#I could talk about brambleclaw for hours | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

brackenfur · 3 years ago

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au starting from lost stars/one non canon event mentioned but i cant stop thinking abt a scene where bramblestar slips up abt thinking abt killing firestar in sunset n how squirrel would react to that. this is a very quick drabble aka its not rly thought out or edited, i jsut needed to write and get it out somewhere ! i also cant rly definitively say that everything abt bramblestars version of events/what squirrelflight knew abt the foxtrap scene is canon-accurate since its been a minute since ive read tnp + that time period is extremely muddled in terms of which author writes it and what any cat outside of bramblestar ACTUALLY knows.

anyways tysm for reading <3

"i've sacrificed everything for this relationship, for you," bramblestar snaps, eyes that were at one moment dim and exhausted from his oncoming illness now alight with anger. "you don't even know how much pressure i was under all those years ago, after we got back together and i became deputy. i was dealing with my new position, with thunderclan's mistrust, with hawkfrost telling me to-" and he stops dead in his tracks, eyes widening just slightly as he realizes he let something slip.

squirrelflight blinks, deeply uncomfortable by his reaction. she knows that he and hawkfrost kept communicating after she and bramblestar got back together, and she knows to this day that hawkfrost never had good intentions - but there is something about the way bramblestar looks away from her, how his fur prickles along his spine, that makes her think there's more to this story.

"hawkfrost telling you to what?" she tries to keep up her bravado and confrontational tone so he doesn't detect how disturbed she's becoming, but her voice wavers. "what are you talking about?"

"nothing," he says too quickly, shaking his head. "it doesn't matter. i'm tired, squirrelflight; this leafbare is the worst i've seen, and i'm not feeling my best, either. you know that - i've been so sick, and-"

"yes, you are sick, and i've told you to rest," she reminds him, cutting him off. "and i'm sorry about that, but what are you talking about with hawkfrost?"

"i said it was nothing."

"it doesn't look like it was nothing."

bramblestar sets his jaw, shaking his head. "you know how he was. i was just going to say that he was just trying to pressure me to stop talking to you, that's it."

it doesn't feel like that was it. she has no love for hawkfrost and doesn't particularly care that he didn't like her much either - but bramblestar wouldn't be so upset and secretive about something that trivial. there's more.

"you're not telling me something," she says finally. "i know you - or, i mean, i think i know you. you're hiding something from me about hawkfrost, and i swear to starclan - we just had a conversation the other night about being truthful."

"i've always been truthful."

"it seems like you're not right now, though. i've laid out all of my secrets and told you every bad thing i've done - i've let the whole forest know my demons. not by choice, but what's done is done. there's something you're not telling me about hawkfrost - and don't tell me he didn't like me, we all know that. what was he telling you to do?"

he twitches his whiskers. "squirrelflight, you need to drop it."

this just makes her more angry. "i've told you everything i've done and you're always going on about how we need to stay truthful to each other to make this work - whatever it is, i'll listen to you about it. i know how hawkfrost was - did he want you to take over the forest, or something? i know he talked to mudclaw about things like that; he wasn't subtle about his plans to be tigerstar junior."

bramblestar looks deeply uncomfortable. "i didn't do what he wanted me to do, you know i didn't," he finally says after what seems like an hour; she blinks, unsure of what he's talking about.

"what do you mean? like...yeah, you didn't take over-"

"he wanted me to become thunderclan's leader. that's it. now, please, just drop it."

she frowns. she kind of expected that, but there's....a deep shame in his eyes, and she thinks there's an element to this story he's not saying. he's being evasive and private, and her heart begins to beat harder when she really, really thinks back on all those years ago.

a memory surfaces, one that she always thought about with pain and yet an underlying feeling of pride - for brambleclaw, for her mate, for saving her father....

it hits her then. she always thought that the foxtrap was brambleclaw's moment of undying loyalty to her father - stumbling upon hawkfrost about to kill firestar, and immediately jumping to his defense. that's always how he told it, anyways; he knew what hawkfrost wanted to do, and put an end to it.

but there were always these underlying moments that she couldn't quite place over the years - some type of underlying shame and embarrassment that she just chalked up to grief for his brother.

they look at each other, and she tries to keep calm. "when you found my father in the foxtrap," she says slowly. "did you think about letting hawkfrost kill him?"

bramblestar's beat of silence is all she needed to know; he immediately tries recovering it, though.

"squirrelflight, i would've never done that- hawkfrost and tigerstar were-"

"tigerstar? what does your father have to do with this?"

bramblestar is very quiet; she thinks that the world around them is completely silent as they stand in the middle of a snowy clearing. the cold usually heightens the sounds in the air, but in this moment all squirrelflight can hear is the thudding of her own heart.

bramblestar seems like he's trying to piece his thoughts together carefully; she forces herself to wait until he finally says: "i was never going to do it," he says, voice tight with emotion. "squirrelflight, i loved your father - you know that." she can barely hear him anymore as she finally grasps what exactly he's telling her. "my father and my brother- you've heard about how they are from lionblaze and ivypool and the others that went to the dark forest, how could i have- they were my family once, i thought that maybe-"

so that was his big secret, the one that he never meant for her to uncover. everything makes a little more sense now; the guilt and shame in bramblestar's eyes for those first seasons after hawkfrost's death whenever he'd look at firestar, the overcompensation bramblestar tried to preform as deputy. it wasn't because he felt like he allowed his brother to cause harm to firestar before saving him, it was-

"hawkfrost told you to kill firestar," she says softly, looking up at her mate. "but that- if it was just that, you would have told me, not lead me to believe that hawkfrost was the one who wanted to do it all along," she feels herself shaking as the shame begins to come back into bramblestar's expression. "you thought about, didn't you? about killing my father so you could become leader?"

bramblestar gives one moment of hesitation, and she shakes her head.

"i'm going to be sick," she says quickly, stepping away from him.

"i didn't hurt him. it wasn't-"

"this whole time, you've shamed me and made me feel like the worst cat that's been born because i kept a secret for my sister," she almost spits, her fur raising. "i don't know if i was morally right or wrong, i don't know what anyone else would do in my paws during that time - but you made me feel like i was worthless for a year because i protected leafpool, and now i finally get to know that you not only met up frequently with tigerstar but that you actually- you thought about killing my father. you thought about hurting firestar just so you could become leader."

ashfur's jibe all those years ago suddenly makes more sense - after the fire, the way he bumped into her with his shoulder and sneered you don't really even know your own mate, do you?

who knew that even after all this time after his death, ashfur still got the last laugh.

#srry mobile users if the read more doesnt work!! sometimes they do sometimes they dont #warrior cats #im....very stressed bc of whast going on w my family rn and my sis' dog but writing this helped take my mind off of things #i hope u enjoy its been awhile isnce i wrote LMAO #also srry if its ooc/not lining up w canon but honestly idgaf i Tried #writing tag #shark noises

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warriorsfireandwater · 4 years ago

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Warriors Analysis 2: A Breakdown of the Crow/Night/Breeze Family Dynamic

I said I would do it, so here we are. The big doozy. For this one, I’m going to putting all of the sourced scenes in a linked google doc, because I just don’t want to make this post a million miles long. Instead, for this post, I will sum up all of the conclusions made after reviewing every scene involving the family from Po3 through OotS, with other relevant information from other books included.

Context of this one: I’ve watched (and participated in) a lot of debate over this family. Just about every single argument I’ve seen tends to:

1) rely on a person’s opinion of a character overall to how they feel about the family (”I found Nightcloud annoying” often goes along with “Nightcloud is equally bad of a parent” or “Breezepelt was a bad person so I don’t sympathize with him in the family situation”)

2) misremember canon

3) rely on a person’s headcanons of what actually happened to shape their judgement of the family (”Nightcloud spoiled Breezepelt and told him Crowfeather is bad” when there are zero canon scenes of this happening)

Some ground rules: I’m relying on breaking down the canon scenes in the books. I am NOT inserting my own thoughts or beliefs as to what happened behind the scenes. If there’s anything bordering on that (”this behavior implies X”), it’ll be clearly stated that it’s an interpretation. I ask that if you want to comment or debate this analysis that you do the same. People’s headcanons shaping how they remember the family is the thing that frustrated me enough to spend hours digging this up. As a personal request, please don’t use this post to say “Nightcloud still sucks and I hate her”/”Breezepelt still sucks and I hate him”/”neglect isn’t abuse” - the latter is definitively incorrect and is upsetting to hear as a survivor of abuse. “X character still is bad” just takes away from the point of this - which is not to say “Breezepelt is a good person”, but PURELY to breakdown the family dynamic. With that out of the way, let’s GO:

After looking at literally every scene involving Breezepelt, Crowfeather, and Nightcloud and analyzing the ones that involve or mention them as a family, here’s some key points. The scenes that back these points up are included and detailed in this doc.

