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INTERMEDIATE MOON PART TWO

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Comic 2 || Page 19

Shimmerpaw completes her training. Her clanmates name her Shimmerpelt.

Aliases / Nicknames: Creepykit, Poppy-eater, Love-killer, Baggyeyes

Gender: agender

Sexuality: asexual, aromantic

Family: Roseflame (mother), Birchberry (father), Flamefrost (sister), Icekit, Emberkit (brothers), Duskpaw, Tulippaw (half-siblings)

Other Relations: Rainstripe (Mentor)

Clan: Shadeclan

Rank: medicine cat 

Characteristics: intelligent, loves counting and sorting, insomniac, easily annoyed, shy, quiet, almost invisible

Number of Victims: 6

Number of Murders: 3

Murder Method: poisoning, trapping in dangerous situations

Known Victims: Cloudwhisker, Sparkstar, Roseflame (murdered) Sedgesplash, Duskpaw, Tulippaw (emotionally hurt by murders)

Victim Profile: cats they felt were a danger to the Clan

Cause of Death: ripped apart by dogs

Cautionary Tale: even the most invisible cat can be a danger if pushed far enough

Story:

Mothkit was never the favourite, and Roseflame made sure they knew it.

The litter of four even had an unofficial hierarchy of who was the most favoured by their mother. The order was Flamekit, Emberkit, Icekit, and Mothkit. The other three were showered with praise while Mothkit was pushed out of the nest and had to sleep with the permanent queen, Darkleap. Why? As with most problems of shallow cats like Roseflame, it was relationship drama.

Mothkit’s father, Birchberry, was a sweet cat, but soon after the litter was born, Roseflame’s eyes began to wander. The divorce was messy, and after it was over, she didn’t even want to look at anything that might remind her of her ex.

Roseflame was ginger and white, Flamekit looked the same, Emberkit was all ginger, Icekit was a tortie, and Mothkit was the spitting image of their father.

Unfortunately, getting most of their dad’s genes also meant that they got most of their dad’s problems, like insomnia. They had never had a good night’s sleep in their life unassisted, and the only thing that would keep Mothkit from staggering around like a zombie all day was poppy seeds. 

Mothkit spent most of their time alone, collecting leaves and berries and sorting and counting them. Roseflame hated the kits interacting with their father, but since Mothkit was mostly by themself, Birchberry did his best to spend time with them. 

Mothkit had minor prophetic dreams. When they were one moon old, they had a dream about Darkleap kitting early, and playing with a tortie she-kit and a white tom. They told Darkleap about it, but he dismissed it as just a dream. It ended up being true, and Sedgekit and Cloudkit looked exactly like Mothkit had said they would. Darkleap told the medicine cat, Rainstripe, but he said it was probably just a coincidence since Mothkit was worried about Darkleap.

Things continued as okay, until they weren’t.

The worst greencough epidemic Shadeclan had in generations hit, and Roseflame’s entire litter got sick. Flamekit and Mothkit came out of it okay, and so did Darkleap’s mate, Mintdrop, but Emberkit and Icekit didn’t make it. Mothkit, being much smaller than the properly-fed Flamekit, nearly died, and stayed in the medicine den much longer.

They became acquainted with all the herbs, and begged Rainstripe constantly to be allowed to sort them, but Rainstripe understandably wasn’t going to let a kit play with the herbs.

Roseflame didn’t tell Mothkit that their siblings died, not to keep them safe from it, but because by this time, she didn’t consider Mothkit her own. 

When Mothkit found out, they were completely crushed. They sunk further into their sorting, and spent all the rest of their time bothering Rainstripe, who was annoyed by their antics. He finally took them seriously when, after the epidemic threatened to start again when Robinstar got whitecough, Mothkit had a dream about a very hidden supply of catmint.

It took days of constant badgering for Rainstripe to finally indulge them, and lo and behold, it was true. He finally took them as his apprentice, and when they passed the test with flying colours, Roseflame was fairly annoyed.

