#-thunderclan even though she most likely will be

[vic-does-battlecats]

If I throw a bunch of hats in the ring surely one of them has to fit right

Featuring the three recolors of one design cause I like them all

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

you know that vision leafpool got of brambles surrounding the camp and she took it as meaning that brambleclaw should be deputy because he'd protect the clan

first of all, shout out to leafpool for being very mature and assuming the most positive outcome about that vision even though she fucking hated brambleclaw (rightfully)

but also what if she was wrong, what if she interpreted the sign wrong, what if the vision meant brambleclaw, like brambles, would ensnare, strangle, and cause HARM to thunderclan, not protect it

bramblestar's leadership has literally caused more harm than good to ANYONE in thunderclan (as well as outside of thunderclan, literally all of the clans (except skyclan i guess?), as well as the sisters have SUFFERED because of bramblestar being thunderclan's leader

and not to mention the individual cats who've suffered the most from him being leader, like him using his power to literally ABUSE squirrelflight, as well as his decisions actively causing leafpool's death, as well as the death of moonlight, killing a harmless group's leader and leaving three newborn kits as orphans, and ALMOST killing squirrelflight

not to mention brambleclaw literally had to STOP AND THINK about whether or not he should save firestar from the foxtrap like what the fuck man, and maybe if he hadn't literally hesitated firestar wouldn't have lost that life and then at the great battle firestar would have survived

what if starclan WAS sending a warning, and specifically sent it to leafpool because she was already suspicious of brambleclaw, but because she was still so young and less experienced, because she was so kindhearted and wanted to see the good in everyone, she WANTED her sister's mate to be a good person, a good leader, and was such a positive person, she thought, she wanted, she HOPED that it was a sign from starclan that brambles would protect her clan, her sister, her family

but it wasn't

[bonefall]

Mapleshade Discourse O'Clock

It's that time again!!! SO I just kinda want to jot down all of my various thoughts about it as a story and just generally weigh in about Mapleshade.

I like the idea of Mapleshade more than the actual Mapleshade that is used throughout the books.

She has a really good gimmick-- to haunt Applekin though the generations. I don't like how they turn her into a generic "cat satan" for Tigerclaw's Fury and keep making her appear as a vain lackey demon.

I like her characterization in Mapleshade's Vengeance the most, of all her appearances.

But, I don't think my reading of the character depicted in MV is what the author intended.

See, I like MV as a story with no hero. The only blameless characters are the kittens who drowned and Perchpaw, while everyone else is some flavor of selfish, cruel, or vengeful. Everyone thinks they're in the right, but no one truly wins in the end.

Nothing about it was noble. Every tragedy that happened was utterly avoidable. In the end, everyone bears some responsibility for the pain and suffering that happened the day those children drowned.

BUT I'm pretty certain that the intended reading was that Mapleshade would be the one clearly in the wrong the whole time, as she justifies her own actions like a villain does.

Especially knowing how poorly the writers thought of similar female characters like Squilf and Leafp lying about the three, or Nightcloud being jealous her crummy husband is acting strange around another woman.

I feel justified in assuming that when Mapleshade is not happy she's being cheated on, or when she refuses to correct Frecklewish's record knowing it's unsafe if her kits are revealed as half clan, the writer really does think you're not supposed to take her side.

Because women should just not have emotions about being cheated on or something, and lying is unspeakably bad even if the truth puts you and your children in danger.

But. Y'know. We can all use the braincell for a moment and see that this is fucking stupid

SO when the book goes on to have Mapleshade ignore all the warnings about the swollen river, show both ThunderClan and RiverClan being obscenely cruel to her, and then walk across that bridge while insisting in her head that the deaths weren't her fault, I think the implication is obvious AND SHITTY.

Ergo I reject it completely. I can see what the book wants to say, and I think it says something trashy.

In spite of how badly the writer wants it to be Mapleshade's fault the kittens died, I say it was the asshole who threw a bunch of kittens out into the rain for being mixed race, actually.

Oakstar had the power here. Ravenwing had some power as well, but he makes it clear it wasn't his suggestion to throw the babies out into the woods.

And when it comes to Bridge Discourse, it was at least the afternoon, raining heavily, and Mapleshade was trying to get to RiverClan Camp. A straight shot across the stepping stones.

I think it is ridiculous to imagine an extremely emotional parent managing three very scared children, attempting to get out of the rain and dangerous wilderness before nightfall, would be rational enough to realize a large detour would be safer.

MAYBE the distance from ThunderClan Camp to the Bridge is equal to the distance to the Stones. But the distance between the bridge and RIVERCLAN Camp is longer.

I hope this goes without saying; but Frecklewish didn't deserve the Dark Forest.

Even in Banana World logic where she was sitting on the bank watching those kids doggy-paddle. Do not fucking jump in to save drowning people if you are not trained to do that.

I'm dead serious, this is the first thing you learn in any kind of water safety course. They WILL panic, you WILL get dragged down, you WILL become another liability someone else has to save instead of helping your initial target.

And that isn't even mentioning this being a flooded river. That's POOL safety.

In spite of how I think Mapleshade was right to lie, I do think Frecklewish being that upset and angry was understandable.

You're entitled to your feelings, but not how you treat people. She still attacked Mapleshade and called the kittens a slur.

That's what makes her interesting, though.

I don't think she deserves the Dark Forest, but Frecklewish's anger is an interesting trait. I don't like how a lot of defensive interpretations of her character end up downplaying how she acted at the exile

why does a woman being rightfully angry suddenly strike people as "unsympathetic." Girls can also say things in fury they don't fully mean. OR girls can rationalize their unjustified, ballistic response post-hoc out of pride.

Idk let girls be mad. Admit they were wrong without deserving HELL. I don't like the woobification impulse.

It's not really a hot take anymore I think, but Frecklewish is definitely only in the DF because the writing team judges women characters more harshly. Oakstar threw babies out in the rain in fury, and Ravenwing didn't stop it. But somehow only Frecklewish, a normal warrior, gets DF'd.

But what really rattles around in my head about the whole story is the way that the in-universe culture is able to suddenly value ethics like peace, forgiveness, and tolerance when MAPLESHADE is ready to throw those things out, but BEFORE then, it's well established that Clan culture is violent, vengeful, and intolerant.

One of our earliest scenes is Rainfall snarling at Mapleshade that he loves the way Birchface and Flowerpaw drowned. He's threatening that he'll kill even more ThunderClan warriors.

Over in ThunderClan, everyone is itching for revenge against Appledusk for those deaths, even though it seems to have been an accident. Oakstar even hates RiverClan well into sequel books for this.

