#I know everything that happens in tnp

[saucetail-hasanewblog]

I've been getting really, really into warrior cats again. I don't know why exactly

[bonefall]

I LOVED hearing about the Ripwater episode!!!! Could you discuss whichever episode that would include Jayfeather‘s warrior training perhaps? If not I’d LOVE to hear about any other!

Jay's warrior training happens across lots of them! He only pivots to being a Cleric near the VERY end of the arc. He's considered fully trained after "saving" Hazeltail by secretly kicking Moleflight's ass.

Jaypaw -> Jayfang -> Jayfeather

Blackstar's Bog Project seems to be the conflict so far that's going to be featuring Jaypaw's training the most, though, the way that most of these episodes end up being centric for one of the three.

Jaypaw will be dominant in ShadowClan-related episodes because his first rival shows up here; Owlpaw, later called Owlclaw.

If you recognize that name, it's either because you know he's the secret brother of Kestrelflight and Harestar, or you remember that he's the father of Weaselkit and Happyface which causes familial problems within Violetshine's adopted family. Noteworthy recurring ShadowClan cat!

Head's up this one's way less organized than Ripwater's

Pre-Bog Project; The beginning of Jaypaw's apprenticeship Ableism and Longtail

Before Blackstar begins the bog project, I want there to be a decent amount of battle between ShadowClan and ThunderClan.

At the time, The Three are kits or young apprentices. For the most part, they're born into a world where they mostly know ShadowClan as this kinda distant, scary thing that the older warriors fight a lot.

When they become apprentices, it doesn't help that ShadowClan's presence is sharp. They have a very dry, dark sense of humor which can mask bullying. They cite the Warrior Code a lot and take blasphemy seriously. It's not always obvious when they mean what they say or if they're being sarcastic

This is especially bad with ThunderClan cats. Tawnypelt had a REALLY hard time adapting to this culture back in TNP.

there's one major fight Jaypaw takes part in between the two, as a young apprentice. Enter Owlpaw.

It's REALLY important that in this fight, Jaypaw gets his ass kicked.

Owlpaw is the third oldest lakeborn cat. He's big, mean, and vicious. He is a DIFFICULT opponent, he really is an Owl to a Jay at this point. Bad Bad Leroy Brown type shit

This curbstomp messes with Jaypaw baaaadly, shaking any confidence he'd gained in the short time where he's started training with Longtail.

When Jaypaw FIRST becomes the apprentice of Longtail... it wasn't actually welcome. Jaykit's ceremony was nearly delayed, as if Firestar was just going to pass over him.

An objection was raised, as it was wondered what would happen with Jaykit. The poor kid was put on the spot, when he'd just been expecting to get given a mentor the same as his siblings.

When Firestar and Brackenfur had an awkward answer, Longtail leapt in heroically, demanding to be un-retired so he could come and mentor his grand-nephew.

While most of the Clan saw this as impressive, Jaykit did not. It was humiliating and embarrassing!

It was like they were just going to skip over him, and "the only mentor I could get was another useless cat, like me..."

Jaypaw is dealing with a lot of shame through internalized ableism. It's that kind of sticky misery where you just end up hating everything you touch. NOTHING is good or okay. Everything is awful and if you try to tell me otherwise I will double down.

The type that you can't reason with. So Longtail trying to get through to this kid was already hell.

He was trying to be motivational and uplifting. "We'll prove them wrong, together!" and "Stick with me kid, I'll teach you everything." and "There's lots of ways to be a warrior, we'll find what works best for ya."

It does not work. Jaypaw is determined to hate him, dismissing him as being insincere and fake-nice.

And when that first fight comes up, Jaypaw's spent however long as an apprentice being difficult and his first real matchup is against ShadowClan's Youngest Blender

So of course, Owlpaw toys with him like canon. Keeps dodging and taunting him, making little jabs, commenting on how weak ThunderClan must be to put him out on the battlefield.

After the fight ends, Longtail tries to let Jaypaw mope for a bit about it, lick his wounds, recover.

But he just ends up at his lowest point, and snapping at Longtail that he'll never amount to anything anyway, "a blind warrior isn't worth anything."

And Longtail's LOST his patience. That's IT.

"Get up right now and fight me."

"wh... what?"

"Maybe you're used to everyone else just letting you say whatever dumb thing, but when you insult yourself, you insult ME. And I've got the Right to Challenge over my honor. So GET UP."

Over the course of this fight, Longtail uses it both to coach him on how to properly move, and also to let Jaypaw blow off steam. He taunts him to just let his claws out, while keeping his own sheathed.

And during all this, Jay can barely get a hit in. The fight ends with Longtail easily pinning him to the ground, and he reminds him,

"Don't wanna be a blind warrior? Fine. I can't teach what you don't want to learn, you tell me and we'll find other options, but if I EVER hear those words come out of your mouth again, it's personal."

And after THAT, it clicks for Jaypaw. It's personal. Longtail didn't need to do any of it, stand up for him, mentor him, he wants to.

When he insults himself, or when he thinks of Longtail like he was some cheap option, it hits both of them.

Longtail is an excellent warrior-- and a warrior defends their honor.

Still, Owlpaw remains, and these aren't just internalized thoughts only he has, "don't get mad at me for insulting your honor. I was just repeating what Owlpaw said to me. He said a blind warrior isn't worth anything at all. And it's like the whole Clan agrees, but they just don't say it."

"Then we'll kick his ass," removes his paw from his apprentice's back, "We'll kick all their asses. But you're not going to go around agreeing with them before you even learn how to fight."

The grand irony of this is that after making this promise to kick Owlpaw's ass, having this as a goal in-mind, Firestar begins the fruitful negotiations with ShadowClan which will result in a period of sweet peace. There aren't any battles to get into between them for a while.

So Owlpaw continues to be this sort of "goal" on the horizon. Jaypaw wants revenge against this specific person, while also being forced to work with him at various points, as ShadowClan is their ally.

Something interesting I plan to do is to secretly write Breezepaw as being a MUCH stronger fighter than Owlpaw ever was. Owlpaw is big and strong, but it's BREEZEPAW who's the truly vicious fighter of the Po3 apprentice generation. A cat that Jaypaw faces off with several times, and has a difficult time fighting because of Breeze's aggressive, straightforward fighting style.

Jaypaw fights best against cats who try to get out of his grapples, because he can turn it against them. When a cat is so ferocious that they don't relent at all, meeting him with even more biting and scratching, it effectively counters his unique style.

Between his brawls with Lionpaw and Breezepaw, Jaypaw has no idea how overleveled he is lmao

Bog Project

There's two times that I want to zoom into the Bog Project in Po3.

The first one is when they FIRST construct the dam that destroys the pine plantation, including an altercation with human plantation workers who come to try and dismantle the dam. The Clan cats run circles around them as the humans are too heavy to not sink into the mud. I want someone to jump off the dam, bounce off a person and knock them over with a SPLAT, and then jump back on the dam in one smooth movement lmaoo

(Switch over to the researchers for a second and they're actually scrambling to get the area turned into a different classification of protected site during this. Unknown to ShadowClan, they really do just have to buy some time.)

