#stoatswipe

[shamart]

A chance encounter

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Dark Forest Resident: Glowingshadow

Aliases / Nicknames: Cosine, Uncle Cosine/Uncle Glowingshadow, The Wolf, Kit-Caretaker, Guiding Light

Gender: tom

Sexuality: homosexual-ace

Family: Raina (mother), Odin (father), Taiga (sister), Cane (brother),  Wolveshowl, Rhythmpaw, Shutterpaw, Shadedview (nephews + adoptive sons)

Other Relations: unnamed mentor, Mouse (sister-in-law), Frosty (brother-in-law), Sweetpaw, Vanillapaw, Copperpaw, Crowpaw, Brewpaw, Foxscratch, Miststorm, Parsleykit, Mangokit, Pepperkit, Deerpaw, Lemonfin, Bugpaw, Bushpaw (temporarily in his care)

Clan: Slateclan (at death, Clan changed often)

Rank: warrior

Characteristics: very kind, chatty and friendly to any cat he meets, adores kits and apprentices, oftentimes appears in Clans with loner kits who need homes, only to disappear moons later, takes sadistic joy out of hurting abusive cats, has an immense interest in the unnatural and unknown, somewhat unpredictable in what he wants to do next

Number of Victims: 19

Number of Murders: 19

Murder Method: poisoning with deathberries, drowning, viciously attacking/maiming

Known Victims: Cane, Napoleon, Ceruleanshadow, Iciclecreek, Swiftprowl, Poppycharm, Vixen, Mongrel, Stag, Koisplash, Riverwhirl, Loonfeather, Starling, Hookfox, Stoatswipe, Ivoryspecks, Wisteria, Brushbeak, Citrustrail

Victim Profile: cats abusive to their mates, his brother, his brother’s mate

Cause of Death: killed by a patrol

Cautionary Tale: be wary of the harsh words you speak to your kits, for you may find them taken from your care

Story: 

Cosine always loved his family. 

He was always a very loving cat! He loved his mom, his dad, his brother, his sister. When he got older, he wanted to have a family of his own! He wanted to adopt some kits and give them all the love the world could offer. So when his brother’s mate was expecting, Cosine was ecstatic. Maybe a bit too ecstatic for Cane’s tastes, because Cane started getting suspicious over how excited Cosine was for the kits to be born. 

When Shade and Wolf were finally born, Cosine rambled on and on to his brother about how his nephews were the cutest things he’d ever seen, and that he’d probably kill someone for them. He was always fascinated by death--he loved weird things, he’d chase centipedes around and observe Twolegs, even stealing some of their little accessories--death had always been an interesting subject to Cosine. 

So maybe that’s why he was so eager to dig his claws into something one day… And that day came moons after Cane and Mouse had their second litter, Rhythm and Shutter. 

His nephew, Wolf, came up to him to complain one day that Cane’s, quote,  “[B]eing mean and yelling at ma, Rhythm, and Shutter for the littlest things,” and how he tried to tell him to stop but Cane only ore at his ear. 

Cosine loved his family, so who was he to see them get hurt?

Cane trusted his brother a lot. That made it really easy to get him to come out alone with him for a walk, where he turned and lunged into Cane. He took him so easily by surprise, it wasn’t at all a fight. Yet Cosine kept digging his claws, watching the blood flow and feeling the heartbeat stop. When the adrenaline faded, he felt bad as the red dissipated from his eyes and he looked at his brother’s betrayed expression. Well, a bit bad.

But he needed to defend his family! So he dug a little grave and cleaned himself up, heading back to the family with the distraught news that his brother had run into the nearby Twoleg’s sheepdog and, oh, how he had tried to help him! But he couldn’t make it in time and had to lure the sheepdog away. 

Mouse was too distraight to properly nurure the kits--Cosine wondered how much she did before. So he took the role of being a parent to his nephews. He taught Wolf how to use herbs, stole things from Twolegs for them as little gifts, and even found some very pretty vines and star-shaped rocks that matched Shutter and Rhythm perfectly once they got older! 

But he knew it wasn’t safe for the three. So as Wolf and Shade reached their twelfth moon, He took the two and the kits to Dustclan. 

The field-inhabiting Clan was the closest nearby, and the safest in his eyes. As he took the four there, he chose to stay with them as well. He took on the name Glowingshadow to fit in with the others. 

It was there he met young Mistpaw, and their parents, Ceruleanshadow and Iciclecreek. They just felt like repeats of Cane, with a much more shy cat-- Mistpaw cowered at the slightest of movement, making Glowingshadow feel awful for her. So he chose to do something about it!

