Darkflame has grown into his height, though that wasn't always the case. His developing years left him feeling awkward and lanky. And when he was young, Darkkit was arguably small - and early, causing a brief spur of anxiety in the Nursery when he was born alongside his nearly identical sister. Lacking in size, he made up for his disadvantages by being on the scrappy, feisty side--and if another kit was in trouble he didn't mind standing up for them, too, earning him a best friend in Owlkit.

Once he received his apprentice name, it didn't take long for a growth spurt to hit: he grew tall, a little spindly, and training gave him a little bit of the strength he lacked in his early moons, though he's by no means a considerable fighter. Still, while his growing may have caught up, making his tail less strangely long and his ears not so large on his head, he's still solidly in his awkward growth stage. At least now when he stands up for a friend he's not laughed out of the den.

Aside from his height, Darkflame is a soft-furred tom with long whiskers and a predominately black pelt. He is not necessarily handsome, but certainly striking, especially when surrounded by foliage. His resting expression, not unlike many young toms, tends to be on the slightly irritated side, only warming significantly for friends and, in particular, Brightfire.

It hadn't been that many moons since their first kit, [Nancy Wheeler], became an apprentice. It'd barely even been a moon, it felt like. The litter was early. Not so early that the kits couldn't be saved, but early enough that another queen had run to the Medicine Cat den to retrieve help and Stormflower's wails of discomfort were echoing in his mind like an ill omen. With the new moon high overhead, he couldn't help but think there was almost an ominous shadow over the camp. Unsettled, he could only crouch lower as he waited for news from within.

Stormflower didn't want him there, yet. She made that very clear.

After a great commotion within, another queen, just as heavily pregnant as his mate only just was, came out to see him. She looked rattled, but relieved, which soothed the pit his his stomach slightly. "A she-cat and a tom. They lived."

They lived. "And Stormflower?"

The she-cat smiled. "Resting."

Two kits. And this time, he would be a more present father.

-

Darkkit couldn't remember the last time his father came to visit.

Okay, that was a little dramatic. He came to visit last when the moon was a crescent, with a mouse for his mother and idle stories for his offspring. But Darkkit still couldn't say with any confidence that he knew Sootcloud well. And if he was anything like Stormflower, always doting on him to the point of being overbearing, except when she was too busy gossiping with the other queens, he wasn't sure he wanted to know him.

Even now, his mother was off chatting, leaving Hollykit and Darkkit to fend for themselves for a little while. "Go play with the other kits," she'd said. "Make friends."

Like it was that easy. [Lucas Sinclair] almost had to be his friend by association - their mothers nests were side by side. But his mother took him to wander camp earlier, and Darkkit and Hollykit were stuck inside the den.

He didn't want to make friends. He liked the friends he already had. Besides, he kind of thought some of the other kits were mean. Why would he want to know them?

So it was by mistake, really, that he overheard one of the older kits, surely almost to be named an apprentice in a matter of days, taunting one of the other smaller kits. Owlkit, he was pretty sure his name was. Quiet. Small. Nice, from the little they'd spoken. He didn't deserve being picked on like that.

Darkkit wasn't a large cat, even for his age, but his paws took him over before he could really think it through.

-

Honestly, he couldn't remember what he said to the other kit, or how he managed to get away without much more than a little, stinging scratch (flinging sand into his face might have played a role), but he would never forget the worry on his mother's face or the unexpected appearance of his father, there apparently only to give him a stern lecture about fighting. Like it was his fault.

He also remembered the grateful look on Owlkit's face afterward. Maybe it wasn't quite as heroic as he intended to be, but he got the other kit to lay off him. It was something.

-

"Do you want to be friends?" Darkkit asked, only a couple days later. When Stormflower finally permitted him to return to his somber mission of learning to get along with the other kits in the nursery.

Owlkit looked surprised. He thought it was sort of funny, given the circumstances. He did take a scratch for him, after all. "Yes, I'd like to be."

It was the perfect answer.

