Song: How To Save A Life by The Fray Art and Characters: @Tiki-Draws Characters (in order of appearance): Tikiflame (dark she-cat, main character) Taikalight (midtone tom, main character) Epsomflight (pale she-cat, Tikiflame's mate) Sparkstar (dark ghost tom, old TreeClan leader) Myrtleglow (midtone she-cat, Tikiflame's daughter) Whistlekit (dark she-kit, Myrtleglow's daughter) Story (brief, visit First Echoes studio for more background): Taikalight, over time, found himself living in his sister's shadow. Tikiflame was intelligent, a quick learner, and had earned the respect of TreeClan for her skills and leadership. Her becoming deputy was, at some level, the final straw. He was bitter—not particularly at Tikiflame, but at himself for lacking the ability to be where Tikiflame was. Taikalight wondered why he had ever come to the Clans—clearly, he wasn't meant to be there. When he learned he wasn't even part of the prophecy that he had been told for so long was why he had joined TreeClan in the first place, he ran off to clear his head and think things over. In the thick of his emotions and a raging blizzard, he wandered into a road and was struck by a car in the low visibility. Tikiflame was deeply shaken in the wake of Taikalight's death. First watching her from StarClan, he later made his way back down to the living world to walk alongside her when he saw how much she was struggling, and her refusal to speak to StarClan meant he couldn't console her. To Tikiflame, StarClan was a reaper, stealing everything from her, but Taikalight couldn't understand—they were StarClan. They knew best, right? Tikiflame's grief grew to consume her. Her breakup with her mate, Epsomflight, and Sparkstar's death that made Tikiflame into Tikistar only spurred things along. After her leadership ceremony, Tikistar scorned StarClan, blaming them for all the ways they had tortured her. When she left, Taikalight turned to Sparkstar—that couldn't be true, could it? But when Sparkstar admitted everything he had come to know since ascending to StarClan, Taikalight was shocked and furious that they could ever do that to Tikistar. After she became leader, Tikistar became closed off and apathetic to life. She tried to reach out to her daughter, Myrtleglow, but she despised Tikistar and made that known. Tikistar ultimately decided to leave TreeClan and return to her original home outside of Clan territory, believing her departure would be better for everyone. She stayed there for three years, during which her granddaughter, Whistlekit, was born to Myrtleglow. Whistlekit, after receiving countless visions from StarClan, stumbled upon Tikistar's (now going only by Tiki, her original housecat name) home by sheer luck (and a helping of cosmic fate). She convinced Tiki to return to the Clans to prevent a war, and snuck her in, but she was ultimately caught by Myrtleglow. Myrtleglow's rage and hatred of Tiki consumed her and prompted her to kill Whistlekit in an act of vengeance towards Tiki. Tiki, seeing what Myrtleglow had become, was forced to kill her own daughter to protect everyone else. Tiki ran back to her home, fleeing again. Everything had gone so wrong. However, upon her arrival, Taikalight was there, and he promised her that she was strong enough to do what was right. Tiki accepted the part of her that was Tikistar and returned to the Clans to set things right. After the Sealing and Tikistar's death, Taikalight was there as Tikistar said goodbye to her friends and family, including Epsomflight. Taikalight was the first to welcome Tikistar to StarClan. -- Oh man, I disappeared for months! And now I'm probably about to disappear again. I'm trying to finish up the projects I've got in my WIP folder. Soon to come: nutshell and a huge redesign wave of First Echoes characters. Should be pretty neat.
