This dude's based on a song I made for an ARPG once

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| ☢☣ SALAMANDERHOOK ☣☢ |

Reasoning-

Salamander; Given for their curly, gill-like fur on their cheeks.

Hook; Given for their sharp, hooked claws they used to scale fences and trash piles.

| Age | 18 moons.

| Gender | AMAB, Nonbinary. They/Them.

| Sexuality | Pansexual/romantic.

| Appearance | A skinny, lethargic cat with tightly curled fur along their body. They have a puffed-out tail, contrasting against their starved body, with looser curls at the top and tiger ones at the bottom. Along their cheeks are three tufts of fur, frizzled like an axolotl's gills, which is where they got their name from. They have large, lemon-shaped eyes and a frizzled tuft of fur on their forehead. They have a slightly shorter snout than most cats, but it doesn't hinder them in any way. Salamander has sharp, hooked claws they often use for climbing rather than combat. They have large paws and curled ears.

Salamander's fur is a staggeringly beautiful blend of grays, blacks, and blueish hues. Many cats remark about how it looks like they don't actually exist when in harsh sunlight, and it helps blend their frame into crowds and similarly-colored terrain, like a zebra's stripes. They have rosette markings, which are black. Their toes are white, along with their lower underbelly. Salamander's eyes are blue.

| Personality |

I'm writing this after writing the warrior section of their backstory, my eyes are too watery and I'm too tired to write a normal one rn lmao

Traits ~

+ Survivalist

+ Realistic

+ Empathetic

= Independent

= Workaholic

= Uptight

- Anxious

- Skittish

- Pessimist

| Skills | Good at understanding emotions. Iron stomach.

| Fears | Never finding their sister again. / Dying in a slow, painful way due to radiation sickness. \ Hillsides. / Fast-moving mud and rocks. \ Horses.

| Clan of Origin | FlyClan

| Group | None.

| Position of Power | Loner.

| Kin |

Their father, Wildwind, really got around. Salamander has roughly 12 half-siblings and 6 full ones. Miraculously, Wildwind kept up good relations with all of them. He's dead.

Their mother, Pranceshell, was often tired of caring for her two litters, verbally calling them all 'A bunch of whining termites.'. Salamanderhook dislikes her. She's long dead.

(Just the siblings they know, gonna leave the 12 half-siblings open if anyone wants to play one lol)

Ist litter

Snakestone. Brother, Loved. Dead.

Smallhoof. Sister, Loved. Dead.

Sheepflea. Younger Sister, Loved. Dead.

Glorypaw. Younger Brother, Loved. Dead.

Roughfleece. Younger Brother, Loved. Dead.

Brickwater. Younger Sister, Beloved. Missing; presumed dead.

| Crush |

Previously: Mixjump, she-cat. Deceased.

Currently: N/A

| Mate | N/A.

| Backstory |

BEFORE THE CHAOS

It was a calm Greenleaf night. The wind smelled of nursing queens' milk and warmth, along with the smells of the city wafting over the horizon. Twolegs walked the sidewalk FlyClan territory knew well, and everything was still. Pranceshell and Wildwind had been waiting for a couple of moons now; their kits were due soon and this would be Wildwind's second litter of kits he'd fathered. It was Pranceshell's first, and the other queens in the den were comforting her through the first half as well as they could. Wild had, reluctantly, allowed his then mate to hold his paw through it. And then she dug her claws into his skin with a cry;

''G-Go get our medicine cat! It's happening early, these kittens want out!''

KITTEN

Just after their brother, Snakekit, Salamanderkit came fumbling into the world a blind, deaf, and helpless kitten. The medicine cat licked them clean, which was rather easy considering the fact that they were born entirely without fur. They were then quickly placed alongside their brother, mewling and crying out for milk. Snakekit latched one rather quickly, but Salamanderkit's shorter snout was a slight hindrance in their first few attempts, reaching out to bite but missing and hitting their chin on the ground. Then came Smallkit, possibly the runt of the litter despite being the most muscular one in the array. Their mother had stopped kitting for now, and everyone THOUGHT that there were only three, but the others just seemed to be slow to jump on the bandwagon.

