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residents-of-the-darkforest · 2 years

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Dark forest Residences: Turtlestepper & Lioncatch

Turtlestepper

Aliases / Nicknames: Turtle, Pip, Jumpy

Gender: tom (trans)

Age: 27 moons (at death)

Sexuality: panromantic, achilean leaning

Family: unnamed mother, Riddlecharm (older brother), Lioncatch (mate)

Other Relations: Skipperbug (mentor), Yarrowstar (mentor, mother figure), Claire (friend), Thrifttail (friend)

Clan: Briarclan, Lilacclan

Rank: medicine cat, daylight herbalist

Characteristics: Kills accidently, manslaughter, shy, timid, meek, quiet, curious, excitable, naive, gentle-natured, skilled with herbs

Number of Murders: 2

Number of Victims: 2

Murder Method: accidental drowning, accidental throat puncture

Known Victims: Claire, Rookleg

Cause of Death: falling, blunt force trauma

Cautionary Tale: N/A

Story:

When Turtlekit developed allergies, he avoided the medicine den like it were greencough. Because he was a very sickly kit, the other kits were discouraged from playing with him in case he had an ‘episode’ that made it difficult to breathe.

Compared to Riddlecharm, his elder brother, he was the average cat. Overlooked by his Clanmates, it was easy to feel invisible. Due to this, he became incredibly shy, often preferring to stick near the leader’s den and away from the fuss that always seemed to surround Riddlecharm.

Yarrowstar took pity on the kit, so isolated as he was, and often let him sleep in her den. She would explain to the kit that it was because her den had less foliage than the nursery. As well, she thought that the preparation would make him a good apprentice for her.

However, it only made him even more isolated from the other apprentices. On his first time out of camp, Yarrowstar took him and Lionpaw to explore the territory. Aside from a stuffy nose and wheezy breath, Turtlepaw was fine for the first half of the tour.

When Yarrowstar and Lionpaw’s mentor, Whitepelt, left to investigate a border skirmish, the two apprentices were left to talk alone. The pair got along surprisingly well, and ended up playfighting to pass the time.

The moon-older Lionpaw offered his new denmate how to pounce properly. Excited that someone was taking an interest in him, Turtlepaw was quick to agree.

He pounced on the small apprentice, causing the two to roll into a heather bush. Turtlepaw quickly began to gasp for breath, unable to breathe as he collapsed.

Panicked at the sight, Lionpaw ignored the mentors yelling at them in the distance and picked Turtlepaw up by the scruff, running straight for camp.

At the medicine den, Skipperbug instantly started to try and get Turtlepaw to eat the mixture of bright-eye, borage, and catmint. Lionpaw stayed by his side the whole shaky night, hissing at anyone who even came near Turtlepaw if they had been in the fields recently.

Skipperbug eventually pushed him out of the den for crowding, but Lionpaw continued to check on him frequently. To his dismay, Turtlepaw’s mother didn’t even come once to visit her son over the next two days. He was expecting to feel even worse in the medicine den, but for the first time in moons his lungs felt clear.

Skipperbug told him it might be due to the herbs overpowering all the flowers and grass outside. Turtlepaw was in awe, and once he could leave he went straight to Yarrowstar.

“I want to be a medicine cat apprentice,” he had stated happily. Hurt had flashed in Yarrowstar’s eyes, but she quickly said that she would announce it tonight. Over the next few moons, Turtlepaw became quite skilled in herbs, and mostly stayed in camp unless he was going to the cliffs edges with Lionpaw.

He was baffled by Lionpaw’s company, not knowing why the tom spent time with him. There were many other apprentices who were better than Turtlepaw, and who didn’t spend hours showing Lionpaw his pebble and feather collection.

Climbing up the base of the cliffs, they were able to see the Briarclan fields without his lungs hurting. Lionpaw took him there often, and when they were both given their full names, he broke his vigil to take Turtlestepper there.

Lioncatch confessed his love to Turtlestepper, and the two became mates. He still wondered why Lioncatch bothered staying with him, considering he wasn’t particularly interesting, but overtime he was able to be convinced to socialize with other cats.

The next newleaf, his lungs got worse and worse. He even took to carrying around a moss ball soaked in nauseating mouse bile to cover the pollen. After a particularly bad episode which he could barely remember, he was shocked to wake up with Lioncatch pressed against his side with his nose buried in Turtlestepper’s shoulder.

“I thought you were dead,” Lioncatch muttered around a face-full of fur.

“I’m not,” Turtlestepper had replied awkwardly, lungs aching at the words. “You could have been, Turtle. You almost died again.”

Turtlestepper coughed again, and Lioncatch looked at him, full of sympathy as he helped groom him.

When Lioncatch was offered the role of deputy, he refused instantly, wanting to focus on his mate and family. Lioncatch grew more and more concerned for him every day, and after the third episode in one moon he asked if Turtlestepper would leave with him.

Turtlestepper was shocked, taken aback by the idea of leaving his clan. Lioncatch convinced him that it would be better for them both if they could go somewhere else, and the two announced that they were leaving a few nights after.