Breezepaw is introduced to us as a bit aggressive and rude, and his mentor, Whitetail, wishes to Crowfeather that she would teach him manners (earning her no response from him)

We first properly see Nightcloud during the dog attack in The Sight, when Breezepaw returns from checking the barrier. Breezepaw reports that there is no damage, and Crowfeather immediately questions if he actually checked all the way around. Breezepaw tells him “Of course!”, and Nightcloud says that Crowfeather should trust his son more.

This suggests Nightcloud is ready to defend Breezepaw whenever. However, as ThunderClan is leaving, Breezepaw mutters that WindClan can manage on their own. Nightcloud immediately scolds him and compliments Lionpaw for saving Heatherpaw during the battle.

Later, at the daylight Gathering, Lionpaw and Breezepaw are buried underground. Crowfeather and Nightcloud help dig them out, and Breezepaw is not breathing when he comes out. Jaypaw has to pull dirt out of his throat to save his life.

Leafpool says to Crowfeather that she would “give [her] last drop of blood to save [his kit]”. Nightcloud sharply retorts that “our kit was lucky that Jaypaw was here”.

Nightcloud carries Breezepaw away from the scene “like a kit”. Crowfeather offers to help, but she carries him on her own. She does not push him away/force him away/shout at him, she literally just chooses to carry him. Nightcloud spends the rest of the daylight Gathering curled around Lionpaw and Breezepaw and keeping them resting.

We learn these things from the Sight: Breezepaw and Crowfeather seem to have a tense relationship, but that isn’t fully developed. Nightcloud is willing to defend him from Crowfeather’s doubts, but notably does not defend him when he acts like a punk in front of her. She is bothered by Leafpool’s comment about giving her life for Breezepaw (which I personally find pretty reasonable to be bothered by), but counters by giving her gratitude to Jaypaw. She wants to carry Breezepaw after he nearly dies, but isn’t pushing Crowfeather away or denying him anything like many people claim.

In Dark River, Crowfeather encourages Breezepaw’s bias against ThunderClan, telling him that they “celebrate mixed blood” in a tone that implies it as a negative thing. (It seems implied he does this to get to Leafpool, who is upset by his comment.)

Jaypaw is able to feel Nightcloud’s jealous emotions on a few occasions, but she actually never says anything to Leafpool or Crowfeather about it.

In Outcast, Crowfeather is called to go on the journey to the Tribe. Onestar tells him to take Breezepaw, who has gotten in trouble a few times. Breezepaw makes it very plain he doesn’t want to go and worries that his Clanmates are just trying to get rid of him. Crowfeather wants to go, but “sighs” over the idea of taking Breezepaw. To me, he comes off as disinterested and possibly disappointed that he has to bring him. Crowfeather snaps at Breezepaw for asking to say goodbye to his friends, saying “There isn’t time!” even though literally no one is rushing them to leave. Nightcloud comes to say goodbye, but Crowfeather is distant and doesn’t respond to her.

Throughout Outcast, each POV character has at least one (if not many) moments where they think about Crowfeather/Breezepaw and feel pity for Breezepaw, despite really hating him. Hollypaw especially thinks often about how she appreciates Brambleclaw for encouraging and supporting her, and the apprentices all seem to realize that Breezepaw is angry because his father “doesnt seem to like him”.

When questioning why they have to help the tribe, Crowfeather just tells Breezepaw “You’ll never understand loyalty.”

When they run into Purdy, Breezepaw is pretty rude to him. Crowfeather doesn’t interrupt a single time throughout multiple insults, then reacts by hitting him across the ear without saying anything, which is noted as “a hard blow”.

Breezepaw nearly dies falling off into a ravine after thinking he’s discovered a faster way. Crowfeather pulls him back and snaps at him, expressing no concern for his life. In Eclipse, Crowfeather pointedly does not compliment Breezepaw’s catch of the rabbit, which angers Breezepaw.

During the reveal of Leaf/Crow in the last book, Breezepelt and Nightcloud stand by Crow’s side and don’t publicly turn on him or say anything against him.

This journey gives us a lot of insight into Crow and Breeze’s dynamic. Breezepaw is pretty obviously a little punk throughout this book, but Crowfeather has no healthy way of communicating with him or discipling him. Instead, he snaps at him, hits him, or ignores him, all of which just feeds into Breezepaw’s anger. Nightcloud is not present for any of this and has no way of controlling their interactions here, which could have been a perfect opportunity for Crowfeather to build a relationship with his son if it were true that Night had prevented this.

Breezepelt shows up in Fading Echoes, training in the Dark forest. A few things are made explicit: he is being manipulated by the Dark Forest and Tigerstar’s words have an almost hypnotic effect on him. The cats present egg him on against Crowfeather, feeding into his belief that Crow does not value him. (Side note, I find it really interesting that in this book, Breezepelt has notable value in the warrior code [which encourages his hate towards Crow] and the DF cats encourage this, saying it is “strong” in his blood. Next time we see him, though, he wants to destroy it.)

Flametail randomly thinks about Breezepelt’s family while spending time with Tawnypelt, feeling glad he has nicer kin.

We get the infamous scene where Lion and Breeze fight. Breeze and Crow were both trespassing on ThunderClan territory and Lion caught the prey Breezepelt was about to catch. He intentionally eggs Breezepelt into a fight (rather than just attacking him himself). Leafpool interrupts, asking how Crow can watch this. Nightcloud then shows up and insists Crowfeather has only one son. Leafpool jumps in between them as Breezepelt is leaping for Lionblaze, and she gets clawed. Crowfeather hauls him off and throws him aside, then keeps talking to Leafpool, who tells him she loved him.

Nightcloud then comes over and pulls Crowfeather away from Leafpool. She sinks her claws into his pelt to do this. However, it’s worth noting that this scene contains MANY references to blood every time claws come out - she does not draw blood and he does not express any signal of pain. It’s likely she used her claws only as a means of holding onto him, not to cause him harm. Crowfeather turns on him, and Breezepelt wails before getting between them, telling Crowfeather to leave his mother alone.

Nightcloud doesn’t react rationally in this scene - but neither does any character. Lionblaze is an ass, Breezepelt is an ass, Crowfeather is an ass, and Leafpool is still walking around making declarations of her former love in front of Crowfeather’s wife.

Nightcloud is one of the cats to react rudely to Hollyleaf’s return, but she doesn’t directly attack/challenge her. (This is actually the last time we see Nightcloud.)

The final meaningful scene is in The Last Hope, when Breezepelt fights Lionblaze. Crowfeather intervenes and says he will not allow Breezepelt to hurt him. Breezepelt retorts he always knew Crowfeather hated him, which Crow denies.

“I never hated you!” Crowfeather growled. “That’s just what you were determined to believe. And Nightcloud encouraged you.”

“It’s not her fault!” Breezepelt spat.

“No,” Crowfeather hissed. “I should have done something much earlier...”

This is the first and only time this is blamed on Nightcloud. This is the only indication we have that this could be true.

Some other notable things:

Crowfeather took Nightcloud as a mate to prove his loyalty, not out of love. (This is said in After Sunset: We need to talk)

The Ultimate Guide also confirms the above, but is a questionable source given the many errors included in it. It states that Crowfeather resents Nightcloud (for not being Leafpool), and that Nightcloud coddled Breezepelt. However, the latter is never shown in the story (and the opposite is actually shown when she scolds him).

In Crowfeather’s Trial, Crowfeather is pushed to recognize his anger towards his son and apologize for his behavior towards him and Nightcloud. Even in an entire book from Crow’s perspective (which provides opportunity for memories, flashbacks, etc), there is no indication that Nightcloud actually pushed Breezepelt to hate Crowfeather. There’s a throwaway mention that Crowfeather was too strict or too rough with Breezepelt as a kit, but it’s never actually said that Nightcloud told him this/kept him away/etc. (IE: it’s impossible to say if Nightcloud screamed this at him or asked him once to be gentle. We just don’t know!)

