Pebble'pelt

''"I never chose to be here... but I am. I have to try to make the best of it, because there's no going back." PebbIe'paw to herself''

Pebble'pelt is a small, scrawny, dark gray oriental she-cat with grey-green eyes. She has long limbs, large ears, a thin facial structure and is blind in her left eye. She is currently serving as a WindClan apprentice.

Biography
Pebble'pelt was born as Leah to Diana and Lancelot, alongside her sister Brooke. She was considered the runt of the litter, as the smaller and weaker kit, and her mother often had to split up play-fights between her and Brooke as it got too rough and Leah ended up hurt. Brooke teased Leah often, leading to her becoming withdrawn. Meanwhile, Diana overheard her twoleg discussing selling Brooke and Leah to another twoleg for breeding purposes. Terrified her kits would be forced into the life she had, Diana took them to the forest one rainy night to see if any of the four Clans would take them in. Ash'leap, Diana's mother, was a former RiverClan cat and so she intended to take Brooke and Leah there, recalling her mother telling her many stories of the greatness and freedom of RiverClan. But RiverClan only agreed to accept the stronger of the two kits, so the sisters were separated and Diana turned to WindClan, begging them to take Leah in. The leader accepted as WindClan was running short on numbers and Leah was taken in by a nursing queen, renamed Pebble'kit for the colour of her pelt. The queen tried to integrate Pebble'kit with her adopted littermates as best she could, but Pebble'kit grew up feeling like an outsider for her obvious physical differences from the other cats. The kits in the nursery enquired about her unique appearance in a curious manner, but Pebble'kit interpreted this as more teasing and withdrew herself socially even more, speaking only when spoken to. She felt generally uneasy around the clan cats whom she perceived as aggressive and frightening, and stuck close to her adopted mother whilst the other kits played, too young to remember why her real mother left her.

At six moons, Pebble'kit was made an apprentice, renamed Pebble'paw. She was assigned a mentor, who was thankfully more easy-going and laid-back than most of the warriors. Pebble'paw pushed herself through training, despite struggling due to her lack of strength and scrawny body. One instance whereupon she was nearly hit by a Monster chasing prey led her to become even more afraid of the world around her, but she was too scared to admit this incident to her clanmates. Pebble'paw endeavoured to blend in as much as possible with her clan, burying feelings of insecurity and inferiority under a stoic and cold demeanour. She struggled immensely making friends, and retained her irrational fear of the older cats. When Pebble'paw alerted the leader to the whereabouts of a missing kit and helped to rescue it, she was forlorn when she got no credit for her part in the rescue, and realised that perhaps her efforts to blend in had gone too far.

Unhappy, hopeless, and feeling alone, Pebble'paw goes on a walk to the Carrionplace one frosty morning. She hears the footsteps of another cat behind her, and quickens her pace, fearing for her life. She accidentally traps herself inside the Carrionplace, surrounded by vermin and twoleg litter, and cowers in fear as the other cat nears her. The other cat turns out to be Minnow'paw, who spotted Pebble'paw across the river and recognised her. Minnow'paw is overjoyed to be reunited with her sister, whilst Pebble'paw is wary, preparing to be attacked. After a brief talk about their lives, they quickly establish that they are in rival clans. Pebble'paw is keen to leave the conversation in order to stay out of trouble, but Minnow'paw becomes upset, questioning why Pebble'paw doesn't want to speak with her after nearly 10 moons. The conversation quickly turns sour and Minnow'paw calls Pebble'paw a coward before storming off. Sullen from the encounter, Pebble'paw returns home and tries to forget it ever happened. A few days later, the forest is hit with a blizzard. Pebble'paw and her mentor are out training when the blizzard strikes; they start to head back to camp but the heavy sheets of snow quickly engulf their sense of direction. Pebble'paw becomes separated from her mentor, and wanders around aimlessly, cold and terrified. She crosses the Twoleg bridge, but from the wrong side, and is pinned to the floor by Minnow'paw, accusing her of trespassing. The two scuffle, and in the commotion Pebble'paw accidentally makes a gash in Minnow'paw's shoulder, causing her to become furious and properly attack her sister. The fight is broken up by a RiverClan patrol, and they instruct Minnow'paw to return to camp with them. Pebble'paw is left scratched but otherwise unharmed, and she skulks back to WindClan, seething that Minnow'paw would try to seriously hurt her but feeling guilty all the same.

