#clamgale

[marineclan]

Clamgale - Medicine cat

Troublesome, lore master, good swimmer

Bio below:

Clamkit was only 4 moons old when she became an orphaned kit. One parent, Cloudgrass, had passed away before she was born. The other, Saltspring, had drowned while saving another kit. Clamkit had older siblings to rely on, and plenty of extended family and other clanmates, but none of them could replace her parents. Feeling lost and afraid, she became a medicine cat apprentice in order to see them in Starclan. She was overjoyed when they both greeted her during her apprenticeship ceremony.

As Clamgale grew up, she became fairly popular amongst her peers. So popular that at one point both Riot and Dappledrose insisted on joining her for herb gathering patrols. Riot was a little older than her, a former loner who liked to joke about the dangers of the territory. Dappledrose was the kit who Saltspring had died saving. Clamgale had never blamed Dappledrose for this, and instead was often able to share her grief with him. After all, he had lost all three of his littermates in fairly quick succession.

Eventually, Clamgale had to start joining the other medicine cats for herb gathering rather than conducting her own patrols. She saw Riot and Dappledrose less, and became listless and lonely. She had siblings and cousins, but none of them had ever taken much notice of her. She missed her friends, particularly Dappledrose. He had always been a little reserved, but his eyes sparkled when they talked and he never seemed to get tired of her observations about life. Not getting to see him as often meant keeping most of her thoughts to herself.

One day, while looking after a few kits while their parents were on patrol, Dappledrose suddenly settled in to join her. Without much more than a shy greeting, they took turns bathing and entertaining the little ones, and Clamgale couldn't help but feel touched by how natural their partnership felt. Dappledrose had always been soft-spoken, and she had a bit of a devilish streak, but together they created a warm and playful atmosphere that the kits enjoyed.

Once the kits' parents returned, Clamgale and Dappledrose said goodbye to them and Dappledrose gently asked if he could speak with her privately. She stuttered while agreeing, but he seemed too nervous to notice it. Once they were alone, Dappledrose complimented Clamgale's good nature toward the kits. Flustered, she insisted that that Dappledrose had been the one to calm them down enough to be manageable.

They exchanged compliments for a while longer before Dappledrose asked if she had ever wanted kits of her own. When she shyly admitted that she would enjoy having a family, he grew quiet. She asked him the same question, and he said that he'd love to have his own family. He pawed at the ground a bit, and she realized that her heart was racing. If she listened closely enough, she could hear his faintly beating as well.

After a few moments of silence, Clamgale shifted closer to Dappledrose, softly pressing their sides together. He startled at the contact, and his eyes briefly met hers in surprise. She smiled and looked down at the circles he'd been tracing in the sand. This seemed to give Dappledrose some confidence, and he cleared his throat before addressing her again. When he shakily asked if she would consider him for a mate, she purred and immediately agreed.

Despite her excitement about becoming mates with Dappledrose and their mutual agreement that they wanted kits, Clamgale found little time to spare for him. She savored the chances he got to help her with herb gathering, and every interaction was extremely important to her. But crisis after crisis struck the medicine den, from blight and rot to illness and injury. She had no choice but to to prioritize her work.

When Dappledrose became a medicine den crisis himself, Clamgale was too frantic to tend to him properly. She had to be blocked from entering so as to not interfere with his treatment, and was only allowed in when it was clear that he wouldn't make it. He had eaten bad prey, and his condition had declined rapidly. After only a couple of days, he was gone. Clamgale could only confine herself to her nest in the hopes that she would see him again in her dreams.

Before Dappledrose's death, they had always shared a sense of responsibility for the clans' kits. Hardly a day would go by without each of them having some new story to tell about their younger clanmates. But without Dappledrose, Clamgale found it difficult to face kits at all. She began to avoid them and delved deeper into her spiritual and medicinal work instead.