With all this said, here’s my take on the dynamic:

Crowfeather was a neglectful father and an inconsiderate mate. The only scene we get where he seems to actually get along with Breezepaw is when he is encouraging him to dislike ThunderClan by feeding into hatred for “mixed blood” cats. In all other scenes, he: 1) ignores his bad behavior, 2) is unnecessarily harsh to him or dismissive of him, 3) questions and undermines him, 4) does not have healthy ways of addressing his poor behavior (IE, he ignores and turns away from him rather than discussing it when all the apprentices are in trouble and the other warriors are scolding them, he flat-out hits Breezepaw at one point after saying nothing to intervene in his rudeness), and 5) blames Nightcloud for their bad relationship. Crowfeather is provided plenty of opportunities to interact with Breezepaw while Nightcloud isn’t present (in fact, Nightcloud shows up very little - most scenes of the family have just Breeze and Crow, there are many books where Nightcloud isn’t even mentioned).

Nightcloud was literally just being a normal mom and was often pushed to feeling jealous around Leafpool, often because Leafpool doesn’t have any boundaries around hinting about loving Crowfeather for some reason. I was actually really shocked by how... absolutely fuckin brazen Leafpool is 24/7 about waltzing up to Crowfeather while his wife is standing right there and going “just so you know......... i miss you........... i’d give my life for you......” It’s just WEIRD. IMO, it’s pretty damn reasonable for that to make Nightcloud irritated! Most of the time, she never actually voices her jealousy, we just know about it because of Jaypaw’s ability. When she does, it’s sometimes done by complimenting someone else or giving credit to another cat, like when Jaypaw saves Breezepaw. There is zero text in the story supporting the idea that Nightcloud was overbearing or that she spoiled him: we have TWO SCENES where she has character moments around this. In the first, she is defending him from Crowfeather’s doubt, and in the second, she is scolding him for being ungrateful to ThunderClan for their help.

Breezepelt was a kid that grew up feeling unloved, unappreciated, and angry and resentful as a result. The Dark Forest, not Nightcloud, fed into this belief, but we also have a whole lot of scenes that show why that feeling of resentment towards Crowfeather is there to begin with.

The final hot take: If you believe Nightcloud ‘spoiled’ Breezepelt or that she was ‘overbearing and possessive’, you need to reread Po3 and OotS. It’s just not there.

(Bonus: I love Leafpool but god, girl, you need to read a room.)

#warrior cats #warrior cats analysis #crowfeather #breezepelt #nightcloud

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lockandkeyhyena · 3 years ago

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what about hawkash makes you go :)

like is it the mutual male equivalent of girlbossing they do cause its funni? or bc its like "finally these two can work out their issues together" or something else entirely

honestly i think its a myriad of reasons that somehow contradict eachother??? for example here are some of my fave hawkash dynamics

1. hawkfrost rebound/pity date. just,, hawkfrost seing this small sad pathetic man and going ‘aww cmon,, its not that bad,, u wanna go out for dinner??’ and ashfur just latching onto him because of his attachment issues and hawkfrost is like ‘i guess i have to live with this now’

2. pathetic evil greasy men are my weakness and i am rightfully ashamed. its just,, mutual girlbossing but also manpatheticing. we stan

3. PARALELLS. I AM FROTHING AT THE MOUTH. both dying in water, both losing siblings as kits, both losing their mother figures young, both with complex feelings towards brambleclaw, both with complex relationships with their sisters, hawk ending up in the dark forest and ashfur ending up in starclan. i can go on

4. murder husbands,,,

5. exploring unhealthy/interesting dynamics in relationshipsss. hawkfrost is really manipulative and ashfur has massive attachment issues (theyre also both murderers but thats neither here nor there- another parallel- neither actually killed anyone while alive, only directly murdering people after their deaths) and just,, this messy complex relationship wheres its toxic and unhealthy and theyre kinda ruining each other but theres still feelings there and i could talk for hours

#anon you have opened the floodgates #i am not going to be able to stop thinking abt these guys for days #yeen rambles #ask #warriors #hawkfrost #hawkash #warrior cats #ashfur #also ‘this girl rejected me for another man so i got with his brother’ is fucking gold

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purlplebat · 3 years ago

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more on my last post about if spike’s, angel’s, and buffy’s relationship was more/is like squirrelflight’s, ashfur’s and brambleclaw’s in warrior cats.

buffy fits into squirrels role because they both have something chosen/special about them. squirrel is firestars daughter, she went to the sun drown place, and a bunch of other stuff. Buffy was chosen as the slayer obviously. they also both have these dramatic love interest arcs. plus, they have kinda similar personalities. they are both proud, strong, and honestly girlbosses.

spike is brambleclaw for several reasons. one, like I said in the last post bramblesquirrel is cannon, like spuffy.(bramblesquirrel sucks ass tho. i can talk about that for hours lmao) and, bramble and spike are just kinda similar. brambles whole plot with his father, tigerstar, lines up with spike. bramble tries escaping his father, but ultimately fails and ends up training with him, and if we are gonna be honest, just becoming his father. spike tries escaping his identity as a vampire, but ends up embracing it. and if we are gonna be honest, bramble and spike are both dicks, but spike is cooler about it.

now let’s get into my favorite part of this, angel is ashfur. ashfur is incredibly self destructive. he almost kills squirrels kits, and after he dies, he takes over brambles body, squirrels mate, to get with squirrel, and while he’s at it, just makes a mess. and may i mind you that the mess revolves around the saying of, “ it’s what god wants and it will make everything better. “ angel is also self destructive, hurting friends and loved ones for what he thinks is the greater good, and what will make everyone happy. angel would absolutely hurt his loved ones, if he thought it would be for the better, just like ashfur. and I just get possession vibes from angel, and he would do it because “ god wanted him to “

also, some people ship bramble with ash, and if spike was bramble, and angel was ash, that would make it spangel lmao

i could go on and on about this, and talk about how I could fit Buffy, spike and angel into the fire scene and a bunch of other stuff, but I’ll leave this post here. But do expect more of this lmao

#Stan Buffy and warrior cats #I dont care how many buffy fans have also read warriors #Or how many warrior fans have seen buffy #i post what I want #my blog #I post what ever the fuck I want #i dont care if this makes sense #I wrote this whole thing on a phone btw #btvs #buffy #buffyverse #buffy the vampire slayer #warrior cats #warriors #warriors fandom

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theanoninyourinbox · 3 years ago

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Longstar Au May the 4th be With You Always part 2

Hello and welcome back to an AU that has gotten out of my control. Sorry it’s been a bit, I’ve had this written up for a few days, but it’s been tweaked and retweaked until I had to stop or it might gain sentience or something. Just a quick note, I have some notes on the designs page of some of the deaths of the villains - some of these have been retconned. With that in mind, let’s finish - that’s right, I said finish - the Longstar AU!!!

Up in Starclan, it’s chaos. Cats are yelling, Bluestar is hollering about prophecies, and Yellowfang wants to know if ANYONE was watching Dovepaw. As the chaos dies down, discussions on the war begin, and Yellowfang is angry that it’s being talked about as casually as gossip about who’s dating who. Canon continues until...

Lionblossom is finishing treating Thunderclan’s wounds, while Jaywhisker sits nearby, trembling. He can’t believe he’s responsible for the death of Russetfur, she just twisted wrong and landed on his outstretched claws. Lionblossom tried comforting him, but words won’t bring back a good warrior, who would have been a wonderful leader. He finally drifts off to sleep, only to see a golden-pelted warrior training with Tigerstar.

Jaywhisker jerks awake to Cinderheart gently prodding him. She apologizes for waking him, but something flew into the hollow, and she doesn’t want to look for it alone, and Jaywhisker looked like sleep wasn’t restful, so could he come? Jaywhisker agrees, glad for the distraction, and the two scare off an enormous white owl. Cinderheart tells Jaywhisker that she’s worried about him, and he thanks her for the concern, even if he’s confused why she cares. They head for an early patrol, and run across Embertail. He’s furious, but before he can run off, Jaywhisker begs him for a chance to explain. Embertail spits, about to fire off a retort, but Jaywhisker looks like misery incarnate, and Embertail pulls himself together, and listens. Jay quietly wails out his horror and guilt, and asserts that none of this should have happened, especially to such an honorable warrior like Russetfur. As he leans on Cinderheart, trying to pull himself together, Embertail recalls how the blind warrior helped his family when Shadowclan abandoned their faith, and how loyal he was to the Code and his family. So, instead of calling him a murderer, Embertail says he’ll go to Starclan for guidance, and Jaywhicker begs him to ask Russetfur for forgiveness. Embertail agrees and heads back to Shadowclan, and Jaywhisker apologizes to Cinderheart for crying on her. Cinderheart responds, what else are friends for? Canon continues until...