About a day later, when the trio was asleep in their mother's grasp, she started kitting again. Her screams of surprise and the other queens' worried murmurs woke them up, and they started crying out for their mother again. The medicine cat rushed to the scene and simply.. Pushed the three out of the way to make room for the rest, and delivered the last four. Sheepkit, Glorykit, Roughkit, and Brickkit. The medicine cat remarked in a playful manner about how three of their kits had names that started with 's', but Pranceshell took it as criticism and requested that they left. She pulled all of her kits closer to her to let them feed, Small and Salamanderkit being stood on by their other siblings as they fed. One queen glanced at her with empathy, but Pranceshell simply scoffed.

The six kittens grew into quite the rowdy group, ganging up on other, older kittens in the nursery and generally being a troublesome lot. They didn't have anything to do in here, and they wanted out! The streets of the suburban area was much more exciting, so in the middle of the night when the queens were asleep, the six siblings and two other kittens broke out of the nursery, Salamanderkit more-or-less being dragged along because they didn't want to risk them ratting everyone out even though they promised that they wouldn't. Once out on the streets, Sheepkit led them around the neighborhood, imagining that they were on a patrol and were scouting out the area. Thankfully, they had all been warned prior to the exploration that the thunderpath was not a safe place to play, and they stayed clear of it. Salamanderkit, however, found that they were getting hungry.

So they broke off from the group for just a moment and skittered up to a twoleg nest that smelled like there was food inside. Walking through the cat-flap on the door, they located a shiny divot on the floor full of crunchy stuff that tasted delicious. Unfortunately, the cat whom it belonged to wasn't all the willing to share it, and after spotting the kitten eating her food, she promptly kicked them out with a loud, berating hiss about ''walking into strangers' houses'' and things of the sort. She went back inside and presumably locked the flap considering that when Salamanderkit pushed on it they couldn't get back in. Catching up with the others at the corner, they continued on.

Their exploration went on until the morning considering how many pitstops they made for food, and by that time an actual patrol had caught up with them and was bringing them all back home. That was when Salamanderkit got to meet one of the other kittens on the journey with them, Mixkit, because she wouldn't stop talking to them. Salamander found that they had quite a bit in common, and they quickly became friends.

Once back home, their parents disciplined them rather roughly by not allowing them out of the den, or too far past the nest. In fact, when Salamanderkit tried to walk over to Mixkit's nest so they could talk, one of the queens who was still awake rather abruptly told them to go to sleep. The punishment carried on until they were apprentices, Mixkit and her sister being one moon older and becoming apprentices first. Salamanderkit couldn't pinpoint the feeling they had when talking and playing with Mixpaw, but they weren't sure how to react to it. Still, they tried to ignore the butterflies in their chest as best they could.

APPRENTICE (Tw for mentions of death in the 4th section.)

Their curly fur curled more visibly as they grew into an apprentice, their siblings showing some of the same traits like blue eyes, curled ears, or curly fur. Salamanderpaw was apprenticed under the warrior Sharkfin, who was just as mean and stern as his name suggested. Until then, they had still been going by 'he/him' pronouns, but as Sharkfin referred to them as 'they' out of habit, they discovered that they were much more appreciative of those pronouns and began going by them. Their siblings, father and friends supported their decision and their clanmates simply started referring to them how they liked, but Pranceshell continued calling them a he, since that's what they were born as. Wildwind promptly stopped being her mate, and the siblings stopped interacting with her on a regular basis.

Salamanderpaw was glad they did.

Their apprenticeship seemed to be going on a rather stable, typical track, however on a border patrol with their mentor, Glorypaw, Brickpaw, and Snakepaw, tragedy struck. The twolegs seemed on edge the past few moons, and that meant that more of them were on walks with their dogs as some kind of distraction from current events, whatever they were. However, Gloypaw, as if chasing his own name, continued walking on the sidewalk even after their mentors had ordered everyone to take cover in the foliage. Just as Glorypaw opened their mouth to brag about how he's always been untouchable, a dog who had broken free of its leash came barreling down the street, knocking the apprentice into the road. Salamander jumped out of the bush, followed by Snakepaw who were trying to get to their brother, but when the dogs came racing back they ran for cover. Covering their eyes and ears, the apprentices could only pray to the stars that Glorypaw would be alright.

