Tanglemurk

^^

Tanglemurk is a sleek, long-furred, ginger tom, with sky blue eyes, and a scar on his flank.

## Tanglemurk

This pixel art's blank version is available on the Warriors Wiki!

## Education

### Mentor:

Springfeather

**Tanglemurk** is an AcornClan warrior born to Blueflame and Winterbranch in Maplepelt's camp as **Tanglekit**, currently serving under Maplestar's leadership. Before Maplepelt's camp became a Clan, he and his parents were close to Maplepelt and her mate Crowwing, alongside their kit Corvidpaw, and Sunkit who was surrendered by her mother. Crowwing's death and Corvidpaw's exile shrunk the group down to five, so Tanglekit's brother Coralkit was born. Tanglepaw was soon apprenticed to Springfeather, who joined the clan alongside his eldest son Snippaw, and the two apprentices often trained together, forming a close bond until Snipshine became a warrior, yet Tanglepaw remained a trainee. In the winter, Tanglepaw proceeded to find three loners - Whisper, Husk and Wolf - freezing near a broken-down barn. He brought them back to camp, and was named Tanglemurk for his feat. Once the group was large enough, Maplestar recieved her nine lives at the Moonriver and the clan was named AcornClan, as Tanglemurk suggested the name due to his love of hoarding acorns.

Soon after Maplestar's leadership turned official, Tanglemurk and Coralkit's parents temporarily left the camp in search of recently rumored rogues being led by a cat black as night, but they never returned. Tanglemurk nervously searched for them, and to his horror Blueflame had been ripped apart by a coyote, while Winterbranch had foamy blood coming out of his mouth. He wasn't capable of bringing them back alone, so he hastily returned to camp where he nabbed Snipshine and Springfeather. Yet when they returned, Winterbranch's body spasmed for a treacherously slow moment, before eventually jolting back into place and completely shutting down. Thankfully, the supposed illness that caused his father's death hadn't been transmitted to anyone as they didn't get too close, yet this was only the beginning.

Some moons later, when AcornClan was undergoing a foamcough epidemic, Tanglemurk began sneaking out more and more often as he didn't want to be too broken in case anyone succumbed to the sickness. He revisited the old barn he had found Whispertuft and Wolfpaw at, only to see it had been rebuilt and a stunning light silver she-cat was living there. He learned her mate was Meteor, and they became mates very quickly, falling head over heels for one another after Tanglemurk rescued her from rogues. Yet once Meteor was expecting his kits, he was caught in a perdicament, as his brother Coralpaw was ill and he didn't want to leave him, but Meteor and the kits wouldn't be allowed into the clan. He asked Coralpaw to join him and thus leave AcornClan once he got better, but he was intent on becoming a mediator and lectured him that his idea was bad. One day, Tanglemurk stumbled across his mate and saw she was kitting, and helped as much as he could without giving their relationship away to the medicine cats. This proved to be an unwise choice, however, and soon after Dove and Finch were born, Meteor passed away due to extreme blood loss, quickly followed by Dove. This shattered Tanglemurk's heart, and he was forced to come back to the clan with Finch, now known as Finchkit, and give her up to Bitterroot - the only nursing queen.

## Clangen History

### Moon 4

Tanglemurk had always been a rambunctious rule defier. He was overly playful and always joked around about stuff he wasn't meant to know. And the stuff he was meant to know, he purposefully didn't listen to one bit. The Warrior Code was no exception, and he would often sneak off outside the borders of AcornClan territory. He'd hang out with rogues, loners and kittypets just because he felt like it. One fateful sunfall, he became mates with the loner she-cat named Meteor he had gotten to know during his secret outings, after he defended her from a group of aggressive rogues. Meteor was a charming silver dame with a brave persona that Tanglemurk's slight delinquency matched oddly well. They were like the Sun and the Moon, always together, but never seen with one another. He dreamed of leaving AcornClan and running away with her, but his brother’s sickness was holding him back. He truly cared for her though, and she cared for him just as much.

### Moon 6

Meteor and Tanglemurk began actually planning a way to have the latter leave the clan without being hunted down. The reason? They were expecting kits. The pair was barely above apprentice age, but they already felt much smarter and more prepared than they truly were. They thought of digging up a den beneath an old barn where chickens, mice, and pigeons roamed. Meteor would watch and nurture the kits while Tanglemurk would go out and hunt, bring back moss balls with water, gather herbs, and so on. Meteor knew how to handle herbs and medicine, although she was a tad finnicky if situations got too tough. Nevertheless, they would be better taken care of than any other kit in the whole forest.

### Moon 7

Tanglemurk began digging up the den and preparing other possible hideouts as Meteor rested. He was immensely excited to leave the clan and be with his mate and soon to be kits. It was the thing he always dreamed of, really. Perhaps they would all find their own clans, better and stronger than AcornClan one day. He would feel bad leaving his younger brother Coralpaw behind, so perhaps he would bring him along too if he agreed not to tell anyone. The plan was practically seamless in his mind. Him, Coralpaw, Meteor and the kits, having a little clan next to the barn, where it was safe, and food was plentiful... It almost sounded too good to be true.

### *Moon 8*

A few days before Meteor determined she would have the kits, Tanglemurk asked Coralpaw if he would leave the mess of a clan with him. Coralpaw gave it some good thought, but he decided not to listen to his older brother. He, being a mediator in training, sensed this wasn't a good idea. He attempted to warn Tanglemurk not to leave the clan, and to bring Meteor to AcornClan instead. Tanglemurk refused, saying that Maplestar would exile not only Meteor and the kits, but him too. Coralpaw shrugged, and left him alone, promising not to tell anyone where he had gone in case he really did succeed in leaving.

