Hollyclaw

A chocolate classic tabby she-cat with a spotted belly and green eyes.

Hollyclaw is a medium-sized chocolate brown classic tabby with green eyes and short fur. The stripes on her head and legs melt into wide blotches of darker fur that drape across her body to the base of her banded tail. Her face ends with a dark pink nose and small white chin. Her fur returns to its warmer brown shortly after her throat and the color is consistent throughout her plush underside, contrasted by her spotted belly. She’s muscular, but not stocky like her mother.

Hollyclaw strives for efficiency and dislikes aimless idleness. She believes that rest is important, but spending all sunhigh sharing tongues when there’s work to be done is irksome. No task is too small. She was raised on the teaching that anything a Clan cat does should be in service to their Clan, not to themselves.

ShadowClan is everything to her and she would not see it weakened. Because of this, she keeps personal feelings personal and tries to hide any unhelpful emotions that she may have. She thinks that ignoring and suppressing them will whither them. If she could, she would bury them in a deep hole and put a boulder over it to keep anyone from finding them. Instead, burying them with work will have to suffice.

She finds it very difficult to relax and enjoy things for the sake of enjoyment. Not that she’ll ever admit it to anyone, but thanks to her mother, she feels guilt and anxiety if she’s not doing something that she thinks directly benefits the Clan. Fortunately, sparring does benefit everyone, because it’s a way to train and maintain skills. Hollyclaw enjoys it and often uses it to clear her head.

She tries to keep a cool head and consider all of her options in mind before she acts, which causes her to be ruminative at times. She thinks and rethinks about situations in order to prepare for the future. Mistakes can be learning experiences, but she prefers to avoid them. Once her mind is made up, she tends to be unwavering unless convinced of a better alternative.

• Born in the Moon of Running Prey (2018) 109
• Made an Apprentice as Hollypaw during the Moon of Leopard's Rest (2018) 115
• Named a Warrior as Hollyclaw during the Moon of Running Prey (2019) 122
• Acknowledged as a Senior Warrior as Hollyclaw in ShadowClan during the Moon of First Fishing (2020) 134

Hollyclaw was born in the Moon of Running Prey (2018) alongside a brother to Hawkfeather and Oakfoot. They named her Hollykit and him Hickorykit. Hawkfeather was true to her namesake when it came to watching them and, not that it would matter if he did, Oakfoot had no objections. Hawkfeather wanted them to be disciplined and was strict about keeping them out of trouble, so that there would be no unfortunate encounters with predators like foxes. She succeeded. Neither kit left camp unsupervised and no tragedies befell them.

Hollyclaw was apprenticed on time as Hollypaw during the Moon of Leopard’s Rest (2018). Her mentor was Dawnflurry and she was thrilled to train. Unlike Hickorypaw, Hollypaw kept her complaints to herself, even with menial tasks. She owed that restraint to Hawkfeather’s lectures that whining was for newborn kits. At best, complaining was unbecoming of a good Clan cat, especially a warrior. At worst, it was disrespectful. Hawkfeather could find a way to criticize anything, so Hollypaw was driven to spare herself from her comments and avoid disappointing Hawkfeather and the Clan by extension.

The worst part of Hollypaw’s time as an apprentice was when her father went missing in the Moon of Tiger’s Wrath (2018). Oakfoot’s body was never found, but evidence found past the northern border suggested a fatal encounter.

The rest of her apprenticeship went smoothly and she discovered her preference for combat training and border patrols. She enjoyed hunting too, but wanted to be sure of her abilities to directly defend the Clan as needed. Dawnflurry tried to get her to relax more, but the closest he got was through sparring. Hollypaw still wouldn’t fully admit her inner troubles, but she could release her emotions with each blow. She still seeks him out to spar with when she feels too distracted.

Hollyclaw considered journeying to Highstones one of the best moments of her life. Even if she wouldn’t speak with StarClan directly, going beyond the Clan territories and into that sacred space awoke a reverence that she hadn’t felt before. It would later rival her excitement during her warrior ceremony. In the Moon of Running Prey (2019), she was given the name Hollyclaw. As she sat vigil that night, she thought of Mothermouth and the Moonstone, as well as her father watching with the rest of their ancestors in StarClan. Hollyclaw welcomed the dawn with fresh determination.

In the Moon of Leopard’s Rest (2019), Hawkfeather gave birth to Hollyclaw’s half-siblings Ashkit and Sootkit, who’d been sired by Dawnflurry. Hollyclaw was happy for the Clan to gain new members, but she worried about Hawkfeather being overly strict with the kits. In the Moon of Long Nights (2019), that worry was temporarily replaced with a new one after Hawkfeather was injured. Watching her stumble back to camp wounded and dragging a hawk was a shock, but Hollyclaw was relieved she lived. Hollyclaw later felt ashamed for being glad that the kits might have more time out from under Hawkfeather’s gaze while she was recovering.

In the Moon of First Green (2020), Hollyclaw’s family once again came under attack from a hawk. This time it was Hickorystorm, who was blinded by talons when he was out patrolling with Clovershine. Hollyclaw and Clovershine killed the hawk while Dawnflurry attended Hickorystorm, but even after her brother’s been safely recovering in the medicine cat’s den, Hollyclaw still worries about him.

In the Moon of First Fishing (2020), Palestar named Hollyclaw as the mentor of Ashpaw.

• Blackout (17FG'20)
• Bouncing Clouds (19FW'20)
• Heralds We All [Gathering] (14CF'20)
• Luck of the Clover (17FG'20)
• Rising from the Smoke (9FF'20)
• Weasel Encampment (11FG'20)

Her appearance is based off of plain domestic shorthairs.