Stickstripe

Stickstripe is currently an elder of OrchidClan.

Name- Stickstripe

Gender- Tom

Clan- OrchidClan

Rank- Elder

Family- Fallowfleck (sister), Cedarstrike (brother, deceased), Violetleaf (mother, deceased), Pricklepad (father, deceased), Cherrycloud (aunt, deceased), Brightbark (mate, deceased), Leafshine (daughter), Conifercob (son, deceased)

Friends- Dusklight, Shadefeather, and Ivybranch (formerly), Twistwhisker (from gatherings and such)

Enemies- eh

## Backstory

#### Kithood

Stickkit, Fallowkit, and Cedarkit were born in OrchidClan to Violetleaf and Pricklepad, a MarshClan warrior. Pricklepad was always somewhat distant. He and Violetleaf had never actually intended to have kits. Violetleaf was angered by his lack of interest in his own children, and stopped being mates with him when Stickkit was three moons old. Before that point, Pricklepad had barely visited, so Stickkit and his siblings didn't know their father that well.

The rest of Stickkit's kithood was pretty much uneventful. Violetleaf was always sad and unhappy, often short-tempered, so Stickkit was close with both of his siblings. They did everything together in order to make up for the bonds they didn't really have with their parents. They also enjoyed spending time with the other kits in the nursery. Two of these kits were Brightkit and Duskkit, and Brightkit had had eyes for Stickkit from the moment she first saw him.

#### Apprenticeship

Stickpaw became an apprentice and everything was pretty chill. His mentor was a she-cat named Iciclefang. He stayed close with Fallowpaw and Cedarpaw, and remained on good terms with Duskpaw. He also became even better friends with Brightpaw, who was still crushing on him, but he had no idea, and was instead trying to flirt unsuccessfully with Ivypaw, a young MarshClan apprentice.

About midway through his apprenticeship, Violetleaf died in her sleep one night of a sudden organ failure that had been brought about only by stress. Stickpaw and his siblings were crushed by this. Their mom hadn't been particularly great to them, but it was still kind of devastating to lose her as well as any chances of reconciliation. Instead of bonding over their grief, though, they were sort of divided, and mourned separately.

Only two moons later, Cedarpaw moved to MarshClan, longing to spend time with Pricklepad now that Violetleaf was dead. Stickpaw was rather angry and felt somewhat betrayed by this, for in his eyes, Cedarpaw had abandoned him and Fallowpaw to deal with their grief while he moved on, and he'd chosen their distant father over his siblings, whom he'd been with his whole life. They were on poor terms for a while, but one moon before they became warriors, Fallowpaw convinced them to make amends.

#### Warrior Life

Stickstripe was a pretty cool guy. He just vibed. He was pretty good at that. He lost his feelings for Ivybranch eventually, and he at last started seeing Brightbark in the same way she saw him. He was still pretty tight with Fallowfleck and Cedarstrike, too. Oh yeah, and he was still friends with Dusklight.

Iciclefang and her sister Creamfleck were killed by rogues on the outer border at some point, not very long after Stickstripe had become a warrior. That was a bummer, but Stickstripe wasn't really that torn up about it.

When he was twenty-two moons old, though, Pricklepad was killed while trying to hunt in a rabbit burrow that collapsed on top of him, causing him to suffocate. Stickstripe still held a grudge against his father, but he traveled to MarshClan with Fallowfleck to attend his vigil, and finally let it go. The following night, Brightbark sat him down and they had a nice chat about grief and love and all that. Stickstripe realized that she was far more than just a friend to him, and thus began the many moons of incredibly awkward flirting.

They finally became mates when Stickstripe was thirty moons old and Brightbark was twenty-eight. Unfortunately, five moons later, Cedarstrike was killed by a badger in MarshClan territory. He and Fallowfleck were pretty upset about that, but they couldn't really do anything. Literally the next day, Dusklight accidentally fell into the water and drowned while trying to move in with her husband, Troutgill, in FallClan. This made both Stickstripe and Brightbark very sad.

Stickstripe was pretty depressed for, like, ten more moons, but then Brightbark suggested they have babies and he was like "oH hEcK yEs, m8" and so Brightbark got pregnant with aforementioned babies. Stickstripe was forty-eight moons old when his kits were born, a she-cat and a tom, whom he and Brightbark named Leafkit and Coniferkit respectively. Stickstripe was determined to give his kits a better youth than he'd had, so he and Brightbark were always openly affectionate to them and to each other. The whole family got along great, until that dreaded day when the kits were four moons old. Brightbark was taking Leafkit and Coniferkit out into the territory to show it to them, but as she passed the outer border, she was attacked and killed by a pair of rogues. Leafkit and Coniferkit ran back to the camp and told everyone else what had happened, but by the time help arrived, it was too late. Stickstripe helped to drive off the attackers, but he was devastated by the loss of his mate. The two kits were fostered for the next two moons by the queen Beechspring alongside Lionkit. Oh yeah, and Ivybranch also died sometime around now.

I almost forget to mention- he was friends with a dude named Shadefeather who’d recently joined the Clan. But Shadefeather fell off a tree and died at around the same time as Brightbark and Ivybranch, so Stickstripe was pretty unhappy about that.

Anyways, when the time came, Stickstripe became the mentor of Thornpaw, Shadefeather’s son, but he was still very morose and miserable after Brightbark's death. Fallowfleck eventually helped him get better, but he was never really the same. His change in personality inspired Coniferpaw to become a mediator, for he wanted to understand cats' mentalities after pondering his father's. However, Coniferpaw also wanted to move to MarshClan, wanting a taste of the land that his uncle and grandfather had loved so dearly. He eventually did this when he was ten moons old. Stickstripe was very proud of Thornstep and Leafshine when they became warriors, and was also proud of Conifercob for being an effective mediator, even if he rarely got to see his son. Thornstep ended up moving to HorizonClan as well.

#### Retirement

Stickstripe retired to the elders' den at the age of seventy-nine moons, two moons after Fallowfleck. They were still about as close as they could be. The one other cat in the den was Thornheart. She was older than they were, but good company all the same. Things were swell for a very long time, and Stickstripe couldn’t have been more proud of Leafshine when she became deputy. He became friends with a FallClan elder named Twistwhisker through gatherings. He was quite upset when Lavenderstar closed off OrchidClan's borders, and kept trying to convince Leafshine to meet with Conifercob on the border and exchange news with him.

Also, the plague. Fallowfleck and Leafshine both got the plague, and Stickstripe was kind of terrified. They survived it, though, much to his relief. But then, several moons later, Conifercob got it in MarshClan. And he died. That was... that was upsetting. Stickstripe was absolutely destroyed. He was a very, very sad man after that.

But luckily for him, he didn't have to be for long! Because... when he was ninety-six moons old, Leafshine overthrew Lavenderstar! Did I forget to mention that Lavenderstar was really bad at being leader during her later moons? Yeah, I did, didn't I? Well, she was. And Leafshine didn't like that. Leafshine took over, but not before renaming the ex-leader Lavendersight and throwing her into the elders' den. So then Stickstripe was stuck with her, too. And he didn't like it very much.

Currently, he's...... existing.

## Other

#### Trivia

* He was named "Stickstripe" because his stripes are thin... and... sticks are also thin... okay, a bit of a stretch. Fine, it's just for the alliteration. You happy?
* He's gonna die soon.