Ryestalk

Tall and lanky, Ryestalk has always looked out of their age range– as a kit, he looked older, and now as an adult, he looks younger. They have a sand colored pelt, dark brown skin, soft green eyes, and thin limbs. Their chest and front paws look constantly dirty because of their fur color, and their back looks as if someone sprinkled mud on top. Pale stripes and spots cover their body resembling the look of rye– what they’re named after. The top half of their head is also pale, but the center of their face is dark brown. Claw marks stretch across their face.

Ryestalk is kind and compassionate, often putting other cats above themself. He likes to tell stories to his fellow warriors and keep the elders company during the chilly seasons. Despite their sweetness, Ryestalk is mysterious and most cats don’t know a lot about them. The older cats who can recall the death of their littermate still pity them, especially after their father passed away recently. Many call Ryestalk a friend, but nothing more. He keeps others at a comfortable distance. While not particularly prideful, Ryestalk dislikes feeling useless or being excluded, and will refuse help even when he is unable to do certain tasks.

Most of the time, they are a mellow cat, but they get highly emotional and bitter during stressful or chaotic situations. He will say terrible, mean, and disgusting things during these ‘episodes’. The things he says are thoughts he regularly has about others, but keeps them closely guarded to his heart, and is kind to others regardless of his thoughts. Following such events, he closes himself off from others and refuses to talk to anyone else for some sunrises. Afterwards, they will apologize and feel extremely guilty for how rude they were to other cats. Ryestalk is scared of becoming close to others because of such behavior– if he were to become close with someone and had an argument with them, he fears he’ll say something horrible and ruin their relationship. These fears are not unfounded.

They enjoy being social with their Clanmates, often seen sharing tongues with the elders and queens. Ryestalk loves to watch the apprentices sparr and is delighted to help the queens with their kits. With the kits and apprentices, he spins tall tales of fictional cats for their amusement. Despite Ryestalk’s adoration of younger cats, they mostly see him as weird and strange, often avoiding him after they reach their apprenticeship.

Ryekit’s mother, Reedwillow, preferred Leafkit over him as Ryekit looked like their father, Finchfrost. The two were never mates, and after having children, became hostile to one another. They disagreed on how the kits should be raised and handled: Reedwillow only wanted to raise Leafkit while Finchfrost refused to separate their family. Ryekit felt unwanted and unloved by his mother, so he would snuggle up and try to talk to the other queens in the nursey, who gently guided him back to Finchfrost or Reedwillow.

At only 4 moons old, Ryekit convinced Leafkit to explore outside the camp at night. Leafkit begrudgingly agreed and they ventured far before encountering a large animal neither of them recognized. Leafkit froze in fear while Ryekit ran away and hid. The unknown predator mauled Leafkit to death, leaving only her bones and pools of blood behind before leaving. Ryekit watched in horror… but was slightly relieved that their mother’s favorite child was now dead. This disturbed Ryekit, and they never spoke of the rush they felt watching Leafkit getting shredded to pieces. After returning to camp, Ryekit confessed to leaving and told the Clan of Leafkit’s death. Distraught and angered, Reedwillow clawed his face, and blamed him for Leafkit’s death. Finchfrost then restrained her, and quickly they began to fight. They only broke up because of the other warriors dragging them away from each other.

Finchfrost supported, defended, and treated Ryekit from there on out with kindness to make up for Reedwillow’s hostility. Ryekit felt conflicted: they wanted Finchfrost to leave them alone, but also hated feeling lonely. Ryekit went along and treated Finchfrost with respect and care.

Reedwillow died in a battle near the border 5 moons after Ryepaw became an apprentice. They did not sit in vigil for her death, which angered Finchfrost. Despite their tense relationship, Finchfrost still wanted to respect her death, and felt that Ryepaw was disrespecting her by not sitting vigil. Ryepaw argued with their father over how terribly their mother treated them, and in the heat of the moment, told Finchfrost that he was exactly the same as Reedwillow. Finchfrost lashed out at him, and told them to never speak to him again.

PineClan began to silently judge and mistrust Ryepaw. He attempted to mend his relationship with his Clanmates by working twice as hard, but everyone felt he was trying too hard. Ryepaw felt isolated from everyone else, so he took to the nursery to help the queens with their kits. They felt accepted by the kits and had the desire to provide them with unconditional love. Ryepaw never wanted a kit to feel the same as he did when he was younger.

Finchfrost died of natural causes shortly after Ryestalk graduated to being a warrior. They sat vigil for him and wondered if their father would forgive him in StarClan.

His previous apprentice refused to continue training with him after they had a heated quarrel, in which Ryestalk deeply hurt their feelings. They have not been given another apprentice since, even after multiple leader changes.