morningpaw, shadowclan medicine cat apprentice.

METICULOUS – this cat is a perfectionist within his work. He’s a careful listener and the sort of cat who will go over the same information time and time again to ensure that the theory is memorised and the skills of mixing a poultice or setting a broken leg, pulling a thorn or even mundane things like sorting out bad herbs is perfect. While this is largely a boon in his line of work it makes him reluctant to respond based on his instincts and slower in his work. For example; instead of whirling through several serviceable patch jobs on a battle party that he can neaten later, Morningpaw is almost compelled to make them perfect and might waste valuable time.

DISTANT – while he’s meticulous in his training as a medicine cat, Morningpaw’s social skills leave a lot to be desired. He’s not a shy cat hiding behind his mentor or an uncertain one, but he is a relatively distant one. He keeps an ear to the gossip of the Clan, determined to always know what’s going on so that he can use it in some way to the Clan’s or his own personal benefit but outside of that he tries to keep himself relatively separate. This is not an innate part of his nature, he is not anti-social or disinterested in Clan life, but something he has cultivated. To begin with it was to prevent any confusion or loneliness when his littermates went to the apprentice’s den and he to Sparrowpelt’s. Yet it’s developed into more than just that; the closer his is to cats in ShadowClan the less objective he can be for the Clan’s overall benefit and this terrifies him. He is grappling with the loneliness of his choices and the fear of losing sight of the bigger picture.

CALCULATING – Morningpaw is almost constantly weighing the cheques and balances and has to consider all angles before he decides upon a course of action. What does the information mean for him? For ShadowClan? How can it be used to further him or his Clan? Is there a chance for a significant reward upon acting? Morningpaw will almost never act out of pure goodwill with nothing to gain from it and certainly never for cats from other Clans.

OPPORTUNISTIC – much in the same vein as his calculating nature, Morningpaw is incredibly opportunistic. While most medicine cats are cautious about sharing information that might make their Clan seem weak, Morningpaw keeps his jaws firmly closed. He’s loathe to even ask the other medicine cats apprentices for advice, far more inclined to stay as quiet as possible during the half moon meetings and learn what he can. To this end he also listens in on as much gossip as possible within ShadowClan, constantly on alert for something suspicious or something he can use to control someone or command a situation.

FAITHFUL – StarClan is possibly the only thing that Morningpaw rates higher than ShadowClan and himself. From his earliest days in the nursery he’s had unwavering faith that StarClan knows what they’re doing and will guide him down the right path. It’s this faith that made him confident in his decision to put himself forwards as Sparrowpelt’s apprentice and this faith that’s kept him steady throughout the first two moons of his training. Morningpaw is convinced that StarClan is always with him and takes most of his inner strength from the spirits of ShadowClan cats who came before him. This can make him blind and leave him shellshocked when things go badly, scaring him that StarClan’s faith in him might not be enough to save every cat.

LOYAL – this is a cat who bleeds ShadowClan. For all that the medicine cat code specifies that medicine cats stay out of interclan conflicts, Morningpaw just can’t shirk his innate patriotism and he certainly doesn’t believe that he should have to do so. Staying out of conflicts to Morningpaw simply means that medicine cats don’t fight themselves or get involved in the planning of attacks. In his mind it is not even the slightest breach of the code to inform his leader of another Clan’s weakness. He does, however, feel like he’d be betraying Darkstar and ShadowClan if he didn’t and ultimately his Clan comes before all else.

DEDICATED – Morningpaw would die for any one of his Clanmates if it was necessary, he’d bleed, sweat and work himself into the ground if it meant keeping a ShadowClan cat alive. He pushes himself hard, spending as many of his waking moments checking up on cats, gathering herbs or training with Sparrowpelt. He borders on obsessive when it comes to his work, struggling with the idea of taking a break or doing things for the sheer enjoyment of them. This is something he needs to work on, finding the line between obsession and dedication and learning how to prevent himself from burning out.