And.. he wasn't. The dog didn't injure him, no, but in the chaos, a twoleg had gotten distracted and.. The monster ran both the dog and Glorypaw over, killing them instantly. They must have been going too fast, as the dog was flung down the street on impact and Glorypaw was flattened. All the cats could hear was the sound of tires screeching, Glorypaw's cry of pain being cut short, and the dog's yelp fading away. They.. went back home after that.

They returned home without Glorypaw, everyone seeming in a much worse mood than before. The leader inquired why with the warriors, and the apprentices went back to their den to sleep the rest of the day away. Aside from the depressive state Salamanderpaw entered, they carried on with the rest of their apprentice duties and passed with flying colors. However, they would come to know that Glorypaw's death with the most mellow one they would experience in their life.

WARRIOR (Also tw for mentions of death throughout the whole thing, though it really is just mentions)

Earning the name Salamanderhook during their warrior ceremony, they were forced out of their depressive mannerisms when the destruction of FlyClan territory began taking place. Twolegs had become increasingly agitated in the recent moons and were encroaching further out of the city for some reason. Many had evacuated, leaving homes empty and barren. Many-a-kittypet had joined the clan in an attempt to find comfort, speaking of a great argument on the lightboxes in the twoleg nests. Many had been left behind, ditched for food and large boxes. Salamanderhook felt bad for them all, but they couldn't afford to sit back and just comfort these cats. There wouldn't be a clan for them to take refuge in if the territory was left to go to shit!

While out with a few other warriors, Snakestone being one of them, they found a rather agitated fox rummaging through twoleg trash. The warriors, well trained in the art of 'I'm not fucking with that thing', stayed back, but when it meandered over, Snakestone told everyone to get out of there while he drove it away. Of course, everyone objected, but Snakestone brought up the point that not only had he done so before, but this was a fox acting abnormally. It was probably best not to leave it to get further into the territory when only StarClan knew what was wrong with it. Salamander stated that if Snake was going then so were they, and everyone else opted to stay on the sidelines in case anything went wrong.

So Snake and Salamander rushed forwards to attack the fox who was twitching weirdly, then they took off in the opposite direction, away from FlyClan territory. Everything was going great until Snakestone slipped on the windshield of a sleeping monster, allowing the fox to bite his tail. It let him go after making a terrifying chortling noise, and they continued harassing the fox until it was far enough away. Then they jumped for cover and regrouped. Nobody knew until the symptoms began to show, but both that fox and Snakestone had contracted rabies. He was perfectly fine the first few days, but it was only a matter of time until the fever caught up to him. The medicine cat, recognizing the signs, ordered that he be fed yew berries to kill him before the disease spread through the clan. Snakestone had already begun experiencing fits of anger and seizures, so death sounded like a much better option than becoming a danger to his clan.

All but Salamanderhook and Brickwater opted not to watch his execution, as they felt it would be too sad to watch. Salamanderhook felt guilty. If they never let Snakestone chase the fox away this wouldn't have happened, but if they never did then what would have happened to the clan? It was simply a trade; One life for many. Salamander just didn't want to lose any of their family.

Some amount of moons passed which Salamander wasn't really paying attention to, and Roughfleece ended up following the path of their brothers. Salamander regrets turning their head to look at someone else, as while they were under the porch, Roughfleece pounced on a mouse and failed to notice the shadow of an incoming hawk. Mixjump could only call out his name before he was taken; the two chasing after him in a futile attempt to retrieve him. They disappeared into the clouds, and Salamander took out their anger and grief on Mixjump, saying that if she didn't distract them by pulling them into the grass then Roughfleece wouldn't be hawkfood. They traded insults for a while before Salamanderhook stormed back to camp, Mixjump continuing to hunt by herself.

They were assigned on a border patrol just before a heavy thunderstorm, their siblings Sheepflea, Brickwater and a few other warriors, including Mixjump, coming with. They were caught in the storm and since it was rather heavy rain, they hid in a nearby cave system so that they weren't flattened in the torrent of water. As they talked, the rumbling above got louder and louder until Brickwater went to check it out. And that was the last time they saw the outside world.