Mothpaw picked up herb information extremely quickly. They weren’t exactly trusted by their Clanmates yet over Rainstripe, since all they knew about the tiny apprentice was that they didn’t talk much, never slept, and loved counting, but their skills grew on the Clan eventually. Even Roseflame no longer bugged them, and they rarely saw each other. 

On an herb patrol, Rainstripe and Mothpaw ran into Robinstar, Sparksnow, and Ripplepaw. They said hello and went on their way, but soon after, Ripplepaw came running back. A dog had attacked, and Sparksnow was fighting it alone! When they got there, collecting cobwebs on the way, Sparksnow was just finishing driving it off, but Robinstar was bleeding out.

They brought him home and stopped the bleeding, but all Rainstripe could do was prolong his suffering. He ended up putting him out of his misery with deathberries, and the foaming at the mouth before falling still was an event that stuck with Mothpaw for a long time.

When Dappleleaf became Dapplestar, and made Wolfbreeze her deputy, no one noticed Sparksnow’s look of fury at being passed over.

Cloudpaw knew about the dream that Mothpaw had that led to his birth, and since they were a similar age they grew up as friends. But sweet Starclan, Cloudpaw wouldn’t leave Mothpaw alone!

Constantly coming up with injuries and illnesses to get Mothpaw to treat him, hanging around the medicine den to bug them, and coming back even after Rainstripe kicked him out. It never ended! Mothpaw finally had enough, and after a long conversation that ended with Cloudpaw crying and making a scene, he finally backed off. For a while.

When Cloudpaw became Cloudwhisker and Mothpaw was still Mothpaw, he began trying to get their attention again. But instead of innocently bothering, it was actually dangerous. Climbing redwood trees while Mothpaw was watching, getting into fights to show off, and he wouldn’t listen when Mothpaw told him to stop.

It all came to a head when Birchberry led a patrol with Cloudwhisker, Ebonysplash, and Mintdrop, and Mothpaw came along to find herbs. Birchberry noticed a Twoleg dog off of its leash. With three experienced warriors and one new one, they could have come up with a plan they could stick to and drive the beast off, no problem

The plan was to surround the dog from all sides while Mothpaw stayed out of the way in a tree. Foolproof, until Cloudwhisker jumped in early to show off, knowing Mothpaw was watching. The fight went all wrong. Ebonysplash and Birchberry went to save him while Mintdrop protected Mothpaw. 

It was a slaughter. Ebonysplash retired to the elders’ den when the dog took off her leg, and Birchberry…no matter how hard Mothpaw tried to save him through their tears, there was just too much blood.

It was all Cloudwhisker’s fault. His stupidity and impulsiveness were a danger to Shadeclan, but with the Clan being low on warriors after the greencough epidemic, Dapplestar couldn’t exile him. Mothpaw decided he had to go.

There was a large clearing filled with poppy flowers that Mothpaw cultivated to help with their insomnia. Deathberries or foxglove would make it too obvious Cloudwhisker was poisoned, and there were so many poppy seeds that no one would notice some were missing.

They took a rabbit, Cloudwhisker’s favourite, and stuffed it with so many poppy seeds there was no chance he would wake up, and he didn’t.

After Birchberry’s death, Mothpaw, now Mothblaze, needed more and more poppy seeds to get to sleep, and when they did, they were plagued with dog-related nightmares, so they took even more so they wouldn’t have to dream at all. Rainstripe was worried, but not taking the seeds and having a zombie-like medicine cat from lack of sleep was worse.

Roseflame got a new mate and had a new litter of kits, and Mothblaze had mixed feelings. The kits, Tulipkit and Duskkit, were cute, but soon after, Roseflame broke up with Duskmouse. Mothblaze noticed Duskkit was smaller and skinnier, and when she thought no one was looking, she would push him away and not take care of him!

Mothblaze was not going to let the cycle start again! Another rabbit, stuffed with poppy seeds, took care of the problem, and Duskkit and Tulipkit were adopted by Darkleap and his new litter. Problem solved, and with noticeably less guilt than with Cloudwhisker.