But then later on, everyone acts Shocked Pikachu that Mapleshade actually went and GOT revenge.

And like, let's be real. This is a battle culture. Yes, by OUR standards Revenge Is Bad.

But in these books, so full of war and clan conflict...?

What I'm saying is that I wish the books let Mapleshade be a little more "controversial" in-universe. Like some cats actually frame the story very differently, and you can learn a lot about a person by who they think the hero is.

And how RiverClan responds to the drowned kids bugs me a lot tbh

We just established over in ThunderClan that there are people who think the babies were born filthy for being HalfClan.

We know everyone there stood by and watched as Oakstar threw them out into the rain-- only Ravenwing even seemed uncomfortable.

AND we know very well that in a few generations, TigerClan will rise. Which openly executed a HalfClan cat and wanted to kill 2 apprentices.

We KNOW the bigotry in Clan culture is deadly and unfair.

But then they go over to RiverClan and Darkstar is sad these three kids are dead? And RC is furious with Mapleshade for that?

Again, YES, you and me with OUR morals know that this bigotry is insane and spiteful. What I'm getting at is that IN-UNIVERSE half clan kittens and their parents face extreme discrimination. Even within this book.

It's odd to me that Darkstar refuses to let Mapleshade bury their bodies, sends her away for the death of the kids while saying it's "not the season for losing warriors" to Appledusk, and it's meant to come across as delusional that Maple thinks her babies were buried dishonorably

I wish more women in WC got so pissed off at the absolute injustice of it all that they went on a girl rampage. Perhaps it's my own taste, but I like it a lot more when the villain isn't entirely wrong and there's several angles you can read the story from. If she didn't do what she did, she would have been the only one who saw any consequences for anything that happened.

Anyway in conclusion uhhh idk murder is wrong. But Mapleshade's allowed to do it because she's a silly billy. Her greatest crime was not killing Oakstar also

[sparrowsoupp]

some of the most iconic queer poster children of the warrior cats fandom. happy pride to the girls gays and theys (particularly those who enjoy brawling feline content)

dabble in my headcannons for these pairings under the read-more button if i’ve piqued your interest…

RAVEN x BARLEY (gay x gay)

i know there’s been a bit of controversy going around about these two and how they could be seen as toxic, with barley being insecure over ravenpaw’s connection to thunderclan. i get that perspective for sure, but i think it’s representative of REASONABLE flaws in a real relationship. obviously it’s not ideal that they never completely resolve it (since it’s ‘solved’ in the graphic novel but reopened in ravenpaw’s novella) and i wished that they addressed that more concretely (i say about a fucking middle grade book about talking cats LOL) but even more so i think you could see it as a realistic relationship as with issues in those, they often subdue and reoccur at intervals. it’s just about talking it out with your partner 🦭👍 plus if the majority of their relationship outside of this is good (which i definitely see it as, since obviously the books have to take place at points of conflict for there to be interesting things to write about) then it seems to be a somewhat small flaw.

that being said i haven’t actually read the books this comes up in so take my opinion with grains of salt, just online discourse about it. totally get if your life experience makes you see their interactions another way as this is just my two cents based on my experience with people.

overall i’m not a superfan of the sickly-sweet reputation these two get but i do like them for what i see them as, which is a Normal Relationship with Some Flaws. i like that they find solace in each other in a peaceful place after fleeing their less peaceful pasts. it’s a great dynamic (and i’m a sucker for farms) and i think they compliment each other’s personalities really well, with barley bringing ravenpaw out of the shell he’s been forced into and ravenpaw inspiring more cautiousness in a very brash barley who would otherwise probably jump into fights at the drop of a hat.

on a somewhat unrelated note, as a kid did anyone else wish that ravenpaw dropped his paw suffix? or blue/firestar granted him an honourary suffix for everything the poor kid went through? this isn’t like a super big meanigful thing but it just annoyed me when i was younger that the paw suffix kind of belittles him to apprentice level when after the fuckery the poor kid went through i think he deserves more recognition from the clans than that.

BLUESTAR x YELLOWFANG (bi x bi)

OKAYYY old women! while fanart of the two of them being in a loving happy relationship is very cute i like to take my old woman yuri one-sided and traumatic.

i think that yellowfang would have an unrequited crush on bluestar. what’s there not to like?! at the point when they meet bluestar is a compassionate but commanding cat in the prime of her leadership. after a bit of her being in the camp i think bluestar would also start spending a curious amount of time in the medicine den… unconciously she definitely saw the appeal in yellowfang from the getgo- it definitely strengthens the reasoning of her surprising decision to defend yellowfang as a member of thunderclan depsite risking a full on war with other clans from it, and her other clanmates lives in the process. obviously bluestar’s a leader that wouldn’t base a decision like that just based on a crush, and it was definitely because of what she wants her clan to stand for, but it’s Not a downside that the cute lady she used to see at gatherings gets to stay a while

bluestar’s definitely not letting it occupy her mind though, of course, totally not (the lady has Trauma from her relationship with oakheart and i see her as having an attatchment issue where she doesn’t feel like she deserves to have a healthy relationship, especially after losing mosskit. she’s just not fully ready yet). yellowfang pines as she watches bluestar throw herself fully into her work to distract herself from the growing feelings, and at some point probably grows annoyed with the cat-and-mouse and starts dedicating herself fully to her own work as a medicine cat too. there are moments of sweetness and clarity and words on the tips of tongues, but just as unexpectedly as they come bluestar will turn her head back to her duties.

unfortunately once tigerstar’s betrayal happens all cute flirting comes to a screeching halt as bluestar is consumed by the paranoia. on the good days she’ll hold stilted conversation with her clanmates, but not so much on the bad days. yellowfang hurts as she watches her crush sprial into madness and dysfunction, the likes of which is only heightened when the fire happens and yellowfang passes- completely insetting bluestar’s hatred for starclan for taking her love (who she still does have deeply-buried feelings for) away from her.

overall, can you tell i love inflicting mental anguish on bluestar? it’s my favourite hobby. i’m not even joking.