The SECOND time is when they're simply repairing some damage, Owlpaw starts a fight with Jaypaw and swings the first blow, and Jaypaw realizes it's time to take this man to Clown Town.

The fight begins while they're up on the dam, trying to figure out where a leak is or some other minor thing.

Owlpaw starts REALLY getting into it with Jaypaw. "I can't believe they put me up here with you. It's like they want you to have a little accident so I can say I have no idea what happened."

I'm REALLY TORN between Jaypaw either playing this as peacefully as possible, so it's completely Owlpaw's fault they got into it... or realizing he can totally goad this fight and then be able to say it wasn't his fault because Owlpaw threatened him first: "Bold of you to talk about little accidents. Ur mom"

I'm leaning towards Jaypaw goading it after Owlpaw started it, realizing that snark is a very useful tool. Thinking back to how he used to call himself useless, how Longtail used it to make him unload all his pent-up anger and aggression. It has a purpose.

and that purpose, right now, is making an opportunity to put this git in his proper place.

But either way, when Owlpaw starts lashing out at him, SO much like that first fight, Jay notices something REALLY interesting

Owl always tries to stay out of the line of his whiskers. The blows are hard clobbers, but he's not really scratching because he doesn't want to get close

Jaypaw stays perfectly still, UNNERVINGLY still, and takes one, two whacks. Then he knows that his opponent favors his right paw, and he's about... 2 mouselengths away.

Owl lifts his paw again, and in one, smooth move, JAYPAW LUNGES

Caught square in the belly, they roll back along the wall

Owl recovers, twisting onto his opponent, hissing and scratching to untangle, and they tumble right off the side in a clattering shower of sticks and daub

They make a SPLORCH as their bodies splatter the mud below them

"THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING" -Lionpaw probably

The entire construction crew gathers around. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Owlpaw seems to be getting wise, trying to wriggle out of the grapple to win back distance, but Jay hears Longtail's words of wisdom echoing in his head

"To know his own limits,"

He never lets his opponent out of range of his whiskers, Owl breaks away only to expose his back to a vicious opponent

Jaypaw grabs his foe by the neck, rears up and dunks his face down in the mud. SPLAT!

"AND EXPLOIT THEIRS"

Owlpaw screeches in rage, snorting muck out of his nose, blinded

The big bully has no idea to slow down and think about where the blows are coming from, or anticipate how his opponent moves.

Jaypaw's jaws close down viciously on his shoulder, and in a flash, he's wrapped around him like a snake.

Trying to buck him off is only causing Owlpaw to sink into the mud

Jaypaw only releases his lock long enough to command; "SAY UNCLE"

Terrified, like a rabbit with a weasel with its fangs dangerously close to its pulse, he obeys; "UNCLE!!"

Jaypaw disentangles and hops off, and it's only now that he registers the size of the crowd.

Hazelpaw, Poppypaw, Cinderpaw, both of his siblings, every ShadowClan apprentice, plus all the warriors who were assigned to the project

Most are cheering, others murmur with awe or hiss with frustration, Owlpaw's mentor is helping him out of the mud, asking him what the hell happened back there

Jay is GLOWERING. He can't help the smug smile that paints his face, or the pride that washes through his veins, though he nonchalantly flicks the mud off his tail.

but the gloating is cut short. Longtail's rough tongue passes over a swelling lump next to Jaypaw's eye, and a little cut he didn't realize he'd gotten had started to sting.

"Knock it off!" He grumbles, doing nothing to stop him, "you're embarassing me!"

"Embarassing?! I'm so proud out of my fur I just might cry about it and embarass you even more!"

In the aftermath, Owlpaw is the one who gets blamed for the fight on the wall. Though Longtail freely admits that his apprentice can be rude, Owlpaw is the one who escalated it to blows.

That said, no one really "gets in trouble" for it. It's written off by both Blackstar and Firestar as an "apprentices will be apprentices" moment. BB!Battle cats can have battles without holding a formal hearing in parliament about it.

What DOES happen that Jaypaw finds bizarre is that when he gets home and the news spreads, Bramblestar is one of the first cats to start gloating. He feels odd about how odd he feels about it.

But after his father has given his ear a proud lick and explains the situation to Squirrelflight who gives a proud lick to the other one, Jaypaw examines the feeling. He tries to think of other times Brambleclaw has been this proud of him, and that's when it clicks; there are none.

Lionpaw is an accomplished fighter at this point, having landed the fatal blow onto Ripwater. Hollypaw is at the forefront of nearly every diplomacy meeting alongside her mentor, Brackenfur. But Jaypaw.. well, most of his brawls have been little skirmishes. Not really "achievements."

It's not like Brambleclaw has been absent or anything, so... he's not yet sure what to do with this feeling. It's quickly buried as the other apprentices dogpile him, begging for the full details.

Assorted closing thoughts for other episodes and such;

Jaypaw's power is plane-hopping. He can move freely between supernatural realms-- dreams, heaven, hell, Earth. He can interact, physically, with anything on these planes.

No more magic empathy. Society has progressed past the need for magic empathy.

He's going to get several little moments in other episodes where he helps to heal others, especially when Cinderheart breaks her leg.

Becoming a Cleric is a choice that should have significant build-up, since he chooses it over Poppyfrost.

I think the REAL inciting moment that he decides to commit to the bit is that he ends up having some kind of dream where Moleflight (Poppyfrost's ill-fated brother) visits him, just after getting his warrior name, and Mole says, "you will be an excellent warrior."

Jayfang: "theres no way youre just being nice to me. What are you trying to stop me from doing."

He also really likes giving advice and listening to people. Enjoys a good little debate, but I kinda want to show him visibly sharpening his emotional intelligence as Po3 goes on.

It starts with Longtail, who whittles that aimless cynicism into something earnest and constructive.

I also want to work in some scenes where Longtail explains to Jaypaw how much he reminds him of Swiftpaw, his "uncle."

Sootfur too, sometimes. In the humor.

Jay: "Great track record, two dead kids."

Longtail, very quiet... only to break the tense silence himself, "Sootfur, no. Swiftpaw... yes. I should have been a better mentor."

Everyone knows a mentor is meant to teach an apprentice. But Longtail realizes that an apprentice is meant to teach their mentor, too.

And he wouldn't be worthy to guide another paw if he hadn't learned his lessons from Swiftpaw.

"I taught him to ignore his limits. I made him think that he had to "prove" himself to be worth anything. It was something my mentor taught me, which was something his mentor taught him. Jaypaw, there's going to be things you can't do, and when they come, you'll hate me for stopping you. But I'm not here to raise another brave fool who dies to prove a point."

Jaypaw also meets Rock at various points through BB!Po3, especially when StarClan isn't being straightforward about answers or they end up in the tunnels.

Rock is VERY gentle with Jaypaw, but no one else. If Jaypaw hadn't been in the tunnels that time the WindClan kits went missing, he probably would have just left them all to drown lmao

The first hint The Three discover about their powers, and the prophecy at all, comes through Jaypaw inadvertently ending up realm-hopping. I'm keeping it on standby for him gaining access to information through dreams.

Before he eventually pressures Dovepaw to spy on other Clans, he was using his own powers to gather what info he could.

Thankfully, he doesn't discover how much power this actually grants him, or what he can consciously do with this, until OotS.