Time passed, and things were okay. But one day, Wolfbreeze mysteriously went missing, and turned up dead a week later. Sparksnow was named the new deputy, and Mothblaze could tell the power went to her head.

But it would be fine, Dapplestar still had eight lives left! She would outlive Sparksnow, and there wouldn’t be a problem, right? This was proven wrong when Dapplestar ended up on the Thunderpath that Twolegs liked to bring their dogs and monster kits on. Dapplestar was decapitated by a monster kit, and lost all the rest of her lives at once.

When Mothblaze went to the ceremony to give Sparksnow her lives, they noticed the Starclan cats looked uncomfortable with the whole thing. They were right.

Sparksnow became obsessed with loyalty and traitors. Anyone that seemed disloyal to Shadeclan disappeared. Even Flamefrost, who Mothblaze was never close with, ended up drowning in the river. Mothblaze buried her solemnly, knowing they now had no family, Rainstripe had died, and there was nothing tying them to Shadeclan other than their job. 

Mothblaze knew that they were going to end up in the Dark Forest for their previous two murders, so getting rid of this problem wouldn’t change anything.

But Sparkstar had nine lives. This would take more planning than just a rabbit with poppy seeds, and Mothblaze didn’t have an apprentice to take over in case things went wrong. After counting herbs and organizing them over and over and over, they decided Duskkit had the aptitude to be a medicine cat, and after training them for a few moons, Mothblaze felt confident Duskpaw could take over if the plan went horribly wrong.

It started slow. A rabbit filled with poppy seeds, Mothblaze’s staple. Sparkstar lost a life, but didn’t suspect anything. She was never the smartest, after all. 

Then, a kit caught greencough. Mothblaze had the kit cough on a mouse, then took the mouse to Sparkstar. The second life, gone.

Mothblaze spent half a moon destabilizing a badger den by moving rocks and taking out dirt. When Sparkstar took a patrol to drive out the badger, her stomping around made the den collapse. That took away three lives before the patrol could get her out.

Then, Mothblaze lured Sparkstar to the Thunderpath by pretending there was a sign she needed to see. A monster kit took another two lives.

One last rabbit with poppy seeds worked before Sparkstar stopped accepting food from Mothblaze, but she couldn’t prove anything. One last life left.

Mothblaze had run out of foolproof ideas, and Sparkstar was very suspicious. She couldn’t just exile Mothblaze, Duskpaw wasn’t ready to take over. 

Mothblaze knew Sparkstar was looking to get rid of them. They grew desperate, and when Sparkstar was hunting alone, Mothblaze jumped her and tore out her throat by surprise. The deputy, Sunwhisper, saw this however, and went back and told the whole Clan.

Mothblaze knew they were finished. They explained everything to Duskpaw, named them Duskflight early, and before Sunwhisper could exile them, they ate the entire supply of poppy seeds to go out on their own terms.

What they hadn’t counted on was that over their life, Mothblaze had built up an immunity. All the seeds did was make them sleepy and woozy as they wobbled around the territory. Mothblaze had absolutely no chance to run when dogs sniffed them out and ripped them apart.

When they woke up exactly where they expected, Mothblaze knew it was worth it.

Additional Information:

–Submission by @chillcatcryptid sorry the link’s not working right

–In Shadeclan, potential medicine cat apprentices have to pass a small test to be an apprentice, and to get their full name.

–In Shadeclan, medicine cats can have a mate and kits, but have to have another medicine cat around, and both of them have to have had their full name for at least a year.

–Cloudwhisker being a warrior when Mothblaze was an apprentice wasn’t being creepy, Cloudwhisker was actually one moon younger.

–Shadeclan is in a redwood forest national park. There are a lot of dogs because Twolegs love walking their dogs there. The Twolegs leave them alone because since they’re in a national park, the cats are considered protected.

Weaselbark - ShadeClan Medicine Cat Power: Dormant