An ungainly looking brown and white tom.

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In the future: a long furred, heavyset brown and white tabby tom.

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Bearpaw has lived up to his namesake since birth, standing taller and broader than any other cat his age. He carries himself around on large, clumsy paws, and, despite Brindlehawk not actually being his biological father, shares the same size and proportions as him and his missing uncle, Bearclaw. At his current age, Bearpaw's size and proportions make him look awkward and imbalanced. Eventually, he'll grow into his features — he hopes.

For the most part, Bearpaw is covered in dark tabby fur with lighter brown markings on his face. He sports a white bib that cuts off before reaching his stomach and extends up his face to create a mask. All four paws are equally white, and he puts a lot of effort into keeping them as clean as possible. His eyes are an inquisitive yellow.

Bearkit is brought into the world with a reputation he never earned, named after his uncle who died moons before Bearkit stirred in his mother's belly. The name is meant to be an honor. Instead, it's an awkward weight bestowed on Bearkit's shoulders. He's nothing like his uncle. He's friendly and gregarious, an early favorite among the nursery's other inhabitants. They share a youthful curiosity and hulking size but with each passing day it's clear that's all they share — that, and a name Bearkit is meant to carry for the rest of his life.

Like most kits, Bearkit's first growth spurt comes when he's a few moons old. Already larger than other kits, including his sister, it surprises no one when he's suddenly the tallest in the nursery. "Just like his father," he hears other queens say. He rumbles with pride every time someone compares them. Who wouldn't want to be just like Brindlehawk?

"One day I'll be Bearhawk," he tells Shellkit, bouncing around the nursery as rain traps them in their den. "Just like dad!" Then, one paw catches on another, and Bearkit goes tumbling to the ground.

His sister snorts. "You'll be Bearfall if you can't stay on all four paws." 

"I can!" He scrambles to his feet, nearly falling in the process. "I'm just excited." Shellpaw snorts again and turns the conversation to something else, but Bearkit is never able to shake her warning. It's not his fault he's clumsy, he thinks. It's his paws' fault. They're huge! His legs are too long and his shoulders are too forward and his hips are narrow and wobbly. He's funny to look at, one of the other kits tells him. Bearkit hopes that's a good thing.

Though he's odd looking, Bearkit is still one of the more popular kits in the nursery, thanks to Brindlehawk's success as a guardian and his own jovial nature. It's easy to make the other kits laugh. He doesn't even mind if sometimes they laugh at him! Bearkit is just pleased to know he's liked. "They don't like you," Shellkit says with a scoff, after Bearkit finished explaining why he pretends to trip whenever he plays with the other litters. "They like making fun of you."

"No, that'd be mean," Bearkit says. "We're all laughing together!"

Shellkit doesn't believe him, but Bearkit doesn't care. He's more popular than her, anyway. She's just jealous.


Bearpaw is given to Yarrowfeather, a seasoned warrior who wasn't expecting another apprentice in her advanced age. He pretends not to be disappointed, no matter how badly he wanted someone like Brindlehawk, or even Lionflight, to be his mentor instead. Maybe Yarrowfeather wasn't a guardian, but she was still cool... right?

"Mushroomstar gave you her because she's fast," Shellpaw says over the mouse they share the next day. "And you're slow." 

"No way." Bearpaw puffs his chest out stubbornly. "I'm super fast." It isn't a lie. Despite his size, Bearpaw can sprint across camp faster than any of the other apprentices.

"You can't run without falling." Bearpaw wants to protest, but the words die in his mouth. He can run without falling. He just chooses not to. When he falls, his friends laugh, and that's way more important than running fast.

Yarrowfeather isn't a terrible mentor, he decides after a few days. She's nice. Patient. Her energy is low, but Bearpaw doesn't mind. It means he can sleep in longer than the rest of the apprentices and he gets to finish training sooner. That means he has more time to hide around camp and listen for gossip, a trait he picked up as a kit, and isn't interested in growing out of. He has a perfect disguise, after all. No one thinks clumsy Bearpaw would ever be much of a sneak.

Sometime after his eighth moon, Bearpaw creeps into a small opening near Mushroomstar's den, his favorite place to pick up gossip. Except, moments after he hides, his mentor's voice fills his ears. That's strange. Didn't Yarrowfeather just say she was going to bed? "He needs a different mentor," Yarrowfeather is saying. Bearpaw wonders who she means. "I don't have the energy to train him right."

"Is he difficult?" That's Mushroomstar who speaks.

"Yes." A chill runs down Bearpaw's spine. "And not in the normal way. He's a good kid, but he doesn't care about training. He just wants to goof off." Bearpaw scurries away before he could hear the rest of the conversation, not wanting confirmation for what he already knows: Yarrowfeather doesn't believe in him.

Back in the apprentice den, no one cares. Shellpaw isn't around to talk to, and the rest of the apprentices brush him off. "I don't want to gossip," one of them says. "I'm tired." He tries to tell them he's not gossiping, he needs advice. "Okay?" They look confused. "Go ask one of your friends?"

Were... Were they not friends? Did they not laugh together earlier that morning?

He doesn't want to think about it, so he buries his head in his nest until he falls asleep.

The next day, Mushroomstar and Yarrowfeather break the news: Yarrowfeather's retiring, and Bearpaw will get a new mentor. He tells them okay and winces when Yarrowfeather lies to him. "I'm just too old," she says. "You need someone who can keep up with you." He's not sure what's worse: that his mentor can't be honest with him, or that none of the other apprentices care.

"I'm getting a new mentor," he tells them.

"Okay?"

"Sure."

"Have fun."

None of them ask why. None of them ask if he's okay. None of them care.

"Told you." Shellpaw looks bored. Like she doesn't care, either. "You can't run without falling."

Mushroomstar doesn't assign him a new mentor right away, seemingly too distracted by the newly formed Kingdom. Instead, Bearpaw is monitored by senior warriors — Toadfeather and Morninglight, in particular. He tries to be good. He does what they ask and doesn't trip when they're out training, even when other apprentices are around to watch. The laughter stops. But he's given a new mentor eventually — Orchidsky, he hopes she's as friendly as she looks — which has to mean something, right?

Pre-Plotting: Bearpaw comes from Brindlehawk's wanted ad.

Family: For the most part, Bearpaw has a good view of family, though he's only really close to Brindlehawk. He worships his father and wants to be just like him, even if he doesn't understand how different they are. He loves his mother, especially when she dotes on him, and thinks his sister is fine. (But only just fine — she can be kind of mean, sometimes!) In the future, if he learns the truth of who his biological father is, Bearpaw will have to contend with that betrayal and learn to trust family again.

Friends: Despite growing up popular, Bearpaw never really had friends. He was likable and funny, but that translated mostly as other cats his age laughing at him. Now, he's realizing his only friend is his sister, and they don't even get along that well.

Romance: Bearpaw is just reaching the age where it'd be normal to develop crushes. However, he doesn't even understand what it means to be friends with someone, let alone have feelings for them. Maybe when he's older.

Rivals: Similar to romance, Bearpaw is moons behind the rest of his peers when it comes to understanding his connections with other cats. For now, he has no rivals.