Dovepaw tries to convince Ivypaw to stop spying on the Dark Forest. Look what they did to me, and I’m the Prophecy Cat! Ivypaw retorts back excuse me, if you’d gone to someone before yowling your pretty little head off about Shadowclan being evil, maybe this wouldn’t have happened! Maybe make this not all about you? And Ivypaw storms off, genuinely angry at her sister for once. Canon continues until...

Littlecloud, laying near death in the medicine den, asks Embertail to go to the Moonpool, and ask Starclan for guidance. The ghosts of Shadowclan rise in flames, and tell Embertail the clans must stand alone. Before they can fade, Embertail, who’s been thinking hard and talking to his mentor, fires back that if the clans were closer, maybe the battle wouldn’t have happened in the first place! Stunned by the retort, most of the ghosts return to Starclan, where Yellowfang says I told you that was stupid, but Runningnose and Russetfur hang back, with Runningnose congratulating Embertail on his bravery, and Embertail giving Russetfur Jaywhisker’s apology. Russetfur says she needs to think on it, and the last Starclan cats return to the stars. Blackstar, on hearing the message, agrees with the Shadowclan ghosts, but Littlecloud and Embertail argue for unity. Canon continues until...

Ivypaw goes to train in the Dark Forest, and bumps into Mapleshade, who shows interest in her. Brambleclaw inserts himself between them, commanding Mapleshade to back off, but he’s a few octaves higher than normal, and Mapleshade bows out, laughing. Ivypaw then fake praises the Shadowclan ruse, and Brambleclaw preens, then introduces her to his posse. In the group of Dark Forest residents is Snowtuft, hanging back, and every time Brambleclaw looks away, Snowtuft looks miserable, which is normal for the Dark Forest, but also regretful, which is definitely new. Later, she overhears Tigerstar praising Goldenheart on learning a new technique. When she wakes, Ivypaw tells Jaywhisker and Lionblossom about the Shadowclan warrior and the possibly remorseful ghost, which both interest the brothers greatly. Canon continues until...

Embertail falls through the ice. Jaywhisker leaps into the water, his blindness a boon in this situation. As he struggles to hold onto Embertail, a weird floaty old tom tries to convince him it’s Embertail’s time. Jaywhisker completely ignores him, thinking it’s a Dark Forest trick, and drags Embertail free of the waters, but it’s been hours, and Embertail’s breathing steady, but he won’t wake up!!!

Meanwhile in the Dark Forest, Ivypaw is lead to the wandering spirit of Embertail by Tigerstar and commanded to kill. Goldenheart leaps in, and as the two squabble, Embertail is lead away by Yellowfang. Tigerstar is impressed by Ivypaw’s spirit, and decides she’s loyal to the Dark Forest.

Meanwhile in the Tribe, Feathertail watches over her brother’s kits. She looks tired and worn, but when Brook asks if she’s alright, Feathertail insists she’s fine. Back in Shadowclan, Embertail wakes up!!! All he remembers is falling in the water, and seeing Yellowfang, but nothing with his brother or Ivypaw. Canon continues until...

When Icecloud falls in the hole. Jaywhisker begins to have a panic attack, and Cinderheart helps him breathe throught it. Behind them, Ivypaw, Dovepaw, Wormpaw, and Icecloud all bet on how long before they start dating. When they get back to camp, Dovepaw becomes Dovewing, Ivypaw becomes Ivyleaf (for her capability to grow), and poor left-out Wormpaw becomes Wormwood (for his steady, dependable spirit). Canon continues until...

Jaywhisker ventures into the tunnel, hoping sadly to recover Hollywish, but all that’s there is a tuft of fur, and an old bloodstain. To his dawning joy, maybe his sister is alive?!? But he refuses to keep his hopes high. He doesn’t want to get hurt. Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf and Antpelt fight in the Dark Forest, and she beats him so soundly he wakes up. Mapleshade emerges from nearby, and promises Ivyleaf that she’s ready for “special training”, which worries Ivyleaf, but what choice does she have? Canon continues until...

At the Gathering, Dovewing refuses to talk to Goldenheart, pissed off at him. Bumblestripe follows her around a tad creepily, but is interrupted by Grasspelt asking about Briarlight. Dovewing gently breaks the news to Grasspelt, who’s horrified but relieved, and asks Brightheart is he can come visit, and she agrees. Dawnpelt catches Dovewing before gathering ends and tells her that Goldenheart is in it for Dovewing. Canon continues until...

Lionblossom hars voices calling from the mountain, and Longstar, knowing he’ll just sneak off if not allowed, sends him off to the Tribe with Foxflight, Shrewleg, Wolfleap (formerly Foxleap), and Frostfoot. Yellowfang wonders what the Tribe is up to, that’s HER himbo descendant, excuse you! Canon continues until...

While walking out in the woods, Cinderheart tells Jaywhisker that she overheard Dovewing talking to Ivyleaf about Prophecies, and Jay admits to what’s going on. Cinderheart starts panicking, oh man I’m not worthy to date such an important cat!?! Jaywhisker goes wait wait wait, we’re dating? And I’m supposed to be the smart brother! There’s a moment where they just stare at each other, then burst into laughter until they fall down. Wormwood wins the Date Bet by a day, and gets three juicy mice for winning. Canon continues until...

Breezepelt stops by Thunderclan, obviously in a state. He tells Longstar that someone snuck into camp and killed his friend Antpelt, have you seen any wandering loners? Dovewing panics, thinking Ivyleaf’s in danger, but Ivyleaf scoffs. What, you think a measly Dark Forest warrior could take me? I’m so offended I’m gonna give you a noogie! Canon continues until...

When Goldenheart pins Ivytail in the Dark Forest, she whispers in his ear that she’d never hurt his sibling, and he backs off, but also because she yeets him off. When Blossomfall is introduced as a new trainee, Ivyleaf is horrified, excuse me, you’re the sensible one?!? Canon continues until...

The patrol makes it to the Tribe, and Foxflight reunites with her old friends. Wolfleap convinces the Tribe trainees to show him their eagle-catching techniques, though he gets scolded for it. While there, Lionblossom dreams of the origins of the Tribe, and when Half-Moon speaks to him, Lionblossom confesses his crush. She reciprocates, saying she’s been keeping an eye on him, which isn’t creepy at all! Canon continues until...

Somewhere in here, Sandstorm and Coldlight become mates, after both searching their feelings and discussing their boundaries, like sensible adults. Ivyleaf and Blossomfall become lost in the tunnels, and a shadowy molly leads them to safety, along with a ghostly Fallen Leaves. Canon continues until...

Flora is nearly carried off by an eagle, and Wolfleap, Foxflight, and Frostfoot attack it, saving Flora but losing Swoop, to their grief. Lionblossom talks to Stoneteller, and chooses Crag as the next Stoneteller. He silently promises Half-Moon he’ll wait for her if she’ll wait for him.

Sol approaches the Clans, vowing revenge, but boy oh boy will he be surprised!!!

While out patrolling, Birchfall tells Ivyleaf he saw her training in the Dark Forest, and Ivyleaf internally flips out. At the border, Furzepaw sides with the Thunderclan warriors, confusing Heathertail and Breezepelt. Whitewing and Dovewing are gathering moss, and Dovewing has to tell her mother that no, she does NOT want to be set up with Bumblestripe, maybe try Rosepetal, she like him. Can we talk about something else? Please? Whitewing agrees, and later sets up Rosepetal with Bumblestripe in a scheme involving a frog, moss, and a convinient field of flowers. The two become mates, and Dovewing sighs in relief, especially when Bumblestripe apologizes for being obsessive. Also, because Embertail lived, Dawnpelt doesn’t hate Jaywhisker. Canon continues until...

Cherrypaw and Molepaw are rescued from the tunnels by the shadowy molly, but Sol shows up, claiming he rescued the apprentices. He’s chased from Thunderclan and yeeted over the border by an angry mob. Later, Dovewing hears Sol setting up trouble in Windclan, and she and Ivyleaf head through the tunnels to stop him.

of course they get lost almost immediately, and are also lead out by the shadowy molly. As the molly heads back into the tunnels, Jaywhisker appears. Oh there you are, where did you goooOOO MY SWEET GRAN-GRAN’S LEFT FANG!!!! He leaps past the warriors and tackles the molly, yowling in joy. It’s Hollywish!!! Jaywhisker drags her back to camp, with Dovewing and Ivyleaf trailing behind. Hollywish’s return to Thunderclan camp is a joyous occasion, as her mother, brother, aunt, uncles, and grandparents descend on her in tears of delight and relief. Dovewing heads to her grandmother Brightheart and tells her about her “suspicion”, plus aren’t there some family members missing? Shortly after, Crowfeather and Breezepelt charge into camp, with Heathertail and Gorseflicker close behind with Ivyleaf. Canon continues until...