[northern-passage]

i understand being disappointed when things change, and i don’t hold any ill will towards people that aren’t interested in siren’s call anymore. but i’ve been pretty transparent about regretting sharing sc publicly before & the game has been removed for over a year now, so i am surprised at so many negative reactions.

i don’t expect everyone to always love everything that i write, and i am aware that the majority of my audience is here for my IF writing (specifically tnp) but the fact is that i like to write other things sometimes and i would like to be able to share them without immediately receiving negative comments & guilt trippy messages about it.

it’s been disappointing for me this past year the way my work has been received; i’ve published four other projects and have had this kind of reaction almost every single time. i’ve held my tongue about it except for mentioning it briefly on my other blog after i published blood choke & immediately received a slew of 1 star ratings (most of which are the same people that have been rating all of my work that is not tnp in the same way)

i removed faith because of this same thing happening and quietly republished it without sharing it here. i’ve been using the kithj blog more in an effort to keep things separate but obviously i still shared siren’s call here yesterday because i like sharing my work with people! i want to be able to do that! and i know there are people here that wanted to see more of that story and more of Rome so i wanted to share it. but it’s been so frustrating this past year having to deal with this.

i am always open to feedback or genuine criticism; i am always looking to improve my work. but any messages or comments like this about being disappointed i’m not writing more IF or complaining about f/f are being ignored & i will block you.

[the-owl-tree]

I'm sorry if I've asked you this before, I genuinely don't remember, but why does everyone dislike yellowfang's secret? I like it a lot as a story, I find her powers silly but no one seems to have that issue... What is it?

It's been a while since I've read it so I'm going off of memory but my general reasons why I had so many problems getting through the book were:

Yellowfang herself isn't really Yellowfang? She's not snappy or grumpy and doesn't really act in the same way she does in TNP. She's just kind of the punching bag of the book without any of her signature sass to at least make her as a protagonist enjoyable.

The power in itself is an unnecessary retcon, it's only there to force Yellowfang into becoming a medcat and, well, there lies an even bigger issue: we are once again recycling the plotline of a cat forced to be a medcat when oooghgh they just wanna be average :( it's frustrating to me that Yellowfang gets so much of her own autonomy ripped away in this book, to the point where she can't even CHOOSE to be a medcat.

Her backstory in the original books was that she was a Warriors turned medcat and that's interesting. The life of the warrior is glamorized, it's the ideal life for Clan cats, so characters who CHOOSE to turn their back on it to heal are really interesting conceptually! The powers completely ruin this, it's a cheap cop out that's forgotten as soon as the book doesn't have to force Yellowfang into a job she should've wanted.

Why do books treat this position like a punishment or something embarrassing. It's Bad Writing above all because the position is important! It is a necessary part of the Clan to function, medcats should be treated with respect! But that's a whole other response.

That's also where Sagewhisker comes in, the mentor figure who, uh, pressures Yellowfang into doing something she doesn't want to do and yet the narrative continues to affirm is Correct.

I could go on but Bonefall has a good post on Sagewhisker that I personally agree with that adds screenshots and details.

It's just....miserable watching Yellowfang be dragged into a position she doesn't want and I don't know why they would choose the most miserable possible route with this character.

That's not even getting into Raggedstar, the good ol' abusive male love interest who's actions are swept under the rug as he guilt trips, berates, and generally treats Yellowfang like garbage! Despite an entire super edition of abuse and the website acknowledging he's abusive - his actions will never fully be held accountable and he will consistently be portrayed as the Nice Leader who just wanted what was best for his Clan <3

His own abuse of Yellowfang is never acknowledged and fuck's sakes the books play the Nightcloud card and go "well, guess what, it's a WOMAN'S fault that Brokenstar happened!"

In a book already swimming with misogynistic writing, the authors decided to up the ante and introduce Lizardstripe: the mean bitch mom who doesn't want to be a mom and that's all you need to be told to know she's an abusive evil woman.

The book will never actually show you scenes of her being abusive, they will literally just write scenes of her saying she doesn't want to be a mother as a shorthand of her being abusive.

I'm sure this definitely doesn't factor into the writing team's incredibly conservative ideology towards motherhood's and women's roles.

I'm gonna link Bonefall again, he's just good posts that really delve into the problems with this and I'd honestly just be reiterating a lot of his posts if I talked on my own lol

Yellowfang's Secret takes everything interesting about Yellowfang and just flat out ignores it or makes it worse. It's miserable to read, it's just page after page of Yellowfang getting beaten down.

And you could argue that's the point, that Yellowfang believes she deserves her troubles, but I don't think that's the case. I think the book is just troubling in its handling of motherhood and abuse, it handles them poorly.

Bad Book i guess. sucks! i think Yellowfang as a character could fill up an entire super edition, but the one they wrote is miserable garbage.

I can't even remember the plot outside the medcat stuff. Idk mean clan cat invasion time for no reason?? Uuhh kittypet attack?? i don't find it memorable outside of the stuff that actively upset me.

[ihazmunchies91]

"Do you know what the Hawthorne Effect is reader?"

"N-No I don't think-"

"It is the study of how one changes under the condition of being monitored or watched. Thier performance improves, their behaviors, their appearance, their body language. Before you entered this Parable, can you ever say you had anything profound happen to change your life for the better? I think not. Before this Parable, you were miserable. And Despite your happenings and events here, you have improved. You are happy."

Okay imma talk about Void here. I have brainrot about my boy.

Void Narrator is from a unfinished fanfic I did a year ago. It was a half life stanley parable crossover.

The Narrator was a Psychologist that worked for black mesa and was sent to infiltrate the facility that stanley worked at to study the mind control tactics they had. To him, this was the greatest opportunity to understanding how the mind worked in response to being controlled. And in his mind, this was the ultimate catalyst to him being the greatest psychologist. He felt as though he could use this tactic to become a better psychologist by mind controlling his patients somehow with the help of Black Mesa.

When the cascade resonance happened, he became mutated into an entity and is now a part of the void entirely. And he can be malicious and deadly. But he mostly watches everything. He erased stanleys coworkers including his closest friend (who later respawns).

I never finished the fanfic because I ran out of steam, and I didn't have a lot of information that I do now. So now he is in TNP (the narrative Parable) where he belongs.

Yes, He is aware of G-Man from his orginal story. He was a frequent visitor.

Voids name is yet to be spoken publically. It will be featured in the fanfic.

He can hear thoughts very easily, which is also how he's able to do psychology very well. he's also incredibly violent when it comes to intruders in his territory, however, he has a select few narrators that he tolerates in his facility, they come to visit him and play games, however, void tends to cheat when it comes to games. He can tranform the cards and dice to his liking.

He was a psychologist for workers at Black Mesa because many of the workers, mostly the scientist became frequently stressed about their work position and needing to get things done on time or else they would face expulsion from the facility.

When he was a psychologist to black Mesa, he would often spend his earnings on gambling, and he would never lose, often using his psychology to trick others into losing, and thus, when he was transformed into a void creature, he used his abilities to his full advantage, he could care less if he was caught.

He loves having a drink before he gets started on his work. he has various wines and decanters. he owns a parlor inside the void which looks like a bar in a casino. Clean green and red carpets. A poker table. several couches ro get comfortable on or rest. A fireplace. he also has his doctorates hangingon his wall above the wine cabinet.

