[Image ID: The title of the post is "Before RippleClan: Rabbitjoy." Rabbitjoy herself, a brown smoke molly with cyan eyes, sits underneath the title.]
So you guys really wanted to hear more about Rabbitjoy! I was excited to introduce her. As soon as she joined the Clan, I knew she was a former supporter of the Ripple ideology. Now you get to learn more about her journey back to her friends and why she changed her name!
Rabbitjoy: 54 (as of Moon 17), female, artisan, charismatic, master weaver.
Rabbitjoy's mother was an honor queen, in that she consistently took honor-sires to produce litters without a mate. Each of her litters were quite large, but Rabbitjoy's took the cake at seven kits. Yes, one died before their apprenticeship and two more before they finished their training, but large litters are quite the blessing in WheatClan's crop culture. An older sibling suggested naming the brown smoke molly Rabbitkit, teasing her mother Flowernest for her large number of kits. Flowernest took the name in stride.
Rabbitkit was an insecure child, frequently trampled over by her bigger littermates. She had a deep artistic soul, however, that earned her a few friends (such as Rustshade). Naturally, when she became Rabbitpaw, she became an artisan with a particular love of stories, art, and dancing. She was better at weaving than performing, often getting nervous in front of her Clanmates, but she still preferred the entertainment part of her job to the crafting side of things.
When she finished her apprenticeship, Sanderlingstar named her Rabbitfall, a name that reflected her nervous energy but also a windfall of prey. Her friends encouraged her performances so that during Gatherings and inter-Clan celebrations, she joined the other artisans in grand stories (usually in a background role).
One Gathering, the artisans of all the Clans guided the Gathering's guests in a grand dance, where everyone would move along to music produced by artisans across the Clans. As Rabbitfall sang, she noticed a figure swirling among AshClan's numbers. She was a long-furred molly with lilac swirls and pretty white spots. Rabbitfall had seen her in the crowd before, but the way the firelight danced over her fur made her seem... gorgeous.
When another artisan took Rabbitfall's role in the song, she slipped into the crowd and danced closer to the mysterious lilac molly. She wore a beautiful tail wrap with leaves carved into the leather. Rabbitfall summoned all the confidence that laid hidden inside her, stepped into rhythm next to the mysterious molly, and asked to share the dance.
The molly's name was Lavenderleaf, a recently graduated meditator from AshClan. She befriended Rabbitfall that night and slowly introduced her to her other friends, like Weedfoot, Downdapple, and Paleshade. Rabbitfall in turn introduced some of her WheatClan friends like Rustshade.
Rabbitfall gained more confidence and security as she met her friends more and more. As Paleshade and Weedfoot discussed rather complex ideas, Rabbitfall grew closer to Lavenderleaf. Paleshade's ideas of closer Clan connections interested her. Perhaps, by following her ideals, Rabbitfall and Lavenderleaf could become... something more.
Rabbitfall kept her trap shut around her Clan as the Ripple ideology became well-known. She and Lavenderleaf agreed that when they formed a new Clan, they would become mates. While certain Clanmates left the Clans entirely, disappeared, or died in a few dramatic confrontations with other Clan cats, Rabbitfall was a silent supporter who did little but join secret meetings and encourage the idea in closed quarters.
Eventually, only she and Rustshade remained in WheatClan to support the movement. Rabbitjoy was excited to hear that the Ashes in the Water were going to formally leave AshClan. She planned to meet Lavenderleaf by the WheatClan/AshClan border and join the new Clan.
Rabbitfall waited all night, but no one appeared.
Her insecurity and neuroses flourished as the days passed with no news from Lavenderleaf or AshClan. For a few days, AshClan wouldn't even talk to WheatClan. It was only when Rabbitfall and a couple meditators were on patrol that they ran into AshClan and demanded to know why they were so flaky. That's when Rabbitfall learned that most of the Ashes in the Water were dead, with only two remaining as prisoners.
WheatClan was horrified to hear of this, especially Rabbitfall and Rustshade. They no longer hid their beliefs, as now even the most traditional members of WheatClan saw Autumnstar's orders as going too far. The Ashes in the Water were still Clan cats. They didn't deserve to be massacred. The Clan's opinions only grew more open when the clerics returned from StarClan's Shrine that night and revealed that their ancestors supported the Ripple movement.
Rabbitfall joined a small patrol of cats on a sunhigh mission into AshClan territory to rescue the two prisoners. Rabbitfall prayed one of them was Lavenderleaf. Rabbitfall's job was to distract AshClan while Rustshade and the others got the prisoners out. She and her sister Cottonstealer began singing outside AshClan's camp. They sang of Autumnstar's cruelty, of StarClan's support and the blessing of the Ashes in the Water. They lured many cats out of camp, who were unsure just how to handle two intruders singing at them. AshClan chased them away, but their strange distraction gave the others enough to time to free the prisoners and hurry them over the WheatClan border.
Well, prisoner. Weedfoot was the only one left to save.
The news broke Rabbitfall. Even as the remaining members of the movement migrated to WheatClan, ready to form their own Clan near the coast, Rabbitfall felt hopeless. How could RippleClan ever be a Clan when cats like Autumnstar would kill a kind, loving, beautiful mediator like Lavenderleaf? How could Rabbitfall be a part of it? She gave a sorrowful goodbye to her friends and family, promising to find RippleClan if she ever returned.
Rabbitfall spent over a year traveling, searching for answers to the hopelessness, grief, and insecurity she battled. She stayed with humans, learned of creatures and crops the Clans had never seen, made friends who showed her the power of hope and the ways to keep living after loss. The things she saw inspired and transformed her. She abandoned her old suffix, feeling that it would only drag her down, and took a new name; Rabbitjoy. She would choose joy over any internal insecurities she faced, greet new friends with an open heart, and be as true to her thoughtful, artistic self as she could.
With a new name and a new determination, Rabbitjoy made her way back to the Clans and the friends she left behind.