LEAFPOOL x MOTHWING (bi x lesbian)

okay this one might make you realise i love doomed yuri. Anyways,

put simply, i think leafpool and mothwing find each other attractive and secretly hook up on a frequent basis for some…. Funny Business. Hanky-Panky, if you will. ‘no-strings-attached’ yeah right i don’t think sapphics have ever pulled off a no strings attatched relationship without casualities.

mothwing definitely wants to confess but leafpool by that point has been forcing herself to move on and ends up telling mothwing about ‘liking’ crowfeather right before mothwing works up the courage (reading leafpool x crowfeather for the first time in the canon books geniunely felt like someone’s ao3 crackship. i guess that’s what traumabinding will do to two mfs). or maybe mothwing notices that leafpool is pregnant (which HOW THE HELL DID NOONE NOTICE IN CANON) and backs the hell off from that. maybe a very angsty argument over that… delicious.

how very ‘good luck babe’ by chappell roan of them! i think things end pretty awkwardly for mothpool and neither leafpool nor crowfeather are really in love with each other they’re just something shiny and distracting from each of their respective circuses of personal lives. i literally hear the clown music playing as they run away together. maybe it’s tinnitus.

they probably pine for each other forever and ever after that, neither falling in love again because they never get over each other. damn. how awkward is it to see your kind-of-ex at the moonpool every month…

anyway thanks for reading though beau’s cat rambles! if youve stuck it out to here… a tip of the hat to you

[sleepyspots-wc-designs]

guilty pleasure of mine but ....

blackstar x firestar hypokit.....?

Trying to get back into the hypokits swing, and I think Scorchflare looks a little wonky but… uh. I don’t know how to fix that hsjdhf-

MEET: Scorchflare

Born of a union forged to ease the lingering tensions between ThunderClan and ShadowClan in the wake of the war with BloodClan, Scorchflare accepted their fate and role as pseudo peacekeeper practically from the moment they opened their eyes… Though they felt so ill-suited for such a thing.

Scorchflare knew what was expected of him: perfection. Nothing more and nothing less. Every step, every word, every movement, every hair on their pelt had to be perfect, so as to not strain the fragile peace between his sire’s Clans… But Scorchflare was a mild-mannered cat. Someone most at ease deep in the shadows… But his fate, his role, his unusual pelt, stars above, even his name demanded attention that he never wanted… Demanded the problems and tensions of others to be piled high onto his shoulders.

As a result, she developed developed intense anxiety from being under so much pressure, and began to isolate herself from both fathers and both Clans, ultimately growing despondent and impassive with a deadpan so stable it wouldn’t shift even under an earthquake… Until, one day, she woke up, walked out, and was never seen again by a Clan cat. Living out the rest of her days wandering aimlessly, solving petty disputes between cats or helping others along the road, but never lingering in one place for too long — and never sparing the sky, glittering with cold, judgmental stars, too long a glance. Things are better this way. No need to double-check your paws when you’re letting them guide you far from your troubles, after all…

But peace felt an awful lot like loneliness.

Please read the rules when requesting future hypokits!

This character may be up for grabs, for their design, storytelling, or any other personal use! Keep an eye on the status below if you're interested! :)

Status: CLAIMED! by @juniperstar

[mud-castle]

Nutmeg: Your help today was invaluable, Scourge. Thank you. Scourge: Uh- yeah...sure...whatever

The leader of Hope Colony and her emo, emotionally-constipated second taking a stroll after a mission.

More info under the cut:

It dawned on me that there would be a fairly large time gap between Scourge and Nutmeg's experiences with the clans. Now, I could make Scourge younger, but I think I can make it work

So, Tiny makes it out of his house, barely alive with some fresh wounds and his collar broken off, and runs into the city after a forest cat raid. While he never does the whole dog and Bloodclan thing, he does grow skilled in ways to survive in the city and builds his own reputation.

Four years afterwards, a new name is sweeping the city, Nutmeg. A kittypet who not only managed to save two of her kittens in a raid but killed a forest cat while she was at it...and lived. She rapidly gains followers and builds up a group she names the Hope Colony.

Their mission: Keep the forest cats out of their homes and away from their kits by any means necessary.

Scourge is down for getting some forest cat blood on his claws and breaks his four years of routine to join. Having lived most of his life by himself, he's difficult to work with initially, but they help each other and eventually get along. Eventually, he becomes her second.

Nutmeg has a very warm, friendly personality. She's very charismatic and people-oriented. She generally prefers to try diplomacy, even with forest cats. If that fails, she turns to the power of incredible violence.

Scourge is always down for the power of incredible violence. He's well known for doing the "dirty work" of the Hope Colony, mostly because that's what he's good at. On the inside, however, he's struggling to live in a group after spending most of his life watching out for only himself.

Bro barely remembers to eat most days yet now he's supposed to keep up with the dynamics of the different city groups as well as forest cat issues. ugh. Politics.

As seen in the photo, Nutmeg freely gives compliments and expresses gratitude. Scourge is unsure how to react to the feelings this brings up.

Designs:

Nutmeg is now buff because Nutmeg deserves to be buff. And Squilf gets her tail from her grandma. She has scars on her side and on the eye hidden by her bangs from Thunderclan's raid on her home. The other scars are from the many fights she's been in since then. She still lives with her humans, though she's gone much of the day to run the Colony.

Scourge now has his iconic red bangs because I can't give him his edgy personality and not have them there. The fur naturally grows like that because I said so. The scars on his leg is from the forest cat raid he escaped from. The ones on his face are from random fights. He's also underweight cause he forgets to eat when in a work mindset.

[redux-iterum]

So I’m curious about Goldenflower’s reaction! We’ve seen how aggressively she reacts when kits or young cats are put in danger (ie. Fireheart being left out alone). So I was surprised she allowed the ceremony to proceed. Is Bluestar’s failing mental health the reason why she didn’t react more strongly and shut that shit with Aspen/Ash/Cloud down? Also where do the clans draw the line in regards to someone like Bluestar when they’re not stable enough to really be held accountable, but they are putting other clanmates in danger through their actions?

There's a couple things going into this, so bear with me.

This whole situation is extremely difficult for everyone in a position of power, let alone the average warrior. Ideally - that is, how the Clans imagine stuff like this to go in stories - the leader can be disobeyed and disregarded by their followers, no questions asked, the instant they fuck up or do something dangerous. The matriarch has all the power over kits, the deputy can step in as the proper head of the Clan, the elders will be looked to and the seers have all of StarClan to give out judgements and commands. This is a sort of checks-and-balances type of society! It's going to be so easy to handle if it ever does happen!

Realistically, though, Clans are hardwired to obey their leaders above everyone else. It's why Brokenstar got away with everything for so long, it's why Tigerclaw would have been so much more dangerous if he'd gotten there, and it's what's allowing Bluestar to keep her position even though her mind is visibly failing. Leaders aren't untouchable, theoretically, but it is so very hard for a Clan to look at the cat who's so important to their society that they have an entirely unique suffix just to denote their rank and tell themselves "I refuse to honor them and do as they say", even if they have a good reason, or several. Even at this point, ThunderClan will obey their leader over their matriarch, and the matriarch will be forced to go along with this, not knowing what else can be legally done.