''You guys need to-!'' Brickwater called out in alarm, though before anyone could move, mud and rocks threw themselves over the exit of the cave, alerting some bats who managed to escape before it went completely dark. They could barely hear Brickwater over the rain, saying something about going to get help for them. Aft first everyone tried their best to remain calm, though as they listened to the outside world they learned that there was little to no chance of them getting out of the caves unless something much stronger managed to move the largest rocks. The ground was made almost entirely of stone, and so were the walls. They were trapped. The sounds of Brickwater hopelessly trying to move the stones from outside and telling the warriors stories about the most recent happenings in the clan were nice, but it made them long for freedom even more.

They were mainly surviving off of eating bats and drinking the freshwater pools deeper in the caves, but Brickwater was the only thing that brought them all sanity in happiness in what they thought was their last days. She brought some of the warriors' kits over to the caves to bring them comfort, and described how it was outside in vivid detail for them all. She told them stories, delivered the announcements of the leaders and still desperately tried to get her friends out. But there was only so much one cat full of hope could do.

And then one day she just stopped showing up. Everyone was worried that something had happened to her while she was making the trek over, maybe that fox had come back, or she had finally given up. Whatever it was, they were all emotional wrecks without her being there. Once cats started dying of starvation the situation only got worse, Mixjump confessing her love for Salamanderhook on her deathbed and Sheepflea's dying screams of agony seeming to haunt the caves long after her death. Eventually, only Salamanderhook was left, having buried all of their clanmates in the dirt at the back of the caves and accepting death. Brickwater came back once, though only to tell them that she was leaving the clans. She gave them a heartfelt goodbye and apology for not being with the cats the past few months and they did their best to hug eachother with a giant rock blocking the way. And then she was gone.

Salamanderhook was left in their solitude, starving, lonely and sad. They still had hope for escaping; hell, seeing Brickwater one last time- even grazing her fur would be enough, A dying wish you could say. But call it luck or torture, they did not die. No, they survived.

LONER

The cave had grown silent. Everyone was dead. Salamanderhook was starving and feared that the world outside had long forgotten about everyone trapped inside. They'd held funerals for everyone and had a grave ready-made for them once they died. All of the bats had long rotted; there was just no way out. Sure, there was water, but a cat could only go so long without eating.. Especially one with as light a diet as Salamanderhook in the first place. They were muttering quietly to themself about why StarClan couldn't just kill them now when the faint sound of thunderous screeching rang in the distance.

Ah, yes. The world was yet again moving on without them. It wasn't like they could do anything about it. However, a few seconds later some sunlight shined through the top of the rock blocking their exit. Sunlight? Were they hallucinating? Was StarClan finally taking them? Cautiously, they stepped closer to the exit hole, only to stumble backward as the caves shook again. They half expected the assumed exit to be covered up again as some kind of sick joke, but as the rocks moved out of the way, the light shined as bright as the hope within them.

''You let me out?'' They gasped, eyes swelling with tears as the perfect escape hole stood perfectly to the outside. They were so happy. Their paws trembled and they cried tears of joy as they leaped up the stones and out into the new world.

Huh, was it them, or was this place more depressing than they thought? Oh, what did that matter, they were finally out! With a pained wave of goodbye with their tail towards the cave, they could have sworn they saw their siblings' and friends' spirits wishing them good luck in this new world. And then they took off into the wilderness, ready to find their sister if it was the last thing they did.

| Extra |

Themesongs~

Their main themesong is: Bohemian Rhapsody!

https://youtu.be/_nxrYwT0SIo

Their themesong while stuck in the caves is: Passing Through!

https://youtu.be/fOSVzv3iioE

Trivia~

Salamanderhook still believes that their sister, Brickwater, is alive. In fact, she was the only reason they kept going and trying to get out of the cave.

They'll probably believe someone telling them that they're Salamander's half-sibling since they don't even know how many they have.

I wrote the song they're based on, which was for an ARPG on DA! I'll admit, it's not the best one I've written but it ees what it ees.

Brickwater is literally the dumbest warrior cats name I've come up with(save for Cheeslettuce but there's lore behind that name) and yet she's the one who made me cry. dammit