-

Darkkit didn't know what to expect from becoming an apprentice, but he suspected his friends were more anxious about it than he was, so he spent the morning brushing off his mother, who kept insisting on trying to make his fur neat, and reassuring them that they would be fine. Great, even. As apprentices, they'd have a little bit more freedom. And his sister would be there, so it's not like they'd be bothered in the den the same way they were in the nursery.

"We're just so proud of you," his mother said, to which his father agreed with a grunt.

It was annoying. He wasn't sure his parents knew a single thing about him. Owlkit's mother knew more of him than Stormflower did. Sootcloud barely even looked at him except when he was doing something wrong.

Later, [Nancy Wheeler] said, with a roll of her eyes, "They were the same with me. It gets better when you have your own space." She smiled, comforting. "So, don't worry about it, okay? Soon you'll be an apprentice and all you have to focus on is pleasing your mentor."

It was the first time he was really nervous about just who his mentor would be.

-

[Nancy Wheeler] was right - Darkpaw really enjoyed having his own nest in the apprentice's den. He set it up right beside Owlpaw's, with Dustpaw and [Lucas Sinclair] nestled nearby. He tucked in for the night, curled up in a tight ball, comforted by the sounds of the rest of the apprentices in various stages of falling asleep to quietly chatting in the corner.

"Darkpaw? Goodnight," Owlpaw said, quiet in the dark of the den.

"Goodnight, Owlpaw."

-

"Promise we'll still be friends? No matter what happens when we train?"

It was an easy request. "We'll always be friends," he said, like it was obvious. Because it was - he couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't friends with Owlpaw, or with Dustpaw and [Lucas Sinclair]. "Don't be stupid."

Owlpaw managed a smile. "Okay."

-

"What do you mean he's gone?"

"No one saw him come back. Dustpaw said he returned to camp alone."

"They sent some warriors out to find him but no one's caught so much as his scent."

"Maybe he's hiding? [Joyce Byers] said he was being picked on."

Darkpaw listened with a sense of dread and a determination to find his lost companion. Nothing would stop him from getting Owlpaw back, even his mentor's insistence that none of the younger apprentices leave camp.

-

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," [Lucas Sinclair] said doubtfully, despite following them out of camp after dark, when it was easier to sneak past the warriors keeping watch. "What if something got Owlpaw? Like - like a fox, or a bear."

"Shut up," Darkpaw snapped. "There's no bear, okay? The warriors would have sniffed it out. We're gonna find him."

Still, they idled at the border, unsure that it was wise to cross it and potentially upset their neighbors when the peace between the clans still felt so fragile. Again, it was Darkpaw's single minded determination to find his lost friend that prompted them to cross - if there were consequences later, he would figure out a way to handle it.

-

There weren't consequences later. What there was instead was a small she-cat, asleep or fainted at the border.

"She doesn't smell like RidgeClan or MistClan."

"Maybe your sense of smell is mucked up."

"Does she smell like a clan cat to you?"

"Well... no."

Amidst the arguing, Darkpaw watched her stir, and felt something stir in him, too. Excitement, maybe? Curiosity? Concern? "Hey! Hey! She's awake!" 

-

She was definitely not a clan cat. He couldn't say with any confidence where she was from or who she was, but it was obvious she needed help. He didn't know where Owlpaw was. He couldn't help him. But he could help her.

[Lucas Sinclair] thought it was stupid that he was putting his neck on the line to hunt for her and shelter her. Dustpaw probably even agreed that there was some sense in his concern. But she didn't have anyone looking out for her. He wanted to help.

Besides, the timing of her arrival was odd. Maybe she knew something? Maybe she could help them sniff out where Owlpaw had gone.

First, though, she needed to eat.

-

It's not that he forgot about Owlpaw. He couldn't forget about Owlpaw. But maybe his mind was preoccupied with Brightpaw, newly welcomed into the clan, so it startled him more than he thought it would when she said his name. Like she knew him. Like they'd spoken.

No one had said Owlpaw's name around her. So how could she know it? What did it mean?

He wouldn't believe [Lucas Sinclair] was right, and she was bad all along. He couldn't believe that. But if not that, then... what?