To disobey says so much about the warrior and the Clan as a whole: they made a mistake placing such massive responsibilities on this cat's shoulders, they have nowhere to put the demoted cat that will go smoothly, they're threatening the unity and structure of the Clan by shaking the very foundation of what they've grown up and lived with. It's so hard for a cat, let alone a warrior, to adjust to severe changes like that, especially ones that imply something at fault within themselves - which, inherently, following a bad leader for any length of time will shine a light on. Sometimes it's easier to keep silent - or, at the most, mutter complaints to your friend while doing nothing.

There's another aspect of this botched apprentice ceremony: the apprentices themselves. Changing from a kit to an apprentice is such an important, valuable, special thing for everyone; it's the biggest change in your life so far and it marks you as ready to serve your Clan and grow up to be someone great. To go through with the ceremony and then rip away that gift from cats so young and new to the world is a particularly cruel sort of disappointment, bordering on punishment in the eyes of that kit. Can you imagine being a grade schooler, about to enter middle school, and then being told you have to go back to kindergarten because someone else fucked up your paperwork? How awful would that be?

Speckletail made about as good of a call as she could in that moment, taking the apprentices' ages, their mentors and the Clans' culture into account. Let them be apprentices until they prove they're not ready, and if they aren't, they can go back to being a kit. This sort of solves the problem in a way - the apprentices will be eager to prove they can keep their -paw's and will work hard to do so, and if they fall behind...well, maybe they can just stay in camp for another month and then come right back to training with some experience already! It's not ideal, but it's the best Speckletail could do.

As for the final question... did you know that it was believed that planting an elder tree by your door would keep the devil away?

[troutfur]

This might be very ramble because I have a lot of thoughts on ol Thistleclaw as a spirit.

Maybe Thistleclaw sorta has a weird position as a spirit due to his clan loving him, and everyone else fucking despising him. Usually one or the other is stronger, but here it is even enough that his soul got warped really weirdly from the energies. So what you have is some kind of border spirit.

Even Thunderclan acknowledges that he is far too violent and vicious to be a guardian spirit, but is instead maybe represented by a ever growing Thistlebush on the border

Like, a massive thicket along the border that grows the more xenophobic/anxious/tense Thunderclan is towards other clans. Making it far harder to enter.

Under Firestar when tensions are down, most of the thicket dies off and you can just walk into the clan, maybe loosing power as cats don't really want to remember him in a good light after the Tigerstar mess.

However, as Thunderclan maybe backslides or whenever tensions are high and war is on the horizon, he turns into almost a pseudo Starclan cat with Thunderclan being more reverent and treating him like spirit of protection rather than a ghost story. And that's when the thicket grows to encompass a LOT of the border.

Like, his position in clan culture, whether being seen as a dark blotch and something not to be talked about, or a respected ancestor and spirit of protection, varies wildly depending on how the Clan is, and his power and influence as a result.

YES! I love this yes!

In his afterlife Thistleclaw inhabits a bush that grew almost miraculously from the spot where his blood was shed in a battle over Sunningrocks. During Bluetar's early leadership the bush stays relatively small and contained. She warns people not to interact with it but some who still remember him fondly sometimes leave him a dead mouse or other piece of prey.

After Tigerclaw's betrayal and the paranoia she felt, the bush slowly but surely begins to grow and grow. But that growth is abruptly cut down just as Firestar comes into power. And it's downright moribund through the destruction of the forest.

Somehow its seeds travel with the ThunderClan caravan though. And as they set roots and begin setting the border it grows. Firestar dies to the fox trap (another Haneossia change I'm committed to) and as Brackenstar and his deputy Brambleclaw go in their leadership their diplomacy keeps the bush somewhat at bay but it certainly is gaining some strength. By now very few even suspect this is Thistleclaw's spirit, but the DF trainees know.

Time passes and by the time Bramblestar ascends the bush is rather healthy. And when the imposter is running things in ThunderClan the bush has become an outright fence encircling ThunderClan territory.

The most curious thing about the bush is that although it leaves nasty cuts on any outsider trying to cross, ThunderClan cats can pass through it without a scratch.

[yuridovewing]

I think the most annoying part about people acting like Twigbranch is ungrateful is that ThunderClan openly dislikes her too. Jayfeather bullies her to the point of her almost drowning to prove she's special and alienated her from her peers. Other cats complain about if she's worth keeping around where she can hear it too.

Bramblestar allowed Violetshine to be ripped away from her and never even apologizes or tries to make things right. Even after finding out that Violetshine was in grave danger because of him. Sparkpelt (although IMO this was a bs retcon to make Alderheart look better) dislikes her the second she brings SkyClan back.

Even Ivypool, her mentor looks down on her for the audacity of wanting to be with her bio family after everything she went through- and after she shot down the initial rescue party for SkyClan KNOWING how important it was to Twig no less! But it's fine because found family can't ever be just as toxic as a "regular" family right. :| Genuinely? It would've been so much better for Twigbranch to stay in SkyClan. At least her father and sister actually love her for who she is. Sorry for the wall of text lol I just really like Twig and Violet. Fuck Alderheart!

tbhhhh i know its not that deep, and i know people are reacting strongly because wc is notoriously awful about adoptive family and being extremely obnoxious about blood being thicker than water (and like. as someone who has very specific trauma relating to that, i get it)

but the way twigbranch gets treated in the fanon as this ungrateful dick who doesn’t appreciate her “found family” kiiiiiiiiinda makes me wonder how these people feel about abusive adoptive family that leverages their adoptive status over their heads. or the history of adoption being used to separate marginalized families and whitewash their children (and i don’t wanna linger on that bc its not really what happened with twig, and i am a white person and i don’t want to overstep. just feel like i should mention that too as a reason why adoption isnt this pure thing the fandom seems to think it is)

like, no child should be told they should be grateful for having a roof over their heads. not from bio familt OR adoptive family. because every child deserves that regardless.

and i keep saying this but its funny that people wring their hands over twig “rejecting her bio family” when the books go out of their way to keep twig and her bio family separated in skyclan. violet, hawk, and her aunts all fuck off to find their paternal family and twig stays behind because reasons. they make a point out of saying that tinycloud and her new litter dont count as bio family for twig to hang out with because “tiny is too busy”??? (really though, they just dont want you staring at the family tree for too long). also one example of twig missing thunderclan is when jayfeather emotionally abuses another kid and shes like “aw remember when he used to emotionally abuse ME :(“

