Haze

**Haze** is a brown she-cat with a darker cape on her back, subtle white markings and one functioning eye.

Belongs to Foxyrulz

## Life

### Kit

Hazelkit was born to Icefur and a Cavernclan warrior named Timberwing. She was the last kit born of the litter, and was named after her deceased aunt. She was a most mischievous kit, often wandering off to find her father, which led to Icefur constantly having to put a babysitter with her kits everytime she needed to leave the den.

When she was very young, Icefur took her kits away from Cavernclan to search for her missing family. Hazelkit thought of the whole trip as a big adventure, as she was too young to realize the dangers involved in the journey.

Upon finding Rowanclan, Birchkit and his family met two other Rowanclan kits, Hopekit and Wishkit, as well as a kittypet named Puff that the two had just met. They directed the family towards Rowanclan in exchange for their silence about them leaving camp. Hazelkit was very amused by them.

While she was playmates with the two other she-kits and indulged in the occasional prank with them, she had the closest bond to her two sisters Cloudkit and Frecklekit. They shared stories and dreams and always made promises to stay together for ever.

### Apprentice

Hazelpaw was just as mischievous as ever when she received her apprentice name. However, she was more mature with Cloudpaw keeping her in line. She was luckily far away when the dog pack attacked Rowanclan, but was horrified when she saw the amount of casualties and injuries. It was her first real experience of the downsides of clan life.

She behaved herself while at Stormclan and quietly observed everything. She noticed the behavior Brackenpaw was exhibiting to her sisters, first Frecklepaw then Cloudpaw. She didn't see the obvious signs of his abuse to them and felt some envy that the two were getting so much attention. This was the first strain on their relationship.

She started spending more and more time outside of camp, talking to her family less and less. She wasn't there to say goodbye when Frecklepaw left the clan. When she returned and saw her family grieving her leaving, she was oddly apathetic and stated that maybe Frecklepaw was just tired of all the fighting and wanted adventure. Her family did not share her viewpoint.

During one of her long solo hunting trips near the border, she met a handsome tom named Rake. He said he was a traveler, and regaled her with tales of his journeys. He flattered Hazelpaw and flirted with her constantly, even though he was much older than her. She loved it and basked in his praise.

She was horrified one day when he told her he was leaving to go back to the Twolegplace. He offered to take her with him, but he couldn't stay as the clan cats were constantly aggressive towards him. She agreed to meet him at moonhigh that night and leave her home.

She spoke to Cloudpaw before she left, explaining her actions. When her sister was rightfully upset that she was abandoning her clan to run off with some tom, Hazelpaw shot back that she was tired of being ignored and doing the same thing every day till she died. She was tired of battles and hunger, and wanted to be free from the confines of clan life. With that she ran away, meeting Rake at the border of Stormclan. She left without a backwards glance, confident she made the right decisions.

### Loner

Hazelpaw and Rake traveled for a while, and for a bit she experienced the life of a loner that she always dreamed of- exploring new places, hunting where ever and whatever she wanted, and became close to her companion. One day he said he wanted to take her back to his family, so he could introduce them. She was excited to meet her first loner group, wanting to see how other groups of cats survived.

The pair went back to the Rake's 'family', but really they were a group of rogues that went by the name The Reapers. They were friendly to her, but she was a bit uncomfortable since she was the only young she-cat in the group. They welcomed her with open arms, their leader Privet invited her to stay, and it was all still similar to her loner life dream... until their first mission.

### Reaper

Her first mission with the Reapers was one that didn't seem all that bad, an act of vengeance. An old tom came to the group begging the rogues to help him chase the cats that had taken over his barn. In exchange he offered the Reapers a moonly tribute of plump mice. Hazelpaw was eager to fight the toms away, using her meager apprentice training to send several toms running, and Privet seemed pleased with her enthusiasm.

She noticed how much her mate idolized Privet, and most likely wanted to become his second in command, something most of the toms wanted to do in the group. Rake also became less affectionate towards her as he once was before, but it didn't bother her as much as it should have.

However the next job wasn't as easy, and she found herself unable to do it. They were assigned to attack another group of loners, as a greasy tom from another group wanted the lead cat's mate by *any* means necessary. Hazelpaw was unwilling to participated the in the battle and went as far as telling Privet to his face, something she would've done in Rowanclan. Needless to say, she was forced to go into the battle. They won, and Hazelpaw felt horrible that poor she-cat was taken away like that.

