Sundapple

Sundapple is a eurasian lynx with warm brown fur. She's large in stature, towering over her clanmates. Her ears are dark brown and tufted on the ends, with a square of cream on the back. Her eyes are golden, and her nose is a reddish pink. She has a short, tufted tail. Additionally, her pelt and face is speckled with golden pollen, providing a splash of colour to her otherwise brown pelt.

Sunny is known to be mellow lynx, with her soft-spoken voice and calming presence. She's careful in everything she does, almost like she has to think every single action through in her mind before she proceeds, never one to run on impulse. There's a certain level of fear she carries towards her own actions - she's so different, so much bigger, so much stronger - she must not move too quickly, she must not stand tall, she must not yell. Often, she wishes to be much smaller than she is--smaller than a cat, even, as small as a mouse--so that cats no longer have to crane their head to look her in the eyes.

She's strongly and stalwartly a pacifist. She refuses to participate in battle against other Clans and would sooner let herself be hurt than defend herself. She doesn't want to be seen as big or strong or a warrior in any capacity⁠—she's just Sundapple: an outsider, a bystander, an observer. This mindset has only amplified her perspective of herself as someone who is different, someone who does not belong, even within her own Clan. It's a belief that she's convinced herself of, regardless of what the cats around her really feel.

Her relationship with her warrior ancestors is complicated, especially for a healer. She's always felt a disconnect from them similar to what she feels for other Clan cats, and she hasn't been able to shake the feeling that she doesn't belong even when she's dreaming of them.

Sunny was found as an incredibly young cub by the SkyClan leader, Havenstar. Dewtail, with a new litter of young kits, agreed to take her in. The Clan that initially believed her to be a kitten was in for a shock when she started to grow much faster and larger than her foster siblings--soon, it became impossible to deny she wasn't a typical cat. Discussions of whether or not it was right to keep her in SkyClan were quickly put to rest by Havenstar: SkyClan has always been a place for those who are in need of a home, and this baby - cat or not - is in need of a home; therefore, she is a member of SkyClan.

Sunkit's foster siblings - her sister Brindlekit and her brothers Applekit and Redkit - who had only been a bit older than her when she was taken in, scarcely paid attention to anything different about their littermate. She was especially close to Brindle, who's aspirations of becoming a great warrior (deputy, leader even) inspired the young lynx everytime she spoke of them. Soon, Sunny found herself eager to go along with these dreams as well, a warrior alongside her siblings, and they'd dream about it and train and playfight and--

At four moons old, during a playfight session, Sunkit underestimated her own strength and Brindlekit was sent to the healer with a broken leg. The incident caused a rift between Sunny and her mother, who barred her from visiting her sister while she was recovering. During this tumultuous time, Havenstar and Sunny grew close, with the former bringing her the comfort she was missing from Dewtail. While Havenstar assured Sunny what happened to Brindlekit had been an accident, and it wouldn't be held against her, the damage had been done. Any dreams of becoming a warrior alongside her siblings died away when all she could think about is just how much bigger and stronger she'll always be compared to her clanmates. She wouldn't play, she wouldn't train, she wouldn't even yell--she would be quiet, she would sit to the side, and she wouldn't lay her paws on a single cat ever again.

It was Havenstar that turned her attention towards the healer's den and the elderly healer within: Rampionroot, who had just recently lost his successor and far too lonely and grumpy these days without them. It didn't start as 'you should consider healing, Sunny'--instead, it was an offer, a 'Rampion's in need of someone to help him sort and organize his herbs, and with your careful paws and good eyes you could do him a lot of good.' Sunny, eager to prove that she could do good, didn't hesitate to take up the task. It came with another benefit: with the excuse that she was helping Rampionroot, Sunkit was able to visit her sister while she was on the mend. Despite Sunny's fears, Brindlekit's face lit up the moment she entered the den and she got to talking like nothing had ever happened. 'I got my first battle injury!' she told her, back leg splinted with sturdy sticks, 'I'm like a real warrior now!' And there was still some hesitation and Sunny always sat more than a tail-length away and Brindle's leg never fully healed how it should have, but the two of them were okay--still sisters, despite it all.

Rampion, his eyes blurred with cataracts, would bark Sunny around the den and send her to fetch him water and tell her to pull ticks from the elders so he didn't have to and he was grumpy and rude but he'd sit Sunny down in front of his herb stock and explain so slowly and carefully what each of them did, and he'd ruffle the fur on top of her head like she wasn't bigger than him, and when Dewtail curled protectively in-front of Brindle, Sunkit hunched in the opposite corner of the den, he'd come out of nowhere and shoo the queen until she left, and then he'd tuck himself into a corner and pretend he didn't hear the sisters talking together in their own hushed whispers.

It was no surprise that when it came time for Sunkit to become Sunpaw, her path had already led her to the healer's den. She'd found, through her learning, that she quite liked the scent of flowers and the stain of herbs on her paws. Cats around camp would comment that nothing had changed--really, she'd been Rampionroot's apprentice for over a moon, now it was just official. Her small world expanded when Rampion took her out into the territories for the first time, guiding the two of them through the forest and biting his tongue when Sunny spent much too long staring, enchanted, at the trees that towered over her head. She saw the world as he saw it that day, the paths that he walked through the tamped-down grass and undergrowth, the plants he picked and the plants he would never touch, the exposed inner bark of a tree he scratched every time he passed by. Later, Havenstar would take her out himself and Sunpaw would listen to him like she hadn't heard any of it from Rampion, because Havenstar--she told it different, she had her own stories and her own paths and, Sunny realized, her own world. With all her patience and carefulness, Sunny learned that each and every cat had their own world, their own life, their own stories, and oh, that was something worth discovering.

Rampion passed not too long after she became Sundapple. She told Havenstar the night it happened that she believed he'd been holding on for a long time, that after the death of his apprentice he'd only yearned to pass on his knowledge and once he knew his Clan was in safe paws with her, he was ready to go. Adjusting to life without her mentor was hard, but she had Brindle-now-Brindleberry and Havenstar and she began to rekindle her relationship with her brothers, each warriors of their own, and even Dewtail, though the rift between the two of them would never go away, found the time to say hello when they passed by.

Rising tensions between the Clans kept Sunny's paws busy in the healer's den. She often found herself staring up at the stars and wondering if it was just her and her strangeness that struggled with her connection to them, or if all the other healers felt the same trepidation when they dreamt. She tried to keep her mind forward, focusing on her Clan - Brindleberry had just become deputy - and keeping the peace and mending wounds. It was all she could do, she told herself, even as she felt the stars grow further and further every day.