Ceruleanshadow was much harder to kill than Cane. But with Glowingshadow’s raw strength, he was able to hold the tom underwater, letting the river take his body away. It was a bit disappointing not seeing much blood, but feeling the struggling eventually stop felt rather nice too. He hoped maybe Iciclecreek would start to care for Mistpaw after the death of her mate, but instead she just became distant and barely even regarded her daughter. 

So he encouraged Rhythmpaw and Shutterpaw to befriend the shy apprentice as he dealt with Iciclecreek a couple moons later. He needed to be sneakier on how to kill her, so while he ripped her neck open as usual, he did everything he could to make it seem like just some unfortunate accident where she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Seeing the two abusive parents made him realize, however...there’s probably other parents and mates out there who need to learn a lesson as well.

He left Dustclan after a heartfelt goodbye between his adopted sons, to go help others--and to enjoy the feeling of blood on his paws.

Napoleon, some egotistical kittypet with loner daughters, was his next target. The tom had an ego that his daughters couldn’t even live up to or be worth of his love, so Glowingshadow decided to teach him a little lesson. 

All it took was a bit of deathberries in Napoleon’s outside meal, and the idiot didn’t even realize the difference. He spent a couple of moons visiting Vanilla and Neo, the tom’s daughters, before taking them to a Clan where they could be safe. He chose Cherryclan this time around, and left a bit sooner than usual after the annoying Poppycharm kept talking about her “disappointments” of kit, angering him enough to leave her in front of an abandoned badger den, having mauled her. 

Copperpaw and Crowpaw were absolute delights to talk to, and he was glad to have cared for them before he left. He had found Brew, a young cat who was eager to talk and play, on his travels. They told him how their father, Swiftprowl, left them out there, saying it was a new game of hide and seek. After staying with the kit an entire night and no result, he promised he’d go find Swiftprowl and remind him of the game… And that he did, while forcing Swiftprowl’s bones to snap. He spent a couple more days with Brew, taking them back to their Clan and promising he’ll see them again someday.

Vixen wasn’t too special. Her son was Fox, a hostile and aggressive tom who hated his mother more than anything. He was also happy to listen to Glowingshadow and let him deal with his appearance-obsessed mother. The tom didn’t really seem intent on joining a Clan, but Glowingshadow’s kindness won him over, and Fox went to Dustclan with Glowingshadow, letting him have a touching reunion with his nephews before heading off once again. 

Mongrel was the mate of a new mother. His growling and threats weren’t helping the kits grow at all, so Glowingshadow chose to force some deathberries down Mongrel’s throat when he was alone. 

His mate couldn’t raise her kits on her own, so she pleaded Glowingshadow for help! He chose to help out with parenting, telling her everything he knew as he led her to Cherryclan so that she could have help in raising the kits. 

It was the same for each death. He traveled around, found a cat who treated their mate or kits improperly, and properly dealt with them and helped the kits be happier. 

That is, at least, until he met Lemonpaw. Lemonpaw was a bitter child that just hated anyone that came near him, but seemed desperate to please others. Glowingshadow growled as he learnt of the reasons why. 

Citrustrail, a strong tom and deputy of Slateclan. Glowingshadow knew he couldn’t take on the tom by himself, so he set little traps around the territory, things that could tire Citrustrail out, so he could go in for the kill. As he plotted the demise of the Slateclan deputy, he made efforts to talk to Lemonpaw and get the apprentice to open up. 

Lemonpaw eventually warmed up to him over time, despite the bitter apprentice not wanting to do anything with him at first. And then he was set to kill Citrustrail. Originally, it was to lead the tom aimlessly around the territory, claiming to scent a rogue, but Citrustrail caught onto his plan quickly, so he to just turn and attack.

Glowingshadow and Citrustrail fought a long, hard battle until the cream deputy collapsed of exhaustion, causing Glowingshadow to go in for the kill. As he ripped out Citrustrail’s throat, however, he was too busy in his maiming to notice the patrol that had been going around the borders, ready to dispose of the murderous warrior.

Additional Information:

--Submission by @umbranoxs​

--Often visits Rhythmpaw and Shutterpaw’s dreams, not appearing to them or anything but just always watching over them. He does it for the other young cats he cared for too, but mainly visits Rhythm and Shutter the most.

--Loves to talk about his interests. He will infodump to you for hours. Unfortunately most of this is about things that are considered “creepy”, “strange” or “unusual”.

--Was excited to enter the Dark Forest, as that meant he could continue his dealings with abusive cats. Has likely caused some of the cats he killed in life to fade in death.

--Often has an eerily wide grin on his face. He’s happy to be here!

--Sometimes when he sees a cat he thinks looks very pretty, he’ll try his best to shoot his shot and then immediately backpedal if their personality isn’t a good one.

--Probably lingers around the daycare area a lot, he wants to be a cool uncle to the kits and apprentices down here too!