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[ 0 MOONS - 5 MOONS ] Rosa was a kittypet who had met a charismatic rogue and she was instantly smitten with him. Unfortunately, he didn’t stick around too long and left before Rosa realized she was expecting. Luca and Nico were the results of Rosa’s brief relationship with the charming tom. They were not her first litter, no, she’d had two before them, and they probably wouldn’t be her last. Despite her experience, Luca and Nico proved to be her most difficult children. Nico, in particular, was trouble. He was dauntless and pugnacious, and he enjoyed bullying Luca. Luca was quiet and shy, and made an easy target. Rosa did her best to reprimand Nico every time he hurt Luca, whether it was physically or verbally, and he’d apologize half-heartedly only to hurt Luca again once Rosa had turned away. Luca had a complicated relationship with his brother. He loved Nico, but was also terrified of him, which made standing up for himself very challenging, so he just never did.

Rosa spent a lot of time preparing her children for a future without her. All kittypet kits were eventually separated from their mother. One day, when two unfamiliar twolegs visited their home and started playing with Luca and Nico, Rosa pulled them aside and informed them that their time together had come to an end. She’d lived through this before, but judging by the pain in her eyes, it never got any easier. The boys exchanged heartfelt farewells with their mother and although it was the hardest thing he’d ever done, Luca somehow made himself walk away from Rosa. Nico and Luca said goodbye to each other, too, but it was much less emotional. They certainly hadn’t expected to end up with the same housefolk and Luca feared how bad Nico’s bullying would get without Rosa to stand between them. Luca felt the loss of his mother very strongly, but at least his new housefolk were kind. They played with him and cuddled with him, and intervened when Nico was too mean. However, their attention soon waned when they brought a twoleg kit home, leaving Nico’s cruelty uncontrolled. Luca had never felt so lonely.

[ 6 MOONS - 11 MOONS ] At long last, Luca reached his breaking point. Nico had pinned him and was spitting heartless insults at him, and instead of feeling sorry for himself like usual, he got angry. Luca lashed out, blinded by anger, and heard Nico’s pained yowl. Before he could see what he’d done, one of their housefolk had picked him up. They ended up tossing him outside, where neither he or Nico had ever been allowed to go. Luca was terribly frightened and didn’t even leave the yard. He hid beneath the stairs leading up to the door and occasionally tried to get back inside the house, but his housefolk refused to let him back in. Were they trying to chase him out of their lives? Did they want him to leave? Once he realized they probably thought he was dangerous and didn’t want him anymore, he began to wander beyond the yard, albeit nervously. There was a lot to explore past the fence, a lot Luca didn’t know, but what he did know was that he would never harm another cat ever again.

There were tons of cats in twolegplace. Some were house cats and others were without housefolk. Some were benevolent and some were not. Luca quickly learned who was safe to approach and who to avoid. The kinder ones showed him the best places to scavenge, peaceful spots to sleep, and how to steer clear of both dogs and twolegs. The mean ones taught him to be cautious about which cats he interacted with. Luca returned to his housefolk’s home every night, but they never let him inside or left food out for him, so he’d scavenge in the best spots and sleep in the warmest areas. Slowly, he came to accept that his housefolk had given him up and he stopped visiting his former home to see if they would let him in. He’d been wrong when his housefolk had brought home their kit, when he thought he’d never felt so lonely. Really, Luca hadn’t known loneliness until he was sleeping by himself beneath a foul-smelling dumpster.

[ 12 MOONS - 15 MOONS ] When Luca met Thistle, he believed his loneliness had come to an end. Thistle was a traveler, a healer, who claimed he had a special ability to speak with spirits. Thistle was also the leader of a small group of rogues, his followers, who he said he was guiding to paradise. Thistle described paradise as a place where his followers would never starve, where illness would never befall them, and where conflict would never occur. His followers would only ever know happiness in paradise. Thistle then went on to reveal he’d spoken with the spirits just that morning and they’d told him he’d encounter a light important to his mission. He was confident that Luca, his ginger pelt shining golden in the sun, was that light. Thistle promised to lead him to paradise and Luca, as naive as he was, thought that sounded wonderful. In paradise, he’d be healthy and happy, surrounded by friends. Luca swore his loyalty to Thistle.