With a prey-bourne illness sweeping through the forest, tensions rise between WindClan and RiverClan as they battle for a safe food source. Pebble'paw, already underweight from stress, becomes seriously malnourished as she is too afraid to eat anything the others bring back to camp for fear of getting sick. She heads over to RiverClan on her own late at night, intending to try and catch a fish, but is sighted by Minnow'paw and her mentor. She is chased out of their territory, but Minnow'paw continues to give chase, despite her mentor calling her back. Pebble'paw runs onto a block of ice, but skids across and falls into the freezing river. She is reluctantly saved by Minnow'paw, who warns her that if she catches her on RiverClan territory again she'd rip Pebble'paw to pieces. Pebble'paw thanks Minnow'paw for saving her life. Pebble'paw grows ever frail and weak due to lack of nutrition, and collapses on patrol. She is taken to the medicine cat den where she is urged to eat a mouse but refuses. Her mentor tells her she cannot hope to become a warrior whilst being so weak, and Pebble'paw reluctantly eats the mouse. She stays behind in camp whilst the patrol of WindClan cats are sent out to the Moonstone, and upon their return, begins to build her strength back up. On a clear day Pebble'paw is sat by the gorge daydreaming when she spots Minnow'paw on the other side. She intends to stay put, but Minnow'paw gestures for her to come over. They meet in the middle of the Twoleg bridge and Minnow'paw says she just wanted to make sure Pebble'paw was still alive. Pebble'paw is shocked that her sister even cared, and warms up to her slightly. The two spend the evening discussing their lives until Pebble'paw is called back to camp by her mentor. When he asks who Pebble'paw was talking to, she replies "a friend".

Pebble'paw and Minnow'paw decide to meet up once every quarter-moon at the gorge. Pebble'paw is satisfied at the thought of having someone to talk to and call a friend, although there is still some minor tension between them. Minnow'paw believes Pebble'paw is a coward who needs to get over her fears, and Pebble'paw thinks Minnow'paw takes herself far too seriously. On one of their meetings Minnow'paw proudly announces she is now a warrior named Minnow'fang, and Pebble'paw begins to wonder when she will ever become a warrior. All of her original denmates had already become warriors, and Pebble'paw was starting to lose hope that it would ever happen to her. She confesses to Minnow'fang that she doesn't believe she is truly suited to clan life and that she feels inferior to most of her clanmates. Minnow'fang laughs at her. Not long after, Pebble'paw partakes in a mission to chase rogues off of WindClan territory. The mission succeeds, but one of the rogues scratches her left eye, permanently blinding her. Despite this, she is praised by her mentor for her bravery, and is given her warrior name Pebble'pelt as soon as she is recovered. Pebble'pelt struggles to adjust to the world out of just one eye, but is determined to make it work as she has already come this far. She has a nightmare where Minnow'fang attacks and kills her, and, believing it to be a warning, avoids their meeting the next night, much to Minnow'fang's confusion.

Tensions between to rise between WindClan and ShadowClan, following reports that WindClan cats had been scented on ShadowClan territory. A gathering takes place, in which these allegations become more serious. Towards the end of the gathering, Pebble'pelt spots Minnow'fang, but is reluctant to speak to her. Minnow'fang asks Pebble'pelt what happened to her eye, and why she missed their meeting. She questions whether Pebble'pelt actually cares about her, and wants to continue their meetings. Pebble'pelt insists that she does and that she is just going through a rough spot. Minnow'fang is displeased and goes back to RiverClan without saying goodbye, and Pebble'pelt watches her leave, her heart heavy with guilt. Pebble'pelt goes on a lone walk late in the evening, just after sunset. She wanders around aimlessly, feeling nauseous from anxiety, and not paying much attention to her surroundings. She is spotted by Crow'sweep just outside of the Carrionplace, who sneaks up on her and leaps at her from behind. He kills her by biting her neck, and she dies alone beside the Thunderpath. The last thing she hears is Minnow'fang screeching from afar.