Hollywish explains that she was injured badly, and became badly lost and disoriented, only saved by Fallen Leaves, and was regaining both her strength and her confidence before returning. The Windclan warriors and Thunderclan hatch a plan to catch Sol in his own trap. Canon continues until...

Lionblossom fills Yellowfang in on Jaywhisker and Cinderheart, and they both realize she might get confused if Cinderpelt’s memories show up, so they break it to her gently. She freaks out, but Jaywhisker notes he’s never seen Cinderpelt in her dreams, so she must be more of a watchful spirit. She calms down and calls for Cinderpelt to appear, and she does. The two have a private conversation, and then Yellowfang escorts her apprentice to Starclan. Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf and Dark Forest Antpelt fight on the order of Brambleclaw, and she kills Antpelt. Sunstrike and Furzepelt threaten her, and she stalks off, acting haughty, until out of earshot, where she loses her mind, lashing out and weeping bitterly. When she stops wailing, she hears someone else weeping. On investigation, she finds Snowtuft tearing up the ground, wailing into the muck, and cursing his own stupidity and cruelty. Ivyleaf, seeing an opportunity, and a cat that might be salvageable, she walks up to him and comforts the Dark Forest cat. When he’s done, the two have a conversation that leads to a future surprise. Canon continues until...

Windclan fakes allowing Sol in, and fake an attack on Thunderclan, but loop back with Thunderclan in tow. Mudstar and Longstar stand united, and after spitting hate to a distant clan, Sol flees. Later, he’s found by some twolegs, and becomes a pampered internet star.

With all four of the Prophecised cats here, preparations begin in the clans, in the Dark Forest, and in Starclan. Mothwing finds a shadow that refuses to fade, and the medicine cats bring their leaders to the Moonpool. Starclan reveals that they’re ready for battle, and plans are hatched. Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf tells the Four that Birchfall and Blossomfall are Dark Forest trainees, which horrifies Dovewing, but then Ivyleaf reveals she’s undermined all the trainees from within. When she and Snowtuft had their talk, they planned together. Snowtuft secretly took each and every trainee, and showed them what they were truly doing, planting doubts and turning some back to the clans. Canon continues untill

The Battle Begins!!

Shadowclan calls for aid, and Greystripe and Jaywhisker bolt there to help. Even in his blindness, Jaywhisker can see the gruesome Ghosts and shining Spirits battling in his peripherals. As they enter the camp, Blackstar rises from losing a life. He then kills Redwillow for being a traitor, and Jaywhisker duels with Shredtail, scattering him into the aether. Suddenly Greystripe yowls in grief, and Jaywhisker hears the voice of Feathertail assuring him she’ll always be with him and watch over Briarlight. Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf runs into Goldenheart, and she confronts him angrily. He swears to do better by the Code, the clan, and by his sister. Ivyleaf declares that he better, because Dovewing still loves him, even if Ivyleaf thinks he’s a big fat jerk. Goldenheart says you know what, that’s fair. Canon continues until...

Over in Windclan, Heathertail and Breezepelt drag drag Furzepaw and Sunstrike apart as the battle rages around them. Furzepaw declares Sunstrike a traitor to their true ideals and the Dark Forest, and Sunstrike yowls back that the Dark Forest lied to them and killed Antpelt!! Breezepelt reels back in shock, as Antpelt was his best friend. They’re interrupted by Crowfeather and Nightcloud racing past, then pouncing on and killing Houndleap. Gorseflicker is heard screeching in rage, shredding and scattering a ghost to the winds, and a shining Deadfoot trounces a cat until they flee, past the glowing forms of Onewhisker and Tallstar. Canon continues until...

Brambleclaw confronts Ivyleaf, spitting curses at her disloyalty. She counters that she’s not the only one, and Snowtuft drops out of a tree. The three tussle until Ivyleaf is pinned and Snowtuft was thrown loose. As Brambleclaw raises a paw for the death blow, two blurs knock him off - Hollywish and Foxflight! They professionally murder him, and Ivyleaf thanks Snowtuft for his help, and wishes him well. As she thanks him, the gruesome aura all Dark Forest cats have lessens on Snowtuft, though it doesn’t completely fade. Mousefur, standing nearby, goes I beg your PARDON that’s wild. She peppers Snowtuft with questions, and the two race off to fight side by side. Canon continues until...

Darkstripe and Brokenstar attack the Thunderclan camp, with Brokenstar heading straight for the nursery. Sorreltail and Brackenfur nearly gleefully kill Darkstripe, as Honeyfern and Fercloud face off against Brokenstar. She kills Honeyfern, and pins Ferncloud, but Yellowfang slams into her errant kit, and kills Brokenstar once more. Yellowfang then lays Honeyfern somewhere safe, and sets herself up to guard the camp. Canon continues until...

Crowfeather rushes to Thunderclan to find Swiftpool and the rest of his kits, after seeing Windclan safe. Mapleshade leaps into his path, just as he sees Swiftpool in the distance. The pair double team Mapleshade before she can spout any rhetoric about forbidden love. Canon continues until...

Longstar faces off against Tigerstar, but the nearly blinded leader is slowly losing his strength. Nearby, Spottedleaf tells Fireheart that his destiny awaits, and he takes off from the medicine den. As Tigerstar stalks forward, Fireheart leaps from the shadows and latches onto Tigerstar’s throat. Longstar charges, remembering all the cats dead or injured because of Tigerstar, and throws himself at his once-friend. A yowl of pain echoes, and cuts off abruptly, sending the Dark Forest warriors fleeing. Flamewish bolts out of camp, searching for her mate and brother, with her family close behind. They find Longstar and Fireheart laying side by side, dying. Flamewish rushes to them, screeching in grief, and her family surrounds the dying cats, and after a touching farewell to their family, the legendary leader and his legendary medicine cat pass, rising to Starclan with the others who passed on in the battle, as shining spirits.

Brightstar is instated as leader of Thunderclan, and chooses Hollywish as deputy. Frostfoot and Whitestorm retire and join Purdy in the Elder’s Den. The Dark Forest trainees are put on probation for at least a year. Dovewing gets a heartfelt apology from Goldenheart, and the two reconcile. Hollywish visits Fallen Leaves as often as she can, with other cats visiting him as well. A few moons later, a loner named Fern asks if he can join Thunderclan.

And that’s the end of the Longstar AU! It’s not the end of the story tough, just a transition into Brightstar au! The rest might take a wee bit longer to post, but I’ll try to get something up eventually. In the meantime, I have a list of cats to draw, like Wormwood, who kind of just showed up, and Snowtuft, who loudly insisted on more redemption arc please!

Again, thanks so much for the likes and subscribes! I really appreciate it!

That’s all for now!