(guys i am not exaggerating when i say that avos book 4 is ABYSMAL, it is jaw droppingly bad)

they DID attempt a found family narrative and the only way they could do that was to not even let twig TRY to bond with her bio family after all the shit thunderclan put her through. its more “how could she not pick thunderclan when they are the bestest clan everrrr :(“ and its insane to see people agree with that on the basis of “yeah adoption is perfect, shes so ungrateful for EVER doubting thunderclan at all”

[wc-confessions]

I have seen some doubters when I share this rarepair, but I wanted to get it out somewhere:I ship CrookedSnow, which is Snowfur x Crookedstar. (Kinda long paragraph ahead)

So I made an AU where, instead of meeting Bluepaw at that gathering, Crookedpaw met Snowpaw. They talked and got along really well, with Snowpaw finding Crookedpaw's broken jaw cool and Crookedpaw finding her acceptance of his injury a breath of fresh air. They meet up more like Bluestar and Oakheart did and end up falling for each other. They then have their first child, Whitekit, who is a white tom with brown patches the same as Crookedjaw's fur. Like tradition, Snowfur is not forced to reveal the father's true identity, but most cats believe it is either Thistleclaw or Thrushpelt. It is actually Crookedjaw, who is elated to have a kit and meets with him in secret a few times. Crookedjaw teaches Whitekit that no cat should be discriminated against for their disabilities, that Whitekit can love anybody he wants, and that he's proud of Whitekit even though he's in another clan. When Snowfur gets hit by the car like in canon, she passes out instead of dying and Bluestar and a Riverclan patrol including Oakheart take her to Brambelberry. A worried Crookedjaw watches over her as she lays in a coma, but she does wake up, and she returns to Thunderclan with some back and stomach scars and a not motherless son. Everything else goes like normal, and soon they have Silverstream, who has her father's brown stripes and her mother's white fur with some silver tint. Whitestorm and Silverstream do know about each other and are very friendly with each other, which causes Whitestorm to get pretty depressed when she ends up dying while kitting. After some time, when both cats are dead, Snowfur and Crookedstar happily and openly stay a couple in Starclan.

.

[unofficially-ace]

Star thoughts/liveblog (spoilers ahead ofc)

- If Splashtail is holding kittens hostage have you guys tried….driving him out? It’s literally one guy against the whole of Riverclan, just keep him away from the kits and there won’t be an issue???

- The conflict is kinda stupid I can’t lie, this could be solved if everyone in Riverclan wasn’t such a dumbass

- Cloverfoot is going to die in this battle I can smell it

- I can’t believe we’re getting fascism explained to us through warrior cats

- Berryheart fell down the crunchy mom -> alt right pipeline real

- This book is making me like Tigerheartstar wtf

- Frostpaw I would die for you

- Harestar you’re the most annoying mf ever please die

- What is it with Riverclan and their camp being turned into a prison every other series

- Graysludge and Mistslime are objectively hilarious names

- What happened to Splashtail being compelling why is he just cartoonishly evil and insane now

- There are not enough supporters of Splashtail to make give this any stakes come onnnn, he has like 5 people actually on his side

- I love Berryheart she’s so fucked up

- Wtf is Owlnose doing, why is he siding with Splashtail for no reason??

- Sunbeam you are so stupid my god

- ‘She didn’t realise what she was doing’ yes she did lmao

- RIP Berryheart you were the most compelling villain of the series

- That makes 2 dead female villains and we’re stuck with the boring male one….

- Owlnose you just killed someone don’t try and make me feel bad for you

- ‘The last thing she ever did was save you’ just like Curlfeather….the parallels…

- This feels like setup for Froststar ngl

- I can’t believe Nightheart is the only guy with a braincell here

- Is fogstar going to be a thing??? She hasn’t even been mentioned once before this book

- Riverclan is so stupid it actually pains me

- Why are we still calling them Greysludge and Mistslime that’s literally so mean lol, just call them by their apprentice names

- The tension is actually really good

- Not exactly liking how Splashtail seems to be genuinely mentally I’ll and that’s why he’s evil…

- He’s fuckin dead and we’re only halfway through?? Now what?

- So glad Frostpaw got to be the one to kill him though, that was so satisfying

- Riverclan you can justify all you want but at the end of the day you’re fuckin stupid

- The second he started doing murders y’all should’ve turned on him and it would all be fine

- Hi Mothwing when did you get here

- Lol fuck those guys (fognose and breezeheart)

- Goddamn Berryheart’s funeral scene is some of the best writing I’ve seen in a warriors book for a while, these are genuinely interesting emotions to explore

- Ewww I don’t wanna think about frost having a crush on splash stop bringing this up my god

- Oh fuck yes Frostpaw and Curlfeather angst

- If the rest of this book is just emotional conflict I will be more than happy with it

- Don’t kill off Frostpaw I swear to god

- Kate Cary I’m putting my trust in you

- This scene would make an incredible animation

- Might be my new favourite chapter of warrior cats ever holy shit that SLAPPED

- Fuck off Nightheart I need more Frostpaw

- Having Nightsky and Nightheart is so confusing

- Thunderclan can’t go two seconds without an argument (usually started by Lionblaze)

- I kinda love this type of conflict, it’s much more interesting than Splashtail being crazy

- Podlight is still here???

- Tree does something as a mediator for the first time ever

- Who tf is emberstar (if they’re relevant in Riverstar’s SE then I haven’t read it lol)

- The fact that I genuinely can’t tell if Frostpaw will survive is so good

- Please let the rest of the chapters be Frostpaw I don’t gaf about the others right now

- Whistlebreeze is the cutest name

- Frostdawn!!!! Also cute as fuck

- ICESTAR REALLLLL LETS GO

- Oh my god this chapter is gonna make me cry

- Sunbeam is pregnant and I want to explode

- And that’s a wrap on ASC , genuinely actually enjoyed this book, especially the second half. The emotional conflict was really interesting I gotta be honest, Frostdawn’s almost-dead scenes were so fun and had really good tension. The conflict with Splashtail ended up getting really stale, I’m glad he was killed halfway through because I couldn’t have dealt with that being dragged out for a whole book

[ails-of-ardor-au]

The three potential powers sound something sorta to what a leaders “lives” are… so what if, left alone and reeling for some sort of safety, Leafpool takes her heavily pregnant self to the Moonpool? She had a rough kitting in canon so maybe she was dying to. Pleading that maybe in some way the stars she always put over everything else would save her this once. She’d always follow them she swears- as she slides into their holy pool.