She should've worried about herself. Her life became worse and worse from that moment. Privet renamed her Haze, stating that Hazelpaw was too much of a mouthful, and her new name was more suited to her. Rake had become somewhat abusive towards her, wanting her to remain silent unless he told her she could talk, and screaming her down if she disobeyed. She found some solace in a tom named Shrike who joined not long after she did, but they didn't talk much as Rake refused to let her socialize with other toms he didn't approve of.

Rake asked Privet to keep Haze out of the raids, worried his trophy mate (Aka object of his anger) would be harmed in the battle. So she became a protector of the territory under the eagle eye of older members of the Reapers. She heard them bragging about their kills and what they earned and was disgusted. She tried to ask Rake when they were planning on moving along, but he clawed her shoulder and told her to shut up.

Her relationship, as well as her mental health took a nosedive at this point. Rake saw her as nothing as a plaything for his emotions- he attacked her when he was mad, he screamed at her when he was frustrated, and when he was lustful, he dragged her into the tall grasses away from the others. At one point Rake wanted kits, just for the hell of it (And he figured having strong offspring would make him more favorable to Privet) so he took her into the tall grasses many times. She was unable to have kits, as almost two moons of this and she still wasn't expecting kits.

This just gave Rake another reason to yell and take his pain out on her. She became quiet and submissive to him, just so he wouldn't hurt her anymore. When he got really quiet and called her name, she immediately felt fear shoot through her- she learned to fear his quiet moods more than his tantrums. Not long after Shrike left the Reapers suddenly without telling anyone. No one seemed all that concerned. Haze drew further and further into herself, becoming nothing more than the shell of a cat she was back home.

She was patrolling the territory one day when she met a small cat named Hopper, a younger cat with a slightly lopsided leg. He was so peppy and happy, so innocent, that he made Haze feel happy for the first time in forever. His mother and father, while startled at first by her appearance, welcomed her with open arms. He was passing through with his family, and offered her to come too. A chance to be with an actual loner family- not a farce like Rake had promised her, where they were worse than dogs in the way they treated cats.

She agreed to meet the family at the border at the full moon and goes back to the Reaper camp. She had a much better mood, and even stood up to Rake when he was taking out his rage on her. She was finally leaving the unhappy place she'd spent so long at.

Then the time came. She ran to the agreed meeting spot, her heart soaring with hope- then it all came crashing down. She stumbled onto the battered bodies of Hopper and her family, with Rake and some other Reaper cats. He had a friend of his keeping an eye on Haze while he was out on jobs, and his spy had followed her and eavesdropped on the whole plan. As punishment, Rake clawed her face, cutting her eye. He then refused to let her go clean in or take care of any of her wounds. She managed to save her eye by using grass and the few herbs she remembered to stop the bleeding.

She was shattered. Her one chance to have a normal life again- gone. And it was all her fault Hopper was dead. The sweet little cat with the funny little run, the first friend she had... She was trapped again, and he was gone. *She had to leave, or she would die like him.*

She ran from the Reapers, just suddenly bolted when Rake was trying to take her to his favorite lovemaking spot. He raced after her and tripped her up, trying to drag her away, not caring about being gentle. But she'd had *enough.* For the first time she fought back- she unsheathed her claws and ripped his throat into ribbons. As he lay there dying, Haze ran. She ran and ran and ran until she couldn't run anymore.

She made it to the city in about a moon, until she had collapsed with hunger. She never learned to hunt with her damaged eye, and had been so dependent on the other Reapers for food that she had all but forgotten her hunting skills she learned as an apprentice.

As much as it pained her, she had to depend on others; she was too weak to make it on her own in the city. She met a tom named Ashes, who was hunting in the area she was hiding out in. She begged him to help her, to give her some food at least.

### Jay's Camp

Ashes took her to Jay, the leader of his group. The poor cat didn't know what to do with his large battle-scarred she-cat who looked half-starved. Jay graciously welcomed her into the group and got her the food and healing she needed to get better, slowly but surely. The mental scars were far from healed; she avoided toms, the slightest raising of tone would cause her to shrink back in fear, and she had so much trouble relearning how to hunt with her eye.

## Trivia

- She is the largest kit of Icefur's litter. As an apprentice she was closer to her sister Cloudwing's size but she had a massive growth spurt with the Reapers. She also inherited the most of Timberwing's body mass, but lack of food and stress caused her to be thinner and weaker.

- She suffers from severe anxiety and PTSD from her time with the Reapers. She shows frightened behavior at any hostile actions or even sour tones.

- She is extremely socially stunted, being isolated from healthy friendships by Rake. She finds herself gravitating more towards grumpy or openly hostile cats, while normal friendly behavior confuses her and often frightens her.

- She is completely blind in her damaged eye. She has trouble focusing on prey while hunting, so she primarily depends on food from others or getting food from bins.