#Longtail #Longstar #longstar au #Warrior cats #warrior cats au #warriors #I had Feelings writing the Battle #I know they're obviously not MY characters but also they're my babies #oh my heart

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mallowstep · 4 years ago

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What about any Swiftpaw or Snowkit au ideas? Do you have any of those like with Shrewpaw?

i've answered this before, i believe, but i don't know where the post went lmao.

uh, so. i will probably never write a swiftpaw au because! while i like the idea of it, part of why the dogs are so terrifying is because of what happens with them: they kill swiftpaw and mutilate brightpaw.

so, i'd have to kill brightpaw to keep it meaningful, and i don't want to live in a world where cloudtail can't love his wife.

i'm sorry, i just have some lines i refuse to cross /jk

the closest i'll get is the night circus au? uh, in that one, they're all loners. so swift pulls bright from a burning building, and then they meet cloud a few months later, and they live w/ him and princess in a stable in a travelling circus.

swift is significantly less injured, bright is more or less injured to the level she is in canon. it's not really described in their fic ("relativistic") because no one involved cares about it, but it's there.

in a proper swiftpaw au, i'm not sure what i'd do. legitimately, i don't know. probably more swift/bright/cloud hours, because i refuse to live in a world where cloudtail can't love his wife.

i do want to do a loststar au at some point! where she keeps the name lostface bc it's a mark of what she survives (n also she's thinking about swiftpaw and how she lost him) and yeah?

swiftpaw's ghost might get to be a character in that.

i think, if i kept just swiftpaw alive, i wouldn't have an interesting story, because it would be basically the same but cloudtail couldn't love his wife. (it would also have a lot of down the road implications because no brightheart means no whitewing means no dovewing. you've discovered my secret the reason cloudtail and brightheart need to be alive is for dovewing.

no actually i refuse to accept them dying in any other way than within a week of one another.)

anyway.

so in a swift + bright survive au, i think! for interest's sake, i'd probably just have fun focusing on cinderpelt treating her sister and swiftpaw, who's...not really her maara because cinderpelt's litter got broken up, but still close to family.

goldenflower would be involved too i love her. i love her so much.

maybe i'd have swift like? be a therapist. not literally just. someone needs to learn how to get cats to talk about their problems.

so yeah that's that.

as for snowkit!

i've considered it, and at this point in time, i don't feel inspired, but that doesn't mean i won't.

i really like the idea of cats learning to cope with a deaf cat. like, as i've said several times, my world is not a better one, it is a different one.

so we'd probably deal with the effects of language deprivation, how home sign turns into a language, etc. maybe for interest's sake, we'd have cloudkit be deaf later on? just a thought, not sure.

anyway, brackenfur (brackenfur) would mentor him, and he'd take longer than usual to become a warrior, because he has just fundamentally more to learn. i could make him a medicine cat, and honestly, i think the clans would have a bigger problem with a deaf cat than a blind one, but i just don't like forcing cats to become medicine cats.

right so brackenfur would mentor him, and he'd never be the Best warrior, but that's okay! we don't need every cat to be the best warrior. it's okay to just be average.

not really sure where i'd go with it.

the reason i chose to do a shrewpaw au was because shrewpaw's death closed off a story option. when shrewpaw died, squirrelpaw's romantic interests were realigned. so by letting him live, i had an avenue to continue the story down.

however, swiftpaw and snowkit don't provide the same avenue for a story. letting them live doesn't open a previously closed door or change how a plot would play out wait.

wait.

i take it back: this is what i'd do for a snowkit au.

we open on bracken...paw? probably brackenpaw. his mentor sucks. fireheart mentors him, his sister gets hurt, etc., etc.

then! then. speckletail's kit. snowkit. and brackenfur is just like that, he's just a good guy! like that, so he starts hanging out and he wants to mentor him.

and he does! and that means that he gets to be deputy instead of...maybe greystripe? but more likely brambleclaw.

yes. that is what i would do in a snowkit au.

see what i mean about opening new avenues? swiftpaw in particular feels like a dead end to me, i just can't find a way to get his story to open up a new idea, which is a shame, because i do think there's a lot of potential.

but right now, i'd get the same drama by just writing some canon compliant brightpaw one-shots, y'know?

#ask #anon #talk #au talk #mine #essay #long #snowkit #shrewpaw #swiftpaw

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fencesandfrogs · 4 years ago

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thoughts on sandstorm

since i’m on a bit of a warrior cats kick, here’s a rant about generational patterns (sandstorm/squirrelflight) & i’m putting the entire thing under a read more because i expect zero (0) people to be interested in this but i needed to say it/put it somewhere

so. to be clear. i’m about to talk about some books i haven’t read (parts of omen of the stars, everything after that), but i have watched an hour long discussion of bramblestar and squirrelflight in it, so i feel qualified to draw some parallels in it.

okay so i mean at this point i assume most people don’t remember/care about firestar & sandstorm when they got together. because that was ages ago, and like it’s not actually a thing, it’s just something i’ve thought since i first read it.

so i was never a fan of fireheart and sandstorm as a couple. it took me until like power of three to really get on board with it. first, i have a lot of issues with abuse, so i’m generally very, alert to it? i try really hard not to call things abusive unless i have really concrete evidence, and i think firestar and sandstorm are a perfectly healthy relationship, it just took me a long time to really trust that it was, because, you know, personal issues.

also in seventh grade i, a child who was emotionally abused by my father, was forced to read a book that portrayed the discussion of a pedophile in an extremely sympathetic light, worsened by my lack of understanding of the situations being portrayed, and, well, uh, that kind of thing sticks to you.

so anyway i don’t like age gaps in relationships and i don’t like power differences in relationships. as a personal thing. until i really trust that the relationship is in fact healthy.

so back to my point, if you don’t remember, firepaw and sandpaw are apprentices together, firepaw becomes fireheart, sandpaw is salty about it. he likes her because she challenges him. eventually she becomes sandstorm, he gets made deputy, and they become mates in all of this. i don’t remember the exact order and i’m not looking it up its 2 am.

so anyway the age difference between them is minute but because i pictured exactly 4 stages of cat life and they just grew up like pokemon when moving between them, i read one into it.

and anyway so basically sandstorm just, stops being a particularly relevant character and she stops having the spats with firestar and just kinda, chills out a lot, and that’s what continued to bother me about them.

by power of three i’d pretty much decided this was just her growing up and maturing and redirecting her urge to argue into a more productive action, but it felt wrong to me that she just became firestar’s mate and then stopped doing everything he liked about her, and do you see where i’m going with this?

i’m not going to discuss bramblestar and squirrelflight’s present situation because i haven’t read it, what i want to talk about is when they’re going on the journey.

you know. when squirrelpaw sneaks along because she’s an annoying kid who irritates the shit out of brambleclaw and they spend the entire journey being incredibly annoyed by each other and squirrelpaw almost has a thing for crowpaw? that series was stranger than you remember.

so i was like “cool squirrelpaw is going to be like. brambleclaw’s friend. he’s going to help her be a little more restrained and who knows where that’s going.” because i was a fool because obviously they wouldn’t date they had a tenuous friendship that did not seem the type that would make for a stable relationship and also like there’s a huge age gap.

and then like two hours into squirrelflight being a warrior, they’re dating, but also not? (an aside: i really miss the descriptions of warrior vigils. those are some of my favorite scenes.)

so anyway i was never on board with it and then everything that happens is the same thing that happened with sandstorm but instead of it being squirrelflight growing and maturing and having a healthy relationship it’s just her wonderful personality being crushed out of her in an abusive relationship, only letting it peek out in the most desparate of circumstances, accepting the amount of suffering she will endure to do what she is right, keeping her children away from her abusive husband and as you can see, i feel very strongly about this

so. my cough drop is almost dissolved which means i can brush my teeth and go to bed but i just. that’s what happens. you learn a pattern from your parents, and apply it to your own life. and in a situation like firestar/sandstorm, it’s not hard to see how that relationship will only obscure the reality of the situation from squirrelflight.

tl/dr: squirrelflight is precious and needed to be protected and i know ashfur is a villain now but i really wish she chose him to begin with because even though their relationship wasn’t perfect at least it wasn’t abusive and they just had normal relationship issues they could work through, similar to the ones we see fireheart and sandstorm work through.

#bramblestar #squirrelflight #warrior cats #mine #txt #2nd #February #2021 #February 2nd 2021 #essay #abuse #emotional abuse #y'all sorry for going off on this a whole lot #q

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skeptycats · 4 years ago

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Vicky Archives #7

LONG SHADOWS - The power of a single scene

Vicky Holmes, the former editor of the Warriors series, has been doing short extract readings on Facebook since the start of the UK lockdown back in March. There’s some really cool anecdotes hidden within some of these videos, so I decided to begin penning them down for posterity and easy reference.

I won’t be transcribing filler, hedging and false starts but I’m including some amount of preamble just to be comprehensive.

---

[Again, there seems to have been some talking before Vicky went live]

-- but we may be deafened by birdsong today. I hope it doesn’t interfere too much with the sound.

So today I’m going to read from Long Shadows, Power of Three book five. Although this was the fifth book in the Power of Three, it contains a scene that inspired the whole arc. When I was coming to Power of Three, I wanted to have a sense of obviously what I was going to write about, where the six books were going. We already knew at the end of The New Prophecy that there were some kits that were supposedly Squirrelflight’s, but they weren’t, they weren’t Squirrelflight’s. They were her sister’s, Leafpool’s, and she was raising them in secret. I dropped hints throughout The New Prophecy that Leafpool was pregnant, and Squirrelflight noticed she was looking a bit plump! If you read New Prophecy again you’ll notice there are little clues there that Leafpool is expecting. Of course they’re Crowfeather’s kits, from the brief moment that she ran away with him.

