Needlestar of PineClan

Username: Loki
Name: Needlestar (Formerly Needlepelt)
Gender: Tom
Age: 47 Moons, almost 4 years ; 6 lives remaining
Mother: Froststripe (Biological; Deceased) Streampetal (Adoptive; Deceased)
Father: Biological Unknown; Goldenscar (Adoptive; Deceased)
Siblings: Thunderpelt (Older Adoptive Brother; Deceased)
Mate(s): Mintdust
Crush/Love Interest(s): None
Offspring:
Mentor: Cedarflight
Apprentice: None
Allegiance: PineClan
Description:Needlestar’s base coat is a dark gray while his underside is a lighter gray.  He has a mixture of black tabby markings, mostly along his face with his back being more mottled as if the sun shines through the canopy of pine trees and casts shadows on his back.  His ears are also black.  He has bright blue-green eyes that will appear to switch between blue and green depending on the lighting. His eyes are thin and intelligent, almost always looking half lidded and hungry, matching his trademark smirk.  Very sleek with long legs and a thin face.  Has a rather obvious deep scar on his chest where he was severely gouged. The wound that left this scar is how he lost his third life. While not the strongest or largest of the leaders, Needlestar can hold his own against even against the powerful Rowanstar thanks to his speed and nimbleness.    
Personality: A rather sneaky cat, Needlestar is quiet and observant.  He prefers to stay neutral and sit back as other cats argue, a sly smirk on his face.  If asked, he will add his two cents, but prefers to keep his thoughts and plans private.  While his top priority is defending his Clan and making sure his Clanmates have a comfortable life, he is rather ambitious, chipping away at the other Clans’ territory slowly but surely.  He loves a good trick and is a mischievious cat.  He tends to be a pathological liar which can help him by making himself and his Clan appear stronger, making it less likely for his Clan to be attacked, but it can also cause unrest and distrust within his Clan making his warriors less likely to follow him wholeheartedly.  Being very intelligent, he is a master strategist, using anything and everything to his advantage.  He hates to lose and will often brood alone after a loss.
History: His biological mother died giving birth to him.  At the time, Streampetal was in the nursery with a one month old Thunderkit.  She adopted the newborn kit as her own, naming him Needlekit.  Thunderkit and Needlekit grew up together, playing and learning together.  Due to their difference in age and size, Thunderkit often played rougher than he should have with his younger brother and almost always beat him in their play fights.  This left Needlekit with some small resentment towards his brother and a wish to be bigger and stronger instead of small and fast.  As apprentices, Thunderpaw and Needlepaw often trained together when their mentors allowed.  Despite not being blood brothers, they had a very close connection.  Needlepaw, however gained his warrior name before his older brother due to the fact that the two of them always got into all kinds of mischief. But Needlepaw never managed to get caught while Thunderpaw almost always did.  After receiving his name of Needlepelt, he finally felt as if he had won against his brother.  He was proud and felt a superiority.  But when all he saw was joy in his brother’s face, and no contempt or anger, he felt ashamed.  Thunderpaw soon became Thunderpelt- a small irony not lost on Needlepelt- and the two warriors were nearly inseparable.  They hunted together, fought together.  But when Thunderpelt was named deputy, Needlepelt’s old inferiority complex arose once more.  He tried to fight it, but with Thunderpelt’s new duties, the two spent less time together.  Needlepelt felt abandoned and once again inferior.  Moons later, Thunderpelt’s mate was expecting kits.  Needlepelt’s adoptive mother couldn’t have been more overjoyed.  While still discontent in his role, and becoming more self-pitying every day, Needlepelt did feel a certain happiness in seeing his mother so overjoyed.   And then there was a DuskClan invasion.  While the DuskClan cats did not fully infiltrate the PineClan camp, some cats managed to slither past the PineClan blockade into the camp.  One such warrior went for the nursery and found Thunderpelt’s mate.  But before the queen could be hurt, Streampetal threw herself between the two, costing her her life.  Thunderpelt watched as his mother fell and broke out into a rage sending the perpetrator home with some nasty wounds.  Needlepelt found out after the conclusion of the battle that his mother died.  With both brother’s distraught, Thunderpelt devised a plan to exact revenge on his mother’s killer.  Needlepelt, blinded by greed and hate agreed to help when he might have normally ignored his brother or reasoned with him.  The two cats set out to the DuskClan camp a few days later.  Deep in DuskClan territory, the two encountered a small patrol composed of the DuskClan leader, the deputy and deputy’s apprentice.  The two realize that Duskclan’s deputy was the one who murdered their mother.  Thunderpelt launches himself at the other cat hissing ferociously.  Needlepelt was able to send the deputy’s apprentice back to camp quickly enough before engaging their leader, Rowanstar, who had teamed up with his deputy to attack Thunderpelt.  Although skilled, at this point in time, Needlepelt could not defeat the young leader.  Rowanstar soon had him pinned.  Needlepelt thought for certain he was dead, but he heard a strangled cry from his brother.  Rowanstar let him up as his deputy sank his teeth into Thunderpelt’s throat.  Needlepelt watched in horror as his brother died.  Rowanstar coldly told Needlepelt to return back to PineClan with Thunderpelt’s corpse, and to tell them that DuskClan is not afraid of such feeble “assassins” and that such an attempt will not be forgotten or forgiven.  Hurt and badly shaken, Needlepelt returned with his brother.  The clan mourned the loss of such a fearsome warrior, but Needlepelt was most deeply affected.  He had lost his mother and now his adoptive family.  He had nothing left.  For days he just sat dazed in the medicine cat’s den, barely eating and seemingly unresponsive until one day he finally got up and began his duties once more.  No one was exactly sure what had happened in the young cat’s mind.  Needlepelt had been broken.  He wasn’t entirely sane anymore, a darkness creeping within his heart and mind.  While mischievous before, after these deaths is when his lying began.  That leafbare, the deputy that succeeded Thunderpelt died of greencough.  Needlepelt was then named deputy.  He did have a certain hunger for power now.  He used any opportunity he saw to aid in his ascension to leadership which only occurred the next Greenleaf.  Some warriors from other Clans claimed he took his former leader’s last life.  Of course this is all speculation that Needlestar made sure no one could ever prove.  Since being leader, he has gained some territory from Duskclan as he does have a personal vendetta against them.  He lost his first life due to falling off a cliff.  He was hanging on for his life after a battle turned sour.  He let go, knowing he wouldn’t be able to clamor up in time to help his Clanmates, and even if he did, all his strength would have been gone.  So he dropped and rejoined the battle after he started his new life.  His second life was lost after a wild dog slammed him into a cliff face.  And his third life was lost in a battle with the former DuskClan deputy.  Having gained strength and skill since their last encounter, Needlestar took the upper hand over the older deputy.  The battle seemed rather short, favoring Needlestar the entire time.  But, being overconfident, Needlestar was gouged in the chest by the dying deputy.  But Needlestar had done enough damage to kill the deputy.  Both lay dying and the deputy said, “See you in the Dark Forest, monster…” But Needlestar just smiled, his green eyes for once wide open.  Both died, but only Needlestar rose afterwards.  With his brother’s and mother’s killer dead, Needlestar has resigned himself somewhat to ruling his clan and being slightly less ambitious.  This could be perhaps because his desire for revenge has been placated or he realized his warmongering was costing him his lives.  After all, he is younger than Rowanstar but has lost more lives!  No one quite knows for sure.  But then again, not many cats know just exacly what goes on in Needlestar’s head.
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