Like expected, Turtlestepper’s family didn’t seem to care much. Yarrowstar, on the other hand, spent a long time pressed against him, begging him to be safe. Skipperbug was supportive, helping him gather his collections.

They left with four wraps: travelling herbs, pebbles, feathers, and herbs for his lungs. A week later, they found a group of kittypets who were hunting near the flower fields. Lioncatch noticed that they smelled mostly of rogues, but he couldn’t tell.

They lead them back to their camp, and Lioncatch seemed confused on why the clan was full of kittypets and rogues. The leader explained that they were daylight warriors, and Turtlestepper instantly wanted to become one.

Lioncatch was worried about staying in Lilacclan, considering the large flower fields, but after some convincing they lived part time at the barn and part time in the camp.

Despite the pollen, Turtlestepper had never been happier, and quickly became close friends with many cats. Lioncatch was jealous, trying to convince him to stay with him more often. Oblivious to this, Turtlestepper became very good friends with a barn cat named Thrifttail.

Come leafbare, Turtlestepper got very cold during the night and spent many of his nights curled up with Thrifttail while Lioncatch was at the camp. Thrifttail admitted to having a crush on him, and Turtlestepper gently let him down, explaining that he was already mates with Lioncatch.

He told his mate one day, unaware of how Lioncatch’s pelt bristled with anger. Two days later, Thrifttail was found with his throat slashed out. Turtlestepper was horrified, not leaving his mate’s side for the next moon.

One of the daylight warriors, Claire, offered to teach him to swim, and soon they spent most evenings in the water. They got along amazingly, and she was always very nice to him. He finally had a friend!

One day, however, she asked him why he was so weird, and he felt hurt and pounced on her in the water. He only meant to push her! But Claire had hit her head on a rock, and when the waves lapped over them, he lost his grip on her and she was swept out into the lake while he fumbled blindly to try to pull her to safety.

When Claire’s mate, Rookleg, yowled that it was his fault, Turtlestepper believed him and grew quiet and dismissive.

Almost a week later, he left the barn at night after waking up to a cold nest. At first he just sat outside in the cool breeze.

Until he heard fighting.

Following the sound, he found a large cat standing over an injured Rookleg. He leapt to try and pull the cat off of Rookleg, but the attacker took a step back and Turtlestepper’s claws slipped into Rookleg’s throat.

The blood bubbled around his paws as Rookleg gurgled for breath a moment before he stilled. Turtlestepper scrambled away from the warm body, shaking his paws aggressively. Looking up at the strange cat, he saw that it was Lioncatch.

Instantly, he ran.

His mate followed him to the barn, trying to get him to listen. “It’s not what you think, I was protecting you!”

Turtlestepper squeezed his eyes shut, climbing up the crates into the top of the barn. Lioncatch was soaked in blood, and he shook in fear as his mate approached him.

Turtlestepper’s paws skidded on the thin plank, and he crouched in terror as his mate tried to convince him to come down. He hissed and spat and curled in on himself, lungs tightening until he passed out.

He heard Lioncatch yell out, but he was already falling off of the plank and onto the stone floor below. Vision blurry, the last thing he saw was Lioncatch jumping after him.

Additional Information:

-- Turtlestepper had asthma, allergies, and likely autism. He enjoyed the water because it helped clear his lungs, and fish was the only prey he could catch.

-- YarrowStar truly viewed him as her son and because of her, he developed a slight southern accent.

-- He has a mostly white body with short fur, white ears and white paws. His left legs are white, and his right right are pale brown with black patches. He has two black splotches on his back and two on his shoulder. The back of his neck is a slightly darker brown and he has dark brown stripes on his face. His face is mostly pale brown with a cream muzzle and black nose bridge. His ears have black tufts, and he has corn flower blue eyes. He has one thin scar from a bramble along his throat, a stub tail, and a slightly pudgy belly.

-- You can learn more about him here: https://wills-woodland-warriors.tumblr.com/post/689309199500509184/pixel-cat

Lioncatch

Aliases / nicknames: N/A

Gender: tom (28 moons)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Family: unnamed parents, Turtlestepper (mate)

Other relations: Whitepelt (mentor)

Clan: BriarClan, LilacClan

Rank: warrior

Characteristics: outgoing, quick to anger, jealous, loyal, caring, dedicated, obsessive

Number of Victims: 2

Number of Murders: 1

Murder Method: ripping throat out

Known Victims: Thrifttail, Rookleg

Cause of Death: falling

Cautionary Tale: N/A

Story: See Turtlestepper.

Additional information:

-- He believed he was protecting TurtleStepper, and would have done anything to do so. In the Dark Forest, he realizes what he did was wrong.

-- He has a golden ticked long and fluffy fur with pale yellow eyes and white paws. He has a white patch on his chest, a white muzzle and cheeks with small specks of white littering his ears. He has a very large and stocky build with broad shoulders and strong back legs.

--Submission by @wills-woodland-warriors ! Thanks for the patience!

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