So I knew that I wanted to have a big reveal in the next book, in the Power of Three, and before I even started the arc, this scene came to me. The scene of Squirrelflight on a cliff, surrounded by flames, forced to reveal the truth, but in a way that would just cause nothing but pain. The scene is, this chapter was from Hollyleaf’s viewpoint, although the next one is from Jayfeather’s viewpoint. Lightning has struck the forest, and there is a great fire around the hollow where the cats live. The forest is burning, and Squirrelflight has rescued the three cats Holly, Lion and Jay, by showing them a secret way to the top of the cliff. They have no idea that Squirrelflight is not their mother, of course, their mum is rescuing and that’s natural to them.

And Ashfur appears through the fog and the fire and the smoke, and they’re trapped, and they need Ashfur to hold steady a bridge, a tree, that they can run along. And there’s something in Ashfur’s expression that Hollyleaf doesn’t like.

Desperately she tried to step onto the end of the branch. At once Ashfur rounded on her, fully conscious again, his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Stay there!” Turning to face Squirrelflight but keeping one paw on the branch, he hissed, “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”

Hollyleaf’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”

Determination glittered in Lionblaze’s eyes, and he bunched his muscles for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him.”

“No!” Hollyleaf fastened her teeth in his shoulder fur. “You can’t!” Her words were muffled now. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”

“Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” Ashfur went on to Squirrelflight. “But he’s not here now. He’s not here—but your kits are.”

Squirrelflight’s eyes blazed. For a heartbeat Hollyleaf thought she was going to pounce on the gray warrior, but she knew that exhausted and in pain, her mother would have no chance. Squirrelflight seemed to realize it, too. She drew herself up, head high; she was trembling, but her voice was clear and brave.

“Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”

“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time; his voice was puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits . . .” He looked through the flames at Hollyleaf and her brothers, his eyes narrowing to dark blue slits. “If you watch them die, then you’ll know the pain I felt.”

The flames crackled threateningly closer; Hollyleaf felt as if the heat was about to sear her pelt into ashes. She edged backward, only to feel the edge of the hollow give way under her hind paws. The three of them were pressed tightly together, so close that if one of them lost their balance, all three would be dragged off the cliff. Hollyleaf couldn’t control the trembling that shook her whole body as her glance flickered between the cliff and the fire.

Jayfeather was crouched close to the ground, looking tinier than ever with his pelt slicked f lat by the rain. Lionblaze’s claws were unsheathed, glinting as the lightning flashed out again, but the tension in his haunches didn’t come from preparing to leap at Ashfur; it came from the effort of keeping himself on the top of the cliff.

Squirrelflight raised her head, her gaze locked on Ashfur’s crazed eyes. “Kill them, then,” she meowed. “You won’t hurt me that way.”

Ashfur opened his jaws to reply, but said nothing. Hollyleaf and her brothers stared at their mother. What was Squirrelflight saying?

Squirrelflight took a step away from them, and glanced carelessly over her shoulder. Her green eyes were fiercer than Hollyleaf had ever seen them, with an expression she couldn’t read.

“If you really want to hurt me, you’ll have to find a better way than that,” Squirrelflight snarled. “They are not my kits.”

The noise of the storm and the fire faded and the only sound Jayfeather could hear was the blood roaring in his ears. He shookhis head, straining to hear what Squirrelflight and Ashfur said next, cursing the blindness that hid their expressions from him.

“You’re lying.” Ashfur’s voice was choked with disbelief.

“No, I’m not.” Squirrelflight spoke softly, but her intensity pierced through the crackle of the f lames. “Did you see me give birth? Did I nurse them? Stay in the nursery until they were apprenticed? No.”

“But—I” Ashfur began, then fell silent. Jayfeather could almost hear the paws of memory racing through his mind.

“I fooled all of you, even Brambleclaw,” Squirrelflight went on scornfully. “They are not mine.”

THE WORST TRUTH

[I’m just expecting the belateded going live at this point]

-- to give it a bit of welly. So that’s the scene that shaped the whole arc of the Power of Three - was that Squirrelflight was going to reveal the terrible secret she’d been carrying, in the worst possible way. [the audio breaks up slightly] I’m not sure this started very well, sorry.

As I said briefly before, this scene came to me before I shaped the whole of the Power of Three. I knew that the truth about the kits would have to come out, but I wanted it to be dramatic, and I wanted it to be the worst possible thing for both Squirrelflight and the kits and Leafpool. And if you remember back in the first arc, I first learned about the challenge of not meeting people’s expectations when someone else - a fellow editor called Matt - suggested to me that Firestar didn’t kill Tigerstar, that in fact it should be Scourge who kills Tigerstar and we would all just feel horrifically upset by it, including Firestar.

So again I wanted to do something that would confound expectations. I wanted to show the length that Squirrelflight would go to to protect these kits. She loves them as much as if she’d given birth to them. She had raised them, after all. That is something very powerful. It is nurture over nature. It’s a cause very close to my heart, the idea of raising a child that is not your own, and I absolutely believe that you do not have to give birth to someone to be willing to give up your heart to them in a moment.

I wanted to demonstrate that Squirrelflight felt the same way, but ironically the way she can do this, the way she can save their lives when Ashfur is threatening to let them all fall off the cliff or burn to death, is by disowning them. I just had this incredibly powerful vision, an image in my head, of a cat standing on a cliff surrounded by fire, saying ‘kill them now. They mean nothing to me because they are not mine’. And by disassociating herself from them, by telling Ashfur that she didn’t care what happened to them, it would be the only way to save these cats’ lives. She would have to denounce them. Not only in front of Ashfur, revealing this secret knowing that it could destroy everything, but in front of the kits themselves. It must have just been horrific. I know it’s only a book, I know it’s a story, I know these cats aren’t real. But in this moment, Squirrelflight is real to me.

When I was coming up with storylines, often I would dream that I was a cat in the forest running alongside them. And I’m sure it’s no secret now to know how much of me is in these books, and this scene, this scene does what I wanted it to do. This scene shows Squirrelflight so desperate to save the lives of these kittens, these kits, that she risks losing their love, their respect, their affection, everything, in order to save them. And of course they won’t analyse that, they never realise that. You know, it sows the seeds for an awful lot of drama, and it destroys Hollyleaf - as we know, she goes on to do something really, really dreadful because she cannot cope with the enormity of this moment. But it is essential that Squirrelflight does it. It is the only way she can halt Ashfur and get them off this burning cliff.

There are a lot of things in Warriors that I am proud of. Lot of things I’m not proud of, as well, because you after all are the best at pointing out my mistakes. But this scene does what I wanted it to do. And I’m very grateful to it, and of course to Cherith for bringing it to life so beautifully.

It might not have escaped your attention that I seem to have missed out The New Prophecy, I haven’t done a reading from that. However, I’m writing an article for the Warriors Hub at the moment which will be about The New Prophecy so obviously I’ll post a link to that when it’s ready. Don’t feel that I’m missing out. But if there is a scene that you would really like me to read and talk about it, please do post in the comments and I’ll see what I can do. I’m happy to do requests. We seem to be in lockdown for a lot longer. It’ll be an absolute joy perhaps to read and talk about some of your favourites as well. Take care, stay safe, bye!

#vicky archives #warrior cats #warriors #squirrelflight #ashfur #hollyleaf #jayfeather #long shadows #not designs

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cloverponyz · 7 years ago

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Wind!Holly Drabble/Prologue??

Anyway, I had some free time and wrote this- don’t know if it’ll be continued, but maybe… descriptions/names etc. may be changed later if I continue this Also I don’t know how to add a read more on mobile so just have a line of asterisks rip

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A cold night breeze ruffled the tortoiseshell’s pelt as she trotted silently through the forest. Her steps were cautious, her ears pricked, swiveling at the slightest sound. The molly soon heard the quiet gurgle of the border stream, and her step quickened. She reached the water, gently setting a small dark shape between her paws.

“Crowfeather?” She whispered quietly.

“Over here.”

A lithe black form appeared from the shadows, dark amber eyes glinting in the moonlight. He nimbly leapt across the stream, hind paws slipping slightly as he landed. The tortoiseshell sprang forward, rubbing against his cheek with a soft purr. She froze when he didn’t return the gesture.

“Leafpool… we promised we were done. We have to move on. That’s what I’m trying to do, with Nightcloud, with everything. I can’t-”

“No, I understand.” Leafpool swallowed, taking a step back. “You said Nightcloud had kitted a few sunrises ago when I saw you earlier. How many kits? How are they?”

