Dark Forest Resident: Tanglestar
Aliases / Nicknames: Traitor, Tangled Mess, The Tangled Star
Gender: tom
Family: Meadowcall (mother), Stoneflower (father), Harestorm, Thistleblaze (sisters)
Other relations: Mossnose (mentor), Frostleap (apprentice)
Clan: Shadowclan
Characteristics: targets anyone who spoke or speaks remotely against him
Number of Victims: 12
Number of Murders: 11
Murder Method: blunt force trauma
Known Victims: Jumpingshade, Mothstem, Thistleblaze, Bouldergaze, Harestorm, Rainstep, Hazelpelt, Silvertooth, Meadowcall, Mossnose, Pouncewhisker, Frostleap
Cause of Death: run over by a monster / car
Cautionary Tale: one must be cautious when speaking doubt of those of hearing, otherwise you could find yourself on the wrong end of claws.
Story:
Tanglekit was the youngest of the litter, and being born in leaf-bare did nothing to help his health. The kit wouldn’t leave his parents’ side for three moons. He was sick often, so often in fact that he became with the Clan’s medicine cat apprentice, Cinderpaw.
Even when his health increased for the better, Tanglekit was still incredibly weak. His so-called littermates took this to their advantage and began teasing him. When their parents turned around, they played innocent helping sisters.
On another of these teasing games, Tanglekit ran to his mother, only to stop short when he heard her speaking. Pricking his ears, he listened as Meadowcall complained, about him!
He winced as she said how she hated how weak her son was, how easy a target he was for his sisters. Why wasn’t she talking about how much she hated that they pick on their brother? Why did her anger have to target him?
That night, Tanglekit volunteered to sleep on a different nest to practise for when he became an apprentice, but his parents both refused, saying how he could catch a cold, much easier than his sisters. Instead, he slept on the opposite side to Harekit and Thistlekit, with his back to his mother.
But he was woken shortly by Harekit, who complained of his snoring, comparing him to a sick elder, with Thistlekit mockingly asking if he was sick again.
Tanglekit left the nursery and joined his father in the warrior’s den, where he slept peacefully for the rest of the night.
But in the morning, his father scolded him on leaving the nursery, how he could’ve worried his mother, how Stoneflower could have rolled over and crushed him, not knowing he was there, how the den isn’t as warm as the nursery and he could freeze, and blah blah blah.
Tanglepaw was glad when he became an apprentice. He would have been more glad if Thistlepaw hadn’t shoved him into a pile of dirt to mess up his fur right before the ceremony, but he wasn’t about to let her ruin his day.
Mossnose was reserved. She was a good mentor, taught him all he needed to know, but there was no emotional connection, positive or negative. It was blank routine for the both of them. Tanglepaw came to like it.
During their silent vigil, Thistleblaze and Harestorm somehow managed to annoy Tanglewhisker further, and in a fit of anger he left for the dirtplace. Once again, he stopped short at hearing a voice, and once again, overheard someone speaking poorly of him.
Mossnose was telling some warrior how she was glad to finally be rid of the annoying apprentice.
Now Tanglewhisker was angry. Couldn’t anyone see that the problem was them, not him? Couldn’t anyone understand that there is nothing wrong with him?
By the time of Stoneflower’s vigil, Tanglewhisker didn’t much care. He didn’t miss his loving father, and he didn’t dance at the fact that he was dead. It simply did not matter to him, nor did becoming deputy until one gathering.
The deputy next to him, Riverclan maybe, made a comment to Tanglewhisker about the power and responsibility he would have.
The power.
It was unnoticeable at first, assigning those who annoyed him extra work or unfavourable chores, but the warriors caught on, and the leader made Tanglewhisker stop. And he did, really, at least until he received his own nine lives and was able to do whatever he wanted.
He went back to assigning chores, and the work grew more tedious and disgusting. Harestorm, the doer of many of these chores, shouted at Tanglestar in front of the entire Clan.
She should know better than to disrespect her leader in public, to disrespect him!
He went back to his den hoping to calm down. When it didn’t, he left the camp and followed her trail, finding her by a pile of rocks. Quick as a whip, he shoved her down onto them. Harestorm was dazed, but was able to fight back for a good while, at least until she tripped on a stone and bashed her skull on a boulder.
Tanglestar noticed how quiet it was, and not just from the mourning. That was one sister that would never mock Tanglestar again, would never tease him for his smaller size, never belittle him for his weird green eyes. Thistleblaze was already at the site, hoping to check out what exactly happened.
And she found out.
More and more, cats went. If they so much as spoke a word against Tanglestar or his choices, they suddenly disappeared.
Until one day, when Tanglestar took puny warrior Frostleap there, only to have more of Shadowclan and some Thunderclan warriors stop him. Apparently someone had caught on, and chose to snitch to another Clan.
Tanglestar was driven out, but soon enough he found that that suited him just fine.
Additional Information:
--Meadowcall does not hate her son! She was just being a normal mom complaining about her kids, and her son happened to hear her at the wrong time.
--Meadowcall and Stoneflower are actually really good parents, especially Stoneflower.
Questions? Comments?