I loves him. T.T

art by emiletb

[freshkillpile]

The narrative that Squirrelflight just doesn't like Hawkfrost for no reason is so stupid and ignores literally everything else that happens in TNP.

"wow I know he's training in the Dark Forest with his evil, genocidal father, helping his evil genocidal father manipulate his brother, and tries to murder Squirrelflight's dad, but Squirrelflight's a controlling bitch for telling Brambleclaw not to trust his own brother!"

You sound so stupid.

[mothdapple]

Hi! I found you through Shaken Roots, and the rewrite is amazing! You are extremely talented to have written it! A few questions/theories I’ve developed: Is Stormfur going to end up joining the tribe, and will we still be seeing him in the second half of the rewrite? Brook has character now, and might end up choosing to go with Stormfur? Also, will you diverge much from the canon plot line, or will the series follow the original’s plot. Bonus question: WHY is there Suicide Attempt in the tags?!?

hi!! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying Shaken Roots!

I’m going to be vague about the Stormfur and Brook questions since those are plot points that will be revealed in later chapters in Shaken Roots: Dawn, and I don’t want to spoil it! I will say that Stormfur will still appear in some capacity in the second half of the rewrite. :)

For your more general question about how much the rewrite will follow the plot in canon or diverge— the answer is sort of both. My main inspiration for Shaken Roots was to take the interesting concepts of characters and plot beats in TNP and try to bring out their full potential that I felt like canon stumbled with.

So looking at the first two books, you can see that in broad strokes, the plot is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, in Midnight and Moonrise. In short, the plot of Midnight is about the six chosen cats finding the sundrown-place, and the plot of Moonrise is about them aiding the Tribe with fighting Sharptooth. But I also added a lot that wasn’t in canon— in SR: Midnight Crowpaw’s spiritual journey of opening up to and bonding with the other chosen cats (and thus acting like a model for the clans later to follow) is just as important as the physical journey the group goes on to the sundown-place to get the news from Midnight. And in SR: Moonrise, Feathertail’s spiritual journey of healing from her trauma of TigerClan and learning to trust and forgive again is just as important to the plot of that fic as fighting Sharptooth. You can expect the remaining fics to fall along similar lines.

To use a metaphor, the skeleton of the story is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, but everything else from the connective tissue, to the skin color, to the eyes, may be different.

As for your final question, it’s a scene from Shaken Roots: Dawn, chapter 8, so I will put it below the cut just in case you aren’t there yet and don’t want spoilers. (And I’m also putting it under the cut because obviously CW here for mentions of suicide attempt.)

It’s when Crowpaw deliberately runs out in a road in front of monsters knowing that it may seriously injure or kill him. It’s based off of a scene in Dawn, albeit in canon what happens is that Crowpaw tries to run out in front of tree-destroying monsters in the forest, and Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw are the only ones there to stop him. So the scenes are different but both feature Crowpaw purposefully trying to hurt or kill himself. No one in canon or in Shaken Roots call it a “suicide attempt” in verbatim, but in my opinion, that is pretty obviously what it is, and with that being such an understandably sensitive subject, I tagged it as such.

[marmeegle]

Lillimae Evans is a Love-Sick Fool (fic)

can YOU handle a messy one sided lesbian pining fic ? *not clickbait*

authors note: hello lillimae lives in my head rent free she's such a creature she can never win she's hopelessly in love im obsessed with her. here's a post-tnp draft of her navigating life after leaving raaian with her best friend that she kinda loves but also drugged a few times and therefore is on remarkably poor terms with who has a new hot bf that she wishes were her but she also kinda wants to smash

i said it was messy so like. click if you're down keep scrolling if you arent

Lillimae can’t tell you when she fell in love. She thinks it must have been during the Bloom, because she can remember really wanting to kiss Naivara during the light show. The only reason she didn’t was because she could hear Killian in the back of her mind: girls don’t kiss. 

There were some girls who kissed in town, but Lily saw the way folks treated them. The things people said. A woman’s job is to have kids, and so on. Depriving the town of people, choosing not to contribute, forsaking the forefathers. 

So Lily decided she could probably live without kissing Naivara, and decided to earn her keep kissing boys. Easy money. In theory. In reality the ‘boys’ were rude and strong and they got a kick out of hurting her. But it only happened like, three times a week. The four other days were a dream. 

Naivara, Naivara, Naivara.

Lily did her best to be normal. To be a decent roommate. To clean and help around the house and take out garbage. Lily cooked and chopped fruit and pretended she was just being nice but all she wanted to do was love. But she wasn’t brave enough to do that behind closed doors. 

And she isn’t brave enough to do it now. 

Mason ruined everything. That’s what Lillimae tells herself. If Mason weren’t in the picture, Naivara and her would be neck-deep in a whirlwind romance. 

Lillimae is stuck. Naivara’s mad and she has the right to be. Dosing her was stupid, but it worked. The end justifies the means. That’s what Lillimae says to herself when she watches Mason place a kiss on Naivara’s forehead. 

Naivara is safe. Naivara is alive.

So Lillimae beats her love into a bloody pulp and endures tutoring with Savan, who is gracious enough to set her up for success in a brand new world. She already knows how to spell one word: Lillimae. Who taught her? Guess. 

They make landfall: Savan gets an apartment, and Lillimae is not invited. Neither is Mason. Mason finds a hostel. Lillimae finds a pretty girl.

Pretty girl in question has skin like amber and eyes like sapphires. She makes direct eye contact. She dances, drinks, and smirks. Her dress is scandalous. And before Lillimae knows it, she’s three knuckles deep in the wrong fucking dream. 

Her name is Emily. 

Emily is mouthy. Emily likes being man-handled. She gets wet when Lillimae is mean to her and has virtually zero shame, but she’s hot and pretty and has a bed bigger than Naivara’s. So it’s a win. 

Emily likes scrambled eggs and toast. Orange juice on the side. Lillimae does everything right and Emily does nothing wrong, but once or twice Lillimae catches herself making sun eggs for the brown-eyed girl that broke her heart. 

And Emily, who is very sweet but ultimately stupid, think’s Lillimae loves her. And Lily isn’t about to burst that bubble. She likes a roof over head and a warm bed is nothing to scoff at. So she pays a little rent and she starts grabbing groceries and suddenly she’s making breakfast and before she knows it, Emily and her are a couple. 

It doesn’t feel real. It doesn’t feel feel good or bad, not until they turn a corner and Lily sees her brown-eyed girl in the arms of some green-eyed-guy. The green-eyed-guy. Mason. Stupid Mason with his nice face and kind eyes and patient spirit. It’s aggravating. He does everything right and Lillimae wants nothing more than to punish him for it. 

Except when she tries to think up a punishment it involves fucking him stupid, for some reason. Lillimae can only think about it for half a second before she starts imagining things she shouldn’t. 

So. Wrong place, wrong time. 

“Oh, hey Lily,” Naivara says. She’s cheery and sweet, the way she can’t help being in a new world with a new guy. Mason smiles but Lillimae knows he’s just being polite.

“Hey,” Lillimae says. 

