Plot Name: Poker Face
Clans involved: ThunderClan
Characters Directly Involved: Thistlemask (oryx), Beetleshade (zenpaii), Redpaw (Knight), Twilightpaw (Ebony), to be named/created kit (Seer)
Will there be code-breaking?: Yes, specifically rule 14 around the murder of another warrior.
Explain your Plot: As Thistlemask is made deputy, Beetleshade feels as if all her energy and devotion to serving ThunderClan has been completely ignored and passed over, believing herself to have deserved the position over anyone else in the clan. She grows angrier by the day, coming up with an idea to not only vent her frustrations but to potentially get the role she feels she deserves. Thistlemask is out alone one night processing recent life events (as she frequently does), and Beetleshade follows her after disguising her scent in a particularly thick patch of mint, attacking when Thistlemask is distracted and unaware. She easily has the upper hand, as Thistlemask has been caught off guard and can't adequately fight back. She falls, hitting her head on a rock and passing out, to which Beetleshade thinks she's dead, leaving her body to be found as she goes to wash off any trace of her involvement.
Fortunately, Thistlemask isn't dead, and wakes up in agony. She realises very quickly that not only is she incredibly injured, but she's kitting. Her cries of pain lead to Redpaw and Twilightpaw finding her and helping as best they can (which will probably just be keeping her awake/alert). Once the kit is born, they stumble back to camp, Thistlemask delirious and on the verge of death from blood loss and pain. As they make it back to camp she immediately passes out, dropping the blood-covered kit and leaving the poor apprentices to explain, while Beetleshade looks in horror that her plan failed.
How will this impact the characters/clans involved?: The attempted murder of a warrior is one thing, the attempted murder of the new
secretly pregnant deputy is another. For Beetleshade, the goal is to kill Thistlemask and hopefully take the deputy position for herself, as all her efforts and ambitions have lead her to have this sense of entitlement to it. For Thistlemask, it will reinforce this feeling of not belonging to the clan, as she feels as if she's the deputy nobody wanted - especially if someone's now trying to kill her. And because Beetleshade caught her off-guard, covered her scent and ThunderClan is currently full of calicos, Thistlemask can't figure out who did it, making her terrified of her own clanmates for a time and incredibly overprotective of her kit. Slowly she would work through it by learning to trust the clan again, and would stop suspecting her clanmates of such a thing, instead thinking it may be a rogue who was perhaps wronged by her family when she was much younger.
There is the opportunity for a trial, but I feel as if it would be slightly wasted because Thistlemask has no idea who did it, and Beetleshade wouldn't confess. For the rest of ThunderClan, it could definitely cause an intense sense of unease as one of their new deputy was almost killed for seemingly no reason by an unknown assailant.
Provide links to relevant topics*: thistle and her little walkiesbeetle is not pleased thistle became deputy over herWhy should this plot be approved?: for the lols /j
More seriously, it would serve to be a really good point of character development for Thistlemask and Beetleshade, as one would have to really work through some MAJOR trust issues and the other would have to be constantly stressed that she'd be found out and would have to suffer the consequences of it. There's also potential for clan-wide development as the tight knit community of ThunderClan has another murder - albeit failed - occur after Dovefrost's body is found with ThunderClan's scent on it not all too long ago. Plus, free trauma for everyone!
