#darkforestresident

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Residences: Poppyhill & Ferndoe

Poppyhill

Aliases / Nicknames: Liar, The Dark Queen, kit-killer

Gender: she-cat

Family: Swanheart (mother), Eagledust (father), Oatkit (son), Mottlekit (daughter)

Other relations: unknown mentor

Clan: Thunderclan

Characteristics: targets victim’s kits for revenge

Number of Victims: 4/5

Number of Murders: 4

Murder Method: blunt force trauma, manipulates others into committing murder

Known Victims: Thornkit, Specklekit, Greykit, Goldenkit

Cause of Death: greencough

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

As a kit, Poppykit struggled. Her mother had been Riverclan before joining Eagledust in Thunderclan, where she planned to have her kits. 

Of course, no warrior blamed her, but she could she the looks her parents got as they played with her, as they went about their duties and especially when they dared show affection to each other.

Poppykit didn’t understand it at first. Not until she asked her parents, and they had to sit her down and explain the situation of love and loyalty.

It only made Poppykit angrier. It was so unfair! Even if Swanheart had been from another Clan, she had been in Thunderclan for all of Poppykit’s life! An upstanding member through all the glares and dirty looks. So the next time a dirt look caught Poppykit’s attention, she leaped on the warrior’s back, clawing at his back.

She was mildly hurt from that. The warrior had freaked out, but stopped trying to get her off--at least in a non-gentle maner-- when he saw that it was a kit. She had also gotten into a lot of trouble, with the leader threatening to delay her apprenticeship.

But it was more than worth it! The Clan realized how horrible they were being, how a kit shouldn’t have to feel the need to defend their mother to the point of attacking a full-grown warrior, as though they believed that no one else would.

Even a young apprentice, Larkpaw, was impressed by her! She was brave, an apprentice told her so!

She had become friends with him after that. There were other kits she occasionally played with, sure, but they were boring. None of them said that she was the coolest like Larkpaw had.

Their friendship continued into Poppypaw’s apprenticeship, and as the two became warriors. 

When Poppyhill felt a want for little hair-balls stirring, she knew who to ask. She didn’t love Larklight, they were only friends. She didn’t want a mate either, so Larklight being the male she trusted the most being her kits’ father made the most sense to her.

Goldennose was against it.

She was close to Poppyhill’s age. They had been play-mates a few times as kits but fell out when she began hanging out with Larklight, who it turned out Goldennose had fallen in love with.

Goldennose had first told Poppyhill that it was wrong to manipulate Larklight’s feelings for Poppy and by making him the father when she didn’t want a mate. Poppyhill disputed this, of course she had discussed this with Larklight! He was completely understanding. Besides, he didn’t have to be mates with Poppyhill in order to be a good father to their kits.

But Goldennose wouldn’t have it, coming dangerously close to outright threatening Poppyhill to find someone else. But it was too late. She was already carrying the kits.

No moment in all her life, no emotions, could surpass the love she felt as she gazed at her newly born son and daughter, Oatkit and Mottlekit, suckling at her stomach, cooing softly.

She loved them so much.

And she cried so much when their bodies were found out in the territory. The forest had faced heavy rainfall, and it appeared as though they drowned. But how? It was a puddle! A PUDDLE! How could they drown?

Larklight was grieving too, with Goldennose all over him. She comforted him, saying how sorry she was, but Poppyhill caught the satisfied gleam in her eyes and knew what she had done.

She drowned in her grief. She should have been more careful. Should have watched them more closely. They were murdered because of her. She knew Goldennose’s feelings, yet did nothing. 

The idea of revenge hadn’t come to her until seasons later, when Goldennose and Larklight had two kits: Fernkit and Goldenkit, after herself.

So she had done it! She had killed Poppyhill’s kits out of jealousy, and got with Larklight in the midst of his grief to have her own kits with him!

Two can play that game.

Goldenkit was happy to go outside with her. He was told he couldn’t until he became an apprentice! She would’ve brought Fernkit as well, but she was tucked more tightly under her mother’s tail.

Everyone believed it to have been a horrible accident, just as they believed it to be with her kits. Poor little Goldenkit couldn’t see well in the dark. Must have snuck out, and then fell over the gorge.

