Brackenbite

Kithood (0 - 6 Moons)

Brackenkit was the firstborn of Flintstrike and Sagefrost’s only litter, followed by her siblings; Aspenkit and Smokeykit. Her parents were both highly disciplined cats, and they had high expectations for their children from the very beginning. Sagefrost saw a great opportunity in having a family, an opportunity for legacy. She was deliberate in spending lots of time with each of her kits - strictly keeping them on track to become highly talented young warriors. Her youngest, Smokeykit, was a reckless fool and Aspenkit was too timid, and flinched in the face of a challenge; so she turned to her eldest with her undivided attention. Brackenkit was sturdy on her feet and even stronger in her personality, and she made a perfect candidate for the zealous mother to make a champion out of. With this blatant affinity for her eldest child, competition began to develop amongst the siblings.

The nursery quickly spiraled into a battleground between the three, fighting for a sliver of praise or attention whenever they could. Both parents seemed content to instigate rivalry, happily deepening the trench of jealousy and hostility between their three children as they approached their apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship (6 - 12 Moons)

Brackenpaw was given Silvermask as her mentor, a large warrior who had incredible physical skill. Along with incredible ignorance. While he was undeniably good at his crafts, no attempt to befriend each other was ever initiated by either party. Silvermask was obviously more focused on his own affairs than that of some kid - and Brackenpaw, admittedly, had no desire to spend extra time with the egotistical cat. The pair was only together when they absolutely had to be, or whenever Silvermask made time for their training.

Her mentor’s ignorance was hardly a priority, however. After entering her apprenticeship, Brackenpaw’s family situation continued to become more tenuous. Smokeypaw was constantly on her ass during training, pushing both of them too hard; and yet it remained her responsibility to keep him from getting hurt when he was being overly reckless (according to her mother at least). Aspenpaw seemed to be intentionally ostracizing herself from the drama, and therefore the family, which was also the young cat’s responsibility to fix (also decided by her mother). Freshly made an apprentice, Brackenpaw had been hoping for more independence from the constant barrage of family affairs - but Sagefrost seemed to be making a stubborn effort of not letting her escape. Her mother continued to try and mold Brackenpaw into an ‘ideal’ version of herself, pushing unrealistic expectations of skill that left the young apprentice exhausted. She began extra training with Brackenpaw, which the apprentice didn’t mind at first. Silvermask was only doing the bare minimum to reach her apprentice requirements, and her mother did have a lot of experience. So the pair started heading out first thing in the early morning and would train until sunrise, with each passing day becoming more rigorous than the one before. The battle practice would leave her sore and bruised, only for her to return to camp just in time for the day of work with Silvermask. No matter how taxing this regimen was, it was the best she could do to satisfy her mother’s incessant criticism.

Frustrated with her mentor and her mother’s relentless nature, Brackenpaw became more irritable around her peers. Although prickly and short-fused, she remained an extrovert, and two particularly charming apprentices kept her friendship; Owlpaw and Swanpaw. She became acquainted with Swanpaw through Smokeykit, who would turn to the albino apprentice whenever he got minor injuries during training because he didn’t want Sagefrost to see him going into the Medicine Cat den every day. Swanpaw had originally wanted to pursue medicine, and she still seemed to want to… but here she was. The two had frustrations with their lives stemming from entirely different sources, but Swanpaw was wickedly clever and always made for wonderful conversation. Owlpaw, a slightly older apprentice, had been someone she’d initially avoided talking to - anticipating a clash between their personalities. However, as her personal life became more noticeably taxing, Owlpaw was persistent in cracking into the younger cat’s soft side. Brackenpaw quickly discovered that being able to talk about her situation with a cat from outside the family with such a well-informed, optimistic outlook on life was very comforting. She also discovered there was more to the ‘always’ cheery cat, and she was happy to talk shit about their terrible mentors together. She started to value and look forward to her time with Owlpaw and Swanpaw- even after she’d resolved the issues that first brought them together. Brackenpaw had minimal experience with unconditional support before she met the two apprentices, and it took her some time to entirely trust her ability to fail or be honest around them.

