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residents-of-the-darkforest · 3 months

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Dark Forest Resident: Floodleopard

Aliases / Nicknames: Floodstar, Favourite Apprentice

Gender: she-cat

Sexuality: demi-pansexual, demi-romantic

Family: Sunnybee (mother), Greyberry (father), Cherrytail (unknowing adoptive father), Archfin, Splashsnow (sisters), Fogpuddle, Nighttooth, Marshpaw (brothers)

Other Relations: Greyberry (mentor)

Clan: RiverClan

Rank: leader

Characteristics: enjoys swimming in cold water, prefers the darkness and cold to bright warmth, great kit-sitter, hates wondering what-if, hates thinking about happy memories with those she killed, great eye-sight (would be amazing at find-the-difference puzzles)

Murder Motive: anger at being lied to her whole life, anger on behalf of her father

Number of Victims: 2

Number of Murders: 2

Murder Method: drowning, suffocating/biting throat

Known Victims: Sunnybee, Greyberry

Victim Profile: her cheating mother, her true father

Cause of Death: tail ripped off by a dog, blood loss

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

Ever since she was a kit, Floodleopard thought that her life was perfect.

She had a loving mother and father who supported her every choice, and littermates that, though annoying at times, stuck by her side through everything.

Floodleopard's former mentor and the deputy, Greyberry, was much kinder to her than most mentors were to their apprentices in the first moon. Nightpaw and Archpaw had expressed jealousy, and it seemed clear to everyone that from the very start, Greyberry cared deeply for her.

When she was a young warrior, her mother had her second litter. There was one little dark-ginger tom, his paler brother with white specks, and their sister, a dark grey-and-white she-kit.

Floodleopard was fascinated by the young kits. When her mother slipped out to stretch her legs, Floodleopard offered to watch them with Cherrytail. Everything was fine for a while. The kits were already asleep, so Cherrytail and Floodleopard spent their time talking softly to each other.

Then Marshkit woke up and began crying for Sunnybee. He wouldn't respond to Floodleopard or his father, and alarmed and unsure of any other option, Floodleopard was quick to leave the camp. She followed her mother's scent trail, and when she caught site of her among the reeds, she opened her mouth to speak. But her words cut her off.

"Floodleopard can never know. You know that. You promised."

Caught completely off-guard by this unexpected turn of events, it was mostly a subconscious decision for Floodleopard to crouch low and prick her ears.

Greyberry was with Sunnybee, and they seemed to be fighting about something. Greyberry pointed out Floodleopard's grey-and-white coat, and how now two of the kits in the second litter looked like...like Greyberry.

Floodleopard's mind couldn't make sense of the scene, of any utterance taking place within it. It was all a jumbled mess, words flooding her ears like a rapid torrent, yet they sloshed around her mind uselessly, unable to make a structured, understandable sentence for her to disect.

Sunnybee.....Greyberry.....Love.....Grey fur, white fur.......No orange.....Daughter.......Mine.......Ours.

Finally, all at once, everything sunk in.

Cherrytail was not her father.

Greyberry was her father.

He knew this. Sunnybee knew this.

They had lied to her her whole life.

Floodleopard had remained there, frozen, long after the two cats had left. It wasn't until a patrol sent out to find her snapped her out of her trance and brought her back to camp.

She couldn't eat, couldn't do anything but stare at the den wall.

All her life...all her life. Her own mother lied to her, her own mentor, and they lied to Cherrytail too. He had always been nothing but a loving, attentive mate. How could Sunnybee do this to him? How could she raise kits alongside him and lie that they were his?

Twice, Floodleopard realized. She had never cared much about it before, but why did Marshkit and Splashkit have colours different from either Sunnybee or Cherrytail. How could have Floodleopard be so stupid, miss something so plainly clear?

Floodleopard felt like she didn't know her mother at all. She wasn't the encouraging mother who sang her kits praise. She was the cheating mate, who lied to the one that loved her with all his heart and let him and their kits live a lie. Then, the vile she-cat did it all over again.

She wasn't thinking clearly. Maybe she would have still done what she did if she had been. Maybe she wouldn't have.

But the truth of the matter was that Floodleopard's mind could only think of one thing: hurt the cat that hurt her.

Following Sunnybee out of camp, she waited until they were far enough away before confronting her. Even with the truth against her, Sunnybee tried to lie! She told Floodleopard that she had no idea what she was talking about, that she had always loved Cherrytail and always will, that she loves all of her kits, and how she couldn't understand why her own daughter would believe something so ridiculous.

Floodleopard couldn't take another word spilling out of those lying teeth. She lunged, holding that lying mouth beneath the surface, where her words couldn't be heard.

Sunnybee struggled, but Floodleopard was larger, and her rage burned through her whole body, making her tremble with the little flickers of fire in her veins.

It hit her suddenly that Sunnybee wasn't moving. She was dead. Floodleopard stared at her blankly, the aftermath of her anger subsiding to a numbness that left her unable to fully comprehend what she had just done.

