Otterwhisker

A chocolate mink bicolor she-cat with a short tail and legs

Otterwhisker is a sleek cat with a short, but dense coat of mostly brown fur. The core of her body is a warm, caramel brown that darkens to a rich chocolate brown towards her extremities. The tips of her triangular ears, face, tail and legs are this darker brown, while a strip of white paints her chin and follows into her chest, which is roughly leaf shaped. Her tail is a bit shorter than the average cat and her large paws seem perfect for swimming after prey. Overall she possesses a medium-large stature and has a common build, but has short, stouter legs. Thick, white whiskers line her cheeks, and within the dark mask of her face lies a pair of almond shaped, teal hued eyes.

Otterwhisker has always been an independent sort of cat, self-assured and comfortable in her own skin. While she appreciates and cares for her clanmates and holds to her responsibilities, she would much rather be out exploring Riverclan territory and fishing, than being stuck in camp. Generally, she’s a busybody, and gets incredibly focused on her tasks – but she enjoys few things more than spending her day unwinding at the river, wading and diving after fish and sunning herself on the banks. Despite her retirement and weakened constitution, she prefers to fetch her meals from the fresh kill pile herself so that she doesn’t become inactive, and doesn’t like to be ‘waited’ on simply due to her age. She remains practical and adventurous, and frequently volunteers to do ‘apprentice work’ around camp when she’s feeling up to it and much prefers warmer weather. While she doesn’t mind the winter, it is always sad for her to see the river freeze over – and with the malaise, she usually suffers from a yearly cough reminiscent from her near drowning experience.

• Born in the Moon of Cheetah's Flight (2015) 073

[0-6 Moons]

Otterwhisker was born as Tawnykit on a blustery day alongside a stillborn sibling to young, first-time dame Duskytail and Reedstorm, who had been denmates at an early age. Despite being an only kit, her first month was shrouded in darkness – with only comfort scents and warmth to keep her company. When she opened her eyes, she saw that others were now keeping her dame and her company. Rosepelt had joined the nursery, and soon Nettlekit was there too!

As she got older, she grew to enjoy the joys of another age-mate to play and interact with while her mother was preoccupied, and eagerly looked forward to her apprenticeship.

[6-12 Moons]

Tawnykit became Otterpaw and her apprenticeship was generally uneventful. She focused on the various tasks ahead of her, and generally passed with flying colors, though much preferred the calculating drive of hunting river waters rather than the humdrum of patrolling – there was some excitement; the occasional border confrontation, but not a one ended in bloodshed while she was an apprentice. The most anxiety inducing event was probably, in her words, her encounter with a golden eagle who swiped the trout she had left unburied on the banks, and came very close to her. From then on, she was ever so careful in hiding her caught prey.

[12-40 Moons]

At twelve moons, Otterpaw took her trip to Mothermouth and received her warrior name, graduating to her full warrior status as Otterwhisker. Her time was punctuated with frequent patrols and providing food for her clan – and continued to gain experience in doing so. During this time is where she fine tuned her hunting skills, and appreciated stalking water fowl on the banks and even while they were on the water.

As she grew older and became a more seasoned warrior, she was frequently chosen to lead patrols, and enjoyed keeping things organized in camp in which she’d take a few cats with her to the river and set a line of hunters on the banks, which often increased efficiency of obtaining prey should a fish get through the first cat.

While she thought herself an asset to her clan, she never pushed an agenda or worried about ambition. When she was 25 moons she was fortunate enough to receive a kit to mentor, and found the kit she was given rather vexing at times, but it proved to be a good enough match in which Otterwhisker encouraged patience and understanding while tampering out a reckless streak.

While she appreciated the opportunity, she never pursued a second apprentice, and got back to what she enjoyed doing most. When she was 40 moons old, she went on a hunting patrol, one of the cats included Boldstar.

During a dive after a large fish, the fish slammed her into a water-lodged stone, where the jolt caused a moment of black out. Slowly the she-cat sunk deeper into the river waters, and would have surely drowned if not for the heroic actions of Boldstar, who sacrificed one of his nine lives to save her.

[40-57 Moons]

While her near drowning experience had brought her close to Starclan, she prevailed after a day being monitored by the medicine cat. It was that following leaf bare that she developed a cough, deeply rattling her chest in which she needed to spend time in the sick den. Her health returned and managed to return to her warrior duties a couple moons later when it began to warm up.

During this time, she continued to do best by her clan, refusing to let her sickness get the better of her. It took a bit of reconditioning, but her body was yet able to handle the transition. Optimistic, she powered through her middling years, occasionally leading patrols – getting into a few border disputes, and generally avoiding violence when necessary.

[57-60 Moons]

It was during the next leaf bare that Otterwhisker caught another illness. The extremely severe leaf bare brought blackcough to wreak havoc on her lungs. Again, she was brought to the medicine cat’s den where she was treated – yet her aging body brought a new challenge to her recovery. It was a painful, slow process – but she was determined to see the river melt once more. Her stubbornness had bore her through the worst of it, but at this point, her body was even slower to bounce back. It was during the Moon of Melting Waters (2019) that Otterwhisker approached Boldstar and announced her intention to retire and since then has been savoring every trip to the river that she can get, immensely pleased to see her clan blossom and the river run rich with prey.

However, her brush with mortality has left a mark on the she-cat. It has increased the desire to leave something behind for when she inevitably leaves to join Starclan, and doubts that she’ll make another leaf bare. During the warm spring moons she and Boldstar had a litter of four kits, Merrykit, Hailkit, Stormkit, and Sturgeonkit – and adopted Mistykit as her own during the events of Lion’s Glory 2020.

Otterwhisker has once again joined the elder’s den after her kits apprenticeship, a bit sad that she couldn’t have mentored one of them herself, but accepts Boldstar’s choices for mentors. With another Leafbare on the horizon, Otterwhisker hopes that her seasonal whitecough won’t be too detrimental to her health – but at least now, she bares no regrets should she leave her clan to head to Starclan.

• A bold choice for breakfast… (13CF'20)
• In dappled moonlight comes the call (14TL'20)
• Mint & Nettle Grow Stronger (2FF'20)
• Oh, What a Dream Might Send (16LG'20)
• Urtica dioica in the dawn light (22TL'20)

**Tonkinese/Mink decent (paternal grandparent)**   Born Moon of Cheetah’s Flight (2015) Apprenticed Moon of Melting Waters (2016) Warriored Moon of Lion’s Glory (2016) Received Apprentice Moon of Lion’s Glory (2017) Rescued from drowning Moon of Turning Leaves (2018) Became an Elder Moon of Melting Waters (2019)