#cranepounce

Sharksnap and Cranepounce out on the beach together! Though, Sharksnap doesn’t really want to admit to himself that he doesn’t feel his heart race when Cranepounce snuggles up against him…

Aliases / Nicknames: Blasphemous Mousebrain, Snapper, Sharksnap

Gender: tom

Sexuality: bisexual (masc leaning)

Family: Dawnfish (mother), Whalecall (father), Lanternglow (brother), Cranepounce (ex-mate), Skydream, Rainstream (sons)

Other Relations: unnamed mentor, Nightdapple (apprentice)

Clan: Oceanclan 

Rank: leader

Characteristics: despises Starclan, easily snappy, desperate for attention/validation and heavily enjoys compliments. Will go on a tangent about how much he hates Starclan if given the chance

Number of Victims: 43 

Number of Murders: 2 (unintentionally)

Method of Harm: Unintentionally caused an entire war, overall spoke blasphemy about Starclan

Known Victims: unnamed Oceanclan cats, Unnamed Grottoclan cats (both of his murders were Grottoclan cats, neither were meant to be killed)

Victim Profile: mostly Grottoclan cats

Cause of Death: struck by lightning

Cautionary Tale: speaking Blasphemy of Starclan has consequences

Story: 

Sharkkit and Lanternkit were born to Dawnfish and Whalecall, two very spiritual warriors who had implanted the same beliefs onto their kits. 

While Lanternkit embraced it and found an interest in what the medic learned, Sharkkit hated his parents’ constant insistence that Starclan was all-knowing, all-powerful, and that they needed to constantly act a certain way to gain the approval of dead cats in the sky. 

As he neared his apprentice moons, Sharkkit grew rebellious and denied anything that had to do with Starclan.

Sharkpaw made his distaste of Starclan very clear, openly stating it at any chance he got. His fellow apprentices found it annoying, and while his brother was uncomfortable with his open distaste of the Stars, Lanternpaw tried his best to bond with Sharkpaw, avoiding any talk of Starclan like the plague. 

His parents, however, did not find Sharkpaw’s open distaste of Starclan very appropriate--Whalecall especially, who got into many arguments with his son before eventually refusing to acknowledging him.

Lanternpaw was the favourite child, walking in the pawsteps of Starclan while Sharkpaw was practically unseen by his parents. This was not exactly the best choice of the warriors, as Sharkpaw grew to resent his parents especially and only accept Lanternpaw as part of his family. Sharkpaw didn’t exactly have many friends to turn to either, so he just wallowed in his hate for the Stars, fearful of how they could just take over a cat’s life. 

He was miserable over how lonely he felt internally. He stuck close to his mentor for those moons, nagging her for extra lessons so that he had something to do outside of wallow in his hatred.

One would expect Sharksnap to mellow out after his warrior ceremony, but it only took one look into Whalecall’s gaze for him to suddenly feel set ablaze with anger. Sharksnap was aggressive and snappy to anyone who’d dare ask him about his hatred of Starclan. He seemed much happier when away from his Clan, doing his own thing. 

Him and Lanternglow grew distant from each other, still holding positive opinions despite their vast differences. It helped that Lanternglow attempting to defend him whenever Whalecall or Dawnfish said something negative about him. 

To the entire Clan’s shock, alongside Sharksnap himself, his solitude and preference of doing his own thing when out hunting or patrolling borders was seen as him being hardworking, and as such, he was given Nightpaw as an apprentice, and by anyone who’d listen, he swore he’d raise her to be the best warrior Oceanclan had ever seen. 

Nightpaw and Sharksnap quickly bonded over Nightpaw’s interest in the unusual--the two often pointing out weird looking fish they’d see while practicing swimming and hunting, or Nightpaw talking to him about creepy elder’s tales she heard. Sharksnap even thought of a couple of creepy stories for her, mainly to keep her from getting in trouble.

Soon, Nightpaw had her assessment, and Sharksnap just knew she passed with flying colors. As Nightdapple got her warrior name, Sharksnap felt every bad thing fade away for a moment to be replaced with pride as she went to do her vigil. 

That is at least, until he overheard his Clanmates’ whispers, about how hopefully his “distastefulness” didn’t rub off on her. He rolled his eyes and tried his hardest not to hiss at them as he headed off to congratulate Nightdapple. Days passed by rather blandly without an apprentice, so he often entertained himself by helping out during training sessions, which led to him talking to Cranepounce, a warrior in Oceanclan a lot more. 

Cranepounce showed sudden and clear interest in him, and Sharksnap completely gobbled this attention up--he was getting attention from a Clanmate that wasn’t uncomfortable small talk or detestment? Yes please! 

Eventually, Cranepounce suddenly confessed her feelings for the tom after one training session. While Sharksnap wasn’t exactly sure how he felt, he accepted the she-cat’s feelings and became mates with her. And to make matters better… he was chosen as deputy when greencough took the former one!

For once, Sharksnap felt like things were working out in his favour. For once, he was respected (even if this respect was forced, he could tell from how some cats grimaced when they thought he wasn’t looking), and he had actual control over things. 

