Hazeltuft

Hazeltuft is a relatively scrawny cat, with a long, thin tail that thickens out at the end and tufted ears. He's quite a bit smaller than average (see references). He has green eyes and is white with brown patches around his body. He has long whiskers.

In the dark forest he's often seen with leaves, berries and twigs stuck in his fur (he isn't quite sure how they got there, but they keep coming back when he takes them out). His scleras are dark, his pupils standing out brightly. Under his eyes there are dark tear-like marks stained on his fur.

Hazeltuft is pretty skittish as Clan cats go, prone to anxiety and worrying. He's quite the perfectionist, feeling that he has to do everything perfectly to avoid the ridicule or judgement of his peers. Despite his nervousness, he's pretty friendly and cheery to be around, trying to treat everyone with kindness and care, something that lends itself well to his medicine cat position. He talks a lot, rambling on about whatever takes his interest; it can be hard getting in a word edgewise when Hazeltuft is on one of his spiels, but he can be a very good listener when needed, helping many members of the clan not only physically, but with their emotional issues as well. Outside of his medicine cat duties (which he performs pretty seamlessly) Hazeltuft generally spends a lot of time fretting over a decision, or simply acts on impulse, which can sometimes make him hard for some to work with.

Despite his nervous demeanor and worrying personality, he's not a total coward - although he worried about what he did to Shredstar and the faked prophecy a lot after the fact, there wasn't a lack of bravery on his part when doing something he believed would aid his clanmates and help in their suffering. His persistence to help others is strong, and even if he's intimidated like in Lavender's case, he's determined to try and help others open up and accept help when they need it. Hazeltuft also can be just a little bit dumb sometimes - it took him a good amount of time to even realise him and Sunstar were actually dating when it was fairly obvious to anyone who saw them. In life he was also a little naive in those he trusted, though his time in the dark forest has made him increasingly wary.

he's also trans because i say so

Hazelkit, along with his siblings Snowkit and Sparrowkit, was born under the reign of Greystar. Life was relatively normal, with Hazelpaw being apprenticed under the elderly medicine cat Whitewhisker. Around the middle of his apprenticeship, with his siblings nearly being warriors, the clan's deputy Shredclaw killed his father Greystar and took the leadership position. Shredclaw was a tyrannical leader, making life miserable for the clan and refusing to appoint a deputy, not wanting to share the power over the clan. The clan tried to continue as best it could, with Whitewhisker dying shortly after giving Hazeltuft his medicine cat name. Many kits were apprenticed either too early or not at all, and apprentices were left to be named themselves if they were made warriors at all. Shredstar's reign was cruel and the clan was tense and fearful, slowly being cut off from the outside, with gatherings often missed and Hazeltuft not being allowed to go to medicine cat meetings and contact StarClan.

One leaf-fall evening, Shredstar laid in the medicine cat den, wounded from a fight he started with a border patrol over territory. On an impulse decision, Hazeltuft, away from the eyes of his Clanmates, poisoned Shredstar, killing him and taking his last life. In a panic he lied to the clan and said he lost his life to his wounds. With the clan needing a leader and the clan having no deputy, Hazeltuft faked a sign from StarClan, telling his clanmates that they wanted the warrior Sunpelt to lead their clan. Despite Hazeltuft's fear that they'd know what he did, the Clan seemed relieved and believed him without a second thought. Sunpelt, not only one of the most vocal warriors against Shredstar, was generally very well-liked by the Clan and was accepted as leader quickly. Sunstar stepped into his new role well and as the Clan healed from Shredstar's tyranny, all seemed well.

Although unsettled by StarClan's lack of contact with him throughout Shredstar's reign and even afterwards, Hazeltuft was happy with the life now created in the Clan. He developed a relationship with his long time crush Sunstar, with the two dating and being gay little boyfriends (look at them go!). With much of his life's turmoil over, Hazeltuft eventually passed. To his shock, he didn't wake up in StarClan - but instead the Place of No Stars. Convinced there must be some kind of mistake, he rushes to find the StarClan border and begs the first StarClan cat he sees to listen to him, saying there must be some mistake - he's a medicine cat, he's always been loyal to his clan and done his duty. The cat goes and finds one of the big names in StarClan (one of the de facto leaders) and brings them to see Hazeltuft. The ancient leader tells him, stone-faced, that he not only broke the medicine cat code by misusing his knowledge of healing, he killed the leader of his clan and most importantly committed false prophecy in their name. Hazeltuft protests and tells them he did it for his Clan, that cats were suffering and he did what he could as he couldn't even contact StarClan for help. But his pleas fall on deaf ears, and Hazeltuft is shunned back to the Dark Forest.

Lost and scared, he wanders in the endless forest, and eventually encounters Shredstar. Shredstar loathes Hazeltuft, and as soon as he realises the medicine cat is there too, he vows to never stop hunting him down until he can kill him and leave him dead permanently. So Hazeltuft is left alone, constantly on the run from his former leader - that is, until he meets Flutterbreeze, and he starts on his path in our current day story.