Runningriver

Appearance
Runningriver is a tall, sleek, smooth but wiry-furred tom with long legs, a flowy, long tail, and rather wide navy blue eyes. His pelt is cold gray, with dark gray markings consuming almost all of his pelt. This includes almost all of his face, with swirls on his cheek, shoulders, and hindquarters. He has a lighter face, legs from the shin down, and tip of his tail.

Personality
Runningriver is a shy, introverted, and indecisive tom which usually results in some erratic behavior when he doesn't have time to choose what to do. He over-thinks and worries too much, and is definitely a cup half empty kind of cat. Due to events in his early life, he's very fretful and worrysome of his friends and is pretty co-dependent.

Kithood
Runningkit was named after his father, Runner, who had died in a landslide while traveling, just before he was born. He was born to a she-cat called Silverskip, along with his sisters Hibiscuskit and Cloudykit. Cloudykit died due to some health complications after birth and so did Silverskip. Yikes.

He and his sister Hibiscuskit were raised partially by a queen named Pepperpetal, who loved them as her own, but was usually busy with her own litter of kits. It wasn't her fault she didn't get to spend so much time with them, because her kits were newborn and she had four of them. Since Runningkit and Hibiscuskit weren't very attended to, they didn't talk very much besides to each other and stuck together like a sand burr to fur.

Apprenticeship
Runningpaw and Hibiscuspaw were made apprentices and got their mentors; Runningpaw with a kind tom named Bloombelly and Hibiscuspaw with a quiet but well-mannered and attentive tom named Riverspring. They were just like any other apprentices for a while, until he found that his sister was dwindling with her training. She was usually cheerful and good-natured, but had become more sluggish and quiet recently, and had started to wake up late.

He pulled her aside one day and forced himself to admit he was concerned for her and how she was acting, and she told him she had been struggling with sadness for a bit. Her emotions were being really mean to her about everything that had happened in their past and it had only made her even worse. He tried to help, but she dismissed him and said he couldn't help it.

He woke up one morning to find Hibiscuspaw gone. They usually slept together in a nest they shared, and he didn't know how he didn't wake up when she left. A few apprentices and warriors had shared the same concern, especially Riverspring, and he, his mentor and Riverspring were devastated to find Hibiscuspaw's body outside. She was dead, from deathberry poisoning. The adults weren't quite sure if it was from her decreasing mental health or if it was a horrid accident, but Runningpaw, Bloombelly, and Riverspring were all devastated. Runningpaw took this terribly. He didn't eat, didn't speak to anyone, and didn't try to train anymore. It only got worse when Bloombelly died of a heart attack, the poor tom had a weak heart from the start, and Runningpaw ended up in Hibiscuspaw's place.

Riverspring came to his rescue though, and they ended up bonding over their losses. Riverspring gradually helped Runningpaw cope, and the young tom began getting better, from coming out of the apprentices' den, to eating, then to talking to others. He got better over time and he quickly caught up with training from his unofficial new mentor, and earned the name Runningriver after him.

Warrior Life
Runningriver didn't really have any friends at the time, but discovered a young apprentice named Firepaw had recently moved to Horizonclan from Oasisclan. He was peppy, funny, and bright, and he reminded him of Hibiscuspaw. With Riverspring's help, he went out and tried to become friends with Firepaw, who had accepted, and they became close quickly. Firepaw earned his name a few moons later and introduced Runningriver to another warrior he had made friends with, the stoic and elegant Fernsway. They became a little clique and got to know each other better.

When Runningriver was about 19, he woke up one morning to a not so pleasant sight. Fernsway, who wasn't too friendly with outsiders, had picked a fight with a FallClan warrior who had came to visit his family, and ended up injuring him and being apprehended by a few warriors. To clear his mind after witnessing that disaster of an event, he took a walk outside.

He saw a figure in the distance while walking, and being the cautious and anxious tom he was, stalked it and then pounced. Once he pinned them down, he got a better look at the warrior. It was a bushy-furred, gray and white she-cat. She reeked of OasisClan. After a very loud protest from her, now introduced as Thistlespring, he let her up. After she accidentally insulted him and didn't say sorry, she said she was going to visit and offered to take her. She took up the offer and he introduced her to Firecloud once they got there. After a bit of talking, Runningriver began to think, and his mind eventually wandered to the topic of Fernsway. Being, well, Runningriver, he overthought and panicked because he thought Fernsway was going to freak out once she saw Thistlespring. (Which, he would be right in the future.)

Hurrying away and following her scent, Runningriver set out to look for her, but like a mouse-brain got stuck in a thorn bush. Good job, Runningriver.

After many cries out of pain and trying to get himself unstuck, thankfully the HorizonClan medicine cat Thundersight found him while herb hunting and began to get him untangled. When she asked what happened, he explained in a panic how Fernsway would hurt Thistlespring and it was all his fault.

Thundersight kept telling him it was fine, but it wasn't to Runningriver. From his past experiences, he held friends very tight to him, and was extremely cautious about them getting hurt, mentally and physically.

Once he was untangled, it revealed a nasty wound the bush gave him on his leg, which was already beginning to get hot and cause the warrior a bit of fatigue. Once he got back to camp, he was taken to the medicine den, but scrambled to try and get out while Thundersight tried to heal the squirming warrior the best she could. He watched as Fernsway returned and attacked Thistlespring, and now moved even more, almost getting out of the den. After a few cries and shouts of protest as he proceeded to freak out majorly when Thundersight pulled him back, she shouted at him and that seemed to stun him silent.

Feeling guilty he caused so much problems for everyone, he apologized a few minutes later and was distracted of his feelings of unease about Thundersight's behavior when Mistrunner came into the den with a bite on her paw from Fernsway, while she was trying to apprehend her. Fernsway had ran off out of camp but no cat had gone after her.

After a few moment of tense chitchat, he discovered he would be in the medicine den for a while. He battled with some urges to protest but eventually accepted defeat. He found out that Thistlespring had left to go home. He was a bit bummed, but expected nothing less when you get attacked for no reason.

He just chilled there for a few days in the medicine den, before Thistlespring eventually came to pay a visit again to Horizonclan. He realized he had feelings for her, so. Cool I guess.

About a week after, he somehow predicted that Thistlespring was going to visit and rehearsed an apology with Fernsway, so when Thistlespring arrived she apologized a bit awkwardly, but it made him happy anyways.

After that, his mind wandered, and he finally worked up the courage to confess his feelings to Thistlespring. She didn't reciprocate them and gently friend-zoned him, which he took..not..well, but he respected her boundaries and let her do her own thing. He silently died a bit inside though. Yay.

Other Info

 * Runningriver comes from a generation of polydactyl cats, but surprisingly, he didn't end up with six toes on each foot.
 * His temporary mentor as an apprentice is still alive and kicking! He's one of the older warriors, though.

Quotes
"Well, it's really fun when I try to make friends and they just think I'm weird. Good experiences, right?" - Runningriver to Thistlespring

"Whuh- uh-??" - Runningriver

"I was trying to get to Fernsway and stall her because Firecloud and I made a friend from Oasisclan, and she's in camp! I fell and injured myself. Now another fight is going to break out and it's all my fault." - Runningriver to Thundersight