His leader was getting older and sicklier too, it wouldn’t be long until they were done for. Despite his brother’s insistence, he made it very clear he refused to go to the Star Tree. Lanternglow could only hope as Sharkstar took on the role that Starclan would visit in the night and give Sharkstar his nine lives, if he wanted them or not. He couldn’t bear to know that his brother could die from someone thinking he had nine lives only to find out otherwise.

Unfortunately, Starclan seemed to had finally turned their backs on Sharkstar just as he did for them, as those nine lives never arrived for him.

Sharkstar continued to lead as any leader would. Cranepounce suddenly announced to him that she was going to have kits! While the she-cat was very excited about this, Sharkstar had to force a delighted grin. He did not feel prepared at all to become a father. 

When the gathering rolled around, Sharkstar wanted to get his thoughts off of his future kits by talking with his Clanmates on the way to the gathering stones, eventually getting on the unfortunate discussion of Starclan. Which, of course, caused Sharkstar to go on his tangent about how Starclan was just a bunch of dead cats and that dedicating your life to a bunch of Stars was foolish.

Not many seemed to really listen to him as he rambled to his Clanmates, but he suddenly heard a low, growly hiss from a cat nearby. Turning his head, he was greeted by Palestar--the leader of Grottoclan, who also happened to be a very religious tom.

Sharkstar immediately knew he had made a mistake.

When they got to the Gathering Stones, Palestar, with a low hiss, pointed out Sharkstar’s blasphemous rambles, causing the tom to rush to defend himself. The two broke out into an argument, getting so hostile with each other that the Gathering needed to be ended early. 

Scowling as he headed back home, Sharkstar just wanted to mope in his nest. But of course, things couldn’t go his way as cats started yowling for him. 

Palestar came to visit, and he was pissed off. Sharkstar and Palestar continued to argue, despite Grottoclan cats begging Palestar to let go and just go home, and Oceanclan cats begging Sharkstar to stop doubling down. Neither did what their Clanmates begged them to, which caused Palestar to eventually snap and declare he’d be back with a battle patrol. The regret practically hit Sharkstar like a large monster as he got his Clanmates ready for a fight.

Things escalated quickly, with what was just a small scuffle breaking out into a full on war. Casualties occured on both sides, including Whalecall and Dawnfish, and Lanternglow begged Sharkstar to come to the Star Tree with him to figure out how to stop this war. 

Sharkstar, not wanting his brother to get hurt due to the Star Tree’s location in Grottoclan territory, agreed and begrudgingly set off to ask Starclan on how to obtain peace. To the two’s shock, when they put their noses to the roots of the tree, they were met with pure silence. 

While Sharkstar expected that for himself, seeing Lanternglow be absolutely distraught made him outraged. How dare Starclan treat his brother with the same respect they give him? As the two silently fled the territory back to their own, Sharkstar cursed out the Stars for the disrespect they had endowed onto his brother, who did nothing but trust them.

The war continued to rage on for moons, until one stormy day when the two leaders were commanding a battle patrol to fight each other. Neither knew this would be the deciding battle. As Sharkstar arrived, the sound of thunder pounded in his ears, practically drowning out his racing heartbeat. He wanted to tear Palestar limb from limb. He was fed up with this tom refusing to back down over a pointless fight. Sharkstar was never a quitter as well, unfortunately, so Sharkstar screamed out the battle cry that started the chaos. A scream that would be Sharkstar’s last. 

Suddenly, a blinding light like the sun itself covered the battlefield for only seconds, an ear splitting crash deafening all sound around the cats. Nobody could see or hear anything for a second or two, but when they could, they saw Sharkstar dead on the sand, having been struck down by Starclan.

Waking up in a gray zone, Sharkstar found himself surrounded by cats--his former leader, his former mentor, Dawnfish, and Whalecall. He was given a choice: Show remorse, understand your ancestors and join them, or be exiled to the Dark Forest. 

Sharkstar took one last moment to look at his family and those he trusted, then turned and silently walked into the Dark Woods, never to see the Stars he hated so much again.

Additonal Information:

--Submission by @umbranoxs

--Sharkstar didn’t actually love Cranepounce, he only saw her as a friend and was desperate to feel like someone outside of his brother and former apprentice cared for him. He didn’t want to lose how she felt by denying her feelings (he also was unsure of his own orientation at the time, only realizing after he died that while he liked she-cats, he preferred toms).

--Lanternglow was named after the Lantern Shark, the “glow” part of his suffix is a coincidence.

--Lanternglow tried to get Sharkstar to be allowed into Starclan with no avail when he died, because Sharkstar chose himself to go to the Dark Forest.

--Sharksnap was named after his snappy personality, but the leader thought it had a nice ring to it.

--He probably wouldn’t have survived the lightning strike even if he DID have nine lives.

--He didn’t get to name his kits because he died before they were born, otherwise Rainkit would’ve likely been named Thresherkit (which sounds a lot cooler then Rainkit if you ask me).