Graypaw

[Fia]

Name: Graypaw

Prefix Meaning: Given the name 'Graykit' for his gray fur.

Suffix Meaning: He is an apprentice; thus, -paw.

Age: 6 moons

Rank: Apprentice

Clan: SunClan

Description: Graypaw's name more or less speaks for itself in terms of color. The background shade, if you will, is a light, ashy gray, mostly covered with a marbled-pattern of darker gray. At a glance, the young apprentice is the image of his father, though if one looks a little closer, it becomes apparent that his markings don't exactly match Stormheart's. They're close, though, with the darker gray stopping at his 'wrists'/'ankles', on his chest, and at the base of tail, only to reappear near the end of it. At the moment, Graypaw's pelt is a few shades lighter than his father's, even to the point of being a little silvery, but it's liable to darken over time, just based on family history.

For his age, Graypaw's on the big, heavy side. Not huge, nor overweight, but powerful, solidly built and... well, a bit clumsy. He's still growing into his limbs, so to speak, just a little on the slow side in terms of coordination development. He doesn't go stumbling around as if he'd been chewing on catnip all day, but he's not the most graceful fellow around. He's been known to trip over absolutely nothing, come skidding into dens and crash into the opposite walls, and fall off of logs and boulders that the average apprentice would have no trouble just standing on.

As stated, Graypaw has a fluffier-than-average face, which makes him look younger than he really is, and likely always will. This youthful impression is only increased by his large ears, his small muzzle, and his large, round eyes. Silver-white fur lines the soft amber orbs, only making them look bigger and more kit-like. His chin and the front of his muzzle are colored the same silvery-white, as are his whiskers. His nose is rather pale, too, as if to keep from standing out against all the gray. Cute little muzzle or not, Graypaw often has a big, happy grin on his face, giving him an absolutely adorable and rather goofy look.

Personality: Graypaw is a sweet little tom. Much like his father, he’s a naturally laid-back, go-with-the-flow sort of guy. He’s not the sort of kid to be actively out to wreak havoc, but if someone suggests they pull a prank on someone, he’ll happily go along with it just ‘cause it sounds like fun and won’t really do any harm. He does lean more towards a ‘follower’ personality than that of a leader, but he’s perfectly capable of thinking for himself, and if something sounds like a bad idea, he’ll say so and steer clear of it. If the other apprentices want to get caught sneaking around DayClan territory, well, he’ll say he doesn’t think it’s smart, and then he’ll back off and let them do their thing. The only times he’ll put his paw down and argue are when someone’s up to something obviously dangerous. Getting in trouble is one thing. Getting hurt or killed is another.

Now, careful he may be, but Graypaw’s not exactly what one would call responsible. He’s a lazy little furball, agreeable enough when asked to do something, but always putting off apprentice tasks until someone eventually snaps at him to get to work. He’ll happily go out hunting in the morning and return just as happily sometime that evening with two or three pieces of fresh-kill in his jaws. It’s not that he means to slack off, he just gets… distracted. He’ll decide to take a quick break and end up napping for an hour, or catch sight of a pond and spend all afternoon trying to catch a fish. If you watch him and remind him to keep on task, he’ll do so gladly, and so he often asks to work with others so that he’ll actually get his work done. He wants to be useful, and he wishes he were a naturally hardworking cat. But he’s not, and he knows it, and he just hopes it’s something that’ll develop over time.

History: Graykit was born -scandal of scandals- to a pair of senior apprentices, just a moon away from warriorhood, but apprentices nonetheless. Rosepaw was his mother, and Stormpaw, his father. The two had come together early in their apprentice days, and though they were generally regarded as 'an adorable pair', their having a son before either was a warrior was, rather understandably, frowned upon by the more conservative cat's of the Clan. But though they were young, they were good parents. Heatherpaw simply told her dismayed but supportive mentor that she would put off her formal warrior ceremony, and keep her apprentice name until she was no longer a nursery queen. Stormpaw, proud of his mate and devoted to his family, continued his training but spent every spare moment in the nursery with them despite his near-constant state of exhaustion.

Now, naturally Graykit couldn't see his parents as anything but what a mother and father ought to be. They were patient and kind, always ready to play with him and tell him stories. By the time the kit was walking and talking at the age of one moon, Stormpaw became Stormheart, and though he doesn't remember it, Graykit was present and excited and cheering at his father's warrior ceremony. Parents aside, though, Graykit had a fairly unremarkable first couple moons of life. He tagged along with Blazekit and Thornkit when his mother took the occasional break from playing with him, delighted that the older kits not only didn't mind having him around, but actually seemed to like him. He played with kits his own age, too, of course, but he was always thrilled that "the big kids" were willing to let him play with them. But his best friend, his hero, was his father. 

This was rather fortunate -that Graykit was very much a daddy's boy- because when he was about three moons old, Rosepaw contracted a rather severe case of greencough. The young she-cat was immediately quarantined, much to Graykit's bewilderment, and though she initially showed signs of improvement, the first frosts of leafbare caused a sudden shortage of medication, and her fragile health rapidly began to deteriorate. Graykit and Stormheart, who had been assured that she was recovering well, were both stunned and understandably outraged at her abrupt turn for the worse. Rosepaw lingered on for another half moon before finally leaving SunClan for StarClan. Graykit was left confused, hurt, and angry, clinging to his devastated father, who in turn kept his son close as they struggled with their loss. For a while afterwards, Graykit lived with a constant fear of being abandoned and simply refused to let Stormheart out of his sight for long, to the extent that the young warrior had to sleep in the nursery in the nights immediately following Rosepaw's death. This ended quickly when Thornkit and Blazekit, on the verge of apprenticeship, stepped in and more or less adopted Graykit into their family (much to their mother and father's approval). Their constant supportive company and distracting games, combined with Stormheart's slightly obsessive habit of checking in on his son every time he left or returned to camp, were all the therapy Graykit needed to find his paws, and in just over a moon, was more or less himself again - though still rather more dependent on his father than he might have been otherwise.

This lingering clinginess only began to disappear when the little tom was made an apprentice, in part due to his eagerness to prove that he was, essentially, a big kid now, a a big kid didn't need his daddy hovering protectively over him day and night. Another factor is the simple fact that he now has another adult figure he can look up to and count on. Nevertheless, Graypaw still adores his father; Stormheart is still his hero and still his best friend, and everything about the two suggests that this won't be changing anytime soon.

Picture: {Graypaw}
{Eye Color}