#sedgelightning

Chapter 118: We Didn’t Start The Fire, But We’re Gonna Let It Burn, Burn, Burn, Burn!

what would you say caused such a drastic shift in her character? growing up with her + her siblings constantly stigmatized for being kits of a “codebreaking” medicine cat?

i’d love to see you write a lightningfur analysis.. only if it doesn’t spoil any future events though!

Lightningkit has grown up so much, my little murder baby <3

woof im not sure i could do a full character analysis like the ones i always scroll past on here but ill tell ya some stuff about her character progression!

In Little Sparks and "Prequel" (Before Into The Wild) chapters, Lightningkit loves her mother! She does the whole "I hate you! I'm not your mom!" attitude of a little kid. She was very rambunctious as a kit and always loved that Spotted would give her extra attention when she was being 'bad,' and hated when Spotted's attention was elsewhere (five kits, one who was very ill as well, plus Willowpelt and Darkkit, and her medicine cat duties--her attention was all over the place!). She acted out a lot as a kit and didn't like getting scolded, bossed around the other kits and got mad when Creekkit would be just as "bossy" as her (aka tell her off or try to lead the games instead to be more fair). She liked all her siblings except for Airkit, because she didn't get as 'attached' to him and just sort of saw him as the thing that always took Spotted's attention away (since he was sick in the med den).

LightningFur to SedgeCreek: ew get away stop being in love with me SilverStream shall be my one love

LightningFur to literally every cat she sees in battle: die!

"I saw it when she talked to Silverstream. I see it now when she looks at Featherpaw."

is she! sedgecreekflower!

a minor character with semi-importance thats still irrelevant in the scheme of things. sadge

Alder and I never actually looked at her canon history before we made her the character she is in BT now bcus we thought she was just a Background Character (which she is!) but it turns out she has Some Importance in canon side books

to start off, she’s in the same generation as Leopardfur! Older by a few moons or so, I believe. I read Leopardstar’s Honor so I should know but c’mon who remembers that stuff lmao. apparently Leopardfur thought she was bossy. tbf i think all the kits except Sunfish? and maybe Frogleap? were mean to Leopardfur in some way. but i still classified them as friends! kithood friends. they all stood together when Skypaw was held back and waited to become warriors with her. how nice :)

she’s also Crookedjaw’s first apprentice! she appears to be a little rambunctious and over-energetic. y’know, one of your typical apprentice personalities. she also apparently thinks Rippleclaw is really cool! this ties in nicely with the “admirance” part of her personality - i think she can get a little ‘obsessed’ over certain people and idolize them as a ‘can do no wrong’ kind of thing.

onto her personality! our Sedgecreek is kind of a well-meaning but self-serving kind of cat. she wants good for her friends and clanmates, but she’s also a bit oblivious, or, well “bossy.” despite Lightningfur constantly clearly pushing her away or calling her annoying/disgusting, Sedgecreek is just “aw! so cute :) she’s playing hard to get teehee.” she is very straight-forward herself though! she doesn’t hide her crush on Lightningfur and is unphased by any teasing.

as for why Sedgecreek has a crush on Lightningfur? it was completely randomly selected, in the moment sort of author decision. but, upon reflection, the reason would be simply that Sedgecreek was impressed by Lightningfur after the flood. previously she just kind of thought Lightningfur was There and ThunderClan and Out of Place and ignored her. but after the flood, where Lightningfur saved the kits and helped keep the clan calm/safe, Sedgecreek thought Lightningfur was noble and selfless. she began to believe that underneath that rough, prickly exterior, there was a kind and shy soul wanting to be loved, and Sedgecreek continues to blindly believe it to this day

but why does Lightningfur hate Sedgecreek?

at first, when Sedge first started being pushy and invading her personal space, Lightning truly and utterly hated her - she was the bane of her existence! she was annoying, pushy, didn’t leave Lightning alone like she wanted, had this disgusting “crush” on her (Lightning hates romance! the idea sickened her to her core!), and she wasn’t even a strong or smart warrior (in Lightning’s opinion)! Sedge doesn’t have the best understanding of boundaries, so its honestly understandable why Lightning is annoyed by her.

but after Silverstream’s death, there was a slight change over time. Sedge thought Lightning needed even more support and love after such a tragic event (Sedge was not so blind that she didn’t see that Lightning had a crush on Silver). at first Lightning hated this, desperately wanting space. but being alone while filled with hatred is a bitter existence and Sedge’s persistent attempts broke Lightning a little. though Lightning still hates her, now it’s because Sedge isn’t Silverstream. no one will ever be as perfect a best friend as Silverstream, so she is outright refusing to truly stop hating Sedge, and keeps herself in the cycle of despising Sedge. but all the while, Sedge has sort of become her new best friend, because at the very least Lightning acknowledges that she’s very very loyal and she begrudgingly/unconsciously keeps Sedge in her ‘inner circle.’

besides, Lightning would rather be "besties” with Sedge than creepy cultish old man Rippleclaw

(also things of note are: Thistlestar killed her dad, Timberfur. he poisoned the prey that killed Timberfur the deputy, which lead to Oakheart becoming deputy and so forth. Thistlestar also killed her mentor Crookedstar, obviously.