Personality + Physicality

Physical Description

Though not quite as long and thin as your standard CanyonClan cat, Specklestone largely fits the bill for a cat of her Clan: short fur, muzzle more long than short, tough paw pads for crossing rough stone, and sharp eyes. Her pelt is also dark, like many of her Clan, though the bright ginger that breaks up her pelt makes her stand out somewhat compared to other warriors. She is around average height for a cat, neither tall nor short. Her stature will never be bulky, but she is well-muscled and strong beneath her fur, capable of hefting cats much larger than her if needs must. Her ears have a slightly odd shape to them, their outer edges bowed out slightly in the center. Her nose and toe beans are speckled black and pink. Her eyes are a fiery dark amber, almost reddish in places.

Scars / Injuries

• info.
• info.
• info.

Backstory

Specklekit - Specklepaw - Specklestone

Early Life

Born the only child of a respected and righteous warrior named Dapplestripe, with no named sire to speak of, Specklekit was raised with CanyonClan at war around her. Her mother made it clear to her from a young age that she would be expected to join CanyonClan’s cause as a soldier as soon as she was able – she had been born to live and die for her Clan. This knowledge, and the slow revelation of the absence of her mother’s love, sat like a weight around Specklekit’s neck, and her kithood exuberance and excitement for life was quick to vanish. By the time her kithood was coming to an end, she no longer smiled.

Adolescence

A young warrior by the name of Batshadow was assigned as her mentor. While at first Specklepaw felt being apprenticed to such a young warrior was an insult, Batshadow proved to be quite skilled as a warrior, and even better at handling Specklepaw’s self-righteous and precocious attitude. The two grew very close over the course of Specklepaw’s apprenticeship, to the point that Batshadow even summoned some smiles and real joy from the serious apprentice – but Dapplestripe’s continued presence in Specklepaw’s life, as well as the ongoing war, meant that the expectations on Specklepaw’s shoulders nonetheless grew heavier and heavier. Trying to earn her mother’s love by being the most proper, mature, and put-together apprentice she possibly could yielded no results, and the realities of war – the countless dead Clanmates, the permanent injuries – closed in around her as she drew nearer to warriorhood. Then, abruptly, shortly before Specklepaw was meant to earn her warrior name, Dapplestripe was killed in combat. Furious with grief, Specklepaw began to dissent loudly with Sandstar’s continued war efforts.

Adulthood

After earning her warrior name, Specklestone had a major falling out with Batshadow, which she was largely responsible for instigating herself. Having driven off her mentor, a cat she would once have considered as close as family, Specklestone found herself feeling distinctly alone in CanyonClan, a feeling that even Sandstar’s execution did not alleviate, and instead left her with more unresolved anger than anything else. A near-death experience on the new border with CreekClan only exacerbated these issues; accompanying her Clanmates, Crookedvine and Riverrun, in search of materials for paints, their patrol was ambushed by CreekClan warriors. Specklestone was told to run and get help, but by the time she returned, the others were already dead. Despite being only days out of apprenticeship, she realized those CreekClan cats would not have hesitated to kill her too had she stayed. The heavy guilt of Crookedvine and Riverrun’s deaths, along with her mother’s and what came with driving away Batshadow, left Specklestone feeling lost and alone. She bottled these feelings up tightly and turned to fulfilling her duties to fill the hole in her life, and to give herself a sense of control over her life that felt severely lacking before. Work became her life, even more so than it had been before, and she did not entertain any further connections with her Clanmates.

More recently, her walls have begun to come down again. A fateful request to teach Shalespots, a rogue-born warrior allowed into the Clan by Duskwatcher, the ins and outs of CanyonClan’s particular fighting style became the starting point for her beginning to open herself up again. In particular, being assigned Duskwatcher’s son, Jaypaw, as her apprentice has caused her to greatly reevaluate her views on life, duty, and what it means to be a good cat. Her efforts to be a good influence on her apprentice, to do right by him, have slowly begun to chip away at her impression that her life and self can be no other way, and her heart is now perhaps more open than even she realizes.

Relationships

STANDING

CanyonClan

---

CanyonClan has been almost everything to Specklestone since she was a kit. There is no greater honor than serving her Clan, and no heavier responsibility than ensuring its safety. CanyonClan is her home, its wellbeing her duty, its legacy her privilege to be a part of. All the same, she has her grievances with how the Clan has been run previously; alongside her deep hatred of Sandstar that has outlived him, she has not approved of either Aspenwatcher or Duskwatcher in leadership, either. She takes issue with the way leadership has disregarded tradition in the past, as she believes CanyonClan’s traditions make up the backbone of their entire world, and to disregard them is to abandon what it means to be a Clan cat. Nonetheless, her issues with the Clan’s leadership do not mean a lack of loyalty to the Clan, in her eyes, and she is more than willing to speak up against poor management for the sake of the Clan if need be. There is little she wouldn’t do for CanyonClan, and she has chosen it as where to put her loyalties many times over.

