Splashedfur

[{Seal}]

GENERAL

Name: Splashedfur
Explanation: Splashed- for the white that speckles his blue-gray fur, like the froth on a breaking wave. -fur to emphasize the former.
Gender: Tom
Age: 70 moons
Clan: WaveClan
Rank: senior warrior

APPEARANCE

Build: on the thicker, heavier side of average, but not bulky.
Fur: blue-gray
Eyes: gray
Markings: flecks of white speckled over his body
Overall:

Splashedfur is an average-built cat by anyone's standards, although he tends to lean toward the more muscular, less swift side of the scale. His fur is deep, blue-gray, the color of a stormy sea, and exceedingly slick (to help move him through the water) and thick (allowing him to survive cold waters), as all WaveClan cats' fur is. Flecks of white speckle his body, looking for all the world like flecks of foam escaping a breaking wave, granting him his kithood name, Splashedkit. Large, heavy paws (larger than average, as his body is slightly larger than average) laden with webbing show the world his WaveClan heritage. Gray eyes complete the picture of a cat nearly sculpted after the image of a stormy sea.

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits:

• Cheerful
  
• Optimistic
  
• Experienced
  
• Friendly
  
• Active
  
• Obedient
  
• Laid-back

Negative Traits:

• Not serious
  
• Unobservant
  
• No confidence in himself
  
• Careless
  
• Overly free-spirited
  
• No opinion of his own

Likes:

• Water
  
• Water in leafbare
  
• Playing
  
• Being active

Dislikes:

• Serious topics
  
• Criticism
  
• Having to make decisions

Fears:

• Death
  
• Being in charge of anything
  
• Heights

Ideals:

• Optimism
• Obeying authority

Other:

If there were ever a warrior not fit for leadership, it is Splashedfur. One thing every cat in WaveClan knows is he hates being in charge. Even leading patrols makes him uneasy--he does not trust himself with decisions, and has very little confidence. Not to mention his perfect inability to take serious situations...well...seriously. He does not like having grave discussions, and detests having to help with Clan decisions when the senior warriors are called for their opinions. Not only does he hate voicing his opinion, he also just rarely has one--he lacks the ability to focus on important situations.

However, Splashedfur brings other attributes to the Clan. He is very laid-back and cheerful, more like a morale booster than anything else. In times of danger and unease, when the rest of the Clan is worrying, he is the one to bring up chipper conversations and boost his Clanmates' confidence. In times of peace, he likes to spend his time splashign about in the waves, chasing after fish with no apparent intent to catch them. His favorite place to be is the ocean, much like the rest of WaveClan. Unlike most WaveClan warriors, however, he especially loves freezing leaf-bare water.

Despite his lack of confidence in himself, Splashedfur is undoubtedly a very experienced warrior, and more or less knows what to do when the time comes for battles. Splashedfur does not enjoy fighting, but he does not fear it--his tactic of joking with his opponent, laughing and mewing cheerily, to confuse them is more than just a show of his natural personality. He knows his stuff, and although he doesn't like training apprentices, he is actually a very good mentor.

Finally, it must be noted that Splashedfur is extremely obedient and a huge supporter of the leader's word being law. He views obedience as the marking sign of the best warriors, and impresses those ideas upon any rowdy apprentices and arrogant young warriors.

HISTORY

Family: Stormtail--father--deceased
Frothfur--mother--deceased
Icepelt--sister--deceased
Shimmerpool--mate--alive
Stormbreeze--son--alive
Hazelpaw--daughter--deceased

History:
Kithood

Splashedfur was born during a hard time in Clan history. Just a few nights after he and Icekit were born, their father Stormtail was called to fight in a border skirmish-gone-crazy against GrassClan. The fight grew brutal as CliffClan and BrushClan took sides, and only the power of StarClan stopped the battle from leading to an all-out war. Although he did not die, Stormtail was gravely injured; he walked with a limp the rest of his life, and soon had to retire to the elder den.

In truth, this was when Splashedkit's cheerful, carefree personality began to form. He and Icekit represented the two options for WaveClan cats at that time: dwell on and worry about the deep tensions with GrassClan, or ignore it altogether. Even as one so young, Icekit grew a deep hated for the Clan that had crippled her father and put him in the elder's den well before his time. She clung to every word the more bitter WaveClan warriors spoke, and looked forward to the day she could begin her training and grow strong enough to pay GrassClan back for what had happened.

Splashedkit, on the other hand, decided to ignore the issues altogether and focused on cheerful ideas. The sea was pretty today, wasn't it? The sunrise was nice. Hey, look at the fish jumping out in the surf! Those were the things he focused on, and he looked forward to becoming an apprentice for other reasons than revenge. He just wanted to be able to get out and see the territory more--to marvel at more things. Whenever the older cats would start talking about GrassClan and CliffClan (no one ever seemed to talk about BrushClan), Splashedkit would sneak out and splash in the sea. When his disappearances were finally discovered, a kind senior warrior named Reedtail began accompanying him on these outings and teaching him how to swim. As a result, Splashedkit was well along in his training before he even became an apprentice.

Apprenticeship

Not surprisingly, Splashedpaw was given to Reedtail when he became an apprentice. They quickly began building on his swimming talents to include difficult fishing techniques. Battle training was tolerable but far less exciting, and it was clear from the start that though Splashedpaw would be a decent fighter, he would never have the battle rage to be a good one.

Merely a moon after becoming an apprentice, Splashedpaw experienced a second disaster for WaveClan. For several days a heavy, pounding storm beat the beaches and cliffs, driving both CliffClan and WaveClan from their homes. Naturally, WaveClan would never have asked help from GrassClan--the last argument was still too raw. They took shelter in the thick, tangled forests of BrushClan.

