose does. That and Miss Hopeflight! Between them and spending time with Lightningthistle and Mudkit, things aren't so bad...

She just doesn't like how some cats keep looking at her...

---

More language acquired and more conversations had with clanmates has led to Teakit being more open to roaming around, her artistic skills also properly manifesting with the encouragement of multiple cats. If she had it her way, she'd do nothing but paint, whiling the days away sketching and coloring in art of her clanmates and camp. And she loves to repay others for their kindness alongside her efforts to try and sway less-enthusiastic clan members.

Even cats like Rosepath, who tear her gifts to pieces.

It's fine. It's...fine.

...

She wishes she looked like anything other than herself.

Apprenticeship (9-Present)

Teakit changes to Teapaw with a yowl of protestation, running away from her new mentor, Dustheart, soon after the ceremony concludes. She's equal parts frightened and upset, her hopes dashed at having Skunknose as her mentor, or Cicadasong, or...or anyone besides a cat who's been avoiding her since she could recognize the behavior. Fear, too, nips at her heels, brought on by worries of her new squad not liking her. She isn't sure what to do now...

And it seems like her mentor isn't sure either, for a bit. Dustheart and her have a rough start, choosing to eventually start fresh on their first outing. Apologies are exchanged and, worried as she is, Teapaw has some hope inside her chest now.   

Warriorhood (NOT YET UNLOCKED)