Dark Forest Resident: Chestnut
Aliases / Nicknames: Dada, Baba
Gender: tom
Sexuality: pansexual
Family: unnamed mother, unnamed father, Mittens (mate), Milo (son), two unnamed kits
Other Relations: N/A
Clan: N/A
Rank: kittypet
Characteristics: loves his son, peacekeeper of his denmates
Murder Motive: revenge, grief
Number of Victims: 11
Number of Murders: 11
Murder Method: snapping neck, slitting throat, drowning, leading to dangerous animals
Known Victims: unnamed warriors, his denmates
Victim Profile: Clan cats, cats responsible for his son's death
Cause of Death: bitten by venomous snake
Cautionary Tale: ??
Story:
Chestnut loved Mittens. The two of them were very close, and were able to visit many times during the nights and days, as both their Housefolk were careless with keeping the dens locked.
Chestnut was over the moon when Mittens announced their pregnancy. He was also slightly disappointed, as he knew that he wouldn't be able to raise the kits to adulthood. Still, he was glad that he had found love, and that that love was strong enough to bring life into the world, that someone would be able to experience the wonderful life that he was able to.
Then things got even better! Their Housefolk looked at the kits and figured out who the father was, and they decided that one of them would live with Chestnut!
Though Chestnut was deeply saddened when his other kits were given away, and then when Mitten's Housefolk moved out of the Twolegplace and took her with them, he still had his son, and he put all of his attention onto his little kit.
Chestnut could hardly care about the arguments his denmates would have, of which he would normally be the one solving their silly disputes. He would spend every day teaching his son anything he could think of--how to talk, how to walk, how to walk down the stairs, everything--though he had to admit he was getting ahead of himself, as Milo was still wobbling and could only form short words.
Even when he wasn't teaching his son something, he spent as much time as he could with him. When he wasn't grooming, teaching, playing, or nuzzling him, he was just watching him, fascinated by the life he had made.
Chestnut didn't think much of it when Milo began roaming around the garden. He already had many times. Chestnut took a short break from watching his kits to take a nap. His denmates were with him. Surely they would keep an eye on the little one.
But when Chestnut woke up, he couldn't find Milo anywhere. He began to worry, then went into full panick mode when he saw the hole in the bottom of the fence leading to the forest.
Chestnut had leaped over the fence and was racing through the trees faster than a single heartbeat.
He searched and called, and when he found his kit, he could have screamed. He might have screamed. He couldn't even remember anything other than seeing his son, bloodied and cold.
Next to him was the darkly-stained kit-toy that his Housefolk had brought for him.
Milo's body was drenched in that terrible forest-cat stench!
They did this to his son!
They had to pay!
Chestnut's focus was again direct solely on his son. There was nothing more important than avenging his death.
They thought that because he was a simple, useless kittypet kit, his life was worthless. There would be no consequences. Chestnut would teach them otherwise.
He brought the kit-toy--Teddy, as his son called him after the Housefolk kept repeating it (or 'Tebby, given he couldn't properly pronounce his 'D's yet), and set it up to watch the deaths.
He wasn't so delusional as to believe that Teddy was his son. He knew that Milo was dead and gone, but a part of him felt like if he set up Milo's favourite toy to watch the vengeance taken in his name, then somehow his son would know, would maybe even see and be at peace.
Perhaps it did turn a little bit into obsession. If Chestnut let go of the toy, if he didn't groom it like he groomed Milo or speak to it like he would his son, then it meant that he accepted Milo was completely and entirely gone, and he wasn't quite ready to accept that yet. Again, he knew it was nothing more than a toy, but he couldn't just stop.
The more he killed, the more aggressive he got. First it was swift. He would claw them up, made them understand who he was and what he was doing, then he would snap their neck or slit their throat. Sometimes he would tear up their underbelly.
But it wasn't enough. His son was still gone. He had to make them understand his pain.
He had to rip them apart.
He started making it slower, dragging it out more and more. He got creative, too.
Sometimes when he was close enough to water, he would hold their heads below the surface. Once, he was chased by two warriors. He lead them into a garden he knew had a dog.
The dog he had known for many moons. It was used to him. It definitely wasn't used to two unfamiliar cats trying to harm the sweet tom-cat next garden over.
There were some cats that he had to admit had unfair deaths, such as the she-cat he found sniffing at Teddy when he was returning from the dog's garden. Enraged, he leaped and tore out her throat before she could say a word.
The warriors weren't enough.
His son would have never left the garden if those two idiots had bothered to keep a single eye on him!
Or maybe they wanted him to leave...encouraged it! They had complained about the constant mewling....
He hid on the other side of the fence, saying he was injured and calling for help. It was easy to jump them.
He didn't respond to anything after that. He would simply lay as his Housefolk pat his back or tried to play with him. The only thing he would do other than attack forest cats was eat for his strength, and when he was too tired for either, he would groom and talk to Teddy.
He got careless when he overheard a patrol too big to attack mention something called 'Snakerocks.'
Snakes...it would be the perfect place to lead them!
In fact, it was. The field was rather beautiful, the rocks perfectly silhouetted against the lowering sun. It was the perfect place to die.
Additional Information:
--The toy is likely not a cat toy, but an actual small teddy bear. The housefolk has their own child who wanted to get it for the new kitten, too young to really realize that it's more of a human toy.
--It's likely that Chestnut heard stories since he was a kit about StarClan due to living so close to the Clans and began to believe in it to some extent, hence his appearance in the Dark Forest.
--I'm not the biggest fan of the 'crazy parent thinks their doll is their child' because tbh I think that's a lazy way to make a character 'crazy' or 'spooky,' though it probably does happen sometimes in real life and can be done right on film.
That's why I want to reiterate that Chestnut knows full well that Teddy is just a toy and nothing else (which is the truth, it holds no connection to Milo's spirit), but grooming it, laying with it, and speaking to it brings him comfort, as he's no longer able to do that with his real son. If he loses the toy, it would almost be like losing his son all over again, or at least like losing the last connection he has to his son.
--Cats typically bring their accessories to the DF, such as collars. Chestnut had Teddy tucked into his when he died, thus Teddy follows him to the DF.
--Not Clangen oc, just looked for a design.
