Kithood

Not much is known about Stain’s origins, at least to him. He was always kept in the dark on these matters, only knowing he wasn’t born in Buttercup.

In reality, he was the product of an illegal cross-warren love. His parents met frequently, while on border patrols. Soon the doe, Buttercup, laid with the buck, Bogweed. Foolishly, she had expected nothing to come of the encounter. A single kit did, pelt as darkly colored as the night his father had worshipped. His mother gave birth to him outside Buttercup’s warren, then promptly left him in the brush to die while she fled from the shame and her warren. Luckily, however, he was found by a patrol. He was taken back to Buttercup, and assigned a caretaker. His mother’s scent, having been left all over him, left him a bad legacy. He was named Stain, in “honor” of this.

There were other kits in the nursery with him, while he was growing up, and he quickly grew close to one of them. Going by the name of Reed, he was a feisty little fellow ready to take on the world. Stain and him would often spend hours upon hours playing at Owsla, and sometimes even leading their own pretend warrens. They were like brothers to each other, in all but blood, by the time they reached six moons.

Muddypaw Days: One

When he reached the right age, Stain was given Owsla Bluejay as a mentor. He went into the training with stars in his eyes, enthusiasm in every step, and resolve in his heart. Though Bluejay was a young Owsla at the time, he was already a well known member within the warren. It was an honor to be taught by him, even if Stain felt less than wanted at times.

Bluejay was a competent mentor, but Stain always felt like he was holding back- his pride keeping him from training a Muddyaw that very well had the potential to be a better Owsla than himself. Stain grew frustrated with this, to the point he thought of asking other Owsla members for supplementary training lessons. He never worked up the nerve, however. Eventually he just came to accept he could be good, but never better than Bluejay.

It was around his eleventh moon that he first tasted battle, in the form of the raid on Bogweed to rescue Chief Campion and any other prisoners. Seeing as he was an older Muddy Paw, nearly a fully recognized Owsla, he was permitted to tag along. He will never forget what he saw and experienced that day.

The battlefield was absolute chaos. Chief Campion’s aggressive reappearance shattered any hope the young Stain might have still had in him. Being an Owsla member… It wasn’t as glorious as he had believed it would be.

When his twelve moons hit, and he was promoted, he accepted the new position he was offered with a heavy, almost reluctant heart. He had dedicated a year of his life to chasing the Owsla dream, to being one of the elite and protecting his warren-mates. It would be wrong to throw all of that training away because he had doubts.

Owsla Membership

His dream recognized, and what he believed to be the hard years now behind him, Stain focused on reconnecting with Reed. They had been too busy during their apprenticeships to do much of anything besides sleep by each other, and the first thing on their agendas was a celebratory outing as Owsla members, just the two of them.

While out by themselves, they were attacked by a fox. They fought valiantly, but Reed ended up being killed. The fox took his body, leaving Stain to return to the warren without anything to even bury. What was the point of being an Owsla member, if he couldn’t even protect the one warren-mate who had been family to him?

Luckily (or maybe not so?), Stain could find distraction in the fact that Chief Campion abandoned Buttercup, leaving everyone in shambles. Soon Valerian had been appointed, however. He did his best to rededicate himself to this new Chief as an Owsla member, and also reach deep within for the mentality he’d had as a kit.

It worked, but only until the battle with Bogweed that took place not long after. Apparently they had been doing recon on Buttercup, having heard about their new Chief. Stain fought like the black rabbit themself, though that still didn’t do anything in preventing some of his warren-mates from getting captured.

He was done. He threw in the towel shortly after that battle, requesting Valerian assign him a Digger mentor.

Muddypaw Days: Two

At 34 moons, his request accepted, shame burning inside him, he was reassigned to Digger Hellebore. Stain showed adeptness at being able to dig tunnels even though he hadn’t even been under her tutelage for more than a moon yet. It was relaxing, mind-numbing work that he enjoyed far more than he thought he ever would.

It quickly became apparent to him that things were changing more rapidly than he’d ever realized, especially with the hesitant truce between the valley warrens to work together to take down Lan-Hraeth. One such fellow that hammered this point home to him, after an intense spar, was Owsla Nutmeg. The two have radically different opinions and beliefs, and the conversation has Stain thinking more than he had ever before on empathy and morality.

Eventually, the fateful day where Lan-Hraeth finally took over Buttercup happened. Unsurprisingly, this turn in events made the murky grey buck burn up inside with loathing and frustration, his own shortcomings and inability to do anything once more shoved in his face. He didn't know whether to think of it as a blessing or curse, that he was a Muddypaw now instead of an Owsla member.

When plans were finally made to start forming a rebellion, it would be to no one's surprise that Stain was instantly against trusting Arrow when the Novice offered his service in contacting Bogweed Woods to check on the status of the original Warrens' alliance. It might, however, have surprised his warrenmates to see his savagery put on display, offering to kill the brat if he moved even one whisker out of line. The relief he felt when Arrow successfully made contact with Bogweed was nearly nauseating.

Things happened quickly after that, Lan-Hraeth's tyranny ended and Nutmeg installed as Chief. As a sign of the changing times Stain even spoke to Hellebore about finally becoming a fullfledged Digger after moons of keeping himself held back.

Diggerhood

The dark buck was content to move dirt and help get the Warren back to normal, even if the Chief kept the alliance with Bogweed open to continue talk of how to really neutralize the threat of Lan-Hraeth. He knew, when the time came, he would be ready to lend his claws to Buttercup in whichever way was asked of him.

And he did lend his claws in the final battle, on the field when the fighting was called to a halt when it was determined all the Lan-Hraeth leaders and Shaman had been taken care of. He returned home with everyone and, the next day, was given a Muddypaw of his own- Bone.