#oakwing

Introducing the next of BogClan’s adoptables, Oakwing!

One of BogClan’s quieter senior warriors. Moons ago, Oakwing lost their mate and their daughter, Sorrelflower and Cherrypaw, and struggled to cope with the loss. They became withdrawn and have found it difficult to return to their life as before. But a few moons ago, they found an abandoned kit in the territory and offered to take her in, nursing her in place of her absent monarch. Now they’ve been appointed as her mentor. They fear getting too attached to her, however, and don’t want to feel like they’re replacing Cherrypaw – or end up losing Redpaw just the same. And yet, some part of them can’t help but feel like more than just her mentor. Do they want to embrace this new connection, or do their wounds still sting with the loss of their old family?

🌹Interesting potential romantic relationships

This is hard because I feel like Oakwing is scarred by his own infidelity and considers it deeply inappropriate to take a romantic partner, and will feel like that for a while. HOWEVER. For the ask's sake I will theorise wildly There aren't many eligible bachelors for Oakwing in Bog right now (< good thing) aside from maybe... Swanfrost? They seem like they're experienced and a firm boundary-setter, which would be helpful. On the other hand... I do like the idea of him having a forbidden romance. Oakwing has abided by the rules and regulations of clan life so steadfastly for so long that it would be interesting to see him flagrantly disregard that in his grief, which is already starting to happen with his isolation from his clan. Maybe he can't handle being in Bogclan, where everyone knows about what happened to his family, and unwittingly seeks out companionship elsewhere. But that could also work just as well as a platonic thing, and might work even better that way considering how things are rn. I kind of love the idea of him ending up with the cat he had an affair with. He has loved them for a long time and they clearly have chemistry. And it would require Oakwing to shed some of his need to constantly be viewed as the perfect Bogclanner, which I think would be a good thing. But he has also caused that cat a lot of hurt with his actions, and considering what happened with Sorrelflower, imay or may not end up being an appropriate path to go down.

🍄Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths - Oak's biggest strength is by far his efficiency and steadfastness. When he says he is going to do something, he does it. If he can't get it done, he will try his damndest anyway. He is a hard worker and he will always be there for his loved ones - maybe not emotionally, but definitely to support them in practical ways. Weaknesses - This guy has a lot of unresolved trauma about his younger sister being favouritised by their parents and because of that, he carries around this incessant desire to collect responsibility in order to justify his value within the clan, something which he simply cannot handle sometimes. He fails to be open about his emotional wellbeing, and he fails his loved ones by not caring enough about them to communicate properly with them. He sometimes uses other cats to achieve his own ends and that can ruin the genuine love he has for them - for example, his use of Redpaw as a bargaining chip with Starclan is damaging an otherwise solid relationship in a lot of ways.

💫 Ideal development and growth

This is easy. He needs to get past the Bargaining stage of his grief and fully experience the difficult emotions he's been shunting aside in favour of fabricating this... weird deal with Starclan that's ultimately all in his head. That requires him to be incredibly vulnerable, and not just in a Big Strong Man Says He's Sad And Then Everything Is Fine - in a real, ugly way that will probably mean he has to depend on other people for support, his suffering will sometimes be annoying to other people, his grief will not be flattering, and he will sometimes make his clanmates uncomfortable with his emotions. But that's still something he needs to go through before he can fully accept the death of his family and move on with his life. I want to see that happen so that he can heal his relationship with Redpaw, too, and start seeing her as a thinking, feeling individual - his actual daughter - not just a ghostly refraction of Cherrypaw. Redpaw deserves to be recognised for who she is and it'd be ideal if Oakwing could get to a place where he realises that his emotional state has put her mental health in jeopardy too. I think it would be responsible for him, in that situation, to suggest that someone else mentor her for the rest of her apprenticeship. I even think it would be good if someone else (like Beeflight) stepped in and made that happen from an outside perspective, catalysing Oakwing's reflection on his actions. I also really wanna see Oak and Redpaw heal their relationship collaboratively (with the main effort on Oakwing ofc) and become even closer because of it. There is a bad route to this and usually I find those equally as fulfilling to write BUT, in this case I do hope everything outlined above happens amkdjsad I love Redpaw too much for it to not... I also would really like him to possibly mend his relationship to the cat he had an affair with. Not mend in the sense of restarting it, but just... healing from it. No longer viewing this as some weird partners-in-crime situation where they are both equally responsible for the death of his family, but as an unfortunate circumstance in which he made a cruel decision which turned out to be rather untimely and caused a lot of hurt as a result.

🎼 Small playlist

Writer In The Dark - Lorde

I still feel you, now and then Slow like pseudo-ephedrine When you see me, will you say I've changed? I ride the subway, read the signs I let the seasons change my mind I love it here since I've stopped needing you

Aphrodite - Honey Gentry

Aphrodite, hear my pain I want to fall in love again Not in love with a man of this world Fall in love with life itself

Carry That Weight - The Beatles

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight Carry that weight a long time Boy, you're gonna carry that weight Carry that weight a long time

🌪 Worst possible change and development