#genemod

This would happen around the very beginning of TempestClan. Whalekit sneaks out of camp one day and finds Rootkit and he decides to bring her back. With no real connection with the other Clans or where she may have come from, TempestClan takes her in.

I don't think she'd be closer with one of the kits over the other, nor would she have official adoptive parents/siblings. Whale is happy to have a playmate around his age, and Tern is happy to have a cat who shares his interest in healing and StarClan.

Meanwhile, Puffinquill and Wildfirestar are more hesitant. They already have their paws full with Whale and Tern, so another kit just adds to the monumental responsibilities that these teenagers/young adults are taking on. As time passes, Puffin would spend more time with Root as Wildfire takes on the responsibilities of leadership and trying to keep TempestClan afloat. This would lead to Puffin influencing her to be more hesitant, lacking the fiery determination of Wildfirestar.

Rootpaw becomes a medic apprentice and a diviner alongside Ternpaw, who is a medic apprentice and a botanist. They're a great balance for TempestClan—a healer who can focus on StarClan and spirituality, and another who can focus on cultivating plants and herbs. (I always thought that med cats in canon have way too many responsibilities, especially when there's only one, like how do they get all that done 😭!?) They would become good friends across the course of their apprenticeship and end up getting their full names at the same time. I can see hwr being named Rootwing (due to my the Clans' obsession with birds).

I don't want to spoil anything, but I could definitely see her being very involved with a future plotline that I'm still working on since she is both the most religious and the earliest outsider to join.

Poor Marigold didn't stand much of a chance due to being a boy and got the boot after some sunfurred torties were born, poor bastard.

Duck had a little bit of sunfur but it wasn't enough and she unfortunately also got the boot as soon as Avocado was born lol.

Lionspirit is extremely close with his son, Tuftglide, especially after Ivytail's sudden death. He worries about Tuftglide's recent troubles, but isn't quite sure how to support him. Where Lionspirit used to be a responsible cat with a level head, he's started second guessing his own choices, and his worry for Tuftglide is really starting to get to his head.

Other than Snowstar, Lionspirit spends most of his free time with Flamesplinter, and considers the head healer his best friend. They grew up together, after all, and Lionspirit is more upset about Snowstar's dismissal of Flamesplinter's skills than Flamesplinter is. When Flamesplinter is busy, Lionspirit hangs out with Patchbat or Stoneflyash.

Lionspirit and Eggplantskip never really got over their argument. Although Lionspirit's apologies helped cool the animosity between the two, he's reminded of his guilt every time he sees her, and so the two remain cordial, but distant.

Sycamorenewt's entire first page is dedicated to family: her mate Snowstar, her daughters Patchbat, Eggplantskip and Stoneflyash, her granddaughter Glorypounce, and Snowstar's kits Hawkweedbreeze and Burrecho. She's really settled down, and she loves having a large family with all her heart (she's probably been hinting at having another litter herself, wanting to raise one more litter in retirement).

Unsurprisingly, the cat she interacts with most outside her family is Flamesplinter. She actually doesn't like him very much, and thinks he's a bit too arrogant and rude to be a good healer, but she can admit he's a fantastic healer and trusts him to work on her own once she's fully retired.

Funnily enough, she dislikes and doubts Graylingmeadow, despite their familial relationship and his status as a healer. She was very unimpressed by his clumsiness when he was training in ScrubClan, and privately thinks one day he's going to fail to hold his nerve when a cat's life is on the line. Sycamorenewt also distrusts Tuftglide and Thistlegaze; she thinks the two are up to something, and keeps urging Snowstar to push harder and figure out what trouble they're in before it becomes a danger to all of ScrubClan.

As the Clan's head healer, Flamesplinter spends most of his professional time in the company of Snowstar, Sycamorenewt and Lionspirit, all of which he'd consider friends as well as coworkers. He respects Sycamorenewt highly, and will consider her his mentor until she dies. He's honestly quite amused by the fact that Snowstar doesn't trust him--he doesn't care that she goes to Sycamorenewt, he's busy enough with the rest of the Clan, and Sycamorenewt knows her more intimately anyways. He and Lionspirit are besties, though, and Flamesplinter will go to him first if he needs warriors assigned to him for the day.