Adds another line to the kits having a sort of forbidden birth. Not only from another clan but also only ever breathing because the stars saved them. Some once it’s revealed in whatever way may scream that they weren’t even supposed to be born- others bow and beg for mercy from these miracle children. Idk how to word it but something about the water of the womb instead being of stars sacrifice, the kits breathe and sustain off the “magic” (radioactivity) of the pool. Tho I am now realizing this throws a huge wrench in with Dovewing cuz she’s not of that original litter. Maybe explain Holly’s lack of powers due to her having been delivered before her mother went in. Oh but maybe if some of the clan cats saw the three as great saviors of sorts, when the one disappears presumed dead, they take the actively in labor queen and put her in the pool, hoping it’ll save whatever prophecy they believe they’re going to be doomed by. Dovekit is born this way, giving her powers in an incredibly scary way, but also harming her just as the other two of the three are hurt.

Idk if this works in universe but a possible idea :D

This is a really cool idea… But I’m not sure how much I could work it into the plot… I’ll keep it in mind 👀

OKAY RAMBLINGS:

For starters, the idea of Leafpool’s litter being forbidden not only because of their halfClan status, but also due to the fact that their mother trespassed into holy grounds in a desperate attempt to keep herself and her children alive… So good, so so tasty…

My ideas for how to spread this “magic” amongst the “chosen”, which will not be limited just to The Three, but will likely include a cat from each Clan:

Leafpool and Sol hook up. Sol, shortly after Leafpool discovers her pregnancy, is labeled a criminal and a danger to the Clans’ very way of life…

Leafpool’s pregnancy is long and hard. Expectant queens will sometimes slip off to be by themselves (an irl cat behavior, feeling restless and trying to find the perfect safe space), so when Leafpool disappears, ThunderClan isn’t especially worried. But Squirrelflight, driven by concern for her sister, chases after her and finds her in labor and losing far too much blood near the path of the moonpool; Leafpool had been aiming for the lands beyond, because she was desperate for Sol’s presence and comfort, and her pain was blinding her rationale.

Squirrelflight drags her sister to the moonpool, despite knowing full well what a massive invasion and crime this is. But Squirrelflight would much rather put the lives of her loved ones over the warrior code. Leafpool survives her kitting, and has a litter of three… but rejects most of them, partially due to the power (radiation) of the moonpool within her.

Somehow, Squirrelflight manages to hand two of the kits to two of Leafpool’s (or maybe Squirrelflight’s own, as a final favor) old flames: Mothwing and Crowfeather. Hollykit goes to WindClan, and Lionkit goes to RiverClan; where Hollykit is in such close proximity to the also newborn and very weak Breezekit, some of the moonpool’s power latches onto him in turn.

Meanwhile, in ShadowClan, a pair of kits are born secretly of their leader — and the Clan’s concerns about a leader’s blood carrying magic to taint their kin come true. (Dove and Ivy, OR, Dawn, Flame, and Tiger tho I’m thinking of nixing Tiger entirely)

And then uhhh…… Some outsider also with magic. I’m thinking maybe Darktail possibly being born into SkyClan though...

Depending on the status of BloodClan at the time, I’m also thinking that they follow the other Clans to the lake, so we could get a BloodClan protagonist as well…

But anyway, there’s going to be multiple “blessed” kids running around the lake, but only four of them (one from each of the original Clans) will actually be uhhhh “important” for a lack of a better word; their powers will pose a direct wall against a new, grand threat that rises against the Clans: i.e., the Dark Forest (though I’m still figuring out their whole deal… I mentioned beforehand that I wanted ghosts to stick around, both for the sake of this event as well for the Sisters, so I’m thinking maybe like.. mass possession dealie. The dead unable to come to terms with staying dead, so they haunt and “infect” the living to tear the Clans down from the inside)…

[ihopesocomic]

If you did go through the original plan with Storm killing Fade, how would she feel afterwards? Would she feel immense guilt over what she did or would she try not to feel too bad because it was to save Hopeful and Adamant? I’m just imagining Storm might feel the same way Graystripe felt when he accidentally got Whiteclaw killed (if you don’t know what I’m talking about you can just ignore the last part)

Man I love this comic and I’m so excited to see where it goes! Keep up the good work! :)

She was going to feel immense guilt over it. It was going to be completely accidental and she's still relatively young so it stands to reason.

Though the whole deal with that happening in Warrior Cats (because yes, we are familiar with those books lol) never made sense to me because I never got why 'don't kill your enemy' is a cast iron code when you have these cats fighting over territory in every other chapter near enough. Especially in the case of ThunderClan vs. RiverClan where it got pretty intense for the longest time over.... a bunch of rocks. lmao

idk I would think killing would be par the course in that kind of situation. Maybe if it had been Greystripe's first kill, I could get it but he was pretty stoked about wasting ShadowClan warriors in the previous books. I'm sure there's in-universe reasoning for it that I've missed but, to me, it just seems 'we wanna make money so we have to make these books family friendly, which means we can't have good guys who kill'. And you totally can have family friendly books where the good guys kill because it's self-defence or self-preservation most of the time anyway.

It's why we just opted for the scenario where - yes, while these lions have no qualms about killing if they need to - they don't necessarily want to. So, yeah, we didn't want to be like Warrior Cats where the ethos seems to be: 'don't kill anybody like ever, even when they're trying to murder you pretty hard!' because I feel that's kinda silly. oof - RJ

[bonefall]

Do you have any plans for Frost’s littermates in ASC?

It's odd that Canon!Curlfeather is portrayed on the screen as a scheming character who was fully willing to manipulate her daughter into a position of power, and smart enough to know that she needed lackeys to carry out her dirtywork... and yet, seemingly had no plans for her other two kids.

On one hand, I can understand her wanting to "use" her family as little as possible. You could say she's willing to make a sacrifice with Frostkit's comfort, but wants to spare her other children from it.

On the other hand... I just don't feel like that works. I want to portray BB!Curlfeather as someone who truly believes every choice she made was good for her children. She might reconsider some of her beliefs based on her closeness to Morningstar while in the Dark Forest, but in life, she is absolutely the sort of person who would have a use in mind for her kittens.

I'm not super proud of these quick designs I made for Mistpaw and Graypaw, but here's a first draft;

You probably notice that they're all dog-like, and that's because they are direct descendants of Bluestar in BB! WOLF MOTIF BABEY

In fact, this is going to be a massive contributor towards their characterizations. I may be shuffling my tree in some other ways to make for better faction drama in RiverClan, but BB!Curlfeather priding her lineage, especially as it connects to Crookedstar and Stonefur, is very important to how it shapes her identity.

