Blossomstar

Furcadia Login Name: Blossomstar

Desired Clan: Willowclan

Desired Ranking: Leader

Desired Character Age: 3 years

Preferred Warrior Name: Blossomstar (prev. Blossompool)

Gender: Female

Reference Photo:

Physical Description: Blossomstar is white with sparse ginger patches on her paws and face. Her eyes are a deep amber. Sleek and swift, she moves purposefully, but with little grace. Her tail often twitches or curls, especially when thinking deeply.

Furcadia Description: A white she-cat with sparse ginger patches on her paws and face. A gentle, almost tentative leader with a vain streak. The sister of the former leader and prophecy cat, Petalstar, Blossomstar is finding her unexpected ascent to leadership challenging in more ways than one. [Leader of Willowclan]

Summarized Description: Blossomstar - short-haired white cat with orange patches and amber eyes

History:

As kits, Blossomkit and Petalkit were close. Their brother, Twigkit, had been stillborn. Their parents' relationship began to fray soon after. Flamefur stopped coming to the nursery, while Cloudfeather alternated between distance and clinging to her remaining children.

Cloudfeather's clinginess only increased when the medicine cat received a prophecy -- 'follow the flower's song'. Word got around quickly that a prophecy cat had been born. Upon examining the two kits, a perfect flower shape was found on Petalkit's side. That was enough confirmation for many; Petalkit had a destiny to embrace. The kit who had formerly only known her sister was suddenly a minor celebrity in Willowclan, visited by kits and elders alike.

And Petalkit was special. She had an energy about her, a special certainty that Blossomkit admired. Such obvious signs only increased Blossomkit's fascination with Starclan, which grew into a steady belief that nurtured her as the clan had so nurtured Petalkit.

The two sisters didn't exactly grow apart as apprentices; they were simply very different cats. While Petalpaw began to continued to make friends both via her status and her natural charisma, Blossompaw was far too shy to keep up with her. While her nonconfrontational nature inspired others to be kind to her, such kindnesses rarely went past a surface level, as Blossompaw rebuffed most attempts to get to know her. Eventually, everyone except Petalpaw stopped trying -- and even Petalpaw seemed exasperated.

Most (including her increasingly frustrated mentor) assumed that Blossompaw would eventually switch from the warrior track to a gentler, quieter position. The medicine cat was looking for an apprentice, after all, and Blossompaw certainly had enough belief to communicate with them. If not that, maybe she would go back to the nursery, where Cloudfeather had remained. Perhaps being a permanent queen ran in the family.

But such suggestions inflamed Blossompaw. She had no desire to constantly smell like herbs, or be around kits all day. Not that she had many other options. As her apprenticeship wore on and her options continued to dwindle, she began to wonder if she was fit to be a clan cat at all.

Until one day she and her mentor encountered a trespassing Moorclan apprentice. His surprise turned into fear at Nettlewhisker's grizzled appearance; his claws were out in a moment as he hissed and spat. Before Nettlewhisker could intervene, Blossompaw surprised herself by commanding him to step back over the border. Equally surprised, the apprentice listened. After assuring that he hadn't stolen any prey -- and in fact was a very new apprentice who had forgotten the borders -- she turned to Nettlewhisker for a final decision. Impressed, he let the young cat go.

After that, the two began to grow close. Nettlewhisker shared his experience, focusing on honing Blossompaw's natural calmness and level head. In a particularly memorable patrol, she was able to keep two hot-headed young apprentices from turning a disagreement into a border skirmish through words alone.

For this talent, Blossompaw gained the name Blossompool. Petalpaw was named Petalthroat alongside her, with all the apprentices cheering her name. Though a pit of jealousy formed in Blossompool's stomach, she was proud of herself too: she had accomplished what she wanted, and now her whole life was ahead of her.

Of course, a prophecy cat couldn't remain a simple warrior for long. Petalthroat was fast-tracked for deputyship, and to her credit, she excelled in training her first apprentice. The cat became a fine warrior, as confident and sleek as her mentor. When Petalthroat was assigned another apprentice right after, the clan began to murmur about how many lives Duskstar had left and what it might look like if he had his eye on a successor.

And they were right: soon after, the faithful Duskstar became Duskshade. Though Petalthroat was young, she stepped into the position of leader and was granted her nine lives. Everything was going according to Starclan's prophecy, and Willowclan had never been stronger.

But Blossompool began to have reservations about her sister's leadership soon after. She put it down to jealousy, at first, but the murmurings only grew stronger. Petalstar was a good cat, but she was not a good leader; she was far more interested in remaining in everyone's good graces than making hard decisions. Blossompool began to sneak out of camp at night to speak to the stars, asking them for some sort of guidance. She didn't want to doubt their guidance, and yet...

One day, Petalstar caught her just as she was starting on one of these little trips. Blindsided, she stammered an excuse of heading to gather herbs -- only to realize how little sense gathering herbs at midnight would make. Though Petalstar never directly asked her about that night, she often caught her sister watching her when the she-cat assumed she couldn't see. Blossompool began to feel guilty, assuming her lack of faith must truly come from jealousy.