Flamesplinter is very close with Hawthornrose, and still spars with the warrior from time to time. He still thinks the old tomcat is making up unrealistic fighting moves, though. Of the younger cats, he respects Buntingjay the most; Flamesplinter sees a lot of his own drive in the young warrior, and tries to encourage her to stand up for herself whenever he can.

Like Sycamorenewt, Flamesplinter worries for HoundClan in the paws of Graylingmeadow. He's not afraid to press the young healer during Gatherings, and often threatens to send Spittlebugspeck over there to help out (partially to get rid of Spittlebugspeck for a short while. Flamesplinter thinks Spittlebugspeck only became a healer for the power it brought, and trusts the young cat with nothing besides daily chores, which makes them both resentful of each other.)

Spittlebugspeck's best friend is Buntingjay, though she certainly wouldn't think so. After all, is Spittlebugspeck silently fuming in a corner beside her really the basis of a friendship? He certainly thinks so, and appreciates that Buntingjay never shies away from him, even when he's at his most snappish.

Spittlebugspeck has a crush on Glorypounce, though this is also not reciprocated. Probably because Spittlebugspeck thinks bragging is the same thing as flirting, and is blind to the fact that Glorypounce is very uncomfortable around him.

Eggplantskip, Hawthornrose, and Vultureshock are the cats Spittlebugspeck goes to when he needs a warrior escort to gather herbs. He trusts their superior fighting skills to keep him safe, and thinks they are the best warriors the Clan has to offer.

Spittlebugspeck respects his mentor, Sycamorenewt, but resents Flamesplinter for refusing to give him anything even remotely challenging to do. He chafes under Flamesplinter's micromanaging, and thinks Flamesplinter is intentionally making him look bad by hoarding all the tasks that might give Spittlebugspeck the chance to prove himself. This WILL come to a head soon, and any cat that spends any time in the healer's den can feel the air fizzing between the two toms, heavy as a thunderhead and just waiting for something to spark...

Glorypounce's insecurities make it challenging for her to make and maintain friendships. Her main social outlet is still her mother, Stoneflyash, despite Stoneflyash trying to push her to make friends with some of the younger warriors.

Of the cats, though, Buntingjay is the easiest for Glorypounce to be around. She admires the young warrior's confidence, and though she rarely musters the courage to talk to Buntingjay, Glorypounce often admires her from afar. Glorypounce fancies Lionspirit; she has not told a single soul, and keeps her pining very distant. Besides, he's much too old for her. Still, she can't help that her heart flutters when he turns his attention on her, and on those rare occasions where she earns a compliment from him? Ugh.

Glorypounce is very uncomfortable with Spittlebugspeck's "flirting" and avoids him by all means possible. She's relieved that Flamesplinter has seemed to pick up on her discomfort and sends Spittlebugspeck away when she's forced to drop into the healer's den. She's very grateful to Flamesplinter for his insight, and thinks he is very trustworthy.

Burrecho is a young cat still building his relationships with the warriors now that he's seen as an equal. He's very happy to have his best friend Scorpionspeckle in the Clan; the two have been meeting up in secret for a few moons now, and Burrecho likes having a friend that is his first (Hawkweedbreeze doesn't count. She's his only littermate and is practically forced to be his best friend and confidant under sibling code.)

Burrecho sees Hawthornrose as his mentor more than Glorypounce, as he's the one that taught Burrecho how to mediate between Clanmates when Glorypounce was entirely disinterested in that side of his training.

Surprisingly, Burrecho hates Cypresspaw. It's not like his hatred is based on anything she did to him, or even the long term resentment like that which sours relationships between Flamesplinter and Spittlebugpaw, or Lionspirit and Eggplantskip. Burrecho simply thinks Cypresspaw is whiny, and weak-willed, and supremely, utterly annoying.