─────〖Permissions〗───── Hello :D It’s been a while since I last shared a project here— I’ve been working on regaining inactivity with Buttercuprain, and the ideas suggested here are meant to help with that. However, since they include Buttercuprain being absent from the clan in the past, it requires admin permission. This project will likely be unshared once it is no longer necessary for RiverClan admins to view it. Permissions such as these are usually posted as comments, but I had difficulty formatting this in a readable way in comments due to the length and amount of sections, so it’s in a project instead. If you were not sent this project link or are not a RiverClan admin, feel free to ignore this project. ─────〖Introduction〗───── Hello! I hope your day is going well, to whoever might be reading this— I’ve been trying to figure out a way to come back from my inactivity with my character Buttercuprain, but have been having difficulty doing so. I thought a good way might be to have him be physically absent from the clans during the time of my inactivity. This would span from when he was 14 moons to now, at about 50 moons— so 36 moons of absence. This may be quite long, so I’ll try to divide it into sections and will include a TLDR at the end. ────〖Quick Context〗──── When Buttercuprain was about 14 moons, his father, Wasppoppy, disappeared from the clans. Around a similar time, my activity decreased into what eventually became nothing as I tried to find a way to naturally begin roleplaying with Butter again in a way that made sense for his IRP life. Over time, it became even more difficult— he had missed so many things happening in his life, whether that’s him becoming an uncle or the death of cats he loved, such as his grandmothers (Dewberry). Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the easiest way to solve this problem would be for him to have been physically absent during my time of inactivity— just as I missed those things, he would have too. I first got the idea to do this 2 months ago, but now I’ve finally figured out the specifics of what might have happened. Until now, I was also lacking the motivation to actually write out all of this and ask for permission. ──〖The Difficulty of Return〗── Due to Buttercuprain’s personality— notably his clinginess and strong desire/desperation to remain close to his family— I have been finding it very difficult to naturally integrate him back into daily life of roleplay naturally, since he has become very distant from his family as a result of my inactivity. Much has changed in his life, especially in terms of his family, and his lack of irp response to that is not very characteristic of him. Of course, oorp interactions are always possible, but they can only really go so far— after this much time, it’s difficult to just ignore everything and say “it happened oorp” for so much, especially since he hasn’t had any character development in response to the things happening around him. It would just feel like he’s a bit stuck in the past to bring him back into roleplay now without any explanation, if that makes sense. That difficulty is, as mentioned before, only strengthened by his strong desire for connection. I thought the easiest way to handle this would be for him to actually be physically absent from the clan for the time of my inactivity— it’s the simplest way I could think of for him to realistically become this distant. I have brainstormed several possible reasons for that to happen, both involving voluntary and involuntary forms of leaving (ex. searching for his father who went missing around the time I became inactive, or becoming lost and being taken by twolegs, etc.), and eventually settled on a blend of them suggested by another roleplayer. ────〖The Suggested Story〗──── This section covers what the reason I decided on is. It is intended to avoid complications with his transition from a medicine cat apprentice to a full medicine cat since his training and ceremony happened during my inactivity, and therefore during his absence. —————— According to a quote from Wasppoppy’s roleplayer at the time of the disappearance “Wasppoppy has run away from Riverclan to live a lawless life where he is not bound by law but is bound by his own, reigning terror to many npcs. He has said goodbye to Strawberrysun and will occasionally visit her and possibly the kits as an npc.” Following this, the beginning of Buttercuprain’s proposed absence begins. After Buttercuppaw (now named Buttercuprain) realized his father, Wasppoppy, had left the clans, he was desperate to find him— he had never been close with his father, but had always wished he was. As always, family was, above all, the most important thing to him; any semblance of distance, and he’d jump to repair the bond. The fact that Buttercuprain had never managed to do so with his father only strengthened his desire to find him when he ran away from the clans. >>
<< According to Buttercuprain’s personality description, “Family is more important to him than almost anything— he wishes to have the closest bonds he can with his siblings and his parents. He is rather clingy in this way; at the slightest hint that one of them might be angry with him, he rushes to please them. Any sign of distance from his family, either physical or otherwise, is very significant to him. His friends are also important to him in this way, but not nearly as much as his kin.” And so, despite his tendency to become lost even in the territory of his own clan, Buttercuppaw left to search for his father as best as he could. Part of him knew, even then, that his attempts were futile— but he didn’t quite know the magnitude of the world yet, having only seen the clan territories, so he couldn’t fully understand just how far the search could take him. Even if Buttercuprain had known of the world’s great expanse, that last hope that maybe there was a chance he could find his father wasn’t something he could set aside. (Note: this is slightly discredited due to Clearflight’s teaching of beyond the clans, but it is possible that he might not have fully understood the expanse without seeing it for himself, or perhaps he could have forgotten some of it since he /is/ rather forgetful.) After leaving, he wandered for quite a while, guessing directions Wasppoppy might have gone. However, as what might have been expected, he soon became lost— even if he had wished to turn around and give up, he’d be at a loss as to how to get back to RiverClan territory. He continued wandering, whether to find home or to complete his increasingly hopeless goal of finding Wasppoppy. Entirely uncertain of where he was going or how to continue, Buttercuprain was forced to simply continue on searching for something as he wandered through unfamiliar lands, his condition deteriorating. While he might have found himself suited to the role of a medicine cat back in his clan, he was anything but an explorer. His timidness and indecisivensss didn’t help— often, he’d find himself hiding in some unfamiliar semblance of a shelter for days, making no progress and paralyzed in his indecisiveness and fear. Neither did his forgetfulness or shortsightedness; when he did remember to think a bit further into the future, he often forgot other important things such as a potential temporary shelter he found earlier. And his excessive dependence on others only made matters worse, making him uncertain of how to proceed when he was alone for so long. He wasn’t entirely hopeless— his patience, perceptiveness, passion, and optimism helped him to continue his journeys, and his mentor Clearflight had taught him quite extensively in a variety of skills ( https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/780922363/ ). With this, he could survive and continue, but after persisting for so many moons, he did weaken. As a result, upon finding himself particularly lost and uncertain, he became caught in a treacherous storm, in no condition to go any further without shelter. A nearby loner saw his peril and took him in, using their limited knowledge of herbs and moss to help Buttercuprain regain strength to persist his challenges. While waiting out the storm, and for some time after while Buttercuprain recovered from his travels, the two came to learn a bit about each other. Buttercuprain shared stories of his clan and training to become a medicine cat, and told the loner about Wasppoppy. The loner, meanwhile, shared some of their own life, eventually deciding to join Buttercuprain in his quest to find his father— whether or not he actually wanted to be found. On the journey, the two taught each other medicine cat skills, helping Buttercuprain keep up with his training even in absence from the clan. Eventually, however, they realized thst they could not go on forever— if they had not found Wasppoppy yet, it was unlikely that they would; Buttercuprain had simply become too lost, with too much of a lack of direction in his search, to have hope of stumbling across his father. And so, Buttercuprain was forced to come to terms with Wasppoppy’s disappearance, and together he and the loner found the clans after more travel. [ Continued here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/911717672/ ] ——•—— → Part 1: You’re here! → Part 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/911717672/ → Part 3 (TLDR): https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/911744833/ ──────〖Credits〗────── 〈Description〉@PaintTheSea (me) 〈Ideas〉@PaintTheSea (me) and @Buttercup_Bloom (Gem helped me finalize ideas) 〈Character Owner〉@PaintTheSea (me) 〈Roleplay〉The Four Clans Roleplay - RiverClan (TFCRP)