FALLIBLE – no cat is perfect and Morningpaw certainly is no exception. For as thorough and meticulous as he is, Morningpaw is still going to make his mistakes and unlike a cat more prone to accidents he isn’t going to handle them well. A mistake is the sort of thing that would shake this young cat’s resolve and trust in his instincts. So far as he can see, a mistake as a warrior apprentice might mean a lost squirrel while a mistake with the herbs could poison a cat or fail to treat the right symptoms and see them sicken beyond the range of treatment. Usually, he has no qualms about mistakes, he doesn’t second guess and he does his job methodically but when he slips up he struggles to regain his footing, unsure how to fix it in his panic.

CERTAIN – if there is one thing that can be said for this young cat it’s that he’s always been certain of himself. From his days in the nursery Morningkit was sure that his path would lead him to Sparrowpelt’s den. He was confident that he would become a medicine cat, that StarClan would support him and he has not once wavered from this conviction. This young cat has never been one to be afflicted with doubts over his chosen path or question if he’s good enough for it; this is what he’s always known that he would be. There is, of course, plenty of time for life to give him cause to doubt himself and his convictions but thus far his resolve has been steadfast.

The second litter of Heatherflight and Cloudshade were welcomed into ShadowClan as any litter ought to be, with warmth and pride. Their first litter were nearing the end of their apprenticeships and both shaping up to make strong warriors and three of the four kits of the second litter were all born healthy. They seemed, genetically, to be an ideal mated pair: most of their young were of good stock and they were largely considered to be mostly competent parents. Of course, things can simply go wrong with no conceivable explanation: it was evident from the birth of the little mewling kit that there was something off about Morningkit’s fur. The little kit was pure white, with startlingly pink skin visible beneath that thin pelt. There were no all white cats in either Heatherflight or Cloudshade’s lineages – Morningkit’s fur was an anomaly. When those pretty little eyes open things got worse: they were washed out, their colour ranging from pinkish tinged, pale blue or straight white depending on how they reflected from the blood vessels behind them in that moment. from the earliest the little kit cringed away from the brightness of the sun and when he spent too much time out of the nursery he burned. Quickly, they learned to keep him in the shade but it raised uncomfortable questions for the young cat’s apprenticeship that Heatherflight evaded at all costs.

Heatherflight was a good father, if somewhat inattentive, and when he visited the kits they swarmed him for play. He was, however, seemingly allergic to disciplining his young, preferring to rile them up, tucker them out then leave them with their frazzled mother. If she’d thought two kits with a mate more interested in being their buddy than their dad had been difficult, nothing could have prepared poor Cloudshade for the hectic run about of four. They were difficult to contain, bouncing off one another and the bigger they got the harder they were to handle. If there was trouble a-paw then Cloudshade was generally convinced that it was her kits at the heart of it. Of course, they weren’t the only troublemakers in the nursery, but she certainly wasn’t often wrong. All of her kits were strong willed with distinct personalities and none of them were content to play in the seclusion of the nursery when there was an entire camp – not to mention territory – to explore. They were as curious as any kits, determined to learn everything there was to know about their Clan. Even little Morningkit with his sensitive skin and eyes was keen to explore as much as he was able.

Foxkit, it turned out as Morningkit rejected the label entirely despite his physicality, was the only she-cat in the litter and she ruled her littermates with an iron paw. She was the ShadowClan leader in all their games, with brave Berrystar the leader of whichever Clan they were fighting that day. They were wild and they were reckless, constantly underpaw and asking insistent questions of the older cats. Morningkit was quieter than the rest and far more calculating, he was the brains of their operation and generally masterminded most of their schemes. Yet despite the litter’s closeness, Morningkit gradually developed a sharp independent streak, turning from their games disdainfully and striking out on his own whenever Cloudshade took her eyes off him for more than a few heartbeats.

He was three moons old when he first found himself drawn towards the medicine cat’s den. He’d seen Sparrowpelt around the camp, flitting in and out of dens and talking in hushed voices with Darkstar and Onyxfeather, but he had little actual understanding of her role. He recalled her voice and her scent: trace memories from visits to test his eyesight when his eyes first opened though he couldn’t recall those meetings himself. She wasn’t a warrior, he’d worked that much out, and she always smelled vaguely different to the rest of the Clan – curious he crept into her den when she ducked away to the elder’s den. Of course, this didn’t go nearly as well as the kit had hoped. He sniffed his way to her store of herbs, investigating the plants in the only way a kit truly knows how – messily. When Sparrowpelt returned she found a remorseless kit sitting amongst the wreckage of her herbs whose only response to being caught was to start firing off questions about them. Why did she have them? What did they do?

