Dark Forest Resident: Tanglemouse
Aliases / Nicknames: Kit-Killer, Dog-Feeder, Dog-Heart
Gender: tom
Sexuality: heterosexual
Family: unnamed mother, unnamed father, Gorsehail (brother), Cherrykit, Yarrowit (daughters), Honeykit (adoptive daughter, niece), Berrykit, Snipkit (sons), Jaggedkit, Birchkit (adoptive sons, nephews), Darkpeak (mate, formerly)
Other Relations: unnamed mentor, unnamed apprentice
Clan: Thunderclan
Rank: warrior
Characteristics: kills kits of his brother to get with his brother’s mate, blames crimes on brother
Number of Victims: 9
Number of Murders: 8
Murder Method: leaving in Twoleg gardens to be mauled by dogs
Known Victims: Volekit, Gorsehail, Honeykit, Jaggedkit, Birchkit, Berrykit, Cherrykit, Snipkit, Yarrowkit
Victim Profile: his brother, his brother’s kits, his kits, random kit
Cause of Death: mauled by dogs
Cautionary Tale: ??
Story:
Not all monsters know that they are monsters, or can tell where the line is that even they can never cross, at least not without living in regret and anguish.
That’s why Tanglemouse needed a test.
He wanted to kill his brother’s kits. After all, they were the result of him getting with a she-cat Tanglemouse had been in love with since he laid eyes on her. But could he hurt his own kin? Kill them?
So he picked the other ones first. Darkpeak was still carrying anyway. Littletail was in the nursery with her young kit. And really, it wasn’t like she would miss him forever. She barely knew him--he was only half a moon old.
Giving birth to him had been a tough ordeal, and he was still rather weak. That’s why she was in such a deep sleep, not noticing when Tanglemouse snuck in and took her kit away.
He couldn’t just smother the thing. He had a plan. That was why he went through the trouble of taking the tiny Volekit to a Twoleg garden, where he knew dogs would be. He only had to drop this thing on the grass below, and let its wails of confusion and fear lead to it being found.
He had to get to the second part of the plan quickly. He knew that Gorsehail would be at the dirtplace for a long time. He had made sure to add a certain berry or two in his food while he was busy cuddling Tanglemouse’s love. Before that, he had made sure to tell Gorsehail to check out the cute little Volekit in the nusery--ensuring that his scent would be one of the freshest, then disguising his own when it came to the deed.
As Tanglemouse entered, he first made sure to ruffle his fur and flatten his bedding--making it look like he had just woken up. He then woke up Gorsehail’s mate--his future mate--to ask her where his brother was.
It was a simple enough question. But when Volekit’s absence became known, it was clear that someone had to have taken him. They began to blame the other Clans until someone accused Gorsehail, pointing out that he had been missing for most of the night.
The weeping Littletail confirmed that the freshest scent other than hers had been the tom’s.
It was enough to raise suspicions, but not quite get rid of him. Tanglemouse decided to ‘help his brother clear his name.’ The best way to do that would be to find the kit. They did, or at least chewed bits of him scattered in the Twoleg garden. Tanglemouse told Gorsehail to leave him out of the discovery--after the accusasings cats were throughing at him, he deserved all the praise.
Just as planned, Gorsehail knowing where to find Volekit only added to the suspicion. All Tanglemouse had to do nothing but deny his involvement. What could Gorsehail prove?
Then, the sorrowful mate and brother bonded over their shared shock. Tanglemouse promised Darkpeak that he would be the best father to her kits that he could. He delivered. He visited them, played with them, taught them the basics of Clan life.
At night, he snuck them out for a fun adventure--something their mother and Clan wouldn’t allow, which was why they had to be quiet. By the time they would be screeching in agony as the dogs tore them apart, they would be too far for their Clanmates to hear.
The general belief was that Gorsehail had come back to enact revenge, and patrols were sent to find and punish him, finding nothing.
Darkpeak stated that she couldn’t stand not hearing little mewls of laughter or the pitter-patter of tiny paws, which was why she was quick to want more kits. This time, they would be Tanglemouse’s.
The novelty fell away quickly. His kits were no longer miracles, but burdens. Burdens he knew how to rid himself of. But a tail-length from the fence, he was jumped.
Turned out that a patrol had found Gorsehail, and that he was able to convince them enough of his story to watch Tanglemouse carefully. They could bring him back to the camp, they admitted. Have him punished, or chase him off like they did his innocent brother.
But he fed kits to dogs.
They twisted his back leg. Not enough to break it, but enough to prevent him from leaping to freedom. Then, they carried him atop the fence and through him over it, his yowl of pain at the landing on his limb attracting the dogs.
Additional Information:
--Webstripe 2.0
--He didn’t think getting Gorse exiled would be as bad as murder (which is true), which is why the test was needed even though he was gonna get rid of him anyway.
--VERY MUCH inspired from this bone-chilling and awesome scene from this on-going comic that I definitely recommend reading: https://www.deviantart.com/audreycosmo13/art/Missing-Pieces-page-79-206527731