Clamgale's own death was very sudden. During a solo herb gathering trip she encountered a fox that had wandered deep into Marineclan territory. She had no escorts, no substantial training, and no chance to escape. Although she turned and ran as fast as she could, she still woke up in Starclan within moments. Dappledrose was the very first cat to greet her, panicked and teary-eyed on her behalf.

[marineclan]

Frogchirp, Saltspring, and Cloudgrass family portrait! 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈

[marineclan]

Caterpillarheart - Warrior

Ambitious, lore master

Bio below:

One of Caterpillarheart's parents, Frogchirp, died before she was born. Her littermate, Puddlepaw, died while they were apprentices. Her other parent, Saltspring, died shortly after the birth of her halfsibling, Clamkit. Because Saltspring died while saving Dappledkit, Caterpillarheart struggled to determine her feelings toward the younger cat. At times she tried to ask the kit what he remembered about the event that killed her parent, but the questioning clearly upset him and she never found a way to talk about it in a way that felt appropriate.

Caterpillarheart struggled to resolve her feelings about the loss of her parents, and found herself unable to step in to help Clamkit. She had only just become a warrior herself and was in desperate need of guidance. To make matters worse, her romantic life seemed  doomed from the beginning. She was very attracted to Crookedstar, and he seemed to reciprocate her feelings despite having a mate. The relationship intimidated her greatly, so she never acted on it. The most she could do was try to avoid him as much as possible.

Dejected, Caterpillarheart next found herself interested in Lavenderstripe. The older shecat was more mature than her, but Caterpillarheart craved a stable kind of love. Watching Lavenderstripe choose another cat as her mate was painful. There  were several other candidates for Caterpillarheart's affections over the years, mostly older cats who had already settled down with families of their own. Just like with Crookedstar, she never acted on those desires and kept her distance from her clanmates.

Caterpillarheart ultimately felt most comfortable with the younger cats. She particularly enjoyed training apprentices. Their youthful naivety was something she could relate to, and she was happy to teach them practical skills. She focused on teaching as much as possible in order to distract herself from desires that felt unresolvable.

Things changed when Lavenderstripe's mate passed away. Although Caterpillarheart did her best to keep her distance, not wanting to stir up any old feelings, Lavenderstripe sought her out instead. Caterpillarheart felt immensely awkward about it at first, but Lavenderstripe was lonely and clearly missed her after so many years of emotional distance. Gradually, over several moons, Caterpillarheart couldn't help falling properly in love with her. She gathered enough courage to confess her feelings, and Lavenderstripe's hesitant answer didn't surprise her. Of course she still loved her mate, and of course she hadn't moved on from him yet. When Caterpillarheart assured her that that was perfectly fine, Lavenderstripe agreed to become her mate. After so many years of fighting her feelings, it felt surreal to embrace them for once.

Lavenderstripe was already in her twilight years, so their relationship was fairly short-lived. Caterpillarheart was forced to mourn her new mate after only a few short years. Tragically, Clamgale also passed away soon after her own mate, leaving Caterpillarheart without any living family members. There were few kits in the clan at that point, so she had to content herself with telling stories and giving advice to the younger warriors when they bothered to listen.

Caterpillarheart took longer than most cats to retire. Years of grief had taken their toll on her, and she was still relatively young when she succumbed to a case of whitecough. In Starclan she discovered that Lavenderstripe had reunited with her previous mate and decided not to resume their relationship. As much as she loved the other shecat she wanted to prioritize her own reunions with family she'd lost far too early.

[marineclan]

Hatchbubble - Warrior

Compassionate, beloved kitsitter, strange dreamer

Bio below:

Horrified by the death of her sister, Nacrewhistle, by a rogue ambush. After her parents had both passed away, Hatchbubble watched over her two younger sisters, Caterpillarheart and Clamgale, from a distance. She had dedicated her life to protecting the clan, so although she wasn't close to her surviving family it still felt natural for her to keep an eye on them. Hatchbubble mostly kept to herself during her long life. She focused on her work, and was able to pass away peacefully soon after Crookedstar.