And then the clan seemed to grow colder towards her. Often, she'd walk past a group of Willowclan warriors and say a quick hello, only for them to ignore her entirely. Their reactions grew stranger and colder, until one day she caught half a whisper: "--pool is meeting with--". Blossompool was the only one with that suffix in Willowclan, so she was sure they were talking about her. But she hadn't been meeting with anyone.

Her suspicions were only confirmed as the rumor-spreaders grew bolder and louder. "--secret mate--" "Moorclan--" "--met as apprentices--" "--traitor--"... Eventually, Blossompool couldn't bear the cruel words anymore. She went to her sister -- her leader -- and begged her to do something to clear up the rumors.

Petalstar's eyes narrowed, and she only asked, "Well, haven't you been meeting with someone?"

Blossompool knew then who had started the rumor. Who else would be so easily believed? Who else could turn an entire clan against her?

Blossompool felt a rising fury burn up her throat. Before she could stop herself, she screamed her own vile accusations back: that the prophecy had been interpreted wrong by the aging medicine cat, that Petalstar was nothing more than a sheltered favorite, and that she hadn't ever gotten anywhere on her own merits. Wasn't she a terrible leader, after all? What kind of prophecy cat would be so awful at what they were born to do?

Petalstar stared at her, then whirled around and left camp. That was the last Blossompool ever saw of her.

They would find her dead in the morning, mauled by something unknown, a trail of blood leading back to the camp. Suspicious eyes turned on Blossompool, but they wouldn't have long to wonder. No cat could have done what had happened to Petalstar, and indeed, no cat had. Following the scent of blood, the boars came in droves.

What was left after was hardly a clan.

The survivors fled, Blossompool among them. When they finally gathered under the single willow in their new territory, they took stock. The situation was truly dire; the deputy, having been in the first search party for Petalstar, had been among the first cats to perish after her. The medicine cat had been taken by surprise in the ensuing battle, and their apprentice had sacrificed himself to save a pawful of other survivors. Willowclan was truly decimated.

With no promising leadership left, they looked towards the relative they had ignored, the one to whom the prophecy might have referred all along. Maybe Blossompool had been speaking the truth.

What else could Blossompool do, feeling their love and admiration for the first time? No wonder her sister had craved it so much. It felt so warm.

And so Blossompool agreed to became Blossomstar, determined to kindle the fading hope of a frayed clan. Even if it was held together by a vision she was no longer sure she believed in at all.

Personality:

Fair ⋆ Gracious ⋆ Measured ⋆ Anxious ⋆ Soft-spoken ⋆ Vain ⋆ Uncompromising

Outwardly, Blossomstar leads with a gentle, tentative touch. While she lacks the boisterous charisma her sister led with, she brings a strong sense of justice and a desire to be as fair as possible. Each major decision is given its due weight and analyzed deeply before she acts.

However, this cerebral approach to leading belies a deep uncertainty. Anxious and prone to indecision, some take Blossomstar to be the fragile, shy apprentice she once was. Her soft-spoken mannerisms only corroborate this theory, though the way she seems to flourish under the attention given to her by her new role equally contradicts it.

Blossomstar isn't always soft-spoken and gentle, though. When the time for action comes -- or when Blossomstar is certain in her choices -- she can be an unyielding, commanding figure who bodes no dissent. Perhaps these are the few times wherein the Blossomstar that lingers just below her surface can be seen.

Website (if applicable): TH / PIN

Sample Roleplay Post(s):

One moment, Littlestar's thoughts were on Bugnose, and the tunnels in front of them. The next moment, she was drowning.

I imagine sometime in the next moon, this entire tunnel will collapse due to the weight of the damp soil.

She was acutely aware of the way her body went tense, like a twoleg trap pulled taut. Then the rush of adrenaline hit, filling her veins with ice and fire instead of blood. She managed a breathless gasp before she was overwhelmed.

"Littlestar, I've been in the tunnels after it rained. Thorngaze hasn't. I know the signs. I'm not letting her go alone."

"The scar on your shoulder --"

"-- was a one time thing, bluebird. If I'd seen the tunnels after the rain as an apprentice and learned how to be safe..."

"My apprentice needs to see them, mom. She can't learn from me tellin' her about them. She's got to see."

"...Be safe. And if you hear anything --"

"We'll come right back. I promise."

The news had reached her while she was eating a bird. The feathers had tickled her nose; she had sneezed. When she looked up, Maplefrost was there. Littlestar had opened her mouth to say hello, but he had interrupted her.

"Redthorn and Thorngaze are--"

Littlestar shook herself, but the helplessness and grief rose in her throat like gorge. The urge to sob came on strong, followed by a surge of panic at the way the tunnels closed in around her. She had been doing so well, she thought, and almost laughed at the absurd coherence of the thought. What was well, when the grief was still as fresh as the day they hadn't come back?

Littlestar turned to Bugnose. "Yes. Whatever you say," she said, her voice coming out terse and distant. She hated how it sounded, as if it wasn't coming from her own jaws. Littlestar's tail thrashed as she tried once more to master herself.

She just had to get out of these tunnels, into the fresh air and the warmth of her nest. She could hold back the grief until then. She had to. Grief was a private matter.

"Which way's it to camp? You lead," she managed, nodding back the way they had come.

Do you have any other characters in the dream? If so, who? Not yet!