He was evicted from the den and sent, grumbling and complaining back to his mortified mother who forced a sullen apology from his lips and ushered him back into the nursery so she could gush her own apologies at the medicine cat. Morningkit was chastised thoroughly but his interest was not abated. Days following he asked his mother more about the little brown tabby who smelled of plants and, finally, he got his answer. From here on he spent as much time as possible in or near to Sparrowpelt’s den, following her around the camp as quietly as possible whenever he was permitted.

He was four moons when he made up his little mind, he was going to become her apprentice.

Foxpaw was scornful at first, what fun is there in playing with plants? What glory? No, she was shooting to be the best warrior in the Clan and her littermates clamoured to agree with her. Their lack of understanding didn’t phase Morningkit, he didn’t see too much appeal in chasing frogs around the marshes and marking borders every dawn. Each cat had their path, even as a kit he was confident of that. StarClan had a path for each of them and he was surer with each passing day of his. When he announced his intentions, Cloudshade was apprehensive. Her son was not the sweetest of kits, nor was he the most empathetic. He could be downright cold when it suited him and he disdained of most of the other kits in the nursery who weren’t his littermates – but she could hardly discourage him here. She imparted upon her litter one important message: it’s not important what you do provided you do it well – and that was that.

He approached Sparrowpelt a moon before he would be named an apprentice with Cloudshade at his side and announced his intentions. It wasn’t a question he posed to her, though Cloudshade rapidly tried to make it sound more polite than it was, he spoke it with the sort of certainty born of absolute faith.

At six moons the litter were named, each young cat stepping up to take their place with their new mentor as ShadowClan apprentices. Foxpaw first, then Berrypaw and Minnowpaw until, finally, Morningkit stepped out before his Clan. Above him, Darkstar declared that Morningkit had decided to walk the path of Sparrowpelt and the medicine cats before her – the Clan called the names of Cloudshade’s litter as the exhausted but proud queen reclaimed her place among the warriors. Morningpaw turned to his littermates, watching in some surprise as they bounded around their mentors clamouring to explore the territory.

It began immediately, the segregation from the cats he’d been with his whole life and he found that their absence actually left a void. To begin with, they gathered to eat together each evening, swapping training stories but when Minnowpaw waxed poetic about a squirrel he’d lose to the uproarious laughter of Berrypaw and Foxpaw, Morningpaw simply couldn’t relate. Eventually their training began to go later and Morningpaw gradually lost interest in stories he couldn’t understand, so he stayed clear. He ate all his meals with Sparrowpelt, using the time to ask her questions and flex his muscles on the theory side of things.

His training had been going well. He picks up on the theory well and he works as hard as he is physically able, determined to do himself and his mentor proud. It’s his connection with his ancestors that he most cherishes in his training, though, something that none of his siblings will ever experience no matter all their in jokes and shared training. StarClan is his and he would trade them for nothing. He’s visited the moonstone twice now, once to be introduced to his ancestors and the second for the half moon and each morning dawning brings him closer to his next meeting with the glittering spirits of cats he would otherwise have never known.

sire Heatherflight
dam Cloudshade
littermates
x Berrypaw
x Minnowpaw
x Foxpaw
siblings
x Wrenwhisker
x Elmstep

NOTES ON ALBINISM: PURCHASE MADE <3

morning is a “pink-eyed” albino (the recessive ‘c’ gene as opposed to the ‘ca’ of a blue eyed temperature sensitive albino). the pink is not true pink, the eye colour is actually entirely clear devoid of pigment (like the rest of the cat) and reflecting the blood vessels behind the eye. this gives it a pink colour with blue tinges. mostly the eyes appear either straight white or super pale pink with blue edging and highlights.

morning suffers from light sensitivity and lower vision compared to other cats (he's somewhat shortsighted and experiences significant eyestrain focusing in the distance), he also has a high chance of developing skin cancers and burns easily. ergo he prefers the dark, damp and cool shadowclan territory and avoids spending too much time in the sun.

i couldn’t find any decent albino stock (or any at all) so i edited a blue eyed white cat aha.