#oddstrike

So. RippleClan started out very normal, 10 founders a fair amount of warriors it was going fine. That is until Ripplestar died 6 moons into the Clan’s existence - just in time for their apprentice Beampaw to get her warrior name, Beamstep (after Ripplestar’s warrior name, Ripplestep). Sparkstar, the second leader, didn’t last too long either, dying only 9 moons later. Leestar, the next leader, only lasted 4. By that point Beamstep was one of I believe three remaining founders, along with the founding medic who would die a moon later and one other remaining warrior. Beamstar then became the Clan’s fourth leader.

Within 30 moons of RippleClan’s existence, Beamstar could only watch as her Clanmates slowly died off, in the end leaving only her and Oddstrike, the child of a loner who’d joined with their father and brother. Beamstar and Oddstrike had never really gotten along, but being the only cats remaining in the Clan, attempted to set aside their differences to keep RippleClan alive. Oddstrike’s death loop began few moons into this bitter era of the Clan.

The first time Oddstrike would experience a loop was after Beamstar died, leaving them alone to become the leader and sole survivor of RippleClan. In the following moon, they were taken out by enemy Clans until they finally died for good… only to wake up alive again, the day Beamstar had died. This was the only loop in which Oddstrike was taken back further than the morning of their death. (From a gameplay perspective I was just resetting so the Clan wasn’t toast - some friends I told about this as it happened thought the death loop approach would be funny, so it became canon.) Over the course of RippleClan’s empty moons and slow repopulation, Oddstrike died a total of 59 times before finally breaking the loop when they died peacefully of old age at 193 moons. But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

After nearly 20 moons of bickering, including a divorce or two, Beamstar and Oddstrike welcomed their first litter of kits: Poppykit, Cloverkit, and Pouncekit. There was a war declared a bit after these three were born but it’s fine don’t even worry about a Clan declaring war on a divorced couple and their infant children. Beamstar and Oddstrike broke up practically every third moon, but always ended up getting back together. (Their hate and romantic love for each other are both maxed out.) This first trio of kits became Poppyeyes, the new medic, Cloverpad, and Pouncepetal. Just a few moons after they earned their full names, their younger siblings were born - Wheatkit, Antlerkit, and Rosekit, soon to be Wheatfur, Antlertuft, and Roseacorn. These would be the only kits the pair had together, and no, having children did Not help the divorce cycle.

Between those litters, the first of many outsiders joined: Stumpywhisker, the retired young adult leader of the Clan that RippleClan went to war with. Stumpywhisker would eventually become Cloverpad’s mate, and they wound up having 15 kits but this isn’t about them <3 most of what happened in the coming moons began to revolve more around the oddbeam kits than the divorced guys themselves as RippleClan regrew, with more outsiders joining, allowing the Clan to prosper as the younger cats fell in love and invited loners and kittypets alike to stay. Oddstrike did of course continue their horrible death loop, dying for their Clanmates several times (namely their grandkits Ravenfall and Hornetstrike, whom they died for multiple times each) and the divorce cycle raged on. Beamstar and Oddstrike often hated even the thought of each other, thinking about how they wouldn’t miss the other when they died, yet they couldn’t keep themselves away from the only love they’d ever had.

Somewhere along the line that I don’t exactly remember the timing of, Wheatfur and Antlertuft both died, the whole Clan grieving the cats that to most were a brother, an uncle, or a son. Oddstrike also lost their left leg to a snare and their tail to a dog. (Poppyeyes held funerals for his dad’s amputated limbs which I found very sweet.) Oddstrike remained Beamstar’s deputy for nearly her whole leadership, though they finally retired a couple moons before the end of the dark era the pair led RippleClan out of, leaving the role to their daughter Cloverpad.

After over 100 moons that felt like an eternity (probably because Oddstrike kept dying and making me reset lmao) Beamstar’s lives dwindled, and she finally died of old age surrounded by the Clan she’d worked so hard to save. Beamstar spent 125 of the 164 moons she lived as leader, and probably half of those were spent divorcing Oddstrike, who outlived her by 44 moons. I’d like to think they’re still getting married and divorced all the time up in StarClan now.