Goldennose had openly accused Poppyhill, but couldn’t defend her accusation without admitting to her own horrible deed.

It was then that Poppyhill decided death wasn’t punishment enough. Goldennose had to watch as her remaining kit suffered, truly suffered. 

When Goldennose had died-- not by her paws, but at that of a Shadowclan warrior in the heat of battle, Poppyhill played her game. She comforted the grieving daughter, now Ferndoe, and in her vulnerability became the only warrior she could hold on to.

That’s why it was so easy to convince her of the harsh realities of the world. Afterall, her brother had only died as a kit, fallen over the edge where his tiny body broke. Her mother was slain horribly in only one battle of many. And Larklight.. Poppyhill hated using his death against someone he cared about.. he had succumbed to one of the worst cases of green-cough the Clan had faced, taking two more warriors and an elder.

Ferndoe’s kits shouldn’t have to face all of that. In life, they are doomed to suffer. But they know of a paradise, filled with an abundance of food and flowery vegetation, and no evil. She just has to be brave enough to bring her kits into it.

And she was.

But she was not smart. She was caught easily, and exiled outside Clan-territory.

Poppyhill laid easy for the rest of her life, living to be an elder until she, too, succumbed to illness.

Ferndoe

Aliases / Nicknames: Crazy she-cat, fox-heart

Gender: she-cat

Family: Goldennose (mother), Larklight (father), Goldenkit (brother), Specklekit (daughter), Thornkit (son), Greykit (daughter)

Other relations: unknown mentor

Clan: Thunderclan

Characteristics: kills kits to protect them from the world

Number of Victims: 3

Number of Murders: 3

Murder Method: poisoning

Known Victims: Greykit, Specklekit, Thornkit

Cause of Death: weakened by starvation, killed by fox

Cautionary Tale: ??

Story:

Fernkit wasn’t old enough to understand. She knew that one morning, everyone was freaking out, that first her mother was telling her to stay where she was, and then she and her father burst into the den and held her close. She knew that one day, Goldenkit was here and the next he was gone.

She didn’t understand what that truly meant, but she saw how sad her parents suddenly were, and she became sad when they told her that she wouldn’t ever be able to play with her brother again.

It wasn’t until she was older did she come to terms with what that truly meant.

She was excited to become an apprentice and warrior, and she did try hard. But at the back of her mind, there was always a thought: what if she died today? Afterall, she and Goldenkit had been so excited to become warriors, but he died when they were barely three moons old. 

Was it all pointless? The hard work? The dedication? 

She managed to keep these thoughts at bay for the most part. No one knew she had them. Then her father died, and her mother joined shortly thereafter. 

She couldn’t tell anyone how she felt, because she knew that it was insane. But then a warrior, just another Clanmate, was there for her. Poppyhill listened to her, supported her, even agreed with her. She was the only one that understood her fear as a mother.

She understood why she had to do it.

But when she did, they had caught her, and Poppyhill joined in the snarls as she desperately tried to defend herself.

It wasn’t long she lived in exile. Had it all been a lie? Poppyhill turned her back on her.. had she been manipulating her? Stars, she killed her kits! She killed her kits for nothing!

She hardly allowed herself a meal, and it was no surprise when she had no energy left to flee the fox that had found her.

Additional Information:

--Congrats to anyone who recognizes the name! And if you’re wondering, yes! Poppyhill is based on Poppy Hill from Haunting of Hill House, and Ferndoe on Olivia Crain.

Originally, Poppyhill was meant to be more evil and kill her own kits before manipulating Ferndoe to do the same, but then I read somewhere that Poppy Hill’s daughter was murdered, and decided that was a more interesting route to take.

--I completely forgot about Poppyhill’s curled ears. 

--The designs of the first image are pretty off, but it was the only picrew with two cats (there was another one, but designs were worse).

--Goldennose is likely double-dead. She would have ended up in the Dark Forest for sure, and Poppyhill would kill her.

--Ferndoe’s appearance is based off of this older OC (art credit to @spottedsnap​:

--Larklight takes care of all his babies in Starclan, likely with the help of their grandparents. How the kits get along with each other, I’ll leave up for debate. 

--Do you think Ferndoe deserves to be in the Dark Forest?