Near the end of her apprenticeship, Brackenpaw was becoming more and more interested in filling her free time with her friends rather than with extra training. Sagefrost quickly became irritated with this, and all the progress she’d made with her mother after patiently catering to her demands for moons seemed to vanish. While Bracken was still putting plenty of effort and time into her training, her mother insisted that her skills were still lackluster and inadequate for real battle - much to the young apprentice’s annoyance. She tolerated the snippy backlash for a while, but when Sagefrost started harassing her in front of the rest of the clan, Bracken finally realized how upset her mother’s influence made her. Not to mention that Sagefrost didn’t like either of her friends - one she deemed a scrawny Medicine Cat dropout, confused with where she was going in life, and one a chubby warrior who was bound to be a disappointment to the clan. One morning, after a particularly brutal training session, Brackenpaw firmly demanded that her mother let her become more independent. The assertion was met with an anticipated argument, but Brackenpaw was stunned when her mother boldly declared that the cost of her independence would be entirely cutting herself off from the family. Furious, and grief-stricken by her mother’s extremism, the young cat hesitated for a long moment before accepting the terms, much to Sagefrost’s surprise. After severing herself from her mother’s overbearing control, Brackenpaw’s first priority was to try and resolve her poor standings with both of her siblings; hopeful it wasn’t too late to preserve some semblance of her family. Aspenpaw seemed conflicted and generally unresponsive to the offer. Smokeypaw [WIP].

Warriorhood (13 - 51 moons)

Brackenpaw finished her apprenticeship with confidence and she accepted her warrior name alongside her siblings. The name Brackenbite was a pointed acknowledgment of her sharp tongue and strong attitude. Brackenbite was finally able to move forward in her life with a glimpse of independence, although she remained under the scornful eye of her mother and father’s blatant disapproval. Aware that her parents were constantly wishing failure upon her, Brackenbite became noticeably more cold and withdrawn, focused entirely on herself and her individual affairs. Fortunately, this gave her time to develop her pre-existing relationships. Tense, and persistently stressed, she still found comfort in the company of Owlshine and Swancry. Since their apprenticeship, the three had been spending most of their time together as a group. Both cats had wildly different experiences in life, and she enjoyed learning from them. Over time, as she became more aware of her feelings and the love she shared for both of them, the three came to see each other as romantic partners when she was around 25 moons old.

Later into her warriorhood, and soon after Halfpelt became deputy; she was given Rabbitpaw as her apprentice. Rabbitpaw was a shy, respectful cat and he fit well with her formal approach to mentorship. She expected him to be disciplined and courteous in everything he did, and she intended to work with him consistently for the best development of his skills - although this plan faltered very early on in his apprenticeship. In rapid succession to the abrupt death of Shimmerstar and her wife’s brother, Sagefrost died unexpectedly after being attacked by a beast while hunting. The beast responsible was never seen, but the patrol she’d gone out with reported hearing awful squealing before finding the senior warrior completely gored. The whole family was incredibly shaken by the unanticipated loss, and the death of his mate drove Flintstrike deeper into his habits of hostility and isolation.

Brackenbite, who had been distant from her family, found that losing her mother was a painful wake-up call. She had spent the past several moons burdened by her anger towards her parents, so the loss of one of them caused her to thoroughly evaluate where she was putting her energy. After taking time to mourn (somewhat bitterly), she diverted her focus to the community of the clan and resumed a more open-minded approach to how she perceived her personal matters. She refused to abandon her role as a mentor during her mourning, and the slight glimmer of emotional vulnerability she had at the time likely aided in her relationship with her apprentice. Growth was slow, but with patience and support from her wives and (former) apprentice, she learned how to loosen her impossible standards for herself and others. While the strict and independent nature she was named for remains, her integrity and loyalty are steadfast growing qualities.

Deputy (51 - Onward)

Following the loss of Rosetail and Flywhisker, Brackenbite presented herself as a young warrior with experience in leadership and with a disposition that demanded respect. The recently appointed Halfstar turned to Brackenbite as his third pick as deputy, and the tabby graciously accepts the opportunity to protect and serve her clan.

AFTER JOINING

March 2080,

- Snailmarsh discusses an ominous dream with Half and Bracken

- Cricketflight is found skinned

June 2080,

- RC warrior, Frogflight, is presumed dead and brought to SC camp for treatment

- Bitch is Not Dead. Brackenbite gets a gnarly throat scar

- Halfstar is missing, he is found with Redstar. Nightshade might not be dead.

- After a stressful evening, a reluctant deal is made with Hawkshade to protect the clan from Halfstars alleged misdeeds (this is a mistake)