Something in the Orange by AkilaOnline on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Hello everyone! This is a special preview piece featuring a character I really haven’t gotten the chance to talk about yet, it’s Foxglove! He is the littermate brother of Hornetstripe and Daisynose, and the son of Robinstar!

Foxglove is a shy and anxious character, typically comfortable with staying in the background and keeping to himself, he has a lot of self doubt in his abilities as a warrior and his social skills don’t tend to help his insecurities, tending to end a conversation with a lot of embarrassment at himself. His anxiety stems from being the first child of EarthClan’s leader, and the pressure to live up to his fathers name tends to leave him feeling isolated and scared of his clan mates expectations for him. The only cats in his life that he feels he can open up to about his feelings are his sisters and his crush, Mothflight. She’s a calm and stoic personality that keeps him grounded in reality when he starts to spiral into his thoughts of self loathing and depression, and she cares for his well-being as a close friend of hers. She often finds Foxglove sitting alone on a hill nearby EarthClan camp they both called “sunset cliffs”, contemplating his uncertain future and wondering what he wants out of life, where him and Mothflight share words of comfort and each feel safe to vent their feelings to one another without fear.

His challenges came to a head when he was one day out exploring a nearby creek for prey, when he heard distant screams close by. Rushing to help, he watched in horror as his sister Hornetstripe stood in the plains behind his hiding place in the bushes, holding their father under her fierce grip and killing him on the spot, her creamy yellow spattered with Robinstar’s blood.

Terrified and distraught, he rushed to his fathers side as his life slipped away soon after, the light fading from his eyes and drifting shut softly. Hornetstripe quickly began explaining her actions, saying how she had to do it for the good of the clan’s future when Foxglove, blinded by anger and sorrow, attacked her without thinking and delivered the final bite to her neck that ended her life too. After realizing what he’d done, he sobbed for the loss of two of his family members, walking silently through the forest on the path back to camp, to explain what he had done.

After that day, Foxglove was never the same, his shyness and introverted nature turning to trauma and depression, he visited the sunset cliffs more regularly now, replaying the events of his fathers murder over and over in his mind, until he would cry his eyes out and typically fall asleep out of exhaustion on the soft grass that overlooked the sunset. He never could answer the question of if he regretted killing his sister, and that was what hurt him the most.

Mothflight would be the one that eventually convinced him that it wasn’t his fault and that he still deserved happiness despite his actions, and that he needed to forgive himself and move on. He now lives with Mothflight as his mate, and his only son Clay, who was the light of his life until Talon came to the clan with Hornetstripe’s return…

enjoy!