DESIGN AND DRABBLE BENEATH THE CUT;

On the wolf motif as a whole;

To begin with; note the apple-leaf eye markings! They are subject to the Mapleshade Curse.

Something I like to play with a lot is misconceptions about wolf behavior. For Bluestar herself, where this all began, I use the myth of the "lone wolf" as symbolism that she never truly acted alone.

At every turn, she had friends and family. Her sacrifices, her ruling style, everything she's ever done, is based on her love for both ThunderClan as well as the cats in other Clans.

The symbol of her friend group, the Forget-Me-Not, comes to symbolize Fire Alone as an ideology.

So... the Curlkin.

What I'm playing with is the idea that wolves are perfect, ferociously strong predators from birth.

Curlfeather wants to eventually give her children strong, respectable positions in the Clan. For Frostpaw, that's the Cleric position.

For the other kids, she was still assessing them as they were growing. Deputyship would have been for one of them, but she hadn't planned so far ahead that it would have been unreasonable.

"When you see a fish upstream, you don't race ahead to catch it downriver."

So, she wanted Mist and Gray to be strong and always encouraged them to achieve greatness. They were battle training as soon as they could, and never missed a day.

But it wasn't really their interest, and they weren't really "naturally gifted" or anything. They just do what their mom tells them is good to do for their future.

As a result I want all of them to look a little goofy in some way, except Curlfeather herself.

Frostpaw herself is the softest of the lot, but I want to make sure Gray and Mist are pretty obviously sweeter than they seem too.

Unfortunately though, I don't think I captured what I was going for. I'm definitely gonna give the Frost Siblings a second pass, while Frostpaw will just get refined a little.

Graypaw

He's naturally huge. Even as a newborn, people would comment about him being a big fat kitten.

As a result, he was probably the most "promising," early on.

Understand though; this wasn't necessarily nefarious. Having accomplished warriors as offspring is a sign of a great warrior, it makes a strong family.

It didn't mean she only saw her largest child as an opportunity. He just had great potential, which she would nourish.

He's a little bit entitled as a result. He's big, he works hard, his family's a big deal, he knows it.

And that's sort of his "issue," if you want to call it that. He's not really interested in honor for honor's sake, or improving himself for the sake of the Clan, the way his mother would expect a great warrior like herself to be.

He likes the tangible rewards of strength and is motivated by approval.

...which causes him to be a bully to those he considers weaker.

That ear got shredded in a fight somehow, I haven't decided yet if there's going to be another set of apprentices around the time, if it was Splashtail or his sister, or if it was a cat from another Clan who got tired of his shit lmaoo

(In any case it was NOT his mother.)

Since him and his sister have "obedient to their mother" as major personality traits, I decided to give them both domestic dog characteristics. Graypaw has a german shepherd "stance."

I really like when people give Gray some cream in his design, so I made him look kinda like how I imagine Stonefur.

I don't really like it, though, especially since he's usually described as "silver tabby."

In my next draft, I'll probably make him look more like "Swansong if he had the wolf motif."

And also fatter. They are not fat enough. These are RiverClan warriors and they are all too damn skinny.

Frostpaw

Since this arc began, I've imagined that Frosty has a sort of "little red riding hood" vibe. It's been mixing in my head with the wolf motif, the phrase "wool over the eyes," and the idea of a wolf in sheep's clothing to result in a sort of wooly cloak idea.

Something about a wolf cub who doesn't know who to trust-- the Big Bad Wolf, or the Lumberjack with a blood-soaked axe.

Lost, confused, their whole world turned upside down.

(hmmm.... maybe I'll do a thing where, before their mom's death, the wool covers her eyes. When she sees her die, the look of shock and horror is etched into her face forever.)

In BB, the Clan cats are monitored by scientists. They wouldn't be spaying or neutering the subjects of their investigation-- so I made her iconic "scars" MUCH bigger.

In fact, they're autopsy stitches. I'm going for a sort of "BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD" vibe there.

Real "there is no way you would have survived those injuries without modern medicine" hours

I'm satisfied with this design, so I probably won't be changing it much besides tweaks. Though, I might make it so her "belly" wasn't exposed before the scientists shaved it to stitch her back up.

NOTE: If you wanna see more Frostpaw Plans, go check out this post where I jotted down a ton of ideas, it's also got further links to explore on BB!ASC thoughts I've been sitting on

Mistpaw

This is the one I like the least. She looks waaaaay too much like an Ivypool.

In my next pass I need to make her look cuter and goofier, give her some curls.

Like Graypaw, she only has one particularly unique scene in ASC so I'm building her personality around that.

Graypaw was a bit of a bully, so Mistpaw's got her mom's silver tongue and sharp wit. She can give a Mistystar speech if she wants.

She's a natural thinker, very curious, willing to question. It's something Curlfeather encourages in her, always coming in with the right answer to keep her satisfied.

"Mom, why do we train so much harder than everyone else?"

"To outdo them, of course."

"But... why train so hard when there's no threat? The impostor is gone, we're at peace."

"Oh, my love. You cannot pack a week's worth of training into the minute before a battle. They come hard and fast, and your attacker will have the advantage of surprise. Only practice will compensate."

Though Gray was a really big kitten and naturally imposing, Mist would be the one Curlfeather would ultimately decide was most fitting as a deputy.

If they'd gotten to that point, the siblings probably would have gotten in more fights as Gray started desiring the position for its benefits.

He'd see his mom was clearly giving Mist more opportunities to prove herself, and demand equal chances.

Mist would start thinking of Gray as a stupid bully who thinks he deserves everything because his shoulders are big.

BOTH of them would probably start trying to get Frost to support them over the other.

It would have been a MESS.

BUT, they never did get to that point. Curl was pretty equally focused on them at the point where she died.

When Graypaw got his ear shredded, Mistpaw thought it looked disgusting and horrific and "decided" to crop her own entirely. For reasons I covered in this Hearing Loss guide, RiverClan relies very little on hearing while hunting anyway.

I wanted Mistpaw to look extremely practical, and reference the cropped ears of a domestic dog. Give her a sort of "doberman" vibe.

Something struck me that Curlfeather could have talked her daughter into getting her ears cropped, both to show visually that she's politically grooming her just as much as she's politically grooming Frostpaw.

But... I'm unsure if I'll stick with it. I might have both Gray AND Mist get their ears cropped, or neither.

I also batted around the idea of a cropped tail, too, but THAT would definitely be too far since a tail is very important in swimming.