“Who are you?” Emily asks. 

Naivara pauses, and Lillimae drags a hand down her face. Mason nudges Naivara behind him and he glowers pointedly at Emily with a furrowed brow. 

“Who are you?” He asks. 

“Emily,” she says. “Lillimae’s girlfriend.”

That’s the moment Naivara and Mason could have ruined her. The moment they could have unleashed hell. One question could have blown up her entire relationship. You have a girlfriend? Would have been enough for Emily to end things then and there. 

Instead, they throw on smiles and pretend Lily has brought her up and they were soooo sorry that schedules just weren’t working out for an opportunity to meet. Except when they left the first question out of Emily’s mouth is “Why didn’t you tell me about them?”

And Lillimae decides: fuck it. 

“They lied,” she says. “They didn’t know about you. They were trying to be nice. I didn’t tell them about you. You weren’t supposed to meet.” 

“Why not?” She asks. “Why don’t you want me meeting your friends?”

“You haven’t introduced me to your friends.”

“Well I was planning on it,” she says. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m not being weird.”

“Everything about that was weird,” Emily says. 

“You are making it weird,” she says. 

“You looked at her weird,” Emily mutters, and Lillimae doubles down. 

“When did I agree to be your girlfriend?” Lillimae asks. 

“What the fuck are you on about?” Emily asks. “We aren’t girlfriends?” 

“I wouldn’t call it that-”

“You know what I’d call it?” She asks. “Over.” 

Lillimae spends that night on the beach. The cold weedles deep into her heart. She debates going back to Emily, debates saying sorry, debates a lot of things. 

She thinks long and hard about how she wants to spend her new life in this new world. 

Emily or Naivara. 

Naivara. Always Naivara. 

[mommyclaws]

it's fun hearing you livepost abt the first book because i never actually read it. i own the first arc now but when i was,,, idk 14 and wanted to get into warriors my library only had the hard copy of fire and ice so that was the first book i read. the only things i knew abt into the wild came from amvs or maps on youtube

Well nice to know other people are enjoying it I just like throwing out my thoughts somewhere! :3 My middle school only had books from Tnp and Po3 but I could never read them in order because the other kids swiped that shit before I could even figure out what warrior cats was all about😭

But! Ngl being in the fandom long enough I basically already know everything that happens but something... just feels so different between the fandom and the books. First of all because the books are kinda mid but theres alot of little relationship details and thought processes the characters go through that doesn't seem to make it into fandom discussion or art, so its interesting to read for myself!

[knifesxedge]

poppy, petunia, and laurel for the wc asks?

Poppy: What’s one of your biggest headcanons for the series?

OH definitely my conceit that mistyfoot/star is like. convinced she is destined to lose everything and everyone she’s ever loved. and it keeps happening so she keeps getting proven right. + the idea that she was basically given up by her mom so she could become leader and feels bitter about that and YET she continues to Be Like Her Mother, she is SO MUCH like her mom in so many ways, and ultimately she ends up going down the same path as her mom. and all of that comes together to conclude that she is Doomed By the Narrative and one of the most tragic characters in warriors. i could elaborate on this more because i have SO many thoughts about mistyfoot & she’s my favorite character but i’ll leave it there so this doesn’t get crazy long and it involves a lot of intertwining headcanons about her life. okay

Petunia: Which arc is your favorite? Which is your least favorite?

i have pretty standard opinions on this (best arc is arc 1, worst arc is currently standing at omen of the stars but asc is giving it a run for its money) so i’ll throw in my two cents that i think warriors as a series should have ended with arc 1

Laurel: If you could write the books, what changes would you make?

hoooooooly shit okay. there are almost an infinity of changes but i’ll try to hit the big ones, in no particular order:

1. LGBT representation (they would never do this i am aware that is why i would be implementing it myself)

2. firepaw has a crush on spottedleaf but she never sees him as anything more than (affectionately) a little brother, which is why she ends up as a starclan guide for him going forward

3. mistyfoot & leopardfur toxic yuri relationship is integral to the narrative

4. brambleclaw and squirrelflight are written well and are Cute. sandstorm and firestar of the second arc. they have a rough moment where brambleclaw feels lied to post-hollyleaf’s parentage reveal at the gathering but they get through it. sigh

5. the tribe does not exist was never written into the books and is not relevant. God.

6. general fixing of misogyny and abusive relationships UNLESS that’s vital to the narrative. but it HAS to be purposeful in the way it is not currently

7. that one headcanon about tawnypelt having brambleclaw’s deputy arc from TNP

8. mothwing as the three’s sire like SORRY i know it’s cliche for me to say that but genuinely fuck crowfeather (speaking of Fuck Crowfeather nightcloud gets a wife but that’s not particularly story relevant)

9. the series ends after omen of the stars. oots has decent bones at least. sorry to sparkpelt fans/twigbranch fans/frostpaw fans but i think all the books after that arc are stinky poo poo garbage and oots is like the OBVIOUS ending point. this would mean i would have to sacrifice the last little bit of mistystar’s Tragic Character Arc but that’s a sacrifice i’m willing to make

10. NO dotc. garbage trash dumpster fire of a book series. DIE (we can see the founders in starclan and get a sense of their personalities and such or whatever but that book series is agony to read. sorry dotc fans)

going to leave it there because there’s an insane amount of things i could fix with this series because after the first arc it becomes Genuinely Bad but hmu if you want the director’s cut

thank you thank you marz!!!! 💕💕💕💕💕

send me flower warrior cats asks from here!!

[wc-wild-rewrite]

Fire and Ice reread!

I didnt enjoy this nearly as much as the first book, so 7/10, i give my reasonings in the My Thoughts section. The writing is less clunky in the way its written, but the writing itself is, eh, its not terrible but its not book 1 standard.

On the bright side, i'm loving Windclan and the thunderclan apprentices.

Prolouge

Poor morningflower, having to give birth road-side without her mate

Its been nearly a moon since windclan was driven out, so they were there when rusty joined thunderclan

Deadfoot my beloved

Honestly ashfoot your complaining isnt unjustified, id be mad too

Chapter 1

They need to grow in their leafbare fur, interesting! Probably never brought up again though

"After many moons as an apprentice" its been 4 moons max, and you spent one of those moons not actually training, how did you even qualify for this

Ah yes, exposition monolouge on what happened the previous book

God i love how respectful whitestorm is

"Only been warriors for a few days" you literally just finished your vigil, dude, its not even been a whole day

Honor is a big thing for the clans

I like the idea of longtail just walking around camp giving the least subtle hints for days on end

Aww swiftpaw was so anxious for his ceremony, thats adorable

Way to have double standards, longtail. Still love you tho

And theres the full moon

Ah, more exposition, on lionheart this time. Thank you, erins, we get it, we did read the last book

Interesting how easily bluestar takes ravenpaw's leaving. I mean, not the tigerclaw part, but the leaving the clan part.