In StarClan, the first thing Pebble'pelt notices is that her eyesight has been fully restored, and all of the tension and aches in her body are gone. She is approached by Ash'leap, who introduces herself as Pebble'pelt's grandmother. Pebble'pelt believes it, as the two bear a striking resemblance to one another. Ash'leap takes Pebble'pelt to see the forest from Silverpelt, and eventually they come across Minnow'fang, who is solemnly sat by the gorge in the exact spot the sisters used to have their meetings. Pebble'pelt grows upset that she never got to say goodbye to Minnow'fang, but Ash'leap reassures her that they will be reunited once again someday. She gives Minnow'star one of her nine lives for courage.

Personality
Pebble'pelt tends to be a socially withdrawn and timid cat. She is reluctant to make friends or even speak to other cats without good reason, preferring to stay in her own head. If a cat manages to gain her trust, she retains her quiet nature but speaks to them more warmly, presenting herself as a good listener. Pebble'pelt suffers from anxiety and is easily frightened by sudden sounds. She is very susceptible to stress, leading her to neglect herself. Because of this, her physical strength is diminished and she struggles with fights due to being easily overpowered by other cats. After reuniting with Minnow'fang, Pebble'pelt becomes slightly less withdrawn and tense now that she can confide in at least one cat. Her work output is tied to her emotions, and overthinking or negative emotions causes her performance to suffer massively. Pebble'pelt is very self-critical, constantly feeling inferior to the other apprentices and disliking her own appearance to the point where she avoids looking in rivers or puddles because of her reflection. After losing sight in her left eye, her self confidence suffers even more.

Pebble'pelt requires a lot of time on her own to recharge, and can become easily uncomfortable if her space is crowded by even well-meaning cats. She shrugs off condescending statements and comments, but deep down takes them to heart. She spends a lot of time thinking about her mother and Minnow'fang, and to a point reminisces about her past life, wondering how much of a different cat she would be if she had remained a kittypet.

Minnow'fang
Despite growing up together for two moons, Pebble'paw had few remaining memories of her time as a kittypet with her sister due to being so young. Upon their first reunion, Pebble'paw was extremely wary of Minnow'paw, even doubtful as to whether she was really her sister. Their relationship turned sour when Minnow'paw attacked Pebble'paw when she ended up lost in RiverClan territory, and remained that way for quite some time, with Pebble'paw actively avoiding any encounters with Minnow'paw in order to protect herself. Things took a turn when Minnow'paw pulled Pebble'paw out of a freezing river, saving her life, and following this they began to rekindle their friendship. The two apprentices met up every quarter-moon at the border between their two clans to catch up and share tongues, although Pebble'paw kept these meetings a secret for fear of getting into trouble. Over time she began to consider Minnow'paw a true friend, and congratulated her sister upon receiving her warrior name. Despite their improving relationship, they still had some differences, mainly lying in their loyalty to their respective clans, as Minnow'fang took clan life far more seriously than Pebble'paw ever did, and had a much higher sense of pride. The two fell out when Pebble'pelt skipped one of their meetings, growing paranoid after having a nightmare of Minnow'fang pushing her off the gorge, which upset Minnow'fang. Their last time seeing eachother alive was at a Gathering, in which Minnow'fang snapped at Pebble'pelt for ditching her and walking away without saying goodbye. Pebble'pelt is upset by this, believing that she had lost her sister's friendship entirely, leading her to grow even more solitary. Pebble'pelt had a hard time talking about her true feelings with Minnow'fang, worried about being mocked or put down by her sister, but truly wanted them to get along. She appreciated having another cat to talk to and hang out with, even if she felt unable to express herself fully. In StarClan, the two get along far better as they no longer have to pressure of staying separated for loyalty's sake. They can be seen regularly hunting together and sleeping side by side.

WindClan apprentices
Coming soon