Those two moons were some of the worst of Splashedpaw's life. He could feel the unease leaking from his Clanmates; no Clan, not even cheerful WaveClan, enjoyed being at another's mercy. The BrushClan cats were kind but exceedingly quiet, which made Splashedpaw nervous and uneasy. He did his best to start conversations with the other apprentices and be cheerful for his Clan, but that was a nearly impossible task. He would have left camp as much as possible, but the tangled underbrush of the territory was even worse than the observant eyes of the BrushClan warriors. His only solace came in Tanglecreek, where he and Reedtail continued with his swimming training. Of course, it wasn't the same.

When the waters finally receded from WaveClan's shoreline, the bedraggled Clan returned. The next few moons were full of gaity for the Clan; they were so happy to be back in their own territory and to see their white beaches that for several days straight the Clan just had a great big party. Apprentices competed in swimming (Splashedpaw often won), warriors competed in mock-battles, and for awhile everyone was happy.

The gaiety ended when it became known that disease was ravaging BrushClan. The Clan was banned from the Gathering from two moons, and WaveClan was thrown into a panic. What if they had contracted a disease while in BrushClan territory? Would they all die, too? Was this some kind of plot? The panic lasted until BrushClan was announced free of disease, and although a few WaveClan cats grew sick during that time, no one died.

Warriorhood

At twelve moons old, Splashedpaw and Icepaw became warriors of WaveClan. Two siblings had never been so different, and the difference was obvious as they stood before their Clan to receive their warrior names. Splashedfur, cheerful and careless, beamed about at everyone with head high and eyes bright, while Icepelt stood with the serious, calculating demeanor she had begun picking up ever since they had found out why their father was injured. Despite their clear differences, the two had a marvelous night as they stood their vigil.

Just a few moons later, CliffClan did the unspeakable--they declared at a Gathering that they deserved the rights to the islands, and that WaveClan would not be allowed to hunt there any longer. It was a ridiculous attempt and one that was put down that very night by the other three Clans, but once again the tension within WaveClan rose as they waited for an attack. Splashedfur, of course, was not affected by the unease; he cast aside the crazy idea that CliffClan would fight over the islands, and became quite a nuisance (but an appreciated nuisance ^.^) with his overly-optimistic conversations.

Mentoring

Shortly after this incident, when he was 15 moons old, Splashedfur was entrusted with Shimmerpaw, a shy young she-cat. In all honesty, the current leader of WaveClan was taking a step of faith--Splashedfur was not a bad warrior, but he also wasn't a good one, and few believed he had what it took to be a mentor. They were wrong.

Despite his own shortcomings, Splashedfur proved to be a fantastic mentor. He genuinely enjoyed getting up early and taking Shimmerpaw out to train, and slowly the shy she-cat began to loosen up. She was 11 moons, almost ready to be made into a warrior, when the hawks attacked.

No one had been paying much attention to the increased number of hawk and eagles roosting in CliffClan's territory. But when one day an eagle snatched a WaveClan kit from the beaches, all the Clans knew something had to be done. Every warrior of WaveClan and CliffClan was called out to fight; the CliffClan cats drove the eagles and hawks close to the ground and into the water, where the warriors of WaveClan wreaked their revenge. GrassClan and, to everyone's surprise, even BrushClan warriors arrived to help in the great battle, and Shimmerpaw and Splashedfur, stationed in the water to make sure no fallen hawk or eagle got back into the air, fought side-by-side throughout.

The battle was well-fought, with only a few injuries sustained and no deaths. For the first time, the tensions between the four Clans relaxed completely as they congratulated one another. Shortly afterwards, Shimmerpaw was given the name Shimmerpool, and Splashedfur was given another apprentice (although this one did not affect Splashedfur so much as Shimmerpool had).

Warriorhood

When the incident between BrushClan and GrassClan occurred, Splashedfur chose to remain oblivious. He could not ignore Icepelt's grumbling about how "GrassClan deserved it" (although GrassClan won the battle), but otherwise he kept himself out of any conversations about the spontaneous attack. He and Shimmerpool spoke often during these times, as they both preferred not to think about such serious matters, and grew closer than ever before.

For several moons, WaveClan lived in peace. It was during this time, when he was about 35 moons old, that Splashedfur and Shimmerpool decided they were mates. This had been coming, of course--everyone had suspected it, but the two lovers themselves had been too oblivious to notice. At 50 moons old, Splashedfur became a father of two healthy kits--Stormkit (named after his grandfather, who had died of old age by this time) and Hazelkit.

Naturally, the time of bliss could not last forever; WaveClan seemed to attract trouble like honey attracted flies. A simple battle skirmish between GrassClan and WaveClan escalated into a bloodbath; many cats were heavily injured. Splashedfur and Shimmerpool did not fight themselves, as they were not among the WaveClan patrol, but both Hazelpaw and Stormpaw did. The new apprentices had a horrible time, and they both came back with heavy injuries--they had not yet been trained to fight against the swift cats of GrassClan, for who could have guessed the patrol would lead to such a battle? Stormpaw lost an ear and received a permanent scar across one shoulder, but it was Hazelpaw who suffered the most. Loss of blood left her body weak, and infection set in. Within a few moons, Hazelpaw was dead.

The following moons were some of the few that Splashedfur was not seen smiling or making jokes. He mourned his lost daughter heavily, and had Shimmerpool not been there with him, he might have fallen into despair. As it was, he had mourned all he could by the time Stormpaw became a warrior, and was able to genuinely cheer his son as he received his warrior name of Stormbreeze.

Since then, Splashedfur has slowly returned to his old self. Although Hazelpaw's death still feels raw on his nerves, he continues to laugh, joke, and go about his careless ways. And yes, this is a crappy way to sum up a history, but my blood sugar is low and frankly I'm sick of talking about his past ^.^