#houndclaw

Briarpaw is a RiverClan apprentice. She is originally from the twolegplace; however, she remembers very little of her life before joining RiverClan. When she was very young, she was found wounded near the RiverClan border, and nursed back to health by Starlingfrost, the clan’s medic.

Once she reached apprentice age, Cedarstar gave her the choice to return to twolegplace or stay in RiverClan and train as a warrior apprentice. Briarpaw, having developed a strong bond with Starlingfrost and wanting to repay the debt to the clan, wants to serve as RiverClan’s new medic apprentice. Cedarstar is skeptical about this. Eventually, he compromises with Briarpaw and Starlingfrost: Briarpaw will be able to train as a medic, but only after she has fully completed her warrior training.

Briarpaw is assigned to Houndclaw as her mentor. Houndclaw is strong young tom, highly regarded by his clanmates for his strength and skill. (There are even rumors that Cedarstar will appoint him deputy after his current deputy retires…) Of course, this praise has gone STRAIGHT to his head. He is a braggadocios young tom who holds very high expectations for himself. Having grown up in a time of relative peace for RiverClan, Houndclaw years to prove himself in true combat.

Houndclaw imagined that he would be assigned one of Cedarstar’s sons to train as a mentor. He was shocked and disappointed when Cedarstar assigned him the soft-hearted former kittypet to train. Then, he realizes Cedarstar’s challenge: train the kittypet, and you will prove yourself worthy as my deputy. …At least, that’s what he assumes Cedarstar wants. So, determined to prove his worth to his leader, Houndclaw sets out to shape the apprentice into a battle-ready warrior.

This task proves to be even more difficult than Houndclaw anticipates. Briarpaw is a lover, not a fighter. Plus, she has an intense fear of battle, possibly related to the injuries that brought her to RiverClan camp… However, the two are DETERMINED to make it work: Briarpaw, so she can become the clan’s medic, and Houndclaw, so he can serve as Cedarstar’s deputy.

Starlingfrost is confident, strong-willed, and sharp-tongued—if she could run the clan herself, she would. She and Cedarstar have been known to disagree publicly about clan matters—she is one of the very few cats who is willing to stand up to him. If she had her way, she would be training Briarpaw from the start. But she believes that all apprentices should be challenged, and she knows that Briarpaw overcoming her fear of battle will be her greatest challenge of all.

Briarpaw’s best friends are Owlpaw and Cricketpaw, Cedarstar’s sons. Briarkit became FAST friends with Owlkit and Cricketkit as soon as she had healed enough to leave the medicine den. Owlpaw is quiet and contemplative. Cricketpaw is boisterous and easily distractible. Owlpaw is a skilled apprentice, but he struggles to connect socially with his clanmates. Meanwhile, Cricketpaw is well-liked, but fails to meet expectations in training. The two brothers live in Cedarstar’s shadow, and fear that they have failed to meet their clan’s expectations. Their opposing personalities lead to a lot of conflict, where Briarpaw often serves as mediator.

Goslingpaw is a medic apprentice from WindClan. The gossip around fourtrees is that this apprentice also came from the twolegplace. Briarpaw is ELATED to discover this, hoping to connect with a cat who can understand her struggles. Goslingpaw is HORRIFIED by this, wanting absolutely nothing to do with the RiverClan apprentice, fearing that any outside association will jeopardize his his own position as a medic.

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these are my Guys!!!!! they’ve been bouncing around my head for a LONG time, but i was scrambling to draw them all before art fight this year 😭