Chapter 2

Whitestorm still being respectful, even to the enemy

Oh no, whiteclaw, your not gonna see the end of this book

Yeah, so he did spend a moon looking after her

Im shocked Tigerclaw wants Windclan back

Chapter 3

Slow slug

Yellowfang seems rather chipper today

Chapter 4

As of the gathering, its been two moons since windclan was driven out

They have wood ants

They know what a year is

Apparently windclan doesnt patrol its borders often

Chapter 5

Ok so this generstion of windclan cats are DEFINITELY traumatised

I can't imagine tnp journey is gonna go well for them

I admire their sturdiness though, still willing to fight despite everything

Chapter 6

Ooo smart move, Fireheart, asking to go with them instead of offering help

Gorsekit is officially a little creature

Deadfoot!! My boy!!

I love fireheart's comeback to the apprentice

Aww barley likes sharing food with his boyfriend

Chapter 7

I love deadfoot so much, little blorbo man

Damn ok riverclan chill out

"Lame warrior" can we not

But also yess tigerclaw save my boy

Chapter 8

Oh no, whiteclaw!

Yess willowpelt protect your son

I wonder how much the story would've changed if sandpaw had dropped instead of whiteclaw, or both of them

Tigerclaw i see you trying to get your cronies new apprentices

I hope fireheart and greystripe share the story with the elders, i like them

Ok apparently brackenpaw is ginger now

Awww cinderpaw babie girl

Lil moody brackenpaw there, love him

But also they are like 4 moons didnt we just learn this was bad

Chapter 9

Honestly it is so irresponsible for bluestar to make these two mentors, they are like 10 moons at best, theres only 6 moons between them and their apprentices

Someone get Greystripe in therapy

Queens tell boogeyman stories of kit-snatching owls

Again, tree scaling, this time by smallear

Aw cinderpaw, my adhd babie girl

"When you brought them home" girl that was you, you were that kit. I know this is a writing error but i like to think its a mental disconnection due to the trauma of it

God, the "that cat in the forest...was his sister!" Is such a 2009 writing style

Chapter 10

Rip tulipkit, i think your the first of that litter to die

I wonder if fern and ash ever remembered their littermate

I love the difference between cinderpaw's wild bounding and brackenpaw's careful thinking

Awww princess and fireheart bonding is so cute

Chapter 11

Aw i like seeing them mentor, its so cute

Greystripe u kitten

Silverstream!!

"Cant you drown in your own territory" your honor i love her

Haha mischeivous cinderpaw

Chapter 12

Cinderpaw is a good liar confirmed

"Where were you when i was training" asked fireheart, the liar. "I found somewhere quiet to rest" said greystripe, also a liar

I cant tell if tigerclaw really is that observant or firepaw is just the king of overthinking

Brackenpaw's such a nerd i love him

Cinderpaw sweetie your adorable but please dont sneak up on your mentor

Chapter 13

They lost 5 kits to greencough last year, we never get info about them

Still very interesting that each prey has its own stalking technique

Chapter 14

"He was breaking the code by meeting up with another cat" oh really, sound familiar buddy?

Fuck it, im with greystripe, go see your code-breaking girlfriend

Since when the fuck has speckletail had a kit, but also hi mistlekit!!

Chapter 15

Dude your a hypocrite stop yelling at your bestie's girlfriend

But i do like how leader's daughter seems to be an important title

Silverstream's got a point, their love isnt affecting anyone

Ohhh the tabby kit was mistlekit

Ok damn why is dustpaw so aggressive

I wonder how dustpaw feels, technically being the cause behind cinderpaw's injury

Chapter 16

Explicitily described as twisted, noted

Chapter 17

Tigerclaw honestly didnt mean to, huh.

So now theres two kits with whitecough

Oh willowpelt absolutely heard that

Chapter 18

Unfortunately, fireheart, i gotta agree, its frustating watching people react to tragedies and just move on

Chapter 19

You've changed your tune awfully fast, Sandpaw, are we gonna get a reason for that or do we have to guess?

Willowpelt feels like shes covering for her son, but im definitely looking too far into it

These patrols are always longtail, darkstripe, and willowpelt. I know they probably just dont have any other warriors but its suspicious

Chapter 20

Oop, greystripe got sent to his room

Goddamn dustpaw chill out

Chapter 21

Princess honey you cant just spring this on a cat

Oh shes so sweet

Aaaand heres the ooc writing, this doesnt make sense

"It'll be at least 5 moons" would you rather he bring in a 5 moon old kit whos already adjusted to kittypet life?

Ah, there goes elderkit

At least the queens have some compassion

Ah, tom's first panic attack

Chapter 22

Has it been one moon or two? Im not sure

Cinderpaw i still love you

Asha and fern recently stopped nursing, meaning their about a moon old. Only a moon's differemce between them and cloud, then

"With all that white fur" what, like Frostfur? Or Whitestorm? Shut the fuck up, darkstripe

Chapter 23

Yeah, so its been 2 moons since the gorge fight

Deadfoot!!!

Yeah ya'll better shut up, starclan's displeased

Chapter 24

I still dont think fireheart would be this against greystripe's relationship

Ok no yeah fireheart's definitely overthinking this, he was talking about the mossball, dude

Chapter 25

Again! Willowpelt and Darkstripe in the same patrol

I can see Whitestorm being really pissed off at disrespect like this

Tigerclaw really doesnt think before he acts, huh

Good brackenpaw, run boy, run!

Hello brokenstar, you mangy motherfucker

Chapter 26

Spottedleaf's death was six moons ago, though this feels incorrect

Also fireheart, dude, you barely knew her

Kick their ass, frostfur! Kick their ass!

I nearly forgot yellowfang was a warrior before a medicine cat

Pathetic ass brokenstar, wheres your gloating now huh

Eugh can we not have this burden to the clan thing. Like shes allowed to feel like that, but only if the narrative shuts that shit down

Yay whitestorm back at it again being logical

Chapter 27

Yay, sandstorm and dustpelt!

I dont like dustpelt tbh but lets see if he redeems himself

Yeah, yellowfang, you shut that shit down!

Ok damn, greystripe, calm down, i dont even know why your angry anymore

Chapter 28

I might not like incredibly stubborn characters much, but i gotta give it to cloudkit, hes like a moon old and he caught a vole

Ugh i forgot spottedleaf is his messenger

Chapter 29

He just can't get it into his head that he's a hypocrite, huh?

What part of "dont leave the camp unguarded" was missed here, you just took every single warrior with you

Im not as fond as cloudkit as i am with cinder and bracken, but he knows what he wants

Chapter 30

Tigerclaw you arrogant bastard, i still love you though

I didnt see my boy deadfoot, where was he!!

About fuckin time these two reconcile, good god, this could've been sorted chapters ago

My thoughts

Eh, 7/10, a lot of it was just frustrating to read. Im really not a fan of miscommunication tropes or whatever hypocritcal shit was going on between fire and grey. Im also getting really sick of spottedleaf, The cloudkit being brought in scene was bad and weird, and dustpaw's just an asshole.