  A couple more days passed, and Tanglemurk snuck out of the clan near sundown to meet Meteor as usual. As he approached the barn, he heard agonized yowls of pain coming from the den. Was it Meteor? He swiftly sprinted into the cavity beneath the barn, and sure enough, Meteor was kitting. He followed her instructions to try and aid her as much as possible. Blood was flowing, streaming, and gushing everywhere. Meteor was horrified despite all the preparation they had done for this moment. Things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse for a few moments when her breathing and heartbeat suddenly dropped, but Tanglemurk did his best to help her and the kits. Two kits were born that day, and their mother had passed out of tiredness before she even had a chance to name them. Tanglemurk temporarily named them Finch and Dove. Dove seemed to be a little weak, she moved and mewled a lot less than her brother, but Tanglemurk hoped it was alright. He cleaned his mate's bloodstained coat as she lay there still, and after that he cleaned Dove and Finch. Everything seemed to be... passable. It wasn't good, and Meteorite had undergone a critical condition while kitting, and now she had passed out, but at least they all survived. Right? When Tanglemurk woke up, he gazed at his mate and their kits. He reached over to groom Meteor's pelt when he realized she wasn't moving. No breathing, no nothing. Just a stream of blood that never stopped slowly dripping onto the dirt. And Dove wasn't breathing either. His mind hadn't even registered that they had passed away yet. And when it did, he immediately broke down, screaming and sobbing at StarClan, AcornClan, and everything. *Why did this happen to him out of everyone else?* Only little Finch was left. He didn't get to say goodbye to his beloved mate and newly born daughter either, and it had all happened so, so suddenly. With a heavy heart, Tanglemurk decided he needed to bring Finch, now known as Finchkit, back to the clan so he wouldn't die too. Everything for nothing. Nothing but Finchkit.

Tanglemurk manipulated Maplestar to the absolute best of his ability into letting Finchkit stay in AcornClan, as foamcough had been resolved. She lectured him that the clan already had too many mouths to feed and that he can't just bring back every abandoned kit he sees, but eventually gave up due to Tanglemurk's will of steel. He decided not to tell her about the kit’s origin. Finchkit got examined for foamcough which he didn't have and was then given to Bitterroot, who had recently had a litter as well, as a foster son. This meant Tanglemurk couldn't visit him too much until he left the nursery, or it would be considered suspicious.

Little did he know, Bitterroot was aware of Finchkit’s origin. She simply decided not to tell Finchkit about it, as to not cause drama.

### Moon 11

Tanglemurk didn't go on many noteworthy patrols during the cold leaf-bare's second phase, as he tried to stay close to Finchkit as much as he possibly could for the sake of building trust. His time in the camp was causing his hunting prowess to rust and wither away - especially in the freezingly cold winter. He watched as icicles slowly dripped from the sides of camp, the cold water droplets pooling down below. Winter had really taken its toll on the camp, especially now that there were even more mouths to feed beside that of the kits - an AvianClan warrior that went by the name Birchsong was recently found bleeding to death on the side of the thunderpath, only barely being saved by the medicine cats. Storms of raw snowfall had worn down Tanglemurk's will to go out on patrols, despite his wish to stay near his son. The fact he didn't know they were related was tearing him apart from the inside, an insult to his efforts at staying an active part of his life. Yet if he did know, both of their reputatioons would be shattered permanently - not only because Meteoer was an outsider, but because of the plans they made of running far away from the clans. It would be devastating. Pushing his thoughts and feelings back, Tanglemurk was glad that he only had to go one on patrol a day. It was much easier and simpler than the dawn, day and dusk patrol schedule, even if it did make his clanmates think he was chickening out of his duty.

As he hesitantly left the camp, he felt a jolt of freezing cold ice throughout his body. The leaf-bare had really taken its toll on the prey in the forest, so Tanglemurk was unable to find much. The borders had already been marked and patrolled, and the sandpit that everyone usually trained in was practically a skating rink. The only thing possibly left to do was hunt, and it was complicated and difficult to even find prey. After wandering around for some more time, he stumbled across a hybernating group of mice in their burrow. It was a relief to finally contribute to something other than watching the kits, and vital to keeping his reputation in tact.

## Description

### Scars gained

*The following is a chronological list of scars and/or major injuries that Tanglemurk has gained:*

* A scar on Tanglemurk's flank was caused by a fight with a badger after he accidentally tresspassed into its den.
* A weak hind leg was caused by an encounter with rogues, protecting Meteor. (Injury sustained *Moon 4*, permanent condition sustained *Moon 5*)

## Personality

Tanglemurk, as proved by his actions leading up to Meteor's passing, is a very defiant and sneaky individual, often bending the rules if he feels the time is right. He has a very playful spirit, almost never being serious unless something devestating happened - he possesses an extremely energetic, social and cheeky nature, with an undying will and everything of the sort.

## Kin

### *Members*

Mother: Blueflame (Deceased, StarClan member)

Father: Winterbranch (Deceased, StarClan member)

Brother: Coralbloom (Alive as of most recent Clangen playthrough)

Former mate: Meteor (Deceased, Unknown residence)

Son: Finchkit (Alive as of most recent Clangen playthrough)

Daughter: Dove (Deceased, Unknown residence)

## References

1. ↑ This page is a work-in-progress, and in need of a cleanup. Help by reorganizing the content and writing whatever you know about the page topic!
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Clangen, Tanglemurk's Info Page*