STANDING

BriarClan

---

This is the Clan that killed her mother, no matter what they call themselves. The war was instigated by CanyonClan, yes, but her own grudges aren’t easily appeased. She makes an effort to be civil, or more often professional, with any cats from this Clan that she encounters, however, as she views peace as vastly more important than her personal feelings. She finds members of this Clan who act openly aggressive due to wartime disputes to be aggravating, and may be liable to openly scold them should they try to start anything.

STANDING

CreekClan

---

Any cat who deserted CanyonClan to join CreekClan before or after the war are as good as crowfood, in her eyes. The population of traitors and deserters in CreekClan have nothing but her scorn; how could anyone call themselves a Clan cat when they betrayed their Clan and participated in attacking and even killing their former Clanmates in some selfish grab for territory? Even so, she does not disparage all cats of the Clan; she has nothing against the many former rogues, loners, and kittypets that live among their ranks. She doubts CreekClan’s stability and ability to remain united after their current leader is gone, and to some degree doesn’t truly believe that they’re a Clan – a Clan is built on tradition, after all, and CreekClan sprang up from nothing barely two years ago. Still, some of their number are respectable, and she of course tries to remain civil with them to avoid any conflicts. It’s truly CreekClan’s leadership that bothers her. How anyone could willingly follow them is beyond her.

[ apprentice ]

Jaypaw

| |

Jaypaw is inarguably the cat Specklestone cares most for in her life. She was terrified and felt woefully unprepared for an apprentice when he was assigned to her, but came to the conclusion that she wanted to do her best for him almost instantly. She remains fearful of him turning out too much like her, or of mishandling his feelings and more sensitive disposition, but she makes an earnest effort to always listen to him and support him in whatever way she can. She has made it clear to him that he never needs to be perfect for her and that she won’t abandon him for anything, and is making a concentrated effort now not only to help him become the best warrior he possibly can be, but also to deal with his grief since his father’s death, even if she doesn’t quite know what she’s doing. She will never cease to feel honored that he places his trust in her, and that he truly wants her to be his mentor. She hopes she has done enough to show him how much she cares, and intends to continue to be a pillar of support in his life even after he earns his warrior name.

[ friend ]

Shalespots

| |

While Specklestone was distrustful of Shalespots at first due to her out-of-Clan heritage, she grew to respect her fairly quickly after Shalespots asked her to teach her the ins and outs of CanyonClan’s fighting style, and ended up besting Specklestone in their first ever spar. The two now keep a tally of their victories against one another and train together recreationally, and, despite her own reluctance, Specklestone has also given Shalespots a painting lesson. Specklestone finds Shalespots’ vivacity enjoyable to be around, and her strength and loyalty admirable, even if she wishes Shalespots would stop getting into fights with large predators. The two of them have even had a sort of heart-to-heart, but… Specklestone also finds it difficult to wrap her mind around the fact that Shalespots has family in CreekClan she never mentioned before. She isn’t quite sure how to feel about that, still.

[ friend ]

Olivebranch

| |

Their relationship was somewhat rocky at first, particularly after a botched hunting patrol that ended with Olivebranch crying and Specklestone having approximately zero idea what to do about it, but they have since become fairly good friends. Specklestone has come to appreciate Olivebranch’s more optimistic outlook on life, even after her initial scorn of it, and finds their talkative and friendly nature a relief. It matters less that she never knows what to say when Olivebranch always has so much to say. Her discomfort with their desire to get to know her has lessened drastically as Olivebranch has continually shown themself to be without malice. Specklestone is still extremely reserved about her feelings, however, and has yet to call Olivebranch her friend aloud or have a real heart-to-heart with them (the incident by the basin doesn’t count and is largely embarrassing in her eyes)

[ former mentor ]

Batshadow

| |

Once one of the most important cats in Specklestone’s life, the two haven’t really spoken since Specklestone got her warrior name. She feels immense guilt for driving Batshadow away, and it seems Batshadow still feels bitter about it to a degree in turn. They usually don’t talk and avoid each other, and Specklestone largely tries to ignore any passive aggression aimed her way when they do have to interact. Specklestone still cares deeply about Batshadow, but fears it may be too late to mend their relationship already, especially after she reacted coldly to Batshadow’s attempt to comfort her after Specklestone’s patrol found Brokenstep’s body. Her feelings have only grown more complicated with Batshadow’s recent actions, with frustration and betrayal mingling with her guilt and loneliness.

[ acquaintance ]

Mothflame

| |

Specklestone largely dismissed him (as well as most of her other denmates) when she was an apprentice, but she has since let go of any resentment or feeling of superiority towards her peers who didn’t agree with Sandstar’s war. Nowadays, she has no strong feelings about him – except that she finds it strange and off-putting that he seems intent on befriending her. She’d like to at least be on decent terms with him, considering their mutual friend Olivebranch, but she is largely at a loss for how to interact with him (and, frankly, his friendship with Olivebranch intimidates her; what if he decides Olivebranch shouldn’t be her friend anymore?).

Miscellaneous

Trivia

• Smells of ash, muddy roots, and dried weeds.
• Has a fear of heights.
• Can and has suplexed cats much larger than her, including the clan deputy.
• Better at fighting than hunting, but prefers to hunt.
• Favorite color is blue.