I liked the mentoring scenes, the apprentices, and yellowfang. I quite like brokenstar and tigerstar, even if their both bastards, and my boy whitestorm is still well written. I like that the queens are good fighters, and how supportive princess is of her brother. We didnt see much of runningwind but im fond of him. They still havent explained why sandstorm warmed up to him so suddenly, but its only book 2

Overall, a bit of a sour one, i definitely prefer the first book, out of the two, and i still think fire and ice should've been the name for the 6th book

[pinkpeccary]

oh i know this one! (source: went through tnp last year to build up a timeline that i never used)

tl;dr: yes the quest lasts all of leaf-fall. they leave at the end of greenleaf and return at the start of leafbare.

they get the dreams in late greenleaf and start the journey then. they reach Midnight and turn back around at "mid leaf-fall". destruction of the forest begins during leaf-fall, and everything with the Tribe happens. there's a blink-and-you-miss-it timeskip at the very end of the quest (because the last part is just a lot of walking with nothing happening) but they return at the start of leafbare.

then the journey to the new territories and the WindClan civil war are all contained in leafbare, with newleaf starting up at the beginning of Twilight.

Larchkit dies while the quest cats are gone but Hollykit dies after they get back. the starvation is more related to the twoleg machinery driving away the prey than to the seasons (although season is also a factor since leafbare has less prey in general. also Hollykit specifically dies on a very cold night because she's weak from starvation)

edit: found my source quotes, under the cut

Midnight chapter 1 (page 7): Brambleclaw's prophecy dream

Midnight chapter 15 (page 179): Leafpaw meets Mothwing during the half-moon meeting

Moonrise chapter 1 (page 11): after meeting with Midnight, they begin the journey home

Dawn prologue (page 3): destruction of the forest is already causing major problems

Dawn chapter 4 (page 46): journey cats return

Starlight chapter 1 (page 21): the Clans arrive at the new territories

Twilight chapter 2 (page 21): shortly after Mudclaw battle

I'm struggling with the seasons in TNP. I remember that it was insanely hot at one point (beginning of the arc?), but then don't Hollykit and Larchkit starve to death while the quest cats are still gone? In my head they starve because it's leaf-bare and there's no prey. So then are the quest cats gone for the entirety of leaf-fall, or do I have the seasons just completely wrong in my head?

[bonefall]

Did bramble try apologizing/reconciling with the three for disowning them? I caaant really see him doing so as itd be him admitting he was wrong to do so and I can see him being the type of guy who never admits hes wrong like ever

I don't think he ever did... in-canon, the reconciliation comes from a confrontation towards the end of the arc just before the Great Battle which would absolutely not happen the way it did, in the Bonefall Rewrite.

After spending all of Canon OotS becoming more and more openly hostile to Squirrelflight and Jay/Lion being clearly affected by it, finally he snaps and starts shouting again, only for Squirrelflight to apologize and beg him to not throw his family away.

“Brambleclaw, I’m sorry.” Squirrelflight moved closer to the ThunderClan deputy. Her voice was stronger now, as if she was tired of being punished for something she had believed to be right. “You have to understand that I never intended to hurt you. I loved you, and was proud to raise these kits with you. You were a wonderful father.” “But I wasn’t their father!” Brambleclaw hissed. “Yes, you were!” Squirrelflight thrust her muzzle close to Brambleclaw’s. Her eyes blazed. “Don’t throw away everything just because you are angry with me!”

-Chapter 17, Omen of the Stars: The Last Hope

Following this, Lionblaze is clearly hurt and tells him how he was proud to be his son, and that is the moment that Brambleclaw realizes he's been... you know. Hurting his children with this bullshit.

So after everything, what brings Brambleclaw around is everyone in his life apologizing and kissing up to him after he's been an asshole for 6 books. Yes, he has a right to be angry-- but why does this series make it everyone else's job to soothe him? Including what's supposed to be his children? The adult, next-in-line leader of an entire Clan?

Squirrelflight is responsible for HIS emotions because he was an 'innocent bystander', but he's not responsible for how he's hurt the innocent bystanders in his OWN life. It's a double standard.

(even ignoring how i think TNP proves brambleclaw is not a trustworthy person who should have power)

Bonefall Rewrite: Brambleclaw's Repentance

So in the Bonefall Rewrite, no. Squirrelflight is not even seen as completely wrong by her Clanmates. She has support! She is able to recognize by this point that she doesn't deserve his treatment. She wouldn't apologize or beg him to reconcile-- everything he's done up to this point, his demotion of her as deputy, his mixed leadership...

He's the one who should be apologizing. She's able to realize that.

And Lionblaze was NOT on Brambleclaw's side when the secret came out. He's never stopped seeing Squirrelflight as his mother, she revealed that Brambleclaw wasn't his father by admitting to Ashfur that her biokits with Bramble were miscarried, ergo, they are NOT part of both the Power of Three AND the Fire and Tiger Prophecy.

And she said that to surprise him just enough to anime-kick him into the tree which saved The Three from the fire. The force of a Flying Ashfur is what knocked it over.

So, there's a situation here where The Three are all very hurt by Brambleclaw's abandonment, Squirrelflight does not feel the need to apologize more than she already has, and he is leader while Hell is about to attack.

...so if he does apologize, I think it's through seeing them have a meeting before the battle where they're reconciling, and he's utterly left out. He realizes that it's not his family anymore, and he's...

I want to say "lost control" but, specifically, he's seeing Tawnypelt again, leaping over the thunderpath to join Tigerstar on the other side.

So it's anger, rage, sadness. He did it to himself and I think he knows it, but GOD it's painful. He doesn't want it to be his own fault, but it is. And he can't begin to apologize; because he doesn't know where to begin.

So, his apology is giving Squirrelflight her deputy position back after the battle. Knowing her Clan will need her, she says yes. And that's where it's left... for now.

[northern-passage]

Please, don't worry about taking your time with updates! Your working solo on a behemoth of a project, it's normal to take a lot of time to write everything, do all the branches, test them and what not. It's humongous! And taking breaks is never a bad thing either. Neither is switching to another project when you feel like it. I think working on more than one thing helps inspiration flow in a way. Stuck on one project? Well, then switching to the other, and the inspiration may just come back for the first one in the meantime.

Anyway, good luck with both projects!

thank you!!

and i agree, i definitely think sometimes taking a break and working on something else actually helps inspire me and makes things easier when i come back to my first project. it happened when i worked on siren's call last year, too. i especially think working on this one has benefited me a lot because it's all been private and just. writing for myself. who knows if this will ever see the light of day but i've enjoyed it and it's For Me, plus it's exciting to know that i'm capable of finishing a big cohesive story, and at the end of the day, writing it will have made me a better writer and my writing for tnp will be stronger 💪😤

[the-owl-tree]

Fallen stars au:

I can imagine Firestar paving a way for peaceful tradings and alliance with bloodclan. Man is going to beat the kittypet xenophobia with a hammer.

Honestly I imagine Mistystar as leader in TNP. Because after everything, I can’t imagine Leopardstar coming out of this intact. She’s either forced to step down or challenged, or hell she’s challenged when she refuses to leave the forest.

Don’t know if Blackstar would still happen or even if he would be alive. Honestly I’m for keeping there so he has to see Misty at every gathering, knowing she took down Leopard and one of his lives and will gladly do so again.

I don’t see Deadfoot properly recovering. Maybe Ashfoot and Mudclaw take over those duties. Not a confirmed leader for a while. I can only imagine the possibilities.

✨Firestar has trust issues✨ he definitely lost his shit when Squirrel went missing.