If Luca didn’t have the tendency to see the good in everyone, he would’ve learned quite swiftly that there was not an ounce of goodness in Thistle. Thistle did not treat his followers well, but he treated Luca even worse. Luca was his light and he had to keep that light the best way he knew how, which was to instill fear into him. When they settled down every night, Thistle lazed about while Luca and the others prepared shelter for him, hunted for him, and patrolled the area to chase off potential threats. They took shifts throughout the night, guarding Thistle. Luca did all of this and more. Thistle said the spirits wanted him to train Luca, so they spent a lot of time together. Whenever Luca upset Thistle, typically by making a mistake in his training, he punished him by adding a scar to his growing collection. Luca was supposed to be the light, so he needed to be perfect. He needed to know how to fight and hunt and heal, but Luca struggled with fighting - he didn’t want to hurt anyone - and he wasn’t the best hunter. He was a natural healer, but Thistle was never satisfied.

[ 16 MOONS - 17 MOONS ] After a particularly bad altercation where Luca hesitantly pointed out a mistake of Thistle’s during training, the leader fixed him with a cold glare before collecting his followers for a meeting. He called Luca an imposter and declared he’d lied to Thistle about being the light. He had to be punished for faking his identity. Deep down, Luca knew Thistle wasn’t making any sense - Luca had never claimed to be the light! - but he begged for forgiveness anyway. Thistle ordered his followers to attack Luca and what hurt him the most was how easily these cats turned on him. They’d bonded and become friends, or so he thought they had. They landed a good number of heavy blows as Luca cried for mercy, but he eventually managed to slip through an opening between his attackers and escape. Nobody followed him, except for the chilling sound of Thistle’s laughter that flooded his ears as he fled.

Luca ran and ran until he was sure Thistle and his followers were far behind him. He found herbs to treat his wounds and settled down for the night, though he didn’t get a wink of sleep. In the morning, he moved on. He flinched at every twig that snapped beneath his paws and jumped at every bush that rustled in the wind. He slept with one eye open, if he slept at all, and he couldn’t ignore the constant feeling that Thistle was right behind him, preparing to pounce. Over the next couple of moons, Luca made decent progress retracing his steps back to the twolegplace he’d once called home. In the beginning, he was slowed down by his injuries, but even once Luca had recovered, he moved slowly, cautiously, stopping every few fox-lengths to scan for signs of Thistle and his supporters.

[ 18 MOONS - 21 MOONS ] Along the way, Luca met Echo. She was kind and easy to talk to, but he made sure to remain careful in her presence - at least until she’d offered him part of her fresh-kill. What kind of rogue shared their fresh-kill? A nice one, of course. So Luca quickly warmed up to her and Echo must’ve done the same, because she made a gesture with her tail and two young cats emerged from the undergrowth. She introduced them as her traveling companions. There was Cedar, a young tomcat, and his kit sister, Acorn. Luca told them they were lucky to have someone as generous as Echo as their mother, but Cedar wasted no time correcting him, snarling that she wasn’t their mother. Echo explained that Cedar and Echo had been separated from their parents when she’d stumbled upon them. They’d searched for the young cats’ parents with no luck and now, Echo was trying to find them a home.

