Deerspots

Deerkit and her sisters, Birchkit and Blackkit, were born in leafbare, leading to Blackkit catching kittencough shortly after birth and dying at only a few weeks old. Her mother Elkhowl suffered heavily from post-partum depression and from grief following the death of her daughter, so Muddyspots, her mate, made sure to spend extra time with his children while she was recovering. As a result, Deerkit and Birchkit were very close with him and always looked forward to him coming home from patrols as he always brought back feathers or their favorite prey and played with them until sunrise. Deerkit desperately wanted Muddyspots to be her mentor, but was assigned to Houndear instead. Though initially disappointed, the two eventually developed a brother-sister relationship and Deerpaw came to respect him deeply. Still, when Deerpaw became a warrior, she reqested the suffix -spots in honor of her father, to which Ferretstar agreed. Sadly, only a few moons afterwards, Muddyspots was killed in a surprise rogue attack. Deerspots, blinded by grief and anger, thirsted for revenge, and needed very little convincing when the young warrior Berrydawn looked for recruits to attack--and kill--the rogues. Deerspots, along with Berrydawn, Hawksight, and Stoutheart, raided the rogue camp together and killed all the rogues. Deerspots had always been energetic and loyal, but never particularly aggressive or battle hungry, and she had never seen any real battle during her peaceful apprenticeship. At first, she easily matched her counterparts' spirit and bloodthirstiness, but as the violence raged on, she realized what she was doing. Yes, these rogues had killed her father, but warriors did not go into battle with the intent to kill, and taking a life was something she could never undo. Yet even as she slowed and took in the carnage around her, it was already too late. Before long, all the rogues were dead. The warriors returned home, not riding any victorious high, but mired in quiet dread. Birchfreckle, Deerspots' sister, met her at the entrance of camp, furious. Birchfreckle had initally been a part of the cats Berrydawn had tried to recruit, but had refused, saying it would be wrong. Now that she realized Deerspots had gone through with it, she felt betrayed and angry that Deerspots had done such a foul thing in their father's name. The sisters had never been incredibly close-- though they were friendly and affectionate, Birchfreckle was calm, reserved, and observant, while Deerspots was more impatient and eager, and spending long amounts of time together usually resulted in bickering or weariness. Any bond that they'd had though wore even thinner now. Deerspots didn't try to defend herself, simply brushing past her sister, ignoring her. Deerspots always regretted her role in the attack, and though she was able to push past it in the following moons, both the loss of her father and her acts of violence in revenge resulted in a permenant change to her personality, and she became a much more serious and stern cat. Though she and her sister both quietly mourned the loss of their relationship, neither made an effort to fix it. Deerspots never made many friends in the Clan, though she and Hawksight have always had somewhat of a agreeable relationship (A/N: think mcgonagall and snape, they kinda hate each other but will bitch about people they dont like to each other). Eventually Deerspots was assigned Shadowpaw as an apprentice, who reminded her a lot of herself when she was that age. Unlike Deerspots, Shadowpaw never entirely lost her aggressive tendencies, but Deerspots was still able to teach her balance and good judgment. Similar to the relationship Deerspots shared with her own mentor, she and Shadowpaw forrmed a sisterly bond, staying on good terms even after Shadowstride earned her warrior name. Moons later, DragonflyClan attacked MothClan and in the battle, Greenstar, leader of DragonflyClan, accidentally killed Birchfreckle. Birchfreckle had been frail recently due to a greencough outbreak and had yet to fully recover by the time DragonflyClan attacked, so it took very little strength to end her life. Though Deerspots knew this rationally, it didn't prevent her rage at Greenstar for taking her sister's life. The battle ended shortly after the cats realized Birchfreckle was dead and DragonflyClan retreated, but the damage had already been done. Deerspots grieved her sister deeply, regretting the rift between them and wishing they had a chance to be closer. She partially blamed herself for Birchfreckle's death, but even more so blamed Greenstar, whom she secretly vowed to get revenge upon. To this day. Deerspots watches Greenstar at everything Gathering, imagining taking all her lives from her. A quiet voice in the back of her head reminds her that revenge is the not the warrior way and her sister would be disappointed in her, but every day that voice is getting easier and easier for Deerspots to ignore.