◌ Cottonridge

Cottonridge was born Cotton to two ParaClan converts - her father Leafscale and her mother Seasmoke. Both fleeing rough lives, they were willing to accept ParaClan and its rules; even those which others would balk at.

Very unfortunately, Cotton was the firstborn in a litter of four.

As ParaClan's rules went, Cotton, the firstborn, was the only one permitted to live. When she was little, Cotton would catch her parents praying for their lost kittens on many late nights. Although they never told her why, as she grew older and learned more of ParaClan's code, Cotton was gradually able to put the pieces together. While this might have shaken other cats' faith, Cotton instead clung to Sumire's rules all the harder, not wanting the sacrifice of her littermates to have been in vain. She would be the best, most committed ParaClan warrior there was, in their memory.

Cotton took to isolation and pacifism almost immediately. Whilst she loved her parents as much as she could, given the circumstances, she loved isolation all the more, and would spend several hours just sitting in the woods and listening to the rushing waters of the creek. Hunting was a struggle for her — with her distaste for blood — and eventually Cotton settled with mostly subsisting off of fish and other water creatures that she would catch in the streams and river of her parent’s territory.

While very gifted with precognition, Cotton was not so with regards to spirit communication, and this resulted in her not being picked as a medicine cat. Admittedly, she was relieved by this, as she did not wish to care for others -- since that inevitably involved socializing with them.

When she reached warrior age, Cotton was able to pass her religious test with flying colors. Her prayer rituals were perfect, and even with her somewhat-poor memory, she had long since absorbed ParaClan’s glorious history into her soul. She was given the name Cottonridge, as she requested, after the sunrises which would rise over the hills of her parents’ territory.