Dark Forest Resident: Aspenroot
Aliases / Nicknames: Sensitivespots
Gender: tom
Sexuality: bisexual
Family: Sandytail (mother), Toadtooth (father), Reedcloud (mate)
Other Relations: unnamed mentor, unnamed Dark Forest mentor
Clan: Windclan
Rank: warrior
Characteristics: kills to get away from mate and parents
Number of Victims: 3
Number of Murders: 3
Murder Method: leads into traps, leads to hawks
Known Victims: Sandytail, Toadtooth, Reedcloud
Cause of Death: killed by hawk
Cautionary Tale: ??
Story:
Aspenkit depended heavily on his parents. They knew right from wrong, they knew everything, in fact, and they made sure he knew them too.
Don’t go out without a mentor.
Don’t talk back to your leader or a senior warrior.
Be respectful at a gathering.
Don’t make friends with warriors from other Clans.
Don’t mess up your fur.
Don’t ever slouch.
Don’t waste the medicine cat’s time.
Don’t stay up too late.
Don’t stay up too early.
It was normal for him. For a long time, he thought it was normal for everyone, and that it was making him a better warrior. He didn’t realize until he was in the first moon of training, and away from his parents’ influence, that he was isolated.
‘Don’t mess up your fur’ lead to ‘don’t play messy games’ which lead to Aspenpaw not playing most games with the other kits, even if part of him really wanted to. He had thought that the kits were wrong, but maybe it was him.
He went to bed early and woke up on time, which meant missing out on late-night discussions with his denmates or sneaking out to stargaze.
But none of it really impacted him until they asked to speak to him in private, and brought their Clanmate, Reedcloud, with them. Reedcloud, his old denmate, and apparently his new mate.
His parents seemed proud of themselves for thinking up a solution for Aspenroot’s loneliness, which he had hinted a complaint to them one or two times.
As well, it would supposedly ensure that the family’s blood continued on.
Reedcloud was ecstatic. Of course, she had had a massive crush on Aspenroot since they had been kits. Aspenroot was less than enthused.
How could his parents do this to him? Push this onto him out of nowhere with Reedcloud right there to make it even more awful?
He tried to make it work, to make his parents happy. But Reedcloud was the biggest pain in all the Clans. For one thing, like his parents, she made every decision for him, and for another, she touched him too much.
Aspenroot didn’t know what it was, but he hated the feeling of anyone’s, close or not, bodies on him. A tongue, a small brush of fur, it all made his whole being twinge in discomfort, something he learned as a kit on a visit to the medicine den when the medic had put their paw to his leg.
‘But we’re mates now,’ she would say. That gave her the right. Unless he didn’t love her?
Aspenroot didn’t know what to do or who to go to. No one seemed to see his dilemma. No one but the dream-visitor.
They had come to him soon after Reecloud and Aspenroot had ‘hooked up.’ They didn’t claim to be Starclan, but Aspenroot suspected it. How else would a cat enter his dreams and talk to him in a way that felt way too real and consistent to be just dreams?
At first they lent an ear, which, although simple to most, was the biggest thing to ever happen to Aspenroot. It was the first time ever someone asked how he was feeling, cared what he thought.
Then, more and more, they began adding their own thoughts to his, but not in a way to take over. They didn’t tell him what to do, but gave suggestions that more and more, Aspenroot began to like.
He began avoiding his so-called mate and parents more often, and doing what he wanted to do instead of what they wanted him to do.
He thought it was getting better, until Reedcloud told him that she wanted kits. Kits, which she apparently already talked to his parents about, and they agreed with the idea.
He hated the idea. He was still so young, wasn’t he? But how could he find a way out? Toadtooth told him it was the right thing to do for the Clan by giving more warriors, Sandytail wept that she was worried sick about passing without a grandkit to carry her legacy, and Reedcloud began to question his tomhood. What kind of male didn’t want to so much as nuzzle his mate?
Then came the suggestion. Aspenroot wasn’t sure at first, but by the end of the day, filled with arguments and how he is in the wrong, he was ready to do it.
He lead her out onto the moor, saying how he wanted to discuss the kits, and she eagerly came along. They stopped to where he had left a hare. Sure enough, it attracted a hawk, and sure enough, pushing her in the way, his problem was carried off.
He felt so free. He did it! He did it on his own by his own idea! Sure, the Starclan warrior suggested an out, which he was grateful for, but the method was Aspenroot’s own!
The warrior wondered if it was enough, and Aspenroot agreed. For a while, his parents laid off of him, wanted him time to grieve, but he knew soon enough they would have a new mate ready for him.
The Reedcloud method worked well enough, so he used the same method on his mother-- she was the more overbearing one. The hawk must have been full. It killed her, but didn’t carry her off.
That was perfect for Aspenroot. He used Sandytail’s body to attract another one for Toadtooth.
He was free! At last, free!
And he was free for two whole years before talons dug into his sides and he was lifted into the air.
Additional Information:
--I will probably reveal who the Dark Forest cat was soon, but I want to see who people think it is first, although since they aren’t known yet, I am welcome to your own oc suggestions!
--’Don’t bother the medicine cat’ is a bit hypocritical, since his parents constantly brought Aspenkit over, possibly thinking that he didn’t want to be touched because he was hurt.
--I imagine he actually feels really good in the Dark Forest, as there’s a LOT less judgement on what one does than Starclan has.
--Cat maker: https://meiker.io/play/14330/online.html