I can imagine the chaos Hawkfrost could do with the still rebuilding clans and the fragile leaderships.

firestar AS the guy who continuously fights to change the clans is what i wanted so sooo SO bad come on erins he's literally FIRE fire is CHANGE PLEASE ERINS-

I can definitely see Leopardstar being stripped of her rank for her role in the half-clan cat debacle and TigerClan as a whole because unlike what SOME arcs want to believe, she was absolutely down for that shit. As for Blackstar, that's tough...he genuinely shouldn't be leader but I find the idea kind of interesting? Definitely gonna keep him the same minus some actual consequences lol

The Deadfoot situation adds some extra buildup to the WindClan uprising. These guys have been lead by their deputy for moons and then, when he finally wakes up, he raspily reveals one of Tallstar's wishes before he'd be slain and kickstarts a full on civil war before dying Tallstar style.

Definitely right about Hawkfrost, I feel like his struggles would be made even more difficult with how much damage Tigerstar wrought but throw in the destruction of the forest and he has the chance to actually do some damage.

[nightly-ruse]

Overly complicated Ashstar Au: Part 1

(Spans over TNP, PO3, TBC. In this I don’t think OOTS would happen since the conflict is changed and AVOS would happen but in a shorter span of time, in like a super edition or short series)

Inspired a lot by @lockandkeyhyena ‘s au! Go check him out he’s making a animatic currently and it looks awesome for his ashstar au. Part 2 here!

Bramble becomes deputy of TC like in canon, he and Squirrel are mates but problems ofc are there bc he doesn’t like Ashfur and he’s her friend. But Squirrel doesn’t trust Hawkfrost and Bramble is being a little pissy boy about it, punishing her a lot. Very toxic already. (For technicality’s sake I’m saying he trained Whitepaw while Ash trained Birchpaw)

While Ash is now dating Hawk he does still have this attachment to Squirrel. And definitely hates seeing how Bramble treats her.

Hawkfrost crafts his plan to test his brother, either he kills Firestar or he betrays him and if he does then Ash is to leap from the bushes behind him and knock him out. What they get planned for was Brambleclaw attacking Hawkfrost. Caught in surprise he couldn’t roll out of the way of the stake going through his chest. Ashfur is horrified and leap out, but he has to act fast so he rescues Firestar who was coming back from receiving his life and told him that Bramble was working with Hawkfrost to kill him and become leader just like Tigerstar did! Fire is shocked but remembers Tigerclaw doing the same to Bluestar so long ago so he denounces Brambleclaw as deputy and makes Ashfur his deputy instead.

Squirrelflight is obviously horrified, she suspected Hawk of being untrustworthy but never her own mate. She breaks up with him and cries to Ash about it, who can’t help but love that he’s the one she turned to. Though ever beat of his heart reminds him of Hawkfrost. He felt this airy love and warmth with him. His hatred to Bramble is solidified even more. Now Brambleclaw is treated as a cat in their clan, not a clanmate but just there. And Ash makes sure to make his life even harder by giving him many unwanted chores, keeping him away from Squilf, and always making him do Dawn and Dusk patrols.

A bit after this and still reeling from the shock of her ex mate trying to kill her father she agrees to go with Leafpool, and immediately takes in the three for her. When she returns she never states who their sire is, some believing it’s most likely Brambleclaw and she just didn’t want to associate him with her kits. But Ash, looking at the small gray spotty tom with soft blue eyes can’t help but wonder what if their his? Immediately he feels unsure but keeps up the act of a uncle figure to them, helping out when Leaf isn’t there since she’s always so cold to him.

Squirrelflight asks her dad to make one of them apprenticed to Ashfur, a gesture by her to show she cares a lot about him helping her raise the kits (tho it’s purely platonic on her end). As such he gets Lionpaw, the overly ambitious, quick to act, and roaringly loud young cat just as his namesake. While he does try to be a good mentor Lionpaw is a handful and he gets real tired of the guy, sometimes being a bit too harsh though he tries to be nice. He does notice the toms fighting skill and learns that battle training is the best way to keep him interested.

Then he overhears it, walking back to drop off his squirrel and take a nap, he hears whispering form the healer den. Curious he gets closer and sneaks forward to hear. Inside Squilf and Leaf are talking in hushed voices about the three. “We should tell them Leaf it’s not right to keep them in the dark! Plus their almost warriors.” He hears in a anxious tone from Squilf though Leaf’s reply was sharper and clearly a no “Squirrel if anyone finds out who really fathered them I’ll lose everything, they’ll hate us don’t you know? Their whole world would break if they knew!”

He jumps back and drops off the squirrel, shaking the bristling down his spine and trying to stay cool. Too emotional he takes a walk instead, going down to the lake to think. Ash knows they aren’t his now. The little hope of a life after feels like it was shattered. All he can feel is the anger bc if he’s not the sire to them, then their Brambles. The cat who killed his mate here at the lake and hurt Squirrel. Sorry excuse of a mate for her at all when they were together. She chose him? Anger fuels him and he wants vengeance. He would make them feel the pain he did at losing everyone around him.

(For note, no Squirrel never “chose” Brambleclaw over him this is deluded thinking that she is his and any relation to him would be cheating. She didn’t and she is completely innocent just trapped in the crosshairs of two horrible nasty guys who like to control her)

He gets a flaming branch, one he found while checking camp after it was struck by lightning and brought it to a bramble bush near camp, where he tossed it to start the fire. He plays up being the deputy by helping everyone out, going in to ‘save’ the remaining cats who he knows are just Squirrel, the three, and Bramble.

There it is. The three trapped, Squirrel having trouble to push the branch to them. He helps but before they reach the other side he pushes it over, hanging them over the fire on this teetering branch, any moment able to catch on fire and crash them into the fiery flames below. Squirrel shrieks “What are you doing?!” And he just scoffs as he hold the branch steady. She can’t push him away or he’ll lose his grip and the branch will fall along with the three shaking cats she called her kits.

He screams his feelings out. He hated them. He hated her. But most of all he hated the blood that ran through them from their monstrous father. He’s about to lift his paw and let them plummet but Squirrel says the truth. They aren’t her kits. They aren’t Bramble’s most definitely. She took them in because their mother couldn’t. She raised them as her own but she wasn’t the one to kit them. The three are shocked, Ash is surprised. But he can’t let them die now. They don’t deserve that. They didn’t lie or share any blood with the cat who murdered his mate. And they just learned their mom wasn’t even their blood mother. He lets them over, Lionpaw saving Squirrel from a branch as they fled that tried to fall on her but they all make it out with few burns.

None of them speak of what happens as he crafts his plan to hurt the one who really deserved it, not some kits who were innocent of it all. He’s at the river, staring at its moonlit reflection. Memories of laying on his mates back as they floated on the waters surface (like otters), the bright eyes his frosty eyes look at him. He’s swirling his paws in the light when paws slam into his back, pushing him into its depths. He can’t breathe. The waters filling his lungs. But he wasn’t weak, pushing up he launches the cat off his back but they quickly bounce back to finish him off. They wrestle, the only discernible feature of his attacker being hostile glowing green eyes. He’s pinned as claws sink into his throat. He’s about to die. But he can’t yet. No matter how much he missed Hawk he couldn’t see him till he fulfilled what they couldn’t.

“I know who your parents are! I know who really kitted you!”