pafp say my name | name questions

[HAPPYPAW!!]

[retro to the rogue invasion]

Storm felt rather indifferent to sharing the SkyClan camp with RiverClanners. Granted the black and white tom had little knowledge of RiverClan as a whole - it wasn’t until recently he’d even started learning about ThunderClan and their territory from Blazestar’s apprentice excursion. His only true complaint was how thin prey had to be stretched among the groups, but certainly that was everyone’s complaint. And if that was everyone’s complaint then he really had nothing to be super upset or concerned about.

Having no worries meant Storm could focus on other things. Like all the interesting names he was hearing among the clan cats. The two part names piqued his interest most (such as his sister Pearl being called Pearlpaw now) but the differences between SkyClan and RiverClan names also caught his attention.

Taking a small break from his duties, Storm scanned the camp in search of a familiar ragdoll tom. ”Blazestar, do you have a moment? I have some questions… about names. Like why the two part names? And how do I earn one to be like Pearlpaw?” Storm asks with a curious tilt of his head. This isn’t the most private of matters, so the younger tom doesn’t mind if others end up weighing in on the conversation. The more the merrier and all that.

// @BLAZESTAR

 

[BLAZESTAR]

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XXXXXBlazestar is perhaps the most cognizant of all five Clan leaders of how different Clan-given names seem to outsiders. He still has cats joining his warriors’ ranks who refuse to change their mother-given or Twoleg-given monikers, and he has never pressed the issue. Names are special to some cats, he knows, though he’d gone from Blaise to Blazestar easily enough. When young Storm comes to question him, he is hardly fazed. “Well, Pearl was Pearlkit when we first brought her in. All the kits in our Clans have -kit in their names,” he explains, settling into a comfortable position. “And now that she’s training to become a warrior, she’s taken the -paw part of her name. It’s to signify how we guide our apprentices paws into learning the warrior code and defending their Clan.”

XXXXXHe remembers Emberstar proposing the idea of mentors training apprentices long ago, and a whimsical smile smears across his muzzle before he turns back to Storm. “Is that what you wish to do—become Stormpaw?”

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[HAPPYPAW!!]

He is pleased to be given an audience with the kindhearted leader, offering a warm smile to Blazestar as the tom settles to entertain the discussion. Storm didn’t know his sister had started as Pearlkit when she was taken in by SkyClan - a fun fact he could cherish for a moment before the leader continued. Taking the -paw suffix made sense and actually sounded rather simple to do. Storm couldn’t imagine anyone joining SkyClan and not wishing to learn the warrior code and how to defend the clan.

There is a pause after Blazestar poses his question. Did he wish to become Stormpaw? Of course the bicolored youth wanted to become a -paw and train under a mentor! He would be honored! But something felt… off about holding onto his birth name. “I, um… well I would love that. Except I don’t know if I still want to be Storm? It’s the name my mother gave me, the same mother who abandoned Pearlpaw and kept me at a distance,”
Storm explains as vibrant green eyes study Blazestar’s face for a sense of understanding. “I don’t feel like I should be Storm, or even Stormpaw, because I’ve left her behind - I left that life behind. Is it possible to start anew with a brand new name? Do others do that?”

 

[BLAZESTAR]

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XXXXXBlazestar flicks an ear at Storm’s perceived resistance to becoming Stormpaw. He wants to begin training, he says, but the name no longer suits him—the Ragdoll’s eyes soften with sympathy, despite his confusion. He himself had transitioned easily from his kittypet name to his leader name, but he knows by now it is not that way for all the cats who come to join SkyClan. The dark-pelted apprentice says he’d left the mother who abandoned Pearlpaw behind, and he wants to leave that name she’d given him in the past, too.

XXXXXBlazestar nods, looking thoughtful. “Others have done that,” he responds solemnly. “Did you have a name in mind, then? One that you feel suits you better?”

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[HAPPYPAW!!]

He acknowledges the flicked ear as a sign of understanding - Blazestar’s sympathetic gaze cementing that the notion was not so far out of left field. Leaving behind the name his mother had given him wasn’t the easiest choice. Storm has always been Storm after all. But the opportunity to make something better for himself; to create a life more fulfilling, well that sounded awfully sweet and too good to pass up.

“I had an idea… kind of. It sounds maybe a bit silly. But finding Pearlpaw again after months of searching for her made me feel happy. And being accepted into SkyClan made me feel happy. And making new friends makes me feel happy. And being given opportunities to train and protect my new home has made me feel happy.”

He takes a breath after rambling so much, gaze dropping to his paws as he shuffles them nervously in the dust.

“Happiness is a feeling I want to hold onto forever now that I’ve experienced it so consistently. So I thought… maybe my name could be Happy?”