Crowfeather’s gaze softened. “There were two, a tom and she-kit, but the molly died after a few hours.”

“I’m so sorry,” Leafpool said, meaning it. “And the tom?”

“His name is Breezekit. Tiny, scrappy and darker than shadow. Nightcloud won’t let anyone into the nursery, but that’s what I’ve heard. And yours? Lionkit, and, uh, another tom?”

Leafpool chuckled. “Lionkit is fine, and so is Jaykit. But they aren’t why we’re here.”

“No.” Crowfeather agreed. “Hollykit. Where is she?”

A jolt of panic flashed through Leafpool. She took another step back, the beginnings of horror in her eyes. Where was- her paw brushed a soft bundle and she quickly picked up the small black molly by her scruff, almost shaking in relief. For a brief, terrible moment, Leafpool had imagined all of the terrible things that could have happened to Hollykit while she and Crowfeather were talking.

“She looks like me.” Crowfeather said in an awed tone. “Until now, it, uh, hadn’t really sunk in that I was-am- their father. She’s beautiful.”

Leafpool purred, gently setting the she-kit at Crowfeather’s paws. “She’ll blend in well in WindClan. Nightcloud agreed to raise her, right? She won’t tell.”

“She promised. She wants Breezekit to have a sibling. And she has a soft spot for kits. Hollykit will be well cared for.”

“And Jaykit and Lionkit will be looked after as well. Squirrelflight is eager to be their mother, and I’m sure Brambleclaw would be incredibly happy.”

“When will you reach camp?” Crowfeather questioned, nudging a mewing Hollykit closer to him.

“Tomorrow. Squirrelflight is with Lionkit and Jaykit right now, near the border with the unclaimed land. No one knows about the kits yet, so they won’t notice that a kit is missing. And the kits are barely a moon old; they can’t say anything.

A pause.

“Its- I should go. We’ve been here too long.” Leafpool said uncertainly.

Crowfeather sighed. The lanky black tom touched noses with Leafpool sadly. “Thank you, Leafpool. It was nice to see you again. And I’ll make sure Hollykit is loved and happy. Take care.”

For a moment, time was still. The dappled tortoiseshell and black tom stood quietly, pelts brushing, eyes closed, breathing in each other’s scent. Crowfeather took a step back, carefully picked up his daughter by her scruff and disappeared into the night.

Leafpool stood a moment longer, loss shining in her eyes.

#warrior cats #warriors #fanfic #my fanfic #Wind!Holly AU #my ideas #fandom #Leafpool #Crowfeather #Hollyleaf #warriors au

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starclan-academy-verse-blog · 8 years ago

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Starclan Academy: Gang Arc III- Flower Amongst the Chaos

Summary- Goldenflower and Tigerheart meet again after he’s been let out and Goldenflower reflects on their past.

The sleek black car purred up the drive, and Goldenflower frowned, stepping out onto the porch to meet it with bare feet and crossed arms.

What could he be doing here?

The car pulled to a halt at the foot of the stairs and her ex-husband slid from behind the wheel and gave her a charming smile. He was back in a tailored suit and expensive haircut, looking every inch the rich CEO without a trace of the jailed convict he'd been for the last two years.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice as even and cool as if he were a door to door salesman. His smile broadened. She'd never been afraid of him, his Flower. It was one of the things he'd liked about her.

"I have a gift for you." he told her, and paused there, waiting until she'd raised a skeptical eyebrow before reaching into the car and drawing out a small white and gold box about four inches square. "Sasha regrets she won't be able to make your engagement party," he began, climbing the porch steps, but he was cut off by an insistent buzzing sound that emanated from the depths of his suit jacket like the noise of a trapped hornet.

He paused on the second step from the top, and pulled his phone from an inside pocket. He glanced at the screen as he moved to silence it, and his finger stopped halfway to the button. A frown furrowed his brow.

"Your pardon." He told Goldenflower, and made an apologetic gesture with his hand. "Business."

Which meant it had nothing to do with his expansive banking enterprise.

"Tigerclaw." He said into the phone.

Goldenflower couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the line, but the longer they talked the darker Tiger's expression grew. "How long?" he demanded, and then after another moment of listening, "I see. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Then he ended the call, returned the phone to his pocket, and finished climbing the stairs.

On impulse, as he reached the top, Goldenflower reached out and seized his wrist tightly.

"Whatever's going on," she told him fiercely, "Whatever that was about. You leave our children out of it. They deserve to be safe."

His gold eyes met hers.

"Safety may be a difficult state to achieve." He told her, and reaching down, began not ungently to unwrap her fingers. "With Bloodclan prowling about."

She jerked her hand back sharply.

"Bloodclan? I thought they were gone. That you-"

"As did I." he agreed. "Yet here they are, crawling back out of the woodwork like the vermin they are."

"Are you going to do something about it?"

"That remains to be seen." He took her hand again, lifting it palm up. "And as to our children, Flower; they aren't children anymore." He placed the gift box in her palm, closed her fingers around it, and before she could retort had retraced his path back to the car and closed the door between them.

She watched him drive away, then turned on her heel and stalked back into the house, grip on the box white-knuckled and rage and fear warring for supremacy in her chest. She marched into her kitchen and placed the box on the counter, staring at it without seeing.

She'd learned early in their marriage that owning and running the only banking chain in the county was just a front for Tigerclaw's real business: working in and eventually ruling an underground organization dealing in secrets and power. Together with a group of trusted lieutenants, he used blackmail, bribery, and various shadowy deals to run the town behind the scenes, accomplishing his own goals and acquiring money and influence without appearing to ever be involved in anything that went on. It had been hard for her to cope with at first, especially when she learned that his organization, called Dark Forest by those involved, recruited students at the local high school to act as spies and messengers for their purpose. But he'd kept the darker side of his dealings- the violence, the threats- away from her, and she'd loved him, so she'd learned to pretend that nothing was wrong.

Then Bloodclan had risen.

Goldenflower clamped her fingers down on the counter to stop them shaking.

It had started as just a group of kids causing trouble. They threw stones at windows, beat up kids after school, harassed people walking down the street. It hadn't been good, but nothing that the local authorities were concerned that they would have trouble quelling. Then they'd begun to grow and evolve, acquiring more members and escalating their actions until stones became bullets, bruises became blood, and harassment became mugging. Slowly, they'd instilled fear in the hearts of the townspeople, and things got worse with every passing day until at last Tigerclaw had no longer been able to deny the threat.

And so he'd gone to war.

That had been when Goldenflower had no longer been able to deny the fact that, though her husband and his group might be the lesser of two, he was still one of the evils. As the battle raged on the streets, and students in her classroom began arriving with bruises and cuts and breaks, or not arriving at all, she thought of her own children, then eleven and twelve years old, and began to consider an alternative she'd never thought she'd have to resort to.

The day after a boy in her fourth hour turned up dead in an alley, she'd filed for divorce.

He hadn't fought her; he'd signed over everything to her without a fuss. Everything except their children.

Four months after their divorce was finalized, silence fell in the alleys and Bloodclan disappeared. The violence, the crimes and fear, were over. That silence had lasted for five years, until two years before, when Tiger had been arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. A crowbar, as she'd later learned. His victim had ended up in the hospital for nearly a week, and the judge had given him five years in prison after laughing his self-defense plea out of the court room. Tiger had been released early on good behavior.

For the first time, Goldenflower began to wonder if her ex-husband might have been telling the truth about it being self-defense. It seemed just a little too convenient to her that Bloodclan should begin to slink back into town while he happened to be behind bars.

Finally coming back to the present, Goldenflower lifted the lid of the little gift box and pulled out a tiny, pot-bellied white bottle with a gold stopper. Perfume.

The same perfume that Tiger had bought her the day Brambleclaw was born, and every year on his birthday until the divorce.

Sasha didn't buy this.

He'd been happy to give her majority custody of their children; but he'd insisted on having visitation rights. She had agreed, on the condition that he keep their children out of the underground world in which he was such a major player. Apparently, now that Bramble was turning 18- no longer a child, no longer bound by court orders away from him- he considered their agreement fulfilled.

Sighing, she reached over, turned on the faucet, and poured the expensive, delicately scented perfume down the drain.

Apology not accepted.

#Warrior Cats #Darkclan #Bloodclan #Starclan Academy #Goldenflower #Tigerheart #Sasha

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