-

"Is he okay?" he asked later, after apologizing. He was right - Brightpaw was good, she'd always been good, and it made him feel guilty to have doubted her for even a moment. He liked to think he was a decent judge of character, no matter what his friends thought.

Besides, if Brightpaw knew Owlpaw, that meant there was hope for him. He wasn't dea- gone. He wasn't gone.

"He's alive," she said. Alive was good. She sounded nervous; he hoped smiling would reassure her that she wasn't in any trouble. Not with him, anyway.

"You know where he is?" he pressed. Gently. Or at least he tried to be gentle about it.

"He's far." 

But she knew where. He could find him. Owlpaw could come back. "I'm gonna get him back."

-

He went out at night to look for him. He could never go far. There was always someone or something stopping him - usually, a mentor, a parent, sometimes a friend. But Owlpaw was out there and he needed him.

Brightpaw needed him too. And she was afraid.

It felt like his heart was stuck in two places.

-

And then his heart returned whole.

-

"Where have you been?" he asked, when Owlpaw was finally let alone by the warriors. "Brightpaw said something about dangers?"

Owlpaw made a face. "I can't really explain it," he said.

"You can't even try?"

An apologetic smile was his response.

-

Things settled into normal. Brightpaw continued to settle nicely into the clan, with Darkpaw there to help. Owlpaw was back and seemed... okay, or mostly okay. Dustpaw had his own things going on and [Lucas Sinclair] seemed intent on bringing [Max Mayfield] into their fold, but on the whole, everything was good.

And then the pressure to become a tunneler began.

"But I don't want to spend the day underground," he said, aware that he sounded a little bit like he was pouting.

His mentor gave him a stern look. "It's an honorable role, Darkpaw."

"That doesn't make it the right role for me."

"Just try it? You'll never really know for certain until you do."

"Ugh. If I have to."

"You do."

Great. At least no one could be on his back for spending too much time with Brightpaw when half his day would be spent underground anyway.

In the dark of the tunnels, however, it was very easy for his mind to wander, as he wondered about what it was that both she and Owlpaw just wouldn't speak of.

-

Eventually, Darkpaw managed to extract himself from Tunneler apprenticing - it was a great tradition and an integral part of their clan, sure, great, but it wasn't for him. After some delay, he's finally earned his warrior name, Darkflame, and intends to still be the light that protects his friends, no matter what happens in the future.

Pre-Plotting: Darkflame fills the [Mike Wheeler] role in the Stranger Things wanted ad. He's good friends with Owlpaw, Dustpaw, Brightpaw, and [Lucas Sinclair], siblings with Mousestep and Hollypaw, and potentially rivals with Sparkpaw.

He's young and doesn't truly understand all of the politics of the warriors yet, but in the future he may also fill the "Heather" role of the PriarieClan plot adoptables.

Plotter | Tracker

Family: Darkflame doesn't feel particularly close to his family. His parent's were imperfect caregivers when he was a kit, his older sister eventually matured beyond his games and interests and left him behind to join the warriors den, and Hollypaw grew into her own friend group when the pair became apprentices. His friends, and the clan at large, are more his family than his blood is.  
Friends: It goes without saying that Darkflame likes his friends more than he likes any other cat. He will always put his friends first, if it comes down to that. However, being so caught up in Owlpaw's disappearance and then return and Brightpaw's appearance in the clan, he has admittedly been less focused on Dustpaw and [Lucas Sinclair] lately - a problem the group might tackle in the future. What he values most in friendship is honesty and loyalty. Even when they bicker, he wouldn't betray his friends for anything. As for the older apprentices, he really looks up to Shadowpaw, almost viewing him as an older brother.
Romance: After Brightpaw settled into the clan the pair are more or less testing the waters of being in a more serious relationship in the future. It's young love - he likes the novelty of her, how interesting her origins are, and that she likes him so much. In the future, those things might not be stable enough for the real foundations of a relationship.
Rivals: For a time, Sparkpaw is like his rival, in that he finds her presence grating - but after a little maturing, his rivals tend to only be the sorts of cats who would cause problems for his friends. He's otherwise not really competitive outside of friendly competition with the Party.