Upon learning that Luca was heading for a twolegplace, Echo asked to travel with him and he agreed. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could tolerate being alone. It didn’t take long for Luca to feel completely comfortable around them, especially Echo and Acorn. Echo rapidly became his best friend, someone he could sit with in an enjoyable silence, as well as talk to about anything and everything. Luca knew he could rely on her. And Acorn was lively and curious, always playing and asking endless questions. Just the sight of her goofy grin filled Luca with affection. As for Cedar, Luca wanted nothing more than to be his friend, but Cedar didn’t seem to trust easily. He wasn’t very nice to Luca and certainly didn’t trust him around Acorn, supervising their every interaction. Luca would never hurt anyone, particularly a child, but Cedar didn’t know that. He couldn’t blame the young tom for being wary, but every time Cedar was mean to him, he remembered Nico and Thistle.

[ 22 MOONS - PRESENT ] One day, Echo suggested Luca and Cedar go hunting together. They did, because Echo had asked them to, though Cedar didn’t like it. They stumbled upon Thistle, who greeted Luca like they were friends that hadn’t seen each other in a while. Luca sent Cedar to fetch Echo while he kept Thistle talking. Thistle went on to say he’d been wrong to punish Luca, that all his followers had left when they realized it was taking too long to reach paradise, and that he needed his light more than ever. Luca retorted that Thistle deserved to be left in the darkness and tried to leave, but Thistle pounced on him when his back was turned. Echo arrived shortly after the scuffle began and she hurried to aid Luca. The two of them pushed Thistle back together until he managed to land a lucky strike across Echo’s throat. Blinded by rage, Luca lunged at Thistle and sank his teeth into the other tom’s neck. He rushed back to Echo’s side and in her last breath, she begged him to take care of Cedar and Acorn. Luca promised her he would.

If it hadn’t been for Cedar and Acorn, Luca probably would’ve broken down after that encounter with Thistle. He had to look after them as Echo had asked him to do, as he’d promised to do. Cedar became quieter than usual, but he no longer snapped at Luca. Acorn became even closer to him and rarely left Luca’s side. A few days later, the three of them arrived at the twolegplace Luca had once resided in. At the sight of it, Luca remembered he’d have to leave the two young cats with twolegs, but he realized he didn’t really trust twolegs to care for them properly. Before he could find the words to explain his thoughts, Cedar revealed he thought it would be best if he and Acorn continued traveling with Luca. It warmed him to hear Cedar say those words and when Acorn agreed, Luca could’ve wept.

Together, the three of them made their way around twolegplace and traveled onward, searching for some place to settle down for a while. They all thought they could use a break from their journey to nowhere in particular. On the other side of twolegplace, they found a group of cats who referred to themselves as members of a group called MistClan. Luca, Cedar, and Acorn were warned not to cross the border, so they didn’t, but they did follow the boundary into the mountains. They walked along the border, heading west, until they found a river. They traveled upstream, but when they discovered an abandoned fox’s den beneath a rocky overhang near the river, they decided they’d reached their destination. The three of them set up there and prepared for the upcoming leaf-bare.

Early into leaf-bare, Luca was off searching for prey when he heard a shriek followed by Acorn’s voice yowling his name. He bolted back to the den and found Acorn trembling on the river’s edge. She frantically told him Cedar had shoved her off the frozen river after she’d accidentally tripped and rolled onto it, but he’d fallen through the ice during the brave rescue. Luca ran downstream in search of Cedar, but there was no sign of him anywhere. When he returned without Cedar, Acorn broke down in tears. He knew there was nothing he could do to comfort her, though he tried anyway. They were building two cairns for Echo and Cedar when a cat who called herself Laurelfern approached them. Luca let her help them stack stones and once they were done, she invited them to join her group, The Kingdom. Luca briefly consulted Acorn and with her approval, he accepted Laurelfern's invitation.

Pre-Plotting: Luca relates best to Dragonfly in [The Kingdom’s Plot Ad]. He finds the clans to be fascinating and enjoys holding a friendly conversation with every clan cat willing to stop and speak with him. In his opinion, the clans are just another group doing their best to get by. Every group has their flaws, the clans and even The Kingdom being no exception, but that doesn’t mean they deserve the worst. Luca isn’t the most judgmental cat anyway.

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