Slowly, she picked up Sunnybee's limp form and took it back to camp. She couldn't hear the shocked yowls or the wails. They were all muffled and far away. Later, she would find out that she claimed to have found Sunnybee dead and the consencise was that it was just a horrible accident, but she didn't remember speaking at all.

The family was heartbroken. They didn't know that she had fooled all of them.

Three days later, Floodleopard was woken up by Greyberry. Greyberry asked that they go on a walk. Floodleopard, wary, agreed. They went out and it wasn't long before Greyberry expressed his concern for Floodleopard, saying how he misses Sunnybee too and that he'll always be there for her if she ever needs him.

Floodleopard couldn't stand it. She turned on him, questioning his true motives. Was he really saying this as a mentor? As a family friend? Or was he saying this as Sunnybee's secret mate and her true father?

She asked, no--demanded he tell her why he had done it, why he had kits with a she-cat that already had a mate, and why he never ended things or came clean.

Greyberry tried to tell her that it would only hurt Cherrytail more if he knew the truth, and that they were a happy enough family without him. He said how they were having trouble starting a family, how Sunnybee had come to him and begged him to help them and not tell Cherrytail, but then they caught feelings....

Like Sunnybee, Floodleopard couldn't take another word. She had already killed her own mother. What was there to stop her from killing the tom who shared her crimes and secrets? What was left for her to lose?

There was no water nearby where they were. Floodleopard didn't need it. She sunk her jaws into his throat, holding him down as he suffocated.

To be chosen as deputy was a turn of events Floodleopard certainly wasn't expecting or prepared for.

Just a few days ago, Floodleopard would have been over the moon to receive such a position. But now....it felt tainted. It was the same rank Greyberry had held. It was the rank of a disgusting betrayer.

But what reason did Floodleopard have for turning it down? It was her fault that the last deputy was dead, whether or not it was deserved.

So Floodleopard agreed. She worked with Glazestar, who taught her what she needed to know about the position and what she must do. Though surprised with the promotion, Floodleopard was quick to fall into the routine of it. Sent out patrols at least three times a day, surveyed the camp every sun-high to make sure the dens were strong and that everyone was doing okay.

When her duties were finished or she took a break, Floodleopard would visit the nursery. She spent every second of her spare time caring for and playing with her younger siblings, something Cherrytail greatly appreciated. He said that it made it easier for them to process their mothers' grief, and how he was glad they still had lots of family in their lives.

Floodleopard decided not to respond.

What would she say? That she visited them because she felt guilty for taking their mother away when they were barely even weaned?

When Floodstar received her nine lives, Sunnybee and Greyberry were two of them. They didn't speak aside from telling her what they were giving her. When she recieved Sunnybee's life for truth, her lungs burned and her throat struggled to suck in air. Greyberry's life of duty as a sharp stab deep to the centre of her neck.

Floodstar didn't need to be told that she was feeling how they had felt when she killed them. Among the pain, too, was the overpowering terror that gripped ugly claws of ice into her stomach, and the despair that nearly ripped a wail from her jaws.

The night of her ceremony haunted her, the memory of their pain--physically and emotionally--would always follow her whenever she thought of their deaths.

She had killed them both when her emotions were high enough to drive her into insanity, when she relied on her actions in the moment rather than any logic.

Because of that, it made it harder to decide how she felt about her crime. Did she feel bad? Did she feel good? No, not good, but did she regret it? Or did she regret not regretting it?

She could have no way of knowing if she would have done the same thing if her mind had been clearer, and with that thought--the thought that she would not have killer her own mother or mentor if she had stopped to think for one second, sparked a block in her mind that refused to let her think any deeper. Because if she came to the conclusion that she didn't want to kill them, then she would have to live with the fact that she did and that she couldn't take it back. She would have to live with it nine times.

While her mind was a mess, Floodstar was good at hiding it. To everyone else, she was a great leader. She always put her Clanmates above herself, would join patrols and put herself in the frontlines of every battle.

Floodstar couldn't even take credit for those without wondering if she only wanted to feel better about herself, or make others think that she was better than she really was.

One by one, her lives slipped away.

Some left no sign, while others scarred deep marks into her skin that would last forever.

Her final life was ended by a dog. It had snapped its teeth on her tail, tugging her from the tree she had been trying to climb up. Nighttooth and Fogpuddle tried to pull her into the branches, but between them pulling her and the dog doing the same, her tail was split in two. Floodstar died of bloodloss before anyone left the tree.

Additional Information:

--Idea came from Lifegen. I wasn't planning on making a resident, but I noticed that neither parent looked like my character, but another character did. I decided that that dude was her real father, and then he by coincidence was chosen as her mentor, which was amazing.

--I imagine that Flood's littermates were fathered by Cherry since cats can have multiple fathers in a litter, but that's up to you.

--Floodleopard prefers going by her warrior suffix.

--Her two long scars were caused by a hawk, while the one on her head was caused by a rockslide by the gorge.

---BASES ARE BY QUEEN-TZI ON DA

--Let me know what you think about her!

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