In fact, I made her tail waaaay too short and her build too thin, in the pursuit of that "doberman" idea.

Again; not a fan of this design. I will probably re-use it later or just give it away. Maybe I'll wait until I have a couple of "Rejected BB Designs" and do an adoptable batch lmao.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

how are you going to handle ashfur in wcr? i’ve always loved him but also felt like he should have been more clearly written either as a sympathetic tragic character or a total asshole, instead of kind of both

Technically, both!

On one hand, his mother was brutally murdered when he was young. He and his 3 siblings relied heavily on each other, but when Ferncloud got together with Dustpelt, Tulipfur grows closer to the older cats of Thunderclan, and Elderleaf buried herself in her work to try and become Camp Keeper, he feels upset and left behind. He has a right to feel that way, but he keels feeling that way. Stuck in the past... And over time, he blames everyone around him for his troubles.

A bonus scene shows his trial shows that he is incredibly charming. He sways the jury by pleading to see his mother, being incredibly loving towards her, and asking about his passed on nieces, Larchkit and Hollykit.

He plays up the sympathy card, talking about how it was such a foolish thing to do, how he just loved Squirrelflight too much, and how he totally deserved what Hollyleaf did. He blames Brambleclaw in a roundabout way. See, he just looked do much like the cat who killed my mom :(

The jury is mostly split and the final vote falls to Yellowfang.

After she and Raggedstar split up, he became mates with Foxheart. He didn't love Foxheart, just used her feelings and affections to hurt Yelf. Yellowfang admitted that, though she knew what he was doing, it still hurt. She wanted to shout at him, hurt him, and even wanted to hurt Foxheart, who hadn't done anything wrong.

She votes in his favour, because she finds it a bit relatable. She fell for the act, many cats did. She is ashamed to admit it later on, but in that moment, she knew what that anger was like. She still disapproves of his treatment of Hollypaw, and his anger towards the Three, but his trial is about The Fire Scene specifically, and all of Starclan knows Squirrelflight is going to be on trial when she eventually passes away.

And, for a good chunk of his time in Starclan, he looks normal. He hangs out with his nieces, cheering when they get their Star names, Hollyfoot and Larchwhisker. He hangs out with Tulipfur when his brother dies during AVOS, defending him when his cross-clan relationship comes into question.

In Squirrelflight's eyes, he was strange, and controlling, he treated her like some precious thing that couldn't do too much or she would break, some kind of prize to be hoarded.

Many cats alive did not like him. His was an ass towards most cats in Thunderclan, and he wasn't popular.

TBC shows his true colours. Controlling, manipulative, holier-than-thou, vindictive, and entitled.

Squirrelflight is glad to finally put him down for good.

[bramblewhisker]

My BrambleSquirrel

They are rivals from relatively early into Squirrelpaw's apprenticeship. Squirrelpaw antagonized him first because she thinks of him as the #1 up-and-coming warrior in ThunderClan, and thus a fitting rival for her, the great Squirrelpaw. Brambleclaw would not have normally taken the bait from an apprentice, but he idolizes Firestar, and he feels self conscious about his kin so brazenly challenging him (he wants her to think he's cool so bad, not realizing she already does). They frequently try to show-up one another. Every other cat in the clan is like "oooh they flirting."

Before they're really official (but are totally a couple already), they have their first big fight, about Hawkfrost. Squirrelpaw/flight is right in her purpose but she doesn't articulate it well. She initially has some trouble understanding his complicated relationship with his father, as compared to her healthy relationship with her own (who, again, is also the cat he idolizes). Brambleclaw is too closed off about the fact that he's dealing with a lot of Feelings, because he doesn't want her to see him looking "weak". It's messy and they're both frustrated because they both really like the other one still. Squirrelflight dates Ashfur for a bit, and she really does like and respect him, but he's just not the cat for her.

Eventually they talk things out. Squirrelflight notably does not gloat when her suspicions about Hawkfrost prove to be true, which is an early building block of trust in their relationship. They are over the moon about each other for a while. ThunderClan cats joke for a while that even a rabbit might be impressed by those two. They never stop challenging each other, though, and can frequently be seen competing over the most arbitrary thing. This includes the occasional argument, but they always make up enthusiastically.

When Squirrelflight shows up with kits Bramble is: ecstatic. He's full-on dad mode he's so excited. Things continue to be really happy until the reveal. Brambleclaw feels hurt because in his mind this means that she didn't trust him enough to share the secret. And he feels a misguided sense of loss that his kits are no longer "his". (How he ultimately works this out with each of the Three is a whole separate topic.) He initiates the breakup. Squirrelflight is hurt because she feels that he isn't giving enough consideration to her position. It very much mirrors the Hawkfrost situation in that way.

The break-up is bitter but quiet. They just sort of simmer. Brambleclaw makes it a point to not change how he makes patrols, putting her in charge of a normal amount, but he speaks to her only as required by his duties. She tries to make small-talk on a few occasions, but he quickly finds a reason to excuse himself each time ("Sorry, I need to plan tomorrow's patrols."), so she stops trying.

Bramblestar's Storm? I'm sorry you have the wrong number.

The great battle happens, Firestar dies. Brambleclaw names Squirrelflight his deputy. He has come to understand that his shock at learning that his kits weren't technically his caused him to lash out more than he might otherwise, and feels regretful, but he has a hard time broaching the topic with Squirrelflight. Meetings as leader and deputy start awkwardly strictly functional, but slowly it drifts into them hanging out, them going hunting together, eventually essentially dating again. ThunderClan buzzes with the gossip.

They get back together. Cats who were around remark to those who weren't how it seems like when they were first mates. That includes how the two of them will spend half a day trying to one-up each other on some point about who behaved most appropriately during the interaction at the WindClan border earlier. Alderkit and Sparkkit get SO MUCH ATTENTION when they are born

Squirrelflight's Hope? Never heard of her.

After the events of Broken Code things are very tense. Bramblestar is just... not up to it anymore. Squirrelflight basically has to lead even though she doesn't actually have the authority to and it stresses her out (especially after being acting leader in TBC didn't exactly go smoothly). They fight a lot, but they always nest together. Bramblestar has a hard time getting through the night a lot, and she wants to comfort him.

After Squirrelstar becomes leader and Brambleclaw has retired it's a breath of fresh air. With her officially able to handle clan matters they are happy as can be, and some of the younger cats might describe them as sickeningly sweet together. Brambleclaw dens with the elders during the day but he's in Squirrelstar's den each night. He's able to be the big spoon sometimes again :3

Idk I love them you can't make me not love them no matter how many super editions you write, Erin.