Nettlepaw

A blue-eyed, cream ticked tabby tom with a white locket & bushy tail
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While Nettlepaw is still growing into his adult size, he will fill out into a lean tom of average size, his lanky legs are sewn with  muscle, giving him some height. His ticked pelt is a pale cream that is subtly darker on the topside of his frame, and fading to a near white on his underside and has white mitts and a white patch on his chin and locket. His tabby markings are faint, primitive stripes that are most prominent on his legs, forehead, tail tip and chest.  While Nettlepaw is mostly mid-furred, the fur on his tail is much longer, ending in an unkempt fringe of hair that will lengthen to a bushy plume as he ages. His oval shaped eyes are a pale sky blue.

• Nettlepaw is a cat brimming with inner ambitions and possesses a deep, unquenchable thirst for knowledge that often exceeds his age and current abilities as a medicine cat’s apprentice. Despite his youth, he exudes a confidence that sometimes borders on arrogance; he likes to believe he knows a great deal more than he does which will mature into a need to overstate and provide insights that may or may not help the situation at hand. Being seen as knowledgeable is the first step to being seen as a competent medicine cat, in his eyes. No one will take an idiot seriously, and considers himself removed in this way from the rest of the clan.
• His enthusiasm is palpable, but it can quickly shift to a more cynical and dry wit in the blink of an eye, particularly when he feels challenged or belittled. He isn’t shy about throwing his voice around. Opinionated and with a strong sense of self, Nettlepaw believes in the importance of everyone having a voice, but he also holds the belief that not all voices are equal. Due to his inflated sense of self, he is quick to form judgments based on first impressions, often making it difficult for him to give others a fair chance.
• He approaches the unknown and every problem by first asking questions. While he may have a hard time swallowing failure or reproach, he will be the type of cat to try and try again, learning from those failures to eventually come up with a solution. Even if it means beating his head over and over a problem in the process. Every sickness or injury, despite, maybe, its inner tragic nature, is an opportunity to merit his skills. When he’s not paws deep into his studies or his duties of both learning and partially taking care of his mentor, he finds when it comes to carrying on casual conversation, it’s rather tiring to simply chat to just… well, chat.
• Nettlepaw’s high expectations extend not only to others but also to himself. He is acutely aware of his actions and their consequences, which drives him to strive for excellence in everything he does. This self-imposed pressure can sometimes lead to him being overly critical of himself and others. When he doesn’t want to socially burden his clan, he tends to distant himself. Friendliness can be faked, and rather just seems to be polite and personable as needed, seemingly opposed to Willowfrost’s more outward shows of compassion.
• Above all, Nettlepaw holds a profound respect for Silverpelt and StarClan, viewing them with a reverence that dwarfs his own sense of self-importance. This reverence serves as a reminder of his place in the world and the importance of humility in the face of greater powers, and especially holds belief that dreams are a bridge of communication between Starclan and the cats in their care.

• Born in the Moon of Leopard's Rest (2019)

KITHOOD (0-5 moons):

Nettlekit was born to Maplesprig and Speckledfrost on the 11th day of the Moon of Leopard’s Rest (2019), who agreed to come together and provide a litter out of convince, taking solace in the departures of each of their respective “mates”. Nettlekit was a curious and contented sort of kit, only letting his disgruntled mewls known when he desperately wanted something, which was few and far between.

As Nettlekit grew older, alongside his brother, he found that as much as he first enjoyed kit sparing, he just as quickly grew bored of it. He seemed much more interested in the live prey items that were frequented by Cottonbright. One day when he was two moons old, his boredom and curiosity brought him outside the confines of the nursery walls. He began poking his nose into all the dens, but felt awed and overwhelmed at the discovery of the medicine cats den. He stepped in, such smells and many strange looking herbs… He poked around some more, eventually clambering through some of Willowfrost’s herb stock and making a slight mess of things. When confronted, Nettlekit was brutally honest – it had been his fault, but he also insisted that he had a lot of fun. Even after the event, Nettlekit’s never been one to shy away from questions regarding what some of those things are used for, and frequently enjoys stories of hardships where brain wins over brawn.

MEDICINE CAT’S APPRENTICE (6- Current moons)

Nettlekit became Nettlepaw during his apprentice ceremony (First Fishing 2020) and journeyed the Highstones to be accepted as Riverclan’s medicine cat apprentice with Willowfrost as his mentor after the once kit had a harrowing dream about his future. Thouroughly pleased about his apprenticeship, so began to race to becoming a full fledged medicine cat before Willowfrost’s eyes inevitably gave up on her.

Nettlepaw took to his studies like a fish in water, who already possessed a deep curiosity and the ability to learn the more delicate arts of clan ways. His days, however, were rather boring with nothing really substantial to sink his teeth in. That is until the moon of Long Sun when Splashpelt was discovered dead near the river’s edge. A death in the clan wasn’t something to be celebrated, but it showed him an important aspect of clan life. Every death should be preventable, and wanted nothing more than to discover what kind of killer claimed the life of his clanmate.

Willowfrost: Paternal sibling (Adopted)

Name Progression: Nettlekit –> Nettlepaw –> Nettleplume